#the point was the power of coincidences and coalescence of human will and working together even unintentionally to survive

[nozomijoestar]

I know people hate SMT Nocturne's approach to characters but I love this shit, they feel like puddles that drag you down into an ideological sea once you start thinking on what they represent and the context of the situations the game put them in or what they say/how they act pre and during Vortex World, and their isolation from the player makes them doomed from getting any help being faced with their ugly inner selves until it's too late

[sparrowsabre7]

Say Something Nice About Every Star War part 7 A New Hope

Opening shot is perfection.

The slow burn opening, while odd by today’s standards really helps with world building and gives the story scope and scale.

The shootout on the Tantive IV still feels dangerous and exciting

Leia gets to be the first named hero to murder a dude in Star Wars and that is cool as fuck.

Used universe aesthetic started here (in SW at least, I don’t know if it was the progenitor, but I know Lucas did make a conscious choice for the blasters to look like guns rather than the 50s “raygun” aesthetic).

Imperial officer uniforms not so subtly nazi-inspired, and all imperials are white, human, men (and yet people still complain about “politics in muh star wars”).

R2 and 3PO’s personalities are immediately established despite only one of them being able to speak. Shout out to Ben Burtt for A+ sound design as always.

Vader’s entrance is striking (also fun fact: since the Imperial March has not been composed yet, A New Hope remains to ONLY live-action Star Wars film to not feature it at all).

The cosmic coalescence of coincidences that bring the heroes together is great. I know people rag on about how small the galaxy seems because everyone knows each other but chalk it up to will of the force and move on.

Blue milk!

Binary sunset, nuff said.

Uncomfortable connotations of “sand people” aside, the Tuskens are an interesting group and while it’s not elaborated on for decades, seeds of the idea of them as an indigenous people retaliating against invaders is sown here. After all, Luke strays into their territory. It’s also quite telling that Obi-wan doesn’t come in and kill them in a badass display of power but merely frightens them off. 

The whole scene in Ben’s home is really well done, as is the uncomfortable expression Ben gets when Luke asks him about his father. I don’t know how much of SW was planned in advance at this point, but allegedly Lucas told Alec Guiness to act like he was lying with the answer here. 

I really love the Landspeeder’s design. I love all landspeeders but there’s something so neat about this one because it does look kinda shitty but in a cool way.

Mos Eisley really feels like a living breathing town/city. 

Mad About Me by Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes is a bop. 

Thus begins the tradition of Obi-wan cutting off someone’s arm anytime he goes to a bar.

Han shooting Greedo under the table is cool, regardless of who shoots first.

Harrison Ford is acting like he’s always a little bit drunk in this one.

The Millennium Falcon’s design makes me want to weep it’s so good.

Han’s lil driving gloves.

Peter Cushing is great and I think is emblematic of what made SW stand out vs other genre pictures. Look at something like Highlander or Flash Gordon etc and everyone is hamming it up to the nines, everyone in SW plays it 100% straight regardless of how mad the situation is. I think hiring a lot of theatrically trained actors helped with that. (He’s also wearing slippers throughout because he’s never ever in full shot.)

Luke, Han and Chewie have to share one compartment to hide in while Obi-wan needs one all to himself on account of his MASSIVE BALLS.

tHe CoNvErSaTiOn. “We’re all fine here…. how are you?”

Princess Leia saving her own ass proving once again she’s the only competent human in SW. 

The Han Solo Chargetm

The duel may be a little tame but the dialogue is fire.

Obi-wan calling Vader “Darth” like it’s his name.

The little smile before he dissolves. (Also, look up the original non-special edition version of that scene because it’s fucking hilarious - I cannot seem to find it anywhere so it must have been on a BTS dvd extra but he gets cut in half, and the bottom half falls to the floor slightly before the top half) 

The whole gunner sequence is great even though it really shouldn’t work because it’s basically two dudes playing space invaders.

