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shewholovestoread · 5 years ago

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Birds of Prey (2020) Review

I’ve seen Birds of Prey twice now and both times, it was an absolute joy to watch! Never have I enjoyed myself quite this much, I screamed, I shouted and laughed throughout the film. Birds of Prey was everything I hoped it would be and so much more.

Where do I even start with this film? I loved everything about it, the writing, the cast, direction, the action, all of it.

Now, lets get the negative out of the way, I’ve read some reviews that pointed out that the film has pacing issues and maybe it does but only if you’re looking for it. Birds of Prey is also operating from a place of disadvantage where other superhero films are concerned (predominantly Marvel) Barring Harley, whom we saw in Suicide Squad, the rest of the squad is not very well known. Birds of Prey had the tall task of introducing all of these other characters in a way that made sense and still have a reasonable run-time. Black Canary, Huntress, Renee Montoya did not have the advantage of having their own standalone films. Christina Hodson, Margot Robbie and Cathy Yan did a great job integrating all of these characters and their arcs and the intersection of said arcs.

The writing was so on point, it felt like the writers had a keen sense of the characters they were writing for and to an extent that is true. Robbie was part of the writing process and helped shape the film and it’s not surprising, I doubt anyone (barring those who write the actual comics) could have had a clearer picture of who Harley is. Cathy Yan does a great job of bringing the words to life and infusing them with an energy that was electrifying. It was cohesive and coherent film, full credit to Hodson and Yan.

I loved that all of the women are badass without exception but the film also gives them time and space to be vulnerable. These are not male characters in a female body. These characters are feminine and lean on their emotions instead of shutting them down. The ass-kicking aspect is amazing, the action set-pieces are fucking fantastic but it was equally gratifying to see the women be supportive and protective of each other. They quickly became a sisterhood once they came together and that was a pleasure to see on film.

Birds of Prey is feminist, explicitly queer, diverse, irreverent, brash, unapologetic and a no-holds-barred female power fantasy, it is wish fulfillment at its finest. It was so gratifying to see the female characters defy conventional, patriarchal expectations time and time again. They are allowed to be messy and flawed, they make mistakes and bad decisions and they are better for it.

Margot Robbie has made Harley hers in a way that I doubt another actor could match in any capacity. I loved her journey, I loved that she was a mess after her breakup and she needed time and space to truly heal, to discover her worth independent of her partner. I loved that she is canonically bisexual in the film. Her action sequences are some of the best in the film and she is amazing in them but I loved that we also saw her pain and loneliness, her desire to be a part of something and be appreciated for who she is. Her act of blowing up Ace Chemicals, while not thought through completely, is symbolic of her beginning to breaking away from the shackles she placed on herself.

Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Dinah Lance / Black Canary was amazing. You can see her feel torn between her need to survive and the terror and disgust she feels for Roman Sionis. Plus the Canary Cry was fucking epic and I wish we’d gotten more of it.

Rozie Perez as Renee Montoya was perfect, she brought dimensions and layers to the role that a younger actor would not have, the film is richer for having her in it and I am glad that both Yan and Perez fought for it. She had the right amount of cynicism and weariness that her role needed, like she’d been doing this for a while and though she was great at her job, she rarely got the credit she deserved. I also loved that she was also explicitly gay in the film and even meet her ex-girlfriend.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Helena Bertinelli / Huntress was plain delightful! I wish she’d had more screen-time. She was the right amount of socially awkward paired with someone with deep-seated rage issues. But she never loses herself to that rage, case in point, when the women are fighting together in the amusement park, she takes a moment to speak to Cassandra, give her something to ground her, to distract her from the violence and brutality.

Ella Jay Basco was great as Cassandra Cain. I loved her spirit and her interactions with Harley and the gang.

Ewan McGregor as Roman Sionis / Black Mask was equal parts spoilt brat and sinister and he played it so well. He was unpredictable and that’s what made him so menacing, you never knew what could set him off (snot bubble) And then there’s Chris Messina, brilliant as the unhinged Victor Zsazs, they were perfect for each other, 2 peas in a pod, each feeding the others’ sociopathy.

The action in the film is one of the best parts of the film, it is beautifully choreographed and you can feel the impact. All of the women get their time to shine, given that each has their own individual approach to how they fight. I also loved the costume design, I loved that NONE of the women were sexualised or objectified. They all looked amazing! But they were practically dressed, the way one dresses in real life but with more flair. Credit to Erin Benach.

Films like Birds of Prey that are written, produced and directed by women, for women are sometimes held to an unrealistic standard, almost as if they need to be perfect films (such a thing does not exist)They are held to standards that films made by men are not, which is why a man can make one mediocre film after another and no one blinks but if woman makes a film and it’s anything short of spectacular then it’s labeled a failure and used as an excuse to dismiss other proposals / pitches by female content creators, that is a deeply misogynistic approach and it needs to change. But we also need people to go out and watch films like Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman so that we can have more diverse voices and experiences reflected on screen. So please, if you haven’t already seen the film, make sure you do, go with your friends, mothers, sisters, whoever and watch it. It is a joy and a delight to watch.

Now, can we please have a Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy team up! Please, I desperately need it And while we’re at it, I need to them to get romantically involved. Pretty please

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ratingtheframe · 4 years ago

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Everything That Happened at the 2021 Golden Globes

The first two months of the year are finally over and as the days grow longer, we can start to see the early signs of spring. With spring comes summer and with summer comes an influx of movie releases, with the majority of films that were put on hold last year scheduled to be released in the following months in cinemas across the world. You know, cinemas, as in those big rooms where you pay to sit and watch movies from start to finish without pausing it? Gosh have I missed the pre movie adverts, comfy chairs and super wide screens. It's not the same at home and despite Netflix, HBO and Amazon Prime thriving, we shouldn’t set anything in stone when it comes to the quality and accessibility of film.

Cinema is tradition whereas On Demand is convenience and usually choosing convenience over tradition does impact the quality of work being distributed. There are a bunch of films on streaming platforms that would be too inappropriate for cinemas, seeing as they lack a cinematic or dramatic feel to them to be good enough for a big screen. This allows mediocre to downright awful films to find an audience via streaming platforms. All well and good, seeing as these platforms are great exposure for upcoming filmmakers but at the same time it's a capitalistic system that puts views above the quality of content. It doesn’t matter if what you’re watching on Netflix is bad, they just want you to keep coming back for more. This can be said for mainstream cinema too, but to a lesser degree seeing as cinemas typically release around 68 movies per month, whereas Netflix has the ability to add up to 200 releases on their platform per month. It makes perfect sense that Netflix has the viewers that it does, as we can see that it releases almost twice the content of cinemas per month. For the avid cinephiles, this leaves us wanting a lot more as we’re only able to enjoy maybe one or two films a month from online streaming services, because the quality is so inconsistent. I hope that cinemas open soon so that I can relax knowing that the film I’ve paid money for will be of a good quality.

Speaking of good quality films, Chloé Zhao, director of Nomadland (2021) became the second woman in the 78 year history of the Golden Globes to win an award for directing. This is an exceptional triumph and from the moment I saw Nomadland, I knew that it would have an incredible impact on awards circuits this year. Nomadland also won Best Picture, which proves something that up and coming filmmakers may need to start getting their heads around. People may not necessarily be gravitating towards cinema for a chance of escapism any more. I thoroughly believe those days are behind us, buried in the 70s and 80s with films that defied the laws of filmmaking and went to extreme lengths to serve us an entire universe that we couldn’t even comprehend. However, as the world grows more fragile and people start to realise the fragility of life, we want to connect with one another authentically and realistically.

The way that film can do this is by showing our real selves on screen, showing our pain, redemption, emotions, fear, honesty, laughter, race, gender, humanity, darkest secrets and biggest dreams using the backdrop of cinema to sell us a story. People want films that are honest and are a reflection of humanity as well as the current society we’re living in. Not necessarily “a slice of life”, but a slice of humanity that we never see because it’s never impacted us directly, yet we still want to be made to feel like it has through film. That’s the key to success in any film, making the viewer feel like they’ve experienced something on screen even when they haven’t. If the film is too far away from our own psyche or humanity, we switch off, as we can no longer relate or even want to relate to something so obtuse and boring. Nomadland was the complete opposite to this theory, bringing us humanity in all its glory; its sadness and pure emotion that affects millions everyday, especially in such a time when loneliness is rife.

This is why Mank (2020) lost out. In a time where the world is in a sensitive disposition, Mank came as ineffective to the world of film. Though triumphant in it’s making, the film proves the fundamental foundation of film that Mank failed to do; have a good story. Mank just wasn’t the story people wanted or needed to see and one can appreciate a filmmaker’s efforts to make films but at the end of the day, the story is truly the only thing that’ll carry a film and if it's uninteresting and impersonal, people switch off. And they clearly did, seeing as Mank lost out to all SIX of its nominations. Less is more, I suppose, seeing as Nomadland won two out of four awards, including the top prize of Best Picture. David Fincher even took a shot every time he lost a category. Better luck next time.Other snubs included Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman (2021) starring Carey Mulligan ,which was released on VOD last month. The film was nominated for four prizes and I suppose the lack of release in cinemas worldwide or at a Film Festival meant the lack of hype for the film. Regina King’s One Night In Miami...failed to pick up a prize, having been nominated for three awards. King shouldn’t be too disheartened, seeing as her debut definitely got her the recognition she deserved.

Aaron Sorkin most notably won Best Screenplay for his amazing picture, The Trial of the Chicago 7. I had the fortune of catching this in cinemas and the musicality of this screenplay was unreal. An incredibly authentic, riveting and honest piece of work, I believe we can safely say that Aaron Sorkin is the greatest writer for cinema and TV in our day and age. Sorkin is used to being showered with accolades, from Primetime Emmys with The West Wing, to an Oscar with David Fincher’s The Social Network.

The late Chadwick Boseman was honoured in full glory, having won the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for his role as Levee in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. An exceptional performance that reeks with Oscar success, Boseman is the first actor to be awarded the prize posthumously.

What’s also to be noted is the amount of British nominees and winners at this year’s ceremony. It seems like the American Film & TV market is wide open for Brits, seeing as Emma Corrin, Josh O'Connor, Daniel Kaluuya, Sacha Baron Cohen, Rosamund Pike, John Boyega and Anya Taylor Joy all won awards for acting. Helen Bonham Carter, Olivia Coleman, Vanessa Kirby, Riz Ahmed, Gary Oldman, Antony Hopkins, Dev Patel, James Corden, Hugh Grant, Jodie Comer, Lilly Collins and Nicolas Hoult all received nominations and were all born in the UK. The Crown in particular just seems to be getting more successful with each year and despite its controversy, the show has won Netflix 7 Golden Globes and 10 Emmys. What does this tell us about our actors and their ability in comparison to our friends overseas? Is it just a stroke of luck that the majority of actors who won this year are British or are we doing something different? Only time will tell as more British actors begin to be recognised for their flare over in the US.

If anything, we’ve learnt that The Golden Globes is for everyone. Anyone can win an award despite their background as long as those who control the awards ceremony are willing to give a variety of films a chance, not just ones directed by David Fincher. Nomadland is certainly an underdog for cinema, one that may not have done as well had other films been released last year. COVID-19 created space for this film to be seen and has truly been taken in as a work of art, proving that films of the same kind deserve to be seen in the up and coming future. British actors can and have made it big in Hollywood and it seems like American audiences welcome them with open arms. Sacha Baron’s Cohen’s humour in Borat Subsequent MovieFilm wasn’t unrequited, seeing as it won Best Musical / Comedy at this year’s award season, meaning every moment of that film (incriminating or not) WAS WORTH IT. Even though Regina King and Emerald Fennell lost out on their respective films, their work has been courageous and profound in helping to give space to women in the film industry. The fact that they were even nominated along with Chloé Zhao, was an achievement in itself and has women like me looking up to the success of these three women and realising that I could have the same shot. Mank came at the wrong time, and though good visually, it lacked a beating heart that the Golden Globes could identify with enough to give it at least one award. Soul was named Best Animation Feature Film of the year, also winning an award for music with a beautiful score by Atticus Ross, Trent Reznor and Jon Batiste. The Queen’s Gambit also reigned supreme, as Anya Taylor Joy won Best Actress for a performance in a mini series / tv film and the overall series won Best Television Mini Series / Television Film.

This has to be the best Golden Globes I’ve ever witnessed. Not only did it champion diversity in the film categories, British Actors and female directors, it actually gave consumers as well as judges, something that actually wanted, which was to see underdogs thrive in an environment that’s usually laid bare for the same characters. Let’s keep this up for the next ceremony !

ig @ratingtheframe

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phoenixfire-thewizardgoddess · 4 years ago

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I can't stop thinking about how much good stuff was cut to make time for the nonsense that Whedon added tbh. Having seen the film as it was always intended to be, I can't imagine cutting the Silas and Victor stuff. The quiet but worthwhile character moments. Like??? To make time for that random family he added? How someone looked at both cuts and said, 'we'll take the one without the heart and team building and explanations, thanks' is beyond me. Unreal.

Listen, you put a mediocre person with base writing skills whose ego needs to be brought in with a semi-trailer in charge... and fuck your characters, stories, emotions, and key plot points.

When the writer did some mediocre cookie-cutter nonsense from the early 90s and just keep changing the names of the characters for each new shoe, and refuses to listen to criticism... you can’t expect them to handle characters with backstories and lives that don’t conform to their past work.

Like, it’s easier to slip in an OC from the writer than give the buff male heroes some emotions... etc.

Look at the avengers? All that hype about a gay character and it’s a guy in some random scene with a support group who makes a throwaway line about his husband. And all that hype about girl power, in one goddamn scene that (as we saw from the whining babies out there) could easily be cropped out so Real DudesTM could watch it without having to see ‘all that femin__i shit’.

Look what snyder did to batman and the justice league. Everything is dark, gritty, sexist, and really weird. What the FUCK was up with batman screaming MARTHA?! and trying to kill superman in B vs S, he’s the greatest detective in the world and thinks that only ONE PERSON in HISTORY can have a mother called martha? what? that didnt make SENSE

also, in the comics, batman is absolutely not the grim bullshit they load on him.

same way cyborg isn’t some quip slinging robodude. the comics were amazing when it came to showing the stresses, the little flaws and trials each character worked through, and often maintained that growth in the series for a long time. there was conflict with his dad over what he had done to vic, but like... he came to terms with it, and ALSO often helped out at a school for children with disabilities over it.

the real Flash in the comics would have been mortified to fall on wonder woman’s chest, and could have twitched himself out of the way with the speed force, but noooooooooo... it’s funny

the amazons went from functional armour, to metal bikinis because it was ‘more appealing’

lmao

Pretty much all of the films are just an AU at this point lmao.

On the other hand, comics switch artists and writers all the time, but there are a few base principles that they have to keep consistent, even if they make Tony Stark a sentient blob... he’s still a billionaire sentient blob who slides into a rocket powered tin can to fight crime lmao

I dunno, not ideal

#Anonymous

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ja-khajay · 4 years ago

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2020-2021 Animation Watch(ed)list

I haven’t posted about animation in a while that I remember, and I know a lot of my followers are into it as much as me so I decided to make a list of the animated movies and series I watched on the past year or so, coupled with my short, spoilerless take on them. Enjoy!

Organized by

Things I saw for the first time

Things I rewatched

Under a cut for the sake of your dashboards! PS: I have not added any images yet. If you are interested in knowing more about the visuals of these movies, I might make an old fashion ask-prompted imageset list.

Part One: Things I saw for the first time

The Bear’s Famous Invasion of Sicily

Movie, 2019, Italian/French

9/10, a delightful little movie with amazing visuals. It feels like an animated picture book.

One of those “plot is in the title” media! I had never heard of this before but was heavily recommended it by my family members, who all loved it! It’s a sweet story, nothing groundbreaking but the unique colorful visual style alone makes it worth it.

The Castle of Cagliostro

Movie, 1979, Japanese

10/10. Reminded me of all the books i loved reading as a child

I assume its because it’s so old and the art style and themes are so different that it gets little to no love compared to other Ghibli movies, which is a shame! It’s fun with an endearing cast and as always, great animation and music

Mushishi

Series, 2006, Japanese

10/10 three episodes in I knew it was going to be my favorite series ever

One of the few things I’ve seen I’ll describe as life-changing. It’s absolutely lovely but never toots its own horn about it. Humble, calming, emotional and surprisingly mature. It’s pretty impossible to binge due to how intense the experience is. I just want to walk in the forest now...

