#the movie trailer in particular. the voice actors do a really good job in the dub. the voices are TASTY. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

poguesrforlife · 4 years ago

Text

Young and Beautiful | Rudy Pankow - Part 2

You guys are literally the best! Thank you so much for all the amazing feedback for this little weird imagination in my head :’) BTW I have no clue how the movie business works or if this is even close to accurate but just bare with my fantasies here okay :D xoxo

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Trigger warning: It gets a bit very smutty people, be prepared, angsty ???idk

Word count: 3295 (so I went totally over the top with this once again)

Y/N just got the role of her lifetime, starring beside the cast of Outer Banks in the second season as JJ’s love interest. It’s a dream come true and gets even dreamier when she meets Rudy Pankow her alleged love interest. Lines start to blur between reality and film and Y/N is left wondering if taking a leap of faith is worth risking her career.

A couple minutes later you found yourself in your trailer alone. Images and thoughts were flashing in your head, all of them revolving around that kiss. That kiss that didn’t feel like a normal kiss, or any kiss you ever had before. That kiss had been pure magic. There was no other way to describe it. Alone the thought of it send your heart into overdrive and quickened your breath.

And that wasn’t even the worst part, in a couple of hours you were expected back on set after a scene change and doing that kiss with Rudy over and over only half naked.

You had to calm yourself down right this second. Your possible feelings for him couldn’t get in the way of your big break. There was so much more on the line.

A soft knock on your trailer door pulled you out of your thoughts and after opening the door you were faced with a grinning Madelyne and Madison who immediately snuck into your four walls for now.

“What was that?” Maddie C squealed as she sat down on the couch and pulled you down with her.

“What do you mean?” You feigned innocence and looked at them quizzically.

“Hun, you’re a great actress but not that of a good actress and neither is Rudy,” Bailey stated and raised a brow at you.

“Like, Chase and I had our moments on set and even JD and Bailey but we never got so into it that we ignored the ending of the scene,” Maddie pointed out, big smile on her face.

“Guys,” You groaned, just thinking about the embarrassing moment from before. “I don’t even know what happened out there,” You admitted quietly hands over your face as you leaned back.

The girls shared a worried gaze between them as they looked back at you.

“Are you okay though?” Maddie asked and patted your thigh lovingly.

You were so grateful for these two in that moment. You wished you could just bawl in their arms and let all your frustration out but bigger matters were at hand.

“Yes, I’m fine… well I don’t really have a choice,” You mused and gave them a reassuring smile.

Bailey looked at you with a sympathetic smile and closed her arms around you.

“No matter what else might’ve happened out there, you were great. Really really great,” She praised you and you couldn’t help but laugh at her sweet words.

“Thanks for supporting my kissing skills, I guess.” The girls chimed in with laughter at that and you stayed cuddled on the couch until it was time to get back on set.

“You’re going to rock this,” Maddie assured you when she saw your faltering confidence the closer you got to that scene, “and then we can talk about it properly after you had some time to think.”

You squeezed both of the girls’ hands as they led you back to the cameras and the action. You were grateful for their support but the only person you wanted to talk to right now was Rudy. Maybe you shouldn’t have split immediately after the scene and actually talked to him so it wouldn’t be awkward now. But you were an actress after all, you could pretend to not care as much for just a bit longer.

As he came into view with his soft blond waves, where hours before your hands had been entangled in, your heart stopped for a second.

But he didn’t seem to be too bothered as he joked around with the guys and laughed carelessly. Had you been the only one affected by the kiss? Was he just a better actor than you had thought? The thought stung but you knew it would only be for the better. You could be just as nonchalant as him.

“What’re we laughing about?” You chimed in and smiled at the guys. You cringed a bit at your overly joyous voice but couldn’t take it back even if you wanted to as all eyes were fixed on you.

“Rudy just told us how terrible his first kiss was,” Chase explained and smirked at his co-star.

So they had definitely talked about your kiss otherwise they wouldn’t be on the topic, would they? You tried your hardest to look unbothered by it, hoping your face wasn’t turning crimson again.

“Well, I sure hope that I wasn’t your first kiss then,” You joked, “For your sake and for mine.” You bit your bottom lip as your eyes traveled over his face.

He regarded you with an amused little smile playing on his lips as he took you in.

“What? Y/N, as if. Yours would win all the most passionate kiss awards in the country,” JD babbled which earned him a stern look from Rudy and an eye-roll from you.

“At Rudy’s first kiss he actually accidentally spit a piece of gum-“ Chase started giggly but got interrupted by Rudy pushing a hand over his mouth and pushing him out of your ear-shot.

“Would you shut up!” He warned him under his breath and you had to suppress a giggle at his antics.

You could imagine all too well what might have happened with the piece of gum and the poor girl.

For now though, you were just happy that all seemed to be calm and collected between the two of you.

Sooner than you would’ve liked however you were back in business and a dozen people were around you, giving you instructions, doing your make-up, positioning you right and and and…

You loved your job, you really did, but right now you just wanted some piece and quiet.

You were led together into the bedroom of JJ in the Chateau for the scene. It was supposed to be a bit more intimate and shown sex scene than what Chase and Madelyne had done in the first season. You couldn’t help but feel a bit uncomfortable but this wasn’t the first time that you did something like this and you were sure no one would ever get used to that kind of film-making.

The directors sent everyone out of the room they did not especially need to make it as comfortable for the both of you as possible which you thought was infinitely thoughtful.

“You guys have the scene in your hands okay?” Jonas assured you as he went over it with the both of you. “You do only what you’re comfortable with and stop whenever you want.”

“Thanks,” Rudy nodded at his kindness and dropped an arm around your waist. “You’ll tell me how far you want to go okay?”

“We’ll work it out as we go?” You suggested and he pulled you closer to him with a sweet smile. His lips met your forehead in a soft kiss and your eyes fluttered shut for a second at the gentle contact.

“You’ll be great, I’m sure about that,” Valerie gave you a thumbs up and then cameras were rolling.

Rudy’s arm was still around your waist as he led you to the beginning of the scene.

“Promise me, you’ll be honest with me when it’s too much” He whispered, lips grazing the shell of your ear barely and a shiver went down your spine.

You turned your head slowly, eyes locking with his and the incredible saturating blue colour. You didn’t realise how close he was until then. Just a step forward and you would be kissing him.

“Promise,” you gave him your word and watched as relief washed over his face. A simple gesture as him making sure you were comfortable was worth more than any gifts and roses he could have gotten you. Your heart swelled as you looked at him, so grateful that everything in the world aligned for him to meet you in that way. The word ‘destiny’ was dancing around in your mind.

“Action!” You heard someone call and then reality was hidden for the next moments and you were back playing a part.

His lips found yours immediately, just as passionate as before if not even more, and your hands grabbed at him, anything to get him closer to you.

One of his hands pushed the door to the bedroom open as the other sneaked around your waist and you stumbled into the room, lips never leaving another.

“Jump,” Rudy or rather JJ instructed you and you locked your legs around his hips as he grabbed your thighs. Goose-bumps erected on your skin as you felt his touch on the back of your bare legs.

The both of you were already breathing hard, as you couldn’t keep away from each other long enough to catch your breath. It was like your bodies were melting into each other, always closer.

At last his lips left yours and you almost whimpered at the loss of contact but he found a new home on your jaw and neck as he pressed you against the walls of the wooden cabin. Your hand locked around his neck, pulling at the blond waves at the base of it when he met a particular sensitive spot.

“You good?” He asked and you weren’t sure if it was Rudy or JJ asking you. The lines were blurred once again in your mind, but God yes you were more than okay.

“Yes, JJ, yes,” Your voice was slightly hoarse and you thought you heard him moan as he pulled you tighter to him and lifted you off the wall to bring you towards the bed in the middle of the room.

Gently he let you down and hovered over you for a second, admiring your flushed cheeks and red swollen lips. He pecked your lips sweetly over and over and you pulled him in-between your legs, wanting him as close to you as possible. Your breath hitched when he discarded his shirt and you were met with the bare skin of his torso. Your eyes admired every valley and hill of his muscles and soon your hands followed, carefully touching the soft and strong grooves of his abdomen.

A sharp breath escaped him as your cold fingers met his stomach and he leaned back down, reattaching his lips to yours. His right hand found its way to your waist where your shirt had ridden up slightly and you gasped at the contact. His hand wandered to the small of your back, pushing slightly, a signal for you to sit up.

You pushed into him further, your chest pressed to his and he was fingering the hem of your shirt.

“May I?” He inquired kindly and stopped his actions to take a moment to look at you. His brows were drown together as his gaze met yours and you instinctively reached out your fingers to caress the worry of his face. You nodded willingly before you pulled him back into a short kiss and then he stripped off your shirt.

Your head hit the pillows once again and you felt his wet lips on your stomach seconds after. You were only in your bikini top and a pair of shorts now and you tried hard to blend the other people in the room out. Rudy was making a fantastic job of distracting you on that part.

You felt your heartbeat quicken, felt your breath going faster and you knew that this wasn’t anything you could tell your body to do. This was a genuine reaction to this wonderful boy on top of you.

Your whole body felt like it was on fire and drowning in ice-cold water like-wise. You couldn’t remember the last time somebody made you feel like that. The thought that this wasn’t actually real was pressed to the very corners of your mind as you stared into Rudy eyes, his shirtless form hovering above you. God, he was gorgeous. When he looked at you like that and touched your bare skin with his slightly calloused warm hands, it was too easy to forget all the cameras and people around you. But all this was just in your head and you were playing your part just as he did. How you wished in that moment it would be true.

He leaned down further, one hand on your waist drawing lazy circles there and the other one holding him up to not crush you. His lips wandered from your cleavage up your throat to the sweet spot under your ear. Your legs locked around his hips and pulled him closer, his groin meeting the spot between your thighs and you gasped at the sudden sensation, pulling his hair where your hands were entangled.

“Can I take your top off?” He whispered only for you to hear and goosebumps were flashing on your skin at the soft vibrato of his voice.

“Yeah,” You breathed out and arched your back to give him access to the knot between your shoulder blades.

His hand was resting there for a couple seconds without moving and you grew concerned and pulled back to look at his face.

“Are you sure you wanna do this?” He was genuinely trying to make sure you were comfortable with the scene and your exposed body. Nobody in the world could’ve made you feel more secure in this decision than him.

“I would do everything with you,” You whispered just loud enough for the microphones to pick up. You weren’t talking to JJ in that second, you were talking to Rudy. The flashing spark in his eyes and the easy smile returning to his lips told you he knew that as well.

He pulled you up against him and sat up with you straddling him, so your back was turned to the cameras. You gasped surprised at the sudden change of position but it didn’t escape you that he moved you like that so your bare breasts wouldn’t be seen by anybody but him.

“Thank you,” You let out under your breath just for him to hear. You looked at him with so much adoration in that moment and couldn’t help but let your heart fall for him just a bit more.

His eyes moved over your face, just like one of his hands, as if he tried to memorise every plain and freckle on it. You leaned back down to connect your lips and felt an enticing shiver down your spine as his calloused hand opened the knot between your shoulder blades and moved up your spinal column to your neck to remove the top from your upper body.

You welcomed the sudden cold on your bare skin, everything was too hot in that second. But as soon as Rudy pressed his own chest to yours, creating friction on your nipples, it felt like lava was flowing through your veins.

“God, you’re so beautiful,” He said between kisses and one of his hands wandered to your ribcage just below the soft skin of your breast, slowly caressing the skin there.

Your emotions were running high and so was your heart at his touch and his words. With your eyes closed you could pretend that he belonged just to you and nobody else was in the room. Just him and you.

You started grinding on his hips involuntarily your body taking matters into its own hand and not listening to your mind anymore. You gasped when Rudy took one of your breasts into his way bigger hand.

“I need you closer,” He groaned and pressed his hands to the small of your back and your neck before he lay you down again, his chest pressed to yours so close, not allowing anyone to take a look at you.

His hand wandered down to your shorts and he looked down at you questioningly before you nodded and he removed another article of clothing. He removed his own shorts quickly afterwards leaving both of you only in your underwear.

Before it could go any further however he grabbed a blanket lying around on the bed and covered both of you from the waist down and then pretended to pull your last clothes off as well.

“I’m gonna fuck you now, ok?” He groaned in your ear and you could feel his wicked smile pressed to your skin as he told you so.

Holding your eyes locked to his he gave you one last sweet kiss and waited for your consent, which you gave, before he pretended to enter you.

You fake gasped as his hips bucked against yours and your fingers dig into his back as you held him close, chest to chest.

Even though this was all just pretend you couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to actually share this intimacy with Rudy. What he would feel like inside of you. What he would to you and with you when no one else was around. The thought alone made you wet and your nipples harden.

His head rested in the crook of your neck as he moved against you and breathed hard, occasionally leaving wet sloppy kisses on your too hot skin.

“Fuck, JJ!” You fake moaned and locked your feet around his tight ass as you pulled him closer.

Rudy picked up in pace, you could feel his member even through the hard protective underwear he had to wear for scenes like that. And it drove you absolutely crazy. He through his head back, breaths coming in gasps as his hips grinded into yours.

You wanted him so bad that you felt your insides twisting and knees buckle. Your mind was filled to the brim with thoughts of him: his bright blue eyes and how they crinkled at the corners when he laughed, his brilliant smile with his adorable too sharp teeth, his sinful lips that drove you crazy, his strong body the shone in the late afternoon sun like a god’s. It was only him, him, him.

“Cut!” You heard Jonas scream and the magic disappeared like somebody had hit you with a baseball bat right in the stomach. You could’ve killed him right there and then.

Rudy hovered above you unmoving, still shielding you from the views of everybody else in the room and grabbed a shirt, JJ’s shirt, for you to cover up.

“Are you okay?” He asked once again as soon as the shirt was over your head.

“Yeah,” You smiled at him thankfully, “Are you okay?”

“I am,” He laughed at your sweet question and pecked your forehead before pulling away from you so the both of you sat up in the bed.

Your pulse was still a bit too fast as you faced the team surrounding you.

“Okay, that was wonderful. You two did great. Are you both comfortable?” Jonas asked and you nodded immediately. You were a bit too comfortable actually.

“I think, we’re gonna shoot this scene a couple more times, just to get some different angles and then just JJ and Y/C/N sleeping afterwards and you’re done for today,” Valerie mused and looked between the both of you and to Jonas. You all agreed and then the ordeal started all over again.

It didn’t get any easier to entangle your thoughts of JJ from your thoughts of Rudy however, no matter how often you did the scene.

You were always just as enchanted by him as the first time. His skin on yours, his eyes, his lips, all this sent you right into an abyss of feelings and emotions where no return would be possible.

You had always been good at differentiating between reality and fiction but right now you weren’t so sure if there was anything to keep apart. Because the way Rudy looked at you in-between scenes and during filming… it was the exact same passion and kindness in his eyes.

Tags: @lovelymaybankk @sspidermanss @1d5sosddl @arthiriticcricket @teamnick @lieswithoutfairytales

#rudy pankow x reader #jj maybank #rudy pankow imagine #outer banks fanfiction #outer banks imagine #outer banks netflix #jj fanfic #rudy pankow #rudy pankow fanfiction #outer banks #jj maybank imagine #jj maybank x reader #jj maybank fanfiction #jj fanfiction #rudy pankow smut #jj maybank smut #jj smut #by poguesforlife #by poguesrforlife

3K notes · View notes

lovelylogans · 3 years ago

Text

honey, you’re familiar (like my mirror)

see other chapters, warnings, and notes here!

chapter three: psycellic consentia

psycellic consentia: psycellium (or psycelium) is a psychic nervous system that allows sensates to connect with one another. sensates have a solitary "above" existence, and are connected "below" via the psycelium. consentia, latin: knowledge shared with others, being in the know or privy to, joint knowledge; complicity; knowledge within oneself, consciousness, feeling.

ROMAN

It hasn’t even been five minutes since Sasha left to grab dinner, but Roman’s already feeling strangely jittery.

A nap would be a fruitless venture, he’s realized, so he’s gotten up to pace around the room, reciting the lines of the scene he’s meant to be filming tomorrow. He knows them all by heart, naturally, but it’ll be an odd scene to shoot anyways. His character, Pablo, would be escaping from the grasp of his friend-turned-betrayer (who would turn out to have been bluffing and truly Pablo’s friend all along by the end of the movie) by sprinting through the forest, making his getaway by leaping into a river and swimming away.

This stunt he doesn’t get to do; he’s already technically filmed the scenes when he’s in the water, and a stunt double will be “jumping off the cliff.” So tomorrow is going to be entirely on-location, acting then sprinting through the forest.

So Roman chants his lines to himself, pacing in his room with his eyes closed, trying his hardest to sink into Pablo’s mindset. And, after a few minutes of running his lines over in his head, it’s like he’s actually walking in the forest; the snap of a twig under his feet, the smell of leaves and dirt, the cooing of various birds.

Roman’s jaw drops, because—because no way. No way.

No fucking way is his brother standing there, with a bundle of twigs tucked up under his arms, staring at Roman the way a kid would stare at a particularly adventurous snail journeying along the ground.

Well, the way Remus would look at an adventurous snail, as a kid. Roman would have probably just fled the snail in favor of playing with wooden swords and rescuing imaginary damsels.

"Aw, c’mon, man, what the fuck," Remus grumbles, looking skyward as if asking for some kind of divine intervention, though Roman knows that's never been the case, much to their chronically Catholic abuela’s dismay.

She probably would have been pleased if Roman tacked on a God rest her soul there, but considering her abysmal reaction when her grandson decided to be an actor and an even worse reaction when her other grandson informed them all that he was, in fact, a grandson, he's never really wanted to please her anyway.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Remus says tightly, dropping his bundle of twigs.

