#spoiler review

[ilovetomdaya]

🚨This is going to be my spoiler Dune Part Two review. It's going to be long so please bare with me. I loved Dune Part two and I would definitely watch it again.🚨

So let's start off with Chani. She's a total bada** and Zendaya did an amazing job playing her. She really seems to understand Chani and who Chani is. Her performance of Chani really blew me away. Chani is obviously a very strong believer in Fremen. She doesn't believe in what the other Fremen do. I love that she makes that very clear and she never let's anyone change her mind. Then she falls in love with Paul. He makes her all of these promises and says all of these things about fighting for Fremen. Chani is definitely a strong independent woman who gets sh** done, fights for her people but also seems to love hard. She has conflict with herself because she loves Paul but disagrees with him on some things. Over all Zendaya knocked it out of the park with Chani. I feel so bad for Chani because she sacrificed so much for Paul and got other Fremen to believe in him and treat him like family only for him to stab her in the back. Asking Irulan to marry him right in front of her. Just mere minutes after telling Chani "i will love you as long as I breathe." I'm glad she walked away from him but my heart hurts for her. She deserves better. I wonder what she'll do next? I'm so proud of Zendaya. Timmy did a great job playing Paul. He really dug into the deep dark part of Paul and brought that out. Paul felt and seemed so much more darker this movie and was power hungry. He became a character that I don't like. I'm glad that Chani slapped him. He deserved it. His hunger for power definitely came out when he went to the South for sure. He had a little bit more of a softer side in the North side. He doesn't truly love Chani the way he's suppose to. He wants power and will do anything to get it. Even if it means hurting Chani and people that he supposedly loves. Over all Timmy did a great job playing Paul. Okay so let's talk about Paulchani. One of the problems I had with this movie is how fast paced Paul and Chanis relationship was. They go from just meeting to all of the sudden telling each other I love you and being in love. It makes no sense. I also personally think that Zendaya and Timmy don't have the best on screen chemistry with each other. They obviously have okay onscreen chemistry but it's not the best. I found myself struggling to connect to their relationship/ love story. Their relationship just didn't make me feel anything really. I honestly think that's due to how fast paced it is/ was though. Another issue with the movie that I had (like others did) is the pacing. It started out slow but then it got really fast and it seemed like they were trying to fit in a lot of material in a short amount of time. Austin absolutely blew me away with his acting. Couldn't even tell it was Austin. All I saw and heard was Feyd. He portrayed the physcotic person Feyd is/ was amazingly. There were times where Feyd genuinely had me scared. Like other people have stated the accent he did for Feyd was cringy but the acting was great. Rebecca straight up bodied the role of Lady Jessica. She was terrifying. She had me scared asf sometimes. Especially when she became a Reverend Mother. The fact that she betrayed her own kid... has me saying "damn." That woman is ruthless and a bada**. You couldn't tell it was Rebecca. All you could see was Lady Jessica. Javier did an amazing job too. I loved that you could see how strongly Stillgar believed in what he did. Zendaya, Rebecca, Austin, and Timmy were the stand outs for me though. I definitely want to watch the movie again. So glad I got to experience it in theaters.

[miribooksies]

Jack and the Cockoo Clock Heart (2013)- Movie, Spoilers

HEHEHEHEHHEHHEHEHE

I watched this movie when I was a kid, tiny me, and I found it again because its songs kept worming around my head, and I'm so glad I did.

It starts with a our protagonist, Jack, being born in the coldest day on earth, his heart is frozen, so it is then replaced with a clock. It all starts from this, his heart. This movie is, in my opinion, a tragedy, but I think it's very debatable and interpretation-oriented.

The art style is very captivating, making everyone look like some sort of pristine doll. The backgrounds are very thought out and a highlight with how imaginative it is and how much it aids the story, especially regarding time-skips and travel. THE MUSIC IS AWESOME, I enjoyed this the MOST, it's very rhythmic, very thematic, and it explores multiple genres and atmospheres depending on what part of the story they're currently on. The MUSIC WAS MY FAVORITE, if nothing else just watch it for the melodies.

That being said the story is very captivating too, it's very motive driven, so it's very fast paced (including the dialogue, but I think it's because of the translation from French and not a choice to cut time) and every moment is key to the storytelling. Despite this quick pace, it is a slow burn, but they do a very good job of keeping it dynamic while keeping the tension of the main plot.

It is, however, a very sexual story, despite nothing being very explicit. The sister-figures of Jack are sex workers, when Jack meets his love interest (IMO most important part of the story, and best chorus, and very stunning atmosphere) he references tearing her dress to confetti with his teeth which ???? he's a kid in this moment so that was very confusing and weird, relationship between George Meliès and the two headed woman, and other instances of sexual innuendo achieved in many, many angles. I feel this is very notable, since Jack never is involved with anything. Being so enamored with Miss Acacia and his heart situation, we can probably assume he's a virgin, yet it doesn't stop the main and side romances from being very suggestive.

From what I hear the book is much more sexual, and the presence of it in his childhood in both book and movie is commonly tied to the sister-like sex workers, who are very open about their work and do share work stories in front of Jack.

Miss Acacia's powers are also never noted, which is strange because it isn't like every stranger walking the street suddenly sprouts thorns around their body or purple cones in their tits, it might've been very intentional though? I like the fact it was never a center of attention, and I think it really aids characterizing Acacia, pushing forward a fairly well-rounded character for the short amount of time. It helps us visually see her feelings, emotions, and intentions, kind of like wearing her heart on her sleeve.

