#the scene that cemented my love for rick | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

whateverisbeautiful · 3 months

Text

♥️ Ranking Richonne

#2: I'm Still With You (S5E16)

My favorite pre-canon Richonne scene. 😍 This moment is something special and monumental for many reasons. Plus it features my favorite thing Michonne has ever said to Rick in TWD. To me, the connection, vulnerability, and steam in this scene are nearly equal to some of Richonne's passionate exchanges during their post-canon era. I love that this moment makes it loud and clear that these two have a very powerful effect on each other. And most importantly, I adore this scene for cementing that Rick and Michonne are with each other always. 🥹 What a gift...

A lot of relationships can appear strong during happy times when both individuals are on the same page. However, it's during those challenging periods, when two hold different outlooks and have a multitude of things weighing on them, that the true strength of a relationship really becomes evident.

So part of what puts this scene so high on my list is that it is one of the clearest depictions of why Richonne's relationship is so deep and durable. Because even at this time when circumstances could have easily caused a major divide between them, Michonne and Rick instead choose each other and prove this is a relationship that they sincerely value in the good times and the hard times too.

But, before we get into the #2 scene, we have to talk about some scenes that proceed it in the s5 finale. 🤗

As I’ve said in a previous post, I think this scene where Rick wakes up to find Michonne watching over him and they finally talk about his headspace is extremely revealing of how he views her. Rick telling Michonne, "Well you wanted this place," just really hammered home that in many ways she’s in the wife category to him. Rick was trying to secure this place for team family, but especially for Michonne in a way that he wasn't able to do for Lori.

The scene opens with Rick asleep after Michonne quite literally knocked some sense into him the prior ep, and it's funny that when he stirs awake, he laughs almost amused as he recalls the wild stuff that happened leading up to this point.

Then Michonne asks, "What’s so funny?" and you see a surprised little look on Rick's face as he asks, "You were here the whole time?" And I like that there’s not an ounce of frustration towards her after knocking him out. He gets it.

I love that Michonne is the one in here with him. Even knowing Rick has been wildin' out she’s still protective of him. Cuz she can knock him out but that doesn’t mean she’s gonna let anyone else come for him. It’s like a visual representation of the sentiment she’ll later express in my golden #2 scene.

Michonne even says she was there with Rick all night, which is such an indicator of her love for him. And then because she knows his laugh meant something, she reiterates "What’s so funny?," and I love that Rick is willing to be vulnerable about his headspace with her when he admits to her that mentally he’s still stuck in the train car from Terminus.

Michonne gives him the rundown of what he missed, and it’s clear she was thoroughly holding down the fort and keeping the peace while he was out of it.

Then I appreciate that Michonne closes some of the distance between them when she pulls her chair closer and asks, "Rick, what are you doing?"

It’s clear she’s concerned about him, and I like that she asks this way. It’s not accusatory like, 'What were you thinking?' or derogatory like, 'What’s wrong with you?' She wants to know what he’s doing cuz clearly she can tell Rick thinks he’s doing what he has to even though he really doesn’t have to. And if he’d be honest with her, she could help him see that.

Like in this scene, Michonne really could have told Rick...

And she'd be right lol. 😋 However, when she asks this, Rick doesn’t have an answer so then Michonne for the first time addresses the Pete and Jessie situation.

She says, "You could have told me what was happening." And there’s a deeper reason Rick didn’t tell her, beyond what he’ll claim here when he just says "it moved fast." He kept people closest to him like Carl, Michonne, and Glenn out of the loop about the Anderson situation because in many ways his off behavior in that situation was not rooted in clarity but rather in the unresolved wound of losing Lori without closure and the severe PTSD that everything about ASZ triggered within him.

He says it moved fast “and then Noah.” The way Rick says that part feels like he knows how hard Noah’s loss was on Michonne. We saw her grieving Noah a bit in a prior ep too. Which would make sense, especially because Noah, as a kid who didn’t make it, could stir up a lot of pain over losing Andre for her. 😢

Rick says he couldn’t tell her about the gun and, while it could seem like he says it like he couldn’t trust her with that info, he knows what he really means which is what he’ll reveal later - that he couldn’t tell her cuz she had the power to talk him out of it.

Michonne sarcastically says, "nah you couldn’t," cuz she knows Rick knows good and well he can tell her anything.

It becomes clear that Rick meant he couldn’t tell her because of her influence on him when he says, “Well you wanted this place.” Again, I’ll always love the significance and delivery of this line. And he’s not saying this accusatory. He knows finding a home meant something to her, and it meant something to him that Michonne got what she wanted.

It really feels like during this whole arc, Rick didn’t want to tamper with Michonne's experience in ASZ by roping her into his underhanded plans with Daryl and Carol because they were plans that suggested the place could fall or not work out, and he knows Michonne wanted to believe in this place.

Along with knowing Michonne could talk him out of this approach, I've always felt like part of why Rick kept her out of the plans - plans that normally he would want her fully involved in - was because of his desire to "give her this place" without the burden of expecting things to go wrong.

Think about pretty much all of Rick and Michonne's scenes in ASZ leading up to this point, especially the scene where he looks right at Michonne as he "signs the papers" and agrees to be a constable with her the day after she expresses to him that she would want a job. Each of their ASZ scenes suggested that even as Rick was spiraling on his own mental journey, everything in him still wanted Michonne to have this place, even if it meant carrying the burden of intense uncertainty on his own.

Fortunately, in this ep, Rick learns that he is no longer with a partner who expects him to carry any burdening issues alone ever. 🙌🏽

So then Michonne adamantly tells him they had to stop being out there, and she's right as always. Then Rick says, "Well we’re here," and I love Michonne’s response to this. She notes what Rick said earlier about still being mentally stuck in that train car when she compassionately says, “Well you just said you weren’t.”

And really it’s true, the poor guy has not been all there in ASZ hence some of his more volatile behavior. And Rick looks like he knows Michonne has a point when he stares at her in this moment.

Then when Carol, Abe, and Glenn walk in (which feels like they are walking in on the Richonne bubble) Rick is caught in the middle with Michonne on one end asking about the gun, and Carol on the other wanting him to lie.

And you can just tell that man does not want to lie to Michonne anymore. But he goes along with Carol’s story even tho Michonne ain’t buying it, looking at Rick and Carol like...

Later, Carol talks with Rick alone and is in his ear about continuing their trust-no-one approach. And the first thing Rick asks is why she didn’t want to tell Michonne, Glenn, and Abe about the gun. You know those magnets within him are ready to stop with the games that are causing distance with Michonne and come clean to her once and for all.

Carol seems to suggest that Michonne knocking Rick out might make her untrustworthy of being let in on their plans, but I adore that Rick so quickly and confidently defends Michonne, saying both that he deserved what Michonne did and that, "She’s with us."

He knows and trusts his woman, y'all. And I love that even after Michonne knocked him out and Carol's trying to cast doubts about her, Rick's still like...

In this whole ASZ situation Carol and Michonne reflect two different ways to approach ASZ. And in this scene with Rick and Carol, it’s clear that Rick has already been swayed more to Michonne’s side, especially as he tells Carol, "I don’t want to lie anymore."

This moment lets you know that without even directly talking him out of it, Michonne has again influenced Rick to no longer want to scheme and plot under the table. I know Rick hated feeling even remotely distant from Michonne, and he’s ready to fix that and stop lying to her asap.

Also, now you know I don’t really care to revisit any of those scenes, but all I’ll say about the scene with Jessie in this ep is it’s an interesting choice to have Rick only seen through the window when they talk. It again shows that in this situation he’s not all there, as Rick's not even seen present in the same shot as her, just a reflection of who he is.

But then, in this next scene, this Top 2 classic, not only is Rick directly in the shot with the woman he’s meant for, but the two get all up close and personal too...

Ok so on to my favorite pre-canon scene and top 2 moment. 🤩

I love that after such a compellingly wild journey with Rick’s character arc in season 5, his turning point back to some sense of sanity in the finale is in this moment with Michonne. She’s the person in his life most capable of helping him start seeing things clearer.

It reminds me of Rick’s other mental spiral arc in s3 and how his turning point was also Michonne-related as nearly giving her up sparked him to return to democracy. No matter how off the deep end Rick can go, something about Michonne can always bring him back. 💯

So the scene opens with Michonne approaching the room and softly saying, "Rick, you ready?" which I like especially because in 5.11 she had asked Rick that very thing right outside the gates of ASZ before they ever entered the community.

And in some ways, Rick wasn’t fully ready to let go of the fight and embrace this place back then, which has led to their current predicament. But even then, she still checks in on him now and wants to know where he’s really at with this.

(also the opening shot low-key feels like she's the angel arriving on his shoulder to guide him back to the light, if you ask me.)

This moment of her checking on him also sorta feels like it parallels that scene in The Distance when Michonne approaches Rick outside the barn while he works on a car. There's some similar positioning with him lower and her standing above, but the interesting difference is in 5.11 Rick and Michonne were discussing the potential for other people/communities to pose a threat, and here in 5.16 they have to deal with how Rick is now deemed the threat to the community.

Then I love that all Michonne has to say is just those three words - "Rick, you ready?" - and Rick is ready to completely spill everything. Like details and all with no hesitation. 😋

Rick lays it all out saying how he, Carol, and Daryl worked out the plan to keep guns together, and he lets Michonne know exactly what they took from the armory and exactly what they still have.

Rick says, “We lied to you cuz I wasn’t sure how you’d take it - what you’d do.” which has always been quite interesting to me because like he knows Michonne wouldn’t just straight up turn on him or fight him but I think just the mere thought that what she’d do is pull away from him or be disappointed was enough for Rick to feel he couldn’t risk telling her.

And I like how, as he says this, he holds his hand out to give her the gun as this symbol that not only is he confessing, but he’s ready to “turn himself in” in a sense and let her have the gun and have intel on the plan completely, rather than hide anything from her.

I feel like this moment really hammers home that Rick views Michonne as his partner. They'd been operating like partners and co-leaders so much before arriving in Alexandria, so Rick knows that Michonne is someone in the group who would have and should have been let in on these types of plans, which is why not telling her felt like a lie that weighed on him.

I like that when Michonne hears Rick say this, she puts the windbreaker down, knowing they need to have a moment and talk this out so she can let him know exactly where she stands.

She asks if he thinks she’d try to stop him, and Rick, always finding time to be a little teasing with her, says, "Well you did hit me over the head." You know he's teasing too cuz he literally just defended her doing this when he spoke with Carol earlier lol.

And I appreciate that Michonne wants it to be crystal clear she did that to help him and not for the others. "That was for you." Of course, it’s for him, and doing what she thought was best to help him.

Even before hearing her say this, you know Rick believes that she did this with his best interests in mind.

And then I adore that he gets extra vulnerable for this next part, with this being his turn to close the distance between them.

Rick stands up and gets super close to her - cuz magnets - and he finally tells Michonne that he didn't tell her about the guns because “I was afraid you’d talk me out of it…you could’ve.”

Y'all, I love this. 😊 That "you could've" is going to hit my heart every time.

I’ve mentioned other pre-canon moments on this list where Rick has told on himself in terms of what he feels for Michonne. But none more than in this moment right here does Rick outright expose that Michonne has a very special and substantial influence on him.

It’s a big deal one; for her to have this power, two; for Rick to know Michonne has this power, and three; for him to then straight up tell her she has this power.

This is extremely significant, especially because Rick was seemingly at his most dazed during this 5B arc and said himself he was in the middle of losing his mind...and yet even in that disoriented state, he still had enough wherewithal to be aware that Michonne could get him to change course if she so much as talked to him about the situation.

Like homeboy was struggling to know right from left at this time, but one thing he did know was that Michonne had the power to heavily influence his choices and actions.

Rick Grimes won’t just let anybody talk him in or out of things, and yet Michonne effortlessly can do both as we saw throughout s5 and beyond. He also trusts her to know the immense influence she has without manipulating it. And honestly, he picked a good person to give this power to because Michonne is always right. 👑😌 Like fr...

I love that Rick finally came right out with it and told her this because he seemed to deep down know it was the case all along. Michonne means a whole lot to him, he fully respects her wisdom and ideas, and something in him always wants to give her what she wants, and in some capacity, he knows this about himself even here pre-canon.

As this is the season 5 finale, this is when they tie up a lot of arcs and storylines, and it’s fitting after a season where Michonne so fully stepped up as Rick's co-partner and both led alongside him and led him - the season ends with Rick actively knowing that just Michonne’s words, hell even a mere look, could influence his decisions on crucial matters. Even after losing it a bit in Alexandria, he still knows he'd trust Michonne’s gut even over his own. 👌🏽

And for him to say, "I was afraid..." I love the vulnerability. This is the Rick Grimes who has often had to come across as fearless to those they encounter, but here he can be honest and human and let her know that the influence she has over him is strong enough to even make him afraid.

Deep down something in Rick knew that Michonne has his whole heart and that he’ll ultimately be swayed to do what she says. Also, the visual of the two together is just so pleasing and the chemistry is always 🔥🔥.

And then cuz you know these equals stay taking turns sending my heart soaring - it’s Michonne’s turn to have me jumping for joy when she responds to him. (That's part of what makes this a top 2 moment because Rick and Michonne both have a line that just leaves me endlessly beaming 🤗)

First, Michonne so gently tells Rick they don’t need the guns here, and she doesn’t need her sword. It makes me think of the really sweet and sociable honorable mention moment they had in 5A when Rick asks her about her sword, and she says she doesn’t miss her sword but rather misses people they love like Hershel. Both these moments show she's always had such a solid perspective. 👑

Also y’all, as Michonne is talking to Rick in this s5 finale moment, again I have to point out the way Rick is looking at her...Whipped with a capital W. He looks so entranced that he again has to have one of those signature not-so-slick look-up moves he does whenever he knows he’s about to get lost in her lol.

I mentioned in a previous post that the story knew it wanted Rick and Michonne's journey to be that of an epic love story, hence why so many of their pre-canon scenes feel like they could fit perfectly into a romance. And you know who also naturally knew this - the Andrew Lincoln.

Because honey, the way his eyes always told the story that Rick was in love with Michonne 👏🏽👏🏽. Especially in this season 5 finale scene, all you have to do is look at Rick's eyes to know...

When Andy played our beloved sheriff during this pre-canon era, he basically said I don't really care what other storylines y'all got going on for Rick cuz whenever Rick is in front of Michonne he's going to look at her like she's the one for him really and truly. And I appreciate him for it. 😌

All those special stares between both Rick and Michonne throughout their journey really do add a wonderful touch to this love story. 👌🏽🥰

So then Michonne says, “I think you can find a way,” showing her steadfast belief in him. And then I love that she then emphasizes, “We can find a way.” It's refreshingly letting him know that, in navigating all this, he doesn’t have to do it alone. She will be by his side and they're a package deal. 😊

And then, as you know, what makes this scene such a classic is when Michonne flat out expresses the sentiment that they are forever a package deal when she so sincerely says, “And if we don’t…I’m still with you.” BEAUTIFUL. 😭

Oh I adore it with everything in me. She’s communicated to Rick that she’s still with him in so many different ways throughout the series, but I love that here she gets to look right at him with so much love in her eyes and let him know directly that she’s still with him no matter what. Good, bad, or ugly, she will forever be team Rick Grimes. 👌🏽

And it’s huge for her to say this and for Rick to hear this. Finding a home base has been Michonne's big goal this season and Rick's been aiming to provide that home - but now in the finale, this is Michonne’s chance to tell Rick she found home long ago because home actually isn’t a place - it’s him. And he no longer has to worry about losing her.

