#a quiet place part two

[queenshelby]

The Future (Intro)

Pairing: Emmett (AQP2) x Female OC

Warnings: Post-Apocalyptic, Post-Trauma, Arranged Marriage, Forced Impregnation

Notes: Alright, you asked for this and I said I would do it! But there is a twist! I am writing my first OC story, so please be kind. I also stole some pictures from Fear the Walking Dead for my character introduction. It seemed fitting enough...

Introduction/Characters:

Caitlin (Original Character & Main Protagonist): Caitlin is 25 years old and single. She is a nurse on the island which sometimes proves difficult for her as, just like Regan, she is deaf. Caitlin suffered trauma and abuse after having been captured by rebels on the mainland and then was rescued by Emmett who took her to the island. Caitlin enjoys drawing, reading, and gardening.

Karl (Original Character): Karl is ten years old and Caitlin’s adoptive son. Their backstory is explained below. Karl is also deaf.

Max (Original Character): Max is eights years and also Catlin’s adoptive son. He is Karl’s younger biological brother.

Emmett (Main Protagonist): We all know Emmett of course. Emmett is 45 years old and leads the task force to the mainland, to which he travels occasionally to source food and seek out survivors. Over the years, Emmett has learned sign-language for Regan’s sake. Emmett is Eloise’s godfather and lives on his own with his dog Scout, in a small cabin, away from the main village on the island. He likes to keep to himself and draw, but often gets forced to socialise with the group.

Regan: We also all know Regan. Regan is now in her early twenties and has a daughter called Eloise.

Eloise (Original Character): Eloise is Regan’s three-year-old daughter.

George (Original Character): George is Regan’s husband.

Evelyn: We all know Evelyn of course. Evelyn is Regan’s mother and Emmett’s closest friend. Evelyn is one of the elected five council members and, unlike Emmett, she is very active in the community.

Jordyn (Original Character): Jordyn is 30 years old and single. Jordyn is interested in Caitlin but has a troubled past. Until one year ago, he lived on the mainland with a rebel group but, due to a dispute with the other men, he took shelter on the island. Emmett and some of the others are keeping a close eye on him and some other young men, including Evelyn’s son, whom he is trying to recruit for an uprising against the authorities.

Background

After years of living on the island, a community had finally been formed and it was this sense of community which gave everyone hope following the invasion.

Other communities like this were soon discovered elsewhere, mostly scattered across different islands off the shores of America and these communities eventually began to form a government again, named the “New Government of the Island States” (NGIS).

Telecommunication was slowly restored amongst these communities and, after implementing successful means of basic communication, five representatives from each island community were elected to form a local council. The local council for each island was then tasked to implement any new laws and regulations proposed within their sector and, so that none of the communities would create havoc for themselves or others, any new laws and regulations were prepared and passed collectively by the Senate of the NGIS. All five council members were also members of such Senate and, together, at least seventy percent of all 35 Senate members had to vote in favour of any new law or regulation before its implementation across the member islands.

It was called democracy and gave rise to many good ideas. After five years of chaos, criminals and murderers were now finally being brought to justice again and there was now also the option of legal marriage and companionship.

The few children that had survived the invasion were now being schooled and everyone was given food as well as employment.

A task force had also been established on each island, requiring at least twenty participants whom were mostly volunteers to, occasionally, travel to the mainland in order to look for survivors and gather supplies. The task force was also charged with killing the aliens which, over the past five years, had destroyed this earth and killed over ninety-nine percent of the population.

But, the fact that ninety-nine percent of the population had died following the invasion also gave rise to a new law which had been voted in favour of at the rate of just seventy-one percent. It was a law that had been frowned upon by many and was called the “Law of Procreation”.

Under the Law of Procreation, every female above the age of twenty and under the age of thirty-five had to be bound to a domestic relationship and produce at least two children if at all physically possible.

Birth control was made illegal for women who fall within this age bracket and if a woman had not found a partner within ninety days of this law having been enacted or within ninety days of turning twenty (whichever is the later), then a partner was to be assigned to her by council.

This, unfortunately, was the case for at least three single women on the Seaside Island, one of whom was Caitlin.

Caitlin was a 25-year-old nurse who had arrived at the island three years ago with a child named Max and a child named Karl. Both children were still young, eight and ten respectively and just like Caitlin herself, Karl could neither hear nor speak. He was deaf and, since he was just like her, this is why Caitlin had cared for him all this time.

On the day of the invasion, Caitlin was babysitting the two boys which was something she had done for several years beforehand. Because she knew sign-language, the siblings’ parents had employed her as a daytime carer for them after they decided that boys should both be home schooled and, with that in mind, Caitlin became a qualified aid to them both.

Then, when the aliens took over, it was Caitlin who saved the boys’ life and although she started looking for their parents, they could never be found. They had probably been taken by the creatures and, with that in mind, Caitlin and the two siblings took shelter in a nearby barn before making their way to the island.

Just as many others, Max heard the signal and told Caitlin about it which is when they made their way to the nearest dock. But, just as they had arrived at the dock to board a small ship to Seaside Island, the unthinkable happened.

Caitlin was taken by a group of men while Max and Karl managed to hide on a small boat near the pier. The boat itself became their saviour and, miraculously, they made it to the island to gather help.

Six men from the island then went to the shore in order to save Caitlin. It was an act full of compassion, led by a man called Norman who, sadly, passed away one year following his mission to the mainland.

Knowing that Caitlin could neither speak nor hear, Norman asked Emmett to join him along with Regan’s husband George. Both George and Emmett knew some sign-language after having learned the basics for Regan’s sake and were therefore well equipped to communicate with the captured girl who appreciated the involvement from both men in the rescue mission.

Alongside Caitlin, the group rescued two more women, as well as a young child who belonged to one of the rebels.

The women had endured great suffering under the care of these barbaric men and it was Emmett who took revenge for them after they were freed.

It was also Emmett who carried Caitlin out of the building as she was too injured to walk herself and they had been acquaintances ever since. One wouldn’t call them friends, but they sure got along, at least until now, which is when their lives were to be changed forever.

To be continued…

Please comment and engage. I love getting comments and predictions pretty please!

