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mostlymovieswithmax · 3 years

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Movies I watched in March

Thought I’d chronicle the films I’ve been watching over the March period, from the 1st to the 31st, and how I’d rate them. If you’re looking for something to watch, perhaps this will help. A lot of these movies are available on streaming services also.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) - 10/10

I hadn’t watched this in a couple of years but I was blown away. Peak Scorsese.

Rushmore (1998) - 7/10

Not the best Wes Anderson movie for me but still fun.

Lion (2016) - 8/10

I discussed this at length on my podcast: The Sunday Movie Marathon. Great movie!

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) - 10/10

Now this is one of the best Wes Anderson movies. I discuss this more on The Sunday Movie Marathon. Fantastic, funny and I watched it twice because it’s so much fun.

Inception (2010) - 10/10

Discussed on The Sunday Movie Marathon. Best Christopher Nolan movie for me, Inception is just breathtaking.

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004) - 5/10

This might be Anderson’s weakest film (at least from what I’ve seen) but it’s still not as bad as a lot of directors at their worst.

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) - 10/10

I was really on an Anderson binge in March. The Royal Tenenbaums is one of the most wholesome movies I’ve seen and certainly one of his best films.

Rome, Open City (1945) - 4/10

This was filmed in Nazi-occupied Italy and from that premise, the film enticed me. Despite having some interesting qualities, I do feel that initial pull is most of what the movie has going for it.

The Prestige (2006) - 7/10

I showed this to my brother and for what it’s worth, he enjoyed it. I do think this is one of Nolan’s weaker efforts but considering how much I like it, that speaks a lot to Nolan’s filmography as a whole.

Nostalgia (1983) - 10/10

I watched Nostalgia three times in the space of a week and reviewed it on The Sunday Movie Marathon. It’s phenomenal.

Kangaroo Jack (2003) - 1/10

Another one I watched for the podcast. Kangaroo Jack is truly terrible and it upset me a great deal. Avoid this movie.

Stalker (1979) - 10/10

Another Andrei Tarkovsky movie (director of Nostalgia). I watched this again during the day before my second watch of Nostalgia and while it’s hard to compare such different movies, I enjoy Stalker more. It’s a staple of Russian cinema for a reason.

Four Lions (2010) - 5/10

Watched for the podcast. I didn’t really gel with this comedy but it would certainly appeal to someone who enjoys the humour, as my co-hosts did.

Revolutionary Road (2008) - 6/10

This Sam Mendes joint was a tad too melodramatic but still boasted some great performances from Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

Metropolis (1927) - 6/10

This silent film is a staple in cinematic history. Its themes are as painfully relevant today as they were in the 20’s, yet despite that I found a lot of it to be intensely boring. After it hit the hour mark, I started playing it at 1.5x speed.

Crimson Peak (2015) - 4/10

A lot of great set design and costumes and colours, yet the story itself was madly uninteresting.

Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind (2004) - 10/10

Who doesn’t love a good movie written by Charlie Kaufman? I reviewed this on The Sunday Movie Marathon and after a third watch, it is as fascinating as it is gut-wrenching.

Godzilla (2014) - 3/10

If you wanted to see Godzilla fight a bunch of monsters for two hours, then this is not the movie for you. There’s maybe about ten minutes total of on-screen Godzilla action and considering that’s really all anyone’s watching this for, it’s amazing the titular sea lizard occupies so little of the movie.

Prisoners (2013) - 10/10

Brilliant mystery thriller by my favourite director, Denis Villeneuve. Discussed on the podcast.

Eraserhead (1977) - 7/10

David Lynch’s debut feature film went down in my estimations this time around. You can listen to why on The Sunday Movie Marathon. Still, Eraserhead is a very good movie.

Raiders of The Lost Ark (1981) - 6/10

The first Indiana Jones movie proved to be a fun romp and Harrison Ford plays the character beautifully. I’m just not a big fan of Spielberg and his average verging on pretty good but rarely ever great movies. Perhaps on a second watch, I may enjoy this more.

The Seventh Seal (1957) - 9/10

Watching this movie again was so much fun. So far, it’s my favourite Ingmar Bergman film. It’s a celebration of life and love, with an underlying sense of dread as death looms ever-present.

Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom (1984) - 5/10

I can tell why this generally looked on as the weakest in the trilogy. Harrison Ford is still great but the movie dragged a lot and felt more like a bunch of things happening for the sake of it rather than a fun action/adventure.

Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (1989) - 7/10

The Last Crusade was a lot of fun and maybe it was Sean Connery’s inclusion, or perhaps the bottle of wine I drank through the movie elevated my enjoyment. But alcohol aside, I still believe this to be the best in the series.

Justice League (2017) - 2/10

People really weren’t kidding when they said this was bad. I watched this in preparation for the Snyder cut and I was not happy. This took years off my life.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021) - 3/10

Barely any better and double the run-time of the original. I discussed this on The Sunday Movie Marathon and I was certainly not impressed. Better luck next time, Zack!

The Truman Show (1998) - 10/10

Brilliant movie and one I would highly recommend for a stellar Jim Carrey performance. This was another recommendation for the podcast.

Eighth Grade (2018) - 7/10

I was impressed with Bo Burnham’s debut feature. This is a coming of age story centred around a young girl growing up in the modern world and how it can affect the youth of today. Burnham shows a deep understanding of youth culture and a real knack for filmmaking.

Bad Education (2019) - 8/10

A real “yikes!” movie. If you want to learn a bit about the embezzlement that took place in an American school back in the early 2000’s, you need not look further than this tight drama with fantastic performances from Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney.

Twelve Monkeys (1995) - 8/10

One of the only movies where the time travel makes sense. I recommended this for The Sunday Movie Marathon and it’s pretty great.

Ready Or Not (2019) - 7/10

Despite a premise that is not wholly original and a super goofy third act, Ready Or Not is gory, violent fun with a lot of stylish art direction.

Dead Man (1995) - 3/10

Recommended on the podcast. I really did not get a lot out of Dead Man. It’s a very slow movie about Johnny Depp going through the woods and killing some people on the way, but it’s two hours long and hugely metaphorical and sadly it just didn’t connect.

Misbehaviour (2020) - 6/10

A big draw for me in Misbehaviour is Keira Knightley; I think she’s a great actor and I’m basically on board with anything she does. I’d been wanting to see this for a while and I was shocked to see just how relevant it is (being set in 1970) to the world we find ourselves in today, where women are still fighting to be heard and to be treated equally. While the film is not spectacular, I still got a lot from its themes, so recently after the murder of Sarah Everard and how women are being treated in their protest.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb (1964) - 7/10

I was surprised at just how hilarious this early Kubrick movie is. While I can’t say it floored me or took any top spots, it’s still a great examination of the military and how they respond to threats or try to solve problems and the side of war we don’t often see in films: the people in the background sitting in a room making crucial decisions.

Taxi Driver (1976) - 10/10

Wow! I can’t believe I’d never seen this before but I’d never really had access to it. Taxi Driver is a beautifully made movie with so much colour and vibrancy. De Niro puts on perhaps his best performance and Paul Schrader’s timeless script works miracles.

Sleepy Hollow (1999) - 5/10

Classic Tim Burton aesthetics in a pretty by the numbers, almost Supernatural-esque story eked out over an hour and forty minutes.

Seaspiracy (2021) - 6/10

Everyone’s going crazy over this documentary and I agree it tackles important issues we’re facing today surrounding the commercialization of the fishing industry, but a lot of what’s presented here is information already available to the public. The editing feels misplaced at times and the tone is all over the place. Nonetheless, it’s still quite fascinating to see good journalism being done in a way that exposes this side of the industry.

Pirates of The Carribean: The Curse of The Black Pearl (2003) - 8/10

Super fun and a great first instalment in a franchise that sadly seems to have peaked at the first hurdle.

My Octopus Teacher (2020) - 8/10

Great cinematography and a lovely premise, this documentary has garnered an Oscar nomination and I can see why.

The Sisters Brothers (2018) - 8/10

A really solid western I was happy to watch again. It’s a shame no one really talks about this movie because it is excellent with stunning visuals and great performances.

Pirates of The Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) - 5/10

A strangely massive drop in quality from the original. If I didn’t like the whole concept of this franchise so much, I might have had a worse time.

Reservoir Dogs (1992) - 8/10

On a second watch, Tarantino’s first feature is still wildly impressive.

Life of Brian (1979) - 7/10

This is perhaps my third time watching Monty Python’s Life of Brian and it’s still incredibly funny, however it never manages to measure up to its predecessor (and one of my all time favourites), Monty Python and The Holy Grail.

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the-desolated-quill · 5 years

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‘But They’re Covered In Nipples’: The Story Of Destroy All Humans - Quill’s Scribbles

Another E3 has come and gone. There was some good announcements. Square Enix unveiled their Avengers game, Keanu Reeves came on stage to give us the release date of Cyberpunk 2077, Ubisoft are making another Watch Dogs set in London, and... um... what else happened?

Oh yeah!

DESTROY ALL HUMANS IS BACK!!!!!!

Yes, the cult classic Destroy All Humans is returning next year, developed by THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games. This was quite possibly the nicest surprise I’ve ever had. When the teaser trailer came up on my YouTube recommendations, I practically screamed the house down. It’s a level of excitement I felt when 20th Century Fox announced they were finally making a Deadpool movie.

Yeah. That excited.

Destroy All Humans was my favourite video game series growing up. I played the first two games non-stop on my PS2 and I even bought a Nintendo Wii and PS3 just so I could play Big Willy Unleashed and Path Of The Furon (yeah, we’ll get to them). Unfortunately, while the series was reasonably successful, it never quite broke through into the mainstream, and it ended up having a very short lifespan, making it one of the most underrated franchises of all time.

So, to mark the return of Crypto and Pox, I thought I’d take a retrospective look at the series as a whole. Analysing each game in the franchise and talking about what made them so good, whilst also looking at how it faded into obscurity and how THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games can hopefully avoid this fate with their remake.

Radioactive, Exploding, Zombie Cows

The first Destroy All Humans was developed by THQ and Pandemic Studios (the latter probably most famous for making the original Star Wars Battlefront games. You know? The good ones that weren’t overloaded with loot boxes and microtransactions) and was released in 2005 on the PS2 and Xbox. You play as a Furon warrior called Cryptosporidium 137, or Crypto for short, who is tasked with harvesting the brains of humans in order to extract pure Furon DNA from them. His leader Orthopox 13, or Pox, explains that the Furons are at risk of cloning themselves into extinction as they are unable to reproduce naturally due to a lack of genitalia and the DNA in their cloning banks are starting to degrade. Fortunately the Furons visited prehistoric Earth on their way back from destroying the Martians and took the opportunity to ‘let off some steam’ with the natives. As a result, humans possess a strand of Furon DNA that can hopefully restore the Furons’ reproductive organs. Unfortunately a secret government organisation called Majestic (a sort of cross between Project Blue Book and the Men in Black) have caught wind of the Furon invasion due to Crypto 136 crash landing in Roswell 10 years earlier. So Crypto 137 will have to be extra cautious in his quest to take over Earth.

The game was released four years after Grand Theft Auto III, which had completely revolutionised gaming with its open world sandbox. As a result, other companies were attempting their own open worlds and putting their own spin on them. While Destroy All Humans didn’t quite have the same scale as GTA, it made up for it with quality over quantity. The game offered six small open world areas for players to have fun in and its central premise was utterly captivating. After countless games where you had to fight alien invaders, Destroy All Humans allowed you to play as the alien invader.

Pandemic Studios completely embraced the alien invasion premise, giving the player a vast number of weapons and abilities to wreak havoc on planet Earth. You had access to weapons like the Zap O Matic, Disintegrator Ray and Anal Probe (no, really, there’s actually a gun called the Anal Probe and it’s as funny as it sounds) as well as mental abilities such as Psychokinesis, Hypnotism and the Cortex Scan, which allowed you to read the thoughts of humans and was also used to help maintain your Holoblob disguise in stealth missions. And if that isn’t cool enough, you also get your own flying saucer, which you can use to destroy buildings and landmarks. The game gave you a lot of freedom, essentially dropping you in a small destructible playground and telling you to go and enjoy yourself.

But the thing I loved most about the first game was the writing. The plot itself is actually pretty good with plenty of twists and turns as the military and Majestic become more and more desperate to stop you. And the humour, my God the humour! Honestly Destroy All Humans remains to this day one of the funniest games I’ve ever played. It’s use of satirical humour and 50s pop culture references never failed to make me chuckle. There was one moment that I’ll always remember where I scanned the mind of a police officer and it revealed that he was thinking about forming the Village People. If only he could find a cowboy, an Indian and a construction worker.

The game’s main source of comedy mostly came from poking fun at the culture and attitudes of the time period. 1950s America was of course gripped by ‘the Red Scare,’ which the game mocks frequently as we see Majestic and the US government try desperately to cover up alien activity by blaming the death and destruction on communists, to the point where it just gets more and more absurd. At the end of each mission, a newspaper headline is shown, often blaming recent events on freak weather or communist propaganda. Yes, that should explain perfectly why people’s heads are exploding and why the cows are glowing green. It’s all perfectly normal. No aliens here. What’s that? A little green man in a flying saucer is blowing up ice cream trucks? Damn you commies!

The game also pokes fun at 50s sci-fi B movies, often parodying and lampshading the tropes and gimmicks one would expect in a low budget sci-fi flick. For example, the game ends with you fighting a giant robot that houses the President’s brain. It’s fully aware of how ridiculous and stupid it all is and clearly revels in it. Killer robots, mind control, radioactive animals, mad scientists and secret government conspiracies galore. Destroy All Humans is very much a love letter to cheesy sci-fi.

But by far the biggest draw was the main characters. Crypto and Pox. They’re both such funny, wonderfully realised and likeable characters. Pox is voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz, who you may remember from Invader Zim, and he gives the character a maniacal glee. I honestly could listen to his rants all day. He’s the quintessential evil genius. Crypto meanwhile is voiced by J. Grant Albrecht, who gives the character a Jack Nicholson-esque voice. Unlike Pox, Crypto is crass, crude and craves destruction, which often puts him at odds with Pox, who favours more subtle styles of invasion such as mind control. The two characters often bicker and squabble, which never fails to be entertaining, and yet there is an underlying respect and fondness for each other that helps ground the relationship. It’s the perfect double act.

Destroy All Humans was a good game, but does it still hold up? Well there are a few issues. Controls can be a bit clunky at times and missions can often get repetitive. Destroy x number of farmers. Collect x amount of DNA. That kind of thing. Also, annoyingly, there’s no checkpoints, which means if you die or fail the mission, you’re automatically sent back to the Furon Mothership and you have to start the mission all over again. But the writing, humour and entertainment value more than make up for it.

Hot Monkey Love

While the first game wasn’t what you’d call a hit, it was successful enough for THQ to commission a sequel. Destroy All Humans 2 was released in 2006 on PS2 and Xbox, just one year after the first game, and this time Crypto was going international.

Set in the 1960s, ten years after the events of the first game, the KGB in Russia learn about the Furon’s takeover of America and plan a counterattack. They nuke the Furon Mothership, killing Pox, and try to assassinate Crypto 138, who is posing as the President of the United States. The assassination fails and Pox’s mind is able to survive in hologram form. The two then embark on a global adventure, seeking revenge against the KGB and uncovering a massive conspiracy that puts the entire Furon invasion at risk.

Destroy All Humans 2 is an ambitious sequel that increases its scope from the first game. No longer confined to America, we see Crypto terrorise San Francisco, London, Tokyo, Russia and even the Moon. Our arsenal of weapons are also expanded. The original weapons from the first game return as well as some all new ones such as the Disclocator, which fires a purple disc at a human or vehicle and sends them flying around the map, the Burrow Beast, which summons a Tremors-esque space worm to cause carnage, and Meteor Strike, which I think speaks for itself. We also get a few new mental abilities such as Transmogrify, which allows you to turn objects into ammo, and Free Love, which causes everyone in the general vicinity to start dancing, allowing you to make a quick getaway while they’re distracted. The saucer too has some extra features, including a cloaking device and the ability to drain vehicles of health using your Abducto Beam.