Also with the uncertainty of their world, how deep is it that they found a nice cushy community, a gold mine in that world, and Michonne is saying I still choose you even over the invaluable safety of having this home. As I’ve said before, this is the season where Rick and Michonne both show through words and actions that they will follow each other anywhere.

It’s so moving for Rick, someone who knows disloyalty well from his previous pre-apocalypse relationships (Lori & Shane), now has this woman to say I’m on your side always. And it's big for Michonne to know that the bond she formed with Rick is one she'll be committed to no matter what. Just a precious sentiment and my favorite thing she’s ever said to Rick so far. 🥰

And the way Michonne is looking at him. 😍 She’s in love with him, can’t tell me any different. So I, of course, gotta give major props to the Danai Gurira too because she also helped sculpt this story in the direction of a love story with the way Michonne would always look and talk to Rick.

Then Rick seems to just be taking her in completely as she says this lovely loyal line. Rick's look here feels like yet another moment that suggests he marvels over how he got so lucky to have someone like her be with him like this.

As Rick and Michonne let a silent moment linger between them, it really felt like RJ’s parents were finally about to kiss in this scene. Cuz these two were practically having this conversation...

Instead, Michonne notes how "something is going to happen," cuz she’s not naive or overly idealistic, and then she wisely states, "just don’t make something happen." And in this moment we’re seeing in real time the way Michonne just expressing herself can impact Rick and motivate him to change course.

I'm sure a lot of characters would have assumed Rick was unreachable in his season 5 era, but Michonne can always so effortlessly reach him and get him to try a new approach.

After she beautifully and prudently expresses this, Rick looks at her mesmerized (the usual), and then hands her the gun again, so eager to offer it as this peace offering that says he is with her too and willing to try to go about this her way rather than fight this his way.

It's a big deal for him to do this and I absolutely love the visual of this whole wordless moment.

I mentioned how in Clear, Michonne hands Rick a bullet as a sort of peace offering to show she’s on his side. And here Rick offers the same with the gun, but I love that instead of taking the gun, the shot draws emphasis on the two’s hands (seriously, Richonne stays giving the most Outstanding Performance by a Pair of Hands 👏🏽) as she softly places a hand over his and signals both that he doesn’t have to give her the gun and that she trusts him to make the right choice with it.

Again, Michonne is the soundest character in TWD, bar none, so in this moment, she knows it’s not necessarily unwise to have the gun, she’s not against the idea of precautions, but she also knows hostility is simply not needed here. And I love the arresting way they can always disarm each other, even without taking a gun.

And the moment just feels genuinely intimate and romantic which I love. Any time they touch it’s sparks. ✨ Michonne's first initiating touch with Rick was outside ASZ in 5.11 and now she does it again in the finale as touching his hand almost reflects her once again hoping that he’s really ready this time to make this place work.

But even if he's not...she's still with him. 🥹

Rick and Michonne then share this palpable passionate look before she heads out, sounding like a wife as she tells him, "Don’t be too long."

And that eye contact tho. 🔥 Richonne's eye contact at the end of this scene alone deserves its own shoutout. 👏🏽

Y’all, let me tell you what we just watched in this scene were some soulmates. Not just besties, or family, or partners - no, this was an exchange between soulmates. That’s their person, their true love, the one they trust unwaveringly - and somewhere in them during this scene, their hearts know it too. Their minds might need to do some catching up, but their hearts know if you ask me.

At the end of this scene, Rick stands alone in the room and holds the gun, moving his hand almost as if it's Michonne's touch that's most lingering with him. It may sound straight out of a romance film to say that, but that really is an element of what this subtle moment is giving.

Seeing that tiny moment of Rick's reaction to the gun in his hand after Michonne's tender touch just confirmed to me that one of the great perks about this ship is we never have to embellish the spark between Richonne because there really are just that many little romantic details to notice and cherish within these scenes.

Rick’s lingering reaction as she leaves also makes it feel like the gun weighs more than it does as it now symbolizes a weighted decision “to use or not to use.” But he knows deep down because the woman he loves has spoken and touched him literally and figuratively, he wants to make his next move one that she could be proud of.

And after a scene as romantically coded as this one, I too don't care what other storyline was supposed to be happening during this time...because Richonne was on the fast track to canon. 1000%.

Like truly after this moment there is no convincing me that Rick was healthily falling for anyone else. The chemistry, attraction, respect, love, and desire are far too evident in this scene between Rick and Michonne to suggest anything other than that canon Richonne is just around the corner. 🔥 And I love that Danai also noted this as a scene that really made it clear Rick and Michonne's bond was bound to blossom into more.

In season 5, who Rick was authentically in love with was crystal clear and who Michonne was authentically in love with was crystal clear. And fortunately, the following season, Rick and Michonne finally took the leap and made it crystal clear to themselves and the world that the two were in love with each other. 🙌🏾

This "I'm still with you" scene was an especially blatant sign that Rick and Michonne had developed an unbreakable love. And this moment is deserving of my #2 spot for how much meaning it carries.

The scene powerfully shows that what Rick and Michonne have between them is and has always been so incredibly deep, influential, reverential, beautiful, steamy, and special - and that no matter what they face or where they go, Rick and Michonne will always and forever be with each other. 🥰

#richonne #top 30 #top 3 #number 2 #rick x michonne #reveling in richonne #the best thing Michonne said to her husband so far 😍#twd 5.16 #twd towl #the ones who live

128 notes · View notes

strawberrycircuits · 6 months

Note

umm hello i went and googled portal so i could ask u things. do you have a favourite puzzle/puzzles in each game? favourite thing on the soundtrack? favourite personality core?

aaa anon you didn't have to do that ! that's so sweet what ...

ok. ok. so

my favorite puzzle in portal 1 would have to be test chamber 17 (the companion cube one) because the way the entire chamber is set up to where you HAVE to rely on it which helps cement the companion cube as something to emotionally fixate on... which makes it all the more devastating when you're forced to then incinerate it in order to continue the game. it's such an excellent showcase of the inherent horror of the game-- how inextricably lonely and hollow aperture is, and how any minute escape or sense of comfort can and WILL be taken away. my fav in portal 2 would probably be the entire escape sequence in chapter five, or maybe the three lasers one right before the escape happens which is the first chamber that you get to see the facility as completely operational again. it's a really simple one but it's got a lot of charm (I love how genuinely happy glados sounds, and seeing the facility so clean after so many dilapidated chambers... this is so SILLY but it always makes me proud of glados for making the facility well and truly hers after it just Hasnt Been for so, so long) and it's also just fun to solve no matter how many times I play the game :)

the friendly aerial faith plate is a track that goes SO hard that gets a lot of hate so i so wanna call that one out but I really, really, REALLY love Caroline Deleted. it's starts out as this almost sort of warm, kind tune that reaches a crescendo, and then you *hear* when it happens and the way the bass and other instrumentation kicks in is just... ohhh. ohh my god. i have a lot of thoughts about the scene where glados deletes caroline but i just. I will never get over how that song sounds and changes both before and after caroline is deleted. god damn

as much as I like to pick apart why wheatley is Like That my favorite core is actually rick / the adventure core! he's just really charming and all of his dialogue is excellently written which I really appreciate considering they didn't Have to spend that much time on him, but they did! these games are so full of love man aaaagh. also im just a sucker for characters with southern charm what can i say

7 notes · View notes

becharm-27 · 1 year

Text

Mother(figure)s of Stargirl

screenshots credit: @StargirlWiki on Twitter; gif credit: @stripesysheaven

Barbara certainly lives up to the phrase on her mug. Not just for the kids who live with her, either. It's so sweet the way she takes care of their friends as well.

While Bridget started out the series among the ranks of moms who don't deserve their titles, she certainly gets her redemption arc as the story goes on. My favorite moment of her supporting Beth comes from Summer School: Chapter 8, but I also love that she becomes a sidekick.

Speaking of redemption arcs, watching Paula turn her life around was one of the most pleasant surprises from Stargirl. She always loved Artemis, but seeing her become a hero cemented that. How her story ended hits even harder today. I'll explain more at the end of the post.

Wouldn't dare go this whole post without mentioning Maria, and no I don't mean Montez. Maria Carmen Saravia was a better mom to Yolanda than her biological mother will ever be.

Now for some mothers I wish we could've seen more of. Denise is up first because, like Joey, I was invested in her character very quickly. They were like my Henry before Henry, because he took time to earn my respect. I dunno, there was just something about her.

Anaya's main trait was coddling Isaac. There had to be more to her story. I'm assuming she wasn't always so smothering, and that developed after the death of her husband. I really would've liked to see who she was beyond her affiliations. And that power set was worth exploring.

My jaw hit the floor when I heard Christine's dying wish. Nice subversion. Evil as she and Jordan might've been, they clearly loved their kid (the latter up to a certain point, anyway). If nothing else, I'm thankful she gave Cameron his talent.

I couldn't find or make a decent screenshot of Wendi. Her only scene goes by so fast. You can feel the panic as Rick's parents left him behind. There's no way she knew JUST how bad her brother was. I wouldn't name a legacy OC after her otherwise.

Neither Suzanne nor Bobbie ever got to be happy, and I blame Dragon King for that. He made Cindy into the monster she thought she was, which is probably why Eclipso was able to manipulate her. I'm sorry they suffered.

Merry's early JSA affiliated days would've been so cool to see. It's a shame her only appearance is in a single picture.

And lastly, two mother figures I was glad to be wrong about. Nurse Love was revealed to be just trying to help for decades. She just had the wrong idea about how. And once Miss Woods got put in check, she really came through reminding Rick of his worth.

An honorable mention, Maggie. What she did in her past put her on top of the list of mothers who don't deserve to be called such. But the last thing we see her do is try to be better. I really wanted to see her earn her happy ending.

To close, I wanna talk a little about my mom. She shared qualities showcased by some of these characters: Sweet, hardheaded, creative, caring, smart, beautiful, funny. She passed away in 2005. I miss her always, but today more than usual. She's my greatest inspiration.

6 notes · View notes

lacetulle · 4 years

Note

I am In Love with your account and it makes me so so happy. What are the weirdest gowns you’ve seen? Like, the absolute bat-shit ones that make you question what the designers are on? I don’t even know how to start looking for this kind of thing beyond avant garde

I’m not even sure how to narrow that kind of search down other than looking at avant garde stuff! When I started to get into fashion, I looked at everyone’s collections so I could figure out what spoke to my style and along the way, I came to find some unique brands. And as a disclaimer in case someone wants to send me an angry message, weird is not bad. These are just designs that made me do a double take and wonder what exactly it was that inspired a designer to make it.

Since I’m drawn to the more ultra-feminine side of fashion, I’m sure there are so many other designers I’m overlooking. But these are the pieces that really stick out in my mind.

I can always count on Viktor & Rolf to bring the weird. They’re the ones I immediately think of when I think of weird gowns. I used to really hate seeing their shows during couture week because I had pigeonholed couture week to be just “pretty, flowy dresses”. Now I look forward to seeing them because no two collections are the same.

(Spring 2011, Fall 2007, Spring 2019)

Iris van Herpen. When she first came onto the scene, I thought her stuff was so strange. I didn’t know anything about fashion and 3D printing wasn’t anything I knew about, so I remember writing her off. But I love her collections now and I can go back and appreciate her earlier ones, so I feel a little bad for putting her on the list. But this was my first impression of her work: weird. And this was the dress that I couldn’t wrap my head around.

Moschino. I know it’s a campy brand and I like some collections more than others. But the Fall 2017 collection of dry cleaner bags and the ode to amazon boxes wasn’t my cup of tea.

I love Guo Pei. I love that she brings elements of her Chinese heritage to Parisian couture. But her Fall 2019 collection is her lowest ranked one on my chart. And her two-person dress is still so bizarre to me.

Rick Owens is more streetwear and I don't think he’s ever sent an ‘evening gown’ down the runway. But he’s one of the designers that I can always count on for weird elements. He cemented that status with his Spring 2016 show with his human backpacks.

And then there’s Jean Paul Gaultier. But now he’s done designing, so I can only look back and appreciate the weird. I was with my sister when his Fall 2002 show came out and it was my first experience with something avant-garde or weird, so this holds a special place in my heart. He was probably the first designer I deemed ‘weird’.

Gareth Pugh is pretty good at mixing truly wearable things with outlandish pieces. His Spring 2018 collection is beautifully tailored and constructed but I don’t know how some of the pieces could be worn in real life.

#ask me anything

258 notes · View notes

bywordofaphrodite · 3 years

Text

Book Reviews 1 & 2: The Enchanted Wood and Adventures of the Wishing Chair by Enid Blyton

This review’s theme is magical children’s fiction ! Audience age range: early childhood !

Fun fact about me: I have fairy tales running through my head most hours of the day.

Magical lands and whimsical characters run freely through my mind any minute I have to spare, or even the ones I don’t. It has always been this way for me, whether in school, university or at work- when I am meant to be working on assignments or attending to patients in the hospital I work at- and Enid Blyton’s stories played a part in this, so it seems fitting I discuss her writing for my first post.

When faced with choosing a project for myself this semester, it was actually the memory of Enid Blyton’s novels that prompted me to decide to write book reviews of childhood favourites. I’d forgotten her name at first, and all that remained was an illustration of blue jelly and a boy with silver hair… and the name of the artist who illustrated my copies of the series: Georgina Hargreaves. One google search was all it took to remember it all! Then I ordered all three Magic Faraway Tree books and the Wishing Chair ones in the exact editions I had as a child, because I have no impulse control whatsoever.

Nostalgic review

Rating: ★★★★★

For my nostalgic review- otherwise known as my thoughts on these novels purely as I remember them from childhood- I’m giving five stars. They meant everything to me as a kid, and I reread them more than any other books I owned. I would choose a chapter before bed and travel into the magic lands at the top of the tree along with the main characters, exploring whatever good, evil or downright silliness happened to be up there at the time (and then stay there for a good few hours past my bedtime using the light under my door to squint at the pages and destroy my already dreadful vision just a little more for good measure. Sleep schedule who?)

I easily favoured the Magic Faraway Tree books over the Wishing Chair ones, though I loved them both dearly. I’m going to assume the reason behind this was because I preferred the tree to the chair, as- aside from Jo- I don’t recall ever having an affinity for any particular child amongst the main characters. I do also remember a great deal more of the goings on in the lands above the tree than I can the adventures in the chair, so it seems fair to say I read one a lot more than the other.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, these books cemented who I wanted to be when I grew up: a writer- a published author, to be specific- and an artist. Not just these two series, but anything Blyton wrote- her teen detective and boarding school series being notable favourites of mine. As detrimental as this dream has been to my family’s wish for me to become a lawyer, I must insist that everyone blame Enid Blyton for this and not me!

The Enchanted Wood Review

Post-read: ★★★

Synopsis: three children move from the city to a small country house with a forest out the back which they later come to know as the Enchanted Wood. There they come across a giant magical tree known as the Faraway Tree, where they befriend the many magical creatures living inside the tree, and explore the lands that settle above the tree every day.

Okay so! First up, I finished it so quickly. I’ve always been a very fast reader but even so I expected it would take several hours to read… it took roughly an hour despite minor interruptions by my siblings, so it’s very simplistic and easy to read. However… this level of simplistic is not, in this case, a good thing, at least in my opinion. I’ll elaborate on this further toward the end of this post, but the best word I can think of to describe the writing is ‘stunted’.

