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absolutebl · 2 years ago

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This Week in BL - Things are Very Mixed

May 2023 Wk 1

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Step By Step (Thai Tues WeTV & Gaga) ep 3 of 10 (MDL still says 12, but Gaga still says 10) - The subs are janky on YT, so you might want to watch this on Gaga. This is such a good show, it just feels so much more authentic to an office environment and first job then anything else I’ve seen in BL. Now that might be because it has western source material, or it might be because it is actually kind of old-fashioned (it’s been years since I worked as an office grunt). While the authenticity may be a little triggering for some, I love how much tension it adds to the leads’ dynamic and the quality of the narrative. I also really love the brothers’ relationship, now that we got to see them on screen together for a bit. Walk of shame was great! Oh look, character development, how novel. This is what Boss & Babe should have been. Not sold on the sides tho it’s nice to see a faen fatal as the main character in a dynamic for a change.

La Pluie (Sat iQIYI) ep 2 of 10 - This one is really grabbing me by the throat. I love the starter concepts, what a fantastic twist on a meet cute not to mention soulmates. I hope we spend more time with the vet and his coworkers, they seem awesome. And another surprise, the guy we think is being set up to be the brother’s love interest is now clearly interested in the wrong brother. I love the trope subversions going on with this show!

Our Skyy 2 (The Eclipse) eps 5-6 - FirstKhao are just ridiculously cute as a couple. Honestly? Aye just seems like he would be a lot of work as a lover. I’m not as wild about the premise of this installment, with the film clips and stuff (as I was of NlMG’s installment). And then, the singing. Oh well, you can’t have everything. I gotta say, First is a great crier, although I don’t think this story warranted his tears. In the end? My feelings on this installment were mixed, the movie storyline didn’t grab me and the birthday storyline seems a touch mean spirited, but I do think it adds substantially to the original Eclipse rather than feeling superfluous or slapdash like many of the other Our Skyys. So I’m going to go with 8/10

Future (Thai Sun YouTube & Gaga) ep 6fin - More of the same (which I like) but I’m glad it ended. Didn’t need to get dragged out. Such drama over nothing. In the end? This is just a soft sweet cotton candy fluff piece about a younger boy who pursues an older boy and then manufactures silly gay drama. Nothing wrong with that. But I don’t think this style of BL really appeals to a very large market share. Will I rewatch it? Sure. Will anyone else? Nope. 7/10 RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS.

Pastsenger (Thai Weds Gaga) ep 9 of 12 eps - And now the amnesia trope. I’m not a fan. This is such a pulp. At least it ends next week? Groan, no 3 more eps.

A Boss and a Babe (Fri YouTube) ep 10 of 12 - one thing I realize I like about this main couple’s dynamic is that the seme/uke seems earned, where it didn’t in Echante. I don’t have much else to say except it’s crazy when a narrative betrays its characters like this and why to poor ForceBook keep having to deal with it?

The Promise (Thai Weds YT & WeTV) ep 7 of 10 - Honestly, who wears an all white outfit to play around with coffee beans in the countryside? I LOVE the faen fatal, he’s so good, courageous, honest, and morally sound. He even gives his rival fair warning. Nan should totally go out with him. I made awwww noises over the faen fatal! I NEVER do that. I guess Phu was right all along? Nan won’t date a friend. Ultimate friend zone. Well shit. This show. Ouch.

House of Stars (Thai Mon iQIYI) ep 1 of ?? - There seems a slight horror element which I do not like and it’s also confusingly like Melrose Place or something. Everyone is sleeping with, or wants to be sleeping with everyone else. It’s kinda hilarious to watch something where all the actors are supposed to be good actors but it’s a pulp so they just really aren’t. So far my main issue is I can’t keep them all straight in my head (pun intended).

Tin Tam Jai (Tues Gaga) ep 10fin - There is very little I enjoyed about this show. The entirely forgotten side dishes gave us 5 min of excellent high heat and then vanished, but otherwise this show sucked in the wrong way. It’s forgettable and I intend to do just that. 5/10

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Our Dining Table AKA Bokura no Shokutaku (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 5 of 10 - The way these two are very quietly yet thoroughly falling in love with each other is executed with such grace and subtlety that only Japan could have handed this out. It’s not even “falling” it’s more like sliding gradually into love.

Love Mate (Korea Thurs Viki) eps 1-2 of 8 - Launched very much openly gay so that’s fun. Also very much bubble too, so no one around them cares. So: Seo is a player jaded older uke (fun character type we don’t see often) and his seme is a romantic if arrogant weirdo. Can you see my hands clapping? Combative trope activation! Absurdity. How fun. Also workplace harassment but hayho that’s BL for ya. (Also a nonBL Kdrama specialty.) ALSO whole office in on seme-stalker’s side? All in all, it’s odd and questionable, but I’m into it. Why am I like this?

Happy Merry Ending (Korea Thurs Gaga) eps 3-4 of 8 - OK I’m not super into the main couple but I love all of the surrounding characters. The overly protective best friend with a crush is giving bad advice but it’s understandable and he’s super hot so I forgive him. And the idol character is a wonderful addition, he is my baby. Also, evil ex is v evil.

Vian the series (Vietnam YT ) - I thought this was gonna be Tiktok only but apparently it’s showing up on YT too. It’s cute! My cat boyfriend (which is more common that it should be) and this seems to be Vietnam’s installment (we got Thailand’s last year). The boy playing the cat is the prettiest human being on the planet. Fight me. No fight him, get scratched. Serious tho. Holy hairballs. Look I don’t really like vertical content but I am watching this for him. Meow, indeed.

The Day I Loved You (Vietnam YouTube) eps 2-3 of ? - BL Express’s first impressions mirror mine. Niks is so flipping cute. Rich kid is so into him, so is bestie. So much gay macho posturing. So much bi fear and het shame. But also it’s killer to get a femme main characters who isn’t being mocked. Dancing trope continues (better than singing together). It is kinda Heartstopper goes Pinoy BL. Honestly, I prefer kids a little drawings to terrible sound effects. This is better than it or we have any right to expect.

Naked Dinner AKA Zenra Meshi (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 4 of 12 - There is a lot I like about this drama, except the weird central conceit of the naked dining. But the romance part is cute, if a tad simplistic.

My Story (Pinoy Sat YouTube) ep 4 of 10 - chukchuk went missing and so did my interest in this show. I’m DNFing this one.

Dancing together, the baby sub-trope of 2023. (The Day I Love You)

It’s Airing But ...

Love Syndrome (Thai Sat WeTV) stopped at ep 2 of 12 - I’m just not into any aspect of it (except Lee Long Shi) - saving to binge if the end is solid.

Venus in the Sky (Sat YouTube) pilot/tester?) 0 of 10 - not entirely sure what’s up with this one distribution-wise, but the pilot was classic university-set pulp. I hope it happens because the leads are cute with good chemsitry and I thought it was fun. However, this pilot holds together as its own little short too.

Stormy Honeymoon (Vietnam) - meh

In Case You Missed It

Actors Bas Suradej (2 Moons etc...) and Copter Panuwat (so much BL) have left Starhunter. So Copter and Kimmon will part ways as an on-screen pair (RIP KimCop). Their upcoming show Boy Never Smiles will still air, but will likely be their last together. (source)

Restart After Come Back Home (highly recommended), Athlete, Capture Lover, Tkumi-kun, His the movie (recommended) and also a bunch of the dark stuff like Forbidden Love and Shortest Distance are all leaving Gagaoolala soon. So watch ‘em while you can. A few are also on Viki, but many will be difficult to get hold of without Gaga.

I finally finished the second season of The Reason Why He Fell in Love with Me (Japan Gaga) and gave it a 4/10. I just don’t like or recommend any of the installments of this franchise, but if I had to pick, it’s season one.

Make a Wish finished at 6 eps. Stars Fluke Natouch (OhmFluke UWMA etc...) & Judo (The Miracle Of Teddy Bear) in medical-fantasy about a doctor who sees ghosts and a deity who resides in a Bodhi tree that earns merits whenever he fulfills a wish. Based on a y-novel by Sammon (Manner of Death, Triage). I will watch it if I get hold of it, but for now... who knows how it went?

Here’s a really interesting podcast ep from 99% Invisible on captions and captioning.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Coming in May 2023:

5/18 - Starstruck (Korea ????) - A boy has had a crush on his childhood friend for a long time. Stars Zuho (Kpop SF9 - noted good egg) opposite rookie actor Kim In Sung (the one with the crush).

5/27 The Luminous Solution (Thai ????) 10 eps - Thana is having trouble at work and in his relationship. He can't seem to catch a break. So he makes a wish to change everything. The wish has a price.

5/27 Takumi-kun Series 6: Nagai Nagai Monogatari no Hajimari no Asa (Japan) - NO ONE ASKED FOR THIS (but that has never stopped Japan before) and no, I have no idea where to get it, why would I ????? (Say it with me everyone: Oh Japan, must you?)

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

Defining Gut Wrenching from The Promise

Honestly you gotta be so careful who you case as the faen fatal, sometimes he steals everyone’s hearts. I caught a BAD case of second lead syndrome.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Future reviewing itself for us.

Tiny king of the GMMTV cameo. (Our Skyy et al)

Frankly if this weren’t such a bad story, Cher might be one of my favorite BL characters. (Boss & Babe)

(last week)

Current Kpop earworm? BTOB's - Wind & Wish (I don’t consider myself Melody but I make no case for that statement)

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popurikat · 4 years ago

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Newtmas essay when?

Finally getting to this, thanks for waiting, I needed to go over a few bookmarks. (Warning, this post contains spoilers from the MAZE RUNNER book and FEVER CODE book, so if you haven’t read either or yet and want the jist of my analysis; just know that in general the fandom interpreting Newt as gay before it was revealed on a twitter post was not just a random headcanon and that Thomas in general is portrayed to have very strong unconditional love for Newt throughout the series; and it shows. To the point that even the director for the movie has stated that Newt and Thomas have a strong bond and portrays that in the movies. I will also preface that I am NOT adding personal opinion anywhere here, these are just backings from quotes and how they are thus meant to be taken/read as. My words are taken as a reader who is currently reading Scorch Trials has yet to fully read Death Cure or Crank Palace.) Anways, without further ado at 3AM today, I’ll try my best to explain how even though Dashner tries his best to make Thomas have other, female love interests; he creates a not so subtle gay subtext for Tommy boy here when in the context of interacting with Newt throughout the lore. Apologies beforehand for any grammar mistakes along the way.

To commence, I am going to start with FEVER CODE, as its supposed to act as the story’s preface to the actual events that play out later. Newt and Thomas upon meeting each other describe their presence as “familiar” and or as a “long lost friend” and they genuinely hit it off from the start to the point that Newt is okay with having Thomas see him cry over the fact that he and his sister are separated since he is doomed to be WCKD’s control analysis as he’s the only one lacking immunity from the flare itself. Once Newt is done being emotionally vulnerable we get our first instance of his personal nickname for Thomas: “That’s the way things are Tommy,’ he said his voice not quite steady. ‘The world outside’s gone to hell. Why should we expect any different here? [...] He said it as if they’d been friends for years” (ch. 14). An interesting note here is that Thomas doesn’t bother to correct him or stifle the moment by feeling that all this information was too much, he genuinely wanted to hear Newt out and is fine with seeing this side of him; if not slightly taken aback by how natural it is that they can converse about such aspects of their lives. In fact, Newt makes such an impact on Thomas that Thomas ends up that same night dreaming of him: “Throughout his shortened night, he dreamed of Newt and Sonya. Of Newt and Lizzy“(Ch. 14). The thing with Thomas though is that the idea of comfort and connection is very foreign to him as he’s been basically isolated all his life with only the adults like Ava to talk to and the one exception being Teresa as his only kid companion. So Thomas didn’t even think he could make others like him for being himself unless they were vital to the overall production of WCKD. Seeing this portion right before the end of chapter 14: “Alby, Minho, Newt, Teresa. Thomas had friends.” shows that Thomas really had to deep dive to see how he deals with personal connections and why he was excited about the notion of friendship. He could’ve been happy with just Teresa, but only fully cemented her bond to him as “friend” when his circle grew and these kids he got to hang with taught him he can be himself, a concept he didn’t realize was possible when all his life was dictated on what he was supposed to learn or do. It becomes especially clear just how controlled his life is with the aspect of sentiment when later on Teresa’s mental communication evokes physcial pain and fear in Thomas. I’ll get back to that later as its more of a small tid bit of Thomas’ view on his forced love interest, Teresa. And yes, I say forced because multiple sentences with Thomas have him even wish he could cease all communication with her. Moving on, let’s talk about mimicking for a second. As humans, we mimic as a behavioral response to become closer to the person we care about. It’s the reason why yawning or laughter is contagious and or why we copy the posture of the person we converse with face to face. Thomas is seen to do this the most with Newt’s quirks. I’ll give the example in chapter 15: “Newt has been promising them that he was saving something special, and he did that annoying zipped-lipped sign every time [...] the little light in his eyes showed he enjoyed every second of their torture” versus Thomas: “Thomas did Newt’s zipped-lipped gesture, and that got him a sharp poke in the ribs”. So, we know enough that Thomas’ mannerisms are developing as a sign that he wants to be closer to Newt and to continue this sense of playfulness they both enjoy from the other. This is the start of their budding bond and a clear indication that they hold each other at greater fondness than the rest through this unconscious copying. Through this copying, they also pick up on emotional cues the other lets up on. Newt is especially good at noticing small things like when Thomas is anxious or overthinking: “He was just shocked that with all their exploring, the others hadn’t already discovered it on their own. And there were supposed to be TWO mazes. How had Newt and his friends not stumbled upon either one of them? ‘Tommy?’ Thomas realized Newt was staring straight at him, eyebrows raised. ‘Sorry,’ he said embarrassed, ‘wandered off for a second there what did you say?’ Newt shook his head in admonishment. ‘Try to keep up, Tommy Are you ready to see the grat outdoors?” (ch. 15). Also in chapter 23: “Tommy?’ It was Newt, breaking him out of his thoughts. ‘I can see your wheels spinnin’ up there.’ He tapped the side of his head”. This furthers Newts perceptiveness on his friend and Thomas’ ability to pick out when he is being looked after. And they bounce off each other really well in that aspect. To the point that Newt can crack a joke he knows will land right on Thomas’ sense of humor: “Newt waggled his fingers in front of Thomas’ face [...] A laugh exploded out of Thomas’ mouth that sent a spray everywhere. ‘Sorry’ he said, wiping his lips on his sleeve” (ch.15). It’s enjoyable to know that at least at a surface level, they have fun together and can cheer the other up if needed or know when to ground the other to reality. It is also through these instances that as a reader I pick up that Thomas’ nervous ticks perhaps allude to an anxiety disorder he has; of which Newt is aware of and never puts Thomas down on for exhibiting. He in fact understands it and deals with it accordingly as he himself has a similar circumstance. SO, what does all this paying attention lead to? Thomas’ devotion to protect Newt. Yeah, thats right I said devotion. Thomas’ actions are influenced by his developed instinct to protect Newt at all costs. Here is the biggest example that comes to mind: “What in the world happened to Newt? -- Less then two hours later, Thomas had spliced together a series of camera clips [...] Thomas turned off the feed. He couldn’t take it anymore...Newt, Newt, Newt, Thomas thought, feeling as if the very air around him were turning black.”(ch.52). Essentially, Thomas seeing Newt plummet to his near death by falling from the maze wall as a result of Newt’s ongoing depressive state, this is the moment that makes Thomas realize WICKD isn’t as good as they seem and that he is going into the maze to save Newt. Its admirable how much self sacrifice Thomas does for someone he cares so much about, to the point that their name is like a mantra. Thats a sensible area of passion and fighting spirit for someone who is “just a friend”. Oh and, the feeling of fondness is mutual mind you if I haven’t been clear. After experiencing the horrors of cranks for the first time, realizing Newt was not immune, and watching Newt until they entered the pits it has been months since they last interacted; this is their first reunion: “What’s up Tommy?’ Newt exclaimed, his face filled with genuine happiness at the pleasant surprise that’s been sprung on him. Thomas couldn’t remember exactly how long it’d been since he’d seen Newt. ‘You look bloody fantastic for three in the morning” (ch. 23). I need to preface this that Newt DOES NOT mean that sarcastically and that out of all the people in the room (Minho, Chuck and Teresa are there in this scene), Thomas only reacts this way specifically toward seeing Newt is okay and back. The characters are also not afraid of being physically close. “Well, look who the bloody copper dragged in,’ Newt said, pulling Thomas into a big hug” (ch.31), “They shook hands, and then the two of them set off...” (ch. 31), and my favorite: “Thomas jumped at the sound, then stumbled. Newt tripped over him, and then they were both laughing, legs and arms tangled in a pile on the ground”(ch.32). I don’t think this far in the novel, Thomas has been AS (emphasis on as) comfortable with touch with anyone else other than Newt. And thats a big step forward on the aspect of trust in a relationship, being able to be comfortable with the presence of another person enough to be as intimate with them as shown here. And all this, is just fever code itself. Mind you this is not the MEAT of the novels as it came out later. But even without it, lets look at Thomas in Maze now, I’ll try to keep this segment a lot more brief. Here’s Thomas looking respectively at boys his age: “A tall kid with blond hair and a square jaw...a thick, heavy muscled Asian kid folded his arms as he studied Thomas, his tight shirtsleeves rolled up to show off his biceps [...] Newt was taller than Alby too, but looked to be a year or so younger, His hair was blond and cut long, cascading over his T-shirt. Veins stuck out of his muscled arms”(ch. 2). Thomas’ initial reaction to being surrounded by boys is to deeply analyze their rugged good looks and heavily emphasize their best physical traits. When reading this the first time, my mind immediately thought this boy at the very least is supposed to be portrayed as bi, especially when later down the line Teresa gets a similar descriptor: “...despite her paleness, she was really pretty...silky hair, flawless skin, perfect lips, long legs.” So right off the bat, we know that be it boy or girl, Thomas emphasizes how attractive someone looks in his eyes when he truly does have a sense of attraction to them. Case closed. Within the same chapter we get Thomas also immediately clinging onto Newt for a sense of grounding, it is now ingrained in him at this point that the boy is his lifeline, a person to rely on. “Thomas looked over at Newt, hoping for help.” And help he does, Newt in this chapter helps ease his worries, explain a general idea of what the glade is and even pats him on the shoulder a bit to ease tension. And Thomas doesn’t bat an eye in the same way he’s weary of literally everyone else. In fact, he’s eager to stay put with him as shown with; “If Newt went up there, then I wanna talk to him.” And if none of that seals the deal, we got early bird Newt being so touch starved he flattens himself next to Thomas to wake him up at the crack of Dawn in chapter 6: “Someone shook Thomas awake. His eyes snapped open to see a too-close face staring down at him, everything around them still shadowed by the darkness of early morning...’Shh, Greenie. Don’t wanna be waking up Chuckie, now, do we?’ It was Newt --the guy who seemed second in command; the air reeked of his morning breath. Though Thomas was surprised, any alarm melted away immediately”. This whole scene follows firstly by Thomas once again impressed by how strong Newt is and then Newt giving him a rundown of what everyone else was too afraid to show Thomas, the grievers. And you know, this scene could’ve ended well and everything as totally platonic, but then we have “Newt turned to look at him dead in the eye. The first traces of dawn had crept up on them, and Thomas could see EVERY DETAIL OF NEWT’S FACE, HIS SKIN TIGHT, HIS BROW CREASED.” Now, look me in the eye and tell me there is a hetero explanation on looking at your best bro like they are the sun reincarnated themselves. But let’s not hog all the homosexual undertones with Thomas here. Wanna know what Newt’s initial reaction to having a girl in the glade was? “It’s a girl,’ he said [...] Newt shushed them again. ‘That’s not bloody half of it,’ he said, then pointed down into the box. ‘I think she’s dead” (ch.8). It’s actually a stark contrast to the other gladers eagerly wanting to know her age, how pretty she looked, and calling dibs to date her; Newt isn’t interested in any of that, he’s more perplexed on her status and not even bothering to remark on her looks, he was the only one not to and even remarks a few other instances that girls are more Thomas’ domain. For instance, he makes a joke in fever code when Thomas remarks that the girls in the institution were going to tackle him down, Newt proceeds to point out sarcastically something along the lines of “wait, isn’t that YOUR dream though?” So Newt is pretty out spoken of his disinterest in girls, and his full admiration and attention on Thomas. Oh, and yes, Newt immediately switches over to “Tommy” the moment Thomas mentions he hates being called greenie, and once again it just becomes a thing between only the two of them. Newt is also the one to be straight forward about the whole Runners business. He warns Thomas about the dangers and doesn’t necessarily turn him down on his desire to be one, he in fact encouraged him to just wait until the right moment. “No one said you couldn’t, but give it a rest for now”(ch. 15). So once again, Newt is the voice of confidence and reason for Thomas to prosper. In turn, this time around Thomas is the one to catch when something is bothering Newt. For instance, “Newt chewed his fingernails, something he hadn’t seen the older boy do before...he was genuinely concerned -- Newt was one of the few people in the Glade he actually liked ”(ch.16). Interesting how we went from fever code “friend” to “like”. And also, when Newt explains his concern about the runners not coming back yet, Thomas pieces together how scared Newt is of the Maze without being told and goes to stand next to him as a physical presence to ground Newt as they wait near the entrance. In fact, this piece is trivial to understand why Thomas does what he does next. When everyone else had given up on the Runners still outside with 2 minutes left til closing, and Newt was escorted away from the entrance, Thomas waited. And when Thomas saw them, he yells to Newt, realizes he’s too far to do anything, and makes a decision himself. He KNEW how much Newt cared about his fellow Gladers, they were like family or “kin” as its said in the book, so what does he do? “Don’t do it Tommy! Don’t you bloody do it!’ ... Thomas knew he had no choice. He moved. Forward. He squeezed past the connecting rods at the last second and stepped into the maze”(ch.16). Yes, Thomas does this because of his empathy for the Gladers, but the chain reaction of Newt’s concern is what sets his decision in stone. And yet again, Thomas enters the maze for Newt. And that’s pretty much the constant for the rest of Maze Runner the book, Newt just sticking up for Thomas and Thomas in turn just being happy that: “He was at least relieved that Newt was there” (ch.17). And thats basically their entire dynamic. Newt just going: “If you really did help design the maze Tommy, it’s not your fault. You‘re a kid -- you can’t help what they forced you to do” to ease the survivor’s trauma Thomas has, as well as saying “I actually believe you. You just don’t have an ounce of lying in those eyes of yours. And I can’t bloody believe I’m about to say this...but I’m going back in there to convince those shanks we should go through the griever hole, just like you said”(ch.51); and I think thats the most romantic thing to hear from him. Just right out being all for supporting Thomas no matter what happens as long as he stays alive and continues to fight, he doesn’t care about what happened before. And Thomas eats that up because it fuels him even more to seek out a means to escape for the people (Newt) that deserve a life outside of running from monsters forever. So essentially, I’ll state again, it’s always been Newt the catalyst for Thomas to run head first into the Maze and seek freedom. And with all this I can clear that these two are shown to if not be romantically involved, at least have unconditional love for the other that transcends the author’s original intention. And with that in mind, here’s the thing with Teresa as a love interest. I can list here quotes of every time she mind speaks to Thomas and how that affects him, but then this would be too long. And this is a newtmas post gosh darn it. Teresa is gleeful to humiliate, control, hurt, and force Thomas to believe they’re in love. In multiple instances we get her barging into his mind unwarranted making him understand that she has full access to his inner most thoughts. Theres nothing romantic about that, and I think its why Thomas ends up being so perceptive to the smallest of gestures that allow him to think on his own and feel like his own person. Something I’ve seen Brenda do later in scorch, and something I’ve seen Newt do since the very beginning is that they allow Thomas to come to his own conclusions in order to create his own opinions on the matters at hand. Thomas’ love language revolves around words of affirmation. He likes it when people confirm his thoughts are valid and that remind him that WICKD can’t hurt him anymore now that he has the power to be his own person. This is where Newt comes in very handy. He allows Thomas to grow in ways his female love interests have yet to show, sorry Brenda but I’ve heard you were trying to unite all immunes together to the safe haven by the end and in a sense still only using Thomas to get by; I still think she was the better call than teresa of course and I have no remorse for Teresa getting smushed by a boulder. But essentially my point here is that, how do you fail to make your initial love interests clash so badly where one has no real care about the others well being so long as everything goes according to WCKD by using a form of gaslighting and manipulation? AND THOMAS HAS STATED HIS DISCOMFORT ON THIS MULTIPLE TIMES, but the narrative always erases these instances from his mind in place of pity for Teresa’s well being (as you can tell, Teresa through this becomes my least favorite character, I can rant about her some othe time though with proper backing). The narrative in turn treats it all like a joke. I understand there are scenes where Thomas is worried about her and looks out to make sure shes ok, but even then he doesn’t know how to react with mental images of her kissing his cheek or when she screams the next minute that she doesn’t know who he is or how hes speaking into her mind. And thats because they can’t properly communicate their emotions to the other, not even in fever code could Thomas give a forward answer if he loved Teresa or not, she just assumed. Come to think of it, Thomas really doesn’t show much affection to Teresa of his own accord. So then, how DOES Thomas show his affection? Thomas provides acts of service as his love language, if he cares about you enough he will risk his life for you. Why? Because Thomas values putting the people he loves foremost knowing full well they are what help him have purpose and succeed in continuing on. In a way, Newt and Thomas’ dynamic works in this instance because they balance the other out and because they have seen each other at their worst and at their best. In a way, that's why knowing the ending of the books makes it harder to accept that Thomas would just easily take the shot...when all his life clung to Newt’s survival. But that’s a story for another time where I compare the movies (of which let me make that clear, yes I prefer) over the books. For now just know that the book may have done this by accident, maybe not, but at the end of the day theres solid proof that Thomas and Newt care about each other in a way that is separately portrayed from their connection to the other glade members, and have this consistency of soft moments running through the entirety of the series. In conclusion; newtmas. Newtmas. NEWTMAS, etc.

