#blockbuster monster movie

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Whatever Toho's preparing to announce about the next Godzilla movie, it's coming at 4 AM JST tomorrow, or 3 PM EST today. Godzilla Zero seems increasingly likely to be the title.

[atomic-crusader]

The most important question about the new Toho Godzilla movie: does he have little ears again?

[ulkaralakbarova]

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire | Official Trailer 2 Unleashed

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire | Official Trailer 2 Unleashed Prepare yourself for the most monumental battle this year with the release of “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” Official Trailer 2. The legendary rivalry escalates as these iconic Titans face off once again, not just against each other but against an unseen threat that could alter the course of nature and humanity forever. Set to hit…

[angeltannis]

like a decade ago my brother and I went into a (skeevy, side-of-the-road) closing Blockbuster for the first and last time. it was dark and rainy out and it was a city I’d never been in before. they had maybe two dozen movies left for sale.

I picked up this because it looked kinda cool

anyway, I finally got around to actually watching it (yes, a full decade later), and for the first two-thirds of the movie, I was enthralled! I really liked it. I knew absolutely nothing about the film, so I was surprised by the opening credits that Guillermo Del Toro was involved in directing. I thought to myself Oh hey, maybe there will be more of a sympathetic angle on the monster, then.

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

And there was! The creature, Dren, is basically like if Eleven from Stranger Things had chicken feet and a stinger tail lol. The first hour or so of the movie is dedicated to this oddball geneticist couple giving rise to, and raising all the way to adulthood, this weird little genetic chimera kid. They keep her in a secret lab, and then eventually in a barn, while they test her abilities and DNA and stuff. And it seems like it’s gonna be a really cool little creature flick with a weird little found family.

Then, uh...the last half hour happens? The lady scientist suddenly turns into a sadist (the only explanation we get is the tired old “oh, she was abused as a kid, so now she wants to abuse kids” stereotype), straps Dren down, strips off all her clothes and chops her tail off?? And then the guy scientist, who was essentially her father and raised her from infancy, has sex with her?? And then Dren undergoes a spontaneous transformation into a male (which could’ve been super cool and gender on its own but) Dren ends up raping their mother figure?? Who actually technically IS their biological mother because the lady scientist contributed her DNA to the experiment?? And it ends with the lady scientist smashing Dren’s head in with a rock  - and then an epilogue where the lady scientist is pregnant with Dren’s rape incest baby?? And she’s gonna keep it??

I- I don’t even know where to start with this movie. Guillermo, what the fuck

[dappercritter]

So... Revenge of the Kongs now, eh?

[captaingimpy]

"Monstrous Majesty: Godzilla X Kong Unleashed"

Initial Thoughts:“Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire” continues the epic saga of the MonsterVerse with a fresh and vibrant take on the titanic clash between Godzilla and Kong. Directed by Adam Wingard, this installment delivers a blend of exhilarating monster battles and a deeper exploration of the kaiju lore. Character Dynamics and New Additions:One of the standout aspects is the introduction of…

[tv-knows-you-com-inc]

King Kong - https://tvknowsyou.com

[quasi-normalcy]

I feel like there's a necessary counterpoint to the "torment nexus" problem, namely that science fiction itself isn't free from the political and cultural biases of its creators or the capitalist incentive structure of media production. Like, every time there's an article about research into cloning extinct species, there are a bunch of comments to the effect that "There's an entire series of movies explaining why that's a bad idea." And that's true: there's an entire series of blockbuster monster movies (that very much make their money off of the spectacle of prehistoric monsters running amok), based on a thriller novel written by a reactionary, that hold that if you develop this technology, you will get the plot of a monster movie.

[odditycircus-2002]

Hear me out:

Johnny makes a related reader (works as a nurse so not often seen) attend his wedding, but the reader doesn't have a plus one. Reader randomly points to Shang Tsung and asks him to be the plus one. Johnny is too slow to protest before Shang smirks and accepts, rubbing it in that he will be the "perfect gentleman." The two actually hit it off.

The twist: Reader doesn't know magic and is unaware of who he is or anything relating to earthrelm/outworld as Johnny likes it.

A/N: Since you didn't specify what version of Johnny Cage you wanted me to write, I'll make sure to write this request with the Old Era characters in mind. With a hint of some of the 1990 Mortal Kombat movie for plot reasons. I hope you enjoy this!

Perfect Gentleman

Johnny Cage's fans, media, and the general public don't know about you, and you're just fine with that. Unlike your drama-king cousin, you don't really want the spotlight on you anyway. You're more down to Earth and low-key than your cousin, Johnny Cage (or as you know him as, John Carlton). In fact, you don't work in the Hollywood business at all; you're a Nursing Assistant to surgeons.

You supported Johnny through the highs and lows in his career, whether it's Ninja Mime or Time Smashers. You love to hear Johnny talk about his movies after a 12-hour shift, and he always sends you a special edition DVD for each of his movies. You even have the first ticket you bought to Johnny Cage's first blockbuster framed in your apartment.

