#the sequel almost succeeded in killing my love for this movie | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

theyreonlynoodlesmike · 3 years

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Can we have another Tommy Slater smut kinda like “Witches Cabin” but maybe more of the story line of it like placed in maybe 1994 or 1666 like at the end of the movie when they have trap all of the killers and the only reason it goes down is because the person looks like someone Tommy used to love before he went crazy. Or something like that.

Okay, so, while I liked your idea, the second you mentioned 1994 I got an idea for how this request could work :) this is more just like a situational sequel based in the events of 1994, a 1994 version if you will

Witch's Curse (Camp Nightwing Killer!Tommy Slater x Fem!Reader)

Warnings: 18+, smut, nsfw, extremely rough sex, choking, slight impact play, hair pulling, groping, no prep, vaginal sex, overstimulation, creampie masked kink, reader is Kate's older sister, again reader is a slasher fucker willing to die for the dick, axe kink, fear kink, based in my hc that the possession just makes you your worst self and they have some elements of free-will, she/her pronouns, multiple horror references

Word Count: 1.9k

You stood in the classroom, listening to the sound of one of the Shadyside Killers trying, more like succeeding, to axe down the door. Any hope that this was a prank, a test to see if you really believed in all this witch's curse shit, had gone out the window the second they pulled out the chemicals and Sam shed blood, but this? God, in that moment, you really hated Kate's friends.

You hated that she'd been dragged into this, that you'd been dragged into this. And, well, you hated that you were horny. You hated that, as you watched the killers head into the bathroom, the sight of the Camp Nightwing Killer running towards you had turned you on. But, of course, you weren't going to voice that like Simon did with Ruby.

Deena had called C. Berman, the sole survivor of the 1978 Camp Nightwing massacre, and then figured out that the only way for Sam to live was for her to die. Great. And, you had so stupidly told your sister,

"Go! Go! I'm gonna buy you guys time!" As her friend Simon yanked her out of the window. Really, what else could you do? That door was almost done for, and they'd barely made it out of the room before the hole got wide enough for him to get through.

You watched as the ghost, if you could call him that, climbed through the hole and kneeled on the top of the desk. He looked all around the room. He has a sack covering his head, like Jason Voorhees. But his weapon of choice? An axe, not a machete. You gulped, gripping the baseball bat in your hands. You felt like Wendy Torrance, staring down her crazy, hotel possessed husband. And, really, you shouldn't have been turned on by this. Like, at all.

But, well, you were a horror junkie, as your sister called you. And masked killers with sharp objects? That happened to be your exact type.

From what they knew, he wouldn't go after you. Not unless you got in his way. Did talking to him count as getting in his way?

"You're Thomas Slater." You said as he approached you. He'd been looking around the room, but he paused when you spoke. He turned. You gulped, forcing yourself to keep talking. "Your friends called you Tommy. You were a counselor at Camp Nightwing, and you died in 1978, and- and-" You backed up, pressing yourself against the radiator lining the walls. He'd started walking towards you. Slowly. It was intimidating as hell. From how heavy his footsteps were to his sheer height. "And you were described as a generally nice guy by all your peers before you-" Before you went on a possessed killing spree. You dropped your bat, just before he walked right into your personal space. You raised your hands, surrendering, as he stopped. He was barely a step away from you, his heavy breathing all you could hear. Really, you wished your mind was a little bit more sane, and that it didn't immediately go somewhere else with this. Especially when he reached up, brushing his the sharp edge of axe against your jaw. You bit your lip as he did, feeling the coolness of the blade, before you said, "I'm not going to run. I'm not going to fight." You said, and you watched as he tilted his head.

It was a slow movement, and you could practically feel his eyes watching you from inside the mask. You couldn't see his face, didn't have a clue as to what he was thinking. And, really, you didn't know if he was going to decide to let you live or not. Deciding to stay had been a stupid, split second decision. A moment of sacrifice that probably wasn't necessary. So, you had to admit to yourself that perhaps there had been other reasons. Like that this was the closest you were ever going to get to one of your horror movie slasher crushes. And, that you miss one hundred percent of the shots you don't take.

So, you carefully placed your hands on his shoulders, noticing how he tilted his head again and slightly lowered his axe, and leaned forward to kiss him. The mask was rough under your lips, a harsh material that grated against them. And, from what you could feel, he wasn't kissing back. You panicked, realizing in a moment that you were so stupid. You should've run, should've climbed out the window and gotten as far away from him as possible.

You pulled back, ready to get an axe to the face, but, instead, he was grabbing you by the waist and tugging you against him. He pulled you chest to chest, and your heart rate picked up. Alright, perhaps this was going to go better than you thought. A lot better, you thought as he let his axe drop and reached down to pick you up by your legs. He hoisted you up, wrapping your legs around his hips, and turned around to drop you on one of the lab tables. He pushed you down by your chest, hard enough to make your back hit the table.

There wasn't any grace or care to his touches. He ripped off your bottoms and underwear down your legs, and you had to scramble to kick off your shoes so he could get them the rest of the way. He got frustrated quickly, you heard a huff from behind the sack, and then you could hear the sound of something rip. But did you care? Not really.

Tommy was undoing his belt, pushing down his pants, and your legs were already spread when he moved to stand between them. He grabbed your thighs, pulling you towards the end of the table and maneuvering your legs how he wanted them. He held one of them by the back of the knee, pushing it back, and you watched as he started to press inside.

You tilted your head back, letting out a gasp as you felt the head of his cock press past the first ring of muscle and then just go deeper. You moaned, your back arching as you tried to find anything to grip onto on the hard, flat surface behind your back. Tommy was thick, and long, and he didn't stop. He didn't give you a single second to adjust. He just grabbed your other leg, and bent your legs as far back as they would go before he slammed the rest inside.

You let out a cry, and you knocked the back of your head against the table just before he started a brutal pace.

His hips clapped against yours, so loud you were sure someone would hear it down the hallway. As if they wouldn't hear the sound of your voice from a mile away. You could feel him pummeling your insides, fucking you so hard that you were seeing stars. You gripped onto the edges of the table, trying to keep yourself from sliding up it from the force behind his thrusts. A stream of curses left your lips, and you could hear the heavy breathing, the moans and groans that came from your masked lover. If the word even fit him.

He clapped his hand down afterwards, groaning as he slowed, let his pace change for just a second, to thrust hard and deep. You felt him grab your legs again, pulling them higher up your waist as he bent over. You didn't realize what he was doing until his hand was around your throat, and you felt him constrict around your windpipe. He picked his past back up, fucking you as you saw stars and choking you so everything felt so much more intense. You tried to gasp for air, but you could barely breathe in. You stared up at him, getting off on the act. At the blank look the sack gave you as he did it. He released his grip, enough to let you breathe, and you took in a gulping breath. Now, when he did it again, you welcomed the way he made your head spin.

Tommy wasn't shy. He reached forward, letting your legs wrap around his waist, and groped and grabbed you however he pleased. He yanked your shirt up, letting it bunch above your tits, and pushed your bra up to do the same. You bit your lip as he squeezed your chest, but a cry escaped you when he gave one of your nipples a cruel tug.

You reached down to touch yourself, drawing fast, crude circles around your clit. You were so close already, each thrust of his driving you closer and closer. And, when he reached to wrap a hand in your hair and yank you half-way up, your face so close to his that you could practically feel his eyes, feel his breath on your face, you knew you weren't going to last much longer. He tugged hard, making your scalp and a masochistic part of you absolutely ache for him. Your moans became whiny and you were already breathless, most likely from the hand he kept squeezing around your throat. Your hands covered his, digging your nails into it. Still, you managed a choked,

You could feel it all, hear every little sound he made. You still held his wrist with one hand, panting as you came down. He finally stopped, and it was almost like- You could practically see that some of the tension in his shoulders had left him when he stood all the way up. Or maybe that was just the post afterglow effect making you a little lovey-dovey. Because, when Tommy pulled away, he did it without care or concern for you. He pulled his hand away from your throat, slipped it out of your grasp, and went to fix himself.

"I'm gonna cum." And, inch by inch, Tommy pushed you towards the edge. Your lungs were starting to burn, your eyes watering, and, when he finally let you breathe, you came. It was a snap, a peak suddenly reached all at once. You came with a choked sound and a cry, your legs twitching and your back arching. You clenched around him, and Tommy's hips thrusted through your orgasm, overstimulated you until you felt the first gush of hot cum inside you. You gasped, your nails scratching down the table. Tommy's hips slowed, but they didn't stop. He milked himself of every drop, thrusting until your clenching walls had milked him dry.

He stared at you the entire time he yanked his pants back up, zipped his fly, did his button, and fixed his belt. You couldn't see his eyes, but you could feel it. You could tell by the way he tilted his head that he was looking you over, maybe even memorizing what he saw. He was still panting, and he looked a little slow. It made a part of you smile, a part of you feel proud. And then, as you tried to fix yourself, you got to watch as he went to get his axe, and climbed out of the same window your sister and their friends had gone.

Where he was going to presumably chase them down and try to kill your sisters friend. Right. Mood killer. So, you pushed yourself off the table, and tried to ignore the shakiness of your legs and the wetness between them as you went to pull your underwear and bottoms back on.

#fear street #fear street 1994 #fear street tommy slater #tommy slater fear street #fear street tommy #tommy fear street #tommy slater #tommy slater x reader #thomas slater x reader #thomas slater #camp nightwing killer

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bonestructureandcontempt · 3 years

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Well, there's a new Justice League coming out and it's got me thinking about the DCEU movies that have come before it and Tiermaker is my new favorite way to waste time online so I decided to rank the movies. My opinions of some of these have changed over time, probably BvS being the biggest example, but just running them down:

Birds of Prey: The pinnacle. A movie I would recommend even to non comic book/superhero fans. Just a great movie.

Aquaman: A movie I absolutely adore. You know, a lot of superhero movies these days like to play with genre and break outside of their normal conventions and Aquaman I feel does it the most successfully. It feels a little bit like a Stephen Sommers adventure flick in the vein of The Mummy. This and Wonder Woman also do a great job at taking the sort of aesthetic and film language of Zack Snyder's films and sorta doing their own spin on it.

Wonder Woman: I love this movie for a lot of the same reaons I love Aquaman. It breaks out of the normal conventions of a superhero movie with its WWI setting, Gal Gadot and Chris Pine just have infectious chemistry, and there's really spectacular set pieces. Patty Jenkins really knocked it out of the park directing her second ever feature film.

Batman Vs Superman: Yeah, this is probably gonna be the part that surprises people. It's taken me years to come to this, but I don't think BvS is a bad movie. In fact, I think it's actually a pretty decent movie AS LONG AS YOU'RE WATCHING THE ULTIMATE EDITION. Do not under any circumstances watch the theatrical cut, it removes actual vital context for why things are happening as well as whole scenes that humanize Clark Kent or remove him saving people as Superman at a critical moment. Batman killing people doesn't bother me anymore, it makes sense in the story they were trying to tell even if Snyder's bombast kinda cranks it up to absurd levels. He is a villain, a fallen hero. Superman not being the most cheerful guy also makes a lot of sense in context. You have to understand, this movie serves not only as a sequel to Man of Steel, but a means to address some of the criticisms people had with it within the fiction of the movie itself. And by george, I think it does a good job of it. The Knightmare scene is still a very awkard interlude. I realize it's supposed to be a sequel hook but in the middle of the movie, Zack?

Shazam: Very fun and funny, I appreciate seeing the same universe as some of the darker movies but through a child's eyes. And of course it would be more lighthearted in tone. Also appreciate it embracing some of the weirder aspects of the DC universe as shown in Shazam's early comics. I mean for heaven's sake, Mister Mind shows up. A literal sentient caterpillar.

Wonder Woman 1984: You know this movie caught a lot of flack for some very valid reasons, but I know that Patty Jenkins wanted to make a sort of throwback to the Richard Donner style and I think she succeeded and I enjoyed watching it. Once again, Gal Gadot and Chris Pine's chemistry shines through, Kristen Wiig is great and Pedro Pascal alone is worth watching the movie for. I thought it was funny how the first quarter of the movie could easily be mistaken for a movie about sweet nerdy Barbara Minerva falling in love with the classy, confident Diana Prince. Almost wish that was the movie instead.

Man of Steel: So you know how I said how Batman killing people doesn't bother me because it makes sense in the context of the story? I'm just gonna go ahead and say the same about the thing everyone thinks about when it comes to this movie. It makes sense in context. He clearly doesn't want to, but he feels like there's no other option so he just acts. Anyway, my biggest problem with this movie is the editing. By which I mean the sequencing of scenes doesn't make a lot of sense and it makes the movie seem really disjointed and like it's being played out of order, particularly in the scenes where Clark Kent and Lois Lane interact. I don't think Henry Cavill is a bad actor and I've warmed up to him as Superman for this cinematic universe. However, the face he makes when he takes flight for the first time haunts me to this day and I just wanna know what his direction was when they shot it. And just as a sidenote, Henry Cavill's hair is the best in this movie. I hate that it's slicked in BvS, It makes him look scary and mean. I also like how weird and alien Krypton looks. Russell Crowe is a great Jor-El and Michael Shannon is a great Zod. But overall this movie is pretty mid to me, a stepping stone to the vastly improved BvS: Ultimate Edition

Justice League: I almost didn't include this because I wanted to wait for the Snyder Cut but I figure what the hell, I'll grade the theatrical cut on its own merits because I've seen it a couple times. It's probably not a good thing that I only found the CGI tolerable on a TV screen. It really does look like a PS3 game in its big action set pieces. The differences between the material shot by Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon is like night and day and I'll tell you I have had my fill of Whedonisms. You can just keep that shit in the early Avenger flicks. The only reason I can say it kinda sorta works is the cast of the League have great chemistry that sells it.

Suicide Squad: An irredeemably bad movie. The absolute worst. Looks like shit, badly edited, story makes zero sense. Much like I consider MoS to be a stepping stone to the vastly superior BvS, this is that to BoP, but like, MORE. Which is a shame because it has a talented ensemble cast but it does not save this one.

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tidustargaryen · 4 years

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The Last of Us Part II - A unique experience you can never get rid of (My interpretation of the story - Full of spoilers!!!)

I made some screens of the game, but I messed up while forgetting to remove the black frame of options from photo mode. I was so proud of the screens! ^^ Sorry. 🙇

Wow...Wow...Wow... 🤩🤩

I couldn't not talk about this game, and what it felt like to play it.I went through all the emotions, I smiled, I cried, I screamed, I laughed, I was scared, I was anxious, I sang, I felt anger, even hatred, but also compassion, pity, empathy and the desire to forgive and forget. They broke my heart, and then filled it with rainbows. It was really the roller coaster of emotions. That's what I wanted when I bought this game. I wanted to feel things, a whole lot of things. I wanted to smile, I wanted to laugh, but I also wanted to cry. Because crying is not necessarily negative. It's a human emotion that also does good things.

I love Red Dead Redemption 2, I played it a lot, but I didn’t have the need to put words on my feelings. And especially not to give it such praise, that is to say how much The Last of Us Part II affected me. I also find it hard to describe my thoughts, my feelings in another language, and the review took me time and effort. There will surely be plenty of mistakes, but I love this game too much not to grant it the honor it deserves.

The job is successful, it's more than successful, this game has affected me deeply, in a positive way. When I put the controller down at the end of the game, wow... Just wow... That's all i could think of. And I must confess, I don't understand the negative feedback. I understand of course, that you can dislike a scenario, I myself dislike some movies, we like, we dislike, for different reasons, it's our most legitimate right. But hatred for a game? Putting a zero grade on it? It's not objective. The gameplay is excellent, much better than the first one, the immersion is incredible, the visual and sound atmosphere... damn! The motion capture is unmatched. More weapons, more actions, more everything.The graphics, the dialogues, the music! Even if the scenario is not good for you, you have to admit that the rest is almost perfect... So it's impossible to put 0 to this game. It may not please you, it's legitimate, but when I don't like something, I leave it, I don't spend days talking about it, in a bad way. I would also add that reading the leaks is one thing, playing the game, living the story with the controller in hand is something else. Maybe you're missing out on something huge, it's your choice.

If I say that, it's above all because I would really like a third opus, I want other stories with Ellie. I liked her in the first one, but I got so attached to her in the second part. And I like the world of the Last of Us, I got attached to the Ellie/Dina relationship as well, and I'll come back to that in the development I'm going to do on the characters right after.

All that to say, for anyone who didn't like The Last of Us Part II, your life is not going to change whether or not there's a part III, but I, and other players, would really like a sequel. But I'm not sure there's going to be one after this outpouring of hatred. So good for you, so bad for us, I guess. But I'm not selfish.

I've also seen some very positive comments, a lot of “masterpieces” and objective opinions, full of very good reviews from players who have had the same experience as me. I've played a lot of games that I liked, very few of them made an impression on me like The Last of Us Part II, none of them made an impression on me like The Last of Us Part II in fact, thank you Naughty Dog. Really, thank you, because, and this is my personal opinion, this sequel is much better than the first opus. Yes, that's what I think, and I had heard and seen a lot of press reviews that said it was better, I couldn't believe it. And yet, since I finished the game, I can't stop thinking about it, I can't stop rewriting the story, imagining a sequel, and that's what I wanted this game to do, to touch me emotionally, quite simply. This game haunts me since I press “start”. Well done, I admit.

Spoilers, ahead.

They didn't lie on this, I knew what game I was buying. A violent game, which deals with difficult subject, revenge, hate, the worst human emotions. It's hard for the players to understand the choices they made in the script, but it's also because it's hard to imagine living in a world like The Last of Us. Anyone can die at any time. And the survival instinct brings out the worst in humans. In their world, we too would become violent, hateful, we would do anything to survive. We will do the same things as Abby, Ellie, Joel and everyone else. Yes, it would be so much simpler, and more productive, to cooperate, to be united, this is the solution, the only one. Unfortunately, humans do the contrary, because the fear of the other, of the unknown, makes one strike before being struck. Already, in our current world, people find it very difficult to show solidarity, there is solidarity, but how many there are out of billions ?? They said it would take an open mind to enjoy the game, and understand the choices of characters. And they were right.

