#will christopher have more than one date for homecoming???

[buddiedaydreamer911]

christopher canonically starts high school in the fall🥺🥺🥺

[extasiswings]

Ohhh 70 (“After everything we’ve been through, you still don’t think that I love you?”) OR 93 (“You’re more than that.”) for the prompt thing, whichever you prefer! I always adore your writing, thank you so much for sharing it with us ☺️

OR? No, both. And thank you, you're very sweet. On ao3 here.

Most of the time, Buck feels like there’s no one in the world who understands Eddie as well as he does. Most of the time. Because there are still some other times when he’s completely in the dark.

And sure, okay, it makes sense on some level because they all have their blind spots—of course he’s going to have a few where Eddie is concerned as well—but they never fail to catch him by surprise.

A month after Eddie comes home from the hospital, Buck is having coffee with Carla while Eddie’s at a physical therapy appointment and he offhandedly says—

“Not sure why I never see Ana. You would think Eddie being shot would make her want to be around more, not less—”

“Buck,” Carla interrupts, a strange look passing over her face. “Honey...Eddie broke up with her three weeks ago.”

That stops Buck short, makes him feel like he’s missed a step on the stairs.

“What?” His mouth is dry. He swallows. “He—why?”

Carla picks up her cup and takes a long sip, as if she needs the extra seconds to figure out what to say, and Buck backtracks.

“No, forget it, that’s—it’s not my business,” he says. It’s not. Even if it feels a little like it should be, even if he doesn’t understand why Eddie would tell Carla and not him, even if he’s Eddie’s best friend—

Buck knows that Eddie’s a private person. He knows that sometimes Eddie keeps things close to his chest while he’s thinking them through. Eddie hadn’t said a word about Shannon until she walked into the station and aired their business for all of them to hear. He barely talked about Ana in the first place. He changed his will and sat on that information for a year—

Buck’s not upset it’s just—it feels—

The thing is.

The thing is…He’s not oblivious. He knows how he feels about Eddie. How he’s felt for at least the past two years. Like he can’t breathe, can’t speak, can’t look at him without feeling like he’s screaming with it, bleeding love all over, unable to stop it dripping from every pore. Exposed and pathetically obvious, and the whole time Eddie has just—said nothing. Ignored it, Buck assumes, because he can’t not have noticed, can’t not have seen.

And maybe sometimes Buck has wondered if Eddie wasn’t ignoring it. If he felt the same and just couldn’t say it. Because he was grieving and wasn’t ready—

But then he was. He was ready. And he chose Ana Flores.

That was the end of it. That was supposed to be the end of it. Because Buck’s not a masochist, he knows he hangs onto things for too long, but he’s been working on knowing when to let go.

Except—except Eddie got shot. Eddie got shot and Buck sat on a hospital bed and stared as Eddie said no one will ever fight for my son as hard as you and you act like you’re expendable…but you’re not and the words felt…heavy. The air, weighted. And Eddie couldn’t look at him and Buck could swear that he was trying to say—

Buck knows he shouldn’t be. But there’s a part of him that’s angry. That wants to pace and run and clasp Eddie’s face between his hands and ask really? Now? Because—because Eddie got shot. Eddie got shot and Buck barely survived it, thought if Eddie died, he would have died with him, was more terrified than he’s ever been in his life. But he did survive. And he moved on. He kissed Taylor. He closed the door.

So Eddie’s not allowed to make big declarations that he could have made a year ago and then break up with his girlfriend when Buck is finally trying—

Okay, maybe he’s a little upset.

The rest of him though—most of him, really—knows he doesn’t have any right to be angry. Which is why most of him is just…tired. Tired and terrified and still so in love.

Buck thinks maybe Eddie was right all those months ago. The universe doesn’t scream. It just laughs. At him.

“Buck?” Carla’s gaze is soft. Steady.

Buck clears his throat. Drains the last dregs of his coffee. He tries not to feel like he’s swallowed glass.

“Did I tell you I’m seeing someone?” He asks, forcing a smile. “She’s a reporter. She was—she was at Eddie’s homecoming actually, maybe you met her. It’s still pretty new, but we’ve been friends for a while. Going pretty well so far.”

Something flickers in Carla’s eyes, but she takes a breath and smiles.

“That’s great, Buckaroo,” she replies. “I’m happy for you.”

He’s trying. He’s really trying.

He doesn’t ask Eddie about the breakup.

*

Recovery is slow.

Buck doesn’t really like thinking about it as recovery because Eddie’s the one who got shot. Eddie’s the one who was in a sling and in physical therapy and had to spend months waiting to be well enough to get cleared to go back to work.

Eddie’s the one who got shot. The one whose blood flooded the street. The one who spent days unconscious in the hospital. The one who almost died.

Eddie’s the only one who has anything to recover from.

Dr. Copeland doesn’t agree. Buck mentions that he’s having trouble sleeping, that his chest gets tight if he goes too long without seeing Eddie and Christopher, that he can’t breathe sometimes when he’s on shift and Eddie’s out of sight.

She refers him out to a trauma specialist. He tries to argue that it’s not his trauma, but she just looks at him for a long moment.

“When you say you can’t sleep, is it insomnia? Or do you have nightmares that wake you up?”

Buck bites his lip and looks down at his hands. When he blinks, they’re streaked with red. When he blinks again, they’re clean. He curls his fingers into fists to prevent them from shaking.

“A little of both,” he admits.

“And when it’s nightmares, what are they about?”

��…blood.” Eddie’s blood in the street, on his hands, splashed across his face, on his tongue—

She hums.

“Evan,” she says quietly. “It’s okay. It’s not a weakness to admit that you need help. And just because you weren’t shot yourself doesn’t mean you didn’t experience something traumatic. You’re allowed to seek treatment.”

Buck swallows. “I feel like…I should be better by now,” he admits. “Better than this. Shouldn’t it be easier?”

“Recovery is a process,” Dr. Copeland replies. “A journey. And it doesn’t always move in a straight line. There’s no timetable.”

Recovery. He makes a face.

But, he goes to see the specialist. He’s not sure how much it helps.

Blood splashing across his face, water running red, skin scrubbed raw—

Buck sits up gasping, cold sweat beading across his brow. Taylor is sound asleep on the other side of the bed, the distance between them a chasm he doesn’t know how to cross. He doesn’t know if he wants to even if he did.

He shivers. Grabs his phone. Quietly descends the steps of the loft to settle on the couch.

“Buck. Hey.” Eddie’s voice is gravelly and soft from sleep. Buck winces.

“Sorry,” he says. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I don’t mind,” Eddie replies. “You know I don’t mind.”

Eddie pauses. “What was it tonight?”

Buck exhales shakily. “Your heart stopped in the truck before we could get to the hospital. I couldn’t get it to start again. I know it didn’t happen that way, but I still—”

“It’s okay,” Eddie says. “I’m okay. That—it wasn’t real.”

“Yeah.” It felt real though. Buck can still feel ribs cracking under phantom compressions, the slick of blood on his hands. He can taste Eddie’s blood in his mouth.

“What do you need?”

Buck stretches out and closes his eyes, the phone pressed hard to his ear.

You. Just you. Always you.

“Can you—” His throat clicks. “Can you just talk? It doesn’t matter about what, I just—”

I need to hear your voice. I need to hear you alive.

“Christopher picked a project for the science fair,” Eddie says. “You have to promise to act surprised when he tells you though. He’s really excited.”

“Oh yeah? I can do that. What is it?”

“Well…”

Buck falls asleep again with Eddie’s voice in his ear and he doesn’t dream again. Taylor wakes him on the couch in the morning, an odd look on her face—he doesn’t know how to explain that it’s not her fault. She just can’t help him. Perhaps she never could.

Buck thinks maybe there’s still a part of her that wants him to chase her. But he’s in no condition to chase anyone, even if he wanted to. It takes enough out of him to hold himself together. And to fight against what seems more and more inevitable.

So. Maybe he should stop fighting it.

He sighs and scrubs a hand over his face as he sits up.

“I think we should probably talk,” he says quietly.

Taylor tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and sinks down onto the couch next to him.

“I think we should.”

It ends as quickly as it began.

*

Christmas takes him by surprise. It’s not that Buck doesn’t notice the fall slipping away—a Halloween shift, a Veteran’s Day that has Eddie a little quieter, a little shakier, than usual, and Thanksgiving lasts practically a whole week with all the leftovers that end up in the station—but somehow it doesn’t fully register until he looks up at the calendar in the middle of December and sees a smiling Christmas tree sticker on a date ten days out. They’re not working, so the only question is where he’s going to end up, if anywhere. Although, he supposes even that’s not really a question.

He knows where he’ll end up.

Five days before Christmas, a last-minute tree has been wrangled into the Diaz house and Buck is fighting with a tangled set of lights while Eddie pulls out wrapping paper and ribbons and retrieves the hidden stash of gifts for Christopher from his closet. Christopher himself is fast asleep in his room, worn out from the day of running around, and without the extra person to focus on Buck takes a moment and lets himself just...watch Eddie. Sitting on the floor in low light with his legs stretched out, surrounded by ornaments and boxes and stray clippings and a small pile of somewhat lumpy, clumsily wrapped gifts, his lower lip caught between his teeth as he focuses on trying to figure out the right way to fold the wrapping paper—

There’s a stray piece of tinsel in his hair and a laugh catches in Buck’s throat, even as the rest of him aches with a sudden, fierce urge to brush it away.

He aches. Because this—this is what he wants. Eddie and Christopher and going around town to finish the Christmas shopping, picking out a tree and decorating it as a family, coming home to this day after day after day and knowing it’s where he’s supposed to be—

Eddie got shot. Eddie got shot and it was the worst moment of Buck’s life. He thinks sometimes that he would rather have his leg crushed under a thousand ladder trucks than risk going through that again, but—but running away didn’t make him stop loving Eddie. Dating Taylor didn’t make him stop loving Eddie. Time hasn’t made him feel anything less, if anything it’s just cemented things.

So...so if Eddie is going to have the power to hurt him that badly regardless of whether Buck admits it out loud, if the risk of loss is going to be there anyway...shouldn’t he at least get to have everything? All the good parts?

Don’t they deserve the chance to be happy?

“Buck?” Eddie’s brow is furrowed in concern. “You okay?”

Buck opens his mouth, intending to reassure him, but what comes out is—

“Are you in love with me?” Eddie freezes and Buck resists the urge to panic and take it back.

“Because—” Buck clears his throat. “Because sometimes I think you might be, and—”

“Yes.” It’s quiet, barely a breath, but that single word hangs in the air. Buck’s heart races.

“You could have told me,” he replies. “Why—why didn’t you just—?”

Eddie looks away and Buck catches a familiar look flickering across his face. Doubt, shame, fear—everything that he himself has felt—

Oh.

Blind spots.

He never considered that Eddie might be just as afraid of rejection as he is. He never considered that what’s been so painfully obvious to him, might not have been to Eddie himself.

Buck gets up from the couch, stepping carefully around the mess on the floor until he can kneel down next to Eddie. Eddie, whose jaw is tight, shoulders tense, like he’s waiting for a blow.

“After everything we’ve been through...you still don’t know that I love you?” Buck asks quietly.

Eddie sucks in a startled breath, turning back to look at him, his gaze searching. Buck holds it steadily and waits. It’s not the first time he’s walked out on a limb. But it is the first time he’s had someone else out there with him.

If it cracks this time, they’ll fall together.

“I didn’t think—” Eddie’s eyes close briefly as he clears his throat. “I didn’t think I was enough.”

“You are,” Buck replies. “You’re more than—Eddie—”

“We have a life,” he says when he can get his thoughts in line. “We built a life. Together. Even if we didn’t say that was what we were doing, it’s what we did. So, maybe—maybe we can try being a little more honest about what we want while we’re living it? I don’t—I don’t want to waste anymore time.”

Eddie looks down—then, he reaches out slowly for Buck’s hand, his fingers finding the spaces between Buck’s and slotting in.

Buck squeezes gently. Eddie squeezes back.

“Okay,” Eddie agrees. “Let’s try that.”

Buck does pluck the tinsel from Eddie’s hair, but when he tosses it away, his hand comes right back, fingers sliding into the strands to keep Eddie still. Eddie’s eyes are dark in the dim light, but his lips curve faintly up as Buck leans in.

