#Octavia Smash legends

[kiochisato]

♡　＃　𓂃　Octavia Tumblr Layouts ! ❥　.　➶　 requested by anon. enjoy ! sorry these were lazy asf ..

[techno-dragon]

SMASH LEGENDS Tribute Tracks (Volume 1) is out now!!!

Download here: https://technodragon.bandcamp.com/album/smash-legends-tribute-tracks-volume-1

[the-geek-collectives-arts]

ethereal lighting baby, solves all your problems

one final hurrah before my midterms/semester finals, wish me luck

also version with 100 epitaphs lyrics under the cut

[voxtrotteur]

1 Meilleures légendes de combattant Master Cat est une légende puissante. Il est un excellent choix pour n'importe quel mode, que ce soit le duel, la bataille royale ou le TDM. Il a de gros dégâts et charge rapidement son ultime, ce qui le classe comme le meilleur combattant de la liste des niveaux Smash Legends. De plus, comme son temps de récupération est également faible, il peut esquiver les attaques rapidement et sa portée d'attaque est également longue. Niveaux Légendes S Molly, Maître Chat, Wukong, Aoi A Jack O', Raiponce, Parfait B Zeppetta, Ravi C Nui, Peter 2 Meilleures légendes de tireur d'élite Hook est un capitaine devenu une légende cyborg. Elle n'est pas seulement une légende puissante mais aussi amusante à jouer. Elle peut transformer ses adversaires en grenouilles et possède de nombreuses capacités défensives, ce qui en fait un excellent choix pour le mode TDM. Niveaux Légendes S Hook A Robin, Gumi, Timun B Flare C Rambert 3 Meilleures légendes d'assassins Snow est un adolescent et le propriétaire d'une société géante. Il s'agit d'une nouvelle légende qui a été ajoutée plus tôt ce mois-ci. Ses compétences lui permettent d'entrer rapidement dans le combat, d'abattre des ennemis, d'infliger des dégâts massifs et de sortir de la bataille en un rien de temps. Niveaux Légendes S Neige A Rouge, Ali B Kurenai C Wolfgang 4 Meilleures légendes d'avant-garde Cindy n'est pas seulement la meilleure légende de Vanguard, elle est probablement la meilleure légende dans l'ensemble. Elle peut littéralement spammer ses compétences. Si vous savez comment la jouer et utiliser des combos, vous pouvez facilement vaincre vos adversaires. Niveaux Légendes S Cindy, Yong Yong, Maya A Kaiser B Brique C Don Quichotte 5 Meilleures légendes spécialisées Ducky & Swan est la seule légende spécialisée dans le jeu en ce moment. Elle n'est pas si forte et ses adversaires peuvent facilement esquiver ses attaques. Vous devez charger son ultime trois fois avant de passer à votre forme ultime, qui n'est pas non plus si puissante. Niveaux Légendes A Loren et Vex B Victor C Ducky&Swan 6 Meilleures légendes de support Si vous souhaitez jouer en tant que légende de support, Alice est la meilleure option actuellement disponible, d'où la place en haut de la liste des niveaux. Elle est douée pour le contrôle de la foule et de l'arène. Cependant, elle a une courbe d'apprentissage abrupte et vous devrez jouer quelques matchs avant de voir de bons résultats. Soyez donc patient. Niveaux Légendes S Alice A Goldie B Octavia C Reine des sorcières Cela conclut notre liste de niveaux Smash Legends. Si vous êtes un fan de titres similaires, découvrez les batailles royales les plus frénétiques pour Android, et bien sûr, nous proposons la même liste de jeux de bataille royale pour iOS.

[wolfysylveon]

Why are they so cute?

[shunnyrz]

EUUEHHHHHHGGEUGHHHHHHH DAMN OCTAVIA GOT ME FEELING SOME TYPE OF WAY SHE CUUUUUUUTE

[yisanged]

no home audio drama castings teehee i'll list a couple roles they've played before (a lot of these guys are pros that have voiced a lot of chars so i'll just list a few that i think will be the most recognizable to you guys) with links to clips if possible. i also found this youtube channel that compiles voice lines from all the characters that a va has played, which i will also link when available

haejoon will be voiced by 신용우/shin yongwoo! he's voiced jumin in mysmes (sorry about the clip. it was the first one i found that was just him) and milk cookie in cookie run kingdom. here are his comps: p1, p2, p3

child haejoon will be played by 김선혜/kim sunhye. had trouble finding other clips for her, but here are her comps: p1, p2, p3, p4

eunyung's va is 심규혁/sim gyuhyuk who is also the va for yoosung from mysmes and herb cookie from cookie run kingdom. his series has a lot of parts.... p1, p2, p3, p4, p5, p6, p7, p8

juwan will be voiced by 홍범기/hong bumki. i couldn't find any good/notable clips for him but he's also voiced a lot of characters: p1, p2, p3, p4, p5, p6, p7

mari will be voiced by 김하루/kim haru! there was no comp for her on the youtube channel but she voiced cherry blossom cookie in kingdom and smash legend alice's korean version (couldn't find a good clip...)

minju's voice actor will be 강시현/kang sihyeon. she also did not have a voice line compilation but she voiced latte cookie in cookie run kingdom!

hara's gonna be voiced by 김나율/kim nayul who voiced rye cookie in cookie run kingdom as well as octavia from smash legends (couldn't find a clip)

haejoon's mom will be voiced by 문선희/mun sun-hui. she voiced sea fairy cookie in kingdom. there wasn't a comp for her on the same channel as the one i've been linking so far, but i did manage to find a comp video from a different channel!