This sequel pretty much takes everything that worked from the first game whilst tweaking the things that didn’t. The GTA style Alert system got a complete overhaul. If you want to raise or lower the Alert level, all you have to do is bodysnatch a cop or a soldier and make a call using a police box (you can also make prank calls from them, which is good for a giggle). Holoblobbing has been replaced with Bodysnatching, which works so much better and it does away with the annoying Concentration meter, so you can PK cars and humans to your heart’s content. There’s also a lot more stuff to do now. There are numerous collectables such as Alien Artefacts, which unlocks the Burrow Beast weapon, and FuroTech Cells, which are your main currency that can be used to upgrade your health and weapons. Missions have greater variety than in the first game. There’s a lot more side missions, including Odd Jobs and my personal favourites the Cult of Arkvoodle missions, where Crypto brainwashes humans to worship the Furon God Arkvoodle of the Sacred Crotch.

As you can tell, the humour is still just as wacky and ridiculous as ever. Destroy All Humans 2 lampoons and ridicules the 60s mercilessly, taking aim at the Cold War and the hippie counterculture movement. It also pokes fun at 60s sci-fi films, spy films and Japanese movies like Godzilla. In fact there’s a boss fight that involves you fighting a Godzilla-esque monster and it’s honestly the best boss fight in the series. It regains health by destroying buildings, so you have to destroy them first before you can kill the monster. It’s a great premise.

Story-wise, Destroy All Humans 2 is a worthy successor, raising the stakes and expanding the lore. We’re introduced to the Blisk, the Martians that were presumed extinct by the Furons millions of years ago. It’s a brilliant conflict and ostensibly allows the developers to make commentaries on America and Russia at the time using the Furons and the Blisk respectively as stand-ins. Crypto and Pox are well written, funny and likeable as ever and we’re also introduced to an assortment of new characters, including the Russian spy Natalya and MI6 agent Ponsomby (voiced by none other than Anthony Head from Buffy). The game is engaging and rewarding, but it crucially never takes itself too seriously. For example there’s one instance in Tokyo where Crypto learns about the battle between the White and Black Ninjas and he guesses that the conflict started because of the cliche student betraying his master type origin, but it turns out that both groups of ninjas were originally Grey, but then they ran out of grey fabric and disagreed over which colour they should be instead. There’s so many great comedic moments like that and they pretty much hit bullseyes every time.

That being said, there was one aspect of the game I didn’t like and that was the crude sex jokes. Crypto 138 is the first clone to have pure Furon DNA, which means he now has genitalia. As a result, this new incarnation of Crypto is far more randy than 137 was in the first game. This mostly takes the form of Crypto constantly trying to hit on Natalya, despite her showing no sexual interest, which I personally found pretty gross. Worse still, the game ends with Crypto cloning Natalya and ‘making a few adjustments’ so she will consent to have sex with him. The word ‘creepy’ doesn’t begin to cover how I felt about this. If THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games ever decide to remake the second game, I really hope they consider rethinking that ending because... Jesus!

On the whole, Destroy All Humans 2 was a brilliant sequel. It was also sadly the last Destroy All Humans game to be developed by Pandemic Studios before they were bought by EA and eventually shut down in 2009. Unfortunately this would have a severe impact on the future of the series going forward.

Limp Willy

The next game in the series was a spinoff for the Nintendo Wii, released in early 2008 and developed by Locomotive Games. A PS2 version was also planned, but was scrapped due to budget cuts (remember this. It’ll become relevant later).

Destroy All Humans: Big Willy Unleashed was... underwhelming, to say the least. Set in the 1970s, six years after the second game, Crypto and Pox have opened a fast food restaurant called Big Willy as a way of disposing of the corpses left behind during Crypto’s missions. However a rival fast food chain, run by Colonel Kluckin’, is stealing their business and socialite Patty Wurst is threatening to expose Big Willy (smirk). So it’s up to Crypto to protect Pox’s Big Willy (haha) and maintain their cover on Earth.

Now you’re probably thinking this sounds quite tame compared to the previous two games, and yeah, it is. But it’s a spinoff, so I can understand to a certain extent. However there are a few narrative discrepancies. The big one being Crypto has retired from being the President. No explanation given as to why and we have no idea what Crypto is doing instead. When we first see him, he’s watching TV. He doesn’t even know Big Willy exists until Pox brings it up. So what’s going on exactly? Are they still trying to invade Earth or have they gone native? Also, compared to the grand conspiracy stories of the previous games, Crypto protecting a fast food restaurant sounds a little beneath him.

Gameplay is virtually unchanged from the previous game. There’s some new guns such as Ball Lightning and the Zombie Gun, but nothing special. The biggest addition is Big Willy, the restaurant mascot that’s actually a Furon battle mech in disguise. It’s... fine. Not that much different from the Saucer really. We also get some new locations. Harbor City, Fairfield in Kentucky, Fantasy Atoll (a weak parody of Fantasy Island) and Vietmahl (a painfully obvious homage to Vietnam). None of these locations are particularly interesting however. There’s also a multiplayer mode, which... exists.

Honestly the game as a whole is just lacklustre. The story just isn’t as good as the first two games and the humour doesn’t have the same wit or intelligence. Most of the comedy surrounds the fact that Pox has called his restaurant Big Willy and isn’t entirely aware of the double entendre, which admittedly is funny for the first few missions, but by the time you’ve finished Harbor City and move on to Fairfield, the joke gets old real fast. There’s less of an effort to actually satirise the culture or films of the time, instead merely making 70s pop culture references without ever actually doing anything with it. It’s like the Family Guy school of comedy. Take Fantasy Atoll for instance. A pisstake of Fantasy Island, but instead of Mr. Roarke and Tatoo, we get Mr. Pork and Ratpoo. That’s the level of humour we’re talking about here.

What’s worse is that J. Grant Albrecht and Richard Steven Horwitz don’t return as Crypto and Pox. Sean Donnellan and Darryl Kurylo voice the characters instead and it’s just not the same. It doesn’t feel like Crypto and Pox. So from the very first cutscene, we’re already off on the wrong foot.

And then there’s a bunch of other stuff that I find really questionable. The most obvious being the revelation that Colonel Kluckin’ makes his chicken wings from the corpses of the Vietmahl (Vietnam) war, which just seems in very bad taste to me. If there is a satirical point being made here, I can’t find it for the life of me. There’s also some side missions where Crypto finds out that he and Natalya have a son, which goes absolutely nowhere and doesn’t feel like something that should be in a Destroy All Humans game.

Overall, Big Willy Unleashed was a massive dud meant to tide us over until Destroy All Humans 3 came out later in the year. Honestly the one aspect of it I thought had potential was the side missions involving Crypto and Pox being assessed by a Furon Efficiency Expert called Toxoplasma Gondii. Considering what happened in the second game, including the destruction of the Furon Mothership, the return of the Blisk and the Furon operation on Earth being jeoprodised, this could have been a great premise for a sequel.

Instead what we got was...

Disco Inferno

Oh boy. Where do I begin?

Path Of The Furon was developed by THQ and Sandblast Games and released in December 2008 on the Xbox 360 in North America. The PS3 version was cancelled because Sandblast (and Locomotive Games) was closed down before development was finished due to THQ’s financial problems at the time. However the PS3 version was released in Europe and Australia, so either THQ got another studio to complete it or, more likely, they just released it in a broken, buggy state.

Fans really didn’t like this game, myself included, but before we go tearing it a new one, lets look at the few positives the game has. First off, J. Grant Albrecht and Richard Steven Horwitz return to voice Crypto and Pox, which is great. As a result, the original chemistry is back and they help salvage the game when the writing fails to deliver. There are a few cool new weapons, like the Black Hole Gun and the Venus Human Trap, which creates a giant man eating plant. The Saucer’s weapons have been tweaked, so now they affect the environment as well as destroy buildings. So if you fire your Death Ray at the ground, for example, you can create scorch marks. PK now has its own dedicated button, which means you can pick up and throw objects whilst using your guns simultaneously. There’s also the titular ‘Path Of Enlightenment,’ which upgrades your mental abilities significantly as well as allowing you to freeze time.

That’s the good stuff. The bad stuff is... pretty much everything else.

The humour is, again, quite poor. Rather than satirising 70s culture, the game continues to make references to 70s films like The Godfather and Star Wars, but not actually doing anything with them. Just making the reference. The writing as a whole is quite substandard as the plot pretty much recycles the plots of Destroy All Humans 2 and Big Willy Unleashed, except instead of the Big Willy restaurant, it’s the Space Dust casino and instead of the Blisk, it’s Nexosporidium warriors, who are basically Furon cyborgs. Things do threaten to get a bit interesting when Crypto and Pox discover someone has been manufacturing synthetic Furon DNA, but nothing ever really comes of it. Instead the game focuses mainly on the Master.

Ah yes. The Master.

In an attempt to recapture the magic of the second game, Path Of The Furon tries to spoof kung-fu movies just like how DAH 2 spoofed spy films. Unfortunately this leads us to a slew of unfunny gags, cultural appropriation and some of the worst racial stereotyping I think I’ve ever seen. The Master is a Furon who crashed on Earth a hundred years ago and embroiled himself in Eastern culture, enhancing his PK abilities. This is what he looks like:

YYYYeah.

Oh and if that’s not awkward enough, he also speaks in an over the top ‘ah so’ accent. It’s incredibly cringeworthy and made me want to crawl out of my body and hide in the darkest corner I could possibly find. How anyone involved in this game’s development could look at this deeply racist and downright embarrassing excuse for a character and think this was okay, I don’t know.

And before anyone tries to excuse it by saying that he has been living in China for a hundred years, so he’s bound to pick a few things up, please note that Nolan North is in this game playing the Furon Emperor Meningitis, who also has an over the top ‘ah so’ accent. Now I suppose some could argue that the game is satirising how Asian people were portrayed at the time, but if that’s what the game is going for, they’ve failed miserably. See, the problem with that argument is that replicating something doesn’t count as satire. By recreating over the top racist caricatures, you’re not making fun of them. If anything you’re just reinforcing them. The first game’s satire of the Red Scare worked so much better than this because there was an actual point behind it. It comments on how paranoid the people of the 50s were at the time by using Majestic to exploit the threat of communism in order to cover up alien activity, and everyone willingly buys into it because of that sheer paranoia. Now yes, admittedly the humour in Destroy All Humans isn’t the most sophisticated in the world, but it used to be a LOT better than this. Not only do I find the racial stereotyping in this game deeply offensive, it’s also frankly beneath this franchise. And it’s not just limited to the Chinese either. The final act takes us to the Furon homeworld (which was pretty underwhelming after four games worth of buildup) and we meet another Furon called Endometriosis whose only characteristics are that he has an Italian accent and wears a beret. It’s these broad strokes and general laziness that makes this game such a disappointing experience.

Path Of The Furon is subpar in every way imaginable. The writing, the humour, the gameplay and even the graphics. The first two games looked so much better than this and they were on older consoles from the previous generation. It’s shocking.

It’s hard to blame Sandblast Games for this considering they were shut down before development was finished. It was THQ’s mismanagement and financial woes that killed off this franchise and indeed themselves. The company went bankrupt in 2012 and their various IPs were sold off to other studios, with Nordic Games buying the lions’ share, including Destroy All Humans, which briefly reignited hopes that we might get another game, but that seemed unlikely considering the franchise has never exactly been a mainstream success. There was even talks of doing an animated sitcom based on the games for Fox, to be written by the same guy who did King Of The Hill, but that never went anywhere.

No. It seemed like Destroy All Humans was gone for good and fans reluctantly made peace with that. It was fun while it lasted, but perhaps it was time to move on.

Oh The Furonity!

I’m not going to lie. I was pretty sure we were never going to see Destroy All Humans return. Not just because of its lack of mainstream appeal, but also because game development studios and publishers in recent years have become more and more reluctant to make single player, mid-tier games. Instead pivoting toward massive triple A releases and ‘live services’. So it came as a rather pleasant surprise when Nordic Games, now named THQ Nordic, released Darksiders III in 2018, a sequel to a series of games that were also not very mainstream but still had a significant cult following. This briefly reignited a small flicker of hope within me that maybe, just maybe, we might see our favourite Furon return.

And as you already know, I got my wish. A new Destroy All Humans game will be released next year by THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games.

So what can this remake learn from the franchise’s past? Well thankfully the writing and voice acting is going to remain the same, so story, characterisation and humour won’t be an issue. They’re also incorporating elements from the sequels such as Transmogrify from Destroy All Humans 2 and giving PK its own button like in Path Of The Furon. There’s also a few new additions that I’m excited about such as the ability to dodge and strafe using the jetpack. That should make combat much more exciting and dynamic. I know a few people have a problem with the new cartoony designs of the humans and the world, but I honestly don’t mind. In fact I think it suits the tone and setting quite well. Hopefully people will eventually get used to it. The big question mark hovering over all this is whether they’re planning to remake the other games in the series. I for one would love to see a remake of the second game. As for Big Willy Unleashed and Path Of The Furon, I think it’s best to leave them firmly in the past. The big dream would be to see Crypto and Pox have further adventures together beyond the first two games. Hopefully even have enough sequels to get the characters to the present day. We’ll just have to wait and see what the future brings. My only word of advice for them would be to never forget what made the first two games so good and so beloved. Big Willy Unleashed and Path Of The Furon lost their way, as its writing and humour grew lazier and lazier. If we are fortunate enough to get more games, the developers will need to remember what it was about the first game that made it so special and build off of it.

This is a second chance. Not a lot of franchises get this. Don’t waste it. Here’s hoping the remake will provide the definitive Destroy All Humans experience and that it will gain the success it deserves.

#destroy all humans #pandemic studios #locomotive games #sandblast games #thq #video games #quill's scribbles

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that-shamrock-vibe · 5 years

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Movie Review: Dark Phoenix (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the weekend after the movie is released worldwide, so if you haven’t yet seen the movie do not read on until you have or check out my non-spoiler review for a general overview.

Retelling Mistakes:

Alright so this is a Simon Kinberg movie first and an X-Men movie second, by which I mean I don’t think it should be judged as an X-Men movie before being judged as the brainchild of Simon Kinberg who is writer, producer and director of the movie.

Kinberg famously also wrote the script for X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006 which was the first cinematic attempt for him to tell the Dark Phoenix story. I want oit also to be noteworthy that The Last Stand is definitely a poorer movie in terms of story flow by trying to combine the Phoenix story with the Mutant Cure story and also for practically zero character development and an ending that felt as if the original trilogy fizzled.

However, despite Dark Phoenix being a slightly better movie overall than The Last Stand, it is almost as if Kinberg simply rehashed the same script but modified it to fit with the current group of characters who are somewhat different to those from the original trilogy.

Much like Mary Poppins Returns, Dark Phoenix has almost exactly the same scenes just told in a different way.

Starting with Jean in the mansion’s medical lab, just as she was after being found by Wolverine and Storm in X3. The only differences are Jean is there of her own accord after returning from seemingly absorbing a solar flare, Xavier and Logan aren’t examining her instead Hank is and the scene doesn’t end with a steamy romp on the table and instead Jean says she feels great and is dismissed.

Then there’s Jean’s home battle death in the first act. During X3 this is the scene almost immediately after the medical lab scene where Jean returns to her old home in a very fragile state. Xavier, Storm and Wolverine arrive to help Jean while Magneto and his new Brotherhood arrive to acquire her. It results in a couple of separate fights ending in Phoenix destroying Xavier.

In this movie though, Jean returns home and is hit with a bombshell about her past, leading the Phoenix to take over and be the sole combatant against the X-Men who arrive to help her. However, Mystique is the one who dies at the telekinetic hands of Phoenix via impalement rather than disintegration.

