#god's not dead 2 film review

[17020]

# I HEART PUBLIC RELATIONS (2)

in order to your boost your popularity as a lifestyle influencer, your manager decides to partner up with anri teieri and jinpachi ego, for a pr stunt with a man from one of japan's most famous content houses: BLUE LOCK.

the rules are simple: choose a man, post three videos together a week, post an (undisclosed) ad weekly, and interact with each other on social media. ooh! don't forget! the more chemistry between you two, the better.

STARRING . . . reo mikage, nagi seishiro, tabito karasu, yo hiori. fem reader!

CANDIDATE 5 — REO MIKAGE

USER: MIKAGE FOLLOWERS: 1.1M (100k were bought) CATEGORY: LIFESTYLE/FOOD

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

you knew you were in for a wild ride once you stepped into the house and saw none other than the heir of mikage corp standing there, pointing his finger at you and stating "she looks pretty! i'd like to work with her." as if he was the one who got to choose. nonetheless, you agreed to work with reo as he seemed like a pretty loaded interesting guy.

turns out, reo is very sweet. the first tiktok you filmed with him was for his account, in which he offered to take you on a shopping spree, with him and you making silly outfits for one another (just casually picking the ugliest clothes in gucci??) and then trying them on in the dressing room. you were filming a vlog for your account too, and you were surprised when reo surprised you with a very stylish outfit for you and him, to "go catch some dinner tomorrow." wow mikage, very smooth. comments went insane because 1. who are you? new friend? untold lore? 2. you are drop dead gorgeous even in the trash outfits that reo picked for you? and 3. please be in more of reo's videos!!

the second tiktok was a dance trend, the da' dip dance. it was done in very uncomfortable clothes, which were the ones reo bought the day before. it was funny to see reo dancing in a suit and tie, and you with a floor-length gown, in the content house. nagi appeared in the background as he was in the kitchen, which caught the attention of viewers. you posted the same dance, except it was filmed inside the restaurant, because with reo mikage, there is no such thing as shame. he cleared the restaurant out anyway because he wanted privacy, though, so the only preying eyes were those of the servers. reo was visibly flushed in the video, and his excuse was the poor lighting of the restaurant. girl that restaurant had better lighting than a photography studio you are not fooling anyone.

the last tiktok you filmed with him was... a food review! reo's comments are always flooded with "oh my god when does this guy ever eat peasant food", so you listened and brought him some of your favorite fast foods for him to try. wingstop is the biggest hit as of now, so you ordered some wings and tenders through a delivery app for him to give an honest review. people loved your video, as they felt they could connect with you and reo over something so mundane. viewers commented on the fact that you and reo looked like and acted like a married couple, which ended up boosting both your accounts even more.

(UN)DISCLOSED AD . . . HELLO FRESH!

we know that reo's meals since he joined the content house were all takeout from fancy restaurants. so when he got approached by hello fresh for a partnership, he agreed in a heartbeat. he made a video with you, the two of you preparing a nice, healthy dinner with the package from hello fresh, captioning the video "date night at home!" with clips of him behind you helping you cut some vegetables, making juice standing next to one another, and hands brushing every so often. fans were amused that reo finally opted for something other than takeout, instead preferring to spend quality time with you by cooking.

"Baya doesn't cook for me anymore, so me and bae always count on @.hellofresh #hellofreshpartner #ad"

THE VIEWS SKYROCKETED! BECAUSE . . .

because reo's lifestyle is extremely lavish, and you were one of the few who got to experience it to the fullest. reo looked like a lovesick puppy around you, and it wasn't hard to notice. he spoiled you rotten, and people could tell due to how your room slowly became flooded with designer after the first week of filming with reo. lovebombing much? the stunt was marvelous, with each of you gaining around 500k followers from it. to celebrate, reo booked a villa in marbella for the two of you to unwind and relax, wanting time for the two of you to get to know one another. plus, more content for the socials!

CANDIDATE 6 — SEISHIRO NAGI

USER: NAGI (reo bought it for him) FOLLOWERS: 940k CATEGORY: GAMING/LIFESTYLE(?)

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

the reason nagi actually went viral is interesting, which is why your management team chose him for you. he went viral because he was in reo's video in the background, and people began to fawn over the shy giant on their screen. he started streaming on twitch and also posting a few tiktoks, which gave him a boost on his overall social media presence. his management came into contact with yours for the stunt because they desperately wanted him to reach 1 million followers.

the first tiktok you filmed on his account was entirely on accident. you were going to film a vlog with him at the house as he didn't want to leave the house at all that day. he pressed record on his phone, and accidentally cut the video way too short. in the frame were you and him, with him saying "um, is this thing on?" and you trying to fix the framing of the camera, "nagi, can you move the cam—" and the video got posted instead of being saved as a funny draft. people were confused as to why that was posted, but it got around 10 million views. fans wanted to know who you were, and they were going to find out soon.

the second tiktok you filmed was for your account, with you preparing breakfast, lunch, and dinner as the "private chef of a famous lazy influencer", it didn't take long for people to put two and two together, seeing nagi in the background and making the video go viral. fans were happy that nagi was finally eating something healthy, and they loved the way in which you laughed at his sleepy self wandering around the kitchen, and also adoring his cute reactions to your food.

for the last tiktok, you gathered clips from nagi's stream, in which you and him played dress to impress. he had bought the two of you vip before filming, which made the competition between you two even funnier. nagi's outfits were absolutely horrendous, with the comments begging you to help him out. he agreed, saying that "i mean, y/n's beautiful and she's got great taste, so she needs to help me out." people did not know what your beauty had to do with your taste in fashion, and came to the conclusion that nagi was beginning to harvest feelings for you. he was way too blunt for his own good.

(UN)DISCLOSED AD . . . CELSIUS!

nagi got reached out to by celsius, as his brand as a gamer required him to constantly be sipping on energy drinks. he filmed the ad with you, as the video focused on you and him sitting next to one another, his head on top of yours. nagi took a sip of the celsius can and then passed on to you, with you doing the same. nagi was too lazy to come up with his own caption, so he copied and pasted one of the many which celsius sent him as an idea. people noticed right away because 1. seishiro nagi does not use caps. 2. seishiro nagi does not use emojis. 3. seishiro nagi does not add captions to his tiktoks. people laughed at his laziness, and saw how he genuinely smiled in the ad by sharing his drink with you. there was a ship name created, and the tag started trending...

You KNOW it's serious when you share a Celsius... 😘❤️👀 @.celsiusuk #Celsiuspartner

THE VIEWS SKYROCKETED! BECAUSE . . .

because nagi smiled whenever he was with you. he started being less aloof in his videos and streams, which caught the attention of the public. they started to wonder what kind of drug you were, because you had nagi HOOKED. he was looking only at you on every video you filmed with him, and he looked for every excuse possible for him to be close to you. it was like watching a little kid fall in love, and you both gained 300k followers from it. when he hit one million followers, you decided to throw a mini surprise for him in his room, and when the video was posted, people saw that for the first time, seishiro nagi willingly threw himself at someone with a biiiig bear hug.

CANDIDATE 7 — TABITO KARASU

USER: OSAKASSASSIN FOLLOWERS: 760k CATEGORY: PSYCHOLOGY/LIFESTYLE

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

when you entered the house and saw none other than tiktok's clown psychologist tabito karasu, you held in your laugh. yes, he loved to analyze people, but that ended up combining with thirst traps and becoming his social media personality. once you got to know him when planning, you realized he wasn't that bad at all.

of course, the first thing karasu suggested you do was a mini series of "advice on how to get a girl" in which he explains the most basic advice on how to ask someone on a date. i wouldn't be surprised if his fanbase were children aspiring to be him, but anywho. he starts off by filming a "so you know how i'm always preaching about how to treat a woman right? we're gonna put it to the test" and proceeds to take you on the best date of your life. he surprises you with flowers, drives you to a nice restaurant, pays for your dinner, takes you for ice cream, and the high and mighty tabito karasu lets you win at every game in the arcade he drags you to. the end of the tiktok contains a screenshot of your text saying "i'd go out with you again :)" and the fans went off in the comments. he didn't show your face, but he did mention that he helped take pictures of you with the plushie he won for you at the arcade.

the second tiktok was on your account, which was an aesthetic video of "come to the arcade with me!" and included clips of the date without seeing karasu. except for the fact that there was a clip of you and the plushie, to which people asked "who took the picture???" your response? "the worker! :)" and all of a sudden people were commenting on karasu's tiktok "yo you working in an arcade now???" and "did you take @.yn out on a date???" yeahhh. you posted on your instagram with the plushie, and also a pic of two ice cream cones, with the caption "late nights" and karasu was tagged at the very end. there were more than 100k comments on your post, gushing about how the two of you seemed like a cute couple.

the final tiktok was a dance trend, filmed at your home (karasu insisted, because "the house is too crowded, and it would ruin the tiktok" ok pretty boy). it was the dumb dick dance, and what karasu didn't expect was for you to not do the dance and hit him straight in the nutsack instead. karasu fell to the floor and people thought it was so funny that the king of rizz got absolutely owned by his date. some people strted commenting "deserved omg i can't stand the guy" to which you replied "well now he can't stand either!!!" you became an icon in the eyes of the public. congratulations.

(UN)DISCLOSED AD . . . POPPI!

another drink guy! karasu partnered up with poppi's healthy sodas because sodas magically cure depression. don't ask me! ask dr karasu. his ad for poppi included a fridge restock, with the whole upper shelf of the fridge being different poppi flavors, as "my girl likes sodas, so i wanna make sure she gets the best of the best. stay healthy, choose poppi." queue the montage of you and him being happy drinking doc pop and the comments saying "for fucks sake just buy regular dr pepper.... cute tiktok i suppose." people were divided, as some said to buy regular coke, and some said the lovesick look you had while filming made them accidentally buy 500 poppi cans.

cleanse your gut, cleanse your mind ✨ @.poppi #poppipartner

THE VIEWS SKYROCKETED! BECAUSE . . .

because karasu is one flirty hoe. he was constantly referring to you as the 'baddie' on his videos, and always having his arm around you. people pointed out that since being with you online, he stopped posting thirst traps, and when asked why, he simply answered "those are for my girl now :)" this man was in too deep he cleared the roster. he cleared his online bench. for a stunt? mhhhmm. you both gained around 100k followers, as your fanbases already knew one another. it was bound to happen. karasu asked you to be his girlfriend around a month after the stunt, and you knew it was coming due to the change in his content from "how to get every girl" to "how to get THE girl". the internet knew something was up when he suddenly started posting "how to be a good boyfriend" cheers to the newlyweds!

