#Andrew’s movies were bad but Andrew DELIVERED!!

[flamingo-writes]

@midnightnoiserose I’m gonna reply here bcs tumblr doesn’t let me post one long reply in the comments djjdjfjf

@midnightnoiserose I think it’s a bit of a shame, because Hobie’s character actually allows for a lot of dark content. Like, punk in general discusses a lot of problems and the punk scene is actually pretty unsafe. From the friendly gigs, the mosh pits can be quite dangerous adjust but fun. And then there’s the not so friendly moments during marches and manifestations. And there’s a lot of things that haven’t been explored. (I mean understandable, people want the fluff and the smut and I also want those as much as the person next to me). And I —as someone who’s called herself a punk for literally half of my life— have a lot of very strong opinions on various topics, and one of the reasons why I loved Hobie’s character so much (from the moment his comic got serialised last year) is because of who he is as a person. I Can relate so much to him.

The fact that they made him so hot in the movie was 😭😭 chefskiss. but tbf Hobie already was my dream guy hahaha but I digress.

There’s so much potential in writing Hobie in a fanfic where punk ideologies are thoroughly discussed, and all of the hardships and unfairness that happens in the world are talked about. You can’t talk about rebellion without oppression, and all the things those entail. Hobie is just the perfect character to put through these scenarios, it’s literally his natural habitat. —Also me projecting myself bcs that’s why I wrote fanfics in the first place. I tend to project sometimes a little too much of myself in my fanfics.

I have another Spider-Man fanfic (incomplete, I will finish it I promise 💀) in which my strong opinions on power abuse and general rebellious traits shine through the MC/Reader.

I will also project in that other fanfic, but in this one MORE bcs I live for punk. I love talking about punk ideology.

I’m thinking of writing a multi chapter Hobie fanfic, but I need motivation and free time 🥲 it will have heavier/darker themes, a lot of things discussions revolving punk ideologies, oppression, corruption, feminism, as well as other ugly parts of reality such as drug consumption, physical violence, SA and so on.

What I don’t know is if I should post it on AO3, or perhaps here? Or maybe both??? Idk what do you guys think?

[sciderman]

Hi Sci! You always have the best Peter Parker Takes™️, so I was hoping you could help me with something! I like a lot of things about Peter, but I find it so hard to reconcile the fact that he tends to be written as pro-police and politically moderate. I personally headcanon that he was more of a morally black-and-white hothead when he first started Spider-Manning, but as he grew older and wiser, he started understanding that everything tends to be shades of gray and thinking before swinging in with punches. Still, you’d think a kid who grew up poor in Queens would know better than to just go “ah you are stealing and therefore Bad” ya know?? I know these grievances are more with what the comics/film industry will publish, but still, my kingdom for some nuance!!

oh, bless you anon! god - the cop question is so interesting in superhero media, it really is - and, honestly, my take is kind of the opposite of yours. peter parker wasn't aligned with the cops in any way when he started. in fact, he kind of had a general distaste for cops because, you know, the cops kind of had it out for him.

never forget, peter being a bitchy little bitch boy to the cops is kind of his origin story.

when peter started he actually had very little respect for other heroes or law enforcement at all. he kind of just worried about himself, and his aunt may and that was all. he wasn't any sort of beacon of morality who was seeking to deliver justice or anything. he kind of just wanted to take photographs and make a buck. it took him a long time to start playing "hero" - and even when he did, law enforcement and him were generally not on the same side.

i think his first real positive relationship with someone on the side of the law was captain stacy - peter, obviously, respected him a lot and, you know, captain stacy died heroically.

still, spider-man's relationship with the law continues to be rocky at best - he's constantly being hunted by the law but also some individual cops kind of have a soft-spot for him and let him off the hook - sometimes he helps them, sometimes he's on the run - they love him, they love him not - kind of fluctuates. i think the spider-man comics are generally noncommital about the cop question and kind of just play whatever song will give peter parker the most drama. spider-man comics were are generally lighthearted about this sort of a thing.

i think it's not until a post 9/11 world where copaganda kind of became a lot more prevalent in superhero media and you suddenly started seeing all the heroes working with law enforcement. suddenly, i think, it became unquestionable - a hero had to respect the law, even if they were a vigilante. i think - especially with spider-man comics being set in new york - there was a desire to see these heroic figures working alongside "real life heroes" - so, i think all of the sentiment that peter is pro-cop came from a post-9/11 world, which - to be fair, with the first spider-man movie coming out when it did, it's no wonder that the public consensus on spider-man is that he'd be pro-cop.

andrew's spidey - andrew's spidey isn't full-on anti-police, but he doesn't exactly hold law enforcement in the highest respect

the movie itself isn't police-critical but peter is portrayed as your general "no respect for authority" kind of kid in tasm1 who's relationship with the law i guess shifts after captain stacy helps him and dies heroically. andrew and the cops are presumably bffs in tasm2 – he's kind of just totally beloved by the city in tasm2. i feel like tasm2 probably really severely under-explores spider-man. in fact, it feels like spider-man is barely in tasm2. he's barely a character. i think maybe that's where the tasm movies stumble, actually. those movies really aren't about spider-man at all. they're entirely about peter parker. and yes, there is a difference.

tom holland's spider-man is a cop. police don't really feature in his story, but he is one. funded by the elite class and basically tasked with looking after their property. hate that. gross.

i think it's why i hate seeing peter working with the avengers. the avengers are cops. he doesn't belong there. it's only a recent development where we started getting spider-man on team-rosters - he was always a solo guy who didn't really particularly want to play with others. he had his own stuff to deal with and it didn't matter to him hugely whether he was playing on the side of the law or not. he was dealing with his stuff.

personally i'm not about seeing a morally black-and-white peter parker. i don't think he's ever been that way and i still hate seeing him reduced to that - i think we see him painted as politically moderate because spider-man stories really aren't often about asking greater questions - i don't think it's the platform for it. peter is always too concerned with his own personal troubles to pursue any sort of activism - i think it's quite funny - as active as spider-man is, peter parker is generally an apathetic figure, and i think that makes him a certain degree of relatable. i think characters like gwen and mj and even aunt may are more politically active than peter parker is. peter's kind of too busy just trying to survive.

i love the thought of a peter parker that does punch first. i think that's his whole bag. he's not thoughtful. he's quick to anger. he actually isn't particularly thoughtful and doesn't always approach situations with some moral wisdom. sometimes he punches the wrong people. sometimes his anger is misguided. his energy is practically always going into the wrong places. he doesn't always know what's right and wrong. but he tries.

i'm so not into the stories that paint him as a moral beacon because - more often than not - he's doing it for himself. if he really did have unwavering respect for the law and his morals perfectly aligned with the cops, he wouldn't put the mask on. it's like, the whole point. a vigilante exists fundamentally by it's disobedience to the law. otherwise they'd be carrying a badge.

[estellaestella]

i had the most *this feels real* dream where Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield were holed up with a bunch of regular people in some sort of a large emergency centre and had to sleep there overnight coz it was raining real bad and the roads were flooded. And everyone was being damned decent about treating them like normal people - playing cards, chatting in the sort of semi darkness (i think there was only sparse emergency lights coz the electricity had gone). But by morning people couldnt contain their curiosity and started asking them to talk about their movie WE LIVE IN TIME. Andrew was very charming about dodging answers with a smile and a shake of his head but Florence said something like, well they were on their way to do interviews to promote the film (when they got waylaid) so they might as well start with these nice people, and leaning forward she delivered this single banger of a line, It's about love.

[moon-alight]

Hii! Can I ask for a Nicholas drabble? Him wanting you to pay attention to him instead of the movie you are watching and his hands start getting all over you , please?

I need all of you to be a bit more obvious if you want me to write smut because I can't take hints. So, this is a fluff drabble... I hope this is what you wanted. If not, leave another ask and I'll deliver. :)

Attention - &Team Nicholas

Synopsis: You are watching a movie with your boyfriend but end up in a bit of a situation.

Warnings: fluff, attention whore Nicholas, afab reader, hints of smut but not really. I guess it's sort of like 16+ but don't expect too much. I really don't know how to explain this.

Word Count: 780

Masterlist

It is one of the only times you get the dorms to yourself. The boys are mainly all out for the day, visiting Lotte World together. You and Nicholas decided to stay home, finally getting a bit of time together and since both of you are too lazy to go out, you settled for a movie.

While everyone else had already watched Spiderman No Way Home, you hadn't. You were always busy but now, nothing was stopping you from seeing the three spiderman's come together on the screen. Well, one thing is stopping you.

"I have seen this seven times already." Nicholas groans, sitting back. It wasn't the first time he had been complaining during the 30 minutes the movie had been going on for. He has been working your system constantly.

"Well, I haven't." You reply, reaching for more popcorn. Nicholas decided to be a bit more patient seeing as you had wanted to watch this movie ever since it came out in theaters a year ago. But he just couldn't.

