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that-shamrock-vibe · 7 years

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Movie Review: It (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review two days after the movie came out in the U.K, so if you haven’t yet seen the movie don’t read on.

General Reaction:

Something is seriously wrong with me because the anxiety and nervousness I have had in trying to psyche myself up for seeing this movie has genuinely led me to believe I would have a heart attack while watching it, yet when the end credits started and the lights came up I was actually left feeling very happy with what I had just seen. Yes it was horrific in places and two maybe three scenes in particular I never want to see again which I’ll talk about further down when I talk about the jump-scares but when considering the movie as a whole I even thought those scenes were needed in order to make the parts I loved even better.

I would go so far as to say this is possibly my favourite horror movie, I’ve seen the 1990 miniseries with Tim Curry and I even had to psyche myself up to see that because of the fact I am someone, like Ritchie, who suffers from coulrophobia also known as the fear of clowns. Ever since I was a child I have hated clowns and when I was 12 or 13 I heard a quote that helped me realize why and that is “Beware of people who wear smiles as masks” which is a great life lesson in general but for me at the time when I heard that then thought about my fear of clowns who on the whole have painted on smiles. I think the only clowns that don’t particularly scare or creep me out are The Joker with maybe the exception of Cesar Romero from the 60s series who was made to look like a traditional clown as well as Jack Nicholson’s version because that guy just creeps me out anyway, and also animated clowns don’t scare me because they’re hand-drawn or computer generated so I know they’re not real, live-action clowns there’s an element of realness because they’re really there. It’s not my greatest fear but my greatest fear is the reason I’ll never see Annabelle.

This is actually quite a sophisticated horror movie much like A Nightmare on Elm Street in that it’s not just trying to bring a fear factor it is actually handling hard-hitting real-world issues and Pennywise is on the level of Freddie Kruger in terms of horror movie villains particularly in this iteration, in the 1990 version it felt like he was more an old pervert who had to wear a clown costume whereas here “It” was a performer, not just Pennywise but a Leper, a living painting, exorcist-looking zombie kids, this villain wore many masks and all in the name of him getting what he wanted which I feel is just survival.

1990 vs 2017:

So as I’ve mentioned, I have seen the 1990 miniseries starring Tim Curry. I was born in 1992 so since being very young I knew of the film’s existence but even the DVD cover and posters scared me because despite being a brilliant actor, Curry can be quite terrifying even in roles where it’s just him looking like him. But when it was announced that this more faithful version of the book was coming out I decided it was time to see it just so I could contrast and compare, also two of my friends had spent some time trying to decinsitise me to horror showing me movies like The Exorcist, the Final Destination movies, The Omen, Halloween and then the original It. Also it’s now been about a year since my friends started this mission which has actually been a great education. I’m nearly 25 years old and the only horrors I had seen prior to last year starred Johnny Depp or were musical-horrors.

I like the original It quite a lot, once you know what’s coming in terms of the lackluster jump-scares, because it is still a 1990 miniseries budget, then it is actually a lot of fun and quite funny in places. I haven’t read the original book because I have seen it and it’s the thickest book I’ve ever seen and I barely read novels. However as I mentioned above, this 2017 movie did scare me quite a bit but the scariest part going in was how intrigued I was to see it even though I knew it would scare me.

Characters:

So I’m going to talk about the characters in categories of story-significance and in the order of how much I liked them.

The Losers Club:

This movie may have been called It but as the film closes and the title comes up saying “It Chapter One” the subheading should be “The Losers Club” or “Losers” because the second movie is sub-headed “Pennywise” so will focus on Pennywise and this movie will focuses on the Losers Club.

Beverly Marsh:

The only main girl in the movie and she is the standout of the kids for me and I think a lot of people, I’m a guy and I can say that so I imagine in a similar vein to how Wonder Woman and Belle has spoken to a lot of female fans this year that Beverly will have the same affect particularly for young girls coming of age.

Firstly I couldn’t quite believe just how hard-hitting her solo story was, the school bullying was one thing but the fact they went full-book and tackled the father preying on her was so disturbing and in some ways scarier than a killer clown because while people can dress as clowns and kill people this sort of thing does happen and to show it in a horror movie is very apt.

Her cutting her hair was also a genuine flow because of what was happening and how she felt, although I did see it coming considering in the original she has short hair and her ponytail did look like extensions but again it was a very organic turn and kind of sadistically funny when you consider her hair is the same colour as Pennywise’s so when she was cutting it off and it was going down the plughole I did think Pennywise would somehow emerge from that, it’s a horror I expect everything to scare me.

Her encounter with It though was I think the only one that the miniseries got right, but much like I said Descendants 2 upped and improved what the first movie did, this reboot definitely plussed what the miniseries did from one small explosion in the sink to the bathroom being on it’s period. Which I wouldn’t use as an analogy if not for the fact that this scene symbolizes that exact thing.

But while that wasn’t a direct encounter with an actual horrific figure, her actual solo interaction with Pennywise almost caught me off guard because after she defeated her father and is standing there I realized that the scene in the trailer I thought was Stanley was in fact her...which doesn’t really say a lot for the fact I’m getting a boy and a girl mixed up. But I did like that it didn’t go directly from “Oh no Pennywise has Beverly” to “Oh no Beverly is mysteriously floating” we did actually see her talk with the clown and get to see his dead-lights before she floated.

Also, while she was apparently being wrongly accused of flirting and being sexual with a lot of guys, I did like how she came into her own with using her sexuality, both with distracting the creepy pharmacy clerk and also with her interactions with both Ben and Bill, although with Ben it wasn’t really flirting on her side it was more just being cheeky while Ben was failing at flirting but it does seem like she and Bill have a mutual flirtation going on. It does speak true to the original film where as an adult she kisses almost all of the losers upon their reunion.

