#Jane would be super skittish about it

[deadbydangit]

I thought of something cute!! How about some headcanons for how some survivors would react to a makeshift proposal from their S/O? Probably using some ring they borrowed from a killer nice enough to offer one. No real marriage, just a show of dedication.

Dwight, Leon, and Renato are my personal picks, but feel free to choose whoever you want to write for! Cheers and have a good day!!

Hmm, I think I can do that. I'm going to switch it to the Reader proposing.

When the Reader proposes.

Dwight, Leon, Renato

Dwight Fairfield

Well, the first step is getting the ring.

As strange as it may seem, Evan is the one who will offer to make it.

He has plenty of supplies.

And, he's old school, so he considers getting married as a priority and the right thing to do.

He's still going to kill you later but, you know, here's a favor.

Once you have that you're going to have to have a few people around.

Calmer people who will help him when he inevitably faints.

Because he will.

That's a guarantee.

And no killers.

He's just too skittish.

Jane, Felix, and maybe Bill will be on standby.

You don't have to be super traditional with Dwight.

No need to get on one knee.

Just tell him.

But make the moment special.

Maybe find an area that's semi isolated.

Try to decorate with some lights and flowers if possible.

And, he fainted.

Luckily Felix and Bill were there to catch him.

Leon S Kennedy

You can drop as many hints as you want.

He's clueless though

He loves you.

He loves you so much!

It isn't that he's an idiot.

But he's dense.

So Sally is going to hand you a ring and just tell you to go for it.

Because it is awkward for everyone.

And it's really hard to watch.

So please get it over with.

It doesn't really matter where you do it.

Just maybe not during a trial.

You're going to have to be super obvious with him.

Make it super traditional.

Get on one knee.

Make it super romantic.

Otherwise he won't know it's a proposal.

It's still going to take him a moment to process this.

Oh?

Oh! You're asking him to marry you?

He did not see this coming.

Oblivious angel.

But he isn't going to say no.

Renato Lyra

He may look like your stereotypical brainless surfer guy.

But he isn't.

He's highly intelligent.

He loves you.

And when you start dropping hints he gets suspicious.

Work with Thalita.

Both of them have that super close sibling relationship.

Tell her before you do anything so she can help make it a surprise.

"Sister, has s/o been acting different lately?"

"No. Must be your imagination."

Oh she totally knows.

She's going to help you make this special.

Essentially, she'll be as much a part of it as you.

She's going to go out of her way to find you everything he loves.

Favorite foods, favorite flowers, favorite music, etc.

She'll even manage to steal you a ring.

And she won't tell you where.

She really just wants to see her baby brother happy.

He was bullied through his childhood.

Finally seeing him really love and care about someone just fills her heart.

You don't have to be traditional.

Tell him, put the ring on his finger, and watch as you're nearly thrown into the air with his hug.

[ourpickwickclub]

Well said B on GR, thank you for replying to me too. I know you must get lots of questions/conversations in the inbox and nobody wants to discuss this rat.

I appreciate the time you take.

I’m grateful Blake came into her life when he did, what a wonderful man he is to her and her boys. It’s lovely to see them all happy. ❤️

I didn’t know much at all about Blake in 2015. I had seen some Voice clips, that he married some super tacky country girl and was on the People cover, and I caught part of his Christmas special (folding laundry and couldn’t find the remote) and thought he was so funny and very talented. And sweet he had his mom come out. I remember watching that and thinking, his tacky wife doesn’t seem to like him very much and her hair is truly awful. That was the extent of my Blake knowledge. Didn’t know any of his music or any of ML’s music.

I got into Shefani because I was so happy Gwen had broken free of Rat. I had met him, he was creepy and a total ass, I was humiliated for Gwen over and over as a fan, so much so I sort of backed off. I clearly remember getting a haircut while I read the Jane article where the writer said GR had flirted with Jane staffers and feeling nauseous.

Anyway, that Blake turned out to be even more talented, handsome, charming, funny, and kind than I realized was a bonus. And I remember the day I switched from being afraid Blake would hurt Gwen, to feeling more protective of Blake. When I read up and realized how much weight he had lost and how devastated he really was by the divorce, I thought, he won’t survive if Gwen gets skittish and hurts him.

I remember, when Blake got the artist of the year award, I was pissed Gwen hadn’t congratulated him. Then she posted that cute nail art video of him and I felt relieved. So, I guess I became a Blake fan pretty quick!

Blake is a million times the man GR is and Gwen 100% knows it. And their love story is such a happy, bright, inspiring one.

- B

[lolitastrn]

deer!reader

a/n : these are just my interpretations of !reader types that i cannot take credit for. i’ve been heavily inspired by multiple writers on this app, including princessbrunette, loveebot, starfxkr and donatellawritings. if any of these lovely writers (or others) see this and feel it’s a little too similar to their version of the !readers, i have no problem in taking it down.

* not my pictures - all found from pinterest

about her :

biggest people watcher, a habit picked up due to her anxiety. can often be found either napping or reading somewhere. practically lives in mary janes. has slight staring issues, but it’s not her fault!! pleated plaid skirts and long sleeved shirts. she has a tendency to ask questions, mainly to matt about the behaviour of chris. extremely quiet and a little awkward which can come off as rude but she’s the farthest thing from it. ‘forever’ by the little dippers. dainty bows tied on everything. always looks lost or confused. carries around ‘lucky charms’ everywhere she goes (they’re actually just calico critters and sony angels). constantly falling over; he knees buckle when she gets really anxious. s1 rory gilmore = her.

with matt :

they both can relate to each other so much it’s crazy. often found napping together, neither of them wake up until around 3 in the afternoon. matt most definitely calls her ‘dear’ or ‘dearie’ i mean… come on now. he loves to listen to her talk about the latest book she’s found herself indulging in. matt’s always taking her on cute diner dates, or out to the bookstore. their love is very gentle and they’re both reliant on one another. since they both struggle with anxiety, they feel most at ease together. he’s had to catch her from falling countless times and kisses each and every one of her bruises. the first gift he ever got her was a customised blythe doll that looks exactly like her. jamming out to ‘bags’ by clairo all the time. all her cats adore him so much. the first time they ever got intimate was a good while into the relationship, around 5 months. matt initiated it, of course, and it was very slow and sensual - it always is between the two of them. protection is a must, she won’t let it happen without it. they both trust each other so much, arguments rarely happen (mainly because they have nothing to argue about - and she hates it when matt raises his voice).

with chris :

at first she’s a little scared of chris, his loudness frightened her. but over time he stopped being as loud around her, understanding she’s very skittish. chris always offers to go to the bookstore with her, even if he does finds it extremely boring. she tells him he doesn’t have to, but he does anyway. he always shows an interest in her latest book, asking questions and willing to learn more about it. he probably calls her ‘bambi’ because her big brown eyes remind him that of a deer. no matter how much he tries to understand her collections of little dolls, he just can’t - often buying the wrong thing, but it’s the thought that counts! chris knows how to help with her anxiety, having experience with matt when they were younger. he wants nothing more than for her to feel safe around him, and she does. much like with matt, whenever they get initiate protection is very much needed. chris worries he might be hurting her, and no matter how many times she tells him it’s ok and he can go faster, his pace remains slow. he holds her as though she’ll break and she adores how careful he is with her. she appreciates how much he cares for her, even if sometimes he does frighten her with his foolish ways.

a/n 2 : although i think deer!reader is best paired with matt, her and chris are super cute too!! i just think matt would give her the more gentle love she deserves; chris can get a little ahead of himself sometimes, but that’s just my opinion ! also there’s a little self insertion here whoopsie daisies :p

[toasty-owl-arts]

Can we please se an aramour fankid for star crossed 🥺

Yea sure dude why not

I’m not usually one for making fankids, but this was kinda fun and cute hahah

Maybe a theoretical Mary design idk, whatever y’all think I suppose :3

[adiarosefandoms]

World Book Day

Today, April 23rd, is known as world book day. I’ve always loved reading, but it wasn’t until I was eight and read Ransom Riggs (what then was a trilogy) Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children that I became a full-blown bibliophile. It was my gateway book. From there I read Harry Potter and my love for literature completely exploded. I started reading everything I could get my hands on, and aside from a few depressing book slumps, my compulsive reading tendencies have not dwindled. Books are my first love. Before fully falling for movies and music, I fell for them. Fantasy, dystopian, realistic fiction, mystery, poetry, and most everything else, I love. Below are my top five books I really recommend you read. They’re either my favorite stories or they changed me as a person. I recommend Harry Potter to everyone ever, but it will not be on the list because it is an undeniable fact of life that everyone should just read those books.

