#all i'm saying is that actually watching a saw film would probably kill me

[fortjester]

honestly, now that i've seen i twice, perry's death on fall of the house of usher has got to be one of the worst (to me!!)

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

The thing that really annoys me about the conspiracy theories going around (especially the Izzy-centric ones and especially That One Meta, iykyk) is the complete and utter lack not only of genre awareness but any realistic understanding of how OFMD operates.

If you actually watch the show, you should understand two things.

This is a rom-com. The central romance between Ed and Stede and comedy are therefore the two most core parts of the show, with Ed and Stede's romance taking priority over everything else. That's not to say OFMD doesn't have dark themes, it absolutely does; it's to say that comedy is always important to how the show is written, acted, and filmed. If the most obvious explanation for "what is this line/scenario trying to tell us?" is "it's funny," then that's clearly why the scenario is in the show.

This is not a subtle show. That's not to say it's a simple one; one thing I love about OFMD is all the background details and gags you only pick up on a rewatch. It's amazingly layered and emotional responses by characters are often extremely complex. However, when the show is trying to tell you something, it's not subtle and it never tries to hide it. The closest it ever gets is Ed in the gravy basket, and even then it's written so we find out the instant Ed does and we've already had clues to suspect something from how the mutineers are acting. If you're watching OFMD and thinking "hmm I wonder what they're trying to tell me here," you're probably doing something wrong.

That's why I'm so completely baffled by conspiracies such as

"How much was Ed hallucinating/dreaming??" After he gets out of the gravy basket, none of it. Very obviously none of it. Why would you assume they had time to waste this season on trying to confuse us about what's actually happening?

"What if Ed actually killed Buttons?" Okay, putting aside that just not happening on screen and therefore the most reasonable assumption being that he didn't, what would that actually do for the story? Buttons turning into a seagull underscored season themes of change. Ed killing him would be confusing, weird, and extremely out of character.

"What if Ed was the one who killed Felix the cabin boy?" This one absolutely baffles me. That story is transparently there to show us what Hornigold was like as a captain and illustrate why Ed hates him. Ed doing that instead of Hornigold would be wildly out of character and inconsistent with everything Ed does.

And my favorite, the one that made the author of That One Meta instantly lose all credibility for me when I skimmed and saw it:

"What if Ed and Stede's new shack is stinky because they actually have Izzy's body in there and Ed's in denial of his death, etc. etc."

Well. Given my awareness of the show I'm watching. I feel pretty safe in saying that it's stinky in there because, and I can't stress this enough, this is a comedy and sometimes it is funny for things to be stinky.

[thevioletscout]

Got to see Sonic 3 early at a fan event! If you saw a brunette white girl in a black and white striped jacket who had keychains on her cat backpack of a dark chao and knockoff Shadow, that was probably me.

Gonna share my thoughts because I need to. Spoilers under the cut.

- I personally still like 2 the most. That doesn't mean 3's bad, it was great, but 2 just felt like a stronger film.

- I was honestly pretty wary about Keanu Reeves as Shadow, but I think he did excellent, and for a very peculiar reason that surprised myself; At certain points, he sounds like a teenager. Obviously its the kind of gruff Shadow voice we’re all used to, but there were times he would sound strangely youthful, and its a nice reminder that despite the 50 year stasis, despite the ultimate lifeform thing- Shadow's still a kid, just like Team Sonic.

- My brother even pointed out that Commander Walter objected to shooting the Robotniks and Shadow when they were escaping because "they're kids!" He said kids, plural.

- I think Jim Carrey did great as both Eggman and Gerald Robotnik. There was even a scene near the end where he was downright scary as the latter. That said, I wasn't a big fan of many of the scenes where they interacted. It kinda felt like the plot of the movie would get pulled to a grinding halt so we could just watch extended Jim Carrey comedy. I could probably be in the minority about this, and I can accept that, I just personally think cutting out some of the bits would have helped the movie flow a bit better.

- Fight scenes were so cool. It's not usually something I’d care that much about, but I think with Sonic in general getting the action right is a huge draw, and damn did this get it right.

- I'm not a big fan of Maria's illness not being referenced at all. I can kinda understand it because they're on Earth the whole time now, not in space, but it removes a lot of the important factors of Maria's character. It especially feels bad in the wake of Sonic x Shadow Generations, where the effects of her condition were actually shown, and when compared to the Wicked movie adaptation where they actually went out of their way to do a more respectful depiction of a wheelchair user.

- I like her using rollerskates though. That feels like a cute parallel between her and Shadow, and that could have been an interesting detail Robotnik worked into Shadow's design if he was actually made by him in this version.

- Sidenote, I swore that the whole Shadow was found in a meteor thing was a coverup for the real story, but no thats just his origin in the movies. That definitely carries some interesting implications for Shadow in the SCU.

- They kinda cutely referenced Sonic and Shadow looking alike, but otherwise it didn’t affect anything. G.U.N. didn't even try to use that to frame Sonic for what Shadow was doing. I kinda don't mind that though, I think there's enough retroactive implications to draw from.

- I wasn't sure they would actually use Live & Learn, but they did and holy shit it was so worth it! And Sonic and Shadow did the Adventure 2 pose!!! Theater went nuts, and I was going nuts with them.

- I'm once again probably going to be in the minority about this, but I kinda wish we got more Tom and Maddie. Like it or not, they were major characters in the previous movies, but in this one they just feel like they're there. I would say that it probably would have made Tom's near death experience more impactful, but to be fair my entire theater was in shock and scared out of their minds that they actually killed him so I think it was plenty impactful.

- They just straight up yeeted Gerald into incineration. I get it, there was no other neat way to take him out but damn. Tails and Knuckles killed a man.

- And finally the mid-credits scene holy shit.

- Okay so- I want you guys to know that I was a "Amy's secretly in the movie" truther. Every time Team Sonic was in trouble I was waiting for Amy to suddenly make her debut. I had this vision of her hammer being the first thing we see before Amy herself is slowly revealed. And yet, nothing. Every time they would find a different way out and around the G.U.N. infiltration I finally accepted that Amy wasn't going to appear.

- But then that scene during the credits. Sonic is confronted by Metal Sonic- who looks FANTASTIC btw. That's when I knew we were probably getting Amy next, but I wasn't sure when and how. Then Sonic gets surrounded by several of the metal copies, and like I predicted; first we see her hammer, flying through the air as it takes out several of the bots. Then we see her, dressed in a cloak to hide her features just a bit longer. Finally, she puts the hood down and- GOD SHE'S SO CUTE, I LOVE HER.

- I cannot impress upon you how crazy everyone in the theater went. We love this pink hedgehog.

- Wade only had one scene thank fuck.

There were probably a few other misc things I can talk about but I need more time to process it all. As I said to someone sitting in front of me; "How am I supposed to wait another two years???"

EDIT: ONE MORE THOUGHT

- One thing I find interesting is that after Shadow escapes, he just wants to be left alone. Most of what he's doing when Team Sonic finds him is just self defense from G.U.N. If I remember correctly he even tries to tell Sonic and the others to just walk away, and he dips on the motorcycle as soon as he's able to, once again warning them not to follow. He even spares Sonic and simply handcuffs him to something when the fight's over. It seems like it isn't until Gerald finds him that the revenge plan even gets started for him. He didn't want to go out of his way to hurt anyone, he just wanted to grieve in peace. Unironically, such a good understanding of Shadow's character.

[madlad-sadgal]

More things I noticed in Nimona because I got boredin.

Nimona Spoilers!