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[tapestryundone]

quiet is right handed and always holds the blade in his right hand as a result. he is tied to the narrative that the narrator constructed through the blade and no matter what happens in any runthrough the knife will always end up in his hand at least once no matter what he does or what he truly wants

the princess is always chained by her right hand. no matter what, she is always bound to the cabin and the narrative that the narrator constructs. tsm is represented through countless arms and yet the princes is always placed in a basement with her right hand shackled

both quiet and the princess are trapped in the construct, parallel to one another. the knife is to the long quiet as the chain is to the shifting mound

in the prisoner chapter, if quiet becomes chained then he must lose the knife. there is no purpose to overlapping ones shackles, he just trades one for another

anytime that the princes recieves the knife, she becomes free of her chain. there is no purpose to overlapping ones shackles, she just trades one for another

the knife and shackles are equivalent, and both must be shed in some way for the shifting mound and the long quiet, or the princess and quiet/hero

at the heart of the shifting mound, the princess will always be free. the shifting mound is free to choose anything she wants. shes waiting for you to choose. the apotheosis establishes that she could destroy the construct if she so chose, but if the long quiet doesnt break free with her, destroying the construct will destroy him, too. she is free of her shackle but she has a choice between leaving with the long quiet or killing him- mirroring that the long quiet has a choice between leaving with the shifting mound or killing her. only that the shifting mound made her choice, and that is that no matter what happens, she will not destroy the long quiet

at the heart of the shifting mound, quiet has the choice to take the knife and give into the narrators script- to abide by it or return to its beginning and reread the story all over again- or to abandon his own shackles and free himself from the story the narrator wove

effectively, the chain and the blade must be abadoned in some way for the two to be free. with or without reaching the heart of the shifting mound, neither can be free until the remnants of the construct are abandoned, until their unique tether to the construct is left behind

and if the two are a palindrome, then the letter in the center is the cabin- a structure that exists for both of them and is a construction of the narrator that they both influence differently but in equal amounts. they both have been built around it and feom it, very literally, and the chain and blade are both offshoots of it that the narrator uses to control them

[itissadbutitsmy-artblog]

it's as done as im going to make it tbh. inconsistent, not perfect, but done :)

i'd say "sorry about this" but if i found a silly three minute wizards city fan animatic id lose my mind so im not sorry in the least

[strawberrylollipop26-blog-blog]

Movie/Show Round UP

I haven't done one of these in awhile. As always, my thoughts are short and to the point. I don't go in depth. I'm not a professional reviewer, just my thoughts.

Under the cut there are reviews for Fly Me to the Moon, Inside/Out 2, Despicable Me 4, A Quiet Place: Day One, Dune Part 2, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, The Fall Guy, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Civil War, Madame Web, Argylle, Abigail and The Bikeriders. TV shows: Legend of Fei and Halloween Baking Championship.

Fly Me to the Moon: I saw this movie during a three show day at the theater. It was the middle movie and the biggest question mark. Turns out, the whole 'did they or didn't they' land on the moon theory was actually interesting. While I have zero interest in a rewatch, definitely worth attempting for first time viewers.

Inside/Out 2: This movie was exactly the same as the first. There's nothing new here except for possibly children experiencing new emotions. As an adult, I was bored.

Despicable Me 4: Cute. This film added nothing.

A Quiet Place: Day One: I thought it was nicely done. Still, didn't knock my socks off like the first one. My spouse wanted to know exactly how people learned to be quiet. I tried to tell him that they showed it in the second movie. He wanted more of a show. He was also annoyed that we know nothing about the aliens and it's the third movie. Slight spoiler, I wish we didn't know something about a certain character because it would've made the ending decision so much more impactful.

Dune: Part 2: Well, he tried to warn them about what would happen. I like the action that happens even though it all folds into a pretty box.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire: I barely remember this movie. It was sort of reminiscent of the previous one. A typical unite to defeat the super evil blah blah blah.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: Disturbing T!k T0ks regarding the leads aside, this movie was enjoyable. Although, I had no idea a new movie series was starting. There were quite the few holes left so I'd see the second one.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die: I saw this before the previous one so I was quite confused in certain parts. All in all it was enjoyable. There are some funny moments. I've had the urge to watch again.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire: I haven't seen this in awhile. From what I remember there's a side character hero in here that's pretty funny. Pretty textbook, you know what's going to happen before it does.

The Fall Guy: I've heard people talking about this one and disliking it. I thought the whole purpose was to have an outrageous fun movie showing crazy stunts the doubles do. Is it the best movie? No, but if you like action it's worth a watch.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga: I'm an action girl. I highly valued the first Mad Max. This movie is obviously character based therefore slower to catch the stages of development (it's even told in chapters). I was bored. All the story shows in the normal character faced adversity, lived a hard life, finally goes for their revenge. Zero interest in a rewatch. I'll turn on the first one again.

Civil War: A weird movie full of numerous holes. A waste of my time.

Madame Web: I thought it was okay even though this movie was review bombed. There's nothing special about it, but it's not the worst movie that people complained about. Then again, to each their own.

Argylle: Another movie that was review bombed. I also guessed the likely story in this one. I think this movie suffers mostly from trying to be too many things. It goes for serious, yet wild and fun, yet logical. I think if the movie with the effects stayed 'out there' then people would've found it more enjoyable. Maybe.

Sidenote: My husband is always surprised that me (comedy hater) loves Rat Race and Joe Dirt. My response is always the same. Both movies are unapologetically insane. They don't take themselves seriously at all. I think Argylle should've done this as they had moments before deciding to become a serious spy movie.

The Bikeriders: First of all there's a narrator to this movie. Threw me off a bit at first, I normally don't watch those type of movies because i feel it leaves off clues. The movie's okay. Practically a drama in a bikerider setting. There isn't much mystery so another one that's easy to read.

Abigail: I enjoyed this movie until the ending. Not much I can say without spoiling.

Legend of Fei: I finally finished this show. Took me forever as it has good episodes, and others I cared less for (admittedly skipped scenes). Some characters were so annoying. Thankfully, Fei stopped passing out which was killing me. Xie Yun is my absolute fave. I might be biased, but all his scenes were so much fun except for the ones where he's sick :( . I've read reviews where people say they can watch this repeatedly, I'm not one of them. One and done. Sort of reminded me of WoH main storyline.

Sidenote: I love the one scene where he's reminiscing the past in his dreams and he no longer has money. The way this man kept opening up his pouch and dumping it over to make sure there were no coins. So relatable in my younger days.

Halloween Baking Championship: An era has come to an end or at least caught up in the seasons. I really like this cooking show. I hope people have some out of the box creations in the new year coming up.

[denimbex1986]

'Before his life-changing call from director Christopher Nolan, his sensational performance as the father of the atomic bomb in Oppenheimer, and the well-deserved Oscars buzz following the film’s release, Cillian Murphy spent nearly a decade portraying working-class Brummie gangster Tommy Shelby in Steven Knight’s British crime drama, Peaky Blinders.

Inspired by the real-life gang of the same name, the six-season series followed the Shelby family’s business dealings, relationships, unsavory acts, and pursuits of power in Birmingham, England, 1919. Thanks to compelling writing, word of mouth, a Netflix streaming slot, and standout performances from a stacked cast — especially Murphy’s — what started as a small show on BBC Two in 2013 grew into a global phenomenon.

Oppenheimer’s immense scale and widespread acclaim may have solidified Murphy as a household name, but in the years leading up to the monumental project, Peaky Blinders allowed him to meticulously refine his craft, wholly inhabit a character, and take his acting prowess to the next level. A decade after the riveting series premiered, Tommy Shelby remains one of the actor’s most indelible roles — a truth even more impressive when you learn that Murphy wasn’t Knight’s first choice for the Peaky protagonist.

