#homecoming is literally a gem

[irondad-defensesquad]

"i'm sick of mr. stark treating me like a kid all the time, it's not cool!!" says peter parker bouncing onto a bed angrily

[ulteriorm0tiv3s]

⚙️ ─ funfetti

✭─ pairing: metal sonic x reader (gender neutral)

✭─ genre: fluff

✭─ summary: it’s metal’s birthday! eggman tries to make a special gift, but you interfere to make it more ‘personalized’ from you.

✭─ song: https://spotify.link/7oI9LZ2RkDb

✭─ notes: LATE BIRTHDAY BIRTHDAYBITTHDAY BITTHFAY BIRTHDAY !!!! late birthday because his birthday was on my homecoming day so i didn’t have much time so 😭😭 thatz also why itz kinda short and poorly written, i didn’t wanna make something too long and have it posted too far away from his actual birthday 😞 so ya birthday oneshot kinda!!!! woo!!

༶•┈┈┈┈┈♡┈┈┈┈┈•༶

it was 4 in the morning, and you could not get an ounce of peaceful sleep. everything around you was so loud. the loud cranking of machinery was literally all you could hear. usually, you found the sound comforting, but it was far too noisy this time. you tried covering your ears in various different ways, but it was no use. sleep obviously wasn’t an option anymore, so you hesitantly climbed out of bed to go investigate.

eggman’s “tinkering room”, is what you called it, and of course that’s where the noise was coming from. it didn’t surprise you that eggman was causing your lack of sleep. there had been various other times where he kept you up. the evil genius was seated at a large metal table, working on some unknown creation.

“doc, it’s FOUR in the MORNING. what the actual fuck are you going this early,” your tone was cranky, which was understandable since you haven’t slept in 17 hours.

“i’ve warned you multiple times not to swear in my presence. however, i’m in a good mood so i’ll let it slide this time.”

“you didn’t answer my question.”

“i don’t have to answer anything,” eggman glared at you, a stern look on his face.

rolling your eyes, you leaned up against the wall, “i’m not leaving until you do though, soo…”

he just rolled his eyes as well and sighed, “fine, since you insist on pestering me. today is metal sonic’s creation anniversary. it has been 30 years since i’ve created him, my most magnificent creation to this very day. so i’m making something special for him, something that’ll finally get rid of that horrendous hedgehog.”

“creation anniversary? dude, just say it’s his birthday.”

“well, he technically wasn’t ‘born.’ so it isn’t a birthday.”

“well,” you mock his tone, “you sound goofy as hell when you say creation anniversary. but anyway, what exactly is the gift? are you gonna almost destroy the world again with some ugly counterfeit gem?”

you could tell you were pissing eggman off. he was trying his best not to boil over from rage and cook himself. the doctor just rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance, trying to focus on his current project.

“a deathray. i’m going to build it into metal sonic.”

“oh.” well that was straightforward!

“now will you finally leave me to my work? you’ve been distracting me long enough.”

“can i get some earplugs or something first?”

“get out.”

“okay, okay jeez…”

🔩♡🔩

eggman ceased his work around 30 minutes ago, but you still weren’t able to sleep. you were planning something quite silly since you knew it was metal’s birthday now.

instead of eggman, it was you who was seated at the large metal table, tinkering away. you were making a few modifications to this so-called ‘deathray.’ these modifications were sure to be more enjoyable than a deathray. well, in your opinion anyway. when you think of birthdays, you don’t think about deathrays, you think about cake that’s so sickeningly sweet you throw it up.

you knew metal couldn’t eat, but the idea of making him a cake was really funny for some reason. besides, what’s better as a gift than the sugary scurrility of a funfetti birthday cake? nothing, literally nothing. perhaps a blue funfetti cake though if anything. maybe you should’ve done blue funfetti…

🔩♡🔩

metal sonic’s feet clanked against the floors as he walked. he was newly equipped with eggman’s special gift. of course, no one knew you had customized it just a little bit.

“hey metal buddy!” you ran up behind him, making sure your voice was loud enough so he wouldn’t detect you as a threat.

last time you ran up behind him without saying anything, he almost shredded you like cheese. fortunately, that didn’t happen this time since you were loud enough. metal sonic turned his head in your direction, awaiting for what nonsensical thing you had to say.

“happy birthday! i'm assuming eggman already told you ‘happy creation anniversary’ or whatever. and just so you know, happy birthday is the correct term.”

he didn’t really understand what you were talking about. he was a robot created to destroy sonic, obviously, so birthdays weren’t really something he was programmed to know about. so he just tilted his head and whirred, showing his confusion.

“birthday, like, y’know, celebrating your birth. or… celebrating when you were built in your case, i guess. but that doesn’t matter, it’s still called a birthday. but anyway! today is your birthday!”

even though you explained it somewhat well, the robotic hedgehog still didn’t see how this was relevant to him. he kept his crimson eyes on you as they occasionally flickered over your form, wondering if you had anything else to say.

“i forget you can’t talk sometimes.. just gonna imagine you’re saying ‘thank you sooo much (y/n)! i’m so joyous about my birthday!’” you spoke in a very very awful impression of his nonexistent voice, patting his head afterwards.

metal sonic rolled his eyes as he turned away from you, beginning to walk away. he had more important things to attend to; like beating the shit out of his organic counterpart, sonic, or something like that. you bid him farewell, and he responded with a beep. maybe he was saying goodbye back. or maybe he was telling you to fuck off, who knows. hopefully he’ll still enjoy your gift.

🔩♡🔩

a tree tumbled down as a certain blue hedgehog was violently tossed into it, making said hedgehog groan in pain. it was a common occurrence of a fight; metal sonic vs. sonic the hedgehog. usually sonic would have the upper hand, but it seems that metal sonic is going all out today.

“aw man! that was my favorite tree! couldn’t you have thrown me into a different one?” sonic sneered, crossing his arms and doing his infamous foot taps as he stood up.

his robotic counterpart was in no mood for his mockery, clutching his sharp metal talons before lunging towards the hedgehog once more. luckily for sonic, this was easy to dodge. the tension of the battle was starting to slow down a bit, causing sonic to yawn.

“man…this is starting to get a teeeensy bit boring. just a tad. how about we finish up?”

metal sonic beeped, seeming to agree. however, he had something planned. he would take the win this time, and get rid of this horrid hedgehog once and for all.

“alrighty! this’ll be an easy win!”

sonic dashed towards the robot, preparing for his final hit. metal sonic did the same, clashing into sonic. the two blue blurs continued the battle, the intensity revving up again.

unexpectedly though, sonic was thrown into a tree a second time. this time, the tree hadn’t snapped, but bended. this caused the hedgehog to be flung across the field, giving the robot an opportunity to finish charging up his final blow.

“thanks for throwing me into a tree that wasn’t my favori— why is your chest glowing. that isn’t normal is it!”

indeed it was not normal. the robot had finished charging up his deathray; the birthday gift from eggman. he wasted no time putting it to use. it was game over for his rival.

…

rather than being blown to smitherines, sonic had been blasted with…

“is this funfetti frosting?”

the hedgehog, still in one piece, was coated in bright blue frosting and cake. specifically funfetti, but that didn’t matter. what mattered is what the fuck happened to the deathray eggman made, and why metal sonic was blasting out cake.

seems like he found your surprise!

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

The soul weber

by merky1333 peter parker managed to get the soul stone and the souls he lost the stone and now he is stuck in jersey.He cant turn back he needs to get them home . home isn't Gotham despite the fact that his luck strangely got better . Words: 2068, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Batman - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Batfamily Members (DCU), Karen (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Peter Parker, Rogues Gallery (Batman), Bruce Wayne, Bruce Banner, Loki (Marvel), Jason Todd, Gotham City Additional Tags: Peter Parker Acts Like a Spider, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Mess, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, is it killing if you destroy their soul(figuratively), what about literally bats say yes, Soul Stone | Soul Gem (Marvel), peter took soul stone??, Hurt Peter Parker, we die like peter parkers father figures, will add more tags, BAMF Peter Parker, isnt peter living a dream via https://ift.tt/LGxtkmd

[otterandterrierwrites]

7 and/or 10 for the self-rec?

7. A fic that says "f*ck canon"

wonderful unknown - I mean the A/N literally starts with "Leia (and Han) got a really shitty deal in Disney canon, and I'm here to fix it." 😅 I promise I will finish it one day lol.

10. A fic that is a *hidden gem*

I can't keep saying Homecoming, can I? In that case, Whichever way I go, I come back to the place you are is a follow-up to a proposal fic, where Han and Leia tell their friends they're getting married, and it's very fluffy, and there are a lot of nice little details I included.

Thanks!

send me a number and I'll rec you one of my fics!

[rollerwavegallery]

Cable TV Memories (2021)

This is a staple of the Rollerwave genre, a fundamental building block. If Dan Frost’s “To Every Man” is the Eccojams of Rollerwave, then “Cable TV Memories,” lovingly crafted by enigmatic Milwaukee artist The Homecoming, is its Floral Shoppe- an album which defines the genre extremely well. If you’ve ever wondered what straight Rollerwave sounds like, this is it. 

These are the sounds of a world so distant it is barely recognizable as our own. In fact, all signs point to it not being our own. This is a parallel universe of disposable smooth jazz, the kind of music that without a good deal of reverb and other effects is instantly forgettable, yet within the hands of a master craftsman like The Homecoming becomes something more, a delightfully twisted mutation. This is postmodern elevator music, always with a sinister hint behind it, a paratext to decipher. Trumpets and acoustic guitar whisk the listener into a television-induced coma from which there is no recovery. 

The Homecoming has been compared, time and again, to The Caretaker, seeing as “Cable TV Memories” came out post-Everywhere At The End Of Time. I think this comparison is missing the point, though. While both albums are ambient, and both utilize the remixing of contemporary music to create otherworldly effects, I’ve found that The Homecoming’s usage of 1970s samples is particularly otherworldly, and what with the 1970s being more recent than the subject material of EATEOT, I think Cable TV Memories ironically creates a greater distance between the modern and the retrospective.