Kissing him feels like coming home.

[moonstonediaz]

buddie: a natural progression

i’ll start this out by saying i am not worried about future of buddie. i’m not 100% certain the story will take us to full canon buddie, but i am about 80% sure—which is plenty for me! okay, onward.

the show has already raised the question “why is eddie with ana?” they’ve put this to the forefront of our minds by having carla bring it up with eddie in 4x13, and the fact that eddie hasn’t directly addressed it yet in the show tells us that something is coming. likely a breakup. but will eddie initiate this? i think it’s important that he does, that he makes that choice for himself and not have it made for him by ana leaving.

tim has said that he “doesn’t know” what the fate of the eddieana relationship is and, well, that tells me all i need to know right there. given that they’ve done all but remove her completely, i think it’s pretty safe to say a breakup is coming. but when? in between seasons? early season 5? we’ll have to wait and see for that, but i’m pretty positive that’s coming soon.

back to what tim said, he “doesn’t know” the fate of their relationship and he “doesn’t want to define” buck and eddie’s relationship yet…what else is that supposed to mean? how else are we supposed to read that? what—do they expect us to think that eddie just hasn’t found the right one yet? that he doesn’t already have everything right under his nose—a best friend, a partner, someone he can count on to have both his and christopher’s best interests at heart, a family? are we supposed to think that they’re going to introduce another rando next season for him to pursue yet another relationship that’ll feel forced? that he’ll put another person in chris’ life that could leave again? i’m gonna say it’s highly UNLIKELY.

eddieana has been cringe from the start. their whole relationship feels forced and awkward to me. (re: awkward breakfast date, creepy math date and the no-kiss, weird cheek kiss at the homecoming party, etc.) (not to mention, ana’s been little more than blurrywife at this point, amirite?) and i know it’s probably structured this way so buck and eddie could have that talk in the hospital, but if my boyfriend had been shot and was being discharged from the hospital, you can bet your ass i’m there to take him home 👀 … not to mention eddie doesn’t trust ana. his immediate reaction was to bristle and get defensive when he thought she was snooping around on that kid and his mom in 4x13. one of their very first interactions was a negative one with the skateboard incident. and we all know who came through to make it all better for christopher. eddie might find it easy and nice being with her, but he doesn’t trust her. that’s not a good foundation for a long-term relationship.

speaking of foundations…bucktaylor had a good foundation for friendship, and maybe even a potential relationship in the future, but the second that kiss happened and she ran—from a man who has a history of abandonment issues—foundation crumbled. she then came back and made the comment about buck not chasing after her when his literal best friend partner was posted up in the hospital unconscious after getting shot right in front of him. that made ME bristle.….girl. and i know i don’t need to mention it, but the second she left after kissing him and eddie wakes up? i see you, eds 👀. bucktaylor could have been natural if taylor hadn’t used buck’s vulnerability to her advantage in 4x14. imo, the show really screwed up an awesome blossoming friendship. instead of being what buck needed in that moment—a friend to lean on while dealing with yet another trauma—they forced a romantic arc between the two instead of letting it happen naturally.

you know what makes the most sense, narratively? buck and eddie gradually shifting from best friends to romantic partners. because, honestly, when i call them ‘best friends’, it doesn’t feel like enough. those words are less than the magnitude of their relationship. when i think of 9-1-1 and best friends, the pairs that come to mind are chimney and hen, bobby and michael, hen and athena. i don’t think of buck and eddie because they’re not just best friends. they’re more than that. they always have been.

the way i see it, eddie making buck legal guardian over christopher was the most natural next step for their relationship. it wasn’t shocking at all, it made sense. their foundation is solid. the only thing that surprised me was the fact that eddie’s been sitting on this information for a year. SIR.

there’s no one eddie trusts more to have his and christopher’s backs than buck. there’s no one buck trusts more to fight for him and his self-worth than eddie. and he’s just now beginning to realize this. they’re partners. they’re a unit. they’re a family.

it’s natural.

[myriadofunchartedworlds]

If they didn’t do the lawsuit arc in 3A then it would actually be interesting to have Taylor be offered a better job outside of LA and Buck deciding to follow her. Hear me out, this isn’t a BT endgame plot, but actually a BT ends plot: So Buck’s tired of running after people, yes; and he’s definitely tired of being left behind. BUT THIS TIME SHE ASKS HIM TO COME WITH HER. It’s not Abby making promises she wasn’t sure she could keep or Ali being unable to commit. It’s someone who’s facing a big change and wanting him to join her amidst it. Not only that, it’s an opportunity to be Buck, the person who doesn’t let his SO get away instead of Buck, just the firefighter. (Red’s life still echoes in his mind sometimes). So he follows her wherever, and that’s how 5A ends. Except Taylor doesn’t actually choose him the way he thought she did. She’s married to her job, even if she’s dating him. Being out there with her but without his family makes him feel even more alone than ever. And it feels like the appetizer to the future he’s terrified to have. So Buck becomes Buck 4.0, willing to extend grace and second chances but not at his own expense. He lays it all out for Taylor, who also realizes that both want different things for themselves and of each other. It’s a mutual break, and maybe they’ll become friends again one day, maybe they won’t but Buck can only think about going back home. So he does. A few episodes into 5B, after a very pointed series of calls about homecomings, the 118 return to the station and find a very familiar giant on their couch, with the one dish Buck has perfected (under Bobby’s tutelage) waiting for them on the dining table. Cue all the mixed feels.  But wait, there’s more. Eddie might not be okay with a ready-made family but he realizes that it’s because he already had a family built amidst blood(clots), sweat, and tears. Only he realizes this when the final piece of the family disappears, and it’s so much worse than the lawsuit. Because their lives are so much more intertwined now and Eddie relies on him for so much more. So when Buck comes back, Eddie decides that it’s time to stop holding himself back. Operation Lock In Buck officially gets put into motion. (Except, we all live for the drama and Christopher is all sorts of pissed at Buck leaving, even if they stayed in touch. Eddie wins him over quickly enough with the idea that if Eddie convinces Buck to give them a chance to be partners in all senses of the word, Buck will never ever leave again.) PS, with the lawsuit arc essentially being an isolated Buck arc, I’m not sure if the writers/Tim would be up for another iteration of this. So as much as I want this to be how 5.10-5.13 turns out, it seems unlikely.

[meg91596]

Family is All that Matters  Chapter 3 Wedding Shopping, and A house

Since Link and I got engaged we have been busy preparing for our wedding however now that I’m pregnant again with twins, planning a wedding for this coming summer is going to be hard because the twins are due at the end of summer. I don’t even know if Scout will even like being a big brother. I know it was too soon to start trying but we love Scout very much and know that he’s going to be a great big brother. Luckily I live with my bridesmaids so I don’t have to travel very far for some of the things that need to get done. I know I’m going to have to find a wedding dress that will fit the bump that I am going to have. Today Meredith, Maggie, Zola, Ellis, Emilee, and Scout are going to look for dresses. Zola is also a bridesmaid at the age of 12 she’s such a sweet girl. Ellis who is now 7 is going to be my flower girl.

“Auntie Amelia what colors are you looking for?” Zola asked. “Well the wedding colors are Lilac, and Sky Blue.” I said. “Oh those are good colors.” Zola said. “Yes they are so Amelia have you figured out who is the maid of honor or matron of honor yet?” Meredith asked. “Of course I have Meredith you are my Matron of Honor because you have taken me in when Derek died and I know he would want me to be happy with you guys and help raise Zola, Bailey, and Ellis when he’s not able to.” I responded to Meredith. “Awe that’s nice Amelia, I’m sure Derek would be proud of you and love Scout and the twins as much as he loved you.” Meredith said. “I Miss Daddy.” Zola said. “I know Zozo we do too.” Meredith said. “EWW someone has a dirty diaper.” Ellis said. “POOPI POOPI.” Scout yelled from the backseat. “I guess Scout has a dirty diaper.” Amelia said. “Well at least he tells you, Bailey never did.” Meredith said.

Of course I knew that Bailey never let anyone know when he was dirty. Scout however is a different little boy. Being his mother is something I never would have imagined especially after I lost Christopher. Being Scout’s mother has opened my eyes about how much I was truly missing out on. Being an Aunt is one thing but a mother is a completely different thing from an aunt. As we walked into the bridal shop with our masks on as the pandemic is still continuing. I was surprised about how many dresses there was to choose from. I had no clue as to what kind of dress I wanted. When I married Owen I got a dress from a thrift shop I also only had the wedding like a week after we got engaged. But this time shopping with my sisters, nieces, and son means something so much more than it did before.

“Auntie Mia what about this one.” Ellis asked. “Oh I like this one.” I said. “Can I help you miss?” the sales clerk asked. “Yes I have an appointment to try on dresses for both myself and bridal party.” I said. “Name Ms?” she asked. “Amelia Shepherd I’m here with my Matron of honor Meredith Grey, bridesmaids Maggie Pierce, and Zola Shepherd. Flower girl Ellis Shepherd, Scout Shepherd Lincoln, and Emilee Pierce.” I responded. “Oh yes come on Amelia lets look at some of these dresses do you have something in mind?” the sales clerk asked. “Something that flows and would look good being pregnant with twins.” Amelia said. “Oh yes we have a variety of dresses, how far along will you be?” the sales clerk asked. “Well almost 9 months pregnant when I get married, the date is August 24th, and the due date is September 4.” I replied. “Oh that’s close I have a few dresses that you can sample.” The lady said.

It was a fun time. I found the dress and had it custom to fit my stomach for when Link and I get married in August. It’s going to be a day to remember. The bridal party also picked out their dresses. Ellis looked so beautiful in her flower girl dress. What a pretty girl she is. I wish that Derek could have met her or even Scout because I know he would love both of them. When we got home Bailey and Link were playing soccer outside. Bailey has connected with Link in the last year which is good because he’s a good guy and I know Bailey needs a male role model now that he is getting older as he is going to be turning 9 in a few weeks. Scout was asleep when we got home so I took him up to his crib for his afternoon nap when Link noticed me I was already placing Scout in his crib in our room.

“Hey I got some good news.” Link said. “You got your suit or tux for our wedding?” I asked. “Nope even better.” Link said jiggling keys. “You got a new car? What was wrong with the mini van?” I asked. “There house keys Amelia.” Link said. “What we have a house?” I asked. “Yes and it is special to you isn’t it.” Link said. “What are you talking about?” Amelia said. “The house is 3 Maple Way and was built 10 years ago.” Link said. “You bought the house my brother and our good friend Mark built.” I asked. “Yes I did so how about we take Scout there tonight to check out the house.” Link asked. “Well Okay I haven’t seen the place in 6 years.” I explained.

Of course Link never told me that it was a homecoming party. Meredith, Maggie, and the kids were waiting for us at the house. Zola was playing in the treehouse that Derek built for her when she was little. Ellis liked playing in the playhouse that still stood even after the previous owners moved. Bailey just wandered around the home especially our bedroom because it was once Meredith and Derek’s room. I loved the house very much and couldn’t believe that I would be living in this house. I enjoyed me day of shopping with the girls and Scout but also getting this house now that Link and I have Scout and Twins on the way it is going to get crowded at Meredith’s house. When Ellis found out we were moving out she got upset because she enjoyed spending time with us. Link and I told her that she could spend the weekends with us along with Bailey and Zola. The kids loved that idea, and how they couldn’t wait until the weekend could come.

[letterboxd]

Decadent—Best of the 2010s.

The best films and directors of the decade, according to the Letterboxd community. As the 2010s stumble to a close, we release a collection of lists celebrating the best films and directors of the decade, and reveal your most underrated and overlooked gems.

When Parasite overtook The Godfather this past November to become the highest-rated film of all time on Letterboxd, it was also confirmation of what we’ve been noticing since we launched the service in 2011: that the 2010s have ushered in a new golden era of filmmaking. Alongside the rise in blockbuster franchises, the film world has seen new innovations in genre films, financing models and talent pathways, helping a new generation of indie filmmakers to get traction in the competitive and unpredictable feature film scene.

And while the industry continues to reckon with upheavals in the studio system and theatrical landscape, the upside is that cinephiles have more and more platforms through which we can find and share new discoveries, back-catalog classics and obscure treasures. Indeed, our own recently launched partnership with JustWatch is helping many of you more easily track down and watch old favorites and recent releases. (JustWatch keeps track of streaming data for 38 countries and rising, and in the US alone, it monitors well over 100 services.)