I read a few articles to see others’ thoughts on the novels, and one review stood out as being critical in multiple ways, some of which I agree and some I don’t really care about. I’ll link it here.

This review reflected a lot of the same points I considered upon rereading the books. Charming points: google buns and the Land of Birthdays; weak points: repetitive and a bit too holier than thou in the attempt to teach ‘lessons’. In terms of Flood’s (the review author) criticism, the renaming of the children from Jo, Bessie and Fanny to Joe, Beth and Frannie in new copies does not really bother me, although my own editions have the original names (the change of the children’s cousin from Dick to Rick was a wise choice, though Rick is an ugly name as well, but I digress). As with many modern changes to old novels, older generations criticise ‘politically correct’ motives, and Flood does exactly so here- miffed at the decision to rename one of the recurring Faraway Tree villains from ‘Dame Slap’ to ‘Dame Snap’. Flood likens the character’s previous habit of slapping naughty children to the witch in Hansel and Gretel locking children in cages, (I would think the cannibal element of this tale would reinforce the comparison more but maybe that’s just me???) asking why, if that fairy-tale hasn’t been changed, should Dame Slap have to adhere to modern discipline? Personally I’m mostly unconcerned with this either way, though Flood makes an interesting point. The woman is a villain either way, so a little clip over the ears is likely to properly drive the point home in my opinion, anyway.

And before I move on from this review, Flood’s hot take on the Saucepan Man is 100% on the ball- why was a grown, non-magical man walking around strung up with pots and pans all over himself and hanging out with a group of children? To be sure, he was not in his right mind, so I’ll shift the question to the parents here, who were fully aware that their children were spending time in the woods with this man. Very odd business indeed.

Characters who aged well: Most of the main characters remained likable to me. Jo was always my favourite as a kid, and he remains so- his impatience provides some comedic quotes and he never leaves his younger sisters behind on adventures, unlike many male characters in Blyton’s novels (I am looking DIRECTLY at you, Famous Five boys). He also doesn’t belittle his sisters at any point, even when they’re frightened, which is another thing that irked me about many of Blyton’s male characters. Using only the first book of the series for this review means that it’s possible that Bessie and Fanny are more prominent characters in the other books, but in this one it felt very much centred around Jo than I remembered- they are likable but don’t really do too much aside from Fanny’s banger of a birthday party which I’m rather jealous of. Upon rereading I like Moonface a lot more, but that’s probably because I resented my grandmother calling me ‘Moonface’ (I’m aware I have a round face, I do not need to be reminded of my eternal struggles on the daily). Silky is still a queen in my eyes- pretty, feminine, funny, kind and best of all a fairy. No flaws at all, I love her. In retrospect, Silky is equally my favourite alongside Jo.

Characters who aged badly (to me): as aforementioned… the Saucepan Man. To be fair, I never cared for him in the first place, and the same goes for his best friend Mr. Watzisname because he was downright maddening. Also, Dame Washalot can drown in her own washing. She managed to annoy me more than Dame Slap… at least Dame Slap was entertaining.

Favourite scene/quote: “‘Fishing!’ said Jo, in disgust. ‘Who wants to go fishing in the middle of a birthday party? Let’s get back at once.’”

This quote sounds so mundane but in context I just find his tone very amusing- Jo is always exasperated and impatient so his perpetual annoyance with everyone’s nonsense is relatable and funny. Furthermore, he says this during my favourite scene in the final chapter where they all travel to the Land of Birthdays for Bessie’s birthday. Bessie invites everyone living in the Faraway Tree to her party, which is essentially formed up in the land above the tree. Upon arrival, everyone can go into a small house with fancy dress costumes and choose anything they like, and then choose a table in the middle of a field. The table is set with cutlery and plates, and from there you must ‘wish your own tea’, as Silky says, which fills the table with jellies, lemonade, chocolate blancmange and other party food. Best of all is the birthday cake- also known as wishing cake- which grants a wish to anyone who eats it. Unfortunately, the Saucepan Man’s poor hearing ends up turning ‘wish’ to ‘fish’, and Fanny has to waste her own wish to get them back to the party, hence Jo’s vexation. The ending is very sweet though, with Moonface gifting his wish to Fanny and all of them happily going home. It was a lovely way to end the first book in the series.

Adventures of the Wishing Chair Review

Post-read: ★★

Synopsis: two children discover a magical chair with wings in an antique shop that leads to a host of new adventures and a new pixie friend they rescue along the way.

Like I said earlier, I preferred the Faraway Tree series to the Wishing Chair and that remains the same. The concept of lands coming to the top of a tree- and choosing whether to go up there or not- is more my style, and if the weather is bad you can just stay home, while the chair you just have to go with it. The Faraway Tree itself is also really wonderful, with all the interesting houses and shops inside it, and especially Moonface’s slippery-slip. On the contrary, the main location for the Wishing Chair series is the children’s playing room, and the chair itself is an utter menace. The villains are more irritating in this series- which is their job, I get it- but the children themselves aren’t quite as likable as Jo, Bessie and Fanny either. Mollie and Peter argue plenty and can be very selfish and silly at times, which is realistic, sure, but that doesn’t make them any less meh. The other main character is a pixie called Chinky (yes, I’ll get to this soon) who they rescue from slavery in a giant’s castle, and my opinion on him varies between chapters. There are some really cool places they go to and the illustrations make reading this more enjoyable despite the hasty writing and relatively flat characters.

Characters who aged well: ???? I mean… Mollie and Peter aren’t exactly my favourite children ever but they’re not too bad. My main criticism would have to be that there isn’t really anything defining about their personalities; to a degree I would say they are just a whinier version of Jo, Bessie and Fanny. I don’t think Enid bothered too much about changing base character traits in her stories, to be honest. There are a few characters like Witch Snippit and the Windy Wizard who help Mollie and Peter when troubles arise, but as the adventures always begin with the chair in the children’s playroom there aren’t really many magical recurring characters to properly consider.

Characters who aged badly: the children’s MOTHER. She is beyond irritating in certain chapters- like when she decides to take the wishing chair to her own lounge room simply because she likes it, even though the children themselves bought it and expressed how much they love it. Plenty of parents do this in real life and it is just as annoying in fiction. Secondly, the wishing-chair. Magical chair that grows wings and can fly to magical lands is cool, yes? Sure, except when it has mood swings and randomly decides to fly through storms or simply land in the sea for no reason I can think of. This is a very petty chair… yet I know I would keep it anyway so I can’t complain too much. I’m going to add Chinky here too, and not because he got saddled with a slur for a name- he gets fired up about minor things way too quickly and causes drama for no good reason, though perhaps I should cut him some slack after his time spent in forced servitude. Also, he makes a few sexist comments to Mollie so maybe the giant had a point after all.

Favourite scene/quote: ‘One rabbit turned upside down and danced on its ears, and that made Peter laugh so much that he had to get out his handkerchief to wipe his tears of laughter away.’

Peter being this happy just made me happy. This quote is from my favourite scene, when the children fly with some elves to attend a magician’s party. There is no villain to be seen, and the room is filled with classic Blyton details of top tier food like cream buns and blancmange, and beautiful birds that sing sweetly before flying freely. The magician has dancing cats appear, and ‘six plump rabbits’ that dance while the cats play violin. Finally, the magician gifts everybody a tiny egg he tells them will hatch later. When they arrive home, Peter’s hatches to reveal a tiny silver watch and Mollie gets a necklace of beads that look ‘exactly like bubbles’. This always sounded so pretty to me, and I had a necklace from my mum that looked exactly as Mollie’s was described, so I’ve always remembered this scene very well.

Overall verdict:

I’m torn. I love parts of these books so much, I love the nostalgia surrounding them, and yet I must admit that without a childhood connection it would difficult for a new reader to enjoy, and probably not the first choice in a bed time story to read to children nowadays. I think for me, I like having these books back on my shelf again, and I like knowing I can go back to read my favourite chapters whenever I want, despite the criticisms I have. In a way, I like knowing I am capable of recognising the books’ faults while still appreciating the good parts of them. I do not regret buying these books again- in fact looking at the artwork and reading the words has inspired me to get to work on my own plan to write a book of fairy tales (with the representation I would’ve loved to see alongside the magic as a child, and minus the problematic details).

With this in mind:

- Blyton’s writing skills… are sorely lacking. Her sentences are stunted and sometimes she changes locations so hastily within one small paragraph that if you so much as skim over one sentence you’ll find yourself in another land entirely (haha). I am wholly aware these books are intended for children but I have read other novels for that age group that have been well-written, so my criticism stands.

- I should just rewrite the books myself. I don’t care if this sounds arrogant, I know I could make the stories more compelling with a few tweaks to, say, writing skills, story structure, making better use of the amazing concepts, fleshing out the characters more, etc. (again I’m aware they’re children’s books)

- Enid Blyton herself was not a very nice person, and her own daughter criticised her writing for being emotionally immature and seeing things as ‘black and white’. Anyone who has read her other novels knows that she was very racist- ‘gypsies’ managing to be the villain in most of her teen detective stories, amongst other issues, so Chinky the pixie is not exactly a surprise appearance. It was Chinky, in fact, who first alerted me to racial slurs. As someone with partially Asian heritage at an almost completely white school, it took me asking my (rightfully) concerned father what ‘chink’ meant when some kids started calling me by the word in school… I then connected this to Blyton’s pixie and to this day am morbidly entertained by this unfortunate memory. I’ll link the article here, in case of any further curiosity about Blyton.

In the Faraway Tree series review I linked earlier, the writer said of the books, ‘it’s an odd feeling, finding the classics of your childhood don’t really stack up’. In many ways, I feel the same. Is it all nostalgia, after all? Yes and no. Having such a balanced opinion on an old favourite is likely healthier than clinging to past memories, anyway. With all of these thoughts jumbling through my mind, it’s possible that my rating of these novels changes depending on my mood- and more importantly, which chapters I read. Perhaps the fact that my favourite chapters are all devoid of confrontation is something a therapist would suggest looking into, but you know what? It’s fiction. If I have to get my happy endings in books alone then so be it!

#book review #book rating #enid blyton #the faraway tree #the wishing chair #british books #children’s book #fiction #magic books #university project #nostalgia

9 notes · View notes

aion-rsa · 3 years

Text

The Suicide Squad Ending Explained

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains major The Suicide Squad spoilers. But you could tell that from the headline. We have a spoiler-free review here.

Well done! You’ve survived The Suicide Squad!

James Gunn’s stunning supervillain flick is a brutal ride through DC’s most deep cut characters and now you want to dig deep into what happened. So we’re here to break down that shocking ending, where we leave our heroes, and what’s next for the Suicide Squad in the DCEU. Well, those of them who survived, at least…

The standalone (sort of sequel) movie centers around the Suicide Squad on a top secret mission. So off they go to Corto Maltese.

We begin with two crews but only one actually survives the opening bloodbath. Those lucky few are led by Bloodsport (Idris Elba) and the crew consists of Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), Nanaue/King Shark (Steve Agee/Sylvester Stallone), and Peacemaker (John Cena).

Later, they pick up Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), who both somehow manage to survive the trap set by Amanda Waller. After much scheming and fighting, the team kidnaps the Thinker (Peter Capaldi) and make it to Jotunheim, the Nazi prison where the Corto Maltese government have been keeping Project Starfish A.K.A. Starro the Conqueror. But when they get there things begin to spiral out of control and that’s where we’ll begin…

Why Were Peacemaker and Rick Flagg Fighting?

While this is a movie filled with wild unexpected moments, the most shocking–to some viewers–twist comes when the truth about Project Starfish is revealed. And we’re not talking about the fact that it’s actually a giant starfish-like alien called Starro.

No, the real horror here is that Project Starfish is and has always been run by the US government. Yep, it’s the US who have been testing on and torturing innocent humans, and the Squad wasn’t sent to stop Starro but were in fact there to destroy Jotunheim so that the US government and Amanda Waller’s involvement were kept under wraps.

It’s not something that Rick Flag can stomach as he states, “I joined to serve my country not to be its puppet.” It’s an honorable moment that finally makes Flag a true hero, but it’s short lived. Amanda Waller always has a backup plan and here that plan wears red, white, blue, and a shiny helmet.

Gunn’s searing action flick has a lot to say about war, America, and the nature of disposability, and Peacemaker is one of its most brutal statements. He’s a man who believes he “loves peace” but it “doesn’t matter how many people I have to kill to achieve it.” That in itself is the oxymoron of imperialism.

In that way, Peacemaker and Flag represent two different versions of the patriotic ideal. Rick is the idealistic man who wants to do the right thing in the hopes of making his country live up to what he thinks it can be. But Peacemaker wants to protect his country no matter what horrific crimes they’ve committed. That’s why he agreed to be a mole for Waller within the Squad and why he decides to kill Flag when his former teammate wants to leak the records of America’s Project Starfish to the press.

Sadly for us and Rick, Peacemaker succeeds, leaving Flag dead and the American ideal shattered.

Bloodsport Makes a Choice

With Peacemaker planning to stop the truth about Jotunheim from coming out at any cost, his next target is Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior). After the explosions incapacitate them, the brilliant young heroine grabs the disk with the damning records, leading Peacemaker to hunt her down.

Just when it seems like he’s going to add another Squad member to his kill count, we skip backwards eight minutes. Here we see that Bloodsport, King Shark, Polka-Dot Man, Harley, and Milton have been setting the charges, which end up going off too soon. As they start to explode (and after the tragic death of Milton), Bloodsport ends up falling through the building on a large slab of concrete, landing in front of Peacemaker as he’s about to kill Ratcatcher 2.

As he draws his weapon, Peacemaker does the same, leading to a fatal shootout. And in a hilarious callback to an earlier gag when Peacemaker claimed he could shoot better than Bloodsport thanks to smaller bullets which would shoot through his enemies’ bullets, Bloodsport beats him using exactly that tactic, apparently killing Peacemaker (more on that in a moment) and saving Ratcatcher 2.

It’s a key moment for Bloodsport, who made a promise to his surrogate daughter that he’d get her out alive, and it’s the perfect way to wrap up Bloodsport’s arc in the film, from estranged father of a young daughter to a man trying his best to form more connections under difficult situations. Yay for the world’s best bad dad!

The Suicide Squad Takes a Stand

Now that Jotunheim is destroyed, Waller calls the remaining Squad–Bloodsport, Polka-Dot Man, Harley, King Shark, and Ratcatcher 2–telling them they have to go back to the US. But there’s one big problem: Starro is now freed and the giant alien is on a rampage.

After decades of being tortured by Gaius Grieves A.K.A. the Thinker, Starro believes the city belongs to them and starts shooting out mini Starros in order to turn the population into mindless zombies. Starro is able to create countless self-replicating copies of itself, so the carnage being wreaked on Corto Maltese is probably only a preview of how quickly Starro could spread their influence throughout the entire world if left unchecked.

For a moment it seems like the Squad will head back into Waller’s cold and cruel arms, leaving the people of Corto Maltese to their gruesome fate. But at the last moment Bloodsport chooses to go back and is soon joined by the rest of his crew. It’s a massively powerful moment and one that transcends even our core team as before Waller can blow their heads up her colleagues knock her out and begin to help the Squad on their unauthorized but massively heroic new mission to stop Starro and save Corto Maltese.