Unfortunately, your and Johnny's respective careers don't always leave you wiggle room to visit each other whenever you like. But you stay in touch since you are his "favorite" cousin (read, only cousin). You also attend important events in Johnny's personal life, such as his engagement party with a Special Forces woman named Sonya Blade.

When you arrived at your cousin Johnny's mansion, he happily greeted you and introduced you to his stone-faced fiancee.

"Meet the future, Mrs. Cage!" Johnny makes a grand sweeping gesture at Sonya, who's playfully rolling her eyes at her fiance's theatrics. You give a grin. "I'm honestly surprised she's choosing to marry you." Sonya gives a small grin as she assesses you. "You sure you and Johnny are related?"

Johnny then introduced you to the rest of his friends, both the Hollywood types you expected and loathed to meet. Some people seemed to have walked out of a Spirit Halloween, each stranger than the last. There was a Cop (not at the party busting Johnny for doing drugs this time) named Striker. There was another Special Forces soldier named Jax, whose arms were made of metal. You met some ninjas, monks, a blind swordsman, and two guys with glowing eyes.

Despite their strange appearances, you found them polite and more of a delight to be around. However, they seemed evasive whenever you asked how exactly they knew your cousin, only knowing they all met at some karate tournament Johnny attended. What you didn't notice the whole time was Johnny holding a notepad from behind you that read, "DON'T TELL THEM ABOUT ANY OF THE CRAZY SHIT IN OUTWORLD!!!"

After Johnny introduced you to everyone and you told as many embarrassing stories about him as possible, you took a seat to catch up. He told you how he met Sonya at the karate tournament called "Mortal Kombat," albeit a heavily scrubbed version that didn't involve magic, gods, monsters, and the Earth coming this close to being conquered by an interdimensional tyrant. You remarked how Johnny is lucky to have found someone to spend the rest of his life with since, unfortunately, you won't be attending his wedding.

You explained to Johnny that your romantic partner had broken up with you and that you could not handle the long hours you worked. So, as happy as you are for your cousin, you're not sure you want to socialize rather than stay in your apartment to eat a bucket of ice cream and criticize hospital dramas.

However, Johnny, being who he is, begs you to come to his wedding as you're one of the only family members, besides Grandma Carlton, that he got along with. In a lightbulb moment, he suggests that one of his buddies at the party could be your plus one. You think it over quickly, figuring that you have nothing to lose really doing this, plus you know Johnny would keep pestering you if you didn't. Worse, he may decide to play matchmaker himself. Your eyes scan the crowded living room you're in before landing on one guy you haven't seen earlier. He wore a black leather jacket with a red Chinese dragon on the back and seemed a little older than your usual type, yet he seemed to have this grace.

"Alright, I'll go ask him."

"That's the spirit, Y/N!"

With Johnny's encouragement and a sip of liquid courage, you approached the stranger. Imagine the action star's disbelief and shock when, instead of approaching one of his co-stars like he thought you would, he approached the worst guy possible in the room. Shao Khan's sorcerer, Shang Tsung.

How did he get past all the guests, each one that ABSOLUTELY despises him? Why did he decide to come here of all places? None of that matters right now, compared to the disaster unfolding before his very eyes. Like a fool, he only sat and watched as it happened, springing to action too little too late.

Shang Tsung stiffens for a split second before he registers you at the corner of his eye. He turns around to greet you with his signature grin, noting that he's never seen you before. So what could you possibly want with him, the sorcerer ponders. "Pardon me, Mr...?" "Shang Tsung, at your service. And you are Ms...?" He gestured to you with his hand, not holding a champagne flute. You took the opportunity to shake his hand. "L/N. Y/N L/N." Shang Tsung raises your hand to his lips and kisses the back of it. He smirks at your flustered expression. "The pleasure is all mine, Ms. L/N." You shake your head before clearing your throat, hoping your flushed expression can easily be explained away by the spirits you decide to indulge in. "Anyways, I'm sorry if this seems too sudden, but I need a plus one for my cousin's wedding, and my date bailed on me." Shang Tsung raises a manicured brow. "And who happens to be your cousin, Ms. L/N?" You gesture with your thumb over your shoulder to Johnny Cage, who has the look of someone who just shitted their pants. Shang Tsung grins in amusement. You continued to speak, not noticing your cousin's horrified face, all while fidgeting with your hands and wishing you just chugged down the brandy that Johnny was drinking. "Before you ask, no, I'm not in the Hollywood business. I'm just a nursing assistant. Also, if you already have someone you're going with, sorry for putting you on the spot, and I understand if you don't wanna be my plus one-" "I'd love to, Ms. L/N." Shang Tsung notes that your flustered expression looked rather endearing on you. He then makes direct eye contact with Johnny Cage as he says his next words. "And I promise to be the perfect gentleman for you."

Johnny finally springs into action when he swipes a cocktail napkin to write your phone number to give to Shang Tsung. He vaults over furniture, knocks over trays of finger foods and champagne, and nearly runs over one unfortunate producer. You and Shang Tsung turn your heads at the racket, finding Johnny in your face in the blink of an eye.

"Y/N, what have you done?!?"

