#I mean my favorite movies are guardians of the galaxy movies. But like

[thecluelessdoctor]

It's time for my annual day of thinking about that one really weird jukebox musical made by Disney and lucasfilms that I hate and adore with every fiber of my being. I hate it because it's a jukebox musical and half the characters are the worst things ever and the writing is really bad alot of the time and I love it because the relationship between the main two characters is the GREATEST ENEMIES TO LOVERS I HAVE SEEN IN A LONG TIME and it's a straight couple and it's not cringe (or it's good cringe idk) AND I can cut the tension when they are flirting with a knife and it's funny

...this post is about Strange Magic by the way. It's amazing and terrible all at once and I need to talk about it at some point because I've been thinking about it again

[broke-on-books]

☕

The live action Scooby-Doo movies?

I did not see this ask until RIGHT now (first time on desktop since crab day, second time since Nov 5 2020 [which was DOUBLY experience since I got my phone taken the same day]) so I'm going to assume this ask got eaten on mobile because tumblr, HOWEVER you poked a bear with this ask anon (as I'm sure you knew when asking) SO without further ado: my Scooby Doo live action opinions

So when you say 'live action Scooby-Doo movies' I'm assuming you're talking about the James Gunn films, starting with Scooby-Doo (2002) followed by Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, just due to like, generally popularity and also the fact that I have actually seen those films. However shoot another ask if you wanted me to include Curse of the Lake Monster in this (because I will if anyone cares and turn this into a live-action scooby dissertation, i'd just need to like. watch the movie first) But anyways where I'm going with this is that this post is about the Gunn movies aka the ones with SMG, Freddie Prinze Jr., Linda Cardellini, and ofc our #1 man, Matthew Lilliard.

Okay so my take on these movies is... complicated. I wouldn't say it's as complicated as my feelings towards SDMI, because I watched the live actions way less as a kid and generally care less about them, but still no matter how much shit I throw at these two movies there are parts that I generally like (even love) that stops me from totally condemning them wholesale. Like the fact that these movies are FUNNY! There's so many moments from this duology that are just beyond iconic "like, that's one of my favorite names!" the whole thing with Scooby in the dress at the airport, ET. CETERA (like I can go on!)

The Gunn movies are genuinely SO fun and I can 100% see and understand how they've stood so well in the public view as a representation of Scooby. HOWEVER, this is where you start to see my problems with them. For the general American, (because that is the audience I'm familiar with) ESPECIALLY millennials and younger, who happen to make up the majority of both people on this site AND people I talk about Scooby with in real life, these movies, and the elements they introduced as "quintessential scooby tropes" are the base of their understanding of the Scooby franchise, along with likely some miscellaneous WAY episodes and maybe SDMI.

Which is where I get pissed off. In the pushing of the narrative of "breaking away" from the Scooby norm, Gunn basically invents (aka totally makes up) an idea of what classic era Scooby was like, cementing an idea of classic Scooby into the public mind that is totally disingenuous and just straight up false. For example, in attempting to portray Daphne as having taken strides to be seen more seriously in solving mysteries and defending herself, it pushes the narrative that in the classic era she WASN'T taken seriously, and only existed as a damsel-in-distress prop of a character, which is just not true??? Like yes, Daphne is clumsy, that's a part of her character, and her friends (because, fun fact, the gang ARE friends) joke about it sometimes because that's what friends DO. Framing that in some kind of sexist "that's all she does" lens is just total bull, especially as gang members fall into secret passageways/get lost etc. in WAY ALL THE DAMN TIME because that's how the plot functions! Like are we calling Velma ditzy for losing her glasses every other episode? Of course not, and Fred falls into passageways all the time, not to MENTION Shaggy and Scooby and all they get up to. Also one last thing on the topic of Daphne, like this idea of her mystery solving skills not being respected by the gang is just so supremely bullshit it amazes me sometimes, especially when she was the LEADER (or leader adjacent) through pretty much all of her appearances in the 1980s [Not that James Gunn could look at '80s era Scooby without spitting on it, but I digress]

AND THIS IS JUST DAPHNE! Like the perceptions pushed towards Fred (and Velma, but mostly Fred) through these movies are just as bad! Like okay, with Fred---In these movies Fred is just an asshole. I hate Gunn Movies!Fred. I mean yeah he can be funny but it's almost always so mean! Almost nothing makes me madder than a mean Fred by the way. If he's putting other gang members down (even halfway, like with his whole "dorky chicks like you turn me on too" line, which... ew) then to me something has gone very, very, VERY, wrong in your basic understanding of Frederick Herman Jones as a character. Like he's the cheerleader! He puts himself in between his friends and danger! He loves nets, and traps, and Elvis impressions, and wrestling, and the trapeze, and cars, and most of all he LOVES sharing the things he loves with his friends! (Sometimes to a bit of an extreme. No one wants to hear about your net facts, Fred) And the live action movies just don't understand that at all. And I know there's maybe something to say I suppose in that some of those aspects of his characterization hadn't been "established yet" by the time "Scooby-Doo" came out in 2002. But it's there if you look. For Fred Jones, being the leader means being the caretaker, (he's the Mom friend what can I say) and any version where he's cruel and arrogant and just DOESN'T CARE about his friends in the way he's shown to in the Gunn movies is just so far from Fred to me it's not even funny. And what makes it even worse for me is that this (or at least something similar) is the idea of Fred that has really spread to the popular culture. Just the "leader", the jock that makes the rules, the one that [insert X adaptation here] finally gave a personality and made interesting (something that has been said more times than I can count for pretty much every gang member, save Shaggy and Scooby).

And I haven't even touched on Velma, and how they gave her a bit of a early 2000s smart superiority girl complex against Daphne, plus the whole makeover thing and etc. etc. The Gunn Movies are pretty much what would happen if you took someone who hadn't seen Scooby since they were 7 years old (and honestly had a pretty negative outlook against it then) and tried to "fix" it, only his memory was so bad he just made up problems (and threw in a good helping of early 2000s style sexism with it) convincing pretty much the entirety of the popular culture that said problems exist and that Gunn was absolutely brilliant for fixing them (and then bringing up said "problems" whenever anyone wants to talk about Scooby) and this entire rant has been without even fucking MENTIONING what is probably the reason you, anonymous tumblr user sent this ask in the first place, to I, Swishy "Scrappy Doo Redemption Arc" Broke-on-books (dot tumblr dot com), which is his HIGHLY SUCESSFUL and utterly sadistic character assassination of my number one man, Scrappy Doo.

And I am going to try my damnedest here not to get totally into my highly passionate opinions over what James Gunn did to Scrappy in the first of his Scooby movies and how thoroughly it has pissed me the fuck off because I have been writing this post for over an hour now and if we start to really get into my feelings on this topic it will certainly be a couple of hours more but like. That Fucking Bitch. I give James Gunn personally a solid eighty-five percent of the blame for making my life as a Scrappy Doo fan UTTERLY unbearable with this stupid fucking movie alone, and just his Scrappy crimes would honestly be enough for me to say that I hate this movie, not even considering the numerous Scooby crimes I've been talking about here for the past million paragraphs, but the part about this movie that makes me the MOST mad the most pissed off is that it's actually a good fucking movie. James Gunn wrote two hilarious and entertaining movies that have become beloved in the popular culture for their successes in that arena, while at the same time pissing all over the core themes and messages of the franchise of which it was based, that of friendship.

TLDR; The Live Action Scooby Doo movies (written by James Gunn) are highly entertaining and fun pieces of media to watch, and are widely loved by the general public and looked at with fondness and nostalgia because of that. However, as a hardcore Scooby Doo fan (writing that phrase sounds so ridiculous but oh well) the existence of these movies and their impact on the popular culture can be extremely frustrating (despite any personal nostalgia said fan may have) due to their spreading of a misinformed picture of what "typical Scooby Doo" looks like. This picture is especially frustrating due to the fabrication or exaggeration of problems present in classic Scooby (such as sexism in regards to the girls), as well as giving more ammunition to other problems in Scooby fandom (such as oversexualization, and sexualization in general, which no one wants to see in regards to their children's cartoons, like HONESTLY.) Discussions of sexism and sexualization in Scooby (both of which ARE present and are issues, although not at their worst in WAY) can often lead to an overlooking of the issues that are very present and clear in WAY and have continued since then with far too little resistance (I'm 100% talking about the racism here) HOWEVER that topic deserves at least a dozen posts of its own that I am no way informed or qualified enough to even begin to think about writing. The Gunn Movies are frustrating to many longtime Scooby fans because of these reasons, but for me, and fellow Scrappy Doo fans there is also the added aspect of the demonization of Scrappy Doo in the live action movies and the affects that has had on the popular culture as well, making it uniquely inhospitable to like or enjoy the character of Scrappy. End post.

[lesbiansanemi]

Uh oh. I accidentally liked a marvel movie. Losing my media snob credibility immediately

[jessiarts]

Trying to help these Palestinian Families!

There are two verified Palestinian GFMs in my linktree, and I want to help them meet their fundraiser goals.

To do this I hope to donate my art and time to raise the money.

How this will work is you donate directly to one of the GFMs in my linktree, and then send me a screenshot of your donation receipt as proof (via tumblr ask or email) and I will draw the fandom character(s) prompt you request based off the donation amounts in the graphic below.

Both GFMs are verified by Operation Olive Branch.