FMA: Brotherhood

Series, 2009, Japanese

6/10 Dissapointing adaptation of a classic story

I read the manga for this when I was in middle school and remembered loving it. The animated version does an ok job of presenting the characters and worldbuilding and has some nice action scenes but overall looks really damn cheap and just. Not very good. Seeing I already knew most of the plot I did not have the element of discovery that made me marvel so much reading the original. It’s still a nice series but I really recommend reading it instead.

Code Lyoko (s1+2)

Series, 2003, french

3/10. 1.5 being for the opening song alone

This show sucks ass if I hadn’t been watching this with my bestie I would have dropped it two episodes in. The art style is ugly the stories are always the same and the first season has a (later removed thank fucking god) LITERAL “erase any consequences” button as a plot device in every episode. If you watch it for one thing let it be the nostalgia factor of early 00s Vidya Game Plot

The Legend of Hei

Movie, 2019, Chinese

7/10. Impressive visuals and a poor story

I finally watched this, peer pressured by the load of gifsets on my dashboard! It’s a sweet movie with really impressive animation, sometimes a bit too flashy for my taste (the action sequences go so ham they become not very readable...) but the story was just ok? The setting is barely explained and you are instead bombarded with vague epicspeech about powers and stuff that made me fondly remember Kingdom Hearts lol but that asides it’s a really good time! I need to watch more Chinese movies the few I know are just delightfully off the shits in how they approach action and I love that

Hunter x Hunter

Series, 1999, Japanese

9/10. Superior to the recent one!

I first got introduced to the series via the 2011 one. Comparatively, the 99 series focuses way less on action and way more on the characters, which I love because that fits my personal preferences! Despite mediocre filler episodes and some weird slight pointless plot changes, what it changes from the original manga doesn’t have much of an impact on the characters. The animation quality isn’t always consistent including a huge art style change for an arc (???) but it’s overall pretty nice. The series really shines in the last arc it adapts.

Oban Star-racers

Series, 2006, Japanese/french

9/10 a lovely surprise

This series is completly obscure despite having been created by people famous for their other series (Cowboy Bebop, Code Lyoko that i can name) and it’s a crime! It’s a kids show but without being stupid about it who tells the story of an inter-planetary race. If you liked that one scene in the star wars prequels you know what I mean. It’s got surprisingly nice animation for a TV series, and some truly great character design. The art style is a bit unique in a not for everyone sense, but I didn’t mind it much. It’s also THE most offensively 2000s series i’ve seen in terms of visuals. y2k kids assemble

The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon

Movie, 1963, japanese

8/10. Classic fairytale format with incredible visuals

Watched this for the art style because I know it inspired Samurai Jack, and it delievered! I dont’ have much to say about this one, it’s a very simply film but it’s sweet. For my pirates out there if you want to find it in good quality with english subtitles it’s VERY hard to find. If you just want to see the looks of it, it’s on Youtube with portugese subs.

We now enter the Gobelins Shorts Zone....!

My Friend Who Glows In The Dark

10/10 makes me cry each time

Pure delight...great animation writing everything. A little short about death and friendship but not in the way you imagine!

Colza

9/10

Visual treat...homely and nice :) not far from a 10 but a 9 because nothing about it is that groundbreaking

Sundown

9/10

If you’ve ever been ten minutes from failing a group project because of a single dude you will REALLY enjoy this. Loved the colors and personality

T’as vendu mes rollers?

10/10

It’s SUCH a sweet little short I loved that one so much

Dix-huit kilomètres trois

10/10

Surprisingly well written dialog. Visuals are great but the humanity of the characters carries this to another level

Un diable dans la poche

9/10

Amazing visuals and the most tense/creepy of Gobelin shorts i’ve ever seen. Chilling

La bestia

8/10

I had some issues with the pacing. Interesting story and visuals choices but I was not fond of the art style

Goodbye Robin

5/10

Confusing but predictable. Both at once??? Yes!

Le retour des vagues

6/10

Cool animation stuff but felt pretty pointless

***

Part Two: Things I rewatched

Ruben Brandt: Collector

Movie, 2018, Hungarian

10/10. Underrated as hell

Watched this fully blind for the first time in an animated festival and rewatched it with friends. It’s a crime I never see anyone talking about it given the amount of whining I see about the lack of both adult animation and 2D movies? This film is a unique love letter to art in the form of a weird mix of charming crime story and psychological horror with amazing visuals. I recommend watching it blind and also buying it to show appreciation for how nice it is!!! WATCH THIS MOVIE...

Mononoke

Series, 2007, Japanese

10/10 Visual/storytelling masterpiece in the weird shit departement

If you can stomach intense stuff watch this. The visuals are incredibly unique and beautiful and under the jewel tones and art direction high takes it’s a really cool horror series. My only obstacle to enjoying it the first time I saw it was how dense it is - simply put, it’s so...culturally Japanese it’s not very accessible to me who doesn’t know anything about the culture? Watching it for the second time helped understanding the stories more!

Corto Maltese in Siberia

Movie, 2002, french

9/10 but really close to ten. A great adaptation!

I’m a huge fan of the original comic so I entered this a biiiittttt suspicious it would suck but it was a really pleasant surprise! It has all the wonder and charm of the original and the animation was surprisingly good for the little budget. If you’re not familiar with the series, it’s a sort of geopolitical action/adventure movie but with it’s own really poetic vibe to it. It’s almost impossible to find online but happens to be fully on YouTube so go ham I guess?

Redline

Movie, 2009, Japanese

10/10 cinema was invented for this, actually

Every review of this movie i’ve seen gives it five stars and starts by talking about how immensly stupid it is. I’m no different. It’s a masterpiece of escalating energy with the depth of a puddle and it fucking rules. It’s free on YouTube too so there really is no excuse to not watch it. Watched it for the first time on a huge cinema screen and despite this my second rewatch on my small laptop was as/even more enjoyable. If you watch this stoned with friends you might travel to another dimension

Spirited Away

Movie, 2001, Japan

10/10 deserves the love it gets

I watched this a single time as a kid and had little memory of it! I mean it’s Ghibli you know it’s going to be good as hell but this one rly shines in how colorful and detailed it is and in it’s world! It made me remember I had a huge crush on the dragonboy as a kid. I’m gay now

Kung-fu Panda (1&2)

Movie, Usa

10/10. KFP fucking rules

Honestly my favorite franchise of the whole disney/dreamworks/pixar hydra. It’s fun as hell, doesn’t skip a single beat and has amazing animation and character designs. If something is a good time I will not care if it’s deep or not and boy I fucking love these movies

Sinbad, Legend of the Seven Seas

Movie, 2003, Usa

5/10 Some great some really bad and overall generic

I tend to hate american cinema and this includes that era of animation I have no nostalgia for. Sinbad is in a weird place because I love adventure stories and the visuals of the movie absolutely deliver but it’s very predictable and TANKED by the addition of the female character, pushed in your face as “look we have woman!!!” despite her writing being misogynistic as hell lol. The evil goddess rules tho. This movie would have been a solid 9 if instead of the girl the two dudes had kissed

#j #animation #if you want links to these ill provide but not for the indie ones that arent free #i have no remorse p*rating disney or a movie thats over 50 but if its recent and underrated just legally get it!!!

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misssilencewritewell · 4 years ago

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Overall review of wizards. Spoiler warning. This is just my opinion. If you enjoyed it, I’m happy for you. I think it was far too rushed.

Five episodes in we finally started to get introduced to interesting characters. But the pace never slowed down long enough to understand their role, their personalities, purpose, etc. It was a quick flash of ‘Oh that’s cool-and they’re gone...but I wanted to see more and understand...’ The quick glimpse of Angor Rot (my boy 😭) Why did he fish Morgana from the river? He hates humans...I’m confused??? He has magic. Did he learn from the evil magic squad?

The graphics are incredible. It looks amazing but I feel like for me to have a connection to this part of the story it had to have been longer. Another ten episodes of us getting to know Douxie in Arcadia would’ve been nice. When you dump as much information and new things on viewers it’s just too much for us to handle. I was so distracted by going “the heck is happening” to ever bond with Douxie. This makes me sad because I was enamored with him in Trollhunters. Also, he went from super suave bad boy to derpy bard boy. Not necessarily bad...but personally, I enjoyed his confidence in Trollhunters. Straight up hit a gum gum with a guitar. Not a magic one...just a regular guitar. Chad move. But this...felt weird. I personally think it would’ve been a much better plot twist had he been Mordred. Would’ve given him a darker edge, a vendetta, an interesting character arc. His goal to be to avenge his mother Morgana and kill Merlin/Trollhunters. Instead we find out that he’s basically a edgy, awkward bard. Which isn’t bad but not enough character development for me to be excited about any apparent growth or newly discovered powers.

Steve Palchuk (while I love his character) was unnecessary to this plot. I would’ve preferred Eli. His brains would have been helpful and I think his comedic relief would’ve fit better than Steves. Steve’s jokes just didn’t seem to land. The comedy relief was not timed right. Again, I absolutely loved Trollhunters and 3 Below...but there was never a moment to stop and catch your breath to know the world and characters which made it difficult to enjoy.

I still don’t fully understand how magic works. Douxie taught Claire for a minute and that was it and now he’s her teacher? Morgana and Merlin walk to the other side and say that sorcery dies with them but Claire and Douxie are left. Magic is...emotion? Kinda? Idk they never explained. 🤷‍♀️

Arthur’s character was...confusing to say the least. He misses his love and hates “dark” creatures because they killed her. But he comes back from the dead...to atone for his sins...by being evil? That didn’t make sense to me. Same with Morgana coming back and him being like sup sis! Know I tried to kill you but we are blood family! His super quick switch to asking for trolls help and loving his sister again was unexplained and made 0 sense. Just make him a dislikeable character and leave it at that. Sometimes it’s better to keep things simple. Over complicated plots can be messy and unenjoyable.

Morgana going from villain to hero was expected but executed poorly. She would flip like a switch and I just couldn’t sympathize with her as much as I did when she was a villain. I enjoyed her passion while being dark. Her redemption arc could’ve been handled so much better. Her having a romantic thing with Merlin and Merlin betraying her becoming the true villain while she is thirsty for revenge would’ve been top tier world building. We got butt jokes from Steve instead.

Strickler and Nomura. I want to see them. Especially back then? Oh they would be so evil and dark and I LIVE FOR IT. Especially since we love them now. It’d be cool to be reminded of their past. Back to the Jim smelling of human without being a changeling. Could’ve seen more on that and an interaction with him. They’d be fascinated I’m sure. Morgana created changelings but that could’ve easily been explained that she was working behind Arthur’s back the whole time. Working with Gunmar and creating changelings to infiltrate the castle while pretending to be submissive in court to Arthur and Merlin. It would explain why Changelings value cunning even more so and it would’ve been more believable than her talking to Claire one time and saying “yes! I’ll just tell my bro he crazy and needs to stop! Thank you kindly foreign hand maiden with dark magic!” Like there’s no reason for Morgana to trust her. Use her...sure. She would want Claire power, but Morgana’s character was far too rushed to make sense. I miss it when she was just a villain.

Also...Jim gets stabbed by a blade and they don’t call his mom? They don’t let her know her son could be dying? She’s a doctor. She doesn’t know much about the dark Magicks but she’s so smart and Strickler is her boyfriend. She should’ve been told. She should’ve shown up. I love her character and she adds a lot to the dynamic. Steve was the focal point far too often.

Bular. (Inhaled deeply). I missed him so much. It was cool to see Gunmar and Bular again. Bular I feel could’ve been interesting to build more too and I’m grateful for what we received. He obviously was more impressionable than his father. Morgana saved him and he immediately vouched for her while touching his fathers shoulder saying softly “she spared my life.” Like...Bular is an excellent character because even when fighting Jim in his final moments, Jim talks to him about dad issues and you can see Bular think about it and ultimately decide his fate. Just...ugh yes I missed the angry tall charcoal man.

Confusing part though...Gunmar and Bular declare that forest their own. Jim and Deya are there and watch as they scare off Arthur. You’re telling me they just let them go??? When they’re trying to recruit trolls for the war? They just go welp...see ya. Nah. There should’ve been dialogue there. The strange troll that smells of human but isn’t an impure. Cue the changelings. Could’ve been an awesome Segway into the life of the gum gums because honestly...Arthur was a douche and I sided with the Gum gums. Like yeah they eat people but Arthur was so...weird and uncomfortable to watch that I’d rather see the Gum gums who make no qualms over what they want or who they are.

The...giant dragon that’s the familiars dad. No reason for him at all. An attempt at a quirky dad character that landed flat. He went from oh lemme get you a cup of tea to DONT ChALlenge Me BoY I KnOw KaRAte!!! And I was like...ummmmm excuse me??? And then he went on to give a lesson on grief and show pictures of his son and I was like Soooooo we aren’t burning Douxie to a crisp? We are just going to throw in a quick ill timed lesson on grief?

The fight between Krel, Claire and the gang vs evil Jack Frost, eye ball raven, and evil Arthur electric boogaloo. Instead of showing the fight they did a recap. That fight would’ve been so awesome to watch and instead we got a recap of them getting their booties kicked. It’s an effective time saver but lazy story telling.

The fawn earth bender woman is important because she was part of the secret magic club and decided she didn’t want to kill people anymore...or something. As if her club ever lied to her about what they were about to do. Like Oh we are killing people? I thought you were joking for millions of years.

They all need her back to do...something evil that I can’t remember which I assume the movie will be about. I want more lore on evil Jack Frost and eyeball raven. They just were like “Congrats Morgana! We are the cool super old magic squad. We are the dopest thing in this show and we won’t say anything about ourselves besides a vague description in under 3 secs that leave our viewers confused and disappointed because they want more.”

Like seriously. They were the best part. Their intro was on a flying castle and I kinda hate that their intro was Merlin yelling “Oh no! Them!” Like we are supposed to know what and who they are. Build up is so important for an aundieces understanding. Like who they are? What they want? What they are? I spent the first half of the show mostly confused and the last half moderately confused and bewildered.

In conclusion, not my fave. It lacked the charm and quirkiness of 3 below and the depth and character development of Trollhunters to deliver a mediocre segway to a film. I really want this film to do well...but they will be on a time crunch and I was not impressed with how they handled this one in ten episodes. Fingers crossed the movie does better.

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nightcoremoon · 4 years ago

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so for the first time I saw batman: the killing joke.

...

it was okay I guess. but massively overrated. I expected some fucking masterpiece of cinema but instead it was just two unrelated short films that were more style and flash than substance.

so first off, barbara's storyline was mediocre. franz wasn't a compelling villain; just a creep, and a trust fund brat. oh wow he's a mafia kid who stole his family's fortune by hacking. if it was the falcone family I'd have cared more but it wasn't so it's just some faceless deathfodder rando. who gives a shit. the whole situation was just a vehicle to shove batman's dick into babs. which kinda fucks over bruce's character here and judging by the timeline kinda makes him a bit of a groomer, yikes. bruce and gordon have known each other since bruce was a young boy and we know that bruce is way older than babs so yeah bruce totally knew her from birth until present day, he literally utilized an active power dynamic to police her crimefighting activities, and he should have fucking known better and stopped her when she kissed him because it would (and did) compromise their professional dynamic, but hey, batdick. and at least barbara recognized that she was behaving emotionally rather than logically when it came to bruce and paris and took the high road out. that would be a serviceable standalone episode to write her on a bus in a serialization but THIS IS A MOVIE. so for a waste of an already short runtime it's like having an appetizer before your meal but instead of something like a crab cake before stuffed flounder, you get greasy onion petals that are more fried batter than onion before getting a well done cheeseburger that's just a glorified hockey puck on a sponge with a kraft single on top. the animation and vocal delivery were excellent of course, not gonna disparage that aspect, so it was well made, but the writing was just not very good. a polished turd. quantic dream must have developed it then because it feels like I watched a david cage production.

so in a 78 minute movie, five of which were the credits, we had a half hour Disney/Pixar short except those bring joy and this brought boring. also there were a lot of shots of her ass tits and underwear that were obnoxiously male-gazey and there was a token gay for the sole purpose of dangling a carrot on a stick for the queers. look kids, warner brothers and dc comics cares about the lgbts! give us money! a waste of time before the real reason why anyone came to see the movie that literally only exists to pad out the runtime to make it a feature length (even though paying a full ticket would've been a total ripoff because, again, IT WAS ONLY 78. even 9 was 81 minutes long and that had an amazing storyline so I forgave it, but 78 minutes? ugh.

also, GOTHAM RAGE??? CRINGE. SO CRINGE.

alright now for the joker segment.