You told Johnny to chill out before asking him if he knows Shang Tsung. He told you that, yeah, he does from the karate tournament. He tries to warn you about how he and Sonya hate him for the bad things he's done, but he is cut off when your phone goes off. You excused yourself once you realized it was from the hospital you work at. Blissfully unaware of Johnny Cage threatening to rain Hell down on the Sorcerer should he hurt you, Shang Tsung assures him that he plans to be the perfect date for you.

Ultimately, you had to say goodbye to your cousin, having been called in for a work emergency. Shang Tsung had long dipped out of the party. Johnny Cage could only fumble over his words as you told him to give your best wishes to Sonya before you rushed out the door.

A week later, you get a call from Shang Tsung about arranging for you two to meet at Johnny and Sonya's wedding. You tried to ask him what your cousin's deal with him was, and he only responded that Johnny didn't forgive him for what he had done at the tournament. The way Shang Tsung explained it, he was the referee at the Tournament, which Johnny Cage did well up until a certain match where he disagreed with a call he made. You accepted that answer, knowing your cousin.

The rest, from there, was history. You found Shang Tsung to be witty, charming, and polite. He didn't mind your long work hours, as he also had a demanding job with grueling hours, making you both appreciate your talks even more when they did happen. At one point, he found out your address from one of Cage's co-workers (he shapeshifted into said co-worker to snoop through Johnny's contacts) and mailed you bouquets of exotic flowers you've never seen. You invited him for sushi at another point, where he offered to buy you a dress so you don't have to worry much about travel costs.

You couldn't wait to go to Johnny's wedding with Shang Tsung. You saw the dress he had specifically commissioned for you by the finest tailors in his area, and it looked stunning.

Oh, if only you knew what Hell Johnny was going through and how much artillery Sonya had prepared for Shang Tsung.

Playlist While Writing This

"Head Over Heals" by Tears for Fears

"Dangerous Woman" by Ariana Grande

"Judas" by Lady Gaga

"Monster" By Lady Gaga

"LoveGame" By Lady Gaga

[briarandhissecretgarden]

A Minecraft Movie Trailer Dive

Alright!! I have a hard time talking about things in a more real? manner like this but I feel like it's important to be honest and share thoughts.

So the Minecraft movie trailer is a trailer that exists and it's incredibly upsetting to say the least. i had always had hopes of it being entirely animated and be a sort fo film version of Minecraft: Story Mode but it's clearly not that at all. It's a shame too, it's incredibly disappointing to know it's live action as I am a HUGE advocate for animated movies and blockbusters and such. I think Minecraft is a game that is so fantastical and developed and normalized within it's own plane of existence that trying to translate it as anything other than an animated movie fundamentally goes against what the game is supposed to be.

Minecraft is creativity incarnate. It is a canvas for you to do quite literally anything with. And i think turning it into a pathetic cash grab live action movie is about as hard away as you can get from it's core values. You lazily slap real people to into the game to mock and laugh at and disrupt the flow of it's own universe. Treating this game as if it is nothing but a child' plaything despite the fact that people of any age can play it and find joy and excitement. I think the jokes and the overall childish view of the game is disgusting I think it belittles it, I think Minecraft as a whole, encourages all ages and helps develop personal understanding of the world around us and our own ideals. Maybe we'd like to build a large house, go on, here are hundreds of blocks to choose from! Loads of colors, be free!!! Perhaps you'd like to calm down and play with friends or even challenge yourselves, go on with multiplayer! There's servers and achievements!!! There's plenty of things to do. And I think one of the most important things is that, none of this is wrong or weird. None of this is an incorrect way of playing, nothing you do is bad. This isn't supposed to be humbling this isn't supposed to be stressful or something to laugh at. Your desires and plans are valid.

Perhaps as an autistic individual myself, I find that so comforting. I understand it's just a movie, but it's a movie that fundamentally gets everything wrong about this lovely game. I don't understand how these trailers and jokes and plot points are treated as if it's okay to be bad if it's for children. It's saddening.

Either way, moving onto a different subject that I have much more knowledge about and care too much of, the Piglins.

This trailer shows off that Piglins are meant to be the main antagonists, as well as the The Seer having a role in the plot. I have many problems with this, and I will be discussing this through the lens of my own experiences, especially as it comes to my race. (I am latino for those who don't know)

First things first, no, the Piglins aren't evil by any means. I know a lot of media has a very black and white view of them but honestly, take a moment to think about this.

Piglins are minding their business, having fun, living their lives, when a bunch of explorers come barging into their home, exploiting them for their willingness to barter, stealing their valuables right from their houses, and on top of that, being killed and hurt because they dare fight back and attempt to protect one another.

To me, it's incredibly disheartening to see Piglins being portrayed as some kind of aggressors, savages and barbaric monsters all because they want to protect their way of life. I don't understand how emotionless people seem to act toward them. They aren't even physically accurate to the game models. They wear clothes, they use tools, they talk amongst themselves. It's very disgusting to see how this group that is CLEARLY INTELLIGENT BTW (they make music, tools, clothes, armor, buildings, homes and have a complex social system) being drawn and shown in less clothes, more violent tendencies, a more destroyed home and life, even showing violence among themselves to portray them as anything other than the interesting and complex species they are.

