#GUESS WHAT PLOT I’M GONNA DO WITH TOBI AS SOON AS I’M ABLE

[saffron-nova21]

Truth or Dare: The Game — Bonus Chapter

Jokes on You! Masterlist:

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A/N: This chapter had a lot of suggestive content. None of it is relevant to the story, so if you would like to skip it, you can.

Warnings: Strong language, Suggestive themes and content, make out scene, like one body shot

The dares had been pretty mild, so far. You’d expected much worse from the conniving group of boys.

Though the most eventful thing that had happened was Oikawa, running down your street in only his boxers. Only one shot had been taken for the game: by Lev when he was questioned about the most strange place he’d had sex in. Anyone from Nekoma boys volleyball team knew exactly where it had been though: the bus... With everyone else in it.

Not that he’d ever admit it.

You’d had a few dares for one another to take shots as a group and everyone had been steadily drinking their own choice of alcohol, your own personal choice being some Mike’s Hard Lemonade.

It wasn’t until a smirking Oikawa looked at you and asked you that question that you realized that they’d been lulling you into a false sense of security. Though, even still, you answer confidently. “Dare.”

“Y/N, I dare you to... Let Tendō take a body shot off you.” Your eyes widen a bit at his words, before you nod.

“Alright. Ready, Tendō?” You turn towards the male in question, who just chuckles a bit and lets you up to go retrieve the necessary items, also bringing extra, guessing you wouldn’t be the last two to be doing this.

When you get back, you sit in front of Tendō, letting the zipper of your onesie come down a bit (yes you are all still wearing pajamas) and leaning your head back. Tendō wastes no time leaning in and licking a stripe from your chest up your neck, before pouring a bit of salt on your skin. Then, he takes the lime slice and taps your lips, making you open your mouth and hold it in between your teeth. He smirks at you, raising an eyebrow and you don’t exactly understand why, until you look down and realize that you’ve been gripping onto Tendō’s onesie.

You’re quick to release your hold on him, rolling your eyes and flipping the others off as you hear them laugh at you. You lean your head back a bit, once again, while Tendō takes a quick shot of tequila, before licking the salt off of your neck. Then he grips your chin and pulls your face towards his, leaning in and taking the lime from your mouth, watching the way you melt against his touch as he sucks in the lime, then releasing you and tossing the rind of the lime into the spare bowl you’d brought, for the rinds.

You then just turn right back around and sit in his lap again. “Iwa? Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” he sighs, though he knew what you were going to do.

“I dare you to take sweet Tōru over there... And spend thirty minutes in our guest room, together.” You smile innocently, watching Tōru flip you off as Iwaizumi drags him to his feet.

“Come on, Crappykawa,” he sighs. “Let’s get this over with.” He shoved him forward and forwards the guest room.

“Aww! Iwa-Chan! No need to be so rough!”

With the two walking away, you glance around. “So, who wants to go next?”

Goshiki grins, raising a hand; “I will!”

It’s another forty minutes before you and Tendō fall victim to the other’s plotting. However, it’s not even Oikawa who does it, this time, but instead it’s Lev.

“Tendō, truth or dare?”

“Dare, of course. What do you take me for?” He smirks confidently.

Of course, that was a sentence for you both with the way Lev smirked knowingly.

“Well, Tendō. I dare you to take our Y/N to their room. You guys can get thirty minutes, as well.”

Tendō hums, “I can work with thirty minutes. That okay with you, little monster?” Tendō looks at you to make sure it was okay.

You narrow your eyes at Lev, “I’ll get you back... Just you wait, you shithead.”

Though, with your consent, he just tossed you over his shoulder and started carrying you to your room, easily closing the door behind you both. He placed you on the floor, watching you with a smug grin as he placed his hands on the wall, caging you in his arms, against the wall.

“Your reactions are so cute,” he cooes to you, watching the way you shrink against the wall. Though he persists and leans in. “All you’ve got to do is tell me to stop and I will, Y/N...” Waiting for your nod, he then moves one hand to your cheek, “Kiss me, Y/N.” He says quietly.

That’s all it takes for you to lean in, one hand moving to come around his neck, trailing into his hair and pulling him close to you, lips landing on his. Your other hand moves to grip the fabric that covered his chest, pulling him closer to you, as close as you can possibly get him.

He presses his body against yours, pressing your back to the wall. His hand dips to hold your chin, index and middle finger pressing lightly against your pulse point.

Then, he moves his lips from yours, kissing a line to your jaw, then lowering his kisses from there. Open-mouthed kisses against your slowly warming skin. They begin to slip lower, the male slipping your zipper down to expose your chest to him. Your shoulders, collarbones, and chest were where he began to suck at your skin a bit, leaving small marks that would soon be turning purple.

Tendō smoothly lifts one of your legs to hook it over his hip, using it so he can press himself against you. And you’re able to feel him hardening through the thin clothes between you both. A quiet moan escapes you as you feel him against you, rolling your hips against him weakly, “Feels good,” you whine.

Tendō lets out a breathy laugh against your skin, the warmth of his breath making you shiver. “I know it does. Gonna be a good monster for me and stay quiet, or do I need to give your mouth something to do?”

The weak, breathy moan you let out with a roll of his hips was answer enough and you were soon sinking to your knees in front of him, quite happily, might I add.

You and Tendō are both consenting adults and I’ll leave you to imagine what happened in that room.

You two did return after thirty minutes, though continue playing.

However, they’d already begun playing Bad People, while you were both in the other room.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I hope I did Tendō justice. 😳 Tendō just 🥵 You know? Ya feel? I can’t be the only one who thinks that. Baby deserves the world.

You guys better be getting something to eat, drinking some water, and taking care of yourselves mentally and physically! Remember, guys, I’m proud of you and I love all of you guys! 🤍 Keep it up, loves! You’re doing wonderful!

Taglist:

@kookie-doughs @missalienqueen @kodzuklutz @halesandy @pelicanpizza @pandauniverse @sevenlol @mixed-bag-of-tricks @satoriluver @uniquepickle @geloikawa @babyshoyo @ilauvcoldpizza @ghoulgirlradio @maer-333 @tobi--o @ermahgerd-larry-and-ziam @ashtounding @rogueofbullshit @tendousfingertape5 @rintarawr @a-little-pebbl @420-uwu

[zoeyandguys]

Wow, that Stitchwraith gang meme was random. Got any ideas for the Blackbird book?

Thank You! I am well aware it is Random!

And By “Ideas” do you mean the re-write of the Stitchwraith epilogue by me and a Friend on discord that s currently 7 pages long and hasn’t been updated in awhile??

I’m guessing not, also since I’m currently on a laptop while answering this I’ll put the main answer under cut so it hides spoilers form anyone who just happens to be scrolling.

Please note that I have yet to get a copy of the book for myself nor do I have the means too. Even if I did I likely wouldn’t be getting to it in awhile with the way I’m doing art based on the books rn. And since Dawko has yet to post a review on any of the story (which he doesn’t have to do soon, he can do whatever he want), I’ll be basing all this on the spoiler book on reddit, and want my friend who has the book told me

As for Blackbird itself? Nothing really. The only thing I came up with it was LONG before the book came out, and based on the image alone. It takes place in my “Framed AU”, something I have yet to post anything about, but it’s based on the idea William had a twin brother who was the actual killer, and ended up becoming Springtrap due to the kids thinking he was his brother. The idea was Black Brid was a small animatronic bird (ironic to what blackbird actually was) with a camera inside made by Vincent (William’s Brother, who would’ve guessed) that can be connected to a USB to show the footages on a laptop. It isn’t haunted but is an self aware AI that mimics a bird’s personally for the most part. It’s name was “Blackberry” 

The Real Jake is what is gonna bring the most changes to my au. For one, I’m sadly gonna have of get rid of my cool eye designs for Stitch because we know Simon was based on Jake, who has simple brown hair and green eyes. Also speaking of Simon, in my AU his father put so much love and work into making him that a part of his soul got attached to the doll, allowing it to “live” and him fully become Simon after he died. He didn’t mean to put Jake’s soul in the doll too, he was just trying to cheer Jake up after sneaking out of the drawer he was locked in and it happened. He only managed to get a bit away from the house before he was knocked out.

