#This movie was like 50% battles and 50% emotional scenes

[gremlin-bard]

Hi I just finished the third Hobbit movie and I'd just like to apologize to the Thorin/Bilbo nation. I didn't see your vision for the first two movies but I get it now,,,,,,,,

Like, why did they look at each other like that?? Why were their faces so close together?? Why wasn't Bilbo able to say what Thorin was to him at first?? Why was it Bilbo's voice (in the end) that snapped Thorin out of the dragon sickness??? I am ???????????? Guys ???????????

[carnelianwings]

Went and saw Gundam Seed Freedom in theatre last night, I have so many thoughts about it (as you'd expect for a long time fan - I've been waiting for this movie ever since they announced it), there will be spoilers behind the cut, but the spoiler free highlights:

This movie is everything I ever wanted out of a Gundam Seed movie - the characters, the mecha, the OST, the cast, everything. It is as much a continuation of Cosmic Era as it is a celebration of Cosmic Era at its best, there's so much love put into this movie I can genuinely say I enjoyed every minute of it from the beginning to the end. My one and only nitpick is that they recasted Cagalli, but Mori Nanako does a fantastic job, so much so I don't have anything negative to say about her performance. (More on this behind the cut below, as I will delve into spoilers.)

Story pacing was actually really good here, in that there's no true retread/recap of both Seed and Seed Destiny. The movie assumes you've seen both, and while you could arguably get away with a cliff's notes version of Seed Destiny (even I know how much of a Base Breaker it is from watching it as it aired in Japan), if you sat through it you're rewarded between the shout outs and extra emotional impact from some of the scenes. There's a few brief clips of flashbacks to the prior series, but to me they feel like they're providing context (as you don't get to hear the characters' inner thoughts the same way you would out of a manga or a novel of the same story).

The animation just looked so good on the big screen, even the CGI used for the Gundams (like they've been doing in the newer Gundam series) looked fantastic. So smooth, no stock footage, you can tell where they made obvious homage shots to the original, but they're clearly redone for the movie. It was a feast for the eyes, in more ways than one.

The OST is fantastic, the way Sahashi wove the various melodies from songs past and present were a delight to the ears. I particularly love how he kept using various melody lines from Shizuka na Yoru ni as a way to musically reflect Lacus's journey and arc through the movie - just a line or two of the main melody, sometimes shifted into minor key, sometimes intertwined with another character's theme (usually whoever she's interacting with at that moment). There's also some glorious reprisals from both Seed and Seed Destiny, all rearranged to give it a grander, more spectacular sound to match the on-screen spectacle. Definitely one of Sahashi's best works, and I'm really happy they brought him back for it. Also, if at all possible - don't listen to the OST before seeing the movie. It will spoil key moments for the final battle, especially if you know which themes are used where.

Now, onto spoiler territory.

First and foremost, I really feel like Seed Freedom manages to redeem Seed Destiny as a whole. My biggest complaint in Seed Destiny is and always has been that Shinn's redemption happens in 5 minutes in an epilogue that was added on in an extended cut - I loved the idea and potential of Shinn as something of a Villain Protagonist early on, and even as we watched him spiral further and further into his grief and anger throughout Seed Destiny, the fact we never got to see what redemption and atonement meant for him was something of a sore point. One of the things I love is a good redemption arc, where the character learns from mistakes they made and improves themselves as a person, as an individual, and we finally get to see that here in Seed Freedom.

Shinn finally gets to do what he really wanted to when he enrolled into the academy, and under Kira's command he shines. For a character that was so heavily defined by his grief and anger for 50 episodes, he's done a 180 here, putting in the work and effort to turn his life around - we get more scenes of him smiling and eagerly working to help Kira as part of the team in COMPASS than angrily scowling or yelling at someone. He's finally found someone he can look up to and work towards being; it's clear he looks up to Kira as something of a role model, both as a goal and commanding officer, and has been rewarded accordingly as the pilot of the Immortal Justice. He's a lot calmer now, long gone are his days fighting for glory on the battlefield, he puts a priority on COMPASS's main mission of intervention and protecting civilians (so much so he'll voluntarily use Immortal Justice's shield to protect them over keeping it to defend himself). But it's not to say his past is completely forgotten or even retconned away - he gets called the Freedom Killer multiple times here (largely as a way to get at Kira too) and while Shinn never denies having been that person, his reaction shows he treats it as Old Shame, something he did but is no longer proud of.

And the true pay off to his arc comes in the end, when he gets reunited with the Destiny thanks to Cagalli upgrading it to the Spec II in the final stretch of the movie. He greets it like someone would greet an old friend, proudly and triumphantly launching this time to the fanfare of Seed Destiny's next episode preview bgm - it's hands down Shinn at his most heroic, and it's a moment he's earned. He's finally become the person he wanted to be at the beginning of Seed Destiny, before he let his grief and anger cloud his mind, before he was manipulated by Durandal. And in the end, his journey through the darkness that was his time under Durandal's command become his strength, granting him a spectacular flawless victory over the Black Knights achieved through his own skills - Stella protects him from the Black Knights' Mind Control, and his instinctual berserker Seed Mode keeps them from reading his mind to predict his moves. It's after all the trials and pain he went through that he comes out at his absolute best, and the Seed Freedom version of Shinn is hands down the best version of him.

Character development aside, it's genuinely heartwarming to see a character that was so narrowly defined by his grief and anger to be the one who brings a lot of the light and levity in what's otherwise a fairly heavy movie. Seeing him as a Big Eater during the ball at Foundation, his entire reunion with Lunamaria after she thought he'd been KIA'ed in the joint operation on the Blue Cosmos base, him getting hit by both Kira and Athrun during their brawl (with neither of them noticing ^^;;) - he's come so far since his Seed Destiny days he's (and I can't believe I'm actually saying this) one of the major highlights of the movie. And then there's his smile at the end when Kira finally relies on him and his cheerful response.

And of course, I can't talk about Shinn without mentioning Lunamaria - they've both come a long way from their days at the ZAFT military academy (if you go off the prequel novel Moonlight Valkyrie) and even from their time on board the Minerva. You can tell there's genuine love and affection between them, mutually supporting each other both on and off the battlefield, between them sharing a room onboard the Millennium and the energy transfer moment between the Impulse and Destiny. There's even a clear moment of redemption for Lunamaria's shooting skills when she shoots down a tactical nuke in her Gelgoog. And while she's definitely not one of the main focus characters in the movie, she still gets her moment of triumph, launching in the Impulse once more after Shinn's Destiny. Even though she's relegated to the Designated Chick Fight, it's a moment of personal triumph for her - she's grown as a person since her academy days, her time on the Minerva and with Shinn and Rey has changed her, and she's a better person for it. Even her time pursuing Athrun (even though he doesn't return her affection at all) comes back as a Meaningful Echo in how she ultimately deals with Agnes. Instead of choosing to kill Agnes in her GYAN, Lunamaria does something of a "pay it forward", disabling the GYAN and returning to pick her up from the moon after the fighting is over. Like Shinn, it's clear Lunamaria's in a better place than she was during the finale of Seed Destiny, and she also gets to join in on some of the lighter moments of the movie next to Shinn.

Onto Kira (because I'm saving my favorites for last), who is most definitely the main focus of the movie, along with Lacus and his relationship with her. Is his story arc a rehash of Seed? In many ways yes, and in so many ways, no. On a surface level, sure - we once again have Kira trying to shoulder the entire burden of the team on himself, of trying to do everything without relying on anyone else, of pushing himself to his limits, and as icing on the retread cake, we're even treated to a CV Kuwashima Houko girl (Agnes) trying to get his attention and affections. And that's about where it ends, because Agnes' motivations are vastly different from Flay's, Kira's circumstances this time around are entirely different from when he was in Seed - this is more about Kira realizing he really doesn't have to shoulder everything by himself, that even if Lacus is a non-combatant, she's there to walk next to him side by side, that Lacus's love for him is completely different from Flay's (initial) love for him. For Kira, it's The Power of Love while also echoing Seed's earlier themes of how easy it is to fall into old habits and make the same mistakes again. It's about Kira finally breaking past his remaining trauma with his relationship with Flay - he finally realizes that Lacus wants to be with him for him, that she never expected him to hand her everything she wanted on a silver platter, that she's willing and ready to work and walk with him to their final goal and destination, wherever that may take them. His relationship with Lacus was never a transactional one like it was with Flay - even if Flay genuinely grew to love Kira in the end, her true feelings for him never managed to reach him before she dies. And in the end, once he realizes what he has with Lacus, once he gets a chance to talk to her and clear the air, he's rewarded with a shiny new upgrade to the Strike Freedom, Lacus voluntarily joining him in the battlefield, and of course, that ending on the beach.

As for the whole "Is Kira Yamato a failure because he was a failed Accord or just Orphee insisting that he is superior to even Coordinators as an Accord" debate, ultimately it doesn't matter (at least in terms of Kira's arc - on a meta level, yes I absolutely want to know lol). He's got the one thing Orphee will never have (Lacus's love) and with that behind him he can overcome anything.

Honestly, if this is where we end Kira's story, where he gets to go off into the sunset with Lacus, to live quietly in the middle of nowhere (or even return to Marshall Islands to stay with Reverend Malchio) where he doesn't have to fight anymore, where he can just spend his days with Lacus until there's some world-ending reason to step back into the cockpit, I'm good with that. Kira never wanted to be a mobile suit pilot to begin with, he only ever did it to defend the people he cares about, and if this is where we part ways with him, because in learning to rely on other people, he also realizes he can hand things off to Cagalli, Athrun, and Shinn (and by extension, Lunamaria), I'm good with that. (I'll get to Cagalli and Athrun after Lacus, I want to save my favorites for last lol)

Lacus always came off as a little too perfect, a little too good with her words, and with a Seed Mode that ... didn't activate like your traditional Seed Mode (for one thing, she never gets the Seed burst animation on screen when she goes into it; she almost always monologues her way in). And I have to say it was satisfying to see that crack some more this time around, where her decisions are a bit more questionable, where she's finally having to deal with some of the consequences of her actions (and by extension Kira's as he answers to her and only her within COMPASS). But ultimately in the end, she's still the same Lacus as ever - Silk Hiding (nerves of) Steel, steadfast in her love and support for Kira, something that nothing can change, not even meeting her genetically destined partner in Orphee. And yes, while even she gets in on the action this time, quite literally delivering the Proud Defender to Strike Freedom to upgrade it into the Mighty Strike Freedom, I don't really have much to say about her.

