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euphemiaamillais · 2 months

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put me in a movie — roommate!snowjanus x reader

on a rather boring friday night, you decide that you can't just sit around with your roommates (boyfriends) and watch a boring movie... with your persistent whining, coryo decides you might just have to make one of your own

cw: 18+//threesome//piv sex//blowjobs//exhibitionism//backshots//degradation//coryo filming them fuck!//throuple goals <3

an: sorry it's been so long guys, i've been exhausted and too lazy to finish any of my drafts, but i hope you enjoy this one ;) i had to give you another roommates au!

the movie the boys had put on was terribly boring—coryo fancied himself something of a film connoisseur, but you knew that really, all he did was write long-winded reviews on letterboxd about godard films, that nobody read. sejanus was too much of a people-pleaser to say no to whatever either of you wanted to watch, so you were forced to sit through all two hours of fight club.

you were yawning twenty minutes in, never much one for the films that coryo enjoyed—you preferred anything with hugh grant or colin firth, which coryo gave you so much shit for. you knew that there were better things you could all be doing this friday night, and the nagging heat at your core was an indication of that.

about halfway through the film, you managed to nestle yourself into coryo’s lap. you rubbed your ass against his crotch, but he was so engrossed in the movie that he moved you off his crotch and back to your spot on the couch.

‘coryo,’ you whined, clambering back on top of him and peppering kisses across his face.

‘stop,’ he scowled, shoving your pawing hands away.

you frowned, turning to glance at sejanus who seemed a little less engrossed in the film than coryo, and so decided that your best bet at relieving your tension was him. you pressed a kiss to his cheek, and his eyes flickered over your features; drawn into a look of desperation.

‘sej, i’m bored,’ you murmur, straddling his lap, both sides of your thighs pressing against his.

‘yeah?’ he cocked a brow, still trying to peer at the movie past you.

you let out a heavy sigh, bubbling with vexation at their ignorance of you. why were they more interested in the movie than you? when you were so needy… normally they’d be over you in an instant, one of their hard-ons pressing against your thigh or poking against your ass.

‘i need some help,’ you whimpered, grinding your clothed cunt against his crotch.

‘baby, i’m trying to watch,’ sejanus’ hands grabbed at your waist, attempting to move you off of him, but you continued to rut your hips against him.

you knew it wouldn’t take long for sejanus’ body to respond, even if he cared more about stupid fight club than his hot roommate grinding on him. you peppered kisses down his neck, fighting his attempts to fend you off. a low groan escaped his lips as you ran your teeth across his pulse point, and you found that he was finally beginning to be receptive to your movements.

‘please sej, i really want to suck your cock,’ you pleaded, moving off of him and sliding to your knees.

you tugged at the waistband of his sweatpants, the bulge of his hard-on visible. your mouth watered as you slid your hand under his boxers to palm at his cock. sejanus moaned at the feeling of your cold hands stroking his throbbing cock, and figured he couldn’t just say no.

coryo’s lips were drawn into a scowl, and he pressed pause on the film to cast you a disgruntled glare. you’d distracted him from appreciating this fine piece of art—you were totally going to ruin the vibe for his letterboxd review.

‘sej, she’s being a brat,’ coryo snapped, wrapping a firm hand around your wrist.

‘ouch,’ you pouted, but he wasn’t pressing hard enough for their to be pain.

coryo rolled his eyes, but decided that if you were really going to act like such a desperate whore, he ought to take advantage of it. he used his free hand to pull out his phone, and his features flickered into a look of slight amusement.

‘if you’re going to distract me from the film, ‘spose i’ll just have to make one of my own.’ coryo grinned, pulling you back onto the large sofa.

you felt the heat continue to pool at your core, being manhandled by him, and moved your other hand to continue palming sej—the poor thing hadn’t said a word but you could see a dark patch forming on his boxers that indicated his tip was leaking.

‘coryo, what are you-’ you were silenced by his fingers deftly rubbing at your inner thigh, causing a soft moan to escape your lips.

‘come on, show me how you suck cock,’ he commanded, putting the phone in your face.

your eyes were stretched wide, but you nodded, moving so you were on your knees and elbows, head facing sejanus’ crotch from the side. your ass was now in coryo’s face, and he let out a delicious groan at the sight of it—your skirt had managed to flip up, revealing the fact that you were wearing a tiny pair of lace panties.

‘fucking hell, sej, wish you could see this,’ he tutted, moving the phone camera so he could film your pussy.

you let out a whine as coryo’s fingers pulled your panties to the side, exposing your wet, clenching hole. he ran a teasing finger over your slick hole, sending your eyes back. your hands were curled around sejanus’ hard cock, but coryo was distracting you too much to allow you to follow his orders.

‘coryo, please,’ you mewled, attempting to slap his hand away.

‘come on, princess, you can do it,’ he said sternly, guiding your head down.

you obliged, and began to swirl your tongue around the tip of sejanus’ cock. he let out a heavy sigh, hand reaching out to grasp at your hair. you licked up the trickles of precum that were coating his shaft, the sound of your mouth popping sending shivers down sejanus’ spine.

coryo had ceased his teasing for now, instead focusing the camera on you and sejanus. he loved how humiliating it was, forcing you to suck sejanus’ cock before the camera, the threat that he could do anything with that video looming over your head. however, the thought of that was what egged you on—it wasn’t as if you hadn’t been filmed before. you’d always let sej and coryo film you when the other one couldn’t be there to share the fun.

you took sejanus in your mouth now, lips stretching around his thick shaft. coryo laughed a little, enjoying the way your eyes began to water as you pushed sejanus further down your throat.

‘fuck, baby,’ sejanus groaned, cock twitching in your throat.

‘such a slut, taking sej’s cock like that,’ coryo taunted, giving your ass a slap.

your knees buckled slightly, but you kept bobbing your head up and down sejanus’ cock, tongue laving at the sensitive veins that covered his shaft. coryo felt himself harden at the sight, the way you were gagging as you attempted to take sejanus all the way. he loved how no matter what, you were always gagging on the both of them—sej because he was so thick, and coryo, because, well, it wasn’t like you could take all eight inches down your throat.

coryo’s free hand reached to rub at his cock until it was fully erect, until he slowly tugged at the waistband of his pants and boxers to free himself. he moved the phone to show off his big, hard cock, laughing to himself as he began to rub it against your ass.

he slapped the tip of his cock against your ass, watching as you whined around sejanus’ shaft. sejanus let out a breathy grunt as your whine sent a shock of pleasure through his body. your fingers moved to grasp his balls, playing with them softly as you tongued the tip of his cock.

you giggled, eyes stretched wide with a dumb look in them, saliva trickling from your lips as you sucked at the head of his cock. coryo ran his cock through your soaking folds, shaking his head in disbelief at how wet you were.

‘fuck, so fucking wet, huh? getting off on being such a little slut for me?’ coryo cajoled, pressing his tip into your tight cunt, feeling you stretch around him.

‘can’t even speak your mouth’s so fucking full with sej’s cock,’ he spat, sliding his cock back out, earning a whimper from you at the loss of pleasure at your achy core.

