#i know that christopher eccleston is kind of done with it all

[khruschevshoe]

The fact that BBC class never got a season 2 is my Roman empire and always will be. With that ending? With April becoming shadowkin? With the fallout between Charlie and Matteusz and all of Charlie's guilt over using the Cabinet of Souls and losing everything left of his people? The sudden change in dynamic between Ms. Quill and Charlie/Quill saving Charlie's life? Ram's reaction to April becoming Shadowkin? Tanya and Ram dealing with the ramifications of telling Charlie to use the Cabinet of Souls? The fact that they STILL HAVEN'T PROPERLY DEALT WITH THE FALLOUT FROM WHEN THEY WERE TRAPPED WITH THE PRISONER AND THE TRUTH-GUILT ROCK? Feral. Absolutely FERAL, I am telling you. I'm never getting over this. It's been seven years and I am still NOT OVER IT

[pynkhues]

Hi Sophie! How are you?

I wanted to ask who were your picks for Gabrielle, Marius, Akasha, Magnus, the marquis, Lestat’s brothers and, idk, other characters I might be missing. Thanks if you’ll answer!

Hey! I'm good, anon, how are you? And ah! I feel like my picks are a bit same-ish at the moment, because they haven't really changed in a while, which is kind of hilarious given I doubt any of them will actually be cast / think that a lot of them are probably too big for the show (although all of them have done TV recently). I've tried to keep it to my top two picks, then listed some maybes below, but! I'd love to hear other people's choices / fan casting too, especially for roles I haven't really thought that much about (i.e. Lestat's brothers, haha).

Gabrielle

Lesley Manville

Janet McTeer

Other maybes: Isabelle Adjani, Judy Davis, Patricia Clarkson, and maybe Miranda Otto (she's probably a little too young)?

Marius

Lee Pace

Andre Holland

Other maybes: Morgan Spector, David Dastmalchian, Tobias Menzies, Orlando Jones

Akasha

I'm really stumped for Akasha, actually! I'm really hoping they go with an Arabic or North African actress given Akasha's supposed to be from Uruk (now Warka, in Iraq). I think it could be good too of separating the show's version from the (iconic!) Aaliyah version in Queen of the Damned. The ony actress I can really think could do her justice in that sense is Sofia Boutella? But I feel there's a good chance they'll go for an unknown in this particular role.

Magnus

Mark Strong

Gabriel Byrne

Other maybes: Christopher Eccleston, Michael Shannon

The Marquis de Lioncourt

Jason Isaacs

Charles Dance

Other maybes: Rufus Sewell (he's probably a little too young too? Someone suggested him to me a while ago for Marius too, and I like him there too)

Lestat's brothers

I haven't actually really thought too much about them! You could probably do something fun and cast Sam's actual brother, haha, but he's a lot older so I don't know if that would quite work (I also don't think he's as strong an actor). I'm also mmm, curious as to how old they'll be in the show? Lestat's the youngest, of course, but I imagine we'll be seeing them across a few different ages given TVL goes a lot more into Lestat's childhood than IWTV goes into Louis'.

I don't know though! What do you think?

[amuseoffyre]

4, 7, and 8! ❤️

4. say something nice about a ship you don't ship (it can be another ship in your fandom, a mutual's OTP, etc)

I love seeing some of the art from Steddyhands artists. I don't read much fic and when I do, it's primarily gentlebeard, but I do appreciate a well done art :D

7. your favorite tropes to read/write/draw

*bangs table with both fists* CLASS ISSUES CLASS ISSUES CLASS ISSUES. You know you're reading something of mine if there are class issues in there :D Not necessarily front and centre, but I love the undercurrent that it can bring to a story. OFMD gave so many layers of it and the layers in between as well, with the different strata and different kinds of working class and the intersection of race with class and the experiences reflected by said characters and how they operate differently within a world dictated by a specific upper-crust white elite.

Like Frenchie's knowledge of interacting within an upper crust environment is 100% different from Olu's, but they are both dealing with the automatic racist prejudice of their very rich and very white guests in the party ship and Frenchie knows how to use it, while Olu very quickly realises that he's gonna have fun on this ride.

Or Izzy and Stede's dynamic because Izzy is the epitome of northern English working class, all grit and tenacity, while Stede - as landed gentry, aka someone who is living off the profits of the labour of others while sitting on his arse and doing nothing - and buying his way into the rank of captain is everything Izzy hates. The gentry came from trade and made their money using people like Izzy, and he Does Not Care For It. (Izzy and Christopher Eccleston would get on like a house on fire)

There's just so much happening. Like the Badmintons - they're upper crust but they're younger sons (firstborns inherited, the spares tended to military service or the church). They get nothing for their inheritance and then there's Stede, heir to a fortune that his trader daddy made. Not even aristocracy but worth more than them. They would hate it.

So. Much. Tasty. Class. Stuff.

Also gender stuff. Om nom nom nom.

8. you hope more people will come to appreciate ___ (a ship, a trope, an episode, etc)

The music. Good grief the music this season has been staggeringly well used. The recurring motifs and themes, the flip of the Gnossienne to the Sad Love theme. The different songs they used in different moments. The choices of instruments on certain themes. The subtle echo of "Be a Lighthouse" in "Return to the Revenge" when the crew work together to escape. IT IS ALL AAAAAAA

[thessalian]

Thess vs Sandman S2 Casting

I am up at an unreasonable hour, probably because someone was riniging doorbells throughout the block of flats for reasons, or something, I dunno. Anyway, I figured it gave me more Forbidden West time, and it will, but I noted through the traditional morning social media trawl that there was a bit of news about Sandman S2 (one of the few reasons I'm keeping Netflix around at the moment).

Delirium - a piece of casting that I personally have been waiting for, because acting that kind of character is hard - is being played by Esme Creed-Miles. And I knew I knew that name, so I looked into it. And hey, yes, I do. From The Legend of Vox Machina, in point of fact. She voices Cassandra. Which gives me some confidence that the part will be as well-handled as all the other casting decisions so far.

And then, the other important part - "the Prodigal", aka Destruction. Now, he's not really done much in the way of anything in the genres I usually like, but he's done the usual stuff that British voice actors ... well, do (go look sometime; more often than not, any British voice actor you care to name will have done at least one episode of a soap opera called Doctors - that, Casualty, or The Bill), but he's mostly known for Captain Price in the Call of Duty series. Clips suggest he should be pretty good.

Then, no less important but still a little ... background-ish - Destiny. They've got Adrian Lester for this, and his pedigree's a little less ... British TV. He has played a lot of Shakespeare - Hamlet, Othello, the Prince in Romeo and Juliet. Also, if anyone's watched the British version of Being Human, he apparently played Herrick in the pilot. Which might have been interesting if they were going for Portentous Vampire Guy, but... Honestly, I'm glad they went with Jason Watkins in the end. I like that unassuming twinkle-in-the-eye juxtaposed with Wannabe Vampire Emperor.

And because I fell down an IMDB rabbit hole again, I note that Jason Watkins will be playing the villain again - Graham Coats in a TV adaptation of Anansi Boys. Big change from Harold Wilson in The Crown.

Also - Donald Sumpter, man. Was checking in on him via his role as Kemp in Being Human, but also he was Maester Lewin in Game of Thrones, he's been an awful lot of movies, and he's acted in Doctor Who both before and after the hiatus between Paul McGann (who I mostly know as "...and I" in Withnail and I, but never mind) and Christopher Ecclestone... Honestly, Sumpter's been in more things than I can count, even if I haven't seen most of them. He's been established in his acting career ten years longer than I've been alive and not only is he still working, but he still has more acting chops in his little finger than I will ever have in my entire body.

I will get out of the rabbit hole with the statement: "Damn, between Sandman, American Gods, and now Anansi Boys, someone is going hard on the @neil-gaiman TV adaptations, and that alone is a reason for good cheer. Even at this horrible hour of morning".

(I still like the ending of the book version of Stardust better than I did the movie version.)

[lilaclunablossom]

28 Days Later Review

For the next movie in my horror marathon, I watched 2002’s 28 Days Later with my girlfriend Ashley, because it’s her favorite movie ever. Now, I know I said my reviews might be shorter for movies I watch with other people, but I feel like I absorbed this one really well, especially with Ashley giving her thoughts on the movie while we watched. I also did see this movie before, as a child, but it’s been over a decade and I only remembered 2 or 3 parts.

It’s directed by Danny Boyle, who also made Trainspotting, and it stars Cillian Murphy and Christopher Eccleston (the fucking NINTH DOCTOR, hell yeah). It had a small budget, so they used a handheld digital camera that might not look too great to a lot of people. I don’t usually mind stuff like that, so it didn’t bother me, but yeah. 

It goes back and forth between slow, beautiful environment shots, and the absolute ASSAULT on the senses that are the zombie action scenes. The camera goes completely fucking wild in these moments, making me almost feel sick at times. I completely understand that’s the point, and DAMN is it effective, but it’s not really my kind of thing. However the tension is thick, and the rage zombies are still fucking terrifying.

I was not expecting the story to go the way it does, and I didn’t know how to feel about it at first. The main character wakes up in a hospital during the zombie apocalypse (The Walking Dead started A YEAR AFTER this movie came out, so Robert Kirkman probably took this idea) and starts roaming an abandoned London, where you get a lot of those beautiful environment shots. He meets other survivors, and it goes pretty similarly to other zombie stories, with one very heartbreaking scene in particular, but then it becomes a sort of old-fashioned hero-saves-the-day type of story. It shocked me, but in hindsight it’s really clever for the genre. I’m sure plenty of other zombie stories might’ve done something similar since; I mean, I know The Last of Us has its own twist on this idea, but back in 2002 I’m pretty sure it was kinda innovative.

Ashley told me it’s an anti-fascist movie, which is great if that was the intent (its plot does involve the British military), although I more so noticed themes of family, and choosing hope/love in the midst of violence and horror.