Hide and Seek, is an interesting case. I always been a fan of the Shadows. My personally theory/idea is that they were both workers who in Springlock failures in two incomplete suit. The only other person there, who was the one who was supposed to test the suits, hide there bodies away, and now the two haunt the pizzeria’s usually moving to the next pizzeria when stuff from the one they were at moves. They were Cushions in human life, Shadow Freddy once being a man named “Victor” and Shadow Bonnie once being a women named “Sliver”. (side note, shadow bonnie uses the Them/They because of this). They at some point forgot nearly all about there human lifes besides how they died and why they likely aren’t able to move on, so they came up with there own name. “Shadow Freddy goes by “Shade” and Shadow Bonnie goes by “RWQFSFASXC”, but more often then not goes by “Dusk” because no one besides them can say there name.

ANYWAY BACK ONTO TRACK OF THE STORY- Most humans are unable to see the Shadows, in fact the only other souls who can see them are ones that possesses the animatronics. So when the game in the story came in, Dusk had quickly tried to play it despite going through all psychical things normally, and ended up getting sucked in. It was Originally meant to be a game with toy bonnie or normal bonnie, but Dusk ended up taking the  spot of them, and found they gain some control over the game. to the first few people who played Dusk tried to tell them what happen in hopes of someone finding their and Shade’s bodes and burying them to put them to rest, but after awhile stop trying because the strange messages were making Employees talk about unplugging it. However the ability to interact with normal people again was something Dusk held close to heart, which is why they went crazy when Toby destroyed the game and wouldn’t let him go until it was fixed and won by him. At this point Dusk hardly leaves the Machine during the day now. Shade still hasn’t let go of the fact that for a moment Dusk had a chance to find there bodies and put them to rest and spent it all chases after a man who broke a video game.

Epilogue 6.... NEEDS TO DIE IN A WHOLE.  This couldn’t have waited until, like, the 8 book?? So here’s what happens in my Stitchwraith gang AU. JAKE AND ANDREW DO NOT DISAPPER. They just get hurt and layed besides the remains of Stitchwraith, which does not get fused with the The Miscreation.   Simon/Evan (who was locked away inside of Stitchwraith by William, and was the one who gave Jake his memories flashback.) becomes some sort of Phantom Stitchwraith and helps Jake and Andrew into a new Endo. They go back to the warehouse and plot murder. Also  The Miscreation ends up outside Vanny’s house 

[ghosstkid]

yo lemme get that director’s cut on the latest chapter of amber!! i love your work!! - 💙

AHHhh!! Thank you so much!! Thank you for the ask! I’ll put it under the cut just in case someone hasn’t read chapter 10 of Amber yet! I’ll probably have chapter 11 of Amber up tonight or tomorrow morning! 

Send me a ‘director’s commentary’ or a star! 

This chapter gives me a lot of feels, it hurt to write honestly. 

Chapter 10 is called Surrender in reference to the card that Fitz has pulled from his oracle deck several times in previous chapters but I never told you guys why or what the meaning of that card is. Like I said or rather like Fitz explains in chapter 10, the surrender card means ‘surrender to what you cannot control’. I have an oracle deck that has a surrender card in it, that’s where I got the meaning. You can interpret that in many ways, either surrender to the ways of fate, or you could see it as a death card like in tarot; sweeping change is coming whether you like it or not and you can’t control it. This card has been haunting Fitz since chapter one. 

I’ll get back to Fitz later. I wanna talk about how this is the first chapter where both of Amber’s povs finally meet each other. Amber’s plot is so big it needs two povs who are from two separate spheres of Amber’s society in order to tell it! Bee is able to discover pieces of the puzzle that Mason would never be able to and vice versa.

You also would have no idea about the magic in this world if you took away Bee’s perspective. Mason’s world is grey and industrial, his story is more of a thriller and drama. Bee’s world is glittering and elegant, her story is more of a fantasy. Now they are brought together. 

What I think is so fascinating and is a bit of a challenge for me and you the reader, is that both povs know things that the other doesn’t. Bee knows about magic, Mason doesn’t really. Mason knows just how cruel Ryan can be, Bee doesn’t. But you the reader know! This, of course, leads to really interesting character dynamics between them. Mason doesn’t trust Bee but Bee is very trusting. 

In a way, both characters would thrive as well, if they swapped places. Bee is rebellious, she’s fearless and she wants freedom. She doesn’t like being told what to do. If she were a wild kid like Mason, she’d be unstoppable. Mason is also rebellious, driven and fearless. He also wants to be worth something. He wants power and to be respected. All his life he’s been talked down to and told he’s just a kid. Now that the only person who didn’t talk to him like that is on the verge of death, Mason is tossed adrift. Even though he loves Matt with his all his heart, he sometimes can’t stand the way he talks to him. If he were in Bee’s place, with money and power, he’d be unstoppable. My theme song for Amber is Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush. The encore is; 

And if I only couldI’d make a deal with GodAnd I’d get him to swap our placesBe running up that roadBe running up that hillBe running up that building See if I only could….

Kinda sums up the above paragraph. 

Another factor I think is important with these two povs is the age difference. Bee is 18 and she was forced to become an adult, a Lady, very quickly. She has a lot of responsibility and while she enjoys the power she has, she also wants the childhood and the lovely world she lost. Mason is 15 years old. He is a b a b y. He is wild and at times uncontrollable. He’s full of fire. However, just because he is young doesn’t mean his actions are excusable. I’m really curious to see your reactions to Mason in the future and the choices he makes. 

Above all though, it’s important I think to remember that the main characters in Amber are teenagers. They deal with some really heavy stuff that forces them to mature very quickly but they are all still kids deep down. 

Chapter ten is when things get a bit intense with secrets that both povs have. Once at the hotel, Bee goes to talk privately with Fitz. He wants to know what she wants and when he realizes that she just wants to help, he finds himself opening up to this stranger. Chapter ten was really hard to write because Fitz tells you that he will not make it to the end of this story. His sickness will kill him, it’s only a matter of time and there is nothing he can to do to stop it. He must surrender to it. 

Fitz trusts Bee with this secret because he knows she just wants to help, so he knows she can make sure that his final wish will happen. Second, she’s an outsider. She’s not a part of the family that Fitz has brought together. Fitz has known since he started coughing that this is the end. He’s known since chapter one. He probably should have told the misfits but now it’s way too late to even think about doing that. Mason is so determined to save Fitz and so are the rest of the misfits. So just think, every time Mason and the others said they will save Fitz, he just has to sit there and smile. Fitz in Amber is probably thee most tragic character I’ve ever written. 

And now Bee knows this secret and she has to listen to the misfits say over and over that they will save Fitz now too. In a way, it’s easier now for Fitz that someone else finally knows but now they have to share this weight and Bee will have to carry it for the rest of her life. It’ll also make reading Mason’s chapters now hurt that much more because his number one goal is to save Fitz. 

After that angst, I have two scenes that are my favourite in this chapter because of how beautiful and sweet they are! The first is when Bee gives Toby her hair ribbon and capelet. It’s very a soft moment and it makes me smile. The second one is when Bee uses her magic to make Fitz’s oracle cards float in the air. It’s so beautiful and Fitz is amazed. He still has time to see the beautiful things in life and he gets to see magic. Now too, his magic is waking up!! Don’t worry, you will get to see what kind of magic he has soon ;) 

At the end of the chapter, you finally get to meet the anarchists! This kicks off the second half of Amber which is absolutely wild. I am so excited to write it. You will meet more interesting characters like Smitty and John soon too! Maybe this world’s version of Karl Marx? You’ll never guess who that is lol As well as two of my favourite comedic relief characters ever. 

Smitty and John are super cool characters. Smitty is cockier in this story than he has in past stories I’ve done and John is very suave and confident. They are tough characters and like Mason, they don’t back down from a fight. You’ll see in Chapter 11 what Mason thinks of that. 

Also, another note about costumes cause I love them. The anarchist uniform in Amber is inspired by these photos of Maude Adams, an actress from the early 1900s. These photos are from when she starred in a play called L’Aiglon in 1900 in which she played Napoleon. She also went on to play Peter Pan as well! 

I have planned a really cool scene in the future *spoiler* involving the misfits, including Fitz and there will be some really cool colour symbolism and I’m so excited to write it. 

Chapter 11 will dive even further into the anarchists, who they are and how the misfits will react to them. A lot of the conflicts in both povs lead up to this moment where they have to make this huge decision. Do the misfits join the anarchists and put their own lives on the line to fight back and save Fitz? Does Bee turn her back on Ryan, putting herself at the risk of losing everything, to join them? 

It’s gonna be fun! 

Thank you for the ask! I love talking about my stories like this!!

[aspiestvmusings]

Why isn’t anyone talking about Toby saying their fertility treatment did not work and they need funding? What do you think is next for mission baby Quintis?

