#ii find all stars to be very entertaining! its meant to be fun and for me its very fun

[torantuga]

aghhhh artblock's (is it artblock??) driving me crazy but i physically cldnt stop myself from drawing him....

[joeygoeshollywood]

My 25 Favorite Films of 2020

Well, this was quite the crazy year, especially for movies. While many films that were slated to be released this year were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year still provided some laughs, tears, and thrills both in theaters and in the living room. 

(NOTE: Due to the delayed awards season calendar and postponed Oscar bait films that are unavailable to be seen before the end of 2020, this list will eventually be updated after having seen the following films: The Father, Minari, News of the World, Nomadland, One Night in Miami, Pieces of a Woman, Promising Young Woman)

Here are my 25 favorite films of the year:

25. Kajillionaire 

Quirky filmmaker Miranda July is back with her first feature in nearly a decade. Kajillionaire is a bizarre but captivating tale about a family of criminal grifters and how the daughter reevaluates her strained relationship with her parents after an outsider is welcomed into the fold. Evan Rachel Wood takes what could have easily been dismissed as a goofy caricature in Old Dolio (yes, that’s her name) and turns into a heartfelt portrayal of a woman whose lifestyle of freeloading dictated by her parents (played by Debra Winger and Richard Jenkins) becomes her own crisis. In many ways, Kajillionaire feels like a fantasy that keeps people asking, “What on earth is going on?” And this time, it’s for the best. 

24. Freaky

Revamping decades-old plots like the body-swapping antics from Freaky Friday can either result in a predictable failure or a surprising success. Thankfully, Freaky falls into the latter category. In this horror comedy, a deranged serial killer (played by Vince Vaughn) swaps bodies with his victim, a timid teen girl (played by Kathryn Newton). What makes the film work though are the dedicated lead performances, particularly by Vaughn, who is pretty convincing as young girl trapped in a grown man’s body. With a few good laughs and decent thrills, Freaky is worth the watch. 

23. The Outpost

The Outpost is an intense film about the real-life story of small group of US troops isolated by surrounding mountains in Afghanistan, under the constant threat of the Taliban, which ultimately comes to a head in the Battle of Kamdesh. The film captures the harrowing experiences of these soldiers with heart-pounding action sequences, which are fueled by a solid cast including Scott Eastwood, Caleb Landry Jones, and Orlando Bloom. 

22. Uncle Frank

Paul Bettany may be best known for playing The Vision in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but he should be celebrated as his title character in Uncle Frank, a touching dramedy set in 1973 about an NYU professor who returns home to his estranged family for his father’s funeral while his niece, played by rising star Sophia Lillis, idolizes him for teaching her to be her authentic self while he keeps his sexuality a secret. Bettany brilliantly balances the coolness of his stature with the internal agony that ultimately hits a boiling point, which is counterbalanced by Peter Macdissi’s fun performance as Frank’s happy-go-lucky lover who accompanies him back home despite his wishes. 

21. Hillbilly Elegy

Hillbilly Elegy was panned by critics over politics that had absolutely no role the film. Based on the best-selling memoir by J.D. Vance, the newest feature from Ron Howard shows the journey of a boy who despite all odds growing up in a poor family that constantly struggled with abuse and addition managed to get into Yale Law School and achieve the American dream. While both Gabriel Basso and Owen Asztalos hold the film together as the younger and older Vance in the present and flashback scenes, Amy Adams as the impulsive, irresponsible mother and an unrecognizable Glenn Close as the no-nonsense inspiring grandmother that turn Hillbilly Elegy into an acting tour de force. 

20. The Trial of the Chicago 7

Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin sits in the director’s chair once again in this courtroom drama about the real-life protesters who showed up in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. With themes that resonate today, The Trial of the Chicago 7 benefits from its sharp screenplay, well-paced editing, and an outstanding ensemble cast that includes Eddie Redmayne, Mark Rylance, Yahoo Abdul-Mateen II, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jeremy Strong, Frank Langella, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Michael Keaton. 

19. Yellow Rose

Broadway actress Eva Noblezada makes her film debut as an aspiring country singer on the run after her mother, an illegal immigrant, is obtained for deportation. Yellow Rose presents a nuanced depiction of US immigration, but at the heart of it is a heartbreaking story of a young woman who struggles between putting her family or her dreams first. Between Noblezada’s powerful performance and solid original music, Yellow Rose hits all the right chords. 

18. Palm Springs

Move over, Groundhog Day. While the Bill Murray classic has largely monopolized the time loop film genre, Palm Springs gives it a run for its money. Andy Sandberg and Cristin Milioti star as the unlikely duo who are stranded reliving the same dreaded wedding day involving mutual acquaintances and their desperate efforts to escape the seemingly inescapable. The Hulu comedy stands on its own two feet for the good laughs, the chemistry between the two leads, and the film’s emotionally-grounded plot.  

17. Let Him Go

Kevin Costner and Diane Lane reunite on the big screen after playing farmer parents in Man of Steel to rancher grandparents in Let Him Go, although this time they are able to display their full acting chops. In this period dramatic thriller, they set out to find their only grandchild following the death of their son only to discover that the widowed daughter-in-law remarried into an infamous crime family. While both Costner and Lane tug at the heartstrings, it’s Lesley Manville, who plays the ruthless matriarch of the family, that really takes command of the screen. Ultimately, Let Him Go is all about family and the lengths one is willing to go to protect it. 

16. Unhinged

In a year plagued by the pandemic, Unhinged led the way to the revival of movie theaters back in August and perhaps in some ways it was meant to be the film to do so as the themes of a rage-fueled society and the lack of human connection carry weight. Russell Crowe stars, as the title suggests, as an unhinged psychopath whose road rage torments a woman and her adolescent son. Unhinged is the epitome of pure entertainment and is why we go to the movies. While it’s not quite the most sophisticated thriller of the year, it’s still one helluva ride. 

15. Emma

Anya Taylor-Joy has had quite the year with both highs (The Queen’s Gambit) and lows (The New Mutants). But it began before the pandemic with the release of Emma, which she stars as the iconic Jane Austen title character, a socialite who meddles in the love life of others while refusing to acknowledge her own shortcomings in that department. Supported with a strong ensemble cast, beautiful production design, and comedic charm, Emma is not to be missed. 

14. The Invisible Man

ln the era of remakes and reboots, very few are as good as Universal’s latest monster flick revival of The Invisible Man. Elisabeth Moss stars as a woman who believes she’s being haunted by her abusive ex-husband, someone she becomes convinced faked his own death and is stalking her without being able to be seen. Filmmaker Leigh Whannell, the writer behind the Saw and Insidious horror franchises, generates good thrills and high-wire tension with the help of high production value and a terrifyingly-good performance from Moss. 

13. Dick Johnson is Dead

Documentarian Kirsten Johnson filmed a beautiful, intimate tribute to her father Dick Johnson, who has been suffering from Alzheimer's in the final years of his life. However, instead of dreading his death, both daughter and father embrace it by having him acting out several scenes of his over-the-top demises. Dick Johnson is Dead may focus on the subject manner of death, but this documentary actually celebrates life and the laughs that happen along the way. 

12. The Wolf of Snow Hollow

Perhaps one of the littlest-known films of the year, The Wolf of Snow Hollow is not your conventional indie comedy horror flick. Writer/director Jim Cummings stars as an overly-heated police officer who attempts to get to the bottom of a string of murders in his small, snowy Utah town by what appears to be some sort of werewolf, though he remains unconvinced. Featuring one of the final performances from veteran actor Robert Forster, The Wolf of Snow Hollow uses its quirky sense of humor to stand out from the rest of the pack. 

11. The Gentlemen 

The Gentlemen is a fun, action-packed, crime caper from Guy Ritchie about the London turf war of drug kingpins. Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Goulding, Michelle Dockery, and Colin Ferrell all round out the strong cast, but its Hugh Grant that really steals the show as the comedically manipulative Fletcher, whose only allegiance is to himself. If you like a stylish film with well-choreographed violence and a fast-paced plot, The Gentlemen should be your cup of tea.  

10. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Some of the best play-to-film adaptations are the films that feel like you’re watching a play, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is one of them. Produced by Denzel Washington, Viola Davis gives a transformative performance as Ma Rainey, known as the “mother of the blues” and the clash she had with a pair of White music producers, but she also butts heads with her trumpet player (played by the late Chadwick Boseman), who also has his own music ambitions. While Davis obviously gives other Oscar-worthy performance, it was Boseman who was able to show how incredibly gifted he was as an actor. And while the world lost him far too soon, at least his last role ended up being his greatest. 

9. The Kid Detective

One of the biggest surprises of the year was how good a movie starring and produced by Adam Brody was. Brody plays a washed up former kid detective who attempts to revive his once-celebrated career of solving mysteries by getting to the bottom of a murder in his hometown. The Kid Detective is a brilliant dark comedy from newcomer writer/director Evan Morgan with good laughs, plenty of plot twists, and a career-best performance from Brody, who proves he’s more than just the pretty face from The O.C. we all know him as. 

8. Mank

Citizen Kane is widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made and Mank is a worthy tribute. Gary Oldman stars as the title character Herman “Mank” Mankiewicz, the Oscar-winning screenwriter behind the iconic film. David Fincher (The Social Network, Gone Girl) managed to capture the epic scale of the 1941 classic that would make Orson Welles proud. 

7. Soul

Soul is one of those rare existential Pixar films that goes beyond being children’s entertainment. Following in the footsteps of 2015′s Inside Out, Soul depicts what happens to the soul of a jazz musician who’s convinced his time on Earth isn’t over. While the universe created to explain how souls work and the plot that went along with it falls short of its emotions predecessor, Soul is still high-caliber among Pixar films and a great movie for both kids and adults alike. 

6. Another Round

Perhaps the greatest work from Swedish director Thomas Vinterberg to date, Another Round follows four unsatisfied middle aged men who decide to take a theory of task from a Norwegian psychiatrist, who concluded that maintaining a blood alcohol level of 0.050 will enhance their mental and psychological state. Mads Mikkelsen, who’s best known to American audiences as Hannibal Lecter in the short-lived NBC series Hannibal and the Bond villain in Casino Royale, offers a strong, nuanced performance as one of the four educators who embraces this drinking challenge in a film that provides an equal balance of chuckles, cringes, and emotional gut punches. 

5. I’m Thinking of Ending Things

From the crazy mastermind of Charlie Kaufman, the writer behind Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Anomalisa, his latest on Netflix is too a mind-bender. I’m Thinking of Ending Things is a surreal, zany, and at times disturbing examination of the human condition as the nameless female protagonist played by an incredible Jessie Buckley mulls over breaking up with her boyfriend (played by Jesse Plemons) while visiting his parents’ house. Accompanied with a stellar production design and a crazy-good performance from Toni Collette as “Mother,” Kaufman newest cerebral feature lives up to his iconic reputation of filmmaking. 

4. Da 5 Bloods

Spike Lee is one of the few genius filmmakers who is able to blend multiple genres together and his latest film is no different. Da 5 Bloods is an action adventure, buddy comedy, dramatic character study, and war movie all wrapped up into one about a group of Vietnam War veterans who return to the former battlegrounds to find the remains of one of their fallen soldiers as well as some treasure that they kept hidden years ago. With a strong ensemble cast that includes the late Chadwick Boseman, its longtime character actor Delroy Lindo who steals the show with his powerful performance. Da 5 Bloods is easily one of Netflix’s strongest films to date. 

3. The Assistant

One of the first #MeToo-era films, The Assistant offers the day in the life of a low-level female staffer of a production company who is haunted by the presence of her Harvey Weinstein-like boss (who never actually appears in the film). However, rather than depicting the dramatics of sexual misconduct, The Assistant uses the common subtleties and nuances of the workplace yet maintains the same tension and heartbreak. Anchored by the remarkable, devastating performance by up-and-comer Julia Garner (Ozark), The Assistant is as important as it is well-done. 

2. Sound of Metal

Riz Ahmed gives the performance of his career as a heavy metal drummer and former addict whose sudden battle with going deaf upends his life. Sound of Metal is an incredible experience that gives a rare glimpse in the American deaf community which is enhanced by the remarkable sound design that helps the audience actually hear what the musician is going through. It’s truly one of the most rewarding films of the year. 

1. The Climb

The Climb takes the generic “man sleeps with his best friend’s fiancé” storyline and turns it on its head. In his feature debut as writer and director, Michael Angelo Covino leads as the not-so-apologetic adulterer Mike and Kyle Marvin, who co-wrote the film, is the good-hearted Kyle who struggles to whether or not to forgive his best friend’s ultimately betrayal. Not only is The Climb is quirky and hilariously written, it’s a remarkably well-made comedy with some of the year’s best cinematography. Between a strong cast, a superb screenplay, and the extremely-high production value, The Climb is at the top of the mountain of 2020′s best films. 

[titusmoody]

It’s the end of the first quarter of 2021. Here’s a brief review of the things I watched/played/read.

Games

Donut County- pretty charming, very easy, fairly satisfying to play. I’d recommend Untitled Goose Game over this, though.

Heaven’s Vault- If you only have room in your life for one space archaeology game, play Outer Wilds instead. However, you get to translate alien writings yourself (in a simplified game way) in this one, so I’d recommend both. 

Donkey Kong Country 3 103%- so many fun level mechanics in this one. The difficulty of finding and completing everything in the game was spot-on for me.

Donkey Kong Country 2 102%- Each level mechanic in this one is explored and used in far more interesting ways than DKC3, though I honestly had more fun with 3 this time around. This one is the “dark, edgy” one aesthetically which is extremely dumb. Also, there was a lot of guesswork involved in finding some of the hidden stuff, which I didn’t enjoy.

The Room 4- I like escape room games. This one was good. It continued 3′s trend of trying to shake up the format a little, which is fine (better here than in 3, I think) but I wouldn’t have minded if all 4 stayed exactly the same, just with new puzzles.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales- Everything about it was competent. Not only was each gameplay activity fine-tuned to feel good, but the structure of the game also kept kept you experiencing a good variety of each activity. PS5 graphics are good, too. Nothing about it really got me excited to play it, it was just a good after work unwinding thing.

Cyberpunk 2077- Exactly the opposite of Spider-Man in terms of quality consistency. There are aspects of this game that are amazing, horrible, and every step in between. However, I’ve thought about it quite a bit and will probably continue to think about it for both good and bad reasons.

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair- Donkey Kong Country has better level design and controls. Well, the best levels of this were every bit as good as the best DKC levels, and maybe I’m just so familiar with DKC levels that I zone out a little during the boring bits, but had to pay attention to every moment of this game. Still, I didn’t have as much of an overall good time as the DKC games I played earlier.

Hue- Good 2D puzzle-platformer. I’m no longer surprised by these, but I still appreciate them, much in the same way as I like playing escape room games. I was under the impression for a few years that because I understood the potential of puzzle platformers, it meant I wouldn’t want to play any more of them, but that’s simply not true. I had a good time with Hue.

Shows

Gravity Falls- It’s fine. Pretty entertaining. I wish there were more low-stakes kinds of episodes, just to get more familiar with different sides of the characters. It would have made the characters and setting feel more rounded.

Cowboy Bepop- I didn’t get the hype for this show when I first watched it at 21, and now I can say that it’s simply not my kind of show. I have much more appreciation for it now than I did the first time, but it doesn’t hit me emotionally the same way that it seems to hit so many people. 

Seinfeld- It’s Seinfeld. There was precisely one episode that I had never seen before, plus confirmation that I didn’t dream the episode that’s told in backwards chunks like Memento and is set in India.

Paranoia Agent- While it was disappointing that this ended up being a more simple morality tale than every Satoshi Kon movie I’ve seen, I still enjoyed watching this a lot.

Aggretsuko- I liked the mundane, every-day storylines like a modern, more empathetic Seinfeld. Unfortunately as the show went on, there were more and more wacky situations that no one actually gets into. I might watch the upcoming season if I hear that it’s less ridiculous.

Over the Garden Wall- This was really cool and I’m glad it exists. It’s ten episodes long, which is perfect for it. I thought it was at its weakest during the more lighthearted or humorous moments--precisely the opposite of Gravity Falls. The word “classy” comes to mind to describe this show. 

Beastars- Really good when it isn’t falling into anime plot and dialog cliches. A lot of this first season is dedicated to introducing characters and the setting, which I thought was very well done. I’m curious to see what Season 2 is like.

Movies

Scott Pilgrim vs the World- It’s a fun movie to watch. It definitely makes many of the characters’ flaws seem like more fun than it probably should, but I’m more bothered by the criticism I hear that boils down to “it’s a bad movie because the characters are bad people” which I suspect is an impression you only get if you lack both empathy and media comprehension.

Big- Kinda bad. It has iconic moments that are only possible with its weird premise, but it’s just not a premise that supports an entire good movie. 

Phantom of the Opera- Way better and way worse than I remember. Has the precise right amount of horses.

Knives Out- Not really a movie I needed to watch a second time, but it sure is good.

District 9- I didn’t remember most of this movie and unfortunately I zoned out for most of this rewatch, so I still feel like I don’t know what it’s about.

From up on Poppy Hill- Not one of the top tier Ghibli movies, but still really good in a down-to-earth way that I like from Ghibli. 

Enter the Dragon- I knew to expect everything to be turned up to 11, which is good because it really is a lot. I liked it, though.

Shutter Island- I have never actually liked this kind of twist-reliant movie. I thought I would for many years, but I was always disappointed. At least now I am aware that it’s not what I’m into.

Soul- The premise is much too convoluted, but it does have an excellent moment near the end.

Onward- I liked this one a lot. Why don’t more people talk about this one? It’s definitely better than Coco, which itself was really good.

A Silent Voice- The kind of movie that reminds me that sometimes Japanese storytelling is more to my taste than Hollywood style, in that scenes can be more emotionally ambiguous. 

Tangled- Good in exactly the same way as Frozen and Moana. I can’t really complain, but this isn’t the same situation as puzzle platformers or escape rooms. In this case, I do get a little sick of being completely unsurprised. This movie was made first, so it’s only by chance that this is the one that I saw last.

Monsters University- A good movie, but it really doesn’t have to be about the same characters as Monsters Inc. 

Monty Python and the Holy Grail- Still funny

The Departed- Good if you want an enjoyable crime thriller to watch, bad if you want a Scorcese movie.

Titanic- Getting very drunk and watching this with Brittany might be the best time I had in the past three months. Maybe I won’t think too hard about why a movie about the overdue, violent death of a social order resonates with me right now.

Prince of Egypt- Impressive and grand, but I didn’t really care about the characters or story.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan- A good but not great (by TNG standards) concept for an episode that was made extremely enjoyable by the added budget and longer runtime of a movie.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock- Not as good, but still watchable.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home- The kind of ridiculous concept you’d only make when you’ve already had three successful movies and are confident that you’ll be able to make at least another couple. The gang go back to the 1980s (present day to the original audience) and save the whales. It’s apparently exactly the right movie to watch if this is the third consecutive Star Trek movie you’re watching.

Mamma Mia- A lot of fun, but has weird problems that seem like they would’ve been easy to solve at the script level. Maybe if the conflicts had been introduced early on instead of dragging the whole pace of the movie down for much of the last 20 minutes, I would’ve enjoyed the whole thing.

Books

The Well of Ascension- The second book of a trilogy. Very competent. Introduces a whole lot of minor conflicts that really keep the momentum going and give the characters short-term goals that contribute to the overall plot and their arcs. 

The Hero of Ages- The final book in the same trilogy. Equally competent. I wish there had been more long-term payoffs, which is the trade-off you make by stuffing the books full of those short-term conflicts. Spoilers ahead, but not ones that I think ruin the experience of reading. It’s very odd that of three of the central characters, one dies, one becomes a god and then dies, and one becomes God. 

Check Please- About as pleasant as it gets. Full of the type of minor character that sitcoms end up running into the ground because they’re too one-note (Creed from The Office, for instance) but in a series with a pre-planned length, there’s no chance for it to get stale. Plus, I really liked both of the lead characters.

Milkman- Good book about “The Troubles” in Ireland. Very odd collection of characters, but the narrator had an extremely enjoyable voice to read. 

And Then There Were None- Classic mystery story for a reason. Feels more like a Hitchcock movie than Sherlock Holmes. I read it in one day both because the prose was easy and I wanted to know what happened next. Not much substance to it, unfortunately.

Homegoing- Extremely ambitous book where each chapter is narrated by the descendant of a previous chapter, alternating between two branches of the same family. I liked it quite a bit, though because I only finished it yesterday I don’t have much reflection done yet so my opinion has yet to solidify.

[wistfulcynic]

Their Way By Moonlight: Broken (Chapter 16)

In which the chapter title says it all, really. 

For @thisonesatellite​​ and @ohmightydevviepuu​​ and @katie-dub​​, YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID 😘😘😘 (and shoutout to @winterbythesea​​ for filling the gaping holes in my video game knowledge) 

SUMMARY: A new curse has fallen on Storybrooke and this time Emma is trapped inside it, deliberately separated from Henry and anyone else who might  help her break it. But what no one knows –including her own cursed self– is that she and Killian have the ability to share their dreams, and are working together in secret to find a way to break the curse and free everyone from a new and dangerous foe.

Rating: M

AO3

- 

Broken: 

All her life Emma had loved to sleep, but she wasn’t the biggest fan of naps. Sleep, to her, involved putting on comfy, loose clothing, making the room as dark as possible, burrowing into her pillows and blankets and letting oblivion wrap her in its soothing embrace for at least eight hours, preferably more. Obviously, those perfect conditions didn’t happen often, but still a girl could dream. 

Naps, she felt, were like fast food sleep. They met her most immediate needs but left her feeling heavy and groggy and a bit gross. Exactly the way she was feeling now. She peeled one sticky eyelid open and groped for her phone, groaning when she saw the time. Ten past six. She’d slept for over two hours, and Neal would be here in less than one. Rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands, she tried to force her foggy mind to focus. 

A burst of triumphant laughter sounded from the living room, followed by a dramatic groan. 

“Right, you’ll pay for that,” snarled Killian’s voice. 

“Oh yeah?” Henry crowed in reply, “Who’s gonna make me?” 

Emma heaved herself up out of bed and went to the curtain that separated her and Killian’s bedroom area from the main part of the apartment. She peeked around it and grinned at the sight that met her eye. Henry and Killian were on the sofa, controllers in hand, playing what was apparently a very hotly contested game of Battlefront II. 

She thought back to when Killian had first begun attempting to play video games with Henry in New York, hampered by his missing hand and his general bafflement as to why anyone would want to sit for hours in front of a flickering screen, shooting imaginary bolts of light at each other. He seemed to have gotten over that in the past year, she thought, and now with his modern prosthetic he was able to manage the controller and navigate the game deftly enough that Emma had a sneaking suspicion he might be letting Henry win. 

Although, she thought, as Henry racked up another kill, pumping his fist as his character respawned into Han Solo and Killian’s eyebrows snapped together indignantly, maybe not.

She pushed aside the curtain and went to sit on the arm of the sofa next to Killian, who flashed her a brief smile before returning his attention to evading Henry’s digital assault on him. 

“Hey, guys,” she said, unable to resist letting her fingers sift through Killian’s hair. She still found it difficult to go too long without touching him. “Who’s winning?” 

“The lad has a temporary advantage,” Killian replied grudgingly. 

“Temporary my ass.” 

“Language,” Killian rebuked, and Henry snorted. 

“That’s rich coming from Mister oh bloody hell,” he retorted. 

“Perhaps, but when you swear in front of your mothers I get the blame.” 

Emma chuckled and Killian paused the game, looking up at her with the soft, adoring smile that never failed to make her weak. “How are you feeling, love?” he asked. “Rested?” 

“Yeah, I guess.” She shrugged. “Kinda groggy. Do you think I have time for a shower before Neal gets here?” 

“Aye, a quick one.”

“And you don’t need me to help with anything?” Emma looked around the apartment. It was as neat and tidy as ever, the way Killian always kept things.  

“No, everything’s prepared for dinner, it just needs cooking. Go have your shower, then Henry and I should probably freshen up too.” 

“What? I’m fresh!” 

“Your mouth is, perhaps,” said Killian, quick as a flash. “But as this is meant to be a nice meal, please indulge me by putting on a shirt that isn’t covered in dog hair.” 

“Ugh, fine.” Henry rolled his eyes but couldn’t suppress a grin. Neither could Emma.

“What about that nice grey one I got you?” she suggested. 

“Mom, I outgrew that like six months ago.” 

“Oh.” The little flare of loss and regret was familiar now, but no less sharp. “Okay.” 

Killian squeezed her knee sympathetically. “It has been replaced by another nice grey one, however,” he said. “Which I happen to know is clean and ironed and hanging in your room. Wear that.” 

“Fine,” sighed Henry. “Can I finish kicking your arse at Battlefront first, though?” 

“You can try,” said Killian.

~

They were making dinner together. 

Mary Margaret knew it was happening, she was here, she was experiencing it. She could smell the rich aroma and hear the sizzle of frying onions, could hear the rhythmic sound of knives on a chopping board as she and David sliced mushrooms and minced carrots. Hell, she was the one doing the mincing. But she still couldn’t quite believe it. 

It had been David’s idea. When they finished their lunch at Granny’s that afternoon he’d walked with her back to her office, as slowly as they could get away with, then lingered even longer by the door. 

“This was fun,” he said. “I had fun. Did you?” 

The thread of uncertainty in the question squeezed Mary Margaret’s heart and set her mind racing. What if—she could barely entertain the thought—what if David felt as she did? What if he wanted the same things? What if he was just as unsure of her as she was of him? 

