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#i know mike Flanagan is on here so on the off chance he sees this like. no shade man genuinely big fan of your work
kingcriccket · 7 months
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The thing about the fall of the house of usher is that like. I think Mike Flanagan is a great character writer but... somehow maybe not a very good horror writer? Which I know is an insane take given his body of work but like. He's great with suspense, but when that tension finally breaks, at least in Usher, it tends to feel kind of... stupid rather than scary.
Which means you're watching all of these interesting, horrible people play off of one another in excellent ways, portrayed by excellent actors, as they unerringly make their ways towards extremely obviously telegraphed and kind of stupid deaths.
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Mouthful
Pairing: Ethan Landry x female! reader
Summary: After a very special encounter at Chad's party, Ethan decided to reach again
Genre(s): pre-smut (?), fluff
Warnings: cursing, mentions of a blow job
Taglist: @seriluvsya @h34rtsformilli @bella7866 , join here
A/N: I'm sorry for being a fucking tease, I just have no idea how to continue it
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Gif credits to whom it belongs
𝙼𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚒��� 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚘𝚗
REQUESTS CLOSED
THIS IS NOT FREE USE, YOU CANNOT USE MY WORK
Reblog if you like
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"I- I told you, I don't do one-night stands," he desperately argued.
"I told you I did, and you still agreed," you tilted your head.
He sighed.
"Calm down baby girl-"
"Could you please stop calling me that?!" he whispered-yelled, looking around to make sure no one heard you.
"Why?" You were still looking through the bookstands.
"I don't like nicknames as it is, especially not that one,"
"Oh," you stopped, "I wasn't replacing your name with anything, Ethan, I'm just pointing out one of your many characteristics," you turned to him, eyes finally on him.
He readjusted his backpack nervously, avoiding the powerful gaze.
"What? You're seriously gonna stand here and straight-up lie to yourself and say you're not baby girl?"
He adorably blushed from the apple to his cheeks, to his ears, reaching all the way down to his neck, "That's-" he tried to snap out of it, "That's not the point,"
"You were the one who brought it up," you shrugged resuming your search, "Besides, you can barely call that a one-night stand,"
"What would you call it then?"
"A... consensual exchange of pleasure between two very stressed students,"
"That's a very long way of saying you-" he clenched his jaw.
"I... what? Sucked you off? You're right, although I gotta thank you for that, I'm so much better and mouthfuls now," you winked at him, "Great stamina by the way," you hit his shoulder.
"Listen," he placed himself in front of you, "I know you don't give a shit, but I do,"
You took a deep breath.
"It was a big deal to me,"
You couldn't help but slightly cringe, but gave him a chance anyway, he looked so desperate you almost felt bad for him, "I ask again, why?"
"Because," he cleared his throat, "It was the first time that's ever happened to me," he confessed, his tone barely above a whisper.
You were taken aback, "Bullshit!"
Someone from a few rows back let out a loud 'Shh'
He apologized before looking back at you with comical confusion, "What do you mean bullshit?"
"It means you're a fucking liar,"
"Why would I lie about that?"
"I- I-" you shook your head, "I don't know, but I just- I don't believe you,"
"I don't know whether to feel flattered or offended," he let out.
"There's just no damn way you're a virgin,"
"What-" he scratched his head, "What makes you say that?" he put his hand in his pockets while pursing his lips.
"Uh," you were still shocked, "Your- your face, for one," you gestured, "Puppy eyes, fleshy lips," you kept thinking, "For fucks sake, Ethan, you're a swimmer!" you kept moving your hands, "I've seen you in a fucking speedo, water dripping, you're a 6 foot something muscular eye candy!" you laughed in disbelief, "You're sweet, you're super freakishly smart, you've read, Jane Austen, Agatha Christi, and Leigh fucking Bardugo; sure, you're Starwars fan and you know way too much about Mike Flanagan, but come on! Anyone and I really mean, anyone would gladly overlook that," you tried to recover your breath, "So yeah, I'm sorry for not beliving you about being a virgin,"
He furrowed his brows, "When did you see me in my speedo?"
"That's the part you're focused on after I ranted about how great of a fucking catch you are?" You widened your eyes, "You're unbelievable, I meant that both as a good and a bad thing," you pushed him out of your way, "And to answer your question, I walked a friend who's on the female swim team to her practice yesterday, I'm not a fucking stalker for Christ's sake," you clarified, "And the rest of information you told me yourself,"
You referred to two nights ago when Chad threw his birthday party, he actually introduced the two of you that same night, he thought complaining about schoolwork was enough to make a good match.
You sat on top of one of the tables, "Look, I'm sorry for... seducing you if you will, and then leaving without a trace," you couldn't completely hide the fakness.
He looked down, "Thank you, for the apology and confidence boost,"
You chuckled, "I meant all of it,"
He nodded trying to hide his very strong flush.
You scanned the boy infront of you, a part of you didn't wish to see him after the 'incident' let alone talk to him, but if you had to be honest with yourself, you were more than glad to have him chasing you around campus all day trying to find even a speck of courage to walk up to you. There was a slight moment of excitment in your eyes, as you noticed he was struggling with himself wether to stay or not, he made his choice by resignating to place his bag on the table next to the one you chose, you knew what he was doing, trying to make it seem as he planned all along to work here and 'conincidentally' run into you. You made your choice as well, by getting up and snatching the notebook out of his hands.
"Obviously you have fucking good hand-writing," you scoffed leafing through it, "And is that-" your eyes squinted, "Fountain pen?"
"Y-yeah," he aswered.
"Of course it is," you pulled out a chair to continue your observation in a more comfortably postition.
Ethan didn't know you that well, but he sure as hell wasn't going to try and take something from you, so he just proceeded to grab another set of things for another homework. You on the other hand, wasted no time in reaching the very end of the pages, where the good stuff was, the free space whre everyone draws terrible sketches, writes pending tasks or random thoughts in any way shape or form; and yet it seemed he didn't have anything, just purely white paper. You rolled your eyes, there had to be more to him, something to make him more interesting that the perfect and sweet guy you gave a blowie to, something that could justify why you wanted to fuck him so badly right now, the urge had to be justified with something else than the cutest nerd you'd ever seen, but he didn't seem to help you.
In a breef moment of boredom, you wondered about his intentions, more specifically why he wanted to talk to you in te first place, what would he win out of an apology or simply a glimpse of regret? Did he regret it? Maybe. Perhaps he didn't regret what happened (clearly not by the way he was moaning so loud you were sure the entire crowd heard him), perhaps he just regreted there was no chance it could happen again.
"Ethan," you said softly, eyes filled with intention, feline almost.
"What?" he turned to you.
"I know you're not here to make me feel bad," you reached the cover of his book and slowly closed it, purposely making your bodies closer, to which you heard his breath hitched, "Would you like to walk me back to my apartment?"
He gulped, "Aren't- aren't your roommates there?"
"On a friday night?" You asked rhetorically, "What a silly question for such a smart little brain,"
.
.
.
Lmk if I should do a part two, I just don't know how to continue it so if you have any ideas pls send them it would really help a lot
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n30nkn1ght · 3 months
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Currently reading The Haunting of Hill House (which yay me because I've not been able to easily read books for years) by Shirley Jackson because I am a MASSIVE fan of Mike Flanagan's Netflix adaptation, and I'm currently having So Many Thoughts. I'm only halfway through the book at the moment, so my initial thoughts are liable to have incorrect conclusions/misinterpretations.
Eleanor is everything to me. Like. She makes me physically ill. The way the second line in her introduction is "The only person in the world she genuinely hated, now that her mother was dead, was her sister," has me actually foaming at the mouth. Going from a mild statement in her first sentence that simply states her age to that--you're shitting me. It catches you wrong-footed right off the bat, and gives an explanation (and later an expansion) of why she is the way she is.
Eleanor is very child-like (I don't think the word childish quite does her justice) and naive to the ways of the world. She finds beauty and fairy tales in the mundane; she finds freedom and has anxiety about the ordinary. She finds a car trip, which to many is boring and arduous, to be an adventure. Because to her, it is; because of the years she spent caring for her cruel, ill mother, she both never got the chance to grow up, and doesn't seem to have had a real chance to be a kid.
Now, she lives alone, in her own barren apartment. She finally has something that is hers--yet, from the description she gives Theodora of it, she seems as much a ghost there as she was when living with her mother. That's a common theme here, I think; tragedy has long fallen Hill House, but the tragic accidents and suicide there all those years ago is not what makes it haunted. Hill House was born broken. It was rotten from the start. It may or may not be filled with ghosts, that does not matter; the house itself is a corpse rotted--yet still alive. In her own house, in her own life, Eleanor is alive, and yet a ghost.
There is a moment that deeply resonants with me in this book. Eleanor has only known the Dr. Montague, Theodora, and Luke for an evening, and she starts thinking about her red shoes;
"...what a complete and separate thing I am, individually an I, possessed of attributes belonging only to me. I have red shoes, she thought--that goes with being Eleanor; I dislike lobster and sleep on my left side and crack my knuckles when I am nervous and save buttons. I am holding a brandy glass which is mine because I am here and I am using it and I have a place in this room. I have red shoes and tomorrow I will wake up and I will still be here."
It's like this is the first time she is realizing these things about herself; rather, this is the first time she is seeing herself as an individual, a person as worthy of being here as any other. She doesn't know the doctor and Theodora and Luke, not really, but she already sees them as a facsimile of a family. They all have their places at the tables; they all have their roles to play in this investigation of Hill House. She feels.. content, in a way; happy, hopeful.
