#the ''directed by dev patel story by dev patel produced by dev patel kid played by dev patel''

[depresseddepot]

holy SHIT the scene with the hijra fighting in the lobby is SO cool

[viscountessevie]

Tagged by the lovely @mermaidsirennikita thanks for the tag! SO SORRY this is months late shxkdjks.

Also to note; I wrote 90% of this post about 4 months ago?? On a call with the brilliant @sophiamariabeckett and @hptriviachamp so that's why they get mentioned alot, anyway let's get to it!

Nickname: S, [Redacted - IYKYK], Sahara,Vi, Evie [I think I’m mostly used to S and Sahara, the latter two are derived from my username lol]

I used to go by Sky when I was younger because people butchered my name but it was also given to me by an ex-friend who tried to whitewash me so I have YEETED that name (will never ever go by it again) and fully embraced my Indian name and culture. Anyways I digress, Sky also earned me the nicknames Sunny, Cloudy, Sunshine. 

Sign: A Fire Sign that fits me

Height: 5′0/155cm

Last thing I Googled: 

[Yall thank Trivia for this search and it’s so fitting for me!]

Song stuck in my head: Would’ve, Should’ve, Could’ve by Taylor Swift (also at this moment: Lavender Haze Acoustic version)

Number of Followers: Over 3k (but 80% are abandoned accounts or probably bots - also you gotta remember I've had this account for 8 years over 3 major fandoms so it's accumulation of that)

Amount of Sleep: 3 to 6 Hours - a lot of afternoon naps 

Lucky number: 8, 19

Dream Job: Novelist and Screenwriter

The List of People I Wanna Work Woth (ranking in order of how much I wanna to work with them): Simone Ashley, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Zawe Ashton, Frieda Pinto & Dev Patel (tied), Zendaya

Creatives: Wanna write with Mindy Kaling and Trevor Noah, write for Margot Robbie (as executive producer), Cathy Yun, and Jordan Peele

Special mention to Tom Hiddleston, Rahul Kohli and Chloe Zhao for being icons I admire but my writing style/stories and their resumes are in direct conflict 😂

Wearing: A sheer black shirt, it’s giving Simone's Shirt-Dress at Paris Fashion Week

Actually at this very moment (3rd April) though I am wearing this:

The shirt ties in the front and I have cream shorts on. Someone once told me I look like a hot baseball player in this fit lol

Movies/Books That Summarize Me:

Books: 

- A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (very first book I ever read on my own) 

- The Hunger Games series & TBoSaS by Suzanne Collins 

- Every single Cecelia Ahern book

(save for her YA series and The Year I Met You)

- Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi

- To All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven 

- The Celebrity Quartet series by Taylor Jenkins Reid

[Hugo, Daisy Jones, Malibu Rising, gotta read Carrie Soto soon]

- A Lady For A Duke by Alexis Hall

- What I Did For A Duke by Julie Ann Long

Movies:

90s/00s Rom Coms - that entire genre and era changed me as a person. 

10 Things I Hate About You 

Legally Blonde 

Confession of Shopaholic 

Adding A Barbie Section at the request of Belle & Trivia: 

Mermaid’s Tale, An Island Princess and of course Princess & The Pauper changed everyone's lives

Contemporaries: 

Mr. Malcolm’s List 

The Batman 

Do Revenge 

Look Both Ways

Emily

Shows (Added this in cos Shows have shaped me more than movies): 

Wizards of Waverly Place 

Gossip Girl 

The Royals

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

The Mindy Project 

All Michael Schur shows except Parks & Rec (it was fine but not my vibe) 

Jane The Virgin (BUT I do not claim S5)

Favorite song: Changes depending on the day but I will always go back to Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen 

Special Mention: Right Where You Left Me and Nothing New by TS

Favorite instrument: Guitar to play because I played it when I was 8; piano and violin to listen to - I really am a strings bitch huh 

Aesthetic: I love dressing up in different styles and aesthetics tbh and I would say I dress how I feel. I dress up more when I'm happier and have a lot of statement pieces, more casual when I'm feeling lazy or depressed. But with the statement pieces, I'd say I'm giving theatre kid and I like to dress up like a Hollywood starlet sometimes lmao.