Remus. Remus is here. Or Roman is there? Whatever, it doesn’t matter, there he is. That’s Roman’s brother.

“What, are you trying to lure me in for the police to catch me? Because it’s not going to fucking work, Roman.”

God, he’s alive, he doesn’t look hurt, he’s—well, actually, Roman has no idea if he’s safe or not. He just kind of looks like he’s dirty, with scraggly hair and smudges on his face. This alone isn’t entirely unusual for Remus, but the amount of it is. But—he’s here. He’s alive. He has some form of shelter, he’s probably been eating, he’s okay—

“Or are you just here to—”

Roman staggers forward and flings his arms around Remus’ neck, hugging him as tight as he can, almost as if he can feel what Remus feels, the arms wrapping around his neck and the arms wrapping around his torso in kind, feeling echoes of what he does, and what Remus does, bouncing between like a seismic shock.

Across the world, Janus smiles in his sleep; Emile wiggles happily in his chair while waiting for his next therapy session; Patton grins at a wall about nothing in particular; Logan touches his own shoulders, blinking rapidly in surprise at the weight of phantom arms holding him close.

REMY

Remy is used to experiencing emotions that aren’t his.

When he feels a near-violent joy sprouting up in his chest, he pauses briefly in pouring a customer a cup of coffee to put a hand on his chest and smile to himself.

He’ll ask Emile what’s got him so happy later. He’s just happy that Emile is happy.

REMUS

Remus blinks at Roman after Roman pulls back from the hug, hands on his shoulders, still beaming at him.

“—For a while I thought that you were coming to stay at my apartment with me, but then you never showed, and I was worried sick wondering where you were all this time. I’ve been reading all about the case—oh, that doesn’t matter now, we’re together! Now you can come here to the city, and I can post your bail so you can stay with me, and I can get you a really good lawyer, and—!”

“You’ve been reading about the case?” Remus says, his voice sounding strange even to his own ears.

Roman blinks at him. “Yeah?” There’s an unspoken duh in his tone.

“So you know that I’m the main suspect,” Remus prompts.

“Yeah…”

“So, you,” Remus says, “acting sweetheart of the nation with your dear fake girlfriend—you want to bring in a dirty gremlin accused of murder? The sibling the whole country doesn’t even know you have?”

Roman looks suddenly anxious, as if expecting Remus to blow up and yell at him.

“Do you even think I’m innocent?” Remus continues, only faking his bluster a little.

“I mean,” Roman says. “It doesn’t really matter to me.”

“Does what matter?” Remus says. The bluster is much more faked this time.

“I mean, you’re my brother,” Roman says. “I don’t really care if you killed him or not.”

Remus bursts out laughing.

Roman gawks at him, caught off guard, and Remus doesn’t know if it’s just from seeing Roman again, or the fact that he’s been on the run for over a week now and has only been eating the plants a hallucination taught him about, or what, but the expression on his face is just too good.

Roman! Who regularly gets caught in the tabloids! Getting a snapshot of him escorting a man wanted for murder into his warm, loving home! The mental image of the shocked expression on any pap’s face is just—oh, it would be so perfect.

“And your ‘girlfriend?’” Remus says, using air quotes. “Does she know about me?”

“No, but,” Roman says, still with that stupidly heroic, determined look on his face. “I’ll tell her. I’ll tell her tonight, even. She’ll understand.”

Right. If anyone else was as much of a media darling, it was Roman’s fake girlfriend, with her big, brown, innocent eyes and absolute inability to seem like she’s used to being famous.

“Oh, that’s too good,” Remus chortles. “Yeah, Roman. Okay. Sure. You go ahead and tell her.”

“I’m gonna!”

“Sure, fine,” Remus says, waving him off. “Make arrangements to bring your murderous brother home. I’ll catch a bus or something, I’m sure no cop is gonna see me and arrest me on the way to your apartment.”

“I will,” Roman says, firm and resolute, and Remus just shakes his head, grinning still.

Of the pair of them, people seemed to think Remus was the crazy one when it was clear that Roman was absolutely bonkers. But at least he’d grown a pretty good sense of humor since Remus had been accused of killing someone.

JANUS

“Fucking finally, Jazza.”

Janus considers getting up and walking right back out, but unfortunately, his stomach is already set on fish and chips with the made-in-house sauce here. He wearily begins to weigh the costs of putting up with Key and the nickname “Jazza” against the benefits of sriracha aioli.

And money. The money ends up winning out every time.

Three more jobs, Janus tells himself. Just three more jobs, and then you don’t have to put up with the risk anymore. Two, if one of them has a bigger compensation than average, and for the quality of my work...

It’s a lie, of course. Janus has been telling himself three more jobs ever since he clawed his way onto the bar standards board, years ago.

“What’s been going on with you, anyway?” Key says around a mouthful of chips, which garbles his speech beyond recognition. Unfortunately, Janus has known Key long enough that he can translate it with ease.

“Chew with your mouth closed and clean up your face,” Janus says, unable to stop himself. Habits are difficult to kill, Janus supposes.

Key rolls his eyes but obligingly blots at his face with a napkin. “D’you got it?”

Janus offers a small box wrapped like a present in answer. Inside is a hard drive containing the information their client had requested.

Key takes it, grinning, and stuffs it into his hoodie pocket.

“Be careful with that,” Janus scolds.

“You say that every time,” Key says. “Have I ever lost one of your—”

Janus glares at him.

“—one of the fruits of your labor?” Key says, quickly back-pedaling, realizing they’re in a public setting and a waitress is fast approaching with Janus's order.

“This smells amazing.”

Janus tries his best not to startle, but even with two days to process what the man in his mirror had told him, it’s still bizarre.

The actor beside him looks briefly embarrassed as if he hadn’t meant to say that aloud. Janus glances over at him—a member of his cluster, what an unappealing word—and sees a glimpse of a cramped little trailer. On a movie set, probably? He’s wearing leather pants and a leopard-print shirt that Janus has the feeling he’d never wear in real life.

Janus also feels the grumbling in Roman’s stomach. Janus sighs to himself.

“And another basket of chips with extras of that same sauce, please.”

“You got it, lovey,” she says, turning to go.

“Extra hungry, then?” Key says.

“Something like that,” Janus says neutrally. Without asking for Janus's permission—maybe knowing Janus was about to offer anyway—Roman reaches out and gulps deeply from Janus's Ribena.

“How’s,” Janus says, briefly casts about in his mind for the name of the latest love of Key’s life, and lands on, “Francesca?”

Key snorts. “Ancient history, mate.”

Not exactly surprising. Key’s always fancied himself a romantic, but he’s never been able to follow through on his commitment to anything ever.

“M’goin’ on a date with a bird tonight, though,” he says around a mouthful of chips.

“For God’s sake, Key, could you at least pretend you weren’t raised in a barn?” Janus snips at him, even as he’s dunking his own chips into the aioli.

Key grins at him, and Janus wrinkles his nose. He can tell Roman is doing the same beside him. They share the same sentiment at the moment, but it’s Roman’s “that’s disgusting” that falls out of his mouth.

He realizes why Key’s brow furrows a moment too late.

“Uh, bless you?” Key says; the closest he’s ever been to the Mexican vernacular of Spanish is ordering a fajita at a local Tex-Mex restaurant.

“Oops,” Roman says, not particularly apologetically. He grabs another handful of chips.

“I’m studying in my spare time,” he says and fixes Key with a look. “A hobby you could choose to emulate.”

“What’d I need more school for?” He scoffs. “Ten years was well enough.”

“To aspire for more for yourself—”

“Oh, here we go,” Key snaps, tossing down the piece of battered cod he was about to eat, splattering sauce on the wood table. “I am so sick of your “high and mighty” act.”

He mimics Janus's accent at high and mighty; Janus grits his teeth, and very purposefully enunciates his next few sentences.

“This cannot last forever, you understand.”

“No, just so long as you get rich off it, eh?”

“Um,” Roman says. “I’d offer to go and leave you two to duke this one out in private, but I’m not really sure how to stop this weird astral projection thing—”

Janus ignores him.

“Oh, as if being a lawyer doesn’t pay enough. Put your brain to some use and think, why is it that I keep helping you?!” Janus snaps, leaning across the table and softening his voice. “Why on earth do you think I continue with this?!”

“Spare me,” Key scoffs.

“The only reason I keep doing this is because you keep doing this,” Janus hisses. “The only reason I became a lawyer was because of you getting us into trouble.”

“Don’t—” Key says, his face twisting up.

“It is because of me we are not rotting in jail, Quirinus. I’m sure it’s such a burden I want more for you.”

“It’s Key,” he grumbles before he rolls his eyes at Janus and tilts his baseball cap at him in farewell. “And since you have aspired to more for yourself, and since being a big fancy lawyer does pay so much, and since you saved me,” this is said with heavy sarcasm, “you fucking prat, you can get the bill. Much obliged, big brother.”

As he walks off, he tosses a “wanker” over his shoulder for good measure, jamming his orange cap onto his head.

Janus pinches the bridge of his nose, exhaling sharply.

There’s a pause.

Then: the slurping of someone draining his Ribena.

Janus opens his eyes and turns his head to Roman, who’s chasing the last drops of Ribena about the glass with a straw.

“So, he’s probably not finishing that, right?” Roman says. Without waiting for an answer, he grabs a handful of chips and shoves them into his mouth. “‘Cause I’ve been waiting for Sasha to come back with dinner for like an hour now and I’m starving,” he says loudly while chewing.

Janus's jaw is slightly unhinged.

“You are a pestilence upon my life,” he says at last.

Roman smirks at him, mercifully close-mouthed, and swallows down the food that Janus supposes he’ll be paying for. Janus is certain that Roman is doing this to annoy him.

“Wait ‘till you have to deal with my brother.” He dunks the cod into the sauce. “Also, how much do you know about what’s going on here, anyway? Why do random people keep popping into my life?”

Janus lowers his voice so they aren’t heard by any random passerby.

“Allegedly, we are known as sensates. I assume you’ve been seeing other people—we’re stuck seeing them psychically for the rest of our lives, as well as sharing specific skills, languages, emotions…”

Roman reaches for Key’s Ribena and drains that too.

“Tastes,” Janus adds pointedly. “That the other is paying for.”

“Yeah, exactly, you’re paying for it,” Roman says, and grabs another piece of cod. “It won’t go to waste now.”

“You won’t even get the nutritional benefits of eating food,” Janus says. “You’ll just get the taste of it.”

“Still, you’re getting your money’s worth. I’m helping.”

“Aren’t you rich?” Janus says. “Being an actor and all.”

“Aren’t you?” Roman counters. “Being a lawyer and all.”

Roman jams the cod into the ramekin of sauce.

“Either way, this place sure won’t take pesos, and it’s not like I can psychically transfer you money. Hey, how much do you know about Mexican law, anyways?” He takes a massive bite.

Janus puts his face into his hands for a few moments, before he reaches into his messenger pad and pulls out a legal pad and pen.

“Enough,” he says grudgingly—truthfully, not quite as much as English law. However, with this whole connection thing, they do share knowledge, so he certainly knows more now than he did before. He gestures at the waitress for another couple of Ribenas. “Why don’t you refresh me on the details of your brother’s case?”

PATTON

Patton frowns, tapping his pen against his chin as his kindergartners are all sprawled out on their mats for their post-lunch nap. He usually takes advantage of this time to catch up on marking (normally, just putting “good job!” stickers on their papers, they’re five) but right now he’s staring at something he’d written down out of the blue and trying to understand it.

He knows that he’s technically a sensate now, but does that mean his kindergartners are going to have to put up with scrawlings about Mexican flora when Patton had meant to be writing down the activities of the day?

“Aw, jeez,” someone grumbles, and Patton turns to look over his shoulder.

He grins sheepishly at the sight of an academic article plastered over with shiny star stickers. “Oops.”

The man is familiar and yet not; Patton doesn’t think he’s seen this one outside of briefly popping in and out.

The man sighs, turning the paper over and then looking back at Patton.

“At least they’re purple,” he grumbles, and within a heartbeat, he’s gone. Patton returns his attention to his marking.

Oh, yay, he did end up putting stickers on the kiddos’ papers!

LOGAN

Not many people were particularly aware of this, especially considering the average population was generally unaware of the space research in Antarctica, but the cafeterias here are actually excellent.

In the history of Antarctic explorers and researchers, it had gone quite differently—Ernest Shackleton and Tom Crean ate seal, dog meat, and biscuits mixed with melted snow during the Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914—but chefs now seem to view it as an intriguing challenge, a way to sharpen their skills.

Logan is an adequate enough cook, to the point where he can feed himself at home, but the food here is on another level. He’s finishing off his dessert, a lovely chocolate tart when a chef sits across from him at the dinner table, the same one that had served him his tray tonight.

He doesn’t know her well, so he hopes he’s disguised her squint at her nametag under the guise of adjusting his glasses.

“Very well done, Dot,” he says, lifting his fork to his mouth.

“Oh, good, you are one of us,” she says, with a level of relief that seems odd for hearing a compliment about her cooking. “I was wondering, Casimire gave me the oddest look when I told him to head off early so I could make eye contact with you.”

“What are you—?” Logan says, eyes narrowed, before his eyes flash to the kitchen, automatically looking for Casimire, the chef he’s most used to seeing.

True enough, Casimire isn’t there.

But Dot is here.

Dot is here twice.

Dot is sitting at the table with him. But Dot is smiling and chatting with one of the marine biology research team members, ten feet away. But—

“Oh, I can hear that brain working,” Dot says. She reaches out to pat his hand; it feels as warm and real as a hand can feel.

“What is this,” Logan forces through numb lips, appetite gone, chocolate tart entirely forgotten. “What are you—what is happening—?”

“Shh, shh, not too loud,” Dot says in a hushed voice. “To everyone else, it looks like you’re sitting alone. Here—you’ve got your bag with you, did you pack your earpiece?”

Logan nods.

“Put that in.”

He does as she says. What else is there to do?

The Dot in the kitchen turns to wink and smile at him reassuringly. He isn’t sure how to tell the Dot before him that there is absolutely nothing in this situation that could comfort him, and pointing out that there are two of her and that he is seeing things is not a particularly good way to go about it regardless.

He fumbles with the earpiece a few times, but he puts it in and clicks it on.

“There,” she says in satisfaction. “Now it’ll look like you’re talking over Bluetooth. Neat little trick, isn’t it? Keeps us from looking,” and she circles her ear with her finger and gives a two-note whistle, the universal sign for off your rocker. “I’m surprised your parent hasn’t taught you yet, but I suppose you are very new. Has your migraine stopped yet?”

Logan gawks at her. “How did you know I have a—?”

“Because I had one too when it all started,” she says. “All of us do. Let me tell you, I really wasn’t expecting to see a sensate down here, but I guess when you come to a place like this nothing should surprise you, right? That’s what my Larry said. But this’ll be handy, he was hoping I could meet a nice scientist to connect to the Archipelago! You’re an astronomer, right? That’s a very brainy subject.”

“Wait, go back,” Logan says. “How did you know I have a migraine? Why are you talking about my mother? Why should she have taught me about using Bluetooth? What does a group of islands have to do with anything, and what’s a sensate?”

The smile on Dot’s face slips.

“Oh dear,” she says. “Oh dear, you don’t know anything at all, do you?”

Logan gives her an offended look before he can really stop himself.

“Well,” Dot says thoughtfully. “A scientist. I bet you’d be really interested in the opportunity to send a question around the world within seconds, wouldn’t you?”

“Google exists,” Logan points out.

Dot smiles at him. “Where do you think they got the idea? Sapiens invented it in the 1990s; we’ve had it since the Neolithic.”

Against his better judgment to stop listening to what is most likely to be a hallucination, Logan finds himself very intrigued.

VIRGIL

Virgil is elbow-deep in papers about abrus precatorius, sorting them into piles for useful information or irrelevant when there’s the sound of someone hitting their knees beside him.

Virgil jumps, startled, and looks into the stunning blue eyes of Logan, the handsome Pole in Antarctica. His eyes are bright, eager, excited, and there’s a wide smile on his face.

“We’re not hallucinating,” he declares and spreads out an armful of his own notes; hastily taken, from the look of it, and he presses his fingers against an earpiece that’s blinking blue light. “Oh, and get one of these, by the way, technology has apparently made things much better for us, Dot said we’d get burned during the witch trials because we’d be talking to people who weren’t there and knowing things we shouldn’t know, but I think that’s an exaggeration. I wish there was a more central written history, but I suppose we’ve evolved in a way that word-of-mouth knowledge is the most efficient, haven’t we?”

There’s a lot of thoughts whirling around Virgil’s head—what do you mean, how do you know, why are we talking about witch burnings and evolution—but what comes out, a bit stupidly, is “You look good.”

Logan’s rambling stops in his tracks as he stares at Virgil, bemused, mouth slightly ajar.

“Um, I mean,” Virgil says. He coughs. “You look… less worried than last time. Which is. Good!”

Logan keeps staring. With his lips parted like that, it’s all too easy to see that Logan must have licked them, recently; the sheen of it catches Virgil’s eye. He stares at Logan’s mouth. He stares at Logan.

Stop it stop it stop it he’ll think you’re weird, something in his brain shrieks, and that breaks the spell.

“So, uh, you’ve figured out what’s happening to us?” Virgil prompts.

Logan shakes himself, before he spreads out his papers, picking up one in particular. Virgil takes it, examining it; it’s two sketches of a brain. He’s familiar enough with biology by virtue of having doctors for parents to know that the sketch on the right side of the paper is not right.

There’s something wrong with this brain.

“This,” Logan says, tapping the leftmost brain with his finger, “is the typical human brain.”

“Right, yeah,” Virgil says, frowning, and points to the rightmost brain. Their hands almost touch. “There’s something wrong with this one—something about the hemispheres, I think? It’s like there’s a growth.”

