#I’m rewatching venom 2018 again | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

laurasinele · 4 years

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And today, in The Most Obvious Choice For A Fic Title Ever.... This Fic I Wrote For My Hubby After Rewatching Venom The Other Night :D

In which Venom takes action after months waiting for Eddie to do something about That Kiss (TM).

He had a day off and he knew exactly what to do with it. In preparation, he'd been talking Venom into letting him skip their nightly hunt for edible bad guys, he'd cleaned the apartment thoroughly, he'd had just one beer for a change, and he'd turned in early. The next morning he found himself, awake, fresh and rested at the break of the day and, man, wasn't it something. He could get used to it.

Venom was nothing more than a quiet, kind of comforting presence in the back of his mind today, and Eddie was deeply grateful for that.

He took a shower. There was nothing but calm and relaxation. He shaved his beard clean, well aware that he would have a nice five o'clock shadow in a few hours, but enjoying the motions of it that he usually found a pain in the neck. Everything was fine. He brewed some coffee, had a couple of PB and honey toasts and, yes, life was good.

He went out to grab some healthy groceries, and he marvelled at the familiarity and simultaneous wonder of such a simple chore. On his own, like a functioning adult, no pressing work matters, no conspiracies to unveil, no sudden alien voices making him jump. Just a deep, contempt rumble in the back of his mind, right where he last felt it. He whistled mindless tunes while he walked the isles.

Back at home, groceries put away, apartment smelling fresh and clean, he dropped on the couch with the satisfied grunt of someone used to an old, wonky piece of furniture, and not yet accustomed to land on brand new, plush cushions. He grabbed the controller, switched on the TV and proceeded to his self allotted three hours of DC: Ultimate Alliance gaming binge.

Everything was fine. More than.

Eddie!

Forty-five minutes into the game he almost dropped Batman off a cliff during a scene that wasn't even a fight.

"Jesus, what do you want?", he mumbled as he regained his composure and his control over his video-game character.

We need fooooood!

"We've already had food, just wait a little, mate".

Venom's face materialised from Eddie's shoulder, half-covering the TV screen. Eddie kept his eyes on the price. Batman was kicking the shit out of Solomon Grundy now.

That was hardly enough sustenance for an hour, Eddie. We. Need. FOOD!

Eddie was impassive, knocking buttons as if he had a personal grudge against the controller. Venom chuckled. That was no good. That was never good and Eddie should have known better than keeping ignoring them.

Eddieee… They sing-songed, eerie floating head dancing in mid-air. We need food… mate. They quoted him, right before another, longer, self-satisfied chuckle that Eddie missed the chance to heed. Speaking of mates… YOU SEEM TO NEED ONE!

Many things happened at once. Accompanying his last words, Venom wrapped some of his tendrils over Eddie's groin and gave him a gentle but unrelenting squeeze. Eddie jumped on his seat and dropped the controller, suddenly aware of his very serious case of blue balls that he had been meaning to address, he really had, but, you know, when do you find the right time to have the birds and bees talk with your Symbiote? Next, Batman suffered a disgraceful defeat at the hands of good ol' Solomon. And while all this was taking place, Venom was cackling maniacally at Eddie's stupefied face.

Give us food, Eddie. And we'll give you releeease. If you want. They added that last bit like a second thought, as if they had read something about consent only very recently and found that it made sense, but still weren't used to ask for permission to take anything they wanted.

"Wa-wa-wa-wait a second", babbled Eddie, scrambling up the couch and out of Venom's vice on him, sitting on the backrest in a fruitless attempt to put some distance between them. Venom seemed to find his efforts endearing, because he chuckled mischievously, crept closer and licked Eddie's earlobe. To his utter shock, Eddie didn't dislike it, but he was a man of principles, and there was so much to be addressed in this situation before even considering that it was actually happening.

"Wo, wo, wo, okay man, pull the brakes, will ya? I'm not that easy".

Venom blinked, which he rarely did, and said matter-of-factly:

You are.

Eddie babbled again, 60% incredulous, 35% freaked-out and a growing 5% aroused?! C'mon, Brock, get it together!

"Okay, first of all, where do you get that idea from? Uh? Because, I haven't had sex since I met you. In case you haven't noticed, I haven't even wanked in months. And whose fault is that, by the way?!", he all but screech as he climbed off the back of couch to avoid Venom's slithering advances and headed to the fridge. He was incredibly thirsty all of a sudden.

Venom retreated into Eddie's body very slowly and cautiously, giving him goosebumps. They used to favour an 'erupt and splash' kind of movement, and all this softness was very disconcerting.

"And secondly", kept on Eddie after chugging down half a carton of apple juice, "the hell do you know about human sex?! Or sex at all, for that matter".

As soon as he uttered the question and felt the tell-tale prickle on his chest that meant Venom was excited , he regretted having even woken up.

We know your sex, Eddie. We don't need to know more.

Eddie shuddered and looked at the ceiling, as if waiting for an answer. To what question exactly, he wasn't sure. Arousal was at 15% already and he was running out of reasons to consider this conversation a very bad idea.

"Okay. Okay, buddy, pal, amigo. Assuming I was into it…"

You are, Venom snickered.

"Assuming I was into it", he repeated louder over Venom's rumbling laughter, "what would you get from it? And don't say 'food'", he flinched at the thought.

Eddieee, we've told you before , crooned the alien, and they sounded patronising? There is no me, there is no you, there is only usss , they said as Eddie felt their breathing on his cheek and shut his eyes tightly, bracing himself for whatever happened next.

Not for the first time since that particular exchange began, Eddie was surprised at the tenderness of it all. Venom lifted Eddie's arms, surrounding his hands with gooey tentacles that were entwining themselves with his fingers clumsily —and what was that about? Venom was anything but clumsy. Instead of just taking control of Eddie's body from within, they wrapped some more tentacles around his legs and gently pushed him to make him walk towards the coach. First of Eddie's thoughts was Venom was mocking him by making him walk like some tacky Frankenstein monster, but then Venom materialised their head in front of him, lower than they used to and kind of ducking, all the while sporting a sly smile. So Venom was coaxing him into the coach. While trying to look cute! Eddie stifled a laugh.

"Hey, V. What are you doing?"

Let's talk about this, Eddie. Let's talk about us , they answered as they unceremoniously dropped Eddie on the couch and joined their foreheads.

You are mine, Eddie, as I am yours. I keep you alive, so do you for me. We fight the bad guysss. You let me feed, I protect you. There is nothing we can't do. There is nothing we can't be. Tell me, Eddie, what is it that you want? We shall give it to you.

Eddie shuddered.

"I didn't know this was on the table"

You did. You were just too scared.

Venom grew a torso, two not-completely-human-like arms and two thick, muscular legs. They promptly wrapped themselves around Eddie's tense form.

Tell me what do you want, Eddie. You shall receive it.

Eddie scoffed, momentarily overtaken by his caustic reporter self.

"If you know I'm horny, and you claim to know that apparently I knew this was on the table, then you must know what I want already".

Venom grunted in frustration and backed up a little.

You change your mind too quickly! You never let yourself think about it long enough for us to chase it. It's hard to know exactly what you want, Eddie. Just. Tell. Me , they said punctuating each word with a thrust of their whole sinuous body. Or just. Letyourselfthinkaboutthekiss.

Eddie sputtered.