I will say this though (because it gets very indirectly touched on by Athrun) - if Lacus hadn't fallen in love with Kira, and had continued with her engagement to Athrun as set up by their parents, would she have gone with Orphee? Would that alone have changed events enough so that Athrun might've been conveniently KIA'ed so Orphee would've been able to sweep in?

Now, onto my personal favorites (and complete show stealers this time around): Athrun and Cagalli.

Where do I even begin? Athrun being a Big Damn Hero for Kira not once, but twice? Cagalli taking over Lacus's role for being Crazy Prepared, Bearer of (Gundam) Gifts this time around?? The complete insanity that is the Z'Gok hiding the Infinite Justice Type II??? The (remote) Battle Couple fight????

Cagalli's just pure Crazy Prepared this time. She's learned from the painful lessons of the past 4 years, ensuring there's a plan in place to get her people to safety, immediately issuing evacuation orders for the civilians to avoid direct orbital laser bombardment from Requiem. She's made peace with the fact that sometimes, you really do just need to hop into a Gundam to get shit done, so she's seen to it that the Gundams for the top COMPASS pilots are available should they ever need it. She's the one who came up with COMPASS in the first place, providing some much-needed legitimacy for what Kira and Lacus want to do. She's also very clearly been training with Athrun for mobile suit training - where she once Could Not Keep Up, she's able to seamlessly pilot the Infinite Justice Mark II remotely, a less advanced unit than Shura's Shi-ve.A, without Shura ever realizing it was someone else piloting it. She's back as the Goddess of Victory, now older and wiser and all the better for it.

For all that she hardly showed up on screen, her presence was felt everywhere, most especially whenever Athrun's on screen. Really, I wouldn't even be surprised if the next time we see Orb get threatened by Orbital (Laser) Bombardment, she tells her people to get inside to safety before turning on a shield to protect the cities and then taking the field again.

And as for Athrun - it makes sense he didn't join COMPASS, even though the fact he has a custom COMPASS pilot suit and the Immortal Justice was clearly designed with him in mind. He's found his place in Orb, staying by Cagalli's side as her personal knight. He's even got his own custom suit with the Z'Gok-hiding-the-Infinite-Justice-Mark-II - he's got everything he could ask for while still being able to do his part to maintain peace. And in a double redemption moment - Athrun's the first one to throw the punch this time when Kira starts wallowing in his self doubt and lets his insecurities get the better of him, repaying the favor Kira did back in Seed Destiny when he, well, Saviour'ed the Saviour. Athrun's the one to remind Kira that as a close friend of Lacus's that her actions this time don't sound like the Lacus that he knows, and this time (unlike when he did something similar with Shinn) it works and gets Kira back on track. Poor Shinn - he thinks Athrun's about to do the same thing to Kira that Athrun did to him during his time on the Minerva, but while Shinn's not entirely wrong, he's also misreading the room a bit, not realizing this is a "They're really good friends, and sometimes they just gotta throw some punches to work shit out" moment.

Because in overcoming everything that happened in Seed Destiny, Athrun and Cagalli have finally grown into the people they both want to be. They've found their way, fighting for what they both believe in. Their time apart in Seed Destiny forced them both grow as individuals, so that when we get to see them working together again it's in perfect sync. In so many ways, Athrun and Cagalli (and not Kira and Lacus) are the ideal the Cosmic Era wants to push - two people working together side by side, regardless of genetics, as partners and equals. The dream of Coordinators and Naturals, living and working side by side in harmony - that's them. And ultimately, it is what they do that brings the heroes victory and lets everyone fly off into the (metaphorical) sunset together. They played the long gambit - creating COMPASS (giving Shinn and Lunamaria a means to atone for the things they did, giving Lacus and Kira a legitimate way to stop skirmishes), upgrading the Gundams, being there for their friends and allies when they needed it (Athrun literally knocking sense back into Kira, Cagalli coming in with the equipment upgrades) - all while keeping their priorities in order (first the civilians, then reequipping allies, and then finally going into combat together to take down Shura), and it all pays off in the end.

Really, is it any wonder, then, when Shura tries to read Athrun's mind in the final battle he's just thinking of hot (naked) Cagalli?

[hobbitwrangler]

LOTR Ask Game

Thank you @emyn-arnens for tagging me in this! <3

How old were you when you were first introduced to LOTR?

I was about eight when my father read The Hobbit to me and my brother. I watched the lotr movies at about the same time and then read the books when I was ten. I was a goner from the minute Gandalf went off on his 'good morning' rant, it was irretrievable from there.

Favorite LOTR character?

This is ridiculously hard. Gandalf wins because he is one of the first characters that I ever identified with (can you tell I was a crabby child?) and is one of my favourite characters ever, but Éowyn, Faramir, Théoden, Gimli and Boromir come in real close. Also I am ridiculously attached to pretty much every character from these books, even minor ones.

Books or movies?

I refuse to choose. Each has different things that I love about them and they sort of meld together to form their own 'canon' in my head.

Which location in Middle Earth would you want to visit?

Uh, just the one? Definitely the Lonely Mountain because I've wanted to go since first reading The Hobbit but also Rivendell, Minas Tirith, the Grey Havens, Edoras and, of course, Dol Amroth (seaside holiday!).

Favorite movie?

It changes by the month. Currently it's The Two Towers because it's when Éowyn, Théoden and Éomer are introduced. Also Helm's Deep always makes me feel about 50 emotions in the pit of my stomach. Saruman's speech about the doom of men still makes me feel so much fear and dread and then Théoden's monologue ... I can't. (Also the scene of Théoden stalking after Gríma down the stairs of Meduseld is one of my favourite in the movies.)

Favorite scene?

In the books any scene with Galadriel and Gimli in it, Éowyn demanding to go with Aragorn, Éowyn and Faramir's kiss on the walls (aka the reason I believe in love), the conversation with Saruman after the Battle of Helm's Deep and the scene where the Three Hunters meet Gandalf again.

In the movies it's Gandalf's reassurance to Frodo in Moria, Aragorn's coronation scene, any scene with Éowyn and Théoden in it, Arwen challenging the Nazgûl and Gandalf having the time of his life at Bilbo's birthday party.

Favorite quote?

One which has been engrained in my psyche ever since I was a kid is: 'All your words are but to say: you are a woman, and your part is in the house. But when the men have died in battle and honour, you have leave to be burned in the house, for the men will need it no more. But I am of the House of Eorl and not a serving-woman. I can ride and wield blade, and I do not fear eitehr pain or death.'

The anger and hopelessness at the unfairness in this line has never left me.

What Middle Earth race would you want to be?

Much as I love the Shire, I think being a hobbit would be just slightly too much like the neighbourhood I grew up in. I'm also not cut out to be an elf and being a dwarf is out of the question because I'm claustrophobic and hate caves. I do think I'd make a half-decent Maia, however. I'd either get to hang out working for one of the Valar (preferably Ulmo but I'm not picky) or I'd get sent to Middle Earth to meddle in other people's business and shriek into the wind when they don't listen to me. Which is what I do in life anyways so 🤷 Also I could totally see myself going down either the Gandalf, Saruman or Radagast route depending, so this seems to be the race that would fit me the best.

Favorite LOTR ship?

Farawyn. They were so powerful they had a child who could not care less about romance absolutely enthralled. I still haven't recovered.

I've lost track of everyone who's been tagged in this so apologies @swanmaids @imakemywings @mithrandirl @sotwk if you've been tagged already and if anyone else hasn't, this is your chance to say you were tagged and share!

[shibuyashotos]

Kamen Rider Agito

I talked about this a little bit ago on my Twitter, but I figured I'd talk about it here as well.

It was about three or four months ago that I'd managed to get my girlfriend (shock horror, I have a girlfriend) to watch Shin Kamen Rider, one of the coolest toku films i've ever seen. She loved it, she laughed at minor details like the cyclone motorcycle following Takeshi Hongo and Ruriko Midorikawa, even took a great liking to the Scorpion Aug character and cried at certain scenes.

On the 13th of September, we decided to start watching a Kamen Rider show together, which turned out to be the second entry for Kamen Rider's Heisei Era: Kamen Rider Agito.

Kamen Rider Agito was actually a lot of fun to watch and it was worth seeing her get emotionally invested into the story of amnesiac Shouichi Tsugami and his recurring battles with creatures dubbed as "Unknowns" by the police as well as the ongoing mystery of who Tsugami was in the past and how those past events shape the present day.

As of recently, we just finished Kamen Rider Agito, though we still need to go and watch the movie associated with the series as well. She was tearing up through episode 50 as the plot was reaching its emotional climax.

Right now she's joining me on my journey through the original Kamen Rider series and we're making our way through Kamen Rider Ryuki. We also plan to go through other shows like Kamen Rider Amazon, Kamen Rider Kiva and Kamen Rider W at some point.

[namjhyun]

DRAMA REVIEW | SHŌGUN (2024)

Fans of period dramas, full of intrigues and political chess plays will find SHOGUN to be their cup of tea. This is an incredible story set in the change of eras which compounds the bushido culture and the arrival of western sailors to the shores of feudal Japan.