What if—this was the scariest what if of all—what if she actually told him what she wanted? That’t she’d like to give their marriage a real shot?  

What would happen then? 

“I did,” she replied, slightly breathlessly. “A lot of fun.” 

David’s smile widened. “We should do it again.” 

“We should,” she agreed, as her heart raced faster.  

“Like tonight.” 

“Tonight?” 

“Yeah.” David nodded eagerly. “Let’s eat together tonight. Let’s make dinner.” 

“Make dinner? I can’t cook!” 

“Me neither. It’ll be fun. Half raw and half burnt maybe, but, you know—” his eyes seemed to bore into her “—ours.” 

“Ours,” she repeated, wishing she could draw some air into her lungs. “Okay.” 

“Okay?” he echoed. 

She nodded. “Okay.” 

“Okay.” His smile was so soft, his eyes warm. “I’ll get some stuff. Ingredients and things, and I’ll—see you at home.” 

Home, thought Mary Margaret, letting her eyes caress his ass as he headed back down the street, then jerking them away when she realised what she was doing. Maybe they could actually have one. 

And so now here they were, standing next to each other in their kitchen, chopping vegetables and browning meat in an attempt to make spaghetti. 

“Shouldn’t be too hard, right?” said David, opening an old cookbook he’d unearthed from the back of a cupboard. “We just follow the instructions.” 

They browned their meat and added their veggies and a can of tomatoes, several pinches of herbs and a generous glug of wine. The aromas were amazing and the kitchen warm and steamy and Mary Margaret took off her cardigan, draping it over a chair, and when she turned back David was watching her, his gaze hot and almost tangible on her bare arms. She caught her breath and he seemed to catch himself, his eyes flying to hers, their gazes catching and holding, lingering as they began to move towards each other, slowly as if in a dream, drawn by the tug of attraction they could no longer ignore. David’s fingers gently traced her cheek and hers gripped his shoulders, and when their lips touched—so softly at first then harder, growing desperate—it felt right and natural and like coming home, and also sent the sharpest spike of lust through Mary Margaret’s belly that she could ever remember feeling. 

She couldn’t remember it, yet it was so familiar. This was familiar. David’s lips on hers, the silky slide of his hair between her fingers, the breadth of his shoulders, the firm comfort of his arms around her making her feel safe and  treasured. Loved. 

Then his hands slid over her hips to cup her ass and all she could feel was the frantic certainty that if she didn’t get him naked, right now, she would die. She sank her nails into his shoulders and rolled her hips against his, swallowing his moan and adding her own as he hoisted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist and then—

“Wait—wait,” Mary Margaret gasped, tearing her mouth from his. She was still a sensible woman, no matter how lust-drenched she felt, and just enough of that sense remained to remind her not to burn the kitchen down. She leaned over and turned off the burner beneath the bubbling spaghetti sauce, then wrapped her arms tightly around David’s shoulders and kissed him fiercely, telling him with her lips what she couldn’t put into words. What she felt for him, and everything she hoped that they could be.  

When they broke apart he stared at her like he was seeing her for the first time, like she was his sun and moon and stars and everything in between. 

“Mary Margaret,” he breathed. “I want—” 

“Me too,” she gasped against his mouth. “Me too. Let’s—upstairs?” 

The icy blue of his eyes had never been so hot. “Fuck yes,” he said. 

~

That evening Archie returned to the small, draughty room he rented in the boarding house where most of the mine workers lived. His body felt as exhausted as it always did after a double shift, his mind as fallow. He collapsed onto the small sofa that doubled as his bed with a sigh and let his head fall into his hands and his eyes fall shut. 

The cushion beside him shifted and sagged as Pongo leapt onto it, his tail swishing across the threadbare cover. Archie looked down at the dog with a faint smile that grew wider as Pongo covered his chin with sloppy kisses then settled down to rest his head in Archie’s lap, gazing up at him with warm brown eyes full of trust. Trust, and love. Archie’s heart swelled in his chest and the worst of his exhaustion seemed to lift, lightened as all burdens are by the presence of a friend. Tears prickled behind his eyes as he stroked Pongo’s silky head. 

“Good boy, Pongo,” he said. “That’s my boy.” 

~

“Your love does not see them. He sees you.” 

Oisín’s words rang in Regina’s ears as she stood examining her reflection in the mirror in the loft’s small bathroom. Carefully she applied another coat of lipstick then brushed a tiny crumb of mascara from beneath her eye. She’d managed to resist the urge to put her glamour spell back on but not the one that had drawn her into the market on her way home from Emma and Killian’s to pick up a stash of land-without-magic cosmetics. It was all well and good to talk about trusting people with the truth of her appearance but did have standards, after all, and no intention of going on a date with nothing whatsoever on her face. 

She gave herself a final once-over just as a knock sounded at the door and took a deep breath to quell the butterflies in her belly. It didn’t work, not even a little, and they fluttered more frantically than ever as she went to open it. 

Robin—no, John, she reminded herself firmly—smiled when he saw her, a smile that had warmed and softened considerably over the past few weeks. 

You look lovely, Regina,” he said, producing a bouquet of wildflowers from behind his back and offering them to her, almost shyly. She caught her breath. He’d brought her flowers before, many times during their slow, cautious courtship, but always from the florist. Tasteful, professional arrangements that a banker would choose, nothing at all like this handful of blooms he’d clearly picked himself. 

“Where—where did you get these?” she asked, taking them from him and breathing deeply, barely stopping herself from burying her face in them. 

“Ah.” He looked a bit abashed. “From the woods. If you don’t like them—” He reached for the bouquet but she snatched it back, cradling it to her chest. 

“I love them,” she said. “They’re just… different from the ones you brought before.” 

“Indeed. It was the most peculiar thing,” he explained, stepping into the loft as she held the door for him and following her to the kitchen where she took out a vase and filled it with water. “Every morning I go for a run, as you know. Always around town, along the same route. But this morning—I don’t know what it was but I just felt the need to get out of civilisation, into nature.” He shook his head wryly. “I’d barely had that thought when I found myself jogging down the road that cuts through the forest on its way out of town. I was feeling brighter than I had in some time, lighter somehow, and then I noticed a footpath leading off the road and into the trees, and on a whim I followed it. It led through some dense trees and then opened into a little clearing with a tiny rock pool surrounded by the most stunning wildflowers.” He caught her eye and smiled. “They reminded me of you.” 

Regina flushed with pleasure at the casual sincerity of the compliment and returned her attention to her flowers, arranging them in the vase and admiring their colours in the fading glow of the evening light. 

“So I took note of the location and went back there just now to collect some for you,” he concluded. “Do you really like them?” 

“They’re beautiful,” she replied, looking up again to see he had moved closer to her—so close—close enough that she could feel his breath on her cheek and hear the hitch in it, see his pupils dilate as he too became aware of just how close they were. 

They’d seen each other nearly every day since she’d asked him to lunch, sharing coffee and meals and conversation but only rarely touching. Touches between them when they did occur were gentle, restrained. Cautious. 

(“Regina,” said Emma, coming up behind her as she stood by Granny’s outer gate, watching Robin return to work after their first lunch date. “I’m really glad you’re happy. But… don’t forget he’s cursed, okay?” 

“As if I could,” snapped Regina. “It’s kind of obvious in the way he doesn’t remember me.”

“That’s not really what I meant.” Emma shuffled her feet, her face the picture of both deep discomfort and grim determination. 

“Well what did you mean?” 

“Just that he—he doesn’t have control of himself. He can’t make decisions like he would if he weren’t cursed.” 

Regina frowned. “Are you saying that un-cursed he wouldn’t be interested in me? Because I can assure you—” 

“No! That’s not—look—” Emma crossed her arms over her chest, clutching her jacket sleeves so hard her nails left grooves in the red leather. “Don’t sleep with him, okay?” she burst out, flushing at Regina’s outraged glare but barreling on. “I know it’s none of my business and believe me, I really don’t want to be talking about it, but just—don’t. Cursed people can’t consent, and—” she took a deep breath “—I know that’s something my parents had to deal with after the first curse.” 

Regina scowled, trying unsuccessfully to ignore the twinge of guilt that needled at her. She’d cursed Snow and Charming to those lives with full intent to hurt them as much as she could, and while she wasn’t precisely sorry for it her own recent experiences had given her a new perspective on what she’d put them through. 

Things between her and Robin hadn’t exactly been friendly when the curse struck the Enchanted Forest, and while she’d had a whole year to think about that he had not. She’d spent those moments of the past year that weren’t consumed with her fear for Henry’s safety thinking about Robin and the way she’d treated him, wondering what might have happened if she’d been less scared, if she hadn’t let that fear make her so snappish and bitchy to him. Emma was right. Un-cursed, Robin might not wish for her to touch him. 

That thought hurt far worse than she’d expected.)

But she wasn’t thinking about that now, not with him so close and leaning closer… not when her heart was pounding and her breath short… not when his lips touched hers and she just… melted into the kiss. Melted into him, unable to think of anything now but how right this felt, how right they felt, and how profoundly she wished she hadn’t fought against it for so long. She felt consumed by him, by them and by this moment, and neither Emma’s words of caution nor her own regret, nor even the ominous shifting and creaking of the magic in the air around them could pull her attention away from it. 

~

When Belle arrived home she carefully removed the books Killian had lent her from their bag and placed them on the small table in her living room, taking a moment to let her fingertips trail over them, across the cloth bindings and the leather ones, tracing the titles and the authors’ names, and the illustrations on their covers. They all looked so fascinating she couldn’t wait to dive in and lose herself in the tales they carried within their bindings. And she knew exactly where she would begin. 

(“It’s an adventure tale,” Killian explained as he handed the book to her, his eyes twinkling at the way hers widened and her hands trembled with eagerness. “A heroic quest to rescue a prince and reunite true loves.” 

“Ohhh,” Belle breathed. “That sounds wonderful.” 

“I figured you might like it,” Killian’s grin was warm. “I can tell already that you have excellent taste.”)

Belle made herself tea in her favourite cup, the one she saved for the most special occasions, and carried it carefully to her sofa, curling her legs beneath her and tucking a fluffy blanket around them, and a plump pillow behind her back. She sipped the brew with a contented sigh, and then she opened her book. 

~

Neal Cassidy was no stranger to disappointment. It was always there, clinging to him like the smell of stale cigarette smoke he carried home with him each night from the Rabbit Hole, harsh and acrid and never wholly gone even when his clothes were freshly washed. The disappointment was the same, ever present, hovering in a cloud around his head, wherever he was, for as long as he could remember. 

He’d had dreams once. At least, he thought he had. He must have, everyone did. He’d had dreams and he’d had a family—or at least he’d had a father, though he could barely remember the man, no more than a hazy impression of a hunched form and a plaintive voice. 

I love you, son. 

But that was a long time ago, impossibly long it sometimes felt, lifetimes ago. He was alone now, and had been for—well, for as long as he could remember. He worked as a janitor because he could do no other job, he drank alone because that’s what everyone did in Storybrooke. Each night the Rabbit Hole was silent but for the blaring music that was always on its speakers, patrons scattered throughout the dingy room, staring into their drinks and pretending the rest were somewhere else. Possibly pretending they were. 

He worked as a janitor at the town hall, every day the same, sweeping and mopping and scrubbing, always under the sharp eyes of Mayor Green. Eyes that watched him more closely than a mayor really ought to watch a janitor, and with a smug, triumphant gleam that made him itchy and uncomfortable. 

And then one day Mayor Green was gone, replaced by Mary Margaret Nolan. Deputy Mayor Nolan with tentative determination in her eyes, who greeted him with a kind smile and didn’t watch him as he worked, and who one astounding day had called him into her office to inform him that he owned the pawn shop. 

(“It belonged to your father, apparently,” she said, “and he left it to you. I’m sorry I only found the records yesterday, they must have gotten lost. But the pawn shop is yours, and if you’d like to open it again, well, more business in town wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

“Um.” Neal’s head was spinning. He didn’t know the first thing about running a business. And yet… “Yeah, sure. I can try.” 

When he unlocked the pawn shop the next day it was dark and dusty, with that stale smell places get when they’ve gone too long without exposure to fresh air. Neal stood in the doorway feeling the full weight and scale of the task that lay before him and how very poorly equipped he was to tackle it. He was seriously considering locking the place back up and never thinking of it again when a voice spoke behind him. 

“Hi,” it said. “Are you gonna open this place?” 

Neal turned. He didn’t recognise the boy—not surprising as he didn’t recognise most people in town—but his bright, cheerful expression lightened Neal’s heart and gave it an odd twinge. 

“Uh, yeah,” he replied. “I’m gonna try. I guess.” 

“Cool!” exclaimed the boy. “Can I help?” 

Neal frowned. “Shouldn’t you be in school or something?” 

“It’s Saturday.” 

“Oh yeah.” Neal didn’t know much about kids but he was pretty sure this one was still a bit young to be going around talking to strangers. “Um, where are your parents?” he asked. 

“My dad’s at work,” the boy replied, like he was expecting just that question. “He owns a bookstore.” 

“He does?” 

“Yep. I helped him get it set up, so I know what needs to be done. I could help you too.” He shrugged. “You know, if you want.” 

Neal kind of did want. He wasn’t sure just how much help the kid could actually be, but just the idea of having someone around, of not having to do everything by himself, made the weight on his shoulders seem lighter. Still, a kid he didn’t know… “You sure your dad wouldn’t mind?” he hedged. 

“He won’t,” said the boy decisively. “But I can call him if you like, to be sure.” Again he sounded like he’d been expecting exactly this development. Neal’s frown deepened. He wondered if he was being played somehow, though he couldn’t imagine how or why. 

“Yeah, why don’t you do that,” he said. Let this play out, at least.  

The boy took out his phone and tapped on its screen, then held it to his ear. “Hey, Dad,” he said. “I’m at the pawn shop. Yep.” His eyes flitted to Neal’s face and then away. “There’s this guy who’s gonna get it open again and I offered to help him but he wanted to be sure it’s okay with you… uh huh… yeah… okay.” He looked up at Neal. “My dad wants to talk to you.” 

“Oh. Um, sure.” Neal took the phone from the boy. “Hello?”

“Hello,” said a voice, a deep, smooth, accented one that gave Neal another odd twinge, less pleasant than the one inspired by the boy. The voice was friendly, but it made Neal tense, his fingers flexing on the boy’s phone. “I hope my son isn’t troubling you,” it said. 

“No.” Neal had the oddest urge to contradict everything this voice said. “He’s not.” 

“Good. He sometimes lets his enthusiasm overwhelm his common sense. If he’s bothering you, feel free to send him away.” The voice was light and careless and Neal bristled at its lack of concern for the kid’s feelings. 

“He’s not bothering me.” Neal glanced at the boy, who was listening intently.“He offered to help, and actually I could probably use it.”

“Excellent.” There was a hint of amusement in the voice now that Neal found deeply objectionable. He scowled. “Well, let me know if he causes you any trouble,” the voice continued. 

“Sure thing,” said Neal shortly, and handed the phone back to the boy before he snapped and said something much longer. The boy took it back with a bright grin. “So I can stay?” he asked. He listened for a moment, then sighed and rolled his eyes. “Yes, I know. Okay. Okay, bye!” He ended the call and stuck the phone in his pocket. “I’m Henry,” he said, holding out his hand. “Henry Jones.” 

Neal took the hand, feeling that twinge again as the small fingers wrapped around his own. “Neal Cassidy.” 

“Nice to meet you, Mr Cassidy,” said Henry. “So, where do we start?”) 

Henry Jones turned out to be just as enthusiastic as the voice had warned, bright and cheerful and actually very knowledgeable about running a shop. As was his dad, Neal discovered, when the man arrived later that day to pick up his son. Neal had ignored the funny twist in his gut at the sight of them hugging and forced a smile as the man—Killian, as he introduced himself—cheerfully inspected their progress and answered a lot of the questions Henry hadn’t been able to, and even some Neal hadn’t thought of yet. And Neal found himself taking the man’s number, almost gratefully, and even calling it, just once or twice, whenever he hit a snag he hadn’t anticipated. 

Though he liked Henry very much Neal had weirdly mixed feelings about Killian Jones. He couldn’t seem to quell the hostility he felt deep in his gut whenever they met, the twisting anger and resentment that at most times simmered low but at others flared so high they licked right at the edge of hate. This despite the fact that the man was never anything but perfectly nice and helpful and by all appearances the kind of loving father Neal wished like hell he could remember. He tried to like Killian, he almost liked him. But that gut reaction was too troubling to ignore.  

And that was how he came to find himself at ten minutes before seven p.m. walking straight past the Rabbit Hole and towards the harbour, turning down the small street where he could see the sign for Jolly Roger Books hanging from a wrought iron hook above the shop’s wide doorway, swinging gently in the chilly evening breeze. 

Neal set his jaw and rang the bell, and a minute later Henry’s cheerful face appeared. “Come on in, Mr Cassidy!” he said, pulling the doors open. “You’re right on time.” 

~

It was a typical night at the Rabbit Hole. The bar’s interior was smoky and dark though the sun was still in the sky outside, adorned with neon signs in precisely the wrong colours and a ceaseless blare of music from the speakers. Not bad music, not exactly, but bleak and melancholy and a strain on the ears, and just loud enough to make conversation impossible, should anyone wish to converse. 

Generally, no one did. 

A handful of patrons sat at random around the dark and grimy room, staring into their drinks or off into space, not looking at each other, not so much as a civil nod. This was not the place for civility.  

It was a typical night and no one expected otherwise, none there hoped for any more or less from their drinking place or from their lives. 

And then the music stopped. 

It stopped abruptly, with no hiss of interference or record scratch, just silence that fell with the grace of an anvil and was in itself so deafening that it took a moment for those present even to register the change.

The town records clerk was first to notice, rousing from his reverie and frowning as he looked around, his eyes meeting the confused gaze of the librarian sitting one table over to his left. 

“What happened?” he asked. 

The librarian shrugged. “Maybe it’s broken?” 

“Wouldn’t be a bad thing if it was,” said the clerk, and the librarian snorted. 

“Maybe they’ll switch it for something good,” another voice chimed in, this one belonging to a man the clerk vaguely recognised. Did he work for the bank? No… the insurance company, maybe? 

“Let’s hope so,” the librarian agreed. 

“I hope so,” said a fourth voice from behind the clerk’s right shoulder. “If I never hear that whatever-stank again it will be too soon.” 

“Hoobastank,” supplied the librarian, and they all groaned. 

“Even the name’s bloody awful,” said the clerk, and the other men all nodded their agreement, sliding their chairs ever so slightly closer as they did, drawn by the unifying power of a shared grievance. 

On the other side of the bar a similar conversation was occurring. 

“Finally, I can hear myself think,” growled Leroy, still glaring at his beer like it had done him a personal wrong, but doing so in peace and quiet at least. 

The man down the bar to his left sneezed, startling the man down the bar to his right, who had been dozing into his mudslide. “What?” said the sleepy man. “Wha’s happ’nin?”

The sneezy man wiped his nose with an enormous handkerchief. “Something’s wrong with the music,” he said. 

“What music?” asked another man from further down the bar, blinking wide, guileless eyes. “Was there music?” 

“Of course there was music,” growled Leroy, glaring at the dopey man. 

“Loud music,” agreed the sneezy man. 

“Kept me awake,” muttered the sleepy man as his eyes drifted shut. Leroy snorted. 

They all turned to look as the door to the back room opened and another man entered, wringing his hands anxiously and blushing bright pink, the sweat on his forehead glistening beneath the neon glare of the bar lights. 

“Um,” he whispered, far too quietly to be heard over the faint buzz of conversation that now filled the bar. He tried again. “Um,” he said, slightly louder. 

Leroy felt a flare of anger oh his behalf. This bashful man was just trying to get their attention and no one was taking any notice. 

“HEY ALL OF YOU,” he shouted at the very top of his lungs, turning so that the men at the back of the room would be sure to hear him too. “THIS GUY HERE IS TRYING TO TELL US SOMETHING,” he continued, pairing his bellow with a nasty glare that killed every last conversation in the room. “WHY DON’T YOU JERKS SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO HIM?”

The bashful man was pinker than ever but he nodded gratefully at Leroy. “Um,” he said for a third time, and every ear in the place strained to hear him. “I—I’m so sorry, but the music seems, ah, to be, er, broken.” 

“What’s wrong with it?” called the clerk. 

“I don’t know,” the bashful man confessed. “I can get someone in to look at it tomorrow, but it’s too late to do anything tonight. I’m so sorry.” 

“Don’t be,” said the librarian. “I’d rather talk with this group of scoundrels than listen to another note of that shit.” 

A chorus of “ayes” and “huzzahs” rose from the men around him, the clerk and the insurance man, and several others who had gathered around them to raise a pint in merriment together. Men whose day jobs left them drained and hopeless and who now preened in delight at being referred to as “scoundrels,” knowing it was as far from the truth as anything could be and yet feeling that somehow, deep in a place they hadn’t known they possessed, that secret place that brought them dreams of forests and campfires and glad camaraderie, scoundrels they might actually be. 

“Doesn’t bother us—achoo!—either,” said the sneezy man, who had moved to sit next to the sleepy man and nudge him with a gentle elbow whenever he began to doze off. Leroy noted that the dopey man was now flanked by two companions, one white-whiskered with round, wire-rimmed glasses and the other wearing a broad grin that Leroy suspected ought to annoy him but instead made him feel like he’d found something long missing from his life. The happy man raised his glass to Leroy, and Leroy raised his in return.

“Doesn’t look like there’s a problem here,” he told the bashful man. “Why don’t you join us—” he’d meant to say join me, but the us he spoke instead felt far more right “—for a drink?”

The bashful man looked over at the group in the far corner, now laughing uproariously and toasting each other’s exploits, then back at Leroy. “Okay,” he said. “I’d like that, I think. Thanks.” He smiled shyly. “Thanks for everything.” 

“No trouble at all, brother,” replied Leroy. 

~

Neal followed as Henry raced up the winding staircase to the third floor and burst through the door to the apartment. Through it Neal could see Killian standing in the middle of an open-plan living space with his head bent towards that of a blonde woman, whispering in her ear. Their pose was unmistakably intimate, his hand curled around her waist and hers resting lightly on his chest, their heads touching. They turned when he entered the room and both smiled, strangely rigid smiles, Neal thought. 

The woman’s face he could swear he recognised, though he couldn’t place it, and vague recognition definitely shouldn’t make him feel so angry at the sight of them together, or cause a stab of jealousy to pierce his gut when Killian’s fingers tightened on her waist and he pulled her almost imperceptibly closer. 

So why did it? 

Neal forced his emotions down and returned their smiles in kind and Henry, seemingly oblivious to the odd tension in the room, said, “Mr Cassidy, this is my mom, Emma.” 

“Your mom!” Neal cried in astonishment, then wondered why he was astonished. 

“Yep!” Henry’s bright grin faded slightly at the look on his face and Neal attempted to smooth his features as Emma stepped forward and offered him her hand. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said. 

“And yo—” Neal began, when he realised in a flash of memory where he’d seen that face before. “Wait—did you say Emma? Emma… Swan? The sheriff?”

“That’s right.”

 He could place her now, sitting at the end of the table at the town council meetings, sighing and tapping her pen impatiently. Neal frowned again as he tried to remember what he knew about Emma Swan. It was… not much. He didn’t know much about anyone in Storybrooke, and for the first time that felt wrong. He stared at her as he strained to remember, watching as she toyed absent-mindedly with the chain around her neck, the ring on her wedding finger catching the light. 

“You’re married?” he shouted, and that gut feeling flared again when he saw her glance back at Killian, silently seeking support from her husband. 

“Yeah, we—” Emma began, but Neal interrupted her. 

“No,” he said, forcing the fury and jealousy down again and making an attempt to smile. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. Of course you’re married. Henry’s parents.” 

“Yeah,” Emma smiled in relief and from the corner of his eye Neal could see the tension drain from Killian’s stance.  “Hey, don’t worry about it. Come in and sit down, Neal. It’s okay if I call you Neal?” 

“Sure.” 

“Do you want a beer or something?” 

“Yeah, thanks.” Neal was starting to think he needed a hell of a lot more than a beer, but it was better than nothing. His gut was roiling and his head felt stuffed with cotton balls, and there was a distant buzzing noise in the back of his mind, like white noise from a broken television. He tried to force himself to think, to remember more about Emma, about Killian, about all these things that seemed to be teasing at the edges of his mind, but the harder he tried the louder the buzzing grew. He gave his head a hard shake and then another, and ignored Emma’s surprised look when she returned from the kitchen in time to catch him doing it. She pasted on a smile and handed him a beer. 

“So Henry tells us you’re reopening the pawn shop,” she said, sitting next to him on the sofa and taking a pull from her own beer. She smelled like flowers, clean and sweet, and gods, he could swear it was familiar. Her scent slammed into him like a Mack truck, carrying memories of something he could feel but not touch, as powerful as they were indistinct. Why couldn’t he remember? 

He gulped his beer and tried to concentrate on her question. “Yeah. I guess,” he said. “Kinda sudden, I know. I just found out recently that the place used to belong to my father.” 

“Oh?” Emma’s voice rose a bit too high on the question. 

Neal frowned at her. “Uh huh. I don’t remember much about my papa—er, I mean my dad. So it was a pretty big surprise to find out about it. But Henry, he’s been a major help with everything. I probably couldn’t have done it without him.” He looked at Emma and warmth bloomed in his chest. “Thanks for letting him come by.” 

“Of course,” she said with a smile. “But you know, with Henry it’s sometimes hard to stop him.” 

“That’s what, um, Killian said.” 

