#dash commentary; the cluster of stars

[shining-gem34]

Rook has appeared! What to do?

Awkward hug

Caress Cheek

Throw Salt

Worship

"..." Rook isn't sure how to react except stare at the four options presented.

"...Should I say I got the good end of the stick compared to a few others?"

[hearthflown]

"Oh my! It seems there are even more counterparts than before, hmm? Well, I do hope no one minds if I join in on the party-" Here's Belial #4, ready to add to the chaos!

[chicagoindiecritics]

New from Every Movie Has a Lesson by Don Shanahan: MOVIE REVIEW: Knives Out

(Image courtesy of Lionsgate)

Festival Centerpiece and Gala Presentation of the 55th Chicago International Film Festival

KNIVES OUT— 5 STARS

In a film of perplexing puppetry like this, the most engrossing quality of Knives Out is character creation. Half of that strength happens on the scripted page where writer-director Rian Johnson has created a deplorable and decadent cobweb of villainy. The other half of that draw comes from the ingenuity of the assembled ensemble. This cluster of spidery characters could have been stock archetypes played by obvious actors. Instead, there’s nuance dripping like venom from thirsty fangs all over the performance stage of Johnson’s cinematic charade.

That nuance spins subversion that decidedly warps any perceived predictability one has about this silver screen species of film. Knives Out electrifies the whodunit genre with dastardly glee and self-aware perception. From piercing stares and cutting words to the ever-present stabbing threat of the forged metal weapons themselves, the blades of entertainment slash and thrust every single second of this standout romp.

Filthy rich crime author Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) lays dead in his study from a knife wound thought to be from his own hand on the night of his 85th birthday party. With the arrival of the police investigators Detective Lieutenant Elliot and Trooper Wagner (Sorry to Bother You’s Lakeith Stanfield and Rian Johnson good luck charm Noah Segan), the suspicion of murder must be disproved to rule this case a suicide. The flails of shock, grief, outrage, and, ultimately, selfishness to seek their golden parachute among the many gathered family members at the family mansion in New England ignites the game and keeps the puzzle open.

Commanding the top of the Thrombey family tree is the eldest daughter Linda Drysdale (Jamie Lee Curtis) flanked by her husband Richard (Don Johnson). They constantly chase and chastise their rebel socialite son Ransom (Chris Evans), who conveniently left the party yearly. Next is Linda’s younger brother Walter (Michael Shannon), Harlan’s only surviving son who has stewarded the publishing empire alongside his father while toting his snobbish wife Donna (Riki Lindhome). The final tag-along from that generational layer is Joni (Toni Collette), the widow of Harlan’s deceased son.

LESSON #1: FAMILY WILL GLADLY SCREW OVER OTHER FAMILY — Start your shifting guesses and begin picking out the liars. These are horrible, entitled people who would eat their own young to survive, which, take it as you will, can be interpreted as biting social commentary of our times. Be it murder or suicide, the intensity of Christopher Plummer’s patriarch to have his mind made up about his future bequeathed fortunes is clear. It’s like Harlan sensed the vultures, tasted the poison, and saw this coming.

Other than Elliot and Wagner, there are two non-family outsiders observing this prideful pecking order. One is the smartest guy in the room and the other is the linchpin who could be the chief witness or the chief suspect. The top-billed Daniel Craig is the Kentucky-fried Benoit Blanc, a storied private investigator of the rich and famous who was invited to observe this case by an anonymous thick envelope of cash and the promise of a lurid story. Lastly, there is Harlan’s personal nurse Marta Cabrera, played by Blade Runner 2049’s Ana de Armas, the person arguably closest to the victim in time and proximity.