"The kiss?! Was it… was it actually you?! Annie wasn't bluffing?"

Venom shook their head and inched even closer.

You were hoping it was us, said Venom with a glint in their eyes.

Eddie stuttered an excuse but Venom seemed to have gotten all the information they needed from that instant he spent lingering in the memory. They caught Eddie's lower lip between their massive teeth with a gentleness that made Eddie shiver, and promptly licked into his mouth, temptative and sweet, catching Eddie off-hand. Before he could think about it, his hands slid up Venom's sides, appreciating the effort they had put in this particular corporeal form. He dug his fingers in their flesh and returned the kiss with hunger, his own enthusiasm taking himself by surprise but not Venom, who chuckled with satisfaction inside Eddie's head, their taloned hands cradling Eddie's nape. He moaned, delighted, and then immediately second-guessed all of it.

Wait , he thought, because Venom had taken hold of his mouth and he couldn’t use it. Then he leaned back and said it outloud.

"Wait".

What is it, Eddie?

They sounded impatient, like those times when Eddie would talk them out of eating some random dude in the middle of the street, but there was something in the way they made sound Eddie's name. Actually, he could not remember a time it hadn't been there. Whether they were impatient or demanding, or angry, or reluctantly compliant, there was always a hint of that in the way they said 'Eddie'. He was thinking now that it was something weirdly close to awe.

"Y-y-you, I mean. What is this? Is this how you guys reproduce or something?"

Stupid Eddie. We are not a sexual species. This is for your pleasure.

"Then what do you want? What do you take from this?"

As far as pointed looks can go in a browless, lipless, eyelidless face, Venom did a remarkable job.

"Oh", said Eddie.

Yes. Oh, retorted Venom.

"You want me?", asked Eddie in a mix of smugness and shock.

Venom nodded coyly?! They're playing coy?! Then they nestled their head against the side of Eddie's neck and nipped at it once, playfully.

Eddie jumped a little, but tightened his embrace around Venom's back. Sitting on his couch, straddled by the alien lifeform that lived inside of him, considering his life-choices, Eddie Brock realised he hadn't been holding back because he didn't want to have sex with Venom. He had been holding back because he could not fathom the possibility of Venom wanting to have sex with him. From his lap, Venom practically purred.

So you finally got there, genius.

"Why wouldn't you just say?!"

Why wouldn't you just say?

Eddie stood up and started to peel his clothes off as Venom crept back under his skin. And weren't they always under his skin? He felt the familiar sensation of Venom taking over his motor function, making them leap into the bedroom and onto the bed. Lying face up, Venom materialised on top of him and licked slowly along his neck, from his chest, through his Adam apple, to his chin, where they bit down with purpose. Eddie thought briefly about their previous demand of food, but it seemed pretty obvious Venom had forgotten about it.

Are you a good guy or a bad guy, Eddie?

A shiver shot through his body.

"I am a very good boy, you know? I just have this voice in my head that always wants to do very bad stuff".

Eddie could feel the low rumble he got from Venom all over his body. Venom's tendrils held his wrists together over his head and pulled his legs apart. Their mouth appeared over Eddie's stomach like the Cheshire Cat's, and the last thing Eddie wanted to do right now was to think about children's literature. Venom was quick to distract him from that topic, their obscenely long tongue coiling out of their mouth and down Eddie's navel.

Reports are contradictory. I'll have to taste and see for myself.

#venom #venom movie #venom movie 2018 #eddie brock #eddie/venom #venom/eddie #venom fanfic #venom fanfiction

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blodkru · 5 years

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2018 year in review

Rules: answer the questions and tag some people!

Tagged by: @blodreina-noumou. Thank you 💚

Top 5 films you watched in 2018:

* Bohemian Rhapsody

* Infinity War

* Black Panther

* Venom

* To All The Boys I've Ever Loved Before

Top 5 TV shows in 2018

* The 100

* Criminal Minds

* AHS Coven (I rewatched it like 3 times)

* Manifest

* Catfish

Top 5 songs of 2018 (I don't listen to new music really so I'm listing songs I listened to a lot)

* First Burn- Hamilton

* Consider Me Gone- Reba

* War of Hearts- i can't remember her name right now damnit.

* Meant to be Yours- Heathers

* La llorona- Coco

Top 5 Books you Read in 2018 (again, just my faves I've reread this year)

* Anna Dress in Blood

* Crazy Enough- Storm Large

* Twilight (come for me)

* Witch Child

* Gingerbread/Cupcake trilogy.

I'm adding in PawPrinter's fics because they are amazing!!!!

Five Good/Positive things that happened to you in 2018

* I made this blog! And new friends!

* My partner and I celebrated our 1 year in November.

* I got more tattoos.

* Went to Vans Warped Tour for the last time (that was a fucking mess of a weekend).

* Chopped off all my hair. (It's therapeutic y'all).

Tagging:

@and-now-youre-home @clarkgriffon @clarkegriffintitties @purrrfuck @pawprinterfanfic @gardenofstories @dylanobrienisbatman @raven-reyes-of-sunshine @thiskindofshootingstar @belllamy-blakee @bellarke-stydia-olicity @diyozas @katersann @badassbellamy

#blodkru #the 100 #2018 tag review #i had a crap year but bring it in 2019

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thescrapbookingscientist · 5 years

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Weekly Blog Post #1 -Goodbye 2018 and Welcome 2019

1/11/2019

Dear Future me,

I’m a bit late starting this (which I have no excuse for), but the gist is that I’ve decided that from now on I’m going to make a blog post every week as a way to document and look back on all the good and possibly not good things happening in my life. There's no formula here, it’s mainly be just a free for all to talk about my week and the things I enjoy.

That being said, This first entry will be a bit different and quite a bit longer than normal, as I reflect back on the recently ended 2018. This year stretched on unusually long as Trumps Politics became a raging dumpster fire threatening a country wide collapse on a weekly basis, and authoritarian began spreading further throughout the rest of the World. For me personally, I

-wrote a 26 page thesis that I will never look at again

-graduated from UC with a Neuroscience degree

-served a term as a research assistant taking care of mice

-worked at then quit my job at Staples

-Got a job at the IRS

-Got suspended from my job at the IRS due to a government shutdown that is still in effect

-started dating for the first time (though no girlfriend as of yet)

-grew even closer to my friends as we typically hung out at least twice a week

-entered a DnD campaign

-Got suspended from playing said DnD campaign

-Discovered I like Sushi

-Went to my first concert since middle school (Panic! at the Disco and Hayley Kiyoko)

-Stayed at a cabin with my friends where we played strip jenga and got lost hiking in the woods for 8 miles in a thunderstorm

-Got a mysterious disease that lasted 2 weeks from said hike

-Grew my hair out then cut 10 inches off and donated it

-My best friend got engaged, My sister went to Sweden, and my brother moved to Toledo

-Watching my puppy Cocoa grow up (though we technically got her late 2017)

And probably a lot more that I can’t remember at the moment. As per usual I spent a lot of 2018 consuming media like the nerd that I am, so I’m going to spend the rest of this far too long entry ranking my favorite things I saw/read in 2018. These will be ranked by pure enjoyment, not overall quality, and aren't meant to be an objective best of list. I just want to talk about things I like. So:

Top 5 Movies

Honorable mention- Hereditary, a fantastic and deeply unsettling film that was one of the most emotionally charged viewing experiences I’ve ever had. It would be high on the list if I had actually watched in 2018, but I only just now watched it and had made the list before hand. Still, one of the best horror movies I’ve ever seen.

