#this movie is seriously underrated

[piano-isnt-my-forte]

honestly is there a better use of the song "you get what you give" by new radicals than in the animated film Surf's Up (2007)

[saucy-mesothelioma]

October 31st: Meso's Honorable Mentions | Bones

Bones was released in 2001 and was directed by Ernest Dickerson. In 1979, Billy Bones (played by Snoop Dogg), a beloved and respected gangster, was betrayed and killed by a corrupt cop named Lupovich (Michael T. Weiss). Now, twenty-two years later, teenagers Patrick (Khalil Kain), Bill (Merwin Mondesir), Tia (Katharine Isabelle), and Maurice (Sean Amsing) decide to turn the building Bones once owned into a night club despite warnings from Bones's former lover Pearl (Pam Grier). Their renovations, however, soon lead to the awakening of the spirit of Billy Bones, and he won't let anybody stand in his way of enacting vengeance on those who had betrayed him.

Ernest Dickerson wanted to shoot Bones like the Blaxploitation films of the 70s, such as Blacula, Abby, Blackenstein, and Sugar Hill, and Dickersong himself stated that New Line Cinema didn't know how to properly promote the film without turning to stereotypes or without marketing it as a "Black movie". Once again as a white person, I am not in the least qualified to talk about the varying effects of Blaxploitation as well as the social commentary on the effects of drugs on African American communities that this movie covers, so I highly recommend checking out the documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror directed by Xavier Burgin, which I mentioned before when I covered Candyman. It gives a wonderful history of black filmmaking and representation in the horror genre, and Ernest Dickerson actually did an interview for it. From a filmmaking perspective, Bones has some wonderful cinematography and a captivating story as it mixes elements of classic Universal Monster movies, early German Expressionist cinema, and 70s Italian horror films. Dickerson also set a big priority on using practical effects whenever he could, and this absolutely pays off with having some of the most unsettling practical effects, especially for such a lesser-known film.

It can be watched for free on Tubi

Content Warnings for the Film (may contain spoilers): violence, blood, a shit ton of maggots, dog attack (it's a demon-dog), blood, forced drug use, use of the N-word by a white character, corpses

And since Dickerson made a point to use practical effects as much as possible, you know I'm gonna give it some attention because fuck is it good. Probably the coolest effect in this entire movie is when Bill is laying in bed listening to music, and the wall behind him suddenly reveals a writhing mass of spirits from the City of the Dead. It was accomplished by special effects artists Ariel Shaw and Tony Gardner by building a 2-story frame chock full of sculpted animatronics, puppets on rods, and empty spaces for the human actors (many of them mimes). The actors were airbrushed black, given prosthetics, and then covered in a tar-like slime. The technique they used to have the wall give way to the City of the Dead was actually a classic theater trick: the wall itself was something called a theatrical scrim, which is a then gauze-like fabric, with a bright light shining on it. When the light was turned off, the City of the Dead was revealed behind it in all of its disturbing glory. And the rejuvenation effects fro Bones's body were very similar to that of Frank's in Hellraiser which I covered earlier today: a body cast was made of Snoop Dogg (in his fuckin garage which is cool as shit), and then three different versions of the body were created from that mold for the varying states. Much like in Hellraiser, layers of skin and muscle were made with wax and then melted, so when the footage was played in reverse it looked like the body was reforming.

[bean-writes]

Dear Disney,

Just release these movies newly, without changing anything, and watch them blow up and be hailed as the best Disney movies of all time (because they are).

[acinematicworld]

The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

[mobius-m-mobius]

DANIEL CRAIG as JAKE LONERGAN in COWBOYS & ALIENS (2011)

[jacarandaaaas]

STARS DONT SHINE THEY BUUUURRRRRN AND THE CONSTELLATIONS SHIFT

[localatheistchurch]

Alex reading one last stop is the slayest moment of the movie so far

[fan-girls-r-us]

Last Night in Soho appreciation post?

Last Night in Soho appreciation post.

[toodles-me-doodles]

Why you should watch Speed Racer (2008)

Hilarious dialogue

Super cool special effects

Mario Kart style racing

Family feels

A ninja gets punched so hard he flies out of his pants

Have I mentioned how funny this movie is?