“What did I say?” asked Killian, perching on the arm of the sofa next to Emma as Henry came to sit on the floor. 

“That sometimes when Henry decides he wants something there’s not much we can do to stop him,” Emma replied. 

“Aye, unquestionably,” said Killian. “The lad is a force of nature when he sets his mind on a thing.” 

There was so much pride in his voice as he said it, and so much pleasure in Henry’s answering grin, and so much love on Emma’s face as she looked between them and her fingertips absently traced patterns along Killian’s thigh as his played with the ends of her hair, and suddenly it was all just too much. They rose up and they choked him, all the feelings between these three people and the ones churning in himself, and it was too much and too strong and too confusing, and the buzzing in his head was so loud he could barely think straight. 

Blindly he set his beer down, hoping he managed to get it onto the coffee table, and lurched to his feet. 

“Is everything all right, mate?” Killian’s voice hovered just at the edge of his consciousness, and the mate made Neal want to punch him. 

“I’m fine,” he growled. “I’m just—not feeling very well. Think I should go.” 

“Oh.” Emma stood as well and approached him cautiously, taking him gently by the shoulders, her hands warm through the fabric of his t-shirt. She tried to catch his eye but he evaded her. 

“I’m really fine,” he said, stepping back. “I just gotta go. Maybe we can do this another time.” 

“Well, if you’re sure,” she said. 

“Are you sure?” Henry asked. He was clearly trying to be calm but his eyes were so disappointed, and again Neal felt a surge of emotion that was far too strong for the circumstances. He shouldn’t care about disappointing some kid he only met a few weeks ago. But he did. He did. 

“I just—I feel like—” he stammered, groping desperately for the words he needed to say, to explain. And then Henry stepped forward and hugged him. 

Henry hugged him, and Neal’s arms came around the boy in return, automatically, naturally, like they’d done it before. He looked down at Henry’s eyes, big and brown and so damned familiar, so different from the clear green and blue eyes of his parents. 

Was that even possible? 

“I—” he tried again, but Henry interrupted. 

“Please stay,” he said. “I don’t want you to go.” 

“I—damn it.” Neal snarled. He wanted to go, wanted to run, fast and far away from all of this mess and tangle of emotions hot as fire and memories thin as smoke. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t bear for Henry to be disappointed in him. 

“I’ll stay,” he said, and the world exploded. 

~

Sleeping curses broke elegantly, the Dark Curse dramatically, but this odd chimaera of a hybrid curse, cobbled together from odds of this and ends of that, bound by Oz magic and twisted through the mirror world… this curse shattered. It burst into shards like the very mirrors that made it possible and Emma, Regina, and Zelena gasped in unison as they sensed its fracture. There was no burst of light, no gasp of awakening, just a sharp shock and then memories and then…

The world blurred, shifted, settled, and then snapped back into focus. The colours and shapes and sounds of Storybrooke were themselves again, the breeze through the town was warm and welcoming and the trees in the forest tall and straight, their eerie menace wholly gone. 

Emma looked at Killian, eyes wide. 

“What is it, love?” he asked, reaching for her and pulling her close. “What was that?”

“I think…” Emma lowered her voice to a whisper. “I think the curse just broke.” 

“Really? How do you know?” 

“I—I felt it. I felt it shatter and its magic is… well, it’s everywhere.”

Neal was staring at Henry, blinking rapidly, then a huge grin split his face. “Henry?” he said, pulling his son in for a bone-cracking hug. “Oh my God, Henry. I’ve missed you.” 

“Um.” Henry was still reeling from what had felt like an earthquake. He looked past Neal to where Emma and Killian were standing with their arms around each other, whispering frantically, then his eyes lit up with triumph as the pieces fell into place. “Have you?” he said. 

“Yeah, kid.” Neal loosened his hold and ruffled Henry’s hair. “I did. I—wait.” The smile faded from his face, replaced with a scowl as he turned to Emma and Killian. “What’s going on here?” 

They exchanged a look. “What do you mean?” asked Emma. “You were cursed—” 

“Yeah, I know that, but I mean you—you two—” He gestured at them, his scowl deepening as they unconsciously drew closer to each other. “You aren’t actually—it was the curse for you too, right? All this is just the curse.” 

 “No, mate,” said Killian gently. “We weren’t cursed. Emma was briefly, sort of, but Henry and I never were.” 

“Then you’re really—” Something dark and angry flared in Neal’s eyes. 

“Yeah,” said Emma. “We’re married.” 

“You married him,” sputtered Neal, almost choking on the words. “The pirate? The one who fu—” he broke off with a glance at Henry “—who took my mother away. Him, of all people.” He stared at them, shaking his head, then gave a bitter, grating laugh. “So much for your word, huh Hook?” he said. “You remember, your word that you gave me, to back the hell off and give me a chance to be a family with my son and my—well, her.” 

“A lot has happened since I made that promise,” said Killian, as calmly as he could when the nasty curl of Neal’s lip was making him wish he was wearing his hook. “A lot has changed Bae.”

Neal hissed an angry breath. “Don’t call me that.” 

“Neal, then,” Killian amended. “As you like. We have much to discuss, lad, why don’t you—” 

“I’m not a lad,” snapped Neal. “I’m as old as you are in this realm, maybe older. I’m not that boy you knew.” 

“You’re right of course. I’m sorry.” Killian’s voice was genuinely contrite now, his expression sorrowful. “I do know that. Sometimes I just—forget.” 

Emma’s arm was still around his waist and she squeezed him reassuringly. “Look, I know there’s a lot we need to talk about,” she said. “And I promise you, Neal, we will explain everything. But right now the curse has just broken and people are going to be confused. So can we table all this, please, until we’ve had a chance to figure out what we have to do?” 

“Do for what?” asked Henry. “Isn’t the curse broken?” 

“Yeah it is.” Emma shivered at the sharp, dangerous feel of the magic that had come untethered by the shattering curse. “But that’s not necessarily the end of our problems.” 

“So what do we need to do?” asked Killian. 

“I’m not sure yet. Let’s start by finding Regina. And my parents.” 

-

@katie-dub​​​​ @kmomof4​​​​ @teamhook​​ @stahlop​​​​ @mariakov81​​​​ @snowbellewells​​​ @thejollyroger-writer​​ @jennjenn615​​ @tiganasummertree​​ @lfh1226-linda​​ @winterbaby89​​ @ultraluckycatnd​​ @resident-of-storybrooke​​

-

[stvlti]

And so I leap, widowed at twenty-seven, From a made Heaven, lest I too be shriven. WIDOW WIDOW WIDOW. I like this line 🍸

Pick a passage (500 words or less) from any fanfic I’ve written and I’ll give you a “DVD commentary”

rules of the ask game | my AO3

oh my god, okay. I really do appreciate you sending this in, I was hoping to get a serious one for this ask meme. but I have to be honest, I have pretty much not looked at that poem since I first wrote it back in 2015, so when I received this ask I was scratching my head asking myself what the fuck was even going on inside my head when I wrote that last line (“lest I too be shriven”) 5 years ago.  the subsequent guesswork + digging through multiple online dictionaries / articles it took for me to compile a response... *lies down*

it’s ok though, it was fun trying to piece it back together. so, without further ado: this is False-Eyed Doll, a Death Note poem.

CW: REFERENCES TO SUICIDE & CANON CHARACTER DEATHS

– also, spoilers ahead! turn back if you want to read the poem first –

So the lines you submitted are the last 2 lines of the poem, which was written as a derivative form of the Sonnet, making these 2 lines the final couplet of the Sonnet. 

Now the thing about Sonnets is, if you are following the Shakespearean format, the ‘turn’ (volta) occurs right before the final couplet, meaning this couplet is the ‘conclusion’ that follows the ‘twist’ of the poem’s narrative. 

Now He has Her slain; oh, will l remain Wilting in His wake, maddened by His maw?

Yet He by own pen dies, man who became Law. And so I leap, widowed at twenty-seven, From a made Heaven, lest I too be shriven.

I wrote this poem as a ‘Misa poem’, and I meant for it to reappropriate certain canon events in Misa’s POV. So the poem’s narrative begins with the thesis of Misa being introduced to Light and his Kira world order (in stanza I), then sets up her relationship with Rem, her "guardian angel" Shinigami with differing opinions on Light (in stanza II) as the antithesis. The main thrust of the narrative concerns itself with Misa’s conflicting position between the two. However in spite of Rem’s warning, Misa chooses Light, because with the Kira crusade she has finally found a tentative foundation she could grow into and reestablish her footing in this world after her own tragedy (“in His embrace I shall rule again”). 

That was the trajectory of her life plans. So the ‘twist’, the turn, comes when not only Rem dies but Light, her new foundation, does too ("Yet He by own pen dies, man who became Law”). Of course, this is not a surprise for us the readers, since we know how the story ends in canon, but it’s a huge double whammy (heh, Wammy) to Misa. 

So then we arrive at the final couplet, which centres on Misa’s response to this ‘turn’ of events.

And so I leap

“So she leaps”, because this is the only logical conclusion she could come to after losing her “Law” and foundation. She sees no other future ahead with all her plans in ruins, so she climbs to the top of the investigation tower and chooses* death. (This line is a reference to the anime post-credits scene, where it’s implied she commits suicide.)

widowed at twenty-seven

Honestly I’m cringing a bit that the word choice, “widowed”, was what caught your eye. I’m not sure that’s my proudest detail in this poem 😬 I guess I was really leaning into the MisaxLight component there. There’s always been this underlying sense of commitment that Misa has projected onto Light in canon, from her wanting to start that kind of married, domestic life with Light during the Yotsuba arc, to her trying her hand at playing the stay-at-home housewife during the Light-as-L arc (albeit imperfectly) - there are so many aspects in her interactions with Light that simply screams marriage, at least from Misa’s POV. And on a meta level, she definitely promises her mind, body, and soul to Light’s Kira crusade, trading away her lifespan, altering herself to carry the Eyes for Light, and at the core of it, giving her heart over to Light completely. She has effectively married herself not just to Light, but to Kira, too. So to call Light’s death and the loss of everything that comes it a sort of “widowing” is simply the truth. It is Misa’s truth.

And I fought hard to keep the aged “twenty-seven” detail, because I always found it sort of fascinating that Misa qualifies for the 27 Club. She’s a star in the entertainment industry, at this point she’s amassed a successful mini empire with a career spanning modelling, fashion, cosmetics, TV acting, etc., and yet she’s gone too soon at just 27, because she chose* death to escape a tortured existence... (Just like many other legends have before her, who passed away from their own coping mechanisms in addiction and etc.) It’s definitely tragic, but there’s also a sort of dangerous romanticism that certain people associate Club 27 with, which unfortunately I think would be in line with Misa’s worldview too. 

(HUGE DISCLAIMER HERE, ok, I do not condone this sort of thinking! This poem is a persona poem! The views represented here do not represent my own. But it is in my opinion the sort of unhealthy ideas Misa would’ve believed in. )

But you know what though. Insisting to keep “widowed at twenty-seven” on this line had its consequences too, because then I had to find a word that rhymed for the last line, which brings us to...

From a made Heaven, lest I too be shriven

Bro, this line gave me soooo much trouble trying to piece back together the thought process behind it. The front part is pretty self-explanatory, it’s a “made Heaven” because Kira’s empire is just made by one man claiming to be God. It’s an artificial Heaven, not a real one. But dang, “shriven”??? 

2015!me was being too clever for my own good. Forget all the wack shit I was shitposting in the fandom about, this is the thing that’s ultimately come back to bite me in the ass, isn’t it

Ok but we’re here now, and we gotta finish this ‘DVD commentary’, so let’s get into it. Obviously I was trying to keep up the whole motif of God and Heaven and religion, so I went looking for a word that would fit the theme. Except, to be completely honest, I was raised irreligious, so when I chose the word “shriven” I kinda just chose it because (1) it sounded cool; (2) it rhymes. I don’t have any emotional connection to the word and I certainly don’t have a nuanced grasp of its meaning, which, really bad form of me as a poet. I don’t do that anymore. (And it’s probably the reason why I kept this in the fandom corners and never shared it in class back then 😭 I was hoping I wouldn’t be quizzed on this lmaooo)

But what I do know, is that “shriven” means to confess and receive penance for one’s sins. And I was aiming for meta here - because there is the Catholic concept of punishment and repentance for one’s wrongdoings, but there is also the secular, judicial concept of punishment and reform for one’s crimes. And, okay, I was making some assumptions* here, i.e. even without her memories Misa could guess something happened to Light, and that something had to do with the Kira case. She’s a bottle blonde, but she’s not dumb dumb, so she could’ve reasonably made an educated guess. So then, “lest I too be shriven”: in a way, Misa is choosing* suicide in fear of being “shriven” by the criminal justice system much the same way they’ve done Light in. And even without the judicial component, she could (and logically, should) be wary of the general persecution and social stigma that comes with being involved in a high-profile criminal investigation like this. (Because it wasn’t just any other criminal, it was Kira, the world’s most wanted killer and mass-murderer, and there’s still plenty of people left in the world with a bone to pick with Kira’s ideology, methods, and many more left with a vendetta for the loved ones Kira has taken away from them.) So this line sets up a nice subtle dichotomy, one that flips the script, because now she’s not the one who passes ‘divine’ judgement, delivers punishments and ‘shrives’ the criminals by Kira’s side, now she’s ‘fallen from grace’ (so to speak) from their 'made Heaven’ and she’s the one running away from being delivered justice and penance.

Pretty cool, right? But honestly, if I had a chance to write this poem again I would not do this to myself ( T д T ) The cool rhyme scheme is not worth all this mental gymnastics just to get at the idea I was trying to communicate ( T _ T )

(*) Note: 

I kept talking about Misa “choosing” death, but the very idea itself is also a bit of an assumption on my part. Sure, at face value we have no reason to suspect it’s not an act she chose to commit of her volition. But, there’s also been talk about whether her choosing to commit suicide at 27 is simply a result of her shortened lifespan after her having traded her remaining years away twice. Like it was simply time’s up for her at 27, and she had to die one way or another. Another consideration is the fact that Ryuk has stated all users of Death Note are cursed with an unhappy life / end eventually. There’s no telling whether that’s another contributing factor to Misa’s suicide, too. But for this poem and the sake of its concentrated narrative focus, I’ve chosen to go with the interpretation that Misa chose to commit suicide of her own accord. That bit of commentary on “lest I too be shriven” also subscribes to the particular school of interpretations / headcanons that Misa possessed far more cognizance than we expect throughout the whole investigation and story of Death Note. Like I said, she’s a bottle blonde, but she’s not dumb dumb. I like the fanon that’s been gaining popularity in recent years, the idea that Misa is plenty capable and cunning for a normal civilian and young entrepreneur. She just seems dumb next to literal geniuses.

[elizas-writing]

Of the latest “controversial” opinions to rock social media, renowned director Martin Scorsese voiced his dislike of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). To Scorsese, MCU films are more like an amusement park than cinema which is meant to “convey emotional, psychological experiences.” As you do, this sparked some outrage among fans and even a few filmmakers from MCU. Scorsese himself even wrote an op-ed for The New York Times to further explain himself when the backlash got out of control and specified he meant the whole comic book film genre.

On one hand, I understand not wanting to give in to an elitist ideal of what “cinema” is, and comic book films deserve to be on equal footing as any other genre. Not every film needs to be a grand masterpiece, and art is subjective and can come from anywhere, even in the MCU. Black Panther is an expertly crafted film of Afrofuturism and deserved all its awards nominations. Guardians of the Galaxy, despite being an inherently goofy franchise, delivers a strong, emotional, complex narrative of found family and overcoming trauma from a lifetime of abuse. MCU also gave a ton of publicity for more unknown actors and directors. And audiences steadily flocked to the rest of their work, and they look forward to what else they have to give besides superhero films; it’s one of the reasons why Taika Waititi is now a favorite director in my book. And give credit where it’s due, Marvel is the only successful cinematic universe so far to stay in the long run where others spectacularly failed. It’s not perfect, but all things considered on what could’ve gone wrong, it’s surprising to see the hard work pay off.

At the same time, despite being a longtime fan of MCU, I’m starting to feel fatigued with the superhero genre. And this began way before Scorsese said anything. With the release of Disney+, fans are expected to subscribe and watch these new shows which apparently will tie into future movies scheduled out until 2022. It’s also not much of a secret that Disney is morphing into a corporate monster and consuming all media it can grabs its hands on. And with more time to further reflect on some of these movies without the excess hype, I admit I was probably far too kind on my initial reviews. There are a lot of MCU films I can discuss in these regards, but as I drafted this up, I had far more to say on Spider-Man. So that will be my primary focus for this piece.

At the end of the day, Scorsese’s opinions are mainly on his personal film tastes— also, c’mon, the guy agreed to voice act in fucking Shark Tale of all things; no one’s twisting your arm to take his word as gospel—, and not everyone is gonna automatically like the superhero genre. I respect that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, and I agree it feels like the film market is oversaturated with them. And there is still a lot to be said on recent filmmaking trends and if MCU can keep a steady momentum in the long run. It is possible to have too much of a good thing. After a while, you’ll want to leave the amusement park, but when will that point be? Well, I’m here to break down my biggest frustrations with MCU through Scorsese’s lens and a reevaluation of Spider-Man, both the character and the movie franchise.

I. Too Many Damn Franchises

In his op-ed, Scorsese worried about “franchise films [which] are now your primary choice” in major theaters, leaving little room for everyone else.  It isn’t much of a stretch that we don’t see a lot of original content which stands on its own between all the sequels and reboots which expect prior knowledge of its predecessors to understand what is going on. And of course, Disney is the largest perpetrator of this with all the properties they own and all the live action remakes/reimaginings of their original content which no one asked for (no, trust me, you didn’t ask for an origin story of Cruella de Vil; turn off the nostalgia goggles).

Yeah, there’s only like, one of these I want to see

Some of MCU’s individual franchises, particularly the earlier films, work well on their own without necessarily needing to watch every other film in the universe. Some are only connected with super minor details which can be picked up from context clues or dialogue referencing events of the previous films. Guardians of the Galaxy is the best example of this as their adventures are self-contained up until Avengers: Infinity War. But then you have Tom Holland’s Spider-Man which completely relies on fully understanding what’s happening in the universe as whole; what happens to him in Captain America: Civil War and the last two Avengers movies influences the plots of Spider-Man: Homecoming and Far from Home. It’s impossible for this iteration of Spider-Man to stand on its own without MCU context. And they can only spend so much time to recap the previous movies because they assume you already watched them; the recaps are just bare bones refreshers. Each new MCU film is further tied into the entire franchise, so now you have to watch a decade’s worth of movies to understand the individual franchises.

MCU is also one of many franchises dominating movie theaters, averaging at about 2-3 releases per year. It may not sound like a lot, but it’s overwhelming when they’re sandwiched between other franchises from D.C. Comics to Harry Potter to Star Wars and whatever 80s or 90s properties Hollywood finds worthy of a reboot/sequel. Movies are still pretty expensive, and we can’t be expected to see every movie as they release. So we end up having to pick and choose what to immediately see in theaters. And if you’re seeing a franchise film, chances are you’ll also have to backtrack on whatever predecessors are available to get the context of a new movie. When other movies, especially non-franchise films, don’t perform as well upon opening weekend, their showings are reduced, and you’ll be lucky if they’re still there a month later. And this is part of why directors like Scorsese turn to streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime to release their movies to not panic on box office numbers, “the primary delivery system” as he calls it.

While streaming services are convenient and far less expensive than movie tickets, viewers are still subject to content overload. With fluctuating availability of certain titles, you still have to pick and choose what you want to see first before it disappears for months or years. Do you want to watch this new Netflix original film that’s gonna be there forever, or do you want to watch re-runs of The Office before its contract expires? Sometimes if a service doesn’t see an immediate high viewership of certain original shows, they get cancelled and fade into obscurity. Now everyone and their mother wants to hop on the streaming bandwagon, and spread out their exclusive shows as thinly as possible, including Disney. The overall costs come close to cable or satellite television which goes against the whole point of streaming services.

Expanding the MCU to television isn’t a new concept. We still have Daredevil and Jessica Jones on Netflix, just to name a couple shows. Although they referenced the MCU films, their worlds were separated far enough that you could watch the shows without needing to see any movies. But then you also have something like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D which is more dependent on seeing the movies to understand the show’s plot. If you didn’t see the latest MCU movie that weekend before the next episode, you’ll probably miss out on the context and be barraged with spoilers. Although the events of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D weren’t referenced in the MCU films, the fans still have a lot of work to keep up with the show’s story.

Also, I know y’all are worried about brand integrity, but you already own Hulu…??

Not only were all the Netflix shows cancelled in favor of Disney+, but the shows on the new platform are said to affect future films, including all the new characters to be introduced. We still don’t know to what extent the shows and films will tie in together, but it already sounds demanding to keep up with. And let’s be real, who asked for WandaVision, a show with two of the most boring MCU characters? Or Hawkeye after Jeremy Renner decided to make a raging asshole of himself? Do I really need to watch these shows to understand the movies going forward?

Again, it’s still too early to determine how much the shows will coincide with the movies. And given the success of a show like The Mandalorian, I hope I’m wrong on the quality of future Disney+ projects. But I can’t help notice that MCU started favoring quantity over quality since they know they can make bank regardless of the project. It aaaaalllllll comes back to money which brings me to the next big issue of MCU.

II. Business Over Art

Business and art is always at odds with each other in filmmaking, especially if you’re going into Hollywood, and it’s never easy to compromise on the two. You need to find a balance between getting a finished movie out to theaters and not wasting the production’s time and money. According to Scorsese, this used to be “a productive tension that gave us some of the greatest films ever made.” However, in recent years, this balance tipped in business’s favor “with absolute indifference to the very question of art.” As a result, we don’t get the full “unifying vision of an individual artist.” We just have “worldwide audiovisual entertainment” and cinema. “They still overlap from time to time, but that’s becoming increasingly rare. And [he] fear[s] that the financial dominance of one is being used to marginalize and even belittle the existence of the other.”

Okay, this is still fun no matter how many times I see it

Sadly, we see this financial dominance with Disney grabbing on as many properties as possible and launching their own streaming service with exclusive shows and films. This became most heated with the Spider-Man character rights debacle with Sony. Back in August 2019, Sony disagreed on Disney’s proposed 50-50 split of MCU Spider-Man movie profits. If a deal wasn’t made, Disney would lose the rights to Spider-Man, and the MCU wouldn’t get a third film for the character. And it took a month for the companies to reach a deal to keep Spider-Man in the MCU with the third film scheduled for July 2021, but the details of the new deal weren’t publicly disclosed. Fans were divided as to which company was in the right, and it’s a little bit of Column A and B.

On one hand, it’s annoying when studio executives get in the way of the art and think they know what will guarantee box office and critical success. And it’s especially irritating in this case when character rights bounce around and determine who will make the next movies and what stories to tell. Spider-Man already has not one, but two previous franchises cancelled before their full potentials were realized. Yeah, Sony kinda shot themselves in the foot with the crap quality of Spider–Man 3 and The Amazing Spider–Man 2, but I can’t help wonder how these stories could’ve gone if they were allowed to continue.

Still the superior Spider-Man movie, by the by

On the other hand, Sony was right to refuse Disney’s initial offer. You think after the tremendous success they had with Into the Spiderverse that they would settle on only half of the profits? Disney has more than enough monopoly on Hollywood that they’re nowhere near in danger of bankruptcy like they used to be. We still need studios which will put their foot down to greedy demands and will better unleash creativity in ways which even Disney is still too chicken to pursue. I’m still so glad we waited on Sony to make Miles Morales the star of his own movie, because MCU has a bad track record of keeping up with diverse representation that only within the past 2 years of a 12-year-old franchise did we finally get movies not led by cisgender white men. And there was a lot more genuine love to do this story and these characters right to show anyone can be a hero.

Between the tug-of-war on character rights and franchise overload, these business decisions greatly affect the movies, and some of these stories may not live up to their full potential (not to mention the actors’ contracts which dictate how much screentime their characters get). As this is Disney we’re talking about, we also run into my final major issue with their control on MCU.

III. Cultural Authority on Stories

I knew saving my books from the UC: Santa Cruz Walt Disney class would come in handy some day!

In her essay “Fantasia: Cultural Constructions of Disney’s ‘Masterpiece'”, media historian Moya Luckett discusses the concerns of Disney holding “cultural authority” on the images of famous stories. As Disney is a formidable part of most everyone’s childhood, they are usually the go-to images when we think of Cinderella, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, and dozens more. Disney is clearly doing something right if these films are enjoyed decades later. I still go to Disney when I first think of Robin Hood, and it’s just as great as when I watched it as a kid. Unfortunately, with Disney dominating family and children’s media, they don’t allow much room for other interpretations to shine.

For example, with Luckett’s focus on the 1940 film, Fantasia, music critics worried “that the power of Disney’s images would anchor the music,” so some audiences may immediately associate “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” with Mickey Mouse or “Pastoral Symphony” with centaurettes instead making their own interpretations¹. And those critics were definitely right to worry, and the concerns expanded beyond classical music. To this day, folks still react with shock when they read the original books or darker iterations of fairytales which these movies are based on. In some extreme cases, Disney’s images contribute to racial stereotypes and distorted perceptions of histories and cultures, and the company still hasn’t figured out how to properly express that while they were products of their time, they weren’t okay then and they’re certainly not okay now.

But anyway, what the fuck does this all have to do with MCU? Sadly, Disney’s cultural authority leaked into MCU too.