*ahem*

what the fuck? that sucked! *throws tomato*

mark hamill and the joker's lines and the art and the cinematography and the choreography was all good and the plot was cohesive. I get it.

but holy shit was the writing weak as fuck.

okay so some rando breaks the J-ster out of Arkham (already unlikely but ugh whatever), he didn't turn a trick or recruit or anything, he just went to purchase a carnival. or, steal one. but wait, he DID recruit, but he went to get all of the stereotypical Circus Freak™ stereotypes. little people, fat lady, bearded lady, wolf man, strongman, diaper man (wait, what?), and the two headed woman. I guess if you don't really think about why all of them were super readily available in the outskirts between arkham and gotham [i just realized they both end with -am] then it makes enough sense. and then literally right after that HE RECRUITS SOME GUYS TO HELP HIM KIDNAP GORDON. and then strips and photographs barbara. um. ew. you can tell the writer and director were men. Alan Moore is constantly molesting women in his comics and this one trick pony should be put down already. but whatever. the plot is weak and it only gets saved by the flashback sequences.

oh.

oh no.

they're not that great.

he's a failed unfunny comedian who just wants some money to move his wife to a better house so he turns to thievery with the mob. OR YOU COULD JUST STOP GOING TO THE BAR AND BLOWING IT ALL ON BOOZE. I mean the cops knew where to find him after all so clearly he's a repeat customer (or moore is a bad plot writer who relies on convenience and shut the fuck up and don't critically analyze it). alright so he gets wrapped up in the mob to perform a heist on a playing card factory. GET IT, BECAUSE HE'S THE JOKER??? and he uses the moniker of the red hood to retain his anonymity. I expected the mobsters to be working for francisco but no the paris storyline was only cooked up screenplay for passing the runtime so why would they do something clever and interesting and make the film cohesive? that'd be really stupid to make the movie feel more like one movie and not two short films. at least when grindhouse & planet terror did it they advertised themselves as an anthology film. whatever. he falls in the vat of acid which melts the red hood to his face and I gotta say that's actually a pretty good idea to get his face white and his hair green and his lips red. I like that part. oh wait I forgot about the most important part! his wife gets shoved in the refrigerator. OH WOW THAT'S JUST SO COMPELLING AND ORIGINAL, TOTALLY NOT SOMETHING THAT ALREADY HAPPENED TO GREEN LANTERN. TWICE. although she wasn't literally shoved into a literal refrigerator like alex was. rip in frozen pieces you absolute legend of a trope namer. alright, so... so the joker is sad because his wife died. you know, the wife we saw for two minutes and knew the moment we saw her drenched in sepia she was gonna die. and she died offscreen. kyle's gf died and he was fine. gordon's wife died and he was fine. batman's parents both died and he was fine. oh boo hoo someone I love died! fuck off. I am so goddamn sick of people trying to justify their evil with "I was sad once". it's a stupid trope and it's not compelling. the only valid version is doctor doofenshmirtz' evil(er) version in the PF movie because it's hilarious that it's because of a toy train because that's the emotional depth that fridgewomen is treated with in all of these storylines. but at least batman said so. oh yeah, I almost totally forgot, batman's in this movie.

batman punches people and nonlethally takes them out. by suffocating them and letting them get stabbed and throwing them into pits of spikes and HEY WAIT A GODDAMN SECOND! okay let's just ignore that bit and hope that the little people squeezed between the gaps in the spikes and the strongman could breathe in the face mask and the two headed women had KO gas and the fat lady was fat enough that the knives only stabbed her cellulite. it wouldn't be the biggest reach one would have to make in watching this fucking disaster of a plot mess.

now I did like that it was actually batman, and by that I mean he gave a shit about the insane because he recognizes that mental illness is not a cause of dangerous or criminal behavior, just a potential exacerbating factor if it wasn't treated. yeah he brutalized mobsters and crime lords but they were mostly in self defense while gathering intel. he politely asked sal maroni and the sex workers for information and they gave it to him without violence- he manhandled maroni but only after he reached into his pocket for a cigar which could've been a gun. also batman says sex work should be decriminalized if only by not ratting them out to the cops. he was a genuinely good person in the second half of the movie. too bad it was ruined by the shitty first half that made him a borderline groomer.

joker's song was... bad. mark hamill performed his ass off but the song wasn't that good. it just tried to be willy wonka if he was a voyeuristic monster. oh yeah have the only girl character be paralyzed stripped and photographed only to give her father ManPain™. again... the fuck? joker and batman were both gross but, again. male writers. if it was a one-off I could drop a thermian argument because, alright one and done makes sense, especially 1988 standards. but it saturated and soured the entire goddamn movie because of abhorrent pacing decisions. so you're goddamn right I'm gonna bring it up twice! joker was a creep, his plan was dumb, nolan and burton and lord/miller and even ayer had better motivations. YES I AM SAYING THAT JARED LETO'S JOKER HAD BETTER WRITING THAN MARK HAMILL'S JOKER. not nearly to the level of ledger nicholson or galifanakis but hamill didn't have a lot to work with here and I maintain that his performance was amazing; honestly I like his the best out of all of them but just... not here. but I think I can cut some slack to firelord ozai and luke skywalker even if he just phoned it in here which he didn't. writing was just weak. and that's all there is to it. don't anon me and threaten to remove my bones ok?

alright so batman and joker fought and joker got the upper hand and was gonna kill him but it was a prop gun. haha. they had a heart to heart and batman tells joker that he wants to help him get better, even after joker killed robin and molested barbara and traumatized gordon and did countless other travesties, he still said he would help. but joker said no, and told a joke that was good enough to make batman laugh. and then the credits rolled.

...

what a completely pointless and empty ending. oh it's deep and meaningful and poignant? ok sure, I guess, movie, but you didn't earn that. shyamalan did the same thing a dozen times. that doesn't make him any less of a shit writer.

I can understand the concept of batman laughing at joker's joke, humanizing him.

I get it. I see what they tried to do. I respect it.

but this movie was massively overhyped and overrated and I expected it to be so much better than it was. but overall to me it was just another batman cartoon to throw on top of the pile. maybe it was influential to graphic novels. maybe it shaped batman into what he is today. it published right as tim burton's movie and I can respect its place in the pantheon of comic history. but sometimes things that are classic...

aren't that great.

citizen kane, casablanca, the maltese falcon, the treasure of the sierra madre, gone with the wind, singing in the rain, all of them are classic and legendary pieces of art. but they're just not that good, interesting, appealing, watchable, or FUN. they were good at the time- I mean come on we all know them today- but on going back you'd have to really appreciate the finer details to still love the movies today. and this belongs there, in the vault, to be appreciated from afar. influential if dated.

but god am I still disappointed nonetheless.

TL;DR

it was just okay. had some good ideas, had some really bad ideas, had some ugly stuff. overall mediocre. first half 5/10, second half 7/10, overall 6/10.

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mermaidsirennikita · 4 years ago

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how do you think 365 dni compares to movies like 50 shades and after?

Why thank you for asking--

I would say that there is a single similarity, which is that they do stem, if not directly, then tangentially from the general fanfiction-turned-romance novel tradition that has existed for a while but really took off after Twilight. While you can point to Harry Potter inspiring YA fanfic-turned-novels like The Mortal Instruments, Twilight’s impact has really been a lot greater because I think it gave aspiring romance novelists a place to play. And since romance is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) publishing categories in terms of $$$, it makes sense that publishers saw an opportunity to make money off of popular fanfic. This is where 50 got popular, as we all know, and other romance novelists like Christina Lauren, to name a bestseller, cut their teeth on Twilight fanfic.

Then, that gave way to Wattpad and 1D, which is where After came in. I’m not sure exactly where 365 drew from, but it’s definitely at the minimum taking from a lot of mafioso fanfic AUs. And ultimately, fanfic, and in turn crystallized romance novels, are at their heart wish fulfillment scenarios. In romance, that’s usually wish fulfillment not just for the characters you like (as with fanfic) but for yourself.

I think that the biggest issues with After and 50, before we even get into the heroes, are the heroines? Because there is nothing fun about Ana; Tessa in After is MILDLY better, especially in After We Collided wherein she has a bit more fun... but she still sucks. Both Ana and Tessa are excessively passive and accepting of not only poor treatment, but frankly mediocre sex? Lol. I mean, 50 suffers a lot from Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson hating each other in a not good way, but After suffers from both a lack of chemistry and like... not even a sexual gimmick lol. Am I really supposed to buy this 19 year old boy as a sexual dynamo? Sure. But I digress. Ana and Tessa are quite dull, and I cannot find any way to relate to them.

Laura? Laura is FUCKING AMAZING. She’s introduced to as us this Business Bitch, and sure, there’s nothing substantive there, but it makes a lot more sense to me than Ana being given a job by her boyfriend and then being treated like she earned it. Laura comes off as older, more mature--you’re really given a reason to believe that she’s bored with life. Her boyfriend sucks. She’s sexually unsatisfied, but certainly takes matters into her own hands (I don’t think Ana or Tessa ever masturbated onscreen lol, which seems a bit? Odd? In “erotic dramas”). And she’s FUNNY. That’s one of the main reasons I love Laura. She’s kinda ridiculous. She wanders about in her sequin caftan, clearly hoping to get kidnapped (which really sets the tone for the movie.... if you were taking this seriously after that, I don’t know what’s wrong with you and your ability to have fun). She takes control of her Beauty and the Beast inspired dinner with Massimo. She gives him shit all the time, trots off the tarmac like she’s going to walk to Rome, jumps in a fountain just to give him shit. In the final 50 Shades movie, Christian tells Ana that she’s topping from the bottom. But you never see that. I see it in Laura pressing Massimo’s buttons, in her scoffing at him whenever he tries to throw his weight around. She’s never afraid of this guy for real, lol, and it’s very clear in her face.

She’s also a much more sexually engaged heroine. There’s a lot of......... Like, I won’t say that 365 is nearly as kinky as it could get, OBVIOUSLY lol. But it’s definitely kinkier than the supposed kinkfest that is 50, just in terms of its dynamic. And I love that Laura is allowed to be kinky, in particular. She clearly enjoys sex that isn’t always incredibly tender; she enjoys watching Massimo get a blow job from another woman. Both 50 Shades and After are remarkably straightforward and traditional in their depictions of what “healthy” sex looks like.

But of course, the point of 365 is not to depict a healthy and normal relationships lol. It’s to fulfill a specific type of fantasy. Sometimes, you kind of want to get kidnapped. Not literally kidnapped, obviously. But the idea of giving up control and having decisions made for you and being pampered by some rich hot guy who fucks you all over his boat is not bad. And this is where 365 succeeds so well compared to 50 and After. The latter two movies just have this constant stream of boring drama, inauthentic drama, just this guy and his bullshit problems that are, in both films might I add, CONNECTED TO HIS POOR MOTHER. Whereas Massimo literally has to bend to Laura’s will and “become gentle for her”, while also maintaining his position as an archetype. Honestly, aside from the general conceit and the ending, 365 is pretty much angst-free. Laura goes on shopping trips. Laura has great sex. Laura eats and naps whenever she wants and has someone hang onto her every word and need and desire.

The thing is, too, lol--even when Laura does have some angst, she easily has a superior friend to any meager cardboard stand-in seen in 50 and After. Olga is FUN! They have a legitimate spa day montage after Laura has spent hours bitching about her stupid boyfriend. Olga is also the only character who’s like, this shit is INSANE. Olga is fabulous.

Finally, 365 is a movie focused on the female gaze to the nth degree, and we need more of that. The camera worships Michele’s body; it zeroes in on his ass, his abs, his sexual pleasure. Even when Laura is chained to the bed and wearing a spreader bar, she’s less naked than he is. Compare this to 50 in particular, where we saw so little of Jamie and so much of Dakota, in a movie supposedly targeting people who are into men.

It’s just a FUN movie. So much fun. And that’s where After and 50 fail so hard, imo; they’re just kind of agonizing and the female protagonist really doesn’t even get cookies for her time in either of them.

#365 dni #loisfreakinglane

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wheezingghoulbois · 4 years ago

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I kinda always wander, because you are such a big disney fan. whats your fav disney movie?? I havent seen your list atleast. Top 5 beatdown it, ps i love you and i hope i can help you distract yourself to a more positive light💖

hi archie 💖💖💖💖💖💖and i have never done a list so!!!!! lmao here we go!!! 1. Tangled- my favorite film of all time, i just really connect with Rapunzel, and the lantern scene is just one of the most beautiful things i’ve ever seen. Plus, like eugene is wonderful and just . ugh. words cannot express my adoration for this film.

2. Big Hero 6- probably a “spicy” take lmao. but i adore this film. mostly because it’s protaginist is relatable to me i guess? like im half white half asian, and so are hiro and tadashi, and to see san franskoyo as basically what i experience as someone based in america but have lots of asian influence? fucking love it. AND its a movie about characters focused on STEM careers, which like ME TOO. especially medical research???? BAYMAX??? god this movie was made for me. plus tadashi hamada is the cutest dude ive ever laid my eyes on.

3. Mulan (1998)- iconic film. my absolute hero as a kid i adored mulan (and still do). just... she’s amazing????? incredible???? i dont have words i feel like i dont need to explain why i love this film??? like a woman find agency and purpose in herself, defying any and all previous expectation????? *chefs kiss* and that fucking SCENE when she looks into the helmet and “sees nothing” i die. feel that shit in my bones to this day.and then immediately goes to become the savior of the whole country like an absolute icon. also im half chinese so like. mulan. that’s my babe yknow. love her. as a kid i watched that film more in mandarian than i did in english actually lmao

4. Aladdin- funny, entertaining, aladdin is a great character, jasmine is a great character, it’s like the perfect disney renaissance film. plus, a whole new world is also one of my favorite songs. full stop. fun side characters, good villain just a good recipe of a film

5. Ratatouille- REMY. MY BOI. MY RAT SON. best pixar movie, shane is correct. i just.... it’s beautiful, the music is beautiful. the story is beautiful. the message gets me. i love that lil rat ans just want what’s best for him. and ego is such a good villain.

Honorable Mention: Mary Poppins- i just like. stan julie andrews okay. afhsalkjfsalf and dick van dyke is fun too. but like, i just love mary poppins and the way she makes the most mundane things absolutely magical. in particular i loved the jolly holiday sequence because of the mix of live action and animation i always found that so amazing. like especially a part where dick van dyke does a dance sequence with animated penguins, it’s like *chefs kiss* it looks so good those penguins are beautiful

Dishonorable Mention: the WHOLE fucking cars franchise. cars 1/2/3 and planes 1/2 hate them all. cars was mediocre and fine but like then it just made...... MORE....... and more and more and i screamed i lil bit because none of these films are GOOD???? so why keep making them?????? their basic premise makes no sense there is NO reason they have to be cars/planes lmao

#sorry u probably meant a short list but i got carried away ahfslasjfalsjfalfsj #and thank u sm archie u are literally the sweetest human i hope u know that 🥺🥺🥺🥺💖💖💖💖💕💕💕✨✨✨✨#love u sm #asks #archersearcher

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here4theheartbreak · 4 years ago

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Tasting Starlight Ch.2 (V3Min)

AO3 Link Here

Relationships: Lee Taemin x Park Jimin, Choi Minho x Kim Taehyung, Choi Minho x Kim Taehyung x Lee Taemin x Park Jimin (V3Min) Rating: Explicit

Genres: angst, smut Tags: smut, angst, fake dating, jealousy, pining, friends with benefits, getting together, bottom Taemin, switch Jimin, top Taehyung, top Minho

Summary: Minho has been in love with his best friend since forever. But Taemin was determined to be unattached… Until suddenly he wasn’t. Taehyung spent his entire life pining after happiness with his best friend, only to have it ripped away when Jimin finds someone else. The rational response? Hatch a plan to make their respective crushes jealous. The part where they fell in love with each other, however, wasn’t part of the plan.

Chapter Word Count: ~4.8k

After a while, film sets started to look the same. It wasn’t that Minho was jaded toward his job; on the contrary, he loved it. But faces passed by, scripts went in one ear and out the other as soon as the shoot was finished, promises of hanging out with cast members never actually came to fruition. It was just the nature of the business he was in.

Another often unfortunate part of the business was cocky newcomers who thought they were going to be the next Lee Joon Gi. Most of the time they were mediocre at best, shining bright for one or two dramas before fading out to let the next hot thing come to the spotlight. There were, of course, always rumors of the next hot shit being “different”, so it came with no surprise to Minho that the same rumors surrounded the tall, shy newcomer with the square smile, Kim Taehyung.