The ending scenes of the movie begin with shots of the X-Mansion before going on to Magneto playing chess. Here the shots are of the newly named Jean Grey School which go on to Xavier and Magneto playing chess in France while in X3 the shots of the mansion are of Storm welcoming new students and Magneto is later shown playing chess in the park.

It’s annoying when movies rehash the same scenes from popular movies but X3 is critically hated and mostly mocked by fans as potentially the worst X-Men movie aside from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Also these scenes did not contribute to the original Dark Phoenix story and even to die-hard X-Men fans who remember these scenes from the animated series, you can’t help but compare to X3.

Characters:

Alright so now my big grumble with the movie is over, I am going to be talking about these characters in order of importance for the movie and in part my favourites the franchise as a whole.

Jean Grey:

Sophie Turner does a brilliant job here and is definitely the star of the movie, it could be argued Jean Grey has become the first X-Men character aside from Wolverine to get her own solo movie as “Dark Phoenix” is centric to her character.

But it is a fact that Sophie Turner did a fantastic job at brilliantly portraying the inner struggle that Jean had in this movie both physically and mentally. My favourite scene from her is probably when she is sat in the rain trying to scrub Mystique’s blood off while questioning her inner demon otherwise known as Phoenix as to why it made her do it. It was a short scene and if yo have seen it in the trailers you’ve pretty much seen it, but something about it in context works really well in the movie.

Also Jean as a child was also rather well portrayed, again we have a scene with Jean as a child opening X3 but while that scene is rather played down and strictly about Jean demonstrating the extent of her powers at that age, this one shows that her powers were in fact instrumental in her childhood trauma as she supposedly was responsible for killing her parents while her powers protected her from the debris.

This was of course proven later to only be partly true as her father somehow survived the accident while her mother didn’t, but then her father effectively disowned her and gave her to Xavier.

Either way Summer Fontana does an okay job at portraying young Jean as an almost three-dimensional child dealing with what she has dealt with and feeling she is broken despite Xavier claiming she isn’t.

I really enjoyed seeing a better, more diverse, use of the Phoenix powers. Not only in the explanation that Jessica Chastain’s Vuk gave to the extent of the Phoenix power which felt very Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 with Ego’s demonstration of his powers, but also in the way that Jean took control of Xavier’s body and made him walk up the stairs.

It wasn’t just simply a case of Phoenix being able to make things disintegrate and float as opposed to how it was in X3. I also really loved the pink energy that Jean had when using the Phoenix powers. I know in the comics this is Jean’s standard colour for using her powers like Scarlet Witch is red and Polaris is green but they never established Jean’s powers using pink energy before and the almost pink fire that accompanied the Phoenix powers made for a rather nice effect.

Jean’s relationship with Scott never felt as forced as I thought it would. It was pretty much the same set up as the Bruce/Natasha relationship in the MCU. I didn’t hate it there and I didn’t hate it here, I simply didn’t focus too much on it.

Although I will agree that in those early scenes at the mansion and that party that the way Jean was acting when with Scott was very Bella Swan from the hair to the almost socially awkward posture and movement.

However, I did love that the first official intimate moment between the two was after Jean was enhanced by the Phoenix which heightened all of her emotions, so you could say it was a three-way relationship at that point.

I did think the added development of her father being alive and Jean discovering that he had effectively disowned her added to her further decline to succumb to the Phoenix power.

Also seeing a fully-powered Jean explored here was fun to watch. From seeing her fly to using her telekinesis to operate a helicopter and even when she was Phoenix and dismantled Magneto’s Helmet, all of it was an impressive display of power.

We all know the timeline is slightly screwed in this universe but we are supposed to believe that in 1975 Jean Grey is 8 years old and with the present day events here being set in 1992 that would make the character 25 years old...there is little to no age difference between Jean here and in Apocalypse maybe aside from hair and fashion and that was set in the 80s.

I thought Jean’s sacrifice at the end was both obvious and poignant. Obvious because Jean is meant to die at the end of the Dark Phoenix story but poignant because it was quite an emotional sacrifice more so than in The Last Stand.

I loved the inferno of pink fire that surrounded Phoenix and later Vuk as Jean kills them both essentially, it made for a more interesting climax than just Jean standing there disintegrating everything.

Overall Sophie Turner was definitely the best thing about the movie, I do think she maybe could have been a little bit more diverse in her acting as mostly she delivered lines on the same monotonic level but other than that I have no complaints...except maybe wanting to see her in the Dark Phoenix costume.

Beast:

I will continue to say this, people do not give Nicholas Hoult enough credit as Hank McCoy/Beast.

Considering how he, McAvoy, Fassbender and J-Law are the only ones left from First Class, I think Hoult has played an under the radar performance but still one of notoriety.

I will say my only negative for this version of the character is I feel the way the fan-favourite character is portrayed is affected in the same way as Mystique has been portrayed in that the actors (Hoult and Lawrence) do not want to be in the blue make-up all the time and want to be able to be themselves for parts of the movie.

Now whereas Mystique can easily shapeshift and that is how they get away with that, to my knowledge once Beast’s mutation accelerated and turned McCoy into Beast, it was not irreversible in the comics but because of Hank’s serum he was able to shift between the two during Days of Future Past and Apocalypse.

Here though there didn’t really seem to be any explanation as to why he was able to shift so easily and rather than it being a case of a serum injection, it seemed to be more Hulk-like. I’m not complaining at seeing Nicholas Hoult in all his glory, but Beast being my favourite X-Man I want him to be treated with the respect he deserves.

In the positives, I really liked seeing a darker side of Beast. But it wasn’t a straightforward Dark Beast as everyone believed it would be and simply Hank deciding that Xavier was not the answer in this situation and that Magneto was. I was fully on Beast’s side in this movie because not only did Jean accidentally murder his lover, but Xavier had such an incompetent attitude to the whole thing for fear of ruining their recent claim to fame that he had set aside the original morals he intended for the X-Men.

It is a testament to Hank’s morals though that after Xavier made his half-arsed apology that Beast decided to protect Jean because that is what Mystique would have done.

I am unsure how I feel about Beast now being the headmaster of the school, now called the Jean Grey School. I am all for the fact that Xavier decided to retire after the complete hash he made of “protecting his students” and I get that Hank is now the longest-serving member of the X-Men...but I do wish we had another movie to see him as a teacher/headteacher for me to decide fully.

I would like to see Beast in the MCU at some point either as Nicholas Hoult or Kelsey Grammar, but overall I just want Beast to return at some point as he is my favourite and I feel he needs more of a chance to shine.

Professor X:

I am thrilled with this movie for showing the darker side of Xavier, the only problem is rather than hinting at his darker side as they did in The Last Stand, they went down a hubris egotistical route before even starting to hint at his darker side which made what he did to Jean seem more like it was feeding into his hubris than actually doing the wrong thing for what he believed to be the right reason.

Also, as I said with Beast, Xavier simply came across as incompetent a lot in this movie and most of it seemed to be because he thought he was above reproach. When he agreed to send the X-Men into space to save those astronauts he was called out on his reason why by Mystique and yet played it off as him keeping the peace between humans and mutants so that they don’t go back to being hated.

When the team try and detain Jean, he is fine letting everyone put their lives at risk to try and stop her but when Beast has a taser ready to shoot, Xavier stops him and the cops in order for Mystique to talk her down which leads to her death...why not just let Beast taser her and then let Mystique talk to her back at the mansion?

Then when Hank and Xavier are having that talk, Xavier simply talks about how Mystique was in First Class rather than taking responsibility or apologising for not letting Beast take the shot, and even tries to turn it around on him for making him feel bad after burying his foster sister...bullshit!

I don’t know why or how the X-Men are suddenly public superheroes because Xavier was the one during First Class who stated that anonymity was their first line of defence and now the President has an X-Phone, it just seems like something the Avengers or Justice League would be but not the X-Men.

Also I loved it when he got talked down by Storm and Nightcrawler, it was simply the last straw that he had lost the respect of his students and team.

Don’t get me wrong, James McAvoy did a great job in the role as always, he like Hoult is one of those actors I will watch a film for regardless, but there was just something that didn’t feel as organic as the Xavier he had built up for the past 8 years.

I know McAvoy was filming Glass around the same time as this and you can tell because of the weight that he put on for the Beast role in that, but while McAvoy got the look of Xavier down with his fashion it was just something about the character’s motives that seemed really off.

Mystique:

This was a straightforward character assassination for a great X-Men villain, particularly with what Rebecca Romijn did with the character in the original trilogy to have it being so desecrated in the 30-45 minutes that she is in here is such a shame.

For one thing, she is never called Mystique once in this movie. Secondly, the make-up has gone from lizard-like to fancy dress. Third, as much as I liked Jennifer Lawrence’s delivery in this movie I detest the fact she died a hero, and that she was eulogised as “doing what she did best, dying trying to protect her friends”...

Mystique is a villain, she has moments of anti-heroism and her soft spots are often shown for her kids, but other than that she is manipulating, cold and calculated. She would definitely not die and be eulogised as “being the spirit of the X-Men”.

Also I say in the comics she has a soft-spot for her children, that’s great but in seven movies they have not established any familial connections between her, Rogue or Nightcrawler...despite many opportunities.

I do have positives though, as I said I did like Jennifer Lawrence’s delivery. I thought her line about how it usually being the women saving the men and changing the team name to X-Women was a good line, even though Mystique, Storm and Jean are really the only female members of the team they’ve shown in the First Class trilogy but they are still the more interesting ones, aside from Quicksilver and Beast.

I also liked it when she suggested to Hank that they leave the X-Men and run away together. I understand why Hank said no but I do agree that if they had done so it would have saved both of them.

Her duration in this movie simply felt like J-Law waiting to be released from her contract, you could tell that from her opening delivery to Nightcrawler as she exasperatingly says “Yes Kurt, we’re going into space” and the scene when the other rocket explodes and Mystique looks like she’s waiting for the inferno to take her.

Overall I am saddened that this is how Mystique ends in the movie universe, but at least there is still some good takeaway from her in the movie.

Magneto:

Could Magneto just pick a side and stick with it?! For one thing Genosha just seemed like a wilderness estate rather than a Mutant safe-haven. But while he was trying to be the peacekeeper here as soon as he hears of Mystique’s death he is right back into being a bad guy, but then a pep talk from Xavier and he is back being a good guy again.

I wouldn’t mind but he berates Xavier by saying “you’re always sorry and there’s always a speech but it never matters”, yet after Xavier gives a speech in the train he is somehow won over.

I really enjoyed the display of his powers in the movie, as always. The fact he and Jean battled to control a helicopter and both actors didn’t oversell it or make it look memeable is a testament to them both.

But I loved it in that street battle when he pulled up that underground train from the subway and managed to use it as a barricade between the building and the outside. Then later he equipped the SWAT agents’ guns in a full-on firing brigade against Vuk...yes it didn’t work but it was awesome.

I’m not too happy with where his story ended in this movie, the fact that he is now being Xavier’s saving grace seems a little bit against type for the character and also the fact he would either abandon Genosha or welcome his ethical enemy to Genosha just doesn’t sit right.

Cyclops:

I still enjoyed this version of Scott Summers than James Marsden’s performance, but I do agree that Cyclops’ visor really prohibits the actor wearing it from getting across much emotion in the scenes.

To be fair, Tye Sheridan does try and succeeds a lot here, but I still didn’t feel bad or empathetic for him most of the way through this movie.

I think his optic blast power is one of the best the X-Men has both visually and from a power stand point, and I loved how the Blackbird has apparently become equipped with a blaster pod for Cyclops’ optic blast. I did want to see more of that but really Cyclops is the only member with that kind of power. Storm can easily carry out her powers regardless and the rest need to be within a certain distance.

Nightcrawler:

I felt myself very confused by Nightcrawler towards the end of this movie. When he tried saving that one SWAT agent whose son was a fan of his but was too late and so got angry, it just seemed very out of character to me.

Yes Nightcrawler has been involved in conflict in the comics but in the original trilogy he was very much the religious pacifist type of character. Going full demon could have been an interesting pathway for the character considering his father is Azazel, but literally slotting it in for five minutes of the final film does seem a bit like a throwaway plot point.

Also, despite it still being Kodi Smit-McPhee, I felt a lot of the freshness he brought to the character in Apocalypse was gone here, maybe because they didn’t show him as much but a lot of the humour from the last movie he had was gone here.

Vuk:

Everyone is simply calling her Jessica Chastain and to be fair it makes no difference what you call her because she’s barely developed as is.

Firstly this massive mystery role of hers is revealed to be the leader of a D’Bari army who seek the Phoenix power that destroyed their homeworld to help them remake Earth into their new homeworld. That’s great, and the D’Bari were in the original Dark Phoenix saga story, but nothing else is done to make Vuk menacing or threatening or even interesting.

I don’t understand the stomach twisting power they seemed to have, because it seemed like the biggest threat these aliens offer is to give their victims the worst stomach cramps imaginable, but the most laughable trait of theirs was literally charging at Jean as the Phoenix during the end of the film...even Vuk did.

I’m not saying they were bad as villains, they certainly filled that role, but they didn’t offer anything new or threatening and they certainly didn’t exceed what Apocalypse did.

Quicksilver:

Quicksilver was shelved in this movie. Not only was he in the movie all together for probably 3 minutes less than Mystique, but also they cut everything about him that made him such a likeable character in the previous two movies.

The humour was barely there, there was no brilliant slow motion speed scene, they still didn’t establish the relationship between him and Magneto despite Apocalypse seemingly teasing it would be explored. I know he got injured during the confrontation between the X-Men and Jean but to not even be mentioned for the rest of the movie except for a 5 second appearance right at the end?

Storm:

I will give Storm credit for being the only character in this movie to be called by their moniker, but Storm is only called by her moniker. Mystique calls Cyclops, Nightcrawler and Quicksilver Scott, Kurt and Peter on mission but also calls Storm Storm. Why not Ororo?

Also her powerset, particularly with Alexandra Shipp, seem very limited. The younger version of Storm only really seems to produce lightning and electrical attacks with the occasional heavy breeze. Here though she seems to also produce ice cubes for parties...because that’s a good use for one of the strongest X-Men?

Future:

I am unsure about the future of the X-Men now, while I cannot wait to see what the MCU does with them, Feige has stated that it won’t happen for a while at least.

I am hoping they start drip-feeding them in soon, say with Storm in Black Panther II and maybe Professor X in Doctor Strange II if they introduce the Illuminati.

I have loved these past 19 years of X-Men movies, yes there have been bumps in the road but it is a great comfort to watch and I don’t ever feel like they’re a guilty pleasure.

Overall I rate this movie a 7/10, it’s not an offensive movie like X-Men Origins or The Last Stand but it isn’t as strong as X2, First Class or Days of Future Past. I would still love to see a faithful Dark Phoenix saga movie maybe over the course of a couple of movies rather than just rammed into the one but I cannot really mark it down too much because it gave me the nostalgia I have whenever I watch an X-Men movie.