Logan moves to point to the rightmost brain, and this time, their hands do brush. But, before Virgil can think anything about it other than his hands are soft and he feels a little cold—

“This is what our brains are becoming.”

Virgil immediately panics.

“But it’s okay!” Logan says quickly as if he’s able to tell. Maybe he can—Virgil isn’t sure how clear it reads on his face. Or maybe, the way he’s been laughing at nothing or frowning at thin air, Logan can feel it. “It’s okay, it’s totally natural for us. For homo sapiens, no, but for homo sensorium—”

“Homo sensorium?” Virgil repeats, brow furrowed.

“It’s what we are,” Logan says. “Scientific name homo sensorium, colloquial name sensate.”

Sensate. Virgil hears the word, and something slips in place in his mind—it’s as if he’s heard that term before. It feels like breathing in a whiff of air and catching the scent of a sweet that sends your memory careening back to a time when you were seven and elbow-deep in dough with your grandmother. But it’s like he can’t quite fully grasp the memory. Something niggles just at the edge of it. It’s like his brain is trapped on the grandparent metaphor because he cannot stop thinking about his mother’s mother.

He sets the memory aside, for now; he’ll have time to think of it later.

Because, as Logan explains everything he’s learned so far, Virgil has absolutely zero chance of thinking about anything else.

They spend most of the night talking about it. Even with all the bizarre aspects of what this new information brings, it’s easy to talk to Logan in a way that isn’t typical of Virgil speaking with other people. Virgil isn’t sure if that’s because they share this psychic connection, or if they’re both doctors, or if it’s some other connection.

“The way it was phrased is that we’re different types of human, but I don’t think we’re so different that it sets us apart from other people. From what I understand, the growth of our population is primarily due to epigenetic factors…”

Okay, so, primarily due to how behaviors and environments affect his genes. But what epigenetic factor triggered this in Virgil? Was this a dormant thing that could be triggered by ingesting some sort of chemical, or was it due to the way Virgil behaved? Had he done something in his life to cause all of this?

“A lot of the science is conjecture,” Logan warns, “and there was apparently some big corporation intent on doing medical experimentation on us ten or so years ago, but that’s mostly handled, you just have to be more careful about making eye contact with strangers in public…”

Oh, great, scientists hunted them down for medical experimentation so now he had to closely guard himself in any hospital! What a thrilling thing to hear for the son of two doctors!

“I’ve gathered that we can “share” certain skills or memories and that these things will become easier with practice. That’s why I could speak Xhosa and you Polish when we first met, it was the skill-sharing attribute, which could certainly come in handy for several reasons, but I also understand that we can visit each other at various times. There’s apparently a medicine you can take to block it, but it’s rather rare to come by, so unless you know a pharmacist willing to do some work under the table…”

That would almost definitely come to bite one of them in the ass at some point. What about privacy? Was he just doomed to have people from all over the world pop in on him while he’s in the shower or something?

“Dot said that she met her husband Larry through the connection, which drove off into a whole side-tangent. Apparently, romantic partners in clusters—that’s the widely accepted term, ‘cluster.’”

Virgil pulls a face.

“I know, they could have picked literally any other more appealing word for it, couldn’t they? Bunch, group, flock, clique, assemblance—Anyways, romantic partnerships within clusters are somewhat common, and most of the sensate community finds it quite normal. I think our parent is in one, or at least that’s what Dot said.”

Logan clears his throat and adjusts his glasses. “Apparently some of the old-fashioned sensates think it’s like—what was it Dot’s parent said?—”the worst sort of narcissism.” Apparently, her parent was very displeased to be a parent and wanted nothing to do with creating bonds. I personally think that’s a rather backwards—humanity survives and thrives due to its ability to create bonds and care for each other—but I suppose I tend to think that way about a lot of old-fashioned things.”

“I guess I do, too,” Virgil muses aloud.

They sit quietly, for a while, so quietly that Virgil doesn’t notice when Logan slips away; the only thing that does bring him back from his swirling thoughts is when a voice breaks Virgil’s silence. It sends the emotions of knowing what’s happening to him shattering to the ground.

“Who on earth are you talking to?”

#my fic #my fanfic

9 notes · View notes

ancientwastedlores · 4 years ago

Text

Troubles and Giggles

REQUEST: Hi!!! Could I ask for a Tom Hiddleston x actress. They are working on a new movie together and she realises she has feelings for Tom...Tom also realised he has feelings for her too and its all just really fluffy and cute please. Thank you darling 💜💜💜

A/N: Yeah, yeah, it’s been a hot minute. I have a job now *gasp* where people pay me to write. How the hell did that happen. ANYWAY, I had this request sitting in my Ask for a while, so here you go! I did put my own little spin on it, hope you like it!

WORD COUNT: 1165

WARNING: none. It’s all fluff <3

____________________________________

Troubles and Giggles

This press tour felt more like a vacation with friends than work. You, Tom, and Anthony Mackie were regularly paired together, and it was absolute chaos every time. Mackie’s stories, Hiddleston’s charm, and your wit made for excellent interviews. And you were sure Marvel knew it too.

This was probably your sixth one together. You were almost paired with Tom Holland for this one, when Marvel decided Benedict would be a better fit for the Spoiler Machine.

‘It’s just business’ Benedict told you, patting you on the back, ‘Don’t take it personally’.

‘Excuse you, I adore my time with Mackie and Hiddleston. You’re seriously missing out. Too bad you have to babysit’.

‘Hey!’ Holland cried.

‘Sit down with your juice box, Tom’ Anthony said, walking into the room.

The three of you were sat in your hotel room, just relaxing before it was time for the interviews. Tom Hiddleston, as usual, was taking his sweet time to get ready, and Anthony showed up in a form fitting, brilliant military green jacket and shades.

‘Anthony, be nice’ you said, but unable to hide your smile.

There was a knock at the door, and it opened a second later. A young woman poked her head in and beamed as she saw Benedict. ‘Uh, sorry… every one ready? I’m here to escort you to your interviews’.

Everyone stood up, and Tom popped in right that second. ��I’m not late, am I?’

‘You’re always conveniently on time, darling’ you said flirtatiously, causing Anthony to shake his head and roll his eyes.

‘So Y/N, I’ve heard something about you’.

‘OH… OOOHH’

You shook your head at Anthony’s childishness and looked at the interviewer. ‘And what’s that?’ you asked.

‘You had a bit of a reputation on set, right?’

‘Oh god’ you hung your head in an attempt to hide your face.

‘Tell em!’

‘Anthony, stop…’

‘In fact, Anthony Mackie even posted a picture on his Instagram’ the interviewer, Jess, opens a screen on her laptop, ‘now… what’s happening here?’.

The picture popped up on her screen. It was later in the production and it was one particular day when Loki and Thor had a lot of scenes and the actors were pretty exhausted. You were on break, and Anthony was shooting another scene in the lot across. When it was time for a break, Tom practically fell on the couch next to you, and Chris Hemsworth went to his trailer and passed out.

Tom was in quite a state, and you felt a little sorry. Before you became an actress, you did all sorts of odd jobs, one of them a masseuse. So, you told him you would massage his back for a couple of minutes. He protested, you insisted, and he continued protesting while you moved behind the couch and put your hands right where his shoulders meet his neck. Just then, Anthony happened to take a break too and saw you. He took a photo at the worst possible moment. With both you and Tom in costume, his face of distress, and your hands on his neck, it looked like you were trying to choke him.

Sure enough, the picture made it to Anthony’s gram, with the caption “Everyone’s trying to kill Loki #shootdays”

Anthony was nearly falling off his chair laughing while you and Tom tried to keep a straight face.

‘Look… he was having a hard time… I wanted to help!’ you defended.

‘Well, that’s fair’ the interviewer said, ‘But it seems you got a bit of a reputation’.

‘I may or may not have been asked by other cast members for a massage’.

‘She refused’ Anthony said, ‘Apparently Tom is the only one who gets one’.

‘You posted that picture; you lost all privileges!’

Now the interviewer laughed, while Tom only blushed.

‘Was it a good massage?’ Jess asked Tom.

Tom did his signature laugh �� tongue out, eyes tightly shut, and annoyingly elegant and soft. ‘Yes, yes very much. It was wonderful massage’.

‘Well, I wouldn’t know’ Anthony said, causing Jess to laugh again.

‘Can we talk about the movie? I mean… Loki joins the Avengers; you have to have more questions about that!’

After that, you got down to business… as much as you could, with Anthony dropping fake spoilers.

At a photoshoot with the whole cast in Korea, you noticed Tom made it a point to stand right next to you. He pulled you close to him and put his arm around your waist. It felt warm and familiar.

‘Ready? 1… 2… 3, say New Avengers!’

‘NEW AVENGERS!’

Celebratory drinks for wrapping up the press tour were hosted by RDJ, the one and only. Loud music, food, alcohol, and lots and lots of laughing were the order of the evening.

You were sat next to Zoe Saldhana and Karen Gillan, telling them a hilarious story about Tom Holland nearly dropping another spoiler, when Mackie sauntered up to you and nudged you with his elbow. He used his beer to point at Tom, who was sitting alone and having a drink.

‘We both know you got a crush on him’ he said, winking at you.

‘What!?’

‘Both? We all know’ Karen said. ‘Go get em, girl’ she said in her Scottish accent, making it sound funnier.

‘Come on, you don’t give anybody else massages!’ Anthony exclaimed.

‘That’s not true, Karen, I gave you one just yesterday!’

The three of them look at you with raised eyebrows.

‘I hate you guys’. You get up and go to Tom, whose face brightened instantly.

‘What are you having?’ you asked.

‘Whiskey. You?’

‘Same’ you waved your glass.

There was an awkward silence. You had been alone together before, but somehow in the middle of a party, this felt even more intimate.

‘Why you here all by yourself, mister?’ you asked teasingly.

‘Ah, what to say, Y/n. Troubles plague the mind’ he smiled at his own joke.

‘Any you’d want to share with me?’

He looked at you with a mixture of sadness and utter love.

‘For one… I am in love, and while nothing stops me from telling her I love her, I fear she doesn’t love me back’.

‘Maybe you should ask her’.

‘Maybe I should’.

Silence. You each took a sip of your drink. You swirled yours around in your glass, waiting.

‘Um… you were talking about me then, right?’ you asked.

His eyes widened and he laughed. ‘Yes! Yes, oh my god, I’m sorry, did that scare you?’

‘No, for a second I was like “um is it not me” and I was prepared to just smash my face with a pie and leave’.

‘No! Don’t do that, you have a gorgeous face’ he said in a voice so earnest your heart melted.

‘What, you wouldn’t love this face with a pie on it?’

He laughed harder. He took your hand in his and kissed it, then pulled you close and kissed your lips. You smiled against him, giggling, and you could faintly hear Karen, Zoe, and Anthony cheer in the distance.

____________________________________

Hope you liked it! Click here for the Masterlist Fic requests are open, you can check out the request guidelines here.

#tom hiddleston #tom hiddleston x you #tom hiddleston x reader #tom hiddleston fluff #avengers fandom #Avengers #loki x you #loki x reader #tom hiddelston imagine #tom hiddleston fanfiction #loki fluff

57 notes · View notes

hardcorehardigan · 4 years ago

Photo

[Cover: GREG WILLIAMS/AUGUST IMAGES]

Tom Hardy interview and exclusive David Bailey shot

By DANIELLE DE WOLFE

02 September 2015

ShortList meets the British actor who took on the Kray twins and won. Plus an exclusive image of the actor taken by the inimitable David Bailey.

Interviewing Tom Hardy is not like interviewing other film stars. From the moment he arrives – alone, dressed down in hiking trousers and black T-shirt, puffing away on a complex-looking digital e-cigarette – it is immediately clear this is not someone who will be exhibiting any kind of on-promotional-duties polish. He is very, very nice (I get a hug at the end of the interview), but there is unmistakably a wired edginess about him. When we sit down, it starts like this:

Me: I’m going to start with an obvious question, which is… Hardy: Have you seen the film? Me: Yes. I… Hardy: Right, well that’s the first question, then. The second one is, “What did you think?” I tell him I loved it, and why, and he is pleased (“That’s a f*cking result!”). When we move on to me asking him questions, his answers – again, in contrast to other film stars, with whom the game is to get them to veer slightly away from prepared, succinct monologues – are smart and eloquent, but long, drawn-out and enjoyably all over the place, veering off into tangents prompted by thoughts that have clearly just formulated. At the end of our allotted time, we are told to wind it up not once but twice, and even then he is still going, launching into theories about American versus British gangster films and life and humanity and such things (“Sorry man, I can talk for f*cking ever!” he laughs). He will be talking with a seriousness and sincerity (“All the risk was taken by [writer and director] Brian [Helgeland], to be fair…”), then will switch without warning into a piercing, mock-hysterical falsetto (“…letting me PLAY BOTH F*CKING ROLES, MAN!”).

In fact, briefly, while we’re on the subject of the way he speaks…

Tom Hardy’s normal speaking voice is not something we have been privy to onscreen. Since he delivered – whatever your opinion of it – the most imitated cinematic voice of the decade in The Dark Knight Rises, we haven’t come close. That thick Welsh accent in Locke, The Drop’s quiet Brooklyn drawl, the Russian twang in Child 44: we just never hear it. And this might be because it doesn’t exist. It’s five years ago, but if you watch his Jonathan Ross appearance in 2010, where he is very well spoken, he confesses he “sometimes picks up accents, and sometimes I don’t know how I’m going to sound until I start speaking”. If you then watch another video of a feature on GMTV, dated just a month previous, while addressing some young people from troubled backgrounds as part of his charity work with the Prince’s Trust, he is speaking to them in a south London street kid drawl. Today, in the flesh, he is about halfway between these two.

A natural-born chameleon.

Tom Hardy shot by David Bailey for ShortList

BEING DOUBLE

The role we are here to discuss today does not, by Tom Hardy’s own standards at least, involve a huge stretch accent-wise. But it is “the hardest thing that I’ve ever done, technically”. This is because, as mentioned, he plays not one role, but two. In the same film. You will likely have seen the posters for Legend by now, depicting Hardy as both of the Kray twins. Which seems an ambitious, almost foolhardy undertaking.

Hardy agrees. “It is one of them situations,” he says. “You get an actor to play two characters, and immediately, it’s pony. It’s gonna be rubbish. Just: no. It’s a bad idea.”

This particular “bad idea” came to him when he first met writer and director Brian Helgeland (who had previously written screenplays for – no biggie – LA Confidential and Mystic River) for dinner. Brian wanted Hardy to play Reggie (the hetero, alpha male, more-straight-down-the-line Kray). Hardy, though, had read the script, and of course, being Tom Hardy, was drawn to the more complex character. “I was like, ‘Well, I feel Ronnie,’” he says. “So which actor am I gonna give up Ronnie to, if I play Reggie? Errrrrggh…. I can’t have that. ’Cos that’s all the fun there! And Reggie’s so straight! But there was a moment when I could have come away just playing Reggie. We could have gone and found a superlative character actor to play Ronnie, and that would have been the best of everything."

But Helgeland sensed the dissatisfaction in his potential leading man. “I’m sitting there thinking, ‘Oh, he wants to play Ron,’” he tells me. “And the paraphrased version is that by the end of the dinner, I said, ‘I’ll give you Ron if you give me Reg.’”

And so began their quest to turn a risky, potentially disastrous idea into something special (as Brian puts it to me, “the movie’s either gone right or gone wrong before anyone even starts working on it”). Hardy found some comfort in Sam Rockwell’s two-interacting-characters performance in Moon. “I’m a big fan of Sam,” he says.

“And Moon gave me reason to go, ‘I know it’s possible to hustle with self, to create a genuine dialogue with self.’ So then it’s the technical minefield: can you authentically create two characters within a piece at all? So that the audience can look past that and engage in the film? It is what it is: it’s two characters played by the same actor. But I think we got to a point where people forget that and are genuinely watching the story."

This was the ‘why I liked the film’ reasoning I gave to him at the beginning of the interview. And it is a remarkable performance, or pair of performances, or triumph of technical direction. The opening shot features both Tom Hardy Krays sitting in the back of a car, and feels strange, but very quickly, within about 10 or 15 minutes, you settle into it, and forget that it is actually the same guy. This was made possible, in part, by Hardy’s stunt double from Mad Max: a New Zealander named Jacob Tomuri.

“He inherited the hardest job of my career,” Hardy grins. “I put on a pair of glasses, played every scene with Ron, then took ’em off and played Reg. And we went through every scene in the film, recording it on the iPhone. So he’s got every scene of me doing both characters, on his iPhone. He actually played both brothers, had to learn all of the lines. He was paying attention twice as hard to keep up. But he superseded that, and was eventually ad-libbing. There’s a line that ended up in the film, where Ronnie goes, ‘I bent him up like a pretzel, I hurt him really f*cking badly.’” “Where did that come from?!” Hardy shrieks, in that falsetto again. “It came from New Zealand."

The wife’s tale

The other big potential pitfall, as Hardy sees it, was contributing to the ongoing glamorisation and eulogising of two brothers who were, to say the least, not very nice. Somehow they have become almost as iconic a piece of the Sixties puzzle as the Beatles or the Stones. But this was not something that Legend would be setting out to reinforce. “One has to approach these things thinking about the families of the victims who were involved in the other end of it,” he says. “Before you find the heart to like somebody, you’ve gotta look at their track record as best as possible: the people who’ve been hurt, the bodies, the suffering, people who were bullied, who lived in terror, who lost significant parts of their lives in the wake of these two men. There’s a lot of sh*t to wade through. And a lot of people who do not, quite rightly, want to see anything to do with these two men. And if I were them, I wouldn’t want to be involved myself, but there’s also part of me that wants to know. That wants to get under the skin.”