I'm just tired of the racist undertones that most Piglin plots seem to have. I find it insulting to them, i find it concerning regarding the language used. 'barbaric' 'crude' 'savage'

Just makes me angry.

[sombredancer]

Recent visually beautiful and generally watchable Russian fantasy movies

(because I start forgetting they exist at all) Ironically, all of them are adaptations of books/comics.

I Am Dragon / Он — дракон (2015) This movie is a very free adaptation of the novel "The Rite" / "Ритуал" by Maryna and Serhiy Dyachenko (Марина и Сергей Дяченко). It's a reinterpreting of an ancient tale about a maiden, a hero and a dragon. I don`t like the novel because it's very postmodern, wracks the typical fairytale plot and hurts my escapist feelings by ugly reality, but the movie is pretty fairytale-ish and nice. Firstly, it is visually beautiful and represent Slavic pseudo-medieval lore the way it should have always been in Slavic fantasy.

Secondly, as a love story between a monster and a maiden, it has got A PLENTY of tropes I'm usually looking for in Chinese dramas, so I understand very well why it was pretty popular in Asia.

Thirdly, when I said it's visually beautiful I wasn't joking. The main hero is played not by an actor, but by a male model, who is shirtless all the time (and sometimes pantless) and has a very fit and good-looking body. It's something unbelievable that someone in Russia made a movie to please women's eyes! Really, it's insane!

The folk-rock band Мельница wrote an insanely beautiful song "Обряд" (The Rite) for this movie (more matched to the book plot, though), but it was never used as OST, which is a shame. The song is about a black sheep girl, who is denied by society and asks a dragon to come for her and to take her away, because the dragon is denied by this world just like her. You can listen to it here. The band also has a song "Змей" (The Wyrm) (based on Lev Gumilev's poem), which is more accurate to the plot of the movie: the wyrm kidnaps maidens to make them its wives, but they are all dying during the flight; at the end of the song a hero-knight is ready to shoot it in order to stop it. Listen to it here.

It ends with HE, which is better than the book's obscure ending, so it is pleasure for me to rewatch it till these days.

Major Grom: Plague Doctor / Майор Гром: Чумной Доктор (2021)

It is an adaptation of Russian comic series "Major Grom" by Bubble comics. I am traditionally not very happy with the source material, but it is very good reworked to be the screen play of this movie.

It's very beautifully made in terms of director's, cameraman's and screenwriter's work, which is a rare thing for Russian movies. Also, the actors are young and handsome, especially the villain, which is a rare thing not only for Russian movies, but for the current Western movies, too. It has got a lot of allusions to Russian reality and a lot of beautiful views of Saint Petersburg, the second capital of Russia and one of the most beautiful Russian cities. And it has got some unusual visual solutions that turn it into a comic it should be.

The plot revolves around a mysterious serial killer (kinda bad Batman), a black sheep police officer and Russian Mark Zuckerberg (kind of). Mark Zuckerberg is the best guy of this movie and I like him a lot! Серёёёёжа! 🧡🧡🧡

This movie wasn't popular in Russia because of political situation in the country by the moment of its release (the both sides found out in there something insulting for them and banned it), but even if it has something like that, I honestly didn't pay attention to it. It's just a nice blockbuster with a tragic and handsome villain. The villain also has got his own BL-drama (in the comics they are really lovers, it`s as obvious as it could be shown in a Russian comic).

By the way, the villain is hot, insane, ruthless, sensitive and suffering. How does he contain all of this character treats in one personality? you may ask. He doesn`t. He has dissociative identity disorder, I would answer.

I don`t know if it works by now, but some time ago you could watch this lovely movie on Netflix.

The Master and Margarita / Мастер и Маргарита (2024) This is a loose adaptation of Russian classical novel "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov. I genuinely hate this book, but the adaptation reinterprets it, divides it into very interesting layers and makes it understandable and beautiful.

It`s layered, so it will probably be hard to understand what layer are we currently on if you are not familiar with the original story. The first layer is an ugly Soviet reality, the second layer is a plot of the novel that the main hero is writing, a story within a story. The third layer is the insane intertwining of the first two layers. On the reality layer the Master loses his job and freedom because of friend's denunciation and becomes star-crossed lovers with a married woman. On the novel level he meets devil, who visits Moscow by chance, and the devil gives him and his woman opportunity to live their lives being free from everything that usually tortures people IRL. Somewhere among those layers is a little plot about Jesus and Pontius Pilate.

The movie is visually beautiful. Although it feels pretty anti-Soviet, Soviet visuals of the movie are gorgeous. There were used the Stalin-times concepts of Moscow of the Future, the CGI buildings in frame came from the real architecture projects of those times. The Stalin Empire architecture style and views are typical for Moscow (but as I know, ironically, this all was shot in Saint Petersburg). It seems to me that this movie is heavily stuffed with visual allusions to the Western works: devil's escort looks like bunch of Pennywises, Margarita is Enchantress from Suicide Squad I, the scene of blood dripping is from Blade I etc. Usually, when I see it in Russian movies, it feels like plagiarism because I can recognize the reference but there is nothing except for these references . But here we have got the plot, so the allusions work as allusions and don`t irritate me.