Speaking of her adult version, I am very curious to see who they cast as the adult Beverly for the sequel; Annette O’Toole was one of four actors I knew in the original so I will be eagerly awaiting her casting and seeing if she can live up to Sophia Lillis here because while these kids and this cast in general are relatively unknown actors, that works in their favour because it allows them to make their mark and Bev definitely makes her mark.

My final thoughts are about a difference between the miniseries and movie because I can’t quite remember but I’m pretty sure that Bev never confronted her father in the miniseries, and if I’m wrong I apologize, because I don’t think the abuse story was shown in the miniseries. But here not only does she confront him but he dies, it’s not actually confirmed if the blow to the head she delivers to him kills him or if Pennywise kills him as it does seem that message “You Die If You Try” is written in his blood but just her having the inner-strength to confront her father may set her on a different path as an adult in order to potentially make better choices.

Ritchie Tozier:

You can see why Ritchie grows up to be a comedian, which he does in the miniseries but again that could change here. But the writing for Ritchie here is just so funny, way better than the miniseries. Right from the start he just has these witty one-liners and snipes at other characters that 99% of the time hit the mark, as with any movie there’s bound to be a dud every now and again but you forget about them instantly.

As I mentioned before I related to Ritchie in terms of clowns being his biggest fear, I actually related to three of the Losers; Ritchie, Ben and Bill, for different reasons though. Ritchie though had the worst Pennywise encounters in my opinion and yes I say encounters because both his encounters were my two least favourite scenes in the movie; the projector scene and the room full of clown costumes/mannequins. Although I did like his line when the other boys were realizing they had all seen Pennywise that he said “Is it only virgins who can see this thing”, interesting that Beverly didn’t mention seeing Pennywise because up to that point she hadn’t actually seen the clown.

I also think in a way Ritchie could be considered the least focused on because his encounters with Pennywise happened with the other Losers around and we didn’t meet any of his family or adults centering on him like some of the others’ family or the librarian who Ben dealt with. I don’t personally feel he was the least developed as I do think that was Mike because of the way this movie went but I’ll get to him further down.

With considering him as an adult, I am very much hoping they cast someone as comedic as Finn Wolfhard was here. I know the actor is in Stranger Things but I haven’t seen Stranger Things so don’t know about him prior to this but like I said I did really like him here. I don’t really have as much of an interest in who they cast as I do with Beverly and Ben but again he has to match what Finn did. Also Finn Wolfhard gave a much better portrayal of Ritchie than Seth Green did in the original for me.

Ben Hanscom:

Ben was very much the embodiment of me at that age, I’m guessing they’re about 12-13 here and Ben is very chubby as was I. Ritchie and Bill have troubles that resonate with me but Ben both in terms of looks and personality reminds me of me a lot.

The one thing I’m curious about is why the writers decided to give Mike’s main trait to Ben in that they made Ben the researcher of the group whereas in the original that was Mike. It makes more sense for it to be Ben because he was one of half the group to join the Losers during the movie so he had no friends prior and spent a lot of time in the library. I mean yes Mike also joined during the movie and in fact I think was last to do so but Ben strikes me as more of a bookworm here than Mike.

Ben’s encounter with Pennywise was possibly the creepiest one for me because while the headless man chasing him through the library storage maze did amuse me slightly in how he moved but when you heard Pennywise’s voice saying “Oi! Egg Boy!” and Ben turns around to see Pennywise chasing him that did genuinely make me jump.

I also loved the running gag about him liking New Kids on the Block, this movie was set between 1988 and 1989 which is the middle of the band’s original run and I’ve never had any interest in them but I take it from how they’re used in this movie that it’s uncool to like them. I loved the banter he and Beverly had first at the school and then in Ben’s room when she finds the NKOTB poster on the back of his door, quite funny.

Now with regards to Ben’s adult portrayal, in the original that role is taken by the late great John Ritter as Ben has slimmed down and is quite successful as are all the Losers, so for those who know that description are looking to cast someone maybe like John Ritter whereas fans of this movie that just know this movie are looking to cast someone like James Corden. If Corden can pull off an American accent I could see him in the role and it would be a great platform for him as well as a respectful change to the fact that I think Ritter is the only main actor from the miniseries who has sadly passed away, yes Jonathan Brandis who portrayed the younger Bill in the miniseries sadly took his own life about 15 years ago now which is tragic for someone so young but I digress.

Bill Denbrough:

Speaking of Bill he’s next on my list and the third of three Losers who I resonate with, Bill for his stutter because I suffered for a time with a stutter as a kid due to my fear of public speaking as well as being bullied at school.

His Pennywise dealings were simultaneously the rather adult theme of dealing with the death of his younger brother Georgie, which was utilized better here than in the miniseries. For a start, Georgie in the miniseries was only shown at the start meeting Pennywise and that was it, you never see him again. Whereas here he is used as either an illusion or disguise by Pennywise, the first of which is the scene from the trailers which is the main time the movie uses the “You’ll Float Too” theme but also the trailer lies in that they just show “Georgie” angrily shouting “You’ll Float Too!” whereas in the actual movie you see him decaying into an exorcist-like zombie before being destroyed by Pennywise who then shrieks and charges for Bill, I think it was obvious those two scenes were linked by the trailer anyway but seeing it, even knowing it was coming, was still quite haunting.

Also the start of the final confrontation between Pennywise and the Loser’s Club is when Bill finally comes to terms with Georgie’s death because even though “Georgie” has his arm ripped off it’s not really Georgie, we as an audience know it’s not Georgie and are screaming internally at Bill not to get too close because we know something horrific may happen but then after actually saying goodbye to his brother, Bill shoots him in the head which is his way of moving on and possibly a glimmer of hope in actually killing the clown. Really powerfully portrayed and the fact that one line in the middle of the movie where Bill says “Going home scares me more than going into this old decaying house” where they’re sure Pennywise lives is a real turning point for the character because up until then I wasn’t really sold on him, I was still not fully sold on him by the end but more-so after that speech.