What did surprise him, however, was the first time he met Taehyung. Most of the cocky newcomers, regardless of age, approached him as just another networking acquaintance. A hurdle to impress and soon walk over to the top. Taehyung was different. He looked at Minho with a silent reverence that rivaled even his fans. When Minho stuck out his hand to greet Taehyung, he was greeted instead with a low bow and a soft, silky, deep voice.

“My name is Kim Taehyung. It’s an honor to meet you, sir. I am a big fan.”

Minho laughed a little. “No need to be formal. We’re not so far apart in age, or experience. You’ve been taking dramas by storm.”

Taehyung’s trademark square smile showed up full force, and Minho would have been lying if he’d said his heart didn’t do a little stutter step at it. “Really? I really love acting, it’s my passion. Someday I want to be as good as you and all of these other amazing stars.”

Minho squeezed Taehyung’s shoulder. “Keep up the good work then. I look forward to working with you.” The smile that Taehyung departed with stuck with Minho for the rest of the day. He’d never had someone seem so genuinely excited to meet him or work with him on a set before. He was eager to see how well the kid and him got along.

And they did. Not only from a professional aspect, but the guy was good. He managed most of his lines in minimal takes, redo’s only when he thought he could do it better or to get different angles. He was a bright, joyful light even during the most difficult days.

As Taemin had warned, his father sent him to the woman he was meant to be married to that Friday. Minho had kept his schedule free that evening, assuming he’d have a frustrated, whiny best friend to console for a good chunk of time. He did not expect Taemin’s face to be split in two with a grin when he answered the phone, however.

“Good evening to you too,” Minho said, laughing a little. “You look happy.”

“He’s perfect,” Taemin said.

Minho scowled. “He?”

“Park Jimin.” Taemin spun, flopping onto his bed and holding the camera up to capture his face. “He’s the best, Minho-hyung. His smile is angelic and he’s such a good dancer.”

“Weren’t you going to meet a woman?”

“Ah, psh. She was fine too. But not into me.” Taemin rolled his eyes. “Her parents are the same as mine, determined to push her off on some rich kid. She’s got a girlfriend already. So we’re gonna go through the motions for our parents, act like we’re dating, getting to know each other. She introduced me to her brother though and he’s…” Taemin sighed deeply, smiling. “It was like a spark between us. I have a date with him tomorrow night.”

Minho felt an icy knife twist in his guts. He smiled despite it and nodded. “Good. I’m glad it worked out. How long’s this one going to stay around, eh?” He joked.

Taemin shook his head. “This feels different. I don’t want to say too much and curse it… But… This feels different. I’ve gotta go, Jiminie said he’s gonna call me tonight. I’ll talk to you later?”

“Sure. Yeah. I’ve—” The call ended, leaving Minho blinking at the black screen. It went back to his home screen, a photo of he and Taemin, Tae’s arms around his neck as he hopped on his back.

Minho let his phone drop onto the bed and flopped back on it, scowling at the ceiling. Taemin regularly had new boyfriends and girlfriends. That wasn’t something new or unusual. It was just how Taemin was. He bounced from person to person, having fun for a few days, weeks, a month at most, before leaving them behind. Minho had always been his constant. Good breakups, bad ones, amicable, equal decisions, ghosting – Minho was the one right beside Taemin. In all of their life together, he’d never seen Taemin act like this with a new partner. He sounded so… Happy. He sounded like he was falling in love. The idea made Minho sick to his stomach. He knew he should be happy for his best friend, but it just drove home the cold reality that Taemin would never pick him. He just wasn’t good enough. The more Minho thought about the phone call, the angrier he got. How good could this kid be? Some rich dancer, he was probably just as anti-relationships as Taemin was. No way would it last longer than he’d be filming. That was the thought that allowed Minho to drift to sleep. Taemin would be single by the time he returned to Seoul. He was sure of it.

The following day came and went, with only a quick text from Taemin that the date went amazing, and he was “falling for Jimin” with a series of emojis that made Minho consider shattering his phone. Then Sunday, and Monday, with not a peep from Taemin. Minho tried not to let it bother him. He refused to text first until Wednesday, a particularly difficult shooting day. At around lunch time, he sent off a quick message to Taemin.

‘Miss you. Director is beating my ass. We should chat tonight.’

He was busy for the following few hours, redoing scene after scene, exhaustion taking a toll on his ability to focus and making the final stretch even harder. When the shoot was finally finished for the day, Minho fished his phone from his coat pocket, eager to see if Taemin had called. The message he’d sent nearly four hours before was read… But not answered. And it remained unanswered until nearly ten that evening.

‘Sorry! Went dancing with Jimin, getting ready for a midnight walk in the park. We’ll chat later!’

But later, it seemed, would never come. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday passed without a peep from his best friend. Minho refused to mope, instead spending his evenings with Taehyung, who continued to make him laugh and forget about his problems even if only for the few hours they were together. Though he was four years younger than Minho, he made up for it easily with his quick wit and well-formed opinions. They spent hours debating the mundane and the controversial, eating dinner together and playing video games in each other’s rooms. Some nights one dozed off with the other, sharing a space as comfortably as long-time friends. If Minho was being honest, he was forming a bit of a crush on Taehyung.

Wednesday of the third week of filming, and still not a peep from Taemin despite a few left-on-read texts, Minho knocked on Taehyung’s room. When there was no answer, he opened it, peeking in to see Taehyung at his table, glaring at his phone.

“Hey, Tae. Did you hear me knocking?”

“What? No,” Taehyung muttered, not lifting his head.

“I was gonna ask if you wanted to go get dinner tonight? I’ll buy.”

“I’m not in the mood,” Taehyung snapped, surprising Minho. He seemed to sense the surprise, because he looked up, his eyes red rimmed. “I’m sorry,” he immediately apologized.

The shock turned to worry. Minho slipped into the room, shutting the door. “What’s wrong? Have you been crying?”

Taehyung shook his head, looking back down at his phone. He grunted and grabbed it, chucking it across the room. It bounced off the wall, landing on the bed.

“Hey, hey…” Minho hurried over to him, grabbing his wrist. “What’s up?”

“It’s stupid.”

“It’s bothering you. Talk to me, Taehyungie,” Minho soothed, settling into the chair next to him.

“My best friend. He’s got a new boyfriend and he’s been fucking ignoring me for a week. He never ignores me, we talk every day. He’s my only same age friend, he’s everything to me. I feel like I’ve been abandoned.”

A knot of familiar pain settled in Minho’s stomach. He nodded. “I know that feeling,” he said softly, thinking of the series of unanswered texts to Taemin.

“And what’s worse?” Taehyung said in a softer voice, “I’ve been in love with him since puberty. I used to daydream about marrying him, adopting a kid… And now I’ve been thrown aside for a fucking—Fucking—Stupid rich boy. He wasn’t even supposed to meet Jimin, but he couldn’t stay in his fucking place and date his sister.”

The name hit Minho like a bucket of ice water. “Ji—Jimin?” He said softly. “Park Jimin?”

Taehyung nodded. “The dancer, yeah. He’s dating some fucking hair dresser named Taemin.”

“Taemin,” Minho said at the same time.

Taehyung looked up, surprise etched on his handsome features. “How—”

“Lee Taemin is my best friend. He was meant to date and marry Park Jisoo… But ended up meeting her brother.”

Taehyung’s face twisted into frustration, then anger. “Get out!”

“Wh—” Minho pulled back. Taehyung shoved him, almost overturning the chair he was in.

“Get out!”

“Don’t you snap at me!” Minho shouted. “It’s not my fault your friend seduced the guy I’ve been in love with for a decade!”

“Jimin would never!” When the words sank in, Taehyung’s fury shifted to something softer. “You—Taemin?”

Minho nodded, his shoulders sagging a little. “We grew up together. Same story as you and Jimin. Childhood best friends, he was my first kiss… Hell, I lost my virginity to the kid. Bu he never wanted anything serious. And I—I liked him so much that I took whatever he gave me. We were friends with benefits, but I was always his permanent. Putting him back together when breakups went bad, or just getting his mind off shit… He’s completely ghosted me. Last time we talked was almost two weeks ago, right after he met Jimin. I’d never seen him so happy and gooey… I feel like my heart’s been ripped out and I wasn’t even dating him.”

Minho sighed heavily, feeling his eyes blur with tears he didn’t realize were welling. “I guess you know the same feeling. I had no idea—”

“Hyung,” Taehyung whispered.

“I’m sorry he took Jimin from you,” Minho said softly.

“Jimin took him though too… I’m sorry I yelled at you.”

“Me too.” Minho smiled and shook his head, looking back up at Taehyung. “I was angry. It wasn’t fair.”

“So, what now?” Taehyung asked.

“I don’t want it to ruin our friendship. I really like you,” Minho answered honestly. “And, if I’m being honest, Taemin is a flighty guy. He’s probably gonna end up broken up with Jimin by the time we get back to Seoul.”

“You think?”

“He’s never had a relationship last longer than a month. I would be truly surprised.”

Taehyung nodded. “That’s comforting.” He sighed. “Wanna go get that dinner now?”

“I think maybe just going and getting a few drinks might be a better option,” Minho admitted. Taehyung smiled brightly, and Minho found his heartrate increasing despite the sadness surrounding their conversation.

“I think that’s a great idea… You’re still buying.”

Minho laughed helplessly, shoving Taehyung lightly. “Sure, sure. Come on, let’s go.”

Minho knew it was dangerous to get drunk with Taehyung when they were both down about their respective best friends. But it definitely felt good. As they stumbled back to Minho’s room, Taehyung leaned on him, his alcohol laced breath warming Minho’s cheek and neck and sending tingles straight down to his dick. One hand was around Minho’s shoulders, the other on his stomach, playing with the fabric of his shirt.

They fell in a heap onto the bed, Taehyung half on top of Minho. As he looked up at him, his eyes were drawn to Taehyung’s soft, pink mouth. He wet his own lips, resisting the urge to lean up and kiss him.

Taehyung’s smile wavered. “Hyung—”

“Hm?” Minho grunted.

“We’re drunk.”

Minho closed his eyes, nodding and taking a deep breath. “Yes, we are.”

“I kinda wanna… Kiss you.”

“Me too,” Minho mumbled. He pushed Taehyung off him and sat up, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Not the reaction I was expecting,” Taehyung muttered, and Minho could hear the pout without even seeing him.

“It’s not—I’m sorry, it’s just—”

“I get it,” Taehyung snapped. He sat up and then rose, fixing his shirt. “I’m never good enough. I’m used to it.”

Minho grabbed his wrist. “Don’t, Taehyung. Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Talk down on yourself like that. It’s not attractive. I want to kiss you. But we’re both emotional right now because of Taemin and Jimin, aren’t we? Do you really want this to be some rebound? Ruin the friendship we’ve made? Plus, we’re wasted – I can barely see straight and you couldn’t walk home without leaning on me. Doing anything right now… We’re not thinking straight. That’s not consent.”

Taehyung relaxed a little, letting Minho tug him back to sitting on the bed. He sighed. “You’re right. I’m just having a pity party because of Jimin.”

“I get it. I feel like I’m never going to be good enough for Taemin either. But falling into bed with each other… We’d regret it.”

Taehyung snorted, smiling a little. “It’d sure get Jimin’s goat though. For as much as he refuses to see that I like him and dates around… He gets so jealous the minute I show interest in others. It’s what made me wonder if I had a chance all this time.”

Minho laughed. “God, they’re perfect for each other. Taemin is the same way.”

Taehyung laughed as well. “What a pair we are. Both hopelessly in love with the idiot best friends that want nothing to do with us.”

Though it stung, Minho knew it was true. And it felt good to laugh about it with Taehyung, despite the bitterness. Things always felt good with Taehyung, when he thought about it. He squeezed his wrist.

“Stay the night. You’re not sober enough to get to your room and I don’t feel like walking you there.”

“Deal. But I’m sleeping in the bed,” Taehyung said, stripping out of his shirt.

“We’ll share.” Minho agreed, doing the same. He rose slowly and the world tilted dangerously. “Oh, bad idea.”

Taehyung giggled. “You’re drunk.”

“So are you.” Minho laid back on the bed. “I wanted pajamas.”

“Sleep in your boxers.”

“You’re okay with that?” Taehyung nodded. “I’m gonna. Deal with it.”

Minho chuckled. “So arrogant.” He struggled with his belt for a moment before unhooking it and wiggling out of his jeans and socks. He crawled up the bed, kicking the covers down to slide under them.

Taehyung joined him. “I’m a cuddler. Deal with that too,” Taehyung mumbled. True to his word, he wrapped his arms around Minho’s middle. Minho tensed for a moment, but smiled softly, settling into a position that let him wrap an arm around Taehyung.

“I don’t mind,” he answered honestly. And he really didn’t. Taehyung’s body was warm and firm in all the right places, and it felt damn good to sleep next to someone. Minho found himself drifting to sleep quickly, peaceful and deep.

Minho groaned against the morning sun when his phone went off. Squinting one eye open, he peeked at it, surprised to see Taemin’s name across the screen. He shifted out of Taehyung’s octopus grip, answering and sitting up.

“Hello?” He rasped, rubbing his eyes.

“Did I wake you?” Taemin asked, his smile infectious despite the early morning. “I thought you’d be up getting ready for work.”

“Late shoot today,” Minho mumbled. He rose, raking the fingers of his free hand through his hair as he padded to the bathroom. “Why are you calling?”

Taemin pouted. “I haven’t talked to you in forever.”

“I know, that’s why I’m asking.” Minho knew he sounded a little sharp, but he was still hurt, even if he couldn’t exactly voice why. He grabbed aspirin and popped a few, grimacing.

“What’s the matter?” Taemin asked. “You don’t look well.”

“Just a little hungover. What’d you need?”

“I was just wanting to say hi. Jimin’s at a dance thing in Busan, so I’m bored and alone.”

Minho padded back out into the main room, smiling at the bleary-eyed Taehyung, sitting up.

“You hungover?” He asked.

Taehyung groaned, flopping back down and burying his head under the pillow.

“Who’s there with you?” Taemin asked.

Taehyung peeked out from under the pillow. “Who’s that?” He mouthed.

Minho handed him the bottle of aspirin.

“It’s my friend, Taehyung,” he said, heading to shut the blinds. “We went out drinking last night.”

“And he slept over?” Taemin asked. Minho chuckled.

“You sound jealous.”

“I’m not jealous,” Taemin said, a little too quickly.

Minho stifled the urge to roll his eyes. “He slept over. We were both pretty drunk. Actually, it’s a funny story. You’re fucking his best friend.”

Taehyung sat up at Minho’s words, his eyebrows disappearing into his shaggy bangs.

“What?” Taemin asked.

“Aren’t you fucking Park Jimin?”

“Well – We’re dating… Yeah.”

“Hasn’t he mentioned his best friend? Kim Taehyung? Actor.”

“Oh.” Taemin scowled. “I think he mentioned him… Not that he was an actor, I didn’t put it together.”

Minho turned the phone. “Taemin, meet Taehyung, Taehyung, Taemin.”

Taehyung waved, then flopped back down onto the bed. Minho chuckled. He was kind of endearing. He turned the phone back to himself. “Small world, huh?”

“I’ll say.” Taemin’s voice was hesitant. He chewed his lip. “Are you two…”

“What?” Minho smirked then, cocking a brow. A little twist of anger formed in his stomach. Taemin was actually jealous. He shook his head. “He’s cute, isn’t he?”

“Hyung…”

Minho glanced at Taehyung, who was gawking at him once more. “I’ll text you later today, okay, Tae? I’ve gotta get some breakfast and try to kick this headache.” “Oh—Okay.”

Minho hung up the phone, tossing it onto the bed.

“What was that about?”

“He’s jealous of you,” he said simply, heading over to dig in his closet for clothes.

“Of me?”

“He saw you shirtless in my bed. I’m guessing he assumes I slept with you.”

“And he’s jealous… But he’s sleeping with my best friend,” Taehyung said, scowling.

“Told you. It’s how he is. You’ll probably get an angry call from your friend too.”

Taehyung laid back on the bed. “I don’t want an angry call from Jimin,” he mumbled. “I just want him to see me as a good option.”

Minho sighed, offering a sympathetic smile. He crawled into the bed and laid next to Taehyung. “I know the feeling. It was mean to make Tae jealous but… It felt good knowing he feels how I feel, you know?”

Taehyung laughed. “We should pretend to date. Maybe if they realize how jealous they are of us…”

Minho snorted. “You’re right. I feel bad about wanting him to leave Jimin – I guess… I’d always thought someday he’d see me as more.”

