#New english cartoon movies 2015

[violentseraph]

Introヽ(≧∀≦)ﾉ

- My name is Mandi

- Lvl: 15

- I love film, music, anime, cartoons, art, and poetry!

- I'm Puerto Rican

(*´ω｀*)

- Im fluent in both english and spanish

- Im alternative and listen to mainly 2010s indie music or any alternative sub genre (mostly emo) of music. I love all kinds of music though.

- I love true crime, and horror. I’m a big comedy movie person but I love horror movies and all that morbid shit.

(btw the lists are not in order from which i like best to least of my favorites, the order is random😅)

Favorite horror movies

- IT (2017)

- Creep 2 (2017)

- House of 1000 corpses (2003)

- Hostel (2005)

- As above so below (2014)

Favorite movies

- The secretary (2002)

- This is the end (2013)

- ask me anything (2014)

- Deathgasm (2015)

- Sabrina (1995)

(Special mentions cause I can never pick just a couple 😅)

- The breakfast club (1985)

- Grease (1978)

- Loser (2000)

- Pixels (2015)

- Palo alto (2013)

Favorite shows

- New girl (2011)

- Superstore (2015)

- The big bang theory (2007)

- How I met your mother (2005)

- Dexter (2006)

(extra cuz i love it so fucking much)

- Cobra kai (2018)

Favorite cartoons

- South park (1997)

- Inside job (2021)

- Centaurworld (2021)

- Big mouth (2017)

- Arcane (2021)

Favorite animes

- Cyberpunk (2022)

- Koikimo (2021)

- Love chunibyo and other delusions (2012)

- Midori days (2004)

- Aharen san wa hakarenai (2022)

Session ID

050babbbee7cfcdaab33c1bc0f1d0a841f2a2ac997887f44b1d29c571c9a07ba6d

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (January 14-20, 2024)

Ultraman Blazar's finale aired on Friday. It was a solid capper to what's easily the best entry in the Ultra Series since I was an undergrad, full of heart and pyrotechnics. There were a few major loose ends—Captain Gento is better at keeping secrets than most hosts—which I'm hoping the movie, due in late February, will address. If you're looking for a place to start with the long-running franchise, it would be one of my first recommendations. Great effects, great cast, tons of new kaiju, and a blend of novelty (lots of focus on the tensions between the defense team and the larger monster-fighting organization; a host who's in charge of said defense team) and returning to form (Blazar yowls plenty but is an Ultra of few words; the power-ups and goofy weapons are kept to a minimum). And even if you don't want to commit to a whole show, episode 22, focusing on a hapless salesman of kaiju insurance, is a must-see for any fan of the genre. There seem to be no worlds left to conquer at Tsuburaya for lead director Kiyotaka Taguchi, so as I've been saying since around 2015: Toho, are you paying attention?

Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color, the regraded black and white version of Godzilla Minus One, is coming to North American theaters for one week starting January 26. Toho's yanking both versions from theaters after February 1—puzzling considering that the film is likely going to be nominated for the Best Visual Effects Oscar tomorrow. Takashi Yamazaki led a Godzilla delegation to the Academy's visual effects "bakeoff", in which voters watch highlights from the ten shortlisted films and their VFX teams explain their work. IndieWire reports that Yamazaki's presentation drew the most applause, describing Minus One as the "potential frontrunner." The Hollywood Reporter likes its chances too. Nominations will be announced starting at 8:30 AM EST. The Creator seems to be its biggest competition.

Godzilla Minus One also recently cleared $50 million at the U.S. box office, in the process passing the first Demon Slayer as the highest-grossing Japanese-language film ever released in the U.S. Some outlets are reporting that it's the highest-grossing Japanese film ever released here, which isn't accurate; the English-dubbed Pokémon: The First Movie made almost $86 million back in 1999. (And I think it's plausible that something like Rodan or Godzilla vs. Megalon would be the champ if you figured out how much they grossed and adjusted for inflation.)

Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #4 brought Godzilla and Tiamat to Atlantis, forcing Aquaman to release the Kraken to defend his city. Incredibly, this is the third Kraken associated with the Monsterverse, after Na Kika (called Kraken when it was introduced in the King of the Monsters novelization) and the main antagonist of the Skull Island cartoon. I'm guessing it's going to have a shorter lifespan than either of them though.

In other Godzilla comic news, IDW will be putting out another intriguing one-shot in May, titled Godzilla: Mechagodzilla 50th Anniversary. Past comics from the publisher have included multiple Mechagodzilla models, but this one seems to be going above and beyond. Rich Douek is writing; Andrew Lee Griffith is illustrating. The logline:

For 50 years, the King of the Monsters, Godzilla, has gone toe to toe with its robotic doppelgänger, Mechagodzilla! As an intrepid reporter profiles the history of Mechagodzilla and its creator before the launch of the newest model, he finds himself entangled in a much deeper conspiracy. A decades-spanning adventure celebrating the mechanical monster's milestone!

One of master kaiju illustrator Shinji Nishikawa's books will receive an English translation courtesy of Titan Books. Awkwardly titled Godzilla: The Encyclopedia of Godzilla, the Japanese edition included over 100 full-bodied illustrations of various Godzilla series kaiju and analyses of their designs (alongside plenty of Nishikawa's trademark chibis). I'm sold, suffice to say.

Ryo Momota, director of the short tokusatsu film Revive! Smile Rock Giant God, has put the whole thing on YouTube with English subtitles for your amusement. It posits that a real rock formation outside of Tamano City will come to life to help its citizens in their hour of need. Very low-budget.

Kaiju Brooklyn is a one-day con that began filling a longtime void for East Coast kaiju fans last year. Here's the first major piece of news about their June 1 event: they'll be screening The Return of Godzilla outdoors at day's end. Consider me highly tempted.

Kaiju United has a new, wide-ranging interview with Barry Goldberg, webmaster of the legendary Barry's Temple of Godzilla. That fan site was my first window into the wider world of Godzilla in the early 2000s, and it's only been updated a few times since, so I was pretty interested to read how its creator was doing. Don't get your hopes up for a revival: he's still a Godzilla fan (loved Minus One, Shin not so much), but has moved on to other things. Great insights from a Big Name Fan who stayed humble.

[doamarierose-honoka]

TMS Entertainment, a beloved Japanese animation studio currently owned by Sega Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of SegaSammy holdings, has just announced that for their 60th anniversary, they’ll begin uploading special animated features of significant importance to the company to their official YouTube page. Most noteworthy to Sega/Sonic fans, this includes the first six episodes of Sonic X in its original Japanese dub. The entire campaign begins on August 5th, 2024. This is a good chance to get a taste of what Sonic X was originally like, free of both English voices and the cacophony of censorship edits imposed on it in its original English dub by 4Kids Entertainment

Gotta go fast as you rush past the break for the skinny on this special event. GO! GO! GO! GO! LET’S GO!

As stated above, Sonic will be the one to kick off TMS Entertainment’s 60th anniversary celebration on August 5th. On that day, at noon EST, 9AM PST, they will upload episode 1: The Supersonic Hero Takes The Stage, in its original Japanese format with English subtitles. On August 6th, episode 2 will follow, then episode 3 on August 7th, and so on, but episode 6 will come on August 12th instead of August 10th. Strangely, their schedule says they will upload episode 5 again on August 13th-16th. Based on this, it’s possible each episode besides episode 5 will only be online for one day, so just in case, make time to catch each episode on the upload date.

Fortunately, TMS has already provided links to episodes 1-5 on YouTube. You can go to each and click the “Notify Me” button to have YouTube send you a notification for when each episode will premiere. Here are the embeds to each episode.

As for the rest of the 60th anniversary event, TMS will also be uploading episode 1 of Big X (The studio’s very first anime from August 3rd 1964, based on the Osamu Tezuka manga), Super Dimension Century Orguss episodes 1-10, and the Takeshi Koike directed Lupin III movie trilogy, consisting of Jigen’s Gravestone, Goemon’s Blood Spray, and Fujiko’s Lie. Go to TMS Entertainment’s 60th anniversary celebration news page for the details and schedule on all anime being presented.

TMS Entertainment has been the animation studio for many beloved anime throughout the decades. They are most associated with long running franchises such as Lupin III, Detective Conan (Known in the west as Case Closed), as well as several anime based on Sega franchises, not just including Sonic X, but also Virtua Fighter, Hi-sCoool! SeHa Girls, and Phantasy Star Online II: The Animation. They also animated the FMV cutscenes in Burning Rangers. Besides anime, they also had a hand in animating several western cartoons, including Inspector Gadget, Cybersix, The Real Ghostbusters, Batman: The Animated Series, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, and The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Currently, they are working on popular anime such as Undead Unluck and Dr. Stone.

TMS Entertainment’s official YouTube page currently hosts trailers, clips, and full episodes of many anime they have produced throughout their long history. In same cases, they have the entire series of some of their anime available to view absolute free, including Karate Master (1973), Cat’s Eye (1983), Magic Knight Rayearth (1994) (Along with its Brazilian Portuguese dub), Virtua Fighter (1995) (As well as its Spanish dub), Itazura na Kiss (2008), Lupin III Part 2 (1977), Lupin III Part 4 (2015), and the English dub of Sonic X (Season 1) (Season 2) (Season 3) (Plus, the Brazilian Portuguese dub, surprisingly). They are gradually uploading episodes of The Gutsy Frog (1972), Yowamushi Pedal Grande Road (2013), Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas (2009), and Z/X Ignition (2014). They are also, as of this writing, in the middle of an ongoing Lupin III celebration in which they upload a feature-length Lupin III TV special every month, with this current month’s pick being Tokyo Crisis (1998). They’re a channel worth following if you love watching all kinds of anime, no matter its age.

So will you be catching these uploads of Japanese Sonic X? Are there any TMS animated productions you’re a particular fan of? Give us a holler in the comments section before.

And remember, if you like Sonic X in Japanese, the entire series has been made available on Blu-Ray courtesy of Discotek Media. (Who also blessed us with complete Blu-Ray releases of Hi-sCoool! SeHa Girls, Virtua Fighter, and The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog)

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

Alternate Events on Infinite Earths

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/Wu5kqmU by cer1992 An adaptation of "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and the final installment of the "Alternate Events" series. As a huge wave of anti-matter sweeps across the Multiverse destroying countless worlds, it is up to the heroes of the various universes to save what is left of existence. Will they succeed or will all be lost forever? Words: 93860, Chapters: 17/17, Language: English Series: Part 7 of DC Multiverse Crossovers Fandoms: Smallville, Smallville Season 11 (Comics), Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014), Supergirl (TV 2015), DC Animated Universe (Timmverse), DC Extended Universe, Superman (Christopher Reeve Movies), Superman Returns (2006), Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Injustice: Gods Among Us, Teen Titans (Animated Series), Black Lightning (TV), Wonder Woman (1976), Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: Gen Characters: Clark Kent, Oliver Queen, Bruce Wayne, Diana (Wonder Woman), Barry Allen, Wally West, John Stewart (DCU), J'onn J'onzz, Shayera Hol, Sara Lance, Laurel Lance, Kara Danvers, Kara Zor-El, Kon-El | Conner Kent, Courtney Whitmore, Bart Allen, Tess Mercer, Lois Lane, Chloe Sullivan, Justice League (DCU), Harleen Quinzel, Dinah Lance, Cisco Ramon, Caitlin Snow, Ralph Dibny, Roy Harper, Thea Queen, Nyssa al Ghul, Lena Luthor, Lex Luthor, Dru-Zod, Lyla Michaels, Jefferson Pierce, Anissa Pierce, Jennifer Pierce, Virgil "Static" Hawkins, Slade Wilson, Dick Grayson, Victor Stone, Arthur Curry (DCU), Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), Billy Batson, Zatanna Zatara, Barbara Gordon, Amazo (DCU), Mar Novu | The Monitor, Anti-Monitor (DCU), Galatea (DCU), Eobard Thawne, Teen Titans (DCU) Additional Tags: Crisis on Infinite Earths Crossover Event (CW DC TV Universe), Multiverse, Crossover, Multiple Crossovers, Epic, Epic Battles, Paragons (CW DC TV Universe), Cameos read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/Wu5kqmU

[bradfoe]

Vampires at Universal, 1930

Last weekend (this is an article from 2015), the actress Lupita Tovar passed away at the age of 106, more than eighty years removed from her starring role as the female lead in Drácula. This distinction had made her one of the last surviving links to the early days of Universal Pictures, when its founder Carl Laemmle oversaw the transition to the new era of talkies. Universal was then earning a reputation for its horror movies and the worldwide success of Phantom of the Opera in 1925 only added to its growing association with Victorian monsters.

Universal had an inadvertent role, though an inciting one, in the birth of sound cartoons. Through the actions of independent producer Charles Mintz, to whom the studio had given a contract, Walt Disney was dismissed from the Oswald series just prior to the revolution he helped to unleash with Steamboat Willie. After that, Universal was quite slow to respond, trying some half-measures to keep up with its more technically savvy competitors.

In a sense, the jig was up. The studio had to respond with versions that had dialogue in those languages. And mind you, the art of dubbing had not yet taken hold. So, on October 10, 1930, filming began on a movie that perfectly illustrated a short-lived Hollywood solution. In most ways, it was exactly the same movie as the classic Dracula starring Bela Lugosi with his sweeping cape and leering glare. However, this alternate version had a Spanish-speaking cast and was titled Drácula. It made use of the same sets and a translated shooting script.