Now with him as a leader, I definitely think he had the best motivation for this crusade against Pennywise because he had a personal stake in his demise, but I do not think he fully had either the confidence or respect of the others maybe apart from Mike and Bev. Stanley literally said he hates him which he may have then laughed off but there must’ve been some truth in that, Ben is a love rival for him with Bev and Ritchie I think never respected any sort of hierarchy.

On the subject of the love triangle between him, Beverly and Ben, as I mentioned before it does seem as if Bill and Beverly coupled up at the end of the movie but I do feel there is more to come from that in the sequel because Beverly knows Ben is her secret admirer and he was the one who brought her out of her floating state but Bill seems to be the one she’s chosen. The best thing about this is I don’t think Bill has a clue that Ben likes Beverly or that Ben knows Bill likes Beverly. This is partly what is so great about this movie, this is very honest to how teenage lives are and was a great balance against the horror aspects of the movie.

From my knowledge Bill isn’t really a leader as an adult when the group reunites because Mike is the only one who remembers Pennywise due to staying in Derry while everyone else moves away but again with lessening Mike’s role and making Ben the researcher it could be Ben who’s the de facto leader or Bill could still maintain that leadership role. Jaeden Lieberher is the only actor in this movie credited above Bill Skarsgárd which I feel is because of his award wins for St. Vincent and I do think he was the right for the role, I know Ty Simpkins was considered for the role and I do like him as I’ve seen him in Iron Man 3 and Jurassic World but do not feel he’d fit for this particular role, maybe Eddie.

Eddie Kaspbrak:

Speaking of Eddie, let’s talk about Eddie. I definitely think this was a step-up from the portrayal of the character in the miniseries because while the hypochondriac with the overprotective mother role was still there, this version had him confront his mother about it while he was a kid, whereas in the miniseries he learns about the deception as an adult.

I loved the comedy that came with the hypochondria, while a serious phobia for people it does always provide for great comedy material and here it was both comedic and sensible. Sensible because a lot of what he was saying was actually true; when he freaked out during the projector scene and thought he was having an asthma attack saying that it’s summer and that they should be out having fun rather than dealing with a killer clown. Also when he breaks his arm and Ritchie or Stan are readying to pop it back in, the way he’s just like “Don’t you dare, don’t you dare!” is hilarious. Also either he or Ritchie made the joke saying that Ben was dying because of having that H scar thanks to Henry Bowers which was also funny.

His main encounter with It was It as a leper, which played on the hypochondria but also provided another character besides Pennywise for It to take on. Also Eddie got the double-barrels in his first encounter because he got both the leper and Pennywise and I do think the leper was either trying to lead Eddie into the old decaying house or round to where Pennywise was who was waiting there with his balloon arrow arrangement. Also when the group goes into the house to confront Pennywise the first time, Eddie falls down a hole and breaks his arm only to then see Pennywise emerging from a safe or a box by contorting himself.

When the pharmacist’s daughter, who was also Beverly’s main bully, tells Eddie that all the medication he’s been taking on orders by his mother are actually placebos, that’s very much his world shattering because yes there’s a killer clown out to get him who can also manifest itself as a disease-ridden carcass, but to find out that the one person who is supposed to protect him and care for him up until that point had been deceiving him for all that time must have been such a life-altering moment for him. I did love when he stood up to him and delivered that great line of mispronouncing placebos as gazebos because you could tell the anger was there but at the same time it’s coming from a 12-13 year old kid.

On that note, I don’t know where this leaves Eddie as an adult because he learns about his mother’s deceit as an adult in the miniseries and then has to deal with that because he’s still living with her as an adult. Now in this reboot he knows about the deceit as a child so it remains to be seen where he’ll be as an adult.

I can’t quite predict who any of these adult portrayals could be, maybe apart from James Corden as Ben, but I did like Jack Dylan Grazier in the role, I don’t know his works before this but do know his uncle Brian Grazier as he has produced some good films and TV episodes.

Stan Uris:

Stan was a great example of religion in movies, now as with most horror movies religion plays a massive part; I still remember Regan, being possessed by the demonic spirit, violently pleasuring herself with a cross in what is a hilariously disturbing scene. But also a lot of old-school horrors deal with possession, exorcisms and general religious claptrap. So the fact they not only have religion on display so prominently but a different religion to Christianity or Catholicism is quite nice to see.

His encounter with It was comically creepy because it’s like It guises himself as something from a Tim Burton movie, in this case a distorted painting resembling the Scream. However this did come into play later when It disguised himself as whatever the kid he faced was scared of the most and before the final confrontation scene, It seemed to get hold of Stan and either start biting or sucking his face. This is very important for the sequel as this resonates with Stan as an adult but in the miniseries it’s just the fact that Pennywise almost eats him whereas here it is his own personal fear in quite a traumatic experience which of course leads to Stan saying he hates Bill for putting him through that.

I’m not going to saying who I feel will be good for the adult version of Stan for the pure and simple reason that I don’t know if they’ll stick his story thread as they’re probably changing a lot based on this movie. But for those of us who know either the book and/or miniseries, we know it’s a very meaty and significant role.

Mike Hanlon:

Mike, out of all the Losers, was definitely the least developed in this movie. As mentioned before it’s largely because they gave the reporter role to Ben in this version rather than Mike which throws what they’ll be doing with Mike as an adult out the window but we shall see.

I liked how they played the “race card” with Mike in this movie because he and his family are seemingly the only people of colour in the movie and in the 80s, sadly as with today, that was met with hostility. It has improved overtime but if Luke Cage taught us anything it is that racism still exists in certain neighborhoods.

His encounter with Pennywise was interesting because it was Mike’s greatest fear which was his family’s final moments before they died burning alive, also it’s never confirmed if the house he is talking about is the house Pennywise inhabits, but much like Bill with Georgie to have your dead family members used to strike fear into you is so tragic. Also the fact it’s the first time we see the Losers encountering Pennywise and all we see is distorted silhouette with the glowing yellow eyes was very haunting, and later troubling for me because I spent the night at my friends’ place whom I saw this movie with, as well as a date, and my friends have these two candle holders that have a phosphorescent ball in each one which in the dark and at night look reminiscent of Pennywise’s eyes...the troubling part again is this should’ve freaked me out but didn’t.