First GFM is organized by Tasnim Alhamss (on line #663 of OOB's spreadsheet), who is still trying to evacuate her sister's 3 children as well as her brother's 3 daughters. They're just a little over $2K from their goal. They're so close!

Second GFM is organized by Layal Qudaih (on line #844 of OOB's spreadsheet), who is trying to evacuate newlyweds Hala and Abd Al Aziz, as well as Hala's elderly mother, Amal. Hala was 7 months pregnant when the GFM was created in February. It is now August. That means there is now a baby, just a few months old, who needs evacuating too. They have only achieved 67% of their goal as of writing this post.

Below is the graphic detailing the type of drawing I'll complete in exchange for the amount donated.

I encourage other artists to take this idea and run with it for their own adopted families. Operation Olive Branch has a whole spreadsheet of family fundraisers you can sponsor if you are able!

Hopefully together we can help more families meet their goals and get to safety!

I've included a list of fandoms and shows I'm most familiar with under the cut, but feel free to ask about others!

Again, this is not an exhaustive list, but I did try to put them in alphabetical order to make them easier to look through.

Avatar the Last Airbender

BBC Sherlock

Cartoon Network- Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Ed Edd & Eddy, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Kids Next Door, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Johnny Bravo, Powepuff Girls, Dexter's Lab

Child's Play franchise

Coraline

Defiance Series

Doctor Who - mostly 9th Doctor through current Doctor, but I have seen a little bit of Classic Who too

Disney Movies- again, pretty much all of it- but some of my favorites were the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Hocus Pocus;

classics like Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Tarzan, Emperors New Groove, Lilo and Stitch, etc;

newer stuff like Brave, Encanto, and Coco, Moana, Frozen, etc.

The Hobbit

House MD

Jurassic Park

Looney Toons

Lord of the Rings

Marvel- pretty much all of it, but especially familiar with Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor movies, Loki series, The Avengers, Deadpool, etc

Nickelodeon- Fairly OddParents, Spongebob, Danny Phantom, My Life as a Teenage Robot

Once Upon a Time

Pokemon

The Princess Bride

Scooby Doo

Shrek

Supernatural

Tim Burton Films - Nightmare before Christmas, Corpse Bride, Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd, Beetlejuice, etc

Unus Annus

X-Files

[theachskid]

Hello! Welcome to my blog! ✨️

You can call me Achs! You pronounce Achs as Aw-ch.💪💯

My pronouns are she/her/hers/they/them/theirs, and if you want it/it's ( there just fun ya know?), and I'm pansexual

On this blog, you will see my art/ my oc (Alanza) and other characters. You will also see some memes, music (bands, and stuff), and my bearded dragon piccaso!

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️

my art will have blo0d, scars, and other content that may be uncomfortable for some. ALSO, I AM A MINOR!!!

⚠️RULES⚠️

🔸️DNI, if you're a terf, transphobic. Homophonic, racist, sexist, or any other hatred to any kind

🔸️ Dont like it. Don't interact

🔸️be kind to anyone who interacts on this blog! my moots, people who comment, *me*, basically everyone!

I do art requests! So send me asks! ✌️✨️❤️

You can find My stuff on..

Youtube: @The_Achs_kid / ~Artists Achs~

Ibis paint: The Achs kid

That's about it...😪

The rest is just things I like! And things about me!

📺shows i watch:

Young sheldon, Evil lives here, mha, Sxf, Demon slayer, Komi can't communicate, Ghost, ghost adventures, fear thy neighbor, married to evil, see no evil, Monsters: Eric and Lyle Mendez story, and Avatar the last airbender.

🎬Movies I like:

Nightmare before christmas, blended, the silent voice, the sixth scene ,the quiet place, imaginary, the longest yard, over the hedge, surfs up,happy Gilmore, Ragnorok, Evan hansen, Guardians the Galaxy vol.2, shark tale, and deadpool (1,2 and 3)

📚Books I'm reading/ have read.

Obsessed, the collected, American murder houses, the girl in the locked room, the ghost in the head lights, Percy jackson: the lighting theif, and Percy jackson: the sea of monsters.

🎨Artist I listen to:

Pierce the veil, Korn, TV girl, insane clown posse, odetari, 6arelyhuman, queen, panic! at the disco, sir mix-a-lot, eminem, kesha, mitski, queen, marina and the diamonds, Alec Benjamin, doja cat, miracle musical, fall out boy, mother mother, Bruno Mars, Tally Hall, kendrick Lamar, And Tyler the creator.

🎮Video games I play (mobile and console):

Amoug the sleep, hello neighbor, goat simulater, untitled goose game, roblox, cube escape, block blast, story teller, Fnaf, sims 4, little miss fortune, creepy tails, and organizer.

Facts about muah <3

I speak 2 languages! Spanish and English, and I'm trying to learn German and hungarian because that's what I am!

I do dance! I just left my dance class and I'm trying to find a new one!

I have 4 awards! 3 art awards and 1 government award for being a good student!

I have eplipsy and anhidrosis! Anhidrosis means I can't sweat!

I'm a big-time collector! I collect rubber ducks, funko pops, stickers, stuffed animals, crystals, and glass bottle caps.

I'm allergic to 3 things! Kiwis, amoxicillin and fake jewelry

ALSO, IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT ANY OF THIS STUFF YOU CAN ASK.

My radom favorite things!

Favorite place : the beach

Favorite food : sushi

Favorite song: pass the nirvana- pierce the veil

Favorite sport team: sandiago padres- baseball

Favorite yt: Duncanyounot and funkyfrogbait

BTW MY TAG #help he is attacking me... IS MADE BECAUSE OF MY BEARDED DRAGON NOTHING ELSE

SHIPS I GO FOR 💪💯

Izuocha , kirimina , todomomo , bakucamie , tokotsuyu , Erasermic , twiyor, damianya , shouko X Shoya , kamijirou , ojitoru , katarang , Alberta X Peter , Thor X flower , and probably more i can't think of 😅

Also, go check out my mutruals!

@rafrfr @leviathan-winters @generalallxsanjishipper @innercupcakehottub-blog @scobunny @myausofia @lastnightstoryart

[argumentativeaxolotl]

Uhhh what I think the Cars 1 (humanized) characters listen to/music taste bc I’m tired and out of ideas and I’m bored lol:

Lightning McQueen:

I feel like he’d listen to Taylor Swift. He’s not a Swifty, just likes her music lol. I feel like he’d listen to a lot of 80’s-90’s rock and have the same sort of music taste as Star-Lord from Guardians Of The Galaxy. He probably likes a lot of YouTube songs that aren’t really on the radio.

Chick Hicks:

He 100% listens to rock n roll. I feel like he’d also like 80’s-90’s rock. He’d probably hear some country music and cringe before changing the station and start cringing at the 2000’s music. Chick 100% secretly listens to Kesha and ABBA and I will die on this hill. He appreciates Michael Jackson, worships him even.

Strip Weathers:

Bro is a country guy. I mean… c’mon. Look at him. Also he likes Lil Nas X. I headcanon that he’d enjoy My Chemical Romance though. I just think it would be funny as fuck if he and Cal were just going for a drive and;

Cal: Uncle Strip can we please listen to something other than Old Town Road??? It’s been on repeat for like three hours!

Strip: If it bugs you that much, sure. Let me change the station, kiddo.

*Black Parade Intensifies*

Cal: Emo music? Hard pass— Uncle Strip??

Strip: *gasps* I love this song! 🎶When I was, a young boy, my father took me into the city! To see a marching band!!🎶🎶🎶🗣️🗣️🗣️

Cal:

Cal: What the fuck??? What the actual fuck???

Doc Hudson:

Bro listens to classical music. I feel like he’d use this more as a front than anything or for when he’s working because it helps him focus. Otherwise he’d refuse to talk about or even listen to piano and violins. Idk about you but he gives me the vibes of someone who likes musicals and jingles from movies(Ghost Busters theme or the Jurassic Park main theme). Aside from that, he probably has a very picky taste in music and simply likes certain songs from certain artists.

Sally Carrera:

She likes all music. I feel like she wouldn’t care what plays as long as something is playing. But her favorite music is metal. I think this is funny for the same reason Strip liking MCR is funny.

Tow Mater:

He likes country as well idk what to say lol. I think he’d try to get Lightning into country then quickly find himself liking the same things Lightning does. Mater seems like the type of guy to try and show off the music he likes, fails, then likes everybody else’s music when they show him. He tries.

[bluelocksource]

Kurona Ranze’s trivia

☆ Character color: Pink.

☆ Birthday: 6th September.

☆ Current age: 16 (1st year high schooler).

☆ Zodiac: Virgo.

☆ Birthplace: Hokkaido.

☆ Family structure: Father. Mother. Himself.

☆ Current height: 168 cm.

☆ Foot size: 26.5 cm.

☆ Dominant foot: Right foot.

☆ Vision acuity: 1.2

☆ Blood type: O.

☆ Grip strength: 38 kg.

☆ Motto: "Take care of your own mood."

☆ Starts playing football: At age 4.

☆ Team before joining BLUE LOCK: Kirikizan High School Soccer Club.

切刻斬 (kirikizan) can mean 'cutting slash' or 'precise cut'.

