#this movie is so well crafted

[cutesyname]

you’re an ugly crier

#digital illustration #drawing #digital art #doodle #my art #fanart #artists on tumblr #bridesmaids #rose byrne #kristen wiig #movie #film #screengrab #drawing practice #just rewatched #this movie is so well crafted #i would die for rose byrne #movie screengrabs

[welcometogrouchland]

[ID: two pieces of digital fanart depicting Luz and Belos from the owl house dressed as Sarah and Jareth from Labyrinth (1986), respectively. They're wearing the costumes from the hallucination/ballroom scene. In the first piece Luz stands in the foreground with her skirt bunched in her fists, facing towards us but looking at something out of frame. She has a necklace of her egg palismen and a rod of Asclepius hairpin, and is wearing her white vans under her ballgown. Belos stands behind her in shadow, looking down at her and holding up a light glyph. The background is black. The second image is the same piece except with no shading, more vibrant colours and a purple background. End ID] @toh-described

🦉💫Don't tell me truth hurts little girl/Cause it hurts like hell🔮🌟

Labyrinth au!! Honestly surprised I've never seen one of these before?? feels very fitting. But I guess I'm the only one w/ this specific brainrot cocktail lol

(DO NOT TAG AS SHIP OR I WILL EXPLODE YOUR EYEBALLS💥)

#the owl house #toh #luz noceda #luz toh #belos toh #philip wittebane #i do have actual thoughts and (traditional) sketches to flesh this out into a full on au #luz and sarah are very different protagonists so it's fun to switch up the labyrinths design and narrative function to reflect that #if the labyrinth in the movie is trying to teach sarah to be grateful for what she has (lose moral cause this movie has -20 story) #then Luz's labyrinth would be a lot more of a ''give into temptation'' style test ala witches before wizards #overall very similar to the ballroom scene (hence why i took inspiration from it for this) #(also sparkly outfits <3) #I'd probably put the collector as jareth instead of belos as well?? i drew him hear bc I thought he'd look cool juxtaposed w/ luz #but the collector would be a much more relevant antagonist in a story based on Labyrinth i think lol #he'd have stolen king away after luz proclaims he'd be better off without her and she has to get him back yknow? #meanwhile the collector tries to lure her into giving up by crafting a fantasy world to tempt her #but of course she keeps going. make some friends. do some trials. you have no power over me. david bowie dance party. etc #it makes sense to me <3 #anyway. Tumblr pls let these images be a decent size on dashboard <3

[accio-victuuri]

shandong satellite tv interview with zhao xuan and he talks about working with yibo in BAH :

Actor @赵煊said to Dongdong that #王一博狠爱电影# . The last time the two of them parted, Wang Yibo was still sorting out the movie’s scene

Q: What impressed you most about Wang Yibo?

ZX: he loves movies. we last met a few days ago, when we met he was still sharing he watched nearly 100 movies this month. the last time i separated from him, i remember he took a blank piece of paper and written on the piece of paper are scenes from the movie. he sorted out the movies scenes with a pen after watching the footage of a very good movie. he combed it out again. so he is doing this kind of homework in private in preparing for his next movie and his next work.

#wang yibo #being a hero #i love these new bits that shandong satellite tv is releasing #and BAH has been doing so well in ratings!!! well deserved 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 #and omg can i just cry about his dedication to his craft??? he studies so well and gives his all #can i please join yibo’s movie marathon?????? #accio victuuri translation

[its-tea-time-darling]

the worst thing tbsoas film did was changing absolutely everything and i mean everything about sejanus.

that kid was supposed to be QUIET! eaten alive by guilt! but not eloquent enough to try and get people on his side for it! he was an absolute loner but not in the "i hate you all and im cool and sassy and show people up in a way the audience 1:1 agrees with (basically just spelling out the moral counter argument against the games)"-way, in the "i know i don't belong here and i have imposter syndrome because none of the capitol folks accept me and my family and they let us know directly and in no uncertain terms all day every day and i also don't want to be here i wish we'd never left 2".

and the REAL tragedy of sejanus plinth is this: that his moral compass puts him off everyone at the capitol bc they're all snakes and he knows it - BUT he thinks that the one person who's the biggest snake of them all is good. he's naive and dumb and stupid and trusting, and snow feeds on his affection and attention the way you'd pet a kicked puppy on the head and feel good about yourself.

and the snow kicks the puppy to death and is all pikachu meme abt it.