The movie is dark, disturbing, uncomfortable. It really makes you feel as if you watch devil and his escort marching around you; they ravage, kill and destroy everything and you can only breathlessly, helplessly and in fear watch them. The German actor playing devil is insanely good. He stole the movie and I understand why it should have been named Woland (the devil's name) instead of the current movie's name. You may want to watch it, because it's very unusual in terms of plot and visuals experience, especially when you are not familiar with the book.

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (June 11-17, 2023)

Tsuburaya Productions released a five-minute trailer for Ultraman Blazar, focused on the human cast. Between this and the unveiling of a bunch of the monsters (a combination of originals and some deep cuts), it continues to look extremely promising.

Toho launched a Twitter account for their next Godzilla film on June 12. It's been counting down all the "core" (live-action and Toho-produced) entries in the series at the rate of one per day, starting with Shin Godzilla. Presumably, they'll reveal the poster, title, and maybe more for the new one at the end (so July 11). The way they're doing this also lends credibility to the rumored Godzilla Zero title.

Hoshi 35, Megumi Odaka's triumphant return to movies, released a trailer, poster, and a bunch of stills (gathered on Wikizilla). Alas, no shots of the daikaiju in the trailer, just the baby.

Bandai's finally going to be producing Ultraman toys for the U.S., with the first wave focused on the animated Netflix movie due next year.

For those of you headed to G-Fest next month, the full schedule is out, and they finally announced the Friday and Saturday movies at the Pickwick: Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and Godzilla (2014), respectively. King Kong Escapes will also replace Shin Ultraman on Thursday. Dunno if I'll go to GXMG (I just rewatched it before the Tokyo SOS Fathom Event), but I'm lunging at the chance to see G14 properly-lit and with booming sound. They showed it in 2017 too and it was a blast. For the hotel's film festival, the big title of interest is Yuzo the Biggest Battle in Tokyo, a Yoshikazu Ishii joint set during the pandemic. And if you haven't caught Iké Boys yet, that's playing twice (very much before the audience it was intended for).

Also, go to my friend Alana's panel about designing kaiju gijinkas for cosplay (Saturday at 1). If you've been to either of the past two cons, you probably remember her Mothra costumes, and we're both working on a bunch more for this year.

Oh yeah, and there's a third North American kaiju con, Super G, starting up in the fall... well, sort of. It might be better termed a convention within a convention (Northern National Collectors’ Convention). September 29-October 1 in Windsor, Canada, right on the Michigan border. Not many specifics yet, but the press release says, "Super G will offer fans a variety of guest celebrities and artists, direct from Japan and around the world, who worked on Kaiju franchises making either their first-ever or first-Canadian convention appearances. Inclusion opportunities feature program panels, contests, experiences, theatrical showings, collectables, cosplay, and more."

I haven't been keeping up with Godziban's multi-episode collaboration with Televi-Kun—seems like pretty routine stuff—but then they had to pay homage to Sharknado in the newest installment. I knew, of course, that this day would eventually come. Now which one of you said sharknadoes weren't kaiju back when I was unhealthily obsessed with that series?

[gexfan32]

You know what the worst part about the Monster Hunter movie is? A blockbuster Hollywood MonHun movie could work, you just need to structure it kinda like a sports movie, or Rocky or something.

Start by introducing a quirky, quippy party of hunters by showing a usual hunt, probably a Rathalos.

Have them discover some environmental irregularity.

Then they fight a monster riled up by that irregularity.

After some brainstorming they find the elder dragon responsible.

The team tries to fight the elder but gets mollywhopped.

Insert training and gearing up montage here

they beat the elder dragon and everything goes back to normal.

Felyne dance party ending.

See? Perfect blockbuster comfort food, nothing too fancy, but a fun action romp.

[tinytalkingtina]

Free Show

2222 words | Rating E | Full fic on Ao3 Written for the @steddiesmuttyseptember event, Week 2 Prompts: "clothes on" and "back seat" Tags: Dom Steve/Sub Eddie, exhibitionism and semi-public sex, car sex, edging/orgasm control, some very mild CBT, spoilers for Die Hard (1988), pre negotiated scene, they get pretty messy

The Beemer rolled to a gentle stop. They had made good time, previews were only just starting. Eddie fidgeted excitedly in the passenger seat beside him.

“You know, the premise for this movie kind of reminds me of a puzzle from the first campaign I ran. Had an evil gang kidnap a bunch of nobles during their takeover of a wizard’s tower. Planned to have 10 floors of traps and monsters for the players to fight through before getting to the end, it was going to be brutal. Only problem was, I forgot Jeff had a saddle of flying. So whoosh,” Eddie punctuated his words with a flap of his hands. “All my plans, foiled by a horse with wings. But barring a wild departure from genre standards, I’m going to assume this cop will have to fight the baddies off without any magical items.”

Steve chuckled quietly. Personally he wasn’t really sold on how the guy from that comedy detective show would do in a serious action movie, but he did look forward to watching the explosions. And it didn’t hurt that in the trailer, it looked like Bruce Willis would spend most of the movie with his chest on full display.

