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#also mitchell vs the machines was great
bestanimatedmovie · 1 year
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Choose your favorite!
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What fans say:
The Lorax:
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse:
It had a very big impact on meme culture. And a really catchy soundtrack. Plus it has the silly sexy green man. What more could you want from a film.*
The Once-ler and the let it die song. This movie is glorious.
It is legit the mother of all great animated movies nowadays. From Mitchells vs the machines to the new mutant mayhem movie! The plot is so good and you can really see character development from almost all of the characters, plus the designs are BANGER.
THE MUSIC?? TOP FUCKING TIER. THE CASUAL DIVERSITY? IT ALSO HAS LITERALLY THE BEST SHOT IN CINEMATIC HISTORY (Miles rising after taking his leap of faith)
BRO THE ANIMATION IS SO SICK. The amount of sheer effort put into this movie is insane. The character growth was so amazing to watch and such a great movie to analyze. Best scenes are obviously the leap of faith. Actually gorgeous. And also the scene where aunt May sees Peter b after her Peter died. Her “you look tired, Peter” is just so heartfelt
Where the hell do I even start. The visuals are incredible and the plot is engaging. Every scene is perfect.
This film has EVERYTHING. Humor, action, inspirational scenes, kickass music, absolutely killer animation, an art style that is an homage to comic books, loveable characters, a talking pig, DR OLIVIA OCTAVIUS, I could go on
This is the best superhero movie ever made, the leap of faith is one of the best movie scenes of ever
The animation style is better than all the others, and makes the movie funnier too! The representation is also good, and the romantic storyline isn't too prevalent in the movie. Probably the best animation Marvel has made. My favorite scene is when the villains show up to Aunt May's house -- its my favorite fight scene!
I’m sure this movie’s been submitted already because it’s arguably the greatest animated film of all time. I have a personal connection to it because I saw it in theaters on opening night with my late father, and we both loved it and I still do. The animation is revolutionary and it’s one of the only 3 movies that make me cry.
gsksvbsvsbsvs I love everything about it, I love the animations, the story, the soundtrack also the style of animation AAAAAA its so beautiful its art it belongs in a museum i get goosebumps everytime I rewatch it
It’s just so good. All the characters are amazing and I love Miles dad. It’s hilarious and sparked my love for spider-man. It’s such a sweet movie about finding yourslef and has such a powerful message. I totally recommend it so I’m not adding spoilers, but like. Ohhhh, it’s so good.
Interesting villains, well-developed character arcs, a fresh take on Spider-Man, unique use of animation, funny, good use of multiverse that adds to the nature of the story being told, complicated character dynamics
It's the best animated movie because A: it takes one of the most well known comic characters of all time, kills him off in the first few minutes, and then shows you every cooler version of him. B: Has a large amount of representation in its main cast, considering that they're all versions of Spiderman, and that requires a white guy by default. C: everything in it is so well done I can't pick a favorite scene, but the most iconic is the jump off the skyscraper window.
The animation is incredible, the movie has so much story and heart, and there’s a perfect balance between humor and seriousness. And the soundtrack slaps
This is probably the best animated film I've ever seen. The animation is definitely the highlight, the way they blend comic book art styles and 3D animation is an absolute joy to look at and is so overwhelmingly creative, every frame of this movie is gorgeous. The impact this had on the industry is undeniable, as we start to see more and more movies getting more creative with their animation styles. It's not just the animation though. All of the characters are entertaining, all of the jokes land and the story is really well done. It leaves me blown away every time I watch it.
This movie kind of changed the western animation industry from the ground up. Apart from being expertly written, funny, and heartfelt, it is also stellarly animated, with a unique visual style that takes direct inspiration from the comic books it adapts and mixes 2d- and 3d-animation in a way and to a degree that hadn't really been seen before in western mainstream. Its critical and monetary success paved the way for mainstream 3d animation to open up to new and excitingly stylised movies that were like a breath of fresh air between the generic Pixar-style animation that had been the largely unchanged norm in the industry since Toy Story circa twenty years earlier**. ITSV divides the screen like panels on a comic page, it uses dots and lines for shading and gradients, doesn't shy away from lowering framerates for stylisation, and makes liberal use of onomatopoeia, both to comedic and dramatic impact. Impact frames and SFX are often hand-drawn and stunningly colourful, and even the simple dialogue scenes astonish with an expressiveness and realism in their depiction of emotions that makes me rewatch a two-second scene of Miles laughing fifteen times in a row. My favourite scene has to be the What's Up Danger scene, the emotional climax of the movie. Set to an absolute banger of a song, it is the moment the entire film has been building up to. I won't spoil anything plot-wise in case you somehow haven't seen this movie, but both from an emotional and a visual standpoint it is Fucking Dope. Conclusion: Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse is my favourite movie of all time and I could talk about it for hours. If you haven't seen it, go watch it. Thank you.
Have you SEEN the Whats Up Danger/rising and falling scene? it's a work of art that makes me fall in love with storytelling all over again whenever I see it. Also the impact that it's had on animated film is absolutely being felt at current, if incrementally. Incredible film.
It has an amazing art style based on comics and mixed up due to genre differences. It's really fun and the characters are great, even the side ones. The story line is great and I love Miles and his family.
*Mod note: errr, quite a lot more than memes and music actually
**Mod note: amen
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jettpack · 8 months
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For those of you who don’t know, I’m teaching a class on Visdev with a focus on personal aesthetic growth in October this year vis Underpaint Academy! Signups for the Spectator option are still available! I’ll be going into detail about my experience and process working on games and Animated films such as TMNT Mutant Mayhem, Spider-man Across the Spider-verse and Mitchell’s vs the Machines! The class is 9 sessions, 4 hours each. we will also have guest lectures and critiques focused on specific assignment weeks (character design, set design and key frame. Come learn with us! We had a great time last class!
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Hey Alex 👋
What are some movies you’ve really enjoyed in your life?
My cousin actually asked me yesterday what I though the “greatest film of all time” was, and I said I am not qualified to make claims on that level… but movies I enjoy, now THAT’S something I can do!
The Mitchels vs. The Machines - I think this was a Netflix Original, but it’s an animated film produced by Sony, and has so much life and love in it! Just a fun family film about a robot apocalypse with quirky characters and very relatable family struggles, but in the end a very sweet resolution that makes me envious 🥺 10/10
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - I’m noticing a pattern with these movie titles so far… anyways, while the comics were better overall (and I need to finish them) the Scott Pilgrim movie was pretty great! I highly recommend it to people curious about Scott Pilgrim to get essentially a crash course in Scott Pilgrim, and then read the comics if you want more.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail - While I’m ashamed to say that this is the only Monty Python media I’ve interacted with directly, The Holy Grail is such a great movie and very much my style of humor in a lot of ways XD
I have to give a shout out to the original live-action Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies, especially the second one. I have a lot of great memories of watching these with friends, and every now and then I still rewatch the second one if I want a dose of nostalgia 👌
The Hobbit Trilogy are so so so so so good, for a long time I didn’t realize there were people who disliked them compared to the book? As someone who has read and reread The Hobbit religiously over the years, the movies are pretty damn good! Some parts aren’t quite up to snuff with the book, but some parts I think do a better job of explaining the course of events than in the book (and especially Gandalf’s travels being viewed as part of the film lends itself incredibly well to preceding the Lord of the Rings trilogy). Sure the dwarf/elf romance may have been unnecessary, but it was kinda cute and has some good poetic quotes about it. All in all, some of my favorite movies right here, but especially the first one.
your name. (Kimi no na wa) - I adore Makoto Shinkai films, 5 Centimeters per Second was one of the first anime films I ever watched. your name. is just one of the greatest movies ever made, such a beautiful love story, animated brilliantly, and the funniest part is that Makoto Shinkai considers it INCOMPLETE because he had to rush the ending to meet deadlines… and it’s still a masterpiece! I recommend watching the sub version if you can, because there’s a lot of intricacies involving the Japanese language and things that gets a little lost in localization and dubbing. Honestly might be my favorite movie of all time.
The Spiderverse films by Sony are some of the most spectacular animated movies of the decade, at least! I grew up as a Spider-Man fan, and especially loved the Andrew Garfield movies, and these movies scratch that same itch, while also featuring sooo many variants of Spider-people from different comics and crossovers. Both Into and Across were fantastic, can’t wait for Beyond!
Growing up a big Star Wars nerd, I might be expected to name an original trilogy film, but actually I think Rogue One is my favorite Star Wars film ever! It’s got all the makings of a fantastic sci-fi thriller, set in the Star Wars universe, about a famous line from the original movies: “Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR…” (this might also be the only good thing Disney has done for Star Wars movies idk)
To a much lesser extent, The LEGO Movie actually holds up quite well in my mind! Always love revisiting a fun family film like that :3
There we go! Is this more than you asked for? Probably, but you get it anyway! X3 Thanks for the ask~!
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romancomicsnews · 9 months
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem amplifies the fun of the franchise - REVIEW
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*Slight Spoilers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem*
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been a franchise that has consistently been rebooted and I have never minded.
While the 2003 series was my initial Turtles introduction, the 2012 series really made me a fan. It had the right balance for me of brotherly affection, drama, stakes, and weird obscure villains.
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While Rise of the TMNT wasn't exactly my taste, I can appreciate the animation, comedy, and going for a different new take. Plus my god is the Rise of TMNT movie good. I'm all for making really cool characters into animes now.
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Going into this movie I had extremely high hopes. Not only has this franchise rarely disappointed, but it was produced by Seth Rogen, who has worked on shows like The Boys and Invincible, and directed by Jeff Rowe, who is not getting NEARLY enough credit for this movie. He was a writer on Gravity Falls and the co-director of one of my favorite animated movies: The Mitchells vs The Machines.
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And I got to say, this movie does not disappoint.
The animation style is both impressive and at times disgusting in the best possible way. This is the first time I've felt New York feel grubby and grimy. Every shot looks wonderful, and that cannot be understated.
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The hardest part of the Turtles is usually the brother dynamics. I feel like if not written or performed correctly, the Turtles can come off as buddies or even acquaintances. But this was not a problem here. The idea of having all four actors in the same room clearly paid off, as the four of them riffing and mocking each other were some of the highlights of the movie.
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I do think coming out of this, some of these turtles will be the definitive versions of the characters. While Mikey and Raph have their charms, Micah Abbey as Donnie and Nicolas Cantu as Leo were stands out for me.
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The idea of taking Donnie from the tech guy to more of a calculating nerdy weeb was genius. Donnie often is the guy who is most made fun of because he is nerd, and I think pivoting to him being a smart-ass and respected for his brain was a nice touch.
Leonardo as the goody two shoes dork who wants to lead so bad also worked for me. Leonardo can sometimes come off a sorta bully or arrogant for even trying to be the leader. Making him unsure but wanting to be a good leader makes him charming and more likeable.
Also among our heroes are Ayo Edebiri as April O'Neil and Jackie Chan as Master Splinter.
While April does not have as much to do as I would've liked, I think Edebiri is a nice addition and I'd be happy to see more of her. She has good chemistry with the brothers, although it did take me out of the movie to think of the age gap between Edebiri and Cantu.
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Jackie Chan's Splinter may be my biggest problem with the film. While he is a passable Splinter and has plenty of laughs, he does not seem as fierce of a warrior as he has seemed in the past, nor as wise. I do not mind a flawed, anxiety ridden Splinter, but he should feel like he can take on the Turtles easily, and I don't think he can.
