#he is genuinely a very good ally to have usually. like jimmy was very much the exception there
Note
Ok ok ok I'm not Tryna start discourse but bluestars prophecy was my first ever warriors book and bluestar will always be my favourite so I'm gonna make some counterpoints to you about her being a Smajor character
bluestar has always been led by an intense loyalty and dedication to those she loves and cares for - this includes her mum, her sister, her clan, eventually Firepaw when he joins the clan, and she has a VERY strong moral compass when it comes to doing the right thing - when she sees thistleclaw teaching tigerpaw to hurt a then baby scourge she very much discourages it and is against it
Afaik scott is Not like that, he doesn't have an emotional or love-driven moral code, he does things because they're smart decisions in the long term or because he wants to. Granted I havent seen a ton of his stuff but I have seen his limited life and 3rd life perspectives and he is very much a singular team player there, there to look after himself and well if people align with him that's great he's got allies (jimmy and Martyn) but he won't go out of his way to care for them
Bluestars defiance of starclan in the first series is BECAUSE she gave herself to them and what the warrior code demanded so much - yes she broke clan rules by having kids with crookedstar but she did everything in her power to make sure they'd have a happy life and felt terrible that thrushpelt was willing to say they were his to save her reputation. She didn't do it out of a selfish want, she only ever wanted to help her clan and those she loved, and her becoming clan leader is emblematic of that want. When she rejects starclan so wholeheartedly in the first series it's because THINGS KEEP GOING WRONG WHEN SHES TRIED SO HARD TO STOP THEM FROM DOING THAT - starclan has never cared about the sacrifices she made to keep her loved ones and clan safe, she lost her mother, her sister, her kits, her mate, literally everything, and things STILL KEEP GETTING WORSE. it's not a demand that she deserves to have everything good, it's a cry for help that shouldn't something go right after she's tried so hard???
C!Scott isn't like that. He puts himself above others and inherently believes he will get the best if he just plays his cards right, and he is good at it, he's very competent at lasting a long time in life series and getting what he wants - the ruthlessness of gem driven by desperation kills him in secret life, Martyn's complete fucking about face kills him in limited life, and I'm pretty sure it's etho who gets him out in 3rd life by luck. He doesn't plan to look after the ones he cares about, because he cares about himself first and foremost. Yeah you can argue when he doesn't get what he wants he gets annoyed, but his is less of a 'why don't I get this don't I deserve it' and more of a 'oh fuck this didn't work. Ok new plan double down on getting what I want by appeasing to people cos they're easy to read and therefore account for'
I don't doubt Scott would make a bluestar adjacent character if he made a warrior cats oc BUT his character would honestly be closer to darktail or ashfur than bluestar and that's that on that.
(sorry you activated 13 year old me's unskippable cutscene sjdjsjsjja this isnt meant to be a serious argument I just love bluestar a lot and love talking about her)
OKAY 1. this is fucking awesome thank you 2. i am going to do something new and exciting (advocate for scott instead of beating him to death with sticks) because unfortunately this bluestar info has only made me believe she is a smajor character even more.
As a general note when I talk about smajor characters as a collective here I’m referring to characters more in the realm of esmp/traffic/rats/pirates/etc, less vampire scott or necromancer scott who are intended to be villainous.
Scott characters tend to operate under a “If I am not a Good Person I may as well die” rule, and consequently abide by a strict moral code to keep themselves feeling clean. For instance: traffic Scott will never go back on his word, he will avoid dishonesty, and he won’t take from others unless he is sure that he can repay them. He will never betray his seasonal primary ally (even when they betray him first), and will often give people things just because they asked him nicely. He stakes a lot of his own identity on this, because it is through being a “good person” that he justifies his superiority (and, by extension, his own existence); in his mind he deserves the best and *is* the best because he is such a good person. When things don’t go his way, he thinks he doesn’t deserve it because he has been nothing but good, so he tries to place a reason. He often assumes that somebody must “have a vendetta” against him, even if this somebody is the world (see: him asking if limlife episode 1 boogeyman is some kind of joke played on him for not giving in to the boogey curse in Last Life.) which is very Bluestar to me, convinced that her misfortunes are a divine punishment.
This is all to say that Scott does have a strict moral code and deep sense of loyalty. Being a “good person” and devoted partner in the ways he understands it are so ingrained into what he is that I think he definitely has the capacity to be a Bluestar if he were raised being taught clan values, even if his internal systems are often built around never letting gross emotions be fully felt rather than what those emotions compel him to do.
#ive always wanted to partake in pointless character debate on tumblr#considered maintagging this but didnt want people looking at your ask weird. sorry yall we serve fucked up scott here#“But bree” you might ask “what about pearl? He wasnt a very devoted partner then!”#and to that I say: pearl isnt a person to him. and neither is jimmy. Scott fucked up with both of them and unfortunately if he is not good-#and justified 100% of the time he loses his entire identity so convincing himself that they are incompetent or crazy so that he#doesnt have to self reflect is how he gets by. he would literally rather kill himself than earnestly admit fault for anything#… huh. about the above tags I dont remember the lore but is there any parallel there with the whole bright heart thing#genuine question bc I do not remember why blue star did that and I dont trust the wiki#(Trying to space out names so they dont tag)#I really hope this makes sense btw bc I feel like I usually list a lot more examples… but im tired#I can elaborate on any point here if need be ig. I dont talk about this aspect of him often because the literal entire fandom does already#Every scott analysis post out there is about his damn loyalty… anyways yeah scotts loyalty is transactional more often than emotional but#It’s still loyalty and also. hard to draw the line between where the emotions stop sometimes because he can stop giving a fuck about—#most things on a whim. How much scott genuinely cares about something is a forever undefinable concept#asks#he is genuinely a very good ally to have usually. like jimmy was very much the exception there#he does like helping people out he does. he’s just also emotionally detached so he tallies his favors and good deeds to bring up later if—#someone he’s helped decides to go against him. If that makes sense#sorry man I just keep talking. I love this blue animal…….#thanks for the ask genuinely I love when paragraphs about characters#anyways im gonna pass out and. Shakes myself STOP ADDING MORE TAGSSS i think im so tired man
9 notes
·
View notes
Note
for th series one do um do empires !!! whixhever u seed th most of^^
i headcanon almost everyone as some level of flip, so instead of listing all of them under multiple things and making it confusing, i listed all the players and wrote everything that applies to them after their name with an explanation under. hopefully this makes sense!
specifically empries season 1! i might attempt a season 2 after i've watched more of it sjflksdjf
Scott: Age Dreamer, Vent Regressor, Babysitter, dabbling in Pet Dreaming/Regression
He's an Age Dreamer the most - usually just Big Scott with a pacifier in his mouth or a little plush hooked onto his belt. Sometimes his dreaming can make way for actual regression, but he has a hard time regressing on his own
He Vent Regresses when he's scared or super mega stressed, (he regressed a lot when the demon thing happened). He needs a lot of help to actually fully regress into the mindset of a child, whether that be positive or negative. He hates being babied, hates the weird “caregiver” voice that some people put on when they talk to him while he's small
Babysitter - he helps babysit Jimmy and sometimes Joel and Lizzie (who is this man allied to i genuinely have no idea. is he like katherine who tried to be friends with everybody??)
Pet Dreaming/Regression - he hasn't done a lot, but he's slowly becoming more comfortable with becoming a deer, an owl, and a mouse :D
fWhip: Age Regressor, Age Dreamer, Playmate, Babysitter
The line between him Dreaming and Regressing is pretty blurry, he genuinely can't tell if he's actually smaller or just pretending to be! sometimes not knowing stresses him out, but most of the time he's just chillin. Always seems to have a pacifier on him. he's prone to accidents whether big or small so that's not a good indicator. he stumbles over his words more, that might be a sign. or it's just a bad talking day. he has about a million tells and none of them are reliable sjdflksjd
Playmate - he tends to be the smallest or the middle of regressor ages. it's a coin toss on whether he or sausage will be the voice of reason or the instigator of chaos
Babysitter - he's happy to fill the older brother role! (at least until someone older than him shows up, then he's just as silly as the kiddos sdjfljsd). he only babysits if he stumbles upon a little (or a little stumbles upon him)
Gem: Flip
a true 50/50 flip! i can see her regressing just as much as she caregives
she caregives for fWhip and Sausage the most, but has looked after Pearl and Lizzie and a few others before, (including Jimmy once behind her ally's backs sjdfklsj), she's very sweet but very stern, she knows what's best for you and will get you to do it no matter how hard you try to fight her
little gem is very sweet :D her age range is anywhere from 2-9, just barely older than whatever age fWhip is if they're regressing together. if she's regressing on her own she'll be around 6
loves playing dress up! also likes making potions!! make sure there's someone looking after her or she will try to make you drink poison in the name of science and discovery and magic
Joey: Babysitter
i've watched more of his Escape the Night series than I have his empires lol i think he'd Babysit if a little one is thrust upon him but he wouldn't choose to babysit?? like if someone stumbled into the lost kingdom or if he ran into a regressor out in the wild he'd take care of them, but it's not really his choice to. apologies if that doesn't fit his vibe i'm going off of. completely different series vibes :thumbsup:
Katherine: Flip
another 50/50 flip, regresses just as much as she caregives
little katherine plays dress up and makes flower crowns, and braids her babysitters' hair sjdfklsj
i don't know much more about her. i think she is very nice until the regressor doesn't listen to her, then it’s a little more frustrated silliness
Lizzie: Age Regressor, Pet Regressor, Caregiver
Age Regression range is 4-6. she doesn't talk a whole lot, just chews on things and looks at you with her big ol' eyes. likes trailing after people. if you give her blocks she'll help you build. if you give her chalk or paint or crayons she will draw on every surface she can reach
Pet Regressor - axolotl, dolphin, shark. shark is more common than her caregivers would like sjdfkldsjf
her main caregivers are Joel and Jimmy. Katherine and Pixl babysit. fWhip looked after her exactly once, and Gem has babysat a few times with Katherine and Pearl.