"Baby." He says softly, looking at you. Your attention is completely on the screen, so absorbed in the story already. "Baaaabyyyyy." He drags out dramatically but you don't budge. As if you don't even hear him. He leans a little closer and starts poking you with every word he says. "Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby--"

"Stop it, Nicholas." You reply, pushing his hands away. Your boyfriend sits back with his arms crossed over his chest and a big pout on his lips and you don't even spare him a glance. He's moody. Very moody. How dare you to ignore your precious, hard-working, amazingly talented, handsome boyfriend? He thinks.

"I know you love Spiderman but... I thought you'd love me more." He mumbles. He figures, if he plays this well enough, you would feel bad and give him all the attention in the world.

"Hey, if Peter Parker decides to show up at my front door one day, I'd definitely go with him." Well, that wasn't the answer he was expecting.

"WHAT?!" Nicholas shouts, you shush him, continuing to pay attention to the movie. "What do you mean you'd leave me? Don't you know how many girls would kill to be with me and you're not even in love with me anymore."

"Who said I'm not in love? I love you more than anything, you know that." You reply, matter-of-factly.

"I'm starting to doubt that right now." Nicholas mutters to himself while continuing to pout. Not even five minutes pass before he starts trashing. "BABYYYY!"

"Nico, please." You reply annoyed. A sudden smirk appears on his face. You had just given him the perfect idea. You will beg for him later... he's sure of it. After being together for 5 months, he definitely knows your body enough to make you aching for him with just some 'innocent' touches.

The movie goes on, you gasp when Andrew Garfield appears on the screen. You knew he's be in it but you're still so overwhelmed. Nicholas takes this oportunity to scoot a little closer to you, wrapping an arm around your waist. You figure he's finally over it and just wants to cuddle, oh how wrong you are.

When Tobey appears, you scream. A literal fan-girl scream. Again, Nicholas smirks. He can make you scream much louder in many different ways. His 'innocent' hand on your waist moves down a little, drawing figures on your clothed hips with his fingers. You cuddle into him more, not thinking anything of his touches until you feel his hand inch closer to your core.

His fingers start drawing figures on your thighs, and suddenly you're incapable of focusing on the movie and you become aware of the arousal that's building up inside of you and starts showing through your panties.

You know what he is doing but you won't let him win that easily. You waited a year to watch this movie, you're gonna finish it too. You look at the screen, trying your best to pay attention when you feel Nicholas' fingers brush your clothed clit for only a brief moment. You gasp softly, body tensing as your desire to want more grows.

"What's wrong, baby?" Nicholas asks innocently as if he isn't the one distracting you majorly right now. He leans closer, his lips right next to your ear. "You wanted to watch the movie, so keep watching it." And just like that, all his touches disappear and he sits back in the spot he sat before. You stare at him dumbfounded.

"Nico--"

"Just watch the movie, baby." He smirks as he says it, knowing what he has done. "Just watch the movie."

[maple-rose]

I went to see Gundam SEED Freedom tonight.

I don't ever talk about it here, but before I fell into the Fire Emblem hole, Gundam SEED was my obsession throughout highschool and university (if you ever find my deviantART or livejournal account, uh.... the proof is all there, embarrassingly...).

Anyway I've been waiting for this movie for like 15 years. It's kinda surreal that it even exists, amidst rumors of it being cancelled and all.

I wore my Murrue cosplay jacket I made 15 years ago (it still kinda fits, lol), brought a Haro plush and a Lacus plush.

The movie itself, it was fun! Lots of fanservice (both in terms of people and mechs). The pacing felt too fast in the 1st half, and most of the new characters aren't very well developed but that's kinda expected given the run time. Other than that, as a long time fan, it was a good movie!

Also it looks really nice! SEED/Destiny always had inconsistency in art and animation so it's good to see more good animation.

Some specific thoughts under the cut (spoiler warning):

Mu x Murrue scenes! screams Have I mentioned they were my OTP throughout highschool and university? Mu cut his hair and it looks way better! The new ORB uniforms look good, though kinda wish to see Mu in casual outfits more

RIP Archangel T__T You went through and survived so much…

Mu said his line lol (actually 2 of them, Shinn called him an Ossan and he said he's not an Ossan (callback to same exchange with Dearka))

Kira's pinboard has some nostalgic photos on it! Including the shot of the Archangel crew from the 3rd Destiny ending <3

Lacus got so many new outfits! I'm not sure if I like her role in this but she is more interesting than in Destiny

I got new respect for Athrun now. I was hoping someone would slap Kira out of his slump and he delivered!

I actually like Shinn more now too, when he's not being an angsty teen and instead a simpleton kid/the comic relief

Kira.. I think this Kira is an improvement from Destiny at least; he was really boring in Destiny… so it's good to see some emotion and see him crack. But also be more honest with his feelings

New girl Agnes is Flay 2.0? but if Flay could actually pilot a mech?

I was expecting more new mechs (to sell kits), so I'm really surprised they brought back so many existing ones (even the Buster and Duel… but not Aegis)

Though when Freedom deployed and they played Meteor, it was very nostalgic! (Meteor is basically Freedom's theme song, it first played when Freedom was first shown SEED)

New songs by TMR, Nami Tamaki, and See-Saw (who broke up pretty much after Destiny ended, came back for another song)! Also some nostalgic BGM came back

The new antagonists aren't really redeemable or sympathetic, which is a shame 'cause that's one of the things I liked about SEED; but with the runtime I get it, they're supposed to be the "bad guys" so the main crew can come together

It's kinda funny how that guy keeps calling Kira a failure, 'cause Kira is literally the Ultimate Coordinator

Lacus's pilot suit is really funny. This is actually the first time she's been sexualized like that; usually she's the pure one

The final scene is.. what I expected from a SEED climax, but a lot more hammy lol. Power of love!

They did end up confirming AsuCaga, but funny thing is Athrun and Cagalli never actually talked to each other or were in the same room even.. Meyrin is the one with Athrun (not sure if I like her new hair...)

Who is that kid with Cagalli?? He called her "Nee-san". He looks like Mu... it can't be Mu's kid, he looks too old for that. Another clone of Mu's dad? Some new guy who happens to look alike?

I saw a lot more cameos than I thought I would. The whole Archangel crew, Miriallia and Sai, Erika (ORB's head of tech, the one who gave them all Gundams), Arthur (Minerva's 2nd in command guy), Andrew Waltfeld (why didn't he have a bigger role?! He was just shown in 1 passing shot). Even some dead people were shown in flashbacks. Actually I think the flashback at the end showed all the major characters who died.

[mrcowboysmovieroom]

Bad Dreams (1988)

Directed by: Andrew Fleming Genre: Horror, thriller, psychological (SORT OF LOL.. It wants to be)

CW: Suicide and gore are in this film and I touch upon those subjects in the review pretty early on and throughout where it’s relevant. Just not in a lot of detail and no clips/images from those scenes are included. Originally written 04/10/2023

So, not bad. Not bad at all. Not to damn it by opening with such muted praise but you have to understand something about the 80s and their thriller movies okay. There were a lot of them, and a few really great ones popularized a certain look. This look. In fact, there are plenty of comparisons to be made between this and Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).

To clarify there isn't anything wrong with this look, I'm just saying that they have it okay? I like the look. The look is what got me to watch this movie in the first place. However, the look can't guarantee a good film. The abundance of these types of movies means there's a lot of shit to sift through.

So is Bad Dreams good, or is it a dullard wearing the skin of a much more interesting film?

Mmmm yeah, it's good! Of course, you see my hesitation. I could certainly see myself recommending this but likely not first though. It is neither so absurdly bad or bizarre like Shocker (1989) or fantastically brilliant as to warrant much more regard than I've given it.

In any case, I am moving a little past the point. So, onto the movie.

Bad Dreams is pretty simple in its setup but it's delivered fairly well. Cynthia (Jennifer Rubin) is the only survivor of a mass suicide by the cult Unity Field. They're a religious, free-love type from the 70s. Their leader is the enigmatic Harris (Richard Lynch). He's a real weirdo, but a well performed one. He's got strange nicknames for members and calls Cynthia "love child".

The final moments of the cult feature the members having spoons of gasoline poured on them for an ironic baptism before Harris pours the rest on himself and lights up the house they're in. We learn that within Unity Field this is considered the most beautiful act that could have been taken to members within. A final act that only benevolent god could offer.

Following the incident, Cynthia is in a coma for 13 years. When she awakes she is kept in a mental hospital as no other family can be found, and she's put into regular group therapy with patients who have borderline disorders.

The facility is run by Dr. Berrisford (Harris Yulin), but the group itself is manned by his young, very adorable assistant Alex Karmen (Bruce Abbott). As is typical when movies take place in mental hospitals- each of the patients are very diversely eccentric. I don't think any of them come off as offensive portrayals and the supporting cast is pretty strong throughout.

At first, Cynthia doesn't remember much about the cult accept their mission statement and the general "good vibes" they had. But soon the medication starts, and so do the dreams. They're actually not dreams. She hallucinates while awake. So, get fucked inaccurate movie name…

Actually, the title and the taglines are frankly confusing and borderline dishonest.