In the spirit of discovery, and ahead of our 2019 Year in Review (coming in early January) we’ve run the numbers on the past decade of movies. Read on for the results—you have a couple of days left to squeeze some of them into your year’s viewing, in order to influence your 2019 and decade stats! (By the way, if you’re a Pro or Patron member, and you have best-of-decade lists for this or any other decade, you can now tag them so they appear on your all-time stats page. Use this format: top2010s, top1980s etc. We’ve also extended support for all-time top lists past the previous maximum of ten.)

The Top 20 Uncut Gems of the 2010s

Each fortnight, we run a Showdown where you get to pick your favorite films for a given theme. For the final Showdown of 2019—and the decade—we asked you to list your favorite ‘uncut gems’ of the 2010s—the overlooked, under-seen, not-loved-enough movies that you think more people need to know about.

It’s been the most popular Showdown ever, with pages and pages and pages of lists worth exploring in their entirety. We added up the most-mentioned films, removed those that had been watched by more than 15,000 members (per the specific rules of this challenge) and arrived at a final top 20, with Alex Ross Perry’s messy rock drama Her Smell taking the top spot (read our write-up about the Elisabeth Moss-starring film here). It’s quite an international list, with six women directors (Josephine Decker, Agnieszka Smoczyńska, Kelly Reichhardt, Hélène Cattet, Cristina Gallego and Mélanie Laurent), two Ciro Guerra films from Colombia, and a film from the Safdie brothers, the directors behind Uncut Gems, which has an impressive 4.3 average on Letterboxd right now.

The Top 250 Narrative Feature Films of the 2010s

Parasite, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Portrait of a Lady on Fire topped the highest-rated 250 narrative feature films of the 2010s. The busiest directors on this list were Denis Villeneuve and Taika Waititi, with five films each. Hirokazu Kore-eda, Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino and Lee Chang-dong all feature with three films each.

The Top 100 Directors of the 2010s

We set out to find the narrative feature film directors whose work in the 2010s, as ranked by the Letterboxd community, combined with their overall placing on our Top 250 of the 2010s list, signified their excellence in the directing field. After some data-heavy research, backed by a solid methodology, one name emerged at the top: Denis Villeneuve. Taika Waititi and Lee Chang-dong round out the top three.

Interestingly, only two Best Director Oscar winners from the 2010s made the list: Damien Chazelle and Alejandro González Iñárritu. The most prolific directors on the list are Hong Sang-soo (14 films) and Sion Sono (11 films).

The 100 Most Popular Films of the 2010s

This list is determined by the films that have the most activity across our community, including watches, reviews, comments, list additions and more. Get Out topped this list, with Avengers: Infinity War and La La Land close behind.

This is a heavily US-based list, with very few films made outside the US and only two made primarily in non-English languages: Parasite and Roma. Christopher Nolan is tied for first place with the Russo brothers in terms of having the highest number of films on the list, at four each.

The Top 50 Most Obsessively Rewatched Films of the 2010s

By “obsessive” we mean total watches from all members who logged a film five or more times. The top three are: Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Avengers: Infinity War and La La Land. The Marvel Cinematic Universe accounts for a full 20 percent of the list (including the Guardians of the Galaxy films and Spider-Man: Homecoming, but not including Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse). The Star Wars franchise has six films on the list.

The Russo brothers, Anthony and Joe, are the MVPs of this list, with four MCU directing credits. Jon Favreau is represented all over the list as a director (Elf), a writer and a producer. And, of course, the late Stan Lee is credited across the MCU. We made an accompanying list for those who have Paddington obsessions.

The Top 100 Documentary & Non-Fiction Films of the 2010s

O.J.: Made in America is the top non-fiction title of the 2010s, while For Sama is the top feature-length documentary. The MVP of documentary directors is American great Frederick Wiseman, who has three films in the list. Joshua Oppenheimer, Agnès Varda, Steve James, Adam Curtis, Asif Kapadia, Petra Costa and the filmmaking duo Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin all have two films apiece. 24 women directors feature in the list, across 26 films.

The Top 100 International Films of the 2010s

An incredibly strong list, this was topped—of course—by Parasite, with Portrait of a Lady on Fire and The Handmaiden completing the top three. There were some notable exclusions on this list, due to not having a US release date until 2020. They are: Bacurau, System Crasher, And Then We Danced, Vitalina Varela and Two Blue Stripes. Maybe we’ll see them in our 2020 round-up.

The Top 100 Animated Feature Films of the 2010s

This is a Japan-heavy list, with more than 35 films in the top 100. The US follows with 26 films, including the first-placed Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Don Hertzfeldt’s It’s Such a Beautiful Day is at number two and Lee Unkrich’s Coco takes third place.

The Top 100 Women-Directed Feature Films of the 2010s

A truly international cross-section of feature films is represented in this list, which is topped by Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire, one of three by the director to appear in the list. Greta Gerwig has an impressive two films in the top ten. Other directors to appear twice are: Kathryn Bigelow, Dee Rees, Lynne Ramsey, Marielle Heller, Andrea Arnold, Maren Ade, Juliana Rojas, Zoya Akhtar, Meghna Gulzar, Nadine Labaki, Kelly Reichhardt and Naoko Ogigami. More recent films feature heavily, with 22 from 2017 versus just one from 2013.

The Top 50 Directorial Debuts of the 2010s

We looked for the highest-rated feature film debuts by directors who had not helmed a film solo prior. We included directing partnerships where part of the collaborative team had not made a feature before; that’s why Peter Ramsey is in the mix alongside feature newcomers Rodney Rothman and Bob Persichetti, taking the top spot for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Rounding out the top three are Don Hertzfeldt and Jordan Peele.

A full quarter of this list is comprised of women directors: Lulu Wang, Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Olivia Wilde, Dee Rees, Nora Twomey, Alma Har'el, Rebecca Sugar, Yoon Ga-Eun, Jennifer Fox, Shouko Nakamura, Dorota Kobiela and Naoko Yamada.

The Top 50 Comedy Specials of the 2010s

John Mulaney topped this list, with four specials included, and a fifth likely to make the list by year’s end. Fun fact: twelve of these were from 2017, which is double the next most represented year (six are from 2018). Un-fun fact: only five comedy women here.

The Top 50 Limited or Miniseries of the 2010s

David Lynch’s Twin Peaks took the top spot, closely followed by Craig Mazin’s Chernobyl, and When They See Us, Ava DuVernay’s dramatic series about the Central Park 5.

The Top 50 Horror Films of the 2010s

We made room for a single genre list, and horror was it—you’ll note we’ve erred on the generous side with what might be considered a horror film (so, yes, there are comedy horrors and psychological thrillers included). Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse swept in late in the decade to take the top spot, while Get Out and What We Do in the Shadows also ranked highly.

The 50 Most Divisive Films of the 2010s

These were the 50 most divisive feature films, concert movies, comedy specials and other curiosities of the 2010s. These are the titles from the 2010s that had the widest spread of ratings (note: this list has been updated using a more appropriate methodology and higher minimum viewer count since this post was published).

That’s all, folks. Huge thanks to Jack for compiling the lion’s share of these lists. We’ll see you in 2020 with our 2019 Year in Review. (All the decade best-of list rankings are provisional and will be finalized after 31 December.)

[i-am-thequeencapricorn]

Watch The Marvel Movies In Order

AVENGERS: ENDGAME, opening on April 26, is more than just another Marvel movie. It’s the final film in a story that’s been over a decade in the making, a celebration of everything Marvel Studios has done to date. If you’re like us, a binge-watch of the entire MCU is in order to prepare for the big event. Here’s the big question: How should you watch the Marvel movies in order?

There are two common ways to build a Marvel movies timeline. The first is in release order, kicking off with 2008’s IRON MAN. The second is in chronological Marvel movie order, following the order of events. That means moving CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER to the pole position and shuffling Phase Three’s movies in some interesting ways.

Over on Reddit, however, one smart fan suggested another approach — a thematic structure that may be the best viewing order yet. Here it is, updated for the latest Marvel movie releases.

Captain America: The First Avenger 

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER is something of an extended introduction to the MCU. The bulk of the movie is set in the ’40s, and it introduces viewers to the SSR, which becomes S.H.I.E.L.D. Even the end-credits sequence, which features Nick Fury, is a nice setup for everything that will follow. Want to watch the Marvel movies in order? Start here.

Captain Marvel

CAPTAIN MARVEL effectively takes the spot formerly held by IRON MAN as the proper kickoff for the entire MCU. The story is primarily set in the mid-’90s and features the first evolution of S.H.I.E.L.D. and an important stage of Nick Fury’s career. The story also sets up the Kree (later seen in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY) and, most importantly, deals with an object that becomes significant toward the end of Marvel’s Phase One. As the origin story for Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), this also feels more like a Phase One movie than anything Marvel has done in the past few years. In terms of tone and theme, it sits well in the beginning of the viewing order. Yes, there’s a connection to INFINITY WAR and ENDGAME, but just keep this film’s first post-credits sequence in your back pocket for later.

Iron Man

Although IRON MAN was the first MCU movie, it has more power when placed here. We know who Howard Stark is thanks to THE FIRST AVENGER. Watching his son take his first faltering steps into the “bigger universe” is an effective stage of the MCU movie order. The final scene, with Nick Fury stepping out of the shadows, will take on a subtly different meaning after the events of CAPTAIN MARVEL. Rather than hint at the birth of the MCU, it will become connective tissue linking the first three films together.

Iron Man 2

After IRON MAN introduces viewers to the modern-day iteration of S.H.I.E.L.D., the sequel dives deep into that organization. It also features Nick Fury in a far more significant role, allowing viewers to get a sense of just who this figure really is. Meanwhile, the focus on Howard Stark’s legacy continues to draw the narrative threads together. It makes perfect sense to watch IRON MAN 2 at this point.

The Incredible Hulk

This particular adjustment to the viewing order is appropriate — while THE INCREDIBLE HULK actually happens at the same time as IRON MAN 2, the end-credits sequence assumes Stark now has a “consultant” role with S.H.I.E.L.D.

Thor

THOR introduces viewers to Asgard and launches a series of stories inspired by events in the Realm Eternal. At the same time, it continues to develop the story of S.H.I.E.L.D., with Coulson and Hawkeye playing important roles.

The Avengers

This is a natural fit after the events of THOR, continuing many of that film’s themes and character arcs. Loki returns as a villain; the concept of the Tesseract is explored; and the existence of dangerous alien beings becomes public knowledge when the Chitauri invade New York. There’s also a more subtle detail as this is the first film to really hint that S.H.I.E.L.D. isn’t just “good guys.” THE AVENGERS includes a disturbing sequence in which the World Council orders a nuclear attack on American soil.

Thor: The Dark World

Here’s where the order of events really changes, but for good reason. The last two films have explored the cosmic side of the MCU, and it makes sense to continue that line. Some of the most important themes and ideas — particularly the relationship between Thor and Loki — follow on perfectly from THE AVENGERS. This also introduces the idea of the Infinity Stones, although they’re only partly explained at this point.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Continuing the cosmic focus, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY unveils another Infinity Stone. The Collector, introduced in the stinger of THOR: THE DARK WORLD, makes another appearance, tying the two films together. Viewers are left with a strong sense that the Infinity Stones are being brought into play across the universe.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

The events of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 are set only a couple of months after the first film, so it makes sense for this to follow straight on. It continues the space-opera style and tone established by the last two films in our Marvel movie order.

Iron Man 3

The cosmic diversion is over, and the focus now moves back to Earth, where Tony Stark is dealing with the emotional fallout from THE AVENGERS. The passage of time between the films actually makes Tony’s PTSD feel more significant, while also more making it feel more natural that Stark has had the time to build so many armors.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Continuing with the Earthly focus, this movie shows what Captain America is up to. This story could even be happening at the same time as IRON MAN 3, explaining why Cap doesn’t help Tony against the Mandarin and why Stark isn’t on hand to deal with Hydra. Or maybe Cap and Stark are merely still wary of one another at this stage. Perhaps most importantly, placing this film here begins a Falcon arc that will run through the next few movies.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

This is another natural fit. The film opens with the Avengers taking down a major Hydra base. In thematic terms, placing this close to IRON MAN 3 makes Tony’s emotional journey feel more immediate and natural. This film also begins to tie the Earth-bound adventures into the cosmic stories, with another Infinity Stone revealed. Thor’s vision establishes a sense of impending threat.

