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artist-issues · 2 months

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Forgive me if you've already discussed it, but what's your opinion of "Brave?"

I want to like it, but somehow (I haven't taken the time to analyze it) it doesn't quite fit together. The story is much more about the mother learning and growing than about Merida. I actually didn't like Merida very much.

No it’s okay, I actually haven’t ever discussed Brave, and I haven’t watched it or analyzed it in a long while. So forgive me, I’ll analyze while I verbalize, so this might be a little all over the place, but your observations give me a starting place!

It definitely isn’t my favorite Pixar movie, but I don’t think it’s a poorly made movie, either.

I will say it’s not true that it’s much more about Queen Elinor learning and growing than Merida does, (but I can see why you’d come away with that.) I think the movie actually does a really intentional job of showing them both, equally, learning and growing toward one another’s points of view. Way better than Turning Red did, anyway.

I mean, for example, they parallel each other’s “hypothetical argument.” They’re both struggling to communicate with the other. The first act is Merida being taught by Elinor, unwillingly. The second act is Elinor being taught (how to fish and survive) in the woods, at first unwillingly. Then she learns to trust Merida knows better and follows Merida’s lead to survive out there. Just like, when she enters the Great Hall and is ready to give up control of her fate for keeping the peace, you see that Merida has finally learned to follow her mom’s lead as a Princess, too. They go back-to-back, and learn almost equally.

I would put it like this: Merida learns that Queen Elinor was right all along—AND she learns more about who Queen Elinor is and how to understand her. On the flip side, Queen Elinor just learns more about who Merida is and how to communicate with her.

So that’s much better than a movie that says, “hey the mom is wrong and should let her daughter do whatever she wants, I guess.”

In general, the story is about a mom who wants her daughter to fulfill her fate, because it’s what’s best for her—but the daughter doesn’t want to follow anybody’s lead, and thinks she needs to get as far away from being traditional as possible.

Here, I’ll try to dive into it.

Queen Elinor knows that tradition is important, because she understands the lessons hidden in those traditions. The Princess sacrifices her own independence as a symbol of unity for the kingdom, by marrying one of the lord’s sons. She’s not just a symbol of unity—she’s a symbol of peace, wherever she goes. Clean, tidy, on time, never ruffled, in a world full of brutish hairy men who’s favorite pastime is killing each other. That’s what Queen Elinor knows is important. For the big picture. For everyone, including Merida.

And she’s right. A Queen’s selflessness saves her people.

But. Trying to force a Princess who doesn’t understand or believe in that lesson to do it anyway is no good either. You can’t force a leader to live by principals they don’t believe in. When you do, you get Mor’du, the demon Prince.

So there’s this balance. Yes, Merida, you’re fated, by birth, to lead and be a shining beacon of hope and peace in a war-torn land. That’s a good thing. But you can only be that leader and beacon when you’ve accepted it.

Queen Elinor doesn’t start out twitch that balance. She’s just trying to force Merida into her fate. Why? It’s the age-old struggle of parenting: you know what’s best for your kid, so you try to get them into that safe-zone as fast as possible. But they don’t get it, so they buck and kick and you decide “I don’t care if you don’t get it, I’m going to force it on you because it’s what’s best.” And you know where that attitude, of “you’ll do it, and I don’t care how you feel about it” comes from?

Fear. Fear that if your kid is given an inch to argue, buck, kick, run away, that they’ll run right out of your control into danger.

And what’s the movie called?

Brave.

And Merida doesn’t want to be a Princess because…”I’m not ready for this.” Fear. What’s Merida afraid of? Her own fate. She’s not fated to be an adventurer, she’s fated to be a Princess. She just has a wrong idea of what that means.

And they both think that they know, not only what’s best, but where the other person is wrong. Just like how Prince Mor’du thought he knew that he could be a better leader on his own than with his family. Both stem from pride. Which “tore the bond” of their love for each other.

Because—and now we’re back to their broken relationship, which is the real story here—

Queen Elinor and Merida can’t communicate with that pride, that false image of who the other person is and what they supposedly want, in the way. So it takes Queen Elinor getting out of her comfort zone and into Merida’s (the wild) to understand that Merida can survive and choose what’s right, on her own, and doesn’t need to do it Queen Elinor’s way. It also took Merida getting out of her comfort zone and into her mother’s (having to stop a fight between warring lords because her mom’s not around to do it, which is a snapshot of her future) to understand what her mother has always been saying.

Basically, the scene where she sees Mor’Du’s story is true is where Merida changes and grows the most as a character. Because that’s her suddenly realizing that her mom was right. And that’s a really good allegory for growing up and parenting. You can tell your kid all the right things and teach them all the right lessons, but at some point, it has to become real to them on their own.

It’s even neat because that scene is shot with Merida down in “the cave of discovery, “ while her mom is where?

Watching from afar. Not in there with her.

So yeah, those are my disheveled thoughts on Brave. It’s a good movie. It does feel like something about the actual events in the movie are a little lackluster—to be honest, the scenes where Merida is teaching her mom in the woods come to mind. I mean, on paper, all she’s really doing is teaching her to fish and do something a little unladylike. And then to calmly wait for the Wisps to appear instead of chasing them down. The events aren’t as…deep or attention grabbing as I think they could’ve been. But that’s okay, because it still gets the point across.

Thanks for asking!

#Brave #Pixar’s Brave #Pixar #Disney Pixar #Disney #Merida #princess Merida #Mor’du #analysis #character analysis #meta #Scotland #storytelling

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affixjoy · 4 months

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Star Trek Into Darkness was the movie of today, and it continued the new trek tradition of being not nearly as good as the originals 💀💀

Look, it’s still fun to watch! In my post about arguing with my husband about Kirk Drift this is the movie that led to our infamous dispute over whether Star Trek or Star Wars is the better franchise. So clearly I liked it a lot then, and there’s still plenty to like about it now.

But!!! Now I’ve watched all of TOS and the six og cast movies, so I know how good this story and these characters can be. And it can be so much better than this.

Some thoughts and gifs

💫 I love Kirk and Uhura bitching about Spock. They’re definitely the two people closest to him on this ship, and they’re going to have big feelings about the way he acts.

💫 The Kirk Drift was still an issue here, wasn’t it? I’ve read plenty of fic where Jim sleeping around in this time period works well, but I didn’t like the way he tried to stop and flirt with the random women at Starfleet, or with Carol Marcus. If he’s going to be a slut he needs to be sweet about it, not creepy.

💫And speaking of Carol Marcus… she was fine. I get why they included her, but she doesn’t quite work here for me. It’s the same thing as the 2009 movie where they want to reference all the history and weight of the characters but because they’re so young it just isn’t the same. Carol worked so well for me in WoK because she and Kirk shared an emotional history and David. Here she’s just a random crew member he flirts with until the reveal that she’s an admiral’s daughter. She’s fine.

💫 Chris Pine tried to do the heart eyes at Spock a few times and I am 100% here for that.

💫 This look Spock gives Kirk reminds me a lot of the look Kirk gives Spock in Amok Time. I don’t know if they did that on purpose but I liked it 😅

💫 I wish we had gotten a little more of Bones with both Kirk and Spock. Not enough of all three of them together here for me!

💫 I’m glad we got a few good moments though, like this part of them arguing. Any time Bones and Spock agree Jim has to pay a little extra attention.

💫 Too much running, too many guns. Those are my biggest complaints.

💫 The reactor scene. Okay, I get what they’re trying to do! It’s very emotional. On some levels it works! But… I just watched Wrath of Khan a few weeks ago. There just can’t be the history or the tenderness between them that is in that movie. It isn’t possible with how young they are and where they are in their relationship. It’s still good, but not great.

