#what did Ben mendelsohn ever do to you?

[marvel-starwarsfangirl]

Y’know, after that episode, I’m starting to worry for all my other favorite characters. I’ve joked in the past that I always like characters who wind up dying. Zuko might be the only character from a popular fandom that hasn’t bitten the dust.

So umm… Fukuzawa, Kunikida, Steve, Thrawn, and Crosshair, you might want to start running.

[my-head-is-an-animal]

Unfinished Sentences

A Ben Mendelsohn fic.

Summary: You’re a actor who’s known for your indie work, but when you get a job working for on Secret Invasion with Ben Mendelsohn as your partner in crime, things may get complicated.

Story Masterlist

Chapter 1

You were pretty happy with where you were in your life, having just wrapped on filming another project, you were about to head into the promotion period for Marvel. You had been told how gruelling it could be, but you were partnered up with your partner in crime, Ben Mendelsohn. So, at least it would be fun.

    Before you entered into the booth where you would conduct your routine set of interviews, you looked over at Ben dressed in his smart navy jacket and light blue shirt, and took a moment to remember where all this began.

 Shooting the show was great, the people were kind and generous and they loved what they did. You were loving the opportunity to try something different, and it was certainly different from all the indies you’d previously worked in.

    In fact, it was an indie film that had Kyle Bradstreet, the creator, looking in your direction in the first place. A quirky little comedy about two people who get high and, with surprising success, rob a bank. You’d taken the film to Toronto a couple of years earlier where you ran into Ben for the first time. He was complimentary about the project, saying how much fun it was as an entertainment piece, which was exactly what you hoped it would be, nothing serious, just some fun.

    When Marvel called only a couple of days later, you were told so little, but suspected your new Australian friend may have been talking you up to the producers. You’d gotten used to that by now, that’s how it all worked, you have one good conversation with one person and everything you ever wanted could happen, the hard part was proving your worth, and you certainly intended to do just that.

    The character you played interacted with Talos a lot, so much of your down time was spent listen to Mendo talk about music, Australia, his family and, honestly some weird shit… a lot of weird shit came out of that man’s mouth. But you loved it, he was eccentric and fun and playful and most importantly, he was kind. He had a wicked wit that you found yourself adding to every chance you got. Your relationship was one people almost came to hate, when you two were together, you were unstoppable.

    Your favourite jokes had been the ones where Mendo would come in first thing in the morning, say something in jest to you quietly in the make up trailer, and you’d spend all day laughing about the little references made to it.

    When it was over you hugged everyone and both yourself and Mendo were on the verge of tears, you’d never have another experience like this, probably not get another opportunity to work with him again and the chances of seeing each other regularly were slim at best. This was it.

    You’d come into the make up trailer that morning and there were no jokes immediately. You looked at each other and Mendo got up to hug you.

    ‘Alright my Angel.’ He said, quietly, a nickname he’d come up with when he realised you were just as filthy as he was. ‘It’s going to be a good day, we’ll get through, don’t you worry about that.’

    ‘Fuck, this is going to be hard.’ I sniffed, trying not to cry.

    Mendo pulled back shaking his head. ‘Nah, easy part is the work, we’ll do the hard part at the end.’ He stroked your hair, affectionately as he sometimes did, and you appreciated it.

    The day really was hard, every scene you had with Mendo was another reminder of how you would never get this lucky again. At lunch you sat together, Sam and Olivia were chatting away as they often did when you two sat like naughty school children in the back of a class.

    You suddenly remembered something and looked at Mendo, about to tell him for the sake of having any conversation that wasn’t about work, but immediately stopped yourself; that was a bad idea under any circumstance.

    ‘What?’ He asked, noticing something was on your mind.

    ‘Nothing, don’t worry about it.’ You brushed it off.

    ‘Oh, you’re going red.’ He smiled that wicked smile. ‘You were going to say something dirty. Now you have to tell me.’ As loud as this guy could be, you appreciated he was being quiet at that moment.

    You folded your arms, knowing full well that he would not give up until you told him. ‘Okay, but you cannot make fun of me.’

    ‘I wouldn’t dare.’ He promised, eagerly awaiting your response.

    ‘I had a dream about you last night.’ You got it all out in one go.

    ‘Oh really?’ His blue eyes widened, and his wicked smile became uncontrollable. ‘A dirty dream?’

    ‘Well, obviously.’ You could feel your face aching with how red it was.

    ‘Was I good?’ He teased you, as he often did.

    ‘Bro, it was my fantasy, of course you were.’ You told him, making him cackle and deciding to own it instead of getting embarrassed by it. ‘But it wasn’t just you.’

    Mendo frowned.

    ‘Jason Sudeikis was there as well.’

    ‘Okay well that’s just ruined everything.’

    ‘Oh believe me, it was an improvement on some things.’ You joked, making him laugh that boyish laugh he had.

    You were called pretty soon after for a scene, but you kept catching his eye and it made you both laugh. The whole cast and crew were used to it by now, they probably thought you were just giddy and laughing at nothing, but that so rarely was the case. You had so many inside jokes and secret laughs that you lost count after a while. You’d miss this.

    After you’d wrapped for the day and everyone had their moment to say goodbye, you all decided to grab a drink in the hotel bar. You’d gotten used to hotel stays, not living in London yourself, it was nice to see the city from a new light.

    Mendo had positioned himself next to you all night, no one thinking it that unusual, but you could feel a shift in the air, unsure of what it was exactly.

    The night rolled on, drinks were ordered, shots consumed. You were basically drunk, but sober enough to know when to stop. Sam was telling one of his wild stories from working with Tarantino, but you were struggling to stay upright.

    ‘I think I’m going to call it a night.’ You said, mostly to Mendo as everyone else was engrossed in the story. ‘I need my bed.’

    ‘You want some company?’ He asked, teasingly, making you hold in a laugh, but you could tell from his expression he half meant it. You needed to get out before it became awkward.

    He got up to have a smoke outside, again not an unusual thing for him to do, but you decided to make a quick escape to stop yourself thinking anymore filthy thoughts about your friend. It just wasn’t appropriate, and you didn’t want to ruin the good relationship you had with him.

    ‘Goodnight, guys.’ You said and everyone stood up to hug you.

    ‘Pleasure working with you, Y/N.’ Sam said as he hugged me. ‘Call if you’re ever over my way, and I mean it, it’d be good to see you again.’

    ‘I will.’ You promised, half laughing to yourself about how lucky you’d gotten to be able to call Samuel L. Jackson a friend.

    You made your way to the lift and ran into Mendo coming back in on your way.

    ‘Making a sneaky escape?’ He asked, jokingly.

    ‘Yeah, I’m trying to get away from this guy who I dreamt about.’ You made him giggle. ‘God, he was an absolute machine in my head, but it’d never work out in reality.’

    ‘And why’s that?’ He bit his lip, trying to contain his laugh.

    You don’t know what came over you, but all the joking went away, and you decided to be honest. ‘Because I love him too much to ruin what we have.’ You watched him face take in yours, he sighed, nodding. ‘Fuck, I’m going to miss you, Ben.’

    ‘I’m gonna miss you too.’ He let a heavy breath go. ‘Can I walk you to your room? I promise I won’t joke about it anymore.’

    ‘Sure.’ You shrugged.

    You didn’t really want to leave him just yet, you made a friend for life and you didn’t know how you were going to function not seeing him every day.

    Mendo pushed the button for the lift, he was always a gentleman when he got the chance to be. You loved that about him, always a jokester but a big heart that surfaced occasionally. It was late enough that you ended up being the only two inside. You pushed the button to your floor and sighed, leaning back.

    ‘Fuck, my head is spinning.’ You said, trying to take deep breaths and stop the alcohol ruining any chance you had at making it to your room.

    ‘You’re okay, just keep breathing slowly.’ Mendo put his arm around you for support, making sure you didn’t collapse. You could smell him, that familiar cologne he wore, there wasn’t anything special about it, just that he was the one who wore it. He kissed the top of your head and sighed. ‘I’m gonna miss you so much.’ He whispered.

    ‘You already said that.’ You chuckled, wrapping your arms around his waist, getting comfortable.

    ‘Yeah…’ he said, with no clear end to the sentence.

    The lift arrived at your floor, and it took a moment for you to unwrap yourself from around his body. You were a little more unsteady than you thought, making him giggle behind you.

    ‘Take your shoes off, it might help.’ He chuckled.

    ‘You’re a genius.’ You could feel your throat drying as you bent down to remove your heels, they weren’t that high, but walking bare foot made things so much easier.

    ‘Do you want some help?’ He couldn’t stop giggling at you leaning against the wall.

    You tried to straighten yourself up and took a deep breath. He always brightened your mood and made you silly.

    ‘You can carry my shoes.’ You said it pretending to be an entitled arsehole and it only and whim laugh harder.

    ‘Your majesty,’ Mendo bowed theatrically. ‘It would be the greatest of honours to carry your shoes.’ He placed his hands out to take your shoes and you placed them in the middle of his palms, sauntering away towards your room.

    You turned back to see his eyes suddenly darting up to yours.

    ‘Sir, I believe you were checking me out.’ You teased, but it was his turn to go red, try not to smile and give himself away.

    ‘Sorry.’ He really did seem apologetic.

    ‘It’s okay, you were doing a lot more than that in my dream.’ You winked, watching him place his hand on the wall next to your door, his breathing was definitely heavier, and his jaw clenched for a moment.

    ‘Are you sure you don’t want your dream to come true?’ He asked, half meaning it.

    For a long moment, you screamed yes inside your head. You couldn’t imagine anything better than spending a night laughing with this man while he did unspeakably good things to you. You had a good feeling it wouldn’t be awkward either, you knew each other well enough that you would simply give in and go with the flow. You knew it would be good.

    You cleared your throat, putting your key card into the slot to open the door. He hadn’t stopped staring at you with his beautiful blue eyes, they were mesmerising.

    ‘I think it’s best we don’t.’ You finally said.

    He half smiled in disappointment, looking down at the ground for a second, before looking up.

    ‘That seemed to take a long time for you to say.’ He pointed out.

    ‘Yeah…’ You said, not really sure of where the sentence was going. ‘It was a lot to think about.’

    Ben nodded, still watching your face for any sign of you changing your mind. You weren’t sober enough to be able to control where your eyes were being drawn to. You scanned his handsome face, taking in everything, finally stopping on his lips, before drawing your gaze back up to his now very dark eyes.

    The sound of your shoes being tossed into your room was what drew you to the reality of the situation you found yourself in. His hand brushed the side of your waist, making you gasp from the contact, his other hand gently brushed your hair behind your ear and there was no stopping any of this now.

    You gently pulled him into your dimly lit hotel room, he guided you against a nearby wall and stopped just millimetres from your mouth. You could feel each other's breath, you held the lapels of his jacket tightly, silently begging for the contact.

    ‘Ben.’ You breathed.

    His lips grazed yours and it wasn’t nearly enough of what you needed. You listened to him sigh with relief, before sinking down into a surprisingly affectionate kiss. Where your dream had been hot and heavy, this was gentle and affectionate, like he was trying to say something words couldn’t express.

    You felt him pouring into you, his quiet hums of satisfaction were to die for, his scent was intoxicating and all consuming. You remembered vividly in your dream where things went from there, you remembered the image of him on his knees for you and groaned at the thought that his mouth could work this way somewhere else. Fuck, he was beautiful.

    You felt his hand wrap around your body, pulling you flush against him, his lips gliding over yours, teasing the notion of descending to your neck, but he never went that far.

    Suddenly he brought everything to a slow, his lips placed lazy kisses against yours and his hands loosened their grip around your body.

    ‘I’m sorry.’ He whispered. ‘I don’t want to do it like this.’

    You frowned, still feeling his mouth against you. ‘Like what?’

    Ben brought both of his hands up to your face, gently stroking his thumbs across your cheeks. He kissed you again.

    ‘Can I say goodbye to you in the morning?’ He asked. You weren’t sure what the question meant. ‘I don’t want to leave things on an awkward note.’

    ‘Sure.’ You nodded, still craving more of his kisses.

    He sank once more into you, before pulling away, resting his forehead against yours, finally the whisper of a smile appeared.

    ‘You think you could let me go?’ He asked, trying not to laugh. It was only then you realised you were still holding onto his lapels.

    ‘Oh, sorry.’ You suddenly let go.

    ‘It’s okay.’ Ben shook his head. ‘If I’d been another drink down, I might not have asked.’ He made you chuckle with him. ‘Goodnight, Angel.’

    He gently placed one last kiss to your lips before leaving your hotel room. You slid down the wall and asked yourself: what just happened?

  If you liked this, please consider supporting me ☕ thanks for reading!

[lucy-sky]

Slow West! Since I saw you log it on Letterboxd a few weeks ago <3

Nice choice!

• what’s the movie about?

Hmmm... Maybe the main idea was said by Jay and later repeated by Silas: "There's more to life than just survival"?

And if we're talking only about plot summary - it's about a young boy who wanted to find the love of his life and save her at all costs (and he, if fact did it)

• do I like the movie?

Absolutely!

• favourite character?

Seriously? Do I REALLY have to say it? Okay. Silas Selleck! BUT I also must say Ben Mendelsohn in his fur coat was also extremely charismatic in this movie!

• least favourite character?

I really don't know. I didn't hate anyone :'D

• first impressions?

It's a beautiful little western with interesting characters, and I'm here for it :)

Also (spoiler alert) I was REALLY happy that Fassy didn't die :'D

• did I like the ending?

Well... Of course Jay's story is sad, but still the ending feels satisfying (because Fassy xDD)

• how many times have I seen it?

For now just one, but the rewatches are possible :)

• which character would I be?

I'd live with Silas Selleck happily ever after

• *extra comments/opinions*

That moment when injured Silas tried to light up his cigar in the middle of a gunfight with matches he stole from the guy who was shot and fell down next to him - HUGE Wolverine vibes!

*

Send me a movie title, and if I’ve seen it, I’ll answer these questions

[callioope]

HEY GUYS! I watched the livestream of Rogue One with writers Gary Whitta and Chris Weitz. I took notes. Because that’s what I DO. I jotted down some of my takeaways. Please note I was watching RO, watching the stream, taking notes, and also doing a few other things so these MAY NOT BE PERFECT. Please feel free to correct me if you see something I misrepresented. That said I tried to be accurate. 