Lupita Tovar

The role played by Helen Chandler was performed instead by Tovar, who was recently signed on contract from Mexico to be a “Universal player.” In fact, the entire Spanish version of Dracula was shot at night, 7pm to 7am, after the English-speaking cast and crew were finished with a day’s work. They did not cross paths, working on opposite shifts. Tovar said she never once even met Lugosi. All of her scenes were filmed with a caped Carlos Villarías as the famous blood-sucking Count.

The existence of this nearly shot-for-shot counterpart, a sort of movie doppelgänger, has spawned a fairly lively internet debate about which is better, with a lot of momentum pressing toward the lesser known “Spanish Dracula” on account of a crew that, it is rumored, was competing to make a superior version at night. A century later with side-by-side comparisons online, the debate has hit high gear, but the famous performance of the undead Lugosi does not lie down easily and so the argument continues.

Regardless of which version is better, a certain respect arises from knowing that the Spanish-language shooting schedule enforced a vampire lifestyle on all its cast and crew. There is a ‘Method acting’ purity to this version: everyone involved slept during the day and then went to work at night. Just knowing that makes it seem intrinsically more authentic. Here is an edited clip from Drácula, released in 1931:https://www.youtube.com/embed/MoO_QWF7q8Q

Perhaps less well known is that Walter Lantz, who inherited the responsibility for producing the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons, might also have been up late some of those nights while Conde Drácula, played by Villarías, was readying for his closeup on the legendary Stage 28 at Universal. This revelation comes to us from a 1978 interview with Manuel Moreno, in which he disclosed that the Oswald production schedules were so challenging to maintain that Lantz would work at night even after a tough day at the studio.

“Lantz used to come at night, and he’d stay there all day Saturday,” said Moreno. It is easy to get the impression that Walter, lacking a precise production discipline, may have brought the cartoons across the finish line by fusing the elements together himself, working alone in the editing room. Considering how loose and improvised we know these early Universal cartoons were—recollections exist of animators stating how nonspecific their scene directions could be—it would make sense that Lantz used the quiet of his nighttime work to assemble his vision from among the individual parts.

Manuel Moreno, a leading animator at Universal, seen here reflected in a mirror at his desk.

In a way, the knock on Lantz has always been that he delegated creative vision for his cartoons to his directors for most of his career. However, the situation would have been different in a year like 1930, when he was a new producer charged with keeping Oswald relevant in light of innovative new sound cartoons coming from Disney. The technical challenge was paramount and Lantz had actually proven himself quite a whiz with hybrid cinema techniques on his prior Dinky Doodle films for Bray, so he was versatile and up for the task.

In 1930 he was still actively a director in addition to being a producer. He was young and hungry and he was the force moving the Universal Cartoon Dept. into the sound era. However, Lantz was not hard-charging and uncompromising like Disney, so maybe some of the magic of his process only manifested as something special if he could bring it all together with the final edit and post-synch. The orderly sophistication of the Disney method was challenged at Universal by a more slapdash approach. And because of the tight budgets Lantz was given, his pragmatism was always a factor in the making of his cartoons.

Bill Nolan was the other producer-director working alongside him, but Nolan was chiefly there for his prodigious ‘pencil mileage’—as one of the fastest animators in the industry—and not necessarily for his management skills. Eventually, as Lantz became the undisputed boss, Nolan moved on and Moreno unofficially became the manager of the animation staff, basically a surrogate who was taking on directing responsibilities. According to Moreno:

“The sound recording was always supervised by Lantz. I had nothing to do with the recording because I couldn’t afford the time, and there wasn’t much that I could do, with Lantz there as supervisor. He knew exactly what the story was about, because he had been with it all through its construction. And the sound effects were no problem: a lot of times [story man] Vic McLeod would record the sound effects or [Pinto] Colvig would… Lantz did all the editing and patching the sound together, synchronizing the tracks”.

It seems that Lantz developed a business practice of being involved in the initial story meetings and then supervising the recording sessions at the end. For the middle of the process he appeared to be mostly hands-off. There were no “sweatbox” reviews of the pencil animation to ensure quality and continuity, as with Disney. That would have been too costly and, in any case, Moreno felt that “we were practically always behind schedule.” The animators really only had one shot at any sequence.

Lantz felt the stress of his situation, especially because his Universal budgets decreased year to year, but he was remarkably easygoing in spite of it and he negotiated the setbacks quite capably, keeping Oswald in production for nearly a decade. It is interesting to think of Lantz returning to Universal at night, editing and completing the cartoons. Lantz was technically adept and perhaps he liked the solace of quietly working alone without distractions.

Walter Lantz at the Movieola

I suspect he developed this nocturnal habit by 1930, growing his proficiency with the finer art of comedic synch-sound. Since this was a paradigm shift that shook the industry, failure to adapt was not an option. Musical director Jimmie Dietrich helped him with this process during regular hours, but it may have been at night that Lantz honed his craft, running the strips of film elements back and forth. Although Lupita Tovar never met Bela Lugosi, it is possible she crossed paths with Lantz. It is fun to speculate about such a thing, though we will never know.

A connection we do know is that Manuel Moreno and his brother George were amateur film enthusiasts and, during the early 1930s, they shot a home movie of the Universal animators clowning around on Stage 28, the legendary ‘Phantom of the Opera’ set that was repurposed for many classic monster movies. Judging from a copy of this home movie that I own, “The Gang at Universal” — as they are referred to on the title card — had a blast using the opera house façade for their filmed gags.

As an animated homage to this famous stage of horror, the 1930 Lantz cartoon Spooks is an outright spoof of Phantom of the Opera, possibly even made to be shown in front of the featured “international sound version” released that same year. Oswald meets the phantom in the cartoon and then vanquishes him by answering a riddle (“Ouch!”) that was the punchline to a popular American joke at the time. Enjoy watching this cartoon. And imagine Walter Lantz working the vampire shift.https://www.youtube.com/embed/oR067Tv7-SI

Manuel Moreno was interviewed by Milton Gray in January 1978, in Santa Ana, California. Excerpts above are from this interview, a copy of which exists in the Manuel Moreno collection archived at Stanford University. The frames of Walter Lantz and Manuel Moreno are taken from a “Going Places with Lowell Thomas” short titled Cartoonland Mysteries (1936) from an HD transfer by Steve Stanchfield. For the top image, I stitched together Bela Lugosi and Lupita Tovar, day for night, forever linked and yet never to have met.

[thenaphantoms]

Today is Valentine's Day, but it also marks one year since Miraculous Ladybug re-entered my life!

I discovered the show a bit before the English dub released back in 2015, watching it mainly in Korean with subtitles. It was so exciting seeing more and more people talk about this obscure little french cartoon once the dub came out!

But with increasing popularity came...other things. Art theft, harassment, young kids not really understanding how to behave in fandom spaces, and then Astruc himself replied sarcastically to a comment I'd made under one of his tweets (though in retrospect what he said was actually pretty funny). Then I had to end a really big friendship with someone I'd met because of the show, and I found myself in a weird position. Keep watching the show I loved, even though doing so made me uncomfortable due to those negative associations, or drop it entirely?

So I dropped it entirely. I put all the dolls and action figures somewhere I wouldn't be able to see them. Started a new account where I could engage with other fandoms. I stopped writing and reading Miraculous fanfic, stopped making Miraculous fanart, and forced myself to fixate on other things.

Years passed, and eventually, the thought of the show stopped making me feel so uncomfortable. I still couldn't bring myself to watch it, but I started a rewrite project, trying to fix the things I remembered not enjoying about the first two seasons of the show (which was all I'd seen at the time). I bought a couple of the new Miraculous dolls, super jealous that Kids These Days are getting so much better merch than I had when I was a fan of the show. Got some of the kwami blind bag kwami figures too, and I developed a habit of keeping one with me in my bag when I went to work.

That rewrite project never went very far, since I was hoping to do my own take on the episodes, and most of the episodes had become a distant memory by that point. In fairness, it had been like 6 years. I'd have to rewatch the show, and I still wasn't ready for that.

Then, on this day last year, something happened. I was staying at my parents house after an especially stressful work week, and I was browsing Netflix. And what would be on the front page, but Miraculous Ladybug: The Movie.

I had vivid memories of binging the show on Valentine's Day as a kid. I used to really associate the day with Marinette and Adrien, so Valentine's Day felt a bit like a nice opportunity to appreciate a ship that made me so happy.

So I watched the movie, justifying to myself that it wasn't like I was watching the show, it was just one movie and it would probably suck anyway.

But it didn't suck. It very much didn't suck. In fact, I LOVED it. It brought back so many memories, the love square was so sweet, the kwamis were such a cool idea, Hawkmoth was so fun, the akumas were so creative, Marinette and Adrien were so cute! It reminded of all the things I used to legitimately love about the show, rather than the stuff I didn't. When I was watching the movie, I wasn't thinking about that friendship that ended, or the art that got stolen. I was thinking about these kids, how much I loved them, and how much I loved their story. And I realised something that, in retrospect, should have been obvious.

It wasn't the SHOW that made me uncomfortable. It was my negative associations related to it. The show did nothing wrong, it was always fun and always made me happy. It was my bad experiences themselves that tainted it.

So I thought it over, and decided to continue the show from where I left off, even if the thought of doing so made me feel kind of sick and uncomfortable.

And I liked it. No, I didn't just like it-- I LOVED it. It was so fun?? And interesting??? And--wait oh my god is that PLOT?! Wait wait wait Marinette is overwhelmed???? I've felt like that!!! And--oh!!! Who is this Félix guy?? He's a reference to the pilot!! And he's so fun!! And Kagami? I remembered her being a boyfriend stealer but she's actually not at all and she's actually really sweet??? And Alya!!! Ride or die bestie Alya!!!

Needless to say, I couldn't stop watching after that. I binged seasons 3 and 4 in the span of I think two days, then immediately moved on to season 5, and I had a wonderful time. I was also a lot happier in general. It felt like I'd regained a part of myself that I'd lost, or rather, willingly left behind.

I know there's a lot of discourse online about whether or not the show is good, about if its even worth watching, but to me, that stuff sincerely doesn't matter. Miraculous Ladybug makes me very happy, which is why you'll never see me engage in Miraculous Ladybug salt discussions. I can critique it sometimes, but I've spent enough time looking down on this show. I'd rather love it for what it is and appreciate the joy it's always brought me.

So yes, today isn't just Valentine's Day. It's the anniversary of the day Miraculous Ladybug came back into my life, and the day I regained a piece of myself I'd long forgotten.

I loved the movie so much, I started binging Miraculous Ladybug for the first time in a long time, and I'm having a blast, so I wanted to draw something! It's actually based on a piece I drew in 2016 and then redrew in 2017. I think I've come a long way as an artist, and I'm so proud of the improvement!

Bug out!🐞

[fordarkisthesuede]

Hey! this will sound out of place probably but I randomly run into one of your asks where you said that Disney’s handling of the show could’ve been way better. I watched the show fairly new so I don't know if there was an event while the show was still airing but I really wonder why do you think like that. (I hope I don't come across as mean. English is not my first language so I'm not the best at expressing myself.)

This is probably very very late, but "Disney's handling of [Gravity Falls] could've been better" is very much related to their terrible scheduling system.

It started out with about 3 episodes a month. The first big gap in the airing was between the Summerween episode (S1x12) and Boss Mabel (S1x13) was 5 months, from October 5 to February 15. This was actually around the time I started watching, because people on here kept talking about it on here!

But a 5 month gap MID-SEASON is still unheard of for regular shows. It technically wasn't even the MIDDLE of the season! There's only 20 episodes! You'd normally produce a whole season of a show to air over the course of a year to have a steady amount of content and keeps eyeballs primed and ready, with a 4-6 week long break for the winter holidays.

From 1x13 - 1x17, new episodes were twice a month, so every other week. But 1x18, Land Before Swine, aired about 1.5 weeks after 1x17, and then Dreamscaperers another 2 weeks after that. You remember that cliffhanger, right???? The Shack is destroyed, Gideon's run amok, the twins were going to be sent home for SURE.... People on here were OBSESSING over Bill Cipher. EVERYTHING was Bill. Every meme, every newly-discovered hint, every theory, every fanart was Bill-Bill-Bill *Bill* *Bill!* *BILL!* BILL CI ~ THE TRIANGLE GUY!

And we had to wait 3 weeks until the season finale, Gideon Rises aired. Imagine having to WAIT FOR THAT DAMN CLIFFHANGER SEASON ENDING. THREE F*CKING WEEKS.

But maybe you're still like "that's not too bad, it's bi-monthly, right? Maybe a little fickle. Doesn't sound horrible." Oh, my sweet summer child. You don't know the worst of it.

Season 2 started a day over the 1 year mark since Gideon Rises, and kept up tradition of 1 new ep twice a month, with the usual winter gap...and then, 2015 happened:

The proof's in the wiki page. Imagine, you wait patiently for 2x11, Not What He Seems, and get THE BIGGEST PLOT TWIST EVER PREDICTED BY FANDOM, with everyone losing their SH*T over what happens next....only to wait for the new episode for 4 months.

And again, it's not a real mid-season break. It wasn't like the next episodes hadn't been made yet, either. And they kept up a rough twice-a-month airings (sometimes with a 2-week gap, and other's 3) until...

WEIRDMAGEDDON.

THE EPIC 3-PART FINALE. PINES FAMILY VERSUS BILL CIPHER. THE SERIES ENDING. A BIG MOMENT FOR THE SHOW, THE FANS, AND EVEN DISNEY XD,

got split up into another 4 month gap.

Imagine it. IMAGINE how you're all excited for the series ending, a little scared to see what happens, and sad to see it go. The first part is so exciting, so full of promise, so easily ready to marathon with the rest - it'll be like watching a movie premier!