Hi, anon, 

FIRST: SPOILER ALERT!  FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T SEEN 4x20 (opening scene) & PREPARE FOR THE USUAL SUPERLOING “REPLY” 

SECOND…

It is possible some fans missed the line in the midst of all the workplace drama that was going on in that scene. 

THIRD 

Maybe no-one wants to talk about it, cause it was just that one line… with no followup. No discussion on the subject at all. No emotions from the two regarding this. No nothing. Which.. to me… seems suspicious.  So maybe fans are either waiting for next eps and the (hopefully on screen) talk on this, and more info on all of this… Or simply are in denial about it not working. Or not wanting to talk about it yet, cause they …like Quintis, really wanted this to happen- pos. news on 1st time/test….and are just sad…and unable to talk about it yet. 

Here are my thoughts on this: 

Yes, Toby’s line in this ep suggest as if they know for sure that their  1st IVF cycle didn’t work. But isn’t that interesting? I mean… most likely just TVscience issue (and they don’tfollow reality much), but still makes you wonder/ask… if they did not knowin 419… cause it was too soon to tell, and if 420 happens just “a few days later” (based on Happy’s comment that she saw Flo get in the car just a few days ago), then that’s interesting. How do they know FOR SURE now then, just a few days later? I mean.. the blood test shows higher hCG levels only after a certain time… tests taken too early (after IVF, after fertilization… implantation) can not be trusted fully… so if they JUST got to the timeline where you can tell, then it might be a false neg test. Meaning… too early to tell for sure. So until I know the timeline and what they are basing this on… I am proceeding with caution…;) 

For those unaware… the blood test isn’t reliable/can’t really tell anything util about 2-3 weeks after the transfer… (the hormone levels become detectable after “the seed has planted the roots” aka found a home on the uterine wall aka pregnancy has actually occurred) and home tests are notoriously incorrect during IVF… for various reasons…giving false readings. So… without knowing what they base this claim on…I am not prepared to comment or make final decisions. Was it a home test (Toby as a doc should know!)?Was it just the 1st blood test (taken barely 2 weeks after?)?  Was there more doc visits and their ignore the time issue again (more time has passed), and they know for sure what the issue was: no implantation happened; there was a successful “touchdown” but it still didn’t last; something other… Either way… unless more time has passed than ep 420 claims… Happy was on “prep mode” for those few weeks, and until we get more answers in next ep (what went “wrong” and what needs to be “fixed” next time to make it happen)..or until no surprise twist in the finale (cause sometimes late implantation can occur) …I’m leaving this door  wide open..for all options. 

You know…I am suspicious of all “facts” stated on the show with no info on what they are based on. In S3 Happy stated she is pregnant… we did not know how she knew until the end of the storyline (a false pos blood test at the docs… until then it could’ve been just her guess based on missed period or home test… we were given no details… til it was revealed in the end) So I am not ruling out (wishful thinking on my part, I am aware of that) that they are basing this on uncertain info - either false neg, or just a home test, or this show is going full “genius” and have them not be able to tell the difference between an actual period & implantation bleeding. And basing this simply on superficial data like “cramping” or “blood” that they read falsely (hard to believe with geniuses, and one of them being a doc, but I don’t put anything past TV shows) So… until more info is given, I am not buying this…

But yeah… IF it didn’t really take, and it’s not just a throwaway line  that had no follow-up or focus on the emotional repercussions of  the not good outcome, and it’s canon canon with no twists coming…then I think we have two main options: either IVF cycle 2, or adoption. Because I think the show has made it clear that they’re not gonna give up trying… even with all the bumps on the road (that the writers add…  (#didtheyreallyneedtoaddeverysinglebumpthough #Idprefermorefocusononeissueinsteadofquicklydoingallissuesinarow ?) Both costly options. So adding to the expenses of the future parents-to-be. Even considering the gift from Walt… shares of the “pie”… and Happy’s inventions bringing in the big bucks. 

If there isn’t a plot twist coming regarding this first cycle, then there really are only two options, as the third - give up… is not Quintis., They will tackle this… as a team… and they will find solutions.  Cause they ARE going to have a family. They will be waiting outside of school for their kid(s)… It is gonna happen. No matter when and how. It’s gonna happen for them. 

In short: I find it always suspicious when something is not given much attention on screen.  It can mean 2 things: writers decided to not go deep into the plot (not good writing) OR it was so casually mentioned with no real focus…on purpose. And I do not expect final answers in 421 either. I do expect the final answers only in the finale… whether it really didn’t happen on 1st try, and they gotta find ways to save for next attempt in “5 months” or just as they’ve given up… a plot twist… (doc calls & says 1st results was false negative, which would make the S4 IVF-baby plot reverse of the S4 Cd-baby plot. Also..I am not giving upon hope that Collins will have something to do with all this…and he messed with their test results or something…) and since it seems that next 2 eps take place very soon after this ep in their universes timeline… then there is the  chance that they could rely on one test results again… with no extra information on anything… 

So… IDK Maybe Toby was also using whitelies… and trying to get Walt to give them a bigger share by claiming it didn’t happen, when they either don’t know yet, or know it happened but aren’t sharing til end of 1st trimester or something? Who knows? (with these “geniuses”)

THE LINE BY TOBY IS: “ … Our fertility treatment hasn’t worked, we need more funds”  (Notice…he doesn’t say ”it didn’t work.” He says “hasn’t worked (yet)” #staypositive , so…) 

[seiikas]

Hello! I need to catch up on Naruto and I would like to know since you are a fan of Sasuke why do you like his character ? I often think Sasuke is misunderstood by a lot of people, myself I have sometimes a hard time understanding him but I find him interesting ! Hope this question don't bother you, have a good day! :)

Hi! Don’t worry, your question doesn’t bother me at all! My reply is under the readmore. I’m sorry that it got so gigantic! It almost turned into a novel lol. It also may contain mild spoilers so please proceed with caution :)

One of the reasons I like him is because he’s human. Sasuke went through extreme trauma and mental torture at the age of 9, received absolutely no treatment or therapy for it, and was sent to live by himself in the same house his parents were murdered in. He didn’t get any help to deal with his trauma as he grew up. Would a normal human be able to get over such a thing simply because they found friends? to me the fact that Sasuke still suffers and is so affected by his trauma is what makes him realistic. He always needs to rely on a big life goal, put all of his thoughts and efforts into it, whether it’s revenge or justice or redemption, because if he doesn’t have one, it would be just him and his trauma to focus on, and would anyone be able to actually live like that? To me it’s amazing that Sasuke was even able to go on living by himself, to go to school and study and even find emotional attachment to people, protect them and sacrifice himself for them.

In general, most humans aren’t simply good or bad. The majority of us can be kind and generous while still being mean and selfish at times. We can be strong and still have moments of absolute weakness. The majority of us struggle with our mental illnesses and don’t just “get over it”, especially without any help. Sasuke is kind and selfless; he sacrificed himself for Naruto during the Haku fight, was ready to sacrifice himself again to save Naruto and Sakura during the Gaara fight, during the chuunin exams Kabuto pointed out how soft he was because he refused to attack him to get his scroll despite the fact that that’s what the exam required of him, in early shippuden he refused to kill anyone and ordered Taka not to kill, he learned how to extinguish the Amaterasu flames in order to save Karin, he threw himself in front of Sarada to protect her, he gave up on a peaceful life for himself for the sake of protecting their hard-earned world peace. But he also had times when he could be mean and selfish, when the pressure and the sadness were just too much, when he didn’t know how to deal with the trauma and the lies and the shock. And to me that’s a character that I can support, not because I think his mistakes were justified but because he’s not a messiah, he actually has to struggle with himself and his flaws, he has to fight against his trauma and his mental illnesses, which is what most humans are like instead of simply being wise and strong and flawless from the start.

What people fail to understand about Sasuke is that he’s a good person; that’s exactly the reason why his cruelty during the Gokage meeting arc was so shocking to every character in the story, because it was there to show that he wasn’t himself anymore; that’s exactly why the explanation of the “Uchiha curse” exists; and yet for some reason people tend to take that as being Sasuke’s actual personality, despite the fact that the manga had shown him in his normal state before, that we had actually gotten to see his gradual fall into darkness and his reason for it.

I like how Sasuke tends to be silent and distant on the outside but soft and kind on the inside. It’s thanks to him that team 7 gets accepted by Kakashi in the first place, because he decides to feed Naruto even though he was told not to. When he hears that Itachi is in the village, the first thing he worries about is Naruto’s safety, not his own safety or his own goals. He notices when Sakura is feeling down and comforts her by praising her abilities. He rarely ever expresses his feelings in words but he shows them with his actions; by sacrificing himself for someone, by protecting them, by showing pride towards their accomplishments, by gestures like the forehead poke. You’ll rarely find him saying cheesy things but if he cares about you and loves you, you’ll know. On the inside, he loves intensely. (Btw, how cute is it that he feeds cats and makes friends with them during his travels?)