Diamonds seem to be a recurring form when it comes to the Institute, which we see most when in the Director's office. There's a line of diamonds that goes from the top to the bottom of her dress. The windows are diamonds. There's a diamond at the tip of her staff. There's a diamond sculpture thingy on her desk. There's a line of diamonds on the side of her desk. Ambrosius also has a a lot of diamonds on his armor. The button the Director presses to open the secret drawer is part of a line of diamonds. The Director's eye shine is a diamond, and so is Bal's when he's about to be knighted, about to become an official part of the Institute, only to have that taken away from him.

I hear a lot of people say that they don't understand why Bal didn't post the whole video, but we have to take in consideration here: When he and Nimona thought up that plan, in no way did they think that the Director would actually try to kill Ambrosius. And, also, Nimona-Ambrosius and Ambrosius both enter the office by saying the same thing "We need to talk". Bal probably spent hours telling them how Ambrosius acted just to fool the Director. Just imagine: you see someone who looks and acts exactly like the one you love get stabbed out of absolutely nowhere. You know it's not them, but there's still that small second of "What the fuck my lover is getting stabbed!" I doubt he was able to keep the camera still through all that. I saw another post talk about it, and I can't find it, but yeah.

Also, back to Ambrosius' armor, I was able to count three lion faces on it. One on the front of his chestplate, and one of each of his shoulder protector thingys (I don't know the name of it)

Sure, when Nimona-Ambrosius destroys everything in the Director's office, it's funny, but they also foreshadow one more thing; destroying the wall. Also, they remove Gloreth's statue at the same time, and, at the end, when Bal is looking over the kingdom, we don't see the statue in question anywhere, which could maybe insinuate that they actually did canonically took it down? I may be looking into this too much, but it's fun to think that's what it might mean.

The sight Bal uploads the video is called "TheCrier". Also, when he uploads it, on the screen behind the computer, you can see he was previously ordering a pizza.

Bal's username is BalliSTAR12 and honestly I'm surprised no one in the kingdom thought to question why this man even had a video of this. That is if they even realized that it was him because let's be honest, the people of the realm are oblivious to a lot of stuff throughout the movie.

For a brief second, you can see that the username of one of the people who commented is "Rising_Pho3nis_23" and that just makes me realize how much foreshadowing these people included throughout the whole movie.

We see at some point that the first riot at the Institute was filmed when, at 57:59, in the recommended videos someone is watching, the top one is "Rhino runs riot at the Institute"

"I just want to be your friend. Is it ever gonna be enough?" Those are the only lyrics I was able to catch from the dance sequence, but those hit hard when you realize that Nimona is really just looking for a friend. And also that even with Nimona and Bal's efforts to prove that the Institute is bad, there efforts weren't enough (because the Director just turns the blame on them again)

When Nimona-Director is on the other side of the door with the pizza, their eyes do the reflection thing with the lighting.

During the scene where we see the civilians gathered in front of the Institute and yelling things like "Liar" and holding up sign that say "Villain" and "Liar" we see the statue of Gloreth standing in front of all of them bathed in red light, and it's almost like all of those things are being yelled at her.

"Zombies are immortal eternal beings. There's no way to kill them." "But what if they come for us?" *Attacks the zombies* Funny how fear drives them attack first, just like fear drove the villagers to attack Nimona first.

When the Director tries to warn everyone of Nimona, the "monster", she accidentally puts everyone against everyone, and, as we see in the pub, everyone starts to mistrust the people around them.

I have a theory as to why Nimona was painted as child in the scroll: It was to serve as a warning. It was to show that this "monster" could try to manipulate you into thinking it was harmless by becoming something that doesn't pose much of a threat: a child.

Nimona saying "I have not slept like that in forever." Who else thinks it's because they used to always have their guard up and was always a light sleeper in case they needed to flee quickly? Like, they didn't want to put themselves in a vulnerable position too long so they got used to getting maybe one or two hours of sleep every now and then.

I'll stop there for now. Might make more if y'all like this!

[despair-inc]

Thinking about every movie I saw in theaters (or remember watching in theaters, anyways) in 2024. Kind of a ranked list but the criteria is how much I liked it.

1: The Substance. The unchallenged lead for both "best movie I saw all year" and "favorite movie of the year". The beautifully grotesque child of New French Extremity and USAmerican style Elevated Horror, it has the best performances of the year, oodles of extremely impactful and pointed imagery, and amazing special effects. Just amazing stuff all around.

2: The Wild Robot. Undisputed champion of "best family movie of 2024”, it has beautiful visuals and makes quite a lot out of its simple and heartfelt story about family and community. Can't judge the original dub's performances because in Mexico it was only released in theaters dubbed into Lat Am Spanish, but hats off to the dub cast, they were killing it the entire film.

3: Robot Dreams. Technically a 2023 release, but in Mexico it played in early 2024, so it goes on the list. Amazingly heartfelt and melancholic, I was bawling on the theater. Once again, also just beautiful to look at, an amazing work of animation that functions entirely without dialogue.

4: Inside Out 2. I will always be biased in favor of Pixar because, like most people on this website, I grew up watching their movies, and those movies from 2010 and before are all universally good. That being said, after the stumbled releases of Lightyear and Elemental, this was a surprise by being actually pretty good. That being said, it's held back by having a plot that's basically a retread of the first movie (Riley experiences a stressful life situation and emotions that shouldn't be solely in charge of her mental state take over and fuck shit up), so overall it's a bit weak on that regard. Still, very solid and fun movie, and if The Wild Robot hadn't come out in the same year, it would be the strongest family release of a major USAmerican studio of the year. Possibly the best non-Toy Story sequel Pixar has made.

5: Wicked. It was pretty nice to have a live action musical film that was overall well made and performed and that people actually went to see, unlike shit like Cats or Dear Evan Hansen, or Spielberg's West Side Story which was actually good but no one went to see. People on here have ragged on the lighting and it is kinda bad in some scenes, but when actually watching it, I didn't really notice it, because the rest of the stuff was very compelling. Here's hoping that Part 2 lives up to the hype.

6: Dune 2. Not much to say about this one because I went to see it first thing in the morning after only sleeping like three hours, so I'm pretty sure I slept through like a quarter of the film. The stuff that I do remember was pretty good though, like that one fight scene in Black and White. I need to rewatch this one to give it a fair shot.

7: Deadpool & Wolverine. I'm like 90% sure that this was the only major USAmerican Superhero movie released in 2024, but it still probably would've been the best superhero movie of the year if others had released. I'm kinda hoping that they keep this movie as the final Deadpool movie because while it is pretty good at what it does, the shtick is too worn out. Like, where can Deadpool 4 go? It's not gonna happen, cause DP sells well and Reynolds has developed an allergy to appearing in movies that are creative, but dreaming is free.

8: In A Violent Nature. This is the movie that surprised me the most this year, even if I was already aware of the concept of "a slasher film from the killer's POV". The very sensate and deliberate aesthetics of having no non-diegetic music and constant scenes of our killer walking in the woods seem boring on paper but work very well when you're actually watching it, and when it goes for more traditional slasher film aesthetics, like the kill scenes, it does them exceptionally well. And the extremely tense monologue scene at the end is an amazing finale to cap things off. That being said, it can get pretty slow and I think that the concept only really works for one movie. I read that they're gonna make a second one, and I really hope that they think of a different aesthetic style for it because reusing this one will probably turn part 2 into a slog.

9: Next Goal Wins. First movie I saw this year, and it is thoroughly unremarkable and forgettable. Pretty standard white savior sports story where the main white guy learns to loosen up while the Samoans get good enough at actual football to reach their meager goal of scoring at least one goal in the climactic big game. It had some laughs, and it is the only movie I saw in theaters with an openly transgender character in it, but it's really nothing special or noteworthy. Hell, the most memorable thing about it for me is that the guy who sat in front of me when I watched it spent the whole movie playing games on his phone and blasting my eyes with its light. I wonder if Waititi will make movies worth watching again, or if he's gonna be pegged as peaking with Jojo Rabbit and then falling off.