On that same locomotive of thought, Joe has the same birthday as Jack, which is such a random piece of lore to drop, but giving it a bit of thought forms a solid idea. Jack was born on the coldest day on Earth, this is what caused for his heart to be mechanical, meaning that Joe was also born in that same coldness, but we don't see him walking around with his own pendulum, so why is that? Probably because, following the film's very direct and literal nature, his heart is simply cold, which pushes him to be as cruel as he is to Jack.

It might've been because it was 1 AM and because the beat might've scared me, but I really felt the final kiss in my chest, and I think the building up of the whole narrative really makes this such a good ending. If it's a good ending is probably debatable, but me personally I appreciated the direction in which it was taken, and that the tragedy was taken to the end, without letting go of the romantic plot for a second. It feels very complete, I guess. Even as he climbs the snowflakes, it feels very true to the story, that's probably why I like it so much.

Props to the whole team honestly they REALLY know how to make atmosphere, and the way they used those tools to convey storytelling is PHENOMENAL!!

I also see where and why the movie could be strongly disliked, if you end up hating it, but I thought it was fire.

I watched it here!

[truessences]

TV Show: The Umbrella Academy S4 (2024) Spoiler Talk

I wanted to do a spoiler review because my regular review which you can read here, is so basic because I wanted to be as spoiler free as possible. But I’m about to let loose in this one with everything I wanted to talk about. Continuity Errors – People have been pointing this out in a few places but because I haven’t rewatched I can’t point them out here but I do want to acknowledge that they…

[jonberry555]

Star Wars - The Acolyte: Day Review | Episode 4

"A Hundred years before the rise of the Empire, the Jedi Order and Galactic Republic have prospered for centuries without war. During this time, an investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master against a dangerous warrior from his past." "A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes but" "as more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems…" Join me for my Full Spoiler Review Star Wars - The Acolyte Season 1 Episode 4: Day.

[magic-belodie]

My Candy Love New Gen Episode 2 Is Online.

[dragoninwinterfell]

Or the one where I drone on and on about characters and relationship development in The Frugal Wizard's Handbook For Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson.

[whiskyblu]

Nevertheless, Ep 3: Woman Takes Brief Break from being an ethical non monogamist to enjoy a tv show

Sol continues to be the hottest one in the show, and she is so wasted on Ji wan, 

Ok so next episode, Jae-Eon picks up some girl at an airport. And NaBi is angsting bc she doesn’t hear from him all day. “Does he not like me or is he teasing me?”

So. Him just…you know…having shit to do. Isn’t an option?

Ok. noted. =.=

NaBi wanders off to get food, and runs into her boy working on his project. He doesn’t see her, he answers his phone, she follows him creepily and sees the other girl.. Cue angst. “She’s the one his heart belongs to.”

Because it can only be one. 

Now it’s JaeEon’s turn to see her leaving a convenience store and giving her number to another dude, another student. 

He’s sort of watching from a distance with the other girl. He neutrally mentions he knows them, and girl gets jealous. Turns out they had matching engraved zippos, but she lost hers.  Very much giving gf vibes. He talks about Na Bi and she’s all “you’re into her, it’s fate” and he's’ all “you’re my fate”

Convenience Store Guy acts more like she would expect from a dude pursuing her, and she seems comfortable, and considers him.

And he’s an absolute Cinnamon Roll, I love him. He brings her snacks and is just…nice.

Ope, now my boy’s being dumb. Walks in on Ol girl talking to Cinnamon Roll and gets jealous, and tries to like. Put lil man in his place, and gets put in his instead. She’s got a spine!

Sort of. She kind of…half ass calls him out on being a jealous dick. He doesn’t really admit to it.

Like,  she hasn’t heard from him for a couple days, and now he jumps in being possessive and trying to draw attention to him. That’s douchey and fucked up.

So she goes on a date with cinnamon roll and it’s adorable. Very sweet, direct, little chatterbox of a man

And now I’m mad again.

Nabi goes to a school festival to see Cinnamon Roll, and there’s another girl there. Apparently his HS Crush who rejected him reached out. So NaBi gets awkwardly rejected, Jae Eon sees the whole thing. Home girl goes home, and she’s laying in bed, appears to be coming down with a cold…and FuckBoy Jae Eon totally calls her like “hey can I come over?”  No apology, no acknowledgement he acted like a possessive asshole, just “i’m by your house, wanna hang out?”

I apparently completely missed this bit before. Ope.  This is also where he finds out she had deleted his number from her phone. This is important later.

 Her phone dies, so she goes to the convenience store to get medicine, when she gets home, there’s an ambulance at her house.

FuckBoy called a got damn ambulance cus he thought she’d passed out or something. Remember what I said before about losing their tiny minds over a papercut? Yeah.

In a cute way now tho.

So she sends him packing..and this mf comes back with a care package of meds and snacks for her, and I have feelings about this.

I’m super annoyed they didn’t address him being a possessive douche. Like, it’s one thing to make his interest known, and to be nonmono, but it’s absolutely not ok to act like dog at a fire hydrant when she’s around other dudes. 

So. Perfect was def too strong of a word.

…so she’s like “i don’t like this bag of stuff take it back” and he’s all like “i’m hungry” and she tells him to eat the food while hanging out together.

And this turns into him spending the night holding her hand, hunched over next to the bed, like a hospital scene, so he can earn her trust back.

He addresses his jealousy-doesn’t outright say he was a douche, but does admit to being jealous. She assumes that he liked seeing her get rejected. Which is reasonable, I think, because of how he called her basically immediately after, acting like they’d never argued. 

But that’s not what happened. He admitted to being jealous, and that it bothered him to find out that she’d deleted him from the phone. 