The game could have dealt with the story of a father and his adopted daughter, wanting to survive in a cruel world full of infected people who want to devour you, but who are not the worst enemies. It would have shown these characters succeeding and living a happy life in the town of Jackson... and it could have been believable, why not, with a big stroke of luck... Because honestly, in a world like this, where anybody can die at any time, realism is very important. The worst thing that could have happened to this game is not hate, it's indifference, and the game does not leave indifferent, far from it. People still haven't understood that to show disappointment in a game, a movie, a series, or whatever, hatred is not the solution, but indifference. Hatred proves that you are interested enough in the subject to talk about it a lot. This is indifference, the opposite of love.

Because, yes, in this world, you can die very cruelly, horribly, just like Joel... It's hard, it hurts, but it's realistic. When I first played the first opus, at the end I said to myself "If there's a sequel to this game, Joel will pay harshly for the consequences of his decision..." Because Joel's choice was selfish, it was very human, but it was very selfish. I love Ellie so much that I'm thrilled, but he saved a little girl that he cared so much about, a love that he didn't think he'd feel since he lost his little girl. But tell me, how many other little girls has he sacrificed in the process? How many people has he forced to live in such a terrible world? This vaccine could have saved them all. It’s unthinkable to me that the surviving Fireflies wouldn't want revenge. And it's even more natural to want revenge on the murderer of your father.

Yeah, I wish Joel would've survived, or not died so cruelly, especially not in front of Ellie. But Joel is paying the consequences for his choice. It's hard to put yourself in that position, but I don't think I would have made the same choice Joel did. And maybe, when you think about it, was it better for Ellie to die saving the world, rather than go through all that she had to go through next ?

The Last of Us part II, it's clearly not a game where everything is white or black, the development studio took a big risk, making us play inside the head of the person we're supposed to hate, the one who took Ellie's dearest love. Most games make us play nice people, who fight against the bad guys, but here, the bad guys aren't always bad, they can do good deeds, and bad ones, just like Ellie. These shades of grey in each character are very interesting to study, the story becomes more complex, more captivating. Joel wasn't a "good guy" either, he did a lot of bad things before he crossed Ellie's path, he ambushed people to kill them and steal from them... That doesn't stop us from loving him, it's also true for Abby and her companions.

That's what I love about this game, the nuances. The questioning of the character choices, and the morality that's built into it. And for me, this game is clearly an essay about what makes us feel and what drives us to hatred and revenge, and what we get out of it... Nothing, as we can see with my poor girl Ellie. She brutally loses Joel and in her quest for revenge, loses everything else.

There's clearly no way in hell she's going back to Jackson, she's leaving, for good, and alone.Besides, we saw her head toward the door at the back, not the one on the side, which leads to Jackson. And when she walks with JJ, towards this door, she tells him that only bad things are behind this door. No, unfortunately, Ellie does not return to Jackson, and that is understandable. This quest for revenge has affected her deeply. For me, it's like a stain on her soul. Is it legitimate for her to want revenge? I think it is. Should she give in to hatred and revenge? Of course, in this story, for Ellie, the answer is no. "I'm gonna find, and I'm gonna kill every last one of them," I think she could've added, "No matter what it costs me." Her future happiness. Neil Druckmann brought up a possible part III, and perhaps this part could imply a redemption from Ellie. She tells JJ that behind this door there are only bad things, maybe in the end, she goes to these bad things, to try to destroy as much as possible. And to finally be able to do what Joel stealed from her, and finally answer this question of why she is immunizing, why her ? To save people.

Ellie can't move on. She has a lot of nightmares, she's been through a trauma and can't get over it. Despite the peaceful life she has with Dina and JJ, she is not happy, at least not entirely. Part of her has stayed in that house near Jackson, on the ground where Joel died cruelly. And that part she'll never get back, and she doesn't know it, but even killing Abby wouldn't change anything. Ellie lost too many people, and Joel was the one person she couldn't lose. But even if she doesn't give in to the last siren of vengeance, the damage is already done. After Nora, whom she tortures for information, Owen's death and his pregnant girlfriend, it's too late. Not to mention all the other people she had to kill to get there. It's not without consequences,the guilt is too big,for what she did to those people and also for Joel,who she feels she has to avenge,rightly or wrongly,out of love,out of loyalty, or both.

And it's very clear when she kills Owen and then Mel. Of course, she's just defending herself, she didn't want to kill them, she just wanted to know where Abby was. And most of all, she didn't know Mel was pregnant, and in that moment, she knows she's gone too far, that her revenge cost her too much. But it's really when she sees Jesse die, when she thinks Tommy's dead, too, and she almost lost Dina, that she gives up on revenge, for now. She chooses a quiet life with Dina, but Tommy won't give it up, and Ellie is still very affected by Joel's death.

She must avenge Joel, even if it means losing everything, she will find Abby. She'll finally give up on killing her, and I completely agree with that choice. All this was for nothing? Well, yes, because Ellie realized too late that revenge would never heal Joel's death, would never make up for her great loss, and that Abby's death wouldn't bring Joel back. The problem is, she realizes that too late, she already lost everything else, including herself.

As far as I'm concerned, she knows the farm will be empty, she just needs to go back, as if the last bit of happiness she has left is in this house. And maybe, with a spark of hope, that the person she loves the most after Joel, hasn't abandoned her. I think she also thinks that Dina and JJ deserve better than her, someone who got lost on the path to revenge, a ghost of the Ellie that Dina fell in love with.

Yeah, it's not a happy story, but that was never the point. I think it's hard to imagine the world they live in compared to ours. This is not a world where happiness exists, and if it does exist, it is hard to find, let alone keep.

The game did something very daring, making us play Joel's killer. It's ballsy, isn't it! And yes, bad guys have a life, a story, and a reason to do what they do. They're just as human. I hated Abby, that's a strong word, but I wish Ellie had killed her right then and there, and then I was forced into her head. Abby lost her father, and so did Ellie. Joel killed Abby's father, and she killed Ellie's father. An eye for an eye? A lot of people hate Abby, so I'm going to put it another way. Would you have let your father's killer live? Abby couldn't. It's very legitimate, I wish she'd killed him quickly, his death was cruel. But as much as Joel's choice... All the loss, all the hardship, all of it could have been stopped with the vaccine. All because of Joel. Maybe you wish she would've kissed him and thanked him?

And yet, she spares Ellie and Tommy and Dina, something she's gonna regret, by the way. Because, later, Tommy kills Manny, her best friend. And Ellie kills Owen, the man she loves. And once again, in spite of that, she spares Ellie again. This time, her mercy will save her life, when Ellie delivers her from this new group of slavers she meets. (Ellie the breaker of chains xD) Abby doesn't want to fight anymore, doesn't want revenge. She gives up punishing Owen and Mel's murderer, and their babies, and also the others. (If Abby knows about Nora, etc.)

She knows what it cost her to take revenge, it didn't bring her father back, it didn't ease her grief, and that caused the death of her closest friends, when Ellie, in turn, wanted get revenge. The price is too high. I had no particular affinity with Abby, but I understand her character. In her quest for revenge, Abby only kills the man responsible for her father's death, when Ellie wanted to kill them all, and kills many. Abby also has her bad choices, she condones Isaac's torture methods which are just horrible, but her revenge has not controlled her like she did to control Ellie. Punishing the one responsible was enough, but not for Ellie.Yes, at the beginning, I wanted Abby to die, and kudos to the developers, because at the time when Ellie had her hands around her neck, I had only one thought, let her live, please… Well done to make us pass from a desire for revenge to an act of pity.Yes, Ellie made the wrong choice, but could she make another one? In a world like that, I don't know, it's very difficult to imagine the impact of such a harsh universe on our psychology. But it shows that revenge brings nothing, it takes everything. And hatred also does nothing good, especially if it is your main driver.

This is a great lesson that the developers are giving us, it pushes us to question certain morality, and that was their goal. Our world is also filled with hatred, and some people give in to it so easily. I don’t understand how you can feel all this hatred for people who just created a video game ... Isn’t there a bigger fight in the world? Racism, homophobia, slavery (yes, yes it still exists), pedophilia, rapists, misogynists, the people who govern us, the powerful who buy everything with money, animal and family mistreatment … Why waste time on developers whose only fault is wanting to create a game to entertain people? Were they not successful for you? Go on to something else. And I'm not even talking about everyone who hates the game without ever even playing it. It's just a game. There are more serious things that deserve your anger, don't you think?

This is my opinion and I give it with all the objectivity I can. If the game was bad, I would not have wasted time writing all of this in another language, I would have moved on but that is not the case. Yes this game is huge! And even more because it highlights things that some people want to hide. Personally, I loved that the two characters we play are female! Especially on such dark themes !! It's always for men... two women, who want revenge, who gives in to the darkest and most human emotions. Not men, finally. Thank you Naughty Dog. A gay heroine! I love, and I don't understand all the controversy around LGBTQ propaganda ... So, according to this reasoning, do other games make heterosexual propaganda ?? And gay people have to go through this ?! It's a shame !

No, I'm not gay, I have no personal interest in defending it, just the freedom of everyone to be able to live. It is out of the question that people live unhappy all their life, just so as not to shock people who are too closed to understand that the sexual life of others does not concern them ... More games like that please, and with men too… because homosexuality in the media is often represented by women.

I also didn't understand that we can take offense for the visit to a synagogue ... Should we blame Assassin's Creed for all the cathedrals in which we did stunts and break a lot of things ??

Again, everyone has the right to like or not like the game, but I don’t think you should be so disrespectful of all those people who worked hard on this game. Especially when it’s unwarranted. And I know something about it, I watched GoT season 8, I know what it's like to betray the soul of a story Clearly, this is not the case, here. I’ve seen some very constructive reviews explaining how amazing this game is, but it couldn’t please everyone, and I’m sorry for all those who didn’t like it (those who played well sure, the others are not legitimate for me) but don’t prevent us from enjoying this game, especially if we can have a sequel.

I needed to put all my thoughts on my keyboard, and on my blog, because as I said at the very beginning, this game affected me deeply and it is, for me, the best game I ever played. (sorry RDR 2, sorry Arthur, but Ellie gave you a nice slap there 😋 ) I highly recommend it! However, I know that it cannot please everyone, like all works of art, it’s subjective.

I would like to end with my favorite scenes, no matter they made me smile or cry, because there are really magic and unforgettable moments. Not necessarily rank in order of preference.

- The guitar scene with Dina. The cover of "Take on me" which is just beautiful, I still listen to it often, and it's a moment of peace (like the giraffes in the first one) in this terrible world.

- The scene where Joel takes Ellie to the science museum. Same, wonderful moment in this world of brute. And a wonderful gift from Joel to his daughter. I'm still crying. And that is to bring it perfectly, they could have put this scene to us before his death, it would not have had the same impact. After Joel's death, it hits where it should.

- Of course, the scene where Ellie and Joel talks about his choice to save her. This moment, or Ellie tells him that she can't forgive him yet, that she may never be able to, but that she wants to try, I think that is also one of the reasons why Ellie doesn't want to give up on revenge. Joel died when she still resented him, and they were both on cold terms. She can't forgive herself.

- The scene where Dina offers her her bracelet, I love this bracelet.

- All the null jokes of Ellie !!!! xD

- I cry when Ellie thinks that Dina could leave her for Jesse. And then after, when she comforted her.

- The scene at the farm, when Ellie is walking with JJ, I loved it, she seems happy, but shortly after, we realize that this is not the case, or rather, that something is missing, or someone… The scene of the return to the farm, for me has made it harder, already because it's the end, because Dina is no longer there, even if it was easy to imagine. And the scene where it seems to me that she plays the song that Joel sang to her. She lost him, And then she lost herself. The song he sang to her at the beginning sums it all up. This is the saddest scene for me. In the first game, Ellie told Joel that all the people she has ever loved are dead or have abandoned her. She finds herself alone, and it's partly her fault.

Various :

I hate having to hit Ellie while playing Abby, especially with her arms so big, she must hurt very much!! I'm not a fan of tattoos but Ellie's is just beautiful! I would like to visit a little more Santa Barbara, it changes from Seattle ^^But Seattle is really beautiful. The lifespan of the game is enormous and the difficulty much bigger than the first one. In normal mode I sometimes suffered a lot ^^ Naughty Dog has dared to model the penises of the infected !!! (Yes, I took photos, no I would not show them xD)

The first game had given us a tragic death from the start, Sarah. She is the first playable character for a very short time, and we are just walking with her. And witness helplessly at her death. The second game does the same, but it’s her father who dies this time just after we play a little with him, just for a horse riding with Tommy. Poetic ?

Yes, the game has faults, some bugs, some passages are long, but given the quality it offers us, personally, I forget these faults, nothing is perfect, nothing needs to be.

And the only criticism I have of this game is that I wanted to play with Ellie a bit more (it's relative, the game still has a long life, but I'm greedy, I wanted more of Ellie). I really want to play with her again and I hope that where she goes, she will be fine. I liked her in the first opus, I love her now. She enters the top of my favorite fictional characters, with Daenerys Targaryen, Ellie in second place, and Arthur Morgan (sorry for your second place big boy 😋 ) And I now understand the Youtubers who said that they envied us for still having to discover the game and the scenario. Now, I wish I could forget it and find out again. What is certain is that I will not be able to say goodbye to Ellie, impossible. She deserves a very, very big hug after everything they've done to her.

I haven't read the leaks, I haven't been spoiled at all, and I hate that. I trusted a Youtuber when the fans started to hate the game, without ever playing it, and I was right. For those who compare The Last of Us with GoT: I read the leaks of GoT, I was happy to have done it given the parody they did of the show, I would have really regretted having read the The Last of Us part II leaks. Reading and living the game are two different things.

I probably forgot some things, I will do a second part, I may add things later.

This game is simply and deeply human. In these most beautiful qualities, and especially in these worst flaws.

Best game ever. My opinion.

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ariainstars · 5 years

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Skywalker Men - The „X“ Factor in the Equation

Recently I have heard and read quite a few interpretations of the Star Wars sequels; and regarding its conclusion, there seem to be two major theories.

1. Kylo Ren will pay for what he did and end in a terrible way, making the way free for Rey as the heroine who will save the galaxy, and who maybe also will turn out to be a Skywalker / Solo / Kenobi after all. 2. Kylo will be Ben Solo again and Rey will be the one who brings him back to the light.

But we know that this is the Skywalker saga. As Luke himself said, “This is not going to go the way you think.”

The two above-mentioned developments are, each in its own way, the most logical and straightforward ones, depending on whether you see the protagonist as Kylo Ren the villain due to his crimes, or as Ben Solo the hero undercover / the victim due to his uncle’s betrayal and Snoke’s manipulation.

But when you are dealing with a Skywalker, you can be certain only of one thing: the unexpected. Because the Skywalker is always the X factor in the equation.

Every Skywalker man is a hot emotional mess. Their impulsiveness is one of the major factors of the saga, urging the plot on. And that’s not wrong in itself: if they make a spontaneous decision reaching out to someone, it turns to be the right thing in the end. It’s when they make things only about themselves that they fail.

With characters like Obi-Wan, Yoda, Han or Leia to name a few, you usually know where you’re at. Their personalities are well-defined and you can foresee what they will do from a mile away. Han sometimes is spontaneous too, but his actions are dictated by slyness, not by rushed emotions. Being Anakin’s daughter, Leia is hot-headed too, but due to having been raised a princess even if she takes sudden action, she never loses her sense of responsibility and always thinks of the common good.

With a Skywalker, you are definitively always in for surprises. They often don’t do what they are expected to do, whether from us viewers or from the characters around them.

Skywalkers usually do not explain or justify themselves. They do not speak about these spontaneous acts, which leads both viewers and the figures around them wonder about their motivations and to judge them, depending on whether we or they see them as the heroes or the villains (or, occasionally, as the fools) of the story.

Prequels

Anakin Skywalker’s very existence is a mystery. He is the most powerful Jedi of all and comes from the humblest beginnings. His mother is not even aware of how she got pregnant with him.

It is 9-year-old Anakin who brings the Naboo Battle to a closure, destroying the droid’s control station which was orbiting the planet. All he did was to “stay in the cockpit”.

On his mother’s death, Anakin lashes out for the first time. His anger and grief are understandable, however it is as terrible as it is unexpected that it will push him so far as to kill the entire tusken village.

Knowing the original story we were of course aware that Anakin would marry Padmé; however to the Jedi, this was unthinkable because they would never have guessed that a Jedi would dare to oppose their strict code. Even Obi-Wan did not know for years, until on realizing that Padmé was pregnant he finally put two and two together.

Anakin’s marriage may seem foolish, immoral or romantic depending on your point of view. In any case, it’s crucially important because without this marriage, the two children who will later bring down the Empire would not have been born.

Again, as viewers we did know that Anakin would turn to the Sith. But the Jedi did not see it coming and they could not stop him. Obi-Wan was shocked on finding out that the one who had killed the Jedi younglings was indeed his former apprentice, saying over and over to Yoda that he could not believe it.

On Mustafar, Padmé almost succeeded in convincing Anakin to leave everything behind him and come back with her. It is interesting that she still had the power to do that (thus proving that there still was good in him) despite the horrible things he had done.

Would Obi-Wan have suspected that Anakin would survive Mustafar, a quadruple amputee burning in the lava? Assuredly not. That’s why he left him behind. We can only imagine his reaction on finding out that Lord Vader, Palpatine’s right hand and the scourge of the galaxy, had been built from Anakin’s miserable remainders.