But that horrible goddamn mouse only laughs in your face. "Ho Ho! A marathon? Not on my watch arms, buddy!"

You've seen Part 2. You know how great it was. The emotional reconciliation, Mabelland, the series callbacks, the build-up to the fight with Bill. Can you, with your streaming services and dvd/bluray sets and pirated material you can watch at the drop of a hat even FATHOM what it was like to have to wait 4. Damn. Months. for the series to end?

To this day, I don't know of a show that's given that kind of haphazard hate-boner of a schedule. (Except for maybe Wander Over Yonder, which only ran 2 seasons for 3 years until it was cancelled.)

I'm sure Disney has excused it away with the dying breaths of cable on the wind and the growing popularity of streaming services, but I want to take your anonymous shoulders gently in my hands and look you dead-on so I can tell you this, from the bottom of my heart:

Gravity Falls wouldn't have made it without it's very, very dedicated fanbase. I was there for every episode live-stream after 1x15 aired. I only started a tumblr to keep up with the fandom. We waited for a 2-season, 40-episode cartoon show to complete for 4 years, knowing that the likelihood we'd ever get a movie out of it later was <0.

I just don't think Disney gave 2 flipparoonies about their animating department, let alone this show. They didn't make much merchandise for Gravity Falls. The vast majority of it back then was fan-made, with the official stuff being sold strictly online. I was lucky to find a single t-shirt in a Hot Topic up until the first break of Season 2, and then they slowly started bringing out Waddles plushies, the POP Vinyls, and of course the physical copy of Journal 3 by the end of the series.

TLDR; Disney didn't really care about this show, man. :/

[grigori77]

2020 in Movies - My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 3)

10.  WOLFWALKERS – eleven years ago, Irish director Tomm Moore exploded onto the animated cinema scene with The Secret of Kells, a spellbinding feature debut which captivated audiences the world over and even garnered an Oscar nomination.  Admittedly I didn’t actually even know about it until I discovered his work through his astonishing follow-up, Song of the Sea (another Academy Award nominee), in 2015, so when I finally caught it I was already a fan of Moore’s work.  It’s been a similarly long wait for his third feature, but he’s genuinely pulled off a hat-trick, delivering a third flawless film in a row which OF COURSE means that his latest feature is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, my top animated feature of 2020.  I could even be tempted to say it’s his best work to date … this is an ASTONISHING film, a work of such breath-taking, spell-binding beauty that I spent its entire hour and three-quarters glued to the screen, simple mesmerised by the wonder and majesty of this latest iteration of the characteristically stylised “Cartoon Saloon” look.  It’s also liberally steeped in Moore’s trademark Celtic vibe and atmosphere, once again delving deep into his homeland’s rich and evocative cultural history and mythology while also bringing us something far more original and personal – this time the titular supernatural beings are magical near-human beings whose own subconscious can assume the form of very real wolves.  Set in a particularly dark time in Irish history – namely 1650, when Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector – the story follows Robyn (Honor Kneafsey, probably best known for the Christmas Prince films), the impetuous and spirited young daughter of English hunter Bill Goodfellowe (Sean Bean), brought in by the Protectorate to rid the city of Kilkenny of the wolves plaguing the area.  One day fate intervenes and Robyn meets Mebh Og MacTire (The Girl at the End of the Garden‘s Eve Whittaker), a wild girl living in the woods, whose accidental bite gives her strange dreams in which she becomes a wolf – turns out Mebh is a wolfwalker, and now so is Robyn … every aspect of this film is an utter triumph for Moore and co, who have crafted a work of living, breathing cinematic art that’s easily the equal to (if not even better than) the best that Disney, Dreamworks or any of the other animation studios could create.  Then there’s the excellent voice cast – Bean brings fatherly warmth and compassion to the role that belies his character’s intimidating size, while Kneafsey and Whittaker make for a sweet and sassy pair as they bond in spite of powerful cultural differences, and the masterful Simon McBurney (Harry Potter, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) brings cool, understated menace to the role of Cromwell himself.  This is a film with plenty of emotional heft to go with its marvels, and once again displays the welcome dark side which added particular spice to Moore’s previous films, but ultimately this is still a gentle and heartfelt work of wonder that makes for equally suitable viewing for children as for those who are still kids at heart – ultimately, then, this is another triumph for one of the most singularly original filmmakers working in animation today, and if Wolfwalkers doesn’t make it third time lucky come Oscars-time then there’s no justice in the world …

9.  WONDER WOMAN 1984 – probably the biggest change for 2020 compared to pretty much all of the past decade is how different the fortunes of superhero cinema turned out to be.  A year earlier the Marvel Cinematic Universe had dominated all, but the DC Extended Universe still got a good hit in with big surprise hit Shazam!  Fast-forward to now and things are VERY different – DC suddenly came out in the lead, but only because Marvel’s intended heavy-hitters (two MCU movies, the first Venom sequel and potential hot-shit new franchise starter Morbius: the Living Vampire) found themselves continuously pushed back thanks to (back then) unforeseen circumstances which continue to shit all over our theatre-going slate for the immediate future.  In the end DC’s only SERIOUS competition turned out to be NETFLIX … never mind, at least we got ONE big established superhero blockbuster into the cinemas before the end of the year that the whole family could enjoy, and who better to headline it than DC’s “newest” big screen megastar, Diana Prince? Back in 2017 Monster’s Ball director Patty Jenkins’ monumental DCEU standalone spectacularly realigned the trajectory of a cinematic franchise that was visibly flagging, redesigning the template for the series’ future which has since led to some (mostly) consistently impressive subsequent offerings.  Needless to say it was a damn tough act to follow, but Jenkins and co-writers Geoff Johns (Arrow and The Flash) and David Callaham (The Expendables, Zombieland: Double Tap, future MCU entry Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings) have risen to the challenge in fine style, delivering something which pretty much equals that spectacular franchise debut … as has Gal Gadot, who’s now OFFICIALLY made the role her own thanks to yet another showstopping and definitive performance as the unstoppable Amazonian goddess living amongst us.  She’s older and wiser than in the first film, but still hasn’t lost that forthright honesty and wonderfully pure heart we’ve come to love ever since her introduction in Zack Snyder’s troublesome but ultimately underrated Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (yes, that’s right, I said it!), and Gadot’s clear, overwhelming commitment to the role continues to pay off magnificently as she once again proves that Diana is THE VERY BEST superhero in the DCEU cinematic pantheon.  Although it takes place several decades after its predecessor, WW84 is, obviously, still very much a period piece, Jenkins and co this time perfectly capturing the sheer opulent and over-the-top tastelessness of the 1980s in all its big-haired, bad-suited, oversized shoulder-padded glory while telling a story that encapsulates the greedy excessiveness of the Reagan era, perfectly embodied in the film’s nominal villain, Max Lord (The Mandalorian himself, Pedro Pascal), a wishy-washy wannabe oil tycoon conman who chances upon a supercharged wish-rock and unleashes a devastating supernatural “monkey’s paw” upon the world. To say any more would give away a whole raft of spectacular twists and turns that deserve to be enjoyed good and cold, although they did spoil one major surprise in the trailer when they teased the return of Diana’s first love, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) … needless to say this is another big blockbuster bursting with big characters, big action and BIG IDEAS, just what we’ve come to expect after Wonder Woman’s first triumphant big screen adventure.  Interestingly, the film starts out feeling like it’s going to be a bubbly, light, frothy affair – after a particularly stunning all-action opening flashback to Diana’s childhood on Themyscira, the film proper kicks off with a bright and breezy atmosphere that feels a bit like the kind of Saturday morning cartoon action the consistently impressive set-pieces take such unfettered joy in parodying, but as the stakes are raised the tone grows darker and more emotionally potent, the storm clouds gathering for a spectacularly epic climax that, for once, doesn’t feel too overblown or weighed down by its visual effects, while the intelligent script has unfathomable hidden depths to it, making us think far more than these kinds of blockbusters usually do.  It’s really great to see Chris Pine return since he was one of the best things about the first movie, and his lovably childlike wide-eyed wonder at this brave new world perfectly echoes Diana’s own last time round; Kristen Wiig, meanwhile, is pretty phenomenal throughout as Dr Barbara Minerva, the initially geeky and timid nerd who discovers an impressive inner strength but ultimately turns into a superpowered apex predator as she becomes one of Wonder Woman’s most infamous foes, the Cheetah; Pascal, of course, is clearly having the time of his life hamming it up to the hilt as Lord, playing gloriously against his effortlessly cool, charismatic action hero image to deliver a compellingly troubling examination of the monstrous corrupting influence of absolute power.  Once again, though, the film truly belongs to Gadot – she looks amazing, acts her socks off magnificently, and totally rules the movie.  After this, a second sequel is a no-brainer, because Wonder Woman remains the one DC superhero who’s truly capable of bearing the weight of this particular cinematic franchise on her powerful shoulders – needless to say, it’s already been greenlit, and with both Jenkins and Gadot onboard, I’m happy to sign up for more too …

8.  LOVE & MONSTERS – with the cinemas continuing their frustrating habit of opening for a little while and then closing while the pandemic ebbed and flowed in the months after the summer season, it was starting to look like there might not have been ANY big budget blockbusters to enjoy before year’s end as heavyweights like Black Widow, No Time To Die and Dune pulled back to potentially more certain release slots into 2021 (with only WW84 remaining stubbornly in place for Christmas).  Then Paramount decided to throw us a bone, opting to release this post-apocalyptic horror comedy on-demand in October instead, thus giving me the perfect little present to tie me over during the darkening days of autumn. The end result was a stone-cold gem that came out of nowhere to completely blow critics away, a spectacular sleeper hit that ultimately proved one of the year’s biggest and most brilliant surprises.  Director Michael Matthews may only have had South African indie thriller Five Fingers for Marseilles under his belt prior to this, but he proves he’s definitely a solid talent to watch in the future, crafting a fun and effective thrill-ride that, like all the best horror comedies, is consistently as funny as it is scary, sharing much of the same DNA as this particular mash-up genre’s classics like Tremors and Zombieland and standing up impressively well to such comparisons.  The story, penned by rising star Brian Duffield (who has TWO other entries on this list, Underwater and Spontaneous) and Matthew Robinson (The Invention of Lying, Dora & the Lost City of Gold), is also pretty ingenious and surprisingly original – a meteorite strike has unleashed weird mutagenic pathogens that warp various creepy crawly critters into gigantic monstrosities that have slaughter most of the world’s human population, leaving only a beleaguered, dwindling few to eke out a precarious living in underground colonies. Living in one such makeshift community is Joel Dawson (The Maze Runner’s Dylan O’Brien), a smart and likeable geek who really isn’t very adventurous, is extremely awkward and uncoordinated, and has a problem with freezing if threatened … which makes it all the more inexplicable when he decides, entirely against the advice of everyone he knows, to venture onto the surface so he can make the incredibly dangerous week-long trek to the neighbouring colony where his girlfriend Aimee (Iron Fist’s Jessica Henwick) has ended up.  Joel is, without a doubt, the best role that O’Brien has EVER had, a total dork who’s completely unsuited to this kind of adventure and, in the real world, sure to be eaten alive in the first five minutes, but he’s also such a fantastically believable, fallible everyman that every one of us desperate, pathetic omega-males and females can instantly put ourselves in his place, making it elementarily easy to root for him.  He’s also hilariously funny, his winningly self-deprecating sass and pitch perfect talent for physical comedy making it all the more rewarding watching each gloriously anarchic life-and-death encounter mould him into the year’s most unlikely action hero.  Henwick, meanwhile, once again impresses in a well-written role where she’s able to make a big impression despite her decidedly short screen time, as do the legendary Michael Rooker and brilliant newcomer Ariana Greenblatt as Clyde and Minnow, the adorably jaded, seen-it-all-before pair of “professional survivors” Joel meets en-route, who teach him to survive on the surface.  The action is fast, frenetic and potently visceral, the impressively realistic digital creature effects bringing a motley crew of bloodthirsty beasties to suitably blood-curdling life for the film’s consistently terrifying set-pieces, while the world-building is intricately thought-out and skilfully executed.  Altogether, this was an absolute joy from start to finish, and a film I enthusiastically endorsed to everyone I knew was looking for something fun to enjoy during the frustrating lockdown nights-in.  One of the cinematic year’s best kept secrets then, and a compelling sign of things to come for its up-and-coming director.