And this is why the fuckboy allegations are so confusing to me. Because he’s not treating her like a hook up, or a casual relationship. He’s treating her like a partner. Literally the only thing that is different between how he pursues her, and how any other dude would, is that there’s no assumption of monogamy. I would argue that the way he goes about it is questionable, but that’s mostly because the culture of enm in the US is of transparency and enthusiastic consent.

…and he is very much working to sell her on nonmonogamy. Thaaats why it makes my brain itch.

Jae Eon is solo nonmonogamous. He has partners, but non exclusively, he does not have a nesting partner, nor seem to want one, and he isn’t invested in the relationship escalator. He also does not have the language or a supportive enm community around him. So, he performs enm, and persuades people thru open practice, rather than naming it.

So, in episode two, there was an interaction that I ignored, because I found it uninteresting and maybe a little fatphobic. When they were all hanging out at the bar, there was a dude-one of the only fat people i’ve ever seen in a kdrama- who was doing the “ambiguously creepy” guy thing. If he was an american, he’d prob be wearing a fedora. Like he specifically asks NaBi to sit next to him, and when she does he gets all fixated on the fact that she’s single now, and asks her why she hasn’t taken her jacket off and…a few other just. Weird fucking things. At one point, NaBi, Jae Eon and Bit Na are outside having a smoke, and Fedora Dude comes out is being really obnoxious and pushy about finding out what Nabi and jae eon’s relationship is, and Jae Eon tells him “nah, we’re just friends.” Nabi walks away and Fauxdora starts the “she’s not pretty enough to be this stuck up” and Jae Eon puts him in his place and everyone gets on with their life.  

NaBi was bothered by Jae Eon not “claiming her” ig. For me tho, the way to handle Fedora Dudes is to straight tell them to get to fuck, it’s none of their business. And that seems like what Jae Eon did. In my mind, he was showing her the same respect he would any of his other friends/partners, in not “staking a claim” so to speak, and also shutting down the ass hat. 

So when he engaged in jealous twattery around Cinnamon Roll, it was extra surprising. Ofc, the reason is that Cinnamon Rolls was a threat, and Fedoradouche was not. Jae eon was shielding her from Fedoradouche, and competing with Cinnamon Roll. Valid. 

So on the one hand, the narrative is showing that NaBi is “special” (gags) by him being possessive of her in ways he isn’t possessive of others. He’s also…gently aggressive with her, after she finally consents to kissing him. He just…keeps pursuing. It’s a behavior that irritates tf out of me, ignoring soft nos, and pushing for a hard no. Then when he gets a hard no, in the form of her deleting his number, and sending him packing after the ambulance leaves, he still keeps pursuing her. 

So he essentially tells her that he’s going to keep being nice to her until he earns her trust and gives him a chance. Which…irl would stalkery and annoying af. But because we’re inside her head, and we know she’s completely obsessed with him, and also because of my own biases against monogamy, and my general annoyance that enm is not even discussed as an option, it gets a pass, both narratively, and in my head. 

And then they bang, because that’s exactly what they both need when she has a cold. Fuckin tv, man

[doorplays]

IMMORTALITY (2022) SPOILERY REVIEW

Hello! I have decided that I think I will try and do two (2) reviews for most games I will play. One is a non-spoilery review, and another is a spoilery review that is done after I finish the game! I just think it would be need to share my thoughts about a game without spoiling it for people who don’t want to see spoilers.

In light of that, here's a big bad !!!SPOILER WARNING!!! for you, and only proceed if you are okay with seeing this despite the warning! Please also be mindful of Immortality’s content warnings before reading.

Also: this will be a long article, so hang on to your buttcheeks and let’s talk Immortality!

PREAMBLE

So, Immortality is a game that is more than meets the eye. While the start of it is interesting enough (searching clips, watching the three movies), there is more to it. It is... difficult to talk about these secrets without spoiling the experience, thus I chose to talk about them in this spoiler review! I’m going to talk about the secret clips and how to find them, the overarching metanarrative, and my thoughts on it.

STYLE

You may notice that when you view clips, sometimes you hear a droning sound. If you’re on the controller, you will feel it rumble along with said sound. That’s not a trick of the music, that’s intentional. That’s the game telling you something is off.

When I played this game, everytime I heard this noise on the clip, I would Favorite this clip so it gets filed for future viewing. The game has a separate folder of sorts for Favorited clips. At one clip, I wanted to click on something in the background, but the characters keep blocking it. So I decided to rewind the clip a bit to get a better angle. And lo and behold, I saw echoes of a clip just playing in the background, almost invisible... and I can’t quite access it yet. There was something I didn’t know at this point, but this was a big moment of discovery for me, and definitely flips the game on its head.

Once you discover this, the game goes from discovering what happened to Marissa Marcel, to discovering what the fuck this game actually is! I rewound the previous clips I Favorited and got lore dumps about two new characters that I’ve never seen before, but apparently have a big influence on the plot! There are clips that once you rewind them become much more sinister and scary, and there are clips that tell more of the new characters’ motivations.

I’d say this moment of discovery and what it entails is exactly what makes Immortality what it is. It recontextualizes the previous clips you’ve watched and opens up new questions in the narrative. And what surprises me is that all the clips, the discussions in the three films and the new discussions put forth by the rewound footage, all relate together in such a tight way! It is very well written and well made, and I feel like this is a great feat.

My only concern is how, at times people can access the credits sooner than you’d expect, and that might spoil their experience thinking the game is already finished, even though it is far from that. I feel like there is more refinement to be had to this kind of game, but as it stand it’s still pretty phenomenal.

SUBSTANCE

Okay, so the rewound footage tells a heck of a story and really wraps up the themes the 3 films tell and makes them relate to the tribulations of these two new characters. I want to talk about the overarching meta-narrative, so I will put up my own retelling of it as best as I can understand it. After I write this retelling, I will then discuss what I think of the story, how it affected me, and my own interpretation of it. Let’s get to it!