"When Cynthia wakes up, she'll wish she were dead…" The movie never emphasizes her waking nor sleeping, and as I said the "dreams" aren't really dreams. The poster I included for this review makes even less sense. "The scream you don't hear... is your own." What? WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN. They just have absolutely nothing to do with the events that take place in the film.

Anyway SO BACK TO THE MOVIE. This is a thriller movie so guess what? The other patients start to die. Suspiciously the deaths look like suicides or accidents but it's only happening within Cynthia's group and she happens to be there for most of them. Much of her hallucinations coincide with the murders as well, acting as premonitions but also possibly implicating her to the audience.

After all, we don't know how the fire and the struggle of waking up in another decade with no one she recognizes or cares about will manifest in her. Hallucinations or her flashbacks seem the very least of possible outcomes she could have.

Each death ranges in intensity. The grossest is the couple who fall into the turbines. It was certainly the goriest of them, but that causes it to be my favorite. The practical effects are really good in this movie too. They hold up really well, even when in the closeups.

Nearing the climax, the detective keeping an eye on Cynthia believes that she must be involved somehow. While she doesn't seem to have killed anyone herself (and it would have been impossible for her to have done so), he thinks she may have convinced them to kill themselves using that cult speak she picked up in her youth.

You see, he doesn't think she could possibly be a victim- in fact he suggests she was an accomplice. Even though she was like 13 when the fire happened. Even if she had been more directly involved as the detective suggests, it's very unrealistic to think a child could be responsible for their actions in a situation like that. You know, one where there are much stronger and scarier adults everywhere, and you've been brainwashed. But hey, maybe this is what people would have thought in the 80s and this detective actually seems reasonable.

So, to keep her from being arrested she's put in isolation by Dr. Berrisford. Alex protests that isolation is the antithesis of what she needs, but in the face of his protests Berrisford fires him. Shortly after, in his frustration Alex takes some ✨DRUGS✨ and has a violent dream of him killing Berrisford with his car. It's then that Alex realizes that something is horribly wrong! And if you want to know what- watch the movie or continue on...

Obviously PATIENTS WITH BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDERS SHOULD NOT TAKE STUFF LIKE THOSE DRUGS LMFAAOOOOO… So why were they given them?? Well Berrisford is testing his theories you see? If only someone had asked him about his theories!

He's been putting Cynthia in the center of this test, using the deaths of the other patients to act as other pawns in his research, but also to trigger her memories and get her to kill herself? I mean that is what happens, but I'm not sure why he wants her to decide to kill herself. I guess I could have missed it, but I don't think Berrisford ever says his thesis outright.

Alex puts this all together and rushes to prevent Cynthia's death, as she is the last of the group alive. First, he goes to find Cynthia in the isolation room and then gets knocked out. Slay. You are killing it Alex.

Cynthia goes to the roof with Berrisford, but she sees in his place Harris. The reveal that Berrisford is the bad guy implies that several of her hallucinations may have in fact been her witnessing Berrisford prior to the murder. Not every hallucination works this way though.

Well, just as Cynthia jumps Alex gets to the roof in time to stop her. Or well he's holding her over the edge of the building and demanding she wake up and help him pull herself up. As a part of his motivational speech he professes his love for her, which is an expected but nonetheless confusing addition.

They're implied to be attracted to one another throughout the film, but there aren't really any scenes which justify the apparent close regard he holds for her. The movie ends without them formally getting together, but it seems unnecessary altogether. But hey, that's straight people and their desire for everyone to end up in a relationship ain't it?

In the end with nothing left to do or lose, Berrisford kills himself. Over all this is a good film but it's not very exceptional in what it's doing and there is something a little underwhelming about it all. The performances really carry this movie and make it a lot more worthwhile than it might be otherwise. It would have been easy for this movie to really stink on ice. As it stands though, it's actually quite fun. So, if you like movies like this, you should give it a shot.

Final verdict; 6/10

Also interesting fun fact- Originally the Andrew Flemming wanted the end song to be Burning House of Love by X. Which in my opinion would have been even funnier and on the nose than the song they did use, Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Roses. I mean how can you beat lines like:

A couple of years ago

When the smoke and flame called my name

It was a burning house of love

Yeah, a burning house of love

[adamwatchesmovies]

Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

The way Sylvester Stallone ended up starring in Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot is much more interesting than the film itself. In the ’90s, the kings of action blockbusters were Arnold Schwarzenegger and Stallone. After reading the script by Blake Snyder, William Osborne and William Davies, Schwarzenegger knew it was awful. Knowing his rival would jump on the project if he feigned interest, Schwarzenegger told the press he was “very interested”. In no time, Stallone underbid him and got the role. Later, he would go on to call it one of the worst of his career. That's funny. This movie is not.

Sergeant Joseph Andrew Bomowski (Sylvester Stallone) dreads the upcoming visit from his mother, Tutti (Estelle Getty). When she attempts to illegally buy him a firearm, she witnesses a murder. Now the two must work together to determine who is selling high-powered weapons on the black market.

This movie (and the similarly awful Cop and a Half) is the ultimate bad buddy cop “one’s a” movie. We’ve seen movies where one’s a white cop and one’s a black cop, where one’s a man and one’s a woman, where one’s a young guy and one’s an old veteran, and so on. When they’re good, they deliver a compelling police action film and memorable bits of comedy that take advantage of the differences between the leads. When they're bad, you get this.

Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot was sold on the gimmick alone - they certainly didn’t have a stack of amusing scenarios in mind. There’s maybe a single joke that lands. The rest is painfully unfunny and unoriginal. It isn’t even a movie about a cop being paired up with an old lady; it’s a cop paired up with his overbearing, irritating mother. You know the kind. We're talking about a woman who sees a perfectly clean room and decides it’s filthy but then goes on to destroy prized possessions in her attempts to make everything “spotless”. All this at 3 in the morning because common sense is something that escapes her.

I understand the movie is a comedy but even so, its characters are just way too dumb. Sure the movie “had to happen” but you never believe this scenario would play out the way it would. Every attempt at hilarity just makes the film longer and fills you with resentment. You look at Stallone’s face and you can tell he knew exactly how bad a movie this was. He puts no effort into the role. Even Estelle Getty isn’t particularly good and she should be the star of the show!

Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot feels like an episode of a TV show that would've been canceled after 15 minutes stretched out to an hour and a half. At most, This should’ve been a short skit parodying buddy cop movies. Maybe this began as a joke someone took too seriously or director Roger Spottiswoode had a vision that got lost on the way to the screen. Regardless, you’re sitting there, powerless to do anything about the barrage of anti-fun coming your way. You accept it’s going to be bad within the first few minutes. You hope you can somehow acclimate yourself to the level of dimwitted writing and just when you're about to, Stallone delivers a title drop that lands like a blue whale on an inflatable pool. It just drains away all of your remaining will to live. This was made in 1992? Good gracious. (On VHS, June 14, 2019)

[rookie-critic]

Fear (2023, dir. Deon Taylor) - review by Rookie-Critic

Sometimes you see a trailer for something, and you know that, most likely, it's not gonna be good. I hate to say it, and I try not to judge any particular book by its cover, but we all do it, we can't help it. It's almost impossible not to put a perception on something. I know I shouldn't, because it's happened so many times just in the past couple years where I was anticipating something being bad or just ok, and it ended up blowing my socks off. It's almost gotten to a point where I'm more inclined to go see something if I have a negative knee-jerk reaction to it. Still, sometimes that inclination is right, and it most definitely was in the case of Fear.

This film, that clearly only got a theatrical release because its only release competition was Brandon Cronenberg's Infinity Pool, a very niche psychological thriller, and the star-studded, but massively undermarketed rom-com Maybe I Do. I could talk about how the film is edited in way that seems like they ran out of production time/budget and didn't have enough footage to make a cohesive plot, I could talk about the rushed digital effects that look like they were made in just shy of two weeks by college freshman in Adobe After Effects, I could talk about the ADR that was clearly added in with complete disregard for whether or not a character that is supposed to be speaking on screen's mouth is even moving, or the absurd amount of re-used dialogue. I could talk about a million different little technical things I noticed while watching this movie, but really I think the most crushing thing for Fear is that it is a horror movie, one that desperately wants to be taken seriously, that just flat out isn't scary. The premise, that your deepest fears manifest themselves in reality at the lodge where the film take place, and that's what eventually kills you, while interesting from a baseline perspective, seems to be of mostly tangential interest to the filmmakers. [MILD SPOILERS AHEAD] They have a sliver of a unique idea in giving some of the ensemble more abstract fears (stuff like "my friends not being able to trust me" or "not being in control"), but its almost like they just get bored after taking those concepts three-quarters of the way to their conclusions and just kill those characters off through some half-hearted, supernatural other thing than actually having their fears kill them. Even the character whose fear is literally just blood has a completely unrelated death. He doesn't drown in blood (his significant other in the film's biggest fear was drowning, they could have easily knocked out two birds with one stone there), he doesn't even bleed out (even though he does get stabbed and one of the hallucinations he has is his stab wound bleeding profusely), none of that vastly more on-theme stuff happens. His neck gets snapped. That's it.