Top 5 Books/Series: (No particular order) 1. The Shadowhunter Chronicles by Cassandra Clare  Start with The Mortal Instruments, then go to The Infernal Devices and assess future ventures into the Shadow world after that trilogy. They’re urban fantasy novels and the multiple series means you can start in different places and stop where you need to because there are multiple ends in sight. I’ve read very few people who do urban fantasy as well as Cassy Clare. The blending of our world with a fantastical one can be difficult, but she does it phenomenally. 2. Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle I would go in order of publication starting with A Study in Scarlet, but my favorite it probably Hounds of Baskerville. I own two volumes which are comprised of all the stories, but I also bought a pocket size Baskerville so I could take it with me anywhere. Holmes is just one of my favorite literary characters, and I really do think that everyone should give the Sherlock stories a chance at some point in their lives. 3. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton I don’t know about the rest of you, but I was a dinosaur kid. Which makes it particularly shocking that I didn’t see the Jurassic Park movies until I was about ten. Though I could tell you that not all, in fact few, of the dinosaurs in there were actually from the Jurassic period. The way that Crichton writes is just so analytical, he’s so scientifically driven about this fantastical idea of bringing back a species that had been extinct for millions upon millions of years, that it astounded me. It was a complete revelation reading this book and its sequel, I could not put them down. 4. A Court of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J. Maas This is one of my favorite series ever. A full-blown fantasy trilogy, it’s basically a demented Beauty and the Beast retelling with faeries as the main characters. The way that Maas writes, she just describes the beauty of things so well and designs characters that will stay with you. She also brings about difficult topics like domestic abuse, politics, and male rape victims, but does it in a sensitive way. I bought the first two books, read them in three days, and then proceeded to go back to the bookstore to buy the third. 5. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving I have a strange addiction with the story of the Headless Horseman. I was a very skittish child, but even I could recognize how cool of a story Ichabod Crane’s adventure was. I first read this when I was nine, and later bought a copy after watching the Johnny Depp movie adaptation. Creepy, mysterious, and with enough twists and turns to keep you up at night, it’s a super quick fun read on a rainy night guaranteed to, at the very least, leave you unsettled. Honorable Mention Little Women by Louisa May Alcott The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett It by Stephen King Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Paper Towns by John Green

[nightshade-zoe]

AWAE 3x06 Commentary

Matthew’s Radish ❤️❤️

Anne has a cold and she’s baking a cake. . .uh oh (for context in the books she tries to bake a cake for the minister’s wife at tea but she puts liniment flavoring instead of vanilla because of a cold).

Wow her hair is so glossy and the loose braids are 😘

Is Matthew going to have a heart attack ....oh no

Holy **** that radish is huge

She smashed the vanilla and yes they’re definitely going the book storyline.

No Anne please ask someone to smell the bottle 😣

I live for Bash sass.

Okay so I’m like a little bit whiplashed here. Last episode we saw Gilbert just suggesting winnie visit. How have they been communicating? Have they been on that many tea dates? It seems like they only saw each other four or five times after their first “date”. But I guess it’s been two months since then.

“But your mother wasn’t skittish” I’m dead.

No he hasn’t settled on Winnie. Does this mean Bash knows about Anne? She’s “easy to be with” okay I guess it makes sense Gilbert is stressed about constantly feeling things for Anne.

“Fond enough to marry her?” Bash literally slipped that in because Gilbert was talking about marriage last week.

“Winifred doesn’t have such expectations” dude you’re meeting her parents in the 1890s of course she does.

Gilbert you literally were considering marriage last week.

Josie doesn’t want to create a scandal yet her mother seems to be pushing her to it??

Anne crying over Mary my heart it can’t ❤️❤️❤️

Poor Anne is so flustered because she wants to not look like a mess in front of her crush. So relatable.

Gilbert, do you see any onions???

It’s interesting they showed this scene between Gilbert and Matthew when we barely have their interactions. Gilbert is denying it’s a special occasion when we’ve just seen him freaking out about his appearance.

The framing of Anne by the window is gorgeous. Also this episode seems designed the humiliate Anne every way possible.

Why is she sneaking out to go to Diana’s??

She’s going to confess to Diana isn’t she. This seems like really fast development for Anne who has recently been like I am the Bride of Adventure.

Yikes Minnie May overhearing this and finding Jerry’s gift.

I think it’s interesting and important (because even though I’m sure this episode will be painful) Anne’s crush is very much romanticized and infatuated. While I’m unsure about her realizing her feelings this early, the comparison to Mr. Darcy, the reference to novels seems in character even if the fact it’s Gilbert is sudden.

Can someone make a gif set of all the Cuthberts straightening up in front of a mirror.

Wow Anne really jumped to daisies. I definitely feel like they’re trying to do the whole dramatic teenager I LOVE THIS BOY AND WANT TO SPEND MY LIFE WITH HIM angst rather than set up her real love for him yet.

THE FOAL IS SO CUTE ❤️

Dellie and Bash ❤️ also oh my goodness he was knitting yellow socks for her.

Noooo Gilbert don’t belittle yourself. You’re an orphan and are incredible. Anne’s an orphan and she is too.

“can’t cook”.

How has Anne recovered from her cold this fast also?

They’re definitely going up in the hot air balloon.

Subtle reminder Ka’kwet is still in hell and we need to get her out.

There’s a stiltswalker. I literally wrote that into my fanfic.

I’m so scared about this cake but at least it will look beautiful.

Wow Rachel not making me mad for once ❤️

What is this ear pulling Matthew?

Also omg the white grub reference I can’t get over the throwback.

The fortuneteller and the smoke haha. I feel like this Anne would have more sense than to believe in fortune telling though?? I agree the daisy was more helpful but this is clearly just meant to amplify Anne’s infatuation.

It’s interesting that they spent so much time on how the fortune teller is clearly a fraud.

Diana please pay attention to and comfort Anne.

Aghhh I clowned myself I was right Diana was leaving because of something related to Jerry’s family but also they made Anne look this devastated over Winnie.

Also ugh it’s such a trope to have her see Gilbert help Winnie when she stumbles.

But also the handkerchief book signaling Derry thing was so well done.

The Rachel/Stacy development has been interesting also wow the shooting.

It’s interesting we have Prissy who is super feminist and advanced, Billy who’s a sexist pig, and Jane who is still figuring things out.

Wait so Mrs. Barry and Winnie are the only two people I’ve seen with parasols. I’m guessing it’s a status symbol? Something only rich people carry?

I hope Minnie May has her own storyline. She does reappear in a later episode.

DIANA A QUEEN I LOVE I SCREAMED. THEY KISSED.

But I feel like we definitely will see some sort of rift/problem given how fast this has been accelerating.

