#ewan mcgregor dash icons

[elismor]

For reasons unclear to me, LJ and it's fabulous 100x100 icons have been coming up on my dash lately. As it happens, I recently stumbled across a folder that had most (but sadly not all) of my old icons in it.

Tumblr would display them at original size, but only one at a time in a column, which would make this post sixteen miles long...so I present you with a pixelated time capsule of elis. Open one of them in a new window if you want to see how teeny these things really were. And you need to see that.

The black and white one of Ewan McGregor's sneakers was my very first icon and the most recent file in this folder is dated 2005.

[leilawhittaker]

The MMCU Cast Page has been updated!

Faceclaim Changes (OCs)

Leila Whittaker: Melisa Asli Pamuk → Eiza Gonzalez

Riley Branson: Claire Holt → Nora Arnezeder

Xu Ziyi: Wang Yiren → Angelababy

Ay-Lee: Gemma Chan → Lars Mikkelson

Blake Everly Harper: Blake Lively → Liu Wen

Lyra Dash: Eiza Gonzalez → Zion Moreno

Billie Spector: Nora Arnezeder → Medalion Rahimi

Chase Battier: Tom Ellis → Colin Morgan

Andy Webb: Halsey → Sasha Calle

Andrew Pierce: Scott Wolf → Daniel Day Lewis

Roscoe Miller: Kit Young → Andrew Liner

Lucy Osborn: Taylor Momsen → Whitney Peak

Dez-Voss (name changed from Evie): Phoebe Bridgers → Phoebe Dynevor

Faceclaim Changes (Canons)

Bruce Banner: Oscar Isaac → Mark Ruffalo

Clint Barton: Hayden Christensen → Boyd Holbrook

Daisy Johnson: Jessica Henwick → Natasha Liu Bordizzo

Barney Barton: Jensen Ackles → Ewan McGregor

Yelena Belova: Phoebe Dynevor → Florence Pugh

Gwen Stacy: Nicola Coughlin → Milly Alcock

Shuri: Duckie Thot → Letitia Wright

Ulysses Bloodstone: Daniel Day Lewis → Simon Baker

Harry Osborn: Thomas Doherty → Kit Young

Character Additions

Iskra Ivashkova (OC)

David Alvarez (OC)

Amelia (OC)

Quentin Beck (Canon-ish)

Other Changes

Notes for characters who have separate faceclaims for their younger selves have been added to their descriptions. (Leila’s is Jenna Ortega; Seth’s is Tanner Buchanan; Jace’s is Iris Apatow; and Fury’s is Jonathan Daviss.)

Icons were changed for Peter Quill, Tasya Petrova, Cullen and Elsa Bloodstone, and Luna Snow.

Druig was moved to earlier in the page to indicate an earlier appearance in the story (👀)

Ned Leeds’ icon was changed from Thomas Doherty (a mistake that none of you pointed out) to Jacob Batalon.

Ilana Kaspi’s name was changed to Vira Kaspi.

As previously mentioned, Evie’s name was changed back to Dez-Voss.

[hellotheres]

under  the  cut  you’ll  find  ten  ( 10 )  dash  icons  of  actor  ewan  mcgregor  !  all  are  sized  150x150  with  a  gradient  background  .  enjoy  !

all  were  made  from  scratch  by  me  ,  so  please  like  /  reblog  if  saving  /  using  !

these  were  made  in  honor  of  @padmewan​  for  whom  i  would  ✨ d*e ✨

[rpcvisuals]

under  the  cut  you’ll  find  SIXTEEN  ( 16 )  DASH  ICONS  of  actor  EWAN  MCGREGOR  !  all  are  sized  150x150  with  a  glowy  edge .  enjoy  !

all  were  made  by  scratch  by  NIKS ,  so  please like  /  reblog  if  saving  /  using  !

[stormxpadme]

How I made peace with my favorite franchises getting fucked over

I talked about this to @effervescentdragon and it was kind of an epiphany, so I felt like sharing, because maybe someone else feels the same and can use a few positive thoughts.

With Hollywood running out of ideas respectively courage, a very specific generation of fandom is facing a renaissance recently. If you are a dinosaur like me and were online from the moment, internet went big, if you were part of the first big online fandom spaces from ca. 2000 on, chances are good you’ve been feeling like you’ve used the TARDIS in the last few years a couple of times and were stuck in it for good in the last few months.

I think it started, for me … Well, with MCU still being one of the major franchises these days, let’s not forget that the first huge superhero online fandom grew around 2000 with what was - along with the first two Maguire Spider-Man-movies - one of the first excellent big screen comic adaptions, X-Men. So this process of rehashing geek icons of the last, say, 30 years, at least for me already started a few years back when they tried to save the old X-Men movie series, including not only a timeline that was supposed to fix what X-Men: The Last Stand fucked up but also some of the original actors.

Well, turns out that was only the beginning, doesn’t it? In the last couple of years and especially months, we have seen the original 3 Jurassic Park icons return and Keanu and Carrie-Anne return for Matrix. We have Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen teaming up for a series set in an era that - surprise, surprise - people don’t hate half as much as the dudebros wanted to make you believe around 2005. We have a Star Trek series that put a closure to one secretly beloved character like Wesley Crusher, who is - not least thanks to his nerdy and mental health advocate actor being very active on social media - also not half as hated as everyone thought. And reviving the rest of the old crew is coming up in the next season of Picard. We had Jamie Lee Curtis returning for Halloween and Neve Campbell and the rest of the original actors once more returning for a Scream movie. Not to mention MCU hogging those Spider-Mans and even the original Professor X now.