CANDIDATE 8 — YO HIORI

USER: HIORIYOOH FOLLOWERS: 1.3M CATEGORY: GAMING/TECH

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

you didn't even have to go inside the house, as hiori had sent you a dm about a potential collab due to his management team and yours coming to contact with one another. you did a stream playing dress to impress, in which hiori commented "let's play together sometime! check your dm :-)" (written by karasu, sent by karasu) and you agreed to his invite to play roblox together.

hiori isn't on tiktok much, so the first tiktok you did was a promo for his livestream, in which you and him decided to play chained together. it was funny to see hiori and you yell and struggle, eventually giving up on the game and ordering takeout while on live, and just becoming a regular hangout. hiori showed a side of himself no one expected him to have—a sociable, extroverted side of himself, as you were so easy to talk to according to him. he was all giggles and smiles with you, which is why he ordered takeout as an excuse to spend more time with you. hiori ended the live and continued getting to know you, with his social media being confused as to why he decided to stop the live so suddenly, with the words "HIORI", "LIVE", "Y/N", "SIMP", and "STOP" trending on x.

the second tiktok filmed was on your account, which was a comic con vlog. hiori was invited as he was a streamer, and he took you with him as his plus one. he asked to cosplay with you, with him being link and asking you to be zelda. cosplay was actually a big word, as you did inspired outfits, but they were obvious enough for everyone to know who you were. which inspired lots of fan pictures, with hiori fan accounts posting them and being like "the couple is at comic con!!!" and starting huge threads on every interaction you two had. the pictures fans took all focused on one thing: hiori's reactions when speaking with you. all smiles by the way. who is this man???

the final tiktok was for your account, and you planned this along with nanase and isagi. you went to the house as hiori had invited you to film both of you playing league of legends before the second part of arcane came out. you and the boys stood outside of hiori's room, knocking the door. once hiori opened it, isagi threw a bouquet towards hiori, with you catching it before it hit him. you couldn't even ask if he was alright, as you got so lost in his eyes. so did he. it went viral. hiori was a whole tomato umemiya could have easily planted in his garden. hiori was definitely shocked and flustered while you filmed content for his socials, causing the internet to make youtube compilations of every time hiori smiled or blushed at the sight of you. millions of views.... millions.

(UN)DISCLOSED AD . . . RAID SHADOW LEGENDS!

there's no surprised he partnered up with raid, as most youtubers do. in order to do the ad, though, he made a SKIT. those typical, drew gooden-esque skits in order to introduce the ad in his video with you, with you participating with him, and even playing raid shadow legends alongside him. since it was a video, there was a clear indication that this was an ad, and people noticed how. again. you were the first person who brought him out of his shell to do a small skit for an ad. fans adored how you and him held in your laughs while filming, and even showed the bloopers for the ad at the end. in the bloopers, though, while you were in frame playing raid, hiori whispered that "you look real pretty here, y/n." he didn't edit his videos because he has an editing team, so when the video was published he noticed that fans could hear his off-screen commentary loud and clear. oops! someone fire the editing team real quick.

"you look real pretty here, y/n—anyway um, okay—look at the screen on your phone, then at the camera and say 'this video is sponsored by raid shadow legends" "this video is sponsored by raid shadow LEGENDS 💜" "how did you do that—"

THE VIEWS SKYROCKETED! BECAUSE . . .

hiori is an absolute sweetheart, whose face went beet red whenever you complimented him in every video. like isagi, mans is shy, give him a break, okay? whether it was your hands brushing against one another, or shoulders bumping while filming, you could see hiori tense up and have his face on fire from how hot it was. his eyes never left your figure if they weren't on the screen in front of him, which said a lot to his og fans. they witnessed a change in hiori, for the better! thanks to you, hiori started to bloom. due to this stunt, both of you gained almost 1 million followers, as the slow-burn was that interesting. hiori gained the balls to ask you out after that. people suspected that perhaps you were dating, but you always said you were really good friends. around five months later, the cat came out of the bag as there were pictures of you two leaving the same apartment, to which you had to clear the air. you had moved into hiori's apartment two months ago.

taglist (open, yippee!): @kaiser1ns @stunies @ryescapades @nyxypoo @littleplantfreak @heartkaji @maruflix @phinbie @vinomino @kunitsyn

[cairfrey]

So, I'm watching The Crow (2024) and as a long time fan of the original and the source material I thought I'd share my 2 cents.

First of all, let's get my overall review out of the way. It's bad.

Good things

Bill Skarsgärd. Honestly, he's really good. He would have been a really good Crow if the film wasn't awful.

The fight scenes. What few we have are good, and I like the creative way he kills some of the people in the opera house.

The soundtrack. It's got some bangers in it.

Everything else

The story. There is so much unnecessary bullshit in this film. We don't need 45 minutes of backstory to their relationship. That's not why we're watching The Crow. We're watching it for bloody murder. Backstory is happy couple, brutally murdered, guy comes back from the dead to avenge her.

The bad guy. So there's demons now? Every Crow film that leaned into a Supernatural villain sucked, and this is no exception.

Bill's hair. It's just so fucking stupid.

The mysterious stranger. Unnecessary and pointless.

The script. The first film wasn't going to win any awards for writing, but oh God the writing in this is just so bad.

The motivation. Without spoiling it too much, that is not why The Crow does what he does.

CGI Crows. I heard that studios use CGI animals because animal trainers have unions, and CGI artists don't. I hate seeing unnecessary CGI animals.

The Ending. No spoilers, but it actually ends worse than you'd expect.

Verdict

It honestly feels like every studio just got fed up of promising a Crow reboot and keeping it in development hell that they just released something to be done with it. Now I'm going to watch the original (1994) version to get the taste out my brain.

Where does it place in the rankings?

It is not a good film. It is not a good Crow film. But it's far from the worst.

1- The Crow (1994)

2- The Crow: Salvation

3- The Crow: Stairway to Heaven

4- The Crow (2024)

5- The Crow: City of Angels

A big fucking gap that makes the mariana trench look shallow

6- The Crow: Wicked Prayer

[eruscreaminginthedistance]

Ugh it's taken me like a week to post this because reformatting PF posts on my phone is a bitch so I'm gonna throw this out here so that i don't put it off any longer; my Dune Part 2 review.

Basically, I feel like I'm living through a Category 5 LOTR event in real time. I was worried going into the second film that I was overhyped and that I should temper my expectations; speculative fiction adaptations 9 times out of 10 are usually dead on arrival and Dune Part 1 already defied the odds for being as good as it was for an almost 1-to-1 recreation.

I feel like after this I could confidently trust Denis Villeneuve with my life. The man's not really making a product. He clearly LOVES sci fi. Respect for the source material oozes out of every scene of Dune, and his little tweaks and changes are done with care and with a sense of critically engaging with the story that shows real thought.

Praying to the gods that once Denis finishes the trilogy he brings out a boxset DVDs with at least three behind the scenes DVDs MINIMUM. I need to see every single aspect of production on this leviathan of a project and then ritualistically watch all three movies back to back as I would with LOTR.

Spoilers under the cut

In terms of what I liked:

I've only read the first two books in full - Children and God Emperor are next on my list to finish this year - so I can't speak as an uber knowledgeable Dune nerd who knows the books back to front, but I'm very confident when I say that Denis's changes to the source material didn't take away from the experience of the story at all.

- Chani's probably the biggest change of all in the sequel and oh my god does it revitalise her character. I was quite shocked scrolling through tags to see book readers complain about how much the movie changed her and her arc. What are they mad about? That they gave Chani something to do other than sucking Paul's dick? In the book, literally everyone is 100% behind Paul uncritically accepting every single thing he does and Chani is just one of a swarm of characters that do that. I say this with much love because I like her book counterpart but I struggle to understand the people who claim to be so invested in book Paul and Chani's dynamic as opposed to the film's when book Chani's whole character is "Wife", until Dune Messiah when she gets the "Nagging Wife" upgrade. Denis's version effectively makes her co-protagonist with Paul and it was so exciting to see that play out on screen. She became the moral litmus test and the last vestige of uncorrupted ideals in the movie; Paul's descent into fascism and betrayal of the Fremen would not have hit nearly as hard if everyone went along with it like in the book.. I really felt for Chani having to watch everyone she knows get swept up in this insane fervour. She's too dedicated to the concept of freedom to fall for the bullshit and that was such a relief ti witness. Film Chani is her own character, not just another limb of Paul's, so her story is going in a slightly different direction and I'm really excited to see that. Would not have been nearly as hyped if her whole arc was just going to be "be pregnant. die" again.

- Jessica being an absolute FREAK. She was probably my favourite character from the book and I was so pissed she wasn't in Dune Messiah. I needed to get inside her head and wiggle around in there while I was reading, and Denis fed me. In the book, I got the impression she was quite a passive participant in the prophecy, so getting to see her go full wicked witch in the film was a massive highlight. Speaking to Alia in the womb, her sinister use of The Voice (such a horrific departure from her only using it for self defence in Part 1), her FASHION. Denis needs to adapt her into Dune Messiah I refuse to watch a version of Messiah without Jessica in it.

- Stilgar came out of nowhere with the steel chair for me. The first book is filled back to back with noble fatherly leader figures so he got very lost in the shuffle and I didn't really pay attention to him that much beyond being one of Paul's many mentors. I read a tiny bit of Children before watching Part 2 and Stilgar seriously considering murdering Paul's children made me do a double take. Then seeing him in this movie blew me away. Guys I think I've slept on Stilgar all this time xD. Not gonna lie though, the film beefs up his character quite a lot from the books. I think it was a good decision to make him comedic relief, because it offsets that "religious fundamentalist" element that could put people off. It makes him much softer and more likeable. He's just a guy with big hopes and big dreams and a big heart who's a bit silly sometimes, and that makes him the ultimate prey for Paul and Jessica. It's absolutely sickening to see them exploit his sincere faith and beliefs and I'm getting upset now just thinking about all the horrific things he'll be lead to do. Denis did a fantastic job of making him a more sympathetic and softer character for people to compare with his post-timeskip Space Hitler's Right Hand Man role.

- Introducing Princess Irulan early hell yeah!! Huge improvement on the book imo; she was very much a dark horse character for this film and Florence Pugh nailed it. I loved her being the narrator much like in the book, and it was interesting to see her contribute to putting the pieces in place for the endgame, rather than just turn up at the end. More of her please, Denis!

- One of my complaints about the first film was that there wasn't enough Harkonnen action, specifically the Harkonnen-Atreides rivalry, which was talked about a bit but not really shown. Denis made all those Harkonnen scenes specifically for me. I adored the balls to the wall aesthetics and the incredibly villainous acting. This film isn't afraid of moustache twirls and villainous laughter and I LOVE that. It felt fresh. Villains who just love doing bad shit and aren't even trying to justify themselves they just LOVE being horrible creatures in their black stone murder palaces.

- What can I say about the look of the film. You've all seen it. If you haven't then go fix that. It's one of the most visually cohesive and stunning films I've seen in a long time. I don't know how a world can feel so real and yet unreal (/pos) at the same time.

- Hans Zimmer showed the fuck UP for this score. I've been listening to it nonstop all weekend. I kinda miss the Atreides bagpipes but the new horns drive me insane so it's a good tradeoff.

Things I'm on the fence about:

- I think it was a good call to remove the whole thing with Paul uh, inheriting Harah from Jamis. It gave more screentime to Chani and I think would have really put viewers off Paul when really you wanna keep people going in blind rooting for him until the third act. BUT I was surprised she wasn't in the film at all? I was convinced that the lady we see Chani talking with was supposed to be an adapted Harah, but I'm seeing everywhere online that that's not supposed to be her and Harah wasn't in the film? Why not? It just felt a bit weird that she's just some nameless Fremen.

