#jason: what happened to the original plot of the movie

[erinwantstowrite]

jaybin bear cub,,,,

i literally couldn't stop myself from doodling this

[weaselandfriends]

A Minecraft Movie (movie)

The most shocking moment of this movie was during the opening credits, when it was revealed that Jason Momoa produced the film. It makes sense, then, why he gets top billing, even though Jack Black is the obvious lead actor of the film both in terms of narrative importance and screen time. The idea that this film of all films could be an actor's self-produced star project is baffling beyond belief, a suggestion that few people in Hollywood have even the faintest clue what they're doing. This film was in production hell for 12 years, bouncing between directors and actors and never going anywhere until Momoa was attached. Why? Guys, it's Minecraft. This movie was always guaranteed to gross close to, if not more than, 1 billion dollars, no matter who was on it, no matter how good it was, no matter what it looked like. The film on display is proof of that. So what was the holdup? Why was this not fast-tracked from the getgo? Why did it take a frankly random B-list actor to actually get this out the door?

Hollywood has always had a sneering relationship with video games, and to this day we still haven't gotten an actually good video game movie. It's bizarre that the 1993 Super Mario Bros. film, adapting one of the most popular and recognizable characters in the entire world, is not even evocative of its source material on a basic tonal or narrative level. It's bizarre that in the early to mid 00s there were about 12 video game movies made and they were all shitty horror movies adapting games of middling to severe obscurity. (Why is there an Alone in the Dark movie, and not a Halo movie?) 2002's Resident Evil even made money -- quite a lot of money -- and yet it still took two more decades for Hollywood to really understand the bankability of this medium and its properties. It wasn't really until Sonic the Hedgehog was an accidental mega-hit that it happened, and it's phenomenal to see how that trilogy evolves, its first film being a generic "Me and My Alien" Hollywood stock plot with Sonic half-heartedly draped on top of it (look at the original Sonic design for that film!) and only after becoming a proven success daring to earnestly engage with the source material narratively.

This can all partly be blamed on Nintendo, which after that aforementioned 1993 Mario debacle became traditionally Nintendo regarding this newfangled "movie" thing. Nintendo as a company only ever seems to make money on accident, and is sometimes allergic to the process; Detective Pikachu, their first tentative stab back into the medium, does perhaps everything in its power to turn the most money-generating franchise in the world into a flop. Why did they specifically adapt Detective Pikachu, a bizarre spinoff game nobody played? It's like if the Illumination Mario movie was based primarily on Mario Teaches Typing.

Well, I say that, but in many ways this movie (Minecraft, the movie I'm ostensibly reviewing) is like Minecraft Teaches Typing. The film is at turns nauseatingly conventional and bafflingly bizarre, emphasized by its two primary film influences being Lord of the Rings and Napoleon Dynamite. There is a strong 80s nostalgia bent to the film, despite Minecraft not being from the 80s and its target demo being younger than 9/11. Jason Momoa, actor-producer, seems to also not care at all about Minecraft, and just wants to do a story where he plays Billy Mitchell; he and Jack Black are also having an absurd amount of fun doing this, without much caring if anyone watching is having fun too, in a way that is strongly reminiscent of a fodder comedy offering like Year One or Your Highness. At least Jack Black says Chicken Jockey and turns into Herobrine for 1 second, so somebody somewhere had a finger on the pulse of The Kids. It's a testament to how little effort you actually have to do for these films, which only makes it more confusing why it took this long for anyone to do it.

After Sonic, Mario, FNAF, and now this, I imagine the floodgates are open. The MCU is out, video game movies are in; and with 40 years of cinema ignoring the medium, there's a lot of gold to mine before interest craps out.

[link-lonk]

My sister wanted to see the minecraft movie for her birthday this year (she turned 17) so here are some actual real things that happened in the movie (There are spoliers)

The main villain's backstory is that she danced in the minecraft version of America's Got Talent and got bullied so hard for her dancing that she decided that all creatively is bad

A baby piglin draws a picture and the villian kills him for it

Anytime a piglin is killed it turns into a cooked porkchop. A lot of piglins die

At the end of the movie one very large piglin dies and we watch the light fade out of its eyes

Jason Momoa's character is named Garrett The Garbage Man. He is in fact not a garbage man and works at his own video game store. He got the nickname "Garbage Man" for being the world champion at an arcade game when he was a teenager in the 80s

Several minecraft youtubers get cameos but none of them have any lines (DanTDM is wearing a cowboy hat)

Jason Momoa's and Jack Black's characters are basically flirting for the entire film. I am not making this up

There is a scene where the guys have to fly on elytras. Jack Black does not have one and instead RIDES JASON MOMOA. When Jason Momoa's character complains about not being able to steer like this Jack Black says "Let my hips guide you." (my sister and I both lost our shit when he said this)

Jason Momoa and Jack Black 69 on the elytra (I could not make this up if I tried)

Halfway through the film Jack Black starts calling Jason Momoa's character GarGar

Jason Momoa and Jack Black wear mushroom hats and both play saxophones to distract a group of Vindicators

If you look into an enderman's eyes it inflicts psychic attacks where you see everyone you love saying how disappointed they are in you. After the psychic attack the enderman does actually physically attack you

There's a piglin who tells the characters that he has to "unalive" them

There's a sideplot where Jennifer Coolidge hits a villager with her car and the two of them fall in love. At the end of the movie it is revealed that their love is so powerful that the villager can now speak English and Jennifer Coolidge can speak Villager. The two of them get engaged.

"First we mine. Then we craft. Let's Minecraft!" (An actual real line said in this movie in complete seriousness)

All of the human characters are referred to as "Roundlings" by the Piglin villain

A ghast swallows a baby piglin and then blows up and dies

As the main villain is dying she asks Jack Black to come closer to her. When he does she pulls out a knife that Jack Black immediately slaps out of her hand. Jack Black starts to walk again and then this whole gag happens a second time

The same gag is attempted a third time but Jack Black walks away for real so the villian weakly throws the knife and then just slumps over and dies

Jack Black sings a sad song about his dog (the dog is fine)

In the post credits scene Jack Black (Steve) meets Alex

These aren't plot points as much as other thoughts I had

The diamond armor that Jack Black wears is so ugly. Like it's so bad.