Another thing I like about Sasuke is his extreme love and loyalty towards his family. Maybe it’s because I’ve been raised in a culture where family is always the most important, but I can’t help but appreciate how none of the things he did throughout the series were for himself, but for his family. People think Sasuke is disloyal because he “betrayed” Konoha but the truth is, Sasuke’s loyalty was never with Konoha to begin with, from the start it was always about family, he wanted to be acknowledged by his father, he wanted to join the Uchiha police force. He loved his mother and brother so much, cared about his father’s impression of him, was so proud of his family. And every single thing he wanted to do throughout the series was for them, wanting to avenge them, restore their honor, protect Konoha for Itachi’s sake. The fact that Sasuke and the rest of the Uchiha saw “the Uchiha” and “Konoha” as two separate entities and were only loyal to one of those was a result of Konoha’s own choice to alienate the Uchiha; you can’t treat a group of people like shit and then expect them to somehow love you and be loyal to you.

Sasuke doesn’t fit any generic shounen character type. His character is complex. He starts off as the typical rival but soon his character goes its own way. He has his own goals, his own path in life, his own relationships and his story doesn’t revolve around the main character or catching up to him. In fact it’s the opposite, it’s Naruto whose story mostly revolves around Sasuke. He’s one of the characters who makes this story unpredictable and interesting. Because let’s be real, the plot of Naruto is rather predictable. Naruto meets villain, Naruto has training arc or gets a powerup, Naruto defeats villain, rince and repeat until he becomes Hokage. Even one of the biggest “mysteries” of the series, Tobi’s identity, was predicted by everyone after his very first appearance. Throughout all of this it’s Sasuke who keeps the story interesting, because you’re never really sure what he’s gonna do, how he’s gonna react to things, where he’s gonna end up. That’s the reason why he was/is often the main subject of discussion even among people who don’t like him. Even up until the very end some people were saying he was gonna come back and become anbu, some were saying he would leave with taka, some thought he would die. No one could really guess where he would end up, whereas with other characters things were much more easy to predict.

I like Sasuke because I actually stop to look at things from his point of view as well; I know it’s hard to do so when the narrative always presents things from Naruto and Sakura’s side. It’s easy to just look at the surface and say: Sasuke made Naruto and Sakura sad, therefore he is bad. But when I look at things from Sasuke’s point of view, I understand all of the things he does, and I realize the choices he makes are often the most realistic considering his situation.

Let’s start from the very beginning. A lot of people hate Sasuke because they think he “treated Naruto like shit” throughout part one. But if you actually take the time to read the manga, who was the one who showed contempt towards the other first? It was Naruto. He hates Sasuke because he’s popular and Sakura likes him. This is established from the very beginning. The accidental kiss happened because Naruto tried to provoke Sasuke as a result of his jealousy. Naruto was the one who attacked Sasuke first—tied him up and tried to kiss Sakura while posing as him. And yet only minutes after that Sasuke still chose to defend him against Sakura. Throughout the rest of part one Sasuke and Naruto do bicker and fight a lot, but all of those fights and insults are two-sided and yet for some reason I only ever see people focus on Sasuke’s side.

It’s the same with all of the more serious fights between them. The majority of them were actually started by Naruto. People claim that Sasuke mistreated and/or abused Naruto and Sakura; but the truth is, if Sakura and Naruto hadn’t chased after Sasuke, Sasuke wouldn’t have even met any of them between chapter 180 and 631. That’s the space between when he left Konoha and when he joined the war. That’s more than 450 chapters. Naruto is the one who started the first big Nar/Sas fight. He chased after Sasuke and told him he’d “break his arms and legs and bring him back like a broken stick” if he had to. The fight against team Kakashi in Orochimaru’s lair happened because they chased after him and tried to bring him back. The fight in the Gokage meeting arc happened because Sakura chased after Sasuke and tried to kill him by herself. Sasuke simply left and made it clear to them that he had severed their bonds; they’re the ones who went after him. You can’t be an abuser when you don’t even want a relationship with your so-called victims. Every single time, he was either rejecting them and/or retaliating against their own attacks. Am I saying they shouldn’t have tried to stop him even when he was a criminal? No, but people shouldn’t pretend that Sasuke was specifically going after Sakura and Naruto to hurt or “abuse” them, when they’re the ones who chased after him. He was an enemy of Konoha because the village had murdered his family in cold blood. It’s not about “abuse” or Sakura and Naruto’s feelings.

And it’s easy to only consider their feelings in this situation; oh, they loved him and wanted to save him but he rejected them, he’s such an ass. But the truth is Sasuke doesn’t have to go back to the village that killed off his family, made him miserable and offered him no support as a childjust to make them happy. He doesn’t have to put their feelings before his own. He doesn’t have to put them, teammates that he had been with for a few months at most, over his family that raised him for 9 years. People are allowed to reject relationships they don’t want. Yes, rejection hurts, but it doesn’t automatically make the person who rejected you an asshole.

It’s easy to judge Sasuke for his decisions without paying attention to the circumstances that caused him to make them. “He betrayed his friends and left Konoha”— even though he had just had the shit beaten out of him by his brother, had been mentally tortured for days within a genjutsu, had been told he was weak because he didn’t have enough hate. People just expect a twelve-year-old to deal with it and move on.“He flip-flopped too much”—despite the fact that he had had his entire world turned upside down because he had been told that his whole life was a lie, his abusive brother loved him all along and it was Konoha who had caused his misery. I don’t know how or why people expect someone to just stay strong while being put through all of that.

I have a lot of issues with the series itself and the morals it tries to convey. For example, the series tries to pit “talent” and “hard work” against each other; Kishimoto seems to think that talented people don’t work hard or that they are somehow assholes by default (it’s also hypocritical because later on we find out Naruto himself actually had a lot of natural talents and advantages as well). I see a lot of people make arguments such as “Sasuke had everything handed to him while Naruto worked hard”. They ignore how hard Sasuke worked to learn the fireball jutsu and the Chidori, or how he trained with Orochimaru for three years, they also ignore that Naruto was able to learn the Rasenshuriken with minimal effort because of his naturally high chakra reserves or that almost the entirety of his power as an adult relies on Kurama, something that was given to him at birth. They ignore that everytime Sasuke got a free powerup Naruto got one too.

I also hate how the series tries to portray Sasuke and anyone else who wants reform or justice as a villain. Kishimoto thinks status quo > reform. It doesn’t matter if keeping the status quo means sweeping genocides under the rug, trampling on the rights of smaller villages with less power, ignoring the discrimination happening within clans. As long as “the village” is still standing, everything is okay. Don’t try to fix anything. Accept the “darkness” of the village. I come from a country with a dictatorship, so it’s much easier for me to understand Sasuke who wanted change rather than Konoha and their obsession with keeping everything as is. Yes, Sasuke’s method of fixing things was wrong, but people forget that this boy’s role model was Itachi, the one who thought the best way to protect a little kid was to torture him and tell him to live with hate, and it’s not like anybody actually condemned those actions. Everyone who knew the truth about Itachi thought he was the wisest person in history—the fandom does as well. And yet people are surprised when Sasuke thinks the best way to fix the system is through making people hate him. Only then does the fandom start talking about how “Sasuke should’ve learned from Itachi’s mistakes”, despite the fact that every other time they deny Itachi even made mistakes. The fact that Sasuke is ready to live a life of misery where everyone hates him is proof of how selfless he is, because yes it’s a misguided decision but it’s not a pleasant one, it’s not something he’s doing for himself. In the end instead of finding a better way to fix the system, Naruto just decides to keep the status quo.

Of course I like his design and abilities as well. I mean let’s be real, the duckbutt is almost iconic at this point, lol. Sasuke has the most interesting fighting style, the swordplay combined with the fire and the way he evolved Kakashi’s Chidori into so many different weapons. Not to mention his switcheroo ability after he gets the rinnegan. In my opinion he also gets the most interesting fights as well, Sasuke vs Deidara is still one of my favorites.

Anyways I’m sorry that this post got so long. This is why I never write character analysis, I tend to ramble way too much lol. Hope you have a nice day and thanks for the ask!

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior  - BLOODSHOT, THE HUNT, I STILL BELIEVE and more!

Since this is gonna be a pretty busy weekend with four … oops, make that three wide releases, I’m just gonna get right into it, and discuss last weekend’s movies down below. Cool? 