I start clawing at the walls every time I remember how she is doomed by the narrative. Eleanor will not get that happy family from these strangers. Eleanor will likely not get much that is happy. She is alive; she is a ghost. I fear that the house will want to keep her. I fear that she will not be one to escape it.
I am only halfway through this book, but i have seen all of Mike Flanagan's The Haunting of Hill House Netflix show. Multiple times. Often on repeat. Nellie, Flanagan's adaption of Eleanor, is just as doomed by the narrative... but perhaps in a more blatant way. I do now know how the book will end, but I do know what came of Nellie in the show. How tragic he made it! I do not believe (I hope) that the crooked-necked woman is not literally Eleanor in the book (if indeed that ghost makes an appearance here), but I have no idea what is coming!
Maybe I'll continue this analysis once I complete the book, maybe I won't. But my brain is literally exploding with thoughts! So far, it looks like Flanagan brought the themes and tragedy and Eleanor's delusions into the literal for the show, so I'm excited to see where the book goes! OK that's enough word vomit for now.
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aion-rsa · 3 years
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Midnight Mass Ending Explained
https://ift.tt/39I2zkp
This article contains spoilers for Midnight Mass.
Ending a horror story is hard.
Perhaps no one knows that better than Mike Flanagan, the writer-director behind horror hits like Doctor Sleep, The Haunting of Hill House, and The Haunting of Bly Manor. After observing the occasional less-than-enthusiastic reaction to the endings of some of his other projects, Flanagan decided to end his latest, Netflix series Midnight Mass, on his own terms.
“I didn’t want to come up with an ending that I thought would please people,” Flanagan told Den of Geek and other outlets prior to Midnight Mass’s premiere. “I wanted to come up with the ending that would have the most to say down the line.”
So what, exactly, does the ending of Midnight Mass have to say? Let’s explain just what goes down in the conclusion of Midnight Mass and assess what it all means. 
What’s Up with Mildred Gunning and John Pruitt?
Monsignor John Pruitt a.k.a. Father Paul (Hamish Linklater) was, by all indications, a good Christian man. 
“The thing we kept coming back to is that authentically, through-and-through evil people are very rare. We’re all way more complicated. The humanity of Father Paul was something that was baked in relatively early,” Flanagan says.
Though Pruitt is not a bad man, per se, he is a deeply flawed one. A long time ago, before the “war” (probably World War II or The Korean War), Pruitt hooked up with the married Mildred Gunning and fathered their daughter Sarah Gunning out of wedlock. That is obviously a big no-no for a priest and Pruitt lived with the guilt of denying his daughter for decades. 
Pruitt finally got a chance to alleviate that guilt when he came across a curious creature in Damascus. In this fictional universe where the concept of a vampire is clearly not well known, John Pruitt made the understandable mistake of confusing a monstrous vampire for an equally monstrous angel. After all, the angels of the bible are so visually terrifying that they make a habit of telling those they visit “be not afraid.” 
Pruitt thought this angel had granted him the gift of eternal life, just like the Bible promises. He then decides to share that gift with his congregation. The priest’s major sin here though is pride. He didn’t share the angel’s gift with his congregation out of pure benevolence. He did it because he wanted many more years of life in his prime with Mildred and Sarah at his side. Catholicism means everything to Pruitt. And yet, he would cast it all aside for another chance to have the family he wanted. 
“If you showed up and asked me, I would have taken this collar off and gone with you. Gone with you anywhere in the world,” Pruitt tells Mildred after she’s been vampirified. 
That’s a touching sentiment from the artist formerly known as Father Paul but it’s unfortunately a destructive one.
“When it became clear that Paul could do bad things with pure motives, the show came into clearer focus. There’s only one character in the whole show who I think is evil and it’s not Father Paul,” Flanagan says.
Only one character who is evil? Who could Flanagan be referr….ohhh.
What Were the Vampires’ Plans?
Flanagan actually never confirms which character he sees as evil, but Bev Keane (Samantha Sloyan) seems to be the best fit…unless we count the angel, and he just seems to be a hungry, growing boy.
Bev is, let’s say, a real piece of work. As beautifully depicted by Sloyan, Bev Keane is the officious church lady who can’t keep her nose out of other people’s business. After Mildred talks some sense into John Pruitt, he understands that he and his congregation “are the wolves” and refuses to participate further. That leaves a power vacuum at the top, which Bev is more than happy to step into. 
Read more
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Midnight Mass Cast: Previous Credits From Hill House to Bly Manor, Legion & Sherlock
By Louisa Mellor
Now that Bev has a veritable army of superpowered vampires what does she intend to do with them? The same thing that all Bevs want to do: make more Bevs. Bev represents the worst of colonial Christianity and its historical penchant for converting all to its kingdom of heaven…through any means necessary.
When Erin Greene (Kate Siegel) finds out that Bev and friends have merely disabled the boats and not destroyed them, she realizes that their ultimate plan is to eventually take their vampire party to the mainland and create a whole planet of enlightened Christians who just happy to have an insatiable taste for blood and a severe UV-ray allergy. 
What Happens to Crockett Island?
Thankfully, Bev’s ultimate goal never comes to pass thanks to the careful plotting of the handful of human beings left in Crockett Island. Erin Greene, Sarah Gunning (Annabeth Gish), Sheriff Hassan (Rahul Kohli), and Annie Flynn (Kirstin Lehman) get to work on finishing the destruction that Bev started.
Ironically, it’s part of Bev’s plan that eventually dooms her and her kind. When one of Bev’s lackeys proposes putting out a fire that the human crew started because the whole island could burn to nothing like in ‘84, Bev’s eyes light up.
“I mean…the church didn’t burn in ‘84,” she says.
Surely this is Revelation. And Revelation means a hale mixed with fire and blood. There will be a flood of fire that ends the world and St. Patrick’s church will be the arc. That’s a great plan and all…as long as something doesn’t happen to the arc.
Welp. Sarah Gunning burns down St. Patrick’s and Sheriff Hassan and Erin Greene (with an assist from Hassan’s son) burn down the rec center. As if burning a church designated as an arc wasn’t symbolically compelling enough, recall that the rec center next to it is equally as symbolic of Bev’s greed. It was Bev who convinced Crockett Island to take the oil company’s money for ruining their island rather than pursuing litigation. And all they got out of that settlement money was that stupid rec center.
With the church and the rec center gone, there are no man-made structures for the vampires to hide from the sun in the coming morning. And that’s how an entire island of 120-ish vampires perishes simultaneously when the sun rises. 
Why Do Leeza and Warren Survive? 
All of Crockett Island perishes save for two actually. Warren Flynn (Igby Rigney) and Leeza Scarborough (Annarah Cymone) are spared thanks to some quick thinking. Putting the only two remaining non-vampirized children in harm’s way is not an option for Erin, Sarah, Hassan, and Annie. Thankfully, Warren knows of one secret canoe to reach the “Uppards” that Bev’s crew wouldn’t know about. 
The canoe doesn’t take Warren and Leeza to the mainland but it does get them away from the carnage to come. The last shot of the series is Warren and Leeza floating peacefully and Leeza announcing that she can no longer feel her legs. This means that the last bit of “angel” blood has likely left her system and with it Pruitt’s vampire legacy is over. 
Saving Warren and Leeza has practical, emotional implications for Midnight Mass’s characters but it also has some symbolic ones as well. The concept of witnessing and witnesses themselves are very important in the Bible. As a second-hand text (though purportedly with every word inspired by God) there would be no gospel without witnesses. Good news is only half the battle. Someone to witness and report on the good news is the other half. Now Warren and Leeza can report on the ultimate good news that the world is saved.
The fact that the kids survive while the adults succumb to their own adult nonsense has some major implications for Midnight Mass’s creator 
“That last moment of the next generation looking out at the ashes of what the grown ups made – that’s what my kids are gonna get no matter what,” Flanagan says. “That’s what all of our kids are gonna get. I wish it wasn’t as on fire as it it. But it really is. We’re never going to be able to explain adequately to our children what happened to the planet they inherited.”
What Happens to the Angel?
With all of Crockett Island burned to the ground, the world’s vampire nightmare is over, right? Well that depends on how well you think an angel can fly with torn wings. No, that’s not an aphorism or a poem, it’s the real question facing the end of Midnight Mass.
As if saving Warren and Leeza and upending Bev Keane’s plans weren’t enough, Erin leaves one last little gift for humanity before she dies. While the angel attacks her and drinks her sweet, sweet blood, Erin begins systematically, yet carefully cutting holes in its leathery wings. At first the angel is kind of annoyed but his hunger supersedes any level of discomfort or pain he’s feeling. 
Later on, while Warren and Leeza watch their home burn they see the angel flying away but in a halted, loopy pattern. The kids aren’t sure if the beast will have time to find shelter before the sun rises. According to Flanagan, if Midnight Mass is a parable (and he assures us it is) then the ultimate lesson of all this isn’t too hard to glean. 
“The angel doesn’t represent vampirism or horror but corruption in any belief system,” he says. “It represents fundamentalism and fanaticism. That’s never gonna go away. You might chase it away from your community for a minute. You might send it off to the sunrise and hope that that corrupting ideology will disappear. But it won’t. And the show could never show the angel die for that reason.”
With that in mind, the angel’s flawed flight pattern isn’t so much Inception’s spinning top but rather a promise that evil will find a way. And then we puny human beings will just have to find a way to stop it all over again. If that’s not Biblical then we don’t know what is.