Almost all of the "minecraft" items the characters use just look really fake

There are several scenes where Jack Black is talking and you can see the spit fly out of his mouth

All of Jack Black's original songs feel very out of place and really aren't needed

The female characters are sidelined for pretty much the entire movie. The focus is entirely on the male characters. -_-

This movie was an absolute trip. My sister and I kept turning to each other and asking what the fuck was happening because the whole thing was just wild.

We both kept laughing but half of the time it was because whatever was happening was so bad it looped back around to being funny. None of the serious bits in this movie worked.

[brucewaynehater101]

"It's A Wonderful Life" AU with Tim and Jason

I only know the very basic premise of this movie, so we're going off of that.

Tw: death, suicide, violence

This could be a Titan's Tower AU, but I do think this could be a bit more fun after the BruceQuest.

Tim, who's had his support systems (even the JL ripped from him) and is seething in paranoia, gets cornered by Red Hood. The last time he saw Jason alone, he got a batarang to the chest (Battle of the Cowl). Tim has no reason to suspect this interaction will be friendly.

Red Robin is geared up for a fight. Red Hood has his hands up in surrender and far away from his hip holsters. It's not exactly reassuring (Jason can probably whip out his pistols in the same amount of time it takes Tim to grab a birdarang), but it does communicate that Jason isn't looking for a fight. Tim, who's one mental breakdown away from taking over Lex Corp for the hell of it, doesn't see this as a good sign. Why would Jason, the original Cain instinct, want to talk "peacefully" with his Placeholder? What's the aim?

Jason kind of just wants to apologize and is low-key concerned with how he's so isolated from everyone. He doesn't truly care about Tim, and he doesn't think it's his place/right/ability to be the support for the kid, but he can at least say sorry. Tim doesn't need to accept it, but he deserves the acknowledgement that it was indeed fucked up and not Tim's fault in the slightest. It's not much, especially with the scar on Tim's throat and the trauma, but it's a start. He still holds some resentment for the kid, but he's starting to learn that's more Jason and Bruce's fault than Tim's.

The conversation doesn't go great. Maybe Tim is being defensive and an asshole (which is fair since Jason's attacked him twice at least). Jason gets a little upset over this and snaps back (which is not what he's trying to do and counterproductive).

They get interrupted by this magician that sighs. They explain how fucking exhausting it is hearing them continue to misunderstand each other so they will show them what the world was like if Tim was never born.

Cue something similar to the movie I described. I haven't seen it, so here's what I think happens in that movie combined with this AU.

Tim and Jason stumble around Gotham at the current date in this alternative universe.

It's hell. They constantly run into crime on every corner, and there's no order.

They find out that Bruce had died within a year of Jason dying. Gotham fell to shambles due to Batman's declining reputation at that point. They had no hope and were hostile to any heroes that tried to help (due to the last hero they had turning on them). Gotham was eventually abandoned by the US government.

With his death, people found out Bruce Wayne was Batman. This causes Alfred to be sent to jail, and Dick could never return to Gotham. Dick only survived due to the Titan's refusing to let him destroy himself. He's still not okay.

Damian never came to Gotham cause Bruce had died. He's still set to become Ra's vessel, and no one (like Dick, the JL, Jason, etc) knows about this plot.

Jim Gordon was killed, and Barbara had to move out of Gotham.

Steph joined Helena for a bit. They made a kickass team, but they didn't survive to the current day.

Duke and his family moved out of Gotham before the gates closed, but he lost his parents in the escape.

Cass was never taught language.

Jason killed the Joker and then himself.

Anyways, Gotham goes to shit and Bruce kills himself on patrol (let's himself be hit and doesn't give himself needed rest). That's the basics of what they learned in this alternative universe.

This causes Tim to feel a bit better about all the sacrifices he made. He was vital and important to the Bats. He did good. He was necessary. It doesn't erase all the pain and hurt, but it boosts his self-esteem just a small bit.

Jason didn't realize the extent of what Tim did for them. He didn't realize the impact of Tim's decision and how he saved everyone. The two of them part, and Jason starts to uncover all the sacrifices the teen made.

Tw: suicide

If you want extra angst, maybe the magician reveals that Tim was planning to kill himself before he saw that Bruce needed him (thus the world is what happened if Tim went through with his OG plan). Tim has severely unhealthy coping mechanisms now, but his tendency to help people allows himself to feel needed. Lots to unpack there.

[kiragecko]

cherrystainedknuckles

I guess the only problem with being asked to take a “marie kondo approach” is that in order to find any fanfic that appears to be based in actual canon timeline and plot points and characterization (which does exist, and I’m not sure why fanon fans seem insistent that it doesn’t), I literally have to search for hours. I’m not joking, I consistently make fic rec lists, and I have to search for hours and hours for actual canonical basis. same thing with character tags on tumblr.

I’m not saying fanon fans have to stop enjoying fanon or making up their own content. I’m just saying that when the tags used for both fanon tim drake and canon tim drake are the same tag it just becomes incredibly annoying sometimes, and I understand why people who like to engage with canon (me, often) become frustrated

-

I have definitely had periods where I got incredibly frustrated with fanon! Around 2019, I was wondering if I needed to leave the Batfandom, because it had been so long since I read a new fic where the characters felt 'right'.

-

But, if you're willing to, I'd like you to consider what you mean when you divide 'fanon' from 'canon'. Because I struggle to find a hard line between the two, for several reasons:

1. Fandom is transformative. Every fanfic is going to have some interpretation of the source material. The line between what is too much interpretation and what is acceptable is different for every person. For me, I find it can even vary based on writing style or other odd things - lighthearted fic can have more noncanonical stuff in it than heavier fic, and still seem true to canon.

2. 'Canon' is subjective. I do not consider the movies or video games to be 'canon', and it annoys me when things from those creep into the fic I'm reading. (I'm okay with SOME Battinson.) Some aspects of the cartoons are okay. I consider precrisis Jason Todd to be an alternate reality version, but Donna's precrisis origins are more canonical than the dumb retcons. Wayne Family Adventures isn't my main version of the characters, but I'm not bothered if some elements show up in my stories. I'm ignoring most of the nu52, but I like Duke and I'm still watching this new Lian to see what happens. I doubt your divisions are identical to mine.