Of the three new releases, it’s likely that all three of them will make somewhere between $10 and 20 million, although I could see a couple of them ending up on the lower side of that number. All of them have some intriguing pluses and minuses.

Up until last weekend, the STXfilms family action-comedy MY SPY, starring former WWE wrestler (and soon-to-be WWE Hall of Fame inductee) David Bautista, was being dumped on this weekend after being delayed numerous times. This past Saturday it was moved again… to April 17, so one less movie to write about this week… yay!

First up is the very first movie based on a Valiant Comics character as BLOODSHOT (Sony) comes to theaters with none other than Vin Diesel playing soldier Roy Garrison, who has been brought back to life using power-enhancing nanotech that turns him into an assassin for the RST Corporation, led by Guy Pearce.  

Directed by David Wilson, co-founder of Blur Studios with Deadpooldirector Tim Miller, the movie also stars Eiza Gonzalez (Baby Driver), Sam Heughan from Outlander, and Toby Kebbell from lots of stuff, including the “Planet of the Apes” movies (he performance-captured the villainous Koba), and yes, Kebbell was also Victor Doom in the most recent Fantastic Four movie.

This is one of the weekend’s more interesting offerings, firstly because it’s the second comic book movie of the year (if you don’t include Sonic the Hedgehog), but because as I said above, this is the first movie based on a Valiant Comics property. Valiant was founded by former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter in 1989, beginning by reviving and updating a number of popular Gold Key characters like Magnus, Robot Fighterand Solar, Man of the Atom.  Bloodshot was created in 1992 by Valiant co-founder Bob Layton along with Kevin Van Hook and artist Don Perlin, and the character became quite popular while going through several incarnations. It wasn’t until 2005 when a group of entrepeneurs, including Dinesh Shamdasani, bought the rights to the Valiant properties where things started moving forward with a relaunch of Valiant Comics in 2012 as well as development on a number of movies including BloodshotGetting Vin Diesel on board helped move the project forward as Diesel had revived popularity due to returning to the Fast and Furious franchise.

Obviously, the success of Bloodshot relies entirely on Diesel and his popularity, although his movies outside the “Fast and Furious” ones haven’t exactly made big waves. Sure, he’s had a few other franchises like the Riddick character originated in 2000’s Pitch Black with director David Twohy, but the 2013 Riddick only made $42 million, just a little more than the first movie. There’s also the Xander Cage character Diesel created for 2002’s xXx, just a year after the original The Fast and the Furious.

Diesel’s return to that character in 2017 with xXx: The Return of Xander Cage did just slightly better than Riddick four years earlier. The point is that Diesel just hasn’t been able to sell other characters which brings us to 2015’s The Last Witch Hunter, an attempt by Diesel to introduce a new character to his fans, and that opened with just $10.8 million.

Granted, I’m not sure that there are that many Bloodshot and Valiant fans compared to the comics from Warners and DC, and even with Neal Moritz’s production company (which just had a hit with that aforementioned Sonic movie) behind Bloodshot, I’m not sure it will get fans excited, especially with its more cerebral take on superheroics.

I’d like to be more excited about the movie, but opening this weekend against The Hunt (see below) and Blumhouse’s The Invisible Man still doing decent business, I just don’t see this opening north of $15 million. Hopefully I’m wrong, as I would truly like to see more Valiant movies.

My Review of Bloodshot

The movie that might offer the biggest competition for Bloodshot and possibly could sideline it and maybe even beat it this weekend is THE HUNT, the latest film from Blumhouse’s deal with Universal. The movie was originally supposed to be released last September but was delayed due to the controversial content. On the surface, The Hunt, directed by Craig Zobel (Compliance) is about a group of rich people that are hunting a group of “deplorables,” an interesting premise written by Damon Lindelof and Nick Cuse (son of Lost co-creator Carlton Cuse), who have found success together with HBO’s The Leftovers and Watchmen.

The movie stars Betty Gilpin from Netflix’s "Glow,” Ike Barinholtz from various comedies and even Glen Howerton from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” It also stars Emma Roberts, who has done a lot of genre stuff, and two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank, who hasn’t. It’s definitely an interesting cast but like many horror movies, this one is more about its premise and whether it interests moviegoers.

The problem I see in The Hunt is that it’s so political in terms of being a battle between liberals and conservatives that might just be too on point with what people get from watching CNN or other 24-hours news cycles, so why would they want to see this brought into their entertainment? Barinholtz should definitely know this as his politically-tinged directorial debut The Oath, which only made $401,000 a few years back despite an attempt by distributor Roadside Attractions to open it wider than the 300 theaters it got.

The Hunt may have the advantage of opening on Friday the 13thwhere many moviegoers like going to see horror movies, but why would they go see this over Blumhouse’s other offering, The Invisible Man, which has been much better received?

We’ll see how the reviews go – you can read mine below--but the fact this was delayed and then put into this weekend less than a month back didn’t give Universal much time to market it, and the best they’ve been able to do is try to build on the controversy. In any other instance, I could see this making $15 million or more, but because of the circumstances that surround this movie’s tougher sell, it will probably make somewhere between $10 and 12 million.

Mini-Review: To say that it’s difficult to talk about The Hunt without potentially spoiling everything that makes it such a surprising and clever premise would be a huge understatement. What writers Damon Lindelof and Nick Cuse have done along with director Craig Zobel (Compliance) is an amazing twist on Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” pulled writhing and screaming into the country’s current political climate. That last bit might decide who loves and who absolutely loathes this movie, but there’s no question that everyone will have an opinion, either good or bad, with few able to be outright indifferent about the movie.

The basic premise, if you hadn’t heard or seen any marketing, is that a group of very wealthy people have kidnapped a group of people with plans to hunt them down. Before we get to the hunted, we see texts between a few of the hunters talking about “the hunt,” “the manor” and their upcoming (seemingly annual) plans. We then meet  few of them in person on a private jet to “the manor” before we meet the “contestants,” a group of a dozen individuals seemingly from disparate backgrounds, many of whom are quickly picked off in exceedingly gory ways.

The key player on the side of the hunted is Betty (“Glow”) Gilpin’s Crystal, a Southern woman seemingly with a military background who seems to be up to the task of fighting back more than some of the others in the group.

That’s all I’m gonna say about the general plot and premise because where The Hunt excels is in the number of twists it throws at the viewer. That’s actually something I realized that I liked about Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island on a recent rewatch in that it seems like a simple enough premise but there are enough twists and surprises that it keeps you guessing, and that’s the same with The Hunt.

The thing about The Hunt is that I don’t see it so much as horror but as violent political satire because the fact that the hunters and hunted come from opposite sides of the political aisle and there is no clear “side,” so to speak. In that sense, it reminds me a bit of Ike Barinholtz’s own directorial debut The Oathwhere it’s snarky and sardonic humor though in this case with more action and violence. The hunters are extremely left-leaning liberals always trying to be conscientious to social justice and equality… but also wantonly killing people, so no heroes there. And the hunted aren’t politically correct and are labelled as “deplorables” although even the most liberal viewer might find themselves rooting for them.

What’s interesting is that this premise is shared somewhat by the recent Brazilian drama Bacurau, but I generally like how The Hunt handles things, more because I somewhat thought I knew what to expect going in with the latter and only partially was correct.

While Gilpin is fantastic throughout, it’s when she finally confronts Hilary Swank in the film’s big climax where you realize that the filmmakers were building up to something quite amazing. Unfortunately, few of the other actors get enough screen time to please any of their fans.

There’s no question that The Hunt won’t be for everyone, and I wish I could discuss it at further length in terms of which parts might click with viewers and which might lose them completely. Either way, it’s worth a look just by how daring it is for a studio film in these times when everyone is on edge, ready to be outraged about anything and everything.

Rating: 7/10

The third offering this weekend, which stands a good chance at doing even better than the other two movies above is the faith-based drama I STILL BELIEVE (Lionsgate), which stars the popular K.J. Apa from the CW show Riverdaleand Britt Robertson, who is just a great up and coming actor who actually starred opposite George Clooney in another Lindelof-penned movie, Disney’s Tomorrowland. Robertson also starred in the attempted young adult sci-fi romance The Space Between Us a few years back before shifting to television, including Netflix’s Girlboss.