Also the musical theme for them (which also played during the scene by Diana’s house where Jerry quotes Frankenstein) is so so beautiful

No, Anne don’t go back to the fortuneteller.

Why is Gilbert so condescending about Queens? Also he’s not admitting that the Sorbonne is a dream because of money. Instead it’s the impression he thinks he won’t get in.

I’m learning so much about Winifred’s dad and yet I still know nothing about her. I hate when characters are so one dimensional.

“Can we PLEASE just enjoy the day” paralleling Gilbert earlier saying he’s just going to try and enjoy the day

What is this ear pulling thing we have now seen Matthew, Jack, Thomas Lynde, and Nigel Rose do.

Why do Gilbert and Mr. Rose pronounce Sorbonne so differently?

Couple points on Winnie. She seems to represent the part of Gilbert that was never content with the small town life and now also the part of him that is tired of fighting with Anne. So she really has been boiled down to whether he will choose an easy life with connections but no fire or Anne who makes his life incredibly complicated but extremely lovely.

Also it was interesting that they again paralleled Winnie stumbling with Josie stumbling earlier this season. (Post episode addendum her Mr. Bones scene weirdly foreshadowed Josie’s situation)

I swear Gilbert just visibly hesitated to introduce them to Bash. Also they really are making them out to be the perfect family which rings the alarm bells that either they are not or all they’re meant to do is be a foil for Gilbert’s current life/affections.

Okay it seems really extreme to have Anne call Gilbert her true love. Like I get they are trying to emulate teenagers but Anne is not like this and we already did this with Ruby.

“I want to believe you that it was true that someone could look at me that way. I never even dared to hope before” this hurts so much because we have seen how much Gilbert adores Anne. But also it hurts because Anne has just been able to accept family love and shes been told her whole life no one will ever want her. I’m crying.

But also I think it’s very important that this is a very idealized crush and is definitely emulating teenage fancies and the real realization from Anne will be much different.

I love all the eye/I puns and how this fortune teller goes against herself and decides to comfort Anne because Anne is just endearing like that. I think we’re supposed to simultaneously feel Anne’s pain while also being amused at the melodrama

Oh no they’re really doing this with the cakes.

Your schoolmate Gilbert? Really??? At least say she’s a friend.

I know they’re trying to make Winnie seem really nice but it’s strange she asks how Anne spells her name. It’s like it’s meant to add more weight to the visual way in which we see Anne comparing herself to Winnie.

Bash is so amused by the Winifred Anne meeting. I guess it’s also important Gilbert has told Bash about Winnie but still keeps his feelings for Anne a secret (even though they aren’t)

This cake thing bothers me so much. There was no need to take a relatively funny book scene, humiliate Anne in front of a large group of people and add to the already massive embarrassment she feels by having Gilbert and Winifred both be there. This episode just really was out to get Anne

Hmm so I think it’s definitely telling that Gilbert’s automatic instinct was to run after Anne to comfort her and he definitely looks upset when she runs off but I also don’t think he was super helpful. He clearly doesn’t get why she’s upset and also Mary would’ve been more likely to run after Anne and console her. I miss Mary.

Anne no ❤️ she’s hiding under the exhibit she was looking at with such wonder earlier.

Really? They couldn’t even let Matthew win. This is an adorable adorable scene between them though.

Matthew, Marilla how do neither of you realize Anne is upset because Gilbert is walking around with a super high class, beautiful girl.

The music when they get into the balloon is the same as Anne visiting Ka’kwet the first time + Gilbert taking the flower + Derry walking home the first time = new adventures?

Marilla on point “we are literally going to hell in a hand basket” “before I die, fly”

Yes Anne embracing her uniqueness ❤️

This is the most beautiful and joyous scene this episode and the music is excellent (ive definitely heard it’s before but I don’t remember which episodes). Well it plays when Marilla and Rachel head off to the oculist and Marilla tells Anne not to get into trouble

It’s beautiful seeing how Matthew and Marilla have grown due to Anne. This balloon ride is like symbolic of their relationship.

Passing over the first part of the dance scene which is clearly just an inverted love triangle from the last episode . .though Gilbert does look over at Anne after the dance ends...he also looks uncomfortable in certain shots with Winnie

I guess also “Seems like you’ve done this before” “I can’t hear you” parallels the first tea scene a bit.

I’m frustrated Ruby is basically the exact same just with a different boy who I guess at least shows interest in her

Also Anne dancing with Charlie >.<

It’s really effective that the scene with Billy and Josie is outside in the dark compared to the bright barn but also that you can hear the dance music and it seems garish and grotesque. Also FUCK BILLY ANDREWS.

Props to Anne for noticing something is off :-/

They do a good job portraying how rumors are spread fast and also twisted because it goes to people saying they saw billy and Josie

Hit him Anne HIT HIM . . .okay I guess I’m satisfied with yelling. Also I would like to point out everyone else looks shocked and confused.

I guess I understand why the other girls don’t get it given their different experiences but SIGHS. Also Diana constantly freaking out about Jerry when no one knows what she’s talking about

No Gilbert this is important

Okay but Anne’s references. Whose CABBAGE IS BIGGER. You don’t need a CRYSTAL BALL. Clearly salty about the fortuneteller and Matthew’s loss.

Oof she’s clearly jealous but also angry for her friend and I get that Gilbert doesn’t like being yelled at but also for him to just shake his head as if this is a normal Anne tantrum

Peep Gilbert looking back at Anne twice

Moody the mediator. I like the effect of everyone’s voices blurring together and fading

YES ANNE ACTIVIST WRITING but also im so scared about the potential backlash. I really hope they treat this story carefully because I’m so worried about Josie and Anne now and so so mad at Billy

[ragwitch]

First of all I love your writing so, so much. I hope that every time you have a doubt about your talent you think of the fact that I've reread the mermaid prompt you just wrote like FIVE TIMES and at least three were at work. Second, a prompt? Since you're still open to them maybe, if it tickles your fancy? Darcy/Bucky or Darcy/Steve (or hey I'd take all three): what these hands can do/Mr. or Ms. Fix-It

Thank you so, so, so much for this. It has been a weird week and I’ve been feeling funky through it and seeing this really brightened my mood

This fic went wildly awry from the prompt and I hope you forgive me/enjoy it all the same! (Most of these dates were rough guesses of mine for when things happened so if they aren’t right just blame time travel.)

Paring: Darcy Lewis/James Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers

Rating: G 

“Darcy, you can’t,” Jane whispered, grabbing at her friend’s arm. She paused and then stared in the same direction Darcy’s eyes were fixed on. “Can you?”

“I dunno if I can fix it,” Darcy whispered, still staring at where Steve was ushering his skittish, solemn friend around the camp of hero outcasts Laura Barton had set up with them earlier in the spring. Bucky Barnes looked halfway between some poor abused animal just waiting to be struck, and an amnesiac. And the fact that neither of those were so far from the truth made Darcy’s heart ache.

“I don’t know if it will be perfect,” Darcy said. “But at least I can do something.”

“Is this even safe?” Jane asked.

“Umm no, Janie, it’s not safe,” Darcy said, huffing and finally turning to meet Jane’s eyes. She shrugged. “It’s time travel. I’m probably gonna mess a bunch of stuff up. But, I mean…ehnnnnn…I’ll fix that too. I just…I’m gonna do it, okay baiiiiii.”

Jane gasped and stumbled forward as Darcy vanished out of her hands. She looked up and there was Captain America and The Winter Soldier, gaping at her.

January 8th 1945, on a train over the Danube River

“Bucky, hang on! Bucky! Bucky NOOO!!”

Steve’s hands were grasping at air and there was a chorus of shouting. His own. Bucky’s. Something had gone still and dead in his chest. Bucky Bucky Bucky Bucky Bucky.