YES they DO TALK ABOUT the romantic chemistry between Jyn & Cassian but that is literally at the end, but feel free to peruse the rest of the points because there’s some pretty interesting insights (some good and some bad O_O like Cassian’s original storyline, yuck)

ANYWAYS let’s go

Inglourious Bastards inspired the Lah’mu scene (Gary Whitta wrote this scene, although he admitted it changed a lot but a lot of the structure and ideas stayed in)

In the original version of the script, Lyra was a Jedi in hiding, but this was one of the first things that got killed

Mads thinks he plays a bad guy, but Gary thinks he played a good guy

They talked about how Galen originally wanted to use kyber crystals for energy, but it got weaponized (which is talked about Catalyst)

stormtrooper doll is a gareth edwards touch

idea was that there’d be good people on the Imperial side and bad people on the rebel side

Cassian’s first scene on the Rings of Kafrene was written by Tony Gilroy (who wasn’t present in the stream) later. In the earlier versions, the DS is something that Jyn goes and finds. It was much more like Zero Dark Thirty where she was putting together the clues, and it was a battle for Jyn to get the rebels to take it seriously, but that was too much of a slow burn. So the Tivik scene was to replace that and introduce the idea that Cassian can be dark. Everyone admired Diego’s beautiful bit of acting as he's just lost a little bit of his soul in the fight for justice, the morality is the first victim. It’s very subtle but it’s one of Gary’s fave pieces of acting in the movie

Chris said for awhile they had Ord Mandell, then shifted to the notion of something more like in Casablanca, so a bit of a flavor of that, a part of the Empire that has been taken over that is under violent oversight

Gary said in the original, Jyn went to Ord Mantell (mentioned in Empire?) to find an arms dealer to help her find Saw, then went to another planet where Saw was living on a moon called Yarid

Budget realities played a part in the decision making to scale this back; they wanted to put so much more but just couldn’t fit it in

Originally we were supposed to see the rebels evacuate Dantooine and move to Yavin 4, but it didn’t really accomplish anything in the story accept to nod to SW fans. It didn’t move the story forward and would have cost too much

It was Tony Gilroy writing with Jyn getting freed on Wobani. Some original ideas had toyed with possibilities that she was a deserter or Rey-like scavenger, but obviously you can’t do that once you learn what the the Empire does (chris)

Only time they didn’t use a title card was Mustafar bc they wanted fans to go OH SHIT IT'S MUSTAFAR, also worked bc Mustafar would have been one of those off-the-map planets

Gary was responsible for getting Mothma in the movie

How much did the Yavin 4 briefing get worked on? A lot. sort of inspired by a scene from Apocalypse Now.

“I think this movie really beautifully bridges the gap between the original and prequel” and one of the ways it does that is JIMMY SMITS

Lots of gushing over Yavin. “Gareth just shot the shit out of this movie.” so much praise for Gareth’s vision. “Gareth can compose a shot unlike anyone I know.”

The Yavin 4 set was fully contiguous; you could walk from the inside all the way outside in one continuous shot.

K-2SO is a great example of how one character can have many fathers. John Knoll originally came up with him and he was originally a rebel logistics droid envisioned to be a “black C-3PO” (whatever that was supposed to mean - Gary wasn’t sure). Gary proposed that he could be an Imperial droid that was captured by the rebellion and reprogrammed. K-2 was really limited with what he could do working for the Empire, but once he was liberated, he was going to speak his mind. Chris and Tony and Alan all gave him more life, everyone has a little piece of K-2′s parentage.

Only ever one casting choice for Saw, which was Forest Whitaker. Gary also knew Ben Mendelsohn would be cast as krennic, but no one else was cast at that point -- he knew it was down to 3 choices for Jyn, but wouldn’t say who

Chris brought Bodhi into the story (Gary said so but Chris wasn’t sure)

For Tarkin, they took shots from the ANH and unused takes. There was also a mold of Peter Cushing that had been sitting in a prop shop for decades (I didn’t get what movie it was, something where he needed a large prosthetic eye or something), and they scanned that.

Binoculars that Jyn and Cassian look through on Jedha were inspired from the scene in ANH (like when luke looks through them on Tatooine)

Chris was responsible for Jedha, Temple of the Whills, and Chirrut’s connection to the Force. And Bor Gullet, I think. They said Bor Gullet delights in traumatic memories (more delicious to him). There was a cut idea/scene: Bor Gullet made Jyn trade her traumatic memories for information she wanted.

They talked about the two dudes Jyn runs into that are also in ANH and how they survived the destruction of jedha only to get killed by a Jedi the next day - they must have needed to get a drink at a cantina after narrowly leaving Jedha. Puts their presence at the cantina in a new light.

Screenwriters would tell you this [Jyn saving the girl on Jedha] is a classic “save the cat moment” so that we like that character that otherwise we might not -- like jyn [RUDE, but I think they were joking]  [also i took beginner screenwriting in college and YES the “save the cat moment” was like lesson 1 lol

They wanted this war to look like a proper war, and [Jedha] really looks like something you might see happen. Wanted people to feel like it wasn’t just about stormtroopers hassling the guy on the street corner but there were real lives at stake

Commentary on Jyn’s Awesome Fight Scene: this is the first moment Cassian really realizes that Jyn is no one to be messed with 

They guessed that Tony came up with the K-2 gag after Jyn’s fight sequence

Lots of good commentary here about how action scenes need to serve a purpose, they can’t just be fighting: they gotta reveal character and story -- don’t write the specifics of the fight, but write what the action is supposed to mean, let choreographers make it look good

Chris said Gareth kind of requested a character like Chirrut, and Chris had been messing around with a Force priest and they became the same guy. Baze was originally a murderer and criminal, and Chirrut was his confessor figure, and they had a weird codependent relationship in which Malbus would commit crimes and Chirrut would forgive him for it. But in this they are both Guardians of Whills. Baze saving Chirrut reminds Gary of Indiana Jones shooting the guy with the sword. Good example of action sequence having a purpose: showing Chirrut & Baze’s dynamic

Coming up with names in SW -- no real formula, you just know it when you hear it

Lots of freedom to come up with new stuff as long as it doesn’t grossly violate canon. Two Tubes was Tony Gilroy or maybe someone just before him

Allegedly Bib Fortuna’s cousin is in scene at catacombs

Someone wanted a Tusken Raider to leave Tatooine to be one of the rebels, but that was vetoed bc they don’t leave Tatooine

“you don’t want every star wars movie to feel like a remix of your greatest hits” - gary [me: LMAOOOO not everyone got that memo!!!]

Guardians of the Whills: Chris said when he came on board, he wanted to go into some deep George Lucas stuff so he looked at the OG screenplay of SW which is pretty “cuckoo bananas” but it’s unfilmable because it’s so gigantic. but there were so many cool things in it. Originally the Force was known as “The Force of Others" by Lucas so he had Chirrut often referring to it as such

There had to be physical tapes because that’s what was mentioned in ANH. Similarly, Tarkin said it was the first time they destroyed a planet in ANH, so they had to do a smaller test that didn’t conflict with canon but we still get to see the DS do it’s thing

Gary said he got sick of everyone on the internet saying “If the empire’s so smart how come--” so he wanted to make it happen for a reason

Chris said - John Knoll, who apparently has some kind of engineering background, said a project the size of the DS, there’d be hundreds of flaws that would bring down the station. Gary responded - it makes sense that there would be a flaw, but it’s more interesting if the flaw would be there deliberately

They went back to the idea that SW was a fairytale and “only one key that the lock fits in in a fairy tale”

They talked a bit about the “nerdy stuff” and technical details, like how fast does a Star Destroyer go, how fast is travel through hyperspace,” but they were pretty insistent that Star Destroyers go at the speed of narrative. Hyperspace moves at the speed of plot. They don’t think about the gritty details. Story always wins. You try to hide those bits. If tech stuff comes into conflict with story, the story has to win. If you can make it work great, but story should win otherwise. [MY TAKE: I think it’s lazy and you might as well try to make it work if you can, BUT I agree that it shouldn’t necessarily hang up the process, per se.]

They talked about Jyn & Co witnessing the test on Jedha and how it’s important that Jyn & Co witnessed the terrifying destructive power of this weapon, so they know better than anyone how important it is to stop this thing

They said Saw always died in the weapon test. Originally it was on a different moon, but always planned for him to die like that.

Gary mentioned in ANH, there’s more than one empty chair in the DS conference room, but Gary wished there had been only one chair so it could have been Krennic’s specifically and he wasn’t in it.

The idea was that Mothma and other Generals were desperately trying to avoid a war and trying to find a political solution to this crisis, but Palpatine is stringing them along long enough for the DS to be ready. So the Rebels have been strung along and played for fools by Palpatine, but once we realize the Empire has built a genocide weapon, the Rebels finally wake up to the idea that the only solution now is war. Empire has forced our hand. the movie is about the idea that tyrannical regimes always fall bc they go too far and they do something so terrible that people are forced to stand up and fight back. If the empire had never built the DS, Gary thinks they could have won the war and ground the Rebellion down. but bc they got greedy they forced the entire galaxy to take the war seriously, so the DS was really the Empire’s undoing

The Rebellion was like the equivalent of the Second Continental Congress, with squabbling factions and not able to get anything done, and the Empire was able to win in the beginning bc they are authoritarian, unified top down

Gary came up with Eadu, but it was originally in the first act. The whole movie got restructured. Originally they went to Eadu very early and discovered they were building the giant dish for the DS. That was the first scene that Jyn had the clue that the Empire was building something terrible. Later it became less a place where the dish was built and more just where they were harvesting and refining the kyber crystals.

It was originally Saw’s X-Wings that attacked Eadu

“rain = mood” idk who said it but that line popped

originally there were local people called Eadui who told story how facility had poisoned rivers and valleys and farmland. Gary wanted to put a face on the crimes the Empire had committed

Mads doesn’t believe that what Galen did absolves him

In Gary’s version, Krennic came to inspect final version of the dish

Cassian was always meant to be compromised in both Gary and Chris’s versions. He was a double agent: for a long time, he was working for the Empire. Chris added: he had lost people who had been killed by Saw Gerrera, and all he wanted from the Empire was the go ahead to kill Saw rather than Galen. That transmogrified along the lines post-Chris and post-Gary into a rebel intelligence officer who had done terrible things. In the original idea, he changes heart after seeing the Death Star bc it wasn’t what he signed up for, and he had to win back Jyn’s heart bc that DS reveal happens after his double agent ness is revealed.

In the original, Jyn actually gets Galen back to the rebel base, but he’s beyond saving, but his whole speech he gives Jyn in his last moments happened in a medbay

They talked about the score instead of the awesome fight scene after Eadu so BOOO on that. I mean yes the score is brilliant but still I wanted insight into this scene.

I blanked out a little because I was mad they didn’t talk about the Eadu fight scene argh

They were talking about Krennic standing his ground against Vader. and then someone said it was probably something among the Imperial officers that “you haven’t really made it until you’ve been choked by Vader.” O_o sorry we could be talking about Jyn and Cassian DAMNIT

the debate scene on Yavin 4 was recontextualized. always this idea that the rebellion is not one monolithic entity, it’s a collection of worlds all of whom have own leaders and own opinions. rebellion historically messier because it’s democratic and harder to get things done. 

briefly toyed with a Leia appearance (chris) at the big conference scene, but best for Jyn to give the most rousing speech here. 

Who wrote the hanger speech? Spirit of it might be Chris’, but Chris thinks it’s Tony Gilroy. Big difference from version Gary wrote: Jyn convinced the rebels. But he thought it was cool now that Jyn goes rogue and it’s only when Mothma finds out she’s committed to that that she makes the decision to back her up. But in the original she convinced Mothma, and everyone got around the table and said here’s the plan. Chris thinks it was in one of his drafts that they went off on their own. 

in Gary’s version Jyn was Rogue Leader. 

Chris had grunts complaining all the flyboys create dramatic names for their squadrons but that got nixed

Gary had idea that K-2 had scraped off his markings but had to have them painted back on to go to Scarif and K-2 hated it

Mothma talking to Bail is one scene that survived word for word form Gary’s original script

They talked a little bit about the decision to have the characters die, but I was drafting a question and missed it

They talked about how they came up with Scarif and decided to make it tropical -- what sort of place hasn’t been seen before? sort of coming from production and gareth. but also building these places to fulfill the needs of the story -- like building a walkway that only one person can get across

a lot of extras in Scarif were real ex-military, and Gary said a couple of the X-Wing pilots were real-life RAF tornado pilots

didn’t have Blue Squadron in the ANH bc it interfered with the blue screen

Gareth said “give me a mon calamari that looks like churchill’ and that’s Raddus

Chris and Tony killed pretty much everybody. Sounds like Gary just killed K-2? Unclear bc I missed the main part of that when they were talkinga bout it.

They commented on how RO is one of the darkest tonally movies but also so colorful, beautiful blue sky

They wanted to pay tribute to Battle of Endor

they couldn’t remember who was responsible for ‘stardust’ but it wasn’t gary or chris

who’s idea was it to cut off the “I’ve got a bad idea about this”? gary had a different version of it, Jyn said “I've got a good feeling about this” (which ultimately got used in Solo) 

Someone asked about the footage in trailer that wasn’t in the movie: Chris heard on good authority that the TIE fighter in front of Jyn was actually never intended to be used, was always a trailer-specific moment. he said he didn’t know how she would have gotten out of that one. k-2 died on the beach. chris wasn’t sure but as the scenes get cut together in production and post, the narrative necessities can change bc of logistical needs. but some shots were so cool they were perfect for trailers. Some talk on how trailers and movies are very different things in general.

Gary said originally there were two separate facilities on Scarif: vault and comm tower were separated by stretch of beach. so needed to liberate plans from vault and get across beach to tower. as they looked at what they had, there were too many moving parts and they wanted to simplify, so they put vault and tower in same complex.

did they ever consider letting Chirrut pull the lever using the force? NOPE. 

“I am one with the Force and the Force is with me” was Chris. it goes on, it’s supposed to be like a psalm for Jedi, but eh wanted a sort of lord’s prayer type of thing. 

HELL YES someone asked about the romance between Cassian and Jyn! Was there any romantic potential in any script? YES!!! they said!! yes!!! And Chris said he wouldn’t be surprised if a kiss was shot either! 

BUT they went on to say they wanted to side-step the trope that every male and female hero have to be involved.

But clear GARY said yes early on, there was definitely romantic chemistry that got scaled back to a mutual respect, but they’ve obviously grown close. Gary doesn’t think there was anything romantic and they said people found that refreshing. ‘what they’ve been through is the meaningful part” and “‘the stuff that is happening around them is too important" and “it speaks to their character that they wouldn’t let that intrude”

someone said it was like they were walking into a sunset but it was a mushroom cloud and THEN someone QUIPPED that it was sorta like the sunset walking into them RUDE

There was more after that but that was pretty exhausting to keep up with!!!! so i’m wiped. anyone else get any fun takeaways that I missed?

[smolbeandrabbles]

Director’s Cut 3: Danny Rayburn

* Well it’s more a focus on our Reader character, but, Danny.

“What was the inspiration behind Liliana and her family? Because they’re all so amazing 😭🙏 and how did you choose the name Devan?” 

Liv, bless you for asking the difficult questions! Now you get a look inside my crazy mind (as if you hadn’t all already with Andrew.)

So, If you thought Andrew was a long post you better grab your favourite drink and your Danny playlist and settle in!

The following specifically refers to our reader character and her family, and the events of Sway and it’s spin-offs, which I will obviously always encourage you to read! 😁 Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6  / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10

Sweet Spot  /  All I Want For Christmas / Good Woman

What was the inspiration behind Liliana and her family?

