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drivingsideways · 4 months

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Year-end discussion in the Indian film space was dominated by the success of controversial film maker Sandeep Reddy Vanga's latest offering of undiluted misogyny and rage, appropriately titled "Animal"; but the best commentary I've seen on failed fatherhood and violent, toxic masculinity this year comes in a 2 minute scene in Kaathal: The Core, where a wizened old man testifies quietly in a family court that yes, he always knew that his son is gay, and still coerced him into a heterosexual marriage.

Kaathal: The Core isn't a film without flaws; one could argue that it's the quintessential film made about queer people by straight allies- actually more interested in the reaction to queerness and the adjustment to queerness by cishets, than in queer lives; that it has a one dimensional view of the reality of queer living in India. It has its moments of what I call "educational speechifying" that feel tonally at odds with the rest of it, but again, this paternalism in Indian cinema of the self-consciously "progressive" variety isn't unfamiliar.

The ending feels a little trite, and some artistic choices- an actual rainbow in the sky appears as the two lovers drive off into the sunset of their newly liberated lives-feel particularly anvil-like- much like the ending of another of director Jeo Baby's films, The Great Indian Kitchen, which was an exploration of the brutality of Indian-flavoured patriarchy. In short: a movie filled with intricately and deliberately placed subtleties that occasionally - somewhat inexplicably-loses confidence in its audience, and chooses to remedy that by being a bit over the top.

But those are minor quibbles. This movie gutted me. The story revolves around a middle-aged closeted gay man from a small close knit village community in Kerala whose life- and the lives of those around him- is thrown into disarray when his wife of twenty years files for divorce citing his gayness as the reason for the breakdown of the marriage- a step she takes just as he's nominated as his party's candidate for the local elections. With this premise, you'd be forgiven for expecting the movie to be high decibel melodrama- and possibly a tragedy- from start to finish. Instead, it deliberately chooses the quieter route, the most tender one; while not flinching away from the grim realities of widespread homophobia, it portrays both individuals and a community who , in a moment of crisis, discover that they are better than they think they are. And it does this not from a jingoistic, self-congratulatory ethno-nationalist perspective- but from a place of genuine love- as a reminder and a beacon in these dark times.

All of this is anchored in some fantastic performances- Mammootty once more showing up to remind us why he's one of the greatest living actors in the world, and Sudhi Kozhikode as Thankan in what should be a multiple-award winning performance as his long time lover. I've rarely seen an actor make so much of their limited screen time. When I say that minutes 50-52 of this film are the most devastatingly tragic-romantic moments in world cinema, you'll think I'm exaggerating and perhaps I am, but I can also guarantee that you're going to want to rewatch that sequence at least ten times and cry about two old geezers in love. Lives were changed in those moments, no lie.

My one disappointment in terms of performances is Jyothika, playing Omana, the long suffering wife. Omana is one of the stand-outs in the history of female characters in Malayalam cinema, and Jyothika is- barely adequate. When you contrast it with a similar role - say Hsieh Ying -xuan's performance as Liu San-lian in Dear Ex (2018)- the flatness is even more jarring. Still, the sheer love with which her character and her relationships, especially with her husband, are written carry the film through.

Tl;dr: watch it on Amazon Prime or at a theatre near you! You will not regret it.

#kaathal the core #malayalam cinema #indian cinema #mammootty #jyothika #jeo baby

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spiderdreamer-blog · 2 years

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GARGOYLES: THE TOP TEN EPISODES (WITH FIVE HONORABLE MENTIONS)

It is not an exaggeration to say that Batman: The Animated Series is as influential as The Simpsons in changing the face of American TV animation in the 1990s. Its dark, noirish aesthetic, complex writing, and stellar voice cast paved the way for action cartoons to evolve and grow. Even Disney felt the need to branch out at the time, calling on Batman episodic director Frank Paur and a development executive/former DC comics writer named Greg Weisman to create Gargoyles, which ironically started life as something far more akin to their typical comedy-adventure Disney Afternoon lineup. But Gargoyles was no mere Batman copy, quickly developing its own identity with a focus on a then-unique serialized consequences-driven narrative, an ever-growing fantasy/sci-fi kitchen sink, and medieval history. It has its flaws; namely, I am much less interested in secretive world-shaping societies than Greg Weisman continues to be even now, and it inevitably runs up against production realities of the time now and then. But it holds up remarkably well on the whole in its ambitions and complex characters. With that, today I'll be looking at what I think are the top 10 episodes of the series. Though given its nature, multi-part stories will be treated as one episode.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

"GRIEF":

The Avalon World Tour arc has always been the most...divisive section of the series since it aired. And I can see both sides of the argument. On the one hand, it was a much-needed expansion of lore and worldbuilding, serving a useful purpose in showing that there were many other heroes and gargoyle clans around the world. Goliath and his clan felt less tragically alone. And many of the episodes by themselves are genuinely excellent (two are on the list proper, for example). But on the other hand, it arguably didn't need to be as long as it was (though some of this can be blamed on the initial airings getting clogged up with reruns because of the production schedule), and many of them sideline our main characters for clear backdoor pilot spinoff leads, not all of whom are terribly interesting. "Grief" avoids most of these problems by offering a unique setting in Egypt (you knew they had to go to the Sphinx eventually), progressing the story of the Pack, and the guest characters are compelling because of how well they fit into the series' larger themes. A Wings-era/pre-Monk Tony Shalhoub is wonderful as the Emir, a sad, angry man who only wants to see his son again, while Tony Jay is marvelously imposing as Anubis, who basically functions as a more morose version of Terry Pratchett's Death with lines like "Death is always pointless. That is the point." A great little tale, showing off the strengths of the World Tour rather than its weaknesses.

"HUNTER'S MOON":

It might seem odd that I'm putting the televised series finale here rather than on the list proper. And being fair, it IS great, thrilling and tragic in equal measure; one cannot help but wince audibly when one character echoes another's weakest moral moment. But it's here primarily because while it's a good finale, it clearly sets up so much MORE story that got fucked up so badly in The Goliath Chronicles that Weisman had to basically toss out the whole thing when he did the comics, and I'm admittedly not as hot on the whole X-Men racial metaphor "what if we had a gargoyle KKK" stuff as I used to be. Plus, it's a little harder to take the Hunters seriously when they look so Liefeldian in retrospect. Still, this keeps things personal, and has a lot of great character beats, such as Goliath sliding dangerously close to a Demona-like mentality only to back away at the last moment, Xanatos coming in clutch, and a love triangle that feels refreshingly adult in how it's handled. Credit is also due for the voice performances by Diedrich Bader, Scott Cleverdon, and Sheena Easton as the Canmores. They have to cover a lot of emotional ground, accents, AND feel like siblings; Cleverdon in particular does a great job of suggesting one possible journey and then swerving wildly in the other direction while keeping it consistent.

"A LIGHTHOUSE IN THE SEA OF TIME":

This is admittedly not necessarily the best episode on a technical level. The Sunwoo animation is functional but not spectacular, and the action scenes lack a personalized touch. But the message of the show (READING GOOD) is as pertinent as ever, and handled with remarkable insight rather than feeling preachy. By keeping it character-based in Broadway's initial disinterest, then awe at what he comes to see as "precious magic", and Hudson's shame, it avoids sounding like an after-school special. Jeffrey Robbins in particular is a great character who could have felt cloying thanks largely to a warm, naturally wistful performance by Paul Winfield. We also get our first real hints to the tragedy of MacBeth's past as he speaks eloquently of the dream of King Arthur and Camelot, and magic that was stronger than anything "except the human heart".

"LEADER OF THE PACK":

David Xanatos is one of the best cartoon villains in history, and part of the reason why is he barely feels like A villain at times, even before character development starts to kick in. He does some pretty bad things, make no mistake, but Jonathan Frakes' performance and the writing always keeps him on the side of compelling and likable. As well as dangerously smart and capable. At the time, he stood out among the crowd because he so rarely delved into petty sniping or needless aggression towards his enemies or minions...and that only made him more dangerous. This episode shows that plainly, with him playing both the Pack and the clan like fiddles in terms of getting them to fight just so he can get his girlfriend Fox out of jail early. There's other good stuff here too, like Lexington having to learn a lesson about prioritizing his family over vengeance, but the meat is that wonderfully diabolical feint. It's clever, it's stylish...it's Xanatos.

"AVALON"

Your mileage may vary on this one, admittedly. As a big bad, the Archmage lacks the complexity and depth that most of the other antagonists have; he's ultimately a pretty standard evil world-conquering wizard. But they have quite a bit of fun with those conventions (he has to be prodded by his future self TO conquer the world instead of merely Scotland), and when you hire the legendary David Warner to BE your cliched evil wizard, you bet your ass he's going to chew all the scenery and have a blast while doing it. There's also another great Scottish history flashback, and important character development for characters like Katherine, Tom, and the Magus, who becomes one of the most heroically sad figures in the entire series. Add in a newly important character in Goliath and Demona's daughter, Angela, some fun action scenes, and the entrance of THE King Arthur into the fray, and it's a strong story all around.

(Though one thing that gives me pause now that didn't then is that Tom and Katherine eventually get into a romance after they met when the latter looked like he was MAYBE 10 and she was already getting handed off for marriage as an older teenager. I get that when you spend 1,000 years on an age-slowing magical island, that sort of thing becomes academic after a while, but even so...)

And now, for the full list.

10. "THE SILVER FALCON"

This is mainly on here because of my personal tastes. I LOVE detective fiction and noir movies, that shit is like candy to me. And kid's shows taking on these never-out-of-style genres tends to lead to fascinating results, such as in my all-time favorite movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. It helps that this IS genuinely really excellent in its construction: snappy animation, clever writing, and sharp on-the-move pacing. It's ironically the most Batman-esque episode they ever did, with a mystery involving old-time crooks, but Broadway and Elisa as a team help it feel distinct. They were always one of the most underrated pairings, and the story gets good comic dividends out of Elisa's frustration at what she sees as childlike antics while Broadway is trying to earnestly prove himself as a detective. Naturally, he does, and this is a good showing for Elisa too, brave and stalwart in the face of gangsters like Tony Dracon, sleazy as ever.

9. "FUTURE TENSE"

I don't think even people who despise the World Tour arc can slam this. It's a genuinely unsettling story that's like a magician's trick in keeping you looking at one hand while he's actually up to something completely different. This is probably one of the most harrowing apocalyptic future stories ever told in Western animation. Bombshell after bombshell drops, keeping us and Goliath emotionally off-balance as the urgency ratchets up to a fever pitch. And even considering how far we've come in depicting this kind of content with more graphically violent stylings since, it's still chilling to watch cyber-Xanatos coldly murder his own son and gut-wrenching to watch a blinded Broadway die as he thinks he sees the sun.

Even the final revelation, which it plays fair with (a lot of little things increasingly don't add up), feels less like a relief and more another sadistic twist of the knife. Was it a dream? Or a prophecy...

8. "SHADOWS OF THE PAST"

Even if this hadn't kicked off the World Tour in earnest, they would have had to do a Goliath Actually Deals With His Trauma story at SOME point. And this is a damn good showcase for it, with atmospheric, moody animation as we return to Scotland and the literal ghosts of the past. As Goliath gets gaslit, the eerie horror ramps up, as does the suspense about what he might do under these influences towards his fellows, and it's honestly a pretty brave position to put your protagonist in: vulnerable, but still very dangerous to those around him. Bonus points for a posthumous redemption of the Captain, one of the most sympathetic supporting characters, and a darkly ironic final shot.

7. "THE EDGE"

The big mission statement on Xanatos as a character. Far from looking towards vengeance on the gargoyles or punishing subordinates for beating him in sparring (one of my favorite Frakes deliveries is easily his dead-serious response of "I'd fire you if you did" when Owen queries if he should pretend to lose), he wants to know if he still has the mental and physical edge to keep doing his thing. Which puts him in rather marvelous parallel with Goliath, still brooding over having to move to the clock tower and leave Castle Wyvern behind. Both seemingly prevail here...and both are also lying to themselves JUST a smidge. It's wonderfully subtle characterization, and another key factor in Xanatos differing from other villains at the time. Rather than hating and envying Goliath, you kind of get the sense he wants to BE him (or, if you're a fanfic writer, other possibilities open up) when he speaks glowingly of him being "the greatest warrior alive". Has some damn good action too, especially the Statue of Liberty climax.

6. "THE MIRROR"

A fan favorite, and it kind of killed me not to put it in the top five. This is perhaps the greatest show of Gargoyles' range, a merry, unabashedly romantic reality-bending farce that tweaks the characters' typical self-seriousness. Even Demona, usually so fearsome and angry, becomes a figure of comedy here as she's endlessly frustrated by Puck twisting her words and obeying the letter but not the spirit of her desires. Puck himself is a star attraction, with free-flowing animation accompanying his every move and a killer voice performance courtesy of Brent Spiner, an entire dimension away from Data: hilarious, but with just the right undercurrent of plummy menace that hints at the REAL chaos he could unleash if properly motivated.