- I'm not gonna lie I forgot Thufir existed on my first watch. I think me not missing him overall is a good sign. I didn't rewatch part 1 so I guess I assumed they'd killed him off in the Arrakeen attack, and didn't realise his part had been cut until I saw an article about it later. That was kind of disappointing. While I think the film is perfectly fine without him, I think the inclusion of his plot as kind-of prisoner kind-of strategist for the Harkonnens would have really solidified the Harkonnen-Atreides rivalry. Again because we almost never see an Atreides and Harkonnen onscreen together, so having him there to exemplify it in practice I think could have just polished things up for me personally. But also I want all films to be 5 hours long so what do I know.

- Jessica and Chani didn't interact nearly as much as I wanted them to tbh. I'm hoping that Dune Messiah beefs up their relationship.

- Timothee Chalamet

Things I didn't like:

- Not Paul btw, just Timothee

- Been saying this since the first movie but him and Zendaya were really only cast cos they're hot ticket items right now, not because they have the look and feel of the characters or the world; they just wanted to cast some hot supermodels in the roles

- Zendaya justifies her casting though by being the better actor though; I was sceptical but I came to buy her as Chani and she did a good job resonating with me

- Timothee's just a guy though, wasn't impressed

- Which is a huge problem because the emotional throughline of the movie is their romance and I just. Did not buy it. Timothee could not have paid me to believe that he was in love with Chani. They were like the definition of everybody's beautiful but nobody's horny. Just saying words with their blank hot faces. At least Zendaya put some effort in.

Anyway 10/10. This is going in my top 5 movies of all time and is one of the best book to screen adaptations I have ever seen.

[liquidorcard]

Lily can't keep her own "Sympathetic" Villains rule straight: Crimson Ender edition

As a reminder, Lily's rules are the villain has to:

1. Have a point

2. Successfully navigate still being a villain

3. Are written well

*She made up these rules AFTER Ant and Crim responded.

Here's Lily's response to Crim's list:

*I'll be indicating I haven't seen/read/etc a thing with N/A. This isn't going to be a totally valid review of course, since I haven't seen everything Crim has. Lily will be docked points for not having seen something if they still fit her rules. To balance it out I will give her points for being accidentally right, or Crim having named a villain who wouldn't fit Lily's criteria, even if Lily wouldn't know that. This is to take the piss, not really serious criticism.

1. N/A

2. As was pointed out on Ant's stream, V is way more morally questionable in the comic. Since Crim indicated he hasn't read the comic (we shall forgive Crim for his sins, for now), we'll go with movie V. A story can have more than one villian, Lily. -1 bullet-proof idea

3. "The Japanese justice system is broken," is a point. Even if Light's solution is bad. -1 potato chip

4. Carry on my wayward son still slaps. And Crowley was introduced in the good seasons. -1 Misha

5. Never played FF7. -1 wing

6. JESUS CHRIST LILY. -1 sick motorcycle slide.

7. OH MY GOD THAT'S HOT TOPIC HEISENBERG'S NAME!? That's like a noise you'd make while sneezing and wonder if you've never seen a doctor. I still can't remember what his deal is, so I'll give it to her. +1 Heart

UPDATE: Xehanort follows Lily's rules. -1 Heart

8. How is Zuko being abused a reason for him but not for Azula? Her father's approval. She's been conditioned her whole life to get it at all costs. -1 Pheonix king

9. Not the protagonist. -1 both ways.

10. He fucking burns the magic flowers and gets his girlfriend killed. -1 auntie

11. N/A

12. N/A

13. N/A

14. Nope. Read a comic. -1 fucking death kiss Lily

15. Gollum doesn't fit Lily's criteria, though he is a sympathetic villain. Fuck you very much for that cute little jab. Can't help yourself, can you Lily? +1 Lily being vile.

16. He's not letting her die in peace Lily and his grief is hurting everyone around him. -1 Nora

17. You heard him. Read a book Lily. -1 paradise

18. N/a

19. THE GREEK GOD LILY. -1 Pomegranate seed

20. I don't remember which Eric this is supposed to be. Crim if you see this comment and I'll update. For now N/A

Update: Phantom. Follows Lily's rules. -1 Poorly aged stereotype.

21. Queer and doesn't watch AHS. -1 pride

22. Don't know which Johnny this is. Again, Crim, comment if you see this. N/A

Update: Johnny the homicidal maniac. Doesn't follow Lily's rules. +1 animal nailed to the wall

23. YOU HAVEN'T SEEN DWP EITHER? -1 Lily hates the gays

24. Lily's arguing with a fictional character's anger management problems. -1 Joanna

25. Misogyny. Cheating. Sister who betrays her own kin. This should be familiar ground for you Lily. -1 ice

26. N/a

27. N/a

28. No surprise there honestly. -1 Eclipse

29. Manger la merde. -1 Day Moooooore

30. Again, doesn't really fit Lily's criteria, but Starscream is sympathetic. -1 Megatron WHICH MAKES ME THE LEADER OF THE DECEPTICONS!!

31. --->"BROTHERHOOD OF EVIL MUNTANTS"<--- Also She's infamously comics most hot mess mom. READ A COMIC. -1 "She's Nightcrawler's mother, AND MY MOTHER TOO!!"

32. Doesn't fit Lily's criteria, isn't really sympathetic . . . But is a loveable idiot. I wouldn't blame someone for considering him sympathetic. +1 bacon in the soap

33. Depends on the version. I'd agree with Lily the doctor is the villain in the original novel. That doesn't justify Lily unjustifiably Crim meant the original novel just to make that snide remark. I bet my ass she can't tell you what the actual title of Mary Shelley's book is. Most people would assume the 1931 film, where The Monster both is a sympathetic antagonist, and fit's Lily's criteria. I'll give Lily a half point. +0.5 dead women

34. I don't feel confident enough in my homestuck lore knowledge to comment. Haven't read it, but have learned an unreasonable amount through cultural osmosis. N/a

35. N/A

36. The book is better. -1 Gravity

37. Codependency issues are your bread and butter, I wouldn't be making that argument if I were you. -1 Cat

38. N/a

39. N/a

40. I don't remember if these characters have a reason for fucking about as they do, but they are sympathetic(ish). There's no way Lily has seen anything other than the dic dub though so she's more lucky than right.+1 Magical Girl transformation

41. Again, sympathetic, doesn't fit Lily's criteria. +1 cockadoodie car

42. N/a (I've been meaning to watch this though.)

43. Once more, sympathetic, doesn't follow Lily's bullshit rules. +1 jar of dirt

44. Yes. -1 Elf Callum

45. Not sure which Kagura this is, but if it's either of the two I'm thinking of, N/A

Update: Kagura from Inuyasha. Follows Lily's rules. -1 Sit

46. I'm guessing Crim didn't mean the Omega Man one. N/a

Update: Gargoyles. Follows Lily's rules. -1 Goliath

47. OH MY GOD LILY FOR FUCKS SAKE YOU CAN'T WATCH THE FUCKING NOLAN FILMS AND ASSUME THAT'S SUFFICIENT TO MAKE YOU AN EXPERT ON ALL OF BATMAN. -1 READ👏 A👏 FUCKING👏 COMIC👏

48. Sympathetic, doesn't fit Lily's criteria. +1 fat panda

49. Lily gets another point on a technicality. +1 dream of electric sheep.

50. Again, not a surprise. -1 Pizza Hut

LILY'S SCORE: 29.5/50

59% - C-

Got 29 wrong.

Got 8.5 right.

Taking away the ones I didn't know: 7.5/33

22% - F

Removing the points Lily lost/gained for things she hasn't seen:

19.5/33

59% - C-

Removing the ones we both haven't seen:

8.5/38

22% - F

[trans-elrond]

Nik! Did you watch Rebel Moon? How was it?

Yes hello this is my 4 star review of rebel moon on letterboxd.

But first: a professional, somewhat critical review of rebel moon that engages with the film well, especially regarding anti-colonial themes, and isn't just knee-jerk regurgitated Snyder haterism:

And now more of my thoughts: [edit: Oh No, He Went And Talked For 3 Hours About It, Thanks For Coming To My TedTalk:)

No one has a better knack at putting together a cast list SO ATTRACTIVE TO THE BISEXUALS. read it and weep, boys. (Jena Malone is there too but really just for 1 set piece)

...Jena Malone's one (1) scene set piece features her as an alien spider woman with legitimate grievances against the Empire who now wants to kill kids because all her kids were killed. Like, so valid, girl. Also, did I say Jena Malone as an alien spider-woman? And this is just one scene.

Look, if that pitch doesn't hook you, this film may not be for you, and that's okay, but by GOD my people are the people who hear "Jena Malone alien spider woman" and perk up. I love you, freaks.

The cinematography is ace and always will be under Snyder's direction. music by Tom Holkenborg SLAPS. Costuming and design overall is super super strong. (People on this hellsite are always complaining about inadequate, boring as hell sci-fi design and you get RM and you don't appreciate it for what it is. WAKE UP.)

Costume showcase! Second from the right in this photo showing off those sweet sweet sci-fi costume designs is my beloved non-binary they/them revolutionary Milius. CANONICALLY non-binary, let me add. Imagine SW doing that lmaoooooooooooo D*ve Filoni would fuckin keel over and die

Kora! Our tragic female protagonist of color who's over 40, with a dark edgy sexy background. [KIDNAPPED AS A CHILD!! DEAD FAMILY!!! DEAD LOVER!!!!!!! SHE FAILED TO PROTECT HER WARD FROM ASSASSINATION!!!!! SHE IS THE MOST WANTED WOMAN IN THE UNIVERSE!!]

Bitches on tumblr LOVE taking failmen with sad backstories from media and blorbifying them, but the second it's a woman? please. If this was a man people would be writing the filthiest x reader smut you've seen since Mandalorian S1 came out. If this was a man you'd already have seen 20,000 fan drawings of her with her muscles and tits OUT. God where's my Kora fanart.

I personally have no problems with the plot of this movie (part 1 of 2) being "we must collect warriors to fight the evil empire." That's kinda fantasy story 101 and I still love new, varied interpretations of that plot.

If there's not much interconnecting plot because Kora's just gathering fighters, it's kinda like... that's the point, babes, they'll actually get to it in part 2. We're just at the "forming the team" stage. I revel in that part of a fantasy film and I always want it to be longer, so this film is like catnip to me.

Uh, yeah, this is getting long. More under the cut.

Entertainment professional nitpick time! I've seen someone say RM would be better as a TV show to introduce a new character each episode. And I truly don't think that fixes any of the problems this person has with the film, while introducing way more problems. (Who the fuck would go in on an original concept TV show where each episode introduces a new hero. You could not sell that pitch to a studio, ever, and viewers would instantly check out if they didn't like the introduced character of the week, and the same complaints would be made: it’s just a new character intro blah blah blah. This wouldn’t fix anything! It would very much make it worse!)

Me, like every day, through gritted teeth: that's... not... how... tv... works...

