#anyway i gave it 5 stars on letterboxd

[flung-out-of-asgard]

i love you madame web

[chaoswillcalmusdown]

one thing that is so funny is reading lowest reviews on letterboxd and then clicking the profiles to see their fave films and it's always dune or inception or la la land or matrix or a guy ritchie joint or like. good will hunting

without fail

[silhouettecrow]

365 Days of Writing Prompts: Day 218

Adjective: Sweet

Noun: Haunt

Definitions for those who need/want them:

Sweet: having the pleasant taste characteristic of sugar or honey, or not salty, sour, or bitter; (of air, water, or food) fresh, pure, and untainted; smelling pleasant like flowers or perfume, or fragrant; pleasing in general, or delightful; highly satisfying or gratifying; (informal) used to express approval or admiration, or excellent; working, moving, or done smoothly or easily; (US) denoting music, especially jazz, played at a steady tempo without improvisation; (of a person or action) pleasant and kind or thoughtful; (especially of a person or animal) charming and endearing; (dated) (informal) infatuated or in love with; dear, or beloved; (archaic) used as a respectful form of address; used for emphasis in various phrases and exclamations; used to emphasize the unpredictable individuality of someone's actions

Haunt: a place frequented by a specified person or group of people; a ghost; a place or event involving a ghost or spirit haunting a person, location, or object

[vonlipvig]

my letterboxd record gets more and more appalling as time goes on. banshees of inisherin and midnight meat train same rating. and i'm RIGHT.

[lowkeyrobin]

Hey pookie😽I’d like to request headcanons for the mcyts with an actor/actress s/o.<3 Especially how they’d react to any emotional scenes or if the character that their s/o played dies, im craving some angst right now lol

Ly😻

oooo okay okay ; I'm still very much burned out but unable to give myself a damn break so I apologize for these being so short ; I also named movies to get some inspo so sorry if you don't know any/some of them lol

ALSO!! I'm gonna rework my oneshot links on my masterlist so beware any changes lol

MCYT ; actor reader with death scenes

includes ; tommyinnit, ranboo, badlinu, nihachu & quackity

warnings ; language, talk about death, gore & violence

masterlist

TOMMYINNIT

you played a character in evil dead rise, which tommy got really attached too even though you got like 10 minutes of screen time

genuinley started sobbing and laughing at the same time bc your death was so sad to him for some reason yet so cool and bloody

he looks over at you, jaw dropped like "wtf?"

there's actually tears streaming down his cheeks 💀💀💀

you post a pic of him crying on ur ig story and caption it "he's sad I died"

he logs back into his old letterboxd account to rate it 5 stars

his explanation is "my partner died but good movie. I almost cried again seeing the monster thing at the end though"

RANBOO

you had a little cameo in a quiet place pt2

basically your character was alive for a while and helping out the abbotts until you died saving reagan from one of the death angels

she obviously couldn't hear one behind her and your character had to lunge and save her and sacrifice themselves on the island that she ran off too iykwim

like your character went off with her to keep her safe + you died during that chase/fight scene at the end

ran nearly broke down into tears because you got a solid two hours of time in that movie for all that buildup and shit

TO DIE TOO

they started crying a bit cause like ???

literally gave you an award (a massive hug) for your incredible acting skills bc damn

FREDDIE BADLINU

insidious the red door goes crazy

you bond with dalton at college and help him float around and shit

the demon doesn't like that you're helping him whatsoever so it drags your character into the further

the whole kill is done with you exploring the further for a moment, being hunted down by prey and then jumpscared by the demon

it's not a very emotional death but it scares the fuck out of Freddie

"wait, oh my God, they'll never be able to talk to Dalton about supernatural stuff again! what the hell?"

the death was pointless and for a jumpscare but he couldn't care, he enjoyed watching you on the screen

NIKI NIHACHU

you were in the forever purge

you play a very obviously queer & pro-human rights character who's shit on by all the rich, conservative, ranch owning Texans in the movie

you basically had to sacrifice yourself trying to get to the border in time

in the city scene, you get killed as a protection sacrifice

no way you were letting adela die

niki literally started crying bc there was no reason for your character to give up their life but they did anyways

you were such a w the whole movie and she can't help but rant about that as well

she gives you a round of applause at the end cause like that was a damn good performance cmon now

ALEX QUACKITY

alex is never watching any terrifier movie ever again holy fuck

you skipped over the first one bc you couldn't even watch it again and went to the second because you were in it

he was actually on edge the whole movie

what the hell do you mean you were cut in half??? wtf is this?? saw???

he actually almost puked LMAO

you were laughing the whole time your death was playing

"WHAT THE HELL WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?? THIS UGLY CLOWN IS KILLING MY PARTNER"

"that mf doesn't know you Alex, I do"

"Okay whatever"

[ginger-snap-talkin-nonsense]

Why the hell does "diversifying your media diet" mean hating basically fucking everything made within basically the past 15-20 goddamn YEARS to you Ginger?? I'm really fucking trying here, but pretty much EVERYTHING new that's been released within the past two DECADES gets thrown into your joyless goddamn cesspool of soul-sucking myopia. Kind of fucking hard to "find more things to like" (by your standards anyways), when basically ANYTHING that’s been made (seemingly) since you were a teenager and just REFUSED to goddamn grow up anymore. Is absolutely despised and TORN APART by you for (as far as I can tell) the most utterly arbitrary crap fucking EVER!!! 

From hating stories because they were made/written by LGBTQ+ artists, to because they obviously fucking fit into an EXTREMELY broad and overgeneralized genre type, to because they didn’t pander to whatever bizarre/media illiterate standards you claim to fucking have from DAY TO DAY. I find it utterly SHOCKING you’ve been able to more than FIVE fucking shows/movies over the course of your ENTIRE misery wallowing life up to this goddamn point. Let alone that you demand other people to do the POLAR fucking opposite of what you’ve done your entire life. And actually ENJOY media outside of painfully myopic, joyless goddamn standards, rather rejecting it based on the most fucking idiotic and hyper-specific standards that NO creator could possibly ever hope to fucking meet!!!

(Without just consulting you personally on every goddamn decision that they make. And essentially ending up just making an inherently repulsive/alienating story that would appeal to you and you ALONE, that is)

You know I normally just throw a random jpeg up and don’t bother paying this any more kind but for the sake of all of the people who haven’t gone through my letterboxd yet here’s a short list of some movies I gave 5 stars released from the years 2014-2024

Bear in mind this is only a fraction of what I’ve seen and I didn’t include any 4 star films or everything I’ve specifically “liked” from this era. Just the 5 star knock outs that go above and beyond the high standard.

