D.J. Cotrona - Perfection 🥰

contents page

this page will be updated with links as i make the posts !

2009

the early days of the young veins:

how the band got its name

the label

forming the young veins

writing and recording take a vacation:

the band talking about the album process

music that inspired take a vacation's sound

on songwriting

pictures from the studio

album listening party at angels & kings - 16 october

other events:

halloween in chicago

picture/info tag for 2009

2010

tours:

spring tour with foxy shazam

summer tour with rooney

individual live events:

first show as a band - 13 march

south by southwest (SXSW) - 19 march

bonnaroo festival - 11 june

album release party - 8 june

performances with the like - may

the last.fm summer sessions

new york rooftop concert - 20 july

about the band:

info about the songs

the hiatus

link for interviews

picture/info tags:

merch

the band performing onstage

the band offstage

with fans/fan interactions

recaps of specific concerts

2011

superbowl hero

ryan's work on 'the french album' (taisez moi by didier wampas):

general info

info about the songs

timeline of the album process

the taisez moi cd

side notes

if i have used a photo taken by you of the young veins performing onstage or with them after a show and you want me to take it down/blur your face out please inbox me! i always credit the photographer under image posts and link the original source but if you're not happy with your work being shared on my blog or you have privacy concerns about your picture with the band being reposted im happy to remove it.

if you see a mistake in one of my posts feel free to let me know! im not american so i sometimes get place names wrong (especially connecticut i find that one really hard to spell lmao) or other things like that. i dont claim to be a fountain of knowledge about tyv, just a fan who wants to keep all the young veins content i can find in one place!

i use the uk system of dd/mm/yyyy in the tags, so if you wanted to find pictures from the show on 7 april 2010 that will be under 07042010 and not 04072010. apologies if this is confusing but if i did it the other way round i would constantly be tagging things wrong lol

and shoutout to prettyoddfever for the inspiration to make this blog! i see her account as such a valuable resource for fans of pre split panic so i wanted to make something similar for everything ryan has done post split

Sleeping Playlists for Well-Deserved Rest

[If you want the playlists, skip to the end. I'm going to gush a bit first.]

Well puppykitties, we managed to capture just over 11.4 million YouTube views for Like Crazy's music video. Not as high as I'd hoped, but I must admit I'm proud of how much we were able to learn, absorb, and put into practice in the last two weeks. Despite astronomical competition, bullshit filters and freezes, and plenty of opposition from haters, we did our very best for Jimin--and Jimin did well.

We studied tutorials. We voted for Jimin in MCountdown, Show Champion, and Shining Awards contests. We bought both physicals on WeVerse, Target, and Amazon. We bought the digital pre-release single and full albums on iTunes accounts, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. We learned how to request funds and use multiple gift cards. We streamed manually for 24 straight hours this week and last week on various premium Spotify and YouTube accounts. We Shazamed. We joined Stationhead's streaming parties via both Spotify and Apple Music accounts.

(I even purchased on Stationhead, too. Normally I can't afford to buy multiples of things, but this was part of my birthday present to myself, because I almost didn't make it to 44! I am gonna unsub from all the premiums within 30 days, but I'll do my best to keep streaming hard until then!)

I honestly don't know what more we could have done, realistically. Probably a lot, but this was my first time supporting an album release and I feel pretty chuffed about all we were able to pull together!

I dunno about you guys, but I was compelled to work hard because Jimin is a wonderful artist and person, and he and BTS gave me the joy and calm I needed when grieving my Nana and battling uterine cancer last year. It's not hyperbole to say I found them exactly when I needed them most, and they saved me. And it was Jimin who recruited me. So I am very honored to do a small bit to repay him for all his tremendous work.

Still can't believe we got some subtle Jikookery in Jimin's first album. Such a wonderful surprise. So happy. Our boys!

But now? Now I am queuing up playlists and crashing HARD into bed for several hours because I am Old and Tired, y'all. I'm so goddamned tired.

Please rest up and remember we still have the rest of the week to work hard--but now we can use playlists, so it's a little easier!

Remember to avoid patterns and bot behavior:

Save these Sleeping Playlists:

Thanks to @chikooritajjk for the overnight Apple Music list!

Amazon long list

YouTube

Thread of Lists:

Good night, puppykitties. Thank you for all your hard work!

Love, Roo

Total non sequitur of a question but what do you think of the DCEU?

I like the non sequitur! I hope y'all don't feel like you can only send me asks about the Kverse lol (though of course I'm always happy to answer those!)

I'll give you a very brief review of each:

-Man of Steel: I enjoyed it for the most part. I don't really gel with all the Jesus-y imagery, the bizarre choices with Jonathan, or the incredible amounts of collateral damage (you can't avoid everything but Superman would definitely try to limit it), but I kinda dig the look of all the Kryptonian stuff, I like Henry Cavill's more brooding Superman, and Zod was a cool antagonist.

-Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: wayyy too many things going on. I can't McFucking believe they made Jimmy Olsen a CIA plant and killed him off immediately. I don't completely hate that version of Lex Luthor but he gets grating pretty quickly. The Knightmare stuff is pretty eyeroll worthy IMO (especially once they double down on it later). The titular duel is pretty good, but very short, and leads into some of the worst stuff in the movie. Doomsday sucks!

-Suicide Squad: aside from some cool freaky stuff with Enchantress, and Viola Davis and Margot Robbie being great casting choices, this one's kinda nothing to me. Rick Flagg, Capt. Boomerang and Deadshot are various flavors of decent to good. Tried to do a Guardians of the Galaxy-y thing and failed miserably. Top contender for worst Joker adaptation of all time.

-Wonder Woman: Great, if very simple plot-wise. The Ares stuff at the end really lets the rest of the movie down, but most of the movie's very cool and fun. I still get chills from the no man's land scene! Chris Pine's Steve Trevor is pretty damn good (but Chris Pine is just good in general)

-Justice League (Whedon's version): I actually like the choice to have a more colorful look for a Justice League movie, but yeah, not good. To say nothing of the behind the scenes drama, they tried to do what the MCU did with the Avengers with half the build-up. Doesn't feel earned at all. Some good action and character interactions, but that's about it.

-Aquaman: Pretty fun, I really appreciate the commitment to being just kinda bonkers, from the more comic-accurate looks to the ginormous underwater battle. I don't really love Momoa's Aquaman but I didn't mind him too much on his own.

-Shazam!: One of my favorites in the DCEU. Doesn't overcomplicate itself, doesn't exhaust itself with references to other stuff, just a good story about found families with real heart, some good humor, and a decent villain.

-Birds of Prey: Other than the bizarre choice to give Cassandra Cain's name to a character that couldn't be more different, I fucking love this one. Very fun, great action, and it reminded me I have a crush on Mary Elizabeth Winstead lol

-Wonder Woman 1984: Sucks. I hate to say it, I went in thinking I'd really enjoy it but it was genuinely painful to watch for the most part. Not even the power of Pedro Pascal and Chris Pine combined could save this one.

-Zack Snyder's Justice League: Definitely an improvement overall compared to the theatrical release, but dear lord it did not need to be 4 hours long. Flash's turn-back-the-clock gambit was super cool. Legit kinda ruined by the Joker monologue in the Knightmare, lol.

-The Suicide Squad: Didn't watch it! I saw how bloody and murder-happy it'd be and just shrugged and moved on. I'm sure it's as good as people say, but I'd have to be in a very particular mood to wanna watch it, tbh.

-Black Adam: Enjoyed it quite a bit, though the presence of the JSA in the modern day with very little explanation is a bit jarring. The Rock's Black Adam is a bit too heroic and personable for my tastes but brutal enough that I'm okay with it. Kinda loved Pierce Brosnan's Doctor Fate (except for the suit design, I hated it)

-Shazam! Fury of the Gods: Haven't watched it yet, but I don't hear great things about it, so not super enthused about it. Probably will watch it eventually.

-The Flash: I categorically refused to watch this one because 1) I got spoiled on what happens to Supergirl and y'all know I love Kara so it pissed me off, and 2) the CGI nostalgia fest felt extremely cynical and cash-grab-y to me. Not particularly interested in watching this one, but maybe someday.

-Blue Beetle: Gods, I really wanted to watch this one in theaters. It was in my town for all of two days and I couldn't go :( I plan on watching this one soon-ish - even if it's really bad I'll probably enjoy it, I'm a Jaime simp haha :P

-Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom: Genuinely didn't know this one was coming out. Also not particularly interested in watching it, but also not against it, so I'll probably end up putting it on some really boring weekend hahaha.

four albums I've been listening to recently :) thank u for the tag @b1uetrees mwuah

Driving Just To Drive - Matt Maltese

This one's the most recently released album among all the 4 and I listened to it while waiting for my flight back home two days ago (back to my home country actually but not necessarily home) and it rlly was the balm to my aching body and mind. Smth about the songs widow and museum that just struck me down to the earth (funny bc i was already on the flight and in the air by then) and reminded me to just. take a moment to breathe.

So Tonight I Might See - Mazzy Star

have i said i love mazzy star? no i dont think so. but i do. i love this album. i was already saving sellers on carousell that sold this album. i cant believe i never properly listened to it until few days ago while we were on that road trip. five string serenade is now one of my all time fav songs.

Little Fish (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - Keegan Dewitt

gosh. the soundtrack has a life on its own completely separate from the film. i think i could die happy listening to this. or die miserably in the best way. i love how desperate it feels i love how beautifully it speaks and portrays the love that trascends past present future and a love so strong not even memories have a grip to it. all the little pieces and see you in the dark are some of the most wonderful things ive ever heard i listen to them whenever i need comfort and the reminder that somewhere out there there are people who love me and will always be happy to see me.

Miracle Mile - Derek Pope

a fun album! totally something to vibe to. not much backstory but my sister was sending me off to my dorm and her bf connected his phone to the aux and put on this album and i loved it so ofc i had to shazam it (because i was too exhausted from flight travelling to talk to any of them and ask what song was playing) and here we are. yesterday is on my 2023 playlist already because why not.

tagging @endofacenturyy @parfumtheremine

Exploring Music Online: Your Guide to Fresh Beats

In a world buzzing with tunes and beats, finding new music can feel like a treasure hunt. With the vast expanse of the internet, uncovering fresh sounds tailored to your taste buds is both exciting and overwhelming. But fear not! Navigating this musical maze is easier than you think.

Exploring Streaming Platforms

Streaming platforms are the modern-day jukeboxes. Services like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music house an extensive library of songs, genres, and artists. The real gem lies in their personalized playlists and recommendation algorithms. By simply indicating your preferences, these platforms curate playlists tailored to your taste, introducing you to new melodies effortlessly.

Dive into Online Communities

Online communities dedicated to music enthusiasts are gold mines for discovering tunes beyond the mainstream. Platforms like Reddit, Discord, and even niche forums centered around specific genres or artists foster discussions, recommendations, and even hidden gems shared by fellow music aficionados. Engaging in these communities opens doors to a world of diverse musical landscapes.

Tune in to Podcasts and Radio Shows

Podcasts and radio shows offer more than just talk. Many hosts dedicate segments to spotlight emerging artists and underground tracks, providing a platform for undiscovered talent. Tune in to these shows, broaden your musical horizon, and you might stumble upon a hidden gem waiting to be heard.

Also Read: Make Your Commute Fun with These Music Apps

Follow Your Favorite Artists and Labels

Social media isn't just for memes and cat videos—it's a hub for artists and labels to share their latest creations. Following your favorite artists and record labels on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and SoundCloud keeps you updated on their newest releases, collaborations, and even behind-the-scenes content.

Explore Music Blogs and Online Magazines

The written word is a powerful gateway to new sounds. Music blogs and online magazines often feature reviews, interviews, and curated playlists showcasing emerging talents and fresh releases. Websites like Pitchfork, Stereogum, and NME offer an eclectic mix of music content, perfect for discovering your next favorite track.

Utilize Music Discovery Apps

Technology has gifted us with music discovery apps that use innovative methods to find tunes matching your taste. Apps like Shazam, Amazon Music, Musixmatch, and Bandcamp not only identify songs but also suggest similar tracks or undiscovered artists based on your preferences.

