#and when i heard spiderman i demanded we watch that. its my favorite movie

[dragons-and-yellow-roses]

I got paid real adult money to watch Spider-Man, play solitaire, and compete against my boss in Tetris today

[spideyxchelle]

I know you probably have a lot of headcanon request. But if you would mind I'd love something along the lines of peter and mj are dating or on the verge of dating and Liz comes back. And then idk mj thinks peter is still into Liz and starts to pull away and peter is kinda like.. ??

this prompt has been sitting in my inbox haunting me forever now and i hope i do it justice, i’m not sure i did, tbh. music insp. 

there is nothing worse than an almost-something, an almost-could-have-been. and MJ knows that better than most how that feels. 

perhaps we should start at the beginning. shall we? 

for the rest of sophomore year (because homecoming is at the beginning of the school year) peter and MJ got close as hell. because of decathlon at first….and a little secret getting out.

MJ found his webbing formula in his school notes during a study session for chem and, for obvious reasons, had a lot of questions. and when peter tried to answer (see: fumbling) she didn’t buy his shit. so Ned had to learn to share guy in the chair duties. except MJ was better at eating snacks and offering witty commentary than geeking out over spiderman. because even if peter was a real superhero or some shit, he was still the same guy who had a mullet in the 8th grade. and c’mon.

the summer between sophomore year and junior year was the moment for peter and mj. their friendship was on a path, a one way ticket of inevitability. and where it ended they both kind of knew. 

they’d spent the whole year being friends, sharing laughs and inside jokes and becoming invaluable to one another. peter had lost count of how many times mj had patched him up after a mission gone wrong. or how many times she’d stolen his snacks during movie marathons. 

their touches burned, their glances lingered a bit too long…..and their smiles felt private and personal. even Ned found himself leaving the room whenever they had one of their awkward, fully-loaded moments. 

and MJ started to watch their every interaction. like, maybe today was the day they took the plunge. 

almost-something, an almost-could-have-been. 

because in august liz allen toomes moved back to new york city. 

she had gotten into Columbia, MJ heard from Cindy, and classes started in August. which meant the summer of almosts or could-bes can to an abrupt halt. their moment had passed. liz was back in town. and MJ knew there wasn’t even a contest between the two girls. 

which is why she pulls away. full stop. 

at first, its easy to pull away. peter doesn’t even try and fight it. she’s busy. she has to watch her little brother. she has a family thing. the lies come easily. 

slowly, it becomes harder. because peter starts to figure something is up. especially when they go back to school. because they have classes together and MJ still finds excuses to avoid him. in the same-fucking-classes. 

and her pulling away hurts. because he’s sure she was an almost-something, an almost-could-have-been. and he can’t put his finger on the pulse of what went wrong, of how he fucked this up. 

so, he does the worst possible thing. he asks liz. 

since she’s moved back, they’ve gotten close. ish. as close as he can be with someone he used to have a pathetic crush on and the daughter of the girl he put in prison. he and liz are insanely complicated. but good friends. considering. 

and she’s a girl. maybe she’ll understand how a girl thinks and feels. because he sure as hell can’t figure it out. 

he shows up at her dorm room and does an adorable, little snapchat about getting lost at Columbia (which MJ totally sees and doesn’t help the situation). when liz sees him, she notices his face and posture and immediately asks, “what’s wrong with you, peter?” “i’m having….girl trouble?” he offers sheepishly. she pauses, then pushes her door open more so he can come in. they get comfy in her room on her questionably springy twin mattress. “don’t you think its a little weird asking me for girl advice?” “i’d ask may…but she just tells me i’m great and then we eat thai food.” “okay,” she laughs, and he briefly remembers why he liked her so much. 

she was kind. he would have done anything for her, once. but everything that felt like worship with liz is also why his feelings faded. while MJ, his feelings were different. she frustrated him. sometimes he wanted to scream at her. but he wanted the hard times with her. almost as much as he wanted the good times. and he REALLY wanted the good times. 