That’s right. The 47-year-old Irish actor nearly lost the role of Tommy Shelby to Jason Statham, but a text sent to Knight post-audition, which read, “Remember, I’m an actor,” changed everything. Ahead of Peaky Blinders’ final season, Knight told Esquire he “never forgot” Murphy’s show of confidence. Despite the clear departure from his appearance and past roles, the actor was sure he could embody the physically imposing, virile gang leader. And he was right. “It’s a cliché, but no one else could have been Tommy Shelby,” Knight admitted later in the interview. “It would be absurd. It was as if Cillian was always waiting.”

Since Murphy first rode through the gritty Birmingham streets on horseback sporting a fresh undercut and a razor-trimmed cap pulled over his eyes, the role felt as bespoke as one of Tommy’s signature three-piece suits. On the surface, Murphy nailed the Birmingham accent, convincingly knocked back lowball glasses of whiskey, confidently handled a gun, and seductively smoked thousands of cigarettes on set. But his abilities to access and expose the deeper complexities, contradictions, and PTSD of the broken World War I veteran were particularly profound.

As the leader of the tight-knit Shelby clan, Tommy was a commanding, ambitious, fiercely intelligent force; an enigma who routinely committed despicable acts, but possessed enough potential for good that he repeatedly gained empathy from viewers — with help from Murphy’s charisma and authentically pained portrayal. Haunted by flashbacks of France and fueled by booze for a majority of the series, the Peaky Blinders leader perpetually grappled with a restless mind and stained soul, while guarding a heart capable of immense love. He was, all at once, completely unafraid of his own death and terrified of losing others. And since business was always personal, his family became his greatest strength and most sizable weakness.

A fraternal feeling and the sheer weight of familial responsibility shone strongest in scenes with Paul Anderson’s Arthur, while Tommy’s intimate relationship with Helen McCrory’s Aunt Polly — which deepened and shifted on the daily — peeled back his layers and offered glimpses of vulnerabilities. Tommy’s shell was undeniably softest with Grace (Annabelle Wallis), the woman who made a tea drinker, father, and eventual fortress out of him. Through small talk and genuinely sexy sex scenes, heart-to-hearts and heartbreak, and the brutal gut-punch of unexpected mourning, Murphy tapped into the full range of human emotions to convey and process the love and loss of Tommy’s wife. He never fully recovered from her death, but devastating breakdowns after the loss of Polly and his daughter Ruby proved he was still able to feel.

Murphy effortlessly exuded swagger, showed subtle humor in moments like the famous “no fucking fighting” scene, and slipped into pure panic at the drop of a hat. He loudly expressed grief in palpable scenes, such as Tommy’s brush with death in the Season 2 finale — when he almost had (and lost) “fucking everything” — or the bone-chilling final seconds of Season 5, when he hopelessly held a gun to his head, emitting a guttural scream born from insufferable trauma and fury. But despite the grand outbursts, so much of Tommy’s emotions were expressed without words; through Murphy’s facial expressions, jaw clenches, silent spirals, and intense gazes from his deep-set ice-blue portals.

Whether Tommy was strutting through smoky streets in solitude, leading grand shootouts with adversaries like Luca Changretta (Adrien Brody), digesting Alfie Solomons’ (Tom Hardy) verbal acrobatics, recovering from ruthless beatings, chomping on a leaf with his toddler, or battling his inner demons, Murphy’s performance was mesmerizing. Over the course of Peaky Blinders’ run, the actor brilliantly resided in the middle-ground between hero and villain, light and dark, and savior and sinner. And without fail, he flawlessly found his way back under the multi-faceted character’s skin after substantial filming gaps and major projects like Dunkirk and A Quiet Place Part II. In the 36 hours we got to spend with him on-screen, Murphy delivered a career-great performance, crafting an incredibly lived-in character, while masterfully evolving alongside him.

A decade after Peaky Blinders first premiered, it remains a razor-sharp series that boasts Knight’s brilliant storytelling; captivating characters; stunning set design, wardrobes, and haircuts; a killer soundtrack led by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ “Red Right Hand”; and a cast that was firing on all cylinders. The series’ legacy is as strong as the Shelby family in their prime, and when the credits roll on the dark final season — one made considerably more challenging by COVID-19 and the real-life death and mourning of McCrory — you’re reminded again that no one else could have been Tommy Shelby; that Cillian Murphy, as promised in his post-audition text, is one hell of an actor.'

[fandom-official]

Much to look forward to at the movies this year 🍿

[entertainmentgirl80]

Lot Of Movies To Come Out This Year....🎦🎬🎟🍿

[grigori77]

2024 in Movies - My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 3)

10. HERETIC – I’ve never considered myself to be a very religious person, I’ve always preferred to just be spiritual and not worry too much about the specifics of what might come after we die, so my particular relationship with organised religion has always been pretty academic. So I’ve always looked on the particularly interesting case of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from a distance, not judging them on the controversies or the running jokes from those outside of it, which made this deep-dive through the lens of psychological horror quite fascinating. Sophie Thatcher (who I completely fell in love with as an actress when I first saw her in Prospect and hasn’t disappointed me once since) and Chloe East (who I first saw in the criminally overlooked The Wolf of Snow Hollow) are Mormon missionaries Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton, who come to the home of Mr Reed (Hugh Grant) looking to convert him to their faith. At first it seems cosy and intriguing, as their verbose and highly intelligent host engages them in a fascinating debate about the values and tenets of their church, but as time passes they grow more uneasy, little hints telling them something is terribly wrong. But when they want to leave he won’t let them out, instead ensnaring them in a far more troubling debate about the nature of belief itself, and it finally dawns on them that they’re both in very real danger … I don’t want to give any more away, this is definitely a film which lives and dies on its surprises so I won’t betray any of the myriad skilful twists and turns the razor sharp screenplay takes. The writer-director duo of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods have been impressing me for a while already, first coming to my attention by conceiving the original story that John Krasisnki went on to refine into A Quiet Place before going on to create 2023’s criminally overlooked sci-fi thriller 65 and penning unsettling Stephen King adaptation The Boogeyman,but this goes WAY BEYOND anything I’ve seen from them so far, the pair seeming to have progressed in leaps and bounds in the creation of what has to be one of the smartest and most downright ORIGINAL horror movies I’ve seen in absolutely AGES. They weave an atmosphere of pregnant dread that slowly blooms into deep existential horror when the big reveal comes, while asking far more profound questions than the already weighty central concept originally promised, ultimately making some particularly astute points that genuinely left me a little mind-blown for a good while after, ably supported in what’s essentially a three-hander by some truly exceptional tour-de-force performances – seriously, the small but EXTREMELY POTENT main cast are ON FIRE, Thatcher and East effortlessly supporting each other as their characters’ seemingly disparate personalities turn out to be perfectly complimentary, making it VERY EASY for us to root for them, while Grant is simply MESMERISING in what may well be the very best performance I’ve EVER seen him deliver, at once affably charming and unsettlingly threatening with nary any warning about which way he’s about to turn. This is a truly TERRIFYING piece of work, but more than that it’s incredibly challenging and thought-provoking too, a fiendishly smart little indie horror that deserves to be a proper MASSIVE hit, marking a major turning point for two filmmakers I’ve already come to admire a great deal. If this really is an honest indicator of what they’re TRULY capable of, then I’m beyond excited for what they do next ...

9. KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES – Matt Reeves is a tough act to follow, even before The Batman he was already blowing us away with his star-making directorial breakthrough helming Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and its follow-up War For the Planet of the Apes. The conclusion of that latter film put a very definitive exclamation point on one of the best cinematic trilogies of the 2010s, making ANY attempts to continue the rebooted franchise a tough prospect indeed, and something that even a seasoned filmmaker might balk at. But when I heard the proposed new trilogy, set hundreds of years after the events of War, would be directed by Wes Ball, I breathed a big sigh of relief – he did an INCREDIBLE job with the sci-fi trilogy adapting YA novelist James Dashner’s popular Maze Runner series, so I knew the saga was in very good hands indeed. Having come up in visual effects, Ball’s always maintained a very strong balance between physical and digital filmmaking, so he was certainly up to the challenge of bringing a new generation of photorealistic, vitally ALIVE super-intelligent talking apes to the big screen, as well as putting his flesh-and-blood actors through their paces with similar skill and flair. Most important, though, this film introduces a new lead protagonist who’s definitely got what it takes to succeed Andy Serkis’ mesmerizing Caesar in a new story, Owen Teague (It, I See You, Inherit the Viper, Black Mirror) thoroughly impressing in his first lead role as Noa, an uncertain young chimpanzee from an isolated tribal clan forced to grow up fast when his people are stolen in one terrifying night by masked ape raiders, leaving him to follow their trail with only intellectual orangutan Raka (The Orville’s Peter Macon) and an unusually smart “echo” (basically what humans have become since they lost their speech and intelligence) named Mae (The Witcher’s Freya Allan) to count as allies. Macon is a thoroughly endearing presence throughout, while Allan delivers a fascinatingly complex performance that fuels many of the film’s most interesting twists (although I’m sure you can spot one or two coming ahead of time); and then there’s Kevin Durand, who’s clearly having a whale of a time getting his teeth into a rewardingly robust screen villain in the form of Proximus Caesar, an ambitious bonobo warlord who’s using a corrupted version of his namesake’s teachings to build a tyrannical empire of oppressed apes – he’s not quite as compelling an antagonist as Toby Kebbell’s Koba, but serves most admirably indeed here. Altogether, this film definitely had A LOT of heavy lifting to do to even APPROACH the heights of Reeves’ tenure on the franchise, and Ball and screenwriter Josh Friedman (War of the Wolds, Terminator: Dark Fate, Avatar: The Way of Water) have risen to the task in fine style, delivering a thrilling, affecting and inventive epic action adventure which skilfully builds on the framework provided by the previous trilogy while courageously forging ahead into the future, leaving room to venture forward into exciting further instalments. Ultimately this isn’t QUITE as good as Dawn or even War, but with this the saga remains as rewarding, compelling and majestic as ever, and I see great promise in its future …

8. KUNG FU PANDA 4 – The Dragon Warrior is back once again for a long-awaited fourth adventure, and while there’s always room for more of my second favourite Dreamworks animated franchise there are strong indicators that this could well be the last, and if it is, it would certainly be a worthy bow-out for one of my favourite anthropomorphic movie characters. The eponymous martial arts master, Po (the boundlessly endearing Jack Black, inexhaustibly effervescent as always), is at the height of his astounding abilities, and his crabby red panda mentor Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) thinks it’s time for him to take his place as the spiritual leader of the Valley of Peace, while also choosing a successor to begin training as the new Dragon Warrior. Po, however, couldn’t be more against this particular idea, since there’s nothing he loves more than kicking butt and taking names (although he’s never been very good at the latter), so when it seems like his old foe Tai Lung (a welcome return for the great Ian McShane) has returned he jumps at the chance to investigate. Instead he discovers that there’s a new threat out there – a shapeshifting sorceress known as The Chameleon (Viola Davis) has taken control of the distance metropolis of Juniper City, making it her base of operations from which to launch her nefarious plan to reach into the Spirit World and steal the Kung Fu of ever master villain there. Po’s only hope of defeating her is to enlist the very reluctant help one of the city’s residents, a nefarious corsac fox thief named Zhen (Awkwafina) who may prove more of a handful than he bargained for … the series continues to fire on all cylinders with all prerequisite elements functioning exactly as they should – the franchise may have peaked with the second film, but they’ve maintained an impressive level of quality throughout, and this fourth entry definitely measures up very well in comparison, regardless of what some naysayers may have said. This is just as amusing, ingenious, exciting and visually arresting as previous outings, and rather than stripping away much of the fun by leaving the Furious Five out this time round, the story’s a good deal tighter and much more focused, rightly focusing on the relationship that develops between Po and Zhen as they go from rivals to uneasy allies to true friends in very organic fashion. It certainly helps that the two leads have such strong chemistry – Black’s having as much fun as ever while his creation remains his adorably geeky self, while Awkwafina brings plenty of likeable sass and snark to proceedings, and they gel very effectively over the course of the film. Davis, meanwhile, creates a compelling villain with strong motives for her dastardly plot, while there’s quality support from returning voices like Hoffman alongside Bryan Cranston and James Hong as Po’s two dads Li Shan and Mr Ping and series newcomers such as Ke Huy Quan, fresh from his post-Everything Everywhere All At Once success as Zhen’s estranged pangolin mentor Han. Granted, ultimately this feels like just a lot more of the same, but when the end results are still so consistent there’s no real room for complaint, and as far as I’m concerned the series remains as strong as it was when it started, from the gorgeous animation and stylish design to the exquisitely executed action and, once again, a spectacular score from Hans Zimmer, this time joined by regular collaborator Steve Mazzaro (the highlight here is a truly WILD orchestral rendition of Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train during the film’s best set-piece). Ultimately, if this really IS the end of the franchise, it’s a fitting place to call it a day, although I’m sure I’m not alone in hoping for a little more, and there’s definitely a strong indicator where they COULD go from here …