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All seven episodes of Midnight Mass are available to stream on Netflix now.
The post Midnight Mass Ending Explained appeared first on Den of Geek.
from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3ERuGMp
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The Shining by Stephen King
"'People who shine can sometimes see things that are gonna happen, and I think sometimes they can see things that did happen. But they're just like pictures in a book.'"
Year Read: 2006, 2019
Rating: 4/5
About: After a series of mistakes leaves them on the verge of poverty, the Torrance family has a chance at a fresh start when Jack takes a job as the caretaker at the Overlook hotel. Nestled in the Colorado mountains, the Overlook is cut off from human contact in the winter months, giving Jack time to work on his writing. But as the Torrances grow more isolated, first with no phones and then with no roads, they realize that something else lives in the Overlook, something old and evil that won't rest until it's claimed them all, particularly their young son, Danny, who has a gift for clairvoyance. Trigger warnings: death, parent/child death, abuse/abusive households, physical/verbal abuse, violence, threats, mild gore, some body horror, dismemberment, blood, severe injury, broken bones, fires, car accidents, alcoholism, mental illness.
Thoughts: I read this when I was a teenager, and I remember thinking it was about average but that I preferred the Kubrick movie, which I found much scarier. While I still believe the latter is true, the former isn't, and it just goes to show that the things I value in fiction have changed drastically over the past ten years. I'll agree with the masses that The Shining is a classic and a necessary part of the haunted house genre as a whole and, that while King is a master of horror, he's also a master of character, and that's what makes his novels really work. The characters in The Shining aren't on the level of those from It or Dreamcatcher (at least not for me), and though I complain about the length of these novels, I still come away feeling like I have a relationship with them--and that's no small accomplishment.
I've yet to meet a King novel in the past couple of years that didn't feel long-winded to me, and The Shining is no exception. Maybe I've adjusted too well to the fast-paced action hero movie era that we're in, but I stand by my long-held belief that a book needs a very good reason to be over five hundred pages. I enjoyed the slow-paced beginning of the novel, getting to know the main characters individually and as a family, and establishing all the necessary backstory that leads them to the Overlook, as well as how financially devastating it would be for them to leave. Somewhere in the middle though, my interest flagged. I'd had enough backstory, and nothing remotely frightening had happened for three hundred pages.
I'm not sure if I'm supposed to like Jack Torrance or whether, given all the circuitous backstory we have on him, I'm supposed to empathize with him. I may have had flashes of empathy here and there, but on the whole, he's a character who makes bad, often impulsive decisions and then wallows in self-pity about them. His acceptance of responsibility is ambivalent. I imagined how things would go for the Torrances had they never gone to the Overlook, and I can't help feeling that, regardless of haunted hotels, Jack is a character bent on self-destruction. The Overlook simply speeds it up.
If the novel failed to make me empathize with its self-pitying lead male, it won me over completely with its female heroine and character of color. I've been complaining that horror novel mothers (largely written by men) don't have a fraction of the necessary protective instincts for their kids, but Wendy Torrance puts them all to shame. If she starts out waffling and maybe too willing to overlook (ha) Jack's mistakes, she's ends up a powerhouse who fights him tooth and nail to protect her son. I also like Danny a lot, and I think King accurately captures the voice of a child who knows more than most adults but, given his age, doesn't understand all of it--all without making him come over too wise or too simplistic. Then there's Dick Hallorann, the unsung hero of The Shining. He's a sixty-year-old black man with more grit than anyone on the page, and I enjoyed how well the novel describes his struggles to reach the Overlook in a blizzard to stop something horrible from happening to a child he met once.
I never understood why King disliked the film version so much, but I get it now. It's true that Jack Nicholson made the role of Jack Torrance iconic, but it's also true that The Shining isn't wholly about Jack Torrance. It's just as much Danny, Wendy, and Dick's story as it is Jack's, but there's no room for anyone else on the screen when Nicholson is there. In terms of scares, I still think the Kubrick film is more overtly terrifying, and it rightly left out the frankly ridiculous moving hedge animals. The terror in the novel is more insidious, focused more on a loved one losing his mind and becoming violent than actual ghosts (though there are some of those as well). The last two hundred pages ramp up and never slow down, and it bumped my rating up from a skeptical three to a solid four. I far prefer the ending of the novel to the one in the film, and it more than pays off for its somewhat meandering middle. I'm planning to read Doctor Sleep next month in preparation for the film, which already looks fantastic (all hail Mike Flanagan). In all, I'm very glad I gave this another shot.
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jodiwalker · 6 years
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TATBT Recommends: 'The Haunting of Hill House,' AKA, Spooky 'Parenthood'
"Ghosts can be a lot of things: a memory, a daydream... but most times they're just what we want to see."
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**This article originally appeared in the TATBT newsletter. No spoilers beyond the first episode!**
Steven Crain uses these words to undermine the idea of "real" ghosts in the earliest moments of this ghost story, immediately establishing himself as The Haunting of Hill House’s skeptical audience surrogate (although I trust that we are all much less of a drag than Steve, while simultaneously being just as hot as him).
Series creator Mike Flanagan then spends the next 10 episodes proving to us and to Steven, in the most frightening ways possible, that just because the ghosts of Hill House can be explained doesn't make them any less real — and no amount of logical explanation can rid Steven or his family of the ghosts that bind them together. Trauma is not logic-bound, and neither are the scars it leaves behind.
The Haunting of Hill House dropped on Netflix a week ago, and while I knew it would be an extremely loose adaptation of Shirley Jackson's fearsome 1959 gothic horror novel of the same name, I surely could not have guessed that the malleable nature of that adaptation would turn this haunted house story into what I've been referring to as...Spooky Parenthood.
And that’s a compliment. Prepare yourself for a gushing recommendation,; although I do discourage you from watching Hill House with the lights off, a full bladder, or in the near vicinity of anything that casts a shadow. The list of things that made me do a double-take, followed by a full 20-second stare down to see if they moved again include: the shadow of a sink faucet, every open door in my house, and the reflection of my own face in the TV when I finally turned Hill House off.
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The Haunting of Hill House follows the Crain family at two different points in their lives: the summer when they briefly lived in a gorgeous, super haunted Victorian manor that was "born bad," and then 26 years later when a great tragedy forces them to reckon with the ways in which that house never left them, no matter how long ago they left it. The nonlinear nature of this family story might lend itself more glaringly to a This Is Us comparison, but the thing is...I'm the one making said comparison, and I think Parenthood is a far superior family drama to This Is Us.
And The Haunting of Hill House is, indeed, an excellent family drama. Who knew?! I love a good scare, especially around Halloween, so I set into Hill House expecting to do a little doom, make a little ghost, get scared tonight. All those things happened, but I also found myself crying repeatedly — a reaction to entertainment I both cherish and live in fear of. The cleverness of this series is that Flanagan understands that horror can be doubly horrifying when its rooted in care.
After getting to know the Crain family, you don't just want these people not to be tormented by ghosts because ghosts are the worst; you don't want them not to be tormented by ghosts because you care for them, in that same complicated way they care for each other in the midst of their own grief and tragedy.
The scares of Hill House aren’t just frightening...they’re sad. And surely there is nothing more frightening than despair. So the question remains: can you enjoy watching a series that asks you to repeatedly bare your second-hand soul in a sea of self-reflective human tears? 
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Parenthood and The Haunting of Hill House say yes you can, and you will probably love it all the more precisely because of that emotional connection.
With style and empathy, Hill House coaxes viewers into caring for a family who turn away from their shared trauma and mental health at every turn. It makes you care for them so hard, you won't even give up on them when those turns so often reveal floating men in bowler hats and long-haired ladies with disturbing 90-degree angles in their necks.
Because of that time spent cowering under beds and around corners with the terrorized younger Crains, you understand why older Luke would turn to drugs; why Shirley would build up walls so steep no one can get in; why Theo would give so much to her work and so little to herself; why Nell would find the allure of her mother's own mysterious demise irresistible in the wake of numbing personal tragedy; and why Steve...
Well, Steve is just kind of sanctimonious and rude, but he's an eldest child with a superiority complex, and when building a family drama, it's important to depict accurate family dynamics. We need look no further than Adam and Kristina Braverman to know that just because someone is annoying doesn't mean they're not bringing a necessary ingredient to the familial table.
Sorry oldest children. — signed, ME, an endlessly lovable youngest child; a more reliable Crosby, if you will.
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Of course, the youngest child in this scenario is Nell, a touch on the unreliable side because at only 6-years-old when her parents moved her to Hill House, she and her twin Luke were most vulnerable the spectral happenings within. A child cannot use logic or happenstance to explain away what's right in front of them — they can only see what's there. It's no surprise that being told what’s right in front of you is actually all in your head could leave psychological scars so lasting they'd lead grown-up Nell to...
Well, you’ll see.
If you don't like horror or earnestness, there's a good chance you won't like The Haunting of Hill House. But if you like even one of those things, this weird hybrid of a series might just sway you into liking the other. To call it "fun" would not exactly be correct on account of all the oppressive grief and sorrow and whatnot. But it thrills in that way only a truly spooky story can, and the family at its center is so thoroughly engaging.
Undoubtedly, life is a far more difficult journey for the Crains than it was for the Bravermans, but I am here to tell you, the healing that awaits them at the end of this battle is worth the fights and frights, if you’re willing to take the trip with them.