The commercials The Homecoming intersperses throughout the album, too, serve to create subtle hints of alienation. far from benign, these are strategically placed to give the listener a sense of growing dread and unease. A storm warning that demands the viewer continue normal activities despite the looming threat. An ad which, in a sublime coincidence, advertises a false impression of the 1950s as a flawless, halcyon utopia, in the same way modern genres like vaporwave advertise the 1980s. An ad which literally tells the listener that Chuck Mangione is going to make them feel good, reinforcing the idea that music is a paralyzing drug designed to distract us from the problems of the modern world, and that, whether we want to or not, we’re sinking deep into the couch cushions while the TV continues playing. 

The samples within the album are altered just enough such that they’re rendered dreamlike and surreal, though not enough to rob them of their lifeless corporatism. As the title of the album suggests, it deals narratively with the introduction of networks like HBO for the first time into regions like Chicago and New York- a historical event of the 1970s which would later give rise to the modern cable infrastructure we all use today. 

Despite its detached, ironic existence, the album creates a sense of relatability between the monotony of flipping through TV channels late at night and finding nothing good to watch and the more modern experience of mindlessly scrolling through your Instagram or Twitter feeds and finding nothing of real significance. All entertainment is the same, when you get right down to it, an anesthetic to dull the mind and remove pain, and music is no different. This is a painfully honest realization, and The Homecoming achieves what few other participants in the Rollerwave sphere have been able to achieve- a legitimate deconstruction of the 1970s as an era through the balance of sampling and effect. For that reason, I highly recommend this album, it’s an underrated gem and far, far more people should be aware of it. It will change you.

[hufflepuffhollander]

caught red handed: tom holland imagine

a/n | I had this idea literally falling asleep last night and had to write it down on a sticky note to remember to write about it today because I liked it so much hehe!!! I hope it delivers

summary: Tom comes back from filming to find you really *missing* him...

(link to absolute gem of a vid I reference here)

tom x fem reader | contains language, masturbation, third base things, v suggestive dialogue and a sprinkle of fluff! | word count: 670 | enjoy!

“Sweetheart, I gotta go, manager’s calling,” your boyfriend says, pouting into his front-facing camera.

“Are you sure?” you try to stall, hesitant to end your facetime call.

“Yeah, I’m sorry, babe...I promise we’ll talk tomorrow,” he says softly, blowing you a kiss. “I love you.”

“Love you too, Tom,” you sigh, and his face disappears from your screen.

You absolutely loved him, which came hand in hand with hating when he was away filming, but you had signed up for this life, so you had no room to complain. But you missed him so much it made your head hurt, and he had looked so cute in that black hoodie he was wearing tonight...now your whole body ached to feel him against you again. It had only been a month, and you still had three to go. 

Feeling creepy but needy, you pulled up that final fantasy bit he filmed on youtube where he was wearing that same hoodie, just so you could see him in it a little longer and hear his voice again. The video plays and starts focused on him doing those push ups, then those pull ups...

Fuck.

You felt a warmth rising from your stomach, and half-mindedly moved your hand down to your track shorts, rubbing yourself and willing your brain to imagine that it’s Tom’s hand and not your own. You listen to his breathy voice in the video, see his toned, muscular arms moving as he exercises, and start to steady a swift tempo, your other hand gripping your phone hard while the video plays. You close your eyes, seeing Tom on top of you, expertly making you feel good like he does. “Ah, Tom...” you whisper to nobody.

“Hell, I would’ve stayed on the line if I knew you were gonna get off to me like that, darling,” you hear that familiar damn accent say with a chuckle, your eyes going wide at the realization of another presence at your doorway.

“Oh my-- jesus, fuck, what the--Tom!?” you toss your phone across the bed and roll over onto your stomach, face turning violently red with embarrassment. You hear Tom continue to laugh as you groan. 

“What are you doing here? You were supposed to be in- oh what am I- oh hell.” you can’t even get your words out. You turn around to look at him and can’t help but be more excited to see him than mortified at what he just witnessed.

He runs over to you and grabs you tightly, flopping onto the bed on top of you, peppering your face with kisses, unable to contain his excitement or cheeky giggling.

“We had a week off so I decided to come home and surprise you,” he started. “And what a welcome home present.” he smirks at you and you blush furiously again. “Shut up, Holland,” you reach your head up to kiss him. “I’m glad you’re back.”

“And what kind of homecoming would it be if I didn’t let you finish?” he says, raising an eyebrow, laying off you a little and propping himself up on one side. You bite your lip in mutual understanding. He begins to graze his hand over your stomach, against your inner thighs, and his touch feels like hot coals blissfully searing your skin. 

He goes to continue where you left off, slipping his hand below your waistband, touching you in all the right spots. He slowly starts to slip his fingers inside you, curling them and releasing a breathy moan from deep within you.

“T-Tom...I missed you so much,” you say, and he shushes you by pressing his lips down heavy onto yours. Soon enough, he has you seeing stars, knowing just what to do to drive you over the edge, and you grab a handful of his hair as you come down from your high.

“Missed me, huh?” he buries his head into your neck, enjoying feeling your body relax into him, breathing becoming more steady again.

“You have no idea.” you smile, willing this next week to last forever.

[tomdutch]

i just read your black cat liz thing & it would work so well. i don’t think liz had a lasting interest in peter in homecoming but that’s literally felicia. peter was more interested in felicia than she was him. she (romantically) liked spider-man much more than peter. she tried to go out on dates with peter as well but they went nowhere, they could easily make liz black cat happen. she’d work so well as a villain or anti-hero in this case

idk much abt black cat in the comics unfortunately haven’t been able to read as much as i’d like, but since peter and liz had a very “teenage” relationship i can definitely see this dynamic apply to them too and then culminate in something more if it were to happen in a trilogy with hoco as the first film. i really enjoyed laura harrier’s performance in hollywood even tho the show itself is uh… yikes but it clearly showed her ability to switch from a popular sweetheart to a cunty bad bitch and it’s like…. marvel you had a gem and you missed the mark so bad

[letterboxd]

Obsession.

Ella Kemp dives into Letterboxd’s 100 highest-rated, obsessively rewatched films of 2020 to find out why we love them—and to give Hollywood a heads-up on what we want to rewatch again and again.

Take note, development execs: we want to watch more of everything that makes us feel alive; that makes us feel thankful to be. To bottle that feeling, and drink it up as often, and as obsessively, as we like. We also want: more singing, more dancing, more drugs, more talking animals, more of whatever Director Bong is serving—and make everything gayer.

We know this because, a few years back, the Letterboxd team asked one very simple question: what’s the highest-rated film of all time, when the criteria is that you must have seen it five or more times? Not the ‘guilty’ pleasures, not the ‘so-bad-it’s-good’ gems, but the already-excellent films that are also inherently rewatchable. The resulting top 100 from back then are all extremely, objectively good. What can we say—you have great taste.

Because 2020 is, well, 2020, we revisited this idea to see how four years and an endless quarantine might have changed things. The usual suspects have been rounded up (Christopher, Quentin, Ridley, Damien, David and company), but a lot has shifted in the Highest Rated Obsessively Rewatched Club for 2020.

The top ten in the 100 highest rated, obsessively rewatched films of 2020.

Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire is now top of the heap, where Spike Jonze’s Her was number one last time around. In fact, only Jaws and Carol remain from the last top ten. The Letterboxd community favors a wider world view: in 2017, the top 100 had only one film by a female director; in 2020 there are eight. The list has gone from exactly zero films entirely in languages other than English, to two (Portrait and Parasite), with several more containing a portion of non-English dialogue. Not quite leaping the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, but it’s progress. And, there is substantially more LGBTQ+ representation all round.

This year’s top 100 shows that we still like to return to the idea of the auteur, and the challenge of a franchise. In 2017, Christopher Nolan was the filmmaker with the highest number of highly rated, obsessively rewatched films; in 2020 Quentin Tarantino has taken the lead, just ahead of Nolan. Joining them in the multiple-titles group are Edgar Wright, Peter Jackson, Joe and Anthony Russo, epic-scale filmmakers from whom we’ve learned so much, and whose films have more to offer the viewer on every watch. (When ratings are not part of the equation, Avengers: Endgame���still with a respectable 3.9 average—was the Most Obsessively Rewatched title of 2019. “You give me someone flying, turning invisible, super speed… that’s where I live,” explains obsessive rewatcher Max Joseph this Letterboxd interview. “In Endgame, I get a little bit of every genre and mood.”)

Obsessed with obsession

What is “obsessive”? To put some kind of parameters around the search for this year’s top 100, our team looked for the feature films that had five or more rated watches from a minimum of 150 Letterboxd members each, then we sorted that list by the ratings of those members.

But that word—“obsessive”—got me thinking. Just how obsessive are we talking here? It’s reassuring to know that Parasite is, naturally, a film we enjoy returning to, but when we’re talking about rewatches plural, what happens when we sort these 100 highly rated titles by another value: the number of diary entries logged by these obsessive members. And what would that list say about our tendencies as watchers?

Spoiler: we also pulled those numbers, and found an entirely different top ten:

The most obsessively rewatched, highest-rated films of all time, as at 2020.

Look at that image. Compare it with the inarguable cinephilia of the ratings-based top ten, which soars on critical strength. What are we seeing here? That’s not the question. The real question is: what are we feeling? What do these ten films do to us so consistently, that helps them to retain high ratings across many, many, many rewatches?

You see, in the top 100, members typically log their favorites between five and seven times—but there’s a select handful of titles that see an average of up to 24 viewings per obsessive member. You read that right. There is a film on Letterboxd that multiple obsessive members have watched 24 times or more, at the time of writing.

Comedy that never gets old

The film in question is Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s What We Do in the Shadows, a genre-smart mockumentary about three vampire housemates just, well, pure vibing. It’s entirely in a league of its own, no doubt helped by a spin-off series, with the next entry, The Lonely Island’s Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping racking up an average of 17.7 rewatches per obsessive member.

These top two most obsessively rewatched titles make sense. When you’re feeling low, or when there’s some time to kill, what better place to turn than somewhere where the jokes never get old? As James writes on Letterboxd, Shadows “never fails to make me laugh”. Never fails. Taking a chance on a new comedy harbors its risks, so when you find the ones that work, you have to hold onto them like gold dust. It’s the sense of familiarity that comes from the same sharp, self-aware sketches, the endlessly quotable one-liners and screenshots that make memes feel like works of art.