7. A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE – It’s interesting, most of the time when you get a really great movie that becomes a big hit and spawns a franchise, THE LAST THING it needs is a prequel, and oftentimes when it DOES happen it feels like a shoehorned mess or even a disrespectful retcon (they can’t ALL be Furiosa, after all). A Quiet Place was never one of those – right from the start it was clear that how it all began was going to be JUST as interesting as where the original story was going, a fact that was DEFINITELY reinforced when Part Two dropped that TERRIFYING flashback cold open. So when this finally arrived I was FIRST in my local queue, raring to go and so unswervingly excited that anything less than amazing was liable to be a disappointment. Thankfully it turned out to be EVERYTHING I was hoping for – this is a super trim 99 minutes of knuckle-whitening terror with a (by now, not really all that) surprising amount of emotional power packed in, one of those films that brings you to tears when it’s not scaring the living bejeezuz out of you, just like the first two. Lupita Nyong’o is a breath of fresh air as our new lead protagonist, Samira, a world-weary young New Yorker who’s been beaten down by a life of tragedy and chronic pain from the very same kind of advanced cancer that killed her beloved father, only to find a reason to stay alive (at least for a few more days) when the sound-seeking murder-beasts crash-land in the middle of the loudest city in the world and instantly go apeshit from all the noise. Stranger Things’ Joseph Quinn, meanwhile, puts us through the emotional wringer right from his entrance as Eric, a timid Brit law student whose anxiety is going THROUGH THE ROOF as this all goes off around him, forced to find inner reserves of courage he never knew he had after he latches onto Sam as she makes her way across the city in search of the last slice she’ll ever be able to get from her favourite Harlem pizzeria. There are equally heartfelt turns from Alex Wolff (Hereditary, Jumanji, Pig) as Reuben, Sam’s put-upon hospice nurse, and Djimon Hounsou, showing how his character started his own apocalyptic struggle as Part Two’s Henri, but perhaps the biggest stars of this film are, unsurprisingly, Nico and Schnitzel, a pair of tuxedo cats who perfectly portrayed the role of Frodo, Sam’s service cat, who’s probably THE MOST CHILLED-OUT feline I have EVER SEEN in a movie, and definitely one of the cutest. Ultimately this is an absolute TRIUMPH for its breakout writer-director, Michael Sarnoski, whose INSANELY impressive feature debut Pig already made him one to watch back in 2021, and he definitely did the original property justice while carving his own equally impressive path in the franchise. The end result, then, is a welcome addition to an already INCREDIBLE horror movie series, and definitely a strong contender for the genre’s movie of the year.

6. DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE – Damn … if ever there was a movie that I really can’t say much of ANYTHING about for fear of dropping spoilers, even if most of the core fandom has already seen it … this is an IMPORTANT MOVIE, maybe the most important of the past year, because the MCU has been on the rocks of late, despite Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 going a long way to setting its fortunes back on the right track (but then that one has very much been considered a BLIP, really), and this one looks to have SINGLEHANDEDLY knocked the whole mess back on the right track while simultaneously mercilessly ripping the piss out of the whole debacle. No, I mean IT REALLY DOES, there isn’t A SINGLE STONE that the Merc With a Mouth leaves unturned in his quest for meta-fuelled irreverence (except maybe that dead Celestial poking out of the Pacific that NOBODY seems to be talking about after Eternals … or maybe I missed a joke somewhere). Anyway, this is EVERY BIT as good as James Gunn’s third and final feature for the franchise, as well as another SUPER-solid entry in what was already Fox’s now expired X-Verse’s most popular series, but most importantly it’s also an EXTREMELY successful bridging film between that and the flagging Marvel Cinematic Universe, the perfect way to bring Mutantkind into the franchise with the least amount of fuss. That being said, the BIG attraction here is getting to see two of Marvel’s biggest heavyweights going head-to-head in one movie, and of course beating seven shades of shit out of each other while they’re at it. If you will … yeah, if you haven’t seen it yet and don’t want to get spoiled, you really should jump off at this point and just GO SEE FOR YOURSELF, safe in the knowledge that it’s a fucking AWESOME movie and you won’t be disappointed. Now SHOO!!! Be off with you … okay, still here? Right then, watch me try to be as spoiler-light as I can moving forward … as much as Wade Wilson and Logan may be the very EPITOME of chalk-and-cheese onscreen, behind the scenes Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman have got on like a house on fire for a while now, ever since the former started lovingly teasing the latter in the first Deadpool movie and started his long-running campaign to lure the original Marvel Movie superstar into a big screen team-up, so

it comes as NO SURPRISE that they’re both clearly having the time of their lives finally working together. Their chemistry in this is OFF THE CHARTS, the pair trading razor sharp quips, dirty looks and well-deserved face-punches with gleeful abandon from their first scene together RIGHT to the end, while the incredibly strong screenplay from Reynolds, series regulars Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, Robot Chicken’s Zeb Wells and the film’s director Shawn Levy (who previously worked with Reynolds on Free Guy and The Adam Project, as well as Jackman on Real Steel) definitely gives them a really big Multiversal playground to let loose in, all while doing a really beautiful job of taking the baggage that the current condition of the MCU property’s left the franchise in and stuffing it all into what’s always been a much more stable (if also far less RESPECTFUL) cinematic sandbox. There are easter eggs galore, both overt and a whole lot more subtle throughout, especially during an extended sojourn in the Void (the TVA’s pruning dumping ground) which not only introduces a few fun (relative) new faces (including at least one X-Men franchise missed opportunity AS WELL as the VERY welcome return of my very favourite Marvel mutant of them all – so nice to see you back, Laura! Sure hope you get to stick around for more) but also a bunch of fan favourites from across Fox’s Marvel pantheon, and as far as I’m concerned there ain’t a single bum note in the entire symphony here! Certainly this is BY FAR the funniest Deadpool movie so far (which is saying something), but that’s not really surprising since Shawn Levy has consistently proven to be one of the VERY BEST cinematic comedy directors out there (especially with his consistently high quality Night At the Museum series), so this is just another day at the office for him, and he definitely delivered something TRULY SPECIAL here. This is THE MOST I laughed at the cinema this past year, but thankfully like its predecessors it’s got plenty of emotional heft on offer too, meaning that it definitely fits in JUST FINE with the best that its new peers in the MCU have to offer. Topping this off with a selection of genuinely BRILLIANT soundtrack needle-drops (particularly in the thoroughly irreverent and MASSIVELY disrespectful opening title sequence which sees Wade mercilessly desecrating one of Marvel’s most sacred cows) and a genuinely moving closing credits farewell homage to Fox’s Marvel legacy, the filmmakers have done their material so very proud as well as opened the door to so many fresh possibilities in the Marvel Cinematic Universe moving forward, and I for one hope this is a sign that things really are FINALLY back on the right track for the series. Now if they could just get that Blade reboot out of Development Hell (wink wink) …