[unpopularly-opinionated]

Random update on my journey to become a pretentious film buff:

I've been trying to push for a movie a day, at least. Sometimes two if I'm lucky. Sometimes none if I'm lazy. But after my last post where I watched the entire Alien Franchise (sans AvP and Romulus), here's what I've been watching:

Psycho: Yes, I finally watched the original Psycho. To be honest, I've always had a problem watching older movies, so I was surprised at how easy it actually was to watch this one. It was pretty good, though perhaps for the wrong reason. I was honestly laughing through most of it over just how bad these people were at committing crimes and getting away with them. Like that girl was acting so incredibly sus in front of that cop for no good reason. Anyways, 4/5 stars I guess (I'm using Letterboxd to keep track of this).

X & Pearl: In case you don't know, those are two separate movies but they're related via the main character. I watched X first, and Pearl second. Not sure what the intended order of it actually was though, but whatever. It wasn't too bad in that order. Both I thought were pretty good, though I kind of preferred X to Pearl because I thought the "antagonist" motivations in X were...let's just say unique. I can't recall a time where I've seen that particular motivation used. I gave X a 3/5.

Pearl was still pretty good, I just liked X better. Unless you're an idiot like me, the connection between these two movies is pretty obvious, but it tripped me up at first so I didn't wind up understanding it until the very end. Anyways, this movie's good. 3/5 stars (these are arbitrary lol).

Boy Kills World: The one and only non-Horror movie I watched recently. I'm not exactly trying to focus on horror, it's just sort of accidental at this point. I'm in a horror mood so I'm just bingeing horror movies I haven't seen. I swear I watch other stuff too lol.

Anyways, this movie was about as good as one could probably expect it to be. It's just a cheesy, dumb action flick. The plot is middling, but it works. The plot twist is alright. I didn't see it coming exactly, but I also wasn't like "omg no way, what!?", it was just a thing that happened, ya know? Overall, I think my only criticism is that it felt like it was missing a second act. Bill Skarsgard is insanely nice to look at throughout the entire movie though so that's a plus. 3 1/2 stars.

Brightburn: I'm gonna be honest, I didn't care for this movie. It tries to go with the whole "bad guys win" ending that, to me, just fell flat because I don't really give a shit about the bad guy. I'm not sure if I'm meant to feel for him inherently because he's a child, but he's a pretty boring as fuck child so I wound up not caring when he inevitably won. 2/5 stars.

Smile: This movie was OK, but it really felt like that scenario when someone asks to copy your homework and you tell them to just change a few of the details. The one who's homework they're copying of course is It Follows. They have very similar premises, only instead of the monster passing through sex like a shitty STD, this monster passes through trauma like a shitty ex. Personally, I think It Follows did it better. 3/5 stars.

The First Omen: The last on this update, I just finished this right before writing this and it was alright? So, perhaps controversially, I've yet to see The Omen (watching it literally as I type this) so this movie didn't do much for me. I understand it's setting up The Omen though, so that's where the supposed payoff is, but I personally think movies should be able to stand up by themselves, even if they're connected to a franchise, and I'm not sure this one does.

This movie left me confused. It focuses hard on this young girl, leading you to believe she's vitally important and you reasonably assume she's the key figure or "MacGuffin" in this movie, only for us to find out that she's not, and it's actually the main character who's the important one. But then I'm left wondering why I spent the last hour and a half of this two hour movie focused on a red herring.

Not to mention, there's a lingering question I had by the end when everything is burning down which is... if y'all have the actual fucking Devil chained up in your basement as your demonic sperm donor, why the fuck do you need the antichrist so bad?

I'm also just kind of curious about their overall motivations here. Like, we're told that they belong to a different sect of the church who believes that they need to make bad things happen so that more people are drawn to the faith, which at face-value I'm like okay cool, reasonable motivation I guess. But then what is the plan with the antichrist then? They have him get raised by some well-off politician (to set up the Omen) but then what? Presumably you intend to kill him at some point? Is the idea to let him get powerful enough to show everyone he's the legit antichrist, but not so powerful that he doesn't wind up destroying the world like he's meant to? It's just confusing is all, I don't know. Hopefully the Omen explains it. Or the Omen II. Or III. Or IV lol. Anyways, 3/5.

[closetdbisexual]

favorite first watches of august, 2024

hi ^__^ i lapsed in actually writing any reviews for this last month bc i was just so exhausted well maybe ill go back at some point i might do it eventually ill never know. i like movies more this month though <3 all of these are romcoms and so i chose photos of all the main couples in them. just kidding or am i

The Master - 5 stars

yayyyy my yaoi movie<3 very first thing i watched this month and i have thought about it every day since which probably doesnt mean anything, or itll change my world forever just like boogie nights did. i gave a more proper review on letterboxd but i looove you movieyy i love the difficult and traumatized main characters in pta's movies freddie is really interesting to follow his relationship with lancaster so special to me they're so interesting dog/owner moment <33 and amy adams is really really good in her role they're all just. such interesting characters pulling each other into their lives and trying to take control of their lives and each other. trying to be free in a way nobody really can be... i love how the cult is never portrayed as being like a grift to the people involved, you can tell lancaster and peggy really believe in what they're doing there, even if they shouldn't. and freddie and lancaster are so in love and doomed <33 it's a bit strange to go "i think the relationship between the sex-obsessed veteran and the cult leader is really romantic" but it is likeeee. it is. anyway i love substance abuse i love tragedy i love mental illness i love when guy is a guard dog i love you moviey oh also laura dern is in this and i love her lots hi laura dern so sweetie why havent i seen blue velvet yet :-( she's very lovely in this and amy adams is so good, they all give all really excellent performances but i'm highlighting them

Challengers - 5 stars

I LOVE YOU TASHI !!!!! good as hell good fucking movie jesus christ probably just like an objectively perfect and incredible movie huh. so fun watching it with my friend and the cinematography here is insanely good the score is insanely good it's so faggy it's so sweaty very sexy movie, i love tashi forever and her knee injury she's sooo me <33 and she's fujoing out she's sooooo me <3 justice for aromantic fujoshis autisticly obsessed with tennis she's actually the most woke character of all time if you think about it. and of course i love their bisexual faggot threesome thing and to be honest it was suicidemotifed i love her telling patrick to kill himself. zendaya is so good in this she has such good expressions i love you tashi