okay, i'm feeling kind of lazy and since the rest of them are all minor characters from here on out i'll just try to find comps and link those instead of looking for notable character's they've voiced and linking individual clips. sorry ^^

juwan's mom will be voiced by 안경진/ahn gyeongjin. here's a comp for her, from the same channel as haejoon's mom's

mari's aunt will be voiced by 김현심/kim hyeonsim. she actually has a series of comps from the first channel i mentioned: p1, p2, p3, p4, p5, p6

mari's brother will be voiced by 박성태/park sungtae. he has the most comps so far lmao: p1, p2, p3, p4, p5, p6, p7, p8, p9, p10, p11, p12

there was no mention of casting for mari's dad? idk

minju's mom's va is 손정아/son jungah. she also has comps from the first channel: p1 and p2. she dubbed edward elric from fma btw. sorry i just think that's funny

minju's dad will be voiced by 임채헌/I\im chaeheon. i couldn't find any clips or comps for him!!!! sorry :(

hara's mom will be voiced by 김옥경/kim okkyung. here's part 1 and part 2 of her voice line comps

hara's dad's voice actor is 이인성/lee inseoung. his voice line comps: p1, p2, p3, p4

the one teacher's gonna be voiced by 성완경/sung wankyung. here are his comps: p1, p2, p3

kim dongju will be voiced by 이경태/lee gyeongtae. his comps: p1, p2, p3. i found this youtube channel that i'm 95% sure is his. he does a lot of song covers on it!!

[she-who-fights-and-writes]

About Me!

So I’ve been running this writing advice blog since 2016 (It seems like such a long time ago holy crap!!) and I realize that I haven’t made an an “About Me” page to go along with it! 

Sure, I have my tag #maddytalks and sometimes participate in tag games, but I haven’t done an About Me page before!

So....without further ado, hello everyone!!!!! 

I’m Maddy for short and I’m a recent college student from New York who’s currently double graduate with a BA in Anthropology and Art History. I enjoy reading and writing (obviously lmao), but I’m also a big fan of hiking, art, puzzles, history, video games, and listening to music! 

I’ve been writing since third grade, and finished my first novel in fifth grade (Though that’s been shelved since it was basically a glorified PJO fanfiction lmaoooo). My current WIP that I hope to get published is Wings of Faith, a young adult fantasy novel about a one-winged angel and his ragtag band of demon friends trying to break out of Hell! 

I have Twitter, Spotify, and an art account on Instagram where I post all my artwork if you guys want to check those out!

Idk what else to say without rambling, so here are some lil’  random facts about me beneath the cut!

Where are you from?

I’m from New York, U.S., but both sides of my family moved here in the early 1900s from Italy and Sicily! My Italian heritage still plays a huge role in my life, especially when it comes to my commitment to family (and to good food!)

What made you get into writing?

My third grade teacher really liked the short stories I wrote in my little journal and encouraged me to take it up as a hobby, and had it not been for him, I probably wouldn’t be where I am today! My first published book will definitely be dedicated to him!

Any goals for the future?

My primary career goal is to become a museum curator! My bucket list also includes getting my book published and going to every one of the 62 major National Parks of the United States! (Nine down, fifty-three to go!)

Any pets?

Yes! I have a cat named Carly (after Carly from iCarly)! I used to have a bearded dragon named Gizmo, who passed at the ripe old age of 10! I’ve always wanted a dog, but I know in the end I’ll just be a cat lady for life.

Some things you’re not a fan of?

Math, ketchup, being cold, scary movies that are 90% jumpscares and no actual horror, artificial grape flavor

Astrological Sign?

I’m a July Cancer (And yes, I fit the stereotypes...oops)

Favorite Color?

Up until recently I was a hardcore Blue enthusiast, but now I think my favorite color is Green!

Favorite Food? 

My mom’s pasta with sauce. It’s a recipe that’s been passed down for generations!

Favorite Animal?

I love elephants and orcas! I’m super drawn to their intelligence. 

Honorable mentions: Red pandas, okapis, opossums, snow leopards, frogs

Favorite Book?

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo! Leigh is my favorite author of all time, and was a huge inspiration for my own writing!.

Honorable mentions: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee, Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, and The Round House by Louise Erdrich

Favorite TV show?

Game of Thrones! A little basic, I know, but I’m a sucker for hot people, medieval settings, and dragons. 

Avatar: The Last Airbender is a very close second. 

Favorite Movie?

I really like My Cousin Vinny, but Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse is close up there, too.

Favorite Video Game?

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild! I logged over 100 hours on that game, did every single possible quest there was to do, and tried to find all nine hundred korok seeds but failed miserably. I LOVED exploring the huge open world, and literally cried when I finished it. 

Honorable mentions: Cult of the Lamb, Hades, Minecraft, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Animal Crossing New Horizons, Super Smash Bros., and Darksiders I

Favorite Singer?

Hozier!!!!! I am in love with that Irish giant and can listen to all his songs on repeat for weeks at a time!! My favorite song of his is either Francesca or Cherry Wine.

Honorable mentions: Black Sabbath, Van Halen, Vundabar

Any other weird things you want to confess?

I LOVE bugs, amphibians, and reptiles!!! Idk why but whenever I’m on a hike and I see a cool bug or a nice lizard or a fat frog I just gotta pick it up.

And if you have any more questions, my ask box is always open unless otherwise stated!