The acting is great all-round, and the soundtrack is great, of course including John Murphy’s iconic main theme.

4.5/5

[quantumshade]

yeah yknow what ok i'll bite. with or without context, this post is extremely fucking racist. i didn't include the rest of it because i did not want anyone to harass anybody, and of all people, i know VERY well that posting publicly about someone you disagree with WILL get both them and you harassed. instead i made a somewhat catty post about a take that made me mad on my personal blog with no expectation of likes or reblogs, and in fact got far more attention than i ever intended. had i known this many people would see this post, i probably would have been a bit less vague. g-d forbid someone makes a post on the internet without fully explaining themself and all of the context every fucking time. anyway. sure, i'll talk about it in context. because the rest of this post doesn't change my opinion at all.

this post starts out by decrying christopher eccleston as a terrible person who hates fans and is really really mean to them, which is categorically untrue. nor is he "disdainful" about the show as a whole. he is open about his struggles with mental health, an eating disorder, and a bad environment on set during his time on the show, which he has every right to be. i personally have never heard of him being anything but lovely to fans, if a little blunt sometimes, but i think that's more just him as a person being kind of blunt. which i really don't think is a crime.

the post then accuses him of "downplaying" an accusation of sexual assault and insulting the woman who accused him and insinuates that he did assault her. this is, well, to put it in your words, classic shit stirring. it took what he said out of context to make him seem like a horrible person. what this comment is actually referring to is an interview eccleston did in january where he talked about the importance of intimacy coordinators on set when sex scenes are being filmed, and about one experience he had with an unnamed actress who accused him of inappropriately groping her during the scene in front of literally everybody on set, and that it's the most betrayed he's ever felt by another actor. at no point does he call her a bitch. he says he would rather put his hands in a blender than touch her or anybody else inappropriately like that. so far this post has framed chris eccleston as a horrible human being for practically no reason. can't wait to see what's next, i bet this will be a really meaningful take on misogyny in fandom.

next up we get a paragraph of good things jodie whittaker has done contrasted with a straw man hater who hates whittaker and wants her to fail and writes rape threats about her -- an EXTREMELY serious accusation here thrown out really nonchalantly in order to make the strawman hater seem even worse. not saying that's never happened, i'm sure it has, but i would hazard a guess that most people who talk about liking eccleston and gatwa are, for the most part, not the same people who act that vitriolic towards whittaker. gatwa and eccleston? those are two actors that are NEVER criticized on false standards by people with very obvious actual motivation for disliking them. the working class politically involved notherner who very adamantly and loudly stands up for the worker's rights of both himself and others in the industry, and the queer black refugee who is very open and unapologetic about these things. never.

this is sarcasm. op chose THE most loaded pair of actors they possibly could have to compare, and i can't imagine why they did that. the people who like eccleston and especially gatwa in the role as the doctor are not the same people who hated that the doctor was a woman.

the final part of the post, and the part i included in my own, again, admittedly catty post made out of frustration, opens by censoring ncuti gatwa's name, which i understand is #hater culture or whatever, but like. in this instance? is horrifically fucking racist. it then insinuates that he's a bad person (?) for jokingly calling the doctor slutty, which.... do you not see that this is a really bad way to treat an openly queer actor. when queer people are called groomers for existing on a daily basis. and on top of that, it flat out accuses him of not taking the role seriously. i cannot imagine what would make someone think this, having watched gatwa in the role. what about him makes them think he doesn't take it seriously? is it the way he talks? the way he acts in interviews? because in that case i don't think you have a problem with how he treats the character. i think you have a problem with him.

i like jodie whittaker. i think she is a fantastically talented actress when given the chance to be (seriously, go watch her antigone if you haven't. funnily enough chris eccleston is in it too.) on top of that she seems like a lovely human being with enthusiasm for her work and love for fans pouring out of her, and i really really admire that about her. i don't think any actor needs to have encyclopedic knowledge of the show in order to play the doctor, because that's ridiculous. they're actors. their job is to act. it's a WRITER'S job to give them material to act with, and that's a job i think chibnall failed miserably at. with a good writer, someone can join the show with absolutely no knowledge of it and do incredibly well, such as, famously, catherine tate. who, last i checked, is also a woman. (interestingly, matt smith had also not watched the show before being cast, but he's not mentioned here.) it's not and has never been whittaker’s fault i don't like the era, and i have never said otherwise. nor has anyone in my social circle.

my post isn't saying it's bad to talk about the misogyny jodie experienced. it's saying that dragging down two other actors, who are already criticized under false pretenses all the time, FOR NO FUCKING REASON to make her look better is bad. being racist towards ncuti gatwa in order to make the misogyny directed towards jodie whittaker seem worse... is bad. big fucking whoop. this post was racist towards ncuti gatwa, which you admitted. your problem is that you seem to be willing to forgive that racism in order to listen to what this person has to say about misogyny, when i would argue that being racist makes me discard the opinion of the post entirely. because they were being fucking racist. to which all i can say is:

you have put a lot of words in my mouth that i did not say, and i don't appreciate it. at no point did i accuse people who like thirteen of inherently being racist. when i say "chibnall fans", as i often do on this blog, i mean people who lick the man's boots and think he's g-d's gift to television and can do no wrong.

i am not trying to "pit fans against each other" -- i am pointing out a pattern of racism that is extremely common in every fan space on the internet, and, as i've noticed over the last five years, often goes practically completely unchecked by people who are hardcore fans of the chibnall era. and a lot of those fans will take ANY excuse to raise up their favorites, even at the expense of being outwardly racist. notice i said often. not all. if you like both thirteen and fifteen and you are not saying this kind of racist garbage in order to make your favorite look good, and none of your friends or the people you follow are saying this shit, then congratulations. this post isn't about you.

on top of that the idea of "profit" is laughable. i could not give less of a shit about the number of notes i get. do you really think if i wanted social capital, i would be posting on tumblr about doctor who. get real.

sorry for taking the original post out of context, since the rest of it makes it so much better and DEFINITELY not way worse. (sorry, sarcasm again. including the context does make it worse actually.) i apologize for being a little flippant on my tumblr post. i should have remembered the number one rule and not accused anybody of pissing on the poor.

chibnall fans when they get a chance to be racist to the young queer black man who took the role after their cishet white woman fav left

[kitkatopinions]

Got anymore Doctor Who nitpicks?

Oh boy, strap in folks, because I've got a ton. XD

Gonna put them under a keep reading for convenience and in case any Doctor Who fans don't want to see the criticism. Please note, I just finished rewatching up to season four so anything I say about the other later seasons is just what I remember, and I don't know much about Classic Who.

One of my sisters pointed this out, but the time agents exist and interfere in time even if they try to stay in the shadows, so the fact that the Doctor doesn't have more run ins with them is weird. As far as I know, the only time agent we encounter at least as far as season seven is Jack Harkness and he had already left the agency.

The second season, with the Tenth Doctor and Rose, they did the whole 'the Doctor and Rose might be separated forever' plot a couple times too many. I love that season and I adore both of those characters, but it's like Frodo almost dying, after you've seen one of them freaking out about losing the other every episode like six episodes in a row, it's just like... Maybe they should do something else.

We didn't see Rose or Mickey ask about Jack to my recollection after he 'died' to the Daleks in the last Christopher Eccleston episode. And I know that they were both really busy with other things, but I don't even think there was a 'where's Jack' 'not right now' kind of interaction.

I like the Love and Monsters LINDA episode, but I wish that the Doctor actually hadn't been able to get Ursula back. I don't know, I just think the episode would've worked better as a bit more of a tragedy, with Elton being the only survivor.

Nurse Redfern in the Family of Blood episode is not my favorite, and I wish there was less of a big deal made out of her. If she'd been in just one episode like Madame de Pompadour, I'd be annoyed (I kinda don't vibe with one episode only romances,) but it'd be fine-ish. But like, when the Tenth Doctor is dying and he's going around and seeing all the companions we love who have been involved so much in the show, he stops by Nurse Redfern's descendent to talk about Nurse Redfern? I could not care about her less, they should've cut her out and done a scene with somebody else, or did an extended scene for one of the others, or something.

In the Blink episode, I do really like both Sally and Larry, but I don't think they should've gone with a romance angle there, it just seemed like they were better as friends. Not that we see much of them, but still.

In the Master episodes in season three, I really feel like the 'turning the Doctor into a tiny old baby-sized creature man' thing was wholly unnecessary and just didn't add anything to the story. I don't know anything about Benjamin Button, so all I have to compare it to is the Benjamin Button style day dream in the Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and it makes me unable to take it seriously.

I feel like the Adipose episode has great Doctor and Donna moments, but I really just don't like the Matron. I feel like she's just kind of boring. Quite a few of the Doctor Who villains are somewhat two dimensional, but they at least have aesthetic things that make them stand out.

The Unicorn and the Wasp was my least favorite episode in the fourth season and I think part of that is that I've never read a single Agatha Christie, and I've never really watched anything based on her books either. So I got some of the detective/mystery tropes, but it was basically a tribute to something I didn't know anything about and so I've never been anything but bored during the episode. And there were I think a couple too many characters to get attached to any of them.

The Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead episodes have quite a few little nitpicks in light of what went on in seasons five through seven. River's screwdriver isn't the Eleventh Doctor's, and she should be weirded out about the Tenth Doctor's being like the one he gave her instead of being like the Eleventh Doctor's. She also says he opens the TARDIS with a snap of his fingers as if that's something he does all the time as Eleven, when if I remember correctly, it's actually pretty rare. I'm sure there's more, and some of it is just vibes, but yeah.

In the End of Time episodes with the Master, Wilf's little group of friends who try to find the Doctor with him is eh okay, but how much fun would it be if he was in a group with Elton and that guy who gave information to Rose in the very first episode.