Like be realistic for a hot second with me. Television is not "long movie"—it is a different medium with different rules. Yes, the past decade has blurred many lines between TV and film, but they're still different mediums, and when people blur them ("it's a 10-hour movie!") the results often suck ass, because you either lack episodic structure or you lack feature structure. Snyder is a feature filmmaker who has never worked in TV. Whenever features people jump into TV, it's a whole other learning curve! They're usually terrible at it! You want Snyder to have to learn a new medium? You want him to learn 5/6-act TV structure from scratch? You want him to (horrified gasp) lead a writers room? Those are not his strengths, baby. Let him play in his space opera sandbox.

And I'm not done! You want the casting team to have to deal with the headache of getting feature film actors to star in a TV show? (Pay cuts! Longer commitments! TV production timelines!) You want to do that to me, personally, and fuck up the TV landscape some more by going, "Oh, we can basically just make a Longer Feature Film in TV"? Fuck off with that. TV has different production realities and different basic story structures. A [long] film [with two parts] is still a film, in structure and production practicalities.

Truly, Tumblr media studies brains (derogatory) at it again.

To each their own, but again, I think RM's structure is fun because it gives me more of the goodies (badass, varied character intros) for the price of one (2-hour film.) Like... that's the good stuff, that's often the most exhilarating part of a film for me. And contrary to popular belief, it's not intro to intro without rising tension or stakes. It builds tension as it goes because new facets of resistance against the Motherworld are explored in each character's intro scene. New ways they fight back, new worlds on which they fight back. And a ticking time bomb of the King's Gaze (king's gays lol) catching up.

Here, have a trailer bc Tumblr's mad at me for too much text in one block.

...I like the RM characters. I want to spend time with them and see what other zany shenanigans Snyder will have them do. (Alien bar fights! Taming a space gryphon! Lightsaber battle!) I like the side-quest-y, exploratory, space opera sandbox playground nature. It's fun, and like, again, if you don't perk up at the concept of collecting cool characters like action figures, this film may just not be for you.

To me it's a polycule. Like, the most messed up polycule in the whole galaxy, but it's a polycule.

Speaking of: THE CHARACTERS ROCK. Yeah, we're missing some significant character development because Netflix truncated Snyder's 4-hr, R-rated film into a 2-hr PG-13 version (likely to be able to release the 4-hr cut later, drum up new press, and get more eyeballs on the movie in total in a few months.) That's... not really Snyder's fault [even though he claims he's in on the plan... some part of me thinks it was Netflix's idea and not his. Stinks of studio meddling.] And it's not indicative of the quality of the actual film, which I currently see as more of an abridged version of the R-rated film that's gonna come out and fill up some of these story holes.

If people are judging the film for not being the 4-hour version, and then decide not to see the 4-hour version, that's their call, but it's kinda shitty to act like the 2-hr version is all there is. Like it probably wasn't Snyder's call to do a 2-hr cut! He's said that the 4-hr one is a whole different movie. I betcha the common criticisms (not enough character development, just jumps from character intro to character intro without interconnection, lack of structure) will be helped, if not outright solved, by the longer cut.

I think people are also happy to take a Part 1 of a movie if it's, say, Dune, and the source material has another part, so Part 1 is allowed to be fucking boring, whereas people don't give that kind of allowance to original sci-fi movies, WHICH IS A REASON WE DON'T GET ORIGINAL SCI-FI. If you're painting with as huge and cosmic a palette as space opera Rebel Moon, the 4-8 hours total across the 2 four-hour parts is kinda bare minimum for an epic. So... patience is a virtue? Let part 1 have elements of IT'S KIND OF A PROLOGUE?

What's that saying? If you want the rewards of space opera worldbuilding with an ensemble cast, you must submit to the mortifying ordeal of 2 hours of setup. Geez. Enjoy the wacky exposition or get out of the space opera genre.

Yeah, that leads me to the point of people who don't enjoy space opera are getting mad at RM for fulfilling the promises of the genre. You might truly be happier elsewhere. The whole thing is over-the-top, huge-scale MELODRAMA and I thrive on melodrama. If it's too cheesy for you, don't come to space operas!!!!!!!

On that note, people have said RM is too tropey and too Star Wars-y. But like I said. If you don't love the tropes get out of the genre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you aren't here for bloodier/hornier Star Wars get out of RM!!!!

Another big idea I would be remiss to skip over. RM is an explicitly, deliberately anti-colonial, anti-imperial text—far, far more so than any other mainstream sci-fi currently being released. Well-intentioned liberals love to tout Star Trek/Star Wars as progressive media but they really hedge and defang all their political commentary, especially in their 21st century franchise form—think the SW sequels/shows straight up woobifying K*lo Ren in realtime and the Trek shows that (while fun!) are really often just nostalgia bait.

RM is pretty fucking radical. Its theme basically is Kill Nazis—or in expanded form, something along the lines of "The empire will eat up everything of value in the universe unless it is met with unified armed resistance built on solidarity."

And just look at RM's casting. We're not colorblind here; we're very color-conscious. (That's a rant for another day, but I've really started to despise colorblind casting for its extremely well-intentioned-liberal "we're all the same" mentality. It just winds up erasing.) Anyway: RM features the explicitly American-English-Afrikaans empire vs. the Algerian Amazigh protagonist, Black freedom fighters, Japanese revolutionary... and like. Snyder's always gonna be into Vikings so obviously we have Space Vikings too, whatever. Look at me, I can criticize Snyder too! The Poor Sad Space Vikings are not the strongest part of the film!

...Anyway of course the empire vs. revolution is absolutely kind of Star Wars-y since RM is highkey Snyder's Star Wars, but it goes so much further than SW dreamed (or, perhaps, nightmared). SW's rebels/resistance continually get defanged because they're kind of foundationally space magic/singular hero's quest deals, and modern SW with the exception of Rogue One/Andor is just politically, socially stupid. In contrast, RM is about forming a coalition, without something like the Force to help you out. I could write an essay on the ways RM starts in the same place Star Wars starts but takes its politics so much more seriously, so much further.

While I'd argue "good politics" and "artistic quality" rarely correlate, RM is explicitly and doggedly a text about the colonial empire that exploits, enslaves, abuses, and seeks to utterly control marginalized people groups in its quest for domination—and god, I would LOVE to see a resurgence in very fanged, very angry political sci-fi.

One more aside. Snyder has been rightfully criticized for his earlier works basking in fascist-adjacent, hypermasculine aesthetics; 300 is notably super duper racist in how it depicts savage/monstrous Persians vs. Beautifully Good White Spartans Defending Their Culture. (more on "300 Bad" stored up in my brain if anyone wants THAT rant.) To Snyder's credit, none of his films since 300 have really done that—parts of Batman v Superman and his cut of Justice League purposefully poke fun at it. The hypermasculinity is kinda still there, but it's subsumed in the service of melodrama and mythic-flavored cinema, and it's kinda a staple of the action genre anyway, and if you're gonna criticize Snyder without criticizing EVERY ACTION MOVIE EVER, that's just more regurgitated Snyder haterism.

No one is doing mythic action like Snyder these days. No one has the balls and the command of melodrama & operatic visuals. And it comes clearly from Snyder's background in art & art history because all his shots are jam-packed with symbolism and meaning and allusion. So criticize the film for its weaknesses if you like but geez, if I see another post railing about the lack of CRAFT in RM, I will start biting. ALMOST NO BLOCKBUSTER HAS THIS LEVEL OF CRAFT. It's okay that you don't understand visual storytelling, babygirl, but please don't accuse Snyder of lacking craft.

Sorry, you've triggered Cinema Defense Mechanisms in me, I'm gonna have to sit down for a while after this.

I have more takes. Takes hot enough to fuel the King's Gaze (king's gays lol.) But I'll end with a funny observation: I transed my gender (cheers, shouts, hoorays) just about the time I was getting ready to watch Rebel Moon, and in one shocking, epiphanic moment I turned to my partner and went "Of COURSE I'm a man. I like Zack Snyder." So........... do with that what you will.

[calliethetrekkie]

Triumvirate Prompts: Day 21

#21. Favorite McCoy moment?

The sacrifice in The Empath... but I already used that one. So here's five other fantastic McCoy moments. In no particular order.

1. The Final Frontier Flashback

Look, I like my angst, okay?! Honestly, to see McCoy this emotional and distressed... I think the only time we ever really saw it in the show was in The City on the Edge of Forever. And he was drugged at the time, so that wasn't exactly of his own volition. I don't think that anyone expected ending his own father's life to end his suffering to be a part of his history, but God the whole scene and especially DeForest Kelley's performance (especially after he REALLY got cheated out of strong material in the other films)... it's so good but so painful. Then the big reveal that had he just made him wait, the cure would have been found and this never would have had to happen. You see this, and it explains a LOOOT about his character in-show and puts episodes like Operaton: Annahilate in a whole new light. But seriously, it's such a painful moment but a very good one.

2. "Would you like to see how fast I can put you in a hospital?"

I joked that this was the scene that made McCoy my favorite character. That's not entirely true, but it's not really a lit either. McCoy under the spores effects was actually kind of cute, just because we NEVER get to see him that at ease and carefree most of the time. I mean, look at him with his mint julep~! But the thing that snaps him back to normal? Not Kirk and/or Spock provoking it. No, it's the colony leader telling him that he can't be a doctor anymore. That was all it took to piss McCoy off and punch the guy to the ground. I like the idea that McCoy sucks at combat most of the time, especially compared to everyone else. But he CAN throw his fists and HO BOY does this scene prove it. Never tell McCoy that he can't be a doctor. Ever.

3. Staring Down Khan

So what happens when Khan, a super strong war criminal, grabs McCoy by the neck and holds a scalpel at his throat? McCoy not giving a shit. Seriously, he doesn't so much as flinch. He remains insanely calm and composed, staring right back at Khan and even tells him the most effective way to kill him. It earns him Khan's respect and he pulls back. There are two things to say about this. One, McCoy is a stone-cold badass. Two, for a guy that us in the fandom often characterize as temperamental and volatile, this shows us that he knows how to handle intense situations with calmness that could rival Spock. Remember, he's a doctor, but he's also an expert in psychology and has probably had plenty of experience handling dangerous patients that could easily kill him and those around him. You want an example as to why he's the CMO? Look no further than to this scene.

And speaking of McCoy giving the middle finger to powerful beings that could easily kill him...

4. "I will not peddle flesh"

Return to Tomorrow is an episode that doesn't get talked about much. Which is a shame because the McCoy material in this is freakin' excellent. Whenever I get back to reviewing, this is one of the episodes that I'm most excited to get to go over. But here? We have the female God-being wanting to keep the Girl of the Week's body, asking McCoy to only keep quiet. If he does, she'll save Kirk's life, who at this point as far as anyone can tell, he's dead. I cannot stress how much Kirk means to McCoy. Even earlier in the episode when Kirk first got possessed, McCoy was ready to shoot and kill if Sargon didn't get out of him right then and there and Hell, the only two times that McCoy has killed were to protect Kirk. But his response to this offer?

MCCOY: Neither Jim nor I can trade a body we don't own. It happens to belong to a young woman. MULHALL: Who you hardly know. Almost a stranger to you. MCCOY: I will not peddle flesh. I'm a physician.