Caregiver for Joel and Jimmy
she is almost always a baby shark when she's small
Sausage: Pet Regressor, Age Dreamer, Babysitter
Pet Regresses into a Dog, a Wolf, a Lion, and a Panda. when he's panda mode he hangs out with his war general and they exchange growls and like. panda. barks? (do pandas bark what do u call that sound sjdflksjd)
Age Dreamer - he has a hard time regressing into not an animal. dreaming happens when he has a pacifier instead of some kind of chew toy
Babysitter! he's willing to go and look after you but you have to ask him. he's too busy building to check up on you on his own
Pearl: Caregiver, Age Regressor, Pet Dreamer
Caregives for Sausage! more of an older sister but can be motherly - she will absolutely jump in to babysit anyone who asks her to
little age range is 6-8, 5 or younger with help. also frequently dips into teen space like 17-19
Pet dreams into a dog and matches Sausage's puppy energy. she is also sometimes a lion
Pixl: Age Regressor, Age Dreamer, Guardian
sort of like fWhip, the line between Regressing and Dreaming is pretty blurry. Regressing scares him a lot, he doesn't like feeling "weak" but he also craves the safety of it. i don't know how to explain it but he very much wants to be small but fights it all the way down because he has to be the big one!! he has to be the guardian!!
Guardian - i like. i like this descriptor for him actually. i don't think he'd be a traditional caregiver, but he's more than just a babysitter. he's a Guardian!! he will check in and if your response is even a little bit worrying he will show up to your house and coax you into being small. He will stay with you for as long as you feel small. if you called him he will come. he will calm you down from a panic attack. he will give hugs and let you cling as long as you need. he'll talk if you need it. he'll be silent if you just need company. he'll hold your hand. he'll wear a silly hat if you ask him to. he'll make food. he'll play pretend games. he doesn't have a "caregiver" voice, but he's softer, kinder. he's silly. he's safety (he means so much to me)
Shubble:
*sweats* i actually know. nothing about shubble. wow. none of the guys i watch interact with her for a long time?? wow. ok. uh. Babysitter maybe? Caregiver for Katherine? that's all i've got my apologies shubble enjoyers
Joel: Age Regressor, Playmate, Babysit
his age range is all over the place, like i'm talkin newborn to early twenties
he WILL be painting something. you can't stop him. though you may get to decide if he paints the wall instead of you.
whenever he tries to babysit he ends up regressing sjdkfljs. it embarrasses him to no end but he tries to act super cool about it
i feel like i talk about joel SO much but now that i'm here i can't think of anything. whoops.
he babysits for Jimmy and Lizzie!
Jimmy: Age Regressor, Pet Regressor, Caregiver
Age Regressor - age range is like 4-8 i think?? he drags around massive stuffies and trips over his own tail. lots of babbling. gets teased a lot. so so shy but cares so so much. very sweet. loves coloring pictures and making things out of clay
Pet Regressor - Cod, shark, axolotl. he's more cod than shark but he and lizzie are shark buddies :D
Caregiver - one of the main caregivers of the server!! if someone is small you can bet that jimmy's on his way to take care of them. he doesn't usually caregive for his not-allies but he will if they need him (albeit very reluctantly) - he's a very silly goofy guy :3 he matches the energy of regressors as much as he can. a little bit of a pushover if he hasn't taken care of them before, but once he's gotten the hang of taking care of them he's confident and a little bit stern when he needs to be
just. more caregiver jimmy. he means a lot to me
Personal favorite headcanon:
my painter joel headcanons mean a lot to me i think they're fun
also the "meet me by the river" thing from this post <3 <3 <3
#empires beloved#i think that's my tag for that#ivorys headcanons#ask game#this got very long. it's all of them!#thank u very much for asking :3
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
More stuff about Bullworth’s rival school that I made aka Heartland Academy. (Specifically hierarchy and clique leaders)
Their clique hierarchy goes from jocks, preps, punks, bullies, and nerds.
There’s also side cliques. JROTC kids, gossip girls, the gays that you wanna stay FAR away from, the gays that are actually genuine, art kids, and band kids.
The jock’s leader is Sonny McDowell. He’s from California and is the school heartthrob. He’s very friendly towards everyone and is the last to fight. Many rumor that he is gay, when he’s actually your friendly neighborhood pansexual. He has a huge crush on the running back, Maverick. Even though Maverick supposedly hates his guts. He would probably be an ally to Jimmy throughout most of the gameplay. Sonny stands at 6’3 and has long blonde hair with sunburnt skin and green eyes. He’s lean with more build in his chest and shoulders. His HP is 450.
The second in command is Maverick Sanderson. Maverick is much more hostile than Sonny, and is always trying to get a rip at him despite Sonny’s very blatant love for Maverick. He’s a closeted bisexual who has no clue how to deal with his feelings for Sonny, and lashes out with jealousy rather than affection. He was the youngest of three and has always been made fun of and jabbed at. He stands at 4’10 with brunette hair and brown eyes. He has a very compact muscular build mulch like Jimmy. He’s also extremely fucking fast so he’s a bitch to fight. His HP is 500.
Harrison Kenshin is the leader of the preps. He doesn’t seem like much at first, but he is a mythic bitch. His weapon of choice is a golf club, and he does have a golf cart that he can run you over with. Harrison’s pride and joy is his success in golf. He enjoys old shows and music, and you can actually find him dancing in the dorms. His wit and charisma can often overshadow his spiteful and petty nature. Harrison is a huge minor inconvenience that’s infuriating to deal with. It’s small things you wouldn’t pay attention to. Marbles in halls, vending machines out of Beam Cola, and your gym clothes swapped with a hot pink Juicy couture tracksuit so you get made fun of the whole day. He’s 5’9 with black hair and dark brown eyes. He has a slim-athletic build. Harrison’s HP is 300.
Maxine ‘Max’ Gallen leads behind Harrison. Max is very cutthroat and hostile. Even with high respect she will actively taunt and attempt to attack Jimmy. Max is a very loud person, and is always ready to hack up the latest gossip. She boxes, and is on the same level as Bif. Max bears the title of the female champion. Miss girl can absolutely deck you if she wanted to. However, she is very terrified of male students, often her dialogue consists of her stressing over somebody stalking her. She’s very alert, and afraid of everyone. Max has been met with sexual harassment multiple times from the male student body, but Heartland kicks it under the rug. (As most schools do.) Harrison will actively protect her, and will be seen by her side. Rarely will you find Max by herself. She’s 5’6 with a muscular build. Her hair is shoulder length and light brown, usually styled with half of it up in a ponytail. Her eyes are a brown-hazel color, and she has a bunch of crackles on her cheeks. Her HP is 450.
Judge ‘Judd’ Jones leads the punks. He’s widely known for not complying with school rules and getting in trouble constantly. Despite his rep, if you get on good terms with him he’s actually cool. Fun fact he’s also a vegetarian, and is an animal rights activist. He’s very mature and level headed most of the time. He really just breaks rules to piss off the prefects and teachers, as he hates them. He’s always been seen as a bad influence, and decided to actually embrace it, to show adults what him being bad REALLY was. Judd has neon green hair shaved and styled into liberty spikes. He has many piercings such as a septum, snake bites, eyebrow, and multiple bars in his ear, along with gauges. Not to mention his neck and back tattoos. He’s 5’11 and has a pretty athletic build. His HP is 600.
Jonesy Kal is Judd’s second in command. He’s ridiculed amongst the student body for his former drug addiction. He lives in the slums, and has to bear with an abusive father who is an addict. He lost his brother in a shootout, and as a result spiraled into addiction that was fed by his father. However, after an overdose Jonesy put himself in rehab, and he has now been clean for 6 months. He’s your typical punk, and while he is more violent he really does care. He’s like your scary knucklehead older brother who beats up the kids who bully you. He’s also an arsonist, so yeah. Jonesy has fire engine red hair shaved into the fluffiest Mohawk the world has ever seen. He’s 6’3 and has a full sleeve tattooed on his right arm and piercings on his lips and in his ears. He’s very skinny due to recovery. His HP is 200.
Christian Beauregard is the main bully. He grew up pretty rough, he was in the foster care system because of his parents being too young to care for him. When he was 6 he was adopted by a very wealthy couple, all due to his blonde hair and blue eyes. However they have absolutely no business having a child. His adoptive parents cut him off from most of his childhood friends, and forced him to do things to make him successful. Such as piano, choir, and track. However Christian’s true passion is musical theatre. He enjoys the spotlight and singing, much like Trent. He can’t see very well, so he has to wear glasses, although his adoptive parents really pressure him to wear contacts. Christian is 5’10 and has a HP of 200.
Scotty Russo is behind Christian. He’s a baseball junkie, and a MASSIVE Yankees fan. His prized possession is a baseball signed by Babe Ruth. He could ramble for hours about baseball and it’s history, you can never get him to shut up. Scotty does not have a good relationship with his parents, since he started acting out and tormenting others his parents have no clue what to do. However, Scotty only loves and trusts one adult, his grandpa. His grandpa always understood Scotty, and was the one who gifted him his baseball. Scotty is very hotheaded and is always confrontational. He makes up for his height in attitude. He has straight natural red/ginger hair parted in the middle. His face and body are entirely covered in freckles and sunspots. His eyes are a dark grey and he stands at 5’4. His HP is 250.
Dennis Todd is in charge of the nerds. He isn’t your typical nerd, rather he’s just the valedictorian who’s got a serious case of senioritis and is so done with everyone’s bullshit. He’s got a very diplomatic personality, although he can be extremely impatient with others. He doesn’t like having to explain things, especially multiple times. He is the only member of his family to get to their senior year in highschool. His dad is a rancher with old school ways and his mother is a stay at home wife. He has a paint horse named Rootbeer. Dennis Todd is pretty lean standing at 5’8, and will not physically fight unless provoked. His HP is 180.
Cameron Brown is Dennis Todd’s best friend and is actually a class clown. He’s considered a nerd because of his very RARE moments of genius. He’s also just hella good at all of the hard classes and makes bank off selling HW and test answers. His pockets are packed and he is proud of it. Cameron usually makes jokes, but can sometimes cross the line. Occasionally he also has difficulty reading the room and picking up on social cues. He wears glasses and his hair is usually either in locks or cornrows, but he also likes to go natural or do the occasional fro. He’s very lanky and skinny, he’s 5’10 and is also less inclined to fight. His HP is 180.
There’s many more students who I haven’t fleshed out yet who aren’t clique leaders or second in commands. Right now I’m just doing skeletal work for the student body.
Anyone is allowed to make Heartland Academy ocs as long as you credit Heartland Academy to me, since it’s my work. I’d really love to see stuff about this.