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

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tainbocuailnge · 5 years

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The fandom you're in looks really awesome, and the reason I followed you is it the cooler that comes with it, but I have no idea what it's about or what the actual game is? Is there a place I can go to kind of find out and maybe play myself? (You're so passionate about it that I'm starting to get really curious but google is my enemy)

I’m GUESSING you mean fate series cause that’s my number one thing I do not shut up about. it’s uhh kind of a spiraling mess of a series but most installments are standalone enough for it to not be a complete hell to get into, but also I’m glad you asked because getting in without help is definitely hell

fate started with the visual novel fate/stay night, written by kinoko nasu and released in 2004. as such that’s the best starting point in my opinion, because it features all the detailed worldbuilding groundwork that later installments kind of gloss over so it can be hard to go back to if you already know all that from other installments. the plot is that seven magi summon legendary heroes to fight for them in a ritual war, with the prize being the holy grail which can grant any wish. leading themes are what it means to be a hero and save someone, the way history repeats itself, and forming your own identity in the wake of trauma. it has three routes, the last of which especially has really heavy themes of physical emotional and sexual abuse so if you need detailed content warnings pm me and I’ll do my best

fsn has several releases, the original vn features infamously bad erotica but there’s a rerelease called fate/stay night [realta nua] which replaced those scenes with pg-15 content and also tightened the visuals up a bit. I’ve got downloads for both versions here. it’s like 80 hours of vn so that’s quite the investment but there’s also the anime fate/stay night [unlimited blade works] featuring the second route, and the third route is getting a series of movies the first of which is out too, called heaven’s feel - presage flower. fate route (the first route) sort of got an anime in 2006 and unlimited blade works a movie in 2010 but those are really really bad so look for the 2014 anime and 2017 movie. imo the ubw anime did a decent job and heaven’s feel is doing pretty good too so far so they’re good for seeing if you like what the series has to offer before you dive into a long ass vn.

the prequel to fate/stay night is fate/zero, a light novel series written by gen urobuchi in collaboration with nasu. as such it’s notably darker than the rest of the series but by nature of being a prequel it makes for an equally decent starting point as stay night, since both will spoil things for the other. fate/zero has an anime too.

imo stay night and zero are the ‘standard’ fate installments, if someone says they like fate you can safely assume they’ve consumed at least one of those - is what I used to say but apparently it’s been so long that even this isn’t a reasonable assumption anymore. oh how times have changed. anyway please do start with zero or stay night cause like I said those are earlier installments so they’re at high risk of falling flat if you already know the deep lore from later stuff.

the biggest most booming fate installment is fate/grand order, a mobile game featuring characters from all other fates as well as a lot of newcomers. it’s pretty newbie friendly in terms of lore I think but you’ll get more out of it if you do know the background for all these characters since character development tends to carry over between installments. it’s infamously story heavy for a mobile game, especially in the later chapters when nasu got the hang of writing for mobage. the tone is also notably different from fsn and fz in that it’s more…. grandiose and theatrical, and obviously it waifs everyone up a bit so they can get you to spend money. still good tho. still love it. it’s got two anime specials, first order and moonlight lostroom, but first order makes no damn sense if you don’t know anything of stay night and lostroom takes place after the events of the first fgo arc. there’s anime projects of two of the chapters in progress too.

you thought that was all? you’re a fool this isn’t even half of it but I’ll briefly go over the rest under a cut cause those 3 are the big players.

carnival phantasm is a comedy OVA series featuring skits about several works from the same author. about half of it is about fate and the other about tsukihime, an earlier visual novel. watching order is after stay night. today’s menu for the emiya family is the canon domestic fsn au manga and anime where everyone’s just chilling eating dinner together instead of killing each other.

fate/hollow ataraxia is another visual novel. it’s a direct sequel to fate/stay night and a personal favourite. it takes place half a year after stay night and features much of the same themes, but from a pair of characters who lost the war in fsn before it even started.

fate/apocrypha is another series of light novels. in terms of reading order i’d put it after stay night and zero. it features a cast twice as big as those two and basically approaches the same themes from a different angle. it’s got a finished anime and an ongoing manga but the anime kinda butchered pretty much everything about it. unfortunately one of the light novels is still not translated so the anime is still the most accessible way to get approximately the whole story. the manga IS very good though so once that’s finished I’d probably tell people to read that one if they want to apocrypha

fate/EXTRA is a psp game it’s like 10 bucks in the ps store iirc. for reading order I’d put it after stay night but not necessarily after zero. in this one the ritual for the holy grail is held in a simulation on the moon, which is a supercomputer, and it’s an organised tournament with 128 participants instead of a 7 man free for all. it’s about forging meaningful bonds in a system designed to drive people apart and finding the drive to keep going even if nothing is certain. the gameplay isn’t great but the story is $$$ it’s my other personal favourite. it’s sequel is called fate/EXTRA CCC, it’s on psp too but never got a western release, but there’s a translation of one route out there and some madmen are working on a translation patch that’ll be done in time for my grandchildren I hope. CCC is the wildest ride of my life i love it a lot but it’s very horny so not really for everyone. fate/extra CCC fox tail is a manga which follows an alternate CCC route and i hear it’s cool. the sequel to CCC is fate/EXTELLA which did come to the west and is on several platforms, and somewhere next year fate/EXTELLA link should get localised. extella is very rushed and mostly expands the extraverse world but if you can grab it on sale after you decided you like extra it’s not a bad buy just don’t pay full price. fate/EXTRA last encore is an anime which. sort of comes after extra? it’s very trippy arthouse bullshit and I ate that shit up but it’s definitely not for everyone. the last 3 episodes are missing on netflix so make sure you don’t miss those if you decide to watch.

fate/kaleid liner PRISMA ☆ ILLYA is a magical girl spinoff manga & anime which sounds great in theory until you see it’s mostly pedobait, but extremely unfortunately for us sometimes it does something legitimately cool so we all suffer. don’t get into prillya it’s bad for your health.

fate/strange fake WAS an aprils fools story but this series has no limits so now it’s a full on light novel spinoff and also manga I think? I don’t keep up with it but it throws some wild ass lore our way sometimes. you’ll probably want to be up to date with apocrypha and everything before it before you try this one.

fate/prototype was just the original concept for fsn extrapolated a bit upon but again this series has no limits. prototype has an animated feature and some material books, and then the light novels fate/prototype fragments of blue and silver are the prequel to prototype, but it’s weird cause we never got a proper prototype so I don’t know what’s up with that. fate/labyrinth is a side story to fragments which I know even less about. I actually never see anyone talk about prototype so there’s probably no translations lol

lord el melloi II case files is even more light novels. I’m pretty sure you need to have gone over stay night, zero, hollow ataraxia, apocrypha, and strange fake before this one starts to make sense. there might be translations? i don’t know a fucking thing my guy

#squarelight #king of asks #rip mobile users

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 6 years

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Have you ever gone on the Spider-Man ride at Universal?

Have I ever gone on the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride at Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park in Florida?

That thing that I have a 2001 photo of near my bed and have had it there since 2001?

Er...only like 8 times!

Sit down and let me spin you a tale.

Long before there was a Spider-Man movie, long before I knew there was GOING to be one, I found out about the ride at like age 9-10.

It then became my life’s dream to go on that ride. And I do mean dream because I lived in England and my family at the time were living with my grandparents home as we slowly built our new house, a feat that took 2 years so we didn’t have the cash to spare on a big holiday like that.

One of the most crushing childhood memories I have is when there were vague discussions of a holiday to Florida with our closest family friends. But that fell through and I had to live with almost getting to go on that ride. I eagerly scoured our family friends’ holiday photos for a mere glimpse of the Spider-Man ride but nothing!

Remember this was the late 1990s/early 2000s, there was no Youtube and your internet connection was a joke, even if I knew how to use it.

But by the Summer of 2001 we’d finished our new home and moved out. And we finally decided to go to Florida with our family friends...and two other groups of family friends for a two-week mega vacation hitting all the Disney and Universal parks and other tourist attractions (which for us included a bona fide American ‘mall’).

I enjoyed Disney’s MGM studios and Animal Kingdom, but I was waiting for the day we’d hit up Islands of Adventure.

And then the day finally came and I was sure something was going to go wrong and get in my way.

First it was the lines to get into the park.

Then it was being confronted by some admittedly well meaning actors portraying Boris and Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle, trying to engage me in conversation when I just. Wanted. To. Get. To. Spider-Man!

And when I finally arrived at SUPER HERO ISLAND it seemed insane. For some reason in my child’s mind the idea of a theme park where every corner you looked and built into the street itself you’d see Disney characters, made sense.

But to see that for my heroes, the Marvel characters just didn’t seem real. Remember this was 2001, the Marvel Universe wasn’t as well known to the public (especially not in England). So whilst I had of course learned about it from all the 90s Marvel cartoons, no one else I knew could instantly recognize like Doctor Doom.

But here I was seeing Jim Lee inspired art of him, Storm, the Hulk and a gigantic Bagley image of Spider-Man in front of THE Daily Bugle!

But alas...the Spider-Man line was immense.

So we got a fast pass and arranged it to come back later and in the meantime I got to be traumatized by the Jurassic Park water drop ride. I was in the front seat age 10 with a T-rex approaching me and then...the ride stopped. Technical difficulties. In fact MOST rides that summer were having technical difficulties.

So we were stuck a T-rex looming over us. Unnoticed by me everyone else on the ride seemed to take a grip and bow their heads. I didn’t get why until it was too late and my eyes sharply turned from the T-rex to the like 60 foot high sheer drop as the ride came down with a splash.

Far less traumatic was getting a photo and autographs with the various superheroes and villains who showed up at Marvel’s Super Hero Island. Of course I got to meet the real Spider-Man...and my mother asked how Mary jane was.

His reply:

You’d have to ask Peter Parker about that

Fucking A.

Anyway, finally, finally, finally we got in the fast pass line for the ride. Which still wasn’t THAT fast but still we weren’t baking alive in the summer heat. And as a bonus I got to take in the surroundings of the Daily Bugle and the 1994 inspired animated shorts made for the ride explaining the whole story behind it (including my first ever look at Scream, a brand new symbiote I’d never even known about!).

Then we got to the ride. It was thrilling, the best feeling of my life. I was on an adventure with my hero Spider-Man! And we were all falling through the roof tops, spinning around and then...

We are sorry to inform you we are experiencing technical difficlties

The ride just stopped DEAD.

In hindsight I suppose it was all too appropriate.

I wanted to experience what it was like to be Spider-Man and now I was going through some typical Parker luck!

A few minutes elapsed before we all yelled because a literal burst of flame exploded nearby us, the ride had started again.

It finished up and I don’t think I’d ever been happier in my life.

But I was about to be because due to the technical difficulties...we got to go again without lining up!

Whilst my family, friends and family friends in attendance enjoyed the ride well enough (except for my friend’s Dad, he’s always had chronic back pains) they all knew this day, this moment, was for me!

And it wasn’t quite over yet.

As we walked down the corridor towards the gift shop we saw...the Green Goblin!

It was a lifesized statue standing just besides the doorway to the gift shop, presumably set up so people could get photos with him.

Well, he was my favourite villain so I had to. I stood beside the statue and posed when...he came to life!

It was one of the actors who’d accompanied the heroes on their periodic arrivals to the Super Hero Island for photos and autographs.

Somehow this was less traumatic than the Jurassic Park ride. I asked for his autograph and he obliged, plunking his pumpkin bomb bean bag onto my head to free up his hands.

Fucking awesome.

And this didn’t even cover the gift shop itself.

I’d never seen so much Spider-Man STUFF in the same place at the same time. I got myself a Green Goblin action figure from the now defunct (but fondly remembered by Marvel Toy historians) Spider-Man Classics line of toys and picked up my very, very first trade paperback (before I even knew that’s what it was!)

Spider-Man’s greatest Villains

It was an eclectic collection of single issues (and one annual) spotlighting an individual villain. Doc Ock, Mysterio, Kingpin, Electro, Hobgoblin, Vulture and mah boys Carnage and Venom (drawn by McFarlane himself, in my first exposure to his work, it left a major impression!)

Being a child f the 1990s and specifically the 1994 cartoon (which was the most recent and influential adaptation at the time, merchandise for it abounding in the store) Venom and Carnage were among my absolute favourite...things in life basically.

I wasn’t alone because just about every Spider-Fan my age loved them too. Hence why getting toys based on them proved elusive for me. And Spider-Man’s bad ass super mega ultra cool black costume even moreso. I’d long resigned myself that getting that toy was just a pipe dream and I’d missed my window for it long ago...Less than 15 minutes after leaving the gift shop my Dad got me this:

There were at least two other stores around the area of the Spider-Man ride and one of them sold toys and other collectibles.

Not only did I fulfill another childhood dream of having a black costume Spider-Man, but the toy even came with a SYMBIOTE toy too! And it was super posable, unlike all my other toys, including my Spider-Man ones.

AND...it came with a reprint of ASM #252, the debut of the black costume itself by DeFalco and Frenz and starring Black Cat too. An all round awesome issue and one of the first classic Spider-Man stories I ever got to read.*

The other of the two nearby stores was what an older me would call a relatively modest LCS, as it wasn’t that big of a store and sold ONLY comics and trades.

But you have to understand, 10 year old me had NEVER been inside an LCS. The idea that so many comics could be in the same place and that a store JUST selling them could exist was akin to the Cave of Wonders from Aladdin, something that could only ever exist, not just in America (the land where Spider-Man and all those other characters I loved, were from) but specifically there on Super Hero Island.

The rest of the day was pretty fun.

My friend somehow coerced her mother and mine to go on the Incredible Hulk roller coaster which I believe at the time was the tallest roller coaster in America, with this savage twist in the middle of it and a net to catch keys and other falling items.

We went on the Popeye ride, one of those rubber dingy rides that is supposed to splash you a lot and...I do not know if I’ve ever felt more wet in my life.

All in all it was a good day and I vividly remember being in one of the restaurants on the boulevard leading up to the theme park (a Three Supremes themed place for some reason, with wax statues of the band nearby our table) just pouring over my new toys, my new comics and my experience.

Best day of my life up until then!

Hell the ‘after party’ when we finally got back to England was awesome too. My beloved grandmother had bought me the latest issue of Astonishing Spider-Man that I wasn’t able to pick up whilst I was away. Who was the villain of the story?

Carnage!...Also Silver Surfer was there and he was pretty cool too.

It wasn’t the last time I went on the ride though.

My family and family friends made it an annual tradition between about 2002-2008 to spend the Christmas holidays in America and every year up until 2006 we spent some time in Orlando, meaning I got to check out the Spider-Man ride at least once every year and pick up a new trade and a bona fide original American comic book (not a reprint!) off the stands.**

So to answer your question definitively, yes I have indeed gone on the Spider-Man ride at Universal. I’ve done so many times and the ride and location are incredibly special to me.

*When I say classic I mean anything from before like 1995 because the stories I’d been reading in my UK reprint magazine, Astonishing Spider-Man, were all from 1995-1998, except for when they specifically spotlighted an older comic and referred to it as a classic. To me a classic was anything with ‘older art’.

**This experience led to me getting one of my favourite stories ever, Revenge of the Green Goblin, the second JMS trade with the 9/11 issue and Aunt May and Peter’s conversation, and also Kraven’s Last Hunt and Spider-Man Torment.

I fondly remember reading KLH whilst walking between rides and shows in Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios, I even remember I was reading part 2 or 3 at like a Wild West show at the latter after dark and somehow this added to the atmosphere of the story.

Torment was a different experience. I’d seen the cover, I knew and loved McFarlane’s art and the story turned out to be a sequel to KLH to my delight. But I had a really bad stomach bug during that particular vacation and Torment helped me get through it. Half because it was a Spider-Man story I loved reading and half because the pain of my bug led me to relate to Peter’s pain in that story.

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inknerd · 6 years

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Reading Wrap-Up: Summer 2018 (June to August)

The books I read and finished from June to August 2018! I feel like it’s been a good summer for me and books, despite that I haven’t read all the books I’d hoped to (mainly because there was A LOT), but these are all the books I read during the summer, 23 in total; perhaps you read some of them too?

WARCROSS by MARIE LU ★★★★☆ | 353 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2017 |

I was pleasantly surprised how little time it took for me to read this. I’m looking forward to the sequel! + It was very engaging and I liked the world that Lu painted up for the reader. - You could sort of see the plot twist coming (not that it was a bad one) and the supposed “friendships” fell flat for me.

CROOKED KINGDOM by LEIGH BARDUGO ★★★★★ | 536 pages | 6 days to read | Published 2016 |

Whatever hesistance I had reading Six of Crows (which was very little, by the end of it) completely evaporated reading Crooked Kingdom. It’s great! + The characters were what really hooked me on this story in the first place, and I really liked how we got to know more about them. Especially Wylan, who became my favourite. - I wouldn’t like to spoil anything, but there’s certain parts of the ending that I might have wanted to change. Might.