5. "EYE OF THE BEHOLDER"

The first real cracks in Xanatos' armor, both figuratively and literally, come about in this awesome Halloween episode. It's shadowier than usual, with a great monster in Were-Fox just absolutely tearing up the town as Xanatos tries to stay in control but finally has to cede it...and admit to himself that he truly cares about at least one thing other than money and power. It's a good showcase for Goliath too; he may not be a mastermind type, but he's cleverly adapting to Xanatos' tactics while still ultimately showing that he's an uncommonly decent guy at his core in working to save people he has no reason to. Also features the most iconic shipper moment in the whole shebang with Elisa and Goliath as Beauty and the Beast.

4. "DEADLY FORCE"

AKA "The Gun Episode", and even now, it's some incredibly harrowing shit to watch a main character accidentally shoot another to the point where she very well could have died. Even beyond the message and imagery (which is refreshingly nuanced rather than being simplistically "anti-gun"), this is an incredibly important character episode: Elisa's family is introduced in a way that shows she is not merely the gargoyles' sidekicks, but a person with her own life. And Broadway evolves from a seemingly typical fat-character-who-eats-a-lot into a figure of regret and anger; if you never thought Patrick Star could be frightening, Bill Fagerbakke's powerful performance here will disabuse you of that notion. Also features some prime material for Owen Burnett, Xanatos' ever-stalwart right hand man, calmly fighting and maneuvering through situations, and Goliath beginning to recognize just how important Elisa is to him.

3. "THE PRICE"

I love when shows do unusual character pairings, and this has possibly the series' best as Xanatos and Hudson square off: the cocky immortality-seeking businessman versus the patient, tired old soldier. It's handily the late Ed Asner's best showing as Hudson, with his gravelly tones never straining too much for effort as he considers Xanatos' arguments and offers his own matter-of-fact perspective. Xanatos, for his part, is genuinely needled for once, unable to offer convincing counters to Hudson cutting through his bullshit, and quietly impressed by his fortitude. The B-side is great too, with the snowy atmosphere adding a lot to the NYC settings, and Robo-MacBeth offering some genuinely formidable fight scenes. Not to mention Elisa's CMOA when she saves a mid-air stoned Broadway from doom with some well-placed shots and a carpet truck. Badass.

2. "CITY OF STONE"

The only reason this isn't number 1 is because while the present-day story is good, it feels more "typical" outside of landmarks like Xanatos and Goliath uneasily teaming up for the first time and Demona's iconic, quiet breakdown. Not bad, not at all, but the true meat is in the flashbacks to her and MacBeth's backstory, fully laid out across time for a true Shakespearean tragedy. Far from the murderous tyrant of the Bard, MacBeth is a good man himself beset by paranoid kings and allies, with no one truly convinced that he could be as loyal and honest as he says he is. And the scope of Demona's hatred and its consequences is laid bare here, with a certain set of scars becoming iconic in their repetition. John Rhys-Davies and Marina Sirtis pull out all the stops here, with the occasional glimmers of happiness and light underscored by the doom we all know is coming, especially if you know Scottish history. We believe MacBeth wholeheartedly when he says that he's just so tired in the present. So much pain and grief could have been avoided...but the tragedy, of course, is that the grinding wheel of fate for these two is inevitable.

"The access code is...alone."

1. "AWAKENING"

Multi-part pilot episodes were generally Disney's stock-in-trade for their initial run of shows, and I can't say most didn't JUSTIFY their length (though if you're wondering, outside of this, the best ones are Gummi Bears' single-episode "A New Beginning", the two-part "Darkly Dawns the Duck" for Darkwing Duck, and DuckTales' five-part "Treasure of the Golden Suns"). But Gargoyles had easily the strongest one out of the gate in how it used the length to carefully, step-by-step set up this world, these characters, and the conflicts that will play out across the tapestry. While some figures like the Trio are clearly held back a bit for later, they still make an incredibly strong impression, and Goliath gets an arc here that is so elegantly constructed in taking him from tempered optimism through despairing cynicism and back around again. Elisa Maza proves a "strong female character" with Salli Richardson's naturally smooth performance giving her empathy and toughness in equal measure. Xanatos puts a strong foot forward with his initially mysterious motives that can still seem genuine, already regretting that he has to potentially waste resources that he can't control. And the supporting cast is already rich, with figures like Princess Katherine, haughty, then regretful and seeking redemption, the Captain, whose road to Hell was paved with good intentions, and the Magus, arrogance brought low by grief. Even a seemingly one-note brute like Hakon is well-drawn in his simplistic mindset. And the visuals are insanely memorable too, with fluid fight scenes, meticulous character behavior, and a unique take on NYC nightlife that sets it apart from the brooding, haunted Gotham.

Gargoyles may have aged, but in most ways, it's like a fine wine, and something I've grown to appreciate more even with my criticisms over time. I hope this list is proof enough of that.

#gargoyles #disney afternoon #90s disney #media analysis #reviews

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femalechibiblogger · 4 years

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My Top 10 Underrated Anime Series

1. Welcome to the NHK

Plot: The main protagonist is Tatsuhiro Satō, a university dropout entering his fourth year of unemployment. He leads a reclusive life as a hikikomori, ultimately coming to the conclusion that this happened due to some sort of conspiracy. One day just when his life seems entirely unchanging, he meets Misaki Nakahara, a mysterious girl who claims to be able to cure Tatsuhiro of his hikikomori ways. She presents him with a contract basically outlining that once a day they would meet in the evening in a local park where Misaki would lecture to Tatsuhiro in an effort to rid him of his lifestyle. During these outings, many subjects are discussed, though they almost always pertain in some way to psychology or psychoanalysis. One of their first meetings in fact deals with interpreting Tatsuhiro's recent dreams. Both Tatsuhiro and Misaki, however, have a tendency of over-doing things, such as hiding the truth, especially from each other and themselves. Despite Misaki's offer and pressing attempts at salvation, it is Tatsuhiro's neighbor and high school friend, Kaoru Yamazaki, whom Tatsuhiro often turns to in moments of need and support. Despite his own idiosyncrasies, Yamazaki is one of the more stable characters in the story.

While many may not know about this series, those who do know of its existence can see it’s appeal. This anime shows that some people, like the main character, are shut-in’s due to social anxiety holding them back from living a regular life. The anime deals with subjects such as social anxiety, hiding depression from loved ones, paranoia, and a crippling fear of never being accepted by the outside world.

Throughout the series, Sato tries to go outside more often and is pushed to do this by a high school girl, Misaki, and his old classmate now neighbor, Kaoru. All the while, Sato meets some people from his past who cause him to go down a different path, such as becoming part of a ponzi scheme or joining a suicide group, because they themselves have problems that he unknowingly becomes a part of. This goes to show that if you have struggles with batting depression or have family problems...seek proper help before bringing others down with you.

2. Tiger & Bunny

Plot: The series takes place in "NC 1978" in a fictional, re-imagined version of New York City called Stern Bild City, where 45 years before, superpowered individuals known as "NEXT" (an acronym standing for Noted Entities with eXtraordinary Talents) started appearing and some of them became superheroes. Each of the city's most famous superheroes work for a sponsor company and their uniforms also contain advertising for real-life companies. Their heroic activity is broadcast on the popular television show "Hero TV", where they accumulate points for each heroic feat accomplished (arresting criminals or saving civilians, for example) and the best ranked hero of the season is crowned "King of Heroes". The story mainly focuses on veteran hero Kotetsu T. Kaburagi, a.k.a. Wild Tiger, who is assigned a new partner: a young man named Barnaby Brooks, Jr. However, Barnaby and Kotetsu have trouble working together, as they have conflicting opinions on how a superhero should act, while at the same time they are trying to crack the mystery of the murder of Barnaby's parents. In addition, the appearance of a homicidal vigilante NEXT named "Lunatic" stirs up the public and makes them question the place of heroes in the city.

The main heroes, Kotetsu and Barnaby, do not like each other at first...but a strong bond grows between them as they protect the city and help each other from the tragic moments of their pasts. They even help each other with the problems that they face within the series’ current timeline: Kotetsu slowly losing his powers, and Barnaby being manipulated by someone who he thought of like family.

While not as big as My Hero Academia, this series still has lots of good moments, terrific super heroes, and powerful storylines. Tiger & Bunny is definitely worth watching for anyone who loves superheroes and anime.

3. My Roommate Is A Cat

Plot: Novelist Subaru Mikazuki, who is shy and not good with other people, and Haru, the cat that has been living a severe stray life. This is a story of them suddenly living together and describes the happiness of living together from both point of views.

This series is definitely underrated. My Roommate is a Cat is filled shows how much of an impact a person...or in this case a cat...can have on a person who has lived a life of solitude and books. The main character, Subaru Mikazuki, begins to slowly open up to those around him thanks to the help of a stray cat: Haru. From Haru’s point of view, Subaru is someone whom she desires to protect and take care of, as she fears that he cannot survive without her. Subaru also comes to term with his parents’ deaths and learns to move past his guilt, and realizes that there are many people who love and care for him.

This series shows that it’s ok to open up to the people around you, and that no one is truly alone.

4. And Yet The Town Moves

Plot: Hotori Arashiyama loves mysteries, but there’s one she just can’t solve: why does the solution to one problem inevitably seem to lead to another? Like how when Hotori has to start working at the Seaside Maid Cafe after school to pay off a debt and her friend Toshiko fortunately knows exactly how a Maid Cafe should be run. Which is fortunate since Hotori has no clue. Except that, unfortunately, Toshiko has no interest in working at the cafe—until she discovers that Hotori’s childhood friend Hiroyuki is a regular. Which SEEMS fortunate. Except that Hotori doesn’t know that, while Toshiko likes Hiroyuki, Hiroyuki secretly likes Hotori, while Hotori secretly has a crush on… No, no more spoilers!But if that’s not enough drama, there’s work, angst with a certain math teacher, table tennis between her classmates, her younger brother versus the school’s bad girl… And yet, even though everything seems like it’s going to crash at any moment, somehow Hotori’s life keeps going hilariously forward.

Sure...it doesn’t have sexy and cute maids that most maid-theme anime has... But And Yet The Town Moves is still a series worth watching. The series features cute, slice-of-life storylines filled with antics by the mystery-loving Hotori Arashiyama. Because of her crazy antics and goofy nature, Hotori brings laughter and new experiences to those around her.

If you want an anime featuring klutzy maids and funny slice of life, then And Yet The Town Moves is definitely the right choice.

5. Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

Plot: Midori Asakusa wants to create an anime, but she's too disheartened to make that first step by herself. By pure chance, she meets Tsubame Mizusaki, an up-and-coming socialite secretly dreaming of becoming an animator. Together with Midori's money-loving best friend Sayaka Kanamori, the energetic trio start the "Eizouken" club and slowly work towards making their "greatest world" a reality.

This anime is truly a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! has animation that is truly breathtaking and filled with the imaginations of aspiring animators. Throughout the series, our three protagonists: Midori, Sayaki, Tsubame experience the hardships of running their own studio, all the while dealing with the Student Council and School Board who wish to shut down Eizouken. But no matter how hard they try, there is no stopping these three girls from making anime and running their studio.

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! has such brilliant animation, creative storylines, and normal looking characters who viewers can relate to. If your dream is to become an animator, than you certainly learn a lot from this series.

6. Angels of Death

Plot: 13-year old Rachel awakens to find herself trapped in the basement of an abandoned building. Without any memories, or even a clue as to where she could be, she wanders the building, lost and dizzy. In her search, she comes across a man covered in bandages. He introduces himself as Zack and he wields a grim-reaper like sickle.A strange bond is struck between them, strengthened by strange, crazy promises…These two, trapped in this strange building, don’t know why fate has placed them there. But they will work together desperately to find a way out…

Rachel and Zack are quite an unlikely duo...yet their skills and personalities are what complete each other: Rachel is calm and calculating, while Zack is aggressive and strong. But they have something in common: They both suffered their whole lives, became killers, and being killers is what got them trapped in the mysterious building in the first place. Together, they face various serial killers who want to keep them from escaping: A doctor with an eye fetish, a pumpkin-headed child who wants to bury Rachel in his graveyard, a female-prison warden who’s obsessed with punishing ‘sinners’, and a faithless priest whose goal is to test the faith of those who fall victim to the killers within the building.

Angels of Death is filled with such mystery and psychological thrills. While it is not for the faint of heart...it is definitely for those who wish to find a good psychological thriller to watch.

7. Zombieland Saga

Plot: In the year 2008, high school student Sakura Minamoto is abruptly killed by a truck on the morning she plans to submit an idol application. Ten years later, Sakura, along with six "legendary" girls from various eras of Japan's history, are brought back as zombies by a man named Kotaro Tatsumi, who seeks to revitalize Saga Prefecture by putting together an all-zombie idol group known as Franchouchou.