LESSON #2: TRYING TO GET AN ACCURATE IMPRESSION — As they always say, “the devil is in the details.” With a dash of Rashomon-esque rewind storytelling, the cauldron of little cues and clues create the brilliance of the previously espoused nuance. The name card introductions of the investigation interviews grant opportunities for overt lines to be drawn out loud while the characters (and actors) blur those boundaries in flashback. Costuming and makeup add further depiction trickery. Above all, there is steep dramatic irony at work when the audience learns early on the true events of Harlan’s death ahead of Benoit Blanc. At that point, it is less about solving and more about surviving.

All it takes to stand out in this loaded ensemble is a glimmer of camera space and a trait or two that evokes a quizzical or humorous response which shakes any certainty about their true colors. Nothing about this role calls for Ana de Arma’s beauty, which is a change of pace for the rising-star, when Marta’s silly personal quirk is automatic vomiting when telling a lie. Jamie Lee Curtis’s perfect white hair and designer glasses holding back coiled rage with trained composure instead of the actress’s signature flabbergast played side-by-side with Don Johnson’s cool charm failing to shield red-faced inadequacy. You’ve got Michael Shannon’s uncomfortable fidgets and improvised lines of vitriol, Toni Collette’s imitation tan and doubly fake crocodile tears, and even Riki Lindhome’s monstrous martini glass. All churn with contempt that elevates even more when Chris Evans waltzes in much later eating cookies like an asshole with a dismissive laugh against every verbal confrontation.

All the while, there’s Daniel Craig’s “last gentleman sleuth” and “ornamental presence” carrying on like a grand host. Craig is a hoot from the moment Blanc is introduced hitting piano keys like a bullshit-detecting alarm during Elliot’s questioning sessions. Rolling with a sense of surly surprise bellowed by his over-the-top southern accent, he’s liberated from his James Bond steeliness.

Every cast member flaunts these question marks and more. The editing of action specialist Bob Ducsay (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) gives every facet a timed choreography of sorts within all the misdirection and juggling of sequences and perspectives. Even scenes of slowdown can induce audience panting, and that is such an enjoyable wringer to feel.

Equal to the actors, Rian Johnson attacked this black comedy with artistic fury. Ambiance is everything and it all starts with the scene of the crime. Hand the Production Design Oscar out right now to the team of production designer David Crank (The Master), art director Jeremy Woodward (Live By Night), and set decorator David Schlesinger (John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum). The striking balance of gaudy nooks and dark corners of this practical set is phenomenal. In his fifth collaboration with Johnson, cinematographer Steve Yedlin lurks his camera all over that house with amusing zooms that inch you closer to the danger and provocation. Composer Nathan Johnson (the director’s cousin) adds spark and intrigue with an interesting and flighty musical score.

LESSON #3: HOW TO SUBVERT AN ENTIRE GENRE — The trope-filled mechanics of most murder mysteries create an antagonist while Knives Out has you pining for the killer instead. In flipping the rooting interests from the pursuing authorities to the identified perpetrator, the dexterous filmmaker shifted goals and bolstered energy to a different gear. Where the typical pulse rate of this kind of story opens and ends with a bang between a tedious, saggy middle, Knives Out is all about that rich center. What an equally delectable and sinful treat it is!

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[flange5]

Hey there, new followers and new-ish followers: it’s milestone time and thus welcome time

So, I try to put up a welcome/intro post whenever I hit a milestone/have an influx of followers, to say hi, thanks for following me, and to give you a quick heads up on my tagging tendencies (helpful for people who like comics but not MCU, or Marvel but not nail polish, or who like media but not the consumerism/enabling posts, how to find all the posts on Tony Stark and tentacles, etc.), my policies/preferences on anons and asks, following back, etc. I’m going to put this all behind a cut, though, because it gets long.

Welcome new followers! Here are some heads up that might make my tumblr a bit easier to navigate/follow/enjoy.