Oh that's right — this show is scary as hell and it gets a (mostly) happy ending. A few other helpful things to know going in:
THE CASTING
I've said repeatedly that Flanagan takes his time establishing empathy for the Crain family through recognizable sibling dynamics, and familial grief and devotion, but there is one thing he employs that establishes connection immediately...
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The Crains are all smokin’ gorgeous, starting with their parents played by Henry Thomas in a pair of spooky-but-whatever-I'm-into-it blue contacts and Carla Gugino who has been maybe the most beautiful woman in the world for like 20 years running. The woman does not age, she just spawns cute little versions of herself who grow up to be beautiful, haunted adult iterations of herself. And the only thing I like more than a group of unreasonably hot characters...
Is the perfect casting of miniature versions of those characters. Seriously, I know y'all like This Is Us, but eat your fucking heart out Mandy Moore's painted-on wrinkles. The kids in that show are cute and they bear a passing resemblance to their adult counterparts, sure, but look at this:
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Elizabeth Reaser (grown-up Shirley) and Lulu Wilson (l'il Shirley and also Camille's ghost sister in Sharp Objects) look...exactly alike??? It is wild. And it just goes on from there...
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I've hardly even mentioned Theo, the coolest Crain sibling by far, played by the impossibly gorgeous Kate Siegel in full-size, and by the most prolific child actor of her generation, McKenna Grace, in fun-size.
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I have mentioned Steve, but it's worth noting that much of his insufferable adult characteristics are assuaged by the fact that his younger self (Paxton Singleton) is a highly endearing little preteen nugget, and his older self is played by hot ass Michiel Huisman pretending to be a nerd by always carrying around a pair of lucite-framed glasses, but never actually wearing them.
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And, oh the twins; these poor, poor twins who have just the most adorable faces, you can almost understand how a ghost would want to get all up in there for a squeeze. Given all these Honey-I-Shrunk-the-Actor magic tricks, it could only be intentional that tiny bespectacled Luke (Julian Hilliard who must have Jacob Tremblay absolutely shaking) grows up to be Oliver Jackson-Cohen who could legitimately play Captain America post-experiment. 
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The camera spends a lot of its 10-hour run time zoomed-in on the face of little Nelly (Violet McCraw), so it's a delight every time you're struck once more by how much grown-up Nell (Victoria Pedretti) looks exactly like an enlarged version of her child self...even if every zoom of grown-up Nell is not a delight in and of itself.
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That’s from the first episode! It’s not a spoiler, really! You’ll just have to watch!
IT'S THE SUMMER OF 1992
The Mall of America is opening, Ross Perot thinks he should run for President, and the Crain family have just moved to Hill House with intentions of flipping it to make enough money for their "forever home." It's difficult to immediately tell what time period the Crains are in when they move into Hill House because Olivia, the warm but occasionally possessed Crain mother is prone to swanning around the drafty mansion in velvet robes and wedges.
So, sometimes you might feel like it's 1970, but knowing from the beginning that it's 1992 could be helpful to your viewing experience.
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The present-day timeline is 26 years later, and this will make it all the more curious as to why they brought in Timothy Hutton to play a 26-years-later Henry Thomas when Timothy Hutton is only 10 years older than Henry Thomas, but...should I just show you the young-and-old Shirley comparison again, and what say we forget all about this misstep??
THIS IS EPISODIC TELEVISION
The first five episodes of Hill House are building blocks, each one told from a different Crain sibling's perspective. I don't normally like to say this because it can make a viewer hyper-aware of their own viewing experience, but you gotta stay vigilant when there are ghouls peeking out from every dark corner anyway, so here goes: Just give it a few episodes! You might not find yourself enthralled in the first one or two, but the build is so enjoyable along the way. Y'know, if you find secondhand suffering and personal terror enjoyable (I doooo).
And once you make it to episode 5 — Nell's episode — you might not shake it for days. I certainly would not recommend watching it right before bedtime or in any sort of rush. I can think of few other entertainment experiences so suspenseful and conclusive; so terrifying and moving all at once.
And that emotional climax makes the perfect entry point to the marathon that is episode 6, which plays out like a stage production in only five continuous shots, the longest one running 17 minutes straight.
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And this is where I warn you that some people who have loved the series have not loved the final episode. I am not one of those people because I'm sappy as hell and I love a perfectly tied ribbon around an oozing, molding, rotten, terror-wrapped package.
No, the emotion-heavy resolution of Hill House is not subtle, but family resolutions rarely are. They take time, and work, and they cannot be passive. Deep wounds — cuts that have been kept open for a lifetime — must be healed with intention. The ghosts that have haunted the Crain family for decades haven't disappeared by the time the final credits roll, but acknowledging that they were ever there in the first place is comfort enough.
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uhhhhhhokay · 5 years
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My Unpopular Opinions of 2018
This is messy, a bit mean, and full of my mad/irritated feelings. You’ve been warned. No slipping into my asks as an anon to fight with me because I’ve posted this on my account. These are my opinions and I’ve already said that they aren’t that nice to some shows
1) Charmed and Black Lightning are the only good CW shows and it has the best lesbian rep of 2018 (and Rosa from b99 would be the best bisexual rep)
2) Melanie Scrofano/Wynonna Earp is the best part of Wynonna Earp. Honestly lately the rest of the characters for me have either awful or boring or funny but given nothing to do
3) Also even though she’s the main actress, Melanie is somehow the most underrated actress/character in the show. She’s disregarded by so many fans, either in favor of Wayhaught or Doc, and the show treats her like shit by constantly putting her with Doc
4) Descendants fans who pit Dove Cameron and China Anne McClain against each other in the hopes of making the other seem superior are doing absolutely nothing for their careers and are contributing to the unnecessary comparison between successful women
5) Also I don’t care if you don’t like Dove Cameron, but hating her for that Mal/Harry comment she made months ago is so fucking ridiculous. She’s a girl in love who also loves her character, god forbid she make her own headcanons for it, and it wasn’t like she was asking for it to happen (and no she wasn’t disregarding Mal’s current relationship Ben because she was talking about Mal and Harry being exes god damnit) 
6) I can’t believe i have to say this in 2018 BUT STOP WITH THE INCEST STORYLINES! IT AIN’T CREATIVE OR SURPRISING BITCHES JUST GROSS
7) ALSO STOP SHIPPING INCEST GOD PLEASE STOP
8) Timothee Chamalet or whatever his name is, isn’t that great. Like he’s fine I guess but like....Have you seen other actors? I mean, there’s Fady Elsayed, Jack Black, Jordan Renzo, Greg Austin (rip Class), and so many more actors that are, in my opinon, significantly more talented
9) Letterkenny and Galavant are the best comedies out there
10) Riverdale is shit for erasing Jughead’s asexuality and queerbaiting fans at the beginning with Beronica 
11) I’ve said this before, but people disliking Cole Sprouse because of the abuse allegation against him is incredibly valid. 
12) Mike Flanagan, Jordan Peele, and Kate Siegel are the only people I trust to write some bone chilling horror stories 
13) The Haunting of Hill House is better than American Horror Story and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrine combined 
Now it’s time to get serious.....
14) I have no respect and cannot get along with people who talk about how ugly people are 
15) The hellsite is shit for so many reasons but some of its worst qualities are when people take a situation and make it black and white, have zero sympathy or empathy for other people, and twist peoples words and put in meanings that were never there
16) I also hate how how people only care about mental illness when it doesn’t come to their jokes or memes. For example, mental health has been talked about a lot in regards to Ariana Grande, which is good, but once her engagement with Pete Davidson ended, no one hesitated to attack him in almost every way possible even though the man has been very outspoken about his depression. I don’t know shit about Pete Davidson but I’ve seen him relentlessly be attacked and have his depression and suicidal thoughts be joked about. 
17) Stanning is a fucked up culture that we need to leave behind in 2018. There are some celebrities who have a lot of projects that I love and I admire their talent, but the concept of stanning either includes an unhealthy amount of devotion to a celebrity or it erases them as a human being and reduces them down to objects. In some cases, both of these are true. It’s a sick thing for both fans and the celebrities. If a celebrity does something wrong, call them out, and if they don’t listen, well forget it or move on. Cancelling them as if they can be thrown in the garbage and disposed of promotes negativity and hatred, which is doesn’t solve anything, and it can inhibit any growth from that celebrity. They are human and will inevitably fuck up. It’s the only way to learn and grow. 
18) This is about Wynonna Earp but it’s a serious post. I’ve made my thoughts about this show abundantly clear but there is one thing I haven’t talked about at all and that’s the racism in the show and in the fanbase. Disclaimer: I am white. This show hasn’t treated any of their poc or black characters well. The latest example would be the treatment of Dolls and Kate. The last two seasons Doc has had two women of color as his love interests, and both of these characters have been treated as objects to make Wynonna jealous. There is also the lack of story and villainization of these women. There is also the major lack of story with Dolls, which most likely led to Shamier Anderson’s decision to leave. I won’t get into anymore, this is how I’ve always viewed these poor storylines, but I will say this: white fans of Wynonna Earp, we do not get a say on how black viewers should feel about any of these storylines. White lesbians, you would be livid is Waverly or Nicole were killed, and rightfully so. Black people or people of color probably felt the rage you would’ve felt if you lost one of those characters when Dolls was killed off. Telling people to get over it is cruel. If people want to stop watching, that is their right. We have no place in telling them how they should feel about the treatment of their representation. 