I like that they added back the scene of Luke and Biggs as it gives a sense of the connection and stakes going into the trench run.

The trench run manages to make what is ultimately quite small scale dogfight, in terms of the number of combatants, feel tense, urgent, and exciting. I DO think the special edition improves this scene massively too. The unedited shots, while good for the time, look a lot more static now. It’s still largely the original models at work, but the added/edited shots give a sense of inertia and mobility. 

The dramatic trench run score melding into the force suite is beautiful. 

I love the discrepancy in the X-wing and TIE targeting computers and the fact that the TIE pilots wear breathing apparatus while the Rebels don’t. It’s a subtle way of showing that the Empire cares more about killing its enemies than the safety of its pilots, as well as the wealth backing the Emprie vs Rebellion. 

Darth Vader’s “WAT?” when Han shoots the first TIE.

YEEHOO!

The final award ceremony is another great piece of music (used it to leave the church for our wedding). 

The fact Han’s formal outfit is literally his normal outfit, but with a buttoned up collar is hilarious. 

R2′s lil wiggles. 

[majingojira]

120 Years, 120 Monsters Finale! Days 30-31

Here it is, the most recent 10 monsters I felt were memorable and impactful!

111) Attack the Block (2011) - "Attacker"

This is one of those great independent monster movies that crop up every now and then which also adds a unique British flavor to it.  This is no Doctor Who adventures despite there being aliens about, this is ghetto living in England with gangsters and prejudice occasionally being more dangerous than the carnivores from outer space.

But those alien carnivores have an absolutely amazing design. Practical effects enhanced visually by CG creates an iconic, engaging visual that is realistic while being fantastic at the same time.  They were originally meant as a metaphor for poverty and I can see it working quite well.  An all-devouring darkness that moves relentlessly after disenfranchised youths.  They give the Dementors a run for their money in my opinion.  

Plus, who doesn’t love a neon glow in their critters?

112) Grabbers (2012) - Grabbers

Another monster from the British Isles, and another mildly comedic monster.  The Grabbers are tentacle monsters from the stars, arriving in a classic Panspermia seeding event, but what makes them really fun for me is their biology.  

The beings are extraordinarily simple, which makes them so dangerous.  Almost as durable as hibernating tardigrades, they need only water and blood to survive.  If they can find that, they can live.  It’s got life cycles, with infant, male, and female forms of varying levels of danger menacing an island off the coast of Ireland in the middle of a rainstorm, so what can our heroes do to survive?

Get Drunk.

Aside from dehydration, the main weakness of this species is alcohol.  This is no kryptonite, however.  Just dousing them in alcohol is not enough to do it.  The Grabbers have to ingest the stuff in order to be properly poisoned.  So, the heroes have to get the town drunk to survive the storm of tentacles about to descend on them.

Like, really drunk.  

It’s a creative conceit that covers so much.  Need the characters to do something stupid?  Well, they’re drunk!  Want to make somore sog harder than it should be?  Remember: Everyone’s drunk!  Want to have scenes of characters bearing their heart to each other?  Again, everyone’s drunk!  

Isn’t it great when the story is scripted in a way that things happen for logical reasons?

113) Cabin in the Woods (2012) - The Ancient Ones

It’d be really easy to just say that the “Ancient Ones” who demand the formulaic ‘sacrifices’ are a metaphor for the audience of horror movies and call it a day.  But, I’m with SF Debris on this one, it’s the world and its layers that gets me. It implies that every movie before this was part of their ritual to keep the Ancient Ones at bay. And in the end, they grew bored with their appeasement.  To me, it’s not so much that humans failed to keep them down, more so than the ‘audience’ for the sacrifices grew bored with the whole thing.  The cascading failures?  All part of their plan.  The monsters tearing up the only people who could complete the ceremony?  All part of their plan.  

Who knows how many little coincidences could be put on their influence.  