Before we go into too much detail I want you to imagine 1st January, 2019. And then a girl who had recently purchased Camila Cabello’s first album - late, after being super impressed by her performance opening for Taylor Swift - and watched the first episode of Bloodline AND Dirty Dancing 2 (the trade off for having your mum watch Rogue One with you) in one single day. Anyone who hasn’t listened to Camila’s album, this is essentially Danny’s dance playlist, I don’t make the rules

I had ideas for Danny before I even started to watch. Mostly because when you’re first immersed in the world of Ben Mendelsohn and trawl through blogs, you can’t help but notice Danny. Annnd found out a lot about the show, which caused me to have a BUNCH of misconceptions and create a story in my head that was just... not even remotely close to what Bloodline is.

So here’s the deal, I occasionally like thinking about some of Ben’s characters gender bent, and how that would make them different/similar and affect their stories. I did this with Andrew and Gerry before I did it with Danny (because can we just think about Animal Kingdom if they were female?). And then armed with my assumptions, I came up with a story for Bloodline. “Linzi, why are you telling me this-!?” I hear you cry, but don’t leave the post just yet! Just keep in mind that Jack Ervin was (female) Danny’s restaurant accountant and also will they / won’t they love affair, that uhm. Well they didn’t, because Danny dies.  For all intents and purposes a lot of Jack’s plot points became Lily’s (including bringing back the restaurant). Also I had a great character with a great name that I didn’t want to waste. Jack became Liliana’s dad - and therefore we got: Jack and Liliana Ervin. 

Back to Dirty Dancing 2 - set in Havana, complete with its ‘will they/won’t they’ love story (of different social classes!) and of course, Latin American dancing. To say I borrowed a lot of ideas from this is probably an understatement - but Danny is a Miami boy, and Miami has Little Havana. Quickly it all kinda fell together.  But in this case, Danny is the out of his element American and Liliana (given that her parents are both from Latin American backgrounds) is the dancer. Added to that in DD2 the girls parents are both dancers, I was happy to keep an element of that for our girl too. Jack remained Jack Ervin, with his name actually being Juan Ervin (American Father, Argentinian Mother) but changing his name to Jack to fit in with his Miami high-society persona. Maria (American Mother, Puerto Rican Father) basically has a super cliche Hispanic name, I know (well both of them do but Juan is the equiv. to Jack so that’s how we ended up there) but it worked for me. Liliana’s name... I don’t even know where I got it from - sometimes names just come to me, sometimes I spend hours finding a good one on all these naming sites! 😅 Lily just came to me, I certainly wanted something that could be shortened Liliana->Lily but also something that went with Danny’s name. Liliana Rayburn is a great name. (I know the irony of that, you don’t need to tell me twice!) I need a ship name for them.

Let’s take a little look at their character for a second though: Jack and Maria are meant to be parallel to Robert and Sally. But also the complete opposite. Jack is described as a ruthless businessman who doesn’t care to much about his reputation in business. He’ll just get the job done no matter what the cost. The catch being of course that really Jack is a lovely guy, he cares very much about his family (+ extended family!) and is a well respected member of Miami society. Ruthless yes - but Maria and Lily mean more than the world to him - and eventually Danny too. “No man is good enough for your daughter until one is. And he is.” and also “He would have given you the world, and I would have let him.” Just sayin’ he’s a good father and a good man.  Maria is mentioned a little less than Jack is but I think that’s because I basically want to compare Jack/Danny to Robert/Danny. I also think that Jack has more to do with the overall story; he’s the one with the well known construction company that everyone recognises Liliana’s last name from, the reason that everyone is all over Danny with the “You can’t get involved with Jack Ervin’s daughter!!” spiel. Maria is the quieter character, but spends a lot of time showering Danny with love when she is around. Lily’s parents were all about giving Danny family that loved him unconditionally. A real family. She’s... probably a little more on the ‘stereotypical’ side of Hispanic parents, but there’s a reason for that-! One of my very best friends is Peruvian, and every time I visit him it’s like visiting my second family. Like from the very first time I met them his parents were SO kind, like above and beyond... and so adorable... oh my gosh, I love them so much and they are 100% inspiration for Jack and Maria. Maria is basically his mum. 😁 But more than anything I wanted Jack and Maria that wanted nothing more for their daughter than for her to find someone who loves her. No matter who he is or his background or anything like that. Which was important to me, especially having been through a relationship myself where my family didn’t really approve of him because he wasn’t from the same social class. I’m certainly not about that.

As your tags put it - Jack and Maria are the biggest Danny/Liliana shippers! 😁 (With Javi and Jason a close second! And I won’t leave out Evie and Amanda either!)

Liliana Oh my gosh. My love for her can’t be overstated. I say it every time, but I’ll say it again. When I started her and Danny’s journey on that dancefloor in January 2019 I never would have dreamed I’d be still here now nearing fic number 200. I wasn’t even sure if anyone would have been interested in them enough for me to ever write more than just Sway 1. But, when you’re asked to write a second part then you know it’s got traction and you end up with 10, of course!  Inspiration for Liliana? Good question. A little like I said for Elaiyna with Andrew, I needed a S/O that fit with Danny and his story. I say at the start of part 10 that really it’s her story. And it is, Danny takes her from one night stands with men she meets on the dancefloor to mother of 2 kids in a loving relationship where it’s clear that she will never love anyone else. And it’s his character/personality, being as in character as possible, that leads her there. Liliana never runs out of chances, she forgives Danny for everything he does because she loves him so much. Because she can’t bear to think of life without him, nor what his life would be like if she left. Liliana is... a strong woman who doesn’t know how strong she is. She loves unconditionally and she doesn’t care that Danny is not on top of his game - he’s struggled his whole life, but he does not have to struggle with her. She’s meant to be the easiest thing about his life - home, a safe place, strength and stability.  Danny is her adventure - with all his secrets, and his past, and how much he suffers she’s presented with a problem that she can’t solve, she can’t save,but loves him anyway. Lily will never give up.  The contrast between the two worlds they are in when they meet, and then the one they build together as they grow which takes that contrast and just makes it work. Like they just work - sure I made it that way, but I tried to make it realistic. Love has no barriers, right? It shouldn’t. To quote my characters again: “There’s one fairytale here, and it’s yours.”

I wouldn’t give her a pushover title - sure she never runs out of chances for him (perhaps its arguable that she could walk away but it never occurred to me that that was her personality.) but like, screw his family. She won’t ever forgive them for what they’ve done to him, she won’t ever trust them.  So why does she forgive John? Because that’s her character. That’s what Danny made her. John and Danny’s relationship always fascinated me in the show and it just strikes me that Danny and John were close, even with all that happened. Danny would want Lily to forgive him - and maybe Lily only forgives him FOR Danny, but it’s in her character. She’s tired of all this conflict and all she wants is for John to confirm he did it so she knows for sure.  Liliana has elements of me in her, perhaps a little more than most of my other OCs, elements of my feelings towards characters in the show as I continued to watch, elements of other OC’s of mine (and physically too. Her Psalm tattoo I directly lifted from someone else. Hey, it be that way sometimes!) and elements of all these pieces that inspired me to write her in the first place. 

I mean I don’t know if that really explains it clearly. Because there’s not really one clear inspiration for them - but from a range of different sources and elements. I hope that it even helps explain it a little though! 😅

How did you chose the name Devan?

Oh my gosh, okay. Liv why did you have to ask this question!  So, oh god this is so stupid.  Basically, although I knew that they would have a son, because our characters didn’t know that they were going to have a son, I wanted to give the baby a unisex name. Because I ALSO knew I was going to follow Bloodline canon it was also important to me that Danny be the one to chose the name.  Added to that, like Nolan, I knew that Danny and Lily’s baby was going to keep that Rayburn last name.  Devan Rayburn and Devan Ervin both sound pretty great to me..!

Obviously, it should be Devin. And the only reason I think I chose Devan was because a) I actually thought that was how you spelled it... (I mean I guess so, there’s no other logical reason I can’t have called him Devin... unless I looked at Devin Ervin and thought... ‘that’s basically the same’ and so changed the spelling but it was definitely always written Devan in plans etc) and b) a singer called Devin Dawson.  When I was on my year long internship in the USA I was able to listen to country music radio - specifically the station a family friend worked on. And they were obsessed with a song called “All On Me” by Devin Dawson. (actually it’s a good one for this series, but that’s beside the point!) So I heard his name all the time, and I’m 99% sure that I got it from him. (Also fast forward and I’ve actually now seen the guy in concert and was like “Oh yeah I named a character after you.” so yeah it’s probably Devin Dawson’s fault. )  At the end of part 8 I left a note that says “Devan isn’t easily explainable but I hope you like it.” and honestly, if there’s a bigger story I can’t remember it. I know that ‘Evan’ was another character in my genderbent story but I don’t think I just added the ‘D’ to that... Maybe that was an element of it though?  

Also I’m a sucker for ‘weird’ names or weirdly spelled names - a lot of my OCs fall victim to this - sorry girls! 😅 So it’s unsurprising that he ended up Devan, not Devin. Also I’d pronounce it “Dev-an” with a soft ‘a’ sound... 

Interestingly it took me a little longer to decide on his middle name being Daniel. I guess I’m not sure how good “Devan Daniel Rayburn” sounds... But then I wasn’t about to resist it, and it seems like the kind of decision that Liliana would make.  

I hope that answered your questions Liv! 🙏💜💙 You’re always welcome to ask for further clarification! 😁

---

Thank you as always for being interested in my work! Just gonna remind you all that you can ask for a Fanfic directors cut ! I would love to answer any questions! 🥰😘 

I mean it, I’d beg. Don’t make me get that Danny gif.  

[kylo-ren-has-an-8pack]

Hux/Rose smut

AO3 Link

Rose sits perched atop him and feels like a jockey on a racing fathier. Okay, maybe not quite like that, this is...this is different than that, clearly, but it still reminds her of it somehow. The intimacy, the oneness she feels as their two separate bodies move together...but for totally different reasons than with the fathiers, definitely different- stop thinking about fathiers, Rose. It’s not her fault! Not really, she thinks. She just doesn’t have much to compare with this. She’s never gotten this far with anybody else. There had been one she’d been close with a few years ago, and then Finn had been a possibility but that had stopped faster than it started. Right after that kiss- stop thinking about other guys, Rose! 

“Just close your eyes and keep moving,” she breathes out, rocking slowly in his lap. Oh, that’s it. Oh...wow. This actually, this feels really good. It feels so-

“Are you talking to me?” 

The slightly perturbed voice coming from the man beneath her interrupts her newfound rhythm and her hips stutter. Oh, damn it. 

“No. I’m talking to...to me.” 

Rose opens her eyes, looking down. He looks smaller than he did in that big, black coat, but that was so long ago. He’s naked and pale except for that cute flush heating his chest and neck, going all the way up to his cheeks and she can hardly remember seeing him in that other uniform. Well, she can remember it, but she just doesn’t like to. It was a long time ago and everything has changed - not that she ever thought it’d change this much .

Hux lifts an eyebrow at her. “Do you always do that?” His hand creeps up her stomach, his fingers teasing at the underside of one of her breasts. “Give yourself instructions while...this?” His gaze lowers from her eyes to follow the path of his hand as he cups her. 

“No.” She moans softly at his touch. “At least I don’t think I do.” She gives a single, halfhearted bounce in his lap, impatient. “Just keep going.” 

“You’re the one that stopped,” Hux retorts. 

There’s a note of playfulness buried deep in the prim, sarcasm laced tone she’s learned to read well since they’ve started spending time together. There’s a softness in his eyes that’s familiar now too.

“Maybe that’s because I want you to know who’s in charge.” Rose smirks at him, rolling her hips in a slow, teasing motion. 

“Oh. Is that so?” Hux sits up abruptly, putting them chest to chest. His arms wraps around her waist tightly and he pushes his hips up in a deep thrust that steals the breath from her chest. “And what do you think now?”

Rose hums, smiling as she rubs her nose against his. “That I’m good at being in charge. Now keep going.” 

Send me a Star Wars rare pair, The Mandalorian, or a Ben Mendelsohn character/pairing prompt from any of his movies and I’ll write you at least 100 words of fic. Specify fluff, smut, AU etc! Minimum 100 words, maximum none, just depends on inspiration

Buy me a Ko-fi if the spirit moves you!

[amandaklwrites]

Movie Review: Captain Marvel (2019)

Genre: Superhero/Action 

Rating: 10/10

HINT: Possible Spoilers below, I'm assuming most Marvel fans have already seen this movie. Please skip if you haven’t seen it yet and don’t want to be possibly spoiled! 

Movie Review: 

Carol Danvers is my favorite. (Though I do love Wonder Woman and Wanda Romanoff too). I would die for her. I’m also a bit in love with her (hello bisexuality). So of course I love her story. 

This is one great movie. There is so much good points toward feminism and showing real aspects of what women have to deal with on a regular basis. You can tell a lot of women were involved in this movie, which is absolutely wonderful. And Carol (Vers for quite some time) reacts in ways I wish I could do (though, after many years of handling myself, I think I will from now on!). I think of her as an icon for women to stand up for themselves and tell men to screw off. 

Thank you, Brie Larson, for this. 

This movie does a wonderful job of showing the problems people face when they don’t remember their lives before (she has little memory) and face brainwashing. As Vers, she’s been convinced who the enemy is, but it’s all flipped upside down by the time she finds out she’s actually Carol Danvers. I loved watching the scenes where pieces of her memories were coming back and she was figuring out the whole story. Her process of finding out who she is and not knowing who she was for quite some time (i. e. that scene with Maria out in the field was beautiful) felt so real and heartbreaking. She was solving a mystery while also discovering her own mystery at the same time. And when she does, she stands up on her own two feet and becomes this powerful being. It’s a metaphor for finding her own inner power, once she knows who she is, and though done on another level, everyone can connect with this. We all know what it feels like to not know who they are, and when you find yourself, it’s like setting yourself on fire. Just like Carol literally does. It’s powerful, that’s for sure. (Also, a fun hint for others: in the scene with the Skrolls, she’s hanging upside down in the Hanged Man Tarot Card position, and when you look up the meaning of that card: letting go, breaking old patterns, metamorphosis-- how creative of them!!!) 