It's just unbelievably underwhelming on almost every front. It's a horror movie with no horror, a slasher film with unoriginal, uninteresting death scenes, it packs no punch, offers no lasting impact, and the acting isn't even bad enough to be funny. In fact, a couple of the performances borderline on good (Andrew Bachelor, a.k.a. King Bach, whose production company helped make this film, actually delivers a decent performance, and TI has at least one decently funny moment). I think the only thing I've seen recently that was worse was Jeepers Creepers: Reborn, but I can barely even call that a film, so that was a pretty low bar to pass. Please, if you were thinking about seeing this, don't. Save your money and your time, it's not worth it.

Score: 2/10

Only in theaters.

[p-0287]

If someone is gonna write new MCU's Spider-Man trilogy, I wish they hire Phil Lord & Chris Miller or maybe the duo from Deadpool movies instead of McKenna & Sommers, or at least the team who wrote Homecoming beside these two.

McKenna & Sommers weren't bad but some scene I felt like they don't know what to write to make the scene feel flow (in short, lazy writing). Like when Peter's breakdown with Happy in FFH could explore Peter's character depth through heart-to-heart conversation instead they cut short to play jokes, even in Deadpool & Wolverine still can get Happy delivers great meaningful dialogues to Wade Wilson before playing jokes.

Also "I wish we could see Peter" in NWH is the scene that has tons of potential to explore characters too, not Spider-Man Andrew and Toby, but Ned & MJ themselves, they could at least have a scene talking about what happened to their friend and how worried they were but again, cut short because they want to quickly introduce Andrew & Toby to the story.

For short, the characters are growing up, we need better writer for the character.

[ulkaralakbarova]

Film geek Josh is looking for the subject of his new documentary when a chance meeting puts the perfect star in his sights—Dylan, his school’s most popular junior. But Dylan’s hopes of using the film to become Blossom Queen don’t quite match with Josh’s goal to make a hard-hitting exposé about popularity. Will Josh shoot the film as planned, or show Dylan as the truly interesting person she is? Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Dylan Schoenfield: Sarah Hyland Josh Rosen: Matt Prokop Hannah: Vanessa Morgan Amy Loubalu: Sasha Pieterse Lola: Lili Simmons Nicole Paterson: Andrea Brooks Asher: Jordan A. Nichols Steven: Jimmy Bellinger Ari: David Del Rio Sandy: Lilli Birdsell Alan Schoenfield: Andrew Airlie Caitlin: Kacey Rohl Mr. Farley: David Milchard Ms. Guthrie: Brenda Crichlow Amber: Erica Van Briel Shy Girl: Nina Kiri Lunch Lady: Kathryn Kirkpatrick Smart Phone Customer: Sean Mahaffey Mall Cop: Brent Chapman Parking Enforcement Officer: Keith Dallas Another Random Girl: Aliza Vellani Popular Guy: Aaron Miko Volleyball Player: Taurean Mills Film Crew: Screenplay: Hilary Galanoy Screenplay: Elizabeth Hackett Director: Jeffrey Hornaday Original Music Composer: Nathan Wang Novel: Robin Palmer Editor: David Finfer Producer: Tracey Jeffrey Casting: Natalie Hart Executive Producer: Todd Lieberman Production Design: Chris August Executive Producer: David Hoberman Executive Producer: Paul E. Shapiro Casting: Jason La Padura Director of Photography: Robert Brinkmann Co-Producer: Brian Zeilinger-Goode Visual Effects Supervisor: Dan Schmit Supervising Sound Editor: Mark Friedgen Costume Design: Rebekka Sorensen Movie Reviews: Reno: **Student film festival meets beauty pageant.** I’m one of those guys who does not believe chick films are for girls alone, actions are for men, as well as magic films for kids. I watch them all, well, at least I admit that. So, not in my childhood, but overall I’ve seen many DCOM and I’ve liked many of them. This film came half a decade ago, I was aware of it, but only now I had watched it and it got me by surprise. I thought it would me another mean girl tale, that’s where I was wrong. Well, in the initial few minutes, that’s how it looked, but everything has changed since the beginning of the second act. That was the biggest plus point of this film. Even though predictable scenes, still it felt good enough. The character transformation, the way it was done was very smart. At one stage you hate, then a soft corner develops. It is a television film, but that’s not how it looked. The quality of the story was like a theatrical film. If they had risked on that, they definitely would have succeeded. I would say a bad decision by the production house, but still the product delivered more than its expectation. The casting was good, All of them were new face to me, except Sasha Pieterse. Expecting a sequel for a good/successful film is so common with its fans. I thought about the same, but seems they are not interesting in one which was kind of confirmed in the end itself. Even though if they decide to make, it won’t be as good as this one. Because the main story, all happened in here. Just like ‘Taken�� which is very powerful original film, not suitable for followups. This is a silly concept, but very nice film. I totally suggest it. _8/10_

[denimbex1986]

'Ripley might not be the first adaptation of the classic novel it is based on, but the Netflix series sure makes you feel like it's the first time you have been transported into Thomas Ripley's world of lies. As someone who loved 1999's The Talented Mr. Ripley movie, which starred Matt Damon as the title character, I'm happy to say that I had a great time with Netflix and Showtime's new spin on the classic story.

Ripley is based on Patricia Highsmith's award-winning 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, the first of a series of books focused on the character Tom Ripley. While there were a few adaptations of Highsmith's book prior to the Netflix show, Ripley succeeds by trying to be something different from what came before. With a strong story, the show needed to find the perfect cast, and Ripley's trio of leads proved mostly perfect fits for their characters.

Ripley's Tone Keeps Viewers On Edge

Ripley stars Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley, Johnny Flynn as Dickie Greenleaf, and Dakota Fanning as Marge Sherwood. Like the 1999 movie and the novel it is based on, the eight-episode limited series tells the story of Tom Ripley, who is hired by an industrialist to travel to Italy to try to get his son, Dickie, to come back home after a long stint overseas. After he accepts the job, Tom's life turns into a tale of lies, darkness, and murder.

The limited series was created, written, and directed by Steven Zaillian. The creative has been nominated and won several awards over his long career, which includes a Best Adapted Screenplay win for his work on the critically acclaimed Schindler's List, one of the best and most impactful movies I have ever watched. Knowing this, and how Zaillian was behind the screenplays of classics like Moneyball and Hannibal, I went into Ripley with high expectations, and the series was able to meet them at every turn.

Adding to a carefully crafted story that extended the contents of what had been told in a movie, Ripley lets its events breathe. There are prolonged scenes with little to no dialogue that serve to let characters — and viewers — catch their breath and collect their thoughts after nerve-wracking events. All of that is paired with the aesthetic choice to film Ripley entirely in black and white. The noir feel of the show is a perfect fit for its story about lies and murder, serving to elevate the tension of the series as the plot progresses.

Andrew Scott Is Impressive As Tom Ripley

Dakota Fanning is another standout among the cast

Andrew Scott delivers a worthy performance as the series' lead character. In the many moments where Ripley chooses to present as little dialogue as possible so that we can be transported into the characters' state of mind, Scott particularly excels as Ripley. Communicating a character's feelings and inner thoughts through only facial expressions and body language is no easy task, but the actor rises to the occasion, adding a sense of urgency to any scene with a mere look, making Ripley a character to be watched at all times.

Dakota Fanning is also great in the series. Fanning's Marge sees her life completely change when Tom Ripley gets in the middle of her Italian life with Dickie. Marge is a good foe for Ripley, ever wary of what his true intentions might be while Dickie connects with his friend. Fanning marvelously brings to life all the different layers of Marge, changing and adapting to the confusing events that start to happen all around her.

While Johnny Flynn is far from a bad pick for Dickie Greenleaf, with the actor delivering a solid turn in the role, I can't help but compare his performance to that of Jude Law in 1999's The Talented Mr. Ripley. Law ended up being nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards for his performance as Dickie. The actor simply presented a level of magnetic charisma that was lacking in the new version of the story, and while that takes the series down a notch, Ripley is still an exciting adaptation of the classic novel.'

[drewandareview]

Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)

Originally published August 24th, 2014

I went into this movie with what I consider the perfect circumstances: I heard it was a very good movie and knew virtually nothing else about it.  Knowing I could be reasonably secure that this would not be a bad movie, I did not have to research it.  Therefore, I could go in blind and be entirely surprised with what it had to offer.  It's the perfect moviegoing experience.  Or, at least it should have been.

When I think modern, I think "This very day."  But that is not when Thoroughly Modern Millie was made.  It was made in the sixties.  And so I reset my sights, only to realize that this movie made in the sixties actually takes place in the twenties.  I reset once more.  I am uneasy.

It turns out to be a delightful, lighthearted romp, basing itself largely on classic comedies made from the era it is set in.  I relax and take a joyful breath.  Silly movies like these are far and few in my experience, and I'm glad to be experiencing one.  A frivolous scene of having to do a tap routine to make an elevator work.  Two lovers in a car sinking from view and reemerging moments later in entirely different positions.  A man being pushed out a window and dangling from a flagpole, with the very same happening to a woman mere moments later.  