Favorite Author: I have no idea tbh. There's not one single author I've read all their books and liked. Hmm maybe Lemony Snicket but I haven't read Asking All The Right Questions yet. But all the books and authors listed above are a good range.

Ohmygod Cecelia Ahern - I've read and loved all her books!! Shoutout to my mom for getting me into her books during my teen years

Favorite Animal Noise: Rattlesnakes, Elephant’s Trumpet with the whole show of their trunks, Seal clapping and Hyena giggles

Random: So this section is the reason I didn't finish this post when Caro tagged me in it months ago lmao sorry C but now I have a fun random fact to share!

I'm currently on vacation in a tropical country rn and the villa I'm staying in feels so much like Donna's Villa in Mamma Mia - I love it so much! (I might reblog and share pictures of this place in the future but rn I'd like not to doxx myself lol) It's hella homey and I LOVE all the animals here; they have 4 dogs and 2 cats who are all my besties now. (I've never been a big pet person and now I want one)

[smokeybrand]

Mutiny

I’m not a fan of Joe Rogen. I find a lot of what he says to be problematic as f*ck but the way he says it, is FAR more damaging. Dude pushes some wild, dangerous, nonsense under the guise of “free speech”, disingenuous “debate”, and insidiously leading questions. Rogen is the Frat Boy version of Tucker Carlson in a lot of ways and that sh*t just doesn’t appeal to me. Beta males who think too highly of themselves listen to this due and take him seriously. These are people who are not self-actualized, who’s entire personality is based on their car or their sneakers or some other superficial bullsh*t they confuse for a personality, and that’s what Rogen’s entire show is; Superficial bullsh*t. So when he pushes dumb-f*ckery like “Don’t get the shot if you’re young and healthy”, these idiots who are either teenagers or have the mentality of teenagers, f*cking listen and we have a spike in cases. Because Joe Rogen said so.

The other day, this asshole bought into that whole “White Fear” sh*t, talking about how the Straight White Male is the most persecuted demo in America and i just groaned. This is the same exact sh*t Carlson does on his show, verbatim, just slightly less racist. It’s the current strategy of what is fast becoming the American Fascist Party, Republicans. It’s hypocritical f*cking nonsense and i hate it. How the f*ck would Joe Rogen, a Straight White Male with a whole ass podcast, be silenced or censored or persecuted/ He’s a multi-millionaire with one of the most popular platforms on f*cking Spotify. How the f*ck would any White person, especially Straight White Males, get silenced in the US? The bones of this country are built to uphold a very specific form of White Supremacy. Hell, cats talk about all these rights and liberties but, in the very beginning, those rights were only extended to White Male Landowners; basically Rich White Men, and guess who the f*ck Joe Rogen is? The constitution had to be amended to include every one else which means this country was designed to be a haven for objective White Supremacy. The fact that they replaced Straight with Rich is just a misnomer used to broaden that division and you have assholes with real audiences buying into that dangerous bullsh*t, disseminating that poison to their followers. And they just drink that persecution complex kool-aid, up. It’s f*cking absurd.

The irony in all of this is the fact that the country is getting younger and browner. Statistically, by the time Gen Z’s kids come of age, we’ll outnumber White people. The margin will be slight but they’ll be the overall minority in this country and that’s why we have all of this fear-mongering and treasonous tantrums. That system the Founding Fathers built to protect their power, is falling apart. It's all a matter of time. Why do you think they're fighting so hard to keep DC and Puerto Rico from becoming actual States? I can guarantee those cats who signed the Constitution never anticipated the influx of melanated people over the years, interbreeding with their lily White sensibilities, or the homogeneity desegregation would bring to society or the way Black culture ended up shaping the entire American zeitgeist or how the Internet just blew the doors off any illusion US citizens had about our true status in the world at large. I was born in 1984. Ten years before i existed, the South was still heavily segregated. My generation, the Millennials, were the very first to be completely free from the social consequences of the Civil Rights Movement. We were far enough removed from that to just see people, not race. I was exposed to so many more cultures, religions, and people, as a kid, than my ma had been when she was young. It wasn’t like, all of a sudden, we were singing kumbaya together, but it was definitely a start, one that has only gained more and more momentum as the Generations who came after mine, started coming of age in a world whose borders are just ceremonial at this point because of the Tech age.