“I just wanna say, I am so super sorry about this.”

He whipped around and there was a small, beautiful woman behind him. She was wearing glasses and odd, soft looking clothes and her hair was whipping in the air. She shrugged softly at him, sweet face scrunched with worry.

“Who-?” he started and then she kicked him, squarely in the gut and he slid out the open door of the train and into the frigid, empty air. A moment later, and what felt like miles of falling, his shield was spinning above him, following closely after.

March 4th 1945, on a plane over the Arctic

“Ahh!! You’re both still here, it worked!!”

Bucky spun and leveled his gun squarely into the face of the small, beautiful girl who was wearing glasses and the ugliest sweater he had ever seen.

“You!” Steve shouted, twisting in his seat as he tried to pilot the quickly failing plane.

“Who is she? Hydra? One of Peggy’s?” Bucky asked as the girl raised her arms sheepishly over her head.

“Ooohhh, you still have your arm!” she cooed, rising up on her tip toes and staring avidly at his left hand.

He shifted to block her view and tried not to find her so adorable or terrifying.

“She pushed me off the train after you,” Steve said.

“Hydra,” Bucky snarled. Adorable or not, he knocked a bullet into place on his gun.

“No, nononono,” she said, taking quick short steps back until he had her pressed between the nose of his weapon and the wall. She stared up at him with huge blue eyes and a trembling smile. “I’m not Hydra, I swear. I only wanted you guys to save each other. I figured you had a better chance of getting free of Hydra if he was with you. So I time traveled. And then, yeah, I pushed Captain America off a train car. But only with the best of intentions.”

His head was spinning. Steve had pulled him out of the water before Hydra arrived at the river. He had reset his arm. He had saved his life. If Steve hadn’t been there…

But he was and she couldn’t just take credit for it like she’d done them both a favor by kicking a man out of a train. Could she?

“Bucky,” Steve murmured as the girl chewed at her lip. “Shit. Bucky there’s nothing I can do. We can’t fly this plane to New York. Everyone there…”

“Aim for the ocean,” the girl said, throwing the words to Steve over Bucky’s shoulder. “That’s is….really everyone’s best option.”

Bucky’s eyes narrowed. Jesus, she was crazy. And they were crashing. And Steve was on the other side of this cockpit so what the hell was he bothering with her for?

“You looking forward to a long cold death, doll?” He asked, stepping back. Her shoulders eased as he lowered the gun, as if he couldn’t have killed her with a twist of his arm. It was some strange kind of innocence and it made his chest squeeze.

“Oh,” she frowned and shook her head, soft hair flicking over her shoulders. “No, sorry. I’m gonna skip that part.”

And then she just wavered and…vanished.

“Bucky,” Steve said, as the plane started to nose dive.

He blinked at the space where a girl had been a moment ago. A girl Steve had seen too, he wasn’t crazy. And then he turned and went to kiss the love his life before they crashed a plane into the bitter, unforgiving water.

April 3rd 2012, New York City

“Can’t believe we spent seventy years in ice to wake up to this,” Bucky’s voice growled in his ear and then there was a wet splat and a Chitauri warrior who had been sneaking up on Steve’s flank wilted to the ground, bullet hole square between his eyes.

“Thought you liked it exciting,” Steve said and Bucky huffed.

And then Steve heard, fuzzy and distant, “Ohmigod, yay!! Hi! You’re alive.”

“Jesus, it’s her,” Bucky said.

“Grab her!” Steve snapped, slamming his shield against another alien.

He wanted answers. He wanted to know what she knew. Why she had chosen them. Chosen Bucky.

“Oh, no you don’t,” he heard her over Bucky’s comm. “No, now, don’t get fresh, soldier! I just came to check on you. Make sure you made it through the ice!”

“Doll, you got a lotta explaining to do,” Bucky muttered.

She giggled and Steve nearly fell over his own feet at the bright sound, ringing over the roar of violence around him.

“That’s funny, you’re cute like this,” she said.

Oh Christ, they were flirting. Of course they were. He left Bucky alone for all of ten minutes after SHIELD resurrected them and he found a dame to chat up. All Steve managed to feel was light jealousy, that he wasn’t on the roof with them. Watching Bucky at his best kind of sparring. Seeing that pout of the girl’s again. Those hips. Something whizzed past his head and Steve shook the thoughts off, tried to focus on the city falling apart around them.

“I got her- shit! She just…I had her. She’s gone. She disappeared again.”

“Next time,” Steve said. And somehow he felt certain there would be a next time.

March 6th 2014, Washington D.C.

“Stevie, look at this,” Bucky whispered, pulling up the file on the holo-screen, and nudging it closer to Steve who was trying to nap next to him on their couch.

They were catching their first rest in weeks, back at Avengers Tower.

SHIELD had fallen, Hydra hadn’t died despite everything they’d been through. Their secrets were everywhere. And this secret too.

“It’s her,” Steve said, blinking at the picture and sitting up from the cushions. He read her name on the screen. “Darcy Lewis.”

Darcy Lewis. Political Science Degree. Associate of renowned astrophysicist Jane Foster. Affiliated with Thor. Red lips, blue eyes, gap-toothed grin. Prettier than Steve remembered, although he’d never really gotten a good look at her. Not like Bucky who had no qualms about bragging the fact.

“She’s real,” Bucky said, sounding surprised.

“Doesn’t say anything about the…you know…” Steve almost couldn’t say it. It was too ridiculous.

“Time travel,” Bucky said, with that awed and gleeful smile he got anytime someone showed him an especially innovative piece of technology.

Nerd, Steve thought fondly. “We could find her,” he suggested.

Bucky frowned at that, “I dunno, punk. In books…there are always rules. We might find her and she might not know what we’re talking about. If she hasn’t done it yet, we shouldn’t say anything to her about what she will do. She might not do it…But if she didn’t we wouldn’t be here so-”

“Okay,” Steve said, smirking and raising a hand. “I get it.” He didn’t, really. “We wait till next time.”

(There wasn’t a next time. Steve kept waiting through every disaster. Ultron, the Accords, the Avengers scattering apart to avoid detection, Tony playing the game with Ross to cover everyone’s tracks. Nothing. No sign of Darcy Lewis until…)

Now

“You made it!!”

Steve and Bucky had barely stepped foot onto Canadian soil when a small, beautiful, bouncing brunette ran up to them.

“You!” Bucky and Steve shouted together.

“Hi,” she said, and her grin was so wide it made even Bucky’s cheeks hurt. It flickered and then settled. “Umm…you’re not still mad about the train thing, are you?”

Steve stiffened at Bucky’s side and then gathered himself up to straighten and stare down at the girl. “I’m not mad,” he said, sober and even. “Just disappointed.”

Darcy Lewis broke out into cackling laughter. “Lulzzz, Captain America is a troll. What about you, Smooth Operator. You mad at me for not getting to keep that fancy metal arm of yours?”

Bucky blinked and turned to stare at Steve, who shrugged, equally clueless.

Darcy leaned in and raised her hand to the side of her lips to whisper to them. “It was sexy, but I don’t think you liked it very much.”

“I have a lot of questions,” Bucky said, frowning and trying to find some even footing in the conversation.

“Well I’d tell you to buy me dinner first, but we can’t go out to dinner around here,” she started, waving a hand behind her to where familiar faces were starting to appear out of little houses in the old ghost town.

“We’ll make you dinner,” Bucky said. They’d catch the damn animal and cook it if they had to. If it got this strange, lovely girl to sit down with them for a few minutes.

“Oh yeah?” Darcy asked, and there was pink on her cheeks and she started to shift in step, taking quick glances between the both of them.

