64 ships enter, one ship leaves! who will reign supreme? how will your faves fare? it's a tlournament for the ages!
this is a seeded bracket generated from ships suggested in a google form. round 1 begins thursday, 03/30/23 and will run for one week. propaganda is encouraged - tag this blog and i'll share it!
ROUND 1 MATCHUPS:
Megan Ito/Parker MacMillan VS Leon Duncan/Andrew Trebek
Finn James/Kennedy Loser VS Hewitt Best/Yeong-Ho Garcia
Flattery McKinley/Niq Nyong'o VS Jessica Telephone/Betsy Trombone
Tillman Henderson/Declan Suzanne VS Don Mitchell/Percival Wheeler
Baldwin Breadwinner/Alyssa Harrell VS Axel Cardenas/Miguel Wheeler
Dominic Marijuana/Andrew Solis VS Eduardo Ingram/Leach Ingram
Pedro Davids/Valentine Games VS Anathema Elemefayo/Patty Fox/Hatfield Suzuki
Stevenson Heat/James Mora VS Baby Triumphant/Castillo Turner
Yosh Carpenter/Sebastian Woodman VS Cannonball Sports/Bees Taswell
Igneus Delacruz/Howell Franklin VS Mcdowell Mason/Sexton Wheerer
Allison Abbott/Kichiro Guerra VS Eugenia Garbage/Ziwa Mueller
Caleb Alvarado/Isaac Johnson VS Conner Haley/Sebastian Telephone
Brock Forbes/Adalberto Tosser VS Domino Bootleg/Theodore Honeywell
Lenny Marijuana/Chorby Short VS Moody Cookbook/Landry Violence
Margarito Nava/Nic Winkler VS Riley Firewall/Geraldine Frost
Inez Owens/Bees Taswell VS Paula Turnip/Hiroto Wilcox
Tyreek Olive/Landry Violence VS Fitzgerald Blackburn/Math Velazquez
Val Hitherto/Nerd Pacheco VS Ortiz Lopez/Pitching Machine
Luis Acevedo/Tot Clark VS Derrick Krueger/Sebastian Telephone
The San Francisco Lovers VS Gita Sparrow/Jayden Wright
Tillman Henderson/Mike Townsend VS Famous Owens/Mclaughlin Scorpler
Alaynabella Hollywood/Magi Ruiz VS Nerd Pacheco/Lars Taylor
Nagomi Mcdaniel/York Silk's Mom VS Qais Dogwalker/Grollis Zephyr
Jacob Haynes/Alaynabella Hollywood/Moses Mason VS Burke Gonzalez/Brock Watson/Joshua Watson
Jaylen Hotdogfingers/Jessica Telephone VS Juice Collins/Sutton Dreamy
Sandford Garner/Don Mitchell VS Famous Owens/Nerd Pacheco
Rivers Rosa/Lou Roseheart VS Jode Crutch/Rush Ito
Declan Suzanne/Edric Tosser/Baby Triumphant VS Lady Matsuyama/Bottles Šuljak
Cornelius Games/Richardson Games VS Mags Banananana/Eugenia Bickle
Workman Gloom & PolkaDot Patterson VS Shannon Chamberlain/Kennedy Loser
Caligula Lotus/Beck Whitney VS Steals Mondegreen/Silvaire Semiquaver
Summers Preston/Stephanie Winters VS Haruta Byrd/Bright Zimmerman
Screenplay: Seth Grahame-Smith, from the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith.
Producers: Timur Bekmambetov, Jim Lemley, Tim Burton.
Executive Producers: John J. Kelly, Simon Kinberg, Michelle Wolkoff.
Cinematography: Caleb Deschanel.
Editor: William Hoy.
Original music: Henry Jackman.
Cast: Benjamin Walker (Abraham Lincoln), Dominic Cooper (Henry Sturges_, Anthony Mackie (Will Johnson), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Mary Todd Lincoln), Rufus Sewell (Adam), Marton Csokas (Jack Barts), Jimmi Simpson (Joshua Speed), Joseph Mawle (Thomas Lincoln), Robin McLeavy (Nancy Lincoln), Erin Wasson (Vadoma).
Running time: 105 minutes. Color.
Released through: 20th Century Fox
Movie co-produced by Tim Burton based on the book of the same title written by SETH GRAHAME-SMITH. Grahame-Smith had a hit novel in “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” (2009), so it is little surprise that the producing team of Jim Lemley, Tim Burton, and TIMUR BEKMAMBETOV optioned “Abaraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” (2010) before it was even finished. Both books tap into a pop cultural desire to think of the familiar in different terms. What if honest Abe had also fought against a worldwide vampire conspiracy? What if Jane Austen’s iconic novel was set in a world replete with the living dead? Over the next few years, both Burton and Bekmambetov directed an adaptation of Grahame-Smith’s screenplay (with Burton remaining as producer). According to Gina McIntyre, Burton’s goal as a producer “has largely been to help preserve the project’s unique character to the greatest extent possible.” During the making of “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”, Grahame-Smith worked with Burton on the screenplay to “Dark Shadows”. Both were released in summer 2012.