‘so close baby,’ sej managed to spit out as you pushed him back down your throat, fingers still deftly grasping at his sensitive balls.

coryo saw his chance to send you over the edge and slammed his cock all the way in, focusing the camera on the way your back arched as he entered you. he couldn’t believe how much of a slut you were being, letting him film you taking two cocks.

you moaned against sejanus’ cock as he twitched again in your mouth, his hips bucking with desperation. a grunt escaped his lips, and his head rolled back in pleasure, cock releasing its pent up tension. hot spurts of his cum spilled down your throat as you sucked him to his release.

when you pulled off his cock, you swirled your tongue back around the tip, licking up all the spend and swallowing it prettily. sejanus smoothed back your hair gently, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead. you gave him a sweet smile, but the way coryo was beginning to pound into you proved awfully distracting.

‘being too sweet to her, sej, when she’s a whore,’ coryo mused, cock stretching out your tight, wet cunt.

your eyes rolled back, toes curling with pleasure as he took you from behind. your skin danced with warmth, turned on by the fact that coryo was filming you in such a vulnerable position. the way you held your pert ass just so for him, your pretty pussy just waiting for him to enter it—god, he too felt his own release coming on.

‘fucking slut,’ coryo slapped your ass, and gripped the firm fat of your cheek between his hand as he drove into your cunt.

‘so good!’ you gasped, feeling the rigid veins of his big cock pushing against your tight walls.

sejanus watched as he began to stroke his now soft cock to hardening again, getting off at the very sight of you with your face beginning to press against the soft seat of the sofa. coryo grasped a handful of your hair, pulling you back up with a rather forceful snap.

‘keep your head up, fuck!’ he grunted, snapping his hips against your ass.

‘can’t, coryo,’ you whimpered, cunt clenching around his huge, throbbing shaft.

your body was overcome with pleasure—he wasn’t even touching your clit, the simple feeling of his cock pounding into you was enough to send you over the edge. your mouth stretched around several pretty moans, your eyes fluttering open and shut as the sound of your wet cunt taking him echoed across the room. coryo was going to love watching this back when he was horny.

‘such a good little whore, taking my cock,’ he praised you, tugging at your hair again, loud enough to elicit a whimper as your scalp begin to tingle.

‘you gonna cum for me?’ he inquired, hand moving to rub at your ass cheek.

you were surprised at his gentleness, and nodded, but your hopes of him being sweet dissipated when his hand smacked your ass firmly. you mewled, body rearing back as pain and pleasure mingled. you were so, so close, clenching around him as he thrust deeper, tip poking at your cervix.

you let out a haggard breath, and felt yourself unfurl, slick gushing around his cock. coryo shook his head with a groan, moving the camera so it showed your milky arousal coating his shaft.

‘look at that, so fucking wet for me,’ he grinned, continuing to pound you, your tight hole clenching wetly around him, a slick ring forming at the base of his cock.

sejanus was close again too, and you smiled at him as you took coryo’s cock, lips wet with drool from how deep coryo was burying himself inside of you. his cock pulsed ever so slightly, and you could tell that he was near to his release.

‘i want you to cum inside me,’ you whined whorishly, but coryo pulled out before you could finish begging for him.

‘nuh uh, sluts don’t get to be filled up,’ he laughed cruelly, beginning to stroke his cock with his free hand. ‘gonna cum all over this pretty ass. you’d like that, wouldn’t you?’

he was taunting you, cock pressing against your now red cheeks—hand prints visible as a reminder that this was a punishment, and you didn’t get a say when you’d decided to distract the two of them during the film.

‘fuck!’ coryo sighed as he came.

his pearly cum spurted out against your ass, trickling down to your lower back as you arched a little at the sensation. he let out another bemused chuckle, watching as sejanus came against his stomach, the pathetic look on his face clear to the both of you.

coryo put the phone down, and pulled you into his lap, uncaring that your ass was covered in his hot, sticky cum. he pressed a surprisingly gentle kiss to your lips before gazing at you with his baby blues.

‘next time, you’ll know better than to disrupt me when we’re watching a film.’

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byebyelemonpie · 8 months

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byebyelemonpie's may 2023 recommendations

My may top 5 movies:

Kung Fu Panda trilogy (2008, dir: Mark Osborne, John Stevenson; 2011, dir: Jennifer Yuh Nelson; 2016, dir: Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Alessandro Carloni) [Rewatched the first two after a decade and watched the third for the first time] Listen, I don't know what happened to me or to the world that made me uninterested in these movies somewhere between the second and the third one, but I'm glad that went away because these are actually really good. Like, the animation, the aesthetic, the story: they're all great and enjoyable, and a lot of fun! -

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018, dir: Ol Parker) [Rewatch after five years] The songs are still bangers and a lot of fun, even though this is way more sad than the first one. Wacthing it with friends is even better! -

13 Going on 30 (2004, dir: Gary Winick) [Rewacth after seven years] Still a cute and fun rom-com. The time-travel and the moral consequences of a 13 year-old in her own older body are never even thought about, but that's probably for the best, because I genuinely enjoyed it as a kid, even though I didn't want to grow up. -

Sky High (2005, dir: Mike Mitchell) [Rewatch after more than a decade] Just okay, I remember liking this a lot as a teen, but never seeing it again. Loved the whole character of Warren Peace, his name and his backstory and to be honest I wish the whole thing would have been about him. But still not that bad! -

So I Married an Anti-Fan (2016, dir: Kim Je-young) [First time watch] No idea how I found this, but it was pretty fun. I haven't really written anything on my notebook about it other than "not that bad", and all the letterboxd reviews are about this k-pop idol whom I don't know, I'm so sorry.

Favourite series in may:

Spy x Family (Japan, 2022) [First time watch; anime] A spy needs to infiltrate the family of an important political figure to stop the war between the two prominent regions of his nation, but to do so, he needs to have a wife and a daughter. He finds them in a secret assassin and a mind reader respectively. This anime is so much fun!! It's hilarious and even heartwarming at times. I decided to read the manga as well because I fell in love with the characters so fast. -

Ted Lasso - season 3 (USA, 2023) [First time watch] This series has been a very nice comfort show since I started season 1 last year. I loved how everyone had a character development and I very much enjoyed the positivity and feeling of hope throughout the series and especially in the end. -

Schmigadoon! - Schmicago (USA, 2023) [First time watch] This musical series is still one of the most innovative around and I LOVE the songs and the references to the musicals it parodies. I think I might have enjoyed this second season more than the first because I like more musicals from this era than the ones referenced in season 1. I still wish they will eventually make a thrid season, because if they manage to make parodies of all musical eras, they will have my whole heart, although this had a perfect ending, so I am conflicted on this. -

Dark Blue Kiss (Thailand, 2019) [Rewatch after a year] This was the first Thai series I've ever watched, but I had overrated it, so I decided to revisit it with a better knowledge and some more place for comparison. It turns out that it's still pretty good! Pete and Kao's story and its stupid jealousy, their cute bickering, and Kao's will to come out to him mum but fear of rejection is still very well done. Their breakup phase is still so sad! New's little pouty face should be enough to make people forgive him, especially when Kao didn't do anything outwardly terrible. The communication problem in this couple is still annoying, but the last scene makes up for everything and they have my heart. I'm not the greatest fan of the second couple - when a lot of fans would say the opposite - but I still love fellow Pokémon Go fan Mork and I still think he deserves better, I'm not sorry. -

Quacks (UK, 2017) [First time watch] As usual, six-episodes-long British sitcoms that are about specific time periods were cancelled after one season, and so was this gem. This series was about several doctors working at a Victorian hospital and trying new ways to cure patients. It was very interesting other than pretty funny.