So how do you go about doing that? About humanising, to any extent, such people?

“I think the first port of call is, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to do and say whatever you wanted to do and say in the world, regardless of the ramifications and the consequences?’ Ultimately, when I – we – go to the cinema or read a book or we go to escape, we respond to certain types of characters that go, ‘F*ck it: I’m gonna do whatever I want.'

And that’s because we can’t. Because most people would feel a responsibility.”

The answer to how Legend would do this came in the shape of a person who did feel some responsibility, namely Frances Shea: the troubled wife of Reggie, who died in 1967. Played by Emily Browning, she became the centre of the film when Helgeland met Krays associate Chris Lambrianou, who told him that “Frances was the reason we all went to prison”.

“We could have put more of the carnage and the crimes in that film,” says Hardy. “Not to say that it is not there, but what you do see, really, is Reggie, Ronnie and Frances. That’s the dynamic we focused on, that space, which hasn’t been seen before. What was that dynamic like? I don’t know if we came anywhere near the truth, because we weren’t there. But that was the playing field, if you like: Frances Shea, future ahead of her, caught up in something, and no one with her, the suicide. That sits with me in a way as the lead. She’s who we forgot. Ronnie, Reggie, they’ve done their bit. Frances was forgotten. And that kind of all ties it together for me."

FUTURE LEGENDS

The initial praise for Legend has been plentiful, but the mindset of Tom Hardy right now is such that he does not have the time to bask in it. There are other quite ludicrously challenging projects to be pressing ahead with. Coming in autumn is The Revenant, starring his good friend Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu of Birdman fame. Its trailer, as well as doing the not-going-anywhere trend for big beards no harm whatsoever, suggests that it will also match Mad Max in terms of an unrelenting barrage of intensity. Further into the future there’s the Elton John biopic Rocketman (initial challenge? Hardy “can’t sing”) and another foray into comic-book adaptation with 100 Bullets (news of which broke just after our interview).

And right now, as in this week, he’s working on a BBC series called Taboo, which is set in 1813 and stars Hardy as an adventurer who comes back from Africa and builds a shipping empire. The story has been developed by his production company Hardy Son & Baker (formed with his father, Chips) and has been written and directed by Locke/Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, with Ridley Scott also exec producing.

“We’re sat on something really awesome,” says Hardy. “And it’s trying to piece it together. I’ve never produced anything before, so I basically don’t know what I’m doing. But I’ve got some options and solutions: if you say something is not working, you better come up with at least four other options. But it’s good. It’s just different.”

Another day, another big challenge. Another chance to do something different. It isn’t an easy life being Tom Hardy. But neither will it ever a boring one, and that’s good news for us.

Legend is at cinemas from 9 September

Words: Hamish MacBain. Images: David Bailey, Studio Canal

You can also read the Hardy interview in this week's ShortList Magazine. It'd be a crime to miss it.

Source: https://www.shortlist.com/news/tom-hardy-interview-and-exclusive-david-bailey-shot

#shortlist #bewareoftheman #tomhardydoesntbiteunlesstherolerequiresit #tomhardy #interview #exclusive #davidbailey #shot #danielledewolfe #september2015 #legend #gregwilliamsphotography

18 notes · View notes

hutchhitched · 4 years ago

Text

My thoughts on The Devil All the Time under the cut…

The last movie I saw in theaters before the world shut down in March was The Last Full Measure. I’d already seen it twice, but I went with a friend, and we were the only two in the theater. It’s fitting, then, that the first movie I saw during the slow reopening is another one with Sebastian Stan. Honestly, I doubt I would have gone if it wasn’t one of his. Somehow, Alamo Drafthouse and one other independent theater got it to show in Houston. The earliest screening was 3:30, but I was a guest on a podcast at the time, so I settled for the 7:15 show. Alamo has buffer seats established, so two seats are saved on either side of a purchased recliner. I was in the back row by myself. There were maybe eight or ten other people (besides waiters) in a theater that can normally seat around 100, and no one came within six feet of me the entire time I was there (other than delivering food and beverage). All in all, a fairly pleasant movie experience for the second week of open theaters in the city.

Back in the before times in January, I checked out a copy of the book and read it during the first week of the year. The work is gritty, discomfiting, and (for lack of a better word) depraved. It’s not a feel-good story in any way, but it’s also really intriguing and has a lot to say about human character, poverty, and rural America. I read it knowing who was cast in a few roles, and that made Lee Bodecker much more interesting than he probably would have been otherwise.

The movie is remarkably true to the book. It’s an ensemble cast for a book with numerous characters who dance around each other in an inexplicable way until the moment it all clicks and the bigger picture settles. Unfortunately, a few characters/storylines are simplified and/or removed, but that’s to be expected in a movie. There was only one omission that surprised me, and its absence didn’t hurt the overarching narrative at all.

The tone of the movie is dark, very Southern gothic. Whoever location scouted did a great job finding places that felt like poverty-stricken Appalachia. The Ohio and travel scenes created some visual diversity that worked well.

I saw a tweet that summed up the movie in a few words with which I whole-heartedly agree. It’s a story about toxic masculinity and religious hypocrisy. Add a little police corruption and murder in there, and that’s about right. Like I said, this isn’t a fun movie. As a religious historian and regular church attendee, the religious overtones were fascinating. I wondered several times what happened to the book’s author that turned him off evangelical Christianity so hard because there is almost nothing redeeming (pun intended) in The Devil All the Time. God doesn’t answer and can’t save you, and his emissaries (preachers) aren’t going to help either. In fact, they’re likely to make your life much, much worse instead. Run away. Literally.

Toxic masculinity is alive and well in the movie. Vulnerability is unacceptable, and loving something or someone leads to heartbreak at best and total destruction at worst. Trying to do good ends up as bad, and guns are both the way to get something done and how to end a lot of lives. One gun, in particular, is presented and then buried at either end of the film, and I took that as a metaphor for how the character fought to change his life by letting go of his past. Fingers crossed for him because he’s got a tough road to get there.

The cast is remarkable. Tom Holland played anger, vulnerability, fear, and despair all equally well, and Jason Clarke was smarmy as hell. The women actors were excellent in their limited roles. Riley Keough, in particular, was truly incredible. Depraved, but excellent. Robert Pattinson’s voice and accent blew me away. He looked the same as in any other role, but he sounded completely different. Whoever the voice coach was for the actors needs a raise.

Sebastian Stan is fantastic in his role, which I expected from the trailer. It doesn’t hurt that his character’s introduced to the audience while getting a hand job in a police car while in full uniform at a lookout point surrounded by multiple other cars. He’s charming and ambitious in his early scene, which makes his fall from grace in the second half of the movie worse. He’s corrupt and immoral and conniving. His connection to Sandy, one half of the Bonnie and Clyde-esque serial killer duo, is the tipping point for the film and Bodecker himself. Seb’s physical transformation over the twenty-year time span is done well. His jawline sags as he ages, and so does his morality. His final scene is a show stealer, and I wish he’d shown more of that fire throughout. Maybe that’s intentional—as he sees his future collapsing, he loses control and rages on the screen. I might have done a little fist pump in celebration.

When the release date got pushed back to September with awards chatter associated, I was bummed like many of y’all, but I can see why now. It’s not a fun movie. It’s not going to break box office records or be something people watch repeatedly and quote for fun, but it’s really, really well-done. The narrator slips in and out and nudges the audience to think about what’s happening and why. There aren’t a lot of sympathetic characters, but there are a ton of excellently acted roles. I’m looking forward to watching it again on the 16th, so I can see what I missed the first time. I’m very sure I’ll be repeating the Lee Bodecker scenes, as well.

#sebastian stan #the devil all the time #tom holland #robert pattinson #riley keough #jason clarke

25 notes · View notes

praphit · 4 years ago

Text

“The little things”, the secrets, that’ll have her rubbing my feet.

An All-Star cast, baby!

Denzel!- the man! the myth! the legend! my daddy! He plays Zeke.

That... other guy. What's his name? That Rami dude (playing Baxter)!

I like that man. He's got IT!

And this asshole right here, who loves to play assholes - Jared Leto

(plays some dude named "Sparma").

From the trailer, we can assume that this is a movie about two law enforcers trying to catch a bad guy. We are led to believe (from the trailer) that this bad guy just might be Mr. Leto.

Elementary, people! If a suspect looks like this -

he dun done something!

He did the thing, and even if he didn't do it, he... what? WHAT?

Oh, you're right. My bad. Wait.

There we go.

Sorry.

Look at him here as well.

This isn't him as the character, obviously, but... *deep sigh*

Bleeping Jared Leto, man. Do y'all know somebody that you wish someone would just beat their ass? Great actor, but... damn.

Anyway, If a suspect looks like Sparma - he did it, and even if he's not YOUR perp, then dammit he's somebody's perp. Put him behind bars.

I can't pick on Sparma and not pick on Deke though. Denzel is normally playing characters who have it together. He usually plays people who have the game of life figured out. But, my man Deke is talking to dead people. Sometimes, he's talking to ghost, and sometimes he's speaking to actual corpses.

Yeah

Deke is a man obsessed, tired (cuz ghosts keep him up at night - seriously), and beaten up by his career dealing with homicide. He also has a secret; a dark secret... that a enough people know about for it NOT to be considered a secret, but whatever. BUT, he's very good at his job. I just don't know if I want some dude with "The Sixth Sense" syndrome and a doozy of a dark secret carrying a badge and gun.

If you're thinking perhaps his partner Baxter can help Deke deal with his demons? - well, maybe... Baxter is kinda creepy as well though.

He always talks like he's high, and always looks at people like he's undressing them with his eyes. “How YOU doin?”

Deke & Baxter! Quite the duo!

This is a male dominated movie. I don't say this as a bad thing, but it's a thing. We men tend not to voice what's going on inside. A few outbursts here and there, but that's it. For most of this movie, I feel like I'm the stereotypical woman in the relationship who doesn't have a clue what's going on inside her man's head. It's frustrating (Can I get an "amen", ladies?).

Deke and Baxter clearly have issues; these are issues that we (the audience) would love to explore, but instead we get a lot of brooding, machismo, and... foot-rubbing ghosts. Yep, there's a scene where Denzel is in bed, and we all of a sudden, see a white woman (not really there) at the bottom of the bed, looking like she's about to give my man, Denzel a foot rub. No explanation. Just move on to the next scene.

That's the good stuff, man! Those are the layers that we the audience want to dive into.

The acting in this movie is great! - no problems here. And I really enjoy the 3rd act of this movie. The ending is a lil bit preposterous, but Denzel is my daddy, so I'm willing to let that slide. So, why did critics not like this movie? Some of them say that this movie is trying too hard to be like other crime-mystery movies we've seen before. I disagree.

This is a movie, not about a murderer (you'd think it would be, but...). No, this is a movie about two men struggling to cope with the brutal realities of their jobs. In particular, mistakes that they've made. The problem is that this movie does not know that.

If it knew that, we'd get some great scenes of Denzel being Denzel - you know?? He'll go into a diatribe that'll will be enlightening and give you chills.

We'd get Jared Leto going full asshole, learning about his motives and methods. Getting some intense dialogue and possible beat downs.

I just want Denzel to slap that cup out of his hand.

And of course we'd get more of my main man... what's his face?? Crap! What is that boy's name?!!

That Rami Guy! Cuz like I said, he's got IT!

But, no!

We get a boring, brooding 1st act. Leto comes in to piss off Denzel and Rami (though they won't share any feelings of the sort) in the 2nd act. And then an intense, entertaining, slightly absurd 3rd act.

Grade: unfortunate, slightly entertaining D+

I think the real problem here was that there wasn't enough drinking in this movie. Sometimes, we men need some help getting those emotions out. Sad, but often true.

Normally, you have the cop story with the officers experiencing some real, heavy shit. They then head to a bar and drink and drink and drink some more. Then, they fight it out, or sex it out (with the love interests or hookers... not suggesting that there should have been a Denzel/Rami love scene... although:) or cry it out, or whatever,but dammit it's the start of it coming out!

You've gotta process that stuff!

If you don't, you'll end up looking real tired, with the ghost of white women rubbing your feet in the middle of the night.

#the little things #john praphit #denzel #jared leto #praphitproductions.com #crime #Movie Reviews #drama #praphit #rami malek #ghosts #cops #marilyn manson

4 notes · View notes

annoying-lucy · 5 years ago

Text

Evan Evagora did an AMA involving the Star Trek Shitposting Facebook Group - the questions and answers below were copy/pasted direct from the collated master post. Evan is a member of the group, who participates under an unknown pseudonym.

———————————————

AMA Master Post!

Thanks so much to Evan Evagora for taking time out of his day for our AMA earlier. To make the questions and answers easier for ya'll to find, here they all are together below.

Q: How does my love of cats compare to Elnor?

A: Im actually more of a dog person, there was a scene that had Elnor and spot 2 unite briefly but unfortunately it didn’t leave the editing room

Q: How familiar was I with Star Trek before and did I have to do research?

A: I grew up with TNG, I’d have to say either worf, Guinan or Q are my favourite characters. And I was given episodes to watch that were to help with information before filming Picard

Q: How was I prepped to deal with the crazy fans?

A: I got told to join Star Trek shitposting 😉. Not but in all seriousness, it was Jonathan Frakes who gave me advice on entering the world of fandom from the other side and he said it’s been nothing short of a pleasure

Q: So if Hugh had survived would they have made out?

A: what happens on the cube stays on the cube

Q: My favourite moment of s1

A: getting to slice that romulans head off

Q: How did I hear about Star Trek shitposting?

A: most of the crew is either a part of the group or knows about, one of the amazing hair and make up ladies got me into I think my first or second day

Q: If I had to be Tuvixed with someone excluding elnor?

A: mirror verse Elnor, nah worf to be honest

Q: What is something I’d like to do in season 2

A: Id like to see Elnor and spot 2 together

Q: How am I passing my time woth quarantine?

A: ama for the gronp! Nah I’ve just been reading, writing and also the contact I’m having with the fans too has really helped a lot

Q: If I had to quarantine with any of my costars who would it be and why

A: I’d go with hardy treadaway he’s got the nicest place

Q: What am I hoping to see in Elnor’s future

A: Inner peace, contentment and possibly shorter hair?

Q: Am I intimidated by working on a show with such a big fan base?

A: no I grew up with Star Trek, you’re really in a bubble of filming when you’re making the show, it all didn’t really hit home until the first trailer at San Diego

Q: Would I consider playing Elnor as non binary

A: I’ve seen a lot of debate and discussion about not only my character but others in the series, if there is something that connects you with a character on this show and it resonates with you, even if it’s shown, not shown or hinted at I’m all for it. I am not for the constant belittlement, bullying and criticism of not only the characters on the show but also other fans. It really does break my heart reading comments where people aren’t welcoming of one another, because that is the whole reason why Trek has bought so many together and by spewing these disgusting cruel words out your not only showing the world you don’t understand the meaning behind the show, you also are destroying the thing that makes us all love it

Q: Is there Australia on romulas

A: yeah they have a down under I’m sure of it. No the accent can easily be explained with, Elnor left romulas at a young age, moved to a planet with different species and languages spoken so that influenced his accent

Q: Have I seen Elnor fan fiction and art?

A: yeah some of it has been really amazing! And some others have been...creative

Q: How excited am I to make home movies with my action figures?

A: my plan is to buy everyone’s, make them record audio and then film shit using the dolls and their voices

Q: Are you playing animal crossing?

A: I’ve preordered it because they’ve sold out here in aus, but in playing civ 6 to pass time and Mario party

Q: Did I get to try Romulan ale?

A: no I wish, I’m kind of hoping for a scene next year where Elnor gets drunk for the first time

Q: What character did I wish would appear in our show?

A: one word, one letter Q

Q: What’s my background have I been acting long?

A: Picard was my third acting gig, and the first project to release, so I have got some experience acting and I have previous work but it has either just aired or is going to next year

Q: Please my friend choose a charity you would like us to donate to

A: food bank

Q: Favourite ninja turtle

A: it’s always been Raph and always will be

Q: Do I know much about Elnors background

A: I know things that haven’t been mentioned yet, but also given his character is new and season 1 just finished, hopefully some of those things are explored

Q: How would o feel about the fan theory that Spock is my father

A: I mean, I’m not really sure, I can always shoot Ethan a message and ask him what he thinks too

Q: Which classic episode trope would I like to see?

A: mirror universe

Q: Can we look forward to more ninja representation?

A: is Elnor not enough? ☹️

Q: Were there any particular characters I drew inspiration from, any elves?

A: there’s a particular group of people I think Elnor might have been inspired from. Can I just say how cool it would be if Elnor is just cosplaying as an elf because Picard left him a copy of Lotr when he was young

Q: Would I be open to exploring Elnors sexuality in s2 and what would it be?

A: I am totally open for that, and as for Elnors sexuality, I’m not sure he’s only 17 he’s just left his planet and gone off on an adventure where he openly knew the success may lead in his death or others he hasn’t had time to figure himself out so seeing his sexuality explored would be amazing

Q: What stories did you hear about working on precious trek series from the OG actors?

A; So we found out Michael Dorn used to muddle his lines up because he was normally the last close up of the day. They used to put bets on to see how many takes he’d have to do. All I must add in very fun spirits nothing ever malicious or mean

Q: My long term career goals

A: id like to keep pursuing more roles I’m acting, I’m a big writer and have some projects I’m looking at getting created but right now I’d say I’m just here to learn and grow

Q: What do I write?

A: right now I’m working on three screenplays and two pilots most of the stuff I’ve written is just sitting on my hard drive just waiting to be used

Q: Ever fried an egg, buttered and vegemite'd some toast and eaten it like a sandwich?