“so?” peter waits for all of three seconds for blurting out, “i like MJ. and i thought she liked me.” liz blinks, obviously taken aback, “michelle?” “yeah,” peter stutters, “i just…do. “ “you don’t have to defend it to me, peter” he bounces his knee and asks, “so what’s the trick, the secret? how do i…..uh…make it happen?” liz pats his his knee in a forced effort to make it stop shaking, “there’s no secret, peter. sometimes you gotta just put it all on the line and hope it works.” 

he remembers the last time he did that. it was with the sweet girl with the gentle eyes sitting next to him. “i’m sorry,” he says surprising himself, “and i know i say that a lot…but i am sorry. for everything. for ditching decathlon, for leaving you at the dance. for everything.” for her father. for what he did to her family. even if he didn’t mean to. he thinks about mr. toomes more than he admits to Tony. he thinks his mentor suspects. 

liz kisses his cheek and it feels like a goodbye. maybe they needed this, he thinks. closure feels as good. “you should go talk to her.” “yea,” he nods, “i should. its been…weeks, though.” “you’ve got now,” liz says gently, “and that’s all you can have.” 

they spend the rest of the night talking. and whatever left over feelings he might have had for liz melt away. because knowing her, knowing her beyond the pedestal he put her on, makes everything so much clearer. she’s great. but so not for him. 

he needs his albeit it somewhat grumpy, brilliant best friend. he needs her challenge, her spirit. her smile. her random trivia on the diamond industry and its cruelty. everything. 

the next day he finds MJ in her favorite cafe. its more a library with coffee than an actual cafe but its so MJ it hurts. the books are worn and tattered. and he can hear MJ’s voice in his head saying that these books are used, they’re loved. they’ve lived. 

and he wants that for them. he wants to live like these books. 

he sits across from her in her reading nook. he doesn’t wait before he starts speaking, “why don’t you talk to me anymore?” she startles, narrows her eyes and replies, “i talk to you, parker. like right now. see?” “don’t fuck with me, MJ,” he says stronger, “you know what i mean.”

his words make it hard for her to look away. whenever he straightens his spine and talks up at her like an equal it always catches her attention. he demands her respect. and damn him, he has it. “i don’t know what you mean, loser.” 

“i thought we meant more to each other than radio silence.” “the summer is over, peter.” “we were friends before the summer, MJ.” “and we’re still friends.” “i thought,” and he channels liz, live for the moment, “i thought we were more.” 

and MJ scoffs, “you never….you….don’t act like….oh shut up.” “why?” he challenges, “i’m trying to figure it out, MJ. i’m trying to figure out what happened between us. we felt so close.” “you were literally with liz last night.” 

and it all clicks. the last few weeks. the end of the summer. her pulling away. all of it. 

peter stands, pulls down his shirt indignantly, “i was with liz to talk about you. because you’ve been ignoring me. because i like you. okay? find me once you’ve worked this out, MJ. the cold shoulder sucks, fyi.” 

MJ spends the whole night playing over the last month or so over and over and over again in her head. that line they were teetering on feels more and more real the more she thinks about it. and she was right. it wasn’t one sided. but she’d let liz’s appearance shake her unshakeable confidence. because peter parker made her damn vulnerable. fuck him. he was so wonderful. and it was a problem for her. 

the next day, she sits next to him in chem and she sees the corners of his mouth turn up in a smile. 

“don’t make a big deal out of this,” she chides him. his hand finds her under the lab table and they tangle their fingers. he smiles even bigger. “what did i say?” she mumbles. “yea, yea,” he squeezes her fingers, “i heard you.” 

they talk about it after school. and there is a bit of an argument. which ends in their first kiss. because she is talking so much and peter is O V E R it. he gets a string of curse words for his presumptuous move. which ends in their second kiss because MJ wants to stop talking of her violation this time. 

when she sees Liz three weeks later, its with Peter on her arm and she feels her face heat up but she’s so glad no one can tell she’s blushing. Liz smirks, “alright, MJ?” “i got there, okay?” “with a little push,” peter nudges her. she knocks him back, “i got there, though. gimme some credit.” 

[elgomoviereviews]

Who will win in the Oscars?