💫 Overall I really liked Spock’s arc here. He’s struggling with a lot of stuff and coming to terms with his feelings for Jim. I wish they had actually had him break up with Uhura, but I love his growth here. Quinto does a great job selling it.

Fine movie, really suffers in comparison to the original, but it’s still worth a watch.

#spirk #star trek #star trek into darkness #star trek aos #movie review

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pillow-anime-talk · 9 months

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{♡} 4k followers special ; CLOSED!

Hello everyone! On the occasion of 4000 followers at my account, I decided to make a small special! This is a ‘Quote Prompts Special’ where the sentences will have an impact on the plots! Some of them will be SFW or suggestive and some will be NSFW! I hope you all will like my ideas just like before! I was doing something quite similar around the time I hit 1000 followers i.e. ‘Kissing Prompts’! For a next month (August) I will receive your requests and write them one by one :)

I. How to send a request?

Choose the number and one character you like (if the prompt looks like it has two or more characters then add more than one name). You can also give me your pronouns (if you don’t, I’ll write the story in neutral form!). Also! The examples below are just examples. You can write which ones you are interested in or leave me the right to choose. When it comes to NSFW prompts, you can tell me what you definitely don’t want to see!

for example: ‘10 + Poseidon from RoR + pregnant female reader’ or ‘ 33 with Sakura Haruno and reader with he/they prns’ or ‘Dio Brando and Joseph Joestar plus 53 but without cheating’

{!} Then send your request to my request/ask box.

II. Please be patient! I will write each request one by one.

{!!} Also, here are my Masterlist and MyAnimeList account to see what I would like to write! I am happy to write about characters who don’t have their lists yet, such as ‘Yakusoku no Neverland’, ‘Beastars’, ‘number24’, ‘Oshi no Ko’, ‘Kaguya-sama: Love is War’, ‘Blue Lock’, ‘Vanitas no Karte’ or anything else rated higher than 5 on my MAL.

sfw prompts;

for example – fluff, comedy, crack fic, school/college!au, kid!fic or family!fic and also pet!fic, isekai, turning into a child or animal, royalty, cute romance, friendship, idols or streamers or models!au (etc.), internet friends/lovers, flower/coffee shop!au, enemies/friends to lovers, love at the first sight, soulmates!au (colors, tattoos, red thread), song!fic, pranking someone, sharing a bed, staring at the stars, date!au, soft angst (like first quarrel, misunderstanding, wrong number), mention of crying, pregnancy/marriage, gender swap, [...]

1. “Let’s watch some movies from Studio Ghibli (or Disney, or Pixar)!”

2. “... Do you want to stay with me for the night?”

3. “Are we gonna fight? Like fist to fist or rather... lips to lips?”

4. “Shut up, I’m listening to Big Time Rush.”

5. “... but I love your sister/brother.”

6. “Haven’t we met before?”

7. “You’re so dumb!”

“No? You’re dumb.”

8. “Bring your ass over here. I wanna some cuddles (or kisses).”

9. “Why did you do that?”

10. “I’d kill for you.”

11. “I– I like both of you...”

12. “But we are not married.”

“Then marry me.”

13. “Look into my eyes and tell me that you’re not lying. Do it, I am waiting.”

14. “Need some help, shortie?”

15. “Wow, I didn’t know that you could play on the instrument.”

16. “I haven’t been feeling well for the past few days...”

17. “The princess/prince shouldn’t wait, you know?”

18. “I have some good news and some bad news too...”

19. “I’m pregnant.”

20. “Why are not you listening to me?

... I’m very lucky to have you, you know?”

suggestive prompts;

for example – romance, making out, soft smut (including first time, masturbation, oral sex, body worship, general vanilla, etc.), angst, single parent or orphan!au, supernatural things (like demons, vampires, werewolves, zombies, fairies, etc.), dysphoria & misgendering, -shaming in general, diseases (like ed, amnesia, hanahaki), lovers to friends/enemies, mention of blood/vomit/faint, miscarriage, fake relationship, tattoos and piercing, bruises and scars on body, domestic or relationship violence, alcohol consumption, sexual harassment, [...]

21. “You’re drunk.”

“... But you’re drunk too.”

22. “You’re so ugly.”

“Yeah, I know that.”

23. “This is my b-blood?”

23. “Goodbye.”

24. “I’m a monster! Can’t you see it?!”

25. “It’s just a prank! Stop, please!”

26. “It’s not that I hate you, but if you were on fire and I had a bottle of water, I would drink that stupid water.”

27. “You look beautiful. This color suits you so well.”

28. “Stop being a brat.”

29. “Please! Please, don’t leave me!”

30. “Stop talking such nonsense, it’s not true!”

31. “Don’t cry.”

32. “Its all my fault...”

33. “Let’s stay like this forever, please.”

34. “Don’t touch me!”

35. “Haha, look at them. What a freak!”

36. “Your partner won’t catch us... What are you afraid of?”

37. “I don’t think they love me anymore.”

38. “You love flowers, right?

Yes... I love flowers very much.”

39. “No! It hurts, stop, please!”

40. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

nsfw prompts;

for example – hard angst, death (including suicide, murder, accident), mental illness, hard smut (including normal sex, non-con/rape or dub-con, hurt-comfort; 69, size kink, voyeurism, breeding, food play, etc.), ons, bdsm, threesome or gang bang, sex pollen, public or semi-public sex, cheating, manipulation or grooming, age-gap, police!au and law court!au, general abuse, a/b/o, gore or horror, monsters, guns and illegal racing, drugs or alcohol abuse, other triggers, [...]

41. “Of course. I am yours. Only yours.”

42. “... You wanna fuck me so bad it makes you look stupid.”

43. “It was an a-accident, I swear...”

44. “Do you have anything else to say, fuckdoll?”

45. “Should I fuck you? So beg for it.”

46. “I hate myself, you, this life and everything else!”

47. “Yes, I did it on purpose. Any problem?”

48. “They were such a good person. Too bad they died.”

49. “I told you this is how it ends.”

50. “S-Stop. Someone is looking at us.”

51. “Maybe in the next life we will be in love. Who knows?”

52. “I’m so scared. I don’t want to die.”

53. “Wanna join?”

54. “I’ll kill you next time.”

55. “You really think someone like me would love someone like you?”

56. “It was my sister/brother!”

57. “What the fuck are you two doing?!”

58. “Please, leave me alone. Stop... Stop...”

59. “I wonder why they did it.”

60. “See? Not everything is like in a fairy tale.”

navi | status | masterlist | rules | ko-fi

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thistleation · 4 months

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I’m so obsessed with your eldritch space fic, I just can’t get it out of my head! I swear I catch myself thinking about it at least once per day. It’s got me really wanting to finally get into sci-fi media again and I’m wondering if you happen to have any recommendations?

Oh wow.

Damn.

Okay well first of all, holy shit, thank you!

I knew BoSaS was well liked by a handful of people, but until now I didn't think anyone besides me belonged in the "thinks about it daily category" 😭💖

As for sci-fi recs... well this is going to be a bit scattershot.

I've honestly not really kept up with recent sci-fi due to over a decade of major depression and not having my shit together, and I'm not a huge fan of a lot of the sci-fi that comes out these days in visual media, so I'm trying to make some time to read some of the sci-fi stories of recent years, but again, that's a work in progress, so can't really rec much in that regard.

First things first though, if you like Beyond our Space and Starlight, I absolutely have to rec luminous beings by @daisychainsandbowties .