(On that note, I asked the team: what were the highest-rated, obsessively rewatched comedy specials? No surprises: Bo Burnham’s masterful 2016 Netflix special Make Happy, and John Mulaney’s Kid Gorgeous at Radio City. Comedy is good when it catches you off guard—but in a pandemic, it’s even better when you can rely on it to deliver that same rush of endorphins, every time.)

Thank you for the music

Speaking of pick-me-ups, ever notice how much better you feel after karaoke? Or, when you know everyone else has gone out so you can let rip across every inch of the house with ultimate privacy? The cathartic thrill that comes from a sing-along is what keeps our obsessive members returning to musicals, increasingly. There’s comfort in memorized lyrics; the words we yell and hold dear.

You’ve got this in Popstar (‘Finest Girl’, anyone?) and, crucially, in a double-bill of jukebox musicals celebrating ABBA’s greatest hits: Mamma Mia! and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. With fifteen rewatches on average for the former, and almost seventeen for the latter, the sequel’s slight upper hand proves the film’s triumphant formula—there really is an endless supply of ABBA bangers—but also that the repurposing of the most pivotal tracks (‘Mamma Mia’ and ‘Waterloo’) will work even better the second time around, due to the familiarity, both of the songs and now their new-found purpose in this world.

The feeling of singing along with Lily James as Donna, as she dances around Paris with her young Harry, of latching onto Cher’s every breath as she reunites with the eponymous Fernando—these moments become part of our own memory, and the satisfaction that comes from performing them again and again never fades. It’s also why so many musicals are rewatchable staples. Singin’ in the Rain, Rocketman, Bohemian Rhapsody and Pitch Perfect all feature in the top 100.

Out of interest, I asked the team to lift the curtain on non-narrative music films to see which greats we return to. Again, zero surprise (to me, at least): Jonathan Demme’s transcendent Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense is, and has long been, the highest-rated, most obsessively rewatched concert documentary on Letterboxd. And it’s only been a few months, but the Disney+ filmed version of Hamilton is up there, along with Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé. #BEYHIVE, come in.

Maybe we should trust love

At the other end of the spectrum, two titles in the most obsessively rewatched top ten point to our tendencies to find catharsis in our most extreme, most vulnerable expressions of emotion. Our two revealing films here are Love, Simon and Interstellar—one a grounded and sensitive coming-of-age picture of a teenage boy’s coming out, the other an epic space-travel thriller. Still, both films understand that, ultimately, love transcends all.

These films make room for us to revisit these most searing feelings, of love hidden, lost, afraid or universal, they let us cry out what we relate to, and escape into whichever onscreen emotions we prefer to project ourselves into beyond our own lives, time and time again. Because however much changes, you know you’ll always crave and be rewarded by love. (And by the existential exploration that often accompanies these big feelings: Don Hertzfeldt's World of Tomorrow is the highest-rated, most obsessively rewatched short film with Letterboxd members.)

Ink spots and needle drops

The idea of projection—of escape beyond our own lives—comes back often when thinking of the rewatch. But certain titles reveal how we choose to find escape in a quite literal form; observe the love for Tangled, rewatched on average ten times per obsessive member.

And then there’s Shrek 2, revisited on average 7.9 times (more on this bizarre, outstanding oddity on its own soon). The leap of faith into an animated world is one that offers a blank canvas painted over with new colors: the pastel pinks and soft peach oranges of sunset skies in Tangled, the rich purples and blues of the twinkling lights of the afterlife in Coco, the playful blue waters of Moana, with the sun giving everything a new glow. Animation works as relaxation here, clearing the mind and coloring it calmly time and time again. Elsa said it first: you can, and should, let it all go.

It is entirely probable, of course, that no Letterboxd parent is logging the Frozens—or any other animated family film, for that matter—as often as their household is actually watching them, the truth of which would completely upend this data. We know the math underpinning this whole exercise is somewhat arbitrary, but it’s an interesting starting point from which to analyze why certain things just work, again and again.

Take the oddity that is Shrek 2, deserving of its own dissection purely because of how masterfully it combines so many of the previously established elements. This film and its predecessor create so many vivid images that fit into the category of animated escapism, but music plays a major part, also. ‘Accidentally In Love’ by Counting Crows as Shrek and Fiona blissfully enjoy their honeymoon period; ‘Funky Town’ by Lipps Inc. as Shrek, Fiona and Donkey roll into Far Far Away; Jennifer Saunders as Fairy Godmother, with her sublime cover of Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Holding Out For A Hero’. There are too many perfect needle-drop moments to count, and every time the rewatch comes around, they feel new.

Add to the comforting visuals and euphoric music the countless one-liners, perfectly performed by Eddie Murphy and Mike Myers, but really, here, Rupert Everett as Prince Charming—a squirm-inducing, note-perfect pantomimic performance. Shrek 2 might just be the defining example of what makes a good movie the best movie, and one that only grows greater with every rewatch. Lucky us.

Festive fever

The inclusion of A Christmas Story, the second-last in our most rewatched top ten, makes sense when considering the times in our lives when we turn to movies for comfort (and discomfort: note the Hallowe’en-related rewatchables in the top 100). A Christmas Story might not be your first festive choice, but you will have your own equivalent. The Muppet Christmas Carol also made the top 100, with Elf, Love, Actually and the Home Alone movies bubbling under. We recognize all the beats, and seeing as the holidays return each year, it’s natural that we return to the titles that make us feel most at home within them.

Like Carol. Darling Carol. The last of our top ten most most most rewatched. Flung out of space into our eyeballs by Todd Haynes as some sort of Christmas miracle, its rewatchability as much seasonal as it is about love, representation, vintage glamor and that final scene. Let’s see where Happiest Season sits this time next year, shall we?

And so, what can filmmakers and distributors learn from what we want to see, not just once, but again and again? In just four years the list of titles the Letterboxd community has chosen to revisit and protect has blossomed with an open heart and feverishly enthusiastic mind.

Looking over the top 100 highest-rated, obsessively rewatched films in 2020, we want more queer love: Portrait, Moonlight and Carol but also Booksmart, The Favourite, Call Me by Your Name. We definitely need more singing and dancing: Suspiria, La La Land, Singin’ in the Rain, Mamma Mia and beyond.

We want more adventure, more time travel, more mind-melters, more drinking, exploring, investigating, more talking animals, more drugs, more laughs, more tears, more goosebumps. We want more full-body feelings of falling in love with a movie you know you’ll hold onto with everything you’ve got.

In the end, numbers can only tell us so much, and these numbers are drawn from what we’ve already seen, which is what’s already managed to make it through the system. There’s as much to learn from how these films were made as there is from what they’re about. Because, no matter how many AI tools people dream up to help with the green-lighting process, moviemaking is fundamentally about magic. And when all the right ingredients make it into the cauldron, the spell can be so strong that a film will win our hearts forever.

Related content

The Highest-Rated Obsessively Rewatched Club for 2020

Follow Ella on Letterboxd

[hiluhree]

media that made life worth living in 2020

did you guys know that this year was...bad? the following literally gave me a reason to go on: 

BOOKS  To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini  so captivating that I was unable to read fiction for almost two months once I finished it. 

What it Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah  the best short story collection I’ve ever read. so original and lovely and sometimes genuinely frightening. 

MUSIC  Grouplove’s new album Healer  WAP (duh) by Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion  Say It by Flume feat. Tove Lo  Rules by Doja Cat 

MOVIES  The Devil All the Time on Netflix  a triumph, a revelation, a perfect movie. how is Tom Holland simultaneously a precious baby angel and absolutely capable of getting it. the greatest mystery of our time. 

Happiest Season on Hulu  not a perfect movie because the protagonist ended up with the wrong woman but so refreshing and wonderful to see a Christmas movie centering a lesbian couple. 

TV  Haute Dog on HBO Max  Lovecraft Country on HBO Max  Never Have I Ever on Netflix  Roswell, New Mexico from The CW  Dating Around, season 2 on Netflix  Central Park on Apple TV  Servant on Apple TV 

NEW TO ME  Las Culturistas podcast  Schitt’s Creek, especially Moira’s wardrobe and Stevie’s solo in Cabaret  Uncut Gems  Homecoming  The Good Place 

COMFORT, REVISITED  The Incredibles, both movies but the second more often  Into the Spider-Verse  New Girl  Bob’s Burgers  All Dogs Go to Heaven  Melancholia  The Iron Giant

[takenbyemrys]

Chapter 2/10

Main pairing: Peter Parker/Harley Keener

Chapter 1

Tony’s Monday morning was going a little differently. He understood Harley’s need for some independence, so he hadn’t sent a private jet. The kid had told him he’d be there around 9, and to ‘not leave him waiting in the lobby, old man.’ Yeah, okay, Tony was nervous. It’s not everyday that you introduce your two adopted sons that knew absolutely nothing about each other. He refused to admit to anybody but Pepper that he thought of them as his children, though. Pepper had given him a warm smile and corrected him. “Our children, you idiot.” Tony might have cried after that. A million different scenarios ran through his head. Harley was a bit rough around the edges and didn’t do well with other people, but god he hoped Peter’s literal ray of sunshine personality was enough. If it wasn’t he could only imagine the tension and arguments. He had kind of put all his eggs in this basket and couldn’t afford for them not to at least be civil. That’s really all he was shooting for, maybe over the summer they would be able to get along well enough to realize they could work together. So Tony might have shut himself in the lab all weekend to worry. It happens. When his phone buzzed on the table, he jumped sky high, not expecting it to be nearly nine already.

Harley Received 8:51am I think your ego presented itself in the lobby.

Harley Received 8:51am Like really gold inlay?

Harley Sent 8:52am Wait at the reception desk. I need to come down to approve your badge.