A: what I just read, scared the crap out of me, I love vegemite but the most I’ll do is add cheese to it

Q: What is one of my favourite stories about s1

A: Jeri Ryan and I had a scene together in the borg cube (what a queen she made!) it was shooting at night and I think it was the final shot of the day, we couldn’t keep a straight face and just laughed through about fifteen takes

Q: Are you a big fan of fandom besides Trek?

A: Star Wars, lotr, the magician series Raymond e feist, a song of fire and ice series, avatar last air bender and legend of Korra (would love to play zuko) and of course Batman (fav Jason Todd as the hood)

Q: Could I see myself playing Elnor for six or seven years?

A: as long as there’s a good story that myself and fans will enjoy, but if it didn’t meet my expectations no. And also hopefully the writers and creators would want to

Q: My top TNG eps are in no particular order

I borg, all good things, tapestry, the measure of a man and all good things

I’ll also add I borg especially because it’s just cool seeing where Hugh began and how he ended up

Q: How did I land the role of Elnor?

A: I was on a break from filming Fantasy Island (a movie based off the old tv show) and I was home for pilot season which is when they cast for shows, I had two weeks of daily auditions before I was due to fly back and start filming again, two days before I was meant to leave I got an audition for Picard, the script had a code name and Elnors name was Kbar on it, but I was told it was Star Trek. I went into the room and thought I didn’t do a very good job, then I flew to film and two days later I was told I’ve made a list of people being considered, after a few more auditions and a couple of phone calls from producers and everything I found myself on a plane to LA five weeks later

Q: Have I made friends among the cast?

A: no, we tried really hard to become friends, but unfortunately we ended up becoming a family instead. Everything we say in interviews about us getting along is all true and not fake. I’m the newest to acting out of everyone so I was kind of of shocked to find out that how close we all are isn’t necessarily how it will be when I shoot other projects, so I think we just got lucky or they casted really well

Q: Have the Picard people seen your memes?

A: yes I’ve shown them the memes from the page, I’ve shown everyone including Patrick we find most of them funny (some shocking)

Not shocking in a bad way

Unexpected I should say

Q: How do I feel about the ears?

A: I wore them so much they came up in my dreams, but they were the easiest thing to apply onto me

Q: Which non tng character would I like to see return?

A: I wouldn’t mind seeing the doctor

Q: The most relatable Star Trek character?

A: Look for me growing up it was Wesley, i just picked anyone who was the young one. And I grew up with my sisters and was always being told I’m either wrong, an idiot or just to shut up

Q: Did I have previous martial arts experience before the show?

A: I have a background in boxing which helps when it comes to movement, reflexes and just all around fitness for stunts. I didn’t have any sword fighting experience before we began training for the show however

Q: How do you think being raised by an order of women affected Elnor?

A: I think it gave him a healthy understanding of not only the strength and resilience of women but I think he understands not only gender equality but just equality in general and I think that’s directly to do with growing up in a sect of all female warrior nuns

Q: What is a type of meme you would like to see more of in the group?

A: I love all the memes in the group, I hardly like any of them now incase someone figures out who I am though ahahah

Q: Favorite recent memes?

A: See my comment below

#evan evagora #star trek #star trek: picard #picard #elnor #ama #stsp

29 notes · View notes

joracalltrise · 5 years ago

Text

I’ve fallen in love with the 7th season of the Clone Wars, but in the same time this season… disappointed me so much. Do you, guys, feel the same? Or are you fully satisfied?

I warn you, that I’m going to more or less skip the good things and get to the bad things – not because I’m a complaining person, but because I believe a lot of people have already listed all positives about the last episode and season 7 in general (especially <url> www.gffa.tumblr.com </url> – dude, I really love your blog!), so me talking about the things I had loved in the latest season, would be… repeating what other people have already said.

I think we all (or most of us) agree, that the 7th Season was totally amazing, if not THE BEST season of the Clone Wars. We got that clear? Okay, now let’s get to the “buts”.

1. Not enough episodes

I’ll sound a bit whiny here, but… I really don’t get it, why couldn’t we get full 20 episodes for the Final Season of the Clone Wars. Or even more than 20. Maybe there are people in Disney, who are smarter than me, and they know the answer to that question, but STILL… if Star Wars is such a good brand, why not making more of the Clone Wars?

Of course, there are also advantages of producing only 12 episodes.

The whole season feels more like a movie than a TV series. Or, rather – like three movies. Instead of “small stories” we were given three solid Arcs, which are very smoothly connected to each other. That’s a good thing. It’s not the same case as “the Legend of Korra”, where 12 episodes would give us a feeling of an enormous pacing.

BUT. Because I was given only 12 episodes, I got to miss some of my favorite characters.

2. Lack of some important characters

We didn’t see Dooku in the last season the Clone Wars – not even ONCE!

We didn’t see Grievous in the last season of the Clone Wars – not even ONCE!

We didn’t see Ventress in the last season of the Clone Wars – not even ONCE!

We BARELY saw Obi-Wan (sniff! sniff!) – poor guy got some bigger scenes only in “Good friends not forgotten” and “Phantom Apprentice”. And some short (but really good) lines in “An unfinished business”.

Padme got ONE scene (one that confirms, that Anakin is, in fact, blind, since he didn’t comment on her baby bump).

Now, someone would roll their eyes and say – yeeeeaaaah, but Dooku, Grievous, Obi-Wan and Padme got PLENTY of TV time in the Revenge of the Sith, duh! If you want more of them, just watch RoTs, again. Okay, I agree, but… that was the whole point of me watching the Clone Wars. I liked it so much, because prequel trilogy was not enough for me. I wanted MORE of my favorite characters. What’s wrong with that?

And what about Ventress? She was supposed to have such a great Arc with Quinlan Vos!

Than brings us to the next case…

3. Abandoned and Non-existing Arcs

Utapau Arc… oh, I’m NEVER gonna forgive them for Utapau Arc!

I believe it was actually the best Arc in the Clone Wars. I’ve watched those unfinished episodes sooo many times, and they have brought me more joy than ANY full-fledged episodes. So many good moments in those episodes!

So much of Obi-Wan and Anakin dynamics (I’m sorry, Ahsoka fans, but no matter how much Felloni and Co will try to persuade me otherwise, OBI-WAN is a Jedi who has the closest relationship with Anakin, NOT Ahsoka. Quarrel, if you like, but that’s how I feel, sorry).

Anakin interacting with animals (outrageous, cute and absolutely beautiful).

Anakin’s great plan “ups, I’ve fallen asleep… ah, no, it was my plan from the beginning!”

Scorpion creature playing with Anakin’s lightsaber, and Anakin killing the creature “by accident”.

And FINALLY two best moments:

“Awww, got yourself captured again, Old Man?” (I’ll NEVER get tired of Anakin calling Obi-Wan “old man”, okay?”

And Obi-Wan merrily waving to Grievous, when he and Anakin escape with the cristal.

Ventress and Quinlan Arc – even if they didn’t follow a comic, they could have made an amazing Arc out of this.

Small Padme Arc? Like… how she was dealing with her pregnancy, while working for the Senate? Anything? Pretty please?

Some Arc involving Ayala Secura or Kit Fisto or Ki Adi Mundi or Plo Koon – just to say goodbye to those characters before Order 66? By the way, it’s kind of weird, Ahsoka didn’t think or talk about Plo Koon even a little bit, during the WHOLE season. That’s the disadvantage of having only 12 episodes, yup!

The last Padawan Arc aka Caleb Dume turning into Kanan Jarrus Arc aka One of my biggest disappointments for the last season. Why… WHY they didn’t do it?! The trailer gave me soooo muuuch hope! I really, REALLY wanted to see Kanan interacting with Depa and the Clones. Yes, I know, comics and stuff, but comics is not TV, and I love watching my favorite characters with nice soundtrack and great voice actors and everything. R.I.P. my expectations for Caleb Dume’s Arc in Clone Wars… sniff sniff!

Of course, there’s more, but those are the ones that come to my mind firsts.

4. Ahsoka’s character in this last season

Now, let’s talk about the character who got the most of the TV time in the whole season (if not the whole series).

Ahsoka’s greatest fans will probably get angry at me, but I’m still gonna say this. Not because I dislike Ahsoka, because I DO like her, and I think she’s an amazing character. Actually, before I start throwing my “accusations”, I’ll say some nice things about Ahsoka, so that you know I’m not trying to be mean here.

What Ahsoka did in the 7th season, can be mostly explained by her young age. She’s clearly at the rebel stage, she’s got through some really awful experiences (getting accused of treason, when you’re INNOCENT can really leave someone pretty shaken up, I think we all agree), and before Martez Sisters Arc for the first time in her life she was really, really ALONE.

Also, we all know that Ahsoka will be more mature in Rebels. It kind of makes sense, that you need to become an angry and proud teenager first, before you become an experienced and charismatic leader.

BUT, even knowing that, I’m really annoyed at Ahsoka after the last season. I’ve liked her during all 5 seasons of the Clone Wars, she was one of my favorite characters, but after season 7, she really got on my nerves. And honestly? I’m starting to think, it wasn’t even her fault. Maybe it was just the Clone Wars creators turning her into to some sort of… agenda? Using her to prove something? About the whole Jedi Order, maybe? Or about Anakin?

But, anyway, to the point…

Ahsoka’s actions in season 7 basically resulted in three groups of fans.

Group Number One (that’s NOT me) – people who started to think Ahsoka is some sort of saint, the only good (ex) Jedi in the rotten Order, the very best person, and oh, if only other Jedi could act like her, then maybe nothing bad will happen. And, oh, Obi-Wan and the rest Council sitters could REALLY learn from this amazing woman!

Group Number Two (that’s me) – people rising an eyebrow to Ahsoka’s behavior and being slightly annoyed at her.

Group Number Three (I don’t know who’s there, but there are some people) – people hating Ahsoka, getting really angry at her for acting the way she acted, and also blaming her for not using her knowledge about Sidious wanting to make Anakin his apprentice.

Who’s right? Maybe no one? Maybe partly everyone? I don’t know, so I’ll just proceed to explain my own subjective point of view.

I’ve already said some things about Ahsoka in this post:

<url> https://joracalltrise.tumblr.com/post/615743227991031809/ahsoka-versus-obi-wan-where-did-that-even-come </url>

I’m going to say more, but it’ll be much shorter.

What I disliked about Ahsoka most in the latest season was the fact, that she wanted to have a cookie and eat the cookie and she started to lecture people smarter and more experienced than her how to do their job.

Let’s start with the first one, by looking into Ahsoka’s particular words and actions. So…

She doesn’t want to be a Jedi, but she wants Republic to support her actions (siege of Mandalore) and let her participate in important Jedi-only discussions (Mace Windu talk). Kind of like some Brexit supporters, don’t you think? “Let’s leave the EU, but let’s keep all the privileges of the country belonging to the EU, because we are so smart, we deserve it and that’s it”. Oh, come on! You either leave of not – make up your mind, Ahsoka (Britain could, so why can’t you?).

She wants Anakin and Obi-Wan to help her but she doesn’t want to ASK them nicely and try a little bit to act like a person asking for help. She just expects them to agree, because they… what? Owe her? Owe her WHAT? Not supporting her ENOUGH, when she was accused (let me remind you: Obi-Wan sided with Ahsoka during Council meeting, and Anakin was litteraly running around Coruscant to prove his Padawan’s innocence)?

Her being angry about Anakin and Obi-Wan choosing Coruscant over Mandalore – I’m not even commenting that, because I’m tired of talking about it. But I’ll add just one more thing here – did it occur to anyone that Trace and Rafa are still on Coruscant, when Coruscant is attacked? What a great friendship you have formed, Ahsoka! Not even a single worry about whether or not your new friends will be in danger? But wait, they don’t need you, cause people in Mandalore need you more. Cool (sorry about the sarcasm, guys, but I couldn’t resist).

And now, the second thing.

If you want to change some huge organization, especially one like a Jedi Order, the best way to do it, is from the inside. Qui-Gon Jinn was like no other Jedi, and he was probably tempted to leave, but he chose to stay, and his presence benefited the Order in many many ways! He didn’t really change the Jedi – died before he could – but there was a chance. Perhaps Anakin could have changed the Jedi, had he not turned to the dark side? I think he would! Maybe, if he would mature even more (although, in Clone Wars he matured A LOT – look at the “Old friends not forgotten” episode) and join the Council a bit later, when the time was right… just imagine it! The Jedi Code hasn’t ALWAYS forbidden marriages and love. The Order could have come back to its old ways. Good thing, stuff like fanfiction exists ;)

But anyway, coming back to Ahsoka. If you LEAVE an organization, and then you start lecturing its members about morality and choices, it’s kind of obvious, they won’t take you seriously. And yeah, I fully support Obi-Wan’s statement “but Ahsoka is no longer a part of the Republic Military”, and I totally agree with Mace calling her “a citizen”. It’s all about Ahsoka wanting to keep and wanting to eat at the same time. What she wanted in the final season, basically, is doing all the good things she remember doing in the Order (helping people selflessly, supporting friends), but without having to deal with difficult (but necessary) things (like making difficult choices and dealing with consequences, duty versus emotion, all of this so called “playing politics”, etcetera). It’s like wanting to have a pet, but leaving all the problems – going to the vet, curing the animal, when it’s sick, maybe even making the decision of “putting a friend to a sleep” to keep it from suffering – to somebody else. Do you get, what I mean?

And before I leave the poor girl alone, I have one more thing to add.

I don’t like making Ahsoka “another Rey”.

Strong female characters are very much needed in the popculture. I’m a girl too, so I understand. But, for Force’s sake, don’t upgrade somebody’s skills ex-machina!

Okay, fine, they’ve made Rey a Force prodigy because she’s *********’s granddaughter and apparently she was already good in martial arts before she has left Jakku. Some people like that. I don’t. I prefer an actual skill development instead of sudden skills upgrage.

But Ahsoka didn’t held a lightsaber for a long time, and first time she grabs her new pair, she becomes a one person machine. I wouldn’t say it makes me particularly upset, because it was nice to watch. But it DID disturbed me. And I couldn’t help the feeling, that canon was a bit shifted to match Ashoka fan’s expectations.

The canon got me used to the fact, that Star Wars strongest prequel fighters were Yoda, Palpie, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Mace, Dooku and Maul. I might have forgotten someone, but you get my point, right? Experienced and adult fighters, whose skills are logical and earned. Actually, I think that Ahsoka from Rebels fits that group as well.

I repeat it – Ahsoka FROM REBELS!

In Rebels she’s an adult and she’s got plenty of time to hone both her Force and lightsaber skills.

I’m not saying, I’m hating her fighting like a pro with Mandalorians and Maul. I repeat it - It WAS nice to watch. I’m just not buying it.

Like I’m not buying some other things.

5. Lack of logic (especially in Martez Arc)

It’s not a big fault, actually. We get plenty of those in pop culture shows. It gives us a lot of room for “How It Should Have Ended” videos ;)

But, seeeriiouslyyy…

Ahsoka using the Force right and left in the Martez Arc, while Rafa and Trace don’t notice A THING… are they deaf and blind, or something?

Is Anakin blind as well? Does he REALLY not notice Padme’s baby bump? Was he too busy’s with his wife’s beautiful eyes, or what?

And – AGAIN! – Ahsoka grabing Maul’s ship with the Force. Since when grabing a (MOVING) ship with the Force became a canonical skill of anyone other than Yoda (or maybe Palpatine)? No, wait, even Palpie and Yoda didn’t grab a MOVIG ship. Why Anakin and Obi-Wan couldn’t Force grab Dooku’s ship, when he was escaping Naboo? There were TWO of them, for Force’s sake, and one of them was the Forcedamn Chosen One! Why couldn’t they? Oh, wait, I know! Because it was BEFORE “The Rise of Skywalker”. In THAT movie Forcegrabing the ships became a canonical skill, especially for prodigical women loved by the audience (again – sorry about the sarcasm, guys). As a woman who used to train martial arts for YEARS, I’d like female protagonists to actually LEARN their super skills, before they use them. Okay?

But, well, Star Wars suddenly canonizing new amazing skills after years is a material for a different article.

And, like I said, it’s really not that big of a deal. The Clone Wars were still amazing and enjoyable to watch – especially the newest season.

Besides, well, I can’t get what I want all the time, right? Felloni and Co had to CHOOSE, whom they want to make happiest, and they’ve chosen Ahsoka’s fans. I don’t blame them. Maybe they’ll choose my preferences next ;) One can always hope, right?

Conclusions?

Yeah, I think that’s all I have to say about the newest season. And I repeat – once again – that in spite all this complaining, I really loved that season. And I loved reading about other people’s opinions about it. May the Force be with us all!

Thank you for reading this long, looong post!

If anyone’s up to the discussion, feel free to contact me.

6 notes · View notes

bitletsanddrabbles · 5 years ago

Text

Battle of the Butlers: Who Buttled Best?

One of the big debates I’ve seen since the movie came out is the burning question of who should have actually been in charge of the staff. Everyone has their opinion of who should have been calling the shots, making certain that the Royal visit was a worthy experience. As with many things in the fandom, people act the answer is the most obvious thing in the world, but really, is it? I mean, if it is, why are we even having the discussion? So let’s take a second and unpack this burning question a bit, shall we?

To start with, what does the person running this three ring circus have to accomplish? They need to make the visit go like clockwork, doubly so because the King was known for following a strict schedule. They had to make certain everything was up to the standard of the visiting Royalty. In short, they needed to cater, flawlessly, to all of Their Majesty’s whims. Given this, the answer is indeed obvious:

Mr. Wilson should have been in charge.