(Also, some things that I think of as 'fanon' have shown up in nu52 canon! I do not accept them as any more canon because of this.)

3. Most 'fanon' is based on canon. Canon Tim has weird sleep habits. 90s Dick is really lighthearted and joking around some characters in ways similar to fanon. Dick can canonically not be trusted to take care of himself if his mental health gets low enough. Jason likes classical literature. Etc.

These are exaggerated and/or twisted in a lot of fic, but where is the line where they stop being canon? I wouldn't bat an eye at a lot of this stuff, if it didn't show up SO OFTEN.

4. Most 'fanon fans' do know some canon. What line are you going to set where it will be 'enough'. And are they allowed to mention parts of the canon they haven't read yet? Is anyone allowed to talk about Dick's early Robin days, or only the tiny amount of people who have read the golden age stuff? A lot of the 'mistakes' I see are obviously made by people who have read ABOUT canon, but don't know quite how it fits together.

5. 'Canon' is FULL of contradictions. Yes, there are canon events. Yes, there is characterization that is consistent across 3/4s of comics. But. I'm still working on my sidekick timeline. I've devoted days to figuring out ages and passage of time. I've spent over a decade trying to figure out Jason Todd's motivations, and why Tim treats him the way he does. I've read all the 90s and early 2000s CANONICAL character assassination of Jason.

I spent years thinking that Donna's death was almost as foundational as Jason's, only to later discover that I had just happened to read the specific comics that focused on the fallout, and she only stayed dead for a short time. That happens to fans ALL THE TIME! We read a character summarizing an event we haven't directly read, and just accept it as what happened. But characters have biases, and not all writers care about accuracy.

-

I've read some Tim Drakes that I consider to be almost entirely 'fanon'. And quite a few that were so scarily 'canon' that I got chills. (Not all of which were similar to each other.) But the vast, vast majority have fallen somewhere in the middle.

I definitely do not want the responsibility of deciding which ones count as 'canon'! And I think I would strongly dislike anyone who tried to decide for me.

Being frustrated is logical, and I empathize. But the original post was about the impossible expectations some fans feel. The expectation to read thousands of comics, synthesize all the contradictions, and come to conclusions that match the 'true fans'. That's a perfectly reasonable thing to be complaining about.

If that's what some fans are experiencing, of course they're not going to want to engage with canon! There's no way for them to succeed, so why should they even try?

When you join THAT conversation to discuss your frustration about fanon, it strengthens that perception. When you call them 'fanon fans' it emphasizes their belief that you don't think they belong. And rather than trying to change, it's more likely that they'll double down. Canon is full of gatekeepers, so they'll avoid it.

[meara-eldestofthemall]

Now it’s been months after the fact and likely the spoilers are out there;

Batfamily Response to Godzilla Minus One? Their favorite scenes from it? Their viewpoint on the special effects? Commentary on its setting and plot? Etc?

This is an excellent and timely question now that Godzila: Minus One has won an Oscar for special effects. Hmmmm...

It's tradition that Dick and Tim go to see any new Godzila movie on its opening night for the midnight showing. They even do cos-play (the original 1954 movie) since the crowd is usually filled with young adults and college students. Dick dresses as Ogata (the young, handsome protagonist with perfect teeth and lush, muffiny hair). Tim is Dr. Serizawa, complete with a white lab coat and an eye-patch that Tim tends switch from eye to eye. It confuses people and he finds that amusing.

After seeing the fun these two were having the viewing party has grown over time. Jason decided to come and Damian insisted that he be included. Duke was asked to join them and thought it sounded cool. Barbara, Stephanie and Cass were also invited along. Barbara simple gave Dick a look he knew all too well and he tendered her regrets to the others. Stephanie decried it as too much in the nerd zone whereas Cass doesn't like subtitled movies ("bad translations hurt my soul") but said to ask her when the dubbed version comes out.

Jason and Damian walked several paces behind Tim and Dick (pretending they didn't know them) but Duke got an old T-Rex costume and joined in on the cos-play as Godzila. Duke wasn't the only Godzila there and the management had to remind the various kaiju in the audience to remove their heads so as not to obstruct the view of the screen.

While Dick and Tim were fully expecting a remake of the 1954 classic they were not prepared for just how good it was. The acting was top notch, the music was excellent and the special effects were mind blowing.

Being Godzilla purists, Dick and Tim loved the kaiju's first destructive romp through the Ginza. They particularly loved seeing the reenactment of the classic commuter train scene, applauding loudly along with half the audience when Godzila had the passenger car in his teeth. They both cheered at the specticle of Godzilla's atomic breath and agreed that it was even better the Legendary movie version.

Duke was enthralled by the special effects. He declared the scene where the old battle cruiser Takao takes on the monster epic and seamlees. He cheered when Godzilla swallowed the mine and then regenerated (after a rather satisfying explosion). In fact both Duke and Tim were happy to enjoy the massive property damage in the movie since they could not be blamed for any of it. The two spent the ride home trying to calculate how many new kaiju were going to come out of all of the various chunks of Godzilla from the movies' ending. Their laughter as they talked about how many cities the herd of Godzillas could demolish was vaguely disturbing.

Jason was honestly surprised how good the movie was. He declaring that, unlike the 2014 Legendary movie, he actually cared about the squishy human's stories. Considering himself the family's preeminent movie critic, Jason gave the flick his top rating of five bullets.

Damian, unsurprisingly, found himself sympathizing with Godzilla. After all, the kaiju was only doing what his instincts prompted him to. Damian's opinion that it wasn't Godzilla's fault that humans were in his territory and were attacking him.