VICIOUS by V.E. SCHWAB ★★★★★ | 368 pages | 2 days to read | Published 2013 |

Started out sort of-maybe liking it but then I really got going. I’m SO down to buy the sequel as soon as it gets out. + The characters, their motivations, stories, and powers were all so intruiging! - I can’t really come up with something to complain about? It took some time to get into, I guess.

THE PENELOPIAD by MARGARET ATWOOD ★★★★☆ | 198 pages | 2 days to read | Published 2005 |

I’d looked for another greek myth retelling ever since I read The Song of Achilles, and this was a great one! It’s also the first Margaret Atwood book I ever read, and I absolutely want to read more books by her. + It was very beautifully written and explored characters I’d never seen explored and in a way that felt very original, even for more known characters as Odysseus and Helena. - It could get a little boring, at times.

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME by ANDRÉ ACIMAN ★★★☆☆ | 248 pages | 3 days to read | Published 2007 |

I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie. I still haven’t seen the movie, but I will...someday. + It was a very beautiful book, in certain ways. The language and the overall feeling of just everything was dripping of the pages and made it hard to stop reading while the book also felt way longer than it actually was. - But I also felt strangely...underwhelmed by the whole thing? Like I get why people like it but at the same time it was a somewhat strange book were not much happened. I also don’t get why everyone makes such a big fuss about the peach scene when there’s a literal scene where they watch each other take a shit. Like. I’m serious.

ELIZA AND HER MONSTERS by FRANCESCA ZAPPIA ★★★☆☆ | 385 pages | 2 days to read | Published 2017 |

When there’s a book about fandom experience in some form I usually want to read it. Sadly, for me this didn’t quite live up to, let’s say Fangirl (which I love), but was still an enjoying read. + I liked the whole thing with Monstrous Sea and how it included other parts of fandom from fanart, fanfiction, cosplay, but also how it can be hard to make people from the outside understand. - Not all of it simply clicked for me.

MEMORIES OF EMANON by SHINJI KAJIO & KENJI TSURUTA ★★★★☆ | 175 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2008 |

Man, I can’t believe I hadn’t read this manga before! + The art was beautiful, Kenji Tsuruta just made Emanon so pretty as well as the background and it all fit so well with the story. The story itself was very intruiging, I’d like to know more about Emanon and all her lives. - There was this one thing that bothered me about Emanon and how her memories sort of transfered to her offspring, and it could get a little confusing at times but at the same time it was part of the charm of this little story.

JIM HENSON’S LABYRINTH: THE NOVELIZATION by A.C.H SMITH, JIM HENSON & BRIAN FROUD ★★★★☆ | 288 pages | 7 days to read | Published 2014 (1986) |

When I found out this existed I was mindblown. You mean to say there’s a novelisation of one of my favourite movies and I haven’t read it yet!? There seems to be no physical copies left, but lucky for me there was a e-book version available! + It was so much fun to revisit the story and dive deeper into the characters. I feel like I got a deeper appreciation of some and more frustration from others, despite the book almost following the movie to a T. - Like...okay. The story wasn’t that great - if you weren’t a fan of Labyrinth before this book or haven’t seen the movie this book probably won’t give you much, to be honest. Sadly, the pictures of Henson’s written notes in the end wasn’t really readable either. At least not for me, who can’t read cursive for shit, especially when it’s sloppy.

ELLA ENCHANTED by GAIL CARSON LEVINE ★★★☆☆ | 232 pages | 2 days to read | Published 1998 |

Another book that I read because I love the movie so much! This one came before the movie, though. + It was very witty and gave new perspective to characters I already love. The world of Ella Enchanted was somewhat different from the movie (actually, a lot of things was, especially the main plot changed tremendously) and I felt like the book more than the movie focused on Ella and her curse and how she felt about it and how it affected her entire life even after it was broken. The romance was also very cute. - Perhaps it’s because I saw the movie first and it’s so funny and one of my favourites, but I missed some of its elements when reading the book. I wished I’d read the book when I was younger, I think I’d liked it even more then.

AN ASSEMBLY SUCH AS THIS ★★★☆☆, DUTY AND DESIRE ★☆☆☆☆ & THESE THREE REMAIN ★★☆☆☆ by PAMELA AIDAN | 1073 pages | 12 days to read | Published 2006-2007 |

These are all part of the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman series - which is a Pride and Prejudice story from Darcy’s perspective. + When I read the first book I really thought I’d found the P&P retelling from Darcy’s perspective I’d been looking for. It was very promising and funny to see through his eyes and how he and Elizabeth misunderstood each other. - The rest of the series didn’t go as well. Duty and Desire was plain boring and had no feeling from the original work by Austen. These Three Remain was slightly better simply because it returned to the original setting of P&P, but by then I was already too bored to enjoy the story any longer.

LET’S TALK ABOUT LOVE by CLAIRE KANN ★★★☆☆ | 288 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2018 |

I was so excited for this book. Asexuality! In YA! Just what I needed and craved. Still crave, actually. + The story was very cute, and I could connect with a lot of what was talked about. The supporting characters were also very funny and well-developed. The friendship of this story were more interesting to read than the romance, in certain ways. - As cute as the story was and how refreshing it was with an ace main character, there isn’t much more to say about this book. It was good. It was nice. Not much else. The overall plot was pretty standard beneath it all.

GOBLIN MARKET AND OTHER POEMS by CHRISTINA ROSSETTI ★★★★☆ | 135 pages | 6 weeks | Published 2017 (1862) |

I heard about this for the first time in my Literature class at uni, and was immideatly interested in reading it. And let’s just say this is among my favourite poetry collections of all time now. + The poem Goblin Market was a clear favourite, but the whole first section of the book was so pretty and a fantastic read. I underlined a lot of lines that stood out to me. - The later parts of the book was to me not enjoyable as the first one. I definitely felt more drawn to the poems of Rossetti that took inspiration from nature and folklore rather than the ones who talked a lot about Christianity and Jesus.

UNNATURAL CREATURES by NEIL GAIMAN (editor) ★★★☆☆ | 462 pages | 32 days to read | Published 2013 |

This was a collection of short stories selected by Neil Gaiman (one of them written by him). And as always, as soon as I see the man’s name I feel compelled to read whatever it is he’s written or edited. + I really liked reading the first part of this collection! All the stories are very cool and the book has a very wide range of unnatural creatures. From dictator wasps to griffins to werewolves. - As it should be, some stories appealed to me more than others. Some were pretty boring.

THE DARKEST MINDS by ALEXANDRA BRACKEN ★★★☆☆ | 488 pages | 5 days to read | Published 2012 |

When I saw the trailer of the movie it looked very interesting, so I quickly got myself an e-book copy and read it before the movie came out. + Overall it was a good book. The setting and the powers within the universe were good and the book was well-written. - At the same time I feel like I’ve fallen out of the YA dystopian genre a bit. It didn’t feel like The Darkest Minds gave me anything and I’d seen the characters before in a lot of different YA literature. I don’t feel super eager to continue on with this series, but maybe I will anyway.

FURYBORN by CLAIRE LEGRAND ★★★★☆ | 512 pages | 14 days to read | Published 2018 |

This book was so hyped on booktube, the cover was amazing and the premise sounded exciting. I’m glad to say that it wasn’t disappointing! + What I loved the most was how everything revealed itself over the chapters. I constantly tried to figure out how everything fit together and the suspense was thrilling. The characters are also very well-written. - I was good, but I can’t say the plot really took a hold of me and forced me to continue on reading. It took a while to read, and by the end of it my thoughts were “well, this was good! I’m looking forward to the sequel” and not much else.

HER BODY AND OTHER PARTIES by CARMEN MARIA MACHADO ★★☆☆☆ | 248 pages | 11 days to read | Published 2017 |

I heard about this book somewhere online saying it was a very interesting and worthy read. Luckily I found it at a library and read the collection of short stories during a period of time. + As it normally is with short story collections, some you like and some you like less. I think my favourite in Her Body and Other Parties was the first one, then I sort of lost more and more interest. It was very beautifully written and poetic, though. - I just didn’t have enough energy to completely understand all the stories and what they were trying to say. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.

HOUSE OF LEAVES by MARK Z. DANIELEWSKI ★★★★☆ | 709 pages | 2 days to read | Published 2000 |

Jeez, this was a weird book. But I liked it. I thought for sure it would take me ages to read this - especially once I started and almost fell asleep after 20 pages - but then it took hold of me and I just couldn’t stop. + What’s definitely the most interesting about this book is it’s weird style. It’s like a medium inside a medium inside a medium; with footnotes stretching over entire pages, text being upside down or just blank pages with only one or two words written. It helped the story being even more creepy. - Though the medium sort of makes the story, it’s also why this book is so hard and frustrating to read. There could be lists of names that one just didn’t care enough to skim through or sudden breaks in the main story for page-long articles about greek myths, history, or other things that just made me want to return to the actual horror story that I was reading.

THE TEA DRAGON SOCIETY by KATIE O’NEILL ★★★★☆ | 72 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2017 |

Aww, this is one of the cutest, warmest graphic novels I’ve ever read! + The art was so cute and fit the story perfectly. The characters were so colourful and funny, I almost wish it was longer! The information about tea dragons at the end was also very enjoying to read. - I don’t really have any actual complaints.

MY SOLO EXCHANGE DIARY by NAGATA KABI ★★★☆☆ | 168 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2018 |

The awaited sequel to My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness! + I love the art of this manga so damn much. You have no idea. It’s just so cute even when it deals with so serious issues. And it’s PINK! - I felt like I didn’t understand or connect to this one as much as I did with the first one. Her ideas and descriptions of humans and human relationships are very interesting and thought-provoking, but more than once I had some issues with understanding.

THE WEIGHT OF FEATHERS by ANNE-MARIE MCLEMORE ★★★☆☆ | 308 pages | 2 days to read | Published 2015 |

This is Mclemore’s debut novel, and I’m absolutely thinking about checking out some of her other books. + The magic realism and scenery are amazing. The two shows - one with “mermaids” and the other with tree-climbing “fairies” - are amazing and so imaginative. - The story didn’t really catch a hold of me and I wasn’t overly invested in the romance either.

OF FIRE AND STARS by AUDREY COULTHURST ★★★☆☆ | 389 pages | 4 days to read | Published 2016 |

A fantasy novel featuring two princesses in love? Sign me up. + I quite liked the universe and character Coulthurst made, they all felt very real and human. - I felt disconnected from the magic system and the plot. I didn’t really care much for what happened outside of Mare and Denna’s relationship - the political intrigue wasn’t interesting for me.

THE ASTONISHING COLOR OF AFTER by EMILY X.R. PAN ★★★☆☆ | 462 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2018 |

Another debut novel filled with feelings, colours and magical realism - I’d looked forward to reading this so much! + The topic of colours that is brought up chapter after chapter and the significance of the feathers and the bird - it all makes this book seem more magical. - As interesting and beautiful this book was, I can’t say it really stood out to me. While being a good book, it didn’t make me feel anything special, you know?

EVERY HEART A DOORWAY by SEANAN MCGUIRE ★★★★★ | 169 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2016 |

Like, I knew I was going to love this book, so I’m still confused why it took me so long until I picked it up? + Just, god, the worldbuilding!? The characters!? I loved how peculiar they all were and how they sort of incarnated the worlds they’d been to. Also, asexual main character? You got me hooked. - Honestly just the fact that it felt a bit too short? I would’ve liked more! More about the characters and worlds they’d lived in (though I think that’s shown more in the sequels to this?)

#reading wrap-up #reading wrap-up: summer 2018 #books #my post

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biomechanical-metalhead · 6 years

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Bionicle Asks

(original post by goodguy2008)

Decided I’ll just answer them all, cause I love Bonkle and everyone else is doing it, so why not?

1. When did you get into Bionicle?

I was six years old in the year 2006, Right as the Piraka hit the scene. As such, the controversial “Inika/Piraka build” never really bothered me. It’s just how they were I thought.

2. What got you interested in Bionicle?

I can’t remember exactly what started it, I must have saw the Piraka in the LEGO catalog or saw them on the website or something. I remember getting the dark hunters book from the library not long after, and staring at the pictures all day. I didn’t really know what they were at the time, but they looked awesome, and I knew I had to get some.

3. What was your first set?

Piraka Vezok, a favorite of mine to this day. And the last G1 set I bought in store was the Piraka STARS set. Full circle.

4. What was one set that you always wanted but never got?

Axalara T9. One day...

5. Which set is your least favourite?

Solek. And no, not because of the memes or anything, It’s because that mask is the worst thing I’ve ever seen.

6. Which year is your favourite?

2006 and 2007 are very close, and I can’t really pick a winner. I love the Piraka, Inika, Barraki, and the Mahri lots. I even dug the play sets. Honorable mention to 2009, which is under-rated I feel.

7. Which year is your least favourite?

I have to go with 2016. The Uniters had some cool ideas, but they were kinda messy. Umarak the hunter was badass, but the Destroyer was a huge let down for me.

8. What did you think of Gen 2?

I enjoyed it for what it was. The sets were pretty good for the most part (I bought them all), the story definitely could have used some work though. 2015 had an Ok start, but the final episodes of Journey to One were awful. A product of the cancellation I’m sure, but it could’ve gone better I feel.

All in all, it was cool to have Bionicle back for two years, even if it was short lived.

9. Did you read or own any of the books?

I own Makuta’s Guide to the Universe (A great book for anyone new to the lore), and The dark hunters book. I got a couple of the G2 E books, which were alright.

10. Which book is your favourite?

Makuta’s Guide. It’s packed with stuff from years 2001-2008.

11. Did you read any of the comics?

I read the comics that were included with the Lego magazine from 2006 up until 2010. Plus the web comics.

12. Which comic series was your favourite?

Ignition I guess, I’m not really a comic guy.

13. Ride the Crab?

Anytime.

14. Which Bionicle game do you like the best?

Bionicle Heroes. Pretty repetitive having played it recently, but the soundtrack is amazing, and nobody can not love the Piraka playground.

15. Who’s your favourite character?

Gonna be cliche, but Matoro. Such a good icy boi.

16. Best Toa team?

Inika/Mahri. Not only were they the ones I grew up with, but they also seemed to operate as a team much better. Sure, the fact that the others didn’t always were plot points, but still.

17. Which movie is your favourite?

If you asked me as a kid, I’d have said Legend Reborn. Now, It’s Mask of Light. I don’t really hold any of the movies in high regard, honestly.

18. Which movie is your least favourite?

Legends of Metru Nui. I just never liked that one.

19. What was your favourite aspect of Gen 1?

There’s a lot I love about it, but it’s the sets for me.

20. What was your favourite aspect of Gen 2?

The sets again.

21. Do you hope to see a Gen 3 in the future?

If done right, sure. I’m unsure of how another reboot would go over, But I’m confident that Bionicle could make a recovery one day. only time will tell.

22. Dump all the pieces out and assemble, or sort pieces carefully and assemble?

Depends on the set. Canister boi? Just dump and build. Big boi? (Skopio, for example) A little sorting doesn’t hurt.

23. What’s your favourite Bionicle memory?

It’s hard to pick just one, but I’d say Christmas of 2009 when I got the Skopio. Good times.

24. Did you ever take your Bionicles outdoors to play?

As a kiddo, yeah.

25. Do/Did you break pieces often?

Far too often.

26. How many sets have you collected?

More than I should have. I have all the G2 sets, and about 50 or so canister sets from G1. plus some of the smaller and larger sets. :/

27. Do you want to see a new Bionicle game? If so, from what year, and which genre?

I’m not much of a gamer, but a game for 2007 could be cool I guess.

28. How many of your childhood sets still survive?

After some recent bricklink repairs, I’d say about 85% or something like that.

29. Which did you like best, Gen 1 or Gen 2?

I have way too much childhood nostalgia for G1 for anything to really beat it, but G2 was cool while it lasted.