In the melody-packed world of music, the key to discovering new tunes online lies in exploring various platforms, engaging with communities, and staying curious. So, tune in, click play, and embark on a musical journey that’s uniquely yours.

Also Read: Top 10 Classic Rock Songs Every Music Lover Must Hear

Summing Up

Discovering new music online is an adventure waiting to unfold. Embrace the digital age of melodies and let your ears wander through the vast universe of sounds. With streaming platforms, online communities, podcasts, social media, music blogs, and innovative apps at your fingertips, the next song that captures your heart might just be a click away. Happy listening!

DC Comics Has A Long History of Racism In Comics Featuring Shazam, Batman, Superman & More

DC is one of the two prominent comic book companies in the world. Their only equal is Marvel. But the two companies don't always see eye to eye with each other; however, they do mishaps that make fans look eye to eye with them. DC was the first one to bring superhero comics to the world, and they were also the first ones to make blunders you might not expect. Just talking about Shazam wouldn't even cover the things they have said in their stories, so we will talk about other things that the company has done. And it would be unfair to only talk about DC in this regard and leave out Marvel. They have done their share of stuff that makes you wonder what the heck editors were thinking. Will we cover One More Day, then? Not really; this article is dedicated to discriminatory views that the companies published. Also, One More Day is a solipsistic mishap that even Stan Lee can't fix. 1942's DC Comics Featured Shazam Owning A Slave The title of the article and a perfect one to start with, as Black Adam is nearing its release. For those who may not know, Black Adam is part of the same family Shazam is part of. And as you may guess, they had a connection that goes way back. But this particular section talks about Shazam having a slave and all the stereotypes put into one place. The comic strip says for itself. Billy is seen walking in and out of the room, treating his slave as a mere extra. But what's worse is the depiction of the Steamboat. We won't describe it; the picture speaks for itself. One of Bucky's Questionable Sidekicks, Whitewash Before he was Winter Soldier, he was captain America's sidekick and fought Nazis. But the comics have a lot of history and this particular moment is on the bad side of things. Bucky had four sidekicks, and all of them are stereotypes one way or the other. Whitewash (that is his name, yes) is shown as someone who can talk to things no matter what it is. We don't know if it was a jab at his intelligence or saying his dumbness is his power. And then there is the name... Lois Lane Becoming *And* Going through Dilemma Who we are born is not in our hands; this is a common talking point and a good one. But making one of the most prominent characters going through a skin color change and displaying it as a crisis scenario? That's not something you see in comics these days. But for Lois Lane, it was an alien experience along with an existential crisis. Not a good way to generate Empathy DC. But if you think that was bad, you have yet to see Batman. But before that, let's talk about another one from Marvel. Also Read: Marvel’s Secret Invasion Plot Explained: The Skrulls Are Coming With Challenges! Falcon's Origin was Retconned Superhero origins get retconned all the time; it is a thing of necessity at this point. The point is to make them relatable to the younger audience of the new generation. But what happened to Falcon was way worse than anyone could imagine. Falcon was created as an upstanding person who fought alongside for the things he believed in. However, when the character's Reins were given to Steve Englehart, things changed drastically. He was relocated to Los Angeles and seemed to be working with the bad side. The caveat being it was never confirmed to be true. Black Lightning Was the Superman for the non-Posh Metropolis Okay, this one is a bit of an exaggeration but hear us out. Back in the day, Superman would deal with crime at Metropolis but only on the North side. The south side, Suicide Slum, was untouched, and the crime prospers as Superman wouldn't go down there. And then there comes the Black Lightning, a Superhero born in the dark side of Metropolis dealing with its problems. Though that is not the new series that got released as the TV version originated from Freeland. The irony is not lost in this one. Batman Didn't Mind killing Asians Spider-Man must be happy to know their character's history is the cleanest there is. Batman fans, however, discover some dirty secret related to the cape crusader now and then. The biggest one was Bob Kane's greed which left Bill Finger poor and his early death. This is one of the lesser crimes committed by the Dark Knight himself. Batman has a no Kill Rule, and here he is, killing the Chinese by letting them fall. And in another panel, he falls on them. Read the full article

Today in Fandom History: May 3

Fandom: Movies/Marvel

May 3, 2002, Spiderman was released to theaters. The Spiderman in question is the first in the original Spiderman trilogy starring Toby Maguire as Peter Parker and directed by Sam Raimi. This isn’t just a yearly celebration of this movie, which deserves praise every day of every year. But this is in fact the 20th anniversary of its release. We all have the Spiderman we consider ‘our spiderman’ aka the one we grew up with. From the three live actions, to the dozens of animated, to the infinite in comics, there are lots to choose from. But every Spiderman fan, new and old, know of this version. The movie acts as Spiderman’s origin and includes all the classic characters we love from the comics including Aunt May, MJ, Harry Osborne, and the Green Goblin. One of my personal favorite scenes is when Peter is trying to get his webs to work on his command. He goes through many motions and exclamations including “Shazam!”, “Up up and away web”, a thumbs up, and the rock and roll hand signal. His web-forming spider DNA is a deviation from most Spidey interpretations, but it also removes a often exploited handicap and is an interesting take. The movie also does a good job of integrating the nerdy photography-loving Peter with the quippy and badass spiderman. The movie is just so good. It’s shot in such an early 2000′s way with the random close up shots paired with escalating music that was created by the infinitely talented Danny Elfman. It’s cheesy enough to be a superhero movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously while still having those epic action moments and loving bonds between friends, family, and lovers. If you like Marvel but have not seen this movie, you really do have to watch it. It’s just wonderful. Happy 20th anniversary Spiderman!

I’m seeing Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness on Friday!!! I can’t wait guys! Like, Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange are amazing enough, but Freaking Professor X! Also, since it’s directed by Sam Raimi (Yes, the same Sam Raimi), you know it’s gonna be good!

cue emotional post!

uhhhh henloe! making this post has me on the verge of tears so please bear with me.

if you think i’m making this post as my version of “emotional otb admin who confesses their undying love for other admins”, then you’re absolutely right.

can i start by saying, i love you all???? now that you know that fact, let’s go ahead. i have never celebrated pride before. it was joining the 1d fandom that led me to explore different identities, that confirmed that i wasn’t a cishet girl. the fandom gave me the courage to ask myself questions, and find answers to them. it gave me courage to change my name, my labels, my pronouns, as i kept on learning more about myself. it introduced me to the queer community, something i had never been exposed to before. i have to thank louis for this. becoming his fan has changed my life. when OTB released, it felt like my “oh” moment. though it took me months after that to actually come out, the song gave me the push i required. which is why, i was overjoyed when i got the opportunity to work on this project.

we had a shit-ton of setbacks, leading to tears and frustration and angry keysmashes. huge UAs that could have changed the course of the project refused to respond to us. twitter was the absolute worst. they thought we were trying to push the attention away from Project KMM, when in reality KMM had died before it even began. before we even began. many people didn’t even know there was a project for OTB. personally for me, it was the worst month of my life. my life was once again torn apart.

through all of this, though, this project was the thing that kept me alive. it gave me a reason to power through the worst of days. it gave me a reason to ignore everything else going wrong in my life and focus. it gave me a reason to not scream when my mother laughed at homophobic jokes, because i knew i had to stay alive for this project.

the friends i made in this time feel more like my family now, instead of my biological one. so this is a post for all of you.

@dyingstars-x : seven!! they came up with the original idea. i don’t know what queer louie spirit possessed you, but i’m so so so glad you decided to post this. that one post had my mind dancing in circles and bursting with ideas. they have been the best parent to all of us, looking over everything, coming up with concepts in a few hours’ time, keeping us sane. idek how to put it into words but mostly- seven’s contribution has been priceless.

@saintqueer : JORDANNNNNNNN!! while all the admins have been working super hard and being amazing, hear me out- jordan is the backbone of this project. she reached out to seven, and within just a few hours of us confirming the project, they got to work!! their twitter talents are unmatched, trust me. she’s been so good at dealing with the UA drama; i truly could never. they also made tiktoks!! i want to say so much but i can’t formulate my thoughts. but you should all hail jordan. they just make me go dshfdkjfkdjhskfndk

@rainboww-paradise : mimi! despite her busy schedule she took out so much time to brainstorm with us in the first few days. (we literally said hi to each other and started brainstorming for themes it was a Mess). she kept on making time to make amazing graphics, and share gorgeous ideas, as well as being a person you can always rely on for motivation.

@thosefookinavacados : A!! they made all the wonderful playlists you can use, as well as handling the drabble fest with me. we were both diving into it with no idea of what to do, but we figured it out together. they’ve been the most hilarious companion in this.

@herefortommo : emma!! she gave you the streaming updates every day, as well as making those uquizzes???? it was really fucking hard, i don’t know how they managed to come up with so much. they always shared tumblr asks and all the nice comments you left on our uquizzes, and it was so much fun to read them. she also figured out how to use shazam and tiktok and deezer 😭

@1dwoodchuck : nicky!! she handled twitter most of the time, and she was SO good at it. like, seriously. she found out more about the UEFA league and kept coming up with creative ideas for tweets. she kept talking to UAs and roped most of them in to help us ✨✨

@fishandfrog and @secretheartmp3 who both helped us a lot at the start, even though they were busy afterwards 💕

honourable mentions to @staff for including us, UnitedByPop for writing an article about us, promoting it so many times, and including it in their monthly round-up. they did so much for us. also!!!! i was looking forward to this- a huge huge thank you to @dailytomlinson , especially cristal @ltyear for helping us when literally no one would. they’ve boosted our posts so many times and supported us, and it means a lot. you’re now my favourite UA. mwah.

special thanks to @thetriangletattoo , flo, who was basically part of the team without being a part of the team. she was so so so supportive of us, making gorgeous art, and giving us permission to share it on that bird app! they always used their twitter account to use our hashtags and boost our tweets. we always shared those tweets in the server, and every time we confessed our undying love for her. they were even featured in the staff post, and that’s huge! she was literally the sweetest angel ever, and we love them a lot ✨ (ps they also introduced the found family trope to this project, so yes flo, now you are my family)

lastly, a huge thank you to all the content creators of this fandom, whether you made fanart or gifs or graphics or wrote a fic. this was all made for you. sharing love and kindness is what fandom is about, and i hope this month highlighted that. this fandom has become my home, and i’m so happy that i get to share it with you wonderful people. thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for taking part, giving this project your time, and making this happen. thank you to everyone else who participated, whether it was boosting tweets or streaming or simply reblogging posts. your contribution is priceless.

thank you.

love, rae

WEEKLY ENCORE 2022 – Week 1 (January 1-9)

Welcome to the first ever weekly cover on GOT7 news. It is only the first week of the year and the boys has given us a lot! From new albums to welcome kits to NBA, birds have been busy all week.

Some of the boys had quite a lot of updates that it is hard to keep track.

Lets journey back to the first week member by member, starting off with our dear leader JAYB.

Jaebeom had ended the year with a brief Instagram live; he wished everyone a happy new year with a 15 minute live. And started the year with a greeting tweet… on January 4th.

But Jaebeom came bearing gifts; we got a release date for his new episode as Def. And this episode will be the first episode to have a physical copy. A very special episode indeed. Pre orders have started already (and will end on 12th). Many birds quickly started checking their wallet to see what was left after the holiday period.

We also got the KAZZ photoshoot behind and… it is safe to say, JayB never disappoints whatever he does. The man has quite an allure to himself.

As we all know this week was JayB’s birthday, and by luck it fell on his Bbomdi BBomdi day. Station Z staff showed their support and love to our leader once again by not only decorating and giving him a birthday cake but arranging a heartwarming surprise. They arranged an audio letter from members currently in S.Korea and even got Jackson as a phone guest. Jackson being in the middle of a busy schedule recorded a video message in case he couldn’t make it. The whole thing was sweet, members slightly teasing but sending love, Jackson promising to call JayB after midnight in China so it would be his birthday. A must watch for an Ahgase.

(JayB looks adorably surprised when Encore starts to play, followed by members messages)

While you are there, also check StationZ’s photos of JayB, they are adorable.

JayB came online the next day with a handwritten letter as a thank you to the fans (there was a brief war flashback on birds side but we don’t talk about that). Although we didn’t get a meme from Bambam this year, he did squeez in a comment on Jaebeom’s post as a cute jab to the end of his letter.