(Also, Jackie Chan is a bad father in real life and shouldn't disown his estranged daughter for being gay. Read all about it here!)
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I'm not going to go to into the details of all the villains in the movie, as there are quite a few, but I really loved the inclusion of the vast TMNT universe, and their own fun takes on them. One of the benefits of having Seth Rogen as a creative is access to all his very talented friends. A highlight for me was Mondo Gecko, voiced by the great Paul Rudd.
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The main antagonist of the film being Superfly was a rather interesting choice. While I was sure we were going to have a Jekyll and Hyde situation with Superfly and Stockman going in, the idea that it was his mutant son was a weird but fun choice. Clearly Ice Cube was having a lot of fun playing a villain. He gave me quite a few laughs and felt like a proper first villain for these turtles. I'm glad they didn't just jump into Shredder or Kraang.
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While all the characters are fun and interesting, what I really love about this story is the central theme of acceptance. Having them all have the goal of being accepted by society felt natural, important, and very teen drama, which is fresh to the TMNT. They are often outsiders who don't really care about that, just protecting the city. Making that at the heart of the movie made me feel for them in a way I haven't before.
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Leaving the movie where it does excites me for more movies and the upcoming show they have planned. I think this version of the turtles can last us a good 5-7 years, and will end up being as iconic as the ones that came before.
Not that there is a super high bar for TMNT films, but this is definitely my favorite. I think kids are going to love, TMNT fans are going to love it, and non TMNT fans are going to be pleasantly surprised.
I highly recommend you go see this movie, I know I am definitely going again soon.
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frauleiiin · 3 months
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9 people you'd like to get to know better
Tagged by @sullustangin (thank you so much for tagging me! I'm flattered)
3 ships
Canon ship: Hiccup and Astrid from HTTYD. I re-watched all the movies recently and naaaah they're still so goals.
OC Ship: Maverik'a and Theron from SWTOR (I don't talk about them a lot but they're my roman empire)
Ship of the week: Ballister and Ambrosius from the animated movie Nimona! Saw it was nominated for an Oscar so I finally decided to watch it and omg they're so AAARGH and the movie is SOOOO metal 🤘
First ship
The only one I can remember is Rose and Scorpius from Harry Potter lol. I was obsessed with them when I was like 12, I even made like a story with like the next gen kids (before the Cursed Child released). Then I paired up Albus with an OC and they became my favorite ship instead LMAO. I'm not that into the fandom anymore but I do still think about them sometimes. (Also to be clear I do not support J.K Rowling AT ALL, even created a metamorphmagus trans lady as a teacher in my story to piss her off lol)
Last song
Empire Ants by Gorillaz! I'm a massive fan of Gorillaz, Blur, anything that is Damon Albarn.
Currently reading
Comic book series Fables! Just finished vol. 14 today. Only 57 issues to finish the original run lol. The Telltale video game The Wolf Among Us is based on these comics if you were curious! (that's what got me into comics, now I work at a comic book store LMAO)
Last film
Decided to watch The Mitchells VS The Machines again (yes recently I've only been watching A LOT of animated movies fjhjksshjfk) and it's such a great movie. I totally had forgotten about the Furby scene (don't ask) and I almost cried of laughter.
Currently craving
I actually don't crave anything at the moment, I got sick with my sinuses last week and idk, it poofed away my cravings LMAO.
I think I never opened up this like this on my blog before soooo enjoy!
Tagging
@serenofroses @dirthara-dalen @nekorinnie @lanabenikosdoormat @stratataisen @jukkariart @eorzeashan @magicallulu7 @rubensmuse no pressure tags, hope someone didn't tag you yet hihi
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popculturebuffet · 10 months
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Into the Spider-Verse Finale: Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse Review (Comissioned by WeirdKev27)
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In Memory of John Romita Senior 1930-2023
Let's do this one last time. I"m Jacob Mattingly, and for the past few months, i've been reviewing the first apperances of spider-men. I've seen them enjoy crackers and milk, knock themselves out on furnaces, drum to deal with their pent up angst, rage, get powers from a spooky god while buck naked, and crumple a pipe like paper in their hand. It's been a long, loving ride into comics that not only got my comics reviewing mojo back but allowed me to share one of my faviorite franchises with you fine folks, many of whom don't usually read comics.
So we've come to the end of this retrospective, a bit later thanks to all the chaos of me using, but appropriatley as the final review i'm doing from the only home i've ever known. After 561 reviews here, it's time to say goodbye and given this is both one of the best projects i've done in my career and one where i've finally started editing better, it feels like the note to go out on.
This review has also been super intemidating to start. I'm an animation and comics nerd.. and Into is easily one of the best animated films AND best superhero films ever. It's also MASSIVELY influental, something I didn't see coming when I walked out of the theater, but really should've and we're now starting to see in earnest now the production cycle has had enough time to catch up to this film being a MONSTER hit. From modern masterworks like Mitchells Vs the Machines and Puss In Boots: The Last Wish to upcoming possible greats like TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, it's very clear studios are now far more likely to break from the standard CG styles and do something fresh, and audiences fucking love it. I hadn't realized till this film how much you could play with animation, from the concept of ones and twos to making a comic book movie look like a comic book. Any time I paused while watching this it felt like looking at a panel. The art here is gorgeous and the script matches it. So the question was both what would I have to say about the film and would I be able to live up to it? The only way to find out. is to take the leap. So join me under the cut as we swing into the spider-verse once again and see what makes this film so great 5 years later. Also as a heads up spoilers for the sequel will be present so if you somehow havne't seen it, you've been warned.
Let's Do This One More Time.... To get into why this film happened we have to get into Sony's treatment of spider-man. Said treatment has been a near neverending cycle of doing something right with it.. only to do something that shoots what they did right several times in the foot, stabs it and lights it on fire. Sam Rami makes two great spider-man films? Let's overly interfere with the last one and weigh it down with a lot of stuff it didn't really need. Amazing Spider-Man was decent with two tremendous leads in Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone but had some places to improve like peter being a skater boy she said see you later boy? Let's get complicated with it, overly focusing on Peter's Parents, including PLANNING TO HAVE PETER'S DAD SHOW UP ALIVE, a mysterious man in a trench coat from a tie in novel, and make harry osborn into this.
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It's hard to decide which is worse. I mean their both worse than that time Harry Got a Mustache in College
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A very high bar no doubt, but it's hard to decide if modern pale emo kid or GNEEE GNEEE I'M THE GREEN GOBLIN GNEEE GNEE was worse. Though I think we all can agree sony deciding "You know this pathetic weirdo we just had kill one of our most popular characters? LET'S GIVE HIM A MOVIE" is just.. one of the most baffling decisions they've made. Popular Anti-Hero with his own history, rogues and dynamic outside of spider-man Venom makes us an unexpected hit? Let's give him a sequel.. which was actually logical. So naturally they also decide "let's make OTHER spider-man villians and anti heroes into their own movies" I mean who DOSEN'T want a kraven movie?.... me.. me don't want that. I want Kraven IN a movie, but why. And the less said about morbius that dosen't involve Matt Smith giving one hell of a performance or weirdly dancing to show off his impressive abs the better.
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Why wasn't the film just... Matt Smith as a more villianous version of morbius? A riddle for the ages. The point is sony has a GOLDEN franchise.. but often has no idea what to do with it. It's why when this film was pitched they were trying badly to find something to do with it, hence Venom. So since they had an animation division that while not terrible only really had one franchise of note, head of spider-man stuff Amy Pascal went to two of the men who'd made one of the most succesful animated films of the time and who were on a high point in their career and asked what they would do. These men.. were Christopher Lord and Phil Miller. The two had had a rocky start in their careers, show running the cult hit Clone High, which while well loved to the point we finally got a new season this year that was pretty dang good, wasn't exactly a big hit. Eventually though the two broke out with 21 Jump Street, a film no one had a ton of faith in hearing about it, myself included. The film was a comedy reboot of the old series, lampooning the whole premise and lamp shading the hell out of everything from this being a reboot, to our heroes not remotely passing for high schoolers, to high school drama itself, and not only revived Lord, Miller and Stars Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill's careers. This naturally got a sequel, which was not only even better and more meta, cumulating in a hell of an ending lampshading the idea of this being a franchise, we also got one of the funniest scenes in the history of film. And yes that's a hill i'm wiling to die on.
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And even THAT woudn't be it as the two would go on to make the Lego Movie, a film that was both stylistically brilliant, hilarious and used the property brilliantly AND followed that up with The Lego Batman Movie. The two had a clear talent for taking a property, doing something fresh with it while honroing what worked so they were a no brainer to ask to do this. As for why would they.... IT'S SPIDER-MAN. If I got offered to make a movie about spider-man i'd do it. Who wouldn't?
Ironically though while Miller and Lord had the creative vision, something even I didn't know till recently is that they didnt' direct the film. In fact out of them only Lord wrote the film, co writing it with Rodney Rothman, who also co-wrote 22 Jump Street which as established above, is quality as hell. Rothman's Resume up to Jumpstreet isn't really anything huge, having done writing stints on underclared, the short lived ups animated sitcom Game Over, and having been a writer on Letterman, the last of which i'm mostly noting because he proudly revealed he was the one Chris Farley threw in a dumpster, but he clearly just needed more of a shot as both films he's co-written prove.
He also wasn't flying solo in direction, with his co directors, while also inexperinced in directing for the most part, having far more animation experince. First up is bob perschetti, who did the story for the original puss in boots and a smaller film called the little prince, and did tons of storyboard work for dreamworks, having worked on Shrek 2, Monsters Vs Aliens, Flushed Away and Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which I previously covered. He was also an inbetweener on a smorgasboard of disney films.
Finally we have Peter Ramsey, the only one to have directed a theatrical film before this with Rise of the Guardians, and was a storyboard artist on a list of flims so massive and prestigous i'm just going to let this wikipedia screencap speak for itself.
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Yeahhhh. See I point out the lack of direction credintials not to shame them, sometimes it can take decades before you get your shot, but more because it's so utterly shocking that as experinced as these guys are only one of them had directed before this. The film is gorgeous and groundbreaking.. and makes it that much more baffling it took this long for these three guys to get such a big , well deserved shot and given all have projects going on right now, I couldn't be happier.
So the production itself seemed to go smoothly for the most part. The only exceptions were Sony nixing a cameo from tom holland (as they found it confusing) and something massive: one year out from the film being released Lord and Miller felt the film wasn't working and thus decided to rewrite it. This itself dosen't seem too bad, a year seems like a lot of time... but in animation terms.. that's hardly anything and also heavily involved taking what they already had and figuring out how to recontextualize it. If you couldn't tell from going that far, the duo were fans, having read spider-man comics and done research for it, picking thier spider-men carefully. The results.. well the results are nothing short of amazing, spectacular or peter parker.
Taking the Leap: As I mentioned earlier Spider-verse.. changed film animation. This isn't hyperbole either; if you look at the bulk of this year's animated films their all more stylistic with many, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem and Nimona in paticular, using a combo of 2d and 3d animation and it stretches into last year two with The Bad Guys and Puss in Boots and in 2020 with Sony's own Mitchell's Vs the Machines. More studios are experimenting with their style and trying something diffrent and what's more remarkable is that.. they aren't just 1:1 copying spiderverse. Many have taken it's sketchy style sure , but no one's doing it the exact same way: Spider-Verse often resembles a comic book, TMNT a sketch book and nimona something else entirely. Each is drawn and rendered.. but each in a way all it's own.