I met my chick and made friends across the globe in a chatroom. One of my closest friends lives in New Zealand. Another stays in Finland. My birthday twin lives in England. She’s a year older than i am and has a beautiful family. My Puerto Rican sister met her dude around the same time i met my chick. He’s from Alabama. She moved from the island to be with him and they've settled down in Georgia where they share a beautiful daughter. My best friend became so close with an Asian girl from Australia, that he adopted her as his own sister. They spoke at least twice a week for the next fifteen years, all the way up until he passed away. The world is much smaller, much clearer, than it has ever  been before, and it turns out that it’s full of color. Color these Straight White Men are, apparently, terrified of. That’s got to be it. That’s got to be why they’re throwing these big ass tantrums and constantly fear-mongering about it. I don’t understand. When Brie Larson said what she said, it was the truth. There are THOUSANDS of films about White dudes you can watch. The entirety of film history is Straight White Males. What is so bad abut getting some chicks or People of Color or some LBGTQ representation in a few leads? Why can't we have strong Black performances in movies where we don't play the “magical Negro” or f*cking Slave? Why can't we have an all Asian cast when the principals aren't constantly fetishized? What is so terrible about giving a role to a Muslim that isn't linked to some ridiculous terrorist trope? Who’s really offended by this and why are they so goddamn fervent about it? Straight White Males, bud.

It’s because their grip on the reins is slipping. The power and the privilege they’ve had for so long, too long, is started to tip in the other direction. The playing field is, ever so slowly, evening out and these Straight White Males are losing their sh*t. They’ll talk about “being racist against white people” and “it's fine to interview everyone but hire cats who are qualified” with one breath but then absolutely savage voting rights directly focused on crippling the Black vote and desperately cling to the idea that 45 still deserves to be president, even though a steady stream of his criminal incompetence has been flowing out of the the White House since he’s left. The level cognitive dissonance is f*cking hilarious. It’s as bad as the GOP complaining about “cancel culture” while literally silencing Liz Cheney. Are you f*cking kidding me? I gotta sit here and listen to a very vocal minority complain about the direction of the MCU because they’ve decided to add a plethora of female and POC roles going forward into Phase Four. They keep asking “who's this for?” and it's obvious it's for everyone, not just Straight White Males. That, to them, means it's going to be bad. Just because the focus has shifted from three White dudes in leading roles, suddenly the MCU has lost it's way. It’s like, all of a sudden, just because the MCU wants to represent their audience as a whole, not just a narrow and shrinking part of it, we’re not supposed to trust in Feige anymore. Are you kidding me? The Green Knight is slated to be another massive hit for A24. The cat who wrote that film was bounced from studio to studio because he created that story specifically as a vehicle for Dev Patel and no major studio wanted to make it with him in the lead. Dev Patel is a f*cking Oscar winner and a brilliant actor but this movie, draped in surreal and beautiful imagery, driven by a visceral, bloody, focus, wasn’t going to get made because the lead this plot was specifically written for, happens to be brown. But Straight White Males are the ones being silenced? Okay, bud.

Joe Rogen is a symptom of a greater problem and it’s the problem of White Fragility. White Fragility fuels the worst of our society. It's the genesis of racism and bigotry. It drives Nationalism and is fertile ground for cults of personality which blossom into whole ass dictatorships. These motherf*ckers are in they’re feelings and will burn this country to the ground if it means they will stop getting their way. Brie Larson calls out the ridiculousness of the race bias in Hollywood? They attack. Arizona flips Blue because Indigenous people and Black folks come out to vote in droves? Voter fraud and four recounts, one months after the election has been called and Biden has already taken office. Jordan Peele says, out loud, to the entire country, that he’s not interested in telling stories with White people in the lead? Shadow banned from Hollywood. Dude was the toast of Hollywood after Get Out and Us. He said what he said and cat's been trapped behind the camera as a Producer ever since. It’s nuts because these people complaining about how hard it is to be and how unfair the current social climate is to Straight White Males, have called Twatter NPCs whiny, SJW, children, for years. Bro,you’re the same, just racist! You are the Trump to their Obama. You are the thermodynamic reaction to their Civil action. You assholes are arguing the same merit, just on the opposite ends of the spectrum so, if they’re whiny assholes, wouldn’t you have to be, too? The only difference is that the Twatter assholes have a zeal for inclusion while you Rogen Bros have a penchant for White Supremacy and, given the choice, I'd have to agree with the Blue Checkmarks in this regard.