Though, if the night went according to schedule, the two of them would have to rewatch Die Hard again at some point.

A few minutes in, the limo driver introduced himself as “Argyle”, and Eddie snorted. “Oh my G-d we’re gonna never hear the end of this from Jon are we.”

“No, I don’t think we are.” Steve laughed. He chose that moment to let his hand wander, resting it casually on Eddie’s crotch. Eddie’s breath hitched as he started to gently squeeze and massage.

“Not that I mind the attention Steve, but if you keep that up, I’m probably going to have a uh…situation,” he whispered, mindful of the open window. Steve leaned in close and pressed his hand in a little harder. 

“Nope, you’re just going to have to control yourself. Wouldn't want you to get so messy, not here. There's so many people around." 

In reality, there really weren’t. It was a Tuesday night in the middle of nowhere at a barely functioning drive-in theater (Steve was honestly shocked he’d found one playing a major summer blockbuster). Their car was the only one on this side of the lot, and he’d parked right by the tree-line, carefully out of the direct glow of the screen.

But Eddie didn’t notice all that. He didn’t need to. They had worked out all the details for this little game last week, so all he had to do was sit back and let Steve get him more and more worked up.

A small whimper left Eddie’s lips. "I can't help it when you're, oh, being so…mean about it!”

Steve smiled. “I know what you’re thinking, that I’m gonna make you come in your pants a bunch of times while we watch a movie, yeah? Maybe see if we can break your record?” The temptation was there. It would be so easy to just keep teasing until Eddie couldn’t hold back anymore, to take him to that place where he went all boneless and pliant. Tonight though, Steve had other plans.

Eddie nodded frantically, hitching his hips to rut against Steve’s palm harder. 

“Yes, yup, please, I don’t think we can beat five but—.” He moved his hand away from Eddie’s crotch, ignoring the small noise of confusion.

“Tonight, I thought maybe we’d try something new. Can you keep your hands up here for me?” Steve gently tugged on Eddie’s wrists, moving them until he was holding onto the headrest. “Not planning on tying you down. But you’re not gonna move from this position unless I tell you to, right?” Eddie nodded, his eyes glazing over. “Good boy, thank you.”

His boyfriend relaxed a little at the praise, but kept shifting restlessly. “Can you touch me again now? Please? If I’m going to get arrested for public indecency I want at least one orgasm out of it.” Steve huffed out a laugh.

“Stay still for me, and maybe I will.”  He slowly undid the zipper on Eddie’s jeans and wiggled down his briefs to leave him bare-assed on the passenger seat. As asked, Eddie obediently kept the squirming to a minimum, even if he gave another whimper at the exposure. His dick on the other hand, gave an interested twitch, already half hard.

Steve held out his hand. “Spit.” Even in the darkness, he could make out how red Eddie’s face was as he did so.

He reached down and gave a few solid pumps while rubbing his thumb over the tip, not letting up until Eddie was fully hard. “Here’s the rules for tonight. I’m gonna keep doing this right up until you’re about to blow it. But you’re not gonna come. Not until the credits roll. When you get close to the edge, I want you to be good and tell me, okay?” It took Eddie a few seconds but he did finally nod. Steve grinned at his wide-eyed stare. This was going to be fun.

Thirty minutes later, the German terrorist leader shot someone. Steve wasn’t entirely sure he was actually a terrorist, but the finer details of the plot were kind of a lost cause at this point. And Eddie definitely wasn’t in a state to concentrate on anything besides what was happening in the car.

Read the rest on Ao3!

Popcorn divider credit: Firefly Graphics

[physalian]

On Writing Theme (Or, Make it a Question)

An element of story so superficially understood and yet is the backbone of what your work is trying to say. Theme is my favorite element to design and implement and the easiest way to do that? Make it a question.

A solid theme takes an okay action movie and propels it into blockbuster infamy, like Curse of the Black Pearl. It turns yet another Batman adaptation into an endlessly rewatchable masterpiece, seeing the same characters reinvented yet again and still seeing something new, in The Dark Knight. It’s the spiraling drain at the bottom of classic tragedies, pulling its characters inevitably down to their dooms, like in The Great Gatsby.

Theme is more than just “dark and light” or “good and evil”. Those are elements that your story explores, but your theme is what your story *says* with those elements. 

For example: Star Wars takes “dark vs light” incredibly literally (ignoring the Sequels). Dark vs Light is what the movies pit against each other. How the selfish, corrupted, short-sighted nature of the Dark Side inevitably leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom—that’s what the story is about.

A story can have more than one theme, more than one statement it wants to make and more than one question to answer. Star Wars is also about the inevitable triumph of unity and ‘goodness’ over division and ‘evil’.

Part of why I love fantasy is how allegorical it can be. Yes I’m writing a story with vampires, but my questions to my characters are, “What makes a monster? Why is it a monster?” My characters’ arcs are the answer to my theme question.