As much as he cares about Jim, as much as he doesn't want to lose him, he won't risk another's life to save him. Not when said person can't consent. He knows that Jim would never allow that. He would never allow it. It goes against his oath as a doctor. It doesn't matter that he barely knows her, he won't peddle flesh. He doesn't have to think about it and even if Mulhall didn't change her mind and kept trying to kill him, he still wouldn't have changed his stance. Seriously, it's such a good McCoy moment and is just another reason why I love him.

5. Testing The Vaccine on Himself in Miri

I thinkt hat this was the first McCoy scene that made me go '...holy shit'. McCoy and the others are infected with an illness that will soon drive them to insanity. As the eldest of the landing party, he's likely going to be first. He and Spock have developed a vaccine, but unable to get it tested. Spock refuses to let it be tested until they're able to reach the Enterprise... but McCoy knows that time is running out. So as soon as Spock walks out, he injects himself. If it works, he's cured, and they're all saved. If not and it kills him, then at least he won't be able to hurt anyone else. The only one who can get hurt with this act is himself, and he won't test a dangerous, untested substance on anyone else either. This is the only option he's got, and this is the only chance he's got to do it.

Is it extreme? Sure, very. McCoy's lucky that it paid off. But it is 100% something that McCoy would do. I think sometimes people forget because he looks rational compared to Kirk and Spock, but McCoy wouldn't be where he is if he wasn't willing to take dangerous risks. It's just that he won't do it when it comes to others, and it's his job to ensure others well-being. But there are plenty of examples where McCoy can and will do something dangerous, even insane, in the name of his profession (The Immunity Syndrome is a good example). He's a doctor. Just as Kirk lives and breathes the life and risks of being a Starfleet Captian, McCoy lives and breathes being a doctor. He saves lives, no matter the risk to himself, and this scene displays that perfectly.

[weirdstuffinthewoods]

Bride of Chucky

A Review

Ronny Yu made the correct choice working with the one and only father of Chucky, Don Mancini. I feel like Don's seamless continuing control over the Chucky franchise paired with Ronny Yu's absolute lack of knowledge of the Chucky franchise (and his love of the monster) made for a one-of-a-kind franchise installment.

Writing- 5/5

This entire script takes the snark we know Chucky for and dials it up by giving him a dominating sparring partner in Tiffany Valentine. There are some jokes that kinda feel needless (repeating the "what a crock" joke only got an "eeh" out of me), but Voodoo for Dummies?

And lines like:

"For God's sake Chucky, drag yourself into the 90s"

"Martha Stewart can kiss my shiny plastic butt!"

When Chucky tells Tiffany to "act natural" and this is her response

The entire weird sex scene conversation that 100% does happen in a film about two sentient dolls? It was only a matter of time before we got here, let's be honest.

The addition of Tiffany Valentine allows for a totally valid reason to shake things up- creative kills, high-speed freeway chases with two DOLLS holding two whole adult humans hostage, and the film's only gay character (spoiler but RIP David) getting absolutely blasted by an 18-wheeler for no reason other than Don probably just realized the cast needed to shrink real quick.

Special mention-

The honeymoon suite kill scene. Yeah, it looks a little cheesy, but you best believe before I was old enough to watch horror movies, my older cousin was telling me about this scene in vivid, terrifying detail (much scarier than reality, but what can you do?)

Soundtrack- 4.5/5

Living Dead Girl starts this movie off with a bang and a moment I haven't forgotten for one second of my spooky sapphic life. These are the moments in which horror icons are made.

The soundtrack is mostly upbeat drums and chugging guitar riffs which I loved (it especially added to the freeway chase) I just didn't go full 5 stars because I didn't notice it as much as I'd want to in a party movie like this (because yes, if I ever do host a halloween party I will be popping in this exact VHS to play on repeat).

Also shout out to my boy, Graeme Revell. Been a legend since The Crow in my eyes (but also for so much iconic 80s and 90s horror....and Sharkboy and Lavagirl) and I'll always get excited when I see that name in the credits!

Effects- 4.75/5

First let me say Chucky looks fantastic. Can he emote as well as Tiffany with those pencil-thin eyebrows? Maybe not but this is the opus version of Chucky, so.

The animatronics are still my favorite thing to watch in a Chucky film because you forget that these aren't sentient dolls almost constantly (except when Chucky's body double is crawling on all fours- that's some nightmare fuel). Their faces are so expressive (for rubber doll faces) and there's even a shot of Tiffany walking across the floor of a Winnebago (maybe?) without a wire in sight! Oh, how far we've come.

The effects in some scenes are a little cheesy (the honeymoon suite kill, the gross, fleshy title card, etc) but it's easily overlooked because Chucky and Tiffany are by far the main event of the sfx team.

Extra ratings?

Queerness-3/5

Written by an out gay man, HELLO!

Alexis Arquette!! Easily the second-hottest person in this movie, I loved seeing her camp it up (in a masc role, but goths love to play with androgyny so I'll take it) as the try-hard Damien.

This also unexpectedly features the gbff trope usually reserved for rom-coms in David, a guy whose queerness isn't painfully exaggerated like some portrayals were at the time, and who's probably the most level-headed of the bunch.

RIP, -2 because David got blasted by a big rig and not in the fun way.

Bride of Frankenstein retelling 5/5

It's pretty obvious on rewatch, but this is a whole Bride of Frankenstein retelling. It even follows the title convention (I tell my younger self who completely missed the comparison). I haven't read the dissections of the original that explain why the bride is a metaphor, but in a more literal sense, this Bride has the power unlike her predecessor. Even though she falls in with a toxic ex, she has autonomy and pushes back, eventually sort of kind of helping the two teens (who are not interesting enough to put in this review) stop Chucky. And she gives birth to a weird demon baby while mostly charred through a non-stretch plastic vagina so. That's pretty metal.

Tiffany Valentine 11/5

TIFFANY VALENTINE THE WOMAN THAT YOU ARE

THE COSTUMING

THE TRAILER SET DRESSING

But most of all the performance!!!

I may be looking through heart eyes, but I'm not wrong!

Overall, Bride of Chucky will never not be one of my favorites. The addition of Jennifer Tilly allowed the Child's Play series (and all future iterations), to have fun, but to also play with the tone of its installments. Seed of Chucky and the Chucky series tend to focus on Chucky (and friends)'s humanity and personalities, whereas Curse and Cult of Chucky take the franchise back to an exciting, sometimes scary, and eventually openly queer and complicatedly sapphic place. Ignoring the reboot (which he was thankfully not responsible for), Don Mancini's got quite a legacy going, and Ronny Yu had a key part in that.

[cometcrystal]

also heres my review of ginger snaps 2 from the other night if anyone wants 2 read it

TW: RAPE

my fucking god??? i am captivated by this movie.

i've begun typing this while not finished with the film because im high and i need to log my thoughts. but i think i kind of like this movie a lot? 

it was such a genius fucking movie to make a brigette character piece. she is so deliciously human. it's a narrative treat. SOOOO many of the reactions she has to the things in the story are things that just feel so. human. humans are often passive. humans are riddled with so much anxiety at things that it affects their self-preservation. the fear just paralyzes them. also ginger is a very iconic character for sure. she sticks in your mind. but if ginger is the face of this movie, the skin of this movie, then that makes brigette the guts, the blood, the skeleton. take her away and you have something much more hollow.

there's very possibly some "women are catty bitches/bullies" stereotypes in here. there's very possibly some "SA for the sake of edginess" in here. but idk. i think what it does with the material is kind of sincere enough to be interesting in a lot of places.

the other addicts in the facility are cruel and enjoy throwing pennies at a tween girl like theyre in fucking middle school. but like... these girls are in rehab. their lives have been backed into a corner. everyone has different reactions. some people will lash out at everyone they ever speak to again. some people will lay there and accept whatever tries to hurt them because they're too tired to try anymore. some people find immense joy and relief with certain coping mechanisms. yeah, sometimes these three categories can be problematic. but they're very human.

the night guard seems cartoonishly smug and says a lot of Corny One Liners. but like. in real life he Would have that power. the power dynamic and his bargaining would be WAY BEYOND ABUSE if someone did that for real. and people do. and doesn't that just make you want to skin the motherfucker alive?

brigette struggles with her body's physical reactions to the gut-wrenching trauma she's going through. she doesn't WANT to be aroused by what her rapist does. but her body is having a reaction that doesn't match her mind's reaction. and she feels so fucking ashamed about it, when that's a completely understandable thing and absolutely NEVER the victim's fault. ALSO! the blurring of the lines between reality and fiction during the group physical therapy scene. i'm still kind of unclear on whether she was dreaming about a fantasy she would never want to happen in real life, or she and a bunch of other girls just got sexually assaulted again.

ginger appears in brigette's psyche, lives there almost full-time, chides her and teases her and humbles her. she was brigette's best friend. she was her SISTER. and now brigette can't even fathom the fact that she's dead. brigette has to do literally every single thing in her power to keep herself from the same fate as her SISTER. god, it's not real. this is not happening. she can't fucking be dead. she's been dead for months.

the weird little preteen girl who just acts like a huge fucking weirdo around the whole place. her only allegiance is to herself, and not with all other people, who are toys she plays with. but still having moments of little-kid-ism. like oh yeah. she's a megalomaniac but she's twelve. brigette eventually feeling sisterly towards her and fighting it as hard as she can. because her REAL SISTER is FUCKING DEAD and GINGER'S THE ONLY PERSON WHO GETS THAT TITLE. and she fucking killed her. she had no other choice. and she takes care of ghost anyway because she has no other choice. it's the right thing to do. BTW the preteen girl has her own fucking secret hideout OUTSIDE THE FACILITY and just goes back there for shits and giggles because humans are her playthings. she just went back to her ABANDONED HOUSE IN THE FOREST WITH WORKING ELECTRICITY and has her monthly vacations. but now she remembered. oh shit i'm twelve. and looked to brigette as an adult

NOT TO MENTION. I WAS EXTREMELY ENGROSSED IN THIS MOVIE. like i can't tell if it's Good but i'm definitely fucking captivated you know. AND I WAS LIKE "SURELY WE'RE IN THE FINAL ACT, THERE'S LIKE 20 MINUTES LEFT OR SOMETHING". i looked at the runtime. I WAS ONLY 40 MINUTES IN. I STILL HAVE THE WHOLE OTHER HALF OF THIS MOVIE TO GO. WILL UPDATE SOON.

47 minute update: THIS MOVIE IS FUCKING CREEPY BROOO THE SCARES ARE SO GOOD. I FORGOT TO MENTION THEM BUT THEY'RE JUST. REALLY WELL DONE.

76 minute update: oh i want this piece of shit dead. i want to see brigette skip rope with his entrails. i want it to be a thousand fucking years of hell in a single minute before he dies.

finished: ok. well. this might be one of the most interesting horror movies i've ever seen. god. i'm speechless. and high.

i could literally write a college thesis on this film. there's at least another 12 more paragraphs about the rest of the film's events to be written. i could easily flesh this out into a 10 page analysis. i probably won't, but i could. it'd be a good topic if i was in a college film class.

i'm gonna be thinking about this one for a while.