Straight White Males have had the run of this country since before it was a country and look what they’ve done with it. Look where we are, right now, in the year of our lord, 2021. This is as far as we have come under their stewardship. It’s time for a new captain, i think. Sorry if that hard truth hurts your feelings. Now please steer us away from those very obvious rocks. I’d rather not violently crash into that reef and sink into a watery grave before we can get our hands on the wheel to right this ship, all because you assholes are in your feelings, thank you.

[bigyack-com]

The 46 Most Anticipated Movies of 2020

2019 was a landmark year for movies, especially for Disney, which propelled past its own box office record thanks to Avengers: Endgame — the biggest movie of all time — The Lion King, and Frozen II. In 2020, the start of the new decade promises a bit of a clean slate, with no big mash-up movies or remakes in store. Of course, there are still plenty of big hitters around. We've got two entries apiece in Marvel Studios, DC, and Sony's Marvel universes, including the return of Black Widow and Wonder Woman. There's a new movie in store from Christopher Nolan, in addition to the return of Fast and Furious, Minions, King Kong, and Ghostbusters.And after a year filled with Disney's remakes of past hits, we will be treated to three original efforts from Pixar and its own studio in 2020. Speaking of animation, there are also upcoming movies involving Tom and Jerry, Scooby-Doo, and Sonic the Hedgehog. And oh, James Bond is back after five years, though in terms of time, nothing can beat the return of Tom Cruise's Top Gun after over three decades. Closer to home, we've got a few historical dramas, Aamir Khan remaking a Hollywood movie, and Farhan Akhtar in a boxing film. Kabir Khan will give us a film on India's 1983 Cricket World Cup success, and Sanjay Leela Bhansali has roped in Alia Bhatt to play a red-light district matriarch.Note: for Hollywood movies, most release dates are for the US, except wherever specifically mentioned.

January

ChhapaakRelease date: January 10, 2020Deepika Padukone plays an acid-attack survivor in a film inspired by the life of Laxmi Agarwal, from Raazi and Talvar writer-director Meghna Gulzar.TanhajiRelease date: January 10, 2020Based on the 17th-century Battle of Sinhagad, in which the Marathas fought the Mughals, respectively led by General Tanaji Malusare (Ajay Devgn) — serving Chhatrapati Shivaji — and Udaybhan Rathod (Saif Ali Khan). Kajol stars as Tanaji's wife.DolittleRelease date: January 17, 2020In his first role since Avengers: Endgame, Robert Downey Jr. is a Victorian England-era doctor and veterinarian who can speak to animals and prefers them over humans, but is forced to set sail on an adventure to find a cure for Queen Victoria's grave illness.The GentlemenRelease date: January 24, 2020After Aladdin, Guy Ritchie returns to his action crime roots with this story of an American immigrant (Matthew McConaughey) who has decided to cash out his marijuana empire in London. Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, Eddie Marsan, Colin Farrell, and Hugh Grant star alongside.Bad Boys for LifeRelease date: January 31, 2020 (India)Seventeen years later, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return to wrap up their buddy cop trilogy, which reunites the detectives after a mob boss desires revenge close to their official retirement.The Rhythm SectionRelease date: January 31, 2020Blake Lively, Jude Law, and Sterling K. Brown star in this spy thriller from the producers of James Bond, which follows a woman who discovers that a plane crash that killed her family wasn't accidental. You know where this goes.

