Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Andy Serkis, 2021)

even if you don't think all of the jurassic movies are Good Film, the twenty year transition from the original trilogy being about hubris and the new trilogy being about greed is so appropriate and delicious

like, going from 'we can control this, dinosaurs will bend to man and science' to 'we have seen what these animals can do to us and know we cannot control them, but there is profit to be made so it's worth the risk' is chilling and painfully realistic

Also it feels a little bit uhhh. Obvious to me that the mainstream audience’s Reaction to the perceived “snub” of Margot and Greta is because for literally several millions of people Barbie is the only new movie that they have seen in their theatrical runs this year*, and they are making more of a definitive judgment of Margot/Greta’s merits in those categories as they stand alone rather than any kind of relative judgment of their performances compared to the category nominees. (The people shitting on the five nominees in either category as if Margot or Greta were more deserving than any one of them are being insane tho)

who else just stops sometimes and remembers that david lowery made a film called the green knight in which he just. took away the key part of the original poem that has it revealed that the green knight and bertilak are the same man. what’s the point of that whole episode without the revelation. it’s two years later and i’m still mad about it. what was that about. what was that about. why.

I feel like this is important for analysis but WxS's plays/in-story scripts have been getting gradually darker.

Like this isn't me reaching or anything they've factually have gotten darker and in some ways more ""realistic"" (keep in mind i'm not counting the play at the end of Happy End cos that's just a rewritten version of an old play).

I think the best way to really see this change is to kind of go through each arc and kinda view how the plays are. Now I'm doing this by memory so if I get a play wrong that's why.

1st arc.

So from Rui's first to Emu's first, we have the zombie play, the christmas play and the play to help revive Pheonix Wonderland's popularity.

Those are all pretty child friendly plays, that can be seen as lighthearted even if they do have their own emotional moments.

2nd arc.

This is where things start transitionning into a more serious tone in terms of the plays.

At first we have the play in Nene and Tsukasa's second event which both are kind of the same vibe as the 1st arc plays.

HOWEVER it's when we reached Rui's 3rd even that things take a turn in my opinion.

The story focusing on the tragic story of two androids having lived different lives, one being turn into a weapon for war.

Rui's 3rd event kind is overall a massive turn in WxS's story in general and it was kind of the point where extremely painful events started being handed like candy.

There is the Peter Pan play in Admist a Dream that kinda contradict this switch in tone but I don't really count it since it's story is not really the focus of the event and more so serves to push certain themes with Emu.

Then we have the famous Pheonix event...which like I think I don't need to explain.

3rd arc.

Now things get weird since, the Android and Pheonix play while both being a lot more dramatic and "darker" still had aspects of fantasy in them.

However the two "plays" (the second one is not a play but a film script but shhhhhhhh) are purely set in a realistic setting and obviously feel a lot more mature as a result.

This is also without pointing that both of the stories are extremely similar with a depressed male lead who is said or hinted to have suicidal thoughts until something brings them out of it.

So yeah, here's some food for analysis for what this means for WxS's story as whole

okay thats interesting! in the SF try-outs during the song "legally blonde" she sings about how she cant be legally blonde, while in the official version AND THE DEMO she sings about letting her be legally blonde. which means that at some point they changed the lyrics around, and then changed them back! laurence o'keefe.... nell benjamin.... what occurs in your twisted minds

Hmmm I kinda want to make a side blog for RPG Maker game development related things to be able to talk to more experienced people in that community, but at the same time I both don’t really think I’d get much attention and don’t want to accidentally spoil my own game (^^ ; ).

I have a rough story, concept doodles, a tileset, some character sprites, an enemy that walks around but can’t initiate battle yet (if I even decide to have a battle system), a couple rooms with some events, and a functioning run button, but I’m still lost on how to do much else at the moment. Especially since this program has the ability for scripting, meaning I’ll probably have to learn and actually retain another coding language.

So, I’m not very far at all lol. Idk how well that’d go over on the established fandom website, but eh.

yeah. I don't care what anyone says I still love 2005 p&p more than 1995 bbc p&p

I can't tell if I've just hit a really good string of books / tv, or if I've just hit a reset button on my brain by cutting out 99% of social media, reality TV, and mindless youtube videos...