#Newtmas #long post #Skquill #ask #The ending gets a bit ranty with Teresa I must admit #but for the most part its just me recalling the best newtmas moments from the novels I've currently read #Please add on more newtmas proof to the thread

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podcasts-in-review · 4 years ago

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Wolf 359

Alright, to start out, let’s get into one of my favorite audio dramas of all time: Wolf 359!

Wolf 359 is a science fiction character drama about the crew of the USS Hephaestus, a deep-space research station orbiting red dwarf Wolf 359, and the daily struggles, funny antics, and life-threatening perils that come with their life among the stars. There are a total of 61 episodes across 4 seasons, with several hours worth of bonus content to supplement it, and the podcast is completed. Episodes range from 20 to 40 minutes long, and they noticeably get longer as the series progresses.

I personally love the way this podcasts blends comedy, horror, good character drama, and fantastic sci-fi action to create an incredible, character-driven narrative that packs a hefty emotional punch and will DEFINITELY leave you an emotional wreck. More than once. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Now, into the nitty-gritty:

Plot/Writing - 9/10 - The plot of Wolf 359 is intense and fast-paced, never really staying in one spot for longer than a moment. Though the podcast starts out slow, it quickly picks up around the end of S1, and never stops until the last episode of S4. Mysteries are continually established, explored, and revealed, leaving you constantly in suspense, and though W359 typically follows a more episodic format, the actions and character interactions taken in previous episodes have long-lasting ramifications and consequences on the world at large. Gabriel Urbina and Sarah Shachat do an excellent job in writing a very dialogue-heavy story, and integrating more monologue-y bits into the plot fairly seamlessly. I could definitely see this story being changed into a TV sci-fi drama series very easily, with only minimal changes needed to the writing.

Characters - 10/10: The characters of Wolf 359 are really a step above, to say the least. All of the crew of the USS Hephaestus are absolutely brimming with personality, and every major character gets at least some amount of character development, with Hera, Minkowski, Eiffel and Lovelace being the strongest on this front. The characters all have complex, meaningful relationships with one another that grow and change throughout the series, and lend so much emotional weight to the many hard-hitting moments of the series. While some of the characters may start out as one-dimensional tropes, they quickly grow to become so much more, and feel very much like real people by the end of the podcast.

Technical Aspects - 9/10: The voice acting in this show is simply fantastic, and the performances give plenty of life to every single character. Though Zach Valenti’s Russian accent as mad-scientist Alexander Hilbert occasionally comes across as corny and fake, my personal favorite performances are Zach Valenti as Doug Eiffel, Cecilia Lynn-Jacobs as Isabel Lovelace, and Michaela Swee as Hera. I never really had any issues distinguishing voices while listening, even with a large ensemble cast. In addition, the soundscaping and audio editing, from explosions to spacewalks to fights, is absolutely phenomenal and really helps to augment a purely audio story into something more. Using the same audio clips for similar situations (typing on a keyboard, opening a hatch, depressurization) can occasionally seem repetitive and annoying, but are crucial for establishing character action and a sense of place, even when we can’t physically see what the characters are doing. The music, when it comes in, is great and memorable, and includes everything from classical to ambient to more intense tracks.

Theming/Genre/Tone - 9/10: While in setting, Wolf 359 is strictly science fiction, it toys around with different elements of workplace comedy, character drama, action, and even horror to create a tone as varied and complex as its characters. I’ve been genuinely on edge listening to some of the scarier or more action-packed episodes, and the comedy in the lighter episodes is well executed and genuinely funny. This is the type of podcast that will make you laugh and kill off a character in the very same episode, and while these abrupt tonal shifts are common in this podcast, it only occasionally felt out of place. Also, so. many. pop culture. references. I swear to god, there are more pop culture references per minute than there are in Deadpool and it is a thing to behold. If you aren’t as familiar with a lot of sci-fi media, it can take some getting used to, but for me, at least, they didn’t detract from the story.

So, yeah, if you like Deep Space Nine, The Martian, or fantastic characters and a good plot that just so happen to be set in space, I would 110% recommend at least the first season of this show. Even if you only have a passing interest in sci-fi or have never listened to an audio drama before, I can guarantee there’s something in here for you to love.

#wolf 359 #podcast review #podcast reviews #audio drama #audio fiction #podcast recs #podcast recommendations #doug eiffel #alexander hilbert #renee minkowski #isabel lovelace #w359 hera #w359 review #alana maxwell #daniel jacobi #warren kepler #podcasts #podcast

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danwhobrowses · 4 years ago

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One Piece 1000 - 10 Confessions as a One Piece Fan

Although we did the Initial Thoughts a week ago (a long week ago, damn) which you can read here I wanted to do something for the official release of One Piece’s 1000th Chapter At first it started out to be ‘10 things I wanna ask Oda that I don’t think we’ll ever know’ but I couldn’t think of 10, then I was gonna do a General opinion post about it, but didn’t want it to come off too negative. So I am settling on a confessions post, which will have elements of these anyway.

So as we have a happy 1000, let’s talk about some stuff I usually don’t get to talk about in One Piece

Note: There will probably be spoilers so make sure you’re up to date

10. Late Beginnings I think the first confession I have to have is that despite being older than One Piece I am unfortunately not a ‘Day One’ fan. In fact I think I mainly got into One Piece around mid-Whole Cake Island arc, before I had of course known about One Piece, it was a ‘Big Three’ anime after all but the most I knew about it was that they had a guy named Luff-y and another called Zorro, and it was about ‘Pirates who can’t swim’. My curiosity only developed when in a youtube deep-dive of anime clips I kept being recommended One Piece clips, and decided to give a couple a go. Most of them were Paradise arc stuff from the anime, the dub voices were mostly atrocious so I stuck to sub. I was happily surprised about the amount of fun and emotional weight these clips gave me, which led me to check where One Piece was as of current and backtrack from there (Ironically I did the same with Beastars). I did eventually get caught up around the time of the Mafia Meeting and I’ve kept up with each chapter since.

9. I mostly still prefer the Pre-Timeskip looks When I first felt this I thought it to be pretty controversial, nowadays not so much. I understand that Oda wanted to change the look for many characters but some of them did feel like a downgrade. I think the ones who got it worst was Franky, I think it’s the bulbous shoulders, Franky was no stranger to body horror from Enies Lobby to Sabaody but I kinda preferred that he still had a lot of his humanity rather than looking like an action figure. Otherwise I think Robin, Nami and Chopper had it bad, maybe Brook too but his was more fashion than design; the women in general took heavy hits by Oda’s proportion design - I mean I get it boobs are nice but proportions are what make them better - but Robin also underwent a skin color change in the anime, who pre-timeskip shaded her skin darker than in the manga and corrected it to match the manga, I think most of us would’ve preferred Robin to have kept the darker skin tone and possibly even the fringe, Robin’s hairstyle (and her fashion in general) can be hit and miss. I go to and fro about Nami, other than the general waist and bust adjustments I think it fits her character to use her sexuality a bit, she was no stranger to that pre-Timeskip, sometimes though I can’t tell whether I preferred her with short or long hair (Short was definitely better on Nojiko), I do think though that Oda could have her show less skin, she is still very pretty in outfits such as Water 7, Thriller Bark and even her fake pirate disguise in the early chapters/episodes. Finally with Chopper I think it was a bad move to alter the hat, that was a memento from his father figure Hiriluk, it’d be like if Luffy altered his straw hat or Zoro replacing Wado Ichimonji, I do also feel that the design for Chopper’s points while easier to draw don’t look as good, I think a lot of it is the scruff, or lack thereof in favour of smoothness, Walk Point is fine but Heavy Point, Guard Point and Horn Point seem less threatening, Monster Point especially too, in Enies Lobby he looked like a cave painting of menace and destruction, now he’s smoother and his scruff lighter so it’s not as good. The rest of the designs I’m quite fine with though.

8. I wish some markings stuck as well Tattoos and Scars seem to be optional in the One Piece world sometimes, unless it’s branded in molten heat like the Dragon’s hoof, Sun Pirates logo or an attack from Sakazuki. While Nami’s redesigned tattoo has stuck around and Luffy and Zoro’s scars persist, they are mainly character reminders/mysteries for huge moments in the story, and I kinda wish that some of the Straw Hats had littler markings, not just scars either. For instance, the Alabasta X on the arm, I really wish that stayed on each of the Alabasta characters’ arms since it was a symbol of friendship with Vivi, I also wish that Luffy kept the 3D2Y mark on his arm. In terms of scars though it would’ve been nice to see the characters a bit more battle-worn; Zoro’s ankle scars from Mr. 3 have faded and frankly he should be covered in little and long scratches given his fights with Mr. 1 and 2 years of Mihawk Training, Nami’s shoulder scar is hidden completely by her tattoo and she has no scars on her hand (from fake stabbing Usopp) or foot (from blocking Miss Doublefinger), Usopp himself could’ve used some small scratches because lord knows how there’s even still bones in his nose plus he was in murder island for 2 years, Chopper could at least have a small bald patch from when his shoulder was impaled and burned by Shura’s fire lance too, other than that there’s just Jimbei’s potentially missing shoulder scar from Marineford, though Oda has kept it obscured a lot so maybe that is still there. I understand why Oda doesn’t or forgets to, but it would’ve been nice if we lived in a vacuum of no time limits and whatnot.

7. Dead End Adventure is my favourite One Piece film I don’t know what it is, but Dead End Adventure just gives me the most fun out of the One Piece films. It has a good side plot and the side character Shuraiya was a blast of a character. Granted, Gaspard wasn’t too good of a villain side for actually harming the straw hat and his defeat was a bit underwhelming but the race, the settings it was all fun. It is not to say I don’t enjoy any other One Piece movies, I delight in the horror fuel of Baron Omatsuri - and that killer final punch - and Z’s tragic tale of a fallen marine, Strong World has that epic entrance to the party and Stampede also had some great team up moments and fantastic writing for Usopp and Smoker but Dead End Adventure always feels like the movie I could watch in any mood.

6. Skypeia and Fishman Island are some of my favourite arcs While I can understand the criticism of the Long Ring Long Land arc (especially since the anime dragged out the Davy Back Fight) it surprised me that people found Skypeia and Fishman Island arcs to be boring or less entertaining than previous arcs. Everyone has their preferences of course but I felt that Skypeia and Fishman Island were very powerful arcs especially with the theme of racism. Both had glorious setting design different to the common customs of the world we had seen, Oda made both Skypeia and Fishman Island feel very much lived in with its own budding culture and prejudices, with a villain who was dead set on destroying everything just to have their way. With Enel and his priests we were able to push several characters to newer limits, with Robin showing her fighting capabilities, Zoro learning his projectile slashes, Chopper having to endure fighting 3 priests and even Usopp growing all the more braver in the face of seemingly indestructible opponents and later gaining access to the dials. With Fishman Island it was different because it was basically a ‘flex arc’: where the main villain is meant to be a stepping stone rather than a threat but even then the symbolism of the enemy is what’s significant with them, the inherited hatred of humans. But at the same time we do learn new strengths from the crew; Red Hawk, the use of armament Haki, Skywalk, Hell Memories, Franky Shogun, Usopp’s pop greens, Nami’s weather eggs, Brook’s Soul Solid and his new DF power (which is possibly an awakening), as well as the first true steps of Jimbei joining the crew. The biggest strength of both arcs is the flashback as well, like Wano would in present time both arcs demonstrated that Oda can carry a story without his main characters and still keep it as captivating as ever, be it the friendship of Noland and Calgara, the tragedies of Otohime and Fisher Tiger or the life of Kozuki Oden and the man who would be Pirate King. And the impact of Fishman Island and Skypeia’s flashbacks both come back around in Dressrosa with the dwarves and Koala, and Fishman Island really does kick off the whole Yonko saga with Luffy challenging Big Mom, these arcs were definitely significant as they were entertaining with silly faces, strong fights, challenging themes, lorebuilding, good side characters and unique twists. And the overall message of healing from the past is still significant to this day. Through Wyper’s sacrifice and the Bell ringing to Jimbei giving blood and the Ryugu royals wanting to attend the Reverie, it is all very powerful stuff and while the arcs are similar in nature its their similarities that make me love them. Also the cover stories with Enel and Gedatsu on their own mini adventures are fun

5. I really want to know where Ghin is Ghin/Gin was such an interesting character in Baratie. Given that this was right before Arlong Park too so we had not seen a character conflict with different loyalties in One Piece until then, his gratitude to Sanji against his loyalty to Krieg created a fantastically complex character, but then he left and we didn’t hear about him ever since. Did he survive Krieg’s poison gas? Is he still with Krieg? One reactor of the episode said “maybe he’ll become the next Don” which was a concept I kinda really liked. The guy was pretty strong given that he had bested Sanji at that time, and since he didn’t appear in a cover story my mind does wonder. It’s not just Ghin either, a lot of the early East Blue characters kinda fell off the map; where is Morgan? Last we saw he was sleeping as he sailed past Jango, where is Kuro? For someone wanting to resume piracy after some years off he has been very quiet, where is Krieg? Only Arlong and Morgan were arrested and the latter escaped so the rest of these characters are a mystery. Recently in Wano I am still wondering where Law’s crew that he brought to Onigashima went, as well as Caribou - where is that slippery bugger?

4. Basil Hawkins is probably one of my Top 5 Supernova There’s something about that dude I gravitate towards, which makes it quite frustrating when the anime decides to add extra malice and creepy faces to him. Hawkins in Wano is still a victim, if anything he is simply a prisoner with better working conditions, if he thought he could survive escaping Kaido he would but he doesn’t so he won’t, he’s also gonna feel sore about Drake betraying him and letting Law cut him up, so it annoys me that Hawkins is seen like a villain. Not only does he have an extremely interesting Devil Fruit and creativity with it but he’s also audaciously confident in his fortunetelling, even Luffy ran from Kizaru at Sabaody while Hawkins looked at his cards while Kizaru was about to boot him to holy hell and said ‘nah I’m not dying today’, you gotta respect that moxie. At the same time though as a pirate he has that shades of grey element, he’s okay with letting some of his crew be disposable and we don’t even know to what end, he doesn’t look like a guy too concerned about being Pirate King or having riches. I also get a good laugh in that his hobbies are interior design, it makes me really want to see what the inside of his ship looks like. I think as a top 5, I have Luffy, Zoro, Law, Hawkins and then Kid, Bege, Killer and Bonney are not far behind with Apoo dead last because fuck Apoo. Kid and Killer are cool but I do feel like they need a bit more character, Bege earned some points in being funny and his care for his family in WCI and then there’s Bonney - I really hope we dig into Bonney’s significance, she feels really important and that mystery keeps her fresh whenever we see her. Drake too has only really started to become interesting because of SWORD, we could still see more fleshing but for now he is like bottom 3. It’s a shame Urouge has to be so low, he’s not bad but he’s not spectacular either, gotta admire his hobby of lovemaking though, you do you Urouge.

3. I don’t think that either of the ‘Most Beautiful Women in the World’ are the Most Beautiful Women in One Piece The in-world consensus seems to be that the Most Beautiful Women in the World are Boa Hancock, Komurasaki and Shirahoshi, and granted they are very pretty, but the most? Not for me. I mean, y’all know that Nico Robin, Nami and Vinsmoke Reiju exist right? Makino as well is stunning, as are Tashigi, Bonney, Margaret, Ishilly, Nojiko, Vivi, Rebecca, Pudding, Perona, Cosette and I’m sure a few others, realistically I think they could all give them a run for their money. I get how for those three their beauty is a plot point (Boa it’s drilling home Luffy’s obliviousness to it, Komurasaki it’s the swerve of her not being awful and for Shirahoshi it’s due to Vander Decken IX pulling the creep factor on her) but it would’ve worked the same way without the ‘world’ hyperbole I think. As much as Oda is iffy with proportions and rarely writes women with as much attention as the boys he sure knows how to make them attractive.