With an indefinite future and the inevitable MCU reboots of characters and groups like the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, it is probably going to be literal years before we see new versions of characters like Tony Stark or Steve Rogers, at least as far as live-action movies are concerned. We’ll always have the numerous cartoons and, of course, the original comics, but the live-action films are stuck until Disney reboots these franchises themselves, or they pass the rights along to another studio to do so. For some viewers, MCU may be the first go-to images of these heroes, and not every fan will be dedicated enough to seek out other adaptations on their own. And that’s not a good thing if a comic arc or character gets a shitty adaptation. One such example, which also ties into Spider-Man, is the Civil War storyline which was adapted to film with Captain America: Civil War in 2016.

The original comic, published from July 2006 to January 2007, was a mega Marvel crossover event in which after a superheroes and villains battle ended in over 600 civilian deaths, the U.S government quickly passed the Superhuman Registration Act. Any superpowered person— regardless how they obtained their abilities— was required to register with the government, publicly reveal their identities, and enlist with S.H.I.E.L.D. for training to serve as a hero. Many heroes split up into two factions: one led by Tony Stark, who helped pass the law, and Steve Rogers, who went rogue to create the Secret Avengers because he found the law violated civil liberties of freedom and privacy. Families and friendships were torn apart, and the fighting escalated so badly that it was no longer even about the law but about Tony and Steve’s massive egos on who was right, resulting in more damage than any villain could’ve done (I recommend watching Comicstorian’s overview of the story for more details since it there’s so much going on, and his video is nice and succinct).

MCU already put themselves in pickle trying to adapt one of the biggest comic stories ever as they couldn’t portray the same scale of conflict, emotional zeitgeist, or the multiple sideplots weaved in. Film is already an inherently limited medium of entertainment for time, so cuts are inevitable. And what do you do when you can’t bring in major players like the Fantastic Four or the X-men? Well, for Captain America: Civil War, the conflict was scaled down to the Sokovia Accords which gave control of Avengers activity to the United Nations since their more recent missions often did more damage than good. In theory, this isn’t necessarily a bad idea since it still ties into the themes of government control versus civil liberties and when heroes need to be accountable. And the two sides still align similarly to the original comic with Tony Stark in favor of the law after his screw-up with Ultron and Steve Rogers against it after S.H.E.I.L.D. turned out to be front for HYDRA just a couple years before.

Unfortunately, the conflict over the Sokovia Accords is too quickly sidelined over Bucky Barnes being framed for a terrorist attack and a severe misunderstanding of his brainwashing when he was the Winter Soldier. The characters’ motivations— most of which have nothing to do with the Accords at all— jump all over the place on why they side with Tony or Steve. The ultimate battle boils down to a bromance love triangle, and I don’t feel like the MCU Avengers are a cohesive enough unit to feel any emotional drama when they split apart. In the long run, the worst consequences that anyone faces for violating the Sokovia Accords are either going into hiding or being placed under house arrest. And the law really stops mattering to anyone once Thanos snaps half of the universe’s population out of existence, making most of the film inconsequential. And for all of MCU’s best efforts to cut and edit the story to fit to film language, it’s still underwhelming to not have the massive scale the comic had. I don’t know if Civil War could ever have a proper live-action film adaptation without splitting it into multiple parts, and let’s be honest, audiences only have so much attention spans before they want something new.

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One of the major sideplots of Civil War was, of course, Spider-Man’s involvement, which became a huge selling point in the film’s trailers. In the comic, Peter Parker was ambivalent towards the Superhuman Registration Act, because villains could use the heroes’ public identities to attack their friends and family. But he still had faith that Tony Stark had everything under control, and revealed his identity in a press event to publicly voice his support for the Act. However, after a fight against the Secret Avengers resulted in the gruesome death of Goliath, Peter questioned Tony’s motivations and switched over to Steve Rogers’s side in hopes to de-escalate the fighting so no more heroes would die. At this point, Tony and Peter were well-acquainted that the former supplied him with his own tech, particularly the Iron Spider suit, so the side-switching (including a one-on-one fight between the two) was a hell of a surprise for readers. And I was really looking forward to that dynamic to play out in MCU, especially with a younger version of Peter Parker.

“So, cool if I just dip out for like 3 months without explanation?”

But MCU decided to throw out that conflict in favor of Peter Parker giving unquestioning veneration to Tony Stark as his mentor when he honestly doesn’t deserve it– I covered some of this briefly in a previous post on Tony Stark’s character stagnation, so there is some repeat but also some update with Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home in mind. Anyway, let’s break down Tony’s wonderful career as a mentor: manipulating Peter to join a fight against Captain America without the full details when it was already a huge misunderstanding; putting him on radio silence when black market weapons dealers were ready to steal his tech and just said he had it under control (spoiler: he didn’t, and Peter had to save the day himself and was nearly crushed by a whole building in the process); and trusting him with a pair of hi-tech glasses without instructions on how to not accidentally set off drones against his classmates.

This scene from Homecoming will always annoy the piss out of me. You can’t change my mind.

There’s a lot of confused framing and intentions to unpack here. Tony clearly doesn’t have certain situations under control, constantly struggles to come to terms with the fact he can’t save everyone, and lets anxiety overwhelm his better judgement in his deluded ideas to protect people. Despite his paranoia of saving everyone, Tony somehow doesn’t seem the least bit concerned with all the dangerous situations Peter, a 16-year-old, throws himself into while he’s on vacation. And Tony is still framed in the right on how he handles his problems, including punishing Peter for questioning his poor communication skills. Yeah, bold flex from a guy who waited until the last second to help save a boat full of civilians. Yes, we have to go through “with great power comes great responsibility” in a Spider-Man story, but Tony was well-aware how eager Peter was to prove himself, especially when he’s much more inexperienced and at a much younger age where he seeks validation from adult role models. Aside from giving Peter some nice tech, Tony didn’t actually teach him anything about heroism, and he certainly didn’t care to get to know him personally when he’s out of the suit which severely undermines the mentor-student route they attempted with these two characters. Tony gave Peter a lot of power, but didn’t guide him how to responsibly use it. 

Sweet moment; you gonna apologize for the part where you sat off to the side while he was almost crushed by a building?

I wanted to see that conflict between Peter and Tony like in the comics. It would’ve been fascinating to see the perspective of a teenager roped into the adult world of heroes. Perhaps he’d look back on his involvement in Civil War and wonder why the hell he was a part of that and what being a hero means to him. I didn’t want Peter to be punished for rightfully questioning Tony’s methods, and maybe, just once, Tony would get a come-to-Jesus moment and stop being a perpetual douchebag. The closest we get to those moments of actual love and mutual respect are the last two Avengers movies when Peter is snapped out of existence and Tony sacrifices himself to stop Thanos. The payoff is in the right mind, but MCU forgot the proper build-up to establish any genuine connection between Peter and Tony, let alone hold the latter accountable for his constant fuck-ups and neglectful mentoring. The lost potential in that bond and the Civil War arc only scratches at the surface in regards to why this adaptation of Spider-Man falls short.

Another gripe diehard MCU fans had on the character rights debacle was if Sony got back Spider-Man, how would they do the next movie without referencing Tony Stark? And this ties back again to the fact MCU Spider-Man cannot work as a standalone franchise. Peter Parker’s growth revolves too much on other MCU events and characters, especially Tony, and you don’t know who he is without those outside influences. Even the villains’ motivations are framed around Tony doing them wrong in some way. Yes, most viewers are familiar enough with Spider-Man that it’s redundant to show the origin story again; we know Uncle Ben is gonna die no matter what. But personal tragedy and family love were always Peter’s primary motivations to becoming a hero, and MCU barely references them. They can’t even get the dynamic between Peter and Aunt May right; their love is so lifeless and dull.

Iron Man Jr? Spider-Man? I don’t know anymore…

What makes Peter’s arc fascinating to watch isn’t him proving himself to Tony or some other surrogate father figure. It’s his relationship with what little family he has left, sacrificing his emotional needs to protect them, using his resourcefulness to build himself up as a hero, looking out for the underrepresented of New York City so they don’t have to go through what he did, and accepting that he can’t save everyone, even with all his best efforts. MCU shows snippets of that arc, but the development is still too focused on Tony to the point where Spider-Man feels more like an Iron Man Jr. It works well enough for the overall MCU, but not so much as an individual franchise when you compare the story and character relationships to the films made by Sam Raimi, Marc Webb or even Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman. Thank God that Spider-Man has so many adaptations for people to flock to, because if this was someone’s first and only introduction of the character in live-action film, they’d be hopelessly confused.

Sadly, that ends up being the case for so many MCU characters whose stories are also stuck with too much outside influences instead of being allowed to develop on their own. If I tried to cover every character potential wasted in MCU so far, we’d be here forever. As of late, MCU focuses on tying every event and character arc together and overloading on Easter eggs to build up to the next major plot conversion instead of creating stories with organic world-building which can stand on their own. This isn’t the case for every MCU movie, but it is the most common trend in their latest projects which will most likely continue to that next crossover event, whenever and whatever it is. The allusions to other films in the universe should be embellishments, not the entire story’s foundation.

Although I’m curious where they’ll take Peter Parker given the midcredits scene of Far From Home, I also wonder if they’ll tell his story with him front-and-center and without referencing Tony Stark every five minutes. But what’s done is done, and MCU’s Spider-Man relied too much on those allusions to the point where some fans forgot what made him a great hero to begin with. When you strip away his involvement with the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D., his arc is feeble compared to other adaptations. Sure, Tobey Maguire got goofy at times, and Andrew Garfiled’s drama was maybe too heavy-handed, but their Peter Parkers are at least well-rounded characters who figure out what being a hero means to their personal growth. Tom Holland does well with what he’s given, and I love seeing his emotional vulnerability, but I don’t know who his Peter Parker is without Avengers shenanigans.

I want to continue enjoying MCU as much as anyone else, but it’s hard to not see Scorsese’s point that most of these movies are mindless like amusement parks. At some point, we gotta turn off the hype goggles and see what else these stories have to offer besides how they relate to larger events in the cinematic universe. It’s not bad to indulge in mindless fun every now and then, and we still get fantastic movies out of MCU, but audiences will get tired of the obligation to watch dozens of shows and movies to keep up with the story. And with Disney controlling almost all of entertainment, we need to re-evaluate if they’re interested in telling engaging stories or in shooting out franchise after franchise to maintain steady profits and if these are even good-enough adaptations of such beloved comic characters we want to automatically go to when we think of them. As I said before, it is possible to have too much of a good thing, and you need to leave the amusement park eventually. Since we know so little of their next crossover events, I hope MCU finds the point where they can satisfyingly wrap up the story of this universe before we get exhausted by it all.

Luckett, M. “Fantasia: Cultural Constructions of Disney’s ‘Masterpiece.'” Disney Discourse, ed. E. Smoodin (New York City, NY: Routledge, 1994), 227.

Shout out to my darling friend, Kayla, who helped me through one of my rough drafts to help focus this piece!

As always, if you enjoyed this post and what I do here, consider buying me a ko-fi! Your support is much appreciated!

Martin Scorsese Isn't Totally Wrong: The Marvel Cinematic Universe, Overindulgence, and Re-evaluating Spider-Man's Arc #martinscorsese #mcu #marvel #spiderman Of the latest "controversial" opinions to rock social media, renowned director Martin Scorsese voiced his dislike of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)

[josephlrushing]

The Outer Worlds for Nintendo Switch Makes a Hot Mess of a Great Game

The Outer Worlds from Obsidian Entertainment was my favorite game of 2019, and I already replayed it on PC in early 2020. It was an excellent role-playing game with tons of great shooter and melee combat, fantastic writing and characters, and storytelling. It has now arrived on the Nintendo Switch as an absolute hot mess of a full-priced port.

I recommend you avoid it until significant patching and price drops occur — unless you only have the Switch as a gaming option, in which case you might still love it as much as I did despite the warts.

Here are the basics about The Outer Worlds:

The Outer Worlds is a new single-player sci-fi RPG from Obsidian Entertainment and Private Division. Lost in transit while on a colonist ship bound for the furthest edge of the galaxy, you awake decades later than you expected only to find yourself in the midst of a deep conspiracy threatening to destroy the Halcyon colony.

As you explore the furthest reaches of space and encounter a host of factions all vying for power, who you decide to become will determine the fate of everyone in Halcyon.

In the corporate equation for the colony, you are the unplanned variable.

Story: Obsidian Entertainment is known for producing the best and most interesting stories in the role-playing world. They were formed by people with resumes, including the legendary Baldur’s Gate and Fallout games of the 90s, and have themselves created most of the best-written role-playing games of the past 15 years. These include Neverwinter Nights 2, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2, Fallout New Vegas, Tyranny, Pillars of Eternity 1 & 2, and more.

The Outer World jumps right in with a compelling premise and a wild set of characters. You will never be bored from a lack of exciting quests and interactions. As always, with Obsidian, your choices have consequences, and you can align yourself in a variety of ways to get to several possible outcomes and endings.

To me, the story was what kept me engaged and coming back for more. Obsidian delivered more of their incredible characters and companions, each of whom has their own backstory and motivations and will try to either influence you or seek your approval for their own desires. Fortunately, the game we got on the Switch is complete and has all of the characters, quests, and story intact.

Graphics: How do I say this politely? The graphics on the Switch port are a mess. I am not a huge critic of graphics in portable versions of games – I will be very forgiving to get a game ‘on the go.’ Plenty of Switch ports of PC games such as Doom (2016), Wolfenstein II: New Colossus, Diablo III, Civilization VI, and of course, the recent The Witcher 3 all look great while each had to make small compromises.

For The Outer Worlds, the compromises were VERY significant, particularly when playing in handheld mode. When playing, docked things are significantly better, but still a significant step-down from playing on PC or consoles. In handheld mode (my preference), textures are mushy, details are washed out, the color palette is squashed, and the open areas suffer from significant pop-in of not just details but enemies and other characters.

As a result, it is possible to run down the road that looks empty and suddenly find yourself in the midst of a battle with enemies who popped in out of nowhere. This also happens to buildings and signs – you will just see blurry blobs until you are right on top of things. As I said, it is better in docked mode – but still not great because of performance.

What bothered me even more was that the graphic quality and performance was inconsistent throughout the game. You get used to the game looking like it was a decade old or more, then suddenly you see a few gorgeous areas with butter-smooth performance, which just makes it more jarring when you come upon a sign that you can’t read until it is right in front of you.

Performance: Porting house Private Division said they were targeting 1080p docked and 720p in handheld mode with 30 frames per second locked. It turns out that it was more like ‘wishful thinking.’ I have already discussed the mediocre graphics, but the bigger problem was all of the frame rate dips as I wandered the world. Not only could enemies pop in, but as the game lagged trying to catch up with frames, you could take loads of damage waiting for the sluggish controls and also waste loads of precious ammo.

The game doesn’t feel like it was polished enough to release. There was a ‘day one patch’ that helped things compared to previews I have seen/read, but it feels like a long way to go to have a satisfying game. While playing the game, there was another patch bringing the game to 1.01, which also helped a bit. But unfortunately, the game remains ‘fully up to date’ at the 1.01 patch. In comparison, my PC version has already had the 1.04 patch for a while. To make matters worse, Obsidian & Private Division even said, “Patch 1.4 has been released to all employees” when announcing it on Twitter – and has not made any comments on the Switch patch or responded to questions. The last communication was in late June, saying ‘working on it.’

Based on this, I would say that we need to assume that the 1.01 version is ‘end state’ for the Switch. And that is sad because while the game was one of my favorites — not just for 2019 but in general for recent years — but on the Switch, it is pretty tough to recommend due to performance and graphics.

Gameplay: The Outer Worlds is a combination FPS-RPG (first-person shooter and role-playing game), and in the manner typical for the genre, when you enter combat, your success is based on your personal ability to aim and time strikes and blocks, and also modifiers based on your characters skills and attributes. So you could play the game with a melee-focused brute and find your pistol much less useful than if you were a smaller, more dextrous character with skills focused on aim and concentration.

Aside from the performance issues, this style of game adapts pretty well on the Switch – and along with the story is the reason I played it to completion in handheld mode! Once I worked out a system to deal with enemies appearing spontaneously, it became fun to try out a variety of weapons and techniques – and since each enemy has its own set of strengths and weaknesses, it is critical that you develop an understanding of how to address those before you end up dead.

Because of the complex three-tier attribute/skill/perk system that all interact and influence everything you do, there is a need to focus on a couple of combat and non-combat areas to ensure success in all but the easiest play mode. For example, in my main playthrough, I was a science-focused melee combat character with high levels of diplomacy. That allowed me to maximize a cool science-based melee weapon (and getting that was a quest item itself!) but meant I wasn’t very skilled at opening locks or hacking computers. My gun skills were also very weak, but fortunately, you can bring along up to two companions on missions, which allows you to have a ranged sniper and hacker with you to complement your skills.

Controls: The Outer Worlds plays like a fairly standard first-person action-RPG. Using FPS-style console controls, most gamers will recognize augmented by the Switch’s gyroscope controls, which themselves can be tweaked to your liking. I will always prefer the keyboard & mouse control system, but whereas earlier handheld systems had inferior controls, I never felt like the controls in The Outer World held me back.

Conclusions: I wrestled with whether to title this review ‘even inconsistent graphics and erratic performance couldn’t kill my love for this game.’ But what I realized was that if I didn’t ALREADY love this game —and know it was worth working through the issues — I would likely have quit after a few hours and lamented the money lost in the purchase.

And that is how I end up calling this a ‘hot mess of a great game’ – yes, The Outer Worlds IS a great game, even on the Switch. There are so many classic gaming moments to explore – pretty much everything with Pavarti is a gem – and the breadth and variety of things to do, explore and destroy just make it a blast. BUT … you DO need to get past the graphics and performance – and that means fundamentally changing how you play the game compared to other systems. And – that is something it is hard for me to recommend.

Source: Personal Purchase

Price: $19.99 for The Outer Worlds from the Nintendo eShop.

What I Like: Excellent story; Intuitive control scheme; Tons of quests; Many hidden items/unlockables; Great skill trees; A variety of play styles and difficulty levels increases replay value to high level

What Needs Improvement: Inconsistent graphical quality and performance; Overall performance leads to difficult fights and adaptive strategies; Patches lag way behind PC and consoles

The post The Outer Worlds for Nintendo Switch Makes a Hot Mess of a Great Game first appeared on GearDiary.

from Joseph Rushing https://geardiary.com/2020/09/28/the-outer-worlds-for-nintendo-switch-makes-a-hot-mess-of-a-great-game/

[madstars-festival]

5 MINUTES WITH... JOACHIM KORTLEPEL, AD STARS 2020 JURY

We are delighted to welcome Joachim Kortlepel, ECD at Jung von Matt in Hamburg, to our Final Jury. Don’t miss his interview with Little Black Book.

As a former journalist on Capitol Hill, Joachim Kortlepel wonders if we’ll all look back on fake news and Trump & Co as a flaw in the matrix. He also dislikes the rise of xenophobia and one-hit-wonder marketing campaigns, but is passionate about music, experiential marketing and Jung von Matt’s ‘magnetic’ culture, where he’s been since 2001.

As well as being ECD, he joined Jung von Matt Holding in 2017 as a creative service provider for around 15 Jung von Matt agencies globally.

Joachim has won over 200 awards including a Graphite Pencil at this year’s D&AD Awards and a Grand Prix/Green Pencil at One Show 2020 for ‘For Seasons’ – a campaign that cleverly recomposes Vivaldi’s Four Seasons using climate data to raise awareness of the consequences of climate change.

You began your career as a journalist. Why did you decide to be a reporter?

I was always extremely into politics. From early on. I believe this is connected to my country’s history and its role in world politics ever since World War II. I was always looking for answers with regard to all of what happened before and after WWII. So politics became my major at University and together with my deep love for writing, I kind of made my way straight to the European Commission in Washington D.C., where I worked as a legislative correspondent and political analyst. I was allowed to report on US foreign and domestic politics. Pretty amazing to witness Senators and Representatives of the House on a day-to-day basis on Capitol Hill to be honest.

But as time went on, I discovered that rather than writing about something and running after the facts (facts meant something in those days) it would be more challenging and somehow more fun to create something that others would be writing about. That is when I switched, got back to Germany and worked at BBDO with a focus on copywriting.

As a former journalist, what do you think of the ‘fake news’ phenomenon?

Quite honestly: it pisses me off. The other side is pure disbelief that Trump & Co. manage to keep this going for them: disregarding everything, putting criticism aside by simply calling it fake news. How could that happen? To a little lesser extent this applies also to decision makers in other countries, i.e. Russia, Poland or Hungary, just to name a few. But what happens in the US is still worse. It will be interesting to see how we will look back on this in a couple of years from now; or maybe even after the next US election in November. Is this something we will be referring to as a flaw in the Matrix?

Anyhow, all of this asks us to be even more in love with every detail of a story, to be even more precise and responsible and even more reliable, because mistakes and flaws in our facts and stories will only foster and nourish the ‘Trump-way-of-doing-politics’ (if you can call this politics at all). My hope is, in the end, facts will win over.

You joined Jung von Matt in 2001. What does it do differently?

I feel the culture is magnetic. There is such a strong drive for non-conformity, a desire to break the rules no matter what. We always want to be unexpected, we like to surprise people and add some humour to our stories. Our campaigns entertain. And what I do like very much about our spirit: “No” is not an answer, whatever the obstacles are in bringing campaigns on air, creativity will find an answer. Together we can do everything. And if we fail to reach our goals, we come back stronger.

Wherever and whomever I did meet in the past: I never saw this creative spirit or experienced anything close to it again. So maybe they – as we say in Germany – will have to carry me out of the building because I will die here one day at my desk ;-)

In 2001, you set up Jung von Matt/relations – why did you become so interested in experiential marketing and ‘brand experiences’?

To me, experiental marketing is one of the most authentic ways to communicate. Brand experiences (specifically the combination of digital & non-digital) create highly emotional reactions. The way I see it, making brands tangible is one of the greatest challenges in marketing and creates some of the most emotional and credible ways to communicate with customers: everything is real. No editing, no post-production and no ‘let us do it all over again’. It is live. And you know what is really great about this? If you do your utmost to create something amazing and emotional, people will not only highly value the experience itself but also the amount of work you put in only to please them. That is a win-win scenario on all accounts.

You believe ‘creativity can solve every problem in the world’ and there are lots of problems to be solved this year in particular. Have there been any innovations in Germany in response to the coronavirus or Black Lives Matter movement?

In Germany, they managed to bring about a mobile app that every German can download. It tracks your way and if you got in contact with somebody infected, it is much easier to trace. And it is even in accordance with privacy rules, which are pretty tight in Germany.

As for Black Lives Matter: it is a global movement that is a long time overdue. And although racism seems to be a larger problem in the US, we too in Germany must be very aware of it. Not only because of our history, but also since we have our own problems to solve, racism being one of them but another big one is xenophobia. We still need to do everything we can to stand against this. In politics, in society and in advertising.

I am somewhat fed up with those one-hit wonder marketing and advertising stunts: I believe we need to engage something truly more profound and impactful. And yes, creativity can solve this! But first we need to address the problem and ask the right questions.

Do you have a creative process: how do you approach a new brief?

Everything begins with a white and empty sheet of paper. From then on it is the permanent search and the discarding of possibilities. Always and always further. I don't think that we are very different from others. It's hard work and we don't have that one elaborate process, except that we create the best possible framework so that creatives can fully focus on the task at hand.

Everything at Jung von Matt is designed to allow creative people to be as creative as possible. Then it takes a little luck and every now and then courageous clients. Because one thing is clear: just like in a Formula 1 race, to get to the top you have to leave the racing line and move to the battle line. Only then can you overtake. And to do that, you sometimes have to do the unexpected, surprise everyone and challenge the status quo. Equipped with these guiding principles, the goal is clear and the way is clear for all to see. For me it is living the breaking-of-rules. Non-conformity to the extreme.

What is your proudest achievement, professionally or personally?

Personally, it is a short answer: My three kids ;-)

Professionally, projects that involved music in one way or the other to solve a problem, to raise awareness or to create a meaningful impact.

As a standalone project, most likely the global marketing campaign for the opening of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg back in 2017. That has been a once-in-a-lifetime effort. Because it does not happen all too often that you have a building only for music and art like this one, and a client’s construction delay crisis like the one we faced when we began to work.

As the leading creative I spent some 1.5 years solely dedicated to this project. It was worth the effort and I can look at the Elbphilharmonie every day when I pass by it on my bike. That’s awesome and sort of a permanent reminder of my own work when you look at how it has become a concert house for truly everybody and how we managed to turn public opinion around.

Are you working on anything interesting right now?  

Yes, and it involves music. A truly global effort demonstrating yet again the power of music and creativity. What is remarkable is that we are cooperating between agencies and I am extremely happy to work with AKQA Australia on this. Public announcements are to follow sometime in the fall of 2020 and I can’t wait to tell more.

You’re joining AD STARS as a Final Judge this year. What are you most looking forward to?

Well, it is a great honour to be selected as a final judge for the AD STARS festival and I am so curious to see all the work.

What city are you based in, and how does it inspire you?

Hamburg. The city is located at the river Elbe not too far away from North Sea. Water almost surrounds the entire city, it is everywhere and the power of it is to be felt in every corner. The liquid force is something that I seek to achieve with ideas, too. Creating unstoppable power such as the strength that water can develop. And as for the tides, nothing stays still, it is a constant flow, day by day as it is with ideas. That asks for humbleness.

* Joachim Kortlepel is joining AD STARS 2020 to judge Brand Experience & Activation, Creative eCommerce, Direct, Media, PR. This interview was originally published in Little Black Book.