February

Birds of PreyRelease date: February 7, 2020In this Suicide Squad spin-off set in the DC film universe, a Joker-less Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) teams up with three more female vigilantes to save a young girl from a brutal, iron-fisted crime lord (Ewan McGregor).Watch the First Trailer for Birds of PreySonic the HedgehogRelease date: February 14, 2020Delayed to make time for the redesign of its blue speedster in the face of criticism, this video game adaptation follows Sonic (Ben Schwartz) visiting Earth, teaming up with a former cop (James Marsden), and evading Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey), a scientist interested in world domination.Watch the New Trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog

March

OnwardRelease date: March 6, 2020Pixar's next film is set in a suburban contemporary fantasy world and follows two elf brothers (Tom Holland and Chris Pratt) who set out on a quest to rediscover magic so they can spend one day with their father.Watch the First Trailer for OnwardA Quiet Place: Part IIRelease date: March 20, 2020John Krasinski returns as director on this sequel to the 2018 hit, which forces the family — Emily Blunt and her two on-screen kids — to venture out into the world, where the creatures that hunt by sound aren't the only threats.MulanRelease date: March 27, 2020Disney's wave of live-action remakes continues with this Chinese folklore tale about a young woman who takes her ailing father's place in the army. It's got an all-Chinese cast, thankfully, and it's one of the most expensive movies of all time, with a reported buget of $300 million.SooryavanshiRelease date: March 27, 2020You know we've hit peak “cinematic universe” when Rohit Shetty crafts one for his over-the-top cops. Akshay Kumar is the new eponymous entrant as the chief of an anti-terror unit, with Katrina Kaif as his love interest, and Ajay Devgn and Ranveer Singh cameoing as Singham and Simmba.

April

The New MutantsRelease date: April 3, 2020Delayed several times, this last entry in Fox's erstwhile X-Men world is about five young mutants — including Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams — trying to escape a secret facility while discovering the extent of their abilities.No Time to DieRelease date: April 3, 2020 (India)Daniel Craig returns as James Bond for the fifth and final time. Set five years after Spectre, a semi-retired Bond must find a missing scientist after a new villain (Rami Malek) poses “a danger the likes of which the world has never seen before.”Watch the First Trailer for No Time to Die‘83Release date: April 10, 2020India's surprising success at the 1983 Cricket World Cup is told through the eyes of captain Kapil Dev (Ranveer Singh) in this biopic from director Kabir Khan.Black WidowRelease date: April 30, 2020 (India)The first Marvel movie since Avengers: Endgame jumps into the past — shortly after Captain America: Civil War — and follows Scarlett Johansson's titular character as she is forced to confront her past. David Harbour, Florence Pugh, and Rachel Weisz also star.Watch the First Trailer for Black Widow

May

Scoob!Release date: May 15, 2020The first feature animated Scooby-Doo movie is going to be an origin tale for the gang, telling us how a young Scooby and Shaggy met, and then teamed up with Fred, Daphne, and Velma to form Mystery, Inc. Warner Bros. hopes it will kick off a Hanna-Barbera Cinematic Universe.Fast & Furious 9Release date: May 22, 2020This ridiculous franchise somehow continues with Fast Five director Justin Lin returning to (hopefully) reinvigorate it. Most of the old gang is back — including Jordana Brewster and Charlize Theron — and they are joined by new faces in John Cena and Michael Rooker.Artemis FowlRelease date: May 29, 2020Pushed from last year, Eoin Colfer's 2001 novel of the same name is getting the big-screen treatment 19 years after it was first announced. It involves a 12-year-old criminal mastermind, fairies, and a possible robbery.

June

Wonder Woman 1984Release date: June 5, 2020The second DC film of the year reconnects with Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) seven decades on in the eighties, where she's (somehow) reunited with her old love (Chris Pine) while going up against two new enemies (Pedro Pascal and Kristen Wiig).Watch the New Trailer for Wonder Woman 1984SoulRelease date: June 19, 2020In Pixar's other original movie in 2020, a music teacher's (Jamie Foxx) soul is accidentally separated from his body and transported to a realm where souls develop and gain passions before passing into a newborn. There, he meets a soul-in-training (Tina Fey) who has been trapped for years.Watch the First Trailer for SoulTop Gun: MaverickRelease date: June 26, 2020For more than thirty years — as much time since the first film — Tom Cruise's Navy aviator has avoided promotion to remain in the air as a test pilot. The man with no future is forced to reckon with the ghosts of his past after he encounters his late best friend's son (Miles Teller) in training for a special mission.Watch the First Trailer for Top Gun: Maverick