The Killing of a Sacred Deer - 4 and 1/2 stars

yay<3 also watched it with my friend yayyy so funsies also ok i get it now i wasn't totally fucking w/ lanthimos after the lobster (which i did like but i just felt like it wasn't very strong plotwise) i much preferred this though very much my kind of movie. colin farrell is so hot sorry and sorry but he and martin have a truly beautiful gay reverse-grooming manipulation thing going on i support 16 year olds manipulating married middle-aged men thats like my whole thinggg anyway yeah the family unit getting undermined and parental abuse/neglect and alcoholism and really strong stylistic choices w/ the cinematography and the monotone dialogue im obsessed with the dialogue in this it's such a good choice and there's so many long hallway shots <33 i love you hallways. the only thing i don't like is how hospital-oriented it is but like thats not an issue with the movie thats an issue with me yknow

I'm Your Man - 4 and 1/2 stars

doomed heterosexuality<3 alma is one of the top ten most beautiful women ive ever seen and shes sooo real so relatable, and what her and tom have is so tragic and romantic and it hurt to watch how they pushed-and-pulled against each other and each tried to be human in their own ways and even though the love was there they were so incompatible it just couldn't work they couldn't make it work. loved all the big open spaces it made it feel so empty and subdued, the score is beautiful, alma and tom's actors give such good performances and really it kind of haunts me. just really good. and sandra hüller jumpscare ily girl ive GOT to watch anatomy of a fall i need to See her

i don't normally do honorable mentions but today i will i also really liked But I'm A Cheerleader (4 and 1/2 stars) and Sorry to Bother You (3 and 1/2 stars) i love lesbians they were very sweet and it had shockingly good cinematography that i kind of didn't expect from it (my bad i thought it was going to be more like a silly romcom i guess) it was really lovely though. and sorry to bother you had such insanely cool art direction i didn't really enjoy the pacing esp. the last 30 minutes did not come across well to me and i honestly didn't like the ending, but it was a very creative movie visually and just other than that i liked it wish it just didn't lose steam at the end... ily detroit i loved her earrings the costume design was soooo good i also liked cassius of course too i liked a lot of it yayy movies

[pinkeoni]

click for pretentious film bro ranting

Why do I see some barbie fans (especially on here) create this fake feud between oppenheimer and "film bros" that is honestly only happening from their side. Yes on the most extreme end there people like Ben Shapiro who say wild stuff about barbie and try to detract from it, but I see those kinds of people as not even having a voice in this conversation. Why are you trying to give them legitimacy? And furthermore, why are you grouping other film bros in with that crowd anyway?

It's the alleged "film bros" on twitter who were the ones that was championing barbie the hardest before most current fans even knew that there was a barbie film in the first place. It's because they keep up with film news and were excited that a new Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbauch feature. The film bros that these barbie fans so staunchly hate are the ones that created barbenheimer in the first place as a way to uplift cinema and to encourage more people to go to the theater. Now obviously barbie did better numbers because it's much easier to market a 90 minute film based on a famous toy line rather than a 3 hour historical film. I'm not saying that you had to have seen oppenheimer to appreciate cinema, and there are plenty of film bros who loved barbie and didn't want to see oppenheimer (I was actually just talking to my old film prof about this, who HATES christopher nolan) and there are plenty of film bros who saw oppenheimer and disliked/didn't want to see barbie, but from what I saw film bros were still encouraging seeing both regardless of how they felt because the point was to get more people back in movie theaters.

When any criticism (fair or unfair) is levied against the barbie movie it's fans will use the "cinema created by women for women should be seen as a important" as an argument against these criticisms, and while I agree with that statement, what angers me about their usage of it is that these specific fans do not actually give a shit about cinema created by women unless it is a multi-billion dollar blockbuster. I do think that Greta Gerwig grossing over a billion at the box office is a huge accomplishment, and I think it's a great film (I gave it 5 stars on Letterboxd and cried three times) but Barbie is far from the only female led project this year, and not even the only oscar contender led by a women. Tell me, did you see Past Lives? Are you going to see Bottoms? Did you know that Molly Gordon made her directorial debut this year? I saw a post that alluded to Barbie and Oppenheimer being the oscar leads this year 💀 I'm sorry, but as much as I love both of these films, if you think the only two oscar contenders of the year are barbie and oppenheimer then I'm going to safely assume that you do not watch movies. Let's wait until the new Martin Scorsese film drops before we start making our oscar predictions, shall we.

If these fans really cared about film then they would not be picking imaginary fights with oppenheimer fans. If these fans really cared about women in film then they would actually recognize and champion some of the many other films made by women this year that does not include multi-billion dollar blockbusters.

[bettsfic]

I saw in your letterboxd that you rated crazy stupid love 1 star :( what didn’t you like about it?

some context about my letterboxd: i don't really use it as social media so my ratings are solely about my personal enjoyment, not the quality of the work (if you notice, i gave knights of the zodiac 5 stars). i don't think rating a film on a numeric scale based on objective quality is ethical, and if it were, i wouldn't be qualified to do it. my education is in craft, not film theory.

that said, i'm a hard sell on rom coms, and that has nothing to do with rom coms. i've been single for 13 years and so they just make me feel bad about myself. this one made me feel particularly awful about where i'm at in life, because it's both a meet cute AND a reunion story. so when it was over i just looked around my shitty apartment and my half-eaten Olive Garden chocolate lasagna cake and thought, "right. gonna die alone."

if i'd seen it when it first came out (when i was in what i thought was a loving relationship), i think i would've liked it a lot. but taken out of the context of its time, i don't think its humor or premise has aged well. the shift into the 2010s was just a weird time in the history of comedy. it's before the sincerity and self-awareness of the humor we're seeing today, but after the intentional awkwardness and secondhand embarrassment-based comedy introduced by Adult Swim and popularized by The Office (or maybe that's the other way around). this movie fell in the gap between. so there are definitely some laugh-out-loud punchlines happening at the line level, but the situational comedic premise just made me kind of uncomfortable.

i also felt like it wasn't in the right container. it would've reached its ambitions if it had been a tv show pilot, which is more conducive to the third act illuminating moment they set up. that would've also improved the inconsistent pacing, and allowed the characters, which were well performed, to breathe. Jacob Palmer is a womanizer with mommy issues, and i'm not given enough time or context to gain enough sympathy for him to override the womanizing. denying Hannah her family for 2/3rds of the movie just for the sake of the reveal also flattened what might've been a strong character. that's why the tv pilot is more suited for illuminating moments: we get the satisfaction of them, and we get to see how the consequences play out. i would've loved a 13 episode season with maybe a few more writers on board to help workshop the story arc.

there were definitely some highlights: Jacob admitting he wants to be like Cal, the Dirty Dancing scene, Julianne Moore and Marissa Tomei's performances (they did so much with so little), Jacob punching the babysitter's dad, finally knowing where that one reaction gif comes from.

anyway, again, i have a huge personal bias, i'm watching it out of the context of its time, and i don't actually have any experience or education in reviewing films. so this movie has my appreciation but overall it just wasn't for me.