[byebyelemonpie's 2023 recs]

#a post #byebyelemonpie's 2023 recs #about movies #about series #kung fu panda #mamma mia! here we go again #13 going on 30 #sky high #so i married an anti fan #spy x family #ted lasso #schmigadoon #dark blue kiss #quacks

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marredbyoverlength · 4 years

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Year-End Awards 2019

2019 was very good for movies. Or, rather, November and December of 2019 were very good for movies. I could speculate about why that is (Awards season? Disney? Moloch?), but I don’t really know. What I do know is that the Oscars are tomorrow, so I better get this post up today.

Honorable mentions in no particular order. Strap in, chumps.

Best Lead Performance: Adam Sandler, Uncut Gems

Sometimes it feels like Adam Sandler is cheating, lowering our expectations with awful performances in even-more-awful films so that his dramatic turns look better by comparison. But whether or not we grade him on a curve, this performance is the best of the year.

Sandler’s character, Howard Ratner, is ridiculous. In fact, much of the movie is ridiculous. But Sandler makes this absurd person human, and in doing so, makes the whole movie work. He commits hard to the role, and even though every scene is a little more unbelievable than the last, I never for a moment stopped believing in Howard. Superb work.

Honorable Mentions: Willem Dafoe, The Lighthouse; Saoirse Ronan, Little Women; Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story; Adam Driver, Marriage Story; Ana de Armas, Knives Out; Kang-ho Song, Parasite; Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes.

Best Supporting Performance: The rest of the cast of Uncut Gems

The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that Uncut Gems is a movie that survives entirely on its acting. The Safdie brothers themselves have said that the movie wouldn’t work without Kevin Garnett nailing the scene where he first holds the black opal. I’d extend that credit to all the other supporting roles: Idina Menzel as Howard’s wife who no longer even bats an eye at the insanity he brings on himself, Marshall Greenberg (a non-actor) as the fellow jeweler who expresses genuine concern for Howard but still gives him unfavorable terms on a pawn deal, deranged Garment District legend Wayne Diamond as a character just named “High Roller”—every one of these people is essential to the success of the film. When it comes down to it, Uncut Gems doesn’t make any sense. It takes a suite of perfect performances to make it feel as real as it does.

Honorable Mentions: Timothée Chalamet, Little Women; Laura Dern, Little Women; Florence Pugh, Little Women; Takayuki Hamatsu, One Cut of the Dead; Daniel Craig, Knives Out; Al Pacino, The Irishman.

The Costner Award for Worst Actor: Rebel Wilson, Cats

When we meet Rebel Wilson (as her fursona “Jennyanydots,” a name I will never utter again), she is showing her butthole to the camera. The character never gets more likable than that, because they let Rebel Wilson ad-lib numerous “comedic” lines to punch up the script. They’re awful.

Honorable Mention: James Corden, Cats.

Nicest Surprise: Cold Pursuit

I watch the Liam Neeson stupid action flick with my brother Rob every year. Sometimes we get something legitimately great, like A Walk Among the Tombstones. Other times we get a movie like The Commuter, which is dumb as rocks. But this is the first time we got a comedy. I went in expecting a second-rate Neeson-kills-people thriller, and instead got a solid black comedy. Apparently it’s nearly a shot-for-shot remake of the Norwegian film In Order of Disappearance, so maybe I should have known better. But I didn’t, so I was pleasantly surprised.

Hiddenest Gem: One Cut of the Dead

One Cut of the Dead is the best movie of the year that my friends haven’t seen, and it’s a tough movie to talk about because of how fun it is to watch knowing nothing about it. So I’ll keep it short. One Cut is a Japanese schlock horror movie with a fun twist that manages to be creepy at first, then funny, then heartwarming. Two things elevate this above the usual fun-twist movie. The first is that the surprise unfolds in little pieces over the entire second half of the movie, rather than hitting all at once. The second is that there’s real substance there: under the goofy exterior there’s a charming family story that’s worth coming back for.

Most Insulting Moment: We Hate Sensory Deprivation, Angel Has Fallen

I haven’t seen the other films in the Blank Has Fallen franchise, nor did I need to do so to understand its third installment. It’s exactly the kind of institution-worshipping great-men-of-history support-our-troops action bullshit you’d expect. But after the credits, there’s a totally inexplicable scene where Gerard Butler and his dad Nick Nolte agree to get treatment for their (implied) PTSD. Instead of leaving it as just a nice moment of healing, it cuts to a comedy scene where they go to a two-person sensory-deprivation tank and float around in the dark complaining about it. The general gist of the scene is “sensory deprivation is dumb and gay.” I’m not a sense-dep guy, but it’s used here as a stand-in for all the forms of “modernity” that reactionary filmmakers hate: you know, like mental health treatment, or trying new things, or expressing any sincere vulnerability even for a moment. Why not just show them affectionately kissing guns and save some production cost?

Honorable Mentions: The trailer for A Dog’s Way Home; The narration in Ad Astra.

Winter’s Tale Memorial “What the Hell Am I Watching” Award: Cats

At long last, a film that unites the unholy trinity of ambition, incompetence, and derangement to form a true “What the Hell Am I Watching” award-winner. The premise of Cats, in short, is that the cats of London meet every year to perform a ritual sacrifice of one of their number, believing that the chosen cat will, after their death, be reincarnated…as another London cat. And they determine the sacrifice by holding a talent show. And one of the cats is a warlock. So we’re off to a good start.

I was fortunate enough to see the original version. You see, the film is almost entirely CGI, so much so that viewing it feels like living inside a haunted kaleidoscope. Even the actors, through “digital fur technology,” are turned into cats which are anthropomorphized to greater or lesser degrees. The warlock cat, for example, has cat abs. But shortly after theatrical release, director Tom Hooper realized that the film contained major visual effects oversights, including failing to CGI several of the actors’ hands, meaning that Judi Dench and Ian McKellen appeared to have human arms on cat bodies. These are only some of the crimes of the film Cats. A full reading of the litany would take all day.

Honorable Mentions: A Dog’s Journey; Gemini Man.

Prettiest Movie: 1917

I’d be remiss not to talk about the cinematic achievement of 1917. The all-in-one-take thing, or the appearance thereof, is kind of a used gimmick at this point. (Birdman, after all, used it and won Best Picture.) I went into 1917 expecting a cheap knockoff. Instead I was blown away. Every detail was perfect, down to the mud stains on the extras’ overcoats, the stacking of sandbags in the real dug-out trenches, the bloating of the bodies clogging the waterways. One especially memorable scene follows our hero (George MacKay) sprinting through a ruined city by night, intermittently lit by mortar fire, dodging gunfire all the way. Maybe “pretty” isn’t the right word, but no film this year used the visual medium as well as 1917.