July

Minions: The Rise of GruRelease date: July 3, 2020This sequel to the 2015 billion-dollar hit follows the tiny, yellow creatures as they encounter a young Gru — their eventual leader — for the first time.Free GuyRelease date: July 3, 2020A video game character (Ryan Reynolds) finds out he's in a video game and then tries to make himself the hero. Wait, isn't this the plot of Wreck-It Ralph? Anyhoo, Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, and Taika Waititi star alongside.Ghostbusters: AfterlifeRelease date: July 10, 2020After a critically and commercially unsuccessful reboot, Sony rejigs the machine to produce a direct sequel set 30 years after Ghostbusters II. It follows two children and their mother (Carrie Coon) who discover their link to the original gang — most of whom are retuning — after moving to a farm. Paul Rudd is new to the cast.TenetRelease date: July 17, 2020Christopher Nolan's next film involves time travel and finds an agent traversing the world, including Mumbai. John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Clémence Poésy, Himesh Patel, Michael Caine, and Kenneth Branagh star.Watch the First Trailer for TenetMorbiusRelease date: July 31, 2020Sony's own Marvel universe expands with this tale about a scientist (Jared Leto) suffering from a rare blood disease who attempts to cure himself and instead becomes afflicted with a form of vampirism. Adria Arjona, Matt Smith, Jared Harris, and Tyrese Gibson part of the cast.ShamsheraRelease date: July 31, 2020Ranbir Kapoor plays a father and his titular son who are part of a dacoit tribe that fought for their independence from the British colonialists in the 19th-century. Sanjay Dutt, Vaani Kapoor, Ronit Roy also star.

August

Bhuj: The Pride of IndiaRelease date: August 14, 2020Set during the 1971 Indo-Pak War, the story of a squadron leader (Ajay Devgn) in-charge of the Bhuj airport who helped reconstruct an air force base with the help of 300 local women. Sanjay Dutt, Sonakshi Sinha, and Rana Daggubati have supporting roles.

September

Gangubai KathiawadiRelease date: September 11, 2020Alia Bhatt will play the titular brothel owner and matriarch in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's next venture, based a chapter of S. Hussain Zaidi's book, ���Mafia Queens of Mumbai”.The King's ManRelease date: September 18, 2020This period prequel to the Kingsman series follows Ralph Fiennes as Duke of Oxford and his protégé as they put a stop to tyrants and criminals. Gemma Arterton, Matthew Goode, Daniel Brühl, Djimon Hounsou, and Charles Dance are part of the cast.Last Night in SohoRelease date: September 25, 2020After Baby Driver, Edgar Wright's next film is a London-set psychological horror starring Thomasin McKenzie (Leave No Trace), Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch), Matt Smith (Doctor Who), Diana Rigg (Game of Thrones), and Terence Stamp.

October

Sardar Udham SinghRelease date: October 2, 2020Shoojit Sircar's dream project about the titular revolutionary freedom fighter (Vicky Kaushal) comes to life. Udham is best known for taking revenge for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre by killing Punjab's then-lieutenant governor in 1940 London, for which he was subsequently hanged by the British.ToofanRelease date: October 2, 2020Farhan Akhtar and director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra reunite for another sports drama — after 2013's Bhaag Milkha Bhaag — about a fictional boxer. Paresh Rawal, Isha Talwar, Mrunal Thakur, Rishi Kapoor, Rajpal Yadav, and Soni Razdan are part of the cast.Venom 2Release date: October 2, 2020The first film was total carnage, so it makes sense that Tom Hardy's journalist and the titular symbiote are next taking on a serial killer (Woody Harrelson) and his own alien symbiote who is actually called Carnage. Andy Serkis directs.Death on the NileRelease date: October 9, 2020The story of Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) continues on holiday in Egypt, where a love triangle spills into murder. Gal Gadot, Letitia Wright, Armie Hammer, Annette Bening, Rose Leslie, and Ali Fazal also star.