[mac-darf]

Evil Dead Rise Spoilers.

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The movie is very good. It's genuinely a fun watch. The gore is a bit torture-porn-esque but significantly less so than the 2013 movie. Humor is IMMENSELY downplayed in the film compared to the original trilogy and especially Ash Vs, but it has more jokes than the 2013 movie? At least as far as I remember. It's good. Please god let this fucking movie get a sequel. The worst thing about the 2013 movie was how it never got a continuation. That movie needed a sequel to properly plant itself into people's memory of Evil Dead as a series. I am sad that we've gotten two reboots of the Evil Dead series starting from scratch and neither try to be anything other than a horror film.

Evil Dead 2 is regarded as one of the greatest films of all time because of how it's a horror-comedy. Yet for some reason whenever a new filmmaker joins this series they just make a horror movie. There's more to this series than that.

However that being said, I do understand how much content I have with silly Evil Dead. Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness and 3 seasons of Ash Vs, along with silly continuations like My Name is Bruce. So people want scary Evil Dead more than silly due to oversaturation I suppose.

ANYWAY. Now for my nerd rant.

Lore.

This movie clearly wants to be a loose continuation of the original trilogy and the 2013 movie. But uh. It kinda. Can't be? Evil Dead Rise says that there're three volumes of the Book of the Dead. This implies that the Book from this film is a separate book from the 2013 Book and the Necromancion from Ash vs and the original trilogy. But uh. This movie takes place in 2023. And uh. In Ash Vs there's a nuclear apocalypse that takes place in 2018. So I guess the movies are canon but Ash Vs isn't? And like holy shit. The demons in this movie are crazy.

The demons in the original could be defeated by bodily dismemberment or flame. In 2013 the rules are basically the same. Even for the big demon itself, the Abomination. A chainsaw could kill the top dog in that movie. In Ash Vs/the OT the demons would die from simple wounds and would dissolve from the Kandarian Dagger. The demons in EDR? They cannot be killed. It's explicitly stated they cannot be killed and the film treats that as true.

So if this is canon to the OT and/or the 2013 movie and if this gets a sequel, I expect the Dagger to appear. Something about how it's the only way to defeat the demons or whatever.

Although if Ash Vs really isn't canon then that makes me wonder how tf Bruce Campbell could return. If Sam Raimi directs another Evil Dead and Ash Vs isn't canon... What's Ash gonna be doing?

Oh right back to reviewing EDR. Every performance was great and the fact that the first gore thing to happen is a teen getting scalped rocked and that little kid who got mutilated was cool. Plus the ratking looking demon thing was baller.

Mia was a better main character tho. This one wasn't bad but uh. Jane Levi in another Evil Dead please.

Here's the best lines in the movie

"We're watching all the Freddy movies."

"Even the bad ones"

"THERE ARE NO BAD ONES"

[trinitynox]

Trin Reviews: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part I

This review contains spoilers for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part I

-----

Amidst the memery and hyper of Barbenheimer, Tom Cruise’s latest attempt at tempting fate and spiting god appears to have slipped by audiences – kinda like how Ethan Hunt slipped by his pursuers in the movie though he probably intended it.

As someone who hasn’t even watched every movie in the franchise (never saw M:I 1 or 2; vaguely remembers 3-6), some easter eggs and themes are going to be lost on me, so do forgive me. I also rate Fallout to be the best Mission: Impossible before going into this one. Has this entry changed my ranking?

The movie opens with a tense scene in a Russian submarine, the Sevastopol, in a sea-trial gone wrong that sets the movie in motion. Ethan is then sent to rescue Ilsa from mercenaries sent by his boss. In true Mission: Impossible fashion, the fight isn’t easy. The power couple has to shoot their way out (I agree with Hideo Kojima, Rebecca Ferguson with an eye patch, sniping... sweats) of a sandstorm and fake Ilsa’s death. Maybe because I’ve seen the trails too many times but the camera work didn’t feel as impressive to me in this scene as I thought it would from the trailers. Or maybe it’s the score? I don’t know. 

I was originally going to continue on scene by scene but then it wouldn’t really be a review, would it? It’d be a text based reaction commentary. 

So anyway, the movie was supremely entertaining. My partner who has never watched a single Mission: Impossible, was very happy with the movie and had the urge to watch every preceding movie after we came out of the theatre. 

The action was fantastic. A lot of hype and attention was given to Tom Cruise biking off a cliff and parachuting down but to me, the more impressive stunt was the fight atop the Orient Express, where they had built a train to shoot on and eventually wreck because they couldn’t find a train that they could also destroy. 

Tom Cruise and Esai Morales (and his stunt person, I guess?) fighting on a moving train was one of the tensest and most exhilarating fight sequence I’ve seen. One wrong move and the whole thing could’ve been over. Then there was the part where they had to fight on their bellies while the train was going through a tunnel. God. What a show. I’m really interested in knowing how the whole sequence was filmed.

A fight that I was not a huge fan of was between Rebecca Ferguson (Ilsa) and Esai Morales (Gabriel). Ilsa entered the fight with a sword while Gabriel had a knife. In theory, as long as Ilsa kept her distance, she had the advantage. BUT SHE KEPT CLOSING THE DISTANCE, WHERE SHE HAD EVERY DISADVANTAGE. That ticked me off so badly, and made me so anxious, especially since Ilsa is my favourite MI girl. She had Gabriel locked with her legs at one point, which he obviously used as an opportunity to stab her in the thigh...

Needless to say, I was quite upset with Ilsa’s death (they faked her death once, they can do it again. C’mon McQ) especially with her role in this movie. She felt less like a character and more like an NPC team member whose role is to get the MC to the next plot point.

Haley Atwell was a welcomed addition to the crew, if only it wasn’t so obvious she would be replacing Rebecca Ferguson. Ethan being given a choice on whether Grace or Ilsa should die may seem weird, and it kinda is, given that Ethan and Ilsa has been through so much together. Even if not romantic partners, Ilsa should’ve been the obvious choice for Ethan to save over Grace. But I think him not being able to choose or refusing to choose is very in character for Ethan. He will have his cake and eat it too, or die trying.

Anyways, back to Grace. The chemistry between Ethan and Grace is fantastic, and I think it’s carried by Haley Atwell’s charm. She definitely showed that she has the potential to be a stellar field agent but not one yet. Someone put it well, she’s well versed in the criminal world but terrible in the spy world. I think she just needs some training and polishing, which I think she will get with the implication of her joining the IMF.

Which leads me to the comedy in this movie. I think this is the funniest Mission movie of the ones I can remember. The jokes are not the quippy Marvel fare, which has gotten grating over the years with almost every character having a one-liner. The comedy in this one is more situational, more like 2 close friends giving each other shit and being themselves, and of course lamp-shading how absurd the series has gotten. (What does the International Monetary Fund got to do with this?)

I think almost every joke landed for me or at least got a chuckle out of me. And it didn’t detract from the emotional moments while adding some levity to moments that didn’t need to be as serious where other franchises might’ve taken very seriously. 

I have tried to find a way to work in parts about Vanessa Kirby and Pom Klementieff in this review but failed to because their characters were fairly minor and not very relevant to the central core of the plot. They’re not irrelevant, just minor.

Nothing much to say about Vanessa Kirby’s White Widow except the way looks she gives throughout the movie makes me feel things. Such a powerful and commanding presence whenever her character is relevant to the scene. 

Pom Klementieff’s Paris was fun. I’m glad she survived and hope to see her in Part II. Her enjoying the thrill of the chase and fight with Ethan in a tight alley makes me think she could be a very good Harley Quinn. Maybe an alternate version since Margot Robbie currently owns that role? 

I thought the story was a little weak compared to Fallout, but the latter had set a high bar for Mission so it’s not a failure on Dead Reckoning Part I to not meet that bar. It was a little confusing who the players are, which side they’re on etc, but perhaps that is the point? 

In this crazy crazy world where facts almost don’t matter, how can you know who is good and who is bad? Who is right and who is wrong? The movie has pointed out that Ethan has gone rogue frequently to save the world and that he has always been right to do so. But what if he’s wrong once? What will the consequences be when Ethan thinks he’s doing what he’s doing for the greater good but is actually becoming the very villain he has tried to stop time and time again? ...That might be a good potential movie idea. TC, McQ, gimme a call.

There’s also a question of what is the Entity’s end goal? What does it want? Besides killing Ethan, of course.

I hope these question can be answered in the next movie, along with a proper emotional payoff for Ilsa’s death (SHE BETTER NOT BE DEAD)

8.5/10

[denimbex1986]

'"All of Us Strangers" is a 2023 British romantic fantasy film directed by Andrew Haigh. It's based on the novel "Strangers" by Taichi Yamada. The movie stars Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell, and Claire Foy. The story follows Andrew, a lonely screenwriter portrayed by Andrew Scott. He revisits his childhood home and reunites with his parents, who died in a car crash 30 years ago.

This reunion serves as a haunting exploration of grief. During his visit, Andrew forms a new relationship with a younger man named Harry, played by Paul Mescal. Their budding romance takes a heart-wrenching turn as they navigate their feelings amidst Andrew's journey of rediscovery and healing.

As the film progresses, viewers witness Andrew gradually opening up to the possibility of love and connection with Harry. However, their relationship is tested when Andrew decides to take Harry to meet his deceased parents. This pivotal moment leads to a series of emotional encounters, culminating in a poignant and unexpected ending.

"All of Us Strangers" premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival in August 2023 and was later released in the United States and the United Kingdom. The film received acclaim for its performances, direction, and exploration of themes such as grief, love, and self-discovery. It garnered six BAFTA Award nominations and was recognized as one of the top independent films of 2023 by the National Board of Review.

Is Harry Dead in All of Us Strangers?

In the movie "All of Us Strangers," the character Harry is found dead in his apartment towards the end of the story. Harry's death is revealed when the main character, Adam, visits his apartment and discovers signs of neglect, such as drugs on the counter and a messy kitchen. When Adam enters the bedroom, he sees Harry's lifeless body, indicating that he has been dead for some time.

After this discovery, Adam encounters another version of Harry, who turns out to be a ghost. This ghostly Harry confides in Adam about his situation, acknowledging his death. Despite being deceased, Harry's ghost is still present and interacts with Adam, providing comfort in a moment of sadness.

The film doesn't explicitly explain how or why Harry died, leaving some aspects open to interpretation. However, the focus is more on the emotional impact of Harry's death on Adam and their relationship. The scene serves as a poignant moment in the story, highlighting themes of loss and acceptance.

While Harry's physical body is deceased, his presence as a ghost continues to play a significant role in the narrative, offering solace to Adam as they navigate through their shared experiences.

Who Played Harry Role in All of Us Strangers?

In the movie "All of Us Strangers," the role of Harry was played by Paul Mescal. Born on February 2, 1996, in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland, Mescal is an actor known for his performances in various films and television series. He gained widespread recognition for his role in the miniseries "Normal People", where he portrayed the character Connell Waldron.