The movie is based on the real-life story of country singer Jeremy Camp (played by Apa), who built his career around Christian music and the faith he relied upon after his young wife (played by Robertson) was diagnosed with cancer. Camp won five gospel awards and received a number of music nominations but his title song “I Still Believe” from his 2004 debut album was popular enough that it got the attention of the filmmaking Erwin Brothers, Andrew and Jon, who had a bit hit with I Can Only Imagine, which grossed an astounding $83 million after a $17.1 million opening in March 2018. Their earlier film Woodlawn didn’t do as well, making just $14.3 million total, but clearly, Lionsgate are full behind the filmmakers behind their 2018 faith-based hit and hoping I Still Believe can bring in the same sized audience.

Not really being in tune with the Christian audiences, it’s hard for me to judge how the marketing is being received, as I personally haven’t seen a single commercial, but I have to imagine the popularity of Camp and Apa as the lead on Riverdale should be enough for the movie to bring in $13 to 15 million or maybe even more for a strong second place. The movie will screen for regional critics outside New York and L.A. since those blue state cities are clearly filled with agnostic heathens who won’t give the movie a chance, but I’m not sure reviews will make much difference either way.

Onward shouldn’t have a problem holding onto a lead in the top 10 with over $20 million despite the weaker than expected opening, and Ben Affleck’s The Way Back should hold on decently but still end up pushed out of the top 5 by new movies. We’ll have to see how either of them fare in the long run especially with next week’s A Quiet Place Part 2. There’s also the matter of the panic around the country about the corona virus, so we’ll see if that’s still in effect. Otherwise, I Still Believehas the strongest chances at besting both Bloodshotand The Hunt, which will likely be cannibalizing each other’s business.

This week’s Top 10 should look something like this…

1. Onward (Disney-Pixar) - $24.5 million -38%

2. I Still Believe (Lionsgate) - $13 million N/A (down $1 million)*

3. Bloodshot (Sony) - $12.5 million N/A (down $1.5 million)*

4. The Hunt (Universal) - $10.5 million N/A (down .5 million)*

5. The Invisible Man (Universal) - $8.5 million -44%

6. The Way Back (Warner Bros.) - $5.2 million -37%

7. Sonic the Hedgehog (Paramount) - $4.3 million -44%

8. The Call of the Wild (20th Century) - $4 million -41%

9. Emma. (Focus Features) - $2.9 million -40%

10. Bad Boys for Life (Sony) - $2 million -35%

*UPDATE: We’re clearly in new and strange times with the few week’s movies being postponed, delayed and maybe some eventually cancelled, but we saw that this weekend as many of the new movies lost theater counts from the estimates earlier in the week with Bloodshot not even getting 3,000 theaters. And expect it to get worse when theaters start shutting down which may even happen this weekend

LIMITED RELEASES

Due to a last minute scheduling change, this week’s “FEATURED FILM” is now going to Eliza Hittman’s fantastic drama NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS (Focus Features), a smaller indie that might have a difficult to remember title, but it’s a title you’ll never mess up after seeing it in context in the film.  It stars young newcomers Sidney Flanigan and Talia Ryder, as Autumn and her cousin Skylar, who travel from Pennsylvania into New York City when the former gets an unwanted pregnancy and has to get an abortion away from her judgmental community. This really was a riveting film with a very simple premise that’s driven by the performances of the two young actors. It reminded me of two other indies, Lodge Kerrigan’s 2004 film Keane, starring Damian Lewis and Abigail Breslin, which also takes place at the Port Authority where much of NRSA takes place, and Julia Loktev’s Day Night Day Night, which similarly follows the journey of a teen girl who is sent into Times Square as a suicide bomber.  Like I said, it begins as a very simple tale but watching the two young girls having to deal with being in New York with no money really makes it quite a heartbreaking journey to watch. HIttman finds a way to tell this story sans pathos and the drama always comes from a real place.

Sally Potter returns with her new movie THE ROADS NOT TAKEN (Bleecker Street), a character drama starring Javier Bardem and Elle Fanning as father and daughter, Fanning playing Molly, a young woman who needs to check in on her father Leo, who is suffering from some form of Alzheimer’s or dementia – it’s never made clear what is going on with him – but it leaves him speechless with limited mobility and therefore a difficult person to manage for Molly.  As we watch her trying to bring him to routine dentist and eye doctor visits, the film flashes back to Leo’s past with his early love Dolores, played by Salma Hayek, and later in life. I have to be honest that I’m not 100% sure I understood what was going on since as with much of Potter’s work, its very arty, relying less on narrative or storytelling than mood and tone, but I did love Bardem and Fanning’s performance, and there’s a small appearance by Laura Linney as Molly’s mother that’s also great. So yeah, apparently, this is the year that I not only begin to appreciate Kelly Reichardt (with her current film First Cow) but also Sally Potter. I was particularly impressed with the film’s score and only realized with this film that Potter always does the music for her films.

Inside the Rain (Act 13/Killer Films) is a really interesting feature directorial debut from Aaron Fisher, in which he plays college film student Benjamin Glass, who suffers from ADHD, OCD and borderline personality disorders and is also bipolar, referring to himself as “recklessly extravagant.” When his illnesses lead to a possible drug overdose, the dean of the college decides to give Ben the boot, but he decides to use his filmmaking skills to make a film to fight the dean’s decision. Along the way, he meets a sex worker (Ellen Toland) who he convinces to be in his movie although he starts developing a crush on her. What’s interesting about Fisher’s film is that a lot of it is based on personal stories since he himself suffers from personality disorder and is bipolar, but he decided to use his talents to inform others on what it’s like to dealing with these issues, getting the likes of Rosie Perez and Eric Roberts to be a part of the cast. I’m not sure this movie will be for everyone, but I think it’s quite a brave effort by Fisher which I hope people will check out. It opens at New York’s Village East on Friday and in L.A. on March 20 and other citieson March 27. (For the sake of transparency, I helped with some of the publicity work on this film.)

Opening in select theaters this Friday and then streaming on Hulu next Friday is Jason Orley’s Big Time Adolescence (NEON), starring Pete Davidson from “Saturday Night Live” and Griffin Gluck, the latter playing 16-year-old Mo, a mostly innocent guy who is trying to navigate high school with the guidance of his best friend and college drop-out Zeke (Davidson). When Zeke starts teaching Mo untraditional life lessons about dating, partying and drug dealing, causing Mo’s father (Jon Cryer) to realize he needs to step in. The movie premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Famke Janssen star in Danis Tanovic’s thriller The Postcard Killings (RLJE Films), based on James Patterson and Liza Marklund’s best-selling novel with Morgan playing New York Detective Jacob Kanon, whose daughter and son-in-law are killed in London. As Jacob starts learning about a series of journalist murders in Europe, each one preceded by a postcard, he goes after the killer to get justice for his daughter. As with most RLJE films, it will get a limited theatrical release and be On Demand and digital.

Australian actor Rachel Griffiths makes her directorial debut with Ride Like a Girl (Saban Films/Paramount), based on the true story of the first female horse jockey to win the 2015 Melbourne Cup, Michelle Payne, as played by the wonderful Teresa Palmer. Sam Neill plays Michelle’s father Paddy who supports her when she decides to leave school as a teenager to become a jockey, overcoming tragedy and a nearly fatal fall along the way. The movie will open in select theaters (including New York’s Village East) as well as On Demand and Digital this Friday.

Cindy Meehl’s The Dog Doc (a somewhat self-explanatory title there?) will open at New York’s Quad Cinema this Friday and at the Laemmle Royalin L.A. next Friday, March 20. It takes a look at veterinarian Dr. Marty Goldstein whose practice at the Smith Ridge Veterinary Center where he treats animals using holistic care.

Meanwhile Adam Bolt’s doc Human Nature (Greenwich), opening in New York and L.A., deals with the breakthrough and controversial medical process known as CRISPR which looks at how DNA can be changed from before birth to avoid diseases and even be used to “design our children.” The film talks to the scientists behind CRISPR and how it will change our relationship with nature and evolution. (Note: The Village East Cinema has a lot of amazing guests talking about the movie and its implications over the next week, including the one and only Dan Rather!)

Last up is Philip Harder’s Tuscaloosa (Cinedigm), based on the Southern novel by W. Glasgow Phillips, which takes place in Alabama, 1972 with Devon Bostick playing Billy, a young man who falls for a patient at his father’s mental asylum (played by Natalia Dyer from “Stranger Things”). At the same time, Billy’s best friend becomes involved in the civil rights movement against Tuscaloosa’s power elite. Having premiered at the Nashville Film Festival last Fall, this hits select theaters, VOD and Digital HD this Friday.

REPERTORY

Besides the usual repertory theater offerings in New York and L.A. (listed below), select AMC theaters will be screening the horror classic The Exorcist on Friday night as part of the “She Is Risen” lead-up to A24’s upcoming horror film Saint Maud.  This will continue over the next few Fridays until an advance preview of Saint Maud on Wednesday, April 1.