Tony was in the elevator a second later. Harley was leaning against the reception desk, arms crossed, a smirk on his face, and a duffel bag at his feet. Kelly, the receptionist was occasionally shooting him a smile, but Tony could see her glare pulling towards a large tour group in the lobby. He ignored it and continued. Kelly raised an eyebrow as Tony walked up to her desk. Tony could see her trying not to smile. Harley raised an eyebrow. “Wow you look like shit.” He smirked, his southern drawl falling smoothly. “Keep at it kid, I'll send you right back to Tennessee.” Tony grumbled. Harley rolled his eyes and sent Kelly a dashing smile, who was covering her laughter with a cough. “Good morning Mr.Stark.” She said sweetly. “Morning, Kelly. How’s the wife?” He asked politely. “Fabulous of course. I am a bit worried about how she’s going to do with that.” Kelly gestured to the tour group. “I can send someone?” Tony asked. Kelly shook her head. “Peter already agreed to help tomorrow.” Tony raised an eyebrow at that. “But anyway. I see we have a request for an alpha level badge printing.” Kelly sent Harley a smirk. “Another one I see.” “Another one, what?” Tony asked incredulously. Kelly just shook her head with a smile. “I knew PENIS Parker was lying about his stupid internship. Why else would he skip?” An obnoxious voice sounded from the large group. Tony froze. He watched as Kelly sent another glare toward the group. “Kelly.” He said slowly. “Mrs. Potts approved an overnight tour for a local STEM school.” Kelly said, keeping her voice even. “What school?” Tony asked, afraid he already knew the answer. “Midtown Tech.” Kelly pursed her lips. Tony’s blood ran cold. That motherfucker had called his kid what exactly. “That’s happened about four times now.” “Louder each time too,” Harley drawled. He gave off a carefree attitude, but Tony could see the underlying tension. Harley didn’t really take well to true assholes. Maybe this would be good for their relationship. “Right, Kelly please print the badge. Harley, we’re going to threaten children.” Tony smiled. Harley grinned and followed.

“I’m assuming this has something to do with the other intern you mentioned?” Harley asked. Tony nodded. When they reached the edge of the group, Tony could hear the voice of a teacher giving directions. He scanned the crowd, but didn’t find the source. He looked to the right and jumped out of his skin when his eyes met the indifferent glare of Michelle Jones. “MJ,” Tony greeted. The girl scared the crap out of him. She was a tiny angrier Pepper. She nodded and her gaze quickly found Harley. She smirked. “Another Murder!Child I see.” She snorted. Ned squeaked from his spot behind her. “I- excuse me a what?” Tony asked. Harley was smirking. “Murder. Child. The new one you ordered for Peter.” MJ enunciated. “MJ.” She jerked her chin toward Harley, who looked mildly scandalized. “Harley.” The boy drawled. At this point, they were getting the attention of the teenagers around them, but they didn’t notice. “And southern to boot.” MJ smirked again. “1. Hello Ned. Stop hiding. 2. I did not ‘order’ him for Peter, Jesus Christ. It’s long past time they should meet. 3. What in all hell is a murder child?” Tony gasped. This was not how this was supposed to be going. “Hello Mr.Stark,” Ned squeaked again and stepped out from behind MJ. “I think that by tomorrow, they’ll both agree otherwise.” MJ’s eyes dragged up and down Harley, who just raised an amused eyebrow. “And a murder child is anyone with an instant kill protocol.” MJ glared at Tony. Harley’s eyebrows shot up at that. “Peter doesn’t-” Tony sputtered. “You’re not the genius he thinks you are if you don’t believe he has one.” MJ rolled her eyes. “For the record, I don’t think i count as a ‘Murder Child,’ and I don't play well with other people.” Harley smirked again. God Tony wished he would stop doing that. MJ smirked right back. “Ever almost killed someone, hell ever actually killed someone?” Harley shrugged noncommittally. “Exactly. Murder Child with an accent?” “Don’t forget the evil smirk.” Ned stuttered. MJ nodded. “Welcome to the IronFamily. I have no doubt that the minute you set your eyes on either Peter you’ll be just smitten.” “How does fifty bucks sound?” Harley raised an eyebrow. “Wait either Peter?” Tony asked, eyes flicking between the three of them. “Yep.” MJ popped the ‘p’. “MurderChild!Peter and Soft!Peter. Either one. I won’t forget to collect.” Harley shot out his hand and they shook. Tony rubbed his temples. “Jesus christ what did I get myself into? Where the hell is he anyway? I can’t see him.” “Maybe it’s because you’re so short.” “Thin fucking ice Keener.” “He got permission from May to not come.” Ned stuttered out. MJ was smirking. She shared a knowing look with Ned. “What so he’s just home?” Tony asked. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “FRIDAY where the fuck is Peter?” “Language. MiniBoss is in Training Room 4.” Harley snorted, but he sent MJ a look when he heard ‘MiniBoss’. She just smirked at him. “Wait he’s in the fucking tower? When did he arrive? Why didn’t you notify me?” Tony started typing quickly. “Language. MiniBoss arrived at 3:14pm on Friday. You were notified when he met you in Lab 34.” FRIDAY sassed. “He hasn’t fu-reaking left since Friday. Jesus tell me he ate.” Tony groaned. “Smooth.” Harley said. Tony glared at him. “MiniBoss and TheBoss had breakfast and dinner together every day.” Friday confirmed. Tony’s jaw dropped. “Wow, IronDad really dropping the ball. What could your kids possibly be feeling right now?” MJ asked. “I am not dad!” Tony said incredulously. “Ms.Jones Mr.Leeds, i’m sure your conversation isn’t as important as…” The teacher called, but quickly trailed off when Tony turned to him. The class collectively gasped. “Hello Midtown.” Tony said. Harley snorted next to him. Tony sent him a glare. “Sorry to interrupt, I was looking for someone, who apparently isn’t here.” A tall kid pushed through the crowd. “Wait, were looking for Penis Parker?” The kid smirked, well it was like a weird grimace, but an attempt at a smirk. It was like he believed Tony would never fucking say yes. Tony’s eyes narrowed and he stepped forward so that he was right up in this kids face. “What the fuck did you just call my kid?” Tony growled. The kid paled instantly. He heard MJ snickering behind him. “I- I uh… Your kid?” Flash stuttered. “Peter Parker. My personal intern. One of the possible future heirs to my company. Like my own fucking son. You were talking about that Parker, correct?” Flash swallowed loudly. Behind him, Ned’s jaw dropped and even Harley’s eyebrows had shot up. MJ just looked amused. “I’m sorry.” Flash stumbled backward. Tony surveyed the rest of the crowd, noting the look of incredulity on their teachers face. He turned back to MJ. “No one believed the internship?” He raised a single eyebrow. MJ nodded, a smile twitching on her lips, before she cracked. “Not a dad, my ass. FRI save recording to IRONDAD Moments.” She guffawed. “Saved.” “FRIDAY where’s the kid again?” Tony sighed. “MiniBoss is in training room 4.” Friday answered. “For what?” Tony nose scrunched in confusion. “Family day.” FRIDAY said simply. Tony threw his head back and groaned. “So it’s a murder child kind of day.” MJ smirked at Harley, who was honestly so fucking confused. “FRIDAY, please record the meeting with Peter and send it to me.” “Of course, MiniPepper.” FRIDAY said. Tony whipped around to see MJ blushing. “Right, well, welcome to Stark Industries, be nice to your guide. She’s a gem. Don’t break anything.” Tony said to the teenagers. He saw a handful of teenagers nodding. He turned to walk away and found Ellen smirking at him. “Mr.Stark. The badge you requested.” Ellen handed a red badge to Harley. “I heard you adopted another one.” Tony sent a glare towards the reception desk. Kelly just waved. “Training room 4 is on our route today. Would you mind telling the fam? Just in case they want to evacuate.” Tony nodded. “Kid, get your bag.” Tony nodded to MJ and Ned and led the way to the elevator. “You need a badge to make Happy, well not happy, but less angry at me. FRIDAY took your bio scan so she will let you in any door. You have clearance for the whole building.” Tony grumbled as he walked into the elevator. “So Peter?” Harley asked. Tony rubbed a hand on his face. “Okay, only Pepper and Bruce, and now apparently a group of fucking teenagers know this, but Peter is being trained to be part of the team to take over SI should something happen to Pepper or myself.” Tony said very carefully. “A team?” Harley asked. “Why a team?” “Because Peter is also being trained to take over the Avengers.” Tony admitted. Harley’s jaw dropped. “Jesus, don't tell him any of this. Though I have no doubt, the scary one has already texted him.” Harley nodded. Tony kept sending him looks. Should he tell him that he’s part of the team? That they are the whole fucking team? Well MJ too honestly. She’ll definitely be their Pepper. Tony shook his head and decided against it. “Training room 4 FRI.” The elevator shot up.

[afterpinkdiamond]

Steven’s Birthday S2E23

AAAAND WE’RE BACK!

Just to put this episode back in context, in the last episode Garnet woke Steven up in the middle of the night to tell him HIMYM how Ruby and Sapphire first formed Garnet. Our boy’s got love on the brain. and it’s his birthday!

The episode starts with Steven and the Gems preparing the barn for Steven’s birthday party. Steven expresses his concern over delaying progress on the drill, but is reassured that Peridot will keep them on track. She gets a brief nonverbal cameo and walks off probably whispering “clods” under her breath.

Greg and Connie show up for the party and Connie is shocked to find out that her best friend is over a year older than her. Visually, it is kinda strange to think of Steven as a teenager. Greg pulls out a birthday specific scrapbook to demonstrate how Steven is a 14 year old trapped in an 8 year old’s body. We’ve seen before in “Too Many Birthdays” that Steven’s body ages depending on how young or old he feels. He’s one existential crisis away from accidentally killing himself with anxiety, good thing he’s such an optimistic kid. 

I also think it’s important to point out how the show is framing him as royalty on his birthday. Also, there’s always something pink on his birthday cakes. Also, baby-toddler Steven is sooooooo cute. I also get the feeling that Steven moved in with the gems shortly before Birthday 8, as that’s when he stagnated his growth. Also, Greg is literally out of the picture after that point.  

Connie is concerned and asks to speak with Greg privately, and she expresses concern that Steven will never age beyond 8. Greg reassures her that Steven is half human half gem so no one really knows what will happen. Gems don’t change but Humans change rapidly.  Steven eavesdrops on this conversation and starts losing his confidence in his friendship with Connie. 

Steven and the Gems finish decorating, with Amethyst hanging a long banner by shapeshifting her arms and legs very long. Steven takes note and when Greg tells him to wait in the barn for his party to start, Steven decides to grow up artificially. Everyone is shocked at taller/deep voiced Steven. He explains it as a magical growth spurt and the party continues. After cake, Connie give him a pink shirt, which doesn’t fit properly to her dismay. Steven has trouble staying stretched after a few hours but keeps it up before he’s found out. 