It's not to say films before this didn't have their own style: as my friend Kammie pointed out in a long conversation about animation recently, Dreamworks has always had it's distinct character models and before this The Peanut Movie (one of my faviorite cg animated films ever) and Rango both tried to play with it. Peanuts in paticular also took a stab at emulating the comics it's based on. The problem was while both films were gorgeous.. neither really took off. Peantus was a modest success, but the Schultz family had no interest in a sequel, while Rango didn't really land at the box office. And when something fails hollywood tends to blame the work itself and not circumstance or
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Spider-Verse broke that by not only being a mainstream hit but one that really worked the animation as hard as it could. It gets .. incredibly technical and even I wasn't aware of how much till going to tv tropes but simply: most animation is done on ones or twos. Ones means a unique image every frame, twos means a unique image every other frame. You usally use one or the other. Spider-Man.. does BOTH, which is as exausting as it sounds, using 2s on the characters and 1's on the character work to give it a more dynamic vision, and shaking it up when needed, such as having miles on ones for most of the film , the rest of the spider people on twos, and then miles on twos after the what's up danger scene. It's a LOT of dedication and that's not even getting to how every spider-person has a slightly diffrent animation style. The results are eye candy in it's purest form: every pause is a panel, every action catches your eye, everything works. And the panel part is paticuarlly notable as the crew did their damndest to make this LOOK like a comic in motion. It's something that , as many great comic book movies and superhero films as we've had.. you simply cannot do in live action. So if it's so obvious why did it take till 2018 to do?
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It's likely other suprehero animated films had the idea.. but there was no way in hell they were getting the budget to do it. And if you've seen say the incredibles, mask of the phantasm of megamind, those budgets are already pretty damn vast for their times. Animation is a great medium.. but when it comes to film... the big studios get complacient really fast. Animated Films are EXPENSIVE and a huge swing like this is a radioactive spider-risk. It's why up until spider-verse most studios have stuck to their guns: Disney and Pixar have ocasoinal style shifts but you can genuinely tell when a film's by either stuido, Illumination basks in it's cheap but effective house style, and Warner.. well warner just dosen't give a shit in general why would it here. Dreamworks is the only one that really shook up styles and even then until this year they didn't shake up how they aniamted. After all if it works.. why fix it. And before anyone asks, no i'm not saying "ALL THESE OMVIES ARE TERRIBLE FUCK THEM AMIRITE". I'm saying that the industry got complacent and it's something I, an animation critic, didn't even realize till spider-verse's effects started being felt. Animation really did change because this one film took a leap and it's only for the better: Mutant Mayhem looks to be the best tmnt adaptatoin ever, a VERY high bar from an obessive tmnt fan like me, Nimona looks awesome, i've heard good things abotu Ruby Gilman from Kammie, and Puss In Boots was fucking magic. And while they all likely woud've ben good regardless, this leap has really changed things and hopefully will continue to from here on out as more and more new films catch up lead time wise. To quote Kammie
"The new giants of major western movie animation are Sony and Dreamworks, they're willing to innovate and take risks where most other studios falter and resort to retreading old territory or using stock plots. Do they still innovate technicalogically? Yes. Does that matter when you make movies that only look slightly more realistic than the last one you did? No. We don't go to animation for realism, we go to it for escapism, to see worlds that are utterly impossible and larger-than-life characters, find places that we can only visit in our dreams, to see sheer spectacle that's not possible in live action. Animation more than anything is only limited by technology, and it's a testament to it that most live action films have CGI, a form of animation, involved in making them what they are."
But animation is only half of it. How's the story? Good: But that's pretty obvious so let's go into our characters and what not shall we?
Miles Morales: Anyone Can Wear the Mask
So first up danger is our hero.. well one of many but Miles is our focus and was a perfect choice for it: his arc in the comics is a coming of age story in the vein of the original and ultimate spider-men (the latter being miles predecessor), and really explores what it means to be spider-man: in the comics Miles rejects the idea outright until peter dies.. and he realizes with great power comes great responsiblity and that he can be what peter was.. and then has to settle into the harsh realities of being spidey as well as the good it brings. Bringing a character like that into a story with a bunch of other spider-man all showing what it could mean with diffrent people was genius. The film also nicely tweaks things to make an already good story better. The first is miles age: in the comics he's currently 16-17.. but started out as a 13 year old. The idea worked, both to seperate it from the 16 year old peter he replaced and to make the danger that much more horrifying as it's happening to a much younger person and make some doubts about him doing it more understandable, but it works better to have miles as a teen here, to have him grown up just enough to understand a lot.. but still question who he is. It also allows the nice parallel of getting his powers around the same age as peter.
Another is that in the comics while Miles gets into brooklyn visions by lottery.. what that means for him really isn't focused on. It's hard, but he adjusts to it fairly well and the issue is more having to spider-man from a heavily montired private dormintory. Into instead explores what it would really mean for a kid from a working class family having to leave all the people he knew and grew up with to go to a fancy prep school where most of his classmates ignore him at best. In the comics Miles at least had his best friend going with him: here's he's just alone in an unfamiliar place he badly wants to leave.
I also like that his getting into the school isn't ALL luck. While he literally won the lottery, and yes they really do lottery children's chances for a better future and yes it's fucked up, his mom makes note of him passing the entrance exam and while trying to flunk out delbieratley, his teacher notes he got an exact zero... and then gives him a 100 as to get the answers THAT wrong.. you have to know all of them. Miles is a smart kid.. but he just hates where he is because he's alone. It's not helped by his.. let's say complicated relationship with his dad. Jefferson.. is not the most likeable guy. He's more than the comics where he's an out and out anti-mutant racist douchebag who outright abandons his son when he finds out (he DOES get better, but it's still a dick move), but he's still a domenering presence: when Miles brings up wanting to leave the school Jefferson is admant on him staying. He refuses to really.. empthaize with his son, being mad at his habit of putting up nametags, not really supporting his grafiti art (another deft addition to the character It ruly love), and not really getting him. Jefferson MEANS well: he wants miles to have a life jeff didn't. Like in the comics i'ts heavily implied Jeff didn't really start with anything nor did he or Aaron have the best life, having to steal to survive. He grew past it while Aaron embraced the criminal life style, but it's clear Jefferson WANTS his son to do better.. but is so stubborn and controlling he can't see that miles is miserable and that he needs to stop putting his foot down and start actually listening. The school WILL be good for miles in the long run.. but it's hard for him to see that without anyone helping him. It's easy to see WHY Miles prefers his uncle. Aaron davis isn't the best person, and we'll get to that.. b ut it's clear he loves his nephew and encourages him in school. It's just Aaron also takes the time to LISTEN, to try and gently push miles, asking him what he actually likes about the schol, encouraging him to make a move on his crush. Grnated the shoulder touch is a very awkward move no one should try and I never would, seriously don't touch a woman without their permission folks, but he means well with it. He also wants better for Miles.. he just respects miles more as a person. And with Miles feeling like one person but being shoved in another direction... being spider-man was the last thing he needed. Something I like about Miles as a character both here and in the comics.. is that being spider-man DOSEN'T make his life better at first. See even if most spider-men eventually get the lowered boom of someone they love dying, most get to at least enjoy it first. Looking back at the origins, Peter getting his powers takes a young nerd with no power and gives him all of it, Spider-Ham got a surrogate mom and teh power to crumple other peoples pipes like paper in his hand, while NOir's origin was.. less than ideal
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He still got the power to fight back against a corrupt world, and Gwen much like peter got a power high. Miles.. never gets that in either version. In the comics he's utterly terrified and here he not only gets that.. but also gets humilated: trying the touch fails..as it likely woul'dve anyway, and instead messes up gwen's hair in the short run and makes it kick ass in the long run, sends him running in a panic from school security, and gets him stuck to about 80 dozen things. It shows the part most spidey origins and a chunk of superhero origins skip: that while getting powers is fun.. the learning curve usually sucks. Instead of the power high.. miles is just terrified by what he is and what he must do now and has no idea what he's doing. While most spider-man get the good of it first and have to learn the harsh realities of being a superhero later, usually with some horrific death, miles is one who from the get go realized with great powers comes a spinerett load of trauma. It's something the next film will deconstruct, but for now it's simply stripping that back and showing that while anyone can be spider-man.. it's not exactly a fun job as it is on paper.
So Miles goes to try find his uncle and when that fails, goes to the place he got bit by the spider..
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Because he gets thrown into a supervillian battle, meets the real spider-man, and gets a hard truth from Peter Peter: You're like me. Miles: I don't want to be. Peter: I don't think you have a choice, kiddo.
It's not Blonde Peter being harsh or cruel.. he's just honest. You can try running away from powers, trying to live a normal life.. but eventually it catches up with you. Peter's tried to quit multiple times.. but it dosen't stick because great power, great responsibility. He can try and give up, leave it to other guys.. but at the end of the day having this gift means using it wisely.. and in miles case having it also makes him a target. And Miles ALMOST gets a mentor.. but then peter dies and gruffly tells Miles "You gotta save the world now slugger". Oh and not two seconds later he nearly dies getting chased by a superman. And he wasn't even supposed to be here today. Honestly I didn't even realize till I sat down to write this but the first half hour or so of the film.. is pretty bleak for miles. He gets power he dosen't want, has to watch the world's greatest hero die, and is left in charge of a major task that someone with a decades more experince died trying to do. Oh and he was told to keep it secret and can't tell those he loves. His life is just one hard long cruel cosmic joke.. and the sequel makes it even worse given we now know the spider wasn't even supposed to bite him and he gets BLAMED for watching someone die. Also just to get this out of the way now, while I was calling bullshit on Miguels claims Miles was responsible for Peter's death in the theater, I did watch the scene carefully just to throughly debunk this. And shockity shock... Peter would've died whether miles was there or not. The goblin suckers him slightly due to miles.. but it's nothing that really slows him down or injures him. What ultimately leaves peter at deaths door and weak enough for the kingpin to do his finisher on the poor guy is getting ganged up on by Prowler and Goblin, and then slammed into the collider. Aaron would've been there, Norman would've been there.. this all was supposed to happen, as tragic as it was. Fate changed by Miles getting bit.. but it changed this world at least for the better as it'd probably be gone along with 5 more spiderpeople and incalculable innocents. So in conclusion: eat a dick miguel, let's move on.
So with that Miles is left shattered and wonders home.. and Jefferson is warm and supportive and just kidding: he tells miles he made a commitment, rio has to give him a look like "come on" and when asked if he hates spider-man, while his child is clearly shaken by SOMETHING, his reponse is "well yeah".
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And with the power of hindsight this .. really underlines why Miles has confidence issues the rest of the film. Why he struggles with his powers: he was already feeling out of place in his new school and having most of what makes him who he is questioned by his dad, and then he goes through spider-puberty and watches the world's greatest hero get body slammed into a science machine, gets yelled at by said hero that
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Watches said hero get mob executioned by a villian he now has to stop, and then gets chased by his top enforcer while spooky but dope as fuck music played. It's a miracle Miles hasn't had a full on nervous breakdown after all this, let alone gets up, and decides he HAS to press on, visiting the memorial and realizing that no one else is going to come do this.. I mean they will but what makes it work is he dosen't know that yet. All miles knows is the one thing keeping the city from falling apart is gone, and he's the only one who can do this and as rightfully scared and afraid and alone the poor boy is... he has to try. He may not be quite ready to take the leap.. but he's ready to put a foot off the roof.