It's warrior nun, it's star wars, it's got the suffering and the crying and the patented Cas poetic beauty amid the despair. It's SO fucking good and if you've not read it (and its companion pieces in the same setting) you absolutely gotta.

And also before I go any further, shouting out the Bifrost Incident which @the-darkness-does-not-bargain so kindly introduced me to. (don't look up anything about it, just listen). I assume that the main motivation behind you asking is something along the lines of "what kind of sci-fi was the inspiration behind this?" To which I'd have to say it's a mix that's a little eclectic and mainly old.

But let's talk about them because why not:

First off, the biggest influence is probably the original Star Wars trilogy, with dashes of the prequel trilogy.

I could write an essay about this, but I guess I could condense my opinion on Star Wars (and its relation to BoSaS) very simplified into something like: "Yes! You SHOULD bring swords and myth/magic into sci-fi... no, not quite like that!"

Rogue One brought it back and did it pretty well. (Only truly good recent Star Wars movie) I'd also draw from other sci-fi classics like the original Alien movies, the first two Terminators and Blade Runner.

Not to be all "the original is always better," but I feel like an issue with a lot of modern sci-fi is that the setting is too effaced, it lacks story and it's just a vehicle for spectacle. I like sci-fi stories where space is BIG and scary, and being on a ship surrounded by millions upon millions of miles of vacuum, utterly hostile to life? That should feel a little claustrophobic! Or at least occasionally unsettling.

If you hit the original movies, you're more likely to catch more of the vibe of the setting itself being an important character in the story, which to me is an essential aspect of my favourite kind of sci-fi content.

Okay this is getting long, let's go over the rest faster.

Ghost in the Shell

The original movie and the Stand Alone Complex (second season especially).

This is probably one of my biggest formative experiences on my "didn't realize they were trans at the time" adolescent brain.

High concept, transhumanism, guns, fast action, and enough of a spiritual/philosophical vibe to keep it from getting bland.

Then in a similar vein of physical dissociation and occasional body horror, but you want it to be even more fucked up?

Battle Angel Alita/Gunnm

The original run in particular. This along with Ghost in the Shell was what shaped my interest in sci-fi around my adolescence. I liked how both weren't afraid to introduce philosophical, almost spiritual and mythological elements to their futuristic stories.

Ghost in the Shell especially is like, the powers of mythical creatures, achieved through technology, and it leans into that and so you get an almost spiritual experience as an end result.

This story gets fucked up at times, but it's beautiful and heart wrenching all the same.

Prey

In contrast to my "watch the originals" statement of earlier, this is a recent predator movie that's actually good.

Thorgal

Okay this one isn't sci-fi, but I'm adding it to the list because this takes my love of adding magical/fantasy elements to sci-fi, but from the other direction: a story of a viking outcast, featuring gods and mythical creatures, but ALSO sci-fi elements as the lead character is of a race of spacefaring human(oids?)

Again, the first 20-odd books especially.

A powerhouse of the classic Franco-Belgian comics, nothing quite like it.

It's getting late and this is getting long, if any mutuals wanna tag on their recs for weird and not-so-weird sci-fi, please feel free.

#fic: BoSaS #answered

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rmwb-fanfics · 11 months

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Sorry I'm a bit late to the party - what type of fanfiction do you write/currently write? You mentioned an RU fic?

Morning/evening/afternoon anon! Thank you for asking, hope you’re well.

Well, I write a lot of fanfiction, (Pirates of the Caribbean, Jurassic Park/World) but the only stuff I post is for Harry Potter.

I have two fics posted, both in a WIP state. There’s one other that I haven’t posted and I’m waiting to be finished before uploading, here is the list.

Available:

Regretfully Uncaring (RU)

My long fic. My baby. I looooove it with all my heart. Currently rewriting/editing the vast majority of it because this was really my first proper toe into creative writing, and as it’s gone on my skill set has improved considerably and, as I say in the summary on AO3, I want the story to be as accessible and enjoyable as it can be to the most amount of people.

It’s a werewolf fic, but it’s also a lot more than that. As the name implies it’s about regret. The name actually comes from something an addict I know told me, where when you’re hooked on something you regret your actions but you can’t get yourself to care. It’s about learning how to love again. It’s about acceptance, revolution. But really it’s about addiction. I say all that from the perspective of the author. It’s a ton of other things and my readers get different stuff out of it I’m sure.

It’s an ensemble cast story, so the perspective shifts quite a few times per chapter. I think there’s something like 20 characters that each lead a role at some point. Plenty of pairings, but the focuses are Harry/Ginny and Ron/Daphne. There’s time travel, there’s world building, the entire plot is essentially original and that’s why it’s my Bebe.

Because Regretfully Uncaring is a test run. Once the tournament concludes in chapter 28/29, it’s basically just a Harry Potter version of my original work that I poke away at. I want to make movies someday, and maybe Hollywood and general audiences as a whole will be more up to some original stories and less remakes/sequels because fuck I have so many ideas and this really is one of them.

FFN | AO3

Big thanks to @curse-04 and @muib92 who I can’t tag for some reason. Their genuine interest in what I’ve written has kept me going through so much, more than just writing. Even if you’re the same person with an alt account, I appreciate it.

A Short Life Full of Long Years (ASLFOLY)

Yeah so I don’t have as much to say about this one. Only reason it isn’t a one-shot is because my brain can’t just let things end so here we are. It’s a post-war soul bond fic, again: Harry and Ginny are the focus here. Together they go travelling in search of Andromeda and Teddy, who have gone into hiding in the muggle world somewhere in Europe. They have a vague map without any marked destinations, oh, and a vengeful Death is after Harry since his survival in the forest. I really wanted to explore what a soul bond post HBP/DH would look like, and I’ve enjoyed myself so far. Eventually, if I feel like it, they might become a secret agent duo. At the moment I have very little plan for this story, i just like writing it as it goes. People have loved it so far, so there’s that.

FFN | AO3

Biggest thanks to @fizzyginfizz for leaving the best review I’ve ever received on any story, let alone ASLFOLY. I still think about it.

So yeah that’s what’s uploaded, that’s what I tend to talk about. The stuff I won’t post is pretty simple.

My PotC fic is a follow up to the fifth film that explains Davy Jones and Jack’s actions in the Sea of Thieves portion of the story line. It’s pretty good and I’m thinking I might eventually post but there’s only like 20k words at the moment.

My Jurassic Park/World fic is just a rewrite of the latest film. Call me stupid or whatever but I was hella invested in the Jurassic story and I was looking forward to the conclusion/follow up after Fallen Kingdom. But *NO* they had to FUCK IT UP. Anyway it’s pretty damn good as a story but I will never ever post this one because no one is learning about my obsession for Jurassic Park that intimately.

Thank you for asking anon and sorry for rambling. Going to grammar edit this now, have a wonderful day.

#harry potter #harry x ginny #hinny #harry potter fanfiction #ron weasley #ginny weasley #pirates of the caribbean #jurassic park #jurassic world #fanfiction #anon answered

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masonuf · 2 months

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Post for 3/4

What happened in Akira was not at all what I expected from looking at the cover art of Kaneda with his bike. I was expecting the movie to be some post-war commentary where teenagers would protest against government corruption or something along those lines, but it took a completely different direction. Nevertheless, it was a really good watch! Now I understand why some of my high school friends thought so highly of it.

For the first half of the movie, I had no idea where the plot was leading. Everything felt kind of random and unexplained. I couldn’t quite decipher what message the movie was trying to signal. I did find the movie’s aesthetics to be very artistically unique, though. The surreal imagery that it uses to depict mental experiences was extremely well-done. It definitely reminded me of Neon Genesis Evangelion’s surrealism in many ways.