Shogun is based on a best selling novel, that fictionalizes real events about the rise of a Samurai Lord to becoming Shogun and the start of what we all know as the Edo Period. Around the end of the 1500s, the portuguese and spanish had arrived to Japan and the Peloponnese, establishing a treated that divided the region in ways that their countries could benefit from the commerce but also create colonies and spread their religion. Rumours about these lands spread among sailors for the next 50 years or so, and finally in the 1600s ships from other monarchies, such as Britain arrived in the region.

At the same time, years earlier there was a time of inner fights and civil war among the japanese. During this time, many peasants were able to socially clime in ranks thanks to their leadership as samurai and eventually became Lords. These new nobility has a hierarchy among them, of course, related to the lands they had won in battle, people and their family's history.

The story of Shogun starts during a period of peace among these Samurai Lords... or so it would seem.

One particular character, a british sailor, is supposed to be the audience placement in the story. As he is introduced and learns about japanese culture, the audience learns about it and what game the Samurai Lords are playing among themselves as the fight for power over the realm.

Legendary japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada is listed as actor and producer in this tv show. His first time, according to interviews, having a role and say behind the scenes and I have to say he has done an incredible job. This might be an american production but Sanada insisted, as producer, on having an almost all japanese crew and the end result is a 10 episode tv show where each episodes feels like watching a movie. The attention to detail from the cinematography, lighting, sets, locations, the fabrics and designs of the clothing, and performances are simply superb.

Sanada also took it upon himself to teach the younger actors how to speak the japanese from the period the story is set at, something none of them had done before. In western culture this would be equivalent of teaching Shakespeare's english. Maybe you don't know japanese and it doesn't matter to you, plenty of the audience members watching this tv show won't even know this, but I think it adds another layer to the level of commitment everyone involved in this production had when filming Shogun.

The performances are outstanding. Everyone brings their best game and the acting is very subtle, each of actor manages to deliver the strongest emotions through micro-expressions and even silence, a difficult feat when you think this is a story mainly about the art of appearances. Where everyone is holding their cards very close to their chest, so you never know what they are capable of and what will they do next.

Actors like Asano Tadanobu, Hira Takehiro, Nishioka Tokuma and Abbe Shinnosuke are incredible to watch on the screen. Their performances will leave you wanting more. But the true gems of this story are a women: Anna Sawai, Hoshi Moeka, Kouri Yuuka and Nikaido Fumi hold their own against veteran actors and play them like fiddles. They standout as Samurai women, trained in the arts of war and court alike, and play key roles into the events that develop through the ten episodes of the series. The weakest link, acting wise, is Cosmos Jarvis. I am sorry to say I have no cluewhy he was casted. His performance leaves much to be desired, like his character, and since the tv show was renew for two more seasons I am hoping he does better in the future.

This is also a slow burn, goes hand in hand with the nature of the story being told and the performances. Big things do happen in each episode but the tv show slowly builds up to the last two, that's when things really implode/explode and makes a shift to get you ready for the next season.

For all these and so much more that I can't tell you without spoiling the series, you should watch Shogun.

[otakween]

Digimon Adventure 02 (Blind Watch) - Episode 50

Eh...I really didn't need a "babies ever after" ending for this story. This episode honestly felt kind of lazy to me, which is a shame. It didn't hit me in the feels like season 1 did and the animation looked pretty rough at times. I can excuse choppy animation mid-season, but for the finale?

Oh well. It was neat to see the time skip designs even though they're kinda bad lol. Now how much of this is gonna get retconned...

Digimon introduced: Pipimon

Notes:

-This episode honestly flew by. It felt like they wrapped up the final boss battle in 2 seconds, which I was actually relieved by. I wanted to get to the juicy epilogue part.

-I appreciated the call back to the international digi-destined. It was nice that they got to contribute again (also makes kids in the audience feel like they could be part of this)

-All of the kids joining together and the glowing lights gave me real Avengers: Endgame vibes lol (people act like the Avengers scene was so special but it's clearly been done in a lot of stuff).

-They went from "you don't need a digimon to be special" to "everybody gets a digimon!!" which felt kinda awkward. Sooo many questions about the "everyone gets a partner now" concept. Is it just kids? What if you don't want a partner? Do they mostly hang out in the digital world or just follow you everywhere? etc.

-Imperialdramon used an attack called "Giga death" which definitely doesn't sound like a good guy attack lol. (Unsurprisingly they changed this in the dub).

-Tailmon finally gets her ring back which I guess means no more jogress evolution. Do they give up some kind of evolution at the end of every season?

-It kind of bugged me when they were like "that world you were in was a world where your emotions are manifested into reality...actually the digital world does that too...and the dark world." Huh? So there's no difference between the worlds then? (At least not according to THAT explanation!)

-Oikawa's partner's name is Pipimon...PIPIMON. Imagine being minutes from death and the last thing you see is Pipimon lol. I can't.

-Most of the jobs the kids ended up with felt like they were foreshadowed except for Daisuke and Yamato. They lampshaded the fact that Daisuke's dream to become a ramen shop owner came out of nowhere but Yamato as an astronaut!? When has he ever shown the slightest interest in science? Ah well...people change

-So Takeru was narrating the show all along. I actually kind of like his adult look, but that mullet is awful...

-The children's designs are...fine, but some of them are WAY too identical to their parents. It also really bugs me that they all have the same digimon partners as their parents. What, are digimon partners hereditary or something??

-So Ken and Miyako are married but...everyone else? They didn't say! So I guess that's the only in-group partnership? While I was trying to process things I kinda thought Yamato and Taichi were a gay couple for a second there. (Just kidding, I double checked and Yamato and Sora are together too).

Digimon Adventure 02 was...fine. A fine C+/B- anime. I felt very few strong emotions to this season or its characters, but it was a fun ride. I definitely feel like the first season had a little more oomph to it, but I wouldn't say it was much better. This season was just a teensy step down. Onto the movies!

[cinemapremi]

Salaar Box Office Record: Prabhas's Movie Makes History, Beats Shah Rukh Khan's Jawan

Prabhas's latest movie, Salaar, has taken the box office by storm, surpassing even Shah Rukh Khan's Jawan. Let's dive into the incredible success story of Salaar and how it became the biggest opener of 2023. Salaar Review: Game of Thrones Vibes? Why ‘Salaar’ is Prabhas’s Blockbuster Return! Salaar Movie Review and Release LIVE Updates: Box Office Collection Expected To Cross Rs 50 crore on 1st Day!

Sensational Opening

Salaar didn't just break records; it shattered them. The movie earned a whopping Rs 95 crore on its very first day, leaving behind the previous record-holder, Shah Rukh Khan's Jawan, which made Rs 75 crore.

Southern Success

The movie's dominance is evident in the south, where it collected almost 75% of its earnings. Salaar emerged victorious in a tough battle with Shah Rukh Khan's Dunki.

Regional Triumph

Breaking it down, Salaar made Rs 70 crore in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Rs 12 crore in Karnataka, Rs 5 crore in Kerala, and an additional Rs 8 crore in the Hindi circuit. https://twitter.com/KChiruTweets/status/1738395118640767049 photo credit: https://twitter.com/KChiruTweets?ref_src=twsrctfwtwcamptweetembedtwterm1738395118640767049twgrbde4114be11d9acc0e2dbff69a1d2a8e9b9a3ba5twcons1_&ref_url=httpswww.latestly.comsociallyentertainmentsouthsalaar-mints-rs-95-crore-in-india-on-the-opening-day-chiranjeevi-congratulates-prabhas-prashanth-neel-on-the-films-box-office-success-5647044.html

Bollywood Giants Left Behind

Salaar's victory isn't limited to the south; it outperformed big Bollywood releases like Pathaan, Animal, and Gadar 2, claiming the top spot.

Star-Studded Cast

Aside from Prabhas, Salaar Part 1: Ceasefire features Prithviraj Sukumaran, Shruti Haasan, and Jagapathi Babu, adding to the film's appeal. https://twitter.com/htshowbiz/status/1738420327527674092 photo credit: https://twitter.com/htshowbiz?ref_src=twsrctfwtwcamptweetembedtwterm1738233365588070769twgrbde4114be11d9acc0e2dbff69a1d2a8e9b9a3ba5twcons1_&ref_url=httpswww.latestly.comsociallyentertainmentsouthsalaar-mints-rs-95-crore-in-india-on-the-opening-day-chiranjeevi-congratulates-prabhas-prashanth-neel-on-the-films-box-office-success-5647044.html

Director's Touch

Directed by Prashanth Neel, known for KGF, Salaar promises a gripping tale of friendship with unprecedented action sequences that resonate with audiences.

Certification and Duration

The movie's intense action scenes led to an 'Adults Only' certification, and with a runtime of almost 3 hours, Salaar offers a substantial cinematic experience.

Government Backing

Before its release, the Telangana government supported Salaar by allowing late-night shows and permitting price hikes in certain theaters, contributing to its grand opening.

Global Acclaim

Experts hail Salaar's global success, labeling it the biggest worldwide opening of 2023, surpassing early estimates and heading towards the Rs 175 crore mark. https://twitter.com/ManobalaV/status/1738412629042012336 photo credit: https://twitter.com/ManobalaV?ref_src=twsrctfwtwcamptweetembedtwterm1738233315889664169twgr73d026ccdf9a0c14fc8d8835d50609f10f9fc11atwcons1_&ref_url=httpswww.businesstoday.intrendingbox-officestorysalaar-box-office-collection-day-1-prabhas-film-becomes-the-biggest-opener-of-2023-at-rs-95-cr-outshines-srks-pathaan-jawan-dunki-410606-2023-12-23

Story Overview

Set in the fictional city of Khansaar, Salaar revolves around two friends, Deva and Vardha, played by Prabhas and Prithviraj Sukumaran, and their journey from friendship to arch-rivalry.

Unique Selling Point (USP)

The heart of Salaar lies in the emotion between two friends, exploring how this emotion transforms into violence, offering a unique and compelling narrative.