☆ Hobby: Playing with his braid. "Since childhood, I’ve had the habit of touching my bangs when I’m daydreaming, watching TV, or concentrating. When my parents jokingly taught me how to braid, I’ve had braided hair ever since. I braid and unbraid it to get through boring classes."

☆ Favorite food: Twist bread. "It’s cute because it looks like a braid. Any flavor is fine."

☆ Food he dislike: Iga’s hard-baked rice crackers. "I chipped a tooth as a child. They’re hard. Hard.”

Iga is a city in Mie Prefecture.

☆ What goes best with rice: "I prefer bread, so I don’t know much about it."

☆ Favorite animal: Great white shark. "I feel a connection because of its jagged teeth. Jaws. Jaws."

☆ Favorite season: Spring. "It makes me want to run. RUN. RUN."

☆ Favorite football player: Lamine Yamal.

☆ Favorite song: "Onaji Yoru" by sancrib.

☆ Favorite manga: Gachiakuta.

☆ Favorite movie: Guardians of the Galaxy.

☆ Mushroom shoots vs Bamboo shoots: Bamboo shoots. "I like the crispy biscuit-like texture. Bamboo shoots sprouting up."

☆ What makes him happy: Subtle affection. "I like people who always look out for me."

☆ What makes him upset: Being yelled at. "They should just talk to me before getting angry. Anger management is important."

☆ What he thinks his strength is: "I can build relationships with others while maintaining a moderate distance. Also, I’m fast on my feet."

☆ What he thinks his weakness is:  "I tend to be quite casual about things I’m not interested in. Casual."

☆ What made him cry recently: “When my pet hedgehog passed away.”

☆ Favorite/best subject: "None in particular. None. I dislike studying."

☆ Weak/least favorite subject: "All of them. That’s why I hate studying! Don’t ask! Don’t ask!"

☆ Ideal type: Someone who maintains a moderate distance but stays close.

☆ Number of chocolates received from previous Valentine: 4.

☆ At what age he experiences first love: 8 years old.

☆ The first time he got confessed to: “A classmate told me they liked me, but it was in a mascot-like way. I was disappointed. I was really down.”

☆ Fixation: Hairstyles. "A person’s hairstyle reflects their personality."

☆ Average sleeping time: 7.5 hours.

☆ How he spend his holiday: “Training to improve my running speed. Taking care of my hedgehog (the second one). Then just relaxing casually. Relaxing.”

☆ When taking a bath, which part he washes first: His hair. "I undo my braid and carefully treat it."

☆ What he usually buy from the convenience store: "Hair ties. Hair ties."

☆ What will he do if he received 100 million yen: "I’d be shocked. Shocked."

☆ At what age he stops receiving presents from Santa: At 11 years old.

☆ What was his last wish from Santa: "Socks, for soccer. It was funny to find socks inside Santa’s stocking."

☆ What will he do during his last day on Earth: "Spend a relaxing time with my parents and my pet hedgehog (the second one)."

☆ Favorite historical figure: John Lennon.

☆ If he hadn’t encountered soccer, what will he be doing: “I might have aimed to become a pet groomer.”

☆ If he could only take one thing to a deserted island, what would it be: "I’d take my pet hedgehog (the second one) with me. Oh, the hedgehog's name is Pocari."

☆ If he had a time machine, would he go to the past or the future: The future. “I want to go really far into the future and make friends with future people.”

note: i want to apologize in advance for any mistake made in the translation!

source: Egoist Bible 2.

[madhare0512]

A Comprehensive List of Spideyfist Interactions (pt.7)

Hello and welcome back to: reasons Spideyfist is canon. A series where I take you through each episode of The Ultimate Spiderman and show you why I believe that Peter Parker and Danny Rand are dating in canon, or at least that they are each other’s favorites- and also give you commentary on the show itself as I do

Warnings for: episode spoilers, season spoilers, action/injury description, unsolicited commentary, probable cussing, violence, caps lock

this part features episodes 14 through 20 of season 2

S2E14 The Incredible Spider-Hulk

- No notable interactions

- Fuck SHIELD and their bullshit Hulkbusters

~

S2E15 Ultimate Deadpool

- I'm not gonna lie to you, in the process of making this post, Tumblr glitched and I lost a lot of progress, this episode and the entire episode above. I'm not rewriting it, so the gist of the first 2 minutes is: I don't like that Deadpool just stole the show and the audience from Peter because Peter is "boring." I also don't like how Fury has set up the team against Peter.

- taking deep, calming breaths Shooting your ally/trainee in the back is akin to telling them that you cannot be trusted or relied on. Fuck Coulson.

- "Not impressed." Yeah, well, you shot your trainee in the back with zero warning or previous experience. Fuck you.

- Also, you can only hear Sam and Ava laughing in the laugh track, so honorable spideypowerfist mentions. Also counts to spideyfist

- You're showing your fucking favoritism you asshole. Do fucking better

- You are spraying it RIGHT IN HIS FACE

- "Somone explain. Now." Nova goes to explain "NOT Nova" Reason number whatever why I don't ship them

- If Peter replaced Deadpool in the show does that mean that Deadpool was the leader before Peter?

- Listen, I fucking love Deadpool in the movies and the comics, from what I've heard, are fucking superb. In this iteration? No. No, I hate him. I hate Deadpool and SHIELD in this show

- There is WAY too much emphasis on this alleged agent for me to believe a word Deadpool says.

- Peter is being singled out for training and it's disGUSTING

- There are no snitches among the Ultimates. Not today anyhow

- Deadpool is a liar and master of manipulation

- My poor dumb boy

- Okay, the more I rewatch, the more it becomes clear to me that Deadpool and Peter are supposed to be parallels or mirrors

- "I'll give you 1000 bucks for your brain!"

- "Sleep them with the fishes"

- "Nice of you to finally visit my school" Forshadowing~~~

- Okay I hate him but he's funny

- SEE? SEE???

- Deadpool is scary when he's actually trying

- "How about telling me the truth?"

- Deadpool's origin story is so wack

~

S2E16 Venom Bomb

~ Is this the-? looks at the episode number Oh, no. Not yet, I think.

- Saving the teammates like a boss!

- The nightmares Peter must have every time he faces the Goblin

- In the fight, Danny strikes after Peter, which counts

- Danny and Peter are standing RIGHT next to each other after a battle againnnn

- Peter WANTS to be able to take the win, but he knows his adversaries too damn well for that

- Hey, they're standing right next to each other again!

- Peter doing his best with Harry when he's Spiderman

- Ock just gets weirder and weirder looking the more time goes on

- They're gonna study the fucking symbiote but not try to find a cure for Osbourn?

- Infectious Venom disease!

- Goblin being absolutely AWFUL to Venom

- Where's the team in all this??

- One of the worst things you can do to Doc Ock's character is pretend he's evil for fun. This show doesn't do that, but the fact still stands

- And again I say, people forget that Peter is an accomplished chemist just the same as he's a wonderful hero

- Because you're Spiderman and Spiderman is a hero and you're a wonderful, selfless, brave person, Peter Parker

- Peter and Ock working together lmao

- Peter’s a goof, I love him

- At least Peter gets his damn props

~

S2E17 Guardians of the Galaxy

- Oh!! This episode indirectly has big evidence!!

- Peter using his abilities to shove garbage into the can

- PETER SEES A TALKING RACCOON AND ASSUMES HE LOST IT OMG

- Okay, so remember how in The Journey of Iron Fist, Peter follows Danny to his home country to find out what's going on and get Danny back? That's not exactly what's happening here. Peter was accidentally abducted in this one

- Peter was so fucking respectful and kind when regarding Danny’s home country and turf, but when it's Sam, he's snarky and complains the whole damn time

- Rocket is just so fucking casual about this

- See, even under attack, Peter is complaining about Sam getting him in trouble!

- Peter demands answers from Sam, he didn't do that with Danny, he was very calm and respectful when asking for answers with Danny

- Peter doesn't listen to a WORD Sam says ever, he's oblivious and not a good listener, reason number whatever why I ship what I ship

- It's literally only after he figures out Earth is a target that Peter decides to work with the Guardians

- Peter gives these "Ki-ya!" shouts that sound almost exactly like Danny’s

- This episode and The Jouney to K'un L'un are literally parallels

- Even if he doesn't LIKE Sam, Peter still considers Sam a friend, still loves Sam as a brother

- Peter didn't accept Danny going back to K'un L'un for a single second, but when Nova says he wants to stay with the Guardians, Peter accepts it without hesitation

- And then once Sam's back on Earth, Peter's right back to fucking with him like nothing ever happened

~

S2E18 The Parent Trap

- No notable interactions

-One of my favorite things that Luke does is he just fucking throws people for funzies. That's his whole thing, he THROWS people when he's fighting and needs to team up

- We're going through the team's backstories this season, which I think it's fun, and it's actually kinda funny

-Yes, Peter, 'parents' parents

-They're so fucking biased against Peter and it pisses me off

-I love the way these guys protect and look after each other, it's super cute and lovely

-See this is what happens when you start harping on your teenage heroes. They start ignoring you and don't listen when you try to offer important information

-Luke wanting a perfect reunion is so fucking relatable

-Spiderman only calls his friends by name on missions when it's important or in an emergency, the team members who know his identity don't call Peter by name unless off mission

~

S2E19 Stan By Me

-No notable interactions

~

S2E20 Game Over

-Danny talks about how fun the LMDs are and Peter immediately starts going into detail.