While miles has plenty of deadly and superior foes to fight.. his ultimate enemy is himself...
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.... metaphorically this movie. Miles has the heart of a hero.. but is so scared by being one and so sure he CAN'T do it that it's a self fufilling prophecy. It's something expertly shown in how his powers work: he can't get his hands to stick or unstick on queue or his camo to work unless he needs it to flee. His powers are acting on his panic and anxiety. As peter points out with the sticking, it only lets go when you relax and Miles can't relax, he can't relax cuz he's a boinger.. and because you know, he's in a VERY stressful situation. Most spider-men at least get a few simple crooks before they get to the supervillians. Miles has to fight the sinister six on his first day. I'ts easy to see why he can't trust himself: if a peter ten years deep in can't do it, how can he? It's telling the one time pre-what's up danger miles really masters his abilities fully is with web swinging, when he just has a chance to relax and learn.
It's not helped by Miles essentially seeing the ghosts of his future right in front of him: Through Peter Prime, he's seen he can die easily. Through peter b. he sees even if he dosen't being spider-man might destroy his personal life. and through gwen he's seen how he could grow isolated and alone through tragedy. He sees his possible future in two people he grows to love, one platonically one nto so much both who we'll get to, and it scares him. It doesn't help Peter. B is the ONLY spider person willing to give him a chance: while Gwen likes him, she thinks he's not ready and the others all expect him to be spider-man NOW dammit, when all of them had a much less steep learning curve. Except Peni, her learning curve was basically "Suprise we released the spider your dad made into this room! Enjoy being radioactive!"
Into The Spider-Verse is ultimately a film about how others expectations of you can eat you alive.. and the only way to really escape that.. is to be yourself. Not to IGNORE that other people exist or be a callous jackass, but to trust in yourself you'll make the right call. To trust you to do the right thing when things are their darkest.
And it's ironic that what finally gets him to have faith in himself.. is the person who seemed to have the least faith in him. In the end the person who enrcourages miles is Jefferson. While miles has been having his arc.. Jeff has had his own, as miles has been mia since meeting peter. b, and then found his brother dead.. and blamed miles as spider-man for it. Thankfully this gets cleared up enough, but it clearly rattled Jeff enough to realize that holding fast and trying to be constantly authortive and unbending.. isn't working and never has. It's only by opening up does he not only finally close the gap with his son, even if that comes AFTER all this because you know, webbed up mouth and all, but makes miles finally have some confidence in himself. And the speeech itself is just.. beautiful.
Jefferson Davis : Look, sometimes... people drift apart, Miles. And I don't want that to happen to us, okay? Look, I know I don't always do what you need me to do or say what you need me to say, but I... I see this... this spark in you, it's amazing, it's why I push you. But it's yours, and whatever you choose to do with it, you'll be great.
I'll also give Brian Tyree Henry credit as he's just perfect in the role, being a hardass.. but in a way that makes it clear he's not 100% dick and here him opening up.. is beautiful. And it's really what miles needed: While Peter. B wasn't a TERRIBLE mentor, trying his best to encourage miles, what miles ultimately needed was the simplest message: be yourself. Which yes is INCREDIBLY common in animated media. But it's done well here. It also makes me wish the cut line with peter used in the trailers was used here as it really gets to the heart of the film: Don't do it like me, do it like you. Miles problem was that he tried too hard to be what others wanted and that people pushed him to hard to be somethign else, wether that meant instantlly accepting a hard situation in his new school from his dad or instantly fitting the role as spider-man from the other spider-people. it's only when he's told just.. do it his way that he finally can accept it.. and can finally CONTROL it. What I like is that while in a lot of other superhero films, miles suddenly being able to control his powers would be an asspull .. here it's CAREFULLY set up: Miles coudlnt' really control them because he was scared. It's once he lets go of his fear of death, fear of failure, and fear of himself.. that he can take a leap of faith. His ascendency to spider-man is also one of the best sequences in any animated movie. Not taking notes on that. It just is.
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Every fucking second of this is perfect. "What's Up Danger" itself is dope as fuck, and perfectly fits the song. Black Caviar's beat is pure magic and Blackways lyrics perfectly fit the confidence Miles finally has. Their a bit rougher than him but fit who he is NOW: he is the amazing, spectacular, the ULTIMATE spider-man. After a whole film of doubting himself, not knowing where to go or what to do or if he can do this... HE CAN. And he WILL. There's so many great moments: him spraypainting the costume, taking one of peter's looks and making it is his own with his own talent and passion, the now iconic upside down falling shot that graced every trailer, and him swinging and wall jumping through new york, finally embracing his power... all capped with him lifting the mask, panting in exaustion... and then smiling. He's got this.
The insuing big damn heroes during the brawl with the sinister six is great. He shows up invisible, easily turns the table on liv and shows up, and it's also heartwarming how rather than tell him to go home or any other such nonsense.. everyone is HAPPY he's here. They didn't put him back because they didn't like him.. they kept him back because they didn't want him to die stupidly. NOw he CAN fight and has the confidence and skill to.. their happy to have him.
I also like how while all the spider-people ge ttheir moments and we get one hell of a three on one battle between doc ock , miles, peter and gwen, the final fight, the true final test.. is miles alone. Everyone gets to shine as the villians get whittled down to one.. but ultimately the final battle only works if it's miles alone: one final test as spider-man: Miles vs Fisk. The All-New All-Diffrent Spider-Man vs the man who murdered the original. The Kingpin of Crime Vs your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man. It's a truly harrowing fight, one where Miles is often overwhelmed, but does what all spider-men do: get back, keep fighting. Do everything he can. With jeffersons support one last time miles goes from a scared child.. to catching this thief just like a fly.. complete with bug zapper. The touch of using the.. well shoulder touch is fucking amazing, hilaroius, heartwrenching.. and awesome. The man who killed his uncle, who nearly destroyed new york is down. The universe is saved... all thanks to brooklyn's own friendly neighborhood spider-man. Miles ends the film sure of himself, happy and with his father accepting him. He misses everyone.. but he'll see them again. He just might come to regret it but hey.. that's for next time.
As a quick epilogue, I ALMOST forgot to mention but Shamiek Moore is fucking perfect in the role. While Donald Glover would've been a great fit, Moore brings a youthful energy that perfectly fits the character. Moore handles the characters journey, the humor, and the heartbreak all beautifully.
Peter B. Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Mess
While this film is focused on the new kid on the webs, Lord and Miller still decided to include the Spider-Man everyone was familiar with. In fact.. they lean INTO how familiar we are to play with peter as a character. When they give their stories for the comics brilliant origin sequences, they both know to just.. gloss over most of the stuff we're familiar with.. and to basically apologize for the emo peter dance. Lord and MIller clevelry use the rami films as a refrence point. Then they do something ENTIRELY new in terms of adapting peter at this point: this peter.. has been at this for a while. It's something Insomniac would also use for their universe and honestly.. is quitely brilliant. In the comics.. peter HAS been at this for about a decade.. exactly how long has been kept vauge, but he's always pushing 30. Most adaptations though want to start with peter fairly early in his career: while some cartoons like Ultimate, Spectacular or Animated Series start with peter mid career, it's still fairly early and before he faces most of his arch enemies. It also makes sense: after all if your making a spider-man universe from scratch, why would you start with him already knowing how to fight these guys? The comics have the advantage of years of continuity, so writers can do what they want with the bad guys basically. But since a new continuintiy means you can do the latter from the top, why would you start in the middle of your story? It CAN work as shown here and with , while I sadly can't play them because no ps4 or 5, the insomniac games, but with the latter it works to the games advantage to have you play a peter whose already a kicker of ass first class.
Here though instead it's used for something even the comics often have their hands tied from doing: to show just how TIRED spider-man would be after a decade of this. While Blonde Peter is great at the job, has a loving aunt, and an adoring wife... he's still so very tired. He says so when fighting Prowler. It's clear the heir of "I can always do this, i'm spider-man" is as much a coping mechanism as it is determination. It explores the idea that peter's drive to keep going, to do the imposisble would wear him down eventually.. and given the crap he has to go through in the comics because writers think there needs to be added DRAMA, you can't blame him. Peter. B shows where this leads.. a peter who has 80 tons of broken bones, stopped taking care of himself, and is slowly falling apart after Aunt May's death, cumilating in pushing MJ away after she wanted kids.. and he was scared of it. Which given what his life is like is actually understandable. It's also a type of fear the comics have only been able to explore in AU's: editors have been dicks about the idea of peter having kids, and the one time he seriously was about ot have one before it was kidnapped, he was retired.. then it got kidnapped and disappeared because clone saga. Here we see the fear he'd have.. and peter sabotaging his own life as MJ seems relcutant as he is to divorce and the peter left in the aftermath is crying in a bathtub in his full costume
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This is a peter who ONLY has being spider-man and we see how deeply unhealthy that is. Part of what makes Peter Parker so great, what's kept spider-man enduring.. is relatablity. Peter struggles with the same stuff most of us do: holding down a job, crappy bosses, relationship issues, juggling family with your life, friendships getting complicated... it's the ballancing act of having a regular life and also punching the kangaroo in the face while he's at it that makes spider-man compelling and it's finding new ways to do that, from having peter teach at his old high school to having him actually get a science job, that makes this character endure. Here though.. it's just Spider-Man and we see how unhealthy that is: May is dead, he pushed MJ and likely anyone else in his life away... peter only has being spider-man left, and action can be a reward but it can't give you a fulfilling life. This is a peter whose just going through the motions and badly broken. It's very telling that when Miles tries to use "With Great Power Comes Great Responsiblity" , the HEART of what spider-man, any spider-man, woman or ham, is, Peter responds with a very harsh "DON'T finish that sentence. I'm so tired of people using that". He's a peter whose so far to the edge he's willing to leave miles world to die just to get back to a life that's deeply miserable. In most cases spider-man would swing at the right thing but Peter B is just so very tired he just wants to go home.