“Yeah,” Steve said, grinning at Bucky and then at Darcy, that devastating wholesome smile that Bucky knew for a fact hid all sorts of wonderful sins.

“Well alright then,” she said, and the shyness that was starting to build in place of all her bravado had Bucky itching to chase her, tease her. “Janie!” she said brightening and greeting someone behind them.

There was another, smaller, brunette behind them. Jane Foster, Bucky remembered from the files.

“Look,” Darcy said, gesturing to the two men. “I did it! I fixed-it!”

Jane blinked and took a noisy slurp from her coffee mug. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Do you have my spectrometer?”

“Oh pffft, time travel,” Darcy muttered, flapping her hands at Jane who was already wandering away. She whispered up to Bucky conspiratorially, “You never get any credit for all the cool stuff you do cause nobody remembers how it was before it changed.”

“Tell us about it,” Bucky suggested, sliding a hand behind her shoulder. “We’ll believe you, right punk?”

Steve flanked Darcy on the other side. “Course we will.”

Darcy flustered between them and blushed again and Steve winked at him over the top of her head. “Well, maybe just parts,” she said, sort of leaning back and forth between them. “It’s a sad story, and anyways it’s all this way now.”

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior 8/13/21 - CODA, FREE GUY, DON’T BREATHE 2, RESPECT, THE LOST LEONARDO, WHAT IF, and More!

Well, that was kind of a disappointing last weekend as James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad pretty much tanked at the box office, making less than Birds of Prey did back in February 2020 with all sorts of backseat analysis explaining why it didn’t do well as anyone, other than a scant, few thought. I mean, I’m still kind of stunned, even though COVID and the Delta variant seem to be losing steam as far as being news. It certainly didn’t help that HBO Max decided to release the movie concurrently on HBO Max on Thursday at 7pm.

The nice thing about this week is that we have three new movies, none of which are on streaming or On Demand at the exact same time, so if you want to see any of them, you’ll have to put on your N96 masks and get yourself to theaters. Two of the three movies are originals, while the third is a sequel to quite an original horror movie from about five years back. All of them are pretty good, actually. We’ll get to them soon...

But first, let’s start with this week’s “The Chosen One” and it’s gotta be Siân Heder’s CODA i.e. “Child of Deaf Adults,” which will play in select theaters and on Apple TV+ starting Friday. If you hadn’t heard, it was the belle of the ball at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, winning the Jury Prize and Audience Award alike. Heder previously directed Tallulah and is the showrunner on Apple’s Little America, but this really is a very special film that I’ve enjoyed on repeat viewings now.

It stars Emilia Jones as Ruby Rossi, the sole hearing person in her family of Gloucester fishermen, who are out every day on the sea making the latest catch in their nets. Ruby has other aspirations, and when she joins the school choir, the teacher, Mr. Villalobos (Eugene Derbez) sees talent in Ruby that he thinks might get her into the Berklee College of Music. Ruby has to weigh that with her family’s need to have her as an interpreter while dealing with the other fishermen of the town.

I didn’t know what to expect when I saw this at Sundance back in January, and it still surprised me when I rewatched it again, because it’s a movie that involves a lot of elements that shouldn’t necessarily work, between the fishing and the singing and all the ASL between the amazing ingenue, Ms. Jones, and the deaf actors playing her family, including the one and only Oscar-winning Marlee Matlin. If not for these disparate elements, Coda might be a fairly standard indie family drama, but Heder finds just the right balance of showing how these disparities in Ruby’s life make it hard for her to pursue her dreams.

Ferdia Walsh-Peelo from Sing Street plays the classmate who Ruby is set up with to perform a duet at their high school recital, and of course, he also becomes an unwitting love interest. Unfortunately that’s the aspect of the film that’s the weakest, because Jones’ scenes with Matlin and the other actors, including Derbez, as well as Troy Kotsur and Daniel Durant, as Ruby’s father and brother, are just so powerful and moving even if they’re all in ASL with no dialogue or even incidental score.

Coda is Heder’s second film after Talllulah, a movie starring Elliot Page that never really connected with me, but Coda is such a strong and exceedingly crowd-pleasing film that I have to imagine that this would connect with everybody. I’m not sure if Apple’s gonna be able to get this movie all the way to Oscar night, but I do like its chances for Adapted (?) Screenplay, and maybe Matlin and Kotsur Supporting? I don’t know, because it’s so early and hard to tell, but hopefully the decision to wait so long after the virtual Sundance won’t hurt this movie as it hurt other Sundance award-winning films. Coda is just a joy that I’m sure will be many people’s favorite movie.

You can read my interview with Ms. Heder over at Below the Line.

Incidentally, in last week’s column, I talked about the 20th New York Asian Film Festival, but I didn’t realize that it was only running at Film at Lincoln Center for a week before going down to the SVA Theater on 23rd Street, and you can check out the schedule of movies playing there at the official site. And of course, there’s still the Virtual Festival that’s running through August 22. Also, Fantasia is still going on in Montreal, and I still haven’t had time to watch very much. What can I say? I suck.

Let’s get to some wide releases, shall we?

First up and probably the most likely to win the weekend is Ryan Reynolds’ new action-comedy, FREE GUY (20th Century Studios), directed by Shawn Levy and co-starring Jodie Comer from Killing Eve. The high-concept comedy has Reynolds playing Guy, a bank teller, who actually is a non-player character in a video game called “Free City” that’s kind of a cross between Grand Theft Auto and Fortnite. When he meets Comer’s character in the game, he falls mady in love and decides to do whatever it takes to get on her level. (Get it?) In doing so, Guy ends up becoming a hero for Free City, as well as a viral sensation across the globe as gamers thrill to Guy’s adventures.

Free Guy is Ryan Reynolds’ first live-action starring role theatrical release since…. Oh…. the action-comedy sequel The Hitman’s Bodyguard’s Wife a little under two months ago. Considering that barely made half of what its predecessor did, and that’s with Reynolds sharing the screen with Samuel L. Jackson and Salma Hayek, one wonders if his draw as an A-lister can be maintained during a pandemic. Before that, you’d have to go all the way back to 2018’s Deadpool 2 for a fully live Reynolds movie, because he wasn’t seen as himself for most of his role in and as Detective Pikachu. Of course, Reynolds’ unmistakable voice was back in DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods: A New Age, the sequel to the 2013 blockbuster that made the ballsy move to be one of the first movies to open during the pandemic. It grossed $58.6 million in theaters, which was slightly more than Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and even more than the Warner Bros. sequel, Wonder Woman 1984.

This is also a big movie for Jodie Comer, who won an Emmy and was nominated for two Golden Globes for Killing Eve, but hasn’t really been in too many movies, other than playing Rey’s Mum in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Later this year, she’ll star in Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel and may possibly be back in the awards game again, we’ll see. The movie also stars Lil Rel Howery, who seems to be everywhere and in everything these days, as well as Taika Waititi who is super-hot right now due to 2019’s Jojo Rabbit, and his various television projects, as well as having a small role in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad last week.

In some ways, Free Guy is gonna be a test for a lot of things, the first one being whether Reynolds is a big enough draw when not playing Deadpool to get people into theaters, just as people are starting to get skittish again about going into movie theaters. More importantly, it will show whether not having a movie on streaming or VOD means that people who want to see it will put aside their fears and return to theaters… like they did with F9 and Black Widow and Godzilla vs. Kong. Is an original non-franchise movie like Free Guy enough to get people interested in getting their butts off the couch and into a far more comfortable movie theater seat? (I’m being facetious, if you didn’t guess.)