2. Some of my favourite individual Straw Hat scenes aren’t in Canon If I were to have a top 5 moments of each character, it may surprise you that some of it comes from movies or filler episodes, particularly Sanji’s flexing on Jessica in the G8 Arc (in fact, Jonathon is one of my favourite marines, T-Bone is in there too, but I don’t have room to fit that). Some are of course obvious because of how iconic they are but it does go to show that sometimes filler isn’t all bad. Since you’re probably curious: As a Group Goodbye Merry [Enies Lobby] Entering Shiki’s Palace [Strong World] Walk to Arlong Park [Arlong Park] Entering the Grand Line [Reverse Mountain] vs a Stuck Oars [Thriller Bark] Jimbei Giving Luffy Blood [FMI] Vagabond Drill on Big Mom [WCI] Leaving the Big Mom Pirates [WCI] Returning in Wano [Wano] Trying to argue with Luffy [FMI] Brook vs Chess Soldiers & Big Mom [WCI] Flashback [Thriller Bark] Breaking Mother Carmel’s Picture [WCI] Baron Corpse vs Dog Minks [Zou] Hysterically laughing at seeing Duval [Sabaody] Franky vs Senor Pink [Dressrosa] Playing with the Kids [Punk Hazard] vs Fukurou [Enies Lobby] Freedom Roller [Wano] Trapping Caribou in the Barrel [FMI] Robin I Want to Live [Enies Lobby] Clutching Spandam [Enies Lobby] Throwing Usopp under the bus [G8] vs Yama [Skypeia] Clutching Tequila Wolf guards [Amazon Lily] Chopper Monster Point [Enies Lobby] Flashback [Drum Island] Chopper Man (& Minoru Kazeno) vs Usobada [Chopper Man Special] Don’t blow the whistle: Immediately blows whistle [Skypeia] Dr Chopper the definitely Human Doctor not wearing fake glasses [G8] Vivi w/ Karoo (she counts okay!) Goodbye speech [Alabasta] Escaping Bon Clay [Alabasta] Karoo Digging Luffy Out [Little Garden] Luffy Fan Club Meeting [Reverie] Slapping Usopp awake [Drum Island] Nami vs Kalifa [Enies Lobby] Standing by the kids [Punk Hazard] Saying goodbye to Bell-mere [Arlong Park] Helping Luffy vs Cracker via Lola’s Vivre Card [WCI] Luffy WILL be Pirate King [Wano] Sanji ‘I needed a light’ [Skypeia] Flexing on Jessica [G8] Saving the Vinsmokes [WCI] O-Soba Mask [Wano] vs Doflamingo [Dressrosa] Usopp Alabasta speech [Alabasta] Awakening Observation Haki [Dressrosa] Sogeking Theme Song [Enies Lobby] vs Perona [Thriller Bark] Saving Luffy from the fire [Stampede] Zoro Nothing Happened [Thriller Bark] vs Ryuma [Thriller Bark] vs Mr. 1 [Alabasta] vs Gyukimaru & Kamazo [Wano] “He’s sweeping our floors that fiend!” Test of Luck [Loguetown] Luffy ‘On the Sea, you fight Pirates’ [Wano] Red Roc [Wano] vs Katakuri [WCI] Haki clash with Doflamingo [Dressrosa] Punching Saint Charloss [Sabaody] I will have to say that for some characters I could go to 20 so if one’s missing it may’ve just missed the mark, such as Usopp and Nami vs Enel or Luffy putting back a Zombie or Stealth Luffy, I mean it is 1000 chapters as well as movies and filler episodes/specials...

1. I’ve learned quite a lot due to One Piece Since my fascination started with a deep dive of checks, I did start to learn a hell of a lot more not just about the franchise itself (you know it’s almost catching up BATMAN on total sales, which has been around more than 3 times longer?) but I also learned a lot about stuff Oda has used as a reference key; folklore, actual pirates, actual practices, the amount of detail Oda puts in is astounding. Which does lean into another thing I’ve learned, One Piece has changed the way I approach some of my ideas for writings and whatnot, before I would be afraid of either spoonfeeding or being too vague, Oda’s mastery not only in storytelling but character development, character quality and pacing has both helped and intimidated me a lot of times, I mean consider this: it took hundreds of chapters to get a proper backstory on Luffy, the main character, how unprecedented is that? Often I could fall into the trap of making sure you knew everything about the main character from day one but now I wonder about what’s necessary for the now and what can I work on. Another thing that both inspires and intimidates me is his drawing, I suck at colours and still do, and a lot of Oda’s attention to detail is incredible considering he’s gotta whip that out on the weekly, but at the same time you see some of his rough sketches and they’re pretty similar to a rough sketch of my own, so in a way it’s a ‘there’s still hope for you’ moment seeing those. I can’t say I’ve learned Japanese from listening to One Piece, but I have picked up on some stuff, some hiragana there, some phonetics here, I also appreciated some of the stuff kaizokuou-ni-naru does (I won’t tag them in case that’s a bit rude to do it out of the blue but check out their tumblr) when it came to deciphering the Japanese of chapters and the little puns and hints Oda puts in his native tongue. And of course any One Piece fan has learned one thing above all else: Patience. Oda himself included, it took over 20 years to get to 1000 chapters and we still have plenty of questions to ask, plenty of islands to see and thus plenty of chapters to go. So Straw Hats off to you Oda, and a happy 1000th!

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sealers100 · 4 years ago

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PART 2: A (brief) review of every Donald Sutherland movie (so far)

Wowee welcome back. Yes I’m still on this shit and I intend to finish it because this is probably the most fun I’ve had in quarantine apart from working night shift at a waffle house. (I wish I was kidding) I will admit this one might not be as long as the last post but I promised to deliver so here we go for part two.

Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors

I had way too much fun with this movie! The story was unique and entertaining with a creepy twist without being so scary I can’t sleep at night. It’s got not only Donald, but also Sir Christopher Lee AND Peter Cushing! Like you can’t get any more badass than that. The acting is pretty great and the music goes hard (there’s a whole segment about a musician and I’m nerding out). Donald is maybe 29 or 30 years old and its one of his earliest (his 4th) film credit and oh goodness his segment is just too much. This is definitely a must see for any Hammer Film fanatics or Sutherland fans, You’ll love it!

The Dirty Dozen

Talk about a throwback to my childhood. Again an old army movie I remember watching with my parents (however watching it again I probably shouldn’t have). The movie itself its great if your into things like Tora Tora Tora! and Kelly’s Heroes. Not a whole lot of Donald in it but what we do get it so worth it. For a “serious and professional” actor, he plays silly and weird soooooo well. I will admit this one isn't nearly as lighthearted as Donald’s scenes might make it seem. It’s an actual war movie with heavy emotions and lots of violence and is quite sad at the end (no spoilers don’t worry). It might not be one to make you cry but you can’t help feeling bad for his character. Personally I loved it but its a classic in my household so I’m a bit biased.

Start The Revolution Without Me

I quite literally choked on my coffee watching this one. Gene Wilder and Donald made a surprisingly hilarious pair and it worked so well!!! I already can’t get enough of Gene so of course this one is probably one of my all time favorite movies across the board. Basically its a switched at birth situation and takes place during the french revolution. I won’t give away too much but if you liked anything by Mel Brooks you’ll love this one. I really can’t say much without spoiling the funny bits but if you’re having a bad day, do what I did and curl up in your onesie with a bag of popcorn and let the laughter ensue.

Act of the Heart

(tw: self harm/suicide mention) Let me start out by telling you how hard it was fro me to find this damn movie and how ecstatic I was when I finally got to sit down and watch it. For anyone who doesn’t know me, my background is in vocal performance and I did a lot of work with the episcopal church in college as a soloist for churches, weddings, events and stuff so getting to see Donald as a CONCERT DIRECTOR just made my little heart explode. I was constantly geeking out at the musical parts and even got a bit of concert anxiety for the main character, Martha Hayes. She falls in love with him but of course he’s a priest (again) but this time he actually leaves the ministry for her. The movie itself is good (and the music gets my seal of approval as well) but there’s a quite a bit of triggering stuff so this one might be a bit difficult to watch for some. I will say some of these movies are quite hard to find and I had to scour the interwebs for them so if anyone wants a watch for anything on either of these lists, don’t be afraid to message me.

Little Murders

Okay so this one will be quite short because Donald is in it for a whole 10 minutes but he should have gotten a fucking oscar for it because I have never been so amazed and shocked by one of his roles as I was with this one. The movie is great if you’re into Elliot Gould (and his hair omg). But jesus Donald stole the ENTIRE MOVIE for that one brief scene. You can find clips of it on youtube just go watch it. Hell I’ll probably post it on my blog later. It’s honestly the best thing ever, and I want it played at my wedding.

Steelyard Blues

What is it with directors and casting Jane Fonda as a prostitute? I’ll never know but Donald probably had a hand in that decision because he’s the executive producer. The movie is not great by any means but its definitely not boring. Again something about him being silly and dumb he just does so well and its so jarring in this one how silly he can get. I quite enjoyed it actually and its a real change of pace for him because while I like his character, I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for him like I did for character’s like Casanova. I mean really he doesn’t hold back in portraying Jesse Veldini as an absolute fucking moron but I think we’re supposed to laugh at his misfortunes because they genuinely are funny (I think I just like watching him suffer) And it’s really entertaining. Again, I think Donald could have easily had a career as comedic actor but it’s nice to see how easily he can switch moods.

S*P*Y*S*

Another Donald and Elliot movie and this one is pretty hilarious too. (I’m loving these funny feel good movies) The two of them are CIA spies who aren’t stupid but definitely got the short stick in their agreement with the Russians. The plot makes sense but the way it’s gone about doesn’t really click. The Dynamic between him and Elliot is always fantastic and fun to watch so it makes up for the lack of sense this movie makes. Sorry this one couldn’t be longer but there would be much to say without writing a synopsis and I’m too tired to do that for any of these.

Day of the Locust

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT! I mean jesus christ this movie was a horror show. The film itself is fine, its a great movie, but oH mY GoD!!!! Let me start by saying I didn’t watch the final scene with him in this movie because its fucking brutal and I just knew it wasn’t gonna be the kind of thing I’d needed to see. (Or anyone) Yeah I’d issue a few trigger warnings for this movie. OKAY so Donald’s character is named Homer Simpson (I’m not kidding) and my god I thought I had low self esteem, he’s literally the saddest most miserable and lonely character I think I’ve ever seen him play and he gets used by Faye Greener (Karen Black) who can go sit on a cactus for all I care, I hate that she’s the main character and the way she treats Donald is HORRIBLE AND I HATE IT. God this movie messed me up for a straight week afterward and I’m still not over it. He cries a lot in this one and just stooooooop please I can’t take it I know his character isn't accurate to the book its based on but it just makes me feel bad for him seeing Donald’s character slowly being destroyed by the toxic people around him icanttakeitanymoremovingon.

The Eagle Has Landed

I don’t know the first thing about the animosity between the Irish and the English all I know is that they don’t get along sometimes and Donald’s character this time is I think a NAzi SymPathizer?? I could be wrong but he does help them try to kidnap Winston Churchill (weird). There’s a strangely deep romance between him an a 19 year old girl (uh?) but it doesn’t really come to fruition. Overall it’s a hell of a spy movie and with fantastic performances from Robert Duvall (no I wasn’t able to recognize him) and Michael Caine. It’s a fun movie and Donald’s accent is of course, awful (just the way I like it) and steals the show yet again.

The Disappearance

Interesting fact, Celandine (the main character’s wife) is actually played by Donald’s real life wife, Francine Racette. So it makes for quite an interesting dynamic between the two characters that feels very realistic. This is a hitman movie that takes place in I think Montreal (hard to imagine a lot of Canadian hitmen) And has a surreal feeling about it through the whole movie. Again this was a difficult one to find at first and there is actually two version. One being 80 minutes and the other being 100min. I’m not sure why it was split like this but I’ve seen both versions and they aren’t missing anything they’re just structured differently. It does feel a bit weird watching love scenes knowing that she is is actual wife but it does feel very realistic. Overall the movie is pretty good if you want to see lots of him and his wife. Don’t worry I’m sure their relationship is a lot better than what’s portrayed in the film!

National Lampoon’s Animal House

If you don’t know the story of Donald and this film, here it is. He was originally offered 2% of the films earnings to be in it. Thinking it would be a flop, he refused and asked for his usual flat rate of 45,000. The film was a his and his 2% could have easily been upward of 1.2 million, and this was back in 1978. He later quoted this as one of his biggest regrets of his career. Overall his scenes are quite short but oh so funny. (This list is either very serious or very funny) I like to imagine he put a lot of himself into this role. I definitely had some professors like him in college.

Threshold

Come to think of it, I watched this one so long ago I think I forgot to put it on the last list I did. I was really surprised by how genuine this movie felt. Like everyone really put a lot into this movie but it didn’t get nearly the recognition it deserved. Its a medical drama so that probably why, but it’s got an adorably young Jeff Goldblum and I can’t help but love him and Donald in every scene they’re in together. They play off each other pretty well most of the time and I didn’t really see anything wrong with this film other than it might have been on the lower end of filming budgets but it wasn’t a bad movie. It deserved better.

Ordeal by Innocence

I wish I could say the same for this movie. On it’s own its an alright film. On it’s own the soundtrack is fine too. But when the put the two together It was jarring as hell. The acting and story were okay and could have been fine alone but the soundtrack really broke any chance this film had of being taken seriously. I would have loved to seen it just on it’s own. Donald’s character is for once a genuine kind of ass that I really don’t like but it’s Agatha Christie, all her characters are assholes. This film really had potential but it shot itself point blank in the foot with the music.

A Time to Kill

Jumping forward to the 90′s, this movie is a classic based on a John Grisham novel and wow did I get invested! Donald isn’t in the film a whole lot but he does feel like an integral part of the plot and I really enjoyed him and Matthew Mcconaughey on screen together. Along with Samuel L. Jackson and Sandra Bullock. This movie is just fantastic and I normally don't like court dramas. Now what’s also interesting that not only is Donald in this one but so is Keifer. Sadly these two don’t share any scenes together and I don’t think they really got to work on set together except maybe once. Also Keifer’s character is a horrible racist. If anyone gets in your face about confederate flags being “heritage, not hate” show them this movie, Kiefer will take care of that one..

Space Cowboys

And last but not least, possibly my favorite one on this list. Everyone in this movie has the best film dynamic!! It’s funny, it’s endearing, and even kinda sad at times. The whole film feels genuine between all the lead characters, especially with them al being easily over the age of 65. As for Donald, He’s a smooth talking, dirty old man who hits on anything that moves but I’m sorry it just cracks me up. I don’t think this one should be taken too seriously but I just can’t help but fall in love with this movie. Cowboys, Space, Clint Eastwood and Tommy Lee Jones mean-mugging while Donald laughs and chases after women just makes my day.

Okay this one might have been a good bit longer than the last one so the reviews had to be a bit shorter this time. I would do some research for a lot fo the more serious film on these two lists just because I don’t have the time to issue trigger warnings for every film. I may put out a part three, at least I’m going to try to but I’m working 12 hour days lately so I don’t have as much time to watch stuff as I used to but I’m sure some of your guys do. If you’re having trouble finding a film don’t be afraid to let me know and I’ll do my best to hook you up with some *quality* content. I know I’m having a hell of a hard time finding his older credits and the movie Blood Relatives (at least a version in english) Let me know what you guys think, if you agree or disagree with my opinions. Have fun watching!

#Donald Sutherland #still not tagging every movie #I may end up with a dedicated side blog one day who knows #movies #film

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twentiethcenturymoviesandtv · 4 years ago

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Growing Pains: Genre and Themes

At first, it seems that categorizing a sitcom as anything but a comedy doesn’t really seem possible. After all, ‘comedy’ is literally part of the classification. (As is ‘situational’, but situational doesn’t tend to be considered a genre.)

As such, it may seem like this article is, for the most part, kind of unneeded. I mean, the entire point of a sitcom is to be funny (Unless you’re Married With Children). Doesn’t that, in and of itself, make it a comedy?

Well, not exactly.

Like I’ve mentioned in other genre articles, very few pieces of media can be placed in only one genre category. Even the most seemingly one-note examples contain elements of other categorizations, which makes sense. No show is designed to fit solely in one box, and the best shows fit into several. While it is true that most shows can be categorized neatly into one main genre, the fact is, a piece of media tends to predominantly carry characteristics of one specific genre, while sharing many elements of other genres. That’s where things get tricky.

You see, not all sitcoms are created equally ‘comedic’. You may have noticed that some tend to include ideas from different genres.

Bewitched is what happens when you combine a fantasy idea with a sitcom format. Mork and Mindy and My Favorite Martian are science-fiction sitcoms. M*A*S*H is a war dramedy. The Addams Family is a horror aesthetic matched with a traditional family sitcom style. All of these shows are funny, true, but this also makes my point:

A sitcom is not necessarily only a comedy.

As a matter of fact, more than anything, a sitcom is a format, into which the story and characters must fit. While a genre is the result of the style of the story and characters, a sitcom is a format first, with characters and stories designed to fit into and around that format. With that in mind, many sitcoms had chances to play around with genres of individual episodes, while remaining true to their format.

With that in mind, we’re going to be analyzing Growing Pains to determine it’s genre, use of comedy, and how it fit into the format given to it. Let’s take a look, starting with the opening credits.

See, the opening credits of a television show do more than just show the audience the characters and who plays them. The opening credits set the mood, give the viewer a preview as to what to expect. The music, combined with the clips used, tell the audience what is to come. Star Trek has a stately instrumental theme with the overlaid narration: Space…the final frontier, giving the audience a sense of the adventures to come. Cheers overlays pictures of bars and their patrons, paired with an extremely recognizable tune.

So, how does Growing Pains open?

The opening sequence to each Growing Pains episode is set to the same song (albeit there are different versions): “As Long as We’ve Got Each Other”. Not only is the song incredibly catchy, it’s also a sign of what’s to come. In the first season, it’s played over pictures and artworks of family life in general, but for the remainder of the show, it’s changed to images of the main cast in various stages of life. Thus, in the opening sequence of every show, the audience quite literally watches the cast grow up, before the final shot is typically one of the entire family as they are in this particular season of the show.

What does that tell the audience?

This isn’t a trick question.

The opening credits do everything possible to tell the audience that they are about to watch a show that is wholly centered on a family. The opening is done with affection, nostalgia. It’s a homey invitation for the rest of the show, and the viewers infer that, despite interpersonal conflicts and traditional family fights, in the end, they are a family, and they do love each other.

So, how well does that reflect the show itself?

Growing Pains was very standard sitcom fare in that it was full of jokes, part and parcel with the obnoxious laugh-track expected at the time. By the same token, it was also a sweet family show (though not as cutesy as Full House, for which we can thank our lucky stars). Most importantly, it was about the people within the family. In that, not only does the intro definitely reflect the content, it also connects quite a lot to our genre question.

In each genre article, we discuss the very important fact that the genre is the product of the type of story and characters in each piece of media. Back to the Future is a science-fiction-comedy because the story is centered on soft science fiction elements as well as being comical, and the characters fall right in line with that. The Wizard of Oz is a fantasy movie because the story and characters are fantastical. Big Trouble in Little China is…a mystery. Not a mystery story, just a mystery in general. Nobody knows what it is.

That’s beside the point.

The point is, the characters and plots for each medium have a lot to do with how they’re classified, and the same holds true for Growing Pains.

Like I mentioned in the ‘story’ article, the show is centered on the Seaver family, and their individual lives. And while they aren’t exactly true-to-life, totally realistic events, they do tend to be exaggerated reflections of real-life scenarios. And life, as it turns out, doesn’t really have much of a genre.

There are scary Halloween episodes, tragic episodes, just plain funny episodes, and dramatic episodes, because that’s life. Life is sometimes scary, funny, dramatic, or sad, and Growing Pains and its characters didn’t shy away from that, because they couldn’t. By trying to depict an exaggerated version of life, the show, whether intentionally or not, had no choice but to adapt with it the idea that the ‘stories’ of life don’t tend to have a ‘genre’, they tend to just happen. There is no ‘event’ that happens every episode like car chases on The Dukes of Hazzard.

At least, nothing besides that laugh track.

Despite this, that doesn’t mean that there were no constants in story style. There were always a few things to expect in most episodes.

I mentioned the laugh track above as a mostly humorous aside, but in all seriousness, Growing Pains is a comedy. This isn’t a surprise, it is a sitcom, and the laugh track just cinches it, but it’s more than a comedy. There’s a lot of this show that speaks to some element of drama, as well.

While it’s true that Growing Pains never reached the levels of sobriety that M*A*S*H did (small wonder, as one show is about a family, and the other is about a war hospital), the show didn’t tend to sugar-coat big decisions and their effects on the family. It wasn’t always big drama, (the episode where Jason and Maggie fight after Maggie feels that Jason disrespected her in public) but it was drama, relatable drama for the audience at home. The humor was based on characters and their interactions with one another, how we could tell what kind of thing individual characters would say, rather than slapstick or goofy scenarios. Thus, the humor and the drama tended to go hand in hand. Typically, the laugh track didn’t tend to intrude on an emotional scene just because we need more laughs in an episode.

With character-driven shows like Growing Pains, family shows tended to be more focused on slices of life type events, and situations that didn’t fix themselves. There were always laughs, but there was more weight to the show’s plots than excuses to use jokes. It was, by no means, one of the more gimmicky sitcoms of the ‘60s.

Is Growing Pains a comedy show? Yes, absolutely. Unquestionably. But it’s also something more.

Audiences remember the jokes, sure, but they also remember the episode where Jason doesn’t want to help his mother’s dying second marriage because he doesn’t like the new husband. They remember Carol’s boyfriend dying in the hospital after drunk driving. They remember Maggie and Jason dealing with age as they welcome an unexpected baby into the family.

You know what that is? Drama.

Good stories, with memorable characters.

In the end, that’s what people took away from this show. Individual jokes tended to fade, but the audiences who watched the show didn’t forget the people involved, or the experiences they had. They still hold up, and modern audiences can still relate to those characters and their experiences.

Speaking of the characters, they certainly deserve some discussion as well.

Join us next time as we take a look at the Seavers themselves, and figure out what made them a stand-out sitcom family! In the meantime, drop an ask in the ask box for any discussions, questions, suggestions, or just to say hi! Thanks so much for reading, and I hope to see you in the next article.