30. Ask anything else!

Boxes? Or canisters? Canisters were unique and nifty, but probably not practical. I saw a moc-up cardboard G2 canister somewhere, which has a lot of potential I think.

#bionicle #asks

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tipsycad147 · 4 years

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Aquarius January National Popcorn Day

By shirleytwofeathers

National Popcorn Day is celebrated at the end of January, although its exact date is a matter of debate. Various sources report it as January 19; others claim it takes place on whatever day the “big game” falls on.

Why not use this day for some popcorn magick?

Then he thought if he had some milk, he would have popcorn and milk.

You can fill a glass full to the brim with milk, and fill another glass of the same size brim full of popcorn, and then you can put all the popcorn kernel by kernel into the milk, and the milk will not run over.

~from Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Magickal Associations of Corn:

Gender: Feminine

Planet: Venus, Pluto

Element: Earth

Season: Lammas and Mabon

Deities: agriculture and solar deities

Correspondences: Protection, Luck, Divination, Blessing, Offering, Fertility, Abundance

Popcorn Offerings

I’m not sure if you are aware of it, but nature spirits like popcorn. I have it on authority from Chickadee who has had complex relationship with a number of nature spirits, that they almost all like popcorn, particularly the sea gull spirits. This is a great way to introduce children to the idea of a relationship with the land…however, because of the (practical) negative implications of feeding wildlife, it is important to not leave food out too much or too often and to change the area where offerings are left, so that wildlife do not become accustomed to it.

Popcorn Chains

At Yule, when we decorate our tree, we include a popcorn garland. Part of our tradition when we make it is to use what we add to say a thank you and a blessing for someone we love (not for every single piece, but for our “family strand” of garland that that goes on the top of the tree).

Stringing magic popcorn into edible jewellery is an easy way to add a bit of extra love or joy or healing blessings for the kids, and it even makes a great sibling or parent gift. A few months ago, when my daughter did something especially naughty, got it in her head to make a “sorry necklace” for her brother. After eating caramel popcorn on a string, he was in a better mood to forgive her…

Popcorn Fortune Balls

This should be pretty obvious–think fortune cookie in a popcorn ball. Or, if you are packing a lunch for a trip or a day at school, put in an encouraging note or positive thought. Put a popcorn fortune ball on the end of a straw, and add some pipe-cleaner petals for a edible bouquet gift from the kids. All you need are some small strips of paper with a message written on them, and a popcorn ball recipe–stuff the message in the centre of the ball as you shape it.

Venus Popcorn Spell

Sharing a bowl of popcorn with someone you love is one of life’s simple pleasures. Adding a sprinkle of practical magic may be akin to “gild-ing the lily,” but who doesn’t like to stir up a little love magic now and then? Rent a favourite romantic movie tonight. Pop some fresh popcorn, add butter if desired, and season with love herbs and passionate spices as suggested below. Say as you do so: “Venus, bless us with love and beauty.”

Garlic salt, chilli powder, and red pepper-to rekindle your love life.

Parmesan cheese and dried basil-for Italian style romance

Chilli powder, garlic, and basil-fiery passion.

A touch of cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla powder-for comfort and warmth.

More Popcorn Day Activities

Guess the Amount: Fill a container with popcorn kernels and have everyone guess. The winner gets a nifty prize.

Popcorn Air Hockey: Can you “volley” the kernel back and forth 20 times without letting it fall? For this you will need: a flat surface (table), straw (to blow), coffee stirrers (as paddles) or hands (as paddles).

Popcorn Relay Race: Holding popped corn in a spoon, run relay races to see which team can keep the popped corn in the spoon longest without spilling it.

Popcorn Basketball: Can you flick a piece of popcorn into the basket? Muffin tins or small cups can be used for the basket.

Make a Popcorn Word Search: Use these words: popcorn, pop, kernel, explode, heat, moisture, grain, snack, crunchy, butter, oil, salt, fiber, bag, hull.

Write a Popcorn Haiku (5, 7, 5 syllable pattern poem): Like this!

Oil, kernels, heat, time Many loud explosions heard Pop, crunch, snack time. Yum!

How many words can you make from this phrase? “Fresh hot popcorn”, “Popcorn tastes good”, “I like popcorn”, “Hot buttered popcorn”

About Popcorn:

Popcorn has been around for 5,000 years. Archaeologists and researchers believe it to be the oldest of a group of five sweet corns. Popcorn originated in Mexico but quickly spread globally. Popcorn ears over 5,600 years old were found in New Mexico in 1948 and 1950, they are the oldest ears of popcorn known.

Popcorn was integral to early 16th century Aztec Indian ceremonies. Bernardino de Sahagun writes:

“And also a number of young women danced, having so vowed, a popcorn dance. As thick as tassels of maize were their popcorn garlands. And these they placed upon (the girls’) heads.”

In 1519, Cortes got his first sight of popcorn when he invaded Mexico and came into contact with the Aztecs. Popcorn was an important food for the Aztec Indians, who also used popcorn as decoration for ceremonial headdresses, necklaces and ornaments on statues of their gods, including Tlaloc, the god of rain and fertility.

An early Spanish account of a ceremony honouring the Aztec gods who watched over fishermen reads:

“They scattered before him parched corn, called momochitl, a kind of corn which bursts when parched and discloses its contents and makes itself look like a very white flower; they said these were hailstones given to the god of water.”

Writing of Peruvian Indians in 1650, the Spaniard Cobo says, “They toast a certain kind of corn until it bursts. They call it pisancalla, and they use it as a confection.”

In South America, kernels of popcorn found in burial grounds in the coastal deserts of North Chile were so well preserved they would still pop even though they were 1,000 years old.

Some Popcorn Trivia:

Popcorn is a subspecies of corn called Zea mays everta, and like all corn, it is part of the grass family

An 8 foot in diameter popcorn ball, weighing 3,415 lbs, created in 2006 in Lake Forest, IL is the largest popcorn ball on record

A popcorn kernel needs 14% moisture content to pop

The oldest popcorn popper was discovered in Peru dating back to 300 AD

October is National Popcorn Popping Month!

After bread, popcorn is one of the most popular foods that people feed waterfowl. Unfortunately, feeding waterfowl isn’t a good idea…

Popcorn is the official state snack food of the state of Illinois

Archaeological evidence of popcorn dates back to 4700 BC in Peru

During the Great Depression, popcorn became exceedingly popular due to its relatively low price and was one of a few businesses that did well.

The Science of Popping Corn:

Popcorn works because each individual kernel (thanks to the hard shell) becomes its own pressure cooker, which then explodes, turning itself inside out. Inside the shell is a starchy substance and water. As the kernel heats up, the water turns into steam and the steam cooks the starch into a super hot jelly-like substance that explodes. After exploding, the water evaporates and the starch dries out, leaving the kernel flipped inside out, in the shape we know as popcorn.

Sources:

Web Holidays

LLewellyn Spell A Day

Bay Witch Musings

Popcorn.org

https://shirleytwofeathers.com/The_Blog/pagancalendar/category/january-holidays/page/2/

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airadam · 4 years

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Episode 126 : None More Black

"These evil streets don't sleep..."

- Pharoahe

Here's an idea I've been holding for a while - an episode showcasing Hip-Hop tracks that took a rock sample or influence! I thought it'd be an interesting one to select and mix without reaching for the most obvious standby picks, and we've got tracks spanning almost thirty years at the extreme ends. Don't worry, the guitars come along with plenty of bars and beats!

Links for the month... Michelle Grace Hunder - wicked music photographer!

The Flyest Xmas party on Dec 20th, featuring The Soul Twins

Twitter : @airadam13

Playlist/Notes

Ice-T ft. Jello Biafra : Shut Up, Be Happy

One of those tracks that seems more relevant now than ever, this was the opener on Ice-T's underrated 1989 album "The Iceberg". A great marrying of elements, as Jello Biafra of the punk band Dead Kennedys delivers a totalitarian announcement (based on his own "Message From Our Sponsor" over a Black Sabbath loop. I couldn't put this anywhere but as the intro to the episode!

Camp Lo : 82 Afros

Kicking the pace up a touch, we move straight into a killer Camp Lo cut from the "Black Hollywood" LP, with Ski cooking up a banging rock-based beat. The kick and snare are straight boom-bap, but the toms add an unexpected extra element on top of the distorted guitar and vocal sample. Cheeba and Geechi might be known for their smooth styles, but this is just one demonstration of the fact that they can get busy over any kind of beat.

J-Zone : Moonwalk / Gel N' Weave Remix (Instrumental)

I was struggling to find just the right instrumental for this spot, but went back to "The Headband Years" to find this beat from a producer who could make a beat our of almost anything. He's full-time on his funk drumming now, but has a great catalogue of Hip-Hop that can't be fronted on.

Kobaine : Ko.Bain

This is an artist I know very little about, as as far as I'm aware this is his only release to date, a nice little contribution to the 2002 "Subway Series Vol.1" compilation on Major League Entertainment. I got this on digital release which had no credits included, so I'm not sure who produced it - I can imagine it being a Nick Wiz or Tribeca track though.

Agallah : Ag Season

Brownsville's Agallah has often channelled the rockstar vibes in his career, and this woozy-guitared track from "Bo : The Legend of the Water Dragon" sounds entirely natural for him. Self-produced as always, it's short, rock solid, and to the point.

Fabolous : Breathe

Fifteen years old, already? This was a huge single for Fabolous, taken from his "Real Talk" album, and is one of his best-known tracks even after all these years. Just Blaze laced him with a beat based around Supertramp's "Crime of the Century", and got a surprise when Fab told him he'd written his lyrics around the "breathe" vocal sample on the track...because that's not what it said! However, on hearing the bars, Just went back and made some changes to align the audio with what Fab thought he heard!

Ras Kass ft. Killah Priest : Milli Vanilli

Ras Kass' "Quarterly" was collection of tracks he released once a week, finally brought together in late 2009 - and there are some great cuts in there. Here's one, with Veterano's beat sounding like a cybernetic heavy metal group trying to destroy the speaker stack! Ras cuts through it regardless, and special guest Killah Priest (fellow member of THE HRSMN) matches him bar for bar as always. The hook of course channels the then-recent Lil Wayne track "A Milli", which was a heavily-used beat for freestyles around this time.

Body Count : C-Note

This was one of the shorter and gentler tracks on the debut Body Count album, but was always one of my favourites - Ernie C makes that guitar cry for real. Ice-T's metal project was waved off by some doubters in the beginning, but the music was solid from their first appearance on the "OG: Original Gangster" album and they're still killing it to this day.

Bumpy Knuckles : Swazzee

This one is so aggro, you have to love it. Seriously, you'd better. Bumpy Knuckles is in fine form on this guaranteed weight-training motivational track from "Konexion", taking out sucker MCs, snitches, haters, and pretty much everyone else. The hook is reminiscent of an old Sly Stone cut, and Knockout's beat is ferocious - precise, measured drums with the harsh guitar over the top. Bumpy might be the king of the third verse but a track like this lets you know he can handle the first two just fine!

Public Enemy : Go Cat Go

The "He Got Game" soundtrack was unfairly overlooked by too many heads, but is an absolutely worthy entry in Public Enemy's long and storied discography. Chuck D's political awareness and love of sports (he actually wanted to be a sportscaster at one point) combined for a really interesting listen. Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto and Danny Saber of Black Grape cover this one in heavy guitars which would drown out most MCs, but not Chuck! As the album subtitle says, this one is about the game behind the game...

Boogie Down Productions : Ya Slippin

It's hard to think now of BDP being a crew with a future in doubt, but this is how it was back in 1988 as "By All Means Necessary" was released, not long after the murder of founding DJ Scott La Rock. KRS might be young here but he rhymes with the confidence of someone who left home as a child to become an MC, survived homelessness, and achieved his goal. He scolds weak MCs like "The Teacha" he is, and gets down on the production too - the rock heads will recognise this guitar sample a mile off!

Pharoahe Monch : Got You

Shout out to Vicky T for reminding me of this tune! The lead single from the "Training Day" soundtrack is one where I think the radio version (as heard here) surpasses the original. Monch perfectly encapsulates the essence of Denzel Washington's character, who is one of the classic movie villains of modern times - and strikingly, is based on real police.

[J-Zone] Boss Hog Barbarians : Celph Destruction (Instrumental)

Zone again, and while it one didn't come to mind immediately, the aggressive sonics of this instrumental get it the nod here. The Boss Hog Barbarians (J-Zone and Celph Titled) album is an absolute tribute to ignorance (intentionally), but if you can deal with that then it's an excellent addition to your collection.

LL Cool J : Go Cut Creator Go

Another 80s classic hard rocking track, from LL's "Bigger And Deffer" album. It's the kind of track we don't get now - the MC just bigging up the DJ. DJ Cut Creator was with LL from the very beginning, and was the one who actually helped him to get him name known, so it's nice to hear the appreciation. The scratches still stand up today and cut through even the loudest of the guitar samples on the track!

Sly Boogy : Fatal Mistake

Sly may not have put anything out for a while, but the San Bernadino native did drop a few nice tracks in the early 2000s. This one has him totally disregarding the common standards of Hip-Hop song structure, opening up with a thirty-two bar first verse just to show he's not playing. DJ Revolution provides the cuts, and production is courtesy of a then-emerging Jake One. This actually doesn't have a rock influence, but is here because of how well it goes with the next instrumental...

[Rick Rubin] Jay-Z : 99 Problems (Instrumental)

The combination of this and "Fatal Mistake" is one I discovered while doing a mix years and years ago, and wanted to bring out again when the opportunity arose! You probably all know the vocal version of this track, which appeared on Jay-Z's "The Black Album". While working with the legendary Def Jam co-founder and producer Rubin, Jay said he wanted something like the flavour he used to give to the Beastie Boys and this was the result - a meshing of several ideas that came together perfectly.

Public Enemy : She Watch Channel Zero?!

Let's be real - the sexism is heavy on this track! It'd be entirely reasonable to argue that spending all day watching sports on TV isn't any better than soap operas, but that's just my opinion :) 1988's "...Nation of Millions..." yields this song which had an interesting connection - sampling the group Slayer, who were produced by Def Jam founder and major PE supporter Rick Rubin.

Lacuna Coil : The Game

Going pure rock on this selection from this veteran Milanese gothic metal band! I actually learned about this group from "Guitar Hero" of all places, and "Our Truth" led me to the 2006 "Karmacode" album that included this track. It always reminded me a little of "Channel Zero", and while the guitar riffs are definitely fire and the drums bang, it's the combined and contrasting vocals of Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro that can't fail to grab your ear.

RJD2 : Exotic Talk

Prog rock meets Hip-Hop sensibilities as RJD2 twists and turns, chilling things out in parts before bringing the thunder crashing back in. Definite standout from 2004's "Since We Last Spoke".

Z-Trip : Rockstar

We close with a standout track from the "Return of the DJ, Volume II" compilation, with Phoenix's Z-Trip putting together a masterpiece of DJ/producer song construction. The sample list is long, and since I don't know what was and wasn't cleared, I won't give anything away here!

Please remember to support the artists you like! The purpose of putting the podcast out and providing the full tracklist is to try and give some light, so do use the songs on each episode as a starting point to search out more material. If you have Spotify in your country it's a great way to explore, but otherwise there's always Youtube and the like. Seeing your favourite artists live is the best way to put money in their pockets, and buy the vinyl/CDs/downloads of the stuff you like the most!

Check out this episode!

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joneswilliam72 · 5 years

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Meet filmmaker James Cullen Bressack (2017's Bethany) and actor Mark Rolston (The Shawshank Redemption), of Blood Craft.

I caught up with filmmaker James Cullen Bressack (Bethany, Pernicious) and actor Mark Rolston (The Shawshank Redemption, Aliens, The Shield, The Departed) for two separate interviews on all things film and acting as they relate to their new horror piece, Blood Craft – available On Demand April 9.