Unlike most ‘pop idol’ anime series, that feature cute girls whose music can save the world...this one features cute girls who are zombies who were brought back to life to save a city as a pop idol group. While it seems unusual, Zombieland Saga shows the viewers all the things that Saga has to offer...because it basically advertises the entire prefecture. The members of Franchouchou: Sakura, Saki, Ai, Junko, Lily, Yugiri, and Tae...are determined to become a great idol group while keeping their true identities a secret. Thanks to their mysterious manager, Kotaro Tatsumi, they are given a second chance at life and learn more about each other...but they also help each other move on from their deaths and give closure to the loved ones that they had to leave behind.

If you are looking for a ‘pop idol girl’ anime that is different from others...then Zombieland Saga is definitely a good choice, as it does differ from the usual plots that anime featuring pop idol groups has.

8. Mitsuboshi Colors

Plot: Set in Ueno. The series follows three elementary school girls, Yui, Sat-chan, and Kotoha, who together form an organization known as "Colors". Together, they perform various deeds and errands to protect the peace in their town.

This series is very adorable and is filled with a lot of hilarity. What makes it hilarious, are the crazy antics of the crybaby Yui, the rambunctious Sat-chan, and the dark-humored Kotoha as they try to help others and maintain the peace in the town that they love so much. They recieve help from local shop owner, Pops, who gives them clues to solve, and are often coming into conflict with police officer Saito, who sees them as nothing but trouble while dealing with their childish antics.

Mitsuboshi Colors really does make you want to go to the real Ueno in Japan, and see all the shops featured within this series.

9. Lovely Muco

Plot: The series depicts the life of the pet dog Muco and his owner Komatsu, who lives in his glass-making workshop in the mountains.

Lovely Muco shows life through the eyes of Muco, a shiba inu who lives in a mountain town with her owner, Komatsu, who works as a glass blower. Muco is an energetic dog who finds everything around her fascinating. Muco loves Komatsu more than anything in the world, who gives her lots of love in return. Muco also interacts with other people such as Komatsu’s long-time friend, Ushikou-san, bar owner Bouda and his energetic daughter Rena.

Lovely Muco shows the viewer how the world looks through the eyes of a dog, and what goes through their curious minds.

10. Chi’s Sweet Home

Plot: A grey and white kitten with black stripes wanders away from her mother and siblings one day while enjoying a walk outside with her family. Lost in her surroundings, the kitten struggles to find her family and instead is found by a young boy, Youhei, and his mother. They take the kitten home, but, as pets are not allowed in their housing complex, they try to find her a new home. This proves to be difficult, and the family decides to keep the kitten. While being housebroken, the kitten mistakenly answers to "Chi" (as in shi- from shikko, the Japanese word for "urine") and this becomes her name. Chi then lives with her new family, learning about different things and meeting new people and animals.

This series is filled with so much love and cuteness that it could give you diabetes. Chi’s New Home shows viewers how the world looks through the eyes young kitten ‘Chi’, as she grows to love her human family and makes new friends along the way. Chi and her family love each other greatly, and cannot imagine living without each other.

Chi’s Sweet Home shows us just how important family is, and how a new member of one’s family can bring so much love and joy into one’s life.

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fictionalnormalcy · 3 years

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TBWASN Ch. 5

The Boy with a Strange Name

Rating: Mature (Graphic Depictions of Violence)

Fandoms: Fusion of the How to Train Your Dragon books and animated franchise

Additional Tags: jaded protagonist, modern day AU, moving somewhere new, fitting in, making friends, additional DreamWorks characters, back to hometown

Summary: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III has lived nearly seventeen years of life. In the span of those years, he’s moved twelve times. Five of those years his mother was alive. Then a tragic accident left Hiccup in the sole care of his father, Stoick Haddock. Berk was where he had been born. That much he knew. Over every, single, move his father put him through, it wasn’t until he reached sixteen years old that Berk was the city in which the father finally decided to plant roots. At least, that was what he claimed. After years of being victimized at each school he attended, Hiccup was determined to keep a low profile at Berk High. His past is intent on preying upon him, deciding that Berk was perfect place to come back into the light. However, like all good things that came to him, there was always something to drag him back down into the pit of despair. A dormant secret, tied into his family history, was ultimately brought into the light when Hiccup settles on Berk. A secret tied with guilt and tears, and it all goes downhill from there. He discovered what his father truly did those long stretch of years, and finds he has a gift that had been nonexistent for centuries.

Ch. 5: No Lost Lunch

He had checked the weather as he walked to his locker. It would be too cold to eat outside. He wouldn't exactly get to enjoy the lunch food if there was cold winds to take away the warmth. He still hadn't decided on whether or not he should eat with the twins and Astrid. She said the offer stood, even if by some miracle someone else had approached him and asked him to sit with them. Since he hadn't been noticed in the past three classes, he could only think about sitting with the more friendly Berkians.

If he remembered Astrid's instruction correctly, the cafeteria had to be the next hallway over. He had to try it, he decided. He had to hope that the invitation wasn't a trick, and that they genuinely wanted to welcome the new kid. He also hoped he wouldn't get food poisoning from the meals provided. He followed the students crowding the halls in the direction of the cafeteria. They entered the double burgundy metal doors without hesitation, but he balked a few steps away. He remembered that once on his first day someone had dumped two entire cartons of milk on his head the moment he walked in.

"Hey Hiccup." Astrid came to stand next to him. "You give it any thought?"

"Your friends really won't mind if I join you guys?" He asked, barely even heard over the chatter of the other students.

"We'll get in line, get something to eat, you'll see what our group has to offer."

"I don't know," He managed to stutter out.

"Relax, Hiccup." She put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "None of us bite. Well, Cameron does, but I'll hold her back for the first few days."

She held the door open for him as they walked inside. It was a large expansive room, with round and rectangle tables scattered about. Some had stools attached to the tables, while others had benches already taken with students. He could hear the sound of at least three radiators humming through the room. They approached the growing line of students waiting to receive their meals, and Astrid pointed towards a large sign. The meals offered for today were yak noodle soup, turkey club sandwich, and fajitas with rice and baked beans.

There were no minor options offered, which caused him to frown. Most other schools Hiccup had been to offered a salad in a plastic container, a pastry and a carton of milk, or a parfait with buttered toast included. Here at Berk High, it seemed those were your only three options. Granted, he would never eat those minor options, but he liked having choices.

"There, was someone," He kept his voice loud enough for only Astrid to hear, "who greeted me in my first period. Her name was Heather Oswaldson. Do you happen to know her?"

"She's my best friend." She turned to smile at him. "I texted her before classes started letting her know that you two were sharing a class. She didn't come on too strong did she?"

"No, all she managed to do was say hello."

"Well, you'll see her right now so you can have an opportunity to talk to her. That is, if you want to."

He chose to have the turkey club sandwich while Astrid asked for the fajitas. After they received their food he followed her to the condiment table. She handed him a few packets of mustard at his request, and he couldn't help but admire her guts for grabbing a few small containers of salsa de chile verde.

Meeting new people had its advantages, and its disadvantages. For one, Hiccup had usually made more bullies than acquaintances. If it wasn't either, it was being invisible. The tray trembled in his fingers as they took steps closer to the table area. Astrid weaved through underclassmen already stuffing forkfuls of food into her mouth. The table they seemed to be heading for was one with a combination of both benches and stools that seated ten.

"He actually came!" Regina shouted as they approached the gray and burgundy table.

The twins sat together, and each had the same meal on their trays. The girl from earlier, Heather, sat across from them. To her right sat a husky boy wearing a large dark brown coat. He had light blonde bowl cut hair, olive green eyes, and a pudgy face that seemed to wear a permanent grin. At the other end of the table sat another boy who had jet black hair that was crudely combed into irregular strands, and had baby blue eyes. He wore a gray long sleeve and a thin black vest on top. He had a sandwich on his tray as well, but there was a mountain of potato chips and pickle slices beside it.

When he and Hiccup locked eyes, the boy's eyes widened and he immediately averted eye contact with Hiccup. Beginning to hastily take bites of his lunch. It was funny, but Hiccup could swear he looked familiar.

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flovey-dovey · 5 years

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Part 2 of my thoughts on Klaus

Spoilers! Did I mention that already?

When they watch Margu playing in the light of dawn, Jesper puts his hand on Klaus’ arm and keeps it there rather than excitedly pat it once or twice to get his attention like a simple platonic friend might. And while Jesper watches her, Klaus watches Jesper with a very warm, affectionate look that Jesper doesn’t try to shirk or shrug awkwardly off.

When Klaus puts his hand on his back, Jesper just smiles wider, and when they return to Klaus’ property the look on the woodsman’s face as he listened to Jesper talk like a doting parent and his solid “I do” in reply to what he was saying says even more.

Heck- part of Klaus’ tragic past was that he and his wife never got to have children no matter how much they wanted and waited, and here comes Jesper with every child in Smeerenburg and beyond at his heels. Klaus even tells him this past, openly, freely and even with a chuckle or two, and right after saying how his life had fallen into aimless misery turns to say “and then you came along.”. Klaus even has Jesper blindfolded before showing him the sleigh with both their names carved into it at what was most likely his request.

Very couple-like and very sweet in my opinion. After the “liar revealed” scene, Klaus sees his name as he climbs in and hesitates, clearly thinking of him.

(also, notice in this shot how Jesper is centered with Klaus- not Alva)

And let’s not forget the mountainside scene after the big chase or the look on Klaus’ face when Jesper echoes his wife’s words with full conviction: “A true selfless act always sparks another”.

Now we’re nearing the end of the movie, so let’s talk about Jesper’s father some more. In the last quarter of the movie, his father comes back and he and Jesper go to the boat that would take them back home. Before they cast off, though, it’s said not long later that Jesper told his father “everything” and how he thought he’d be mad at him. Why? If it was work related, why would Jesper be afraid his father would get upset by him wanting to stay and do the job he gave him? That he wanted him to have? Why would he be afraid his father would get mad at him for finding love in Alva, if that truly was the case? Could it be that part of “everything” was how Jesper did find love, but that it was in someone who didn’t fit into society’s unrelentingly heteronormative mold (gonna be using that word a bit but I’m tired so bear with me), and as a result meant he wouldn’t fit either? Which brings me to a minor point of my opinion: did Jesper ever fit? It could’ve been another reason why his father was trying so hard to impose socially acceptable opportunities on him, or why Jesper had rebelled against them so stubbornly. Wishful thinking, I suppose.

(also, notice the look on Jesper’s face here when confronted by his father’s silent urging for him to come out with whatever he knew he had on his mind)

Before I wrap this up, here are a few other bits and pieces I wanted to mention:

* When Jesper talks at Margu after realizing their toy inventory was running low, he says “they” were running out of toys rather than “he” (Klaus) was running out of toys, which his arrogant self in the first half-ish part of the movie would’ve surely said.

* During one of the times Jesper talks at Margu and asked what he was supposed to do if he failed, he mentions Klaus and doesn’t even bring up Alva.

* Jesper, while talking to Alva about the school’s turnaround and her own change in outlook, looks and sounds more confused/baffled than teasing, flirty or pleased.

* The strongest moment Jesper and Alva share, emotionally, is never more than the one they share while helping Margu write her letter to Klaus. To my memory, he and Klaus share two very prominent ones, with a possible third or fourth (or fifth or sixth) on top of that.

* Alva gives Klaus a peck on the cheek instead of Jesper, who she presumably now has romantic feelings for. Why don’t they kiss before the ending “where are they now” bit? At all?

* Alva, when watching the townies ice skating with Jesper, doesn’t move to pull him out onto the ice for some potentially romantic happenings if she had turned to see the troubled look on his face, laughing and smiling to try and cheer him up or going out on the town to partake in the festivities. This could’ve shown us more of Alva’s character and it would’ve been better than just NARRATING IT AT THE ENDING. And, yes, I know movies have deadlines, but it didn’t have to be more than ten seconds long and could’ve given a look into the town’s culture as it started to reform, and afterwards Jesper could’ve still gone back to the post office to build Margu’s little sleigh, possibly with some encouragement from Alva. Nothing had to change, but it wouldn’t have hurt to at least show their romance forming since a few seconds can go a long way.

* During the ending chase, Klaus and Jesper are literally having a lover’s quarrel.

* Klaus acting like an embarrassed husband when he steps up all covered in red from head to toe and Jesper joking with him about it, earning another hearty laugh from Klaus with ease, and Klaus’ apparent concern when Jesper urges his father outside to talk privately.

* The entirety of the reindeer scene and as they ride off, laughing, when their eyes meet and they realize they were having fun in each other’s company- very naturally, at that.

* Klaus lamenting how their time working together was coming to an end and with it their main reason for being with each other, as underplayed as the both of them make it seem.

* Jesper makes Klaus laugh; them sharing laughs together where I don’t recall seeing Jesper having the same thing with Alva, nor do I remember seeing her making him laugh.

* Klaus picking up and just holding Jesper will never not be cute to me.

So, in short, I hate heteronormative romances- especially when they come out of nowhere and have to be NARRATED at the END of the movie with little to no prior build up or implications that, yes, this is how you should’ve been expecting things to end up (yes I’m still upset about the ending). I saw it coming the second I saw the official trailer and after witnessing all the bonding between Klaus and Jesper I can’t help but feel cheated- dragged along for the ride like I was watching the Titanic sinking as someone was describing an entirely different outcome at the same time. They built Klaus and Jesper’s relationship- romantic, platonic, what-have-you- and then ripped it away to shove something completely unwarranted into my face instead.