Only a few hours separate us from the Oscars ceremony, the event that marks the official end of awards season. And while most of this year’s categories do not hold that much competition, the question of whether Roma will win big this year is still to be decided. Here are my predictions and hopes for who will take the award home tonight:

- Best Documentary Feature:

Will win: RBG

Should win: Free Solo

Judging by the fact that my favorite documentary of the year; Three identical Strangers, didn’t even get nominated in this category, I wouldn’t say that I really understand on what basis the academy chooses its nominees or winners when it comes to documentaries. And between this year’s nominees, Free Solo stands out as the most eye opening story that both thrills and inspires. But, nominate anything against RBG (a dull movie that feels like an overlong tv report biopic about a female lawyer who made her way through becoming a judge when it wasn’t easy for women to do so) in this day and age and it will automatically lose. 

- Best Animated Feature:

Will win: Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse

Should win: Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse

Don’t get me wrong, I think that Isle of Dogs is a masterpiece, I think that Incredibles 2 is as good as its predecessor and I even think that Mirai is an animated feature that could’ve won the Oscar if it was nominated in most other years. But Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse is a movie that came and took everyone by surprise. I went in with the highest expectations ever, after the rave reviews it’d received, and I still was blown away as it exceeded all my expectations. Unlike all titles it’s competing against, I’ve never seen anything like Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse. From the range of amazing colors displayed on screen with every shot, to the intricate and unpredictable plot, to the highly emotional take on a very well known character, to the message that the whole movie so smoothly delivers to its multi-generational audience, besides being an experience of sheer fun, this movie never takes a wrong turn. 

- Best Foreign Language Film of the Year:

Will win: Roma

Should win: Roma

This is by far one of the best years for this category. There is a frontrunner like most years for sure, but what’s different this year is that the runner ups are so significant that they could’ve definitely been the frontrunner if they were released any other year. But while Capernaum, Cold War and Shoplifters are all amazing movies that are well worth your time, Roma is considered by many (including myself) to be the best movie of 2018, let alone just the best foreign language one.

- Best Achievement in Visual Effects:

Will win: Avengers: Infinity War

Should Win: First Man

I’ve seen superheroes and super villains smash heavily CGI’d cities and landscapes a million times by now. What I haven’t seen though is such a horrifyingly realistic look of the moon’s surface and the POV of a man stuck in a capsule that might or might not land on it. My bets go to the more popular movie though, the movie that probably hired half of Hollywood to work in it, Avengers: Infinity War.

- Best Achievement in Sound Editing:

Will win: A Quiet Place

Should win: A Quiet Place

My vote goes to the only movie in the nominees list that actually wouldn’t have been bearable to watch if not for its creative sound editing job. In A Quite Place, a movie that’s nearly silent from beginning to end, any sound the audience hears has to act as a direct tool to translate the plot to screen, it does the job perfectly.

- Best Achievement in Sound Mixing:

Will win: Black Panther

Should win: First Man

Even though the moon landing sequence gives us some layers of sound that we haven’t heard before, mixed together so masterfully that you get an idea of the emotional state of the main character, the nature of the landscape he’s just landed in and a background of grandiose music that both his achievement and sorrow. That’s not enough to break the Academy’s unspoken rule of giving this award to big action movies. So again, my choice for the win will go for the more popular choice with this category. 

Best Original Song:

Will win: Shallow - Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson (A Star is Born)

Should win: Shallow - Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson (A Star is Born)

Out of all nominees of all categories this year, this song will have the safest win. Every Oscar voter must’ve listened to one of the most popular songs of the year five hundred times by now and they won’t imagine anyone better than pop queen, Lady Gaga raising a statue in this category. Besides being a beautiful song that sticks to your head for days after watching the movie, it also is essential to the movie’s plot, where it gets sung in a very powerful sequence, making it all the more iconic and giving it even more reasons to be the best original song for a movie of the year.

Best Original Score:

Will win: If Beale Street Could Talk

Should win: If Beale Street Could Talk

The biggest contender here would be Black Panther, and it’s very probable that it might take home this award. But I just can’t imagine that anyone could listen to If Beale Street Could Talk’s original score and deny its beauty and the huge emotional effect it has on them. This score has an instant feeling of classiness about it that you’d think this is a re-shuffle of a 1950′s orchestra recording. The tracks Eros and Agape will go down as two of the most iconic pieces in movie history.

- Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling:

Will win: Mary Queen of Scots

Should win: Vice

My personal preference here goes to Vice, the one time this year that I found myself suddenly forgetting who the star of the movie I’m watching in front of me is. Yes, I forgot that this is Christian Bale for real, and I had to remind myself that I actually know who that is and that he doesn’t look like that in real life. This in big effect is a result of Bale’s brilliant performance, but it wouldn’t have looked and felt that realistic if it wasn’t for the best makeup job of the year in my opinion. That being said, this category doesn’t only reward makeup, but also hairstyling, and since DIck Cheney’s bold in most of the movie, I understand why the academy would choose the usual period piece over Vice. 

- Best Achievement in Costume Design:

Will win: The Favourite

Should win: The Favourite

One can only argue that Black Panther should win this for creating a clothing style that merges between modern and classic African-American fashion, but I will go with the more detailed, outrageous costumes of the period drama (the genre also well known for winning in this category), The Favourite. 

Best Achievement in Production Design:

Will win: Black Panther

Should win: Roma

Thinking that the Academy will choose Black Panther’s art direction for looking cool, over the efforts of an art director who recreated the entirety of a Mexican city in the ‘70′s (Roma) or another who reimagined an 18th century Queen’s palace to its deepest details (The Favourite), is ridiculous to say the least. The Academy has to justify giving Black Panther all this recognition though, and having its first time black female nominee art director win in their ceremony could be a huge boost to the Oscars’ image as the platform that honors minorities like no other. 

Best Achievement in Film Editing:

Will win: Bohemian Rhapsody

Should win: Vice

Bohemian Rhapsody is a project that was doomed to fail. It’s director Bryan Singer got fired in the middle of production and left the set without a director. Consequently, putting all pressure on its editor to complete the final outcome and make it look like a movie. I get that it’s a very demanding task, but upon judging the movie as is, without knowing anything about the hurdles of its production, I wouldn’t even nominate the distracted, at times awkward editing of Bohemian Rhapsody. Huge props for recreating the whole Live AID Queen performance while adding an extra emotional layer to it, making the movie end on a bang, but I’d still take the smooth, slick editing of Vice, that allowed its director to maneuver the audience into trick after trick so effortlessly, over it any day.

- Best Achievement in Cinematography:

Will win: Alfonso Cuaron - Roma

Should win: Alfonso Cuaron - Roma

Smooth camera movement to help invest the audience in time and space? Check. Interesting camera angles to reflect the character’s opinions and emotions? Check. Memorable stills, so iconic that you’d frame them on your wall? Check. Capturing shots so deep where one still shot could tell the audience so much information about the characters and their relationship to others and the space they’re at? Check. Finding the essence of the landscape and its details so much that you’d start smelling that place as if you’re there? Check. FIRST TIME CINEMATOGRAPHER? CHECK!! 

- Best Adapted Screenplay:

Will win: Blackkklansman

Should win: If Beale Street Could Talk

Consider this a lifetime achievement award to the black director with the longest career in Hollywood right now who hasn’t won an Oscar yet (and he’s been so vocal about, it’s starting to make noise). Does he deserve it? In my opinion, Blackkklansman is the most boring movie of this years Best Picture’s nominees by far. It’s plot feels aimless most of the time, its dialogue tries to be funny but usually fails and it never succeeds at striking any emotion out of the audience up until its very shocking ending. On the other hand, everything about If Beale Street Could Talk’s screenplay feels right from the start. The dialogue is so smart that you learn about important plot points, amidst a day to day conversation between two friends, without even feeling it. The voice over helps the plot progress so effortlessly and the story just never seems to reach a stagnant point. Add to that, some of the most memorable quotes of the year, If Beale Street Could Talk has all what it takes to win in this category, except the right writer’s name.

- Best Original Screenplay:

Will win: Green Book

Should win: Green Book

A screenplay that takes the audience through a journey across America and a another inside its two protagonists. Equally balancing between humor and drama, tackling big ideas while never falling into the trap of feeling like a lecture, all thanks to the light approach this screenplay always takes, focusing on the bright side of this story instead of the melodrama other movies stick to when it comes to ideas like the ones this movie tackles. The only danger facing Green Book in this category would be if voters decided to not honor writer Nick Vallelonga with a win for the racial tweets that recently surfaced from his past. In this case, The Favourite will take home this prize.