#bully canis canem edit#bully scholarship edition#canis canem edit#bully anniversary edition#bully cce#bully rockstar#bullworth academy#heartland academy offical#heartland academy official characters#heartland academy
21 notes
·
View notes
Text
many thoughts about Scar in Last Life
We all know Scar is one of the standouts of Last Life; he’s always been one of the key players ever since 3rd Life, driving conflicts and shaping the course of the server. His chaotic nature lends itself perfectly to 3rd/Last Life, and he seems to have only refined it in the hiatus between seasons.
In 3rd Life, Scar was more of a subjective villain. From his own perspective and Grian’s perspective, he wasn’t scary at all! The two of them were just having fun and causing problems – sure, they threatened people, but their dumb antics together made them just feel like two friends messing around; their POV was lighthearted until the final session, really. From other perspectives, however (particularly Dogwarts’ POVs), that was not how the two of them came across. They felt malicious, scary in how casually they approached such a bloodthirsty game. They’d laugh as they took lives, showing no care for anybody but themselves – they’d betray their allies in a heartbeat without an ounce of remorse, and the rest of the players knew it. Scar wasn’t someone to fear from his own POV.
Since Last Life began, however, Scar has become very openly malicious. Even watching his own POV, it’s hard to see him as anything but a villain – his own comment section is full of people commenting on how scary he suddenly seems. I want to expand on some of these villainous moments, because holy fuck, Scar.
In session 1, Scar is certainly a prominent figure, but we mostly get to see his classic silly Scar antics. Sure, he plans on “selling souls”, but it feels like the equivalent of his reputation points in S1. We still don’t get the sense of him going full villain arc yet. He allies with Joel and commits a crime, and we all expect another lighthearted Scar scam which definitely does not go to plan.
And that is what happened… sort of. He’s immediately caught by Scott and Pearl, etc etc etc. The two of them cheerfully agree a scheme to try and kill Jimmy, but that casual discussion of murder is as bad as they get.
Session 2, Scar is chosen as one of the two boogeymen, alongside Joel.
Things go decidedly not to plan immediately. The two of them had agreed last session to try and kill Jimmy, and were supposed to be trusting enough to tell each other if they’re the boogeyman – and yet what does Scar do? Immediately try and push Joel into lava. He’d betray Joel without a second thought – already a contrast to 3rdLife, where upon turning red Scar threw flowers at Grian and asked if they could still be friends. He doesn’t succeed, of course, and Scar and Joel realise they’re both boogeymen, before parting ways.
Scar heads to the nether, where he immediately decides to deceive Etho and Bdubs into thinking he’s weak and has no food, so that he can get close to them nonthreateningly or something. I’ll talk about this more later, but here we get to see what a good liar Scar actually is. People want to assume that he’s all bark and no bite, that he’s a schemer who poses no real threat – when Scar plays into this, he can be reallyconvincing.
The next big moment I want to talk about is, of course, Joel’s trap. The first thing to comment on here is that Scar cries “Joel, are you trying to kill your best buddy?!”, and I can’t work out whether this is Scar acting to diffuse suspicion, or genuine surprise that he’d pull the trap when Scar was right there, but either way it definitely has the former effect. None of the Southlanders suspect Scar in the slightest. Until Scar murders Mumbo in a matter of seconds.
What’s really horrifying about this is that Scar had been begging Mumbo to ally with him just last session. And yet here… not only does he go for Mumbo without hesitation, his reaction afterwards is downright chilling. He just laughs, and tells the others “Welcome to Magical Mountain!” – it’s really quite like a movie villain in how little he seems to care. He doesn’t actually say a word about killing Mumbo; again, despite having desperately wanted to ally with him. To Scar, this was nothing more than an opportunity. Or maybe it’s all a show to him. Maybe it’s both. Scar doesn’t actually care about winning this game – to him, it’s more fun to put on as good a show as possible, and drag as many people down with him as possible (which is definitely a “cc!Scar being a good entertainer” thing, but it translates very well into being a LL!Scar character trait too).
He then hands Joel some supplies, and with the exact same level of nonchalance, tells him to go burn Scott and Pearl’s house down. I’m… getting the sense he enjoyed burning down Etho’s castle in 3rdLife.
Not much of note happens during his subsequent conversation with the Southlanders beyond him failing an initiation spectacularly – after this, he heads back to Joel. They chat from opposite ends of a broken bridge, which is quite a poetic scene honestly, representing the gap between their lives, the destruction of their alliance, etc. I’m just here to talk about Scar’s villainous moments, though, so let me point out one specific line from this conversation.
“I did avenge you, to be fair - Mumbo, I burned him to death, which was enjoyable. I heard him cry, so it was- yeah, that was a thing.”
Just… what the fuck, Scar? What? I know he tried to push the “red lives are psychopathic and feel nothing except a small sense of happiness when people die” in 3rd Life, but this was definitely a lie or at least an exaggeration, because 3l!Scar definitely had a much wider range of emotions than that. Either way, here he doesn’t even have the excuse of being a red life; this is just active malice, pure and simple. Bdubs had a similar level of pride in his boogeyman kill, but I never got the sense that he enjoyed it like Scar did.
Scar goes off to visit Scott and Pearl, and figure out whether they have the enchanting table or not. Note the emphasis on simply figuring it out, not actually getting the enchanting table. Here’s where I want to talk about Scar being a great liar: he fully convinces them into thinking that he was willing to trade lives for the enchanting table, and then he convinces them that he’s so desperate to get the table that he’ll lie about Joel burning their house down. The thing is, Scar had no intention of ever getting the table at that moment – he wasn’t going to trade lives for it to begin with. He’d try his luck at threatening them, but nothing more. He got exactly what he wanted out of that situation: proof. Meanwhile, Scott and Pearl were left believing they’d outwitted him, that they’d called his bluff and bullied him into leaving. They never saw his true intentions, never saw him as an actual threat. Scar is much smarter than people believe, which only makes him all the more threatening.
And finally, he goes on to prove this intelligence even further. He figures out that Scott and Pearl planned to trade for the enchanting table simply by seeing Scott ask Lizzie if she’s home in chat. He then goes to visit Lizzie, and she tells him she declined their offer. What’s notable about this scene is how much less belligerent Scar is than usual: he readily accepts what Lizzie says for once in his life and leaves without being too annoying about it. He later talks about lulling the others into a false sense of security, letting them think he’s not after the enchanting table anymore; that makes me think his visit to Lizzie was purely to confirm that the offer was even made, and he’s now certain that she accepted it. It’s not hard to work out, especially if he noticed her life count.
So, all in all, if you’re not scared of Scar in Last Life, you most definitely should be.
Did I forget to mention he’s currently tied for the highest life count on the server?
#last life smp#goodtimeswithscar#smallishbeans#mumbo jumbo#ldshadowlady#scott smajor#pearlescentmoon#bdoubleo100#ethoslab#(all tagged are discussed in the post)#mae analyses
928 notes
·
View notes
Text
It’s Friday! Kick off your weekend with a reread of these five fics from September!
found my thrill by s_t_c_s / @sothischickshe
12 Sep 2020, M, 2.1K, 1/1
The tip toward Mrs. Boland fell delightfully easy into his lap. And yes, he thinks, absently clacking the hard candy against back teeth, the source of this information isn’t what he’d term the most wholesome. Leslie is, to put it mildly, something of a turd. Apparently one with aspirations of playing cops and robbers, quite possibly unstable. But that’s essentially by the by. Jimmy’s allied with worse for less.
His sweet is practically vacant of flavour now. It’s spent too long being sucked upon, dwindling slow. There’s a packet in the cabinet by his head; easy replenishment is on offer. But it’s the action he enjoys, more than the florid taste. There’s no sense to using up supplies ahead of the need.
She’d been squirrelly, this Mrs. Boland, both times he spoke to her. In the presence of her husband, and without his shade. Maybe she’s not aware Jimmy noticed it, might be unused to having her responses attended to; her man doesn’t exactly impress as the observant type. But Stepford sketchiness wouldn’t necessarily translate to anything relevant right now. He’s focused on breaking this case, not poking at lesser fry. Oh, Jimmy’s seen the seedy underbelly to white picket land, is past naïve over that. Has run into a whole host out there: prescription pills; pimpless, primarily, prostitution; pornography production ranging from the shockingly amateur to the really quite advanced.
Suburban problems have a way of sealing themselves inward though. Rarely spill out their box into messy violence and mass ugliness in a manner which requires large amounts of attention. If it’s something of that type, he may not, for now, have a quarrel with her. Well, unless she brings him one.
The Game by BookBearer
08 Sep 2020, M, 4K, 1/?
This most recent hit was one of the biggest they’ve seen in a while. Rio and his group owned – well, “collaborated with” – multiple grocery stores, businesses, and shops throughout the city of Detroit. Each section had its own purpose, but there were a couple of larger, no-named, grocery stores that were their biggest assets.
One of which was robbed yesterday night.
The first time an incident like this happened, Rio was not overly concerned. There were lowlife criminals scattered all across the city of Detroit- sometimes shit happens. Some people are new to the area, so maybe they didn’t get the memo—don’t fuck with Rio’s business.
Usually he would send out a couple of his boys to rough them up a bit. And if he was feeling generous, he would show them the error of their ways, take the full cut of what they took, and then let the go with all their fingers intact. Sometimes.
But this?
This was different.
With each passing day, Rio would continue to hear about how his shit was getting robbed. A barber shop here, a liquor store there, and now yesterday was the grocery store on 3rd. And it only seemed to be his shit getting hit… each store that was robbed had his cash involved somehow.
To say Rio was pissed would be the understatement of the century.
Let's All Get Drunk And Go To Heaven by Fei / @lanafannabanana, @Nice_diva
01 Sep 2020, E, 3.4K, 1/1
Only it’s not one drink for her. Not even two. The whole situation just feels surreal, and she feels so out of place, so restless. Rio is sitting across from her and she could feel his eyes on her even when she is not looking. Beth ends up having double bourbon. Twice. By the moment she finishes her second glass, she feels her mind blissfully fogging, and she knows she should probably slow down a little, but it’s too late now.
And maybe she’s feeling a little too tipsy right now, so what?
Beth is nursing her third drink, when she feels Rio’s knee bump into hers. She raises her eyebrows, turning to him.
“Yo,” he says lazily.
And that he is tonight – awfully lazy and very relaxed. She finds it suspicious and doesn’t even want to think about why he is so relaxed. Is it because it’s Mick’s birthday, so Rio is letting it go for a moment? Or maybe some deal went really fine? And, gosh, what kind of deal, exactly? Maybe he is just in a good mood? Is he ever?
He is always so much trouble even when he is not.