Also, gotta say that Martha and Mickey being a couple at the end of David's Tennant's era wouldn't annoy me if they'd had like, at least two even small conversations. As it happens, it just kinda comes out of nowhere.

I think my very first complaint of Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor era is the fact that he feels his hair and is shocked and wonders if he's a girl, but his hair really isn't that long, so... It's just a weird line. Why would he just assume that? It'd be different if he had shoulder length hair, or if the eighth doctor didn't have longer hair than the Eleventh. It'd still be a weird and stupid line, but as it is, the line doesn't even make sense to me.

I haven't gotten to season five yet, and I don't intend to keep re-watching after Amy and Rory leave (for a number of reasons,) but I do have a couple of nitpicks off the top of my head for the Matt Smith seasons.

Although I get that a lot of the threads to David Tennant's era had been tied up well, I'm bummed that Jack just never comes back when it would make sense for him to be at least kind of involved every now and again, especially in A Good Man Goes to War when the Eleventh Doctor gathers together a bunch of people to help him and just... It makes sense for him to not include Martha because she walked away and he thought that was good, and it makes sense for him to not include Mickey either because he might know he was with Martha. But Jack? And I also get that Eleven is 'the Doctor who forgets' or whatever, but bro could be not selfish when Amy and her child's lives are on the line. Jack should've had at least one appearance in these seasons.

As somebody who cares about Sherlock Holmes, it kind of bothers me that the 'this was the inspiration for Holmes and Watson' characters have a master-servant relationship. I know it isn't just a master-servant relationship and they're literally lovers, but that kind of makes it worse. There's no problem with a 'inspiration for Holmes and Watson' romantic couple, but Watson was never Holmes' servant, their relationship was on much more equal footing than lots of people seem to realize, and it makes one of the few queer couples we see for more than an episode at the very least problematic.

This might be bigger than just a nitpick, but I'm gonna say it anyway. Mels being River would've been much better and would've felt less out of nowhere and rushed if Mels had been set up as a side character. If she'd made appearances in Leadworth and had been talked about by Amy and Rory and had been at their wedding, then it'd feel like pay off when she turned into River. Instead it's like "oh here's a character we don't know, guess the author is telling us she's super important to Amy and Rory? Oh, I guess she's evil? Wait, she's dying? Wait, she's River?!" Like how were we supposed to get emotionally invested?

And finally, Amy should've had reading glasses at least all throughout season seven, and it'd be best if she'd started wearing them sometime during season six. Because the Doctor wearing Amy's glasses after she and Rory were gone was a great concept, but because they'd just appeared for the first time in Amy and Rory's last story it felt a lot less emotional than it could've and instead it just felt like the author trying to force an emotional response without having earned it... Which was pretty much just what it was. If they'd wanted to have the Doctor wear Amy's glasses, she should've been wearing them for long enough that they became attached to her character.

So yeah, I'll probably have more nitpicks once I watch the Matt Smith series, but that's it for now. This ask was a lot of fun, so thanks for sending it!

[wellntruly]

Halloweekend Movie Recs

I’ve been having really interesting conversations with my friends when I take them to the cemetery for socially distanced Goth Walks. Particularly, I love learning everyone’s personal definition of what, to them, constitutes “a horror film.” It can vary so so much!

I have yet to arrive at an answer to the horror question for myself, but I do know that there are certain movies I associate with the month of October. Many I would not call horror, some I would, but what they all have in common is that I look at them and think “that’s a Halloween watch.”

This year I thought I’d put a bunch of these together—24 of them in fact, grouped into loose categories—for those whose tastes, like mine, tends to skew more atmospheric than slasher, and are looking for something to watch this Halloweekend.

🦇

More Style Than Scares

Movies that I suspect most would not classify as horror, but maybe somewhere sort of adjacent to it—somewhere styled to all hell.

The Double (2013)

This theatrical little Dostoevsky adaption is the one in this category I would most push for actually being classed as a horror film, due to the dark tension of the plot and how it’s scored with straight-up horror movie violins. But, it rarely shows up under that genre marker, so there you go! Anyway I love this movie. It’s shot in vivid chiaroscuro with colored light and pitch black shadows, and has a philosophical drollness I’ve described before as somewhere between Samuel Beckett and Terry Gilliam. Richard Ayoade please direct more movies!

Tags: tension, dark comedy, supernatural

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)

Ana Lily Amirpour’s Iranian ghost town vampire western delivers and then some. Reeeally good atmosphere, quiet and lovely and cool and feeling. The lead’s giant dark eyes are like their own special effect. In aesthetic and attitude it could maybe be described as a younger, more yearning Only Lovers Left Alive, which really could have been on this list as well but instead I’m just mentioning it in the copy.

Tags: spare & quiet, vampires, female lead

Thoroughbreds (2017)

I gotta take every chance I get to recommend Thoroughbreds, as I’ve been mystified for two years by how Tumblr didn’t eat up the sardonic sapphic murdergirls movie with a SPOON. It’s nervy and stylish and great fun, sort of like a Secret History of two, only they were both kicked out of their Connecticut prep schools and prefer Classic Hollywood to the Classics. I really think you’ll like it.

Tags: murder, dark comedy, female lead

The Lighthouse (2019)

“Is The Lighthouse a horror movie?” is the question I’ve mulled over with everyone in the Horror Conversations. It’s been so interesting: seemingly none of us were overly frightened by it, so had been inclined to say no, but then once we thought about it, began to be more inclined to say yes. There are certainly unworldly elements---the horror of something beyond human comprehension being a key feature of the genre for one of my theater director friends---and there’s also plenty of heightened emotions and ominous portents and raging storms. There are even strong arguments that could be made about it being a kind of vampire story, or even a kind of ghost story—the latter aided by the unreliability of our main character. ALL of these things are big ol’ classic horror tropes, plus, the boys are wearing cozy sweaters, so that’s it decided: The Lighthouse is absolutely an October movie.

Tags: tension, supernatural

🦇

Genuinely Unnerving

Now these are definitely gonna show up in the horror section of the haunted Blockbuster, but, I am very particular about what I like in this genre. Gore and jump-scares I cannot do, but spookiness and ambience? That’s my jam. That’s these.

Shallow Grave (1994)

Shallow Grave is Danny Boyle’s first feature, and by my lights, easily the best thing he’s ever done sorry Danny. It stars Ewan McGregor in his first feature as well, a lovely Australian actor named Kerry Fox, and baby Christopher Eccleston. The premise is basically what if Ferris, Sloan, and Cameron were young professionals who lived in a big New Town flat in Edinburgh, and it was actually a psychological thriller this time, instead of just always skirting one. This is one of my favorite movies, full stop.

Tags: tension, murder

Under the Skin (2013)

Yes this the movie where an alien in the guise of brunette Scarlett Johansson drives around Glasglow picking up men to take to a secret location and dissolve into blackness, but it’s more than that, becoming very much about the ideas of both preying and being preyed upon. There is very little dialogue, which is why the score by Mica Levi both stands out so much and is so impressive for the amount of storytelling it accomplishes. Honestly this movie disquieted me in a big way, but I still think about it, in a good way.

Tags: spare & quiet, alien unknown, female lead

Don’t Look Now (1973)

HAUNTED VENICE. HAUNTED VENICE. It’s gloomy and watery and cold and everything is in ‘70s browns the color of dead leaves and dusty icons in the quiet, empty cathedrals, except for the flash of a small red raincoat that Donald Sutherland keeps seeing, and the pale blind blue eyes of an elderly psychic & her sister that Julie Christie is becoming entangled with. Influenced nearly too many directors to count, but perhaps its most direct homage (‘or pastiche, or a nod of the head’) is 2008’s In Bruges.

Tags: occult horror, autumn atmosphere

The Witch (2015)

You’re on Tumblr, you already know about The VVitch, Robert Eggers’s second entry on this list. But you may be afraid that you live too fearfully to live deliciously. I understand. I felt the same way. But a friend of mine, who knows I am a scaredy-cat, told me I’d actually be fine with this one, and guess what: she was right. It’s a little hard to explain, but the frightening aspects of this movie were presented in such a way that they didn’t completely subsume my attention, just enhanced it. I imagine this might be how people who actually like scary movies feel about them. Anyway, I like this one!

Tags: occult horror, autumn atmosphere, female lead

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Creature Features

One sub-category of horror that I’ve found does not scare me to the point of no longer being able to enjoy it is the one with BEASTIES, frequently also comedies and always featuring big bold practical effects, the blood colored with the same red-40 sheen of the Jolly Ranchers you’re eating out of a plastic pumpkin.

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

The ultimate werewolf classic. Funny and mesmerizing, the colors so intensely 1980 it will take you out of now entirely. Come for the legendary, game-changing prosthetics & makeup work, stay for the puffy parkas. You know the song ‘Werewolves of London’, a classic and a banger maybe one of the five actually good Halloween songs? Well I don’t know if it’s actually related to this movie, but, it is. Spiritually.

Tags: dark comedy, werewolves, autumn atmosphere

Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

The only musical on this list, which was not intentional, but if it had been, this still would have been what I picked for the musical slot in a heartbeat! This is the story of a bloodthirsty plant deviling a flower shop, and it is quirky and kinky and sweet and salty. I have never seen a Muppets thing, but the feeling I get when I look at the production style of this movie is what I imagine loving the Muppets would feel like. Try to watch the version with the original director’s cut ending if you can!

Tags: dark comedy, musical

Ginger Snaps (2000)

This is a schlocky Canadian monster movie by a female screenwriter where one night in early October the elder of two morbid outcast teenage sisters gets her first period and then immediately gets bitten by a werewolf, and that is ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW. Well also content warning for talk of suicide and suicidal imagery, and also lots of corn syrup blood and snarling.