Ant-Man

Set in the immediate aftermath of AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, ANT-MAN contains subtle references to the devastation at Sokovia. Placing it here in the lineup makes the Falcon fight carry additional weight, bringing Sam closer to primary character status. 

Captain America: Civil War

The Sokovia arc that begun in AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON comes to a head in CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, tearing the Avengers apart. CIVIL WAR acts as the launchpad for the next batch of Earth-bound stories, so they slot in nicely after it. It also follows on perfectly from ANT-MAN’s end-credits scene.

Black Panther

Black Panther was introduced in CIVIL WAR, and this continues his story. It’s appropriate to drop this movie in next, as BLACK PANTHER is set only a week after the Avengers divide, and the Wakandan focus follows on nicely from the end-credits sequence.

Spider-Man: Homecoming

Set two months after CIVIL WAR, SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING focuses on Peter Parker. It’s important to note that Tony Stark has been given time to heal a little, so this viewing order makes sense.

Doctor Strange

Placing DOCTOR STRANGE here gives the film real importance as a thematic tie between the MCU’s Earth-bound and cosmic movies. DOCTOR STRANGE introduces the concept of magic and brings the Time Stone into play. The Quantum Realm also plays a subtle role, as Strange glimpses it while being sent careering through the dimensions. Finally, the end-credits scene leads nicely into THOR: RAGNAROK.

Thor: Ragnarok

This film follows on logically from DOCTOR STRANGE. (There’s even a cameo.) The end credits begin the direct buildup to AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, with the Asgardian refugees intercepted in space by Thanos.

Ant-Man and the Wasp

This is a difficult one to place in this thematic structure. While it returns to the Earth-bound adventures, ANT-MAN AND THE WASP is fantastical and funny. The bulk of the story is set before the events of AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, so it makes sense to place it here. This particular viewing order does change how the post-credits scene plays, however. Rather than knowing what’s going on, you’re with the same sense of shock and horror felt by Hank Pym or Scott Lang.

Avengers: Infinity War

In this order, AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR will be the last thing you watch before AVENGERS: ENDGAME. That works particularly well when you consider that, according to screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the snap was originally in ENDGAME. These two films may not be a traditional Parts I and II anymore, but their relationship is so close that it’s better to watch them back to back — just how they were filmed.

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Not really a fan of Superhero Movies, but after watching Captain Marvel last Friday, I was hooked. I’ve decided then to binge-watch all the Marvel Movies so I can catch up before they release the Avengers : Endgame. My only dilemma was, I have no idea what to watch first and so on. I tried to do a little research and I came across with this article. I’ve watched the 1st three movies, and since I’ve already tendered my resignation, I have all the time to finish the remaining movies before the opening of the final story. Yey!!

[shemakesmusic-uk]

Getting to Know...

Alana Henderson.

Weaving pop, folk and electronic elements to craft a sound which is strikingly unique, Alana Henderson's Museum EP is “based on relationships in their various stages of evolution. You have the falling in love, falling apart and looking back, and each song is a different part of that." 2019 sees Alana with her trademark cello now bolstered with shimmering electronics and ghostly slide guitar, influenced by the likes of Arthur Russell and June Tabor, whilst receiving worthy comparisons to Joanna Newsom and Laura Marling.

Alana Henderson made her debut in 2014 with Wax & Wane, an organic, slow-burn success which has amassed 9 million streams to date on Spotify alone. Lyrics that flirt with levity but lean towards the confessional, innovative cello playing, delicate production and a sense of intimacy. A two-year stint moonlighting as Hozier's touring cellist saw Alana travelling the World paying her musical dues but homecoming brought about a self-imposed hiatus and drawing-of-breath, punctuated by one haunting single release, ‘Let This Remain' (2017) which is also included in her Musuem EP.

We had a chat with Alana all about Museum and what she has planned for the rest of the year. Read the Q&A below.

What led you to make music? Who and/or what are your influences?

"I was very fortunate be brought up immersed in Irish Traditional music - my whole family plays - and I sang traditional Seán-nós (old style) and played traditional wooden flute and tin whistle from about aged 7. When I was 18 I heard Arthur Russell for the first time. I couldn’t believe the sounds he was making with a cello. It led me to trying to use the cello as an accompaniment instrument to singing. That and hearing Rushad Eggleston play cello for Crooked Still - a bluegrass band - as a teenager and subsequently having some lessons with him. I realised that I had all the components I just needed to find a way to piece them together. I’ve always loved language and songwriting is something I would probably do for my own pleasure even if no one ever listened!"

You've just released your new EP Museum. What was your inspiration for the record?

"Yes, ‘Museum’ came out on October 18. The songs on the Museum EP are sort of vignettes of various pivotal moments in a relationship; ‘Museum’ itself is about finding closure and watching a past love move on, ‘Anyone’ is the nervous energy and infatuation of meeting someone new, ‘Let This Remain’ is trying to forge real connection with someone, beyond the merely physical, and ‘On Board’ is about the instinct to be guarded for self preservation and ultimately dropping your guard enough to let new love in.

What do you hope listeners take away from Museum?

"On ‘Museum’ I sing about ‘curating a museum of thought’. I suppose by that I mean that you can choose how to hold the memories of your past. It’s quite an empowering realisation that you don’t have to torture yourself with where previous relationships went wrong and you could instead just respect what it taught you and visit the memory once in a while.

"I hope that anyone who listens can find some sentiment in the songs that resonates with their current situation and maybe get some comfort from that."

What was your songwriting process for the EP?

"The songs on this EP were all written quite quickly and naturally. I didn’t really sit down and try to write. It is an unashamedly personal record. I think I just wrote it as a way of unpicking how I was feeling.

"‘Anyone’ was the track that took the most time from its inception to completion. I shied away from recording it initially because it’s much more upbeat than anything else I had written. I wasn’t comfortable with it at first but when we started to record I actually enjoyed embracing the playfulness of the lyrics and allowing myself to be a few shades poppier with the production."

Finally, what does the remainder of 2019 hold for Alana Henderson?

"I have just released a music video for ‘Anyone’ that I made with my good friend and director Seán T O’Meallaigh. It was another lesson in embracing the lightheartedness of that song and allowing myself to ‘play’ a bit! So you can watch that now!

"I’ll be playing a few local shows in my home city of Belfast including one at The Naughton Gallery at Queen’s University on 11th December. Otherwise I’m currently scoring a film and working on new music."

Photo credit: Christopher Barr

[veliseraptor]

What impact, if at all, do you think the popularity of Game of Thrones/ASoIaF had on this trend of killing people off in the MCU and having them stay dead? I sometimes wonder...executives in Hollywood follow the money, and that show certainly generated a lot. And Game of Thrones/ASoIaF, that's been part of the show/books from the beginning, but it was a hard turn in the MCU, makes it stick out.

Well, there are a couple aspects of this, I think. One is that the trend in the books of A Song of Ice and Fire of killing characters off has, I think, been greatly exaggerated. True, a number of major characters die, but other than Ned and Catelyn no other POV characters have died (I think), other than Jon, whose death is almost certainly not permanent. 

(Though maybe my sense of this is skewed by having recently read Steven Erikson, who has a truly “hold my beer” attitude toward killing his main characters. It works for him, though.)

I think in some ways the show has amped up some of the grimdark feeling of the books, which...there’s a good post somewhere about how that’s not actually the point of the series? But it feels like part of the point of the show. But this post is not about my frustration with the thematics Benioff and Weiss chose to ignore in their adaptation.

The second thing is that while I’m sure Game of Thrones contributed, this is actually part of a much older trend that dates back a ways - the earlier MCU was actually a departure in terms of the tone of superhero movies. Think of Christopher Nolan’s Batman, or most of the DCCU movies that have come out, or the wave of gritty fantasy that came out in the 2000s. Infinity War, in that way, is actually a return to status quo.

And actually, the tone of a lot of the superhero movies that have come out recently, excepting Infinity War (and, at least as far as marketing, Endgame) has borne out the general hopefulness of superhero movies as a whole. True, Thor: The Dark World killed Frigga (still bullshit), and Age of Ultron killed Pietro (we barely knew ye) but since then...Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Ant Man and the Wasp, and Captain Marvel all had a fairly lighthearted tone and a lack of (protagonist) character death. Black Panther was very, very far from nihilistic and didn’t kill any of its (protagonist) main characters. Thor: Ragnarok killed off the Warriors Three and Odin, but the former was not treated as particularly emotionally impactful (irritating) and the latter was kind of a long time coming. 

While Civil War and Winter Soldier did have darker tones, both ended on at least a moderately hopeful note, and (again) didn’t kill off main characters. I remember very little about Doctor Strange, but other than the death of the Ancient One (and death of the mentor is a standard of the superhero genre), people come out of it clean.

So Infinity War really is a marked departure as far as the MCU goes, but it does fit in with a larger and longer lasting cultural trend that pre-exists the MCU.

It’s possible they could pull out of this depending on how Endgame goes. After all, a “moment of near defeat turns into victory” turn is a fairly common trope in narratives, and honestly I am almost 100% certain that at least all the ashed people are coming back, and fairly certain that Gamora and Vision are as well. (Gamora more than Vision, but pretty sure about both. Could be wrong, though.)

My frustrations with that that I fear will not (or may not) rescue Infinity War for me are two-fold:

The fact that it was advertised as a stand alone movie, which it patently isn’t, and thus it had no narrative closure within that movie, which is a) not as advertised and b) even in two part movies is, imo, not a great move.

The fear that they’re going to get their victory by killing off most, if not all, of their old guard, because death is the only way to end a character arc and there needs to be a “price” of victory (and that price has to be death). 

Death is not the only way to leave a mark after a difficult final battle. See: Frodo.

Good god, this turned into an essay that you probably didn’t want. But I guess that’s some five dollars on things that are mostly related to what you’re asking, and sort of tangential to it.

[itsalliepg]

Hometown - Zig x Scarlett (MC) - Part 2

SUMMARY: After an enjoyable afternoon, Scarlett (MC) takes Zig to some places from her childhood and teenage days.

PAIRING: Zig X Scarlett (MC)

RATING: Everyone

WORDS: 2143

NOTE: English isn’t my native language. I write to practice and learn, so please sorry any mistakes. I hope you like it, and if you do, I’d appreciate if you like/comment/reblog!Tag List:  @maxwells-nut @seawhite-seafair @molly7998@ziggy-o@purpledinosaur4ever@writtenbycandy @chenchen731@thatspicegirlssong @christopher-powell@zigortega4life @emerald-bijou

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The afternoon at Thomas’ house was extremely pleasant. Zig was already bonding with Therese and Louis, to Scarlett’s delight. But she decided the night would be just her and Zig. She wanted to show him the schools where she studied and the places she used to go before college. She took a shower and got dressed after he did the same and was downstairs waiting for her. When Scarlett got ready, she went to the living room, but couldn’t found her boyfriend or her parents. She heard a few voices coming from outside, and when se as peeked out the door window, she saw Zig, Louis and Therese wrapped up in conversation. Scarlett couldn’t help but smile widely. They only interrupted the chat when she opened the door.

               _Perfect timing, Scarlett! – Zig smiled and Scarlett approached them – we were talking about you.

               _Oh, dad, I hope you’re not telling him embarrassing stories about me…

               _No yet, but just wait – Louis winked at her – I’m kidding, bean. I was telling him about that spelling bee you won in fourth grade.

               _Oh, right! Zig saw that picture I keep in my room in Hartfeld – she wrapped an arm around Zig’s waist and he kissed her temple.

               _Aw, aren’t they a lovely couple, honey? – Theresa nudged her husband.

               _Absolutely – he put an arm around her shoulders – are you sure you don’t want to have dinner here?

               _Yes, dad. I want to take Zig to Golden Crispy, he has to taste the fried chicken sandwich, right? – she smiled.

               _Oh, she talked so much about this place… - Zig winked at her.