Story Retelling

The One (she/her) and The Other (he/him) are two immortals that have existed for a long long time. The nature of their immortality is that they are sort of... parasitic. They kill a human and consume their flesh, biting into their neck like a vampire, and once they do this they get to be able to act as them for however long they want. They absorb their memories, with the experiences and traumas of their last years dominating the immortals’ minds. It is hard to truly kill them, as when they experience a death, they end up in a dormant state and awaken sometime later. They have mastery over time, and this allows them to do some things outside of our own perception. It is stated that you can only truly kill them via burning.

At one point, they tried to create the Perfect Story to elevate humanity to their level. This involved The One becoming Jesus, preaching to humanity and in the end getting crucified, rising again, and ascending to heaven (though in reality she never ascended and stayed on Earth). The Perfect Story failed to elevate humanity, however. This made The Other feel disillusioned, but The One just thinks humanity wasn’t ready yet.

Time passes. The One wears different bodies. She found herself awakening from a dormant state at the tail end of World War 2. She stumbles upon a dying Marissa Marcel, having just been violated by soldiers. The One proceeds to consume her and take her form. Marissa’s dying words to The One were “Je veux vivre... pour toujours.”

I want to live forever.

The One lives as Marissa for a time. She gets into acting and modeled for a commercial. She was scouted by director Arthur Fischer for his upcoming film Ambrosio. She was fascinated by the dawn of film as an audiovisual medium. She and others like her perceive reality differently, and movies match this perception. She wanted to learn the art of film making from Arthur Fischer, which was why she let him cast her in Ambrosio.

Ambrosio is an adaptation of a real book called The Monk, by Matthew Gregory Lewis. It is about a monk who is tempted by the devil into selling his soul to him. This was Arthur Fischer’s first film to involve nudity, and it involves a good amount of sex. During shooting, The One as Marissa starts enjoying acting. In particular, she liked seeing the other actors be intimate and saw a certain immortality in that.

She encountered The Other while shooting this film, but they did not really interact much other than staring each other down at some points.

She soon starts a relationship with John Durick, director of photography in Ambrosio. She encourages him to overstep Fischer’s authority, adjusting shots and scenes to be more powerful and modern, and even shooting a sex scene without his knowledge, with Durick saying he’ll go above Fischer and go to Gino for approval. Eventually, shooting for the movie is finished. Durick and The One (as Marissa) decided to shoot a new film named Minsky.

Ambrosio ended up not being released for as-of-yet unknown reasons.

Minsky is about detective Alan Goodman who investigates the titular character’s murder, not expecting that he would fall in love with the suspect. Carl Greenwood, an actor from California, was cast for the role of detective, with Marissa casting herself as the suspect. The One saw in him “an intelligence, something warm and savory about him.” However, this did not last as unbeknownst to everyone but The One, The Other decided to kill him and steal his body.

Where The One is artistic and hopeful for humanity, The Other is despondent and cynical of them ever since they failed to be elevated, thinking of them as “monkeys flinging shit.” The two of them have been at odds about this for a long time, with one of them killing the other at certain points because they want them to actually think about things. Their deaths aren’t actual deaths, being treated as “time to think” before they awaken once more. The One killed The Other at one point, but they awakened in New York, angry at The One for trying to integrate further into humanity. He found the idea perverse, especially since the two of them are now the last of their kind.

Things came to a head when during a scene, The Other threatened to shoot John Durick. The One turned the tables on him and shot him instead, saving Durick and preserving her plans. From the outside perspective however, Marissa Marcel just accidentally killed Carl Greenwood due to what seemed to be a gun prop misfire. This caused the film to be shuttered, never to be finished and seen by the masses.

The One made sure that Carl Greenwood was cremated.

After this incident, The One decided to talk to John Durick about the truth of herself. Who she is, what her goals are, how different she is from humans. John... did not react well to this. At least, he did not react in a way that satisfied The One. She loved him, she wanted to be like him, and yet... why is he reacting this way? She did not think, she just acted: she killed John and took his form. Marissa vanishes from the public eye, and The One begins her life as John Durick.

The One directs many films. She missed The Other, so she thought to direct films that pleased him. They were decent films, though people thought them cold. But throughout all these films, what drove her to make them was her desire to make the case for humanity, to prove that they’re not just monkeys flinging shit.

As she lived her life as John, she found herself taking on a lover, one Amy Archer. She treated her like a muse and a partner. Amy asked little from The One (as John) but her brilliance. She wanted to bring out the best in her. However, as she made more films, The One found that each film was less good than the last.

Arthur Fischer, now a dying old man, went to John Durick’s house bearing a gift: the Ambrosio negatives that he stole. It is not known why he stole them (though it is implied he stole them because he couldn’t bear the humiliation of seeing John go behind his back and override his authority), but here he was bringing it to Durick in an effort to mend bridges. Once he left, The One watched the negatives and was overcome with grief and nostalgia over her time as Marissa, so much so that she managed to bring her form back into the real world. She is now essentially existing as two people: Marissa Marcel and John Durick. Director and Actress.

It was then that she decided to make Two of Everything. It was a film about a pop star and her double, and the struggle of making art. But more than that, it was a film about The One’s story. In her words, Two of Everything was “about everything, but as simple as possible.” It was her most ambitious movie yet, not least because she is currently being two people at the same time. This state of being is causing great stress to The One, and as filming goes on she becomes increasingly erratic.

In the middle of filming, something happened. The Other One reappeared. The One was shocked at this discovery, but he explained himself. After being shot and cremated, it turned out he didn’t die. He was trapped in an “infinity of nothing.” That is, until Amy Archer watched the old Minsky footage and saw Carl Greenwood’s death.