International Impact

Salaar's impact extends beyond Indian borders, securing the second spot in the top 5 premieres gross for Indian movies in the USA and North America.

Director's Record

For director Prashanth Neel, Salaar's success adds another feather to his cap, following the impressive box office performance of the KGF films.

Comparison with Previous Releases

Comparing Salaar's opening with Prabhas's previous releases, it marks a significant comeback, surpassing the box office numbers of Adipurush and Radhe Shyam.

Two-Part Release

Salaar will be presented in two parts, with 'Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire' already creating waves. The second part, 'Shouryaanga Parvam,' is eagerly anticipated by fans. In conclusion, Salaar's extraordinary opening and widespread acclaim signify not just a movie but a cinematic phenomenon. Its success redefines the box office landscape, showcasing the power of compelling storytelling and stellar performances. Q1: What made Salaar's opening so massive? Salaar's success can be credited to Prabhas's star power, its regional appeal, and a gripping storyline that resonated with audiences. Q2: How does Salaar compare to other Bollywood releases in 2023? Salaar outshines big Bollywood releases like Pathaan, Animal, Gadar 2, and Dunki, establishing itself as the biggest opener of the year. Q3: What role did government support play in Salaar's opening? The Telangana government's support, allowing late-night shows and price hikes, created a favorable environment for Salaar's grand opening. Q4: What makes Salaar's story unique? Salaar stands out for exploring friendship turning into rivalry, coupled with intense action scenes, making it a unique and compelling cinematic experience. Q5: What's next for Salaar? Following its groundbreaking opening, Salaar's second part, 'Shouryaanga Parvam,' is highly anticipated, promising a continuation of the gripping narrative. Also Checkout. Read the full article

[doopcafe]

Rogue One: Battle of Scarif 

Summary: A 50-minute fan edit of Star Wars: Rogue One. 

Comments: This is the first fan edit I’ve ever watched. It focuses on just the Battle of Scarif and the lead up to it, rearranging and recutting scenes to build tension and drive events. John Williams’ score from the OT is added atop it, which goes far in making it feel like Star Wars. I actually felt something while watching this. I think it's called emotions.

However, there are limits to what an editor can accomplish in a fan edit. The "movie" suffers understandably from the limited source material: the editor can only rearrange and cut existing clips but cannot produce new content. There are scenes that desperately need to happen that just... don’t... because they were never filmed. None of the characters have proper introductions because using the original material for this purpose would have been out of place and awkward. This “movie” only works if you’ve seen the theatrical release, and it relies on the original movie doing most of its legwork.

None of that is a knock against the editing or composition itself—all of which I think are skillfully and intelligently done. That said, I’d recommend this to anyone who really just wants to re-watch the battle scenes of Rogue One, without having to sit through Jynn Erso make the grumpy cat face or old dudes squabble over who gets credit for the Death Star. 

Actual Rating: n/a

My Enjoyment: 4/5 

No re-watch value. 

[omahatonki]

League spear girl

LEAGUE SPEAR GIRL PROFESSIONAL

When BuzzFeed writer Alanna Bennett wrote about the scene for its 25th anniversary, screenwriter Lowell Ganz told her via email that, “It did bother us that in order to be historically accurate, we could not have a diverse cast. You can watch the scene below for yourself - it might be only 15 seconds of screen time, but it packs an emotional wallop. The woman does so, but instead of throwing it to Dottie near first base, she whips it to the further-away Ellen Sue (Freddie Simpson), a throw so hard that it leaves Ellen Sue’s hand stinging. However, there is a scene that acknowledges the injustice of excluding women of color from the league: Midway through the film, during a montage highlighting the Rockford Peaches’ growing success as a team, a wild ball lands to the sidelines of the field, and Dottie (Davis) calls for one of the Black women standing nearby to throw it back. The main cast of the film is all white, a reflection of the fact that like men’s baseball of the early 1940s, the AAGPBL was segregated. As a period film, set nearly 50 years before its making, the details on screen are remarkably on point - though there’s one scene that highlights one of the least pleasant aspects of its era. The film became a modern classic for so many reasons: the powerful direction by Penny Marshall, an all-star cast that also includes Tom Hanks, Rosie O’Donnell, Madonna, Jon Lovitz, and David Strathairn, and iconic catchphrases like “There’s no crying in baseball!”, which endure in the public consciousness today.

LEAGUE SPEAR GIRL PROFESSIONAL

Based on the true story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, founded during World War II when most able-bodied men (including ball players) were fighting overseas, A League of Their Own featured two fictional sisters ( Geena Davis and Lori Petty) battling over their own issues during the inaugural season of women’s professional baseball. Thirty years ago, one of the greatest sports movies ever made was released in theaters. But it is a sad one - though maybe, just maybe, the ending hasn’t been written yet. Unlike a good Agatha Christie page-turner, it’s not that dramatic. Continued abuse of our services will cause your IP address to be blocked indefinitely.The post A League of Their Own: The Mysterious Identity of the Black Woman Who Throws Back the Ball appeared first on Consequence. Please fill out the CAPTCHA below and then click the button to indicate that you agree to these terms. If you wish to be unblocked, you must agree that you will take immediate steps to rectify this issue. If you do not understand what is causing this behavior, please contact us here. If you promise to stop (by clicking the Agree button below), we'll unblock your connection for now, but we will immediately re-block it if we detect additional bad behavior. Overusing our search engine with a very large number of searches in a very short amount of time.Using a badly configured (or badly written) browser add-on for blocking content.Running a "scraper" or "downloader" program that either does not identify itself or uses fake headers to elude detection.Using a script or add-on that scans GameFAQs for box and screen images (such as an emulator front-end), while overloading our search engine.There is no official GameFAQs app, and we do not support nor have any contact with the makers of these unofficial apps. Continued use of these apps may cause your IP to be blocked indefinitely. This triggers our anti-spambot measures, which are designed to stop automated systems from flooding the site with traffic. Some unofficial phone apps appear to be using GameFAQs as a back-end, but they do not behave like a real web browser does.Using GameFAQs regularly with these browsers can cause temporary and even permanent IP blocks due to these additional requests. If you are using Maxthon or Brave as a browser, or have installed the Ghostery add-on, you should know that these programs send extra traffic to our servers for every page on the site that you browse.The most common causes of this issue are: Your IP address has been temporarily blocked due to a large number of HTTP requests.

[leonardcohenofficial]

here’s the NYtimes interview with alan alda reflecting on the fiftieth anniversary of M*A*S*H (text below the cut)!!

By Saul Austerlitz Published Sept. 16, 2022 Updated Sept. 17, 2022, 1:10 p.m. ET

When we think of the default mode of much of contemporary television — mingling the tragic and the offhand, broad comedy and pinpoint sentiment — we are thinking of a precise mixture of styles, emotions and textures first alchemized by “M*A*S*H.”

Created by Larry Gelbart and Gene Reynolds, “M*A*S*H” aired on CBS from 1972 to 1983. (It is currently available to stream on Hulu.) Over the course of its 11-year run, it featured alcohol-fueled high jinks and other shenanigans alongside graphic surgical sequences and portrayals of grief, blending comedy and drama in a fashion rarely seen before on television. Set among the doctors and nurses of a Korean War mobile surgical unit, “M*A*S*H” made use of the mockumentary episode decades before “The Office” ever tried it, featured blood-drenched story lines long before “The Sopranos” and killed off beloved characters without warning well before “Game of Thrones.”

The “M*A*S*H” series finale, titled “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen,” remains the most-watched non-Super Bowl program ever broadcast on American TV. The heart of the series was Alan Alda, who played the acerbic and devoted surgeon Hawkeye Pierce throughout the show’s more than 250 episodes and also wrote and directed dozens of them.

The actor revisited “M*A*S*H” in a video interview ahead of the show’s 50th anniversary, on Sept. 17. Alda, 86, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2015, discussed famous scenes, the series’s battles with CBS (“They didn’t even want us to show blood at the beginning”) and why he thinks the audience connected so deeply with “M*A*S*H.” These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

How have you been feeling?

Good, thank you. You mean with regard to Parkinson’s or the Covid or what?

All of the above, I suppose.

Parkinson’s I’m on top of. And I haven’t come down with Covid yet.

What does it mean to you to know that people are still interested in “M*A*S*H” 50 years later?

I got the script submitted to me when I was making a movie in the Utah State Prison. And it was the best script I had seen since I’d been in prison. I called my wife and I said: “This is a terrific script, but I don’t see how I can do it. Because we live in New Jersey, and it has to be shot in L.A. And who knows? It could run a whole year.” To go from that to 50 years later, it’s still getting, not only attention but it’s still getting an audience, is a surprise.

What kinds of conversations did you have with Larry Gelbart before the show began?

With “All in the Family,” I think the door was open to doing stories about things that really mattered. So when I got out of prison and went down to L.A. to talk to them, the night before we started rehearsing the pilot, I wanted us all to agree that we wouldn’t just have high jinks at the front. That it would take seriously what these people were going through. The wounded, the dead. You can’t just say it’s all a party. And we talked until about 1 in the morning at a coffee shop in Beverly Hills.

Do you feel there was a shift over the first season away from the booze-fueled humor of the early episodes?

Yeah, there was. Partly because people who were submitting story lines thought that that’s what was wanted. Larry Gelbart rewrote most of the shows the first season. Midway through the first season, there was a show called “Sometimes You Hear the Bullet,” and that was a real turning point. Because in that show, a friend of Hawkeye’s shows up among the wounded, and he dies on the operating table. That’s the moment where McLean Stevenson [as Lt. Col. Henry Blake] says: “There’s two rules in war: Young men die, and then Rule 2 is there’s nothing you can do about it.” Something like that. [The exact quote: “There are certain rules about a war. And rule No. 1 is young men die. And rule No. 2 is, doctors can’t change rule No. 1.”]