November

The EternalsRelease date: November 6, 2020The second Marvel movie in 2020 spans several thousand years, following the titular immortal alien race as they battle their evil counterparts to protect humanity. Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Gemma Chan, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek, Don Lee, and Kit Harington star.

PrithvirajRelease date: November 13, 2020Chanakya and Pinjar director Chandraprakash Dwivedi helms this epic historical drama about the life of Prithviraja III, who ruled parts of north-west India in the 12th century before his defeat and execution at the hands of the Ghurids. 52-year-old Akshay Kumar will play a man who died in his mid-20s.Godzilla vs. KongRelease date: November 20, 2020This is what it's been building to since the 2014 Godzilla reboot, and the film's title tells you all you need to know. Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Kyle Chandler, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Eiza González, Jessica Henwick, Julian Dennison, and Zhang Ziyi will play the humans.MaidaanRelease date: November 27, 2020Ajay Devgn plays coach Syed Abdul Rahim in this sports biopic, who is considered the architect of modern Indian football and sparked the national team's golden era between 1952–1962. Badhaai Ho director Amit Sharma is behind the camera.Raya and the Last DragonRelease date: November 27, 2020Disney Animation's first original film in four years — since Moana — is about the titular warrior (Cassie Steele) who's looking for the last dragon in the world. Little does she know that she, a water dragon (Awkwafina), is trapped in a human body.Here's the First Concept Art for Raya and the Last Dragon

December

DuneRelease date: December 18, 2020Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem lead the star-studded cast of Denis Villeneuve's ambitious two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 sci-fi classic, often termed unfilmable.West Side StoryRelease date: December 18, 2020Steven Spielberg is behind this remake of the multi-Oscar-winning 1961 film adaptation, though it's said to stick more to the original Broadway musical script. It's about two young adults, associated with rival street gangs, falling for each other in 1950s New York.

Laal Singh ChaddhaRelease date: December 25, 2020Aamir Khan stars in Tom Hanks' role in this remake of Forrest Gump transported to Bollywood, which will hence run through the events of India's history. Kareena Kapoor plays the love interest, played by Robin Wright in the original.Tom and JerryRelease date: December 25, 2020The second 2020 film based on a Hanna-Barbera cartoon is a live-action and animation hybrid. It follows a young adult (Chloë Grace Moretz) who teams up with the titular cat to stop the titular mouse from ruining an important event. Strangely not a part of the aforementioned cinematic universe.The Tomorrow WarRelease date: December 25, 2020In the near future, humans figure out how to draft soldiers from the past — Chris Pratt among them — to fight a losing war against alien forces. Yvonne Strahovski, J. K. Simmons, and Betty Gilpin also star. The Lego Batman Movie director Chris McKay at the helm. Read the full article

[defreitaszack-blog]

AMC Best Picture Film Showcase

Today I went with my mom to go see Moonlight, Lion, and Hacksaw Ridge at one of the local AMC theaters in Springfield, IL. It was part 2 of their film showcase that started last weekend. I wasn’t able to go last weekend, and didn’t have the desire to sit through any more movies after Hacksaw Ridge today. 

Moonlight:

Directed by- Barry Jenkins

Starring- Trevante Rhodes, Andre Holland, Janelle Monae, Ashton Sanders, Jharrel Jerome, Naomie Harris, and Mahershala Ali 

Moonlight is a very strong movie about a young black man battling against his sexuality, his class, his race, and his community. Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes bring to life the story of Chiron and the different obstacles he has to overcome through three periods in his life. In each act Chiron develops a bond with another male character, the first two resulting in more pain and anguish while the third is left up to imagination. Mahershala Ali’s performance, as well as Janelle Monae and Naomie Harris, were first class in both execution and construction. The only element that was strongly lacking was the ending. A climatic movie that just suddenly ends softly and without any real conclusions. Chiron is a sympathetic hero, we know from the beginning that he’ll be victimized somehow but the manipulative and terrible ways still shock us. His retribution and growth is rewarding to see, even if his life as an adult isn’t the one you’d pick for your own kids for the future.