Having been schooled in the principals of Bushido, Damian also appreciated Shikishima's need to atone for his past and the guilt he felt at surviving when his comrades did not. It was what happened to Noriko and Shikishima's vow of revenge that seemed to truly speak to Damian. He and Dick had a deep conversation on the way home about how revenge is a double sided blade that hurts you when you wield it. If the suicidal pilot had followed through with his plan then he would have denied himself the very thing he craved the most - love and a family. Of all the things Dick hoped for from the movie, a life lesson for Damian was the most welcome and the most unexpected.

[dominustempori]

SPOILER ALERT FOR THE GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE TRAILER!! (long post, fyi)

Alright Ghostheads, I'm writing all this down now, so I won't forget all these thoughts and observations I'm having JUST a few hours after this awesome teaser for the "Afterlife sequel" has dropped.

I'm sure I'm missing some bits here, so comments are duly welcome, just don't go all negative energy on me =)

Definitely felt a similar vibe to when the first trailer for "Afterlife" came out like 2 years ago now. Normal summer day, good background music, then...sh*t happens. Even worse than that burst of PK energy from the mine shaft. And yeah, I saw bits of "Day After Tomorrow," I'd be lying if I didn't get JUST a little hint of that, but only because, you know, massive storm system overwhelming the south shore of Manhattan. But anyway.

2. I SWEAR that one building shot from the side is 55 Central Park West, aka Spook Central. Probably not significant plot wise this time, just a nod to the original movie. And considering I toured some of the filming sites on my trip to NYC this past summer, SURE looks like it!

3. Deadly icicles ripping up the streets? Like the earthquake tearing up the asphalt in the original movie only BETTER!

4. The discourse is already happening about details...I know some people like Ecto 1-A from GB2, and some fans are still angry about "they ignored it in Afterlife! It's so canon! WTF Jason Reitman?" Yeah...missing the point? [They're not DELIBERATELY ignoring GB2! I LIKED GB2! A lot! Not perfect but still I LIKE IT! Probably a lot more than other fans! The film only had so much time to focus on the past to keep the story moving, so only put in so much of the lore to help a new audience along. That's my theory I'm sticking to it.]

ANYWAY...yes the car IS the original Ecto 1, NOT the 1-A (which was WAY too busy for its own good, just sayin'). I saw the plate on a freeze frame, it's Ecto 1, the original.

5. Enter the exposition cut scenes. or whatever you want to call them. Swear to God that Patton Oswalt, Kumail Nanjiani, Dan, McKenna, and Logan are NOT at Ray's Occult Books...I mean come on look at those glass cases! It's GOTTA be the NY Public Library (throwback!) Patton's character is most likely a staff member, probably a librarian (related to Alice? God I hope so!) [GBs do their research yo! If that's one thing I love about the IDW comics, is how Ray and Egon and Kylie RESEARCH.]

That one bit with the frozen dude with the eyepatch? Looks like a flashback. Like, maybe Manhattan in the...late 1800s? Recurring hauntings is def a thing in the GB universe. Another secret society? Which, yeah, they did to death (sorry) with the Gozer thing, especially in the video game.

6. Liking all the concerned closeups. Paul Rudd still looking good, and I REALLY hope Carrie Coon as Callie has full on dropped the baggage about not having her Dad in her life. Well, mostly. Turned me off from her QUITE a bit in Afterlife, but that's just me. Finn's hair lookin' good short, love how McKenna still rocks the OshKosh look, and Logan with the retro vibe.

7. James Acaster HAS TO BE an adult Oscar. I WILL fight people on this =) Not Louis' kid, not Janine's... (well, maybe?) Peter and Dana are OFFICIALLY still a couple, what's to stop Peter from adopting the boy he saved in GB2? Or at least, maybe they have their own kid later on...? Damn I hope he's Oscar. I mean come on, this is still "Ghostbusters: the Next Generation" in my mind.

8. HAUNTED LION STATUE!!! (Yeah, that's right from Real Ghostbusters...kinda) It's the Library! And on another freeze frame...it's going after Ray (GASP!) That little elevator? Maybe they're going to...Special Collections? Remember the video game? Maybe? Squee?

9. DUDE, it's attacking GBHQ! Blew the freakin' doors off! It's gonna...NO NOT LUCKY! Dude she (they?) is getting the short end of the stick again...first she gets possessed by Zuul and now...please don't kill off Lucky, Gil! Also OGBs FTW!!! yeah Winston! bad ass mf as always! And man does Pete look proper scared. Go Bill Murray!

10. I'm presuming that the big bad/entity was originally trapped and stored in the ECU, hence the blinking red light in the post credits scene from Afterlife. And it's whatever's pushing out the cinder blocks this time around...and freezing Lucky in the basement of HQ? And it's the...thing pushing its demon horns in...(so far others are calling it a minotaur - totally NOT. this guy is so reaching, i mean an old obscure RGB comic reference from a wiki page? dude, just...no. a cross between a White Walker and Slenderman? yeah THOSE I get. I'm personally thinking some ancient demon from a summoning gone wrong...or maybe right in this case.) any case, DUDE with those icy blue staring eyes and 20 feet tall...f*ck yeah.

11. Also F*CK yeah Paul and Carrie in the jumpsuits! YES!!!

12. Alright, I can sort of buy a hidden room in Kumail's character's (presumably?) apartment, secret door at the back of a kitchen pantry with some pretty lead/silver tiling...but, what's with the horn? (SUMMONING HORN! Read the Bartimaeus Trilogy people!) and the shackles? the bells? well, yeah noise to drive away evil spirits...or not? again... SECRET SOCIETY! Or maybe Lucky and Trevor have their own place now? Nah, maybe not...wait and see I guess.

13. Dude...Paul Rudd is TALL, boy! Would like to see if they've actually gone and married...or, too soon? Nah, romantic/life partners is good.

14. I WANT THAT RED WINTER JACKET WITH THE PATCH! SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

15. Also, Paul's reaction...SO my own after watching this. He is still fanboy-ing out and I LOVE IT.

Holy hell that was a long post. First genuine reactions on the day. Online journaling. All good.

OK peeps, let me have it. What are y'all thinking?

Until March 29!

[eyelinerpal]

I did actually quite enjoy Scream 6, but Scream 7 is sounding more and more annoying to me.