It’s one of several moments in the film that drives home the harder edges of Amanda Waller, who is played as close to a villain in this film as someone like Thinker or Corto Maltese dictator Silvio Luna.

The Final Fate of Polka-Dot Man

David Dastmachlian’s performance as Abner Krill AKA Polka-Dot Man is one of the many stunning turns that the film has to offer. And while we’d love to say that the villain turned hero gets a happily ever after that’s not the case. In fact Polka-Dot Man gets an ending as tragic as his origin. After being tortured by his mother who infected him with a parasitic alien virus in the hopes of making him a superhero he became the villain known as Polka-Dot Man.

It’s not a conscious choice but more of a compulsion as he has to expel his deadly polka dot pustules or he’ll die. It’s the grossest power in a movie full of gross powers but as the crew face down Starro Abner finally comes into his superheroic own.

As Bloodsport becomes the leader Waller always knew he could be, he uses Abner’s fear of his mother and the hallucinations he has of her to help him channel his powers into destroying Starro. Bloodshot yells “It’s your mother” and we see Starro through Abner’s eyes, the creature is transformed into a kaiju-sized version of the woman who ruined his life. His polka dots end up destroying one of Starro’s legs, and Abner celebrates screaming “I’m a real superhero!”

Just as Polka-Dot Man realizes his truly heroic nature, he’s killed by another of Starro’s limbs, crushed but finally happy in his last moments. It’s a fittingly bittersweet end for the unexpected and relatablely depressed hero.

The Final Fate of Starro

Fighting a huge roaming starfish is no easy feat. It takes everything the Squad has to take down the monstrous creature, including that tragic sacrifice of Polka-Dot Man. When they catch up with Starro in the city, Harley takes the high ground using Javelin’s javelin to burst through Starro’s eye as Bloodsport and Ratcatcher 2 try to incapacitate the huge beast.

As Harley swims around in Starro’s bloody eye she’s joined by thousands of rats called by Ratcatcher 2. The rodents swarm Starro, overcoming him as Ratcatcher 2 protects Bloodsport from his childhood fear come to life.

And with that, Starro is gone.

Though Starro might have been a murderous alien kaiju by the end of the movie, they began life as a harmless creature floating through the stars, kidnapped by the American government. To kill him is a tragic but necessary act and one that cements the Squad as very much anti-heroes rather than the villains they began as.

What’s Next for the Squad?

While we know that Peacemaker will get his own spinoff TV series on HBO Max (more on that below) it’s unclear what the rest of the crew will be doing after this. One thing is clear, though. They all have the freedom that they never thought they’d achieve.

After killing Starro, Bloodsport blackmails Waller into letting him, Harley, Ratcatcher 2, and King Shark go. It means compromising Rick Flag’s final wish to reveal the truth of what Waller and the government did in Corto Maltese but it also allows Bloodsport and his crew to avoid returning to Belle Reve. It seems like the crew might stick together, especially in the case of Ratcatcher 2 and Bloodsport.

Plus, once Flag’s friends find out that Peacemaker is still alive, they might have a score to settle. About that…

The Post Credits Scenes

The first of two post credits scenes is the big one. After we think that one good thing happened in this movie A.K.A. Peacemaker being killed by Bloodsport, Gunn has a shock for us.

See, Peacemaker survived–to star in his upcoming HBO Max series–and Waller has sent two of her best to pick him up from his hospital bed where he’s recuperating in order to do nothing less than “save the fucking world.” After the brutal horrors that Peacemaker committed during the film, it seems strange that he’ll be taking a leading role in a TV series. But after the smart subversiveness of The Suicide Squad we’re cautiously optimistic.

If you wait until the final moments of the credits once we’re done with all the good stuff like Special Thanks and celebrating all those amazing visual effects artists, then you’ll get to this gnarly and hilarious little stinger.

If you throw your mind back to the beach-set murder fest at the beginning of the movie, the first character to apparently die is Weasel because no one checked whether ot not he could actually swim. It’s a sad and grotesque way to start the film, but there’s good news for anyone who loves the grody child-killing beast: he’s still alive. After all the drama of the past few days Weasel just popped back up and is totally and utterly alive. That means the people of Corto Maltese should probably watch out as there’s a murderous Weasel in their midst!

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The Suicide Squad is on HBO Max and in theaters now!

The post The Suicide Squad Ending Explained appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/37pHDgY

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

2 notes · View notes

buzzdixonwriter · 3 years

Text

Compare & Contrast: ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD Movie vs Novel

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is my favorite Quentin Tarantino film, a love letter to late 1960s Los Angeles / Hollywood, an alternate history where the wicked (or at least three of them) are punished and the virtuous are spared and rewarded.

Tarantino has since expanded his basic story into a new novel, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and it’s interesting to compare & contrast the two approaches to the material.

Movie tie-in novelizations are not unusual, of course, but it’s the rare example when the original creator (writer or director) takes a whack at it. Ian Fleming famously turned an unsold screenplay, James Bond Of The Secret Service, (written with Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, Ivar Bryce, and Ernest Cuneo) into the novel Thunderball and a busted TV pilot, Commander Jamaica, into Dr. No, while Ed McBain (a.k.a. Evan Hunter ne Salvatore Albert Lombino) adapted a couple of original 87th Precinct movie scripts into novels.

Here Tarantino takes his stab at it, and the results are…well, let’s cut to the chase…

Which is better, movie or book?

Good movie, okay novel.

For those who want a more detailed analysis…

[SPOILERS GALORE]

Story Structure

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood the novel is just barely a standalone story; it’s really enhanced by seeing the movie first.

The story flow is roughly the same, and it’s clear a lot of the material in the book are from early drafts of the screenplay (with a few callbacks to earlier Tarantino films). There’s also a lot of material missing that was in the movie (the immediate aftermath of Cliff visiting George Spahn, f’r instance).

However, the main plot and many major scenes from the movie are described as almost asides, hints at things seen on screen that aren’t elaborated on in the movie.

In one sense, this works to the novel’s advantage; there’s little point in reiterating already familiar scenes. On the other hand, scenes in the book that expand on scenes from the movie can benefit only by seeing the movie first.

While Once Upon A Time In Hollywood the movie features a pretty clear if typically erratic Tarantino timeline, the book’s timeline is less easy to track (but more on that later).

This isn’t a deal breaker in terms of enjoyment, but it occasionally does get in the way of the story telling.

Characters

What I liked most about Once Upon A Time In Hollywood the movie was that the Rick Dalton character is presented as a self-involved / over anxious / ot-nay oo-tay ight-bray actor who, despite his very apparent shortcomings, also demonstrates a truly professional dedication to his craft and an ability to listen and learn and grow.

Taking part in the big fight at the end cements his hero status in the framework of the movie.

He’s not nearly as likeable or as admirable in the book.

A big hunk of this is leaving out those crucial action beats mentioned above. Another hunk is letting us peek too deeply into Rick’s head, and learning what happens to him after the climax of the film.

Instead of moving into the quality artsy A-list movie world as the film version intimates at the end, Rick becomes a John Wayne-like figure with similar intolerant attitudes, popular with middle American audiences.

He does come across as clear headed when it comes to his career and his place in the Hollywood pecking order, as demonstrated in his own analysis of why he would never have gotten Steve McQueen’s role in The Great Escape.

Sharon Tate is still the delightfully airy character shown in the movie, though Tarantino gives her a broader emotional palette to play with. She comes across as more fully rounded than the movie version but is still the wonderful, life-loving character of the film.

Cliff Booth, on the other hand, suffers badly.

First off, Cliff’s character in the film is already extremely problematic. The movie deliberately makes the circumstances around his wife’s death vague enough to be read in a variety of ways: He could have deliberately murdered her and got away with it, it could have been justifiable homicide in self-defense, it could have been an accident, it could have been something else.

We never know and that works to give Cliff a Schrodinger’s cat-like characterization: We can’t know until we open the box and look in.

Well, Tarantino flings open the box and boy, what’s inside is stupid.

I can absolutely believe Cliff killed his wife in a momentary fit of rage, I do not believe the speargun cut her in half and he held the two halves together so they could have a long lovey-dovey talk until the Coast Guard shows up and she literally falls apart.

If Tarantino’s intent was to hint Cliff had a psychotic fugue after he killed his wife and thought he was holding her together and talking to her, he didn’t make that clear.

Considering how often Tarantino employs the omniscient third person point of view in this story, I don’t think it’s a failure style but of plotting.

That would be bad enough, but there’s a lot of other problems with Cliff in the book.

He flat out murders four people by the time of the novel: Two petty gangsters back east, his wife, and the guy who offered him a share of Brandy’s prize money from dog fights.

Yeah, Cliff is plugged into the dog fighting world and really enjoys it. He shows enough affection and appreciation for Brandy the pit bull to recognize when her career is over, and he’s ruthless enough to kill Brandy’s co-owner when the guy insists on sending her to her almost certain death in one last dog fight.

[Sidebar: Elsewhere Tarantino has told aspiring writers to leave morality out of their character’s motives and despite this sounding counterintuitive, it’s actually solid advice. Morality forces good guys to act like good guys, it never gives the characters room to think and breathe and act as real people. Tarantino isn’t saying characters can’t make moral choices, but those moral choices must come from who they are, not from some arbitrary code or editorial fiat. To this degree the novel Once Upon A Time In Hollywood depicts Cliff in a wholly believable light, a natural born survivor who will do whatever’s necessary to stay alive.]

Book Cliff is depicted as a far more unpleasant person than Rick, lightyears more unpleasant than movie Cliff. Part of this is a deliberate choice on Tarantino’s part as his omniscient third person point of view frequently mediates on the meaning of likeability vs believability in movie terms; he certainly strives to makes Rick and Cliff as unlikeable as possible (Sharon, too, but she’s basically too sweet a character for any negativity to rub off on her).

Cliff also demonstrates a considerable amount of bigotry and prejudice, in particular his opinions on Bruce Lee. The substance of those opinions re Lee’s martial arts abilities is not the problem, it’s the way in which they are expressed.

Does this sound believable coming from a near 50 year old WWII vet? Yeah, it does. That doesn’t mean the book benefits from it.

Which leads to the single biggest problem with Cliff, however, is his age and background.

Tarantino envisions him as a WWII vet, a survivor of the Sicily campaign reassigned to the Philippines (as with Inglorious Basterds, Tarantino really doesn’t care about what actually happened in WWII), taken prisoner by the Japanese, escaping to the jungles to lead a guerilla force against the Imperial Army, recipient of two “Medals of Valor” (who knows what Tarantino means by this as no such award exists in the US military. Medal of Honor? Distinguished Service Cross? Silver Star? Bronze Star?), and record holder for the most confirmed Japanese killed by a single individual who wasn’t a crew member of the Enola Gay.

Okay, so that makes him what, mid-20s at the youngest in 1945?

He’d be 49 at the time of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, not an unheard of age for Hollywood stunt men but certainly pushing the edge of the envelope.

Playing Rick’s double? That sounds quite a bit more farfetched. Rick’s exact age is never mentioned but from the way others treat him, he’s somewhere between Cliff’s age and that of James Stacy, the real life actor who starred in the Lancer pilot Rick is filming in 1968 when Stacy would be 32 years old.

That would make Rick roughly 40 at the time, and there’s an aside in the book that reveals one of Rick’s early roles was in 1959’s Away All Boats, the latter with Tom Laughlin (who in real life later directed and starred in Billy Jack), and since Rick and Laughlin are presented as contemporaries and Laughlin was born in 1931, this would make Rick 28 when Bounty Law started airing that same year and he and Cliff, then age 40, first started working together.

Cliff saves Rick’s life from a stunt gone wrong early in the filming of Bounty Law, so one understands how their bond formed and why Rick continues to keep Cliff around even after Cliff kills his wife.

Missing from the novel is the voice of Randy Miller, the stunt director (played by Kurt Russell in the film) who narrates much of the movie. I can’t recall if Randy is even mentioned by name in the book, but he certainly isn’t featured prominently in it. Sometimes the narrative voice of the novel seems to be his, sometimes it seems to be Tarantino’s (and we’ll discuss that below, too).

Not all the characters in the movie make it to the pages of the book, and likewise quite a few characters appear who never showed up in the film version of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood or any other Tarantino film.

Sharon Tate first appears in the book hitchhiking and accepting a ride from rodeo cowboy Ace Woody, originally slated to be one of the assorted baddies in Django Unchained but later melded into another character.

On the other hand, many minor and obscure real life Hollywood players and personalities and hangers on do appear in the novel. Tarantino is careful to put dialog in the mouths of only certifiably dead personalities, however, and as we’ll go into down below, that’s a wise move.

(BTW, Tarantino works himself into his own story a couple of times, mentioning himself as the director of a remake of John Sayles’ The Lady In Red featuring a grown up Trudi Fraser a.k.a. Mirabella Lancer in the Lancer pilot Rick is starring in, and as the son of piano player Curt Zastoupil, Tarantino’s real life step-father, who asks Rick for an autographed photo for his son Quentin.)

The Hollywood Stuff

Which leads us to the real hook of the book, a glimpse behind the scenes of Hollywood circa 1969.

If, like me, you’re fascinated by this sort of stuff, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is a fun read.

Tarantino is a devourer of pop culture and dedicates his book in part to Bruce Dern, David Carradine, Burt Reynolds, Robert Blake, Michael parks, Robert Forester, and Kurt Russell, thanking them for the stories they told him about “old time” Hollywood (i.e., the 1950s and 60s from Tarantino’s reckoning).

A lot of the book rings true in attitudes and opinions expressed back in that era, and some of the stories included are jaw-dropping (the Aldo Ray one especially).

The examinations of various maneuverings and strategies in the entertainment industry are also illuminating.

However, this raises a fair question about what the intent of any given work is, and how well documented a work of fiction needs to be.

There’s a trio of actors (all dead so none can sue Tarantino for libel) labeled in derogatory terms as homosexuals in two or three places in the book.

There’s some observations on race that sound absolutely authentic coming from the mouths of those particular characters at that particular time, but one questions the need for using those exact terms today; it’s not that difficult to show the character speaking is bigoted without letting them sling all the slurs they want.

Speaking of terms, I’ve never heard “ringer” used before in the film industry in the context of this book, so if it’s fake, Tarantino did an absolutely convincing job presenting it as real.

But here’s where we start heading into some problematic areas, not problematic in undermining the enjoyment of the book, but problematic in the sense of understanding what Tarantino is trying to convey.

Cliff’s story is awfully close to Robert Blake’s story, and you’d be hard pressed to find many people in town today who don’t think he got away with murder.

And of all the TV show’s to pick for Rick to be playing the villain in the pilot episode, why Lancer?

Few people today remember the series, and Tarantino taking liberties with the actual pilot episode plot isn’t noteworthy…

…or is it?

The actual series starred Andrew Duggan as Murdoch Lancer, patriarch of the Lancer family, with Wayne Maunder played Scott Lancer, the upscale older son, and James Stacy as his half-brother, gunslinger Johnny Madrid Lancer. Elizabeth Baur played Teresa O'Brien, Murdoch Lancer's teenage ward.

For Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Tarantino replaced the real life Elizabeth Baur / Teresa O’Brien with “8 year old” Trudi Frazer (in the book; Fraser in the movie) / Mirabella Lancer (played in the film by 10 year old Julia Butters).

Why Lancer? Why this particular change?