Surprisingly emotional

Fight scenes that are both badass and hilarious at the same time

Cool transitions between scenes

So much fun to watch

Plot twists

The dad in the movie actually learns from his parenting mistakes

The power of family

[dreadpirateella]

ALSO- I rewatched 9 the other day and omg I'm dying to make some fanart of this beautiful movie

Like just LOOK at that poster how could you not wanna watch it

If you haven't seen this you like must go see it now it's only 1 hr 19 mins and is SO worth your time like omg

The story and the characters and the environments and the antagonists and the animation it's just all so so so wonderful

[saucy-mesothelioma]

October 29th: Meso's Honorable Mentions | Child's Play

Child's Play was released in 1988 and was directed by Tom Holland (no not that Tom Holland). On his sixth birthday, Andy Barclay (played by Alex Vincent) gets the toy he so desperately wanted: a Good Guy Doll. The boy is naturally ecstatic, but his mother Karen (Catherine Hicks) becomes wary when peculiar things begin happening, such as Andy claiming the doll is talking to him and doing things around the house. It isn't until Andy mentions the recently-deceased serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) that Karen begins to believe that not only is her son telling the truth, but that there is something far darker going on beneath the surface. While the majority of horror franchises have ignored or retconned various aspects of their past films, the Child's Play series is one of the very few that has maintained a rather consistent storyline throughout all seven of its films and even into its TV series (although fans of the franchise such as myself will tell you that it is definitely not without it's flaws). The movies vary greatly in tone and style, although they stick true to the comedic presence that has been present in the film series since the beginning. The thing that probably endears most to the franchise including myself is the fact that the Child's Play series has always been a sort of family affair, both in a figurative sense and a literal one: the majority of the cast and crew have stuck with the series since the beginning and even Brad Dourif's own daughter Fiona Dourif would go on to star in several of the later films as well as the television show. Child's Play is also considered one of the most queer-friendly franchises in horror as well, primarily due to the fact that the creator of the series Don Mancini himself is gay.

I could not find any platforms where you can watch it for free.

Content Warnings for the Film (may contain spoilers): violence, sexual assault (interrupted), jumpscares

Once again, get ready for some behind the scenes info because this movie is absolutely top-notch when it comes to its practical effects.

Although Don Mancini described Chucky's look in his script that were then made into sketches by producer David Kirschner, we have special effects artist Kevin Yagher (who had previously worked on Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter and several Nightmare on Elm Street movies) to thank for bringing Chucky to life (he also met and married Catherine Hicks [Karen Barclay] while working with this franchise, and they're still together today. I just thought that was sweet). In total there were nine different animatronics used for Chucky, each having their own specific purposes such as walking, gestures, and even flailing around. Usually groups of nine would work on one animatronic with one guy operating the eye movement and eye lids, another doing eyebrows, ect. One of my favorite things about the Chucky animatronics are the fact that as Chucky becomes more and more human, so does the doll he's trapped in. The plastic sheen becomes more fleshy, his eyes more sunken, and it even gain's Ray's receding hairline. When Chucky wasn't an animatronic, he was played by Ed Gale, who wore suit and did a fantastic job attempting to replicate the movements of the animatronics. Also just a fun fact Chris Sarandon, who played Detective Mike Norris in this film, also played Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride and voiced Jack fucking Skellington. If you want to see more behind the scenes info, please check out this video on it.

[spectraltenkai]

"Oliver... WHAT DID YOU FEED THAT FAMILIAR OF YOURS?! How did he save us?!"

Featured song: World Map

Day 6 of Familiaugust features 'Hard Carry', aka the very first familiar you get in Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. Meet Mite!

I gotta say, this little fella has carried the team so much it's not even a joke. He's a quick little fighter, and I got very attached to him. I also mixed some design elements of the first and second stage, and beating up the Royal Jelly. And no you aren't getting context for that boss fight

[everysongineverykey]

i think glass onion deserves every single oscar solely for the act of introducing a character with the line "so this has gotten some attention recently, so obviously i would like to speak on this. and the answer is NO, jimmy kimmel, i do not hate boobs"

[caressthosecheekbones]

"watched" heavenly creatures while tumbling (oh no.bthere was a word. someone's mum invented a word! what was it again? I forgor), spilled coke on my fav jumper (😭), had the worst salad I ever paid money for, also the cutest delivery guy since that one pizza guy back in 2014(?). I mean. I wish I had had him. lol. tall, smiley, dark haired, curly, smiley, wet, smiley, curly, wet, hot, cute, smiley, wet jesus christ on a jalapeño

[kingdomoftyto]

October this year has felt kind of vague and adrift for me, no real festive spirit to speak of--or at least nowhere near how last year felt, when it was Year of the Vampire and all.

BUT I am remedying that now with a combined pincer attack of 1) relistening to Night Vale from the beginning on my commute to work and 2) rereading Warm Bodies on my breaks/in my spare time. Things are getting increasingly spooky up in here

[stiffyck]

okay am I the only one who thinks stop motion is the best animation technique