Like aside from the boycott due to firing Melissa Berrera for her vocal support of Palestine (I pirate most of my media so I just wouldn't see it in theaters which is fine bc my back log of movies to watch is so long I simply do not need to)

Like why are we bringing Matthew Lillard back? Why are we excited to bring Matthew Lillard back? His character died and this is not a franchise with supernatural happenings, there isn't ghosts and zombies, are they planning to say Stu never actually died? I know that was a theory and a potenial plot when they made the third but it's now been what like 30 years? That's a bit far fetched and imo violates the fouth movie's "rules" ("don't fuck with the original") which I was already annoyed with in Scream 5 where they decided Sam was secretly Billy Loomis' daughter and we had to pretend it made sense that he had a knocked up a girl Sydney never knew about

Generally, especially compared to other big horror franchises, Scream holds up a faily consisent quality throughout most of its sequels and this feels a lot like grasping at random gimmicks to try to keep it going now that they've lost the new set of main characters. Maybe not sending Jason to space level of desperation but I still think bringing the original killer back from the dead is in the same type of desperation.

I mean like, yeah I'll still end up eventually watching it, but I feel that it's kind of annoying

[therealmrrobinson]

NOVOCAINE (2025) Movie Review

Stop me if you’ve experienced this before. Every year, there’s one trailer that plays in front of literally every movie that you see. It looks really good and you’re excited to see it. However once the movie comes out, you end up walking out disappointed because it didn’t deliver on what you expected from that trailer. That happened to me last year with Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle, and I was nervous the same thing would happen with Novocaine. Thankfully, Novocaine not only lived up to the trailer, but ended up being better than I could’ve imagined!

THE GOOD

One thing that truly surprised me about this movie is that it wasn’t a full blown comedy with an outlandish premise. The trailers tell you that the plot is about an average guy who is on a mission to save his girlfriend, but he has a condition where he can’t feel pain. It’s marketed as an action comedy, and the set up is ripe to be nothing beyond that. In a way, it shares some similarities with the Crank movies starring Jason Statham. It has plenty of outrageously hilarious moments, however what separates Novocaine from Crank is that the former has plenty of genuine thrills that aren’t played for laughs at all. A perfect example of this is what happens after the sequence where one of the bank robbers is twisting the arrow in Nate’s leg and he has to pretend to feel pain. That moment is just as funny as it was in the trailer, but then it is followed up by something that is sure to make most audience members squirm. I had to look away a few times during this scene, which I don’t normally do in even the goriest of horror movies. However the movie is clever to not have these two scenes feel out of place from one another; it strikes the perfect balance of being an action comedy and an intense action thriller.

Another element that puts Novocaine above Crank is that it’s sincere. The movie is straight forward and doesn’t come across like a parody in the way Crank can often feel like. The two leads Jack Quaid and Amber Midthunder, help with the film’s earnestness. Their first meeting is an adorable meet cute and both actors have great chemistry with each other. Jack Quaid is incredibly charming and it’s also refreshing to see him in a major role where he isn’t a total creep. His character is very relatable for anyone who is an introvert and doesn’t have a lot of real human connections. This is all despite the fact that he finds himself in many absurd scenarios. Amber Midthunder is great as well. She has just as much charisma as Jack Quaid does and there’s more to her character than what the trailers lead you to believe. It makes her more important to the story than simply the girlfriend that needs to be rescued. It’s because of her role where the movie can be somewhat unpredictable in how it plays out. There’s a twist that I honestly didn’t see coming, but it makes sense and keeps you invested in where the movie is going. 

THE BAD

For the kind of movie that this is, there’s very few issues that I had. The biggest element of the film that I wasn’t a fan of would have to be Jacob Batalon. His character doesn’t appear until the end of the second act. When he does, he ends up being the hero’s best friend who seems to talk nonstop. Thematically his character does serve a purpose and is important to Nate’s character, but the way he’s used in the film left a lot to be desired. The movie also has a few predicable tropes, particularly with the two detectives (Betty Gabriel & Matt Walsh) who assume that Nate is working with the bank robbers.

OVERALL

2025 has already been a great year for genre films, and Novocaine was the most fun I’ve had in a movie theater in months. It’s an original action film that features some great action, two charismatic leads, many hilarious scenarios, and enough sincerity to keep you invested in the story. It feels like a movie that came out in the 90s where it relied on the charisma of its actors. The best advice I can give for this movie is to see it with a group of your friends. It’s the kind of movie that is best viewed in a theater and with a large group of people; I highly recommend it!

RATING

WORTH SEEING IN YOUR LIFETIME

[rh1ncodontypus]

Under the Red Hood movie, Lego Batman: Family Matters- Free with ads on Tubi, Wayne Family Adventures- free on Webtoon, Other comics- read on DCUInfinate for $8 a month/$80 a year or free at zipcomic dot com with these urls, I’m leaving off titles because they’re semantic

/batman-1940-issue-tpb-second-chances-part-1 <-Jason’s origin as robin as well as some Batman adventures without Jason. I don’t know why they added those stories and I didn’t like the house party one.

/batman-the-killing-joke-issue-1 <-exploration of how evil the joker is

/batman-a-death-in-the-family-issue-full <-Jason’s run in with the joker and aftermath

/batman-1940-issue-annual-13 <-more of Bruce grieving

/batman-hush-issue-1 <- what was happening in Gotham shortly before Under the Hood, if you’re interested

/batman-under-the-red-hood-issue-full <-Jason’s return to gotham

/batman-1940-issue-annual-25 <- short explanation of where Jason was between death in the family and under the hood

/red-hood-lost-days-issue-1 <-longer explanation

This is all just very Jason focused covering his start as robin and re-emergence as red hood. It’s a lot of links but if you’ve seen a monthly comic in print you know how thin they are, and a lot of these arcs are less than 10 issues long, and some only one. There are a lot of animated DC movies beyond the two I listed, the Lego one is certainly not “comics accurate” but it’s a fun watch. Wayne Family Adventures I sn’t “comics accurate” either. It’s it’s own thing, created to showcase the characters more than tell a plot driven story.

Thank you, nonnie!! I'm looking forward to reading/watching all of these.