If they’re going to have the guy get together with the girl, if they have interactions that show the feeling is mutual and more than friendship, trust and respect (which every good romance should have by default), if they WANT to be together and feel attracted and desire to be together, then I’m all for it- that’s what I expect love to be. But I still feel betrayed and sad and angry at the ending, especially since I feel like Alva and Jesper got together for the simple reason of deterring people like me from thinking Jesper and Klaus would or should end up together, even to the point of killing him off. I can’t prove it, and I’m sure that’s not why he died, but I’m going to say something that I know sounds mean but I don’t mean it spitefully:

I don’t care.

I don’t care if Klaus’ death and the ending it was attached to was poetic or happy-sad, bittersweet or what-have-you. I can’t help but not care because I literally haven’t seen anything break the relationship mold in a movie since I was shown my first movie or read my first romantic novel.

In any case, this movie came so, so close to being the most cathartic thing I’ve ever seen and it makes me so, so sad to have it fall prey to a completely standard method of storytelling endings when it presented such a vibrant and unique setting with the done-to-death theme of Christmas. You don’t even know how sad it makes me where, in this world of cowards afraid to make art for fear of losing money (which, I understand, everybody needs) or properly represent underrepresented groups of individuals or have a man and woman become friends and REMAIN purely friends- maybe even being the wingman/woman for their own relationship- I, against my fears, genuinely thought this film, this beautiful, inspiring masterpiece of animation, would be able to give me the shameless, unabashed and genuine non-heteronormative love I have still yet to see in a movie that doesn’t end in tragedy or act to disgrace anyone from that spectrum.

Klaus and Jesper saw parts of each other- ugly, angry, funny and secret- that nobody else saw, did things for each other that for the life of me I couldn’t find being done for the romance we were “supposed” to root for or even see coming (but, come on, “of course” they got together- what were you expecting, you wishful idiot?). For a movie with the underlying theme of how love was always better than letting spite fester into hate, it sure didn’t give me much to believe in terms of Jesper and Alva hooking up in the end. They could’ve had a friendly sort of love, but we can’t always get what we want. On that note, Pumpkin and Olaf (if that’s what his name is- I forget) getting married in the ending could’ve posed to the two clans “you hate each other, but don’t you love me?”, putting the leaders of both clans in the position of questioning their history and tradition of generations past so they didn’t lose the bonds they have in the present and that new traditions could be worth the effort for the sake of a better future. It’d be nice to see.

Anyway, no matter how it ended, you can’t tell me that Klaus and Jesper weren’t pining for each other more and more throughout the film. You can’t. Because I saw it, and no amount of ham-fisted “oh by the way” narration had to tell me it was happening or was planned “all along”.

Peace out and Merry Christmas to you all, gosh dang it.

- Flovey~Dovey

#Klaus #text post #Jesper #Alva #Klausper #TALL AND SMAAAAALL #part 2

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khtrinityftw · 3 years

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Honest KH2 Appraisal

Continuing looking at Kingdom Hearts II from a moderate standpoint, here is a post looking over all the good of the game's tumultuous narrative, because accentuating the negative as described in this post without looking at all the positives does it no justice. Here are the ten major things that went right with the game's narrative:

- The Characters: Even if much of the character writing is a downgrade from the previous two installments, one vital quality is still retained: you like these characters, you feel for these characters, you are interested in these characters and invested in where they end up. As this video points out, it's still a story about Sora and his friends, not about the increasingly incomprehensible Xehanort and his increasingly uninteresting followers. In fact, it's the story that ends the larger story they've been a part of ever since the original game. It's the true end of their journey, and you're with them all the way.

- The Emotion: I find that "melodrama" is something that is very unfairly maligned. It's bad in the wrong place, sure, but in the right place it is highly effective at going straight for our hearts and giving us something memorable, possibly even formative, that will last us our whole lives, more than more "seriously" written things do. And KH2 piles on the melodrama to superb effect, exactly in the way you would want and expect in a Disney JRPG. The convoluted nature of the plot falls by the wayside when you are wrapped up in the emotions - to paraphrase Ansem the Wise, you don't need to wrap your mind around things when your heart already knows them.

- The Balance: KH2 might just be the crowning achievement in the series when it comes to balancing Disney, Final Fantasy, and KH-original elements. Each receives more than their fair share of spotlight, and each is able to interact with one another in perfectly natural ways. So as out of sync as the forces behind the narrative were, the forces within the narrative have never been as much in sync. The KH universe has never felt as unified as this ever again.

- The Tone: Similarly to the unfair rep that melodrama gets, there are many who instantly judge the "early 2000s shonen anime" tone (meaning style, flashiness and Rule of Cool takes precedence over serious subject matter) that KH2 goes with, often upset either because they wanted the first game's tone again or they wanted something darker as suggested by the famous secret ending video from the first game. But there's so much that's good and fun about early 2000s shonen anime when it's done right, and KH2 is an example of doing it right. I honestly think that this tone really works for the series and wish it had stuck to it, rather than deteriorating into the bad, pretentious, self-important shonen anime style that it did.

- The Themes: While continuing the themes established in the prior entries such as hearts, connection of hearts, darkness within hearts and light within darkness, and the power of memories, KH2 brought several new themes to the table such as the nature of existence, what your place in the universe is, the importance of keeping the promises you make, and perhaps above all reunion with friends. And even if the story's writing was wonky, the themes always shine through and are explored and wrapped up perfectly.

- The Visuals: Masaru Oka's lackluster Event Direction can't detract from how visually grand Nomura's story is, with the imagery on display still remembered by all who played the game even today. Of special note has to be the World That Never Was, which is positively dripping with atmosphere and filled with unique structures, doing full justice to what was glimpsed in KH's legendary secret ending.

- The Sense of Humor: As much as I harp on Nojima for his writing problems, I would be remiss to not praise his excellent sense of humor that he filled his scenario with. Nomura even confirmed a lot of comedic touches like Sea-Salt Ice Cream being a running gag that runs so long that it becomes an important plot point was Nojima's doing. Also notice how the Halloween Town stories are written in a hokey manner like a Christmas special - don't think that wasn't intentional, that's the whole joke and it's hilarious. In fact, a lot of famous "KH2 out of context" moments and lines like "we totally owned you lamers!" seem to be conscious, tongue-in-cheek choices, and done in a way that doesn't offset the emotional sincerity of the dramatic parts of the story. With the KH series often being unable to lighten up these days, this kind of comedic touch is sorely missed.

- The High Points: This story's high points aren't just high, they're goddamn iconic. "Looks like my summer vacation is...over". The Hollow Bastion war sequence and the battle of 1000 Heartless. The stories of Beast's Castle, Olympus Coliseum and Space Paranoids. Timeless River in its entirety. The tough, climactic boss fights against the members of Organization XIII, Disney villains like Hades, and powerful Heartless such as Groundshaker. And of course almost everything that transpires in the World That Never Was. I believe I speak for many when I say that the low points like Atlantica or that weirdo subplot with Cloud, Tifa and Sephiroth are entirely forgivable when high points of this caliber are packaged along with them.

- The Finale: Like I said above, the World That Never Was gives us one of the best finales in video game history. From going through the dark city streets, to the mental duel against Roxas, to scaling the Castle That Never Was and taking down the rest of the Organization, to seeing all the heroes reunite, to the verbal battle between Xemnas and Ansem the Wise before the latter’s heroic sacrifice, to entering a physical manifestation of Kingdom Hearts itself where you slice through buildings, dodge laser fire from a flying mechanical fortress, fight hordes of Nobodies and take down Xemnas, to the final boss fight against Xemnas in the Realm of Nothingness, and finally to the sheer perfection that is the ending sequence. Every character gets a moment, every plot thread is wrapped up in a bow, and the happy ending you've longed for since the first KH didn't have it is finally achieved. There are flaws, but in the grand scheme of things they're nitpicks. This is the most satisfying conclusion the KH series has ever given us or ever will give us. There's just no topping it.

- The Collaboration: Tragically, Nomura took the wrong lessons away from KH2's success and from the criticism its narrative received. Here is what he admitted after KH3's release:

By axing professional scenario writers like Nojima and collaborators beyond Masaru Oka since they get confused by his concepts and stories, Nomura has traded one style of narrative mess for a much worse one. With his name under the "Story" credit, the stories are now even more convoluted, pretentious and badly paced, and now with far less sharp dialogue, less humor, less balancing between Disney, FF and KH-original elements, less emotion and thus less emotional investment, and less characters to be interested in or care about. Just...less FUN. This old post nailed it. Kingdom Hearts III came as close as was possible under the circumstances, but when compared to Kingdom Hearts II, it’s still a noteworthy step down. Regardless of its faults, KH2 is clearly where the KH series peaked.

#Kingdom Hearts II #Anti-Nomura #Anti-Series Beyond

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woodyclawson · 3 years

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( MILO VENTIMIGLIA + CISMALE ) — Have you seen WAGNER ‘WOODY’ LAWSON ? This FORTY-ONE year old is a/an BARN MANAGER who resides in STATEN ISLAND. HE/HIM has/have been living in NYC for FOUR YEARS, and is/are known to be STEADY and HUMBLE, but can also be BLUNT and DISSONANT, if you cross them. People tend to associate them with THE SMELL OF FRESH HAY and AGED WHISKEY

Name: Wagner ‘Woody’ Lawson

Age: Forty-One

Birthday: January 25, 1979

Sign: Aquarius

Neighborhood: East Kingsboro

Home: Quaint two-bedroom home with a small yard

Occupation: Barn Manager

Character Quote: “Sometimes I feel like Jesse James / Still tryin’ to make a name / Knowing nothing’s gonna change what I am” ~Troubadour by George Strait

Pos. Traits: Hard-Working, Steady, Humble

Neg. Traits: Blunt, Firm, Dissonant

Likes: farm work, aged whiskey, loping through the open country

Dislikes: people who push around others, well-done steak, warm beer

Aesthetic: tennessee whiskey, the smell of fresh hay, roping

Born in Tennessee Wagner Lawson was raised along the banks of Mississippi mud, never given a chance to be anything but the down-home country boy, which had always suited Wagner just fine. His daddy was a colt starter and former rodeo champion, having won national titles for roping and reining. From the moment Wagner could waddle he was following his daddy around everywhere, at first just watching as his father worked and as he got older helping with the chores himself. He found that spending time tending to the many horses cathartic and volunteered for just about any chore that would get him around them. Never once did he need to be asked to pitch in to do what was needed at the family ranch, from picking vegetables in the garden for his mama to helping his daddy check the cattle fences. As far as most childhoods go, his was pretty perfect. Sure, sometimes his dad drank too much and sometimes his mom just would not stop fussing over him, but he had no cause to complain.

His father, seeing his boy take an interest in horses at such a young age decided to help Wagner begin to follow in his footsteps. As a kid he enrolled Wagner in the pee-wee portion of rodeos where his wife would take pictures of the young boy struggling to stay on the back of a wildly running sheep, but in the end, he stayed on. He almost always did. With natural talent like that his father was quick to get his son started on the path to becoming a bull-rider. His mama threw fits and got into fights with his daddy, it was too dangerous, he could be hurt, killed even, but as he got older and started to have a mind of his own there was nothing that he wanted to do more. So he practiced, and practiced. By sixteen he was competing on broncs, a safer alternative to the bull, and was cleaning up at junior rodeos, his room becoming full of belt buckles, the tack room full of all the special made trophy tack he had won. But being bucked was far from his only talent. At age ten he had broke his very first colt and at twelve he was winning local roping competitions. He even became adept at helping his dad sort and catch cattle, something he was never fond of but did anyways as it was expected of him. Despite how it sounds, his childhood wasn’t all work. While never the best in school he managed to get passing marks and had a group of boys he roughhoused and fucked around with who were constantly getting him into trouble as a teenager.

Fast forward a few years and he was one of the hottest young bull riders to hit the circuit. But his career as a rider didn’t last as long as anyone would have hoped. The reason? He fell in love. Some would have called the pretty woman he fell in love with a buckle bunny, what with her affinity of dating all the big rodeo stars, but when him and her spent one night together the rest was history. Now twenty-two and married with a baby on the way, Wagner knew he could not be as hell mell as he had been for the past few years. He now had a family to think about; and so, he quit bull riding and switched exclusively to broncs. It was still dangerous, but the risks less than if he was on the back of a bull. Life went on and for the most part the little family was happy, until tragedy struck. On the night of his twenty-eighth birthday, with his wife and little girl in the stands, he overtightened the strap around his hand. At first everything seemed to be going well, he had one of his best times, but as he threw himself off the bucking bronco his hand caught. It was an instant disaster. The animal began to panic, bucking harder and higher, with Wagner hanging on for dear life. His only blessing was that the first hoof to his head knocked him out cold. He was rammed into the side of the fence and drug for minutes before those in charge of wrangling the horse were finally able to calm it down. In the midst of the chaos, his wife, fretting over her husband, had not noticed her daughter slip down through the stands calling out for her daddy. No one noticed her presence in the ring until it was too late. All it took was one wrong move from the frightened animal and the sunshine of Wagner’s life was no more.