#i at least liked how they had sejanus scream for his ma at the hanging #that was well done #but they just missed out on SO MUCH not just related to sejanus' personality #(which i still miss dearly bc i think he was a very well crafted character for what he signifies in the story) #but also to class. class differences class consciousness and class entitlement is such a big theme in this story #and by cutting out so much of sejanus and his family's position in this society and how it affects how sejanus sees the world #mthey really didn't do the story a favor imo. #dont get me wrong i still liked the movie! #just thinking abt it yknow #tbsoas #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #the hunger games #thg #bosas #ballad of songbirds and snakes #i said i wasn't going to start ballad posting yet here we are #tbosas

[idkwhatimdoingbutslay]

ADAPTATIONS DO NOT HAVE TO BE BAD ADAPTATIONS DO NOT HAVE TO BE BAD ADAPTATIONS DO NOT HAVE TO BE BAD ADAPTATIONS DO NOT HAVE TO BE BAD ADAPTATIONS DO NOT HAVE TO BE-

ADAPTATIONS ARE NOT INHERENTLY BAD ADAPTATIONS ARE NOT INHERENTLY BAD ADAPTATIONS ARE NOT INHERENTLY BAD ADAPTATIONS ARE NOT INHERENTLY BAD ADAPTATIONS ARE NOT INHERENTLY BAD ADAPTATIONS ARE NOT INHERENTLY-

#i can’t help but get a little defensive at people who hate the entire idea of adaptions as someone who is sooo biased towards visual media #I recognize that but ALSO- #THERE ARE SO MANY GOOD ADAPTATIONS #the reason there’s an over abundance of bad ones is completely on purpose #who’s making these bad adaptations? MASSIVE CORPS #who don’t make adaptations out of love for a source material but obviously for money. they also don’t hire directors and writers who care #theyre also not given enough time or paid enough to have the chance to care. no executive is going into the adaptation with passion theyre #obviously going in with greed #adaptations and the idea of them is just so beautiful to me it’s like lowkey making fanfiction for your fav show 😭 #you can love and adore something on paper so much that you would love to be able to craft it with your own hands for others to see with #their own eyes #it’s just SO- I’m so passionate about this #friendly space ninja just posted a video about good adaptations that even exceeded the source material and it brought up this fire in me 🏃🏾 #some of my all time fav pieces of visual media are lovingly crafted adaptations #all movies can be bad but it’s especially painful when it was already something so well loved #adaptations without care RUIN the industry as well as any hope for people who genuinely want adaptations #adaptation #movie adaptation #show adaptation #arcane #to all the boys I’ve loved before #you Netflix #so many that I haven’t even touched yet UGH #I would love to make adaptations of my favourite books you don’t get it it would HEAL ME #slay on the run

[communistkenobi]

maybe this movie was more tolerable a couple decades ago before it became one of the greatest movies of all time but like the universe of masculinity in scorsese films is insufferable

#like maybe this is a Halloween situation where like if you watch Halloween now it feels derivative and underwhelming #when like it was the movie that created the template for all 80s slasher flicks #This is a well crafted film and everything but goddamn lol #like everyone knows a guy who behaves like this and they all suck so bad

[jacquelinemerritt]

Queer Media Review: But I’m A Cheerleader (1999)

Originally posted September 16th, 2016

A tonally mismatched, endearing cult classic.

This review is part of a weekly series of pieces on queer and trans media. See them all here!

Jamie Babbit’s1 first feature film, But I’m A Cheerleader, has, in the years following its release, become something of a classic piece of queer representative media. It frequently tops recommendation lists of films about queer people that don’t end in tragedy (lists that are far shorter than they have any right to be), and it is a film I have heard described as “quintessentially lesbian.”

This film’s status as an iconic lesbian film baffles me. Cheerleader is not a bad film, per se, but it is, in almost every way possible, a sleazy teen comedy that attempts to mine humor out of an incredibly traumatic and horrifying scenario (namely, being sent off to a gay conversion camp). That designation isn’t inherently negative; the same can be said of the original American Pie and John Tucker Must Die, and both of those films are entertaining because they revel in just how sleazy they can be. If But I’m A Cheerleader had committed to reveling in the sleaziness of turning the trauma of conversion therapy in a light comedy, then it might have succeeded on those (less than savory terms.