Rating - 7.5/10... I’m not a huge fan of time jumps in movies, too many questions and more imagination that story telling. The ending also was disappointing. But the cast, plot, cinematography and soundtrack really leave a satisfied taste after watching.

Lion:

Directed by - Garth Davis 

Starring- Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, Nicole Kidman, David Wenham, Priyanka Bose, and Sunny Pawar

Sunny Pawar and Dev Patel each play a version of Saroo Brierley, as a young boy and as an adult. The all too real story of how a young Indian boy gets lost from his family and winds up alone in a large city only to be then adopted to a family a continent and ocean away is captivating, and at times, heart breaking. Saroo finds love in his new home but the love of his family beckons him home, and a quest to track down the small village where he’s from drives him to the brink of insanity. At times the movie feels like a warm tale that will just continue to produce smiles, and then it slowly changes into a story you’re praying will work itself out. The story has intermittent flashbacks of his family that bring a real sense of being alone, and the heart warming ending really brings the smiles. Rooney Mara and Nicole Kidman do outstanding work, and Dev Patel delivered an award winning performance. The movie is very strong, but some of it’s flaws are really hard to sit through. At one point while searching google earth he zooms in on a pixelated image of India, which is then full screened for the movie. The pixellated image, and the sporadic movement of the screen as he scans the map, is nauseating. Just before this sequence Saroo starts becoming overwhelmed with memories of his childhood and starts acting really strange to his family. However real it may be to react like that, the slow transformation of the character is really difficult to sit in a movie theater through.

Rating - 7/10...At one point while watching I remember thinking I can’t wait for this to be over. But it rebounds and makes up for the low points in the movie with great acting and a true sense of reward.

Hacksaw Ridge:

Directed by- Mel Gibson

Starring- Andrew Garfield, Vince Vaughn, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Hugo Weaving, Teresa Palmer, and Rachel Griffiths

I’ll be honest. When I first heard that Mel Gibson was directing a war movie about a soldier who won’t hold a gun...I laughed. And then it was gonna be the guy who had just recently left the Spider-man series as the main character? But...then I saw the trailer. When I heard it would be one of the movies being shown I was sold on going. Andrew Garfield proves his worth as an actor in this film. At so many points I actually believed that Garfield was Doss, by his actions and by how he talked. The story of Desmond Doss is fantastic in and of itself, but the representation of his story by Garfield is one of the best in the last decade. Vince Vaughn, Sam Worthington, and Luke Bracey provide a great supporting cast that solidifies the weight of which Doss was under both during boot camp but also during battle. Hugo Weaving and Rachel Griffiths play a very convincing pre-WW2 American family in the south, but all I see when I think Hugo Weaving is Elrond talking about taking the ring to Mordor, which now that I think about it makes this movie even better. This wasn’t the first time I was surprised by Teresa Palmer, Warm Bodies was one of the most enjoyable movies to watch in theaters and she showed her talent then. Palmer’s portrayal of Doss’ wife was outstanding and really added to the movie. The first half of the movie moves really slow, and at times, gets very predictable. After having time to think about the movie, I realize the things that aggravated me about the film were really just the tales of what actually happened. The unbelievably cruel treatment by other soldiers is a surreal contrast to the normally respectably painted WW2 soldiers we most often see. 

Rating - 8.5/10...I debated giving it a 9 but I think an 8.5 works just as well. This is an amazing movie and frankly one of the most heroic tales in movies, and it’s (for the most part) true! A few scenes that seem to be paced wrong and the boot camp chapter seemed far too long. I recommend everyone to go see it!

So....I found out they’ve been doing these every year right before the Oscars for about 5 or 6 years now. And no one told me. I’m disappointed in missing all of the movies I could have been watching on a big screen! But the experience was incredible. A poster, a small book with details about all the movies (from both days), as well as food and drinks. I’m not saying they should do it every weekend, but AMC has the right idea with these movie showcases. I’d do this one a month if I could. Also, all three of these movies are phenomenal. I didn’t get to see Hidden Figures, Arrival, Manchester by the Sea, La La Land, Fences, or Hell or High Water but with how good these three were I can imagine how good the others will be.