She watched him die on the screen. And he was reborn.

He comes to The One in contrition, regretting how he acted. He wants to help her realize her vision now. The One is still confused, saying that while he is alive he is “not here,” and that “Amy’s still here.” In response, he simply said that yes, Amy’s still here and that this is a different kind of rebirth. He reaffirmed his desire to help.

The Other’s rebirth pointed to a new possibility for The One, who by now is barely hanging on by a thread. She has been pushing herself too hard, and that is causing Marissa’s form to experience nosebleeds and other pains. At one point, both Marissa and John fainted on set. This all culminated in a shoot where she outright hemorrhaged blood from her head. She then talked to The Other, who was acting through Amy Archer. She wanted to die like he did once, so that she may then be reborn.

We now go to this scene, the last scene that was shot chronologically. The lights turn on and we see Marissa sitting down. Amy walks into frame and gently runs her hand through Marissa’s hair. She kisses her on the top of her head. She walks towards the camera, holding up the clapper, on it written a single name: Marissa Marcel. She claps it closed.

Action.

She walks back out, picking up a gas can, and walks back in, showering Marissa with its contents. Walks back out, this time picking up a matchbox. She gets a match and lights it up.

She throws it onto Marissa.

Marissa, now burning, just stares at the camera. She lets the flames consume her, until all that’s left of her is a burnt-down mannequin.

This is the moment of her death.

And we, the players, have just witnessed it.

Story Discussion

I’m not really going to talk deep about some of the themes across the game. The game discusses a lot about the nature of art, the costs of art, its evolution, etc. It addresses female exploitation and male privilege at points, it talks about the dichotomy of Art vs. Law, it also talks of how controlling and exacting some directors can be, to the detriment of the film they are making at some points.

What I want to focus on, however, is The One.

This game is not just about three films. This game is about her. I’d go as far as saying this game IS her. This is her story, her being, distilled into a game.

I don’t think anyone would notice, but when you open the game for the first time, the title screen looks like this. The title here is “Marissa Marcel: An Interactive Restoration of Three Movies. Once you click on “Start” however, the title changes. “IMMORTALITY,” it reads and will read for the rest of your playthrough. And on more than one level, that’s exactly what the game is about. Immortalizing yourself on film. Immortalizing your life, deeds, and thoughts.

The One immortalizing herself. Into us.

You might think this is very sinister, and that The One and The Other are ultimately villains. But I would argue that they are tragic figures, with The One being our Tragic Protagonist.

I want to start by talking about the nature of their species. They are entities that exist just outside our perception, influencing our space by taking on other peoples’ forms. A comparison can be drawn with the director-actor relationship. The One puppets her forms in the same way directors utilize their actors. She consumes her victims, just as directors exploit actors and, moreso, actresses. We can see this happening across Ambrosio, with Fischer’s disgusting language at points and his controlling nature.

This director-actor relationship is referred to as a chain by The One. Fischer wanted to sculpt Marissa. When she entered into a relationship with John, he in turn wanted to make her a star. For the longest time, she has observed this chain, but with John, it was her first time putting herself in it as a participant. I assume she means when she started to include herself in the writing process of Minsky.

In Minsky, The One wanted one of the main characters, Franny, to be more real. The premise of the film revolves around Franny murdering Minsky, the artist who took her as a muse. There is a certain irony to this, with how her immortality works. And there’s even further irony to this, as after she put an end to Minsky’s filming, she ended up murdering her director and lover John Durick.

She loved him in the way that an immortal like herself could love anyone. She treated loving him and being like him the same way. When she told him of her true nature, when she bared herself to him, he did not react the way she expected him to react.

He was scared of her. Who wouldn’t be scared, when faced with a threatening entity we do not fully understand?

So she kills him, like a spurned lover. She becomes him. She continues on and fully integrates herself into the chain, using his form from here on out.

She continues on, not addressing her pain, her own trauma that lived in Marissa and now lives in her, her trauma over killing the only other immortal of her kind. She continues on the only way she knows how: making movies.

She directs movies that try and make the case for humanity. She is so enamored with them, to the point that she thought herself as one of them, blind to the privilege that she has. She continues the chain, even taking on her muse as a lover. But one day, a discovery: The Other is alive! She is baffled, but she finds that this is a new form of immortality, an evolution from the previous one. And so, with her dying, she pursues it through this game. She hatches a plan with The Other to have herself burned and have us witness.

Now, I think the popular interpretation of this game will be that The One used this game to possess us. But I think there’s more to this.

In one scene, The Other explains his own rebirth. The One observes that he isn’t here, that he isn’t directly influencing the world through their previous means. She further observes that Amy Archer, the woman The Other is speaking through, is still “here”. While on one level, this explains the uniqueness of The Other’s rebirth, I think this also puts forth the possibility that this kind of immortality does not have to harm anyone now.

Amy Archer is still here. Amy is still alive.

And when The One seeks immortality through our witnessing of her death, I choose to believe that she does not possess us. I think what they’ve discovered is indeed a way to continue where no one has to die. No more exploitation. No more suffering.

She breaks the chain.

Immortality discusses many points about art, but I think chief among these points is the cost of making art. But why do we have to pay these costs? Why do we choose to pay and demand these costs in the name of art? We should strive for a way to make art that eliminates harm and suffering, and I think this is the point that Immortality is trying to make. We do not have to participate in the chain if it causes us suffering.

In The One’s death, she elevates herself to a new kind of existence, a reversal of The Great Story. Where once she died for our sins, here she dies for hers. She rises again and ascends, becoming more. She breaks the chain, paving the way for new possibilities.