Later in the evening they gems have a dance party in the barn and it’s filled with great little moments like: 

Garnet and Greg looking at a “Stella” album, based off an Estelle album cover,

Pearl and Amethyst dancing like goofballs, and Connie and Steven dancing together. Connie decides to take the moment to talk about how funny it is that she has to look up to Steven and while I won’t call it sexual tension, it's awkwardly cute how couple-at-homecoming they’re acting. Steven excuses himself and runs off behind the barn to get a break from shapeshifting. He unwittingly reveals his plan to Amethyst and Greg who are both intensely worried that Steven is hurting himself for the sake of appearances. Steven storms back to the party, insisting he’s fine.

Later, Steven and Connie are talking while trying to make up new constellations. Steven is very distracted and visibly uncomfortable. Connie is concerned about him but he promises he’s fine. She comments that she’s glad they get to grow up together and Steven loses it. He melts back into a newborn infant. The pressure of trying to act grown up has caused him to regress entirely. 

But oh my gosh Baby Steven!

Look at this cute little face 💙

Connie brings him back to Greg and the Gems. Amethyst chides Steven for not listening to her earlier and Garnet tries to play games with him to calm him down. Greg steps in, as the one who took care of Steven as a baby, and decides to take him for a car ride like he used to before. Yet driving around fails to calm Steven down. He doesn’t stop crying until after Connie explains that she doesn’t care how old Steven appears to be and that she’s willing to act like a parental figure/baby sitter to spend time with him. This reassurance is what calms Steven down. It also makes it clear that his anxieties this time around are focused solely on Connie not treating him like an alien, even though he partially is. How many stories about aliens include identity crises based on the aliens not wanting to be considered alien?

Someone thought it was a good idea to let baby Steven sleep in a tent alone with Connie, and she wakes up the next morning to Steven’s iconic shirt laying empty on the ground. Connie, to her credit, assumes Steven has reverted to a zygote and runs outside to find him wearing the shirt she gifted him and back to his normal size. She reassures him that she likes being friends with him because of who he is and not what he looks or sounds like, and in the process discovers his first facial hair growth. I’m gonna be honest I never have understood why boys think growing hairs is such a huge milestone, but congratulations nonetheless. Everyone celebrates with Steven as the episode comes to an end.

If you don’t know what you’re looking for, this episode doesn’t have much in the way of foreshadowing, other than Steven’s behavior in trying to fool his family with shapeshifting. It’s interesting to note that when Steven elongates himself, his gem is now showing, and the combo of his iconic shirt and Connie’s gift shirt frame his gem similarly to Pink Diamond’s gem. It becomes clear that one afternoon of holding a different shape than normal is very taxing and difficult on Steven, and one has to wonder how often Pink had to revert during the rebellion before ASPR. We’ve seen hints that she had secret places on Earth that other gems (aside from Pearl) knew nothing about. Before regenerating into the form of Rose Quartz, did Pink hide herself to take breaks from maintaining Rose’s form? Maybe this is why Lion recognizes Steven despite his radically different appearance from Rose.  I also find it very interesting how this episode frames itself as a Connverse episode, exploring Steven and Connie’s relationship in the context of Steven questioning their dynamic. Many moments after Steven shapeshifts and before baby Steven seem overly romantically affectionate from Connie’s standpoint, like now that she can see Steven as an older boy, something clicks and she is like.. all over him. It's kind of unsettling, and it clearly adds to Steven’s discomfort. Of course, it’s obvious that Connie cares about Steven; he is her first and best friend. She probably doesn’t see how her voicing her relief that maybe he’ll turn out normal like her is so damaging for Steven. It's kind of a parallel to Rose telling Greg “I’m not a person” in “We Need to Talk”. Steven isn’t so blunt, so instead his anxiety turns him into a baby. The story is well crafted to give Connie the chance to realize that Steven is still her friend, no matter what weird changes he goes through. It helps build their relationship, and once Connie can reaffirm that she’s there for Steven no matter what, he’s able to return to normal and even make progress towards maturity- if only a small facial hair.

[rheyareads]

I’ve been thinking a lot about relationships lately.

Losing someone so special to me has left this void of space in my soul and I spend a lot of time wondering if she knew just how much I loved and admired her. The more that I think about things, the more I realize that I have spent my life trying to become a person she would be proud of. I looked up to her so much more than I think I was even aware of myself, and I wanted to be someone kind and inherently as good as she was herself.

Now that she’s gone, I just think of all the things I’ll never get to tell her and that has me thinking of the other relationships in my life. So often we leave feelings unsaid and assume people know how we feel about them, so I’ve been trying to be better about saying how I feel in the moment and using the time I have to make sure people know that I care and admire them.

Reflecting on that, I come back to relationships in my life and the way that they have shaped me. Ultimately, our time here on earth is meant for relationship building and we are inherently shaped by everyone we encounter. Some harden our hearts, some brighten our minds, some enliven our souls, and some can even leave us damaged. It’s a scary idea because it’s something we can’t control beyond a certain extent – we can walk away from toxic relationships, but we also open ourselves up in this vulnerable position whenever we let someone new into our lives.

In thinking on that, I wanted this blog post to be about some of my most significant friendships that have shaped me. It’s hard to find an appropriate time or place to really tell people how you feel so I thought this would be a good space to do that. I think it’s important for me to be authentic when I’m feeling depressed, but it’s just as important to be authentic when I’m not. In moments where I’m thinking rationally, I want people to understand that I’m capable of understanding the depth of love and connection I have in this world. The problem is that depression confuses all of that and sometimes makes it impossible to sink in when you’re feeling hopeless and alone.

I’m going to group these into categories and then freely discuss. Full disclosure – when feelings are involved, I’m a lengthy narrator so this could get long.

  Your Work Friends Sometimes I think your work friends are actually your closest friends. These are the people who see you every single day. They go through the same daily grind as you and share a common struggle. What’s great about work friends is that they’re not people you would always seek out to form a connection with, so you get benefits from them that you don’t get with those who share similar interests with you. These people can be from totally different backgrounds or age ranges and offer so many differing perspectives that spice up the everyday mundane drone of the work week. They’re the only reason you even get through work, half the time. They’re the reason leaving even the crappiest of jobs can sometimes be heartbreaking. They’re the friends who save your every-day monotony and give you reasons to laugh throughout the week.

NYC with Katiuzca

Homecoming King Ben

If you look closely you can see “Kayla Sucks” on this cup

I love work friends. Work friends sometimes become some of the best friends in my life and I always appreciate the laughter they bring to my life. I have had A LOT OF JOBS in my lifetime and even though some of them weren’t the most exciting or glamorous jobs in the world, I was always happy at work because I had them there to laugh with or complain to. These are my work-week heroes who listen to crazy stories, celebrate birthdays and milestones, cover you when you’re sick or experiencing tragedies and are there for you when they really don’t have to be at all.

I don’t think work friends get enough credit on the friend spectrum but they’re some of the greatest people in the world and they are incredibly influential on your life. I’ve had some amazing work friends that I’m really happy became regular life friends as well because I can’t imagine my life without them. Some of my best stories, best laughs, and best memories come from my relationships with people at work.

These friendships have really shaped my work ethic. They help me to be a better driven person professionally by pushing me through the tough spots but they also have helped me to have a better understanding of relationships in general by exposing me to people I wouldn’t normally pursue a connection with.

Pure Friend I think everyone in life has a friend who is literally so pure they are just the most precious gem in your friend treasure trove. If you don’t have one, then I hope and pray you find yours soon! I don’t mean pure in the sense that they are reserved or sheltered from the world in a white coat never swearing or uttering a bad thing – I mean pure as in just honestly the best. Fucking. Person. Period. Like, you don’t have a bad thing to say about them because they are just who they are and who they are is dope as hell and you are so thankful they stumbled into your life. You might not be super close with this person, but you never have a bad time with them and you’re always happy to see them when you do.

  For me, this is my friend Joe. I have a lot of negative feelings towards my time at Brockport and the way my career ended there, but I would do it all over again if I had to pick between that and never meeting Joe. He is the friend that can keep up with your crazy, understands your confusing thoughts, laughs at EVERY JOKE before you even say, and just straight up genuinely makes the world a better place. He also bakes, which is the best, because you reap the benefits of his hobbies in the form of treats. The granola to my Sponge, the struggle to my bus, the ying to my yang – this is a friendship that I treasure and brings me nothing but utter happiness. Joe and I could talk about serious issues in the political climate and seamlessly (maybe not seamlessly but very confusingly, over the course of six unrelated stories) transition into a conversation about the meaning behind a dream about a fish tank and not skip a beat. I just always felt understood with him and there was never any hiding who I was or fear of judgment – just laughter and food and drinks and procrastination and all the pranks.

  This friendship shaped my ability to believe there is good in this world despite all the messed-up shit you see every day. Things don’t have to be dramatic or complicated – they can just be good.

Side note – bonus points if this friend comes with the cutest puppy in the world who becomes your self-appointed God-Child/Nephew.

    The Unexpected Friend This is the friend you didn’t expect to become an important part of your life. I think this friend is special in a way that the others aren’t able to be, because this isn’t a friendship that really “should have happened’ in whatever way that works out for you. You meet a lot of people and it’s obvious some are just meant to be in your life, but then there are those who you meet in certain categories and you never expect to walk away one day having them be someone you care so deeply about.

My friend Sarah falls into this category. Aside from the fact that I actually thought she despised me the day we met; she was never someone I would have thought I’d still be spending time with on a regular basis with years later. In our case, she’s younger than I am, and I was her boss, but it was early on when I realized we shared the same old soul. What I appreciate most about our friendship is the fact that there’s still a mentor/mentee vibe that lingers underneath where I’m able to be someone to offer insight into situations I’ve experienced because I’m a little older. It’s nice to have someone who trusts you as that kind of person and it’s nice to be needed in that way.

This friendship helped me understand that relationships don’t have to make sense all the time. I don’t know why someone who’s 6 years younger than me wants to hang out with me and my friends – but does there really need to be a reason?

Your Soulmate Soulmate is a complicated word and I think people define this differently. For me, this is the friend that was meant to be yours and completes you in a way other people can’t. This is someone who lifts you up, inspires you and makes you want to be a better person because their light brings out your best light.