For his outstanding performance in "Normal People," Mescal received a BAFTA TV Award and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. Following his success in "Normal People," Mescal ventured into the world of film, making his debut with a supporting role in the psychological drama "The Lost Daughter". He further solidified his reputation as a talented actor with roles in acclaimed films like "God's Creatures" and "Aftersun".

Mescal's versatility and skill as an actor have earned him nominations for prestigious awards such as the Academy Award and the BAFTA Film Award. In addition to his film work, Mescal has also been recognized for his performances in theater productions, winning a Laurence Olivier Award for his role in a revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire".

All of Us Strangers Plot

"All of Us Strangers" follows Adam, a solitary television screenwriter living in London. One night, his neighbor Harry, who appears drunk, approaches him and expresses interest in spending time together. Initially hesitant, Adam eventually engages in a sexual encounter with Harry. As their relationship deepens, Adam revisits his childhood home and encounters the spirits of his deceased parents, with whom he has heartfelt conversations.

Throughout the film, Adam grapples with his past, including his struggles with sexuality and his parents' tragic deaths in a car accident when he was twelve. He seeks closure and reconciliation with them, ultimately accepting their departure. However, Adam's journey takes a shocking turn when he discovers Harry's lifeless body in his apartment.

It is revealed that Harry had been dead all along, existing only in Adam's imagination as a coping mechanism for his loneliness and unresolved emotions. Despite this revelation, Adam comforts Harry's spirit and expresses his love for him. They share a tender moment in bed before fading away together, symbolizing closure and the acceptance of loss.

"All of Us Strangers" explores themes of love, loss, and reconciliation as Adam navigates his emotional journey toward healing and moving forward in life.

All of Us Strangers Release Date

"All of Us Strangers" is a romantic fantasy film released in 2023. Directed by Andrew Haigh, it's based on Taichi Yamada's novel "Strangers." The movie premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2023. Following its debut, it hit theaters in the United States on December 22, 2023, and in the United Kingdom on January 26, 2024, distributed by Searchlight Pictures.

The film received positive feedback from both audiences and critics alike. It was even recognized by the National Board of Review as one of the top ten independent films of 2023. Additionally, "All of Us Strangers" garnered significant acclaim, earning six nominations for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards.

Despite being the second feature adaptation of Yamada's novel, following the Japanese film "The Discarnates" in 1988, "All of Us Strangers" brought a fresh perspective to the story. With a talented cast including Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell, and Claire Foy, the film captured audiences' hearts with its captivating storyline and engaging performances.

"All of Us Strangers" marked its place as a notable release in 2023, captivating audiences with its blend of romance and fantasy, and earning recognition for its excellence in filmmaking.

Where to Watch All of Us Strangers?

Viewers can watch "All of Us Strangers" in cinemas in the UK, where it is currently available. For those in the US, the movie is accessible for streaming on various digital platforms. They can purchase a digital copy from Prime Video, iTunes, and other participating retailers. Additionally, in the US, the film is also available to stream on Hulu for all subscribers.

However, the digital release date for the UK market has not been confirmed yet. Typically, Disney, the distributor of the movie in the UK, releases films on digital platforms around 45-60 days after their theatrical release. This suggests that the digital release of "All of Us Strangers" in the UK might occur around mid-March.

Nonetheless, viewers are advised to keep an eye out for updates regarding the release date. Once released digitally in the UK, the movie is expected to be accessible on platforms like Disney+. Whether in the UK or the US, audiences have options to either catch the film in cinemas or stream it from the comfort of their homes.

What Happened to Harry in All of Us Strangers?

In the movie "All of Us Strangers," Harry is a character who develops a relationship with Adam, the main character. At the end of the film, Adam discovers something shocking when he goes to Harry's apartment. He finds Harry's body, and it's clear that Harry has been dead for a while. This means that the Harry Adam has been spending time with is a ghost.

Adam is surprised and upset by this discovery, but he still comforts Harry's ghost. They share a moment in bed before the movie ends. So, what happened to Harry is that he died in his apartment, but his ghost remained behind. This twist adds to the emotional complexity of the film's ending, as Adam has to come to terms with the loss of someone he cares about, even though that person is no longer alive.'

[theharpermovieblog]

#HARPERSMOVIECOLLECTION

2024

www.tumblr.com/theharpermovieblog

BAD MOVIE TRIPLE FEATURE pt.2

I watched Septic Man (2013)

It's hard to write a review of something this boring and bad, but I guess I'll try. (I usually don't love to take down smaller films, but this one is too hard to find something I actually like.)

During a water born disease crisis, a worker gets trapped in an underground septic tank, which a serial killer and his giant brother have been using to store dead bodies. Over time the worker begins to hideously transform within his toxic prison.

With a title like "Septic Man", I highly expected a ridiculous Troma-esque movie, made up of pure ridiculousness and lame sleazy jokes. This is not that kind of movie. That would at least be interesting, but god forbid a movie be interesting.

This whole movie takes itself very seriously, despite not being nearly good enough to do so. The worst part of taking itself so seriously and being simultaneously so bad, is that it absolutely destroys any and all fun or enjoyment which a premise like this could have going for it.

Yeah, this movie is kind of gross, but being gross isn't fun enough to make this worth your time. It may surprise you, but watching people puke and shit and play around in shit water isn't exactly engaging enough on it's own.

Why is taking itself seriously so bad for this movie?

When the acting, directing and writing are all sub-par in a film, the hardest thing to pull of is drama. But, despite it's complete lack of good filmmaking, Septic Man doubles down on trying to be a dark and drab drama.

Mostly, the writing here is awful and the worst part of the equation. The movie overcomplicates several simple ideas by jamming them together and not blending them properly. The writing, as a result, never feels cohesive or engaging. It feels dumb and lazy. Like a writer who believes their first draft is good enough and doesn't actually bother to work on structure or character or plot.

Maybe, just maybe, a sense of humor could have made this tolerable. At the end of the day, It's a movie about a man becoming a shit monster, so it would at least create a tone that plays well. But, then again, I'm not sure I want to find out what this writer thinks is funny.

This movie wants to be an emotional drama, but also a gross-out body horror flick, but also a serial killer movie....and it never once puts in the effort to pull off any of this off. It's devoid of any point or meaning or scares or anything interesting.

A serious body horror drama can be done. Director David Cronenberg does it a lot. "The Fly" is a clear example of a smart, brutally dramatic body horror that, despite it's somewhat silly plot, works and works well. The writing and attention to detail and character are there, and therefore create a movie that engages the audience while simultaneously challenging them to keep watching.

"Septic Man" fails everywhere a film like "The Fly" succeeds.

Veteran actors Julian Richings and Stephen McHattie (McHattie is barely in this) both show up in this movie, and both deserve better than shit like this.

[lesbianwithchainsaws]

i know you've probably definitely already done this. But as a person who has seen 500 horror films. 2 questions. what are your recommendations for weird fucked up ones that people don't talk about enough. and. are you on letterboxd dot com

Yay!!! I am glad to do it a thousand times more, I love talking about horror!!! So here's some recs:

The Ruins (2008), Motel Hell (1980), We're All Going to the World's Fair (2021)

Slither (this one is more talked about since its a James Gunn movie, but I'd say it's plenty weird)

Tourist Trap (1979), Wolf Creek (2005), The Loved Ones (2009), As the Gods Will (2014).

Repo! The Genetic Opera (okay this one is a musical/opera as well as a horror movie and it's like objectively not good, but I love it with my whole heart)

Deadstream (2022), Dead End (2003)

Helter Skelter (2012) this one is more psychological and I'd say it steers closer to drama, but it's really good still imo!

Some of these are talked about more than others, and some are weirder than others, but I'd say they're all pretty good and not talked about as much.

And yes, I do have a letterbox!

[herecomesthefirstday]

herecomesthefirstday's year in review

Big things: Published a paper & a letter with my job, moved out of my parents' house and in with my boyfriend, stopped having a job, started watching One Piece, flew to Atlanta even though I hate flying, caught up with One Piece

TOP 20 FILMS OF 2023 / more & more year in review (music, TV, books, games) under readmore

Bottoms

Past Lives

Polite Society

The Holdovers

Oppenheimer

John Wick Chapter 4

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Rye Lane

Killers of the Flower Moon

May December

Barbie

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning

The Pope's Exorcist

Asteroid City

Theater Camp

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

You Hurt My Feelings

Poor Things

They Cloned Tyrone

80 For Brady

BEST SHORT OF 2023: Take Me Home

Songs on repeat / movies I watched and rated 4.5 or 5 stars / books read / TV watched / games played by month

January 🎵 Marigolds - Kishi Bashi American Teenager - Ethel Cain 🎬 Hail, Caesar! (2016) 4.5 Embrace of the Serpent (2015) 5 Fail Safe (1964) 4.5 Honorable mention: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) 3.5 📚 World War Z - Max Brooks 🔁1/16 Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir 1/18 Harrow the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir 1/23 Nona the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir 1/26 📺 Dark

February 🎵 Partita for 8 Voices - Roomful of Teeth God Is a Freak - Peach PRC 🎬 Third Kind (2018) 4.5 Showgirls (1995) 4.5 Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003) 🔁 5 📚 The Memory Police - Yōko Ogawa 2/7 Authority - Jeff VanderMeer 2/15 📺 Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 🔁 Bloodline S1

March 🎵 Not Another Rockstar - Maisie Peters 🎬 Banshees of Inisherin (2022) 4.5 John Wick (2014) 🔁 4.5 John Wick: Chapter 3 (2019) 🔁 5 Honorable mention: 80 for Brady (2023) 3 📚 Acceptance - Jeff VanderMeer 3/4 How To Hide An Empire - Daniel Immerwahr 📺 Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 🔁 Yellowjackets S1 🔁 S2 Poker Face Defending Jacob

April 🎵 2 Be Loved (Am I Ready) - Lizzo Daytona Sand - Orville Peck Little Dark Age - MGMT 🎬 John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) 4.5 Honorable mention: Rye Lane (2023) 4 📚 How To Hide An Empire - Daniel Immerwahr 4/1 📺 Succession Grey's Anatomy Yellowjackets

May 🎵 Home - Diana Ross Lipstick Lover - Janelle Monáe Gloria - Laura Branigan 🎬 Polite Society (2023) 5 The Joy Luck Club (1993) 4.5 Crank (2006) 4.5 📺 Succession Grey's Anatomy Yellowjackets White Lotus 🎮 Tears of the Kingdom

June 🎵 Lipstick Lover - Janelle Monáe Movin' Out - Billy Joel 🎬 The Fabelmans (2022) 4.5 Casablanca (1942) 🔁 4.5 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) 4.5 Deep Blue Sea (1999) 5 What We Do In The Shadows (2014) 🔁 5 📺 White Lotus Grey's Anatomy Marriage The Bear 🎮 Tears of the Kingdom

July 🎵 My House - Diana Ross Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell 🎬 Lady Bird (2017) 🔁 4.5 Pacific Rim (2013) 🔁 5 Whiplash (2014) 5 The Watermelon Woman (1996) 4.5 Howl's Moving Castle (2004) 🔁 4.5 Oppenheimer (2023) 4.5 📺 The Bear Grey's Anatomy Black Mirror What We Do In The Shadows Foundation 🎮 Tears of the Kingdom Rocket League