METROGRAPH (NYC):

Let’s see what’s going on at my favorite local NY theater. Well, first of all, the Metrograph will be screening Satoshi Kon’s fantastic 2003 film Tokyo Godfathers over the weekend and probably into next week. (Saturday afternoon will be the only English-dubbed screening of the movie with an intro by voice actor Shakina Nayfack!) This Friday night will be a screening of Michael Mann’s 1992 movie Last of the Mohicans, starring the great Daniel Day-Lewis, as part of its “Academy at Metrograph” series.This weekend’s “Late Nites at Metrograph“ is John Waters’ Cry Baby (1990), starring Johnny Depp, while “Metrograph Matinees” will present James Neilson’ sci-fi satire Moon Pilot (1962).

ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE BROOKLYN (NYC)

Tonight’s “Weird Wednesday” is the 1985 action film Swords of Heaven (already sold out, sorry!) Next Monday is the latest in the Alamo’s “Remakes and Hot Takes” series with Eddie Murphy’s 1996 film The Nutty Professor. A day later, my pal Ted Geoghegan is showing another esoteric offering for “Terror Tuesday,”  with 1990’s Death Spa, and the Alamo is also doing a “The Departed St. Patrick’s Day Dinner” also as part of the “Remakes and Hot Takes” series but this one with a special St. Patrick’s Day menu. Next week’s “Weird Wednesday” is the 1985 aerobics movie Perfect, starring John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis.

Over in L.A., the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown L.A.will screen Bobcat Goldthwait’s 2011 movie God Bless America as the “Weird Wednesday” tonight with Joe Lynch and Adam Green filming an episode of their “The Movie Crypt” podcast after the screening. (Sadly, it’s already sold out.) Thursday’s screening of Michael Mann’s 2006 Miami Vice movie is also sold out, unfortunately. Saturday’s “Champagne Cinema” is the comedy classic Bridesmaids. Sunday’s “Remakes and Hot Takes” is the 1996 The Birdcage (two shows sold out!) and then later that night, John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) gets two screenings, one which is sold out. Monday evening is a “Billy Madison Quote-along” which should be fun, while L.A. does its own “The Departed St. Patrick’s Day Dinner” Tuesday and its “Terror Tuesday” is 1962’s Carnival of Soulswith the wonderful Alicia Malone from Turner Classic Movies. Next week’s “Weird Wednesday” is two screenings of 1994’s Tammy and the T-Rexwith Paul Scheer at the 9pm screening.

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

Weds’ “Afternoon Classic” matinee is Clint Eastwood’s The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), while the Weds/Thurs cross-dressing double feature is La Cage Aux Folles (1978) and Blake Edwards’ Victor/Victoria (1982). This Friday’s “Freaky Friday” is appropriatelyJason X (2001)with screenwriter Todd Farmer in person. Friday and Saturday night, there’s an awesome double feature of Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz(2007) with Benny Chan’s 1996 Hong Kong film Big Bullet. Saturday night’s midnight is the Malcolm McDowell debut, O, Lucky Man! (1973) while the Kiddee Matinee continues the Harry Potter run with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. Saturday and Sunday also sees this month’s “Cartoon Club” offerings. The Sunday/Monday double feature is two movies starring Barbara Stanwyk, The Two Mrs. Carrolls  (1947) and The Bitter Tea of General Yen  (1932). Monday’s matinee is New Jack City, starring Wesley Snipes. The Tuesday night Grindhouse double feature is the action movies Zebra Force (1976) and Bare Knuckles (1977).

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

“Noir City: Hollywood” continues through the week with The Long Haul(1957) and Black Gravel (1961) on Wednesday, The Naked City (1948) and Hardly a Criminal (1949)on Thursday, and then the double feature of Gun Crazy (1950) and Pale Flower (1964) on Friday. The “End of History: The Cinema of Lav Diaz” continues Sat. with 2014’s From What Is Before, and “Noir City: Hollywood” has an all-day five film marathon all in 35mm with 1947’s Out of the Past, The Guiltyand High Tide, and The Prowlerand Try and Get Mefrom 1951. Sunday’s matinee double feature as part of “Noir City: Hollywood” is Portrait of Jennie (1948) and Girl with Hyacinths (1950) and then that night is The Spiritualist (1948) and In the Palm of Your Hand (1949). In other words, if you’re a fan of film noir and you live in L.A. and you’re not spending at least a few hours at the Egyptian this week, then I’m not sure what to tell ya.

AERO  (LA):

Greg Proops Film Club presents Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 film High and Lowon Weds. night, and then Thursday’s matinee (free to members!) is Truffaut’s The 400 Blows. The “Woman Film Editors: An Assembly” series begins on Thursday with Paul Thomas nderson’s Punch Drunk Love (2002) and Barry Jenkins’ Oscar Best Picture Schmoonlight(2016). The series continues Friday with a double feature of George Lucas’ American Graffiti (1973) and Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders (1983), while the Saturday double feature is Soderbergh’s Out of Sight and Tarantino’s Jackie Brown with Michael Keaton playing the same character in both of them! Sunday is a special DCP screening of Cecil B. Demille’s nearly four-hour The Ten Commandments (1956)!

FILM FORUM (NYC):

The series “The Women Behind Hitchcock” continues with Hitchcock’s 1950 film Stage Fright and the Joan Harrison-written 1944 film Dark Waters on Wednesday, as well as Young and Innocent and The Passing of the Third Floor Back, plus a lot more through the weekend. Honestly, the best thing to do is click on the title link above for the full schedule. This weekend’s “Film Forum Jr.” is the Marx Brothers film Go West from 1940.

MOMA  (NYC):

This week’s Modern Matinees: CicelyTysonscreenings are 1981’s Bustin’ Looseon Weds, Tyler Perry’s 2006 movie Madea’s Family Reunionon Thursday and 1974’s The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittmanon Friday. In Character: Daniel Craig

Continues this week with Matthew Vaughn’s 2004 Layer Cake on Weds, Sam Mendes’ The Road to Perdition (2002) and Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) on Thursday, Roger Michell’s Enduring Love  (2004) on Saturday, as well as the 2012 Bond film Skyfall (also directed by Mendes) and then Spielberg’s Munich on Sunday.

FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER (NYC):

This week begins the series “Mapping Bacurau” with movies that influenced the filmmakers of the Brazilian film Bacurau. The films include Paul Morrissey’s 1974 film Blood for Dracula, Carlos Diegues 1980 film Bye Bye Brazil, Sergio Corbucci’s 1970 film Compañeros, Sergio Leone’s Duck, You Sucker! (1972) and more that will extend over the next two weeks.

NITEHAWK CINEMA  (NYC):

At Williamsburgthe Friday midnight movie is Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter from 1984 and then the Saturday matinee is the 1982 sci-fi classic Tron. Also Saturday afternoon, the “Uncaged” series continues with 1992’s Honeymoon in Vegas.  For St. Patrick’s Day on Tuesday, Prospect Park will be playing the 1993 horror film Leprechaun.

IFC CENTER (NYC)

In preparation for the release of Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s French film The Truthnext week, IFC Center is doing a one-week retrospective called “Family Portraits: The Films of Hirokazu Kore-Eda” beginning with After Life andMaborosion Thursday, Shopliftersand Like Father, Like Sonon Friday and more through the weekend, including a sneak preview of The Truthon Saturday night. Weekend Classics: Luis Buñuelis taking another week off, but Waverly Midnights: Hindsight is 2020s will screen 2000’s Mission to Mars and Late Night Favorites: Winter 2020also takes the weekend off.

ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES (NYC)

At the East Village’s primary rep theater, the current “1995: The Year the Internet Broke” continues through Thursday with single screenings of Kathryn Bigelow’s Strange Days (Weds), and Johnny Mnemonic andGhost in the Shell(the original Anime) on Thursday. Neil Jordan’s Breakfast on Plutoalso screens again on Thursday.

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

“See It Big! Outer Space” continues on Saturday with a screening of  Andrzej Żuławski’s 1988 movie On the Silver Globe followed by a Masterclass with cinematographer Andrzej Jaroszewicz.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

Cane River continues through Thursday, although at this writing, there doesn’t seem to be any repertory stuff this weekend.

BAM CINEMATEK (NYC):

Charlie Chaplin’s 1936 film Modern Times will screen on Sunday afternoon as part of BAM’s “BAMkids Movie Matinees.”

ROXY CINEMA (NYC)

A few more recent Nicolas Cage movies will play this week, last year’s Mandy on Wednesday and the more recent Color Out of Space on Thursday.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART  (LA):

The Friday midnight movie is the 1990 horror sequel Child’s Play 2.