Classics

Luke proves right away to be a true Skywalker when he learns that Leia is about to be executed. He is in terrible danger on an unknown space station and he has never met the girl in person, but he immediately feels that he has to rescue her.

Darth Vader is Moff Tarkin’s subordinate. But the suggestion to let the rebels leave the Death Star in order to track them down comes from him - a risky tactic that proves to be fatal. Not being a Skywalker, Tarkin would certainly never have come up with such an unexpected idea.

Despite the protests of both his mentors, Luke rushes to Bespine because he feels Han’s and Leia’s distress. To Obi-Wan and Yoda, both straightforward characters, the obvious thing for him to do would be to stay on Dagobah and complete his training. But as usual, Luke follows his heart.

The probably most unexpected plot twist in movie history: “I am your father.”

Not only is the fact in itself totally unpredicted, it’s that Vader does tell Luke at all, in an attempt to keep his son with him. Knowing the truth, Luke can no longer hate Vader. From this moment on, he is lost to the Dark Side.

When the Falcon first escapes, Vader does what everybody would have expected him to do: he chokes captain Needa to death. On its second escape, he just exits the bridge wordlessly. The encounter with his son seems to have shaken him more than he thought.

Why is Return of the Jedi the quintessential Skywalker film, the peak of the classic trilogy? Because so many things happen that no one would have foreseen.

Luke tries to solve matters with Jabba the Hutt diplomatically. Any kick-ass action hero would have entered his cave showing his strength and skills right from the start. Luke only grabs his light sabre at the very last moment.

Darth Vader, the cold-blooded killer, the most iconic villain, is still salvageable? “There is still good in him, Leia.” No one but his son could have realized this unexpected truth.

A decision that is controversial in the eyes of many fans to this day: Luke’s decision to give up fighting.

Palpatine has done his utmost to corrupt Luke, trying over and over to create enmity between father and son. Luke refuses to be separated from his father once more: he proclaims himself to be a Jedi “like my father before me.”

His loyalty is ultimately what brings the Empire down.

Although it costs him his life, Vader destroys Palpatine in order to rescue his son - another spontaneous decision taken at the very last moment, so unexpected that even Palpatine, who knew him so well and for so long, did not see it coming.

Sequels

Adult Luke is normally a calm and self-controlled person. But on sensing his nephew’s power, he is overwhelmed by a sudden moment of panic, and he draws his light sabre because he fears the loss of everything he loves.

Kylo Ren has no qualms killing innocents and torturing prisoners. But as he interrogates Rey, he is surprisingly gentle.

We see Kylo interact with Han on the bridge: his words to Snoke “He means nothing to me” were obviously false, he does feel something for his father. Yet he commits the patricide. He does the unthinkable, believing in Snoke’s words that this will finally end the conflict inside of him pushing him to the Dark Side for good.

Kylo would have had the opportunity to kill both Finn and Rey who are untrained with the light sabre. But he only wounds Finn (despite calling him a traitor, too) and lets Rey go unscathed.

After his terrible deed, we would expect Kylo to now be the ultimate villain. But as we see his face again a few days after the patricide, he is obviously deeply traumatized.

On her visit in the cave, Rey is confronted with her loneliness. The only person who offers her companionship and empathy is the alleged villain.

Ben does not speak with Rey about his intentions. He kills Snoke when he was least expecting it, taking both Snoke and Rey entirely by surprise.

Again, surprise: Luke is not really on Crait, he’s a Force projection. He uses his nephew’s anger against him in order to save his sister and her resistance, and to end the battle on Crait without spilling one drop of blood. A move that is as cunning as it is compassionate.

After the battle, Kylo would still have the time to send someone to go after the Falcon and shoot it down. But despite his assertion to destroy everything he just remains back, crying silently.

Now about the theories for Episode IX.

Being the last of the Skywalker family Kylo Ren / Ben Solo is, again, the X factor in the saga’s equation. Like with his grandfather before him, we know too little about his background to really know what we’re at. We see the sequels more through Rey’s eyes, which is why we tend to mistake her as the protagonist; hence the above mentioned two main theories for the saga’s conclusion.

Kylo is not predictable. He will most certainly make a few decisions no one would have reckoned with. As Lor San Tekka said right from the start, he cannot deny the truth that is his family. All we can do is hope that he will act for the right reasons.

What makes everybody wonder about the Skywalker men, is the same over and over: what do they want after all?

One would expect the protagonist of an action saga, of a hero’s journey, to do what action heroes usually pursue: save the world, kill the villain, get the girl. One would expect a Jedi to always do the right thing and a villain always to do evil. It is admittedly irritating when the protagonist takes unexpected turns over and over.

Knowing the Skywalkers, what I believe they ultimately want is belonging. They are fiercely loyal, but it can literally drive them out of their minds if their loyalty is not requited. And unfortunately, their power often makes people mistrust them, using them at times, but not really requiting their services with trust and appreciation. Snoke’s downfall came due to the fact that he showed his apprentice lack of respect, a huge mistake Palpatine never made with Vader.

Anakin had to give up his mother and his wish of becoming a pilot. He did all he could to suppress his emotions in order to find belonging with the Jedi, to no avail: they never trusted him. When he feared to lose the only ones he did belong to - his wife and unborn children - he lost himself. Only when his son proclaimed his loyalty to him did he turn and find belonging again.

Ben Solo, too, originally had the wish of becoming a pilot. He did struggle to become a Jedi, but he got unsettled when his parents sent him away from home and pushed over the edge when his own uncle seemed to give up on him.

Luke is the exception because he is so deeply human, and so accepting of other people’s humanness, that people can’t help but trust him. Luke is always more a human being than a Jedi. He does employ his powers but they do not define him as a person.

So, if we try to guess how the saga will end, we must not ask ourselves what Rey will do.

Will she kill Kylo Ren, making him pay for his crimes?

Will she save him with love and forgiveness?

I don’t think that’s the right question to make. The question is: what will he do?

Kylo committing some other horrible, unpardonable crime? No actual surprise there after the patricide.

Ben helping / saving / joining Rey? No surprise there either, after all the times he reached out for her.

If the Skywalkers were not the way they are, their saga would not be half as captivating and the plot twists not half as fascinating. Who wants to follow a story where most everything goes as expected?

With a Skywalker guy, the only thing to be expected is the unexpected.

Let’s keep our hopes up and tuned.

P.S. I did write a few meta’s about my own theories for Episode IX, you may want to check them out. Yes, I know, I’m a bloody tease. Guilty as charged. 😉

#star wars #skywalker family #luke skywalker #anakin skywalker #ben solo #kylo ren #princess leia #obi-wan kenobi #yoda #Jedi council #padme amidala #bendepmtion #rey #darth vader #episode IX #read more

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linphd · 5 years

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adult!kirishima x adult!reader | sunshine [angst]

eijiro kirishima x reader

gender neutral

Kirishima realizes it's going to be his last fight, and he's sorry that he won't be able to get older with you.

warning : angst, death, tiny tiny bit graphic

inspired by the movie love me if you dare

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.

You make me happy, when skies are grey.

Eijiro and you had been knowing each other since elementary school. He just ended up acting like your best friend even though you didn't know each other during the first year, and you guys just got stuck together since that day. However, what stuck with you both was those dares you were giving each other.

It started quite easily. You had found a rock that was the shape of a heart, and you had found it amusing. ''Hey, I have an idea !'' Eijiro had said. ''What is it ?'' You had asked him. ''Dare : throw the rock at Mrs.Riyusa's door ! She's a mean lady, she deserves it !'' He had said, giggling. ''It won't break the door, right ?'' He had shaken his head, and you did it.

You both immediately ran away when the rock hit the door, hiding somewhere when you were both out of breath. ''Oh my God, that was so fun ! Next time, it'll be your turn to give me a dare !'' The black-haired boy had told you. Oh boy, both of you didn't know that you guys would play this game almost everyday since that day.

Eijiro had developed a crush on you in middle school, even though during those years, you didn’t really care about boys. However, he had managed to make you fall for him once he started to dye his hair red and get it spiky. ‘’Dare : you die your hair in red.’’ You had said, once he showed you his drawing of his hero costume. ‘’It would fit more !’’ Well, it was a dare. He had to do it, anyway.

You hadn’t planned him to turn out this handsome with it, but you guys started dating during your first year at U.A. The first date was so awkward. ‘’Eijiro, we’ve been friends for years, don’t be embarrassed now...’’ You had told him. But he couldn’t help it ! He was finally going to date you, of course he was nervous and embarrassed !

But he couldn’t be happier when that awkwardness went away throughout time ; you were dating and best friends ?! So manly ! You guys were barely fighting ? Manlier ! Your relationship was so perfect people were envious. But you couldn’t blame them ; who wouldn’t like to date Eijiro Kirishima ?

In that position you were in, you were remembering those precious dares. The most common one was ‘dare : go get the jug of water’ because you were lazy and you knew he wouldn’t turn off a dare. Sometimes he would refuse to do some of them, but he was giving you those puppy eyes everytime, so you were accepting his refusal. The best dare he had given you was : ‘dare : pee on the chair’ when you guys were 7 and you had that mean teacher that was terrifying all the kids.

But you were pro heroes now, and with great powers come great responsibilities. You couldn’t use your quirk, having swords all over your body ; not vital organs, you were going to survive. Blood coming off your shoulders, your sides, one of your thigh. Some blood coming off your mouth from that pain, as well. Like you were supposed to watch, without doing anything. Yeah, to watch.

Eijiro was using his hardening quirk. A villain had thrown a very powerful attack on a building, and you couldn’t rescue anyone that was in, because you couldn’t move at all. Your man was the one protecting everyone. With his hard body, he was restraining the attack from touching the whole building and destroying it, killing all the inhabitants within it in the process.

You didn’t know it yet, maybe you weren’t able to even process it ; Eijiro had to sacrifice himself. He was about to die. And maybe you couldn’t even think of such a thing, but he knew it. Else, he was stopping his quirk and everyone was going to die ; which wasn’t heroic. Else, he was hardening more and more to restrain the attack until other heroes were arriving, which would surely be too late because all the villains had decided to attack at the same time and everyone was busy.

That’s why he turned to look at you. ''You know, there are a lot of dares I would've done if you had asked me !’’ You frowned. ‘’Like what ?’’ You couldn’t understand why he was talking about that in such a moment. ‘’Slap Bakugou, dance like an idiot during an hero meeting so the paparazzis think I'm dumb, eat some ants !'' The last one made you laugh. ‘‘You didn’t have to dare me to love you forever, because I will !’’

Maybe your unconscious knew something, because you were feeling awfully bad. Never once in your life you had felt like in that instant, and you couldn’t even tell why.

‘’Eijiro, what are you talking about ?’’ That’s when he started to grind his teeth, trying to prevent tears from falling -he was succeeding in not to make them fall, but not to make them form. ‘’I... I won’t make it, (Y/N).’’ And you gasped, before crying instantly. That was that horrible feeling you had ; you knew that it was what he was going to say. ‘’Just stop restraining it ! Please !’’ You yelled. Maybe people would tell that you didn’t care about the inhabitants of your country, that you weren’t a real hero. But at the moment, you didn’t have any other plan to save him. You couldn’t.

The villains were just enjoying the scene in front of them. What a great show for them, hm ? ‘’I DARE YOU TO DO IT, EIJIRO KIRISHIMA !’’ You screamed from the top of your lungs. He stopped grinding his teeth, and fully looked at you -since he had been focused on the villains as well. His tears couldn’t help but fall, even though he didn’t seem to notice it. ‘’I... I can’t...’’ He had said, with those same puppy eyes he was giving everytime. And you knew he was really going not to do that dare.

You could see that he was struggling to restrain the attack more and more, but he was still giving you fully his attention. ‘’(Y/N), baby, listen. You’re the love of my life. And all those years with you, have been the greatest of my life ever. I’ve never been able to thank you like I should’ve. And you can marry someone else, you can have/adopt kids, please be happy, okay ?’’

You were tying to get out of those swords, but you only managed to make them get deeper into your body, and never you had felt so shitty and useless in your whole life before. You wanted to talk, as well, but Eijiro wasn’t letting you talk back. ‘’Just find a really nice husband, else I will be mad ! He needs to treat you very well !’’ You whined. ‘’But how do you want me to find someone like you...’’ He snorted.

‘’I really love you. I’ve never loved someone as much as I love you.’’ He repeated. ‘’I love you too. Please, please just let it pass, Eijiro, plea-‘’ but you got cut off. ‘’Dare : you let me save everyone. The other heroes are on their way, but I won’t be able to harden even more. I’m so sorry, baby, you know I wouldn’t do it if I had any other solution.’’ He was crying as well, and you couldn’t even find anything else to say.

‘’Dare : you love me forever and never forget about me. But I know you won’t. I’m your sunshine, right ?’’ And as if you weren’t a crying mess already, you lost it even more at the nickname. He really was your sunshine, and how were you going to do anything without him ? However, he smiled when he saw you crying even more. He smiled because he noticed how much you loved him.

Because maybe you weren’t able to tell him with words, but he could see, now that he was going to die, that he had been the person you had loved the most in your entire life. ‘’Yes you are !’’ You managed to tell him. He smiled further, his pointy teeth showing. ‘’I love you.’’ You giggled at the sight. ‘’I love you too. So much.’’ And that said, the attack killed him. Maybe he had let it go because he was done with his goodbyes. But he died as a hero.

He had protected the whole building by sacrificing himself, the attack exploding his whole chest, blood everywhere on his body. You had yelled so bad, not any sound was coming out of your throat at some point. And you didn’t for how long you’ve yelled, until a villain approached you, another of those paralyzing swords in his hand.

You looked at him dead in the eye, even if your vision was blurry because of all those tears. You didn’t say anything, but you really hoped that he was going to kill you. With his free hand, he touched your cheek and looked at his thumb ; blood. Eijiro’s blood. You had some of it on you. He pointed the sword to your head, and you really couldn’t think much of it. The last thing you heard was the villain laughing, a big explosion and the voices of Katsuki and Izuku. And then you passed out.

You’ll never know dear, how much I love you.

Please don’t take my sunshine away.

I wrote this at 1am and I’m bawling my eyes out

THIS WILL HAVE A SEQUEL OKAY

(spoil : I can’t stand an angst with kirishima so it’ll be a happy sequel kinda weird to say it but you’ll understand why I say that when you’ll read it)

#bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #angst #kirishima x reader #eijiro x reader #eijiro kirishima #kirishima eijiro

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kopykunoichi · 4 years

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The Legacy of Star Wars: An Open Letter to the Writers and Creators of A Galaxy Far, Far Away

“Suddenly the Rebellion is real for you. Some of us live it. I’ve been in this fight since I was six years old!” ~ Cassian Andor

I saw a great meme once that played off that quote, meant to depict an older fan describing to a newer fan how they had been invested in the story of Star Wars from childhood. I could relate. Though I am not old enough to have seen the original Star Wars movies in theater, they were a significant part of my childhood. I remember renting the original theatrical VHS from our local video store all the time when I was little. Then we bought the digitally remastered Special Edition VHS Box Set and I spent the next decade wearing them out! We would have popcorn and Star Wars marathons all the time. My friends and I would always pretend we were in the story. My swingset was the Millennium Falcon. I was that 11-year-old girl who would argue with my friends over who was hotter - Luke or Han. (The correct answer is Han, of course!) My mother would read the Expanded Universe novels to me in the afternoons and we would talk about the characters. All my spending money went to Jedi Apprentice books and 6 inch action figures. In short, I loved Star Wars.

I was 13 when The Phantom Menace hit theaters, and I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to get to see new stories from my favorite fictional universe play out on the big screen. Though I struggled a bit with some of the acting, the story was absolutely amazing to me. Star Wars felt all the more real to me with the amazing graphics and intense action sequences - not to mention the layers of politics and the complexity of the story. I watched Revenge of the Sith several times in theaters, and though it broke my heart to see Anakin’s fall, I never considered it to be a sad ending overall, when taken as a whole with the original trilogy.

When the Clone Wars aired in 2008, I was ecstatic. Here was an Anakin I could actually get into (sorry, Hayden). I loved him. I adored Ahsoka. I wanted to marry Rex. The character development and the plot deepened my attachment to that era, and made me question everything I had previously taken for granted as good and bad. The whole system was flawed - the Republic and the Jedi. It wasn’t just a matter of mistakes being made and the wool being pulled over their eyes, there was deep rooted corruption in the side that I once felt was “good”. The light side and the dark side were not as black and white as I thought. I found myself strongly disliking some of the “good guys” and deeply sympathizing with some downright detestable people (I don’t know how you got me to care for Maul, Filoni - but well done). While the series had not yet ended, we knew where it was going. But still, we had already lived through the pain of Order 66, and we knew that the story would eventually culminate in a victory at the end of Return of the Jedi.

I couldn’t believe our luck when the first installment of the sequel trilogy hit the theaters in 2015. It had some of the feelings of a reboot, but I was beyond thrilled to have a series of Star Wars movies that I could now share with my children, as my parents had shared them with me. Though it was hard to say goodbye to the first love of my life, Han Solo - I just knew that Ben would be redeemed and Han’s sacrifice would be worth it...

2016 brought us Rogue One. We knew how that one was going to end too, but we still ate it up. I fell in love with a whole new set of characters, only to see each and every one of them die in the end. Talk about tragedy. But Leia’s line about hope reminded us that five minutes later, a whiny little farm boy was about to have his whole life upended in the best sort of way...so it was okay. Sort of.

Four years of Rebels ended in 2018, and it was so, so lovely - but it hurt so, so much. My perfect, beautiful space family had been torn apart with Kanan’s death. Ezra was missing. Rex was a 29-year-old man who should have been in his prime, but was instead struggling with the wear and tear of a 60-year-old body. Ahsoka was separated from him - AGAIN - and then she left with Sabine to look for Ezra. The ending still held the promise of the fight to come with the Empire, but the majority of our characters were left in a place of grief and brokenness.