Lancer’s Johnny Madrid Lancer was played by James Stacy, a brief appearance in the film, but far more substantial scenes in the book (as well as the reader getting to see what he’s thinking and feeling). Tarantino uses these scenes in the book to explain a bit about on set etiquette.

James Stacy was an actual person, and he actually played Johnny Madrid Lancer in the series.

In September of 1973, he was maimed in a motorcycle accident, losing his left arm and leg.

He refused to let his disability sideline him, and in 1975 appeared in Posse as a newspaper man, then went on to play numerous supporting roles in films and TV shows until 1995.

That was the year he was arrested, tried, and convicted of molesting an 11 year old girl.

He didn’t show up for his sentencing hearing, choosing instead to fly to Hawaii and attempt suicide. Arrested and returned to California, instead of probation he received a 6 year prison sentence when it was learned he’d been arrested twice after the first crime on prowling charges in which he approached two other young girls.

Quentin Tarantino, the all time grand master maven of pop culture didn’t know this?

And in the book, Trudi calls Rick for a later night conversation about their day on the set.

This is an 8 year old child calling an adult after midnight.

To their credit, Tarantino and Rick both tell Trudi up front this is not an appropriate thing to do…

…but the call continues.

It doesn’t veer off into creepy territory, and when it ends it actually puts Rick’s character back on an upward trajectory, one in which he no longer feels he’s screwed up his life.

But still…

This is a really weird context.

(The scene was filmed for the movie but didn’t make the final cut. Look closely on the movie poster under Brad Pitt’s chin and you’ll see an image of Julia Butters holding a teddy bear and talking on the phone.)

Style

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood the movie is consistent and spot on. It uses cinematic language to maximum effect.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood the book is all over the map.

It manages to stay entertaining even at its most erratic, but the inconsistency works against it.

As noted before, the point of view is constantly shifting, sometimes seen through a character’s eyes, sometimes through an omniscient third person point of view, sometimes in what appears to be uncredited narration from Randy, and in several chapters exploring the Lancer story-within-a-story as mediocre pulp fiction typical of movie and TV tie-ins of the era.

Tarantino does not stay consistent with his characters, either. This indicates adapting scenes from earlier drafts without really smoothing out the fit.

Another point of view issue is Tarantino’s own.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood the novel reads like the work of an older, very culturally conservative writer.

Many writers will argue that the evils their characters do in their books are not reflections on the author but simply the character acting consistently with who they are.

Kinda true…but that character comes from the writer’s imagination, and the writer needs to think up all those terrible things the character thinks and does and say, so somewhere deep down inside the dungeons of that writer’s mind…those things live and breed.

Rick is depicted as out of step with the new Hollywood and the hippie era in both film and book, but the book reinforces and rewards him for being out of step, unlike the movie whree he finds an entrance to the future.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood the novel now makes me reexamine all of Tarantino’s earlier efforts, in particular Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained and The Hateful 8 and see if his world view has changed, or if its been there all the time only he concealed it better in the past.

Presentation

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood the book is packaged to look like a mass market paperback from the late 1960s to 1980s (in fact, very specifically 1980s style mass market paperbacks).

It even closes with ads for Oliver’s Story, Serpico, and The Switch, all bona fide movie tie-ins books, as well as Ride A Wild Bronc, a fictitious title, written by Marvin H. Albert.

Albert was a bona fide popular fiction writer under his own name and several pseudonyms, as well as screenplays based on his books for Duel At Diablo, Rough Night In Jericho, Lady In Cement, and The Don Is Dead. Tony Rome, played by Frank Sinatra in two movies, is probably his best known character. Several of the books he wrote were movie and TV tie-ins including The Pink Panther and The Untouchables.

The last ad is for the deluxe hardcover edition of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, promising new material and previously unreleased photos.

The editing and copyediting of the book are subpar. As noted above, tone and consistency fluctuate throughout the book. A sharper editor would have removed redundancies, smoothed out clunky scenes.

Typographical errors abound throughout. Early on they mention the Mannix TV show in italics (the book’s standard style for movie and TV show titles) then sloppily put the character’s name, Mannix, in italics as well and, to add further insult to injury, Mannix’ secretary Peggy also gets her name italicized. Song titles are listed either in italics or unitalicized in quotes; pick a style and stick with it, guys…

Finally, Quentin baby, I gotta say ya missed a bet by not having a cardboard center insert ad for Red Apple cigarettes; that would have completely nailed the retro look.

#Once Upon A Time In Hollywood #writing #Quentin Tarantino #Compare And Contrast

5 notes · View notes

watching-pictures-move · 3 years

Text

Movie Review | The Decline of Western Civilization series (Spheeris, 1981-98)

Many years ago, before I sold out to the man, I have to admit I felt a certain attraction to punk music. No, I was never anywhere close to a full on punk (I was, and still am, extremely lame), but I have to admit the anti-establishment streak definitely resonated with me at a certain point of time. (Not that it still doesn’t, but in addition to selling out, I’ve softened with old age.) Like many people I’ve found appealing the political conscience and mix of influences of the Clash, or the boneheaded energy of the Ramones, but I also found my interest straying to hardcore punk. I remember the first time I listened to “Damaged II” by Black Flag and finding it unbelievably abrasive and foreign to my ears, yet it was something I couldn’t get out of my head, and returned to the song and the album it was from a few years later and appreciated it as one of the most forceful expressions of angst ever recorded. I remember first learning of bands like X and Fear, and seeing performance footage on YouTube and being thrilled by the rawness and danger, especially when they had to fight off their fans. This footage was from Penelope Spheeris’ cult classic documentary, The Decline of Western Civlization, which for years was not easily available but I have now finally seen in its entirety.

The movie is structured simply, moving from one band in the L.A. punk scene to another, interviewing them in their natural habitats and punctuating this with footage of their performances. Songs are presented in full so we can get the complete experience. The first band we see is Black Flag, then with frontman Ron Reyes. They are lively on stage but it’s interesting to note how different the energy was prior to the arrival of Henry Rollins, who brought a certain discipline and muscularity to their music. (One of the songs featured here, “Depression”, pops up again in Damaged, and the impact in the latter is noticeably more forceful.) The guys here come across as aimless and destitute, living in a decrepit church where they’ve turned the closets into makeshift bedrooms, seemingly losing money with every gig. But they are also quite affable (you can tell the lyrics of “TV Party” sprang from these minds) and do not have illusions about their situation, especially their difficulty in getting gags thanks to their rowdy fans. These scenes play like a moment frozen in time, right before the band’s most significant period would begin. We move next to the Germs, and these scenes play like a car accident in slow motion, with Darby Crash’s self-destructive tendencies on full display. This was a short time before his death, which occurred between completion of filming and the theatrical release (his image was featured heavily on the promotional materials), once again giving this a lost in time quality.

Next we go to the headquarters of Slash Magazine, the staff of which moonlights as a band called Catholic Discipline. The frontman complains about New Wave, claiming it doesn’t actually exist, yet they come across as downmarket New Wavers who are slumming it in the punk scene. Yet their love of music and their work is obvious and the frontman does possess a certain charisma. Much of what we see of the punk lifestyle is squalid and dismal, yet the music of X manages to poeticize this condition. Their unassuming demeanours during their interview contrast sharply with their vigour in their performances, during which they do their share of batting off overeager fans. We get a burst of political conviction when the Circle Jerks launch into the libertarian anthem “Red Tape”, but this dissipates by the time they start playing “I Just Want a Skank”. We spend some time with the Alice Bag Band and then are treated to a montage of interviews with punk fans. These are shot in monochrome with stark backgrounds and a single bulb providing the lighting, which has the effect of bringing them and their words into sharp relief. We hear similar stories again and again, of aimlessness and aggression, the subjects using the music both as an outlet for their frustrations and inspiration for violence.

Spheeris’ camera has been largely nonjudgmental, yet there’s an undeniable sadness in this sequence. But lest I make it sound that the movie makes punk seem uniformly depressing, the closing sequence provides a potent antidote. The electrifying final minutes of the film feature a performance by Fear (who are not interviewed). The atmosphere here is hostile, with the band riling up the audience with homophobic and misogynistic taunting and having to physically fight them off throughout their set list. It might be tempting to liken their shtick to cheap alt-rightish provocation, but I think that robs their music of the proper context. When almost all their peers and fans adopt an attitude of “everything sucks”, Fear’s ability to find the humour in that mentality is kind of refreshing. It also would ignore the sheer muscularity of the delivery, which almost turns the music into a form of violence. The film is undeniably a fascinating document, but while Spheeris may have had the good fortune of turning on her camera in the right place and right time (even if she had to pay to rent soundstages to film some of the performances), it’s moments like this of pure exhilaration that cement the film’s greatness.

Part II: The Metal Years takes place almost a decade later, with a drastically new context and perspective. This time the focus is on the L.A. metal scene, which was a dominant cultural force unlike hardcore punk ever was. And this time around Spheeris’ POV is less of impartial observation and more satirical condescension. Taken journalistically, the movie is obviously compromised, particularly in an interview of Ozzy Osbourne that’s misleadingly edited to make it look like he has the shakes. I wish the movie hadn’t done this, as Ozzy is a flamboyant enough presence that he’s already funny without needing to frame him into gags, something Spheeris acknowledged in an interview years after the fact. Ozzy and a few other veterans of the scene are not immune to metal culture’s innate ridiculousness (the movie’s biggest laugh for me was Spheeris’ deadpan reaction to Steven Tyler’s extended masturbation metaphor to describe the rock’n’roll lifestyle). It’s worth noting that Spheeris asked her subjects how they wanted to be filmed, leading to such choice setups as Gene Simmons in a lingerie store and Paul Stanley in a bed full of scantily clad models. (Lemmy allegedly took offense to how he was portrayed, claiming Spheeris shot him from afar to make him look stupid, but I don’t think he comes across badly. He’s low key and unassuming in a way that contrasts him from the other participants, at the very least in terms of appearance).

The structure of this entry is tighter, using snippets of different interviews to flesh out different ideas, exploring the decadence and excess of the music and the surrounding culture. We even hear from the anti-metal folks, particularly in one amusing scene where a woman describes the dangerous potential of metal fashion with the solemnity of a cop or anti-gun advocate describing illegal firearms. Performance footage is limited to brief excerpts, usually for comic relief (assless chaps and a limp attempt to set fire to a Soviet flag are highlights), although we do get an extended look at a sleazy stripping context. (The club owners featured seem as much into the metal lifestyle as some of the musicians and fans, in sharp contrast to the genial working class types featured in the first and third entries.) The most notorious segment of the film is the interview with Chris Holmes from W.A.S.P., who lounges in a pool in alcoholic self loathing, which probably went farther in deflating the excitement around the metal scene than any single moment. Yet like the first film, this one refuses to lock into too narrow view of its subject and rebounds with a Megadeth performance that goes a long way in showing that yes, this music can in fact be good. (I should say that I enjoy my share of hair metal, which Megadeth is decidedly not, but the songs earlier in the film don’t do the best job of selling the genre. Although anything would look lame with assless chaps.) This movie is more obviously flawed than the original, but I can’t help but kind of love it. The fact is that the metal musicians and fans, despite being somewhat boneheaded, are also full of good vibes and fun to hang around (more so than the self-serious punk fans in the original), and the movie is quite slick and stylish by documentary standards, which makes the film true to its subject matter in a a way. I mean, you open the movie with Motorhead and I’m half won over already, and I haven’t stopped thinking (and smiling) about it since I’ve seen it.

The good vibes don’t carry over to Part III, which follows a group of homeless gutter punks in L.A. around another decade later. Once again there’s a change in context and perspective, with Spheeris coming across as more compassionate and maternal. The musicians here offer a more sobering, grounded presence. The veterans here, Keith Morris and Rick Wilder, come across as survivors more than anything, particularly the latter with his skeletal, emaciated appearance. The music this time around is almost beside the point, although we do get the sense that it offers the main subjects one of their only sources of relief. Their stories are similar. Broken homes. Forced onto the streets. Substance abuse. The movie feels like extended versions of the Darby Crash scenes and the interviews from the original, but with the grim consequences covered in the final moments, and the film’s sense of despair is alleviated only by the compassion Spheeris brings to the material. I can’t see myself returning to this as readily as it’s more downbeat and less dynamic than the previous movies, but it is undeniably moving, and had a profound effect on Spheeris as well, who decided to become a foster parent after her experience making this movie.

#film #movie review #the decline of western civilization #the decline of western civilization part ii: the metal years #the decline of western civilization part iii #penelope spheeris

5 notes · View notes

wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 4 years

Text

Is It Really THAT Bad?

The DC films have been a mixed bag, to put it lightly. As of 2020, for every fun and enjoyable superhero film like Wonder Woman, Shazam, Aquaman, and Birds of Prey, there has been a film that was reviled or polarizing. Dawn of Justice and Justice League are both common punching bags, but there is one movie that stands out as the single most despised film in the DC cinematic universe so far:

Suicide Squad.

A lot of this comes from just how unashamedly blatant the film is at being a rushed cash in on the type of quirky superhero movie that Guardians of the Galaxy helped popularize: a bunch of wild and wacky antiheroes team up, fight a big problem, make one liners, and become a family, all while an awesome soundtrack blares in the background. It seems like the easiest thing in the world to rip off, but there’s a lot of heart and charm in Guardians that it’s not easy to replicate. And if you ask most critics… this movie did not.

Opinions on the film tend to range from lukewarm to outright hating, with IHE and the [REDACTED] Critic all throwing in their two cents. Perhaps the most damning review of all came from Mick LaSalle, who wrote:

“If you know someone you really can’t stand — not someone you dislike, not someone who rubs you the wrong way, but someone you really loathe and detest — send that person a ticket for “Suicide Squad.” It’s the kind of torment you can wish on your worst enemy without feeling too guilty: not something to inflict permanent damage, just two hours of soul-sickening confusion and sensory torment.”

There’s not much love for this, is what should be abundantly clear. And it’s really a shame, because there is stuff this film has going for it, but it wasn’t really enough to stop DC from basically hitting the soft reboot button and snagging the actual James Gunn to make a sequel while also doing their best to downplay that the events of this film actually happened. But now with a few years of hindsight, I have to go back and wonder like the heathen I am…

Is Suicide Squad REALLY that bad?

THE GOOD

Yes, amazingly, there is some good stuff here, mostly to do with the casting. At least half the cast is just pitch perfect for their roles. Famous rapper and YouTube Rewind star Will Smith as Deadshot is, of course, one of the standout examples; he brings a lot of charm and charisma to his role of an assassin who really loves his daughter, but then again, this is Will Smith. It’s hard not to love the guy in anything he does. Viola Davis as Amanda Waller is another inspired bit of casting, and she truly owns the role, and Jai Courtney is perhaps the most consistently enjoyable member of the Squad, Captain Boomerang, the exact sort of stupid D-list villain who SHOULD be getting screentime in a movie like this.

Of course, the very best bit of casting is Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, in Harley’s big screen debut. Robbie has such an enthusiasm for the role that shines through even with the clunky script, and while she would definitely improve her craft for her outing in Birds of Prey, her performance here still has that spark of zany fun that Harley needs, cementing Robbie as the perfect star for the role. Frankly, that’s the feeling that can be gathered from a lot of these really good performances; they’re good, but they lack proper refinement, and so are stuck spouting the stupidest, corniest, clunkiest lines imaginable. But yes, really the worst thing you can say about Harley in this film is that her outfit is absolutely atrocious and demeaning.