She doesn’t reply, just snorts and rolls her eyes, twirling a lock of her blond hair. He looks so cheeky and genuine right now, she can’t help but smile back.
don't give it a hand, offer it a soul by medievalraven / @medievalraven
08 Sep 2020, M, 14K, 2/3
“You know I did hear something interesting about the event tonight,” Gretchen says.
“What’s that?”
“Apparently Elizabeth Boland was there, caused quite a stir.”
Rio takes a drink, trying to remember seeing anyone out of place tonight or anyone people had been watching, whispering about. But he can’t place anyone outside the normal crowd.
As if sensing his confusion Gretchen exhales sharply before clarifying.
“Her grandfather was the former governor and she had been a regular at these things ever since she could walk. My mother used to love seeing what dresses she’d wear even as a little girl, it was quite the big deal amongst the newspapers apparently. Anyway a couple years ago there was talk that her husband was being tapped for an appointment to the State House of Representatives when he passed away suddenly. She basically disappeared after that.”
“Is that right?”
“So imagine everyone’s surprise when she showed up tonight as the caterer no less,” Gretchen chuckles.
And of fucking course that was her.
Off The Record by Sdktrs12 / @sdktrs12
18 Sep 2020, T, 31K, 5/?
“It’s a ride along, so you’ll be on the road for a few weeks. But compensation is...substantial.” He pauses and Beth lets out an exasperated sigh. “It’s an entertainment piece.” He continues hastily, sensing her impatience. “A series of gallery showings for a photography exhibit.”
She sucks in a sharp breath and she knows Mason catches it because he heaves out a sigh, already knowing he’s losing her. “Absolutely not.” She hisses, her mind immediately transported back seven years.
She can picture herself perfectly, sitting at the hotel bar as she’d tried to drink away her misery. And then he’d been there, materializing by her side, eyes dark and dangerous as they’d scanned over her...
“You didn’t even let me finish.” Mason interrupts her thoughts and she distantly hears the toilet flush down the hall. Then the water is running in the sink and she pushes herself off the island.
She heads toward the door, stopping by the stairs to grab Jane’s overnight bag.
“I don’t need to hear the rest. Honestly, what did you expect? I mean, not only do I refuse to work with him, he refuses to work with me.” Beth scoffs at that—like he had any right or reason to blacklist her.
Not like the reasons she had.
“That’s the thing. His publicist called us and asked for you specifically. Said he doesn’t want the article done under any other publication or written by any other freelancer.”
And just—what? That didn’t make any sense. They hated each other.
If you know of anyone’s tumblr/twitter and we haven’t found it or tagged incorrectly, please send us an ask to let us know.
#good girls nbc#nbc good girls#good girls fanfiction#brio fanfiction#good girls fanfic#fic back friday
24 notes
·
View notes
Text
My Top 20 Films of 2019 - Part Two
I don’t think I’ve had a year where my top ten jostled and shifted as much as this one did - these really are the best of the best and my personal favourites of 2019.
10. Toy Story 4
I think we can all agree that Toy Story 3 was a pretty much perfect conclusion to a perfect trilogy right? About as close as is likely to get, I’m sure. I shared the same trepidation when part four was announced, especially after some underwhelming sequels like Finding Dory and Cars 3 (though I do have a lot of time for Monsters University and Incredibles 2). So maybe it’s because the odds were so stacked against this being good but I thought it was wonderful. A truly existential nightmare of an epilogue that does away with Andy (and mostly kids altogether) to focus on the dreams and desires of the toys themselves - separate from their ‘duties’ as playthings to biological Gods. What is their purpose in life without an owner? Can they be their own person and carve their own path? In the case of breakout new character Forky (Tony Hale), what IS life? Big big questions for a cash grab kids films huh?
The animation is somehow yet another huge leap forward (that opening rainstorm!), Bo Peep’s return is excellently pitched and the series tradition of being unnervingly horrifying is back as well thanks to those creepy ventriloquist dolls! Keanu Reeves continues his ‘Keanuassaince‘ as the hilarious Duke Caboom and this time, hopefully, the ending at least feels finite. This series means so much to me: I think the first movie is possibly the tightest, most perfect script ever written, the third is one of my favourites of the decade and growing up with the franchise (I was 9 when the first came out, 13 for part two, 24 for part three and now 32 for this one), these characters are like old friends so of course it was great to see them again. All this film had to do was be good enough to justify its existence and while there are certainly those out there that don’t believe this one managed it, I think the fact that it went as far as it did showed that Pixar are still capable of pushing boundaries and exploring infinity and beyond when they really put their minds to it.
9. The Nightingale
Hoo boy. Already controversial with talk of mass walkouts (I witnessed a few when this screened at Sundance London), it’s not hard to see why but easy to understand. Jennifer Kent (The Babadook) is a truly fearless filmmaker following up her acclaimed suburban horror movie come grief allegory with a period revenge tale set in the Tasmanian wilderness during British colonial rule in the early 1800s. It’s rare to see the British depicted with the monstrous brutality for which they were known in the distant colonies and this unflinching drama sorely needed an Australian voice behind the camera to do it justice.
The film is front loaded with some genuinely upsetting, nasty scenes of cruel violence but its uncensored brutality and the almost casual nature of its depiction is entirely the point - this was normalised behaviour over there and by treating it so matter of factly, it doesn’t slip into gratuitous ‘movie violence’. It is what it is. And what it is is hard to watch. If anything, as Kent has often stated, it’s still toned down from the actual atrocities that occurred so it’s a delicate balance that I think Kent more than understands. Quoting from an excellent Vanity Fair interview she did about how she directs, Kent said “I think audiences have become very anaesthetised to violence on screen and it’s something I find disturbing... People say ‘these scenes are so shocking and disturbing’. Of course they are. We need to feel that. When we become so removed from violence on screen, this is a very irresponsible thing. So I wanted to put us right within the frame with that person experiencing the loss of everything they hold dear”.
Aisling Franciosi is next level here as a woman who has her whole life torn from her, leaving her as nothing but a raging husk out for vengeance. It would be so easy to fall into odd couple tropes once she teams up with reluctant native tracker Billy (an equally impressive newcomer, Baykali Ganambarr) but the film continues to stay true to the harsh racism of the era, unafraid to depict our heroine - our point of sympathy - as horrendously racist towards her own ally. Their partnership is not easily solidified but that makes it all the stronger when they star to trust each other. Sam Claflin is also career best here, weaponizing his usual charm into dangerous menace and even after cementing himself as the year’s most evil villain, he can still draw out the humanity in such a broken and corrupt man.
Gorgeously shot in the Academy ratio, the forest landscape here is oppressive and claustrophobic. Kent also steps back into her horror roots with some mesmerising, skin crawling dream scenes that amplify the woozy nightmarish tone and overbearing sense of dread. Once seen, never forgotten, this is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea (and that’s fine) but when cinema can affect you on such a visceral level and be this powerful, reflective and honest about our own past, it’s hard to ignore. Stunning.
8. The Irishman
Aka Martin Scorsese’s magnum opus, I did manage to see this one in a cinema before the Netflix drop and absolutely loved it. I’ve watched 85 minute long movies that felt longer than this - Marty’s mastery of pace, energy and knowing when to let things play out in agonising detail is second to none. This epic tale of the life of Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) really is the cinematic equivalent of having your cake and eating it too, allowing Scorsese to run through a greatest hits victory lap of mobster set pieces, alpha male arguments, a decades spanning life story and one (last?) truly great Joe Pesci performance before simply letting the story... continue... to a natural, depressing and tragic ending, reflecting the emptiness of a life built on violence and crime.
For a film this long, it’s impressive how much the smallest details make the biggest impacts. A stammering phone call from a man emotionally incapable of offering any sort of condolence. The cold refusal of forgiveness from a once loving daughter. A simple mirroring of a bowl of cereal or a door left slightly ajar. These are the parts of life that haunt us all and it’s what we notice the most in a deliberately lengthy biopic that shows how much these things matter when everything else is said and done. The violence explodes in sudden, sharp bursts, often capping off unbearably tense sequences filled with the everyday (a car ride, a conversation about fish, ice cream...) and this contrast between the whizz bang of classic Scorsese and the contemplative nature of Silence era Scorsese is what makes this film feel like such an accomplishment. De Niro is FINALLY back but it’s the memorably against type role for Pesci and an invigorated Al Pacino who steals this one, along with a roll call of fantastic cameos, with perhaps the most screentime given to the wonderfully petty Stephen Graham as Tony Pro, not to mention Anna Paquin’s near silent performance which says more than possibly anyone else.
Yes, the CG de-aging is misguided at best, distracting at worst (I never really knew how old anyone was meant to be at any given time... which is kinda a problem) but like how you get used to it really quickly when it’s used well, here I kinda got past it being bad in an equally fast amount of time and just went with it. Would it have been a different beast had they cast younger actors to play them in the past? Undoubtedly. But if this gives us over three hours of Hollywood’s finest giving it their all for the last real time together, then that’s a compromise I can live with.
7. The Last Black Man in San Francisco
Wow. I was in love with this film from the moving first trailer but then the film itself surpassed all expectations. This is a true indie film success story, with lead actor Jimmie Fails developing the idea with director Joe Talbot for years before Kickstarting a proof of concept and eventually getting into Sundance with short film American Paradise, which led to the backing of this debut feature through Plan B and A24. The deeply personal and poetic drama follows a fictionalised version of Jimmie, trying to buy back an old Victorian town house he claims was built by his grandfather, in an act of rebellion against the increasingly gentrified San Francisco that both he and director Talbot call home.
The film is many things - a story of male friendship, of solidarity within our community, of how our cities can change right from underneath us - it moves to the beat of it’s own drum, with painterly cinematography full of gorgeous autumnal colours and my favourite score of the year from Emile Mosseri. The performances, mostly by newcomers or locals outside of brilliant turns from Jonathan Majors, Danny Glover and Thora Birch, are wonderful and the whole thing is such a beautiful love letter to the city that it makes you ache for a strong sense of place in your own home, even if your relationship with it is fractured or strained. As Jimmie says, “you’re not allowed to hate it unless you love it”.
For me, last year’s Blindspotting (my favourite film of the year) tackled gentrification within California more succinctly but this much more lyrical piece of work ebbs and flows through a number of themes like identity, family, memory and time. It’s a big film living inside a small, personal one and it is not to be overlooked.