Tags: werewolves, autumn atmosphere, female lead

The Thing (1982)

The Thing is actually a classic whodunit masquerading as an Antarctic creature feature and I love it. A locked-house Christie Mystery where the question is WHOM is secretly a fantastically gross alien facsimile. Platinum-level dog acting by this husky! Extraordinarily gloppy animatronics! A creepy thriller but fun about it, just big levels of snow and suspicion and Kurt Russell’s hair. Will make you jazzed for winter to come! [This statement has not been verified]

Tags: polar, alien unknown

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Jewel Box Gothic

I’m pretty proud of this category: these are all gothic romances in rich jewel-tone colors. A genre unto itself!

Crimson Peak (2015)

This is another one you definitely already know about, but if nothing else will set the tone for this category: Crimson Peak, the movie I’ve seen described as two Pre-Raphaelite paintings in a battle of wills in a haunted Victorian mansion. The china! The butterflies! The red mud! I haven’t actually seen this one since I saw it theaters in New York, but at that time I was twice so overcome by excitement that I punched the arm of the boy I’d gone to see it with, a whole 200% more often than I traditionally punch boys while watching movies. High praise!

Tags: haunted house, autumn atmosphere, female lead

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Dracula is like Crimson Peak’s even more goth older sister. This movie is absolutely unhinged, and MAGNIFICENT. The costumes are by the woman who did the costumes for The Fall, and the direction is by Francis Ford fucking Coppola, somehow. At one point Gary Oldman does chortle the line “Oh I never drink….wine.” This is a movie that understands that that line is awesome, that midcentury-style practical effects rule, and that Peak Romance is arranging for your beloved to safely pet a very soft and very fangy wild animal.

Tags: vampires

Suspiria (1977)

Alright maybe less on the romance aspect with this one, but very gothic. This is the original Dario Argento Italian gaillo film that Luca Guadagnino riffed on recently, a movie waaayyy too scary for me, oh my god I regretted it... But the splashy, ornate ‘70s Suspiria I actually really enjoyed. It is gory but in a totally unreal, fuchsia-tinged way that I can handle. Plus every scene is basically lit through a bi pride flag, and the score is by a prog rock band called Goblin---there’s just a lot going on here.

Tags: occult, haunted house, female lead

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)

This is a very shall we say intense movie, but I have seen it multiple times, because one of the things it is so intensely is aesthetic, in a way that makes my brain yell! Aaah! It’s the kind of movie where when characters walk from one room into another room the score and colors DRAMATICALLY CHANGE. Listen, a lot of bad things happen to young Helen Mirren in this movie, but I’m just going to tell you: she’s gonna get hers. This movie was a huge influence on Bryan Fuller when he was making his Hannibal series and it shoowws.

Tags: tension, cannibalism

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Black & White Frights

Vintage delights for your spooky nights.

Nosferatu (1922), and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

We didn’t really know how to make movies yet in the 1920s, and what we ended up with were slow as treacle but/and, especially in the case of the German Expressionists, wonderfully strange. Come for the incredible imagery, stay also for the incredible imagery—there’s no recorded sound, after all.

Tags: vampires (Nosferatu), occult (Dr. Caligari)

The Innocents (1961)

With a script cowritten by Truman Capote, The Innocents is an adaptation of a play of the same name, itself adapted from Henry James’s famously eerie ghost story, The Turn of the Screw. To me the film felt perhaps a bit less ambiguous than the original Victorian piece, but there was still something slippery about it. Despite the two layers of remove, it is quite faithful to the novella, and also QUITE SPOOKY.

Tags: haunted house, female lead

Rebecca (1940)

My Rebecca story is that I spent the whole time I was reading the Daphne Du Maurier novel thinking that the Narrator/the ghost of Rebecca was the scandalous lesbian subtext, only to be later surprised that it was actually supposed to be Mrs. Danvers/Rebecca. What can I say, [slaps roof of Manderley] you can fit so many gay vibes in here! Anyway this is Alfred Hitchcock’s only Best Picture winner, and that was not a miscarriage of justice.

Tags: haunted house, female lead

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Comfort Classics

You know ‘em, you love ‘em, I’m just gonna list ‘em---

Over the Garden Wall (2014)

Clue (1985)

What We Do In the Shadows (2014)

The Addams Family (1991)

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[milarvela]

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Barrowman? + A Response to Nerdrotic

I like this video. A few thoughts:

What stopped two grown women from telling Clarke that it’s quite enough of that demonstration, end it now? They weren’t new to show business, young, inexperienced etc. Seems to me they were getting uncomfortable with Noel’s inability to stop before it got embarrassing, rather than being affected by bad memories or whatever.

If you talk about alleged harassment from 2004 in 2021, shouldn’t you at least have an excuse for why it took so long to come forward? Were you in coma all that time? Aren’t you ashamed of letting this man continue to harass others because you waited so long before speaking about it? What sort of person unashamedly talks about something like that as if nobody else matters? Shouldn’t you instead be quiet and grateful that nobody found out that you were harassed but didn’t say anything? I don’t understand how these people think.

Who was the assistant director complained to? What’s their name? Why is it okay to name Noel Clarke but not the higher-ups who failed at doing their duty properly?

Same goes for that supervisor type.  

That David and his impeccable behaviour helped rein things in to a certain extent makes it sound like it was Christopher Eccleston who caused most of the trouble during s1. Or were there other changes too except his leaving? Weird, because I had the impression that Christopher wasn’t happy with the goings-on on the set, while David laughed along and even sang about John’s willy-waving later.

That neither of them has as far as I know said a word in defense of Noel/John is quite something. Nor have they spoken against them. Silence from the companions too. Basically the only conclusion from this is that they’re all fearing for their own careers. And nobody’s apparently even asking them to comment on this? How nice and considerate of the media to leave them be. The Guardian tried to get comments from Coduri and Badland, as if that fan event was the main thing in this saga and those two the biggest enablers or something.

Eve Myles? I don’t remember even hearing her name before last week but apparently she is famous for not realising that John Barrowman was assaulting her that one time with his penis. Lol, I guess she’s remarkably stupid or there’s some major patronising happening. Could be both.

Nobody’s hopefully saying that touching random co-workers with a penis is an okay thing to do. But if she didn’t complain, why is it now a big deal? I don’t know if she’s made a statement about it but I imagine it’d be pretty difficult. Either she’s going to sound like she thinks what John did was cool and that’ll get her hate or she’s going to say it wasn’t cool and she’s that coward who failed to report the incident.

BTW, whatever happened to Russell T Davies? He said he never saw John’s penis and that’s all there is to it? Why, everybody’s so accommodating and kind and understanding of his pain due to this terrible neglect. Apparently it would’ve been quite a sight. So very inconsiderate of Barrowman to leave the showrunner out of the fun.

Seriously though, I think it gets hopelessly hilarious, this detailed, belated  outrage for what Barrowman did. Yes, it’s terribly pathetic and attention-seeking and juvenile (which he wasn’t), and the joke or whatever must have gotten old fast. But they all knew about it at the time. Now it’s all pretense and hypocrisy or silence from those who were there. Except this Julie Gardner who, if not lying, acted exactly how one should after receiving a complaint.

That it didn’t end there wasn’t her fault unless she got more complaints and did nothing about those. She’s not responsible for John’s behaviour elsewhere later. Honestly, there must be some fancy name for this willy-waving compulsion. Can’t Barrowman get some shrink tell everybody about it or possibly just claim mental health issues? That should get him sympathy these days and it might not even be that far fetched. Lol, he could even come out as nonbinary to confirm that.

Can’t help thinking though that he must have gotten more than the pleasure of making people laugh out of it. If not sexual then some other kind of satisfaction. Like maybe seeing the alarm in the eyes of some young woman. Mean streak.

Eh, that celebrity show (I always thought those were for has-beens and wannabes) article could just be promotion.

David Tennant isn’t saying anything even as they refuse to release a thing with him in it. Why? All he has to do is to make a “it was all in good fun but maybe a bit foolish and thoughtless” statement and add something about how fans needn’t be punished because of whatever else is happening. But no. What a coward. Well, I guess he got paid and the rest doesn’t matter. Which is fine. Maybe he should donate the money to a fitting cause now that his colleague has been exposed. Nevermind that he had nothing against working with said colleague until what must have been quite recently. All the time knowing what he did/does.

Generally speaking, I think it’s a remarkably bad idea to remove or not show finished stuff regardless what the people involved may have done. Way too complicated to ever be fair or consistent about these things. Utter idiocy. And some fans get carried away with their defending of and excuses for their favourites.

Couldn’t it be okay to admit that if somebody fucked up, it really was a fuckup but still be a fan?

I suspect the BBC may just be looking for reasons to cancel Doctor Who. I mean reasons other than waning popularity. And these kind of scandals don’t really make the franchise stronger. I guess Mr Tardis is a dedicated fan and needs to be positive about it. So fair enough. That teaser trailer certainly would be welcome, I agree. Although not everybody interested in the Clarke/Barrowman situation cares about the show.

I’d love to know the number of people who’ve been driven out of showbusiness because of unsafety. That all these allegations come, like in some big cases before, years after harassment/whatever started suggests very few are concerned about their safety as long as they are promised rewards for tolerating all sorts.

Safeguarding seems to be a fashionable word. Just give everybody bodycams. Brains could be useful too. At least teach everybody what to do/say when someone is harassing them. And stop with the victim-playing years after something allegedly happened. Or have a good excuse for the delay. Not getting what you expected and feeling disappointed afterwards isn’t enough.

People will want to defend their favourites. It’s kind of fun seeing how far they will go with it. There are nuances sometimes but it’s best to be an honest fan or move on.

As for Nerdrotic and his fellow whiners, eh, if they and their audience shouldn’t be allowed in a workplace (okay, I’m not sure if Tardis really meant it what with that voice he did) for not condemning the likes of Noel/John, surely the same goes for the people who worked with those two and allowed them to do what they did?  