[ja50nt0ddwa5h3r3]

The New DCEU

We all know how infamous the current DCEU is for their terrible plots (give or take a few films), but what are we expecting from James Gunn’s new look at the universe? Well, the man worked on the Guardians of the Galaxy films (which were gold), so something decent, at least.

But, the question is, what films, what characters are we expecting? What do we want? To answer the expectations, there have been rumors of Jensen Ackles coming back as Batman, we’re most likely getting a Damian Wayne (so other Robins will hopefully make an appearance), and there’s been some speculation that Curran Walters will return to the role of Jason Todd (purely speculation, I am sorry if I’m getting anyone’s hopes up too far). We know for a fact that Henry Cavill will not play the part of Clark Kent. We know that John Cena will return as Peacemaker, along with Viola Davis’s Amanda Waller.

While this still doesn’t answer what we’ll get, we are able to answer what we want from the new DCEU. I, for one, enjoy comic accuracy, but a good story will definitely need to deviate and develop differently.

Some of the films that I would like to see from the Batman area of DC (my expertise is Batman, I’m sorry) are in the poll below, them being (again, what I would like to see, these probably won’t happen, but they might if we get enough people asking) A Deathstroke centric film trilogy with the Teen Titans as the main antagonists (it’s backwards because it’s from the villain’s PoV), his origins, and Dick Grayson’s time as Renegade (possibly getting his own spin-off movie or tv show) Red Hood and the Outlaws (New 52) A Nightwing installment Batman who Laughs Battle for the Cowl, mostly fallowing Tim’s journey, not the others’. Ra’s and grief are the main antagonists. And finally, The Three Jokers

If you have another idea for a movie you’d like to share, reblog!

[zahri-melitor]

Hi! How and when did you get into DC comics?

Well my original entry to DC was that I was a fan of Lois & Clark: the New Adventures of Superman when I was a kid and it was originally showing. This actually was a decent entrypoint to the DC mythos, as it's famous for having probably the best TV-comics synergy of all time: the Death of Superman was written to have a plot running while Lois & Clark built up to the wedding, so they could do simultaneous weddings in the comics and the show.

It worked out pretty well for DC.

But DC Comics, as comic books? Well somewhere around 2006 or so I'd transitioned into reading some fic for Lois & Clark, as a change. I then moved on to stories about Bruce/Selina (which I had a reasonable amount of background for from the Burton & Schumacher movies), and ended up in the scans_daily scene on LJ. This was the heyday of scans_daily, when you could pretty reasonably follow along a lot of major comics via the 1/3 posting rule; you didn't get everything, but that plus the summary got you across events pretty well.

I'd liked Barbara Gordon as a little girl, watching the movies. It was at this point I discovered Oracle.

The first comics graphic novel I ever purchased was Birds of Prey: Perfect Pitch. I've still got it. I ended up reading a bunch of runs recommended via content I liked on scans_daily: Birds of Prey, Robin, No Man's Land, Nightwing, Batgirl 2000, Blue Beetle, and Young Justice. A couple of these I was buying trades for (BoP and Blue Beetle); the rest I was reading via ye olde torrent packets. I was also reading and collecting a bunch of Vertigo titles: The Sandman, Fables, Y: the Last Man, and one or two Marvel titles (Runaways and Power Pack).

I dropped out of DC fandom, like so many others, around 2010-2011. It was actually prior to n52 in my case: I wasn't enjoying Batman Reborn, they'd cancelled my two favourite books (Birds of Prey and Blue Beetle), but the last straw was probably when they murdered Lian Harper.

I noped out. And it was a pretty good call on my part, given that n52 was barrelling down anyway.

I was still occasionally dipping in to read fic, mostly about characters I particularly cared about, but every time I took a breath and paid attention to gossip about what was currently happening in comics, it was mostly terrible news (Lian was still dead; people told me Roy's personality had been obliterated; Barbara was Batgirl and magically healed; the universe resets sucked and everyone hated them; Jason was somehow still alive; everyone was mad about something that had happened to Dick; etc etc)

It was during 2022, when I don't even know how I came across it, but I discovered that DC had finally reprinted Young Justice in trade. This was huge; collections had refused to do this during the 2000s aside from a trade of Sins of Youth back when it came out. There was a general attitude that the group of largely younger and largely female fans weren't worth catering to. The fact that DC now saw us as a lucrative market suggested to me that my contemporaries were finally getting their chance to start running the asylum.

So I dipped back into the community. It was a little hard at first, because hubs had changed, and locating fans who liked the things I personally liked took a little while. But I got back into the fandom, and got back into the fic, and discovered that back in about 2017 there'd been a revival to start reprinting a lot of my favourite comics runs, and that DCUI was the best way to read comics these days, and I could get access to it in Australia.

And because DCUI was just so much better than the methods of reading comics I'd been dealing with 15 years previously, and I'd had an idea for a story I wanted to write, I started a canon read through review, starting all the way back in ALPOD with Tim's earliest comics.

And here I am. I often have older opinions on things simply because I remember being in these debates 15+ years ago, and then I missed the intervening period, so my opinions never updated or heard the changed details (or are only slowly doing so now). I'm a preboot girl at heart because that's where I fell in love with various characters. I, like every other Batfan with a similar history to mine (and there are a lot of us) went through that moment of sheer bemusement over the Tim & Jason tag at AO3 as my most prominent memory of their relationship was Tim kicking Jason in the nuts.

And I've bought a lot of trades ever since getting back into the fandom, because I can't lose access to them AND they're just so far superior for collection purposes than floppies.

[umbramatic]

With the confirmation of the Zelda movie happening eventually I felt the need to scream (CLICK THROUGH): 

-To start, a disclaimer: This would have been closer to the announcement but I was on a trip and then still busy after, so bear with me

-The obvious: This will either be really great or really terrible and either way i am here to devour the memes

-I'm not one of those people who thinks a live action zelda is impossible to make work - if HARDER to make work - and video game movies have recently and slowly been dragging themselves out of the Pit Of Despair and I liked the Detective Pikachu movie and the Sonic movies and the Mario movie but this movie could still easily be really bad and slide them further back into it, especially with some of the people producing it. We'll just have to wait for trailers to cast more judgment. Nintendo having a stranglehold on production again does give me hope weirdly - hopefully things will at least be On Brand

-since condensing most zelda game plots could be Hell I feel like they should honestly do an original version of the zelda story that just follows all the Best Of Tropes like with the mario movie (hey maybe it fits into the timeline somehow and we're all forced to acknowledge it as Lore) but if not I honestly want to see them do Skyward Sword, since it was the origin point. Only problem is no Ganon, so I doubt it. 