7.  PARASITE – I’ve been a fan of master Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho ever since I stumbled across his deeply weird but also thoroughly brilliant breakthrough feature The Host, and it’s a love that’s deepened since thanks to truly magnificent sci-fi actioner Snowpiercer, so I was looking forward to his latest feature as much as any movie geek, but even I wasn’t prepared for just what a runaway juggernaut of a hit this one turned out to be, from the insane box office to all that award-season glory (especially that undeniable clean-sweep at the Oscars). I’ll just come out and say it, this film deserves it all.  It’s EASILY Bong’s best film to date (which is really saying something), a masterful social satire and jet black comedy that raises some genuinely intriguing questions before delivering deeply troubling answers.  Straddling the ever-widening gulf between a disaffected idle rich upper class and impoverished, struggling lower class in modern-day Seoul, it tells the story of the Kim family – father Ki-taek (Bong’s good luck charm, Song Kang-ho), mother Chung-sook (Jang Hye-jin), son Ki-woo (Train to Busan’s Choi Woo-shik) and daughter Ki-jung (The Silenced’s Park So-dam) – a poor family living in a run-down basement apartment who live hand-to-mouth in minimum wage jobs and can barely rub two pennies together, until they’re presented with an intriguing opportunity.  Through happy chance, Ki-woon is hired as an English tutor for Park Da-hye (Jung Ji-so), the daughter of a wealthy family, which offers him the chance to recommend Ki-jung as an art tutor to the Parks’ troubled young son, Da-song (Jung Hyeon-jun). Soon the rest of the Kims are getting in on the act, the kids contriving opportunities for their father to replace Mr Park’s chauffeur and their mother to oust the family’s long-serving housekeeper, Gook Moon-gwang (Lee Jung-eun), and before long their situation has improved dramatically.  But as they two families become more deeply entwined, cracks begin to show in their supposed blissful harmony as the natural prejudices of their respective classes start to take hold, and as events spiral out of control a terrible confrontation looms on the horizon.  This is social commentary at its most scathing, Bong drawing on personal experiences from his youth to inform the razor-sharp script (co-written by his production assistant Han Jin-won), while he weaves a palpable atmosphere of knife-edged tension throughout to add spice to the perfectly observed dark humour of the situation, all the while throwing intriguing twists and turns at us before suddenly dropping such a massive jaw-dropper of a gear-change that the film completely turns on its head to stunning effect.  The cast are all thoroughly astounding, Song once again dominating the film with a turn at once sloppy and dishevelled but also poignant and heartfelt, while there are particularly noteworthy turns from Lee Sun-kyun as the Parks’ self-absorbed patriarch Dong-ik and Choi Yeo-jeong (The Concubine) as his flighty, easily-led wife Choi Yeon-gyo, as well as a fantastically weird appearance in the latter half from Park Myung-hoon.  This is heady stuff, dangerously seductive even as it becomes increasingly uncomfortable viewing, so that even as the screws tighten and everything goes to hell it’s simply impossible to look away.  Bong Joon-ho really has surpassed himself this time, delivering an existential mind-scrambler that lingers long after the credits have rolled and might even have you questioning your place in society once you’ve thought about it some. It deserves every single award and every ounce of praise it’s been lavished with, and looks set to go down as one of the true cinematic greats of this new decade.  Trust me, if this was a purely critical best-of list it’d be RIGHT AT THE TOP …

6.  THE OLD GUARD – Netflix’ undisputable TOP OFFERING of the summer came damn close to bagging the whole season, and I can’t help thinking that even if some of the stiffer competition had still been present it may well have still finished this high. Gina Prince-Blythewood (Love & Basketball, the Secret Life of Bees) directs comics legend Greg Rucka’s adaptation of his own popular series with uncanny skill and laser-focused visual flair considering there’s nothing on her previous CV to suggest she’d be THIS good at mounting a stomping great ultraviolent action thriller, ushering in a thoroughly engrossing tale of four ancient, invulnerable immortal warriors – Andy AKA Andromache of Scythia (Charlize Theron), Booker AKA Sebastian de Livre (Matthias Schoenaerts), Joe AKA Yusuf Al-Kaysani (Wolf’s Marwan Kenzari) and Nicky AKA Niccolo di Ginova (Trust’s Luca Marinelli) – who’ve been around forever, hiring out their services as mercenaries for righteous causes while jealously guarding their identities for fear of horrific experimentation and exploitation should their true natures ever be discovered.  Their anonymity is threatened, however, when they’re uncovered by former CIA operative James Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who’s working for the decidedly dodgy pharmaceutical conglomerate run by sociopathic billionaire Steven Merrick (Harry Melling, formerly Dudley in the Harry Potter movies), who want to capture these immortals so they can patent whatever it is that makes them keep on ticking … just as a fifth immortal, US Marine Nile Freeman (If Beale Street Could Talk’s KiKi Layne), awakens after being “killed” on deployment in Afghanistan.  The supporting players are excellent, particularly Ejiofor, smart and driven but ultimately principled and deeply conflicted about what he’s doing, even if he does have the best of intentions, and Melling, the kind of loathsome, reptilian scumbag you just love to hate, but the film REALLY DOES belong to the Old Guard themselves – Schoenaerts is a master brooder, spot-on casting as the group’s relative newcomer, only immortal since the Napoleonic Wars but clearly one seriously old soul who’s already VERY tired of the lifestyle, while Joe and Nicky (who met on opposing sides of the Crusades) are simply ADORABLE, an unapologetically matter-of-fact gay couple who are sweet, sassy and incredibly kind, the absolute emotional heart of the film; it’s the ladies, however, that are most memorable here.  Layne is exceptional, investing Nile with a steely intensity that puts her in good stead as her new existence threatens to overwhelm her and MORE THAN qualified to bust heads alongside her elders … but it’s ancient Greek warrior Andy who steals the film, Theron building on the astounding work she did in Atomic Blonde to prove, once and for all, that there’s no woman on Earth who looks better kicking arse than her (as Booker puts it, “that woman has forgotten more ways to kill than entire armies will ever learn”); in her hands, Andy truly is a goddess of death, tough as tungsten alloy and unflappable even in the face of hell itself, but underneath it all she hides a heart as big as any of her friends’.  They’re an impossibly lovable bunch and you feel you could follow them on another TEN adventures like this one, which is just as well, because Prince-Blythewood and Rucka certainly put them through their paces here – the drama is high (but frequently laced with a gentle, knowing sense of humour, particularly whenever Joe and Nicky are onscreen), as are the stakes, and the frequent action sequences are top-notch, executed with rare skill and bone-crunching zest, but also ALWAYS in service to the story.  Altogether this is an astounding film, a genuine victory for its makers and, it seems, for Netflix themselves – it’s become one of the platform’s biggest hits to date, earning well-deserved critical acclaim and great respect and genuine geek love from the fanbase at large.  After this, a sequel is not only inevitable, it’s ESSENTIAL …

5.  MANK – it’s always nice when David Fincher, one of my TOP FIVE ALL TIME FAVOURITE DIRECTORS, drops a new movie, because it can be GUARANTEED to place good and high in my rundown for that year.  The man is a frickin’ GENIUS, a true master of the craft, genuinely one of the auteur’s auteurs.  I’ve NEVER seen him deliver a bad film – even a misfiring Fincher (see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button or Alien 3) is still capable of creating GREAT CINEMA.  How? Why?  It’s because he genuinely LOVES the art form, it’s been his obsession all his life, and he’s spent every day of it becoming the best possible filmmaker he can be.  Who better to tell the story of the creation of one of the ULTIMATE cinematic masterpieces, then?  Benjamin Ross’ acclaimed biopic RKO 281 covered similar ground, presenting a compelling look into the making Citizen Kane, the timeless masterpiece of Hollywood’s ULTIMATE auteur, Orson Welles, but Fincher’s film is more interested in the original inspiration for the story, how it was written and, most importantly, the man who wrote it – Herman J. Mankiewicz, known to his friends as Mank. One of my favourite actors of all time, Gary Oldman, delivers yet another of his career best performances in the lead role, once a man of vision and incredible storytelling skill whose talents have largely been squandered through professional difficulties and personal vices, a burned out one-time great fallen on hard times whom Welles picks up out of the trash, dusts off and offers a chance to create something truly great again.  The only catch?  The subject of their film (albeit dressed up in the guise of fictional newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane) is to be real-life publisher, politico and tycoon William Randolph Hurst (Charles Dance), once Mank’s friend and patron before they had a very public and messy falling out which partly led to his current circumstances.  As he toils away in seclusion on what is destined to become his true masterwork, flashbacks reveal to us the fascinating, moving and ultimately tragic tale of his rise and fall from grace in the movie business, set against the backdrop of one of the most tumultuous periods in American history.  Shooting a script that his own journalist and screenwriter father, Jack, crafted and then failed to bring to the screen himself before his death in 2003, Fincher has been working for almost a quarter century to make this film, and all that passion and drive is writ large on the screen – this is a glorious film ABOUT film, the art of it, the creation of it, and all the dirty little secrets of what the industry itself has always really been like, especially in that most glamorous and illusory of times.  The fact that Fincher shot in black and white and intentionally made it look like it was made in the early 1940s (the “golden age of the Silver Screen”, if you will) may seem like a gimmick, but instead it’s a very shrewd choice that expertly captures the gloss and moodiness of the age, almost looking like a contemporary companion piece to Kane itself, and it’s the perfect way to frame all the sharp-witted observation, subtly subversive character development and murky behind-the-scenes machinations that tell the story.  Oldman is in every way the star here, holding the screen with all the consummate skill and flair we’ve come to expect from him, but there’s no denying the uniformly excellent supporting cast are equal to the task here – Dance is at his regal, charismatic best as Hearst, while Amanda Seyfried is icily classy on the surface but mischievous and lovably grounded underneath as Hearst’s mistress, Marion Davies, who formed the basis for Kane’s most controversial character, Arliss Howard (Full Metal Jacket, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Moneyball) brings nuance and complexity to the role of MGM founder Louis B. Mayer, Tom Pelphrey (Banshee, Ozark) is understated but compelling as Mank’s younger screenwriter brother Joseph, and Lily Collins and Tuppence Middleton exude class and long-suffering stubbornness as the two main women in Mank’s life (his secretary and platonic muse, Rita Alexander, and his wife, Sara), while The Musketeers’ Tom Burke’s periodic but potent appearances as Orson Welles help to drive the story in the “present”.  Another Netflix release which I was (thankfully) able to catch on the big screen during one of the brief lulls between British lockdowns, this was a decidedly meta cinematic experience that perfectly encapsulated not only what is truly required for the creation of a screen epic, but also the latest pinnacle in the career of one of the greatest filmmakers working in the business today, powerful, stirring, intriguing and surprising in equal measure. Certainly it’s one of the most important films ABOUT so far film this century, but is it as good as Citizen Kane?  Boy, that’s a tough one …

4.  ENOLA HOLMES – ultimately, my top film for the autumn/winter movie season was also the film which finally topped my Netflix Original features list, as well as beating all other streaming offerings for the entire year (which is saying something, as you should know by now).  Had things been different, this would have been one of Warner Bros’ BIGGEST releases for the year in the cinema, of that I have no doubt, a surprise sleeper hit which would have taken the world by storm – as it is it’s STILL become a sensation, albeit in a much more mid-pandemic, lockdown home-viewing kind of way.  Before you start crying oh God no, not another Sherlock Holmes adaptation, this is a very different beast from either the Guy Ritchie take or the modernized BBC show, instead side-lining the great literary sleuth in favour of a delicious new AU version, based on The Case of the Missing Marquess, the first novel in the Enola Holmes Mysteries literary series from American YA author Nancy Springer.  Positing that Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavill) and his elder brother Mycroft (Sam Claflin) had an equally ingenious and precocious baby sister, the film introduces us to Enola (Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown), who’s been raised at home by their strong-willed mother Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter) to be just as intelligent, well-read and intellectually skilled as her far more advantageously masculine elder siblings.  Then, on the morning of her sixteenth birthday, Enola awakens to find her mother has vanished, putting her in a pretty pickle since this leaves her a ward of Mycroft, a self-absorbed social peacock who finds her to be wilfully free-spirited and completely ill equipped to face the world, concluding that the only solution is sending her to boarding school where she’ll learn to become a proper lady.  Needless to say she’s horrified by the prospect, deciding to run away and search for her mother instead … this is about as perfect a family adventure film as you could wish for, following a vital, capable and compelling teen detective-in-the-making as she embarks on her very first investigation, as well as winding up tangled in a second to boot involving a young runaway noble, Viscount Tewkesbury, the Marquess of Basilwether (Medici’s Louis Partridge), and the film is a breezy, swift-paced and rewardingly entertaining romp that feels like a welcome breath of fresh air for a literary property which, beloved as it may be, has been adapted to death over the years.  Enola Holmes a brilliant young hero who’s perfectly crafted to carry the franchise forward in fresh new directions, and Brown brings her to life with effervescent charm, boisterous energy and mischievous irreverence that are entirely irresistible; Cavill and Claflin, meanwhile, are perfectly cast as the two very different brothers – this Sherlock is much less louche and world-weary than most previous versions, still razor sharp and intellectually restless but with a comfortable ease and a youthful spring in his step that perfectly suits the actor, while Mycroft is as superior and arrogant as ever, a preening arse we derive huge enjoyment watching Enola consistently get the best of; Bonham Carter doesn’t get a lot of screen-time but as we’d expect she does a lot with what she has to make the practical, eccentric and unapologetically modern Eudoria thoroughly memorable, while Partridge is carefree and likeable as the naïve but irresistible Tewkesbury, and there are strong supporting turns from Frances de la Tour as his stately grandmother, the Dowager, Susie Wokoma (Crazyhead, Truth Seekers) as Emily, a feisty suffragette who runs a jujitsu studio, Burn Gorman as dastardly thug-for-hire Linthorn, and Four Lions’ Adeel Akhtar as a particularly scuzzy Inspector Lestrade.  Seasoned TV director Harry Bradbeer (Fleabag, Killing Eve) makes his feature debut with an impressive splash, unfolding the action at a brisk pace while keeping the narrative firmly focused on an intricate mystery plot that throws in plenty of ingenious twists and turns before a suitably atmospheric climax and pleasing denouement which nonetheless artfully sets up more to come in the future, while screenwriter Jack Thorne (His Dark Materials, The Scouting Book for Boys, Wonder) delivers strong character work and liberally peppers the dialogue with a veritable cavalcade of witty zingers.  Boisterous, compelling, amusing, affecting and exciting in equal measure, this is a spirited and appealing slice of cinematic escapism that flatters its viewers and never talks down to them, a perfect little period adventure for a cosy Sunday afternoon.  Obviously there’s plenty of potential for more, and with further books to adapt there’s more than enough material for a pile of sequels – Neflix would be barmy indeed to turn their nose up at this opportunity …