[grigori77]

2020 in Movies - My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 2)

20.  ONWARD – Disney and Pixar’s best digitally animated family feature of 2020 (beating the admittedly impressive Soul to the punch) clearly has a love of fantasy roleplay games like Dungeons & Dragons, its quirky modern-day AU take populated by fantastical races and creatures seemingly tailor-made for the geek crowd … needless to say, me and many of my friends absolutely loved it.  That doesn’t mean that the classic Disney ideals of love, family and believing in yourself have been side-lined in favour of fan-service – this is as heartfelt, affecting and tearful as their previous standouts, albeit with plenty of literal magic added to the metaphorical kind.  The central premise is a clever one – once upon a time, magic was commonplace, but over the years technology came along to make life easier, so that in the present day the various races (elves, centaurs, fauns, pixies, goblins and trolls among others) get along fine without it. Then timid elf Ian Lightfoot (Tom Holland) receives a wizard’s staff for his sixteenth birthday, a bequeathed gift from his father, who died before he was born, with instructions for a spell that could bring him back to life for one whole day.  Encouraged by his brash, over-confident wannabe adventurer elder brother Barley (Chris Pratt), Ian tries it out, only for the spell to backfire, leaving them with the animated bottom half of their father and just 24 hours to find a means to restore the rest of him before time runs out.  Cue an “epic quest” … needless to say, this is another top-notch offering from the original masters of the craft, a fun, affecting and thoroughly infectious family-friendly romp with a winning sense of humour and inspired, flawless world-building.  Holland and Pratt are both fantastic, their instantly believable, ill-at-ease little/big brother chemistry effortlessly driving the story through its ingenious paces, and the ensuing emotional fireworks are hilarious and heart-breaking in equal measure, while there’s typically excellent support from Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine from Seinfeld) as Ian and Barley’s put-upon but supportive mum, Laurel, Octavia Spencer as once-mighty adventurer-turned-restaurateur “Corey” the Manticore and Mel Rodriguez (Getting On, The Last Man On Earth) as overbearing centaur cop (and Laurel’s new boyfriend) Colt Bronco.  The film marks the sophomore feature gig for Dan Scanlon, who debuted with 2013’s sequel Monsters University, and while that was enjoyable enough I ultimately found it non-essential – no such verdict can be levelled against THIS film, the writer-director delivering magnificently in all categories, while the animation team have outdone themselves in every scene, from the exquisite environments and character/creature designs to some fantastic (and frequently delightfully bonkers) set-pieces, while there’s a veritable riot of brilliant RPG in-jokes to delight geekier viewers (gelatinous cube! XD).  Massive, unadulterated fun, frequently hilarious and absolutely BURSTING with Disney’s trademark heart, this was ALMOST my animated feature of the year.  More on that later …

19.  THE GENTLEMEN – Guy Ritchie’s been having a rough time with his last few movies (The Man From UNCLE didn’t do too bad but it wasn’t exactly a hit and was largely overlooked or simply ignored, while intended franchise-starter King Arthur: Legend of the Sword was largely derided and suffered badly on release, dying a quick death financially – it’s a shame on both counts, because I really liked them), so it’s nice to see him having some proper success with his latest, even if he has basically reverted to type to do it.  Still, when his newest London gangster flick is THIS GOOD it seems churlish to quibble – this really is what he does best, bringing together a collection of colourful geezers and shaking up their status quo, then standing back and letting us enjoy the bloody, expletive-riddled results. This particularly motley crew is another winning selection, led by Matthew McConaughey as ruthlessly successful cannabis baron Mickey Pearson, who’s looking to retire from the game by selling off his massive and highly lucrative enterprise for a most tidy sum (some $400,000,000 to be precise) to up-and-coming fellow American ex-pat Matthew Berger (Succession’s Jeremy Strong, oozing sleazy charm), only for local Chinese triad Dry Eye (Crazy Rich Asians’ Henry Golding, chewing the scenery with enthusiasm) to start throwing spanners into the works with the intention of nabbing the deal for himself for a significant discount.  Needless to say Mickey’s not about to let that happen … McConaughey is ON FIRE here, the best he’s been since Dallas Buyers Club in my opinion, clearly having great fun sinking his teeth into this rich character and Ritchie’s typically sparkling, razor-witted dialogue, and he’s ably supported by a quality ensemble cast, particularly co-star Charlie Hunnam as Mickey’s ice-cold, steel-nerved right-hand-man Raymond Smith, Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery as his classy, strong-willed wife Rosalind, Colin Farrell as a wise-cracking, quietly exasperated MMA trainer and small-time hood simply known as the Coach (who gets many of the film’s best lines), and, most notably, Hugh Grant as the film’s nominal narrator, thoroughly morally bankrupt private investigator Fletcher, who consistently steals the film.  This is Guy Ritchie at his very best – a twisty rug-puller of a plot that constantly leaves you guessing, brilliantly observed and richly drawn characters you can’t help loving in spite of the fact there’s not a single hero among them, a deliciously unapologetic, politically incorrect sense of humour and a killer soundtrack.  Getting the cinematic year off to a phenomenal start, it’s EASILY Ritchie’s best film since Sherlock Holmes, and a strong call-back to the heady days of Snatch (STILL my favourite) and Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels.  Here’s hoping he’s on a roll again, eh?

18.  SPONTANEOUS – one of the year’s biggest under-the-radar surprise hits for me was one which I actually might not have caught if things had been a little more normal and ordered.  Thankfully with all the lockdown and cinematic shutdown bollocks going on, this fantastically subversive and deeply satirical indie teen comedy horror came along at the perfect time, and I completely flipped out over it.  Now those who know me know I don’t tend to gravitate towards teen cinema, but like all those other exceptions I’ve loved over the years, this one had a brilliantly compulsive hook I just couldn’t turn down – small-town high-schooler Mara (Knives Out and Netflix’ Cursed’s Katherine Langford) is your typical cool outsider kid, smart, snarky and just putting up with the scene until she can graduate and get as far away as possible … until one day in her senior year one of her classmates just inexplicably explodes. Like her peers, she’s shocked and she mourns, then starts to move on … until it happens again.  As the death toll among the senior class begins to mount, it becomes clear something weird is going on, but Mara has other things on her mind because the crisis has, for her, had an unexpected benefit – without it she wouldn’t have fallen in love with like-minded oddball new kid Dylan (Lean On Pete and Words On Bathroom Walls’ Charlie Plummer). The future’s looking bright, but only if they can both live to see it … this is a wickedly intelligent film, powered by a skilfully executed script and a wonderfully likeable young cast who consistently steer their characters around the potential cliched pitfalls of this kind of cinema, while debuting writer-director Brian Duffield (already a rising star thanks to scripts for Underwater, The Babysitter and blacklist darling Jane Got a Gun among others) show he’s got as much talent and flair for crafting truly inspired cinema as he has for thinking it up in the first place, delivering some impressively offbeat set-pieces and several neat twists you frequently don’t see coming ahead of time.  Langford and Plummer as a sassy, spicy pair who are easy to root for without ever getting cloying or sweet, while there’s glowing support from the likes of Hayley Law (Rioverdale, Altered Carbon, The New Romantic) as Mara’s best friend Tess, Piper Perabo and Transparent’s Rob Huebel as her increasingly concerned parents, and Insecure’s Yvonne Orji as Agent Rosetti, the beleaguered government employee sent to spearhead the investigation into exactly what’s happening to these kids.  Quirky, offbeat and endlessly inventive, this is one of those interesting instances where I’m glad they pushed the horror elements into the background so we could concentrate on the comedy, but more importantly these wonderfully well-realised and vital characters – there are some skilfully executed shocks, but far more deep belly laughs, and there’s bucketloads of heart to eclipse the gore.  Another winning debut from a talent I intend to watch with great interest in the future.