But Cheerleader is caught in between two worlds. At its core, it’s a film that wants to be a down to earth romance about good people finding love in a dark situation, but that core is constantly at odds with the low-brow humor and unintelligent satire that fills nearly every scene. It never attempts to examine the absurdity inherent to its scenario, and the only clear statement it makes about conversion therapy is that it’s ineffective, which is as obvious a statement on the matter as a film could make. The film also has a wildly inconsistent visual language2, frequently switching between bland stationary shots and handheld tracking shots for no apparent reason, only to return to its bland cinematography a moment later.

And yet, despite all of those flaws, I still rather enjoyed watching Cheerleader. Even with all the poorly designed sleaze surrounding it, the emotional core of Cheerleader is damn compelling, presenting us with a slowly budding romance between two highly likable characters.

That solid emotional core is established early-on through Megan (Natasha Lyonne, of Orange is the New Black fame), a very sympathetic protagonist who is confused about her own sexuality. She frequently fantasizes about her fellow cheerleaders while making out with her boyfriend, and she has a picture of a bikini clad woman in her locker, contrasted with her friend whose locker is adorned with a male model. When she’s ambushed by her friends and parents (in one of the few good uses of visual storytelling, I might add), she’s completely blindsided by them, and she quickly submits to their demands that she attend conversion therapy, despite her beliefs that none of the “evidence” presented was abnormal or confirmed her supposed “homosexuality.”

Megan’s cluelessness and empathy make her romance with Graham (Clea DuVall), another attendee at the conversion therapy camp, all the more believable, as their coupling is treated as a subtle slow, burn. We see them holding hands and touching each other, carefully avoiding the watchful gaze of Mary Brown (Cathy Moriarty), the camp’s strict headmistress. There’s a clear understanding of the danger of their budding relationship in the film, as when Graham deflects suspicion off of their rebellion by claiming to have a crush on Joel (Joel Michaely), a gay Jewish man also attending the camp, Megan is never shown to be jealous of the affection he’s receiving (she even takes a chance to stare flirtatiously at Graham while she’s holding hands with Joel).

The film also does challenge one idea, and that’s the idea that gender expression and fulfillment of gender roles are connected to or determinate of sexuality, though it does so with mixed results. Early on, there’s a scene where the characters must all think about and confess what the “root” of their homosexuality is, and one of the men at the camp claims that his mother allowing him to wear her pumps was the single experience in his life that led to his same-gender attraction. The film wants to paint this as the ridiculous connection that it is, but its strength is lost because so many of the film’s jokes rely on the association between gay men and femininity.3

The film is more successful in challenging stereotypes about sexuality and gender when the masculine presenting Jan (Katrina Phillips) storms out of a group therapy session, upset that her love of softball and unconventional looks have led to her attending the camp despite the fact that she has always been fully and exclusively attracted to men. Her rejection of the camp’s attempt to foist femininity onto her rings true thanks to Phillips’ compelling performance and the film’s lack of insistence that masculinity in women is in any way indicative of same-gender attraction (an acknowledgement that is present in the film’s title).

The ending of the film, despite being rather annoyingly cutesy, is fairly compelling as well, setting up a scenario in which one of the members of the lead couple is about to “graduate” from the camp, and the other must fulfill a wish the graduating partner made in order to convince her to run away with her. It’s an incredibly sweet gesture, and their relationship is given a satisfying conclusion, capping off the film with passionate kisses and annoyingly chipper music. That this scene works despite its presentation is a testament to Babbit’s strength as a director (of actors) and Natasha Lyonne’s strength as an actress, as the two of them sell the emotion of the scene that would otherwise be drowned out by a bad pop musical score.

Such a tonally conflicted, endearing scene is arguably the perfect ending to this film.

Rating: 3.5/5

But I’m A Cheerleader can be rented and purchased on iTunes or streamed via Xfinity.

Critical Eye Criticism is the work of Jacqueline Merritt, a trans woman, filmmaker, and critic. You can support her continued film criticism addiction on Patreon.

1While Babbit hasn’t directed many features of significant acclaim since But I’m A Cheerleader, she has gone on to become a rather prolific TV comedy director, specializing in smaller, character-driven comedies such as Gilmore Girls (for which she directed eighteen episodes), Malcolm in the Middle, and more recently working on hit comedies like Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Silicon Valley (she even directed one of the best episodes of Supergirl’s first season!) All of this to say, she’s got a rather impressive body of work behind her, and it would not be surprising if her name were to show up on a highly successful feature comedy sometime in the near future.

2Bonus points if you caught the reference.

3These jokes are made in spite of the film’s inclusion of Dolph (Dante Basco), a varsity wrestler whose masculinity is never in question, and Larry (Richard Moll), an “ex-ex-gay” who looks like a lumberjack right down to the flannel.