And a couple of days ago, the bomb was dropped that what’s probably one of the most beloved Doctors aka Tennant will return for a special with his companion.

I don’t know how you guys feel, but a geek of my generation (proud Xennial, born ‘82, bullied for 8 years straight in school so I had nothing but movies and series), I’ve been getting whiplash lately.

Here’s the thing: Most of these franchises I just mentioned that I’m in have let me down beyond belief. Some of them more than once.

X-Men: The Last Stand was the first major disappointment I ever had with a franchise I loved. The new movies couldn’t save that for me.

Star Wars died for me the moment they killed the old EU. I gave the new movies a chance. They sucked for me.

I stopped watching Star Trek mid-Voyager, and my interest as a whole not least dropped because of how they treated Wesley in Star Trek: Nemesis. I’m okay with the new movies but nothing I hear about the new series had hooked me up so far.

I still haven’t watched Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom because boy, did I not think they could make it any worse after Jurassic Park III but holy shit, is Chris Pratt annoying in this reboot.

After Avengers: Age of Ultron happened, I had to leave tumblr. I simply couldn’t deal with fandom anymore, with all tags and my dash filled with stuff I hated. I only watched MCU movies when I had to watch them for my magazine. And just to be very clear, I’ve been such a die-hard MCU fan, I paid a lot of money in 2014 to go to SDCC just for that experience. And I still haven’t been able to get myself to watch Hawkeye and Black Widow. I was hurt too much over those characters.

So what I’m trying to say is: I should be feeling anxious as fuck right now, with that rehash process going on and on. Eru knows I have been for far too long.

Like, when I get my hopes up for a beloved franchise too much, usually things like the The Hobbit-movies happen that I can’t watch unless I’m drunk enough to deal with them, or a franchise goes downhill so unbelievably quickly, like in the moment when they let Joss Whedon take the first pen for Age of Ultron in his sexist little hands. It always felt like whenever I loved something too much, it was doomed to go to shit.

I was already torn between being devastated and so fucking EXCITED when they rebooted the X-Men movie series back then. Especially when it was clear Patrick, Hugh and then Famke and James were coming back. What can I say? They managed to turn me away from the new movies as well. It is beyond me how you can fuck up a brilliant story like the Dark Phoenix saga two times in a row.

At this point, I don’t even expect Hollywood to do anything but fuck it up further when they try to fix things using elements people used to love.

So when news broke about that new Obi-Wan series and Hayden, I should have been fucking GUTTED. Star Wars was one of the best times of my life. My eating disorder was doing okay, I had several expensive, beautiful cosplays and at the Revenge of the Sith premier, I met George Lucas and Hayden and was told by them, my AOTC Pastel Lake Dress was beautiful. I love the PT, unashamed and unironically, and everyone can suck my ladyballs about that. And now they got Ewan and my boy back and JFC, I should just be shutting my internet down, now that the promo has started and I’m beginning to see this everywhere.

And here I am sitting, realizing, quite amazed ... I no longer care.

After The Hobbit-movies, I think it was, I decided something very important for myself. I don’t need to accept the official canon. Just because I’m a fan of something, doesn’t mean I have to be a fan of each and every aspect. I don't need to watch/read the parts I hate. In fandom online spaces, I don’t need to follow people posting about these things, and I can use extensive blacklists. I can leave conversations when they’re about aspects of franchises that I don’t like. I’ve never been someone who tries to spoil other’s fun of something I hate. So if a place is not for me, I can just go.

I didn’t realize how liberating that was until like, 2015. Until that point, canon had always been a mandatory fact for me. That’s coming a lot, I think, from having been a fanfiction writer for 30 years. When I started publishing online, canon purists were still far more common. Your stories were far more likely to be widely ignored and even dragged if you didn’t stick to canon accurately. With time, I found that I’m a niche author anyway, and the stuff I write won’t appeal to more or less people, just because I force myself to acknowledge parts of canon I hate.

So I started slapping “verse: movie(s) x exclusively” on my stories and started to just fucking ignore what I didn’t like. And after I while I realized, I didn’t need to limit that approach to fanfiction. Time is far too short and too precious to waste it with consuming media I know I won’t like.

So what I do is when something like Wesley’s return or cameos of my favorite characters in franchise incarnations I hate happen these days is: I wait. I’m not in a hurry. I don’t need to write reviews the moment these things are out. I can lean back and wait until my anxiety issues allow for a new piece of media to consume. In the meantime, I read up what they did with elements I love so much. When I feel I can stomach seeing them and/or if the new incarnation actually FIXES something for once, I’ll watch either just the scenes in question or maybe even catch up with some other franchise installations I missed.

Sometimes that works out, sometimes it doesn’t. Like. The X-Men timeline is far too fucked up to repair that canon in any way, not least because of the Logan movie. I might as well give Picard a chance soon though, because watching that Wesley scene (and reading Wil’s thoughts about the whole process), for the first time in a long while, I had a feeling we're dealing with writers here who actually UNDERSTAND. I’ll probably watch the Obi-Wan series, but I already know there is no way this is going in “my” verse since it’s new EU. But I might enjoy it anyway.