All the other characters are wonderful. How amazing was Samuel L. Jackson’s performance as a young Nicky Fury? He’s so different from the man we know in the Avengers movies! This is a young man who is discovering the truth about the world, so he’s funny, vibrant, and adoring cats. Then, in Avengers, we see the man who had learned so much, has been a part of this world for a long time, and it’s made him stronger, harder. Jude Law as Yon-Rogg was amazing (and slightly hot??? Why am I like this??? He’s an asshole!) as a villain. I remember in the theater, I never suspected him until maybe the last time. They did a good job with his reveal, and once you knew, you saw him as a shitty person. And that scene toward the end between him and Carol!! “I have nothing to prove to you.” He knew it too, and that’s why he tried to manipulate the situation. He knew he would lose, so he tried to take charge as a male over a woman, and bringing up emotion (eye roll). But he did a great job. I loved Maria (played by Lashana Lynch) was just one badass woman and a great mom, and of course, the best friend Carol could ever have. I found her inspiring and amazing, and I hope we see more of her in future movies. Then of course, Ben Mendelsohn as Talos was just a delight. He was funny, but such a sheer honest performance, with the way he said “I have blood on my hands as well” from their war. He was honest and brutal, and he knew it, but he was just protecting his people. He was doing all he could. I didn’t see the twist with him either and I remember crying so much during the second half of this movie. 

The tone was incredible. I felt the brightness of possibilities in how this was filmed, the era (1990s is an era now?) felt so real. (Cries over the Blockbuster-- I miss them so much). 

I, personally, didn’t find anything problematic with this movie. The filming was great, the script was well done, there weren’t any plot holes that stood out to me and made me question everything. It was just, overall, a damn good movie and fantastically made. 

One I will find myself watching many, many more times in life. 

[racefortheironthrone]

Have you seen Captain Marvel? Thoughts?

thoughts on captain marvel?

Have you seen Captain Marvel?

Have you seen Captain Marvel yet?

Given all your great People’s History of Marvel stuff lately, I assume you’ve been asked already, but any Captain Marvel thoughts you can share?What did you think of Captain Marvel?

Ok, ok already, I’ll write the post!

Full Spoilers Below

I really liked it! As solo origin movies go, it was definitely one of the better ones; personally I’d put it up there with Doctor Strange in how it deals with bringing some big new ideas into the MCU, while having way higher expectations than that film ever did. (Also, I want to plug my colleague @elanabrooklyn‘s podcast episode about the film, which you should listen to while reading this.)

Things I Liked:

I thought the amnesia/false memories plot was a great way to wrong-foot the audience who’re used to superhero origin stories (the good guys are the bad guys, the bad guys are the good guys, Vers is Carol) which worked hand-in-glove with the film’s broader thesis about gender: that male dominated institutions are not just going to try to exclude or diminish you, but also gaslight you about who you are, what strength looks like, etc. to get you to comply. “What was given can be taken away”/”““Don’t let your emotions override your judgments.” are the key throughlines here, a great example of how the writers are taking worn-out Hero’s Journey tropes and flipping them on their head. 

I really liked the twist on Mar-Vell. It makes the origin story less of an accident and more of a choice, and I’m always in favor of more active protagonists; there’s really no reason why the Space Alien Defector from Decadence couldn’t be a female scientist instead of a male warrior; and it both honors the original (that no one really cared about, tbh) and surprises the hardestcore of fans. Also having the light speed engine be the Tesseract is a good way to incorporate Captain Marvel into the broader MCU without needing to explain a brand-new source of wibbley-wobbly. 

The war metaphor. There was a lot of handwringing before the film about Captain Marvel being pro-military propaganda, because of the Air Force deal that had been worked out. As I suspected going in, the film is a very sneaky subversion of that, with the Kree Starforce being a very clear stand-in for the U.S. Military. The surface level analogy is that the Kree Starforce is a male-dominated institution that tries to gaslight and prevent Carol from reaching her true potential just like the Air Force tried to do, but it goes deeper than that. The whole first act of the film sets up the Starforce as Seal Team Six equivalents - a highly-trained special forces group, fighting an enemy explicitly described as terrorists, but trying to do it in an efficient/precise way that makes them the good guys as opposed to Ronan’s carpet-bombing Accusers - which is a narrative we’ve been conditioned to accept since 9/11 through films like the Hurt Locker/Green Zone/Zero Dark Thirty/etc. However, the second and third acts reveal that’s total bullshit. The Starforce try to kill civilians, do kill their own people to get their hands on military intelligence, and are perfectly happy to carry out the Supreme Intelligence’s imperialist total war, and their supposed commitment to precision and avoiding collateral damage goes out the window the moment it’s the least bit inconvenient. 

Seeing Carol Danvers in the Jamie McKelvie suit - fauxhawk and all - blow through an alien warfleet whooping with joy made me ferklempt a little. I think that moment will only grow with time as something on par with the first time that Iron Man does the superhero landing or “I’m always angry” as genuinely worthy of the term iconic. 

EDIT: Forgot about Goose. Cute, funny, and instantly wins over the cat-lovers in the audience. I imagine the dog-lovers out there will want a much bigger role for Cosmo in Guardians 3...

Things That Surprised Me

I was genuinely surprised at how good the de-aging CGI has gotten. Coulson looked slightly waxy, but there was a real performance in Samuel L. Jackson playing not just a younger Nick Fury but a younger Nick Fury who is very specifically Samuel L. Jackson in the Long Kiss Goodnight. I have no idea what this means for the future; are we going to see the original Avengers forever, just with more and more de-aging GCI slapped on them? If only for salary and contract reasons, I doubt it’ll go beyond the realm of cameos and secondary performances, but it’s a nice way to try to maintain continuity as the MCU ages into its second decade.

The Skrulls. I had thought that the anti-war message was going to be more of a Kree-Skrull War plague-on-both-your-houses thing, but turning the Skrulls into the equivalent of Syrian refugees totally blindsided me. It’s an incredibly gutsy move, and I’ll echo what @giveamadeuschohisownmovie said about the brilliant bit of culture-jamming that is casting it-bad-guy Ben Mendelsohn as “the lead villain” and Jude Law as “the wise mentor,” judo-flipping audiences with our own expectations about recent films, the hero’s journey, and how we should feel about aliens who look like the Skrulls and aliens who look like us. That being said, part of the reason why it’s a gutsy move is that it precludes a lot of possible stories: I don’t think you could do a Kree-Skrull war, or a Secret Invasion movie, or a Super-Skrull movie after this, given the way that the film deconstructed the entire notion of Skrulls-as-heel-species. 

Things I Could Have Used Even More Of:

While I totally understand the pacing reasons why they didn’t do this, I kind of wish there had been more time to do some road-trip banter between Nick Fury and Carol; give Nick a chance to introduce the alien to 90s music and fast food, crack some meta jokes about Pulp Fiction, etc.

I also could have used some more banter with the rest of the Kree team. I think some stuff got cut here, because there’s definitely some shots from trailers of the team walking down a hallway and staring down Ronan coming the other way that didn’t make it into the film. As a result, Carol’s team turning on her and her fighting back doesn’t have as much emotional weight.

Finally, and this is a really small nit-pick, but a bit more budget spent on the CGI during the Supreme Intelligence scenes would have gone a long way. Annette Benning’s dual performance was so good that the slightly dodgy mirror tendril stuff stood out in a negative way. Or just don’t do the mirror tendril stuff and double-down on the memory-warping or dueling beams stuff, which worked much better. 

[ellestra]

The shining one

I loved Captain Marvel. That was a lot of fun and it explained and set up a lot things nicely. I liked main hero. Vers has this nature that can’t be ever quite squashed no matter how hard she or those around her try.

I loved young Nick Fury - he had great, buddy cop chemistry with Vers and you can see many of his future characteristics in their infancy. Especially the lying - now he only tells the truth he can use to manipulates somebody (see the lies about Coulson’s cards or the eye loss).

I loved every moment with the Rambeaus. Maria was great at tethering us to past and as pilot. Monica was adorable and cool and I love the tease for her future.

And of course everything about Goose was awesome even though I was little disappointed she wasn’t Carol’s cat.

The rest is spoilers

I was completely delighted by Ben Mendelsohn in this. After seeing so many villains he played there were certain expectations here that were then completely flipped. Talos was great as comedic relief - both with flerken and food - but the best part was how he managed to get all those looks and little expressions despite the make-up. The whole “no, it isn’t” thing was perfection. 

I still think there is more Skrull out there (Andromeda Galaxy?) and they are less friendly and Secret Wars will happen one day in MCU. As Talos said there are no innocents in a war like that and there will be those who won’t forgive Kree and with Xandar gone the peace might be fleeting too. But for now the Skrulls are our friends and I loved that twist.

I loved the Mar-Vell twist even more. I also loved how they hid that with all the information about Annette Bening’s role concentrating on Supreme Intelligence portrayal (it also must’ve been fun for her to play both good and bad characters). The use of SI showing up as person from your past helped with hiding this one nicely.

I also liked how they adapted her comic book origin story to MCU in a ��way that still has the main elements - Mar-Vell, Yon-Rogg, explosion of  Kree machine. The good and bad guys stay the same and Carol still is  inspired by Mar-Vell but there are no love stories. Carol also ends up  with Kree blood literally in her veins (although we never see her mother  so they can still do that). That was nicely done.  

I loved that Carol was the one who chose to destroy the engine and got agancy in aquiring those powers. I liked that she was still honouring Mar-Vell in her hero journey. Wendy Lawson was her mentor and idol and destroying that engine was something Mar-Vell wanted. Same with helping Skrulls. Carol is following her steps. In her own, Space Stone-powered way. That was awesome.

I also liked the Kree twist. Watching trailers I wondered about that since most Kree we met before were not particularly nice (not to mention their Inhuman experimentation in the past). However, both Ronan in GotG and Kasius family were renegades working outside Empire so I figured that maybe we were being shown other side of Kree Empire that was just less despicable and feeling justified by the war.

I liked that the whole “our enemy is so evil it justifies all the means” turned out to be bullshit. And we get first clue really early. I remember wondering why Kree would bomb their own border planet, one whose inhabitants are subjects of the Empire, just to get some Skrulls.

In fact the only Kree that is good was Mar-Vell and she is also the one who forsaken genocide for mercy. And that was what made her so much better mentor and role model for Carol than Yon-Rogg.

I loved that all Yon-Rogg said and did was manipulation and trying to take Carol’s power, and  choice, from her. Including that final goading into combat. He always wanted her to follow his rules and do things his way because those have put her in disadvantage and subservient. I like that both before the accident and when she regained herself she knew not to play.

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Captain Marvel (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the weekend following the movie’s release in the U.K, so if you have not yet seen the movie then go and see it and then read on.

Stan Lee:

Before going into the actual characters in the movie, I want to briefly talk about Stan Lee and his continuing posthumous tributes from the studio that he built from the ground up. After Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, I did not feel they could top what they did with his cameo in that store selling the Spidey suit to Miles Morales. But here, not only did the many cameos of Stan become the images you see in the Marvel Studios logo with a touching add-on saying “Thank You Stan” which had my audience whooping and applauding but also Stan himself appears on the train scene where Carol is searching for a Skrull and the two simply smile at each other, very touching and very well done.

Characters:

Alright so as per usual in my character analyses, I will be talking about these characters in order of my favourites and...I am quite surprised about the order of my favourites from going into this movie to coming out of the movie.

Nick Fury:

By far and away, Nicholas Joseph Fury, or just Fury, is by far and away the best character in this movie. I love Samuel L. Jackson and he has always been a fantastic supporting and lead actor in whatever movie he is in. Yes he is a supporting character here to Captain Marvel but he supports her so well and does so without pulling focus away from the fact it is Brie Larson’s movie.

The movie does drag a lot towards the start with more exposition than action but it isn’t neccersarily descriptive exposition and is instead “Here’s this character (Carol Danvers) and here’s this character (Yon-Rogg) and now they’re with these characters (Starforce)”. All of that changes when Carol comes to Earth and first interacts with Fury.

As I said in my non-spoiler review, the de-aging technology is in full effect with Jackson and it really pays off because not only do you believe you are looking at a young Fury but also it’s the thrill of finding out just how Fury lost his eye.

I loved the dynamic between the two characters, more-so than I feel any other partnership Fury has been with. I just enjoyed that aliens were still an unknown variable to SHIELD and so Fury was pretty much learning from scratch about how aliens work. From the interaction in the diner about the difference between Kree and Skrulls to the turbulence gag about the reconfigured aircraft towards the end of the movie.

I also found it fun that this wasn’t Director Fury and was simply Agent Fury...to the point where Coulson called him “Mr. Fury”. Yet he still commanded the respect and strategic planning he has in the present day. However, he is shown to make mistakes at the level of agent he is at particularly when he called in Ben Mendelsohn’s human character Keller who at this point in time is the Director of SHIELD and therefore Fury’s boss without realizing that it was in fact Talos in disguise. To be fair I don’t see how Carol can blame him for that as he’s never met a Skrull before this day but I did like it when she confiscated his pager.

Some critics are saying it’s Fury’s interactions with Goose that sold Goose’s performance and in some respect I do see the argument for that, however, I believe Fury’s interactions are simply the reactions to what the cat does. Both in her cuteness but also in what she does and what is revealed from her.

I thought the fact it was Goose who made Fury lose an eye to be absolutely fantastic. Yes, Fury has mentioned before that the last time he trusted someone is when he lost the eye and I do not feel previous stories of the eye loss add up here but I do believe Fury is the type of character to try and save face rather than the embarrassment that a space kitty with infected claws is the reason. It was great

I felt the fact that the movie’s events are what led Fury to create and push forward the Avengers Initiative, to the point where Carol’s nickname of Avenger is what gave him the idea for the name, is something I don’t agree with. Firstly, chronologically Captain America is still the first Avenger so anyone saying this movie creates continuity issues there is wrong, but the fact that the title Avenger...which up to 10 people have shared in present day...comes from a single person rather than just a thought is slightly inconsiderate of the individual team members and instead puts Carol on a pedastool with Fury recruiting these other members to try and reach her power level.

Goose:

Speaking of the space kitty, it is confirmed that Goose is in fact a Flerkin which is from the comics so is authentic. I was happy that being an alien kitty was not so much important to the movie but not just a throwaway aspect and was somewhat a plotpoint to the movie.

I don’t believe Goose was ever Carol’s pet as promoted but instead went from being Mar-Vell’s to Nick Fury’s. Although I am curious to know what happened to Goose from this movie to present day but I do hope Fury actually kept Goose as a pet and not just until she coughed up the Tesseract.

Oh yeah, the Tesseract is surprisingly in this movie and has multiple reasons to be, but I do believe it’s last use in this movie is to give Goose a home at the end of the movie.

The reveal of Goose’s Flerkin tentacles were fantastic. The first time when Goose ate the Tesseract was definitely a shock but the second time when Goose either ate the Kree or simply threw them around...Fury’s reaction said it all and the roar of laughter in the cinema added to the brilliance of it.

Also on a side-note, when the Kree captured the heroes and muzzled Goose in that cute little cat muzzle was both adorable and tragic.

Carol Danvers:

Brie Larson is a very polarizing actress for me in this role. On the one hand, I don’t think she’s a comedic actress and for that matter that Carol Danvers is a comedic character. But on the other hand, this was the first time I was willing an actress to have her moment in this movie where she finally clicked with the audience because, as an Oscar-winning actress, I know she has it in her.