10: We Live In Time. This movie was surprisingly good. I went to see it on a whim because I had to go pick up some stuff and there was a promo on the ticket prices at the time (30 MXN ticket at Cinemex Fashion Drive, it's a steal even if they recover the money with the popcorn), and I rather enjoyed the non linear structure and the very good performances. Honestly, it just gets a low spot because I've never been into pure romance films so it's a bit unmemorable for me, I ain't gonna watch it a second time.

11: Venom The Last Dance. I guess I didn't count it as a major USAmerican Superhero Movie because Sony's "Spider-Man minus Spider-Man Movie Universe" never felt like major releases, and the Venom movies, regardless of how much I have enjoyed them, are a bit like the cheap knockoff of Deadpool. And just like DP, the third entry is the weakest of the series. Unlike DP, at least we know that they're not gonna milk the series dry because in between the Symbiote dying at the end and the failure of Kraven the Hunter, I'm pretty sure that Sony is just gonna give up. The movie itself is a kinda subpar action film, and while it got me a few laughs and it has a few standout scenes, like Venom dancing with Mrs Chen or Otto Hightower's UFO Conspiracy Theorist family, it's nothing remarkable. It has a very "Movie that plays on Canal Cinco on a sunday morning" vibe.

12: Joker Folie A Deux. I don't need to tell everyone that this movie is bad. It flopped and everyone hated it. I'm actually in the camp that this movie is a bit better than its reputation makes it out to be. If nothing else, I'm giving Todd Phillips props for trying to make a movie that spits on the face of the misaimed fandom of the first one, even if he thoroughly fucked it up. Still, the attempts at making a diegetic jukebox musical fall completely flat, and the performances of Gaga and Phoenix can't save the script like Phoenix did on the first one. I can only recommend checking this one out via the magic of online piracy, it ain't worth money.

13: The Apprentice. This is the movie I hated the most out of all the movies I saw this year, mostly because the things I heard about it made it sound a lot better than it was. It's a political movie that, ultimately, only has the message that Donald Trump is Bad with very little examination of the systemic issues that made him rise to the position he rose to. It is overwrought, the performances can't save the script and it honestly wouldn't have been in theaters if it wasn't an election year. Worst movie I saw in 2024, not even worth pirating.

[bobbydagen24]

tbh I'm still Hoping Chef will be Brought back in the next film as it could be Hella emotional and also further explore some Good old fashioned Branch angst which the Trolls writers seem to love 😭😭

I know I've talked about this before but eh I wanna talk about it some more lol as I'm in love with the story potential of Chef coming back.

have fans Done any fics or fanart of the idea? idk I'll have to go check once I'm Done writing this post lol.

but yeah I Hope this does happen cause there's so much potential here for an emotional story involving Branch and his Bros coming face to face with her.

in the first movie its always struck me as a little Disappointing that Chef being the one who killed Branch's Grandmother was never mentioned in present day

I know logically neither Chef or Branch himself would Remember since Branch was only a little kid who saw her for a split second and for Chef it was just a normal day at work.

but from a writing standpoint I Do find it Disappointing more wasn't done with this in the first movie.

I feel her coming back in the next film could work especially well if it takes place not too much time after TBT so the film could still explore some left over issues in the family

plus some more Branch angst that the writers love showing lol.

I'd probably have the movie open with something like Branch his Brothers and Grandma all sat around having Dinner happily chatting away and whatnot only for a hand to come crashing in Grabbing Grandma away

as Branch can only Helplessly watch and then his Bros all start blaming him saying why wasn't he more carful and why did he let it happen

with Floyd especially telling him that he promised him he would take care of her and then the Brothers all walk out for good while Chef's laughter can be heard in the background and Branch is just sat on his own and he looks down at his hand and sees he's turning Grey.

and then Chef's Hand comes back in and Grabs him and he's screaming for help only to see there's no one around that cares and

Branch struggles to try and break free but its Hopeless and Chef just laughs and is about to put Branch in her mouth.

only for him to then wake up in his Bed in a panicked sweat and we see him telling himself to breath feeling his chest and trying to calm himself down

making it clear this is far from the first time this has happened and he already knows what to do in these situations.

FR I like the idea of the movie opening with an angsty nightmare scene for Branch showing his still lingering Trauma in present day.

Both over his perceived failure and guilt over what happened to Grandma not to mention his Brothers leaving again and of course a Fear of Chef herself

not only for killing Grandma but also how close she came to killing him in the first movie.

so opening the movie showing some still lingering Trauma that maybe he Refuses to open up to his Brothers about because he's afraid they may blame him for Grandma's death

like he did himself for all those years and maybe they'd leave again I feel would be neat way to start the film where Chef comes back imo.

especially if the whole movie or at the very least just the climax was about Poppy and the Brothers needing to save Branch

after he's captured maybe after a family argument and he goes off on his own only to get snatched by Chef.

as the whole family coming together to save him from Chef the source of his Greatest Trauma like come on that'd be emotional as Hell 😭😭😭😭

also I do just really wanna see Branch actually confront Chef over Grandma like maybe when he's captured he finally angrily confronts her over it only for Chef to casually Dismiss him

stating she doesn't Remember that day or her at all Hurting Branch at his core since that day obviously has stuck with him for his whole life and changed who he was

but for her it wasn't special it was just a Regular Tuesday.

and of course in the end it'd be satisfying and sweet to see Poppy and Brozone Rescuing Branch and maybe for Chef's comeuppance in the end

I kinda like the idea that Due to some chemicals or magic crap that she'd been messing around with as part of her Grander plan she ends up being shrunken down

to the point she's actually smaller than a Troll like lets say the size of Tiny Diamond so she's basically Rendered Harmless to the Trolls and she tries to attack the main characters

but Brozone just playfully pick her up and toss her back and fourth and in the end they just throw her in a cage with Branch somewhat smugly

Remarking something along the lines of him not being able to believe he was ever afraid of her

with Chef looking a little pissed off to say the least 😂😂😂😂

kinda well and truly confronting the source of his nightmares and feeling a little better about himself as a Result

and also I'd end the film with him finally sitting down with his Brothers and talking more about Grandma

as he finally feels more comfortable about opening up to them about these kinds of things now.

so yeah fingers crossed Chef comes back it wouldn't be too Hard to explain maybe she landed on the cooker inside the creature's Belly and used her knife kit to climb her way out or forced the creature to throw her up or something.

the why's and how's don't really matter too much to me I just think she'd be a perfect Returning Villain for a future film given the significance she has to Brozone as a family and Branch himself.

since she basically made him who he is.

also if Chef is Revealed to be alive in movie cannon then hey it'd be a perfect chance to Bring Creek back in movie cannon as well 😂😂😂😂

be it as a Villain or a Redeemed character who warns pop Village about Chef's plans after overhearing them

maybe he hid inside her Hair so he could hitch a Ride out of the mountain creature lol and afterwards he hides in their for a while and

overhears Chef recruit some henchmen maybe some Bergens who still believe in the old ways and want her to overthrow Gristle JR

and he hears her plans and after waiting for her to fall asleep he sneaks out and runs back to the Village tho he had no idea where they were so it takes him months and months to find his way back lol

which could be how our main characters find out she's alive and planning something and thus kicks off the whole story.

just an idea as Chef coming back does make it very easy to bring Creek back as well 😁😁😁😁

I was thinking that my only problem with this story idea is that it doesn't Really give much for Poppy in Terms of character Development in this story

but maybe if Creek did Return then Poppy's mini side arc could be her learning to give him another chance after being less than Receptive to him returning

and not wanting to give him another chance despite claiming he's sorry and clearly wanting a chance to make amends hence why he came to them with this info

but we see Poppy struggle more with her own ideals of believing people can change and giving out second chances when its someone who she was Emotionally Hurt by Personally

so yeah maybe that could be a mini arc for her if the film did bring Creek back as well.

what do you think about the idea of Chef and Creek Returning in future?