After The Suicide Squad last week, I’m really not sure whether I can trust my own instincts, but I also don’t want to lower my prediction to something ridiculous out of fear that the pandemic really is destroying any chance of the box office fully recovering. One thing working in Free Guy’s favor, besides its PG-13 rating is that it’s not available on streaming and VOD. Anyone who has been intrigued by the film’s great reviews will HAVE to go out to a movie theater to see it or else, they’ll have to wait 45 days.

Maybe if this opened last month, I could see it open in the $30 million to $40 million range, but with things being the way they are, I’d probably go with high $20 million, so close to $30 million but not quite.

You can read my review over at Below the Line, and I’ll have an interview with the film’s Production Designer, Ethan Tobman, fairly soon.

Also opening Friday is the horror sequel DON’T BREATHE 2 (Sony/Screen Gems), starring Stephen Lang as the blind former Navy Seal who terrorized a bunch of kids who broke into his house in 2016’s Don’t Breathe.

The original movie, which starred Jane Levy, reuniting with director Fede Alvarez after the two remade Evil Dead for producer Sam Raimi, opened in late August, on the fourth weekend of the original Suicide Squad, in fact, and it knocked the movie out of the #1 spot. Its $26 million opening in 3,000 theaters was impressive for the time, partially because late August has never been great. It stayed #1 for a second weekend, over Labor Day, and it ended up grossing $89.2 million in North America, which is great for an R-rated horror film.

Levy isn’t around for the sequel and Alvarez has moved into a co-writer/producer role for his creative partner, Rodo Sagayes, to take over the directing reins, but honestly, I’m not sure how many people will know or care, because Lang’s character and the film’s violence and chills are it’s real selling point. Like many horror movies, there isn’t much in terms of star power other than Lang, but that has never really hindered the success of a horror movie in the past.

As with every movie I cover in this column, there’s the pandemic in the room and whether that might hold people back from going to theaters. I wish there was a way to calculate the effect that’s had on moviegoing, because it seems to affect movies differently. For instance, the recent The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It was able to open with $24.1 million just two months ago, although that was down from the $40 million of the previous two chapters. So that’s about a 40% drop-off in a similar five-year gap between movies. (Actually, it’s kind of strange that 2021 is replicating 2021 with three sequels to movies from five years earlier.) There’s no denying that the number of Covid cases are way up since June and movie theaters are still being painted as the “enemy” even though no significant cases have been traced back to the movies.

We also have to look at Sony’s last horror sequel, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, which I quite enjoyed, but it ended up opening with about $10 million less than the original movie a few years back. We can probably expect Don’t Breathe 2 to have a similar pandemic drop-off even if it’s another movie that won’t be on streaming or VOD this weekend.

I think Don’t Breathe 2 should be good for around $15 million this weekend since it’s catering towards a young audience that’s a bit more devil-may-care about going out to theaters. It will also probably appeal more to older single guys than something like Free Guy, which seems different enough to pull in a different audience.

My review will be posted over at Below the Line later on Thursday, plus I have a bunch of interviews coming, including this one with Rodo Sayagues and Fede Alvarez.

Next up is RESPECT (MGM), the long-awaited Aretha Franklin biopic (for those that didn’t see Genius, like me, I guess), starring Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson as the Queen of Soul. The movie directed by Liesl Tommmy was supposed to be released in January to take part in last year’s Oscars race, but I guess MGM wanted to make sure it got a proper theatrical release, which wasn’t possible since NYC and L.A. movie theaters didn’t reopen until March after the cut-off. But MGM had already decided to push the movie back to the summer in hopes of having more theaters able to play the movie, which is kind of true now?

It’s been a while since we’ve seen JHud in a high-profile theatrical release, and unfortunately, the last one was 2019’s Cats, a movie in which she probably was the best thing, although it still only grossed $27 million domestically, a flat-out bomb. Before that, she provided her voice for the animated blockbuster Sing in 2016, and then a bunch of smaller movies before that. She’s joined in the movie by the likes of Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Titus Burgess, Mary J. Blige, Marc Maron, and Audra MacDonald, quite an impressive array of talent that shows how many wanted to be involved with this project. Director Liesl Tommy is making her feature directorial debut after directing a ton of theater and TV shows like The Walking Dead and Jessica Jones.

Even so, it’s obviously that the ongoing popularity of Aretha Franklin, especially since her death in 2018, is going to go a long way into getting people into theaters, which includes a lot of older black women who really haven’t had much to get them out into theaters in recent months. Will this be enough?

Before Respect was delayed from its original January release, many thought that Hudson would receive another Oscar nomination for her performances. Having not seen the movie at the time of this writing, I can’t confirm or deny those chances. If that’s still the case, then releasing the movie towards the end of the summer (similar to The Help, successfully, and The Butler, not so much) is an odd decision rather than just holding the movie for festival season by holding until next month.

Either way, I think the love Aretha’s fans have for the Queen of Soul as well as Hudson’s fans, Respect should be good for between $8 and 10 million this weekend -- hard to pinpoint exactly without knowing how many theaters MGM is getting for it against the stronger summer movies.

Mini-Review: I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Respect, even after seeing the trailer a couple dozen times in front of other movies, but it’s a respectable biopic that cover 20 years in the life of the Queen of Soul from singing at a young age in her father’s church to returning to church for the gospel records as captured in the recently-released doc, Amazing Grace.

But first, we go back to 1952 where Aretha is a young girl (played by Skye Dakota Turner) is uncertain of her future as she’s being ordered about by her preacher father (Forrest Whitaker) and trying to find direction. The movie casually sets up the fact that young Aretha was sexually abused by a family friend, and maybe she got pregnant, too? It’s hard to tell and maybe a little odd since she would only have been 10 at the time, but it’s something that will be brought up (just as subtly) over the course of the film.

Jennifer Hudson takes over as Aretha as she turns 19 and goes to New York City to start recording, meets Marlon Wayans’ Ted White, makes him her manager and marries her, which basically has her going from one abusive man in her father to another one. It feels like the movie spends a long than normal time on the ‘60s, which is when Franklin’s career really took off with “Respect” and then a series of hits that took her all around the world. That whole time, she’s dealing with Ted’s abuses and jealousy while trying to write and record those hits, before her dark demons return and she starts drinking heavily.

As you might imagine, you go to see Respect to see how well Jennifer Hudson pulls off the Queen of Soul, and she’s an incredibly complex character that needs a nuanced performance, which Hudson tries to pull off by bringing different aspects of her life into different scenes.

There are some scenes that don’t work as well as others, and it feels like there’s a bit of time-crunching or futzing around so that at a certain point, her father seems to be de-aging, although I was just as impressed (possibly even moreso) with Forrest Whitaker, whose performance as Aretha’s father is more than just a full-on villain despite his violent treatment of his daughter. Wayans is also good and almost unrecognizable at first, and there are a few other nice performances in there as well, including Marc Maron as record label head Jerry Wexler.

But the performances Hudson gives as Franklin are goosebump-inducing, leading up to the recording of her record-selling gospel record as depicted in the aforementioned doc.

A fairly decent representation of Franklin’s little-known life leading up to her fame, Respect probably succeeds the most when Jennifer Hudson is performing as the Queen of Soul, but she’s also created a fairly moving portrait with strong dramatic moments that far outweigh any of the film’s issues. Rating: 8/10

With that in mind, this is how I see the weekend looking with two of the new movies bumping Suicide Squad down to third place where it will be facing off against Respect.