1) Chatting, etc. I love talking to followers! Feel free to talk to me in my inbox any time in person or anonymously. I do have a very low tolerance for trollery, though, so if you decide to yank my chain I have no compunction about blocking someone if they’re abusive or nasty. I do not consider civil disagreement trolling. I trust grown-ups can tell the difference :) I’m more likely to assume it’s trollery if it’s aggressively negative/insulting *and* on anon, so be aware that I generally decide in those cases that this is my fun place and I block with abandon. Life is too short.

2) Following back- I’m one of those people who tries and fails to get through her whole dash most days, and I find it fairly difficult, so I follow a pretty small list of blogs and rarely add more people. This doesn’t mean I don’t think you have a great blog or I don’t personally like you or like our conversations, or don’t visit your blog from time to time. I’m just really swamped. Please don’t take it as a judgment or rejection of any kind if I don’t.

3) Fandoms -My primary fandoms right now are MCU and 616 Marvel (main Marvel continuity), though I also post X-Files, Arashi, Star Wars, critters, baking, current events, nail polish/nail art and various other things. I tend not to tag fandoms, but I can on request if there’s something you want to be able to find or avoid. Right now, I’m in the middle of an Iron Man and a Captain America 616 comic readthrough, both of which are in 1998 at present, but to be honest, the late 90s are kind of terrible, so I’m bouncing all over the place right now until I can get the courage together to proceed again. You’ll see a lot of them if you stick around.

4) Tagging -There are things I try to tag carefully for. Common triggers are tagged, and if you would like me to tag for anything specific, please let me know and I will do my utmost to comply. Other tags followers might find useful for TS/Blacklist are as follows: 

Politics: If it’s about the current president, I will tag it “45.” If it’s about him and or the current political nightmare we’re all going through, the tag is “dumpster fire of democracy.” If you BL the second, you will miss most day to day political posts. 

Marvel wank: this tag is my catch-all for comics wank, which covers creator wank and content wank, but not fandom wank. For the most part, I do try to steer clear of fandom wank but I’ll tag it when I post or reblog it. I will typically make a distinction between “marvel wank” (comics wank) and “mcu wank” (self-explanatory).

Fandom wank: when I do step into fandom wank, I try to tag it.

[creator] wank: There are creators I really have beefs with and I tag that because I know there are people who are interested in my general gripes but might not want to get into individual things. People who’ve come in for it in the past: Spenser, Remender, Brevoort (these two are common and if you’re fans but want to follow, I recommend blacklisting these tags immediately because yeah, I have strong opinions), Alonso, and to a lesser degree, Hickman and Bendis. Oh, and Whedon. I have some serious issues with Whedon, and though they don’t come up often, if he’s your cinnamon roll, you need to BL ‘whedon wank.’ Honestly if anyone is your cinnamon roll, you might want to preemptively BL their name + wank. I don’t go spewing wank willy-nilly, but no one gets an autopass if I’m pissed at them. Generally, these posts will have a Marvel wank tag as well, so if you’re a see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil sort, the Marvel wank tag will likely save you from just about anything.

enabling: these posts are when I post an item with a link to where you can buy it, typically comics related or nail polish/cosmetics related, but anything is possible. If you don’t want to see these things, it’s a good tag to make go away, because I use it a lot. I do not always use this tag when I reblog other people’s posts about things you can buy, but I try. When I post enabling posts, I tend to add a second link to the type of item (“clothing”, “nail polish”, “wall art”, “jewelry”, etc, and if there is a character featured, I will include that tag as well, so if you need to search something, you can, or, if you want to blacklist nail polish, let’s say, but keep the other enabling posts, that’s how you’d go about it.

nail polish: this should be pretty self-explanatory. I’m not perfect on this, but I probably tag around 85-90% of the nail polish posts so if that’s really not your bag, BL ‘nail polish’ and you should be pretty safe. Your wallets, too. The sparkles are seductive.

team nobody: It’s no secret that comics aren’t that great at writing healthy relationships and I am often pretty clear about my opinions on the writing of some of them in my read-throughs, but I get that some people might not appreciate that, especially if they’re fans of the ships in their more modern incarnations. This is my tag primarily for Silver and Bronze Age depictions of Steve/Sharon and the Tony/Pepper/Happy cluster@#$! because I have grumpytimes quite frequently. If I’m grumpy in a post about it, I tag it with this so people can avoid it if they want. When I get to vol 3, it’s likely I’ll post some commentary about the Tony/Pepper/Happy/Rumiko/Ty debacles under this tag too.