Now I know what you’re saying. Mr. Wilson didn’t deserve to be in charge. He was an utter prat. The Downton staff was every bit as good as their Royal counterparts and better, because they had manners. Thing is, if you look at it, being nice and polite – at least to your equals or, as he would insist, inferiors – isn’t really a necessary part of being a butler or similar role. You don’t have to be nice to choose the proper wine, see that the silver is polished, and get the tea served on time. Mr. Wilson may have been an utter prat, but he was an utter prat whose entire job was to see the King and Queen comfortable and served in a manner they were accustom to. He knew their likes and dislikes, all of their little quirks. He’d been doing these tours for awhile. He had a system, that system had been tried, tested, and it worked. So, on sheer technical merit, he held all of the aces and should 100% have been in charge.

Does that mean I wanted him to be in charge? Hell no, guy was an utter, inexcusable prat. You don’t just come into someone’s house, tell their staff to go sit in the corner, and while you’re at it write your hosts off as people of no importance (outside of their ear shot, of course). He could easily have come in and said “Their Majesties are, as you can imagine, quite particular. We have a system, please, let us use it” and then found ways for the staff to be useful in that system. Say, having the housekeeper give Mrs. Webb a tour so she could find the proper bedrooms or something like that. He could, at the very least, have acknowledged the huge amounts of prep work the staff had done before he even showed up. No, Carson was absolutely right – the man had it coming. In spades. And I, as with everyone else, am glad he got it.

So, completely ignoring the fact that on technical merit, Mr. Wilson should have gotten the lead, let’s look at our other two candidates, Mr. Barrow and Mr. Carson.

The one thing these two have absolutely in common is that the Royal Staff walked all over them. Both of their efforts to direct people to the servants’ entrance ended in failure, the main difference being that while Lady Mary was on hand to see Barrow herding Mr. Wilson and co. downstairs, only Mrs. Hughes and Mr. Bates were there to witness Carson being walked over. (Also, Mr. Barrow greeted his crew alone – Mr. Carson had backup.) If Mr. Carson had not been called in, Mr. Wilson would have been in charge the entire time. As it is, with Mr. Carson at the helm, Mr. Wilson would have been in charge if it weren’t for the Bateses getting their hackles up and leading a rebellion. As far as managing the Royal Staff is concerned, the only difference between them was that Mr. Barrow was willing to compromise, deferring to Mr. Wilson on the choice of silver while for Mr. Carson, compromise was out of the question and it was his way or the highway (or in this case Mr. Wilson’s way while he sat in the servant’s hall reading a book). Neither of them was going to actually challenge what was going on.

Once you get past that, their merits and failings pretty neatly balance each other. Barrow is new and nervous, but fully capable of doing all aspects of the job while Carson has experience, but also palsy that keeps him from pouring anything, which was why he was forced into retirement. Barrow is efficient, choosing simply base polish the silver, but not wasting the time to bring it all up to full shine since they weren’t going to use it all while Carson brings t it all up to full polish which means it’s all available at a moment’s notice, but it was less efficient.

In the end, the key deciding point has nothing to do with the abilities of either man, but rather the needs of the house at large and Lady Mary in particular. Like Barrow, Lady Mary is relatively new to her position, eager to impress, and therefore quite nervous. She both projects her mental state on him and recognizes that, projection aside, he’s genuinely nervous as well. This does not help her feel any more stable or in control, particularly when it takes the form of leaving the choice of which silver to use up to a stranger – and a strange servant at that! She has worked with Barrow, but she grew up with Carson. He’s her second father and she trusts him unfailingly when it comes to running the household. She has to trust the butler because in the end, she knows very little about it. If she did, she’d know there’s a lot more to it than polishing the ruddy silver!

Of the Downton butlers, Carson needs to be the one in charge, note because he’s more capable, but because he and his system are more familiar and therefore offer more stability. This is a perfectly fair judgement call on the part of Lady Mary.

However. As with Mr. Wilson’s authoritarian dismissal of the Downton staff, there is a polite way and an impolite way to handle this decision and as both Mrs. Hughes and Lord Grantham pointed out, the one that was utilized was the wrong option. If Mary had discussed things with Robert more than two minutes before Carson walked into the room and announced that Barrow would be along in a jiff, they could have worked out in advance what Barrow would be doing with his time. They could have fond a graceful way to tell him that Mr. Carson was coming back, one that didn’t completely dismiss all of the non-silver-related work that he’d gotten done.

In short, they could have handled the situation better than Mr. Wilson did, and it’s pretty clear that at least two people in the house are fully aware of that.

Incidentally, I’ve seen several things that indicate people think Mary’s “Are you going to sack him?” is a statement of desire. He’s thrown a tantrum, she can’t abide it, and she wants him out. But watch that scene again. Listen to her tone of voice and watch her face. Consider: this is a woman who later tells Anna that one of her big struggles is “will the servants stay?” That wasn’t a vindictive wish to have Barrow gone, that was the “oh shit” of realizing, on some level, that she’d screwed things up and that when the Royal Visit was all over, she might have to find a new butler along with figuring out what the devil she was going to do about the roof!

And of course, this is all in story reasoning. There’s another reason Carson had to be the butler that’s much easier to unpack – the plotline. If Barrow had been ‘on duty’, he couldn’t have gone off to York, gone dancing, gotten arrested, and wound up with a boyfriend. If Mr. Wilson had been ‘on duty’, there would have been no room for Mr. Carson. As anyone watching the cries of “If (insert character name) isn’t in the film, we should riot!” that went around Tumblr before the trailer release can tell you, no one wanted that. The fans clearly didn’t want it. The actors didn’t want it, because they enjoyed their roles. Julian Fellowes didn’t want it, because he enjoys his characters and after six seasons wanted Thomas to have some actual fun. (Yes, he’s stated that.)

Now, can we please stop bickering over who’s pet butler is the most perfecest and deserving and move on to something more important? Like Lady Mary’s blue dress vs. the black and white one? My vote is for the blue.

#downton abbey #downton abbey movie #mr. wilson #charles carson #thomas barrow #butlers #character analysis #some plot analysis

39 notes · View notes

immortaldrew · 5 years ago

Text

Finally played Midnight in Salem and let me tell you….

We waited four years for this?!

Ugh.

When all the promo stuff was finally being released, I refused to watch it. Just like I do with movies, I didn’t want to ruin the game? I don’t know what my logic was, but I was not impressed with the promo images of the game, so I didn’t bother watching the final trailer. It reminded me of the poor quality of Secrets Can Kill (one of my least favourite games), so I was seriously worried.

I actually wanted to buy a physical copy of the game. Turns out Her Interactive is the only place you can get it, and shipping costs TWICE as much as the game itself. Twice. I would have to pay $40 shipping, plus convert it to Canadian dollars which would probably make the total close to $100. No thank you.

I was already worried about so many things before the game was even released LOL

The new interface threw me off so much. I had the worst time navigating anything. I don’t really play any other video games any more so I have no idea what I was expecting? Okay, I was expecting things to be similar to all the other Nancy Drew games. I hated how you basically had go right up to the wall to turn left. I liked how in all the other games you could see where you were going. In this one you really couldn’t turn until the last second, if that makes sense?

I did not really like the voice actress for Nancy. I liked the sound of her voice but that was about it. Her acting abilities need a bit of work in my opinion. She sounded like she was reading half the lines, very unnatural, and it pulled me away from the story. That never happened for me with Lani. The other voice actors did a great job though! Nancy just needs a bit more practice.

The character graphics were hilarious. Was it just my computer or did Joe look like he really had to pee most of the time?? The judge weirdly hunched and the lawyer and Teegan were swaying unnaturally. Do any of the characters sit down properly?! The lawyer in particular was awkward. Why was she always standing behind her desk?

I hated how Nancy didn’t let you look at things before commenting on them! When I first started she was talking about the object like we were supposed to know about it already? In the previous games Nancy would pick something up and comment on it WHILE YOU WERE LOOKING AT IT which helped you make sense of things. Here she just throws it in her inventory and somehow already knows what it is without looking.

The puzzles. While they were all way too easy (the cipher was actually pointless UGH) they were annoying to actually figure out in the first place. I spent at least 15 minutes in that first room at the very beginning of the game trying to find that damn key. I clicked both little squares on the desk but nothing happened, so I figured the key was somewhere else. I finally found a walkthrough on youtube that showed me what I had already tried. Very frustrating.

I hated how Nancy repeated things every. time. you. clicked. the. thing. I could not figure out what I was supposed to do in the evidence room. I clicked on the video a few times and she had the same conversation with Deirdre. Also you had the same opening conversation with Jason several times. Why? We already went over this. Stop asking me if I need directions!

There were way too many cut scenes. I liked how in the previous games you could do whatever you wanted! And the old endings were great too with a final scene wrapping up the case.

Also, what was the deal with Ned? I honestly think I prefer it if he wasn’t in this one. Why did they add a random flirty girl? And their conversations didn’t really make much sense to me for the game. At least in Sea of Darkness I felt really bad for Ned! I couldn’t believe Nancy went off to Iceland for their anniversary. In this game their vibe just seemed...off.

THE GOOD STUFF

I loved that they kept all the other voice actors!! I missed Bess and George though.

The story was actually really great! Shame the game wasn’t at the same level.

I loved Dierdre and the Hardy Boys working together with Nancy. I hope they bring this back in future games. I disliked the way they handed the switch between the Hardy Boys and Nancy – very awkwardly done compared to other games.

I liked that you could go back to the house and do one final round of good byes. That was really cool!

Overall, I think I spent more time being mad at the game than actually playing it. There were so many infuriating little things at every turn. I sincerely hope they fix this game in the future and bring it back in a few years, like they did with Secrets Can Kill. I love the games so much and it would be a real shame if this is the end.

#LONG RANT #midnight in salem #inital thoughts after playing the game #nancy drew 33 #nancy drew #33 #what even is this #APOLOGIES FOR MY HORRENDOUS TYPING #I was mad and typing this quickly I didn't even notice all the mistakes.#All fixed now!

20 notes · View notes

that-shamrock-vibe · 5 years ago

Text

Movie Review: Cats (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the day after the movie first airs in the U.K, so if you haven’t yet seen the movie don’t read on.

General Reaction:

First of all I want to put out there that I believe the success or failure of this movie Tom Hooper and how he's adapted the screenplay of Cats to transition from stage to screen, because I feel the negativity this movie is already getting are coming in two waves. From the general movie goer and then from fans of the stage musical.

Where I stand is as a casual movie goer in this instance but also a fan of musical theatre, so much so that my attire for this movie is somewhat Macavity inspired, although someone did say that my collar was very Rum Tum Tugger...I'm okay with that.

But to clarify, I have never seen the stage production of Cats. All I knew about it even leading up to the release of this movie was the one big song Memory and that I liked the look of the costumes.

Now with my relationship with the property explained, did I like this movie? Well I enjoyed parts of it. It’s a little bit like how I felt about The Rise of Skywalker, but while I thought the latest Star Wars was outwardly a hot mess with some enjoyable aspects, Cats is more of a “Not really knowing how to feel about it” type of movie.

There are some really great takeaways from this movie, and I feel again depending on the individual’s relationship with this property and musicals in general, will determine exactly what those takeaways are.

What’s Good:

Alright so this is what I found good/enjoyable, again I can’t decide whether or not I think this movie is good but these elements definitely are.

Costumes:

So I am going to start with the costumes because they're probably my favourite thing about the movie.

I enjoyed how for those who had costumes, because not every cat did, that they at least gave those cats a sense of identity; Macavity was one of these shady mysterious characters that you would come across in a dark alley and his clothes reflected that, Mr. Mistoffelees was a magical tuxedo cat and so dressed as a magician. Bustopher was an aristocratic cat, or Aristocat...sorry I had to go there as there are two Aristocat references in this movie, and Grizabella was a glamour cat but had been shunned and therefore sleeping rough possibly, this is all reflected in the clothing and it's fabulous.

The only outfit I didn't really get was Jennyanydots, I did find it funny that she had to unzip the one cat suit to reveal this pink almost work out outfit but I didn't understand the point of it.

Visual Effects:

As for the CGI used on the "digital fur", I appreciate the artistic stance Hooper and company took with the movie because, frankly I wouldn't expect anything less from the guy that directed both Les Miserables and The King's Speech, however, I did not really understand the need for digital fur as for a large portion of the movie they all just look like they’re wearing practical catsuits, and again with Rebel Wilson’s character when she unzips the one to reveal the other, which she does twice, you can tell it’s supposed to be a real suit.

That being said, from when you first see these cats during the opening number, you can see the payoff to these visual effects. They look genuinely like cats and all have markings that try to differentiate them. I didn’t know from the trailers that Victoria had markings on her I just thought she was a plain white cat but she looks almost snow leopardesk.

I also really enjoyed how they showed Macavity’s apparent ability to transport himself and/or others with that gold dust effect that was later used as Bombalurina’s (Taylor Swift’s) catnip to incapacitate the other cats.

Musical Numbers:

So I’m going to talk about the songs at the end as I do with all musical reviews but the actual productions of these numbers were fantastic. From the choreography to the cinematography of them, this was a very low on dialogue movie as literally at one point you have I believe three songs in solid succession with only one or two lines of actual dialogue in between them, so the actual musical numbers had to be impressive and for the most part they were.

There were never any numbers I was embarassed or cringing while watching, I do have my favourites and my not so favourites which again I will get into further down, but as I say everything from the choreography, cinematography to even the actors giving it their all during the numbers made them enjoyable for me.

Cast:

That brings me nicely on to my final good thing which is the cast, who as I said take this production seriously. I remembered seeing an interview with Judi Dench about this movie recently and she said that when acting as a cat the cast don’t know what the end result will be like because I imagine the actual visual effects of the cat appearance is put in after the filming.

Regardless of this, all these actors from the most seasoned such as Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Judi Dench to the younger more inexperienced like leading lady Francesca Hayward and even Jason Derulo who is of course a seasoned singer, but hasn’t really acted before, give it everything and take the role and universe they now inhabit so seriously that it never feels gimmicky or uncomfortable in that regards.

Do I think this movie has awards chances for acting? No because again the movie is mostly sung, I believe more so than Les Mis, but for costume, music and visual effects I’d definitely think they have a chance of at least a nomination.

What’s Meh:

Alright so nothing is outrightly or offensively bad in this movie, again thinking back to Star Wars yesterday which had blatant issues, this doesn’t really have that but when it does it’s not as glaring or as troublesome as Star Wars was.

The Story:

I say the story is meh because I still don’t really understand it, what my takeaway is that there effectively a talent competition night where Judi Dench’s decides which cat will ascend to this higher realm and be reborn into another life...

That’s great...but for the one who is chosen...does that mean they die? The very definition of “reborn” usually means reincarnation which means you need to die first...so when they send the cat off in that chandelier attached to that hot air balloon, does that cat die? From oxygen starvation?

Also, they practically cement this movie as taking place in 1930s London and you see the feet of one human and hear the voice of another so this is Earth just including these particular cats, so how does no one notice a hot air balloon attached to a chandelier floating through the sky? I don’t know if the 1930s had satellites or anything but something should have picked that up?

My final point is on the term “Jellicle Cats”, I still don’t know what a Jellicle cat actually is, they don’t exactly do their best at defining what one is despite the fact they have several songs containing the word “Jellicle”. “Jellicle Cat” “Jellicle Moon” and “Jellicle Ball” just to name a few.

I mean for fans of the stage show, they may have more of an understanding because maybe that explains the term better but in terms of trying to get non-Cats fans interested...not explaining what is clearly a core concept of the movie is a bit of a misstep.

The Ending:

Of everything in this movie, the ending monologue by Judi Dench was the only thing I felt was a little bit cringeworthy. First of all, I understand the musical Cats is based on a series of poems and I also understand this ending message is about being nice to cats, but I just didn’t think it was either necessary or needed.

Also the fact that Macavity was so easily thwarted, I mean I know musicals don’t have to have the big dramatic endings for its villains but for Macavity to literally try and hitchhike on Grizbella’s ride into the great beyond only to fall and just land on the roof without any consequences aside from maybe the loss of his powers? It was a bit of a damp ending.

The Cats:

Okay so we’ve talked about what’s good and meh, now going into the cats as characters. Not a full blown character analysis breakdown but, like my song section, in sections in order of my favourites.

By far my favourite cats were Macavity and Grizabella, Idris Elba as the villainous Macavity was great in the trailers and great here. As I stated before his outfit really added another layer to his performance, he has the right acting chops to be this type of villain. I still haven’t seen Hobbs & Shaw but have heard similar praise for his role there.

Grizabella meanwhile, is Jennifer Hudson...enough said. I loved her in Dreamgirls and I love her here. I do see similarities between her character and Anne Hathaway’s character in Les Mis particularly with their big emotional songs but I enjoyed the backstory to her character here.

I would also say Mistoffelees and Victoria do a great job. While not my favourites it is almost as if we are seeing the world from Francesca Hayward’s eyes. I know she’s supposed to be a kitten but I never believed her as such. Mistoffelees meanwhile had his moment to shine towards the end of the movie and was one of the more compelling characters from the trailers.

The veteran staples Judi Dench and Ian McKellen were great in this movie, as they always are. I know Dench’s role was gender-bent from the stage show but I think she works better as a female character. Theatre Gus meanwhile is a great example of the old thespians who maybe once had their time but are just looking for another spotlight.

James Corden, Jason Derulo and Ray Winstone were all surprises for me here. I knew the first two could sing but I found Bustopher’s aristocratic nature hilarious and he really lifted the mood when he came in. Rum Tum Tugger meanwhile is dubbed “the curious cat” however by the end of his song I went from thinking he was curious to just suffering with ADHD. As for Ray Winstone, it’s Ray Winstone as a cat! It’s fantastic!

Then there are the iffy cats, namely Bombalurina, Jennyanydots and Munkustrap. Munkustrap is possibly the least offensive but that’s because his role in the movie is the same as in the stage show which is narrator. It did annoy me that he effectively butted in to a lot of people’s songs but again as narrator I guess that’s his job.