3.  1917 – it’s a rare thing for a film to leave me truly shell-shocked by its sheer awesomeness, for me to walk out of a cinema in a genuine daze, unable to talk or even really think about much of anything for a few hours because I’m simply marvelling at what I’ve just witnessed.  Needless to say, when I do find a film like that (Fight Club, Inception, Mad Max: Fury Road) it usually earns a place very close to my heart indeed.  The latest tour-de-force from Sam Mendes is one of those films – an epic World War I thriller that plays out ENTIRELY in one shot, which doesn’t simply feel like a glorified gimmick or stunt but instead is a genuine MASTERPIECE of film, a mesmerising journey of emotion and imagination in a shockingly real environment that’s impossible to tear your eyes away from.  Sure, Mendes has impressed us before – his first film, American Beauty, is a GREAT movie, one of the most impressive feature debuts of the 2000s, while Skyfall is, in my opinion, quite simply THE BEST BOND FILM EVER MADE – but this is in a whole other league.  It’s an astounding achievement, made all the more impressive when you realise that there’s very little trickery at play here, no clever digital magic (just some augmentation here and there), it’s all real locations and sets, filmed in long, elaborately choreographed takes blended together with clever edits to make it as seamless as possible – it’s not the first film to try to do this (remember Birdman? Bushwick?), but I’ve never seen it done better, or with greater skill. But it’s not just a clever cinematic exercise, there’s a genuine story here, told with guts and urgency, and populated by real flesh and blood characters – the heart of the film is True History of the Kelly Gang’s George MacKay and Dean Chapman (probably best known as Tommen Baratheon in Game of Thrones) as Lance Corporals Will Schofield and Tom Blake, the two young tommies sent out across enemy territory on a desperate mission to stop a British regiment from rushing headlong into a German trap (Tom himself has a personal stake in this because his brother is an officer in the attack).  They’re a likeable pair, very human and relatable throughout, brave and true but never so overtly heroic that they stretch credibility, so when tragedy strikes along the way it’s particularly devastating; both deliver exceptional performances that effortlessly carry us through the film, and they’re given sterling support from a selection of top-drawer British talent, from Sherlock stars Andrew Scott and Benedict Cumberbatch to Mark Strong and Colin Firth, each delivering magnificently in small but potent cameos.  That said, the cinematography and art department are the BIGGEST stars here, masterful veteran DOP Roger Deakins (The Shawshank Redemption, Blade Runner 2049 and pretty much the Coen Brothers’ entire back catalogue among MANY others) making every frame sing with beauty, horror, tension or tragedy as the need arises, and the environments are SO REAL it feels less like production design than that someone simply sent the cast and crew back in time to film in the real Northern France circa 1917 – from a nightmarish trek across No Man’s Land to a desperate chase through a ruined French village lit only by dancing flare-light in the darkness before dawn, every scene is utterly immersive and simply STUNNING.  I don’t think it’s possible for Mendes to make a film better than this, but I sure hope he gives it a go all the same.  Either way, this was the most incredible, exhausting, truly AWESOME experience I had at the cinema all year – it’s a film that DESERVES to be seen on the big screen, and I feel truly sorry for those who missed the chance …

2.  BIRDS OF PREY & THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN – the only reason 1917 isn’t at number two is because Warner Bros.’ cinematic DC Extended Universe project FINALLY got round to bringing my favourite DC Comics title to the big screen.  It was been the biggest pleasure of my cinematic year getting to see my top DC superheroines brought to life on the big screen, and it was done in high style, in my opinion THE BEST of the DCEU films to date (yup, I loved it EVEN MORE than the Wonder Woman movies).  It was also great seeing Harley Quinn return after her show-stealing turn in David Ayer’s clunky but ultimately still hugely enjoyable Suicide Squad, better still that they got her SPOT ON this time – this is the Harley I’ve always loved in the comics, unpredictable, irreverent and entirely without regard for what anyone else thinks of her, as well as one talented psychiatrist.  Margot Robbie once more excels in the role she was basically BORN to play, clearly relishing the chance to finally do Harley TRUE justice, and she’s a total riot from start to finish, infectiously lovable no matter what crazy, sometimes downright REPRIHENSIBLE antics she gets up to.  Needless to say she’s the nominal star here, her latest ill-advised adventure driving the story – finally done with the Joker and itching to make her emancipation official, Harley publicly announces their breakup by blowing up Ace Chemicals (their love spot, basically), inadvertently painting a target on her back in the process since she’s no longer under the assumed protection of Gotham’s feared Clown Prince of Crime – but that doesn’t mean she eclipses the other main players the movie’s REALLY supposed to be about.  Each member of the Birds of Prey is beautifully written and brought to vivid, arse-kicking life by what had to be 2020’s most exciting cast – Helena Bertinelli, the Huntress, is the perfect character for Mary Elizabeth Winstead to finally pay off on that action hero potential she showed in Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, but this is a MUCH more enjoyable role outside of the fight choreography because while Helena may be a world-class dark avenger, socially she’s a total dork, which just makes her thoroughly adorable; Rosie Perez is similarly perfect casting as Renee Montoya, the uncompromising pint-sized Gotham PD detective who kicks against the corrupt system no matter what kind of trouble it gets her into, and just gets angrier all the time, paradoxically making us like her even more; and then there’s the film’s major controversy, at least as far as the fans are concerned, namely one Cassandra Cain.  Sure, this take is VERY different from the comics’ version (a nearly mute master assassin who went on to become the second woman to wear the mask of Batgirl before assuming her own crime-fighting mantle as Black Bat and now Orphan), but personally I like to think this is simply Cass at THE VERY START of her origin story, leaving plenty of time for her to discover her warrior origins when the DCEU finally gets around to introducing her mum, Lady Shiva (personally I want Michelle Yeoh to play her, but that’s just me) – anyways, here she’s a skilled child pickpocket whose latest theft inadvertently sets off the larger central plot, and newcomer Ella Jay Basco brings a fantastic pre-teen irreverence and spiky charm to the role, beautifully playing against Robbie’s mercurial energy.  My favourite here BY FAR, however, is Dinah Lance, aka the Black Canary (not only my favourite Bird of Prey but my very favourite DC superheroine PERIOD), the choice of up-and-comer Jurnee Smollet-Bell (Friday Night Lights, Underground) proving to be the film’s most inspired casting – a club singer with the metahuman ability to emit piercing supersonic screams, she’s also a ferocious martial artist (in the comics she’s one of the very best fighters IN THE WORLD), as well as a wonderfully pure soul you just can’t help loving, and it made me SO UNBELIEVABLY HAPPY that they got my Canary EXACTLY RIGHT.  Altogether they’re a fantastic bunch of badass ladies, basically my perfect superhero team, and the way they’re all brought together (along with Harley, of course) is beautifully thought out and perfectly executed … they’ve also got one hell of a threat to overcome, namely Gotham crime boss Roman Sionis, the Black Mask, one of the Joker’s chief rivals – Ewan McGregor brings his A-game in a frustratingly rare villainous turn (my number one bad guy for the movie year), a monstrously narcissistic, woman-hating control freak with a penchant for peeling off the faces of those who displease him, sharing some exquisitely creepy chemistry with Chris Messina (The Mindy Project) as Sionis’ nihilistic lieutenant Victor Zsasz.  This is about as good as superhero cinema gets, a perfect example of the sheer brilliance you get when you switch up the formula to create something new, an ultra-violent, unapologetically R-rated middle finger to the classic tropes, a fantastic black comedy thrill ride that’s got to be the most full-on feminist blockbuster ever made – it’s helmed by a woman (Dead Pigs director Cathy Yan), written by a woman (Bumblebee’s Christina Hodson), produced by more women and ABOUT a bunch of badass women magnificently triumphing over toxic masculinity in all its forms.  It’s also simply BRILLIANT – the cast are all clearly having a blast, the action sequences are first rate (the spectacular GCPD evidence room fight in which Harley gets to REALLY cut loose is the undisputable highlight), it has a gleefully anarchic sense of humour and is simply BURSTING with phenomenal homages, references and in-jokes for the fans (Bruce the hyena! Stuffed beaver! Roller derby!).  It’s also got a killer soundtrack, populated almost exclusively by numbers from female artists.  Altogether, then, this is the VERY BEST the DCEU has to offer to date, and VERY NEARLY my absolute FAVOURITE film of 2020.  Give it all the love you can, it sure as hell deserves it.

1.  TENET – granted, the streaming platforms (particularly Netflix and Amazon) certainly saved our cinematic summer, but I’m still IMMEASURABLY glad that my ultimate top-spot winner FOR THE WHOLE YEAR was one I got to experience on THE BIG SCREEN. You gotta hand it to Christopher Nolan, he sure hung in there, stubbornly determined that his latest cinematic masterpiece WOULD be released in cinemas in the summer (albeit ultimately landing JUST inside the line in the final week of August and ultimately taking the bite at the box office because of the still shaky atmosphere), and it was worth all the fuss because, for me, this was THE PERFECT MOVIE for me to get return to cinemas with.  I mean, okay, in the end it WASN’T the FIRST new movie I saw after the first reopening, that honour went to Unhinged, but THIS was my first real Saturday night-out big screen EXPERIENCE since March.  Needless to say, Nolan didn’t disappoint this time any more than he has on any of his consistently spectacular previous releases, delivering another twisted, mind-boggling headfuck of a full-blooded experiential sensory overload that comes perilously close to toppling his long-standing auteur-peak, Inception (itself second only by fractions to The Dark Knight as far as I’m concerned). To say much at all about the plot would give away major spoilers – personally I’d recommend just going in as cold as possible, indeed you really should just stop reading this right now and just GO SEE IT.  Still with us?  Okay … the VERY abridged version is that it’s about a secret war being waged between the present and the future by people capable of “inverting” time in substances, objects, people, whatever, into which the Protagonist (BlacKkKlansman’s John David Washington), an unnamed CIA agent, has been dispatched in order to prevent a potential coming apocalypse. Washington is once again on top form, crafting a robust and compelling morally complex heroic lead who’s just as comfortable negotiating the minefields of black market intrigue as he is breaking into places or dispatching heavies, Kenneth Branagh delivers one of his most interesting and memorable performances in years as brutal Russian oligarch Andrei Sator, a genuinely nasty piece of work who was ALMOST the year’s very best screen villain, Elizabeth Debicki (The Night Manager, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Widows) brings strength, poise and wounded integrity to the role of Sator’s estranged wife, Kat, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson gets to use his own accent for once as tough-as-nails British Intelligence officer Ives, while there are brief but consistently notable supporting turns and cameos from Martin Donovan, Yesterday’s Himesh Patel, Dirk Gently’s Fiona Dourif and, of course, Nolan’s good luck charm, Michael Caine.  The cast’s biggest surprise, however, is Robert Pattinson, truly a revelation in what has to be, HANDS DOWN, his best role to date, Neil, the Protagonist’s mysterious handler – he’s by turns cheeky, slick, duplicitous and thoroughly badass, delivering an enjoyably multi-layered, chameleonic performance which proves what I’ve long maintained, that the former Twilight star is actually a fucking amazing actor, and on the basis of this, even if that amazing new teaser trailer wasn’t making the rounds, I think the debate about whether or not he’s the right choice for the new Batman is now academic.  As we’ve come to expect from Nolan, this is a TRUE tour-de-force experience, a visual triumph and an endlessly engrossing head-scratcher, Nolan’s screenplay bringing in seriously big ideas and throwing us some major narrative knots and loopholes, constantly wrong-footing the viewer while also setting up truly revelatory payoffs from seemingly low-key, unimportant beginnings – this is a film you need to be awake and attentive for or you could miss something pretty vital. The action sequences are, as ever, second to none, some of the year’s very best set-pieces coming thick and fast and executed with some of the most accomplished skill in the business, while Nolan-regular cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema (Interstellar and Dunkirk, as well as the heady likes of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, SPECTRE and Ad Astra) once again shows he’s one of the best camera-wizards in the business today by delivering some absolutely mesmerising visuals.  Notably, Nolan’s other regular collaborator, composer Hans Zimmer, is absent here (although he had good reason, since he was working on his dream project at the time, the fast-approaching screen adaptation of Dune), but Ludwig Göransson (best known for his collaborations with Ryan Coogler Fruitvale Station, Creed and Black Panther, as well as career-best work on The Mandalorian) is a fine replacement, crafting an intriguingly internalised, post-modern musical landscape that thrums and pulses in time with the story and emotions of the characters rather than the action itself. Interestingly it’s on the subject of sound that some of the film’s rare detractions have been levelled, and I can see some of the points – the soundtrack mix is an all-encompassing thing, and there are times when the dialogue can be overwhelmed, but in Nolan’s defence this film is a heady, immersive experience, something you really need to concentrate on, so these potential flaws are easily forgiven.  As a work of filmmaking art, this is another flawless wonder from one of the true masters of the craft working in cinema today, but it’s art with palpable substance, a rewarding whole that proved truly unbeatable in 2020 …

[ao3feed-danganronpa]