The network was furious about this. Some guy in charge of programming said, “What is this, a situation tragedy?” Soon after that, we were getting more popular. And the more popular you get, the less they complain.

Was CBS also concerned about the language used to tell these stories?

The most striking example to me was early in the series. Radar [Gary Burghoff] is explaining to somebody that he’s unfamiliar with something. And he said, “I’m a virgin at that, sir.” With no sexual context. It was just that he’d never done something before. And the CBS censor said: “You can’t say the word ‘virgin.’ That’s forbidden.” So the next week, Gelbart wrote a little scene that had nothing to do with anything. A patient is being carried through on a stretcher. And I say, “Where you from, son?” And he says, “The Virgin Islands, sir.”

Early in the show’s run, Gelbart and Reynolds went to South Korea and recorded 22 hours of interviews with doctors, nurses, pilots and orderlies there. How did those interviews make their way into story lines for the show?

We had reams of transcripts of those conversations. I would go through them looking for ideas for stories. And I could see that the other writers were doing the same thing, because there’d be circles around sentences and words. Sometimes one little phrase would spark the imagination of one of us, and that phrase could turn into a story.

Larry and Gene went to Korea at the end of the second season, and they got a lot of material for stories. But they had also found that we had, by paying attention to the lives that they lived, we had made up stories that were very similar to things that had actually happened.

People may not remember that you directed 32 episodes of “M*A*S*H” and wrote 19 episodes. How did you start getting interested in writing and directing?

At the end of the first season, I wrote a show called “The Longjohn Flap.” I borrowed the idea of “La Ronde,” but made it long johns instead because it was reflective of what their lives were like in the cold. I had been trying to learn writing since I was 8 years old. I wanted to be a writer before I wanted to be an actor.

Were there story lines that you thought “M*A*S*H” hadn’t quite tackled yet that you wanted to bring into the world of the show as a writer and director?

When I wrote, I tried to find out a little bit more about each of the characters. Who is Klinger [Jamie Farr] really? What was underneath — I almost said, what was underneath the dresses. [Laughs.] What was underneath the wearing of the dresses? Who was Margaret [Loretta Swit]?

I see on the internet that people assumed that because I was politically active, trying to get the Equal Rights Amendment passed, that in my writing I was trying to make political points, too. And I wasn’t. I really don’t like writing that passes as entertainment when it’s really propaganda. I want to hear a human story.

The unexpected death of Colonel Blake (McLean Stevenson) in the Season 3 finale, “Abyssinia, Henry,” remains one of the biggest surprises in television history. What was it like to shoot that sequence?

Gelbart showed me the scene. I think [it was] the morning of the shoot. I knew, but nobody else knew. He wanted to get everybody’s first-time reactions. And it really affected Gary Burghoff on camera. I think everybody was grateful for the shock.

It shocked the audience, too. I had a letter from a man who complained that he had to console his 10-year-old son who was sobbing. But it was one of the ways for the adults in the audience to realize that another aspect of war is that things happen that you don’t expect.

Was there ever a point when you got tired of fighting the Korean War on TV? The old joke is the show lasted almost four times as long as the actual war.

Around a year before we finally ended it, I felt we were getting toward the end of our ability to be fresh every week. I started suggesting that we do a final movie-length episode that really could end it. First of all, we were getting too old to play these people. And after you tell stories about a group of people 250 times, it’s hard not to repeat yourself or say things that sound like they’re supposed to be funny but aren’t really.

What did it mean to you to have Hawkeye leave Korea scarred by the death of a child in the final episode?

You just described exactly what I wanted to do with all the characters on the show. I was looking for stories, each in a different way, that showed how everybody left the war with a wound of some kind. Everybody had something taken from them. And Hawkeye was just one of them.

Earlier in your career, you had been on another great military comedy, “The Phil Silvers Show,” also known as “Sergeant Bilko.” What did you learn about acting from your pre-“M*A*S*H” TV work?

The first thing I learned on the “Bilko” show was you have to know your lines before you go in for the day’s work. I had come from the stage, where I would learn my lines during rehearsal. And the first thing they did is say, “OK, you’re up for your phone conversation,” where it’s a page of dialogue. It was an eye-opening experience. [Laughs.] I staggered through that.

Why do you think the audience connected so deeply with “M*A*S*H”?

Aside from really good writing and good acting and good directing, the element that really sinks in with an audience is that, as frivolous as some of the stories are, underneath it is an awareness that real people lived through these experiences, and that we tried to respect what they went through. I think that seeps into the unconscious of the audience.

They didn’t even want us to show blood at the beginning. In the pilot, the operating room was lit by a red light, so you couldn’t tell what was blood and what wasn’t. Which, once we got picked up, was ditched.

And giving us a feel for the circumstances that the real people had to go through, so that you could see that the crazy behavior wasn’t just to be funny. It was a way of separating yourself for a moment from the nastiness.

You can’t get as harsh as it really was.

Correction: Sept. 16, 2022 An earlier version of this article described in error the viewership statistics for the series finale of “M*A*S*H.” It was the most-watched non-Super Bowl program ever broadcast on American television, in terms of total audience, not the highest-rated non-Super Bowl program. A rating refers to the percentage of TV households that watch a program. The “M*A*S*H” finale remains the highest-rated program, of any kind, ever broadcast on American television.

[digitalgate02]

I decided to make some comments on the new movie's rough sketches for Daisuke's outfits. I'm still in love with them 😭💙

Okay so, the first think i noticed on them is the hoodie under the jacket has a stamp! Is that a "V" as in for "V-mon"?! I'm guessing the color of the hoodie will be blue with details in yellow, very V-mon-like. Also this is the first time since 02 ep 50 where i see Daisuke wearing pants. Every material in 02 featured him wearing shorts, even in the winter season (but a bit more longer than the spring & summer outfits), and seems to be those jogging pants? Is he jogging now? The jacket is interesting, because i'm not sure if it has sleeves or not. Maybe colored would help. But i see some details there! It has some details closer to his outfit in the New York battle scene in Kizuna. But also seems to get new cool details! It has pockets! I love pockets!! I guess this confirms Daisuke is still wearing those sunglasses and the goggles are still with Taichi (? maybe), and i like this in that way because it helps to separate 02 Daisuke era with Kizuna Daisuke era aside of him having now two different VAs -- Kiuchi & Katayama, respectively.

Oh gosh, am I right about my suspicions of the movie taking place around the time Daisuke started his business!? Well, it could also mean it's a part-time job too. My boy is working now, i'm emotional!! The outfit seems a bit different from the one he wears at the credits/ending scenes in Kizuna. But the shirt's sleeves are a bit bigger than there. So, perhaps it's a new uniform?? He got a bandana now!! Wow, I was so happy seeing he will be wearing another headgear aside his sunglasses. I hope it includes a "V" on it if this is outfit is related to his ramen business. I want to color those to see if i can guess some color palettes but... I'm too excited to see them finished!! I hope those are not scrapped design, because it would be great having them in the movie...!! Thank you for reading!!

[mitiass]

“the untamed” acting ranking

I’ve been a “Mo dao zu shi” fan for a while now but only recently I’ve finished watching “The Untamed”. The show has brought me lots of fun and I genuinely enjoyed watching it. I tend to find the ‘asian style of acting’ more cringey at the times (like yk for example those Indian dramas...) but I was positively shocked with how good the acting is in “The Untamed” so I’ve decided to praise my favourites online.

Disclaimer: English is not my first language; I’m not a professional nor do I have any experience with acting (except for middle school theatre club but yeah...); the ranking contains spoilers; this is only my opinion and I’ll be more than happy to see you sharing your rankings!

1. Jin Guangyao played by Zhu Zanjin

I think that many people would agree with this one. He made it hard for others to beat him when it comes to acting. Not only did he have a hard role but also he managed to make a support role into one of the most eye-catching characters. He made an incredible job with all the facial expressions. Especially I loved the moments when he acted angry/sad but then immediately turned back into smiling (off topic but he has a gorgeous smile). The smile itself was also very special, it showed how much his character was rather mysterious and suspicious than genuine and kind. Many times I caught myself taken aback by all the gestures and movements that reflected Jin Guangyao’s personality perfectly. The last episodes when we got to know more about Mengyao’s intrigues and his past were more than a pleasure to watch. Basically Zhu Zanjin carried the show even though the character he played wasn’t the main one. (pls i can’t shut up about how good Zanjin’s acting was)

2. Wei Wuxian played by Xiao Zhan

He would’ve been on the first place if not for Zhu Zanjin. Of course he had been picked for a main role for a reason. He had lots of hard scenes to play. Some of them were more aggressive, some more moving, touching and some funny. He gave in all of those scenes his all and it shows. Although some of his scenes I found ‘cringey’ he did an amazing job capturing Wei Wuxian’s personality, style of being and facial expressions. I fell in love with his mischievous smiles, smirks and chuckles. Just as perfectly as he gave away Wei Wuxian’s funny side he also acted just on the point in more serious moments. I’m not the type to cry while watching movies, TV series or anime but some of the touching, moving moments made my vision go blur. The scene on Burial Mounds when he couldn’t do anything when Wen Qing, Wen Ning and the rest of still alive Wen sect were giving themselves away to other cultivators made me cry a lil’ bit. Xiao managed to make all the scenes move me deeply. Sometimes I felt heartbroken, sometimes pissed off, sometimes I laughed so hard i couldn’t catch a breath and sometimes his acting made me feel warm. Xiao Zhan really deserved the main role. Not only his amazing and helpful skills as an actor (like memorising his lines very fast) but also the fact that he managed to evoke so many emotions in me whitin those 50 episodes, are the cause why “The Untamed” is such a high quality TV series.