5. THE WILD ROBOT – My animated feature of 2024 pretty much came out of nowhere to steal my heart in the closing months of the year, a truly spellbinding work of art which made me cry MULTIPLE TIMES through its hundred-odd minute runtime. Writer-director Chris Sanders, who already had strong form bringing us to tears helming Lilo & Stitch and the first How To Train Your Dragon film, continues to manipulate our emotions without mercy by introducing us to Roz (Lupita Nyong’o), a caretaker robot who’s part of a shipwrecked cargo consignment which washes up on the shores of a deserted forest island. After being accidentally activated, she follows her prime directives and goes in search of someone to assign her a task, but with only animals around her she finds this is a far harder prospect than she has any kind of programming to compute. Ultimately her journey finds her taking accidental responsibility for a lone gosling, Brightbill, forcing her to rewrite her core programming and become something more than a mere thinking machine as she discovers what it really means to become a parent. Roz is a magnificent creation, endearingly fallible as she goes far beyond her initial capabilities without ever losing her core principles to help those around her by any means necessary, and in a way this is just what ultimately makes her such a great mother; Brightbill, on the other hand, is a wonderfully complex character in his own right, perfectly encapsulating the various evolutions a child goes through from sweet innocent to awkward, uncertain teen, with Kit Connor getting to build upon his similarly exceptional vocal work on His Dark Materials; Pedro Pascal, meanwhile, is very much the third part of the heart of the film as Fink, the wily fox almost universally hated by the island’s animal population, who goes from initially trying to take advantage of Roz for his own gain while helping her navigate the wild world she’s found herself thrust into to genuinely coming to love and depend on her while becoming just as much of a loving parent to Brightbill. The rest of the cast is pretty stacked too, rounded out with stellar turns from Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once), Mark Hammill and, best of all, a particular scene stealing performance from the ever reliable Matt Berry. Not only is this a really excellent example of how to do a perfect family film, it’s ultimately one of the most perfect FILMS I’ve seen this past year, PERIOD, incredibly well written and directed with particularly inspired flair, gob-smacking gorgeous compositions and complex but rewardingly clear thematic insight, Sanders and co delivering something which is so much more than the sum of its already quite superior parts. Perfectly pitched in its humour, wonder and pure, beautiful HEART, this is an undeniable MASTERPIECE of the animated art-form, and I really cannot possibly praise it ENOUGH. This is one of those films that deserves to be seen by EVERYONE ...

4. CIVIL WAR – Alex Garland is a filmmaker I’ve been a big fan of since before he even WAS a filmmaker, back when he was just writing screenplays for the likes of 28 Days Later and Sunshine. That being said, he’s consistently blown us away ever since he covertly took the reins for 2012’s criminally overlooked Dredd (I’m definitely inclined to believe the rumours that he actually helmed that one himself, since it’s SO MUCH an Alex Garland movie), rightly wowing audiences with both ex_machina and Annihilation (Men was, ultimately, TOO strong and visceral an experience for me to really LIKE, but I must admit I was definitely IMPRESSED by it), so I was already onboard for this one even before the genuinely exciting first trailer starting making the rounds. But even if I hadn’t already known his work, I definitely would’ve been up for this truly fascinating premise – set in an uncomfortably believable near future (especially given where the current US political system looks to be heading), it follows a quartet of journalists as they travel into the war-torn heart of an America ravaged by a potent clash between the loyal forces of an authoritarian President who’s refused to step down after the end of his official term (Nick Offerman) and a coalition of secessionist states determined to oust him and his administration. Kirsten Dunst leads the cast with what might be the best performance of her career as Lee Smith, a cynical photojournalist with a fearsome reputation, joining her longtime work-partner Joel (Narcos’ Wagner Moura, effortlessly charming and lovably cocky as an unapologetic adrenaline junkie) in his quest to interview the President before he’s forcibly removed from Office; tagging along, meanwhile, are Sammy (a typically charismatic and stately turn from the mighty Stephen McKinley Henderson), a world-weary veteran reporter who’s just hitching a ride to the front lines of the conflict, and Jessie Cullen (Priscilla’s Cailee Spaeny, sweet and naïve but with a deep reserve of feeling), a wannabe photojournalist who idolises Lee and is determined to prove herself to her hero, even if it ends up getting her killed. Through their experiences on the open road and the various events they witness, we watch this terrifying war unfold as it builds to its powerful endgame, moving from the wilds of Upstate New York to the streets of Washington itself, and it’s brought home in genuinely harrowing detail just what a nightmare this could well be if it really does happen. Garland’s certainly not pulling ANY punches here, clearly fundamentally aware of where America might end up if we don’t wise up REAL QUICK (although by this point I wonder if the warning came a bit TOO LATE), while also delivering an endlessly fascinating dystopian action thriller for good measure, packed with stunning explosive action sequences and at least one genuinely UNBEARABLE scene of proper pants-wetting pregnant implied threat (those who know will already know), all while making us really THINK thanks to a particularly shrewd and fiendishly subversive screenplay, and even offering up moments of incongruous aching beauty in the midst of all the chaos, much as he did on Annihilation. Ultimately this is a perfect demonstration of a master filmmaker reaching the very height of his powers, final confirmation, if it was even NEEDED any more, that Garland is one of the most original and challenging cinematic storytellers out there right now.

3. REBEL RIDGE – I’ve been a pretty massive fan of writer-director Jeremy Saulnier ever since I first stumbled across his very original indie thriller Blue Ruin, and that love grew consistently with his next two feature films (Green Room and Hold the Dark) and the first two episodes of True Detective season 3. So I was VERY EXCITED when I learned he was returning to the big screen (sort of) with his second collaboration with Netflix … but I really wasn’t prepared for what was to come, which is essentially HIS VERY BEST FILM YET!!! Seriously, this is a stone cold MASTERPIECE, not just the best screen thriller of 2024 but one of the VERY BEST for the decade so far, and to be honest one of my biggest takeaways from it wound up being what a criminal shame it was that this DIDN’T release in theatres! The Underground Railroad’s Aaron Pierre (soon to be seen as the new Green Lantern in the upcoming DCU TV series) stars as former US Marine Corps instructor Terry Richmond, who finds himself the victim of an unfair civil forfeiture of funds which he intended to use to bail out his little brother during a seemingly routine traffic stop in the small Louisiana town of Shelby Springs. Backed into a corner, he attempts to come to an arrangement to get the money back from local police chief Sandy Burne (Don Johnson), who instead gives him the runaround just because he can, which just makes things SO MUCH WORSE, because it turns out that Richmond really isn’t the kind of person you screw around with … starting subtly, this is a wonderful exercise in increasing stakes and cranking tension, Saulnier letting the story and characters breathe first while slowly revealing just what a serious BADASS the main protagonist actually is before FINALLY letting him off the chain in SPECTACULAR style, and the film is all the better for the time taken to establish just how badly these ignorant, self-entitles racist cops have fucked up before it finally all goes off BIG TIME. Of course it helps that Pierre is SO GOOD at being quiet, still and oh so patient, doing so much with a simple look or gesture to deliver a genuine MASTERCLASS in subtlety while letting his showier cast-mates let off some cracking performative fireworks around him. Johnson is, as always, AMAZING, portraying a pitch-perfect entitled douchebag villain that it’s so easy to love to hate, and David Denman (13 Hours, Brightburn, The Equalizer 3) and Emory Cohen (The Place Beyond the Pines, The OA) both shine bright as the two very different patrol cops who kick this whole mess off in the first place, while AnnaSophia Robb (yes, that IS the little girl from Bridge to Terabithia) is the film’s only real ray of light as local courthouse clerk Summer McBride, the one friend that Richmond has in this whole shitshow, often very much to her own detriment. This is essentially a PERFECT THRILLER, Saulnier having basically unlocked the ideal blueprint for how to wring tension and dread out of a seemingly everyday miscarriage of justice in America and showing how, when the wrong person’s pushed too far, it can go so terribly wrong for EVERYBODY. No surprise, then, that this film has been very favourably compared to First Blood, and indeed this does feel like a very natural successor to that action cinema classic, albeit one which is much better suited for today’s far more morally ambiguous cinematic landscape. Needless to say Saulnier really does deserve to become a proper MEGASTAR filmmaker because of this, and I’m just happy to have been proved right for all the faith I’ve had in him over the years ...