-I love that the team gets to go all out here

-Danny wants to retreat, Peter says "looks like we're gonna have to 'assess' with our fists" which I count because Peter's not the kind of guy to retreat even if it's deadly and he talks like he was going to agree

-Annd we're in a slow zoom (in the ready room lol) and Peter and Danny are sitting right next to each other

[mrwolfhare]

Did you get to choose the new team or was it the studio? Yes, no.

Have you had conversations with Marvel about their plans for the guardians now that you’re done? Yes

Are there any deleted scenes with Llyla, Rocket, Floor, and Teef? No.

Did you ever consider inserting any other Marvel characters to cross over into this picture? No

Is there a reason Quill didn't have his helmet in Guardians 3? It’s in his desk drawer in Knowhere. He had to get out of there fast as you know!

Is there an in-universe explanation as to why Quill’s ditched his helmet and rocket boots? They have jet packs. The rocket boots comparatively suck. That's like cheap shit you get in the intergalactic version of Radio Shack. And Chris could never have done those amazing hallway moves with a helmet on.

Was there a plan for a new helmet design for Star-Lord (the classic design would’ve been cool)? No.

In the scene where Rocket and Groot are dancing, was that you and your brother on set? Yes

I was VERY curious on how Drax knew the JOOB JOOB but Mantis didn’t being Ego’s translator? Drax knew the language from his childhood. It's not in anyone's translators.

Why did no one understand, or acknowledge the language on Counter-Earth not being recognized by their translators? It's a cloistered culture. It would be normal not to have their Humanimal language in the translators.

Was the line always going to be “I love you guys” or did you have other options? No

Was there any consideration given towards giving the one spoken “F***” in the movie to Groot? Consideration? Sure.

Was redesigning Howard The Duck your idea? Yes. I've redesigned him on every movie because I've never been satisfied and we were rushed the first couple times. I'm happier now.

Did you ever think about giving Howard the Duck a bigger role in these movies (just asking because he’s my favorite Marvel Character)? Yes.

Does your average MCU earthling know that the Guardians of the Galaxy exist? No

Was Miley Cyrus not able to reprise her role from Guardians 2? Was that the same character? Yes. Yes.

James is Adam Warlock single? Yes

Has Grandpa Quill heard about Peter’s world-saving adventures already? No.

Does Peter Quill’s grandfather know about Ego? No

Was there an actual dog playing Cosmo or was that CGI? No, yes.

Was the Eagle in the cage an Eagly reference? Or just an Eagle? That was actually the real Eagly.

Can Groot grow a new body very quickly now? Yes.

Will there be Vol 4? No.

Will there ever be a director’s cut of the trilogy? Yes (the trilogy as is is the Director's Cut)

Do you want to do an extended version? No.

Does Guardians 3 have an alternate ending planned? No.

Will there be a longer cut of the film that has more Michael Rosenbaum in it? No

Will there be a commentary version of this film? Yes

As early as when you were making GOTG 1, did you already have ideas on where Vol 2 and 3 would go that eventually made it in the final films? Or were your initial ideas totally overhauled along the way? Yes, no.

Did you have to fight/negotiate hard with Disney to have all of those dark scenes? Or were the pretty open to your final vision? No. Yes.

Was it difficult writing Gamora’s arc in Vol 3, knowing Infinity War was going to kill her off? No.

Nebula's arm is the Bucky's arm from Holiday Special?? No. It's way better.

I saw you mentioned Annihilus as a possible villain for Vol 3. Was he also going to be a candidate for Rockets creator? Yes.

Does Rocket keep in contact with Thor? No.

Is there a super big, deeply-hidden Easter egg like the first one? Yes.

Did Bradley do all the young Rocket voice work too? No (Noa Raskin is baby Rocket, Sean Gunn is Young Rocket)

Since Halfworld isn't a thing in the MCU (I guess this is what you retconned out from the 1st movie) does that mean Rocket isn't a halfworlder in the MCU, right? You could consider Halfworld a more intergalactic name for Counter-Earth.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream: Top 100 Movies #25 - #1

100 - 76

75 - 51

50 - 26

So this right here is what I really wanted to talk about. These are the 25 movies that I hold nearest and dearest to my heart, the ones that mean the most to me, the ones that have influenced my tastes and the sort of things I like to see more than any other. Some are older films, some are pretty recent, but all of them represent what I think is the very best of their kind.

And yes, I could have just talked about these in the first place without doing all those other movies... But I'm the movie guy around here, so I felt like it would be more fun to give you a window into my taste in film. Anyway, here are the final movies:

25. Hercules

What happens when you throw Greek mythology, gospel music, the animator from The Wall, and Superman into a blender? You have Disney’s most bizarre and ambitious musical. It was a bold move taking Greek myths and sanitizing them to a mild degree(there’s no incest, rape, and infidelity but there is death and attempted infanticide!), a move that pissed off Greece for disrespecting their mythology, but come on. Lighten the fuck up. The whole point of myths and legends is to allow storytellers to embellish and alter details as they see fit for their vision. This take is no more or less valid than any other, though considering it has James Woods portraying Hades like a sleazy used car salesman trying to screw you out of your life savings, I’d say it has the edge over everything save the game Hades.

24. Clash of the Titans

As a child, this is the movie that got me into Greek mythology. It’s also the movie that got me into stop motion animation, which to this day remains one of my favorite forms of animation. And then it’s also the movie that gave me horrible nightmares, because that Medusa sequence is fucking terrifying. Ray Harryhausen delivers some of the best animation of his entire career here, and he singlehandedly propelled Medusa into the limelight; she wasn’t a household name prior to this film, but you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who hasn’t at least heard her name now. It also helped greatly alter the public perception of what a kraken is, and may have convinced people it’s a Greek creation. For a cheesy cult classic of a film, the impact this has is impressive, but even if it was just me and five other people who knew this movie existed I’d still love it all the same.

23. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

This is essentially a Shakesperean play, but with apes. The sheer amount of drama is incredible, and the stunning work at bringing the apes to life shows that human ingenuity will achieve the best results when it comes to rendering monkeys. Caesar is a fantastic and compelling lead of course, played perfectly by Andy Serkis, the man who somehow doesn’t have an Oscar, but I think the real star of the show is the villainous Koba. Never has a chimp been so horrifically and unrepentantly evil while also being heartbreakingly tragic. He also rides a horse while dual wielding guns and then hijacks a tank. That is literally one of the most badass visuals ever put to film.

22. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

A lot of people view this movie as the weakest of the trilogy, and while I obviously don’t agree I can kind of see it. The first act has its moments, but I think it’s a bit too slow and repeats a few too many jokes from the first film. But as soon as Ego hits the scene, the film goes into maximum overdrive and delivers a far better and funnier experience than the first film. Ego is one of the most heinous and captivating villains in all of comic book cinema thanks to Kurt Russell, but frankly it’s former side characters turned major players Yondu and Nebula who steal the show, as both are given a lot more to do and thus a lot more depth. The latter’s relationship with Gamora is explored quite a bit more and they’re even given a reconciliation, while the former gets a strong emotional arc and redemption while also pushing the development of the trilogy’s true main character Rocket to the next level. He also gets to massacre an entire ship full of goons in one of the MCU’s most epic sequences. And as if all this isn’t enough, this movie has the single best soundtrack of the Guardians trilogy; hard not to when you have Fleetwood Mac and George Harrison on it. The only thing that’s missing is “Come and Get Your Love.”

21. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back

I like most of the other Star Wars films; there’s maybe only two I consider outright bad, and even then one of them is more “messy and mediocre” than “awful.” But there is no way in Hell I’d ever even consider an argument that Star Wars ever got better than this. It has the battle of Hoth, the Wampa, Han hiding in the asteroid, Lando, Yoda, Han being frozen in carbonite, Boba Fett… And then capping everything off is one of the single greatest plot twists in cinematic history and a pretty dark ending for this sort of series, though one tempered by hope that the day can be saved. This is what Star Wars is all about right here, and the series has yet to ever produce anything that quite matches this in terms of sheer quality.

20. Dune: Part Two

Ok, that’s enough about the sci-fi for kids; it’s a real man’s sci-fi movie now! The first film was good and all, but I felt like it was slowly paced and a bit too heavy on exposition and worldbuilding without much excitement. This film fixes that; it keeps all of the exposition and worldbuilding, but it intersperses a lot more exciting setpieces and brings in Feyd-Rautha, who steals every scene he’s in even if he isn’t wearing those crazy space panties like when Sting played him. Of course, the real draw of the film is watching the well-meaning but vengeful Paul buy into his own hype as a means of survival and slowly descend from a decent guy in a bad situation to a villainous terrorist messiah with a god complex. The fact this movie ends on a triumph that would be the end of any other series but paints the victory with the blackest brush really has me excited for where the third chapter will go. What can I say? I’m a sucker for movies with big worms.

19. The Incredibles

Pixar had made plenty of compelling narratives about things like toys, bugs, monsters, and fish before this one, so it was only a matter of time before they tackled humans. I think there was probably a worry there, considering the humans in the original Toy Story looked really ugly and while the second one showed improvement it wasn’t all the way there yet. But making the novel decision to stylize the characters a la Team Fortress 2 proved the way to go to tell this story that’s a blend between James Bond, Watchmen, and the Fantastic Four. The characters and their struggles are relatable and grounded in reality despite their superpowers, and the movie is absolutely not afraid to get dark in ways you wouldn’t expect from an early Pixar movie, mostly courtesy of one of cinema’s greatest villains, Syndrome. Throw on top of it a Michael Giacchino score that helped launch his composing career into the sky and a hilarious minor role for director Brad Bird as the super suit designer Edna Mode, and you have what is inarguably Pixar’s best movie.