Most wonderfully is Julie Andrews, our main character Millie, who on occasion will interact with us by looking right into the camera and giving a facial expression.  Every one of these fourth wall expressions fills me with an incredible bliss.  Julie Andrews radiates an ineffable warmth, regardless of what emotion she's conveying, and these expressions are literally infectious.  To my pleasant surprise, she isn't the only source of these--Mary Tyler Moore also delivers a brilliant array of her own bubbly expressions.  In fact, much of the cast seems to be emanating a blithe spirit that appears impossible to augment.

The premise is that Julie Andrews wants to be the perfect modern girl and marry her wealthy boss.  Perhaps it'll be this nice theme about subscribing to your own fashion rather than that of the world's?  No.  Not at all.  But wishful thinking.  Still, it's a sound premise for the attraction this movie purports to be.  I expect to smile frequently.

But my smiling finds itself interrupted with a contorted grimace.  There is another premise.  A group of nefarious Chinese people are drugging attractive women without families, throwing their unconscious bodies into a laundry basket, and selling them off as white slaves somewhere in China.  While I was introduced to this competing premise more gradually, its presence continues to hit me like a soaring baseball at a picnic.  Newspapers indicate that the police are investigating this ongoing matter.   Ongoing.  This has been happening for some time.  Newspapers go on to indicate some girls have already been sold as slaves.

The Chinese henchmen involved are 100% Chinese.  In the most oriental garb possible, they have the dopey expressions that successfully scream "foreign threat".  It's okay. I think.  The movie needed a group with strange customs and foreign people easily fit the bill.  I counter But that's racist.  I cannot disagree with this argument.  It occurs to me it would have been just as easy to invent strange customs for a group rather than pinpoint them to an existing culture.  But the movie is paying homage to classic twenties comedies, and those were racist. I think.  So this is okay.  I am at ease.  But not really.  Not at all.

The climax chooses to revolve around this scheme when one of the central characters is kidnapped herself.  Millie chases the Chinese henchmen into what is referred to as an opium den.  There, the camera casually showcases an extensive display of cages, filled with shrieking girls who are tied up inside of them.  Some Chinese henchmen are seen sealing a crate, which a sign reveals will be sent to China.  I tensen, sure that if the crate is sealed, an innocent girl must be contained within it.

My heart races at the sudden shift in tone, but the movie itself does not seem to recognize this shift.  As Millie chases after a laundry basket that contains her unconscious friend, being prepped for shipment, the two Chinese henchmen pushing it do a cute little dance.  They skip about and wave their arms, expressionless.  It's funny to see henchmen doing that.  But it's not.  I do not laugh.

The Chinese try, in vain, to keep their operation afoot after Millie rescues her friend and frees those captive.  The main characters are at Carol Channing's house.  Not the actress, but the character she plays in this movie.  The Chinese villains follow and confront these characters.  Carol Channing knows what to do.  She bellows unnaturally low singing notes.  This shatters the thick glasses of our Chinese henchmen.  How clever.  Now they are blind. I think.  This is not the case.  It turns out their glasses were not broken for any reason other than Carol Channing's amusement.  The very next shot features the camera slowly panning in on Carol Channing as she violently shimmies and laughs with an enthusiasm that feels with every fiber of my being that it must be contrived, but the alarming intensity in her bulging eyes proves that it is not.

In this moment, I found myself suddenly fearful.  What was I watching?  The entirely contradicting plot, the extreme racism, married with the inexplicable, uninvited cackling of Carol Channing as her jaw appears to unhinge.  What madness is this?  If we are capable of this as a species, should we fear ourselves?

The main characters go on to defeat the Chinese henchmen with acrobatic finesse.  It was never established that all these characters had acrobatic finesse. I want to suspend my disbelief as I had earlier in the movie, but I can't.  I don't know what to believe anymore.  I watch in existential apathy as one character leaps several feet into the air to land onto an elevated platform, just before descending onto one of the Chinese henchman below.  I watch our heroes deliver kicks that send the Chinese henchman spiraling several feet into the air like rag dolls, as if their mass momentarily disappeared.  They make arcs like rainbows and land bloodlessly.  I watch the main characters turn their abuse of these Chinese henchmen into something of a circus routine, complete with a bow.  I don't understand.  I don't know if I want to.

One character is shot in the neck with a needle, containing some Chinese liquid.  It paralyzes him, but the rest of the characters are unaware of his paralysis.  They communicate with him as if he is fully functioning, but he never responds.  He is frozen.  Every limb stiffened, his face frozen in a giant smile.  His eyes are wide and lifeless.  His jolly expression is a lie.  He seems to be whispering "Help me."  I wonder if this is the fate that will befall me upon this movie's conclusion.

The Chinese are defeated.  Millie's love interest, a slacking paper clip salesmen, reveals himself to actually be a millionaire.  His whole character had been a lie.  Carol Channing reiterates what she had taught Millie earlier.  "You don't need to marry somebody for money.  Marry somebody for love, because even if they are poor, they might secretly have money."  Millie beams, confirming that she has now learned this lesson.  No Millie, I want to say.  That doesn't make any sense.  I cannot speak.  Millie goes on to say to her man "I don't want to be your equal anymore.  I want to be a woman."  The movie ends.  I am left stunned at the sudden blow to women and poorer people everywhere.  I wonder what happened to the girls who were already sold as slaves.  I presume they are lost to slavery, their lives robbed of them.

The exit music plays, accompanied by a black screen.  I cannot imagine a more appropriate image.  All I can see is blackness.  A void, silent and beckoning.  I try to fill the space with images of Julie Andrews' charming expressions.  I am able to see glimpses of her look of surprise, or her look of playful condemnation, but these expressions are lost to the infinite spectrum of the colorless. I am here in the abyss.  But this was supposed to be the perfect moviegoing experience, I think as I'm kissed by the ashen whirlwind of disgust that coddles me voraciously.  I speak in many voices. The atoms of self and spirit coalesce. The illusion of existence crumbles like old stone.  It was supposed to be perfect.

[denimbex1986]

He’s lounging on a couch in a small, windowless room in a Manhattan studio, where he’s been dutifully shooting promotional material for Birdy all day. But he seems bright and alive, his broken foot long since patched up. In a way, the injury may have helped him tap into the psyche of his character, an increasingly broke medieval lord whose sartorial and aesthetic tastes set him apart from the “draconian, macho atmosphere” of his realm, Scott says. There’s a sense of vulnerability alongside complex masculinity at work in this decidedly feminist film, aided by Scott’s tender rendering of Lord Rollo.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Scott chats candidly about tackling the role, what it was like working with Dunham, and how playing the instantly iconic Hot Priest in Fleabag has left an eternal stamp on his career. 

Vanity Fair: What was the first thing that made you say yes to this project?

Andrew Scott: It was definitely Lena. I think Girls is extraordinary. I remember seeing it and thinking, Wow. Such a singular voice. That’s the stuff that you look for. A writer that’s not scared to put their autograph on something. Whatever she puts her mind to, she’s going to have a vision and she’s going to deliver a message. 

Did you have a favorite Girls character?

It was more the spirit of it. I remember that extraordinary scene where they break up—Lena’s character and Adam Driver’s character. It was such a sad, brilliant scene. And the fact that she did it at that age [is impressive].

Your character gets a memorable introduction from Birdy. She writes: “He’s often vain, usually drunk, and always greedy.” It’s her perspective, but there are those elements to him, which you tackle in a fun way. How did you approach a character who is so louche?

Oh, with absolute abandon. [Laughs] We talked about costumes that he should be wearing. It was incredible working with [costume designer] Julian Day. Lord Rollo would be wearing Gucci now if he could. He likes to spend money, he’s interested in art. He’s just one of those straight men. 

Going back to the costumes, I was watching this thinking you must be so comfortable. You’re wearing robes on top of robes. Was this the most comfortable movie you’ve ever done?

It would’ve been, but, unfortunately, during the movie I fell down stairs and I broke my foot.

Oh god! I’m so sorry.

Yeah. I think that’s an exclusive. [Laughs] There were these very slippery mahogany stairs and I just fell and smashed my foot. So for a lot of the movie, I’m walking around with a big boot. I was very grateful for [the costumes] and that I wasn’t putting on a pair of skinny jeans or something. 

Have you ever worked on a film where you had that kind of injury before? Or was this a first?

No, it was my first time that’s ever happened. It’s amazing how much it fucks things up.

Did you learn anything about yourself as an actor through working through that kind of challenge?

A little, I think. When you’re in pain, you feel so weirdly vulnerable. I had to take [the cast] off at times. You’re in crowds saying, “Please don’t stand on my foot, please, please, please.” 

The first AD is like “Be careful around Andrew!”

Yeah. But we did okay. We managed it! 

I’m curious what Lena is like on set. How does she give a note?

We did a lot of improvisation. She’ll come back and say, “I love that line!” Like all the best directors, you reward the good and you ignore the bad. [Laughs] She’s incredibly effusive and fun. She understands performing as well. You’re not required to do 75 takes of something with diminishing returns. You feel confident because she feels confident. 