Don’t know why he’s still demanding apologies from Barrowman. He’s done that and even acknowledged this current outrage caused by his “tomfoolery”. Poor fucker has had nobody accusing him of anything, so I guess he needs to apologise to those who were never there and had no opportunity to witness his willy-waving. So funny. Maybe he should make a video where he demonstrates how it happened. Might prove more profitable than some audio thingy with David the coward.

[senadimell]

Characters I like AKA ‘hurt face’ master post

The characters I like in movies and books are distinctly different. With books, I have all sorts of favorite characters, and I love that I know what they’re thinking. I just love a good deep third or first person. 

In contrast to books, there’s just something different about movies. We’re watching actors, and the visual component really dictates how I interact with film. I can get over a bad storyline if the emotional journey I’m watching looks real. 

When I’m watching a movie, I will almost always fall for lonely characters played by actors who can clearly express pain and sadness. Bonus points for guilt, insecurity, and a history of rejection. I will like them even if they’re not likable, or kind, or nice, or even good. They are visually compelling. Of course, I’ll love them even more if the backstory actually backs up why they’re in pain, and gives me a reason I shouldn’t dislike them beyond “they emote so pretty.” Experience with high school theatre productions has taught me there’s so much more to anger than volume, and so much more to sadness than tears; I’m in awe of actors who can communicate those emotions with subtlety and/or clarity.

So in real life, most of us aren’t that good at communicating with our faces, are we? For me, anyways, it’s hard to distinguish between tired, angry, or annoyed. When someone’s in pain or hurting, they rarely just look sad. Life’s not like a movie, when a good actor can show you exactly how a character feels without saying anything at all. I’m not so good at telling what people are thinking and often assume that that people are mad (and that they’re mad at me), when in reality I think pain must be more common. Most peole think of actors as imitating real people. I think they have to do more: they have to be expressive, and yet have it come off as genuine, so that we don’t even see the face but the character. 

I only just figured out why it was that when Frozen came out, I was obsessed with it. The story itself leaves a lot to be desired, but I was willing to excuse that. My phone was full of pictures of Elsa,  but most of them were stills from the movie rather than fan art. I had pictures of almost every face Elsa makes in Let it Go, when she just looks exhilarated and like she can’t believe how happy she feels. I also had every frame from when she hugs frozen Anna (pictured below). It was the first time I’d really seen an animated character visibly express insecurity, loneliness, self-rejection, guilt, and anxiety.*

This whole “visibly expressing negative emotions” thing is also one of the main why I’m obsessed with the first four seasons of Doctor Who. The Time War plot checks off every box, and Eccleston and Tennant are just brilliant about letting that emotion show through. 

Same thing goes for musical theatre. With cast recordings, the best is when you can just hear everything they’re saying in the way they sing things. Pretty Funny from Dogfight (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64-HBOsY50s) is just brilliant. Some other favorites: Track Down This Murder/Down Once More from Phantom, Empty Chairs at Empty Tables (see: all of Les Miserables, actually), I’m Not That Girl as well as its reprise and No Good Deed from Wicked, Satisfied and Burn from Hamilton**

There are these characters who are...awful. They have objectively done awful things. I don’t think their actions are excusable. Yet the visual part of my just loves to watch them because they’re in pain and it’s written all over their face. (Loki and Kylo Ren fall into this category for me). I want to make all of these excuses for them, and am not repulsed, and spend all of this time analyzing them because what the actors can do with their faces just sucks me in. 

Now that I think about it, this is probably why I hate Elijah Wood’s performance of Frodo. The boy had exactly four faces: happy, sad, sick, and demented

A warning: this is a rough collection of GIFs that don’t all match in shape and format. 

 I will take the ring to Mordor. 

Rose. 

In the most loving way possible, David Tennant as the 10th Doctor is rather melodramatic and constantly aggrieved, so I’m going to leave it at these two scenes even though I could probably mine a gifset from almost every episode he appears in post-Rose. 

Everything I am dies

Loki: 

Massacre your entire species to prove your worth and please your father

It’s just rocks and dust.

There was a war, and we lost. 

(I love just about every face Christopher Eccleston makes as the Ninth doctor, but will save that for another post.)

I actually didn’t care one way or the other for Alan Rickman’s Snape until this scene. After watching that, I was moved and reevaluated my whole take on the character. I don’t personally see Snape’s relationship with Lily as romantic like I once did, but I don’t think I would have gone back and evaluated the character as deeply as I did without first watching Rickman in that scene. I’m now firmly in the Snapedom. 

Frozen: 

Then leave.

AKA Viggo Mortensen breaks a toe.

This jerkface. 

Samantha Barks was amazing to watch and hear. 

Eddie Redmayne is a gift.

Anne Hathaway was phenomenal.

Les Mis was actually really hard to watch in movie theatres because there were so many closeups of the actors’ faces during intense emotional moments. It was a little overwhelming. 

Pearl Mackie is a gift.

Some concluding observations:  

This is a very white list. It was also feeling pretty male until I added Doctor Who companions and musicals. 

This was harder than I was expecting, emotionally. Here’s some more Bill Potts to lighten things up.

*Actually, one of the reasons I couldn’t stand Anna is because she comes off as completely ignorant when Elsa’s every expression is plainly written all over her face, even though narratively she has every reason to be in the dark. If Elsa wore the regular, confusing expressions most of us wear, Anna wouldn’t come off as so silly. (Also if she would stop talking for a few seconds and listen). If Elsa’s animations weren't so expressive, I probably would cut Anna a lot more slack naturally **After I had the privilege of seeing Hamilton, Quiet Uptown joins this list possibly the best bit of acting I have ever seen without a single word being said. You can’t completely hear it in the recordings, but Eliza’s face goes through about 50 emotions without even opening her mouth moving, and I was sobbing as I watched. 

[starstruckteacup]

Cottagecore Films (pt. 10)

Elizabeth (1998)

TW: blood, mild gore, torture

starring Cate Blanchett, Christopher Eccleston, Geoffrey Rush, Joseph Fiennes, Daniel Craig, Richard Attenborough

This dramatic retelling of the early years of Queen Elizabeth I’s reign over England opens at the death of Catholic Queen Mary in 1558, whose demise brings her half-sister Elizabeth to the forefront. Elizabeth must battle the unforgiving French abroad, dangerous conspirators at home, and at times even her own advisors as they push their agenda onto the young queen. As she grows in experience, Elizabeth learns to put her own needs before the mischief of the court and the confusion of unbalanced alliances, declares her undying love for her people, and establishes herself as one of England’s strongest rulers to date.

I really enjoyed the strength and grace carried by the entire film. Overall, the film maintained an air of dramatic tension, but never felt as though it strayed from the truth of Elizabeth’s story. I do think that, at times, the film felt perhaps too historical though, like a documentary. At moments of high stress, such as assassination attempts or uncovering the conspirators, the film felt a little too factual instead of emotional. It continued the same tone and level of emotion throughout, instead of raising it and lowering it with each scene. That said, Blanchett performed impeccably as Elizabeth, bearing the dignity of a monarch so fluidly you might think she truly was one. Every emotional response was executed so fully that it was as if the audience was given a real look into her life, rather than watching a mere biography. Even though many of the actors in this film are well-loved, I feel like the film could have done more with them at times. Eccleston played a manipulative villain who truly believed he had the best intentions for his country, but he was given far less screen time than he deserved. I would have loved a deeper insight into the complexity of this character, which Eccleston tried to deliver fully in every scene, but there simply wasn’t enough time with him. Similarly, Craig was on screen for mere moments at a time, with few to no lines, yet the audience was expected to fear him and worry for Elizabeth’s safety. Craig’s character was truly menacing, namely in the scene where he walks down the hall in the dark with his robes billowing, but we saw so little of him that he felt almost insignificant to the overall story. The film was over two hours, but with this cast I would have loved to see a limited series or something of that nature, just to provide more depth to the story. As a side note, I don’t know how historically accurate this film was, so I’m not going to comment extensively on that. If that was something you were looking for, you won’t find it here. 7/10

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

TW: blood, gore, fascism, war

starring Ivana Baquero, Maribel Verdú, Sergi López, Doug Jones, Ariadna Gil, Álex Angulo

Ofelia, a young girl caught between her love of fantasy and the horrors of fascism surrounding her, finds herself pulled into a mysterious world after she meets a Faun in a nearby haunting labyrinth. The Faun orders her to complete three tasks to prove that her soul is unchanged and that she remains the true princess of the Underworld. As she struggles to complete these tasks, Ofelia’s life is threatened on many occasions, both from the fantastical world of the Faun and the human world she’s forced to remain in. Horror and death strike as her home falls to the revolution, and they quickly catch up with her, even as she strives to protect the life of her newborn brother and understand who she is truly meant to be.

This was an absolutely fascinating film. The settings alone were absolutely haunting, from the camp to the woods to the labyrinth, but most especially the Pale Man’s table. The attention to detail at every point brought this story to life, and truly filled you with constant dread. The way the Captain carried himself, the pile of worn-down shoes in the corner, the pomegranate on the Pale Man’s table, the microexpressions on every character’s face, Ofelia’s green dress (reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, especially within the context of the scene)... Every small detail contributed to the story, even when they aren’t actively moving the plot along. There was never a moment for the audience to feel relief or victory, even as Ofelia overcame trial after trial. I spent the entire film waiting for the next terrible thing to happen, but instead of being exhausting like other movies, this one has me thinking about it nonstop. I watched it the day before writing this, and I can only think of watching it again. I feel like it demands a second viewing to truly understand it, which is a marvelously rare feeling for me. The acting is also truly exceptional. Child actors tend to struggle with conveying complex emotion on screen, but Baquero conducted herself with the grace and skill of any experienced adult. She pulled at the childlike wonder in me, but still grounded my adult side with her gravity. Ofelia carried the burden of trauma, but never relinquished the belief in something more; Baquero conveyed that in a most excellent fashion. All of the actors were phenomenal, but Baquero outshone them. Also a brief aside: Jones was incredible as the Faun and the Pale Man. I’ve never felt so wildly uncomfortable or threatened as I did watching the Pale Man walk around. I hated it viscerally from an emotional standpoint, but from the film and acting perspectives, Jones created something mind-blowing. I definitely had to be mentally and emotionally prepared to watch this film, but it truly was a masterpiece. 10/10

The Garden of Words (2013)

starring Irino Miyu, Hanazawa Kana

Rainy days bring lonesome highschooler, Akizuki Takao, and struggling adult, Yukino Yukari, together at the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. Takao shares his dreams of becoming a shoemaker, but Yukari says very little about herself, instead focusing on supporting Takao’s goals. When the rainy season ends, the two don’t see each other for the rest of the summer. When school resumes, Takao accidentally learns a devastating truth about Yukari, but it doesn’t change the way he feels about her. His naive love, however, changes everything.