While we’re on the subject of Harley Quinn, tough… while the whole situation with the Joker is something I’ll get to shortly, I think their relationship in this film is actually done well in many aspects. I’ve always preferred the original idea of “Mad Love” over the glorified domestic abuse that Joker x Harley has often devolved into, and while there is a bit of the latter, the fact that Joker literally goes out of his way to save Harley at every opportunity to the point he’s a definition satellite love interest is really good. Of course, this was thrown out for Birds of Prey, but I do think it worked in the context of this film.

Of course, we all know that the greatest aspect of this film is REALLY Slipknot, the single most powerful member of the Squad. I’ve already written an entire Psycho Analysis on why he’s the greatest villain in the history of cinema, so just read that for the rundown on how our man Slipknot climbs his way into your heart and mind.

THE BAD

So there is just a lot to go over here.

First, there’s the soundtrack’s implementation. As a blatant Guardians ripoff, everything the characters do needs to be punctuated by some sort of awesome music to tie the scene together. The difference is that where in the Guardian movies the soundtrack is used as a storytelling tool to help subtly emphasize points that the narrative doesn’t want to spell out for you, Suicide Squad just has these songs because they’re cool and because Guardians did it. Why is “Black Skinhead” playing while Deadshot tests his weapon skills? Why is “House of the Rising Sun” playing during Waller talking about the Squad? What exactly do these songs add besides background music? The opening montage of everyone in the Squad is particularly bad because the songs are just switching up really quickly as the montage goes along, which echoes a complaint I had about Little Nicky, of all films: “One of the more noticeable problems is the usage of music; in the course of one single scene, they play four different songs, and all of this is in a span of about one or two minutes. Just pick a song and stick to it for fuck’s sake!” About the only song that is really properly utilized is “Heathens,” which plays over the (admittedly cool) credit sequence.

Now let’s get into the characters, because for every awesome character in this film, there’s two that just absolutely suck or are so underutilized it’s laughable. Probably the worst case of this is Killer Croc, who despite being a stunning practical effect and probably the reason this film scored an Oscar, does pretty much nothing for the entire film, save for a short bit in the ending where he swims. You’d be entirely forgiven for forgetting he’s in the film, which is not something you should be saying about a Batman villain of this caliber.

Katana and Diablo are both characters who should be awesome, but the story givers them nothing to do and rushes their character arcs, respectively. Katana is yet another character you’d probably forget is there, even though she has a lot of fascinating elements to her character (some of which are detailed in her infamous introduction, which don’t worry, I’m working towards it), but nothing is really done with her. Diablo is actually one of the best and most fleshed-out characters in the film, but the narrative just completely fails to justify him or his ultimate heroic sacrifice; by the end, he claims the Squad is like family, but they’ve never really done anything to earn this. Like, think to the ending of Guardians of the Galaxy, where we have moments like Drax standing up for Gamora and Groot sacrificing himself. These moments only work because the characters had their relationships built up over the course of the movie so that there is a punch when these things happen. Suicide Squad really just throws it in just to have it.

Then we come to our villain. Enchantress is yet another villain I once detailed on Psycho Analysis, and my opinion on her remains unchanged. While she most certainly has a cool design, she is absolutely not the sort of world-ending supernatural threat a team of snarky jackasses should be fighting on their first mission together. The Squad should have had a mission more grounded in reality, and that can’t happen when you have an ancient interdimensional witch causing a Luddite zombie apocalypse through the power of interpretive dance. There’s also the fact that there’s never really any reason given to care about the character of June Moon, the host of the Enchantress, so the desperation of Rick Flag (a character so boring and pointless I didn’t even waste time mentioning him before) to save her comes off as hollow as most of the movie’s other emotional moments. Overall, Enchantress is just a boring generic doomsday villain who feels wildly out of place in the story and just doesn’t do anything to make herself stand out.

Then we have Joker.

I’m not really going to get into Jared Leto’s obnoxious behind-the-scenes antics, because that has little bearing on his performance, kind of like how his performance has little bearing on the film. As I mentioned before, this Joker is nothing more than a satellite for Harley. This is probably a good thing, because despite being called Joker he’s pretty divorced from most other interpretations; while he plays up the thuggish, brutish elements the Joker does typically have, everything else about him is just so jarringly non-Joker as to be laughable, from his ridiculous grill to the absolutely cringeworthy “Damaged” tattoo on his forehead. I wouldn’t go quite so far as to say he’s the worst villain in a superhero movie ever as some have, mostly because he’s not even in the film long enough to leave much of an impact. I will, however, say that so far he is the absolute worst onscreen depiction of Joker in film. Once again, if you’d like to hear more of my in-depth thoughts on Leto’s portrayal, I did make a Psycho Analysis on him a while back.

But all that aside, the worst aspect of this film is the writing. The writing is just utterly abysmal throughout, and while there are a few good lines sprinkled here and there, a lot of the dialogue is cringeworthy and the story itself is a convoluted mess. The story takes so many nonsensical turns from the get-go, starting with how Amanda Waller thinks a bunch of non-superpowered criminals could take down a metahuman threat; what the hell is Killer Croc, whose only power is “being an ugly cannibal,” going to do against Superman? That’s like if you put Leatherface up against a Predator, who would be stupid en-

...Oh. Right. Well, if nothing else, Amanda Waller has a very bright future as a designer for Mortal Kombat games. Beyond that, as mentioned above, a lot of the characters simply exist and serve little purpose in the narrative, and the ones that do serve a purpose are underplayed unless they’re Deadshot or Harley. You’d think Diablo’s tragic backstory and desire to have a family or Flag’s desire to save June from her curse would be more major elements, but nah. We don’t get much, if any, development on these fronts. And for the dialogue… well, I think this one speaks for itself:

youtube

Is It Really THAT Bad?

So I’ve been pretty hard on this film overall, I think, but here’s the shocking twist: I don’t think this is the worst DC movie. Frankly, I find the claims that this is the bottom of the barrel in terms of superhero films a gross overexaggeration. F4ntastic and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 are far and away worse films with little to no redeeming qualities whatsoever in them. At the very least, Suicide Squad is a fun kind of stupid, whereas those movies are bleak, miserable slogs that fail to even try and engage the viewer on any level.

And then, even within the DC movie lineup, I would not say this is worse than Dawn of Justice. Dawn of Justice has a more coherent story, and it in a general sense has better writing, dialogue, and so on… but it isn’t fun, it’s overly long, it’s incredibly pretentious, and it absolutely squanders the coolest concept for a crossover fight that there ever could be, all while giving us a Lex Luthor who is an obnoxious, whiny, sniveling brat who is utterly unbelievable as a threat. Suicide Squad almost seems within the ballpark of being self aware that it’s stupid schlock, and I find that infinitely more respectable than a film that, regardless of its artistic merit, thinks it’s deep and meaningful when it is anything but.

Suicide Squad is firmly on the side of “So bad it’s good,” and even within that category it’s somewhat underrated. I don’t necessarily think this film needs more respect per se, but I feel like it falls into the same category as movies like The Emoji Movie, where it isn’t good by any means but people will rant and rave about how it’s destroying cinema by being apocaliptically bad instead of just saying it’s crappy and moving on with their lives. Like this isn’t a great movie, but at least there’s a couple of enjoyable things, and superhero movies have been through far worse. Its current score of 6 on IMDB is honestly pretty fair. Is it spectacular? No. Could you be watching something way better. Definitely. But is it a trashy, idiotic romp with some good actors and some fun performances in a story so mind-bogglingly dumb that it needs to be seen to be believed? Hell yes.

#Is it really that bad?#IIRTB #movie #movie review #Suicide Squad #DC #DCEU #DC movie #superhero movie #so bad it's good

15 notes · View notes

ageless-aislynn · 4 years

Text

Comfort Movie Meme

I was tagged by the lovely and amazing @basmathgirl to:

Name 7 comfort films and tag 7 people.

(In no particular order ;) )

1. Twilight

Don’t judge me. ;) This isn’t the Most Masterful Masterpiece of Movie Masterpieces Meme. There’s just something about the first Twilight in particular that I just find soothing to let play. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

2. The Mummy (1999)

Okay, so I love this movie. I mean, LOVE. I legit wore out my VHS copy back in the day. It’s the only movie I not only upscaled to DVD when it became available but I upscaled it again to Blu-ray (mainly because I’d accidentally got the full-frame DVD and I hated the edges always being cut off :( ).

I adore the characters in it: Evy and Rick are true #couplegoals and c’mon, Imhotep is sexay as heckkkkkkk. ;) This is one of my favorites scenes because all of that is sorta on display!

youtube

Oh, you need to see the scene itself... The part I’m referencing starts at 3:26! “If he turns me into a mummy, you’re the first one I’m coming after...” :D I love Evy so much! Ooo, and we even have a bit of supa-sexay Ardeth Bay at 4:09 keeping Rick from shooting. Dude. The amount of gorgeous people in this movie is OFF THE CHARTS.

3. Underworld

Normally the gore in this one would’ve turned me off but there’s just something about how atmospheric it is and how much I love Kate Beckinsale as Selene that I just... ignore the gory parts, lol!

4. Ladyhawke

Okay, so yeah, this is one of the formative movies of my life. It helped cement not only a love of fantasy but of shapeshifters. ♥♥♥

5. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

I absolutely adore all 3 of the LotR movies and the 3 Hobbit movies as well, but Fellowship holds a special place in my heart. I actually bought the Extended Edition DVD set before I even had a DVD player, lol! For fun, I’d started counting how many times I watched it. I stopped when I got close to 300. *blush* There was a time when, yes, I could say any line at any point in the movie. Including the Elvish, lol! ;)

6. Beauty and the Beast (animated or live action)

This movie’s been my happy place for a lonnnnng time. I loved the live action version when it came out but the animated will always hold a special place in my heart, too.

7. Star Wars

So, I love ALL of the Star Wars movies, the OT, the prequels and the most recent trilogy (yes, even TRoS, though I pretend the last couple of minutes in it just... don’t exist and substitute my own reality, just to be a happier fangirl ;) ). But A New Hope is where my love all began so I’ve gotta give this spot to it. ;)

I can watch any of the above movies at any time and they just bring a sorta peace and happiness to my soul. And I can’t ask for anything more than that from my entertainment. ;)

I always feel like I’m leaving somebody out when I tag so, most certainly, if you’d like to do this one, please consider this a tag from me! *boops your nose politely* ;)

♥♥♥

#comfort movie meme #star wars #the mummy 1999 #beauty and the beast #lord of the rings

15 notes · View notes

angelthefirst1 · 4 years

Text

Stalker Sequence - Part 1

Why am I always repeating myself?

It's not me!

It's this show! Let me explain... Watching both 'squeeze' 1009 and 'stalker' 1010 we are again being shown the three missing weeks of Beth's story being told through the Whisperer story line.

And YES this has been done over and over again including with Ricks last episode but we are FINALLY coming to the second coda point.

If the music (story line) playing was 508 in length up until we got the first coda, then it makes sense they would play through the music again to the length of 508 before a second alternative ending or coda arrives that would put us at 1016.

We even have in next week’s trailer a reminder (call back) of that coda carving being placed in the tree.

I’m going to walk you through the stalker sequence, scene by scene to show you our biggest clues yet in regards to what happened to Beth.

If you can re-watch the episode and pause it as you read this, it will help you see it all the more clearly.

So get comfortable this is going be long, and because of that in 2 parts.

But this is after all ‘1010’ the coda to ‘510’ and our biggest clue since the music box started playing again.

Already happened, setting the stage.

We have Connie and Magna stuck in the cave.

Connie being seen by some as a potential love interest to Daryl.

I disagree with that, but the representation is what I'm looking at, the big picture.

Connie definitely has some symbolism in her overall story to indicate she will play a hand in Beth's return... From helping to bring Henry home (another Beth stand in) to bringing dog (Sirius) back to Daryl.

Shout out to @twdmusicboxmystery and @frangipanilove for these amazing finds they are pivotal parts of Beth’s return. You could even liken Connie to Noah trapped in Grady with Beth. (Trapped with Magna in the cave) In past posts I've also talked about Magna being a Beth repeat too, a few reasons Magna is a Beth proxy follow: Magna was first introduced in front of a barn that looked very much like the barn Daryl weeps over Beth in front of in 510.

The same barn we see Magna introduced next to, is also the barn that injured Rick flies over as he gets taken away in the helicopter his last episode.

We see this barn in good condition as Ricks flies over it, then we see instantly see it falling apart, indicating a large amount of time passing before Magna/Beth being the very next thing we see on screen. (the falling apart barn is off to Magnas left side. Magna also has an instant connection and even fascination with Judith, and Judith holds her hand before walking her into Alexandria.

Magna has a prison tattoo indicating she was a prisoner just like Beth.

Her love interest is an Archer (who she desperately wants to get back to as she didn't leave things on a good note with, unfinished business if you will)

And obviously Magna appearance wise has Beth similarities. So even though two are stuck in the cave and some would liken Connie to Beth, it's actually Magna that equals Beth and Connie as her ticket back to Daryl/Yumiko. (Although this might not bode well for Magna or Carol and I’ll explain this more as we go) From here on I want you to think about the overall ‘1010’ story with a few things in the back of your mind. It's telling the same story going forward and backwards, using the good guys and the bad guys to add just enough different details that it fills in the blanks of what happened in the after math of Grady between our group, the Grady cops, and a possible unknown third party. It moves like this

Starting at opposite ends, meeting in the middle, crossing over and then finishing at opposite ends.

Start and end – Daryl and Beta both out looking for one of their own but go home empty handed. We see an allusion to someone rising from the grave at the start (Beta coming up through a literal grave) and at the end with Alpha being ‘reborn’ as it were and no longer ‘weak’.

Middle - The attempt to get to Mary/Beth, Connie/Magna (also Beth) and the fight sequences between Rosita and Beta and Daryl and Alpha.

They use different characters to tell the same story in different scenes for example Mary as i alluded to above is a Beth stand in. (i will highlight which characters step in to which role as we look at each scene.

To start with i want to mention the end of 1009 after Connie and Magna get trapped away from the group, Daryl and Carol have a falling out. Daryl goes off on his own looking for another way into the cave to get to Magna and Connie.

This has a very similar feel to this

Carol being to blame for Daryl getting separated from Connie and Magna is interesting because this indicates a similar thing happened right after Grady, separating him from Beth's body. This theme comes up several times in 1010, which I will talk about as we go.

In this scene above from 510 we see Carol give Daryl Beth's knife

Near the end of 1010 we see Alpha “Giving” Daryl her knife by stabbing him in the leg with it.

Beth's knife is bone and Silver, while Alphas is bone and gold. (Lydia a Daryl repeat gives this knife back to her eventually too, just keep that in mind for the future, we all know this will happen with Beth at some point)

Now the horde Alpha originally had in a field but moved to the cave, she suspects Mary as a traitor and has Beta go out searching to bring Mary back. Read my last post and you will see Mary and her sister are inverted repeats of Maggie and Beth.

Now the locations of the horde represent the sequence of locations (or representations of these locations) Beth was taken after Grady. First the 'field' second the 'cave', and then Alpha moved some of the horde to the river. These are not literal places in regards to Beth but showing her body being moved to three locations overall.

Beta is a reverse Daryl think about it... Both play right hand man to ladies who lose a child and act erratically because of it, both are completely loyal to their own people especially Alpha and Carol. Right down to the wardrobe with the ties around the legs and the double knives.