But he's still spider-man.. and eventually realizes as much as he wants to.. he can't leave miles there and he can't leave this world to die. The movie is also good in not letting peter dangle off the edge of being absolutely awful too long. He refuses to save the world at first.. but it's clear Miles gets to him right away. He's still a mess.. but he's also Spider-Man. He's also peter parker. And May raised him better. The relationship between Peter B and Miles.. is fantastically done, with Miles slowly opening up his new mentor and Peter B slowly rediscovering what he actually liked about the job... and that maybe he CAN be a dad and spider-man. We see his humor slowly come back, him swatting the cape away from miles, gleefully pointing out what to do. He's still not the BEST teacher, wanting miles to just wait.. but when miles has to come along, he's grumpy for a few seconds then roles with it. We start with Peter. B seeing how worn down he is...but here we see all the experince and skill of his blonde counterpart. He's still the science nerd who can memorize a complicated password and can't grasp that miles can't. He's still a mess, trying to flirt with what turns otu to be his aunt's ex.. and also doc ock, but we see a subtle change, cumilating in the heartwarming scene of him and miles swinging together. peter may be a mild dick and a human disaster.. but he's a good man. By the time all the spider-people are together and doubting miles.. peter. b is the only one who sees how much this quest means to hte boy and is advocating for him. To them Miles is in over his head.. but Peter sees the spark in miles Jefferson does. He sees a kid who was thrown in the deep of this and the last thing MIles need is 80 people telling him he can't do it. It's likely that, just like Blonde Peter, Peter. B sees the pain and confusion that comes from starting as spider-man clear as day and if he can help miles avoid that, he will. Jake Johnson is phenominal in this role, helping show the depth behind this kind of peter. It best shows after the house fight: While Peter is trying to get Miles to stay behind and is willing to die to save his world... he's doing it for MOSTLY noble reasons. Miles really WASN'T ready and as Peter pointed out, he needed to be ready to just take a leap of faith. He's gone from wanting to abandon miles because he dosen't care.. to leaving him behind because he dosen't want his surrogate son to die horribly trying to fufill a promise he's not ready for. Granted like I said it's mostly noble: its very clear Peter. B is also doing this.. because he feels himself expendible. He has nothing to go back to, the others do. Miles has more to live for. If he dies staying here... what's he leaving behind? It's what makes his ending so rewarding: He sees miles finally take that leap and as I mentioned before he's nothing but happy Miles finally has got it and fights alongside his new son, realizing maybe he does want kids. He still plans to stay behind.. and the student becomes the teacher, with Miles pointing out he can't.. things with MJ aren't broken.. he still has time to make it right. He still has something to live for. It's hard.. but so was becoming spider-man for miles. If Peter. B is ready to die for this dimension.. he can live for MJ and for his protege. So he ends the film making up with her with Mj's smile showing she welcomes him back.. and as we'll see he really gets his happily ever after. But we'll get more on that next time.
Vault of Spiders
So now we've come to the other spider-people. First up our most prominent, Gwen, whose mostly taken 1:1 from the comics: She became Spider-Woman, then learned the great power great responsiblity lesson the hard way when she fought the lizard.. and he died revealing peter parker, her best friend who just wanted to be like her, leaving her alone. There's more to it, but that's best left for the next film when we get her origin in full. Gwen is done well here: the punk haircut fits her perfectly and Hailee Steinfeld is unsurprisingly awesome as her and gets Gwen's loneliness, standoffishness, and badassery perfectly, and we see her slowly open up to miles, with her doubts coming off less as bein ga jerk and more as being worried for him. We also get some nice subtle bits: while she mentions her best friends.. only WE know her best friend was a peter, and that being surrounded by about 4 of him and having to talk to aunt may, who she's also close to in her dimension, is likely a LOT for the poor kid. She also gets some genuinely cute moments with miles, from their first meeting in class, to the disastrous touch (and the later great brick joke of "you don't get to like it"), to the bus scene). Orignally the two WERE suppposed to be a couple.. but i'm glad they left the more overt romance for the sequels, as the films packed enough as is and it gives it more build. It's clear there's an attraction there.. there just isn't time for it given the possible dimensional apocalypse. That's what sequels are for.
That said I do think had they focused on just three spider-persons we might of had more of an arc for Gwen... instead we get a lot of personality but not who she is. I'd be harder on this.. but to the crews and the next batch of directors credit, they realized this and in the next film, and likely extending into Beyond, she's the deutragonist. So it's hard to be on this when they realized what they had next go round. The other spider-people on the other hand.. feel like a massive wasted opportunity. Casting wise it's all pitch perfect: Nicholas Cage is perfet for a noir parody and is utterly hilarious, John Mulaney's everyman voice is perfect for spider-ham, helping emphasise how weird this is, and Peni's serious nature and anime stylings are something the beloved Kimiko Glenn gets down perfectly. I was so happy to see her in a movie this size. And adaptation wise.. 2/3 ain't bad. Spider-Ham is pitch perfect from the source and Peni, while having her anime stylings here focused on a bit more, still has her science background and driven nature. Noir Peter though.. yeah while he's not TERRIBLE on his own in terms of actually adapting the character... it's wince inducing. I don't mind not going 1:1 and given the limited screen time I don't mind playing into the noir nature for laughs. My issue is more that Noir's world is so insanely dark, THAT could've been played for laughs instead. I mean again THIS is how peter gets his powers there.
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Just have Nicholas cage casually rattle that off. I get not bringing up the rampant death but it just feels like a missed opprotunity to not really use anything from the actual comics other than the costume. The rubix cube joke is great. So you have three all time great performers.. but they don't get much to do. I was among the fans disapointed they weren't in the sequel, and only not as much as some others because I figured they were saving them for the sequel.. and after seeing the film and it's cliffhanger, that turned out to be EXACTLY it. It's a bummer they aren't in across but given how much it crammed into it's long runtime and how much it has left to go, and how the mystery of why noir and ham weren't with the society's whole creepy philosphy when their friends drank the kool aid is a neat hook.
They get great bits, Noir saying he has to burn his hand to feel something, Ham getting side eyed by the other two when he mentions he was a pig bitten by a spider.. which for those who didn't read the rest of the restrospective if your wondering ..
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We also get a great drmatic bit. Originally in the scene where everyone sympathizes with Miles, Spider-ham made a stupid joke about his uncle frankfurter. it was funny.. but kinda wrecked the scene. So they instead switched it with one of the most heartbreaking lines in all of animation, which Mulaney NAILS.
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Just the devistaition on that pig's face. And i'm hoping we find out what the fuck the story was there in Beyond.. but i'm perfectly happy with not knowing. Because it makes it that much more devistating. We don't know what he lost. We just know he hurts and that the hardest thing about being a spider-man.. is you just can't save them all. So naturally ham got a spinoff, Caught in a Ham. Caught in a Ham.. is decent a theatrical style short that explains what ham was doing. It's.. fine.. the various villian puns are fun and it clearly takes a lot from warner, but the animation is ENTIRELY cheap, and the villian, dr crawdaddy is just... what. Seriously you have so many fun animal versions of spideys rogues and better new foes.. and this is what you go with. And no making fun of how lame he is dosen't work. That jokes been done a lot. You have to do it well and they really didn't. Dr Crawdaddy is bad but it's not hialriously bad. Caught in a hami s okay but it was a massive disapointment and Mulaney deserved better.
So now we have those who can spin a web any size and catch a theif just like flies covered, we have to talk about one of spider-man's most important aspects The Superior Foes of Spider-Man
Look spider-man is popular for a lot of reasons: a deep facinating character no matter whose wearing the mask, a varied, visually intresting and cool power set, the idea that anyone can be spider-man. All this is true. But one of the biggest.. is his Rogues gallery. Spider-Man easily has one of the best rogues galleries in all of superhero fiction, with only batman providing competition. Just off the top of my head you have Green Goblin, Hobgoblin, Doc Ock, Electro, Beetle, Boomerang, Scorpion, The Kingpin, Rhino, Hammerhead, Tombstone, Shocker, Vulture, Kraven, Mysterio, The Lizard, Stegron the Dinosaur Man, The Spot, The Gibbon, Mr Negative, The Enforcers, Mountain Man Marko, Chance, Venom, Carnage, Hypno Hustler, Rocket Racer, Sandman, The Tinkerer, The Prowler, Lady Electro, White Rabbit, Overdrive, Hydro Man, Chameleon, The Iguana, and of course his greatest enemy PAUL.
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Or Maybe it's Zeb wells. Who knows? The larger point is spider-man has a LARGE pool of villians to tap, so Lord and MIller's Solution: GRAB AS MANY AS POSSIBLE AND DO WHATEVER. Yeah while like i've said The Kingpin has a full sinister six going, even if sadly never 6 at once as one dies and he kills another, it still counts as their still all under him and just let me have this for once dammit. Seriously if it's not an ongoing cartoon, they will NOT give us the sinister six. Even far from home came as close as we've got and still didn't think maybe one more? LET ME HAVE A PROPER SINISTER SIX IN MY SPIDER-MAN MOVIE DAMMIT.
That said they really only focus on three of the six: the other villians in Fisk's posse are more there just to hit things and give us enough villians so every spider-man can have a turn. And given Spider-man has guys like the rhino that would fit the mold better I question why they went with Green Goblin and Tombstone. With the former i'll admit to being biased: Norman Osborn is one of my faviorite super villians and Harry is certainly somewhere on the list. One of the first spidey comics I read was Amazing Spider-Man #39, and it's followup #40, one of the best spidey comics of all time and with one of the best covers too
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This was boosted both by the first Rami film, where Dafoe does a truly amazing job, and the ultimate comics where Norman , while bulking up a bunch is a serious horrifying threat. Here.. h'es just a dummy dum dumb and I get it to a point, part of it is to emphasise the alternate nature of miles universe: in most the green goblin is spider-man's greatest threat, here he's just one of many and while a challenge, not his arch enemy or even in the running it seems. It just dosen't work for me. I'm fine with making some changes, but this one just didn't qutie work. He does look really impressive though and I do get this is likely a me thing and it dosen't really HURT the film, so while I may not like it a bunch I can't say it's as bad as some adaptation changes. I'ts no "Peter dosen't have change for choclate milk and gets thrown it by the robber who kills uncle ben" or making harry osborn into some sort of gneeing snot monster.. and that's bEFORE he takes the goblin drugs.
Tombstone also isn't handled the best, as he's fairly smart and chilling in the comics. I don't take it as personally but it's still iffy to take a black man and make him subservient to a white man. That never plays well. Hammerhead would've been a better choice and still been visually distinct. I
Finally we have Scorpion who I DO like, nicely meshing maximus gargan, the ultimate scorpion who simply had super strength and a scorpion tail styled chain, with the regular one, so now the tail is attached to hima nd baadss, but he's still mexican and still awesome and he gets a great fight with Peni and Porker.
That said while I have my quibbles.. the main three villians.. are fantastic and give me plenty to gush about. We'll start with the big guy. Like with the Green Goblin (and the Hobgoblin, who sadly still hasn't gotten a big movie role as of this review. Someday...), i'm a HUGE fan of the kingpin and he's one of my faviorite super villians. No question. Wilson Fisk is a truly amazing character with tons of layers, intimdating style and intresting dynamics with both spider-man and dardevil. From his first apperance under john romita to his latest crashing on Krakoa , he's a devious mastermind whose trained his body to perfection. Granted I grew up with Spider-Man TAS, where they cleverly made him big bad, so I had a good first intro, but most adaptations handle him well and what little iv'e seen of the mcu version in hawkeye (I still need to watch netflix daredevil) is fucknig magical. Denofrio is great.
Liev Schriber though.. might be the best. He gets Wilson perfect: He has his cocky attitude.. but also his cold detachment. He can brag about starting the collider one minute.. and casually tell his right hand man to "go kill that guy". He can joke.. but ther'es never a moment on screen when your not deeply worried about him being there. There's not a moment you don't get WHY this guy was strong enough, smart enough and nightmarish enough to finish spider-man. I also love the design taking from a comic by the legendary bill sienkiewicz of x-men fame
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It perfectly fits and while his proprotions are off.. it helps sell how diffrent he is from everything else. This man commands every room he's in and is a true giant, a looming reminder of blonde peter's death and the ultimate obstacle in our heroes way.