PLEASE UNBAN MY DEVIANTART ACCOUNT

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3Bs8OWc

by Adultswimlver

pls unban it i need it back

Words: 13, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Undertale (Video Game), Five Nights at Freddy's, Friday Night Funkin' (Video Game), Friday the 13th Series (Movies), Friday the 13th: The Game (Video Game), The Good Place (TV), The Good Wife (TV), The Good Doctor (TV 2017), WWE Immortals (Video Game), WWE 2K (Video Games), Orange is the New Black, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia, Attack Attack! (Band), Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, The Owl House (Cartoon), The Loud House (Cartoon), Queen (Band), The Queen's Gambit (TV), Frog and Toad - Arnold Lobel, Steven Universe (Cartoon), My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, 小林さんちのメイドラゴン | Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon | Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, Dragon Age: Inquisition, How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 | JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Owl City (Band), Gravity Falls, League of Legends, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner, The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, Minecraft (Video Game), Slamacow Minecraft Animations (Web Series), Plants vs Zombies, House of Cards (US TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Young Justice (Cartoon), Justice League - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), D.C. 〜ダ・カーポ〜 | Da Capo, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Supergirl (TV 2015), American Idol RPF, Family Guy (Cartoon), Addams Family - All Media Types, Addams Family (TV 1964), The New Addams Family (TV), Camp Camp (Web Series), Total Drama (Cartoon), Regular Show (Cartoon), 約束のネバーランド | Yakusoku no Neverland | The Promised Neverland (Manga), Riviera: The Promised Land, Moana (2016), Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (Video Game), IT - Stephen King, Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto Series (Video Games), asdfmovie (Cartoon), TLC (Band), Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson, Gideon's Daughter (2005), The Gideon Trilogy - Linda Buckley-Archer, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar (2009), One Direction (Band), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, ENA - Joel G (Web Series), Roblox (Video Game), Super Mario & Related Fandoms, Nintendogs, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS, LOONA (Korea Band), iKON (Korea Band), Korean Actor RPF, The Cleveland Show, American Dad!, American Horror Story, Splatoon, SpongeBob SquarePants (Cartoon), Amphibia (Cartoon), Deltarune (Video Game), Men in Black (Movies), Men in Black: The Series, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Pinky and the Brain, Hannah Montana (TV), Gossip Girl (TV 2007), Inside Out (2015), Among Us (Video Game), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Trek, The Amazing World of Gumball, Super Dangan Ronpa 2, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Anne with an E (TV), Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (TV 1985) & Related Fandoms

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other

Characters: Garnet (Steven Universe), Amethyst (Steven Universe), Famethyst (Steven Universe), Amethyst(s) (Steven Universe), Holly Blue Agate (Steven Universe), Pearl (Steven Universe), Pearl (Splatoon), White Diamond (Steven Universe), Yellow Diamond (Steven Universe), Blue Diamond (Steven Universe), Blue Diamond's Pearl (Steven Universe), Pink Diamond (Steven Universe), Rose Quartz | Pink Diamond, Pink Diamond's Pearl (Steven Universe), Obsidian (Steven Universe), Jeon Jungkook, Park Jimin (BTS), Kim Sejin (BTS), Yeontan (BTS), Sans (Undertale), Papyrus (Undertale), Undyne (Undertale), Alphys (Undertale), Suzy (Undertale), Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss, Krista Lenz | Historia Riess' Husband, Ekrizdis (Harry Potter), Satoshi | Ash Ketchum, Man in the Mirror (JoJo), Higashikata Josuke (JoJo: Diamond is Unbreakable), Diavolo (JoJo), Adeku | Alder, Uraraka Ochako, Ymir (Shingeki no Kyojin), Ymir Fritz, Ymir (Marvel), Yelena (Shingeki no Kyojin), Pieck Finger, Pieck Finger's Father, Pieck Finger's Mother, Hand Receptionist (Undertale), Hange Zoë, Jevil (Deltarune), Ralsei (Deltarune), Asriel Dreemurr, Lancer (Deltarune), Levi, Levi Ackerman, Mikasa Ackerman, Annie (Friday Night Funkin'), Annie Leonhart, Boyfriend (Friday Night Funkin'), Girlfriend (Friday Night Funkin'), Lois Griffin, Peter Griffin, Beth Harmon, Cleo (The Queen's Gambit), Benny (The Loud House), Benny Watts, Lincoln Loud, SpongeBob SquarePants, Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, George Weasley, Fred Weasley, Molly Weasley, Charlie Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Padparadscha (Steven Universe), Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe), Peridot (Steven Universe), Mean Lapis (Steven Universe), Nice Lapis (Steven Universe), Bismuth (Steven Universe), Luz Noceda, Amity Blight, Lilith Clawthorne, Frieda Berlin, Eda Clawthorne, Frieda Reiss, Petra Moritz, Petra Ral, Alex Park, Alex Vause, Piper Chapman, Nicky Nichols, Lorna Morello, Dayanara "Daya" Diaz, Artesian McCullough, Daddy Dearest (Friday Night Funkin'), Dominga "Daddy" Duarte, Mommy Mearest (Friday Night Funkin'), Carol Denning, Barbara "Barb" Denning, James "Bucky" Barnes, Peter Parker, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Wanda Bell, Wanda Maximoff, Desi Piscatella, Twilight Sparkle (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic), Pinkie Pie (My Little Pony), Rainbow Quartz (Steven Universe), Rainbow Dash (My Little Pony), Applejack (My Little Pony), Patrick Star, Towntrap (FNAF High School), Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie (Five Nights at Freddy's), Chica (Five Nights at Freddy's), Foxy (Five Nights at Freddy's), Natemare (Mangled), The Mangle (Five Nights at Freddy's), Marionette | The Puppet, Mike Schmidt (Five Nights at Freddy's), Purple Guy (Five Nights at Freddy's), Michael Afton, Meg Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Chris Griffin (Family Guy), The Brain (Pinky and the Brain), Brian Griffin, Glenn Quagmire, Joe Swanson, Michael (The Good Place), Janet (The Good Place), Trevor (The Good Place), Bad Janet (The Good Place), Nicole Watterson, Spinel (Steven Universe), Steven Universe, Connie Springer, Connie Maheswaran, Sasha Blouse, Stan Pines, Ford Pines, Bud Gleeful, Gideon Gleeful, Dipper Pines, Mabel Pines, Wendy Corduroy, Reiner Braun

Relationships: Lois Griffin/Peter Griffin, Lois Griffin/Glenn Quagmire, Lois Griffin/Bonnie Swanson, Brian Griffin & Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin/Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin/Lois Griffin, Sans/Toriel (Undertale), Papyrus/Sans (Undertale), Chara/Frisk (Undertale), Chara/Asriel Dreemurr, Amethyst/Pearl (Steven Universe), Amethyst/Peridot (Steven Universe), Pearl/Rose Quartz (Steven Universe), Blue Diamond's Pearl/Yellow Diamond's Pearl (Steven Universe), Pearl/Pink Diamond (Steven Universe), Bismuth/Pearl (Steven Universe), Blue Diamond/Yellow Diamond (Steven Universe), Hermione Granger/Harry Potter, Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Moblit Berner/Hange Zoë, Hange Zoë/Reader, Pieck Finger/Hange Zoë, Pieck Finger/Porco Galliard, Pieck Finger/Reader, Pieck Finger/Yelena, Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Ymir, Mikasa Ackerman/Annie Leonhart, Mikasa Ackerman/Eren Yeager, Reiner Braun/Bertolt Hoover, Ruby/Sapphire (Steven Universe), Mettaton/Papyrus (Undertale), Eda Clawthorne & Lilith Clawthorne & Luz Noceda

Additional Tags: Vore, Cock Vore, Vore Predator Morality | Patton Sanders, Come Inflation, Inflation, Blueberry Inflation (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), Anal Sex, Oral Sex, Rough Sex, Vaginal Sex, Sex Toys, Semi-Public Sex, Gay Sex, Public Sex, Phone Sex, Shower Sex, Car Sex, Drunk Sex, Rough Oral Sex, No Sex, Cuddling & Snuggling, Platonic Cuddling, Post-Coital Cuddling, Accidental Cuddling, First Kiss, Forehead Kisses, New Year's Kiss, True Love's Kiss, Christmas, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - AlterFell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Human, B.A.R.F. | Binarily Augmented Retro Framing, Song: WAP (Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion), Bisexual B. J. Hunnicutt, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, No Smut, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Audio Format: Streaming, Stream of Consciousness, Blow Jobs, First Time Blow Jobs, Public Blow Jobs, Menstruation, Menstrual Sex, Men of Letters Bunker (Supernatural), Men Crying, Menstruation Kink, Wiccan Dean Winchester, Protective Dean Winchester, Hurt Dean Winchester, POV Dean Winchester, Face-Fucking, Fuck Or Die, Strap-Ons, Anal Fingering, Cock Rings, Vaginal Fingering, Fingerfucking, Mentions of Hello Kitty, Finger Sucking, Mood Swings, Mind/Mood Altering Substances, Giant Spiders, Community: hd100, Anne Boonchuy Needs a Hug, Protective Anne Boonchuy

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3Bs8OWc

[aion-rsa]

HBO Max New Releases: August 2021

https://ift.tt/3A1bKHN

Back when WarnerMedia (which technically no longer exists in the same form) announced that it would be premiering its entire slate of 2021 films on HBO Max, this is the kind of month they likely had in mind. For HBO Max’s list of new releases in August 2021 is highlighted by an honest-to-goodness blockbuster.

The Suicide Squad is set to premiere Aug. 5 on HBO Max. This film featuring some of DC Comics’ most curious villains borrows its name, format, and many of its characters from the David Ayers-directed 2016 film Suicide Squad. This time around, the rogues gallery is directing by James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) and his colorful disposition. In addition to The Suicide Squad, August sees the arrival of the Hugh Jackman-starring Reminiscence on Aug. 20.

Read more

Movies

The Suicide Squad First Reactions Are In

By John Saavedra

Movies

How The Suicide Squad is Different from Guardians of the Galaxy

By Mike Cecchini

It’s a good month for movies overall on HBO Max. Many intriguing library titles arrive on Aug. 1, including Collateral, The Fugitive (1993), The Shawshank Redemption, and Spawn. The Jurassic Park trilogy (Aug. 14), and Godzilla v. Kong (Aug. 17) make their return to the Warner streaming service a little later on.

HBO Max’s original TV offerings can’t compete with The Suicide Squad in August 2021, but there is still plenty to enjoy. The third season of erstwhile DC Universe series Titans premieres on Aug. 12. That will be followed by the second season of former Comedy Central delight The Other Two.

HBO Max New Releases – August 2021

August 1 2 Days in the Valley, 1996 (HBO) 9/11: Fifteen Years Later, 2016 A Mighty Wind, 2003 (HBO) A Walk Among the Tombstones, 2014 (HBO) The Accidental Spy, 2002 (HBO) The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, 2005 (HBO) Americano, 2017 (HBO) Anna to the Infinite Power, 1982 (HBO) Backtrack, 2016 (HBO) Basic Instinct, 1992 (HBO) Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction, 2006 (HBO) (Extended Version) Best in Show, 2000 (HBO) Betrayal at Attica, 2021 The Betrayed, 2008 (HBO) The Birdcage, 1996 (HBO) Black Death, 2010 (HBO) Blue Ruin, 2014 (HBO) Brown Sugar, 2002 (HBO) Changeling, 2008 (HBO) Chasing Mavericks, 2012 (HBO) Collateral, 2004 (HBO) Constantine, 2005 Deep Cover, 1992 (HBO) The Devil’s Double, 2011 (HBO) Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, 1988 (HBO) Dolphin Tale, 2011 (HBO) The Double, 2014 (HBO) Empire of the Sun, 1987 The End, 1978 (HBO) Envy, 2004 (HBO) Epic, 2013 (HBO) Extranjero (aka Foreigner), 2018 (HBO) For Your Consideration, 2006 (HBO) Freejack, 1992 (HBO) The Fugitive, 1993 Ghosts of Mississippi, 1996 The Great Gatsby, 1974 (HBO) The Great Gatsby, 2013 (HBO) Gun Shy, 2017 (HBO) Hangman, 2017 (HBO) Heaven Can Wait, 1978 (HBO) Hitchcock, 2012 (HBO) Horror of Dracula, 1958 How to Deal, 2003 (HBO) Hudson Hawk, 1991 Humpday, 2009 (HBO) Imperium, 2016 (HBO) Inception, 2010 Joe, 2014 (HBO) Johnny English Reborn, 2011 (HBO) Julia, 2009 (HBO) Last Action Hero, 1993 The Lincoln Lawyer, 2011 Malcolm X, 1992 Man Down, 2016 (HBO) The Man in the Iron Mask, 1998 (HBO) Mean Streets, 1973 Mr. Soul!, 2018 New in Town, 2009 (HBO) Nobody Walks, 2012 (HBO) Nurse 3D, 2013 (HBO) One Hour Photo, 2002 (HBO) The Out-of-Towners, 1999 (HBO) Popeye, 1980 (HBO) The Pope of Greenwich Village, 1984 (HBO) The Prince, 2014 (HBO) The Reader, 2008 (HBO) Red, 2008 (HBO) Red Riding Hood, 2011 Requiem for a Dream, 2000 Scary Movie, 2000 The Score, 2001 (HBO) Sex and the City, 2008 Sex and the City 2, 2010 The Shawshank Redemption, 1994 Spawn, 1997 The Spirit, 2008 (HBO) The Square, 2017 (HBO) Stand and Deliver, 1988 (HBO) Tango & Cash, 1989 Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, 2006 Thirteen Ghosts, 2001 Vice, 2015 (HBO) War, 2007 (HBO) Woodstock (Director’s Cut), 1994 You’ve Got Mail, 1998

August 2 Small Town News: KPVM Pahrump, Documentary Series Finale (HBO)

August 3 Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, 1993 Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union, Documentary Premiere (HBO)

August 5 Furry Friends Forever: Elmo Gets A Puppy, Max Original Special Premiere The Suicide Squad, Warner Bros. Film Premiere, 2021 (Available in 4K UHD, HDR10, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos in English Only on supported devices)