Blood Craft is a revenge tale with one hell of a twist: what if you could bring back the spirit of a dead person who viciously wronged and violated you, and then exact your revenge? That is exactly the premise here when two sisters – played by Madeleine Wade (who wrote the picture and added a lot of heart to Blood Craft as a film, made even more extraordinary as it is her writing debut too) and Augie Duke – use witchcraft to resurrect the spirit of their abusive father.

Bressack's directorial approach to Blood Craft is psychologically-penetrating, beautifully-cerebral, highly-surreal, and sublimely-frenetic (as is all great horror) – it keeps you off balance in all the right ways. He is a very much a talent to watch out for when looking for great horror that is not just jump scares, but also highly intelligent. Bressack is at today's vanguard of these trends in the horror indie scene, especially considering what he has shown he can do with relatively small budgets.

Seeing someone with Bressack's filmic vision teamed with such a prolific veteran actor as Mark Rolston is pretty great too. Rolston has 175 credits to his name from 1982 to today on IMDb. He is no stranger to villain roles and the amorality of the associated characters either (something put to good use here in Blood Craft), having played Bogs Diamond in Stephen King's The Shawshank Redemption as but one example from his vast catalog – and one we talk about in the interview below.

James Cullen Bressack. Source:The Hollywood Reporter.

Mark Rolston as Sheriff Waters in BLOOD CRAFT.

Enjoy the interviews and check out Blood Craft On Demand now.

Mark Rolston

Hello Mark and welcome to The 405! To begin, what attracted you to Blood Craft and the role of Sheriff Waters?

Hi! I met James Cullen Bressack on the set of an indie film Gangster Land. He mentioned that he had something I might be interested in, and he sent over what was then called "Together". I thought the script was great, and had a relevance in light of the #MeToo movement.

I agree on both counts Mark. What was it like getting into the headspace necessary for the character?

As with all characters, they want something. With Sheriff Waters, he has ulterior motives. Money.

He really does. He reminded me a bit of Orson Welles's Captain Hank Quinlan in 1958's Touch of Evil. What were the challenges like?

Well, time on a indie is always a challenge, and the day we shot on the porch, we were fighting the traffic noise, but James is so clever, we add one line to my dialogue which justified it brilliantly.

[Laughs] that's great. Any funny or memorable moments from the behind the scenes process of filming that stick in your memory?

For me, the funniest moments revolved around James assigning points to crew members for working efficiently. Well, I assumed that actors got points too, so I wanted to be rewarded for takes that I did in one; "One Takes" in film parlance. I am good at that, but was disappointed to learn that actors didn't get points. I made a joke about it with James for my time on set.

[Laughs] interesting. I've never heard of a director using a system like that. Which is an interesting pivot as I have a few questions about some of your bigger roles.

Mark Rolston as Private Drake in 1986’s ALIENS. Source: The After Movie Diner.

I'd be remiss if I didn't ask, Lethal Weapon 2 is 30 this year, any reflections on it?

Wow! I have had a few of those landmarks arrive of late with Aliens, Shawshank, etc. That comes with getting older and having a body of work. The best memory I have of Lethal 2 is working with Director Dick Donner. I loved watching him work, hearing his booming voice, and feeling his enthusiasm and presence.

You have worked with a bunch of fantastic directors. Shawshank is 25 this year and undoubtedly a film that's justifiably cemented a major cultural legacy; and is helmed by another great director: Frank Darabont. What was your experience like playing Bogs Diamond in Darabont's film?

Certainly one of the best of my life. The script by Frank Darabont is quite simply a masterpiece. Bringing Bogs to life was thrilling; it's always good to play the antagonist. I am especially grateful to Frank for including quite a few of my improvisations during rehearsal into the shooting script. Some of my most quoted lines like: "Anyone get to you yet?", "I could be a friend to you", are my creations, and Frank was very kind to credit me in his book of the making of Shawshank.

That's awesome Mark. Speaks to your caliber as an actor and really also of the entire production, in my opinion.

The fact that we rehearsed at all, is one of the reasons the film is so good. Usually, there is very little rehearsal on films, but on Shawshank we rehearsed for nearly three weeks.

Wow. You've also been directed by other big names like James Cameron and Martin Scorsese over your incredible career as an actor. What do you consider the greatest lesson you've learned from them, whether about film or about life more generally?

My favourite director was John Frankenhiemer. He directed me in [George] Wallace starring Gary Sinise and Angelina Jolie. He loved actors and gave us space to do our work. I recall how he would silence the crew with his booming voice, commanding "Quiet! There are actors working here!" Old school and brilliant.

Wow. Absolutely brilliant. Love that.

The greatest lessons were learned long before I made films. The lessons were learned as I trained at The Drama Centre London for three solid years with mentors like John Blatchley, Yat Malmgren, Doreen Cannon and Christopher Fettes. The training I received there is the foundation of my work. The Drama Centre has produced the likes of Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Michael Fassbender, and Pierce Brosnan.

Mark Rolston as Bogs Diamond in 1994’s THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION. Source: CNN.

Quite the mentors list there Mark. You've also been in a lot of TV shows of various stripes since 1980's Ekkusu Bonbâ, '97's Calamity Jane and Zorro, The Shield, TURN: Washington's Spies (TURN is a favorite of mine, being a history nerd), Bosch, and many others. What are the challenges like in playing and developing a film character versus a series character? Do you prefer one over the other?

I like to think of myself as a film guy, but the creative process is the same no matter the medium. Although each has its own challenge; in theatre, the challenge is to be "on" at every moment, in TV the pace of the work is a challenge and you don't have endless takes and time, which is why I prefer film, because it affords you the time to shoot until you get in perfect… one hopes.

Interesting. Time is the most valuable resource, indeed. A question I ask everyone: what makes a great film?

Serendipity. The confluence of a writer's brilliance, the director's guidance, and the actor's creativity.

What other films, directors, and performances have really stuck with and molded you as an artist over the years?

It was my audition for Shawshank that cemented the idea in my head that "just talking", "being in the moment" was the most important thing in film acting. That notion is parallel to being able to bring Shakespeare to life by, as Hamlet implored the players to: "Speak the speech, I pray you, trippingly on the tongue. But if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had life the town crier spoke my lines."

Well said. Final question: what's next for you?

I will be returning for Season 6 of Bosch as Lt. Thorne. I love working with Amy Aquino. And most importantly, I will be appearing as Admiral Ernest J. King in what should be this year’s blockbuster masterpiece by Roland Emmerich: Midway. The script was amazing, and working with Roland and Woody Harrelson was a complete joy.

Follow Mark on Twitter and like his on Facebook.

youtube

ALIENS (1986) trailer.

youtube

LETHAL WEAPON 2 (1989) trailer.

youtube

THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994) trailer.

youtube

THE DEPARTED (2006) trailer.

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BOSCH Season 5 trailer.

__________________________________________________________________________

James Cullen Bressack

Hello and welcome James! Getting right into it. The first question I had, what was it that initially inspired the movie?

So the script was actually originally written by Madeleine. She wrote the first draft and then she had approached me to see if I wanted to direct it. And I was like, "oh well we'd have to change this, this, this, in the script." Because it was a bit more graphic and crazy actually originally, and I just wanted to streamline it and make it a little bit more accessible to moviegoers and audiences. And I think we accomplished that with the story.

Interesting. What were the challenges like?

So the challenge for me was shooting a movie inside of pretty much predominantly one location. Because for me, I wanted to make sure the audience would get bored being in the same place. So I tried to make each room feel and sound different and look different. We have a lot of the time where we spend in the living room, like foyer area. I was trying to make sure that we shot it and lit it a different way, while still keeping the story intact.

So that's why we have a couple hallucinogenic moments. And I think we have some stuff where I tried to really put the audience in the place of what the character was going through mentally through this journey and had the camera work and storytelling kind of evolve with the character's emotional space.

That was another part I really liked was that lighting. It had almost a surreal feel to a lot of it.

Yeah. Which not to give away any spoilers, but I think it ties into the movie.

Madeleine Wade and Augie Duke in this still from BLOOD CRAFT.

Oh, I would say so. But yeah, that and the editing, I thought. It was paced really well and it flowed really well.

Thank you. Yeah, this was the second movie I did with Bobby Richardson, the editor. The movie he did before that with me was Bethany, and I think it had similar themes of childhood trauma and people going in and out of the mind of our main character. And I think we established that with flashbacks as well as really it's driven by this sole performance, surrounded by an ensemble cast. But the story is driven specifically by the emotional state of our lead character.

I need to watch that one yet. Are there any memorable or funny moments that stick out from that process of filming Blood Craft?

Yeah, one of the things that was really funny for us is because it was such like an intense environment when we were filming we joked around a lot between takes. So I think it was just funny because we were being very silly when not filming, like at lunch and stuff like that. Because we all had to kind of shake off some of the stuff that was going on in front of the camera.

That's definitely understandable considering those heavy topics that inform the film's story and really its trajectory. Shifting gears a little bit to a question I like to ask everybody. What directors and films would you consider most influential on you as an artist?

I've always enjoyed this storytelling of Akira Kurosawa. I'm a huge fan of Orson Welles as well as some of these other older filmmakers. But for me it's Park Chan-wook, Quentin Tarantino, and Robert Rodriguez were all idols and heroes of mine.

Fantastic list. The next question is kind of a big one too. What makes a great film and because you've done a lot with horror, what makes great horror?

So a great horror movie, I think, is taking the familiar and turning it on its head. So what we take is what people expect, and then we flip it on them.

You absolutely did. Great definition too. For the last question that I had, what's next for you?

I'm gearing up to do a new movie. I can't really give details on it, but I like to keep busy and I'm trying to do something different with this new one. It's more of like a neo-noir type film.

Follow James on Twitter, Instagram, and like his page on Facebook.

youtube

BETHANY (2017) trailer.

youtube

MY PURE JOY (2012) trailer.

from The 405 http://bit.ly/2OXnt41

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gamerzcourt · 5 years

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Exploring James Bond's Uneven Video Game HistoryExploring James Bond's Uneven Video Game Historyvideo games

New Post has been published on https://www.gamerzcourt.com/exploring-james-bonds-uneven-video-game-historyexploring-james-bonds-uneven-video-game-historyvideo-games/

Exploring James Bond's Uneven Video Game HistoryExploring James Bond's Uneven Video Game Historyvideo games

The James Bond franchise is one of the most famous, most lucrative, and longest-running film series in the world. The franchise has been hugely influential, affecting almost every form of spy fiction written, filmed, or developed since the 1960s in some way. Moreover, the brand has stayed relevant for far longer than most comparable mega-franchises: Marvel’s 80-year existence and Disney’s seemingly perpetual presence on Earth pre-date Bond’s 1953 print debut, and they stand as some of the only similar properties to prevail. Conversely, attempts to reinvigorate big IP such as Back to the Future or The Mummy have not been successful enough for studios to continue making them.

To remain part of the zeitgeist for so long is no easy task, and despite some missteps, James Bond has defied the odds time and again, reinventing itself repeatedly to avoid being left behind. Some of those reinventions are obvious, such as the changing of actors, writers, and directors, or even come in the form of distinct reboots–the hardest of which came in 2006 with the 21st Eon-produced film, Casino Royale. Others, however, are a little more tricky: Bond has had to change even more drastically to fit new media, such as for the first 007 video game, a 1982 text adventure title for the ZX Spectrum named Shaken but Not Stirred. Unfortunately, the Bond games have endured an uneven run over the years, with some great games, some poor ones, and none at all since 2012’s poorly received 007 Legends.

To dive deeper into the continued evolution of the British spy, I spoke to Bruce Feirstein, screenwriter of three Bond films–GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, and The World is Not Enough–and writer of the video games From Russia With Love, Everything or Nothing, Blood Stone, and 007 Legends.

GameSpot: How does writing a Bond game differ to writing a Bond film?

Bruce Feirstein: It’s not all that different. You’re still trying to tell an interesting story, with unique settings and compelling characters. So the actual process isn’t that different. It’s just as collaborative, and in some aspects easier. For example, in Everything or Nothing, the original sequence was written in Hong Kong. There was some problem having to do with visual rights–I think some of the buildings were trademarked, and we’d need permission–so I suggested putting the opening sequence in Athens. Everyone agreed, and in ten minutes we moved forward. A change like that in a film could take a month to get through all the decision makers and the clearances.

How did writing for Sean Connery differ to writing to Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig?

Each is a little bit different. I was writing the Brosnan Bond that I wrote in the films, so it wasn’t much of an adjustment. Daniel Craig’s is terser, so his dialogue was cut back to reflect the Bond he created on the screen. And Connery was the Bond I always had in my head, having been the first Bond I saw. He and I actually talked about this.

Can you talk a little more about the creation of Judi Dench’s M? What was your reaction when you saw her death in Skyfall, and how do you think Ralph Fiennes is handling the role now?

While I was working on GoldenEye, [director] Martin Campbell and I met at the studio one morning to discuss what we should do about updating M. I said it was just a bunch of guys talking in a room, and Martin replied, “Why don’t you try it as a woman?” So the idea came from him. I wrote the “sexist misogynist dinosaur” scene in three hours, and pretty much what you see on the screen is what I wrote that first morning. As far as her death, Judi Dench brought great grace and originality to her role as M. She was amazing, and always took what we wrote and made it better. So I was sad to see that she wouldn’t be playing M anymore, but that’s the inevitable process in these films. And just as Judi defined the role in her way, Ralph Fiennes is bringing his own touch to the role now. He’s a terrific actor.

Is there anything you would have changed if you’d been involved in the films and games since you stopped working on the franchise?

No. If the franchise hadn’t evolved over the past 55 years, it wouldn’t exist anymore. Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson have created–in my opinion–the perfect Bond for the post 9/11 era. Along with Daniel Craig, of course, and the writers, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. I wouldn’t change a thing. They’ve done an extraordinary job, and all deserve huge credit.

Which game do you think, looking back, offers the truest representation of Bond?

I think they all represented Bond well. But the most influential game was the original GoldenEye. I didn’t work on that game–but it had a huge impact on gaming. Funny enough, these days, I keep meeting people who are let down when they find out I only co-wrote the GoldenEye movie, and not the game.

I remember Everything or Nothing really resonating with players, too. Why do you think that is?

I suspect that this is because it was an entirely original story, with a new villain and all new supporting characters. So the whole experience was new. And we got very lucky in having Willem Dafoe as the bad guy. He gave a great performance.

How does working on an original story for a game compare to converting a film into a game? Which do you think works best for a game: creating a bespoke story or converting the iconic films?

An original story is more fun because you’re working from a clean slate. Anything is possible. With an adaptation, you’ve got to adhere as much as possible to the source material. Both are enjoyable experiences, but creating something new is more interesting.

From a writing perspective, what defines Bond as a character?

Bond is a lone warrior with a license to kill who hides his inner conflicts about what he does by striking a cool, dispassionate demeanor, and never allowing anyone to get too close to him.

We’ve seen the series tackle text adventures, first-person shooters, third-person action games, strategy, and more. In your eyes, what’s does a hypothetically perfect Bond game look like?

In any format, the perfect Bond game allows the player to enter an alternate reality of James Bond’s world, and experience a James Bond adventure. The platform is less important than the execution.

Were you involved with the canceled Casino Royale game?

There’s a lot of misinformation and speculation on the internet about Bond games that were cancelled or didn’t exist in the first place. As I recall, what some think of as a canceled Casino Royale game was actually an earlier version of either Bloodstone or Everything or Nothing that was stopped at one developer and moved to another. But I could be wrong.

Why do you think there hasn’t been a Bond game for a while?

I can only speculate here, as I haven’t discussed this with Eon. I don’t know why there hasn’t been a recent Bond game. But I do know that in general, there are fewer games based on movies these days. I’ve heard lots of reasons for this: 1) Huge game makers like Activision or Electronic arts would rather develop their own franchises. 2) As it now takes 18 months to make a first class game, day/date releases (meaning the game is released on the same day as the movie) aren’t practical. 3) The market for original games–Halo or Call of Duty–is much larger than the market for game tie-ins. Again, I don’t know how much of this impacts Bond, or has anything to do with Eon’s plans for future games. I’m just talking about movie games in general.