Then, halfway through the movie, I became more engaged with the movie once Tetsuo developed his psychic abilities. I thought, “Oh, so it’s about some kid who has hidden superpowers? Wasn’t expecting that, but… awesome!” Then, once Tetsuo started going mad and abusing his strength, I started to realize that the movie was pivoting towards signaling the consequential corruption of humans when they are handed too much power. Still, I was a big fan of his destructive outbreaks.

My interpretation of the end of the movie largely hinges on what Kei said to Kaneda in the prison cell: when amoebas are given human capabilities, they only consume and destroy because that’s the only thing that they’ve ever known how to do. What follows is that when humans are given godlike capabilities, their inherently human traits, such as selfishness and greed, consume them. So, at the end of the movie, when the three zombie kids realize that they can’t destroy Tetsuo’s humanity, they guide him to godhood, instead. Behaving like a god, Tetsuo uses his powers accordingly to create a universe. I still don’t know why they didn’t just do that to begin with, to be honest (I guess they didn’t have access to Akira’s remnants).

Anyway, the movie grew on me toward the end. I’m really glad it was selected as one of the class choices and I look forward to hearing what everyone else got out of it. Maybe there were some allusions to religious themes that I may have missed. Also, I finally understand where the signature Akira slide comes from now. I love how different animators have adapted it to their shows.

Image from https://hard-drive.net/news-games/the-wilhelm-scream-is-out-the-akira-bike-slide-is-in/.

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gardenofedenuniverse · 1 year

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Alexander Skarsgård: ‘There’s a politeness to Swedes. It’s a facade. Deep down we’re animals’

The actor talks about his new film, the explicit sci-fi horror Infinity Pool, why he gave up acting for eight years – and why he likes playing darker, more twisted characters.

Alexander Skarsgård: ‘I’m quite mellow in my disposition.’ Photograph: Charlie Clift

Alexander Skarsgård is an embarrassing creep who tries to coerce women into partying naked with him in hotel suites. Or so it would seem from the version of himself that he played last year in Donald Glover’s comedy Atlanta. “I’m not saying that I dance around in a leopard-print thong in front of girls I don’t know,” he says. “But I’m also not saying that I don’t. That kind of thing works really well when there’s a kernel of truth in it.”

This twinkling, teasing playfulness represents the default setting of the 46-year-old actor. His natural self-deprecation is what makes it so startling when he turns up on screen as another of the brutes and bastards that have become his speciality over the years. There was the violently abusive husband in the HBO series Big Little Lies and the violently abusive cop in War on Everyone; a racist in Passing and a rapist in the Straw Dogs remake, as well as a sad, moustachioed sleazeball who sleeps with his partner’s underage daughter in The Diary of a Teenage Girl. Eric, the vampire he played across all seven series of True Blood, was an absolute catch by comparison.

It could even be argued that Skarsgård looks lost or vague in those roles that don’t supply some darkness to temper his natural sheen. He was ferocious as a mud-caked proto-Hamlet in Robert Eggers’s wild Viking epic The Northman, but as the yodelling vine-swinger in The Legend of Tarzan, there was none of the usual depth present behind his beauty. Whereas his character in the new satirical horror Infinity Pool – directed by Brandon Cronenberg, son of David – is up to his disbelieving eyes in vanity, amorality and rancid privilege.

Skarsgård plays a novelist called James living off the wealth of his wife, Em (Cleopatra Coleman), and struggling to write a second book six years after his debut. In search of inspiration, he and Em visit a luxurious resort in an unnamed country. What begins as a taunting comedy about the awfulness of the 1% veers off into extremity when the couple fall in with the hedonistic Gabi (Mia Goth) and her partner, Alban (Jalil Lespert). All it takes for the impressionable James to be hooked by these reprobates is a few compliments from Gabi followed by a sex act shown in graphic detail. “My job is so hard,” the actor says with a smirk.

Cronenberg and Skarsgård are both the sons of talented men. (Skarsgård’s father is Stellan Skarsgård who, like him, is part of the Lars von Trier Cinematic Universe.) Director and actor also have a certain placid temperament in common. “There’s a politeness to Canadians and Swedes,” says Skarsgård. “But it’s all just a fucking facade. Deep down we’re animals. We’re just very good at concealing it.” He gestures at me. “Brits too. It’s all down there, though. You can just open the tap and let it out. That’s what this movie does.”

Even as the film descends into gruesome horror, Skarsgård remains committed to the idea of his character as a show pony with delusions of being a stallion. “James is arm candy. His wife buys him all these expensive clothes. The two of them look like something out of a travel brochure: the perfect couple on vacation. And he’s trying to play that part while wanting also to be this serious author. But he’s not a Charles Bukowski, he’s not tormented and twisted. He isn’t in touch with the darker side of his personality.”That changes when James finds himself facing the death penalty after accidentally killing a local farmer. He is assured by the police that there is a way out: for a hefty price, a clone of him can be created to take the fall on his behalf. This is no dumb beast, however; the sacrificial lamb will possess all his memories and feelings. It will, in effect, be indistinguishable from him. In a film featuring explicit sex and violence, there is still nothing quite as unnerving as the moment James encounters his own double as it wakes with a shocked gasp in a vat of red goo.

“The film company gave me a prosthetic of the clone’s face with all that goo round it,” he says, shaking his head. “It’s incredibly disturbing. What am I meant to do with it? Should I just hang it on the wall? Put it in the fridge?” He decided to go down the practical joke route. “When I have guests over, I’ll hide it in different places around the house.”

Would he take the clone option himself, I wonder? “One hundred per cent! I don’t blame James for going to the ATM. But it opens up other questions. If the clone retains all his memories, then how will he ever know that he is not the clone? Maybe they’re killing the real James. That fascinated me, and I love that there’s no answer in the movie. To throw another wrench in the works: maybe James has even been to the island already. Maybe he’s done this sort of thing before.”

These questions of authenticity, dilution and duplication are especially intriguing for an actor who proposed that twisted alternate version of himself in Atlanta, and who claims to suffer even now from impostor syndrome. Had you been present in 2008 on the set of Generation Kill, the HBO Iraq war mini-series written by the creators of The Wire and shot in Namibia, Mozambique and South Africa, you might have noticed him sitting off to one side between takes, quietly totting up figures with a pen and paper. “It was my first big job,” he explains. “I was so convinced they were going to fire me that I started calculating the cost of recasting the role once they realised I wasn’t good enough. A month or two in, I was still convinced that every time the phone rang, it was my agent saying: ‘Pack your bags, you’re not cutting it.’ It was only when we’d done some big battle scenes that I knew it would be too expensive to replace me.”

It wasn’t as if he has a history of flunking, though there was the job in the Stockholm bakery that he was sacked from at the age of 16. “We were dipping little biscuits in chocolate for six hours a day in a basement and that was the only thing we got to do,” he says pleadingly, as though mounting the case for his defence. “When you get chocolate on your fingers, it’s tempting to put little stains on your buddy’s white robes. That turned into a bit of a food fight.” He smiles bashfully. Chocolate wouldn’t melt in his mouth.

A few years earlier, he had abandoned a childhood acting career after feeling freaked out by all the attention he received. “When people recognised me, or I thought they did, it made me very uncomfortable. I also believed everything I heard about who I was. Most people at 13 have no idea who they are. I was going from a boy to a man, which is a crazy transformation anyway, but to do it while being in the spotlight was not healthy. That’s why I didn’t work for eight years.” What could he learn now as an actor from his younger self? “There was a lot of joy,” he says. “That makes me sound bitter now! But there was something innocent and lovely and wide-eyed. It’s worth remembering that it can still be a big silly game.”