The blow to Wagner’s own head had been so severe that he was kept in a medically induced coma for two-weeks, giving the wounded flesh time to heal. When he awoke, his whole world was shattered. He grieved, and as he did his grief turned to anger. Anger at the situation, anger at the long arduous healing process, and anger at himself. But all that anger had to go somewhere, and with the only person around during his recovery being his wife, she took the brunt of it. It took him a little over a year to fully heal physically, and during that time he began to develop a dependency on his pain medication. He spent his days sitting in front of the tv drinking beer after beer on top of the opiates as his wife worked in a small diner to try and keep the roof over their heads. One day, a year and half after the tragic accident, the woman had decided that she had had enough. She gave Wagner an ultimatum, get help or she was gone. It led to largest fight yet, a massive blowout that made it clear where Wagner stood.

At that point he was nearing thirty and with nowhere else to go moved back in with his parents. His father though older now was still tough as nails and no patience for his son’s pansiness as he called it. He put Wagner to work. Sober or not he was expected to help, and if he didn’t, God help him. At first he railed, his rage boiling over and eclipsing everything. Rather than argue with his son, the elder Lawson simply gave him a new task. It would be his only job- start the colts. It was something Wagner had used to excel at, but his anger and rage at the horse’s mis compliance made things difficult. The gentle animals became scared of him and began to lash out. One colt in particular, a beautiful bay, resented Wagner more than any of the others, and he let him know it. That was Wagner’s wake up call. He ended up forming a bond with that colt that pulled him out of his stupor and set him back on track. His special relationship with that animal also earned him a nickname, Woody, because wherever Woody went, Buzz followed. Buzz and Woody quickly began racking up wins in roping and reining competitions, and for the next years, Woody allowed himself to feel the happiness that had come into his life. The two traveled all over the countryside, with Woody picking up odd jobs such as stable hand or working cowboy. Until one competition where in the middle Buzz came up lame with an injury too bad to fix, leaving Woody the tough choice of having to put his beloved companion down.

That was four years ago. Woody now resides in Staten Island, working at the local equine therapy and riding lesson program center. He’s the barn manager, the one in charge of making sure the stable hands are doing their job and that the horses are receiving the correct care. It’s a big job, and one he takes seriously. Being around the majestic animals once more is helping him slowly heal, correctly this time, from all the bad that has happened to him. It is a hard road to hoe, but step by step he’s doing it. Perhaps one day he’ll once more be ready for a horse of his own.

#bio #about || woody lawson #tw death #tw drugs #tw alcohol

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britesparc · 3 years

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Weekend Top Ten #467

Top Ten Romantic Couples in Superhero Movies (& TV)

It’s Valentine’s Day this weekend. Woo, I guess? I dunno. I’m not generally cynical about holidays but Valentine’s Day does seem to be entirely focused on selling cards without any of the associated pleasantries of, say, Christmas or Halloween. I’d rather just try to be nice to my wife all year round. At least because of the apocalypse all the restaurants are closed so we can’t be tempted to pay through the nose for a set menu. Anyway, it gives me a strained excuse to tie this week’s Top Ten to something vaguely romantic.

Superheroes are often horny. This seems to be a defining characteristic of the artform. Whether it’s their descent from ancient myths, or their creators’ origins in writing romance books, or just a function of genre storytelling in the mid-twentieth century, there’s quite a lot of romantic angst in superhero stories. Pretty much every superhero has a significant other; Lois Lane even got her own comic that was actually called Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane. It’s hard to conceive of many heroes without their primary squeeze, and often – as we get multiple media adaptations of characters – we can add diversity or a twist to the proceedings by picking a lesser-known love interest, or one from earlier in the character’s fictional history; for instance, Smallville beginning with Cark Kent’s teenage crush Lana Lang, or The Amazing Spider-Man swapping out Mary Jane Watson for Gwen Stacey.

Anyway, I’m talking this week about my favourite superhero couples. I’ve decided to focus on superhero adaptations – that is, the characters from movies and films based on superhero comics or characters. I find this a little bit easier as I don’t have a phenomenal knowledge of sixty years of Avengers comics, but I have seen all the movies a bunch. As many comics as I’ve read, and as much as I love various ink-and-paper pairings, I can arguably talk more authoritatively about the fillums than the funny books. And let’s be real here, kids: my favourite comic book romantic couple is Chromedome and Rewind in Transformers. Also if I split them in two I can talk about comic couples next year. Woohoo!

It really is hard thinking of these things nearly nine years in, folks.

So! Here, then, are my favourite movie-TV Couples in Capes. Obviously there’s a fair bit of MCU in here. And I’ve been pretty specific about “superhero” romances: so no Hellboy and Liz Sherman, sadly (and I do really like them in the movies, of which they really need to make a third). Some are civvies-and-supes; some are capes-and-capes. You’ll work it out.

Superman & Lois Lane (Christopher Reeve & Margot Kidder, Superman, 1978): who else? The most famous romance in all of comics, a combo so strong it remains the focus of pretty much every interpretation of the character, but arguably never better than here; so good are Reeve and Kidder that their fast-talking banter and inherent goodness set the template for a huge swathe of other comic adaptations to follow. She’s sarky and streetwise; he’s gormless and good-hearted. She leaps in where angels fear to tread, he’s an invulnerable alien in disguise. They have buckets of chemistry and an utterly believable (tentative) romance. They’re perfect performances and the scenes of Clark in Metropolis for the first time (including Superman’s balcony interview with Lois) are the best bits of an already excellent film.

Raven & Beast Boy (Tara Strong & Greg Cipes, Teen Titans Go!, 2014): on a totally different register, we have the comedy stylings of the Teen Titans. Raven and Beast Boy had a flirtatious relationship on the original Titans series, but on this longer-running and much more demented comedy follow-up, they were allowed to make the romance more official (I nearly said “explicit” but, y’know… it’s not that). The jokes and banter – BB the love-struck, jealous suitor, Raven the too-cool partner who feigns nonchalance – build and build, but every now and again they’re allowed a moment of genuine heartfelt romance, and it hits all the more strongly amidst the ultra-violence and outrageous comedy.

Captain America & Agent Carter (Chris Evans & Hayley Atwell, Captain America: The First Avenger, 2011): the premier couple of the MCU, Steve and Peggy spend a whole movie flirting (she sees the goodness of him even before he gets all hench) before finally arranging a date that, we all know, is very much postponed. Peggy casts a shadow over the rejuvenated Cap and the MCU as a whole, founding SHIELD, inspiring dozens of heroes, and counselling Steve to her dying days. She remains Steven’s true north (like Supes with Lois, Peggy’s an ordinary human who is the actual hero of an actual super-powered hero), guiding him through the chaos and tragedy of Endgame, until they both get to live happily ever after. Even though he snogged her niece.

Batman & Catwoman (Michael Keaton & Michelle Pfeiffer, Batman Returns, 1992): Pfeiffer delivers a barnstorming performance as Selina Kyle, all barely-supressed mania and seductive feline charm. The chemistry between her and Keaton is electric, and propels the film forward even when the Penguin-runs-for-mayor stuff gets a bit daft and icky. There are beautiful moments of romantic comedy when they’re both trying to cover up injuries they gave each other, and of course there’s “mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it” – a line that runs a close second to “dance with the devil” when it comes to Burton-Batman quotations (just ahead of “never rub another man’s rhubarb”). Burton, generally favouring the macabre villains over the straighter edges of the heroic Batman, nevertheless makes great play of the duality of the character, and how this is something he and Catwoman can share – both “split right down the centre” – but also how this means a happy ending for either of them is impossible.

Spider-Man & Mary Jane (Tobey Maguire & Kirsten Dunst, Spider-Man, 2002): whilst a lot of this is really down to the sexiness of them kissing upside-down in the rain, there’s a nice duality to Peter and MJ seeing through each other too: he sees the wounded humane soul beneath her it-girl persona; she sees the kind, caring man underneath his geek baggage. This arc plays out beautifully across the first two films (ending in that wonderfully accepting “Go get ‘em, tiger”) before sadly getting all murky and unsatisfying in the murky and unsatisfying third film. Still: that kiss.

Wonder Woman & Steve Trevor (Gal Gadot & Chris Pine, Wonder Woman, 2017): probably the film that hews closest to the Clark-Lois dynamic of the original Superman, to the point where it includes an homage to the alleyway-mugging scene as Diana deflects a bullet. Steve is Diana’s window into man’s world, showing her the horror of the First World War but managing to also be a sympathetic ally and never talking down or mansplaining anything. He’s a hero in his own right – very similar to another wartime Steve on this list – and very much an ideal match to the demigod he’s showing round Europe. And, of course, Gadot’s Diana is incredible, both niaive and vulnerable whilst also an absolute badass. There is an enduring warm chemistry to the pair, with a relationship which we actually see consummated – relatively rare for superheroes! The inevitability of his heroic sacrifice does nothing to lessen the tragedy, and no I’ve not seen Wonder Woman 1984 yet.

Hawkeye & Laura Barton (Jeremy Renner & Linda Cardellini, Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2015): I love these guys! I love that Hawkeye has a relatively normal, stable family life. He has a big old farmhouse that he wants to remodel, he’s got two kids and a third on the way… he’s got something to live for, something to lose. It humanises him amidst the literal and figurative gods of the Avengers. And they’re cute together, bickering and bantering, and of course she is supportive of his Avenging. I hope we get to see more of Laura and the kids in the Hawkeye series, and I hope nothing bad happens to them now they’ve all been brought back to life.

Wanda Maximoff & Vision (Elizabeth Olsen & Paul Bettany, Avengers: Infinity War, 2018): theirs is a difficult relationship to parse, because they’re together so briefly. They cook paprikash together in Civil War before having a bit of a bust-up, and by Infinity War they’re an official couple, albeit on the run (and on different sides). That movie does a great job in establishing their feelings for each other in very little screentime, with their heroic characteristics on full display, before the shockingly awful tragedy of Wanda killing Vision to save the galaxy, before Thanos rewinds time, brings him back to life, and kills him again, and then wins. Their relationship going forward, in WandaVision, is even trickier, because we don’t know what’s up yet, and at times they’re clearly not acting as “themselves”, defaulting to sitcom tropes and one-liners. Will Vision survive, and if he does, will their relationship? Who can say, but at least they’ll always have Edinburgh, deep-fried kebabs and all.

Batman & Andrea Beaumont (Kevin Conroy & Dana Delany, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, 1993): woah, Batman’s back but it’s a different Batman, say whaaaat. Animated Batman has had a few romances, from the great (Talia al-Ghul) to the disturbingly icky (Batgirl, ewwww), but his relationship with Andrea Beaumont is the best. Tweaking the Year One formula to give young Bruce a love interest that complicates his quest is a golden idea, and making her a part of the criminality and corruptiuon that he’s fighting is a suitably tragic part of the Batman origin story. Conroy and Delany give great performances, him wringing pathos out of Bruce, torn between heart and duty (“It just doesn’t hurt so bad anymore,” he wails to his parents’ grave, “I didn’t count on being happy”), her channelling golden age Hollywood glamour. The tragedy of them rekindling their relationship years later, only to wind up on different sides again, is – again – so very Batman. It’s a beautiful, earnest, very Batman relationship, a great titanic tragedy of human emotions and larger-than-life ideals. And they both look good in black.

Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy (Kaley Cuoco & Lake Bell, Harley Quinn, 2020): this one’s a little bit of a cheat, as I’ve only seen the first season of the show, where Harley and Ivy don’t even get together. But in the wider, non-canonical sense of these being characters who are part of the pop-cultural ether, Harley and Ivy will always be a couple, I feel; and there’s definitely enough in there already to see the affection between them, not yet consummated. They adore each other, are always there for each other, and as the season follows Harley getting out of her own way and acknowledging the abuse of her relationship with Joker – and finally getting over it in the healthiest way possible for a bleached-white manic pixie in roller derby gear. And all through this, holding her hand, is Ivy. They’re utterly made for each other, and I’m glad that they do get together in season two. I hope that Margot Robbie’s rendition of the character can likewise find happiness with a flesh-and-blood Ivy. Hell, just cast Lake Bell again. She’s great.

Just bubbling under – and I’m really gutted I couldn’t fit them in – was Spider-Man & M.J. from Spider-Man: Far From Home. Like Batman, I’m comfortable including multiple continuities here, and those cuties offer a different spin on a classic relationship.