2. DUNE, PART TWO – As if there was ever any doubt, after the already amazing first part made its KILLER debut back in late 2021 … no, it was a foregone conclusion that the second half of writer-director Denis Villeneuve’s immensely ambitious adaptation of one of his very favourite books OF ALL TIME, Frank Herbert’s genuine game-changer space opera Dune, would be JUST as incredible as the first, and it thrills me to no end that that proved to be entirely the case. After all, this is also MY favourite book of all time, if they’d f£$%ed it up I would have been more heartbroken than I could possibly imagine, so Villeneuve and co have made me a VERY HAPPY BUNNY INDEED!!! Picking up RIGHT where the first film left off, we return to the desert world of Arrakis tens of centuries into the future, with young Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet), now the Duke of an all-but-eradicated Galactic noble House, and his mother, the Bene Gesserit holy woman Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), forced to hide among the desert tribes of the Fremen, hatching a desperate plan to take revenge on the monstrous Harkonnens and seize control of the planet, its massively lucrative trade in the obscenely valuable spice Melange, and through it the Galactic Empire in its entirety. To do so, Paul must use his growing prescient abilities to convince the Fremen that he is the Kwisatz Haderach, their prophesied messiah, but he’s keenly aware that this means walking a deadly knife’s edge in order to prevent triggering a bloody Holy War that will burn half the known Universe … once again, Chalamet and Ferguson are the beating heart of the story, both acquitting themselves admirably throughout as they perfectly encapsulate the myriad complexities of their characters, but this time round they’re finally joined by Zendaya, barely glimpsed in the first film but now brought front and centre as the emotional CRUX of the film in the role of Chani, the free-spirited and stubborn Fremen warrior Paul falls in love with as he learns to become a true denizen of Arrakis; other old faces return too, with Josh Brolin bringing a roguish twinkle and welcome sense of humour to proceedings as the exiled Atreides warmaster Gurney Halleck, and Stellan Skarsgård once again chills our blood as the repellent Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. More newcomers make their presence felt throughout, however, with Florence Pugh particularly standing out as Princess Irulan, the fiercely intelligent daughter of the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken, nowhere NEAR the bum note some have made him out to be), although the true shining star among the new cast (beside Zendaya, at least) is Austin Butler (Elvis), enthusiastically sinking his teeth deep into the meaty role of the Baron’s viciously sadistic sociopathic nephew Feyd Rautha. Once again Villeneuve has done his dream project justice in EVERY conceivable aspect, continuing to pay truly REVERENT respect to the source material as he makes Herbert’s incredibly rich universe live and breathe on the screen, the peerless production and costume design, visual effects and cinematography never hitting a single off-note in any scene, while the screenplay perfectly translates the weighty themes, compelling narrative and shocking twists into a deeply involving cinematic tour-de-force that keeps you invested throughout its seemingly brisk and pacy run-time (this may be close to THREE HOURS LONG but it sure doesn’t FEEL like it), enthusiastically propelled by another MASTERPIECE score from fellow Dune superfan Hans Zimmer. This was a truly MASSIVE cinematic event that left 2024 audiences awed by the experience while also drumming some EXTREMELY weighty ideas and themes into us, as well as perfectly setting up the continuation when Villeneuve gets his already in-development adaptation of the next book in the series, Dune Messiah, off the ground. I’m definitely looking forward to that, and I know I’m not alone …

1. ALIEN: ROMULUS – Ultimately landing JUST AHEAD a certain other major genre heavyweight entry on my list for the past year, my number ONE science-fiction film of 2024 was also easily the SCARIEST movie I saw in the entire year. It’s also a very interesting and IMPORTANT film in that it goes A LONG WAY to knocking yet another major cinematic franchise back on track after spending years spiralling further and further out of true alignment. Okay, I admit it, I LIKE Prometheus a whole lot as an actual FILM, but even I can admit that IN UNIVERSE its attempts to connect with Ridley Scott’s own original masterpiece and James Cameron’s (even better) follow-up were clunky at best and downright EMBARRASSING at worst (and in the end, the less said about Alien: Covenant the better, really). So I guess it’s actually A GOOD THING that Scott took a step back into more of a producing role to allow somebody else to take the reins for this sort-of soft reboot, and it turns out that Fede Alvarez, writer-director of the first Evil Dead remake and Don’t Breathe (as well as the CRIMINALLY underrated The Girl In the Spider’s Web), was the PERFECT CHOICE for this job. Fitting in somewhere between the events of Alien and Aliens, Romulus sees the dastardly Weyland Yutani Corporation find the blasted remains of the Nostromo floating in deep space, as well as traces of the original xenomorph itself, which they transport to the film’s eponymous space station, in the orbit of colony world Jackson’s Star, in the hopes of exploiting the organism’s unique properties for their own gains. Something clearly goes HORRIBLY WRONG in the interim, because when a gang of opportunistic young colonists, looking for a chance to jump ship to a freer life in another system outside of Corporate control, sneak onto the station in the hopes of scavenging some cryogenic resources for their journey, they find it derelict and ravaged by some kind of horrific disaster. Then their poking around lets loose some of the fruits of the scientists’ biological labours, and before they know it they’re neck-deep in facehuggers and more than a few of their bigger brethren too … Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla, Civil War, Bad Times At the El Royale) is a surprisingly robust action heroine in the classic Ripley mould as Rain, her diminutive size belying her character’s fierce determination and wily resourcefulness; Archie Renaux (Shadow & Bone) and Isabel Merced (Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Dora & the City of Gold, Turtles All the Way Down) are both extremely likeable as Tyler and Kay, a brother and sister who are, respectively Rain’s ex-boyfriend and best friend, while Spike Fearn (Tell Me Everything) is kind of a prick as their cocky cousin Bjorn, and newcomer Aileen Wu is standoffish but precocious as talented young pilot Navarro. The real breakout star of the piece, however, has to be Rye Lane’s David Jonsson, who delivers a complex, multifaceted turn as Rain’s adopted brother Andy, a former Weyland-Yutani android dug out of a scrapheap and reprogrammed to protect her by her late father.