19) I made this post a while ago but it holds true: https://uhhhhhhokay.tumblr.com/post/179314393735/shows-with-good-lgbt-rep
20) Everyone needs a break from social media. I know that for some people, it really helps because we have friends on here that we can talk to, but it also has so many negative effects. The real world is nothing like this toxic website. You should take breaks from it every once in a while. You need to get hobbies. You need some other past time than this website. The majority of people on this site aren’t good and everyone should take a breather from it. I take breaks from this site on a regular basis and when I do it feels so fucking good. 
21) Random but The Lodgers is the worst movie ever and it’s an even worse horror movie. Would not recommend. Unless you feel like roasting something for an hour and a half. The only good part about watching that movie was that I watched it with my roommate who I am good friends with and we laughed our asses off and made fun of it so much. It is truly awful. Even though I had a blast roasting it, I will never get that time of my life back. 
22) The Last Jedi does not deserve that 91% on rotten tomatoes. Just like how The Lodgers deserves far less than 56%.
23) Time to get serious again. I get that a lot of us wished that the shows we loved were real, but they aren’t. That’s a fact that everyone needs to realize and accept. To me, hating an actor for their character’s actions is just as fucked up as stanning. They aren’t their character. They are not responsible for the shit their characters pull. They are carrying out the story written for them. As for writers, sometimes the writers do not support their characters actions either. Just because the character is evil or mean or whatever does not always mean that the people who work behind the curtain support that. 
24) Shipping real people and harassing them is sooo inappropriate and messed up. I shouldn’t really have to explain this one but too many people on this site don’t seem to grasp it. I mean, didn’t Harry Styles say a while ago that all the smutty fanfics, tweets, and fanarts about him and his bandmates effect his friendships with him? Him reacting that way is not homophobic, btw. It is him reacting naturally to people fetishizing and sexualizing him and his friends. These are real people. Their relationship, sexuality, and god just so much of their lives is none of our business. They don’t owe us any information about their personal lives. We don’t own them. They are their own people, which also means that they make their own mistakes. 
25) Random again, but original Charmed fans put their show too high of a pedestal. I never got really into show. I tried it, think I watched half of the first season, and I did a little research on it and I was in the fanbase for a hot sec but it was very short. From my research, it seems to me, that for a feminist show, the cast (except Shannon Doherty) was the opposite behind the scenes. I know you can’t help who you don’t like but you can control how you talk about someone, especially to the public, and from what I’ve seen there’s been more negative comments from them about their castmates than positive. I don’t think anyone will know the whole story but to me the feud between the og’s leading ladies has always very catty to me, and it’s gotten even worse with the remake. You can be protective of your show without being rude. You don’t have to support the remake, and you can do that without being rude either. By the way, this is more directed towards Holly Marie Combs, who I believe has been the most outspoken about being against it. Three young actresses are doing the job they love and they were given a chance to be the new charmed ones for a new generation. There is no reason to be so negative about it. It looks even more immature when you see the cast of the original Sabrina who gleefully gave their support to the new cast. 
26) Adults please stop thinking every show is for you. it’s not. Some shows are for kids, some shows are for teenagers, and some shows are for you. If you enjoy the show that’s directed towards a younger audience then that’s great. If you don’t enjoy it, then that’s fine too. What is not fine is you acting like that show was meant for you and tearing it apart and bullying people of that directed age group online. I can’t believe the amount of times I’ve seen some 19-40 year old dipshit on the internet go and bully a 15 year old only because they said they loved a show. That is not only sick and immature but it’s uncalled for. 
27) Also 15 year olds or younger, do not use your age as an excuse to be mean either. You might be young and you will definitely make huge mistakes, but there’s is nothing to justify you telling someone to kill themselves or insulting them just because they don’t like your favorite character or something. You might not be as experienced as some adults, but you’re old enough to know what the fuck you’re doing and how wrong it is. Don’t be cruel and blame it on you being young and stupid. You maybe young and all of us will always be a bit stupid, but that does not excuse your behavior. And @ older people who do that shit too, your older age and power does not excuse your cruelty either. Nothing excuses telling someone to kill themselves. Ever. Especially if it’s over a goddamn tv show. 
28) Can Ryan Murphy please just make one tv show and stick with it until it ends? He has so many great concepts but because he wants to do all of them at once they all go downhill after one season. 
29) On the same but different note, fuck Ryan Murphy for having Violet and Tate get back together. My girl deserves better than a serial killer/rapist that also got her mom killed because he impregnated her with the anti christ. Fuck that.
I never intended this to be so long lol no one will read this
30) The Hormone Monster is literally a metaphor for hormones. Stop twisting it into pedophilia. That show is so sex positive and is so much better than most of the sex ed that we got. 
31) Let’s leave monster fucking behind please
32) Puzzles are a treat to do
33) Funko pops are cute but they make a lot of dumbass decisions regarding which ones to make (like I saw pops of that new nutcracker movie a while before it was released like maybe wait and see how it does first????)
34) Also lets stop thinking of ships/shows as a way to up yourself as more progressive or whatever. We all have our trash shows and ships, stop acting like a saint. Just because someone has a trash ship, does not mean they are lesser than you. 
35) Fanbases are usually always trash. This didn’t change at all in 2018. 
36) Class’s first season was significantly better than Torchwoods first season. You guys are just mean. 
37) While I adore Class, Patrick Ness’s dialogue was really YIKES sometimes (the Charlie April deleted scene nearly killed me). Overall it was good though because it was the closest depiction of how teens speak.
38) Also any teen drama show that has a teen speak seriously in a hashtag should burn in hell (if a hashtag is used in dialogue as joke then it’s fine because it’s funny)
39) An actor being on a show you don’t like does not warrant hate
40) It’s been two years since Class but still, fuck the dw fans who were/are so mean to the class actors, especially Vivian Oparah and Sophie Hopkins. 
I think that’s it.
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braindeanfan-blog · 5 years
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HEY PUMPKIN- TAKE A FRIGHT FEST THIS HALLOWEEN WITH TOP HORROR MOVIES
For horror addicts, by horror addict
It’s the pumpkin and candy season and while the majority is getting in the Halloween spirits with pumpkin carving tips, spooky costume designs, trick and treating deserts and yes let’s not forget the creepy spider and other decorations but while some people are stocking candies to open their doors midnight, daredevils like me is eyeing for a scare-yourself-silly movie, shutting the doors and windows and checking the closet before hitting the bed. Red alert this Halloween when you are trying to drop off to sleep, every creaking noise will leave you wondering if it was the house settling or something lurking in the shadows. I have grabbed the popcorns and torchlight, in case of a power outage. I have collected some genuinely creepy movies, prepare for blood, guts, gore, and lots and lots of screaming in these movies and mind it if you are a mommas boy stay away and watch Halloween movies for kids for the fun and love this Halloween, leave these spooky creeps for us. I am no way allowing your neighbors cursing me for leading you to these fear flooding movies for all the screams and bangs at midnight.
Oh did you check the craziest deal of the Halloween by DISH network to tickle your fancy and spine? Those who are already running in the horror marathon of 13 Stephen King movies, it is the perfect vein to bite in celebration of All Halloween Eve with $1300 making it the Halloween night to remember forever. All the novels from the undisputed king of horror are spawned in a series of horror films set to scare the shit out of you. Along with $1300, a survival kit with blanket, candy, popcorns, King paraphernalia, torchlight, and a Fitbit to record the heart rate along with a journal to record minimal detail of when you jumped out of horror, which joined you in the madness and lots and lots of crazy things. Well, not sure what they want to make out of it but this is one real mad project.
A friendless teenage girl with superpowers and an aversion to pig’s blood. A group of sociopathic children with an addiction to corn. A vampire who chills in a crate only to crawl out at night to spread a rare disease. A killer clown from outer space lingering like a pedophile in a mass graveyard of unwanted children in a small town’s sewer system; bows down to Stephen King! So what we didn’t get a chance to this mad expedition, turn your Halloween night into one with the list below to interrupt your pumpkin carving schedule and creep you out. Netflix, shudder, cable on-demand and many places will serve your appetite for the following.
 Eli – Out on Netflix
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Imagine a young boy suffering from auto-immune disorder; he can't be brought outdoors because the air will burn his skin, so Eli is moved to the boy in the bubble situation to protect him. During the boy's suffering and parents hope to save the child, Dr. Isabella offers an experimental cure at her remote estate. Eli couldn’t help but notice the treatment is getting him worse at the place with cruel nurses, painful treatments and some angry ghosts. It’s a smart, playful and creepy little chiller by Ciaran Foy.
In the tall grass – Out on Netflix
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The adaptation of Stephen King and Joe Hill wrings a lot of horror out of a very casual title. Can you find grass scary? No right? But in the movie, you will see some scary things lurking where you don't see them coming. A bunch of folks get caught in the field of tall grass and lost their way.
Midsommar-  Out on Spectrum VOD
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Midsommar is the horror of bad relationships and worse decisions of the worst vacations. A warning tale about bad relations and worse vacations. When it unwraps, Florence Pugh, it’s an extremely troubling axis, is having a horrible day that rapidly turns to shatter. Her boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor), who’s on the edge of breaking up with her. Months later Dani is still having a rough time while Christian continues eyeing the closest withdrawal. Their troubled dynamic intensifies and changes during a disastrous trip to a small, strange village in Sweden, where the expected summertime fun paves way for unprecedented terror and fear.