On Becoming a God in Central Florida. Photograph: Everett Collection Inc/Alamy

His continuing appetite for comedy bears this out. He was a riot in the opening episode of On Becoming a God in Central Florida, where he played a dope who gets involved with a pyramid scheme before being eaten by an alligator. (His on-screen wife was Kirsten Dunst. For further proof that their marriages never end well, see Von Trier’s apocalyptic Melancholia.) He also goofs around gloriously in the new season of Documentary Now!, in which he stars as a Werner Herzog-esque director shooting an epic in the Urals while simultaneously showrunning a US network comedy pilot called Bachelor Nanny. “I’ve met Herzog a few times over the years, but I don’t know if he’s seen this yet,” he says, slightly sheepishly. “I’m curious to hear what he thinks.”

It was in fact comedy that tempted Skarsgård back to acting again after all those years away. He was on holiday in Los Angeles in the early 00s when his father’s agent suggested he try out for an audition. Six weeks later, he was pootling around New York in the back of a Jeep with Ben Stiller, pouting away happily as gormless Swedish model Meekus in Zoolander. Getting that job was such a breeze that he was crestfallen to be knocked back repeatedly in other Hollywood auditions. He returned to Sweden to continue acting; another six years elapsed before Generation Kill kickstarted his US career.

These days, he seems somehow both ubiquitous and judicious. He is getting ready to make his directorial debut with The Pack, in which he and Florence Pugh star as documentary makers in Alaska. And he will return this month in the fourth and final season of Succession, which reportedly places even greater emphasis on Skarsgård’s character, the tech bro Lukas Matsson. Another bad boy of sorts.

With Brian Cox and Kieran Culkin in Succession. Photograph: Graeme Hunter

“Quite a few of the projects I’ve chosen deal with the juxtaposition of someone trying to function in modern society while also dealing with that atavistic primal question of who he is deep down and what happens when that flares up and can’t be suppressed any longer,” he says. “It’s incredibly cathartic to play those roles. Maybe because I’m quite mellow in my disposition. These darker, more twisted characters give me an opportunity to howl that primal scream and let it out, which I rarely do in everyday life.”

James in Infinity Pool has his head turned by the tiniest compliment; Skarsgård knows that, for all his own protestations about refusing to read what is written about him, he is just as susceptible to praise. “I really don’t read reviews,” he says. “That said, it’s so nice when people enjoy your work enough to come say something or take a photo. I’d prefer that to the alternative, which is crawling around in the mud for seven months and giving it everything and then it’s just … crickets. I like people appreciating what I’ve done. I’m a vain motherfucker!”

#the guardian #Alexander Skarsgard #infinity pool #film #garden of eden universe

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muttween · 2 years

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Namaari headcanons pt.1

Since i'm taking a break from ao3 and i had this draft quite in my head lately, I've decided to use some of my spare time to write some hcs that i will definitely explore in the future during my college break:

There is this one peculiar orphanage/daycare in all of kumandra (built around a few months after the events of the movie), the only one that accepts and looks after children with mixed origins (half-spine,half-fang, etc..) as well as the mentally/physically disabled little ones. Sadly but as expected, they are often the target of supremacists groups and bigoted people who not only seek to chase the “dirty offspring” but to exterminate every single one of them for the sake of ”keeping the nations purified”. Namaari, being the ‘friend of all children’ we know she is, takes it as her duty to defend those kids as well as scare those binturis away, helping the settlement with the jade from her own pockets, providing toys, games, medication and other resources. She makes sure all kids have returned to their homes safe and sound. Just imagine this big softie running and playing with the little ones. (Tong goes with Namaari as well, they always try to win him with the tug of war).

I hold it in my heart that Namaari is secretly an aunt with at least one surviving big brother/sister and an adorable nephew.

Namaari’s father, the fallen chief of Fang, unfortunately passed away when Namaari was only 8 due to the pestilence that plagued Fang, wiping down one third of it’s population, including a big part of Namaari’s family members, relatives and other loved ones.

Noi and her ongis share a very sweet and strong friendship with Namaari, so strong Noi obeys and listens to either Tong or Namaari only, both are often seen playing catch with Noi easily fooling Namaari. Often times, she’s seen bouncing between Namaari’s head and Tong’s shoulders

Sisu takes Namaari to the hot springs of Heart as one of their favorite things to do together, as well as skydiving along with her brothers and sisters, which absolute makes Namaari’s day a lot better.

Namaari has a small room just around the corner of her own bedroom that is full of her most precious belongings, from the fang children’s drawings to the tapestries full of dragons and scrolls full of dragon myths and fables.

Tong has carved wooden figurines of his friends, though Namaari has at least 5 or 6 of her. Why so many you ask? Tong never gets her undercut right, he always forget that her undercut is on the right side, not on the left.

Let’s all agree that Namaari is the type of woman who looks like she spends most of her time in the Fang library and the training grounds.

Initial distrust now gone, Tong and Namaari are partners-in-arms, drinking-buddies (not really, Tong chugs lots of rice wine while Namaari sticks to a fine grape wine), close like family, she also becomes his son’s godmother under Tong and his wife’s request at some point.

When Tong finds out that Namaari lost her father for good, he slowly starts to act more fatherly and attentive towards her, at first she’s terrified and immediately scurries away due to years of having to hold the fate of Fang in her shoulders alongside her mother, but slowly accepts his paternal embrace.

Namaari learned the basics of sewing and woodcarving with Tong by the way.

If guilt and trust-issues weren’t as bad enough, Namaari suffers with abandonment-issues and a big amount of unresolved grief. Those barely visible ”wrinkles” under her eyes we’ve seen in the movie might have been caused by the countless nights without sleep, possibly filled with tears as well. Out of concern for her daughter’s well-being, Virana “orders” Namaari to visit the healer’s hut for therapy at least twice a week.

The reason Boun likes Namaari the most, which i also agree, is that she doesn’t treat him like a kid, but an equal.

When Boun returns to school in Tail, he starts to get harassed by older and larger classmates, at first the harassment was only verbal but it did took a small toll on his mental health and the bullying became so frequent it started to get physical.

Both Namaari and Boun started to practice various styles of martial arts and physical exercise, from grappling and striking to sword-fighting and advanced weapon techniques. To train his coordination and focus, Namaari also started teaching Boun archery.

Namaari and Boun also enjoy cooking and baking together, as well as singing and dancing while at it. Namaari gave Boun a secret recipe book of dishes and appetizers that was a gift from her maternal grandfather to her.

Raya and Namaari have grown close surprisingly fast, both apologizing for the bad things they’ve done to one another, eagerly and relieved to finally put the past behind them, which was something Raya wanted more than anything since the beginning.

Both girls go camping after diplomatic travels.

Raya is ALWAYS the one initiating physical touch with Namaari, even before they start dating.

When Raya and Namaari finally get together, Raya gets even more physically intimate with Namaari, such as kissing her shoulder blades, threading her fingers on Namaari’s scalp all the way to her undercut, nuzzling her neck in broad daylight. Raya is definitely the type to kiss Namaari out of nowhere and absolutely adores brushing their noses together every time she does it.

Everyone, specially Tong and Raya, playfully ruffle Namaari’s undercut, much to her annoyance.

#rayaari #raya and the last dragon #ratld #raya #sisu #namaari #boun #tong #noi #ongis #headcanon

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persephoneflowerpetals · 8 months

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Do you think Disney should go back to re-releasing their animated movies for limited theatrical releases in 3D again Rather than making these live action remakes / reboots? How do you feel about those (the live action stuff)? I honestly think it's bad (imagine if they made a live action Hercules movie). At least the 3D thing was a fun gimmick and actually got people in seats.