We also got an update on Jaebeom’s MBTI: he shared a story with ENTJ so I assume it has changed now? It doesn’t think he is so thrilled at the idea either “MBTI is not science”.

While I am a bit sad that we no longer share the same MBTI (he was previously INFJ), I think the commander fits him quite well.

And lastly we had a TMI interview where he updated us on his life and answered quick questions. Check it out birds!

Our leader really didn’t let us breath this week huh? The rest wasn’t so different though.

Next is our flying member Mark. Mark started the year with a short but cheery tweet.

(Don’t mind it is the 2nd, it’s just because of the time difference; I live in Europe)

He also went to Instagram to share a snippet of his new song. Unbeknown to him (and me to be honest) unreleased songs can be shazam’d. Birds quickly figured this out and started sharing the songs title. Mark tweeting about his mistake, birds pretending they didn’t see anything, a pretty GOT7 type of chaos.

We’ll stream the song once you drop it Mark, don’t worry. Shazam or no shazam.

While Mark is our quite member we got another update from him; Ralph Lauren shared picture of Mark for the Laterals Magazine. He looks pretty good in green velvet.

Jackson has been keeping himself and us busy the whole year. And this does not look like it’s going to change in 2022 either. He ended the year with a quick Instagram live and performances for new year countdown lives. Once the clock hit midnight Jackson shared a cheeky new years message on twitter before promising to fill the year with music. We will be waiting what you have in store for us this year Jackson. But please also rest. You have worked so hard.

Jackson has been busy running from one event to another, attending Esquire’s Gentle Hala with a 20kg suit and collecting awards. That suit does look dazzling.

Fendi also shared photos of Jackson for their spring festival capsule collection. He also teased a valentines special short for Braun with "Unending Love" by Rabindranath Tagore. The Poet in question was an Indian poet who had important contributions to both Indian and Bengali literature. Now I don’t know much about Rabindranath Tagore himself but as he is an important figure, so his poem being included in the short does seem very important. Bengali and Indian Ahgases seemed pretty happy.

As Promised Jackson is also releasing new music. He teased a new song named after himself. The story of the song is apparently depicting his life and will be out on the 11th. I don’t know what to expect but something tells me we’re going to cry.

Unexpectedly we have quite a few updates from Jinyoung. First day of the year we got stories of him chilling at his sisters café and watching the first sunrise. Now that filming ended for most of his projects (that we know of, you never know with Park Jinyoung) and Christmas Carol filming still not started, he seems to have been enjoying a bit of free time. We lucky birds even got a post with the beautiful sunrise. He also posted behind photos from both “The Devil Judge” and “Yumi’s Cells”. Quite a blessing for pepis who has been living with pixel Jinyoung for months now.

We finally got Yacha and Hi5 confirmation through BH’s new years post. The company has shared the upcoming project for their artist and Jinyoung was in four of them: Yumi’s Cells S2, Yacha, Hi5 and A Christmas Carol.

Speaking of acting, Jinyoung’s role in Hi5 is confirmed to be a villain. Very exciting, especially when you think he filmed it at the same time as Yumi’s Cells. Sweet office worker Yoo Babi in the morning, super villain in the evening? I can’t wait.

Jinyoung’s Japanese fan club also shared an exclusive selfie and some birds leaked a pieces of it on tweeter, starting a big scale puzzle game. The struggle was real.

The last of of Jinyoung’s updates came from himself; he posted two dance videos seemingly from his trainee days. His dance teacher before his trainee years reposted them while teasing us with the Jinyoung dance video’s he has in his HDD.

Lastly, Jinyoung posted a selfie with the information about an art exhibit: ACEP2022. This is a special exhibition for artists with development disabilities. Such a beautiful thing to promote Jinyoung, thank you.

Next on our actor line is Youngjae. Our sunshine has been relatively quiet this week. Although there is no new project announced he is getting praise for his acting. Couldn’t be more proud of him.

Youngjae started the year with a greeting video and continued with a new episode of his vlog. Our sunshine is becoming quite the youtuber, we love to see it. Not to spoil the episode but him editing was so cute.

Youngjae also revealed a welcoming kit for 2022. It looks so sweet, a calendar, photo cards, photo strips and a stamp. The stamp is such a nice idea, I want one!

He is also announced to be a DJ in MBC’s Dream Radio from January 17th to February 6th. We get another weekly radio to look forward to. Now I don’t know if it is possible, but wouldn’t it be so fun if they’d extend his contract as well?

Before moving on from Youngjae, let’s not forget he is also the cover of The Star magazine for this month. He looks stunning doesn’t he?

Bambam has been quite busy, keeping us busy as well. He takes after his Jackson Hyung I suppose. Starting the new year with a 2 day special new years concert in Pattaya Bambam performed quite a few songs both his and GOT7s. During his talk segment he revealed 2022 is going to be Ahgases years and he is planning on doing a live on the 16th. He added he was thinking of a surprise for the anniversary but he was not sure yet. Bambam don’t feed our clown hearts like that, it is dangerous. We see you have changed your twitter header to ahgabong’s too (from his Pattaya Concert). Now what should we think of this Bambam? You know we've been clowning ourselves every other day.

Although working, Bambam has spent some time with family too while in Thailand. We got cute updates like ‘Who Are You’ dance challenge with his sister Baby and Mama B. his mother also posted a few quite videos of all of the Bhuwakul Family together. Ahgases are also happy to see him reunite with his family after two years.

Bambam is also reported to be in a Malaysian reality show “Master in The House – Malaysia”. The show is set to air on 15thof this month. His Secret Island episodes are still being uploaded weekly by KBS too.

On the 7th Bambam revealed his 2ndmini album title. The concept art is gorgeous. To be frank all his concept art looks gorgeous. With all the collaborations he has, this album is going to be a banger I am sure!

Bambam didn’t stop there though. While ahgases are trying to process the album release date and doing recalculations to afford all the boys releases we have a sudden update from him. Though this time it is of a very different nature. Bambam announced that he is now the global ambassador of NBA team Golden State Warriors. He also nominated one of the players for NBA all-star.

The birds, as expected followed suit. In a short amount of time all birds were voting for GSW players, learning about the team, even making edits for the players with Bambam and GOT7 songs. Dub Nation (GSW fans) were first shocked but were quick to embrace this change, a few started listening to our boys songs too and voted on SMA. We also found common grounds on being the outcasts within their respective areas despite being good at their craft. For a moment everyone was happy, sun was shining, people were laughing.

You can check the whole exchange under #BamBamxGSW tag on twitter.

Our maknae has been very quite lately but he did come out for a new years post. Forget western actors, Yugyeom for spiderman!

I especially love the last picture he shared, the one with the traffic lights and the sun.

While we are excited about KYG2 he teased a few weeks back, we will be patient. Yugyeom is finding his own pace it seems. Take your time Yugyeom, do what feels right to you and have fun. Although it would be nice to have a selfie here and there, dandelions are going a bit stir crazy you see.

In general news Golden Disk Awards was at the 8th of January. GOT7 was nominated for best album but didn’t win. None of the members attended the event. I am not even sure if they knew they were nominated.

There is also Korean Hip Hop award nominations going on ahgases has been nominating Yugyeom and JayB. The nomination period is between 4th to 10th January.

It is only the first week but we are definitely going ahga-broke. New Def episode, Bambam’s 2nd mini album, Youngjae’s welcoming kit…

Fighting Ahgases!

That is it for this crazy week. Lots of twists and turns. It was kind of hard putting it all together, I can only hope I didn’t miss something.

Hope you enjoyed reading!

See you next week!

Y.

P.S. I purposefully didn’t include the links for pre orders and votings because it would be too much for me. Please check the official accounts and the fanbases for all the links.

An AU of DC with a mass crossover of PS4 properties.

Provisional name: Players Searching for Detectable Changes (Get the pun?)

The setup:

This is the future of DC, a world where the old guard has slowly withdrawn and the newer generations have risen to the occasion. The original Titans in particular, most of which have formed the new Justice League while many other, very similar teams had started to form across the world. One of which was a resurgence of the Teen Titans, led by an older and purified Raven. She wanted to make the Teen Titans something akin as it was for her, a place to belong and learn to use one's powers.

The first 'class' of such individuals include:

Stargirl (of the now-disbanded JSA and still getting used to the Starrod)

Blue Beetle III (Freshly attached to his alien symbiote and freaking out a bit)

Robin V (to work on his anger issues, mostly at the new Batman's request)

Kaldur (a half Atlantean half metahuman who is struggling with his identity and the surface world, Aquaman feels a kinship for the boy seeing their similarities)

Static Shock (a promising new hero but little experience working outside his city or in groups)

Mary Marvel (she's... she's going through alot. Fresh from a coma, her brother is distant as he acts as the new Wizard, and she may be, sorta kinda, being corrupted by Black Adam's gifted power)

The team was rough and there was plenty of head butting (Mostly between Stargirl and Robin/Damian as one is almost the unanimous leader while the other thinks he should be) but they were getting there. They were more of a clean up crew for the Justice League, they did more than the "kiddie missions" that the Outsiders didn't do, and they meant more than the PR grab that was the International team. Though they didn't seem to amount to more than that. They still did their best, pushing past the silent ridicule, as they went about their missions.

This may be why tempers were so high that day.

One day, outside a little city by the name of Weller's Point, the prisoner transport for the villain Plasmus had an "accident". Released and awakened the creature went on a rampage, heading ever closer to the populated area. Luckily, the mentor of the New Teen Titans could teleport. The new team did fairly well in the fight, though they did struggle a bit as Plasmus was not a being where simple brute force would work. It made the fight tricky and more than a bit... messy.

Messy enough that juvenile and emotionally compromised Mary Marvel lashed out against the downed villain but was stopped by her teammates... things escalated from there. Restraint turned blows and the whole team struggled to stop their powerhouse without hurting her. The ones who do the best are Raven, Stargirl, Blue Beetle, and oddly Static.

While both of the former could use their abilities to restrain her to a very effective degree Static was actively draining her of strength, or at least of the electic aura she was radiating and blasting with. Frustrated, done with the situation, and a bit petty Mary launched her largest attack yet by saying her magical word.

SHAZAM.

Virgil did what he did best, he handled that lightning as it came crashing down towards Mary and the Titans restraining her. Well, he tried. The bolt was just too powerful, too unlike anything he had ever encountered. He could not handle it and it was dissipating, if anything it clung to him or tried to jump towards the girl. He had to get rid of it and he had to get rid of it quickly, safely too if he could help it.

He shoved it into the ground, into the power lines. He did it as carefully as he could, trying to prevent overload or flashover as guided the charge into the power grid.

What happened next was a combination of a few things. 1. The Mystic and transformative properties of the Lightning, 2. It is effectively being filtered through a bang baby, 3. The kryptonite power plant owned by, provided by, and operated by Lexcorp.

This interaction, this new charge, cycling through the power grid interacted strangely with a number of devices but none more so than PlayStation 4s and the devices connected to them. This new electricity changed things, literally. It brought fantasy into reality.

Whatever game was loaded into became a part of our reality in a small way. Sometimes TVs, Controllers, and even the system changed to reflect items from the game but the bigger change came with the Players. If a person was playing their console during the surge then they would become a metahuman with abilities based on the playable character they were playing.

The city, the county even, was now flooded by an abundance of metahumans and items of varying power of devastation. Static felt horrible.

He couldn't help but compare what has happened here to what happened in Dakota City but on a wider scale. And this time it was his fault. His sense of responsibility wouldn't, couldn't, let that stand. He had to fix his mistake and his team was dragged along for the ride.

The story to follow is a mix of Final Crisis and Kingdom Come with a bit of the Young Justice cartoon in events and themes, a few twists and likely a bit lighter in tone but to the DC geeks this should give a rough idea… Maybe a bit of Marvel's Civil War but hopefully not the rushed knee-jerk mess that that ended up being.

But it's here that I start having issues with my planning. One part in worry as outside the set up we start to follow the perspective of OCs (something rarely smiled upon) and another part in wondering which OC to focus on.

Now, one thing I love in fiction is progressive powers and the conflict escalating from the different paths people take in said progression. In that vein, I have a pair of protags in mind as well.