2019 brought an end to the sequel trilogy. Once again, we had characters who pulled at our heartstrings, and an interesting struggle between “light” and “dark” that reminded me of the complexities introduced in The Clone Wars. It became more apparent than ever that balance in the Force did not mean the light triumphing over the dark, but instead a harmony between the two. At least, that’s what I thought. Until I watched every person I loved from the original trilogy die, Palpatine come back (and die) again, and the same exact ending of Return of the Jedi played out before me - except not as happy. Why? Because Anakin’s legacy had been reduced to ashes - his rise, fall, redemption, and sacrifice rendered null and void. The last Skywalker was redeemed and promptly killed, just like his grandfather. But because Rey Palpatine decided that she identified as Rey Skywalker, it was supposed to be okay. She then went to go hang out (or live?) alone on Tatooine because that’s where it all started. I was dumbfounded. This was the satisfying, hopeful, ending we were promised? How?

Believe it or not, I’m not here to trash the sequels - I enjoyed them very much - right up until the last 20 minutes. But in that space of time, the entire legacy of the Skywalker family went up in smoke, and the legacy of Star Wars along with it. Since Return of the Jedi, there have been no happy endings to a Star Wars movie trilogy or TV show. And with the ending of The Rise of Skywalker, that one happy ending we did have was ripped from us as well. Star Wars is now a never ending series of tragic endings. The lessons we are left with: Don’t fall in love in Star Wars, it will end badly. Your actions ultimately result in failure. As soon as you turn good, you die. There is no balance in the Force, just a pendulum swinging back and forth for all time.

Then The Clone Wars finally got her last season. I didn’t think Order 66 could have hurt worse, but Filoni set out to prove us all wrong...and succeeded. I’m still not over it. And once more, the bitterness I felt over the ending to the sequels (which had begun to subside) flared up all over again. What was it all for? All that pain. All that sacrifice. No happy endings.

I still love Star Wars. Nothing can take that away from me. No amount of bad writing can change that. And there are still plenty of good writers and creators working on Star Wars content. But good writers spinning tales of tragedy and endless pain negates the power of good writing. The Star Wars of my childhood is not the Star Wars of today. We wore out those VHS tapes because we loved the stories and the people. But my kids are not going to wear out DVDs where everyone they love dies or ends up alone. They aren’t going to queue up those digital movies and series over and over - because who wants to subject themselves to that kind of torture?

Just about the only safe space for Star Wars fans right now is fanfiction archives where the people who love the characters are busy writing fix-it fics to squeeze some sort of satisfying ending out of the canon content. The Mandalorian is literally our last hope for a Star Wars story that has the potential to end well. I swear, if Din Djarin ends up dead or alone at the end of this series, I’m going to lose it. The overwhelming sentiment of the Star Wars fanbase - from original trilogy fanboys to Tumblr blogging Reylos, and everyone in between - is that of dissatisfaction with canon content (with the exception of The Mandalorian). So much so, that many fans are just saying “screw it” and churning out a myriad of fanfiction AUs because there is no way to salvage what has been written. Half of Tumblr is in therapy after The Rise of Skywalker ending and the last episode of Clone Wars - but they weren’t exactly stable to begin with. The other forums and social media platforms are not much better, though.

It’s not just about the quality of writing - because Filoni and co. have done exceptional work with The Clone Wars, Rebels, and The Mandalorian. It’s the tragedy, guys. We can’t take it anymore. Is this really what we want the Star Wars legacy to be? Sadness? Despair? It’s a story about war - people are going to die. I get that. Victory comes at a price, but the cost can’t be worse than the victory. I want to sit down with my kids and watch Star Wars over and over again. The Mandalorian has given us a taste of that - but I’m almost afraid of where it will go. We’ve been burned so many times, I’m beginning to know what Anakin felt like on Mustafar - writhing in agony and screaming “I hate you” to someone he once loved.

I remember happier days when Luke and Leia and Han were laughing and smiling with their friends while Yoda, Obi-Wan, and Anakin looked on. I want that back. Filoni. Favreau. Creators. Writers. Producers. Directors. You are our only hope for canon content. Use The Mandalorian wisely. Use Din’s story to bless other characters. Here’s some ideas:

Let Din have a happy ending! Preferably with someone he loves and respects at his side (like Cara).

Let Cara become a Mandalorian - and put Paz Vizsla in charge of her training (we need to see them spar).

Let what’s left of the Tribe establish a new Mandalorian colony - and let Sabine Wren lead it. And give her that Darksaber back - she earned it.

Let Ezra come back from regions unknown with a deeper understanding of the Force, and have him train the child in the new colony.

Forget the Jedi and Sith, let’s start a medical training center/hospital run by Force users who can help heal people when modern medicine fails!

Ahsoka can use her talents for that too.

Find the rest of the child’s race and bring any of their Force sensitives onboard.

Let Boba Fett and Din have their epic showdown, but then use a sample of Boba’s unaltered DNA and some mystical Force healing to restore Rex’s body to what a 43-year-old should be (and then he can marry Ahsoka so we can have the Clone/Jedi couple we always wanted...thanks to you, Filoni).

Let the Mandalorians partner with the New Republic in the Outer Rim as law enforcement instead of bounty hunters, so they can get their reputation back.

They can train new recruits and pilots, just like Fenn Rau trained clones.

Let them keep their autonomy and traditions, while helping keep the New Republic honest.

Let them be a force for good in the galaxy, for once.

The Mandalorian could serve as the vessel to give a lot of characters with unresolved or tragic storylines some closure and better endings. If not The Mandalorian, then other new shows. My 6-year-old daughter wants nothing more than to be Ahsoka Tano. My 3-year-old son asks me to watch The Mandalorian every day. My 18-month-old daughter walks around in her brother’s Mandalorian helmet babbling “Way”. Please let me share the Star Wars legacy that I grew up loving with them. Let me show them the happy endings I enjoyed. Let me show them that even in the midst of conflict, not every life has to be ruined. Let me show them a Star Wars story with a satisfying ending. Hope. Redemption. Love. That’s what Star Wars means to me.

May the Force be With You (and your pens),

Rebekah, A Star Wars Fan

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toomuchtimenerd · 4 years

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Review for ‘A Curse So Dark and Lonely’ by Brigid Kemmerer

Aaaand here’s yet another popular retelling of ‘Beauty and the Beast’. So something to know about me - I LOVE fairy tale retellings. I grew up on a lot of fairy tales, lots of Disney princess movies (most of which are based off fairy tales or in the case of Mulan, a ballad/folk legend). I’m pretty sure growing up I had this giant anthology of a bunch of old European fairy tales that had been adapted for children’s reading. I’m pretty sure my love for magic, fantasy, and all kinds of other-worldly things stems from how much I read and re-read everything in that kid’s anthology as an eight year old or something. Nowadays, I am on the lookout for anthologies with adaptations of folk lore from other cultures. Hopefully I will soon find some that seem promising.

So A Curse So Dark and Lonely is, interestingly, not a stand-alone and its sequel came out earlier this month. I opted to stop after the first book and not pick up the sequel, for reasons that I will divulge in later. A Curse, like The Cruel Prince, has incredibly favorable reviews on Goodreads, and for good reason really. It’s just unfortunate that neither of these two books quite hit the spot for me. Perhaps in the future I will pick up the sequel for A Curse, but with the third book planned for a late 2021 release I probably will not be reading A Curse So Fierce and Broken anytime soon. Something already tells me that I may have to put recreational reading on the back burner for an extended period of time once again when I go back to school. Sadface

A Curse So Dark and Lonely loosely follows the widely known story line for ‘Beauty and the Beast’, with notable changes in that the main character (Harper) has cerebral palsy and is transported from our non-magical contemporary world to the magical kingdom of Emberfall. Our Prince Rhen does not adopt the appearance of a beast 24/7, but rather transforms into one at the end of the repeating autumn season. In his transformed state, he has a penchant for violence and generally does not retain any sense of mind or humanity. When he yet again fails to win a woman’s love, the season will restart to the day of his 18th birthday and he will have to try again with a new woman. Rhen is accompanied only by the sole survivor of his first transformation, a royal guard named Grey. Grey was given the power to go to Harper’s world and take a woman to bring back to Emberfall for Rhen to court. This entire curse was brought down by an enchantress named Lilith, who apparently exists only to torture everyone’s existence. Harper wasn’t originally chosen by Grey, but Harper witnessed Grey “abducting” an unconscious woman and chose to interfere, which leads to her transportation into Emberfall.

So let’s talk about the obvious; the representation of disabled peoples in this book via our protagonist Harper. She has cerebral palsy, and this is made very clear within the first chapter of the book. Props to the author for not OVER-emphasizing Harper’s disability, though. I love representation, and I believe in the power of representation, but I’m not a fan of when representation goes too far and it becomes the sole definition of a character’s existence. It comes off as lazy writing when a character brings no substance or value aside from the fact that they represent some kind of minority group. However, this isn’t the case here and I think Kemmerer did a wonderful job of blending Harper’s cerebral palsy into the background, yet not enough for the reader to completely forget that she is living with a disability. There are times when Harper is in a lot of pain and isn’t able to do certain things as easily as other people can, but her perseverance/grit/determination shows us that she is still just like any other human being trying to get by. She doesn’t view herself as a victim of her disability either, it’s just something she was born with and has learned to live with. It is a part of her, and even if she doesn’t like it she has learned to accept it as a part of her. I think Kemmerer sends a beautiful message in portraying Harper’s attitude with her cerebral palsy: there is no need to feel victimized by one’s disability, and there is no need to hate oneself for it either.

Outside of Harper’s disability, she is a very standard YA fantasy heroine - hardworking, passionate, cautious, determined, guarded. Is it bad that I’m getting a little bit tired of this character trope? I kind of want to see a heroine who isn’t so perfect, and I kind of want to see someone who is a little whiny or bratty at first but then grows from their hardships and experiences. Harper, like many YA fantasy heroines, just seems to start out incredibly likable (or maybe too likable) with the perfect package of personality traits. Now I’m not necessarily complaining about this, but I definitely would’ve liked to see a little more substance from Harper outside of just “I need to find a way to get home and I’m going to keep rebelling until I do”. Obviously this wasn’t her as a character the ENTIRE book, but it definitely was more or less the only thing passing through her mind for maybe the first 40% of the book. Another issue I took with her (or maybe not even her as a character, maybe it’s an issue I have with the book itself) is her wishywashy-ness in regards to her feelings. For pretty much the entire book up until Grey takes her home, Harper at best only deeply cares about and respects Rhen. But in the last 20% of the book when Grey takes her back to Emberfall to face the transformed Rhen, Harper suddenly proclaims her love for him and is willing to pretty much give herself up to Lilith to spare Rhen and Grey. That’s a huge change in emotions, and according to the book timeline this change of feelings happens over the course of like... 36 hours or something. And then the book ends on a MASSIVE ambiguity over whether the curse was broken because Harper truly loved Rhen, or if it was because Grey had succeeded in killing Lilith. So, we went from “I deeply care for you and I find comfort in your company” to “I would DIE for you” to “did the curse break because I love you? Idk” over the course of like... 3-4 chapters? Uhhhhh. Yeah I’ve got questions.

Now I know this review is coming off as pretty negative, and not gonna lie I don’t think I was a big fan of this retelling but I certainly don’t think it was bad either. Rhen’s character development was so captivating and surprising because most YA authors generally don’t pay much attention into developing the male lead as much as the heroine. In all honesty, Harper began pretty perfect with very little room for growth so she her character progression just seemed to stagnate to me. But Rhen starts off as a meh character who didn’t seem to learn all that much from his countless failures of wooing women during his cursed time and progresses into a very selfless leader (re: true KING). He goes from isolating himself in his castle while trying to break the curse to nearly ignoring the curse so he could focus on protecting and caring for his people. I guess it’s pretty obvious that I really liked Rhen as a character, and I personally think he deserves a lot better than that ending we got. It wasn’t a bad ending, and I think Kemmerer wanted to be original in creating a somewhat ambiguous ending. But as a hardcore romance junkie I think I may have a narrow scope of what my heart can tolerate for any retelling of ‘Beauty and the Beast’.

And finally, let’s talk about Grey. He’s not a POV character in this first book, but he’s in almost every single chapter and he plays a pretty big role. At the beginning I thought I was going to get a load of a love triangle, but thank GOD that wasn’t the case. I’m all for originality, but my mind will never be okay with a love triangle in ‘Beauty and the Beast’. It’s beauty and the fucking beast!! Not beauty and the beast featuring Ludacris!! Is it obvious that I don’t like love triangles to begin with? Yeah. Anyway, Grey is an interesting character. I kind of saw the epilogue coming, because for a side character Grey was too fleshed out and well developed (considering side characters rarely are, except for my one true love Despina from Wrath and the Dawn). But nevertheless, I quite enjoyed Grey! In the beginning of the story I felt like he served almost as a foil to Rhen. They were quite the opposites in terms of personality, but they ultimately are working towards the same goal. Watching Grey’s relationship with Harper unfold on paper was also quite nice. Unlike Rhen, Grey starts off kinda antagonizing Harper (with good reason, considering their first encounter consisted of her attacking him). Rhen is kind and very elaborate in his words and manners with Harper, but Grey very much the opposite. He speaks simply, he’s a man of actions, and is mostly very detached from his emotions. I actually felt his character complimented Harper’s character quite well (considering her own emotional detachment), and I think this is what Kemmerer was going for anyway since Harper does actually warm up to Grey much quicker than she warms up to Rhen.

Some last thoughts to wrap it up - while I understand that Kemmerer wanted to bridge the gap between this book and its sequel, I felt that she pulled WAY too much of the spotlight from Rhen/Harper and onto Grey. The ending between Rhen/Harper felt incredibly rushed, and again I just don’t think I like the ambiguity over what actually broke the curse. I was thinking about giving A Curse So Dark and Lonely a 4-star rating for most of the book up until the end, and now I’m thinking it’s more like a 3.5 star from me. The last couple of chapters were heavily action-packed, and Kemmerer’s way of tying up the lose strings (pushing the foreign army out of Emberfall) was very creative. But the ending following all of that action was just so... bland and unexciting. It was like dumping a large tub of water on a small campfire that was just starting to grow warm. I like Grey as character, but not enough to want to read the sequel where he stars as a POV just yet.

#a curse so dark and lonely #cursebreakers #ya fiction #ya fantasy #brigid kemmerer #book review #beauty and the beast #retelling

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metalandmagi · 5 years

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March Media Madness!

Hello and welcome to the post where I talk about all the movies, books, and TV I consumed this month in my seemingly never ending quest to shout my feelings into the void. And oh boy all the winter anime is ending so I feel dead inside.

*puts on sunglasses* Let’s do this.

Movies!

Bohemian Rhapsody: The one about Queen Freddie Mercury. And it’s pretty good. It’s a little weird seeing a biopic of a band with literally no struggles getting into the industry, and I wouldn’t say it does wonders for the negative stereotypes about bisexuals...but who cares because if you’re watching this movie, it’s because you just want to sing along to some Queen songs and see some big hair! 8/10

How to Train Your Dragon- The Hidden World: The third and final installment in the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy, in which Dreamworks pulls a Butterfree on us, but at least we get a happy ending. This franchise holds a special place in my heart for so many reasons, and I’m glad that this one stuck the landing. Each movie has its own specific feeling and message, and they all advance the story in unique ways. Apart from being beautifully animated and hilarious, it also packs the big emotional punch we all were expecting and ends on a satisfying note overall. But it’s still not perfect. The other riders are at their most useless by far, and this is coming from someone who never really minded them before. They’re a lot more irritating if you’ve watched the tv series and can see how they can be useful. And Astrid really only provides emotional support instead of her usual ass-kicking. The villain was...fine...but he didn’t really pack much of a punch. And I really wished they had kept some sort of continuity and embraced the television series (I NEED A DAGUR CAMEO)! But these are mostly small things. If you haven’t given this franchise a try yet, please give it a chance! 9/10

Ralph Breaks the Internet: The poorly named sequel to Wreck It Ralph, in which Ralph and Venelope must travel to the internet to save Sugar Rush and keep the game characters from becoming homeless. It’s a fine follow up, but it definitely doesn’t have the same impact the first one did. There’s a heck of a lot going on in this movie, and it feels like it tried to do too much in terms of plot and character arcs in favor of sacrificing the humor from the first movie. And I really miss Felix and Calhoun. But there are a lot of good things about it too. Everything the Disney princesses do is pure gold, Shank is amazing, and there is a ton of effort put into building the world of the internet. I’m sure it will be pretty dated in a couple years, but it’s not just a quick cash grab full of name dropping and references (even though Disney seems like it wants it to be). It’s still worth checking out. 7.5/10

A Quiet Place: A family must survive in a world where deadly alien monsters that are attracted to sound have invaded the planet. I am the world’s biggest wimp when it comes to scary movies, and even I was interested enough in the premise to want to see this movie. And yes it’s amazing! The performances are all incredibly moving and believable, we get good representation of a Deaf character, the sound design is so creative it should be used in film classes, and it tells a thrilling and heart wrenching family story in only an hour and a half. I think I liked it because the focus wasn’t on the monsters just going around killing people. It’s about a family and what parents will do for their children. People like to say there’s a ton of plot holes, but if you actually think about them for more than five seconds, you’ll see there’s really nothing to pick apart because their decisions all make sense in the end.