Vous vivrez en moi, she says to a dying Marissa as she takes her form. You will live in me. And now, she will live in us.

ENDING THOUGHTS

My interpretation of the game is just that, an interpretation. You could read the game as The One continuing the chain in service of her own continuation. You could read it as her being a sinister entity. But I choose to interpret this game as The One choosing kindness. She could have continued her existence by feeding on others, but she chose not to. Only when this form of immortality presented itself that she rolled the dice.

There is one last scene I want to discuss. in one rewound scene, we see The One lipsyncing to Candy Says. This is the best distillation of her character. She hates herself and how her immortality works. She wants to understand humanity and its joys. She wants to see what life holds if only she can step outside herself and her own realities. She experiences the emotive power of art as she sings along to a song that completely resonates with her own life.

For all her menace, she is just someone who wants to understand and be understood. And to this end she made this game, presenting herself, her life, for others to watch and experience. In this act of nakedness and vulnerability, she is reborn and made immortal once more.

I very much enjoyed this game. It is definitely more of an art house, avant-garde kind of thing, but I’m hoping that more people would try it out!

[enixamyram]

Guardians Of The Galaxy Spoiler Review

I just wanted to babble and go into greater detail about just everything I loved so much about this film!

First off, I was actually really worried about this film. For multiple reasons.

I was worried they were going to kill off Rocket. I'm pretty sure at some point someone online said something along the lines of; "what if they kill off someone" and it just kind of became an assumption among myself and others that it was a fact that someone was going to die in this film. However, I figured pretty early it wouldn't actually be Rocket. There are not many films that dedicate the whole 2 hours to saving someone only for them to die in the end anyway. Still, I was pretty worried this might be one of those films and I was SO incredibly relieved when Rocket made it through!

I was worried they were going to have Quill and Gamora get together again. I was never crazy about this ship in the first two films, to be honest. But I accepted it enough. However, I was really worried they were going to push them together again despite the fact that this Gamora is not the same person as the old one. So, again, I was SO relieved when they actually pushed that point as well and had Peter grieve without giving in and letting him win the girl again.

I was worried Rocket was going to be out of the entire film. I love films where a friend is in danger and they have to save him but I also want to see that friend as part of the group as well. So I was so happy when Rocket came back for the last third. I especially loved him confronting the High Evolutionary. It was what I was desperate to see most of all after everything he put him through but it was made even better when the rest all showed up and took turns beating the crap out of him. I nearly jumped up and cheered in the middle of the cinema when that happened!

I was worried it would focus too much on one character. The problem with big cast films is they tend to end up focusing on a single character a lot and the others get forgotten about or pushed aside. It's one of my biggest problems with GOTG 2 (not saying it's a bad film, just that since I don't care for Quill's character, I didn't much care for his story either). But this film gives everyone a story without overshadowing the main villain and we get to see all of them develop and have a bit of attention in a perfect blend.

It makes for a brilliant finale where they all go their separate ways. One of my biggest issues with Endgame was it felt they rushed too many characters out of the Avengers at once. Tony and Natasha's deaths made sense but Steve's leaving felt very forced in terms of timing. For the Guardians, however, it makes perfect sense how and why they each depart. It's actually very sweet to see them each go their own way and have their own new adventure.

But as amazing as the film is. My God. DID I CRY! I sobbed! All out sobbed in the middle of the cinema. Any scene with Rocket and his friends. I still hear Floor shouting constantly in my head; "Rocket, Floor, Teefs go now!" and it's so painful! I was really hoping they would survive but the scene where he reunites in the afterlife was still pretty wonderful.

Even Rocket seeing and freeing the animals at the end had me in tears. When he was scooping out the baby racoons, I was mentally screaming for him not to leave the others and was getting so worked up. So when Rocket then said they had to save them as well, I was so happy!

If I had to criticize, there's two moments I wasn't big on. - The joke about Nebula trying to open the passenger door is so old! I don't know why people are still pushing this joke like it's a hilarious bit. Is it just me? Do other people really find this so funny? It must have some audience if it keeps coming back but I genuinely don't see why. - Peter's fake out death was really cheap. At this point I still had it in my head that someone said it was a fact someone was gonna die so I almost believed it could be genuine thought I was doubtful at this point. But either way, whether you believed it was a real threat or not, we had just had a fake out death with Rocket, so having another one for Peter not that long after was really weak and weird to me. It felt very extra and unnecessary. We could have still had Adam save him just without the drawn out, oh my God, Peter's dying scene added onto it.

But those are two minor issues. The rest of it was funny! It was sad! It was exciting! It had me tense! It had me crying, it had me laughing, it was just genuinely a GREAT film. My FAVOURITE of the Guardian films and easily in my top 3 favourite MCU films of all time! Can't wait to get it on DVD/Disney + so I can rewatch it all over again!

[lilmackiereads]

A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins – SPOILER REVIEW

For my first official review, here is the fourth Hunger Games novel which I finished last week. A spoiler-free version of this review has already been posted on my blog if you prefer to read that.

My score chart: 0-5 stars

0 stars = Hate it/ Regret reading

1 star = Meh, not for me

2 stars = It was ok/ neutral

3 stars = Liked it

4 stars = Loved it

5 stars = One of my favorite books of all time!

Overall rating: 3 to 3.5 stars. I liked it, but it is my least favorite book of the series of four. I do recommend reading it though if you are a big fan of the Hunger Games trilogy, but if you are a casual fan then you can skip it. I would love for Collins to write two more books, one about the actual war while it was happening (at least 10 years before this story) as well as one that takes place between the end of Songbirds and Snakes and The Hunger Games. There is a whole six decades between these stories, so she has a lot of content to work with if she wants to. 