The principle conceit of “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”, established early in the film and explored throughout, is that there are vampires throughout the world. These vampires have been responsible for some of the more unsavory practices in history. In the United States, they are the principal benefactors of the slave trade (it is unclear whether the South is totally under their thrall, but a scene between head vampire Adam [Rufus Sewell] and Jefferson David [John Rothman] shows that they are colluding). In this version of the nineteenth century, the causes of the Civil War are not open to debate: this is a war over slavery- and, by extension, vampirism- that is not over until both are removed from the nation. In fact, rather than grow into the role of abolitionist gradually, our Abraham Lincoln is ideologically righteous from the start. He witnesses the assault on his friend Will, a young slave boy. He vows revenge on Jack Barts (Marton Csokas), a man who he comes to learn is a slaver and a vampire. For Lincoln, Barts is doubly guilty. This vampire bites (and possible r***s) Lincoln’s mother while he watches. When he grows up (the adult version of Abe is played by Benjamin Walker), his desire for vengeance leads him to Henry Sturges (Dominic Cooper), an eccentric and seemingly ageless man who advises Lincoln in a long war against the vampires. Lincoln acts as Sturges’ enforcer, attacking vampires as ordered. Only later does he realize that Sturges is himself a vampire, and is carrying on against Adam and his cabal for personal reasons not unlike Lincoln’s own. In this world, vampires cannot harm other vampires. Abaraham Lincoln must act on Sturges’s behalf.
The film roughly splits into three narrative sections: Lincoln’s childhood and initial trauma; his life as a young man in Springfield, Illinois; and his time as president, including his personal stake in the Civil War. The middle section is the best executed, despite playing like an extended rethinking of John Ford’s “Young Mr. Lincoln” (1939). Here, Abe meets store owner and later political confidant Joshua Speed (Jimmi Simpson), is reunited with Will, courts Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), debates Stephen Douglas (Alan Tudyk), and learns about the vampires’ larger set of plans. The sections of Lincoln’s time in office feel especially condensed, since they cover all of the Civil War. One of the film’s major historical liberties is that it sets up the personal and political climax at the battle of Gettysburg, where Union soldiers are fighting against Confederates and their vampire leaders. Lincoln has it out with Adam on a train carrying a supply of silver that is en route to the fashioned into weaponry that can actually harm these supernatural foes.
Although at times overly generic (its focus on some of the more well-known battles and people of the nineteenth century feels lazy, or like a pat on the back to a basic recognition of American history), “Abaraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” reflects Grahame-Smith’s and Bekmambetov’s personal interests. Grahame-Smith’s vampire mythology takes some well-known ideas (the transfer of blood through a bite, the aristocratic associations of vampires) and adds a few different ones (these vampires are able to function during daylight and are mainly impervious to silver, since Judas’ betrayal of Jesus had to do with thirty pieces of silver). The central thematic leap of the film (that the mast-slave relationship, which is founded in the uneven exploitation of one person by another, is analogous to vampirism) is rather clever, and helps explain how these vampires could find a ready supply of blood. However, this alignment between slavers and vampires does undercut the film’s relation to history. As Kim Newman notes, “Slavery was quite bad enough- indeed, worse than it’s depicted here- when it was an economic rather than supernatural phenomenon, and giving slavers fangs and dark glasses tends to excuse rather than underline a real historical human evil.”
This film has a slightly more subdued visual style than “Wanted” (2008), but still plays with a number of Bekmambetov’s favorite tricks. In particular, Bekmambetov takes advantage of digital cinema’s ability to augment time. During fight sequences, Lincoln’s skill as a warrior is rendered intelligible thanks to selected changes in speed, which variously showcase his precision with the ax and convince us of his superior strength and ability. Bekmambetov’s camera frequently moves and keeps the action coherent- it seems to avoid the kind of action-sequence immediacy suggested by shaky, handheld cameras that populate recent action films by Paul Greengrass (”The Bourne Ultimatum” [2007]) and Christopher Nolan (”The Dark Knight” [2008]).
The film opened in late June 2012 in the United States to roughly $16 million and largely negative reviews. Writing for “Wired” magazine’s “Underwire”, Hugh Hart opined that “the alt-history lessons and neck-chomping money shots deserve points for originality, but Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter could have truly triumphed as grand entertainment if only its anemic human characters had received the transfusion of humor and wit that such an outrageous concept demands.” Peter Travers noted that the film somehow lost the magic of the book, which “was a fun escapist read.” The film’s overblown action-theatrics left him saying that “the movie deserves a stake through the heart.” The film was defended by some critics as an occasionally worthwhile and technically competent action movie. For example, Ken Hanke says that “taken on its own terms as a po-faced presentation of goofy material, it’s rather fun.”- Kevin M. Flanagan
References
Ken Hanke, “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” Asheville Mountain Express, June 26, 2012, www.mountainx.com/movies/review/abraham_lincoln_vampire_hunter#.Uea0B42siSo; Hugh Hart, “Review: Bloody Serious Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Isn’t as Fun as It Sounds,” Underwire, June 12, 2012, www.wired.com/underwire/2012/06/review-abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter/; Gina McIntyre, “Seth Grahame-Smith Wants to Resurrect ‘Beetlejuice,’ ‘It’,” LA Times Hero Complex, August 9, 2012, herocomplex.latimes.com/movies/seth-grahame-smith-wants-to-resurrect-beetlejuice-it/#/0; Gina McIntyre, “Tim Burton on Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter: I Just Wanted To See That Movie”, LA Times Hero Complex, June 10, 2011, herocomplex.latimes.com/movies/tim-burton-abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter/; Kim Newman, “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, “ Sight and Sound 22, no. 8 (August 2012): 52; Peter Travers, “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” Rolling Stone, June 21, 2012, www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter-20120621.
Taken from “The Tim Burton Encyclopedia” by Samuel J. Umland.