I noticed at TIFF that she said she turned you from “Hot Priest” to “Hot Medieval Dad.” I wanted to ask about the phenomenon of getting “hot” prefixed to your characters after playing Hot Priest on Fleabag. I imagine it’s flattering, but also strange. Does it happen a lot?

It only happens when you are talking about things [at festivals], or doing press. There are worse things to be called, I suppose.

Right, it makes sense that it happens with press. It’s not happening in your day-to-day life, where your friends are like, “This is my friend.”

“This is my hot Irish friend.” [Laughs]

If they were true friends, maybe they would do that.

If they were true friends, exactly!

People loved Fleabag Season 2 so much. Hot Priest left such an indelible mark. It made me wonder how present the legacy of that show is in your day-to-day life.

It’s definitely a piece of work that people just love. They love it. It’s a symbol, a little bit like this movie, of the people that create it, and that’s why it’s joyful. I feel very proud of it. Fleabag is so generous and wonderful and adds to the feeling of compassion in the world, but it’s done through the prism of comedy. It influences people with a sleight of hand that takes such skill. 

I did a rewatch recently and it’s just so good. 

It’s a gorgeous thing. And men respond to it as well. Men really love it because it’s inclusive. It’s really inclusive. 

That’s another thing to say about Lena as a director—the set was incredibly inclusive. Movie sets can be macho places, so to have people in key positions, it changes the atmosphere.

How does it change it for you?

It’s just novel. The thing I love about working in movies, or just working as an actor, is that it doesn’t require a certain class of person, or certain sex, or gender, or race. You can be working with lots of people. I love the idea that if you’re in a play about grandparents and 16-year-olds, then the people that you have to surround yourself with for a two-month run on the West End are 80-year-olds and 16-year-olds. That’s where our empathic instincts can grow. When you’re on a set where everybody is very different, but you all feel the same joy through work, you all run away to the circus together. Lena has insisted on certain jobs being fulfilled by different types of people and it makes a difference.

Have you had the experience of being on a super macho set? How did that impact you?

It’s not particularly that it was ever awful, but I do think I’ve come to question [it.] You go, Oh, this job doesn’t just belong to this type of person. You can have a female DP. Why not? What, they’re not interested in cameras? It’s just not true. The only thing that matters is that you’re able to do your job. As long as we don’t confuse that with tokenism. As a gay person, I never want to get a job because they think, Oh, we’ve got to tick a box here. I want it because I’m good at my job.

I just worked with Andrew Haigh on a film and it was wonderful. I haven’t worked with a lot of gay directors and it’s nice. That’s not to say one is better than the other. It isn’t a sin to be a straight white male. There are many talented people who deserve a place at the table. It’s just that other people should be included as well. And also, we’re allowed to make mistakes. I think we live in a culture where mistakes aren’t allowed to be made. I really do believe the idea of being able to say, “I don’t know” is the basis of every artistic or scientific breakthrough there’s ever been. All the really brilliant artists that I feel I’ve been lucky enough to work with are comfortable saying, “I don’t know. What do you think?” The culture of “Never make a mistake and if you do make a mistake, you’re gone” is dangerous.

It closes off art. But to that point, I feel some people make those mistakes by being hyper-visible and being on social media and saying things they don’t need to say. I feel you’ve taken yourself out of that equation by not being on social media.

I refute the idea that you have to be on social media. Don’t tell me what I have to be on. If that’s a basis upon which I’m going to be employed, then I’ll look at something else to do. [Laughs] You’ve got to not be bullied.

There’s so many more questions I could ask about that. But I did want to ask about Ripley coming up. Can you say anything about your interpretation of the character?

It was a very tough thing to do, and it was an enormous undertaking. I haven’t seen it yet. I feel like it could be really extraordinary. It’s certainly beautifully written and we shot in some absolutely extraordinary places; Italy and here in New York. I hope I haven’t fucked it up.

For a lot of people, the frame of reference is the movie adaptation, but I imagine this is quite different.

This definitely takes its source material from the Patricia Highsmith novel. The movie, which is extraordinary, changed some things from the novel that we’ve reinstated. It’s got a very singular atmosphere. I remember when we did Hamlet, we would go, Are we just doing this scene like this because 15 other productions have done this? My job was to go, Okay, throw all the famousness of it away. How would you play this if you weren’t afraid? Or if you weren’t weighed down with people’s expectations of what you should do? That’s the challenge of it. I’ve done a lot of literary adaptations and I actually very rarely go to the original source material. The writer does so much for you. Their job is to get the book and interpret it into the script, and my job is to interpret the script. It’s just a cleaner way of working for me. I don’t want people to think I can’t be bothered reading the book, but I never wanted to veer too far from playing as a child. When you’re a kid, you’re so encouraged to play. You go, “You’ll be this and I’ll be this,” and you begin to play. I suppose I don’t want to academify, to make up a word, acting too much. [Laughs]

I’m sure there are plenty of people who would like to hear you academify acting.

You can only do what feels right for you. I know a lot of incredible actors who like to journal and do the research. That’s a really important part of it. I totally get that. [But] what works for me? What gives me access? Sometimes, it’s just being able to jump in without a parachute so that you can be alive and free.

In Catherine Called Birdy, Andrew Scott plays Lord Rollo, a man of supreme leisure who dresses like the founding father of medieval comfort. He swans around in silky robes over silkier caftans, lounging his days away on soft, fluffy poufs as he plots ways to marry off his teenage daughter (the titular Birdy, played by Bella Ramsey) to a wealthy suitor. The film, written and directed by Lena Dunham and based on the novel by Karen Cushman, was almost the most comfortable shoot of Scott’s life. But then, early on in the production, the actor fell down a flight of stairs and broke his foot.

[thetriggeredhappy]

day 1 let’s fuckin’ go. everyone listen to butterflies by samsa

Day 1: Pursuit

“You seriously don’t have any better games than this?” Scout complained, looking back down at the board, doubtful. “Not even, like, a deck of cards? To play poker or somethin’?”

“Rather not play two-person poker, and I don’t like gambling anyways,” was Sniper’s reply, not glancing up from shuffling the cards.

“I mean, maybe Go Fish then, or Old Maid, or—or somethin’, not fuckin’… Trivial Pursuit.”

Sniper seemed to mull that over for a moment. “If you don’t want to play,” he started to say, hesitant, and Scout sputtered to cut him off before he could finish that thought.

“I, I mean, I didn’t say that,” he managed, still half-glaring down at the board. “Just, y’know.”

Sniper probably didn’t know, actually. Truthfully, Scout wasn’t much for… book smarts type games. Games that needed quick reflexes, talking quickly, theatrics, those he was a champion at besides his eternally bad luck, but facts and numbers and geography? Those he tended to sort of… fuck up beyond recognition. And he really, really didn’t want to look like a complete idiot in front of Sniper.

Kind of the worst case scenario, actually. But the worse worst case scenario was driving the guy away before even getting to hang out with him, here, the first time he’d ever agreed to one of Scout’s dozens of proposed hangouts.

Hell, he’d honestly gotten used to Sniper always saying no. ‘Nah’ and ‘Not this time’ and ‘Afraid not, sorry mate’ were three phrases Scout had heard at least three and four times a week for months, now. He’d started brushing right through it, stopped letting it hurt his feelings even, although he couldn’t help but get his hopes up, still. Invitations to team drinking nights and poker parties and carpooling with the guys to the movies or a bar or a casino, or more overt invitations to listen to new albums or go out to get fast food or to fairs or to concerts, he’d long since gotten used to those standard, polite rejections.

So he was surprised, then, when he’d delivered his offhanded invitation—“Hey, Snipes, all the other guys bailed on the rec room game night tonight, you wanna be there anyways?”—he hadn’t expected Sniper to hesitate for a few seconds before shrugging and saying sure.

Hell, he was halfway through his ‘yeah no problem no worries man’ before he even realized Sniper said yes, then it was fumbling the whole rest of the way.

Better to be an idiot friend than a distant acquaintance, maybe. That’s what he told himself.

A brief mumbled rundown of the rules went in one ear and out the other as he got preoccupied with looking over one of the cards, mind boggled by what the hell the letters and colors were supposed to mean. A short summary was nodded at vaguely, and apparently his poker face had been terrible all along, because Sniper shrugged and said that they could just play first to six questions right and tally up wins from there. Then they rolled a dice and Sniper, apparently, would go first.

“Alright, uh,” Scout said, squinting down at the little card. “What does a… he-leo-logist, study?”

Sniper thought about it for a second. “Er… the sun,” he replied.

“Yep,” Scout nodded, nudged a piece towards him. Sniper took it. “So, uh, you go again?”

“Yeah. Er… geography, this time,” Sniper mumbled, shuffling some pieces around in a way that probably made sense to people who actually knew how this board game worked.

“Sure. What’s… the country that has South America’s highest and lowest points?”

Another pause. “Bloody… Argentina, isn’t it?” he asked.

“Damn. Okay, next one,” Scout said, less concerned about the fact that Sniper was doing well and more worried at the fact that he was gonna do awful.