5-Venom-Movie was a fucking mess but it was pretty fun. I love the concept of the Symbiotes.

4-A Quiet Place-A movie with almost no sound/verbal dialogue and a great sense of suspense

3-Black Panther-Amazing sense of Style, Amazing Villain, A great Cultural achievement

2-Deadpool 2- Fantastic sense of humor, inventive fights, first big screen lgbt+ superheroes

1-Into the Spiderverse-Best animation I've seen in maybe a decade, Everything about this movie is surprisingly amazing, from the soundtrack to the character designs to the emotional resonance. This Movie can’t come out on DVD fast enough.

Top 5 Cartoons

Honorable Mention -Voltron-Disappointing Finale but 7th season had an amazing Keith/Shiro fight scene and Lotor, arguably one of the best characters in the series.

5-Rick and Morty-Not my favorite season but still smart, rewatchable, and unique episodes.

4-She Ra- Great characters and designs with the Catra/Adora conflict elevating the Series.

3-Bobs Burgers- Consistently good, funny, and relatable, My whole family enjoys it.

2-Steven Universe- Finally getting answers to alien plot, excellent art, plenty of lgbt goodness

1-Hilda-An incredibly inventive new series with a truly unique and empathetic fantasy world, adorable art, a wonderful mother-daughter relationship and some of my new favorite creature designs. The atmosphere this series creates is one I want to live in forever.

Top 5 TV Shows

Honorable Mention- Killing Eve, Like Hereditary I did not watch this until 2019, but I adored Villanelle’s strange psychopathy and the very lesbian tension between her and Eve.

Honorable Mention-The Haunting of the Hill House-Great character building episodes, neat effects, and a great building tension, an underwhelming finale brings it down a bit.

5-Stranger Things-Inferior to the 1st season but still great characters and interesting plot

4-Game of Thrones-Lots of plot contrivances but every episode was still massively entertaining.

3-Good Place-Genuinely great twist with creative ideas and a solid critique of moral philosophy

2-Dirk Gently-Batshit insane, quirky, hilarious, with absolutely amazing characters and writing.

1-Brooklyn 99-One of the best shows on TV, every episode is hilarious and heartfelt, I love every cast member. Ontop of having an amazing sense of humor, B99 is one of the most progressive shows on television, and continually address relevant issues in a tactful and good natured way.

Top 5 Anime

Honorable Mention-Zombieland Saga- a fun show with a creative spin on the idol genre, the heartfelt relations between the characters were a highlight, as was the presence of a trans idol.

5-Aggretsuko-Incredibly relatable with adorable and lovable characters.

4-Mo Dao Zu Shi-Unique setting with a great protagonist and a slow build gay romance

3-Devilman Crybaby-An unforgettable and highly enthralling experience, plus I’m gay for Miko

2-Megalo Box-Probably Deserves to be #1 for its fantastic sense of style, tension, amazingly choreographed fights, lovable protagonist and ‘Antagonist’, and incredible pacing.

1-Reincarnated Slime-This anime is just the ultimate escapist fantasy. Every week I look forward to watching the stupidly op and likable protagonist make friends with everyone he meets, build a peaceful city from scratch, overpower everyone with neat abilities, try his best to avoid conflicts, and comment on how hot everyone around him is. It's the equivalent of playing an RPG and doing every side quest you can to make everyone happy, I love it. It's just very Chill and pretty.

Top 5 Comics

Honorable Mention-Space Battle Lunchtime-Cute lgbt+ characters and fun concept, but short for now

5-Moonstruck-My ideal fantasy world with fun and vibrant fantasy designs and a highly diverse cast of lgbt+ characters, but only just beginning with a lot of room for further character development.

4-Trust-fantastic art and an intriguing setting with a mysterious but interesting plot

3-MotorCity-Stylish protagonist with an adorable girlfriend and an interesting supernatural twist.

2-Saga-Creative and exciting space opera that introduces lots of likable characters and then kills them.

1-The Adventure Zone-My favorite Fantasy Story of all time getting translated into a visual medium. While the first Volume was not quite as good as the Podcast (Though I don’t believe that’s possible anyway), it still had much of the great humor and characters with some lovely art and a condensed story.

Top 5 Web Series

Honorable Mention- Game Grumps-Not sure if I want to count Lets Plays but this channel brings me so much joy. House Party, Doodle Doods, and the 10 Minute Power Hours were highlights.

5-Monster Pop-Great colorful character designs and complex character conflicts with ample lgbt+ content

4-Buzzfeed Unsolved-very interesting and weird events with hilarious commentary, the hosts have a great chemistry and play well off each other.

3-Their Story-My favorite lesbians, stylish, cute, and fun, wish it updated more often.

2-19 Days-Amazing slow build romances with incredibly fun characters and interactions, Grade A Homoerotic tension.

1-Ava's Demon-Some of my favorite art and character designs in any Media, The plot is amazing and fairly unpredictable, I feel incredibly excited every time I see it has updated.

Well that’s all for now. Next time will be my favorite ships of 2018, as their were some interesting couples this year.

#Weekly Blog #1/11/2019

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jondalars · 6 years

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movies, tv shows, and books of 2018

((as before, * is a rewatch/reread; currently watching; can’t get through))

Muppets Most Wanted (2014)

Hanna (2011)

20th Century Women (2016)

Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver

The Disaster Artist (2017)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway *

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

The Big Sick (2017)

Call Me By Your Name (2017)

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi *

The End of the F***ing World (s1)

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

13 Going on 30 (2004) **

I, Tonya (2017)

Room (2015) *

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi *

Must Love Dogs (2005) *

The Shape of Water (2017)

Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi *

Black Mirror (s4, s3, s2, s1)

The White Album by Joan Didion

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) *

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Kedi (2016)

Training Day (2001)

Notes from Underground & The Double by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

The Good Place (s2, s3)

Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

My So-Called Life (s1*)

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter

Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas

When We First Met (2018)

The Preppie Connection (2015)

Blackfish (2013)

The Reivers by William Faulkner

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) *

The Truman Show (1998)

Good Time (2017)

Goon: Last of the Enforcers (2017)

Ariel by Sylvia Plath

The Babysitter (2017)

When Harry Met Sally (1989) *

Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Cool Runnings (1993) *

Game of Thrones (s1*)

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

World War Z by Max Brooks *

The Stranger by Albert Camus *

Undercover Boss (s1, s2)

The Princess Bride (1987) *

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke *

Duino Elegies and The Sonnets to Orpheus by Rainer Maria Rilke

Shaun of the Dead (2004) *

Black Panther (2018)

Coco (2017)

The Florida Project (2017)

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) *

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson *

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) *

Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson *

7 Days in Hell (2015) *

Adventureland (2009)

Adore (2013)

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

Looper (2012)

Seven Seconds (s1)

The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel *

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) *

I Am Legend (2007) *

Galápagos by Kurt Vonnegut

Grief Lessons: Four Plays by Euripides trans. Anne Carson

A Series of Unfortunate Events (s2)

The Kingdom of Ordinary Time by Marie Howe

The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin

Why Did I Ever by Mary Robison

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Decreation by Anne Carson

Troy: Fall of a City (s1)