That moment for me came when she found out about her connection with Wendy Lawson and started to regain her identity, because until that point I thought she was slightly robotic and a little bit like Evangeline Lilly as Hope in Ant-Man and the Wasp in that she was being the angry soccer-mom who was ruining Fury’s fun.

That being said, I did enjoy this movie’s take on a fish out of water story. The MCU has of course done this before for male characters like Thor and Cap technically, but to take the journey as a supposed alien with 6 years of military training and therefore knowing how to gather her bearings and track what she needs was very good to see and moved the story along quickly.

Also the fact she pretty much arrived on Earth and the first thing she does is steal a motorbike and clothes because she knows how to blend in is both military survival and reconnaissance 101. By the way side-note, that jerk biker who was leching on Carol is in fact Rob Kazinsky aka Sean Slater from EastEnders, random I know but I was very surprised to learn that.

That’s kind of where my admiration for her character went away though, yes she was funny with her budding friendship with Nick Fury but...not only is she ridiculously overpowered, but she seems to know what she wants and it’s almost as if the movie just gives it to her. There’s no trial and error as we are led to believe in the trailers with that theme of “Getting knocked down but getting back up”, she does do this particularly at the start in her training session with Yon-Rogg but there’s then no learning curve and simply she doesn’t know something and then all of a sudden she can do it.

I didn’t understand her “Kree name” Vers, I get it was taken from the broken dog tag piece she had with her name on it but it really got annoying after a while because I know her as Carol or Danvers or Captain Marvel or Ms. Marvel, I do not know her as Vers. It may have been a ploy by the Kree to say “You’ve always been Kree, this is your Kree name” but come on you have names like Minn-Erva, Yon-Rogg and Mar-Vell but then you have Vers? Not even Dann-Vers?

I did like the reason why she changed the colour of her suit. Yes seagreen is Kree colours and the movie definitely didn’t make the suits look as bad as the set photos lead to believe but when Monica helps her find a new colour theme and she goes through several different options, including Mar-Vell’s colours from the comics, it was a nice sentiment to choose the same colours as Monica’s top so they could basically be on the same team.

The fact her powers, it’s hard to say her Kree side because she was human and then enhanced by the ship core, but the fact these powers came from the Tesseract is something 1) Die-hard fans kind of guessed but I feel before Infinity War fans guessed she’d be powered by the Soul Stone rather than the Space Stone and 2) Was a good shocker moment for the movie because it kind of explains how the Tesseract came to be in SHIELD’s possession because I always thought Steve Rogers had it with him when he was saved from the ocean in present day but in actuality it disappeared when Red Skull did and so must have somehow come into Mar-Vell’s possession.

It does lead to an interesting match-up in Endgame as Carol is now the only living hero with any sort of Infinity Stone enhancement that can combat Thanos but I will be interested to know if the gauntlet is still working will he be able to somehow control Captain Marvel?

I love my special effects and I did think her Binary mode power-set was brilliant to behold however as has been said by numerous people I do think she is overpowered and particularly when it comes to the rest of the Avengers. I don’t see how she can be part of the same team and not simply defeat foes single-handed. Particularly if they reshape the team after Endgame so the roster consists of her, Black Panther, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man and Wasp. I mean yes, Doctor Strange may also hold his own with her but the rest are pretty much enhanced by technology.

I didn’t like the end battle, I thought it wasn’t as epic and grand as it should have been and the fact 1) Captain Marvel was pretty much all the time a CGI construct took me out of the movie and the fact that also 2) She pretty much whooped at the fact she took on missiles was a little bit of a jerk move.

I will also say that in the context of this movie I do understand the origin of the character they’ve told, however I really wish they had showed somewhere in her history that she had been Ms. Marvel, Binary is someone she can easily become as her full powers at the end of this movie have been dubbed her “Binary Mode”, but without being Ms. Marvel it does close a lot of doors for certain stories like, for example, Rogue getting her powers.

Yes they can still do the origin story where Rogue absorbs Captain Marvel’s powers, but if Carol has been off-world since 1995 and only comes back in Endgame, Rogue would have to discover her powers in a present day movie.

I did appreciate the fact that Carol showed a deep appreciation for both her female and male superiors, despite having a type of banter-style relationship with Yon-Rogg he was still her superior and she blindly listened to his instruction until she learned the truth. Then as for her admiration for Wendy Lawson, I mean the Supreme Intelligence takes on the appearance of the person you admire most and it chose her so it speaks for itself.

I will talk about Captain Marvel’s future when I talk about the end-credits scenes but I am both excited and hesitant for her future in the MCU.

Yon-Rogg:

Jude Law;s character has been the subject of much debate since he was announced to be in the movie. At first fans speculated he would be Mar-Vell aka the original Captain Marvel, but then when his name was revealed as Yon-Rogg, despite being a character from the comics, fans thought it may be a red herring for some reason. The fact he was Yon-Rogg and the changes they made to Mar-Vell I think is slightly a missed opportunity for the actor but also this is one of the only occasions where I have seen Jude Law portray a villain.

In terms of his villainy, I thought Jude Law did rather well. He wasn’t a formidable opponent and instead just was the hero’s former mentor turned enemy. He was an MCU standard villain and in terms of good guy turned bad, he wasn’t really ever established as a good guy per say but I’d say he’s on the same level as John Garrett from Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 1 just with a better motivation.

I don’t know much about Yon-Rogg as a character, I know he was Mar-Vell’s commanding officer but when Mar-Vell turned against the Kree he became obviously his enemy. Basically Yon-Rogg’s story here is the same as it was in the comics just with Carol Danvers rather than Mar-Vell, also Mar-Vell was born Kree whereas Carol became enhanced as Kree.

There’s not really a lot to say more about his performance or character here, I don’t know what would have become of him when Captain Marvel took him back to Hala because the Supreme Intelligence is also an enemy but as to whether or not he could come back I would say he could in a future Captain Marvel sequel but we shall see.

Starforce:

Starforce in this movie were about as well developed as STRIKE from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Both teams were military/law enforcement and both included kind of focussed on secondary characters as well as the main heroes. In this case those secondary characters as Yon-Rogg and Minn-Erva. I mean Korath the Pursuer from Guardians of the Galaxy is also on the team but he is really just there as an Easter-Egg and it isn’t at all established how he ends up working directly for Ronan away from Starforce, unless the Kree soldiers are Starforce.

As for Minn-Eeva, I love Gemma Chan, I think she is a great actress and really lends herself to this type of authoritative role. I know Doctor Minerva in the comics is an enemy of Captain Marvel who sought out Mar-Vell on Earth to mate with him to further the Kree genetic line but I do not see that happening here for numerous reasons, the main of which is that Minn-Erva apparently dies at the end of this movie and unless she has somehow pulled a Nebula I don’t see her coming back.

Talos:

Talos is a conflicting character for me because while I do believe this is the best performance I have seen of Ben Mendelsohn’s I don’t know how to react to the fact that Talos and his Skrull followers are good guys.

I did like the fact he was still shown as an enemy of the Kree, which at the time included Carol, but then when she learned the truth he became quite the reliable ally.

I loved his humour particularly when they were examining Carol’s mind and she had his Kree scientist guy tap her head again like he was adjusting a TV signal, the 90s jokes in this were fantastic. Also when Fury was worried about the turbulance and Talos was the only one to be honest with him about it, this never felt like it was the men supporting the women and simply just bouncing off them well.

Skrulls:

I think the fact Talos has a family, particularly a daughter, raises hope for the future of the Skrulls in the MCU in regards to being a threat and specifically adapting Secret Invasion. In the comics, it’s a female Skrull who leads the way as she adopts the identity of Spider-Woman so it could easily be adapted in the MCU that the Skrull Queen is in fact Talos’ daughter who saw the threat in the world and, despite her parents preaching peace, wants vengeance.

I want the Skrulls to be formidable but to my imagination the Skrulls have usually been footsoldiers or grunts for bigger threats rather than being the big bads unless the Kree have been involved or Secret Invasion is the story.

I still really enjoyed the Skrulls when they were shapeshifting here and particularly the now infamous old lady on the train scene, but come on...no disrespect to the old lady but as soon as she hit the floor you could tell it was a stunt double.

Mar-Vell:

Okay so this was my biggest problem with the movie, some people will say making Mar-Vell a woman is a good and interesting thing for MCU...I say that Mar-Vell in the comics is an underrated superhero and someone whose origins I was hoping to see explored in the MCU. Not only is Mar-Vell a lover of Carol Danvers and how she chose her superhero names in the comics but also he is the father of Young Avengers member Hulkling when he had a forbidden affair with a Skrull princess...again something that could have been explored in a Mar-Vell movie.

Also, like Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne, Mar-Vell could have easily been introduced either in Phase 1 or 2 as a superhero, which would have made only introducing Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel at the end of Phase 3 more organic as she would have been introduced as Carol Danvers in that movie.

Unfortunately though, this is what we have. Now to be fair, Annette Benning was really good in this role. She did fill that Glenn Close, Sylvester Stallone, Beneicio Del Toro role of not being the main villain but also being the big name on the cast list.

As Mar-Vell, I do like the fact they did simply “genderflip” the character by making the alias Wendy Lawson as opposed to the comics-accurate Walter Lawson. As I said with Carol, I did also like how they established her admiration for Mar-Vell before of course realizing who she actually was. I would have loved to have seen her in her orbiting laboratory or obtaining the Tesseract but there was so much in this movie I guess they couldn’t fit it in.

I do however think, as Feige knows how to play the long game with these movies, that if they had introduced the idea of this version of Mar-Vell way back when in a Captain America: The First Avenger post-credits scene, maybe with the Tesseract appearing on a beach or something and Mar-Vell obtaining it, then it would have been more organic than just having her have it here.

Also in regards to Mar-Vell being the personification of Carol’s version of the Supreme Intelligence was rather interesting. Particularly when you consider that when she knew Mar-Vell she had brown hair but the Supreme Intelligence construct quite clearly has grey/white hair.

I did enjoy her dimension as this almost virtual reality setting and the fact she could manipulate quite literally everything was rather cool.

I wish they didn’t destroy her so easily for the pure and simple reason of I feel she has a lot more to give going forward. In the comics she is part of the Intergalactic Council which also features Lilandra of the Shi’ar which may have been a good way to introduce them outside of the Dark Phoenix Saga.

Maria Rambeau:

I wasn’t massively a fan of Maria despite how much she had been hyped up in the promos, I did feel she was more of a gateway for her daughter who will become Photon later in her life.

I did like the actress Lashauna Lynch in the role. I thought she fit the bill of being a sassy, strong-willed single mother and I believed the friendship between Maria and Carol despite the fact we only really see that one scene in flashbacks and then after that it’s Maria coming to terms with how Carol has changed after her Kree enhancement.

I did also rather appreciate the fact we have not yet seen this type of family unit in the MCU before. We had Carol being bullied and neglected by her own family so she was I think taken in by the Rambeaus and she became almost a second mother to Monica as she helped Maria raise her. It did lead to my fiancé constantly saying that Carol and Maria are lesbians and to be fair unless you count the fact that Maria needed a man to create Monica there is no mention of either lady have a male love interest in this movie, but I just love that dynamic of breaking the mold of the typical “Nuclear Family”. Not only does is pave the way for the Fantastic 4 who are one of the most unconventional families in comics, but also it’s another example of female empowerment in not needing a man to raise a child.

As for Monica, I really liked this young actress, Akira Akbar. I liked the fact they had sisters portraying the two different ages because it adds realism to the character. I thought the relationship she had with both her mother and Carol was really well established and, as mentioned, her helping Carol choose her new colours was a rather sweet moment.

I do find it interesting that in Endgame we are going to the future and having an aged-up Cassie Lang as Stature or maybe Stinger depending on where they want to go with the character. So it stands to reason that while Monica is 11 in 1995, she’ll be mid-30s in this future version so could easily been shown as Photon and team-up with Captain Marvel. They made need characters to be in space and the only ones who can possibly survive that unaided are Captain Marvel and Photon.

Agent Coulson:

Oh how far Clark Gregg has fallen, from the comedic string tying all of Phase 1 together to the slapstick leading his own show. I do think there was something missing from his performance here because this is just over 10 years before the events of Iron Man and so either he hasn’t found his comedic niche yet or the actor has just lost what made Coulson such a fan favourite in the first place, either way overall he was disappointing.

Having said that he did have two great moments. The first was the reveal that the Coulson in the car with Fury was in fact a Skrull as the real Coulson was still waiting where they drove off from, that was really cool but I did kind of guess it in the acting because Skrull Coulson felt slightly too rigid. But the second part was right at the end when Fury had lost his eye and Coulson brought that box of fake eyes for him to choose from. Just that one line of “Don’t take too long, you have a big decision to make” was very Coulson and I appreciated he at least ended on a good note.

Endgame:

Alright so the mid-credits scene here is another scene taken from possibly the end of the first act in Avengers: Endgame, think the Ant-Man scene which showed a clip from Captain America: Civil War with Cap and Falcon talking about Bucky. It focuses on Cap, Bruce. Natasha and Rhodey in the Avengers Compound and the fact they have somehow obtained Fury’s pager which has apparently stopped beeping.

I can’t remember if they get it beeping again before the reveal but after Natasha says “I want to know who’s on the other end of that call”, she turns to find Captain Marvel standing there looking slightly flustered and simply asking “Where’s Fury?”.

I have to say, Brie Larson as the character was growing throughout this movie, here she reached her stride in that 10 second shot of her. Seeing Captain Marvel with the Avengers for a start was brilliant but also her hair went from the choppy bob to a more battle-beaten version of Black Widow in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Obviously this is supposed to be over 20 years in time so while she may not age physically thanks to her Kree enhancement, she does of course change.

Also it is interesting to note that both Natasha and Clint aka Hawkeye soon to be Ronin share the same thought pattern when it comes to mysterious communication devices. In the first Avengers movie when Hawkeye and Fury are talking about the Tesseract acting like a portal, Hawkeye questions where this portal is leading to and here Natasha pretty much questions the same thing. I don’t know if that’s their SHIELD training or just how they both think but it was a nice call-back for me.

It is a scene directly taken from the movie but it is the right scene because it teased so much and just asked so many more questions than I had before. I cannot wait until the end of April.

Overall I rate the movie a solid 7/10, it was by no means a perfect movie as if you want to find problems you will find them easily. Maybe because this is now the 11th year and that the MCU has become so formulaic that it is just so easy to find flaws now but still, the comedy was great, the acting was great. I did enjoy the story, I enjoyed the growth of Brie Larson throughout the movie and I look forward to seeing what happens to these characters next.

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

[guyveranimefan87-blog]

"Captain Marvel" review -  Not terrible, but not marvelous either.

As we all know, the latest MCU movie "Captain Marvel" had finally reached our cinemas, and thus after months of drama surrounding it, with one group hailing it as the best thing Marvel ever did, and other claiming it would be a movie that would destroy the whole franchise... before anyone had a chance to see it... we can finally see how is it.

And well...