#TV #Television #TV-G #Growing Pains #80s #Family #Comedy #Alan Thicke #Joanna Kerns #Kirk Cameron #Tracey Gold #Jeremy Miller

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laylainalaska · 5 years ago

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Torchwood 1x01-1x08

Since I’ve been posting Torchwood rewatch episode reactions over on DW, I may as well post them here too!

Cut with a readmore because long and also spoilery. No specific S2 spoilers except set off in its own section.

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1x01: Everything Changes, aka Torchwood is the worst-kept secret in the greater Cardiff metropolitan area. The episode with the infamous date rape via alien aphrodisiac. I have made the deliberate choice to compartmentalize this/pretend it never happened due to TV writers being notoriously terrible with recognizing the real-world implications of fantasy aphrodisiacs and sex magic (there was just a scene like this in The Witcher in 20-fucking-20), and treat it as what it is clearly supposed to be in context -- unethical but basically harmless misuse of an alien artifact -- instead of what it really is. But I recognize that this is a personal choice and I also hate this writing decision and wish they'd picked literally any other way of making this particular point, for the record. Anyway ... the rest of this episode other than the fucking date rape was a lot of fun, though. Torchwood is the worst secret quasi-governmental agency at being secret. THE ACTUAL WORST. I love the team trying to keep straight faces and then giggling when Gwen enters their secret base, and the entire base set is just so fantastically bonkers; I really really love it a lot. There's literally a fountain in the middle of it and, like, random water everywhere?! And a pterodactyl. And the invisible lift, with Gwen's wry comment about how there's nothing to stop random pedestrians from falling down it. It's possibly the most utterly bonkers secret spy base outside of kids' cartoons and I love it. 1x02: Day One, aka Murder By Orgasm. In which the show classes things up with an alien who kills people (men only!) via orgasm. Choices were definitely made in this episode. Many choices. For sure. Owen continues to be a total sleaze because the writers think it's funny. Also, his survival when the sex alien targets him makes absolutely no sense at all. He's literally the only person she left alive, and she's in the throes of sex-energy withdrawal at the time. In short, this was an episode that happened. There were a few cute team bits but really not enough to redeem it. 1x03: Ghost Machine, aka Burn Gorman Is Very Pretty. Not that I am biased. He is so pretty in this episode. SO PRETTY. Also, for a refreshing change, Owen manages not to be creepy and sexist at all in this episode. He's just prickly and kind of sweet. I like this Owen. I want to keep him. This episode overall was really a lot of fun, aside from (or perhaps also including) the most unintentionally hilarious death of a redshirt ever, in which he goes to hug Gwen and she accidentally stabs him with the knife she's holding. But overall it's so great! The Owen arc was my favorite - I love how affected he is by the memory device (the scene where he's clearly having a panic attack and trying to keep control!) and how determined he is to get justice for the murdered girl, only to be essentially brought down by his basic decent nature and inability to kill an old man in cold blood. Owen trying to save the guy's life when he was holding a knife on him thirty seconds earlier breaks me a little bit. Lots of fun team scenes in this one, too. The Splott conversation! ("Estate agents call it Sploe.") 1x04: Cyberwoman, aka CYBERBIKINI! Here again, Choices Were Made, most of them by the costuming department with a side of deeply uncomfortable racial implications on the part of whoever cast the episode. To be fair, maybe they just couldn't afford enough tinfoil to cover CyberLisa entirely, since the budget for this episode was clearly three shoestrings and a potato. I don't know if my favorite part of the low-budget f/x is the way they're clearly splicing in Doctor Who clips for the cyberization process, or the fall of Torchwood One, a giant battle involving hundreds of participants that is represented by Ianto screaming while surrounded by plastic sheeting. Honestly, I really love this episode. It is not good by any stretch of the imagination, but there is something incredibly charming about its sheer commitment to utter batshittery and OTT sobbing over emotional team betrayals, and parts of it were incredibly tense. It has the general feel of a horror film shot by college theater majors. Also someone getting doused in barbecue sauce and fed to a pterodactyl is literally a plot point, and the team basketball game at the beginning is one of my favorite little team moments; it's so cute. Cyberbikini aside and with expectations properly lowered, this was terrific fun. 1x05: Small Worlds, aka Death By Hanahaki Disease. On the whole this episode was not terrible nor was it memorably unpleasant; it was just kind of there. In going back to write about the episodes, I really had trouble remembering what even happened in this one. The concept is really interesting, but the fairies stopped being nearly so creepy once you actually see them in all their low-budget-CGI glory; I think the episode would actually have been better if they'd stayed invisible. The flower petal deaths were really gross. I hadn't realized that, while Gwen (unlike the rest of his team) knows that Jack can die and come back, she didn't actually know before this episode that he's much older than he looks. 1x06: Countrycide, aka Don't Split The Party. WELSH MURDER VILLAGE. I loved this episode. This is the ridonkulous teamy sci-fi horror shenanigans that I'm here for. I mean, I was there with bells on for TEAM CAMPING TRIP and then it just got better and better. Ianto gets to go out in the field for the first time and nearly gets eaten by cannibals! Poor Ianto. His life is the worst. I sort of vaguely knew because of season two that there was Owen/Gwen in the first season, but what really caught me off guard is how much I enjoyed it. I was expecting meaningless sex with a side of skeeve, and I do really hate that she's cheating on her boyfriend and how pushy about it Owen is at first, not to mention outing their kiss to the whole team. But the crazy thing about it is, by the midpoint of the episode they're actually, genuinely very sweet, and by the end of the episode you can see what they're both getting out of the relationship and get the feeling that it's a positive human connection for both of them. Also, the near-kiss and teamwork in the woods was incredibly hot. I really loved (and was also surprised by) how loyal and protective Owen is toward his teammates. We saw it a little bit in the previous episode with his "Don't you touch her!" re: Gwen, but it's abundantly on display here, from Owen repeatedly insisting that they need to go after Tosh and Ianto, to his fury at the guy threatening Tosh, to his captor having to restrain him when they pull the hood off Ianto's head near the end. Love Jack's big-damn-hero entrance to the Murder House, and everyone running around screaming and getting separated and hurt, which is always a good time. Basically I just loved this episode. It needed more hurt/comforty aftermath, though. I might have to write some. 1x07: Greeks Bearing Gifts, aka Tosh Has An Alien Girlfriend. I really loved this episode, on the whole, but it is Made Of Ouch. As well as Tosh's isolation and hurt, there's also that bit where she hears Ianto's thoughts and it's just endless painpainpainpain. I like to think that after this episode, she started getting together with him for drinks occasionally and talking about things. They both need friends so badly. (I do not love Jack's random transphobic comment near the end. From JACK of all people. WHY.) And seeing Tosh's delight and squee when she gets to just geek out about things is so lovely. Tosh is absolutely a person who leaves her teammates notes with little hearts on them. I love her. ♥ (Also, as much as I love Owen personally, I really wish that so much of Tosh's storyline didn't revolve around her hopeless crush on Owen. Toshiko deserved better, in all ways, than what this show gave her.) It's too bad that Gwen and Owen's affair is, on the whole, a rather destructive thing, because they're really happy! They're like the only happy people in Torchwood at this point. It's not a grand love story or anything, but I felt like the sheer joy of that initial rush of infatuation was well conveyed and sweet. Owen's relationship with Tosh in season one is completely baffling to me. He's not only staggeringly oblivious to Tosh being into him, but she's literally the only woman at Torchwood that he doesn't hit on. And yet, it's not that he doesn't like her! He clearly does like her in a friend kind of way and enjoys hanging out with her. The card that Mary was looking at in Tosh's apartment looked handmade to me, so he literally made her a handmade birthday card! And yet, he is blindingly oblivious to her interest and rejects her every time she makes overtures. ... I mean, the meta-reason is probably just that the writers thought it would be funny if the character who always sleeps around doesn't notice the one person who really wants him. But I can't help wondering if the basic issue is that Owen has somehow, without really intending to, classified his relationship with her as basically a sibling-type one. We know from the flashbacks in season two that they both joined Torchwood at about the same time and were both in a very emotionally fragile place when they did, and Jack also has a very quasi-parental sort of vibe with both of them. It makes me wonder if Owen either tried to initiate something early on and was rebuffed because Tosh wasn't really coping well either, or if he met her at a point in his life when he was really not interested in having relationships with anyone and simply classified her mentally in a sort of little-sister category. This actually does fit very well with the sometimes bullying, sometimes playful and sweet, generally sexless way that he relates to her this season, and the way that he clearly does care about her and in fact is very protective at times; he just doesn't view her as a target of romantic interest. Anyway, Tosh was very beautiful this episode, and her alien girlfriend was also quite hot, and I really enjoyed it. 1x08: They Keep Killing Suzie, aka I don't think anything I could come up with is better than the actual title. The scene in which they've accidentally locked themselves in their secret underground base and have to call the cops to let them out is possibly my favorite scene in this entire show. That was GOLD. I also wish the cop lady from this episode had come back. She was great, and her rapport with Jack was really neat. Part of what I want to say about this episode contains massive season two spoilers, so that's set off in a spoiler section at the end. This was a highly entertaining episode with a plot that was total nonsense that falls apart within 0.2 seconds of actually thinking about it. Good emotional stuff, yes! Plot? BONKERS. I mean, Suzie's plan was something like this: 1. Drive someone insane by feeding them Retcon for two years. 2. Kill yourself. 3. ???? 4. Profit! I am just going to headcanon that the team are actually wrong about Suzie planning all of this, and it's mostly an accidental set of circumstances that she took advantage of. I did love the twist of Suzie wanting a deathbed reunion with her dad not because of love, but because she wanted to watch him die because he's terrible. (However, this does completely undermine what was previously given as part of her motivation for getting addicted to the glove, which was trying to save her dad. See above re: plot nonsense.) But the team stuff was fun! Love everyone scrambling to save Gwen, and Owen holding her at the end -- I'm still seeing them through a lens of mostly-platonic more than romantic. The general vibe with the team pulling together vs. Suzie having basically no one in Torchwood to talk to is really interesting; it's hard to say how much of that is the team having gotten closer over the course of the season, and how much of it is just Suzie not really ever bonding with her co-workers the way they bonded with each other. I mean, I do get more of a co-workery vibe off them early on, as opposed to the chosen-family feeling later on, but the closeness is there under the surface; I'm just not really sure if they've realized it yet. But with Suzie, it's hard to say if the closeness ever really was there. They're all damaged in their various ways, but I feel like Suzie might be damaged in a way that simply precluded her ever really being able to let people in, as the others are learning to. Ianto's visible depression at this point in the show is mostly down to Gareth David-Lloyd's acting, but it's so well done -- his flat affect and thousand-yard stare, especially contrasted against his dry, sarcastic humor when he's not miserable (mostly in season two). The other Ianto-related thing I noticed is that the warmer, more bantery rapport between Ianto and Owen in season two is actually present in this episode to some extent, for perhaps the first time ever. In particular, Owen makes him smile at one point by teasing him (the only time Ianto smiles in the last few episodes, I think, up until he's with Jack at the very end), and offers him the first shot at naming the knife in spite of Ianto's artifact names being genuinely terrible - like, trying to include him a little bit, in a way I haven't seen Owen doing with him before. There's a general feeling throughout this episode that Owen has warmed up to him a bit and is actually reaching out a little. And Ianto and Jack are sleeping together now! I don't know when that happened and I wish we'd seen more of the beginnings of it. It's nice to see Ianto smile, though. Season two 1x08-related spoilers:

Watching this episode after having seen Owen's resurrection glove arc in season two was FASCINATING, especially for the compare/contrast of the way the team reacted to resurrected!Suzie vs. resurrected!Owen; I mean, the fact that she died in the process of betraying them after becoming a serial killer is obviously a large factor here, and they were somewhat wary of Owen too, but there's just so much more ambivalence in how they deal with Suzie, vs. the way that Owen's death and resurrection actually brought the team closer together, and brought Owen closer to all of them.

But the most interesting contrast to me is how Owen and Suzie, as characters, both reacted to the whole idea of having to survive by killing people, with Jack trying (unsuccessfully) to argue Suzie out of allowing Gwen to die, whereas Owen's immediate reaction to finding out that his survival might be killing people (just random people too, not teammates) was to try to sacrifice himself, not just once but multiple times, starting with a fundamentally horrible euthanasia-type death and continuing on to destroy the resurrection glove himself even though it was likely to re-kill him. Why yes, I can turn any episode discussion into an Owen discussion, even an episode he wasn't especially prominent in.

#torchwood #owen harper #ianto jones #toshiko sato #jack harkness #gwen cooper #torchwood episode reactions

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nancydrew65 · 6 years ago

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SKAM NL Season 2 Episode 1 Recap

Time for my favorite remake! I love Liv and the Dutch girl squad, so I am excited for this season!

Good Morning

Well, this has got to be the best season 2 opening sequence ever. It’s also a completely new scene, so yay! I love the comparisons between Liv and Noah’s morning routines.

Aaaah, the parallel shots of them painting their nails. Noah really is the epitome of an artsy fuckboy.

And then the music cuts out when Liv sees Noah. “What the fuck are you doing here?” Liv is already more aggressive than Noora, and not gonna lie, I am here for it.

Also, how does Noah know where Liv lives? Isn’t that slightly creepy?

The older lady, walking in between them just made my day.

Awww, they flipped each other off? Are they going to be like Mia and Alexander where using middle finger becomes their sweet romantic gesture? I hope so!

And damn, Noah had to really run down those stairs to catch Liv. He is out of breath. I wonder if the actor (is his name Monk?) actually ran down the stairs. If so, props to him.

Liv rides off into the distance on her bike, and so begins Season 2.

Too Late

Those opening shots were everything! And then it cuts back to the reality with the bell.

Oh, Kes. I see you winking at Isa, I see you.

Again with the story about Imaan and her oma. Do we know what happened to the actress? Because that is a really obvious excuse, and I remember last season she wasn’t in as many of the scenes. Please let us not lose Imaan. Pleeeease!

Another ignorant remark on behalf of Engel. But I can kinda tolerate it with her. She was the Vilde who seemed more interested in connecting with Imaan, even if she went about it the wrong way.

Janna’s weird conversation about flashers made me smile so much.

Oh, Noah comments of Liv’s hair and she immediately takes her hairband out.

Engel thinks he’s looking at her. Oh, how I wish we wouldn’t go into this storyline. It’s awful for everyone, except maybe William/Noah.

Who is this Jayden guy? Was he the one who came to the cabin trip? Why does he need to move somewhere? I guess he ends up living with Liv. It still feels kind of weird. I wish Skam NL would have given us a little more information on that matter.

Skinny Bitch

Wow, that is one hopping house party! I’m with Liv, “on a Thursday?”

We see Dutch Eskild, his name is Ralph.

Isa and Kes check out girls on a dating app. Oh, they are so drunk. So, I guess this is kind of like that scene from Season 2 in OG, but ..... not.

Jayden trying to pick up a girl in his closet of a room is kinda funny.

Oh, dear. Skinny Bitch. In Season 1, Skam NL didn’t really go into Engel having an eating disorder, so I wondered if she would develop one this season. I guess, she will.

Isa and Liv spy Lucas and a random girl making out. “I guess he was just curious?” I don’t think so, Liv, I don’t think so.

Liv takes out the garbage and promptly drops it right outside of her door. Is that a thing in the Netherlands. Like if you live in an apartment complex, is there someone who picks up the garbage from your front door? I hope so because she just left it there.

I do like that moment where she just gazes out at the city. I wonder where Noah and Liv will go for that whole “first date” because Liv already has a fantastic view from her apartment. Or maybe they won’t go with that storyline? Please, please.

Aww, Liv happily watching all the girl squad out on the floor like a proud mom. And then she goes to join them to dance. What a sweet clip.

Brakkiekakkie

I won’t even pretend to understand what the title of this clip means.

Janna spitting nuts into a planter box while all the other girls are just trying not to vomit.

The girls are waiting for Jayden. That’s sweet. He is a new addition to the story, so I wonder how he will fit into Season 2 madness.

We meet Esra! Look at SKAM NL, casually throwing in diversity. I’m proud of my little remake. I’m guessing Esra is the equivelant of Linn? She seems cool and way more helpful than Linn ever was.

Was there a spark between Esra and Janna? Am I imagining things? That would be a really interesting storyline to pursue. A lesbian romance with a Muslim.

That far off shot of the girls at the balcony, the camera sliding across all the girls in the classroom. SKAM NL is experimenting with all these stylistic shots and I am loving it. They give the show a very distinctive feel, while still remaining very authentic. Just how SKAM should be.

So, the girls need to throw together a benefit to raise money for their city trip. Cool, gives the season a focus. Also, Isa correcting her pronunciation of Talinn was a cute callback to season 1 when Imaan schooled all the girls in how to pronounce it. But that just reminds me of how we are missing Imaan. Bring! Her! Back!

Oh, that text from Noah. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there this morning.” It is kind of stalkerish that he is showing up at her door every morning, but also kind of sweet? Like William only ever harassed Noora through texts. Showing up at someone’s house, day after day, seems more sincere. Or just more like a horror movie, IDK.

Lucas being smooth with the ladies. Although I’m not quite sure why Engel had that face when he walked over to the girls. Was it because they were talking about him?

“He’s a chick magnet” “I wouldn’t be so sure of that” Damn, that was savage Isa.

It Will Be Alright

Isa, Kes, Lucas, and Jayden killed me with those whale sounds. They are so stoned; at least its a Saturday.

Also, Isa is actively participating. So, I guess she was only mad that Kes and Jayden dealed Ritalin last season. I mean that makes sense. Dealing prescription drugs is a lot more dangerous than smoking weed.

This is more of a relationship with her parents than we saw from Noora. Her dad seems more interested in the state of Liv’s music career than he does about how his daughter is doing. Maybe he’s a big shot in the music industry and that’s why he has no time for her?

Oh, clearly Liv’s dad thinks she has already submitted her music to the record company, but Liv is too afraid of rejection and has held off on it.

I think this is really interesting. We get to see more of Liv’s passion for music. I really hope they develop this storyline more, especially considering Zoe Love Smith, Liv’s actress is a singer in real life.

Almost Finished

Aww, that quick glimpse of a photo of the girl squad. I can’t wait to have more scenes of the girl squad.

That shot of Liv fractured in the two mirrors while speaking along to the lyrics was so beautiful! The cinematography in this show is on point!

Is Ralph in a bunny one-suit? He doesn’t even close the door when he pees. But I agree with Liv; it’s worse that he doesn’t wash his hands afterwards.

Damn, Noah’s twirl! Those were some high-class moves.

Liv is so done with him.

The older lady makes another appearance. She is quickly becoming my favorite character. Theory: She represents the audience and how we should feel about Noah (aka sympathy). Nah, I’m just kidding.

General Thoughts

I really enjoyed this episode! I’m really glad they haven’t got into Noah manipulating Engel to get to Liv. I hope they won’t ever go into that storyline, but that might be too much to hope for. I will say, though, without that element of the story into play, the episode doesn’t have as much of a dramatic arc. Not that I wish they put it in; I much prefer this mellow episode to Noah acting shitty towards Engel. SKAM NL changed up a lot of things. I love that; I am all for remakes exploring new avenues and doing their own thing. I hope they keep changing things up; it makes the viewing experience more exciting. So far, I am not feeling like I want to throw a book at Noah, which is a plus. He seems better than some of the other Williams. I hope he keeps up his good behavior. So, as I was watching I was thinking, “Where’s Noah?” and I saw that a lot of people in the comments of the clips felt the same. And I was struck by a terrible epiphany. We, as a fandom, have come to associate Season 2 with Noorhelm, rather than Noora herself. And I think this is partly due to OG SKAM because they didn’t do a good job making a distinction between the two. Just comparing this episode to SKAM Austin (which I am also watching live), there is an appearance or reference to Daniel in every single clip of episode 1. In SKAM NL, there were two whole clips where Noah was not mentioned once, and one clip where the only reference to him was one text he sent Liv. I think this is great progress and hope that SKAM NL continues this trend and focuses more on Liv as a character rather than her as on half of Lioh (or Noliv. What is their ship name?). I think bringing in her music is a great start. I can’t wait to watch more of this season.

#skam #skam remakes #skam reaction #skam nl

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westcoastbroadway1443 · 6 years ago

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Be More Notes: my very long ramblings on BMC as I finally listen to the whole thing

Ok! I’m finally doing it! Now that the cast album is out I’m going to really give all of Be More Chill a listen, try to put the things that annoy me about the show aside, and give it a fair chance. And have decided to do running commentary here for the nobody who gives a shit lol. Going in I wanna say I’ve heard 4 full songs and random bits of other songs from the original soundtrack. And I’ll be listening now to the OBC album plus watching a b**tlg, I’m not totally sure when it took place I just know Will Roland is in it so at the very least New York. Keep in mind whatever I think of this show, if I end up hating it, if you like it you’re right. My opinion in no way invalidated anybody else’s or is above anyone else’s in my eyes, frankly I don’t enjoy not liking things, it just means I don’t get to come to the party and that’s not fun. So I might be poking fun at the show sometimes but if this speaks to you, that is fucking awesome! Also I’m old now and I guess no longer the target audience for stuff like this.

Spoilers for those who haven’t watched the show and don’t want to know stage stuff because I’ll be commenting on that. This ended up being really long, eh.

