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filmforager · 6 months

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How to Have Sex: Review

The least Googlable film ever

From the smudged fake tan to the early morning puking rituals, you know what you’re getting with a party island holiday. But what often isn’t talked about is the undercurrent of peer pressure and uncomfortable sexual encounters lurking just beneath the surface. From first-time director Molly Manning Walker (cinematographer of the wonderful Scrapper), How to Have Sex artfully explores the seedy side of party holidays, with scenes that you’ll think about for days to come.

Like with any holiday, our protagonists start the film in super high spirits. We follow British teenager Tara (Mia McKenna-Bruce), who joins best friends Skye (Lara Peake, the loud one), and Em (Enva Lewis, the compassionate one) as they head to Malia to party after their exams. While they all give it large about the sexual adventures they’ll get up to (if they can convince people they aren’t 16), the pressure is on for Tara, who is yet to lose her virginity.

Within seconds of this coming-of-age film, what stands out about How to Have Sex is how true to life everything feels. This is an environment that feels instantly recognisable - you can practically smell the sweat and sambucas. Drawing on her own holiday experiences, Manning Walker’s script uses dialogue that feels plucked straight from the Malia strip (right down to the girls’ love of cheesy chips), resulting in a convincing portrayal of female friendships. It helps that the cast play off each other so naturally, with a giddy energy and humour that might make you long for non-stop days of partying with your besties.

Well, almost. For while the opening revels in the joys of girls’ holidays, the second half takes a darker turn. As the group fall in with a trio of flirty lads next door, this gives rise to petty jealousies, peer pressure, and a few very triggering sexual encounters. It might all be vibrant visuals and lively party anthems, but cinematographer Nicolas Canniccioni frames the night scenes like a nightmare in neon, and you feel the sense of dread when Tara ends up wandering the lurid nightclubs alone.

When a pivotal moment comes at the halfway point, Manning Walker doesn’t shy away from the traumatising nature of sexual assault, and does a sensitive job of exploring the complex nature of consent. She’s aided by a marvelous debut performance from McKenna-Bruce, who manages to be both bubbly and full of life, while displaying a devastating sense of vulnerability. You might think you know what you’re getting from this party island holiday, but you’ll walk away with plenty more food for thought.

With star-making debuts from Manning Walker and McKenna-Bruce, How to Have Sex is a remarkable and sobering film about the meaning of consent. You’ll never think of party holidays the same way again.

★★★★

#how to have sex #4 stars #review #scrapper #molly manning walker #lara peake #enva lewis #mia mckenna bruce

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paperbackd · 1 year

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Book review: In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

Klune is the king of ‘comfy’ queer fantasy and this might just be his best work yet. Set in the far distant future, In the Lives of Puppets follows Vic Lawson, son of Giovanni Lawson, a reclusive inventor. Together with a sadistic medical machine and an anxiety-riddled roaming vaccuum they live deep in the forest, in complete isolation from the outside world. But when Vic rescues a mysterious andriod named HAP from the scrapheap, dark secrets from his father’s past come to light.

‘Scifi Pinocchio retelling’ is a great enough concept, but Klune delivers an even greater twist - the android inventor’s son, Vic, is already a real boy. In fact, he’s the only human in the forest. Vic knows that he isn’t the same - mentally or physically - as his android family, and he struggles to understand and accept his place in a world of machines. Klune writes Vic’s character arc so beautifully and with such kindness, and I’m absolutely in love with the found family Vic creates for himself.

I knew to expect good queer representation from Klune, but I was pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of an asexual protagonist. Vic’s asexuality is even more meaningful considering that he’s the only human member of his family - a clever inversion of the outdated and insulting asexual robot trope. Vic’s asexuality also leads to worthwhile conversations surrounding consent and healthy communication as he develops romantic feelings for HAP. Best of all, Vic’s robot family are 100% supportive towards Victor and his identity is never treated as something strange or unnatural.

If I have one critique of In the Lives of Puppets, it’s that it did seem unnecessarily long. Not that I particularly minded spending extra time with these characters, but there were a few points where I felt that the plot was dragging.

That’s a minor issue though, given how much I genuinely loved the heartwarming, cozy vibes of this book. Equally heartwarming and hilarious, It’s the perfect rainy day read.