[apomaro-mellow]

Okay, let's talk about Gladiator 2 and why parts of it fell flat

As soon as the movie started and we see Lucius' wife with the biggest death flag ever, I wondered if women WOULD have a larger role in this movie but honestly my hopes weren't high.

The monkey cgi wasn't distracting, I think it was fine. What WAS distracting was how they were all rabid and murderous but as soon as Lucius takes down his the rest just. Stop? And it's not even in an "they saw him kill one of their own and backed off". They just basically disappear.

Alright so now for the actual plot. I'm all for political intrigue but when you do that it needs to be made clear what each faction is and what their endgame is. It takes a little too long into the movie for this to be established. I get that Acacius and Lucilla want to overthrow the emperors and restore power to the sentate, making Rome a republic like what her father and Maximus wanted. It takes a bit too long to be revealed that Macrinus simply wants Rome to fall and dissolve completely. And Lucius's motivations and goals change throughout the movie, for good reason, but his development feels lacking.

I feel like I'm going in a bunch of directions, so let's focus on this character by character instead, starting with our main.

Lucius has the seeds of a great character and clear motivation but he never feels fully fleshed out. At first his main goal is to kill Acacius because of the death of his wife, so it seems mostly personal and like Lucius has no real stake in Rome, despite being a prince of it. But then in the cell scene with his mother he apparently resents her for seemingly moving on with her life and never coming back for him and like-my friend, HOW? The film shows that Lucius was essentially wandering and lost his protective detail through the years, how was she supposed to find him and bring him home? She probably thought he was dead! I don't think he had to lose his wife or have the revelation of his real father to want to fight against Rome or for it. The fact that he would have seen Rome taking more and more lands and killing people either in search of him or in their pursuit of domination should be enough. Also, he only ever showed ferocity when fighting or that one scene with his mother. I think if he was really filled with rage, they should have found more opportunities to showcase that.

Lucilla's only fault is being a female character and thus the narrative doesn't know what to do with her besides making her do the exact thing she did in the last movie which is not watching what she said and where she said it. I can believe that she was frazzled from her meeting with Lucius and forgot to check her surroundings but this is literally what happened in the first Gladiator. So you're telling me she learned nothing after her lover was killed and her son went missing??? There's really not much else to say about her character.

Acacius was actually pretty fine for me but that's mostly because it felt like he had the least amount at stake? IDK, his motivations were clear. He's in love with Lucilla, so of course he supports her plan, he even has the means to do it. I guess he hesitates to help Lucius but it's not obvious how long has passed from when he finds out the prince's identity and when he's next in the arena. I don't know how he was supposed to help Lucius anyway. He understood his role in Lucius pain and was ready to die by his hand. He might be the only character fully realized in this movie.

Macrinus was a treat and that's not just bc he was played by Denzel. He's making moves from the beginning and it's entertaining to watch even when you don't know exactly to what end. But as I said before, I feel like it takes too long to know what that end is. Especially when his acquiring of Lucius is completely on accident. At first it just seems like he wants power just to be on the senate, then it seems he specifically wants to puppet the emperors. I really do like the progression of what he did, I just wish we knew more about where he came from and how that colored his opinion of Rome and wanting to destroy it. But he basically won, so that's another point in his favor.

Geta and Caracalla are the last ones I'll talk about. I'm biased bc I'm currently enamored with Joseph Quinn's acting but I still feel like more could have been done with their characters. The twins are supposed to be tyrannical but they seem tame compared to Commodus so let's put their deeds up side by side.

Commodus: 1. killed his father. 2. tried to execute an innocent man after framing him. 3. burned and crucified that man's wife and child 4. has at least been trying to sexually coerce his sister to the point where her son is rumored to be the product of incest 5. fatally wounded Maximus before meeting him in the arena

The twins: 1. changed a 3 round punching match to a battle to the death instead. 2. One murdered the other

The movie wants you to do a lot of fill in the blank when it comes to them. They're Roman emperors, so of course their morals are low compared to the average person. But that's not enough. Commodus' personality permeated every action he took and each one, whether towards his sister or Maximus was antagonistic. Saying that either of the twins do anything to propel the plot until the latter half of the film is being generous.

There's also the fact that nothing they do is personal. Hardly anything that happens in this movie is.

Acacius isn't the one who kills Lucius' wife. It's a random Roman soldier. Macrinus has nothing personal against anyone in this movie, he was branded with Marcus Aurelius. I'm trying to remember a scene between Lucilla and the emperors BEFORE her betrayal is found out and I'm coming up with nothing. Now that I think about it, does Acacius even know that Lucius was at the siege of Numidia?

I still give this movie a 7/10, it's perfectly enjoyable, perfectly watchable, those colosseum scenes - especially if you see it in theaters. I could've watched hours more of Macrinus and the twins. But they could've done more to strengthen the characters.

[alicepao13]

Hudson and Rex S05E15 - Northern Rexposure - Part B

*me: *watching this episode* That's not my show. Jesse: *starts rambling about flying the plane because he has flown planes on a flight simulator* me: Oh, wait, that's actually my show.

Well, I've never paused here before but look at Rex's "we are so fucked" look!

Sarah's style is sexy-with-a-hint-of-I-may-die-today.

I'm assuming that Jesse's plan was to take off and reach a tower that could direct him on how to land this bird. Too bad the bad guy shot the fuel tank.

This, then the helicopter ride... Dude, how much money did they give you guys? I haven't seen them fly anything bigger than a drone before this or since then.

Oh, I forgot. That was the last we saw of Jesse's glasses. RIP Jesse's glasses. Welcome, laser operation. Speaking as a bespectacled person, I don't really care about this one way or another. I'm sure they had reasons for this. The main one being that glasses reflect everything and are not ideal for filming. Not to mention that if they were to have Jesse more on the field, not having glasses is a good idea. I assume it's also part of his character's journey, although I don't agree that removing your glasses is a sign of growth. That's a childish notion, as there are many reasons for sticking to glasses instead of contacts or not opting for laser surgery.

Incoming Sarah whump, but first... Sarah desperation. I love it.

I don't know if they meant to make a parallel of this with Charlie because they both were obsessively working on their cases on their own time.

That's a very sexy way to be sprawled there while spouting off evidence from a more than a decade cold case. Just saying.

I've been giving Charlie a lot of flack (most of it deserved) but in this case, it's his persistence to keep pursuing leads that causes Bertrand to have a crisis of conscience and call him, thus causing a chain of events that ultimately lead to finding Alison.

Dying, thank you for caring.

Jesse whump.

Just say what you're afraid of the most. That Charlie would kill all three of you if Rex was killed for this.

I was doing fine until this.

I think that Rex had probably smelled that something was wrong with Sarah.

This episode should be called "The One Where Rex Does A Lassie".

I'll just fill my wallpapers lol

Jesse totally got all the braincells from the two. What do you mean, "really good to you"? You almost died because of him! Not to mention the whole committing a crime thing.

Oh, it's starting.

By the way, I like Sarah whump but I don't want them to overdo it because the more times they do it, the more some genius might come up with an excuse to kill her for Charlie's manpain. We don't really use manpain a lot on this show but you never know.