[danthatartman]

Books I read in 2023

Heeeeeeeeey Tumblr, I'm alive! Warning for very long post.

Given how little I ended up drawing during the back half of the year, I want to do a different kind of summary to close out 2023. And, since I already posted my thoughts on almost every movie I watched on Letterboxd (https://letterboxd.com/NotThatCrypto in case you're interested), I wanted to share the books I read during the last 365 days.

For 2023, I wanted to read at least a book per month, with a secondary goal of reading two per month. I ended up with 16 total reads. Not quite two per month, but probably the most I've ever read in terms of different books in a year (If we don't count that time I got obsessed with fanfics and read what must have been the equivalent of 20 novels in like five months a few years ago.)

Anyways, let's get started.

1: Tress of The Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

Sanderson is my favorite writer, and this year he and his team delivered the Year of Sanderson kickstarter, which ended up including 4 novels he wrote in secret during the pandemic. Tress is the first of these novels.

I found this to be a delightful story. Sanderson really flexed his style muscles for this book. It's probably his most beautiful in terms of prose and rhetorical figure usage. You can really tell he wanted to make a novel *for* his wife.

It gave me the vibes of older fantasy tales, while still retaining much of what I love about the Cosmere and Brandon's books in general. I do wish some things were a little more unpredictable, as the twists were a bit too clear right from the very early chapters, and would have liked to be more surprised. I'd probably rank it among my top 5 fave books by him, specific spot undecided.

4.75 stars out of 5

2: I'm Not Mr. Monster by Dan Wells

I started reading the John Cleaver trilogy last year, this is book 2. On the one hand, I think I preferred the atmosphere and pacing from the first one. On the other hand, Wells managed to dive so much deeper into John's psyche here, and that really carries the whole book. There's also some concepts that I felt could have been expanded more upon, but guessed that would be done in the last book (We'll get to it later) Overall, some improvements over the first, and some things that felt weaker to me.

3.75 stars out of 5

3: Queer: A Graphic History by Meg John Barker and Julia Scheele

Read this because I was dealing with some personal stuff earlier in the year. It's a graphic novel that details some of the more theorical and philosophical aspects to queerness and sexuality throughout the years. Found it to be really well explained but at the same time, brief. It serves as a really good jumping-off point to get into the subject, which I want to do in the future. Scheele's illustrations are awesome and really help to highlight and simplify the most important information.

4 stars out of 5

4, 5 & 6: Percy Jackson and The Titan's Curse, Percy Jackson and The Battle of the Labyrinth, and Percy Jackson and The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

Like with the John Cleaver series, I started reading Percy Jackson last year, after a friend of mine really recommended it, and wanted to read them before the show premiered. I read these in succession, so I'll list them together.

Titan's Curse was really good, probably the most emotionally complex Percy Jackson book, and I'd probably rank it second or third amongst the five.

Battle of The Labyrinth is probably my least favorite from the whole series, as it felt repetitive and at times like it dragged on for too long.

Last Olympian however, was super enjoyable for me, even though it did also repeat some actions sequences in terms of structure. Would rank it highly as well.

As a whole, I found the Percy Jackson series to be a blast, and it scratched my greek fascination itch. Percy is a really well realized character, and I adored reading from his perspective.

I do wish I had read these books a bit younger though, as I obviously encountered some stuff that left me wanting more as a result of the target audience. Not at all faults of the books, but good to point out.

Titan's Curse: 4.5 stars out of 5

BotL: 3.5 stars out of 5

The Last Olympian: 4.25 stars out of 5

7: The Binding by Bridget Collins

One of my most dissapointing reads. Its characters never clicked for me, and I found the book to be too tropey and like it didn't do enough with the premise or its magic system. It left me feeling frustrated, especially after I'd heard some really fantastic things about it.

I will award some points for the writing style though. It was very beautiful, and was what made me power through, other than my curiosity.

2 stars out of 5

8: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

While I think it is quite easy to see where the story is going right from the start, I think the journey to get there is super compelling. I like Haig's style, and only wish this one had been slightly longer so it could dive more deeply into each of the protagonist's possible lives. Some really cool imagery too.

Enjoyed it, and want something similar that explores the things that this one didn't.

3.5 stars out of 5

9: The Alpha's Son by Penny Jessup

Cool queer love story that also happens to involve werewolves. I honestly think the shapeshifter aspect of the story is undercooked. The relationship between the two main characters is interesting but I also think sometimes it develops too quickly.

Action is definitely not this book's strong suit, and given how much the third act focuses on it, it feels a little underwhelming. However, the style and characters are good enough that I am interested in reading the sequel, which came out a few weeks ago.

3 stars out of 5

10: The Frugal Wizard's Guide to Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

Back to Sanderson. Book two of The Year of Sanderson was an incredibly dissapointing one for me. I think this is the book of Sanderson's that I've liked the least. The humor never clicked, and I found the protagonist to be quite unlikeable. The illustrations for this one felt very disconnected from what I was reading too. Sefawynn was really cool though, best part of the book. The writing felt too dry, and while the tech seemed interesting at first, at the end I felt there was a more compelling story to be told with it.

2 stars out of 5

11: The Werewolf's Guide to Life by Bob Powers & Ritch Duncan

Funny that I read two books with "Guide" in the title right after the other. Read this as research for some personal stuff. Really cool book, written as if werewolves were real, basically functioning as lore and instructions if you were to turn into one. No real story here, other than the few examples of "real life cases" they share. Fun writing style, with interesting ideas about the genre.

4 stars out of 5

12: Yumi and The Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson

Third year of Sanderson book, and back to the Cosmere. I adored this one. I think Sanderson wears his influences on his sleeve a bit too much here, but that also made me love the book all the more.

Both Yumi and Painter are extremely interesting as characters. I also think Sanderson really captured the feeling of mystery with the worldbuilding and plot that his best works do. The imagery it sprung to my head was really beatiful, and the gorgeous illustrations by Aliya Chen are breathtaking.

Uses a bunch of really evocative and interesting concepts, and in superb ways. I do wish some of the secondary characters were more fleshed out, and I feel like the ending is a bit too tidy.

This is a story I really wish there was more of, but Sanderson has said he has no plans to revisit these specific characters. I hope at least the world is explored further, cause that was such a great setting. Had a blast with Yumi. So glad Brandon got so much better at writing romance with this and Tress.

4.5 stars out of 5

13: This is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

Okay, this one was very interesting. I'd heard about it before it blew up on socials, but I have to admit that that was what made me dip into it.