What I like though as while they easily could've just made Fisk evil and called it a day.. it's VERY clear how well the crew understood him.. as they also humanize him. Fisk isn't igniting the collider to make money selling multiversal hot dogs or something. This version lost his wife vanessa and son richard during a fight with spider-man: she saw what he really was and left... and they sadly died in a car crash. It's a great twist too: the comics have always had Vanessa, when she was alive, be the one thing that could pull fisk back from his crime... if only for so long. She never liked it , never accepted it and never wanted it. Richard was a grown man hwo hated it but then joined it then betrayed his dad and got killed.. it's a whole thing. Richard Fisk is a mess.
Fisk is at his core a man who just wants what he lost back but is so blinded by a combination of Trauma Goggles (a term kammie came up with) and his own ego. He can't accept that it was his fault a tragedy happened, that his wife had every right to run and that it was simply horrible, cruel timing that killed his wife. It's the horrible irony in all this: Wilson Fisk is a man who needs to control everything so badly he will rip time and space apart to get back what he lost.. but can't accept that there's NOTHING he can do to fix this, and that it was always his fault. It's who Wilson Fisk is and who he'll always be. It's most heartbreakingly shown when the same events play out again, just with a new vanessa and richard.. but he just can't accept HE'S the bad guy in all this and he drove his family away. In the end he's left with nothing, his empire crumbling, his family gone.. simply because he coudln't let go.
Now onto his right hand man, Aaron Davis, The Prowler. Like Kingpin... hang on.. something seems mi
[THREATNING DUBSTEB BLARES]
Better. Anyways, I was a huge fan of the Prowler. See back when I was in I think middle school, possibly earlier I had this book.
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I wouldnt' mind getting another copy or the updated edition at some point. I also had these for X-Men and Fantastic Four. It's part of what really got me into these characters, but the spidey one was near and dear to my heart even as it sadly eventually fell apart. It was a lovely big ole book with profiles for all of spidey's villains, some of his side cast, and what have you up to the early 2000's. It was great.
So it's there I met the Prowler... Good Ol Hobie Brown
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Yeah before another hobie became your friendly neighborhood anarchist, the original was a window washer who really wanted to invent, but this being the 60's and many a man being a classist or racist, Hobie instead came up with a pretty brilliant scheme: rob a building using his various inventions and a badass looking disguise, and then return the money for a reward as Hobie Brown.
Unfortunately the building he picked was naturally the Bugle, his old workplace (Though to JJJ's credit, when Hobie had an altercation with his boss, Jonah took hobie's side. Jonah may be many things but Racist isn't one of them)... and he was VERY lucky that it was peter parker, having to pull his punches for obvious reasons , he encountered. Hobie thought he'd killed the poor guy, naturally he hadn't and when encountering peter as spider-man later, not knowing the connection, he confessed and explained things. Peter being peter, and once unmasked seeing Hobie really wasn't that much older than him and had been through the shit, let the guy go and Hobie eventually had a happy ending. So how does aaron fit into this? Well like i've said in this review and covered previously, Miles comes from the Ultimate Universe, so given the prowler had a dope as hell costume, name but not a lot of use, he was perfect to refit as Mile's first archenmey and most personal nemisis.
Uncle Aaron in the comics.. is a bit of a dick. While I plan to cover this arc at some point, as it's REALLY good, Aaron after some time in mexican prison, finds out there's a new spider-man and having stolen the spider in the first place and actually seen it bite miles in this timeline, puts two and two together... and then tries to blackmail his nephew into working for him to make himself the new kingpin, the old one having been blown up with a rocket launcher by Mysterio.
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He also died but rather than go out heroically , as we'll get to.. he went out because his suit backfired because he was stupid enough to kill the man who made it while trying to murder his 13 year old nephew.
Yeah it's a lot, and again i'll get into it some other time, but the film made the understandable decision to take about 5 to ten percent of there, and used that percentage to make him infinitely more badass.
This Aaron is an experinced supervillian, one who gives Peter trouble and has awesome theme music. The Prowler in the film is animalistic, moving at less frames than the other characters and being purely terrifying. It sells what Miles is facing: an unstoppable killing machine who just wants him dead. Which completely contrasts who Aaron is off duty. To him.. this is just a job and killing people is just what he does. Kingpin says jump, he says "what spider-man?". When not he's the cool uncle who gets introduced to fucking hypnotize. He's a smooth guy who while having terrible advice about ladies, also has good takes like "Smart girls are where it's at". The reason Miles confides in him more than his dad.. is easy to see. Aaron actually takes the time to reach miles on his level and try to gently coax miles into not totally hating his new school instead of saying WELL YOU'D BETTER LIKE IT. I mean Jeff is the better person, no question, he's killed exactly no one and for a cop that's impressive, but Aaron genuinely loves and supports his nephew even more than originally. It makes the contrast that much more horrific, that this perfectly kind, cool as hell guy.. can also casually hunt what he can CLEARLY tell is a child like a monster across a subway. It's no wonder finding out who Aaron is really rattles the poor kid.
It also makes his face turn that much more effective: it'd be easy to assume given how UTTERLY terrifying the film made him that like the comics, once Aaron finds out he wouldn't give one iota of a shit that this is his nephew. Instead Movie!Aaron.. is utterly horrified. Mahershla Ali does a hell of a job conveying the man's horror when Miles takes off his mask in a last ditch effort not to get choked to death, with Moore likewise conveying miles pain and desperation incredibly. The animation is also flawless here as you can just see Aaron realizing what he almost did.. and what he's likely done to counltess others like miles. How many kids did he kill simply because they saw something they shouldn't have? The horror is clear... adn the tragedy all the more painful when Kingpin coldly snipes him. All his power.. and aaron dies, encouraging his nephew to keep going and to be better. Aaron is an incredible character here, suprassing the already great original and I look forward to seeing more of ali in Beyond.
Finally we have Doc Ock aka...
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The casting was genius idea.. that i'm baffled WASN'T always the plan. Originally Ock was supposed to still be a man and a bit more big lebowski'ish. And while it means we missed out on Steve Buschemi as the green goblin, one of the directors suggested Kathryn Hahn, all around queen of awesome and perfect fit. It also fits the story better: Dock Ock being "Gasp" a pudgy guy who looks a lot like me? Not a huge suprise. But a scientest we simply see in the background and assume is someone shady, but turns out to be dock ock complete with soft robotics tentacles? Fucking brilliant. It plays genre expectations against us: normally the messy haired science lady is on our side, as peter assumed.. instead Ock is fully on board with this scheme and even actively decives kingpin to get it thorugh. Oliva is ock in every sense of the word and is easily our heroes most dangerous opponent that isn't king sized. It takes THREE spider-men to wear her down and a fucking truck ex machina to finish her. Hahn, as usual has a lot of fun with the roll and it's no shock disney wanted to get in on this, and I can't wait for Agatha coven of chaos after her amazing work on Wandavision. Hahn is just neat and Olivia is great. Also nice subtly saying gay rights with Liv being implied to be Aunt May's ex in this reality too. Did it also involve a nuclear explosion on an island off of canada? One can only hope.
Odds, Ends and Sick Beats
So character wise we only have a few left to go over. First up is Rio, Miles supportive kind mom. She dosen't get a ton to do here but what we see is great and like Gwen, it's clear the writers realized they didn't use her as much and the sequel dives into her more and makes her just as important as her husband.
Then we have Ganke. In the comics, Ganke is miles lego loving best friend, his closest confidant and he helps ease the tension of being spider-man.. but given said tension drives the whole plot here, I get why they eased back. The other reason.. is understandable if disapointing. See the MCU Version of Ned Leeds, Ned Lee.. is basically Ganke. Close friends with our spider-man? Likes lego? bit of a nerd? Serves as his "guy in the chair". All check. And ned is great, he's fantastic and if I ever get to the mcu trilogy, i'll defintely have plenty good to say. It just meant Ganke had nothing to really do and is thus off to the side for these films. It's disapointing but I can understand it.. and he still gets a great scene in the spider-people trying to avoid him.. also Peni was blushing like mad. I need followup on this ship next film crew.
We also have Stan's cameo.. which is heartbreaking, but man was it good and it served as a great tribute to the man without being meant as one. It also gently jabs at his huckster nature with the no refunds sign. Oh stan... I miss you man.
Finally we have the films soundtrack. It's so damn good and it uses music beautifully: It has standouts like What's Up Danger, which i've talked about. Sunflower which thematically fits the film and the miles gwen romance, and Hypnotize, which perfectly sums up who aaron is when he' s not stalking children like some sort of feral cat man. I was going to talk about it more in depth, but it's just fanatastic.. and frankly this review is both horribly behind as is. It's a great sountrack and an all timer, both in the music made for it, the ones chosen for it and the backing tracks. Stupendous
So that brings us to the end of this long look.. and it should go without saying by this far in.. this film is a masterpiece. It's great as an adaptation, phenominal on it's own, groundbreaking, and I'll be revisiting it again and I feel terrible I didn't because I noticed so much more the second time around. This project has been a lot.. but it's also been some of the most fun i've had ont his blog. As i've already announced... we will be doing this one more time for beyond, and possibly again for across' theatrical release as that seems like it's not going to be as soon as Sony hopes. Either way i'm still shooting for the films current release date in march, so we'll be back with this in november or december with some other spidey plans in the mix as well. So thanks for taking the leap with me.. and hopefully you'll stick around. Until then... thanks for reading... and remember.. anyone can wear the mask... especailly you.
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tiny-tk · 7 months
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hi friends !! it’s a new month so i’m gonna finally do these prompts i’ve been wanting to do for a while !! one per day n i’ll tag them all with #30 days of little space ^^
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prompt list by @mybabybearcub <3
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. :+* day 1: what’s your favorite movie?
nimona !! the main character is a huuuge inspiration for how i’ve been livin my life lately (trying to mask less + the idea of ‘if someone doesn’t like me for who i am then it’s their fault not mine’), it also just has beautiful animation, a great story, and amazing representation !! i mostly watch it when i’m big (it makes me feel . so many things hehe) but it’s a good watch for littles too !! i headcanon nimona as an age regressor too bc of some stuff that happens in the movie ^^ it’s on netflix if anyone’s curious :3
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+ here’s some other kid friendly movies i love !!
. :+* the lego batman movie
. :+* the mitchells vs the machines
. :+* into the spiderverse & across the spiderverse
. :+* next gen
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autisticempathydaemon · 4 months
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Hello hello! I would love a matchup!
What song are you fixated on at the moment? What lyric or verse, and why? - Playing with Bad Luck by Set it Off ... Its a kinda day/ its a kinda week/ Its a kinda year/ When you cut and paste/ When you're on your knees/ When you're out of tears (damn)/ examine every scar. i'm auditing my karma/ something just ain't adding up/ it's close, but no cigar/ i'm dancing in the dark cause/ every light keeps shutting off/ i'm playing with bad luck
What is your Enneagram type? - I'm an 8w7! also an ISFJ personality type
Tell me about your childhood imaginary friend.- I created a lot of stories and characters as a kid, most of them were knights or huge creatures
What is your go-to way to fall asleep? - I usually have a cup of tea and sit with my dog. On nights where I can't get my brain to shut up I'll play audiobooks/redacted sleep aid lol
What is your favorite of Redacted’s audios, and why? - Okay but something about the comfort/ reverse comfort audios hit a place in my heart I didn't think was in me. Like, I get why I like the healing audio cause the listener is getting doted on, and that's cute. (No matter how many times I listen to Gavin's comfort audios I will sob every time) But when I listen to a reverse comfort, it makes me love a character even more. Like the fact that they trust their listener (i.e., David breaking down, Gavin giving bits and pieces of his past to freelancer/ breaking down in the inversion, Milo injured, etc), makes my heart swell.