Many thanks to Tor Books for providing a review copy. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Publisher: Tor Books Rating: 4 stars | ★★★★✰ Review cross-posted to Goodreads

#book review #in the lives of puppets #booklr #the house in the cerulean sea #tj klune #r: tj klune #genre: scifi #genre: retelling #genre: lgbtq #4 stars

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wwwanderlust-topazzz · 20 days

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what song did it take the longest for you guys to megastar? (in any just dance game)

mine is “I Am My Own Muse” by Fall Out Boy and “I’m Good (Blue)” by David Guetta & Bebe Rexah [Extreme Version]

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d-x-z · 3 months

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I know this isnt my usual content but petition to review bomb genshin again for not having us select a free 4 star skin in genshin 😒😔

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judgybitch · 4 months

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Podcast: Ghost Wax

Episode Count: 49 (45 numbered episodes, 1 episode that's not numbered, 2 episodes that seem to be part of a patreon series, and 2 Q&A's, I have not subscribed to the patreon)

Last update: Season 1 finished on Halloween and the the last Q&A followed soon after. The most recent update to the podcast in general was on December 6th to notify listeners of a kickstarter for a kickstarter from the creator that is unrelated to the podcast.

Brief synopsis taken directly from apple podcasts is: Ghost Wax is a horror fiction podcast following the work of the last "reclaimer", investigating a series of unnatural killings by raising the dead and committing their final statements to wax cylinder. The synopsis from their official squarespace website though is: Ghost Wax is a Fantasy Horror Podcast: Owen Voncid is the last Reclaimer. The last person able to wake the dead and hear their tales. To combat the darkness of the realms beyond, even the black art of necromancy is a line worth crossing.

I'm personally not sure why the synopsis is different across platforms and am unsure if there are any further changes on other locations but this does kind of annoy me. Not enough to change my rating, but enough to make me side eye the creators a bit.

Star Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

TL;DR: Even with the length of the show, I'd love to recommend it to people, but I can't without caveats. And most of those caveats have nothing to do with the script writing, sound design, the voice acting, or even the character design. My worries are for its worldbuilding, which is already at a level where I'm worried about them being able to maintain it as time goes on, and I am deeply concerned that this show isn't exactly accessible. Most don't have trigger warnings which can be okay since it's a horror show so approach with caution, but there's also a severe lack of transcripts available on their website. Less than half have them in fact. So there's a group of people I would recommend this to, but many where I can't.

Full review after read more.

Ghost Wax was another horror podcast that I went into knowing literally nothing about it. The cover art intrigued me, as did the first episode I was recommended by another podcast. And instantly I was intrigued. The idea of creating something that gives the dead a way to tell their last moments isn't new, it's something people have been dreaming up in fiction and searching for in real life for an extremely long time. Some versions of this fictionalized idea can be grotesque, dragging a long suffering soul from a pit of despair just to wring out their last moments for something unseemly, or they can go the Ghost Wax route.

Voncid, despite being a curmudgeonly creature (and I do mean creature in a more literal sense since while I don't fully understand what he is, he's not 'human'), is compassionate to the dead. He cares extremely deeply about the dead's comfort and how they feel. He wants answers about how they died, but he also wants them to know they can tell their story at their own pace. Combine that with a warm old man voice and you've got a recipe for moments that can be achingly beautiful amidst the horrors around them.

And so despite having no skin in the game going in, I ended up feeling extremely excited about the show just within a few episodes. I wanted to know more about Voncid, Luca, Pip, Charlie, and Jinx the cat. I cared about how they were doing and I looked forward to each new story from the deceased. That's not to say every episode was a banger. V.ideo H.orror S.tory has kind of a goofy ending for my taste. Not enough to make it bad, but enough to make it nowhere near my favorite episode. Hilariously enough though, according to the Q&A part 2, an episode a lot of people hated was The Final Countdown. And honestly, I know this is gonna sound ridiculous, but I think the campiness of the episode actually works with the premise of a traveling New Year's party that consumes its guests to be in an eternal party.

The reason I believe the episodes mostly work is a credit to the writers, the soundscaping, and the performers. The writing usually had a good flow to it and when there needed to be strong characterization, there would be. Parts of their personality and aspects of who they are, including their queerness, feel seemlessly woven in instead of an afterthought or a case of tokenism. This is both because of the main writer and the performers (who I believe are either predominantly or entirely queer) treating their characters like avatars that they could fiddle with and make into whole people. Even Jinx the cat feels like it has a tangible personality within the story. We get enough of the characters, actually, that most are going to pick up on Charlie's duplicitous nature at some point before the reveal when he finally turns on the others.