Rebel Wilson as Jennyanydots, as I said before, really confused me in terms of her outfit. I don’t understand why she didn’t just wear the pink suit and that be it instead of having to unzip the one catsuit to reveal this other catsuit. I mean I guess it helped them later in the film but still. Also the fact she wanted a different life to get out of that kitchen? Why was she trapped in the kitchen?

As for Taylor Swift, if you’ve seen her in the trailers you’ve pretty much seen her scenes. Bombalurina is literally in this movie for one scene and it is for Macavity’s musical number. She is seen once more in a slightly later scene but then it’s never quite explained what becomes of her.

Songs:

Alright so here we go with the songs of the movie, grouped in order of the songs I loved, the songs I liked, and the songs I thought were...okay.

My favourites, again, were “Macavity”, “Memory” and “Bustopher Jones: The Cat About Town”. “Memory” is the only thing I knew and adored about this musical prior to this movie. The song speaks to me both as a musical fan and just a fan of great music. When I knew Jennifer Hudson would be performing it I already knew I’d love it.

“Macavity” is a very catchy song and Taylor Swift really works it. It’s not quite jazzy but it is close enough and the fact Elba also has some involvement in the song is great because I know he does also sing as a side gig. I thought it was a great character introduction despite the fact we have seen him throughout the movie.

“Bustopher Jones” was just a very fun and uplifting number, I loved James Corden’s aristocratic accent and how he moved around the streets even as fat as the character is. Interestingly I know Corden isn’t that fat anymore but again he was comfortable in himself to play it so I loved him for that.

The songs I liked were “The Rum Tum Tugger”, “Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer” and “Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat”. All three were brilliant production pieces, “Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer” was a great romp of a song, Jason Derulo brought his all to “The Rum Tum Tugger” and tap-dancing in any production will win me over let alone a tap-dancing cat.

The other songs I thought were okay on a varying scale, I don’t know why but Rebel Wilson didn’t win me over as she usually does. I think the production of her song was very off-putting. The mice with child faces and the cockroaches with female faces didn’t really work.

The others were very well sung but didn’t quite stick with me as the already mentioned ones did. Also “Beautiful Ghosts” was penned as Taylor Swift’s original song for the movie so I presumed her character would sing it, but the new girl Victoria did in the movie while Swift sang it over the credits...

Recommendation:

We’ve finally reached the end, okay so if you saw the trailers and were not one of the many haters who trolled the movie for its use of CGI and are interested in the story then go and see it because you will get something out of it. If you’re a fan of the stage production then I would still say see it because it allows you to form your own opinion.

If you are simply a casual movie-goer who wants an enjoyable two and a half hours then I would still recommend to go and see it but be prepared to be slightly confused if you don’t know what to expect.

Overall I rate this movie a 5/10, it was enjoyable and roughly 40-50% of this movie does work really well, it’s just the rest of it that needed more attention to detail in my opinion.

So that’s my review of Cats, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Movie Reviews as well as other reviews and posts.

11 notes · View notes

vin-taege · 6 years ago

Text

cult following (m)

summary: in the middle of making a new movie, your co-star’s irresistible looks and explosive personality soon turn it into a porno.

genre: smut, fluff, pwp

pairing: actor!Jin x reader

words: 2.6k

warnings: spitting, boob jobs, degradation, kinda hate sex but not really, semi-pubic sex, sexual taunting (?), rough sex, unprotected sex, semi-clothed sex, choking, frenemies

(this gif will be the death of me)

The sweater the stylists gave you was a little too itchy for your liking, but they couldn’t find any replacements for it. They were already given a good scolding by your manager, but that still didn’t help your situation now – a tiny itch at the bottom of your back, growing into a huge nuisance. To say it was distracting was an understatement.

However, even with the itchy sweater, the shitty set, and the blinding lighting, the show must go on.

This was the climax of the film; you were supposed to scream for help, and just as Jungkook’s about to stab you, Jin emerges from behind the counter to whack him over the head with a fire extinguisher. The old “I’m-not-dead-yet” trope in horror movies.

Everything was going well so far. You were down to your final line before Jin’s cue. “They were our friends! I- We- We trusted you! What would you even gain with- with- fuck!”

“Cut!” Yoongi hopped off the director’s chair, nose crumpled in frustration. “This is the fourth time, ___. Could you please get your lines memorized? It’s ‘What would you even gain in doing this!” he repeated, digging his nails into his palm. Yoongi wasn’t the director anymore, he was just this small, shaking ball of rage. “It’s one simple line, ___. One simple line!”

Over the sound of Yoongi’s relentless yelling, you could hear Jin snicker, the man now leaning over the counter and whispering to Jungkook. “I told you she was perfect for the role of all boobs, no brain”

“Hyung, she might hear-“

“If only your acting was as good as your face,” you shot back at him, giving him a look that shot daggers. “Don’t get so high and mighty with me, Mr. Kim. You weren’t exactly so smooth with your lines three scenes ago.”

“Do you know how difficult it is to act with fake blood in your mouth?” he slammed the fire extinguisher down the marble countertop, an awkward silence immediately filling the set. “I could feel the unmixed cornstarch at the back of my throat!”

“Oh, no, princess isn’t used to having shit down his throat. Why don’t you cry about it to your PA?”

In the midst of the commotion, Jungkook managed to silently move away, mildly annoyed, but also very much afraid with the bickering going on between his two co-stars. He slid next to Yoongi, who was now mumbling curse words while rubbing his temples. Next to him was Jimin, scribbling something down on his clipboard before turning to Jungkook. “Ah, well isn’t this the perfect time to, uh, retouch your makeup! You won’t mind Mr. Jeon having a quick retouching right, boss?”

The assistant nervously laughed, clutching Jungkook’s arm tightly to drag him away from the chaos in the making. Yoongi didn’t even bat an eyelash.

“Okay, that’s enough!” He shouted, catching Jin mid-scream. “There will be no fighting in my set. Not in my set. You,” he punctuated with a finger flitting between you and Jin. “Fifteen minute break to get your shit together.”

Your respective assistants walked you off, making sure to lead you in opposite directions. Mina fussed over you, adjusting your clothes from time to time, and straightening your hair. “You were doing amazing, Ms. ___. Don’t pay attention to him, he’s just jealous of your star power. How about you visit Mr. Jeon’s trailer, he sounds like a sweet boy.”

Mina, though faithful to you, was also a nervous wreck sometimes. You appreciated the fact that she didn’t want to disappoint you, but she was also too much at times. “I really don’t want to bother Jungkook. I’m pretty sure he would rather not see me after what happened with Jin.”

The echo of your heels on the polished floor was the only thing heard for a while. Mina busied herself with double-checking your schedule and answering phone calls directed to you. She was in the middle of a call with one particular pushy client when she realized that you weren’t walking beside her anymore. “Ms. ___? Ms____!”

Unbeknownst to her, you took a right turn minutes ago to walk into a dimmed down set, the faint silhouette of a bed inside prompting you to come in. Your hectic schedule barely left you with time to yourself, much less time to sleep. At least a fifteen minute power nap and a few feet away from Jin were enough to be grateful for.

The bed was bigger than you expected, a king-sized one graced with a soft comforter and big, fluffy pillows. This way an opportunity way too good to pass off.

You kicked your heels off, stretching your arms a little, before plopping onto the mattress. You draped the comforter over your tired body, and curled into a little ball. For a few minutes, it was good. Until you heard heavy breathing.

“What the fuck?” you heard a hoarse voice whisper right next to you. Without a second thought, you threw off the covers, screaming and kicking the mystery man off the bed in the process. “Mina! Min-“

A hand clamped over your mouth. With your eyes adjusted to the dark, you saw Jin’s face awkwardly close to yours; his wide eyes matching your shocked expression. You licked the inside of his hand, making him draw it back in disgust. “Are you always so loud?”

“Are you always such a perverted stalker?” His face grew red at your comment, eyebrows furrowing with annoyance. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you owned the set now.”

“All I wanted was to rest. Just a couple of minutes away from you, but you just had to be in the same bed as I am.”

“Big deal. I’m tired too! How about you stick to your side over there, and I stick to my side over here. Then, we shall never speak of this every again.” He rolled over, his back facing you. You let out an angry whine, tugging the comforter harshly over yourself. Jin’s eyes flew open, the cold air making him shiver.

Wordlessly, he tugged it back, eliciting almost the same reaction from you. Soon enough, you engaged a mini tug-of-war over the blanket, both sides too stubborn to give up or just share.

“Why don’t you act like a gentleman for once?”

“Why don’t you stop being a brat?”

One harsh tug sent you crashing down on his chest, tangling you between his warm body and the comforter. For a few seconds, both of you were frozen. The unthinkable happened and now you were squished up against the world’s most dramatic actor. He seemed to have the same thought process, though his hands slid their way to your lower back subconsciously.

Without missing a beat, you he crashed his lips into yours, your mouths dancing in perfect sync to the kiss. His tongue prodded against your lips, asking for entrance- which you gladly gave him. You let him roam around your mouth before detaching your lips, a teasing smirk playing on your face. He groaned, harshly flipping you over.

He directed his attention to your neck, sucking and biting at every inch until the skin’s been covered with purple love bites. He brought his hips down, pressing it against you crotch. You sighed at the feeling, starting to grind against his hardening member.

“So much for power nap,” you mumbled, hearing a silent chuckle from him. His hands moved to crumple your shirt over your breasts, tugging at the straps of your bra. “Off?”

“Not enough time. You have a spare shirt in your trailer or something?” you nodded, giving him a puzzled look. He just shrugged, pulling your bra under your boobs. He shuffled closer, retracting his hips from yours, a whine coming for your lips. He laughed, bringing his knees on either sides of your torso. “I fuck just as messy as I eat, princess.

”His large hands enveloped your breasts, kneading them slowly. He leaned down to suck on a nipple, his hand pressing a fingertip on the other one. He pinched at it, making you cry out, mind overwhelmed with the sudden pain and pleasure. Giving one last solid lick, he unbuttoned his pants, slipping it off with his boxers just enough to release his dick.

You boldly wrapped your hand around him, giving him slow strokes. He moaned, bucking his lips into your touch. Your pussy throbbed at the sight of him; the head red, pre-cum dripping all the way down to your boobs. He stared at you through half-lidded eyes, groaning at the mess he made on you.

You continued tugging at his cock, spreading the some of the pre-cum on his shaft and around his head. You let go, only to dip your fingers into most of the pre-cum that already made its way to your breasts. You spread it over the swells of your chest as best you can; Jin almost drooling as he watched you.

“For the record, I always knew you were a tits type of guy,” you smiled at him, bringing your head up to kiss the tip of his dick. He let out a hiss, hands flying back to grab your breasts, this time a little tighter; pushing them against each other. He repositioned himself so that his tip was rubbing against the underside of your cleavage. “That I am.”

He started to thrust into the tight space between your breasts, groaning as the supple, warm skin enveloped his throbbing cock. You raised your head a little to catch the tip of his dick with your tongue each time he thrust forward.

Jin’s moans sounded like sweet music – high-pitched and breathless – making your core wetter with each broken cry of your name. You felt your wetness soaking through your panties. It would only be a matter of time before you leaked onto the bed. Yoongi would certainly be pissed, but with the amount of money he gets with each film, you were sure he wouldn’t have a problem replacing it, much less replacing the bed altogether.

“F-fuck! Wanna make a mess on your tits so bad. You’d look so pretty with my cum all over you. Slap that shit on Playboy and show everyone who you’re a bitch for hm?” His lips stuttered, sending him into a frenzy. As much as he’d love to try the Playboy idea, he didn’t want to come yet. He pulled out, denying himself of his own release. “But not for today.”

Suddenly, you had an idea. It was bitchy, and downright mean to Jin, but after his snide comments from the last scene, you felt less guilty.

“Are you done? I was starting to get a little sleepy back there,” your voice was sickly sweet, punctuated by a fake yawn. Jin’s face instantly reddened, anger slowly replacing the blissed-out expression he had. “Or maybe you’re just fucking my boobs because that’s the only way you’ll make your dick look bigger.”

Sharp pain made its way to your scalp as Jin tugged your hair back. His other hand squeezed your jaw hard, making you open it. Before you knew it, a thick glob of his pit landed on your tongue, some of it starting to drip down your throat. He clamped your jaw shut again, forcing you to swallow the saliva.

“Spoiled starlets like you deserve nothing but cocks up your cunts,” he grunted, harshly pulling at your jeans and panties. He threw the material off the bed, but held onto your underwear, pushing half of it inside your throbbing cunt. “You need to be taught respect.”

He slapped your pussy, making you cry out. You clenched around your soiled panties as he brought his hand down again. He slowly took the wet fabric out, letting it join your pants on the floor. He dragged the head of his length from your clit to your folds, parting them as he shallowly thrusted in. “You need to learn how to obey.”

Without warning, he slammed into you, not giving you time to adjust before he started pounding mercilessly. Your previous words came back to bite you in the ass- he was nowhere near small. He wasn’t big on girth, but he sported a long cock, accompanied by a mouth-watering curve. He reached you deeper than anyone could.

As if you were going to tell him that. You wanted to play your game a little bit more, just to see how far you could push him.

“Is that the best you h-have?” you managed to say through gritted teeth, though your legs curled around his waist to bring him closer.

“I was just warming up,” he seethed, his thrusts speeding up. You bit hard on your lower lip to stop your moans; failing as a few whimpers slipped out here and there. You clutched the bedsheets tightly, knuckles turning white. Jin was fucking into you so hard you could almost see stars. But being stubborn as always, you continued to irk him.

“I can barely – mmphm – barely feel you inside me right no-“ Jin cut you off with a hand wrapped tightly around your throat. Your eyes bulged out before narrowing, allowing tears caused by pleasure to fall freely. Your body shook with the intensity of how good you were getting fucked.

“You talk too much for someone you can barely remember one-liners,” he snickered, followed by a guttural moan. You could feel your orgasm building up, Jin sensing it as well with how tight you were clenching around him. “I sh-shouldn’t allow you to cu-m but…”

Hot white pleasure crashed upon you, the broad-shouldered actor fucking you through your orgasm. Your nails dug into his flawless skin, leaving deep crescent marks, and long angry stripes of red. A silent yell caught in your mouth, Jin’s grip on you still tight, making you light-headed. The mind-numbing release and the lack of oxygen was close enough to put you into unconsciousness, when he suddenly let go of you, spilling his hot seed deep in your pussy.

You took in deep gulps of air, body shivering at your heightened sensitivity. After Jin milked the rest of the cum out, he pulled out and laid next to you- panting as equally hard. When you’ve had enough time to calm down, you could faintly hear footsteps approaching, but decided to push the thought away. You turned around to face him, guilt evident in your tone.

“I didn’t mean all the shit I said.”

Surprisingly, he laughed. A wide grin broke through his blissed out features, his eyelids fluttering open to look at you. “I know.”“

We are the most problematic stars, huh?” It was funny how mere seconds ago, he was giving you the hardest orgasm of your life, and now you were talking as if you just had coffee over lunch break. “Yoongi is going to freak out.”

The thought made the two of you chuckle.

“Mr. Kim, Mr. Min is looking for you,” The trembling voice of Jin’s assistant came from entrance. His boss rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm protectively around you, making you struggle to turn around. “He - uh- he sounds very mad,” he added, doing his best not to peek through the hand covering his eyes, making you giggle. Instead, he turned his head to the door, yelling a quick “Mina, I found them!”

In turn, you groaned, burying yourself and Jin inside the blankets. He held you close to him, trying to salvage as much of the ruined moment due to the sudden disturbance.

“If you’re not too busy after shooting, maybe we could have dinner together?” he asked in a tiny voice, in contrast to his eyebrows wiggling suggestively. You laughed, hitting his chest lightly.

“Sure, minus the assistants.”

A raspy chuckled followed, a sigh of agreement leaving him. “Yes, minus the assistants.”

#bts smut #jin smut #hyunglinenetwork #bangtan smut #jin x reader #jin #kim seokjin #bts #bts jin scenarios #bts jin imagines #bts scenarios #bangtan scenarios #smut

523 notes · View notes

imma-lil-teapot · 6 years ago

Text

Each TMNT Incarnation and Where They Stand With Me :)

(Nervous chuckle) ... Yeah no, I suck at titles. Moving on!

Y’all can go ahead and skip this part if you’re not interested in senseless rambling and just wanna get to the TMNT fun~ ;)

Soooooo, I’ve recently updated my Tumblr page to a blog dedicated to all my fandoms (musing, headcanons, writing, gifs, pics, the works, basically anything and everything in relation to them) since I wasn’t really ever doing anything with it other than using it to share pics mostly. But ever since I stumbled back into the TMNT fandom, I’ve been searching Tumblr for fan content and OMGOSH, did I hit the jackpot! Headcanons, fanfics, Turtle x reader stories, so much juicy stuff! Am hooked! Dunno why I never tried searching for similar stuff in the past for my other fandoms! I guess I just... didn’t realize there was so much content here. :O But anyway, I always wanted a place to share ideas and thoughts regarding my fandoms outside of sites like Deviantart and Fanfiction.net, and heck, it’s been here under my nose all this time... Y’all gonna have to forgive me; I’m an old fart. ;P (Insert image of Slowpoke for reference) So without further ado...

LET’S GET THIS PIZZA PARTY STARTED!

Imma start this blog off really simple and, as the title states, just give you all a small-ish idea of where each TMNT universe stands (or ranks?) with me, personally... Note the ‘personally’ part so please don’t feel offended if I don’t share the same opinion as you on a particular verse. ^^; I have my own tastes and will respect the next person’s when it comes to them. ;) Also, please beware the typos (which there most definitely will be)...