Taehyung nodded in understanding. “Same. I keep wondering if they are perfect for each other and maybe I’m a dick for wanting them to split up.”

“But Taemin is such a player, I can’t see him actually sticking with anyone long term.”

“And Jimin falls so deeply in love with people… I don’t want someone like that to hurt him. Not saying your friend is bad, just…”

“Not for someone like your friend.”

“Exactly.”

Taehyung rolled over, putting his head on Minho’s chest. His hair tickled his skin lightly, his breath warm over his skin. Minho let his arm settle around Taehyung, fingers brushing lightly over his arm. It was strangely comforting, Minho realized. The soft intimacy of their position, the way their bodies fit. Despite having only known each other for a few weeks, it was familiar.

“Let’s do it,” Taehyung whispered softly.

“Do what?”

“Pretend to date. I know Jimin, and you say your friend is just as bad. Do you think it could split them up?”

“Maybe. If their jealousy got the best of them they’d have to realize it’s not just a normal friendship thing. I’ve never pursued a long-term relationship with anyone because of that – thinking Taemin’s jealousy would turn into more… Maybe it would if he had a reason to examine it.”

Taehyung nodded, turning to look up at Minho. “And we’re both great actors. I bet we could fake a relationship easy.”

Minho laughed a little. “You’re right… Yeah. I say we do it. I mean, we don’t even really have to lie all that much. We met, got along great – that’s the truth. Our friendship just shifted into more, that’s the only lie.”

“Exactly. And we live in the same city, so going on dates will be easy.”

“And something we probably would have done anyway as friends after this.”

Taehyung nodded, sitting up quickly. He held his head, pouting a little. “Ugh.”

“Don’t move so fast, I don’t want you to puke on me,” Minho joked, earning a halfhearted punch in the arm from Taehyung.

“What I was going to say, is I like the idea. I bet it’ll work.”

Minho nodded. “I mean, who knows. Maybe they’ll be broken up before we even finish filming. But having this as a plan… Couldn’t hurt.”

“And if they are, we can just say we decided not to date,” Taehyung agreed. “Then maybe we’ll both get the nerve to tell them how we feel.”

“You’d better, going through all this.”

Taehyung grinned that stunning grin once more. “You too.”

Minho sat up, offering his hand to Taehyung. “Shake on it? Fake boyfriends?”

“Fake boyfriends.” Taehyung gave his hand a firm shake. “Now… You mentioned breakfast… You buying?”

Minho groaned. “You’re gonna break me.”

“I’m the youngest!” Taehyung whined.

Minho rolled his eyes deeply. “Dating or not… You and Taemin will get along great. Pouty brats who have a direct line to my wallet,” he grumbled, climbing out of bed. “Fine, come on. We’ll go eat. You can wear something of mine if you want, that way you don’t have to put that alcohol smelling stuff back on.”

“You’re the best.” Taehyung stood, hanging off Minho’s shoulders as he headed to his closet once more. He reached around Minho, pulling out a soft, well-worn deep green t-shirt.

“Can I?”

“Sure,” Minho nodded. “Just please don’t spill anything on it, that’s my favorite shirt.”

Taehyung hesitated, looking at the faded screen print on the front, barely legible. “New York?” “Taemin and I went a few summers back. His graduation present. We both got those for each other.”

“Are you sure I can borrow it?”

Minho smiled a little. “Yeah.” He nodded, taking the hanger and pushing it toward Taehyung’s chest. “Green suits you.”

Taehyung grinned and pulled it over his head. He held his arms out. Minho laughed, reaching out and patting down his bedhead. “Comb that and add jeans and you’ll be perfect.”

“What are you talking about, my parents say I’m already perfect.”

Minho groaned, swinging at Taehyung halfheartedly. He dodged easily, giggling as he headed into the bathroom. Minho watched him go, an unfamiliar clench in his chest.

Despite the night before and the tension in the morning, by breakfast things had fallen into their familiar camaraderie. Taehyung was his normal, giggly self, no sign of the hangover that had made him grouchy just an hour prior. His happiness was contagious, and Minho found himself laughing and playing along without a care.

When Taehyung asked to have a selfie with him, he barely questioned it, leaning in close and resting his chin on Taehyung’s shoulder.

“Ah, it’s perfect,” Taehyung cooed, showing the phone. Minho huffed a laugh.

“You’re cute.”

“Can I post it to social media?”

“Of course.”

“Do you have a Twitter?”

Minho nodded. He rambled off his handle, and Taehyung nodded, tapping away at his phone. Minho pulled his own out, smiling a bit at the notification. He retweeted it, and Taehyung beamed.

“When do you start filming?”

Minho glanced at the time. “About an hour. You?”

“Same.”

“Head there with me?”

Taehyung’s grin spread once more. He nodded. Minho took the check, paying and handing it back before heading out with Taehyung.

The two walked the long way to the set, enjoying the cool summer day. Minho found himself asking questions in earnest about Taehyung’s childhood, enjoying the stories he told and telling his own. Things felt easy with Taehyung, and peaceful. Minho found himself thinking how interesting it would be to have Taehyung and Taemin meet, their opposing personalities would either work perfectly or be at perfect odds with one another. He hoped for the former.

When they were nearly to the location of their filming, Minho’s phone buzzed incessantly. He held up a finger to Taehyung, stepping off the sidewalk to pull it out.

“Taemin,” he said, smiling into the camera.

“Hyung… You looked well on your date… He’s cute.”

“I told you he was. Why do you look so sullen?”

Taemin shifted in the chair he was in. “Isn’t he a bit young for you, Minho-hyung.”

“Hey, you punk, you make it sound like I’m some perverted old man,” Minho scolded without venom. “He’s only a few years younger than you. Ninety-five.”

“He looks younger.”

“He’s got a youthful face. You needn’t worry, he’s perfectly legal. And we get along splendidly.”

“Are you dating him then? Steadily?”

Minho glanced at Taehyung, who was listening just off camera, his head cocked a bit. He grinned when Minho met his gaze, nodding rapidly.

Minho smiled. “We think so. We’re still in early stages. You know how it is, right? Especially now that you’ve found Jimin.”

Taemin’s smile drooped a little. “I suppose, yes… When will you be coming home?”

“End of next week is our final shooting day unless it gets extended somehow.”

“Does your friend…”

“He lives in Seoul as well. I will be interested in seeing you two meet. I’m sure you would have anyway, with him being Jimin’s friend. I’m curious to meet Jimin as well, from what you and Taehyungie both say he seems like a splendid person.”

“Right… He’s pretty great. You should call me tonight, hyung. I miss talking with you.” “I will try. I have to go, we have to get to set.”

“We? Oh… Are you with him?”

Minho nodded. “We walked to set after breakfast.”

“He’s wearing your favorite shirt.”

“Isn’t green such a nice color on him?”

“I suppose… It is on you too. That’s why I chose that color.”

Minho laughed a little. “Are you jealous, Tae?”

“What? No.” Taemin scowled. “I’m just not used to seeing you with someone else.”

“Someone else?” Minho smirked. “Someone other than you?”

“Well, yeah. It’ll just take some getting used to. He’s really pretty… You two make a good match.”

Minho glanced at Taehyung out of the corner of his eye. “Thanks… I’ll talk to you later.” He hung up and looked at Taehyung, offering a small smile. “I think our plan is working.”

“Good.” Taehyung turned, heading back to the sidewalk. Minho frowned, following after him. “Why do you look so sullen? Do you think it’s a bad idea now?”

“No, no… He’s just really pretty. I can see why you and Jimin both want him.”

Minho chuckled, “he’s dramatic and flamboyant… But I wouldn’t trade him for the world. He’s always been there for me. I guess like you and Jimin. I’m eager to meet him.”

Taehyung nodded. “I’m sure he’ll adore you.”

The remaining walk was silent, but not entirely uncomfortable. Minho could tell Taehyung was a little tense, but he couldn’t pinpoint why. As they began to work, Taehyung relaxed, laughing more easily and becoming more himself as the day went on.

That evening, Minho returned Taemin’s call, enjoying the ease of conversation. Both seemed to be dancing around the topic of their respective other halves, and Minho was entirely fine with that. It felt normal and natural, and reminded him how deeply he cared for Taemin, and how badly he wanted him. But when the call ended, and Minho was left in the dark of his room, his mind continued to wander to Taehyung, just a few doors down. His heart was fully split, and he had no idea what to do about it.

3 notes · View notes

go4blood · 5 years ago

Text

can we be seventeen?

It is finally time. Broadway!Michael. Heathers. Best friends to lovers. U know how we do. sorry I’m on mobile and can’t do the read more feature 😔

4k words

—

High School was the time of your life. You spent everyday after school with your best friend in the theatre. You two had many starring roles together, such as Tracy and Link in Hairspray, Sally Bowles and Cliff Bradshaw from Cabaret, and so many more. You two decided you both wanted to take on broadway. That being said, you bought an apartment together- a tiny one that is- in New York City. It was your 2nd month in New York. You loved it more than anything, but you were a starving artist. You had a few commercial roles and did some work in some short films, but you wanted to be on stage. You wanted people applauding you every night. You both wanted that.

But it’s hard to get on broadway. Broadway isn’t something easy to achieve.

The door to your apartment opened and interrupted your thoughts.

“Y/N! The restaurant was super busy today, so I think I got enough tip money to get the WiFi back on.” Michael walked through the door, car keys in hand, wearing a white button shirt with a black tie, along with black dress pants. Michael worked at a fancy Italian restaurant in the heart of New York City that only rich people can afford. He absolutely hated working there. It was far from his dream, but they had to pay the bills somehow. You worked at a coffee house yourself, and most of the time your money went towards bills and necessities only. And people hardly ever tip.

“Thank God! I’ve missed Netflix so much.” He laughed and you grinned, collapsing beside him on the couch. Michael was a great roommate. He always paid his share of everything, and he kept the living area clean. His room is another story, but at least you didn’t have to always see his room.

“I found our next audition! I forgot to tell you, when I was driving to work I saw that Heathers is currently being casted for broadway!”

You sighed, leaning your head on his shoulder, “I’m beginning to think we should’ve stayed home, it’s so hard to make it out here in New York…”

He scoffed, looking at you in your eyes, “Is my best friend, Y/N L/N, the one who forced me to audition for Oklahoma our freshman year, giving up? Come on now, that’s not the Y/N I know! Come on, auditions are tomorrow morning, it’s worth a shot.”

You pondered for a moment, thinking of the possibilities. This is what you came to New York for, after all. Maybe it was worth a shot.

“Fine, we’ll go. Just don’t get your hopes up…”

“I won’t, I promise. Now… I assume we’re having ramen again?”

“You know it.”

—

You sat beside Michael and looked around at who was at the audition. You could already tell that type casting would come into play, which made you nervous. You weren’t sure if you fit into any of these roles. What if you were wasting your time? You’d be lucky if you got to be a chorus member. Michael looked up from the paperwork as if he could sense how nervous you were.

“Relax, Y/N. You’ve been this way since High School! I remember auditions for Hairspray; you nearly had a panic attack the day of callbacks. And you rocked it! What are you scared of?”

“Failure, Michael.” You frowned and looked at him. He sighed, looking into your eyes.

“My best friend has never been a failure. Don’t even begin to think you’re a failure! Every good actor and actress struggled before succeeding.” He gave you a reassuring smile, and weight lifted off of your shoulders. Maybe he was right. In fact, he was right. You have to fall before you fly sometimes.

“Thank you, Michael.” You smiled as he smiled back at you. You wouldn’t wanna be struggling with anyone else.

A woman who seemed to be the director interrupted your thoughts, “Good morning everyone, welcome to the audition for Heathers. Shall we begin?” Everyone silently nodded, and the director cleared her throat, “the numbers my assistant gave to you when you walked in will now come into play… let’s start with #1. Come on up.”

You froze. You were #1. No pressure, right? You got up from your seat and walked up onto the stage, ready to perform the provided audition material. All of the girls were using audition material for the part of Veronica, the lead female part. No pressure.

You introduced yourself briefly and began, projecting with purpose, “My parents wanted to move me into high school out of the sixth grade, but we decided to chuck the idea because I’d have trouble making friends, blah, blah, blah. Now blah, blah, blah is all I ever do. I use my grand IQ to decide what color lip gloss to wear in the morning and how to hit three keggers before curfew… Betty Finn was a true friend and I sold her out for a bunch of Swatch dogs and Diet Coke heads. Killing Heather would be like offing the wicked witch of the west… wait east. West! God! I sound like a fucking psycho….Dear Diary: Heather told me she teaches people “real life.” She said, real life sucks losers dry. You want to fuck with the eagles, you have to learn to fly. I said, so, you teach people how to spread their wings and fly? She said, yes. I said, you’re beautiful.”

You emphasized certain things and changed tone when you felt it was needed. You wanted this so bad. But this wasn’t it! This was a musical, so you had to sing. You looked at the music provided for you and cued the piano player to begin playing. The song you were told to sing was “Fight For Me”. You sang each note with purpose. You wanted this more than anything. Before you knew it, you were done with your audition, and you sat back down in the audience beside Michael. He mouthed ‘good job’ to you, smiling. Before he knew it, it was his turn to audition.

The men auditioning read material for JD, the leading male part. You looked over what Michael had to perform, and the monologue was quite intense.

He cleared his throat and began with an intense tone of voice, “Can't believe you did it! I was teasing. I loved you! Sure, I was coming up here to kill you... First I was gonna try and get you back with my amazing petition. It's a shame you can't see what our fellow students really signed. Listen ‘We, students at Westerburg High will die. Today. Our buring bodies will be the ultimate protest to a society that degrades us. Fuck you all!’ It's not very subtle, but neither is blowing up a whole school, now is it? Talk about your suicide pacts, eh? When our school blows up tomorrow, it's gonna be the kind of thing that affects a whole generation! It'll be the Woodstock for the 80's! Damn it Veronica! We could have roasted marshmallows together!”

He was so talented. You would be damned if he didn’t get a role in this production. He then finished out his audition with the song “Meant To Be Yours”. He did amazing. He always put his all into his auditions. You were proud to be his friend. He walked off stage after he finished, and you both left.

—

As each day passed you absolutely could not stop thinking about callbacks. You were so anxious about whether you were gonna get one or not. You at least hoped Michael would get one so he could live out his dream if you couldn’t.

With each latte you made at work all that was on your mind was the possibility of getting a callback. At one point, you couldn’t even remember how to make an iced americano. They said they’d call you no matter what to let you know, which made you even more anxious. And everyday Michael came home from work all he talked about was callbacks and how bad he wanted this opportunity.

“I know you’ll make it, Michael. I mean come on, you’re extremely talented and you knocked that audition out of the park!”

“I did mediocre at best! You’re the one who’s gonna make it. You’re gonna be amazing in that cast. I’d rather you get it than me.”

You laid your head on his shoulder, looking up into his eyes, “You mean that, Mikey?”

“Would I lie to you? No. I wouldn’t. You’re amazing.”

—

You ran into Michael’s room after your shift at the coffee shop, shaking him awake, “I just got a callback during my shift! I get another audition tomorrow!”

“I got one too! While you were gone! We got callbacks!”

You two jumped up onto Michael’s bed and jumped in celebration. You were unbelievably happy.

“Well you know what that means… it’s a special occasion!” Michael ran to the kitchen and you followed behind him. He pulled out the boxed wine from the cabinet and got the plastic wine glasses out too.

The boxed wine was a tradition in your friendship. When you were casted in Hairspray sophomore year, he got his older friend to get it for him. It was cheap and lasted a while, so it was his number one choice. After high school graduation he brought it to your house after your grad party. And when you moved into the apartment, you had Dominos and boxed wine. It had a special place in your heart.

You put some wine in your cup and clinked your glass with his. Maybe it was finally time.

“Now let’s get wine drunk at 2 in the afternoon, shall we?” He smirked at you and you couldn’t help but laugh, knowing damn well he was a lightweight. It was gonna be a long day. Michael got up and connected his phone to the Bluetooth speaker, playing one of his playlists and taking your free hand in his.

“Michael what the hell are you doing?”

“Dancing! Duh!” He downed his wine glass and spun you around, laughing loudly.

You shook your head, putting down your glass and joining him, despite your lack of dance ability.

“You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only… how old are we again? Who knows!” Michael was so carefree, and seeing him have no care in the world always warmed your heart.

“Hey Michael?”

“Yeah Y/N?”

“I knew I moved to New York with the right person.