Totally! They need to take some of those classic movies out of the Disney vault lol! I’d love to see Cinderella and Mulan and Hercules back in theaters! I know during the summer some movies theaters will play kids movies that have already been released for summer camps that visit and stuff like that (at least where I live they do lol) , but you don’t really see them playing Disney movies unless they’re new releases. It’s usually movies from different studios like Universal or Dreamworks.

I’m not the biggest fan of the live action reboots tbh. Disney honestly needs to go back to releasing original movies. I feel like Pixar’s the only one making original movies (and sequels) at this point and they’re doing quite well, like everyone thought Elemental was gonna be a flop, but it actually turned out to be a good movie and did well in the box office. Like, look at the live action Snow White that’s coming out, though. Haven’t heard the greatest things about it and it hasn’t even been released yet, so I guess that’s not a good sign. Personally, I feel like the only good live action reboots were The Jungle Book and Cinderella and those were made back in the mid to late 2010s. I haven’t really seen any other ones besides those only because they just didn’t look very good and I’ve heard they aren’t very good either, but maybe I’m wrong. Like, even the Little Mermaid reboot wasn’t the best, I heard it was okay, but not great. But I haven’t seen that one yet, so yeah lol. I guess I’ll have to find the time to watch the reboots on Disney+ lol (though, tbh they don’t really interest me so idk if I actually will unless they REALLY interest me lol, like I’d be up to watching the Beauty & the Beast reboot but not the Pinocchio one because omg I’ve seen clips and reviews and it is…so bad, also I don’t really like the original Pinocchio movie, it scared me as a kid lol). I’ve heard different opinions on different live action movies, so I totally respect you if you have a different opinion from mine, like, if you liked the live action Dumbo movie, then that’s cool. You do you, y’know? But to me, the movie just didn’t look that good (even though it had the great Danny Devito aka Philoctetes in it lol).

And yeah, I honestly wasn’t big on the 3D animated movies at first either, but now that Disney’s basically only making live action reboots at this point, I’d love to see anything animated lol. Like give us a Frozen 3. I’ll take it if it means no more live action reboots 😂 but I really do miss their 2D animated movies and I wish they start making those again, but I suppose it’ll be a while since there an actor’s and writer’s strike going on and 2D animated movies take a lot more time and work and people than it does with a 3D animated movie (which I guess is why they were making those so much).

But oooooooh, honey…have I got news for you…there is definitely a live action Hercules in the works and I’m scared about it lol. I believe it’s gonna be made by the same directors that made Marvel’s Infinity Wars (or maybe it was Endgame? I don’t remember lol) and the worst part….they said the movie’s gonna be inspired by TikTok….FREAKING TIKTOK OF ALL THINGS LIKE??? What do they even mean by that??? It’s a social media app??? Like is the movie gonna be made with 1 minute clips of people doing little dances in their living room or something???

I’m trying to stay positive about the whole thing, but oh man do they make it difficult lol. I think they’re also going to cast Ariana Grande as Meg and idk if that’s the best casting decision. That’s just me though, idk. I mean, her rendition of I Won’t Say I’m In Love was okay, but I wouldn’t go as far as making her Meg in a movie. I only know her acting from Victorious and Hairspray Live and those were okay too, so I guess what I’m trying to say is that Ariana Grande is an okay singer and actress, but like I said, I wouldn’t go as far as making her Meg. I think, like pretty much every movie in Hollywood at this point, they’re just putting her in the movie just because she’s a famous celebrity and her name has enough value to get people to see the movie, but maybe I’m wrong. I dunno if her being Meg is actually official, though, most of the info we have for the movie (mainly casting) is just rumors and speculation, so maybe they won’t go with Ariana and they’ll actually go with some new talent (which is very much needed and I’d love to see it as someone who is dreaming of breaking into the acting business one day, I’m so tired of seeing studios hire celebrities for everything, like it’s okay to audition people and look for new actors, my dudes), but yeah. I guess we’ll see how the movie plays out in the future.

#ask #anon ask #disney’s hercules #hercules live action remake #hercules live action #disney #rambles #long ramble

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agentnico · 2 years

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Werewolf by Night (2022) Review

Anyone else agree the Marvel Studios logo is super indulgent? Their title card before each film/tv show is over 30 seconds long as is, and additionally in Werewolf by Night the Marvel Studios logo is shown three times - first comes “Marvel Studios Special Presentation”, then followed by the usual half-a-minute title logo and then straight away ‘Marvel Studios Presents’. Like yes, we get it, you guys are a big deal. So much so that you have managed to get away with making a load of content after Avengers: Endgame and most of it being a pile of sh**, yet still make the dollar. Yep, I said it. Get your act together Feige. When’s that Deadpool/Wolverine crossover scheduled for?

Plot: On a dark and sombre night, a secret cabal of monster hunters emerge from the shadows and gather at the Bloodstone Temple following the death of their leader; the attendees are thrust into a mysterious and deadly competition for a powerful relic.

So following my little rant at the beginning of this review about how bad Phase 4 of the MCU has been, Werewolf by Night is actually quite good. Yep, talk about smooth transitions. My point is though what makes this Disney+ offering stand out is that it shows that the folks at Marvel are at least trying to attempt something different here. A call-back to the 30s/40s era of Universal monster movies, with the black-and-white grainy filter and over-the-top characters and featuring, well, monsters.

Interestingly enough this also happens to be the directorial debut of Michael Giacchino. For those wondering why that name may sound familiar, this cool geezer *never will I ever use the word ‘geezer’ again, that felt weird and peculiar territory which I will never tread towards ever again, I do apologise*, any way, so this cool Giacchino dude is the man that’s been composing all the cool blockbuster movies that Hans Zimmer hasn’t for the past few years. Like this fella’s done it all - think Star Trek, think Planet of the Apes, think Star Wars, think Pixar, Jurassic World, Batman, fricking Cars 2! What hasn’t this guy composed!? Well, the Lord of the Rings fan within me acknowledges he never did any Middle Earth music, but let’s be honest, who would dare compete with Howard Shore! Ah just remember when Aragorn, Frodo and the fellowship walk through the misty mountains towards Caradhras as Shore plunges his orchestra to the mighty depths of Khazad-Dum and you can feel the instruments literally burning the atmosphere with its mastery!!! Sorry, I’ve recently been thinking of rewatching the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so I’m a bit in the zone.

Anyway, that Giacchino guy, what did he do? Well, he directed Werewolf by Night and you can tell a composer directed this project, as the use of sound and music to build up tension and build to the bigger moments in the scenes here could have only been accomplished by a man with a very acute sense of hearing. And overall Giacchino seems to be a fan of those aforementioned monster movies. The use of retro style smoke and mirrors, cigarette burns and the use of practical effects, especially for the main werewolf that is evidently inspired by The Wolf Man, however I couldn’t unsee Nicholas Hoult’s Beast from the X-Men movies. It all does look really cool, and very unique, and though it never hits the cheesy level high’s of those original monster movies such as Dracula and Frankenstein, it’s a very unique direction for a Marvel production. I have also seen many other reviews mention how this is a gorier MCU outing, and I can see where they are coming from, but due to the use of black and white they are able to get away with it, as you don’t see any blood colours. As such its pretty harmless in that regard.