While I liked a lot of the concepts and the general structure of the book, I was not a fan of the authors' writing styles. They just moved too quick, and I felt they spent too much time describing certain aspects when others drew my attention more.

Red and Blue's relationship doesn't feel organic to me, and given that it is the main driving force of the story, I found it disappointing. I also found some descriptions to be more confusing than poetic.

While in concept this is a mighty interesting read, I think some things fall apart when put in practice.

3.5 stars out of 5

14: I Don't Want to Kill You by Dan Wells

Finale of the John Cleaver trilogy.

I feel like it starts off a lot stronger than how it ends, but still really liked it. I think I prefer it to the second one as well, but can't help but feel that it didn't manage to recapture a lot of the powerful ambiance of the first installment.

Well's prose also read much sharper and refined here, and John is a fully realized character. It's very uncomfortable to be in his mind, and yet I couldn't help but keep going.

Glad there is more after this, as I do think that these characters and world can be explored further. Excited to see where it goes. Also very curious to read more of Dan's work, as his way of thinking interests me a lot as it is so different from mine.

4 stars out of 5

15: Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

Quick read that my students (a whole different story for another day) chose for their reading assignments so that they could practice their English. I adore the movie and was excited to read the source material along with them.

Really liked it! We read a lovely illustrated edition. The story's scope feels just the right size, and Dahl's writing style is a real blast. I do think the last two or three chapters are too quick, and would have liked to see a stronger conclusion to the story.

4 stars out of 5

16: The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson

Final year of Sanderson book, and also final book I finished this year. Appropriate that it's number 16.

This book has me a bit conflicted. Sanderson jumping so far into the future of the timeline, but doing so with a character we are very familiar with feels risky to me. I think it reveals a lot of things that changed my expectations for Stormlight.

As for the story itself, the book takes a bit to get started. It's first act felt a little frustrating to me. That really seemed to change once the second act started. It's a lot more engaging and exciting. Sunlit is the most standard Sanderson novel out of all the secret projects. That's not a bad thing necesarilly, but I do think the other two Cosmere focused ones felt a lot more exciting and innovative as a result.

Nomad as a character felt a bit muddy. It almost felt like reading three people at once, something that sometimes happens to Sanderson when characters are viewed through other POV's, except this time it happened within Nomad's own. Auxiliary rules though.

Worldbuilding is probably the best and most enticing part of Sunlit. I also think the ending was very cool and I really wanted to continue even after the end.

3.75 stars out of 5

And that's it!

I read a lot of Sanderson this year, but I also managed to read a bunch of books that had been on my TBR for a long time. I was excited to delve into some genres I'd not read much of before. I'm also glad to have read books that might have not been my cup of tea, that always helps to make better sense of my tastes and to train my skills too.

As for next year, I *might* continue reading more of Riordan's work, as well as checking out what's next for John Cleaver, BUT I want to go back to The Wheel of Time first, I'll probably dedicate January and February to that.

I want to get into some more epic fantasy series, so First Law, Farseer, and Malazan are all on my radar, but I will probably choose only two of those. Discworld has also been popping into my head recently, doubt I'll dive too deep into it for now though. Might keep going with Gentleman Bastards too, I love Lies of Locke Lamora.

I want to read more sci-fi as well, been thinking of going for The Expanse or Murderbot.

Wind and Truth comes out in December, so I want to read as much non-Sanderson before then, we'll see how it goes.

I'm going to try to reach the 2 books a month mark, but won't make any promises, as a lot of things are in flux in life right now.

I am open to suggestions for books if anyone has any! Would love to hear ya'll's thoughts on that and the post in general. xoxo!

[ispyspookymansion]

my true and correct ranking is

evil dead - all good

child’s play - mostly good people r to mean to seed it’s fun

final destination 3/4 but 4 is terrible

scream 4/5 and 5 isn’t that bad

saw - mostly good sometimes really great and even the bad ones have their moments

friday - mostly terrible but all extremely enjoyable

nightmare - 3 great movies and new nightmare and like the bad ones are fun

chainsaw - two fantastic movies i can take or leave the rest

psycho - i love 1 & 2 but the rest of them are notverygood

halloween - great opening wild sequel i own season of the witch merch and a dvd copy of h20 but christ alive when it’s bad it’s terrible

write-in last place is alien cuz those first two are without comparison but prometheus is the worst movie i have ever seen

saw should maybe be higher cuz i like her more than scream but if we’re looking at them as a franchise than i think 3D and jigsaw really bring her down cuz they kinda loose what makes those movies work so well i loved finally seeing the reverse bear trap in action tho

also i’d be reeeeally incherested in knowing ur rankings :D we’ve all given our terrible opinions i’d love 2 know urs

sorry this is abt to get so long and just know i dont necessarily believe any of this im saying words recreationally ! and i tried to think abt them as in quality of franchise, but i am obviously human with personal tastes and biases. i generally counted how many movies i gave 3 or more stars on letterboxd to get my numbering. below the cut for my takes!

- saw (8/9 or 88%) my babygirl. my sweet cheese. i can get why some people dont rock with it but writing it off as torture porn is unforgivable both in that its not, or not entirely, and okay so who cares torture those bitches !!!!! saw’s Quality is not consistent, but its premise is and its one of the most interconnected franchises which strengthens it as a series

- child’s play (6/8 or 80%): prefacing by saying this doesnt take the show into account, but the show is a wash for me anyways. child’s play is a perfect mix of funny and scary, both on a movie by movie basis and as a franchise. don mancini sucks at writing a tv show but his consistent hand in the series makes it a good franchise as far as consistency. edit i forgot about the terrible remake um. yeah. eep.

- final destination (4/5 or 80%): 1, 3, 5 are really good, 2 is decent, theyre fun! i rewatch them from time to time i love the concept i love tony todd and i think its impressive that theres really only one stinker (the final destination aka final destination 4 you will never be famous)

- scream (4/5 or 80%) very partial to the original, and i respect a lot of what scream does even in the movies i dont like as much, but the last film + upcoming no sidney lose points for me for sure. the first movie is standout, the rest are pretty consistent even if its at a level far below the first film. i havent seen the tv show

- noes (6/9 or 66%): my beloved <33333 i loooove the first three and i love new nightmare! the quality steadily deteriorates between those though it Is in a fun way most of the time. the atrocious remake damages this a lot for me but it Knows what it is, so you cant fault it for that. i would fight for noes as a favorite above scream and final destination, but its a weaker franchise overall imo

the next three i had a hard time putting in order tbh, but i guess what i’ll say is:

- psycho (3/5 or 60%): i really was surprised by how good the 2nd one is, cannot state that enough. but 3 flopped to me, the bates motel tv movie sucks, and ive heard the remake is horrible. the prequel is alright (it and 3 both get a half mark), though the whole franchise loses ground for the inherent issues with norman’s character. i havent seen the bates motel tv show.