#but i'm a cheerleader #jamie babbit #natasha lyonne #clea duvall #lesbian film #lgbt film #queer film #queer cinema #queer movies #queer media #queer media reviews #this review is pretty solid #only thing i have to say is that i was totally right that jamie babbit was capable of better #she directed three episodes of russian doll #and did an incredible job with them #so suspect many of the issues in this film are just a result of being an inexperienced artist #and she learned her craft plenty well later

[crunchycrystals]

percabeth fall guy au is my white whale

#crunchyposts #movies #i loved that movie i think i could make a great fic out of it if i had the ability to complete any wip ive ever made #listen up i have a Vision its not exactly the same as the movie bc im not a big exes to lovers guy unless its also friends to lovers #percy fits colt so well in that hes so loyal and does not have any self esteem and annabeth with jody and their love for their craft #and making something that inspires people that sticks around #brain i am Begging you let me write this #or at least let me read it. dear lord #iwmfly

[art--harridan]

[Image description: A digital painting of Nancy Downs from The Craft. She's both grimacing and has her mouth open like she's screaming, making her look murderous. She's holding a knife up in one of her hands, and a snake slithers between them. There's also a snake slithering out of her jacket, and creeping up her chin. On top of this, there's spiders scurrying across her body, especially her eye, which resembles a gaping black hole. A moon frames her head like a halo, and the rest of the background is black. Over the piece, there's a scratchy film filter.]

Inktober Day 2: Scurry

Film: The Craft

#inktober #the craft #nancy downs #inktober 2022 #the craft fanart #nancy downs fanart #digital art #snakes #spiders #insects #this is later than planned cos my tablet pen nib was so flat i couldnt take it out :') #may have had a mini breakdown... not important... #anyway heres a tip for my fellow tablet users: holy shit please keep a track of how flat your nib is #literally had to carve into the pen to get it out 😔 #anyway the craft is great! #nancy is super cool and also kinda hard to draw but oh well #idk if its obvious yet but im using these prompts v loosely #but uh the snakes and spiders are a reference to my fave scene of the movie (iykyk) #originally i was going to actually draw bonnie but i wanted to do nancy more #um super well done horror scene tho (tbh i am a major arachnophobe and whatever the general insect one is too) #uh yeah if you like something like ginger snaps/jennifers body/witches of eastwick #would recommend

[murky-galaxy]

Truly obsessed with the way A Beautiful Person, or Perhaps it is (Utsukushiki Hito Arui wa Sore wa, the MayaKuro Revue song from the movie) uses Pride and Arrogance (Hokori to Ogori), because while the wiki calls a Beautiful Person a rearrangement of P&A, it isn't really. A Beautiful Person takes elements from P&A, it never plays it fully straight. Like, you’ll think it's going to launch into the soaring heights of P&A, it twists it around, almost cuts it off in a way.

It’s incredibly noticeable in the string runs around 8:10, where Pride and Arrogance has 3 runs going up in pitch every time, A Beautiful Person cuts them off after 2, and then goes into a different melody altogether. Right after those string runs there is this guitar chord, harkening back to P&A’s big epic guitar solo, but we only get this brief reminder of it. We get the closest to just a rearrangement of P&A during the section that plays during Maya’s revue introduction (the horns at 7:20), but even that gets cut short.

And all of this only services the larger narrative of the Revue of Souls. Pride and Arrogance was Maya’s big moment, the introduction of her as the brilliant perfect stage girl to the audience, above all the others. The Revue of Souls is Claudine forcing Maya to look at her as an equal, not just a force from below pushing her up, but also about making Maya accept that she is not just an empty vessel offering herself to the stage, but human like everyone else. By borrowing from that big musical moment, but never letting it fully blossom into its original, instead becoming something new, it sets up that this revue isn’t just the Tendo Maya Show, but the Claudine and Maya show in the end, together as equals.

What makes me personally go fully feral is the fact these elements kick in after Claudine accuses Maya of being filled with “pride and arrogance and envy and longing” and destroys her perfect vessel. Pride and Arrogance was above all, a song about teaching Karen a lesson, and now A Beautiful Person becomes a song about teaching Maya a lesson. She is perfect, she’s the dazzling lead, but only by allowing yourself to open up to someone who can draw out every aspect of you, you can reach ever more dazzling heights, and only Claudine can do that for her, as her rival, and perhaps, her friend.