3. Xue Yang played by Wang Haoxuan

Wang Haoxuan played one of the darker characters and he did it perfectly. Xue Yang himself is also a very well-written character. After we get to know his backstory, even though we hate him for all the things he’s done we cannot decide whether to still despise him or pity him instead. He’s just that type of a villain. But now, about the acting, there’s the similar situation like with Jin Guangyao. I just fell in love with the facial expressions and body language. Xue Yang’s evil smirks, posture and gestures just scream ‘menace behaviour!’. I totally fell in love with Haoxuan’s acting during the ‘blind girl arc’, especially that one scene when Xue Yang cried after Xiao Xingchen’s death even though he was long-life enemies with Xingchen and Song Lan. It is quite common in many books, series, movies, etc. that villains are better written characters personality and backstory-wise than some of the main protagonists and “The Untamed” isn’t an exception (maybe except for wei wuxian:]]).

4. Jiang Cheng played by Wang Zhuocheng

Even though I found Zhuocheng’s acting rather awkward quite often I still placed him on the 4th place because he really deserves it. I think that Jiang Cheng is one of the hardest characters to play with all his strong facial expressions and bold, effective movements. Zhuocheng captured Wanyin’s temperament perfectly and countenance was mostly just on point although sometimes a little bit too much. Also Jiang Cheng had quite a lot emotional scenes with lots of crying involved and he did and amazing job going through them. For example one of my favourite scenes of all(!!) was this one when they were kind of held hostage by Jin Guangyao and Su She and they talked about Wei Wuxian giving his golden core to Jiang Cheng. I was entirely moved when Wuxian brushed away Jiang Cheng’s tears.

Special mention: Lan Wangji played by Wang Yibo

Of course I wouldn’t ignore Yibo’s acting, it’s just, I couldn’t place him anywhere in this ranking since his acting is quite special. He had to play more of a gentle and peaceful character while others had a lot of strong facial expressions and sudden movements. Wang Yibo had a hard job since he had to act more with some subtle body language. Also he had a lot of fighting scenes which are really difficult to act since battling with a blade is not so common these days. He did an amazing job and in my opinion he just fits perfectly to the role of our beloved Lan Zhan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So there are the actors who really moved my soul and mind while I was watching “The Untamed”. Of course all the actors did a great job and I don’t want to forget about my ladies Wen Qing and Jiang Yanli and also about other characters like Lan Xichen, Nie Huaisang, Jin Ling, Lan Sizhui or Jin Zixuan who also had their moments of glory. I would be able to talk about everyone’s acting skills for hours and hours but the post would be just too long to go through it in one go. I really had a great time enjoying mdzs content and I hope you had too! :]]

[ninjago-bingo]

final month recap

wow, everyone.  we’re here.  we’ve made it.  we’re reached the end of our bingo time, and i’m absolutely floored by the sheer creative output that i’ve seen over these last four months.  everyone, take a moment to give yourself a pat on the back!!!  no matter if you made 1 piece or 10, there’s now a work of art out there in the world that wasn’t there before.  and truly, that’s super heccing rad no matter how you look at it.

so let’s celebrate!  for this recap, we have a total of 20 new pieces, bringing the total amount of ninbingo pieces up to 50.  in the span of four months, this little event has created 50 individual works (five of them in the last day!)  holy cow ya’ll.

i’m putting out this recap now, but don’t worry, it’s not the end yet!  any submissions made to the end of the 30th still count and this post will be updated accordingly :D

fic:

all the things i’ve never done by @sa-you-na-ra. tumblr || prompts: competition and teasing

It’s always a funny thing when the ninja realize new things about each other. Even though living with each other meant they had to see each other all day, there were still small habits or actions that amused the others.

(mod comments: all these little interactions made me smile so much :D looking forward to the rest!)

error 404: answer not found by @m-aster-of-spinjitzu. tumblr || prompt: memories

Akita and Zane talk after the battle in ‘Awakenings’. The conversation… doesn’t go as either of them expect.

(mod comments: the nuances in this fic are fantastic!  also Akita is always a win :D)

Five times kai was a good brother by @/master-of-fluff. tumblr || ao3 || prompts: nightmare and brother

I'm writing kai centric stuff again.

(mod comments: kai IS the big bro of the team!!! i support him all the way!!)

How Garmadon became a chauffeur by @master-of-fluff. tumblr || ao3 || prompt: driving

"um...Kai? Don't you think we should go Slower?" Garmadon asked nervously trying not to panick as they raced down the road at what had to be over the speed limit.

(mod comments: who let Kai drive?  no but honestly this is canon alskdfj)

little things by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: hugs and crying.

"Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things." -Kurt Vonnegut

Lloyd’s tired of being left behind. How is he meant to be the green ninja when he always has to work harder, train better, and wait longer to go on missions with his team? He wants nothing more than to be their equal.

At least, that’s what he thought he wanted.

(mod comments: a post-ep-18 resolution scene?  SIGN ME UP!)

Neither Snow Nor Rain by @fangirltakesall. tumblr || ffn.net || prompt: post-fight

After their return from the Never Realm and all its troubles, Zane is quiet and Nya is incredibly worried. A call to action to a peculiar sort of battle might be enough to change both of those things.

(mod comments: the concept of these two on their own mission together is just so good! excited to see how their dynamic plays out!!)

Never Put Off Until Tomorrow by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: video games and chores

…what can be done today, yada, yada, yada, we all know the saying. So do the ninja- when Master Wu is drilling it into their heads every minute of every day, it’s kind of hard to forget.

Naturally, it only takes them a week (and the biggest new video game in Ninjago) to do so.

(mod comments: this is so in character that it’s frustrating lol.  also Pixal ftw!!)

oh take me back to the start by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: comfort and 3 am

The past should be left in the past. Or, at least, that’s what Jay keeps telling himself. Nadakhan is gone. It’s not logical to still be afraid. But he is, and now everything that he left behind suddenly feels like it’s never going to be the same again.

Cole isn’t so convinced.

(mod comments: Cole is truly the man we all deserve in our lives.)

On Our Own by @redefine-your-identity. tumblr || prompt: home

It’s been a few weeks since Kai and Nya’s parents disappeared without a trace. Needless to say, they’re struggling.

(mod comments: OU C H no poor babies 😭 the relationship dynamic here is great!)

orange and gold by @/m-aster-of-spinjitzu. tumblr || prompt: cooking

...I just need more Cole and Vania content, they seem like they'd be great friends.

Basically it's just 'Cole goes to visit her there, they almost burn down the kitchen, and make way too many puns', lol.

(mod comments: I also always need more Vania content!! the puns in this were breadful!)

permafrost by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: loss of control and promise

It’s not like this is the first time this has happened. It’s not like none of his teammates have ever suffered this kind of guilt and pain. It’s not like Zane himself hasn’t walked through hell before and come out the other side (mostly) in once piece.

Except, this time, it is. It shouldn’t be different, but it is.

(mod comments: super sweet moment between two ninja who deserve more interaction like seriously!!)

Precautionary Tale by @/fangirltakesall. tumblr || ffn.net || prompt: protective

Fighting is different now, and Zane doesn't know why. Yes, he is titanium now, but why should that change anything? It seems to be changing everything, although is all really as it seems?

(mod comments: a great start to a zane-centric fic!  interested to see where it goes next :D)

Star-Ninja! by @rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: siblings and competition 

What happens when the loveable gremlin the ninja adopted off of the streets introduces them to Starfarer comics?

Chaos ensues, of course.

stuck with you (through bright and blue) by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompt: protective

Kai only wants two things: to protect Lloyd, and to give him the best birthday ever. Unfortunately, Lloyd seems hell-bent on making that as difficult as possible. Kai’s always prided himself on achieving the impossible, but dealing with human emotions is much more complicated than beating up Garmadon’s generals or shooting enemies with fire, as he quickly learns. Movie!verse

(mod comments: happy birthday lloyd!! look at him getting the love he deserves uwu)

Take a walk in the rain. by @/master-of-fluff. tumblr || ao3 || prompt: rain

Cole had always loved the rain, the way it smelled, the way it felt on his skin, and especially the mud! Whenever it rained his Mother would put on his rain coat and boots And they'd both go out and splash around in the puddles and make mud cakes and do all sorts of things.

(mod comments: this fic made me smile a lot :D loved the way it was arranged!) 

the hues of an empty sky by @/m-aster-of-spinjitzu. tumblr || prompt: crying

Missing memories, or having two of them for one moment - not quite the same, but if there’s one thing Jay’s leant over the last few weeks, it’s that literally nothing makes sense anymore.

Or, some Skybound aftermath, Zane actually expressing emotions about his memory switch being turned off for all those years, and what was supposed to be a ‘they tell everyone about the erased timeline’ fic, but it turned into a 'two characters who barely interact on screen talk at like one am in the morning, and don’t actually tell the other what exactly they’re alluding to the whole time’ fic that I wrote at like one am-

(mod comments: Skybound resolution? SIGN ME THE HECK UP YES)

The Make-Cole-Realize-How-Much-We-Love-Him Competition by @21st-century-ninja. tumblr || ao3 || prompts: bets and competition

Jay and Kai share a horrified look.  “He really doesn’t get it,” Jay says.

Kai shakes his head.  “We need to show him somehow.”

“Show me what?” Cole asks, exasperated again.  

“How much we love you!” Kai exclaims.  “Somehow, it’s not getting through your thick skull that we want to sit next to you because you’re you, so I’m gonna have to just prove it to you.”

(mod comments: a silly little movie fic!)

twitter was a mistake by @/21st-century-ninja. tumblr || ao3 || prompts: teasing and birthday

Kai 🔥 @flaminhotninja ☑

so who was gonna tell me that Jay used to be a game show host huh

🌺✨ the Gift of Jay ✨🌺 @zaptrap ☑

Replying to @flaminhotninja

NO WHO SHOWED YOU

(mod comments: twitter was a mistake)

two halves of a broken whole by @/rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: scars and post-fight

The Sons of Garmadon have been defeated. Garmadon is in prison. The city has been saved.