6. Little Women
I had neither read the book nor seen any prior adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel so to me, this is by default the definitive telling of this story. If from what I hear, the non linear structure is Greta Gerwig’s addition, then it’s a total slam dunk. It works so well in breaking up the narrative and by jumping from past to present, her screenplay highlights certain moments and decisions with a palpable sense of irony, emotional weight or knowing wink. Getting to see a statement made with sincere conviction and then paid off within seconds, can be both a joy and a surefire recipe for tears. Whether it’s the devastating contrast between scenes centred around Beth’s illness or the juxtaposition of character’s attitudes to one another, it’s a massive triumph. Watching Amy angrily tell Laurie how she’s been in love with him all her life and then cutting back to her childishly making a plaster cast of her foot for him (’to remind him how small her feet are’) is so funny.
Gerwig and her impeccable cast bring an electric energy to the period setting, capturing the big, messy realities of family life with a mix of overwhelming cross-chatter and the smallest of intimate gestures. It’s a testament to the film that every sister feels fully serviced and represented, from Beth’s quiet strength to Amy’s unforgivable sibling rivalry. Chris Cooper’s turn as a stoic man suffering almost imperceptible grief is a personal heartbreaking favourite.
The book’s (I’m assuming) most sweeping romantic statements are wonderfully delivered, full of urgent passion and relatable heartache, from Marmie’s (Laura Dern) “I’m angry nearly every day of my life” moment to Jo’s (Saoirse Ronan) painful defiance of feminine attributes not being enough to cure her loneliness. The sheer amount of heart and warmth in this is just remarkable and I can easily see it being a film I return to again and again.
5. Booksmart
2019 has been a banner year for female directors, making their exclusion from some of the early awards conversations all the more damning. From this list alone, we have Lulu Wang, Jennifer Kent and Greta Gerwig. Not to mention Lorene Scafaria (Hustlers), Melina Matsoukas (Queen & Slim), Jocelyn DeBoer & Dawn Luebbe (Greener Grass), Sophie Hyde (Animals) and Rose Glass (Saint Maud - watch out for THIS one in 2020, it’s brilliant). Perhaps the most natural transition from in front of to behind the camera has been made by Olivia Wilde, who has created a borderline perfect teen comedy that can make you laugh till you cry, cry till you laugh and everything in-between.
Subverting the (usually male focused) ‘one last party before college’ tropes that fuel the likes of Superbad and it’s many inferior imitators, Booksmart follows two overachievers who, rather than go on a coming of age journey to get some booze or get laid, simply want to indulge in an insane night of teenage freedom after realising that all of the ‘cool kids’ who they assumed were dropouts, also managed to get a place in all of the big universities. It’s a subtly clever remix of an old favourite from the get go but the committed performances from Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein put you firmly in their shoes for the whole ride.
It’s a genuine blast, with big laughs and a bigger heart, portraying a supportive female friendship that doesn’t rely on hokey contrivances to tear them apart, meaning that when certain repressed feelings do come to the surface, the fallout is heartbreaking. As I stated in a twitter rave after first seeing it back in May, every single character, no matter how much they might appear to be simply representing a stock role or genre trope, gets their moment to be humanised. This is an impeccably cast ensemble of young unknowns who constantly surprise and the script is a marvel - a watertight structure without a beat out of place, callbacks and payoffs to throwaway gags circle back to be hugely important and most of all, the approach taken to sexuality and representation feels so natural. I really think it is destined to be looked back on and represent 2019 the way Heathers does ‘88, Clueless ‘95 or Easy A 2010. A new high benchmark for crowd pleasing, indie comedy - teen or otherwise.
4. Ad Astra
Brad Pitt is one of my favourite actors and one who, despite still being a huge A-lister even after 30 years in the game, never seems to get enough credit for the choices he makes, the movies he stars in and also the range of stories he helps produce through his company, Plan B. 2019 was something of a comeback year for Pitt as an actor with the insanely measured and controlled lead performance seen here in Ad Astra and the more charismatic and chaotic supporting role in Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood.
I love space movies, especially those that are more about broken people blasting themselves into the unknown to search for answers within themselves... which manages to sum up a lot of recent output in this weirdly specific sub-genre. First Man was a devastating look at grief characterised by a man who would rather go to a desolate rock than have to confront what he lost, all while being packaged as a heroic biopic with a stunning score. Gravity and The Martian both find their protagonists forced to rely on their own cunning and ingenuity to survive and Interstellar looked at the lengths we go to for those we love left behind. Smaller, arty character studies like High Life or Moon are also astounding. All of this is to say that Ad Astra takes these concepts and runs with them, challenging Pitt to cross the solar system to talk some sense into his long thought dead father (Tommy Lee Jones). But within all the ‘sad dad’ stuff, there’s another film in here just daring you to try and second guess it - one that kicks things off with a terrifying free fall from space, gives us a Mad Max style buggy chase on the moon and sidesteps into horror for one particular set-piece involving a rabid baboon in zero G! It manages to feel so completely nuts, so episodic in structure, that I understand why a lot of people were turned off - feeling that the overall film was too scattershot to land the drama or too pondering to have any fun with. I get the criticisms but for me, both elements worked in tandem, propelling Pitt on this (assumed) one way journey at a crazy pace whilst sitting back and languishing in the ‘bigger themes’ more associated with a Malik or Kubrick film. Something that Pitt can sell me on in his sleep by this point.
I loved the visuals from cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema (Interstellar), loved the imagination and flair of the script from director James Gray and Ethan Gross and loved the score by Max Richter (with Lorne Balfe and Nils Frahm) but most of all, loved Pitt, proving that sometimes a lot less, is a lot more. The sting of hearing the one thing he surely knew (but hoped he wouldn’t) be destined to hear from his absent father, acted almost entirely in his eyes during a third act confrontation, summed up the movie’s brilliance for me - so much so that I can forgive some of the more outlandish ‘Mr Hyde’ moments of this thing’s alter ego... like, say, riding a piece of damaged hull like a surfboard through a meteor debris field!
3. Avengers: Endgame
It’s no secret that I think Marvel, the MCU in particular, have been going from strength to strength in recent years, slowly but surely taking bigger risks with filmmakers (the bonkers Taika Waititi, the indie darlings of Ryan Coogler, Cate Shortland and Chloe Zhao) whilst also carefully crafting an entertaining, interconnected universe of characters and stories. But what is the point of building up any movie ‘universe’ if you’re not going to pay it off and Endgame is perhaps the strongest conclusion to eleven years of movie sequels that fans could have possibly hoped for.
Going into this thing, the hype was off the charts (and for good reason, with it now being the highest grossing film of all time) but I remember souring on the first entry of this two-parter, Infinity War, during the time between initial release and Endgame’s premiere. That film had a game-changing climax, killing off half the heroes (and indeed the universe’s population) and letting the credits role on the villain having achieved his ultimate goal. It was daring, especially for a mammoth summer blockbuster but obviously, we all knew the deaths would never be permanent, especially with so many already-announced sequels for now ‘dusted’ characters. However, it wasn’t just the feeling that everything would inevitably be alright in the end. For me, the characters themselves felt hugely under-serviced, with arguably the franchise’s main goody two shoes Captain America being little more than a beardy bloke who showed up to fight a little bit. Basically what I’m getting at is that I felt Endgame, perhaps emboldened by the giant runtime, managed to not only address these character slights but ALSO managed to deliver the most action packed, comic booky, ‘bashing your toys together’ final fight as well.
It’s a film of three parts, each pretty much broken up into one hour sections. There’s the genuinely new and interesting initial section following our heroes dealing with the fact that they lost... and it stuck. Thor angrily kills Thanos within the first fifteen minutes but it’s a meaningless action by this point - empty revenge. Cutting to five years later, we get to see how defeat has affected them, for better or worse, trying to come to terms with grief and acceptance. Cap tries to help the everyman, Black Widow is out leading an intergalactic mop up squad and Thor is wallowing in a depressive black hole. It’s a shocking and vibrantly compelling deconstruction of the whole superhero thing and it gives the actors some real meat to chew on, especially Robert Downy Jr here who goes from being utterly broken to fighting within himself to do the right thing despite now having a daughter he doesn’t want to lose too. Part two is the trip down memory lane, fan service-y time heist which is possibly the most fun section of any of these movies, paying tribute to the franchise’s past whilst teetering on a knife’s edge trying to pull off a genuine ‘mission impossible’. And then it explodes into the extended finale which pays everyone off, demonstrates some brilliantly imaginative action and sticks the landing better than it had any right to. In a year which saw the ending of a handful of massive geek properties, from Game of Thrones to Star Wars, it’s a miracle even one of them got it right at all. That Endgame managed to get it SO right is an extraordinary accomplishment and if anything, I think Marvel may have shot themselves in the foot as it’s hard to imagine anything they can give us in the future having the intense emotional weight and momentum of this huge finale.
2. Knives Out
Rian Johnson has been having a ball leaping into genre sandpits and stirring shit up, from his teen spin on noir in Brick to his quirky con man caper with The Brothers Bloom, his time travel thriller Looper and even his approach to the Star Wars mythos in The Last Jedi. Turning his attention to the relatively dead ‘whodunnit’ genre, Knives Out is a perfect example of how to celebrate everything that excites you about a genre whilst weaponizing it’s tropes against your audience’s baggage and preconceptions.
An impeccable cast have the time of their lives here, revelling in playing self obsessed narcissists who scramble to punt the blame around when the family’s patriarch, a successful crime novelist (Christopher Plummer), winds up dead. Of course there’s something fishy going on so Daniel Craig’s brilliantly dry southern detective Benoit Blanc is called in to investigate.There are plenty of standouts here, from Don Johnson’s ignorant alpha wannabe Richard to Michael Shannon’s ferocious eldest son Walt to Chris Evan’s sweater wearing jock Ransom, full of unchecked, white privilege swagger. But the surprise was the wholly sympathetic, meek, vomit prone Marta, played brilliantly by Ana de Armas, cast against her usual type of sultry bombshell (Knock Knock, Blade Runner 2049), to spearhead the biggest shake up of the genre conventions. To go into more detail would begin to tread into spoiler territory but by flipping the audience’s engagement with the detective, we’re suddenly on the receiving end of the scrutiny and the tension derived from this switcheroo is genius and opens up the second act of the story immensely.