114)  Pacific Rim (2013) - Otachi

Pacific Rim had to be on the list, as a grand love letter to all things Kaiju.  Of the creatures featured, I found it tough to pick between the crab Onibaba and the pterodactyl Otachi.  On one hand, Onibaba’s main scene basically encapsulates what a Kaiju is metaphorically.  On the other, Otachi has the most screen time.  

Plus, his wing-reveal got audiences to gasp at pretty much every screening I saw.  

Otachi is emblematic of later Kaiju designs in Japan.  While the first wave were rather simple in concept, revived prehistoric life, giant animals, and other natural things, by the mid to late 60s, they became more elaborate and experimental, or even outright psychedelic.  

Otachi keeps surprising the viewer with what she’s packing.  First, she’s just a big reptilian creature.  Then her tail is revealed as a deadly grasping limb.  Then she spits acid.  Then she reveals a probing tongue.  Then the wings come out.  And even after she died, she revealed to have a little Otachi inside her as well!  

An escalation of threat indeed.  

115) The Babadook (2014) - Babadook

I literally can’t really talk about this one to the degree that it deserves.  Mostly because I have committed the sin of not having seen it yet!  Still, I want to!  And before Halloween is over, I plan to! But for now, I can only comment on what tiny bits I have seen, and the impact it has had.  

A monster can be measured in part by the impact it has had, and even without the Netflix Gay Culture meme (which I love), a creature that embodies grief and the negative effects it has is well worth having.  It is similar to a Dementor in that regard, but where the Dementor can be warded off and driven away, the Babadook has no overriding charm. It simply has to be dealt with, and it doesn’t just go away. It remains.

Just as Grief tends to do in reality.

116) Krampus (2015) - Krampus

In the menagerie of Christmas Horrors, there are killer Santas, your average human psychotics, and, of course, gremlins.  But over, above, and before all of those, there was the Krampus.  It wasn’t until the turn of the 21st century that it went from little more than a cultural footnote in wider society when it appeared as a gag in The Venture Brothers.  But then some insane genius realized the monstrous potential of a Santa Claus Demon and out popped this little treat.

Because while the Krampus is the focus, half the fun comes from a mixture of the twisting of the icons of the nicest holiday of the year into tools of murder and mayhem.  And that happens thanks to the Krampus’ minions.  Be they killer gingerbread men or demonic toys, each one offers a unique challenge for the family under siege by the demon of Christmas.

And, like any good Christmas movie, it’s about family togetherness.  In that, if you don’t have the Christmas spirit of family togetherness, the Krampus will come and drag you to the underworld!  

Merry Christmas, Kids!

117) Shin Godzilla (2016) - Shin Godzilla

I told you there would be hair-splitting, and this is part of the reason why.  I knew I had to include the original Godzilla, but this one is just so GOOD! Looking at the incident through the lense of a government bureaucratic crisis brings to light new incites and scenes, allowing for some great unexpected comedy as well as pointed social commentary.  

Godzilla is also just so different from any prior incarnation. It changes more about him than the ‘98 American film, yet still remains true to the core of what Godzilla is, and that is quite an accomplishment. 

118) Beware the Slender Man (2016) - Slender Man

This is SUCH a cheat.  See, the Slender Man hasn’t really had a movie.  And because he is a copyrighted character, he is unlikely to.  Instead, we get knockoffs and homages.  I’m all for those, but without a proper spring, it gets annoying.

The Slender Man is to a point the culmination of various boogeymen over the last 40 years.  Men in Black, The Tall Man, Alien Abductors, the nebulous “Stranger” evoked on children.  Now it’s coalesced into this form, and people have been aping it since its inception. The Silence from Doctor Who being one of the most prominent examples, but I’m sure you can think of tall, gaunt men in dark outfits who lack distinct facial features who’ve terrorized any number of series, books, and movies.  They all spawn from this source.  

The Slender Man is a fascinating example of being able to watch folklore emerge, as well as a grand warning about why children should not be exposed to certain things before they learn to differentiate real from unreal.  It’s that later that this documentary really focuses on.  And that’s what makes it truly unnerving.  