Holy fucking shit the dysphoria is dysphoria-ing right now. I feel physically nauseous oh my fucking god. I’m gonna fucking kill someone maybe myself rn I’m gonna lose my shit holy hell.

Doesn’t help that I’ve been incredibly overstimulated the past few days every sound is like a fucking cheese grater in my ears oh my god.

Not sure if it's okay to send you this ask but I actually feel the same way you do about the end of vol 3 and I've been feeling pretty alone about it. I haven't said much because I don't want to seem like I'm being mean about the movie. I think my issue is the team hasn't spent years and years together. Most of them were snapped for 5 years. When they came back Gamora was dead and then Peter was clearly left suffering and dealing with the trauma for a while. I can live with the idea of "we've all grown to need time apart and want to do our own things" but I don't think the build up and execution was there. Not just for those on the team but also 2014 Gamora who was literally just coming back to the story and finally getting to see who these people were and what her life was once about. Then it's over and it doesn't feel like enough of a resolution. I also don't love how Gamora was treated which is a whole other topic but I disliked how it seems like there hasn't been any issue with her death for anyone but Peter. There doesn't even seem to be any memories of her lingering with the team. I have so many thoughts around this that I'll be thinking about it for a while but man, she was murdered by her abuser and most of her family are victims of abuse and I dont think the aftermath has been handled very well at all. Mostly I think there needed to be another movie In between Endgame and vol 3 to hash out what happened in Infinity War/Endgame and to progress some of the characters more and build up to the more Rocket focused ending where they all part ways. Or vol 3 needed to not be quite as focused on Rocket. Not saying he shouldn't have the most focus, just scale it back a little because other things desperately needed attention.

Oh it's absolutely fine to send an ask about this!!! I'm always up for a discussion, and honestly, it makes me feel better that I'm not the only person not completely happy with the ending, solidarity my friend.

I want to preface this all with I DON'T hate the film, and I thought it was way better on a 2nd viewing, but I really don't think it's a crime to criticize it because nothing is perfect (Vol. 1 + 2 aren't either) But Vol. 3 really has some deeply ingrained issues that should've been dealt with, or at the very least acknowledged, because as it is they really stand out, especially on a second viewing or if you've marathoned all the films together, and they literally drag the film down.

Gunn said on Twitter in response to something that he wanted Vol. 3 to be able to stand on its own without the viewer needing to have seen the other films (and by extension IW+EG) but that is so unhinged when it's literally titled as the third in the series at this point lol. Like it's extremely weird to have let IW+EG affect the Guardians as much as they did and then not even try and deal with the aftermath of it all in the last film featuring (almost) everyone together... ???

He's made it clear Rocket is his favorite and that he only came back to do Vol. 3 because he wanted to finish his story, I don't doubt that's true even if I think having a single character be more important than the others is the wrong choice and leaves the whole story as a trilogy a bit lopsided. But even so, if that's the case then it's crazy to not even have Rocket's thoughts on all of these things that've happened in the last decade as if it wouldn't be traumatic to lose your loved ones for years, and how hard it would be to readjust to life after it all. I kind of can't see him letting everyone leave so easily at the very end, especially after he almost died, so I'm just left feeling confused at the choice at best and vaguely unsatisfied at worst.

Maybe Gunn didn't have as much control over their appearances in IW+EG as he says he did. Maybe they really did completely derail the road to Vol. 3 and he just won't admit it, but the film as it is doesn't help in any way by pretending nothing there happened at all. I don't see any logical reason for the audience to just go along with "For some reason Gamora left, she might've died but also maybe not, who knows. Peter is sad and the rest of the team want to move onto something else. " and then the only hint at that last part is... Mantis telling Peter to go see his grandpa, so that leads to everyone else having a change in goals too, huh. I know it's not meant to be forever, and we're to assume everyone keeps in contact with each other, but the ending really makes it feel like no, we'll never all be together again, so bah.

And concerning Gamora, I agree with what you've said. I could write an entire book with my issues of her overall treatment in the narrative and the implications of her character from the comics getting adapted like this, but I'll spare you the speech and just say the TLDR is everything starting from IW onwards concerning her (the specific framing around her murder and then time travel bringing in 2014-Gamora, and the complete lack of acknowledgement about either version of her from the rest of the team) never should've happened. It's all such a mind-boggling choice, I can't get over how much of an afterthought Gunn made her at the very last minute.