My little is my soulmate and will always be my most precious jewel. It was evident in our first conversation with each other that we were meant to be together. I have never been so inspired by a person’s soul as I have by hers. She is kind, determined, unbelievably talented, and the most genuinely good person I have met. She is my little sister, but she is also the person I look up to. The person who makes me want to be better, to do better, to strive for better than I have. I look at her accomplishments and I am so proud of the woman she is.

We may not live together anymore, and we may not get our daily naps or cuddle sessions, but she is a person I know will always hold a special place in my heart above the rest. The fact that she married one of my high school friends (more to come) just brings out my hopeless romantic who believes in true love and fairytales and rainbows and everything that books and movies say can be true.

This friendship healed my heart. My little knew me during one of the worst times of my life, when I was an actual train wreck and she loved me through it all. She believed in me when I couldn’t believe in myself and gave me hope. She healed the hurt I had from friends who taught me that friendship came with conditions by loving me without any.

    Your Second Family This is the family who adopts you as one of their own. These relationships are precious because they extend beyond the friend that brought you in – you share dinners, and holidays, and celebrations, and late-night talks, vacations and kitchen hangouts together. They roast you in the family group chat, or ask you to dinner on a week night. These are the people who will sit and talk with you for hours in a kitchen in your pajamas or make fun of you for snoring in your sleep. They’re your family and you’re a part of theirs and it’s a really special thing.

  Admittedly, I’ve always been that friend who likes to talk to people’s parents. I’m not sure why, I just always gravitate towards adults (I say that as a 29 year old like I’m not an adult myself). But when Danielle and I became close, it was a package deal with her family. I remember being utterly terrified of her dad the first day he met and accused me of trying to steal his guns (hahahaha) but from that day forward I was just part of the family.

These relationships are special to me because I have a lot of baggage when it comes to family. My family has had a lot of ups and downs and I’ve endured some crappy things (and some awesome things too, don’t get me wrong) and the Freeman Forest was this home away from home safe-haven for me. To know you have people who love you, when they don’t have to, is such a special thing and it heals a lot of the damage you may have picked up over the years. Group chats, and bus trips, outdoor adventures (and disasters), dinners and just hanging out in the kitchen are things you probably do with your friends all the time. These things were ordinary, but they were my favorite things to do for so long because of the people I was doing them with.

This family means so much to me in so many ways. You don’t have to like your kids friends or your siblings friends – that’s why we all go out and get friends because we’re all different – so when your friends with someone and their family chooses to care about you and include you in their lives as well, it’s a really powerful and beautiful thing. I’m really lucky to have a group of people who took care of me like I was one of their own.

The Family Friends These are the family members in your life who are more than that. They’re your best friends and bridge the gap between two parts of your world. Cousins, sisters, aunts – these are people you were born into a relationship with but choose to deepen that connection outside of just family functions.

     I’m really lucky to have two cousins who have been more like friends to me my whole life. Allie and Jenny have both brought me so many moments of laughter and have been the sanity I needed to get through crazy family parties, funerals, celebrations and everything in between. I would actually be lost without both of them and I’m grateful that we get to spend more time together because we choose to be more than just family by being friends as well.

Your High School Friends These are probably some of your most complicated and yet simple relationships. That sounds contradictory but hear me out. These are the friends who’ve known you so long they have seen you through practically everything. They were there for the bad fashion decisions of your past, they were there through your awkward stages, your firsts of practically everything and you’ve grown up together. That much time complicates a lot of things – relationships have highs and lows, people grow apart, move far away or change and there’s a lot of room for negativity to creep in if you’re not careful. It’s hard to maintain these friendships but you do it anyway. The simplicity of it all is that no matter the time or distance, these are the people make you feel at home.

For me, its likely surprising to no one that these friends are “the boys” as I often refer to them. Looking back on our younger days, it’s sometimes really, really….REALLY hard to see why I even called them friends in high school but I promise you the deeper impact of our friendship makes the teasing and nicknames worth it. When I think about people who’ve shaped my life, these guys have a significant place in my emotional DNA.

It’s hard to change your identity when you’ve known someone since you were a kid. Sometimes I think the friendship I have with these guys clouds my ability to see myself as anything other than the annoying girl they made fun of in high-school because that’s how I’m used to defining myself. It’s hard to grow and become something better when you have a lot of people in your life who have seen you through that growth period and treated you a certain way. They have broken my heart in more ways than I can count, but they’ve also seen me at my absolute lowest points and stuck by me despite everything. When you grow up with people, you have to accept that you’ve probably hurt each other at certain points through that growth and that’s why I love them despite some of the not-so-picturesque parts of our past. As with all groups, there are some I have stayed closer to than others, but I can’t tell you how much joy these idiots bring to my heart when we’re all together. Seeing them grow up and accomplish things, get married and thinking of them starting families literally overwhelms my heart.

For me, these are the people who influenced how I viewed love and shaped me into the hopeless romantic who wants to believe that everything can have a happy ending. Most people don’t get to have friends from elementary school and still talk by the time they get married, but I do. That idea of perfection has been toxic for me at times, but it also brings joy to my heart and reminds of the good in this world.

  Your College Friends These are the friends who will never judge you because they have gone through the weirdest shit with you. (They’re actually probably judging you hardcore, but in a loving way because they’ve been there too.) These are the friends who were there for the transition years – the years where you weren’t quite an adult yet so you could afford to make horrible decisions and spend the next morning huddled together on a bed laughing and wondering how you were still alive. These are special friendships because it’s likely that they’ve seen you through horrible times that deepened your connection, but they also were there to have the best fucking time with you when you needed it.

For me, these are my sorority sisters and fraternity brothers. When you’re in college, everything is this heightened, dramatic experience but when you leave you realize just how lucky you are to have lived with 9 people and have room sleepovers, spontaneous parties, nights in playing just-dance, endless movie marathons on break and every party in between where someone did something insane. When I look back, I just remember all the laughter and fun (and some of the drama) and I’m so lucky to find people I know I can count on for my whole life.

People judge this era of my life – and for good reason, I was a disaster in college – but my sisters were there for me at my brother’s funeral to support me when he died even though we had only known each other a few months at that time. My roommate held me the night he died and let me cry until I fell asleep. I drove to be with her when her mom died. I’ve celebrated, and cried, and everything in between with these girls and they’ve never missed a beat if I needed someone to lift me up. My last blog post was intense and the first 10 people to comment on it and offer encouragement, love and support were these women who haven’t seen or talked to me in months/years.

I look back on this time in my life and it brings so much laughter to my soul. From parties, to fundraising for Push for America, to standards board, to life in a disgusting house filled with the best and worst people to live with (depending on whether or not you wanted to work the next day or eat your own frozen food items) these are friends I’m so thankful to have. These are the friends who shaped me through the most difficult time of my life. They are the ones who let me re-define myself, for better or worse, and still show up to support the woman I am today.

                     Your Tribe When you think about friends, these are THE friends. The friends who are literally your ride or die. They are probably the most judgmental of all your friends, but they do it from a place of love. They’re the people that just get you – no frills, no expectations – they accept and love you for your total person, even when that person is a disgusting pig or pain in the ass.

Everyone has a tribe and I’m thankful that my friendship with my cousin led me to finding mine. These are people I never would have thought I’d find, let alone would want me and my non-stop singing, harry potter loving, annoying ass self, around. These are the friends I can hang out with in my sweatpants all day, every day, but will also tell me when it’s been long enough in the sweat pants and I should probably start trying a little harder. They will tell me I’m beautiful and genuinely mean it just as genuinely as they will tell me I’m a troll who needs to brush my hair.

These people become family in a way that family never could. They’re the family you chose because your souls matched up in some way, not because you were born into it, and that relationship is special. There are too many of them to name individually, but they are invaluable in my life and something I wouldn’t trade for all the American dollars in the world.

These friends have helped me realize not take things so seriously all the time. School and work are great, but life is about being ridiculous in a restaurant at 2am as much as it’s about getting a degree or a good job. Friends should support and lift you up, but they should also tease you and help you realize you’re being a diva too. They bring the balance to your life and that’s why they’re the ones who stay with you throughout the whole rollercoaster ride.

  Have you fallen asleep yet? Are you still here? I told you this would be long. But I went to a Gender Reveal Party and I’m feeling sentimental and I thought it would be good to let out some positivity rather than always focusing on my self-deprecating thoughts of loneliness. If you take anything away from this, I hope that you become more honest with the people around you and let them know how much you care, now. I think people would be a lot happier if they had any idea how much they mean to others around them and brightening someone’s day always feels great. I hope this brightens some of yours!

  Let Me Tell Ya Bought My Best Friends I’ve been thinking a lot about relationships lately. Losing someone so special to me has left this void of space in my soul and I spend a lot of time wondering if she knew just how much I loved and admired her.

[fromdirectorlanawachowski]

Honest and Unmerciful Infinity War Thoughts

TL;DR: it was absurdly bad and marvel should be ashamed of putting this out.

I’m going to preface this by saying I freely admit I’ve had no love for the MCU ever since Iron Man 3. Their casting leaves a lot to be desired, their writing leaves a lot to be desired, their directors choices leaves a lot to be desired. Their story elements are picked up and cast aside almost immediately, like a four year old trying to play with all his Hot Wheels at once.

That said, after Homecoming, Ragnarok, and Black Panther, I felt like the series was on its way back to, if not greatness, then certainly a point where I could enjoy it again, rather than see the glaring holes where a better story could have been told by better hands.

And then Infinity War happened.

Right away the opening was a shambles. Completely renders the hope spot ending of Ragnarok moot by killing off the Asgardians, save Thor. A casual reference is made later to “Thanos killed half my people and my brother”, but unless he took prisoners, I don’t think you can survive your space ship being blown up.

Also Heimdall went out like a bitch. We’ve known for years now that they had no idea what to do with the guy who could see everything, but pinning him down so he can be stabbed five minutes in was callous.

Loki’s death was a long time coming. I enjoyed that. I’m grateful.

The Children of Thanos mumble half their lines, but they also exposit half the plot, which is an unfortunate combination. They’re also the pinnacle of locking out the casual moviegoer. If you don’t know who these people are from the comics, you won’t be told. You’ll spend two and a half hours wondering where these people came from and why we haven’t seen them sooner

Thanos ends the opening two gems up, so tension is immediately drained from the rest of the movie. We know every fight is going to be a curb stomp battle with him winning.

Another element from Ragnarok cast aside: Hulk is able to apparently turn back into Bruce, which he does immediately after falling into the Sanctum.