“Geography again,” Sniper determined.

“What natural… breakwater, is off the north… eastern, part of Australia?” he read, a little stilted, squinting at the letters, like that would help, for once. Silence, for a pause, then for longer. Scout breathed an internal sigh of relief, smiling a little. “C’mon, it’s your own fuckin’, uh… country, continent, thing, isn’t it?”

“It’s both,” Sniper said, and paused. “It… it’s not talking about the bloody, er… Solomon Islands, is it?”

“Great Barrier Reef,” Scout replied.

Sniper muttered a swear. “Overthought it,” he sighed, nudging the dice over to Scout, who rolled it. Sniper glanced at the number, moved the pieces, looked at a card. “Right. What craft uses a… kiln, and a kick wheel?”

Scout could’ve cried. “That’s, uh, pottery, sculpting,” he said, relieved.

A nod from Sniper, a piece scooped onto his side of the table, the dice rolled a few seconds later when he realized he was supposed to do that. “How many colors are in the rainbow?” he asked next.

Scout had to count off on his fingers for a second. “Uh, seven,” he said, and fist-pumped when Sniper nodded, scooping up another piece. “Even though it’s, uh, kinda bullishit. There should be six.”

Sniper’s eyebrows ticking up in confusion probably was a sign he should drop it, but instead he found himself spouting off.

“Because, uh, like, y’know, there’s—there’s the kinds of colors, right?” he said, backpedaling at his response of furrowed eyebrows. “Like, the basic ones, the, uh, primary colors, that’s red and yellow and blue, y’know? And then the other three, that you get from mixing those, like, uh, red and yellow is, uh… is orange, and then like, green, and purple, you combine ‘em, right?”

Sniper nodded slowly after a moment.

“But then you got, uh, fuckin’… indigo. In the, uh, in the list of colors, fuckin’, Roy G. Biv? Red orange yellow, green, blue indigo violet? And I know it’s, like, blue and dark blue, but I think that still sucks. If we’ve got indigo we’ve gotta have like, the other in- between guys. Know what I mean?”

“Don’t have much of an opinion on it, but, sounds like you’re making points,” Sniper said, and Scout shrugged, glanced down at the table, tapped his fingertips against his knees out of sight to try and let out some nervous energy. “Bloody, er… your turn, or mine?”

“Uh, mine,” Scout said, scrambling to roll the dice.

“Right. Sorry. Er…” Sniper read over the card. “Patron saint of Scotland?”

Scout swore under his breath, deflating a little, coming up blank. “Uh… hey, Demo!” he called, and heard a vague ‘aye’ from the kitchen. “Who’s the patron saint of Scotland?”

“My mum,” Demo called back, and Sniper snickered, at least, which softened the blow to Scout’s confidence considerably.

“Ah, fuck off,” Scout called back, and looked back at Sniper, smiling. “Saint Scrumpy, fuck, I dunno.”

“Saint Andrew, apparently,” Sniper shrugged, rolling the dice. “Sports question. The orange one.”

Scout tried to read the question before starting to say anything out loud, and found himself completely lost anyways. “Who was the first… Ch—Check-uh-slavarian… to win, the… Wimbleton…”

“No idea,” Sniper said outright, shaking his head at himself. “Don’t follow, er… what, the Olympics?”

“Tennis, I guess,” Scout shrugged, rolling the dice.

“Sports for you too. What did… bloody hell. What did second baseman Bill… Wambsganss, do all by himself in the, er… 1920 World Series game?”

“Oh, shit,” Scout laughed, “guy did, like, a triple play, and then hit into a double later that same game. That was the year some guy got hit in the head with a ball and fuckin’ died.”

Sniper was staring at him, clearly shocked.

“What?” Scout asked, rolling the dice. “I know baseball. And it was a whole thing.”

Sniper seemed to shrug it off, shaking his head. “What’s the Taj Mahal made of?”

“Fuckin’, I dunno, chocolate? What, that some kinda dessert? What’s that?” Scout scoffed, trying to play it off.

“It’s… it’s a place. Looks a bit like a castle? Like, er, like the Eiffel Tower, or Big Ben, tourist sort of thing?” Sniper tried, and Scout shrugged, and he shrugged back, rolling the dice. “Fair enough. One of the, er, Science ones. Green one.”

Scout looked at the card for a few seconds. “I… dunno how to say this word. Glue… glay… what’s that?”

Sniper leaned over, and Scout turned it towards him. “Glaucoma. Hits your eyes,” he said, and Scout nodded, and he took a piece, rolled again. “Brown one.”

“What are… catalogued, under the Dewey decimal system?” Scout asked, eyebrows furrowing.

“Books, library books,” Sniper mumbled.

“Jesus, are you—where’s the mirrors, seriously? How are you doing that?” Scout asked, and Sniper huffed something like a laugh, taking the piece, rolling again. “No, no, seriously. How the hell do you know half of these?”

“Geography, blue,” he prompted.

“Alright, I swear to god.” Scout held the card close as he read it, first to himself, then out loud. “What national capital is heated by underground hot springs?”

Sniper, to his credit, paused for a moment before answering. “Iceland’s. Reykjavik, it’s called.”

“I swear to god.” Scout flipped over the card, read the answer. “Oh, what the fuck!”

“I’ve bloody been there!” Sniper defended.

“Nah, fuck off, hold on—“ Scout picked up another card, reading another question. “Where in a tree does photosynthesis happen?”

“Leaves.”

“How do you know that so fast!” Scout demanded.

“That’s just science class in school!”

“Fuckin’—who, fuckin’, rode on the raft with Huck Finn?” Scout asked next.

“The, er… runaway, Jim.”

“Oh, what!” Scout all but shouted.

“Scout, I read.”

“Nah, nah, you’re way too good at this game, either you’re like, cheating, or you on purpose picked this game because you’re, like, weirdly crazy good at it or something!”

Sniper’s expression went from amusement to that blankness again, and it only made Scout even more infuriated.

“I mean, seriously, did you pick this game on purpose because you just know all the cards? Did you just wanna do the game where you’d for sure win?” he demanded.

Sniper was fidgeting with his glasses, now, and to be honest, Scout wasn’t even particularly mad, just confused.

“I mean, shit, you’d think you just wanted too play this one so you could look smart and cool and shit like that,” he said. and saw the way Sniper shrank a little, and the lightbulb went off way too late.

A pause.

“Dude,” Scout said, fighting down a laugh.

Sniper mumbled something he didn’t quite hear, sinking in his chair.

“Alright, seriously, if you wanna look smarter than me, you really don’t gotta pull out the trivia questions. Pretty much any game works, you know that, right? I’ll make an idiot of myself playing, like… Uno,” Scout said. Sniper shrugged, still not looking him in the eye. “Okay. Here’s an idea. How about we play, uh… I dunno, Crazy Eights. And while we play I’m gonna keep grilling you on this random trivia shit because seriously, that’s totally nuts, man.”

Sniper hesitated for a few seconds before he finally nodded and straightened up, and in a way, they both won. Scout because he now at least knew he wasn’t the only one who was a total mess and way too worried about what other people thought, and Sniper because he could keep being impressive about random trivia knowledge. Apparently, he knew a bunch about geography and books and nature, and not a single thing about sports.

Scout accused him of trying to memorize the cards. Sniper laughed, properly, for the first time all night.

[thisisawonderfulusername]

sick

peter parker x reader

summary: when you fall sick, your favorite spider man comes to take care of you.

warnings: just pure fluff

word count: 396

a/n: this is a little self indulgent drabble because i seem to have been infected by covid :( you can imagine any peter you want, which is why i won't put a gif with this one. i personally thought of andrew's peter :)

peter tapped at your window, peeking in to see if you were awake.

you hadn’t shown up to school today, which understandably worried him. the text he got in response to his worry was simple, like you were half asleep when you wrote it. you definitely were. all it said was ‘sick’.

when he sent you another text asking how bad it was and if he could do anything, he was left on delivered. he didn’t blame you, especially if you weren’t feeling good.

which is why he decided to swing by your place the second his last class got out. he made a pit stop by your favorite food place, having ordered on the phone as he flew through the air, almost having to yell.

when you didn’t get up to let him in like you usually did, he pulled it open himself. he always told you to lock it, just in case someone with bad intentions tried to sneak in, but he supposed in times like this he was okay with it.

he landed softly on the carpeted floor of your room, shutting the window behind him and pulling his mask off. his steps were light as he crossed the room to your bed, where you curled into a bundle of blankets.

he smiled at the sight before placing a hand on your shoulder, gently shaking you. “y/n? wake up, babe.”

the words are spoken softly, but they manage to wake you up as you slowly turn your head, your eyes barely opening to look up at him. “oh… hey pete.” your voice is groggy from the combination of your congestion and the fact that you just woke up. “what are you doing here?”

he holds up the bag, “i brought food. thought you might need it, have you eaten yet?”

you shake your head, letting one of your hands emerge from your cocoon to brush your hair out of your face. “that’s so sweet.” you smile.