Now I have mentioned that I can’t really cast the adult versions of these characters aside from James Corden, but not so much a possibly choice as fan-casting I would love to see Chadwick Boseman portray adult Mike because I do think Chosen Jacobs looks like a pre-teen Chadwick Boseman. I know Boseman has commitments to the MCU right now as Black Panther but I think it would be great casting.

It/Pennywise:

Now from the Losers to the villain of the movie, I loved this character as a villain, more-so than the Tim Curry version. Pennywise here was portrayed in such a way that not only was he quite intelligent but much like Freddie Kruger he was a villain the heroes could try to have a conversation with.

Right from the start when we first meet Pennywise and he interacts with Georgie, not only does Bill Skarsgárd give this rather demonic child-like voice but the way he spoke reminded me slightly of Yoda particularly when he ran introductions “Pennywise, meet Georgie, Georgie, meet Pennywise”. Yes he provided comedy but he was also trying to entice children and Georgie is 7 so how do you talk to a 7 year-old? Like a child.

Now with regard to the jump-scares, the worst one for me was in the projector scene; we’ve seen from the trailers that It takes control of the projector and shows slide after side showing a photo of Bill’s mother turning into Pennywise and then the projector stop-starting showing photos of Pennywise until he disappears, next thing you know a seemingly giant version of the character bursts from the screen. The only humorous takeaway from this is when he emerges he grunts and when he turns to face Stan he grunts, in my head all I was thinking because my mind was trying to protect me by thinking of something I liked and in The Rocky Horror Picture Show in the “Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me” scene when Magenta and Columbia are watching from the screen, the noises they make right before the chorus was similar to this. But this scene itself, I mean seriously Pennywise looks terrifying and larger than life.

When considering Bill Skarsgárd, as I mentioned in my review of Atomic Blonde which Skarsgárd co-starred in I really find him attractive but realizing who he is and who he’ll play I thought I was going to be stuck between the guy I think is attractive and the character he portrays who will give me nightmares but again the fear factor hasn’t lingered after the movie and while I don’t get the “sexy clown” angle because Swedish clowns are still terrifying to me but he himself is rather dishy.

As I said earlier when comparing the two Pennywise portrayals, this version especially epitomized how much of a performer the character is. Almost every time he has an encounter with the kids he’s putting on a show; whether it be artistic visually like his encounters with Mike and Beverly or artistically threatening literally with Stan or being a literal threat like with Ritchie, Ben and again Stan. Him using Georgie as an illusion at first was just that, an illusion, to lull Bill into a susceptible state to then pounce on him. The leper and living painting were very much actual threats as they were forms of It as Pennywise was.

Now this is only the first of two parts and we don’t see It’s true form until the end of the second movie but when Pennywise revealed his dead-light to Beverly by widening his mouth and showing that the light is on the inside with the screams of previous victims calling out, I thought that was both an amazing visual effect and a major improvement thus far to how it looked in the 1990 miniseries which was essentially a giant spider with headlights.

Also, quite clearly I am guessing Bill Skarsgárd did not contort himself to fit into that box only to then reassemble himself and instead it was a professional contortionist body double or again amazing visual effects but just the artistry of how Pennywise entered a scene showcased how much of a performer he is, even when he revealed himself to Beverly in his lair and started dancing before she tried to escape showed that.

One of my friend’s who I saw this movie with has told me numerous times that he once had a dream where he had a conversation with Pennywise which he said was preferable to going to school and this was the Tim Curry version, but I can actually see myself having an intellectual tête-à-tête with Pennywise. When he tried striking a deal with the other Losers to leave and live if they left him Bill, I was genuinely impressed because usually these mass murdering horror villains take no prisoners or leave anyone in their sights alive. It made me all the more excited for the sequel, not only because we find out more about Pennywise’s history but also because the kids will be adults they should be capable of holding a conversation.

As I’ve said, Pennywise is one of my favourite horror movie villains which shows a considerable malfunction in my brain considering clowns are my second greatest fear but he definitely left an impression both minor-league traumatizingly and also impressively.

Bowers Club:

Henry Bowers is an absolute sociopath, I mean seriously this teenager needs to be institutionalized with a straight jacket and very tight straps constricting him. I was surprised the movie went so far as to show Henry starting to carve his name into Ben’s stomach. Even his cronies were shocked by that yet he was adamant in doing that but it wasn’t a controlled adamant facade, it was genuinely a child wanting control. Again along with the changes from the miniseries; Pennywise didn’t age-up Henry and 27 years later recruited him as a footsoldier, he instead was recruited by Pennywise getting him to kill his own abusive father which seemed to make something in his brain snap and got him to go after the Losers, particularly Mike. Bowers seemed to show particular hatred towards Mike and Ben but hated all the Losers regardless. I am also quite shocked his role in the movie ended by him falling down the well and seemingly dying, if they did somehow bring him back for the sequel I imagine Pennywise will have a hand in it but the guy ricocheted off the walls during the drop so it’s almost certain he’s dead or critically injured.

I found his cronies to be bland at best, the most interesting for me was Patrick who falls victim to Pennywise. The others just seemed like every other stereotypical one-dimensional Stephen King created bad boy created. including the ones from the miniseries. It’ll be interesting to see if the surviving members return for the sequel to avenge their fallen leader or if they just disappear.

Adults of Derry:

I was fascinated by the grotesque and unsavory portrayal of pretty much every adult in Derry. It will be interesting to know if this is just how we’re seeing them through the eyes of the kids or if this is how they actually are but I have said before that if Stephen King has taught me anything it’s that if/when I get the chance to go to America I’m avoiding Maine, because I doubt I’ll find Storybrooke around there.