What Redacted boy holds no appeal to you, and why? Like, not the one you hate but the one who you don’t get the hype for. (I won’t judge, I promise.) - Okay, the character is made for the audience to not really like them, but Marcus (Project Meridian) sets a wave of anger in me I could never begin to explain like the manipulation tactics and gaslighting make me want to murder someone, BUT SOMEHOW IM LIKE "Oh I like Vega" which don't get me wrong also hate Vega at times but the way he acts with warden makes me love him
Tell me about that one book/movie/TV show you know all the words to. - does Redacted count "just gotta say ding dong the witch is dead fucking goes off and you better promise to play that at my funeral ALSO unrelated macho man unironically fucking goes off AND YOU KNOW WHAT actually IT IS related because you absolutely need to promise to play that at my funeral too back to back Macho man immediately followed by ding dong the witch is dead what do you say?" .... don't ask BUT IF NOT I also know pirates of the caribbean, the Grinch (live action), Mitchells vs the machines, Monty Python and the holy grail, too name a few
Which Redacted boy are you platonically attracted to? Like- forget dating, which dude do you want to be your best friend? - OH MY GOD CAN VINCENT BE MY BESTIE (obvi also love ash and guy but let me explain) Okay vincent is one of those guys who's sarcasm is top notch like homie could roast anyone without a second to waste. Also I feel like I could literally sit in silence with Vincent and it not feel awkward yknow
Do you have a go-to thing you ramble about when you’re tired, and if so, what is it? (For example, my boyfriend knows I’m ready to sleep when I start talking about space.) okay, I will ramble about history like there is no tomorrow. for example, did you know that Constantine the Great considered himself such a great Christian that he called himself the "13th Apostle" on his tomb (which very few people have been able to see because you have to be closely enough related to him to enter) he didn't write his name on his coffin instead it says 13th apostle also he put the remains of the other apostles in his tomb because "he deserved it" ......anywayssss
Tell me your go-to gas station and drink combo. - flaming hot Cheetos and a sprite reset my life in a way that makes me want to achieve my dreams
Tell me about your favorite playlist at the moment. - The Balance, its so beautifully made, starting with a close experience to death, to cult antics, to AN UNEXPECTED CROSSOVER. its just made sooooooooooooo well
What’s your guilty pleasure in media, and why? - Okay cringy middle school emo/ animatic music from my past is engrained into my brain
And whatever else you think tells me about who you are! - i'm 5'2 and the youngest of a big family. I'm an artist and currently working on an illustration degree. I love love love voice acting. Thats about it! THANKS
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You gave me so much to work with here, and yet it was a challenge. Like, I could have gone in so many directions. I think you could work so well with so many of the boys, but ultimately, it had to be Asher.
Your submission gives me the vibe of someone who’s loyal, unique, and confident, who knows what they’re about and always has something interesting to say even if you’re not particularly extroverted. I like the idea of pairing Asher with you because he would perfectly uplift you, pulling you out of your shell and giving you the stage to shine while also knowing when to take the reins and support you, in your education, social situations, whenever.
Your life would be so genuinely fun together- not just because Asher’s so fun as a dude but because y’all have so much in common. You two would have the same taste in music (that FOB fan boy) and pop culture. You’d be the tea drinker to his Monster Energy vibes, the perfect balance in the house to feed his bubbly nature but also ground him. Also, Asher should totally have a dog he can play with, so it’s even more perfect.
Song:
If you don't swim, you'll drown/ But don't move, honey/ You look so perfect standing there/ In my American Apparel underwear/ And I know now, that I'm so down/ Your lipstick stain is a work of arts I got your name tattooed in an arrow heart/ And I know now, that I'm so down
5SOS seems like just the sort of group y’all and Asher would like now, the group that was pop-punk adjacent and has evolved with its audience. This track in particular is a classic, and I can see Asher totally jamming out to this in the car, air-guitaring at red lights, and demanding applause from you when he’s done (which you’d give because he’s just that cute).
Runner-Ups:
Like I said, there were so many boys that could have been matched with you, so there were also too many options for runner-ups! I settled on Anton because he’d be so cute with a tea-drinking dog lover. He deserves a puppy and a partner who makes them a pot to share. I also like you with Guy because an artist and writer couple is just too cute to pass up.
note: thank you for waiting 🖤
Read this post and send me an ask if you’d like a match-up of your own! 💌
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wow-its-me · 9 months
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Alright Mutant Mayhem post, I just got back from the movies so these takes are are all of my first un unfiltered thoughts
SPOILERS AHEAD
First off the animation style : Absolutely Amazing,
Very claymation like, and although I see the comparison to Spiderverse, I think it’s completely unique,
If anything it reminds me of The Mitchell’s Vs The Machines
Next the cast : Absolutely Amazing
The way the characters had so much energy and just bounced off of each other. The kids that voiced the turtles really did great, everything they said felt very natural, and like teenagers actually talk. It was A LOT of pop culture references, but while a little cringey, none of them felt forced.
I absolutely LOVED this version of April and she’s currently fighting IDW April for the “best april” spot in my head. Again Ayo did a great job and I can’t imagine anyone else in the role. A fresh take while still being true to the character
And of course Splinter carried the movie. Jackie Chan was incredible as always, and this is splinter is truly the best dad. He was really just looking out for his sons, and doing anything and everything he could to make them both safe and happy.
I’m never going to get over Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko
And Natasia Demetriou was perfect (hearing her definitely through me off guard though, just cause I’m a wwdits fan, and I though her being the bat was very silly)
Overall thoughts :
If anything I found myself a bit distracted through the movie. Getting caught up comparing things to the TMNT I already know. Learning to accept that while, similar this one’s different, a new take on a beloved series.
I wasn’t comparing it as “worse or better” but seeing the similarities to certain comic issues and runs, and assuming that I knew what was going to happen based off of those. Super fly is just like Hob, Cynthia Utrom is Bishop, ect.
And while those comparisons are both interesting and fun, I was getting too into it, and overlooking what THIS movie was trying to do and say (which is a problem that I think a lot of comics fans run into)
OK critiques : I tend to be nit-picky but I only have a few this time
The Mutanimals,,,, (that what I’m calling them here y’know who I mean) their were ALOT OF THEM and I feel like they all weren’t utilized in the film, and used to cast stars who would only have a couple lines, and probably sell more toys (which, let’s be honest, is the biggest reason TMNT exists now)
Bebop and Rocksteady didn’t really do anything, I swear Leatherhead had two lines, I completely forgot about Ghengis Frog, Rey Fillet was literally just Post, and the only ones who felt like real characters were Mondo Gecko and Wingnut (and I might be bias cause I love them) and slug lady???
The way they almost immediately turned on superfly, their older brother, who was clearly like a father to them, with no hesitation?? One second their down for mass murder, and the next their helping the turtles???
Their actors and designs were cool, but the movie was only 1:35 or something, I feel like a bit more character development for them could’ve been put in
The timeline? Also a bit confusing, and implies that every mutant other than Splinter, Slug Lady, and Superfly is 15. Which I don’t think is true.
But all of the Mutanimals were shows to be babies/toddlers in the 15 year flashback?? And they all seemed like infants in Stockmans lab (other than superfly whose a couple years older) and older slug lady would’ve been tiny anyway
But I just got a little confused
And lastly the ENDING :
I really didn’t think they’d actually make it to highschool!! This is honesty super interesting and opens up the story for a lot of new plots and takes, doing things that the turtles could never do in previous iterations. It makes me very excited for what could come next for them
Their in the real world
People know them
They could have actual futures
(I’m very curious to how taxes and stuff work for splinter now, but I doubt it’ll ever get into that)
AND THE SHREDDER TEASE
Very hyped for what’s coming next, left the theater ranting to my sister about how I hope Karai will be in the next one too.
And with the backstory loosing that tie to the Foot, I’m really wondering how things will go down
And worried for how underprepared they are for someone like shredder
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smimon · 2 months
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Dunno what kinda of movies you like but here you go.
Horror: Wolf Creek. Backpackers getting murdered in the outback of Australia kinda inspired by real murders that happened.
Not horror:
Grand Budapest Hotel. Very stylistic (cause wes Anderson ) but also just a really fun story. Mostly love it for the visuals and the dialogue makes my brain happy with how it's delivered. Very snappy.
Flying high/aeroplane (it has different names depending on the country) has super dry humour and some of my fave jokes in any movie. I reference it a fair bit. Parody film basically but from like the 70s/80s
Muriel's wedding: classic story of an outsider finding her place and trying to not be a loser. Not my fave ever but a pretty iconic movie most people should watch at least once if you haven't already. Has some pretty good disability rep too!
Mad max fury road: one of my fave movies ever. Very action heavy but shot beautifully and the women are all bad ass.
Mitchells vs the machines: inventively animated and the family dynamic is fun with good humor. Kinda reminds me of gravity falls which is a great tv show
(Another great tv show is over the garden wall. Beautifully atmospheric and complete. I have a google drive if you want to watch it for free)
Also anything by monty python (especially holy grail and life of Brian )
Sorry these are very random suggestions but I was trying to think of things you probably haven't seen. Let me know if there's a genre you like and I can maybe get more specific?
Thank you for reminding me of Wes Anderson because I forgot I was supposed to rewatch Fantastic Mr. Fox ahaha
Yes thanks for all of these! Muriel's wedding sounds like something good for now 🧡 the rest for later
(And btw the entirety of Over the garden wall is available on cartoon network's yt channel with PL dub, how very kind of them)
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th3p0rtalmaker · 2 months
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1 through 5 for the 2023 writing game plz! 🥰
Thanks for the ask Nerdy! 🥰
1. What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year? How did it turn out and would you do it again? A) I've never done prompt requests before - the fall prompt requests I did for 2023 was my first time! I didn't get as many requests as I'd hoped, but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise considering I was launched on a turbulent journey of homelessness at the same time. 😅 I definitely wanna do something like that again! It was great practice for writing shorter pieces, which is something I struggle with.
2. How many fics did you work on this year? (They don’t have to be finished or published!) A) I think a total of 5 published fics - 4 of my own and 1 as a co-author. (Also a few side-au projects that I played around in with friends.)
3. What’s something you learned about yourself as a writer? A) Two major things I learned would be: A) I've matured as a writer and an individual, so I'm more comfortable writing content for mature audiences and am no longer restricting myself to content that would be suitable for kids/early teens.
B) Someone left a comment on chapter 3 of my Incarnate fic (after reading all three posted chapters) and said that they believed my writing had generally improved over the course of me posting those 3 chapters. This was a HUGE achievement for me, considering chapters 2 and 3 were posted when I was floundering for stability at the second lowest point in my life. So, I guess I learned that I can actively improve my writing skills even while my life is gradually falling apart, lol.
4. What piece of media inspired you the most? A) I think the one that had the biggest impact was The Mitchel's vs. the Machines (I watched it really late, lol). On top of being a phenomenal film, it ended up being a really therapeutic experience for me personally. I was able to comprehend what I could have had if my family hadn't been toxic and abusive, and accept that I won't ever get to have those relationships and experiences with my blood family. I was also able to recognize some more of the ways in which Hector and Adira's relationship in my current fic is a coping/healing mechanism that helps me process my familial trauma and work towards building healthy relationships moving forward. (Which motivated me to keep working on the fic for the sake of my own wellbeing. 🤣)
5. What fandom(s) did you write for this year? A) Just TTS this year. It's my current hyperfixation, and I haven't really had strong enough interest to write for any other fandoms.
