#Not to nitpick but as someone who loves murder mysteries - I do feel like even *one* other suspect would have made it stronger. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lightningarmour · 9 months

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Last Voyage of the Demeter(spoilers)

This was a movie I was really excited about because I really love the premise for it. Like many people on tumblr I experienced Dracula by Bram Stoker for the first time through the viral phenomenon of "Dracula Daily" so I don't have any kind of long love of the book or any particularly deep, personal feelings towards it or anything, but when I first heard about Last Voyage of the Demeter I thought it was a tremendous idea for a movie, and a pretty interesting and novel approach to a vampire story, generally and a very neat idea to take such a zoomed in look at the events of Dracula.

The way the Log of the Demeter is told in the book is obviously a classic example of a horror story. It's like how in every survival horror game you find some journal entry or email or whatever of someone saying "Has anyone else heard the strange noises coming from the vents? oh well, hope it's nothing!" in a room where there's a streak of blood running down the wall from a torn open air duct. You are being given piece by piece the terror and dread of a crew of sailors you already know are doomed to a horrendous death, seeing little by little how the horrors unfold, knowing they can't stop it, and it's all made the more tragic that they (or at least the captain) never know what it is that is doing this to them.

It's prime territory for a slow burn kind of psychological horror movie, where the mystery slowly unfolds and as more and more of the crew go missing, the tensions amongst those remaining grows and they start to turn on each other and yadda yadda.

While overall, The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a fine movie, it's certainly not the movie I went in expecting. I understand, of course, that adapting a single chapter, written basically in point-form, into a feature length film would require not an insignificant amount of padding. I think, though that this movie ended up a bit overstuffed.

It's an aggressively average film, ultimately. I have no real complaints about the technical aspects. It's shot well, all of the sets and costumes and such look good, the soundtrack really pops, and frankly I think almost all of the performances were really quite good. The problem, broadly is the very banal kind of Hollywoodification of the story. The movie I envisioned this being is definitely in the script somewhere, but the edges get sanded off in rewrites, they want the movie to be more marketable, and gradually it becomes a middling action thriller. Still competently made, but not scary enough to really be a horror movie, or suspenseful enough to really keep you engaged with what's left.

It exists, in my mind, in a similar space as the 2017 adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. Both period piece movies about mysterious deaths, but neither really feel confident enough in themselves to just be a mystery or a horror movie, so they try and punch it up a bit and throw in some action and spend a lot of time getting to know a colourful cast of characters who ultimately don't matter that much, and it all results in a kind of genre mush where the stakes never feel particularly important and I find myself nitpicking details rather than enjoying the story.

Much of the bloat this movie suffers from comes in the form of 3 characters. The protagonist of the film, Mr. Clemens, Anna the exposition machine, and Toby the precious baby boy who exists solely to inject an emotional hook into the story. I don't want to sound like a reactionary and complain about "wokeness" in movies because that's not a real thing, but it's probably going to sound like I am. From a marketing perspective, a film studio does not feel confident in having a non-franchise, niche-interest kind of movie with a cast of solely white men. Not that this particular movie would even necessarily have to be full of white people. The Demeter is specified as being a russian ship, and there was mention of russian and romanian crewmen but boats were crewed by all kinds of men so it's a simple liberty to take in making the crew multi-ethnic. It could have worked quite well if it were more of an ensemble cast, rather than having a specific protagonist. So much time is spent on Clemens that it makes the rest of the crew feel incredibly dull and one dimensional.

One reason I think in similar ways about this and Murder on the Orient Express is that both suffer from a very modern Hollywood trend of inserting a lot of very liberal values into movies set in the past in a way that does nothing to try and like, sincerely address the issues of sex, race, class, etc. discrimination and prejudice that existed in the time periods they are set in, but honestly as a way to kind of coddle the audience and assure them that while people may have been racist in the past, we, the studio and filmmakers, and whoever do not agree with such prejudices, and everyone can rest easy after seeing the film and not have to feel uncomfortable about any of that.

So Clemens is presented to us as a Doctor who is eager to return to England, and as we find out later, he was the second black man to ever graduate Oxford or wherever with a medical degree, but he couldn't find work anywhere because he's black. This information serves no real purpose to the story, nor to really understanding who he is as a person or anything. He plays the Agent Scully of the movie. It's sort of like he's there to dispel any mystery or suspense the movie might otherwise have. instead of a bunch of superstitious sailors succumbing to fear, Clemens is there to smartly tell them that their instincts are irrational and whatever. The result is that the movie follows all the same tropes and trappings of it's genre but in a way that is deflated by a guy constantly pointing out said tropes while not being genre savvy enough to prevent all of it from occurring.

Anna is in the movie explicitly to explain to the audience who the character of Dracula is, for those who might have missed the last 150 years of vampire fiction. She's introduced as having been stuffed in one of Dracula's boxes of dirt as a little snack for him on his boat ride. She' unconscious for a third of the movie but once she wakes up she just very directly tells everyone that there's an evil demon on board named Dracula and he's going to eat us all. I really hate her inclusion in the film because similar to Clemens, she exists to drain any suspense or mystery out of the story. There's no longer any fear of the unknown because she tells them exactly what's happening. Yet despite this, it still takes them like 3 days to finally get the bright idea to open up the crates in the cargo hold to see if maybe that's where Dracula is hiding. Again it's doing this almost meta narrative thing where now the characters realize what story they're in, but because that story already has a predetermined end, they can't actually use this knowledge to their advantage, the tropes still play out the same anyway.

I don't want to use the term mary sue to describe her but her and Clemens both have Protagonist power. They're seemingly the only ones on this boat who are smart and capable enough to get anything done, and they do quite explicitly just give Anna super powers. She's been fed on by Dracula so she has a special connection that lets her sense his presence and blah blah whatever. It's all very gimmicky, especially for a character we know is not going to survive and has no greater impact on the story of Dracula.

Toby is the grandson of the Demeter's Captain. He's like an eight year old boy or something and I kind of hate him. He's an utterly nothing character who serves no narrative purpose. At some point when going over the script they realized that there's no reason to really give a shit about any of the characters in the movie because pretty much none of them have any depth, and they figured the audience wouldn't be engaged. So they put a kid in it so that people would feel sad at least once during the movie.

There's honestly nothing to the kid. He's like unbelievably plucky and happy-go-lucky, to the point where I think the actor's performance is undermined by how exaggerated his boyishness is played up, but aside from just being happy and cute or whatever there's nothing to him. Again you're supposed to instinctively feel protective for him because he's a child, and then inevitably when he gets his shit sucked by Dracula, it's supposed to be the like, one tragic part of the whole movie, but it's just hollow. And whats more is that any sense of sadness or loss you get from precious little Toby's death is wrung out because they have a fucking scene where they're going to dump his corpse in the ocean but the Captain is like "No wait, he's still alive!" and you get a really shitty jump scare moment where the kid opens his eyes but now he's a vampire and then he immediately goes up in flames in the sunlight and I laughed out loud in the theatre because it was so fucking stupid.

The new characters are just too out of place because they all feel like hollywood blockbuster protagonists haphazardly tacked onto an otherwise kind of low-key horror story, and I think that the movie would have worked much better if you kept the Captain as the focal character. In the movie he's present but kind of as a side character which feels odd. It also really robs him of his agency. The final log entry in the book has him resolutely sacrificing himself for the sake of his ship and his diligent commitment to his duty as the Captain, so he ties his hands to the wheel, ensuring that he will never be derelict even if it means his death, whereas in the movie it's fucking Dracula who ties him to the wheel as a weird flex, but he's dead before the climax so that the characters invented for the movie can have an epic action movie showdown with Dracula.

And given that the whole dang thing roots itself so adamantly as being part of the greater story of Dracula, it then kind of results as this very silly contrivance where all the stuff about a man eating creature, a dude literally bursting into flames, a woman who explicitly told them about Count Dracula being a horrible demon, just gets conveniently left out of the Captain's log.

I feel like there were some more nitpicks and quibbles I had about the movie but none of it is particularly important. Again, as much as I've just spent like 2000 words whining about it, overall I didn't really hate the movie. It's fine! It was a decent enough movie to go see, even if I left feeling a bit disappointed. I'm having strong feelings towards it because it's one of those movies that is worse than just being shitty. A just awful bad movie can be dismissed outright and I could just say yeah it sucks ass. But this one is so close to being good. There's a lot I did like about it, but it's off by such a small margin that all the things keeping it from being really great feel much more pronounced.

Also I kind of love that Clemens just survives and I guess becomes a Dracula hunter? They should have done a post-credits scene where he shows up 5 minutes after the main characters from the book have slain Dracula and been like "god damn it"

#the last voyage of the demeter #dracula #dracula daily #movie review #rambling #last voyage of the demeter #log of the demeter #david dastmalchian #love seeing that guy in movies!#liam cunningham #he was great too!#tbh i really liked all the performances #the ships cook was probably my favorite character

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thetypedwriter · 2 years

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Kingdom of the Wicked Book Review

Kingdom of the Wicked Book Review by Kerri Maniscalco

This book is a recipe for success.

A strong female protagonist? Check.

A cool setting? Check.

Magic and fantasy elements? Check.

The seven deadly sins embodied as seven handsome demon princes of Hell? Check, check, and check.

Honestly, I put off reading Kingdom of the Wicked because it looked so…basic. The front cover is a snake coming out of a skull which sounds cool, but to me came across as trying really, really hard to be alluring and wasn’t.

Like many other times in my life, however, Barnes & Noble was having a buy one, get one 50% off so I said, why not, and bit the bullet.

Turns out that Kingdom of the Wicked is awesome.

The story revolves around a girl named Emilia who is a witch. In this fantasy world, witches are prominent, but are secret. They’re also not human. It seems like they’re slightly stronger and have powers that humans don’t: potion-making, spells, magical objects, abilities like sensing auras and compelling people to tell the truth.

I would be more explicit about what it is they’re able and not able to do, but honestly I’m not sure. This ties into one of my complaints about the novel, but I’ll get into that later.

Emilia’s family, including her parents, her grandmother, and her twin sister, all live in Palermo, Italy and run a restaurant called Sea & Vine. Emilia loves a quiet night in with a spicy book and has a burning passion for cooking and trying out new recipes.

That’s all irrevocably changed when someone she loves is tragically murdered.

The murder sets Emilia on a path of vengeance, danger, and adventure as she seeks to solve the mystery of the murder, the identity of her own witch-powers, and the villain behind the evil befalling the mortal realm.

The main suspects, of course, are the living embodiments of the seven deadly sins: the demon princes of Hell.

Emilia gets to know some of them quite well, even though only five of the brothers are introduced in book one: Wrath, Envy, Greed, Lust, and Pride. Through a series of unfortunate events and circumstances, Emilia finds herself teamed up with Wrath in order to solve the murders.

As the stakes of the murder mystery grow, so do her forbidden feelings for the Prince of War and the chemistry between them.

This book has magic, action, and romance up the yin-yang. From start to finish it was a whirlwind of chaos, fights, heart-pounding action, sexual tension, and a roller coaster of emotions.

Overall, I really, really enjoyed this book. Not only did it hit every mark that I love about YA fantasy, but the constant action kept me on my toes and wanting more. Luckily for me, I waited so long to read Kingdom of the Wicked, that the sequel, Kingdom of the Cursed, is already out and waiting for me to sink my teeth into.

Now, while I really enjoyed the book, I didn’t think it was perfect. Take my criticism with a grain of salt as reviewing books is what I do and I nitpick things that others don’t.

First, while the breakneck pace was constantly engaging, sometimes it was a bit too fast. Before I could wrap my head around one crazy event that happened, another crazy event would follow, with another wild plot point behind that. It was exciting, but I never truly got to breathe, and honestly, neither did Emilia.

I’m a very character-driven reader so sometimes I think we missed out on getting to see Emilia and how she would emotionally handle things simply because she was never given a moment to do so.

I love the idea of the seven deadly sins embodying handsome, sexy, and malicious demons from Hell, but other than Wrath we didn’t get to see very many of them. When we did it was for only for a moment.

I had a hard time distinguishing any of the brothers. If you had to ask me what they looked like, I genuinely wouldn't be able to tell you.

I don’t criticize Maniscalco too much for that as introducing that many characters in book 1 is neigh impossible, but introducing four brothers I think is very manageable and she didn’t quite make her characters shine.

Lastly, and this is probably my biggest critique, sometimes I had a hard time following the logic of the book. I don’t think I’m a stupid person, but the book would often jump to conclusions and theories that seemed farfetched or nonsensical in order to keep the breakneck pace going.

I would set the book aside and think wtf. Honestly, at some points I needed to shrug and go okay because otherwise many of the plot points were confusing or not directly aligned from what I could understand.

Emilia or Wrath would list a rule for summoning a demon or for using a spell and nothing about the magic system was very clear or well-explained. It seemed convenient and things just happened when they needed to.

For example, Emilia would use her amulet to “sense” things, but it was never explained how that worked or what exactly she was doing.

I truly think Maniscalco needs to explain the magic system, describe what exactly witches can or cannot do, and go into more of the realms and how other magical beings worked because it came across as contrived and convenient when she needed something to happen.

I was mainly able to put it aside for the sake of the plot progression and ignore it, but it was aggravating.

Regardless of this issue, the book is a fun time. If you love fantasy elements, demon princes, forbidden romance, and a strong female character that cares more about vengeance and murder than she does about love, then you’ll enjoy this book just as much as I did.

Recommendation: Lust, envy, greed, sloth, pride, gluttony, and wrath—this book has it all. If you love the idea of the seven deadly sins as people, provocative romance, intense action, and magic, then you will love this book and find yourself unable to put it down.

Score: 7/10

#kingdom of the wicked #kingdom of the cursed #kerri maniscalco #book blog #book #favorite books #teen books #top books #best seller books #book review #Book Recommendations #book rec #YA Books #YA Book Review #seven deadly sins #Teen Romance #7/10

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warmau · 4 years

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Detective!AU x NCT DREAM

renjun: *opens a powerpoint titled: why nancy drew is the best fictional detective and the hardy boys aint sh-* | other dream aus

Haechan

overzealous and flashy

refuses to take on any case that isn’t “high-profile”

no finding neighborhood lost pets or who stole your lunch money, haechan wants to be on a nationwide case - he wants the news to follow his every step

“huh? what? you want me to find your stolen watch? do you not understand that your watch is not a korean national treasure and therefore who cares if it gets stolen?”

looks well put together, but his desk is a mess of papers and candy wrappers

has an ongoing rivalry with local policeman mark lee

not that mark lee even knows about this rivalry, for the most part he’s nice to haechan but haechan is just like “im onto you markus” and mark is like ,,,,,,huh?

you’re a reporter who has (on many occasions) covered haechan’s cases

to be fair, you’re probably the only person whose on the same level of sarcastic as him

so when he makes some kind of comment or quip you either blankly stare at him unamused or shoot one right back

your conversations are actually quite fun to watch

you’ll show up at his agency, with your camera and notepad

and he’ll be like

“took you long enough”

“oh - were you counting down the seconds to see me?”

“in your dreams~”

“i don’t dream. anyway - tell us about this murder, who are your suspects?”

other reporters find haechan a bit hard to work with and mumble that his attitude really needs to be fixed

but you disagree - in this kind of work you have to be sort of dry-humored and unattached

but you could do without his bragging when he does indeed solve the case

like today, when you and a bunch of other reporters have gathered outside of a large building in downtown seoul

haechan standing proudly at the front with a disgruntled looking businessman in handcuffs

haechan snaps his fingers and exclaims

“only i was smart enough to guess that the company’s own treasurer was embezzling money! the police and citizens assumed it was the ceo, but - as always my wits have proved everyone wrong!”

a wave of groans passes through the reporters, but you take it as a chance to ask haechan some questions

“how did you know it was him?”

“the evidence was in his text messages with foreign advisers.”

“how did you get access to them?”

“well as you know you can call a cellphone pro-”

as haechan is answering you hear some muttering behind you, nasty and mean words sprouting up about how haechan should stop acting like he did all the work

how he probably got tipped off

you’re a journalist, so the juicier the story - the better the paycheck

but you’re not one to just smear people - and what makes it worse is that you can tell haechan heard it

but he’s answering your question - trying to focus on you

so you decide to take it upon yourself to shut the reports behind you up

you clear your throat, pulling the mic back a bit hastily - nearly elbowing the asshole behind you

“and i heard, you did, in fact, work this alone - as reported weeks ago - the police had the wrong lead?”

haechan’s eyes spark up when he realizes you’re setting him up to dispell all the festering rumors starting to spread behind your backs

he grins and nods, “yes - most journalists even said that it was uncanny for me and the police to be on such different paths. i guess you can say, i have my own genius.”

you want to roll your eyes - as haechan continues to lay it on thick about his victory

but with every word - the lesser reporters behind you crumble under their own words

when the press conference ends, the culprit is wheeled off in a cop car, and you’re left on the sidewalk - checking over your notes

you feel haechan hang his chin over your shoulder

“i thought you hated it when i bragged?”

you look a little to your side and see his beautiful, big smile

“not when you’re telling the truth.”