My only question is about the cochlear device the daughter (Regan) uses. Was the dad (Lee) trying to make a new cochlear implant? Did Regan already have the internal component implanted in her cochlea? Had she been using one since before the monsters came? Did it break earlier because of the monsters’ connection with electromagnetic waves? Because if not...CIs don’t really work like that. I’m just confused about that situation. But that’s kind of nitpicky when this movie is still amazing. Even if you hate horror movies, I’d highly suggest it simply because of how creative its production is. 9/10

Mary Poppins Returns: It’s exactly what it sounds like...Mary Poppins returns to help the now adult children of the Banks family with the help of Lin Manuel Miranda. It’s fun, but it definitely goes on too long. Though I appreciate Emily Blunt putting her own spin on the character. Odds are if you like the original, you’ll probably like this too. 8/10

Fantastic Beasts- The Crimes of Grindelwald: The second movie in the Harry Potter prequel-verse, where Grindelwald basically becomes wizard Hitler and Newt is more concerned with winning Tina back then saving the world. Okay...this movie is not great. Structurally it’s a mess, the fun is being sucked out of the wizarding world, the characters make decisions that don’t align with previous behavior and make no logical sense, and there really is just the bare bones of a plot. There are also several characters that don’t need to be there and are just thrown in for fanservice (for now anyway). I found myself constantly saying how things don’t work like that and asking why things are happening. But even so, there are still good things about it. Visually it’s...fantastic. Jude Law makes a good young Dumbledore, and even Johnny Depp embodies what I always imagined Grindelwald at the height of his power would be like...I just wish it wasn’t Johnny Depp. I also wish it had more humor, because what was there was funny. It’s really just a transition film, which proves this franchise should never have been five movies, and Rowling should have focused on a Marauders era series or on young Dumbledore and Grindelwald. You just have to form your own opinion. 6.5/10

Maquia- When the Promised Flower Blooms: An immortal girl becomes a teen mom to an orphaned baby after her clan is killed. It’s basically a high fantasy version of Wolf Children. I honestly don’t know what to think about this movie. It does the family relationships so well and really drives home what it means to be a parent. However, its setting really throws me out of the movie because it tries to focus so much on the politics and background of this world without really succeeding. And because it is about a baby growing up, the pacing is so fast it will give you whiplash. But it is beautifully filmed and animated, and I would have bawled my eyes out at the ending if I wasn’t so distracted by how much I didn’t like the other characters and things that were happening at the castle. So...yeah, it’s a well animated, hard hitting movie that will probably mean more to parents overall. I just wish it was a TV series or a trilogy or something other than a two hour film. 7.5/10

Free Solo: A National Geographic documentary covering Alex Honnold, a man who is attempting to climb up the 900 meter side of El Capitan at Yosemite national park...without ropes or safety equipment. Yes, this is an incredible feat and the actual climbing portions are gripping and super intense. But personally, I found who Alex is as a person much more fascinating...and not necessarily in a positive way. Honestly, he can be a jerk. This sounds horrible to say considering he’s a real person and he’s doing something amazing, but seriously watch this movie and tell me this man is not one step away from being a sociopath. It’s completely understandable why he thinks the way he thinks, but it’s not exactly healthy for the other people in his life. I would be just as interested to see a two hour therapy session with him as I was with his climbing. Anyway, if you love gorgeous scenery and butt-clenching thrills with a side of psychologically interesting perspectives, watch this on the biggest screen possible. 8/10

The Matrix: REALITY IS AN ILLUSION, THE UNIVERSE IS A HOLOGRAM, BUY GOLD BYE

Yeah I’d never seen The Matrix, but I really didn’t expect it to be EXACTLY like the Oto arc in Tsubasa Chronicles. It’s too long, Neo’s an incredibly flat protagonist (but I feel like that’s on purpose to serve some sort of self-insert fantasy), and it seems like a YA dystopian fantasy series from 2013...but in an endearing sort of way. And hey it’s got a lot of cool slow motion fighting and neat body horror if you’re into that sort of thing. 7/10

Books!

Dry by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman: What happens when California literally just runs out of water one day? A group of teens go on an apocalyptic field trip to find some of course! I’ve only read one other Neal Shusterman series before, but I’m sensing a pattern of how well Shusterman can propose a theoretical question and then build an entire world around it. And this duo knows how to cover as many bases as possible because every time I ask a question about how something world work, the authors answer it almost immediately. This is a great story with very well written characters, and it even has a small hilarious twist in the end that makes you completely rethink everything about one of the characters. Most importantly it doesn’t follow the Scythe series’ formula of terribly written romance. However...it’s definitely a major bummer. It’s very interesting to think about, and it’s a roller coaster of a story...but the roller coaster only goes down and makes you want to scream all the time. If you like books that make you question human behavior and society, definitely check it out, but get ready to start hoarding all the water you own. 8/10

Jackass!: Okay this one’s a manga, but I’m still counting it. Honestly I don’t even know how to describe the plot...there’s two boys...there’s pantyhose...there’s a fun side character who is openly gay and doesn’t take shit from anyone...there’s introspection about how to deal with developing feelings and realizing you care about someone. It has the most awkward premise ever, but it’s unfairly good I promise. The less you know going in the better. 8.5/10

TV Shows!

The Umbrella Academy: A family of seven children with super powers who were “adopted” by an eccentric billionaire become child superheroes. So naturally, they all grow into jaded adults who are now tasked with saving the world from the inevitable apocalypse. And it’s...amazing. Like, this should be the new Stranger Things amazing. It’s a Netflix original based off the Dark Horse comic series, and it has one of the most binge worthy plots I’ve ever seen. It is capable of pulling off some very weird things because it just leans into it. The setting and aesthetic is very similar to A Series of Unfortunate Events where different time periods seem to collide, and it works pretty well. It has (mostly) likable characters, interesting and/or empathetic villains, great use of music and editing, and Emmy worthy performances. The only thing I don’t like (aside from them killing off a perfectly interesting character for no reason at the beginning of the show) is the romantic relationship between two of the siblings. Because naturally they had to put a romance in it, and it just sort of conforms to the idea of “adopted siblings aren’t related so it’s not weird.” But even they have some great scenes together so I can’t be too annoyed. It’s amazing. Please watch it. 10/10

Ducktales (2017): The reboot of Ducktales, in which the three nephews of Donald Duck go on mysterious adventures with their obscenely wealthy uncle. I’m pretty sure we all know this as the cartoon where Scrooge McDuck swims in his giant pool of money. It took me a long time to get to, but I like it! Webby is an amazing character, and even though the boys can be annoying, at least they all have their own personalities. I just wish Launchpad was a little less...stereotypically clueless. I’ve never seen the original series, so I can’t compare them, but I’d recommend it for everyone who likes Gravity Falls style mysteries and satisfying story arcs. 8.5/10

Carmen Sandiego (2019): The Netflix original animated series that focuses on a master thief who travels the world stealing important artifacts before an evil organization can get to them first...AND HOLY CRAP WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THIS!? I don’t know anything about the original Carmen Sandiego franchise, but dang this revamp is awesome. Carmen is a great character who banters enough to be a Marvel protagonist, there’s unique animation, some mystery, and its own twists. The side characters may not be for everyone, but I like them...well, most of them. Apparently the purpose of the original franchise was to be educational, so they do sound like they’re reading the Wikipedia page for every new place they visit in the beginning of each episode, but at least the cultural things they mention always come back into play later. If you liked the new She-Ra or shows with great heroines, PLEASE WATCH IT! 9/10

Queer Eye (season 3): The third season of the ridiculous makeover show where five fabulous gay men rocket into people’s lives to boost their self confidence and keep them from living in filth. I hate that I love this show so much. I don’t like things that try to be overly emotional, but dang it, this show will just make you feel happy...and then sad...and then happy again. 10/10

Honorable Mentions

THE LAST SEASON OF STAR VS THE FORCES OF EVIL IS AIRING! Stop sleeping on this gem people!

Netflix finally released the rest of Arrested Development season 5

I started watching Yu Yu Hakusho because it’s a classic and the dub is hilarious.

I also started watching The Librarians. It’s...something that’s for sure.

And I’m currently reading Reign the Earth which is basically Avatar the Last Airbender set all in the desert.

#bohemian rhapsody #the matrix #free solo #maquia: when the promised flower blooms #fantastic beasts #the crimes of grindelwald #mary poppins returns #a quiet place #ralph breaks the internet #how to train your dragon #the hidden world #dry #jackass manga #queer eye #ducktales #the umbrella academy #media madness #long post #carmen sandiego

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geek-gem · 5 years

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Sonic Movie Legendary Pictures Reboot

My true final edit I finally decided to put the Sonic movie positivity tags because I want this to get more attraction. Despite people may dislike this but after seeing the positivity tag since there are two but the, “Sonic movie positivity” tag is the one people use more. I just want people to notice this. Again I’m not making more of these. Especially I wanted to have discussions with folks who are more positive about the movie and just about anybody okay I’m scared of that but whatever this is fan fiction.

This is something I’ve been working on for the past two nights and this morning and just right now. I started on this late at night after I found out my grandfather was dead. For some time I wanted to try to make some fake thumbnail giving the idea Legendary bought the movie rights to Sonic. But let me talk about this. This all started after I admitted on a reblog I made detailing something like this.

I’ve been honest about the Sonic movie. Such as being cautious and optimistic compared to so much negativity that actually gets annoying. I do like how a lot of folks are excited for the film in some positivity tags for the movie, I’m grateful they are around.

Yet this was an idea I decided to write. Mainly a trilogy of films if Warner Bros and Legendary got the rights to the film. Or the possibility of the film already being rebooted. I’ll be honest it sounds rude that I’m already making this, since the film isn’t out. But I wanted to share my vision and I’m open to everyone’s thoughts. You can well be critical about it, since this is all fan fiction. At one point I was nervous to share this. Including because of that picture at the top. Including it’s very long and be warned this is part 1 of a trilogy. It’s not perfect but again this is my vision of how I wanted a Sonic movie should of been.

I’m opened to opinions and we can discuss this. Including I need to brainstorm about the first sequel and after that the second sequel. Especially this is less ambitious than my old ideas. Or it’s still ambitious because I’m sharing these details. It’s a long read.

Last edit this isn’t a part 1 anymore considering what I have decided or am deciding. This will be explained in a separate post and this is basically a first draft that I will keep out in the open for any possible discussion.

“Prepare to go fast like never before. As Warner Bros, Legendary Pictures, and Brad Peyton, director of San Andreas and Rampage bring a thrilling action filled adventured based upon the iconic Sonic The Hedgehog video game franchise to life.

With the world now threatened by a ego maniac scientist by the name of Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Who is searching for the powerful Chaos Emeralds to make his forces stronger. Sonic, the world’s fastest hedgehog and his friends must work together with a soldier to stop Robotnik’s plan from fully succeeding. But to make matters worse, to stop the hedgehog and his allies, Robotnik creates two powerful robots that could finally end the Blue Blur. They are Metal Sonic and Silver Sonic. Two powerful and deadly robots built to destroy Sonic and help Robotnik.

Now with the world trying to understand what is going on, both on the run from the government and trying to fight Robotnik’s forces. Sonic and his friends must risk their lives to save the planet from these dangerous doppelgangers, and Robotnik himself. While during the journey, friendships will be forged, along with brotherhood in the face of destructive robotic terror”

Tom Holland as Sonic The Hedgehog. A 21 year old hedgehog with a cocky attitude, easy going demeanor, and some what short temper, yet strong sense of justice, compassion, and a love of freedom and adventure. Born with the ability of super sonic speed. He uses his powers to fight off Dr. Ivo Robotnik and other evil forces.

Height: 4 feet.

Chris Pratt as Sergeant Gary Andrews. A 31 year old GUN soldier with a confident attitude and headstrong with a sense of justice for all life forms, but also very down to earth. Including very courageous in times of extreme danger.

Realizing that Sonic and his friends may be the world’s best chance at stopping Robotnik, he goes on the run from the same military he’s in to help them.

Paul Giammatti as Dr. Ivo Robotnik. A 54 year old scientist with a high IQ of 300 who wants to take over the world. Truly an ego maniac who has a psychotic belief of self entitlement, as well arrogant and narcissistic. He won’t stop at his goal and will destroy anyone that gets in his way.

Finn Wolfhard as Miles Tails Prower. A 14 year old two tailed fox. Possessing very high intelligence, and being a mechanical genius, but also a sweet and gentle soul. He’s Sonic’s best friend and looks to Sonic as a brother figure and inspiration. Able to use his two tails to fly and amazing as an aerial pilot, Tails is truly a big help.

Height: 3 feet.

Hailee Steinfeld as Amy Rose. A 18 year old hedgehog who’s a cheerful attitude, though erratic girl, with a positive attitude and boundless energy. Even though some times having a scary temper, she actually has a pure heart. Including has a crush on Sonic but keeps it to a minimal and it’s mainly a secret. She’s not obsessed with him but wants to accompany him on his adventures.

Height: 4 feet.

Metal Sonic. A robotic doppelganger of Sonic himself. Possibly Robotnik’s greatest creation, and serving as his obedient and silent enforcer. Metal is a intelligent machine with a very dark side. Truly a cold hearted, aggressive, and ruthless killer. He’s obsessed with proving his superiority to Sonic in every way and destroying him once and for all. All to finally prove that he’s the, “Real Sonic”.

Height: 4 feet.

Silver Sonic. Another robotic doppelganger of Sonic himself. But compared to Metal, Silver Sonic is more like a machine that gets told what needs to be done. More focused on causing destruction and will kill anyone that appose Robotnik’s rule. Truly a tall brute that’s more bulky, and monstrous than Metal. Making him Robotnik’s muscle. Yet still fast which makes him overall dangerous.

Height: 11 feet.

Emilia Clarke as Katherine Grady. A 31 year old zoologist and a single mother who travelled to South Island and has lived there for some time. Originally from London, she wanted to study and discover what life is like on the island that not many humans travel to. She’s a caring and supportive woman who values all forms of life. Yet she will get serious when she needs to be. Especially to protect the ones she loves, including her daughter.

She has actually known Sonic for some time but not much. But she gets caught up with Sonic, his friends, and Gary when they are on South Island. Finding out what’s going on she helps them by trying to find where Robotnik may be at.

Millie Bobby Brown as Kaliyah Grady. A 14 year old girl and Katherine’s daughter. With Katherine giving birth to Kaliyah at a young age but helped by her father. Kaliyah's father didn’t wanna take care of his daughter anymore because he felt it wasn’t his responsibility, leaving the two and other family members when Kaliyah was 4.

Kaliyah is a fearless and generous young girl. Growing up and not affected much by her father walking out of her life. A bit more adventurous than her mother in some regards. She actually makes friends with Tails and the others when she and her mother get caught up with Sonic.

Idris Elba as Abraham Westbrook. The 54 year old Commander of GUN short for Guardian Units Of Nations. He is Gary’s commander. While being described having a, “Heart Of Stone” and stoic, he is actually quite passionate, having a softer side he rarely shows, and a great sense of duty towards his people.

Assuming Sonic is a threat and shocked when Gary who he considers one of his best soldiers actually tries to help the hedgehog. He realizes Gary was right when he sees Sonic is only trying to stop Robotnik just like him.

Joe Manganiello as Lieutenant Derek Sanderson. A 41 year old GUN soldier who’s good friends with Gary. Despite being more stoic and serious than Gary, he values the same sense of values Gary shares. During a search for Robotnik, Metal Sonic ambushes the squad that was sent, and murders almost everyone. Except for Derek who had survived. Only seeing Metal as what he describes as a, “Blue Blur” and his shape. He and even the commander believe Sonic is working for Robotnik.

Believing Sonic to have murdered his squad and working for Robotnik. He considers Sonic a, “Psychopathic Freak” and makes it his personal mission to not just kill Robotnik, but also Sonic. Basically developing a hatred of the hedgehog and will not stop till he’s dead. What makes it worse when he finds out Gary has joined Sonic to help him. He see’s it as a betrayal of brotherhood, he and GUN try to catch them. Even if he has to get answers out of what he considers Sonic’s associates which are his friends Tails, and Amy, but also Katherine and her daughter.

Setting, characters, and notes.

1. The development of the story was rather difficult. Including I think I felt the pain and annoyance of how the development for the story of Brad Peyton’s Rampage went like. Also possibly even the writers behind Jeff Fowler’s Sonic movie. As the start of a possible franchise and first film, elements of Sonic The Hedgehog 1 and 2, and Sonic CD were used. With characters like Sonic, Dr. Robotnik/Eggman, Tails, Amy, Metal Sonic, and Silver Sonic(From Sonic 2 also known as Mecha Sonic too) being the first to be introduced.

Looking over those first three games and trying to build a story was difficult. Because there was hardly any(Since gameplay was the main focus) but elements that could be used.

There were possibilities of the Death Egg and Little Planet. But to avoid a possible lawsuit by Disney it’s likely a Death Egg adaption might not happened unless it’s changed a bit. Including Little Planet seems a bit much to introduce including the Death Egg.

So the story became a more simple but working one that uses elements from those earlier games. With the simple premise being Sonic with his allies must stop Robotnik from getting all the Chaos Emeralds which would help him a lot.

2. It’s strangely an origin story in a way. While Sonic, Tails, and Amy have known each other for a long while. But Robotnik and Sonic haven’t met yet. Yet Robotnik knows about Sonic and is impressed and inspired to make two robots. One to be a perfect counterpart to Sonic himself(Metal Sonic), and one that’s more of a brute(Silver Sonic) and extra back up.

With Sonic being framed in a way by Metal, and Robotnik having a larger goal to take over the world and build Robotnik Land. Including to give his newest robotic helpers Metal and Silver Sonic all the power they need to help him take over.

3. The setting is based upon a theory I’ve had for the world of Sonic in the games. If you ignore the, “Two Worlds” thing or something. Including this set up also confirms what will be explored in the next film.

Animal like people such as Sonic have been on the Earth from the start. It’s not a story where a character from another dimension comes to our world. In a similar sense it’s like Legendary’s Monsterverse and that creatures like Sonic have been here since the start. In a era before humans became the dominant species.