               _But she’s right, the Scarlett-life-tour couldn’t be complete without it – Therese glanced at Scarlett’s neck – oh, so that is the gift he gave you on your birthday? – she approached to see the star necklace her daughter was using – you have good taste, it’s pretty! – she smiled to Zig.

               _Isn’t it? – Scarlett looked at Zig, beaming.

               _Thanks, ma’am – Zig beamed as well – but the saleswoman gave me some tips, I’ve never bought anything like this before.

               _But it was you who chose it, right? – Louis smiled and Zig nodded – well, have fun tonight, kids, take care!

               _Don’t worry, dad, we’re just going for a ride in town – after saying goodbyes, Zig and Scarlett got in his car and she laughed – actually, there’s a place I want to take you that my parents can’t know.

               _Yeah? Don’t they know you’re a real troublemaker? – he smirked.

               _You can say so – she grinned mischievously – look, my first school! – she pointed to a building with a playground in front of it. Zig parked and they climb out of the car – first day at school, I met Emma on that swing. I’m taller than her, so she asked me to push her. Then our gaze caught Kelsey and her jumping rope skills. We decided to take a closer look, and she invited us to play with her. Later we realized we were from the same class and, well, we’re still friends today.

               _I like your friendship with them. You keep in touch even with you here, Kelsey in California and Emma in France.

               _It’s not easy, but we have technology in our favor, thank God – she took his hand – one day, I can introduce you to them by Skype. I also told them a lot about you.

               _I’d love to – he squeezed her hand – is there another school there? – he looked behind her.

               _Yes! My elementary school! Come on – hand in hand, they walked two blocks and reached another building – there’s the auditorium where I won the contest. And that window is from the science lab. It reminds me of the tarantula hunting – she giggled – in my fifth grade class, there was a boy named Trevor Miller, he was such a brat. Once, he decided to pick a tarantula from an aquarium in the lab and scare our science teacher. But shortly after he grabbed the spider, she returned to class after a little chat with our principal. He released it, and throughout the class, he couldn’t get it back, so the tarantula simply ran away. When class was over, she noticed the empty aquarium and asked what had happened. When he saw none of us would have his back, Trevor confessed his plan.

               _Wow, and what about the spider? So you said it was a hunt?

               _Yes, we decided to look for the whole school, but who found it was a seventh grade girl, in the window of her classroom. Trevor got a month’s detention and we decided to give his name to the spider – they laughed.

               _That was priceless, Scarlett – he hugged her – and what else did you enjoy doing then, besides looking for tarantulas?

               _Well, when I wasn’t at my friends’ house chatting, listening to music or watching TV shows, I was in the library or riding my bike in a park I’m planning on taking you to in the morning. But since we’re close to downtown, let’s walk around here, there some places you’d like to see – Scarlett led Zig through the streets and she spent the early evening introducing her hometown to him, and he felt a little closer to her, listening to her life stories.

               After the walk, Scarlett and Zig headed back to the car and she told him directions to her favorite diner. Soon they were sitting side by side at a table and eating.

               _So, what’s the story behind this place?

               _Me and my friends have a tradition since our freshman year. We came here before the homecoming ball. But we didn’t have dates for the Prom, so we returned here while the party was going on. So, we set up this ritual: we could come here other days of the year, but we must come before the balls and the last night before the first day of school.

               _Oh, so it really is an important place for you – Scarlett nodded while she chewed a potato chip – and I imagine you have a bunch of memories here.

               _You’re right, but my favorite was when my friend Gina got a summer job here. She was hired to wash the dishes, and after a few weeks she was promoted to waitress. We decided to congratulate her during her first day. She’s very funny, so we decided to make her life a bit difficult, like filling the cups with lots of napkins and soiling the whole plates with mustard. But suddenly, Kieran, my crush, came and sat on the counter and I immediately stopped what I was doing to pay attention to him. I noticed he was looking too much to me and I was nervous, but also excited, because he finally noticed me. Before he left, he approached me, leaned in and…said my face was yellow – Zig almost choked on the soda.

               _Let me guess…mustard? – Scarlett began to laugh and he joined her – oh, poor Scarlett…

               _I ran to the bathroom and saw a big yellow stain on my forehead. It was hot that day, and when I saw him, I wiped my sweat so fast I didn’t realized there was mustard in my hands – they laughed.

               _You’re so adorable – he kissed her quickly – but if I were him, I’d offer to help you clean up.

               _Of course you would, you flirt – she rolled her eyes, but giggled and kissed him again – but you’re also adorable. I love you.

               _I love you too – he smiled – and what kind of teenage stereotype were you?

               _Mmm…not surprising I was in the literature club, but I also played volleyball for a year. During junior year, Emma and I joined the foreign film club, so she decided to study French. And one teacher once tried to convince me to join the chemistry club because of my grades. I don’t know if I fit into some stereotype.

               _I was joking. Since you’re so talented, I knew you didn’t fit in just one path. Unlike me, the math’s club great nerd – he giggled and she tapped his nose.

               _But you’re nothing close to a typical nerd – she rested her head on his shoulder – because you’re unique.

               _Look who’s talking – they giggled and kept talking about their high school years. When they got back to the car, she grinned devilish again.

               _Continue forward and then take the first left. Go for more four blocks. And we’ll get to that secret place.

               _Now I’m curious – he followed her directions and then he parked a little confused – this is…your high school?

               _Yes – she got out of the car – come here – she approached the railing and looked sideways – oh, it’s still here – she lifted the railing and crouched a little to get to the other side – we used to do that often too – Zig chuckled and did the same as Scarlett.

               _Okay, and why would you want to break into your school in the middle of the night?

               _Because of that – she pointed to an Olympic-size pool, and she took his hand to guide him there – my parents never imagined we did it.

               _The perfect and beloved Scarlett Thomas also has secrets to hide, huh? – he arched an eyebrow.

               _Come on, Zig. You know my naughty side better than anyone else – she unzipped her dress and let the fabric fall down to the floor, then cautiously descended the stairs – aren’t you going to join me?

               _Sure – he took off his shirt and jeans and met her in the water. He slowly approached her, a grin on her face, and closed the distance in a gentle kiss – so, are you the evil mastermind behind it?

               _No. Who discovered this hole in the railing was a bunch of seniors, when I was a sophomore I guess? But at that time the news ran easily, I don’t know how that didn’t reach the principal’s ears!

               _Or maybe the principal knew, but it was the person behind the hole in the railing – he winked and they laughed.

               _It’s a good theory – after a lingering kiss she pulled back, floating, but he pursued her, his arms wrapping around her tightly.

               _Inhale deep – she obliged and he dove in, taking her with him, and then caught her mouth again. Under the water, they focused only on that long, slow kiss. After a while, they returned to recover air.

               _Okay, this kind of kiss we didn’t try before, and was really great.

               _It was. Don’t get me wrong, I love your parents, but I was crazy to get you alone.

               _I know, and I wanted too. That’s why I wanted to bring you here, to get some privacy – she bit his lower lip.

               _Yeah? – under the water, he ran his hands over her thighs around his waist – and what do you have in mind now?

               _Let me show you – she kissed him again, as he led them forward, keeping her pinned against the wall. The intensity of the kisses increased – I never did it here with anyone before.

               _Yeah? I’m honored – she kissed his neck and he moved his hands to unclasp her bra.

               _WHO IS THERE? – suddenly, a strong light beside them made them freeze.

               _Shit! – Scarlett swam quickly to the stairs and Zig followed her – this is new – they grabbed their clothes and ran to the hole they had entered earlier.

               _YOU TWO ARE INVADING A SCHOOL, I’LL CALL THE POLICE! – a tall man in a security uniform was chasing them as they returned to the car. Still wet and undressed, Zig tried to start the car.

               _Come on, come on! – he glanced to the man, approaching them with the flashlight – damn, it never happened before! – suddenly the car started and Zig accelerated as fast as he could and turned onto the next street he found.

               _Do you think he saw the license plate? – Scarlett was looking back.

               _No, I got off really fast, unless he has a real quick eye – they remained in silence while he drove for a few minutes. In a moment, he stopped. Still panting, they glanced to each other and burst out laughing – I don’t think this thrilled ride was part of the itinerary.

               _Definitely not. But when I used to come here, they had no guards. Maybe they found out what ninety per cent of the students do – she squeezed his hand – sorry for that, Zig. I really had no idea.

               _Hey, it was fun! Nothing like an electrifying escape to liven up the ride – he kissed her hand – but I drove so much I don’t even know if we left the city. Do you recognize it here?

               _Oh, sure! – she looked out outside, still behind the window – it’s an old quarter, close to the city hall, the theater and the biggest hotel in city.

               _Cool. I have a towel in the glove compartment. We can dry ourselves and go for a walk.

Thanks for reading!

Let me know if you want to be tagged in future fanfics!

[xseedgames]

2017 End-of-the-Year Q&A Extravaganza Blog! #1

It’s time for our first 2017 End-of-the-Year Q&A Extravaganza! We’ve got a bunch of these we’ll be posting over the holiday break, so please look forward to them. Now, let’s roll right in!

We have answers from: 

Ken Berry, Executive Vice President / Team Leader John Wheeler, Assistant Localization Manager Nick Colucci, Localization Editor Liz Rita, QA Tester Brittany Avery, Localization Producer Thomas Lipschultz, Localization Producer

Question: Has selling your games on PC worked out for you so far? I know supporting the PC platform is a relatively recent choice for XSEED. - @Nate_Nyo

Ken: Being on PC has been great for us as it allows us to reach anyone anywhere in the world regardless of region or console. We were probably one of the earlier adopters in terms of bringing content from Japan to PC as we first published Ys: The Oath in Felghana on Steam almost 6 years ago in early 2012.

Brittany: I love working on PC. The work involved is greater than working on console, but I feel like it's a bigger learning experience, too. For console, the developers normally handle the graphics after we translate them, and they do all the programming and such. For PC, everything falls on us. I wasn't that experienced with Photoshop in the beginning, but I think I've gotten a lot better with it over the years. We can also receive updates instantly, and since I talk with our PC programmer through Skype, it's easier to suss out our exact needs and think of ideas to improve the game or bring it to modern standards.

Question: What non-XSEED games do you praise the localization for? - @KlausRealta

Brittany: Final Fantasy XII. I love everything about Final Fantasy XII's writing. I'm also a big fan of the personality in the Ace Attorney localizations. I'm still playing Yakuza 0, but you can feel the passion of the localization team in the writing. There are some projects where you can tell the editing was phoned in, and then there are games where it's obvious it was a labor of love. All of these games have a color I aspire to.

Tom: Probably going to be a popular answer, and not an especially surprising one, but I've got to give props to Lost Odyssey. It's hard to deny the timeless quality and absolutely masterful English writing that went into basically every line of that game's massive script, with the many short stories being of particular note. That game really does represent an inspirational high bar that I think most everyone else in the industry will forever strive to reach in their own works.

For a more unexpected answer, I've also got to give mad props to Sega for their work on Monster World IV. As a Sega Genesis game released digitally in English for the very first time less than a decade ago, I guess I was kind of expecting a fairly basic "throwaway" translation -- but instead, the game boasts a full-on professional grade localization that's easily up to all modern standards, brimming with charm and personality. It's really nice to see a legitimate retro game being given that kind of care and attention in the modern era, and it makes it very easy for me to recommend (as does the fact that the game is actually quite fun, and is sure to be enjoyed by anyone who's played through all the Shantae titles and really wants to try something else along similar lines).

John: I played Okami on PS3 earlier this year (before the remake was announced), and I was awed by how skillfully the team handled text that is chock full of localization challenges like quirky nicknames, references to Japanese fairy tales, and regional dialects. I was especially amused to see a reference to "kibi dango," the dumplings Momotaro uses to bribe his companions in that famous story. We dealt with the same cultural reference with STORY OF SEASONS: Trio of Towns.

Nick: My go-to response is always Vagrant Story, because it’s the game I credit with getting me really interested in a career in localization. Before that point, I had enjoyed games for their story and characters, but hadn’t realized just how much the specific word choices and tone contributed to a reader’s perception of a story as a whole. The gents behind VS’s localization would go on to be industry luminaries, with Rich Amtower now calling shots in Nintendo’s Treehouse department and Alex Smith being synonymous with the highly regarded prose of Yasumi Matsuno’s games – including the cool and underappreciated Crimson Shroud for 3DS, and Final Fantasy XII, which as anyone who’s played it can tell you is a stellar localization. Having spent a lot of time with FFXII’s “The Zodiac Age” remaster this year, the care and attention to detail put into the localization still blows me away. The unique speech style of the Bhujerbans (with...Sri Lankan inflections, if memory serves correctly) sticks with me, because I knew that I myself would never have been able to pull off something like that so deftly. I guess you could say Vagrant Story started a lineage of games that’s always given me something to aspire to as an editor.