Beverly’s father, the pharmacist and Eddie’s mother especially are three prime examples of how grotesque this town is. The fact the pharmacist is basically a seedy pervert towards Beverly is quite creepy although he could just be a seedy individual the perversion could just be read into. Beverly’s father on the other hand met a very deserving end and I always give credit to actors who portray hateful characters because they’re probably nice people in real life so props to Stephen Bogaert for portraying such a grotesque individual. Eddie’s mother is both grotesque to look at and has a very unhealthy purse-string attachment to her son where she would go so far as to let Eddie grow up feeding his hypochondria.

Other parents like the fathers of Bill, Bowers and Stan weren’t shown as bad people to the same degree as the other three were; Bill’s father was trying to make his son come to terms with the death of his other son, Stan’s father’s greatest crime is not being encouraging enough and Bowers’ dad I’m guessing knew about his son’s antisocial behaviour and yes went about it the one way by using the gun against his son but was just trying to put his son on the right path.

Other adults like the librarian and Mike’s uncle weren’t good people but also weren’t terrible people either. I’d just be fascinated to know if when the kids are adults and return to Derry if the adults are still shown in the same light.

My Cinema Experience:

So I know I often talk about my cinema experiences but I only do it when there’s reason to and my first horror cinematic experience is very much reason to. Now of course a recurring theme throughout the movie are the red balloons Pennywise carries around either singularly or as part of a performance piece. As the movie started and the opening company logos rolled, there is a figure in a yellow raincoat and hood with a red balloon facing the screen as the balloon floats there reminiscent of Georgie. The disturbing part isn’t that this figure appears in the cinema screen at various points of the movie it is that when we get a look at him in the foyer he’s a rather short old man...creepy as hell! Also on a side-note, I’ve had “99 Luftballons” in my head all day not just because when I woke up this morning a red balloon my friend acquired from the cinema was left floating next to the sofa I was sleeping on.

Overall I rate this movie a strong 9/10, there were some acting choices I wish weren’t made because they almost pulled focus from the actual brilliance in the movie but this is not only my favourite horror movie but a surprising favoured movie from 2017.

So that’s my review of It, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Movie Reviews and other posts.

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gokinjeespot · 4 years

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off the rack #1291

Monday, December 9, 2019

Thank Thor for Santa's little helper. We're about as ready for Christmas as I'll ever be. Penny is leaving soon for her annual drive up north to visit family and friends while I make sure all the lights I strung don't burn down the house. I finally got around to watching the animated feature "Big Hero 6" last night and was delighted by it.

Superman Up In The Sky #6 - Tom King (writer) Andy Kubert (pencils) Sandra Hope (inks) Brad Anderson (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). Oh man, this story has the most inept villain ever. We find out why Alice was kidnapped by an alien. I liked the trip back to Earth. Kids say the darnedest things.

Daredevil #14 - Chip Zdarsky (writer) Marco Checchetto & Francesco Mobili (art) Nolan Woodard (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Detective Cole North is conflicted after talking about the law over coffee with Matt. Meanwhile the Police Commissioner has ordered his cops not to go into Hell's Kitchen, leading to rampant crime. It's time for the return of Daredevil and Elektra is going to be tagging along. This is going to be good.

Young Justice #11 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) John Timms (art) Gabe Eltaeb (colours) Wes Abbott (letters). The team is back in their home dimension and they meet Naomi for the first time. Great time for a sleepover eh. Things go south when Superboy gets punked by the S.T.A.R. Labs lady. I can't wait to see what Brian Bendis does with Mike Grell's Warlord.

Archie #709 - Nick Spencer & Mariko Tamaki (writers) Sandy Jarrell (artist) Matt Herms (colours) Jack Morelli (letters). The 5-part story of Archie's romance with Sabrina comes to an end. I am happy with the outcome.

Savage Avengers #8 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Patch Zircher (art) Java Tartaglia (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). I love the clash of egos in this issue. Conan dines with Doom and Stephen crashes dinner. The three then go off looking for Kulan Gath. Hey, how else is the bad guy supposed to get his all powerful amulet back? I'm guessing it's another Doombot that runs afoul of the ancient wizard because heaven forbid they kill Doctor Doom again. Don't forget Doom died outside the UN in NYC and got shot dead by Taskmaster.

Ironheart #12 - Eve L. Ewing (writer) Luciano Vecchio (art) Geoffo (layouts) Matt Milla (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). The good guys beat the bad guys and Wakanda is saved. The End. I've followed Riri Williams since she was first created by Brian Michael Bendis and I am sad that she will no longer have her own book on the racks. The crew that put out these twelve issues did Brian proud.

Web of the Black Widow #4 - Jody Houser (writer) Stephen Mooney (art) Triona Farrell (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). It's a wounded Widow that opens this issue and we find out how that happens. Clint/Hawkeye the hothead acts before he has all the facts and Natasha pays the price. She winds up dead to rights and possibly dead period. I know she'll save herself and I want to see how she does it.

Batman #84 - Tom King (writer) Jorge Fornes (art) Jordie Bellaire (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). There are a mind boggling number of flashbacks this issue trying to explain what the ding dong heck is going on. It all leads to the confrontation of father and son with Thomas and Bruce Wayne fighting for the fate of Batman. I don't think everything is going to change after Tom King leaves this book but man, is he ever stirring the pot.

The Amazing Spider-Man #35 - Nick Spencer (writer) Oscar Bazaldua (art) Steve Firchow (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). This is the story where Doctor Doom was assassinated in front of the UN. Now the real Doctor Doom is pissed and has shut down New York City until the assassin is brought to him. Spider-Man finds the culprit with the help of his sister Theresa. They try to trick Victor in the end but he doesn't fall for it. It's a classic cliffhanger ending.