More Than Survive -ok this song I’ve heard before, and it both turned me off the show and also made me respect the hell out of it, because much like I give a salute to Black Mirror having the balls to make pig sex their pilot, I salute a musical that starts with jerking off -So far like Roland a little more than the previous guy. From what I’ve gathered from clips, while that dude is hella talented and cute as a button I kind of buy Roland as a terrified, desperate, frustrated high school kid more -Man I really do dig the hell out of the score and there is no denying this is catchy but some of these lyrics are so cringe -WHY IS A TEEN IN 2019 REFERENCING JOE PESCI?! -Ok I love the idea of a short bully calling somebody “tall ass” -I do like Jeremy’s body language better in this one. Also does he vocally remind anyone else of Max from Goofy Movie? Maybe this song just reminds me of “After Today” for no reason. -“super pimp” “mac daddy game”....OK! I’m going to try not to list every time I cringe. I just have questions -You don’t want to be Clooney...high school child in 2019 is Clooney really your reference for cool? Sorry I just struggle with this stuff because I keep hearing how this show is so in touch with kids these days but I just see:

-lol Michael came on and people went apseshit in the audience. All my nitpicks aside I bet this room probably has some great energy. -..Michael the clerk at 7/11 doesn’t pour your slushie, it’s self serve. Are you trying to seem cool to Jeremy right now? -Aah the boyfriend backpacks. I know of this ship -Yeah Christine brings the flutes!!! I was a flute player, we never get love -HAHA when Christine is doing her weird ass dance, in the recording I’m watching somebody right in front of the person recording just went “I don’t get this show”. Like me too darlin, but you got 2 hours left so suck it up -Oh but sir, check the playbill. The story is indeed about you -in summation this song kind of encapsulates everything I feel about this show, good performances and catchy as fuck and musically interesting and a lot of me asking “why”.

Play Rehearsal -Well Christine is adorable -wow wait what? wtf was that weird self harm comment??? Are we just gonna skip that??? -Ok I was a band kid in HS so I guess I don’t get this level of extra. Band rehearsal is just tuning and then fucking around until somebody makes you play Bach -...is Christine ok??? -Ok I think at least for now I may hate her. But I like that Jeremy likes her, likes her passion and such. I approve of her conceptually! I just don’t wanna be around her -I thought play rehearsal was gay, Rich?! WHAT YOU DOIN AT PLAY REHEARSAL RICH?! -...I mean I’ve seen Romeo and Juliet as a zombie wasteland movie, I would watch Midsummer zombies

More Than Survive Reprise -”least I didn’t have a breakdown and have to go the nurse” Ok fair, I can relate to that high school experience -this set is kind of working for me, basic but fun and the floor is neat -I know high school bullies are a thing I guess? But I always just saw them in movies? Now Middle School bullies were legit and terrible and I got the shit kicked out of me, but by HS I feel like everybody was too into their own shit to care much about anyone else?? Maybe that was just my school -Will Roland’s body language is real good in this show

The Squip Song -Oh! Surprise Rich lisp. Creative way to show how this thing alters you -..ok now we know about Rich’s dick size. I mean hon your short, maybe your penis is just proportionate? -DO I DETECT SOME THEREMIN IN THIS ORCHESTRATION?! Gimme all the theremin! -Ok so the squip made him be an asshole? Does he secretly want to be buddies with Jeremy? -Ok what the fuck are the people in the background doing here?!? -I know people ship Michael and Jeremy but I feel like Rich kinda wants to jump that tall ass??

Two Player Game -Ok the little sign for the game that came up was cute -These guys are kinda cute, even if I wish they’d tone down Michael’s “I’M QUIRKY!! YOU GET IT?!?” shtick -That is accurate! Y’all will be cool in college and I don’t see that brought up often -This is the first time I’ve found the choreography fun -...why is this dad allergic to pants?? -ah. Depression=no pants. And now I get why Jeremy’s so desperate not to stay as he is. Well points for making it not just about the girl -awww Michael is his bae -bro I’ve heard Loser Geek Whatever, you’re tellin lies right now to your buddy -LOL! WTF IS THIS WINDOWS SCREENSAVER OF A VIDEO GAME?!? -oh wow dancin went off the rails here at the end

Squip Enters -Mountain Dew? Well, better than Surge I guess. -Ok the Ecto Cooler line legit made me laugh. And I guess I could come down on the show for making Michael psyched about a drink that came out before he was born, but I have a pretty intense Crystal Pepsi obsession and that shit came out when I was maybe 4? So I get it Michael, you go enjoy your liquid ghosts -well that squip thing doesn’t look fun -Oooooh Ok Keanu is like factory setting, alright I’ll accept this. Though I will say this show would be 35% better if he was dressed like Keanu from Bill and Ted

Be More Chill Prt 1 -Hey stop shitting on Jeremy. I think I kinda like him -wow Keanu, I didn’t think you’d be so mean -I mean everyone chanting “everything about you sucks” is just how peeps with anxiety feel constantly. Eminem shirt ain’t gonna fix that -”Jerry-me” ok Will Roland is kind of making this work for me. -Him repeating everything the squip said is a fun little sequence. Like I dig this conceptually, scifi musicals are rare and can be neat - Lol the hate who they hate thing is pretty accurate

Do You Wanna Ride? -hey Jeremy what about Christiiiiine

Be More Chill Part 2 -the beginning of this song broke me a little. Hey! I’m feelin a thing! -this song is pretty fun! It works! -though the cast of like 10 people that just keep putting on different wigs make it feel like a high school play or a starkid production

Sync Up -ok so now I know I’m watching previews? Because sync up isn’t here -I do think this song is a really good addition. I mean it’s not like a stand out fantastic song but it does a good job getting across the themes and drives home the whole “everybody has problems” thing too which I like -Ok..dairy line was weird.

A Guy I Could Kinda Be Into -Ok the weird girl fighting stuff about Jake is unpleasant and sort of unnecessary -a squip gives you a deep voice and the ability to kinda do accents. Cool -ooo this is catchy, this is gonna make the spotify playlist -the goofy background hearts are cute. I still don’t know why she’s into Jake or why she’s friends with Jeremy or if they should be together since legit the only thing she thinks they have in common is theater which he doesn’t care about..but this song is still cute -lol squips understand friend zone

Upgrade -DID THIS SHOW JUST KILL EMINEM?! -How did the squip know that?! Does Eminem have a squip?? I mean it kinda makes sense.. -Don’t you see Jerbear?! The key to popularity is in this girl’s vagina! Happy they cut the “I’ll tenderly guide you just take me inside you” thing, little creepy -Why did Jake make a kicking motion to illustrate cricket? I’m like 85% sure Jake doesn’t know what cricket is... -the “feel all the feels” like is a little goofy but I really like the rewrite for this song, showing some depth of character. Good job, show! And I’m seeing some chemistry between these two, but I don’t know if I’m meant to? -Oh no! The whole “you looked at me” thing from Brooke was so sweet and sad. And the player two thing. Yeah this OG version of this song can go fuck off, the rewrite is a really good tune. I’ll admit the original maybe built up the horror a little, the squip sounds more threatening coming in at the end but I like where there going making this about everyone and not just Jeremy

Loser Geek Whatever -Squip blocked Michael?? You’re a dick, Keanu Reeves -I didn’t love this song when I first heard the single but hearing the version on the album and the stripped down piano version, I really really like it. Gives me some of those old geek feels from back in the day -sort of surprise by how little is happening on stage though? I sort of assumed something was happening as the song built? But nope, just Will rocking his wee heart out -LOL! What is Squip’s new outfit???

Halloween -Ah, it’s this show Big Fun. This is a lot catchier than Big Fun though -I went to exactly one of these kinds of parties in HS, just replace Halloween with punks after a rock show and add a lot more drugs. I didn’t hide in a bathroom but I did hide next to the stairs until my mom came and got me. Memories!! You know what this show is succeeding I suppose, it’s making me have HS feels -...is Jake dressed as Thomas Jefferson? -Jenna you’re too cute for that costume. You should get to wear something sexy too! Unless you just dig clowns in which case enjoy yourself hon -Ooooooh Prince, I get it -this is not this show’s fault at all but I struggle with dancing in shows. I mean the title of my blog is The Girl Who Used to Hate Musicals because I did, and while I love them now extended dancing sequences still take me out of a show real fast. I know I’m in the minority here -...what the fuck is that weird fuzzy thing with the big teeth -Hot damn! Go Rich! Dancin fool

Do You Wanna Hang? -I don’t like any part of this plot line... -Ok! Didn’t realized she was dressed like a “sexy baby” so the diaper line sort of horrified me. I mean it still does! I just understand it now

Michael in the Bathroom -hey the bathtub! Ok I know enough to know what happens now -Jeremy why you gotta be so mean -I mean what is there to say, great song. I wondered if they’d change anything for the new recording and I dig the arrangement, especially the stripped down acoustic guitar and piano parts!! Also as a lady who maybe once or twice since discovering this song has gotten tipsy and sung it karaoke-like, appreciate the slower and the higher. It’s not a lot, just a bit, but makes it less of a struggle to match. Thanks bro!

A Guy That I’d Kinda Be Into (Reprise) -Finally! They’re both giant doofs but I see some connection! And I mean my roommate and I have noises we always make at each other like a call and response, so I gets it -He asked it! So proud. Rejected but proud of the boy, and rejected for good reasons

The Smartphone Hour -Heard part of this song before. Really like this Jenna more than original Jenna, her performance was a little much for me -This is one of those songs where I really do feel like I’m watching a HS original production..but a good one? Maybe cause I haven’t seen something like this on Broadway, but that’s a good thing. Always good to see new kinds of things on Broadway -lol what is the middle of this song?! I feel like I’m suddenly watching a cheer squad or like a John Waters inspired musical, which from what little I know of Joe Iconis I think he’d be cool with that comparison

The Pants Song -Jeremy don’t be mean to your dad! -Yipes is this the Break in a Glove or Dead Gay Son of BMC?? -....yeah it totally is -”Do you love him??” Has Jeremy’s dad finally given up on finding a girl in Jeremy’s room? -Ok ok I’m gettin the ship

The Pitiful Children -So squip just looks like this now, I thought maybe he was just being fancy for Halloween -Hot damn Jenna! Why were we savin that voice?! -I feel like I’m missing something with these weird hand motions the squip is always, do they actually mean something? -goosestepping...alright. Oh no Jeremy did the hand motions, I think that means a thing

The Play -Jeremy is being so creepy but he means well? I guess? -lol using the play to spread the squips is pretty clever -wtf red mountain dew? Really? You know what fuck it, discontinued drinks for the win. Maybe my saved bottles of Crystal Pepsi will stop an apocalypse one day! -Michael’s entrance was cute, and hey he just happens to have code red. I wish ecto cooler was what shut it off. -The glitching voice is crazy when Jeremy is fighting Michael and I love the way Jeremy is sort of bobbing up and down in fighting stance like a video game character, Fun touch -squip is making Jeremy go all Idle Hands! -I prefer the recording version of the guys making up, the whole “I just wanted to be liked” “I just wanted to be seen” thing -the squip has to be so extra even in death

Voices in My Head -hey lispy Rich is back! And bi now I guess? -Oh is that why people think Michael/Jeremy are a thing? The squip blocked Rich’s bi thoughts from him and it blocked Michael from Jeremy’s vision? I mean it would be an interesting story, I’d take it. -This might be my favorite song and I don’t really know why, I don’t super love that Jeremy still gets Christine in the end but I just love how this song sounds -I’ve never heard a character wearing pants get an applause? -improved lyrics in the Broadway version, and since it got more into the popular kids as people you can kinda see why they’d still stay friend with Jeremy -”I’ll throw you a rope home slice if you need some dope advice” like is this parody? What is this?? Well..still my fav song despite this line. A line they liked so much it’s the one original popular kid line they kept in the new version??? -don’t know if I see much future for these two, but Jeremy’s reaction to the kiss was cute -”Of the voices in my head the loudest one is mine” is my favorite line of the show -lol Rich��s little sneak hug. I feel like Rich always wanted to be friends with Jeremy? Or had a crush on him and that’s why his squip made him beat Jeremy up? Is this pairing a thing?

Final thoughts: This was so stupid long, nobody read this but that’s ok! It was fun to take notes anyway. Listening to it all, I liked it more than I thought I would, especially with the lyric changes. I don’t know if I would like it as much if it wasn’t Will Roland, the dude just really made this character likable when he could very easily not be. Some of the lines still bug me, there’s still a lot of cringe here but there’s also a lot of good stuff. This show introduced me to Joe Iconis and I’m slowly falling in love with him from his other work and CANNOT WAIT for Broadway Bounty Hunter because that sounds so like my jam. Overall I do get why people like this show, especially younger people because you can relate to the characters but maybe you want something a little peppier than DEH. I don’t think this is a soundtrack I’m going to ever listen to all the way through, but I’m for sure grabbing a handful of songs and sticking them on my musical play list. And when this thing goes on tour and ends up in LA, I think it would probably be worth checking out if I can, looks like a fun watch. Though with all the young fans and internet fans if they’re smart they’re gonna record this bitch.

#Be More Chill #BMC #joe iconis #Will Roland #musicals #musical review #jess babbles about a thing

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grigori77 · 6 years ago

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2018 in Movies - My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 1)

30. MANDY – easily the weirdest shit I saw in 2018, this 2-hour-plus fever dream fantasy horror is essentially an extended prog-rock video with added “plot” from Beyond the Black Rainbow director Panos Cosmatos. Saying that by the end of it I was left feeling exhausted, brain-fried and more than a little weirded-out might not seem like much of a recommendation, but this is, in fact, a truly transformative viewing experience, a film destined for MASSIVE future cult status. Playing like the twisted love-child of David Lynch and Don Coscarelli, it (sort of) tells the story of lumberjack Red Miller (Nicolas Cage) and his illustrator girlfriend Mandy Bloom (Andrea Riseborough), who have an idyllic life in the fantastically fictional Shadow Mountains circa 1983 … at least until Mandy catches the eye of Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache), the thoroughly insane leader of twisted doomsday cult the Children of the New Dawn, who employs nefarious, supernatural means to acquire her. But Mandy spurns his advances, leading to a horrific retribution that spurs Red, a traumatised war veteran, to embark on a genuine roaring rampage of revenge. Largely abandoning plot and motivation for mood, emotion and some seriously trippy visuals, this is an elemental, transcendental film, a series of deeply weird encounters and nightmarish set-pieces that fuel a harrowing descent into a particularly alien, Lovecraftian kind of hell, Cosmatos shepherding in one breathtaking sequence after another with the aid of skilled cinematographer Benjamin Loeb, a deeply inventive design team (clearly drawing inspiration from the artwork of late-70s/early 80s heavy metal albums) and a thoroughly tricked-out epic tone-poem of a score from the late Jôhan Jôhannsson (Sicario, Arrival, Mother!), as well as one seriously game cast. Cage is definitely on crazy-mode here, initially playing things cool and internalised until the savage beast within is set loose by tragedy, chewing scenery to shreds like there’s no tomorrow, while Riseborough is sweet, gentle and inescapably DOOMED; Roach, meanwhile, is a thoroughly nasty piece of work, an entitled, delusional narcissist thoroughly convinced of his own massive cosmic importance, and there’s interesting support from a raft of talented character actors such as Richard Brake, Ned Dennehy and Bill Duke. This is some brave, ambitious filmmaking, and a stunning breakthrough for one of the weirdest and most unique talents I’ve stumbled across a good while. Cosmatos is definitely one to watch.

29. THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER’S WEB – back in 2011, David Fincher’s adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s runaway bestseller The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo became one of my very favourite screen thrillers EVER, a stone-cold masterpiece and, in my opinion, the superior version of the story even though a very impression Swedish version had broken out in a major way the year before. My love for the film was coloured, however, by frustration at its cinematic underperformance, which meant that Fincher’s planned continuation of the series with Millennium Trilogy sequels The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest would likely never see the light of day. Even so, the fan in me held out hope, however fragile, that we might just get lucky. Seven years later, we have FINALLY been rewarded for our patience, but not exactly in the fashion we’ve been hoping for … Fincher’s out, Evil Dead-remake and Don’t Breathe writer-director Fede Alvarez is in, and instead of continuing the saga in the logical place the makers of this new film chose the baffling route of a “soft reboot” via adapting the FOURTH Millennium book, notable for being the one released AFTER Larsson’s death, penned by David Lagercrantz, which is set AFTER the original Trilogy. Thing is, the actually end result, contrary to many opinions, is actually pretty impressive – this is a leaner, more fast-paced affair than its predecessor, a breathless suspense thriller that rattles along at quite a clip as we’re drawn deeper into Larsson’s dark, dangerous and deeply duplicitous world and treating fans to some top-notch action sequences, from a knuckle-whitening tech-savvy car chase to a desperate, bone-crunching fight in a gas-filled room. Frustratingly, the “original” Lisbeth Salander, Rooney Mara, is absent (despite remaining VERY enthusiastic about returning to the role), but The Crown’s Claire Foy is almost as good – the spiky, acerbic and FIERCELY independent prodigious super-hacker remains as brooding, socially-awkward, emotionally complex and undeniably compelling as ever, the same queen of screen badasses I fell in love with nearly a decade ago. Her investigative journalist friend/occasional lover Mikael Blomkvist is, annoyingly, less well served – Borg Vs McEnroe star Sverrir Gudnasson is charismatic and certainly easy on the eyes, but he’s FAR too young for the role (seriously, he’s only a week older than I am) and at times winds up getting relegated to passive observer status when he’s not there simply to guide the plot forward; we’re better served by the supporting cast, from Lakeith Stanfield (Get Out, Sorry to Bother You) as a mysterious NSA security expert (I know!) to another surprisingly serious turn (after Logan) from The Office’s Stephen Merchant as the reclusive software designer who created the world-changing computer program that spearheads the film’s convoluted plot, and there’s a fantastically icy performance from Blade Runner 2049’s Sylvia Hoeks as Camilla Salander, Lisbeth’s estranged twin sister and psychopathic head of the Spiders, the powerful criminal network once controlled by their monstrous father (The Hobbit’s Mikael Persbrandt). The film is far from perfect – the plot kind runs away with the story at times, while several supposedly key characters are given frustratingly little development or screen-time – but Alvarez keeps things moving along with typical skill and precision and maintains a tense, unsettling atmosphere throughout, while there are frequently moments of pure genius on display in the script by Alvarez, his regular collaborator Jay Basu and acclaimed screenwriter Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things, Locke) – the original novel wasn’t really all that great, but by just taking the bare bones of the plot and crafting something new and original they’ve improved things considerably. The finished product thrills and rewards far more than it frustrates, and leaves the series in good shape for continuation. With a bit of luck this time it might do well enough that we’ll finally get those other two movies to plug the gap between this and Fincher’s “original” …

28. ISLE OF DOGS – I am a MASSIVE fan of the films of Wes Anderson. Three share placement in my all-time favourite screen comedies list – Grand Budapest Hotel, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou and, of course, The Royal Tenebaums (which perches high up in my TOP TEN) – and it’s always a pleasure when a new one comes out. 2009’s singular stop-motion gem Fantastic Mr Fox showed just how much fun his uniquely quirky sense of humour and pleasingly skewed world-view could be when transferred into an animated family film setting, so it’s interesting that it took him nearly a decade to repeat the exercise, but the labour of love is writ large upon this dark and delicious fable of dystopian future Japanese city Megasaki, where an epidemic of “dog flu” prompts totalitarian Mayor Kobayashi (voiced by Kunichi Nomura) to issue an edict banishing all of the city’s canine residents to nearby Trash Island. Six months later, Kobayashi’s nephew Atari (newcomer Koyu Rankin) steals a ridiculously tiny plane and crash-lands on Trash Island, intent on rescuing his exiled bodyguard-dog Spots (Liev Schreiber); needless to say this is easier said than done, unforeseen circumstances leading a wounded Atari to enlist the help of a pack of badass “alpha dogs” voiced by Anderson regulars – Rex (Edward Norton), King (Bob Balaban), Boss (Bill Murray) and Duke (Jeff Goldblum) – and nominally led by crabby, unrepentantly bitey stray Chief (Bryan Cranston), to help him find his lost dog in the dangerous wilds of the island. Needless to say this is as brilliantly odd as we’ve come to expect from Anderson, a perfectly pitched, richly flavoured concoction of razor sharp wit, meticulously crafted characters and immersive beauty. The cast are, as always, excellent, from additional regulars such as Frances McDormand, Harvey Keitel and F. Murray Abraham to new voices like Greta Gerwig, Scarlett Johansson, Ken Watanabe and Courtney B. Vance, but the film’s true driving force is Cranston and Rankin, the reluctant but honest relationship that forms between Chief and Atari providing the story with a deep, resonant emotional core. The first rate animation really helps – the exemplary stop-motion makes the already impressive art of Mr Fox seem clunky and rudimentary (think the first Wallace & Gromit short A Grand Day Out compared to their movie Curse of the Were-Rabbit), each character rendered with such skill they seem to be breathing on their own, and Anderson’s characteristic visual flair is on full display, the Japanese setting lending a rich, exotic tang to the compositions, especially in the deeply inventive environs of Trash Island. Funny, evocative, heartfelt and fiendishly clever, this is one of those rare screen gems that deserves to be returned to again and again, and it’s definitely another masterpiece from one of the most unique filmmakers working today.