The main two/co-protagonists:

The Lawkeeper- a cop before the change and now a member of a task force made up largely of those affected by the surge. A gamer, a man of color, and a believer of the spirit of the law. He doesn't always get along with his fellow officers but he believes in what the blue does. He believes that an organized response is what is best.

His abilities are based on those of Jesse Fades of Control. Meaning he has tremendous psychic potential but he needs 3 things to reach his full potential.

1.Items to bond to so he can generate these psychic abilities. Jesse's used altered items of her universe to get thematic abilities from them (ex: a safe to generate a shield, a carousel horse for a dash ability, ect). Here he can use items generated by the surge.

2. A patron/partner entity to help guide, give insights, and empower. It also let's the user enforce reality, basically becoming an anti reality warper.

3. A bonded morph weapon or a weapon to come to his hand when called.

The knight- a recent college graduate who instantly decided to go the route of the caped hero. She, after figuring out how to get her powers to work, instantly went the route of a caped crusader. Going out to the streets, saving lives, stopping instances of surge item abuse, and (in the humble opinion of the local Police Department) getting in the way of operations. In her opinion they were taking too long to get things done.

Her abilities are based on those of Prince Noctis of Final Fantasy XV. This means she has tremendous physical and magical potential but like the above she has a number of check marks needed to gain access to the character's full power.

1. A gem/crystal to draw power from.

2. 13 magical weapons to boost strength. The generated game weapons will do and I have most picked out in a way that likely would help the plot progress.

3. The blessing of 5-6 gods.

4. A power ring of some king to channel all this power.

I keep debating the two above as I do like the idea of both of them climbing in power and clashing over conflicting ideals of what to do with their power. At the same time, I think that just smooshing aspects of both into one (which is actually where they started, a single character) and play off the different ideologies of how best to help people from within her friend group and precinct along with internal conflict. Maybe have the one be a fellow officer they butt heads with because of the... precarious nature

Another OC I was thinking on, keeping with the theme of what to do when you have power, is a thief who played Persona 5. Like both of the above they would be crippled in their ability to use their abilities without a way to fake the connection to. In this case, without the Mementos App, they would need an item that could affect or enter the hearts of others. Luckily, more unlucky really, there are plenty of items floating around that can do just that. Namely Keyblades.

Most other Players are an odd mix but most are variations of the Shooter build. Peak physical humans who heal quickly and often have bullet time. But there are enough other variations to cause trouble. Demigods of unreal strength, men and women who can easily tap into a patron for powers from the outside, 2 variations of spider powers, cat eyed men and women who can cast magic with simple gestures, and so much more. But the real issue was the first two, the demigods without a parent to protect them and those easily connected to a divine source.

The disembodied New Gods of Apocalypse were very happy with those groups. For how bad this can be please look at what happened to Mary Marvel in canon Final Crisis.

Thoughts and opinions would be appreciated.

2020 in Movies - My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 3)

10.  WOLFWALKERS – eleven years ago, Irish director Tomm Moore exploded onto the animated cinema scene with The Secret of Kells, a spellbinding feature debut which captivated audiences the world over and even garnered an Oscar nomination.  Admittedly I didn’t actually even know about it until I discovered his work through his astonishing follow-up, Song of the Sea (another Academy Award nominee), in 2015, so when I finally caught it I was already a fan of Moore’s work.  It’s been a similarly long wait for his third feature, but he’s genuinely pulled off a hat-trick, delivering a third flawless film in a row which OF COURSE means that his latest feature is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, my top animated feature of 2020.  I could even be tempted to say it’s his best work to date … this is an ASTONISHING film, a work of such breath-taking, spell-binding beauty that I spent its entire hour and three-quarters glued to the screen, simple mesmerised by the wonder and majesty of this latest iteration of the characteristically stylised “Cartoon Saloon” look.  It’s also liberally steeped in Moore’s trademark Celtic vibe and atmosphere, once again delving deep into his homeland’s rich and evocative cultural history and mythology while also bringing us something far more original and personal – this time the titular supernatural beings are magical near-human beings whose own subconscious can assume the form of very real wolves.  Set in a particularly dark time in Irish history – namely 1650, when Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector – the story follows Robyn (Honor Kneafsey, probably best known for the Christmas Prince films), the impetuous and spirited young daughter of English hunter Bill Goodfellowe (Sean Bean), brought in by the Protectorate to rid the city of Kilkenny of the wolves plaguing the area.  One day fate intervenes and Robyn meets Mebh Og MacTire (The Girl at the End of the Garden‘s Eve Whittaker), a wild girl living in the woods, whose accidental bite gives her strange dreams in which she becomes a wolf – turns out Mebh is a wolfwalker, and now so is Robyn … every aspect of this film is an utter triumph for Moore and co, who have crafted a work of living, breathing cinematic art that’s easily the equal to (if not even better than) the best that Disney, Dreamworks or any of the other animation studios could create.  Then there’s the excellent voice cast – Bean brings fatherly warmth and compassion to the role that belies his character’s intimidating size, while Kneafsey and Whittaker make for a sweet and sassy pair as they bond in spite of powerful cultural differences, and the masterful Simon McBurney (Harry Potter, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) brings cool, understated menace to the role of Cromwell himself.  This is a film with plenty of emotional heft to go with its marvels, and once again displays the welcome dark side which added particular spice to Moore’s previous films, but ultimately this is still a gentle and heartfelt work of wonder that makes for equally suitable viewing for children as for those who are still kids at heart – ultimately, then, this is another triumph for one of the most singularly original filmmakers working in animation today, and if Wolfwalkers doesn’t make it third time lucky come Oscars-time then there’s no justice in the world …

9.  WONDER WOMAN 1984 – probably the biggest change for 2020 compared to pretty much all of the past decade is how different the fortunes of superhero cinema turned out to be.  A year earlier the Marvel Cinematic Universe had dominated all, but the DC Extended Universe still got a good hit in with big surprise hit Shazam!  Fast-forward to now and things are VERY different – DC suddenly came out in the lead, but only because Marvel’s intended heavy-hitters (two MCU movies, the first Venom sequel and potential hot-shit new franchise starter Morbius: the Living Vampire) found themselves continuously pushed back thanks to (back then) unforeseen circumstances which continue to shit all over our theatre-going slate for the immediate future.  In the end DC’s only SERIOUS competition turned out to be NETFLIX … never mind, at least we got ONE big established superhero blockbuster into the cinemas before the end of the year that the whole family could enjoy, and who better to headline it than DC’s “newest” big screen megastar, Diana Prince? Back in 2017 Monster’s Ball director Patty Jenkins’ monumental DCEU standalone spectacularly realigned the trajectory of a cinematic franchise that was visibly flagging, redesigning the template for the series’ future which has since led to some (mostly) consistently impressive subsequent offerings.  Needless to say it was a damn tough act to follow, but Jenkins and co-writers Geoff Johns (Arrow and The Flash) and David Callaham (The Expendables, Zombieland: Double Tap, future MCU entry Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings) have risen to the challenge in fine style, delivering something which pretty much equals that spectacular franchise debut … as has Gal Gadot, who’s now OFFICIALLY made the role her own thanks to yet another showstopping and definitive performance as the unstoppable Amazonian goddess living amongst us.  She’s older and wiser than in the first film, but still hasn’t lost that forthright honesty and wonderfully pure heart we’ve come to love ever since her introduction in Zack Snyder’s troublesome but ultimately underrated Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (yes, that’s right, I said it!), and Gadot’s clear, overwhelming commitment to the role continues to pay off magnificently as she once again proves that Diana is THE VERY BEST superhero in the DCEU cinematic pantheon.  Although it takes place several decades after its predecessor, WW84 is, obviously, still very much a period piece, Jenkins and co this time perfectly capturing the sheer opulent and over-the-top tastelessness of the 1980s in all its big-haired, bad-suited, oversized shoulder-padded glory while telling a story that encapsulates the greedy excessiveness of the Reagan era, perfectly embodied in the film’s nominal villain, Max Lord (The Mandalorian himself, Pedro Pascal), a wishy-washy wannabe oil tycoon conman who chances upon a supercharged wish-rock and unleashes a devastating supernatural “monkey’s paw” upon the world. To say any more would give away a whole raft of spectacular twists and turns that deserve to be enjoyed good and cold, although they did spoil one major surprise in the trailer when they teased the return of Diana’s first love, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) … needless to say this is another big blockbuster bursting with big characters, big action and BIG IDEAS, just what we’ve come to expect after Wonder Woman’s first triumphant big screen adventure.  Interestingly, the film starts out feeling like it’s going to be a bubbly, light, frothy affair – after a particularly stunning all-action opening flashback to Diana’s childhood on Themyscira, the film proper kicks off with a bright and breezy atmosphere that feels a bit like the kind of Saturday morning cartoon action the consistently impressive set-pieces take such unfettered joy in parodying, but as the stakes are raised the tone grows darker and more emotionally potent, the storm clouds gathering for a spectacularly epic climax that, for once, doesn’t feel too overblown or weighed down by its visual effects, while the intelligent script has unfathomable hidden depths to it, making us think far more than these kinds of blockbusters usually do.  It’s really great to see Chris Pine return since he was one of the best things about the first movie, and his lovably childlike wide-eyed wonder at this brave new world perfectly echoes Diana’s own last time round; Kristen Wiig, meanwhile, is pretty phenomenal throughout as Dr Barbara Minerva, the initially geeky and timid nerd who discovers an impressive inner strength but ultimately turns into a superpowered apex predator as she becomes one of Wonder Woman’s most infamous foes, the Cheetah; Pascal, of course, is clearly having the time of his life hamming it up to the hilt as Lord, playing gloriously against his effortlessly cool, charismatic action hero image to deliver a compellingly troubling examination of the monstrous corrupting influence of absolute power.  Once again, though, the film truly belongs to Gadot – she looks amazing, acts her socks off magnificently, and totally rules the movie.  After this, a second sequel is a no-brainer, because Wonder Woman remains the one DC superhero who’s truly capable of bearing the weight of this particular cinematic franchise on her powerful shoulders – needless to say, it’s already been greenlit, and with both Jenkins and Gadot onboard, I’m happy to sign up for more too …

8.  LOVE & MONSTERS – with the cinemas continuing their frustrating habit of opening for a little while and then closing while the pandemic ebbed and flowed in the months after the summer season, it was starting to look like there might not have been ANY big budget blockbusters to enjoy before year’s end as heavyweights like Black Widow, No Time To Die and Dune pulled back to potentially more certain release slots into 2021 (with only WW84 remaining stubbornly in place for Christmas).  Then Paramount decided to throw us a bone, opting to release this post-apocalyptic horror comedy on-demand in October instead, thus giving me the perfect little present to tie me over during the darkening days of autumn. The end result was a stone-cold gem that came out of nowhere to completely blow critics away, a spectacular sleeper hit that ultimately proved one of the year’s biggest and most brilliant surprises.  Director Michael Matthews may only have had South African indie thriller Five Fingers for Marseilles under his belt prior to this, but he proves he’s definitely a solid talent to watch in the future, crafting a fun and effective thrill-ride that, like all the best horror comedies, is consistently as funny as it is scary, sharing much of the same DNA as this particular mash-up genre’s classics like Tremors and Zombieland and standing up impressively well to such comparisons.  The story, penned by rising star Brian Duffield (who has TWO other entries on this list, Underwater and Spontaneous) and Matthew Robinson (The Invention of Lying, Dora & the Lost City of Gold), is also pretty ingenious and surprisingly original – a meteorite strike has unleashed weird mutagenic pathogens that warp various creepy crawly critters into gigantic monstrosities that have slaughter most of the world’s human population, leaving only a beleaguered, dwindling few to eke out a precarious living in underground colonies. Living in one such makeshift community is Joel Dawson (The Maze Runner’s Dylan O’Brien), a smart and likeable geek who really isn’t very adventurous, is extremely awkward and uncoordinated, and has a problem with freezing if threatened … which makes it all the more inexplicable when he decides, entirely against the advice of everyone he knows, to venture onto the surface so he can make the incredibly dangerous week-long trek to the neighbouring colony where his girlfriend Aimee (Iron Fist’s Jessica Henwick) has ended up.  Joel is, without a doubt, the best role that O’Brien has EVER had, a total dork who’s completely unsuited to this kind of adventure and, in the real world, sure to be eaten alive in the first five minutes, but he’s also such a fantastically believable, fallible everyman that every one of us desperate, pathetic omega-males and females can instantly put ourselves in his place, making it elementarily easy to root for him.  He’s also hilariously funny, his winningly self-deprecating sass and pitch perfect talent for physical comedy making it all the more rewarding watching each gloriously anarchic life-and-death encounter mould him into the year’s most unlikely action hero.  Henwick, meanwhile, once again impresses in a well-written role where she’s able to make a big impression despite her decidedly short screen time, as do the legendary Michael Rooker and brilliant newcomer Ariana Greenblatt as Clyde and Minnow, the adorably jaded, seen-it-all-before pair of “professional survivors” Joel meets en-route, who teach him to survive on the surface.  The action is fast, frenetic and potently visceral, the impressively realistic digital creature effects bringing a motley crew of bloodthirsty beasties to suitably blood-curdling life for the film’s consistently terrifying set-pieces, while the world-building is intricately thought-out and skilfully executed.  Altogether, this was an absolute joy from start to finish, and a film I enthusiastically endorsed to everyone I knew was looking for something fun to enjoy during the frustrating lockdown nights-in.  One of the cinematic year’s best kept secrets then, and a compelling sign of things to come for its up-and-coming director.