- evil dead (2.5/4 or 63%): look. sorry, but its not for me. i love the first one and i love the remake, but the style of comedy isnt my thing in the two in between. its not BAD in the sense that it is what it set out to be, but i just dont like that thing very much, and i struggle to call it a better Franchise than most due to how varied its parts are. ash williams tboy swag you Will always be beloved tho, and the first one is a real fav of mine

- halloween (7/13 or 53%): the original is very dear to me, i love the weirdass hustle of 3, and i think halloween 2018 was a great start to a disappointing trilogy. the muddied timelines mean the franchise itself is a mess. one great movie does not a good franchise make! i might put this above psycho depending on the day, but the last movie was so atrocious it leaves a very bad taste in the franchise mouth

- friday the 13th (5/12 or 42%): i love campground horror and overall, the quality of f13 as a series is pretty consistent! its just that its pretty consistently bad. i respect the hustle of sending jason to space and manhattan but its not my kind of film

- tcm (3/9 or 33%): only the first two and the 03 remake are really good to me. i dont think people realize there are NINE of these. a lot of the other sequels are decent movies, bad tcm films, so a low ranking as an overall franchise. sorry tcm, your writers dont understand what makes you great!

so um yeah. im pulling for scream or noes to win at this point, but my opinions are clearly not very shared....also these could change at any time i cant stress enough how much even the lowest franchises here are beloved by me, rewatched by me, have posters on my walls, etc etc!!!

[practicallynonsensical]

Practical Deco Mini Review: SCREAM VI (2023)

"I hear you're a horror fan"

yes! It is an absolute yes from me. We are getting slashers that are mean, bloody, and filled with chase scenes again and I couldn't be HAPPIER!!! Had a ton of fun with this one. I love that this franchise is in the hands of true horror fans who continue to pay homage without over referencing. I'd like to think Wes would be proud!

Each attack felt PERSONAL and teeming with anger. Ghostface more than ever felt unhinged and purposeful. This time Ghostface has a plan as is ready to take down anyone and everyone to reach their goal, bystanders be dammed. It truly gave the feeling that no one was safe. Anywhere.

The evolution of our returning characters was great to see. They are back and they came back prepared to fight hard for their survival...again. The core four. Between Sam and Tara learning how to understand and be around one another along with Mindy and Chad's concern and want to protect each other. This was swimming in sibling love. We also have their relationships with each other growing as they realize they are each other's family.

Without giving anything away, this film is all about family and subsequently legacy. How it follows you, how you set your self apart, and how you can accept it as a part of you but not all of you.

Loved the new setting and the use of the city. It was like a game of manhunt with endless hiding places..There's no need to go back to Woodsboro, unless we introduce the mom. Take Ghostface on the road. It is fun. Bring them across the bridge to Jersey next, give us a Six Flags chase scene. Put Ghostface on El Toro during Fright Fest. Or take them to International, let's go to Japan. A Ghostface world tour.

The only thing that I was kind eh on was the killer reveal monologue, but it is not really a complaint more of an observation. They were going on for sooooo, so long. So LONG to explain something so simple. At some point, I don't care how unhinged you are and just want you to shut up and start swinging.

Anyway, can't wait to watch it again and again. Another watch will probably be a 5 star watch.

And yes, an add to the Sibling Representation list.

More from me: 

Letterboxd | Twitter | TikTok | Youtube | WordPress | Kofi

[bereft-of-frogs]

Ok, I have done books, now for films/tv!

I have to say, I don’t think this was a very good year for me with film and TV. Especially film. It ended up being kind of hard to come up with a list, but here goes:

1. Come and See (1985) dir. Elem Klimov - I did not initially think this was going to make the list and I originally gave it 4 stars but I’ve found I simply cannot stop thinking about this film. It’s currently sitting at #1 on Letterboxd top 250 of all time and for good reason. I love the motif of photography. It’s brutal and heartbreaking and so stressful but yeah. Can’t stop thinking about it.

2. Harakiri (1962) dir. Masaki Kobayashi - So good, probably my current favorite samurai film.

3. The Northman (2022) dir. Robert Eggers - VIBES. I saw this 2.5 times in theaters (the .5 is because uh teenagers threw trash on our heads. So that was an experience. We had to leave halfway through but we got a bunch of free tickets out of it from the very nice manager of the theater so thank you for that.)

4. [REC] (2007) dir. Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza - Um, why have I waited this long to watch this movie? Watched it because I was writing a ‘found footage’ inspired fic and looking for inspiration and it was so good!!

5. Top Gun: Maverick (2022) dir. Joseph Kosinski - Look. Look. Here me out: plane go fast. Plane go fast and the climax was essentially beat-for-beat Star Wars: A New Hope. Don’t @ me with any discussion of propaganda, I know, okay, I know, but this movie was so entertaining and as an aviation enthusiast I had so much fun and I think this is probably the most successful unnecessary sequel I’ve ever watched. Like did anyone ask for this? No. Did it totally work? Heck yeah.

Honorable Mention: Everything Everywhere All at Once (emotional, chaotic), Raw (#OrganicCannibalism), The Cremator (um pretty fucked but really, really good), NOPE (whenever I think about the ‘eating’ scene I get a bit of anxiety, 10/10)

TV:

1. What We Do In The Shadows (Fx, 2019- ) - VAMPIRE PHASE. ACTIVATE. What else is there to say? Style icons, decor inspiration. Never did I think the American TV show version of one of my favorite films would end up actually so good. It’s funny and heartfelt at all the right moments. I’ve been rewatching it because it’s one of the few things I actually had saved to my computer (so the only thing I could watch in our 2 week internet-less hellscape) and it remains so delightful.

2. Westworld specifically season 1 (HBO) - I haven’t quite finished watching this one, and APPARENTLY now might never (except you know, flying the pirate flag), and though I disagree with popular opinion on season 2 (I liked it), I see where season 3 is really taking a downturn…but season 1 remains some of the best television storytelling and you can’t take that away. It was utterly brilliant as a standalone, truly some of the top tier television.

3. Tabula Rasa (Een/Netflix, 2017) - Speaking of twists, this had a bunch of really fun twists, the first of which I saw coming. That one lulled me into a false sense of confidence and the other two took me completely by surprise. Also had really fun fall/spooky vibes.