27. VENOM – when Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man saga came to a rather clunky end back in 2007, it felt like a case of too many villains spoiling the rumble, and it was pretty clear that the inclusion of bad-boy reporter Eddie Brock and his dark alter ego was the straw that broke that particular camel’s back. Venom didn’t even show up proper until almost three quarters of the way through the movie, by which time it was very much a case of too-little-too-late, and many fans (myself included) resented the decidedly Darth Maul-esque treatment of one of the most iconic members of Marvel’s rogues’ gallery. It’s taken more than a decade for Marvel to redress the balance, even longer than with Deadpool, and, like with the Merc With a Mouth, they decided the only way was a no-holds-barred, R-rated take that could really let the beast loose. Has it worked? Well … SORT OF. In truth, the finished article feels like a bit of a throwback, recalling the pre-MCU days when superhero movies were more about pure entertainment without making us think too much, just good old-fashioned popcorn fodder, but in this case that’s not a bad thing. It’s big, loud, dumb fun, hardly a masterpiece but it does its job admirably well, and it has one hell of a secret weapon at its disposal – Tom Hardy. PERFECTLY cast as morally ambiguous underdog investigative journalist Eddie Brock, he deploys the kind of endearingly sleazy, shit-eating charm that makes you root for him even when he acts like a monumental prick, while really letting rip with some seriously twitchy, sometimes downright FEROCIOUS unhinged craziness once he becomes the unwilling host for a sentient parasitic alien symbiote with a hunger for living flesh and a seriously bad attitude. This is EASILY one of the best performances Hardy’s ever delivered, and he entrances us in every scene, whether understated or explosive, making even the most outlandish moments of Brock’s unconventional relationship with Venom seem, if not perfectly acceptable, then at least believable. He’s ably supported by Michelle Williams as San Francisco district attorney Anne Weying, his increasingly exasperated ex-fiancée, Rogue One’s Riz Ahmed as Carlton Drake, the seemingly idealistic space-exploration-funding philanthropist whose darker ambitions have brought a lethal alien threat to Earth, and Parks & Recreation’s Jenny Slate as Drake’s conflicted head scientist Nora Skirth, while there’s a very fun cameo from a particularly famous face in the now ubiquitous mid-credits sting that promises great things in the future. Director Ruben Fleischer brought us Zombieland and 30 Minutes Or Less, so he certainly knows how to deliver plenty of blackly comic belly laughs, and he brings plenty of seriously dark humour to the fore, the rating meaning the comedy can get particularly edgy once Venom starts to tear up the town; it also fulfils the Marvel prerequisite of taking its action quota seriously, delivering a series of robust set-pieces (the standout being a spectacular bike chase through the streets of San Fran, made even more memorable by the symbiote’s handy powers). Best of all, the film isn’t afraid to get genuinely scary with some seriously nasty alien-induced moments of icky body horror, captured by some strangely beautiful effects works that brings Venom and his ilk to vivid, terrifying life. Flawed as it is, this is still HUGE fun, definitely one of the year’s biggest cinematic guilty pleasures, and I for one can’t wait to see more from the character in the near future, which, given what a massive success the film has already proven at the box office, seems an ironclad certainty.

26. SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY – the second of Disney’s new phase of Star Wars movies to feature in the non-trilogy-based spinoff series had a rough time after its release – despite easily recouping its production budget, it still lost the $100-million+ it spent on advertising, while it was met with extremely mixed reviews and shunned by many hardcore fans. I’ll admit that I too was initially disappointed with this second quasi prequel to A New Hope (after the MUCH more impressive Rogue One), but a second, more open-minded viewing after a few months to ruminate mellowed my experience considerably, the film significantly growing on me. An origin story for the Galaxy’s most lovable rogue was always going to be a hard sell – Han Solo is an enjoyable enigma in The Original Trilogy, someone who lives very much in the present, his origins best revealed in the little details we glean about him in passing – but while it’s a flawed creation, this interstellar heist adventure mostly pulls off what was intended. Like many fans of The Lego Movie, I remain deeply curious about what original director duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller could have achieved with the material, but I wholeheartedly approved Disney’s replacement choice when he was announced – Ron Howard is one of my favourite “hit-and-miss” directors, someone who’s made some clunkers in his time (The Da Vinci Code, we’re looking at you) but can, on a good day, be relied on to deliver something truly special (Willow is one of my VERY FAVOURITE movies from my childhood, one that’s stood up well to the test of time, and a strong comparison point for this; Apollo 13 and Rush, meanwhile, are undeniable MASTERPIECES), and in spite of its shortcomings I’m ultimately willing to consider this one of his successes. Another big step in the right direction was casting Hail, Caesar! star Alden Ehrenreich in the title role – Harrison Ford’s are seriously huge shoes to fill, but this talented young man has largely succeeded. He may not quite capture that wonderful growling drawl but he definitely got Han’s cocky go-getter swagger right, he’s particularly strong in the film’s more humorous moments, and he has charisma to burn, so he sure makes entertaining viewing. It also helps that the film has such a strong supporting cast – with original Chewbacca Peter Mayhew getting too old for all this derring-do nonsense, former pro basketball-player Joonas Suotamo gets a little more comfortable in his second gig (after The Last Jedi) in the “walking carpet” suit, while Woody Harrelson adds major star power as Tobias Beckett, Han’s likeably slippery mentor in all things criminal in the Star Wars Universe, and Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke is typically excellent as Han’s first love Qi’ra, a fellow Corellian street orphan who’s grown up into a sophisticated thief of MUCH higher calibre than her compatriots. The film is dominated, however, by two particularly potent scene-stealing turns which make you wonder if it’s really focused on the right rogue’s story – Community star Donald Glover exceeds all expectations as Han’s old “friend” Lando Calrissian, every bit the laconic smoothie he was when he was played by Billy Dee Williams back in the day, while his droid companion L3-37 (voiced with flawless comic skill by British stage and sitcom actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge) frequently walks away with the film entirely, a weirdly flirty and lovably militant campaigner for droid rights whose antics cause a whole heap of trouble. The main thing the film REALLY lacks is a decent villain – Paul Bettany’s oily kingpin Dryden Voss is distinctive enough to linger in the memory, but has criminally short screen-time and adds little real impact or threat to the main story, only emphasising the film’s gaping, Empire-shaped hole. Even so, it’s still a ripping yarn, a breathlessly exciting and frequently VERY funny space-hopping crime caper that relishes that wonderful gritty, battered old tech vibe we’ve come to love throughout the series as a whole and certainly delivers on the action stakes – the vertigo-inducing train heist sequence is easily the film’s standout set-piece, but the opening chase and the long-touted Kessel Run impress too – it only flags in the frustrating and surprisingly sombre final act. The end result still has the MAKINGS of a classic, and there’s no denying it’s also more enjoyable and deep-down SATISFYING than the first two films in George Lucas’ far more clunky Prequel Trilogy. Rogue One remains the best of the new Star Wars movies so far, but this is nothing like the disappointment it’s been made out to be.

25. AQUAMAN – the fortunes of the DC Extended Universe cinematic franchise continue to fluctuate – these films may be consistently successful at the box office, but they’re a decidedly mixed bag when it comes to their quality and critical opinion, and the misses still outweigh the hits. Still, you can’t deny that when they DO do things right, they do them VERY right – 2017’s acclaimed Wonder Woman was a long-overdue validation for the studio, and they’ve got another winner on their hands with this bold, brash, VERY ballsy solo vehicle for one of the things that genuinely WORKED in the so-so Justice League movie. Jason Momoa isn’t just muscular in the physical sense, once again proving seriously ripped in the performance capacity as he delivers rough, grizzled charm and earthy charisma as half-Atlantean Arthur Curry, called upon to try and win back the royal birthright he once gave up when his half-brother Prince Orm (Watchmen’s Patrick Wilson), ruler of Atlantis, embarks on a brutal quest to unite the seven underwater kingdoms under his command in order to wage war on the surface world. Aquaman has long been something of an embarrassment for DC Comics, an unintentional “gay joke” endlessly derided by geeks (particularly cuttingly in the likes of The Big Bang Theory), but in Momoa’s capable hands that opinion has already started to shift, and the transition should be complete after this – Arthur Curry is now a swarthy, hard-drinking alpha male tempered with a compellingly relatable edge of deep-seeded vulnerability derived from the inherent tragedy of his origins and separation from the source of his immense superhuman strength, and he’s the perfect flawed action hero for this most epic of superhero blockbusters. Amber Heard is frequently as domineering a presence as Atlantean princess Mera, a powerful warrior in her own right and fully capable of heading her own standalone adventure someday, and Wilson makes for a very solid and decidedly sympathetic villain whose own motivations can frequently be surprisingly seductive, even if his methods are a good deal more nefarious, while The Get Down’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is more down-and-dirty BAD as David Kane, aka the Black Manta, a lethally tech-savvy pirate who has a major score to settle with the Aquaman; there’s also strong support from the likes of Willem Dafoe as Curry’s sage-like mentor Vulko, Dolph Lundgren as Mera’s father, King Nereus, the ever-reliable Temuera Morrison as Arthur’s father Thomas, and Nicole Kidman as his ill-fated mother Atlanna. Director James Wan is best known for establishing horror franchises (Saw, Insidious, The Conjuring), but he showed he could do blockbuster action cinema with Fast & Furious 7, and he’s improved significantly with this, delivering one gigantic action sequence after another with consummate skill and flair as well as performing some magnificent and extremely elegant world-building, unveiling dazzling, opulent and exotic undersea civilizations that are the equal to the forests of Pandora in Avatar, but he also gets to let some of his darker impulses show here and there, particularly in a genuinely scary visit to the hellish world of the Trench and its monstrous denizens. It may not be QUITE as impressive as Wonder Woman, and it still suffers (albeit only a little bit) from the seemingly inherent flaws of the DCEU franchise as a whole (particularly in yet another overblown CGI-cluttered climax), but this is still another big step back in the right direction, one which, once again, we can only hope they’ll continue to repeat. I’ll admit that the next offering, Shazam, doesn’t fill me with much confidence, but you never know, it could surprise us. And there’s still Flashpoint, The Batman and Birds of Prey to come …

24. THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI – filmmaker brothers Martin and John Michael McDonagh have carved an impressive niche in cinematic comedy this past decade, from decidedly Irish breakout early works (In Bruges from Martin and The Guard and Calvary from John) to enjoyable outsider-looking-in American crim-coms (Martin’s Seven Psychopaths and John’s War On Everyone), and so far they’ve all had one thing in common – they’re all BRILLIANT. But Martin looks set to be the first brother to be truly accepted into Hollywood Proper, with his latest feature garnering universal acclaim, massive box office and heavyweight Awards recognition, snagging an impressive SEVEN Oscar nominations and taking home two, as well as landing a Golden Globe and BAFTA for Best Picture. It’s also the most thoroughly AMERICAN McDonagh film to date, and this is no bad thing, Martin shedding his decidedly Celtic flavours for an edgier Redneck charm that perfectly suits the material … but most important of all, from a purely critical point of view this could be the very BEST film either of the brothers has made to date. It’s as blackly comic and dark-of-soul as we’d expect from the creator of In Bruges, but there’s real heart and tenderness hidden amongst the expletive-riddled, barbed razor wit and mercilessly observed, frequently lamentable character beats. Frances McDormand thoroughly deserved her Oscar win for her magnificent performance as Mildred Hayes, a take-no-shit shopkeeper in the titular town whose unbridled grief over the brutal rape and murder of her daughter Angela (Kathryn Newton) has been exacerbated by the seeming inability of the local police force to solve the crime, leading her to hire the ongoing use of a trio of billboards laying the blame squarely at the feet of popular, long-standing local police Chief Bill Willoughby (Woody Harrelson). Needless to say this kicks up quite the shitstorm in the town, but Mildred stands resolute in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds, refusing to back down. McDormand has never been better – Mildred is a foul-mouthed, opinionated harpy who tells it like it is, no matter who she’s talking to, but there’s understandable pain driving her actions, and a surprisingly tender heart beating under all that thorniness; Harrelson, meanwhile, is by turns a gruff shit-kicker and a gentle, doting family man, silently suffering over his own helplessness with the dead end the case seems to have turned into. The film’s other Oscar-winner, Sam Rockwell, also delivers his finest performance to date as Officer Jason Dixon, a true disgrace of a cop whose permanent drunkenness has marred a career which, it turns out, began with some promise; he’s a thuggish force-of-nature, Mildred’s decidedly ineffectual nemesis whose own equally foul-mouthed honesty is set to dump him in trouble big time, but again there’s a deeply buried vein of well-meaning ambition under all the bigotry and pigheadedness we can’t help rooting for once it reveals itself. There’s strong support from some serious heavyweights, particularly John Hawkes, Caleb Landry Jones, Peter Dinklage, Abbie Cornish and Manchester By the Sea’s breakout star Lucas Hedges, while McDonagh deserves every lick of acclaim and recognition he’s received for his precision-engineered screenplay, peerless direction and crisp, biting dialogue, crafting a jet black comedy nonetheless packed with so much emotional heft that it’ll have you laughing your arse off but crying your eyes out just as hard. An honest, unapologetic winner, then.

23. RED SPARROW – just when you thought we’d seen the last of the powerhouse blockbuster team of director Francis Lawrence and star Jennifer Lawrence with the end of The Hunger Games, they reunite for this far more adult literary feature, bringing Jason Matthews’ labyrinthine spy novel to bloody life. Adapted by Revolutionary Road screenwriter Justin Haythe, it follows the journey of Russian star ballerina Dominika Egorova (Lawrence) into the shadowy world of post-Glasnost Russian Intelligence after an on-stage accident ruins her career. Trained to use her body and mind to seduce her targets, Dominika becomes a “Sparrow”, dispatched to Budapest to entrap disgraced CIA operative Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton) and discover the identity of the deep cover double agent in Moscow he was forced to burn his own cover to protect. But Dominika never wanted any of this, and she begins to plot her escape, no matter the risks … as we’ve come to expect, Jennifer Lawrence is magnificent, her glacial beauty concealing a fierce intelligence and deeply guarded desperation to get out, her innate sensuality rendered clinical by the raw, unflinching gratuity of her training and seduction scenes – this is a woman who uses ALL the weapons at her disposal to get what she needs, and it’s an icy professionalism that informs and somewhat forgives Lawrence’s relative lack of chemistry with Edgerton. Not that it’s his fault – Nate is nearly as compelling a protagonist as Dominika, a roguish chancer whose impulsiveness could prove his undoing, but also makes him likeable and charming enough for us to root for him too. Bullhead’s Matthias Schoenarts is on top form as the film’s nominal villain, Dominika’s uncle Ivan, the man who trapped her in this hell in the first place, Charlotte Rampling is beyond cold as the “Matron”, the cruel headmistress of the Sparrow School, Joely Richardson is probably the gentlest, purest ray of light in the film as Dominika’s ailing mother Nina, and Jeremy Irons radiates stately gravitas as high-ranking intelligence officer General Vladimir Andreievich Korchnoi. This is a tightly-paced, piano wire-taut thriller with a suitably twisty plot that constantly wrong-foots the viewer, Lawrence the director again showing consummate skill at weaving flawlessly effective narrative with scenes of such unbearable tension you’ll find yourself perched on the edge of your seat throughout. It’s a much less explosive film than we’re used to from him – most of the fireworks are of the acting variety – but there are moments when the tension snaps, always with bloody consequences, especially in the film’s standout sequence featuring a garrotte-driven interrogation that turns particularly messy. The end result is a dark thriller of almost unbearable potency that you can’t take your eyes off. Here’s hoping this isn’t the last time Lawrence & Lawrence work together …

22. WIDOWS – Steve McQueen is one of the most challenging writer-directors working in Hollywood today, having exploded onto the scene with hard-hitting IRA-prison-biopic Hunger and subsequently adding to his solid cache of acclaimed works with Shame and 12 Years a Slave, but there’s a strong argument to be made that THIS is his best film to date. Co-adapted from a cult TV-series from British thriller queen Lynda La Plante by Gone Girl and Sharp Objects-author Gillian Flynn, it follows a group of women forced to band together to plan and execute a robbery in order to pay off the perceived debt incurred by their late husbands, who died trying to steal $2 million from Jamal Manning (If Beale Street Could Talk’s Brian Tyree Henry), a Chicago crime boss with ambitions to go legit as alderman of the city’s South Side Precinct. Viola Davis dominates the film as Veronica Rawlings, the educated and fiercely independent wife of accomplished professional thief Harry (a small but potent turn from Liam Neeson), setting the screen alight with a barely restrained and searing portrayal of devastating grief and righteous anger, and is ably supported by a trio of equally overwhelming performances from Michelle Rodriguez as hard-pressed mother and small-businesswoman Linda Perelli, The Man From UNCLE’s Elizabeth Debicki as Alice Gunner, an abused widow struggling to find her place in the world now she’s been cut off from her only support-mechanism, and Bad Times At the El Royale’s Cynthia Eriyo as Belle, the tough, gutsy beautician/babysitter the trio enlist to help them once they realise they need a fourth member. Henry is a deceptively subtle, thoroughly threatening presence throughout the film as Manning, as is Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya as his thuggish brother/lieutenant Jatemme, and Colin Farrell is seemingly decent but ultimately fatally flawed as his direct political rival, reigning alderman Jack Mulligan, while there are uniformly excellent supporting turns from the likes of Robert Duvall, Carrie Coon, Lukas Haas, Jon Bernthal and Kevin J. O’Connor. McQueen once again delivers an emotionally exhausting and effortlessly powerful tour-de-force, wringing out the maximum amount of feels from the loaded and deeply personal human interactions on display throughout, and once again proves just as effective at delivering on the emotional fireworks as he is in stirring our blood in some brutal set-pieces, while Flynn help to deliver another perfectly pitched, intricately crafted script packed with exquisite dialogue and shrewdly observed character work which is sure to net her some major wins come Awards season. Unflinching and devastating but thoroughly exhilarating, this is an extraordinary film (and if this was a purely critical list it would surely have placed A LOT higher), thoroughly deserving of every bit of praise, attention and success it has and will go on to garner. An absolute must-see.

21. JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM – Colin Trevorrow’s long-awaited 2015 Jurassic Park sequel was a major shot in the arm for a killer blockbuster franchise that had been somewhat flagging since Steven Spielberg brought dinosaurs back to life for the second time, but (edgier tone aside) it was not quite the full-on game-changer some thought it would be. The fifth film, directed by J.A. Bayona (The Impossible, A Monster Calls) and written by Trevorrow and his regular script-partner Derek Connolly (Safety Not Guaranteed and JW, as well as Warner Bros’ recent “Monsterverse” landmark Kong: Skull Island), redresses the balance – while the first act of the film once again returns to the Costa Rican island of Isla Nublar, it’s become a very different environment from the one we’ve so far experienced, and a fiendish plot-twist means the film then takes a major swerve into MUCH darker territory than we’ve seen so far. Giving away anything more does a disservice to the series’ most interesting story to date, needless to say this is EASILY the franchise’s strongest feature since the first, and definitely the scariest. Hollywood’s most unusual everyman action hero, Chris Pratt, returns as raptor wrangler Owen Brady, enlisted to help rescue as many dinosaurs as possible from an impending, cataclysmic volcanic eruption, but in particular his deeply impressive trained raptor Blue, now the last of her kind; Bryce Dallas Howard is also back as former Jurassic World operations manager turned eco-campaigner Claire Dearing, and her His Girl Friday-style dynamic with Pratt’s Brady is brought to life with far greater success here, their chemistry far more convincing because Claire has become a much more well-rounded and believably tough lady, now pretty much his respective equal. There are also strong supporting turns from the likes of Rafe Spall, The Get Down’s Justice Smith, The Vampire Diaries/The Originals’ breakout star Daniella Pineda, the incomparable Ted Levine (particularly memorable as scummy mercenary Ken Wheatley) and genuine screen legend James Cromwell, but as usual the film’s true stars are the dinosaurs themselves – it’s a real pleasure seeing Blue return because the last velociraptor was an absolute treat in Jurassic World, but she’s clearly met her match in this film’s new Big Bad, the Indoraptor, a lethally monstrous hybrid cooked up in Ingen’s labs as a living weapon. Bayona cut his teeth on breakout feature The Orphanage, so he’s got major cred as an accomplished horror director, and he uses that impressive talent to great effect here, weaving an increasingly potent atmosphere of wire-taut dread and delivering some nerve-shredding set-pieces, particularly the intense and moody extended stalk-and-kill stretch that brings the final act to its knuckle-whitening climax. It’s not just scary, though – there’s still plenty of that good old fashioned wonder and savage beauty we’ve come to expect from the series, and another hefty dose of that characteristic Spielbergian humour (Pratt in particular shines in another goofy, self-deprecating turn, while Smith steals many of the film’s biggest laughs as twitchy, out-of-his-comfort-zone tech wizard Franklin). Throw in another stirring and epic John Williams-channelling score from Michael Giacchino and this is an all-round treat for the franchise faithful and blockbuster fans in general – EASILY the best shape the series has been in for some time, it shows HUGE promise for the future.

#mandy #the girl in the spider's web #isle of dogs #venom #solo a star wars story #aquaman #three billboards movie #red sparrow #widows #jurassic world fallen kingdom #2018 in movies

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the-fandom-newsletter · 6 years ago

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Fandom Newsletter #2

Today is Friday, October 5th of 2018 and welcome back to another Fandom Newsletter! You’re provider for all things fandom!

Writers: Atlas, Blackpurrl, Fyne, YoursTruly

Editors: Fyne and YoursTruly

“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. ‘Til your good is better and your better is best.”

- St. Jerome

Let’s get started!