Wong was the best character and he was in it for five minutes (everyone else was in it for five minutes too, but his were the most memorable). I was still laughing at “I have 200 rupees so…. A buck fifty” on the car ride home.

As is par for the course with Marvel lately, no reference is made to any local heroes who might be able to help. Marvel pumps millions into its Netflix shows only to pretend they don’t exist. If I was working on them, to say I’d be insulted is an understatement.

Tony’s new nanotech suit looks like it’s made of cheap plastic, like it was a replica Iron Man suit you’d see at your local comic con.

They knew no one would see Dr. Strange, so they spent a good amount of time forcing the fact that Strange had the Time Stone into your head.

Thanos’ goons escape with Strange’s unconscious body on their flying Ringolo, with Tony in hot pursuit and Peter stuck to the side. (Peter’s sole purpose in this movie, by the way, is to parrot pop culture references because the writers can’t write women or teenagers.)

Wanda and Vision (don’t even get me started on that relationship) are hiding out in Scotland, having crazy romance and giving the audience mood whiplash since we just saw New York under fire. After they get beaten up by another pair of Thanos’ goons (or possibly the same pair, none of them are especially distinct), Steve, Nat, and Sam swoop in and rescue them, jetting off for “home”.

Which is the Avengers facility in New York, where Rhodey’s only real purpose in this movie is to remind everyone about the Accords so that Steve can march in and tell Ross the Accords don’t matter, they’ll do what’s right when the going gets tough. If he’d had the balls to do that in Civil War, we wouldn’t have had the infamous Tesco Parking Lot Fight.

The Guardians pick up Thor and we get five minutes of jokes about Rocket that got old in the first GoTG movie, and jokes about Thor that got old in the first Avengers movie.

Back on the Ringolo, Peter makes another pop culture reference and they blast the dead elf looking goon out into space and get control of the ship. They’re bound for Titan. Is it a new planet? Is it Saturn’s moon? Who knows? The plot sure doesn’t.

Gamora’s tragic backstory is expanded on incredibly briefly. I don’t think Mrs Gamora’s mom ever told her not to talk to giant purple strangers committing mass murder.

Gamora makes Quill promise to kill her, in a bit of foreshadowing shaped not unlike a brick to the face. Drax does Drax things. Much as I love him, using Drax to defuse a tense scene between Quill and Gamora is old now. Please find another use for him.

Through the Reality Stone and Benicio Del Toro in a bad wig, Thanos captures Gamora and surprise! Quill couldn’t kill her.

Was this torture scene with Nebula really necessary? Or did someone at Marvel go “I don’t think they know how much we hate women, lets have Thanos torture Nebula and then reveal to Gamora that he knew the truth all along”?

Thor, Groot, and Rocket’s adventure to Nidavellir would have been better if they didn’t give the great Peter Dinklage and Thor the ungodly exchange of

“You can’t take the full blast of the star, you’ll be killed!” “You mean I might die!?” “.....yes, that’s what ‘you’ll be killed’ means.”

Also Red Skull is here, but he’s not played by Hugo Weaving and whoever they hired to replace him can’t do an accent, so the end result is less “Oh hey it’s that guy!” and more “Is this a new person?”

Gamora’s death was cruel and unnecessary and had been telegraphed from the moment we got her tragic backstory.

The Guardians, Tony, Strange, and Peter meet up on Titan (again, Saturn’s moon or what? Who knows.). Because no one is capable of talking to each other in this movie, they fight until Quill, Tony, and Peter realize they’re all human.

Quill isn’t from Earth, he’s from Missouri, because he’s an idiot now.

Thanos appears and it’s motivation time. After ten years, surely we have something great lined up. Is it Mistress Death? Is it to unite the universe under his control? A little good old fashioned megalomania? No it’s…. Overpopulation. He wants to save the universe… from overpopulation. I will henceforth be referring to him as Evil Al Gore.

The combined Guardvengers have Evil Al Gore subdued and the gauntlet is off. I REPEAT, the gauntlet is OFF. Then Nebula realizes Gamora is dead and Quill loses it, distracting Mantis from keeping him subdued and letting him get the gauntlet back on.

The battle, nay, the WAR, was literally won until they injected a little Man Pain into the script.

Strange decides to surrender because the script told him to, and surrenders the Time Stone just like that.

In Wakanda, Shuri (god bless her) is going to try and get the stone out of Vision without killing Vision while the rest of the Stevevengers plus Bucky, T’Challa, and the Wakandans try and hold off Evil Al Gore’s goons and their army of… alien attack dogs?

Shuri, after two lines in the movie, dives off screen literally never to be seen again. A tragic waste of the best character they’ve given us in at least five years.

Wanda agrees to destroy the stone in Vision’s head, and even succeeds, until Evil Al Gore, rewinds time and reassembles it. Voila, he has all six stones, like we knew would happen two minutes into the movie.

Thor beats him up but neglected to go for anywhere that might actually stop him, so Evil Al Gore clicks his fingers and vanishes and people start to disintegrate.

They try for a little tugging at the heartstrings with Peter vanishing, but all he’s done all movie is spout pop culture at me in a borderline insulting parody of teenagers, so I’m a little glad to see him go.

Evil Al Gore retires to his retirement planet to watch the sun set, but not before a vision of baby Gamore asks him what it cost. “Everything”, apparently.

Points of note:

The movie is so overstuffed with characters that everyone is barely in it. Characters literally trip over each other for screentime and lines.

There are seldom more than five main characters in a scene at once

Thanos is so overpowered right from the start that no fight scene involving him is tense at all.

What the fuck was that villain motivation

The plot has no cohesion. Things happen because the plot mandates them, not because they make sense.

The effects are good if it’s cg elements interacting with cg elements. Once a live actor or prop is introduced, it falls apart. It’s painfully clear the budget went to the cast. Just look at Bruce in the Hulkbuster at the end

The fact Marvel has no central story team is glaringly obvious.

Nobody in this movie is in character.

Overall? 2/10. Marvel really thought that was an acceptable movie to put out after ten years.

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

The soul weber

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/LGxtkmd by merky1333 peter parker managed to get the soul stone and the souls he lost the stone and now he is stuck in jersey.He cant turn back he needs to get them home . home isn't Gotham despite the fact that his luck strangely got better . Words: 2068, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Batman - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Batfamily Members (DCU), Karen (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Peter Parker, Rogues Gallery (Batman), Bruce Wayne, Bruce Banner, Loki (Marvel), Jason Todd, Gotham City Additional Tags: Peter Parker Acts Like a Spider, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Mess, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, is it killing if you destroy their soul(figuratively), what about literally bats say yes, Soul Stone | Soul Gem (Marvel), peter took soul stone??, Hurt Peter Parker, we die like peter parkers father figures, will add more tags, BAMF Peter Parker, isnt peter living a dream read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/LGxtkmd

[askmerriauthor]

Hey, I got to see Avengers: Infinity War on company time ‘cause my job was nice enough to buy the staff tickets.  This movie has given me... feelings.  Major spoilers ahead, so hit the jump below to read my thoughts on the matter.

Man, what a boring disappointment of a movie.

I’ve really been digging the last handful of Marvel films for their overall quality, especially where the characterization and banter are concerned.  Both Captain America movies?  Dug ‘em.  All the Thor movies?  Man, I could watch Hemsworth doing prat-falls getting hit by cars all day long and never tire of it.  First Guardians of the Galaxy was great, though number two had missteps.  Ant-Man was a fucking delight from start to finish.  Spider-Man: Homecoming was pitch perfect.  Black Panther has the best villain of the entire MCU thus far.  On the other hand, the Avengers movies were a bit clunky by comparison but were overall enjoyable with some great character moments.  They served to temper expectations about what big group-event films in the MCU are like.  So my gripes on Infinity War is not out of some kind of beef with Marvel/Disney, nor is it out of overblown hype.

With that in mind, Infinity War was incredibly dull as a film.  The bulk of the movie is divided into fight scene after fight scene (to the point that they actually cut away from one massive fight to peek in on another concurrent massive fight), introducing characters to one another (generally via fight scene), or Thanos getting “character building scenes” (immediately before or directly in the middle of a fight scene).

One thing I love most about the Marvel movies is the character interaction.  It’s why these cinematic versions are so beloved by the fandom, why there’s so much creativity spawned around them - they have chemistry and interesting relationships with each other.  A:IW has precious little of that at all.  The lion’s share of character interaction goes to Vision/Wanda and Thanos/The Scenery, and not in a good way.  Each of these two relationship elements are only present to build up a false sense of drama that falls flat in the end.  Though there is one particular scene between Rocket Racoon and Thor (yeah, who saw that one coming?) where the two have a heartfelt conversation that Hemsworth just knocks out of the park.  That moment of Thor recounting just how much he’s lost and it being clear how much agony it’s causing him behind a cocky grin is the kind of characterization I adore in these movies.  Vision and Wanda being melodramatic about a plot point that is clearly never going to go anywhere in the film is not appealing at all.  Their entire story thread from start to finish across the film is Vision wanting Wanda to destroy the Mind Gem (and thus kill him) to prevent Thanos from getting it, and the emotional roller coaster that entails since the two are now in love.  Except that entire concept is a total non-starter, doesn’t go anywhere, and ultimately amounts to nothing at all.  It’s just a waste of time that eats up writing and screen time that could have been put to better use elsewhere.

Onto the villain: I could not give two flying flips about Thanos.  I will fully admit that a part of this is that I personally loathe the cliche “nature is out of balance, I must purge life to restore it” villain trope.  That does play a big part in my dislike here.  But setting that aside, he’s just a terribly dull character with feeble motivations and justifications for his actions.  There’s a major dissonance between what he does and how it’s presented to the audience.  While the movie does give a one-line bit of lip service to him being insane and misguided, it’s never fully addressed as a defining aspect of his character throughout the movie.  The comics put a major emphasis on the fact that Thanos, for all his scheming and intelligence, is coo-coo bananas.  He’s called the “Mad Titan” for a reason.  The movie fails to put a light on that fact and it makes Thanos feel like a flat character since all we really get is him just blankly marching toward his end goal the entire film.  He has no arc or development and is wholly unsympathetic no matter how many times the movie takes us aside with him in solitary, artsy moments and yells “LOOK AT ALL THIS PATHOS” in our faces.