Readthrough tags–I generally tag all shown characters in a panel for my original posts, usually by code name and personal name to make it easier to search, but each book also has a tag, if you want an easy way to ‘read’ along:

Iron Man/Tales of Suspense: what even is this comic?

Captain America: flange reads captain america

Avengers: flange reads the avengers

Civil War: flange reads civil war oh god why

Objectified Tony Stark tag: Tony has diversified assets

Objectified Steve Rogers tag: for all of your objectified Steve Rogers needs, american assets (I know, but I’ve used multiple tags. More recently, I’ve been using the second, and it’s much more populated.)

Tony and comic art suggesting bondage: Tony Stark all tied up

Steve and comic art suggesting bondage: Steve Rogers all tied up

Tony and Roller Skates: tony stark/roller skates is my new otp

Tony and Tentacles: tony stark/tentacles

Tony/Doom (aka the crackship): the crackship sails on

Ships: If a canon couple is shown in canon panels, I will typically just tag the characters, rather than a ship name. If my commentary takes characters who are not a canon couple and talks about them in a shippy way, I will generally tag the ship name(s) in case people have that ship BLed. If I reblog fic or other fanworks with a ship, canon or not, I try to remember to tag it, though I’m probably not 100%. Feel free to make a (polite) request for me to tag a ship if I am not.

I also find it funny how often Tony and Steve are represented busting through walls, so: Iron Man: scourge of walls and Captain America: scourge of walls both exist.

Uuuuuh, I think that’s everything. Drop by any time and say hi, and thank you for following me :)

[hearthflown]

@dekirukoto​ @toestalucia​

“Singularity...how have things been? Have the skies been peaceful?”

[hearthflown]

Ahem-! The King of Heroes has risen from his slumber; rejoice, mongrels!

[hearthflown]

Two Belial’s...of course the serpent would multiply.

[hearthflown]

“Aren’t you tired of restraining yourself? Don’t you want to let loose, release your inhibitions? Come on, show me your exhibition.”

[hearthflown]

@somnim replied to your post “Me being on here 75% of the time is to make people Mellu cry and...”

thanks i hate it

heart hands at you ily

[hearthflown]

“Being good? Maa...don’t you find that boring? War...debauchery...chaos...that’s where the true fun lies, no?”

[hearthflown]

Santa vc No mercy against enemies of Cavall II

[hearthflown]

Ritsuka makes some last minute adjustments: strapping on her new gloves, pulling on her boots, adjusting the belts in a few places. ...Truth be told, she still felt at a loss, but there was no more time to mourn. She could only step forward and continue, and do her best to survive. Find out what was happening and maybe how to fix it. Then...maybe then she could release the rest of her sorrow.

[hearthflown]

KoGil beams innocently. He has no idea why the bathtub and toilet are full of orbeez. 

[hearthflown]

@malvidia replied to your post “@malvidia replied to your post “‘Tis I, your local sexy demon, here...”

his imaginary tail is practically wagging, he nods quickly and holds out his hands. as if awaiting his prize. yes, yes he would like a reward !

The primal chuckles as he takes Alex’s hands and pets the Master’s head, as if rewarding a puppy. “Such a good boy, so eager and pliant just for me...” 

[hearthflown]

Speaking of maids, here’s another two-

[hearthflown]

@dekirukoto replied to your post ““Aren’t you tired of restraining yourself? Don’t you want to let...”

>:(

“C’mon Makky-chan, daddy’s watching, so put on a good show will you?”