The whole thing is so lovingly crafted and the script is one of the tightest I’ve seen in years. The amount of setup and payoff here is staggering and never not hugely satisfying, especially as it heads into it’s final stretch. It really gives you some hope that you could have such a dense, plotty, character driven idea for a story and that it could survive the transition from page to screen intact and for the finished product to work as well as it does. I really hope Johnson returns to tell another Benoit Blanc mystery and judging by the roaring box office success (currently over $200 million worldwide for a non IP original), I certainly believe he will.
1. Eighth Grade
My film of the year is another example of the power of cinema to put us in other people’s shoes and to discover the traits, fears, joys and insecurities that we all share irregardless. It may shock you to learn this but I have never been a 13 year old teenage girl trying to get by in the modern world of social media peer pressure and ‘influencer’ culture whilst crippled with personal anxiety. My school days almost literally could not have looked more different than this (less Instagram, more POGs) and yet, this is a film about struggling with oneself, with loneliness, with wanting more but not knowing how to get it without changing yourself and the careless way we treat those with our best interests at heart in our selfish attempt to impress peers and fit in. That is understandable. That is universal. And as I’m sure I’ve said a bunch of times in this list, movies that present the most specific worldview whilst tapping into universal themes are the ones that inevitably resonate the most.
Youtuber and comedian Bo Burnham has crafted an impeccable debut feature, somehow portraying a generation of teens at least a couple of generations below his own, with such laser focused insight and intimate detail. It’s no accident that this film has often been called a sort of social-horror, with cringe levels off the charts and recognisable trappings of anxiety and depression in every frame. The film’s style services this feeling at every turn, from it’s long takes and nauseous handheld camerawork to the sensory overload in it’s score (take a bow Anna Meredith) and the naturalistic performances from all involved. Burnham struck gold when he found Elsie Fisher, delivering the most painful and effortlessly real portrayal of a tweenager in crisis as Kayla. The way she glances around skittishly, the way she is completely lost in her phone, the way she talks, even the way she breathes all feeds into the illusion - the film is oftentimes less a studio style teen comedy and more a fly on the wall documentary.
This is a film that could have coasted on being a distant, social media based cousin to more standard fare like Sex Drive or Superbad or even Easy A but it goes much deeper, unafraid to let you lower your guard and suddenly hit you with the most terrifying scene of casually attempted sexual aggression or let you watch this pure, kindhearted girl falter and question herself in ways she shouldn’t even have to worry about. And at it’s core, there is another beautiful father/daughter relationship, with Josh Hamilton stuck on the outside looking in, desperate to help Kayla with every fibre of his being but knowing there are certain things she has to figure out for herself. It absolutely had me and their scene around a backyard campfire is one of the year’s most touching.
This is a truly remarkable film that I think everyone should seek out but I’m especially excited for all the actual teenage girls who will get to watch this and feel seen. This isn’t about the popular kid, it isn’t about the dork who hangs out with his or her own band of misfits. This is about the true loner, that person trying everything to get noticed and still ending up invisible, that person trying to connect through the most disconnected means there is - the internet - and everything that comes with it. Learning that the version of yourself you ‘portray’ on a Youtube channel may act like they have all the answers but if you’re kidding yourself then how do you grow?
When I saw this in the cinema, I watched a mother take her seat with her two daughters, aged probably at around nine and twelve. Possibly a touch young for this, I thought, and I admit I cringed a bit on their behalf during some very adult trailers but in the end, I’m glad their mum decided they were mature enough to see this because a) they had a total blast and b) life simply IS R rated for the most part, especially during our school years, and those girls being able to see someone like Kayla have her story told on the big screen felt like a huge win. I honestly can’t wait to see what Burnham or Fisher decide to do next. 2019 has absolutely been their year... and it’s been a hell of a year.
#top 20#films of the year#films of 2019#10-1#toy story 4#the nightingale#the irishman#the last black man in san francisco#little women#booksmart#ad astra#avengers endgame#knives out#eighth grade
77 notes
·
View notes
Note
How would you write a Lego Superman movie? Who would be the villain, and what would be the status of his various "Super-family" members?
Well, certain parameters have already been set: he’s clearly a pretty popular figure (Batman badmouths him in literally the first minute, but he seems to be in the minority there), he’s obviously modeled in large part off of the Christopher Reeve version at least in terms of aesthetics, and he isn’t *quite* as morally pure as some other versions given he mentions he super-hates Green Lantern to his face. It also helps that, as a comedy, you can take liberties with his character and world in a way you could never manage with a straight take. To even implicitly argue for instance that Batman genuinely does not care about anyone or anything but his mission and needs to be fixed would be a severe misread to me in the comics and live-action movies; in Lego Batman where he says it outright near the beginning, it’s an acceptable point for him to grow from, because it’s already in such absurdist territory that you’re not going to be looking for character fidelity past the broadest strokes. Assuming this stayed spiritually in line with Batman, it would be more about how the world looks at Superman right now, rather than being deeply rooted in the ‘lore’. Probably still just a little more straight-laced though, since Superman doesn’t lend himself to quite the same degree of over-the-top as Batman.
So we open on Superman in the Fortress; he’s feeding the critters in the intergalactic zoo, taking a dip in the atomic cauldron, playing chess with giant robots - y’know, Silver Age stuff. But each time, just as he starts to get into it and settle down, something summons him away. Bizarro’s literally turning a city upside-down, Mxyzptlk is swapping the vocal chord bricks of humans and fishes, Titano is climbing up the Daily Planet building with Jimmy and Lois in each paw, the Justice League needs him to fight Starro, and so on and so forth. Each time he swoops in and saves the day, each time the people cheer, each time he has a smile on his face. He never lets it get to him - at least, he doesn’t let himself be aware that it’s getting to him - but before he knows it he’s due back at work, his precious little free time used up.
We get a lot of Clark at the Planet with Lois (who clearly knows he’s Superman and is basically indulging him; everyone else remains totally unaware though), where while he’s clearly putting on an act to a certain extent, he’s also showing a degree of awkwardness and vulnerability he just can’t as Superman, who keeps on taking more and more onto himself, to an increasingly unhealthy extent. And what he’s permitted as Superman comes into sharp relief during a brawl with Metallo, where rather than the relatively easy victory that usually comes here, Metallo manages to break out the Kryptonite long enough to seriously hurt him. Superman still manages to cleverly defeat him, but the incident takes its toll pretty much immediately. Suddenly everyone is reminded that hey, ha ha, you can beat Superman with a rock. Conan O’Brien seems to be locked into these movies, maybe you can cut to him doing a bit. Everyone starts to…not exactly turn on him per say, but he doesn’t get his due respect. You get the red underwear jokes, the stale cracks. The Justice League isn’t exactly helpful either: at the end of the day they take him for granted same as everyone else, and you can be sure Batman doesn’t have a problem with the situation.
In the background of this, Luthor, imprisoned in Stryker’s Island, knows this is his moment. He breaks out - using an orange juice tin, he’s had a lot of luck with those over the years - and reaches out to his old ally, Brainiac. With Superman increasingly stressed and run ragged, he’s at his weakest, making it the perfect time for a strike against him, with Brainiac collecting him in one of his bottles; in return for the tip, Lex wants him to bottle Metropolis as well, for turning on him. It’s here we get Lex’s own perspective on Superman: he’s stupid. He’s a lunk with all the strength in the world, and he’s nice because people want him to be nice, and that’s all there is to him. If he was more, after all, would they have turned on him so easily? And yet he’s still held up as a role model for his ridiculous, unattainable power, while a brilliant man such as Lex Luthor, the pinnacle of human achievement, something real, is dismissed.
As it turns out, he barely even needs to make such a plan. Superman’s burnt out. No one’s calling for him anymore; most of his time in costume he spends tooling around at the Fortress with Krypto and the Superman Robots and occasionally Jimmy, but while at first ever-good-natured Superman enjoys having the time to himself out of the limelight, he starts to feel lost without a purpose, inevitably brooding in the arctic with glowing red eyes. And when a disaster does come and is only narrowly averted - one he wasn’t there for - the people really do turn on him. For all that they didn’t appreciate Superman, they sure did take him for granted, and now that he’s turned into the mopey sadsack who lets them down, they let loose against him with a vengeance. And so he throws in the towel. He hangs up the costume in his apartment and goes to work as Clark, shier and more out-of-place than ever.
Lois meanwhile has been investigating Lex’s breakout, and manages to piece together bits of his plan; she doesn’t know about Metropolis being in the crosshairs, but she knows very well that he and Brainiac are going after Superman to take him off-planet. She finally confronts Clark, corners him in the boom closest, and basically tells him to cut the bull; he plays dumb, even as she breaks a clipboard over his head and tells him to listen. But even in character, he’s not entirely against the idea. The world doesn’t want Superman anymore, anymore than its ever wanted Clark Kent; space might just be the place for the guy. She’s disappointed in him, telling him that she always thought him acting so spineless was an act. He doesn’t know what to do anymore. Where is he supposed to go? It comes to him moments later, where Jimmy’s in danger, and he saves the kid without him even knowing it: they talk a bit, Clark reminded of what it is he can do - that his best friend is alive because of him - as Jimmy talks about how disappointed he is that people are treating his pal Superman like this. But it’ll pass; people can get complacent, they can be stupid, but Superman’s reminded them they can do better before. He’ll do it again.
He walks up to Lois. At first she starts to tell him off again, until she notices his spitcurl is showing. He’s not playing anymore; he tells her he’s sorry, not just for what he said before, but for not telling the truth all these years. That he’s always felt like he never quite fit, and that he didn’t want to give up the little space he’d made for himself as Clark. But she and another friend reminded him, he says as they duck back into the broom closet, that he’s here for a reason. She smiles and tells him they have work to do as he tears open his shirt.
He soars off into space to confront Brainiac’s ship, where he and Luthor are waiting. Luthor assumes this is a last desperate, stupid attempt at reclaiming his relevance; Brainiac is too cold to understand at all, not getting why Superman wouldn’t be happy to leave Earth. He’s invulnerable, immortal, nothing like the humans, certainly beyond their comprehension. Superman says that whether or not he’s wanted right now, he’s certainly needed. They fight. Superman loses, bad, and is imprisoned, pending miniaturization with the rest of Metropolis. But while the villains go about their business (we see each of them intends to betray the other, Lex intending to take over the ship, while Brainiac will steal far more than Metropolis from the Earth), Lois crawls out, herself shrunk down by the shrink ray in the Fortress of Solitude; there’s a whole setpiece of her maneuvering through the ship to reach the growth ray, and once she does setting a prearranged plan between her and Superman into motion.