In my opinion it's a solid Marvel movie, not bad or anything, but nothing special either, something around the level of "Captain America - The First Avenger", or first "Thor".

It has it's moments, but compared to previous MCU movies like "Doctor Strange" or "Black Panther" it lacks something that would make it special and unique.

I mean, with "Doctor Strange" we had our first introduction to magical side of MCU, plus trippy visuals connected with the Mirror World, and "Black Panther" had introduced us to the whole new culture and unique visual style of Wakanda, so they had something going for them even in their weaker moments.

And I don't think "Captain Marvel" has something like that.

I mean, 90's references are cool and I got a few chuckles out of them, but if I wanted to remind myself of those dumb and glorious times, when I was younger, slimmer and less cynical I could go on Tumblr...

Oh, yeah I am already here.

And people who don't remember those times would probably be as baffled by seeing pager and dial-up modems, as they were be seeing alien cities and spaceships...

But let's start at the beginning, that is with the plot.

Our heroine is Vers, a member of an elite military unit known as Starforce serving the interstellar Kree Empire, but despite her unquestionable power and fighting skills, her commander and mentor Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) has doubts about her performance, since she has a tendency to let her emotions guide her, something that Kree warrior shouldn't do.

Yeah, this cyborg guy from “Guardians of The Galaxy” is there too...

Vers emotional problems are connected with the fact that she lacks memories from before she joined the unit, and is tormented by recurring nightmares where she sees chaotic and fragmented pieces of her past.

Still, as I mentioned before, she is still a powerful and confident warrior, so despite Yon-Rogg's doubts, she takes part in a mission to extract a deep-cover Kree agent from one of the border planets controlled by an ancient enemy of her people, a shapeshifting race of Skrulls.

Mission ends badly, as it turns out that the agent was already compromised by Skrulls and Vers is captured during a resulting ambush by a Skrull commander, Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), who used some kind of memory probe to access her buried memories... that turn out to be about her previous life, but not on one of Kree planets, but rather on a primitive, backwater planet C-53, also known as Earth.

Apparently Skrulls are looking for a scientist known as doctor Wendy Lawson (Annette Bening), that Vers somehow used to know, and who according to her memories developed some kind of new faster-than-light engine.

Vers manages to escape captivity using her ability to generate energy blasts from her hands, as well as her hand-to-hand skills, but the escape pod she steals from Skrulls gets damaged, causing her to crash-land on Earth, to be precise in one of Los Angeles Blockbuster Video stores.

Does anyone remember Blockbuster Video anymore? Sorry, getting back on the topic...

Her less-than-stealthy arrival alerts the local authorities, including a pair of S.H.I.E.L.D agents, Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Mothafu#kin Jackson), who are a bit skeptical when a woman "dressed like for Lazer Tag" tells them she is an alien soldier who hunts other aliens, who are shapeshifters, but they are attacked by one of Talos's troops, confirming that her story is true.

And thus Vers and Fury would have to join forces to stop Skrulls and find the truth about our heroine, from her fragmented memories...

Before the movie I was curious and to be honest rather worried about how screenwriters would tackle the backstory of Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel, since in the comics it was rebooted so many times, that I doubt that even people writing her remember about everything, with numerous costume, identity and power changes, not to even mention new personality traits with each new writer...

But they did managed to jump this hurdle, by creating a completely new origin story from the ground up, that while using certain elements from her comic book counterparts, gives us something relatively simple, and accessible to causal moviegoers and hardcore nerds alike.

And let's be honest, since Carol is not exactly the most popular character ever, despite numerous attempts at making her relevant in the last few years, so I don't think there would be any purist fans outraged by the changes made for the movie.

I mean, whole cast of "Guardians of The Galaxy" had undergone massive changes, and everybody was OK with that, heck some of those changes were even retconned into comics, so probably here it would also work that way.

As for the plot itself, it really did reminded me of first "Thor".

I mean, we have a superhero from an advanced race, that is dumped on Earth without having any idea of how the place works, but finds a hypercompetent human sidekick, and together they stand against Big Bad only for The Hero to unlock their True Power in the third act.

Yeah... Seems kinda familiar, eh?

It's not necessarily bad or anything, but it's really a shame that some things hadn't been expanded upon a bit, like Kree culture, relationship between Carol a.k.a Vers and Yon-Rogg, etc.

I mean "Black Panther" managed to fit whole three act formula into the plot, while also show the viewers quite a lot about Wakanda, so why not here?

Movie also drags a bit in the middle, as save for two action scenes, most of the story-arc is comprised of our heroine and Fury driving from place to place looking for answers, talking a bit and so on, which is not really adrenaline-filled superhero cinema...

It hadn't reached the point when I got really bored, mainly due to good chemistry Larson and Jackson have together, but I did though that MCU movies managed to overcome their pacing problems after Phase One, so it wasn't a pleasant surprise seeing that they had taken two steps back here.

Another controversy about the movie way before it's release was our lead, Brie Larson, not only because of doubts about her acting prowess, but also quite a few ill-thought things she said be it in interviews, or through Twitter, but the latter is not really important here, so let's focus on the former.

After watching trailers and promo clips quite a few people were doubting Larson's ability to carry the movie, and accusing her acting of being "stiff" and "emotionless" and they were partially right, though I am not sure all the blame can be put on actress herself.

Vers/Carol does seem rather stiff and emotionless through most of the movie, but it looks more like a conscious decision of director's part, as I mentioned Kree pride themselves on controlling their emotions, which is fine, but severely limited Larson in the role, as it's hard to say anything about her character's personality.

I mean, there are a few scenes when she does show that she can act, usually during her scenes with Nick Fury, cause as I mentioned before, they have a nice chemistry together, flashbacks from before she was trained as a Kree warrior, but still comes out a bit bland through most of the runtime.

It becomes even more jarring during the scene when Vars meets her old friend Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), who is rather shocked to see her, torn between happiness and confusion, giving a strong, emotional performance... while Larson keeps the same facial expression through most of it.

As I mentioned before, it's not the actress's fault, but it does harm the movie on some level.

Samuel L. Jackson however absolutely nails it as younger, less cynical Fury.

Now, we got used to gruff, no-nonsense and properly paranoid commander of S.H.I.E.L.D but here we get Nick who sees a being with superpowers for the first time in his life, and is appropriately shocked / awed by the fact that aliens exist, which gives Mr. Jackson an opportunity to have a bit of a fun with the character.

I mean, I had never expected to see Fury going "oh so cute" about a cat, or freaking out about seeing an alien, but it's lot of fun watching him do it, and judging from his actor, a lot fun to play it, which is rather infectious.  

Also, this cat is awesome.

Sadly, yet again movie’s villain remains one of it’s weak points.

I mean, damn, I really though that after "Black Panther" and "Infinity War" we got over the so-called "Marvel Curse" and villains who are not Loki wouldn't suck anymore. And yet, here we are, back to square one...

Now, don't get me wrong, Ben Mendelsohn does what he can to sell Skrulls leader, and even managed to have some fun with his portrayal.

For example being rather laid-back and even funny in his true form, and a bit stern and stiff in his preferred human form, as well as giving each of them a different accent, but as they say, You cannot get water out of a stone.

He got very little to work with in terms of motivations, background or even personality of his character, making Talos quite flat, despite the actor's best efforts.

If I had to compare it to other Marvel villains, he would be right there with Malekith the Accursed from "Thor - The Dark World", as both movies had absolutely wasted a great actor due to not giving him anything he can use, nor any freedom to flesh the character out, which is a damned shame.

I mean, they tried with a bit of a twist near the end, but You can see it coming from miles away, so it's not really a surprise, and nor does it help our villain in the slightest.

What else...

... Oh yeah, I had evaded this particular elephant in the room for long enough.

Before the movie premiered many people, myself included, were afraid that it would delve too much into politics, since both the cast and Marvel PR people were putting a lot of emphasis on the feminist message of "Captain Marvel", throwing the phrase "First Female Marvel Hero" etc.

Thus I had expected a sexist, and politics heavy crap like "Ghostbusters 2016", but really for all the bluster of Marvel execs, and journalists focusing of this, the whole "feminist" part of the movie turned out to be nearly nonexistent.

I mean, sure we get a scene with male soldiers telling Carol she is "too weak" to be a pilot, or a guy who obnoxiously tries to pick her up, but it's not like the movie spends extended periods of time on it, or goes to extreme length to show all men as idiots, manbabies and chauvinists, as "Ghostbusters" did, so really there was no point to the whole sh#tstorm about it in the first place.

And really, "Wonder Woman" was really a lot more about "Girl Power" than this movie, so I don't think that people who expected it to be about "powerful femininity" and stuff would be totally satisfied with it...

Other than that, we get good special effects (Especially the ones used to de-age Jackson and Gregg), few nice fight scenes, especially in the third act, overall good acting despite problem mentioned above, and a few obligatory callbacks to other MCU movies...

And that's basically it.

It's a competently done movie that nevertheless lacks the bang it supposed to have, and I think that in a few weeks most people would forget about it, like they probably did with "Doctor Strange" and "Ant-Man & The Wasp", because they would be busy talking about "Endgame".

It would still make a ton of money, as all MCU movies do, even if it clearly show that their formula got a bit stale at this point, and even without making a lasting impression it was a well-made popcorn flick.

Still, it shows that Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel does have a potential as a movie character, despite all weird stuff Marvel did with her comic book counterpart, but it wasn't the time when this potential had the chance to be fully utilized. So, better luck next time, Carol?

[constantlyirksome]

Captain Marvel Review: Not Just a Girl (Spoilers).

It’s Here! The final chapter before Avengers: Endgame, the newest hero, and the first female led movie in the MCU Captain Marvel! Carol Danvers is here and she is ready to take on Thanos bare handed, but first she had her own adventure to go on. For a solo/origin hero movie Captain Marvel is fun, heartfelt, and thrilling. Who is Carol Danvers? There was a lot of talk about whether Brie Larson would be able to capture the comic book characters intensity, (a stupid fear, she has a freakin’ Oscar) Would the MCU’s first female lead be strong? Likeable? Maybe she wouldn’t smile, or her voice would be too high. All worries were unfounded because both Brie Larson and Carol do the comics justice. Larson’s portrayal is layered, she is likeable, and she is badass. Carols dry humour, coupled with Larson’s delivery, help her cut down anyone who dares get in her way, Fury, Talos, Yon Rogg, all pale next to her, because she is simply too badass to put up with men who want to make her less than she is. The scene where she comes across a biker who tells her to smile directly mirrors the treatment a lot of male MCU fans gave the character when the first trailers came out. Instead of smiling she steals his bike. Instead of placating her mentor, Jude Law/Yon Rogg/Dumbledore, she owns her own sense of self worth, saying she “Doesn’t need to prove anything to him.” She does more damage in thirty minutes than all the other heroes have done collectively over a ten-year period and it’s exhilarating watching her cut through enemies and spaceships like butter. The scene where she unlocks her potential and kicks ass to No Doubt’s “I’m Just a Girl”? Cinematic poetry. But it isn’t all photon blasts and quick remarks; there is a vulnerability and humanity that is uniquely Brie Larson. To have a gruff, completely cold character, or a too bubbly fun lover would be a disservice. She is at her best when the two sides come together. Her vulnerability, her sensitivity to others are strengths, they don’t take away from how badass she is. Only 90’s kids will remember The movie really wants you to know that when Carol crash lands on earth that she is in fact in the 90’s. From the first shots of her crashing through the roof of a blockbuster video everything screams grunge. The best references were to Carol and Maria playing street fighter 2, using the Alta Vista search engine, and the costume styling. Sooo much plaid. The soundtrack is full of nineties bangers that both fit the time period and the story. Strong female singers like Gwen Stefani in No Doubt and Courtney are used to highlight Carols most badass moments. Nick Fury is young and has an eye and SHIELD isn’t full of Nazis. Sometimes the layers of nostalgia are quite thick, like all the 80’s nods in Guardians, and a lot of random references are shoehorned in. But for the most part these references at a unique flavour to the story that helps further differentiate it from the other MCU movies which is getting harder and harder to do. The Power of Friendship. In the last ten years the MCU has had a lot of good friendships evolve, Bucky and Steve, Tony and Rhodey, Thor and Heimdall. But before now we haven’t seen any female friendships blossom, not even in the team up movies. Carol and Maria, played by the amazing Lashana Lynch is a beautiful thing to see. Described by Brie Larson as the movies true love story, of friendship lost and then found again she couldn’t be more right. The pair have an amazing relationship, two women supporting each other and thriving in an industry dominated by men. Their mantra “higher further faster” a tribute to their ability to rise up together. They join Mar Vels programme together and support each other up until Carols “accident”. Their reunion upon Carol’s return to Earth is emotional and touching, Maria’s tears as she reminds Carol of who she is, is one of the most touching scenes in the film. Maria even helps during the films climax, egged on by Marias daughter, Monica. Monica also adds a sweet innocence to the movie, excited when Auntie Carol returns. Monica Rambeau also has a lot of interesting arcs in the comic universe also and it will be interesting to see if the MCU character follows suit. Carol and Fury: BROTP. Very few heroes have been able to go toe to toe with Fury’s charisma and imposing personality. Some obey (Steve, Natasha, Clint), some rebel (Tony), but few have ever felt like his equal. No one besides Carol has ever been able to create a playful comradery. Whether it’s a symptom of being younger or less jaded doesn’t seem right, because he’s still badass. Carol is probably the first person to ever knock him down a few pegs (“Congratulations agent Fury you just asked a relevant question.) Like Carol he goes against his superiors in favour of what he thinks is right. Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson have electric chemistry, throwing barbs and having each other’s backs when it counts. The fact that the two actors are close friends helps with the organic evolution of their characters connection. The fact that Fury kept the beeper on his person for twenty or so years is a testament to how much he trusts Carol. SKRULLS: Be careful who you trust. The Skrulls an alien race of green shape shifters who can take on the form of any being that they encounter and seamlessly blend in, essentially taking over planet one person at a time. A huge plotline in Marvel comics, the Kree versus skrull war is the movies central conflict. Carol is told that essentially the Skrulls are baddies and her team of noble warrior Kree are all that stand between the shape shifter and total domination. The fact Marvel has trouble creating memorable or impactful villains, who’s motivations are usually unimportant, never to be heard from again. (Loki and Thanos are exceptions.) The Kree as a concept are pretty terrifying, unseen they could take over family or friends without you knowing, and their original forms are like scary green goblins. Ben Mendelsohn plays their leader Talos, a charismatic leader with a single purpose in mind who will do anything to reach his goals. Mendelsohn comedic timing coupled with a thick Australian accent puts him above a lot of the blander villains. His fear of Goose is particularly hilarious. But it’s once you find out why he’s doing what he’s doing that he and the Skrulls become more. If you follow the news or pay attention to the state of the world right now the plight of the Skrulls will feel really familiar to you. Misplaced and hounded by an army that is far better armed, just looking for a planet of their own. Obviously, their methods are pretty insidious and wrong, which highlights how desperate this group of characters are. This helps in developing Carol as a character, who makes the conscious choice to go against her “team” or the Kree and does what she thinks is truly the right thing. The Goose is Loose. Lastly, the little scene-stealer Goose the cat/flerken! Not everyone is a cat person, but everyone should be a Goose person. Where he came from is a little vague, and why he came to earth is unknown. Fury loves him, Carol loves him. The only person who doesn’t is Talos, which is a hilarious gag. His flerken moments are disturbing and wild; his tesseract strength stomach is a site to behold. He is the only being besides Carol to melt Nick Fury’s heart, and he is the answer to one of the MCU’s last remaining huge questions: What happened to Nick’s eye? How does Captain Marvel fit into the MCU. We know the events of Captain Marvel occur before almost every event in the MCU bar Captain America’s origin. None of the other heroes exist in their current forms, no stones have been collected and no team has been formed. That last part, the idea of forming of the Avengers initiative comes right after Carol and Nick’s adventure, the name a nod to Carols air force days which is a nice touch. Coulson and Nick are young; their cgi faces actually work really well, after about 20 minutes it all starts looking really natural. The MCU tends to use it’s trump card when it wants to make a solid connection between movies and that is the tesseract. The cosmic cube has been owned by Nazis, Loki, Odin, and finally Odin. Another piece of the artefacts origin is put into place. However without remembering where the cube was after world war two you have to wonder how the cube was passed around so much afterwards. It isn’t used in Carol’s comic origin, and it doesn’t make total sense. It’s a very convenient plot device, but any other Kree object could have been put in it’s place. It does make Carol the strongest hero in the MCU however which is fitting, giving her the ability to travel so far from Earth that she has no clue about any of the events that happen in her absence until Fury pages her in the Infinity War post credit scene. Brie Larson’s explanation, that there are a lot of planets and species in the universe that need help besides Earth, is actually a pretty solid explanation. But is she really gone the whole time? Did she pop in occasionally to see Maria and Fury at any point? Did it take twenty years to help the Skrulls? All valid questions that aren’t answered. Where will the MCU go, after Endgame, now that it’s unleashed it’s most powerful force? It’s exciting to think future adventures could happen away from earth, that villains could potentially become stronger, Maybe Galuctus will pop up. Brie Larson and others have mentioned the possible appearance of Miss Marvel, Kamala Khan in the sequel, which would fit nicely with the films message of girl power and a lot of people would love to see. Wherever the MCU goes after Endgame is open ended, but Carol’s strength opens up so many exciting possibilities.