1. Free Guy (20th Century/Disney) - $28.5 million N/A

2. Don’t Breathe 2 (Sony/Screen Gems) - $15 million N/A

3. The Suicide Squad (Warner Bros.) - $10 million -62%

4. Respect (MGM) - $9.6 million N/A

5. Jungle Cruise (Walt Disney Pictures) - $8.7 million -55%

6. Old (Universal) - $2.5 million -36%

7. Black Widow (Marvel/Disney) - $2.4 million -39%

8. Stillwater (Focus) - $2 million -39%

9. Space Jam: A New Legacy (Warner Bros.) - $1.3 million -43%

10. The Green Knight (A24) - $1.1 million -56%

Donnie Yen stars in Bennie Chang’s RAGING FIRE (WELL GO USA), which premiered at the New York Asian Film Festival on Monday and at Fantasia in Montreal on Tuesday, and I’m not going to review this, because honestly, it’s such a cookie-cutter Hong Kong police action-thriller that I’m not sure I really have much to say about it, so I won’t.

On the other hand, I do have more to say about Andreas Koefoed’s documentary, THE LOST LEONARDO (Sony Pictures Classics), the Leonardo being Da Vinci, the master artist behind the Mona Lisa and many other works. Since I don’t really follow the world of art, I really didn’t know about the Salvator Mundi painting found about 10-12 years ago that was thought to be an original Da Vinci worth in the hundreds of millions, often dubbed “The Male Mona Lisa.” But it’s also a painting that was surrounded by controversy due to the 5-year restoring job that may have left very little of the original painting.

As the film began, I was groaning a little about sitting through another movie of art experts and historians talking about how important a find this is and why it’s either great or horrible, depending on who is being interviewed. Eventually, the film gets more interesting as it starts getting into the idea of selling it. After being sold to a wealthy Russian oligarch by an unscrupulous Swiss art dealer who made a nice profit on it, the painting ends up being auctioned by Christie’s, and the story just keeps getting more and more interesting as it goes along.

While I’m not one to go ga-ga over any painting by Da Vinci or otherwise, I do like a good mystery or suspense-thriller, so good on Koefoed for realizing about halfway through this movie that the talking heads will never be as interesting as actual footage. And that’s what happens here, too. I actually feel a little ignorant that I wasn’t aware this was going on as it was, maybe because I don’t really follow the art world in that respect. Maybe I just missed it, so it’s good that Sony Classics (who loves making movies about art) is giving this a fairly high-profile release following its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival a few months back. In that sense, The Lost Leonardo is quite a gem.

Heinz Brinkman’s USEDOM: A CLEAR VIEW OF THE SEA (Big World Pictures) is a somewhat intriguing doc about the Baltic island of Usedom, the location of a number of imperial German health resorts, beaches and such, and how the Jews were kicked out by the Nazis before Usedom was split into a German and Polish half after WWII. I wish I could get into this more, but I just have a limited mental capacity for a lot of German talking heads.

Which brings us to Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein’s THE MEANING OF HITLER (IFC Films), the new doc from the team behind Gunner Palace, which looks at the cultural fascination with Hitler and Nazism and the recent rise in white supremacy, antisemitism and the “weaponization of history itself.” I don’t know what that last part means, because I got so swamped this week that I didn’t get to watch this, and like another recent doc on the subject of Naziism and the Holocaust, I just couldn’t get into the right head space to hit play on this doc. Maybe I’ll watch it sometime down the road.

Similarly, I didn’t get around to watching Dutch filmmaker Jim Taihuttu’s THE EAST (Magnet Releasing), which I may like as a fan of Paul Verhoeven’s Dutch WWII films, and I probably should give this a look, but I just ran out of time this week. It’s about a young Dutch soldier who joins an elite unit led by a mysterious captain called “The Turk,” and it takes place in the Indonesian War of Independence after World War II.

As far as TV goes, Wednesday sees the debut of Marvel Studios’ WHAT IF...? on Disney+. I’ve seen the first three episodes, and I was a pretty big fan of the comics in the ‘70s (sadly, part of the giant collection that I sold a few years back), and I guess this is okay. The first episode is the one with Haley Atwell voicing “Captain Carter” i.e. Peggy Carter gets the Super Soldier Serum, which is one of the more obvious What Ifs that could possibly done, so that we can get another “women are as good as men, and they need to be heard” storyline that’s in 90% of the Marvel movies already. On the other hand, the first episode does include the voices of Sebastian Stan and others, so it’s quite a coup in that sense, but whoever wrote it, clearly doesn’t understand that people spoke differently in the ‘40s. I liked the 2nd episode, a mash-up of Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy, which is a fun idea that brings together a lot of great characters -- including Chadwick Boseman’s last voice performance -- but again, hearing the voices just isn’t the same when the writing isn’t as good as the movie. I feel like the animation for the show is okay, maybe not quite on par with some of the great Batman or Superman cartoons we’ve gotten over the years. On the other hand, the entire series features the great voice of Jeffrey Wright as The Watcher, acting kind of like the Rod Serling for the series, much like the Watcher does in the comics. I also dug the music by Emmy winner Laura Karpman (Lovecraft Country), and I’ll watch the rest of the series as it debuts, but I’m not sure it’s as much a rush to see each episode to avoid spoilers as with Loki or WandaVision.

Hitting Netflix this week is the limited series, BRAND NEW CHERRY FLAVOR (Netflix), starring Rosa Salazar, Eric Lange, and Catherine Keener. The tagline is: “Lisa Nova (Rosa Salazar) comes to LA dead set on directing her first movie. But when she trusts the wrong person and gets stabbed in the back, everything goes sideways and a dream project turns into a nightmare. This particular nightmare has zombies, hit men, supernatural kittens, and a mysterious tattoo artist who likes to put curses on people. And Lisa’s going to have to figure out some secrets from her own past in order to get out alive.”

Also, TITANS Season 3 debuts on HBO Max, but since I haven’t watched seasons 1 or 2 yet, it might be some time before I get to it.

Next week looks like it could be a bit of a dog with four or five new wide releases but nothing that really jumps out, plus I’ll be in Atlantic City all next weekend, so who knows how much I’ll be able to watch or write about?

[celebratemyselfsingmyself-blog]

"brave? why brave?” "you have the naked shoulder’s of a sultan’s whore”

In most of the readings we’ve done so far for this class, there has been a woman involved as a main character that makes the story what it is; without these women, these stories would fall flat and have no narrative. Initially, that sounds great. Representation, yay! However, a pattern of mistrusting and underestimating women has been connecting all of our readings.

The wife in “Cat in the Rain” is belittled by the descriptors of “girl” and “wife”.

Galataea wasn’t allowed her own agency in choosing who she wanted to love, and because she wanted that agency and chose Acis, Polyphemus killed her love.

In “The Case of Identity,” Miss Sutherland is insinuated to be skittish and scared, then painted as a fool for falling for her stepfather’s façade. Sherlock’s admiration for Irene Adler only comes from his shock that a woman could possibly outsmart him, and shows that he does not show much respect for other women by describing the only one he respects as “the woman”.

“Daisy Miller” is all about how Daisy wanted to have ownership and control over her life, while all of the people around her and society itself decided she couldn’t possibly make her own decisions, blaming the men in her life for her death and taking away her power ever after her death.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” is even an incredibly strong version of this phenomenon, with the narrator explicitly discussing how she feels belittled and ignored by her husband when it comes to her illness and just being heard at all.

While I love all these pieces, it’s frustrating to see all these (male) authors take down women’s ability to think for themselves over and over again – or even worse, using a woman’s intelligence and ingenuity as a plot twist, as if a woman making choices or being smart is a shock.