I greatly enjoyed the aesthetic of this film. It took place mostly in the beautiful gardens, with artistic emphasis on the water, trees, and plants that surround the character. It was truly beautiful to look at, and really serves to push the audience toward visiting the actual garden as well. The artists also focused in great detail on the small movements of the characters; each emotional change was reflected in their movements, which you don’t often see done so gently in any realm of animation. The whole film felt incredibly soft and touching, and truly brought to life the small moments that make living so special. Despite the artistic aspect being so beautifully done, I felt the story to be a bit lacking. While I enjoyed Takao’s story, and much of his process was befitting of a 15 year old boy, I felt that he could’ve been given more depth. Basically all of his potential for personality was crammed into the last five minutes, and what we got was beautiful. I definitely felt that the movie could have been longer than 45 minutes to accommodate this character expansion. The same can be said for Yukari. Her twist was monumental to the plot, but we didn’t get to see what the real impact of it was. She says throughout the film that she has to learn how to walk again, and we learn that she has some kind of physical disorder, but we never learn what that is and how it ties into her mental health, which seems to be addressed as an entirely separate point. We got several scenes of her alone, so even though Takao didn’t know much about her (which fit the story well), the audience certainly would have benefitted from learning more about her character, especially for the climactic end scene. Lastly, their relationship was kind of natural, if uncomfortable, at first--it makes sense for Takao, a young impressionable teenager, to fall in love with an older woman--but then it takes a turn for the hugely unhealthy--Yukari puts the burden of her own mental health on the shoulders of a boy--and this is implied to be okay. The film didn’t outright condone it, but it also didn’t condemn the potentially toxic dynamic. I wouldn’t say it was a pedophilic relationship by any means, but it was definitely unhealthy at its core; you could see hints of it over the course of the film, even though the story maintained its innocence. It’s definitely playing with fire though. 6/10

Part One // Part Two // Part Three // Part Four // Part Five // Part Six // Part Seven // Part Eight // Part Nine

[i-was-bored-so-this-happened]

Alright, some choices for you to make :D Matt or Emily? 11th Doctor or 12th Doctor? Matt/Emily or Jess/Emily? the current Master or Missy? Primeval or Doctor Who? David Tennant or Christopher Eccleston? Nine/Rose or Ten/Rose? Abby or Connor? Connor or Becker? Stephen or Nick? Nick or Danny?

Make Me Choose

Matt or Emily?Yes, I’m gay for Emily, how did you know?Emily. She’s clever and she’s sure of herself. She was treated like crap and she is still kind, and she still knows that she is the shit. Emily will put her foot down and say, “No. You move.” She’s also beautiful and I love her hair so much 

Eleven or Twelve?I love Eleven. I do. I love the hyper child-like Eleven and suddenly-dark Eleven. But Twelve. There’s just something about Twelve. It might be that he’s Scottish. It might be that he plays guitar. It might be that his speeches actually get through to me. It might be Clara’s Diner. I don’t know exactly what it is. But Twelve.

Memily or Jemily?There’s something about Jemily, a woman nearly two hundred years old and the most futuristic girl in the ARC, that just...I love it. I like Memily too, again the dynamic of one from the past and one from the future, but for some reason there’s something about Jemily that I just...loveBringing back an old edit for this

Dhawan!Master or Missy?Missy is great. Her aesthetic, her voice, her arc. But...…..uh, yeah, Sacha Dhawan has won in my mind. The detail and the acting and the look and the whole thing with O and how dramatic he is and just....yeah. A big reason I was really into Season Twelve. Dhawan!Master

Primeval or Doctor Who?Ooft. That’s hard. They’re both shows I grew up with, shows that were on at pretty much the same time. I’m more into Doctor Who now than I was then, mostly because I’m old enough to follow the stories and understand everything now, whereas Primeval I was just ooh, dinosaurs. I feel like, especially since I started watching Doctor Who properly, the two shows are pretty much equal now. I think I might just put gifs for both in here

David Tennant or Christopher Eccleston?I have grown up with David Tennant’s voice all around me. In Doctor Who episodes I can’t remember, in movies where either he or Billy Connolly were always the Scottish characters, in the documentaries my brother still watches. So, generally, David TennantAlso, Crowley

Nine/Rose or Ten/Rose?I....was really, really small when Nine and Ten where around. I remember like, twenty seconds of all of David Tennant’s run, and none of Christopher Eccleston’s. I have seen about three episodes of the Ninth Doctor and I love him already. Watching the Ninth and Tenth Doctors is on my Lockdown-To-Do-ListI’m going to put a gif of Nine because there’s already a gif of David Tennant

Abby or Connor?This is also a hard decision....uhm. Right now my heart is saying Abby. Some combination of her love for animals and trying to protect people and creatures (and she��s so freaking pretty) is putting Abby first

Connor or Becker?Becker. I don’t care what he says, he’s a soft bean who needs a hug and I love him. I don’t know why I’m picking so many people over Connor today, but I’m just going with my first thoughts, and my first thoughts are this gif

Stephen or Nick?Stephen. Stephen was my favourite when I was wee and didn’t understand what he’d done with Helen. Yes, I still love him, even though he made shit decisions, Stephen, whyyyy

Nick or Danny?Uhhh, Danny? Maybe? Yeah. Unsure why. I’m just going with what first pops into my head. I’m choosing Danny. Unsure if it’s because of Danny and Jenny’s relationship, or if it’s because of how he cares for Sarah, or how he’s meant to be a police officer but he breaks so many laws, or if it’s this goddamn smile

[alternatedoctors]

Timeline

 “First” Regeneration Cycle

Body - Title - Portrayed by.... 01 - The First Doctor - William Hartnell (Richard Hurndall*, David Bradley**) 02 - The Second Doctor - Patrick Troughton 03 - The Third Doctor - Jon Pertwee 04 - The Fourth Doctor - Tom Baker 05 - The Fifth Doctor - Peter Davidson 06 - The Sixth Doctor - Colin Baker 07 - The Seventh Doctor - Sylvestor McCoy 08 - The Eighth Doctor - Paul McGann 09 - The “War” Doctor - John Hurt 10 - The Ninth Doctor - Christopher Eccleston 11 - The Tenth Doctor - David Tennant 12 - The "Metacrisis” Doctor - David Tennant 13 - The Eleventh Doctor - Matt Smith

“Second” Regeneration Cycle

14 - The Twelfth Doctor - Peter Capaldi 15 - The Thirteenth Doctor - Jodie Whittaker