Thanos’ entire villain scheme is that he wants to destroy 50% of all intelligent life forms in existence in order to bring a balance to the universe.  He directly states that the universe’ resources are finite and that life allowed to grow unchecked will snuff itself out by over-consuming these precious few resources.  So his solution - which he has been practicing on a planet-to-planet basis for decades by the point the movie takes place - is to divide a world’s population in half.  50% is murdered on the spot while the other 50% lives, purely based on whoever happens to be standing on the left or right.  It is explicitly described by Thanos as being totally random who lives and who dies so as to be “fair”.  His win-scenario is that the species of whatever world he 50% Genocides thrives in the wake of the purge because they now have a more controllable population size - nothing else beyond that.

So... I mean, right out the gate, that’s the stupidest damn thing possible.  It’s not like he’s going to each of these worlds and carefully examining the state of conditions, then deciding they need to be culled because of their abuse of their resources.  He’s just doing it willy nilly without any justification as to whether such a culling is actually necessary or whether it would even be beneficial to the world in question.  I mean, hey, how can openly slaughtering 50% of a world’s population at random possibly be a bad thing?  Surely that won’t throw their entire society and culture into a death spiral, right?  It’s how he picked up his adopted children - Gamora in particular.  While he was busy murdering 50% of her world, he just sort of kidnaps her because... uh... because he wants to, I guess.  He literally just walks up to her in the middle of wrecking her world and decides he arbitrarily wants to take this one tiny green girl with him for no apparent reason whatsoever.  So, hey, way to undercut your own practice there, Thanos.  50% of the population dies with it being completely random and fair... unless I happen to fancy taking a souvenir, apparently.

The movie beats us over the head with the idea that Thanos is in turmoil because of his mission to balance the universe.  That it is a massive strain on his soul, that only he has the willpower to endure what he sees as a necessary culling.  Not a “necessary evil”, mind you - he never views his actions as being morally wrong.  Just difficult.  But, y’know... it’s kind of hard for me to sympathize with a character introduced to us as being an omnicidal maniac who has built a fanatical cult of personality around himself and callously murders literally trillions of people.  Especially so since, as cannot be overlooked: HE’S DOING IT ALL BY HIS OWN CHOICE.  The whole universal culling this is entirely his idea and pet project, so he is completely responsible for whatever so-called internal suffering the movie is trying to make us feel for him.

This whole affair becomes especially annoying when Thanos acquires the Soul Gem.  There’s a little test he has to perform to get it - he must sacrifice the one thing he loves most.  It turns out this is Gamora, aforementioned adopted/kidnapped daughter.  He has a moment of realization, cries stoic tears, and murders her by throwing her off a several-hundred foot tall cliff to that he can get the gem.  He then spends the rest of the film with the fact that his choice is emotionally wrecking him inside, that he’s grieving and saddened, that his quest has taken everything from him and--

Y’KNOW, YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO THROW HER OFF THE DAMN CLIFF, RIGHT?  NOBODY WAS FORCING YOU TO DO THAT.

Gah, this entire character angle just pisses me off because of how inane it is.  “You must give up the thing you love”.  Thanos, you smug bitch, you kidnapped a girl at random while in the process of murdering everyone she knows and loves, then spent the next 20 years putting her through an endless array of physical, mental, and emotional abuse to try and shape her into one of your fanatical Thanos-worshipping minions.  IN THIS VERY SAME MOVIE you tricked Gamora into thinking she brutally killed you just to see if she’d feel bad about it afterward, then literally dismembered her sister before her eyes to force information out of her.  Then, y’know, you murdered Gamora herself.

YOU DON’T FUCKIN’ LOVE HER.  THAT IS NOT LOVE.  I don’t care how many melodramatic “single tear down the cheek” moments you have - there is absolutely nothing about this character or his established, presented backstory that gives even the slightest hint he cared about Gamora beyond her ability to serve him as a tool.  If the Soul Gem was really supposed to be using this “sacrifice your love” test as a measure of who gets to take it, then Thanos should have just failed flat-out.  Even if one tries to argue something like “Oh, well, it was genuine love in Thanos’ twisted perspective”, that doesn’t matter.  The Infinity Gems - especially the Soul Gem - are presented as being semi-aware and capable of making decisions as to who they want to serve.  So it’s not Thanos’ call as to whether or not Gamora is the thing he loves, but the Soul Gem’s.  But it works because we need to get to the next fight scene but quick, so off we go!

The final climax point of the movie is right after Thanos finally gets all the gems and snaps his fingers.  He wins.  In that instant, 50% of all intelligent beings in the universe just sort of go away.  They don’t really die, per say, but rather just poof out existence.  Effectively dead but maybe not specifically so?  It isn’t explained.  So we get this lengthy montage of main characters going poof into particle-effect clouds one by one, with how abrupt or extended the disintegration is depending on whether or not the writers wanted to give them a dramatic final speech.  Oh, how sad.  How very sad.  Boo hoo.  My eye-rolling on this point isn’t because of the meta-awareness of me knowing Marvel isn’t going to purge its main character roster because money.  Rather, it’s because the movie itself takes a moment to pull us aside and assure us that literally NONE OF THIS MATTERS AT ALL.

During an earlier point in the film. Dr. Strange takes a moment of meditation and uses the Time Gem to peer into the future.  He looks at millions of potential futures and says that they only beat Thanos and win the day in one of those probabilities.  It’s done in a way that seems to impress upon the audience just how hopeless this whole effort seems, but it’s a blatant Chekhov’s Gun moment since Dr. Strange acts extremely out of character with his decisions from that point on.  He surrenders to Thanos and, right before dying himself, looks at Tony (and almost directly into the camera) to assure everyone that “this is the only way”.  Whiiiiiiich very blatantly means that his out of character decisions were actually intentionally made to set up the one lone “we somehow manage to win” future he saw.  Because HE SAW HOW TO DO IT BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT THE TIME GEM DOES so literally NOTHING that happens beyond that midway point in the film matters because it’s all predetermined to end up well for the heroes.  Which, right along with the “kill everyone to restore balance” trope, is another of my hated cliches because IT’S SO DAMN LAZY.

That’s really what this boils down to for me.  A:IW is lazy.  It’s all flash and fluff without anything really satisfying under all the sparkly varnish.  There’s no genuine substance to it.  Just a few faux plot concepts that are dressed up to look like they’ve got weight, but just end up being hollow.

Also... Thanos?  Buddy?  If your whole bit is that the universe has finite resources and there’s too many mouths to feed, why not just use your newly-acquired phenomenal cosmic powers to make more resources?  I mean, if you can literally snap your fingers and cause an unimaginable volume of matter (ie, people across the universe) to just spontaneously stop existing, why not just make the universe bigger and fuller for everyone’s benefit?  That maybe might go over better with the crowds, y’know?

[thegamecollection]

CRASH BANDICOOT 4: IT’S ABOUT TIME - REVIEW ROUNDUP!

We’ve waited a while... 20 years or so in fact, for a new Crash adventure to jump, slip and slide onto our consoles. Some (most) of us have aged considerably and are none the wiser for it. The younger generation whose first experience of Crash Bandicoot would have been the N’Sane Trilogy... Well you don’t know how you spoiled you are!

For those who’ve waited for reviews before crashing in, as usual we’ve got you covered! The scores are in and this bandicoot’s sitting pretty! We’ve compiled the best of the big names below...

IGN - 8/10

“Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time is both respectful of the series that came before it while also giving it the modern update it needed with new gameplay, depth of character, and a beautiful look. Toys for Bob just gets Crash. Its fresh new ideas, from big gameplay additions like new playable characters to supplementary but no less enjoyable aspects like the N. Verted mode to quality-of-life improvements like the shadow circle under Crash’s jumps, all now feel as natural to Crash as though they’d been there all along.”

Read the full review here.

Eurogamer - Recommended

“Yes, the studio might've taken the originals' notorious difficulty a little too literally, but it's paid attention to the rest of those games too - and they've a cult following for a reason, beyond the especially thick pair of rose-tinted glasses with which games of that era are viewed. This is Crash 4: It's About Time's achievement, as a very, very long-awaited sequel. Brushing up against the better parts of the originals, but also getting surprisingly close to the idea you have of them in your head. A flawed gem, but no less brilliant.”

Read the full review here.

Gamespot - 8/10

“Even more so than playing the N.Sane Trilogy, which literally remade the original Crash games from my youth, playing Crash 4 felt like getting back in touch with the series. It's an injection of new ideas into now-classic gameplay that surprises and delights, even as it feels like a homecoming. Truly, games like this are why we come running back to long-dormant franchises with open arms.”

Read the full review here.

GamesRadar - 4.5/5

“Nitpicks aside, though, Crash 4 earns its title as a worthy sequel to Warped, one that preserves the series' timeless charms while bringing bold iteration where it's needed. Toys for Bob's clear love and understanding of what makes Crash tick manifests in every aspect of It's About Time's design, but to call it a love letter would be to unfairly gloss over the important strides it makes for the franchise itself. Instead, this is exactly the sequel I could imagine Naughty Dog wishing it had made 20 years ago, and one that can stand proudly alongside the best of the Bandicoot's back catalogue.”

Read the full review here.

Destructoid - 9/10

“Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is a strong return for the series, and a showcase of what might have been if we got a true follow-up to Crash 3. I sincerely hope that Activision entrusts Toys for Bob (and Vicarious Visions) with the keys to the Crash kingdom from here on out. I wanna see more of the little guy.”

Read the full review here.

GameInformer - 8.5/10

“In many ways, Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time feels like a game that shouldn’t work. Single-player, mascot-driven, hardcore platformers are few and far between these days. Moreover, most franchises born in the mid-‘90s have had to continually reboot themselves to match the tastes of an ever-changing market. At its core, Crash 4 remains rooted to the old way of doing things, but that’s not a bad thing. The visuals are cleaner now and Crash has a few new gimmicks, but if you squint, Crash 4 looks like the same old platformer you’ve always loved.”

Read the full review here.

Well! A solid showing of 8′s and 9′s means Crash has done just fine! What we take from the reviews is that this is a love-letter to us kids from the 90s, as well as an affectionate tweet or text message to you new kids on the block. Fun for all, no matter where your first experience took place.

Grab Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time with us right here at The Game Collection!

-Jack