[letterboxd]

Marvellous.

“She doesn’t lay down, she gets back up. I mean, that’s everything. That’s for everybody.” Letterboxd heads back to the 90s with the cast and filmmakers behind Captain Marvel, the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

As the last Marvel Cinematic Universe film to be released before next month’s Avengers: Endgame, it’s reasonable to think that Captain Marvel might’ve been in jeopardy of being overshadowed by the anticipation for the follow-up to last year’s Avengers: Infinity War. Together, these two epics more or less define the modern blockbuster, and cast a wide shadow.

But in actuality, Captain Marvel is in very little danger of being eclipsed by her studio stablemate, thanks primarily to the many ways the 21st entry in the Marvel canon sets itself apart from every MCU film that has come before it.

Brie Larson as Vers/Carol Danvers.

For one thing, it’s set in the 1990s, and boy does it have the musical cues to prove it. More significantly, it is the first MCU film to center around a female character, played by Oscar-winner Brie Larson. It’s also the first MCU film to have a woman calling the shots: Anna Boden, who co-directed with her longtime collaborator Ryan Fleck.

While technically an origin story, Captain Marvel’s plot unfolds in a significantly different way compared to other MCU films—it’s a journey of retrospective self-discovery. When we first meet her, Larson’s character is already a super-powered intergalactic badass known as Vers, and a member of the alien Kree Empire-based strike team Starforce, led by her mentor Yon-Rogg (Jude Law).

A mission brings them to planet Earth in the mid-90s, where Vers meets a somewhat sunnier-than-we’ve-come-to-expect Nick Fury (played by a digitally de-aged Samuel L. Jackson) and a green young agent named Coulson (Clark Gregg, also digitally de-aged). Here she encounters Maria Rambeau (English actress Lashana Lynch), who has a connection to Vers’ forgotten past as Carol Danvers, test pilot.

Marvel Studios has once again selected its directorial talent from the world of independent cinema (hello, Taika Waititi), despite the fact that Boden and Fleck’s past filmography contains very little that suggests a proficiency with super-heroics.

From left: Ryan Fleck, Ben Mendelsohn and Anna Boden on set.

Their last film was the boat-gambling drama Mississippi Grind (which co-starred Captain Marvel scene-stealer Ben Mendelsohn), and they’re probably still best known for 2006’s Half Nelson (directed by Fleck, written by them both), in which Ryan Gosling gave an Oscar-nominated performance as a drug-addicted middle school teacher.

Nevertheless, it has proven to be another good call on Marvel’s part, as the directing pair has delivered something pretty special here.

At a recent press event featuring several cast and crew, along with Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige, Larson kicked things off by explaining what about the character appealed to her:

Brie Larson: There’s a lot to love about her, which is why I was really excited to do this. In particular, the idea of playing a superhero, or a female superhero in particular because my interest is in female complexity. I was a little worried about playing a superhero that would be perfect, because I don’t feel like that’s realistic, or something aspirational at all. So getting to play a character where the whole character arc and turn of this is watching her be this major risk taker, which means it’s not always going to work out the best. And those are the moments, the defining moments of her character, where she doesn’t lay down, she gets back up. I mean, that’s everything. That’s for everybody. There isn’t a person who can’t relate to that, I don’t think.

On how Boden and Fleck got the job: Kevin Feige: It’s their focus on character. And our belief that they wouldn’t have lost the character, amongst the spectacle and the fun and the effects. Anna spoke very eloquently about Carol Danvers and that female hero. It was those early meetings and their amazing body of work that made us realize they could bring Carol to life.

Kevin Feige and Brie Larson.

On making the leap from indies to blockbusters: Ryan Fleck: I think in the early conversations with Kevin and with Brie, that’s what we wanted to bring to this story, a continuation of the things we had done in our other movies, which is an intimacy and character-focused storytelling. The visual effects were challenging at first for us, but we were working with the best in the business here and they’ve done, you know, one or two of these movies before we got here. We were in good hands and we were able to lean on them and work very collaboratively with the effects team and learn how that works. And they were patient with us and it was wonderful. I can’t think of a better studio to take that leap with. I mean, they are just the best collaborators at Marvel. They really let us tell the story we wanted to tell.

On what she learned making the film: Anna Boden: I think I realized over the course of making this movie that I’m, as a person, kind of more comfortable hiding and not being seen. And I think this process, the whole process has helped me, you know, be more confident in my voice and just be more comfortable. I’m not very comfortable right now; I’ve got to be honest. But a little bit more comfortable just being seen.

On the friendship between Carol and Maria forming the emotional core of the film: BL: That’s kind of what we’re talking about in this film, without being too [showboaty] about it, this is the love of the movie; this is the great love. This is the love lost. This is the love found again. This is the reason to continue fighting and to go to the ends of the earth for the person, the thing that you love. And it’s her best friend and her best friend’s daughter. Which to me is so natural. I went and saw the movie with some people and it was like an hour later, they were like, “Oh Maria’s the love.” Like, yeah! So it’s not something that we made a big deal about, but it just feels so natural because that love is so strong.

Lashana Lynch and Brie Larson.

Lashana Lynch: They’re both in the military, so they come from male-dominated environments where they were drawn towards the women. They would find power in whoever they find energetic connections to. I think they had a sarcasm together. Carol is just a normal person. She’s able to be every facet of what a woman represents today—sarcastic, dry, funny—she can kick men down and throw them into different parts of the universe.

On representation in blockbuster cinema: BL: I’m just doing what I can do based upon my experience and my one body, which is why representation on screen is so important. Because not one of us can tell the entire story. We can only tell our piece of it. But with films like this that do end up going international—with smaller movies you don’t know; sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t—it means you get to have a really extensive conversation with movies like this and I’m so grateful that this film has so many pockets in it. If you want to just enjoy it, you totally can. But there are a lot of aspects to it that I think are worth, you know, talking with your friends about, talking with your family about—and so when you have a multi-cultural, global conversation like that, I think it allows all of us through the veil of metaphor to be able to reveal some deeper truths and maybe empathize in a new way.

On what she took away from the film: LL: My forever appreciation for single mothers, who don’t get enough light shone on them ever. So to be able to have that opportunity to represent them and say like, “I’d kind of like a universal thank you for your work,” was really special. Actually I went to my mum and other mums I know afterwards and was like, “Can I just just say thanks for everything that you’ve done for the last however many years.” And it really goes a long way just to say thank you daily. Because then they’re able to feed back to other mothers and say, you know, we’re actually doing an all right job. We’re actually enough. And so that’s what I’ve taken away. I feel like I’m not only representing women, I’m representing black women. I’m representing single mothers and representing women in the military and that’s pretty damn special.

On working opposite Reggie, the ginger cat who plays Goose, the film’s breakout character and a foil to Nick Fury throughout: Samuel L. Jackson: I am not a cat person. But I’m also not a dog, bird or a fish person, either. So I just don’t engage pets. You know, Reggie is like most animals that people bring to set that have been trained to do this, that or the other—he’s snack-oriented. You give him something to eat, he shows up. And there were actually four cats, but Reggie did the majority, he did the heavy lifting most of the time.

A digitally de-aged Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.

On what they miss most from the 90s: RF: VHS tapes.

AB: Pay phones. Because then I wouldn’t have to check my email all the time.

Clark Gregg: I wish MTV had videos again. I mean, not just 90s MC Hammer, which were awesome, but just videos, music videos.

Gemma Chan (Starforce assassin Minn-Erva): Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

SLJ: Laser discs.

BL: He is very passionate about laser discs, by the way. That’s not a joke. [Mine is] Butterfly clips.

Jude Law: I was a big fan of the band The Verve. They were The Verve and then they were just Verve. Richard Ashcroft is on his own now. Sad.

LL: R&B. R&B was the truth, man. The truth!

KF: Video stores. I miss walking around video stores.

‘Captain Marvel’ is in theaters from March 8.

[djemsostylist]

I watched Captain Marvel...and I think I hated it.  A Review

So like, I really hated Captain Marvel.  Well, hate’s a strong word I guess.  But given what it could have been, and what we were given instead, well.  It’s better than Gagnarok, which is faint praise, I suppose given how much I despised the last Thor outing.  

This movie had so much potential.  So. Much. Potential.  Because they actually had the bones of a good movie.  The casting, as per usual for Marvel, was spot on.  They created some really interesting characters who weren’t actually cliches like they very easily could have been.  And the idea of an origin movie that merely exists for its own sake, especially this late in the MCU lineup, is an interesting one. 

Thing is though, this one...well, it sucked.  And I think it’s entirely because of the writing and directing.  It read like a YA version of a Marvel movie.  And it’s the first time in a while that I read reviews and thought “What am I missing?”  Most of the round-up that I saw prior to the movie claimed that Sam Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn were a delight, the humor and nineties references were subtle and delightful, and that the whole movie didn’t force things on you but rather allowed the moments to breathe.  Even here--the majority of the people I follow are gushing over the movie and the relationships and the subtle building of Carol’s backstory and I’m just like....?  Because I got none of that?

Fury, as a character in this movie, makes literally no sense.  He seems a whole lot more like Sam Jackson than Nick Fury, and if this movie was attempting to show us how a young and bouncy Nicholas J. Fury became the jaded leader of SHIELD, than they fucking failed.  Fury cooing over cats and completely trusting aliens makes no sense, and rather than have him grow over the course of the movie into the Nick Fury we see today, he does...none of that?  He was frankly kind of obnoxious, and the amount of moments he dropped a not so quippy one liner the writers desperately wanted us to laugh at made me actively irritated by the end. 

Maria was a fascinating character, or she could have been?  She and Carol are wingmen test pilots, working under a female scientist developing cutting edge technology.  She’s a single mother in the military with a precocious young daughter and together with her best friend they’ve made themselves a family.  Her best friend is then killed in a horrible accident gone wrong, and she...actually I don’t know.  I’m assuming she left the Air Force perhaps because, like Sam Wilson, she had a hard time finding a reason to stay in.  At least that would be what I assume.  And maybe she always thought Carol survived and the Air Force covered up something they shouldn’t have been doing and maybe she took a quiet retirement in return for not asking questions, and maybe she always wondered what happened the day that Carol died.  I don’t know, really, since they don’t ever really allow her to do much of anything except tell Carol who she is 5 times and then suddenly decide to go into space because her daughter told her to.  We were robbed of Maria, is what I’m saying, and I think they could have given us so much more.  (Give me a story where Maria takes the retirement and the payout and moves to Louisiana but never really stops looking for answers because Carol wouldn’t just have died like that and one day she digs too deep and she runs into an Agent named Nick Fury who was looking into something too and together they discover what the Air Force tried to cover up all those years ago.  Frankly, I feel like this should have been the plotline that Earth had sans Carol, but I digress).  

Carol’s team was criminally underused.  Gemma Chan, Jude Law, Djimon Hounsou (and those other dudes)--they had virtually no part.  And it could have been fascinating.  Carol was with them for 6 years.  6 years.  That’s a ridiculously long time actually.  And she has a life there.  At least, we can assume?  She appears to have an apartment (or quarters), access to public transit, etc.  She is close to Jude Law (I refuse to call him Yon Rogg bc that is a fucking stupid name), and she is also, again ostensibly, close to his team (hereafter called Kree Team 6).  The scene with them boarding the plane for their first mission together (which totally did not feel like that at all) was interesting, and a lovely glimpse in to team and the dynamics.   I liked seeing how they fought together, their ethical views (they go out of their way not to hurt the locals/refugees, which we’ll get to later).  And I loved the look into Kree society--it felt more real and grounded than any of the alien societies (beside Asgard) that we’ve seen before.  But we get nothing from them.  Like, Gemma Chan has 3? lines?  Hounsou has maybe 2?  And Jude Law 100% feels like he was supposed to Mar Vel (and likely her lover?) before someone, sometime after way too much of the script had been written, decided not to go that direction.  Which leads me to the next question, of why not?  Because Carol doesn’t need a love interest? I mean, sure I guess, but Thor, Steve, Bruce, and Tony have all had a love interest, and I don’t think it detracted from their stories?  Like, Tony still has his bond with Rhodey, Steve obviously has his with Bucky, Thor is still codependent on Loki.  Would Carol being in a relationship with Jude Law prevent her from having an equally or more important relationship with Maria?  Like, I would have loved for about half the movie to take place with Carol still with the Kree, if only so that we could have felt something of Carol’s relationship and connection with them, which would make the revelations that much more crushing when she does find out.  Like, how much worse is it if Carol has an actual life with them (which has likely only been a little bit shorter than the amount of time she’s been in the Air Force) only to find out it’s all based off a lie?  Only, it wasn’t totally a lie because she had friends and a home and a job and a lover and a life which she wouldn’t have had if they hadn’t taken her, and yet.