Black Pearl is a movie that dabbles in the dichotomy between law-abiding soldiers and citizens, and the lawless pirates who elude them. Black Pearl’s theme is that one can be a pirate and also a good man, and that neither side is perfect or mutually exclusive, and that strictly adhering to either extreme will lead you to tragedy.

Implementing your theme means, in my opinion, staging your theme like a question and answering it with as many characters and plot beats as possible. In practice?

Q: Can a pirate be a good man? A: Jack is. Will is. Elizabeth is. Barbossa is selfish and short-sighted, and he loses. Norrington is too focused on propriety and selfless duty, and he loses.

Or, in Gatsby.

Q: Is life fulfilled by living in the past? A: Mr. Buchanan clings to his old-money ways and is a sour lout with no respect for anyone or himself. Daisy clings to a marriage that failed long ago, to retain an image and security she thinks she needs. Myrtle chases a man she can’t ever have. Her husband lusts after a wife who’s no longer his. Gatsby… well we all know what happens to him.

The more characters and plot beats you have to answer your theme’s question, the more cohesive a message you’ll send. It can be a statment the story backs up as well, as seen below, questions just naturally invite answers.

—

Do you need a theme?

Not technically, no. Plenty of stories get by on their other solid elements and leave the audience to draw their own conclusions and take their own meaning and messages. Your average romance novel probably isn’t written with a moral. Neither are your 80s/90s action thrillers. Neither are many horror movies. Theme is usually reserved for dramas, and usually in dramatic fantasy and sci-fi, where the setting tends to be an allegory for whatever message the author is trying to send. That, and kids movies.

Sometimes you just want to tell a funny story and you don’t set out with any goals of espousing morals and lessons you want your readers to learn and that is perfectly okay. I still think saying *something* will make the funny funnier or the drama more dramatic or the romance more romantic, but that’s just me and what I like to read.

When it is there, it’s right in front of your face way more often than you might think. Here’s some direct quotes succinctly capturing the main theses of a couple famous works:

“He’s a good man.” / “No, he’s a pirate.” - Curse of the Black Pearl

“What are we holding onto, Sam?” / “That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.” - LotR, Two Towers

“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.” - LotR, Fellowship of the Ring

“A person’s a person, no matter how small.” - Horton Hears a Who

“You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” - The Dark Knight

“Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!” - The Great Gatsby

“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” & “Life finds a way.” - Jurassic Park

"Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind." - Lilo & Stitch

“But… I’m supposed to be beautiful.” / “You are beautiful.” - Shrek

“I didn’t kill him because he looked as scared as I was. I looked at him, and I saw myself.” - How to Train Your Dragon

“There are no accidents.” & “There is no secret ingredient.” & “You might wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach.” - Kung Fu Panda

*If any of those are wrong, I did them entirely from memory, sue me.

Some of the best scenes in these stories are where the theme synthesizes in direct dialogue. There’s this moment of catharsis where you, the audience, knew what the story has been saying, but now you get to hear it put into words.

Or, these are the lines that stick in your head as you watch the tragedy unfold around the characters and all they didn’t learn when they had the chance.

When it comes to stories that have a very strong moral and never feel like they’re preaching to you, look no further than classic Pixar movies.

“Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.” - Ratatouille

“I’m not strong enough.” / “If we work together, you don’t have to be.” - The Incredibles

“Just keep swimming!” - Finding Nemo

Ellie’s adventure book, to live your own adventure, even if it’s not the one you thought it would be - Up

The Wheel Well montage, to slow down every once in a while, because in a flash, it’ll be gone - Cars

The entire first dialogue-less section of Wall-E, to stop our endless consumption or else

The real monsters are corporate consumption - Monsters Inc

One cannot fully appreciate happiness without a little sadness - Inside Out

With enough loud voices, the common man can overthrow The Man - A Bug’s Life

A person’s worth is not determined by their value to other people - Toy Story

These are the themes that I, personally, took from these movies as a kid and later in life. If I remembered the scripts any better I could probably pull some direct dialogue to support them, but, sadly, I do not have the entire Pixar catalog memorized.

—

After you’ve suffered through rigorous literary analysis classes for years on end, the “lit analyst” hat kind of never comes off. Sometimes you try to find a theme where none exists, coming up with your own. Sometimes you can very easily see the skeleton attempt at having a theme and a message that came out half-baked, and all the missed opportunities to polish it.

Whatever the case, while theme isn’t *necessary*, having that through line, an axis around which your entire story revolves, can be a fantastic way to examine which elements of your WIP aren’t meshing with the rest, why a character is or isn’t clicking, how you want to end it, or, even, how you want to approach a sequel.

Unfortunately, very, very often, a movie, book, or season of TV has a fantastic execution of a theme in its first run, and the ensuing sequels forget all about it.

No one here is going to defend Michael Bay’s Transformers movies as cinematic masterpieces, however, the first movie did actually have a thematic through line: “No sacrifice, no victory.” They didn’t stick the landing but, you know, the attempt was made. Where is that theme at all in the sequels? Nonexistent. They could have even explored a different theme and they abandoned it altogether.

Black Pearl’s thematic efforts fell away to lore and worldbuilding in its two sequels. Not that they’re bad! I love Dead Man’s Chest, but to those who don’t like the sequels, that missing element may be part of why.