In any case, when the opportunity for Sarah whump presents itself, I want Charlie to. Be. Close. By. I mean, what's this bullshit with him being hundreds (thousands?) of miles away?

Get away from my boy!

Poor Rex! That is a scary fucker.

For fucks sake, Charlie. Rex is being hunted by predators, Sarah is dying, Jesse is banged up, and you're here and you're... looking good? The audacity.

Should have some more lighting, by the way.

No, actually.

Can't, sorry. Anyway, this is a very Castle moment. (show, not character)

I mean, dude, look at him (as much as you can). Don't you see the determination? He won't give up. Just fess up, man.

"I'm never traveling again!"

To be continued in Part C.

[futurewife]

Hi ok I’m kinda having a Josh Brolin spiral and i saw ur blog - can you give me some good recs of things to watch? I’ve seen some of the bigger more recent projects and i need more!!

okay firstly yayyyy HIIIIIIIII I feel so special to be asked this hahaha 💕💕🥴 I'm going to start off with some things I'm going to assume you've seen when you say bigger/more recent projects, maybe help you fill out your list. Also I haven't seen everything there is to see (ik, surprising but I often have to end up purchasing dvds off ebay since some films aren't so popular hahaha)

No Country For Old Men

Sicario and Sicario Day of the Soldado

Dune part 1 and 2

Deadpool 2

Outer Range (TV)

Hail Caesar!

Gangster Squad

Men in Black 3

Sin City A Dame to Kill For

Inherent Vice

Brothers

The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter

also check out his Saturday Night Live appearances for some fun

Here are some other films I've enjoyed, though he may have played a smaller secondary role in some. Depends how much you will endure for the love of a devastatingly ruggedly handsome man.

Labor Day (actually highly recommend this one because it's like pure josh brolin fanservice)

Planet Terror

Coastlines

Best Laid Plans

Nightwatch

Flirting with Disaster

Picnic

The Young Riders (TV) (baby josh... well early 20s. and western/cowboy stuff. if you're into josh brolin you may probably have a Thing for this like I do)

Mimic

Hollow Man

Into the Blue

American Gangster

Want to watch:

'Flag Day' I wish someone would just cut the josh scenes out of the movie for me though hahaha I don't really care about sean penn :/

Gang in Blue

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

All the Rage

The Mod Squad

[dribs-and-drabbles]

Dead Friend Forever ep 2

Let's goooooooo!

Documenting my observations and speculations because of the ongoing mystery. (small comments in brackets are things I've gone back to after the ep ended).

I do like this opening music. It sets the scene well for this being a spooky mystery but also speaks of the youthful innocence - and then the breaking of it - of the friend group.

I know not every character needs to be colour-coded but they all seem to have a distinctive style, so for my satisfaction here's my interpretation: White is either blue or has coloured edging to his t-shirt (or both); Tee is either tie-dyed or red (or both) (White and Tee are the only actual couple and we all know blue and red are a common pairing...and Tee's tie-dyed vests have had both of their colours so far); Fluke is purple (duh); Por is maybe green; Phee is maybe orange, Jin could be dark, Tan could be light, and Top is either embroidered shirts or yellow (or both). Let's see if this continues throughout the rest of the series.

Of course it was Tan in the background of the film, he was missing from the scene when they were recording the film.

I literally said White's line aloud before he did 😂

I wonder if someone is putting something hallucinogenic in their food or drink rather than some of these 'supernatural' things happening to/around them.

HELP! 😱 That mask is super creepy 😭 *pauses and breathes for ten seconds* Ok, focus on something else - it looks like the person in the mask is using a crutch on their left side, so maybe has an injury to their left leg, and has the axe in their right hand...let's remember that for later.

If the masked person wanted Top dead, he could have killed him there and then in the bathroom. So if the masked person is real, why didn't they? And if they're not real, then does Top really believe what he saw? Or is Top lying to instil fear in the rest?

And so I also need to wonder if Por is actually dying or if he's acting to stir up fear in the group. Make up and prosthetics can look very realistic... Hmmmm 🤔

One of my biggest questions is, are we as an audience being shown The Truth?

That was A Look from Fluke...was he not part of whatever it is that Tee, Top, and Jin did to Non? (It seemed in a later scene he does know so probably was...).

I'm leaning more into the theory that they're hallucinating, and the 'drug' is playing into their fears. White obviously cares about how he looks, with all his skincare products, and as soon as he's used something on his face (has that been tampered with? Or did he accidentally ingest something when he handled the 'drug' for the others if this is all his plan?) he sees blotches on his skin. Top is scared there's a ninth person in the house, so hallucinates the attack in the bathroom replicating the scene from Non's film. Let's see if there are any other instances which will back this up.

Floppy discs! 😂

Do they really have to add those squelchy sounds for Por's wound 🙉

OMG NOT THE EYES 😩🙈😩 PLEASE!

Yes, definitely something to do with hallucinating and maybe Por is faking... Is the hallucinogenic drug airborne or absorbed through the skin?...

Something I can't work out...in the photo Top found earlier there were 6 people, so I assume Tee, Top, Jin, Fluke, and Non, but who is the 6th person? Should I have been able to see in the photo? Or will that be revealed later? (edit after watching ep 5: I realise I forgot to include Por, so that's the 6th)

Oh god it's That scene...not looking not looking not looking... Why are Top and Tee riding off the way the Uncle came, surely IF the wire was across the road it would still be there...so maybe it's not and maybe the uncle's head wasn't detached from his body...maybe it's more hallucinating...? Or if they're in the woods now then maybe they didn't go down the road at all...and the Uncle's death is real...

(I'll say this quietly because this is personal to me but I'm also having trouble watching because I don't think I like Jet's acting. It doesn't feel authentic and it takes me out of the story a bit because I don't feel like he's acting well. I don't believe him. And it's not like he's playing it so that the audience doesn't believe the character, I think it's Jet just not being as good as the others. It's like he's demonstrating that he's acting, if that makes sense, rather than just embodying the character of Top. It's a bit overdone for me. Sorry to Jet who I presume is working hard but it's just not landing for me).

THE TATTOOS ON THIS MAN!! 😮😅 UNCLE DANG...MORE LIKE UNCLE DAMN!!

Wow. I'm still hooked. I'm still side-eying Phee because I know he knows Non, and I'm loving that I feel like I can't believe anything that anyone says or does 😂 THEY'RE ALL STILL SUS. RIP Uncle Damn Dang though. The first real victim of this situation. If he really is dead.

[allmoshnobrain]

WAIT WAIT WAIT-

did you watch Saltburn? if so, I wanna know your full opinion plz

I've heard so many contradicting opinions and yours is very important to me

💚🖤🤍

I did, love, I watched it last week! I only watched it once though, I want to watch it at least one more time so I can really absorb and process the whole thing

I'm not sure if you want my opinion on any specific aspects so I'm gonna ramble for a bit

This might get quite long though so, opinions under the cut!

(Please be aware this will have spoilers. Like, a lot.)

First of all THE AESTHETIC OF THIS MOVIE!!! Everything looked so beautiful and I just loved the way they chose to portray everything, I'm a bit of a design and arts nerd so the photography and lighting choices made me so so happy because it fit the movie's mood perfectly

Also, did you know that the title card was made in stop motion and it took like MONTHS to make it because every frame took forever to be hand drawn and animated?

I saw Emerald Fennel comment somewhere that the movie is all about a beauty that drives us mad and I am so not normal about this concept. Like please I just need more of this in my life

I had been spoiled about the "shocking" parts and honestly they were a lot more okay than I imagined based on what my friends were saying lol

BUT NOW TO THE PLOT

I just love the whole unreliable narrator thing. The way the film starts with Oliver's narration and finishes with it - we only ever get to see his point of view of the whole thing and I think the main thing here is how he was drawn to Felix since the beginning. Maybe because Felix represented the life and status he wanted to have, maybe because he was just in love because, well, he says all the time I WASN'T IN LOVE WITH HIM but then we get all of this shots of him just LONGING over Felix and well, yes, I do think he was in love, at least with the idea of him.