The Justice League’s ready for a fight down below in Metropolis, having of course been warned (Superman and Lois figured out that if Luthor was in tow, he’d surely take advantage of the situation to get further revenge). But as Brainiac’s ship comes into view, Luthor explains that he and Brainiac had been prepared for resistance, and unleash the forces…of every evil alien in pop culture, accumulated by Brainiac and set loose on Metropolis in return for a chance at freedom. The xenomorphs, the Predators, the Independence Day guy, Daleks, Stormtroopers, Orks (”They’re from Middle-Earth, it’s close enough!”), the Thing if they can kiddify its design enough to fit. The League puts up a solid fight, but they can only go on for so long; even Batman falls once they unleash the snake-clowns. All seems lost.
Suddenly, Superman making his big superhero landing, freed from his cell by Lois. Luthor calls dibs, blasting his old enemy down with Kryptonite-powered armor…but this time the people aren’t standing on the sidelines, not when the stakes are this high and they know what it’d really mean to lose Superman. They get Superman away and pile on Lex, Luthor screaming that he is their true hero even as they tear the Kryptonite from his chest and Superman recovers. Lex rants that this changes nothing as the JLA assembles, that even they can’t turn the tide on their own. Superman says he knows he can’t save the Earth alone, but he’s always been better than them at putting his trust in others. That’s why he brought Lois Lane.
And Brainiac’s ship explodes, and out streams the backup, enlarged and freed by Lois: every good alien in pop culture! E.T.! The lady from Fifth Element! A battalion of elves with Gandalf! Luke and Rey! Some Doctors Who! Mork from Ork! As Superman takes his place at the head of the cavalry along with the rest of the League, they overwhem the opposing forces and take down Brainiac. There’s only Lex left, yelling that Superman’s still an idiot who knows nothing about what it is to be human, still pointless, still not someone these people could ever be like, in all his power. That he’s the one the people can look up in the sky to.
Superman says he’s right. People could be like Lex. It’s easy. But he likes to think they could be better than that. Hopefully, Superman says with a smile as he grabs him by the cuff of the neck and flies away over the cheering crowds, Luthor crossing his arms like a petulant kid, Lex can be better than that too one day…once he serves out the rest of his prison sentence.
Wrap-up stuff. A big ceremony with the mayor of Metropolis, declaring this the cities’ 52nd annual Superman Day. The Justice League promises they’ll do more to keep things calm so he can take a little more time off; all he has to do is ask. Even Batman grunts out something vaguely resembling an apology; he says his family has been trying to get him to be better about these things lately, though he’s not up for the super best-friends hug Superman tries to pull him into. Lex and Brainiac gripe at each other at Stryker’s. Back at the Planet, he’s at his desk at Clark, really getting into his story, when across town he hears an emergency siren. He smiles a little bittersweet smile, starts to pull at his tie…when suddenly he sees the fire department, Wonder Woman and the Flash are on it. He’s stunned out of his focus by Lois asking if he wants to go get lunch - it’s clear this is a date to everyone but Jimmy, who offers to join them. Clark asks if Lois really wants to spend her afternoon with someone as spineless as him. She replies that of course; there should always be a little time for Clark Kent.
That’s my movie. Obviously this comes across as much more serious in description than it surely would be in execution, where someone actually making a script out of this would throw in all the bells and whistles comedy-wise. But I think this would be a solid skeleton to build on that could fit with the tone of the other movies, and maybe get people to go a little easier on big blue from there on out. The sequel would probably bring in Supergirl and Superboy and the rest of the family.
#Superman#The Lego Superman Movie#The Lego Batman Movie#The Lego Movie#Lex Luthor#Brainiac#Lois Lane#Jimmy Olsen#Metallo#fanfic
91 notes
·
View notes
Link
BOBBY MURDOCH passed away on this date 19 years ago at the all-too-young age of 56.
CQN today publish the entire chapter of tributes to Celtic’s masterful midfielder in Alex Gordon’s book, ‘The Lisbon Lions: The 40th Anniversary’.
Poignantly, there are memories from his fellow-European heroes Tommy Gemmell, Billy McNeill and Stevie Chalmers who have also passed away since the publication of the tome in honour of Jock Stein’s greatest team.
BOBBY MURDOCH went through all sorts of agonies as Celtic gatecrashed the European big-time in Lisbon. Murdoch, thoughtful with a delightful touch as well as possessing a shot of sledgehammer proportions, had his right foot stamped on by a desperate Inter Milan defender early in the game.
The midfielder would later say: “The pain shot right through me. It was probably an accident, but it was a dull one. If there had been outfield substitutes available back then, I might have had to go off. However, as it was, we only had substitute goalkeeper John Fallon on the bench that day. Big Jock told me: “Run it off, Bobby, you’ll be fine.” As the game progressed towards half-time, I looked down and my right ankle seemed to be twice the size it was at the kick-off.
“People must have wondered why I was favouring my left foot that day. Fortunately, I was two-footed, but my right was undoubtedly the stronger of the two. I even managed to get a couple of left-footed shots on target that day, but both were saved.”
BY THE LEFT…Bobby Murdoch slams in a drive as an Inter Milan defender claims offside.
Murdoch’s midfield ally Bertie Auld remembers: “I saw Bobby grimace at one point and I asked him what was the matter. He pointed to his right foot and I could clearly see that his ankle was beginning to swell up. I said: “I don’t like the look of that, Bobby.” “I’m no’ too chuffed myself, Bertie,” came the reply. What a performance he put in that day on one foot. The Italians got lucky – could you even start to imagine what he would have done to them if he could have used both feet!”
Jim Craig backs up the story: “The fans will always remember that I was the guy who pulled the ball back for Tommy Gemmell to thump in our equaliser. However, I had an even better run and cross before that and this time picked out Bobby. I had seen him leather those sort of balls past the keeper before they had a chance to move.
IT TAKES TWO…Celtic’s midfield maestros Bertie Auld and Bobby Murdoch.
“On this occasion, though, he allowed the ball to run across him onto his left foot. That gave an Inter Milan defender the opportunity to get at him and, in that split-second, the chance was gone. That was most unlike Bobby, but it does illustrate how uncomfortable he was with his right foot. His display against the Italians was as brave as any I have ever witnessed. Thankfully, he and the rest of us got our reward at the end.”
Billy McNeill recalls: “As Bobby said at the time, we didn’t have a substitute to cover for him if he had gone off. Listen, there was no way Bobby was going off that day. No chance. He would have played on with his leg hanging off if need be!”
Murdoch’s Celtic career got off to a rather bizarre start when, as a 17-year-old who had just returned after being farmed out to local Junior side Cambuslang Rangers, he was told he was making his debut courtesy of an absent-minded team-mate. The teenager didn’t expect to get the nod from the-then manager Jimmy McGrory for the first game of the 1961/62 season.
Remarkably, a Celtic player had turned up at the ground WITHOUT his football boots. Suitable replacements couldn’t be found and McGrory was forced to pitchfork the young Murdoch into the side. Operating at inside-right, Bobby went out, scored the opening goal in a 3-1 win over Hearts and he hardly looked back after that. Goodness only knows what happened to the colleague who forgot his footwear!
HEAD BHOY…Bobby Murdoch takes to the air, but Inter keeper Giuliano Sarti is alert to the danger.
Murdoch was one of the most unassuming men you could have ever wished to meet. He played down his phenomenal ability and preferred praise to go the way of others. “I’m not one for fuss,” he would often say. But Bobby was a key man with Celtic and rivals noted this. None more so than a representative of Racing Club of Argentina before the ill-fated and bad-tempered World Club Championship Final in 1967. The South American observed Celtic over a number of games and was clearly impressed by the dynamic and powerful midfielder. When asked about what he thought of the European Cup holders, he said simply: “Murdoch – he is Celtic.”
No-one was unduly surprised when Racing Club had a two-man shadow squad on Murdoch throughout the three games. Nor was anyone shocked when they saw Murdoch being kicked very early in the first game at Hampden. Sadly, it was probably seen as some sort of backhanded compliment by the South Americans. Murdoch, though, still managed to shine in those torrid encounters and Boca Juniors, one of the biggest clubs in the world at that time, were reported to be getting ready to make a massive bid for his services. In typical Murdoch fashion, he responded: “Ach, I’m no’ interested – no way. I’m staying with the club I love. I’m only interested in playing for Celtic.” And you just knew that he meant every word of it.
On May 25, 1967 Bobby Murdoch realised a dream. He strode the immaculate surface of the Estadio Nacional in Lisbon with a grace and guile that bewildered Inter Milan. He was in the thick of everything. Adding his powerful frame to defensive duties, making himself available for passes from the defence, patrolling the middle of the park with Bertie Auld, spraying the ball around with gravity-defying accuracy and plunging into attack to bombard the overworked Sarti in the Italians’ goal. All with one good foot!
POWER AND PURPOSE…Bobby Murdoch tangles with Inter Milan winger Mario Corso.
It was a truly memorable performance from the masterful Murdoch. Inter Milan, doyens of their defensive craft, had no answer to the gifted linkman. Inevitably, he was involved in both goals that brought the European Cup to Celtic Park. No surprise, really.
Murdoch, never gifted with electrifying pace, was playing in the old inside-right position when Stein arrived in 1965. His ability to hit devastating, defence-shredding passes wasn’t being utilised as much as might have been. His talent for hitting screaming shots at goal wasn’t being seen at its best, either, as he often played in packed penalty areas as support to the centre-forward, usually Stevie Chalmers or John Hughes.
Stein, much against the wishes of the-then chairman, Sir Robert Kelly, had the courage of his own convictions to push Murdoch back into a deeper midfield role. “He is not a wing-half,” said Kelly. “You will soon see that he is,” countered Stein. The move clicked from day one as Murdoch went onto become one of the greatest-ever Celts and a genuine world class player. Alas, this wonderful personality was taken from us far too early. However, he left each and everyone of us with so many joyous moments to savour and behold.
But if you ever want to witness a midfield player in his absolute prime and doing everything with breathtaking precision, just look again at the European Cup Final of 1967. Bobby Murdoch, with one good foot, was on the greatest platform in football and, to everyone’s delight, this wonderful and self-deprecating character played a pivotal role in the club’s most famous triumph.
BILLY McNEILL:
Bobby signed for Celtic in 1959, two years after me, and we knew the rough times before Jock Stein arrived. A Cup run was about the best we could manage back then and I don’t think we ever made much of an impact in the league. But, like me, Bobby was Celtic through and through. They were the only club for him.