-I doubt any of the Toon Link games would be chosen since it's not animated, nor any games focusing primarily on particularly young links since Hollywood hates working with kids. So I feel like the most likely ones are Ocarina Of Time (the most defining Zelda at this point even post-BOTW and TOTK), Breath Of The Wild, or Twilight Princess (both of which would be cool). But who knows this could be like Detective Pikachu and we get an oddball pick. 

-Someone suggested Jason Momoa as Ganondorf and honestly I want it -For Link, not Tom Holland because that's the Meme Bad Pick, obviously. I'd honestly say Thomas Brodie-Sangster or Timothée Chalamet

-As for Zelda... Zelda Wiliams. It would be funny and Robin would have been proud. 

-If The Rock does not play a Goron character I will be upset

-I feel like Link not speaking is a lost cause probably (even if i think it would be really funny if they cast a big name and he communicated only in grunts) and I'm not opposed to making him doofy because Link is often doofy but by god do NOT make him snark. I'm not even as hard on the MCU and its quips as everyone else is at this point and I actually normally like snarky characters often but if Link talks in ironic quips all the time I would probably die because it doesn't fit him and  the Zelda franchise at all. (Also need I remind you we have gotten smarmy Link twice before and both times were awful)

-Given everything we know about it it feels like this film is going in a straightlaced, at least semi-serious, probably dark fantasy film. Which is fine by me but. 

-Someone said this film wouldn't be helped by a lot of easter eggs as the Mario movie was. I'm inclined to agree. But I still want to see the easter eggs because I'm drooling at what that could mean for Zelda. 

-On a related note I hope there are a lot of like. Genuine fans on the team of this movie. It seemed to help the Mario movie and maybe the second Sonic movie and in at least one instance the Detective Pikachu movie. If they get proper Zelda fans on board it could go a long way

-Please don't make it an isekai. It was fine for Mario because it's been in Mario lore before but again it doesn't fit Zelda. 

-Overall, again, I don't care if this movie is good or bad, just if it's INTERESTING. I want to either laugh with this movie or at it. I want the fandom to have fun with this. And I want to soak up the memes like a sponge.

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | Honor and Glory (Ho, 1993)

“What tape? Who the hell are you? What are you talking about?” This is a line from a supporting character in the last act of the movie, and he might as well be speaking for the audience. I realize that most of the Godfrey Ho movies I’ve seen have not been the cut and paste efforts he Frankensteined together from existing movies and new ninja footage, but all new original movies purely by his hand. And let me tell ya, for the most part the plots do not seem to hang together any better.

This one has something to do with an evil finance bro who embezzled a billion dollars from his own company and is now trying to get ahold of a nuclear trigger stolen from the Soviets, despite this being made in 1993 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. If you’re wondering how the particulars tie together into the plot, they don’t. So don’t worry your pretty little heads about it. What you do need to know is that there are a lot of scenes where the finance bro, played by an extremely hammy John Miller, deals with his business troubles, and its pretty funny how much Ho commits to this despite it barely hanging together.

Anyway, Miller is terrible, but he has a lot of scenes with Chuck Jeffreys, who is probably the best thing about this. In part, it’s because he looks better as an actor thanks to Miller hamming it up, but it’s also because he has the closest thing to an arc here, thanks to his regrets about being a hired goon for Miller and eventually turning against him. He also has some pretty good chemistry with Donna Jason, who plays a reporter, not that her profession has any bearing on the plot. Jeffreys kinda looks like Eddie Murphy and Jason kinda looks like Rene Russo, so you can pretend you’re watching them instead if you get bored.

You also have Cynthia Rothrock as an FBI agent and Robin Shou as her Hong Kong cop boyfriend (?), and maybe the four of them should go on a double date. Despite Rothrock being on the poster, she’s not in this for that much and disappears for large chunks of the movie. If you’re looking for a Ho-directed Rothrock showcase, Undefeatable is probably a better bet. It’s the sleazier A-side to this one’s goofier B-side, and has a positive anti-gang message to boot.

Anyway, it sounds like I’m ragging on the movie pretty hard, but despite its impossible to follow plot, it hits the spot if you’re hankering to watch people punch and kick each other. That happens with great frequency and with the smallest provocation, and is performed and captured with a reasonable level of skill. (Exhibit A: Jason gets interrupted during a news report by a woman angry that Jason ruined the reputation of her senator father. They fight, and despite the woman pulling out a knife, Jason bests her easily. The woman is never seen again.) At its best, this presents a utopian vision where every single person you run into knows martial arts, and a fight can break out at any moment.

[artificervaldi]

FNAF Movie 2 Plot Theory

OR why we should look at TSE trilogy to guess what's coming next.

The first movie, believe it or not, has a lot of similar elements to The Silver Eyes and even pulls from the latter two novels somewhat. I believe we can look at the trilogy to figure out what we're gonna see next.

First let's go over what about the movie connects to TSE trilogy in how things are similar.

Hiding from Foxy behind an arcade machine is LITERALLY pulled from the first book like it's the cold open.

Hello Ella, introduced as important to Charlie Emily from the first book why are you a Springlock suit? The opposite of what you were, in many ways, in the books -- being the "heart" of Charlie?

Wow, a plot linked to past deaths at Freddy's and being drawn in due to a dead family member? That's crazy, man.

A blonde police officer getting stabbed by the yellow rabbit, who can also manhandle people like it's nothing... Hmmm, how odd.

Abusive William willing to hurt his own daughter? Where have I seen that before...?

Wait he even uses his daughter as a tool to further his various evil plans and deeds like he uses Circus Baby/Charlizabeth!