I don't think he planned to murder the entire family from the start, I think he wanted to get closer to Felix in that mix of infatuation over him and over his status, I think he was very happy manipulating his family to like him and driving away anyone who could threaten that, like Farleigh. But things kind of get out of control when Felix figures out he's lying and I think also when Farleigh gives him the "you'll never belong here because it's a blood/family thing and you are nothing" speech.

And now he's drunk and heartbroken and angry and then no one even knows his name when they sing Happy Birthday to him and I think he realizes then that even if he gets Felix to forgive him he'll always be just a pet to these people. Their little "poor" friend who's a novelty to all of their rich aristocratic friends and families. I think that's then that he decides to murder Felix.

And there is all this Romeo and Juliet references/subtext, like they both swallow the poison but then Felix is left to die alone because Oliver refuses to drink the poison. I've seen some people saying he was planning to die with him and gave up last minute but I don't think that's what happened, I think he decided to kill Felix that night because he realized he was never gonna have him the way he wanted. I don't think he even wanted to kill anyone else at this point, I think he just kind of wanted to kill Felix and then take his place in the family, to sort of become him.

But then after when he talks to Venetia he realizes that plan's never gonna work because apparently Elspeth is the only one still under his spell. So he's never gonna have Felix, he's never gonna have Felix's place in this family and now Felix's sister and dad know how obsessive and manipulating he is, so he's probably gonna lose his spot in the family as Elspeth's darling real soon, so he kills Venetia as well. Now I don't think he actually kills her in her sleep or something, I think he just knew she was unstable as fuck and left the razors there knowing she would do the work. I think he would have planned something real quick though, had she not taken the bait.

And then there's the ending where he gets everything - Saltburn and probably the family fortune as well - and he finally gets to become and own the beautiful, beautiful things he longed for SO LONG. I've seen people saying Oliver is a genius and stuff, and I think yeah his plan worked for the most part, but only because he adapted and eliminated his prey swiftly. I think his original plan was to be with Felix, so when that couldn't happen he wanted to become Felix, but that went wrong as well, so he resorted to the last option - devouring everything Felix held dear. In the end, he was obsessed with Felix - he loved him, he admitted that himself.

And I do think he was in love as well lol

I think Oliver is such an interesting character - he's fascinating at times, but also repulsive. He's smart, sure, and he knows how to pull the right strings at the right time, but I think his original plan failed. He just let himself be driven mad by the fascination he felt for Felix and for how everything about him was so, so beautiful, and then devoured everything he could with no restraints. And that was sure a crazy ride to watch!

[cwcthzl]

i am assigned you homework to watch when harry met sally

deb

okay so when i saw this i decided i was gonna watch it and keep a record of all of my thoughts during the film and share it with you, so here you go (it's a lot, i warn you)

i can't believe i have harry's exact haircut oh my fucking god

GET THIS MAN'S BAKERY OUT OF MY FACE

why does he casually have grapes w him

god how i envied those cheerful ppl who dotted their 'i's with little hearts

"look, when the shit comes down, i'm gonna be prepared and you're not. that's all i'm saying." / "in the meantime you're gonna ruin your whole life waiting for it."

sally's hair flow is actually gorgeous no wonder why she puts that much hairspray on

their fits are so 🤩🤩

i like how everytime sally declines to say more when harry asks, harry goes with 'fine, don't tell me' and moves on with whatever is in front of him instead of giving sally the reaction she very much expects (aka pleading for more info) and sally just gives in because she WANTS to share even tho she says she doesn't/can't

TF IS THAT ORDER. WHEN DID ORDERING PIE BECOME THIS COMPLICATED

sheldon the wonder schlong😭😭💀

"but if you MUST know" gurl just spit it out

"they don't make sunday." / "why not?" / because of god." IM WHEEZING

he is so sassy with the 'so?'s oh my god

he is so me

i like the song choice here because i think it really reflects sally and harry's interaction perfectly. "you say ee-ther, i say either." / "you like potato, and i like pot-ahto."

why does he have a baseball bat

why do blonde men look bald

"i never considered not sleeping with you a sacrifice" SALLY YOU COOKED HIM GIRL

"it's amazing. you look like a normal person but actually you are the angel of death."

i LOVE harry's mindset he is so me i'm gonna kill myself this guy is an ass

HOW MANY TIMES DID THIS MF MARRY

i was waiting for harry to get divorced tbh he had that divorced dad kinda vibe to him im glad he aced his journey ❤️

standing up to join the wave after telling your friend your wife told you she doesn't know if she's ever loved you is INSANE

"oh really? well that symptom is fucking my wife." funniest line delivery in history

marie i love you bby we're gonna get through this together even tho you're dumb asf

why is this bitch pulling a joe goldberg rn

it's the way sally is taller than harry for me

this couple pissed me off so much GOD STOP TALKING OVER EACH OTHER FOR A FUCKING SEC

YESSSS DIVORCED BITCH APARTMENT THAT HAS NO SURROUNDINGS OTHER THAN A COUCH YESSSS

is harry reading stephen king or are my eyes deceiving me

it's that ugly ass back cover that got my attention. i thrifted doctor sleep and only realized stephen king was on the back cover when mom pointed it out by saying that guy probably looked at his own face for horrors. not cool mum

"i miss the idea of him."

THEY ARE SO ON THE OTHER SIDES OF THE COIN I CANT

he is so weird why does he remember all the things she ordered with such hyperspecific steps. why is he like that. why is he me

"big jerk." / "little creep." LMAOOOOOOOOOO

UGH WHY ARE THEY LIKE THIS. DANCINGCHEEK TO CHEEK??????? OH MY GODDDDDD

SUCH A SWEET NEW YEARS KISS 😭😭😭

marie i'm gonna kick your ass

MARIE AND JESS??????? THEY ARE SO CUTE

their fight 😭😭😭 their hug😭😭😭😭 i hate this bitches😭😭😭

NOW THEY HAVE BEEF WITH EACH OTEHR'S PARTNERS????? LMAO

"he is a good guy, you should talk to him!" / "he is too tall to talk to." what if i did a flip

he is still reading the end of the books first

he is so soft and gentle with her i'm gonna cry. not a single jab, a single sarcastic comment. just attentively listening and comforting - reassuring her and petting her hair as sally ugly cries . oh my god they are so 😭😭

sally is so pretty even when she cries tf

laughing to crying pipeline is so real sally i get you bby

i love their little kissies it's so insanely pure to me. like a kiss you would get when you are in elementary when you thought this was the ultimate form of love. so innocent and for what

okay well now this is not very just a peck

okay this is escalating

OKAY THIS QUICKLY ESCALATED

why is harry looking at the ceiling like its the ceiling's fault like damn 😭😭

i love sally's curls so much

why every way they approach this it gets even weirder like i am thinking if they fuck all of this would be resolved and they did and it sucked and now i am thinking they should just go back to being friends and they are doing it but it never seems fucking right???????

what are those skinny ass leggings are they fruitcakes

THE SLAP

HE SINGS TO HER OVER THE FUCKING PHONE FOR HER TO PICK UP😭😭😭🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

this tall bitch again

no this is another bitch

bro he is so me what the fuck i'm gonna kill myself

FRANK SINATRA???? WDYM IT HAD TO BE YOU?????

"how about you love me too?"