In the aftermath of the battle, Nya is more than ready to take a much-needed break. But the life of a ninja is messy. Recovery is never that simple. Although the wounds may have healed, the scars still remain.

Zane’s scars seem to match up, though. And maybe together, they can begin to heal.

(mod comments: aggressive care is my jam, and this is it!)

wait by @rosiehunterwolf. tumblr || ao3 || ffn.net || prompts: home and memories

Lloyd’s not so great at being patient. It’s not his fault though- maybe he would be better at it if waiting didn’t always end up being so disappointing- if people actually kept their promises. But this time’s going to be different, he knows it. His father will come back for him. And Lloyd’s going to wait.

As long as it takes.

(mod comments: baby.  baby boy.  baby.  protecc him plz.)

[nutty1005]

Uniquely Him – Xiao Zhan: The biggest monster to defeat is himself

Translator’s Note: This article comes from ELLE Magazine 2019 Jan Issue.

He learned drawing since elementary school, drawing planets and monsters were his obsession, firmly believing in the existence of aliens. As a lively, vivid and exemplary person, he radiates a sense of security from someone dependable, and yet he has a worldly wisdom of one who knows the ways of the world but prefers not to practice it. 

He learned drawing since young, drawing planets and monsters were his obsession. When he watched Martians in movies as a child, his wild imagination gave him a battle with monsters. At that time, he was a boy who was especially fascinated with space, and believed firmly that aliens existed. When he saw news on UFOs, he was excited, curious, but also afraid – would the aliens be friendly with us?

After he read “The Three-Body Problem”, this feeling grew stronger. While exclaiming the broadness of the author’s imagination and how grand the universe is, he researched on the theories and explanations in the novel, as well as on astronomy. Xiao Zhan also imagined how the subjects in “The Three-Body Problem” would look like, “looks like an engineer, perhaps he wears spectacles, he must have a highly progressed mind, great mechanical skills, but probably useless in everyday life, just like Sheldon in ‘The Big Bang Theory’.”

The cruel logic behind all the glitz

Seated in front of the window in the hotel room, his long narrow eyes, puffy and red, Xiao Zhan just finished a day’s filming, and was accepting our interview in a layer of thick winter coat. His attitude was polite, and all around him was the vividness of youth – this made a huge impression.

He had his own studio when he was in year 2 of university, and became a designer after graduating – exemplary student Xiao Zhan’s most glorious moment was being able to design logos in projects with his seniors while he was still an intern, and the client eventually chose his design. Life as a designer lasted until 2015 – his university teacher recommended him to participate in “X-Fire” (TN: A talent search variety show) and he debuted, and since then, his life went onto a different track, becoming one of the hottest idols currently.

Actually, the challenge of becoming an artist is not much different from fighting monsters – since you receive flowers and applause, you would also receive gossip and rumors. His life had been smooth sailing till this, and this confused him for a while, “When the competition ended, there was some dissenting voices, I didn’t quite understand then. Now I’m more at peace, because when you choose a career, you need to learn to accept it. People will like you, and there will be people who won’t.”

However, the cruel logic behind all the glitz was something he could not have imagined. “Audiences do not see what you’ve experienced along the way, they would only judge you based on the final results.” He was filming his first period movie, being outdoors in the mountains at -10°C+ was a daily norm, “We’re filming by the river, everyday we could see the ice slowly form up, today the river is totally frozen, we could walk on it. Basically after every scene I have to cover my face with a warm water bag, otherwise my face would be numb from the cold and become uncontrollable.” And because today there was a scene to scream and shout, Xiao Zhan’s voice was already hoarse.

Xiao Zhan could overcome all this suffering and exhaustion well, the biggest monster he wanted to fight were his self imposed restrictions. “Just now I was thinking while doing make-up, that actually celebrities are like a product, packaged by make-up and styles in order to polish this product. I will bring forth my best to my audiences, but yet I don’t want to over package myself, the real me needs to be in it. I wish that everyone, while accepting my glorious exterior as a celebrity, would also accept my flaws and quirks, since after all, I am a vivid person.”

This sincerity and clarity is where Xiao Zhan’s wisdom lies.

“There is no grandiose in my life”

2018 is the year of rapid growth for Xiao Zhan, he had main roles in various dramas, such as “The Wolf”, “Joy of Life”, “The Untamed”, etc – honing his acting and radiating his presence.

As the lead actor in “The Untamed”, Xiao Zhan’s load was heavy and his filming schedule was tight – filming under the ceaseless summer heat in Hengdian, his mind was always tense. The temperatures in the set was as high as 50°C, the make-up could not stay on, and he filmed most scenes barefaced. The most unforgettable scene was a crying scene – Wei Wuxian, portrayed by Xiao Zhan, had an explosive emotional scene after the massacre of the Jiang family. This scene started filming in the morning, he and Jiang Yanli started crying since 7 a.m. and after they were done, their eyes were as swollen as that of goldfishes. Before this, he was filming “The Wolf” – he systematically took performance classes and grew rapidly in during the filming. “Familiar set and environment, learning to adjust to the nerves and tension, especially since there were hundreds of people servicing you on set, you can do no mistakes.” Xiao Zhan radiates this sense of security from someone dependable. “The Wolf” was his first time as a main supporting role, and he was under tremendous pressure during that period, he often dreamed of acting on set. After every scene he would request for everyone to provide feedback, and then he would learn continuously, analyze and quickly adjust.

After that he had his first cat of his life, a munchkin named Jianguo (TN: Jianguo means nut). After the performance teacher learned about this, one of the homework he gave Xiao Zhan was for him to observe his cat. As a cat-lover, he reveled in the it, “I found out some things that I overlooked, like you will find out that when she’s angry, affectionate or hungry her expression and calls are different.” Xiao Zhan was exceptionally loving to his cat – the first thing he did when after a day’s work was to go home and play with his cat. His private life was quiet and simple, he just stays at home. “The feeling of staying at home is like falling into a cloud, you could roll around as you like, there is no pressure.”

“There is no grandiose in my life.” This was what he felt that gave people the sense of security. His parents, while supportive of his career, were also worried, hence Xiao Zhan often communicated with them, sharing his career successes, helping them be at ease.

In the whole conversation, Xiao Zhan had the purity and enthusiasm belonging uniquely to a youth, and there was this sense of extraordinary realness in him. “Whether or not I want to be an idol, I don’t actually have a choice, the label of an idol is already on me, just that I want to slowly shed off the label of an idol, and become an actor accepted by audiences, so that they can see more of my inner self.”

“I especially dislike public proclamations, you have to pace your life.”

ELLE: What type of boyfriend do you think you are? XZ: I am the boyfriend who is more considerate of the other person, if there were to be my other half in the future, when she’s busy, upset or happy, or wants me to do something, I’ll try to accompany her the way she likes it.

ELLE: Are you the gentle puppy type of boyfriend? XZ: There’s definitely a dominating side, but if you were to be dominating everyday, how do you live? When you have the other half, the most important things are responsibility and trust. (After having a cat, do you think you’re a good dad?) I feel yes, from taking care of my cat.

ELLE: What type of girls do you most want to date? XZ: In many interviews before I spoke about warm, gentle and family-loving girls, but I feel that it still comes down to chemistry, and this is something unpredictable.

ELLE: If you are currently dating a girl, how would you hope to spend Valentine’s Day? XZ: Stay at home, and cook together. There’s a phrase about when you love the right person, every day’s Valentine’s Day, why do you have to spend that day in the crowd with everyone. Being an artist is quite particular, and quite tiring, I have to go back to live my life. If everyday has to be vigorous and stirring, there’s no way to live. No one can act everyday, I especially dislike public proclamations, I feel that you have to pace your life.

ELLE: If we give you a holiday now, what would you do? XZ: Go home and rest, with my parents, and then play with my cat.

ELLE: Are you a typical Libra? XZ: I don’t think so, I don’t have difficulties in choosing, when I spot something I want to buy, I’ll just buy. But sometimes I’ll be stuck in things that I care about, for example the scene I did today, if I’m not satisfied with it, I will think about it from morning till night, and annoy the others around me with my nagging.

[lovely-v]

LOTR (films) Review

So I finally watched the LOTR films (20 years later). I’m super excited to review these because I read the books very recently so I feel at least a little prepared to voice some opinions. Overall I loved the films, here’s a very long (but by no means exhaustive) compilation of my thoughts, which are of course, totally subjective:

(Warning: a lot of me saying “well, actually, in the book...”)

THINGS I LIKED

- Casting! not much to say here, I thought the casting was great. One of my favorite actors that I didn’t think i’d have a huge opinion on was David Wenham as Faramir. I was kinda ambivalent on him when I saw pictures but i thought he did a great job. he showed his quality.

- Music. so much has been said about the films on the music front. I can’t offer too much original insight but when a bit of the Shire theme started to play as Frodo tries to make his way up Mount Doom I cried a little.

- Boromir and Aragorn. I liked the scene where they interact a little in Rivendell. I also like how Aragorn saves Boromir in the Moria battle and gives him this little nod of friendship. I think the films did a great job portraying the dynamic they have where Aragorn is clearly suspicious of Boromir’s motivations but grows to respect him to the point where he doesn’t even blame Boromir for being corrupted by the ring because he understands that, at heart, Boromir is a good person. 

- Sam and Frodo in Osgiliath. I expected to be kind of annoyed with the way this plot point played out (I knew ahead of time that it strayed from the book), but I actually liked it a lot. As I’ll say later, there’s some gripes I have with the way the films extremely play up the disagreements between Frodo and Sam, but I loved the scene where Frodo pulls the sword on Sam and then seems so defeated when he realizes what he’s done. I was pleasantly surprised by how emotional this scene made me. It’s admittedly A Lot, but it was done nicely, especially in conjunction with Sam’s “there’s good in this world” speech.