First to YoursTruly with the Hannibal, Horror, Tim Burton, and Marvel fandoms-

Hannibal: Thomas Harris, author of the Hannibal Lecter books, is releasing a new book on May 21st of 2019! The book will not feature Hannibal or any of the characters from that series. This new book will be the first book he’s published in over a decade, his last book being Hannibal Rising which was published in 2006. The book’s cover and title have not yet been released, but it can still be pre-ordered on Amazon and other sources.

Horror: Horror fans are awaiting the next installment in The Conjuring series. The next movie is set to be released next year, the title being The Crooked Man, a character from The Conjuring 2.

Tim Burton: Tim Burton fans are ecstatic about Freeform’s 13 Nights of Halloween being changed to 31 Nights of Halloween! During this time period, Freeform plays many popular Halloween movies, including The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Corpse Bride.

Marvel: Marvel fans are debating the quality of the upcoming movie Venom. It seems there’s a clean split: You either love it or you hate it. A lot of controversy is spreading over one particular scene which won’t be spoiled here, but many people who have already seen it say it’s amazing and accurate to the comics. The movie is not part of the MCU and exists outside of the Spider-Man universe, setting it up for the perfect Venom solo movie. The movie hits theaters this Saturday. I personally think it will be an incredible movie, what about you?

Next to Blackpurrl with the Harry Potter, World News, and Animation fandoms-

Animation: New clips are out for Vivziepop’s Hazbin Hotel!

Harry Potter: The newest movie, The Crimes of Grindelwald, is set for release on November 6th this year. Just one month to go!

World News: Spiked Reports on Sexual Harassment in France. Follow the link to read more.

Now to Fyne with the Supernatural, Sherlock, YouTube, and Spooptober fandoms-

Supernatural - The wardrobe on Supernatural has become a trademark for so many of the show’s favorite characters. Early on, things like Dean’s leather jacket took on a life of its own, playing an essential part of the Winchester storyline. Dean inherited it from John, turning his staple style into a sentiment of how much he idolized his dad. For the first five seasons, the brown leather jacket (which we first see in the pilot episode) was almost thought of as Dean’s superhero attire. Then, in season 6, without even an explanation, the jacket was just gone. Where did it go? Well As it turns out, there was a very real reason for this vanishing act. When the cast was in Los Angeles for a photo shoot, their wardrobe was flown over from Vancouver. In the process, a few items were stolen. Among them was Dean’s iconic jacket, which was worn in so many memorable scenes. Who stole it? To this day we do not know. Since then, Dean’s look has undergone a few subtle changes. At first, there was somewhat of a “normal life”-looking coat that appeared at the beginning of season 6. Thankfully, that fad didn’t last long. Eventually, it changed over into an evolving selection military-style jackets, each perfectly-suited for his character. It’s now hard to imagine Dean without his current signature style.

Sherlock - Did you know Matt Smith auditioned to play Watson? Yes our beloved less down to earth Doctor was almost our very down to earth John Watson. He may be best known for playing a less down-to-Earth Doctor, but before he got the keys to the TARDIS, Matt Smith auditioned for the role of Dr. Watson. Although he can do less eccentric than the role he's best known for, Smith himself admits he'd probably have been a little too skewed to work as Sherlock's foil. Why Smith didn't get the role is kinda obvious when you think about it. Before Doctor Who he had only a handful of TV credits to his name, with his only big screen role. Martin Freeman may not have been the blockbuster leading man he is now, but he was at the very least recognisable to a British audience thanks to The Office.

YouTube - Art YouTubers are currently confusing fans as, unlike last year, the ones participating in inktober aren’t making daily videos. We can’t help but wonder if this is because of the ad-pocolypse and shrinking revenue, or if it is because they simply don’t feel up to it. What are your thoughts?

Spooptober - It is officially Spooptober! Expect creepy fun facts, stories, and tidbits throughout the month of October! This weeks fun fact is - did you know that the average high school student prefers Halloween over Valentines day? Who woulda thunk?

Lastly to Atlas with the Voltron, Movies, And Celebrities fandoms-

Voltron: An interview with Josh Keaton was posted on YouTube. In the interview, he was asked about what he thought about the show ending. He replied, “All of us really love the show. We’re sad to see it go. As for me, I don’t think I’m ready to stop being Shiro.”

Movies: So, um. Live action Teen Titans anyone? No?

Celebrities: Lin-Manuel Miranda is going to play a small role in Mary Poppins Returns.

Now to your weekly movie review by YoursTruly-

Movie review- Spider-Man 3

I’ve seen this movie many times before, and it’s my favorite in the Spider-Man franchise. The movie has a great plot and is throughly entertaining in general. The movie features Toby Maguire, who many people consider to be the best Spider-Man.

Now to Blackpurrl with the weekly trivia fact-

Trivia: A cricket's ears are on its front legs, just below the knees and they have four acoustic inputs. The openings in the crickets exoskeleton that act as ears, lead into chambers inside the legs, which connect to either side of the cricket, allowing sound to pass completely through the cricket.

And back to Atlas with the weekly book review-

Book Review: Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart is a modern day/not-so modern fantasy that will leave the reader on the edge of their seat. With a fantastic plot line and lovable characters, this book is hard to put down!

The comic at the end of the newsletter is brought to you by our very talented Blackpurrl. It’s titled “Atlas Initiation”. That’s all for this week, we’ll see you next week with another Fandom Newsletter!

Signing off,

Atlas, Blackpurrl, Fyne, YoursTruly

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mortalgabby · 6 years ago

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Film Trailers & Production Logos

Here are some trailers that I took inspiration from/are similar to the trailer I plan to make for my own ‘film’.

Infinity War

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Venom

Teen Wolf

The House With the Clock In Its Walls

youtube

The Darkest minds is a modern fantasy film that was released in 2018. The trailer I feel is a lot more satisfying and exciting to watch than the actual movie is, for several reasons. The way the montage of shots is arranged is non chronological (as many trailers are) but to the point where it is misleading - the ‘revolution’ that occurs is a scene at the end of the film. The actual revolution that appears to be the plot of the film based on the audio clips and footage used, but only starts right at the end (therefore would be the plot of the sequel). This made the film kind of disappointing in comparison to the way the trailer painted it.

I really like the song which is used, which rises in volume throughout the course of the trailer, making the film seem intense. The music gives off a motivational and uplifting vibe and suggests that the characters will triumph in the end- which inspired me to want to watch it. I think that this song was perfect as it does reflect the tone and genre of the movie really well.

The trailer also does a great job at showcasing the amazing CGI effects such as the telekinesis and the magic. The VFX is definitely a key selling point in this movie and enhanced the trailer a lot for me as it’s not only beautiful and believable, but also awesome.

The plot was not revealed too much in this trailer which I think is very important - just enough information was hinted at to intrigue the audience enough to want to watch, which sometimes isn’t the case as some trailers will end up summarising the film’s plot which ruins the experience for me.

The title cards are also fitting with the film as they somewhat resemble the eyes and ability of the protagonist - fire. The titles are in a gold serif font which looks very elegant, again reflecting the tone of the film.

I chose to analyse this trailer as I feel it’s similar to mine in that the characters both have some kind of superpower which they’re learning to deal with.

The Darkest Minds

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The Last Airbender

This trailer begins with establishing shots of the different landscapes in which the film will take place, showcasing the amount of detail that was put into the world-building and special effects. I think that this is very effective. As the characters first enter the trailer, everything is very quiet which helps to build suspense. The shots are very long and start to build up to the reveal of important things - such as the ice cracking - but the shots are cut off before we are able to see what’s happened. This makes the audience curious, causing us to want to watch the movie to find out what happens.

Later on throughout the trailer, there are a lot of shots that showcase the action in the film, but these too are cut off and followed by silence for dramatic effect which works really well in my opinion, for the same reason. This trailer also does a really good job at introducing the main characters, locations and themes without spoiling too much of the plot, and contains intense instrumental action music which really helps to establish the genre.

The special effects are also fantastic looking and add a lot of appeal to the film - I particularly like the close up shot of the main character’s eyes and forehead which glow - as well as the long shots that display the other characters’ powers. Like the previous film, this one is also related to my own work as they both explore the theme of humans having otherworldly powers.

I would say that this trailer does a really good job of accurately portraying the film, unlike some of the others.

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Sorcerer’s Apprentice

This trailer was very surprising to see (since I watched it after watching the film) as I don’t think it reflects the film well at all - it certainly doesn’t do it justice and instead paints it as something way too serious and dark. The music choice is interesting and, in my opinion is out of place in a film about magic, it sounds more fitting for a thriller or horror movie. I think they should’ve used a more upbeat song in this trailer to reflect all of the songs that are used in the movie as well as the general lighthearted nature of it.

Another thing which I don’t they pulled off particularly well was the title cards - which also looked like something out of a horror movie due to the dark and drab colours used in them. The title cards did fit the aesthetic of the movie but at the same time the actual titles sounded like they were trying to hard to be scary ‘It is not your imagination,’ However I do admire how they have engaged the audience’s interest through the vague pronoun ‘it’ - we are left wondering what is it is and are thus more likely to watch the film.

The dark title cards and ominous music didn’t really fit with the warm orange colour palette that both the trailer and film utilises, the two contrast so much that it seems like it wasn’t intentional which I don’t really like. The consistent colour palette does however make the trailer look quite stylised and aesthetic.

I do however really like how the Disney logo was edited to fit with the magic/electricity motif in the film.

Another thing I liked about this trailer was how the visuals matched with the beats in the music - the appearance of the eagle was matched with the music growing louder and more intense on the beat. I feel as though this not only emphasises the importance of said aspects in the film but generally gives a really cool effect.

I’m glad that this trailer, unlike some of the others, doesn’t spoil the plot at all - in fact it sheds extremely little light on the story they’re trying to tell - we know that Dave is Balthazar’s apprentice but little to nothing else. I feel as though without any information on the story of Morgana meant that, from the trailer, there isn’t really enough reason to watch it. They also could’ve showcased more of the magical SFX as these were one of my favourite parts of the film. The kind of magic used in this film is a similar kind to what i’m trying to achieve in my own video.

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The Shape Of Water

Like the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, this film also has a custom production logo to fit the genre and theme of it. I really like this little detail they decided to include as it really makes me feel more involved in the world they’ve created.

This trailer starts off with a montage of the main character’s every day life, which is matched with some almost upbeat, instrumental music that is very iconic and, when paired with the visuals allude well to the time period in which the film is based. A lot of the things in this trailer are also matched to the beat of the music which is one of my favourite tropes as it looks really satisfying and just generally appeals to me.

The title cards of this film reflect the themes by being designed as if they are underwater, which I think looks really aesthetically pleasing. the serif font in which they are written alludes to the fantasy genre of the film. The font choice itself looks very elegant and calm. There are multiple music tracks in this film - two of which sound very whimsical but are also creepy, the other one a lot more dark and intense. I think that having both tracks in the trailer helps indicate the different themes and emotions that will be present in the film - on one hand it is sweet and romantic, but there is also a dangerous and threatening tone that is underlying.

I also really like how enigma codes are created through some of the lines of dialogue in the trailer - in particular the repeated line ‘Don’t do this!’ in a desperate tone. This piques the audience’s interest and make us more determined to watch the film so that we can find out exactly what is being referred to.

I like how the colour palette for this film is mostly blue and grey as it reflects the ocean motif present throughout.

In general I really like how the creature isn’t portrayed as a monster in the trailer - the humans are instead. This links in with my own film that includes fantastical creatures that don’t normally exist.

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Captain Marvel

The trailer for Captain Marvel starts right in the centre of the action which really makes you feel like you’re part of the world and is really exciting. The beginning of the trailer sets the scene and establishes the time period by showing the BlockBuster store. I think that this trailer is also really successful because of the actors who are in it - Samuel L Jackson and Brie Larson are both really popular therefore will attract a lot of attention to the movie even if you haven’t seen the other films in the franchise.

The music is easily one of the highlights of the trailer for me; it’s bold, inspirational and also sounds somewhat otherworldly (which is fitting as it’s an alien film). I think that this really reflects how powerful and impressive Carol Danvers is, and will hopefully reflect the tone of the film when it’s released. There is also a very clear colour palette of red, blue and gold throughout this trailer which adds to it’s aesthetic appeal and also matches the colours of her iconic suit. I think that this colour palette is really unique and special since it contradicts the dark and serious tones of many other superhero movies - instead looking bold and motivational. The visual effects in this movie and CGI are also extremely stunning and are presented really well through the wide variety of shot types - for example when Carol looks at the camera with magical glowing eyes (which is a similar effect to the style of thing I wanted in my own trailer)

The title cards are also in the same signature colour palette which makes them fit really well.

There are also a lot of shots that are timed to the beat, as well as many fade ins/outs from/to black which I think adds to the dramatic suspense and tension of the film as we are curious as to what we’re missing out on during these cuts. Another really unique part of this trailer I think is the shots which depict Carol at various ages doing the same thing - for example when she stands up but it’s multiple versions of herself one after another, like they’re united. I think that this creates a really gorgeous effect and i’m excited to see what the film will bring in the future.

The title and the way it’s animated from a blueprint/frame is also really impressive and alludes to the high production value of the film.

Production Logos

Marvel

Marvel’s logo is easily one of my favourite logos of all time due to the complexity and artistic nature of it. It combines the 3D title animation with the gorgeous painted portraits of all the most beloved characters, as well as even including live action footage from the movies. It is also extremely colourful and bold, and is full of such intricate detail that you need to watch it multiple times to really appreciate how much work was put into its creation. I also love how it starts off really complex and beautiful and eventually forms the iconic, simple red and white logo. The music that is usually paired with the logo also really brings everything together I think and is a work of art all by itself.

This logo is so complicated that I couldn’t begin to attempt it - it also differs from my own greatly since I had no idea how to do something like this but would love to in the future. The two do however share the similarity that they both have hand-drawn aspects to them (the wolf is drawn on mine and the character paintings in theirs)

Disney

Disney’s logo is also really pretty and visually appealing to me. I love how cinematic it looks - it could easily be a scene in a film. It has a really beautiful semi-realistic style as the landscape itself could easily be a photo, and yet the castle itself is designed in a way that really reflects Disney's signature style but is still believable. the composition of this logo is also really nice- the horizon is inkeeping with the rule of thirds and the castle is in the centre. I also especially love the colours and animation of this production logo- there is a wide variety of tones used, but the landscape is mostly dark which helps the illuminated castle really stand out among the dusk sunset. The logo itself is also very clever as it both stands out and blends into the water - it’s noticeable but also fits very naturally into the scene. Much like the marvel logo it’s quite different from mine but if I had the skills to make something like this in the future I would love to. The main difference is that this logo is 3D animated and coloured while mine is monochrome and 2D animated.

Summit Entertainment

I chose this logo because its simplicity reflects my own. The black background helps the bold serif font stand out very clearly and creates a very sophisticated and minimalist look. I like how, despite the lack of detail, you can very easily tell that the line above is a mountain peak - due to the name and the colouring which reminds me of a snow-covered mountain peak. The peak is also in the very centre of the logo which is very pleasing to me. I think that this logo really embodies the idea that it doesn’t have to be insanely complicated to be effective. It also shares some similarities with my own production logo - the light coloured font contrasting against the dark background, and the addition of a drawn image as part of the logo. While I prefer the more visually appealing logos such as the previous two, I can definitely see the appeal of this one, which makes me feel better about my own design.

Universal

The Universal logo is also very cinematic and has a lot of very eye-catching features such as the Earth, stars and galaxy. The space aesthetic that’s present in this trailer is really beautiful and definitely one of my favourite features about it. I like how it isn’t straining on your eyes - the stars and illuminated earth are still very ‘soft’, and while they are definitely noticeable they don’t make your eyes hurt. I also especially like the 3D sans serif lettering and the metallic texture that’s been applied to it - as well as how it’s coloured silver and not white.

Pixar

Pixar’s production logo is also fairly simple in comparison to most of the others. The letters are written in a very cartoonish serif font which is 3D. The logo itself has a lot of depth that’s created through the shadows which the letters cast, which I really like. I also like the creative animation in this logo, in which a lamp is personified to take the place of the ‘I’ in Pixar by jumping on it. The animation is really fluid and organic which is very much representative of Pixar’s style.

I think that this kind of 3D logo would have been very interesting and fun to make for my trailer. This logo is somewhat similar to mine due to the small animation and simple colour palettes used.

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mewreviews · 7 years ago

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Hacksaw Ridge Review

“I don't know how I'm going to live with myself if I don't stay true to what I believe.”

Determined to join the war effort while remaining true to his morals, Desmond Doss faces intense backlash for his decision to be a field medic and a conscientious objector during WW2.

Andrew Garfield gives a phenomenal performance as Desmond Doss, his portrayal of the character carrying the audience through the film. Under the wrong hands, Desmond could very easily have been an unlikeable caricature, preachy and moralistic, evangelical to the point of distaste. Yet Garfield creates a character so earnest and genuine, someone you sympathise with and root for from the get-go. You feel every emotion he does, and the success of the film is largely due to his performance; if you didn’t care for Desmond so deeply the tension generated in the latter half of the film would be extinguished. Hugo Weaving also gives a surprisingly emotional performance. Almost unrecognisable as a PTSD-suffering war veteran and alcoholic, it is his actions that contribute greatly to the founding of Desmond’s morals.

The building of Desmond as a character is fundamental to the film’s success, and the first half of the movie focuses exclusively on his life before he enters the war zone. The warm and romantic hues of his early life in Virginia serve as stark contrast to the clean greens and whites of the army base, and even starker to the grey and brown and red of the battlefield. The love story between Desmond and Dorothy is utterly charming, the strain of his home life clear, and it is this love and this trauma in equal measure that serve to make Desmond the man he is. The harassment he faces at the army base is also essential in showing the audience how dear he holds his convictions to his heart. It’s difficult to watch, seeing a character you recognise to be good and brave, bullied and undermined by those he is allied with, but it only makes his actions in the film that much more inspiring.

When the war scenes do hit, however, they hit hard and brutal. The build-up is excruciating; the troop encounters other units on their way out of Okinawa, clearly having experienced something horrifying beyond words, and yet it is their duty to continue on and face whatever demolished those men. When they do make it over the ridge, the preceding hour of calm pacing is gone, and the viewer is bombarded with an endless onslaught of violent imagery. The war scenes are filmed almost like a horror film; it is as though the troop climbed that ridge into hell. Bodies are flung about like rag dolls, men are dying everywhere the camera turns, limbs are lost, and the characters faces are smeared with mud and gore.

In the midst of this all without a gun, audience fear for Desmond’s safety is excruciatingly high. You watch through your fingers as Desmond makes his way across the battlefield, trying to help the injured with his meagre supplies of bandages and morphine. The tension generated is unbelievable and unrelenting in the nearly 50-minute battle scene. The strength and bravery displayed by this one man is inspirational, made all the more powerful by the fact that Desmond Doss was a real person. The final scenes of the movie which show interview clips from the real Desmond are truly cathartic, applying a bandage after the emotional wound that was this film.

Director Mel Gibson very much portrays the American troops as the unambiguous good guys of the piece, however. The Japanese are monsters in the mist, inhuman attackers who will stop at nothing to kill our heroes. While it’s clear to see why the American soldiers would see the enemy like that, and it does add to the horror element of the piece, the film would be better served by not creating such a moral divide between the two sides. Doss could still have been presented as a hero and a good man without making it seem like he’s saving his men from monsters; while the hellish imagery used on the battlefield is fantastic, they needn’t use this to demonise the other side.

Hacksaw Ridge is a powerful testament to the force of one good man in the face of overwhelming horror. While the line is thin in its attempt to fully showcase the atrocities of war without being gratuitous, Garfield’s stunningly human performance keeps the film grounded and emotional.

3.5/5

#hacksaw ridge #hacksaw ridge review #movie review #film review #war #biography #desmond doss #andrew garfield #officially my 75th review!

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nebulawriter · 7 years ago

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Annhilation

This is as close to a Changeling: The Lost movie as we’re ever going to get, isn’t is?

Overview: Smart movie, I probably want to watch it exactly once more to try and figure out some details, but it’s definitely more of a think-y movie than a sit-down-and-enjoy-stuff movie. But it IS imaginitive, visually stunning, thematically cohesive, and...a little horrifying. Like. More horrifying than I am traditionally comfortable with.

Note: this review turned more film analysis-ish than even I intended, so I apologize to those on mobile.

Like, as much of a sci-fi nerd as I am, sci fi horror stuff is almost always too much for me. I just can’t handle the gore and jump scares. Because of this, I don’t have INCREDIBLE experience with this kinda genre stuff, so I don’t have a good measuring stick to judge this as well.

In fact, I MIGHT have not seen this one all together if it weren’t for a) the all-lady cast, b) Tessa Thompson c) the weird shiny fantasy look to everything and d) I have moviepass now and it doesn’t cost me any extra to go to it.

I think I should do brief summary in case you’re reading this without seeing it for some reason, but uh, SPOILERS. Lena is a former soldier turned biology professor whose husband stayed in the military and went MIA (arguably KIA) about a year ago. And she’s not over it. Then, *GASP* he comes home, but he’s super out of it and sick, and he and she are both immediately captured by weird agents. There, a psychologist named Ventress shows her the Shimmer, a place off the coast that’s changing weird stuff, and no matter what they send in, nothing comes out. Except Lena’s husband Kane. She meets a team of cool lady scientists who are going in, and signs up, hoping to find a cure for her husband. They go in, there’s weird mind-fuckery, there is constant debate over if this is really happening or if they’re going insane, Lena finds clues left by her husband, 2 people get eaten by a bear, one person....turns into a tree I think? And finally they reach the lighthouse, the center of the incidents. Dr, Ventress explodes?ish? and then theres a LOOOOOT of mindfuckery, and I think I get like....60% of it? but, in the end, the lighthouse gets burned down and the shimmering stops. Kinda.