This isn't a failing of the show though. I love the dramatic irony and I love that people had different moments where they realized he was the traitor. My moment was how he treated the more gruesome aspects of the Ardent, as if they were toys he could play with instead of aspects to be treated seriously. Others just thought he was too damn chipper, which is also valid. He was extremely chipper.

The other characters not picking up on it though, despite being shown to the audience in a myriad of ways, doesn't ring false. After all, there's been dozens of murders and their lives have been overturned and they just have their own shit going on. So it's understandable when Voncid and Pip do not pick up on anything beyond 'Charlie's a little weird, oh well, got shit to do today', because really, that's kind of like how most of us are in situations like that. Hindsight and being on the outside looking in are two powerful tools in noticing duplicity.

The soundscape especially adds to all of this to create moments that range from intensely creepy to hilarious to truly fucking heartbreaking. Voncid unleashing untold horror because he doesn't want to let go of his lover's soul, and that lover reminding him that this isn't the way he's supposed to be, did actually make me sob at my desk. I could feel the ache of hundreds of years, that desperation to keep that last bit of someone so precious. I could hear the betrayal in Pip's voice after Charlie takes her eyes. I could feel the cold dread in the soundscaping of In the Snow. These moments all stuck with me and I truly adored them.

That being said, I must be honest and say there was exactly 1 moment in the show that has stuck to me as a 'you should have probably redone that', and that's unfortunately in the season finale part 2. In that episode, Charlie has turned on everyone and caused absolute mayhem and destruction in the Ardent. And because of this, we get a lot of named and unnamed characters dying in the episode. Like a lot. A lot. And so we get a lot of screams in the background. Some of those screams are funny. Like as in they come across less 'horrifying death wail' and more 'wilhelm scream'. Also, while I like the episode The Final Countdown and am fine with the voice actress doing an annoying drunk girl voice since she is an annoying drunk girl, it's very obviously not a performance everyone's going to adore.

Having that few negative moments in a 46 episode season with dozens of voiced characters involved though is, in itself, an achievement. I know shows with a small percentage of that and they've failed way more. There were times though, especially when I had to take breaks in listening due to personal issues, that it became hard to differentiate between the the extended cast and to remember who everyone was. It wasn't egregious enough for me to deduct a ton from my rating, but it is something to keep an eye on. An easy way they could have helped this out is transcripts.

There was no commentary on it in either Q&A, so I have no way of knowing but the missing transcripts are something they intend to fix as time goes on or if that's dead in the water, but currently less than half of the episodes have transcripts on their squarespace website. That's a problem for me, both in terms of consistency but also accessibility. I know plenty of people who require transcripts. I myself have trouble with audio sometimes and have to double check what I heard against a written version, which is why subtitles are always on in my household. So right off the back, not doing this means I can't recommend this show to some people I know. There not being trigger warnings consistently on episodes is also an issue, but not nearly as bad as the transcripts is for me. Especially because I think it will hinder them in the future with how big the story is.

This world is huge. The creators themselves have stated both out of character and through Voncid that everything is real in this world. Everything. And while that's fun and it's okay that not everything gets answered in season one since that's typically how season 1 of any show works, I am truly worried about the future. While these writers are good, they are running a real risk of making it both hard to write and hard to follow with how much is in there. Transcripts of every episode would at least help the audience refer back to things a bit easier as well as follow along with the number of characters involved. At the end of the day though, the writers just have to pinky promise me they won't pull a George R R Martin and fall off the face of the earth with their main project because tying together 32893472 loose threads is actually a bitch and a half to do.

I'm giving this show 4 stars out of 5 stars as it currently is. I'm extremely worried about the future of this podcast, but am also excited to see where it goes. Hopefully they get better about making it a little easier to tell extended cast apart, do better about death screams, and are better about accessibility in general. And I really struggled with if those reasons should rank this a 3.5, but at the end of the day, I really loved the characters, the main performances, and the hidden world yet to come. I looked forward to every single episode. And I'm terrified of Dottie Jean Barlowe and her weird taxidermy henchmen. If I don't review season 2, it's because it either never came out or because she thought I was a judgy bitch and killed me for my skin. Both seem like really sad options.

#podcast #podcast review #ghost wax #4 stars #ghostwax podcast

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