“i try.” he chuckles softly.

when he goes for a kiss, almost forgetting the reason you’re curled up in your bed, you hold your hand up. “you’re gonna end up like me if you do that.”

he glances down for a moment, sheepishly smiling. “right.”

instead, he gently grabs your hand, pressing his lips to your knuckles. “i’m gonna change. eat, and we’ll watch a movie.”

taglists

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[only-johnny-deppp]

“Whatever I’ve gone through, I’ve gone through. But, ultimately, this particular arena of my life has been so absurd...” 

 Johnny Depp’s NEW INTERVIEW!

Last saturday, August 14, The UK Times, released a new interview with Johnny for the Sunday Times section. It was realized sometime earlier this month, in London, probably on the same day he and Andrew Levitas were recording for the Q&A for the “Minamata” release in UK. This is Johnny’s first interview since the UK trials in London last year, and released three years after Johnny’s major interview for the British GQ Magazine. Here Johnny and Andrew Levitas speaks about “Minamata”, his future as actor and a thing or two about his personal life, although he cannot talk about the court case.

For those who couldn’t read yet, here is the FULL interview:  Enjoy.

***

“I’M BEING BOYCOTTED BY HOLLYWOOD”

Johnny Depp has a new film out this week. In the opening scene his character, the real-life photographer W Eugene Smith, says, “I’m done. I’m tired. My body is older than I am. I’m always in goddam pain. I can’t trust my f***ing dick any more. Constantly in a foul mood. Even the drugs bore me.”

I ask Depp if Smith’s despair resonated with him. Depp stops. Rocks back and forth. “That’s interesting,” he replies with painful hesitation.

“I didn’t approach playing Smith in that way… Although you bring your toolbox to work and use what is available. Having experienced...” He stops again. Depp takes any questions that might refer to his calamitous libel case last year slowly, in a mumbly, croaking drawl. “A surreal five years…”

In the film Smith needs to revive his reputation. In real life Depp’s task is even more daunting. Thanks to the judgment, everyone can call him a “wife-beater”. Now he must convince a Hollywood still convulsed by #MeToo that he’s not toxic — and that any attempt to rebuild his career is a risk worth taking. This is Depp’s first interview since the case.

We are speaking over Zoom, Depp in his London home, in front of a gold-framed painting. The 58-year-old is wearing a lot of clothes. Earrings. Floppy hat. Sunglasses. Bandana. Scarf. Checked shirt over a T-shirt with an indiscernible slogan. If you saw him on the Tube*, you might think he was off to work at the London Dungeon*, to play most of the characters.

PS. For those who are not familiar with British words: * Tube = British slang for London Underground, the subway trains. * London Dungeon = is a walk-through experience that recreates scenes from London's scary history in a mixture of live actors, special effects and rides.

Depp resumes, talking in broken sentences about the new film, Minamata, in which Smith, via Life magazine, exposes the brutal mercury poisoning of Japanese villagers in the early 1970s.

“How do we do this?” he asks rhetorically, meaning how to speak about the elephant in the Zoom. “Well, there’s no way one can’t recognise the absurdity of the mathematics.” He grins. “If you know what I mean?” No. “Absurdity of media mathematics.” He talks in riddles. “Whatever I’ve gone through, I’ve gone through. But, ultimately, this particular arena of my life has been so absurd...”

He trails off again. He is holding a big brown roll-up of some sort. “What the people in Minamata dealt with? People who suffered with Covid? A lot of people lost lives. Children sick...Ill. Ultimately, in answer to your question? Yeah, you use what you’ve got. But what I’ve been through? That’s like getting scratched by a kitten. Comparatively.”

Last July, I went to the High Court in London to watch Depp on another screen — a video from the socially distanced court where the Hollywood star was losing a libel action against The Sun after it called him a “wife-beater”. It was the grottiest showbiz trial of the century. There were photos of the actor passed out in a foetal slump, socks on show. One lengthy exchange involved faeces. Another urination, inside or outside a house, after a violent night with his ex-wife Amber Heard.

This had all been going on for a while. In 2016 Heard applied for a temporary restraining order against him. The couple had long endured a narcotic, booze-filled, childish relationship, but that does not matter — 12 incidents levelled against Depp were proved, said the judge, and abuse is abuse, regardless of how badly they both behaved. Depp wanted to appeal, but the court said no. Next April in the US he has a $50 million defamation case against Heard relating to an opinion piece she wrote about being the victim of domestic abuse. It may be his last roll of the dice.

In the 1990s Depp was a sensitive heart-throb. Cooler than DiCaprio, edgier than Pitt. In this past year he has been stripped of his status and dignity. On day three of the trial Sasha Wass QC, representing The Sun, asked Depp about daubing a penis on a painting. He could not remember. “That would be quite a big thing, painting a penis on a picture?”  Wass asked. “Quite a big thing?” Depp asked.

It was a well-delivered line, but Depp was on show. Performing. Now he is more timid, less lucid. His people say he cannot talk about the court case given the looming US trial, yet it hangs over everything. The director of Minamata, Andrew Levitas, is also on our call — as a pub trivia aside, Levitas is married to the Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins.

The two men clearly get on. “With regards to journalism, it was important for us to put across in the film the power of truth,” Levitas says. Depp nods. “The responsibility of journalists to look after citizens of the world. [Our film] coincided with the moment important publications had to put Raquel Welch on a cover to get enough eyeballs to sell enough ads in order to put something meaningful inside. A result of that is clickbait — it’s destroying the purpose of journalism,” Levitas continues.

“You said it beautifully,” says Depp, one of the world’s most pinned-up men, who built a career on magazine covers. “I couldn’t say it better than that.”

Last month Levitas wrote to MGM, which bought Minamata for the US market but decided not to release it. He accused MGM of being concerned that “the personal issues of an actor in the film could reflect negatively upon them”. Then the letter got really strong. Levitas accused MGM of failing in its “moral obligation” to release the film and said it needed to explain to the victims “why you think an actor’s personal life is more important than their dead children”. He then attached Smith’s photos of ghastly deformities that shocked the world 50 years ago.

“It’s important that the movie gets seen and supported,” Levitas says. “And if I get an inkling it’s not going to be, it’s my responsibility to say so. Where it goes from there? I don’t know. But we have responsibility to these victims . . .”

You can see why he’s passionate. The film is good. MGM bought the film because it is good. Depp is good too. He disappears into the role, far from his more recent pantomime parts. It’s being released worldwide, just not in the actor’s homeland.

Depp, who also produced the film, interrupts. “We looked these people in the eyeballs and promised we would not be exploitative. That the film would be respectful. I believe that we’ve kept our end of the bargain, but those who came in later should also maintain theirs.”

“Some films touch people,” he adds. “And this affects those in Minamata and people who experience similar things. And for anything…” He pauses, as he does. “For Hollywood’s boycott of, erm, me? One man, one actor in an unpleasant and messy situation, over the last number of years?” He trails off. “But, you know, I’m moving towards where I need to go to make all that…” Again, he trails off. “To bring things to light.”

The fact, as I think Depp knows, is that for his career, the court that matters is not one of law, but public opinion. On social media, where a lot of minds are made up, Depp’s good reputation will always outweigh the bad, thanks to his frequently blinkered fans.

Outside the High Court, as Heard arrived, I saw Natasha, 30, yell: “Get hit by a truck, Amber!” She is extreme, but the persistent way his fans demand that others think their idol is a saint shows a career revival will happen. After all, most filmgoers do not follow his private life at all. To them, he is Jack Sparrow, Edward Scissorhands. To them, he is a star — and a star can take an awful lot of heat before it burns out.

“They have always been my employers,” Depp says of his fans. “They are all our employers. They buy tickets, merchandise. They made all of those studios rich, but they forgot that a long time ago. I certainly haven’t. I’m proud of these people, because of what they are trying to say, which is the truth. The truth they’re trying to get out since it doesn’t in more mainstream publications. It’s a long road that sometimes gets clunky. Sometimes just plain stupid. But they stayed on the ride with me and it’s for them I will fight. Always, to the end. Whatever it may be.”

Depp will talk like this for ever — about his “truth”. Minamata is the last film Depp has listed on the industry site IMDb, where actors usually have half a dozen in development. So, yes, fans of the actor can see Depp in a new role now — it is a return, but is it a relaunch? The film was finished in 2019, way before last year’s court case. Is that it? His last film? He thinks and looks off to his bookshelves, at biographies of Betjeman and Olivier.

“Er...no,” he says, eventually. “No. No. Actually, I look forward to the next few films I make to be my first films, in a way. Because once you’ve...Well, look. The way they wrote it in The Wizard of Oz is that when you see behind the curtain, it’s not him. When you see behind the curtain, there’s a whole lot of motherf***ers squished into one spot. All praying that you don’t look at them. And notice them.”

I would ask him to explain, but I am not sure he is an explainer. Watch this space, I guess, but he is already taking a first step back. After we speak, it is announced Depp is getting the coveted Donostia award at the San Sebastian Film Festival next month. Some people are just too famous to fail.

~ Interview by Jonathan Dean, in London, for The Times UK (released on August 14, 2021)