18. Pulp Fiction

I go back and forth a lot over whether this or Kill Bill are my favorite of Tarantino’s work, but I inevitably always land back on this one. Sure, the latter film is fun, violent, and action-packed, but this movie here is more quintessentially Tarantino. It has non-linear storytelling, with chapters bouncing around time to deliver a fascinating tale of criminals trying to outwit each other. It has an all-star cast of actors giving it their all, with defining performances for Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Bruce Willis, Uma Thurman, and Ving Rhames among many others (plus a demented Christopher Walken cameo). It has an awesome soundtrack, it has black comedy, it has meandering conversations that reveal a lot about the personality of the speaker, it has copious use of the N-word (sometimes even straight from Tarantino’s own mouth), and of course it has plenty of shots of women’s feet. This is Tarantino in his purest form, and it still holds up as one of the greatest masterpieces of the 90s.

17. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

I didn’t know if I’d be thrown into the same sort of blissful ecstasy that Hideo Kojima was while watching this, but let me tell you that this was such a fucking amazing movie I just had to rewatch Fury Road right after. As far as origin stories go, it is genuinely hard to get better than this, which not only showcases Furiosa’s backstory and her rise to her position as seen in Fury Road, it also showcases a younger Immortan Joe and the depths of his evil as we see he once had a son named Scrotus. Who the fuck names their kid that besides the most depraved villain imaginable? But quite frankly the real star of this show is Chris Hemsworth as Dementus, a villain who is as stupid and pitiful as he is depraved and cunning. It is absolutely astounding seeing him act his balls off after watching him sleepwalk through mediocre Thor and Ghostbuster movies. If you ever thought he might not actually be that good of an actor, you need to sit your ass down and watch this movie.

16. Deadpool & Wolverine

I think it is extremely easy to pick this apart when you take this film at face value, because on the surface the narrative is kind of flimsy and the emotional core just isn’t there. Like, why should we give a shit about this brand new Wolverine’s plight, moping over the deaths of a version of the X-Men we’ve never seen? But this isn’t a movie we should be taking literally; this movie is a metaphor for a lot of things, from the very nature of the Fox Marvel films and their messy and convoluted timelines to the literal idea of Wolverine as a cash cow box office draw. But most importantly, this is a superhero movie that is a love letter to unloved superhero films, a heartfelt sendoff telling them that even if they weren’t great, they had maximum effort put into them. Think of all the crossover characters and how they’re from failed franchises or unmade projects; no one was clamoring to see Elektra, and hardly anyone would know Channing Tatum was ever meant to play Gambit. But these characters are implemented in such a way where it’s clear that whatever audiences thought, Reynolds certainly saw some value in them. As someone who loves watching dogshit movies and seeing if they’re really that bad, this plot definitely speaks to me. As a straight Deadpool film this doesn’t work, but as a fond farewell to Fox’s time making Marvel movies and an entry point for Deadpool to join the MCU, this is one hell of a great film. You will come out of it wanting Cassandra Nova to stick her fingers in your brain, though. Fair warning.

15. Poor Things

If Barbie is the film equivalent of an “intro to feminism” course, this is the advanced placement course. This is an impressive allegory about the objectification of women and how they seek agency in a society that so desperately wants to force them to be something whether they like it or not. Emma Stone gives an absolutely insane performance, and it’s genuinely hard to deny she actually deserved the Oscar after seeing how mind-bogglingly demanding this role must have been. Mark Ruffalo, too, shows off his long-dormant acting chops, flexing his comedic muscles after being stuck as a supporting CGI giant in Avengers movies with zero hope of a solo film. The colors, the dialogue, the score, it all comes together to make one of the most striking films in recent memory.

14. The Thing

John Carpenter made one of the few movies I have ever had to look away from on my first viewing, sitting alongside Breaking Dawn – Part 1 and Cannibal Holocaust in that illustrious category. The effects here are beautifully gruesome, with some of the most delightfully monstrous bits of body horror you could ever hope to see. The plot is fantastic, with the paranoia and fear that breaks down even these toughest of men being something that leads to a lot of applicability (it’s easy to read this movie as a metaphor for the AIDS crisis, for instance). And best of all this film features amazing performances from Kurt Russell and Keith David, some of the best of careers that are stacked high with amazing roles. Carpenter had a pretty flawless run of films in the 80s, but this right here is his magnum opus.

13. A Clockwork Orange

I love films that are character studies of horribly repugnant individuals, and there are few better films of that sort than Kubrick’s crowning achievement. Malcolm McDowell makes Alex DeLarge into one of the most captivating monsters ever put to screen, a villain who at times exudes an almost human warmness before committing a depraved crime and slipping back into psychotic coldness, sometimes complete with a chilling Kubrick stare. I think my only real issue with this film is that it just sort of ends without any clear resolution, something the novel actually gave, but considering I found that book unreadable I can live with it.

12. American Psycho

A Clockwork Orange is fantastic, but Alex can be a bit too charismatic for his own good. I like a character study of an awful person who is just a complete void of personality, a wretched, miserable, evil person who is also utterly vapid and hollow by design… and boy howdy is Patrick Bateman the guy to scratch that itch! Christian Bale gives easily the best performance of his career, and keep in mind this is a guy who refuses to not act his pussy off in every film he stars in. His Bateman has that surface level sheen of charm and charisma that only barely masks the fact he is nothing but a soulless husk of a human being who revels in killing/fantasizing about killing to fill the empty void of his life since he’s an overly-privileged yuppie piece of shit, The fact that they even managed to take an astoundingly unfilmable novel and translate it so well to screen is astounding, and they even kept in all of Patrick’s rambling music monologues! And if nothing else, this film does do one of my absolute favorite things a movie can do: Show Jared Leto getting brutalized.

11. The Suicide Squad

DC’s movies generally sucked, and Suicide Squad is generally seen as a failure. With these two facts in mind, it was easy to be apprehensive about the at-the-time disgraced former Marvel director James Gunn’s try at taking a bunch of D-list villains and sending them on a suicide mission. But unlike Ayer, Gunn understood the assignment, and delivered his trademark superhero found family goodness with all the cathartic freedom an R-rating could give a Troma alumni. There’s blood, gore, and swearing, but there’s also a ton of heart (and not just the one Peacemaker stabs). John Cena gives the best performance of his career and one who would continue to improve upon in his spin-off, and for once Sylvester Stallone nails comedy as the dopey juggernaut King Shark. It’s a movie wholly unafraid to embrace the silliest aspects of comics (giant alien starfish, villains who control rats, Polka Dot Man) while also engaging with mature and serious themes while using said aspects. And after her previous ensemble outing with the Birds of Prey, it’s nice to see Harley truly back in her groove and getting to live out a Lollipop Chainsaw level.

10. Drive

Ryan Gosling cemented himself as a star in my mind with this movie. A pitch perfect neo-noir with a godly soundtrack, excellent atmosphere, and gripping plot, this might be my favorite movie that I just can’t bring myself to ramble about; like Ryan Gosling in the movie, I just have so little to say. I guess maybe he is literally me after all!

9. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

It’s kind of impressive how this movie pulls the rug out from under you and reveals this whole time, the trilogy has been about Rocket. It all makes sense in hindsight, of course; he has one of the clearest arcs of any of the Guardians and probably the most bombastic personality of the group after all. But the places this movie goes to show why he is the way he is… man. This one has some of the most crushingly sad scenes in any superhero movie even if you know they’re coming, and also one of the few cool action scenes in any Marvel movie. It also has the most nasty villain imaginable in the High Evolutionary, who despite being wholly evil with motives that aren’t too complex manages to be entertaining and engaging. The soundtrack is good (not as good as the last one, though) and the comedy is solid, and the way this movie ends leaves it so that even if we never see any of these characters again, we know they all got a satisfying sendoff. Isn’t it nice, when things end and we get some level of closure?

8. The Nightmare Before Christmas

Henry Selick worked miracles translating Tim Burton’s macabre holiday mashup fairy tale into glorious stop motion animation. It’s a film that really is greater than the sum of its parts; the story is relatively simple, the message is pretty heavy-handed, and the villain is in two or three scenes and barely effects the plot. But it’s all so visually interesting, all the performances are stellar, and all the songs are so damn good that it’s incredibly easy not to care and just get sucked into the weird and spooky world of Halloweentown. Every Halloween and every Christmas I would get my parents to rent this from Blockbuster, and I would watch it over and over… I loved it from the first time I watched it. And imagine my joy when, the first time I sat my daughter down to watch it so she’d quiet down and relax, she had her eyes glued to the screen in awe. Like father, like daughter. Love of this film is hereditary.