What happened to these animals is that because of when Chaos decided to unleash his anger on the world. The scene from Sonic Adventure, Chaos was the reason why these animals are no larger the dominant species in a sense. Because of Chaos supposedly destroying the world. While many other species got to live. Tragically the echidna race had it far worse since they were the first to suffer and were the reason Chaos was angered. Slowly the echidna race was near extinction. Which led to Knuckles being the only one of his kind.

Again Chaos is the reason why Sonic and his friends and other animals seem rare. As they live on certain islands and South Island being one of them. Yet there is no tension between these animals and humans. Because there is no point and humanity views these creatures as equals. Yet considering these creatures don’t go out in the human world much, it’s rather surprising to see one in public. This is something the first sequel will explore.

4. Honestly some of this such as Sonic characters, and in some ways the story is inspired by what was the leaked story for the Sonic movie. https://www.reddit.com/r/SonicTheHedgehog/comments/7e8a15/some_info_about_the_upcoming_sonic_film/ Unknown if it’s truly fake or it was an actual story for the movie. It’s something I don’t mind considering it’s doing what I’m doing. Because when I look at this I would of liked to see the upcoming Sonic movie be something like this. Despite my annoyance with how Chaos is treated. Unless you explore him in a sequel.

5. Brad Peyton is a choice I’ve wanted for sometime because of his work on Rampage. But also to add to that San Andreas, yet Rampage being the biggest reason. Another choice which I’m still thinking about is Michael Dougherty who directed Trick R Treat, Krampus, and Godzilla King Of The Monsters. Yet Brad has that style I want for the film and give him a good writer and it can help.

6. Robotnik was actually a well known genius before becoming a villain. Related to the great Gerald Robotnik.(Confirming his existence in this universe and setting up the possibility of a Sonic Adventure 2 adaption and in a way confirming Shadow probably exists in this universe and so does the Space Colony Ark) Ivo was actually respected but over time people began to see who he was.

He moved to South Island to get away from the human world. Including where he wouldn’t be interrupted and plan for something greater. It’s where South Island he builds his dangerous robots especially Metal Sonic and Silver Sonic. Including he learns of the Chaos Emeralds and wants to use them for his own selfish reasons.

Before hand Robotnik wasn’t bothered by the animals on South Island and assumed he was friendly, Ivo just minded his own business yet he took advantage of the situation by making his own company, making money off the animals to get more parts. Including selling some of his machinery to buyers from across the world. His entire workforce is made out of robots. For a lot of years he kept out of the public eye for many years to make a big surprise. Which is him rising up to become a villain.

7. Metal Sonic is heavily inspired by his OVA counterpart. While Robotnik was inspired by Sonic’s powers to make Metal. He truly wanted to make the perfect killing machine. But also something that can destroy Sonic if he were to try to stop him. Robotnik gave Metal intelligence to learn and adapt from Sonic. Which leads to Metal developing this mindset and obsession that he should be the only Sonic. While not having something like Sonic’s, “Life Data” like in the OVA where he has Sonic’s memories. He’s more like how Sonic CD introduced him. Yet after encountering Sonic he slowly starts changing and develops this hatred of his organic counterpart.

Edit after looking at Hyper Metal Sonic on Sonic News Network. I still wanna incorporate the concept of Metal having Sonic’s memories. Because the idea makes Metal seem more dangerous and like the info said make him durable. Maybe Robotnik gets Sonic’s blood somehow it’s tricky. I just love the OVA so it’s mainly like that version. Edit I’ll admit and use that quill idea which me and other folks are thinking in the trailer for Jeff Fowler’s Sonic movie that Robotnik might use that quill of Sonic to power Metal Sonic or something.

Especially Metal’s design from the games hardly changed. Including the direction to take with Metal was to make him scary. He doesn’t talk, he doesn’t care who he hurts, he’s super fast and super strong. Robotnik intended him to be the true opposite of Sonic. Any others are just back up, while Metal is seen as perfect, the true copy.

While cranking up the idea he’s like the OVA but cranked up to be more scary. Including inspirations from Brightburn, Man Of Steel, and Brad Peyton’s Rampage and not just the OVA. He’s brutal, fast, and unforgiving, but not to a point it’s R rated but it’s shown he’s actually killing people, even breaking bones, yet still PG-13. Showcasing Robotnik went all out to make him this perfect killing machine. Especially to frame Sonic for murdering GUN soldiers.

8. Silver Sonic while based upon the final boss before the Death Egg Robot in Sonic The Hedgehog 2. He’s actually inspired by Silver Sonic V3.0/V3.1 from the Archie Sonic comics. Such as design which resembles more of modern Sonic but still huge.

The direction for Silver Sonic is while Metal is the true copy of Sonic, he was built to be a unbeatable tank. What Robotnik did with Silver Sonic is that he wanted a tall and almost unstoppable monster. The fact Robotnik loved what Sonic’s abilities can do, he didn’t wanna just make one. Silver Sonic is mainly a brute, built to be the tank while Metal is more of Robotnik’s enforcer and to lead his robots. Especially as Silver Sonic does not care of proving his superiority to Sonic, he listens to Robotnik, and just wants to wreck shit and kill anybody who appose Robotnik’s rule.

A name to call them is the, “Metal Brothers”.

But also the other reason why Silver Sonic was added is kind of funny. It was the idea to add a larger robot. Since the Death Egg Robot is connected to the Death Egg, and while Robotnik has used many machines to fight Sonic. I just love robotic Sonic’s. Including the reason to make so tall is that I some what wanted a giant monster, something like a kaiju. Yet it’s not because it’s a giant robotic Sonic causing destruction and shit. But compared to Metal, he’s built to be different.

Another funny thing his height was chosen by what people believe how tall a sasquatch is.

Mecha Sonic from Sonic & Knuckles will make an appearance in the first sequel. Being a replacement for Silver Sonic after he’s destroyed.

9. All of the animal characters are CGI. But their designs are changed radically. They are very familiar. Yet they are more furrier, Sonic has fingerless gloves, it’s unknown of how Amy might look but some changes might be made.(Because of her dress and how under it is exposed) But she would remain familiar. It’s done in a similar route like Legendary’s Detective Pikachu. But other added details such as Sonic’s eyes don’t look like one eye. Despite it was confirmed they are two eyes in the games.

Along with little details like Sonic having fangs like in Sonic Adventure. With the possibility of Sonic’s ears could be curved a bit. But it might make a live action werehog’s ears look redundant. Yet the werehog looks really different.

Sonic, Amy, and Tails were buffed up to be taller and actually older. To show that they were teenagers or young adults, and that they were not that small. Compared to their game’s counterparts. Really I didn’t want them to be that small.

Their ages were buffed up about six years from the games counterparts. The reason being while strange, was the fact these characters get porn drawn of them. It’s best to make them older so we are playing it safe. Yet the other direction is the fact they are a bit more mature. But they are the same characters you still know.

10. Green Hill(despite the annoyance of the fanbase), Chemical Plant(that too despite the annoyance the fanbase), Mystic Cave, Labyrinth, and Metropolis are included as real places. While development of the world is still at hand, the concept that certain countries of today still exist while some fictional places in certain countries.

Metropolis is where the final battle on the main land takes place between Sonic and Gary against Metal and Silver Sonic, and whoever else is involved. Originally a version of Stardust Speedway was gonna be in here. But considering it’s origin it was best to keep it out. Despite it being the place where Sonic and Metal first clash in the games.

11. The movie explores the themes of friendship and brotherhood. Including with elements of family. With Gary in a way a older but human version of what Sonic could be. His bond develops over the course of the film with the hedgehog. Including things such as Sonic and Tail’s brotherhood, Gary’s brotherhood with Derek. Including the friendship between Kaliyah and Sonic’s friends. Along with the idea Gary being the father figure to Kaliyah, Katherine’s friendship with Amy.

Which jeez that’s a lot. Yet this development of characters makes them strong. Especially in the face of certain characters such as Robotnik, Metal, and Silver Sonic.

12. The characters of Katherine(Especially her), and Kaliyah are inspired by Johanna and Hilda from the Netflix series Hilda.

Along with the fact originally Millie Bobby Brown was gonna play Amy. But I wanted to add this daughter element and Millie as Amy I guess bothered me. Despite it being good casting, but I wanted to be comfortable with it so I decided to have Hailee Steinfeld as Amy.

13. Idris Ebla is indeed playing the movie version of the GUN Commander from the video games. The reason I didn’t have his name as Tower because of possible idea that Sega wouldn’t allow that since his name in the Archie Sonic comics is Abraham Tower. But hopefully still using the Abraham name is fine. Especially it’s meaning since for these human characters I looked up there meanings like I do with my other character castings.

Reasons why Idris is casted as the commander because simply Idris is awesome. Including the presence he would bring to the character. The other choice was Lawrence Fishburne. Besides his race wasn’t important from what I know. Despite I do think of trying to diversify casting. But I like these casting choices.

Yet also the commander being here sets up his role or something in a Sonic Adventure 2 adaption. While it also helps with the idea someone needs to be in charge of these military forces.

14. The score would be composed by Andrew Lockington who did the scores for Brad Peyton’s San Andreas and Rampage. Other musical choices include Papa Roach with, “Face Everything And Rise”, and 30 Seconds To Mars with, “This Is War”. Including the added bonus of the original Sonic Boom song from Sonic CD, a possible song from Crush 40, and even Zebrahead with, “His World”. Along with possibly Linkin Park’s, “Numb” which is a theme between Sonic and Metal. With a added bonus of, “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” by Smashing Pumpkins and Christion Gray’s, “Stop Me”.

15: Reason why a human element was included for some reasons. Okay reason because it’s live action yet other reasons. While I like characters like Princess Elise(I would like to adapt her and change 06 probably but I don’t know if Sega and Sonic Team and much of the fanbase would even allow that. I would love to put maybe a cameo, and a easter to show Soleanna exists in this world. But the story of 06 would be different), and I’m bothered by a character like Chris Thorndyke. There seems to be this stigma against humans which is some what reasonable.

The concept of having Gary be a soldier and a adult, strangely an action hero is to defy expectations and make certain fans change their minds. Including to have a human directly trying to help Sonic instead of being a cheerleader. He’s literally trained for this, and is actually going against his military to help this hedgehog. Along with the fact he’s so courageous it doesn’t matter he tries to go against certain robots, especially Metal and Silver Sonic. Give him a assault rifle and a grenade launcher and he’s gonna do the best he can. He will be terrified but he’s not gonna run away, he’s truly what if Sonic was a human being but older. Including he’s not gonna lose what is possibly the best friend or even a brother he never had, that shares the same values he has.

While I know not every human needs to be that, and that’s good. But Gary is the example of a person who’s willing to risk his life to not just save the planet, but to also protect a creature he never knew that would be his best friend. The kind of hero who does something because it’s the right thing to do.

16. I’m tempted to add Dwayne Johnson but I won’t. Besides he has Rampage anyway and other major films. But I’m not tempted anymore.

17. I strangely wanna put a little reference to Steven Universe considering two characters are inspired by Hilda. Such as actors or similar to certain characters. But the film will be filled with more characters and you gonna be careful with a lot of characters. Maybe the next movie.

End Of Part 1. Now considering my last edit at the top, it’s not a part 1 anymore.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic movie #Dr. Eggman #Dr. Ivo Robotnik #miles tails prower #amy rose #metal sonic #silver sonic #sonic movie positivity #movie sonic positivity

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allthefilmsiveseenforfree · 6 years

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Halloween (2018)

I love occasion movies. By that I mean, I love movies that put me in a speciic mood for a specific occasion - I have to watch Planes, Trains, and Automobiles every Thanksgiving, I have to watch Empire Records on Rex Manning Day, and I HAVE to watch Halloween every Halloween. It’s part of my DNA. Now, when you’ve got an original that’s SO classic and SO perfect, it’s hard not to see the sequels as subpar. Now it’s 2018, and Jamie Lee Curtis (along with David Gordon Green and Danny McBride) are giving us another in a long line of sequels and reboots to the OG slasher film. Is it a trick or a treat? Well...

This may be one of the only decades-later sequels that I’ve ever seen that felt necessary, relevant, and totally, completely worthy of succeeding its predecessor. Right down to the title, the filmmakers got everything right - because this isn’t a sequel. It’s simply the continuation of what was started 40 years ago when Michael Myers came after Laurie Strode and showed her the face of true evil. This is the story of four decades lost.

A basic summary: Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a grandmother now, and she’s spent her whole life trying to prepare her daughter (Judy Greer), and to the extent she was allowed, her granddaughter (Andi Matichak) to face off against the evils of the world like a crazy bushman survivalist type. Meanwhile, two investigative journalists are doing a podcast series about the Michael Myers killings from the 70s and are trying to get both Michael and Laurie to talk to them before Michael is transferred to a much more restrictive facility where he’ll essentially rot in a windowless room forever. Michael’s not real chatty, though; he’s got bigger plans. Namely, escaping from the prison bus during the transfer. You know, the transfer that took place the day before Halloween right outside Haddonfield. (I know you’re probably understaffed, guys, but c’mon. A little bit of forethought.) October 31st rolls around and Michael’s back in his old stomping grounds, wanting to take another crack at Laurie...but this time, she’s had 40 years to prepare, and she’s not going down without a fight.

Some thoughts:

I’m so, SO glad they didn’t mess with John Carpenter’s iconic, perfect score. Not just the main theme, but the weird little auditory cues that Michael is near, or lurking behind that house are still present and ramp up the fear in an almost Pavlovian way.

What struck me most is that Laurie’s trauma has become generational trauma, shaping the lives of her daughter and her granddaughter because of Michael’s abuse.

These investigative journalists are trying to get Laurie to talk to Michael because it makes for juicy podcasting, but pitch it in the guise of “You can say all the things you want to say to him and finally move on, and let go of this anger. We’re trying to help you” and ooh, that just burned me up inside. It’s so typical for people to play the benevolent savior card of “We can help you confront your abuser, you’ll feel so much better” because it makes for a better story. It makes it easier to sympathize with victims if you know they fought back, right?

Judy Greer finally gets used to the best of her abilities as an actress, and I hope this means they no longer relegate her to the wacky best friend role in romantic comedies, because I was very impressed with her here. Her “Gotcha” moment alone elicited an actual round of applause in my theater.

Nice to know that Michael has a code and doesn’t kill kids. It’s the little things, you know?

The three women - Laurie, her daughter Karen, and her granddaughter Allyson - are the emotional core of the film, and their relationship is placed front and center. I found it fascinating that all the men in their lives are basically the worst, or useless. Allyson’s boyfriend gets drunk and kisses another girl in front of her, then gaslights her about it and destroys her phone. Karen’s husband makes jokes that make people uncomfortable and doesn’t stop even when Karen repeatedly asks him to. The investigative journalist (Jefferson Hall) wants to profit off Laurie’s pain and trauma in the guise of helping her. Let me be clear - none of these are the equivalent of stalking and killing innocent people with a butcher knife like Michael does. But. These actions exist on a spectrum of violence, particularly against women, and the normalization of these behaviors is the real Boogeyman. And much like Michael Myers, it’s a Boogeyman that’s damn hard to get rid of.

I cannot believe so many people leave their doors unlocked when they’re inside. People are unpredictable! You don’t know what they’ll do! ESPECIALLY on Halloween night, you guys. You have to lock all that shit down!

Also does no one own dogs?? I mean, I’m glad no dogs were hurt in this movie. But people love dogs. There would be at least 1 pit bull mix losing his damn mind as Michael walked by.

The homages to the original are everywhere, but are not glaringly obvious, which leads to a much more cohesive relationship between the two movies. As I said, it feels like a natural continuation. My favorites were probably the sheet ghost, Laurie’s disappearance from the lawn, and Laurie’s appearance outside Allyson’s high school.

OK so at one point, we see some people Michael killed and they’re heads have been turned into makeshift jack-o-lanterns. That’s some spooky stuff! But like. That means Michael was able to scoop out the inside of a person’s skull and put some sort of candle in there so it glowed through their mouth and eye holes. But the heads were on their side, and weren’t really flickering so I’m thinking an actual candle is ruled out - it would get snuffed out from the blood alone, the flame just wouldn’t be able to handle it. What I’m saying to you is that on a deserted road in the middle of nowhere, the only possible explanation for Michael’s arts and craft project is that he carries high-powered battery-operated flameless candles with him at all times.

I want to make it clear that this movie is actually pretty damn scary, though. Michael’s relentless stalking has been ramped up for modern sensibilities, and there are some truly terrifying sequences. Laurie’s walk through her darkened house is an extended nightmare that the movie builds to for an hour and a half, and it’s perfect in every way.

I feel like I can’t express enough how much I loved this continuation of the Halloween story. It’s a realistic look at the way trauma shapes peoples’ lives, for good or ill, and the stories we tell ourselves about the world because of that trauma. Jamie Lee Curtis is so exquisite as a woman who has lived under the shadow of this burden for 40 years - she’s tough and competent, but she’s also vulnerable and scared, because she’s not a superhero. She’s just trying to protect her family and make it through October 31st alive. I can’t wait to enjoy a double feature of the original and this entry for all my Halloweens to come.