That and the fact that the inability to tell the difference between reality and fiction is disappearing in many adults these days.

119) Kong: Skull Island (2017) - Skullcrawler

In a way, the Skullcrawler is representative of the Godzilla foe Megaguirus, in that he is a minor adversary from an older film boosted in power and given second bill status to be an adversary of the main monster of the series.  First appearing as the only surviving monster from the lost Spider Pit sequence of the original King Kong, it became his main adversary in this film and it worked out rather well.

Presented as rapacious, insatiable predators, and so many aspects of their design and biology play into that.  THe grasping tongue, the narrow skull, the layers of teeth, the fact that they vomit up bones . . . it’s all visceral, and designed to eat people.

Plus they continue the sprawlling pose of most American monsters that Cloverfield helped popularize. 

120) IT (2017) – Pennywise the Dancing Clown

What hasn’t been said about IT at this point?  Well, I don’t feel there is much I can add to it, so I want to re-affirm a plot some saw as a failing.  (also, this makes so much fun punning!)

For as evil as Pennywise is, his fear and terror is that of children. ITs monsters coming to gobble them up.  The things done by adults and through their inaction is worse than most of his actions (ya know, short of the eating children thing). It may be an aspect of a larger cosmic horror, but that simplicity and twisted innocence are why he works so well, IMO.

Also, he should totally fight Gamera. Because you KNOW how thematically appropriate that is.

[jimmy-o-face]

X-Men: Beast's theory on time travel was right! (Part 1 of 2) The Real Trilogy

When you really think about it, there is no X-Men prequel trilogy. Out of the three only First Class is a prequel. DOFP in a reality is a sequel to X-Men: The Last Stand due to not really showing us the past but it being altered. XMA is at best an interquel as it tells us what happens between 1973 and 2023.

In my mind the real new X-Men trilogy is Days of Future Past, Apocalypse, and Logan. All three have an emphasis of Charles Xavier having hope for the future, explores despair, and most importantly: destiny. 

This article will be focusing on the last aspect. This quote from Days of Future Past will give some context.

Beast: There’s a theory in quantum physics that time is immutable. It’s like a river — you can throw a pebble in and create a ripple, but the current always corrects itself. No matter what you do the river just keeps flowing in the same direction.

Wolverine: What are you trying to say?

Beast: What I’m saying is, what if the war is inevitable? What if she’s meant to kill Trask? What if this is simply who she is?

Charles Xavier: Just because someone stumbles and loses their way it doesn’t mean they’re lost forever. No, I don’t believe that theory Hank, and I can not believe that is who she is. Ready the plane. We’re going to Washington.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (Future Part) and LOGAN

Now I’m going to post some spoilers for Logan. In the film we’ve learned that mutantkind is brought to near extinction by humanity in the new timeline similar to the old one, as I explained in an earlier post. Along with Logan losing everyone he loves again and going into depression like he did in The Wolverine and his healing factor is missed up.

There are also implications that some of the events of The Wolverine happening with the presence of a Katana in Logan’s room. The mentioning of some event happened at Statue of Liberty. As well as his time working for William Stryker with the presence of the military identification tags he got from him, same numbers and all. Perhaps the reason why Wolverine in Logan believes he’s doom to lose the ones he loves is because he remembers Beast’s theory.

Oh and Mangold confirmed that Wolverine’s death in Logan was meant to parallel him briefly dying in The Wolverine.

X-Men

Logan

Now, was Mangold building off of Beast’s theory? Perhaps. After all, The Wolverine did build off the events of X3 by showing Logan being haunted by the death of Jean Grey. Logan also reminds the audience of Xavier’s hopeful attitude that he developed in Days of Future Past. 

Many people actually believe this to be the case, others however think it's just coincidence. That Beast’s theory was nothing more than a plot device to put doubt in the viewer’s mind about the mission succeeding. But back in 2014 screen writer, Simon Kinberg, says otherwise. Stating that there is some legitimacy in the theory.