“oh c’mon, just admit it - you kinda like my confidence?”

he taps a hand on your shoulder and grins as you playfully jab at his cheek with your pen

but you think, maybe he is right

confidence really does look so good on him,,,,,,,,,,,

Jaemin

tipsy, topsy, turvy - mad scientist like detective

with an abundance of weird jokes only he understands and absolutely unexplainable solutions to headscratcher cases

if it can’t be solved, no matter how you shake it, you have to call jaemin

who enjoys not only dressing the part - i.e. ridiculous hats and oversized trench coats

as much as he enjoys getting himself in trouble while trying to solve a crime

“how did you know the criminal took this back alley detective na?!”

“well simple, i climbed on through an open window and took it myself!”

“,,,,,,,,, detective - are you admitting to trespassing?!?!”

the conundrums he finds himself far overshadow silly sherlock holmes stories

and unlike fiction, sometimes - he gets in over his head

which is where you come in

you’re a young, brand new, fresh-outta-law-school attorney

who jaemin never really hired - you just happened to be around when he needed some “legal representation”

[he had maybe, kinda, illegally ‘borrowed’ a civilians car in a chase after a notorious murderer and that ‘borrowed’ car ended up kind of ,,,,,,,,,, on fire? haha does it really matter? the murderer was caught!]

you had saved his butt from a lawsuit with a lot of buttering up and finesse

and jaemin had appointed you his “guardian angel!”

“lawyer, im your lawyer jaemin”

“same thing! now let me solve the mystery of where your halo went~”

he looooooooooves to tease you

if he can take a moment out of his day to say something flirty and fun to you - he will

regardless of the circumstances

im talking you’re in front of a judge in a courtroom and jaemin leans his lanky body over you to be like

“ooo is this a new necklace, who's giving you these gifts?~ i thought you were mine!”

the judge, the other attorneys, the guards: um do yall need a room

you, tomato red: NO

jaemin: we shall take one! :)

you end up at the scene of one of jaemin’s infamous “i caught the killer, but i had to kinda do a bad thing!” situations

you stroll in, shaking your head already

am i going to have to defend him from another angry car owner? did he forget that impersonating a police officer is against the law - again?

but instead, you find sirens of an ambulance blaring and medics

you look around, trying to find jaemin in the crowd of uniforms

he always sticks out, and sometimes he finds you first

but no one calls out your name

so you ask a nearby EMT where jaemin is, and he points you to the back of an ambulance

your blood goes cold and you rush toward it, seeing a familiar long body laid out on the white gurney

“jaemin?!”

you drop your bag - hands shaking

“a-are you - did- did you - did you get yourself kill-”

his eyes spark open and he sits up, a bandaged cut on his cheek, but otherwise nothing else as he smiles at you

“you’re here! did you see - i caught the stranger of daeg-”

“you scared me! for real this time!”

he stops, blinking and tilting his head, “for real?”

“what would i do if your antics actually got you kill-kill -”

you can’t even say it, tears welling up in your eyes just at the thought of having run into this ambulance to see him laying there

cold, unmoving

you can’t imagine it, your shoulders shaking now and jaemin leans out - hand on yours

“i would never be stupid enough to die without your permission, i promise.”

speechless, throwing your arms around him without really thinking about it

jaemin feels his heart swell, unsure of where to put his own hands

when someone knocks on the ambulance door

it opens, and you see the familiar grimace of the chief of police

“hello detective na, would you like to explain to your attorney why someone is accusing you of another act of thievery?”

you let go of jaemin and try to wipe back your tears, the police chief is about to say another word but you put your hand up

“my client will only answer questions after his hospital visit.”

jaemin nods from behind you, big pearly grin on his face

the police - used to this - back off for now and you turn to jaemin

“how am i going to get you out of this now?”

“you always find a way! that’s why i love you.”

Renjun

studious, scrutinizing, and some would even say a little scary

he’s got a reputation as a ‘mind breaker’, twisting and pressing criminals with his words until they crack

on the outside, he looks rather adorable - slim and always in his sunday best

neat notebooks for notes, color-coded folders for cases

he’s a joy to work with - if you only have to work with him briefly

if you end up on a case with him for a long time, you come to realize you cannot keep up with his level of perfection

and sometimes, it does feel like he’s looking down on others for it

but he’s not, he was just trained to always see every detail through

you find yourself at the center of a huge investigation, the cause of renjun’s obsession for the past couple of months

you aren’t even sure how you’re involved

just that the cafe you worked at had in one way or another been a meetup between famous city mobsters

renjun stops by, like clockwork, an hour before closing - waiting and hoping that the mobsters show themselves

that he can pick up another clue, nitpick from the coffee cups and the napkins

you don’t mind him, even if he does meddle, and never finishes the coffee you bring him

at some point, you aren’t really sure what he’s looking for anymore - because it’s been weeks

weeks and you’re pretty sure this case was closed

you stare down at the newspaper that gets thrown at the foot of the cafe’s doorstep

you pick it up - the headlines read how the trial of those mobsters has come to an end

so why is detective renjun still always stopping by? it isn’t for the coffee - afterall he doesn’t seem to enjoy it all that much,,,,,,,,,

one day - just as he gets up to leave after spending an hour doing whatever it is he does in the corner table by the window

you stop him before he can bound out the door

“detective renjun-”

“renjun is just fine, im not on the job.”

you pause - never noticing that up close, when he’s not always nose deep in a book - he is rather handsome

“ah - well, renjun - i was just wondering,,,,,and i don’t mean to be rude! but is there a new case you’re working in the cafe or-”

he seems to catch onto what you’re asking and he straightens up a little

“you could call it that. im just doing some observation.”

“oh! on what?”

you look around, the cafe empty now that closing time is approaching in a few minutes

the loaves of bread, the muffins and coffee presses don’t seem all that worthy of observation

“on you.”

you almost don’t catch it, with the quiet voice he uses

but when your eyes meet his again, you waiver

“on - me? am i suspect in a -”

he laughs, “not everything is about solving cases to me. i just,,,,,”

for the first time he stumbles over the right words

always careful, put together, and otherwise beyond perfect - renjun wants to make sure he says the right thing

but there’s only really one thing to say.

“i just like you.”

Jeno

newbie sleuth of the local neighborhood!

don’t get him wrong, finding lost pets and hunting down the towns vandal are just as important as stopping bank robbers and kidnappers

sorta

a lot of the “cases” he solves are brought to him by local kids, holding scribbled doodles of their missing toys or from parents who just want to know WHO is blasting that music at 3 am?

(this was fairly easy to solve, as jeno had walked down the street to the local college house and knocked - asking if there was a party last week. a tall, happy-go-lucky guy named johnny had answered - and confirmed! there was a party last week, did you hear his friend mark’s mixtape from down the block? did he dig it? did he want mark’s soundcloud link?)

really, he calls himself a detective for fun

he’s just always loved puzzles and thrillers since he was young so he thought if he ever had some free time he could,,,,,,,you know,,,,,,help figure out solutions to life’s little puzzles and thrills instead

but - low and behold - he is not ready for the puzzle that is YOU

you move into his neighborhood and on day one you get yourself into trouble

running down the block with stolen goods from the local shop, an apple between your teeth and hands full of various fruits and baked goods

the next time jeno sees you, you’re twirling three sets of keys around your fingers

for cars,,,,,,,,,,jeno is pretty sure cost way more than either you or him can even imagine

he keeps seeing you everywhere, doing this absolutely ridiculous things

and then finally - he bumps into you when crossing the street

and minutes later he can’t find his wallet

he turns - chasing you down the block, accusing you all the way of being the towns illustrious thief

but you just turn and shrug, emptying your pockets

“i dont have your wallet - did you check your back pocket?”

to his surprise, and utter embarrassment, that’s exactly where his wallet is

but there’s something sticking out of it now - a piece of paper

he opens it and scribbled on it are the words

‘i thought you were a detective?’

he looks up at your smile and furrows his eyebrows

“i-what does this mean?”

“well, i thought you were a detective - so why haven’t you solved the biggest mystery yet.”

he doesn’t seem to catch on, a cute look of confusion spreading across his face

“what biggest mystery?”

“well - that would be who stole your heart!”

he flusters, “m-my heart?”

“yeah! your heart! who stole it lee jeno, c’mon - you’re a detective!”

he looks beyond dumbfounded

and then he straightens up

you tilt your head a little, and jeno feels something in his chest flutter

“you?”

“did i?”

your voice sing songs and jeno can’t be sure, but the way your eyes spark up with delight makes a feeling he can’t explain wash over him

am i going crazy, or did they just figure out i had a crush on them before i did?!?

Chenle & Jisung

ones fearless but clumsy, the other is easily terrified and somehow,,,,,,,even more clumsy

but hey they’re just best friends who decided that instead of going to the academy

they’d just start their own private investigation business

too bad none of them really understand how to run a business, so the only way they’re kept afloat is by tireless accountant mark lee’s efforts

either way, they both bring strengths to their problem solving

chenle will take on ANY case, ANY place, ANY time

and would probably fall down a trapdoor

while jisung is slightly more reserved about stepping into old, haunted houses or listening to tall tales from random people on the street

though he would also fall down a trapdoor

and although other people wouldn't take on cases that involve the paranormal

and jisung is not a big fan

when you come to the agency with a request about a presumed ghost encounter

chenle insists you came to the right place, jisung looks a little pale

and thats how you end up beside both of them - the dead of the night - in front of your old middle school

chenle asks if you’re a teacher here now, but you shake your head - actually you were just visiting because it had been the yearly reunion in honor of a young boy who had died tragically at the school when you were a student

“creepy!” chenle says, eyes sparkling

“creepy,,,,,,,” jisung agrees, swallowing

the three of you venture inside, you’d managed to convince an old teacher for the keys, and begin down the long and dark hallway

chenle peeks into classrooms and stops to read bulletin boards

jisung just sticks shoulder to you

“so how did he die?” chenle asks and you’re about to answer

when a creaking of the floorboard takes all the attention

an outlined figure appears, face shadowed but body small - leg limping

“it’s him!” you whisper “the limp, it’s from the crash-”

you turn and look at-

chenle, who fearlessly moves toward the child

you join in behind him as jisung stays stuck in place with fear

“are you a ghost? did something about your death leave you scornful toward the school? come here, i just want to talk-”

chenle begins as you cautiously warn that being so upfront could come of rude

the child, whose face is still hidden, lifts his hand slowly and extends one finger

chenle follows the trajectory and gasps, “he’s pointing at you!”

your blood turns cold and you want to ask - why, you hardly even knew him when you were both students here so -

but then just as chenle is about to put a hand on your shoulder, something heaves below you two and the floorboards below your feet moan

“they’re going to give!”

“wh-”

chenle’s hand takes a hold of your waist now, pushing you into him as he teeters back until he himself falls through the figure that disappears in a cloud of smoke

the floorboard where you’d been standing collapses down and you cling to the front of chenle’s jacket as you watch

“i-i think that ghost has it out for you-”

he starts, but his voice softens as he sees your shoulders trembling

for the first time, and believe me he’s seen freaked out people a lot, he stops himself mid sentence and just lets you curl up into his side

jisung’s voice is the one thing that breaks you two from the moment as he yells you guys need to get out of here. NOW.

chenle agrees, but you’re wobbly on your feet up and so he takes your hand in his and smiles

“c’mon - even im not crazy enough to provoke an angry ghost. we can solve this mystery when we’re safe.”

you nod, letting him lead you back outside where your hands never leave each other and thank god jisung doesn’t care (or is scared out of his mind) to notice

jisung, whose eyes have gone large

“chenle don’t go near it!”

he shouts, turning his attention to you

“and if that really is the ghost we should-”

“it’s pointing at you!”

you whip your head back around to see that the figure has raised one, thin finger in your direction

your body feels rigid and you take a step back

chenle just ventures forward, asking the spirit question after question, but it ignores him

instead - in what seems like a second - the figure has moved halfway down the hall toward you and jisung

you scream and jisung can’t believe it but he realizes fast that he’s going to have to be the fearless one in this situation

instead of booking it himself, which is usually the way these things go, he grabs you and yanks you behind him

you guys make a dash for the front door, and when you turn around you can see the ghost is still dauntingly coming closer

jisung does the mistake of looking too, and just as you’re about to get to the door - the ghosts face comes to life a little in the moonlight tricking through the window

you and jisung both scream at the bloody mess - jisung tripping over his own feet as you fall right behind him

the door is still open so you two are a tumble of arms and legs as you roll out into the night air

but as you get up - you find your blow was cushioned by jisung

“so-sorr-”

“no time for apologies, ghost trying to kill you.”

you nod and both of you get up and continue running

chenle is behind you guys, but he’s laughing and shouting about how it was a GHOST - a REAL GHOST -

you’re frankly too terrified to think about it and thats when you feel jisung’s palm squeeze yours

‘don’t be scared, we’ll get you somewhere safe.”

you feel something in your chest warm and you agree - jisung feels it too, the bashful look of embarrassment that comes over you is almost enough to make him feel like your hero

but the truth is

he’s still very scared and protecting you is one thing, but making sure he also doesnt get caught by a vengeful ghost is also pretty high up there

and chenle’s insolent “we have to go back sometime!” is NOT helping

#this was what i wanted to finish in time for renjun day but F #nct dream scenarios #nct dream au #nct dream imagines #nct dream #haechan scenarios #renjun scenarios #jaemin scenarios #jeno scenarios #chenle scenarios #jisung scenarios #sfw #jaemin au #jeno au #renjun au #chenle au #jisung au #haechan au

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spaceorphanssecondbreakfastclub · 3 years

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SO’s January Reads

Hey guys! So, one of the things I want to do with the blog is talk about the books I’ve read over the past month. Not only will it keep me reading, but maybe someone will find a new book to check out! I’m going to try to do these regularly, posting on the last Sunday of the month.

January Reads:

Title: House in the Cerulean Sea Author: TJ Klune Genre: Fiction; Fantasy

Goodreads Summary: A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret. Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days. But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.

My Review:

Upon this being a rec from the company I work for, several of my coworkers kept recommending it to me. I ended up reading it in three days.

This is an incredibly beautiful book. While uniquely its own, there are shades of Harry Potter, X-Men, and Umbrella Academy among other things. It kind of sits on a line of between reality and fantasy, and is less of a plot driven novel, and more of a character study on letting go of what's considered normal, and embracing the strange person you are on the inside; as well as being a novel about finding a family, and finding the good in people no matter who they are. It's a quick read (read it in three days!), but its simplicity is a fault. It's positivity is one of its touchstones, and I appreciate that a book can be moving and not rely on tired darker or grittier tropes. It's also a good read for all ages, and a book parents could read with their kids.

Rating: 5 Stars

***

Title: Red, White, and Royal Blue Author: Casey McQuiston Genre: Romance; LGBT

Goodreads Summary: First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations. The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?

My Review:

This is a sweet, light-hearted LGBT romance -- an easy read if you're looking for something to escape into for a few days. It's a bit on the tropey side, but that's where the fun is, and the characters are engaging and fun to spend time with. If you’re a big fan of fanfiction, this has all the trappings of really good fanfiction (though I’ll admit, maybe cause it’s published fiction, it’s not going to be as explicit as a lot of fanfiction usually gets).

My only real criticism is the number of pop culture references and celebrity name drops go a little overboard. Sometimes they feel shoehorned in to make it seem more 'now', which is just going to end up dating the book in the long run. Also, the American political stuff feels a little idealistic, especially after the tumultuous election we’ve had, but that’s not really the heart of the book.

Otherwise, while it's not going to win a Nobel Prize for literature, it's still a lot of fun.

Rating: 4 stars

***

Title: Truly Devious Trilogy (Truly Devious; The Vanishing Stair; The Hand on the Wall) Author: Maureen Johnson Genre: YA; Mystery

Goodreads Summary: Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. “A place,” he said, “where learning is a game.” Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym “Truly, Devious.” It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history. True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the actor, the artist, and the jokester. But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy. The past has crawled out of its grave. Someone has gotten away with murder. The two interwoven mysteries of this first book in the Truly Devious series dovetail brilliantly, and Stevie Bell will continue her relentless quest for the murderers in books two and three.

My Review:

Truly Devious: I love the mystery aspect of it -- it's definitely intriguing, and as someone who's read a lot of mystery novels, I'm glad the mystery in this isn't glaringly obvious. It did, at times, feel like a ton of set-up, but because this is the first book of a trilogy, that does make sense. The teen angst/drama aspect felt a little much at times, and I wish there was more of some of the side-characters who only seem to pop up when the plot needs them, but this is minor nitpicking and overall, this book was an incredibly fun read.