So every now and then, I’ll visit current installations of my favorite franchises, and every now and then I might even like them. Might even incorporate them in my own verse in one or the other way (if nothing else, usually faceclaims and/or other material for graphics and videos is the least I can get out of new installations like that; we do NOT talk about Days of Future Past though, because how they managed to fuck up things like Scott's glasses like that is beyond my wildest imagination).

Sometimes, canon surprisingly kind of fixes itself in a satisfying way, like in MCU where they now introduced multiverse and everyone feeling like me can just pretend we’re back in Winter Soldier and nothing coming after that happened in canon, because there’s millions of canons now. Seriously, multiverse is the best that can happen to a writer and a broken fan heart.

I’ve had people tell me “BUT YOU CAN’T DO THAT, YOU HAVE TO CONSUME AND TAKE CANON LIKE IT IS, EVERYTHING ELSE IS DISRESPECTFUL TO THE WRITERS” and I’m like. What? Gonna cry? Gonna shoot me or something? What fucking business of yours is it how I consume my media? I’m not posting hate in character tags, I leave conversations when fans of things I hate are around, I label all my fanfics clearly enough to not steal any reader’s time.

Fanart is not always but very often fixing the canon reality you don’t want to deal with. And for me, that saved my whole fandom experience.

Gosh it feels GOOD, finally no longer giving a fuck.

TL;dr: As my dear effervescentdragon said: "if i dont like it it didnt happen, xoxo, fuck off"

Seriously. It will give you so much peace.

[always-ascending]

Tagged by: @ewan-mcgregor  (dammit, you tagged some of my most often tag for these things people, so thank you again 😂) and @paulwalkerr . Thank you! Tagging: @henricavyll  @tennant  @carricfisher​  @mikaeled   @acecroft if you haven’t already done it, and with no obligations, as always.

1: Why did you choose your url? I was thinking about how bizarre this site actually is, in that everyone is so anonymous and we really know nothing about the bloggers, making assumptions based on images they post and reblog. It made me think of various statements from villains in films about how society judged them and/or made them what they are. The difference being, what people think of my scrollblr has no effect on my life in the real world.  2: Any side blogs? Uuughh, don’t make me go there... I’m only going to list the ones I created or was a co-founder of where I’m still regularly active, and not ones I inherited from friends who left or am just a member of: @sci-fi-gifs @classicfilmblr @televisiongifs @retrotvblr @fruitblr Some very old personal fandom sideblogs I occasionally still post to: @professorlupins @thenyoustoleme @fyeahkennethbranagh 3: How long have you been on tumblr? On and off since fall of 2008. There have been numerous hiatuses, some lasting years. 4: Do you have a queue tag? For my primary? Eh, sort of. I don’t consider being tagged obligatory - it just means I’ll check out your post. Mostly I queue close mutuals who tag me to groups and/or sideblogs that their post is great for, and not my primary. I took it down for years and it only recently went back up. My old account overwhelmed me, so we’ll see how it goes. So far, it’s not bad since most of the groups have their own tracked tags and this primary is pretty low key. Anyone reading this shouldn’t take this personally, since almost everyone on here uses it now, but I think it’s a stupid tumblr trend that a lot of people wield like some sort of popularity badge. I either like something or I don’t, and it doesn’t matter if it came off my tag or my dash. No one is ever going to click on that “tagged” tag. I find it insulting, like, do you really like my post, are you just wanting to make yourself look popular, is this a show of people who owe you, a note of posts you really don’t like and are separating them from your actual posts with this tag? I don’t get it.  5: Why did you start your blog in the first place? Some friends talked me into making an account on here, and I couldn’t figure out what the purpose of the site was. I scanned all of my vintage photos and film stills and when there were no more, was like, ok, I’m done! I didn’t realize tumblr would delete blogs for inactivity, so that blog is no more. 😂 6: Why did you choose your icon/pfp? I wanted to make something different and I love editing free use clipart and graphics. Cat woman is fun, and fit the URL. 7: Why did you choose your header? I don’t have a header. 8: What’s your post with the most notes? I don’t really pay attention anymore once something isn’t recent. I did notice not too long ago there are 3 old ones on sideblogs/my old account that are still floating around close in notes: Galavant abc, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and a Harry Potter one. 9: How many mutuals do you have? Most of whom I follow are mutuals. 10: How many followers do you have? On this primary, very few. 11: How many people do you follow? 176 12: Have you ever made a shitposts? Not true shitposts. Sometimes I’ll make a humor set on something I don’t like, but also on things I do like. Viewers assumption on which it is. 13: How often do you use tumblr each day? I’m not on every day, but currently I check my messages and tag most days. 14: Did you ever have a fight/argument with another blog once? who won? Nah, no fights or arguments. I’ve come across a few people with their heads up their arses with some weird demands that I didn’t comply to and think, “I don’t want to deal with you, nutter URL whom I know nothing about.” Does that mean I won? 15: How do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts? I don’t reblog them. 16: Do you like tag games? As long as they’re not incredibly stupid or fishing for personal information, yeah. It keeps things fun on here, and I think reminds us that there’s an actual person behind what is otherwise a nameless scroll of images. Sometimes it takes me a bit to do the ones where I have to make gifs. 17: Do you like ask games? Same as 16. 18. Which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous? I don’t think about it. I follow people with common interests and a sense of humor. I could care less about blog popularity. 19: Do you have a crush on a mutual? All of my mutuals are awesome.