They’re all put through hell by the events that unfold within the faltering station, Alvarez turning the screws and fraying our nerves with his characteristic masterful skill as their situations progressively go from bad to worse to truly fucked, paying loving homage to the first two movies while also creating something new and fresh for the series if they do decide to move forward from here. Best of all, though, as he’s always done in the past he largely eschews CGI, preferring to do as much as he possibly can with physical effects, which makes the impressively icky creature work and seriously NASTY gore all the more delightfully gnarly throughout, with the film’s ONLY bum note being a particularly problematic “resurrection” choice which has already had a great deal made of it in the press, but which I, ultimately, found was actually handled surprisingly well in the end, so that it didn’t really detract very much from my personal enjoyment of the film as a whole. Rounded off with an evocative and enjoyably old school score from Benjamin Wallfisch (who clearly had a great time channelling both Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner here), this is a rousing success, a phenomenal return to form for one of my very favourite sci-fi cinematic franchises and yet another standout offering from one of the very best young turk talents working in horror cinema today. If he does indeed choose to stick with the property, I think Alvarez could well keep this series fresh and exciting for a fair few years yet.

[frostise]

"what if.... nevermind. i'll leave the ideas up to you." - lark? <3 :)

𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐕𝐒. 𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐋   ┇   accepting ♡

her scowl deepens when he attempts to conjure up ideas to find a better solution for their dilemma. she was about to interrupt when he suddenly trailed off at the sight of her expression, looking as if he had a tail in-between his legs and finally kept his mouth shut much to her satisfaction.

❝ good call. ❞ frost raises her chin and holds the expensive bottle up for him to see. ❝ i wasn't planning on wasting my rosé champagne on you if that's what you were hoping to get outta this. ❞ she turns her back to him and starts to grab a glass for herself. ❝ i have a better idea for you, lark. how about you go find your own bottle to steal and quit following me around like some damn puppy? ❞

[djarindroid]

Ok so over the past couple of days I’ve written over 3k words for an Eric from A Quiet Place Day One fic… I think I’m maybe about half way through

I’ve even added him to the bottom of my masterlist so it’s officially coming 😅

[anaalnathrakhs]

it's rlly fun how my parents just straight up. do not care. about the disordered eating. we had all this talk back when i went through a big suicidal crisis a couple months ago, i explained what was really difficult for me, eating socially, restaurants, not choosing my food, etc, and now it's like. okay it didn't exist actually.

mother i am not going to order you around, either you accept that i'm gonna have difficulty dealing with "normal people behavior" or whatnot and you stop looking at me like :/ anytime i am anything but ecstatic at the idea of eating anything anytime anyhow, or you adapt your behavior to avoid the results you don't like to see. i'm only doing my best to handle things from my side, and i am certainly not going to try measuring for you how important family social eating occurences are to you.

[lesbiansanemi]

Can Twitter finally just fucking implode I am so sick of hearing about that stupid ass website

[creativedifferencespodcast]

We have reached the end of another Year in Review! As always, we’re taking this time to talk about the 2024 movies we’re most excited about, and in some cases, worried about! How do you scam in the time of Jesus? The Mean Girls musical is on how many lists?! And is Sony really dropping three movies about Spider-Man characters, but without a Spider-Man? As usual, we’ve got these answers and more in our new episode! Thanks for listening! You can also find us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

[wevegotbackissues-blog]

'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 2' Delayed

The Mission: Impossible franchise and Tom Cruise’s bad luck with release dates continues with with the eighth film being pushed back a year due to the ongoing actors strike. Original set for 28th June, 2024, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 2 will now debut on 23rd May, 2025. It is also rumoured that the film will be retitled due to Part 1’s underperformance at the box office. Mission:…

[denimbex1986]

Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is extending its exclusive run in IMAX. The 3-hour, R-rated epic about the creation of the atomic bomb opened opposite box office behemoth Barbie on July 21st and helped fuel the company's fourth-best weekend ever, according to IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond. Shot for IMAX with IMAX film cameras, Oppenheimer originally secured an exclusive three-week run in the premium format (including special presentations in IMAX 70mm film). But after surpassing $400 million globally over its second weekend, Oppenheimer will continue to screen in IMAX through mid-August before those screens shift to DC's Blue Beetle and Sony's just pushed-back Gran Turismo.

IMAX said in a statement: "In light of its extraordinary performance, IMAX is extending Oppenheimer's run an additional week through August 16/17, with plans to bring-back IMAX showtimes of Oppenheimer in the late summer/fall, as availability permits."

After Blue Beetle and Gran Turismo, Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary locked down IMAX screens for Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi epic Dune: Part Two, which will push out Marvel Studios' The Marvels during its exclusive six-week run in IMAX. Oppenheimer's eventual return to IMAX could contend with Tom Cruise and Paramount's Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, which lost its screens to Nolan after one week. According to Gelfond, Mission: Impossible could be re-issued in IMAX after Oppenheimer.

"I feel sad in a way we can't accommodate all of them. I know Mission: Impossible is going to be a really big movie," the IMAX CEO told Variety in June, before "Barbenheimer" blew past expectations at the box office. "Nolan has a special place in IMAX's heart because he uses our cameras and promotes us. It's not a matter of us saying which we can make more money on. I would hope after Oppenheimer's run, we can bring back Mission."

Both Barbie and Oppenheimer contributed to what Gelfond referred to as "a historic few days at the global box office" during an earnings call last week.

"In a weekend where moviegoing reasserted itself as an unparalleled cultural and commercial force, IMAX demonstrated its ever-strengthening position at the vanguard of cinema," Gelfond said on the call. "The paradigm shift to IMAX has never been more apparent. IMAX obliterated expectations with a $35 million opening for Oppenheimer, delivering a staggering 20% of the film's global debut on only 740 screens. In China, we delivered more than 16% for local blockbuster, Creation of the Gods, on just 1% of total screens, our best-ever indexing for China film. And we scored 20% of the debut of Mission: Impossible 7 in Japan on just 48 screens."

The combined $46.4 million weekend was the fourth-best in the history of IMAX, said Gelfond, adding "there is real heat" around the IMAX brand and technology in the marketplace.

In Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy plays theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, leading a starry cast that includes Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place) as Oppenheimer's wife, biologist and botanist Katherine "Kitty" Oppenheimer, Matt Damon (AIR) as General Leslie Groves Jr., director of the Manhattan Project, and Robert Downey Jr. (Avengers: Endgame) as Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Oppenheimer also reunites Nolan with his Batman star Gary Oldman as Harry S. Truman and features Florence Pugh (Dune: Part Two) as psychiatrist Jean Tatlock, Benny Safdie (Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret) as theoretical physicist Edward Teller, Michael Angarano (Minx) as Robert Serber, and Josh Hartnett (30 Days of Night) as pioneering American nuclear scientist Ernest Lawrence.'

[sluttyten]

Now I sit in my room anxiously for the next hour and a half waiting for tickets to go on sale, and then I drive anxiously across town too