Doctor Doom #3 - Christopher Cantwell (writer) Salvador Larroca (art) Guru-eFX (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). So this Doc Doom is different from the one in The Amazing Spider-Man #35 even though they were both shot to start a war between Latveria and Symkaria. This is the real one. I really liked how Victor makes Mephisto his whipping boy. The surprise ending made me groan. And that's not to mention the inconsistency between panels 2 and 4 on page one. Very bad editing.

Marauders #3 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Michele Bandini (pencils) Michele Bandini & Elisabetta D'Amico (inks) Federico Blee (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This X-book is for fans of political intrigue. The Black King, Sebastian Shaw inducts his resurrected son Shinobi into the Hellfire Club. Consider this X-Men: Game of Thrones. This is a lot more interesting than watching Kitty sail around rescuing other mutants.

Lois Lane #6 - Greg Rucka (writer) Mike Perkins (art) Gabe Eltaeb (colours) Simon Bowland (letters). Wow if the funeral for (spoiler alert) Alfred is as well done as this funeral for Lois's father it will be well worth the read. Lois has come a long way since she first appeared in comic books.

Annihilation - Scourge Fantastic Four #1 - Christos Gage (writer) Diego Olortegui (pencils) Juan Vlasco, Cam Smith & Scott Hanna (inks) Erick Arciniega (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). The team goes to the Negative Zone to help fight the scourge from the Cancerverse and encounter the Ftaghn Four, infected versions of themselves. I knew it was a ftaghn bad idea to read these one shots. The art was nice though.

20XX #1 - Jonathan Luna & Lauren Keely (writers) Jonathan Luna (art & letters). This new black & white book takes place in a future where a deadly virus either kills you or gives you special mind control powers if you survive. Survivors are designated Syms and are monitored by the government like sex offenders. It is illegal to use your powers so Syms have to be careful. Meria Bree Moore is a recent Sym and this is her story. I have yet to be disappointed by anything Jonathan Luna has done and this is no exception. Rest assured that I will want to read the rest of this story.

Black Cat #7 - Jed MacKay (writer) Travel Foreman (art) Brian Reber (colours) Ferran Delgado (letters). This is an excellent issue where Felicia rescues the Fox from the clutches of Odessa. Unfortunately the inconsistent art was very distracting. They should have found an inker to render Travel's pencils.

Batman Universe #6 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Nick Derington (art) Dave Stewart (colours) A Larger World's Troy Peteri (letters). I liked how Batman used deductive reasoning to get out of his white prison. It could have been an uh-oh situation when Vandal Savage gets his hands on the White Power Ring but he was set up to fail quite cleverly. I've noticed that there's always an "AGH" in every comic book that Brian writes and when Bruce Wayne asks the Riddler where Vandal Savage, AKA Vandar Adg is I had to say "har".

Conan Serpent War #1 - Jim Zub (writer) Scot Eaton (pencils) Scott Hanna (inks) Frank D'Armata (colours) Vanesa R. Del Rey (art: James Allison sequence) Jean-Francois Beaulieu (colours: James Allison sequence) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). Conan must face the serpent god Set but this time he's going to be teamed up with other heroes. There's Moon Knight, Solomon Kane and Dark Agnes (because another company has the rights to Red Sonja I'm sure). Jim writes in a style similar to Robert E. Howard so this was an enjoyable read. The art isn't bad and I liked the homage to Barry Smith with Conan's horned helmet and necklace. Let's see how many times the Cimmerian exclaims "by Crom" in this story.

Thor: The Worthy #1 - This one-shot would be right at home on the racks in the nineteen seventies. There are three tales of others who have been deemed worthy of wielding the hammer.

"Beyond the Field We Know…" by Walt Simonson (writer) Mike Hawthorne (pencils) Sal Buscema (inks) Tamra Bonvillain (colours) & John Workman (letters) has Beta Ray Bill teamed up with the Lady Sif to fight a rock troll. I forgot that those two were romantically linked in the past.

"Hearts of Stone, Feet of Clay" by Tom DeFalco (writer) Ron Frenz (plot & pencils) Keith Williams (inks) Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) & VC's Clayton Cowles (letters) features Eric Masterson as Thunderstrike versus the Grey Gargoyle. This tale was cheesy with the inclusion of the police strike force Code: Blue. They tried to give it a modern twist by having a lesbian couple in the story.

And finally "Rules of Reflection" by Kathryn Immonen (writer) Tom Reilly (art) Chris O'Halloran (colours) & VC's Clayton Cowles (letters) sees the Lady Sif figuring out that the new female Thor is really Jane Foster. It's in the last words Sif says to Thor in the last panel of the second to last page. Har.

X-Men #3 - Jonathan Hickman (writer) Leinil Francis Yu (pencils) Gerry Alanguilan & Leinil Francis Yu (inks) Sunny Gho & Rain Beredo (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). I've been waiting for new super villains to show up to challenge the X-Men and this issue delivers. Meet the not so helpless little old ladies of Hordeculture, average age 71. Agrochemist Augusta Bromes, bioengineer Opal Vetiver, geneticist Lily Leymus and botanical engineer Edith Scutch. They want to return planet earth to it's pristine Garden of Eden condition by eliminating most of humanity. I like them.

Annihilation - Scourge Nova #1 - Matthew Rosenberg (writer) Ibraim Roberson (art) Carlos Lopez (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This was better than the FF one-shot that hit the racks at the same time. I got a few chuckles catching up with Richard Rider. You don't even have to know anything about this cosmic super hero because the first three pages explain his entire existence up to this point. My enjoyment of this made me want to check out the Silver Surfer and Beta Ray Bill one-shots that will hit the racks December 11.

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ongames · 7 years

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Here's Everything You Need To Know About Fat Sex Week

Sex Heroes is an ongoing HuffPost Q&A series by Voices Editorial Director Noah Michelson that explores the lives and experiences of individuals who are challenging, and thereby changing, mainstream culture’s understanding of sex and sexuality.

Bevin Branlandingham wants to change the way we think about bodies, beauty and... banging.