[wearetakingthehobbitstogallifrey]

001 for Star Wars!

Thanks Ami!!! 

001| Star Wars

Favorite character:  I love so many of them!!!  Obi-Wan Kenobi might win the overall title, because…he deserves it, and he is probably the one I have read the most fanfic for.  On the other hand, Luke, Han, and Leia are just!!! The OG team!!!  + dashing Lando of course.  I love Padme and Qui-Gon and Bail Organa.  All my clone children!  And I love all the characters from the sequel trilogy, particularly one messy disaster named Ben Solo, and ALSO THE WHOLE CREW FROM ROGUE ONE BUT ESPECIALLY CASSIAN ANDOR I WISH WE STILL TALKED ABOUT THESE GUYS  

*restrains myself from breaking open my filing cabinet of favorite Star Wars EU/Legends characters*

… 

nvm 

I also love Mara Jade, Talon Karrde, Shada D’ukal, Admiral Pellaeon, Arwen Cohl, Rella, Anoon Bondura, Darsha Assant, Tahl, Bant Eerin, Bastilla Shan, Darth Revan, and yeah there are a lot more I need to stop

Least Favorite Character:  Jabba the Hutt, hands down.  sorry Diego Luna I have no idea what the attraction is lol

5 Favorite Ships (canon or non-canon):  Reylo first and foremost (but you been knew it, no surprise), Obi-wan/Happiness, Hanleia, Rebelcaptain, Anidala, Finnrose, Poe/Kaydel (it’s never gonna happen in canon but it will in my dreams), Luke/Mara, Qui-gon/Tahl, Talon/Shada, Arwen/Rella, wAIT did you say just FIVE?!

Character I find most attractive:  oof HOW DO I DECIDE?!  Han Solo obviously has a great face and a charm that is rakish and boyish and manly all at once…Cassian Andor is a soft man, like I mean his hair looks soft and I would love to run my hands through it and hug him and tell him everything will be ok…Obi-wan has beautiful eyes and Ewan McGregor’s smile…Ben Solo is Adam Driver and size-wise he should be intimidating but honestly I’m just like the bigger he is the more I want to hug him, also dark hair and dark eyes is MY TYPE sO MuCH…Finn is John Boyega which means he is simultaneously cute and extremely hot…also RotS Anakin before he went all darkside, like that hair and scar were cool let’s face it

BUT LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING IF THEY EVER MADE CLOAK OF DECEPTION INTO A MOVIE I WOULD ABSOLUTELY  LOVE CAPTAIN ARWEN COHL

Character I would marry:  Honestly…let me refer you to the previous answer

Character I would be best friends with:  Finn.  And Leia (from OT or ST doesn’t matter)

A Random Thought:  my favorite Star Wars au is the one where Anakin becomes a caretaker/teacher of the Jedi Younglings, and he loves the kids so much and he is so caught up in his job that he either ignores or is endearingly blind to Palpatine’s seductions and as a result Palpatine never quite gets the Empire off the ground and the Jedi Order becomes a much better organization and everyone lives happily ever after

Unpopular opinion: Idk I mean Jar Jar is annoying but…I don’t hate him quite as much as some people do, or even dislike him as much as I used to…what can I say the creature has a good heart even if he is ridiculous, and I pity him for being manipulated by Palpatine to help authorize the use of the clone army, and some times I wonder if he ever regretted making that decisive vote in Padme’s name, and I doubt Emperor Palpatine let the Gungans lead peaceful happy lives after the Empire was born

My canon OTP: REYLO

My non-canon OTP: Poe Dameron x Kaydel Ko Connix 

what? she’s completely loyal to him, and she’s played by the daughter of Carrie Fisher while he’s the protege/almost son of Princess General Leia

Most badass character:  Obi-Wan, in his quiet way.  But also Baze Malbus with his huge gun and Chirrut Imwe oh my GOSH CHirrUT IMWE…………………….ok you know how about THE WHOLE ROGUE ONE CREW

additionally, Darth Vader.  that scene he’s in?  I mean all of his scenes?  I get chills, man.  And Darth Maul, while looking particularly evil, exudes this ferocity that is just like whoa, not to mention he survives GETTING CUT IN HALF

also BOTH REY AND KYLO REN/BEN SOLO IN ALL THEIR LIGHTSABER FIGHTS

MOST OBVIOUSLY THO: PRINCESS GENERAL LEIA ORGANA SOLO. FACE IT SHE IS COOLER THAN ALL Y’ALL.  

Most Epic Villain:  DARTH VADER.  LOOK HE HAS AN AURA.  AN AURA THAT MAKES YOU GO OHHHH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH.  LIKE THE RINGWRAITHS OR SEPHIROTH.  DARTH VADER IS ICONIC–TRAGIC–BUT ICONIC.  EPIC

Pairing I am not a fan of:  Kyl*x

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):  The Force in the prequel trilogy.  I don’t hate on the PT but honestly?  The midichlorian is the powerhouse of the Force? no

Favorite friendship:  OBI-WAN AND ANAKIN!!! MY HEART!  also Han and Luke, Obi-wan and Bant, Finn and Poe, Finn and Rey.  ALL OF ROGUE ONE.  Also I really desperately want Rose and Rey to become steadfast friends!  