[rebelsofshield]

Ranking a Saga: Nick Tries to Review all of Star Wars

I have done quite a bit of writing on Star Wars throughout the years. Whether it’s through rankings or countdowns or episodic reviews The Clone Wars or Rebels, I have long used this blog as a way to share my thoughts on the Galaxy Far Far Away. That being said, I have actually written very little about my opinions regarding the films themselves. What better time to do so than this week with a new Star Wars movie arriving tonight?

While I had originally hoped to do lengthy reviews for all seven saga films, Rogue One, and the theatrical Clone Wars release, due to time constraints, we will instead be doing another ranking with medium length reviews for each movie. (Yes, I love lists.)

As always, feel free to voice your opinions. Tell me how wrong I am about everything or better yet share your own Star Wars lists. I would love to see them.

9. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)

Watching the theatrical pilot for Star Wars: The Clone Wars is like watching a talented high school quarterback be assigned to play for a major NFL team. It’s taking something that in its own small, minor scale would be perfectly acceptable and potentially even good, and forcing it into a realm where it has no business belonging. This is the unfortunate task faced with Dave Filoni and his crew. Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a movie that should not be a movie, in fact it barely functions as one to begin with.

I do not hide my love for the still flawed but at the same time charming, engaging, and compelling animated series that this film would spawn. It’s for this reason that the failings of The Clone Wars feel all the more painful.

Hastily edited together out of the initial five episodes for the series, quite simply everything about The Clone Wars is a mess for a film. Despite the best efforts of Director Dave Filoni, The Clone Wars cannot escape its slipshod construction. It moves along in hurts and jolts and switches focus too quickly to attain much of any narrative momentum.

It also hurts that the animation itself, while perfectly serviceable for a CG animated series for the late 2000’s, is stiff, clunky, and oddly flat. Environments are sterile and lacking in texture. Characters move in jerky motions and lack facial expressions. In a year that would bring us kinetic and gorgeously detailed CG animation from films like Wall-e and Kung Fu Panda, watching The Clone Wars is an ugly and even depressing affair.

The only passing grace for this film are the creative and at times epic in scope battle sequences, but when the film itself is this lacking in cohesion and heart it is hard to raise anything more than half-interest.

Score: D

8. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)

By far the weakest of the so far released Saga films, Attack of the Clones acts as a call to action for all those who have issues with the prequel films. While it has dropped the bizarre racial stereotyping of its predecessor, George Lucas’s second installment in the series’ second trilogy is filled with strange decision making and a convoluted plot structure.

Trying to understand the narrative of Attack of the Clones is often very difficult. While it is relatively easy to tune out and simply enjoy the spectacle of it all, the attempts to meld space opera with noir and political intrigue prove unfortunately more convoluted and stale than intriguing. In particular, the circumstances surrounding the creation and implementation of the clone army stretch credibility.

While The Phantom Menace made extensive and competent use of combining miniatures and digital effects, Attack of the Clones falls back on computer generated images to detrimental effect. While it serves the sweeping battle sequences and wide arrange of alien creatures well, the pervasiveness of digital additions to the film’s world becomes distracting when it oversteps its bounds. In particular, the decision to make the armor for each of Temuera Morrison’s clonetroopers digitally rendered is an unnecessary decision and it gives a slightly uncanny feel to the clone army itself. Even worse are the completely digital environments which feel detached and weightless in their interactions with movie’s cast.

Ultimately though, the biggest failing of Attack of the Clones is Anakin himself. While Jake Lloyd may have struggled in The Phantom Menace he at least succeeded in turning Anakin into something of a likable character. While Hayden Christensen is a talented actor and he certainly improves by the time Revenge of the Sith arrives, it is hard to relate or even sympathize to the manner the character is presented in Attack of the Clones. He oscillates between arrogant, angry, and uncomfortable without giving us much to fall back upon. If we are meant to feel for his temptation and fall from the Light, then there needs to have been somethings there worth saving in the first place. By the time Attack of the Clones closes, we don’t have much of that.

The same can be said for the much maligned romance at the film’s center. While the concept is compelling in and of itself, Lucas’s writing and staging of the scenes can’t help but feel staged and forced. Both Natalie Portman, who was one of the previous film’s highlights, and Christensen struggle in finding a chemistry in the material that feels natural and the end result is something that at times approaches unwatchable uncomfortable in its presentation.

That being said, once the film’s political powder keg explodes, Attack of the Clones evolves into something intense and actually quite fun. Both the unique arena sequence and the Battle of Geonosis are visually stunning and entertaining action set pieces that are bolstered by a swashbuckling and charming performance by Ewan McGregor. While it does close out in the most disappointing lightsaber duel of the saga, it still ends on a relative high note given the meandering and detached mess that preceded it.

Score: C-

7. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)

While still one of the weaker films in the saga, The Phantom Menace receives significantly more ire than perhaps it deserves. Much of this is perhaps due to the initial hype and disappointment that it brought with it during its release in 1999. Some of this is understandable considering that it does mark a significant step down in terms of quality from 1983’s Return of the Jedi and an even further one from the first two films. However, when viewed in context of both Attack of the Clones and The Clone Wars animated film there is something about The Phantom Menace that feels inherently more watchable and even entertaining.

Much of this is that despite the fact that the film’s structure is strange and lacking in cohesion, it does move along at a pretty steady speed and provides us with a wide variety of locations and faces. There is also something about the aesthetic of the whole thing that feels significantly more in line with the original Star Wars than both the other prequel films would provide. It also helps that Lucas’s action direction, even if it does tend to the over complicated and unnatural, is visually arresting and engaging. Both the podracing sequence at its center and the stellar lightsaber duel between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Darth Maul are representative of the sort of fast moving fun that make the Star Wars films what they are.

Unfortunately, this is about where the praise for The Phantom Menace ends. I have already spoken at length about the rampant presence of racial stereotyping in the film and one does not have to spend much time discussing the flaws behind Jar Jar Binks or Jake Lloyd’s performance of a young Anakin Skywalker. The fact of the matter is, much of the negative aspects of the film have been so ingrained into popular culture that even discussing them at length would feel almost unnecessary. Jar Jar is annoying. The acting is stale. Etc.

However, perhaps the biggest detriment to the Phantom Menace as a whole is the lack of a direction when it comes to its characters. Of the cast on display only Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman are given characters with much of anything to do and while they may lack depth or charisma, their portrayal are competent and engaging enough to avoid boredom or disinterest. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the rest of the cast. Although there is nothing inherently poor about his presence in the movie, Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi is given next to nothing to do in the film and in the process his sudden importance at its conclusion feels half-baked and insincere.

Ultimately, The Phantom Menace is a disappointment, but it remains a watchable and at times entertaining movie, especially in contrast to the worst of the saga.

Score: C+

6. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

The second of the two so-far released Star Wars films released by Lucasfilm since Disney’s heralding of the franchise is also the weaker. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story represents the first live action, theatrically released film in the Galaxy Far, Far Away that centers itself outside of the main Skywalker saga. It styles itself as both a prequel and spin-off and strikes out to capture some of the genre-bending style that has been Marvel Studios’s secret success. Telling the story of the theft of the Death Star plans, director Gareth Edwards styles Rogue One as a science fiction war epic filled with intense battle sequences and clever camera work.

When Rogue One is at war, the film is a success. Edwards’s strong visual eye, especially when detailing scope and scale, is the movie’s true secret weapon. Rogue One is a gorgeous film to look at and more so than The Force Awakens finds a way to inhabit the aesthetic of the Original Trilogy while also updating it for a contemporary audience. The blending of practical and digital effects is close to seamless (outside of the infamous digital recreations of Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher). As an extension, the battle sequences whether they be urban shootouts in the ancient city of Jedha, storming the beaches of Scarif, or capital ships crashing into one another in high atmosphere, are stunning to behold and perfectly capture the chaos but also emotion of galactic warfare.

Similarly, when Rogue One functions as an allegory for the battles of oppressed people against fascist or totalitarian governments it is effectively stirring and even emotional. Sacrifice for freedom is a key theme of the franchise and Edwards and screenwriters Chris Weitz, Tony Gilroy, John Knoll, and Gary Whitta are keenly aware of this.

It is unfortunate then that so much of Rogue One is so starkly impersonal and flat. Throughout the film’s runtime there is an undeniable texture of ideas and concept that are intriguing. There are different political factions, sub-cultures that have clear beliefs and unique meanings to the franchise, and characters that are well drawn and conceptualized. These ideas just often feel untouchable or nebulously realized.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the film’s central cast of characters. While the ensemble of talented actors do their strongest to bring these rebels to life, many struggle to stretch beyond their initial drawings or conceptualizations. Few outside of the film’s lead, Jyn Erso, possess much of a clear character arc or personal stake in the proceedings, but even those that do experience some form of personal realization do so in a stop gap manner that is hard to follow. At its most basic, Rogue One’s characters lack agency; their wants and desires feel removed from the central thrust of the plot and instead feel like game pieces moved about for a larger force. While this may have been done as a way to ape grunt work in military campaigns, there is still a storied history of war films that explore the personal and human side of battle, especially when the war concerns battles of freedom against totalitarianism. Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor may hint at a lifelong history of war and battle, but we don’t see how this shapes him as a human or why he comes to realize that this has harmed him in the third act. It says something that the most iconic scene in the film concerns a cameo from a villain from a more successful movie. As a result, Rogue One functions as a series of beautifully executed set pieces and ideas, but is told through an emotional distance and relative lack of humanity.

Score: B-

5. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)

While it is not flawless, it is refreshing to see the franchise reorient itself so strongly during the closing act of the prequel trilogy. Revenge of the Sith is a film that blends mythos and character and at its best does both rather well.

At its worst, Revenge of the Sith recommits the sins of its predecessors. Hayden Christensen, while as a whole is significantly better than his previous take on the character, still has his moments of woodenness and has a proclivity for overly heightened melodrama. Lucas’s script also continues to struggle in providing dialogue, particularly in romantic scenes, that feels human often resulting in stilted and even sometimes nonsensical phrasings. Overall, there is something also strangely off about the tone in Revenge of the Sith which changes from relatively fun and light hearted space adventure to dark and brooding tragedy often times rather close to each other.

However, Anakin’s eventual fall from grace and the rise of the Galactic Empire carry with them a great sense of dramatic and mythological weight, even if the transition from conflicted Jedi Knight into child murderer does feel a tad rushed. The fact of the matter is, Revenge of the Sith knows how to play into its subject matter. Its story is appropriately weighty and once Grievous falls and Sidious makes his masterstroke the film evolves into some of the most consistently entertaining and weighty material in the saga, easily surpassing its predecessors in the prequels.

While it has come under fire recently for its apparent decision to select spectacle over emotion, the final confrontation between Anakin and Obi-Wan still remains some of the most intense and emotional stuff the series has seen. Its dancelike and kinetic fight choreography coupled with John Williams’s haunting score commands attention and leaves dozens of striking images in the viewer’s brain.

However, it is ultimately Ian McDiarmid performance as Palpatine/Darth Sidious that really makes Revenge of the Sith special. McDiarmid knows how to sell the myth and lore of Star Wars with nuance and restraint while at the same time is not afraid to embrace the hammy and ridiculous side of his character as well. Whenever he is on screen, he owns every second of it and he makes the film equal parts entertaining and haunting.

Score: B

4. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)

Despite containing some of the most iconic and even emotional content of the series, there is something oddly stale about Return of the Jedi. It still is a consistently entertaining and engaging film, but in comparison to the two masterworks that proceeded it, something feels off.

Some of this might simply be due to the abundance of slapstick humor, the ill-fitting Ewoks, or any number of frequently cited issues with the presentation and script such as an overly long sojourn to Jabba’s Palace on Tatooine. (I do love the Errol Flynn/Flash Gordon style set piece above the Sarlacc pit all the same.) However, perhaps the most unfortunate aspect about Return of the Jedi is simply the fact that two of its principal characters are played by actors who simply do not seem to want to be a part of the film. Both Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford turn in performances that are competent in their own right, but at the same time are a far cry from their work in both preceding films in the original trilogy. A particular exchange between the famous smuggler and princess on a balcony in an Ewok village contains some of the most forced dialogue and line delivery in the saga and it’s more than a tad distracting and disappointing.

However, outside of these individual moments, Return of the Jedi progresses the narrative momentum from both previous films into an incredible three part climax that is thrilling and compelling. Whether it is the sublimely ahead of its time space battle between the scattered rebel fleet and the Imperial war machine or the final temptation of Luke Skywalker by the Emperor, Return of the Jedi draws the viewer into its dense dramatic landscape and rarely lets up. Yes, even the relative silliness and levity of the Ewok forest battle even makes for some amusing breaks of the heavy material surrounding it.

What ultimately elevates Return of the Jedi above most of the rest of the Star Wars franchise is its beautiful conclusion to the central drama of the Skywalker family saga. Mark Hamill and Ian McDiarmid are arguably the two strongest actors in the original six Star Wars films and seeing both paragons of light and dark play off one another in such a way is a rare treat that bursts with scenery chewing pathos. The tempting of Luke through family and eventually Vader’s redemption through love for his son is a beautiful thematic tableau. Vader’s slaying of his Master and his gradual death bed re-transformation into Anakin Skywalker makes for the most emotional sequences in the series. Regardless of the tragedy that has brought the series to this point, Return of the Jedi ends on a moment of unabashed peace and unity and it’s both serene and appropriately celebratory. Whether you are a “Yub Nub” fan or a fan of the Special Edition’s galactic victory revelry (I’m the latter), it is hard not to smile as our heroes embrace one another and an old generation sees its sins rectified. Score: B+

3. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)

Director JJ Abrams and co-writer Lawrence Kasdan stated that the one emotion they wished to elicit in audiences while viewing The Force Awakens was delight. In that they delivered in spades. While the film may tread into some dark and even tragic material, what The Force Awakens does first and foremost is return a sense of fun, adventure, mythos, and character to Star Wars’ presence in the world. It makes for a breathless, endearing, and entirely involving viewing experience that only manages to win one over with each consecutive watch.

Much of this is due to the embarrassingly talented and engaging ensemble cast assembled in the film. Not since The Empire Strikes Back has a Star Wars film been this densely populated with genuinely relatable, exciting, and intriguing characters. It’s what makes the movie breathe, live, and thrive and in the process turns it into premium blockbuster entertainment and one of the finest installments in the series to date.

Daisy Ridley’s Rey easily finds herself fitting into the archetype of a loner elevated from poverty into extraordinary circumstances. She makes for the sort of every woman that made the original Star Wars narrative so appealing and was lacking from the prequel trilogy as a whole with maybe the exception of a childhood Anakin. In contrast, John Boyega’s Finn is a boundless source of energy, outward conflict, and humor. Boyega is about as charismatic and energetic character as the franchise has ever had. From his first traumatic introduction through the eventual end of his journey, Finn’s struggle for purpose and arguably redemption adds a level of unpredictability but also flawed humanism. Boyega clearly has a large amount of affection not only for the role but for the film and the universe itself. It’s hard not to fall in love with Finn from the second he appears on screen. Pairing off with him is Oscar Isaac’s underutilized by seductively charming hot shot pilot, Poe Dameron. Isaac owns every scene he is a part of with each spin of his fighter, smirk, and cheer.

Opposing the trinity is Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren, whom Abram’s and Kasdan craft into a fractured and unstable meta-symbol of legacy and male fragility. It turns Kylo into an entertaining and uniquely frightening villain that is not sympathetic, but understandably human. It makes the character’s slips towards the Dark scarier in their closeness to real world insecurity. This is not a fall of mythic proportions such as Anakin but one instead fueled by uncomfortably familiar emotion.

Of the returning cast members, Harrison Ford not only turns in his best take on the galaxy’s most notorious smuggler since The Empire Strikes Back but arguably his most lively and enjoyable performance in over a decade. Like much of the cast, Ford seems to be enjoying the role and luckily, unlike Return of the Jedi, he seems to have found what makes the character of Han Solo not only fun but interesting and human. The same can be said for Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa. Fisher has not lost her ability to appear both emotionally torn but also commanding at one moment, and she, like Ford, effortlessly slips back into her old role.

As it is most likely clear by this point, The Force Awakens is a film that thrives by its incredible cast of characters. Star Wars at its best is a series that works best when the mythology, despite how compelling it may be, takes a back seat to the human, robotic, and alien beings at its center. This proves doubly the case for The Force Awakens. While its central plot mostly serves as a means by which to challenge, test, and reveal its characters, it also functions as one of the most structurally weak points of the movie. Those familiar with A New Hope will find a fair share of structural similarities with the beginnings of both trilogies. Most of these center around the mostly ill-advised inclusion of Starkiller base, a third string Death Star that functions as little more than a staging ground for the film’s final act. However, while this overt reverence for the past can prove distracting and unwarranted, it does not prove as detrimental to the film as a whole as some critics and fans have claimed since its release in 2015.

Score: A

2. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)

Viewing Star Wars, or A New Hope, is almost an exercise in examining an indelible piece of pop culture history as much as viewing a movie. It is hard to overstate just how drastically this film has shaped the world and cinematic culture since it was first released to record breaking crowds in 1977. While it may seem inconsequential when viewed in the pure breadth and scope of the behemoth franchise that it has spawned in the 40 years since its premiere, A New Hope laid the groundwork for one of the most enduring pieces of science-fiction/fantasy in the world all the while telling a uniquely entertaining and compelling movie in its own right.

As its own artifact, A New Hope is this strange sort of mad genius cooked up within George Lucas’s often baffling but uniquely talented creative space. The sheer amount of consequential but essential world and character building that A New Hope carries within its opening act is a gargantuan feat and it does so with the same sort of on-the-nose optimism and sense of adventure that pervades the entirety of the picture. Whether it’s the thrilling opening clash between Leia’s rebellion and the Empire or through Obi-Wan’s melancholy explanation of the history of the Jedi to an eager Luke Skywalker, Lucas’s script is busy crafting a myth and its one that’s worth listening to.

A New Hope’s secret success has always been its distillation of the hero’s journey into a unique narrative. Lucas imbues his take on this classic storytelling trope with his own creative flourishes and iconic imagery: the long arm of the Empire represented as the never ending Star Destroyer filling the screen, Luke’s desire for adventure represented as an almost self-imposed prison in his aunt and uncle’s farm before it is torn away from him, and of course the cantina that represents the steps into a larger new world filled with oddities and danger. A New Hope’s iconography is memorable and steeped into pop cultural memory for a reason.

In terms of performances, outside of Alec Guinness’s stoic but appropriately haunted Obi-Wan Kenobi and Peter Cushing’s deliciously twisted and sinister Grand Moff Tarkin, A New Hope functions moreso as a stepping stone for future development than an acting showcase. This is not to say that the acting is poor. Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker is impatient and impetuous, but he serves as a more than adequate focal point for the film’s young audience. Harrison Ford’s Han Solo may not yet be the cocky romantic that audience’s will come to love him for, but his devil-may-care swagger makes for a magnetic secondary protagonist. Carrie Fisher is given relatively little to do here, but right off the bat brings with her Leia’s brash confidence, knack for heroism, and utter impatience for those around for her who are holding her back from her mission.

Above all, A New Hope is simply a joy to watch. It’s buoyed by an infectious sense of wonder, adventure, and optimism while at the same time hiding a hints of tragedy and even canny political awareness. It’s an appropriate blockbuster for the ages and likely will feel its legacy stretch out for decades to come. Score: A+

1. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

If A New Hope was the film that laid the foundation of what Star Wars could become, The Empire Strikes Back is the movie that catapulted the series from creatively executed novelty into myth. Director Irvin Kershner and writers Leigh Brackett (to this day the only woman to write for a Star Wars feature) and eventual franchise regular Lawrence Kasdan escalates George Lucas’s original story of a hero’s journey into a layered, philosophical, and beautifully realized story of character and familial drama.

What sets Kershner apart from Lucas from the start is his sinister and almost dreamlike visual style that pervades throughout the film. To this day, The Empire Strikes Back makes for the most visually evocative film in the franchise with its dizzying moments of space flight, incredible battle over the snow drifts of Hoth, majestic and appropriately hazy skies of Bespin/Cloud City, and of course eerie and murky swamps of Dagobah. Kershner establishes a smart language through the movie’s cinematography that establishes the franchise and its characters not only as more mature beings but with those that are battling their own struggles of aging and adulthood.

Appropriately, The Empire Strikes Back is a story of growing up and challenging its central cast. Luke discovers that his path to adventure leads not to one of heroism and uncovered legacies but to an inheritance that is tempered with trials and a dark and tragic family legacy. Leia finds her attempts to guide a galactic rebellion clouded by her own personal feelings. Han Solo can’t bring himself to leave because he has discovered that he is maybe addicted to heroism but is also hopelessly in love with the princess at the war’s center.  Kasdan and Brackett move these characters into scenarios that routinely challenge them and in the process mines series, and even career, high performances from all involved. Harrison Ford in particular is both a dashing romantic while also remaining a cocky and oddly insecure criminal.

Similarly, while A New Hope may have established Star Wars as a cultural icon, it is The Empire Strikes Back that has left its indelible mark on the franchise as a whole. Whether through the development of the Empire into a multifaceted fascist machine spanning worlds and star systems, introducing the Force as a mystical and philosophical belief system more in tune with Buddhist and Hindu spirituality than as a magical tool through the instantly iconic character of Yoda. (Frank Oz is one of the unsung performing heroes of this series), having Billy Dee William’s bring a sense of moral ambiguity but also undeniable cool to the franchise with Lando Calrissian, or John Williams’s most mature and instantly iconic score of the franchise, The Empire Strikes Back inspires more iconic Star Wars elements than one often realizes.

However, what the central piece that draws the entire film together into pure classic territory is the onyx clad Sith Lord at its center. While Darth Vader carried a presence throughout the previous film, James Earl Jones and the general creative team in Empire establish the character as not only a sinister force to be reckoned with but one with a twisted sense of humor and a dark personal pathos. It solidifies the character as one of the most, if not the most, iconic villain in film history.

The Empire Strikes Back is a triumph. It is intelligently engaging, artistically realized, beautifully acted, and at the same time strikingly funny and entertaining. It is and likely always will be the zenith of Star Wars entertainment. I doubt anything will ever top it.

Score: A+ ----------------------------- So how did I do? Agree? Disagree? Let me know.

[sheerioswifties]

Mwaha. Okay. First of all re: your tags I meant to also ask if you watched the Clone Wars, bc as hard core a SW fan that I am, I didn't watch it and so I know a few things but just couldn't get into it. But I constantly feel like I need to, especially after the end of Solo, which you HAVE to tell me your thoughts on the whole thing when you see it, but there's something in the end that brought up some big "uh... what??? How???" questions that upon research I've found that it's explained in the Clone Wars so. There's that. Okay so my answers-

1. Basically same, plus Uhura and Scotty. Actually it's more like my favorite movie friendship is Kirk & Spock but my favorite characters singled out would be Jim, Bones, Uhura and Scotty followed closely by Spock and Chekov and Sulu (old and new!). I have a hard time picking favorites you will find😂

2a. Oof I did this to myself didn't I. Well okay first and foremost Leia. I love sassy Princess Leia turned badass general Leia and everything in between she's just the GOAT. And Han... I mean, Harrison Ford Han- I, like most fans, do not like the whole different actor playing him even if it was necessary for the very young Han (and it's a good movie worth seeing, TONS of Easter eggs and nods to the fandom which I loved). And HECK YES REY. And Poe... again with the sass. I love it.

2b. Yes the originals are forever the best for me. Like in order of what I like most/favorites, it would go the original trilogy, then Rogue One (THEY DID SO GOOD WITH THAT), Then the new ones (I love TFA and TLJ!), then Solo, then the prequels... which ugh yeah the first one is just blehhhh but I think I like Episode II better than III, I think for numerous reasons, it feels more epic and Star Wars-ish to me than the others, oddly? Idk. And I love Natalie Portman's wardrobe in it for the most part too so. Yeah out of the newest ones I do LOVE The Force Awakens, it's everything so, yeah. Same as far as one of my all time favorite movies, along with A New Hope however! I love it, idk. And yeah I don't understand Rogue One hate, I think it's really good and was done really well as far as ability to stand on its own too, and just being a little darker while still maintaining classic SW spirit.. it's one of my faves! So yah and then lmk what you think of Solo when you finally see it. It's good as an origin/background story and does have an amazing cast. It's fun and like I said lots of little fan nods to catch.

3. Well obvs so, yeah I'm a fan of BSG! It's been a while since I watched it though. And I've seen both the old and new ones and the new one is soooo much better imo. It's a show that I feel like gets a lot of hate but idk why? Viewed as extra super geeky? But like it's in the same sci-fi vein and I think it's good, it was entertaining and the plot is really interesting to me because while it's a space-themed show, it's not about aliens, it's humans and cyborgs/AI that had been originally created by the humans (oh and there was a spinoff prequel series called Caprica I saw that was interesting as well but didn't last long). So yeah idk, I've been wanting to watch it again, we'll see.

Wow yeah this is getting long I'm gonna shut up now! Lol

1) Favorite Star Trek characters?? 2) Favorite Star Wars Characters?? Opinion on originals (IV-VI), pre-quels, TFA/TLJ, and Rogue One/Solo? 3) Fan of Battlestar Galactica?