17.  HAMILTON – arriving just as Black Lives Matter reached fever-pitch levels, this feature presentation of the runaway Broadway musical smash-hit could not have been better timed. Shot over three nights during the show’s 2016 run with the original cast and cut together with specially created “setup shots”, it’s an immersive experience that at once puts you right in amongst the audience (at times almost a character themselves, never seen but DEFINITELY heard) but also lets you experience the action up close.  And what action – it’s an incredible show, a thoroughly fascinating piece of work that reads like something very staid and proper on paper (an all-encompassing biographical account of the life and times of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton) but, in execution, becomes something very different and EXTREMELY vital.  The execution certainly couldn’t be further from the usual period biopic fare this kind of historical subject matter usually gets (although in the face of recent high quality revisionist takes like Marie Antoinette, The Great and Tesla it’s not SO surprising), while the cast is not at all what you’d expect – with very few notable exceptions the cast is almost entirely people of colour, despite the fact that the real life individuals they’re playing were all very white indeed.  Every single one of them is also an absolute revelation – the show’s writer-composer Lin-Manuel Miranda (already riding high on the success of In the Heights) carries the central role of Hamilton with effortless charm and raw star power, Leslie Odom Jr. (Smash, Murder On the Orient Express) is duplicitously complex as his constant nemesis Aaron Burr, Christopher Jackson (In the Heights, Moana, Bull) oozes integrity and nobility as his mentor and friend George Washington, Phillipa Soo is sweet and classy as his wife Eliza while Renée Elise Goldsberry (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Jacks, Altered Carbon) is fiery and statuesque as her sister Angelica Schuyler (the one who got away), and Jonathan Groff (Mindhunter) consistently steals every scene he’s in as fiendish yet childish fan favourite King George III, but the show (and the film) ultimately belongs to veritable powerhouse Daveed Diggs (Blindspotting, The Good Lord Bird) in a spectacular duel role, starting subtly but gaining scene-stealing momentum as French Revolutionary Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette, before EXPLODING onto the stage in the second half as indomitable third American President Thomas Jefferson.  Not having seen the stage show, I was taken completely by surprise by this, revelling in its revisionist genius and offbeat, quirky hip-hop charm, spellbound by the skilful ease with which is takes the sometimes quite dull historical fact and skews it into something consistently entertaining and absorbing, transported by the catchy earworm musical numbers and thoroughly tickled by the delightfully cheeky sense of humour strung throughout (at least when I wasn’t having my heart broken by moments of raw dramatic power). Altogether it’s a pretty unique cinematic experience I wish I could have actually gotten to see on the big screen, and one I’ve consistently recommended to all my friends, even the ones who don’t usually like musicals.  As far as I’m concerned it doesn’t need a proper Les Misérables style screen adaptation – this is about as perfect a presentation as the show could possibly hope for.

16.  SPUTNIK – summer’s horror highlight (despite SERIOUSLY tough competition) was a guaranteed sleeper hit that I almost missed entirely, stumbling across the trailer one day on YouTube and getting bowled over by its potential, prompting me to hunt it down by any means necessary.  The feature debut of Russian director Egor Abramenko, this first contact sci-fi chiller is about as far from E.T. as it’s possible to get, sharing some of the same DNA as Carpenter’s The Thing but proudly carving its own path with consummate skill and definitely signalling great things to come from its brand new helmer and relative unknown screenwriters Oleg Malovichko and Andrei Zolotarev.  Oksana Akinshina (probably best known in the West for her powerful climactic cameo in The Bourne Supremacy) is the beating heart of the film as neurophysiologist Tatyana Yuryevna Klimova, brought in to aid in the investigation in the Russian wilderness circa 1983 after an orbital research mission goes horribly wrong.  One of the cosmonauts dies horribly, while the other, Konstantin (The Duelist’s Pyotr Fyodorov) seems unharmed, but it quickly becomes clear that he’s now the host for something decidedly extraterrestrial and potentially terrifying, and as Tatyana becomes more deeply embroiled in her assignment she comes to realise that her superiors, particularly mysterious Red Army project leader Colonel Semiradov (The PyraMMMid’s Fyodor Bondarchuk), have far more insidious plans for Konstantin and his new “friend” than she could ever imagine. This is about as dark, intense and nightmarish as this particular sub-genre gets, a magnificently icky body horror that slowly builds its tension as we’re gradually exposed to the various truths and the awful gravity of the situation slowly reveals itself, punctuated by skilfully executed shocks and some particularly horrifying moments when the evils inflicted by the humans in charge prove far worse than anything the alien can do, while the ridiculously talented writers have a field day pulling the rug out from under us again and again, never going for the obvious twist and keeping us guessing right to the devastating ending, while the beautifully crafted digital creature effects are nothing short of astonishing and thoroughly creepy.  Akinshina dominates the film with her unbridled grace, vulnerability and integrity, the relationship that develops between Tatyana and Konstantin (Fyodorov delivering a beautifully understated turn belying deep inner turmoil) feeling realistically earned as it goes from tentatively wary to tragically bittersweet, while Bondarchuk invests the Colonel with a nuanced air of tarnished authority and restrained brutality that made him one of my top screen villains for the year.  One of 2020’s great sleeper hits, I can’t speak of this film highly enough – it’s a genuine revelation, an instant classic for whom I’ll sing its praises for years to come, and I wish enormous future success to all the creative talents involved.