4. Chestnut Man (Netflix, 2021) - Also had really fun fall/spooky vibes, and good characters. Only docked points because one of the main characters gets his glasses knocked off in a fight during the climax and then not only manages to accurately fire a gun (?) but then voluntarily drives a car in the epilogue. Without glasses!!! Were they just for the #aesthetic or something? Anyway, I have not been able to stop thinking about this.

5. Yakamoz S-245 (Netflix, 2022- ) - God I love the ‘Sun’s Fucked Up’ Cinematic Universe. It’s just so fun.

Honorable Mentions: House of the Dragon (???? HOW DID I END UP BACK HERE?), Brand New Cherry Flavor (watched because people on tiktok were talking about that one sex scene and I wanted to see what the fuss was about and ended up really enjoying the series as a whole), Cracow Monsters (I have mixed feelings about the direction the series took and feel like it should have been paced better, but the vibes were pretty great), Girls (I rewatched Girls this year don’t @ me, still such a guilty pleasure)

And now. The #Salt:

:readmore:

Films:

1. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (2022, dir. Sam Raimi) - Yeah. I hated it. I already dug into why, you can go back and find a bunch of salty explanation posts and I probably shouldn’t drag this back up but it has to be said. This was definitely my most disappointing film of 2022. Haven’t watched a MCU movie since.

2. Ghosts of War (2020, dir Eric Bress) - This was such a bad bait-and-switch. I was promised a genre meld of war film + ghosts I got a sci-fi, pretty racist mess. Terrible. Don’t watch it.

3. Aftermath (2021, dir Peter Winther) - Another terrible ghost-but-not film. Just let ghosts be ghosts people!

4. Titane (2021, dir. Julia Ducournau) - So disappointing considering Raw made it onto my honorable mentions above! This just felt like it was trying to be two different movies at the same time and spiralled off. I actually liked one of the movies - the machine-obsessed murderer part - but when we spiralled off into the faking being a missing person/pregnancy/weird fire station stuff it completely lost me.

5. The After movies - EXCEPT the second one. Except the second one?’ You ask. Yes. Because the second one is perfect. The second one is exactly what it is like reading those 100 chapter romance fanfics on wattpad. (Though, lol, no I’ve never actually read anything on wattpad. But it’s been the same on ffn, ao3…just the After series was produced by wattpad.) Anyway, the others were terrible, but the second one was probably the most ‘successful’ fanfic movie adaptation I’ve ever seen. It is perfect. But no also so awful. XD

Dishonorable Mentions: Cats (we watched Cats but honestly I don’t remember any of it because I fully blacked out)

The list is a incomplete and a little more complicated for TV because I honestly just stop watching most shows if they don’t hold my attention, so really they’re most just unmemorable.

1. The Sandman (Netflix, 2022- ) - Unpopular opinion, but oof I could not get through this and it started putting me in an actual bad mood whenever I watched it.

2. Moon Knight (Disney+, 2022- ) - This was sort of the canary in the coal mine. Presaged my breakup with the MCU. Just couldn’t hold my attention. Showed a lot of the cracks that I’d been trying to ignore re: Marvel’s pacing and plot issues in their TV series.

3. Andor (Disney+, 2022- ) - Extreme unpopular opinion. This one isn’t very fair, because I do want to give it another shot. I stopped around episode 4 and apparently it gets better from here, but the episodes I watched were not good. I hate to say this but I feel like a lot of the praise is based solely on the cinematography and dialogue writing, both of which are admittedly very good, but the plot is all over the place. Making the first episode so flashback heavy was a huge mistake. Plot threads are introduced and then dropped. Scenes are just dropped in with no connection to what else was going on. I’ll give it another shot, but just having artful cinematography and a few impassioned speeches does not make for great television.

4. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney+, 2022) - I feel like people might be surprised to find this on the list because I was posting positively about it as it was coming out. And it’s true, I had fun watching it. But the longer it’s gone on just…the more obvious the cracks have become. First off, it was clearly written as a film and then stretched out into a television show. Which should not be how TV writing works. You can’t just take a long movie and put episode breaks in it. I also over time grew more and more put off but how they copy-and-pasted Fallen Order and then…didn’t mention it at all. It felt…weird. It was just a really weird decision. But like I said, I did really enjoy watching it and I think it’s better than the alternative. Because I keep seeing those early drafts go around and I’m like oh god that would have been so much worse. I think at the time too I was just really relieved that it didn’t go in the direction that I feared and so I initially reacted more favorably. I’m glad they stuck to more of the prequel film canon/vibes, and didn’t pull in too much of TCW stuff. (I know that’s an unpopular opinion, but I really don’t like TCW and I’m always glad for prequel era stuff that is independent of that. Hot take of the post.)

I really mostly feel a bit meh about most of the things I’ve watched this year. Hopefully next year is a much better viewing year!

[wellntruly]

I rank all the movies I've watched from 2021 (40)

It’s that time again!! i.e. sneaking in just before Hollywood’s Biggest Night 🎩 (lol)

Title links go to my original spoiler-free Letterboxd reviews, followed by another link if I also wrote a longer piece (I always note if there will be spoilers in those, if there is no note you’re good!)

No building up this time we’re just starting at the top:

1. The Souvenir: Part II

When I walked out of the theater after seeing this I felt so fucking alive. [Full review]

2. The Power of the Dog

What I want to holler here I can’t holler for spoilers. Love that in a movie!!! Anyway the phrase that has gotten others to watch it: queer western gothic. [Full review]

3. The Green Knight

Sexiest movie of the year a meditation on death, feels good feels right. Revisionist medievalism re-edited over a pandemic to be longer and mistier. Daniel Hart’s score my most-listened-to album of 2021. The cloak is gold. Catch me on a certain day and this might be my #1. [Full review]

4. Drive My Car (ドライブ・マイ・カー)

Tender! [Full review]

5. Bo Burnham: Inside

Film of the year actually though [Full review]

6. Bergman Island

Interestingly given my love for it, I haven’t really recommended this yet to anyone. Watching Mia Wasikowska dance by herself is something that can actually be so personal..?

7. Pig

We’ll get to it if I post my nominations but Alex Wolff best supporting actor. [Full review]

8. Spencer

Sad girl Christmas! We love a daymare. Crafts exquisite, Kristen also exquisite. Weirder even than I hoped. [Full review]

9. The Matrix Resurrections

Haha go Lana, GO Lana! Wild this movie exists. Matrix Winter was such a time. [Full review]

10. Annette

The thing is this is boldest cinematic imagining I saw all year. I saw nothing else like this. Does all of it work? No! Is anyone else doing half of this? Noooooooo. And for good reason! But thank god Leos Carax will! Simon Helberg also best supporting actor. Why was Marion Cotillard eating so many apples… Fuck! Annette! Remember when Baby Annette!!?!