The power of art is first teased in TSE with Jason finding a picture that changes and shows him the past, with it coming back in TFC to... defeat William by showing them William was the one to hurt them, rather than being their friend.

The scene of the animatronics dragging William, now springlocked, away is also notable. That also happens in the books, it's something that stands out.

Looking for a sibling lost to you is also a theme between our protagonists...

William going under another name to keep an eye on Freddy's is also an interesting detail. Dave Miller and Steve Raglan

The kids wanting Abby to be "one of them" vs them trying to "protect" Jason from the teens is an interesting dichotomy that shows two sides to one whole w how the children in the suits likely act.

William having the kids under his thumb is also just another thing straight from the novels, rather than the games.

The protagonists are both linked to their Aunt Js.

Golden Freddy kid is not a girl named Cassidy in either the novels or movie -- setting them apart from the games.

One parent dead (likely by suicide) and the other gone. Wonder which protagonist this applies to -- oh wait, it's both.

There's likely more I just don't remember. But this shows you how similar these things are, right? So, onto my actual prediction/theory for the plot of FNAF2, based on the Twisted Ones somewhat.

The second movie will involve Mike and Abby, now being hunted by the Toy Animatronics. Fully automated beings hunting them for William's sake for some unknown reason. Where Vanessa will fit into this, be it a fnaf4 esque subplot as she's in a coma or waking up, and if Jeremy/Jeremiah will play a role I don't know...

But I do believe the Toys will be non-possessed and play a largely antagonistic role and meant to parallel and foil the original 4, who are in fact possessed by kids. This means, however, mean I think they'll be destroyed by the end of the movie like the Twisteds in the book.

...If we're lucky, though, they'll fight to the death with the OGs and it'll be deliciously cheesy.

Afton will likely also appear, on a power trip of glee from his immortal body. Or he might be more toned down like he is in TFC while still stuck in the Springlock suit. Either way he's likely going to be theatre kid as fuck about it and mocking Mike and co.

What'll also happen is an 11th-hour twist, likely related to Mike (we'll get into it) followed up by a cliffhanger that'll lead into the third movie where the last loose ends are tied up.

...

But what will that 11th-hour twist be? I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't know. But I know what it WON'T be. Namely Vanessa is NOT a robot gang!!!!

These movies are pulling from the books and Charlie, the human robot? Notably has fake blood. It's mentioned directly in The Twisted Ones when Clay and Charlie discuss the scene Afton and his body -- we're not told directly but given the reveal of the third book it's pretty obvious.

When they reached the campus, Clay let her out where he’d found her. She’d only taken a few steps from the car, however, when he called to her from the car window. “I feel like I need to tell you one more thing,” he said. “We found blood at the scene, in the main dining room where Dave …” He looked around cautiously. There was something unseemly, talking about gruesome things on the sheltered grounds of the campus. “It wasn’t real blood, Charlie.” “What are you talking about?” Charlie took a step back toward the car. “It was, like, costume blood, or movie blood. It was pretty convincing, though. We didn’t realize it was fake until the crime lab looked at it under a microscope.”

To which you might say "BUT THEY HAD TO LOOK UNDER THE MICROSCOPE TO REALIZE!" but. If you think they wouldn't check for, say, blood type on Vanessa after she was stabbed you're insane. Not to mention they would likely see metal bits sticking out of her?

But if that's not enough... How about the fact TFC states William can't make a living being like Henry did?

Henry made the fake Charlie from love and grief, the one thing William cannot do is love. William cannot have made himself a robot daughter -- Mikebot or Garrettbot would be more likely if you believe they're the Emily equivalents.

“I wanted so desperately to have been the one on that stage, but it was always her. All of his love went into her.” “You’re talking about Afton.” Jessica stopped, and Charlie nodded confirmation. “William Afton never made anything with love,” Jessica snarled. “I should rip you in half.” Charlie’s appearance flashed, the animatronic’s face and body seeming to break, then reassemble in an instant. For a moment her expression wavered, a vulnerability showing on her face, but she quickly collected herself. “She was his obsession.”

aaaand

“We both know he won’t be able to re-create you, either.” Elizabeth was near. “And the real question would be, would we really want him to? Besides …” Elizabeth approached Charlie from behind, moving faster. “I think I hate you more than I love him.”

What I would suggest is looking at the movie and going "what feels like hints of something bigger? What feels like a throw away line or action or detail that could grow into something more?" because that's what happened with Charliebot.

It was small in TSE, the amount of closets and the fact she couldn't open the ones holding the other bodies, the mark of a tripod in the dust and dirt where she remembered sitting and watching her father, Afton's obsession with her and keeping her with his "family" at the end before she springlocks him. Things like that. Something that can be built up to more (see: fake blood), be partially revealed ("I didn't take him. I took you.") and then fully expanded on and dealt with in movie three (Charliebot).

What that is? I dunno, we'll just have to see :)

[whatitshouldvebeen]

I like the Slaughter family more than Ana and her friends... I don't know but always in movies like Jason, Michael Myers, Tcm I always wanted the enemies to win before the good protagonists... it's happened to me since I was a little girl haha 😅 Maybe what I'm saying sounds horrible but I always wanted them to win, even when the end credits showed little scenes that it wasn't over it made me happy!!. They always come back! and the same thing happens to me with this Tcm game, I became more fond whit the family Slaughter... and I even got frustrated when Nubbins dies in the movie 😭... this may be very crazy but... I get those feelings in slasher movies ❤

I don't speak almost any english, I'm sorry this is very poorly written. 💔

This was excellently written! Don't doubt yourself ❤️

I love slashers too. In TCM the original 1974 movie, I thought the Sawyers/Slaughters were pretty decently justified in taking out the people who just brazenly wandered onto their property.

I absolutely hated that Nubbins died. He was a hitchhiker! He would know how to avoid being hit by a truck, dammit!

I may be of the minority opinion, but I hated Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. The first one was gritty, and believable. Almost like a documentary vs a movie. The second one was a mockery, poorly plotted, and the only good thing about it was Drayton Sawyer being himself.

But yes, I'm with you. I want the slashers to win!