7.  PARASITE – I’ve been a fan of master Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho ever since I stumbled across his deeply weird but also thoroughly brilliant breakthrough feature The Host, and it’s a love that’s deepened since thanks to truly magnificent sci-fi actioner Snowpiercer, so I was looking forward to his latest feature as much as any movie geek, but even I wasn’t prepared for just what a runaway juggernaut of a hit this one turned out to be, from the insane box office to all that award-season glory (especially that undeniable clean-sweep at the Oscars). I’ll just come out and say it, this film deserves it all.  It’s EASILY Bong’s best film to date (which is really saying something), a masterful social satire and jet black comedy that raises some genuinely intriguing questions before delivering deeply troubling answers.  Straddling the ever-widening gulf between a disaffected idle rich upper class and impoverished, struggling lower class in modern-day Seoul, it tells the story of the Kim family – father Ki-taek (Bong’s good luck charm, Song Kang-ho), mother Chung-sook (Jang Hye-jin), son Ki-woo (Train to Busan’s Choi Woo-shik) and daughter Ki-jung (The Silenced’s Park So-dam) – a poor family living in a run-down basement apartment who live hand-to-mouth in minimum wage jobs and can barely rub two pennies together, until they’re presented with an intriguing opportunity.  Through happy chance, Ki-woon is hired as an English tutor for Park Da-hye (Jung Ji-so), the daughter of a wealthy family, which offers him the chance to recommend Ki-jung as an art tutor to the Parks’ troubled young son, Da-song (Jung Hyeon-jun). Soon the rest of the Kims are getting in on the act, the kids contriving opportunities for their father to replace Mr Park’s chauffeur and their mother to oust the family’s long-serving housekeeper, Gook Moon-gwang (Lee Jung-eun), and before long their situation has improved dramatically.  But as they two families become more deeply entwined, cracks begin to show in their supposed blissful harmony as the natural prejudices of their respective classes start to take hold, and as events spiral out of control a terrible confrontation looms on the horizon.  This is social commentary at its most scathing, Bong drawing on personal experiences from his youth to inform the razor-sharp script (co-written by his production assistant Han Jin-won), while he weaves a palpable atmosphere of knife-edged tension throughout to add spice to the perfectly observed dark humour of the situation, all the while throwing intriguing twists and turns at us before suddenly dropping such a massive jaw-dropper of a gear-change that the film completely turns on its head to stunning effect.  The cast are all thoroughly astounding, Song once again dominating the film with a turn at once sloppy and dishevelled but also poignant and heartfelt, while there are particularly noteworthy turns from Lee Sun-kyun as the Parks’ self-absorbed patriarch Dong-ik and Choi Yeo-jeong (The Concubine) as his flighty, easily-led wife Choi Yeon-gyo, as well as a fantastically weird appearance in the latter half from Park Myung-hoon.  This is heady stuff, dangerously seductive even as it becomes increasingly uncomfortable viewing, so that even as the screws tighten and everything goes to hell it’s simply impossible to look away.  Bong Joon-ho really has surpassed himself this time, delivering an existential mind-scrambler that lingers long after the credits have rolled and might even have you questioning your place in society once you’ve thought about it some. It deserves every single award and every ounce of praise it’s been lavished with, and looks set to go down as one of the true cinematic greats of this new decade.  Trust me, if this was a purely critical best-of list it’d be RIGHT AT THE TOP …

6.  THE OLD GUARD – Netflix’ undisputable TOP OFFERING of the summer came damn close to bagging the whole season, and I can’t help thinking that even if some of the stiffer competition had still been present it may well have still finished this high. Gina Prince-Blythewood (Love & Basketball, the Secret Life of Bees) directs comics legend Greg Rucka’s adaptation of his own popular series with uncanny skill and laser-focused visual flair considering there’s nothing on her previous CV to suggest she’d be THIS good at mounting a stomping great ultraviolent action thriller, ushering in a thoroughly engrossing tale of four ancient, invulnerable immortal warriors – Andy AKA Andromache of Scythia (Charlize Theron), Booker AKA Sebastian de Livre (Matthias Schoenaerts), Joe AKA Yusuf Al-Kaysani (Wolf’s Marwan Kenzari) and Nicky AKA Niccolo di Ginova (Trust’s Luca Marinelli) – who’ve been around forever, hiring out their services as mercenaries for righteous causes while jealously guarding their identities for fear of horrific experimentation and exploitation should their true natures ever be discovered.  Their anonymity is threatened, however, when they’re uncovered by former CIA operative James Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who’s working for the decidedly dodgy pharmaceutical conglomerate run by sociopathic billionaire Steven Merrick (Harry Melling, formerly Dudley in the Harry Potter movies), who want to capture these immortals so they can patent whatever it is that makes them keep on ticking … just as a fifth immortal, US Marine Nile Freeman (If Beale Street Could Talk’s KiKi Layne), awakens after being “killed” on deployment in Afghanistan.  The supporting players are excellent, particularly Ejiofor, smart and driven but ultimately principled and deeply conflicted about what he’s doing, even if he does have the best of intentions, and Melling, the kind of loathsome, reptilian scumbag you just love to hate, but the film REALLY DOES belong to the Old Guard themselves – Schoenaerts is a master brooder, spot-on casting as the group’s relative newcomer, only immortal since the Napoleonic Wars but clearly one seriously old soul who’s already VERY tired of the lifestyle, while Joe and Nicky (who met on opposing sides of the Crusades) are simply ADORABLE, an unapologetically matter-of-fact gay couple who are sweet, sassy and incredibly kind, the absolute emotional heart of the film; it’s the ladies, however, that are most memorable here.  Layne is exceptional, investing Nile with a steely intensity that puts her in good stead as her new existence threatens to overwhelm her and MORE THAN qualified to bust heads alongside her elders … but it’s ancient Greek warrior Andy who steals the film, Theron building on the astounding work she did in Atomic Blonde to prove, once and for all, that there’s no woman on Earth who looks better kicking arse than her (as Booker puts it, “that woman has forgotten more ways to kill than entire armies will ever learn”); in her hands, Andy truly is a goddess of death, tough as tungsten alloy and unflappable even in the face of hell itself, but underneath it all she hides a heart as big as any of her friends’.  They’re an impossibly lovable bunch and you feel you could follow them on another TEN adventures like this one, which is just as well, because Prince-Blythewood and Rucka certainly put them through their paces here – the drama is high (but frequently laced with a gentle, knowing sense of humour, particularly whenever Joe and Nicky are onscreen), as are the stakes, and the frequent action sequences are top-notch, executed with rare skill and bone-crunching zest, but also ALWAYS in service to the story.  Altogether this is an astounding film, a genuine victory for its makers and, it seems, for Netflix themselves – it’s become one of the platform’s biggest hits to date, earning well-deserved critical acclaim and great respect and genuine geek love from the fanbase at large.  After this, a sequel is not only inevitable, it’s ESSENTIAL …

5.  MANK – it’s always nice when David Fincher, one of my TOP FIVE ALL TIME FAVOURITE DIRECTORS, drops a new movie, because it can be GUARANTEED to place good and high in my rundown for that year.  The man is a frickin’ GENIUS, a true master of the craft, genuinely one of the auteur’s auteurs.  I’ve NEVER seen him deliver a bad film – even a misfiring Fincher (see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button or Alien 3) is still capable of creating GREAT CINEMA.  How? Why?  It’s because he genuinely LOVES the art form, it’s been his obsession all his life, and he’s spent every day of it becoming the best possible filmmaker he can be.  Who better to tell the story of the creation of one of the ULTIMATE cinematic masterpieces, then?  Benjamin Ross’ acclaimed biopic RKO 281 covered similar ground, presenting a compelling look into the making Citizen Kane, the timeless masterpiece of Hollywood’s ULTIMATE auteur, Orson Welles, but Fincher’s film is more interested in the original inspiration for the story, how it was written and, most importantly, the man who wrote it – Herman J. Mankiewicz, known to his friends as Mank. One of my favourite actors of all time, Gary Oldman, delivers yet another of his career best performances in the lead role, once a man of vision and incredible storytelling skill whose talents have largely been squandered through professional difficulties and personal vices, a burned out one-time great fallen on hard times whom Welles picks up out of the trash, dusts off and offers a chance to create something truly great again.  The only catch?  The subject of their film (albeit dressed up in the guise of fictional newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane) is to be real-life publisher, politico and tycoon William Randolph Hurst (Charles Dance), once Mank’s friend and patron before they had a very public and messy falling out which partly led to his current circumstances.  As he toils away in seclusion on what is destined to become his true masterwork, flashbacks reveal to us the fascinating, moving and ultimately tragic tale of his rise and fall from grace in the movie business, set against the backdrop of one of the most tumultuous periods in American history.  Shooting a script that his own journalist and screenwriter father, Jack, crafted and then failed to bring to the screen himself before his death in 2003, Fincher has been working for almost a quarter century to make this film, and all that passion and drive is writ large on the screen – this is a glorious film ABOUT film, the art of it, the creation of it, and all the dirty little secrets of what the industry itself has always really been like, especially in that most glamorous and illusory of times.  The fact that Fincher shot in black and white and intentionally made it look like it was made in the early 1940s (the “golden age of the Silver Screen”, if you will) may seem like a gimmick, but instead it’s a very shrewd choice that expertly captures the gloss and moodiness of the age, almost looking like a contemporary companion piece to Kane itself, and it’s the perfect way to frame all the sharp-witted observation, subtly subversive character development and murky behind-the-scenes machinations that tell the story.  Oldman is in every way the star here, holding the screen with all the consummate skill and flair we’ve come to expect from him, but there’s no denying the uniformly excellent supporting cast are equal to the task here – Dance is at his regal, charismatic best as Hearst, while Amanda Seyfried is icily classy on the surface but mischievous and lovably grounded underneath as Hearst’s mistress, Marion Davies, who formed the basis for Kane’s most controversial character, Arliss Howard (Full Metal Jacket, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Moneyball) brings nuance and complexity to the role of MGM founder Louis B. Mayer, Tom Pelphrey (Banshee, Ozark) is understated but compelling as Mank’s younger screenwriter brother Joseph, and Lily Collins and Tuppence Middleton exude class and long-suffering stubbornness as the two main women in Mank’s life (his secretary and platonic muse, Rita Alexander, and his wife, Sara), while The Musketeers’ Tom Burke’s periodic but potent appearances as Orson Welles help to drive the story in the “present”.  Another Netflix release which I was (thankfully) able to catch on the big screen during one of the brief lulls between British lockdowns, this was a decidedly meta cinematic experience that perfectly encapsulated not only what is truly required for the creation of a screen epic, but also the latest pinnacle in the career of one of the greatest filmmakers working in the business today, powerful, stirring, intriguing and surprising in equal measure. Certainly it’s one of the most important films ABOUT so far film this century, but is it as good as Citizen Kane?  Boy, that’s a tough one …