11. Azor

The Martin Eden prize for stylish, little-seen international feature that I keep bugging people about. “Did you guys see Azor though?” “What?”

12. Dune

If you go to my Letterboxd post you’ll see I only gave this movie 3.5 stars, but I already know it’s raising to 4 when I rewatch it, just on the power of vibes. Now that’s desert power. (God it’s so silly though!) (We can admit that a little bit right?) (Denis??) (Denis can’t hear me over his Rice Krispies sand)

13. Passing

First Harold of a very Harold year, babyyyy! Truly though I read the novella after and this was such an assured adaptation.

14. The French Dispatch

Bananas to say this but people are really undervaluing Wes Anderson, one of our greatest directors. Do you know that only one of his films has ever even been nominated for any crafts categories at the Oscars? Meanwhile no one is doing the work quite like him. And the first and third acts and especially interstitial of this are remarkable.

15. Flee (Flugt)

Sometimes the year's wrenching Afghan refugee story also includes a dance sequence to a-ha's 'Take On Me' five minutes in. Something something humanity, basically.

16. The Tragedy of Macbeth

The stars are lights on a velvet sky!! Honestly the fact that I hold this so high (such as higher than the next one!) is really a testament to how far design elements will get you with me.

17. The Worst Person In the World (Verdens verste menneske)

I did like it but! is it weird she doesn’t have a single female friend? Or…any friend? Renate and Anders very good though. Oslo looks like, restful.

18. A Hero (قهرمان)

I saw a picture of this actor later and I didn’t believe it. Performance!

19. Shiva Baby

I have never wanted to watch someone eat a bagel more. I lived vicariously through every bite of that bagel. Why am I so bagel deprived, shit. Is it because I left New York. Anyway Uncut Gems found in the back of the van under all of Joel’s boxes.

20. Parallel Mothers (Madres paralelas)

I just need to impress on you that in this film Penélope Cruz makes a tortilla española. Wow my top twenty is ending very hungry. (And wlw) (Harold look alive!)

And now the also-rans!

Musicals Corner

West Side Story Cyrano Tick, Tick…BOOM!

I gave all three of these 3.5 stars and they all landed back-to-back and that was not intentional but is: kinda funny. Interestingly I don’t think any of these three directors would begrudge me this. They wouldn’t, would they? They’d all be like aw thanks for the good company, I liked what those guys were doing too.

More 3.5's

The Lost Daughter Zola No Time To Die

This is a weird combo and yet, something about it kind of flows. I enjoy a 3.5! 3.5 is on the whole positive.

Some kinda complicated 3's that I nonetheless do keep thinking about at odd moments

The Hand of God (È stata la mano di Dio) Benedetta House of Gucci The Last Duel

Sometimes 3 means: ambivalent. Wow I don’t know! I think all of these are interesting though, I know that. Also those two Ridley Scotts could really go in either order, have swapped several times just while I typed this up.

3's that were perfectly fine and that’s it

CODA I’m Your Man (Ich bin dein Mensch) In the Heights

Sometimes that’s it!

The Belfast Award for Belfast (2.5)

Belfast

Weirdly, I’m very glad I watched it.

And lastly: I’m sorry ❤️

Nightmare Alley F9

There would certainly be others in this category with them, but I simply chose not to, because I'm not sure that sorry would get the heart.

There were also plenty others I just haven’t got around to yet, nothing personal! I will catch you later probably, C’mon C’mon and The Humans and Wheel of Fortune & Fantasy and idk, Old?? Actually I do still kinda wanna watch Old…why do I wanna watch Old..! Stop me from watching Old.

Also, the rest of the docs I watched:

Summer of Soul Procession Listening to Kenny G The Truffle Hunters

All five documentaries I saw were doing such different things and I like that about the medium very much. Animated memoir, historical concert film, experimental/drama therapy, the only way to do a talking-heads style doc, and a sort of natural-world mosaic with kinda no center but beauuutiful cinematography. A very good year for non-fiction! Actually technically The Truffle Hunters might have been a 2020, but I couldn’t figure it out? I mean is Cyrano even a 2021 and not actually a 2022? Emotionally?? WHAT YEAR EVEN IS IT.

It is 2022, definitely, (checks), and I am finally calling it on the films of 2021. Happy Oscars week.

[malonemelody]

A few words about Tár...

Let me rant about this movie because when we are talking about  Cate Blanchett I can start a TED Talk.

But anyways, TÁR.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Wow, let’s go.

First let’s start with my review, I already gave this movie a 5 stars rating on letterboxd because I was so hyped after I finished the movie. It may change in a few days or in a next re watch but I understand the grip people were talking about.  I was expecting some Suspiria kind of shit, a movie that I could not watch because I thought it was “too cult”. But TÁR has some funny elements and I found myself laughing a few times because of the craziness. In my letterboxd review I said that this was the “joker for saphics” since Lydia really goes nuts and over the top in some scenes. Anyways...

I thought the cinematography was obscene. The camera shots made me cr4zy since they were so beautiful. The hidden elements of Krista in the background, lurking around Lydia, driving her up to madness and guilt were just... OH GOD good! It was like a horror movie, so appealing. I guess that’s it I’m not going to pretend I know a lot about this but I thought it was great. But these elements were important for the plot too.  

I’m excited to talk about Cate’s character so let’s settle this first. Lydia Tár is like the student at Julliard described her “a bitch”. Lydia was a slave to her own narcissistic personality and what to say when people around her seem to appreciate and praise her for that kind of behaviour. She was the shit, or at least that what she thought. I can’t stop thinking about her lol I first started writing this after my first watch but now at the second watch I can’t shake this feeling that she left upon me. Lydia Tár is not real, folks, I know. I could write an essay and a research paper about this character. I have no words for Cate since I’m biased. I’m in love with this woman and after watching Tár it became more evident. She must be the only actress that I’ve watched the whole cinematography and she did not disappoint me in this one.  Incredible, just incredible acting. I had so many questions about Krista and Lydia's relationship, but it probably was just like most of Lydia's relationship's in this movie: transactional and abusive. The way that she offered a solo opportunity to Olga just so she could be in debt with her and make her happy and to Francesca too. That made me think that was the way that she treated Krista too and maybe she took it too far and that threatened Lydia's career. Anyways, just some of my thoughts...

The ending was phenomenal, nothing could ever prepare me to what happened to Lydia and I almost ran out of breath from laughing. I was not expecting that. This movie is not about the cancel culture. This movie is about every corrupted artist and person in this world. The abuse of power that could lead a person to lengths and to corrupt the artist’s own soul.