15.  THE INVISIBLE MAN – looks like third time’s a charm for Leigh Whannell, writer-director of my ALMOST horror movie of the year (more on that later) – while he’s had immense success as a horror writer over the years (co-creator of both the Saw and Insidious franchises), as a director his first two features haven’t exactly set the world alight, with debut Insidious: Chapter III garnering similar takes to the rest of the series but ultimately turning out to be a bit of a damp squib quality-wise, while his second feature Upgrade was a stone-cold masterpiece that was (rightly) EXTREMELY well received critically, but ultimately snuck in under the radar and has remained a stubbornly hidden gem since. No such problems with his third feature, though – his latest collaboration with producer Jason Blum and the insanely lucrative Blumhouse Pictures has proven a massive hit both financially AND with reviewers, and deservedly so.  Having given up on trying to create a shared cinematic universe inhabited by their classic monsters, Universal resolved to concentrate on standalones to showcase their elite properties, and their first try is a rousing success, Whannell bringing HG Wells’ dark and devious human monster smack into the 21st Century as only he can.  The result is a surprisingly subtle piece of work, much more a lethally precise exercise in cinematic sleight of hand and extraordinary acting than flashy visual effects, strictly adhering to the Blumhouse credo of maximum returns for minimum bucks as the story is stripped down to its bare essentials and allowed to play out without any unnecessary weight.  The Handmaid’s Tale’s Elizabeth Moss once again confirms what a masterful actress she is as she brings all her performing weapons to bear in the role of Cecelia “Cee” Kass, the cloistered wife of affluent but monstrously abusive optics pioneer Aidan Griffin (Netflix’ The Haunting of Hill House’s Oliver Jackson-Cohen), who escapes his clutches in the furiously tense opening sequence and goes to ground with the help of her closest childhood friend, San Francisco cop James Lanier (Leverage’s Aldis Hodge) and his teenage daughter Sydney (A Wrinkle in Time’s Storm Reid).  Two weeks later, Aidan commits suicide, leaving Cee with a fortune to start her life over (with the proviso that she’s never ruled mentally incompetent), but as she tries to find her way in the world again little things start going wrong for her, and she begins to question if there might be something insidious going on.  As her nerves start to unravel, she begins to suspect that Aidan is still alive, still very much in her life, fiendishly toying with her and her friends, but no-one can see him.  Whannell plays her paranoia up for all it’s worth, skilfully teasing out the scares so that, just like her friends, we begin to wonder if it might all be in her head after all, before a spectacular mid-movie reveal throws the switch into high gear and the true threat becomes clear.  The lion’s share of the film’s immense success must of course go to Moss – her performance is BEYOND a revelation, a blistering career best that totally powers the whole enterprise, and it goes without saying that she’s the best thing in this.  Even so, she has sterling support from Hodge and Reid, as well as Love Child’s Harriet Dyer as Cee’s estranged big sister Emily and Wonderland’s Michael Dorman as Adrian’s slimy, spineless lawyer brother Tom, and, while he doesn’t have much actual (ahem) “screen time”, Jackson-Cohen delivers a fantastically icy, subtly malevolent turn which casts a large “shadow” over the film.  This is one of my very favourite Blumhouse films, a pitch-perfect psychological chiller that keeps the tension cranked up unbearably tight and never lets go, Whannell once again displaying uncanny skill with expert jump-scares, knuckle-whitening chills and a truly astounding standout set-piece that easily goes down as one of the top action sequences of 2020. Undoubtedly the best version of Wells’ story to date, this goes a long way in repairing the damage of Universal’s abortive “Dark Universe” efforts, as well as showcasing a filmmaking master at the very height of his talents.

14.  EXTRACTION – the Coronavirus certainly has threw a massive spanner in the works of the year’s cinematic calendar – among many other casualties to the blockbuster shunt, the latest (and most long-awaited) MCU movie, Black Widow, should have opened to further record-breaking box office success at the end of spring, but instead the theatres were all closed and virtually all the heavyweights were pushed back or shelved indefinitely.  Thank God, then, for the streaming services, particularly Hulu, Amazon and Netflix, the latter of which provided a perfect movie for us to see through the key transition into the summer blockbuster season, an explosively flashy big budget action thriller ushered in by MCU alumni the Russo Brothers (who produced and co-wrote this adaptation of Ciudad, a graphic novel that Joe Russo co-created with Ande Parks and Fernando Leon Gonzalez) and barely able to contain the sheer star-power wattage of its lead, Thor himself.  Chris Hemsworth plays Tyler Rake, a former Australian SAS operative who hires out his services to an extraction operation under the command of mercenary Nik Khan (The Patience Stone’s Golshifteh Farahani), brought in to liberate Ovi Mahajan (Rudhraksh Jaiswal in his first major role), the pre-teen son of incarcerated Indian crime lord Ovi Sr. (Pankaj Tripathi), who has been abducted by Bangladeshi rival Amir Asif (Priyanshu Painyuli).  The rescue itself goes perfectly, but when the time comes for the hand-off the team is double-crossed and Tyler is left stranded in the middle of Dhaka with no choice but to keep Ovi alive as every corrupt cop and street gang in the city closes in around them.  This is the feature debut of Sam Hargrave, the latest stuntman to try his hand at directing, so he certainly knows his way around an action set-piece, and the result is a thoroughly breathless adrenaline rush of a film, bursting at the seams with spectacular fights, gun battles and car chases, dominated by a stunning sustained sequence that plays out in one long shot, guaranteed to leave jaws lying on the floor.  Not that there should be any surprise – Hargrave cut his teeth as a stunt coordinator for the Russos on Captain America: Civil War and their Avengers films.  That said, he displays strong talent for the quieter disciplines of filmmaking too, delivering quality character development and drawing out consistently noteworthy performances from his cast.  Of course, Hemsworth can do the action stuff in his sleep, but there’s a lot more to Tyler than just his muscle, the MCU veteran investing him with real wounded vulnerability and a tragic fatalism which colours every scene, while Jaiswal is exceptional throughout, showing plenty of promise for the future, and there’s strong support from Farahani and Painyuli, as well as Stranger Things’ David Harbour as world-weary retired merc Gaspard, and a particularly impressive, muscular turn from Randeep Hooda (Once Upon a Time in Mumbai) as Saju, a former Para and Ovi’s bodyguard, who’s determined to take possession of the boy himself, even if he has to go through Tyler to get him.  This is action cinema that really deserves to be seen on the big screen – I watched it twice in a week and would happily have paid for two trips to the cinema for it if I could have.  As we looked down the barrel of a summer season largely devoid of blockbuster fare, I couldn’t recommend this enough.  Thank the gods for Netflix …