And in 1010 they are both out searching to bring one of their own people back.

Neither succeeds...

In essence the Beta trying to bring Mary back story equals inverted Daryl trying to bring Beth (Magna/Connie) back.

Lets get into it scene by scene

The first scene in 1010 is a massive field (First location Beth is taken same as the horde). The field has an old broken down RV, the RV turns into a grave quite literally.

This sequence is a hint that after Grady, the group take a vehicle; it breaks down in a large 'field' and becomes her 'grave' for a time, this shot even looks like an open boot they are looking into.

The following scenes show that at one point, the grave is left unguarded and she is moved and the grave is left empty. Then after a long dark tunnel she rises from it.

This will be cemented as we look at the whole episode. I want to point out the significance of the broken down RV because in Ricks last episode we see Jadis driving the RV and it breaks down...

She is also a traitor to her people (like Mary is to the Whisperers) and leaves Alexandria with the plan of going with the helicopter group.

Not far from the broken down RV she finds Rick washed up along the river and you know the rest. Overall the broken down RV leads to Rick being taken and saved by the helicopter group but his body missing to Daryl and the rest.

Beta walks to the RV on his mission to get to Mary and jumps down into the underground tunnels. (It’s still daylight at this point and Beta doesn't rise from the grave in Alexandria until night time)

The next scene we see the 'traitor' Mary at Alexandria telling Gabriel that their people are stuck in a cave with the horde and that Alpha moved it from the field, right before they got there. (Beth got moved from the one location to another)

Next we see Daryl at the guarded cave entrance he is on his own trying to find a way to get to Magna and Connie (coughs Beth) but Alpha comes out and starts moving some of the horde out.

If this traitor and revenge theme transfers over to Beth's missing story and I think it will. We will see:

A Beth STALKER

Which makes one group seek revenge on the other (either Grady or our group) resulting in our group failing into a trap and Beth being separated from Daryl.

And we might see a traitor, possibly Carol or Maggie wittingly or unwittingly tell the other side where Beth is or draw the group away from her under duress resulting in her disappearance.

Next scene is Mary (who wakes up in her cell in a manner that gives us a clue that this is Beth waking up timeline wise in her ‘cave’ or cell in Mary’s case) Daryl is outside the 'cave' the horde has been moved to and she is stuck inside (My guess is in Beth’s case it’s the trunk of a car that is her ‘cave’) she is trapped in but its guarded or blocked and he can't get to her.

Next we see Daryl follow Alpha to a river with what looks reminiscent of a destroyed bridge (which is obviously significant because of Rick) Alpha and her walkers are on it and this is where they fight Daryl.

He is literally 'seeing red' (is super pissed that he has been separated from Beth)

Obviously in this fight Alpha cuts his face and blood goes in his eyes.

As he fights with Alpha he demands to know "where are they"?

This is another representation (A time worn representation) of the bridge Rick destroyed and the river Jadis found him on not far from where the RV breaks down so he does get to Beth's last location but she's gone by time he gets there.

Daryl stabs Alpha in the right shoulder with a large stick (similar to how Beth stabbed Dawn, indicating Daryl fighting with whoever took Beth and walkers as well)

Alpha uses her knife and stabs him in the leg. As I mentioned earlier Alpha’s Knife is a repeat of Beth's knife (Beth's being bone with silver while Alpha's is bone with gold)

Another interesting thing about this episode is that both Daryl and Alpha almost die after all the fighting. But in the trailer for next week 1011 Morning Star, you wouldn't know it... it seems like a time jump occurs giving them both time to heal and we see Lydia say "My mother's coming" (significant to Beth returning from the 'up the wolves song' and the second coda 1016) All this also indicates the time jump of the missing 3 week's.

Continue in part 2 - which will be out in a few hours.

#team delusional #team defiance #team beth lives #bethyl #Beth Greene #twd

13 notes · View notes

whateverisbeautiful · 3 months

Text

♥️ Ranking Richonne

#18: We Will (S7E16)

The beauty of this whole scene is just breathtaking to me and I appreciate this moment so much. 😭 I once saw Rick and Michonne's dynamic described as “healthily reliant on each other” and that’s really a great way to put it. I mean there's a reason TOWL's description says, "Without each other are they even alive?" And this s7 finale scene illustrates how Rick and Michonne breathe life into each other. I always love it when Richonne’s deep love is so visibly poured out, and this moment just perfectly captured how much they love and need each other, and how they truly are one...

This scene arrives after all the wild events of the season 7 finale. Rick and Michonne had a day, y’all. 😣 Like being harassed and betrayed by Jadis and her people, losing Sasha (😢), Michonne having to fight for her life on a balcony, Rick and Carl on their knees devastated thinking they just saw the matriarch of their family fall to her death, and Negan coming this close to killing Carl before a whole tiger saves the day. Safe to say they’d been through a lot and needed to now be back in the arms of the one who makes them feel most safe. And so that’s exactly what happens. 😌

As soon as Rick and Carl are able to go check on Michonne they urgently run over to find her, and I love how much her boys love her and how happy they are to see it wasn’t her that fell. If my eyes don’t deceive me, Rick really does look upward and seems both relieved and impressed that Michonne took care of business.

So then Rick enters this room where Michonne is leaning against a wall and all bloodied and it’s heartbreaking to see. I always think about how she must've been so seriously hurt to have to just stay in that room during the battle 😢 cuz I know if any ounce of her could have continued to fight with the others, she would have.

Rick immediately gets rid of his gun when he sees it’s her and he is so gentle with her when he stoops to her side and calls her name. At the same time, you can really hear and see the utter concern he has as he worries if she’ll respond. He loves her so much, y’all. 😭 It’s always so clear. Especially the second time he says her name, you can just tell that losing Michonne would break him.

I'm sure he knows it too. Like in the van in 7.12 he expressed knowing it was possible they could lose each other, but for both Rick and Michonne, seeing the other "fall to their death" and thinking they lost them just really confirmed that the loss of the other would be pretty unbearable.

Also, the way he takes the biggest breath when he finally hears her breathing. My heart instantly melts. It’s beautiful. And it is such a vivid illustration of the way she has his heart. Like truly, it’s like her little breath put breath back into him.

It feels like Rick now knows the exact feeling Michonne felt when she thought she lost him in Say Yes. He experienced that same emptying when thinking he saw her fall. And so being back with her just brings him back to life, and I feel like it confirms to him how much he can’t lose her. Like they still can technically, but also they can't.

I love the tender way Rick places his hand on her face and whispers "you’re alive" with so much relief. And you can tell this whole time he’s trying to figure out how to touch her without hurting her. #Magnets.

And the way Michonne can’t even fully open her eyes but just hearing his voice and feeling his touch puts a smile on her face. Y’all...their love is so palpable, and they are seriously the best soulmates on TV. Just had to reiterate that. 🙌🏾

The way Michonne clearly reaches for him too. I feel like it has to be such a relief to her that he’s also alive after the last thing she saw was basically him getting grazed by trifling Jadis before the fight broke out.

Carl joins them, and I know having her boys back with her after all the chaos that ensued really does cement to Michonne that they’re the ones who live.

And then I absolutely adore that it seems Rick kisses her hand. And then, even in so much pain that it hurts to talk, Michonne, the resilient queen she is, still nods and tries to instill encouragement and belief in them by trying to say their ever-so-important and always true motto - we’re the ones who live.

But that Rhonda Rousey trash chick really did a number when choking her, so Michonne can’t fully get the words out. So, to just make the scene even more romantic, Rick knows exactly what she’s trying to say, and he says in the warmest sweetest voice, "I know" three times.

Y’all, it makes me teary the way he speaks to her. 🥲 Both of their Richonne tones are A1 always. It is so caring and gentle, and I love that he sees that she’s in pain and he again softly touches her and lets her know it’s okay cuz he knows what she’s trying to say, and he believes in their motto too.

And he shows how much he believes it even more when he says with conviction “We are. We will.” Genuinely romantic and moving. 😭😭 Like genuinely no one should be surprised that Rick and Michonne's return to the franchise is being marketed as an epic love story because their journey has always been a love story. And a love story for the ages at that. 😌

I love the way Rick looks right at Michonne this whole time, again just letting her be the sole focus over anything else going on. And it’s sweet cuz in the s7 msf she was the one reminding him they’re the ones who live, and in the finale, it’s them both knowing and believing it together. 🥰

There's also something so powerful about the two of them affirming this to each other after their previous partners both didn't have that same 'we can live and make it' mentality. It just further shows how Rick and Michonne are truly more aligned at their core.

And then you really see those magnets kick in cuz Rick is like somehow someway I still need to hug you. And I just adore this hug. 😭 I love it because it’s Rick wanting to offer comfort to her, but it’s also very much a comfort for him too.

You can just see it in the way he leans into her like this is the one moment in the day where he can just release and be Rick the human being, in the arms of the woman who loves and takes care of and offers the utmost warmth to him.

I so appreciate that Rick and Michonne are able to equally be that invaluable source of comfort for each other - because they’re strong for everyone else, but with each other they can just be all of themselves.

And I love how, even in her pain, Michonne still passionately embraces him (with her hands in his curls once again, cuz of course 😋) You again just see how much this husband and wife can be human with each other and how much being in each other's arms is where they feel most at home. After everything they'd been through that day, just being back with each other began to restore them.

It’s also really sweet that Carl is right there to see all this. I love that during this time Carl and Judith got to grow up in a home where their parents so deeply loved each other. irl, it’s important for kids to see their parents value each other.

(also the only thing that could have made this scene better is if we got to see Carl eventually join in on the hug. i tease that this is 'the greedy hug' because Rick really said look I need my time with Michonne and Carl is just gon' have to wait his turn lol 😋)

And I notice how Carl had been being strong all episode but it’s only when he sees Michonne that we see him get a bit more emotional. Michonne has always meant so much to him. That's his mom. So it’s sweet that it’s in this moment where Carl finally can’t help but react with a bit more emotion.

Also it makes me think of how little Carl was there to witness that bullet exchange between Rick and Michonne in Clear, where his little self seemed to be picking up on a vibe between them. And now here he is older, and seeing exactly the love that was deep under the surface between Rick and Michonne back then.

(Side note: of all the deleted TWD scenes I’ve seen, the one from this ep with Michonne giving a speech to Carl (and Rick) really should’ve been kept in imo, especially as a full circle moment to this scene here)

And I love that they really stay in that hug for a moment. Richonne never rushes when expressing their love. And the visual of the three of them, the golden trio, is just beautiful. 🥹

Season 7 made a lot missteps but truly when it came to Rick and Michonne’s love story this season they never missed not once. In the area of Richonne content, season 7 is one of my favorites for them because there's just an abundance of Richonne gold throughout.

And concluding Richonne's s7 arc with this gorgeous moment where they seem so relieved to be alive with each other and to be the ones who live and to hug so passionately is great.

And then later to see Rick tending to Michonne while she healed. It was a lovely way to close out the Richonne content of their first full season as a couple. Every season, Rick and Michonne always land on unity and love no matter what they go through.

Scenes like this #18 one make it so clear that what we’ve always been watching is a love supreme between Rick and Michonne Grimes (as Rick has now made perfectly clear for the people in the back #MyWifeIsMyChoice). And I love to see it. 😌

#also reading your comments and messages has been making my day so just wanted to say thanks so much 💖#richonne #top 30 #number 18 #rick x michonne #twd 7.16 #reveling in richonne #twd towl #the ones who live

90 notes · View notes

bluefang55 · 4 years

Text

Skip Beat 280 RAWS!!!

Raws thanks to the lovely people here:

https://www.facebook.com/SkipBeatFc/photos/pcb.3116460535051344/3116455865051811/?type=3&source=49

Comments under the cut (SPOILERS!)

OMGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! aslfdkjasoijefaowijef

They have finally acknowledged their feelings for one another and I am LIVING. And that kiss on her hand?!?! I could die happy. And then Ren says “yokatta” which translates to I’m so glad/thank goodness/etc. which is SO CUTE I just can’t. He’s so happy and relieved to finally know they feel the same.

While they have acknowledged each others feelings, I don’t believe this means they’re officially an item. Kyoko’s nod was responding to Ren asking if she felt the same, which she does, but confessions do not always equal becoming a couple (it’s a super common trope for drama/misunderstandings in shojos anyways). My guess is Ren wanting to talk more in his room was perhaps about that topic in particular.

The major wrench in the whole chapter was the inevitable appearance of Cedric! For those who may not remember, Kanae will be co-starring with Cedric for her new role (for which she’s taking English lessons from Kyoko). Cedric believes that all Japanese women are nadeshiko types. But most importantly, he looks a LOT like the bully that traumatized Ren over his mixed heritage:

My guess is, Cedric knows Kuon from back then, and will recognize him in Ren. Then we have an excellent plot devise to finally expose to Kyoko that Ren = Corn/Kuon. Further cementing this theory is that Kyoko remembers Bo’s conversation with Ren, that he can’t allow himself to be in love anywhere (referring to his guilt over Rick’s death), and wonders to herself about that moment. I think this deliberate callback was to remind the readers of this scene...Kyoko always wanted to know why Ren said this, and exposing Kuon/Ren and his past would answer this question that’s been gnawing at her all this time. Maybe this arc will even present the opportunity to have Kyoko reunite with Koo, since there’s a good chance that our cast might be heading to the States in the near future.

#skip beat spoilers #skip beat 280 #skip beat!#tsuruga ren #kyoko mogami #skip beat manga

5 notes · View notes

radioactivedelorean · 4 years

Text

Having just watched Ralph Wrecks the Internet for the first time, while running on three hours of sleep and having been awake since 4am (it is now 10pm), I am going to summarize the movie before lying down for a very long time:

- Calhoun is like, an entirely different character what the fuck happened. Did Felix straight up just do that

- Felix adopts fifteen kids and becomes a raging alcoholic within twelve hours

- Ralph and Vanellope's friendship got thrown into a blender, poured into a cement mould, dried out, smashed to pieces and then scattered in the wind like jfc

- none of the internet jokes were actually funny. None of them. Most of it was myself and my friends screaming and laughing every time they threw up a website like Google or Instagram or Twitter or whatever the fuck else

- the bit where Vanellope's running through the halls in the Disney building, right before she hits the princess room, is so fucking disorientating it's unbelievable. It's a whirlwind of "brand" "meme" "another brand" "Disney in-joke" "more brand" and it gave me whiplash

- I actually didn't pay any attention whatsoever to Vanellope's song because I was too busy having a mental breakdown

- the Globgogabgalab was there??????

- I didn't hate Spamley as much as I thought I was going to. AND GORD OH MY GOD I FUCKING LOVE HIM

- "hey wouldn't it be funny if Ralph went to the dark web lol" [Ralph goes to the Dark Web] "holy shit"

- every time my friends and I made a dumb joke about what could happen in that movie, it fucking happened.

- I forgot Felix was even in this movie for half of it because they just ignored him

- they destroyed Pinterest, finally the evil is defeated

- the amalgamation of Ralph's was the ugliest thing ever. Ok cool animation good but UGLY AND BAD

- Calhoun wearing people clothes at that party at the end like ???????