#valentine's day #romance #top ten #love #superheroes #comic book #movie #films #dce #mcu #marvel

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wxlawson · 3 years

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[ WAGNER ‘WOODY’ LAWSON. 42. CISMALE. HE/HIM] is here! They’ve lived in Silver Lake for [ THREE YEARS ] and are originally from [ TENESEE]. They are a [ MANAGER AT A DUDE RANCH ] and in their downtime love [ COLT STARTING ] and [ TAKING NAPS IN THE HAYLOFT ]. They look a lot like [ MILO VENTIMIGLIA] and live [ IN OASIS APTS ]

Name: Wagner ‘Woody’ Lawson

Age: Forty-Two

Birthday: January 25, 1979

Sign: Aquarius

Home: Quaint two-bedroom home with a small yard

Occupation: Manager at a dude ranch

Character Quote: “Sometimes I feel like Jesse James / Still tryin’ to make a name / Knowing nothing’s gonna change what I am” ~Troubadour by George Strait

Pos. Traits: Hard-Working, Steady, Humble

Neg. Traits: Blunt, Firm, Dissonant

Likes: farm work, aged whiskey, loping through the open country

Dislikes: people who push around others, well-done steak, warm beer

Aesthetic: tennessee whiskey, the smell of fresh hay, roping

~bio~

The loss of his friend sent Wagner ass-first back into the destructive patterns of his life, drugs and alcohol once more waging war inside his body. Only this time he wasn’t a young man, and the substances were taking a heavy toll on his health, not that he cared. His parents, unable to reach him, packed his things and kicked him out. Woody’s father, unable to completely give up on his son, reached out to an old friend who owned a dude ranch an hour outside of LA. For over a year Woody lived there, forced to claw his way back to sobriety through back-breaking labor. The option was always there for him to quit the job, fend for himself, but the company of the horses and being the source of looking after their well-being brought him back from the brink much like it had the last time. A year and a half later he was completely back on the wagon, though he can be known to slip with the drinking whenever the subject of his daughter is brought to the forefront of his mind, mainly around birthdays, his and hers, as well as holidays.

Wanting more independence Woody turned in his resignation, thanking his father’s friend for getting him back on his feet. Much to his surprise, rather than accept his two weeks notice, he offered Woody a promotion: to oversee the entire running of the dude ranch. It is a big job and one he takes very seriously, knowing that the overall welfare of the horses depends on him, even if he is no longer responsible for their day to day care. That was three years ago.

Since then he’s moved into an apartment at Oasis Apartments in Silver Lake, a place where he could have his freedom yet still manage his responsibilities. Anyone who’s ever been inside his apartment will say it looks like a country movie blew up, with saddles scattered on stands throughout the place and rodeo memorabilia hung up throughout, but for him, it’s the closet thing to home.

#tw death.#tw alcohol #tw addiction #tw drugs #tw death of a child #tw death #about || wagner lawson #bio

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timeagainreviews · 4 years

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My Series 10 Rewatch: The Pilot

Hello friends! If you caught my last update, you'll know I took the last couple weeks off to study for my Life in the UK test. My test was on Saturday and I am happy to report that I passed! I think it took me longer to go through security than to take the actual test. After two weeks of studying, I am very much ready to get back into the groove of talking about Doctor Who. We now continue with my series ten rewatch!

The title "The Pilot," is an interesting choice for the first official episode of series ten. While it references the plot of the episode, there is also an implication that this story is a bit of a reset to a new beginning. It acts as a pilot to the Doctor and Bill show. Not only had Clara been the companion for basically three seasons at this point, there was also a year of hiatus between "The Husbands of River Song," and "The Return of Doctor Mysterio." It is a weird placement for a final season for a showrunner and lead actor. It's also a weird place to drop a brand new companion.

This new version of Doctor Who opens with the Doctor as a university professor teaching possibly the worst class on campus, that everyone seems to love. His star pupil is a girl named Bill, who isn't actually a student but loves his lectures. Speaking of star pupils, there is also a love interest for Bill in the form of a girl named Heather, but more on that later. The Doctor's office at the university is peppered with references to the past. On his desk sits a jar with the sonic screwdrivers of previous Doctors, like an assortment of pens. There are also portraits of River and Susan. And tucked away in the corner of the room sits the TARDIS, with an "out of order," sign hanging from its doors.

The first time I watched this episode I started to groan at the fact that the TARDIS was out of commission. Not because it should never happen, but more that I expected this to be incredibly tedious. After several years of Steven Moffat's plot arks leading to disappointment, I was bracing to be underwhelmed. As it turns out, the TARDIS works as good as it ever did. But the Doctor and Nardole are grounded regardless. This is due to the fact that there is some sort of door or safe they've been tasked with guarding, which brings us back to the whole bracing for mediocrity thing. I remember immediately thinking "Missy is in there." Spoiler alert- she absolutely is.

Dumb safes and meaningless promises meant to build up empty intrigue aside, the real reason to get excited for series ten is Bill. I was immediately interested in the concept of a black gay companion with a gender fucky name. I remember when the pictures circulated of her wearing a vintage Prince jumper and everyone was speculating whether she was from the '80s or '90s. This only added to my excitement for her character. As many of you know, I am a big fan of the idea of companions in modern Doctor Who that aren't from modern-day earth. Sadly, as it turns out, she's not a hip '80s lesbian, she's once again from modern-day England. Oh well, at least Nardole is from the future. Though I don't understand why he is suddenly a cyborg that makes whirring noises and drops lug nuts. There was none of that in Doctor Mysterio.

The Doctor calls Bill into his office where he confronts her about attending his classes. He wants to take her on as her personal tutor, despite her not being a student. He mentions that he noticed she smiles when she's confused, which is a good indication that she is openminded and naturally curious. It's even implied that he sees a little bit of Susan in her. I liked that little nod to Susan, though it begs the question why the new series has never had her return. While looking at the pictures, Bill indicates that she has no pictures of her mother before she died.

The Doctor uses this as an opportunity to do a kindness for his new friend Bill. Using his ability to time travel, the Doctor goes back in time to take a shoebox worth of photos of Bill's mother. Nevermind that doing this might change the trajectory of her mother's life, thus undoing any chance that she might meet Bill's father. It's a sweet moment for Bill, but it's undercut by Moffat's shitty writing. Bill notices the Doctor's reflection in one of the photos, but never brings it up. She doesn't even thank him. It doesn't really go anywhere other than to inform the audience that the TARDIS does, in fact, still work.

It's this kind of gay people need tragic backstories for no reason mentality that frames a lot of this episode. While I applaud Moffat's inclusion of a gay companion, it comes off as a middle-aged man's depiction of a young gay woman. There is diversity on the screen, but none in the writing room. This is made all the more apparent by Bill's horrible chips anecdote. Bill has a crush on a student who comes into the cafeteria where she works. So she gives her extra chips every day until it starts making the girl fat. The Doctor asks her why she is telling him this story and she replies with "I was hoping it would go somewhere." As did Steven Moffat, but it didn't. It just hangs there like a fart saying "Did I mention I was gay?"

The next few scenes take place over a montage. We see Bill and the Doctor in their respective student and tutor roles. And we also see Bill having a bit of a social life. Bill catches the starry-eyed glances of Heather at a club and they both stand there on the dance floor staring at each other. There's an implication that the two of them are into each other, but we never actually see anything to show why they would actually like one another other than raw animal attraction. In fact, their few interactions are actually rather awkward and cold. There's about as much chemistry between the two of them as there was between Clara and Danny. Which if you remember was zero.

There isn't really a whole lot of focus on anything other than characters for this episode. Moffat usually writes in one of two ways- heavy on character and light on plot, or so heavy on plot that it sits weird against his characters. This would be the former, as the plot is nearly non-existent. Bill begins to notice Heather around and tries to chat her up. Heather shows Bill a puddle that doesn't make sense considering it hadn't rained in days. I kind of love Bill's reasoning that the puddle is piss from the men on campus. That was genuinely funny. Well done, Moffat. But there is more to this puddle in that it also shows your reflection wrong. Heather notices this because the reflection of the star in her eye isn't where it should be.

Let's talk about Heather for a moment. She's a very odd character. Firstly, there is her eye, which has a defect that gives her iris a star shape. Bill asks the Doctor what kind of defect would do this, but neither the Doctor or the show has an answer. Much like Moffat's running gag from "The Curse of the Fatal Death," said- I'll explain later. But later never comes. Other than her eye, Heather's other two biggest traits are that she's most likely a lesbian and that she wants to leave. Her personality isn't really all that important other than to act as the thrust for the plot, which is sadly from another episode of Doctor Who altogether.

Doctor Who is a very old show. It’s bound to repeat itself. Chris Chibnall ripped off "The Silurians," wholesale with "The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood." I get that this was necessary as a means to re-establish the Silurians and why they've remained underground. But on other occasions, Doctor Who seems to repeat itself out of sheer laziness. Remember when the library in "Forest of the Dead," saves everyone at their time of death? Or when Missy plucks people out of their timeline at their time of death? Or when the Testimony records people in history at their time of death? Or when the Thijarians comfort people at their time of death? Because I do. So it's not surprising that when Moffat wants to steal from another episode, he steals from one from his own stint as showrunner.

The episode I'm talking about is "The Lodger," written by transphobic Brexiteer shitlord- Gareth Roberts. In it, a spaceship disguised as a top story flat lures people to their demise while searching for a pilot to take it into space. The ship's main criteria for a pilot is that the candidate be someone with wanderlust. Does any of this sound familiar? That's the exact same M.O. of the mysterious puddle. It latches onto Heather because it senses her desire to travel and extrapolates that into consent to take over her body and use her to pilot it around the universe. However, another part of Heather's psyche has kept it earthbound- a desire to be with Bill. If you remember correctly, this is very similar to how "The Lodger," ended. Craig and Sophie's desire to stay together is what kept them from being reduced to ash by a machine too stupid to realise it was killing its host.

Now, I understand that it sounds like I'm ripping on Moffat quite a bit, but I actually do like him as a writer. "Heaven Sent," is one of the best episodes in the entire history of Doctor Who. This one, however, is not great. After the puddle overtakes Heather's body, it begins to follow Bill everywhere. At first, Bill thinks the puddle is Heather, but her creepy Midnight-esque repetition of everything Bill says is enough to raise suspicion. Bill begins to run to the safety of the Doctor, where she finds him and Nardole fussing with the giant safe. The room in which the safe is located only lets friends inside, which is either telling or worrying as the puddle is able to simply wash into the room under the door. As I watched the water flow down the stairs I found myself feeling forgiving toward the effects department from "The Horror of Fang Rock." Green blobs beat slow-mo water any day.

For no reason other than it needed to be more spooky, the puddle screams like a wraith every time we see it. I loved the little addition of Heather's wet mascara adding to her ghostly appearance. The Doctor, Nardole, and Bill take a trip around space and time to see if they can shake the puddle. But no matter where they go, the puddle is never far behind. For a creature made of water, it certainly is thirsty. And trust me, that's far better a pun than the one I was considering. The WAP references were just too low of a fruit.

For reasons I can't exactly pinpoint, the Doctor decides to take the chase right in the middle of a battle between the Daleks and the Movellans. While I love the return of the Movellans in all of their Rick James majesty, it's a very weird scene. As far as I can devise, the Doctor is merely trying to see if the puddle can withstand the blast of a Dalek. It almost feels like Moffat needed to wake the audience up with a jolt of Dalek action. Up to this point, there has been very little tension. What I can't figure out is what Nardole is doing with the Fourth Doctor's sonic screwdriver the whole time. From what I can tell, he's shutting doors, closing off the corridors and locking Daleks out. Maybe? I really don't understand.

The Puddle takes the form of a Dalek just long enough to make us worry that maybe Nardole didn't get them all. Watching the Dalek disintegrate into a puddle of water was genuinely cool. I was reminded of things like the clear Dalek from "Revelation of the Daleks," or the visible innards of the teleporting Dalek in "Remembrance of the Daleks." I like it when the show does weird visual stuff with the Daleks. It's part of why I love Davros so much. The puddle reforms as Heather, holding out her hand for Bill to take, which the Doctor warns her not to take.

Part of the tragedy of the Doctor's character is how oblivious he is to human emotion. It's part of why he needs human companions in the first place. He couldn't possibly conceive of a situation where Heather's own yearning for Bill might be the cause for all of their problems. But Bill sees this. She sees the human desire underneath all of the scary and so she too reaches out, grasping hands with Heather. What I don't understand is why Heather needed to leave and see the universe without Bill. Why they needed to say goodbye at all is more of that "gays can't have nice things," bullshit I mentioned earlier. Let's walk through the logic a bit.

Toward the beginning of the episode, the Doctor explains that the acronym for TARDIS- Time and relative dimension in space, means life. If you think about this, it's him saying that life is basically you in a point of time and a point of space, relative to you. Thus it explains the very essence of being alive and experiencing the universe from your unique perspective. But toward the end of the episode, he changes this position to mean that TARDIS means "What the hell?" As in, just go ahead and live life how you choose. This comes after the Doctor trying to wipe Bill's mind and deciding he can't. This leads to the Doctor allowing himself to travel, despite the promise he made about the safe nobody cares about. Basically, Heather doesn't get to join in on the Doctor and Bill's travels because Moffat still had to do a thing.