IN RELEASE DATE ORDER: (Hopefully they’re right)

MIRAGE COMICS~

Imma just say it: I haven’t read any of them yet. :/ There probably are sites out there that would allow you to view them online for free, but in truth, I’ve been a little slack about trying to find any... That may however change someday as I always tell myself I should really seek out the source material so it’s only a matter of time. What I do know, however, is that they’re of course a lot darker than most incarnations (which I don’t have a problem with personally) and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious as to exactly how much darker. X’D The closest I’ve come to ‘knowing’ these Turts comes from watching the Turtles Forever movie and they weren’t in it for a long time so it’s very difficult to say what they actually mean to me, so we’ll just put these guys down in the ‘not sure’ column for now. ;)

1987 CARTOON~

HAHA~ I think any fan of the franchise as a whole knows this little gem! The series that really hit it off and spawned over a 190 eps! Quite an impressive feat for a Saturday morning cartoon! It made its way to TVs the year before I was born, but it would take another few before it would reach our tubes (we’re always a few years behind the rest of the world :/ ) so I was around four when I was first introduced to it and needless to say, I loved it back then! Michelangelo was initially my fav due to him being my older brothers’ fav and the one they mainly spoke of, but it didn’t take long before my favering gravitated towards Leonardo (even at such a young age) and has been that way ever since. ;) But where exactly does the series stand with me as an adult nowadays with so many other verses we’ve been exposed to? I do hold a lot of nostalgia (as many older do) for it, and I mean, come on, that theme song is ageless, and I even started watching a lot of vids involving the original VAs and the shenanigans they get up to and seriously, it’s so heartwarming and fun to see them! But I have to be honest...

It’s not my fav verse, honestly. I will always adore them, of course, because of the nostalgia and the goofiness... But it’s the latter that’s mostly the reason for it being placed a bit lower on the favoritism ladder. While its a fun watch if you want something lighthearted, I still prefer the idea of the darker undertones that comes with being associated with ninjas. It’s just a preference. Plus, the Turtles designs are big one for me, and I’m sorry to say, but I keep seeing these fellas as more frog-like than turtle, despite the shells. X’D So yeah, no big reasoning for it, and even if someone were to ask me if I like these guys, I’ll still say yes, just that they’re not my ultimate fav is all. ;)

Also, we won’t talk about the Japanese Anime Ninja Turtles: Superman Legend or something to that extent... We’ll just let that one be gently swept under the carpet. ;) Only ever saw the trailer for it and that’s all I’ll ever need to see in my lifetime.

1990 MOVIES TRILOGY~

Now funny enough, I really don’t remember ever seeing these movies as a kid, though it’s possible I did and just maybe blocked the memory, but I highly doubt it... So yeah, I saw these movies as an adult already. The first is praised by most fans, and honestly, I can see why: it’s pretty good! :D The acting is very decent and the humour’s brilliant! The two sequels... not so much but still okay. ;) Where they sit with me... Not too far on the ladder again I’m afraid. :/ While I do really enjoy and appreciate the acting and that humour (”I made a funny.” X’D) it mostly comes down to the Turtles designs again... I really can’t see past them being actors in costumes rather than characters. :’( Granted, good actors. ;) And heck, Jim Henson did a phenomenal job! They’re just not really the movies for me is all, even if I do go back and watch ‘em every now and then. X’D I do however melt every time at the scene in the first movie where Raph wakes up in the bath and Leo’s there and apologizing and all... Makes me all gooey inside! X’D The feels are real! Speaking of Leo, though, he sounds even younger than Mikey. Small nitpick, that, but... why? X’D

But yeah, let’s just say, they’re good movies, just, not my favs.

Also, Coming Out Of Their Shells tour... Yeah, I’m gonna just... pretend that doesn’t exist for a minute.

THE NEXT MUTATION~

Nope.

Saw one ep as a kid and am not interested in seeing anymore.

Although, VA Matt Hill voices Raph. That’s one good thing.

2003/2k3~

Well it wasn’t already apparent by my avatar... Ladies and gents, I present to you... My fav TMNT verse to date! Oh my goodness, where do I even begin with this delicious series?! :D Firstly, animation: so appealing, comic book-y style! Their designs: without sounding pervy, veeeeeeeery appealing (hehehehehe), no seriously, they sometimes have a bitta bulk to them but it honestly works, and dem muscles, and the cool eyes! The VAs: spot on! Perfect! Wouldn’t have ‘em any other way! Make me melt, Mr. Michael Sinterniklaas~ (cough) Their personalities: Omgosh, just yes! So perfect! They’re easily differentiated and yet still work together so well. Leo’s mature and level-headed (well, most of the time ;P ) yet still gets tested a lot and even has a fun side that’s shown on occasion. Raph’s grouchy and violent but is shown on more than one occasion that’s he’s total softie and really does care. Don’s just a sweetheart and freakishly smart and even has slips ups from time to time. Mikey... omgosh, best Mikey ever! So much fun! So hilarious! And just a bundle of energy, but not at all an idiot like he’s sometimes portrayed in other verses. He’s witty, mischievous and just so adorable! Heck, even Master Splinter, April, Casey, the lot of them are just awesome in this series! And wow, they really do lean more towards the source material (or so I’m told) when it comes to the plots! It’s darker than the other previous verses yet still remaining kid-friendly (although I question it at times XD) and omgosh, it’s just everything I want in a TMNT universe! Granted, it’s not perfect perfect, but it nailed it for me. ;) It really showed so lovely character developments, alsortsa different genres, the humour will leave you in stitches, the Turts are all just so lovable, I can’t get enough of them! This series was really my high point and I’ve yet to find one that tops it~

Btw, this even includes Fast Forward and Back to the Sewer (BTTS). The former being my least fav of the series simply due to the setting and again, it’s just preference. I even liked BTTS, even though I’m not overly fond of a cyberspace setting, but I found myself really liking the art style and the general plot. :D

2007/2k7~

As with the last, if you’ve picked up on the page’s header/banner, you’d have probably guessed that the 2007 movie is also a good candidate for one my favs... And you’d be correct. ;) I’m actually very fond of this movie, and it’s largely due to the Turtles designs. I love how they were done! They just look so cool! <3 Subtle differences tell the viewer who’s who even if they didn’t have a mask or weapons. The VAs were also pretty good~ Now, the story isn’t the greatest, I’ll admit. Personally I thought it was okay, but know many fans think otherwise. But I did like the confrontation between Leo and Raph! It got real there, peeps! :O Now here’s also where it falls a little on its face for me: I didn’t really like how they handled Leo’s personality (if you haven’t already picked up on it, yes, I’m a Leo fangirl and I’m picky when it comes to how they handle his personality) but it’s a nitpick again, yet, I still feel compelled to state my opinion: the whole “I’m better than you.” comment really took me back and made me think they pushed it. I honestly like to believe he’d never actually say something like that... at least, 2003!Leo wouldn’t. X’D But that’s just my problem: I’m comparing a different verse’s Leo to this one and whether I like it or not, he said it. :/ Oh well, it still made for some fun action scenes and I’ll still always like the movie.

Bit of a goof on my side: I honestly thought that this movie was made to tie in with the 2003!verse due to the timeline in which it was produced, but turns out, it’s actually closer to the 1990′s timeline although still considered it’s own verse.

2012/2k12~

Oooh boy, lemme prepare for the backlash real quick... I’m uhhhh... not a fan of these boys. :/ I don’t mind them, but I’m honestly never gonna watch the series again. It’s hard to top your fav when you’ve kinda already hit your high point, ya know. Now before you light your torches and sharpen your pitchforks, hear me out: I will never bash the series, or make fun of anyone who likes it! Or anything to that extent! It’s just wasn’t for me, plain and simple, and it’s got nothing to do with it being ‘new’ or I’m just an old fart stuck in my ways. Heck, If you’re still reading, you would’ve found out that even nostalgia couldn’t beat the series that grasped me in my teens! So no, it has nothing to do with age. But if you do need a reason: I wasn’t overly fond of how they handle the characters. For one, they look and act a bit too young, Mikey is just... wow, something else. Donnie’s... sheesh, pretty snappy and antagonising. Raph’s well... okay, he’s meant to be angry half the time, and they did give him some more layers with Spike and Mona Lisa and whatnot, but he still kinda never learns his lesson if I can say that? He’ll learn that he shouldn’t cause issues with others, yet next episode he’s back at it again. :/ Leo’s... wow, just not like other Leos. X’D Best way I can describe him is... young? Very childlike. And even when he was progressing to becoming this better leader, I honestly couldn’t even see the change. My mind was just stuck on this “He’s a babeh.” notion. Also, I’m not even gonna start on this April and Casey. Just. No. Most of the characters were annoying and I just kept seeing recycled plot after plot. What I did like was the romance that blossomed between Raph and Mona (albeit far too rushed) and even Donnie liking April was adorable (but seriously Donnie, you can do so much better), and there were some really heartfelt moments, like Splinter telling Leo to leo his brothers with his heart and not his head, and the scenes when they were Tots will always make me squeal... But yeah... without leaving any spoilers.... about Splinter... just... thanks, Nickelodeon. Y’all know what I mean. Not once... But twice.... Really? So yeah, look, I realized some of those reasons might even be petty, but again, it’s just not the series for me, but anyone who’s a fan... You keep being a fan! ;) I’m glad you can enjoy something I can’t. ;)

2014/2k14/2016/2k16 AKA BAYVERSE~

HAHA~ Every fan’s favorite... If only. X’D Jokes aside, despite many fans claiming the Bay movies ruined the franchise, these two films gathered a small following... And I’m apart of it. :) Funny enough, I honestly didn’t know what to think of them when the movie first came out. I think I was just taken aback by the sheer amount of detail and all that went into their designs. I didn’t not like them, but again, their designs were a lot to take in. :O Even now after seeing the movies quite a few times over, I find myself constantly discovering something I didn’t notice on them before, be it a strap or a scar etc. And it honestly took some getting use to their sizes, I mean, sheesh! :O Not to mention the different background story, and Megan Fox’s wooden, expressionless acting, but despite all that... I found myself actually growing attached to these hulks of Turtles. They still have a lot of that heart in them and plus they’re just so much fun, I mean, can we say ‘Elevator scene’? X’D Now again, not perfect by anys mean, but still fun and pretty decent incarnations to add to the franchise. Again, Leo’s been given this ‘Better than you’ a bit which irked me to be frank. Not always but it’s there sometimes, but otherwise alright. Raph’s a decent Raph. Even had some tender moments. Donnie’s adorable! X’D This slightly potty mouthed geek that you just gotta love. And Mikey... although given that bitta ‘idiot’ feel, is also just as lovable and you want to hug him every time he’s onscreen!

In short, I like ‘em. :) They’re actually closer to the top of the ladder than some others.

RISE OF THE TMNT/ROTTMNT/2018/2K18~

Yeeeeeeeeuuuuuuh... no. Sorry. Not for me. :/ Again, gonna remind y’all, nothing to do with age. Nothing to do with change. I will say that the fluid animation is nice, and the fact that they chose 2D animation. :) Buuuuuut, wow, they were certainly a lot to take in. Almost as much as Bay’s Turtles. After watching a few eps, I will conclude that they really just aren’t what I’m looking for. I found that the constant joking, while sometimes funny, got a little bit much, plus such short eps. Raph being leader was a switch and one that took awhile to get use to and honestly, I’m just not for it, I don’t even know where to begin with Donnie, Mikey’s okay, Leo... (deep breath) I don’t know what they were thinking... Let’s not even go to Master Splinter. But anyways, I get that change was what they were going for and that it was more so based on the 1987 toon with the silliness so that’s fine. I’m glad it’s got so many fans. :) And honestly, I wanna end off just by saying...

That no matter what your thoughts on what I’ve said, I hope you can respect my opinions and choices cause at the end of the day, they’re just my own, and I will always respect yours! :D If you adore the verses I’m not too crazy about, that’s great! :D I want you all to love the heck out of them! And honestly, this is what’s so great about this franchise: there are so many verses to choose from! So many options and tastes to suit any and all! You don’t have to follow the masses! You go enjoy whichever incarnation(s) you want to! ;)

And there we have it, my first fandom bloggy thingy~ Hope there’ll be many more where that came from! :D

This is Drag0n-Mistr3ss signing off~

#tmnt #incarnations #favorite #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt 2003 #tmnt 1987 #tmnt 2014 #tmnt 2012 #tmnt 1990 #rottmnt

82 notes · View notes

allthefilmsiveseenforfree · 5 years ago

Text

After

In case you were wondering what Fifty Shades of Grey for the teen set looks like, you’ll have a pretty good idea once you see After. Over-the-top romantic dramas are so not my thing, but I will concede they usually make great comedies. This film, based on the fan fiction of the same name, is a silly soapy bad boy/good girl meet at college scenario dialed up to a melodramatic 11. Does it actually succeed as a romance or is this just a pale imitation of the really terrible adult version? Well...

Honestly, it’s just so much. I can’t take it seriously because it’s so cringey in so many ways. I don’t blame the actors (much) because they’re really going for it, but this is so far removed from any kind of realistic interpersonal relationship that I can’t help but hold my head in my hands and weep.

Tessa (Josephine Young) meets Hardin (Hero Fiennes Tiffin, whom you know as child Voldemort from the sixth Harry Potter) during her first week at college and is both repulsed and drawn to his mysterious bad-boy energy. He likes his coffee like he likes his clothes - black, and he reads F. Scott Fitzgerald for fun so you know he’s deep. Eventually the tension between them is just too much and they become involved, much to the disappointment of Tessa’s wet bread of a boyfriend, Noah (Dylan Arnold) and her mom (Selma Blair). It becomes them against the world until [movie trailer voiceover voice] Tessa learns something that changes EVERYTHING.

Some thoughts that are basically just a running tally of my reactions to every nonsensical thing that happened:

Oh my god I can’t believe Selma Blair is the mom??? God, nothing makes you feel your own mortality like the stars from teen films of your youth showing up as parents in the teen films of today.

In what world do upperclassmen stay in the dorms and get paired with incoming freshmen?

This boyfriend, Noah, has the personality of an egg salad sandwich.

Of fucking course Hardin’s reading The Great Gatsby jesus could there be a bigger neon sign flashing I AM A PRETENTIOUS DOUCHEBAG. Oh and if some arrogant motherfucker told me the end of The Great Gatsby was all a dream while I was naked I would reply “Get the fuck out of my room” rather than debating the thematic elements of the great American novel.

“I only drink black coffee” - god, these line readings are just so wooden and awful. And I feel like I’m playing “bad boy bingo” over here. The fact that he played young child Voldemort in Half-Blood Prince is not helping his stalker vibes.

These character tropes are so simplistic as to be laughable, and they’re all over the place. I also didn’t party in high school, but I wasn’t raised in a bubble, I knew what fucking Truth or Dare was. And why is Tessa dressed like Sarah Plain and Tall? But then on the flip side, I hate that thing in teen movies where everyone is scandalized that she’s 18 and has only had 1 boyfriend and is a virgin. Like - fucking YEAH. CAUSE SHE’S 18. THAT’S NOT WEIRD.

The side characters are far more interesting. Like the roommate, Steph (Khadijha Red Thunder), who is pretty great and also hella gay! I can’t tell how I decide about how the movie treats her queerness though. On the one hand, it feels very ~scandalous~ and Tessa’s mom is all like “sHe’S a BaD iNfLuEnCe” but on the other hand, Tessa doesn’t seem that uncomfortable with it and Steph is one of the only people who it seems like she has a healthy emotional attachment to.

Ok, as reluctant as I am to admit it, I am a sucker for an agonizingly slow almost kiss. And the movie does provide one pretty damn good almost kiss.

Listen, I have taught literature before and there is no way in hell 1) 2 students talk that much on the first day of class 2) you sum up the lecture with “and there you have it - that’s the power of a good book.”

Boys you don’t trust taking you into the woods is NOT ROMANTIC.

Why are his eyes open when they kiss??? Bruno Mars has a whole song about this! It’s fucking creepy!

I do appreciate that Tessa isn’t the typical Bella Swan fainting flower. She stands up for herself, she pushes back.

He’s so fake profound - “the silence is peaceful” - god I can’t with this dialogue.

I love how fast movie breakups are without anyone saying anything useful. All of my breakups have taken an hour MINIMUM but in movies it’s like “It isn’t what it looks like!” and someone walks away, and that’s it.

I don’t understand this scene in the library...college libraries don’t close? That’s like, one of their main purposes? Is to be open all night for studying?

Landon (Shane Paul McGhie) is a precious angel who deserves his own story rather than being stuck in this shitshow.

Has Peter Gallagher ever played anything BUT a rich father with a tumultuous relationship with his asshole son?

ENGLISH MAJORS CAN GET JOBS, YOU FUCK.

Ok, one legitimate shining moment of praise - I am so goddamn happy that they show safe sex and actually show the condom wrapper before the sex happens, not after. AND that there is clear, enthusiastic consent going on all around! More of this in movies, please.

JFC whoever wrote this clearly didn’t go to college - you can’t show one student another student’s work without their permission, it’s a goddamn FERPA violation, you don’t know how ANY OF THIS WORKS. And why was Hardin’s essay so long? Why would you write that whole paper and give it to your professor if it’s really basically just a letter to Tessa? You’d get a zero anyway, because I KNOW that shit did not meet the rubric requirements of your assignment, and now you’ve embarrassed yourself by showing it to another person??

Did I Cry? Not a fucking drop.

If this genre really speaks to you, there’s certainly some things here to like. But overall, I think most of us are better off before we ever watch this particular After.

If you liked this review, please consider reblogging or subscribing to my Patreon! For as low as $1, you can access bonus content and movie reviews, or even request that I review any movie of your choice.

#119in2019 #after movie #after movie review #after 2019 #josephine young #hero fiennes tiffin #selma blair #shane paul mcghie #khadijha red thunder #movie reviews #film reviews

6 notes · View notes