The Stranger Manual by Catie Rosemurgy

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Sunshine Cleaning (2008)

The Valley of Horses by Jean M. Auel *

The Hours (2002)

Beauty and the Beast (2017)

The Complete Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

The 100 (s5)

The Handmaid’s Tale (s2)

The Mammoth Hunters by Jean M. Auel *

The Beauty of the Husband by Anne Carson **

The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon

Real World by Natsuo Kirino

John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City (2018)

Oh Hello on Broadway (2017) *

The New Clean by Jon Sands

What the Living Do by Marie Howe

Glass, Irony & God by Anne Carson & *

White Flock by Anna Akhmatova trans. Andrey Kneller

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey *

An Oresteia: Agamemnon by Aiskhylos; Elektra by Sophokles; Orestes by Euripides trans. Anne Carson

Evil Genius: The True Story of America's Most Diabolical Bank Heist (s1)

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

The Dead Eat Everything by Michael Mlekoday

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

13 Reasons Why (s2)

You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain by Phoebe Robinson

Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn

War and the Iliad by Simone Weil and Rachel Bespaloff

Battle Royale (2000) *

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult *

Annihilation (2018)

Love, Simon (2018)

A Wrinkle in Time (2018)

Molly’s Game (2017)

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (s4)

Arrested Development (s4:FC)

Naked by David Sedaris

Miracle (2004)

Set It Up (2018) & *

The Staircase (s1)

Killing Eve (s1)

Queer Eye (s1, s2)

The Tale (2018)

Letterkenny (s1, s2, s3, s4)

Thoroughbreds (2018)

The Death of Stalin (2018)

The Princess Diaries (2001) *

A Cinderella Story (2004) *

The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem

Sharknado (2013)

The Covenant (2006) *

A Quiet Place (2018)

Leon: The Professional (1994)

Orbiter 9 (2017)

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

America’s Sweethearts (2001) *

Short Talks by Anne Carson

Sense and Sensibility (1995) *

Sharp Objects (s1)

Timeless (s2)

Far From the Madding Crowd (2015)

The Waves by Virginia Woolf

The Secret History by Donna Tartt *

Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

Anne with an E (s2)

The Bonesetter’s Daugher by Amy Tan

Lady Bird (2017) *

Superstar (1999)

Selected Poems by Anna Akhmatova trans. D.M. Thomas

The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic

Fire to Fire by Mark Doty

A Christmas Story (1983)

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Casablanca (1942)

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

The Sound of Music (1965)

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

Citizen Kane (1941)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Half-light: Collected Poems 1965-2016 by Frank Bidart

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

The Remains of the Day (1993)

The Libertines Bound Together by Anthony Thornton/Roger Sargent

I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

Calypso by David Sedaris

The End of the Tour (2015)

The Idiot by Elif Batuman

Tenth of December by George Saunders

The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro

The Raven King by Nora Sakavic

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018) & *

Insecure (s1, s2, s3)

Threepenny Memoir: The Lives of a Libertine by Carl Barât

The Magicians (s1, s2, s3)

The King’s Men by Nora Sakavic

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

The House of Names by Colm Toibin

Atlanta (s1, s2)

Hereditary (2018)

South and West: From a Notebook by Joan Didion

Ocean’s Eight (2018)

The Sundial by Shirley Jackson

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

The Counterfeiters by Andre Gide

The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin

The Great British Baking Show (s5, s6)

Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Game Night (2018)

American Animals (2018)

Two Weeks Notice (2002) *

The Spectacular Now (2013)

Maurice (1987)

Ordeal by Innocence (s1)

American Vandal (s2)

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

Maniac (s1)

Circe by Madeline Miller

Table 19 (2017)

All Grown Up by Jami Attenberg

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

Man Up (2015)

The Hateful Eight (2015)

Eighth Grade (2018)

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (s1, s2)

The Sellout by Paul Beatty

Bojack Horseman (s5)

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen *

Persuasion by Jane Austen *

Veep (s1, s2, s3)

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges

The Haunting of Hill House (s1)

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings by Jorge Luis Borges

Copycat (1995) *

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Dare Me by Megan Abbott *

Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion *

North & South (s1) *

Cam (2018)

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments by David Foster Wallace

Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

Venom (2018)

Sorry to Bother You (2018)

How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer

Nocturnal Animals (2016)

Dumplin’ (2018)

Bird Box (2018)

Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

The White Queen (s1*)

Pastoralia by George Saunders

Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday

The Man in the High Castle (s1)

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt *

#2018 #personal #a little life... absolutely killed me ive.. never been so sad #jude :((((#why am i a real human person watching undercover boss??? i cant explain #tfc was... lmao something sweet iced tea 5 yrs of college?? SODA who knows #read persuasion years ago and remember not thinking much of it #just reread it tho and uhhhhhhuhhuhu lmao kill me :(((((((

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bpellerin · 5 years

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What I saw, what I absorbed (not necessarily the same)

I was inspired by my buddy Véronique’s post about the books she read in 2018, to produce a list of same - plus movies - I’ve consumed in the last 18 months or so since I started keeping a journal. I may not have written everything down, and I don’t remember all that I’ve read and seen, but hey. I want to read more. And watch more movies. Ever and always.

BOOKS, in no particular order:

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield (for the 10th time or so; I re-read that one on a semi-regular basis), Daring Greatly by Brené Brown, Waking Up by Sam Harris, Hunch by Bernadette Jiwa, The 4 Hour Chef by Tim Ferriss, The Fact of a Body by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich (it’s gripping), Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, Origin by Dan Brown, We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates (didn’t finish it), Motherhood by Sheila Heti, Thelma Louise & moi by Martine Delvaux, Aroused by Randi Hutter Epstein

Still reading: The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson, The Uses and Abuses of History by Margaret MacMillan

Next on my list: Putain by Nelly Arcand

MOVIES I watched or rewatched, in no particular order:

Raising Arizona (it’s so stupid it’s almost good), Despicable Me 3, Wayne’s World, Ghost, Airplane 2, Grease, North and South (the tv series), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Good The Bad and The Ugly (don’t judge), Jumanji, Jumanji II, The Post, Coco, Cars, Cars II, Cars III, The 15:17 to Paris, La Grande Séduction, Apollo 13, Forrest Gump (for the 15th time), Peter Rabbit, Benji (the original, of course), Ratatouille, Equalizer, Equalizer 2, The Dish, Transylvania 3, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Sherlock Holmes (with Benedict, obviously), Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Boss (tv series), Mile 22, Jack Ryan (tv series), Venom (awful), Incredibles, Incredibles II, Toy Story, Toy Story II, State of Play, Next Gen, House of Cards (last season, dreadful), The Girl in the Spider’s Web, Bohemian Rhapsody, Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, Monsters Inc. (yes, I’m on a Pixar kick… again), I Tonya, A Hologram for the King, A Wrinkle in Time, White Right, Jihad, Motherland, Rise of the Guardians, Sully, Bird Box, Derry Girls (tv series), Outlaw King, Inferno, Passengers, Dumplin.