Honorable Mentions: Parasite, Once Upon A Time…in Hollywood.

Best Picture: Under the Silver Lake

Yes, I know it’s weird to give Best Picture to a movie that didn’t even get an honorable mention anywhere else. But this is my blog, dammit, I stand by it. Under the Silver Lake is a movie about capitalist-media-technology-complex-inspired brain poisoning. It stayed on my mind for weeks after seeing it, and I eventually gave it a second watch. It held up.

Criticisms of the film abound, like how male-gazey a lot of the portrayals of women are, but I think the parts that some reviewers identify as flaws are intentional and important features of the movie. We see the film through the eyes of our main character (Andrew Garfield), who is a scumbag, but the film is very clearly not endorsing being a scumbag. It’s about the interplay of personal neuroses and moral failings with the broader perverse clown-reality we all occupy, and the inescapable tinge our perspectives bring to the world we see. The film is, after all, a sort of noir film, and our hero’s attitudes are reflective in some ways of the noir mindset: find the clues, unravel the plot, get the girl. The incongruity between the stories and attitudes of our past and the demented reality of our future define the film.

I could go on about this for much longer, which is why I’m choosing Silver Lake as the best film of the year. It’s not notable for its acting or cinematography (though both are solid), but in terms of content, nothing else this year encapsulated my internal and external world quite so well as this.

Honorable mentions: Parasite; 1917; Little Women; The Irishman; One Cut of the Dead; Marriage Story; Uncut Gems.

That’s it, that’s the post. I think I’m moving to Letterboxd next year.

#2019 #oscars #awards #fervent gushing #one post of the year

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letterboxd · 5 years

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TIFF Premieres.

We reveal the highest-rated world premieres at Toronto, and unpack the Letterboxd reactions to the TIFF People’s Choice winner, Jojo Rabbit.

The ten highest-rated narrative feature films at TIFF this year were, in order: Parasite, Bacurau, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Marriage Story, The Lighthouse, Knives Out, Uncut Gems, Pain and Glory, Honey Boy and Jojo Rabbit.

Of those, only Knives Out and Jojo Rabbit had their world premieres at TIFF; the others have had the chance to climb the Letterboxd ranks over the past several months (with the exception of Marriage Story, which premiered at Venice, and Uncut Gems at Telluride).

But when we looked at the ten highest-rated narrative features based purely on TIFF world premiere status, that shook things up. We get some Midnight Madness, several local Canadian features, three women directors, and Riz Ahmed speaking both in English and American Sign Language. We made a list:

The top ten premieres at TIFF 2019 as ranked by the Letterboxd community.

Unpacking the People’s Choice winner

The Taika Waititi-directed Jojo Rabbit won TIFF’s coveted Grolsch People’s Choice award, a gong that often points directly to Oscar success, as outlined in this IndieWire explainer. The first runner-up was Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story, and Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite claimed third spot.

We were at Jojo Rabbit’s world premiere screening, where the atmosphere was buoyant and the jokes landed just where Waititi intended (for most audience members, but we’ll get to that).

A still from Taika Waititi’s short film ‘Tama Tū’ (2005).

Considering Jojo Rabbit in the context of Waititi’s earlier films, it’s rewarding to see threads that run through his other work all tied together in this. War, and the ordinary people who get stuck in it, is a topic of fascination, from the silly humor juxtaposed against a tense waiting game in Tama Tū, his short about a small contingent of the 28th Māori Battalion fighting in Italy in World War Two, to the scene on the beach in Boy, where Boy, his brother and their wayward father Alamein play at “war” with sticks. (The name is no accident: El Alamein in Egypt was the site of the longest WWII campaign fought by New Zealand soldiers, including members of the Māori Battalion. It's telling that Alamein prefers to go by his Crazy Horses gang name, "Shogun".). Then there’s the epic finale of Hunt for the Wilderpeople, which literally involves the New Zealand Army.

Te Aho Eketone-Whitu, James Rolleston and Taika Waititi in ‘Boy’ (2010).

Children in sticky situations—usually caused by adults—is another common thread, whether they’ve been left to fend for themselves outside a rural pub (watch that one here), or lifted from the city and fostered out to a remote farm, or sent to a Nazi Youth boot camp. These are horror scenarios, but by focusing on the worlds and friendships that children create for themselves in these circumstances, Waititi invites us to see how ridiculous grown-ups are; often more childish than the children they’re supposed to be parenting. That stupid Terminator argument between Ricky Baker and Paula the child welfare officer in Hunt for the Wilderpeople; the “foolish sucka!” scene in Eagle vs. Shark; the debate over whose turn it is to do the bloody dishes in What We Do in the Shadows.

A still from Taika Waititi’s short film ‘Two Cars, One Night’ (2003).

Colonialism and its consequences sit heavily beneath all of Waititi’s work, even Thor: Ragnarok, in its examination of the bloody history of Asgard, the events that precipitate a refugee crisis, and what it means to lose your land, and your people. Absent parents—and the effects of yearning for father figures in particular—are common themes, too. This is true even when a parent is present. Witness Alamein's plea in Boy: “Can you stop calling me ‘dad’? It sounds weird.” And the slow transformation of Sam Neill's "man alone" Wilderpeople character.

Waititi said at the Jojo Rabbit premiere that the film is a love letter to solo mothers. This applies off-screen as much as on: his mother introduced him to Christine Leunens’ book Caging Skies, upon which the film is based, and his wife, producer Chelsea Winstanley, who spent many years as a solo mother, provided inspiration for the imaginary friend storyline. Finally, Jojo Rabbit is also an ode to freedom, especially the freedom of one’s own mind in the face of inappropriate heroes and dangerous ideologies.

One thing the Letterboxd reviews out of TIFF agree on: the brilliant young actors (Roman Griffin Davis as Jojo, Archie Yates as his best friend Yorkie, and Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie as Elsa). “One has to congratulate Waititi for his—once again—great casting. The child actors are a joy to watch,” writes Jesse, with Brock praising McKenzie in particular: “Thomasin McKenzie smashes it again, proving with this, and last year’s underseen masterpiece Leave No Trace, that she is one of the best young actresses working today.”

What’s more debatable, looking through the reviews, is Waititi’s command of the film’s tonal shifts. "This is stupid and smart at the same time and is made with a great big heart," writes Ella. “Some things happen that are so heartbreaking that it would be difficult to imagine how the film could go back into joke mode a mere two scenes later, but it does, and it works,” observes Justin. This was all a pleasant surprise to Matt, who writes: “I had no idea Waititi was capable of landing such diverse and effective tones while still keeping things (relatively) fun.”

“Taika’s skill is to masterfully weave humor, sweetness, the absurd and goofiness right alongside weightier issues and tragedy,” Jennifer elaborates. “He does it with such a deft hand that you might miss how incredibly talented he is. He is my modern day Frank Capra.”

Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson and Roman Griffin Davis in ‘Jojo Rabbit’.

However, not everyone was charmed by Waititi’s style. Keith Uhlich took issue with the way the director “prefers to treat his audience like drooling cretins who need their hands held through every shift in tone, reassured that everything, even in a world off its axis, is going to work out”.

“Anti-intellectual nonsense,” writes Jesse. “Waititi claimed to have made this film in order to remember the horrors of nazi Germany and WWII, instead it joins the ranks of narratives that [revise] history… belittling them from their ideology.”

This was concerning to Awilmc: “I was shocked to read a number of negative reviews that said it glossed over the details of WWII… I mean… it was a satire and told through the perspective of a child who clearly wasn’t aware or, at the very least, did not fully understand the circumstances of the devastation and evil around him… Jojo was after all in every single scene.” Adds Karsten, “If there was a film that truly felt like it needed to happen in 2019, it was Jojo Rabbit.”

At several points in the film, characters note that, within the horrendous circumstances of war, people "did what they could". The same is true of Waititi, from whom nobody expects a straight-up drama. In what other movie would "Shitler" be portrayed with a shabby German accent by a Jewish-Māori from the South Pacific?

‘Jojo Rabbit’ is currently sitting at 3.9 out of 5 stars on Letterboxd; higher than any other aggregated score for the film. It opens in US cinemas October 18 and over subsequent months around the globe.

#letterboxd #taika waititi #jojo rabbit #peoples choice awards #tiff 2019

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donnerpartyofone · 6 years

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movie review fan lady here. I know it’s not yet BLOGTOBER, but in advance of that, what are some of the worst tropes of recent horror films, in your opinion? Of course, use whatever definition of “recent” suits your answer best! seems like you’re busy with new projects these days, hope all is well and that you have plenty of time to watch however many horror movies you like this fall!

(first of all, sorry for my uneven typing but i’m using a new laptop that has a really intrusive but also totally inconsistent autocorrect thing and I’m just sick of fucking with it) thanks for saying hello! I have been pretty dormant lately, and it’s encouraging to hear from people who enjoy reading what I write. the mental illness got me bad this summer. this was made unnecessarily difficult by the fact that I had arranged a month-and-a-half-long personal leave from work, during which time I expected to be able to return to “myself” and replenish my inner strength by doing only things that I care about, and most importantly, see what kind of life I lead when I’m not being crushed under the heel of my extremely demanding and shameful job–a perspective few individuals will ever have the privilege of gaining. of course, a lot of what actually happened amounted to a painful reminder of how little I’m really capable of as a person. this has been especially hard to recover from with the restored stress of being at the office. I had my first full-blown panic attack on my first day back. although I suffer from anxiety, I have always been hesitant to describe my episodes of escalating, wracking panic as “attacks”. this is because once when I was young, I witnessed someone going into a panic attack after confessing to me her history of childhood trauma; she went into a total fugue state, dragged her limbs, spun in circles, and made faces until she collapsed, never to remember anything about the experience. I thought, “so that’s what a panic attack is. basically, if you are aware of your surroundings, have basic control of your face and limbs, and can recall the event, then you don’t really have any kind of real problem to complain of.” my “panic attack” was still not as bad as that, but it did involve an interesting lapse of motor control on top of everything else, so I guess I’m giving myself credit for it.

I never stopped watching movies, of course, but I almost totally abandoned letterboxd, save for a weird stint where I reviewed every single pre-Zombie HALLOWEEN movie; I actually suspect that for some reason, letterboxd only sent two of them into the activity feed, so no one even saw them all. so I stopped writing, and then I developed all this self-imposed guilt about failing to maintain my entirely voluntary pleasure-oriented routine, and my feelings of completely meaningless shame around this made it very difficult to start again. I think there’s also a sub-problem where, in actually recording my viewing habits, I started to get really stressed out about how much of my life I just waste on things I don’t even enjoy, just in order to kill time until I get to go to sleep again. for instance: yesterday I watched FATHER FIGURES, an ed helms-owen Wilson road movie that I was not even slightly intrigued by. in it, helms and Wilson are twins on the hunt for the dad they’ve never known, and they basically plod through a series of dopey vignettes: what if he was a MOVIE STAR? what if he was a FAMOUS FOOTBALL PLAYER? et al, ad nauseam. you can imagine what it’s like. *I* could have imagined what it was like. …but actually, there’s this weird sequence like an hour into the movie where (spoiler alert I guess), at the end of a string of dovetailing red herrings, the twins believe they’ve finally traced their real dad to a Boston suburb. they arrive at the guy’s house, expecting to meet a legendary supercop, only to find out that they’re at his wake. to make matters worse, the house is filled with young Irish American thugs who seem to be constantly on the verge of orgiastic violence, and who are already in a dangerously elevated emotional state. meanwhile, in this context, ed helms discovers that the woman with whom he had a one night stand two scenes ago is actually his sister. his and Wilson’s true identities, in addition to this sexual horror, come tumbling into the light of day at this worst of all possible moments, and the dead man’s own identical twin brother has to lay bare the sordid details of their family history to straighten everything out. I was embarrassed to find myself totally riveted to this sequence, which was something like THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW or THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE: ordinary people are absorbed into a secret, separatist subculture that is ruled by its own perverse systems of honor, incest and violence. I thought, “wait a minute, is this movie GOOD now??” of course the answer was, no, absolutely not! but it had me going for a second there. …but my point is, now I’ve seen that, and I still haven’t seen one single Eric Rohmer movie. part of the reason is, I’m afraid they’ll annoy me. don’t I have any kind of consistent thought? don’t I ever do a single thing with purpose?

god, remember when I used to use the anhed-nia blog to work out all kinds of really intense personal problems? I guess I stopped because I started feeling weird about what I was doing with the format, like I felt bad for people who followed during blogtober and weren’t expecting that kind of thing, which is so stupid, I mean it’s my blog and barely anyone follows it for me to worry about anyway. also the mental illness got me. I started feeling like, “why am I even writing this down, like what’s the point, I’m basically just masturbating and being pretentious and I’m not even having any revelations or whatever.” that feeling persists in my whole life, like a lot of people with depression. the constant why-ness of everything. it can be really extreme, like, “ok, I put my left shoe on, but is that REALLY a compelling reason to put my right shoe on? I mean I could just as easily be doing NOTHING instead!” anyway, watch out world, I might start putting personal problems on anhed-nia again.

but uhhh none of that answers your question. I don’t know if I have a proper answer! like, some things come to mind that are not necessarily “tropes” but I do consider them modern problems:

SETTLING UP WITH REALITY: we have this really sad situation now where, in order for a horror story to be compelling, every single movie has to suddenly slam on its brakes and examine what’s going on with everybody’s cell phone. did it get lost? is it broken? poor connection? as soon as this starts happening, all I can think is, “I’m watching a movie. this is the part where the writer has to take a number of laborious, repetitive steps, the conclusion of which I already know for sure, in order to explain to me that whatever is about to happen in the movie could definitely really happen in real life, for real, because the convenience of cell phones could not have prevented it. the writer knows that I have heard of cell phones, and so now we have to make a dry, methodical accounting of the status of all of the cell phones in the movie. once this has been finalized, the actual story may proceed.” I hate this so much. whatever inherent horror there may be in the failure of our phones in times of peril is completely negated by my awareness of the writer’s felt obligation to go around disabling each and every cell phone right in front of me before we can even begin to address the point of his story. let me put it a little bit differently: when we have a home invasion movie in which the villains cut the phone lines, that evokes a horror that is native to this genre. the protagonist feels personally violated, imprisoned, completely separated from their fellow humans, separated even from the form of reality they enjoyed before their victimhood began. the very definition of “home”, as a place that is private, safe, comforting, and under one’s one sovereign rule, is painfully inverted. that is the point of that specific story, in which the telephone has defined semiotic and psychological significance. on the other hand, the problem of cell phones is completely generic. now, in every horror movie of every subgenre, no matter where the characters are or what they’re doing or what we suspect will become of them, nothing can even happen without this dutiful address of the phones. this is only happening because of an absolutely ludicrous obligation people feel for their fantasies to resemble their reality as closely as possible, which flies in the face of the whole idea of having metaphors that help us explore our emotional and spiritual conditions. PS if you’re the kind of person who can’t watch even a really great movie without holding everyone in it to the standard of your own personal pragmatism and logic, then maybe you should ask yourself why the fuck you even watch movies in the first place.

BICKERING AS DRAMA: this may not be a specifically modern problem, although I *feel* like I encounter it most in horror movies from the last two decades. in any horror story with an ensemble cast, an important source of danger is the dissolution of personal relationships. under the strain of their predicament, people who desperately need to trust and protect each other become volatile, angry, cowardly, irrational. fearing for their lives, they lose their ability to cooperate, or even to agree on one most-hopeful solution to their shared problem. in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, the ongoing fight over whether to hide in the basement or the attic is agonizing, and helps to underline the preexisting, banal political tension between the main characters–in fact, the corrosive social forces of the 1960s are key to this film’s subtext–which now compounds the mortal threat posed by cannibalistic monsters. alternatively, you can have a movie like John carpenter’s THE THING that is mainly composed of protagonists in-fighting; in that case, the irresolvable conflicts strengthen the movie’s message, which is specifically about betrayal, alienation, and loneliness. what I see in a lot of movies now, instead of a focused, purposeful conflict like those, is a deteriorating situation of multiple characters incessantly bickering with each other over the details of their circumstances. no one is making a salient point, or contributing to our understanding of their conundrum, or revealing something particular about themselves. they’re just yelling and sniping and sulking and badgering each other about minutiae, or about the key problem in such broad strokes that their arguments cease to have any meaning. I actually think that this is a consequence of that same boneheaded obsession with realism of which I complained previously. I often feel like these protracted scenes of petty fighting about granular details are a way for the writer to paranoiacally defend themselves against persnickety viewers who complain about “stupid” characters who apparently fail to exercise heroic levels of sober judgment and practicality. these viewers, who are so happy to hurl accusations of “UGH HE SHOULDA JUST _____” at the screen, as if there is anything “just” simple and obvious about the story unfurling, are progressively ruining storytelling for everyone, necessitating these grueling character discussions about the potential consequences of every hair-splitting potentiality of every situation.

EFFICIENCY AND ECONOMY, OR LACK THEREOF: …this is sort of a different kind of point that I want to make, so bear with me. as a (secret, amateur) writer myself, I am plagued by the neurotic urge to explain exactly the way things happen in as comprehensive a fashion as possible. like, I don’t know, if I were writing a story about how someone inherits an old house, I’d probably start stressing out ridiculously about the bureaucracy of how this property changed hands, what kinds of officials would have to be involved, how the new owner evaluates maintenance needs, and EXACTLY how long everything would take. i have an irrational fear of leaving things out, when I absolutely need to leave things out in order for the story to simply be about whatever it is about–which is NOT property transactions. it’s not even that I’m anxious about “realism” precisely–this could apply to a fantasy framework just as well–I just lose track of which details are actually important, and which details I should give the audience credit for intuiting (or not even needing to know). because of this, I try to really notice when a writer deliberately, elegantly leaves a big gap in the action, in order to stay faithful to the story’s spiritual identity. I wish I could think of a good example! but I at least have a good anti-example, which is: I rewatched TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE NEXT GENERATION this year for TEXAS CHAIN SAW (sic) MASSACRE Day. that’s a really crazy fucking movie for a whole lot of different reasons, but one thing I noticed about it is, the DP shows EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS. this became absolutely hilarious to me pretty quickly. is somebody talking? point the camera at them! is somebody reacting facially to the person talking? point the camera at THEM! did someone just walk in the door? now point the camera RIGHT AT THEM, and make sure you get the door in the shot and show the whole thing until the door closes and something else happens! it’s so crazy and nervous. there’s a scene where leatherface has to put a character into a cooler where there’s already another character trapped, so he has to pick up the big hunk of machinery that he used to hold the door closed, and then find a place to put that thing down, and then put the character in the cooler, and then turn around and pick up the thing off the place where he put it down, and then turn around and put the thing back on the thing again, and they show ALL OF IT. it really cracks me up, it’s so unnecessary. I mean, the scene is already in chaos, you just have to show a bunch of motion with the piece of machinery coming in and out of frame, but instead you get this like anal retentive breakdown of exactly what happens to every object in the scene. anyway, I try to notice when I’m feeling compelled to do that kind of insane accounting of everything that happens, and I also try to notice when someone else is really good at NOT doing that!

anyway, thanks a lot for the question! it’s really good for me to get a prompt like that. blogtober is coming after all, and I need to Get Amped. this fall I have horticulture classes at the local botanic garden three nights a week, so it’s going to be tough! if you (y’all) have any movies I haven’t reviewed that you’d like me to talk about, I would be very open to hearing about it, I often get stuck. also feel free to follow me on letterboxd to help pressure me into continuing to use it. https://letterboxd.com/donnerpartyof1/

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uprootedandrelentless · 3 years

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2020 Review - Miraya

2020 was a year we’ll always remember. At first glance it’s the year of COVID-19, a global pandemic, Trump, BLM, shelter in place, businesses closing and so much loss and sickness. Future textbooks will need many pages to cover the history of this year. Zoomed in (get it?!) at the smaller scale of my little bubble it has also been a year of lots of virtual experiences, career change, working from home, and sweatpants. Obviously there were so much bigger and more monumental issues than my own but for the sake of this year in review I’m just zooming in on my day to day life. There is so much out of our control, that this year was a reminder to be grateful for our relationships. Despite the craziness of the year, there were many joyful and happy moments that I want to remember of 2020, so I’ll focus on those.