Unknown Placement

?? - The “Ruth” Doctor - Jo Martin ?? - The Curator - Tom Baker

Personal Alternate Doctors / Castings / Notes

16 - The Fourteenth Doctor - Gillian Anderson Notes: Short hair, outfit appearing as in Winser London photoshoot. Similar in character to Capaldi’s final season as the Doctor. Generally keeps calms and collected, but with a twinkle in her eyes she takes a quiet enjoyment to travelling the universe. After regenerating from the her previous 13th incarnation, the 14th Doctor takes a more restrained approach to adventure. She now tends to actively seek more quiet and passive locations, after seeing the accumulating effects of her presence across the space and time. She now vows more so to observe the universe rather than get directly involved with action and adventure. This is not to say that she shys away from people in need, indeed her sense of duty is punctuated by a distinct motherly-feel. This is similar to the 12th Doctor’s ‘magician granddad’ take, but she would appear to be less emotionally distant and more have more humanistic qualities. If the more optimistic portrayal’s of the 10th, 11th and 12th Doctors could be surmised as “Romantic Adventurer”, “Cosmic Fairytale”, “Magician Granddad”, then Anderson’s Doctor could be described as a “Dutiful Observer”. The darker sides of these Doctors can be boiled down to “the man who regrets, the man who forgets, and the man who forgives”. Anderson’s darker side could be aligned as “the tainted nostalgic”: She travels the universe, now not only seeking things to appearance things for the first time, but mostly to re-experience them to gain true validation and meaning from these experiences (akin to Donald Gleeson’s character by the end of About Time). Following her realization of the Timeless Child arc, she realizes that she remembers very little of even her most recent incarnations. For most of the season arc, the 14th Doctor consults old diaries (such as River Songs) for inspiration or just to relive the moments. (Indeed, I would love to have an episode in which 14 reads exerts of the diary, or relives adventures with old companions, in a fun, nostalgic wholesome scene inside the TARDIS). Whilst on the surface 14 expresses a comforting, positive outlook on her past lives, but like 10′s explanation of Gallifrey to Martha in S3, this is a choice to remember the good bits. The main arc this Doctor will go through will be seeking both a mix of old and new experiences, but slowly becoming more and more aware that, while her influence on the universe may be good as a whole, or short term, it is often those closest to her who repeatedly suffer. (I know this is an arc that was somewhat touched upon during both RTD’s and Moffat’s eras but I want to take this approach more subtly). The 14th Doctor represents a far more mature realization of a female doctor, and her character arc specifically would delve more into the Doctor’s true self, and the inner turmoil she hides from herself as all of her previous and future personalities constantly bubble away inside. ?? - The “Future” Doctor - Tilda Swinton Notes: Future, edgier, Doctor. Swinton’s Doctor would be cold, sophisicated, and no-nonsense.  Tilda Swinton’s Doctor is cold and weathered, more so than even Capaldi’s first season. She is callus and ruthless in saving people. By this point, she admits she does not even have a concept of how old she might be, but at least over 5,000 years. She has shortish hair, a fringe off to one side, a lanky suit and tie - similar to her appearance in Constantine (2005).  Swinton’s TARDIS design is similar to Capaldi’s in aesthetic, but dark and dingy. Practical looking, with bookshelves and shelves, without any silly gadgets. She has a very dry, morbid sense of humour, if any at all. At some point in her adventures, the 14th Doctor comes across this future incarnation of herself. Episode outline: We join 14 and compaion mid-adventure, they are aboard some sort of spacecraft. 14 has already done most of the work “saving” prior to the episode opening, but now faces a moral dilemma - save the crew aboard, or kill a new infantile species. Both species require the opposite atmospheric conditions to survive, so the Doctor can only choose one. At the last moment, the Swinton Doctor steps in and immediately jettisons the alien species. 14 is shocked and demands to know who she is, to which Swinton ignores her first, walking swiftly away. “Stop there, I demand you tell me who you are” shouts 14, following the mystery woman down a thin corridor.  “Doesn’t matter, you can go about your business now”. “Who gave you the right to commit genocide, that was an innocent species who barely just crawled out of the womb.” Swinton turns “I’m the Doctor. I own those rights.”  TITLE SEQUENCE Throughout the early parts of the episode it becomes clear that the future Doctor has no idea who 14 is, but does not dismiss her immediately, but eventually admits that 14 “probably is telling the truth” but she can’t actually remember her, to which 14 replies that is impossible, as she “never forgets a face”, to which Swinton replies calmly that she is so old now, she simply cannot remember everything she has ever done or experienced, or even simply she cannot remember everyone she once was. Eventually 14 and Swinton have a DMC. She no longer travels with companions, indeed cannot even remember who the last one was. Her lust for adventure and optimistic outlook has long been shattered, now instead she is tainted by millennia of saving people. It is routine for her, and she cares not for the people she saves, describing herself as a caretaker who can never quit. (To 14) “I remember being like you. (...) Well, not you specifically... but like you. Young. Optimistic, always looking for the good in the universe. Thinking that travelling through time and space was such a gift, and how lucky I was to have that all to myself. It took me a long time to realise I was wrong. I wasn’t lucky, or special. Not a traveler, or a tourist, or an observer. ... Nope. This is my burden to bear. Do you know how big the universe is. And then the size of that applied through all of space in all dimensions. When yourself make a habit of saving people, it’s no longer just kindness. It becomes expected. It’s like with any hobby; it starts off as such a small portion of your time. You do it every now and again, perhaps when you fancy it or when you need to. But that over time that enjoyment becomes duty. That becomes obsession. Then addiction, until eventually you’ve spiraled out of control and now, this is your life. But with no end to it. Just saving people, forever, like a caretaker who can never quit.”14 is shocked by this pessimistic future version of herself, and whilst her companions try to understand, 14 is very deeply effected by this, realising that despite the fact she is already incredibly old even by Timelord standards, compared to this future incarnation she is nothing. This is a Doctor who has even come out of retirement, now facing the consequences of a life that can never end, realising that even if she were to do nothing for the entire lifespan of the universe, she could just hop into the TARDIS, and do it all over again. Infinitely. The only reason she now saves people is because there is now nothing for her to do. She has lived every experience she can experience, touched every star to have ever been born, and watch them all die too.

[youremyonlyhope]

I got to meet my favorite Doctor, Christopher Eccleston, at NY Comic Con today.

I am so happy right now.

Eccleston’s panel was amazing. He’s so hilarious and he was very open. He talked a lot about his new book and his experience taking care of his father while he had dementia, and was so sincere when a couple of the fans who asked questions bought up their own fathers’ illnesses. And it was interesting to hear about things he’s done that I haven’t seen, like the Leftovers. And he really wanted to make sure to reiterate what he’s said at other panels and in interviews, that he loved being the Doctor and loves the fans that came from it. He knows that the media tried to paint him in a bad light, but he left the show because of his relationship with production, not because he didn’t enjoy being the Doctor and being a part of the show’s history. One of my favorite things he said during the panel was something along the lines of “He has two hearts, so he has a lot of love to give. That’s what playing the Doctor meant to me.”

Also at one point he said “fantastic” without meaning to reference Nine, but the audience started giggling, so he stopped talking and just started laughing at himself when he realized what he said. It was adorable.

I got to go to his autograph session later in the afternoon. He complimented my name, Hope, and told me that he thought it was beautiful. He said that most of the members of his family (and possibly himself too but I can’t remember now) had been born in a hospital called Hope Hospital, but it had been renamed and he was really upset about it because he thought Hope was a perfect name (he even talks about it in his new book). But yeah, him immediately complimenting my name and telling me a story about how much he loves my name made me go from starstruck to like... frozen in happiness. I couldn’t say much more after that besides that he was my favorite Doctor and that I was so happy to be meeting him.

My mom had come to comic con with me (she wanted to meet Nichelle Nichols, and honestly I fangirled over Nichelle more than my mom did when we did) so she got to talk to him during my autograph session too. During his panel, Chris said that one of the things he is a big fan of is black American music, which immediately made me and my mom joke that he should come over to our house. So during the autograph session, my mom said “Hey, if you like black music, you should listen to WBGO on Saturday mornings. Their Rhythm Revue is Motown and R&B all morning” and Chris took out his phone and actually WROTE DOWN what my mom said. So basically, now my mom’s respect for Chris has multiplied by a billion.

I wish I could have said more to him during the autograph session, but I don’t know what I would have said. I was kind of still in shock that I was meeting my favorite Doctor. I never thought I’d get a chance to meet him since he never did conventions before this year, and I’d kind of accepted that. Even when I found out he was coming to NY Comic Con this year, I was still on the fence about going. But when I read this article a week or two ago, I decided then that I had to go to Comic Con and meet him. So I bought last minute tickets to the only day that was still open, which was luckily one of the two days Christopher is here and the day of his panel. And I got to meet him.

Basically, I am really happy right now. And I have never loved Christopher Eccleston and the Ninth Doctor more.

[dmydfilmreviews]

DRUNK RANKING OF FIFTY MARVEL SHITHEADS

 The villains are all rubbish aren’t they? Well whatever, fuck if there’s more than fifty they’re not worth remembering, let’s go now SPOILERS

50. CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON HAVING NO FUN

49. SOME BIG BULL GUY WHO’S NOT CALLED SCOURGE

48. FUCKING TASERFACE

Oh my God this is the shittest joke and they know it, it just goes on and on and on. Bradley Cooper’s awful in this bit too and he’s usually great

42. NOT THE MANDARIN

Bald

46. BIG BLUE MAN CALLED LAWFI

Was he Loki’s dad or something? Well done for that I guess. Did he die? I don’t know

46. THE DESTROYER

Big Dildo

47. GO FISH HENCHMAN

HOT

37. THE SOVEREIGN

Loads of Guardians 2 is boring and annoying and these guys are boring and annoying

45. KORATH

WHO?

47. SCOURGE

Yeah, yeah you’re supposed to love him or whatever but he’s a big afterthought. What was up with that shot of him slinking away with the people on the bridge all hooded or whatever? He sucks, nobody likes him

46. TWO SHOCKERS

YOU GET A SHOCKER, YOU GET A SHOCKER, YOU GET A SHOCKER one of them is Bokeem Woodbine, who has the coolest name in the world and deserved much better

37. THE VIDEOGAMEY PEOPLE FROM INFINITY WAR

Great movie, video-gamey looking people

45. THE TERRIBLE TINKERER

Seems like a cool guy. The actor is in everything!

45. RONAN

A VERY SHOUTY WASTE TWICE NOW

44. HERR STRUCKER IT’S THE AVENGERS

Very funny lines revolve around him but it’s probably good he got done offscreen we don’t need to give Nazis anymore airtime

34. MICKEY ROURKE

Oh for fucks sake

33. SONNY BIRCH?

Sonny BITCH

31. BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH DICKING AROUND WITH CGI AGAIN

Very underwhelming (like a lot of Doctor Strange) for what should have been a huge amazing satan like threat or whatever. It is fun to hear benedict cumbernaut say his name over and over again though DORRRMOOMOOOO

34. CROSSBONES STYLE

I DON’T FUCK LIKE THAT NO MORE

45. MADS MIKKAELSON

forever horny

47. GHOST

Not really a villain and kind of rubbish effects but a trier or whatever

47. BATROC ZE LEAPER

It is AMAZING that they got this guy in seriously google him

27. JUDE LAW AND THE BLUE BALL BUNCH

Yoghurt? A nice avatar for the myriad failures of the shittest gender

39. ALEXANDER PIERCE

HE’S ROBERT REDFORD!

38. SURTUR

BIG MONSTERRRRRRR! Does exactly what he says on the tin

40. ABOMINATION

Oh my god tim roth tries so, so hard but he just ends up looking like a big claggy poo. Roth’s a real slimy ratbag for the rest of the movie though, good effort, underrated

52. GENERAL ROSS

What a knob, don’t you ever get tired of being wrong? A poohead

41. JUSTIN HAMMER

A lot of fun, they should bring him back. Looks like he sleeps with a lot of sex workers and cries a lot

41. NOT THE MANDARIN TWO

Great, cocky, has absolutely fucking horrible shoes. A dirty man

29. A MAN CALLED ‘DARREN CROSS’ WHO SQUASHES A LAMB

Oh man this guy is so fucking good and terrible! He squashes someone into like a disgusting bubble of flesh and he also looks like he cries a lot and I think he wears a leather jacket at some point. Amazing. Bald

19. SUPREME ANNETTE BENING

What a sassy fucking bitch she looked like she was having a great time in that nirvana concert dream place, rocks a leather jacket way better than ‘darren cross’. Skillful

39. EGG

I don’t know what the fucking hell was going on here but they wasted KURT RUSSELL but still, it’s KURT RUSSELL LOOK AT THAT BEARRD

22. NOT THE MANDARIN 3

This guy is genuinely funny and the only good thing Ben Kinglsey had done in like fifty eight years and it was amazingly funny how it pissed off a load of twats. It’s better than the comics!