#books #movies

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42inchtv · 5 years

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Some Thoughts On The Best Movies Of 2018

Honorable Mentions: “Aquaman” (dir. James Wan), “Avengers: Infinity War” (dirs. Anthony and Joe Russo), “BlacKkKlansman” (dir. Spike Lee), “Blockers” (dir. Kay Cannon), “Eighth Grade” (dir. Bo Burnham), “First Reformed” (dir. Paul Schrader), “Isle of Dogs” (dir. Wes Anderson), “Mary Poppins Returns” (dir. Rob Marshall), “mid90s” (dir. Jonah Hill), “Ocean’s Eight” (dir. Gary Ross), “On the Basis of Sex” (dir. Mimi Leder), “A Quiet Place” (dir. John Krasinski), “Roma” (dir. Alfonso Cuarón), “A Simple Favor” (dir. Paul Feig), “Venom” (dir. Ruben Fleischer)

10. “Vice” (dir. Adam McKay) A thing about “Vice” is Shea Whigham (49) plays Amy Adams’ (44) dad and Christian Bale’s (44) father-in-law — and the movie makes no attempt to hide the fact that they all look the same. It's a weird and imperfect film, but I'm oddly drawn to it -- despite the fact that many of the negative things people have said about this movie are very true. Perhaps that's why I keep coming back to Boots Riley's tweet-review: "Adam McKay makes movies that get me mad because he does several things that I wish I did first. In 'Vice,' he doesn't just break the 4th wall -- he breaks it and comes and sits in the seat next to you with popcorn and hot sauce. I don't think he makes film, he makes theater." There is something transfixing about "Vice." It's a trainwreck, a complete blank-check movie, the work of an auteur who was not told "no" once during the process. So this thing rattles off the rails early and often and features performances and tones so wildly divergent that it feels like something entirely different than regular movies. But put it this way: I'd rather watch a movie like “Vice” than “good” movies like “First Man.” McKay goes for it here in a way that seems reckless and irresponsible -- as if he'll never get the chance to make another movie so why not throw every idea he's ever had at the screen. There's something laudable to that kind of ego and arrogance. “Vice” condemns everyone, including the audience. After what we’ve done, it’s the movie we deserve.

9. “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” (dir. Susan Johnson) Did everyone who bought high on “Set It Up” watch “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” and feel slightly awkward? A winning coming-of-age romcom that should stand proudly next to “10 Things I Hate About You” on the list of awesome teen movies that people watch forever.

8. “If Beale Street Could Talk” (dir. Barry Jenkins) If there was a better scene this year than Brian Tyree Henry’s section of Barry Jenkins’ lush, wondrous, absolutely stunning “Moonlight” follow-up, "If Beale Street Could Talk,” I didn’t get around to seeing it.

7. “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” (dirs. Ethan and Joel Coen) The James Franco section feels incomplete and hurried — why wasn’t it axed completely after Franco’s sexual misconduct allegations? — and the Liam Neeson section is dark and slow. But the other four parts? Instant, rewatchable classics, some of the best things the Coen brothers have ever done. My fave at the moment is the Tom Waits one, but the Zoe Kazan segment is also not without its pleasures. For a movie exclusively about death and dying and the relative fleeting nature of life, “Buster Scruggs” is a delight. It’s an exception to the premise of the film: how could life be meaningless when this exists?

6. “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (dirs. Peter Ramsey, Robert Persichetti Jr., Rodney Rothman) As we've gotten further away from 2018, it feels like few movies from that calendar year will stand the cultural test of time. In five years, will people still talk about even the year's best gems, "The Favourite" and "Widows"? Maybe? At this rate, "A Star Is Born" will live in infamy, an Oscar front-runner that was basically shut out in the final calculus; even a film like "Roma," a wonderful movie that deserves its many awards, feels somewhat diffuse. Alfonso Cuarón's intimate epic has barely made a dent now, at a time when even the worst Netflix movie becomes meme fodder for weeks on end. All of which is to say, if one movie from last year winds up being *the* movie from last year, allow me to submit for consideration "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse." Its message is more powerful than the pablum of "Green Book" and it just seems so damn modern? Transformative? There's a reason "Spider-Verse" caught the attention of the zeitgeist. It's a now movie -- a dazzling, scattered, boisterous affair that's super funny and legitimately sweet. I slept on a lot of this the first time I saw "Spider-Verse" (literally, being a parent is tough sometimes!), but with clear eyes and full hearts, I watched it again and fell super in love. Time to re-do the 2018 top-10 list.

5. “Widows” (dir. Steve McQueen) How would “Heat” look if it were all about systemic white supremacy? A lot like “Widows,” apparently. What a blast of pulp fiction, with a stacked cast just knocking the crackling dialogue out of the park at every turn. Viola Davis was the headline story here, putting in a complex turn that feels comparable to Robert De Niro in “Ronin.” But the real star is Daniel Kaluuya, who delivers the best villain performance since Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh. Build a statue for him in lieu of his guaranteed Oscar snub.

4. Black Panther (dir. Ryan Coogler) Marvel's own version of “The Dark Knight,” “Black Panther” is the best MCU movie yet, a legitimate epic in league Christopher Nolan’s superhero classic but with a central conflict that feels like an extension of “Do the Right Thing.” Months later, Michael B. Jordan’s towering performance still rules: he’s every bit as impressive as Heath Ledger was as the Joker.

3. “A Star Is Born” (dir. Bradley Cooper) The closest thing to "Hamilton" released this year, Bradley Cooper's meme factory focuses on who lives, who dies, who tells their story. There’s a lot of Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical in “A Star Is Born" and the film is structured as such, up to a literal heart-clutch final moment that makes me cry just thinking about it (and rivals Eliza’s last gasp in “Hamilton”). Enough has been written about "A Star Is Born" that more isn't necessary, but let's just pause here to praise Cooper, the Actor, for a performance so great that it's easy to take him for granted.

2. “Mission: Impossible - Fallout” (dir. Christopher McQuarrie) What if “The Dark Knight” but Tom Cruise? What if “Skyfall” but “Mission Impossible”? That’s “Fallout,” the best action movie since “Mad Max: Fury Road” and the best blockbuster in a great year for blockbusters. To use overdone online parlance, this movie fucks. From the jump too, with a prologue that combines elements of the first “Mission: Impossible” with a hilarious cameo and the Wikipedia entry to “Rogue Nation” to set the tone for what’s to come. “Fallout” is a masterpiece of action cinema – to wit: the second act is basically one giant action sequence segmented into separate movements – and a tightly wound spy game that does just enough with Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and his IMF team (Rebecca Ferguson remains a highlight) to make the characters worth caring about. A relentless, special movie – the best Cruise has done since “Edge of Tomorrow” – “Fallout” feels like the end of this beloved franchise. And why not? How do you top perfection? Why would you even bother to try?

1. “The Favourite” (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos) The funniest movie of the year, “Mean Girls” in corsets with Rachel Weisz absolutely effing owning in the Regina George role, “The Favourite” is maybe the only perfect movie of 2018. Weisz, Emma Stone, and Olivia Colman are all incredible, a trio of co-leads in the tradition of “Goodfellas,” “Zodiac,” or “The Social Network.” Yorgos Lanthimos’ film belongs in the same zip code as those classics from a quality standpoint as well, with a sharp-edged script that powers the proceedings to its downbeat, darkly comic conclusion. And while this is a movie all about those aforementioned women, don’t sleep on at least one man: Nicholas Hoult, who hams it up with an abandon reserved for Ryan Phillippe in “Cruel Intentions.” A true classic.