He oozed quality and talent; he was pedigree material alright. Bobby was a first-class team man, too. I recall Jock Stein trying something different before we played a European Cup-tie against AC Milan at Celtic Park in 1969. The first leg had ended goalless in the San Siro Stadium and, naturally, we were in with a smashing chance of reaching the next stage.
Big Jock had noticed, even in their home game, that the AC Milan manager Nereo Rocco, who always reminded of a character straight out of The Godfather, had stuck a man-marker on Bobby. If they were going to carry out that tactic at home, you could be absolutely certain they would repeat it in Glasgow.
Now, the Italians had a marvellous player in their midfield those days called Gianni Rivera. Like Bobby, he was quality. He ran the show for AC Milan, everything seemed to go through him. In actual fact, he was would be right up there among the best players I have ever faced. Big Jock thought it would be interesting to see how AC Milan reacted to Rivera being marked – by Bobby! Now that was a role Bobby had never previously been asked to carry out, but he was more than willing to go along with the experiment. Jock wondered if the guy who was supposed to be sitting on Bobby would still follow him around even if Bobby was refusing to leave the side of Rivera!
So, for about 15 minutes or so, we had the fairly comical sight of Murdoch, his marker and Rivera all situated within yards of each other as the action unfolded. The AC Milan players and their team-mates must have wondered what on earth was going on with this trio. The point is, though, the position was totally alien to Bobby, but he went out and did it to the very best of his ability. Big Jock had reasoned we would nullify their best player while our player was also being nullified, if you see what I mean. Technically, that should mean we are a player up on the deal. Sadly, like a lot of theories it didn’t work in practice and they snatched a 1-0 win. Bobby was later released from his chains, but we never got a break that night.
I’m not going to talk about Bobby as a loser, though. No way. Like I said earlier, we had come through the hard times at Celtic, so when we started to win it was paradise, no pun intended. Leagues, Cups, medals – that’s what it was all about. It’s what Bobby and used to talk about after training in the late Fifties and early Sixties. It was only a dream, but there was no harm in letting your imagination go for a wander every now and again.
The jigsaw came together in Lisbon. No-one played a bigger part in our historic day than Bobby Murdoch.
JIM CRAIG:
Bobby was known as Chopper for most of his career, but he was also called Sam for a spell – and he didn’t like it one little bit! We were down at our usual HQ at Seamill on the Ayrshire coast preparing for an important game and Jock Stein set up a training exercise that saw us dribbling round paint pots.
Bobby clattered into a few of these obstacles and sent paint flying all over the place. I recall there was a van parked nearby with the name Sam B. Allison emblazoned on its side. He appeared to be the local painter and decorator. Big Jock laughed; “Hey, Bobby, you’ve spilled more paint than Sam has in a lifetime.” So, Bobby instantly became Sam and the nickname stuck for awhile.
He may not have been able to skip round inanimate objects, but Bobby knew how to get past more orthodox opponents. He had a very graceful, artistic touch. You would sometimes see him going up on his tip-toes, having a wee look around and then arcing a pass about 50 yards or so with uncanny precision.
His shooting power was fairly devastating, too. He had it all. Another thing you might not know about Bobby was that he was a very emotional character. He would cry if we won. He would cry if we lost. He would even cry if we drew. We just cried when he wasn’t in the team!
TOMMY GEMMELL:
If Bobby had played in English football around the same time as, say, Billy Bremner at Leeds United, I am sure he would have been hailed as a superstar. As well as being incredibly strong in the tackle, Bobby could repeatedly bring the ball through to set up and score goals.
Yet, when Scottish international squads were being put together, the Leeds United skipper, a superb player in his day it must be said, invariably got the nod over Bobby. Yet my old mate was a lot more creative than wee Billy. I am still of the mind that Bobby never received the recognition he certainly deserved. How many full caps did he win? Twelve! That’s a paltry amount for a player who scored over 100 goals for Celtic while playing in midfield. You would have expected a guy with his talent to have won 100 caps never mind score a century of goals.
However, it was so typical of the man that he never once complained. Let me say that all the players at Celtic back then appreciated Bobby Murdoch even if some other people didn’t. We were all fortunate to play alongside him.
JOHN CLARK:
I remember Bobby being quite a quiet, even reserved, sort of character. What a transformation when he got out on that football field, though. That was his stage and he revelled in that setting. If you asked me to list his strengths, I would say you might as well cut to the chase and try to detect a flaw. If there were any, I didn’t see them and I played alongside him often enough.
Bobby was good with either foot, could shoot from range with equal power and accuracy, could tackle with the best of them and wasn’t bad in the air, either. He wasn’t the fleetest of foot, but he more than made up for that by his reading of the play. It was actually a pleasure to be on the same pitch as Bobby – especially as he was wearing the same strip as you.
A lot of teams paid him the compliment of sticking markers on him, but they would simply be undone if Bobby spotted an opening and zapped one of his precision passes through it to a lurking colleague. And, if they weren’t sticking the ball in the net, he wasn’t adverse to coming forward and rectifying the situation himself.
A truly wonderful player and an all-round good guy.
WILLIE WALLACE:
Bobby and Tommy Gemmell were known as the Big Shots in the Lisbon Lions line-up and they both liked to have a crack at goal when they got the opportunity. Big Tommy was electronically judged to have had the hardest shot back then when he clocked 71-miles-per-hour in some radar test set up by a newspaper. Bobby wouldn’t have been far off that figure, either.
The thing about Chopper, though, was his ability to flight the ball into top corners. He would shape as if to blast the ball from the edge of the box and defenders would be throwing themselves in the way. At the last moment, though, he would relax, sell them a dummy, and then almost nonchalantly flick a ball goalwards. I recall him doing that exact thing in a league match against Rangers at Celtic Park on September 17, 1966. I was a Hearts player at the time, but I saw the game later that night on television, not realising I would soon be lining up alongside Bobby.
If memory serves correctly, Bertie Auld slammed in the first goal in the opening minute and only a matter of a couple of minutes later, Bobby was about 25 yards out. Again, he took control of the ball, drew back his right foot in his usual manner and then, without breaking stride or taking a second look, simply floated an unsaveable effort high into the top left hand corner. That was typical of the man, though. Sheer class.
STEVIE CHALMERS:
Folk have often asked how I celebrated our European Cup triumph. They always look a wee bit disappointed when I tell them I spent it in an empty hotel with Bobby! Let me hastily explain.
I roomed with Bobby at our rather splendid hotel in Estoril and after the game we both went back and got ready for the specially-prepared banquet with all the UEFA delegates and so on. The beaten Inter Milan players were there, too, but they really looked as though they would have preferred to be somewhere else. Can’t blame them.
Anyway, our wives had travelled over to Lisbon and were staying in a different hotel from the players. They were scheduled to travel back that night and Celtic were due to fly into Glasgow the following day. Anyway, after the banquet, Bobby and I saw our wives, said our farewells, wished them a safe journey home and then made our way back to our hotel. After a wee while we decided to get some shut-eye. It had been a long and fairly exhausting day and we knew something special would be waiting for us at home. How special we couldn’t possibly have known at the time.
So, we decided to get tucked up in our beds and no sooner had we put our heads on the pillows than there was a banging at our hotel room door. “Hurry up, get up,” ordered Jock Stein. “There’s been a problem with your wives’ plane. The flight’s been cancelled. The girls have nowhere to stay. You’ll have to give them your beds!”
So, a bleary-eyed Bobby and I dutifully gave up our accommodation for our wives only to find there was no room at the inn for us. And the guys with whom we had made history that same day weren’t at all interested in letting us bunk up with them. So, there you have it. Bobby and I were booted out and had an empty hotel to ourselves. I couldn’t think of better company.
BERTIE AULD:
I loved playing alongside this boy; he could do everything. He could tackle, he could shoot and he could pass. Everything Bobby Murdoch did was stamped with class and authority. His vision was phenomenal and you would have had to go far to actually meet a nicer bloke.
Bobby’s career really took off when Jock Stein came back to the club. He gave the players the licence to go out and tackle, to go for 50/50 balls when, beforehand, the management never used to encourage that. From my own experience I can tell you that you were inclined to get dropped from the team if you got involved in a bit of needle or suchlike. There seemed to be a puritanical presence about the place at the time. Jock, though, believed the game was a contact sport and the ball was there to be won.
The Boss would take his players aside and continually tell us: “Win the battle and you’ll win the game.” Simple enough words, but the previous management just about frowned on these sort of things. Look, the Lisbon Lions were all good guys, but we knew how to look after ourselves.
Jock gave Bobby the confidence to go into challenges without thinking he might be dropped the following week if he possibly collided with his opponent. Can you imagine that? Big Jock, of course, actively encouraged you to play with adventure, but you’re not likely to achieve too much if you haven’t got the ball, are you?
Jock Stein gave Bobby Murdoch the freedom to express himself and I don’t think the player let anyone down. Ever.
BOBBY LENNOX:
I thought Bobby was Celtic’s best player in Lisbon. I can’t give him a higher tribute than that, can I? Of course, he had plenty of competition for that honour with my wee pal Jimmy Johnstone, Bertie Auld, Tommy Gemmell and anyone else you care to mention really turning it on that day. But it was Bobby for me; a real 10 out of 10 performance.
He had all the talent in the world and he could also be very aggressive when need be. I mean in a sporting manner, but Bobby was never interested in an opponent trying to boss him around out on the field. That was his domain and he didn’t invite anyone in there.
We all know what he contributed against Inter Milan. That, I swear, was one the most selfless displays I have ever seen. He was carrying that injury, but he was still all over the place trying to galvanise the rest of the team. Just ask Big Billy or John Clark. When they got the ball he wanted it immediately. Luggy seemed to have a lot of the ball that day, as I recall. He would do his sweeping up as Inter’s rare attacks came to nothing and he would look around for someone to pass to. Bobby was always there.
I am sure Bobby was as happy for me as I was for him when we lifted that European Cup. We had grown up together at Celtic Park. I signed two years after him, but, even as a young man, you could see he was going to go all the way to the top. You can’t disguise that sort of quality.
IN WITH A SHOUT…Jock Stein has a word with Inter Milan boss Helenio Herrera before the game.
https://ift.tt/2rHXGSW
0 notes
Last Seen Blogs
overheard-in-hawkins
overheard in hawkins
ivan-isnt-terrible
Saltier than Carthage
imenox
Sans titre
animc
daydream;
giriguy102-blog
외로움을 달래는 공간