I loved Carol.  Or at least, I think I did?  Reviews kept whining that Carol was brainwashed half the movie, which sure, but she was no Bucky Barnes.  And I loved that.  I loved that she has awful nightmares that wake her up and make her seek out her lovermentor to spar, but she is still herself.  Like, she isn’t deadened and unemotional and tormented.  She’s happy and scrappy and sarcastic and goofy and bouncy and a little bit of a hothead and she is still herself.  I loved the scene when she looks at the guy over the newspaper, the sly little half smile she gets when she says “Heroes.  Noble warrior heroes” like she knows she’s being a little bitch and she loves it.  I love that when she knocks on Jude Law’s door at 2:00 in the morning he can’t even pretend to be irritated with her.  I love that she banters with her team and loves her powers and isn’t afraid of dying.  I loved who Brie Larson made her in the spare few moments she had between the awful directing and the horrible lines and the things that didn’t really make sense.  I can’t wait to see her in Endgame, and much like I did with Hawkeye in Civil War, go “Oh, there’s Carol!” because she had been hiding behind a shitty plot and horrible dialog and suffocating directing for far too long.  (Also, I loved her costume and her design and the mohawk is beautiful, and her powers aren’t OP at all.)

Like, imagine if the movie is divided into Carol with the Kree slowly realizing shit ain’t what it seems and the other plotline is Fury and Maria trying to find out wtf is going on, and then they meet up in the climax to take down the bad guys.  We get to know Carol, Maria, and their relationship to each other and everyone else.  Imagine if we didn’t have to guess at literally everything.  And imagine if, in the end, Carol leaves, not because she has to guide the fucking Skrulls to a new home, but because she’s functionally immortal now, and what kind of a life does she have with Maria and Earth any more?  (Like, the movie doesn’t address this at all, but I mean, this is a Thing.  Whether it’s because she’s Kree (wtf did the blood transfusion do?) or because of her powers, she is immortal now, yes?  Or as immortal as Thor or Steve, theoretically.) 

The thing is, the Russo’s and Markus and McFeely are really, really good at taking little things and tiny moments and making us know and understand backstory, and showing us how relationships grow and develop in the things we can’t see or don’t have time to see.  These writers/directors...are not.  They suck, frankly.  Who is Mar Vel, what is her relationship with Carol and Maria, what was Carol’s life like in Kree land, why is Maria retired and living in the Bayou, why is Fury on uppers, how did Carol become a Kree, why did they give her the disk control thingy and why doesn’t she take it off, what did they tell her about her past, and most importantly, WTF with the Skrulls and Kree.  How did you manage to tell us how to feel to for an entire movie while also telling us nothing at all.  (Also, The Russo’s and M&M are good with continuity while still writing new things, while these people, are, again, not.  Like, don’t even get me started on the Tesseract.)

And then, okay, when the Kree Team attacks that first planet to save their operative, they are all super specific about making sure the locals don’t get hurt, they protest the innocent, etc.  Gemma Chan immediately pulls up her rifle when they say they are just civilians, Jude Law goes out of his way to put up a shield to protect his dudes and NOT hurt the locals, and he seems sorta grossed out by Ronan and his zealots.  So...wtf with the “all Kree all evil murdered who kill babies and the Skrulls just want to be with their families.”  Like, it’s so fucking tired.  A twist for twist sake, which if you didn’t see that coming...well, that’s on you.  I’d be much more here for “everyone sucks a little bc people can suck sometimes” rather than the shlocky bullshit family reunion I was forced to endure.  The Skrulls were fucking insufferable frankly, and the entire reveal with Talos and the Skrulls from then on was like an embarrassing episode of Stargate.  

And look, I’m not opposed to humor in Marvel movies. I’m not, I swear!  I legit loved both Antman’s, Peter always fills my heart with smiles, and Sam Wilson refusing to move his seat up made me legit cackle.  I don’t like when I feel like the writers spend an entire movie nudging me in the ribs with increasing brutality while screaming “Isn’t it FUNNY THO???”  Because no, dear writers, no it’s not.  And yes, yes I do get the jokes, but good god could we have a minute?  I mean, by the end, the jokes were literally being telegraphed a few 30 seconds before they dropped.  (The Kree scanning people--Cat, High danger level.  I bet Fury’s going to be...oh yeah, hahaha he is a nonexistent threat isn’t that hilaARIOUS?  No, it’s fucking stupid.)  

It was, frankly, awful.  I hated it, so much so that by the end I couldn’t even muster up enough of a Give a Fuck to care that her callsign was Avenger (and I fucking LOVE callsigns) or care that the stinger had all of my children.  I really didn’t.  This movie was so fucking disappointing because it didn’t have to be bad.  It really didn’t.  If they had hired competent writers and directors (I should have known when they hired the Tomb Raider lady this was going to be awful), they could have made it work.  They really, really could have.  And they didn’t and everyone loves it and I’m happy because shitty butthurt fanboys are being legit gross about this and I want them to be crushed by money, but.  I want the next movie to have better writing and better directing because it’s what we deserve.  I don’t want to have to keep settling, because it’s good enough.  

[doomonfilm]

Review : Captain Marvel (2019)

It’s almost impossible to ignore the fervor surrounding the release of Captain Marvel.  Based on comments that Brie Larson made (when A Wrinkle in Time was released) about making sure that the press was inclusionary in regards to minorities and women, a movement of backlash began in hopes of tanking the film, and in some ways, the MCU.  The voices were so vocal that Rotten Tomatoes was forced to change the way it has operated since day one in order to make sure that Captain Marvel (and any other ‘controversial’ release) get a fair shake in the court of opinion.  This weekend, we’ve finally reached the moment of truth, where the art gets to speak for itself.

On the Kree planet of Hala, Starforce member Vers (Brie Larson) finds herself at a loss for memories of her past as she dedicates herself to the war against the Skrull that Starforce leads.  Her mentor Yon-Rogg (Jude Law), a formidable warrior in his own right, attempts to help Vers hone her skills and tame her emotions, but the mystery that Vers deals with fuels her rogue spirit.  After a visit to the Supreme Intelligence (Annette Bening), Vers is sent on a mission with her Starforce team members to rescue a kidnapped former member, but the mission turns out to be an ambush, and in the hectic battle, Vers is hurtled through space, eventually landing on 1995 Earth.  S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Coulson (Clark Gregg) investigate her appearance, and immediately find themselves neck deep in Vers’ mission to find the shape-shifting scrolls on Earth.  As her mission unfolds, however, Vers begins to learn the truths of her origin, her support system, and her emerging powers, all of which eventually lead to Vers emerging as the incredibly powerful Captain Marvel.

At its heart, Captain Marvel is a solid story about trust, betrayal and manipulation.  The concept of the Supreme Leader presenting itself as the one you are closest to in order to give itself power over you is wonderfully effective, as it immediately puts the question of trust on the table.  This, in tandem with Danvers and her hopes of discovering the truth about her past, all set against the backdrop of a civil war between the Kree and Skrull that we’ve been told of in other Marvel properties, creates a rich presentation, and a standalone story that holds up well considering it’s position between the already monolithic Infinity War and the potentially mindblowing Endgame. 

Quality sci-fi in a Marvel costume would be the easiest way to describe Captain Marvel, putting it somewhere between the Guardians of the Galaxy films and Thor : Ragnarok on the grand MCU scale.  The interesting thing, however, is that despite its comedy chops, the film is much less of a comedy than the aforementioned movies.  Tones of Serenity, Star Wars and Blade Runner at times emerge, specifically outside of range of action that takes place on Earth.  The overarching war between the Kree and Skrull allows for the moral and emotional tug-of-wars (no pun intended) that come with deep conflict, which gives it the epic feel that good science-fiction has.  The flashback nature of the film (and the Skrull ability to both detail and adjust it), in tandem with space and the former introduction of dimensions, may open up the door for time travel in the MCU in many interesting ways. 

Hala has wonderful production design, especially during the night scenes (hence my earlier Blade Runner comparison).  Great humor, both regular Marvel-style and deadpan when within the Kree social realm, can be found throughout the film, but not at the expense of drama or action.  The journey through the memories of Danvers is already one of my favorite sequences in 2019.  There is an instantly tear-jerking opening credits tribute to Stan Lee, plus a great cameo that references Mallrats and his cameo in that film.  Surprisingly, there is actually quite a bit of homage to many films : Mallrats, The French Connection, Top Gun, True Lies and a handful of other movies are referenced directly and indirectly. 

Brie Larson, in my opinion, nailed the confidence needed to be a potentially game-changing character, while also balancing a deep humanity against a lack of knowing where she comes from.  Samuel L. Jackson manages to eschew the serious cloak that follows the Nick Fury character, allowing his comedic side to shine even brighter than the aging down effects used on him.  Ben Mendelsohn matches Brie in his ability to exude humanity on screen, making him possibly the most grounded character despite being positioned as a protagonist.  Annette Bening gets a chance to play both ‘regal’ and a bit on the silly side, giving her character several layers that benefit the eventual reveals of her true nature and motives.  Jude Law plays the twisted mentor quite well, feeding Larson the poison so well that it takes a life-changing event to snap her out of her spell.  Djimon Hounsou, Gemma Chan, Lee Pace and Lashana Lynch all add strength to the supporting cast, Clark Gregg keeps the likeable Coulson a crowd favorite, and a layered cameo from Stan Lee is both bittersweet and a great inside joke to another Marvel-loving director.

While Captain Marvel may not be my favorite Marvel film (I don’t think anything will ever match The Winter Soldier), I feel that it will sit in the high tier of films.  It did everything it was supposed to do, and it did it well in my opinion... we’ve been introduced to Danvers and the scope of her powers, we know her connection to the Avengers and Fury, and most importantly, it opens up the door of possibility even further for what we will get next month in Avengers : Endgame. 

[smolbeandrabbles]

It’s Request Season! And Themed Requests Are Open!

It’s May-! Which means like my 7DS/7HV’s of last year I will be opening up themed requests again! Woo! This years theme is a little different: Below the cut are 100 sentences from this challenge and the rules

The only character I am currently not writing for is Killian, please understand this is for personal reasons.

I will strike out sentence prompts as they are requested and continue to reblog this!

Enjoy! And happy requesting! 💙💜

Rules:

Reader insert stories only

If you would prefer a gender neutral reader just ask 😊

The sexiest I’m going to give you is pre-amble / glossed over. I will not be writing full smut for these requests.

Send me one or a few prompt sentences from the below; you can just send the number if you’d like! 😊

As each sentence is chosen I will strike it out, and reblog this post so you know what's still available

Further plot details are welcome if you have any

If you want to send songs / lyrics these are also welcome

Requests accepted through my ask box or by DMing me

To save you having to read a list of Ben Mendelsohn characters I will write for, you can see most of them on the Masterlist. If he isn’t listed there, it might just mean I haven’t got around to him yet, so just ask and I will accommodate! (For example, I will 100% write for Doug Peterson, even though he’s not yet on the list). Prompts:

“That’s starting to get annoying”

“Hey, hey, calm down. They can’t hurt you anymore.”

“You can’t just sit there all day.”

“I’m too sober for this.”

“I’m not here to make friends.”

“I need a place to stay.”

“Well, that’s tragic.”

“You’re seriously like a man-child.”

“You can’t banish me! This is my bed too!”

“The ladies love a guy who’s good with kids.”

“Dear Diary, …”

“She’s hiding behind the sofa.”

“I lost our baby.”

“They’re so cute when they’re asleep.”

“I’d kill for a coffee…literally.”

“You’re getting crumbs all over my bed.”

“Good thing I didn’t ask for your opinion.”

“What’s the matter, sweetie?”

“You’re Satan.”

“I don’t want to hear your excuse. You can’t just give me wet-willies.”

“I’m bulletproof…but please, don’t shoot me.”

“Did you just hiss at me?”

“Do you really need all that candy?”

“It’s six o’clock in the morning, you’re not having vodka.”

“I swear, I’m not crazy!!!”

“The diamond in your engagement ring is fake.”

“No. Regrets.”

“How drunk was I?”

“How is my wife more badass than me?”

“Be you. No one else can.”

“I haven’t slept in ages.”

“I locked the keys in the car.”

“Are you sure that’s the decision you want to make?”

“You work for me. You are my slave.”

“Take your medicine.”

“They’re monsters.”

“Welcome to fatherhood.”

“Why can’t you appreciate my sense of humor?”

“It’s your turn to make dinner.”

“The kids, they ambushed me.”

“Sorry isn’t going to help when I kick your ass!!!”

“Stop being so cute.”

“I feel like I can’t breathe.”

“You need to see a doctor.”

“You’re getting a vasectomy. That’s final.”

“It was a joke, baby. I swear.”

“Dogs don’t wear clothes!”

“I didn’t think you could get any less romantic…”

“Safety first. What are you? FIVE?”

“This is girl talk, so leave.”

“Where am I going? Crazy. Wanna come?”

“There’s a herd of them!”

“Do you think I’m scared of a woman?”

“They’re not your kids, back the f*ck off.”

“You’re a nerd.”

“I’m late.”

“Just get home as soon as possible, okay?!”

“You smell like a wet dog.”

“I could punch you right now.”

“Are you going to talk to me?”

“Welcome back. Now fucking help me.”

“If you can’t sleep…we could have sex?”

“Flea markets don’t carry fleas, you know?”

“Here, take my blanket.”

“I don’t want you to stop.”

“How could I ever forget about you?”

“You’re bleeding all over my carpet.”

“Run for it!”

“We need to talk.”

“Not everyone is out to get you. Stop thinking that. It’s annoying.”

“I want a pet.”

“Just smile, I really need to see you smile right now.”

“I’m not wearing a dress.”

“I’m not wearing a tie.”

“Quit beating me up!”

“Please put your penis away.”

“It’s a Texas thing.”

“Don’t argue. Just do it.”

“I hope I’m never stuck with you on a deserted island.”

“Does he know about the baby?”

“Hold still.”

“I just ironed these pants!”

“Enough with the sass!”

“Show me what’s behind your back.”

“I’m not going to be sympathetic until you go to a doctor.”

“Fine, don’t say anything and make me worry.”

“Stay awake.”

“STOP INTERRUPTING ME!”

“You’re not interested, are you?”

“I’m not buying ikea furniture again.”

“Tell me you need me.”

“Oh honey, I’d never be jealous of you.”

“I’m telling you. I’m haunted.”

“I had a bad dream again.”

“Have I mentioned, I fucking hate Halloween.”

“It’s Christmas, don’t be mad at me.”

“You’re not going to starve yourself on Thanksgiving.”

“The store ran out of Easter eggs.”

“How could you forget your son’s birthday?”

“You can only suffer through my whining for so long until you get up and make me a sandwich.”

Thank you guys! Happy Requesting!💜💙😘