Tigers are not afraid – Out on shudder
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Blending the often terrifying surrealism of a child's wild fancy with the blood-splattered realism of the drug unions, "Tigers Are Not Afraid" is a highly original horror story in the present. Issa Lopez conveys the sense of devastation that's come with all the narco-trafficking, but it also has this really beautiful imaginary element that's woven throughout. Paola Lara playing an orphan in Tigers is not afraid to join other orphan children armed with three crazy wishes, running from the ghosts that haunt them and the drug cartel that killed their parents. Overall it's a horror packed show that is commendable and will surely get you off your couch.
Countdown – In theatres on Oct. 25
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What would you do if you got to know that you are about to die in three days? Countdown’s plot revolves around a young nurse that downloads an app that predicts the death time, and to her shock, it predicts she is breathing her last few days and the clock is ticking bringing her death close. How is she going to stop the time and figure out a way to escape her death? This entire trauma and the shock will come out as a terrifying movie.  
Doctor sleep – In theatres on Nov.8
https://youtu.be/BOzFZxB-8cw - Watch trailer
Those who itch for more horror from Stephen King Novella, here is another fright-fest by Mike Flanagan before the pumpkin season is officially over. An adaptation of Stephen King’s, The Shining, doctor sleep is the continuation of Danny Torrance's story and now shows him as a grown-up. He meets a teenager Abra who holds an extrasensory gift. Both will be trying to get off the hook of Rose and her followers that feed on children with psychic powers in their quest for mortality. Dan and Abra struggle in a brutal life-or-death encounter with Rose. Abra's virtue and courageous hold of her shine forces Dan to call upon his powers like never before facing his fears with the rebirth of the ghosts of the past.
Girl on the third floor - In theaters and on VOD, Oct. 25
https://youtu.be/AGXg3-eo8yE - Watch trailer
A wrestler-turned-actor CM Punk (Don Koch) after years of spending life good for nothing plans to renovate the new house to make up for the past mistakes and the soon expected child. During renovation and proving his part to his wife that he isn't a screw-up Don doesn't know the house is full of creepy ghosts, haunted! He tries to figure out strange happenings all driving him crazy, also during this time he meets Sara, who has a strange flirty approach towards him and men are men Don fell for her. What goes next is a blend of horror and fun.
Author’s Bio:
A well-versed business-writer with an immense passion for innovation and technology. I am a trend enthusiast and like to explore trending practices in various industries. I have written a detailed review of the ViaSat Exede Internet and HughesNet Internet for its major overhaul in the satellite.  
I like to write and talk about how technology is evolving our lives in the most amazing ways. Mainly, little things such as the internet and smartphones are the center of my attention.
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gazzhowie · 6 years
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My Top 25 Movies of 2017.
Yes, it is indeed that time of year again where I blow the annual cobwebs off my Tumblr account to post my Top 25 movies of the year. And yes, I am indeed late by a few weeks in getting this up online... but I was celebrating this being the TENTH anniversary of this makeshift column thing. It started out as a regular on one website, moved to another and now it’s its own Tumblr ‘thing’. So... yay! Happy tenth anniversary. Or something.
Anyway, you frequent visitors know the score by now. I throw down a big long mournful special mention to all the films that I wish I could’ve included but couldn’t make them fit but think they deserve a shout out regardless and then I get stuck in to what I think are the 25 best films of the year.
As always, films listed are based on their UK release date. Without further ado...
In relation to the year’s dramas, I thoroughly enjoyed T2 Trainspotting and in a lot of ways the ‘long wait’ for a sequel we never really needed didn’t seem to hurt it at all. However, unlike the original, this felt like confection in the sense that once it was finished it didn’t really leave any lasting impression. I really liked Bleed For This and whilst familiar with the true story that it was dramatising I felt that for a lot of people they’d STILL find it completely incredulous. It was a well-directed, solidly acted little film that deserved more love. In an age when Jackie Chan films are so wildly all over the shop in terms of quality it was quite the delight to get two legitimately brilliant efforts from the legend. The first was Railroad Tigers which somehow managed to be part history lesson, part caper and part atypical Jackie Chan action extravanza without ever being annoying. Russia’s Panfilov's 28 (turigidly retitled Battle For Moscow here) was a great ‘stacked-odds’ war movie that rewarded the long wait to get itself into gear with some terrific tank-on-solider action set-pieces and high-stakes tension. 
Keeping with dramas, Anne Hathaway successfully rebirthed from having her cinematic abilities ruined by her obnoxious celebrity personality with Colossal, a terrific study of addiction and responsibility – somehow presented through the purview of a Kaiju movie! The Wall, Doug Liman’s second of two movies this year (after the likeable but disposable American Made), was the better one – playing out as one of those high concept ‘one location’ thrillers that keeps you suitably gripped… before sadly fizzling out in the final stretch. James Gray’s The Lost City of Z was a gorgeous-looking, wonderfully directed movie of a fascinating story sadly undone by last minute “that’ll do” casting that saw Charlie Hunnam completely derail a film that had every chance of being an instant classic. Jeff Nichol continued his pathway to becoming my generation’s Spielberg with Loving, the true life story of an American interracial marriage that challenged the law. Scorsese finally made his passion project, Silence, and it was a heavily flawed film that still some how felt like a sumptuous work of art at the same time. Finally, there was The Age of Shadows which was Korea’s attempt at gung-ho action-heavy, cat-and-mouse, double-agent espionage thriller that narrowly missed out on a place in the final Top 25.
In terms of blockbusters, Kong: Skull Island was tremendous fun with some of the best FX designs and action set-pieces you’d find in a Summer blockbuster in 2017. Only third act issues and a terrible Tom Hiddleston performance stopped it from being one of the year’s best. Fast & Furious 8 was a crushing disappointment that absolutely confirmed my worst fears after the death of Paul Walker – namely that this franchise would become utterly unmoored by Vin Diesel’s ego and his belief that HE himself is what the audience for these movies care about most. Guardians of the Galaxy 2 was as much of a delight as you were probably hoping it would be and I loved it a great deal, but it completely lost my interest by its climax with its cavalcade of CGI smashing into CGI incoherently. 
Alien Covenant was a vast improvement on Prometheus (soon to be retitled Alien: Prometheus if rumours are to be believed!) but it still leaves you questioning why Ridley Scott is obviously trying to sandwich other sci-fi intentions he has into a pre-existing franchise that doesn’t quite accommodate them. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (I’m not calling it by that bizarre inexplicable UK title!) was… pleasantly surprising in the fact that it was not awful! Wonder Woman was legitimately jaw-dropping in terms of just how great it was (who’d have thunk it?) but, just like with Guardians of the Galaxy 2, the minute it leaned back on clattering CGI and nonsensical reveals it lost me entirely. The two biggest surprises of all though in terms of blockbusters was Life – which was a better Alien movie than Alien: Covenant with a humdinger of an ending that due to poor box office we’ll never see developed as intended – and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle which somehow managed to be the best teen movie of the year and the best video game movie (for a video game that doesn’t exist!) AND one of the best sequels of the year too!
Not a huge amount of horror movies greatly impressed this year but M. Night Shymalan’s Split worked effectively for me and The Autopsy of Jane Doe stood out as one of the year’s best horror movies with some fantastic jump-scares and lead performances that fully commit to selling the concept. However, one that did really impress was Gerald’s Game. Mike Flanagan continued his own pathway to becoming my generation’s maestro of horror with an adaption of Stephen King’s novel that proved to be an engrossing, sickening, improbably excellent adaptation. Carla Cugino’s performance in it is one of the best of the year.
Whilst we’re talking great performances of the year special mention most definitely has to go to Theresa Palmer for her work in the uncompromising, upsetting indie thriller, Berlin Syndrome. 
For comedies, Don't Think Twice was a lovely watch and seemed to work past just how incredibly niche and “inside-y” it was through the hardwork of its thoroughly likeable cast. Goon: Last of the Enforcers was every bit this year’s underrated gem as its predecessor was when it was released years back. Then there was The Big Sick which managed the commendable balancing act of being incredibly lovely, moving, dramatic, hilarious and really rather wonderful all at the same time.
For action B-movies, it was a surprisingly great year in 2017. The team behind The Raid gave us Headshot which kick-for-punch gave us some of the best fight sequences of the year. Sleepless, a totally unrequired remake of the French classic Sleepless Night, ended up being a really fun, gritty ride full of entertaining shoot-outs and improbable fight sequences with Michelle Monaghan committing to the material with more gusto than it probably deserved and the film being all the better for it. The second best of the three cinematic attempts by Mel Gibson to be redeemed by his industry was Blood Father, a down-and-dirty gun-and-run action shoot ‘em up that would have been nothing without Gibson’s throwing-it-all-down performance. John Wick Chapter 2 was extravagant excellence that at times I felt unworthy of being exposed to. Jeremy Rush’s debut, Wheelman, took all the clichés of “the good criminal on a bad job gone wrong” subgenre and - thanks to Frank Grillo’s performance – made a better movie than the similar but one-note and overly acclaimed Baby Driver. 
Shockwave Tunnel was a dependably solid Andy Lau actioner that played like Die Hard meets Daylight – all the overblown, enthralling action you’d expect from a Hong Kong mid-level blockbuster with all the overwrought emotionally manipulative dramatics too! Finally there was Martin Campbell’s The Foreigner, the second of those brilliant Jackie Chan movies in 2017, which was part political revenge movie, part First Blood homage, part commercial for Chan being considered for actual serious acting awards and part ‘Is Pierce Brosnan doing Gerry Adams?’ think-piece.