August 🎵 It's All Coming Back To Me Now - Celine Dion Adagio in D Minor - John Murphy 🎬 Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021) 4.5 📺 Foundation Only Murders in the Building Grey's Anatomy One Piece 🎮 Tears of the Kingdom We Love Katamari 📚 The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco

September 🎵 American Pie - Don McLean 🎬 Bottoms (2023) 5 📺 One Piece Foundation Grey's Anatomy 🎮 We Love Katamari 📚 The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco (9/9) Stone Butch Blues - Leslie Feinberg (9/26)

October 🎵 No One Comes Close - Infinity Song New Body Rhumba - LCD Soundsystem No One Dies From Love - Tove Lo 🎬 Past Lives (2023) 5 Deep Blue Sea (1999) 🔁 5 📺 One Piece Grey's Anatomy Lupin GBBO 📚 Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief - Maurice Leblanc (10/26)

November 🎵 Liability - Lorde Together in Electric Dreams - Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder 🎬 Annette (2021) 4.5 Electric Dreams (1984) 5 Honorable Mention: Light & Magic (2022) 4 📺 One Piece Grey's Anatomy GBBO The Crown Mindhunter 🔁 📚 The Uranium Club - Miriam E. Hiebert (11/16)

December 🎵 Isumagijunnaitaungituq (The Unforgiven) - Elisapie Butchered Tongue - Hozier Christmas Baby - Infinity Song Home For Christmas - Infinity Song 🎬 The Holdovers (2023) 4.5 x2 Take Me Home (2023) 5 - short Pro Pool (2022) 4.5 - short Mamma Mia! (2008) 5 🔁 Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) 5 🔁 The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) 5 🔁 Honorable mention: The Quiet Girl (2022) 4 📺 One Piece Grey's Anatomy Only Murders in the Building New Amsterdam Frieren Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury The Crown Pokémon Concierge 🎮 Fall Guys Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 📚 Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel (12/25)

[lserver362reviews]

This was the saddest fucking movie I've ever seen.

This review is going to be all over the place, but as per usual I'm going to start with a deeply personal overshare of where I'm at for this viewing. I'm seeing this as the first watch of the New Year after coming off of 2 months of deeply missing my sister, who lives in another state. This movie understands what it is to go through your little everyday needs while having a giant sibling sized hole in your heart. I sobbed at this movie, especially during the dream sequence of the afterlife, but throughout the whole film I was getting chills. I sobbed last week at Christmas Mass because the priest started his homily with a comment on how all of his Christmas memories are of him and his two older sisters, in the house that they grew up in, which has been sold so that place truly only exists in his memory now. The first thing I thought of when I woke up on Christmas morning was how my sister and I would always get up extra early, before our parents, and just sit together in front of the tree and look at the lights. That's what Christmas means to me. My childhood house is also now sold. I was so affected by Kevin's statement that he doesn't even need to be doing anything in particular with his brothers-it's just the being together. I will be going to my sister's for Christmas next year. It cannot be overstated how masterful Zac Efron is in this film. When David is announced as having the match against the heavy weight champ you just see Kevin embody every emotion. The betrayal, the holding himself together, the wanting to cry, the disappointment, the growing cold. Then again when Kerry gives his father the gun and Kevin bores his eyes into Pam as if to say, maybe if we just pretend we aren't here it'll be okay. I cried very hard at the sight of absolutely swelling Zac Efron cradle his little baby. So beautiful and you just know that this man will try his hardest to not be his father (whether that means running away to protect them from the curse or by remaining and being triggered by his own grief). There was such a delicate balance of conveying his limited worldview, wanting to live up to his dad's expectations (manipulations), and support his brothers above everything else. Just masterful from Efron, and I didn't think I'd see that to this level. I came to this movie because A24, I love Richard Reed Perry, and I'm a huge fan of the talent that is Harris Dickinson. I think the final straw was that A24 mailed me my zine which had the pinup of my baby, Harris Dickinson. I hope to continue to watch everything he does (plug here for FX's mini series, Trust). Every time Harris was on screen I had the dopiest grin on my face because he just makes me happy and especially so as David. And then the unexpected happened. I didn't know anything about the Von Erich's and I certainly don't know anything about wrestling (I did love the Netflix series, GLOW), so this was almost completely foreign territory to me. Wrestling is just heterosexual drag, right? I knew this movie would be sad, and I knew that I'm super susceptible to anything that showcases siblingship, but this was a new level. The tragedy of it all. Sometimes the movie felt clunky but that kind of fit with the body shapes thematically. Some lines, especially from the father didn't feel natural to me. I think Maura Tierney was outstanding for what little screentime she had. The music, the costuming, as well as the camera work was all superb. I also did like seeing Michael J Harney and Lily James. Also I LOVE when a movie has a, Thank God I'm A Country Boy, needle drop (looking at you, Pauly Shore's Son-in-Law)!!! Once again, I was crushed by the ending dialogue and the way this movie just gets what it means to love your family. I loved that two background wrestlers were actual Von Erichs! Maybe I should rewatch Blue Valentine or Dead Man Walking before saying this is the saddest movie I've ever seen but man, I have not sobbed like that in a theater before. I'm glad I managed to stick with it. This movie bonzo gonzo'd my heart.

[jacquelinemerritt]

Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone Abridged Review

Originally posted January 30th, 2016

A simple story with interesting characters.

Dead Zone Abridged is the toughest part of the series I’ve had to review yet, because I can’t come to a particularly clear conclusion on how well it works. Part of the problem is that the source material here contains the basis of the tropes present in the following films, so it feels similar to the other films, while being slightly off kilter from them.

The source material also demands that over sixty-percent of the film be spent in the same location, Garlic Jr.’s castle, which is certainly unlike any of the other films, as they have us hopping around to locations that don’t look exactly the same as each other. When you combine that with the low budget the original animators had to work with (I assume, based on part of the final fight taking place in a pitch black room for no apparent reason), the film aesthete in me has a very hard time wrapping her head around the idea that this could ever qualify as more than “decent.”1

It is pretty good though, thanks to Team Four Star’s decisions that inject comedy and make up for the weaknesses inherit to the story. For example, from the very beginning, we’re introduced to Piccolo’s desire to build a bitchin’ castle, and that combined with Goku’s quest for the meadery gives us a decent reason to accept the film staying in the castle longer than we might’ve liked otherwise (I’m of the opinion that they’re still in the castle too long, but I’d concede that it’s probably an arbitrary preference). It unfortunately isn’t as clever as the conceits that fuel their other films,2 but it’s enough to justify this significant flaw.

Team Four Star also leans into the setting of the film pretty heavily, taking full advantage of their story being set before any they’ve already told (save for “Episode of Bardock”). The three things they particularly capitalize on is Goku’s rivalry with Piccolo, Piccolo’s relationship with Kami, and Kami’s relationship with the world.

Goku’s rivalry with Piccolo is sold best near the end of the film, when the two of them are taking on a ‘roided out Garlic Jr. As they argue over which one of them is responsible for his perceived defeat, the tension grows as Piccolo becomes angry with Goku for his arrogance, and Goku grows angry at him for refusing to respect him.

Their fight is only stopped by Garlic Jr.’s summoning of the Dead Zone,3 and it’s pretty clear from their intensity that they would’ve gone on to destroy each other otherwise. This moment alone makes the film worth watching, and it has me convinced that, at least as far as the Abridged series goes, Piccolo and Goku are much more interesting as enemies than friends (Gohan and Piccolo’s friendship, of course, is still excellent).

The way Piccolo’s relationship with Kami is addressed serves primarily to establish that Piccolo’s death guarantees Kami’s death, and either one of their deaths will result in the Dragonballs becoming useless. The interesting way their relationship is explored is within Garlic Jr.’s dialogue, however, and this is how Kami’s relationship with the world is explored as well.

Throughout the film, Garlic Jr. refers to Kami as a god, and speaks of how he and the rest of the world have prayed to him and received no answer. This hints at a darkness within Kami that we both have yet to see explored and see explored plainly through Piccolo, who Garlic Jr. refers to as a demon. With it being made clear that Piccolo and Kami’s life forces are connected, it begs the question of just how these two are related to each other, and the implications of a “demon” and a “god” being so closely intertwined is unsettling enough to pique my curiosity, even though it’s something that Team Four Star refrains from explaining in this film.

Rating: 4/5

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Stray Observations

1I’d find it odd that this hasn’t happened elsewhere in the series, but KaiserNeko does a fantastic job of keeping things visually engaging.

2Revenge of Cooler’s conceit is letting us explore Freeza’s character through another lens, Christmas Tree of Might’s is in the title, and Lord Slug’s is that we’re tired of being stuck on Namek for so long (and that we miss seeing Piccolo kick some ass).

3This is thematically fitting, as Goku and Piccolo only became friends because the Saiyans, a seemingly unstoppable force, came to earth. Though that could be more accurately attributed to the specific act of Piccolo sacrificing himself to save Gohan, depending on your perspective.

I officially shake my fist in frustration, because goddamn, the film canon is confusing. I mean, first “Episode of Bardock” was a fever dream, and now Dead Zone is just a script Krillin wrote for Nappa? If Team Four Star wanted to capture the frustration of the films not making any goddamn sense, then they have certainly succeeded, and I am glad to be dumbfounded. With that said, their decision to adapt them out of order adds to the confusion, but they have good reason for adapting each film when they do, so I can forgive them for that.

Mr. Popo: “Drama Queen!”

Gohan’s side-eye as he received the books was fantastic.

Garlic Jr.: “Oh god, your father’s Goku.”

Gohan’s behavior in this film makes it abundantly clear that he indeed is the son of Son Goku.

Garlic: “Make me immortal!” Eternal Dragon: “Oh, really? I can’t remember the last time someone nutted up and asked for that. Congrats! Can’t wait to hear how you f*** this up.”

Goku: “I am Son Goku, and your name sounds yummy.” Garlic: “So I’ve heard.”

Krillin Owned: No official count increase, because confusing movie canon, but I think being pissed on by Gohan is grounds for an honorary point added to the count. Though I’m tempted to remove one since he had a column of stone dropped on his head and survived.

Badass Piccolo is best Piccolo.

Okay, I know Garlic brings up a clever counter to Kami’s attempt to suicide bomb him, but I think that it raises an important question: does immortality guarantee indestructibility in the Dragonball universe? Or does it simply mean that you’ll live forever regardless of how much your body is damaged (or torn apart/separated)? Because if it’s the second option, it sounds like a pretty bum deal to me.

Goku: “Piccolo, it’s not a competition. I already won. :3c”

Piccolo: “This victory is mine!” *gets shot* Goku: “You want I should take a turn?” Piccolo: “Shove it, Goku.”

Nappa: “Why did you write yourself getting peed on?” Krillin: “The better question is, how much are you gonna pay me to get peed on?” Nappa: “You’re gonna go far in this business.”

Nappa may not know why Garlic summons the Dead Zone, but it seems perfectly in character for me. Finishing off his enemies in the same way Kami destroyed his father is classic poetic justice (or revenge).