Shrek and Shrek 2 both centered on their theme of beauty being how you define it and no one else. Fiona finds true love in her “true” form, then strengthens that message in the sequel when she has the chance to be “normal” and conventionally attractive, and still chooses to be an ogre, to be with Shrek. Shrek 3’s theme is…? 

When it was never there, that theme is missing isn’t so obvious. When it used to be there and got left behind, it leaves a crater in its wake everyone notices, even if they can’t pinpoint why.

—

TLDR: Theme is more than just vague nouns and dichotomies. Good, evil, dark, light, selfishness, altruism, beauty, ugliness, riches, poverty, etc are what your story uses. Your theme is what your story has to say with those elements, using as many characters and plot points as possible to reinforce its message. Is it necessary? No. Is it helpful and does it lead to a richer experience? Yes.

[takerfoxx]

Okay.

I don't often gush about movies on this blog. Hell, I don't often go to the movies anymore. I just don't have the attention span for it. And I honestly was going to give this one a miss until someone who's opinion I trust was adamant that I needed to see this film right now on the biggest screen possible while I still had the chance. So, FOMO out won over, and I went to go see Godzilla Minus One in Imax.

...

Look, I've been a Godzilla fan practically all my life. My family used to rent those old english dubs of the films on VHS from Blockbuster in the early nineties. I grew up with these monsters. But I have to admit, I've never seen the original, nor have I seen Shin Godzilla. To me, Godzilla is about one thing and one thing only.

Fuck.

Yeah.

Gimme the big monsters just going HAM on each other. Rubber suits, CGI, I don't care! I want the big boys with beef to beef with a large side of cheese!

I guess that's why Godzilla 2014 ultimately left me feeling kind of cold while I absolutely loved KOTM despite how stupid a lot of it was. I just want my big monsters absolutely wrecking shit.

This was different. I knew it was going to be different. A remake of the original Godzilla, this time from the viewpoint of the common citizens still trying to get their lives together after WW2? I knew I was in for some heavy drama.

What I didn't expect was one of the most amazing theater experience I have ever had.

And I'm not just saying that because the movie is good, even though it is.

I'm not just saying that because the movie is great, even though it is.

I'm not just saying that because it's a goddamn masterpiece, even though it is.

I'm saying that because it's about as close to perfect of a film as you can get, and not just of a Godzilla movie, but just as a movie!

Like, it's a running joke that you can cut the human characters out of any Godzilla movie. Here, you could cut Godzilla out and still have a great movie. That's how good the human side of things was.

Like, you really grow attached to these people who have literally lost everything. You grow invested in their struggles, in their relationships, in their baggage, in their love for one another. You come to care about them and are genuinely happy as they eke out a new life after having their homes literally blown to bits. You just want to see them succeed and be happy together.

And that's when Godzilla shows up.

This movie is called Godzilla Minus One in reference to how post-war Japan was basically a Zero Society, left devastated by the conflict. And these people who literally were left with nothing suddenly find even that ripped away as an enormous monster just starts rampaging through the recovering cities.

And this time, Godzilla isn't an avenging hero. He's not a destructive anti-hero. He's not a fun mascot. He's not even a poor, suffering monster unaware of the destruction that he's wreaking. This Godzilla is goddamn menace, an outright monster that is absolutely terrifying. He wants to crush, kill, and destroy. This is Godzilla at his most actively malicious, and all you can do is gape up in horror with these people that you've come to care so much about, wondering how in the hell are they supposed to deal with this!

I won't give away how the day is eventually saved, only to say that it is a masterclass of character-driven suspense and emotion. You honestly come to root for the humans for once. You want to see them succeed, and are genuinely in fear for their lives. No exaggeration, I had my heart in my throat and tears in my eyes all throughout the climax. I don't cry during movies, and this movie made me sob like a baby. It was that good.

And it also had so much to say! Not only about Japan's collective trauma following the nuclear bombs or the other bombing raids like the original, but also about how the Japanese government dehumanized its own people during the war, treating them as expendable resources to fuel the war machine. The main character is a freaking kamikaze pilot who lost his nerve and abandoned his mission, and that plus another act of what he saw as cowardice haunts him throughout the movie, and while it realistically shows how such a person would be treated like a pariah by his former friends and neighbors, it is nothing but sympathetic toward him. He blames himself constantly, but the narrative never seems to.

And there's just this wonderful moment near the end, when it's clear that the government isn't coming to the rescue, so it's up to the common man to band together and find a solution, when a few men leave the mission for fear of their lives and that of their families, and are not condemned for it. And the scientist spearheading the whole thing gives this lovely little speech about how carelessly life has been treated during the war, from the kamikazes to the poorly maintained supply chains to how the common folk were left to fend for themselves, and he hopes to just once be able to secure a win that doesn't sacrifice any more lives. Wow.

I know it's probably too late for anyone else to see it, because I'm pretty sure it's theatrical run ends today. I just wanted to get this review off my chest, because wow, this was the best movie I've seen all year. What a goddamn masterpiece.