The 38-year-old self-described “queer fat femme,” who owns a blog of the same name where she “chronicle the relentless pursuit of her joy,” writes about body liberation, travel, plus size fashion, sexuality, relationships, spirituality, authenticity and sex. Fat sex to be exact.

In fact, Branlandingham is the creator of Fat Sex Week, an eight-day (”Fat Sex Week was obviously fatter than a regular week,” she said) blog series dedicated to sex, love and relationships for fat people and those who appreciate them.

I recently chatted with the writer, emcee, drag, burlesque and comedy performer about proudly identifying as fat, the difference between fat sex and not-fat sex, what we can expect from Fat Sex Week XXL, the upcoming follow up to Fat Sex Week, and more.

The Huffington Post: How did you come to define yourself as “queer, fat and femme”? Bevin Branlandingham: I kind of came out as all of those things at the same time. I fell in with the right crowd and I realized I had these new words to describe who I was and that was my point of liberation. That’s why still to this day my blog is called Queer Fat Femme and I really use that moniker as an empowerment tool to talk about a life lived fabulously at the nexus of these oppressed identities.

You use the term “fat” as opposed to other terms that people might consider more “politically correct.” Why do you prefer that specific term? A lot of people who are fat don’t use the term. I’ll actually use all of the labels because it’s fun to have different ways of describing your body but I think “fat” is the most important to me because I think it’s the most stigmatized, and so reclaiming that is super empowering. Really, just being in my body and owning my body [is empowering]. I had a pretty significant weight loss — I call it a non-consensual weight loss because I didn’t intend to lose weight. I was addressing chronic inflammation and chronic disease in my body and I ended up losing a lot of weight. But I was still fat — that was the thing — I got a lot of art out of that because I was talking through the shift in my body and how people were interacting with that. It feels like the important thing is that I’m still owning my body and how I describe it and how I own it and I wasn’t “not fat” — you lose weight when you’re fat and you’re still fat… that happens all the time.

Tell me about Fat Sex Week. I’ve done a few different sex weeks — I’ve done a fat sex week and a femme sex week. Because I had multiple ideas around fat sex I think I just thought, Oh, I’ll just do a week. As a blogger doing a week of things is fun: it gives me a writing prompt and then I can just farm content from my friends’ too. The first fat sex week was just like that — I had a bunch of stuff to talk about and share with my readers. The next fat sex week is called Fat Sex Week XXL as an homage to the movie “Magic Mike XXL,” which was much better than the original.

I have a friend who loves “Magic Mike” and he says the same thing but I have a really hard time believing either of those films are very good. Am I’m wrong? Do I need to see them? [Those films involve] amazing performances of masculinity. It involves gender performance all the way. It’s easier for [mainstream viewers] because it’s cisgender men but there is just so much gender performance happening. I feel like that’s where the actors are coming from — even if they don’t know it. It’s like a drag show.

OK. OK. I’ll consider watching them but back to Fat Sex Week… It’s a series of blog posts. I do some interviews. I’m always trying to curate diverse expressions of fat sexuality, so I find interesting people and things and then find interesting ways to tell those stories. My friend Substania Jones does an amazing series, called “The Adipositivity Project,” that involves taking pictures of fat people’s bodies and she’s been doing it for 10 years. Thinking about body liberation 10 years ago — it was a really different landscape. I started out doing this work in 2002 and I just didn’t think it would come this far so fast. It’s really impressive. What’s great about Substansia’s series is that it really just shows fat people who are loved and who have partners or who have sexual partners and it’s permission-giving for fat sexuality. I really wanted to highlight that so I interviewed a couple who were featured in this year’s Valentine’s series. Another thing I’m doing is there’s a new sex toy that’s an “[Female to Male] masturbator” — basically it’s made for F to M bodies and I’m having a fat F to M person review it for my blog for fat sex week.

"I don’t want somebody to want me because I’m fat and I don’t want someone to want me in spite of being fat. I want someone who sees in the whole picture and thinks I’m hot."

Maybe this is a dumb question but is Fat Sex Week only for people who identify as fat? My blog is for everybody. That’s one of the best things about being a blogger: I know I’m probably the weirdest person a lot of people know, whether they’ve ever met me in person or not. I give people a view of the world that they don’t otherwise have access to. I think that humanizes people and I hope that makes a difference and has some kind of social impact. For Fat Sex Week, I always aim it at other fat people who want to have better sex but it’s also helpful to show people who are not fat that fat people are sexual and deserve sex and all bodies are deserving of sex just as they are. The idea is to do a little bit of activism but also to present some really interesting facets of fat sexuality.

What are some of the things that you concentrate on? What’s different about “fat sex” when compared to “not-fat sex”? There’s the rub, right? There’s some acknowledgement that things are different to have sex in a fat body. I don’t think that’s necessarily a negative thing and sometimes people think that having accommodations or doing things differently than what straight cis thin people do is like somehow bad because it’s different. Frankly, I think that queer sex is more interesting than straight sex because there’s more variety — there’s nothing that’s off-limits. You just do what feels good. It’s not about procreation, which is just so limiting because of the “penis and vagina end game.”

Do you consider fat sex to be queer sex? I know too many normal straight fat people to say that [laughs] but fat sex is definitely very much part of queer sex and I think that even heterosexual people can be queer and can have queer sex. What we’re really talking about here is this very complex venn diagram [overlapping queer sex and fat sex] because if you’re sexually liberated or “weird,” that’s definitely queer — even if it’s happening in a cisgender heterosexual way. Even then, fat sex is different because different positions work better. For example, if you’re two people in a fat relationship and you both have vulvas and you both want penetration, you’re going to need a different size toy to do a double penetration situation between the two of you than you’d need for two thin people trying to accomplish the same thing. You just need more length. So there are just differences that are necessary but the approach to having good quality fat sex is the same as the approach to having any good quality sex: being open to adapting and creating in the way that creates the most pleasure for everyone involved.