7. The Silence of the Lambs

This is the greatest thriller ever made in my eyes; as far as murder mystery stories go, nothing even comes close. The plot, the setup, the mystery, the killer are all so well done, and Jodie Foster really sells her role as a young woman struggling to be taken seriously in her field while also having a steely resolve that keeps her from coming off as a helpless damsel. But it is Sir Anthony Hopkins with his limited screentime as Hannibal Lecter who truly steals the show, portraying a villain who is cunning, classy, and creepy all at once. His nightmarish jail break is something else entirely. Of course, everyone heaps lavish praise on Hopkins, so I’m going to highlight Ted Levine as the deranged Jame “Buffalo Bill” Gumb. While his depiction may come across as a bit problematic in some areas due to omission of a lot of context from the novels, he still manages to be incredibly eerie and fascinating. Hard to hate the guy who introduced me to “Goodbye Horses.”

6. Evil Dead II

The first film was a straight-up horror movie, and Army of Darkness was a wacky fantasy action comedy. In between those two came this, a perfect blend of both horror and comedy and a true showcase of Sam Raimi’s directing skills. Impressively, it manages to outdo its predecessor in horror and its successor in terms of laughs, truly managing to be the best of both worlds with its surreal black comedy that hearkens back to movies like House. Bruce Campbell is truly at the top of his game here as well, with the iconic Ash we saw in Army of Darkness fully formed after his experience in this film. Truly a film that earns the right to call itself… Groovy.

5. The Princess Bride

This is my mom’s favorite movie, so I got to watch it a lot growing up; it should come as no surprise it also ended up as one of my favorites. It’s hard to think of a single film with a better script than this one; almost every line of dialogue is iconic, and all of them are delivered perfectly by one of the most impressive casts imaginable. Before we had Bautista and Cena, we had Andre the Giant in a wrestler-turned-actor role giving his all and making Fezzik one of the most lovable characters in fiction. But it’s hard to really single him out when literally everyone is great—there’s not a single weak link in the whole cast. Even the framing device, the easiest part to fuck up for a film like this, has motherfucking Peter Falk as the narrator. This is one of the few films I can honestly say is about as close to perfect as a film can get.

4. The Lighthouse

Robert Eggers is probably my favorite name in modern horror, and it’s almost entirely thanks to this film right here. It combines the surreal, black-and-white dreamy horror of stuff like Eraserhead with delightfully batshit performances from Robbert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe and brings us an intimate, claustrophobic picture of two men going mad from isolation… maybe. There’s so much beautiful ambiguity here, so much to ponder even after the film is over. Is the ending meant t be taken at face value? Which of these men is actually lying? Is everything happening just mundane sea issues or is it an oceanic curse? There’s a lot of ways to think about and interpret this movie, and that’s what I love about it. Each viewing gives me more to chew on, and more for me to consider when I try and make sense of some of the bewildering things shown.

3. Mad Max: Fury Road

I don’t think there are really any action movies that are quite as thrilling as this one. Like, okay, the movie right after this one is also a thrilling action movie, but I love it for different reasons than this one. This has some of the most insane stunts and pyrotechnics around. There’s a dude with a flamethrower guitar, for crying out loud! But even that aside, there’s a pretty solid plot with a feminist slant to it, featuring a villainous character turning good and redeeming himself through viewing women as human. Tom Hardy’s take on Max is a fierce reclamation of the character from the grubby hands of the vile Mel Gibson, and he is a deeply important character even if he doesn’t talk much. That’s another great thing about this—These characters don’t always need words to communicate their ideas, sometimes their looks, their actions, and their grunts are enough to tell us all we need to know. If I have any criticism at all it’s that this film only rarely slows down—but even when it does it’s still fantastic.

2. John Wick

The sequels got bigger and crazier with their action setpieces and choreography, veering into almost fantasy levels of gun-fu and violence. And I love the second and fourth films a lot (the third is okay, but it feels like spinning the wheels a bit too much), but I still think the first film is entirely unmatched. It has a much darker atmosphere, between the lower stakes plot and the more ambiguous and mysterious nature of the world. Keanu Reeves finally shook off decades of being called a wooden actor with this, channeling his talent into either simple yet effective replies or the most snarling affirmations of bloody vengeance; his “I’m thinking I’m back” speech is short, sweet, and effective at not only establishing Wick isn’t fucking around (something we know full well but it’s nice to hear) but at showing us that Reeves himself is back in the limelight as well. This is so close to being my favorite film of all time, but there’s one movie I like more… and when you see what it is I’m sure you’ll get why this only takes home the silver.

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

For the longest time, this was the installment in Peter Jackson’s fantasy epic that I was the least impressed with, preferring the more epic The Two Towers and especially The Return of the King. But upon rewatching them all after the birth of my daughter, I had the same sort of realization I did with the John Wick movies: The first movie just can’t be beat precisely because it isn’t so overbearingly epic in every regard. Oh, don’t misunderstand me, though—this movie is still epic when it needs to be. How can it not be when it has Gandalf fighting the Balrog? But it has moments where we get to see Middle Earth without constant wars and fighting. Hell, a big chunk of the first act is the hobbits chilling in the Shire before Gandalf drags them off on the mission. Literally my only issue with this movie is that there isn’t any Gollum in it aside from a cameo, but that is the most minor of nitpicks for what is easily the greatest fantasy film ever made and one that does Tolkien’s work justice.

[shifuaang]

Conglomerate thoughts about Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 under the cut. Please do not read if you don't want to be spoiled! TLDR: I loved it.

I suppose I should preface this by saying Guardians Vol. 2 is my favorite MCU movie and that I hold no real affinity towards installments outside of the Guardians in the Marvel Universe. I used to be a pretty active and engaged fan, but Endgame swiftly put a stopper on that. I was very worried about how this film was charged with the task of picking up the pieces of a fractured and, frankly, careless and poorly written conclusion to Phase 3.

Long story short, I should have never doubted Gunn.

Gunn did an expert job at navigating the perimeters that Endgame thrust on him, ensuring that the plot didn't linger on what happened without neglecting the catastrophic weight of Thanos's actions. Bringing alternate universe Gamora into the fold seemed like a monstrous and difficult task. I have expressed before how much I hated the idea of Quill chasing down someone who isn’t even ‘his’ Gamora and trying to win her back, but Gunn handled this with absolute grace, assuring that everyone stayed in-character in their reactions and interactions. There was no backpedaling or continuity with how the Guardians were written in Infinity War and Endgame as I feared there would be. Gunn picked up from where we left off in Vol. 2 while still allowing us space to mourn Gamora's loss. Rocket's trauma and character development was taken seriously again. Every member of the Guardians had a well crafted arc and was given the appropriate amount of time to explore said arc.

The animal and child abuse was hard to watch. It felt way more violent than anything we've ever seen in the MCU, but I'm almost glad that it was. I feel that loss and violence is almost glossed over in the superhero genre. We don't quite get the full scope of devastation and impact that villains have caused in their quest for domination, colonization, and perfection. We've been desensitized to death and torture to a degree. Even the snap™, which most would site as the most evidentiary form of brutality in the the MCU, did not hold nearly as much weight as the actions of the High Evolutionary. Thankfully the plot never seemed like a hit over the head with a message of EUGENICS BAD! It was more a tragic exploration in what eugenics can do to an individual, how it desecrates the environment, and how the quest for perfection is gratuitous and futile.

In spite of the heavy subject matter and darkness of the film, Gunn still maintained the thread of humor that we love from the Guardians. I laughed out loud more than a handful of times, and every laugh came at a point in the film where it was necessary. There were no quips or jabs there to deflect from the seriousness of what was occurring, just enough to give the audience time to breathe. I am so glad that Guardians Vol. 3 was the first MCU movie to get the green light in the 'fuck' department. I can think of no franchise more deserving, and the way it was used was perhaps the funniest joke in the whole film.

I could write an entire essay on Mantis's arc and her development and how much she means to me as a character, but maybe (probably) I will save that for another day. To keep things short, I appreciated her continued empathy and sense of humor in such a bleak situation and after such a hard life. I see so much of myself in her, and it's incredibly moving to have someone represent aspects of yourself that you thought would never be portrayed in the superhero genre because they are more difficult to express emotionally and cerebrally. She's so important and so brilliantly acted by Pom, and I adore how much agency and confidence she was allowed.

As for people who say they didn't like the ending because it 'destroyed' the found family aspect of the Guardians, I never got the impression that these characters weren't going to meet up again and that they stopped being family. There was no discussion on how they were 'bad' for each other or that they'd be better off individually, which is normally the consensus when groups split in media. Quill should spend the remaining time his grandfather has with him. Mantis should go explore herself and her independence after years of captivity and compliance. Drax and Nebula should rebuild, and create, and love on the new occupants of Knowhere, as they've been forced to spend most of their lives being destroyed and being destructive. Rocket and Groot should carry on the legacy of the Guardians, protectors of the universe. And Gamora has clearly established a loving family of her own with the Ravagers, which is what she deserves. Everyone's ending felt pertinent and cathartic, and we were left with a sense of hope and a twinkle of potential for what could come in the future.

Thank you, Gunn and the cast and crew of this film, for making me cry the hardest I have in a theater since Toy Story 3, and for ending my favorite MCU series so beautifully. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better conclusion.

We'll all fly away together, one last time, into the forever and beautiful sky. 🚀

[rakruined]

The Religious Implications of GotG vol. 3

So, it's Easter, and while I've got a lot of stuff to work on and things to do, I wanted to take the time to discuss the utterly insane things Guardians of the Galaxy volume three has done to my brain chemistry. After seeing @adamwarlock's post here, I've been thinking about just how many religious themes there seem to be in James Gunn's magnum opus. From a villain with a god complex to Rocket Raccoon becoming my new favorite satanic archetype maybe, this is gonna be a deep dive into everything I've picked up from the trailers so far.