The Vanishing Stair: The mystery is still incredibly intriguing as it unfolds in more detail in this one, and Johnson's ability to unwind what's going on is fantastic. I still have a few minor quibbles -- I think this one starts out slower, since it's saddled with recapping the first book, and there are times when I feel it's a little padded (I'm not sure this needed to be stretched into three books, but trilogies, I'm sure, make more money), but I don't think that detracts too much from the overall story. I do, also, wish that some of the side characters (Janelle, Nate) had more to do, at times they kind of feel like window dressing, and there because Stevie's world needs more people in it. But overall, it's still a fun read, and an intriguing mystery.

The Hand on the Wall: Better than the second one, doesn't quite capture the magic and mystery of the first. Overall, this trilogy was a fun little mystery with a lot of cool (albeit sometimes underdeveloped) characters. I still think it should have been one, larger novel, as this one, too, feels like there's a lot of padding. And I have a few smaller issues with how certain things were resolved (a lot of conclusions felt like leaps to get there for the characters, even if overall the 'mystery' made sense), while some things I wanted more closure on (what happened to Francis? they alluded to her in book 2, but never closed the door on it). I'm also not a fan of the romance in this book -- it never really clicked for me, and often felt like it was there to keep the plot going. But these are all pretty easy reads, and there are a lot of fun things, too. I'm curious as to how the author handles these characters in her next stand alone novel.

Rating: Truly Devious - 4.5 Stars; The Vanishing Stair - 3.5 Stars; The Hand on the Wall - 4 Stars

#sbc bookclub #house in the cerulean sea #red white and royal blue #truly devious

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odanurr87 · 4 years

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2019: My year in K-Dramas - Part 1

I’ve been getting into kdramas for a few years now, but I usually only watch one or two at a time. This year I watched a lot more (and that’s not counting The Bride of Habaek, which I dropped when it became clear it was a very bad adaptation of the manhwa; Crash Landing on You, which started airing a couple of weeks ago; nor Tomorrow With You, which I haven’t yet finished, what’s probably not a good sign), a few being rewatchs of old shows that I like. Seeing as it’s unlikely I’ll ever write up full reviews for each like I did for Goblin (you can read my review here), I decided to compile this list to tell you what I liked and didn’t like about each, what I feel worked and what didn’t. I’m also including a qualitative metric (Rewatch meter) that tries to gauge how likely it is that I’ll find myself returning to the show in the future (Low, Medium, High). Naturally, your very own meter may differ from mine.

For future reference, these are the shows I watched in 2019 and that I aim to cover in this series of posts:

While You Were Sleeping (2017)

W (2016)

My Strange Hero (2018)

The Secret Life of my Secretary (2019)

Angel’s Last Mission: Love (2019)

Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon (2017)

When the Camellia Blooms (2019)

Bring it on, Ghost (2016)

One More Time (2016)

My Girlfriend is a Gumiho (2010)

My Love From The Star (2014)

Descendants of the Sun (2016)

Regardless of which show did better, overall, I find myself drifting more and more towards Korean dramas than your run-of-the-mill American TV show, save for a few bright exceptions, such as The Expanse. Heck, they’re better than most Hollywood movies nowadays.

Since I’ll probably end up writing a lot, I’ve decided to split this review list into two parts. Let’s start with the last kdrama I watched and work my way backwards... if I can remember, that is.

WARNING! There will be spoilers so read at your own risk.

While You Were Sleeping (2017)

Bae Suzy as Nam Hong-Joo, and Lee Jong-Suk as Jung Jae-Chan.

Release Date: September 27 - November 16, 2017

Episodes: 16

Available on: Viki

Summary: Nam Hong-Joo is a young journalist who has had bad dreams about the future since she was a kid, but she has never been able to change the outcome. Jung Jae-Chan is a rookie prosecutor who moves in across the street with his younger brother. When Jae-Chan has a prophetic dream of his own about Hong-Joo being involved in a car accident, and the tragic events that follow, he makes an impulsive decision to interfere, changing Hong-Joo’s fate and that of police officer Han Woo-Tak in the process. When the three of them start having dreams of one another, they realize their lives are somehow entwined. Together, they decide to use their knowledge of the future for good, but changing someone’s fate is never straightforward, and the consequences for doing so may be more than they can handle.

What I liked:

The concept and writing. This is the second show I’ve watched, in chronological order, with Lee Jong-Suk as a lead where I’m really attracted by the concept. Imagine if you could take the precogs from Minority Report and give them (relatively) normal lives inside a kdrama. This is the result. Even better, having Hong-Joo and Woo-Tak have different and often contradicting dreams about the future makes for an interesting twist, as we see prosecutor Jae-Chan struggling to navigate these prophetic waters in search for the best outcome. Curiously, the show makes a point early on about how Jae-Chan’s the variable upon which their dreams diverge, but nothing really comes off it. Naturally, the concept of multiple diverging futures gives the show’s cinematography a chance to play around a bit, often comparing the same event in alternative timelines, or in the same timeline but at different moments in time. It may sound complicated, but it’s pretty to grasp once you start watching. Furthermore, the writing’s pretty tight all around, what’s not a mean feat when you’re juggling multiple realities, with some very emotional payoffs as the show draws to a close. Perhaps its weakest point is exactly how this prophetic dream ability is transferred from person to person (a theory is put forward which doesn’t entirely convince me), and the unnerving (and unexplored, fortunately) implications should someone less honourable were to have these dreams.

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When The Nightmares Started. This is the best track in the entire show and if it’s not the main theme, it damn well should be. It has moments of calm, a hint of romance and hope, and that awesome shit-is-about-to-get-real cue starting at 1:38 that never fails to make a scene tons more epic. Your dish-washing experience will be 100% more epic playing to this track, guaranteed!

The Justice League (and friends). This show could’ve probably gotten on my bad side real fast if it had created a villain with the same superpower as the heroes (depends on the execution to be honest) and, indeed, I thought that was the direction it would inevitably take, revealing at some point that (evil) defense attorney Lee Yoo-Beom also had prophetic dreams and had been using them for his benefit all along, muahahaha! Instead, the show gave us three average people, connected by their prophetic dreams, who decide to team up and use these visions for good. It’s not always easy to change the future, as it has many ramifications, and therein lies the show’s narrative potential that it manages to exploit, perchance to its fullest. Even in the very last episode there’s a hint that maybe the people they’ve helped throughout also have dreams of their own that they use to help others, sort of a pay-it-forward chain. It may be somewhat unrealistic, but it’s a good note to end the show on all the same.

Kim Won-Hae as Choi Dam-Dong. Easily the best supporting character in the show, delivering a stronger and more rewarding performance than in Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, where he played two characters (he was pretty funny as the over-the-top head of development planning at Ainsoft), veering towards the more serious/dramatic/emotional end of the spectrum, although with some comedic elements mixed in. I was surprised by how strong his arc turned out to be, and my respect for his character went up by several points when his arc comes to a close and we finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together. This man can do both comedy and drama, so kudos to him.

What I didn’t like:

Mr. Perfect (also known as Han Woo-Tak). It’s not that I dislike him, far from it. Woo-Tak is so good, smart, selfless, and even good-looking, that he kinda undermines the OTP just by existing. He’s really setting unreasonable standards for any man to compete against. I mean, he even plays Cupid for the OTP... while also being in love with Hong-Joo! On the plus side, the show doesn’t really try to push the romantic triangle angle, what usually has mixed results. The one thing I did mind is how the show hints at him potentially being a better attorney/prosecutor than the main lead since that’s kind of Jae-Chan’s thing. I mean, if you take everything that makes the lead special and give it to someone else, is he still the lead?

OTP: A stronger performance from Lee Jong-Suk than in W, complemented by a relatively (and I cannot stress this word enough) weaker performance by Suzy in some aspects (I think Han Hyo-Joon’s Oh Yeon-Joo in W does sad love better than Suzy as Nam Hong-Joo, but it’s a matter of preference), results in a better pairing with more chemistry. Suzy is great and lovable at being the quirky Nam Hong-Joo (watch the video below if you’re unconvinced) and Jung Jae-Chan is a lot more vulnerable than Kang Chul ever was, but I was left wondering at times whether this couple would’ve gotten as much traction were it not for the strength of their past connection (especially with Mr. Perfect around).

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Verdict: What can I say? While You Were Sleeping was an excellent show from beginning to end. If I were to nitpick, I would’ve chosen the end wedding to be the one between Jae-Chan and Hong-Joo since that honestly makes more sense, and maybe I would’ve made Woo-Tak more of a bro than a somewhat-but-not-entirely romantic rival (think Seo Dae-Young in Descendants of the Sun).

Rewatch meter: High

W (2016)

Han Hyo-Joo as Oh Yeon-Joo, and Lee Jong-Suk as Kang Chul.

Release Date: July 20 - September 14, 2016

Episodes: 16

Available on: Viki

Summary: W is a bestselling webtoon by cartoonist Oh Seong-Moo that follows the adventures of Kang Chul, an Olympic gold medalist framed for the murder of his family, who’s eventually acquitted and becomes a multi-millionaire who fights crime (think Bruce Wayne but without the costume). Tired of his creation, Seong-Moo decides it’s time to kill the protagonist and put an end to the series (much like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle decided to kill Sherlock Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls). Oh Yeon-Joo is Seong-Moo’s daughter, a doctor and passionate fan of W, who is one day mysteriously transported to the world of the manhwa, where she sees a dying Kang Chul and saves his life. Intrigued by his mysterious saviour, Kang Chul decides to learn out more about her and Yeon-Joo finds herself constantly returning to the world of the manhwa. Will Kang Chul learn the truth about her and his world? And if so, what will be the consequences?

What I liked:

The concept. It’s not an altogether original concept, and I’m reminded of Schwarzenegger’s Last Action Hero (Who Framed Roger Rabbit before that), but it’s also not one that you see often on the screen, big or small. The idea of being able to enter the world you’re reading about and meeting the characters you know and love is extremely appealing and there is some fangirling from our protagonist initially. Naturally, since she knows everything about this world, it’s good fun to see her inadvertedly reveal something that she couldn’t possibly know and deal with the reactions/consequences. What’s better is how Yeon-Joo tries to figure out the laws of the manhwa world by applying the real-world concepts of cliffhangers and dramatic revelations, often to hilarious effect. Seeing how the manhwa continues to write itself to reflect events in W’s world, and the reactions by readers (and by Yeon-Joo) in the real world is really entertaining, especially those from the more passionate W fans.

The transition between animation and live-action. I love the blend between animation and live action, as in the example below. There are more subtle transitions, like when a character’s hand oscillates between the real world and the cartoon world. Perhaps it’s a very simple filter but it looks good. Also, what little we see of the manhwa is very well drawn.

Han Hyo-Joo as Oh Yeon-Joo. Despite the fact that Yeon-Joo’s character becomes less proactive in the second half of the series (as I will discuss below), she was the one who really carried the show for me, certainly on the emotional side of the spectrum, where Kang Chul felt a little flat throughout (to be fair, he’s more the analytical type and he’s a manhwa character). She was also able to convey humour quite well, especially in the earlier, funnier, episodes.

The execution (of the first half). The first episode doesn’t waste a second setting up the story and there is never a dull moment. Watching Yeon-Joo read the latest episode of the manhwa and witness her reaction as she sees herself in the comic was gripping and I was eager to see what the next episode would bring. The show was also fairly consistent with the rules of travelling back and forth and what one could and couldn’t do in the cartoon world. We were witnessing an epic struggle between the cartoonist who wanted to kill his creation with his stylus and the daughter who wanted to protect him so much that she had willed herself into his world (if that’s not a good setup for a love story, I don’t know what is). And all the while, Kang Chul was putting the pieces of the puzzle together in his universal and unrelenting search for truth. Every episode brought something new to the table and, much like the manhwa, ended with some revelation or cliffhanger that kept you on the edge of your seat asking for more. Unfortunately, I think that was also its downfall.

What I didn’t like:

The execution (of the second half) and the overall pacing. I think the (relative) downfall of this series was trying to do too much too early. It worked for the first half because the show had a lot of material it could burn through and, in a way, it was refreshing that it was willing to do so. Sadly, my thoughts eventually turned from, “What’s going to happen next?” to “What can even happen next?” The story was moving so fast that I began to wonder where exactly it was going, and that’s when some of the flaws started to seep through. Episode 9 focused on the aftermath of Yeon-Joo resetting events, thus making Kang Chul forget all about her. While I certainly felt for her when she met her amnesiac husband, this was largely thanks to Han Hyo-Joo’s performance (and good track selection), for Kang Chul had been her husband in name only. Had we previously seen more episodes of their life together, this scene would’ve been a lot more impactful, and her desperate crying outside the operating room more heartfelt. Then, the plot thickens as we move into the (overly) dramatic second half of the show, with the introduction of a villain who knows about the real world and starts manipulating events in the manhwa for his benefit... by possessing cartoonist Oh Seong-Moo! What? This was never established as even remotely possible! (not to mention it doesn’t make sense) As you can imagine, this is whereabouts the rules of this universe start to break down and anything goes. Furthermore, when this villain is defeated in Episode 13, the show suddenly remembered it already had an antagonist perfectly cast for the part and finally decided to put him to use, although too little too late for my taste. As if that weren’t enough, a character is killed because drama, since any other explanation would make no fucking sense. This death is entirely nonsensical and I was beginning to conclude the show should have ended a lot sooner.

The amount of flashbacks/dreams/recaps/plans. I don’t mind a good recap or a flashback every now and then, but there came a point where the show started abusing this narrative device a little too much. The show spent a lot of time either: going over things we already know; featuring lengthy dream sequences that are very transparent and serve no purpose (although, incidentally, would make for a better ending); or laying out how events are supposed to go only for them to go in a completely different direction. While they are sometimes necessary, most of the time they were just padding that actually detracted from the story.

How secondary the supporting characters in the manhwa truly are. I know Kang Chul is supposed to be the protagonist but his bodyguard and secretary aren’t given a whole lot to work with throughout the show. I wish they had been active participants in learning the truth of their world rather than passive bystanders.

How Yeon-Joo becomes less proactive in the second half. Maybe it’s just a feeling, but I think our female protagonist became more reactive and less proactive in the second half, with Kang Chul being the one who mostly directed the course of events. It didn’t help that she kept fainting every now and then, what meant she had to spend some time in bed, what was a shame since she was the more interesting character. To be honest, I think the whole father arc should’ve been over and done with in the first half, with Yeon-Joo stepping up to be the new cartoonist.

OTP: Undercooked, but Han Hyo-Joo manages to almost convince me.

Verdict: It’s hard not to say W is one of the most refreshing shows I’ve seen in a while, even despite its more prominent flaws in the second half. I don’t like how powerful the drawing tablet became, especially after it was established that the manhwa could, at times, overrule the will of the real world, as clearly depicted when Kang Chul refuses to commit suicide. I’d rather the manhwa characters had resolved things on their own, aided by Yeon-Joo, without having to resort to some ultra-powerful plot device. Furthermore, I think the show should’ve taken things a bit more slowly rather than try to surprise us every episode, and use that time to build the relationship between Yeon-Joo and Kang Chul. Another thing I feel the show didn’t exploit to its fullest was the fact that Yeon-Joo knows just about everything that’s transpired in W’s world, what maybe could’ve aided Kang Chul in his investigation (sadly, this is undermined by the fact that the murderer really has no identity, what I find odd). Last but not least, Kang Chul never remembering his “past life” was a missed opportunity.

Rewatch meter: Medium

My Strange Hero (2018)

From left to right: Jo Bo-Ah as Son Soo-Jung; Yoo Seung-Ho as Kang Bok-Soo; and Kwak Dong-Yeon as Oh Se-Ho.

Release Date: December 10, 2018 - February 4, 2019

Episodes: 32

Available on: Viki

Summary: When Kang Bok-Soo was a high school student, he was falsely accused of committing acts of violence and ended up expelled from school. Those who brought the accusations against him were his first love, Son Soo-Jung, and a fellow student, Oh Se-Ho. Nine years later, Bok-Soo saves Soo-Jung’s life and suddenly finds himself a mediatic sensation. In order to improve the school’s somewhat tarnished image, he’s invited back to finish his studies. Bok-Soo hesitates, but when he learns Soo-Jung is a teacher there and Se-Ho is the new director, a latent desire to get revenge surfaces. Will Bok-Soo finally get his revenge on the people who wronged him nine years ago? Or will he spend most of his time doing anything but? The latter.

What I liked:

Teacher Park. He’s the kind of teacher everyone would like to have in high school and an example of moral rectitude that Soo-Jung tries to follow. You can tell he really cares for all the students and always tries to be fair and just, no matter the personal cost.