Would you like to be involved in another Bond game or film if the opportunity presented itself?

Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson have been incredibly loyal to me over the years. Being asked to write the games was flattering, and a great gift, for which I am very grateful. If they asked me to write another one, I’d be there in a minute. And if they didn’t, I’d be the first in line to buy it, and cheer them on, and hope for it’s great success. I am blessed to have been a small part of the franchise in any way at all.

Finally, as a bit of fun: who’s your favourite Bond actor from the film series? And who would you like to see take on the role after Craig steps down?

They say the first Bond you saw is always your favorite Bond. Connery was my first Bond, but the truth is that I like, respect, and admire everyone who has played the role. They were all perfect a reflection of their time: Connery in the cold war, Roger during the Reagan years, Tim Dalton during the end of the USSR, Pierce in post-cold war era, and Daniel Craig in the post 9/11 era. And, more importantly, from someone who worked inside the franchise: Every one of them made the next one possible.

GameSpot – All News

#Bond's #Exploring #Game #Games #HistoryExploring #Historyvideo #James #Uneven #Video

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egdarwright · 7 years

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Little Miss Sunshine (2006) dir. Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris

5/5.

Little Miss Sunshine is everything that I want in a film. Amazing visuals, characters that I can relate to, and that warm, unexplainable, melancholic feel.

Oh, and Steve Carell.

The colour grading in this film is truly great, every scene is filled with blues and yellows that complement each other perfectly as it shows all the happiness and sadness in every shot which is what this whole film is about. The soundtrack matches it so well and grabs you into the world of Little Miss Sunshine even more.

“Everybody pretend to be normal.”

The Hoovers are one of those families that want to be normal so bad but that’s just not who they are. Each and everyone of these characters are full of story and leaves you wanting to know more. There’s moments all throughout the film where you get to immerse yourself in what each person is feeling through the excellent use of close-ups. These characters are complex all the while being relatable. I, for one, would be interested in seeing some kind of backstory of the Hoovers to indulge in.

The dialogue given in this film is enough to make me feel sad every time i hear it. This star-studded cast truly delivers amazing performances. The introductions to these characters will never fail to surprise me. From Olive, to Dwayne, to Richard, to Frank, to Sheryl and Grandpa Edwin, all of these characters are very much so different from each other but all have little things in common. That being that they live together, they’re all related, and that they all want happiness. We all want happiness. This has and always will be the driving force in being a human being, as we’ve been told since we were little. They all want happiness. Through Dwayne being a pilot, Olive winning Little Miss Sunshine, to Richard wanting a book deal, Frank being happily in love, Sheryl wanting a ‘normal’ family, and to Grandpa Edwin being young and carefree again. The melancholic undertones in this film and the difference of each character is the main drive of this film and what made me fall completely with it the first time I watched it.

Steve Carell’s character, Frank, is one of my all time favourite characters to ever exist. I’m glad they didn’t use his sexuality as some form of joke which is nice to see for a change. It is always amazing to see Carell do more than comedy as he can clearly play such a diverse range of characters which is always a nice change from seeing him as Michael Scott.

The whole plot and pretty much everything about this movie is perfect to me, and very original. Thank you, Dayton and Faris, and here’s to the family on the verge of a breakdown.

#little miss sunshine #steve carell #film #movies #review #film review

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that-shamrock-vibe · 5 years

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Movie Review: Dark Phoenix

Disclaimer: This will be my non-spoiler review for X-Men: Dark Phoenix, with my spoiler review posting hopefully sometime this weekend. I am posting this review the day the movie is released in the U.K. which is two days before the U.S. so if you haven’t seen the movie don’t read on until you have.

General Reaction:

It comes to something when I can safely say that after two attempts to cinematically tell what is possibly the greatest comic-book story of all time, a 90s animated series had better success than Fox first trying in 2006 and now in 2019.

That’s not to say I thought this was a terrible movie or on par with X-Men: The Last Stand, but it isn’t the Dark Phoenix saga that die hard fans of the X-Men franchise and comics know and want to see faithfully adapted on the big screen.

As I have said with every post I create about the X-Men, I love this franchise. It means a lot to me from when I first saw the animated series and the original movie trilogy to now. I have enjoyed every movie and television series that accompanies the X-Men brand...to a degree. X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Legion are really the only two properties I don’t enjoy the former because of every reason stated by anyone before and Legion because I found it a very slow series.

The fact that Dark Phoenix is the movie that culminates nineteen years of the first superhero cinematic universe, it didn’t go out in a blaze but rather a sombre but dignified simmer.

Everyone, even fans like me who are die-hard fans, can agree that the X-Men movie continuity is absolutely f!!ked up, and this movie does not do anything to help that...in fact by the end of this movie you will be left questioning the climactic scene in Days of Future Past showing how the future had changed and I will be discussing that in my spoiler review because it is one of the most annoying things about the movie.

I am still struggling with the question of if I felt this was a true X-Men movie, yes the official title is X-Men: Dark Phoenix, but it is also simply called Dark Phoenix and unlike X-Men: Apocalypse you can take away the X-Men from the title and it still hold its own as a title. So my feeling is that without Bryan Singer, I feel it lost that X-spark that the other movies had.

Even the title sequence didn’t feel like an X-Men movie, I cannot tell you how much I miss Singer’s traditional X-Men title sequence which always ended with the Cerebro doors closing and the lock turning as the camera zoomed through the iris. Bryan Singer obviously has had troubles both in his personal and professional career of late so it makes sense as to why he’s not helming this movie, but to not even be acknowledged with an exec producer credit after what he started back in 2000.

If/when Feige and Disney finally bring the X-Men into the MCU, I do not want to see Simon Kinberg down as director, writer or producer because he has now had two opportunities to tell this story and failed twice. Dark Phoenix again has some very good moments and is slightly more faithful than The Last Stand, but it isn’t as accurate a retelling as hopefully Disney would make it.

Also, somehow, Kinberg managed to screw up the franchise’s obituary to comics creator Stan Lee but clumsily placing the in memory of message in between the cast and exec crew credits. Not having it as a mid-credits type of sequence or at the very start of the credits but it just felt like an after-thought.

Cast:

I thought I was going to be hating on most of the cast for this movie or trying to find redeeming qualities in my favoured actors or characters but actually the cast do that for me by delivering solid performances.

The MVPs of the movie, for me, are Sophie Turner who proves that despite the fact her time with the X-Men movies may be up there is still chance for her after Game of Thrones and James McAvoy who finally showcases the reason why Xavier is such a multilayered and morally ambiguous character.

I also want to give a shout-out to Nicholas Hoult because not only is he one of my favourite young actors who doesn’t get enough credit for what he does, but Beast is my favourite X-Men character and he continues to go unappreciated even though he has had quite a substantial role in this franchise.

Everyone else was okay, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Tye Sheridan were good, Jessica Chastain and Alexandra Shipp were slightly pointless but I think there to fill role types, which I’ll explain in my spoiler review. Kodi Smit-McPhee wasn’t as bubbly as he was in X-Men: Apocalypse but I feel he was there to fill-in for Evan Peters who I am so peeved off with the way he was benched in this movie. Genuinely the snippets you see of Peters in the trailers are pretty much what you see of him in the film.

There were some fun and interesting additions where if this was a continuing franchise I’d be interested to see these characters again but because this is the last of this particularly story it seemed slightly pointless to include them. However again the characters I have watched throughout the franchise didn’t disappoint for the most part.

Recommendation:

People have often accused me of having filters on when discussing the X-Men movies because I love the franchise so much. This is wrong as I have stated there are moments and characters I love but there are also movies and characters I get frustrated by.

This is somewhere in between. It is not the best X-Men movie, however I do want to see it again.

I recommend this as a movie to see if you have grown up with the movie franchise as I have, just to see how it ends if for no other reason. However, if you are just an X-Men movie fan and not a comic-book fan then you may get something out of this that I am possibly too stubborn to accept because of my love of the source material.

The movie does have some interesting moments and ideas, there are some funny moments and the action sequences are quite good particularly seeing the Mutants use their powers.

But there is also some disappointing moments and wasted opportunities that I feel has been the bane of the X-Men movie franchise for Fox.

I look forward to seeing what Disney does with these characters next but I will miss this interpretation of the property because on the whole it isn’t insulting to the source material but it does require a lot of acceptance and acknowledgement of fault.

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

#x-men #dark phoenix #x-men: dark phoenix #simon kinberg #sophie turner #james mcavoy #nicholas hoult #michael fassbender #jennifer lawrence #tye sheridan #jessica chastain #alexandra shipp #kodi smit-mcphee #evan peters #stan lee #x-men: the last stand #x-men: the animated series #kevin feige #disney

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viralhottopics · 7 years

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Scarlett Johansson, charismatic queen of science fiction

With her role as a cyborg in Ghost in the Shell, the actress has sealed her position as our favourite space invader

Hollywood quickly made room on its red carpets for the young Scarlett Johansson in 2003, when she first created a stir in Sofia Coppolas film, Lost in Translation. It seemed clear that this blonde bombshell from New York, who was so ably sharing the screen with a dyspeptic Bill Murray, would go on to deliver popcorn buckets-full of mainstream audience appeal. Beautiful, mysterious and charismatic: she was already an aspirational trophy for any traditional leading man.

Yet, 14 years on, Johansson is established instead as a rather different sort of screen idol. Following a succession of high-octane blockbusters and off-beat critical hits, the actress is now enshrined as perhaps the leading sci-fi action star of her generation. Where once her sardonic smirks and sultry looks spoke of old-school movie glamour, she is now more likely to grab the limelight by kickboxing than by smouldering.

From this Friday, Johansson, 32, will be seen fighting her way to further futuristic box office glory from the midst of a vast, glassy pool of water. Ghost in the Shell, her new cyborg film, is based on Japanese anime characters and features a key combat scene set in a dystopian urban lake. It is a watery sequence clearly designed to become a totemic bit of modern cinema, like that horizontal tussle in The Matrix or the folding streetscape in Inception.

Johansson as Major in Ghost in the Shell Photograph: Paramount Pictures

Whether or not the British director Rupert Sanderss new film achieves the status of a sci-fi classic, it is clear that Johansson, who earned a rumoured 12.4m, has increasingly steered her career towards unexpectedly violent and often unnerving roles. While it is true that she has tackled a few family-oriented outings over the years, such as Cameron Crowes We Bought a Zoo in 2011, it is her more aggressive work in zip-up Lycra that has earned her a place up among the Hollywood A-listers.

This adventurous side of Johansson was most apparent in 2013, when she took the part of the alien in Under the Skin. A horror film directed by Brit Jonathan Glazer, it was a big risk for the star, not just because she would be playing a carnivorous, marauding visitor from another planet, nor because the film had been notoriously hard to make, but because she had to work on location in Glasgow, driving around in a Transit van and interacting with real people, many of whom had no idea they were taking part in the film.

The risk paid off in style. Many critics agreed with the Guardians Peter Bradshaw in finding Under the Skin visually stunning and deeply disturbing: very freaky, very scary and very erotic.

At the same time as Glazers weird thriller came out, a voice-role that Johansson had recorded for director Spike Jonze was to underline the actresss move towards sci-fi. She played Samantha, a captivating computer operating system in his film, Her.

By then, the star had also taken up the screen persona that was to project her right into the heart of a global superhero franchise. Since 2012, she has played Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow of the Marvel Avengers series. First donning her black Neoprene jumpsuit for Avengers Assemble, the actress has already reprised the Black Widow role three times and is currently filming Avengers: Infinity War.

Johansson in Under The Skin, 2013 Photograph: REX

In last years Marvel extravaganza, Captain America: Civil War, the star flashed across the screen in a bewildering swirl of special effects. Ghost in the Shell, by contrast, promises to be a slightly more sedate piece of crowd-pleasing entertainment. Sanders, with whom Johansson has been romantically linked since her separation from her French husband, Romain Dauriac, has aimed, he has said, for a Victorian theatre sense of depth and has avoided thrashing the camera around like crazy.

Its quite restrained and anime-like, the director has said. I loved the idea of this world inhabited by figures, objects and typography that would be different for everyone who saw them. The biggest thing for me was to honour and respect what had come before and to open it to a wider audience, but try to make an original film.

Based on the Kodansha Comics manga series of the same name, the Ghost in the Shell script was developed using screenshots from the original anime movie adaptation and from its sequel, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, as well as the television series Stand Alone Complex. The central character, the Major, is multi-layered and this is what drew in Johansson. Shes living a unique experience as somebody who has an idea of who she thinks she was, and then who she is now, and the person that she feels she is, this sort of gnawing feeling she has in her ghost, the star has explained. Being able to play those three sides: the ego, the superego and the id … That was pretty enticing.

Whether Johansson has permanently left behind her cinematic reputation as a costume drama actress in favour of robotic antics and superheroes is not yet clear. In 2003, she made a big impression as the moody Girl with a Pearl Earring, and again later as Natalie Portmans co-star in Justin Chadwicks adaptation of the Tudor saga, The Other Boleyn Girl.

Johansson in Woody Allens Vicky Cristina Barcelona, 2008 Photograph: REX

It does look, however, as if the actress will keep honing her comedic skills. Although she was briefly a fully signed-up Woody Allen muse in the mid 2000s, she was never allowed much comic range in either Match Point, Scoop or her highly acclaimed final outing with the director in 2008s Vicky Cristina Barcelona. She managed to be very funny, though, in last years Coen Brothers Hollywood period piece, Hail, Caesar!. Her brassy portrayal of an Esther Williams-style swimming star was a highlight of the film.

Most recently, Johansson has appeared on Americas leading satirical television show Saturday Night Live, building up a close friendship with one of its regular stars, Kate Mckinnon. A sketch earlier this month had her playing a scientist who is disturbed to discover her dog is a Trump supporter.

Always political, Johansson has been outspoken on several fronts. In 2014, she alienated some fans when, as a performer from a Jewish background, she agreed to promote the Israeli company, SodaStream, explaining she did not hold with boycotts and had researched the company ethos. Oxfam was not impressed, all the same, and promptly asked her to stand down from her eight-year role as a goodwill ambassador.

The star also spoke out a year ago on the gender pay gap facing working women. Her response to the problem was nicely nuanced. She remained reluctant to be drawn into the row personally, she said, because her own situation, as one of the highest paid actors in the world, was so impossible for most women to relate to.

Ghost in the Shell: trailer for Scarlett Johansson anime adaptation

Theres something icky about me having that conversation unless it applies to a greater whole, she said. I am very fortunate, I make a really good living, and Im proud to be an actress whos making as much as many of my male peers at this stage. For me to talk about my own personal experience with it feels a little obnoxious. Its part of a larger conversation about feminism in general.

Growing up in New York with her Danish father Karsten, an architect, and her mother Melanie, a film producer, she has recounted watching presidential elections with her family, including her twin brother, Hunter, and her actress sister, Vanessa.

We just naturally became politically active. It was just understood that it was important, that it was our responsibility, she once said. I never tell people who to vote for. Im not telling people where to give money, but if there is to be a spotlight shed on me, then Id like to direct that spotlight on to causes I think are worthy or on to interesting, progressive figures.

The fierce spotlight that has focused on her professionally and personally ever since the end of her first marriage to the actor Ryan Reynolds is unlikely to move away soon. So it seems possible that, for Johansson, simply slipping into the disguise of a superhero, an alien, and now a powerful cyborg, feels like a pretty good way out.

JOHANSSON CV

Born 22 November, 1984. Manhattan, New York.

On screen Established her place on the Hollywood A-list in 2003 with Lost in Translation and Girl With a Pearl Earring. Since then, she has starred in Woody Allens Match Point (2005) and Scoop (2006), and later in The Other Boleyn Girl (2008), Hes Just Not That Into You (2009) and Her (2013). She has also played the Marvel Comics character Black Widow. As a singer, she has released two albums.