So, let's start with the implications of that post I linked: "some corners of the galaxy consider (The High Evolutionary) God".

Now, the High Evolutionary has always had a theme of 'playing god' in the comics, what with his whole deal being creating sentient life from animal experiments, but in the MCU, his connections to Christian notions of religion are a lot more fascinating. For starters, his goal is stated to be wanting to create a "perfect society", which you'll notice looks a lot like suburban Bible Belt America, albeit with a lot more hybrid animal-people.

Now, in the comics, he uses Earth animals as a basis for his new lifeforms because he was once a normal human named Herbert Wyndham. He eventually traveled into space to continue his experiments on his own world, later adopting Adam Warlock (this will come back later). Given his desire to make himself more powerful in the movie, this makes him an interesting counterpart to MCU!Peter Quill, who was born with Celestial (ie. godly) power and left Earth not by choice.

Now, there are a few things they changed from the comics, his connection to Rocket being the most significant in the context of this story. While Halfworld performed similar experiments on Rocket and the other uplifts, the H.E had nothing to do with the planet. And while I'll get back to why his connection to Rocket is significant, as well as what I said about Adam, I want to get into another major change: his design.

Here we have the comics design on the left and the movie design on the right. But isn't his movie look almost priestly? Almost... familiar...?

IT'S FUCKMOTHERING ENRICO PUCCI WITH THE STEEL CHAIR

Okay, JoJo references aside, the High Evolutionary's connections to Adam Warlock definitely add to the whole religious overtones. I mean, a guy who's considered God has a perfect creation literally named "Adam", trying to create a perfect world? This shit writes itself. But if you consider a few additional facts, this takes on a pretty wild meaning. For starters, Adam has been stated to be relatively naive and innocent, unknowledgeable of the universe.

But where this gets interesting is that, based on Rocket's absence from most group shots during what is clearly being billed as the midsection of the movie (spacesuits scene, that fight where they're all in orange, the team arriving on Halfworld) that he possibly is captured by Adam and brought back to his creator for additional experimentation. Shots of someone implied to be Rocket on the operating table and Gamora carrying him to the ship half-naked serve as further evidence of a rescue mission.

But if he's captured by Adam Warlock, that means he has the opportunity to tell Adam what his creator is really planning. He has the chance to tell him how he was made and what the High Evolutionary's "perfect society" is built upon: the blood of innocent creatures he'd deemed imperfect. This could be what changes Adam, what makes him turn against his god and his Garden of Eden.

The voice of the devil on his shoulder.

Edit: I forgot to mention this wild coincidence! Gunn once said Rocket was inspired by Frankenstein's monster. It makes sense on the basic level of a tragic science experiment abandoned by his creator, but it gets even more bizarre. In the novel, the monster identifies with Satan in the book Paradise Lost, making him the same sort of tragic figure as Lucifer. Rocket too was an imperfect creation cast out by the "god" who made him. In this light, it's undeniable that yes, Rocket Raccoon is as much a satan figure as Adam Warlock is space Jesus.

[bestreviewguy]

Kong x Godzilla: A New Empire is a different movie entirely than the last entry. (Godzilla V. Kong) Needless to say, if you’re a Godzilla fan, it’s a good year for you. With ‘Minus One’ a few months ago and now this, it’s a good year for monster fans. However if it’s between this film or Minus One, the better film is absolutely Minus One. This is because the human aspects of this film are not there at all. As a matter of fact, it is entirely a Kong and Godzilla film, with hardly any dialogue even. While there is human scenes and a cast of 3 main characters, it felt either unnecessary or extremely cheesy. Just because Guardians of the Galaxy has 80’s music does NOT MEAN you need to add it in every movie. It came off as extremely cheesy to see my two favorite creatures fighting side by side or gearing up to fight the antagonist with Kiss playing “I was made for loving you.” Which leads me to my next point, the dialogue between the humans when apparent comes off as low effort. While the actors do a great job with what they’re given, the script needed a bit more work in this aspect, ESPECIALLY compared to the last movie which personally had a more gripping human narrative. With the negatives out of the way, let’s talk about the action. It was awesome. Seeing King Kong piggy back off Godzilla charging into battle in a hollowed Antarctica will get anyone hyped. Of course the two get in a slight altercation like the last film, it’s done exceptionally well with some surprise appearances from monsters not yet seen in this universe. Every action scene will leave you on the edge of your seat and worth the price of admission alone. Guys in the end, Kong x Godzilla is a fun action film that shouldn’t be taken too serious. Don’t go in expecting a story like Minus One and a few lore changes which throw off die hard Godzilla fans like myself, yet still is an enjoyable film that is so cheesy it’s almost good. I’m going to give Kong x Godzilla a 6 out of 10!

+ Great action scenes

+ New monsters are welcome additions

+ CGI is jaw dropping

- Very poor dialogue

- Some poor human characters and story directions

- Way too much 80’s music.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

reading update: june 2023

as promised (to myself) I spent all of gay months reading books by and/or about the gays, no exceptions! (unless you count the heaps of old Batman comics I was reading, but come on. it's all pretty fruity.) the trend will be continuing into July as well because I overshot and still have book I need to finish, so in the immortal words of Janelle Monáe: happy pride forever!

anyway, what have I actually been reading?

Empress of Forever (Max Gladstone, 2019) - man, I've been meaning to read this FOREVER! and I'm glad I finally did. Gladstone's space opera follows ultrawealthy tech genius Vivian Liao, a sort of dykey Lex Luthor who's CERTAIN that she's the good guy. okay, yes, she's trying to get control of the nukes, but she's not going to use them. it's just that the world's a mess and she needs to be in charge. unfortunately our girl Vivian doesn't get far in her master plan before she's transported across the galaxy and finds herself on the run from the all-powerful Empress in the company of a cybernetic monk named Hong and the legendary space pirate Zanj, the Empress' greatest enemy. from there our heroes are off on a slow, messy quest across the galaxy as they make new friends, grow as people, and strive to bring the Empress down. it's a very long book and can feel slow in places, but all of the time devoted to fleshing out the characters ultimately pays off as their stories converge into a resonant narrative about the notion of identity and what it means to be yourself. if you like Becky Chambers' Wayfarer books of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, get on this shit.

also hey listen Max Gladstone is having a bit of a Moment rn; the book he coauthored with Amal El-Mohtar, This Is How You Lose the Time War, is getting a huge boost thanks to the Trigun (????) fandom??? over on Twitter, and you should definitely go check it out

Not Gay: Sex Between Straight White Men (Jane Ward, 2016) - Ward is a brilliant queer feminist writer; rigorous and insightful while keeping her work imminently readable. while the title may sound facetious, Ward actually takes entirely at face value that there are men having sex with each other an engaging in otherwise homoerotic activities - mutual jerkoffs, hazing rituals that involve anal penetration - that sincerely aren't stemming from a place of gay desire and asks us what the fuck we're supposed to make of that. what results is a fascinating look at masculinity and the intricate rituals that both subvert and maintain it. shockingly thought provoking for a book that contains so many transcribed craigslist posts of men looking for straight guys to have totally normal hetero dudesex with!

The Latinos of Asia: How Filipinos Break the Rules of Race (Anthony Christian Ocampo, 2016) - I was lucky enough to get to see Ocampo (who is gay) speaking at the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity this year, and naturally I had to buy one of his books while I was there. I strongly suspect he's about to become one of my new favorite nonfiction writers, because the Latinos of Asia was a brilliant read that I really couldn't put down. Ocampo (who's also Filipino!) delves into the formation of Filipino-Americans' racial identity, and finds that many feel caught between the most conventionally accepted racial categories - feeling alienated from the idea of Asian identity, which is often perceived as pertaining to East Asians like Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans, and instead relating much more firmly to Mexican-Americans and other Latinos. it's a FASCINATING study on race and one (of many!) loopholes that exists in this very large, messy, totally made up construct of race.

A Lady for a Duke (Alexis Hall, 2022) - for my pride month romance novel I wanted to read something that I might actually like. I've previously adored Hall's genre-fucking ultra-queer Sherlock Holmes pastiche, the Affair of the Mysterious Letter, and Lady for a Duke was really well-reviewed, so my hopes were high! and you know what? I fucking loved this. it was like cotton candy, perfectly sweet and made to be inhaled without a second thought. Our Heroine Viola was the heir to an estate who faked her death at Waterloo so that she could run away and be herself - that's right baby, this is a 19th century trans lady romance! she reconnects with her old BFF the Duke of Gracewood, who's been catatonically depressed since losing his best friend in the war, and reader, you will not believe what happens next. just kidding, you totally will: they want to kiss each other so bad! they're yearning so bad and it's great. it's a very silly book and Gracewood is the most unexpectedly forward-thinking 19th century duke EVER who is instantly down to accept Viola entirely as a woman and thinks that having biological children is overrated, and you know what? that rules. I'm not reading this book for historical accuracy I'm reading it to watch a man beg his girlfriend to fuck him tenderly in the ass. and she does!!! if I'm being honest everything after they finally hook up is kind of nonsense and the book probably is too long, but god it's a delightful time.