13.  THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 – although it’s definitely a film that really benefitted enormously from releasing on Netflix during the various lockdowns, this was one of the blessed few I actually got to see during one of the UK’s frustratingly rare lulls when cinemas were actually OPEN.  Rather perversely it therefore became one of my favourite cinematic experiences of 2020, but then I’m just as much a fan of well-made cerebral films as I am of the big, immersive blockbuster EXPERIENCES, so this probably still would have been a standout in a normal year. Certainly if this was a purely CRITICAL list for the year this probably would have placed high in the Top Ten … Aaron Sorkin is a writer whose work I have ardently admired ever since he went from esteemed playwright to in-demand talent for both the big screen AND the small with A Few Good Men, and TTOTC7 is just another in a long line of consistently impressive, flawlessly written works rife with addictive quickfire dialogue, beautifully observed characters and rewardingly propulsive narrative storytelling (therefore resting comfortably amongst the well-respected likes of The West Wing, Charlie Wilson’s War, Moneyball and The Social Network).  It also marks his second feature as a director (after fascinating and incendiary debut Molly’s Game), and once again he’s gone for true story over fiction, tackling the still controversial subject of the infamous 1968 trial of the “ringleaders” of the infamous riots which marred Chicago’s Diplomatic National Convention five months earlier, in which thousands of hippies and college students protesting the Vietnam War clashed with police.  Spurred on by the newly-instated Presidential Administration of Richard Nixon to make some examples, hungry up-and-coming prosecutor Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is confident in his case, while the Seven – who include respected and astute student activist Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) and confrontational counterculture firebrands Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Jerry Rubin (Succession’s Jeremy Strong) – are the clear underdogs.  They’re a divided bunch (particularly Hayden and Hoffman, who never mince their words about what little regard they hold for each other), and they’re up against the combined might of the U.S. Government, while all they have on their side is pro-bono lawyer and civil rights activist William Kunstler (Mark Rylance), who’s sharp, driven and thoroughly committed to the cause but clearly massively outmatched … not to mention the fact that the judge presiding over the case is Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella), a fierce and uncompromising conservative who’s clearly 100% on the Administration’s side, and who might in fact be stark raving mad (he also frequently goes to great lengths to make it clear to all concerned that he is NOT related to Abbie).  Much as we’ve come to expect from Sorkin, this is cinema of grand ideals and strong characters, not big spectacle and hard action, and all the better for it – he’s proved time and again that he’s one of the very best creative minds in Hollywood when it comes to intelligent, thought-provoking and engrossing thinking-man’s entertainment, and this is pure par for the course, keeping us glued to the screen from the skilfully-executed whirlwind introductory montage to the powerfully cathartic climax, and every varied and brilliant scene in-between.  This is heady stuff, focusing on what’s still an extremely thorny issue made all the more urgently relevant and timely given what was (and still is) going on in American politics at the time, and everyone involved here was clearly fully committed to making the film as palpable, powerful and resonant as possible for the viewer, no matter their nationality or political inclination.  Also typical for a Sorkin film, the cast are exceptional, everyone clearly having the wildest time getting their teeth into their finely-drawn characters and that magnificent dialogue – Redmayne and Baron Cohen are compellingly complimentary intellectual antagonists given their radically different approaches and their roles’ polar opposite energies, while Rylance delivers another pitch-perfect, simply ASTOUNDING performance that once again marks him as one of the very best actors of his generation, and there are particularly meaty turns from Strong, Langella, Aquaman’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (as besieged Black Panther Bobby Seale) and a potent late appearance from Michael Keaton that sear themselves into the memory long after viewing. Altogether then, this is a phenomenal film which deserves to be seen no matter the format, a thought-provoking and undeniably IMPORTANT masterwork from a master cinematic storyteller that says as much about the world we live in now as the decidedly turbulent times it portrays …