#some thoughts

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weekendwarriorblog · 6 years

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WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND October 5, 2018 - Venom, The Star Is Born, The Hate U Give

Going to change things up again this week as we get into October, because I want to give special attention to a film called THE HATE U GIVE (20thCentury Fox), which is opening in select cities this weekend but will expand nationwide on October 19.

In this adaptation of Angie Thomas’ book (which I haven’t read), Amandla Stenberg plays Starr Carter, a teen girl living a dual life with her family in the primarily black Garden Heights community and when hanging out with her bratty white high school friends who are always trying to act “ghetto” around her. At home, Starr has loving parents, Maverick and Lisa (Russell Hornsby, Regina Hall), a younger brother Sekani and half-brother Seven. When Starr sees her childhood friend Khalil (Algee Smith) shot by a white police officer, she’s unsure whether she should come forward and testify. Her police officer uncle Carlos (Common) doesn’t think so, especially since Khalil might have involved with Maverick’s old crime-boss King (Anthony Mackie), who wouldn’t want his business known to the police.

It seems like a fairly simple plot derived from the #BlackLivesMatter movement, but there’s so much more to the movie than the ongoing battle between the police and the poorer communities they patrol. In many ways, Starr is dealing with an identity crisis that I imagine many African-Americans must face, having to be one way around white friends and co-workers and another way at home or with their family.

Besides the fact that this is Stenberg’s third movie this year where she had a hunky white boyfriend, she is so much better in this than her other films because she brings a playful energy to Starr that makes you want to follow her story.

Audrey Wells adapted Thomas’ book into a fantastic screenplay and director George Tillman Jr., whose filmography includes oddities like the biopic Notorious and Dwayne Johnson’s Faster, really directs the hell out of this movie

There are so many great scenes including one between Stenberg and Common where they have an honest talk about the different sides of what might seem like a cut-and-dry case of police racism.

The Hate U Give (which is derived from Tupac’s “T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E” motto that “the hate u give little infants effs everyone) is a movie that shares an important message without hitting you over the head with it ala Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman or some of the other films in the oeuvre release this year.

I guess my only misgiving about the film is that it goes on a little long, offering a few satisfying scenes that could have easily ended things there, but then continuing with a full-scale riot when tempers explode after the trial of Khalil’s murderer.

In my opinion, this is up there with some of the best movies I’ve seen this year, and only slightly behind A Star Is Born (review below) this week. While on the surface, it might not seem like a movie that would appeal to everyone, it works on so many levels, including as a straight-up coming-of-age film (and by now, you all should know how much I love those).

Rating: 8.5/10

The Hate U Give is kind of the Hollywood version of the #BlackLivesMatter story, but if you’re looking for something a little more grounded in reality, you should check out Reinaldo Marcus Green’s Monsters and Men (Neon), which is now playing in select cities. I got a chance to rewatch it this past week, and I was just as impressed as when I saw it at Sundance. BlacKkKlansman star John David Washington is particularly impressive, again playing a police officer.

We now return you to the regularly-scheduled movie preview column after the jump…

This might surprise some but not others that this coming October is offering some of what might be the best films of the year, between this week’sA Star Is Born and The Hate U Give to next week’s First Man and Bad Times at the El Royale. We’re living in exciting times!

VENOM (Sony)

In what looks to be the second to last “superhero” movie of the year, Sony is finally making a movie dedicated to Spider-Man’s arch-nemesis who later became a hero, hoping the fans will forget all about the awful version of Venom from Spider-Man 3. A big selling point for the movie is that it returns Tom Hardy to the comic book world after playing Bane in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, and he better hope fans like his Eddie Brock/Venom more than they did his strange-sounding villain.

Hardy has been laying low recently, his last film being Nolan’s Dunkirklast year in which the actor was barely recognizable as a WWII jet pilot. It was two years before that when he appeared in Inarritu’s Oscar-winning The Revenant, the crime-drama Legendand George Miller’s long-awaited (and also multiple Oscar nominee) Mad Max: Fury Road. In the years following The Dark Knight Rises, Hardy has also starred in a number of smaller films that haven’t gotten much traction, so it’s odd to see him returning to superheroes only six years after playing Bane.

Venomalso brings director Ruben Fleischer back into the Sony fold after directing the horror-comedy hit Zombieland and the comedy 30 Minutes or Less, although Fleischer has been focusing on television in the last five years since the Ryan Gosling crime-drama Gangster Squad. Neither of the latter two movies did as well as Zombieland, and it definitely feels like he has something to prove with Venom.

Unfortunately, people have already been vocally pessimistic about the movie ever since the first trailer didn’t bother to actually show Venom, and things got even more questionable after seeing Venom in a rather awkward longer trailer. Much of the movie’s success is going to depend on whether reviews totally trash the movie or whether some critics actually like what Fleischer and Hardy are doing. So far, the RottenTomatoes reviews are at 28% Fresh, pointing more to the former, but one wonders if curious fans will still give the movie a chance.

Some have suggested Venom could open with over $60 million but I’m going a bit lower with around $55 to 57 million and $130 million or so total domestic. What’s interesting is that the opening range for the movie puts Venom into consideration to become the top October opening over Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity, which opened with $55 million a few years ago. Regardless of whether it sets a new October opening record or not, I expect a fairly large drop after its opening weekend just because the fans will rush out to see it and then move onto other things. Expect this to end up around $125 million domestic, which is not great, probably not enough for a sequel unless the movie surprises internationally.

Mini-Review: I’ve never been a huge fan of Venom as a comic book character. He always seemed a little one-dimensional to me, even as other writers/artists tried to flesh him and his host Eddie Brock out. (So far, Donny Cates’ take on Venom is well worth reading.)

I’m going to assume you know something about the character, his history as a Spider-Man costume-turned-villain and then how he became a hero. It’s obvious Tom Hardy and director Reuben Fleischer were making a movie for fans of the character who were disappointed with his handling by Sam Raimi in Spider-Man 3, and for the most part, it’s fairly faithful other than any references to Spider-Man. In fact, the whole story has been moved to San Francisco, as to avoid any other Spider-Man comparisons.

In this case, the symbiote comes down to earth in a space shuttle made by the Life Corporation run by an Elon Musk-type CEO named Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), and Drake does experiments on the homeless to try to make them hosts for the alien creatures. Tom Hardy plays investigative reporter Eddie Brock, a big-time loser who loses his lawyer girlfriend (Michelle Williams) when he snoops into a case against Drake. While investigating at the Life Corporation, one of the symbiotes takes to Brock, and you can probably guess what happens.

Although this is a straight-up origin story in the simplest terms, some things just don’t work and there are definitely issues, the first being the often silly screenplay that is constantly on the border of veering into campy Nicolas Cage territory. Much of that is due to Hardy, who plays off the silliness of the schizophrenic nature of the character,

On paper, Venom could have easily been a terrifying R-rated horror film with lots of gore, but trying to keep it at PG-13 means that Fleischer makes it more of an action-comedy, and there is enough decent action scenes and quirky humor to keep things entertaining.

Probably one of the things that makes or breaks any comic book movie is the CG visual FX and Fleischer’s hefty team of animators does a decent job making Venom watchable with long black tendrils that reminded me of the video game Prototype (one of my first Xbox games). Things do get a little messy when a counter-symbiote is introduced named “Riot” is introduce and the end battle has some of the same problems as the Ed Norton The Incredible Hulk in that it just doesn’t deliver.