Ooof I love this ask 🙈

1. Ummm I love the boys (Jim, Bones, and Spock) but I’m not sure that out of them I could pick a favorite. But if I had to…probably Jim! Jaylah is great too but she doesn’t automatically come to mind since she’s only in one movie 🙈

2a. Probably Rey! Oooh or Poe Dameron. (Of 1-6…Leia? Maybe? 🤔 I’m definitely more into the newer movies so 🤷🏼‍♀️)

2b. Love the originals! That’s that on that! (Oh but out of them A New Hope is my least favorite. It’s fine but not my fave). Of the prequels, the first movie sucks but I did really like 2 and 3 (3 I think is better though if I remember right). It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen any of the first 6 movies so it’s hard for me to remember a lot of details. The Force Awakens is…literally one of my favorite movies ever. I love it so much. And I know it’s unpopular but I also really love The Last Jedi. (I realize parts of it are problematic storyline-wise but JJ Abrams will fix it I have no doubt). I adore Rogue One and don’t understand all the hate it gets, and I haven’t seen Solo yet (didn’t make it in theaters and haven’t watched it yet even though it’s on Netflix 🙄😅).

3. I’ve never seen Battlestar Galactica actually!

How about you??

[placetobenation]

Honesty.

Let’s be honest with ourselves WWE Universe. The WWE has let us down.

With a chance to lead the way through the pandemic with fun, entertaining and new advances for their shows, talent and superstars, it seems like the WWE creative team has just chosen to take the Summer off. It’s too bad, because they are wasting a valuable opportunity. And now, with MLB, NBA and NHL all back playing as we head into August and the NFL ready to head back to training camps, the eyeballs are even more split on what to watch.

For the past five months, we’ve all been looking to watch the next WOW on TV and digital screens. The WWE could’ve used the opportunity to be fresh, innovative and edgy, things they’ve been known for in the past. Yet, it’s been show after show of the same ol’ predictable and formulaic shows.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the in-ring product has always been phenomenal. Let’s not take anything away from the women and men in the squared circle. It’s what they do to tell the story that’s been lacking. Let’s be honest again, the person with the best told story of the Summer has been Randy Orton. And after that, it’s been the Summer of Sasha and Bayla leading their own women’s revolution as the game’s best! It’s amazing that we’ve been met with 50-50 booking that have seen stars like Angel Garza, Andrade, Apollo Crews get stuck in mid-card status. There were a few signs of positivity which you’ll see in the show recaps, but there needs to be more!

Why the WWE has never come clean with its audience on the COVID-19 pandemic is beyond me! Why not tell people why Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens (at times), Crews, Renee Young and others haven’t been on TV. It’s ok to let us see behind the curtain folks! It would humanize and freshen the content. Plus, hearing Reigns talk about sacrificing his own career for the health of his family is compelling content, something the WWE needs more, not less of these days.

If you don’t believe things have gotten stale, here’s a reminder – coming up next week, we’ve got three title rematches coming your way.

Finally, the look of the shows is the same each and every week. Dark, small and in the Performance Center makes it look like you’re hiding the product. Having the same NXT up-and-comers be stand-ins for crowd each and every show is better than nothing, but could be improved. I do LOVE the “you suck” chants though!

I want the WWE to go back to having fun and not caring so much about every little thing affecting sponsors. Be bold, have common sense and take care of the details. With those changes, we could all be back loving the WWE again.

Honestly.

Horror Show at Extreme Rules – Recap I’m not going to waste too much time with this one. I’ll say this. The in-ring stuff was fine, especially with Drew McIntyre/Dolph Ziggler and Asuka/Sasha Banks before the end. The booking was terrible. Why ruin Asuka vs. Sasha with a ref bump (or mist!)? Why have an Eye for an Eye Match end with no eye being taken out? Why have Apollo Crews (rumored to have tested positive for COVID-19) out with an “injury” instead of telling the truth? Why have a Swamp Match include Alexa Bliss when she wasn’t there in the beginning with Braun Strowman (the Mixed Match Challenge was later)? Common sense was thrown out the window folks! And we’ll leave it at that.

STAR OF THE WEEK – Kairi Sane – We may not know how long she’s going to stay here in the United States as rumors of her returning to Japan are out there, but her win over Bayley is a highlight to be proud of! She’s been a bundle of excitement and a wonderful side kick to Asuka in the Kabuki Warriors. Thank you Kairi Sane!

Honorable Mention: Montez Ford and his unforgettable frogsplash to beat Angel Garza & Andrade was breathtaking! That dude is a future World Champion!

RAW

RESULTS

Seth Rollins defeated Aleister Black

Shelton Benjamin defeated R-Truth to win 24/7 Championship

Mustafa Ali, Ricochet & Cedric Alexander defeated Bobby Lashley, MVP & Shelton Benjamin

Ruby Riott defeated Peyton Royce

Non-Title RAW Tag Team Championship Match: The Street Profits defeated Andrade & Angel Garza

Unsanctioned Match: Randy Orton defeated The Big Show

Loved It:

Rollins vs. Black – A great back and forth and a match I really thought Black was going to pull out.

Hated It:

When IS enough enough, @WWERollins?! #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/vGIuFEU9AS

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) July 21, 2020

Rollins vs. Black – What? No friends for Aleister Black?

Rollins’ lies – No Seth, we didn’t have any blood Sunday night and no we didn’t have an eye popped out of the socket of Rey Mysterio. Stop lying to us!

Welcome back:

This GIF will live forever.#WWERaw @AliWWE pic.twitter.com/eFQUC64pvy

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) July 21, 2020

Mustafa Ali – We haven’t seen Ali for months and it was awesome to see his athleticism return to Monday night! A win over MVP was a welcome sight too instead of the predictable job out of late for the team of Ricochet & Cedric Alexander.

SHE HAS SPOKEN.@StephMcMahon rules that @WWEAsuka and @SashaBanksWWE will compete for the #WWERaw #WomensTitle NEXT WEEK … and Sasha can lose by pinfall, submission, countout, disqualification, or even if anyone 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴. pic.twitter.com/qHn0P83ilI

— WWE (@WWE) July 21, 2020

Stephanie McMahon – Even if it was through video on the big screen, it was good to see Steph return to put the RAW’s Women’s Championship back on Asuka and set a championship match for this upcoming Monday night. Monday nights are always bigger and better when the Princess is around.

AIN'T NO STOPPIN' HIM NOW.@Sheltyb803 just pinned @RonKillings to become the NEW #247Champion! #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/ChBAXgXqsE

— WWE (@WWE) July 21, 2020

Shelton Benjamin – Sure, he’s been around of late, but we welcome back to the Title picture with a 24/7 Championship victory over R-Truth. The Hurt Business is definitely in Shelton’s best interest as he joins ranks with MVP and Bobby Lashley.

Are they or aren’t they?

Andrade & Angel – Zelina Vega’s boys lost a non-title match to The Street Profits but say they are on the same page. I guess that meant they were on the same page to help Randy Orton take out The Big Show in the Unsanctioned Match and not in their own best interests. Their up and down weeks continue.

Meh:

Orton vs. Big Show – The buildup was better than the expected payoff, especially with no Ric Flair there.

Drew vs. Dolph II – Why exactly do we need it? As McIntyre said, he just beat Ziggler 24 hours ago.

NXT

RESULTS

Dexter Lumis defeated Killian Dain

Breezango defeated Ever-Rise

Shotzi Blackheart defeated Aliyah

NXT North American Qualifying Triple Threat Match: Bronson Reed defeated Johnny Gargano & Roderick Strong

Timothy Thatcher defeated Oney Lorcan

Karrion Kross defeated Dominik Dijakovic

Opportunity reigns:

NXT North American Title – With Keith Lee giving up his North American Championship, NXT is the land of opportunity (sorry SmackDown) as we’re getting a bevy of triple threat matches over the next few weeks to decide who will get into the Ladder Match at NXT TakeOver: XXX in August to decide the next champion.

Bronson Reed – Very happy to see Reed get his shot in the spotlight after his tasty triple threat victory over Johnny Gargano & Roderick Strong. Match of the night as Reed takes out two of NXT’s best in a very entertaining match. Anytime a big man like that comes flying off the top rope – WATCH OUT!. Well done Thicc Boi!

#Bronson2020 #WWENXT #NXTTakeOver @bronsonreedwwe pic.twitter.com/9gjoMDzsPo

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) July 23, 2020

.@WWEKarrionKross just made it PERSONAL. #WWENXT @RealKeithLee pic.twitter.com/V2ml418PZK

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) July 23, 2020

Kross vs. Lee – Diggin’ the slow build to Karrion Kross vs. Keith Lee for the NXT Championship. Having Lee watch Kross take out his BFF Dominik Dijakovic makes this personal right from the get go. Making the physicality wait makes it more and more worth the wait!

Nod to the Mountie:

Breezango – Nice touch by Breezango with the tribute to The Mountie before a win over Ever-Rise. Tyler Breeze and Fandango never fail to entertain in and out of the ring! A perfect fit in NXT is there for them.

Don’t get:

Timothy Thatcher – Count me as one who just doesn’t get the gimmick. Is there something I’m missing? Shouldn’t he have a bunch of minions by now to teach and be followed by?

Solid:

Shotzi vs. Aliyah – Shotzi is a sure bet week in and week out and Aliyah is getting better as well. Down the road, we need a hair match of Shotzi vs. Sasha too! And yes, give me more tank shots!

The brand gets bigger:

WOW. @RealMMartinez has officially joined The #RobertStoneBrand!#WWENXT @RobertStoneWWE @WWE_Aliyah pic.twitter.com/ogGnPvfCw0

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) July 23, 2020

Mercedes Martinez – Sure, The Robert Stone Brand snagged a big fish in Martinez, but we all know it’s only a matter of time before she’s kicking his ass for a big misstep!

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

Nikki Cross defeated Alexa Bliss – Cross wins shot at Bayley’s SmackDown Championship next week

Matt Riddle defeated Tony Nese

Fatal Four-Way Match: Gran Metalik defeated Shorty G, Drew Gulak and Lince Dorado to win shot at AJ Styles Intercontinental Championship next week

Bar Fight: Jeff Hardy defeated Sheamus

Loved it:

Last call for @WWESheamus.@JEFFHARDYBRAND wins the Bar Fight on #SmackDown! pic.twitter.com/oDyEPnZlXT

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) July 25, 2020

The Bar Fight – Sure, my expectations for it were low, but it had me hooked! I would’ve done without the commercial interruption too! But, all in all, it was a very good way to end a pretty good SmackDown. Jeff Hardy exercising his demons, complete with his face paint and evil eyes, flying off a ladder (of course Jeff Hardy finds a ladder in the storage closet!) to get the three count after the Swanton is fitting! Now, it should be time for Hardy to move on to a new feud, maybe for the I-C Title with Styles? I did like the little nod to Matt Hardy having to delete his WWE career too.

Looking forward:

.@AlexaBliss_WWE continues to PUNISH the injured ribs of @NikkiCrossWWE on #SmackDown! An opportunity at the SmackDown #WomensTitle is ON THE LINE! pic.twitter.com/mYQZpRapqa

— WWE (@WWE) July 25, 2020

Bliss vs. Cross – It was amusing to see Bayley pit Alexa Bliss against Nikki Cross for a shot at her title next week. It was fun to see the besties go at it again. Somehow, me thinks there’s a Little Miss Bliss heel turn coming that will cost her BFF another title shot next week. Well, at least I’m hoping. Because otherwise, I’m not that excited about another Bayley vs. Cross match.

A King’s Ransom – Love that King Corbin put out the King’s Ransom for anyone to put down Matt Riddle. There’s nothing like a good bounty in wrestling. Just ask the likes of Harley Race and Ric Flair!

"It's your time." – @TrueKofi to @WWEBigE #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/cTL3ZIVnRP

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) July 25, 2020

Big E – With Kofi Kingston’s injuries from the tables match at Extreme Rules putting him on the shelf for six weeks, it’s time for Big E to make a big-time title run! #PutYourMeatOnMyMeat

Fun in a Fatal Four-Way – Congrats to Gran Metalik for winning an I-C Title match next week against AJ Styles. He has no chance of winning but it will be a good match. Plus, the four-way got a tease of Drew Gulak vs. Shorty G too, which would entertain for us wrestling fans!

Reality:

Naomi in MizTV – Finally a little reality into the mix. Bringing Naomi’s #NaomiDeservesBetter internet squabble to TV. As we said at the top, the WWE has gotten far too predictable and formulaic during the pandemic instead of using it to try new things. Here’s hoping we continue moving forward.

Disappointing:

“It’s 𝙃𝙄𝙎 turn now. 𝙃𝙀 has been unleashed.” #SmackDown @WWEBrayWyatt pic.twitter.com/hAo84L8K2w

— WWE (@WWE) July 25, 2020

Firefly Fun House – Showing no ill effects from the Swamp Match, Bray Wyatt is fresh as a daisy for a new episode of the Firefly Fun House. And yet, Wyatt says The Fiend is unleashed? We’ve heard that before and yet it’s like he’s been muted lately. A wonderful gimmick has been neutered when he should run roughshod over the entire WWE. Well, we can dream, right?!

Where ya been?

Mandy & Otis – Did we really need a rehash? Maybe you could just tell us where Mr. Money in the Bank has been right? Instead, I’m sure we’ll get some more non-sense next Friday night.

Daniel Bryan – Did someone lock him in the writer’s room?

Parting Shots:

Welcome back Kayla Braxton! We’re happy to see her on TV healthy again after beating COVID-19. Up next, here’s hoping we see Renee Young soon as well.

Upcoming this week:

RAW: RAW Women’s Championship Match: Asuka vs. Sasha BanksWWE Championship Match – McIntyre picks the stipulation: Drew McIntyre vs. Dolph Ziggler

Timothy Thatcher.@DexterLumis. You've been warned.@FinnBalor has his eyes on the #WWENXT #NorthAmericanTitle. pic.twitter.com/e1u2GlOkCF

— WWE (@WWE) July 23, 2020

NXT: NXT North American Qualifying Triple Threat Match: Finn Balor vs. Dexter Lumis vs. Timothy Thatcher

SMACKDOWN: SmackDown Women’s Championship Match: Bayley vs. Nikki Cross Intercontinental Championship Match: AJ Styles vs. Gran Metalik Naomi vs. Lacey Evans

Thanks for letting us share our thoughts! Shoot me an email at jcrowe567@gmail.com. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions! You can also check out my blog, The Crowe’s Nest as we delve into more pro wrestling, sports entertainment and the World of Sports. My apologies ahead of time – I AM a Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you… NEW ENGLAND

[veervr-blog]

VeeR VR: Are VR Games Worth Buying Yet

If you were to ask a random person about Virtual Reality (VR), the first thought they’d have in mind is probably games. VR is particularly suited for gaming because of its power of immersion. In a way, no art can better utilize the potential of virtual reality than Gaming itself (yes, Gaming is an interactive art) – an experience that’s meant to be both immersive and interactive.

Looking at the greater picture, the whole VR gaming industry is, very much, at an early stage. We see loads of games on PSVR, OCULUS, and VIVE (hundreds, big or small). But as Ian Birnbaum from Motherboard put it over a year ago, “buying a new headset is a decision that should be justified by great content, which isn’t really here yet.” Frankly, most VR games are interesting developer experimentations… but errr (how do I put it elegantly)… disappointing consumer products. Sometimes, controls aren’t great, other times graphics are horrible, and worst case scenario, people just get bored from playing them after messing around for 20 minutes, thinking “well, that was enough of VR gaming.”

After investing hundreds of dollars on a VR headset, customers expect a completely new sort of experience made possible only by virtual reality. Plain and simple, but a hard measure to reach. It’s very promising, though – as of December 2017, we have many cases where the games have really stood out because of their VR capabilities.

Here, we break down (VR) games into six notable categories with selected examples. And I really mean to ask you guys this question –

Are VR headsets backed with enough interesting games to be worthy of purchase?

I think, from a pure game consumer point of view, these ‘categories’ are also important factors for game developers to consider in designing games. Often games combine elements from multiple categories. Since each factor brings a different experience to the table, what sort of mixed experience are you trying to create? and how should every detail (plot, character, visual, audio, control…) help to realize that?

I. High Sociability

If we assume VR gaming will become a common household activity, which likely will, games that are specifically targeted to fulfill a basic social need certainly has a market. Now, if you are thinking, “Oh! I’ve always liked getting on COD with my buddies,” then you are thinking wrong. There are games that are more fun to play with friends, like COD, but there are games considered fun only because it’s a social game (can you have fun playing King’s Cup, or Hide and Seek by yourself?… well if you still can, you should probably see a psychiatrist).

The main selling point of this kind of game, simply put, is to really just hang out with friends. The environment, character, and objective are there to support the “hanging out.”

Star Trek: Bridge Crew

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=romB8e5nMp8?start=82]

Apart from being a “Star Trek thing,” this game is all about sitting back with a circle of friends. You can follow the objective, sure, OR, why not just mess around and make each other laugh?

Werewolves Within

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxKy2lrGBBQ]

Werewolves Within is based on the old party game Mafia. Instead of meeting up physically, you can just “teleport” into a virtual world together and have a fun game night.

II. ‘Superhero’ Experience

By ‘superhero’ I really mean a badass main character in a reasonably engaging story. And in some cases, you are a known superhero, like the Batman. Superheroes sell as comic books, movies, TV series, and now, VR games. It not old because you can actually become a superhero in VR. It sounds like a simple concept but to make the experience realistic is a big challenge, especially with the locomotion options and control schemes currently available for VR.

Batman Arkham

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRfxn_WjDKE]

Batman Arkman has done a really good job in the details to bring the Batman experience to life – the visuals, sound effects, and just cool things you get to do as the man himself. Wait till you try it to make up your mind about this game because the trailer doesn’t quite deliver the awesomeness.

Another noteworthy game in this category is Arizona Sunshine, not exactly a “superhero,” but you do get to be a cowboy in a zombie apocalypse story.

III. Skill-Based/Competitive Gaming

Some games are better in VR because of the immersion it brings, others are better because a regular PC or console setup cannot achieve or utilize certain skills. Competitive games usually have a rank/stats system installed to help players motivate themselves to get better. PC/console games can try to be as realistic as they can, but certain actions simply can’t be done on those – checking what’s going on to your left but point the gun at an enemy on the right, and peeking around the corner, for instance. These are either natural or calibrated human actions in competitive situations. Sports games, too, fall into this category. When crosshair and line of sight controls are separated (sight by head movement, crosshair with controller), players can multi-task like never before. I genuinely believe that VR will come to establish a competitive gaming culture in the near future, like how CS: GO and League of Legends are to the PC world.

Eve Valkyrie

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdp-KW83a78]

In this live stream recording, notice how the player can check a certain direction before making a commitment to move. This movement is very much natural and it makes a big difference in action-packed competitive gaming. It’s a true test of player’s skills.

IV. Appeal To Exploration

We have seen plenty of games alike – from the good old Minecraft to massive productions like No Man’s Sky. These games speak to the audience because players get to be excited about the exploration itself. It is not for everyone, I suppose, since these games provide no apparent objective to ‘win’. In the case of VR, players get to be completely immersed in a new world – think ‘Oasis’ from Ready Player One.

Elite Dangerous

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaE16Ldpel4]

This game has been around for a few years, and the VR version has seen a lot of improvements. Comparatively, Elite Dangerous has quite a steep learning curving, inasmuch it throws some people off at a first try if easily discouraged by the ‘complexity’ of it all. But if you like space explorations, this game will not disappoint you after just putting in a little more patience. The graphics and sound effects are simply astonishing. And you have got a whole Universe to explore. Additionally, if you do not mind paying a little extra, HOTAS controller is most definitely worth the investment – it’s a controller that mimics the in-game spaceship controls. See a HOTAS demo here.

V. Horror

There are things you wish to never experience in real life, but the idea of having a try, in VR especially, can be appealing.  Horror game has been more or less a genre of its own since the start: 1) they are usually built for a one time experience, not worrying about replayability. 2) like theater, each moment, scene needs to be well-choreographed. 3) almost exclusively single player. 4) a good horror game employs various psychological trickeries rather than excessively use jump scares. VR can only help to amplify that horrifying experience.

Paranormal Activity

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsna1ChGt0E] As a big fan of P.T.(Silent Hills Playable Teaser) myself, a highly acclaimed horror game that has been canceled, I see many resemblances to P.T. in Paranormal Activity. P.T. is just a brilliant game with hardly any jump scare. With masterful plays of visual and audio effects, it overwhelms players with fears they’ve created in their own head, but not so much to the point you’d want to just quit. In a way, paranormal Activity feels very much like a VR upgrade of P.T.

VI. Experimental

Let’s scratch everything, and create an experience that’s not-of-this-ordinary-world, original, interesting, never seen before, and totally unique. In VR, developers can focus on creating a world based on their own ‘laws of physics.’

Stifled

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6FlnZGWk3M?start=225]

Stifled is a voice-controlled horror game. As the player, you are stranded in a bizarre world where everything’s seen through voice and echo. The intricacy lies in finding a balance between staying hidden from the enemy while having no idea of what’s around you, and taking the risk of attracting unwanted attention to have a better sense of your surroundings.

Are you tempted to buy a headset? I guess it’s your own decision in the end. I will say, however, if you haven’t gotten one, now wouldn’t be a bad time to start looking. Many new games are in development for 2018 release. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im_l8fIvwb4]

Interested in Promoting Your VR Game?

Games or movies, a VR/360° trailer is a powerful way to engage your audience:

The Conjuring 2

This was made to promote the home-entertainment release of Conjuring 2.

VeeR is a free global VR community where many companies have used for marketing/promotion, including Warner Bros. Pictures, Associated Press, CCP Games, LinkedIn, EuroNews, RussiaToday, CNBC, PintaStudios and etc.

originally from VeeR VR Blog: Are VR Games Worth Buying Yet

[myhahnestopinion]

The Night AN OVERCOMPENSATING, KARAOKE ROCK-AND-ROLL STAR Came Home: SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE II (1987)

Incompetent movies usually beget incompetent sequels. Did anyone really expect Silent Night, Deadly Night or Troll to spontaneously produce a masterpiece for their third franchise entry? But, while a zebra can’t change its spots and Michael Bay can’t make a good Transformers movie, sometimes a mildly entertaining slasher flick will spawn a sequel that not only is barely recognizable in tone, style, and concept as a continuation of the previous entry, but is barely recognizable as a film at all.

1982’s Slumber Party Massacre is a film more interesting for its backstory than its actual slashering. The film was written by Rita Mae Brown as a parody film, designed to provide a feminist critique of the slasher genre, and the film was in turn directed by a female director, as were the rest of the trilogy. However, in production, it was transformed into a straight-forward horror film centered on another group of teens being picked off one by one by an escaped mass murderer. This shift in focus left the film very uneven, with its most memorable bit being a gag about one teen eating some pizza, worrying it will get cold soon, after finding the delivery boy dead on the doorstep. This unevenness doesn’t even begin to compare to what happened to the sequel film though, released five years later. 1987’s Slumber Party Massacre II basically came about by throwing A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Pepsi product placement, and 1980’s MTV into a blender, then having it mixed at the discretion of B-movie “Auteur” Roger Corman, the man behind that infamous unreleased $1 million Fantastic Four movie, made solely to keep the rights. Here, with $200,000 at his disposal, it goes about exactly as well as you expect.

If there’s one thing that can be said about Slumber Party Massacre II, it would be that the film excels at delivering the unexpected. For example, you may have many ideas about how a slasher film would begin: an early murder tease, a presentation of the villain’s origin, or something along those lines that sets the mood. Did you expect romantic music to swell and the camera to pan longingly over a woman’s body as she has a sexy dream about a hunky football player? Probably not.

This sexy dream is the dream of our protagonist, Courtney Bates, the younger sister of the protagonist from the last movie, Valerie, who now resides in a mental hospital. Despite being uninvolved in much of the last film’s events, Courtney’s sexy football dreams are interrupted by clips from the past movie’s bloody events. Yes, the film could have continued to follow the person whose life was upended by the brutal murder of several of her friends as she attempts to deal with this traumatic past… but instead it follows her younger sister, because desiring to have uninterrupted sex dreams about hunky football players is a way more involving motivation, I guess.

Courtney meets up with her friend Amy for a session of carpool karaoke that is about as interminable as… well, Carpool Karaoke. It does introduced the concept that Courtney, along with three of her friends, have a garage band together, one whose jam sessions are about as interminable as... well, your average garage band. And yes, we are about 10 minutes into this film, and there have already been two extended musical sequences.

The band, which also includes Sheila and Sally, is heading up for the weekend to a condo recently purchased by Sheila’s family. Amy encourages Courtney to invite Matt, the hunky football player of her dreams, to come along, which she does. Yes, hunky football player is real, and boy is he… not nearly as dreamy in real life. I mean, not as much as a doofus as Matt from Troll 3, but better keep dreaming, Courtney. Though perhaps the reason why Matt seems so unnerving in real life is the film’s insistence on always shooting him from this weird close-up, head-on angle.

That night, Courtney dozes off for another sexy dream about hunky football player, but instead finds herself dreaming about being in the mental hospital with her sister, whose hiding, terrified, under her bed. “Don’t go all the way!” she shouts. Yes, the central conflict of the movie at this point is Courtney being c*ckblocked from her hunky football sex dreams by her sister. The film holds off on revealing it’s central villain for a good while, but it does give us a few brief teases to build anticipation. We see a few shots of his… dancing feet…and screech that… “Rock and roll never die,” so, uh, I don’t know guys. Our killer is… Michael Jackson or something. Read on.

The band arrives at the condo the next morning. “It looks like nobody lives here yet,” observes Amy, a line of dialogue that the movie uses as its excuse for not spending any of its precious $200,000 budget on furnishing this home. Amy’s observation isn’t entirely accurate though, as when the girls head upstairs, they find an inflatable sex doll on a bed upstairs. “Looks like my brother has been up here,” Shelia notes, and the girls all have a chuckle about this, because there’s nothing at all concerning about this grown man breaking-in his parents’ brand new condominium by having secret getaway weekends with his inflatable sex doll!