I enjoyed Werewolf by Night. Gael Garcia Bernal brings his usual likeable relatable vulnerability to the lead role, and Michael Giacchino exhibits qualities of a filmmaker who actually cares to bring something different to the table, yet not afraid to take inspiration from previous great works. Heck, where other Marvel projects would try to go bigger, Giacchino opts to go smaller. When the transformation of the werewolf occurs, he does so off-screen, and the camera instead slowly zooms closer and closer on the face of the terrified Elsa (played by Laura Donnelly) as we see only the shadowy silhouette of the man turning into a monster. It’s a neat trick that really heightens the tension and anticipation… and when we finally do see the werewolf, we then can enjoy a very satisfying rampage. But perhaps the biggest treat is Harriet Sansom Harris as Verusa, Ulysses’ widow and the night’s master of ceremonies, delivering an over-the-top performance that gives the whole affair huge theater-kid energy. Then again, there’s also a character named Ted in this thing, and he’s an example of comedy in Marvel done right. But no spoilers, if you’re wondering about who Ted is, you’re just going to have to go and watch Werewolf by Night.

Overall score: 7/10

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brigdh · 1 year

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Tag Meme

Tagged by @carmarthenfan and @chocolatepot and @electric016, thank you, buddies!!

Rules: tag 9 some people you want to know better and/or catch up with, then answer the questions below!

Last song: January 26 by A.B. Original and Dan Sultan

Three ships: Let’s go with all OFMD for this round of the meme:

Ed/Stede (obvs)

Ed/Calico Jack – I love terrible young trash relationships, what can I say

Olu/Jim/Frenchie – okay, I’ve actually only ever read one fic with this ship, but it LIVES IN MY MIND

First Ever Ship: I think I said Frodo/Sam the last time I did this meme, but Drizzt Do’Urden/my Mary Sue is also a very strong contender for Baby’s First Obsession.

Currently reading: Still trying to get through R.F. Kaung’s fucking Babel, god this book is endless and I’m so bored with it. I hate DNF’ing though, and I’ve only got about 100 pages left, so I’m determined to push through before letting myself read something else. I’ve come to the conclusion that a large part of the problem is that the narrative tension relies on the reader being shocked by British colonialism, particularly the Opium Wars. But I literally teach a class on the Opium Wars, so the 101-level version in Babel isn’t doing a lot for me. And without that tension, the characters are just too shallow to hold any interest. I think Robin is a bad choice for protagonist; he’s so passive. He never makes a single active choice, it’s all Griffin or Lovell bringing him in and out of things, or just random accidents happening to him. Even when he does [big spoilery thing], he’s all ‘oh I didn’t mean to!!!’ and ‘did I even really do it? it was so fast that maybe it just happened without any intent!!” Boooooooring.

Anyway, if you want to read a novel about the Opium Wars, check out Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis trilogy instead.

Currently Watching: The Last of Us, which is great, and Mayfair Witches, which is terrible but I’m going to finish the season anyway.

Currently Consuming: something this coffeeshop is calling a Cinnamon Roll Latte. Which okay, is actually pretty tasty.

Last movie: I saw Cocaine Bear yesterday! It was not quite as good as I wanted it to be, but also possibly I wasn’t high enough to appreciate its charms.

Craving: Cookies. Mmm, I need some good soft cookies.

Tagging: @why-worry-do-it-later, @tharacelehar, @totally0random, @pearwaldorf, @acidyellowlava, @petrichorca, @onlylostphysics, @bromelads, and @michshlo!

#meme #I have been busy for the last two weeks and am catching up on stuff I've been tagged in. in case that wasn't obvious

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adamwatchesmovies · 2 years

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Judge Dredd (1995)

With a much better adaptation of the Judge Dredd comics released in 2012, the 1995 film has been condemned to limbo. At best, the performances are at maximum cheese and offer a couple of unintentional laughs. It’s not funny, bold, interesting, or memorable. The special effects are good, but it doesn’t matter. Nothing about this movie matters.

In the future, most of Earth has become an uninhabitable wasteland. Human live in a few Megacities, where crime is rampant. Fighting an ever-lasting war against the criminal scum are the Judges – an elite force who are the police, the judicial system and the executioners in one. When Judge Dredd (Sylvester Stallone) is framed for murder, he teams up with hacker Fergee (Rob Schneider) to clear his name, uncovering a sinister plot to reshape the world in the process.

The premise makes me feel like I’m sucking on a rusty nail. Another dystopian '90s film where the totalitarian government turns out to be corrupt, where a police officer discovers a power-hungry puppet master pulling all of these strings? It was cool when Robocop did it – and believe me, this film borrows A LOT from Robocop. Here? it’s dull, dull, dull. The characters don't help. Dredd can’t even commit to his “I am the law” attitude and is quite stupid by action hero standards – frequently getting rid of his weapons and forgetting to pick them up again when a new threat emerges. Rob Schneider is once again intolerable, though to be fair, he's only 4th on the “Worst things about this movie” list. Diane Lane plays a fellow Judge who will - of course - wind up going toe-to-toe with the evil scientist lady (played by Joan Chen) because obviously, run-of-the-mill biologists are trained martial artists. Max Von Sydow plays the largely pointless fatherly Judge on the Council of Judges. When he shows up, you think “Wow, why are you wasting your time with Judge Dredd? Wait. Why am I?!”

The plot is predictable, the action scenes ridiculous, the performances from Armand Assante (as Rico) and Stallone are so hammy they’re meme-worthy. The story is full of questionable developments, and it misses every attempt to be anything but the cinematic equivalent of gruel. On the positive side, the special effects are cool. There’s a cyborg and a big combat robot that look awesome. Unfortunately, they’re servicing a worthless story. Even the setting isn’t well fleshed out. You sit back thinking “Ok… if you say so!” over and over.

On paper, Judge Dredd should be “so bad it’s good” but it isn't. The picture looks and feels even worse now that we’ve gotten a legitimately faithful, exciting and well-made adaptation of the comics by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra. Even if we hadn’t, this movie sucks. It’s the very worst of that period of action films where there was a lot of violence, but to make it more digestible the hero is given a (larlgely useless) comedic sidekick and at the end of the day, it had nothing to say about anything. Judge Dredd wastes the talent of its special effects people and the audience’s time. (On DVD, July 14, 2017)

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notallthosewho-wanderarelost · 2 years

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Quick non-spoilery Multiverse of Madness review

Only gonna talk about things that aren’t spoilery, so a lot of my thoughts/things I liked or didn’t like/plot holes are not in here.

Does include some very very vague spoilers I guess, I warn right before where they are and don’t name any names, but putting this here just to be courteous.

Edit: added something to the fourth bullet.

Still processing, but so far I feel like overall it was kind of disjointed, I guess I would say? I’m not sure Raimi’s style of cheesiness works well in the 2020s. I kept getting pulled out of the movie by the dramatic zoom-ins to people’s faces and and the parts where it was so obvious a jump scare was coming. It also felt like there was something missing in between the movie’s ending and the first credit scene and I’m confused.

The story was also kind of disjointed as well, though I can’t quite articulate exactly how or why yet. It just didn’t quite feel coherent. If you asked me to give you a one sentence summary of what this movie was about I would really struggle. Might be a product of this being more of an event movie than a solo, similar to Civil War. I wish they hadn’t done that, Doctor Strange deserves a good trilogy of movies and comics show that it’s perfectly possible to write a good story about Stephen with other magic users as a solo.

I liked the first Doctor Strange movie much better, it’s actually one of my unsung favorite MCU movies. I can’t decide if I like MoM or not. I guess right now I don’t hate it, but I don’t really like it either.