It was another stellar year for documentaries too with Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press being the biggest jaw-dropper of the lot as Hulk Hogan, backed by a billionaire with nefarious intent, destroyed a website for reporting on his sex tape – and set a dangerous precedent in the process! Bright Lights, the candid documentary on Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, landed on UK shores early in 2017 and proved to be every bit as heartbreaking as you’d expect in light of Fisher’s death. Probably one of the biggest, bizarre curios this year was Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, a candid and unfiltered look behind Jim Carrey’s “process” in making Man on the Moon many years back and which gave way to finally turning many a long-held rumour to fact. Spielberg was an out-and-out delight for any fan of cinema, delivering an enormous amount of access to the master of cinema himself as he and his colleagues took us through his career and his life. Finally there was the magnificent and majestic epic OJ: Made In America which makes these ‘mentions’ as an eight hour documentary in the same way Twin Peaks Season 3 is allowed to be considered as one of “the films of the year” too. It is an accomplished, thorough and engrossing study not just of a miscarriage of justice but of race in America, celebrity and human toxicity.
I did not catch a lot of animation in 2017 but the two standouts worthy of mention were The Lego Batman Movie, which managed to keep the delightful ball bouncing that The Lego Movie itself threw up in the air by way of pacey and inventive plotting/design and a very, very clever and knowing script. Then there was Seoul Station, the animated prequel to last year’s sublime Train to Busan. It deserves a shout-out not because it is particularly stunning as an animated film (it isn’t!) or that it works particularly brilliantly as a prequel (it doesn’t!) but as an animated zombie contagion movie in its own right it is very much entertaining and proves to be quite the thrill-ride with a gut-punch denouement.
And now to the Top 25 movies of the year themselves:
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 25. It Comes At Night
Badly mismarketed - according to some - as some sort of zombie/creature feature that saw an immense audience backlash, this is actually a brilliant study in dread and human frailty told on an intimate scale with yet another dependably excellent performance from Joel Edgerton.
24. Spider-Man: Homecoming
I’m as big an MCU ‘junkie’ as most but I went into this cynical and with my arms dismissively folded across my chest. I was burnt out on Spider-Man and the Civil War cameo, whilst ‘fun’, didn’t give me any feeling it would work as another feature. I thought the Sam Raimi trilogy was badly cast and over-rated fare and I actually went against the populous on the Andrew Garfield movies by finding them entertaining clusterfucks that worked in spite of the committee filmmaking approach. I just didn’t want another round – but Homecoming gets Spider-Man entirely right for the first time, for me. It moves like a bullet without an inch of fat on it (a rarity for a lot of MCU movies!), it’s wonderfully cast and, best of all, it manages to be exciting and funny in equal measures like the best MCU movies and no other Spider-Man movie has before!
23. Manchester By The Sea
This is not your recommended Friday or Saturday night ‘easy entertainment’ and for many its quality has been blighted by the revelations about Casey Affleck but this is an uncomfortably honest and heartbreaking mediative study on grief, loss and loneliness. Affleck is superb and Michelle Williams once again shows that she is the greatest actress of my generation by an easy mile.
22. Super Dark Times
I was lauded like the hero I rightfully should be considered as for labelling this movie on Twitter as “Stand by Me meets American Psycho” and the description really works. Go in knowing as little as possible and just let it play out. It’s dark, grimy and captivating and it works as tremendously as it does because it never once feels anything less than completely real. It’s now on Netflix here in the UK.
21. Patriots Day
Mark Wahlberg is one of the worst mainstream actors (and, lest we forget, human beings!) in the movie business today. And here he’s playing (badly) an unnecessarily and inexplicably invented “composite” character in an otherwise authentic dramatic recreation of the Boston Bombing and the hunt for the culprits. When Peter Berg sticks to the facts and procedurally works through the events and the investigation, you’re gifted an exemplary thriller that delivers – with the Watertown shoot-out – one of the year’s best sequences. When you’re put in the hands of Wahlberg, it’s painful. I was able to forcibly separate the former from the latter. Many couldn’t. It’s now on Netflix here in the UK.
20. Hacksaw Ridge
I’m keeping my opinion on Mel Gibson absent for once (everyone knows I’m big on cutting the guy some slack, frankly!) but I was delighted to see this received the way it was. Not everything in it works (Andrew Garfield does his typical “swing for the back” unsubtle performance, its first hour works more as an outright homage to 1950s dramas than it does in its own right!) but, man alive, does it serve to remind us all what an absoloutely outstanding filmmaker Gibson is. He’s delivered one of the greatest war movies of the modern age, telling an outstanding true story in the process and refusing to skimp when it comes to brutality, octane or high drama in the process. It’s now on Netflix here in the UK.
19. La La Land
I really don’t understand the backlash to this movie at all. Not one bit. A talented director has taken two of the best working actors in the industry right now and made an ode to movie musicals of yesteryear with all the aplomb and appeal you’d expect – and it’s delightful. It really is. It’s now on Netflix here in the UK.
18. Atomic Blonde
Someone somewhere thought a tribute to Roger Donaldson’s No Way Out but starring Charlize Theron and made in the style of John Wick should be made and that person should be applauded and carried through the streets on a throne! This is not a perfect movie. Hell, it’s not even a movie that is anywhere near as clever as it thinks it is. But as a piece of action entertainment, it really is terrific fun – stupendously well directed with energy to spare, a cool as hell soundtrack and Theron is excellent! That “one take” hallway/apartment/car fight is absolutely audacious - and brilliant just for watching Eddie Marsan, the modern day Yoda of character actors, try to just... “not get in the way”.
17. Thor: Ragnorak
Everyone had a right to be cautious about this one – on the one hand anyone familiar with Taika Waititi knew that he’d never made a bad movie and was becoming one of the strongest voices in cinematic comedy. But on the other hand Thor was proving to be one of the weakest characters in the MCU and his previous movies had been less than great. So you can chalk this one up as one of the biggest and best surprise blockbusters of 2017. It delivered on the action and spectacle in all the ways you’d expect from a Marvel movie but it was also one of the best comedies of the year too.
16. Blade Runner 2049
Who would have thought for one second that this was going to work let alone work as well as it did? A direct sequel, decades after the fact, to a box office failure that has aged into an inarguable masterpiece? It is almost too bittersweet then that its sequel would be critically adored but also fail at the box office as well. Blade Runner 2049 is not a film for the casual cinema-goer. It’s certainly not for someone who hasn’t seen or truly appreciated Ridley Scott’s original classic. It’s a reward dressed up as a film for people who like beautiful cinema, technical audaciousness, strong performances and intricate, mature plotting all wrapped up into one.
15. The Handmaiden
Park Chan-Wook’s adaptation of the novel ‘Fingersmith’ is a sumptuous cavalcade of deception, erotica, dark obsession, greed and romance. You watch it waiting for one of the cogs to break and for the whole thing to come undone because it’s hard to get your head around how all of these elements are kept in motion so seamlessly and so enthrallingly. The cogs never break. It really is just that excellent.
14. Okja
I went into this as one of the rare few who find Tilda Swinton abrasive, who’d heard terrible things about what Jake Gyllenhaal was doing in this movie and was getting caught up in mixed word-of-mouth about what the film itself was actually about. But when you’ve made Memories of Murder, The Host, Snowpiercer, and Mother you get to buy a lot of good faith from a viewer, frankly. So in Bong Joon-Ho we trust and boy did that trust pay off! This is the only funny, harrowing, thrilling, moving, thought-provoking caper / thriller / drama / “message” movie you’re going to see this year. It is, of course, on Netflix now to view.
13. Detroit
It sort of annoyed me that I was so ignorant to the facts prior to watching Kathryn Bigelow’s searing drama set during the 1967 Detroit riots, in which a group of rogue police officers respond to a complaint with retribution rather than justice on their minds. I felt I should have been better educated on the grave injustice and inhumane horrors of this incident. It’s testament to Bigelow that she manages to educate the unknowledgeable on the context needed, the geography and the peole without ever making you feel like you’re being lectured. The film struggles to stay afloat as we decompress from the horrors of the extended second act set-piece into what is ostensibly the cover-up but it’s testament to all involved that it manages to nonetheless.
12. Brawl in Cell Block 99
Craig Zahler’s follow-up to Bone Tomahawk is an astounding homage to the 70s/early 80s exploitation movies that cluttered up the bottom two shelves of many a local video shop. It’s got that C-grade exploitation movie type plot but what Zahler does is expand it in a way to give it time to breathe in ways an ‘original’ exploitation movie couldn’t. We get to spend time with the characters and get a feel for predicaments and locations so when the “hell” does break loose we are in it alongside them. Vince Vaughn uses this movie as a farewell to every safe, easy, shitty studio romcom his reputation stalled on and reinvents himself as a lanky Charles Bronson type for a modern age. It gets horrifying and grim and then keeps going and does so with a sense of zeal and pride that is really rather admirable.