The girls kick off their weekend with a dance party, because if there was one thing this slasher film was missing at almost the halfway mark, it was another musical sequence, and not, like, a murder or something. During the dance party, the girls start a pillow fight, and then begin to undress. Why go forward with that whole feminist critique of the genre thing when you can have gratuitous nudity instead? There’s really just not enough of that in the genre!

At this moment, we are also introduced to two other male characters, T.J. and pencil-mustached Jeff, who sneak up on the girls. “You really should lock your back door,” Jeff says in creepy fashion. The girls find neither this remark nor the fact that these two were watching them strip at their dance party to be concerning.

The whole gang enjoy their weekend, filled with swimming, and snacking, and… car washing, because that’s a fun vacation activity. But, Courtney begins to be plagued by visions of strange events, each accompanied by an electric guitar riff. Bathtub water turns to blood. A… raw turkey attacks her when she opens the fridge…? And, she goes in for a bite of her hamburger, only to discover that there was a severed appendage between the buns. Now that’s what I call…. a HAND-BURGER! HA HA HA HA! AM I RIGHT, GUYS?!

Hey, give me a break. We’re far more than halfway through this movie, and there still hasn’t been a single death… or really any indication at all that this is a horror movie. But, hey, there is another musical sequence, where the band performs another track! That’s something!

Once again, Courtney dreams are filled with brief flashes of our main villain, but if you were looking for indication that this is a horror movie, then you’re still out of luck. In this further teases, we now know that our main villain is dressed toe-to-toe in a black leather cowboy outfit, with a face that suggest Ioan Grufford really hit rock bottom after those dreadful Fantastic Four movies.

Finally, after numerous tedious musical sequences and… whatever is happening with this villain… there is a death. Well, more or less. In the bathroom, Courtney watches, horrified, as a pimple on Sally’s face swells to grotesque proportions. Considering the low budget of the film, it’s actually a half-decent practical effect. 

Courtney runs downstairs, right into the arms of Matt, who’s arrival at the house is never seen. The group tries to calm Courtney, as Matt calls the cops. When two officers arrive to investigate, Sally walks through the door, the whole thing being another dream. “You just wasted $200 of taxpayer money,” the cop says sternly. It’s a valid point, but, well, I’m more upset about someone wasting 200 THOUSAND DOLLARS on this trash.

With Matt finally here, he and Courtney head upstairs in hopes of finally making those hunky football player sex dreams a reality. They begin to make out, when Courtney pauses. “I’ve never…” she starts, when our leather-cowboy rock and roll villain shows up. “Gone all the way?” he finishes, before drilling through Matt’s chest, killing him.

And so, 50 minutes into this 75 minute movie, we have both our first official kill, and our first clear glimpse of the villain. Beyond his gaudy outfit and personality that suggests Ferris Bueller started doing crack shortly after high school, we finally get a good look at his weapon.

Slasher villains often brandish an iconic weapon. Freddy has his glove. Jason, his machete. In one of the best bits of that film, the killer from the original Slumber Party Massacre had an electric drill. This choice of weapon was clearly make to invoke phallic imagery as it impaled through the first film’s victims, which is then turned around on the killer by the women at the end of the film, a reversal of power that was one of the few remaining elements of the film’s feminist roots. If that drill was indeed meant to carry such implications, well, then, the Driller Killer in this film is certainly compensating for something with his massive electric drill, mounted onto a large, elaborate guitar.

“He’s real,” Courtney shouts, as she stumbles downstairs to the others. And so, as if by Courtney’s command, the film does indeed finally commit to having an actual killer in this film, and crams an entire slasher film worth of kills into just a few minutes. While having any murder at all is a relief, the kills are fairly mundane. Rock-Star Man simply impales a few people with his spinning drill guitar, shredding their insides. Come on, man! You gotta switch it up now and then! Have you tried them on top and you on bottom?

After taking out a few members of the group, the killer turns to camera and announces, “Now it’s time for the good part.” Oh good, I’ve been waiting for an hour for this film to get to the good part!

And… it’s another musical sequences…  Yes, after dispatching a few people, some technicolor lights pop on, and the Driller Killer begins to dance and sing along to the song “Let’s Buzz” by the Paladins. It’s less frightening and more… utterly confusing… And even if I did understand it, it would probably be less frightening, and more utterly confusing.

This driller killer dude is played by the son of the founder of Little Caser’s by the way. That’s a real fact. It’s not really all that relevant, but neither is having a karaoke sequence in the climax of your slasher movie, so, well, here we are. So, the Driller Killer kills everyone but Amy and Courtney, but continues to dance and spout song lyrics as he chases them to an unfinished extension on the condo, where Amy is killed. Up on the roof, Courtney grabs a conveniently nearby flamethrower. The killer is engulfed in the fire, and falls off the building. Yes, like so many young rock stars, the Driller Killer short lived career ended up going down in flames.

So, after this dreamed-up rock star is defeated by a simple flamethrower, the film realizes it has no idea what this film was about either, and bumbles its way through an ending. First, Amy’s body is being carried away by cops, but her eyes open and the killer’s laugh comes out of her mouth. Then Courtney wakes up next to Matt, the whole thing being a dream. THE ENTIRE FREAKING MOVIE BEING A DREAM! BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! COURTNEY ROLLS OVER TO EMBRACE MATT, BUT MATT TURNS INTO THE DRILLER KILLER, AND COURTNEY WAKES UP AGAIN!!! IN THE MENTAL HOSPITAL!!! DREAM WITHIN A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM WITHIN A PATHETIC MUSIC VIDEO!

If someone were to ask me what Slumber Party Massacre II was about, what its character motivations and central conflicts are, well, my best attempt would be to explain that it is about a woman so scared of intimacy that she dreams up a meth-head cowboy rockstar who wants to have sex with her so much he kills her band, but also none of it was real, but also all it might have been real. Now, as to why anything in this movie happens, I have no clue. Does this film have anything to say about femininity, the rock-and-roll generation, the nature of reality, or even about the ethical use of inflatable sex dolls? No, it doesn’t seem like it. It seems more like producer Roger Corman and director Crystal Bernard decided to cash-in on a bunch of popular trends, without having either the money or talent to tackle any of it. There’s no conclusion here. There’s no sense of pacing. There’s no real plot of any kind. And there’s certainly no money on display here, despite the continuous very obvious Pepsi product placement. Truly the most baffling decision in a true cornucopia of nonsensical incompetence though is our villain, low-rent-Billy-Idol-cosplay Freddy Krueger. It’s not really surprising that the next film in the series return to a regular old guy with a drill. But, well, when you have a killer as cool as this, it can’t be long before he comes back in style.

Slumber Party Massacre II is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

NEXT: The Night A BUREAUCRATIC, OPEN-HEARTED NICE GUY Came Home... 

[gessvhowarth]

11 Fun Facts About The London Eye

We hope you find this wheely interesting. Photo by Andrea Pucci. 1. It wasn't London's first big wheel The London Eye was preceded by The Great Wheel, a 40-car ferris wheel built for the Empire of India Exhibition at Earls Court. The Great Wheel in Earl's Court Exhibition Ground, c.1900 The Great Wheel — modelled on the original Ferris Wheel from Chicago — opened to the public on 17 July 1895. It was 94 metres (308ft) tall and 82.3m (270ft) in diameter. It ran until the Imperial Austrian Exhibition in 1906, by which time its 40 cars (each with a capacity of 40 people) had carried over 2.5 million passengers. 2. It's Europe's tallest 'ferris' wheel When it was built in 1999, the 443ft (135m) tall wheel was the world's tallest. But it's been pushed into fourth place, surpassed by the 520ft (158m) Star of Nanchang in 2006, the 541ft (165m) tall Singapore Flyer in 2008, and Las Vegas's 550ft (168m) High Roller, built in 2014. The Eye is rather used be being toppled from first place: it used to be London's highest public viewing point too. The 804ft (245m) high observation deck on the 72nd floor of The Shard took away that accolade on 1 February 2013. Marketing types like to refer to the Eye as the world's 'tallest cantilevered observation wheel' — a reference to the fact that, unlike a ferris wheel, it's supported by an A-frame on just one side, and the carriages don't hang below, they're outside the wheel rim and righted by motors. 3. It's very popular With more than 3.75m visitors annually, The London Eye is the most popular paid tourist attraction in the UK. Photo by Doilum. (The British Museum holds the record for the most popular free attraction, welcoming more than 6m visitors each year.) 4. It was supposed to be temporary Just like the Eiffel Tower, the London Eye was originally planned as a temporary structure; built to stand on Lambeth Council's ground on the banks of the Thames for around five years. In July 2002, Lambeth Council granted the Eye a permanent licence. Following a dispute between the Southbank Centre (which owns the land beneath one of the struts) and the London Eye, a 25-year lease was agreed on 8 February 2006. As part of the lease agreement, the London Eye provides the South Bank Centre (a publicly funded charity) with at least £500,000 a year. Photo: Andrea Pucci. 5. It opened late Built to celebrate the millennium, the London Eye only started carrying public passengers in March of that year. The London Eye was formally opened by then prime minister Tony Blair on 31 December 1999. It was due to open with various VIPs enjoying the views, but a clutch problem on one of the capsules meant it rotated without passengers, and the opening was postponed for a month. The London Eye finally opened to the paying public in 9 March 2000. 6. It's part Skoda The London Eye was dreamt up by a UK design team, but its parts come from all over Europe. The wheel was developed and constructed in The Netherlands from UK steel, with cables from Italy, bearings from Germany, and the iron spindle and hub were cast in the Skoda factory in the Czech Republic. Photo by Wally Gobetz. The capsules were made by cable-car specialists Poma in the French Alps. And the double-curved laminated glass for the pods was made in Venice. 7. Unlucky number 13 The London Eye has 32 capsules, numbered 1 to 12 and 14 to 33. You can read more examples of London's triskaidekaphobic tendencies here. The 32 capsules are said to represent London's 32 boroughs. 8. It's got one royal capsule On 2 June 2013, a passenger capsule was named the Coronation Capsule to mark the 60th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Photo by Ian Layzell. 9. It's had a fair few monikers Yes, the London Eye is also known as the Millennium Wheel. But it's had many official names, courtesy of its various owners and sponsors. First, it was called the British Airways London Eye; then the Merlin Entertainments London Eye; then the EDF Energy London Eye. Since January 2015, it's officially been the Coca-Cola London Eye, but, let's be honest: no-one's going to call it that. 10. Twinkly lights The Eye is lit up in different colours to mark various special occasions. For example, it was lit red, white and blue for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding, and pink in 2005 to celebrate the legalising of gay civil partnerships. The London Eye lit up in red, white and blue for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Photo by Benoit photography. The lights on the London Eye were changed for LED lighting in December 2006, allowing digital control of the lights and their colours. 11. Celebrities love it If you like celeb-spotting in London, you might try and see who you can clock at the London Eye, because it seems celebs love it. In 2016, Matt Damon made at least five trips; as did singer Meghan Trainor. According to CN Traveler, Kate Moss has taken to the wheel a whopping 25 times; while at last count Jessica Alba has made a remarkable 31 trips on the Eye.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/londonist/sBMe/~3/s9wEgZpr8SQ/london-eye-trivia

[rockandrollportlandor]

GOOD CHEER RECORDS HOLIDAY SHOWCASE

I've expressed before my affection for Good Cheer Records, a local label that emerged from the DIY all ages indie rock scene in Portland, but whose personnel have connections and influence in the mainstream of local and national indie music. Geek rockerMo Troper, also a writer for the Portland Mercury (cleverly disguised as Morgan Troper), even scored the coveted Pitchfork review, something which has eluded many of the best bands in town at the moment. Troper, the label's co-founder with Blake Hickman, has vanished to Los Angeles, replaced by Maya Stoner, a performer in several GC bands. Kyle Bates' project Drowse has seen praise from Vice's Noisey blog and SPIN Magazine, while another one of the label's star acts, Little Star, have gotten great reviews all over the place, including here on ROCK AND ROLL PORTLAND, OR. My favorite Good Cheer band, Mr. Bones, is sadly over, but the label, with so many other good acts, has hardly been damaged by these shifts--or a scandal that saw Jackson Walker, a member of Good Cheer band Naked Hour, excommunicated in the wake of his much younger ex-girlfriend's allegations of physical/emotional abuse. Good Cheer's bands are each unique, but broadly speaking they traffic in a hyper-sincere, heart-on-sleeve, guitar-based pop/rock that seems to trace its roots back to the 90's and early 00's, a time before MP3s--or at least a time when a single MP3 took a whole morning to download. It's the art-damaged cool and guitar abuse of bands like Pavement and Sonic Youth injected with the bloodletting melodicism of emo and the sweetness of twee-pop. It's a reminder of the truth in that old quote about Pavement being "the band that launched a thousand Weezers." These tendencies make the label's roster a refreshing departure, perhaps even a necessary counter-reaction, to the various fusions of psychedelic rock, dream pop, and blissed-out oddball party music so often seems to dominate Portlandian "pop". The earnestness of Good Cheer's bands, which the label proudly declares free of "mercenary ambition", makes a lot of what was represented by 2016's now-tainted "Mt. Portland" compilation seem positively decadent. On the other side of the coin, that comp's hip groups, often resented across the music scene for their perceived complacence and supposedly undeserved "fame", offer a sense of easy fun and trippy euphoria that the Good Cheer bands often lack--the label's name is pretty ironic, since good cheer is just about the last thing you'll get from most of these bands. Rather, they provide what Kurt Cobain ambivalently called "the comfort in being sad," the paradoxical sense of suffering as painful but life-affirming. At best that means a strangely joyous catharsis on the other side of the pain, at worst it might be written off as wallowing, navel gazing, and irksome preciousness. It's not for everybody, but it's way up my moody emo kid alley. These bands' music is about intimate feelings--even at its most bombastic, it's introverted almost as a rule, and perhaps that's how they create the feeling that they're Your Special Band, even when you're, as I was on this December Wednesday night, surrounded by a bunch of other people watching them. Good Cheer maintains the sense that their acts are the best band in your shitty hometown, who you see in some basement when you're 17, and finally, you've found a place where you fit in, finally, some people who speak for you. Perhaps the ideal place to see these bands is indeed someone's basement, but it was also fitting to see them in a major mid-sized venue like the Holocene--it was a sign that Good Cheer have emerged from a scrappy underground operation to become a major force in that vague genre known as "Portland pop". I didn't catch the entire show, which crammed six acts, successfully, into three hours, but the first group I caught was ALIEN BOY, one of the moodier bands on this moody label. Frontwoman Sonia Weber sings with the lovelorn yearning of Morrissey, but without the sass--unlike with the Moz, we never wonder if she's just milking it. The guitars hiss like TV static and twinkle like stars seen out a car window in the vanishing autumn, the rhythm section sprinting with teenage energy, paradoxically despondent and enthusiastic. At the Holocene, Weber's vocals seemed pretty off key a lot of the time, but it didn't really matter. The melody's largely in the guitars, and even the melody isn't that important. It's the mood the band creates with all of these elements that makes them such a powerful emotive unit. Even off-key, Weber's vocals are the definite not-so-secret weapon here, her contralto timber pitched perfectly in the dead center of the human vocal spectrum, neither male nor female, and therefore unusually universal in a social order still cleaved traumatically in two by a gender binary inherited from a religious order no one even believes in anymore. The group's latest EP, "Stay Alive", is a fantastic piece of gothic power pop, the fury of the instruments on tracks like "Burning II" contrasted to heart-rending effect with the vulnerability of Weber's vocals. These guys are one of my favorite acts Good Cheer has in its corner for 2017. Next up were a pair of musical twin bands, both involving Kyle Bates: DROWSE and FLOATING ROOM. Drowse is the more ambient of two, creating a storm of darkly psychedelic mood energy, as if Bates were some mad scientist attempting to isolate The Feels in their pure plasma form. Bates has been admirably candid about his struggle with clinical depression, even in his press releases, and some of his music is meant to be a literal translation of these horrifying experiences in musical form. As a person who's visited similar hells, I can definitely relate, and if you haven't, Drowse can give you a taste. It's the kind of music you bathe in almost more than listen to. I find it pretty hard to articulate with a vocabulary developed for pop songs--do yourself a favor and just listen. Undergirding the pure emotional whirlpool is a theoretical edge, at least according to Drowse's bio, which references Roland Barthes and Sarah Manguso alongside Mt. Erie and Unwound. I'm pretty sure those are uncommon influences for an indie music bio. Floating Room is the more conventional indie rock side of Bates' muse, but he still hangs in the background, and Maya Stoner writes lyrics and sings lead, while he continues his role as a sound-sculptor. Under this moniker he deals in his version of the Good Cheer house sound, described on the group's Bandcamp page as "the type of sadness felt at 4 in the morning, reserved for the heartbroken and the nervous." The guitar squalls of Drowse, almost more like weather patterns than music, wash over the structure of the songs like photo filters, providing a depth and texture that the more purely rock n roll acts on Good Cheer can't touch. Eschewing the crunchier "alt rock" guitar tones and punk rock enthusiasms of Alien Boy, Mr. Bones, or Cool American for a generously reverberated, fuzz-soaked, more plodding sound, Floating Room crosses definitively into shoegaze territory. It's gloriously eerie and ice-cold in temperature. It's the perfect soundtrack for walking through the woods in the snow, when all sounds are muffled by the falling flakes a the beautiful deathly calm seems to pervade the landscape--and it is a landscape, one you can seemingly gaze far into. On some tracks, the band is almost too delicate for this world, and the sounds seem made of glass, or icicles, ready to crash and fall the moment the temperature gets back above freezing. It's music for winter, for the low-hanging winter sun, gone as soon as it comes up, peering over the leafless treetops, secretly gathering power again once the solstice has passed. TURTLENECKED, the stage name of Harrison Smith, came up next, playing a very short set. Lanky and nervous, he paced the stage, singing R&B songs about being neurotic and narcissistic and romantic, all from electronic backing tracks played from his laptop. It was a very amusing break from all the intensity--even as he sang about heartbreak or unrequited love, Smith was funny, unlike anyone else who I saw perform that night. The stuff on his Bandcamp is mostly minimal indie pop, just electric guitar and drums, very dressed down and sparse, focused on Smith's deadpan vocals, both snarky and pathetic, but always charismatic. An older album, "Pure Plush Bone Cage", was fuzzier and noisier, but Smith's newer style, clean and clear, works better, matching the music's emotional exhibitionism. This presumably even newer R&B stuff is another pretty much genius leap forward. Turtlenecked captures the fine line between self-pity and self-aggrandizement, or rather signals its non-existence, refusing to apologize for anything--or else apologizing for everything--it doesn't really matter which--who ever believes an apology anyway? Good Cheer's brand can, as I said above, come off as overly precious, but Turtlenecked is an exception--one gets the wonderful sense that he barely even believes himself, but it's only the same sincerity of his labelmates doubling back on itself. Morrissey knows this trick well--it's basically his bread and butter. While most of the Good Cheer bands seem to work as band entities, Harrison Smith of one of the few who doesn't really need a band, or for whom any backing band would only be a backing band. He's just an entertaining and engaging enough figure in his own right--perhaps only Mo Troper, among his labelmates, rivals him for sheer personal charisma. Finally was the band I was most keen on seeing, COOL AMERICAN, named for a brand of Doritos. It's the project of singer-guitarist Nathan Tucker, a serious-looking dude who blew through the set with apparently great anxiety, often failing to sing directly into the microphone, seemingly wound tighter than a human can be wound. The band's tall bass player, Tim Howe, with his goofy grin and a santa hat borrowed from Maya Stoner, provided the necessary humorous counterpoint. Cool American's style is a pleasantly loose but melancholy power pop, filled with breezy riffs, mid-tempo grooves and smoothy shifting tempos and beats. But there's also a punk edge in it--at some point in every song, Tucker upshifts into a cathartic yelp, from which I felt sympathy pangs in my own vocal chords, before this explosion of his nervous energy receded, and he began to recharge again. Tucker's vocal range is limited, but the melody's in the guitars, spinning circles around each other, swirling and looping when they aren't exploding. Probably the most direct example of my Pavement-meets-emo description above, Cool American's unusual combination of mellowness and tension feels very much like West Coast life as I've come to know it, the cycle of putting up a veneer of "no worries" chillness and having it break down in the face of un-chill reality, only to put it up again, because fuck life, life should be better than it is. Better to try and fail to be chill and hopeful than live in cynical detachment. And for all their moodiness, the Good Cheer bands are never cynical. They don't just express heavy feelings, they believe in them, affirming their value and meaning in a society that usually runs scared from them. Unlike so much of the buzzy music in Portland, these bands never come off as careerist--you get the sense that any day one of them might break up because so-and-so had to move away for school or whatever. One could be cynical in response and argue that this sincerity is just another brand, but if so, I'll take it over the glassy-eyed smugness and empty glitz of so much of what passes for indie music these days. Long live Good Cheer.

[rebelsofshield]

Ranking a Saga

It’s that time again everyone! Two more Star Wars films have been released since I last posted this ranking in 2017, and one more, sure to be controversial, addition is on the way in just a few hours!

Part of my joy for this saga is seeing my opinions and tastes for it change over time. I find new strengths in works I didn’t originally love and see flaws in my old favorites. This time, I’ve gone ahead and ranked all existing saga films, Solo, Rogue One, and The Clone Wars animated movie from my least favorite to my cream of the crop.

Feel free to reply with your own rankings and favorites! I love sharing opinions on this site and every fan has different wants and needs for this franchise. I know my take on Rogue One has always been a minority, but I love that some find real value in it.

11. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)

Watching the theatrical pilot for Star Wars: The Clone Wars is like watching a talented high school quarterback be assigned to play for a major NFL team. It’s taking something that in its own small, minor scale would be perfectly acceptable and potentially even good, and forcing it into a realm where it has no business belonging. This is the unfortunate task faced with director and eventual showrunner Dave Filoni and his crew. Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a movie that should not be a movie, in fact it barely functions as one to begin with.

I do not hide my love for the still flawed but at the same time charming, engaging, and compelling animated series that this film would spawn. It’s for this reason that the failings of The Clone Wars feel all the more painful.

Hastily edited together out of the initial five episodes for the series, quite simply everything about The Clone Wars is a mess for a film. Despite the best efforts of Director Dave Filoni, The Clone Wars cannot escape its slipshod construction. It moves along in hurts and jolts and switches focus too quickly to attain much of any narrative momentum.

It also hurts that the animation itself, while perfectly serviceable for a CG animated series for the late 2000’s, is stiff, clunky, and oddly flat. Environments are sterile and lacking in texture. Characters move in jerky motions and lack facial expressions. In a year that would bring us kinetic and gorgeously detailed CG animation from films like Wall-e and Kung Fu Panda, watching The Clone Wars is an ugly and even depressing affair.

The only passing grace for this film are the creative and at times epic in scope battle sequences, but when the film itself is this lacking in cohesion and heart it is hard to raise anything more than half-interest.

It’s unfortunate that this film would be the world’s first introduction to such beloved characters as Ahsoka Tano, Captain Rex, or George Lucas’s take on Asajj Ventress. It’s the definition of a bad first impression and it only grows more ugly and messy with each passing year.

Score: D

10. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)

By far the weakest of the so far released Saga films, Attack of the Clones acts as a call to action for all those who have issues with the prequel trilogy. While it has dropped the bizarre racial stereotyping of its predecessor, George Lucas’s second installment in the series’ second trilogy is filled with strange decision making and a convoluted plot structure.

Trying to understand the narrative of Attack of the Clones is often very difficult. While it is relatively easy to tune out and simply enjoy the spectacle of it all, the attempts to meld space opera with noir and political intrigue prove unfortunately more convoluted and stale than intriguing. In particular, the circumstances surrounding the creation and implementation of the clone army stretch credibility.

While The Phantom Menace made extensive and competent use of combining miniatures and digital effects, Attack of the Clones falls back on computer generated images to detrimental results. While it serves the sweeping battle sequences and wide arrange of alien creatures well, the pervasiveness of digital additions to the film’s world becomes distracting when it oversteps its bounds. In particular, the decision to make the armor for each of Temuera Morrison’s clonetroopers digitally rendered is an unnecessary decision and it gives a slightly uncanny feel to the clone army itself. Even worse are the completely digital environments which feel detached and weightless in their interactions with movie’s cast. It quite simply stands as the ugliest looking Star Wars film and that doesn’t seem slated to changed any time soon.

Ultimately though, the biggest failing of Attack of the Clones is Anakin himself. While Jake Lloyd may have struggled in The Phantom Menace he at least succeeded in turning Anakin into something of a likable character. While Hayden Christensen is a talented actor and he certainly improves by the time Revenge of the Sith arrives, it is hard to relate or even sympathize to the manner the character is presented in Attack of the Clones. He oscillates between arrogant, angry, and uncomfortable without giving us much to fall back upon. If we are meant to feel for his temptation and fall from the Light, then there needs to have been somethings there worth saving in the first place. By the time Attack of the Clones closes, we don’t have much of that.

The same can be said for the much maligned romance at the film’s center. While the concept is compelling in and of itself, Lucas’s writing and staging of the scenes can’t help but feel forced and impersonal. Both Natalie Portman, who was one of the previous film’s highlights, and Christensen struggle in finding a chemistry in the material that feels natural and the end result is something that at times approaches unwatchably uncomfortable in its presentation.