Chlorine (Jade Song, 2023) - back in the days of twitter I started following Jade Song as soon as they announced selling this book, the story of a competitive high school swimmer succumbing to obsession as she fantasizes about becoming a mermaid. finally getting to pick up the book from the library and actually read it felt crazy after existing in potentia for so long! while Song's novel is a little rough in some places in exactly the way I expect from a debut, it's still gripping and visceral. our protagonist lives in an intense and demanding world, striving to please an overly handsy coach, wanting to please the immigrant parents she can barely speak to, stumbling through sex with boys on her team while longing for her female best friend. through it all she fixates on mermaids, and the story is told in flashbacks building up to a drastic act of self-mutilation at a swim meet. it's definitely not the right book for the faint of heart or anyone looking for feel-good fluff, but it's harrowing in the best way.

Vagabonds! (Eloghosa Osunde, 2022) - gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous! Osunde celebrates queer life - those called vagabonds, society's outliers - in Lagos, Nigeria, slipping between the real world of social stigma, oppressive religion, judgmental family, and dangerous politics, and the world of magic, gods, and the unreal, blending the two together in an effortlessly dizzying effect. the ultrawealthy hide behind layers of flawless masks to conceal their identities, a lonely woman dying of cancer summons up a daughter than only she can see, and a young man channels the devil to raise his murdered lover. while the stories start bleak, firmly establishing the danger of life on the margins, they gather speed with increasing warmth and love as the story progresses, eventually bringing all of our protagonists together in glorious, life-affirming celebration of vagabonds and all who love them. Nigeria, in Osunde's hands, reads much like family - imperfect, sometimes even awful, but also capable of harboring tremendous love, surprising tenderness, and still worth holding out hope for. I think measuring books in terms of relatability is a fool's game, but as an American queer watching more and more legislation and persecution roll out against my people each day, it was hard not to feel a cord being struck. Vagabonds! is a beautiful reminder that queer resilience is eternal, and reader, I did cry.

Quietly Hostile (Samantha Irby, 2023) - I was a ride or die bitch for Sam Irby even before she picked up and moved to my small Michigan city, effectively becoming my neighbor. (not really, but she is married to the mother of a friend of a friend, so.) despite this, I will freely admit that I was a little underwhelmed by her last release, 2020's Wow, No Thank You. it's possible that WNTY was damned by its March 2020 release, putting it in the awkward position of being a humorous essay collection creeping out into the world at a time when everyone was paranoid and nothing was funny; maybe on a reread I would receive it a bit more warmly. Quietly Hostile, on the other hand, is just stupid funny right out of the gate. Sam Irby is old (see: in her early 40s) and going downhill, writing candidly about peeing her pants everywhere, adopting a rancid little dog, getting sent to the hospital with a severe allergic reaction, and jacking off to plot-heavy porn of elderly lesbian nuns. it takes a little bit of work to get me to actually laugh out loud at a book but man, I was chortling. if you don't already know her work, this is a sign from god (me) to check Samantha Irby out now.

what am I reading now?

Black Water Sister (Zen Cho, 2021) - the was one of the oldest queer novels(TM) on my list and I really wanted to knock it out for pride month. the Malaysian setting and culture is a welcome addition to contemporary urban fantasy, but I'm not sure I'm crazy about the story overall. and yet, I'm over 200 pages deep and don't want to give up, so ? I guess I'm persisting.

Giovanni's Room (James Baldwin, 1956) - my local library lost their copy just in time for pride month, so I bought one on ebay for all of nine dollars. haven't started yet, but I'm really excited to finally pop that proverbial Baldwin cherry!

[pikachugirltits]

Magic x Marvel: Idle Speculation

I have a lot of random thoughts about the upcoming Magic the Gathering x Marvel crossover, and I thought it would be neat to just ramble about them in a post, especially so I can hopefully find that post again later when the sets release and see how much I was right about. I'm just gonna bullet point this because this is kind of a stream of consciousness sort of deal:

We know that we're getting multiple "tentpole releases" a.k.a. more than one full set for this particular crossover. I'm thinking at least one is going to be a straight to Modern draftable set similar to the LotR set, but I don't think they're necessarily just doing that for all the sets. I speculate that the other (or one of the others if there's more than two) set is going to be a gimmick draft set, such as 2-Head Giant or Commander draft.

I personally am hoping one of the sets is a Commander draft set, and that our partner variant for the set goes the Stranger Things route and just creates a subset partner variant. I propose the name Team-Up, to represent the ubiquity of team up storylines in comic books. (I actually made an entire post about this but Tumblr's wonderful search function is choosing not to find it on my blog.)

Ooh, if they do go the Commander draft route they can make the Prismatic Piper equivalent a Skrull or something

I really, really want a Squirrel Girl card that makes squirrel tokens that I can jam into my Chatterfang deck. Squirrel Girl is my favorite superhero and I just want her on a card so, so badly.

I think it would be cool to have a Mjolnir equipment that in addition to its other effects also has a bit of trinket text along the lines of "equipped creature is a God in addition to its other types."

Thor and Loki and any other Asgardian that represents an actual god should have the creature type God. It already exists. Like sure, we could make Asgardian a creature type if we wanted to, but that's the coward's route.

I saw someone make a comment on Reddit about adding Hero and Villain as creature types, but I really, really hope that doesn't happen. It runs the risk of making the creature types in the set super repetitive, and we're already gonna see a lot of that from the sheer number of human characters. Sure, we'll have some mutants and aliens and robots to occasionally break things up, but it'll be much worse if the class types among cards aren't varied.

Like seriously, let's use the movie Avengers lineup. What's better...having four Human Hero cards, a God Hero, and whatever we do with the Hulk...or a Human Soldier, Human Scientist, Human Archer, Human Rogue, God Warrior, and whatever we do with the Hulk

Yeah, actually...what are we gonna do with the Hulk and related characters? In a vacuum, I would probably type the Hulk as Mutant Berserker...but for IP reasons I wouldn't be surprised if the Mutant creature type is reserved solely for characters with the X-Gene. I don't have an answer for this, just wondering...

Oh, and since I mentioned the MCU, I do want to say one thing, if they're smart they'll base the sets on the comics and not the MCU. Gives them a lot more material and characters to pull from

Booster fun treatment should lean into this and be comic book themed, but I think they would also be smart to offer some Secret Lair drops featuring alt art versions of the characters based on the MCU...if they're willing to deal with the likeness rights and whatnot.

Multiple tentpole releases does mean multiple commander precons. Some themes I could easily see them basing decks on: the Avengers, X-Men, Spider-Man/Spider-Verse, Guardians of the Galaxy+other space themed characters, a deck for a bunch of the more mystical Marvel characters probably led by Dr. Strange, S.H.I.E.L.D., A.I.M., Villains in general (from my memory Marvel doesn't really have a singular Legion of Doom type team up of its iconic villains, but I'm definitely picturing a Villains deck that tosses a bunch of iconic villains together in one deck...you could call it the Masters of Evil as a deep cut though.)

If Gambit gets a card, he should have an ability that lets you discard cards to deal damage to a target to represent Gambit throwing cards at his enemies. (This is the kind of wink at the camera stuff I love in UB products.)

Koi Boy should get a card purely because he's a canon trans man and Magic really needs some trans masc representation.

[alpaca-clouds]

It is not "Superhero Fatigue"

Okay, let me quick rant about something that is bugging me a lot lately. There is a lot of talk about "Superhero Fatigue" going around for years now, but especially this year with both DCU movies not breaking 300k at the international box office and even with Marvel the only movie that actually did really well was Guardians of the Galaxy, aka the movie that is the least "superhero" out of all the Marvel movies.

Buuuuuut... Honestly I do not think it is Superhero Fatigue. I think it is "Franchise Fatigue".

Let me explain.

First of all let me say: I am not really a fan of the MCU. There are some movies in there near and dear to my heart (like the Guardians movies), but all in all I am too much of an anarchist to like those movies. Meanwhile DC has put out some of my favorite stuff of the last few years... But also those absolute duds like The Flash lol

But I do not think it is superheroes. Because... The Superhero movies were not the only ones that underperformed in the box office. The new Transformers movie underperformed, so did Indiana Jones and the new Mission Impossible.

In general studios have so often recently staggered to understand, why one certain movie did good and another did bad.

And I think part of it is just... Franchise fatigue. I think a lot of people are just not interested in the bajillionth sequel to some franchise. People are ready and willing to watch some new movies. I mean, while the Barbie movie was attached to an existing IP, it was not a franchise movie and it did phenomanally well.

See, the issue in recent times is, that the studios are a) all chasing the MCU, trying to make their own MCU, without understanding what made the MCU work (tbh, I doubt by now that even Marvel understands this), and b) think the only way to make money is existing IPs.

But here is the thing. A lot of those existing IPs started off as original movies. Not even ones based on something else. Star Wars, Indiana Jones or even the Fast & Furious movies were once original IPs, that someone took a shot with.

But as things are going right now, there is just not gonna be another Star Wars, Indiana Jones or Fast & Furious, because the studios do not want to invest into new ideas. They do not want to invest in something risky. Or rather into something that in their mind is risky.

So, instead they invest into those existing franchises, not even caring when those movies stop making back their money (at the box office, that is).

To me, there is a reason, why I am watching a lot of Indie movies lately. Because those movies might at times only have a budget of 30 million - but they do original shit. And god, I am here for it