4.  ENOLA HOLMES – ultimately, my top film for the autumn/winter movie season was also the film which finally topped my Netflix Original features list, as well as beating all other streaming offerings for the entire year (which is saying something, as you should know by now).  Had things been different, this would have been one of Warner Bros’ BIGGEST releases for the year in the cinema, of that I have no doubt, a surprise sleeper hit which would have taken the world by storm – as it is it’s STILL become a sensation, albeit in a much more mid-pandemic, lockdown home-viewing kind of way.  Before you start crying oh God no, not another Sherlock Holmes adaptation, this is a very different beast from either the Guy Ritchie take or the modernized BBC show, instead side-lining the great literary sleuth in favour of a delicious new AU version, based on The Case of the Missing Marquess, the first novel in the Enola Holmes Mysteries literary series from American YA author Nancy Springer.  Positing that Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavill) and his elder brother Mycroft (Sam Claflin) had an equally ingenious and precocious baby sister, the film introduces us to Enola (Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown), who’s been raised at home by their strong-willed mother Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter) to be just as intelligent, well-read and intellectually skilled as her far more advantageously masculine elder siblings.  Then, on the morning of her sixteenth birthday, Enola awakens to find her mother has vanished, putting her in a pretty pickle since this leaves her a ward of Mycroft, a self-absorbed social peacock who finds her to be wilfully free-spirited and completely ill equipped to face the world, concluding that the only solution is sending her to boarding school where she’ll learn to become a proper lady.  Needless to say she’s horrified by the prospect, deciding to run away and search for her mother instead … this is about as perfect a family adventure film as you could wish for, following a vital, capable and compelling teen detective-in-the-making as she embarks on her very first investigation, as well as winding up tangled in a second to boot involving a young runaway noble, Viscount Tewkesbury, the Marquess of Basilwether (Medici’s Louis Partridge), and the film is a breezy, swift-paced and rewardingly entertaining romp that feels like a welcome breath of fresh air for a literary property which, beloved as it may be, has been adapted to death over the years.  Enola Holmes a brilliant young hero who’s perfectly crafted to carry the franchise forward in fresh new directions, and Brown brings her to life with effervescent charm, boisterous energy and mischievous irreverence that are entirely irresistible; Cavill and Claflin, meanwhile, are perfectly cast as the two very different brothers – this Sherlock is much less louche and world-weary than most previous versions, still razor sharp and intellectually restless but with a comfortable ease and a youthful spring in his step that perfectly suits the actor, while Mycroft is as superior and arrogant as ever, a preening arse we derive huge enjoyment watching Enola consistently get the best of; Bonham Carter doesn’t get a lot of screen-time but as we’d expect she does a lot with what she has to make the practical, eccentric and unapologetically modern Eudoria thoroughly memorable, while Partridge is carefree and likeable as the naïve but irresistible Tewkesbury, and there are strong supporting turns from Frances de la Tour as his stately grandmother, the Dowager, Susie Wokoma (Crazyhead, Truth Seekers) as Emily, a feisty suffragette who runs a jujitsu studio, Burn Gorman as dastardly thug-for-hire Linthorn, and Four Lions’ Adeel Akhtar as a particularly scuzzy Inspector Lestrade.  Seasoned TV director Harry Bradbeer (Fleabag, Killing Eve) makes his feature debut with an impressive splash, unfolding the action at a brisk pace while keeping the narrative firmly focused on an intricate mystery plot that throws in plenty of ingenious twists and turns before a suitably atmospheric climax and pleasing denouement which nonetheless artfully sets up more to come in the future, while screenwriter Jack Thorne (His Dark Materials, The Scouting Book for Boys, Wonder) delivers strong character work and liberally peppers the dialogue with a veritable cavalcade of witty zingers.  Boisterous, compelling, amusing, affecting and exciting in equal measure, this is a spirited and appealing slice of cinematic escapism that flatters its viewers and never talks down to them, a perfect little period adventure for a cosy Sunday afternoon.  Obviously there’s plenty of potential for more, and with further books to adapt there’s more than enough material for a pile of sequels – Neflix would be barmy indeed to turn their nose up at this opportunity …

3.  1917 – it’s a rare thing for a film to leave me truly shell-shocked by its sheer awesomeness, for me to walk out of a cinema in a genuine daze, unable to talk or even really think about much of anything for a few hours because I’m simply marvelling at what I’ve just witnessed.  Needless to say, when I do find a film like that (Fight Club, Inception, Mad Max: Fury Road) it usually earns a place very close to my heart indeed.  The latest tour-de-force from Sam Mendes is one of those films – an epic World War I thriller that plays out ENTIRELY in one shot, which doesn’t simply feel like a glorified gimmick or stunt but instead is a genuine MASTERPIECE of film, a mesmerising journey of emotion and imagination in a shockingly real environment that’s impossible to tear your eyes away from.  Sure, Mendes has impressed us before – his first film, American Beauty, is a GREAT movie, one of the most impressive feature debuts of the 2000s, while Skyfall is, in my opinion, quite simply THE BEST BOND FILM EVER MADE – but this is in a whole other league.  It’s an astounding achievement, made all the more impressive when you realise that there’s very little trickery at play here, no clever digital magic (just some augmentation here and there), it’s all real locations and sets, filmed in long, elaborately choreographed takes blended together with clever edits to make it as seamless as possible – it’s not the first film to try to do this (remember Birdman? Bushwick?), but I’ve never seen it done better, or with greater skill. But it’s not just a clever cinematic exercise, there’s a genuine story here, told with guts and urgency, and populated by real flesh and blood characters – the heart of the film is True History of the Kelly Gang’s George MacKay and Dean Chapman (probably best known as Tommen Baratheon in Game of Thrones) as Lance Corporals Will Schofield and Tom Blake, the two young tommies sent out across enemy territory on a desperate mission to stop a British regiment from rushing headlong into a German trap (Tom himself has a personal stake in this because his brother is an officer in the attack).  They’re a likeable pair, very human and relatable throughout, brave and true but never so overtly heroic that they stretch credibility, so when tragedy strikes along the way it’s particularly devastating; both deliver exceptional performances that effortlessly carry us through the film, and they’re given sterling support from a selection of top-drawer British talent, from Sherlock stars Andrew Scott and Benedict Cumberbatch to Mark Strong and Colin Firth, each delivering magnificently in small but potent cameos.  That said, the cinematography and art department are the BIGGEST stars here, masterful veteran DOP Roger Deakins (The Shawshank Redemption, Blade Runner 2049 and pretty much the Coen Brothers’ entire back catalogue among MANY others) making every frame sing with beauty, horror, tension or tragedy as the need arises, and the environments are SO REAL it feels less like production design than that someone simply sent the cast and crew back in time to film in the real Northern France circa 1917 – from a nightmarish trek across No Man’s Land to a desperate chase through a ruined French village lit only by dancing flare-light in the darkness before dawn, every scene is utterly immersive and simply STUNNING.  I don’t think it’s possible for Mendes to make a film better than this, but I sure hope he gives it a go all the same.  Either way, this was the most incredible, exhausting, truly AWESOME experience I had at the cinema all year – it’s a film that DESERVES to be seen on the big screen, and I feel truly sorry for those who missed the chance …

2.  BIRDS OF PREY & THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN – the only reason 1917 isn’t at number two is because Warner Bros.’ cinematic DC Extended Universe project FINALLY got round to bringing my favourite DC Comics title to the big screen.  It was been the biggest pleasure of my cinematic year getting to see my top DC superheroines brought to life on the big screen, and it was done in high style, in my opinion THE BEST of the DCEU films to date (yup, I loved it EVEN MORE than the Wonder Woman movies).  It was also great seeing Harley Quinn return after her show-stealing turn in David Ayer’s clunky but ultimately still hugely enjoyable Suicide Squad, better still that they got her SPOT ON this time – this is the Harley I’ve always loved in the comics, unpredictable, irreverent and entirely without regard for what anyone else thinks of her, as well as one talented psychiatrist.  Margot Robbie once more excels in the role she was basically BORN to play, clearly relishing the chance to finally do Harley TRUE justice, and she’s a total riot from start to finish, infectiously lovable no matter what crazy, sometimes downright REPRIHENSIBLE antics she gets up to.  Needless to say she’s the nominal star here, her latest ill-advised adventure driving the story – finally done with the Joker and itching to make her emancipation official, Harley publicly announces their breakup by blowing up Ace Chemicals (their love spot, basically), inadvertently painting a target on her back in the process since she’s no longer under the assumed protection of Gotham’s feared Clown Prince of Crime – but that doesn’t mean she eclipses the other main players the movie’s REALLY supposed to be about.  Each member of the Birds of Prey is beautifully written and brought to vivid, arse-kicking life by what had to be 2020’s most exciting cast – Helena Bertinelli, the Huntress, is the perfect character for Mary Elizabeth Winstead to finally pay off on that action hero potential she showed in Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, but this is a MUCH more enjoyable role outside of the fight choreography because while Helena may be a world-class dark avenger, socially she’s a total dork, which just makes her thoroughly adorable; Rosie Perez is similarly perfect casting as Renee Montoya, the uncompromising pint-sized Gotham PD detective who kicks against the corrupt system no matter what kind of trouble it gets her into, and just gets angrier all the time, paradoxically making us like her even more; and then there’s the film’s major controversy, at least as far as the fans are concerned, namely one Cassandra Cain.  Sure, this take is VERY different from the comics’ version (a nearly mute master assassin who went on to become the second woman to wear the mask of Batgirl before assuming her own crime-fighting mantle as Black Bat and now Orphan), but personally I like to think this is simply Cass at THE VERY START of her origin story, leaving plenty of time for her to discover her warrior origins when the DCEU finally gets around to introducing her mum, Lady Shiva (personally I want Michelle Yeoh to play her, but that’s just me) – anyways, here she’s a skilled child pickpocket whose latest theft inadvertently sets off the larger central plot, and newcomer Ella Jay Basco brings a fantastic pre-teen irreverence and spiky charm to the role, beautifully playing against Robbie’s mercurial energy.  My favourite here BY FAR, however, is Dinah Lance, aka the Black Canary (not only my favourite Bird of Prey but my very favourite DC superheroine PERIOD), the choice of up-and-comer Jurnee Smollet-Bell (Friday Night Lights, Underground) proving to be the film’s most inspired casting – a club singer with the metahuman ability to emit piercing supersonic screams, she’s also a ferocious martial artist (in the comics she’s one of the very best fighters IN THE WORLD), as well as a wonderfully pure soul you just can’t help loving, and it made me SO UNBELIEVABLY HAPPY that they got my Canary EXACTLY RIGHT.  Altogether they’re a fantastic bunch of badass ladies, basically my perfect superhero team, and the way they’re all brought together (along with Harley, of course) is beautifully thought out and perfectly executed … they’ve also got one hell of a threat to overcome, namely Gotham crime boss Roman Sionis, the Black Mask, one of the Joker’s chief rivals – Ewan McGregor brings his A-game in a frustratingly rare villainous turn (my number one bad guy for the movie year), a monstrously narcissistic, woman-hating control freak with a penchant for peeling off the faces of those who displease him, sharing some exquisitely creepy chemistry with Chris Messina (The Mindy Project) as Sionis’ nihilistic lieutenant Victor Zsasz.  This is about as good as superhero cinema gets, a perfect example of the sheer brilliance you get when you switch up the formula to create something new, an ultra-violent, unapologetically R-rated middle finger to the classic tropes, a fantastic black comedy thrill ride that’s got to be the most full-on feminist blockbuster ever made – it’s helmed by a woman (Dead Pigs director Cathy Yan), written by a woman (Bumblebee’s Christina Hodson), produced by more women and ABOUT a bunch of badass women magnificently triumphing over toxic masculinity in all its forms.  It’s also simply BRILLIANT – the cast are all clearly having a blast, the action sequences are first rate (the spectacular GCPD evidence room fight in which Harley gets to REALLY cut loose is the undisputable highlight), it has a gleefully anarchic sense of humour and is simply BURSTING with phenomenal homages, references and in-jokes for the fans (Bruce the hyena! Stuffed beaver! Roller derby!).  It’s also got a killer soundtrack, populated almost exclusively by numbers from female artists.  Altogether, then, this is the VERY BEST the DCEU has to offer to date, and VERY NEARLY my absolute FAVOURITE film of 2020.  Give it all the love you can, it sure as hell deserves it.