Soo-Jung’s arc. Probably the character who experiences the most growth throughout the show, in no small part thanks to her starting point. She’s the only teacher who stands up for her students, is willing to expose the corruption in the school, and goes so far as to quit her job because she feels she didn’t earn her spot fair and square (despite Oh Se-Ho telling her she was hired because of her qualifications). It is worth noting that when Mr Park gives the other teachers the chance to own up and resign honourably nobody does.

What I didn’t like:

The series meanders a lot early on. Initially, I watched till Episode 14 and dropped it because nothing was really going on. Bok-Soo says he wants to get revenge but his heart really isn’t into it. He certainly doesn’t have a plan like, say, Edmond Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo, or Emily Thorne in Revenge. In fact, for those first 14 episodes, it only seemed he went there to suffer some more at the hands of the same people who wronged him all those years ago. What leads me to...

Son Soo-Jung isn’t a very likable protagonist initially. I don’t know if this is done on purpose to get us to side with Bok-Soo, but it doesn’t seem like a very smart strategy to have us dislike the lead’s main love interest for almost half the length of the series. I mean, that’s what the antagonist is for. It seems like at every opportunity she twists the knife on Bok-Soo’s back a little more, so much so that a hurt Bok-Soo outright demands, “Why don’t you just ask me what happened instead of constantly making assumptions?” (I’m paraphrasing) Her response, basically telling him to fuck off, didn’t win her any points in my book. That’s about when the writers probably realized their mistake and started filling us in on how Soo-Jung’s life was also miserable after Bok-Soo was expelled so please don’t hate her. They also pull a 180 when she stands up for Bok-Soo during a disciplinary hearing, what I thought was quite out of character for her at the time. The two seem to patch up their relationship awfully fast, what struck me as odd as they didn’t seem to have much chemistry. Having said that, Soo-Jung’s character certainly grows after Episode 14 and has a very satisfying arc, ultimately being the only teacher worth a damn in this school, other than Mr Park.

“Is Kang Bok-Soo’s revenge finally starting?” After I initially dropped this show at the Episode 14 mark, a video popped up in my YT feed with that title (only they used the actor’s name instead of the character’s). It was a scene where Bok-Soo went about exposing the many deeds of corruption within the school. Great, I thought, shit is finally hitting the fan... in Episode 26. I resumed watching from that mark until the end. The series had finally managed to get me invested, almost as it was over, and I decided to watch the episodes I’d missed.

OTP: There are some cute moments but I still didn’t feel the chemistry (what, ultimately, is my entirely subjective take).

Verdict: I don’t feel this is a true romance drama like others on this list, if ever it tried to be, what’s decidedly strange because there are many episodes dedicated to exploring the relationship between Bok-Soo and Soo-Jung with little else going on. Instead, I see it as more of a critique on the Korean education system and the immense pressures students are subjected to in order to meet unreasonable standards, with some romance elements sprinkled on it so that it’s not too depressing. That’s my take on it anyway. As such, it has some enjoyable aspects to it, like seeing Bok-Soo share nuggets of wisdom every now and then, or the students standing up for Bok-Soo and their school, or the revenge/investigation finally kicking into high gear. It’s just unfortunate it took so long to get there and didn’t really encourage me to do so.

Rewatch meter: Low

The Secret Life of my Secretary (2019)

From left to right: Koo Ja-Sung as Ki Dae-Joo; Kim Young-Kwang as Do Min-Ik; Jin Ki-Joo as Jung Gal-Hee; and Kim Jae-Kyung as Veronica Park/Park Ok-Sun.

Release Date: May 6 - June 25, 2019

Episodes: 32

Available on: Viki

Summary: The story follows Do Min-Ik, a prominent director at T&T Mobile Media, and his secretary, Jung Gal-Hee, as together they deal with the onset of an illness that prevents Do Min-Ik from seeing faces, the result of a possible attempt on Min-Ik’s life by some unknown party. On the corporate drama side, this undermines his shot to succeed his (jerk of an) uncle as Chairman of the company, and we see Min-Ik and Gal-Hee struggling to hide the truth of his illness and overcome the many obstacles set on their way to chairmanship. On the romance side, his inability to recognize faces causes him to mistake his secretary for Veronica Park, a rich heiress and leading figure in the film industry, whom he eventually falls in love with... what is kind of a problem since the real Veronica Park develops a crush on Min-Ik’s best friend, Ki Dae-Joo (also a director at T&T), while Gal-Hee falls in love with her boss. And, just in case we didn’t have enough corporate drama, we learn early on that someone may be embezzling from T&T and all the signs point to Dae-Joo. How will this all turn out?

What I liked:

Do Min-Ik and Jung Gal-Hee working together. Min-Ik is one sharp boss, and the moment he’s unable to recognize faces, he starts devising other strategies to recognize people, such as identifying them by their height. Gal-Hee pitches in with the different directors’ hairstyles, and eventually Min-Ik is even able to recognize them by their specific tics. Another example is the first stockholders’ meeting where they team up to prevent Min-Ik’s dismissal. Everything goes so smoothly that it prompts Veronica Park to ask Gal-Hee, and I’m paraphrasing here, “Did you write the script to this play?”

What I didn’t like:

The deceit lasting so long. Min-Ik doesn’t start as the best of bosses, we see that in the first episode, but that very same episode opens the door for him caring for Gal-Hee more than he’s willing to let on. The show does a good enough job of explaining his rather rude behaviour towards his secretaries and why he always fires them within a year, what makes the deceit all the more hurtful. However, the problem I have with Min-Ik not realizing Gal-Hee was pretending to be Veronica Park, is that this happens for 24 episodes! That means we only have 8 episodes left for him to feel betrayed about the whole thing yet also recover in time to start dating Gal-Hee. I don’t feel this was enough time to successfully explore their relationship.

How weak/bland every other story is. The attempt on Min-Ik’s life and the police’s investigation of it is handled abysmally, with the detectives only appearing from time to time to create what some writer thinks is drama. They’re so useless that the perpetrator actually has to turn himself in! I thought Dae-Joo was a bland character throughout, so I had zero interest in his relationship with Veronica Park. The same goes for Gal-Hee’s family. Even Min-Ik’s mother somehow pulls a 180 out of the blue. The only other plot thread that caught my eye was the possible embezzlement and that was wrapped up horribly, what leads me to...

No one facing the consequences of their actions. No matter how much the writers want to frame this secret organisation within T&T as Robin-Hood-like, the fact remains that they were stealing. Not only that, but they can be directly tied to the assault and attempted murder of Do Min-Ik, among other crimes. Sure, they’re all fired at some point, but they all get hired back thanks to Min-Ik. Nobody faces any jail time except for the guy directly responsible for Min-Ik’s accident who actually apologizes to him and turns himself in. The leader of this shadowy organisation comes out unscathed and has her machinations to see Dae-Joo become chairman of T&T rewarded when...

Dae-Joo becoming the chairman of T&T. What a payoff. The blandest and most uninterested character in the entire show becomes the chairman when the character we’ve been rooting for throughout, the only one who’s willing to put everything on the line to help the downtrodden secretaries, gets the short end of the stick. I guess it’s true when they say no good deed goes unpunished.

OTP: There is some chemistry there and I wish we had seen more of it, but sadly the (official) relationship between Gal-Hee and Min-Ik takes place a little too late.

Verdict: Usually, most of the kdramas I’ve watched and liked, to some extent, have some scenes that are imprinted on your mind (much like Gal-Hee’s face is imprinted on Min-Ik) and that you find yourself returning to from time to time. With this show, I honestly had to struggle to recall any such scenes, even with the aid of YouTube playlists. This is not helped by the fact that I can recall none of the music used, and that’s not a good sign. Memorable scenes and songs usually go together, as the next show in my list will prove. Ultimately, The Secret Life of my Secretary, while entertaining enough, didn’t live up to my expectations and, as such, it’s unlikely I’ll be rewatching it any time soon.

Rewatch meter: Low

Angel’s Last Mission: Love (2019)

Shin Hye-Sun as Lee Yeon-Seo, and Kim Myung-Soo (Infinite L) as Kim Dan.

Release Date: May 22 - July 11, 2019

Episodes: 32

Available on: Viki

Summary: Kim Dan, a troublemaking angel with a kind heart, is 24 hours away from Heaven when he meets the beautiful, talented, yet cynical and arrogant, prima ballerina Lee Yeon-Seo. Recently blinded by an accident during a performance, Yeon-Seo somehow manages to spot Kim Dan, who should be invisible to any human. His curiosity sparked, he follows Yeon-Seo around and eventually, in a fit of impulsiveness, saves her life in a car accident. However, for having interfered and saved a human’s life, Kim Dan is fated to turn to dust... unless he’s willing to undertake one final task. His mission? He must help Yeon-Seo find true love, but will he be able to keep from falling in love himself? Obviously not. And, naturally, Yeon-Seo has some evil relatives who are out to get her, because it wouldn’t be a kdrama otherwise.

What I liked:

The songs. I can’t vouch for the entire OST for I haven’t listened to it all yet (Correction: I’ve now since listened to all of it and it really has a lot of good tracks), but there are at least a handful of songs that will stick with you like glue. I can’t say if I like the songs more because of the scenes in which they play, or if I like the scenes more because of the songs that are used, but I can say the songs play an important role in engraving these scenes into my mind. Songs like ‘Sweeter’, by Jess Penner, that play when we’re playfully exploring the relationship between Yeon-Seo and Kim Dan; or ‘Pray’, by KLANG, when some important relevation or dramatic scene is about to transpire; or ‘Oh My Angel’, by Chai, that plays during the more romantic moments; these songs have made it into my Spotify list and are a must-listen on a daily basis for now.

The humor. Beyond the interactions between Kim Dan and Yeon-Seo, which sometimes make for very humorous situations, my hat’s off to the characters of Archangel Hoo, Dan’s senior (played by Kim In-Kwon) and Chung Yu-Mi, Yeon-Seo’s butler (played by Woo Hee-Jin). The former has dozens of opportunities for humor as he’s able to take the form of any human and keeps surprising Kim Dan by keeping tabs on him. The latter is probably the closest thing Yeon-Seo has to a mother (or maybe an older sister), and can be playfully mischievous when she starts noticing our leads may have feelings for each other. There are two scenes that perfectly embody the show’s humor that I would be remiss if I didn’t direct you to. Be aware they contain spoilers.

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The leads and their chemistry. You cannot make a kdrama work if the leads don’t have some sort of chemistry (well, I suppose you could but it would be a bit of an uphill battle) and Shin Hye-Sun and Kim Myung-Soo have that in spades. This shows not only during the more romantic scenes, what’s expected, but also during their fights, what’s even better (if that makes any sense). This isn’t the first time I’ve seen L acting, in fact, he played the character of Yoo Tan in the short kdrama One More Time, with actress Yoon So-Hee playing his love interest, Moon Da-In. He sold me on that show then, as did Yoon So-Hee, but I feel his acting’s improved in this, or maybe the script and length of the show allows him to flesh out his character more, showing us more sides of his personality as the show draws to its end. And it’s really amazing to see how effortlessly Shin Hye-Sun can don the skin of the strong, cold, and harsh Yeon-Seo in one scene, and then swap it for the playful, romantic, and vulnerable Yeon-Seo that Kim Dan falls in love with in the next. Just watch more of those KBS World TV clips if you don’t believe me. These two steal every scene they’re in, but I feel Shin Hye-Sun is really the standout here. (At the time of this posting, Shin Hye-Sun has won the Top Excellence Award (Female) in KBS’s 2019 Drama Awards for her role in this show, so congratulations to her on an award well deserved!)

What I didn’t like:

How the show meanders towards the end. I laid out the plot in the most succinct way possible, but it’s hardly that straightforward. Dan’s mission should, in theory, be over when Yeon-Seo learns to love again, but then the show would then be over a lot sooner than Episode 32. The writers know that so they move the goalpost, at some point revealing that Dan also had to learn to love for the mission to be truly over. Not only that, but they both had to be willing to sacrifice everything for their loved one in order for God to believe their love was sincere or something, what leads one to think they need to commit suicide and the other to think they need to commit murder. I don’t know, by this point the show’s either stretching things out to reach the 32-episode mark or they’re milking each scene for every ounce of drama they can get, probably both. This problem gets compounded by the fact that...

Some (other) things don’t make a whole lot of sense. To start with, the theology and consistency on this show is all over the place. The same God that apparently ordered a couple of angels to shoot someone, gangsta style, because an angel broke the rules and fell in love with a human, is moved by our lead couple’s Romeo-and-Juliet love story and by Yeon-Seo’s ballet performance. Oh, and by the way, shooting someone is not how unruly angels are dealt with, God can simply pull a Thanos and have them vanish into mist, so why did he decide to use a gun that one time? Because drama! God also decides that the best time to send Dan to Heaven is when Yeon-Seo is lying commatose in the hospital (what a dick), to which Dan says, “Fuck it, I’m staying here,” and God lets him return as an angel so he can help Yeon-Seo wake up, interfering once again and thereby ceasing to exist... except he’s still an angel an episode later! What the f*** is going on here?! Archangel Hoo broke the rules once and he got the Thanos treatment, so how come Kim Dan gets so many second chances?

Some characters are either superfluous or their arcs are unclear. As an example of the latter, there’s the character of Ji Kang-Woo (played by Lee Dong-Gun), Yeon-Seo’s ballet instructor and Kim Dan’s rival for Yeon Seo’s affection. It’s revealed early on that he’s an angel-turned-human after breaking the rules and falling in love with a human himself... whom the gangster angels promptly killed. It’s never explained why she had to die while Yeon-Seo and Kim Dan are allowed to stay together, but apparently Kang-Woo is satisfied that his pain was necessary so he could help them trick God or something. I’ve no idea. But the award for the most superfluous character has to go to Ni-Na’s secret ballet instructor who only appears when the script dictates and is not developed at all. I can’t even remember if she had a name! What was her point even?

OTP: Probably one of the best pairings of the year (says the guy who’s watched maybe 4-5 2019 shows out of who knows how many).

Verdict: This is a case of the pros outweighing the cons. There’s simply too much that works for me, so many scenes and songs that stayed with me thanks to the strong performances of our leads and some of the supporting cast. I was never unaware of its more glaring flaws, what prevents this show from reaching Goblin levels of quality, but I could easily find myself rewatching it from time to time.

Rewatch meter: High

Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon (2017)

From left to right: Park Bo-Young as Do Bong-Soon; Ji Soo as In Guk-Doo; and Park Hyung-Sik as Ahn Min-Hyuk.

Release Date: February 24 - April 15, 2017

Episodes: 16

Available on: Viki, Netflix

Summary: Do Bong-Soon has a secret: she is insanely strong, a superhuman ability that has been passed down to the women in her family for generations. She also aspires to create a video game with herself as the main character. When Ahn Min-Hyuk, the CEO of gaming company Ainsoft, chances by her as she’s beating up half a dozen thugs, he’s instantly mesmerized by both her beauty and strength. The recent target of anonymous threats, Min-Hyuk decides to hire Bong-Soon as a bodyguard (she ends up being more of a secretary) and she accepts with the promise of joining the planning department of Ainsoft once the culprit is caught. Meanwhile, detective In Guk-Doo, Bong-Soon’s secret crush and childhood friend, investigates a series of strange kidnappings and murders in Bong-Soon’s neighbourhood. When the culprit targets Bong-Soon’s best friend, Bong-Soon and Min-Hyuk find themselves involved in the hunt for the criminal.

What I liked:

Gangster Bong-Soon. Okay, maybe saying she’s a gangster is a bit too much, but after beating a bunch of school bullies into submission, they soon look up to her as their new boss, taking orders from her and even looking out for her so that her secret isn’t exposed. It’s pretty funny then that Bong-Soon has to save her crew from being harassed by the new neighbourhood bullies, acting the part of a gangster for a short while.

The need for training. I appreciate the fact that Min-Hyuk foresaw the need to help Bong-Soon have full control of her strength, although he also created routines to bolster up her endurance, not to mention some of the moves she learned could have come in handy when she was depowered (sadly, she doesn’t use them). And all of this training does indeed pay off, as we see Bong-Soon fight smartly and using only as much strength as is needed to get the job done, as opposed to her Episode 1 self who used way too much strength with hilarious results. You can witness the results of Min-Hyuk’s training in the fight with the “new bullies” I mentioned previously, as well as the one at the beginning of Episode 9. Beyond fighting, her training also had positive results in her everyday life, like now being able to hug people without worrying about choking them.

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The leads and their chemistry. The chemistry of these two is off the charts (it’s over 9000!!!). Everything about Park Bo-Young as Do Bong-Soon screams cute, from her short height to the way she talks, and even her glares of disapproval when Min-Hyuk does something he shouldn’t have. She’s also confident when she needs to, but not afraid to show vulnerability around the people she loves. I could shower similar praise on Park Hyung-Sik as Ahn Min-Hyuk, especially where the vulnerability department is concerned. Male leads tend to be more stoic (like In Guk-Doo), so it was quite refreshing to see how devastated Min-Hyuk was when he learned the identity of the one threatening him, or how crazy-in-love he is around Bong-Soon (she’s his kryptonite). Min-Hyuk is never afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve and it shows in every single scene. These two can just stare at each other in silence and convey more emotion than any spoken word.