- Treatment of the ending. I almost think I should dislike the ending as it is in the movies, but my heart is soft and I like that they sugarcoated it a bit. I know the whole point of the Scouring of the Shire and Frodo’s depression conveys a lot about war and trauma and I think that is important, but after watching these things for twelve hours I just wanted Frodo & co. to be happy and I was kinda relieved that they cut the Scouring. Does that make me weak and perhaps bad at film analysis? yes. do I care? no. I was also very glad that the movies didn’t portray how depressed Sam was about losing Frodo in the end. Yes, he cries, but when he walks home to his family he seems happy and in the books that scene came off so much bleaker. I definitely liked the lighter tone.

THINGS I WAS NEUTRAL ON/DIDN’T LIKE

- Arwen. (Neutral) I don’t hate her, I don’t love her. I think the story she and Aragorn have is compelling and I 100% get why the filmmakers decided to add it to give her character more depth, but it felt misplaced at times. maybe it’s just because it was the only storyline I didn’t know in depth, but the scenes with the Arwen/Aragorn flashbacks felt a bit confusing and disorienting. Don’t have anything against Arwen as a character though, I think she’s pretty alright.

- Gimli. (Complicated thoughts) I want to start off by saying I don’t dislike Gimli. I like him a lot! I just think the movies did him a bit dirty. He had some good movie-exclusive moments, but I think his character really fell into this place of being the butt of too many jokes. Would have liked to see some more serious Gimli development, especially with his relationship to Legolas. Their friendship felt too much like subtext here, whereas it’s explored far more in the books.

- Two Towers Pacing. (Didn’t really like). The pacing of TTT was...weird. maybe I’m going into this with a closed mind because of the books, but it was odd to have the movie begin with Frodo and Sam and then have them only appear for a few rapid scenes after that. I think the fact that a WHOLE LOT of what happens to Frodo and Sam in TTT is moved to RotK is what makes it feel that way? In the books, Two Towers ends with Sam discovering that Frodo isn’t dead from Shelob’s sting, and I was surprised by how long it took the movies to get to that part. However, I will give the films a little leeway because I think they needed Frodo & Sam content for RotK, since most of what happens in that book is them walking through Mordor basically starving and dying. Doesn’t make for great cinema I guess, so they had to put the whole Shelob/Cirith Ungol saga into the final film. Still, I think there’s a weird lack of Frodo and Sam’s presence in TTT.

- The go home/missing bread arc. (Full of rage abt this one) yeah. so. my criticism of this is gonna sound pretty tired because people complain and complain about this part of RotK. but I’m gonna complain some more!! I don’t think the split between Frodo and Sam does anything for the plot. I really don’t. I guess it emphasizes the fact that Sam doesn’t understand how much Frodo is projecting onto Gollum, but it’s just. unnecessary angst? They had enough angst in the Osgiliath scene! Which I actually liked! And it simply doesn’t make a lot of sense for Frodo to suspect Sam of eating the bread when Sam had already offered Frodo his own food and made it clear that he would very much starve if it meant making sure Frodo could eat. But what I hate most about this scene is not that Frodo gets mad and tells Sam to go home. No. It’s that Sam actually... thinks about doing that? he actually? goes down the staircase? emotionally this is bad because Sam clearly cared enough about Frodo to follow him this far, to nearly drown for him, so why would he leave now. Practically this is bad because 1. how would Sam get out of Mordor alone and 2. where would he go. He turns around almost immediately, yes, but what was his plan. where was he going. why.

THINGS I LOVED

- For Frodo! This line, and every other shoutout to Frodo. In the books, they didn’t really actively talk about/worry about Frodo (and Sam) as much as they do in the movies. I like that they talk about Frodo more in the movies! I like that they’re thinking about him! I know it was implied that they were in the books, but I really like how it’s shown here. I think it gave a more complete picture of how much they all care about him on a personal level in addition to just needing him to succeed from a pragmatic standpoint. 

- Merry and Pippin! I feel like Merry and Pippin were so well rounded in the films. I’ve heard criticism about them being turned into comic relief characters (which they always were a little bit) but it honestly didn’t feel that way to me. They had a bit of a rough start because the films didn’t make their motives for going with Frodo as deep as the books did, but I think that by TTT they were absolutely amazing characters in every scene. In RotK their respective arcs hit really well and the scene where Pippin is singing to Denethor? *chef’s kiss* poetic. beautiful. sad. idk man I just feel like I have such a newfound appreciation for Merry and Pippin.

- Parallels! people have pointed out the parallel of Frodo and Sam’s hands before (drowning scene/mount doom scene) and I love how the movie did that. Just stunning. Also! The moving of the Smeagol & Deagol scene to RotK surprised me because in the books it was like,,,at the beginning of Fellowship, but I think the placement of it in the movies really helped emphasize the similarities between Smeagol & Deagol and Frodo & Sam (and how much Frodo fears this similarity.) There were a lot of other well done parallels between storylines and a few bits of dialogue that were repeated with great timing, but I can’t remember all of them at the moment.  

Edit: here’s one I remembered! when Frodo wakes up after being rescued and sees Gandalf, he says Gandalf’s name in a very similar tone to the one he used at the very beginning of Fellowship. It was a nice little subtle connection.

- I can’t carry it for you...alright this is self-indulgent. everyone knows I love this line. I’m just so glad it made it into the movie intact. Sean Astin’s delivery was amazing. I cheered. My mom cheered. It’s a raw line and it makes me feel secret emotions...like if shrimp colors were feelings. that line makes me feel shrimp feelings. idk i’m so tired i just watched twelve hours of movies this review is decreasing in quality by the minute but i’m about done for now anyway

Various silly afterthoughts

- I would have liked to see Sam kiss Frodo’s hands at least once. This happens 50 thousand times in the books, they could have given me one scene. one little extended edition scene. Please Peter Jackson I’m dyin’ out here

- They literally made Gollum so hateable. kinda the point yes, but I was so on board with Sam’s murderous rage. I know why Gollum’s a profoundly complex character, I know why Frodo pities him, I know why murder is bad, but I too would throw hands with that creature. also he literally body shamed Sam so much what was that skdjksdjksd. Sam is lovely. let him commit a small homicide. 

- the scene where merry and pippin drink the tall boy juice (as someone once referred to it in the tags of one of my posts)... not accurate to the books (since they don’t ever drink it with the end goal of getting tall) but so accurate to life. if I found some water that made me taller than my friends? let me at it

- Frodo panicking when he falls into the spider webs. so real bestie. i felt just as panicked watching that. i am terrified of spiders and Elijah Wood did an amazing job doing exactly what i’d do in the situation. yelping a lot and falling down.

- I feel like it’s never stated that Sam’s a gardener (or at least that he’s specifically Frodo’s gardener) until he tells Faramir he is. Did I miss this. Or do they really never say.  are you just meant to know. are you just meant to pick up gardener vibes from him.

*

This has been a very chaotic lotr movie review. Thanks for reading.

[queenlucythevaliant]

Best and worst covers for each Narnia book

As empirically determined by me

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Best: HarperTrophey 2007 

Nails the heart of the book, and gets double points for depicting such a woefully underrepresented scene. Beautiful. Emotive. I love how huge Aslan is, how golden, and also the girls’ hair ribbons. 

Worst: HarperCollins 2005

This lion looks more like Scar than Aslan. Is he dirty? Evil? Taxidermy? Whatever the case, he makes me uncomfortable. The circle advertising the movie is also a strike against it. 

Prince Caspian

Best: Lions 1980

Most editions of Prince Caspian just depict Caspian holding a sword/riding Destier on the cover. This is simply the best one. I love the Lions editions in general; the wardrobe-like artwork around the edge is really lovely. Also love how young and uncertain Caspian looks. 

Worst: The Macmillan Company 1951

I feel really bad about this one because it’s one of the early editions from the 50s. That said, Wimbleweather is such a minor character, so this cover loses out for being so misleading.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Best: Scholastic 2008

The COLORS! The LILIES!! The REFLECTION! Sheer perfection. 11/10. 

Worst: HarperCollins 2010

No. Moving on.

The Silver Chair

Best: Collins 1974

A little dated, but I think it captures the tone of the book a lot better than the five hundred covers with Rilian and the serpent on them. I love all the muted colors and how Eustace and Jill’s cloaks stand out so vividly.  Beautiful. 

Worst: Arcturus 2017

Ummm, excuse me folks? Why is the serpent red? (Also, down with minimalism.) I'm pretty sure I could recreate this fairly accurately using stock fonts and clip art.

The Horse and His Boy

Best: Scholastic 1988

I love this illustration so much. The two Aslans who at first would seem to be growling at Shasta and Bree, but who could just as easily be standing guard. Shasta and Bree, both completely oblivious to Aslan’s presence. Beautiful.

Worst: Diamond Books 1998

You know, I’ve read this book probably at least a hundred times and I don’t remember Shasta ever galloping away from the tombs on Bree holding a sword. Maybe I missed it? 0/10 false advertising.

The Magician’s Nephew

Best: HarperCollins (no date listed on Goodreads, but I think it’s recent, possibly limited release?)

I love these editions soooo much and I can’t find them anywhere??? This one is easily my favorite, though. The kids bending over the pool in curiosity! The way the water sparkles! The colors! The texture!

Worst: HarperCollins 2005

I can’t stand these editions in general; they’re too psychedelic and don’t really feel like Narnia. This one is the most egregious, though. It looks kinda new age-y? Is that silhouette supposed to be Digory? Why goes it look like the pools are floating? Blegh!

The Last Battle

Best: Scholastic 2008

Captures the tone just perfectly. The dark sky! The gold, dry-looking grass! The blood on Jewel’s horn! Elegiac and defiant and beautiful all at once *chef’s kiss*

Worst: HarperCollins 2002

Well-illustrated, but I’m not sure Tash is the right choice for cover art. The Last Battle is such a beautiful book; it shouldn’t have something ugly on its cover. This looks like heavy metal album art.