THE DETAILS????? IM DEYING

"i came here because when you realize you wanna spend the rest of your life with somebody you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

"you say things like that and you make it impossible for me to hate you!" 10 things i hate about you reference? perchance?

SMILING INTO THE KISSSSSSS IM DECEASING

yeah def have chocolate sauce on the side

but after all, i really enjoyed this film. like, throughly. i would be fine even if they didn't end up together because their friendship was just that good and reminded me of me and a friend of mine, and it really touched some subjects i really liked. also i added another mf to my kinlist, so thanks????? ig????? they are very cute and i Loved this film debs you are a saint

[cowboycannibalism]

i watched When Evil Lurks (2023) yesterday and I have thoughts! also this is literally just my letterboxd review copy and pasted with a bit more detail lol

spoilers!! ⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️

first of all, I am not the biggest possession horror fan. It's not my thing. But wow I was actually so into this movie I completely forgot about it being a possession movie! It was sort of a mix between zombie/disease and possession which was interesting. The very first Rotten we see is hard to look at, not normally a sight you think of when someone is possessed. Usually these movies tend to be more bone-cracking, spine breaking, unnatural bending and scary voices. Seeing the "demon"/evil manifest physically with bodily fluids and boils and rotting flesh made my stomach turn a bit which was awesome!

Secondly, I admit I'm very partial to sibling dynamics in movies, I love my siblings and I would die for them. The only people I would want to be in this apocalyptic-end-of-days situation with would be my siblings and my mom. I think the film did a great job bringing to life that tie between family, that you would do anything to protect them even if it means leaving your entire life behind including people who may be close but not willing to believe you (the ex wife and new husband). Also I couldn't help but compare them a bit to mario and luigi in my head but I blame that on me watching the Mario movie right before this 😅.

Jaime (Jimi) and Pedro are fun contrasting personalities in the scenario they get put into. Their priorities are different and even the belief they have is split, while pedro is more sure about the Rotten, Jaime is so doubtful he can't even admit if what they saw was real and that leads to problems with everyone else believing them. He's seen as the "good" brother so of course if he's saying he isn't sure of what they see, then all the other characters would believe him over Pedro, the "bad" brother with a troubled past. One of the things I loved about it was that Jaime never waivers in his faith in Pedro, he may not be sure of the Rotten/evil but he always trusts fully in his brother.

Pedro does get on my nerves with some of his choices but cmon would it be a horror movie if you weren't mad at some character for making stupid decisions? The desperation that seeps from the actor (Ezequiel Rodriguez) is so palpable that it brings out sympathy for him, he may be dumb but he's trying his best okay?

The whole story with the autistic son was a little weird and I know everyone's reviews of this say it's ableist but I saw it in a different light. The Cleaner says the demon can't figure out the minds of autistic people, get stuck in their bodies and that helps them from fully becoming possessed. To Me it feels like the opposite of what movies would usually do in where the son would be autistic BECAUSE of the demon, whereas in this movie he is "normal" when the demon takes over. It isn't a cure, it isn't saying autistic people have evil in them that needs to be fixed, but that is something that people have said for a long time and tbh its probably still a thing idiots believe in. it's interesting to see that his autism actually kept him safe for as long as it did.

Let's talk about the kills! When the wife of the landowner whacks into him with the axe, I was caught so off guard, same with the dog attack on the little girl. oh god, the throwing up of the hair and necklace by the son got to me, I probably shouldn't have been eating while watching this. This may sound weird but I LOVED the scene of the mom eating her son's brains as she's walking alongside the car Jimi is in.

The movie was so bleak and nihilistic that I felt the need to repent so this doesn't happen in real life. I wish it could have expanded a bit more on the universe, some of the characters and the disease/possession but for pacing reasons I think they did a solid job of dropping enough hints to fill in information. I love foreign horror movies and Argentina you are on my watchlist now, i enjoyed this and I think its definitely worth a watch!

Be warned there are animal and child deaths in this movie so know your triggers. It has English subtitles that aren't 100% accurate so it can get a little confusing sometimes, just pay close attention and if you want more insight the reddit threads on this movie are so great.

[tartrazeen]

You know what sucks?

DR2's case 3 gets so much guff from people for sucking (and it does lmao) when we were actually on the verge of an INCREDIBLE rebuttal from the killer:

Saying Hajime did it.

Let's go right up to the part where Mikan is about to slip up with that camera angle thing. But instead of saying that, she just breaks down into tears.

"You're a bully, Hajime," she sobs. "Worse than anyone I've ever met! Maybe Hiyoko was mean, maybe everyone I grew up with beat me up, but you! You're the one who turned the only friends I've ever had against me!

"And you were a bully from the very start. You never let me use any of my conversation starters. You used that embarrassing photo of me against Teruteru even when I begged you to forget about it. Now you have everyone convinced that I'm some sort of killer?!

"They all believe you, too. You're so nice, Hajime. Everyone likes having you around. They'll believe anything you say. I used to think you were nice too - that's why I felt safe enough to wake up with you in the morning. That's why I trusted you when you said I was your alibi!

"But I was wrong. We were all wrong. We should never have believed you. Not when you used that trust against me. That alibi was actually your plan to frame me, wasn't it? And you used that trust against everyone else, too.

"Tell me this, Ultimate Liar. Why were you the only one who saw this supposed video? Why should any of us believe it was even real?!"

Cut to Hajime trying to say that video was real, and Mikan demanding proof of it. The most he can say is that it's how he knew to go to the music venue.

The others try to ask why the conference room and music venue were made to look like each other.

"HA! Is that all you have to say? If you were the killer all along, of course you'd know to go to the music venue! The video simply gives you a convenient excuse."

"Isn't it obvious? That was his back-up plan. Just like Peko and her fake serial killer persona, Hajime had his fake suicide video! He set that up in advance knowing he could always blame the only other person who'd be in the hospital - me!

The others would start asking how Hajime would ever have the time or opportunity to set up such an elaborate alibi.

"In the end, I was once again the target of a big, mean, hateful bully!"

"You all think I had enough time, don't you? Weak, clumsy, dumb, pathetic Mikan, suddenly able to kill two people under all of your noses!

"Now it's too complicated?! Now it can't be Hajime?!

"I might be the Ultimate Nurse, but I had three patients to care for! Nobody else stayed to help me, and the hospital was empty! With Fuyuhiko back at his cottage and the others quarantined in the motel, why wouldn't Hajime have all the time he needs to dress up both rooms?

Assuming the class gets tangled up in this enough to realize Hajime has just as much opportunity as Mikan, right down to having the same alibi, it'd be up to Chiaki or Nagito (probably Chiaki) to mention Hiyoko's death. Even if Hajime knew Mikan was busy caring for three patients, and even if he volunteered just to watch how busy she was, and even if he used that information to plan a back-up alibi, there's no way Hajime would have been able to pull off the imitation murder. They've already discussed it: Hajime hadn't seen Monokuma's film until the investigation started, and it isn't like anyone told him what happened -

"And with Nagito in such critical condition, of course I couldn't leave his room! No one knew that better than Hajime, who volunteered to get in my way throughout the day!! Then spent the rest of the night framing me for a video that doesn't exist!!"

"Oh?! Oh oh oh oh oh? What's this I hear? More trust in Hajime, more doubt in Mikan?

Cue the surprise about that, and Hajime's immediate attempt to counter it by saying Ibuki couldn't have -

"'Nobody told him what happened' - is that all you have left? Empty guesses? Because I know someone who could have told Hajime everything about that film: Ibuki."

"Couldn't have told you? Oopsie, looks like someone forgot Monokuma's motive! Ibuki had the Gullible Disease, didn't she? That means you could have made her watch the film, then made her tell you what happened.