The humor. I’m not talking about the dumb hospital scenes that feature humor more similar to what you’d find in a crappy Hollywood “comedy” (peeing jokes, really?), but things like Hyung-Sik’s ad-libbing throughout the show (he’s having a blast), or the more funny interactions between Min-Hyuk and Bong-Soon, even the ever-changing Romeo and Juliet scenes as Bong-Soon’s feelings for the different characters evolve.

What I didn’t like:

The sudden disappearance of Min-Hyuk’s family. Initially, the show has two distinct storylines: the string of kidnappings/murders, on the one hand; and the threats to Min-Hyuk, likely related to the question of who in his family will become the new Chairman of Ohsung Group. As expected, Min-Hyuk has several brothers who are a bit jealous of his success with Ainsoft and intuit their father will name him the Chairman, so it makes sense one of them is behind the threats. Once the storyline is resolved however, Min-Hyuk’s family is completely out of the picture, even during his marriage, what I find extremely odd.

The randomness of the depowering rule. Very early on the show explains that, while the women of the Bong-Soon family are blessed with superhuman strength from birth, they can easily lose this ability should they try to use it for less than honorable pursuits. It can be something as simple, and apparently harmless, as using this strength to become an Olympic weightlifting champion, as Bong-Soon’s mother soon found out, but it’s usually tied to using this ability to hurt innocent people. Naturally, once this rule was made known, it was only a matter of time before Bong-Soon would lose her powers as well, and this did indeed happen towards the end of the show. The problem I have with it is two-fold: its execution and its consistency. Bong-Soon doesn’t purposefully hurt an innocent man, she’s tricked into doing so by the villain. One could argue that whatever higher power granted this ability can’t tell the difference, except that argument falls apart entirely when you realize Bong-Soon has already purposefully used her power to hurt innocent people, like that one time she crushed Min-Hyuk’s foot to keep him silent (among multiple examples). That this event is played for laughs should have no bearing on the outcome. Furthermore, we later see Bong-Soon pleading for her strength to return so she can save Min-Hyuk, so it would appear that whatever higher power was listening is intelligent. At the end of the day, we all know this happened because the writers didn’t want to limit the fun possibilities of Bong-Soon abusing her power a little bit, saving it for the right moment to amp the drama. So, in reality, I was aware of it, and decided to roll with it.

OTP: Cuteness overload.

Verdict: This is one of the strongest shows in this list (no pun intended), more so given how much it’s able to pull off in 16 episodes as opposed to other shows’ 32, which is why I’m more lenient in terms of its writing. This is simply a good, fun, show, easily rewatchable thanks to the cute OTP. While its soundtrack may not be on par overall with the one from Angel’s Last Mission: Love, it still features some solid, memorable, songs (’Heartbeat’ by SURAN being the most obvious, but also ‘Double Trouble Couple’ by MAMAMOO, or ‘Super Power Girl’ by Every Single Day), not to mention a highly effective and comedic use of sound effects. Definitely one of my favourite shows.

Rewatch meter: High

And that brings us to the end of Part 1. I hope you had a good time reading through this post, maybe even found a show to your liking. What were some of your favourite shows in 2019? Stay tuned for Part 2!

#kdrama #while you were sleeping #kdrama w #my strange hero #the secret life of my secretary #angel's last mission: love #angel's last mission #strong woman do bong soon #strong girl bong soon #netflix #viki #kdramas

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darringauthier · 4 years

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Happy Death Day (2017)

Genre: Horror

Who’s In It: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine

Who Directed It: Christopher Landon

Plot: A college student must relive the day of her murder over and over again, in a loop that will end only when she discovers her killer's identity.

Running Time: 96 Minutes

IMDB Score: 6.5

Rotten Tomatoes Score: Critics 71% Audience 66%

Why I Watched It: Liked the trailer and the buzz was good sadly it took me a while to see it but I did really want to see it.

How I Watched It: Netflix Canada

Random Thoughts: So this is one of those films that I really wanted to see but somehow fell through the cracks and I know why it happens and it has happened a bunch to me. So I wait for it to come to streaming and most times I wait for it to go on sale on iTunes or it goes to a streaming service, and then I forget about it and it doesn’t go on sale then it’s off iTunes to rent then I wait 2 years or in some cases 3 years to see it.

I list this as a horror film which it is some have called it a horror comedy but I don’t think it is, it’s light at times but it’s not funny or do I feel it’s going for comedy

What I liked: This went from under the radar to a big buzz genre film, it’s not often critics like horror films more than the audience but this is one of those cases. Hats off to Happy Death Day they took the Groundhog Day formula and turned it into a slasher film but they kept it smart and fun. Tough job but they pulled it off.

The premise is clever the directing is good, the script is solid but they star is Jessica Rothe, she carries this film and literally she carries it, she’s in every scene I think or darn close to it and she plays it almost perfect, she has an arc that she needs to go through, we’ve seen it before a not great person sees the errors of their ways and through the course of the movie she becomes a better person, often an actor screws it up by going too hard in one direction but Rothe walks the line here and she’s likable even when she’s not if that makes sense. You have to care about her for this to work and I did.

I like that they took time and by doing so didn’t make the film long or dragged down the action they let everything slowly unfold but kept it interesting. There’s a fear in this type of film cause we keep seeing the same day over and over the key is the person we’re watching is learning and growing. I liked how even though it’s a slasher movie and it’s PG-13 it kept a nice tone, a film like this go go to far in either direction and here they do a nice job once again of walking that line.

What I Didn’t Lie: I liked the film I didn’t love it and the one major thing for me was the mystery, the whodunit, who’s under the mask the big reveal, i found it underwhelming now to the film’s credit I still liked it even though for me it didn’t stick the landing. I found the ending a little over the top and way too completed, they should have kept it simple and of course they don’t really explain why Rothe was repeating the day.

Other than that I have just minor nitpicks, I should say the film is set up like a slasher and it kind of is and isn’t, hardcore horror fans might find it watered down but I was cool with it.

Final Thoughts: I Liked it and it’s worth a watch and Jessica Rothe is someone to keep an eye on and yes I look forward to seeing the sequel.

Rating: 7/10

#happy death day #jessica rothe #christopher landon

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oldtumblhurgoyf · 5 years

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Lauren Orsini wants to kiss a cat man and that’s wrong*

Here’s a ranking of All 36 'Magic: The Gathering' War of the Spark Planeswalkers Ranked By Dateability in Forbes no less. But it’s so terribly wrong. Here’s my Empirically Correct List of Planeswalkers Ranked By Dateability.

*this is all very silly and Orsini’s list is fine, I’m sure... for her.

36-28 Undateable

36 and 35. Tie between Gideon Jura and Domri Rade (with an honorable mention to Dack Fayden).

Dudes are all literally dead. Sorry, but I’m not dating a corpse. Also, before Gideon’s death, he was running himself ragged hopping from plane to plane to save the world. He didn’t have the time for a relationship. Domri is an obnoxious child (emphasis on child too). Of the three, Dack had the most potential but even alive he’d be lucky to break the top 20 of my list. Good for a few fun weekends and that’s probably it. Tempting to hope your love could reform him but that’s just a good way to have your heart stolen.

34. Nicol Bolas

He’s downright evil and self-centered to an unfathomable degree. Hard pass, no thank you. Literally no redeeming qualities.

33. Ob Nixilis

The obvious date for him is someone into BDSM, right? Wrong. He’s not going to respect your boundaries or practice good after care. He’ll use and abuse you for what he wants and then probably murder you. That’s not a date.

32. Dovin Baan

This dude’s whole deal is that he sees the flaws in everything. He’d probably outright refuse to date and if not, he’d constantly be nitpicking your relationship and you. There’s probably a decent amount of built up angst and stuff and if he ever cut loose there could be some fun, but it would be very fleeting and comes at too great a cost (months later thinking “what did he mean by ‘your forehead is adequate, but your nose is not the ideal shape’?”).

31. Tibalt

See Ob Nixilis. Kind of crazy how similar these two are.

30. Ashiok

We don’t know a whole lot about them, but I’m envisioning they’re like Ob Nixilis/Tibalt except it’s all mental/psychological harm. It’s Dovin Baan but instead of an ostensible pursuit of perfection, the mental anguish is its own reward.

29. Ugin

Like dating a dad, but a really boring dad. And like any other dragon, he’s still very full of himself, he’s just a little more subtle about it. Besides, apparently you’d do all your dating in the Prison Realm and Bolas would be there trying to ruin your (already pretty miserable) date as some small payback for being trapped.

28. Sorin Markov

Things will be okay, but he gives me weird unwanted daddy vibes and he’s just going to ghost you anyway.

27-19 Redeeming Qualities, Not Long-Term Material

27. The Wanderer

Not much to go on here but we do know she’s gonna ghost you though probably not voluntarily.

26. Teyo Verada

He seems nice enough but he’s pretty young and super naive. He’s got some things to figure out and some growing to do before you’d want to date him.

25. Jiang Yanggu

What I said for Teyo goes for Yanggu as well. Plus side, every date with him there is a really cute pupper coming along.

24. Kaya

She’s giving me Gideon vibes. I think she’d be more fun than Gids, but she’s too devoted to her career to have time for a relationship.

23. Teferi

It’s a common refrain I’m running into here, but Teferi is also too dedicated to his job to make for a good relationship. Additionally he’s got lifetimes of experiences that make him “The Most Interesting Man in the Multiverse” and you’re always going to feel like a second fiddle to him, not an equal. This is a case where he’s almost too perfect.

22. Jaya

Jaya’s got distinct mother vibes for me. There’s just no way I could see a date with her that isn’t weird. It wouldn’t even be a bad date per se, but it’s not gonna happen.

21. Samut

I’m intimidated by Samut. I mean, who wouldn’t be? She’s been through Amonkhet’s trials and stood ready in front of Hazoret’s spear. That’s such a singular dedication that few others can match. I think I’d shrivel in front of her love.

20. Kiora

She’s a playful trickster and kind of flighty. You’ve got one good date with her and then maybe a follow up fling at some point, but there’s no building a relationship here. I mean, unless you’re really lucky, but I wouldn’t count on it.

19. Karn

Karn’s got plenty going for him. He’s done some really interesting stuff, he’s motivated, and deeply invested even if he doesn’t always show it. He can certainly show you a lot of cool things. But long term the lack of humanity creates distance and problems.

18-10 A Good Time, Let’s See How it Works Out

19. Liliana Vess

She’s a toss up to me at this point. She’s been through a whole helluva lot and this is the point where she could go completely good, or take her get out of demon-contract-death jail free card and double down on all her worst attributes. She’ll be a fun date, you just can’t be sure it should be more than that.

17. Angrath

Dude’s super dedicated to his family but he gets incredibly frustrated and pretty damn easily. His name’s literally angry wrath so you kind of have to expect that. If you think going to a dive bar and getting into a fight with a biker is a good date then Angrath is going to be a fun time.

16. Vivien Reid

Maybe I just haven’t been paying a whole lot of attention, but I know less about Vivien Reid than any other planeswalker on this list I think (which is wild when you consider exactly how little we know about the Wanderer or Kasmina). But as the Steve Irwin of the multiverse, there’s no way this date isn’t fun. You’ve just perhaps bitten off more than you can chew.

15. Ajani Goldmane

Ajani is a total sweetheart who will care for you like no other. The flip side of that is he is always pushing you to be your better self and, hon, that’s just a little much for me. Like can’t we just stay in and cuddle for once? I do NOT want to go to the gym again this week.

14. Arlinn Kord

Unlike Jaya, I don’t have mom vibes here. She’s a good looking lady who definitely seems to be here for a good time.

13. Huatli

This one is totally an “it’s not you, it’s me situation.” She’s so big on community and sharing stories--I’m more of a homebody. There’s nothing wrong exactly, we just won’t be compatible, I don’t think. But somebody out there is, and the two of you will get along famously. Another list would totally rank her as marriage material.

12. Narset

This is another case of such dedication and perfectionism that I just don’t think I could measure up in a relationship with her. She’ll come home from exploring the multiverse and meditation and combat training and reading ancient scrolls to find all I’ve done is take out the trash and do some dishes before playing some games and... not be disappointed exactly, but it won’t inspire respect and desire in her. Another one where there’s incredible potential there... for the right person.

11. Kasmina

Mysterious as she is, I’m getting young Jaya vibes from Kasmina. Not as in, when Jaya was actually young and all fiery temper and stuff. But rather, current Jaya without the creepy (to me) mom vibes. There’s potential here but so much mystery it’s impossible to say for sure without taking a chance.

10. Nahiri

I can’t imagine anyone I’d have a better single date with. Like a real good time. She’s planned it out perfectly and she’s ready to go. It might not last, but you’ll enjoy it while it does. Keep the lines of communication clear, respect boundaries, and be aware she can hold a grudge, and I think this actually has a chance.

9-1 Marriage Material

9. Jace Beleren

He’s sort of what I see Yanggu or Teyo needing. He’s done that growing and learning and he’s a pretty solid guy. He’s learned a lot of lessons the hard way but he’s definitely better for it.

8. Tamiyo

She’s literally married and raising kids in a happy home. The potential is there (if we ignore her canon marriage and assume she is available to date), not to mention her chosen career of essentially multiverse astronomer is pretty damn cool and relatively safe compared to what these other planeswalkers have devoted themselves to. (Sure, there’s Innistrad and Emrakul, but I imagine most planes’ moons are much safer to observe than that.)

7. Sarkhan Vol

Like Jace, he’s worked through a lot and is a pretty awesome person because of it. Unlike Jace, he’s been attractive the whole time. He’s tender and vibrant and aware and just cool as all hell. Bringing him home would be like dating Brendan Frasier in his prime.

6. Vraska

Downside to Vraska is that she’s pretty clique-ish and suspect of anyone from outside her group. Her views have expanded recently, but I think she’s still going to put up a rock hard exterior. If you can chisel your way through that then you’ve got a heart of gold.

5. Davriel Cane

Forget the demon contracts and all that nonsense. What this guy wants deep down is to just be left alone. Let’s retire to a nice estate on the countryside and enjoy our time together.

4. Saheeli Rai

Creative and inspiring, Saheeli is an absolute sweetheart. And she’s dedicated to a craft that she can do at home. She doesn’t have go trooping about the multiverse on dangerous missions without you. She can work on amazing marvels in her workshop then come next door to take you out for ice cream.

3. Nissa Revane

Nissa is a bit aloof and distant, but don’t let that fool you. She’s nurturing in every way you could want and then some. She’s great if you can get past that stoic exterior.

2. Ral Zarek

Ral’s more romantic than I ever woulda thought. He’s dedicated and thoughtful, but not so stuffy that things get boring. Actually the biggest detractor here is that things will never be boring with Ral, but he’ll make it worth your while to stick beside him through it all.

1. Chandra Nalaar

Full of warmth and passion, Chandra’s got what it takes to make the strongest connection. And she’s another character who has made some incredible personal growth recently. She’s ready to take the next step with someone special and if that were you, the two of you are in for a long-burning love.

#mtg #planeswalkers #forbes #lauren orsini #dateability #this is a really silly list #but it was fun

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 5 years

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ASM v5 #24/825 Thoughts

TL:DR version: Undeniably the most gripping issue of this year, this run, possibly this decade, possibly of post-OMD Spider-Man and possibly that I’ve ever read.

Seriously I was getting looks on the train reading this because my facial expressions were contorting with fear, joy, alarm, confusion and just utter attention to what was going to happen next.

Does gripping mean best?

No.

But there isn’t much wrong with this issue beyond it being a little lacklustre considering it is technically the 825th issue of Amazing Spider-Man and the fact that Mysterio is regarded as a challenge even by Ravencroft standards. Preeeeeeeeetty sure CARNAGE would be more challenging there Spencer.

But really those are nitpicks, even the former point as the next issue will be the big celebration.

Everything else in the issue stuck the landing.

Now you must forgive me as this post will be more of a list than I’ve been doing in recent ‘thoughts’ posts. This is because I prefer to write these posts ASAP after reading the issues but unfortunately I read them on the train home then had to head off for work straight after meaning I didn’t have time to write this until now, which is the day after. Consequently my memories aren’t entirely fresh and I’m going off bullet points I jotted down before hitting the sack. With that said...

· The MJ scenes were shipperiffic. I’ve long thought the idea that Spider-Man reels from seeing a vision of MJ dying (as opposed to actually fridging her) would be potent drama and this issue delivers on that. It’s tragic yet romantic and there are some just plain romantic scenes if the former ain’t your bag. It also helps Spencer, who is possibly the best writer to explore Peter’s psychology since DeMatteis or Straczynski, get into Peter’s head a lot. In this issue he almost literally has everything play out in Peter’s dreams. Or sort of anyway.