August 6 Sin Aliento (aka Breathless), 2020 (HBO)

August 7 All My Life, 2020 (HBO)

August 8 A Different World

August 10 Hard Knocks ’21: Dallas Cowboys, Sports-Based Reality Series Premiere (HBO)

August 12 FBOY Island, Max Original Season Finale The Hype, Max Original Series Premiere Titans, Max Original Season 3 Premiere

August 14 Jurassic Park, 1993 (HBO) Jurassic Park III, 2001 (HBO) The Lost World: Jurassic Park, 1997 (HBO)

August 15 The White Lotus, Limited Series Finale (HBO)

August 16 Hard, Season 3 Premiere (HBO) Top Gear, Season 29

August 17 Godzilla vs. Kong, 2021 (HBO) (Available in 4K UHD, HDR10, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos in English Only on supported devices)

August 19 Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground, Max Original Documentary Special Premiere Looney Tunes Cartoons Back to School Special, Max Original Special Premiere Marlon Wayans: You Know What It Is, Max Original Special Premiere Sweet Life: Los Angeles, Max Original Series Premiere

August 20 Half Brothers, 2020 (HBO) Reefa, 2021 (HBO) Reminiscence, Warner Bros. Film Premiere, 2021 (Available in 4K UHD, HDR10, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos in English Only on supported devices)

August 22 100 Foot Wave, Documentary Series Finale (HBO) San Andreas, 2015

August 24 Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (HBO) Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, 2021

August 25 Lincoln: Divided We Stand, 2021

August 26 The Other Two, Max Original Season 2 Premiere

August 28 Magic Mike XXL, 2015 (HBO)

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Leaving HBO Max – August 2021  

August 5 The Windsors: Inside the Royal Dynasty, 2019

August 11 A Mermaid’s Tale, 2017 Against the Wild 2: Survive the Serengeti, 2016 Against The Wild, 2014 Alpha & Omega 5: Family Vacation, 2015 Alpha & Omega: Dino Digs, 2016 Blue Valentine, 2010 Earth Girls Are Easy, 1989 The Escape Artist, 1982 Hecho En Mexico, 2012 Jennifer Lopez Dance Again, 2016 La Mujer de Mi Hermano, 2005 Leapfrog Letter Factory Adventures: Amazing Word Explorers, 2015 Leapfrog Letter Factory Adventures: Counting on Lemonade, 2014 Leapfrog Letter Factory Adventures: The Letter Machine Rescue Team, 2014 Love and Sex, 2000 Mistress, 1992 Mother’s Day, 2012 Tender Mercies, 1983 The Men Who Stare at Goats, 2009 Turtle Tale, 2018

August 14 Leapfrog: Numberland, 2012 Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans, 2019

August 15 Joker, 2019 (HBO) Space Jam: A New Legacy, 2021

August 27 Dead Silence, 2007 (HBO) White Noise, 2005 (HBO)

August 29 Assault on Precinct 13, 2005 (HBO)

August 30 Serendipity, 2001

August 31 54: The Director’s Cut, 1998 (HBO) 40 Days and 40 Nights, 2002, (HBO) A Cinderella Story, 2004 A Cinderella Story: If The Shoe Fits, 2016 A Cinderella Story: Once Upon A Song, 2011 Alpha and Omega: The Great Wolf Games, 2014 (HBO) The American President, 1995 Another Cinderella Story, 2008 Astro Boy, 2009 (HBO) August Rush, 2007 Babe, 1995 (HBO) Babe: Pig in the City, 1998 (HBO) The Barkleys of Broadway, 1949 Barnyard, 2006 (HBO) Barry Lyndon, 1975 Battle for Terra, 2009 (HBO) The Bay, 2012 (HBO) Be Cool, 2005 (HBO) Beverly Hills Cop, 1984 (HBO) Beverly Hills Cop II, 1987 (HBO) Beverly Hills Cop III, 1994 (HBO) Beyond the Sea, 2004 (HBO) Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, 1991 (HBO) Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, 1989 (HBO) Billy Elliot, 2000 (HBO) Black Hawk Down, 2001 Blade, 1998 Blade Runner: The Final Cut, 2007 Blow, 2001 The Bonfire of the Vanities, 1990 Bright Young Things, 2004 (HBO) Butter, 2012 (HBO) Cannery Row, 1982 Capricorn One, 1978 (HBO) Carefree, 1938 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 2005 City of God, 2003 (HBO) City Slickers, 1991 (HBO) City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold, 1994 Clifford, 1994 (HBO) Closer, 2004 Code 46, 2004 (HBO) Cold Creek Manor, 2003 (HBO) Cold Mountain, 2003 Countdown, 1968 The Crow, 1994 (HBO) The Crow: City of Angels, 1996 (HBO) The Crow: Wicked Prayer, 2006 (HBO) Daddy Day Care, 2003 Dave, 1993 The Dirty Dozen, 1967 Dream House, 2011 (HBO) Eight Legged Freaks, 2002 El Chata (aka The Sparring Partner), 2019 (HBO) Freddy vs. Jason, 2003 Free Willy, 1993 Free Willy: The Adventure Home, 1995 Free Willy: Escape from Pirate’s Cove, 2010 Free Willy 3: The Great Rescue, 1997 Frequency, 2000 Get Shorty, 1995 (HBO) Gone, 2012 (HBO) The Hard Way, 1991 (HBO) Harry and the Hendersons, 1987 (HBO) Heidi, 2005 The High Note, 2020 (HBO) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 2012 Home Alone 4, 2002 (HBO) Home Alone: The Holiday Heist, 2012 (HBO) Hudson Hawk, 1991 The Hundred-Foot Journey, 2014 (HBO) Innerspace, 1987 Inside Moves, 1980 (HBO) The Interview, 2014 Jack The Giant Slayer, 2013 Jackie Brown, 1997 Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer, 2011 (HBO) The Last Exorcism, 2012 (Extended Version) (HBO) Lay the Favorite, 2012 (HBO) Let’s Go to Prison, 2006 (HBO) Life is Beautiful, 1998 (HBO) Live by Night, 2016 (HBO) Logan’s Run, 1976 Lolita, 1962 Look Who’s Talking, 1989 Malice, 1993 (HBO) Man on a Ledge, 2012 (HBO) Menace II Society, 1993 Miss Congeniality, 2000 Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, 2005 Monkey Trouble, 1994 Mr. Nanny, 1993 National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, 1989 National Lampoon’s European Vacation, 1985 National Lampoon’s Vacation, 1983 No Eres Tu Soy Yo, 2011 Ocean’s 11, 1960 The Omega Man, 1971 On Golden Pond, 1981 (HBO) On Moonlight Bay, 1951 Osmosis Jones, 2001 Our Brand Is Crisis, 2015 (HBO) Over the Hedge, 2006 (HBO) Parental Guidance, 2012 (HBO) Pathfinder, 2007 (Director’s Cut) (HBO) The People vs. Larry Flynt, 1996 Pinocchio, 2012 Point Blank, 1967 Popstar, 2005 Prometheus, 2012 (HBO) PT 109, 1963 Replicas, 2019 (HBO) Running on Empty, 1988 Ruta Viva, 2018 (HBO) Saw, 2004 (Extended Version) (HBO) Saw II, 2005 (Director’s Cut) (HBO) Saw III, 2006 (Director’s Cut) (HBO) Saw IV, 2007 (Director’s Cut) (HBO) Saw V, 2008 (Director’s Cut) (HBO) Saw VI, (Director’s Cut) (HBO) Saw: The Final Chapter, 2010 (Director’s Cut) (HBO) Shall We Dance, 1937 Sherlock Holmes, 2009 Sinbad: Beyond the Veils of Mist, 2000 (HBO) Sling Blade, 1996 (HBO) Some Came Running, 1958 South Central, 1992 Spies Like Us, 1985 Spooky Buddies, 2011 (HBO) Steel, 1997 Still of the Night, 1982 (HBO) Striptease, 1996 Stuart Little, 1999 Stuart Little 2, 2002 The Stunt Man, 1979 (HBO) Summer Catch, 2001 Sweet November, 2001 Swimfan, 2002 (HBO) The Tank, 2017 (HBO) This Must Be The Place, 2012 (HBO) Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, 2005 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948 Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, 1997 (HBO) Twister, 1996 Un 4to de Josue, 2018 (HBO) Unforgettable, 2017 (HBO) Unlocking the Cage, 2017 (HBO) Vegas Vacation, 1997 Wanderlust, 2012 (HBO) Wedding Crashers, 2005 Within, 2016 (HBO) Wolves at the Door, 2017 (HBO) The Year of Living Dangerously, 1983

The post HBO Max New Releases: August 2021 appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2TNiOZn

[ao3feed-batb2017]

Send Me On My Way

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3A6uuXo

by BluD3vil_Fire2000

After saving a human toddler from a doomed fate, an unlikely group of friends—consisting of Migo, a no-nonsense, lone Yeti; Rodney, an inventor with a heart of gold; Alex, a Lieutenant of an enemy gang; and Blue, an exiled Princess with a unique power—band together to return the child to her family. In order to reunite the baby with her tribe, the four will have to take on many dangers along the journey while having to work together as a herd.

Words: 7501, Chapters: 5/?, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of Ice Age/Multifandom AU

Fandoms: Original Work, Ice Age (Movies), Disney - All Media Types, Smallfoot (2018), Robots (2005), Madagascar (Movies), Wreck-It Ralph (Movies), Book of Life (2014), Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Wild Kratts, Voltron: Legendary Defender, Van Helsing (2004), Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), The Road to El Dorado (2000), Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003), Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002), The Prince of Egypt (1998), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Shrek (Movies), Monsters vs Aliens (2009), Shark Tale (2004), Antz (1998), Chicken Run (2000), Wallace & Gromit, Over the Hedge (2006), Flushed Away (2006), Bee Movie (2007), Kung Fu Panda (Movies), Megamind (2010), Rise of the Guardians (2012), The Croods (Movies), Turbo (2013), Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014), Home (2015), Trolls (Movies 2016 2020), Abominable (2019), Horton Hears a Who! - Dr. Seuss, Rio (Movies - Saldanha), Epic (2013), Ferdinand (2017), Spies In Disguise (2019), FernGully (Movies), Anastasia (1997), Cloverfield (2008), 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), The Cloverfield Paradox (2018), Indiana Jones Series, Open Season (Movies), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Movies), Hotel Transylvania (Movies), Quest for Camelot (1998), Cats Don't Dance (1997), Osmosis Jones (2001), Iron Giant (1999), The LEGO Movie (2014), Storks (2016), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), Fantasia 2000 (1999), Dumbo (1941), Bambi (1942), Cinderella (2015), Alice in Wonderland (1951), Peter Pan (2003), Lady and the Tramp (1955), Sleeping Beauty (1959), 101 Dalmatians (1961), The Sword in the Stone (1963), The Jungle Book - All Media Types, Robin Hood (1973), The Rescuers (Movies), The Great Mouse Detective (1986), Oliver & Company (1988), The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Aladdin (1992), Aladdin (2019), The Lion King (1994), The Lion King (2019), Pocahontas (Disney 1995), Toy Story (Movies), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), Mulan (2020), A Bug's Life (1998), Tarzan (1999), Dinosaur (2000), Emperor's New Groove (2000), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), Monsters Inc. (Movies), Lilo & Stitch (2002), Treasure Planet (2002), Finding Nemo (Movies), Brother Bear (2003), Home on the Range (2004), Incredibles (Pixar Movies), Chicken Little (2005), The Wild (2006), Cars (Pixar Movies), Meet the Robinsons (2007), Ratatouille (2007), Enchanted (2007), WALL-E (2008), Up (2009), The Princess and the Frog (2009), Tangled (2010), Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Gnomeo and Juliet (2011), Brave (2012), Frozen (Disney Movies), Big Hero 6 (2014), Inside Out (2015), The Good Dinosaur (2015), Zootopia (2016), Moana (2016), Coco (2017), Onward (2020), Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), Balto (Movies), Despicable Me (Movies), Minions (2015), Missing Link (2019), Coraline (2009), Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), The Boxtrolls (2014), ParaNorman (2012), Rock-a-Doodle (1991), The Secret of NIMH (1982), Cool World (1992), The Meg (2018), Rampage (2018), Aquaman (2018), Geostorm (2017), Brightburn (2019), Godzilla (2014), Godzilla: King of The Monsters (2019), Godzilla (1998), Godzilla: The Series, Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types, Sonic Boom (Cartoon), Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types, Jurassic World Trilogy (Movies), Jurassic Park Original Trilogy (Movies), King Kong (2005), Kong: Skull Island (2017), Alien Series, Spiders (2013), Venom (Movie 2018), Ratchet & Clank, Crash Bandicoot (Video Games), Spyro the Dragon (Video Games), Rayman (Video Games), Gex (Video Games), Klonoa (Games), Croc (Video Games), PaRappa the Rapper, Oddworld, MediEvil (Video Games)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi

Additional Tags: Ice Age AU, everyone's gonna be in it, I just felt like it's too much, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Canon, Self-Insert, My OCs are in there as well, this is the first time I've done an AU like this, Inspired by Heroboy005 from fanfiction.net, if you see paragraphs that are familiar to the stories, Blood and Violence, Aftermath of Violence, Explicit Language, It does have some, Fluff and Humor, Family Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, That's all I can say

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3A6uuXo

[dswcp]

This week: No Humans Allowed!

Anakin was, of course, the only human with reflexes fast enough to podrace. So apparently these freaky little guys all have a natural advantage over us clumsy, non-Chosen-One humans!