Final Fantasy XIV, which I’ve been playing this year, also has a very good localization, especially considering the reams of text that go into an MMO of its size and scope. Michael-Christopher Koji Fox and his team have done a bang-up job giving life and personality to the land of Eorzea, and I’ve enjoyed seeing how the localization has changed in subtle ways as time has gone on. The initial “A Realm Reborn” localization sort of cranks the “regional flavor” up to 11 with heavy dialects and vernacular, but in subsequent expansions, they kind of eased up on that and have found a good mix between grounded localization and the kind of flourishes that work well in high-fantasy settings.

 And, while I haven’t played it in a number of years, I remember Dragon Quest VIII having a really great localization, too, with ol’ Yangus still living large in my memories. Tales of the Abyss was fantastic as well, and both DQVIII and Abyss delivered some really brilliant dub work that showed me how much richer one could make characterization when the writing and the acting really harmonized. I still consider Tales of the Abyss my general favorite game dub to date. The casting is perfect, with not a bad role among them. I also want to give mad props to Ni no Kuni’s Mr. Drippy, just as a perfect storm of great localization decisions. Tidy, mun!

Question: How hard is it to turn in game signs and words to English for Japanese? Is it as simple as going in and editing text? Or as hard as creating a whole new texture for the model? - @KesanovaSSB4

Tom: We refer to this as "graphic text" -- meaning, literally, text contained within graphic images. How it's handled differs from project to project, but the short answer is, yeah, it involves creating a whole new texture for the model. Sometimes, this is handled by the developer: they'll just send us a list of all the graphic text images that exist in-game and what each image says, we'll send that list back to them with translations, and they'll use those translations to create new graphic images on our behalf. For other games, however (particularly PC titles we're more or less spearheading), we'll have to do the graphic edits ourselves. When the original PSDs or what-not exist for the sign images, this is generally pretty easy -- but as you might expect, those aren't always available to us, meaning we'll sometimes have to go to a bit more trouble to get this done.

John: The best practice is to review graphic text very early in the localization process because it takes effort to fix and can throw a wrench in schedules if issues are discovered too late. On occasion, it is too difficult to change ubiquitous textures, especially those that might also appear in animation. This was the case with "NewTube" in SENRAN KAGURA Peach Beach Splash, which the localization team wanted to change to "NyuuTube" to make the wordplay clearer to series fans.

Question: With the Steam marketplace becoming increasingly saturated and being seen as a greater risk to publish on in recent times, what does XSEED plan on doing in order to remain prominent and relevant in the PC gaming space? - @myumute

Ken: It is indeed getting harder and harder to stand out as hundreds of new titles are releasing on Steam each month. We are working our way towards simultaneous release across all platforms to help leverage some of the coverage from the console version to get more attention to the PC release, so hopefully that's something we can accomplish soon. For PC-exclusive releases it continues to be a challenge, but at least they have a long tail and even if it's not an immediate success at launch we know it can continue to produce sales for years to come.

Question: What was your favorite film that you saw in 2017, and why? - @Crippeh

John: I'm way behind on movies this year (haven't seen Disaster Artist, Phantom Thread, or Get Out, for example), but recently I've enjoyed both Star Wars and Lady Bird. I expect I'll watch my favorite film from 2017 sometime in 2018.

Ken: Wind River. Mainly because of Jeremy Renner's performance and how many quotable lines he had.

Liz: Get Out for horror mindblowing amazingness, Spider-Man Homecoming for genuinely fun comic book movie, and The Shape of Water for Guillermo del Toro. Guillermo del Toro should always be a category.

That’s it! Stay turned for blog #2 later this week. Here’s a preview of the kinds of questions we’ll be answering:

Question: Have you ever considered selling the music CDs for your licenses stateside? - @LimitTimeGamer Question: If possible, would you please consider researching and localizing classic Korean-made PC xRPGs? - @DragEnRegalia Question: Do you have any interest in pursuing the localization of any of the large, beautiful Chinese RPGs that have been hitting Steam? Or are you focused exclusively on Japanese titles? - @TheDanaAddams Question: What inspired you all to do this kind of work in the first place? Also, what’s the story behind the company name XSEED? How did you all come up with it? - @TBlock_02 Question: What was everyone's favorite game(s) to work on this year? - @ArtistofLegacy Question: What's everyone's favorite song from the Falcom games you've released so far? - @Crippeh

[aion-rsa]

Freaky Review: Body Swap Comedy Horror is a Gory Blast

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It’s such a perfect concept for a horror comedy it’s a wonder no one has done it before: a hulking male serial killer swaps bodies with a tiny, dorky teenage girl – chaos ensues. “Freaky Friday The 13th,” as the idea was initially pitched by co-writer Michael Kennedy. In the hands of Happy Death Day and Happy Death Day 2 U director Christopher Landon you get exactly what you expect – a funny, sharp teen romp full of inventive kills and excessive comedy gore.

Detective Pikachu’s Kathryn Newton plays Millie, good natured but flighty teen who is always late for class, often picked on by the mean girls and who dresses up as a beaver to play the team mascot. She hangs out with her pals Josh (Misha Osherovich) and Nyla (Celeste O’Connor), lusts over hot boy Booker (Uriah Shelton), and tries to take care of her widowed mother (Katie Finneran). Typical teen fare until the emergence of The Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn) who offs four typical teens and steals an ancient knife which he uses to perform a body swap ritual on Millie one night after the big game.

Now Millie has just 24 hours to get her body back or stay inside the Blissfield Butcher forever. Freaky sets out its stall from the off with cartoonish kills – we get death by wine bottle, toilet seat, and tennis racket before the main title card even lands – yet the bright color palette and Bear McCreary’s upbeat score make you feel like you could be watching something like Legally Blonde. 

Body swap comedies stand and fall on the performances of their leads and here it looks like Newton and Vaughn are having a whale of a time. Newton gets to enact some glorious kills but hers is perhaps the less interesting of the two transformations – we never really get to know The Blissfield Butcher so her role involves a lot of sinister looks, a few great one liners and a lot of set pieces but ultimately not a lot of dialogue or character development – we never do learn why the Butcher does what he does.

Meanwhile Vaughn is having a field day. Leaning hard into emulating a teenage girl there’s a certain level of inevitable cliche – high pitched screaming and flapping about – but Vaughn pulls it off, managing to completely convince the audience he’s Millie, even achieving the odd moment of sweetness, offering comfort to Millie’s mom and bonding with Booker. The latter moment is certainly played for laughs but at heart there’s something here about what’s inside being more important than appearances.

Freaky is fluff but it still manages to explore wider gender themes – Millie in the body of The Butcher isn’t going to be pushed around by the school bullies anymore, while The Butcher in the body of Millie can take revenge on Millie’s enemies with impunity. No one would suspect a little blonde teen of murder but Millie’s lack of physical strength hampers The Butcher too. There are of course the obvious boobs and balls gags in there, but it’s not made too much of (the idea of Vince Vaughn feeling Kathryn Newton’s boobs isn’t a comfortable one).

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Freaky is a great deal of fun, though it’s not a film to be picked apart too much – why let something as trivial as ‘logic’ spoil a good time? Questions like who The Butcher is, how he knows about the knife, what the deal is with Homecoming, why this year, what’s the mask, what’s going on in his murder shed, and the similar are questions for after the film and shouldn’t spoil the ride. Opening in theaters in the US, with the UK release date unset for the second lockdown, Freaky definitely feels like a movie best enjoyed with a crowd. Light and fluffy with lashings of slashings, Freaky hits the spot for a non challenging horror-com and should be a Friday the 13th favorite for years to come. 

Freaky opens in US theaters on Friday November 13th. UK release date is TBC.

The post Freaky Review: Body Swap Comedy Horror is a Gory Blast appeared first on Den of Geek.

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New Written Review from Mike Crowley on You’ll Probably Agree: What it was like returning to the theater to see “Inception” and what theaters will look like after the pandemic

SKIP TO THE FIFTH PARAGRAPH FOR MY THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE

I had my doubts if Christopher Nolan was the true authoritarian on demanding “Tenet’s” release. I know he has enormous power in Hollywood, but was he wielding it like a selfish dictator? A man of his intellect couldn’t be narrow-minded enough to refuse to delay his film until it’s safe to show in theaters, right? About 70 films have been pushed to the fall, next year, or placed on streaming. James Bond, Christopher Nolan’s childhood hero, was even forced back to a November release date. A November release date in which, like many, is viewed to be moved until things are safe. After seeing the promotional materials for the 10th anniversary 70mm print of “Inception,” there’s absolutely no doubt that Nolan is entirely hell-bent on releasing his film only in theaters. To see these promotional materials, I couldn’t access them online. At least not by any legal means. Much like his iMax previews to his last four films, it was mandatory to watch them in the cinema.

Attached were two reels. One was a 10-minute preview for “Tenet.” After that was a 2-3 minute look back on “Inception.” In both shows, Christopher Nolan makes it crystal clear that his films are intended to be seen on the biggest screen possible with the loudest speakers surrounding the audience. On the “Inception” reel, Nolan expressed his disappointment that there are those who couldn’t see his 2010 film in a theatre, so here was their chance to do so. The problem is from my understanding is that the 70mm print of “Inception” that I viewed is the only available one in the United States. I know that when they filmed the sizzle for these movies, Nolan couldn’t have predicted such a global catastrophe. I feel incredibly fortunate to have seen “Inception” on  70mm film when initially I saw it on a generic digital 35mm reprint in a theatre that wasn’t a lover of cinema like The Music Box Theatre in Chicago is.

But even before the Pandemic, how many people would get access to this print other than iMax cinemas? How long could iMax last? Most of the country has switched to digital. Celluloid has become a novelty that I will always prefer over digital, a uniqueness that appeals to a very niche audience. How would that be profitable in the long run? Now with the COVID-19 Pandemic, that novelty will probably die forever. It was probably going to die anyway, just not this fast. 

To make a movie on film is far more costly than to use digital. Not only do you shoot the movie, but you must also send it to a lab to develop the print afterward. The chemical emulsion process is an expensive mechanism. Shooting on digital only requires a memory card or hard drive that you can directly dump the data onto another hard drive to start editing immediately on a computer. It’s cost and time efficiency towers over film. The theatrical distribution model is a dying breed, only left alive through purists like Mr. Nolan. His purity may be going a bit too far, however. It was only a matter of time before iMax would once more be something that was only used for nature and space films to be seen in a museum. 

Walking into a theatre once more felt like going into a gallery. I can happily make it very clear that The Music Box Theatre is not taking this Pandemic lightly. Instructions weren’t given to me; they were borderline shouted.

-Theatre Attendant: Have you been here since we reopened?

-Me: Uh, I was here before.

-Theatre Attendant: NO! Have you been here on JULY 3rd SINCE WE REOPENED? 

-Me: No

The attendant proceeded to provide me with the social distance seating protocol. He ended the briefing with “that’s it.” I almost expected him to say, “dismissed.” Usually, I would have been taken back by such an aggressive custom. Considering the unprecedented circumstances we all are in, I respected the young man’s sternness. I was picturing all the morons he had to deal with that didn’t follow proper instructions. People who ignored the blue “do not sit here” taped signs, took their masks off when not using a concession—pulling their phones out during the movie. Let alone, coughing or sneezing without their face cover. With 745 available seats, only 50 were free to use. People were spread exponentially more than 6 feet apart. In the row next to me, there were two young ladies. One of them was politely holding in her cough. Her mask was still on before the lights dimmed. During my state of alarm, I knew it was only a matter of time before one cough might slip out. Trying to mean no offense, I quietly sneaked towards the nearest row of the screen.   