1.  TENET – granted, the streaming platforms (particularly Netflix and Amazon) certainly saved our cinematic summer, but I’m still IMMEASURABLY glad that my ultimate top-spot winner FOR THE WHOLE YEAR was one I got to experience on THE BIG SCREEN. You gotta hand it to Christopher Nolan, he sure hung in there, stubbornly determined that his latest cinematic masterpiece WOULD be released in cinemas in the summer (albeit ultimately landing JUST inside the line in the final week of August and ultimately taking the bite at the box office because of the still shaky atmosphere), and it was worth all the fuss because, for me, this was THE PERFECT MOVIE for me to get return to cinemas with.  I mean, okay, in the end it WASN’T the FIRST new movie I saw after the first reopening, that honour went to Unhinged, but THIS was my first real Saturday night-out big screen EXPERIENCE since March.  Needless to say, Nolan didn’t disappoint this time any more than he has on any of his consistently spectacular previous releases, delivering another twisted, mind-boggling headfuck of a full-blooded experiential sensory overload that comes perilously close to toppling his long-standing auteur-peak, Inception (itself second only by fractions to The Dark Knight as far as I’m concerned). To say much at all about the plot would give away major spoilers – personally I’d recommend just going in as cold as possible, indeed you really should just stop reading this right now and just GO SEE IT.  Still with us?  Okay … the VERY abridged version is that it’s about a secret war being waged between the present and the future by people capable of “inverting” time in substances, objects, people, whatever, into which the Protagonist (BlacKkKlansman’s John David Washington), an unnamed CIA agent, has been dispatched in order to prevent a potential coming apocalypse. Washington is once again on top form, crafting a robust and compelling morally complex heroic lead who’s just as comfortable negotiating the minefields of black market intrigue as he is breaking into places or dispatching heavies, Kenneth Branagh delivers one of his most interesting and memorable performances in years as brutal Russian oligarch Andrei Sator, a genuinely nasty piece of work who was ALMOST the year’s very best screen villain, Elizabeth Debicki (The Night Manager, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Widows) brings strength, poise and wounded integrity to the role of Sator’s estranged wife, Kat, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson gets to use his own accent for once as tough-as-nails British Intelligence officer Ives, while there are brief but consistently notable supporting turns and cameos from Martin Donovan, Yesterday’s Himesh Patel, Dirk Gently’s Fiona Dourif and, of course, Nolan’s good luck charm, Michael Caine.  The cast’s biggest surprise, however, is Robert Pattinson, truly a revelation in what has to be, HANDS DOWN, his best role to date, Neil, the Protagonist’s mysterious handler – he’s by turns cheeky, slick, duplicitous and thoroughly badass, delivering an enjoyably multi-layered, chameleonic performance which proves what I’ve long maintained, that the former Twilight star is actually a fucking amazing actor, and on the basis of this, even if that amazing new teaser trailer wasn’t making the rounds, I think the debate about whether or not he’s the right choice for the new Batman is now academic.  As we’ve come to expect from Nolan, this is a TRUE tour-de-force experience, a visual triumph and an endlessly engrossing head-scratcher, Nolan’s screenplay bringing in seriously big ideas and throwing us some major narrative knots and loopholes, constantly wrong-footing the viewer while also setting up truly revelatory payoffs from seemingly low-key, unimportant beginnings – this is a film you need to be awake and attentive for or you could miss something pretty vital. The action sequences are, as ever, second to none, some of the year’s very best set-pieces coming thick and fast and executed with some of the most accomplished skill in the business, while Nolan-regular cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema (Interstellar and Dunkirk, as well as the heady likes of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, SPECTRE and Ad Astra) once again shows he’s one of the best camera-wizards in the business today by delivering some absolutely mesmerising visuals.  Notably, Nolan’s other regular collaborator, composer Hans Zimmer, is absent here (although he had good reason, since he was working on his dream project at the time, the fast-approaching screen adaptation of Dune), but Ludwig Göransson (best known for his collaborations with Ryan Coogler Fruitvale Station, Creed and Black Panther, as well as career-best work on The Mandalorian) is a fine replacement, crafting an intriguingly internalised, post-modern musical landscape that thrums and pulses in time with the story and emotions of the characters rather than the action itself. Interestingly it’s on the subject of sound that some of the film’s rare detractions have been levelled, and I can see some of the points – the soundtrack mix is an all-encompassing thing, and there are times when the dialogue can be overwhelmed, but in Nolan’s defence this film is a heady, immersive experience, something you really need to concentrate on, so these potential flaws are easily forgiven.  As a work of filmmaking art, this is another flawless wonder from one of the true masters of the craft working in cinema today, but it’s art with palpable substance, a rewarding whole that proved truly unbeatable in 2020 …

(Happy to hear it was a nice day! This anon is Soooo excited for the next Shazam and the new Blue Beetle movie. I would love to see the last Shazam end with the Rock of Eternity destroyed and the scarab, Khaji Da, winding up in El Paso. Especially because the movies are set to release about 2 months apart. Also, maybe possible future team up?? 💙🪲⚡

[ That would be EXCELLENT.

I'm still gunning for a Booster Gold / Blue Beetle team up in the future, but since the Booster Gold movie is still in development hell, I'll take what I can get. ]

HBO Max New Releases: April 2021

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Fresh off the long-awaited arrival of Zack Snyder’s Justice League (a.k.a. the fabled Snyder Cut), HBO Max has no need to appease fandom culture in April 2021. But the streaming service is gonna do it anyway!

The most notable new release for HBO Max this month is the HBO series The Nevers. This show, created by Joss Whedon, is set in a 19th century steampunk London and finds a sizable portion of the population (predominantly women) having been “Touched” by mysterious paranormal powers. There’s an interesting bit of irony at play here, as HBO Max is following up the Snyder Cut with a show created by his original Justice League replacement. Or at least there could have been an interesting bit of irony here, if Whedon had not bowed out from the show and been enthusiastically left out of the marketing material by HBO.

Read more

Movies

From Man of Steel to Zack Snyder’s Justice League: A Complete DCEU Timeline

By Aaron Sagers

TV

Fandoms Roil Online as Joss Whedon Suddenly Quits His New HBO Show The Nevers

By Kirsten Howard

Aside from the awkward showrunning situation at The Nevers, HBO Max has quite a few other irons in the fire for April. The well-earned Infinity Train season 4 premieres on April 15. That will be followed up by the Kate Winslet-starring HBO miniseries Mare of Easttown on April 18. Not to be ignored is the movie side of things, with Mortal Kombat continuing WarnerMedia’s policy of releasing all 2021 films to HBO Max.

Meanwhile, The New Mutants will take a turn in the HBO Max library on April 10…for some reason. And the streaming services continue their game of Dark Knight Rises hot potato when the film premieres on HBO Max on April 17. Now all three Christopher Nolan’s Batman films can be streamed in their entirety. It will just take both Netflix and HBO Max subscriptions.

HBO Max New Releases – April 2021

April 1 A Shock To The System, 1990 (HBO) Abandon, 2002 (HBO) Adam’s Rib, 1949 All Is Lost, 2013 (HBO) Assume the Position with Mr. Wuhl Barbarosa, 1982 (HBO) Black Dynamite, 2009 Blindness, 2008 (HBO) The Bodyguard, 1992 Boogie Nights, 1997 Bringing Up Baby, 1938 The Butcher’s Wife, 1991 (HBO) Caddyshack, 1980 The Collection, 2012 (HBO) The Color Purple, 1985 Dante’s Peak, 1997 (HBO) Dark Shadows, 2012 (HBO) Dead Silence, 2007 (HBO) Dirty Harry, 1971 The Eagle Has Landed, 1977 (HBO) Early Man, 2018 (HBO) Easy Rider, 1969 Ella Enchanted, 2004 (HBO) The Evil That Men Do, 1984 (HBO) Eye For An Eye, 1996 (HBO) Fear, 1996 (HBO) genera+ion, Season 1 Part One Finale Ghost Rider, 2007 Goodfellas, 1990 The Great Pottery Throwdown, Max Original Season 4 Premiere Green Lantern, 2011 Hardball, 2001 (HBO) Happy Endings Haywire, 2012 (HBO) In & Out, 1997 (HBO) Kicking & Screaming, 2005 (HBO) King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword, 2017 (HBO) Lassiter, 1984 (HBO) Leatherface Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, 1990 (HBO) Let’s Go To Prison, 2006 (HBO) The Longest Yard, 1974 (HBO) Made for Love, Max Original Series Premiere Man Up, 2015 (HBO) The Mask of Zorro, 1998 The Man With The Iron Fists, 2012 (Unrated Version) (HBO) Missing In Action 2 – The Beginning, 1985 (HBO) Missing In Action, 1984 (HBO) My Super Ex-Girlfriend, 2006 (HBO) The Nanny The Natural, 1984 Now, Voyager, 1942 One Day, 2011 (HBO) Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment, 1985 (HBO) Police Academy 3: Back In Training, 1986 (HBO) Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol, 1987 (HBO) Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach, 1988 (HBO) Police Academy 6: City Under Siege, 1989 (HBO) Police Academy: Mission To Moscow, 1994 (HBO) Primal Fear, 1996 (HBO) Reasonable Doubt, 2014 (HBO) Red Dawn, 1984 (HBO) The Return, 2006 (HBO) Risky Business, 1983 (HBO) Roger & Me, 1989 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939 Sneakers, 1992 (HBO) Space Jam, 1996 Speed 2 Cruise Control, 1997 (HBO) Spellbound, 2003 (HBO) Stuart Little, 1999 The Shack, 2017 (HBO) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, 2006 (Extended Version) (HBO) Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family, 2011 Wanderlust, 2012 (HBO) The Warriors, 1979 (Director’s Cut) (HBO) The Watch, 2012 (HBO) White Noise, 2005 (HBO) The Wild Life, 2016 (HBO) Within, 2016 (HBO) Wolves At The Door, 2017 (HBO)

April 2 On the Spectrum

April 3 Ted, 2012 (Unrated Version) (HBO)

April 4 Q: Into The Storm, Documentary Series Finale (HBO)

April 5 Hard, Season 2 Finale (HBO)

April 6 Genndy Tartokovksy’s Primal, Season 1B

April 7 Exterminate All the Brutes, Documentary Series Premiere (HBO) South Side, Season 1

April 9 Intemperie (AKA Out in the Open), 2019 (HBO) The Other Two, Season 1 A Tiny Audience, Season 2 Finale (HBO)

April 10 The New Mutants, 2020 (HBO)

April 11 The Nevers, Series Premiere (HBO)

April 13 Our Towns, Documentary Premiere (HBO)

April 15 Infinity Train, Max Original Season 4 Premiere

April 16 Mortal Kombat, Warner Bros. Film Premiere, 2021

April 17 The Dark Knight Rises, 2012 (HBO)

April 18 Mare of Easttown, Limited Series Premiere (HBO)

April 20 Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (HBO)

April 22 1,2,3, All Eyes On Me, 2020 (HBO) First Ladies, 2020 Princess Cut, 2020 (HBO) Rizo, 2020 (HBO)

April 23 A Black Lady Sketch Show, Season 2 Premiere (HBO) El Robo Del Siglo (AKA Heist of the Century) (HBO)

April 24 Dreamgirls, 2006 (HBO)

April 26 The Artist, 2011

April 29 Looney Tunes Cartoons, Season 1D

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Leaving HBO Max – April 2021