#118in2018 #halloween #halloween 2018 #halloween review #halloween 2018 review #jamie lee curtis #judy greer #andi matichak #danny mcbride #david gordon green #michael myers #laurie strode #movie reviews #film reviews

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this-glittering-world · 5 years

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Okay so I the sequel to the Shamer's Daughter movie adaptation has just come out, and I'll be watching it in the cinema tomorrow, and I thought I'd write out my current adaptation opinions beforehand. Fair warning, it's super rambly.

okay so first things first, the plays were both excellent. I still listen to the songs on a regular basis, and they started my current habit of showing up every time Østre Gasværk adapts a new book for the stage (Pelle Erobreren last fall was such a great!)

they changed the structure a lot, from being 100% from Dina's perspective to where you could almost say it had three protagonists: Dina, Nico and Rosa. And I am 1000% in favor of that decision, because it was so obviously the correct choice, it worked so much better on stage that way. It meant you got to have juxtaposition! And the Min Familie song! And you got to see Nico before all the murders, which, considering he's my favourite character, I obviously enjoyed getting to see that part of his life

(sidenote, Dina's part of Min Familie is a little weak, because she doesn't really have family problems like the two others - except then in the sequel she does, and she gets a reprise, and I just love the concept of, even though it was years later, they remembered what they did with the original and they noticed that they had the perfect opportunity here)

The sequel's also structured very differently from the books, because they wanted to take three books and turn them into one sequel. And they totally succeeded, using mostly the plot from the third book, with some plotlines lifted from the second, and changing a few things around so Drakan is available for stabbing at the end and the fourth book isn't necessary. Also they whole cloth invented a plotline for Rosa, because she doesn't really get a lot of those in the later books? (it worked really well, was a good contrast to Dina's, and ended in a really great sad song.) And the end result, like the first musical, was an adaptation that was still recognizably the same story, but was structured in a much more ensemble-y way, because that works better in a visual medium.

the movie, on the other hand, kept the viewpoint squarely on Dina. But that's not to say they didn't make structural changes, because the bit where she's on the run played out super differently, it's just that that change didn't really seem to accomplish anything actually

just. why.

also it's sort of a really important plot point that Dina's mixed-race. The whole plot of the sequel is about her father. who is from a different country. But it's also relevant in the first book, which starts out with her being sad about not fitting in, not friendship-wise with the other kids in her village and not visually with her own family.

so of course they cast a white kid to play her in the movie.

The musical wasn't perfect in that regard, either, but it feels a little more defensible in that case, because it's more of a thing with plays that the actor doesn't always look quite like the character, that sometimes their age is 20 years off or they're a different race. (One funny example I've seen of this was at the Prince of Egypt stage play last summer, when Moses' bio brother was SE Asian as a child and then grew up to be white. But there's also the entirety of Hamilton, which did it deliberately for effect in a way a movie wouldn't.)

and the thing is, the kid they cast in the movie was genuinely really good, and it is really hard to find good child actors, so I can see why they picked her. But it's still not a great look.

(as a downstream consequence, I looked at the casting page and apparently her father's being played by a Eastern European.)

New topic: Everything about how Nico was portrayed in the movie.

Okay so the first thing we saw there was this super effective opening scene, where you see some blood soooowly trickling out from this room, and then this maid walks in there without noticing it like she's just doing her normal maiding routine, and she screams, and then bam we swap to Dina's perspective. Was really well done.

Another neat thing I noticed was how, you know how most movies when they cast people to play relatives the family resemblance tends to start and stop at the hair color. Not here, Nico and Drakan had different hair colors but vaguely similar facial shape.

(not that that'll be the case for the sequel, since Drakan's been recast. But that's not really the director's fault.)

A casting decision I am less happy about is the aging up. Because it means that instead of having spent a few years in his late teens ignoring his problems and using party culture as a coping mechanism, he's been doing that for at least a decade. Which turns it from "suboptimal problemsolving, but in a relatable way" to just kind of sad and pathetic.

One place where my headcanon disagrees with both adaptations is with Nico/Adela. They both make it so Adela reciprocates those feelings and is unhappy about her marriage, which, why? It just turns her into a traditional damsel in distress, and it doesn't even get you anything, Nico being a pining dork with an awkward crush is adorable all on its own.

(in my personal headcanon she might not be marrying out of love, but she's still choosing it, because she's politically savvy and it's the smart choice. And also she's nicer to Nico than anyone else around, which is not a high bar, and therefore he gets a crush.)

But that's not the worst Nico decision. That one comes at the end of the movie.

So. Our heroes got away from danger, and in the process Drakan and Nico had a short duel. Drakan was obviously more skilled, but Rosa helps and Nico gets a really good opportunity. And hits Drakan with the flat side of the sword, because of course he does, because he's Nico and that's what his entire character is, is not wanting to kill anyone, and also he grew up with Drakan and he might be a killer but — he can't — and then that's what Nico's entire character arc in the later books is about, is getting to a point where he's able to do that, where he's able to push the can't aside and know that this needs to be done to save everyone else. He gets there eventually but it takes him literally years and is a pretty compelling character arc.

Meanwhile, at the end of the movie, Dina asks him about it. Asks if he'll use the sharp end of the sword next time, if there is a next time. And he says yes, without any uncertainty.

On that note, I hope the sequel movie turns out okay. That Dina's arc plays out nicely, and that her father's lullaby is in there being the turning point it was in the book, being the moment she starts to see him as just a person. I also hope they do Davin and Nico's storyline well, but that one might be less likely since clearly they don't really Get the things I like about Nico.

#skammerens datter #the shamer's daughter

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shmeiliarockie · 5 years

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Aladdin 2019 SPOILERS Review

Under the cut (turn back if you don’t want to be spoiled).

Preface: Aladdin (1992) has been, hands down, my favorite Disney movie since I saw it in the theater. I own and unironically love both sequels, and I would give a finger to have the show in HD. So, yeah, this movie had some big shoes to fill.

BUT I’m also the type to give these live action remakes a chance. I actually think Beauty and the Beast (2017) was better than its cartoon counterpart because of certain character changes and song additions, but I suppose that’s another post I’ve probably already made. Anyway, I tried to go in there with no expectations and I nearly succeeded. I’m gonna start with the cons because I failed in that regard.

CONS:

* The Cave of Wonders SUCKED. In the original it was two halves of a scarab artifact that flew into a sand dune and animated it and became its EYES and the cave emoted and and it ate a man and then turned back into sand and jewelry and it was beautiful and badass and creepy all at once. In the live action it was... Just a cool looking cave facade. I AM DISAPPOINT.

* One of the things I adore about the original is the color scheme of contrasting cool blue shadows and bright fire. Seriously, I want to lick my television when I watch the original. *chef’s kiss* But in the live action’s favor it had a lot of vibrant and brilliant colors, which is nice in this Grim Dark movie world we live in.

* Needed more Iago. Where’s my sarcastic mouthy bird? I missed the sass.

* Rajah was really scruffy looking and very obviously CGI. A royal cat should look a little sleeker, IMO. Okay that one’s really nitpicky but it bothered me. BUT he chuffed like an honest to goodness real happy tiger at Aladdin, so I’m willing to let his wonky CGI slide. He was a good boy.

* I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but something about Jafar felt really off. No, it wasn’t that he was young and hot. It might have had something to do with his really off putting thousand mile stare that was almost definitely 100% unsettling on purpose. Or it could be that I simply prefer Naveen Andrews’ version (Once Upon a Time in Wonderland was super weird but he was so good in it!)

* The strange emphasis on rubbing the lamp as you make a wish or it’s not legit. Let Aladdin legit trick the trickster into getting out of the Cave of Wonders, you cowards!

But that’s it. That’s all of the cons I have!

PROS:

* EVERYTHING ELSE. Oh you want more detail? Okay.

* Jasmine was so much wiser and competent than her cartoon counterpart (cartoon!Jasmine but she came across as every bit a teenager in a rebellious phase, super frustrated at being ignored and looking for an outlet). Speechless was fucking AMAZING I’m so glad she got such a powerful solo! My girl single-handedly tore down the patriarchy and it was GLORIOUS. All hail the rightful Sultana of Agrabah!

* I’m super glad they didn’t try to shove Will Smith into the mold of Robin Williams’ Genie, because that would have been an insult to both of them. I loved Will Smith’s Genie! "The whole song was the instructions?! You obviously can’t dance and think at the same time.” “Oh you gonna drink from that cup now? Okay.” And unlike the haters I liked the blue right from the beginning, even more so when I saw the gold crawling up his arms. Also, a very different but equally wonderful ending for his character.

* MAH BOY CARPET. You guys don’t understand, I have a Carpet beach towel and a Carpet throw on my bed and I adore him so much he’s always been my favorite Aladdin movie character. He was PERFECTION. The personality and the “body” language was spot on. And it seemed like he was a bit bigger in this version, which meant there was even more to love! I cried a bit when he unraveled, no joke. Underrated hero in every Aladdin universe.

* Aladdin’s decent into becoming “that guy” because he was in over his head felt so believable. Power is a slippery slope, good intentions, and all that. I’m glad he took a walk to clear his head, even if it meant losing the lamp. Which, btw? Was a beautifully done scene. Jafar robbing Aladdin and Aladdin not even noticing until later because he’d had his head up his own ass? Yes, that works. That’s what he got for forgetting who he was AND it was a great way to move him into action.

* Giving Jafar actual motivation. He was TERRIFIED of being a nobody, to the point of madness. (It’s not quite as good as Once Upon a Time in Wonderland’s Jafar’s “my father tried to kill me as a boy so I’ll break the laws of the universe to make him genuinely love me before I murder him” but hey, not all motivations can be that wonderfully fucked up.) If he hadn’t been such a pig toward my girl Jasmine, I would have liked him.

* While we’re on the subject of Jafar... The way he vanished people to the cornfield? Exquisite. Turning his familiar into Birdzilla? Good stuff! NOT turning into a giant snake? A+ decision making skills. That all fell apart when he let Aladdin push his buttons, but he gave it a solid try.

* Dalia was so cute! I loved her and Genie’s awkward goofball romance, even if it was a bit rushed. (Jasmine was clearly a shipper, which was great.) And their kids were a-freaking-dorable!

* Turning Agrabah into a port city was, from a writer’s point of view, a great move. It had no real impact on the story, but it made way more sense and I appreciated that.

* RE: “A Whole New World”, narrowing their trip to the lands near Agrabah made it feel more personal since it showed Jasmine her world and more importantly her people in a new way.

* They set up Return of Jafar, my unironic favorite of the two sequels. It’d be harder to pull off with Genie as a human with two kids, but it’s doable. Still needs 1000% more Iago. But, hey, if Maleficent’s got a second movie... I’m not saying it’s possible, I’m saying anything is possible.

#Aladdin 2019

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theprocrastinatingalien · 6 years

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Looking towards Avengers 4 (with major Infinity War spoilers)

I'm aware that this might come across as negative, so I need to get something out there immediately... I absolutely loved AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR. I thought it was epic, and in the same way that THE AVENGERS shouldn't have worked, it totally did. Bringing all those characters together and it not being a shambles. I've always had faith in Marvel and (in particular) the MCU... all in all INFINITY WAR is a triumph. My excitement for AVENGERS 4 is on overload already.

The second (and much better) ANT-MAN AND THE WASP trailer has just been released, and early next year we get to meet CAPTAIN MARVEL. That's all exciting stuff, but AVENGERS 4... that's where we've heading to. Kevin Feige has stated that there will be a line drawn for the fans... everything before AVENGERS 4, and everything after it.

That's something to remember when discussing AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, because whilst it feels like everything has been leading to THAT film, that's not true, it's next year's outing that really is - as Doctor Strange would say - the endgame.

It's impossible to look towards AVENGERS 4 without talking about INFINITY WAR, of course.... especially as, well, it killed off a lot of it's characters. I'm not about to review the film, but we HAVE to talk about the deaths. They're very important.

Marvel have always, seemingly, been afraid to kill off major characters. One-off villains, sure. The odd supporting character, maybe. But the big players? Not so much. During the first two phases of the MCU, the biggest death is arguably Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) in AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. Sadly, the death is underwhelming because... we've only just met him. Barring a tease at the end of a previous movie, the 'twins' were only properly introduced in the film that offed him, so we can't possibly care as much as if, say one of the originals had died instead. A lot of people thought Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) might bite the dust, and that would've meant more, certainly. Quicksilver it was though. Then phase three happened - would things change? A little bit, and not at first. Personally I was disappointed with CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, as it was a film I went in absolutely expecting the exit of a known character. The comic book source suggested a death should happen, and really if it wasn't known that Chris Evans had more films on his slate I would've really expect Captain America to be a goner. Knowing that wouldn't happen I expected someone in his place. The closest we come is (Don Cheadle's) War Machine's plummet. It's dramatic... but it's not a death and it is sadly completely signposted in the trailers.

I've made my peace with CIVIL WAR though, and moved on from my initial disappointment to regard it as one of my favourite movies in the franchise. Since then, Marvel have seemingly cottoned on to the fact that - as much as we don't want to see our favourites die - it needs to happen if the audiences are to believe the jeopardy of the situations the characters are in. In GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 2 director/writer James Gunn chose to kill off Yondu (Michael Rooker). It's actually a powerful moment, and whilst Yondu is hardly a core member of the group, it's affecting enough. THOR: RAGNAROK took it further... with half the cast of the previous films not returning anyway (Foster, Selvig, Darcy and Sif all missing), the devastation across Asgard at the hands of Hela (Cate Blanchett) sees off Volstagg, Fandral, Hogun, with Odin (Anthony Hopkins) having his swansong earlier in the film. It's enough. True none of the 'crossover' characters get taken out... but RAGNAROK does run straight into INFINITY WAR as the fleeing Asgardian race come face to to face with Thanos' ship.

That's precisely where we start INFINITY WAR too. Whilst some characters are questionably missing - Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie and rock dude Korg for example - those we do see aren't around for long. The Asgardian bodies are scattered, and the first 'proper' death of film is Idris Elba's Heimdall. He bifrosts the Hulk to Earth and in doing so is killed by Thanos (Josh Brolin). Thor (Chris Hemsworth - in his biggest, most important role during an Avengers outing) is shocked, but the bigger shock comes when Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is throttled to death. Okay, for some of the audience I don't think this is as big a shock as it is for Thor, but it means a lot. Loki has been a favourite with the fans, especially the favourite villain in the MCU, and whilst I've seen some bemoan a wasted death, I think it's perfect for the film. Loki IS a villain, and the 'bigger' deaths need to be reserved for the heroes.

Gamora. That's a big death, which actually guides the film to it's conclusion. Zoe Saldana's green assassin plays such an important role.... it is sad when Thanos sacrifices her for the soul stone... but again, I'm sure we saw it coming. ONE of the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY had to be offed. As the story unfolds, it makes sense that Gamora is the one.... and if it's a permanent death it's going make a big hole in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 3! She's the lead female after all. But her death works... and, let's be honest, it's the effect on Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) that stops Iron Man and Spider-Man succeeding in getting the gauntlet off of Thanos, which could have won everything there and then.

We then have Vision (Paul Bettany). He dies twice. Once at the hands of Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) to save half the universe... and once by Thanos to destroy it. Those deaths all have a lot of weight to them for varying degrees and reasons. Heimdall is the first notable death, Loki a god, Gamora a guardian and Vision an android who probably could've been the saviour of the universe had his head not been a target.

Thanos then clicks his fingers. A simple act, that has devastating consequences. Half the life in the universe gets wiped out - including half of our heroes. Bucky, Falcon, Black Panther, Groot, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Drax, Mantis, Maria Hill, Nick Fury and Doctor Strange. They all... disappear. It's has a massive impact The bad guy won. The good guys lost. The last shot of the film is Thanos smiling. The credits are black and sombre. At the very end we're normally told that our heroes will return... but we're not... instead we're told that Thanos will return.

It's a shock.

Until you think about it.

If AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR was the last film of the phase, then the impact would be astounding, but we know AVENGERS 4 is now a year away. When the third phase was announced, a two-parter was announced - AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR PART 1 & PART 2. Since then, the writers and directors have tried to undo that. INFINITY WAR has now 'part one' attached, and the title to the follow up is still a secret. We've been told that the film is very different to the one we've seen, but the title is technically a spoiler, so they chose to withhold it so audiences could concentrate on the movie at hand.

Having seen INFINITY WAR (and I'll state again - I loved it) I really wouldn't be surprised if the title for the next film ends up simply being AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR VOL 2. I can't see how it's not a simple 'second part'. Thanos smiling at the end of this movie might as well have had the words 'to be continued' written across it.

And the more I think about those deaths at the end, the more it bugs me. Why? Because it's the wrong characters that died. That might sound like a silly statement, but stick with me here... look at the list again.... in particular, Black Panther, Doctor Strange... Spider-Man... almost all of the Guardians. They're all characters that will DEFINITELY be back. Next year sees the sequel to SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING. The year after, we have GUARIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 3, and let's be honest, there's no way we're not getting a DOCTOR STRANGE 2 or BLACK PANTHER 2. Most of the characters (barring Maria Hill and Nick Fury) are phase 2 or 3 characters, and will have their place amongst phase 4.

Who are we left with? Iron Man, Thor, Dr Banner, Steve Rogers, Black Widow, War Machine, Nebula, Okoye, Rocket and M'Baku. These are the characters we'll be following into the next movie - what's odd about that is, except for the last few names on the list - these are the guys who are moving on. Robert Downey Jr was the first guy we ever saw in this franchise. Chris Evans has publically said he's done, and Chris Hemsworth's arc seems largely done now. I'm going to come back to this. This is important. Right now, I'm going to start looking at what I know/suspect about AVENGERS 4...

CLINT BARTON, ANT-MAN, WASP and CAPTAIN MARVEL

These four are joining the action. No question. There's been a lot of upset that Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) was absent from the marketing, but that's simply because he wasn't in the film. They probably could've shoehorned him into it they wanted, he could've shot lots of arrows in the Wakanda fight... but he's been saved for something bigger. The on-set photos of him seem to suggest Clint is now going by the name Ronin. I assume this is because, whilst he was keeping away from the Avengers to keep his family safe, his family then disappeared with Thanos' click. He probably blames himself. Maybe an extra pair of hands could've helped save the day? With so many characters now taken out of action, I reckon Barton (whatever his moniker) will have a major role to play in the next movie. Likewise, Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly and Brie Larson get to tag in... with Ant-Man (also noted to be missing from IW) Wasp and Captain Marvel (both ladies kept back until their superhero statues had been revealed officially in their respective movies) coming in the kick ass. Captain Marvel even gets a tease in the post credits as Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) sends her an emergency message). She's likely to play a key part too, as she's be noted to be the most powerful of all the heroes.