That being said, once the film’s political powder keg explodes, Attack of the Clones evolves into something intense and actually quite fun. Both the unique arena sequence and the Battle of Geonosis are visually stunning and entertaining action set pieces that are bolstered by a swashbuckling and charming performance by Ewan McGregor. While it does close out in the most disappointing lightsaber duel of the saga, it still ends on a relative high note given the meandering and detached mess that preceded it.

Score: C-

9. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)

While still one of the weaker films in the saga, The Phantom Menace receives significantly more ire than perhaps it deserves. Much of this is likely due to the initial hype and disappointment that it brought with it during its release in 1999. Some of this is understandable considering that it does mark a significant step down in terms of quality from 1983’s Return of the Jedi and an even further one from the first two films. However, when viewed in context of both Attack of the Clones and The Clone Wars animated film there is something about The Phantom Menace that feels inherently more watchable and even entertaining.

Much of this is that despite the fact that the film’s structure is strange and lacking in cohesion, it does move along at a pretty steady speed and provides us with a wide variety of locations and faces. There is also something about the aesthetic of the whole thing that feels significantly more in line with the original Star Wars than both the other prequel films would provide. It helps that Lucas’s action direction, even if it does tend to the over complicated and unnatural, is visually arresting and engaging. Both the extended podracing sequence and the stellar lightsaber duel between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Darth Maul are representative of the sort of fast moving fun that make the Star Wars films what they are.

Unfortunately, this is about where the praise for The Phantom Menace ends. I have already spoken at length about the rampant presence of racial stereotyping in the film and one does not have to spend much time discussing the flaws behind Jar Jar Binks or Jake Lloyd’s performance of a young Anakin Skywalker. The fact of the matter is, much of the negative aspects of the film have been so ingrained into popular culture that even discussing them at length would feel almost unnecessary. Jar Jar is annoying. The acting is stale. Etc.

However, perhaps the biggest detriment to The Phantom Menace as a whole is the lack of a direction when it comes to its characters. Of the cast on display only Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman are given characters with much of anything to do and while they may lack depth or charisma, their portrayals are competent and engaging enough to avoid boredom or disinterest. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the rest of the cast. Although there is nothing inherently poor about his presence in the movie, Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi is given next to nothing to do in the film and in the process his sudden importance at its conclusion feels half-baked and insincere.

Ultimately, The Phantom Menace is a disappointment, but it remains a watchable and at times entertaining movie, especially in contrast to the worst of the saga.

Score: C+

8. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

The second of the so-far released Star Wars films released by Lucasfilm since Disney’s heralding of the franchise is also the weakest. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story represents the first live action, theatrically released film in the Galaxy Far, Far Away that centers itself outside of the main Skywalker saga. It styles itself as both a prequel and spin-off and strikes out to capture some of the genre-bending style that has been Marvel Studios’s secret success. Telling the story of the theft of the Death Star plans, director Gareth Edwards styles Rogue One as a science fiction war epic filled with intense battle sequences and clever camera work.

When Rogue One is at war, the film is a success. Edwards’s strong visual eye, especially when detailing scope and scale, is the movie’s true secret weapon. Rogue One is a gorgeous film to look at and more so than The Force Awakens finds a way to inhabit the aesthetic of the Original Trilogy while also updating it for a contemporary audience. The blending of practical and digital effects is close to seamless (outside of the infamous digital recreations of Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher). As an extension, the battle sequences whether they be urban shootouts in the ancient city of Jedha, storming the beaches of Scarif, or capital ships crashing into one another in high atmosphere, are stunning to behold and perfectly capture the chaos but also emotion of galactic warfare.

Similarly, when Rogue One functions as an allegory for the battles of oppressed people against fascist or totalitarian governments it is effectively stirring and even emotional. Sacrifice for freedom is a key theme of the franchise and Edwards and screenwriters Chris Weitz, Tony Gilroy, John Knoll, and Gary Whitta are keenly aware of this.

It is unfortunate then that so much of Rogue One is so starkly impersonal and flat. Throughout the film’s runtime there is an undeniable texture of ideas and concept that are intriguing. There are different political factions, sub-cultures that have clear beliefs and unique meanings to the franchise, and characters that are well drawn and conceptualized. These ideas just often feel untouchable or nebulously realized.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the film’s central cast of characters. While the ensemble of talented actors do their strongest to bring these rebels to life, many struggle to stretch beyond their initial drawings or conceptualizations. Few outside of the film’s lead, Jyn Erso, possess much of a clear character arc or personal stake in the proceedings, but even those that do experience some form of personal realization do so in a stop gap manner that is hard to follow. At its most basic, Rogue One’s characters lack agency; their wants and desires feel removed from the central thrust of the plot and instead feel like game pieces moved about for a larger force. While this may have been done as a way to ape grunt work in military campaigns, there is still a storied history of war films that explore the personal and human side of battle, especially when the war concerns struggles of freedom against totalitarianism. Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor may hint at a lifelong history of war and trauma, but we don’t see how this shapes him as a human or why he comes to realize that this has harmed him in the third act. It says something that the most iconic scene in the film concerns a cameo from a villain from a more successful movie. As a result, Rogue One functions as a series of beautifully executed set pieces and ideas, but is told through an emotional distance and relative lack of humanity.

Score: B-

7. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)

While it is not flawless, it is refreshing to see the franchise reorient itself so strongly during the closing act of the prequel trilogy. Revenge of the Sith is a film that blends mythos and character and at its best does both rather well.

At its worst, Revenge of the Sith recommits the sins of its predecessors. Hayden Christensen, while as a whole is significantly better than his previous take on the character, still has his moments of woodenness and has a proclivity for overly heightened melodrama. Lucas’s script also continues to struggle in providing dialogue, particularly in romantic scenes, that feels human often resulting in stilted and even sometimes nonsensical phrasings. Overall, there is something also strangely off about the tone in Revenge of the Sith which changes from relatively fun and light hearted space adventure to dark and brooding tragedy often times rather close to each other.

Similarly, there is a staleness to how much of the dialogue in the film is directed with characters frequently aimlessly wandering around rooms without clear purpose or urgency. As the stakes of the film rise this sort of detached storytelling becomes more and more distracting, but it is likely not enough to overpower what does work.

Anakin’s eventual fall from grace and the rise of the Galactic Empire carry with them a great sense of dramatic and mythological weight, even if the transition from conflicted Jedi Knight into child murderer does feel a tad rushed. The fact of the matter is, Revenge of the Sith knows how to play into its subject matter. Its story is appropriately weighty and once Grievous falls and Sidious makes his masterstroke the film evolves into some of the most consistently entertaining and weighty material in the saga, easily surpassing its predecessors in the prequels.

While it has come under fire recently for its apparent decision to select spectacle over emotion, the final confrontation between Anakin and Obi-Wan still remains some of the most intense and emotional stuff the series has seen. Its dancelike and kinetic fight choreography coupled with John Williams’s haunting score commands attention and leaves dozens of striking images in the viewer’s brain.

However, it is ultimately Ian McDiarmid performance as Palpatine/Darth Sidious that really makes Revenge of the Sith special. McDiarmid knows how to sell the myth and lore of Star Wars with nuance and restraint while at the same time is not afraid to embrace the hammy and ridiculous side of his character as well. Whenever he is on screen, he owns every second of it and he makes the film equal parts entertaining and haunting.

Score: B

6. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

The very concept of Solo was a hard sell.  As beloved as a character Han Solo is, few were clamoring to see a movie exploring the smuggler’s early days and the concept of any actor inhabiting the role of that helped make Harrison Ford a household name was enough to make fans call blasphemy. Given these concerns and the fact that directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired mid production and replaced by Ron Howard , it is a wonder that Solo works at all. This is not to say that there aren’t bumpy sequences or clear moments of clashing creative vision, but the resulting film is one that evolves into an enjoyable adventure despite it becoming infamous for being Star Wars’ biggest financial flop.

Solo aims to capture a Saturday matinee energy that plays well into Star Wars’ roots but doesn’t shoot for the mythological grandeur of some of its best entries. Much of this has to do with the fact that Howard and Kasdan, along with his son and co-writer Jon, keep the film mired in the muck and grime of the galactic underworld. The result builds upon elements of Star Wars media that have never been given the forefront of a feature film until now. It makes for a unique feeling movie that carries an aesthetic of its own but still feels a part of the larger saga.

It is in the smaller moments of heists and robberies and double crossing where Solo leans into its western/crime film roots that the movie proves to be the most thrilling and successful. While the fate of many of its players are known, Solo does an admirable job of keeping motivations shifting and fluid but never unclear and this is captured by some solid performances at its center.

Despite the mountains of criticism and skepticism hurled his way, Ehrenreich does a commendable job of making the role of Han Solo his own. While clearly based in the mannerisms of Ford’s iconic take, Ehrenreich brings his own level of charm and swagger to Han that it is easy to appreciate him as his own character while also not losing sight of the legacy.

The true scene stealers, as most audiences likely expected, prove to be Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian and his droid partner L3-37, played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Glover’s casting was lauded since it was first announced and it is a pleasure to see that he lives up to the hype. He plays the smooth talking gambler with the sort of duplicitous charm and arrogance that made Billy Dee Williams’s first appearance in The Empire Strikes Back so instantly classic. Calrissian is a clear crowd pleaser on and off screen and it makes every scene he is a part of magnetic and entertaining.

However, despite all of this, Solo is more concerned with telling a story of origins and smaller scale spectacle than it is picking apart what really makes the central smuggler tick. It’s passable entertainment without a whole lot going underneath the hood.

At the end, perhaps the biggest sin that Solo commits is that it fails to justify the purpose for its existence. This isn’t a film that audiences were clamoring for or that the franchise is necessarily improved by for having. However, unlike other origin stories, it plays with the legacy of its larger than life toys without tarnishing them. It takes them for a ride that is frequently fun and often filled with smart creative choices but can’t help but feeling disposable. It’s the Star Wars movie that inspires the least amount of emotion, one way or another, and is likely to remain a franchise footnote for sometime.

Score: B

5. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)

Despite containing some of the most iconic and even emotional content of the series, there is something oddly stale about Return of the Jedi. It still is a consistently entertaining and engaging film, but in comparison to the two masterworks that proceeded it, something feels off.

Some of this might simply be due to the abundance of slapstick humor, the ill-fitting Ewoks, or any number of frequently cited issues with the presentation and script such as an overly long sojourn to Jabba’s Palace on Tatooine. (I do love the Errol Flynn/Flash Gordon style set piece above the Sarlacc pit all the same.) However, perhaps the most unfortunate aspect about Return of the Jedi is simply the fact that two of its principal characters are played by actors who simply do not seem to want to be a part of the film. Both Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford turn in performances that are competent in their own right, but at the same time are a far cry from their work in both preceding films in the original trilogy. A particular exchange between the famous smuggler and princess on a balcony in an Ewok village contains some of the most forced dialogue and line delivery in the saga and it’s more than a tad distracting and disappointing.

Richard Marquand’s direction also feels relatively bland and perfunctory after the creative abundance that George Lucas and Irvin Kershner brought to the prior films. It handles the scale and action of it all competently enough, but the whipsnap editing of A New Hope or the inventive cinematography of The Empire Strikes Back are missing. It stands as one of the blandest looking films in the saga as a result.

However, Return of the Jedi progresses the narrative momentum from both previous films into an incredible three part climax that is thrilling and compelling. Whether it is the sublimely ahead of its time space battle between the scattered rebel fleet and the Imperial war machine or the final temptation of Luke Skywalker by the Emperor, Return of the Jedi draws the viewer into its dense dramatic landscape and rarely lets up. Yes, even the relative silliness and levity of the Ewok forest battle even makes for some amusing breaks of the heavy material surrounding it.

What ultimately elevates Return of the Jedi above most of the rest of the Star Wars franchise is its beautiful conclusion to the central drama of the Skywalker family saga. Mark Hamill and Ian McDiarmid are arguably the two strongest actors in the original six Star Wars films and seeing both paragons of light and dark play off one another in such a way is a rare treat that bursts with scenery chewing pathos. The tempting of Luke through family and eventually Vader’s redemption through love for his son is a beautiful thematic tableau. Vader’s slaying of his Master and his gradual death bed re-transformation into Anakin Skywalker makes for the most emotional sequences in the series. Regardless of the tragedy that has brought the series to this point, Return of the Jedi ends on a moment of unabashed peace and unity and it’s both serene and appropriately celebratory. Whether you are a “Yub Nub” fan or a fan of the Special Edition’s galactic victory revelry (I’m the latter), it is hard not to smile as our heroes embrace one another and an old generation sees its sins rectified. Score: B+

4. Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)

There is a certain strangeness to The Last Jedi. While many criticized The Force Awakens for being overly reverential of its predecessors at the cost of a unique narrative, director and writer Rian Johnson takes the franchise to its almost breaking point limit in the series’ eighth numbered installment. Whether it be through its atypical narrative structure, franchise first visual cues, abundant humor, or the frequent breaks from expectation, The Last Jedi is a different form of Star Wars film than we are used to. The Last Jedi takes risks, and while not all of them may payoff, it is to be commended that it takes them in the first place. It’s a movie that has something to say and something worthy as well, and in an era of blockbusters that aim only to please and not challenge their viewers, it’s certainly an appreciated move.

 After sitting out almost the entirety of The Force Awakens, Mark Hamill finally receives the opportunity to dig back into the most iconic role of his career and to one of the most beloved heroes in a generation. One of the smartest twists in Johnson’s script comes with the playing of expectations for this. Luke is a broken man and has become that way for a reason. In particular, The Last Jedi continues the Sequel Trilogy’s smart meta-narrative. These films, perhaps more so than any other set of Star Wars media, are keenly aware of the legacy in which they play and it factors into the narrative. Within the Galaxy Far, Far Away and in real life, the characters of Luke, Leia, Han, and, even, Darth Vader have become legends. Johnson crafts a Luke that is cracking under the pressure of the legacy, but in the process creates a strong message on the importance of heroes and what they can mean to the downtrodden and a society in turmoil. It makes for one of the film’s strongest through points and this is done in no small part due to Hamill’s terrific performance. Hamill not only finds a wonderful balance in updating his iconic character to a new era of his life, but by balancing measures of sorrow, anger, and grumpy humor. It’s a move that has proved infamously divisive to both viewers and to Hamill himself, but the end result, especially in an outstanding move in the film’s third act, is pure Star Wars magic.

Paired with Luke is the still lost Rey. Daisy Ridley utilizes this confusion and frustration to craft a heroine that is at an emotional crossroads. While her determination and passion from The Force Awakens  still rings through, Rey this time brings with her a strong sense of vulnerability and confusion and it makes for a harrowing character arc that is made all the better for its pairing with Kylo Ren. They see similarities in their shared frustrations and confusion, but they are still two people who are fundamentally separated on the bound of morality. As a result, Adam Driver continues to craft Kylo Ren into one of the franchise’s most successful villains. While he lacks the campy sneer of Palpatine or the undeniable dramatic gravitas of Dart Vader, Driver’s Kylo is marked by his unpredictability and instability. As a result, he’s a villain that feels disturbingly human and volatile and it makes each scene he is a part of particularly fascinating. All of this pays off in a stellar throne room confrontation between Kylo, Rey, and Andy Serkis’s Supreme Leader Snoke that marks the film’s clear action highlight.

The greatest failing of The Last Jedi ultimately comes from a middle act that at times feels aimless and overly cluttered. There are numerous moving parts and an extensive ensemble cast that branches off to multiple locations and teams. It’s inevitable that one story will feel lost in the shuffle and that, unfortunately, comes down to Finn and Rose. John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran as a general rule are a joy to watch. Boyega carries the same enthusiasm and excitement that made him so infectious in The Force Awakes and Tran is inspirational in her quiet moments of grief and casual heroics. However, the lengthy sequence on Canto Bight including a less than inspired chase sequence feels like the film at its most aimless. At a point where all three major narratives feel stalled, it is the Canto Bight section that feels the most distracted and disinterested despite the stellar design work at hand. It’s unfortunate in that this holds back the pacing of the film but squanders a potentially strong story for two of the film’s leads, one of which was one of the standouts of its predecessor. Luckily, Poe Dameron does end up getting the spotlight and his desperate story of responsibility plays out like a tense piece of military science fiction and is one of the unsung highlights of the film.

Even when it isn’t sticking the landing, Johnson’s script still moves with intention of both theme and character. Lessons regarding failure, myth, personal growth, and courage are abundant and each of the central five characters feels like they have a clear arc and goal achieved by the end of the film, despite some of them not always being the most entertaining to watch or taking priority over others. 

Combined with some beautiful imagery, a freewheeling and dynamic musical score by John Williams, and fantastic final act that is simultaneously moving and fist pumpingly fun, The Last Jedi is some of Star Wars at its best. It’s willingness to upend conventions and take risks is likely to irk some fans until the end of time, but there is genuine magic here and it ages better with each passing year.

Score: A-

3. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)

Director JJ Abrams and co-writer Lawrence Kasdan stated that the one emotion they wished to elicit in audiences while viewing The Force Awakens was delight. In that they delivered in spades. While the film may tread into some dark and even tragic material, what The Force Awakens does first and foremost is return a sense of fun, adventure, and character to Star Wars’ presence in the world. It makes for a breathless, endearing, and entirely involving viewing experience that only manages to win one over with each consecutive watch.

Much of this is due to the embarrassingly talented and engaging ensemble cast assembled in the film. Not since The Empire Strikes Back has a Star Wars film been this densely populated with genuinely relatable, exciting, and intriguing characters. It’s what makes the movie breathe, live, and thrive and in the process turns it into premium blockbuster entertainment and one of the finest installments in the series to date.

Daisy Ridley’s Rey easily finds herself fitting into the archetype of a loner elevated from poverty into extraordinary circumstances. She makes for the sort of every woman that made the original Star Wars narrative so appealing and was lacking from the prequel trilogy as a whole with maybe the exception of a childhood Anakin. In contrast, John Boyega’s Finn is a boundless source of energy, outward conflict, and humor. Boyega is about as charismatic and energetic character as the franchise has ever had. From his first traumatic introduction through the eventual end of his journey, Finn’s struggle for purpose and arguably redemption adds a level of unpredictability but also flawed humanism. Boyega clearly has a large amount of affection not only for the role but for the film and the universe itself. It’s hard not to fall in love with Finn from the second he appears on screen. Pairing off with him is Oscar Isaac’s underutilized by seductively charming hot shot pilot, Poe Dameron. Isaac owns every scene he is a part of with each spin of his fighter, smirk, and cheer.

Opposing the trinity is Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren, whom Abram’s and Kasdan craft into a fractured and unstable meta-symbol of legacy and male fragility. It turns Kylo into an entertaining and uniquely frightening villain that is not sympathetic, but understandably human. It makes the character’s slips towards the Dark scarier in their closeness to real world insecurity. This is not a fall of mythic proportions such as Anakin but one instead fueled by uncomfortably familiar emotion.

Of the returning cast members, Harrison Ford not only turns in his best take on the galaxy’s most notorious smuggler since The Empire Strikes Back but arguably his most lively and enjoyable performance in over a decade. Like much of the cast, Ford seems to be enjoying the role and luckily, unlike Return of the Jedi, he seems to have found what makes the character of Han Solo not only fun but interesting and human. The same can be said for Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa. Fisher has not lost her ability to appear both emotionally torn but also commanding at one moment, and she, like Ford, effortlessly slips back into her old role.

As it is most likely clear by this point, The Force Awakens is a film that thrives by its incredible cast of characters. Star Wars at its best is a series that works best when the mythology, despite how compelling it may be, takes a back seat to the human, robotic, and alien beings at its center. This proves doubly the case for The Force Awakens. While its central plot mostly serves as a means by which to challenge, test, and reveal its characters, it also functions as one of the most structurally weak points of the movie. Those familiar with A New Hope will find a fair share of structural similarities with the beginnings of both trilogies. Most of these center around the mostly ill-advised inclusion of Starkiller base, a third string Death Star that functions as little more than a staging ground for the film’s final act. However, while this overt reverence for the past can prove distracting and unwarranted, it does not prove as detrimental to the film as a whole as some critics and fans have claimed since its release in 2015.

Score: A

2. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)

Viewing Star Wars, or A New Hope, is almost an exercise in examining an indelible piece of pop culture history as much as viewing a movie. It is hard to overstate just how drastically this film has shaped the world and cinematic culture since it was first released to record breaking crowds in 1977. While it may seem inconsequential when viewed in the pure breadth and scope of the behemoth franchise that it has spawned in the 40 years since its premiere, A New Hope laid the groundwork for one of the most enduring pieces of science-fiction/fantasy in the world all the while telling a uniquely entertaining and compelling movie in its own right.

As its own artifact, A New Hope is this strange sort of mad genius cooked up within George Lucas’s often baffling but uniquely talented creative space. The sheer amount of consequential but essential world and character building that A New Hope carries within its opening act is a gargantuan feat and it does so with the same sort of on-the-nose optimism and sense of adventure that pervades the entirety of the picture. Whether it’s the thrilling opening clash between Leia’s rebellion and the Empire or through Obi-Wan’s melancholy explanation of the history of the Jedi to an eager Luke Skywalker, Lucas’s script is busy crafting a myth and its one that’s worth listening to.

A New Hope’s secret success has always been its distillation of the hero’s journey into a unique narrative. Lucas imbues his take on this classic storytelling trope with his own creative flourishes and iconic imagery: the long arm of the Empire represented as the never ending Star Destroyer filling the screen, Luke’s desire for adventure represented as an almost self-imposed prison in his aunt and uncle’s farm before it is torn away from him, and of course the cantina that represents the steps into a larger new world filled with oddities and danger. A New Hope’s iconography is memorable and steeped into pop cultural memory for a reason.

In terms of performances, outside of Alec Guinness’s stoic but appropriately haunted Obi-Wan Kenobi and Peter Cushing’s deliciously twisted and sinister Grand Moff Tarkin, A New Hope functions moreso as a stepping stone for future development than an acting showcase. This is not to say that the acting is poor. Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker is impatient and impetuous, but he serves as a more than adequate focal point for the film’s young audience. Harrison Ford’s Han Solo may not yet be the cocky romantic that audience’s will come to love him for, but his devil-may-care swagger makes for a magnetic secondary protagonist. Carrie Fisher is given relatively little to do here, but right off the bat brings with her Leia’s brash confidence, knack for heroism, and utter impatience for those around for her who are holding her back from her mission.

Above all, A New Hope is simply a joy to watch. It’s buoyed by an infectious sense of wonder, adventure, and optimism while at the same time hiding a hints of tragedy and even canny political awareness. It’s an appropriate blockbuster for the ages and likely will feel its legacy stretch out for decades to come. Score: A+

1. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

If A New Hope was the film that laid the foundation of what Star Wars could become, The Empire Strikes Back is the movie that catapulted the series from creatively executed novelty into myth. Director Irvin Kershner and writers Leigh Brackett (to this day the only woman to write for a Star Wars feature) and eventual franchise regular Lawrence Kasdan escalates George Lucas’s original story of a hero’s journey into a layered, philosophical, and beautifully realized story of character and familial drama.

What sets Kershner apart from Lucas from the start is his sinister and almost dreamlike visual style that pervades throughout the film. To this day, The Empire Strikes Back makes for the most visually evocative film in the franchise with its dizzying moments of space flight, incredible battle over the snow drifts of Hoth, majestic and appropriately hazy skies of Bespin/Cloud City, and of course eerie and murky swamps of Dagobah. Kershner establishes a smart language through the movie’s cinematography that reorients the franchise and its characters not only as more mature beings but those that are battling their own struggles of aging and adulthood.

Appropriately, The Empire Strikes Back is a story of growing up and challenging its central cast. Luke discovers that his path to adventure leads not to one of heroism and uncovered legacies but to an inheritance that is tempered with trials and a dark and tragic family legacy. Leia finds her attempts to guide a galactic rebellion clouded by her own personal feelings. Han Solo can’t bring himself to leave because he has discovered that he is maybe addicted to heroism but is also hopelessly in love with the princess at the war’s center.  Kasdan and Brackett move these characters into scenarios that routinely challenge them and in the process mines series, and even career, high performances from all involved. Harrison Ford in particular is both a dashing romantic while also remaining a cocky and oddly insecure criminal.

Similarly, while A New Hope may have established Star Wars as a cultural icon, it is The Empire Strikes Back that has left its indelible mark on the franchise as a whole. Whether through the development of the Empire into a multifaceted fascist machine spanning worlds and star systems, introducing the Force as a mystical and philosophical belief system more in tune with Buddhist and Hindu spirituality than as a magical tool through the instantly iconic character of Yoda. (Frank Oz is one of the unsung performing heroes of this series), having Billy Dee William’s bring a sense of moral ambiguity but also undeniable cool to the franchise with Lando Calrissian, or John Williams’s most mature and instantly iconic score of the franchise, The Empire Strikes Back inspires more iconic Star Wars elements than one often realizes.

However, what the central piece that draws the entire film together into pure classic territory is the onyx clad Sith Lord at its center. While Darth Vader carried a presence throughout the previous film, James Earl Jones and the general creative team in Empire establish the character as not only a sinister force to be reckoned with but one with a twisted sense of humor and a dark personal pathos. It solidifies the character as one of the most, if not the most, iconic villain in film history.

The Empire Strikes Back is a triumph. It is intelligently engaging, artistically realized, beautifully acted, and at the same time strikingly funny and entertaining. It is and likely always will be the zenith of Star Wars entertainment. I doubt anything will ever top it.

Score: A+ ----------------------------- So how did I do? Agree? Disagree? Let me know.