OMG WAIT I AM FORGETTING THE FOUR MOST IMPORTANT FRIENDSHIPS OF ALL:  

ANAKIN AND R2D2, POE AND BB8, LANDO  AND L3, AND CASSIAN AND K2SO

Character I most identify with:  lol Rey?  for having compassion towards Ben Solo?  but also I have always gravitated toward Obi-wan Kenobi, the one who is relatively quiet and calm and wise  and who tells people not to be reckless but then jumps out of a window a 1000 stories in the air and who also needs a drink because Anakin is just really testing him today

Character I wish I could be: …I’ve always wanted to be a Jedi, one that would ignore the dumb decisions of the council and get criticized for it a lot, but I wouldn’t care because compassion and mercy are more important.  I would adopt all the younglings.  Or if I wasn’t allowed that, I would probably leave the Jedi Order and go off and start a new order, one for the lonely and lost and broken, one that promotes healing and family.  One that does not shrug its shoulders and say oh well your mother is a slave on a planet out of our jurisdiction, sorry you just have to give up on her, it’s not like with our magic powers we could easily break her out I mean

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Beauty and the Beast review

2017 has been an absolutely fantastic year for movies. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, this is the best year I’ve ever seen for movies in my lifetime, better than 1999 even (and there were no shortage of fantastic films that year). The only two movies this year I thought were bad were Leap! And The Emoji Movie, and neither of them are even as offensively bad as some movies that came out last year (namely Ghostbusters). Well… they WERE the only two movies I thought were bad. Now there’s a third one. This movie.

Fuck this movie.

This is one of the worst films I’ve ever seen. Not just in 2017, my whole life. The original movie is a childhood favorite of mine, so of course I went into this with great expectations… expectations that were dashed as soon as everyone started singing and it was just a really bland version of the opening song of the original that feels more like it was done by overpaid cosplayers than talented actors. But I’m getting ahead of myself here…

The story goes like this: Some asshole prince turned down an ugly lady who needed a place to stay on a cold night; turned out she was an enchantress and so cursed him and all his servants. Years later the bookish girl Belle stumbles across the castle when seeking out her missing father, and meets the prince, now a ‘scary’ beast (he’s not even that scary looking, and as always looks a lot more attractive as the beast than he does in his drab human form). She takes her father’s place as his prisoner, and so begins our enchanted story of love, magic, and blah blah blah…

So you know how people always go on and on about how Belle had Stockholm syndrome? It’s the most fucking idiotic theory you will ever hear in your entire life, and really has no basis when it comes to the original film… this movie, though… this movie I could buy it. I feel like they went out of their way to avoid the implications, but instead managed to make things WORSE. Beast flat-out states after the bland version of the iconic date scene how he hoped to win her affections, in a moment so eyerollingly cringeworthy it hurts. And if that’s not bad enough, the servants in this version are kind of a bunch of assholes, obnoxiously shipping Belle and Beast out of the understandable desire to change back to human form. And when I say understandable, I mean I sympathize a bit, I just find their methods particularly obnoxious and intolerable. It was just something done far better in the original animated movie.

Speaking of the servants, their designs are almost uniformly terrible. The feather duster is okay, but Cogsworth is so overdesigned he ends up looking a bit unsettling, and Lumiere barely looks like a candelabra, more like a little brass man with candles on his head and hands. Ewan McGregor and Ian McKellan are at least trying really hard as Lumiere and Cogsworth, and they do a good job, they have good chemistry, but the designs are just so bad, it’s depressing. Who okayed this? The worst offender, though, is the wardrobe, who is absolutely nightmarish in design, with her mouth now flapping curtains inside instead of just being a face on the outside. It doesn’t help that the wardrobe’s actress  is giving one of the most obnoxious and grating performances in the movie. Chip and Mrs. Potts aren’t much better, but they’re at least easier to look at (though Chip isn’t easier to listen to).

Even worse than that, though, are the performances of our two protagonists and our main antagonist. Emma Watson gives the blandest, least interesting performance of her entire career as Belle. The original Belle was feisty, stubborn, smart, and strong-willed… the Belle here is… kind of that, I guess. It’s hard to tell, because Watson’s performance is just so awful that it doesn’t really convey Belle. Not even when she dons the iconic dress does she feel like Belle, in no small part because the dress here looks little like the animated counterpart, instead opting to look really awkward and hideous. The Beast, too, is absolutely bland and forgettable, and is actually made too smart here; a big part of the original was Belle teaching him new things to help him be more of a gentleman, but here he’s already smart, witty, well-read… and boring. Really fucking boring. The CGI used to bring him to life is not convincing all the time, and seems to go from being decent to being awkward every time the camera cuts to him.

And then there is Gaston. Oh, what a guy, that Gaston… in the animated version. He was one of Disney’s best villains in their canon, for being an aggressive, misogynistic douchenozzle who eventually graduated into full-blown villainy late in the film. Here, as the movie cuts out a lot of the earlier development between characters, Gaston is actually… a lot more respecting of women, even Belle. And of course, to go with all the other ass-backwards changes, he started doing evil shit midway through the film. It sucks a lot because Luke Evans was fantastic n Dracula Untold, but here he’s just… not working. He falls really flat as Gaston, and I’m not just referring to his death scene which, much like almost everything else, they made worse. But I say “almost,” because there is one shining gem in this film…

And that gem’s name is LeFou. I never thought I’d live to see the day in which the ugly, obnoxious toady from the original movie being played by an actor I just cannot stand due to his shrieking performance in Pixels and his over-caffeinated performance in The Angry Birds Movie would outshine what should be one of Disney’s greatest villains but… here we are. I can finally forgive Gad for Pixels, because goddamn was LeFou a delight in this movie. He steals every scene he pops up in away from Gaston, and the fact Gad is a great singer really helps. LeFou even gets a redemption in this movie after being betrayed by Gaston, saving Mrs. Potts and even getting something of a happy ending. You now what? He deserves it, for being the only part of this movie I genuinely enjoyed.