Do you agree or disagree with my review? DM me for your take and your recommendations. 

——

Detailed Review:

Plot = 3 stars

Part 1: The Mentor

Collins choosing to narrate the story from Coriolanus’s perspective was very refreshing to me. When reading the original series, I didn’t spend too much time considering what life would be like for Capitol innocents, such as children, who were affected by the war. The story he mentioned about being a child and seeing a neighborhood woman dying in the street and being eaten by a cannibal was such a wakeup call for me about what the Capitol experienced in the aftermath. I didn’t realize how much they were also starving since all of their food is grown in the Districts. 

Having the story take place during the 10th Hunger Games was very exciting since I was very curious to see how they have developed over the years, especially since they would have been harder to enforce directly after the war. Lucy Gray’s Reaping moment was iconic; I can’t believe that she was daring enough to put a snake down the mayor’s daughter’s outfit! I can’t wait for it to play out on the movie screen. 

Later, when Coriolanus sees how the tributes are bound and put into carnival train cars to be transported reminded me at how much the Capitol sees the tributes as animals. While Katniss and Peeta were still mistreated, at least they had a bullet train with gourmet food, luxury furniture, and air conditioning. On that note, keeping the 10th Games tributes in the zoo really hit the nail on the head for the lack of humanity. I was shocked when so many of the tributes died from starvation and exposure before the Games even started. I wasn’t sure if they would call for another Reaping to replace the tributes lost and that was making me anxious.

Another shock was when Arachne was killed by her District 10 tribute. How can I say this...? I was surprised, but not surprised. I wasn’t surprised at Arachne’s cruelty toward her tribute by taunting food in her face in front of the crowd and media, but I was surprised at how quickly the tribute was able to murder her, especially when surrounded by Peacekeepers. This (in a morbid way) is where the book drew me in. Another interesting touch was when the bombs went off in the arena before the Games during the Mentor and Tribute tour. This moment showed the Captiol that the District members meant business and actually helped the tributes by giving the arena more hiding spaces.

I feel wishy-washy about Coriolanus helping Lucy Gray cheat by giving her the idea to poison the other tributes with the makeup compact full of rat poison. Cheating can get her whole District in trouble and have had way worse repercussions than what he actually got as punishment in part 3. I really thought that they might kill Lucy Gray in public, even as a victor, to show the Districts that winning doesn’t mean anything. Perhaps this wouldn’t have worked and caused another revolt and maybe that’s why they just “punished” Coriolanus by not letting him go to University.

Part 2: The Prize

The relationship between Coriolanus and Sejanus was like a rollercoaster. I understood how Coriolanus felt about being afraid to put his family and future in danger, but at the same time, I think Sejanus was right about society as a whole. To be honest, I am definitely more like Coriolanus and would have put myself first, which sounds horrific, but... sorry not sorry. I think I would have been too much of a coward to be like Sejanus and would not have tried to martyr myself for Marcus or my former district. On that same track, Marcus’s death was brutal! Beheading is just a whole other level, but I do think that when the female tribute was whispering to him that she was asking for his permission to put him out of his misery and put herself ahead in the media’s eyes. I don’t think there was any malice in it. 

I was soooo worried for Sejanus when he stormed out after Marcus’s death and even more afraid when he trespassed into the arena to bless his body. I despise the fact that Coriolanus only went in to save his own skin, not because he really cared about Sejanus, which is especially sad since Sejanus sees him as a brother. Coriolanus defending himself against Bobbin was a great nerve-wracking scene because even though I knew Coriolanus was going to survive, Sejanus might not, and Coriolanus could still be greatly wounded. If he had been permanently wounded, I don’t think that he would ever reveal it to others. I think that he would imagine that others would see these wounds as weaknesses (proving that he is not invincible) rather than strengths (that he was brave and survived a tragedy). 

The fact that Lucy Gray won the Games was very predictable to me because she is a character foil and foreshadow toward Snow’s resentment (and respect) toward Katniss. However, I like that Lucy didn’t use physical combat to take out her competition, but rather used poison and mercy. The whole rabies aspect was spooky. It’s sad to think about how the Districts are not given adequate health care such as vaccines. I really hate her relationship with Coriolanus because he does not see her as an equal, but as property to be controlled and admired. She is just a trophy. A pretty songbird that he can put in a cage. 

Oh, and side note, I truly dislike how fricken direct the symbolism of Coriolanus is a snake and Lucy Gray is a bird. I mean, even her last name is Baird, which of course sounds like “bird” and literally means ��someone who sings songs or poetry.” And Coriolanus Snow is cold-hearted. Cold, like snow. Ha. Soooo funnyyyy. I had never heard the name “Coriolanus” before, but it is originally made famous by the Shakespeare play. I haven’t read it, but this link here basically tells the same story as Songbirds and Snakes. So, I guess this prequel is really a Hunger Games fanfiction about Shakespeare’s story? It was a little disappointing to find out. I thought it was an original concept. Boo. 

Part 3: The Peacekeeper

I was very confused at first about why Dr. Gaul and Dean Highbottom would send Coriolanus to District 12 after winning the Hunger Games because it means he would reunite with Lucy Gray. I found this part to be a bit slow (which of course was to make us feel how bored Coriolanus was since there were no mental challenges in the Peacekeepr training other than executions.) I rushed through the blandness so I could get to the climax faster.