Is it O for a not-fat person to use the term “fat” to describe other people or identities? Great question. I think you need to be mindful of your audience. Understanding that “fat” is a term that is often used for empowerment purposes — you want to listen to your cues. Someone who knows me for even 20 minutes is going to know that I identify as “fat.” That’s just so much a part of who I am. You don’t want to call someone “fat” who hasn’t destigmatized that word for themselves. If you’re working on behalf of body liberation and you’re saying things and you’re confronting things and you’re talking about “fat” from an empowered place, that’s OK. But if you’re just saying “fat people yadda yards” and you’re not using it in that empowered way, then I would say you don’t get a pass on that. It’s like straight people using the word “queer”: it’s more mainstream than ever before but you also need to be careful about how you’re using it, in what context and who you’re talking to when using it.

I was reading something you wrote that really intrigued me about “fat appreciators” or people who are admirers of fat people and the complex configuration of emotions that can exist when you’re on the receiving end of that appreciation. I’d love to talk a little bit more about that and can you also tell me what’s your preferred term for someone who is attracted to or appreciates fat people sexually and/or romantically? I don’t have a preferred term yet — I haven’t settled on one — but I do really like the concept of “fat appreciation.” There’s so much fat fetishizing that happens. Any of my fat friends who are interested in having sex with cisgender men who are on Tinder will tell me how much bullshit they have to put up with because of the way in which many men treat their bodies or talk about their bodies — there’s a lot of not seeing [my friends] as human because it’s all mixed up with fatphobia and fat loathing and then because they find fat women attractive, it comes out in this super gross objectifying way. Some people like to be objectified and that’s totally cool but for me, it’s complex. I don’t want somebody to want me because I’m fat and I don’t want someone to want me in spite of being fat. I want someone who sees in the whole picture and thinks I’m hot. I want to acknowledge the struggle that happens for people who appreciate fat bodies and who are attracted to fat bodies in a fatphobic society while also recognizing I’m a person who is oppressed in our fat phobic society and therefore have more oppression than them. It’s not the Oppression Olympics but let’s eradicate fatphobia first and foremost because fat people are worthy of the full experience of humanity and sexuality. And then we can deal with the people who feel like they have some stigma because they’re attracted to fat people. It all just stems from fatphobia.

What is the biggest misconception about fat sex? That fat people are not fuckable. I think that fat people are wildly fuckable.

What do you want people to take away from your work? I want people to know that they are worthy of love exactly as they are. There’s nothing that they have to change about themselves to be worthy of love. I focus on issues that important to me but ultimately what I want to do is heal. I think that we’re stuck in this feedback loop that’s created by our media, our society and our system in America — and in our world — which is the idea that we’re not enough, so we need to buy stuff to feel like we’re enough but we’re never enough and it’s a constant feedback loop where we pay money to corporations who pay money to the media to sell stuff to us so that we pay them money. I want people to feel liberated from that and know they’re worthy. With Fat Sex Week, if I can empower one person to feel more confident and to feel more entitled to their own sexuality and to feel open to trying new things or exploring something new and interesting with their bodies or just feeling more confident to be in the world as a fat person or as a person with any other difference — that’s exactly what I want to happen. I just want people to feel good in their bodies — because we deserve it.

For more from Bevin Branlandingham, including her upcoming Fat Sex Week XXL, visit her site, Queer Fat Femme.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Is there a sex hero you think deserves to be covered on The Huffington Post? Send an email to Noah Michelson.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Here's Everything You Need To Know About Fat Sex Week published first on http://ift.tt/2lnpciY

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yes-dal456 · 7 years

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Here's Everything You Need To Know About Fat Sex Week

Bevin Branlandingham wants to change the way we think about bodies, beauty and... banging.

"I don’t want somebody to want me because I’m fat and I don’t want someone to want me in spite of being fat. I want someone who sees in the whole picture and thinks I’m hot."

Is it OK for a not-fat person to use the term “fat” to describe other people or identities? Great question. I think you need to be mindful of your audience. Understanding that “fat” is a term that is often used for empowerment purposes — you want to listen to your cues. Someone who knows me for even 20 minutes is going to know that I identify as “fat.” That’s just so much a part of who I am. You don’t want to call someone “fat” who hasn’t destigmatized that word for themselves. If you’re working on behalf of body liberation and you’re saying things and you’re confronting things and you’re talking about “fat” from an empowered place, that’s OK. But if you’re just saying “fat people yadda yadda” and you’re not using it in that empowered way, then I would say you don’t get a pass on that. It’s like straight people using the word “queer”: it’s more mainstream than ever before but you also need to be careful about how you’re using it, in what context and who you’re talking to when using it.

What is the biggest misconception about fat sex? That fat people are not fuckable. I think that fat people are wildly fuckable.

For more from Bevin Branlandingham, including her upcoming Fat Sex Week XXL, visit her site, Queer Fat Femme.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Is there a sex hero you think deserves to be covered on The Huffington Post? Send an email to Noah Michelson.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from http://ift.tt/2od6Tze from Blogger http://ift.tt/2o2h9NB

#http://www.happiness2arab.tk/2017/03/heres-everything-you-need-to-know-about.html

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imreviewblog · 7 years

Text

Here's Everything You Need To Know About Fat Sex Week

Bevin Branlandingham wants to change the way we think about bodies, beauty and... banging.

"I don’t want somebody to want me because I’m fat and I don’t want someone to want me in spite of being fat. I want someone who sees in the whole picture and thinks I’m hot."

What is the biggest misconception about fat sex? That fat people are not fuckable. I think that fat people are wildly fuckable.

For more from Bevin Branlandingham, including her upcoming Fat Sex Week XXL, visit her site, Queer Fat Femme.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Is there a sex hero you think deserves to be covered on The Huffington Post? Send an email to Noah Michelson.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from Healthy Living - The Huffington Post http://huff.to/2o1ZDt3

#Healthy Living - The Huffington Post

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