11. Logan
We know that James Mangold is one of the great American filmmakers very rarely put to use by studios the way he should be (i.e. give him money and get out of his way) but he still manages to insert moments of brilliance in otherwise throwaway films (Identity, Knight & Day and The Wolverine all have moments in them that make them better than you’ve probably heard!). Somehow he managed to convince Fox to let him take one of the most iconic but problematic runs in comic book history and make a third solo Wolverine after two previous fatally bad/uneven attempts – but make it as a futuristic western farewell to the character itself and, oh, he won’t be pandering to any of the inter-universe stuff either... And in the process Mangold essentially made the UNFORGIVEN of the comic book movie genre. Like with that movie, it now feels like the door's been closed on this particular genre of movies (the MCU movies feel like their own unstoppable beast at this point) rather definitively. Everything needing said or done within the genre is right there in LOGAN. This works because it has something to say and an actor with a point to prove - It's not out to stake its claim as the best 'comic book movie' (it is one of them though!) but it is very interested in making sure it is a great movie. Not only does it achieve that, but it sort of lands as its own instant masterpiece of sorts too. Hugh Jackman's doing work here that is utterly terrific and if you'd said last year that some of the best performances you'll find in cinema in 2017 would be in "the third WOLVERINE movie" you'd have been drowned in laughter. Yet here we are. If you were to recalibrate the 'limitations' of the past, present and future of the western genre, then with COPLAND, 3:10 TO YUMA and this James Mangold has made three of the best in modern cinema.
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10. The Villainess
This is a movie that is so absolutely chockfull of full on "HOLY SHIT!" moments and action sequences that you’re still sat muttering "How the hell did they do that?!?" days after you’ve experienced it. Its story is muddled in its delivery and it does take a little bit to bed down with what is going on, where they're going and what story they're trying to tell but... maaaan... when it lights up it fires off like a nuclear friggin missile. Controversial as it's going to sound, it's a rarity in that as a homage to a source material (NIKITA in this instance) it surpassed the source in my opinion! You will invariably see stories get better told this year - but you're not going to see a film with better action sequences! Fact!
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9. War For The Planet of the Apes 
Enter into this movie with a broad mind and in return you'll be rewarded with an astoundingly good time full of great direction, terrific visual effects, wonderful performances and fantastic set-pieces! I just REALLY hope that this is the closing chapter of a particular trilogy but not necessarily the franchise as a whole - To develop this textured a 'history', pay it off in this manner and NOT take it now into themore pointed direction of the original Charlton Heston movie seems like an awful waste! Any failings WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES has is not in the film itself but in the marketing - There's going to be a boatload of folk expecting to see helicopters and tanks, commanded by Woody Harrelson, panning out over snowy terrain to blast away at an army of apes in what is all pay off to the build-up of the last two movies. This isn't THAT movie! The movie it IS though is a tremendous achievement both on a technical level and as a piece of storytelling. It's a beautifully realised, rich revenge Western dressed up as a prison escape movie - but with apes! And in marketing it the studio really didn't seem to want you to know that Matt Reeves has essentially remade APOCALYPSE NOW and THE GREAT ESCAPE at the same time, in the same movie - but with apes!
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8. IT: Chapter One
I was one hundred percent blown away by Andy Muschietti's adaption of IT. I was hoping it would be good but... Jesus... this was actually astounding! Seriously! It's not just a great horror movie. It's a great movie, full stop. And possibly one of the best adaptations of a Stephen King novel ever made. Shit thee not. It absolutely works on every conceivable level. It is legitimately scary (downright terrifying in parts!), completely enthralling and so incredibly well crafted. The key to adapting King has always been in accepting that the man is a wildly uneven and incredibly ill-disciplined author and a great adaption needs to fight against his worst excesses. Which often means being willing to cull away at the source material with brutal confidence. That's why STAND BY ME, THE SHANKSHANK REDEMPTION, MISERY, THE MIST, CARRIE, THE GREEN MILE and especially THE SHINING are tremendous... and why the likes of UNDER THE DOME and every movie Mick Garris touches is flat out awful and barely watchable! The casting is utterly sublime - Finn Wolfhard from STRANGER THINGS is a delight, Jeremy Ray Taylor was so moving he broke my heart and Sophia Lillis is just jaw-droppingly brilliant. She gives such an assured performance for someone so young and, in the process, delivers one of my favourite performances of the year. And Bill Skarsgård? HOLY SHIT!! I can't rave about this movie enough, frankly. By moving it to the 80s it hit my 'nostalgia button' just perfectly and the scares were so expertly executed.
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7. Dunkirk
Nolan has proven time and again that he is a master craftsman in the field of modern cinema, whether through populist fare like THE DARK KNIGHT trilogy, playing opulently in the sci-fi sandbox with INTERSTELLAR, gunning for hire on police procedurals with INSOMNIA or delivering his trifecta of inarguable cinematic masterpieces with THE PRESTIGE, MEMENTO and INCEPTION. This moves like a fuckin rocket-ship, just non-stop propulsion from the first frame to the last drawing exhilaration and exhaustion from you at every step. The non-linear format is a masterstroke in that it rather exquisitely uses the agonising wait that comes with time pushed right up against the race against the very same thing. It's so intricately developed. Harry Styles doesn't do enough to make an impression but nor is he given enough to offend. He's just there. Hans Zimmer reinvents himself musically once again. And Nolan clarifies once more that there is still a place for old-school movie majesty in the modern age - the push wherever possible to avoid CGI aerial battles and painted-in boats shows a determination and dedication that deserves kudos. With the stripped back dialogue, the never-ending series of jaw-dropping and nerve-shredding set-pieces and a gorgeous, old-fashioned execution, this is a ready-made masterpiece!
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6. Get Out
What's getting lost in all of the critical plaudits for this film is that it is possibly one of the most assured and successful directorial debuts in cinema history! This is an absolute humdinger of a movie, reconfiguring what you think of cinema as social commentary, what makes a horror movie scary and what you think of Allison Williams (no joke!). So much fun and more importantly thought-provoking! KEY & PEELE was some majestic shit – but, between this and KEANU, Jordan Peele has proven worthy of being followed wherever he wants to go with his film ideas!
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5. Free Fire
I urge you to believe the hype - FREE FIRE is *that* good! Kinetic, original, hilarious and exhilarating. It's a legitimately great time, doing for the shoot-out in 2017 what MAD MAX: FURY ROAD did for the car chase in 2015. It is quite literally everything that everyone is overstating BABY DRIVER to be - an inventive recalibration of a frequented cinematic form! Everything said and overhyped about Edgar Wright (a director far more interested in his own celebrity than making gimmick-free films) is wholly true of Ben Wheatley who, film by film, seems to repeatedly reinvent himself and has never delivered something less than excellent. FREE FIRE is what would happen if Florent Emilio Siri's NID DE GUEPES made a baby with BOOGIE NIGHTS! It's ridiculous how well Ben Wheatley manages to choreograph this thing... a ninety-odd minute, one location, non-stop shoot-out... with such clean geography where you're always aware of what's going on and where every character is. And, honestly, let's reiterate it again now - In terms of great Oscar injustices, Sharlto Copley not winning in 2018 for his work in this will be one of the all-time travesties!
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4. I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore
This is a quirky, grim, funny, gripping gem of a movie that I saw early on in 2017 and it stayed with me right the way throughout the year. Macon Blair has went from being the driving force (BLUE RUIN) and supporting foundation (GREEN ROOM) in straight-out-the-gate modern masterpieces to delivering a directorial debut that immediately lands as one of the films of 2017! If only there was some way we could go live in a world where Trump wasn't president and Blair, Elijah Wood, the never less than excellent Jane Levy and the utterly outstanding Melanie Lynskey were taking home ALL the awards for this! Who'd have thunk Lynskey would go from bit-player in an awful sitcom to the best actress of our generation? Maybe The Duplass Brothers’ Togetherness that y’all didn’t watch was the goddamn clue, huh? For me, Melanie Lynskey delivers THE best actress performance of the year. It’s now on Netflix here in the UK.
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3. Jawbone
I was absolutely blown away by what is easily one of the best British films made in a long time! And on top of all THAT, in time it'll come to stand as one of the best boxing movies of all time too. It absolutely captures the level of boxing I know of - that whole subculture of what rises up from when Golden Gloves contendership ends but no pro-journey materialises. On top of THAT, it's a tremendously well executed study of the pain that manifests from addiction, grief and loneliness. Seek this out. I urge you. It’s the anti-Rocky and there's not a single false-note in the whole film. It’s now on Netflix here in the UK.
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2. Wind River
I jested from the minute the trailer dropped that all involved had inexplicably and unnecessarily remade my beloved Deadly Pursuit. How wrong could I be? For me, in his directorial debut, Taylor Sheridan has absolutely nailed it as a director what he did twice over the previous years as a writer with Sicario and Hell or High Water - delivering a mature, harrowing, enthralling thriller that has something to say. Awards season seems to have forgotten it already but Sheridan's debut direction and Jeremy Renner's performance are more than worthy of consideration.
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1. Good Time
Robert Pattinson, an actor I have never been able to stand in anything (and that includes his Cronenberg rebirth period stuff too!), captivates completely in what is the most kinetic, captivating and energetic film of the year. Pattinson plays Connie Nikas, a scumbag low-level criminal who, after a heist goes awry, has to spend one long night trying to free his brother with learning disabilities from custody in the notorious Riker's Island prison. What follows is a relentless foot-chase through the streets, tenements and shitholes of New York City that plays out as a non-stop living nightmare. I heard of Good Time’s directors, Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie, as being announced for the remake of 48hrs before I’d seen this, their debut feature. And I spent a great deal of time whining about how 48hrs doesn’t need touched and who did these Safdie brothers think they were, etc. Now? Having seen this movie and adored it as much as I have, I’m legitimately excited to see what their version of a modern day 48hrs could be! Good Time is now on Netflix here in the UK.
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