April 11 Reservoir Dogs, 1992

April 15 Lego DC Shazam: Magic And Monsters!, 2020

April 30 3 Godfathers, 1949 9½ Weeks, 1986 Above The Rim, 1994 (HBO) The Adventures Of Robin Hood, 1938 Adventures Of Tom Thumb And Thumbelina, 2002 (HBO) After Hours, 1985 An American Werewolf In London,1981 (HBO) Beasts Of The Southern Wild, 2012 (HBO) Being There, 1979 Bullitt, 1968 Bundle Of Joy, 1956 Can’t Buy Me Love, 1987 (HBO) The Candidate, 1972 Cast Away, 2000 (HBO) Catwoman, 2004 Chasing Liberty, 2004 Cheyenne Autumn, 1964 Cimarron, 1960 Critters 2, 1988 Critters 4, 1992 Dead Man Walking, 1995 (HBO) Diner, 1982 Dirt, 2017 The Exorcist, 1973 Femme Fatale, 2002 (HBO) Fool’s Gold, 2008 Get Carter, 1971 Godzilla: King Of The Monsters, 2019 (HBO) Godzilla Vs. Kong , 2021 Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, 2011 The Green Mile, 1999 Grumpier Old Men, 1995 Grumpy Old Men, 1993 The Hangover Part II, 2011 (HBO) A Hidden Life, 2019 (HBO) The Hills Have Eyes II, 2007 (Extended Version) (HBO) The Hills Have Eyes, 2006 (Extended Version) (HBO) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 2012 Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, The, 2014 Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug, The, 2013 How The West Was Won, 1962 I Am Sam, 2002 The Invisible Man, 2020 (HBO) Jojo Rabbit, 2019 (HBO) Jonny Quest, 1964 Josie And The Pussycats In Outer Space, 1972 Josie And The Pussycats, 1970 Just Mercy, 2019 (HBO) The Looney Tunes Show, 2011 Looney Tunes: Back In Action, 2003 Lying And Stealing, 2019 (HBO) Ma, 2019 (HBO) The Man Who Would Be King, 1975 Marvin’s Room, 1996 (HBO) Mildred Pierce, 1945 Mister Roberts, 1955 My Blue Heaven, 1990 My Dog Skip, 2000 My Favorite Year, 1982 National Lampoon’s European Vacation, 1985 National Lampoon’s Vacation, 1983 The Neverending Story, 1984 New Jack City, 1991 New Looney Tunes, 2015 New York Minute, 2004 Of Mice And Men, 1992 (HBO) Open Water 2: Adrift, 2006 (HBO) Open Water, 2004 (HBO) Paddington Bear, 1989 Patriots Day, 2016 Presumed Innocent, 1990 Pride And Prejudice, 1940 Private Benjamin, 1980 Red Tails, 2012 (HBO) Reversal Of Fortune, 1990 Rio Bravo, 1959 Rise Of The Guardians, 2012 (HBO) School Of Rock, 2003 (HBO) Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-Doo, 1981 The Scooby-Doo Show, 1976 Scooby-Doo Where Are You!, 1969 The Secret Garden, 1993 She’s All That, 1999 Snakes On A Plane, 2006 Son Of The Mask, 2005 Space Cowboys, 2000 Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, 1995 Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, 2005 Tom And Jerry (Classic), 1967 Tower Heist, 2011 (HBO) Under Siege, 1992 Viva Las Vegas, 1964 We Bought A Zoo, 2011 (HBO) What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?, 1962 (HBO) Where The Wild Things Are, 2009 The Wild Bunch, 1969 The Wind And The Lion, 1975 The Yogi Bear Show, 1988

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Wed 13 Nov

Harry Styles L🖤ve on Tour!! Nouis live en Mexico!!

Me: how nice of Harry to give us warning about the 12th I'll put it in my calendar right now maybe it's ticket day Harry: anyway here's tour dates you have five days to get your affairs in order bye. PS something is still coming on the 12th. Yes that's right! Harry dropped tour dates today (SA Asia and Australia TBA) for HSLOT2 Faster and Fruitier Love On Tour! The announcement video is a beautiful tearjerker with something playing in the background.... something that Shazam identifies as track one of Fine Line! Some shows have a 360 stage setup with multiple GA pits called, are you ready, the watermelon and cherry pits. (Cherry fits in a couple of the mystery song title spots....) Harry! Watermelons do not have pits! But yes we appreciate the fruity theme. Tickets on sale Mon. Save up quick I guess (*sobs*)

Louis played Mexico City! Rainbows of note: the screen before his set displayed the rainbow smiley only this time, no other colors, and the flag he might have been going for but wasn't thrown. Heart attacks of note: listen if the way my body legitimately nearly shut down when he bent to pick up that offscreen flag is any indication I'm just not gonna survive LTTour so fuckin rip me I guess. It was a Mexican flag this time but it might not be one of these times... Also him casually tossing out that he'll be back in Mexico in May OH REALLY fucking hell. Well that's that announced I guess. Lyric changes we need to discuss: he sang DLIBYH just as you'd expect onstage and damn it sounded beautiful 9 more days til release hell yeah but last night at sound check he sang "when you love someone and he lets you go." He really did that. He did not mumble rush or hide it he just sang it right out and it was gorgeous. Four more days til his next live show, they're coming in fast and furious now, and on the topic of fast and furious, we learned that Louis drives a getaway car in the DLIBYH video! Legitimately drives! Did he break the car stay tuned to find out.

Niall played Mexico City! He spoke Spanish! He sang like an angel! He shouted out to Louis! He played three (3) guitars! He grabbed the Mexican flag too (and even stuck it in his pants) but in proper relaxing Niall fandom fashion, it wasn't alarming at all. Listen Niall absolutely went off out there and if you think it wasn't cause Louis was backstage watching him well, I disagree! He was even given an award, and wow those strings sounded magical didn't they?

Liam posted for the anniversary of Made In The AM. As for the wilderness trek special most of the juicy parts were teased ahead of time but of note: Liam explicitly denies Laomi, the story of Simon Cowell being behind him and Cheryl getting together is once again... interesting, and watching tender lovely Liam seriously looking to this repressed mess of toxic masculinity for insight is heartbreaking, as are many of the things Liam tells us about his life. Ant Middleton being like ah the fresh air the early morning isn't this amazing while a grumpy Liam is like "hmm it's okay I guess (*please stop I'm begging you*)" is pretty amusing though.

Zayn looks to still be in Bradford with family and he looks happy and relaxed and pretty! Hurrah.

My  (Adjusted) Top Twenty Favorite Movies of 2019

These movies are sorted by Ranking and then Alphabetically. Genres are mostly just my opinion/what my focus was on in the movie. This is a squee post, so I'm focusing only on what I loved about these movies. Titles link to the trailers I feel best represent the movie.

Abominable - This movie made my heart feel good. Yi's story, what she's going through and what she needs to learn and grow into is so amazing. Even watching the trailer makes me tear up because of how deeply this movie moved me. There is a lot of humor and a lot of heart and I love this movie very much.

Captain Marvel - The way Brie Larson walks in this, the way she moves her body is just so affirming and inspiring. I've never seen a woman move like that, not when she's not angry or in fight mode. She moves like Thor and it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I adore Maria & Monica, Nick & Phil. I love the call-backs to other movies, the 90s references, the cat! My face hurt from smiling after watching this.

Men In Black: International - I really like the characters in this movie a whole lot. I love that we watch Molly go from being a kid to being an adult determined to find the truth. I love how prickly and dorky she is. How smart she is. I love H. He's a complicated mess of a man that uses humor to hide pain and that's like catnip! I wrote fic for this, I was so enchanted.

Rocketman - This movie is an experience. It is very cathartic and validating. There is not one thing I'd change about it. This is the movie I consider the Best of 2019. The narrative structure, the songs used, the story told, the dialog, the acting, the singing, the dancing - it's all so perfectly done and satisfying. I feel almost drugged when I watch it, even just the trailer.

War (2019) - The action is over the top and full of unexpected twists. I've never gotten this emotionally invested in characters this quickly. About fifteen minutes into it I literally fell in love with this movie. I got that whole heady rush of new love. That giggly, silly head over heels feeling that even now can overwhelm me to the point where my body doesn't know if it wants to laugh or cry and so sometimes does both. It feels like the entire trajectory of my mental world got realigned after seeing this movie. I've started learning Hindi! It's available on Amazon Prime Video, if you're a member, and it is just so unrelentingly enjoyable I hope you'll go watch it. I'll be hosting a War Watch Party at Escapade because dear god, I want more people to know this amazing movie. This is my absolute favorite movie of the year.

Charlie's Angels (2019) - This was even better the second time, and fuck am I queer. :D But for real, this was fun and funny and exciting and...*exciting*. It's light-hearted, a little over the top, and pretty fast-paced. I adore the characters and the version of the world they've created. I look forward to watching it again.

Ready Or Not - SO GROSS! :D But exciting and funny, often in snarky and vicious ways. Very, very satisfying story with a great ending. I loved all the actors in this, just acting the FUCK out of their roles.

Stuber - This is big stupid fun. Lots of physical humor and the two leads have lovely chemistry together. The story is interesting and well done and the jokes almost never punch down. It makes me laugh hard, often. Like belly laughs.

Terminator: Dark Fate - I really love these characters. I first saw Sarah Connor when my sister somehow convinced our mom to let her take my 9 year-old self to see the first Terminator movie and I've loved her ever since. I adore the new characters of Grace and Dani Ramos. Their stories, what they go through/went through is compelling and entertaining. As a sapphic woman, this movie was very visually satisfying. I would kill to have more.

The Kitchen - I'm in love with Tiffany Haddish and it was so incredibly gratifying to get to see her in a role this meaty. Her character is utterly fascinating to me and I could watch hours more of just her. Melissa's character is amazing as well, strong and sturdy like an ox who can and will trample anyone that fucks with her. Elizabeth's character is oddly sweet and relatably crazy. This movie has weight and dimension, I can feel it in a sense.

Black Christmas - I have not seen either of the earlier versions of this movie, but I really loved how unapologetically 'misandrist' this version is. There are some heavy parts, some sharp social commentary, and some light-heartedness. But best of all there are genuine moments of triumph that were incredibly validating to the rage that I've felt from times I've been helpless. I really liked the climax of the movie.

Booksmart - My favorite part of this movie is probably Billie Lourd's character Gigi. She is a batshit crazy delight. But I also loved the friendship between the two lead characters, Amy & Molly. And it was so neat to see Kaitlyn Dever in this role. Lots of laughs and lots of fun. It's nice having a queer character in a movie where it's not all about them being queer. Amy's a nerdy lesbian teenager and feels like a real person.

Pokémon Detective Pikachu - This movie is just so damn beautiful to look at. I love the mix of animation and real world. I love the mystery. Pikachu was so freaking adorable. Justice Smith did a lovely job talking to himself. :D

Godzilla: King Of Monsters - I LOVE THESE KAIJU! Sincerely, I just adore them. Mothra is SO PRETTY and Godzilla is so brave! This was a very fun popcorn movie that genuinely entertained and thrilled me. We saw it on the IMAX screen and it was AMAZING. :D

Happy Death Day 2U - Horror-Comedy Groundhog's Day is how I sum this up. It's so much fun and utterly hilarious. I really like Tree, she's shouty and smart and funny.

Harriet - Cynthia Erivo is a gift. This movie was so compelling and moving. The narrative, and visual, focus keeps the emotion and stakes high without ever descending into voyeurism. Beautiful to listen to as well.

Hustlers - The complicated and complex relationship between Ramona and Destiny is the heart of this movie and I find it endlessly fascinating. The movie settled in my tummy afterward, making me think.

Nancy Drew & The Hidden Staircase - This was a really good mystery and a fun movie. The characters are likable and Nancy is adorable.

Shazam! - I really enjoyed this. I liked the kid Billy, liked his story and journey and how he grows. I love the foster family. The darker aspects of the story were handled well, I feel. I loved the ending. Great kid actors.

Spider-Man: Far From Home - It's impossible to not like Tom Holland's Peter. He's adorable and feels authentically young. I adore MJ's everything, the nerdy-dorky-macabre thing she does is so relatable. :D Marisa Tomei remains one of my favorite actors and she's so beautiful! 

We've seen 66 different movies in the theatre this year, so far, but the top 20 isn't going to change given what's left to see.  We saw 68 unique movies in the theatre this year, five of the movies were not released this year (4 from last year & The Goonies), so I disqualified them for this list. We were able to do this because we had first the AMC A-List & then Regal Unlimited movie club memberships. Some of the movies we saw multiple times. These are movies that I liked the best, that entertained me the most, that I would most often be up for rewatching or a combination of that. This has been a crazy experience and I'm thankful to my bff delibby for letting me come along on the ride. (The adjustment is dropping Knives Out from the top 20 and putting Black Christmas in.)