#revue starlight #revue starlight movie #claudine saijou #tendo maya #mayakuro #revue starlight movie spoilers #this song is so well crafted you guys I can't I love it #it makes me wish Kuro had a similar song for it to play with #but alas #music #posts from a murky galaxy

[drarchibaldpeppermd]

cant believe people are upset barbie isnt the esoteric feminist essay they convinced themselves it was going to be

#instead its a skillfully crafted (and yes flawed) love letter to the innate beauty of the experience of being a human #as well as the HIGHLY complicated emotional connection that women have to BEING WOMEN #and that includes trans women too btw #barbie #barbie movie #everything and everyone is flawed for all time #but greta gerwig is a fantastic director who had an unbelievable vision #the fact that she managed to make a fun summer romp that also actually said some real things is amazing #im so grateful for the home movie scene it made me feel so painfully human in the most wonderful way

[mandycantdecide]

i never thought i would be deep diving into the fnaf lore but here we are

#i watched the fnaf movie last night #and WOW #i was pleasantly surprised #i don't think i'll play the games and stuff #but i am watching videos about the lore #it's crafted so well

[eebie]

my heart joins the choir of 100000 million angels that cry out in adoration of egbert 

#my rambles #homestuck #hes so whimsical and he just does whatever he wants like some kind of magical forest fairy #my inner grandma ... egbert my boy do you want milk or cookies or a bedtime story #do you want me to put on an animated movie that's a clear ripoff of a more popular and well-crafted one #one that was clearly marketted in the bargain bin with the sole purpose of preying upon my clueless grandmotherly inability to #distinguish between Trolls by Dreamworks and Trolland by Asylum!!!!!!!!

[radioactivedadbod]

how the FUCK am I supposed to be normal after that

#WHAT DO YOU MEAN I NEED TO WAIT. MONTHS??? YEARS EVEN??? #'Oh dw its coming out next year' IS IT REALLY JANET. WHEN ATSV LOOKED THAT GORGEOUS???? THAT BTSV IS GONNA BE DONE IN A YEAR???????? #EVEN IF THEY WORKED AT IT AT THE SAME TIME. COME ON NOW. #god I'm just. BRO I LOVE MOVIES. #HOLY SHIT. #HO HO HOLY SHIT #VULTURE'S THEME BEING ITALIAN OPERA????? #MIGUEL'S THEME???? SPOT'S THEME??????? #SPOT'S DESIGN????? #HOBIE'S DESIGN????????? #HOW THE FUCK DO THEY KEEP CREATING SO WELL CRAFTED AND REALIZED CHARACTERS WHO ONLY APPEAR FOR LIKE FIVE MINUTES #HOW DO THEY KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH IT #AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[ferdydurke]

Going to the cinemwa today... maybe for two movies? We will see...

#barking #tani poniedziałek 🙏 #gonna see spiderverse... lately ive been overcome with incredible apathy towards kids movies #even tho i do respect the craft ect ect just not something ive been interested in #but every single person ive heard talk about that movie said it was very good and i do wanna see the cool animation so ig im going #the second movie well see if i manage to get out of the first one in time

[mariska]

genuinely fun thing for me 2 do whenever i get thrifted media of any kind: LOVE slappin my name and the year on the covers and the actual tape label. and also putting fun retro video rental store tape stickers on em. it always makes me genuinely happy when i look at a thrifted item i got, usually for media like this, and someone wrote their name or initials somewhere visible so that they wouldnt lose/mix-up their tape with someone else's. idk i know that probably sounds silly but i am genuinely so passionate about even the smallest "i was here/i owned this at one point" gesture like that. it makes me very happy to think about a hypothetical person like me in the future some day who loves collecting random assorted analog/old tech stuff looking at my name on there and the year i wrote it down and maybe smiling to themselves the way i smile when i see "debbie" or "hank" or "JB" on a tape of my own or a record or a dvd case. i always end up wondering what kinda stuff they enjoy now, if they're still alive, if they did a complete personality switch at some point or if they're still a fan of whatever kind of media they cared about enough at one point in their life that they wrote their name on it so it wouldn't get lost. i would genuinely love to somehow get to know after i'm dead that i could be that unknown previous tape owner for someone else who i will never meet

anyways u guys like the craft??? good movie i enjoy it very much

#well! anyways! i was gonna watch this before bed and try to take some #disney princess tv pics of it since its been a while since i've had a working phone to do that with #but i think i lingered on my nostalgia for too long unintentionally lol i am so tired now #vhs #the craft #horror movies #vhs tapes #vhs collector