Other than LeFou, the Disney death of the servants, and a few good jokes here and there, there is so little I liked in this film that it’s depressing. This movie was fucking awful, plain and simple, and one of the single worst remakes I have ever seen in my life. It’s definitely the worst movie of the year, I really can’t imagine seeing anything worse than this. I know, that’s such a bold statement in the year The Emoji Movie came out, right? Well, at least that movie, for all it’s stupid, generic blandness, wasn’t just a mediocre reenactment of a fantastic Disney movie. This movie is an utter disappointment, and I recommend avoiding it like the plague. I mean, by all means, check it out if you feel so inclined; considering its high audience and critic scores, I’m in the minority in hating this film. Maybe you’ll like it more than I did, which, let’s be honest, would be easy, because I really don’t like this film at all.

[gnossienne]

preliminary thoughts on ‘beauty and the beast’ (2017)

As it was my (mis)fortune to attend an early screening of the film, I thought I'd jot down some thoughts for organisation. Behind the cut you will find spoilers and witness me getting neurotically worked up over the subpar adaptation of a formative film that consumed most of my adolescence.

the good: 

visually lovely, if not overly...clean? polished? somehow. too neat and mannered, even the ‘dark’ bits.

Emma Thompson, who ought to be both everyone’s mum and mate with whom you gorge on jelly babies and bang out drunk karaoke at 2am

Dan Stevens’ eyes

the cast numbers, which, as tends to be the case in most musical films, are superior to solo numbers and obscure individually weak singers. ‘Kill the Beast’ was particularly phenomenal.

Of the new (mediocre) songs, the only memorable one was the Beast’s “Evermore”, which was actually quite lovely and beautifully framed in the film. Rather a fitting corollary to the ommitted 'If I Can't Love Her" (travesty beyond travesty). A trained singer would do it absolute wonders, although Stevens was surprisingly capable (and after just checking, it appears Josh Groban sings it on the soundtrack so guess what I will be looping for the next month)

The incorporation of some elements of de Beaumont’s original tale was a lovely added touch (e.g., Belle asking her father for a rose)

Luke Evans’ Gaston could have been more...Gaston-y, but was the best overall out of the main cast, and seemed to relish the role more than the others. He struck a good balance of the cartoon-villain aspects and real-life analogy of narcissistic bigotry.

There’s a bit at the end after Beast transforms back into a human and he and Belle are waltzing, and she jokes something like “maybe you should grow a beard!” and he play-growls in response, and it’s.....permanently seared into my brain and sent my imagination whizzing off into entirely unacceptable directions in a way that I cannot even begin to describe, and thus confirming every untoward thought I had re: the Beast's transformation into a human

(Dan Stevens really does have lovely eyes)

the not-good:

everything else, really.

the prologue - gone is the stained glass tableau sequence and live action on its place. it might have worked with a more visionary director, but it becomes clumsy and too much. the narration lacks reverence, and the entire sequence feels generally rushed  

too much...digital...cgi...whatever passes as ‘world-building’ in film these days

key pieces of dialogue, both for narrative purpose (”but why?” “because...i love her”) and nostalgia’s sake (”it’s not right for a woman to read, soon she starts getting ideas, and thinking...”) were omitted, altered, or given to other characters. The original is iconic for a reason.

related to the above, there were certain seminal moments and scenes in the original that were either altered or rushed through, including the prologue - Belle’s rejection of Gaston (”I just don’t deserve you!”), Belle’s discovery of the west wing, the transformation scene of which was made a complete hash ("it IS you!")....the west wing scene and prologue in particular have an unsettling and eerie quality to them in the original that is entirely lacking here. Less Bluebeard and more...Harry Potter, I suppose. The magic in this adaptation is more bright and wondrous than mysterious and and fable-like as in the original.

the library reveal - wrong. I literally cried out in objection; one simply cannot take the most faultless scene of the film and make it so...underwhelming (and visually dark, to boot).

Emma Watson’s mediocrity - acting and singing, both. The acting (eyebrows!) may have been excusable if not for the truly ghastly singing (which appeared digitally tuned to make it even worse?). she lacks Belle’s sense of amazement and wonder at the castle and its magic, and it translates to the audience. For instance, she sits through “be our guest” with little more than a smile (as do we).

no songs from the Broadway musical (my wish fulfillment of a live “if i can’t love her” dashed)

related to the above, not nearly enough of the original musical score; instead some generic, shouty brass and strings arrangements

having sir ian mckellen in a film...and completely under-utilising him (what a wasted opportunity)

as much as I adore her, Hattie’s enchantress ex machina was entirely unnecessary

ewan mcgregor’s dodgy French accent

gugu mbatha-raw’s radiance being obscured for 99% of the film

making lumière and cogsworth decidedly not old marrieds (and framing lefou’s 1.5-second dance with another man as The Gay Moment™ instead) (another wasted opportunity)

lots of other things that make me grumpy but that I am too tired to list

oh yes, the Yellow Dress, which was little more than sewn-together scraps of chiffon and crepe seen at a Freshers’ Week dance.