The woman’s coughing wasn’t the only reason I sat in the semi front row; I was also wearing glasses, whereas you may know, masks and glasses don’t make the best mix. If I was close enough to the screen, I can take my fogged up glasses off and still clearly see what was going on the screen. That mostly worked, but my natural eyesight couldn’t substitute for my assisted one. And boy did those glasses get foggy. I increasingly grew jealous of those that could tolerate contact lenses. Even worse were people with perfect vision. I had to limit my breathing during the film because every natural exhale felt like a steam pipe was being burst onto my eyes.

With me, I came equipped with two masks. The medical kind you see everyone wearing, and a cloth one. Both were on at the same time. In my pocket was a bottle of hand sanitizer for whenever I touched a surface. I heard that COVID doesn’t last on surfaces, but I’ve listened to the CDC change their minds before. My paranoia level varied. Once comfortably watching the film from a safe distance with my double-layered mask, I felt secure. The Music Box has been open for long enough since the Pandemic. I haven’t heard of any cases appearing within their establishment. They’re not like some local restaurants or bars I saw in Wisconsin during my vacation there who acted like everything was normal. With that said, you can’t control the actions of others. 

Let me be clear that I never removed my mask once during the entire three hours I was in that theatre. While the movie played, I turned around to see if my fellow patrons were applying the same amount of caution that I was. In the beginning, everyone was covered up during the pre-roll “Tenet” adds. The rule in the theatre was that once seated, you can only remove your mask when eating or drinking, then immediately put it back on. This rule was announced by the man I spoke to earlier, where he took the stage before the film began. There was no way you could claim you were unaware of the safety guidelines. Of course, Americans had to act like Americans. Once the film started after the promos, everyone’s masks were off. At one point during the movie, that lady who I moved away from that was coughing, yup, one cough slipped out. Luckily I was about 50 feet away from her while looking like Shredder with my extra protection. Throughout the rest of the film, I didn’t hear a single cough or sneeze. How did the movie look on its correct format though? Spectacular. 

Christoper Nolan may be a stubborn stick in the mud, but my God is he right when it comes to the beauty of the theatrical experience. The black levels in the colors are vibrant far beyond anything you’ll get on your 4K 60-inch television; the sound is bone shatteringly clear. Every nuanced detail in the phenomenal production design is visible to an otherwise naked eye; this is something special. “Inception” is a bombastic operatic picture in the very best sense of the meaning. My appreciation for the 2010 spy thriller was improved when seeing it on the big screen. Even with my fogged up glasses and short breaths, I felt like it was an experience worth having. To have that experience though you really, REALLY, have to love film. The common man would not go to the trouble I did to see a movie that they can easily watch at home. 

Seeing “Inception” in a nearly abandoned theatre that still classifies as sold out was a bit of a relic. I felt like the little kid in “The Last Action Hero” walking into the old man’s theatre. I’m experiencing something from a great past time that no longer exists. It was like going to the Omnimax Theatre in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Only this time, there was an inherent fear of disease, which luckily rapidly dissipated once there. I sympathize entirely with Christopher Nolan’s stone wall decision on maintaining a theatrical release for “Tenet.” He doesn’t have the power alone to release the film, whichever way he sees fit. Warner Bros is in the same boat as him. Nolan was the man who brought Batman back from the dead. He’s the one man in Hollywood who can sell an original big-budget picture on his name alone. Chris brought Warner Bros a lot of money.

The theatre is located upstairs

The termination of the Paramount decree’s 72-year law is the final nail in our current chain’s coffin. Movies won’t be evenly distributed. All of our existing theatrical establishments are running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to make their money back to the point of offering 15 cents per movie ticket upon initial reopening. When theaters do come back, they’ll be rebuilt, owned by the studios that distribute them. You’ll have your Disney theatre attached to your Disney store. Watch “Spider-Man Homecoming 3” on the second floor, then buy your Spider-Man toy on the first floor. Go to your Netflix theatre so you can see a film four months before it hits streaming. Finally, go to a Warner Bros theatre in Six Flags Great America, where you can watch Matt Reeves’ “The Batman.” Then buy your Robert Pattinson caped crusader doll when exiting the show. The funeral is in procession for theaters as we know it. Christopher Nolan may be able to make movies on film throughout the rest of his career, but to see them on celluloid; you’ll have to go to a museum or a specialty theatre like The Music Box. Such a realization is a heartbreaking reality. The sooner we can accept it, the better off we’ll be.

More of my thoughts on the future of movie theaters can be seen below.  

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Movie Monday - June 8th, 2020

"Best Superhero Movie"

Spider-Man 2 (2004):

Spider-Man 2? Best Superhero Movie?

That's right, Spiderman 2!

There are Eight Spider-Man films in the Spider-Man lore (Maguire x 3; Webb/Garfield x 2; Holland x2; and an Animated Feature) - What makes Spider-Man 2 better than all other renditions?

The first Raimi Spider-Man (2002) film was excellent and in my opinion more ground breaking to comic/pop culture film than it's Origin Story predecessors, X-Men (2000) and Blade (1998). Spider-Man 2 tops Spiderman because it gets to swing right into action. The First Film in the franchise had to check-off the Origin Story Boxes: Kill off Uncle Ben, Learn to Use Powers, and Establish Social Class & Hierarchy with Peers all before Battling the Baddie, Green Goblin. The first half of the film makes Peter Parker/Spider-Man a Passive Protagonist.

The Second Film we are well versed with Spidey's background and built off the excellent installment which bred a more Active Protagonist with a More Grandiose Action and Sharper graphics.

Then we have Spider-Man 3 (2007)... Out of the Raimi triology it grossed the most money but toppled the franchise. The World Still Doesn't Know How...

Then we had the Webb/Garfield The Amazing Spider-Mans (2012 & 2014) reboots which had the advantage of better technology and a large sample base of what comic book fans and movie goers were looking for in a superhero film (there were 6 MCU films - Iron Man to Avengers - before Amazing Spider-Man's July 3rd release - 9 by the time we got to Amazing Spider-Man2), but The Amazing Spider-Man managed to dismantle the charm of the Raimi franchise. The Amazing Spider-Man produced lesser plots, villians, and protagonist.

Then we have the Watts/Holland's Spiderman: Homecoming (2017) and Far From Home (2019) which are fabulous. Both films coming off the momentum of the MCU franchise are packed with powerful punches in a John Hughes fashion - Great Villians and Refreshing take on Peter Parker/Spidey, but as standalone films they seem to stand in the shadows of the MCU's Iron Man. Both Villians are birthed through hatred of Tony Stark and The Avengers which turns Spider-Man movies into a spinoff rather than a solo film.

Also with the Stark/Parker dynamic - Holland's Spidey comes off as a people pleaser who is trying to live up to someone else's standards compared to Raimi/ Maguire's version where we get a Spider-Man who makes his own conscious decision to stand up to injustice and learns how to be a superhero along the way making for a greater story arc.

Now Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse is another tough contender - An absolutely fresh superhero movie which shows how much you can play with a Superhero Universe by giving us multiple perspectives from different Spideys. Perfect Characters mixed with humor and action - not just a Great Animated movie but a Straight-Up Excellent Movie, period.

I still have to choose Spider-Man 2 over Spiderverse as the latter is essentially an Origin Story which gets caught up more in self reflections than battles. If they make a sequel my tune could very well change.

Don't cry Spiderverse...Be Proud... You won an Oscar:

Now... Let's Machete through the MCU.

What makes Spider-Man compelling is Peter Parker did not choose to have Super Powers - he was bitten by a radioactive spider and made a conscious decision to use his newly gained abilities to fight evil.

Iron, Capt America, Thor, and Black Panther sought out their fights. They wanted their powers and abilities. The internal struggle with Parker/Spidey is he wants a normal life but cannot have one as it will bring harm amongst his loved ones - in Spider-Man 2 we see Parker try to give up Superhero antics for a life of normalcy where he can have a relationship and go to school, but in the end Parker realizes his responsibilities and decides it's best to live in secrecy. Stark, Rogers, Thor's lives are their Superhero identities in the film - They have nothing to hide - they are open books to the public.

Then you have The Hulk and Ant-Man:

Ant-Man/Lang is just aloof - just falling into plots and action haphazardly. Portrayed as more of a Slapstick Hero.

The Hulk/Banner does have a compelling story kind of like Spider-Man in a sense he to did not want his "powers".

Where they differ is Banner sulks way too much - We get it - You have no control - whereas Parker is more of a trooper who plays with the cards he is dealt. In Spider-Man 2 we see multiple times that Parker tries to do the right thing but can't please the ones closest to him: Let's down his boss, his professor/studies, his aunt, friends, and his crush Mary Jane - the struggle is real.

But what about the Team Ups? Avengers, Infinity War, End Game... even Guardians of the Galaxy... Surely they rival Spider-Man 2...

Well, They are Excellent and well crafted films - they effortlessly did what hardly any X-Men film could which is make an ensemble picture - multiple egos sharing screen time, Bravo.

Where I think they lose out is most of the stories draw conflict from internal bouts with other teammates. The stories will have the big baddies on the horizon ready for a battle, but the audience is taken on a side-bar to figure out the Heroes petty squabbles with their coworkers - Trust me - if they were real grown ass adults Capt America: Civil War could have been avoided.

Heck, Loki's first/main tatic in Avengers was to pit the team against each other - c'mon - same team guys...

So... We are done with Spider-Man 2 versus Marvel Universe...

Up Next... The DCU.

And There is Only One True Contender:

Through my research 95% of the time The Dark Knight comes up as the #1 Best Superhero Movie of All Time.

Claims that it was ahead of its time and that it is more than a Superhero Movie - It's a Crime Movie - No, no, it's a Cinematic Masterpiece.

A film that was able to capture a gritty darkness set in a realistic world.

The Joker steals the show - No other villian performance can rival.

And I agree. It is a well layed out Crime Drama which was nominated for multiple Oscars (with Ledger picking up one for his Joker performance) and Nolan did make a very plausible world.

But does that make it the Best Superhero Movie?

You already know my answer is "No".

For all the reasons why it is so reverred is what holds it back.

We are talking Superhero Movies - who wants to see a story played out in a super realistic world. Plus the Camp and Cheese of Comic Book movies is part of the appeal. And if we are talking Dark/Grittiness we got that with the Burton Batmans (excellent films as well) - Nolanites, I am sorry to tell you Christopher didn't invent style.

You want a Crime Drama - watch Heat (1995) . So many critics paired The Dark Knight to Heat ( a great movie) but again we are talking Superhero movies.

Finally, Heath Ledger's Joker launched multitude of character studies for years to come and it is well deserved... but the funny thing is he is the Villian... The Villian is more compelling than the Protagonist!

No one talks about Christain Bale's Bruce/Batman when they talk Dark Knight. Our hero is overshadowed! This is why Michael Keaton is my Batman.

We no longer have a Superhero Movie...We have a Villian Flick.

It's almost as if Nolan tried so hard to make a movie that appeals to a wider pretentious audience beyond the comic book crowd that he put too much emphasis on the baddie and not enough on the hero. The Joker drives Batman that entire film making him a passive protagonist.

Spider-Man 2 is a perfect mix/balance of all of the above...

We have a hero that constantly sacrifices.

A man who just wants to deliver pizzas and go on dates but is busy taking on a Megalomaniac with Mechanical Arms - who by the way Spider-Man inadvertently creates by trying to do the right thing - while also trying to transverse a rocky relationship with his best friend - who happens to be the Son of The Green Goblin - The Villian who died during battle with the Protagonist.

Alfred Molina's Doc Ock is excellent. His villian mission is plausible and his hatred for Spider-Man is justified making for epic battles.

Lastly, the humor/comedy lands just when it should and when action takes place it is on Fire!

Here's to You, Spider-Man 2:

[kentstartt]

jack and deans 2017

heres a masterpost of everything (i think) jack and dean did in 2017, everything is linked if you so wish to see them also the dates might be a day off bc im in Australia and i cba getting the timezone correct. follow me on twitter @jackhowad for me and @jackandean for updates x (this took me like 3 days to put together id really appreciate if u read it xo

January 

6th- deans 25th birthday 

8th- they uploaded ‘the good the bad and the just plain sh!t parts of 2016′

13th- dean and his brother daniel went to a Nintendo switch event in london (x,x,x)

16th- deans ass is now available on vinyl & dean followed me on jack and dean updates

27th jack saw moonlight and mark hamill liked his tweet 

28th jack and hazel saw the lego batman movie

30th hazel uploaded “a lovely night” cover with jack

February 

9th the trailer for drunk history, which jack and dean were in, was posted (x)

10th they posted a photo revealing raleigh richie was going to be in jadoat & dean was on bbc radio 1 talking about games

11th jacks 25th birthday

12th dean did a twitch stream (the only clip i have from that is him saying he wants to fuck tom hardy so, enjoy) & jack and hazel went to the baftas (x,x,x)

13th superglued was the first jack and dean video to hit 2 million views & dean first drew the heart guy

15th bertie took some nice photos of dean (x,x,x,x)

19th dodie posted a cover of ‘someone in the crowd’ with jack and co

20th dean wants to eat ass?