Yet, a few parts of this section that I liked are reading more about The Hob and the origin of “Katniss’s songs” from Mockingjay, which were created by Lucy Gray. The Hanging Tree scenes were terrifying. I wanted Coriolanus to act out and become a rebel, but I knew his sense of loyalty to the Capitol and self-preservation would get in the way. I liked how we learned how and why people become Peacekeepers since it seems like a terrible job to me, but apparently it has perks for a lot of people. I didn’t ever think about how the Rebels organize revolts with bombs or guns in their own districts. It makes me wonder if when Katniss’s dad died in the original story if that was a revolt gone wrong, just like how one of the mines was destroyed in this book. I always wondered why Suzanne Collins uses the mockingjay as the main symbol of the series because I feel like the reason was a bit vague in the trilogy, but I feel like I did get these answers in Songbirds and Snakes. Sejanus’s death was so sad. I had to read it quickly to get it over with so I would not get too emotional. His final word, “ma,” was absolutely haunting.

Lucy Gray’s end was a bit annoying. I knew deep down that Coriolanus would never run away with her or marry her, but I wasn’t sure if he was going to end up killing her or letting her go. Even worse, we don’t actually get to know. I would have liked a more definite answer on whether or not she escaped or was killed on their way north, but I get that Collins left it ambiguous like the song Lucy Gray was named after.

Heading back to the Capitol, the fact that the Snow family is responsible for most of the concepts used in the Hunger Games is both awful and amazing. I did like reading about how Coriolanus “innovated” the 10th Games to be more high-tech and interactive with the drone gifts, the betting, and the tributes and District winning a prize, but it makes me shudder to know that this infamy is what kept him in power all those decades. I wonder how old he was when he got elected president.

______

Overall Main Characters Rating = 3.5 stars

Coriolanus: 3 stars

Coriolanus describing the lack of nutrition, the hand-me-down clothes, the inability to afford his familial home, the desire to go to university without any savings, and being an orphan made me feel a lot of sympathy toward him. It now makes more sense into why he evolved into the villainous President Snow. I would have loved for him to have taken this trauma and turn it into something good, but he chose selfishness over selflessness. I feel like his “snap” against Sejanus was a bit rushed, like Daenerys Targaryen, so I would have like a little more to happen before his change. He always valued his own life over Sejanus and others who lived in the districts, but his decision to turn against him just felt a bit hasty. 

Lucy Gray: 4 stars

Despite the fact that Lucy Gray and her successor, Katniss Everdeen, are both thin brunettes with lovely voices from District 12, I find Lucy Gray much more likable. She has so much spunk and passion for life and art that I think she would be a fun person to be around in person. She is definitely a glass half-full kind of girl and sees the beauty in the frightening. I find her Covey background interesting and want to know so much more about those who live “outside” of the Districts and Capitol since I had no idea people exist outside of there (which is exactly what the Capitol wants you to think). However, I am grateful that this story was not from her persepective because it would have been to similar to the original.

Sejanus: 4.5 stars

He was my absolute favorite! I think he was the best because he was the only person we met that could really bridge the gap between District and Capitol lives. His conflicting relationships with Marcus, Coriolanus, and his family broke my heart. Even though the book is narrated from Coriolanus’s perspective, I would have liked if this was written like Marie Lu’s Legend series where it goes back and forth between characters that have different opinions about the war. He would get 5 stars if we got chapters from his perspective. He is the exact opposite of Coriolanus since he is impulsive, outspoken, and ashamed of his family, while Coriolanus is calculated, reserved, and proud of his heritage to a fault. I like seeing the two of them together because they are so different. 

Dr. Gaul = 3.5 stars

I really enjoyed Dr. Gaul, but I can’t give her more than 3.5 stars because I yearned to see more of her lab experiments, and I feel like the readers didn’t get to see much more than the snakes. Her manipulation throughout the plot gets snaps from me, especially sending Coriolanus to District 12 for him to spy for her when he didn’t even realize he was a spy. Brilliant!

Tigris = 3 stars

I like how sweet she is, but other than taking care of Coriolanus and Grandma’am, she doesn’t do much. I need to know how and why she became the woman she is in Mockingjay. Considering I didn’t even mention her at all in my “plot” section, I think she definitely needed to be more fleshed out.

_____

Would I read it again? Yes. Especially after the film comes out since I enjoy comparing books to movies. I’m afraid of what they will cut out because they are only doing one film and there is a lot of content here. I have a feeling they won’t show Marcus’s beheading due to its gruesome nature or the District 12 hangings. They might just mention it or cut away when the actual violence happens which is understandable for a PG-13 film, but disappointing in showing the true fear of the moment. I think that’s part of why these books are so scary though. Violence can happen to people at any age, and it has throughout history. Keeping it from people doesn’t protect them from it, but showing too much numbs people to it. It’s a hard balance. I hope that the film shows the whole story justice.

[el-ffej]

One of those rare reviews that, I think, gets it. (Mostly; of course I have quibbles.). Absolutely chock-full of spoilers.

[nerbviews]

My summary and spoiler review of 1990’s TMNT.

My next review will be shorter.

[bookhouseboy1980-blog]

The Terminator (1984) - Spoiler Review/Discussion

Sub to my channel for more: https://www.youtube.com/@borednow5838/videos

@theterminatort1000-blog @sulietsexual @scifi-fantasy-horror @action @horrorfixxx @1984jp

[jonberry555]

Star Wars: Ahsoka Part 8 - The Jedi, The Witch, and the Warlord REVIEW

Star Wars: Ahsoka has premiered and its now time to talk about it. This video will my full spoiler review of Part Eight: "The Jedi, The Witch, and the Warlord" written by Dave Filoni and directed by Rick Famuyiwa in which "The heroes race to prevent Grand Admiral Thrawn's Escape."

[magic-belodie]

When MCL Meets MCL NewGen! Event 2024 Spoiler Review Is Online!

[cinematicnomad]

obsessed with this letterboxd review for CHALLENGERS (2024) by rocky/WAYSTIAR