It's funny you mention the need for another film to deal with the emotional fallout of everything post-Vol. 2, because absolutely, but they kind of had the chance??? I realize the Holiday Special isn't film length and is meant to be the calm before the storm of everything that's to come, but in a post-Vol. 3 world I can't stop thinking about how it was SUCH a missed opportunity to not have that be the sobering moment for the characters to talk about everything that happened in the years everyone was snapped. It could've even been the perfect time to plant the metaphorical plot seeds of everyone wanting to go and do their own things after what happened because they just can't make life feel the exact same as it was before, and understanding things can never be the same after something like that.

Even the last lines of the song used in the Holiday Special feels more appropriate for the Guardians as a family struggling to keep it all together (and trying to deal with the sudden loss of Gamora) than it relates to Peter and Yondu, in my opinion.

I would have preferred a more out-there story in general, something to give everyone equal stakes in the plot, but I do think Vol. 3 could have stayed overall the same if any of this was addressed or even mentioned in one or two lines of dialogue somewhere. Because as it is, it really feels like we missed something important between it all, but we didn't from what we we've been shown. I don't think it would have killed Gunn to include a quick moment where someone just says to Peter "I miss her too and I get everything's been way harder lately, but you can't let it grind your life to a complete halt like this." or something!! ANYTHING!!!

And if we absolutely had to stick with the time displaced Gamora plot... When she was snooping around on the Bowie by herself i dont get why she didn't get to see some old photos or something of the team during happier times (including 2018-Gamora specifically) and realizing that they really are going so far to save Rocket because they genuinely love him, and once upon a time they loved her too. 2014-Gamora getting to see the life she very nearly COULD have had within mere hours in her own timeline (without the threat of Thanos ever taking that away, mind you) but having to come to terms with the life she's made with the Ravagers in the present day. That would've been a more appropriate arc for her, I think, then her presence in the story wouldn't have had to only center around what Peter lost and nothing else and we'd at least get the idea that the others still had her on their minds even if they outwardly "moved on."

But also? Another missed opportunity to not have a moment when 2014-Gamora is in a battle with the other Ravager leaders mirroring the hallway scene with the Guardians that could have been when Peter (and the audience) "get" who she's currently more comfortable with in a basic sense, but... you know... it is what it is or whatever.

Hilarious that The Guardian published this and then like a week later the film was on the verge of completely dropping out of Netflix's top ten and it's audience score on RT sunk to 59%.

Sounds like fun for when you do find a 'gem' of a trash film. Do you keep names of any of the gems you do find?

Also for no evil reason or so, do you by chance like gifts?

-✨ Anon (Sparkles Anon)

Nah, not really. I used to have a list, but it got tossed out when I moved apartments I guess.

We probably still have them in the back, though. It's extremely rare that someone comes in asking for something that isn't just on display already.

A lot of them were foreign films, so some of them are probably a lot better than I'm giving them credit for. Visuals are important, but the writing is what I enjoy most in a good movie. If the movie has subtitles, which most don't, then usually they're really off, from what some of the people who HAVE actually rented them tell me. Stuff like that can really color your interpretation or general enjoyment of the media, depending on if it's just clunkily translated or outright altered.

Otherwise, there are some really terrible horror flicks I like to put on- those would be easier to name, and probably more recent, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment. Maybe I can come back to you on that.

I like the ones that are either just really, unforgivably bad, ones with really horrible special effects for the gore, and ones that are just kinda brutal, admittedly. I like to see a good rampage, now and again.

As for gifts...

I mean, I'm alright with them. It's a bit disconcerting when you mention them with the word "evil" in the same sentence, though. So you'll have to forgive me if I'm a little wary of that...

Is there a ratchet and Clank, or even just a nefarious, discord group/server anywhere? It just feels rather quiet around here sometimes.

Even if there is no group, does anyone just have discord for one-to-ones?

yeah ok so this girl from my school is going to the fucking oscars. and presenting. like ok!

prolific is slow, so more filming and posting it is for today (tho I'm making!! slow progress!! towards enough ad revenue for a payout, and i got like 100 views across all my stuff yesterday alone! which isn't a lot for most ppl but for me it's !!!! which makes it worth it to try and keep up the tighter filming/posting schedule as best I can)