- we only watched that movie cause we watched the first one, and the only reason we watched the first one was for the one (1) Sonic the Hedgehog scene

- what was the fucking point in the Rickroll at the end. Why bother. It fucking sent me straight to hell with same day shipping. Imagine watching the credits all the way through just to get to the end credits scene and it's. Fucking Rick Astley

- I made a point to my friends towards the end about the scene from the trailer about the bunny eating the pancakes, exploding and fuckin traumatising young Moana in the car not being in the actual movie AND THEN THE GIRL IN THE CAR WAS LIKE "there was a bit in the trailer that wasn't in the movie" AND I JUST

- fuck this movie and everyone who worked on it

#delorean talks #probably typos bc i am very tired #ralph wrecks the internet #two years late i know #i dont care

3 notes · View notes

storytime-hoe · 5 years

Text

Tough Love Ch.5

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x O/C

Summary: Story picks up during season three as the group goes into Woodbury to rescue Glenn and Maggie from the Governor. However, they pick up another prisoner of Woodbury, Emma (O/C). She is a thief who fears friendships after her hard losses. She stays on the move, studying communities from afar and then robbing them blind. She has stayed alive this way for a while until the Governor catches her in the act. Now she finds herself with the group from the prison in a mission to kill the Governor for what he has done to her. She plans on stealing supplies from the prison group after the Governor is killed, but she might be growing a little too close to the groups members, especially one man in particular: Daryl Dixon.

Warnings: Slow burn, language, usual twd violence, mentions of abuse/rape, panic attack stuff also

Authors Note: Hey I don’t feel too great about this chapter either so sorry if it’s shit. Thanks for reading anyways and if anyone has any suggestions for what they would like to see along the story please hmu and I might be able to work some stuff in here and there.

Previously: Ch.1 Ch.2 Ch.3 Ch.4

I was taking in the fresh air with Carl still by my side when I started getting a bad feeling.

I felt the presence of Carol and Beth coming up behind us. I was stuck watching Hershel talk with the crazed Rick. I prayed that he could get Rick's head on straight enough to come help plan how to deal with the Governor.

That's when I really felt the change in the wind. My stomach turned in circles, a feeling I couldn't shake. I took a step closer to the fence and put my hand on it as I squinted to see into the trees.

I tried to get the warning out, but it was too late. I saw the Governor in the trees and his gun went off before my voice had a chance to reach the others. I grabbed the shirt of Carl to pull him back with me. His hands went to where I gripped his shirt and he started to try and free himself, not realizing what was going on yet. I held tight and yanked his small frame around the corner of the wall just as gunfire exploded out from everywhere around us.

"Shit," Carl muttered just as Beth rushed inside of the prison for weapons hopefully.

Carl took out his gun and fired in the direction of the Governor's men. I sat back helplessly watching Michonne and Carol spray the trees with their own gunfire. I searched for Hershel who was still out in the open, separated from everyone by the fences. He would die, I thought for sure. He had a gun to defend himself if he could, but without two legs to run away on, he was a goner. There goes our only doctor.

Rick was still outside the fence where the Governor's men were, and I had no doubt in my mind they would take him out easily too. And there would go the leader of our gang. To say we were fucked would have been an understatement.

"Emma!" Maggie shouted from across the way with Beth behind her. They had two rifles each and one of them was slid across the ground to me.

In normal circumstances I could have taken that gun and fired away like everyone else. But the Governor's presence had my head a scrambled mess. My heart pounded in my chest so fast I thought it might explode. My hands were shaking uncontrollably and I felt like I was back in Woodbury, trapped within the rotting walls. My throat felt swollen when I tried to swallow, making it harder and harder to breath.

It was like my entire body was shutting down and I didn't understand. Seeing the Governor, even if he was separated from me by a yard and two fences, I still pictured him inches from me and pulling me into his truck to take me back to Woodbury. Just the possibility that it might happen had me rendered useless.

"What are you doing?" Carl shouted at me, taking a second to glance at my trembling figure pressed up against the cement wall. "Help us! Get the gun!"

I could hear what he was saying, but it was not reregistering. The only thing I was thinking of was how there was no way we were winning this battle and I would be back with the Governor by the next hour. I couldn't believe how foolish I was to even think that we could have beaten him in the first place.

Just when I didn't think it could get any worse, a van came speeding straight towards the prison and busted down the first gate. It stopped in the middle of the yard where Hershel had been alone. The doors opened up and Walkers were soon stumbling out into the yard one after the next. If Hershel wasn't already dead out there, he would be soon.

My vision crossed at the sight of the multiple Walkers moaning for the want of living flesh. What the fuck was wrong with me? A day ago I stared down the Governor and had no problem with storming up to kill him, but now it was like just the thought of him had me too weak to function.

My whirring mind was about to overload when I blinked away some of the panic and saw that the Governor got back into his truck and was speeding away from the scene, letting the Walkers finish us off.

I managed to swallow down the thick lump in my throat and force myself away from the wall. I scooped up the rifle and surveyed the courtyard, noticing how the noise of our gunfire had drawn in more Walkers to the outer fence.

The group was running out into the courtyard, Michonne at the lead. It took me a beat to see that they were going out to save Hershel, who was miraculously unharmed.

I didn't think twice as I start following everyone out towards the Walkers invading our courtyard. We all fired at the Walkers or used a knife to put them down if they were in reach. I felt the adrenaline, the feeling of life and power, filling my veins. But I still wasn't my usual self, checking the road every second to see if the Governor was coming back. That constant fear ate away at my mind, making me not as sharp as I would have liked to be in a death match with unfeeling creatures.

When a car did fly down the road towards us, my body seized up again. It took more time than I would have like for me to reassure myself that it was only Glenn returning from his poorly timed supply run. But, thank God he came back when he did because he was able to reach Hershel much faster than we were. Glenn pulled up next to him and had Hershel back to safety in no time.

The others were making their way back to the prison as well. But I stood still, mesmerized by the clanking of teeth as I made one Walker head splatter after the next. I was clearing out a path back to the prison as well when I heard the grunts of someone struggling.

I turned back towards the outer fence and I took off running before I really saw him. Rick was overwhelmed by five Walkers with more being attracted to him by the second. They held him against the fence and he was doing his best to push them back. My legs were carrying me as fast as they could to save him, but I wouldn't make it. I wanted to shoot at them, but I didn't trust myself to not accidentally hit Rick.

My hope was dwindling away with every pounding step. A Walker was centimeters from his face and there was nothing I could do. I felt a scream rising in my throat, my frustration getting the best of me. I almost just shut my eyes to look away from what was bound to be a gruesome death until an arrow shot from the trees and put down the Walker that was on him. Rick was just as confused as I was until we both spotted the Dixon brothers at the same time.

All the doubts I had about Rick or Hershel or the entire group's capabilities were washed away at the sight of Daryl Dixon. I knew that we would be okay. I knew the Governor wasn't getting me back, at least not today. Even though I didn't see eye to eye with Daryl, just his presence kept me grounded; he kept me sane. The glue that held everything together was back, and he was here to clean up the God damn mess that was made while he was gone.

I rushed to the fence, feeling entirely myself one again, and used my knife to kill the Walkers that weren't being taken care of by Rick, Daryl, or Merle. I felt my built up rage be released into every stab I took through the fence. My body worked wildly with no more fear holding me back.

Once the Walkers surrounding them were dead, Daryl stood back, his eyes flicking up to Rick. There was going to be more arguing about Merle inside, I knew that much, but there was a silent agreement and pact that was made between Rick and Daryl. I looked between the two of them before Daryl finally met my eyes. He stared, frustratingly unreadable. I didn't dare let myself look at Merle before I spun around and started swinging my blade at the Walkers coming at me from my side of the fence.

The boys quickly ran around to meet me on the inside, helping one another out so no one would become overwhelmed. Rick had a look of revenge in his eyes that made me grin. It was about damn time everyone got fired up about the Governor, we needed to take killing him seriously. We had our backs to each other, moving as one to take out any Walkers. I felt calm with Rick and Daryl flanking me, they gave me a sense of protection that I don't think I had since the world went to shit. It was strange how connected to them I felt, almost like a family looking out for one another.

Back inside I shook away the idea that these people gave a fuck about me other than because I could help them with the Governor problem. I needed to chill with that damn family thinking. I couldn't let myself get attached, I couldn't.

I sat by myself while Hershel cleaned everyone up. He stitched and cleaned fresh wounds or re-opened ones. Almost nobody talked, not even about the fact that Merle was there now. We were too exhausted I think to try and start up that screaming battle again. Tomorrow we could all be mad that Merle was here or that the Governor attacked. Tomorrow we could plan more destruction, but for now we needed healing both physically and mentally.

One by one people disappeared into their own rooms. I was locked away separate from their cells with Merle and Michonne. Rick said he couldn't trust us yet and we needed to stay separate from everyone else when they slept. I understood the reasoning, but I wasn't happy about sleeping in the same room as Merle.

Michonne had taken to a corner and while I would much rather speak to her that to Merle, she didn't look like she wanted to be bothered. So, I huffed out a breath and looked to Merle who was leaned up against a wall, inspecting the metal that covered where his right hand used to be.

"You came back," I said, my voice sounding much louder than I wanted it to sound in the silent prison. I wasn't being rude to him or trying to start something. If I had learned anything about Merle from the time I've spent with him, it was that he was just as hot headed as I was and that he often said things that he didn't mean in the heat of the moment. That's why I didn't hold our argument prior to his departure against him and I would be using this conversation to hopefully make amends.

I think Merle and I were a little too similar sometimes. We both had shit lives and basically raised our younger siblings on our own. We both were too stubborn for our own good. And we both sure as hell didn't know when to keep our mouths shut.I think that is why we always got too personal from time to time like when he brought up my deceased sibling before. We knew where to hit the other where it would hurt; our weaknesses were our little brothers.

"Why did you come back?" I kept my voice light, showing him that I just genuinely wanted to know the answer and that I wasn't going to nag at him about anything.

He spared a second to look up at me. "We knew you dickheads would need us. Even if you can't admit that."

I stared down at my hands, not believing that was the reason, but also not denying it. "Well, I guess you're right." I stood up and slid a cigarette out from the package that lay beside of him, glad he let me take one. "If you and Daryl hadn't come back, Rick might be dead."

Merle silently held out a lighter to light my cigarette for me. It was probably the most kind thing he'd done for me besides sit and talk with me during the lonely nights of captive life. It was also as much of an apology that I would ever get from Merle and I took it as a sign that we were on good terms again.

"So I guess we do need you guys," I squeaked out before taking a long drawl on the cigarette and making my way to the door leading outside. I left Merle speechless I guess because he didn't say anything as I left to finish my smoke.

I didn't want to smoke inside since there was a baby indoors. I stood out and looked up at the bright moon. The growls of the Walkers that were still in the courtyard kept the moment form being peaceful and enjoyable. I huffed on my cigarette and slowly strode around the area, not thinking anyone else would be out this late.

Boy was I wrong. I turned the corner to where the barrels of clean water were, the place where I had cleaned myself upon my arrival. Now standing there was Daryl. His back was facing me and he hadn't noticed I stumbled upon him yet. I wanted to turn away and leave him be, give him the privacy that he came out here to have. I really did. But I was glued in place.

His shirt lay on the ground next to him and my eyes watched every muscle in his back and arms moving. The moonlight bounced off of him in such a way that just illuminated his muscles even more. It took me a minute to notice the scars that were on his back and shoulders, obviously from a beating. I recognize them to match the ones Merle had given me during my first week at Woodbury. Merle was crueler back before he took the time to chat and get to know me, so that was another thing on the list that I had forgiven him for.

At first I wondered if Merle had given the scars to Daryl too, but any thoughts about Merle and scars were long gone when Daryl raised an arm up to stretch it out, the muscles flexing as he did so. My knees weakened at the sight of his bare skin. I swallowed hard and tried to look away again, but it was no use.

I really knew it was too late when he turned around on his heel, spotting me looking on like a creep. The fire in his eyes told me I was in for it.

"The hell ya think yer doing'?"

I shook my head and tried to keep my eyes on his face and not his bare chest as he stalked towards me. "Sorry, I was just–"

"Yeah? Just what? Snoopin' around in my business?"

I furrowed my brow and crossed my arms. My mind switched into defensive mode and my anger began to spark. "I was just taking a walk, asshole. I don't give a fuck about what you do."

He wasn't buying it. "Ya sure did stand there long enough."

There was no explaining that without sounding like a total idiot, which I was not about to have at the moment. So, I asked the only question that would steer the conversation away from the fact that I was stupidly admiring him. "Did Merle do that to you?"

His eyes shot up to mine as he shoved his arms through a sleeveless button up shirt to cover up his scars. He might have been a sheet of hot anger, but I saw the embarrassment and insecurity that he was trying to cover up. He did a damn good job at covering it up too; I thought he might hit me he looked so mad. "You don't know nothin' 'bout us! Stop actin' like you do just cause Merle told ya a few stories! He didn't scar me up. He would never h–"

His rant was cut off at the sight of me turning around and pulling up the back of my shirt. I could feel his eyes running along every scar that crisscrossed down my back. I let him stand in silence and take it all in for a long time before I dropped the tank top back down over my skin and turned to face him. I knew he wouldn't listen to me try and explain that Merle would, in fact, do something like that, so I had to show him instead. It did the trick of shutting up his tempered ass.

His eyes dropped to the ground and I could tell he was still fuming, but for a different reason now. "Merle do that?" He asked dangerously quiet. In his heart he knew the answer before he even asked the question. It was just hard believing his brother was still fucking up other peoples lives on a daily basis.

I shrugged it off, taking another drawl on the cigarette to distract myself from the reality of it. I didn't mind that I might look less attractive with all of the scars I had, I just felt ashamed that I wasn't strong enough to prevent something like this from happening.

"It was before he knew me. He was doing his job." I tried my best to take some of the blame off of Merle. I didn't want Daryl to be mad about it. This entire conversation only came about because I was gawking at him, not because I wanted to know or even cared about his scars nor mine.

Daryl shook his head. "Doesn't make it right."

"Doesn't matter," I said quickly. "Nothing that can be done about it."

Daryl knew I was one tough bitch. There was no denying it after what I'd gone through, but he still looked like he was pitying me. I was starting to despise the way he did that. I was not some God damn damsel in distress. To get the attention completely off of me this time, I decided to dig deeper about where his scars came from, which I had to keep reminding myself that I didn't care about. Well... maybe I was a little curious. But still, I told him about mine, it was only fair he return the action.

"If it wasn't Merle, then who?"

Daryl was confused at first, his thoughts on Merle beating the shit out of you because some asshat wanted him to. When he realized you were talking about his own experiences he shook his head. "Piece of shit dad," he confirmed casually and gnawed at the skin around his thumb. "He did it to Merle first. Then me. Merle took a lot for me though. Guess he didn't tell ya that story huh?"

Merle talked a little about how his dad drank a lot, but he never mentioned him being abusive. Suddenly I understood why Merle would be the way he is. Without thinking I muttered, "Like father like son."

Daryl glared at me, his eyes a deep pool of hurt and anger and I realized that what I had said would include him too and not just Merle. "That what ya think of me? Ya think I'll beat ya? Or any of them in there?" He motioned to inside the prison where everyone was sleeping. His voice grew louder as he went on, his boiling anger returning in an instant.

"No! I didn't mean that. I know you wouldn't–"

"Nah," he cut me off curtly. "For the last time, ya don't know me. So stop pretending ya do."

He shouldered by me harder than was necessary, leaving me alone with my smoke still in hand. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose once he was gone.

Why did the Dixon boys have to be so fucking sensitive?

***

Tags:

@daryldixonandfrogs

29 notes · View notes