Best Achievement in Directing:

Will win: Alfonso Cuaron - Roma

Should win: Alfonso Cuaron - Roma

All hail the king who gave us the only masterpiece of 2018 and saved it from becoming the worst cinematic year of all time. I can’t think of any other contender who’s even worthy of being mentioned in an argument on whether Alfonso Cuaron should win best director this year or not. Besides all the spellbinding technicalities, all the hardship of the production, all the courage displayed in casting, cinematography, recreating from memories and helming a vision that he only sees and needs to convince everyone around him with, what makes Roma stand out as a groundbreaking achievement is the emotions it ignite in the audience, which literally transcend time and space.

- Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role:

Will win: Regina King - If Beale Street Could Talk

Should win: Amy Adams - Vice

None of the contenders in this category stands out in my opinion. They’ve all given really good performances and none of them rose to the level of greatness at any point. Emma Stone gave the most multilayered and complex role of her career. Rachel Weisz gave a believable performance as a character, both warm and dangerous at the same time. Regina King gave a very subtle, yet memorable performance, despite how small her time on screen is. My vote goes to Amy Adams though, the 6 time Oscar nominee who’s never won before and definitely deserves the recognition. Her role in Vice is pivotal in understanding the motivations that drive the lead character and consequently the whole plot, and she delivers that with the command of the masterful performer that she is.

- Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role:

Will win: Mahershala Ali - Green Book

Should win: Mahershala Ali - Green Book

What I don’t understand really is how this role with that much screen time is considered a supporting role. This character is more of a lead character than that of Viggo Mortensen’s in Green Book in my opinion. Mahershala Ali does it again and steals the show with his great charisma on screen. This is a locked win for Ali and he deserves it.

- Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role:

Will win: Glenn Close - The Wife

Should win: Yalitza Aparicio - Roma

Again, another lifetime achievement award for an actress who’s done nothing significant this year. This whole category is one of the weakest in this years’ categories. With overhyped performances from all five actresses, I’d honor Yalitza Aparicio; the only actress who’s never stood in front of a camera before nor received any acting training, yet her spontaneity helped her give a very heartfelt, universal performance. 

- Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role:

Will win: Rami Malek - Bohemian Rhapsody

Should win: Christian Bale - Vice

This is the most powerful category of this year’s Oscars in my opinion. All five performances are career best performances. Willem Dafoe’s take on Vincent Van Gogh is as impressive as his early work in The Last Temptation of the Christ, cementing his status as a Hollywood legend. Bradley Cooper succeeds in delivering an undoubtedly demanding performance that required him to sing live, learn to play guitar and embody a melancholic artist. Viggo Mortensen gave the funniest, most heartfelt performance of his career in his portrayal of a character that might have felt like a caricature if any other actor had played it. Rami Malek carries the weight of Bohemian Rhapsody on his shoulders. He outshines anyone with him on screen in a role that he clearly enjoyed playing every minute of, and successfully captured Freddie Mercury’s larger than life spirit. But it’s Christian Bale who gives the best performance of the year for me. His performance of the monotonic, robot like Dick Cheney may not be as flashy as that of Malek’s, but the impact that he leaves on the audience is second to none, even under that much makeup. Playing Dick Cheney is a role that had previously been deemed un-playable by many actors, but leave it to Hollywood’s chameleon who changes his whole skin with every single movie to take on this challenge and turn it into one of the most powerful performances of the decade. 

- Best Picture:

Will win: Black Panther

Should win: Roma

If we could see any trend for the Oscars these past years, it’s that their Best Picture winner almost always has nothing to do with whether it won any other significant awards or not. Spotlight won Best Picture, with only one other win for Best Editing. Moonlight won Best Picture, after losing the director race for Damien Chazelle. While Roma is the most critically acclaimed movie of the year, it’s also a Netflix produced movie; a platform previously thought of as a production house for TV series at best, and many of the voters would feel that it’s still not time for Netflix to produce a Best Picture. A really absurd argument that shows how Oscars (and specifically the Best Picture win) is about being politically and socially relevant and has nothing to do with art. And for those reasons they might go for the highest grossing movie out of the eight Best Picture nominees. The first comic book movie to be nominated for the award and it doesn’t hurt that it has a full African-American cast and director. I wish that they would prove me wrong.