(that play-growl though, oh my word)

[kuwaiti-kid]

The 10 Best Star Wars Video Games (Ever!!!)

The Star Wars universe has always been more than the sum of its live-action films.

Novels, comic books, toys, TV shows, and ill-fated holiday specials have all helped build out the iconic science fiction universe that George Lucas first kicked off in 1977. One would be hard-pressed to find a larger and more enduring franchise than the Lucasfilm IP (now owned by Disney), which continues to enthrall multiple generations of fans.

Aside from the mediums mentioned above, video games have also played an integral part in the world-building of the Star Wars mythos. Indeed, it could be argued that they play the most important role, as gaming allows one to take up the persona of their favorite character and choose their destiny.

In a way, you get to become the director of your very own Star Wars adventure.

The 10 Best Star Wars Video Games

With that in mind, we present the ten best Star Wars video games ever released in no specific order. The titles presented below have not all been chosen for their critical acclaim or units sold in stores. Certain fans may not universally love some. Rather, they were selected based on the following criteria:

Significance to the overall IP

Creative use of people, places, or things seen in the films

Mythos construction

Fan service

The prescience of things to come

10. Star Wars Episode I: Racer

Release date: May 18, 1999

While many Star Wars fans had problems with the first prequel film, no one could deny the thrilling nature of the sequence where young Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) wins his freedom from Watto in a pod racing tournament on Tatooine. It was a testament to just how far CGI technology had come in Hollywood, and how an intrepid filmmaker could use it to grand effect.

Moreover, the scene was a loving tribute to Lucas’s youth, a lot of which was spent drag racing in the writer/director’s hometown of Modesto, California—something Lucas also acknowledged in his second directorial feature, American Graffiti.

Hitting stands the same week Phantom Menace opened in U.S. theaters, Star Wars Episode I: Racer allowed players to live out one of the film’s most adrenaline-pumping segments. Moreover, it expanded on the central concept by offering different pod racer vehicles, as well as various tracks on eight distinct planets. While Mario Kart was already seven-years-old in ’99, this title provided a much welcome twist on the racing formula in video games.

In 2011, the Guinness Book of World Records, named Star Wars Episode I: Racer as the best-selling sci-fi racing game with 3.12 million copies sold all over the world.

9. Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic

Release date: July 15, 2003

This is perhaps the most famous title on our list. Set four millennia before the Galactic Empire set up tyrannical shop, Knights of the Old Republic follows the ancient battle between the noble Jedi Order and the evil Sith.

With options to customize your lightsaber and character, players must visit eight planets (including familiar ones like Tatooine and Kashyyyk) to defeat Darth Malak. Thanks to fantastic gameplay and a solid plot, the role-playing game serves as an excellent prequel to the prequel film trilogy. Moreover, fans have been clamoring for a movie version of it for years.

Who knows? If The Mandalorian, Cassian Andor, and Obi-Wan series all do well on Disney+, we could get a long-awaited KOTOR adaptation.

8. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Release date: September 16, 2008

Like some of the comics from Marvel, The Force Unleashed intriguingly pulls back on the curtain on what Darth Vader gets up to when he’s not antagonizing the Rebel Alliance and Luke Skywalker on the big screen.

Taking place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, this title follows the adventures of Vader’s “secret apprentice,” Galen Marek, who is tasked with hunting down and killing the last-remaining Jedi in the galaxy. Marek (voiced by Sam Witwer, who also played Darth Maul in Clone Wars and Rebels) is convinced that he will one day kill Emperor Palpatine and rule the galaxy by Vader’s side.

As the game’s art director, Matt Omernick, told Vanity Fair, the entire project was meant “to convince players that, ‘Oh my God, I’m actually, finally, in a Star Wars movie.’”

7. Star Wars: Battlefront

Release date: September 21, 2004

Long before controversies were surrounding pay-to-play and loot crates, the Star Wars gaming franchise was reaching new heights with the release of the first Battlefront. In a lot of ways, this game felt like a culmination of everything that had come before, opening up the universe in a way fans had never seen before.

Almost like the Super Smash Bros. of Star Wars video games, Battlefront was all about playing the greatest hits of the series. You weren’t limited to one character, droid, vehicle, planet, or battlefield. You could enjoy them all in any number of combinations, be it as a Stormtrooper or as a Droideka, in an X-wing or an AT-AT.

6. Star Wars: Battlefront II

Release date: November 1, 2005

If the first Battlefront changed the Star Wars game (pun intended), then its immediate sequel perfected it. Battlefront II didn’t need to get all fancy; it just had to give us one thing: the ability to play as a Jedi or as a Sith, hero, or villain. For the first time, you could run around a map, killing your enemies as Yoda, Darth Vader, Obi-Wan, Mace Windu, Boba Fett, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Emperor Palpatine, and even Darth freakin’ Maul!

And since Revenge of the Sith had finally debuted in theaters, you could also access new planets like Utapau and Mustafar. Whether you played Battlefront II on PlayStation, Xbox, or PlayStation Portable, it was one epic gaming experience.

5. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga

Release date: November 6, 2007

Kids have always been a major part of the Star Wars fandom, so what better way to introduce a younger audience to the series (which can be dark and scary at times) than with a “LEGO-ized” version of it?