"When do you think that could have happened, Hajime? Right after you slashed Hiyoko's throat, but before you strangled Ibuki? Did you need one final alibi to clean up after your mess?"

The timing, as improbable as it is, still checks out. Hajime had all night to do this, according to Mikan. Who's to say he didn't stop in the middle of his murders to watch a horrible film for inspiration? After all, the real killer left Ibuki hanging there for who knew how long.

"The worst part is that you undid everything I tried to do to help. Ibuki was starting to recover, but you strangled her - and tried to blame me, with my weak little arms! You made the concert hall so hot that I couldn't perform a good enough autopsy! You told me to take a rest at the same time you conveniently saw this supposed video, and used that as proof that I had time to make it!"

Nobody else has their ticket (that's why Nagito told Hajime to keep his) and Monokuma isn't telling anyone who's seen anything. All Monokuma will say is that Hajime put on a biiiiig show of buying a sticker to not see a movie that he ended up watching anyway!

The doubt should really be falling onto Hajime as everyone starts to wonder if this is true. Mikan is just such a perfect victim, and with how busy she was caring for the others, could she have really had the time to set up anything so elaborate? It looks more and more like Hajime or Mikan could have equally been the killer, and it's all coming down to who they simply trust more.

This is when Nagito would actually step up. There'd be a long silence before he asks why Monokuma told them Hajime bought that sticker. Back at the movie theatre, Monokuma wouldn't tell Hajime or Nagito who bought that tote bag. That was because the killer bought it. Doesn't that mean Hajime isn't the killer?

Monokuma laments his big mouth, but says Nagito isn't going to deduce his way into another hint like he did with the body discovery announcement. The reason Monokuma told them who bought the sticker but not who bought the tote bag was obviously because the tote bag was more important to the killer's plan!

But from what Mikan is saying, the killer purposely attempting to prove they hadn't seen the film yet would have been a big part of the plan. Crucial, even, because up until then, everyone assumed Hajime had seen the movie! Who on earth would pay $1.5 million for such a cheap sticker to avoid it? And even if it hadn't been the killer's plan from the beginning, it would've certainly been at the core by the time of the trial. So why does telling them who bought the tote bag reveal the killer's identity, but not the sticker?

What I like about that is how it gives Monokuma more of a reason to stop the Monokuma Announcements in the next chapter. Right now, it's kind of arbitrary. But if he got 'tricked' into revealing even more hints because he kept blabbing during the trials and investigations - with even Monomi chiming in to say all his insults did this to himself - then I could easily see him being like, "You know what? Fine. For this Fun House, you're completely on your own. No hints, no announcements, nothing."

But I also like that it corners Monokuma into admitting that the sticker isn't important to the killer's plan in the same breath as affirming the tote bag is. So reasonably, you could write your way back to the same Panic Talk Action and keep "Theatre Bonus Prize" as the same answer. :)

Anyway, the real goal is to have a trial where you know you didn't do it, but it's genuinely your word over somebody else's. With a theme of this being that they don't 'really' know anything about each other, so they can't 'really' trust each other, it'd throw a lot of those character dynamics into the air. The very next chapter has Kazuichi believing Hajime's the traitor, and then Hajime finding out he doesn't actually have a talent while also holding back everything else Nagito learns about them. I wanted more stuff building towards that theme...

... and I wanted Mikan to use the rebuttal that was RIGHT!! THERE!!

She's taking care of three people and is super tired and the autopsy is ruined and she's so frazzled and no one else saw this video and Hajime had the same opportunities WHY DIDN'T SHE JUST ACCUSE HIM OF FRAMING HER?! He had nothing to defend himself with until she talked about the stupid camera angle! THAT'S SO LAME!!

[andrew3garfield]

i have this theory in which, very possibly, leigh isn't that happy that they brought amanda and john back . hear me out, in 2006 he deliberately killed both of them in such a harsh way and i think it was his way to say "okay guys let's just get over with these films and characters. love them but enough is enough". and probably thought that would be it. wrong. they literally brought john back right after (saw iv), dead, yes, but still making an appearance. and kept making appearances until jigsaw (2017). amanda however, only came back in saw vi - flashbacks. and now both are back in saw x, i haven't watched it so I can't truly speak about it but as far as I read they're both prominent especially in terms of their "relationship" and the film had more depth than the others, supposedly. now, if I were Leigh i would be pissed because saw x takes place between saw and saw ii and that's like a fvck you Leigh you should've written things differently.... like *crickets sound fr*. I'm by no means sayimg saw x is bad – i'm pretty sure it's good and a marvellous addition to the franchise but it's a slight punch in the stomach for all that we knew. not bad just probably different. especially taking into consideration that both characters have been dead for 17 years but are fans' favourites. and these films only completely work with them. it's like either they shouldn't have killed them or ended the franchise which i dont think they'll ever do because money speaks louder and louder and not to mention that saw x is critically acclaimed. anyways, i can't wait to watch it but also i just want to know how leigh actually feels about it. he probably doesn't give a single fvck

[kellykadesperate]

yes exactly!!!! i bought the book two weeks ago (it was on my list forever) and i'm pretty close to finishing it. i was planning on reading the book fully first and then watching the movie but then the movie happened and i just couldn't look away lmao 😭😭😭 listen i know this gets thrown around a lot but that whole 'a fell first but b fell harder' is like???? the way alex has to wrap his head around being into boys and then also having feelings for the boy he thought he despised for so long. but then, once gets there, he's All In. like with everything, if alex claremont diaz decided to go for something, he goes for it fully and without hesitation and it's so beautiful to see henry fox, who doesn't think he'll ever find or get to have the love he so desperately wants, get alex's unrestrained love and affection!!!!! i saw a gifset of that scene where zahra catches henry in alex's hotel room, and at the beginning when they're in bed, henry is dead asleep, looking so comfortable and rested, next to the man he probably already loves. and it hit me, 'world class imsomniac', the grief that hits him at times and there's nothing he can do but ride the wave, and then alex comes along and is able to give him a sense of peace and calm and he finally gets to rest.

i wanna cry. this is a book i think i'll read every few months or so.

oh 100% about alex being all in! he's like hm ok henry? really? him? well i do kind of like him and then he just starts tumbling down the hill so fast it's insane lmao. henry is literally like hm ok well maybe alex doesn't mind kissing me a bit and then alex is holding his hand is like hey i want to do this again and henry has to be like don't overreact don't get ahead of urself. he has to be the one that mentions they have to keep it casual because if alex won't say it, he's clearly forced to. but alex is like so loudly into him it's insane

oh my god it really is a sense of peace. absolute peace. he's literally like well alex is my happy calm place so yes i can sleep and i can feel safe and loved. the same with the party which literally is top3 scenes of the whole film. like henry is having a blast just sitting at a party talking to alex and you literally see him seize up when the girl is on alex's lap and alex goes off to dance. he literally looks so out of place again until alex drags him to dance and he's dancing around him before the girl drags alex again lmao

sidenote this bit in the book would have killed me in the film but it has such a different meaning considering we literally see henry watching alex the whole time:

“Here,” Alex says, moving his own hips, “watch me.” With a grave gulp of champagne, Henry says, “I am.”

honestly ofc the book has so much more nuance to it but i actually love how many more details and things are picked up on the film. seeing henry so utterly in love with alex at the party is insane because we don't see that pov in the book. the addition of henry looking heartbroken when alex is kissed by those random girls at midnight rather than nora actually took me tf out because you can tell henry is like 'i want to do that, i want to be able to do that' and then he gets to! and then he ghosts alex because he convinces himself that alex just saw that as another wild nye kiss thing. urgh naunce was added in a new and cool way

film adaptations which are true to the book but do things differently are just so so interesting to me!