It’s hard to think about this year pre-Pandemic/pre-March, but I am grateful that I squeezed in so much in the beginning of the year. In the first few months before lockdown, I luckily got to see so many friends and travel to all my favorite cities (London, New York and Palm Springs). Matt and I rang in the New Year in London, so we started 2020 there! I celebrated Claire’s Bachelorette party with 20 of her friends in Los Angeles, went to New York for my first Dessert Goals corporate event on Valentine’s Day, spoke at Alt Summit conference, and planned Clarissa’s bachelorette in Palm Springs. These trips feel like distant memories besides scrolling through photos on my phone. I can’t wait until we can travel again.

Since March my days have been much less glamorous, but there have still been moments I’ll treasure. Matt and I love watching movies, playing games and eating and luckily got to do a lot of these from the safety of our home. Some favorite moments of the year:

Snuggling on the couch with Matt and Rocky, watching movies and eating popcorn with Trader Joe’s ghee spray and truffle salt

Working out while playing Just Dance with Matt, our favorite song is “What Does The Fox Say”

Lots of cooking - using our air fryer, crockpot and Matt becoming a mixologist and creating a 50+ page Google Doc cocktail book

Every time we leave a grocery store with a giant cart full of food and I say “we will not starve”

Supporting small business with fun experiences at home, like Pop Up Mag in a Box and Mama’s Date Night Kit

Playing Pandemic Legacy co-op game season 1 and 2

Celebrating my 30th birthday at Claire’s house and learning a choreographed dance of Aaron Carter’s I Want Candy with Claire, Evan, Matt

Creative socially distanced activities like picnics with my parents and friends, playing croquet with Matt’s family, renting out a nail salon for Claire’s birthday

Virtual events like Six Degrees Society, monthly Pizza Party mastermind group, Dreamers & Doers, The Assembly entrepreneur group, my 30th Birthday with friends and family across the country

Solo workouts and dancing on my rooftop in the middle of the day

Home improvements like painting our bookshelf blue, getting a new coffee table and buffet table

Sleeping With Other People 5 year anniversary watch party with Rom Com Fest and IFC Zoom with Alison Brie and Jason Sudeikis

Seeing Instagram Story photos of people across the country receiving Dessert of the Month boxes

Spending a week in Los Angeles in an Airbnb with a pool and hottub and going to our favorite restaurants while working from a different desk than our usual at home

Finding our wedding venue and booking a date for March 2022

Sadly the year has also included many not so great moments:

Closing of Eco Goods, my parent’s shop of over 20 years

Closing of The Assembly, my co-working space and slice of heaven in SF

Clearing out my LA storage unit of all my event supplies, many of which I just purchased in November for Dessert Goals and have sat unused since then

Getting Covid in May - luckily it was mild I just had a high fever and was achy and sick for a few days then quarantined for 10 days

Having to let my employee go because I couldn’t keep paying her

Having to cancel all of my festivals

Moments of feeling totally defeated and lost and not sure how to keep my business going

Shock at the country and that there are so many stupid and selfish people

In my little world, the hardest part about this year for me has been my struggle with my identity as an event planner when I can’t plan events. I’ve always felt such an association of what I do with who I am and when I suddenly am forced to stop doing what I love, with no end in sight, it’s been really tough, both for my identity and my business. I had my year all mapped out, three festivals, sponsors, and first I just postponed my events, and now they are cancelled until the foreseeable future. I tried some virtual events, launched a Dessert of the Month club, but nothing was enough. Dessert Goals and Rom Com Fest are so much about the IRL experience and I couldn’t figure out how to translate that at home.

With a wonderful stroke of luck I was connected with someone in August looking for help with his event hosting software platform, Mixily, and he brought me on to do customer success and marketing. It’s the first “real job” I’ve had since 2014, and first time I’ve worked at a software startup. It’s been like MBA training, sink or swim. We have a small team all across the world and it’s been exciting getting to Slack and Zoom with others all working on the same project together. I’ve transformed a corner of our bedroom into an office (with a desk from The Assembly), bought a laptop stand, keyboard and mouse, and it’s the most official work setup I’ve had in years. Considering this crazy year and not being able to plan events, I am so grateful I got this opportunity to keep working and flexing my muscles in a new industry. I’ve joined many new communities to connect with others in the software world, such as Indie Hackers, and have learned a lot of new perspectives about startups, that sometimes you’ll work on something for years and then have to call it quits. With Dessert Goals and Rom Com Fest I hope it’s not quits forever, but I’m coming to accept that they can be on the back burner for now.

This year I turned 30. The biggest milestone the year has had in my mind is the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, which I never made it on. Obviously it would have been great, and I can’t say I’m not bummed that I didn’t, but I do know it’s not everything. Besides that, and wishing I could have a big party for my birthday which wasn’t totally possible, 30 hasn’t felt dramatically different yet. I know that I compare myself to others more than it is healthy, it’s hard to prevent it, especially when scrolling through Instagram. I hear from others as you get into your 30s you feel more confident in your skin, I hope this clicks for me and I quit the comparison game soon. I’ve started paying attention to my phone’s screen time and it’s pretty scary how many hours of each day I spend on Instagram. I’m juggling accounts for my personal, Rom Com Fest, Dessert Goals and Mixily, so it’s a lot. A mix of research, posting, and inspiration, but it’s not a good use of time. Over the holidays I logged out of all my accounts, so if I wanted to check I had to go through the extra step of logging in, and it’s decreasing my scroll time drastically. I know Instagram is not a good use of time and adds to my comparison feelings, so it is something I want to decrease next year.

One of the new communities I joined because of Mixily, Reality Bites, asked me what three things I want more and less of in 2021. Here they are, plus a few more.

More: travel, exercise, picnics, walks with friends, outdoor time

Less: stress, snacking, guilt, Instagram, comparing myself to others, sweatpants

Last year I included lists of my favorite books, movies and TV shows of the year and want to keep the tradition. I’ve been tracking books in Goodreads, movies in Letterboxd, and TV shows in Notes. Here are my top picks of the year.

Books

Last year I read 27 books and set a goal for 30 books this year. I ended up reading 32! My top 5:

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han

Not Like The Movies by by Kerry Winfrey

Body Love Every Day: Choose Your Life-Changing 21-Day Path to Food Freedom by Kelly LeVeque

The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you by Rob Fitzpatrick

Movies

Matt and I watched A LOT of movies this year! Many older movies, including many from 1999 and a ton of Tom Hanks. Matt always creates his top 10 movie list of new release films. Here’s my top 2020 movies in alphabetical order:

An American Pickle

Bad Education

How to Build A Girl

On The Rocks

Palm Springs

Save Yourselves!

Soul

The Half Of It

The One and Only Ivan

To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You

In between movie watching, and while multitasking, I was able to watch quite a lot of TV shows this year, some with Matt and some on my own. Matt and I watched all the seasons of Veronica Mars which started a marathon of all other Rob Thomas (the creator of Veronica Mars) shows including Party Down and iZombie. Of new 2020 shows, here are some of my favorites, in alphabetical order:

Dash & Lily

Dead To Me season 2

Emily in Paris

Love Life

Never Have I Ever

PEN15 season 2

Queen’s Gambit

The Bold Type season 4

The Home Edit

The Morning Show

Trinkets

At the end of my post last year I wrote of all the things I was looking forward to next year including 4 weddings and 3 festivals, all of which were cancelled. 2020 felt so planned out and yet everything was changed. I have no idea what next year will bring. It could feel exactly the same as this year, working from home and wearing a mask all year. Or we could be able to host events by summer. Every virtual event I’ve attended about the future of events seems like a similar level of uncertainty. It feels impossible to set goals or make plans for 2021. We just have to roll with the punches, be kind to one another, stay safe, wear our masks and ride this out.