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st-severus · 8 months
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hey, hope you're having a nice day!
if you want horror movies ideas (and you don't care much about spoilers) i recommend you the dead meat youtube channel. It's a channel with a guy who counts the deaths in horror movies and he does known/not known movies from all eras. His videos are great cuz they give you the general vibe of a movie and if you're easily scared (as i am) it gives you most of the gore and the deaths before watching it. Also, the host is nice and rather funny (but i think he's making a pause this month)
For non-horror movies i'd say:
The Mitchells VS the Machines (2021)
animated movie (with a great animation) about a very dysfunctional but trying family fighting against the robots revolution. It's so so funny and the family is incredible.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
a movie about an elderly chinese woman living in the USA with her husband and her twenties-something daughter. Their relationship is kinda rocky, mostly because the MC is very cold toward her family (cuz she's stressed bc of her job and kinda bitter about her life). It's a multiverse story, with the MC realizing all the potential she has and trying to save her daughter. I nearly cried at the end cuz the movie is so goddamn good (and the costumes and symbolism>>>>) 100/10 (but warning for a lot of flash)
The Shape of Water (2017)
again, a 100/10 for me. It's about a mute woman who's job is to clean the floor in a secret american base in the 60's and long story short, she fall in love with one of the mutant, a fish-merman-monster kind of thing. The movie is about the satus quo with the MCs not fullfilling society expectations and standards. Again, beautiful movie, (the costumes! the light! the characters!) and the villain is very very scary.
i don't have much else, but if you like musicals (like, theatre musicals) there are some nice things on youtube. I'd recommend you Beetlejuice, cuz someone filmed the very last day it was performed on Broadway and posted the entire thing on youtube. I think the video's title is something like "very last day of black and white slime tutorial" and it's ~2H30. It has dark humor and very good songs and lights. Also, there is Heathers (Mean Girls with much more murders and incredible songs, but I still hadn't watched it) and Hadestown (hadn't watched it but it got a Tim Burton vibe to it).
hope you enjoy it (and sorry to drop this long-ass ask in your inbox) and i didn't put something you already watched (or would hate)
Thank you so much for all these recommendations! 🖤 That's funny, because I actually do like a small sliver of horror quite a lot but I hate most of it, so something that lets you know the vibes will be quite useful :) The musical I like best is Sweeney Todd (although I prefer the Tim Burton movie which I recommend if you don't mind a bit of blood and gore), so I will definitely check out Hadestown! A couple of these are already on my list, like Shape of Water, I better get that straight away!
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tsdtalks · 10 months
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I’ve noticed that people who say “cinema is dead” or “cinema is dying” never talk about examples of what cinema is. Or, at least, they talk about it in the past tense.
Ever since the Covid lockdowns started letting up and we’ve started getting more and more movies again, I’ve made a conscious effort to seek out new releases that look interesting to me. And you know what? Every single year, I’ve found incredible new releases that could easily qualify as cinema.
In 2021, there were movies like Tick Tick Boom, The Mitchell’s Vs The Machines, and Dune. In 2022, there was GDT’s Pinocchio, Puss in Boots, and of Course Everything Everywhere. Even just this year so far, we’ve gotten Spiderverse, and the incoming Barbie and TMNT movies, and this is all just off the top of my head. Movies that are “cinema” are still being made.
I think it’s more an issue of the guys who make those kinds of posts (because yes, it is almost always men saying this) only seem to watch marvel, Star Wars, maybe dc, and the occasional Avatar 2.
I’m not knocking anyone for liking any of those things, I like them too (except avatar 2), but no wonder you think cinema is dead if big budget action schlock is your only intake. That’s like only eating McDonalds and saying that the culinary arts are dead.
And the thing is, when you ask these people what real cinema is, nine times out of ten the movie they list is 20 years old or older. Like yeah, no shit, those are the movies you watched as a kid growing up because your parents remembered them well enough to like them. Believe it or not, not every movie from the 1980s was a cultural touchstone, it’s just the ones we remember from that era.
The other fact of the matter is that a lot of cinematic storytelling has migrated to Prestige TV. The most recent season of Succession was like watching a 10 hour long movie week to week, not all of the cinematic experiences are exclusive to cinemas anymore.
TL;DR if you have this feeling that cinema is dead I strongly encourage you to go outside your comfort zone and try out movies (or tv shows!!) that you haven’t before, you’ll find some stinkers but you could also find your new favorite. There’s a lot of great stuff still being made
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chaoticjuless · 3 months
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2017, 2021 and 2023 for the movie ask game, pretty please!! 🎬
2017 - Get Out is a great mesmerising horror with brilliant acting and a compelling story followed by a satisfying plot twist, so I have to mention it. It managed to build the suspense very well! It's a tie with Baby Driver though, cause when I saw it in the cinema it was a perfect adventurous story that immediatly lifted my mood. I really appreciate Edgar Wright's attention to detail and the inclusion of music that was such an integral part of the film (also I'm a sucker for musicals and films where good music plays a major role in general!)
2021 - The Mitchells vs. The Machines! It was such a funny, cute film. I loved the distinct art style and the message behind the film.
2023 - Niebezpieczni Dżentelmeni (Dangerous Men). Maybe not the best, but definitely my favourite. I love how they took those "serious" literary figures and put them in a crime comedy story with some modern twists. It kind of had that "sacrum-profanum" vibe, which I adore. A really different, interesting approach to Polish comedy films. I also have to mention Skinamarink (the Polish premiere was in 2023, so I'll allow it here), quite an interesting story that builds up a distict atmosphere by reaching for our deepest childhood fears. It was an interesting film to experience.
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maris-medley · 3 months
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Intro !! :3
Figured I might as well make an intro bc… I- yeah. 🧍‍♀️
basics !!
⚘ i go by mari !!
⚘ she/her, they/them, vae/vaem, been trying out he/him lately too <3
⚘ lesbian, genderqueer
⚘ asks are always open unless i specify otherwise !!
⚘ @starry-teeth is my backup !! <3
things you should know !!
⚘ i have combined autism + adhd
⚘ i’m a witch, though i wouldn’t say i align with any one specific religion; unsure if i ever will, but for right now, i’m simply exploring my craft and figuring things out as i go. the closest thing i have to any kind of “label” would be a theistic satanist, but i use that term on myself pretty loosely :)
⚘ i mainly honor leviathan !!
⚘ in reference to the points above, please know i am not an expert, i am still learning !! so if i happen to get something wrong, please let me know!
⚘ i’m a writer!! i’m not very good at planning stories out so i never really finish anything but if you ever happen to have any requests for anything, please lmk! it may take me a bit depending on whether i’ve seen the piece of media you’re referencing but i’m personally taking it as motivation to get into some new stuff and actually finish what i write !
⚘ i like to bake!! another one of those things where i’m still kinda learning as i go, but every once in a while I may post a recipe or tip that i learn!
⚘ i’m a HUGE fan of the horror genre!! admittedly i’m a bit picky sometimes considering how flooded the genre tends to be with not-so-great content, but if you’ve ever got a suggestion, let me know and i’ll look into it and share my thoughts !!
⚘ i’m a selfshipper and highly respect others who selfship as well !! keep living your truth 🫡
this blog is ALWAYS a safe space for the following !!
⚘ fellow neurodivergent people
⚘ queer people
⚘ poc/bipoc
⚘ cripplepunk
⚘ anyone with disabilities (yes, you too)
⚘ systems
hobbies !!
⚘ writing
⚘ roleplaying
⚘ reading
⚘ researching
⚘ baking
⚘ video games (i’m working on my raging issue, i get frustrated easily when i struggle with something 🧍‍♀️)
tv shows !!
⚘ Avatar: The Last Airbender
⚘ The Legend of Korra (still watching 🤫)
⚘ Gravity Falls
⚘ Carmen Sandiego (2019)
⚘ Hannibal (still watching 🤫)
⚘ Harley Quinn (still watching 🤫)
⚘ She-Ra & the Princesses of Power
⚘ MLP: FiM (still watching 🤫)
⚘ MLP: Equestria Girls (still watching 🤫)
⚘ Percy Jackson & the Olympians
⚘ Arcane (still watching 🤫)
⚘ Heartstopper (still watching 🤫)
⚘ Adventure Time (still watching 🤫)
⚘ Fionna & Cake
⚘ Monster High
⚘ Ever After High
⚘ Squid Game (still watching 🤫)
⚘ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)
⚘ Rise of the TMNT (still watching 🤫)
⚘ Kakegurui
⚘ Kakegurui: Twin (still watching 🤫)
⚘ Death Note (still watching 🤫)
⚘ KAGUYA-SAMA: Love is War (still watching 🤫)
⚘ Good Omens 💔💔💔💔💔💔
movies !!
⚘ Silence of the Lambs
⚘ Black Christmas (1974)
⚘ Martin (1977)
⚘ Halloween (1978, 2018, Kills)
⚘ Friday the 13th (1&2)
⚘ The Boy (2016)
⚘ Pearl 💔💔💔💔💔💔
⚘ So I Married an Axe Murderer
⚘ Monster High
⚘ Into/Across the Spiderverse
⚘ Trolls
⚘ Luca
⚘ Five Nights At Freddy’s
⚘ Moana
⚘ The Princess & the Frog
⚘ Encanto
⚘ Anastasia
⚘ Rise of the TMNT: the Movie
⚘ Rise of the Guardians
⚘ The Mitchells vs the Machines
⚘ Megamind
⚘ Puss in Boots + The Last Wish
⚘ Hercules
⚘ The Barbie Movie (2023) 💔💔💔💔💔💔
⚘ Scream (1996)
⚘ House of Wax (2005)
⚘ Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
⚘ SAW (2004)
⚘ Thanksgiving (2023)
⚘ The Addams Family
⚘ Beetlejuice
games !!
⚘ Overwatch 2
⚘ Resident Evil
⚘ Dead By Daylight
⚘ Baldur’s Gate 3
⚘ Minecraft
my tags !!
#marimegaphone — text posts of mine about… well anything :3
#maribabbles — little rants/tangents; also may indicate a longer post
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FtGenderfluid anon from a little ago! Thank you for all your advice. I have a small network of queer friends and I live in a smaller area of Florida. I actually have other queer media I think people might like!
Dead End Paranormal Park (I love how even though Badyah rejected Norma, Norma was still okay)
The Owl House (Sooo much queer representation in this show)
The Mitchells vs the Machines (very subtle but does talk about finding yourself and I love it so much. Katie is very relatable)
The Legend of Korra
Steven Universe
Amphibia (there is only one canon queer and that’s Sasha, though it’s never said explicitly. However it’s an amazing show with an amazing fan base and similar to toh)
Gravity Falls
she-ra reboot
Adventure Time
Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeast
The Dragon Prince
Harley Quinn (on HBO, for mature audiences)
I’m sure there’s a lot more but those are the ones I’ve watched and remembered! Thank you for being a great support on tumblr :)
Thank you for sharing, Anon!
This is also a great list for adults who want to buy queer media for queer youth!
Am absolutely encouraging others to tack onto this list, as this stuff could be even more of a lifeline right now.
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