—

You and Michael woke up extremely early the next morning for callbacks. The callback went well in your opinion, and Michael seemed to feel good about his as well. But after your callback it was back to the minimum wage job with less than mediocre tips. You had to wait a whole week until you’d find out if the callback resulted in you getting a role. It was gonna be the longest week of your life. As everyday passed and you made countless lattes and iced coffees all you thought of was your callback. It invaded your mind at every second of the day. No callback had stressed you out as much as this one. This one wasn’t some high school production from back home. This could be your big break for crying out loud! This was the most stress you had ever felt in your life.

When the day finally came around you and Michael waited around the apartment with phone in hand all day. The phone call you two were about to get would decide your futures. You paced around the living room, unable to stand still. Finally, Michael’s phone was the first to ring. He immediately picked up, sitting on the couch while biting his nails nervously.

“Hello? Yes this is him… yes I would. Thanks so much… alright goodbye.” He hung up, a solemn look on his face. You felt like you already knew what he was gonna say.

He then broke out into a grin, hugging you, “You’re looking at broadways new Jason Dean!”

You smacked his chest, gasping, “how dare you worry me like that, Michael!” You laughed, returning his hug happily. Shortly after, your phone also rang.

You answered, with a shaky voice, “Hello? Yes this is she… okay, yes I would, okay… thank you, goodbye.”

You were shocked. You looked at Michael, eyes dilated and full of disbelief, “I got the part… I-I’m Veronica…”

“No way! I get to lead with my best friend? This is amazing! We did it!” He hugged you, lifting you off of the ground.

You felt larger than life. You finally got to live out your dream. You were absolutely thrilled.

—

The first rehearsal was mainly just line running and song singing without much blocking and a brief dance rehearsal. Broadway was quite a shell shock. Rehearsals were triple the length of high school rehearsals, and dances were taught by actual choreographers, not the schools dance team coach. It was extremely different. It worried you- what if you couldn’t handle it? As you read lines your mind was in a whirlwind, and Michael could tell.

The director told everyone to take a 15 minute break, and you immediately broke down into a rant of how stressed you were to Michael.

“What if I’m not good enough for this? I’ve gotten so many notes from the director on things to do differently and it’s only day 1! I just wanna be the best I can be, I’m not usually cast into this type of role! I’m never usually a cocky or sassy type of character, I’m not good enough for this-“

Michael interrupted you during your extremely long rant, “Y/N! You’re doing great, it’s literally the first day. Everyone’s getting a lot of notes. You are fine. You always get in your head in the first week of rehearsals. You’re so talented and you deserve this, just calm down. Come on, smell the flowers, blow out the candles. Smell the flowers, blow out the candles. You’ve got this! I wouldn’t wanna plot revenge with anybody else, Veronica.”

You smiled, wrapping your arms around him and hugging him tightly. He always knew what to say in these situations.

“You’re not the only one getting notes ya know? You always panic, it worries me.” You frowned, you never meant to worry him. It was just the way you were. You were always hypercritical of yourself, and it got worse as you got older. It wasn’t all your fault though.

“You know why, Michael. My parents never came to any of the shows… I fought to please them, thinking maybe they’d come one of the nights of the show. They never did. They ruined my self esteem.” At that point you were just venting, and you felt bad after the realization. You quickly stopped talking, walking back on stage keeping your eyes glued to the floor.

The director loudly interrupted your thoughts with a loud clap, “Okay everyone, we’re gonna do the number for Meant To Be Yours, so get on up here, Michael.”

Michael quickly got up on the stage, flipping through his script to the right page. You had a few lines before he started singing, so you took your place behind the “closet door”.

Michael cleared his throat, putting on his angsty evil teen voice, “Knock! Knock! Sorry for coming in through the window. Dreadful etiquette, I know!” This part seemed to be written just for him. He was so good at being the odd guy.

You got out of your thoughts, replying with your line to his remark through the closet door set piece, “Get out of my house!”

Michael scoffed, jiggling the door knob and continuing on with the scene, “Hiding in the closet? Come on, unlock the door! Come out and get dressed, you’re my date to the pep rally tonight!” He then began singing the song, yelling through the door at certain parts. You had to admit, it felt like he was actually your psychotic boyfriend. He really knew what he was doing.

You were interrupted by him singing/yelling the next part of the song, “Veronica! Open the—open the door, please Veronica, open the door…” he finished the song, letting out an exasperated breath.

“So, um, any notes? To make it better…”

The director had a look of shock on her face, but good shock though. She looked at her notepad, and then looked up, “This is an amazing start, you’re making great character decisions. I think when you sing through the door you could act more desperate for her to come out, maybe beat on the door, not just yell through it. Maybe we could give you a prop? Like a gun? We’ll see. Other than that, it’s really great. Good job.”

Michael nodded, thanking her and walking down the stairs of the stage.

“Alright, y/n! We’re gonna do the opening scene, the dear diary one. Do what you think is right and I’ll give notes, as per usual. Alright?”

You nodded, sitting at the plastic table that would soon be a lunch table once the actual set was set up.

You mimed a notebook in front of you, taking a deep breath, “September 1st, 1989. Dear Diary:

I believe I'm a good person. You know, I think that there's good in everyone, but—here we are! First day of senior year! And uh... I look around at these kids that I've known all my life and I ask myself—what happened?” This then transitioned to you singing Beautiful. You only got through half of the song due to how much blocking was needed for this number in particular.

The director read off of her notes, “Alright, Y/N, so all I really have is that I want you to be more confident. I gave you this part for a reason, I believe in you. Just breathe, okay?”

You nodded, thanking her and walking off stage. You grabbed your bag and left to the subway with Michael.

“I told you you were doing good! You just need to believe in yourself, ya dingus.” He ruffled your hair and you blushed, nodding slowly.

“Michael, I think you’re the most talented person I know.”

“Well then you obviously haven’t met yourself.”

—

After what felt like a billion rehearsals, which was really just 2 months of rehearsals, costume day finally came! The best and worst day. A lot of things can go wrong. But a lot of the time, costume day is great.

You had one costume for the whole show, which you were secretly grateful for. Quick changes just stressed you out. Your costume was a grey pleated skirt that hit your mid thigh, blue knee high socks, a white blouse, and a blue blazer to go over the blouse. The director wanted everyone to be used to performing in their costumes, so you’d be rehearsing with them for the next 2 weeks until opening night.

Michael wore all black attire. His costume included a black t shirt, a black trench coat, black jeans, and clunky black boots. In all honesty, he did not look approachable. But at the same time, he intrigued you even more. With each rehearsal, you were thinking about Michael a lot more than usual, and in a different way than usual.

Were you attracted to your best friend?

Oh god. This could not be happening.

You knew way too much about him. His mother practically adopted you as her own. It would be so awkward if your feelings shined through. Your mind was racing, everything made sense.

When he would cup your cheek in one of your scenes and would immediately blush, when he would call you nicknames in your scenes and you broke into a huge grin, it was because you liked him as more than a friend.

“Y/N! How do ya like my costume?” Michael did a twirl and bowed, and you couldn’t help but smile.

“Wow what a handsome teen psychopath you are, Michael.” He laughed, muttering a thank you.

“Um, you look nice in yours. Much less psycho looking, 10 out of 10.”

You laughed, twirling to show him the whole costume, “Why thank you, JD. How kind of you.”

He smiled at you, looking in your eyes for a little while.

He quickly got out of his trance, looking around awkwardly, “Um, well, let’s take our promotional photos then shall we?”

You nodded, following him to where the photographer was.

“We’re definitely getting drunk tonight, I need a breather.”

—

You and Michael were in the living room, playing Mario Kart on the Nintendo Switch whole drinking, you guessed it, boxed wine. You were both extremely drunk, laughing at every little thing.

“Did you seriously just hit me with a blue shell!?”

Michael laughed, “Sorry! I can't accept losing to you, princess.” His voice had a tinge of sarcasm, which was far from surprising.

You pouted, desperately trying to get your number one spot back. But to your defeat, Michael took your spot at the last minute and got first place.

“How dare you!”

He laughed as you tackled him on the couch, resulting in a slight spill of both of your glasses as the coffee table shook.

“Sorry babe, I won fair and square.” His tone had a slight bit of flirtiness to it. Blushing at the nickname, you got up and got yourself more to drink.

“Alright, I lost, what do you want your prize to be? I buy your lunch tomorrow? It’s done.”

“I don’t need anything… let’s just chill now, yeah?”

You nodded, sitting beside him on the couch and laying your head on his shoulder.

“Y/N, you know I wouldn’t wanna be anyone else’s costar, right?”

“Michael, you tell me that everyday.”

“Well, it’s true. God, I’m tired of pretending,” he sat up, looking you straight in the eyes, “I came with you to New York not just to pursue acting. I came here because I care about you more than anything. You make everyday a little better. I was in such a bad place before we met freshman year. I literally love you so much.”

“Yeah I love you too-“

“No Y/N! I’m in love with you! When we do our scenes together I can’t help but think about us being together! I can’t help but imagine me affectionately cupping your cheek and kissing you outside of the show. I can’t help that I actually think I’m meant to be yours! And no, this is not the alcohol talking. I’ve always felt this way. I felt this way when we were in every other show together! I want to shout from the rooftops that I love you!” He gripped your waist and kissed you deeply, pulling you onto his waist.

His kiss was intoxicating. You didn’t know how bad you wanted this. You finally realized that he was who you wanted all along.

“You may be set out to kill the whole school so we can be together, but I love you too, Michael.”

—

Opening night you were warming up in your dressing room when a knock came at your door. The stage manager gave you your 20 minute warning, while also handing you a large arrangement of roses.

“Who are these from? No one I know is coming to see me tonight…” You looked at the notecard that came with it, and it all made sense.

My dearest Veronica,

I’m glad I get to share the stage with raw talent tonight. And you I guess (Just kidding). Break a leg, and let’s fake some deaths tonight! I love you.

- JD

You never felt more in love.

—

Taglist!!

@i-calumhood @angelbabylu

#5 seconds of summer #5sos #5 seconds of summer imagine #michael clifford x reader #5sos michael #michael clifford blurb #michael clifford fic #michael clifford #michael clifford one shot #broadway!sos #5sos one shot #5sos fanfic #5sos imagine

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aegon · 5 years ago

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I'm excited for Star Wars, could this be the only big franchise that end this year that will make justice their main female character?Like Avengers gave us the fanservice moment with the female avengers (as must as I love them, they just throw us that scene looking for praises), better not talk about GOT and their 'subvert expectations and white feminisn shield to avoid being called sexist'.

Listen I really enjoyed Endgame, but that “she has help” scene with all the female characters was just straight up the Russo brothers looking for brownie points. Carol didn’t need anyone’s damn help, come on y’all, at least pick a moment that makes some sense.

I’m not one of those people that has a thousand different fandoms, I really obsess over a handful and Star Wars is one of them. Most of them have let me down somehow, so Ep IX is my last chance to see a strong woman prevail in a solid narrative and live her happily ever after, so I’m trying and failing not to get my hopes up that Rey will dominate this film and be amazing and not be dragged down by some mediocre man trying piggyback on her story.

For once, unlike GOT, the spoilers don’t fill me with dread and sadness but I’m suspicious that we’re all so excited because this year has been godawful and I can’t bear anymore disappointment but omg anon could you IMAGINE if it all ends up being true???? Omg I can’t, I don’t want my heart broken again but ahhh thinking about it has me so buzzed!!

#anonymous #answered #aly rants #but a happy-ish one tho???

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headlesssamurai · 6 years ago

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Has everyone asked you about Jupiter Ascending?

@godzillaapproved

Yo, I ought to apologize to you for taking hella long to properly respond to this. It’s holiday season over thisaway, sure, but I ain’t nearly vain enough to assume just anybody gets why that can suck up a dude’s time. Reckon I’m sure there’s tons of national celebrations all over the world I’d never know about otherwise. Bah, I say! Going out and socializing is one of the few things more overrated than all those shitty Apple products. But yeh, in my case it was less the celebratory spirit of holiday festivities and more a sudden spike in workload, so my mental energy was roughed up by that, plus I was doing a new workout at the same time. Thus, whatever free time I had left was spent obsessively hammering away at the Steam sale items I’d recently bought. It’s like a coping mechanism. Well, that and cheap wine anyhow.

Regardless, regardless—holy shit what an obnoxious fucking way for me to open this up—this Ask of yours came at an unusually coincidental time. A friend and I have been meeting up every weekend to watch like semi-recent crappy movies just as a way to enjoy a bad drink and a good laugh. She likes to laugh, and I like to drink, so it works out. After working our way through every Transformers film by Michael Bay, then Cameron’s Avatar, Terminator: Genisys, The Amazing Spider-mans, Spielberg’s Crystal Skull, Ready Player One, and some of the more abysmal DC films, our last escapade into nonsense was the estimably hilarious Gods of Egypt, which reminded me of one of those excremental quicktime-event video games. You know, like Detroit Becomes Human or some shit like that (Oh wait, is it Detroit Coming of the Humans? Meh).

As luck would have it, like, the day before you asked me about it, the next film at which I suggested we take a crack was the Wachowskis’ own Jupiter Ascending, which my friend had not seen at that time. Nor had I, since first viewing it in theaters.

>>SPOILER WARNING: IF YOU CARE ENOUGH TO, UH… YOU KNOW, CARE

I was intrigued to give this movie another go. It’s struck me that I’ve got an odd streak of pleasantly enjoying movies a lot of people can’t seem to stand, or which some people even hate with utter vileness on the verge of hunting down the producers with a roll of duct tape, power tools, jugs of petrol, and a matchbook. I’ve enjoyed, for instance, Hardcore Henry, Elysium, and Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion, all of which not one person I know in real life could offer a single word of kindness. After my first viewing of Jupiter Ascending, I was left to consider whether or not it was the sort of movie I should enjoy and allow others to hate and disparage, or if it just wasn’t that good. I recalled leaving the theater with a sort of “Hm” sound, and not much else. But given my history with rooting for an underdog, was I wrong? Is this movie actually good, or cool in some way? I couldn’t defy the sensation that I’d missed something.

The answer, it seems, is more complex than a simple yes or no. Then again, as Mason and Goat Han Solo often remind us, “there’s no nuance on the internet”, so even my assertion there about complexity may be in gross error.

For the unfamiliar, Jupiter Ascending is a science fiction tale with vibes of less-cliché aesthetic choices for its visuals, some cool references to UFO conspiracy theories, and aims at a more expansive universe that would no doubt have been further explored in sequels had this film been better received by audiences and critics. I’ll say outright, it’s a disappointment to me that we weren’t given the chance to see more films in this mythology, because there’s some really cool stuff going on in this weird, imaginative universe. The story centers upon the character of Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis), an average working-class young woman in Chicago who is shocked to discover not only that aliens exist but that she happens to be the reincarnation of a galaxy owning empress, which entitles Jupiter to ownership of a large portion of the cosmos, the least part of which is Earth itself. But as the Aussies say, something’s a bit suss about the whole affair, and the wondrous glamour of this technologically advanced universe is concurrently party to a dark truth.

An immediately intriguing element of Jupiter Ascending is its attempt to set-up something which, while perhaps greatly inspired by a few other fictional works, is an original property, not a sequel, reboot, adaptation of an existing work, nor a spiritual successor to something else. Rather than merely being intrigued by this fact, I also respect it, because high-concept science fiction films aren’t something a studio likes to go for unless they have a preexisting audience, like adaptations of a book series or something. So it’s always bold when someone can cobble together the resources to really take a chance on something like this, even if it isn’t well received. After all that’s how films like The Matrix, The Terminator, Ridley Scott’s Alien, George Lucas’ Star Wars, and John McTiernan’s Predator come to be in the first place. Another example, I didn’t quite enjoy The Last Witch Hunter, but I recall respecting that film’s risk in its attempt at a new property for similar reasons.

Irrespective of your own personal tastes as a moviegoer and consumer of science fiction, it can’t be denied that the Wachowski’s are measurably talented filmmakers. Their doubtless skill at framing shots, blending effects with reality to present an integrated experience, and choreographing action sequences with such lethal precision it’s always incredible to watch; all of these things can’t be argued, and this attentiveness for the craft is all very present in Jupiter Ascending. Toward the beginning of the movie, there’s an aerial chase sequence that promptly accelerates into one of the most engaging, gripping action sequences in memory, heavily fantastical sci-fi elements intermixed with almost Fast and the Furious levels of insanity. The sense of gripping speed alone as two characters cling to the outer hull of a spacecraft was helplessly intense and left me quite keen to see what else the movie had to offer further down the line.