Here’s to a brighter and safer 2021!

-Miraya

#oakland #eventplanner #software startup #2020 #2020 review #virtual events

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crowdvscritic · 5 years

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round up // AUGUST 19

It’s been a minute, hasn’t it?

Let me assure you—it’s not you, it’s me. You know those times in life when watching and writing about every Best Picture winner in a regular cadence feels impossible? No? That’s just me? Every time I think I’m about to get going on this Best Picture Project again, it seems like life finds another reason for me to spend packing up boxes or suitcases again (or sometimes even just packing more into my tired, little mind). As the trailer for the World War I film 1917 says, “TIME IS THE ENEMY.” The all-caps treatment feels appropriate here, too.

But because my tired, little mind does ache to write about movies, I’ve been inspired to try a new segment—inspired by my very own sister. She’s a writer with a drive and commitment to her travel blog I envy sometimes. (But don’t worry, it’s in more an I’m-proud-of-her kind of way than an Othello kind of way.) Every month over at Round Trip, she rounds up the highlights and new things she’s tried each month. They’re some of my favorite posts to read, so I thought I’d create my own version with a Crowd vs. Critic twist. (But don’t worry—it’s more an imitation-is-the-sincerest-form-of-flattery thing than a Talented Mr. Ripley kind of thing.) Each month I’ll be sharing my favorite crowd-pleasers and my top critic picks. The twist on that? I’m recommending more than just films. These are the new-to-me cultural artifacts I’ve loved in a rough order of when I experienced them, including (but not limited to) a TV show, podcast, lengthy feature article, art exhibit, and music video. Oh, and of course, a few movies I’ve seen or am excited for, too.

August Crowd-Pleasers

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)

I’m not really a Fast & Furious gal, and this movie is grade-A bonkers. But Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham make stupid one-liners land like nobody else. Seeing Princess Margaret taking control of her life was unexpectedly satisfying, and kudos to this team for knowing this is the kind of movie that should be as indulgent and over-the-top as it wants. Crowd: 10/10 // Critic: 6/10

Minority Report (2002)

Not everything about this Steven Spielberg/Tom Cruise flick gels, and the influence of contemporary blockbusters like The Matrix and Star Wars is excessive. But its take on the surveillance state was prescient, and it’s still a tense thriller. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 8/10

Veronica Mars (TV series: 2004-2007, 2019; Movie: 2014)

I’ve been looking for a way to watch this teen detective drama for awhile, and I know why people have been recommended this to me for years. With the new Hulu reboot, the original series is finally available there as well, and I couldn’t stop watching. I’ve given up on other, critically loved shows in an episode or less because I struggle watching violence against women—sorry, The Americans, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Jessica Jones. Veronica Mars somehow handles those storylines with all the seriousness and sensitivity they deserve but without the graphic depictions that make me feel sick. Smart, funny, and addictive, it’s the kind of binge I love, and now I’m just trying to emotionally recover from that new season.

I Feel Pretty (2018)

I’m also not much of an Amy Schumer gal, but this really clicked. If all message movies were this funny and clever, maybe they would have a better chance at making the world a better place. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 6.5/10

The Micheaux Mission

Len and Vince’s thoughtful, funny podcast covering every Black Film ever made took a “Binge Lounge” detour into a retrospective on Black Family Sitcoms this month from the most obvious (The Cosby Show) to the obscure (Julia). Now that I’ve finished Veronica Mars, I might need to revisit the gem that is Everybody Hates Chris.

The King’s Man trailer (2020)

Unclear why the franchise is deviating from the dynamic duo of Taron Egerton and Colin Firth, but color me intrigued.

Rolling Stone’s “Millennial 100”

This beast of a list was published last fall, but I just happened upon it and read all 100 entries. Inevitably, Every Millennial will find something missing on this list (Where is Gilmore Girls? Why do we need to list Taylor Swift’s boyfriends instead of her music?), but it’s a solid summation of the influences on our childhood and adolescence.

August Critic Picks

Paul Gauguin: The Art of Invention at The Saint Louis Art Museum

#NerdAlert: I’m a huge fan of museums. Like, I need to give myself pep talks to remind myself it’s not possible to see everything in one museum in one visit. As members of SLAM, my mom and I were invited to a free, guided tour through a new Gauguin exhibit, which is just another reason to consider supporting your local art museum.

1917 trailer (2019)

Maybe Colin Firth was unavailable for a Kingsman sequel because he and Benedict Cumberbatch were filming this World War I film with a December release prime for Oscar season. Color me intrigued again.

Atlas: Enneagram by Sleeping at Last

I’ve been learning a lot about the Enneagram in the last year, and no personality test (for lack of a more accurate term) has helped me understand how to love others and myself better than this one. I loved the artistry and thoughtfulness behind this album, which brings each type’s longings and fears and strengths and faults into song. (And not just because they’re coming from a fellow 9.) Bonus: There’s an accompanying podcast I’m still digging into.

Roman Holiday on the Big Screen

I caught a screening of one of my favorite Audrey Hepburn movies at the Tivoli Theatre, and she and Gregory Peck were truly larger than life.

Léon: The Professional

This month at ZekeFilm, we watched Natalie Portman movies we’d never seen before. I watched and loved her feature film debut, which came out the year she turned 13. She’s been a knockout from the get-go, and this movie holds up 25 years later. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 9/10

Lover by Taylor Swift

When she released Speak Now, I knew I’d buy the next 10 Taylor Swift albums, and Lover might be in the running for my new favorite of her collections. (I’ll have to listen to it 100 more times to be sure, so come find me in about two weeks.) I loved reputation., but her lyrical prowess and synth-y production have met in a magical and mellifluous 18-track opus. The first five tracks are chef’s-kiss perfection, that “Lover” music video is an aesthetic dream. (t’s not every day I hear a song and immediately can hear it still on the radio in 30 years.) I don’t think she gets enough credit for her songs about friends and family, and some of her best are here as well. I’m both in awe and so proud as a decade-plus fan.

Also in August…

On SO IT’S A SHOW? this month, I watched a cult classic movie and a classic TV show with my pal and co-host Kyla Carneiro for our pop culture podcast. Catch our episodes on Ed Wood and The Carol Burnett Show (and how they connect with Gilmore Girls) on our Tumblr.

I watched 1960s crime thriller Midas Run on Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray for ZekeFilm. It was…not good.

Until next time, follow what films I’m watching in real time on Letterboxd and find more reviews and features at ZekeFilm.

Photo credits: The Micheaux Mission, Rolling Stone, Sleeping at Last, Taylor Swift. Paul Gauguin and Tivoli Theatre my own. All others IMDb.com.

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