And it's now I need to go back to my feeling that they've killed off the wrong characters. You see, think about this... as it stands, with the deaths we've have, we known it's all going to get undone. We know things are going to be sorted to some degree. But now switch it. Imagine the characters that died at the end were Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hulk, Rocket, Nebula, War Machine... would we be so certain things would be undone? Knowing certain contracts were at the end, others happy to leave... and imagine also, that first battle in New York, but with all the new guys - Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Spider-Man, the Guardians... all joining in what was already an brilliant cinematic scene. How great would that money shot be - you know the one, with the six Avengers in a circle together for the first time, but now bolstered by added Ant-Man, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel...

I just wonder if the writers have missed a trick. Because we do, really know things are going to be okay. But we return to that feeling that a lot of these deaths in this movie were for shock value only, they will be undone. Maybe not for EVERYONE, but mostly. It also makes us wonder... is Vision gone? Will Gamora, and maybe even Loki rise from their graves? Hell, will the reset button go so far back that even the likes of Quicksilver and all over Asgard come back?

I think what we will see, is the original gang lay down their lives to bring all those characters back. Going back in time might not actually be the big finale, it might be second act action leaving into a third act where Thanos joins forces with the Avengers against... a Gauntlet wielding Nebula (Karen Gillan's character does get to do that in the comic, and she's still around) or a different character... maybe the Skrulls will appear? (I don't think that's the case though).

Whilst I am, I guess, disappointed with who they killed off, I do believe we'll have a cracking end to the three phases of the MCU. I do believe that it'll end the franchise as we know - as certain characters will be leaving us, and there'll undoubtedly be a lump in the throat as they do. Whilst a lot of the characters will (probably) be missing for large portion of the film, I do believe - if Sebastian Stan can be believed - there'll be the biggest 'money shot' we've seen - with more characters than we've ever seen, including characters like Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) coming into the mix somehow.

Whatever AVENGERS 4 has in store, I am so excited. This will most definitely not be my last post n the matter. There's so much to look forward to... what we already know, and all the stuff we haven't got a clue about!

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elizas-writing · 6 years

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Spoilers Galore: Avengers Infinity War

So I was going to delay this post for a while to allow enough time for most everyone to see it, but I also got swamped with midterms hence why it took so long to get to this.

Nevertheless, the spoilers are worth talking about given how much happens in this movie, and I really wanted to get this out before Deadpool 2 premiered, so Happy Birthday to me (seriously, I’m now 22) for putting my procrastination to an end.

If you haven’t seen my spoiler-free review, you can check it out here to get my general opinion of the film.

So that’s a hell of a body count, huh? I knew from the get-go of this story line that characters were going to die, but holy freaking shit! A lot of people, myself included, figured that at least one of the older heroes would be the first to go, so it was quite the shock when most of the side characters and newer heroes were offed after coming off the heels of their successful solo films.

And I know despite what the Russos and Marvel executives are saying, it is glaringly obvious that not everyone could be permanently dead since sequels are still in the talks and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 just got a confirmed release date (c’mon Marvel, you’re not that slick). On top of which, the Infinity Gauntlet is more or less a giant deus ex machina which can put everything right in a heartbeat. Regardless, these are still heartbreaking scenes to sit through with everyone being brought to their lowest points and losing their loved ones. Some deaths are little rushed, but the music, cinematography and performances sell on the tragedy, and the emotional weight carries throughout the rest of the film. I never recovered after Gamora’s death; that was just too much after she and Peter finally verbalized their love. Even characters like Scarlet Witch, Vision, and Doctor Strange, who I didn’t care too much for, really sell in their drama to show the high stakes, both to the universe and their psyches as they make the ultimate sacrifices to try to save everyone.

It seemed really weird at first that most of the new characters were killed off, but I figured that most of the older stars like Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr are probably getting one last hurrah in Avengers 4 before their contracts are up and make way for the next phase/generation of heroes for MCU. And I imagine when these guys have to bid the franchise goodbye, it’s going to wrench our hearts out even more.

As I said in my spoiler-free review, the most fun interactions are with the Guardians of the Galaxy. I like seeing Rocket and Groot help Thor to create Stormbreaker while the rest of the gang runs into Tony Stark, Doctor Strange and Peter Parker, and Gamora... well... see two paragraphs before. I think her coming back is going to be more tricky since she didn’t disintegrate like most of the rest of the characters, but part of me is really hoping we’ll get something because she’s a great Guardian and one half of the only stable power couple in the entire MCU. But still, it’s fun to see the Guardians, who were mostly off doing their own thing, finally get involved with a much grander battle. And hey, we finally got Rocket asking Bucky for his arm, and it made me giggle like an idiot.

I know a lot of fans will give me backlash for this, but Loki is one of the few characters who I hope stays dead. Yes, him pulling a knife against Thanos of all people makes no sense, but you can see the panic in his face as he’s pulling every trick he can to distract Thanos as long as he can. It’s a well-deserved redemption after years of not knowing what he wants and the extremes he went to, and after all this time, he still can’t bear to see Thor perish and makes the ultimate sacrifice to ensure his survival. It’s a genuinely heartbreaking moment which leaves Thor visibly shaking. It’d feel like cheating now to cop out his death again after the strong reaction Thor had.

I love seeing Tony Stark being heroic again with impressive updates to the Iron Man suit with continuous 3D printing for repairs. Doctor Strange, although I’m still annoyed they never gave him a complete character arc in the first place, has a lot of fun banter with Tony with some visually wonderful sorcery and fighting. Peter Parker, as usual, is fun and naive and still wanting to prove himself, and he’s best when he gets to be a team player in these ensemble films to form strategy. But what Tom Holland does best as Peter is reminding us of his young age and emotional vulnerability, which is why his death is the most gut-wrenching as he’s clinging to Tony for dear life and pleading to not go.

The rest of the characters are more hit-and-miss in their development, especially as most of them haven’t been seen since Civil War. And they try to bring up the Sokovia Accords again, but that gets cast aside quickly to get the Mind Stone out of Vision. Steve Rogers and T’Challa shine as leaders as the battle comes to Wakanda, and I can watch that scene where all the warriors chant “yibambe” over and over again. It’s relieving to see Rhodey and Bucky back in action after the physical and mental turmoil they went through, and Sam still has plenty of fun one-liners. Black Widow, Okoye and Scarlet Witch make a fun girl power team. And when Thor, Rocket and Groot come in, words just escape me in how intensely fun that battle gets.

I think the weakest part of this section is probably the romance between Scarlet Witch and Vision. It is one of the few parts where not much is explained what happened to them in between movies and how Vision was able to deceive Tony for so long. They were kinda just thrown into the mix in Age of Ultron, and I don’t think they ever figured out what to do with them aside from finding a way to work in an Infinity Stone. But once again, what pulls them through is the performances by Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany to bring the weight of the unavoidable situation these two are in where only Scarlet Witch can kill Vision via destroying the Mind Stone.

Part of what makes the heavy-handed tone work is how inconsequential everything feels. Even for all the gritty and depressing moments, MCU always finds a way to end it on a hopeful or even funny note to keep spirits up. This time, they’re not fucking around. Think about it-- every film from Doctor Strange to Black Panther in the grand scheme leading up to Infinity War doesn’t matter anymore. Stephen learning to be humble, the Guardians learning to trust each other and move past trauma, Peter Parker learning responsibility, Thor becoming a great hero without his hammer, and T’Challa opening up Wakanda to the world? Yup, none of it fucking mattered cause most of them were either killed by Thanos or disintegrated anyway. And the worst part is that they were playing by the book and most of their plans worked out, but Thanos still found a way to one-up them anyway and win.

A lot of people mentioned this already, but what makes Thanos fascinating as a villain is that the film almost frames him as the hero to his own self-deluded ideas. He has a backstory, a goal, an arc, the whole nine yards. He doesn’t hesitate to kill whoever to get the next stone, he’s incredibly manipulative towards his own children (which is best depicted in how he “adopted” Gamora), and he’s so far gone beyond reason to believe genocide is what is right to fix and over-populated universe. Even more wild is the fact he doesn’t want the glory or credit, and he’s perfectly content to retire on some remote planet to watch the sun rise-- as seen at the end of the film. However, I do question why the Soul Stone regarded him killing Gamora as an act of love when it was always, always manipulation, but hopefully we’ll get to see that explained in the next film cause, c’mon folks, that ain’t love.

There’s also some things left unclear like what exactly happened on Xandar, and why Bruce can no longer bring out the Hulk, but we still got a couple more movies to look forward to in the year until Avengers 4. And I guarantee the Russo brothers had a shit ton more scenes they wanted to add in but couldn’t due to time constraints, and if they were to release an extended cut, I would not mind at all.

Like I said before, this film had so much going against it, but paid off tremendously well with a consistent dramatic tone, bringing together characters for the first time and reuniting others, and always keeping the audience guessing on what to expect next. And it succeeded in emotionally screwing us over with an always brilliant cast who know how to wrench our hearts out.

One of the best of the MCU without a doubt.

If you liked this and enjoy what I do, buy me a Ko-fi to say “Job well done!”

#avengers #Avengers infinity war #infinity war #spoilers galore #movie #movie review #review #movie reviews #reviews #mcu #marvel #marvel cinematic universe #my writing

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keanuital · 6 years

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John Wick solidified Keanu Reeves as one of the greatest action stars of all time

With A History Of Violence, Tom Breihan picks the most important action movie of every year, starting with the genre’s birth and moving right up to whatever Vin Diesel’s doing this very minute.

John Wick (2014)

In the entire history of American action cinema, there are very, very few movies that take their fight scenes as seriously as John Wick does. Some of the action set pieces in John Wick—the home invasion, the one-man nightclub siege—are straight-up masterpieces, and the movie never lingers long between these exquisitely crafted depictions of mayhem. But my favorite scene in the movie isn’t a fight. It’s the part where Viggo, the movie’s lead Russian gangster, has to tell his son just how badly he’d fucked up. Viggo’s boy, Iosef, has broken into the home of a “fucking nobody.” He’s killed the man’s dog, stolen his car, and left him unconscious. Viggo, played by the late Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist, doesn’t mind any of this. He just minds that Iosef did all this to the wrong guy.

Carefully and patiently, Viggo tells Iosef that he and his associates used to call John Wick, that nobody, baba yaga—the bogeyman. And then he continues, “John wasn’t exactly the bogeyman.” Dramatic pause. “He was the one you send to kill the fucking bogeyman.” A moment later, as that sinks in: “I once saw him kill three men in a bar with a pencil. A fucking. Pencil.”

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That scene comes before any of the movie’s fights, and it tells us a whole lot of things we need to know. It tells us that Wick is an absolute avenging angel of death, of course, and it gives us context for the life that he left behind when he fell in love and got married. But that scene also tells us what kind of movie we’re watching. It’s a movie that takes place in its own universe, that leaves behind any notion of realism or naturalism. It tells us that we are watching myths and archetypes, that the movie is going to be a sort of tone-poem homage to history’s great bleak, existentialist action movies. It tells us that directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch know their Melville and their Woo. The first time I watched John Wick, I spent that entire scene cackling with glee. That scene promised a lot, and the movie paid off on it.

I have to imagine that the person who greenlit John Wick thought he’d be getting another Taken clone; 2014 was the era of the Taken clone. A few years earlier, Liam Neeson had revitalized his career by playing a leathery, regretful death-dealer in a cheap, unpretentious B-movie, and other aging movie stars were trying to do the same with theirs. Denzel Washington made The Equalizer. Sean Penn made The Gunman. John Wick, originally titled Scorn, could’ve turned out to be one of those.

Instead, John Wick turned out to be a whole new mold: a sleek, stylish, and deeply silly studio B-movie that takes place in its own fully realized world. And after years of choppy, illegible Hollywood action scenes, it revived the visceral beauty of a well-shot, well-choreographed fight, succeeding in making Keanu Reeves look like an absolutely unstoppable killing machine. These days, people aren’t making their own Takenknockoffs anymore. They’re more likely to make John Wick clones, like Ben Affleck in The Accountant, say, or Charlize Theron in Atomic Blonde. That’s a good thing. The John Wick clones have been way better than the Takenclones.

In some ways, John Wick was a very familiar movie. Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of quiet, soulful, and well-dressed hitmen pulled back into the killing game by tragedy, forced to eliminate their old bosses. We’ve seen a lot of broken loners going on quests of revenge after seeing their families die. We’ve seen badasses so cold that they take out entire armies of anonymous cannon-fodder types. We’ve seen underworld stories in which the police barely even seem to exist. John Wick is, in a lot of ways, a traditional action movie, one that works very much within the rules and structures of the genre.

But in other ways, John Wick is a strange statement of a movie—one that takes all those tropes and makes them as weird and otherworldly as possible. For one thing, when John Wick goes to war with the Russian mob of New York, he’s not avenging any actual people. Instead, he’s avenging the death of a dog, an adorable puppy gifted to him by his dead wife. Iosef insists, over and over, that it was just a dog, as if this is going to help him in any way. It’s a beautiful little subversion of an old revenge-movie trope. People hate seeing dogs die in movies, so we’re spared the usual Death Wish-style scene of rape and murder. Even the dog dies offscreen. Instead, we get to skip straight to the revenge. And the movie knows it’s absurd for Wick to be killing dozens of people to avenge a dog that he’d only had for, what, a day? But it works on a couple of levels. At one point, Wick says that the dog represented all the hope he had left in the world, telling us that that’s what sent him off on that killing spree. So it’s an effective story device. But it’s also a grand cosmic joke. Because after all, it was just a fucking dog.

Taking this simple and unreal pretense as its starting point, the movie builds an entire world. This is a universe full of hitmen. There are so many, in fact, that they have their own hotel, a place where any actual killing is expressly forbidden. That’s one of the rules of this hitman world that everyone understands. Another is that everyone is supposed to pay for stuff in gold coins. Even the police seem to know what’s going on. At one point, a cop comes to Wick’s door and sees a body lying on the floor behind him. His response: “You, uh, working again?” Wick: “No, just sorting some stuff out.” That’s good enough for the cop, who backs right out. John Wick: Chapter Two, the movie’s 2017 sequel, builds on all of this and turns it into something even more gloriously alien. But it’s all there in the first movie—a violent hidden world, right under our noses.

A year before starring in John Wick, Keanu Reeves went to Hong Kong and China to make his directorial debut. Man Of Tai Chi isn’t what you might expect from the moment that an aging movie star steps behind the camera. Instead, it’s a great little underground-fighting movie, one made with a slightly incoherent plot and a great respect for fight choreography. The movie almost makes more sense as a collection of fight scenes than as a traditional narrative. It’s mostly in Chinese, but Reeves himself plays the villain, a glowering evil American billionaire who makes people fight to the death. And he made the whole thing as a vehicle for Tiger Chen, a Chinese martial artist who’d been one of the fight choreographers for The Matrix.

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Man Of Tai Chi was, for me, the moment that Reeves became an all-time elite action star. He’d already had a surprising number of classic action movies on his résumé: Point Break, Speed, the Matrix movies. He’d done many of his own stunts in Speed and trained hard in wire-fu for The Matrix. But I’d always thought of him as an actor who sometimes did action movies, not as a straight-up action star. Man Of Tai Chi revealed Reeves to be something else: someone so in love with the genre that he’d make a labor of love like that. And John Wick is the moment he solidified his spot in the history of the genre. Keanu Reeves is, quite simply, one of the greatest action stars of all time. He might be the single greatest, no qualifiers necessary.

Think about it: Reeves was 50 when John Wick came out, and he still went out of his way to make the movie as hard and physical as possible. He recruited his Matrix stunt doubles Stahelski and Leitch to direct the movie even though they’d never directed a movie before. (Reeves’ devotion to the Matrix stunt team is, to my mind, one of the most endearing things about him.) He threw himself into training, learning styles of martial arts that he’d never attempted. And he pulled off these incredible fight scenes—scenes that mix gunplay with hand-to-hand grappling in believable ways, scenes in which he has to pull off these great stunts without the benefit of quick-cutting. He even did a fair amount of his stunt-driving. And he put in an affecting, grounded performance on top of all of that, bringing this absurdist world to life with the sheer weight of his facial expressions and body language. And he delivers his best badass lines with absolute panache and confidence. (Viggo: “They know you’re coming.” Wick: “Of course. But it won’t matter.”)

There’s a ruthless efficiency to the way Reeves moves in the movie. The way he kills people tells more of a story than the actual story does. He’ll punch someone, then shoot him, then punch him again. Sometimes, he’ll take a bad guy down in a leglock, holding him immobile while he shoots a couple of other bad guys, and then shoot the original bad guy while that guy is lying helpless on the floor. A scene like that one-man nightclub invasion is put together with absolute precision, ratcheting things up gradually until it becomes something insane and surreal. It’s beautifully lit and shot and edited, like Drive or something, but all of that atmosphere serves to highlight the action. There’s a scene near the end where Viggo, on the way to his final showdown with Wick, laughs maniacally. It’s not because he thinks he’s going to win. He knows he’s about to die. He’s just having so much fun watching Wick work. We, the audience, knows how he feels.

John Wick made an impact. It made money and earned critical raves, something that I don’t think anyone expected of it. It spawned a whole universe‚ two movies, with another on the way, and a spin-off TV series called The Continental reportedly in the works. One of its directors went off to make Atomic Blonde, an instant-classic action movie in its own right if only for that incredible single-take apartment-building fight. John Wickspawned imitators. But more to the point, it proved that an American studio B-movie could be truly great, that it could compete with anything coming out of South Korea or Thailand or Indonesia. It proved that we don’t have to settle for bullshit. It raised the stakes. People keep asking if American action movies are back, and I hadn’t really had an answer. But now, yeah, I’m thinking they’re back.

#keanu reeves #john wick

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