A lot of this episode is neutered by this need to adhere to the season ark. Which I now realise is a major contributing factor as to why I so often forget Nardole is a companion. Nardole is forced to become the Doctor's babysitter, forcing him to hide his travels with Bill. Because of this, we see Nardole as more of an authority figure than a companion. He's the strict schoolmaster the Doctor and Bill are forced to sneak past on their way to adventure. What this does, sadly, is cut Nardole out of a lot of the adventures. The same thing happened to Danny Pink, whose opposition to the Doctor often times left him out of the fun. Also like Danny Pink, it's an arrangement that worked best with Rory Williams and has been imitated to hell and back since.

While I can't consider this episode a total success, I also can't write it off outright. It would be easy to damn it in a "Simpsons did it," fashion for taking its plot from a previous episode. It would be easy to write it off for being plot light queer bait where nothing really happens. I could rail on the inclusion of the Daleks for the sake of Daleks. But I have to ask myself- what is the function of this episode? The answer to this question brings me back to its title. This episode is a pilot for a new iteration of the series. We're in a new place with some new faces, and some familiar ones. The pieces on the board have changed location and strategy. If the function of this episode was to hit reset, I would say it succeeds.

Bill is a very likeable character. You immediately want to see more of her. Her introduction is both charming and endearing. The roundabout way she took to arrive at saying "it's bigger on the inside," seemed less thick than quirky, which is right on the money. You want to see more of her. You want to hear more of her questions. You want to experience the universe through the filter of her perception. We needed a companion who was different from the previous one. It was important that the audience is able to move forward with the new cast. We're not comparing Bill to Clara as many did with Martha and Rose. We're not being asked to forget the past any more than we are being asked to cling to it. This is exactly the right tone and in that way, I find it to be wholly successful.

#doctor who #the pilot #series 10 #steven moffat #peter capaldi #Twelfth Doctor #Bill Potts #Pearl Mackie #Matt Lucas #nardole #TARDIS #daleks #movellans

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saezutte · 4 years

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yuletide letter 2020

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Oh, hello again. I didn’t see you there.

This year, I have transcended earthly desires and struggled to find any fandoms to request. I want nothing. I wish my cat was nominated as a Yuletide fandom so we could all write stories about her life.

Nonetheless, I have some small requests!!!! I believe you can make me happy in ways I’ve never been happy before. I trust you. Happy end of 2020, the cursed year, I hope you are blessed with rest.

My AO3: saezutte

My public twitter: juncassis

My tumblr: here but I do not use tumblr much anymore, sorry.

Do Not Wants

[note: I have no actual triggers, nothing you can write for me will make me any more depressed or anxious than I already am]

Death (of major/important/beloved characters)

Suicide attempts, self-harm

Rape (outright; OK with dub con, manipulation, noncon short of violent-rape-for-violence-only)

Eating disorders, body shaming

Angst without a happy ending, really too much angst at all

Established relationship

Cheating

Actual Unrequited Feelings

Pregnancy (the actual process; breeding kink is fine)

Scat or watersports

Hard BDSM or any kink complicated enough that the characters would have to discuss it ahead of time

Homophobia as a plot device

Excessive attention to identity or politics, sometimes known as “issue fic”

Note on AUs: I am ok with the usual popular AU tropes but I do not want them combined, e.g. A/B/O is fine and coffeeshop is fine, but I don’t want an omega barista getting his scent all over the lattes he makes for some alpha lawyer who comes in every morning. (Ridiculous example, but you get the point.) For AU/modern settings of fandoms with magic, I often like it when the magic is still there in the AU setting. I also like AUs which maintain the general outlines of the character’s relationships, like if the characters are childhood friends in canon, I like to keep that intact.

General preferences:

I am a pretty basic bitch when it comes to fanfic: I like it when two clueless boys pine for each other through some shenanigans and then lock eyes/lips/dicks.

If you fed a neural net every fanfic written in Stargate Atlantis fandom between 2005 and 2010, the result would probably be some nonsense I’d enjoy.

I love many tropes. Tropes! Bed-sharing. Sharing an umbrella. WASHING EACH OTHER’S HAIR? Confessions where they are having an argument and then one of them yells “Because I love you!”

I love situations where characters are forced to spend time in close proximity and find themselves with feelings.

I love fakeness: fake dating, fake marriage, arranged marriage, marriage of convenience, fake lust induced by sex pollen or heats, aliens make them have sex, whatever.

I love porn, if you want to just write me some quick porn, that’s great. I do prefer (per the established relationship DNW above) that it be first time or get together porn. I know that can make it hard to just write porn, but I don’t need much to be convinced of sex.

Nirvana in Fire (TV)

Requested characters: Mei Changsu, Xiao Jingyan

Note: I also love Lin Chen so if you want to write some MCS/LC or LC/Fei Liu or LC/MCS/JINGYAN OT3??? go for it. I am also a Nihuang/Xia Dong shipper so if you want to put that in… somehow… my gay little heart would be happy. I also like Nihuang/MCS/XJY or MNH/MCS + MCS/XJY but I’d like the focus on the men in that case!

I watched this show because someone recommended this show to me as, like, Chinese Game of Thrones but good. I think it’s genuinely one of the best TV shows I’ve ever seen. I love plots and revenge and good people doing bad things for justice. Even the ending is good for me though obviously it left me unsatisfied on several points.

I am deeply into sickly doomed genius MCS and every time he got even more deeply ill, I fell deeper in love. Every time he coughs up blood, my heart would race. I love his terrible schemes and stupid self-sacrificing choices. I find watching this show very soothing because I knew he would always come out on top in his schemes. I trust him. I love handsome clueless Jingyan and how he’s just so good (it’s terrible.) I love his mom and how much he cares for her. I love him but he is useless, he needs his Xiao Shu and I need fanfic to restore him to him.

Note: So my limited research on this says that male/male sex practices were accepted and well-known in this time period in history, so I really don’t want them thinking “oh no what are these weird gay feelings.” There are other barriers to them being together, like a ruler or official being overly attached to one person was considered very bad. I am also a big supporter of the socially-approved polygamy of this time period, so I don’t need Jingyan to refuse to sleep with his wife or something out of loyalty to MCS—he has to do it! Or all their plans are ruined! And he can enjoy spending time with her or the concubines without affecting his feelings for MCS—you could explore that complexity in fic if you like.Prompts:

Mei Changsu isn’t dead, he’s hiding again, Jingyan searches for him

They start having sex during the series, the ending is averted [somehow]

Post-canon, MCS is alive and Jingyan hides him in the palace with his consort/concubines to keep him on as an advisor without anyone objecting

omega verse where MCS was an alpha before he “died" but an omega after he came back.

AU where male/male marriage is customary (maybe aristocratic men are expected to have one male and one female consort?) and so MCS decides the best way to influence and help Jingyan in the capital is by becoming his wife or one of his concubines

anything just get them together and happy.

Tokyo Babylon

Characters: Subaru, Seishiro

I read Tokyo Babylon as a child and I imprinted on it deeply, now I love politics, ghosts, stalking, age differences, magic. Within the CLAMP canon, I love TB for its episodic focus on smaller stories, the commentary on contemporary society, and Seishiro being an outright creep. I love onmyojutsu and exorcism and Subaru’s innocence getting ruined. I love the city of Tokyo (where I currently live! but do not be intimidated, I don’t know the city well because we’ve been in quarantine most of the time I’ve been here and won’t judge you for details.) I’m open to fics that comply with X canon or not.

With Seishiro/Subaru: It’s bad but I love that predator/prey dynamic where the predator ends up being hopelessly entranced/obsessed/in love with the prey. My read was always that Seishiro lost the bet and couldn’t admit it—he’s just, you know, killing twins to avoid dealing with his feelings! Relatable! (?!?!) Subaru, I love particularly in his evolution from innocent to adult in love to betrayed. I’d prefer post-TB fic to during-TB fic (so Subaru knows Seishiro’s deal and loves him anyway.) I am also a fan of Hokuto and you should feel free to bring her back to life to troll if you desire.

Prompts:

AU or reincarnation plot where they are Heian period rival onmyoji

Because this is such a heavily place-based series, if you are a writer who likes to play with details of real life locations, I’d be interested in versions of different “Babylons” if you have an idea for it.

Tragic first times post-TB lol

Seishiro is a virgin the first time they have sex

I’d probably love some fucked up dub con for this, however you want to play it

Honestly, do whatever you want as long as you don’t fuck me over like CLAMP did.

プリティーリズム | Pretty Rhythm

Characters: Hiro, Koji

Pretty Rhythm came to me at a weird time in my life. I lived in a house of spiders in Yokohama and did nothing for eight weeks. King of Prism cheer screening transformed my life and I didn’t even know what it was. Then I got weirdly deep into Rainbow Live and the Pretty Rhythm franchise overall. I am a scientist of prism theory. Idk why I like it, it’s just wholesome and crazy and there are penguins and DJ Koo. I love every TRF song because I’m a 90s gay at heart. It’s truly the end point of all media development. The prism world represents the fearsome power of virtual/digital+real hybrid life. Yes, I know I’ve lost my mind. I went to one of the real Prism Stone stores, the one in Harajuku.

Hiro Hayami: one time a fujoshi asked me to describe what types of anime boys I like and the first type I listed was “prince but bad” and my example was Hiro. Hiro is the crazy gay stalker disaster of my heart. He overcomes great hardship to achieve his dreams and foolishly falls in love along the way and he does everything wrong and Koji keeps leaving him. The moment when Hiro is crowned King of Prism in Pride the Hero was one of the top ten moments of my life. I made friends who don’t even know Japanese watch the movie unsubtitled with me on my birthday.

With Koji, I’m a bit guilty of “I want to give the character I love the most the character he loves the most” so I do like him less (it would be impossible to like him equal to how much I love Hiro). But he has many good points that make him perfect, like how he also sucks underneath his chill exterior. I love to see him go apeshit.

I also love everyone else in Rainbow Live, no exceptions. I love all the girls. If you do write the girls, I would prefer they not be paired with the OTR boys. I would prefer they be paired with each other, any combo is good.

Prompts:

this is the sort of pairing where I love fic where they split up and then 15 years later meet again as washed up has-beens but there’s still time for them to find each other

Canon-compliant companion piece showing the “background” of them getting together romantically over the course of the series.

AU where Koji is a prism world fairy sent to inspire Hiro but Hiro is kind of a mess

dirty, dirty porn… let Hiro get fucked

I have a lot of doujinshi with multiple copies of Hiro (a la the Mugen Hug jump) but I’d like something where Hiro gets overwhelmed by many Kojis

They start fake dating as a publicity stunt and have to keep doing it… especially good if it starts when Koji is at max hating Hiro level

Ring Fit Adventure

Characters: Dragaux, Ring

Keeping this one simple: I like to be encouraged to exercise by a storyline and a trainer that never mentions weight loss, lol. The world is fun and pretty and I love that buff dragon.

AND THEN THE PAIRING. I’m sure Nintendo has some market research that told them a certain subset of users are very motivated by enemies who seemed to once be lovers or best friends. I am that user.

What is up with these two? They were so in love! Now Dragaux is a horrible swole bro (not in a good bro way) and Ring is training me instead? I can’t compete with their love. It’s the only time the game makes me feel inadequate.

You can keep Dragaux and Ring as dragon/ring-like as you like. Obviously I’m down with dragon fucking but you can also make him a human fucker too. I play with Ring on the masculine voice setting for maximum BL vibes as I exercise, but, you know, it’s a ring, I don’t think it has gender. Feel free to incorporate the player or other random characters too.

Prompts:

AU where Dragaux and Ring owned a gym together and Dragaux sold out to a big chain of gyms

What happened between them when Dragaux was still captured, pre-game? Bondage… literally??

Ring is always bossing me to train, but I’m really doing all the work. Why doesn’t he fight Dragaux on his own for once?? (because the sexual tension is too powerful.)

Tragic flashback to their dramatic break-up ending with their present day reconciliation.

Player/Dragaux/Ring threesome??? I’ve unlocked the sexercises???

With all fandoms, you are free to disregard the prompts and do your own thing. If you’re not sure about me, you can probably dm seriesera on twitter, she knows what I’m into.

Well, I suppose that’s all for now. Please stalk me online to get more details on my bullshit. I hope you have a nice time.

Best,

Caitlin

#yuletide

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rebelsofshield · 4 years

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2019: Top Ten Star Wars Media

It’s hard to deny that 2019 was the biggest year for Star Wars in recent memory. With not only the conclusion to the Skywalker Saga released in The Rise of Skywalker, and the first ever live action Star Wars series, The Mandalorian, but all other manner of books, comics, games, and shows, it was a busy year to be a fan of the Galaxy Far, Far Away. While this year’s big feature film may have been largely disappointing, there were still some great additions to the Star Wars legacy.

10. Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren

Only one issue in and writer Charles Soule’s exploration of the start of the Kylo Ren tragedy is already shaping up to be another stellar addition to his already exceptional comics bibliography. While the Knights of Ren may have been little more than set dressing with cool designs in the films, Soule explores this deadly group of warriors as something of a self-destructive, nihilistic cult and gives them their own strange traditions and personality. Artist Will Sliney turns in career best work here with not only providing some great character design but also letting Ben Solo’s complicated facial expressions tell heartbreaking stories of their own. It’s complex and tragic reading that adds to the fascinating history of one of the most intriguing characters of the decade.

9. Star Wars Resistance

It is undeniably uneven and at times aimless, but Star Wars’ third canon animated series is still filled with moments of joy, spectacle, and undeniably fun plot swerves. The playful sense of humor and stellar racing/aerial combat sequences remain a standout and the show is likely a colorful delight for younger viewers. However, what made Resistance such a standout in 2019 is the refreshingly complex character arc given to one of its central cast members, Tam Ryvora. Showrunner Justin Ridge and voice actress Suzie McGrath show how anger and fear can lead even good people into the sway of fascism and Tam’s complicated betrayal and murky moral future makes for some of the most mature storytelling that Star Wars animation has attempted.

8. Star Wars Adventures

As always, IDW’s delightful Star Wars Adventures remains some of the most artistically dynamic and eclectic comics the franchises currently publishes. While always shooting for stories that can be enjoyed by Star Wars fans young and old, Adventures uses its anthology format to tell stories from across the entirety of the franchise canon featuring all manner of characters and letting different creative voices take a spin with the many toys offered. Whether it’s the creepy Halloween limited series Return to Vader’s Castle or seeing Chewbacca and a trusty Porg liberate the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk, Adventures continues to offer a little something for all fans.

7. Star Wars Age of Rebellion

While there were gems inside all three of Marvel’s yearlong Age Of… limited series, its highlight of the most classic of Star Wars eras was undoubtedly its strongest. Greg Pak and his team of collaborating visual artists delivered some outstanding one off stories for Luke, Leia, Tarkin, and others, but it was ultimately their stellar Boba Fett story that proved the highlight of the twenty seven issue run. A mostly wordless Western that opens up with the galaxy’s most infamous bounty hunter riding into town on a robotic horse, Pak and Marc Laming’s thrilling and understated character study was the best Star Wars comic of the year and arguably the best Boba Fett story of the decade.

6. Star Wars: Resistance Reborn

Rebecca Roanhorse’s official prequel to The Rise of Skywalker proves to be a more satisfying experience than the movie that it ties into. Fans of Star Wars media are sure to find much to enjoy in this tale that not only bridges the eighth and ninth episodes of the saga but also provides a conclusion to all manner of media for the last decade. In an incredible balancing act, Roanhorse manages to tell a story of galactic rebellion and resolve while roping in characters from Star Wars Battlefront II, Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath trilogy, Claudia Gray’s Bloodline, Charles Soule’s Poe Dameron comic, and more. The result is a satisfying and thrilling read that rewards longterm readership while remaining a fun and consequential story in its own right.

5. Star Wars: Master and Apprentice

2019 was the twentieth anniversary of The Phantom Menace (holy crap) and while the film still remains a largely derided part of Star Wars history, Claudia Gray’s Qui-Gon Jinn centric prequel will happily enjoy a more positive legacy. Exploring the complicated teacher/student dynamic between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Master and Apprentice is an intriguing piece of courtly drama and conspiracy. Gray finds great dramatic fodder in the larger Jedi “family” formed by Qui-Gon and his own masters and former students and it makes for a fun character study amid some enjoyable dialogue centered prose. Gray is recognized by many as the strongest writer currently writing for Star Wars and Master and Apprentice is another fine addition to her repertoire.

4. Star Wars The Mandalorian

Of all other Star Wars media, The Mandalorian was the one to take the world by storm in 2019. Even outside the fire in a pan cuteness success of Baby Yoda, showrunner Jon Favreau’s space western drama was a runaway success. Despite a midseason drag in pacing and quality, the first ever live action Star Wars series thrilled and won over fans the world over with its enjoyable ensemble, great production design, and some stellar direction. Deborah Chow became the first woman to direct a live action Star Wars project and in the process delivered two fantastic hours of television. Her spearheading of an upcoming Obi-Wan show could not be more exciting. However, it was Taika Waititi’s outstanding season finale that is sure to stick in fan’s minds as a yearly highlight. Season two could not come faster.

3. Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron

Even with the Sequel Trilogy closing its doors last month, the next great Star Wars trilogy may have already begun in June. Alexander Freed draws inspiration from the cult favorite X-Wing novels of the 90’s to create a fantastically engaging military procedural set during the fall of the Empire and the rise of a new Republic. Without a doubt the most nuanced take of a galaxy in the final throes of wartime, Alphabet Squadron is an ensemble drama about a cast of characters finding their place in a new galaxy while coming to terms with their own trauma. Freed’s detailed and dutiful prose makes for a surprisingly engrossing read and some of the most powerful character writing to come out of a Star Wars novel in recent years. Thankfully the second installment arrives in less than six months!

2. Star Wars: Queen’s Shadow

There are few characters in the Star Wars galaxy that were in more need of a storytelling makeover than Padme Amidala. While she began as a great female heroine in The Phantom Menace, Padme spent the latter two films of the prequel trilogy bogged down with a leaden romantic story and a borderline misogynistic death. Writer EK Johnston’s Queen’s Shadow is an unabashed love letter to the girl queen that won over a generation of female fans in 1999 and a surprisingly relevant character study of a young woman entering the political scene in a time of galactic change and upheaval. Johnston turns Padme into a complex and politically astute young leader that is forced to navigate her transition from planetary matriarch to senator while also facing a wave of galactic scandal and judgement. It’s hard not to feel that Queen’s Shadow is in conversation with our own country’s treatment of women leaders and acts just as much as a rallying cry for young readers as it does a fun character piece. Also, who would have expected Sabe, Padme’s chief handmaiden played by Kiera Knightley in the film, to be one of the most emotionally complex protagonists of the year?

1. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

It’s been well over a decade since players have been treated to a great Star Wars gaming experience. The last true single player Star Wars game was the woefully lackluster Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II and fans have been clamoring for years for another chance to dive deep into an interactive story set in this rich fictional galaxy. Luckily, Respawn Entertainment have delivered just that in the fantastic Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Blending the exploration of Metroid Prime, the combat of Dark Souls, and the platforming set pieces of Uncharted with a fresh new Star Wars story, Fallen Order may not reinvent the wheel but what it does is present an entertaining and engrossing experience. Character progression and combat feel tailored to Jedi philosophy and exploring new, entirely optional, environments riddled with fascinating lore makes stepping into the interactive world Respawn has crafted rewarding and fun. However, it is the game’s story of the last remaining members of traditions that have been victims of cultural genocide that makes Fallen Order a success. Relatable and complex lead characters and even surprisingly sympathetic villains make this story a refreshingly emotional one and its high and lows are felt with a welcome dedication to theme and pathos.

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spacejellyfish3 · 5 years

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My Top Ten Movies Of All Time

To elaborate on a previous reblog, I wanted to go a bit more in depth on the movies I chose.

This list will be in order.

10. The Lost Boys (1987)

This movie is pretty amazing. It’s wild and crazy and so completely and utterly 80s in all of its 80sness. It’s about a family who moves to Santa Carla (The Murder Capital Of The World) only for the eldest son to be considered for “recruitment” by a flock of hip and happening bad boy vampires led by a very young Kiefer Sutherland. This movie is great; from the comic book store employees who act with the seriousness of F.B.I agents, the oiled up musclebound saxophone player with way too much or way too little (depending on who you ask) screentime, to what may be the greatest movie dog to ever exist. Watch it, you’ll have fun.

9. Bumblebee (2018)

This movie is pretty recent, but it rules. Despite the boundless cliches, I found myself really enjoying myself while watching Bumblebee (and this is coming from someone who never really got into Transformers). There’s a lot of heart and joy in it, and so much humor AND drama. The movie is CARRIED by Hailey Steinfeld, who gives an incredible and powerful performance as Charlie Watkins. I also really loved the chemistry between her character and literally everyone she meets (most especially Bumblebee). It had some fun villains and a GREAT third act. Love it a lot.

8. Carrie (1976)

Ahhhh...this movie...

This may be the best adaptation of a Stephen King book. Ever. No really.

The eponymous Carrie White is a teenage outcast, bullied and belittled at school and abused emotionally, verbally, and physically by her religiously fanatical mother. Carrie discovers she also has telekinetic powers. Her horrible life seems to soon get better when popular girl Sue, in an attempt to make amends with Carrie, asks her boyfriend Tommy to take Carrie to the prom. This leads to a wonderful night at prom, with Carrie being crowned Prom Queen. This one truly shining moment of pure happiness is shattered to pieces by a viciously cruel prank, giving the audience one of the most famous scenes in cinematic history. A tragic take on the classic Cinderella story, this movie manages to be heartwarming and tearjerking oftentimes simultaneously.

7. Spider Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018)

This movie is objective perfection, fight me.

6. Mean Girls (2004)

What can I possibly say about this movie that hasn’t been said before? It’s fetch.

But seriously, this movie rules. Not only is it the most quotable movie of ALL TIME, it’s also a great cautionary tale about the dangers of popularity (thank you Musical Adaptation) that makes sure to remember to treat the “mean girls” as actual human beings who have their own hopes and feelings that drive them. It showcases high school social structures in a way that makes it relevant even now. Like its predecessors Heathers and Clueless, Mean Girls made sure to craft its own identity and how to properly approach the theme of popularity. Ironically, though, its success has led other filmmakers and producers to try and replicate it; make the next “Mean Girls” instead of crafting a movie with love and care. This is why I think we haven’t gotten an intensely quotable movie about popular girls that would define a generation like Heathers, Clueless, and, yes, Mean Girls did. This movie still rules, though.

5. The Little Mermaid (1989)

Yes.

Beautiful animation, great songs, and a terrific villain. What more could you ask for? (I could talk about the opinions some people have with this movie that makes them not like it, but that’s for another day I think)

4. Evil Dead 2 (1987)

This is a great horror movie. Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi are just pure condensed awesomeness. I would’ve put the entire Evil Dead franchise in this spot if I could have but if I had to pick just one for my list, this is the one I would pick.

3. Wonder Woman (2017)

My favorite live action comic book movie. While it took a long time to get here, it definitely made it worth the wait.

Wonder Woman tells the story of the character it’s based on so wonderfully (yeah I know, lame pun), because it takes aspects from almost every writer she’s ever had—from George Perez to Greg Rucka to way way back to William Moulton Marston, her creator—while giving it their own unique spin. It keeps true to the key traits of Diana, and makes sure to keep her in character all throughout. And while I have some issues with the third act, I love the message: no one is solely good or evil, we all have a choice to do either. And it’s not about deserving, it’s about what you believe that makes the difference.

2. Tangled (2010)

My favorite animated Disney film. Tangled is a masterpiece of storytelling (I have talked about this before), wonderful animation, and compelling characters. It adapts the classic fairytale while also making smart and interesting changes that elevate it and perfect it. The characters are all amazingly acted; Zachery Levi breathes life into dashing thief Flynn Rider (a.k.a Eugene Fitzherbert), Donna Murphy is simultaneously hilarious and frighteningly realistic in how terrifying she is, while Mandy Moore is Rapunzel. It’s ironic, actually, that this movie has such a...tangle-free story.

...I’ll show myself out.

1. Stardust (2007)

I feel like Belle put it best.

“It’s my favorite! Far off places, daring sword fights, magic spells, a prince in disguise!”

While it’s honestly amazing and terrifying how well that quote describes this movie and why I love it, there’s a lot of reasons besides that. It has an amazing cast—Mark Strong, Sienna Miller, Claire Danes, Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer, a young Charlie Cox (which, fun fact: because this movie didn’t propel him into A-List status as intended, he was able to work way more on his craft which probably allowed him to nab his role as Daredevil), and not to mention Henry Cavill in a hi-larious early role. So yes...this movie has Daredevil fighting Catwoman/Wasp, Dr. Sivana, and Superman.

But it also has a lot of cool scenes and action, great set design and lighting, and a timeless feel to it. It’s The Princess Bride of my generation. I remember when I first saw this movie I wanted to see Daddy Day Camp for some odd reason (11-year old me had horrible taste in movies), and I spent the next few years hating this movie because Michelle Pfeiffer traumatized me for such a long time. It’s only now that I’ve matured a lot more since 2007 that I’ve been able to appreciate this movie.

This movie is amazing and I love it!

Since I did NOT tag anyone else on the reblog that I’m expanding on (cause I’m an idiot), I will do it now.

The rules are simple:

10 gifs of your 10 favorite movies without the movie title. Then tag or don’t tag (it’s not mandatory to do it) others to do the same.

I’ll tag @thefingerfuckingfemalefury @lilmeier @night-gem-shit @bethanyleerose edit*@captain-shannon-becker.

#my ten favorite movies #favorite movies gif tag #personal #about me #the lost boys #bumblebee #carrie #spider man: into the spider verse #mean girls #the little mermaid #evil dead 2 #wonder woman #tangled #stardust

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literatelove-blog1 · 5 years

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