The end of Days of Future Past in 1973 does change the timeline of the established film universe.  But one of the things we posit in the film is the immutability of time.  So what you see at the end is a future that has been shifted but not completely transformed.  Our characters are back in the mansion, as we saw them in X1-3, with some obvious changes (like certain characters being alive).  So the answer is yes and no.  Yes it changes the timeline.  No it doesn’t completely erase everything…

Now fast forward to January of 2016 and this is what Bryan Singer has to say:

"Again, fucking with the reboot idea. I get to take control and reboot my own movie. I rebooted the universe so now anything can happen. So here's the plan, in my head, again giving away the plan because of the alcohol- The soda water. What happens when you use Days of Future Past to erase movies like X1, 2 and 3, yes you can erase those events that occurred, but I also was very adamant about having what we call 'The Tivo Scene.' The scene in that room with all the video cameras in Days of Future Past, I call it the Tivo scene. 'I developed this piece of technology that records television.' The point is time's immutability. The idea that time is like a river. You can splash it and mess it up and throw rocks in it and shatter it but it eventually kind of coalesces and this is, again, theories of quantum physics. It's all based in quantum physics.

So what I'm doing with these in-betweenqueels is playing with time's immutability and the prequel concept, meaning that yes we erased those storylines and anything can happen. That means the audience goes into the movie thinking that anything can happen. I mean anything, anyone could die. Any possibility could occur, but characters are still moving towards their immutable place. Jean and Scott, are they meant to be together? Is Scott this guy who hates schools, who ahtes authority, destined to become a leader? You don't know. Is Jean ever going ot disover the full potential of her power? You don't know, but we move in those direction character wise but then we have the freedom story wise to do whatever the fuck we want because we erased those three movies.

X2: X-Men United and X-Men: Days of Future Past (Past Part)

Indeed, there are actually examples of this in Days of Future Past and Apocalypse. There are parallels between the former film and X2. Magneto is broken out of prison, works with the heroes, has an plan to strike back against humanity, the plan is however stopped by the heroes, and Mutants get on the president’s good side.

There are also parallels between X3 and Apocalypse. Both films follow-up their predecessors establishing that mutant relations are better. 

X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: Apocalypse 

Another parallel these two films share is the role of Magneto. His role in both films is to ruin Mutant relations just when it was starting to get better. After his attack on Alcatraz the Sentinel Program goes into full effect. After being brainwashed into causing global destruction in Apocalypse, Mutants and their destructive capability become a subject of controversy. This controversy is what motivates the Transigen Project in Logan.

Magneto in Apocalypse is being used as an example of someone moving towards their immutable place. He has retired from villiany(likely due to the war that he always feared being prevented) and started a new family, but just like his old one they are taken away from him. He starts to question if god/fate just doesn’t want him to settle down(Is this what you want from me?! Is this who I am !?), which Apocalypse uses to brainwash him into thinking he can give him salvation.  And according to Quicksilver's mother, nothing ends well being near Magneto(which is likely the reason why he does not tell him that he is his son). The tragedy of it all is that Magneto and Ms. Maximoff might be on to something. The lose Magneto’s new family can be seen as time correcting itself and Apocalypse was time’s way of moving Magneto to his immutable place: setting up the near extinction of mutantkind.

Apocalypse also ends with Charles and Erik having the same conservation they had in X1. As a sign of history repeating itself. 

Oh and there is training in the danger room with Sentinels in both films.

In short: Day of Future Past, Apocalypse, Logan are basically the events of the old timeline flowing in the general direction but playing out differently, like Beast suggests. It's one of those times where repetitions such as these are not a bad thing as  it's for story telling promises in a similar vein as Edge of Tomorrow and other time travel story lines. Even the X-Men comics and animated series played this concept, which is likely the inspiration. I’ll explain that in another post.

Click here for part 2, true believers!