I wish other media about Anakin, especially The Clone Wars cartoon, would show more of his superhuman ability and zeal for racing. I think it’s really endearing and fun, and a cool reference to George Lucas’ first love, cars. The closest the cartoon gets to this theme is the very first arc, Malevolence, in which Anakin can pilot more skillfully than anyone else, and Ahsoka has to advise him to quit for the sake of everyone else’s safety. There are a couple comics where Ahsoka and Luke get to podrace, and Anakin/Vader gets to react to them in charming and ridiculous ways. I’ll write about these comics later, because they are my absolute weakness! 

The flags featured in the adorable illustration above are:

the shark who says “Ni!” of Clegg Holdfast, a Nosaurian from New Plympto. New Plympto’s tragic fate is shown in the grimdark (by Star Wars standards) Dark Times comics: the planet and its poor little dinosaur population are neglected by the Republic, manipulated by the Separatists, and looted by the Empire. I’m uncertain if Clegg lived to see this destruction, as his pod crashed in the second lap.

the red flag with blue pennants of Dud Bolt (great name!), a Vulptereen from Vulpter. He must have survived, as he is the racer who you can see on the TV at the bar in Attack of the Clones. I think he is a very cute piggy-crocodile.

the matching green flag with red pennants of Gasgano, a Xexto from Troiken. I think this guy is genuinely ugly, but he did come in second place after Ani, so I must respect him. 

the lobster claw on a green field of Mars Guo, who is, hilariously, a Phuii from Phu. Similar to beloved character Hera Syndulla, Mars is named after a Greco-Roman god. Did that ancient empire somehow reach this distant galaxy?

the red hook of Teemto Pagalies, a Veknoid from Moonus Mandel. A Veknoid closer to my heart is the wise, mysterious Master Zao. But Teemto is the original goofy pig-lizard-man.

In the illustration, the podracers bear their own flags, but this is not the case in the movie; in fact, it looks the actual flagbearers mostly appear to be human. The only exception is Anakin’s flagbearer, his loyal creation, C-3PO.

“English-Japanese Dictionary for Jedi Knights,” entry for “Flag.” 2015. Illustrators: Chifuyu Sasaki and Naoko Kawano, aka Gurihiru.

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

Justice League Chronicles Book 1 the Atlantis Wars

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/rnghX5D by Lauriverfanboy1 With the world facing a crisis too big for any one hero to stop, a team of the world's greatest heroes is assembled to stop the threat of Atlantis from destroying their homes. These heroes come from different places, but to win, they must learn to come together as a team and prevent an all out war between the land and the sea. Part 4 of the New World Chronicles. Words: 1199, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Series: Part 4 of New World Chronicles Fandoms: Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014), Arrow (TV 2012), Superman & Lois (TV 2021), Aquaman (Movies - Wan), Wonder Woman - All Media Types, Batman - Fandom, Young Justice (Cartoon) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: F/F, F/M Characters: Kara Danvers, Barry Allen, Oliver Queen, Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Diana Prince, Alex Danvers, J'onn J'onzz | Hank Henshaw, Doctor Fate, Arthur Curry (DCU), Mera, Orm Marius, Kaldur'ahm | Jackson Hyde, Black Manta, Krypto the Superdog (DCU) Relationships: Alex Danvers & Kara Danvers, Kara Danvers & Clark Kent, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Clark Kent/Lois Lane, Laurel Lance/Oliver Queen, Barry Allen/Iris West, Arthur Curry/Mera (DCU) read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/rnghX5D

[crdenhart]

10 Movies You Should Watch This Halloween 2020

It’s the first full week of October, so Halloween is in full swing! This year, I continue my tradition of recommending some excellent films to watch during the Halloween season but with a COVID-19 twist for many of the movies on this list. Here are the 10 movies you should check out this Halloween:

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

“My family’s always been in meat.”

This movie recently got a 4K remaster making it look even more gruesome than ever! The film feels so real compared many other slasher horror films with the deaths coming out of nowhere and the killings being hyper-realistic. They even used real skeletons for the making of some of the scenes! The sound design also is something so terrifying; you’ll never want to listen to the sound of a chainsaw ever again!

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

“Let’s do the Time Warp again”

One of the most fun horror movies of all time celebrates its 45th anniversary this Halloween! I like how the film satirizes the B-movie mad scientist genre and Tim Curry gives a stellar performance as Dr. Frankenfurter. Also the songs are so fun and catchy and will get stuck in your head forever! My favorite songs in the movie are “Science Fiction Double Feature” and “Hot Patootie - Bless My Soul.”

Hausu (1977)

“My fingers are gone!”

“House” is the title in English. This trippy Japanese haunted-house movie is a real treat for the eyes! The film is so mesmerizingly weird with its flashy colors and cartoon-like special effects. Definitely one worth checking out if you are looking to feel terrified and strange at the same time!

The Hunger (1983)

“Forever and ever!”

David Bowie as a vampire... yes please! The makeup and effects are really good in the movie especially in the scenes as Bowie’s vampire character ages rapidly from lack of drinking blood. The film has some creepy sequences, including some intense scenes in which it seems as though Bowie’s vampire is going to claim another victim and a scene in which Susan Sarandon’s character comes across several coffins of vampires. Definitely one of the scariest vampire movies of the last 40 years!

Ghostbusters (1984)

“Who you gonna call?”

We didn’t get the highly-anticipated Ghostbusters: Afterlife this year because of the pandemic, so to tide us over until it comes out, this Halloween would be a good time to revisit the original horror-comedy classic. Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and the rest of the cast give some of their most memorable performances in this movie. Growing up I used to watch this and its sequel in the ooze-green boxset that included a couple animated episodes; highly recommend tracking a copy down if you want the best Halloween viewing experience.

The Exorcist III (1990)

“I have dreams… of a rose, and then falling down a long flight of steps.”

This movie might be one of the best horror sequels ever made! George C. Scott gives a fantastic performance in the lead role as do Jason Miller (returning as his role of Father Karris from the original Exorcist) and Brad Dourif as the Gemini Killer. I saw many of the filming locations when I visited DC back in 2015. A majority of the movie takes place in a hospital, which is usually scary enough on its own. There is an especially frightening scene involving a possessed patient and surgical scissors! This year marks its 30th anniversary, so this Halloween would be a good time to check it out if you haven’t seen it in a long time or are a fan of the original and never saw this one (you can actually skip the second one as this film makes no direct references to that movie). There is a director’s cut that was released a few years that provides some good deleted scenes and extra dialogue, though overall I prefer the theatrical cut.

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)

“Michael Myers is my business!”

This 6th entry in the Halloween series celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Lots of fans consider this the “worst” of the Halloween movies, but I find lots of good merits in the film, especially the producer’s cut released 2014 which features several extended and alternate scenes. I really like the Halloween (holiday) scenery of the film making it feel like it really takes place on October 31st unlike most of the series particularly in the scenes taking place at the Halloween carnival (the “red rain” scene being a highlight). The cinematography and suspense also are superior compared to many of the sequels, probably the closest the series has ever come to capture the style of the first two films. I also like how the film explores the mystery of Michael Myers more so than the other ones giving him a reason for his killing nature other than he is just “evil.” This movie is the last time Michael Myers is actually scary and not just a “killing machine” or some dummy for Busta Rhymes to kong-fu fight (ie Halloween: Resurrection). This also marked the final appearance of Donald Pleasance as Dr. Sam Loomis as he died in real life shortly after filming his scenes. Definitely check out the producer’s cut if you have never seen the film or you have only seen the theatrical cut as it makes it one of the best Halloween films.

Goosebumps: “The Haunted Mask II” (1996)

“That’s no mask! That’s your face!”

Everyone is wearing masks these days, so what a fitting episode of Goosebumps to watch this Halloween! This is one of my favorite episodes along with the first one from 1995 (which was on my 2018 Halloween watch list). The scenes set in the basement of the costume shop are so creepy; something about abandoned places, especially in the dark, have always frightfully fascinated me. I used to watch the VHS of this movie every Halloween at my grandparents’ house and always hope they would do a 3rd one. Maybe someday!

Cabin Fever (2002)

“I don’t want any of us getting sick!”

Everyone is worried about coronavirus right now, so this Halloween would be the ideal time to check out this slasher in which a deadly virus is the killer. Really creepy shots of people getting infected and dying from the virus; the movie will make you a germaphobe! Interesting note that David Lynch was originally going to produce the movie but backed out during production, however Lynch’s frequent composer Angelo Badalamenti provides some of the music for the film.

Doctor Sleep (2019)

“We’re all dying. The world’s just one big hospice with fresh air.”

This sequel to The Shining was released last November nearly 40 years after the original, but it was well worth the wait! The film visually maintains the same style and tone of Kubrick’s original film while expanding upon some of its themes but without giving too much information as to ruin the mysteries surrounding the original. Like some of the other films on this list, there is a director’s cut which fleshes out scenes and characters; highly recommend it!

As a Halloween treat, here is a shot from my new spiritual horror film Sister, which should be released sometime this coming year! Happy Halloween everyone!

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Togo Igawa as Sozin

Togo Igawa is a Japanese actor who works primarily in British films and television.

In recent years, he has had roles in major motion pictures such as playing General Hasegawa in “The Last Samurai” (2003), Fred in “Revolver” (2005), Tanaka in “Memoirs of a Geisha” (2005), Mr. Suzuki in “Irish Jam” (2006), Mr. Togokahn in “Speed Racer” (2008), Yamashita in “The Night Train” (2009), Sensei Takeda in “Ninja” (2009), Ting Wang in “Johnny English Reborn” (2011), Takagawa in “Gambit” (2012), Tengu Lord in “47 Ronin” (2013), The Sadist in “Everly” (2014), Nakamura in “Breaking the Bank” (2017), Mr. Tatyama in “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” (2018), Wang Yong in “The Gentlemen” (2019) and Lau Hoi Ho in “The Host” (2020).

In television, he played Mr. Jima in the British soap opera “Gems” (1985-1986), Takeshi Fujita in “Thief Takers” (1997), Fuji in TV movie “Murphy’s Law” (2001), Misato Ichiro in “Broken News” (2005), voiced Professor Moshimo in the cartoon series “Robotboy” (2005-2008), Mr. Yamamoto in “The IT Crowd” (2006-2008), Admiral Matome Ugaki in “The Day of the Kamikaze” (2008), Hideyoshi Toyotomi in “Heroes and Villains” (2008), voiced Hiro in the “Thomas the Tank Engine” franchise (2009-2020), Dr. Takenaka in “Strike Back” (2013), Goutetsu in “Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist” (2014), Mr. Yoshida in “The Amazing World of Gumball” (2015-2019), Chulun in Netflix’s “Marco Polo” (2016), and Hotaka in “Girl/Haji” (2019). He has also done voice work for many video games.

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A Decade of Sonic

A recap of some of the memorable events of the Sonic franchise over the past ten years.

Sonic Free Riders was released -2010

Roger Craig Smith became Sonic’s English Voice Actor -2010

Sonic Colors was released -2010

Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing was released -2010

A Sonic Classic Collection was released for Nintendo DS -2010

Sonic Generations was released -2011

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 was released -2012

Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games was released -2012

Bunnie Rabbot D’Coolette from the Archie Sonic comic made a cameo on Cartoon Network’s Mad short: The Iron Giant Lady -2012

Sonic Dash was released for Android and  IOS -2013

Sonic Lost World was released -2013

Sonic and Megaman had their first comic crossover: Worlds Collide, published by Archie comics-2013

The Archie Sonic comic was rebooted -2013

A story arc based on Sonic Unleashed was adapted for the Archie Sonic comic -2013

The meme “Alone on a Friday Night” first began to surface on the internet -2013

Sonic Jump Fever was released for Android and IOS  -2014

The Sonic movie was announced -2014 

The Sonic Boom Comic Book was released by Archie Comics -2014

Mario and Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Winter Games was released -2014

Sticks the Badger made her first appearance -2014

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric was released -2014

Sonic Boom Shattered Crystal was released -2014

The Sonic Boom cartoon premiered on Cartoon Network -2014

Sonic appeared as a guest star in Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U -2014

Sonic Runners was released for Android and IOS in -2015

Sonic and Megaman had their second comic crossover: World’s Unite, published by Archie Comics -2015

Sonic dash 2: Sonic Boom was released -2015

Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice was released -2016

Mario and Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games was released -2016

The limited run comic series Sonic Mega Drive was published through Archie Comics -2016

Sonic Runner Adventure was released for Android and IOS -2017

Sonic Mania was released -2017

Sonic Forces was released -2017

The last solicits for the Archie Sonic comic were released -2017

The Archie Sonic comics were cancelled after running for over twenty years -2017

IDW announced they would be picking up the Sonic comic immediately following its cancellation -2017

IDW started their new Sonic comic run -2017

Tangle the Lemur made her first appearance in  IDW Sonic  issue four -2018

Whisper the wolf made her first appearance in IDW Sonic issue eight -2018

Rough and Tumble made their first appearance in IDW Sonic issue two -2018

Dr. Starline made his first appearance in IDW Sonic issue eleven -2018

Sonic appeared in Super Smash Bros Ultimate -2018

Sonic Mania Adventures was released on YouTube -2018

Team Sonic Racing was released -2019

Sonic and Tails made a cameo appearance on an episode of Cartoon Network’s OKKO: Let’s be Heroes -2019

The original Sonic movie trailer was released -2019

The updated Sonic trailer was released following the backlash over Sonic’s design -2019

IDW published the miniseries Tangle and Whisper -2019

The Sonic short Chao in space was released -2019 

We saw the first images of baby Sonic from the Japanese Sonic movie trailer -2019

What a great ten years, and here’s to many many more!