12.  GREYHOUND – when the cinemas closed back in March, the fate of many of the major summer blockbusters we’d been looking forward to was thrown into terrible doubt. Some were pushed back to more amenable dates in the autumn or winter (which even then ultimately proved frustratingly ambitious), others knocked back a whole year to fill summer slots for 2021, but more than a few simply dropped off the radar entirely with the terrible words “postponed until further notice” stamped on them, and I lamented them all, this one in particular.  It hung in there longer than some, stubbornly holding onto its June release slot for as long as possible, but eventually it gave up the ghost too … but thanks to Apple TV+, not for long, ultimately releasing less than a month later than intended.  Thankfully the film itself was worth the fuss, a taut World War II suspense thriller that’s all killer, no filler – set during the infamous Battle of the Atlantic, it portrays the constant life-or-death struggle faced by the Allied warships assigned to escort the transport convoys as they crossed the ocean, defending their charges from German U-boats.  Adapted from C.S. Forester’s famous 1955 novel The Good Shepherd by Tom Hanks and directed by Aaron Schneider (Get Low), the narrative focuses on the crew of the escort leader, American destroyer USS Fletcher, codenamed “Greyhound”, and in particular its captain, Commander Ernest Krause (Hanks), a career sailor serving his first command.  As they cross “the Pit”, the most dangerous middle stretch of the journey where they spend days without air-cover, they find themselves shadowed by “the Wolf Pack”, a particularly cunning group of German submarines that begin to pick away at the convoy’s stragglers.  Faced with daunting odds, a dwindling supply of vital depth-charges and a ruthless, persistent enemy, Krause must make hard choices to bring his ships home safe … jumping into the thick of the action within the first ten minutes and maintaining its tension for the remainder of the trim 90-minute run, this is screen suspense par excellence, a sleek textbook example of how to craft a compelling big screen knuckle-whitener with zero fat and maximum reward, delivering a series of desperate naval scraps packed with hide-and-seek intensity, heart-in-mouth near-misses and fist-in-air cathartic payoffs by the bucket-load.  Hanks is subtly magnificent, the calm centre of the narrative storm as a supposed newcomer to this battle arena who could have been BORN for it, bringing to mind his similarly unflappable in Captain Phillips and certainly not suffering by comparison; by and large he’s the focus point, but other crew members make strong (if sometimes quite brief) impressions, particularly Stephen Graham as Krause’s reliably seasoned XO, Lt. Commander Charlie Cole, The Magnificent Seven’s Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Just Mercy’s Rob Morgan, while Elisabeth Shue does a lot with a very small part in brief flashbacks as Krause’s fiancée Evelyn. Relentless, exhilarating and thoroughly unforgettable, this was one of the true action highlights of the summer, and one hell of a war flick.  I’m so glad it made the cut for the summer …

11.  PROJECT POWER – with Marvel and DC pushing their tent-pole titles back in the face of COVID, the usual superhero antics we’ve come to expect for the summer were pretty thin on the ground in 2020, leading us to find our geeky fan thrills elsewhere. Unfortunately, pickings were frustratingly slim – Korean comic book actioner Gundala was entertaining but workmanlike, while Thor AU Mortal was underwhelming despite strong direction from Troll Hunter’s André Øvredal, and The New Mutants just got shat on by the studio and its distributors and no mistake – thank the Gods, then, for Netflix, once again riding to the rescue with this enjoyably offbeat super-thriller, which takes an intriguing central premise and really runs with it.  New designer drug Power has hit the streets of New Orleans, able to give anyone who takes it a superpower for five minutes … the only problem is, until you try it, you don’t know what your own unique talent is – for some, it could mean five minutes of invisibility, or insane levels of super-strength, but other powers can be potentially lethal, the really unlucky buggers just blowing up on the spot.  Robin (The Hate U Give’s Dominique Fishback) is a teenage Power-pusher with dreams of becoming a rap star, dealing the pills so she can help her diabetic mum; Frank Shaver (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is one of her customers, a police detective who uses his power of near invulnerability to even the playing field when supercharged crims cause a disturbance.  Their lives are turned upside down when Art (Jamie Foxx) arrives in town – he’s a seriously badass ex-soldier determined to hunt down the source of Power by any means necessary, and he’s not above tearing the Big Easy apart to do it. This is a fun, gleefully infectious rollercoaster that doesn’t take itself too seriously, revelling in the anarchic potential of its premise and crafting some suitably OTT effects-driven chaos brought to pleasingly visceral fruition by its skilfully inventive director, Ariel Schulman (Catfish, Nerve, Viral), while Mattson Tomlin (the screenwriter of the DCEU’s oft-delayed, incendiary headline act The Batman) takes the story in some very interesting directions and poses fascinating questions about what Power’s TRULY capable of.  Gordon-Levitt and Fishback are both brilliant, the latter particularly impressing in what’s sure to be a major breakthrough role for her, and the friendship their characters share is pretty adorable, while Foxx really is a force to be reckoned with, pretty chill even when he’s in deep shit but fully capable of turning into a bona fide killing machine at the flip of a switch, and there’s strong support from Westworld’s Rodrigo Santoro as Biggie, Power’s delightfully oily kingpin, Courtney B. Vance as Frank’s by-the-book superior, Captain Crane, Amy Landecker as Gardner, the morally bankrupt CIA spook responsible for the drug’s production, and Machine Gun Kelly as Newt, a Power dealer whose pyrotechnic “gift” really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  Exciting, inventive, frequently amusing and infectiously likeable, this was some of the most uncomplicated cinematic fun I had all summer.  Not bad for something which I’m sure was originally destined to become one of the season’s B-list features …

[alexsfictionaddiction]

8 Pansexual Books Everyone Should Read This Pride Month

I think the pansexual flag is probably my favourite of all of the Pride flags. It’s just so warm and happy! Pansexuality is the sexual attraction to people regardless of gender. As you may have guessed, the stripes on the flag represent attraction to those who identify as female (pink), those who identify as male (blue) and those who identify as non-binary (yellow). It differs from bisexuality in that bisexuals are typically not attracted to all genders whereas pansexuals are. Books that feature pansexual main characters aren’t very common but I’m hoping that will change over the coming years as more well-known faces are opening up about their pansexuality -Miley Cyrus, Cara Delevingne and Janelle Monae have all come out as pansexual- and as understanding of it increases. Pan writers, we need your voices! -Love, Alex x

1. Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy.