Additionally we have some awesome art design and stylistic choices regarding the look of this sci-fi universe, both the appearance of aliens and the design of their technology was familiar and unique at the same time. There are beings referred to as “Splices” which are intermixes of humans and various animals, giving some people bestial characteristics which are just weird enough to be cool to me without verging over the edge into absurd territory. There are cybernetic enhancements, gravity boots, phalanx style energy shields, neural synthetic wings, motherfucking jet-bikes of course and, though I never would have dreamed, motherfucking lizardmen! That blew me away, dude. Others may think it’s stupid, but lizardmen are one of my favorite sci-fi/fantasy creatures of all time, and they look so badass in this movie it was unbelievably awesome to realize I was actually seeing a proper lizardfolk on screen. With lizardmen and jet-bikes, Jupiter Ascending quickly marks two-out-of-five on my Generally Awesome Things I Like To See In Science Fiction list. It’s a real list, in my head, I swear.

The starship designs were inspired by art deco architecture in cities like Chicago, lending Jupiter’s cosmos a feeling more of Herbert’s Dune-iverse than something like Star Trek, which I appreciated since we don’t see that type of style quite as much. Top all that off with a fantastic score from Michael Giacchino and you’ve got some great tools to tell an awesome story.

So the thing is, it’s not just skin deep either, while the film does lean heavily on its visuals and action set-pieces, this is a genuinely interesting universe. Michael Bay’s Transformers, for instance, also has cool visuals, some passable action scenes, and dazzling special effects, but is it interesting? The answer is no. Because Bay’s movies, while briefly entertaining, are ultimately hollow. There aren’t any subdermal layers beneath the facade of spectacle. But in Jupiter Aescending there’s clearly something else going on, the touch of true filmmakers for one, yet also the potential for so much more. The groundwork, the craftsmanship and attentiveness is all here. It’s really what they choose to do, or not do, with that potential which ends up disappointing. Not, as in the case of Bay’s movies, the utter lack of potential for greatness from the start.

Though some fandom-card carrying ideologues may acerbically disagree, an acceptably comparable film whose potential for greatness was also mostly wasted for middle-of-the-road mediocrity is the recent Solo: A Star Wars Story, by Disney Interactive– I mean, by Disney behind the appropriated guise of Lucasfilm. Whatever else you think of that film, and while I agree from a mythological standpoint its very existence was in extremely poor taste, the talent, the production value, the mark of the craft was there. None of this was, however, capitalized upon to create anything truly profound. Jupiter Ascending’s unfortunate drawbacks are of a similar form.

I’d like to state emphatically however, I’m not trying to punish the film nor act as its apologist. Reckon I always end up saying this, but I am really just some dude. Sure, I read a lot of books and stuff, but that doesn’t appoint me some grand authority on the subject of fiction. These thoughts I try to convey in my write-ups are meant merely as opinions, framed in the form of investigating the quality of a film or game or whatever. To that end, I’m compelled to side with most folks in that, whatever else its got going for it, there’s some major deficiency holding back Jupiter Ascending from rising to a higher form of entertainment. So if the production values are high, where’s the casus belli all the angry critics are seeing here?

To puzzle that out, we ought first to determine by what criterion a truly good story is shaped. In that regard it’s likely the wisest to begin by reckoning what sort of story we’re dealing with here. Most people are wont to jump straight to the whole Hero’s Journey every dickhead YouTube reviewer read about in some sparknotes book while using the shitter at Barnes & Noble. But Joseph Campbell’s mimetic architecture isn’t the only sort of story that exists, not even in science fiction. Consider, for instance, anything written by H.P. Lovecraft, Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain, Kubrick and Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Jonathan Glazer’s Under The Skin, Philip K. Dick’s various works, Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker, Stanisław Lem’s Solaris, Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, or Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. These stories, while very sci-fi in their scope and measure, are far more introspective, and very contemplative when contrasted against fiction of the more traditional heroic adventure genre. Hell, even Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers while appearing a mindless war movie on its surface is fundamentally a cautionary allegory. While conquering adversity is certainly a theme of its own within each of these stories, the breadth of that adversity’s effect on the narrative varies wildly, as well as the nature of adversity each character must face. Other heavier components, like displacement, post-humanism, philosophical allegory, are also usually present in such stories.

All of this likely seems a bit excessive to point out, but I promise it’ll get relevant later. But, uh… yeh. The next time some liberal arts asshat tries to tell you there’s only one real way a story can go, you can be safely justified in telling them to get bent. I mean read, yeh, tell them to read more shit, and watch more movies. That’d probably be more productive. But also tell them to get bent, the fuckers.

There can also, however, be stories that blend styles. The 2004 rebrand of Battlestar Galactica incorporates several philosophical elements, self-reflective, and meditative thematic ideas into its narrative of what would otherwise be a fairly standard science fiction conflict in outer space. The Wachowskis’ own The Matrix is a perfect example of a classic hero’s journey which also incorporates introspective themes into its lore, plot, and mythology, wherein the internal conflict of the protagonist is just as important as whatever external adversity he is meant to overcome. Where Battlestar Galactica 2004 uses its thematic material to craft a sci-fi adventure story, The Matrix uses a sci-fi adventure story to explore its thematic material. Seen in that light, I think the Wachowskis wanted Jupiter Ascending to have similar weight to its narrative, but they ended up recycling a sort of “human harvest” idea already seen in The Matrix (and arguably done in a more engaging way).

Jupiter Jones herself is a catalyst for an inter-familial conflict within a wealthy interstellar hierarchy. Though alien races do exist, the most dangerous aliens happen to be humans themselves, extraterrestrial humans of course. In Jupiter’s universe, it turns out that the wealthy and powerful have the ability to live forever (an idea also explored in the Neftlix adaptation Altered Carbon), but only by seeding countless worlds with humans, then harvesting these humans like crops and breaking these millions of people down into a sort of primordial youth serum by which the lives of the affluent may be extended.

Advanced genetics in Jupiter’s universe are the highest form of technology, and it is stated in all the cosmos the most sought-after resource is time. This is the reason these advanced humans out among the stars are able to splice human and animal genes, essentially creating entirely new races, and the reason why Jupiter herself is seen as a reincarnation of a woman who once owned countless stars and planets. Genes, to the wealthy and powerful, have a near spiritual significance. Jupiter is referred to as a Recurrence, a person who is long dead but whose gene-print inconceivably reappears in someone who is born centuries or even millennia later. This is seen as a near miracle, and thus is recognized by interstellar law as a legitimate reincarnation, giving this new person the same rights and privileges, and inheriting all the property previously held by the deceased person whose gene print they share.

And that’s where the conflict comes up. Jupiter is sought out by three siblings of the Abrasax family, one of the most elite and powerful families in the universe, of which she is the reincarnation of their mother and thus entitled to re-inherit all of their resources and capital which they currently control. The kids are Kalique (Tuppence Middleton), the well-to-do, but compassionate one, Titus (Douglas Booth), the more two-faced of the three who acts innocent but is clever as a viper, and Balem (Eddie Redmayne), the stereotypical villain of the piece who seems to have nervous ticks and an inability to raise his voice above a certain octave except in times of extreme stress. Of course, since Jupiter’s now meant to control everything they currently own, none of the three Abrasax kids can be fully trusted. Jupiter doesn’t have to face these three one-percenters alone however. She is accompanied by Caine Wise (Channing Tatum) an ex-soldier and wolf-splice, known as a Lycantant, who is hired by Titus to safely retrieve Jupiter from Earth before his siblings can get to her. Caine’s former commanding officer, a bee-splice known as Stinger (Sean Bean) also appears from time to time, as well as officers of the Aegis, an interstellar law enforcement agency.

If you are having a hard time following the characters here, it’s probably because there just isn’t much to any of the characters other than what I’ve already written about them. And therein lies the primary flaw with this film. The characters aren’t interesting, and the greater tragedy is that the characters are written to be uninteresting. Where a ton of care and attention went into crafting the look, feel and depth of the wider universe acting as the story’s setting, the characters within this story are criminally underwritten.

Earlier, I went to great lengths to illustrate the wealth of variety throughout genres of science fiction, just how many different types of stories we might get within this narrative framework. The purpose of explaining all of that to such a degree was meant to show you that not everything has to follow the same narrative flow. Sometimes stories can be more abstract, less character driven, less action heavy. In that regard, a story exemplar like Blade Runner doesn’t really need to have strongly written characters because the interpersonal aspects of its journey are less important than its atmospheric setting and stylistic momentum. The gravitas comes from a different place than in stories which are more character driven.

However, if a story does want to give us something more conventional, then it’s extremely important that the characters are strongly defined, well established and, even if not likable, at the very least interesting. Though a bit out of this wheelhouse, Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is notorious for featuring a dramatis personae of terribly vain, horrible sociopaths, but many of these characters are still written in a way that makes them interesting. Jupiter Ascending fashions itself as an epic space opera, a stylized adventure journey which goes from scrubbing toilets in Irving Park to rocketing through a wider spectacular galaxy. Within that story structure, the characters need to be given their proper attention, especially the protagonist. Only, this is not the case with this movie. In fact in Jupiter Ascending, the characters almost appear as afterthoughts, which is most unfortunate.

Despite being the protagonist’s love interest, Caine seems to have been given the most depth, as a literal lone-wolf personality, an orphan of a sort, a former soldier disgraced for an act of savagery, who longs to regain his military status as a Skyjacker, and was sprung from a prison called Deadland to rescue Jupiter from the clutches of filthy rich egomaniacs, a class of people he seems to utterly despise. Yet even Caine’s various portions of characterization are never fully explored, and he mostly serves as a vehicle to come dashing in and pluck Jupiter out of trouble over and over again. Secondary characters, other than Stinger (more on him later), are hardly there other than to function as a taxi service or exposition dump where appropriate, which is a shame since some of them have a great look but nothing else going on in the writing department to make them memorable. The Abrasax siblings are basically three different flavors of the same smug Soylent privilege, though Kalique seems to exist only to explain things for the benefit of the audience, and Balem seems to be accidentally memorable thanks to Eddie Redmayne’s unusual performance. Titus has some cool psychotic vibes with his underhanded motivations, slippery silver tongued bastard that he is, but even his role as the trickster doesn’t get its due in the end.

Stinger, Caine’s former commanding officer who is now an Aegis Marshal, is also written slightly deeper than even the Abrasax siblings. He took the fall for Caine’s misstep in the military, so he also lost his wings and was disgraced for it. Despite this, he is willing to help Caine and Jupiter throughout the story, and though begrudged he seems genuinely good at heart. Stinger’s point of interest however comes from his traits as a Splice between human and bee DNA. Yes, this leads to a funny line of dialogue, but there are some great examples of show-don’t-tell with Stinger, in that having bee instincts he seems superhumanly able to anticipate motion and react to it ridiculously quickly compared to most people. This ability gives him an edge in everything from fistfights to navigating massive fields of hunter-killer mines. This is hardly important to the plot, but I thought it was cool since it’s never stated outright, just displayed through his actions. Another example of a great idea that’s mostly left adrift.

Jupiter herself starts out as a typical protagonist for a Hero’s Journey. She’s a Jewish Russian immigrant who leads an unglamorous life cleaning bathrooms and tidying fancy homes for her family’s housekeeping service, apparently has bad luck with romance, and hardly ever has time to really do anything she enjoys. Typically, once these elements are presented, there will also be a revelation of something more intimate about the protagonist, her dreams and ambitions, something she longs to one day achieve, her hobbies or personality, perhaps a personal drawback or fear she wishes to overcome. But the most we get about Jupiter is that she wants to buy back a telescope which was once stolen from her astronomer father by the same thieves who murdered him (which we see early in the movie in an awkwardly directed scene). It’s not made clear if Jupiter herself has a genuine interest in astronomy, nor even what any of her interests happen to be.

This becomes a recurring problem throughout the film. Since no real internal conflict or personality of any kind is established for Jupiter, she isn’t led through any personal journey or self-exploration, nor anything which allows her to grow or evolve as the narrative opens up and accelerates. She’s basically just along for the ride, one of those wrong place wrong time sort of things. Her journey is entirely surface level, external forces dragging her around the stars without her having any real say in the matter nor agency of her own. She as very little idea of what she wants or who she is, from what we can tell, because we have no idea of those things either. Mila Kunis does a fine job with the material she’s given, but the material just isn’t much to run with, and if there is a drawback to her performance as an actress I promise in this case the fault is not with her.

The terrible lack of characterization hurts everything in the movie from its ethical conceits, plot momentum, all the way up to the romance subplot which only feels forced and lacking chemistry because the two leads aren’t properly written. They could have had chemistry, but its difficult for archetypes to interact without endowing them with personality. It’s a fundamental flaw from which all other flaws of the film stem because the personality, the character of the protagonist in this type of story is a fundamental element from which many other elements of the story stem.

Even towards the end, when Jupiter is forced into dangerous heroics and aggressive bravery it doesn’t feel like much of anything because for all we know she was brave all along, or maybe she wasn’t. We’re never given the chance to find out. Her larger moment of heroism comes not in a violent action of conquering the badguy (though she does beat him with a pipe later... in self-defense of course), but in refusing to compromise to Balem’s ultimatum, either resign her ownership of Earth or allow Balem to murder her family. It’s interesting to note that instead of rocking up and blowing his head off with a blaster, she just tells him to get fucked, which is a cool idea, non-violent protagonists are few and far between. Though the climax would have been far more satisfying had we gotten to know Jupiter much better before she gets to this point. Ultimately, the lack of strong characters make the progression of the movie feel awkward, and the denouement seems to come out of nowhere. It’s really too bad, since many facets of this film’s setup seemed to bear promise, and it’s more tragic than infuriating, leaving an audience with a countenance more in sorrow than in anger.

Like Jupiter herself, thematic elements are also only half-explored. The idea that genetics have advanced to such a point that life-regeneration has become a reality within this star-spanning civilization (albeit a reality exclusively available to the filthy, insanely wealthy) is an interesting idea, and there’s a lot of potential for the ethical quandaries related to that sort of technology, and what makes it possible. Yet little of this is given attention beyond the horror of Jupiter discovering the Abrasax family regularly kills billions of people for longevity and profit. Is their life-extending operation the only one out there? Or is it an industry? Are there black market dealers who develop and trade their own youth serum off the books? It’s all kind of muddy and little of it is given any explanation or nuance.

As we’ve established, Campbell’s hero’s journey isn’t the only way to go about a sci-fi story, but in Jupiter Ascending it’s like half-started without any of the follow-through, and the characters which should be the heart of the story are greatly lacking any depth. The film’s been compared to a Disney-style princess story, and even references Cinderella at one point, though it does seem to be aiming higher than this. Yet, the lackluster character writing and flat dialogue all make the story somewhat impotent, whatever its aim, leaving the movie looking like a majestically beautiful gild-feathered eagle, which just happens to be blind. Fun to look at, but has absolutely no idea where it’s going. I can’t articulate enough what a shame this all is, since there really are some cool ideas and sci-fi content here. I truly wish, as a sci-fi enthusiast, that Jupiter was truly able to ascend.

I’d recommend it as a fun romp through an intriguing galaxy, but it’s more useful as an example of how to get everything right with a movie, everything other than the thing that really holds it all together: a well-written protagonist. Still, I’m no intersectionalist, but it’s nice to see the girl get the guy at the end of the story, the way guy protagonists get to get the girl at the end of all their stories. That was a pleasant feeling, even if it wasn’t quite earned with everything come before it. Plus, you know; lizardmen, and jet-bikes. The Wachowskis are generally great at what they do though, just maybe have a tough time channeling it. Here’s hoping they can get back to us with something truly badass in future because the level of commitment to the craft seen in this movie is extraordinary, even if the reach exceeds the grasp in this particular case.

侍 headless

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sundaynightbombers-blog · 5 years ago

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TONIGHT WE DINE IN THE BASEMENT; OR, IF A CGI WOLF IS KILLED WITH A REAL SPEAR, IS IT MURDER?

Have you ever watched/read/listened to something you knew was bad, but did so purely because of how popular it is or was at some point? Ever gone on a disco bender to try and travel back to the seventies, mostly because you can afford only used records and not cocaine? Hosted a French new wave marathon because you keep hearing how wonderful Jean-Luc Godard is, despite him only having maybe three good movies? Gone to one of those hip small art galleries to see what’s new in modern art, except you don’t why that woman is birthing raw eggs?

In this article, I’d like to detail my findings from a recent excursion into a cultural phenomenon years after the fact: I watched Zack Snyder’s 300.