As I’m sure anyone could guess, I’m not at all happy they did that Thing that I reeeeeaaaally didn’t want them to do. I knew it was coming because I got spoiled for it, though I admit it happened even faster than I expected. (Which I have to say didn’t make any sense to me at all. Marvel what on earth??) I’m not sure how I would have handled this without having been spoiled for it, I think I would’ve been super emotional about it and it was easier on me emotionally because I was expecting it. I do wish I hadn’t seen quite the level of detailed spoilers that I did, though. Won’t say anything else because, obviously, spoilers, but BOY DO I HAVE THOUGHTS.

I wasn’t a big fan of how America was written- she wasn’t badass enough imo, and she felt like more of a MacGuffin than a character most of the time, so that was a letdown. She’s so cool and kickass in comics and I was excited to see that onscreen. They also downgraded her powers, which is a major bummer. (Maybe she’ll get her comic powerset in the future?) Can’t say any more about this either because spoilers.

The other thing that bugged me that I can talk about without spoiling anything much was the marketing- why give Rintrah and Sara Funko Pops when they’re each in the movie for like 1 minute and neither really does anything? What a waste of cool characters. Sara is Wong’s love interest in comics, and Rintrah has what seems like a really nice friendship with Strange in comics. (They also appear to have racebent Sara from Cheyenne Native American to Black and I wonder why?) And there was no explanation of who Rintrah was or why he was in Kamar-Taj, there’s just a green Minotaur suddenly. The other marketing thing they did that didn’t match with the movie I guess I understand, but those two characters I’m pretty annoyed about.

I enjoyed Stephen’s character arc a lot! VERY well done. Can’t go into more detail because spoilers, but it was really good and I feel like it suited him very well.

Some very, very vague spoilers in the next bullet, I guess:

Loved getting to see a certain character who was previously in a tv show and way underpowered get to actually use their multiple powers on the correct level, because unlike said show this movie had a solid budget that wasn’t 3 dollars and a tissue. (Kidding, obviously, and there are things I really liked about the show, to the point where I think I’m one of the few people to find things I liked in it, but the lack of money for effects was a big factor in sinking it.) I’m very glad they kept the same actor though, because that whole cast was extremely on point and deserved better. I do feel like the show costume was better in at least one respect, because the mask in this movie didn’t look great on the actor, and I like how the show didn’t do a mask but still worked in the important element that had to be on the character’s head via a crown-thing.

Last but not least, THE CREDITS SCENE, HECK YEAH, FINALLY!!! And absolutely A+ casting choice on multiple levels, I’m SO excited to see more! Though bummed it’s going to be a long wait.

#dsitmom #doctor strange in the multiverse of madness #a rare text post appears #my stuff

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spoilertv · 7 months

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#SpoilerTV

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ice-sculptures · 7 months

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TWS anon, who also sent the previous ask: I literally typed out a whole thing about how CW SHOULD HAVE BEEN AN AVENGERS MOVIE!!!! But I deleted it because I didn’t know if you wanted a rant in your inbox atm.

It ALSO should have waited until Marvel was able to introduce mutants into the MCU since the Mutant Registration Act was the start of it. Not only Steve’s WWII experiences but also his experiences as a disabled person, vs Tony’s experiences (don’t know him as well) feels like it boils down to Steve’s fight for freedom vs Tony’s fight for security.

but of course, we can’t let our heroes be emotionally vulnerable because they’re ToughTM. They can have a little in their own movies, as a treat, but we MUST be constantly snarking as a group. (While there is an argument for “that’s how guys show affection!” It still feels shallow because the variety of interactions seems to be snark/joke or fighting. Maybe I’m simplifying it but anyway!)

TL:DR, the MCU would have benefited from going a little slower and letting CA:3 and CW be their own movies so we could see the relationships grow and thus have more emotional impact when they fell apart.

P.S. If we got a third Cap movie, then maybe we could have had a chance for Clint to show his loyalty like the script had planned for him in CA:TWS. Still so sad that they couldn’t film it bc of scheduling conflicts.

Even more crucially, I don’t feel like we got to see Steve and Tony/the avengers very emotionally close. I didn’t feel the emotional tension they were trying to convey, EXCEPT with Steve & Nat and Nat and Clint. If it’s a Civil War, then it should have been heartbreaking seeing EVERYONE choose sides. but of course, we can’t let our heroes be emotionally vulnerable because they’re ToughTM. They can have a little in their own movies, as a treat, but we MUST be constantly snarking as a group. (While there is an argument for “that’s how guys show affection!” It still feels shallow because the variety of interactions seems to be snark/joke or fighting. Maybe I’m simplifying it but anyway!)

you know what. the thing that made me finally quit on marvel three whole years after endgame failed me is the utmost lack of sincerity in those films. thor: love and thunder (my final straw) was two hours of nothing but wisecracks and quips and it didn't have a single moment where i genuinely felt anything. the storyline was nonsensical, yes, but the complete lack of heart eclipsed that entirely. none of the relationships in that movie were well written and nothing about the story felt like it really mattered. it's like marvel has forgotten how to write a comedic story with any kind of depth to it, and it's such a shame because that was a real hallmark of their earlier films and a big part of why the franchise took off the way it did in the first place.

like...take steve and bucky. do they joke around? yes. are they able to laugh together? of course!! but the reason why their relationship has always been so beloved to viewers is because of all of the heart and tenderness packed into their scenes together. TFA made sure that the entire audience knew how much they sincerely love each other, platonic or not, and it's why all of the emotional moments in the later films between steve & bucky work so well — because their very first movie did such a good job setting the stage and its excellent sequel only elevated that relationship.

the majority of the relationships in the MCU don't have that, and it's why civil war didn't have the stakes that it could have had — because they just rushed through their development and then threw them into a conflict that hadn't had enough time to properly brew. they just…didn’t give anything the breathing room it deserved and the movie suffered for it. i’ve been thinking about the final fight between steve, tony, and bucky and ngl. the last bit of dialogue, the scene that’s supposed to be the emotional climax of the movie — “he’s my friend” / “so was i” — and it’s almost comical how flat it fell in the larger context of the movie, because how can you even compare those two relationships?

and i don’t even mean this from a biased point of view, i just…how can you compare a century of trust and friendship to what is essentially a colleague relationship between steve and tony? i don’t doubt that they respect one another and work well together and held each other in high regard before the events of the movie, but marvel just didn’t do the legwork of giving them that many genuine and sincere moments that would establish a real friendship that you’d root for. i wish tbis wasn’t the case, but we just didn’t get the kind of relationship that would make a fight between the two of them as devastating as it was supposed to be.

on the subject of loyalty i still ultimately think it's ridiculous that they had tony hire peter to join him despite peter not having any idea at all what the fight was about. also t’challa simply being on team iron man because he wanted to kill bucky rather than him genuinely supporting tony’s perspective. the same thing goes for scott and to some extent clint on steve’s side….it all just felt like a very ham fisted excuse to shove as many characters into one film as possible — and yet they still left out bruce, whose point of view would’ve been invaluable here. Anyway. the movie would’ve been much more interesting if half the characters weren’t randomly thrown into either side and everyone had a genuine motivation for standing where they stood. but that’s too much for me to ask of a marvel movie ig 😔

#me: i’m not a CW anti. also me: writes an entire post bashing it #to be clear my stance is that i enjoy turning my brain off and watching it but it’s not the kind of movie i’d want to think about for more #than five minutes because then my brain will start to hurt with the ache of all that lost potential.#also it does have some genuinely good moments. i’ll give it that i just think the overall plot is Weak af #anyway!!! it was nice hearing from you again TWS anon & you are always welcome to rant in my inbox anytime #i love talking marvel i’m always here for it #answered #anon #tws anon

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