So! Annhilation. I’m going to go broad and whittle down for the review, going from themes into characters and plot. Annhilation is about one particular concept really that, like all good sci-fi, is over-exaggerated into the fantastical. Today’s concept is Self-Destruction. Specifically this gets focused onto cancer and suicide, and both of these themes are sot of....mutated together, not unlike the creatures in this film. I know it wasn’t but I really hope the shark-crocodile was in the pitch for this movie, like “It’s a think piece movie with a mutant shark crocodile. Money please.”

See, there’s a weird thing about Self-destruction, mirrored in this film, of, is it outside forces, or was it internal, something inside you? And that is the question this movie continues to pose, is the cause internal, or external?

Now lets look at the characters. The team, minus Lena, was chosen because they all had issues in their lives, and so were not going to be too terrible to lose in the likely event they died going into the shimmer, just like all the previous teams were chosen (this is important)

We’ll go in death-order, starting with Cass, and....kinda Anya. Cass clearly lost a daughter to Leukimia. There’s a story in here that I don’t know if I just caught onto subtext, or missed the reveal, but I’m 70% sure her partner at the time was in fact Anya, (Anya’s canonically wlw, Cass mocks her for hitting on Lena, maybe a bit too passive aggressively, Anya was most distressed by Cass’s death) Now, Anya’s problem was drinking and drugs, likely taken up after their daughter’s death. Through that, Cass left her, and now they’re on this mission together, and likely going to die. So there we have, self destruction before now. Their daughter’s death: External, outside of their control. Anya’s drinking, though, is her choice, how she chose to handle it: Internal. Cass leaving Anya, leaving them both completely alone: Internal. Kind of.

Cass’s fear she talked about with Lena, getting her to choose to come out first when Lena and Ventress sense trouble. Internal, her choice, almost, but a reasonable one. The bear eating her, obviously External.

Then, Anya becomes a villain of the piece, blaming Lena for Cass’s death. Internal choice, she suspects Lena, going through her things. External, she finds out Lena HAS been lying about her connection to the soldier Kane, and could very well have gone insane and been the one to kill Cass. Internal choice: She ties up her teammates, trying to determine if they’re crazy, but now we have an interesting pickle, don’t we. Are they crazy, or is SHE crazy for tying them up.

In my opinion, neither, while they’re all under enormous amounts of stress, and their bodies are LITERALLY changing, it doesn’t seem to be having a direct influence on their sanity. there is logic in Anya’s actions, and Lena’s and everyone’s. but it just...clashes in traumatic ways.

Finally, Anya hears Cass’ voice. External. She goes to chase it. Internal. It’s actually a horrifying bear monster that eats her. External.

Moving onto Josie. In a team full of scientists, she’s the nerd, which is sweet, but she’s also overly shy and doesn’t much speak up. Cass informs Lena, and us, that she has self-harm scars on her arms. This is pretty clear-cut (pun not intended I swear) self-destruction. But Cass also states, she wasn’t trying to kill herself. She was trying to live.

We’re never given a reason for Josie’s self-harm, but...and here’s where it gets a bit personal....as someone who’s struggled with self-harm in the cutting sense, I get it. It’s not about wanting to die. It’s trying to find something to live for.

Josie throughout the film doesn’t feel like she has that, which is why she’s chosen for the assignment.

Her fate is the....least clear, though its heavily implied she turns into one of the plant people, a statue. In this sense, she gets to live. She chooses this fate, in some ways, choosing to become part of the shimmering world rather than die in it like Cass and Anya. I think. There’s also her decision to save Lena by killing the weird demon bear, an internal choice, which I’m guessing plays into that, but. thats a bit more detailed for me.

Now, Dr. Ventress. Ventress is the psychologist who’s been sending people into the shimmer, choosing people who fit the profile of nothing to lose, choosing them, and sending each and every one of them to die. Internal choice, causing extreme guilt. Then, she gets cancer. Sort of an external force. Kinda. Cancer is a weird disease, really. It’s not something attacking you, going in, ripping out your guts and destroying you. No, it’s...it’s you. Its your body, just....making more of itself, doing it’s job to keep you living, but it works overtime, taking over the REST of your body, until it destroys itself. Its a scary condition Hollywood LOVES to use, because it is TERRIFYING and REAL to the general public. Almost everyone knows someone whose had some type of cancer. For me, my mother had Thyroid cancer, and to this day, I am at risk of that from having genes with her, not to mention having ovarian cysts that could turn into cancer if I don’t monitor it and control it. You wanna know how they confirm and monitor your ovarian cysts? Its Not. Pleasant. Everyone has seen the way Cancer destroys lives, and if I were to put money on it, I’d guess one or multiple of the creators of this movie has seen it too.

Anyway, VENTRESS. She’s going to die no matter what, so she decides to lead this exposition and find the cause of all this craziness thats been killing the people she chooses. Internal choice. She pushes onward, no matter the deaths of her comrades until she reaches the lighthouse.

And then. Weird. Fucking. Shit. Happens. She...finds the source of all this...ish. An alien comet. Kind of. And she says it’s....inside her...the annhilation. AND THEN SHE FUCKING EXPLODES. AND IMPLODES. Sort of both? A light comes out of her and she like...is made into this fiery ball of changing cells and. I don’t. What the fuck.

*ahem* whatever the fuck that was, I think a combination of implosion and explosion kinda ties back to internal vs external cause pretty decently.

Now, Kane and Lena. At the beginning, we’re shown that they had a wonderful marriage, full of smiles and happiness. But....later through flashbacks we’re shown...not necessarily so great. Kane is gone a lot on assignment. This leads Lena to having an affair. Kane finds out and gets assigned to the shimmer assignment. So is it Lena’s fault Kane went? Kane’s fault for Lena’s affair? In the end, neither of them, of course, are fully capable of the other’s actions, but, there’s a contributing factor. Internal choices combined with External forces.

We only see clips of Kane’s mission, film he left behind. In the first film, what I think happens because I couldn’t watch all of it, was him cutting open one of his teammates, right in the stomach. Once it’s open, we see....something....moving inside the man. Anya’s convinced it’s a trick of the light, and that Kane went insane. While it’s true that he never explains himself, like I said, beyond stress we don’t see much indication that these people are “crazy” or hallucinating or anything. The man being cut doesn’t scream, he knows what’s going to happen. Kane and the other living soldier are Concerned. More likely, they were getting footage of what was moving in him as data, data that later teams could hopefully find.

Now as for what the thing WAS??? I’m not sure. Partially because I was COVERING MY EYES CAUSE A GUY WAS BEING CUT OPEN but partially because I think it could be one of 2 things: 1, a snake that had got inside him (external) or 2, his LITERAL ORGANS coming to life (internal)

Lena makes similar observations. She samples her own blood, seeing that it’s being mutated. She convinces Anya and Josie to keep pushing ahead, both for logical reasons, and somewhat tricking them, because she still hasn’t found what she wants: answers about what happened to her husband. And oh she gets them. Back to the trippy finale.

See, she finds a tape of Kane blowing himself up. On this tape he shows far more signs of mental instability, but that makes sense as its then shown that the man behind the camera? Also Kane. A duplicate of him, specifically. The duplicate’s existence seems to cause Kane’s distress, causing him to doubt himself. External force. But he blows up the grenade. Internal choice. Here we come to the suicide aspect. Was it really too much to handle? He professed his love to Lena in the end, so did her affair influence his choice? It certainly caused the duplicate to come to her.

Finally, Lena gets a duplicate made of herself, after Ventress explode/implodes. It mimics her...imperfectly. She attacks it, it attacks her. Not to mention she passes out several times in the fight, so we, the audience, lose track of her. whenever it

And in the CLEAREST METAPHOR FOR SELF DESTRUCTION I’ve ever seen Lena (?) EXPLODES HER DUPLICATE. Like???? do I need to explain that one???

Okay now onto the murky ending. Kane is suddenly better! but he says...he doesn’t think he’s Kane, preeetty much confirming he’s the alien created duplicate. And Lena....Lena doesn’t say if she’s the duplicate or the real one. I don’t think she knows. And while the change in her eyes would indicate, no, she’s the duplicate....I’m less sure. Is she Lena, affected and changed by the alien? Or the alien, affected and changed by Lena? Does it matter?

Oh but we’re not done yet. Now, for the last character, who I’m dubbing “Annhilation.” It’s the alien, the cause, the sci-fi part of this film. The alien is....cancer, on the land, almost directly. The comet hits the lighthouse. External force. But....

As “Lena” Says at the end, it....it doesn’t destroy, not really. It changes. It changes what was already there. It mimics, imperfectly. The WORLD is self-destructing itself, the comet is just....the catylyst. like Cancer. It’s your own cells that are actually being destructive.

In the end, Loxam smiles after Lena finishes telling her story. “So, it was aliens.” as if that answers everything.

And...yes? but it wasn’t....trying to kill. It...started something in the world and killed itself. “What did it want” Loxam asked. Self-Destruction is not that simple. Like, it changed things but...all the destruction, REAL destruction, was either self-inflicted (Kane) or inflicted from the beasts in the world (the bear and crocodile)

Self harm....in any of it’s forms.....is strange. It goes against out biological functions, but....it also goes with them. It doesn’t make logical sense, it never has. But there’s only one way to get through it, if at all possible. It’s how Kane, fake or not, got back. And How Lena got back.

The others, all of them, had nothing to live for. They were WILLING to be possibly killed on this mission, thats why they were chosen. Lena, though, Lena had a goal. She wanted to get out, She wanted to save her husband. She had something to live for.

I do have a negative thing about this showing of self harm, or....i don’t know, maybe a thing I’m not clear on. All throughout, destruction is...made beautiful. sorta. Bodies are arranged in patterns, plants grow out the sides of crumbled buildings and...i don’t know....how I feel about that.....I just. I don’t know.

ANYWAY in conclusion, very well done movie, if a bit confusing at times, Glad one of the poc didn’t die first, though was sad the lesbians also died. though. They kinda all died. so. at least we got the representation at all?

So yeah. Sorry for the book report, but I hope it was mildly entertaining?

#annhilation #annhilation movie

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turqrambles · 4 years ago

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I watched all 26 episodes of an obscure Australian cartoon in one week and I’m not okay - My journey with Wicked! (2001) PART 2 - The Actual Review

Hello again! I just checked my watch and I noticed that it was time to talk about the cartoon with the apple-headed guy some more!

When I last talked about this delightful piece of obscure media, I went over the origin story of how the show was created, introduced the cast of characters, and then talked about the main draw of the cartoon that makes it unique of other cartoons of its quality.

And then, at the end of the blog post, I mentioned that I think that the cartoon is merely “Okay” rather than anything Amazing. It has a great idea but ultimately, it really is just an alright show.

So now, after introducing this beautiful cartoon and explaining to everyone just what the hell is going on, it’s time to break this whole thing down.

The Good, The Bad, and The Apple-Flavored

Wicked! is a weird show to grade. The animation itself fluctuates in quality and there’s some very obvious cut corners from how frequently animation is recycled in some of the episodes, scenes can have weird editing or continuity errors, and sometimes they’ll even recycle sound bytes like insults that Dawn and Rory shout at each other or Gramps reminding everyone about Normandy. I feel like I heard The Appleman mention that something was “100% real nightmare” like five times while watching this whole thing in quick succession.

Information for this cartoon is practically nonexistent, but my theory is that this happened because the animation was all produced in a single in-house Australian studio rather than shipping bits of it overseas to get tightened up. Again, I could be wrong, and if anyone has any better information, please send me an ask, but a lot of the techniques that Wicked! use reminded me of Filmation, which also famously kept everything in one studio.

Just be warned, similar to when someone watches He-Man and go “oh hey, I recognize that talking animation from the second episode”, there are shots that get reused often to save time. Get used to that one scene where Appleman is laughing and running across the steel walkway suspending over the refinery vats, it’s used a ton.

That being said, when they give them the budget to add a little polish to the show, they do a pretty good job!

Don’t be fooled by my talk of He-Man - this show actually looks pretty great. Most of the time the animation is pretty fluid and the decision to constantly use shadows to wrap around the characters really works in its favor and gives it an extra layer of moodiness.

It just reuses animation on top of that.

I think that, in many ways, Wicked! is carried more by the strength of its ideas over its actual execution. Even if this show gets super goofy at times (this is a show where the Appleman literally infects the Internet by taking a piper and dropping glowing green goo on a CD-ROM), there is a definite horror undertone to the show that gets carried through its entire season.

Dare I say it, the show actually gets a little scary at times. That scene where the kids discover that their pets are nothing but empty skins with all the organs and bones sucked out in the first episode actually sets the mood really well and feels extremely faithful to the original books.

Plus the concept of The Appleman being able to tinker around with a living virus and create something that can mutate literally anything is a fun as hell idea, even if it doesn’t make sense most of the time and seems like a weird mutation (hah) of the conflict from the books. It’s just fun that this guy can create literally anything out of thin air as a weapon just so long as he goes to his lab and makes something that allows him to do so.

The Pros

*The Appleman. Yeah, there’s a very good reason why the only thing people remember about this show is The Appleman. He’s just a fun character and a fun villain. His design does takes a bit to get used to on account of how uncanny he can be, and there are times when they draw him off-model and make him look just horrendous, but once you see how far they go with the apple-theming, you kinda start to vibe with the apple headed monster.

Sure, he’s basically your run-of-the-mill cartoon villain but with a bonus tragic backstory, but his vocal performance by Bill Conn really sells the whole package. You can tell that he’s greatly unhinged and that he’s not exactly playing with a full deck. It’s only until the last episode that they flat-out say that he’s being controlled by the same virus that he’s been using to infect other creatures, but I’m pretty sure your average cartoon-watching kid is able to guess that just from the small hints that they drop.

Also all of his vehicles are apple-colored and I love a villain that takes the time to make sure he has a proper theme.

(The “starting out with an island with apple trees on Animal Crossing: New Horizons” moodboard)

*The Family. I liked that, since this show is about terrorizing one particular dysfunctional Australian family, all five family members of this show get enough character development that the mom and dad feel like they’re more than “the mom and dad character”. Save for that one episode where Gramps was constantly bragging about how back in his day, he didn’t need electricity, he was a fun, lovable grandpa, and I like that the kids get someone to talk to about mutant frogs and such.

They’re definitely dysfunctional and, as I mentioned in the previous post, Rory and Dawn constantly insulting each other in every single episode can be grating at times, but I like that their level of dysfunction is not because of the mom and the dad having an emotionally abusive relationship. If anything, the mom and the dad have the most stable relationship in the whole show! Eileen and Jack love each other and I hate that I’m at a point where I see this husband and wife genuinely enjoying each other’s company and I go “Yes, this is something refreshing”.

Also, gotta give the show points for having the family be two single parents from past relationships finding each other and getting married and for having Eileen be totally cool with her new in-law Gramps.

*The Slobberers. Expanded from the first creatures from the books, I like that the apple-headed monster has giant worms for pets (again, gotta aggressively keep to the apple theming) and, while there’s a couple episodes where they’re just something to give The Appleman something to talk to, their designs are fun. Gives the animators an excuse to draw slime.

In a later episode, he mentions that he considers them his only friends and boy...that’s rough, buddy.

*There’s an episode where characters travel into the Internet and fight a buff video game avatar of The Appleman in a late 90′s dungeon crawler computer game. I looooove late 90′s Internet imagery in cartoons, what can I say. You even see the dial-up pop window and a clunky late 90′s webcam!

*This is a show where a divorced man keeps bugging his own son and ex-wife while sometimes trying to kill his ex-wife’s new husband - all while keeping to a strict apple and virus theme - and honestly, this is a pro on its own. The Appleman is such a petty bitch at times and I love it.

*The Appleman is allergic to medicine. Minor touch, but I like that, since he’s a virus-themed bad guy, they apply “Revive Kills Zombie” logic on this guy and he literally can’t take painkillers because it’ll only cause him more pain and agony. This comes up in an episode where he’s screaming in pain and wishes he could make the pain go away but just can’t.

*The Title Cards. This is one of those shows that freezes on eye-catching artwork for each episode title before they continue with the rest of the episode and they’re really nice.

*The Accents. Forgot to mention this anywhere else, but since this is an Australian produced cartoon that aired primarily in Australia, everyone is rocking a very noticeable Australian accent and say things like “Oi, you two! Come and get a wriggle on!”. It’s fantastic.

They were definitely at the level where, if this show ever did make it to the states, they would’ve dubbed it to sound more American. And probably flip the animation so that the characters are driving on the opposite side of the road.

The Cons

*The Reused animation and sound clips. This is unfortunately the show’s biggest strike against it. Once your brain picks out which scenes get reused and which voice clips get reused, you’ll notice that some of the episodes have a noticeably smaller polish than others. The episode “Decayed” in particular felt like 50% footage from previous episodes and boy, did it stick out like a sour thumb because of it.

That being said, I didn’t mind too much (watching a lot of B-list anime and Filmation shows will do that to you) and I feel like you would’ve noticed this a lot less if you weren’t blazing through all 26 episodes in a short period of time like I was. But it is definitely a bummer that they had to cut corners like this because again, when they don’t cut corners, this show looks utterly fantastic.

I guess the lesson here is that the animators of this show didn’t get paid enough, but really, you can say that about literally every animated project in existence.

*Weird continuity inconsistencies. This goes into a weird nitpicking “you probably only noticed this because you’re an adult with too much free time/boy I sure hope someone got fired for THAT blunder!” territory, but sometimes this cartoon does a thing where something minor is established and then the cartoon subtly retcons it.

Mostly I’m using this space to complain about how Dawn explicitly mentions that they don’t own a cat, but then in the “character shrinks to the size of an ant” episode, they have a pet cat! They have a pet cat that lasts a grand total of one episode and no one says anything!

What happened to the cat, Rory? What happened to the cat?!

(my theory is, like his father, it ran away from this family)

*Some episodes use stock cartoon plots. There is an episode where the main characters shrink to the size of an ant. There is a camping episode. There is a school dance episode. There is a Halloween episode. There is an episode focused on teeth. There is an episode that talks about the dangers of too much fast food.

Like the reused animation issue, depending on the episode, you end up not minding too much about this on account of how utterly bonkers The Appleman is when he’s concocting his evil schemes. The “characters teleport into the Internet” episode ended up being one of my favorites, as did the school dance episode.

But at the same time, two of my least favorite episodes are the stock episode plot episodes, so it’s definitely a mixed bag.

*They use real photographs in background shots and it bugs me. Come on, guys. Just have the blank wall or scribble in some posters. Anything will look better than this cartoon character standing right next to a still image from Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, especially when you clearly had the time to draw that cartoon skull on the door.

*The three plot-heavy episodes unfortunately have weaker animation. This just seems like weird planning on their parts, but Episode 1, Episode 4, and Episode 26 are all episodes that deal with backstory of The Appleman and this wacky dysfunctional family and, for some reason, they didn’t bring their A game in regards to actually animating these episodes.

I feel like if you’re dealing with heavy backstory, you need to make the episode look good, because that’s going to be the stuff that the audience remembers. You need to have the flashback of The Appleman’s horrific transformation while he was working at the old refinery look amazing, but instead it just....doesn’t.

(picture unfortunately related)

Just to make a note, the episodes with the most fluid animation are the following: The one with the mutant plants, the one with the mutant sheep, the Halloween episode, the episode with the dinosaur bones, and the episode where The Appleman learns how to make clones. None of these episodes are important to the overarching plot.

*One of the episodes is unfortunately popular because it depicts animation that caters to the inflation fetish. Just...noting this for posterity. It makes google image searches of this cartoon a bit awkward. I’m not going to elaborate much further.

*There’s a minor transphobic joke in one of the episodes. In the episode “Decayed”, The Appleman dresses up like a nurse, tries to adopt a more feminine voice, and puts on makeup and fake eyelashes. Thankfully, this only happens for like three seconds and is never mentioned again.

The rest of the show otherwise passes the “can this still fly in 2020″ test. I’m just making a note here because it is pretty shitty.

Closing Thoughts

Wicked! is not the best show in the world, and I struggle to call it “great”, but it is a solid and enjoyable one and honestly, the things that it has going for it are unique enough that I recommend giving it a shot despite its shortcomings.

If anything, my main takeaway from watching this whole show is that this show does not deserve to be as obscure as it is. At the very least, the concepts and characters introduced here are strong ones - the villain is a bitter divorced man transformed by a hate-feeding virus after all - and I feel that, in a more fair world, this show got the small but dedicated fanbase it so woefully needs. It doesn’t deserve a huge following of fans, but I say it definitely deserves a Fanfiction.net tag with 200 fanfics total and a lot more fanart than what it does.

While I’m not sure I could recommend it as one of the great obscure cartoons that everyone missed, I think it’s definitely worth checking out for anyone looking for a fun time. It’s definitely a hidden gem, even if the hidden gem has a few imperfections. If anything, this show is a definite wild ride and I think it’s time for everyone to give this cartoon a shot.

Anyway I got to see The Appleman playing Second Life and moving the muscle slider all the way to the right, so I obviously had a blast.

Next time, I talk about the actual episodes!

#Turq watches a cartoon #Turq Reviews #Wicked!#Wicked! (2001)

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