Background: 300 is based on a 1998 graphic novel by controversial-and-not-in-a-fun-way cartoonist Frank Miller (see Sin City and The Dark Knight Returns). The film, released in 2006, directed by Snyder, and starring Gerard Butler (who is not a terrible actor, let’s be real here), was in fact stupidly successful at the box office with an international gross of $456 million against its $60 million budget. However, critics were completely divided, and this days the film is considered not very good.

Total disclosure, it is a bloated, tan-coloured, man sweat-flavoured lemon of a movie.

But why was it such a big deal? Well, I think we can blame the 80s. Specifically, 1982’s Conan the Barbarian. See, Conan was also a massive success upon release, especially among young adult males, similar to 300. Both films were adaptations of successful works within geek culture at their respective times, both made by well-regarded creators, and the fan hype machine obviously had a role in both films being hits. But I think there might be something else, something more… sociological, going on.

Consider: Both films feature a main character who embodies absolute masculinity. They both contain things like honour and respect, all amongst manly men, as emotional cores for the audience. These are films that explicitly tell male-orientated stories, something I’d argue rarely happens. A lot of films that’re made for male audiences are less blatant about it; there’ll sometimes be female love interests, themes and ideas that aren’t absolute in how they addressed from a men’s perspective, and are typically trying to appeal to wider audiences (usually). Movies are about making money at the end of the day, so they need to throw a wide net. These movies? Their net is shaped like a scrotum and carries enough testosterone to power a brigade of Interceptors down a highway.

Now, it’s extremely easy to say that most films cater to male audiences, and I will not deny that. There is truth to it, but in the case of Conan the Barbarian and 300, these films are so grossly direct in who they’re trying to get to see them, it’s kind of amazing. Neither film came out at a time when their genre- swords and sandals- was popular, they were not Oscar bait or major blockbusters, and frankly should’ve seen minor success, let alone become flops. But no, these films soldiered on (literally) and ended up being cultural touchstones for their respective generations of men. They presented male-oriented stories in a way that appealed directly to them. They gave them characters that personified a sense of masculinity that, I would argue, young males secretly desired. They wanted father figures that, in their mind, could treat them like a real man treats his son. It gave them something they didn’t get.

But is any of this a good thing? I dunno. I know some will say it isn’t, some will say (not quite as loudly) that it does, but frankly, I don’t think it really matters. Check it, Conan is now a mere cult film that only appeals to fans of Robert E. Howard or Arnold Schwarzenegger. 300 is basically a joke these days. A too-little-too-late sequel in 2014 confirmed that it had absolutely no staying power, Snyder’s career has gone on to achieve rather abysmal depths (side note: I feel Justice League is somewhat forgivable; he understandably and rightfully left due to a personal tragedy, and I think the film was doomed regardless of his involvement or not), and Frank Miller is seen as a senile old man who had a pretty racist/batshit-insane phase in the 2000s that completely ruined his winning streak. Hell, the graphic novel 300 has become his last masterwork. All that is left in the film’s wake are countless hours of ‘this is Sparta’ memes buried deep in the recesses of the internet, as well as a mediocre and forgotten PlayStation Portable beat-em-up.

I want to end on a few small notes. Firstly, as much as I disliked 300 (no, really, it’s pretty godawful), I did get sucked into it at the end. When the 300 Spartans are dying on the battlefield, and Michael Fassbender grabs Gerard Butler’s hand, and they have an exchange expressing their mutual respect for each other, it kinda got me. The climax is effective, not gonna lie. Also, the blue screen work is sooooo fucking bad, it’s actually distracting.

Finally, what about the book 300? Well, it’s not bad. I kinda dig it. The real kicker is that, Snyder recreated the graphic novel shot-for-shot, and in the process diminished the effectiveness of those scenes. You also see Frank Miller do what he does best one last time, which is made more sad as it makes you remember why Miller was so highly-regarded as an artist; 300 came right before the abysmal The Dark Knight Strikes Back, but it wouldn’t be until the immensely offensive Holy Terror that his reign would ultimately end. Basically, everything after this has never reached those heights in the 80s and 90s. This is his last masterwork, and it’s kind of a fitting one to end on. Didn’t give me much insight, but as a fan of comics it was not without merit.

Too bad we got a shit movie out of it.

~M.C.

#300 #frank miller #zack snyder #notes of a dungeon dweller #bad movies #conan the barbarian #80s movies #Arnold Schwarzenegger #Gerard Butler #film criticism?#masculinity

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glitterysummerkitty · 7 years ago

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Aaron Paul

Aaron Paul One Shot

Requested on Wattpad

Warning(s)- None

Bad was a very mild word to describe the dark acrid liquid, that sat in the paper cup staring back at you dully. Usually you prefer to grab a coffee on the go before you got to work but for the first fifteen days of the new film you were schedule to film, left you stranded in a remote forest. To access the nearest convenience store one had to travel forty five miles which you didn’t fancy at all. So you had to settle down for the mediocre coffee being served on set.

On a brighter note, today was the third day and you knew that the other lead actors were due to arrive. You had been called in early to test a few things and also to film those small bits where your other co- stars weren’t required. Today Jennifer Lawrence, Toby McGuire and Aaron Paul were due to arrive.

Aaron Paul’s arrival alone had left you in jitters and butterflies in stomach since he had been your celebrity crush for as long as you can remember. You fiddle with your coffee cup, absent minded, as you cast your mind back to the time when your agent, Sally, had called to inform you about the way. You still remembered like it had all happened only yesterday. As Sally gave the gist of the story over the phone you had listened to it intently. You had liked it and would have said yes immediately but your sister’s words about acting nonchalant stopped you from giving an affirmative nod just yet.

That was until Sally had thrown, at the end of the conversation, in the same casual, professional tone of hers, “Oh and just so you know, they have already cast Jennifer Lawrence for the other female lead and for the character paired with your character they have cast Aaron Taylor. Do you know him? He’s a great actor. The directors and producers both feel that you two would make a great pair.”

Her words had set your heart racing and fluttering all at the same time and these were the words that made you forget all about acting cool and you nearly leaped into the phone informing your agent that you were free that evening to talk about the details of the movie and it’s schedule along with your manager.

In hindsight it all seemed childish to you. Surely the Aaron Paul wouldn’t find any interest in a newbie actress now, would he? It was one thing to fantasise about him instead of finding sleep at night but this was reality. You had heard a lot about Aaron’s professionalism and doubted he would even look beyond the professional relation you two would be sharing.

Like air leaving a slowly deflating ball, you feel your excitement leave you as the keen nip in the forest air picked up. You pull the ends of the jacket closer and wish that these next few days that you have to be here would pass quickly.

Your assistant’s voice announcing, that you were next up for make- up and hair, cut through your thoughts and you look up to meet her eyes, but instead they come in contact with a pair of blue eyes staring right at you. His penetrating gaze seems to suck the breath lung right out of your lungs, forcing you to suck in air audibly through your mouth.

Your eyes dart towards your assistant, and you nod at her slightly, before your gaze flickers back at your celebrity crush, who was looking at you with a hint of amusement in his blue eyes although his face remained stoic.

“Hello. You must be Y/N. Am I right?”, he said when he came to stand before you.

You couldn’t decide whether it was the shock of seeing him in person or hearing his voice in person or a little bit of both, had led to you forgetting your vocabulary in its entirety. You wanted to respond but somehow your mouth seemed unable to convey what your brain was relaying to it.

“Yes— That would be me.”, you mumble, after a good long while.

“Hi. I am Aaron.”, he grins, his eyes sparkling with amusement now.

“Nice to meet you.”, you squeaked as you placed your hand in his rather large and warm hand. You both shake hands and your fuzzy mind takes notice of two things- how he tightly held his hand and also how it lingered much longer than necessary, not that you minded either of it.

“So you are playing my love interest.”, you sensed a hint of mischievous delight in his voice and for a moment you wondered if you imagined it.

Agonisingly you watch his face split in a wide smug grin as you just nodded your head. In your head it was chaos but outside you were all frozen up and if you could you would have kicked yourself for acting like a lunatic before this man you adored. Embarrassed and convinced that you had made a complete fool out of yourself you storm towards the trailer allocated to you.

****

That was the first day and then there is today. The process of filming was almost coming to an end and you couldn’t believe that not only how amazing this whole experience was for you but also how you had become extremely close with your co- stars. Toby was not only an extremely amazing actor but also a good human with a charming personality. Most of the time he had been serious around the set but occasionally he allowed his mischievous to come out. Jennifer was also an amazing fun loving woman and you enjoyed every girl time you two had after long hours of filming. Also you bonded well over gossiping.

But there were also times when she pissed you off and this was one of those moments. You both were seated in the quite Japanese restaurant in Toronto, enjoying a simple meal of Sushi and wine in the serene restaurant and for some reason she couldn’t shut up about yours and Aaron’s blooming friendship.

“You know you like him.”, she said for the hundredth time as she shoved a piece of Sushi in her mouth and you couldn’t help but groan. One thing about J- Law- she could be very persistent.

“I don’t.”, you lied instantly. For all the bonding you two did over the past couple days, you still couldn’t admit the truth to her. Not that you didn’t trust her, you did but you were embarrassed to admit out loud how your silly crush on Aaron had evolved into love for the man.

“He likes you too.”, she continued.

You roll your eyes at her. Aaron and you had probably become best of friends but that didn’t mean he liked you. Besides it would be preposterous to think he would want more when he had explicitly confessed that he would never consider dating another actor.

“No he doesn’t.”, you mumble, hurt to say that one out loud.

“Oh really? Then what is he doing there when I had clearly stated that this was our day?”, she smirked, as she sipped her ice tea and let her gaze slide over something beyond you.

Confused you follow her gaze and are pleasantly surprised at the sight of a solemn Toby and grinning Aaron strolling purposefully towards you and Jennifer direction. Like the thousand other times, you felt fluttering sensation in your stomach as Aaron slid in the pace next to you in your booth.

“Hello ladies. Mind if we join you?”, Toby spoke as he sat down next to Jennifer who was smirking at the two.

“Well not at all. We were just talking about Aaron anyways.”, she teased. You gasp and quickly shoot a warning glance towards her but she just winks at you.

“All good I hope.”, Aaron chuckles next to you and you feel the tingling sensation in the pit of your stomach intensify.

“Jheez... Thanks Jen.”, you mumble under your breath as you nervously push your hair behind your ears and try to focus on your food instead. As you pick your glass of iced tea, out of the corners of your eye, you notice the three of them exchanging curious glances, as if they were secretly enjoying a joke that only they knew about.

“Aren’t you guys going to order something?”, you point out to the two men.

“Nope. We already ate.”, Toby answers for the both of them.

“Then why are you here?”, you laugh.

“I came here to drag this one out of here. Come on Jen. I would really like to perfect that scene before we have to repeat it in front of a camera.”, Toby poked at Jennifer’s cheeks. You giggle as you look at Jennifer glare at Toby mockingly before poking her tongue out and squinting her eyes at him. You thought that they were too cute sometimes. Of course they were best of friends and there was no room for anything else there but still. Their friendship was totally adorable.

“Well then in that case I am almost done.”, you chuckle but are taken back when the two of them abruptly abandon their friendly banter and turn to you and loudly exclaim a “NO” at the same time.

“You stay here and finish your lunch. Get a dessert. We will be off.”, Jennifer spoke rapidly as she shoved Toby, forcing him to get up while she slid out of the booth as well.

“Oh, and the bill is on you!”, she winked at you and gave a pointed look at Aaron, who, you only noticed now, had gone completely silent ever since he arrived, before walking out of the restaurant along with Toby.

“Sometimes she’s so weird.”, you say in an attempt to break the awkward silence.

“That’s one way of putting it.”, Aaron chuckles as he got up and occupied the seat opposite to you.

“Hhmm. You don’t have to stay.”, you say.

Pushing the plate of half eaten sushi you lean back in your seat and silently contemplate on ordering dessert or just paying the bills and leaving when Aaron spoke, “Do you remember the first day we met each other? It was in that God forsaken forest.”

Aaron laughs softly as he looks down at the table, as if he was fond of the memory. You instantly cringed at the memory thou, and wished he would forget it. Of course you remember the day you had made a complete fool of yourself but what you couldn’t understand was why he was bringing this up now. You look at him and find him observing you keenly. There was something definitely very much off in his behaviour today.

“Ya. I totally remember. I was fumbling for words around you and made a complete fool out of myself. God! I had never been more embarrassed of myself in my entire life.”, you laugh.

“Not to forget you snorted when I finally managed to get a laugh out of you.”, he laughs before adding, “And took a tumble into the brook while doing our first ever scene together!”

“Oh God! Please don’t remind me of that!”, you groan and cover your face with your palms.

“Oh come on! There’s no need for you to be embarrassed about all that.”, he coos.

“Of course I am embarrassed! And to think you are still friends with me!”, you sink further into the seat.

“I am aren’t I?, But seriously. Why were you so nervous around me?”, he asks taking a sip of the water from your glass. You notice it and smile to yourself. You had noticed this before too. Aaron always felt the need to take a sip from your drink and you obviously didn’t mind that.

“Well wouldn’t you like to know.”, you mumble.

Aaron lets out a sigh as his gaze turns serious. Suddenly you feel the atmosphere turn very serious and wonder what was going on.

“Is everything alright?”, you ask raising an eyebrow. Aaron doesn’t reply immediately but when he does, the words leave your mind ecstatic and confused at the same time.

“I like you.”, he states softly. “I like you very much.”

“What?”

“You heard me Y/N.”, he chuckles, “I like you. Now I know you are confused. I told you once that I would never consider dating someone from the industry and all that but I....”

His gaze shift to beyond you and for the first time you notice the nervousness in his eyes. The always confident and cheerful Aaron looked nervous and, for reasons you couldn’t understand, that made you want to squeal.

“But?...”, you coax him to continue as he seems to be lost in thought. His eyes flicker back to yours and latches on to your gaze.

“Y/N, I was attracted to you the very instant I first laid my eyes on you. At first I thought hey... She’s hot and beautiful. Then I spoke to you and we had so many conversations and I realised you were also so smart, not to mention talented and a beautiful woman on the inside as well. For as long as I could remember I had set this rule that I would never date my co- star or someone from this industry but I think I am willing to make an exception this time. I mean... I can’t let you go... I mean--”

“Oh my God! Aaron! Look at you! Stumbling on your words.”, you tease.

“Oh Shut up!”, he mumbles.

“I never thought in a million years that you can be nervous. The Aaron Paul nervous!”, you laugh but stop when you notice his unease.

“Aaron”, you say softly and place your hand on his, which was sitting on the table. “I— The reason why I was first nervous around you was... I had a crush on you even before I met you. I saw all your movies and I loved Breaking Bad. You are crazy talented and so good looking and I was, well, me! I was so worried about impressing you I guess.”

Aaron continued to look at you but you could see he was no longer as nervous as he had been only a couple of minutes ago.

“The truth is I like you too.”, you admit shyly. In your mind you knew you were in love with the man but for now you settled for just like not wanting to scare the poor man away.

“So would you be my girlfriend then?”, he grins.

“Only if you agree to be my boyfriend!”, you squeal making him roll his eyes playfully at you.

“Wow! You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that.”, he brings your hand up to his face and places a soft kiss on your knuckles, making the butterflies in your stomach go wild.

“You want to get out of here or what?”, you ask.

“Sure.”, he says and you both rise from your seat before proceeding to leave the hotel. Once you settle the bills you both step out and soon Aaron catches hold of your hand and entwines his fingers with yours. You look down at where your hands were joined and suddenly the reality of the whole situation seemed to come crashing on you- Aaron had just asked to be his girlfriend and you had said yes!

“So...”, you look up at Aaron who wiggles his eyes at you and you instantly knew he was up to no good.

“What?”

“Now that we have established that we are interested in each other how about rehearsing that love scene which is scheduled a few days from now.”, he says and you gasp.

“Oh God! No! Thank you very much!”, you shriek.

“Why not?”, he whines.

“I am not doing anything with you Aaron!”

“You’re mean!”, he pouts as you both come to stand at a crossing. You giggle, watching the signal which indicated that pedestrians weren’t supposed to cross yet.

You look at your entwined hands and then back at the man. You still couldn’t believe all of this was happening. Ignoring the fact that you both were still practically standing on the side walk you stand on your toes and place a soft kiss on his lips. Surprised Aaron looks down at you but soon pulls you into a long and passionate kiss.

#aaron paul #aaron #paul #aaron x reader #aaron paul x reader #oneshot #aaron paul oneshot #imagine #celebrity au #celebs #celeb au #requests #breaking bad

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