· Ottley on art continues to crush it although, sacrilegious as this might be, I actually think Ramos drew Centidemon better

· Speaking of Centidemon...he’s....sooo...creepy....and...scary. I obviously knew of the guy before reading his early appearances but...there is something of the early creepiness that Venom invoked wrapped (gEt iT????) in Centidemon.

· I did see him eventually harming Mysterio (but not MURDERING him Jesus Christ!) coming but it was still done well. You could feel the tension, the creepy way he was being almost caring almost sympathetic. There was a Ramsey Bolten-esque cruelty in how he pressured Mysterio into damning himself.

· Centidemon continues to intrigue. Unlike the Menace, Spider tracer killer or any of the mysteries of Slott’s run, Centidemon is outright compelling and I don’t think it’s merely due to his implied OMD connection. We are getting clues and hints about who he is, the biggest one being in this issue. The speculation game is fun!

· Centidemon is scary because he seems obsessed with Spidey and knows him intimately, for example his penchant for nicknames (which he’s derisive of). It almost seems like he doesn’t want to kill or hurt him but is almost infatuated with him. When you combine that with how his new name, ‘Kindred’ it opens up so many possibilities. Could he somehow be Uncle Ben (kindred as in blood family), some aspect of Aunt May (as in family, she is clingy to him), Gwen (she’s dead and could view her and Peter as kidred spirits, lovers), some aspect or in fact the REAL Mary Jane? (similar deal to Gwen but maybe this is pre-OMD MJ) or perhaps it’s some aspect of Peter himself, like pre-OMD Peter!

· The fact that Kindred is in fact someone who BECAME a demon but wasn’t one originally also sheds some light onto the mystery. It eliminates Mephisto but does open up the possibility that Kindred may have masqueraded as Mephisto...or....got Mysterio to do that for him...Re-reading OMD Mephisto does seem...a little off model. And demons in the Marvel universe have pretended to be one another before.

· We also learn he can project things into Peter’s dreams, make him see what is happening. Now in fairness this could be a non-demonic ability. A telepath could maybe do that. But it’s also very demonic. Of course if Kindred became a demon...that doesn’t preclude the idea he already had powers before dying...

· Finally Kindred references something Peter did. This is obviously written to invoke OMD in reader’s minds whether or not that’s actually the case remains to be seen. But it could mean so many things. It could mean OMD or his role in Gwen’s death or his ‘original sin’ with Uncle Ben, or his lying to Aunt May!

· Another enticing element of the mystery comes in the form of the two psychiatrists showcased. We get a passing reference to Beck’s old doctor, Doctor Winhorst who isn’t an established character to my recollecton. He must play a role in this mystery some how, perhaps as simply a red herring. Then we get the current psychiatrist for Beck. A man I can’t name because we never see his face, it’s either off panel or obscured by shadows. That can’t be a coincidence. Perhaps it was another short red herring, someone meant to trick readers in this issue into thinking he was Centidemon before the reveal that he wasn’t. But I don’t think so, not from the way he’s framed and how we get his POV. What’s more intriguing to me is that from what little we see of his face he resembles Dr. Ludwig Rinehart. For those who do not know Dr. Rinehart was in fact a disguise used by a villain more than once in Spider-History, notoriously way back in ASM #24 where he tried to trick Spidey into revealing his identity. The villain in question just so happened to be...Mysterio! Could it be Mysterio didn’t fabricate a new identity but stole it from a real man we’re finally meeting???????????????????

· Speaking of Beck this is a great time to be a Mysterio fan. Between this story and Symbiote Spider-Man he’s getting some great character exploration. I love we’re actually finally addressing Guardian Devil. I don’t exactly begrudge Slott for just ignoring that story, but it was unrealistic that Mysterio could’ve faked his death. Moreover it is his most ambitious scheme in Marvel history and his most notorious story, casting a long shadow in Spider History. And associationg Mysterio with Hell is at this point part of a tradition in his own history. I mean my God we even reference him doing it back in the truly obscure Webspinners #1-3!!!!!!!!!!!!! Could’ve believe that! Also I love Spencer might be throwing shade at Slott for just glossing over Guardian Devil.

· Mysterio’s character in general was explored quite nicely. He comes off as funny yet also sad and sympathetic. I love how Spencer presents a possibly plausible explanation for Mysterio’s condition (even though we readers know it can’t be true) and has Mysterio himself almost believe it. Also I’m sure Mysterio will be back. He’s got a movie coming out so he won’t be dead permanently. In fact I expect him back within this run.

· Switching gears a bit, I like how Spencer acknowledges that what Peter went through in Hunted would affect him, that he would need time to heal. It’s not okay in comics to traumatize characters then gloss over it, but if a comic on some level acknwoeldges healing will or has happened then it’s okay most of the time. For example with time and MJ’s support Peter could recover relatively quickly from the events of Hunted. We saw his pain last issue, we saw MJ there supporting him, helping him to heal (as happened in KLH) and then in this issue we acknowledge between issues he’s been different, he’s been healing. It’s part of how Spencer tries to be psychologically true to real life even within the relative realism of super hero comics.

· That being said all the talk about dreams and in reference to MJ makes me wonder in fear that he and MJ being back together is just an illusion of some kind, something that will be used as a rug pull.

· If I didn’t mention it before Ottley is scoring touchdowns with the art this issue.

Not only does this issue get a recommendation from me but my highest one at that.

P.S. Oh and that Absolute Carnage prologue page was pretty creepy in a good way too!

#Spider-Man #Peter Parker #Nick Spencer #Amazing Spider-Man #Ryan Ottley #mjwatsonedit #Mary Jane Watson #Mary Jane Watson Parker #mj watson #mysterio #quinten beck #Mephisto #Kindred #Absolute Carnage

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magiesheartlove · 5 years

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The Greatest Show (a love letter to MLP:FiM

Okay, so I was planing on writing this down sometime after the season ended but, I’m just feeling a lot of...feels, at the moment that, I just needed to get this written down.

I’m going to be frank, I am sad MLP is ending but, at the same time, I’m glad it won’t become one of those series that just keeps going and going to the point at which it overstayed it’s welcome. I have long since accepted that season 9 would be the end of MLP. When a show ends, I always accept it. If it ends on a high note, even better.

Out of all the shows I have watched in the early 2010s, MLP was one I never, in a millions years, would have imagined would gain not only such a huge and devoted following that stretched far from its intended demographic, but also was a series that, in my eyes, reflected everything I loved about storytelling and why I wanted to tell stories to begin with.

I will never forget the first time I was introduced to the series. I was watching television on an ordinary Saturday, and one day on the Hub Channel in the channel guide I read My Little Pony was on. I simply shrugged and decided to just watch a little snippet of my childhood, so “what the heck”.

I had since grown out of the MLP phase, and while I still love magically colorful equines, the cutesy, baby talking cartoon horses didn’t appeal to a high school senior like myself. Instead of seeing either some old nineties rerun of an old episode, or something meant for a pre-school audience, I saw... cute, funny, not-cheesy, modernized ponies in a stylized flash animation...and they were taking on a flipping DRAGON!

It was the episode “Dragonshy”, and when I saw Fluttershy stand up to that dragon, no joke, my jaw dropped. I’ve seen the typical “shy person gets over their fear” plot done before, but the way it was handled, and the way they portrayed the ponies (including Rainbow Dash, who I remembered being a fashionable pony who said “darling” every other word), as a rough and tumble tomboy was awesome! It had a fashionista unicorn with sass, a Pinkie Pie who was actually funny, a country pony with muscle, and a unicorn who took charge.

This... this wasn’t the MLP I grew up with. This was... modern and, updated and stylized and, thought out more.... and... I... was.... HOOKED! I couldn’t stop gushing about it to my Mom, and she was staring at me like “it’s My Little Pony”, and I was all “I know!”

Of course, when I watched “Winter Wrap up” and I saw that they were about to sing, I thought, “Oh, a cutesy song. Okay.” And then the song played.... it wasn’t annoying, the lyrics weren’t babyish, and the ponies sounded.... good. Like, star quality, Broadway good. The music, the animation, the way the song fit into the episode it.... it was..... I loved it. My jaw was to the floor at how it completely blew away my expectations. This was definitely NOT the my little pony I remember, and I just fell harder and harder for it.

I fell for the characters in a heartbeat, the world building was colorful and beautiful, and the morals. Let me tell ya, the morals sold it for me. While I had seen other educational shows that practically shove the message in your face, this one did it in a way that was tailored into each episode without feeling like it was bashing you over the head with it. Sure, there were a few times near the end, but they were minor nitpicks in my opinion.

This, this was the kind of show, the kind of story, the kind of world, the kind of characters I always dreamed of making myself. Stories about love, and friendship, and family, characters with bonds that you could feel radiating off of the screen, a world so vast and endless you wished you could enter it and live every day exploring the horizons and uncovering new mysteries within it, and all alongside the ones who would wrestle a hydra or jump from a crystal palace for you.

As I grew older, finding good quality shows I could enjoy was difficult. Shows now a days either try to be “edgy” or “mature” that they just came across as trying too hard. As much as I adore overarching stories, it was refreshing to go back to that slice of life, villain of the week format that is feels like it’s being rejected now a days in animation. Again, I don’t have a problem with overarching plots, but slice of life stories can be just as fun, and open up a lot of doors for character interactions and enough wiggle room for the morals to shine through more.

MLP continued to surprise me over the years. As I grew, so did the show. I mean, Twilight went from an awkward student who didn’t care about friends, into the flipping PRINCESS of Friendship! Rarity expanded her business, Rainbow Dash learned humility and became a Wonder Bolt. Fluttershy became more and more confident, Applejack learned to ask for help, and Pinkie Pie had her ups and down, but at the end of the day, all she really cared about was making her friends happy. Even the Cutie Mark Crusaders finally found their calling, and it completely blew me away. Like a lot of people, I cried.

Speaking of tears, I know the whole villains reforming thing has caused some controversy over the years, and while I do empathize with a lot of the criticism, I can’t not love seeing these villains change for the better. Call me a compete and total sap, but if a man who persecuted and murdered people for believing in a Savior, only to have the most earth shattering revelation and transform into a messenger of the Gospel, even at the risk of his own life, and if a man from my Church can go from a man with the heart of a murder, into a devoted and kindhearted man who sung songs to The Lord every Sunday, then yes. If someone is willing, if they WANT it enough, I believe a heart of stone can become a heart of flesh. I know, a lot of people don’t believe it, and I understand why. But like Jesus, I want those lost lambs to find their way back.

As a President Lincoln once said: If I make my enemy my friend, have I not defeated my enemy?

I love when a villain changes for the better. Even if, story wise, it can be rushed, the meaning is still there. For me, that’s enough. I know not everybody changes, but that doesn’t mean nobody will. We live in a fallen world, but there is a Light that chases away the dark, gives us His hand, and shows us there is a better way. Just like Twilight did for Sunset Shimmer, and Sunset Shimmer did for Human Twilight.

Aside from introducing me to an amazing fandom, meeting so many wonderful people, and even being the show that coaxed me into the fanfiction world which led me to discover my love fo writing, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has and will forever be my all time favorite show, surpassing all others from my childhood. It came during my transition from a child to an adult. It sparked my imagination, made me smile, made me laugh and made me cry.

This series, this world, and its characters carried something that made it stand out amongst so many other shows in my eyes, and in my heart I always knew why. To quote the minister of Shady Oak ministries on YouTube; “They took the love of God, and put it on ponies.” Yes, when I watched MLP, when I heard the messages and witnessed the strong relationships, I saw Jesus manifested in each of them. I wasn’t even trying to find it, I just... felt it in my heart.

The Magic Of Friendship brought out the best in the Mane Six, brought out the best in those around them, and came through for them even when it seemed as if all was lost. And, it didn’t just go by the motions. The characters grew and learned, but that spark, that special little something that made them who they were, it didn’t fade, it only became stronger. They became the best versions of themselves, and though they still tumble and fall, they keep getting back up, because one way or another, there will ways be somepony there to reach out their hoof and help them back up.

I am so grateful for this show, and for all the wonderful things that came with it. The good, the bad, the weird, the funny, all of it.

Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Spike, Celestia, Luna, Sunset Shimmer, Discord, everypony, Thank you all for these wonderful nine years, and for teaching us that Friendship truly is the most powerful magic of all. But most importantly, Thank You Jesus, for having revealed this series to me, and for speaking to me through these ponies, reminding me of Your love, Your mercy, and most of all, Your friendship.

Nothing stays the same for long, but when it changes doesn't mean it's gone. Things may come and things may go. Some go fast and some go slow. Few things last, that's all I know. But Friendship, carries on through the ages.

#my little pony friendship is magic #my little pony season 9 #mlp finale #mlp ending #the end lf my little pony #my little pony the final season #twilight sparkle #rainbow dash #rarity #applejack #pinkie pie #fluttershy #discord #princess celestia #princess luna #sunset shimmer #starlight glimmer

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amysgiantbees · 5 years

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Avengers: Endgame Spoilers

Much like Avengers Infinity War, my feelings on this film can most succinctly be put that overall I found it average to infuriating but there were some truly wonderful parts in between that I’ll always enjoy. I’ll come to this later but here are some notes on my feelings on Avengers Endgame...

THE GOOD

Wanda and Captain Marvel (but I still needed more of them)

Wanda and Captain Marvel fighting Thanos

Steve wielding Mjölnir

Valkyrie on a pegasus

King Valkyrie

Carol’s haircut

Rhodney and Nebula bonding!

Nebula and Tony playing paper football!

Pepper fighting in an iron suit

Sam is Captain America! (He better be Cap in the films, not just this new show, I know the MCU has a history of keeping the TV shows and films separate but please not in this case!)

THE BAD

Bruce dabs. I just can’t.

Clint’s hair and tattoos

Thanos’ ecofascism being justified by the narrative in certain ways like with Cap’s look on the bright side about the environment line.

The time travel plotholes. I do not understand time travel at all in this, feel free to explain if you do. Also, Thanos not having knowledge of anyone due to time travel really took a lot of impact out of the climax for me. My biggest issue with the time travel logic in this though is how can Nebula kill her past self?

The limited time given to emotional character arcs is a real issue for me. For a movie that goes on for so long, I felt like more attention would be given to this and less to action. Like having characters that had rivalries with members of Thano’s Children never confronting against them again.

Thor never mentions Loki. He never grieves him. He was meant to actually legitimately be dead in this one so it would have been nice if not only there was more emotion and time spent on the scene with his mother but if he said goodbye to Loki during it too. Or told Freya to check in on Loki for him, make sure to tell him he loves him form him. I know she is destined to die but if they’d come earlier in the day and let there be time to do all of this it would have been more emotionally satisfying I think at least.

I HATE fatsuits. The fat jokes and the jokes at the expense of Thor’s panic attacks and mental health are REVOLTING. It’s just sad and frustrating that they decided to throw out all of Thor’s character development from Ragnorok for a few cheap laughs. His fat suit doesn’t even look real. It doesn’t match his neck and face and he doesn’t move right. Shockingly enough you move easier when it’s your own skin. This article and the author sum up my thoughts on all of this really well: https://medium.com/@kivabay/the-centr-of-controversy-cba6f23c692e. Also, Bay has a really great quote unrelated to Thor but also sums up another issue I have with the film and I just want to highlight it here, “ I also couldn’t help but view the movie with the knowledge we pick up on the internet about who is leaving the MCU, making the character deaths feel melodramatically goofy and like executive-level calculations.“

Also, somewhat silly critique but doesn’t Thor need special Asgardian beer to get drunk not “mortal” beer in a can. Damn, Thor was just poorly thought through. And I could almost find him fighting against Thanos with zero weight loss aspiring if the whole idea of Chris Hemsworth portraying him and every other way he was handled wasn’t disgustingly terrible. Fat Thor as an idea is amazing. I’d love to see him portrayed as such in the comics as long as he’s treated with respect.

They can’t just have the film be cathartically separate and contained they have to hint at more film’s with the “Where’s Gamora” mystery ready to go and Thor joining the Guardians. They have been advertising Homecoming for months and have the next few years of movies already planned, people aren’t under any illusions that there won’t be sequels. Just let it be self-contained. Especially since it’s already so long.

Just personal taste thing here but the “Avengers Assemble” bit was too cheesy and the ruin of the Avengers mansion was a boring background for the battle.

Dr. Strange was wasted stopping that tsunami. Did they need that? It was such a boring use for him in the battle. This battle had so many heroes but it felt like it really used their powers significantly less creatively together than any other battle previously.

Why weren't Fury, Carol and Maria all standing together at Tony’s funeral with their arms around each other like everyone else? It was really strange and took some of the emotion out of the scene, they’re close to each other. It could have been such a beautiful moment and tied the whole Captain Marvel “Where’s Fury?” scene together if they had them beside each other with her smiling sadly at him or leaning against him. They’re friends and it would be nice to see Fury further fleshed out and more three dimensional.