Even so, if you ARE a fan of the comic character, you should be pleased with this incarnation just as those unfamiliar with the character from the comics will probably find the movie and Hardy’s performance to be off-putting. The film never deteriorates to the point of being a Catwoman or Fantastic Fourlevel trash fire, though. Despite some tonal issues, it’s often fun and entertaining, especially the action scenes, and if nothing else, there’s an end credits scene that will make people (esp. Venom fans) hope this movie does well enough to warrant a sequel. Rating: 6.5/10

Venom is going to have a lot of strong competition for older moviegoers and women of all ages with...

A STAR IS BORN (Warner Bros.)

This wasn’t even remotely one of my more anticipated movies of the year until it started getting rave reviews out of the early September festivals, but I’m sure it would have gotten a lot of attention for being Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut, even if it seems like a shoe-in to win lots of awards over the next few months.

Obviously, this is a remake of a movie that dates back to the 1937 movie starring Fredric March and Janet Gaynor, which was nominated for 8 Oscars, winning for its story (as opposed to its screenplay). It was remade in 1954 with Judy Garland, and that was nominated for six Oscars and then again in 1974 with Barbra Streisand and Kris Krisstoferson, and that also only won one Oscar out of four nominations. Can Bradley Cooper’s version possibly break the “jinx” and make a movie that wins more than one Oscar? I think so.

Cooper has mostly been taking time off of acting to direct A Star Is Born, merely providing the voice of Rocket in last year’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and this year’s Avengers: Infinity War. He kind of hit a bit of a downturn in the years following his enormous hit American Sniper for Clint Eastwood, which grossed $350 million and got Cooper his third and fourth Oscar nominations. (Cooper has already been earmarked for a number of Oscar nominations for A Star is Born, for acting, directing and possibly even for writing some of the film’s songs.) Neither of Cooper’s 2015 movies with Jennifer Lawrence (Serena and Joy) did as well as their first two movies together with David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle. Cooper’s movies with Cameron Crowe (Aloha) and his cooking movie Burnt also didn’t do very well. Even so, Cooper had already been elevated to the A-list as an actor

The real ringer for Cooper’s debut is casting Lady Gaga in the role of Ally, the lounge singer who Cooper’s Jackson Maine discovers and falls for, because Lady Gaga has such an enormous diehard fanbase that even the younger girls might not be discouraged by the film’s soft-R rating. (Honestly, I still have to question the MPAA who gives this an R and Venom a PG-13 when there was WAY more swearing in that one.) Anyway, Lady Gaga is pegged to be nominated for an Oscar for her performance and probably one of her songs, too,

Another one of the films ringers is comedian Dave Chapelle, who basically just appears in one section of the movie but Warner Bros. wisely has cut a second trailer featuring him to play in movies like Night School in hopes of appealing to some of the African-American audiences that will see this movie as very white bread. More importantly, it stars Sam Elliot as Jackson’s older brother who has many great scenes with Cooper and is likely to be nominated for his first Oscar for it. (He should have been nominated for last year’s The Hero if you ask me.)

There are many easy comparisons for A Star is Born from Eminem’s 8 Mile ($51.2 million opening, $116m total) and the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line ($22.3m opening, $119m total). There’s certainly the hype that came with 8 Mile going into opening weekend and Cooper certainly has enough box office pull, but the fact that this is a remake might already make some older audiences wary. At the same time, Gaga and Cooper’s modern take on the age-old story is likely to appeal to younger audiences, as will the music that runs a wide gamut of country rockers and ballads, including a couple that will likely be nominated for Oscars.

The good news is that the movie has been receiving rave reviews since it premiered at Venice and then played Toronto shortly afterwards.

This is the thing. I think A Star Is Born is going to do very well this weekend, probably more than $40 million, but I think it’s really going to kill in the weeks to come as word-of-mouth and repeat viewings pushes the movie up over the $150 million mark. If the movie plays as well as I think it does, I wouldn’t even be surprised to see it approaching $200 million once it re-expands to take advantage of inevitable awards.

Mini-Review: It’s been more than a minute since I saw the Barbra Streisand/Kris Kristofferson A Star Is Born, so I’m not too adverse to a fourth remake, as much as I was concerned about a movie featuring an actor I’m so-so on and a pop singer whose work I never really cared for. Imagine my surprise when I found myself enjoying the film almost immediately as we see Bradley Cooper’s Jackson Maine performing on stage with the very loud live music coming from the Dolby sound system where I saw the movie.

Maine is an alcoholic so after the show he goes looking for a bar, winding up at a drag night of one local watering hole where it just so happens that Lady Gaga’s Ally is performing “La Vie en Rose” (maybe a nod to another Oscar-winning actress?). He’s immediately enthralled and goes backstage to meet her, and the two immediately hit it off, hanging out and learning more about each other. Ally immediately starts enjoying the perks of Jackson’s fame as he flies her to one of his concerts and pulls her up on stage to perform the song “Shallow.”

Things progress from there as Ally becomes famous from a video of her performance with Jackson. After one show, Ally is approached by a manager-type who wants to make her an even bigger star, and he proceeds to do what happens too many times in the music industry where he tries to transform her into some pop diva that’s

I really enjoyed seeing the romance and relationship between the two leads evolve, because Cooper’s Jackson Maine is quite a smooth-talker, even if he’s slurring most of his words. Gaga is also impressive, likely bringing some of her own struggles in the music business to the role. On top of that, the supporting cast, including Sam Elliot as Jack’s older brother and Andrew Dice Clay as Ally’s Dad brought a lot to the mix as Cooper ably balances the film’s tonal shifts from heavy drama to lighter moments.

Things do get a little bit predictable during the second act as Ally’s star begins to rise while Jackson’s starts to crash and burn, and he’s unable to accept how she’s becoming more successful than him, as his career begins to stagnate. He stops drinking, then starts drinking again and things just get worse and worse, as he seems to be hindering her career. The film’s last act is a stunner as Jack tries to get his alcoholism in check and Ally’s star continues to rise, making it obvious something’s eventually going to give.

A Star Is Born is an impressive debut from Cooper, not only for his direction but also how he elevates himself as an actor to keep up with his perfectly cast co-star. That’s not even considering that he co-wrote many of the film’s gorgeous songs. I enjoyed this film far more than I thought I would, and I know that I won’t be the only person seeing it multiple times.

Rating: 9/10

Venom shouldn’t have a problem taking the top spot although we’ll have to see whether negative reviews manage to keep the fans away. Either way, it will beat A Star is Born on Thursday/Friday but then the latter will pick up steam, bearing in mind that Monday is Columbus Day so there’s no school and government offices are closed, which could help some of the returning movies, as well.

This week’s Top 10 should look something like this…

1. Venom (Sony) - $55.6 million N/A 2. A Star is Born (Warner Bros.) - $42.5 million N/A 3. Night School (Universal) - $15 million -46% 4.Smallfoot (Warner Bros.) - $14.5 million -37% 5. The House with a Clock in its Walls (Universal) - $7.3 million -40% 6. A Simple Favor (Lionsgate) – $4 million -38% 7. The Nun (New Line) - $3 million -54% 8. Crazy Rich Asians (New Line) - $2.7 million -35% 9. Hell Fest (CBS Films/Lionsgate) - $2.2 million -57% 10. The Predator (Fox) – $1.7 million -57%

LIMITED RELEASES

Other than The Hate U Give, this weekend is kind of a mixed bag for limited releases, since I haven’t watched as many of these as I probably should.