When Ari releases an old magic sword, she discovers that she is apparently the latest reincarnation of King Arthur. Together with wizard Merlin, who is aging backwards, she must embark on a quest to overthrow an oppressive government. Without a doubt, one of the most unique takes on the King Arthur legend you’ll ever read, this is an action-packed queer space romp with a wonderful cast of characters.

2. Soft on Soft by Mina Waheed.

June is a successful online make-up guru with thousands of loyal fans but in real life, her walls are the highest to climb. Enter sunshine-personified Selena. June is pansexual, Selena is demisexual, both are plus sized and this sugary sapphic romance is perfect for anyone who loves a fluffy burst of cuteness. Low on angst, high on acceptance and loveliness.

3. Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate.

When rumours of a student-teacher affair start to surface at Paloma High School, it turns out everyone has secrets and seven unlikely friends are about to come together amidst the drama. Lucas is the pansexual character and he’s so incredibly likeable. There is also an ace character and lots of cultural diversity, so pick it up if you’re looking for a great character-driven inclusive YA contemporary.

4. The Library Of The Unwritten by A. J. Hackwith.

Claire is Head Librarian at The Library of the Unwritten, a place in Hell where all of the unfinished books go but when a Hero escapes from his story, she must get him back but it triggers a terrifying power struggle between Heaven and Hell. Claire is openly pansexual and there are references to multiple other characters being queer. It’s a unique supernatural fantasy adventure that true book lovers will lap up.

5. Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler.

When a young girl loses her memory after a horrifying attempted murder, she realises that she doesn’t want for normal human needs because she is in fact an Ina -a genetically modified vampire. Sexuality as we know it is not really present in Fledgling due to the complex relationships between humans and Ina. The book challenges the rigidity of sexualities as we know them but pansexuality is the closest word that we have to describing it. This is a very unique strange sci-fi novel that has so much to say about human life.

6. Miss Meteor by Tehlor Kay Mejia and Anna-Marie McLemore.

No girl who looks like Lita or Chicky has ever won the Miss Meteor pageant so the ex-best friends decide to team up and smash the long-held standards of the pageant. Chicky is an androgynous pansexual and there is a lot in this book that deals with questioning and self-acceptance but it’s done in a light-hearted manner. It’s a fun, three-dimensional, magical realism story with wonderful characters.

7. Verona Comics by Jennifer Dugan.

Jubilee and Ridley’s parents are rival comic book store owners but when the two teens meet at a convention, they can’t help but fall for each other. Jubilee is pan and Ridley is bi and there is some discussion about the differences between the two, as well as Jubilee questioning whether she’s allowed to identify as queer because she has only dated guys. It’s a Romeo and Juliet retelling, so there is a lot of darkness, depiction of mental health issues and suicidal ideation.

8. The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.

When Rosemary joins the crew of the Wayfarer ship, she doesn’t expect much other than the chance to explore space a little but the madcap diverse crew offer so much more. It’s never explicitly stated but if you understand what pansexuality is, then you’ll recognise it in Sissix and potentially in Jenks too in his romance with Lovey. This is a wonderfully quirky, funny, character-driven sci-fi series that celebrates diversity and acceptance through a thoroughly loveable cast. 

[kiochisato]

hii!! can i request octavia from smash legends rentry graphics?

anon ...

[tamalam11]

(More) 4x01 Musings:Princess

So my brain has pretty much been The 100 24/7 since Wed. Here’s what I’m thinking about the whole “What now, Princess?” thing.

 I had whole hardheartedly been in the Princess Died With Finn camp. Going so far as to say that it symbolized who Clarke was at the time dying too; the last vestiges of that girl from the ark, the last part of Clarke's innocence, died when she killed Finn. The Princess was dead, and so was the nickname. I never thought to see it resurrected again. Here’s what I hadn’t considered: What if SHE were resurrected?? 

Time and again in 4x01 we hear people refer to Clarke as Wanheda; random grounders, Echo, Roan, even Kane. Wanheda: Commander of Death, Mountain Slayer. Legend, figure head, pawn. This is undoubtedly who Clarke had been throughout season 3. This is who the events in Mount Weather (and even Lexa) had turned her into. When Clarke went into The City of Light at the end of last season, she looked like Clarke from season 1. Becca tells her that Clarke's mind is in control; she made herself look like that. Either she sees herself as that person, or she wants to be that person again. Perhaps this is when Wanheda dies, in Clarkes mind at least. Perhaps this is when she beings to move on and overcome the stigma of that title. She emerges from the CoL refocused, reborn, slate wiped clean. But who is she now?

Smash cut to Bellamy. The last time he called her Princess was waaaaay back in season 1. “Looking at you Princess.” It was a nickname some could argue was stolen from Finn (though everyone from Murphy to Octavia have used it), but that I would say BB had made his own. So why hasn’t he called her that since? Before, I thought this was because no one ever would again. But now that he has I realize-- when did he have the chance to?? They’ve literally been separated or in high stress situations for the entire time that has passed since that last moment he called her Princess. She was in Mount Weather. Then they were looking for Finn. Then Finn was dead. Then Bellamy was in Mount Weather. Then Clarke was gone. Then they were fighting. Then they were trying to defeat Alie. None of that is really conducive to using a teasingly affectionate nickname, especially when you’re not feeling particularly affectionate or jovial.

So what changed? They did. Clarke did and Bellamy did. They grew, together and apart, and they changed and they came back together. All 4x01 Bellamy has heard people call Clarke Wanheda. This has never been who she is to him. He has only ever called her that in a mocking and sardonic way. And they’ve just spent the last how many days together, working as a team. They emerged from that Polis tower, more unified than ever. “What now Princess?” he asks. He is telling her-- THIS is who you are. This is who WE are. This is who we will always be: Bellarke, together, co-leaders. Him calling her that signifies a return to their roots, to an evolved version of their season one selves. Princess is back, and I don’t anticipate her going away anytime soon.