I don’t mind that Loki is dead but it does make me retroactively annoyed that “You... will never be... a god” was seriously his last line. He had nothing nice to say to his brother before he dies? So he really did die trying to use a knife on someone who can take on the Hulk. I hope that at least in his show that’s coming soon he’s genderqueer and given the opportunity to properly show off his magic. I feel like his magic has never been displayed properly or used in particularly interesting ways so far.

I would have rewritten the scene where Banner and Rocket look for Thor. Banner, Thor and Valkyrie’s interactions are stale and strange. It would have been better (so as not to erase all of his character development) if he was still dealing with his PTSD or the loss of his people poorly but was at least trying to help the Asgardians. But then show Valkyrie having to help him and being the clearly stronger leader due to being able to deal with this grief better after having experience working through grief from losing her Valkyries. She could also be helping him with his alcoholism instead of judging him since she has been there! It would have shown her mentor abilities and kingly traits. You could still have him join the Guardians in the end but now he’s just less negligent. Then he isn’t passing a burden for convenience but because he recognizes Valkyrie was there for his people when he couldn’t be and is the better, more loved leader. Instead of what should be a great moment for Valkyrie that she’s shown as earnt and is deserving of it just seems like Thor was like “Well it turns out ruling was too hard for me I’m going to f*ck off to space now look after them for me.” Still, love that she gets to be king.

Did I mishear her name or is Clint’s daughter not called Kate? Why aren’t we getting Kate Bishop? I know she isn’t Clint’s daughter in the comics but they’ve changed people’s backstories before and after seeing Clint training with a young girl in the trailer I was just really excited for her. I love her character in the comics, but maybe she has a name change here?

Also, why does Clint go overseas to fight people? I’m sure there are more than enough bad people in America for him to fight for YEARS. There are Neo-Nazis for F*CKS SAKE. It just seems racist to imply he’d have to look in places predominantly occupied by POC to find bad people. Also, that Sword scene was strange. It felt really unnatural and fake like it belonged in a completely different movie.

Also, little nitpick but I just found it to be a weird moment when that kid Ant-Man talks to didn’t say “What do you mean?” or “How do you not know?” I get not wanting to talk about the snap but how could he not be mildly curious or confused as to how someone seems to be ignorant to the biggest tragedy in world history.

Also, I really would have loved if the final battle had more consequences. More deaths and injuries. I think it would have been more realistic and added more to it. I especially really would have loved it if they had shown Clint getting injured in such a way that his hearing was permanently damaged. It would be nice to finally have him have that important comic book trait.

Also, that scene where Joe Russo, a straight man, plays a gay man is bullshit. Let us have gay superheroes. That is such a pathetic attempt at representation. Make Loki Genderfluid, make Carol a wLw, Give Okoye and Valkyrie a girlfriend or acknowledge they’re wLw.

Furthermore, I understand that the shot of all the women at the final battle was probably foreshadowing A-Team but I don’t think the creators realised that, One: it makes it look like they’re trying to hide that they killed the only original female member of the Avengers while giving all the men satisfying endings. Two: that there are A LOT fewer women than men but also that there’s enough of them that more of them really should have been featured before then and had more time spent on them. Just so many women yet so few films focussed on them. Furthermore, for those people who don’t know about A-Team it also just feels like a moment of pandering.

Look, Black Widow has never been one of my favorite characters but she deserved better. As soon as she was proclaimed infertile in Age of Ultron it was a death sentence because what use is a woman who can’t reproduce. She didn’t even get a funeral. Clint should have died. The snap forced Natasha to fully commit to her found family and lead the Avengers for years. The snap sent Clint into a debatably racist murder rampage. Natasha did something good after the snap it gave her more purpose. Clint’s purpose was to bring his family back and he could still do that by sacrificing himself. It’s honestly far more satisfying to see Natasha get her happy ending than Clint because Clint’s ending is just far too similar to his story in Age of Ultron. It is just hilariously underwhelming when everyone else has an emotional ending just to have Clint’s be a regurgitated version of him retiring with his family in Ultron. Also, Natasha dying for guilt over some vague bad that’s she’s done in her past that we know nothing about is so unsatisfying. This video I feel also sums up a lot of my feelings on this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A81p1N2gnNY&t=649s. Also from a monetary standpoint, not that Disney needs more money, but there’s way more demand for Black Widow films than Hawkeye. Just why Hawkeye, no one gives a sh*t.

More so I’m not against Tony using the gauntlet but I think it got in the way of Nebula having a fully satisfying conclusion to her arc. At least one woman should have had a satisfying, fully realised arc. It would have been great if Nebula got to finally kill Thanos but honestly, I wouldn’t be as mad at it if she hadn’t got wrongfully blamed for doing it by Thanos or had her arc conclude in an otherwise satisfying way. She gets abused further by Thanos for something she never did and never gets an opportunity to even just face him and confront him about ANYTHING.

Also, Vision is barely mentioned in the film. Which wouldn’t be so frustrating if he wasn’t the reason why an ENTIRE ARMY of predominantly black people was sacrificed in Infinity War. They had to save him because they all apparently cared so much about him but can’t remember to mention him more than once afterward.

I really hate that they were so scared of spoilers that they didn’t let all of the actors read their scripts ahead of time and cut out massive chunks of their scripts and didn’t tell them who they were playing against. I would rather spoilers than poor acting that ruins the timelessness of a film. This is meant to be epic!

#avengers spoilers #avengers #avengers endgame #my analysis #myanalysis #anti endgame #endgame #marvel #marvel endgame #endgame spoilers

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sparda3g · 5 years

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My Hero Academia Chapter 231 Review

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Gigantomachia is on his way. When will he arrive? Well, when will the League arrive to Redestro? Actually, not as long as I expected. I guess it makes sense, seeing the arc is slowly reaching to the conclusion. Regardless, this was a decent chapter that left me feeling conflicted, stalled, and recovered by the end more or less.

As you already know, Gigantomachia is on his way; it should be any minute now. For some reason, the scene shifts to Hawks in Osaka, pondering on the status of the League. I suppose it’s reasonable since he is associated with Dabi, let alone the League, and this is one way to let the fans know how is that heroes can’t get a hold on their whereabouts. I guess that’s fine, though the actual reason is to fill in on how Hawks won their trust back.

The flashback shows Dabi discussing with Hawks about earning the trust and how he has one last shot. Hawks was tasked to eliminate someone other than number one hero, so the next best thing is Best Jeanist. He went over to his apartment, having a small friendly chat, and then take out a feather, portraying as an assassin. In short, Hawks killed Best Jeanist; killed by a feather. That’s something I didn’t think I would write. And that’s where it segue back to Dabi versus Geten. The execution is puzzling.

It was a little odd to shift to Hawks and his whereabouts. Sure, he is part of the League, more or less, but it could have transition better or time the inclusion better. It could be a bit forgiving if he does show up in the battlefield, but only time will tell. That’s only nitpick. My issue is the execution on the matter.

I think it was a bad idea to reveal him as a double agent so soon. It’s hard to buy into the mystery of Best Jeanist’s disappearance. It doesn’t help that the news considered him missing, not murdered. I know the series is targeted for young boys, but the mystery could have been written better, especially when other series under same banner did it better. Even if it’s not intended to be a mystery, it took time away for a simple establishment of winning them over. I think if Kohei had written Hawks as a man who doesn’t care about his role, rather go for the amusement, this would have us thinking; not to mention, more appealing. Anyway, it was done to clear that part out and have Best Jeanist disappeared until further notice.

Much like the previous chapter, this one goes over a slow pace progression, only instead of Twice interacting with Compress, it’s with Shigaraki. The scene contains a similar reaction towards Twice multiplying, contemplating how they can reach to the tower, and how that tower is where the main boss as Shigaraki points it located. It reminds me of Naruto’s last arc in terms of pacing and it’s not a compliment. This should have been squeezed in the last chapter. The only advantage here is the notice of the arc closing in to the climax with Redestro, so it feels like a progress. That and Shigaraki care for his people, which is nice.

The actual progress is the setup for the next upcoming battles. First up, it’s Spinner versus Hanabata I believe (?). The funny thing is, Spinner actually forgot about the guy. In all fairness, I do remember the guy, just not the name. His quirk isn’t explained, but a good guess from Spinner suggests that his speech gives his people a power boost, hence everyone hulking up. Well, not exactly turning green and large, but strong and wild. I believe that’s the quirk’s effect, though maybe it depends on his words to make it function the way it did. I know Spinner has fought before, but not much in the spotlight. Time to prove his allegiance.

The other and more important battle is Twice versus Redestro. He did pass through bunch of fodders with his set of fodders. Also, he loves Giran like a real friend, so it makes sense he would be the first one to rush in. Redestro is about to fight with his markings appearing, which I assume is his quirk. It could go two ways. One is catch a glimpse of Redestro’s power, since we are close to the climax and in due for a boss hype. Two is Skeptic reemerges after a few strikes and fights Twice for payback. It would make sense to settle the score there. There are other ways, but I’m resorting to those two.

It was a decent chapter that was saved by the last half. I don’t mind learning about Hawks’ whereabouts, even if the timing was odd, but the idea of playing tricks was puzzling. The double agent reveal should have been saved later for appealing attraction. I guess the attraction of the arc is more on getting new info, rather the flow of the plot. The segment with Twice was like the same old routine as the last one, slowing down the pace. The setup for the next battles saved my enjoyment. Those two could be good, though I’m looking forward more on Redestro. Time to see what the son of a famous villain can do to pose a threat to another villain faction.

#boku no hero academia #My Hero Academia #chapter 231 #review #spoilers

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bizarre-dollhouse · 6 years

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My Top 10 Favourite Anime (And Why You Should Watch Them)

This is normally something I would put on my main blog, but I wanted to celebrate a follower milestone and also I know this will reach a significantly wider audience on this blog.

Consider this both a list of recommendations and a *get to know me* thing, I guess.

Honourable Mentions:

Bakemonogatari: A really stylized show about a semi vampire helping people with their supernatural afflictions born from emotional issues. The subsequent seasons get a little questionable, but this is definitely a standalone story with great dialogue and visuals. (15 eps)

Shiki: Creepy story about a small town infested with vampires. Really brutal and sick, but it has fascinating themes. The pacing is a bit slow and it has a kind of bad scene towards the end, but the show is 100% worth it. (24 eps)

Cardcaptor Sakura: Because this is mostly aimed at younger viewers, I would only really recommend this show for either magical girl fans, or people who watched the extremely altered dub as a kid. That being said, its a cute, fun show about magic with a likeable cast and surprisingly creative and original ideas, especially towards the latter half. (70 eps)

Jojos Bizarre Adventure 4: Diamond is Unbreakable: Full disclosure, I have not seen the first 3 jojo series, but its not necessary to enjoy this show. This is a super creative and really fun series about superpowered badasses in a strange city fighting each other and trying to solve a murder mystery in the background. Weird, but in the best way. (39 eps)

Kuroshitsuji: Book of Circus: This should be higher on the list, but in truth I would recommend the manga way over the show. But, if you want to watch a supernatural horror/comedy without reading a 138+ chapter manga, OR you were a fan of the original Black Butler seasons and want to see something way better, give this a watch. (10 eps)

*drumroll*

10. Trigun

So Trigun takes place is this old west, yet mysterious science fiction-y world where, through a bunch of complicated scenarios, a pacifist is the most wanted criminal known to man. Due to his status as a “natural disaster,” two insurance workers are tasked with reining him in to save their business. It’s an incredibly charming series, and the protagonist is really likeable. It’s extremely creative, funny, and emotional near the end. I do have some problems with the ending because it almost seems like the final conflict just...solves itself, but that’s a nitpick. The first episode is basically a short film, so give that a watch and see how you feel. (26 eps)

9. Paranoia Agent

This was directed by the late and great Satoshi Kon and has his usual themes about the blurring between fiction, dreams, and reality. It’s about a string of mysterious assaults committed by a kid with a baseball bat, and how these assaults seem to solve the problems of the victims. It’s very arthouse and has a twist that makes me ball my eyes out even though it’s not sad it’s just...odd and overwhelming. It drags a bit near the middle, but if you like kind of surreal stuff that’s also just really good, you have to watch this show. (13 eps)

8. Baby Steps

The amazing thing about this show is that its premise is specifically designed to make me hate it. It’s about a nerdy teenager who starts to play a sport for the sole sake of getting fit and having a more well rounded life style, and also he has a crush on this really popular girl. That sounds fucking awful, but the main character is actually really likeable (he reminds me a lot of Deku from BNHA) and I swear to fucking god every time I thought this show was going to do something awful and cliched with its romantic comedy plot, it doesn’t. The beauty and the geek trope is still there, but all of the bullshit that comes with it is omitted in a way I feel was kind of self-aware. The sports aspect is really good too: it’s well paced and there’s lots of tension even though the show as a whole is really upbeat and pleasant. I had a blast watching it, and if you can make it past the fact that is has god awful animation, give it a watch.

7. Higurashi: When They Cry

Yet another great show with absolute garbage animation. Anyways, this show is about a group of teenagers in a small town who are unknowingly trapped in a time loop. In each loop there’s a bunch of new mysteries, as well as some extremely brutal murders and tortures experienced my the main cast. I’ve seen a number of Western shows (Orphan Black, BBC Sherlock, Lost, Supernatural, etc.) fall apart because the writers want a really clever and intricate mystery to play out, but they don’t want to actually put the time into crafting one, so it’s just a bunch of cliffhangers with no answers or pay off. THIS SHOW SUCCEEDS AT WHAT ALL OF THOSE OTHER SHOWS FAIL AT. While not all of the answers are great (the second season isn’t as good) the original author somehow made the world’s most ludicrously complicated mystery story work, with a lot of it relying on the audience to put all of the pieces together even when the characters can’t. Its very clever in doing that: it makes its audience feel smart. It also has themes that don’t really show up in other horror stories, even though they’re incredibly relevant to fear and violence. Great show, go watch it. (50 eps)

6. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

Everyone knows about this show, everyone says it’s great, and everyone’s right. If you’ve been living under a rock for ten years: the show is about two brothers who break an alchemy taboo, which destroys their bodies, They’re on the hunt for something to restore them to normal and along the way they meet like 8990354578579 characters with interesting stories. It’s tightly written and really gripping. It’s fun, but also really dramatic and emotional when it needs to be. My only problems with it are that the ending is reaaaallllly convoluted, and there’s a minor plot point earlier on that gets weirdly dropped, but everyone kinda forgets about those things because the show’s so good. Also the brotherly bond makes me cry. (64 eps)

5. FLCL

I honestly don’t even know where to start with this show because it has the unique property of being the only show I have ever seen that I have literally no problems with. Not even nitpicks. There is nothing wrong with this show; it’s perfect. The only reason it’s not number 1 is because some other shows have more ideas or more fleshed out characters. So this arthouse spastic comedy is about a boy who is disappointed with all of the adults in his life, then some chick hits him in the face with a guitar and giant robots from a secret facility start coming out of his head. It’s fucking wild and has like 30 different aesthetics and I love all of them. It’s the best looking show I’ve ever seen and one of the best directed. It feels like someone read a really weird poem and turned it into a 6 episode show. It’s funny, it’s emotional, it’s cartoony, it’s beautiful, it’s raunchy, it’s poetic, it’s silly, it’s creative, and it’s got strong themes. The wtf visuals, the nonsensical plot, and the amazing soundtrack make an aesthetic experience more than anything. (6 eps)

4. Princess Tutu

I already made a post about this show and why it’s good, which you can check out here, but the gist is it’s a meta fairytale about a duck that turns into a girl to help a storybook prince find his emotions. I used to love stories that were “twists on fairytales” or whatever, but after watching this show I realized that the genre is pretty derivative. This show is so amazing it honestly made me reevaluate an entire genre and come to the conclusion that this is the only member of that genre worth watching. It’s truly creative and well crafted with fantastic characters. (26 eps)

3. Hunter x Hunter (2011)

This show is basically a bunch of creative ideas, unique set pieces, and interesting characters stacked on top of each other in a trench coat disguised as a narrative. It’s about a perky shonen protagonist and a child assassin becoming friends while also trying to become hunters (a position involving vast wealth and adventure). It’s in a modern fantasy setting so literally anything can happen. In one arc they have to play life-or-death dodgeball against robots, and another is an insanely epic tale about the intense evil that people are capable of (feat. a 25 episode climax). I can’t even talk about all of the themes or ideas because there are just too many. Because of it’s wild, sprawling story, it has a lot of ass pulls and retcons, but in the grand scheme of things they don’t really matter. It’s long, but super easy to watch in huge chunks. (148 eps)

2. Neon Genesis Evangelion and The End of Evangelion

The most efficient way to describe this show is to say that it’s the most interesting show ever made. It’s about an apocalyptic future in which emotionally disturbed teenagers must pilot giant bio-machines to fight monsters which are referred to as angels. It’s got deep characters, a creative story, and is probably the most well directed show I’ve ever seen. The ending infamously fell apart due to production problems, so there’s a movie called The End of Evangelion to conclude the story. It’s a very disturbing arthouse movie, so watch out for that, but the show as a whole is moooosssstly more straightforward and fascinating, This is an absolute must watch. (26 eps and 1 movie)

1. Baccano!

Baccano! takes place in 1930s New York, and is about thieves, gangsters, criminals, terrorists, alchemists, and immortals interacting in this nonlinear comedy/action thrill ride. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster while watching this show. It’s the perfect blend of action, comedy, romance, drama, horror, and creative storytelling. It’s fantastic to rewatch since the first episodes barely make any sense without context (but are still an absolute joy to watch). It’s got great characters and it’s a great story. Go watch it. And then watch it again. (13 eps and 3 OVAs)

That’s it for this list! Check out my MAL page for more recommendations if you’re interested and have a great night!