Almost a year after it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, Fernando Leon de Aranoa’s LOVING PABLO (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) starring Javier Bardem as the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar as it follows his rise to power while in a love affair with Colombian journalist Virgina Vallejo, played by Penelope Cruz. The film is based on Vallejo’s book, and it’s opening at around 15 theaters across the country.

Filmmaker Peter Bogdonavich pays tribute to the great silent film Buster Keaton with Buster Restored (Cohen Media Group), which combines footage from Keaton’s silent comedies with interviews by those he’s inspired including Mel Brooks, Quentin Tarantino and Johnny Knoxville. It opens at the Quad Cinemaon Friday along with a small Buster Keaton retrospective and then opens at the Landmark Nuarton Oct. 19

Matt Tyrnauer follows his recent doc Scotty and the Secret of Hollywood with Studio 54, opening at the IFC Center Friday. It looks at the New York nightclub that was the place to be seen between 1977 and 1980 but was exceedingly hard to get into as its popularity and notoriety rose. Tyrnauer was given incredible access to the man-behind-the-club Ian Schrager, who tells the story of Studio 54 for the first time. After a number of showings at IFC Center with Tyrnauer in attendance, Studio 54 will then open at the Landmark Nuart in L.A. on Oct. 12.

Opening at the Film Forum in New York is Joseph Dorman and Toby Perl Freilich’s Moynihan (First Run Features), a portrait of former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan who tried to contend with poverty and racism in the greatest city in the world. (The latter bit is my own personal opinion. I haven’t seen the movie.)

Not to overshadowed by Bradley Cooper, Cuba Gooding Jr. stars and makes his directorial debut in Bayou Caviar (Gravitas Ventures), which stars Richard Dreyfuss as a Russian gangster who hires Gooding’s former boxer to take down an associate’s son-in-law with a scandalous tape. It also stars Famke Janssen, Katherine McPhee, Ken Lerner and Lia Marie Johnson.

Bella Thorne and Jessie Usher star in Jeremy Ungar’s Ride (RLJE Films) with the latter playing James, a struggling actor who drives people around L.A. for a ride-sharing service. The job gets slightly better when he hits it off with the beautiful Jessica, but the two of them are then taken on a crazy joy ride by another fare.

Following its run on DirecTV, Trevor White’s A Crooked Somebody (Vertical/DirecTV) stars Rich Sommer as a medium who goes against the advice of his minister father (Ed Harris) trying to call forth the dead, only to be idnapped by someone who desperately wants to make contact with the dead.

Terence Stamp and Ann Demetriou stars in David LG Hughes’ Viking Destiny (Saban Films/Lionsgate), the latter playing a Viking princess who is forced to flee her kingdom after her king father (presumably Stamp) is murdered, so she travels the world building an army to get revenge. In case you’re wondering what Game of Thrones has inspired…. wonder no more!

Michael Ironside stars in Michael Peterson’s horror film Knuckleball (Freestyle Digital Media) about a 12-year-old who finds himself alone on an isolated farm after his grandfather dies. (I assume Ironside plays the latter.)

I also don’t know a ton about Eugene Kotlyarenko’s Wobble Place (Breaking Glass Pictures), which has an exclusive run at Metrograph starting Friday with the filmmaker in attendance for a few screenings. Best I can do to describe this is to share the odd trailer…

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This week’s Yash Raj Films offering is Abhiraj K. Minawala’s Loveyatri, a love story set during the 9-day festival of Navrati, starring Aayush Sharma and Warina Hussain, a romance which almost comes to an end as she travels back to the UK leaving him in India.

Filmmakers Jukka Vidgren & Juuso Laatio’s Scandinavian cult-comedy Heavy Trip (Doppelgänger Releasing/Bloody Disgusting) will open in select theaters Friday before going to VOD on Oct. 12. It stars Johannes Holopainen as a guy stuck in a small Finnish village who is also the lead singer of metal band Impaled Rektum, a band who hasn’t played a single gig in 12 years until they’re booked to play a Norwegian festival.

And speaking of which, Bloody Disgusting’s Retro Nightmares continues with a double feature of Amityville: The Evil Escapes & Amityville: It’s About Time on Thursday Oct. 4 in select cities.

Lastly, Anthony Nardolillo’s Shine (Forgiven Films/GVN Releasing), which won the Best Feature award at the 2017 Urbanworld Film Festival, comes out Friday, starring salsa dancersJorge Burgos and Gilbert Saldivar as two brothers who find themselves on opposite sides of the gentrification hitting East Harlem.

STREAMING

The only major new film streaming on Netflix is Tamara Jenkins’ new film PRIVATE LIFE, which premiered at Sundance and just played the New York Film Festival. It stars Kathryn Hahn and Paul Giamatti as a married couple who have been trying to have a baby and start looking at alternative methods after fertility treatments aren’t working. Jenkins is the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of 2007’s The Savages, starring Laura Linney and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. (The movie also opens at the IFC Center in New York and at a theater in L.A.)

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

I’m pretty excited about my local theater’s latest series, an Albert Brooks retrospective that runs between Friday and Tuesday and including some of his classics like Modern Romance, Lost in America, Mother, Defending Your Life,Real Life and a program of SNL shorts.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

Alain Resnais’ 1974 film Stavisky, featuring music by Stephen Sondheim, gets a restoration, which opens here on Wednesday.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Beyond Fest 2018 continues with a double feature of Flash Gordon and the West Coast premiere of the doc Life After Flash. Thursday sees a double feature of The Monster Squad and the new documentary about the movie called Wolfman’s Got Nards. Beyond Fest will then wrap on Saturday with a TRIPLE feature of Black Christmas and Halloween from 1978, as well as the brand-new Halloween weeks before its nationwide release.

AERO (LA):

American Cinemateque’s other L.A. theater continues its own Beyond Fest Tribute to Cronenberg with a double feature of the director’s Crash and Spider on Thursday night. It also begins the series The Life of Reilly, as in John C. Reilly, with a double feature of Chicago and Step Brothers on Friday, and then a free screening of Reilly’s new film The Sisters Brothers on Saturday. Saturday also sees a screening of PT Anderson’s Magnolia with Reilly in person and a screening of A Grin Without a Hat (1977) to celebrate Icarus Films’ 40th anniversary.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

To help celebrate last week’s retrospective recipient Peter Bogdonavich’s new doc The Great Buster: A Celebration (see above), the West Village theater will also show a trio of Buster Keaton shorts, The General and other Keaton classics.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART (LA):

Along with a program of Jean Vigo shorts, the Hollywood theater will show the new 4k restoration of the director’s L’Atalante that screened at Film Forum last week.

MOMA (NYC):

The Unknown Jerry: Home Movies and More from the Jerry Lewis Collection at the Library of Congresscontinues with Come Back Little Shiksa (1962) and The Re-Inforcer (1951) on Friday, Fairfax Avenue (1951), and a couple features on Gar-Ron Productions on Saturday and The Bellboy (1960) on Sunday, as it continues into next week. The month-long Modern Matinees: Vincent Price will show Edward Scissorhands on Friday afternoon.

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