10. JEFF BRIDGES

Oh, you know the line. What a line. Bald. Says ‘hold still ya little prick’ to tony at one point and there’s a bit where he wears pyjamas in a really pissed off way. And he rides a Segway. Incredible.

26. ARNIN ZOLA

This is a hell of a performance, both times. Toby Jones is always amazing and he’s amazing here, a perfect comic-booky little nazi turd who’s horrible and can’t stand it when tommy lee jones chews a steak in front of him. He’s so good. And then in winter soldier he’s even fucking creepier! That is hella design work! Love it

14. TALOS SLURPS A SMOOTHIE

Ok he’s not really bad but he seems like a great guy who you’d love to hang out with. He also beats the SHIT out of Samuel l Jackson in that library or whatever and he can become anyone else on this list so he can be like Sam Rockwell with Toby Jones’ dick or whatever, if that’s what you want. Ben Mendellsohn is the GOAT

28 and 29. TWINSIES

Again, not really bad but they’re bad for a while. They’re Avengers, of course they’re cool. Joss Whedon seems to like looking down her dress too much though, seriously it happens all the time, come on

12. NEBULA

NOT BAD AGAIN but while she is bad she’s great, she’s the only actress who realizes how funny it is that she’s SHOUTING ALL THE TIME. And she’s all clicky, it’s disgusting

11. KLAW

Andy Serkis is having a FUCKING BALL in these movies BRING HIM BACK

10. JEFF GOLDBLUM

Hahahahahaha

9. RED SKULL

Just like the comics. Horny boy.

8. WINTER SOLDIER

Scary as fuck

7. THE VULTURE

Everything homecoming does is fucking great and taking a shitty pile of shit like the vulture and making him great is one of the bestthings. Actually relatable, actually a great guy, fuck tony stark, even his design is amazing with that jacket and those little eyes and his huge scary rig. Fucking Michael Keaton man. Give the vulture his own movie. Bad dad.

6. HELA

SISSY THAT WALK

5. ZEMO

WHOOO HE’S NOT A CHARACTER HE’S THE AVENGERS OWN FAILINGS AND LIMITATIONS GIVEN FORRRMMMMM WHOOOOOOO

4. KILLMONGER

Should have had more screentime and suffers from some wonky plot issues but hell, still. The most compelling, real-world grounded villain they have and a complete monster but still, so, so sad and kind of right. This one burns

3. ULTRON

A huge sexy ass, a fascinating mass of deranged AI and tony stark’s failings and fucked up rubbish humankind not being able to sort itself out. Acts like an absolutely terrifying child through the whole thing and a huge prick by the end. But you still feel sorry for him. His final exchange with the vision is one of the most beautiful, poetic things ever written for the whole MCU.

2. LOKI

A hero. But also, what a villain.

1.       THANOS

The terrifying embodiment of failure and inevitability, but also somehow a multi-faceted and intriguing character in his own right. Infinity War is his movie, and he’s a huge piece of shit but you somehow feel sorry for him. A triumph of writing, performance and design, his battle on Titan is one of the most incredible realisations of comic book superpower fighting ever put on screen. Terrifying. There’s no way Endgame is going to fuck him up. Also: Daddy.

1.       GREGG TURKINGTON

Yeah he’s too by the book but he’s actually the universes’ biggest hero IF HE HADN’T HAVE FIRED ANT MAN FROM BASKIN AND ROBBINS THEN NONE OF THAT SHIT WOULD HAVE EVER HAPPENED AND THEY WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GO TO THE QUANTUM REALM IN ENDGAME LIKE THEY’RE GOING TO AND THANOS WOULD HAVE WON FOREVER A TRUE HERO FIVE BAGS OF POPCORN BRING BACK THE HOBBIT

POPULAR MOVIES THAT SPEND AGES BUILDING UP THEIR HEROES INTO CHARACTERS YOU WANT TO SPEND TIME WITH ARE NATURALLY NOT GOING TO HAVE AS MUCH TIME TO BUILD UP THEIR VILLAINS THE END

[9hiddenshallows]

“If there has been love, which there was, and is, it, he, can never die.”

30.10.19

BEWARE! SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!

I admit it. Reading the last four chapters of the book was a really bad idea of mine. But I wanted to finish the book before the audio was released. Mission accomplished… success unlocked. It cost me lots of Kleenex. We have been plunged into Chris’ different stages of live – his childhood, the beginning of his career, his struggles, his battles – and now we are back to the heart of the matter: Ronnie Eccleston and the beginning of his sad end. The dementia. The Ecclestons were told about the disease after a serious car accident Ronnie had in the 2000s. It was a bad unexpected news for the family who couldn’t understand where this might have come from at first. The realisation that it could be hereditary came later. Chris has done a lot of researches about the disease to be able to work around it and understand the current condition of his father and how it was gonna evolve in the next years. It was really heartbreaking for him. Even more to realise that the signs had been there for a while but no one had been able to interpret them at the moment. Of course this diagnosis was life-changing for everyone and Chris tells us how much it has used this experience, this anger toward the disease that was taking away his father in the movie Flesh and Blood (2002). This movie is all about a young man looking for his biological parents and finding out they are deeply disabled and so, it makes it impossible for them to create a real bond with a son they didn’t even know. This incredible man who shaped Christopher as we know him, who has taught him how to live, was now showing him how to die. This was a hard reality for Chris. And he remembered one particular day that has broken his heart to pieces. He was doing crosswords in a cottage in Cornwall that he had rented for the holidays season and Ronnie couldn’t believe he was his son. This led to a terrible state of confusion and anger for Ronnie, and great guilt for Chris. After that, he has had to pretend that he was just a friend of the family. Another scene of this sort happened on Christmas Day and Chris was forced to leave the house to avoid another fit from his father who was considering him as a kind of threat. Elsie was having the hardest part of them all. She was Ronnie’s wife but also his carer. For over a decade, she took care of him the best she could with the little means and knowledge she had on how to handle a person with dementia. No family is prepared when such a disease strikes. All you can do is spend lots of time with your loved one and create memories before it’s too late. Chapter 22 holds a touch of bitterness and cuteness that makes your heart melt. It’s very short and tells how the Ecclestons’ boys have convinced their mother that it would be for the best if their father was in a home. She had been taking of him on her own for over ten years and it was too much for her emotionally and physically. Putting her Ronnie in a home was the hardest day of her life though because they weren’t taking care of him like the dedicated wife she was had been taking care of him. Heart breaking. Despite the disease, despite Ronnie not remembering her, their love survived. My heart can’t handle such a deep and faithful love. Add to that tender gut-wrenching moment that Ronnie got to meet baby Albert before his end. Right in the feelings. Chapter 23. The end. No need to be a soothsayer to understand what this is all about. The last hopes of the Eccleston’s family and the downfall that followed. Ronnie Eccleston died of a pneumonia after going through surgery for a broken hip. Alan was the one who broke the news to Chris, and Chris told their mother. There is a reflection on religion in chapter. Chris has openly admitted that he was an atheist. He doesn’t believe in God and that was why he was so hesitant to go and see his father in the coffin. Ronnie was an atheist too but in his time, you just couldn’t openly admit something this big. There also another idea implying that Chris places his faith in nature, which is more concrete than the idea of an immaterial God. The anecdote about the black bird finally flying away being Ronnie was as sad as beautiful and poetic. And yet, if Ronnie was dead, if he wasn’t there physically anymore, the memories of him still were; the love he gave his family was still there, living through all of them. The title of the twenty-fourth and last chapter of I Love The Bones Of You is a quote from Macbeth when Macbeth tries to catch the dagger he sees before him and realises it is just a product from his imagination. The choice of this quote hasn’t been done randomly. I have thee not: ‘my father is dead, he’s not physically by my side anymore’; And yet I see thee still: ‘but he hasn’t abandoned our family or myself.’ Christopher Eccleston is Christopher Eccleston because Ronnie has shaped him into the man he has become. A part of Ronnie will live on with his kids. There is this quote from a TV show I’ve watched recently that says: children are their parents’ immortality. That’s a part of you that survives you and transmits your values, your principles, your habits so you won’t be forgotten. This chapter is a recap, a sort of introspection on everything that Chris has gone through and how he arrived where he is today. He might not be at his best but he has become more optimistic: he is better than he had been a couple years ago. He has come back from hell and back and his life is much better now. He is in a better place, more in peace with himself. Just one last thing: finishing the book on the eulogy he wrote for his father’s funeral was cruel for the reader but also the most beautiful and perfect way to end this homage to the wonderful person Ronald Eccleston was, to the legacy he has left to the world, to the lessons he has taught his sons who is now transmitting it to his own children. To conclude this long review, I would say that I Love The Bones Of You isn’t the book of the year. It probably won’t win a Pulitzer, won’t be considered as classical literature. It’s not beautifully written, it’s not perfect. And yet, it is worth reading. These memoirs are an amazing homage to a deceased man who has been a model and an example not to follow for a man trying to find his way in this world. I Love The Bones Of You is a honest, upsetting, moving record of Christopher Eccleston’s life, of his personal battles, of his past, present and future goals. I only have one thing to say to finish this review: kudos on you, sir, and thank you. You have all of my support today and for the many years to come.