#neon genesis evangelion #hunter x hunter #fmab #higurashi no naku koro ni #trigun #flcl #princess tutu #baby steps #paranoia agent #baccano!#not kuro

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eggheadsguidetorunning · 6 years

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Top Ten Films I saw in @)!&

10.) Last Jedi/It

I enjoyed Last Jedi, I think half of you will agree with that statement and another half will not where as the rest will not have even read this. But I did enjoy Last Jedi the use of space battles were awesome, the fight seen with Luke amazing, Lelia surviving in space weird. And that is the kind of problem with this Star Wars movie there are many great scenes but then there is something just off, something that doesn’t work at all. In the end this has just enough great moments to keep me loving it and interested in the next Star Wars, which I was probably already invested in.

Considering another movie It was a enjoyable movie. It, that being the pronoun not the title although I guess it could still be the title I mean it works both ways NO focus Matt, had some great moments of friendship and development of strikingly relatable characters. At the same time there were for almost every two great moments some moments that were simply off. Like really, why did you decide to give a chain and a wife beater to the abusive dad after he decides to chase his daughter I mean at this point we already no he is bad news and is that also supposed to show that anyone who wears a chain and wife beater is suspicious for being abusive? I mean it is really nitpicking but that one net pick left me confused, I don’t know why it just did, for the rest of the movie which is still enjoyable. And since that is more of a personal scene that isn't right for the rest how about that rock throwing scene wasn't that odd?

In the end both these movies present a similar problem they are both here for nostalgic appeal and while being good enjoyable movies are weighed down by the few poor decisions they make. And if you don’t like a tie the bad news is that Star Wars wins the war of nostalgia for me because I still have memorized the sequence for the battle of yavin IV.

9.) Captain Underpants

This movie confused me when I first saw it but the good kind of confusion. I was in awe of the fact that this movie, of all the Hollywood movies that were adapted from comics or books, this one this one for some reason decided to follow its source material precisely. Even with what it added seemed like something that could easily be added to and make sense in the source material. Like I could totally see George and Harold doing a parody of Handles Messiah when they found out a villain had a funny name. But this still led me to a question why Captain Underpants? As much as I enjoyed this movie why did this get a proper adaptation? I thought maybe I was reaching when I watched a critic I like talking about this movie and halfway through he stopped talking about Captain Underpants and started talking about the cartoons he drew as a kid. I having no artistic talent and barely even being able to write well, you are probably already tired of all the gramma mistakes I have made through this piece you probably also hate my jokes, didn’t write or make any comics as a kid but I did read many of the comics my friends and siblings wrote. That is when I realized the movie perfectly shows that feeling and care of being young and doodling stories in your notes and I put it here for that, also it is funny movie.

8.) Wonder Woman

This movie is awesome even with the beard helmet I love its use of Christiania to help get across the story of Greek mythology to a wider audience. I love the characteristics of Wonder Woman doing everything to help and the badass fighting scenes I love that the people without super powers help and make a difference. I don’t know what else to say without out spoiling it if you haven’t seen it see it this is the movie that will hopefully lead to more blockbusters with female heroes. Jeeze, it’s almost like if you make the movie more about the hero instead of the gender of the hero then it becomes a better movie who would have thunk it. Talking to you 1990s.

7.) Murder on Orient Express

The thing is these are turning into reviews and the general thought for this top ten should be: DUDE!!! you need to see these movies! And should say only that letting you go in cold I bring that up because putting a mystery on your list is not a good thing because there isn’t much for me to talk about because I don’t want to spoil anything. That being said I can say the portrayal Hercule Pirot is amazing the character is interesting in a manner I haven’t seen in a while. No not Sherlock Holmes interesting his own kind of interesting, I really hope we see more of him in the future.

6.) Disaster Artist

You’re tearing me apart James Franco. I mean this movie is still great despite the character of the actor playing a person with questionable character. In fairness this is a movie that needs to be seen in honor of not the room or tommy but because of Greg Sestero. This guy puts up with so much shit and forgives so much he needs to be a role model. Man he is such a good person just for putting up with this, go see this movie.

5.) Coco

Coco is a story about family and the necessity of letting family be free of family. It is about tradition and about not letting traditions being tie one down and most importantly is about forgiveness. It is a complex use of more contradicting themes that I am not smart enough to notice, but it still feels lacking. I think what weights it down to only number five on this list is that it seems too Disney it seems like the villain is too evil the ending is too happy, even for Pixar which had a string of bitter sweet endings. Of course the sweet ending makes sense I guess since that same problem hit Zootopia last year. In the end many won't care about that as Coco is still a stellar movie and the way it uses Hispanic culture is mesmerizing.

4.) The Shape of Water

This movie is great. Like it is great fun I can't think of a award chasing movie that is as much fun as this one is. Everything happens in this movie EVERYTHING. Here's a slight list of things that happen in this movie, still trying to keep spoilers to a minimum so bare with the brevity, this movie is a comedy, an intrigue plot movie, a romance, a realism movie, a fantasy, a freaking musical, and a scam artist movie Ocean Eleven style. When I think of this movie I can only think of how fun it is which is why I want this movie to be the movie that wins gold for sucking Hollywoods cock if anything has to win it. I know Post will win but I want this one to.

3.) Guardians of the Galaxy 2

Maybe this should be four but naaahh, with more time to develop and grow the characters we loved from the first Guardians Guardians 2 is able to push and to develop these characters as well as develop and add more characters too develop. Plus I’m a complete and total sucker for a movie that provides a awesome soundtrack and then uses that soundtrack. I love this space rock opera I want more.

2.) Detroit

Leaving fun town next stop depression valley. Honestly the only real reason Detroit isn’t number one is because I didn’t see it in theaters I saw it on dvd, speaking of it’s the only reason John Wick 2 isn’t on this list. But Detroit is a horror movie I want to watch again and again because this is the type of movie that keeps me up at night staring at the ceiling hating myself and the world around me. It makes me use my mind to try and justify a world were this could even happen. Secondly this movie forces me to think from a perspective that I literally can never understand and offers a true piece of understanding with it. This is a movie that I can say changed me, maybe only a little, maybe a lot but it did change me.

2b.) Logan

I know I’m cheating but a lot of good movies came out this year so I’m going to cheat just this year. Don’t get confused this is 2b and is under Detroit its more like 3a I guess but still I maybe shouldn’t have put Logan on here because I almost forgot about it. But almost forgetting about it has more to do with it coming out so early in the year. It would be wrong to leave out an adult a truly adult version of wolverine and in many extent the X-men as a whole. This movie is fantastic in everything it does and I want more way more movies in the future to follow its example. We can have more smart adult super hero movies.

1.)Baby Driver

Like I said earlier I’m a sucker for a good soundtrack paired with great action. I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie and left with an adrenaline rush. The idea of making a movie in which one can only hear what the main character hears is extraordinary and someone else must have thought of it and I got to see that whatever it is even if it is bad. This movie is hype this movie is exhilarating this movie is insane. Let me put it this way in the first 6 min if the movie decided to end after this I would have seen everything I needed to see and this movie kept going from there delivering more than that. Baby this is a SWEEET movie!

#top ten #top 10 #movies #baby driver #Star Wars #last jedi #it #Critic #guardians of the galaxy #Captin Underpants #captain underpants #coco #detroit #the disaster artist

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in-defense-of-the-horror · 7 years

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American Horror Story Hotel: A Rant Continued

Yesterday I posted my thoughts on AHS: Roanoke, because it was terrible and all my anger was eating me up inside. I thought that would be the end of it, but I was wrong.

@colonelcaribou was curious as to my thoughts on Hotel, and so I’m here to present you with more ranting about American Horror Story (something that I’m always more than happy to do, by the way.)

SPOILER WARNING: Like my last AHS rant, this is intended for people who have already seen the season in question, this time Hotel.

Let’s just go ahead and start this off with one of my favorite things; unpopular opinions. Hotel is actually my personal favorite season of American Horror Story. While I don’t think it’s as good as Murder House from a critical standpoint, the strengths from the season all play to my preferences whereas the weaknesses are issues that I seem to have with every season of the show - making it the most enjoyable for me to watch. That being said, it’s the only season (excluding Roanoke) that I’ve only seen one time, and I’m probably the least familiar with it.

While it is my favorite season - it’s far from perfect. Since this is a rant, I’m going to start by talking about the things that drove me crazy.

I think one of the aspects that bothered me most throughout the season was Chloë Sevigny’s portrayal of the grieving mother Alex Lowe. I can see where she was going with the role, the under-played emotions were meant to illustrate the detachment and depression that her character is experiencing (at least, that’s what I got out of it.) However, it led to me feeling like many parts of the story regarding her character were bland at best. The fact that the only real emotion I remember her distinctly expressing was anger (which was often misguided, misplaced, or exaggerated) tipped the scales toward me actively disliking her character. This was a big issue that I had with what was an otherwise great subplot.

Before I move away from the Lowe family too much, it’s also worth nothing that I took issue with some character design choices for the small son, Holden Lowe. This sounds like nitpicking, and maybe it is, but could they have made the kid any creepier? It would be one thing if that was part of the story all the way through - or if they had made him look more like a normal kid in the flashbacks at least, but I actually found it really distracting. With the long, wispy, white blond hair, the pale skin, and his mother’s vacant expression - this kid was legitimately the most terrifying part of the season in my opinion, and it kind of sucks that I don’t think it was intentional.

Now let’s talk about James Patrick March.

Don’t get me wrong, I thought he was an interesting character. His design was great, Evan Peters did a fantastic job playing him, but his name bothered me. It’s not the first time that American Horror Story has changed the name of a character or even a historical figure being portrayed on the show - and I can see why they wouldn’t want to flat out say that this character was H. H. Holmes. After all, the Hotel Cortez was an amalgamation of many different locations, and it wasn’t even located in the same state as the infamous “Murder Mansion” that Holmes built in Chicago. Using the name of the actual killer would have been spreading a wild amount of misinformation, and considering the amount of liberties they had to take with the character’s history, could have been seen as pretty insensitive.

It makes sense that they would choose a new name for him and just use Holmes as inspiration (like they did with the Briarcliff Institute in Asylum) but there was one episode where it started bother me; Devil’s Night. In a room with the spirits of the most notorious serial killers, the fact that H. H. Holmes had been replaced with James Patrick March meant that he obviously couldn’t be at the soiree, since he was, in a way, hosting it. It’s a small enough detail, but it’s one that got on my nerves while I was watching, and as I’m typing this out I realize it really stuck with me.

That small issue is also a great transition into Devil’s Night, which was my least favorite episode and, as far as I saw it, the worst part of the season.

Let’s say for a moment that I buy into the premise of serial killer ghosts having dinner together annually on the one night of the year where they have physical form on this plane (which for the record, I don’t.) Let’s also say that the ghost of not H. H. Holmes was somehow a mentor to all these serial killers from all over the country, and that somehow makes sense. The execution was still very flawed. The whole scene was over the top, the dialogue felt very forced, and what the fuck was going on with the Zodiac killer?

Like, okay, I get that we don’t have enough information to do an accurate depiction of the Zodiac killer, but I feel like there were a lot of better alternatives than to making him look like the world’s worst Monty Python and the Holy Grail cosplayer (did anyone else get that impression from his outfit, or was it just me?) Much like my issue with Roanoke where they failed to give me an answer to an actual, historical mystery that they decided to bring to screen, I feel like there were a lot of ways to go.

Zodiac could have been just a regular guy whose name wasn’t mentioned. Could have been a regular woman whose name wasn’t mentioned. They could have created a name (like they did with James Patrick March.) He could have been Ted Cruz - which would have been the best use of a meme on television. He could have, and this is crazy, not been there at all. I think that would have been my top choice, actually, because from what we do know of the Zodiac killer, what are the chances he would attend an event like that anyway? I feel like the most elegant solution to the dilemma would have been to have a place-setting at the table for him (with the symbol on it of course) and then to have slipped a line in there about how he never shows.

There were some other issues throughout the season, but these are the ones that really stuck with me, and that I’m still thinking about a year after watching it. So, with all these complaints, you’re probably wondering why this is my favorite season. Unlike Roanoke, Hotel had a lot of redeemable moments and now I’m going to transition into some more positive ranting.

For one, the ambiance was great. The set was stunning, the cinematography was gorgeous, and hands down this was the season with the best sound track. (They got my favorite She Wants Revenge song AND my favorite Eagles song in the pilot, how awesome is that?)

There was an excellent use of body horror throughout the season, from the grisly killings committed to represent the ten commandments to the flashback where Sally sews herself to her friends. I think more than any other season the visuals really stuck with me.

While I have already brought up some problems I had with certain casting decisions - there were a lot of fantastic choices also made in that regard. I was surprised by just how talented Lady Gaga was in her role as The Countess, Kathy Bates continued to impressed, I think Sally was one of Sarah Paulson’s most intriguing and well-played characters. Let’s also not forget about the amazing supporting cast in this season. While there were countless characters in the Hotel Cortez that were wonderful, I don’t think any of them stand out as much as Liz Taylor.

In addition to being beautifully designed, perfectly portrayed and having a fascinating backstory that contrasts with the darker themes in the rest of the season, Liz Taylor was possibly the best instance of representation in the season - perhaps in the entire show. While the Countess also offers some LGBTQ representation, I was deeply moved by the mature way they dealt with having a transgender character recur throughout the season.

They addressed Iris not being comfortable with Liz due to her own ignorance, and she was upfront about how she didn’t know how to ask. Liz, a strong woman confident in her identity is happy to set the record straight, even though it means sharing about a time in her life before she had that confidence.

That flashback scene also shows The Countess in a softer light as she helps Liz embrace who she was meant to be and acknowledging her as a woman before the rest of the world did. She pushes Liz to come out as a woman, and when she sees that she’s pushing too hard, tones it down and suggests a smaller, more manageable step. Maybe she didn’t handle being an ally the best, but the fact that she realized she was trying to force someone to do too much too fast and backed down showed a side of her character that was unexpected, especially considering her unflinchingly dominant personality.

Where I thought Liz really shined though, was after that when she’s in bed with Tristan. Tristan is surprised that he’s fallen for Liz because “he’s not gay.” Liz is quick to assert her gender and set him straight. “You’re not gay for being with me. I’m a girl. I’m a hetero girl.”

There’s one last big thing that made me really appreciate this season, and that was the mythology. Those of you who have been following me awhile know that I am tougher on vampire stories than I am on just about anything else. It’s partially because I got burnt out on it, but I also feel like a lot of vampire mythology is poorly executed and overly romanticized. If I had known there would be vampires in the season, I might not have even wanted to watch it - but I’m so glad I did.

There are a lot of vampire romances in Hotel, but at the same time I feel like they weren’t glorified. At no point did I feel like the show was trying to sell me on the concept of eternal love through a vampyric virus. On the contrary I think it illustrates how the undead are in many ways lonelier than they ever were as humans. The relationships aren’t born out of romance, they’re born out of the lust that comes with the vitality of everlasting youth, and that’s how it was depicted.

All in all I felt like this was a much more realistic take on vampires. They’re less idealistic and in a way the idea of vampires being more human is a lot scarier than the alternative. They’re not dangerous because they’re monsters, but rather because they have the same wants and needs that we all have, but amplified. Not only does it make the prospect of them existing more plausible, it makes the idea of becoming one much less appealing - which is exactly how it should be.

The undead (the ghosts and vampires both) were glamorous, but that beauty was always matched with such clear suffering.

I have a lot more that I could probably say about the show, and about this season in particular, but this hits most of my big points about it. While it’s not perfect, there were a lot of things that made me enjoy the story.

In fact, writing this up, I think I’ve talked myself into re-watching the season to see if it holds up.

#american horror story #ahs #american horror story hotel #ahs hotel #ahs rant #rant #ranting #american horror story rant #american horror story hotel rant #hotel rant

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