21st they had a screening of jadoat season 2 for cast, crew and friends (x,x,x)

22nd dean posted the first designs for what would become his merch

23rd cayleigh posted the 120 chicken nuggets challenge with dean

27th dean posted the first “We Need To Talk About Games” podcast with bertie

March

1st the poster for jadoat season 2 was posted

3rd dean got his nintendo switch and died a bit inside

6th dean posted the second episode of the “We Need To Talk About Games” podcast with his brother daniel

9th the jadoat tralier was posted on youtube

10th jack went to stay in a cabin in the woods with hazel for the weekend

14th jack posted a vlog “naked man at the gym”

16th jadoat season 2 went online along with season 1 being posted in full on fulscreens facebook page

18th jack and dean (and co) went to dodies gig in london

21st jack posted a vlog “dont talk about it”

23rd episode 3 of jadoat went on fullscreen

26th dean finished playing zelda breath of the wild

27th jack and dean posted a #spon sketch “living room shootout” ft bertie and hazel

29th jack and dean were on hannah wittons fubar radio show (x,x)

30th the 4th episode of jadoat went on fullscreen & they were on the greg james show on radio 1

31st dean posted a vlog “Dean Updates You”

April

1st jack posted a vlog “my bad acne”

6th jack posted a vlog “hasnt seen the matrix" & dean posted the first dean draws ‘Dean Draws A Slime Ghoul’

7th jack and dean went to vidconEU in Amsterdam (x,x,x)

12th jack and dean did an interview with maximum pop

13th jack posted a vlog “movie directing secrets with gareth edwards”

14th dean did the photoshoot for his new merch store

15th dean posted “Dean Draws Space Elephant POTUS”

21st jack and dean posted jadoat S1E3 to youtube as “babysitters”

22nd dean posted ‘Dean Draws A Top Hat Mermaid’ & jack posted a vlog “things go wrong”

25th dean started his patreon back up again (go donate) & jack met james gunn (the director of gotg2)

26th their episode of drunk history aired & jack posted a vlog “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - Thoughts/Review”

28th dean posted “Dean Draws A Candle Samurai Shark”

May

3rd jack hosted a roundtable thing with Ridley Scott and Michael Fassbender & he met billy crudup & katherine waterson

5th dean flew to playlist live in florida

6th jack posted a vlog “whos the best chris” with hazel

7th daniel j layton posted “baking with layton also jack howard” & dean did a m&g at playlist live

8th jack and dean were on cbbc to play “say what”

9th jack was on an episode of reasonable beef to talk about guardians of the galaxy

10th jack posted a vlog “theres NOT hope for us all”

17th dean posted “Dean Draws Jack Howard Cthulhu” & jack was on another ep of reasonable beef to talk about spiderman 3

20th deandobbsstore launched 

21st jack posted a vlog “if wonder woman fails”

24th dean posted “Dean Talks #1 - Merch, Patreon, Jack & Dean and the next Dean Draws”

27th dean posted “dean draws a broccoli dinosaur”

28th jack and dean posted a sketch “bed head”

29th jack posted the bts/bloopers of bed head to twitter

June

3rd jack posted a vlog “bad brain days”

16th dean drew this adorable pic of him and jack

17th jack and hazel saw hans zimmer in concert

18th hazel posted “talking pictures” with jack

21st jack and dean flew to LA for vidconUS

23rd jack and dean attended viconUS in Anaheim

25th jack and dean hosted part of the vidcon livestream (x)

27th dean got his jacket embroidered with DAD (his initials) 

28th jack and dean officially became real youtubers when they were on “youtubers react to the nicki minaj challenge”

30th jack and dean posted a sketch “nazi bar” (which got trending and pissed off all the alt right piss babies)

July

1st dom fera posted a sketch “banana shirt” with jack

4th nazi bar was featured in philip defracos “today in awesome”

7th jack saw spider-man homecoming

13th jack and dean (& co) attended the dunkirk premiere (x) and jack met tom hardy

14th jack and dean were on another episode of youtubers react “Try To Watch This Without Laughing or Grinning” & nazi bar hit one million views so jack posted the deleted scenes to twitter 

15th jack posted a vlog “wonder woman review” & was on another reasonable beef to talk about spider-man homecoming 

16th jack posted a vlog “spider-man homecoming review”

17th jack posted a vlog “i love Christopher Nolan”

August

2nd jack and dean were in “youtubers react to 90s internet comercials”

4th dean attended sitc on his own for the first time ever

7th the fratocrats posted “Jack Howard, Muggles Vs Wizards and Roy!“

10th dean drew theresa may babbadook for a dean draws but the file for corrupted

11th wetheunicorns posted “dean dabbs”

14th jack announced that there wont be a jadoat season 3 :( (x)

17th dodie posted “in the middle (acoustic)” with jack 

27th jack and dean posted a sketch “handful”

29th jack posted the outtakes to handful on twitter

31st jack and hazel went to ireland

September 

7th jack attended the premiere of “Mother” (x)

8th deans week long gaming IG project started (x,x,x) & jack met Jennifer Lawrence and Darren Aronofsky in paris with hazel

15th dean posted  "Dean Draws A Mystery Movie Poster - Cineworld Spon”

23rd jack posted a vlog ‘a chat with matthew vaughn’ 

24th jack posted a vlog “Kingsman: The Golden Circle - RANT & Review”

26th jack and hazel celebrated their 2 year anniversary 

27th jack was on reasonable beef to talk about kingsman: the golden circle

28th jack was in a video on school of life “Why we should show our hurt rather than argue” & jack and dean flew to toronto for buffer festival

29th jack was on the jackmaate podcast

October 

1st jack and dean posted a sketch “self conscious computer ft anna akana” after screening it at buffer fest

3rd jack posted a vlog “why do we binge” & timH posted a sketch “we’ve all been there” with jack and dom fera

11th josh edwards posted “game show” with jack and dean

16th dean did a photoshoot for season 2 of his merch

19th dean attended an event for mario oddyssey (x)

27th deandobbsstore launced season 2 with chill one hoodies and eat people beanies & dodie posted the official video for ‘you’ with jack and sav

28th dean attended MCM comic con in london 

31st josh edwards posted “houndz of the BASTARDvilles“ with jack, hazel, dan and dodie

November

3rd jack went on the orient express

5th dean posted “dean draws chill one (a really bad how to)”

14th jack did some baking as promo for daddys home (i think)

16th jack posted a vlog “the problem with marvel”

17th hazel posted “would you rather” with jack

28th they shot a new video

30th dean was on radio 1 talking about games

December

3rd jack and dean posted a sketch “cup phones”

idk if anyone will actually read this far, thanks if u do. also congrats to the lads who have had a p sick year, i’ve had a great time updating it. also s/o to felicity who proofread this for me, i appreciate it, even if i didn't use any of her changes. follow her on twitter, shes whipped for taron like me but its more sexy from her 

[remainseatedatalltimes]

Cinema Countdown:  2017 films in review

Well, it’s that time of the year again!   Time for my once annual foray into blog writing with my yearly ranked list of all the films I saw in cinemas in 2017! 

Before I get started, here’s some important safety information:

I know some of you (Haha…some…I wish.  Hi mum!), have been so eagerly awaiting this list that you are currently likely to be seated too far forward on your seat.  This is a safety risk.  Whilst I understand your excitement levels may be bordering on fever pitched – please consider your safety and sit back farther in your chair.  This will minimise the risk of chair toppling issues that may arise.

Secondly, please add the phone number (09) 4924 58352 to your address book. This is the number for a psychologist you should call in the event that you disagree with any of my views and rankings below.  It’s important that you call this number if you feel such emotions as “anger”, “frustration”, or general opposition to any of the opinions listed below.  Because like all things, these OPINIONS are SUBJECTIVE, and if you are unable to comprehend this and don’t have a reasonable rebuttal to offer as a counter opinion, then I believe giving a psychologist a call is a very good idea.  

Now, with those very important safety messages out of the way – let’s get to the list!

And what better way to begin than by announcing that this year - for the first time in over 10 years - I finally saw a movie that was so stunning, so creative, and so…well…perfect, that I had little choice but award it 5 stars.  That movie, is Disney-Pixar’s latest original blockbuster, Coco.

I can barely describe how awestruck I was, and continue to be, by this stunning piece of cinema.  I think most people would agree that visually, Coco is simply breathtaking.  The animation, scene design, and direction are second to none.  Honestly, if you didn’t notice the direction on your first viewing, go back and watch it again, because the way the ‘camera’ moves is so seamless and engaging it’s easy to forget you’re watching an animated film.  But then again, what else would you expect from a Pixar movie?  

What really sets Coco apart for me however is that even after seeing the film 5 times (yes, I’ve seen it 5 times), I still cannot fault one thing about it.  There is simply nothing I would change in this film.  So whilst it might not be my favourite movie of all time – it’s not even my favourite Pixar movie of all time – it is however, faultless.  And for that reason, Coco becomes the first movie in 10 years that I have awarded 5 stars to, as well as the unchallenged top honour of the best movie of 2017.  

Other highlights of the year for me included a return to form for the Spiderman franchise with the utterly charming and hilarious Spiderman: Homecoming, the latest suspenseful and confronting effort from Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk, and the live-action opulent remake of that “Tale as Old as Time”, Beauty and the Beast.

At the other end of the spectrum, some of the more disappointing films of 2017 included the frustrating and dull Power Rangers, another misguided DC Comics effort, Justice League, and the conceptually interesting, but ultimately too polished and formulaic, Passengers.

But, for me, the biggest disappointments of 2017 were not the films that sit at the very bottom of this year’s list (I mean, let’s face it, no one really expected Power Rangers to be the number one film, did they?), but instead, were several of the films that sit firmly in that “rather average” 3-star rating range.  This included the potentially exciting, but ultimately underwhelming weakest entry into the franchise to date, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and the far too over the top and splashy sequel to 2015’s surprise blockbuster hit, Kingsman: The Golden Circle.  

But it’s the Hugh Jackman led movie musical spectacle, The Greatest Showman, which takes the illustrious honour of being my biggest disappointment of 2017.  Now don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed The Greatest Showman – largely for its fun and energetic music and score – but the simple truth is, this film is a massive failure on multiple counts.  The music is overproduced to a point where the vocals are not even synchronized to the lip movements of the cast as they sing them (this is basically musical 101), the characters are all half-baked and insipid, and the plot goes from one plot point to the next with no rhyme or reason.

But the biggest problem with The Greatest Showman is that as a movie that promotes itself as being a celebration of overcoming diversity and honouring who we are as an individual, it couldn’t be more misguided.  By offering the films colourful “freak show” characters almost zero screen time – other than the show’s signature song “This Is Me” – which it also proceeds to ignore immediately after it’s sung, the film ultimately doesn’t seem to celebrate diversity at all.  Instead, the central message is one of an ego driven entrepreneur who happens to use people to find success.  Not very motivational to me.

And for those wondering why then would I give a movie 3-stars when I saw so many faults in it, I’ll leave you with this final thought:  As an enormous fan of the musical genre, most musicals would probably start with at least a 1-star lead in advantage purely off the bat of my affinity with the genre as a whole.  So with that taken into consideration, you may have a better idea of where The Greatest Showman may have ended up in the list if it wasn’t for the saving grace of its stunning soundtrack.  

So if you are in fact looking for “The Greatest Show” of 2017, then head to the cinema right now and book your ticket to Disney-Pixar’s Coco - a film that truly stands for something that is worth shouting home about.  You won’t be disappointed.

Until next year…

(By the way, please don’t call the psychologist number listed above as this is a fake number.  I’ve completely made it up.)