That’s why I love the set of texts in Texts from Jane Eyre based on the story of Daisy Miller. They show just how short-sighted and misogynistic Mr. Winterbourne is in the story and call him out for the jerk he is (I had a stronger word choice in mind, but I’ll restrain myself). I’ve really enjoyed how this book twists stories that considered classics in order to show all the baggage these authors bring to these stories, and “Daisy Miller” has plenty. I’m still unsure if Henry James wanted to point out this hypocrisy in both European and American customs when it comes to women or if he really wasn’t a fan of women himself, but Mr. Winterbourne obviously carries sexist ideas. These text message sets cast him as the more current archetype of a passive-aggressive “nice guy”, like the fedora-clad romancers of the internet age that swear women are ignoring how wonderful they are as they continue to treat them like objects with affections to be bought. Comments like “I think you’re super brave for wearing it”, “there’s someone … impersonating you/ some sort of… coquette,” and “you wouldn’t/ you slut” show just how much of a weak personality Winterbourne is and how judgmental and rude he is to someone he claims to care about. It shows that Daisy is a normal, complete woman in her own right and Winterbourne is the one with all the issues.

[coffeeandicecream]

Live blogging Riverdale: But i’m a teacher so.....

-The line “Archie, who didn’t even have his license yet” (should be “an Unlicensed Archie”). -The line “Now I don’t believe in miracles, usually, but it was a miracle.” Should be “I usually don’t believe in miracles but this”. Both lines I don’t like could just be, I didn’t like the stress on particular words and that could be a cultural way of Australian vs. American English.

Not crazy about the song playing when they are rushed into surgery as it sounds a lot like “Build a Home - and I have heard that song to death.

Say what you will about Alice but obviously her and Betty have a great relationship because she didn’t hide shite. Okay that is not how I answer my phone to my partner @Jughead Why did Jughead looks so annoyed on his motorbike.

Group hugs are the best. -Jughead and Alice banter A+ but wish they had of brought up the night before because realistically that would have happened. As if nobody sat with Archie while he called his mum.

-HAHAH Jughead and food is rad. -Yeah he sat with his friend while he was questioned by the cops. You go Jughead. - Betty and Veronica’s friendship and Archie and Jughead’s = fantastic -Dream sequences are done very well but I do feel like I would expect them more on a soap opera.

- Archie dude change your fucking shirt. -Veronica first rule of grief  is dump out comfort in

- Jughead scene with Serpents realistic for a Bikie Affiliated youth

- What the fuck Archie! You cover a broken hand with glad wrap or a bag or something dude you don’t stick it under the water! - Veronica the mood would be ruined if you put your hand in blood on the back of his neck though.

- KEVIN KELLER you are my favourite part of this show. - he’s like that honest friend who’s friend who’s like “might be fine, also, more likely, fucking not!”

- Cheryl would steal your man, your heart and your will to live with one hair flick. -She is pathological fucking terrifying! Veronica that is a weird thing to do..... Veronica sad people like being angry because it’s easier than being sad. - Good girl Veronica! Emapthy and openness you top chick! Archie crying made me very sad -Hell the fuck no! Not even the police in Once Upon A Time round up suspects that quickly. That’s ridiculous. They certainly wouldn’t do it without allowing the victim to have counselling, a guardian present and a lawyer.

- Jughead you are super suspicious of everything. You might have issues man. -Jughead bantering at Betty is funny I wish they allowed her to have a few more quips back. Lili deserves quips.

Hahahahahhaha I knew they would cut between holding the helmet and it being on her head. No mere mortal can get a motorcycle helmet on over a ponytail.        All these open faced motorcycle helmets would mean the faster they went the more bugs they would eat and in that weather they would have sore faces. Plus that beanie sitting that way would be on the road in seconds.

I feel like the Veronica and her mum scene looks like it’s out of the Da Vinci Code. I feel like it’s more than disrespect if your kid thinks you put out a hit on her bf’s dad fyi. Like I feel like you need to have a good look and your relationship with your child. Mother Lodge dearest that had the opposite affect.

I love the Pussy Cats. I do, but like no way would random friends be coming in to the hospital. I feel like hospital staff have a bit more decorum with a patients grieving children.

Archie and Veronica engagement idea has great lines. The flash to Pop gets a bit Twin Peaks. They crime scene would still be cornered off. There would be fingerprint powder everywhere. Pop’s monologue is awesome. Jughead inflections and stress  is weird. “Lighten up Pop, you sound like the Cranky Old Guy in the Friday the 13th movies” should be “Lighten up Pop, we aren’t in Friday the 13th”. Why is Jughead barely opening his mouth when talking this whole time in the diner. It sounds weird and mumbled. The line about hunger increasing I feel like is done really weird as though they are just hiding from Betty’s mum. I feel like I need more of the mood Jughead projected when hunting down Jason’s killer rather than super jokey to mumbled sad. Lili you consistently amazing person. -5 points for the line second skin when it could have been shed skin. WTF is going on with Jugheads beanie. It looks off. There shouldn’t have been a big breathe and a cut between “Betty” and the explanation. It sounds like he doesn’t want to talk about it then immediately does. Jughead saying ass seems out of character for the show. Jughead’s facial response to Betty seem non-linear.

Baby Jane reference is excellent. Cheryl you are a great villian. That scene was so so so so so so well done!

Veronica just say for you dad dude.

Jughead knows food is needed but he seem way too upbeat given it’s a fucking hospital and your mates dad’s in critical condition. Archie thinking he should have done more is a great addition. Adds to the feeling of helplessness. Also the fear of him coming back is dead on point.

Cheryl you weird weird little cherub. I love you and everything you do in life. I’m glad once Archie talked to his friends he could be a lot more relaxed with his dad. Great example of showing emotions in characters. All these dream sequences are starting to feel like fanfictions.... Archie is sooo cute and soo what teens are like “I’ll save my daddy always” -  sure you will kiddo. Sure you will...

Betty sounds very teenager right now. I LOVE IT. This is a good chunk of scenes we are having here. Instead of “I heard you” which sounds like he wasn’t speaking directly to her it should be “I get it”. Instead of “support you” it should be I’m there for you”. Support sounds motherly It was a lovely scene but I feel like the make out was weirdly timed. He should have just kissed her nose and we watched him get on his bike.

Jughead without a beanie looks adorable but in no way serpent scary. “What the hell!” would have sufficed. ... No bikie brings shit back to their house ever. Nobody shows no one proof of shit. That is impractical and unrealistic. That should have called Jughead to meet them at the White Whyrm. That also would have been better to juxtapose Jughead and his dad. You could have even had shots that looked like they were through the same camera.

-What if he did do something? would you want him at your house then Jug? Hell no! these bikers need a handbook in decorum.   Jughead should have been shot from a slightly high angle so he looked smaller. Cole Sprouse is too tall to look powerless and the mid lowish angle is weird. Jughead should have been more direct with his eyeline he just looked skittish.

Lodge parents, she has been at the hospital with her bf’s dad who is in critical fucking condition she isn’t wearing a mini skirt and listening to rock music. WTF! No teen would answer that accusation that calmly. There would be tears and screaming.

Particularly fantastic song choice. - - lodges that was odd. I love Archies mum :). This whole scene looks like it was shot with so much thought and care. Well done Riverdale on a beautiful close for your first episode back. Wait what... OR NOT I know that fucking car...O_O Dude no no no pedo lady is back. Ergh she makes my skin crawl. I’m so glad that they showed she wasn’t in love with Archie and she was in fact a fucking predator of the highest degree. Song is a good choice also.

hahahah the killer is in the house.

I jumped. Oh did I jump. Is he going to chop her freaking head off?!?!?

Her shoes remind me of the witch in the Wizard of Oz. Does that mean the killer is her ex husband and he shot Archie’s dad also and like both bad part are true (she’s a predator and her husbands abusive). If she has blood running down to her feet their would have been an artery squirt surely. Honestly that guy does not look the same.  

Riverdale with scream music is weird. I feel like I was mean to Jughead here, but I recently spent a lot of time cutting and arranging jughead scenes, so I feel like I’ve over analysed Jughead/Cole’s acting to the point of possible madness.