STREAMING AND CABLE

There is new stuff on Netflix this week but nothing I really know much about: the first season of Norwegian anthology series “Bloodride,” the third season of something called “Elite,” although I’m kind of interested in Liz Garbus’ Lost Girls, starring Amy Ryan. You know what? Other than getting the trailer in January, I have heard absolutely nothing about this movie, so I guess if Netflix doesn’t want their movies covered, that’s just fine by me.

Premiering on Disney+ this Friday is Star Girl, the new romantic drama directed by Julia Hart (last year’s Fast Color), starring Grace VanderWaal as Stargirl Caraway, a colorful new girl at school that captures the interest of Graham Verchere’s Leo Borlock. That’s about all I know about it.

Next week, it’s John Krasinski’s horror sequel A Quiet Place: Part 2!

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or send me a note on Twitter. I love hearing from readers!

[dmitri-smerdyakov]

For the angst prompts, can you do Jakweenie 12?

12 - Jakweenie/“Jesus, you’re acting like you don’t even want to touch me!”

(A/N: I changed “Jesus” to “Mercy Lewis” to fit the characters)

I’m sorry, this is so bad :( I tried, but I kinda lost the plot in my head and rushed it…I tried though, which is what counts! :)

And here we have, as requested, angsty Jakweenie - enjoy!

*

Toby and Daisy were both already in bed when Jacob arrived home that evening, having eaten and been bathed; Queenie was sitting at the kitchen table, looking down at her wand as she twirled it between her fingers. She was wearing a large nightgown that only barely reached her knees, having been hitched up by the large protruding baby bump; she didn’t look up as he entered and poured himself some water, instead still focusing diligently on her wand.

“Long day, I take it?” She said lightly.

Jacob nodded as he turned to her. “Oh, yeah. We’re gonna need to hire another guy soon to help out, you know? So many orders…there’s a lot of kids’ birthday parties too. I got no idea how we’re gonna manage, but…” He grinned tiredly. “How was your day, honey?”

Queenie glared at him - she’d never glared at him like that before, he thought. “Oh, just peachy… Yeah, stuck here all day feelin’ like a watermelon and having two kids screaming and crying every time I try to get some rest…but, yeah, it was peachy.”

He frowned, confused by her behaviour. “Queenie, I ain’t got no idea what’s going on right now… What’s the matter?”

“What’s the matter?!” She stood up, her gown rising another few inches as it stretched to accommodate her stomach. “I’m exhausted, Jacob! It’s all okay for you, you get to go to the bakery every day and talk to people - I’m here with our children, all day without any break, and you don’t even care.”

I do care…What’s gotten into her? This isn’t like her at all.

She nearly burst into tears. “Don’t you see, Jacob?! I can’t even walk around the apartment anymore without waddling! I’m like a…like a ball or something, all swollen and heavy! I hate feeling like this, Jacob, I hate it! And you…” She straightened up, eyes glistening. “It feels like you’ve stopped loving me, Jacob…like you’re sick of me or something.”

“What?!” Jacob’s mouth fell agape, shocked by this. “I ain’t sick of you at all - why the heck would you think like that?”

“You’re never home,” She stated tearfully. “You’re always at the bakery - you’re gone before the kids get up and you’re not back until after they go to bed. Toby and Daisy, they wonder where their papa is all day - why you never play with them anymore, why they never see you.”

He shook his head. “No… No, it ain’t like that, Queenie, I promise. I love them both, you know I do…I just wanna make sure we got enough money to be comfortable, you know? What with the new baby on the way…”

“But that don’t explain why you’re ignoring me!” She cried out in frustration, balling her fists up. “You’re avoiding me - we barely speak anymore, you don’t look at me…Mercy Lewis, you’re acting like you don’t even want to touch me!”

Touching her…oh. His cheeks were red suddenly. “Queenie, we ain’t had time, and with the kids…I dunno, I guess I thought you wouldn’t want that. But it’s got nothing to do with-”

“Not like that! I mean touching at all,” Queenie reiterated miserably. “You used to give me little cheek kisses when you got home, used to touch and hold the baby, feel it kick…but now you don’t do any of that, you just avoid me like I’m sick or something. You won’t hold my hand, you won’t cuddle…and I feel so awful. I feel like you think I’m…I’m disgusting because I’m so…so big…”

As she started to sob, Jacob hurriedly moved forwards to carefully wrap his arms around her. “No, Queenie, no; it ain’t like that at all, I promise. I…I didn’t even realise that that’s what you wanted, and I should have…I guess I been so tired lately, what with the bakery and the kids and everything, I just lost track. But it ain’t because of you - and you ain’t disgusting.” He stated firmly. “You know how much I love you like this, Queenie, seeing you pregnant with our baby; I love looking at you and seeing this little bump here. It’s so perfect, you know that?”

She wrinkled her nose in disagreement, though he could feel the tension leave her shoulders slightly as she sank into him. “I know I’m not beautiful like this, Jacob; I’m all fat, and I got marks everywhere…they’re so horrible,” She stated, voice breaking. “Awful deep stretch marks…they’re all I can see anytime I look at myself now.”

“Stretch marks?” Jacob looked completely baffled. “They’re really bothering you, honey?”

“Like they don’t bother you-”

“They don’t,” He said, quite calmly as he looked her in the eye. “I like ‘em…I’m being serious!” He added at the face she made. “You have no idea how much I like seeing ‘em…they’re from having our babies, right? Our kids - what’s not to love 'bout that?” With this, he ran a hand over her bulging belly. “I love seeing 'em 'cause it’s proof, you know, proof that this is all real….that this ain’t some dream I’ve kidded myself into making up.”

Queenie looked simply stunned by this proclamation. “But…But they look awful.”

“They look beautiful,” He reiterated, and he was smiling at her - a warm smile that made her tingle all over. “They look natural, and they show off all the stuff we’ve done together: I mean, just look at our kids, Queenie. Toby and Daisy, they’re both so perfect and wonderful…and this baby,” He added, cupping her abdomen. “I’m gonna love 'em just as much as I love Toby and Daisy already - I know it. And all of this, it’s 'cause of you…these marks, they just show how much you’ve done, how amazing you are.”

There was so much floating through his mind, she realised; he had always known he would love their children, from the day he’d found out they’d been expecting their first baby, but even then he hadn’t been able to estimate just how intensely he’d love Toby, and then Daisy. Now it was all coming clearer to her, fitting together in pieces so perfectly; true to his words, he had merely wanted more money for the family so that they’d never go poor or hungry - he and his brother had never had a great number of toys or fancy things when they’d been children, and he wanted their children to have better.

They mean the world to me, She heard him think, and she knew it to be true; I just want the best for them.

“Oh, Jacob,” Queenie exhaled, now melting against him as closely as she was able with the bump. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I overreacted, I know…if I’d just taken two seconds to try and figure things out proper, then…” She took a deep breath, holding onto him tightly. "I’m sorry.“

"Don’t be,” Jacob said quickly, and she realised that he felt worried all of a sudden, even somewhat guilty. “I should’ve been here more, should’ve done more to help with the kids…I know I ain’t been home as much,” He admitted. “I didn’t think you’d mind, but I should’ve thought about it first - we should’ve talked it over first.”

“I didn’t mean to burst out like this,” She murmured, shaking her head. “It’s the hormones, you know? And…And I feel so much bigger now than I did with Toby or Daisy.”

Jacob grinned, slightly more cheerful. “This one must be a big baby,” He mused, spreading his fingers over where the fabric of her nightgown concealed her bump. “Nice and big and healthy - and it’s all thanks to you… God, I love you so much, Queenie.”

Queenie couldn’t help it; the enthusiasm he was feeling was contagious, making her suddenly feel better than she had before. “Oh, Jacob…I love you too.”

I wanna make up for it, She heard him think eagerly as his hands rested on her hips; I wanna show her, make sure she knows…but maybe she’s not in the mood for that tonight? I don’t wanna force her…

“Oh, you wouldn’t be forcing me at all, honey,” Queenie assured him, suddenly excited as she reached for his hand. “We got a lot of catching up to do.”

His mouth curved into a grin as he willingly followed her; she’d been right, after all - they had a lot of time to make up for.

*

FYI: Queenie is massive because it’s twins (Ruth and Abel, for my regular readers!)

This was really bad but I kinda rushed it :/ I hope it was okay, anyway. I might be using this in a future fic or something (I was planning to write a fic similar to this anyway), so…we’ll have to see! ;)