Adopting a more tongue-in-cheek approach to the six-film saga contained between Phantom Menace and Return of the Jedi, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Sage is the video game equivalent of teaching your child to ride a bike with training wheels. Once they come to love the characters and universe, they should be able to graduate to the more mature elements of the movies in what should be a seamless transition.

And that’s not to say that the LEGO games are just for kids. Indeed, they’re packed with plenty of fun visual and audio gags that help paint the franchise in fun and often hilarious new light for longtime fans of the franchise who are looking for something a little off the beaten path.

4. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

Release date: December 7, 1998

Influenced by the Dark Horse comics of the same name, Rogue Squadron may have been a response to the release of the first (and insanely popular) Star Fox game from Nintendo the previous year.

Even if it was, the title allowed players to become ace Rebel pilots in several different ships: X-wings, Y-wings, A-wings, V-wings, and even Snowspeeders. Like Episode I: Racer, Rogue Squadron was a chance to get into the thick of the aerial dogfights the original trilogy had become known for.

The game was so popular that it spawned two sequels, Rogue Leader (2001) and Rebel Strike (2003).

3. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

Release date: December 3, 1996

 This is a really cool entry on the list because Shadows of the Empire was a single part of a greater multimedia initiative from Lucasfilm.

Shadows of the Empire was an umbrella project that yielded a novel, comics, and toys. Unfurling between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the SoTE game places you into the role of Dash Rendar, a member of the Rebel Alliance, who must protect Luke Skywalker from the deadly sights of Dark Prince Xizor, a galactic gangster looking to become Darth Vader’s second-in-command.

Similar to the events of Rogue One, this game shines an interesting light on the unsung heroes in the conflict against the Galactic Empire.

2. Star Wars: Obi-Wan

Release date: December 19, 2001

Released more than a year after Phantom Menace hit theaters, this game emphasized one of Episode I’s most beloved characters: young Obi-Wan Kenobi played by Ewan McGregor. Set before and during the events of that film, players can face off against a slew of enemies, both old and new, including an assassin droid, Tusken Raiders, and of course, Darth freakin’ Maul.

Despite mixed reviews, Star Wars: Obi-Wan was somewhat ahead of its time by acknowledging that McGregor’s character was one of the best parts of the prequels. Years later, he remains a fan favorite and is even receiving his live-action series on Disney+ that takes place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.

1. Star Wars: TIE Fighter

Release date: July 1, 1994

It makes a lot of sense to consider TIE Fighter as a companion piece to Rogue Squadron. After all, both games are simply two sides of the same coin. In this case, you’re not fighting for the Rebel Alliance under Luke Skywalker, but for the Imperial Navy under his father, Darth Vader. The screeching TIE Fighters are just as iconic as the Rebel X-wings, so this title proved a real treat in allowing one to side with the bad guys for a change.

The post The 10 Best Star Wars Video Games (Ever!!!) appeared first on Your Money Geek.

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[grabey]

Once we’ve carefully selected a card – or dashed to the petrol station at the last minute to grab whatever is left – the only thing question that remains is: what do we write inside it?

This can often be a source of great stress. It is not enough to just write ‘Love Bob/Fred/whatever your name is’ – you have to make the card special. Romantic. Memorable.

Worry not, for there are plenty of messages you can put in your card that will make your partner smile.

Here are 22 romantic quotes and messages for you to use this Valentine’s Day.

What is love? (Photo by Valerie Macon/Getty Images)

1. I fell in love the way you fall asleep; slowly, then all at once – John Green

2. Above all things, I believe in love – Moulin Rouge

3. I love you. I am who I am because of you. You are every reason, every hope, and every dream I’ve ever had, and no matter what happens to us in the future, every day we are together is the greatest day of my life – The Notebook

4. When I saw you, I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew – William Shakespeare

5. You and I are meant to be together. Period. The end. Cue happy-ending music – Dawson’s Creek

6. Love is like the wind. You can’t see it, but you can feel it – A Walk To Remember

7. Because of you, I can feel myself slowly but surely becoming the me I have always dreamed of being – Tyler Knott Gregson

8. You be the anchor that keeps my feet on the ground. I’ll be the wings that keep your heart in the clouds – Mayday Parade

9. You should be kissed, and often, by someone who knows how –Gone with the Wind

Colin Firth played the iconic role of Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice

10. You have bewitched me, body and soul – Mr. Darcy, Pride & Prejudice

11. Your lips are like wine, and I want to get drunk  – William Shakespeare

12. The best thing to hold onto in life is each other  – Audrey Hepburn

13. Yours are the sweetest eyes I’ve ever seen  – Sir Elton John

14. I belong with you and you belong with me—you’re my sweetheart – The Lumineers

15. You are a work of art – Morrissey

16. Love me tender; love me sweet. Never let me go  – Elvis

17. I love you more than I could ever promise because you take me the way I am – Ingrid Michaelson

18. Your love is better than chocolate. Better than anything else that I’ve tried – Sarah McLachlan

19. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you – Pride and Prejudice

Ewan McGregor and Baz Lurrman in Moulin Rouge (Picture: Twentieth Century Fox)

20. Love is a many splendored thing. Love lifts us up where we belong. All you need is love! – Moulin Rouge

21. The Eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them: there ought to be as many for love – Margaret Atwood  

22. If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you  – A. A. Milne

Source: http://ift.tt/2kKccGK