#i enjoyed the first movie tbh. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

skrunksthatwunk · 10 months

Text

ok so. kiwami 2. rooftop scene. the ending. it's a bit of a clusterfuck but i wanna talk about one detail, a problem they bring to your attention by Fucking. Talking About Her.

haruka is watching all of this unfold.

[this post is like 4.5k words long + pretty critical + has spoilers for kiwami and kiwami 2, and really minor/vague ones for a couple others. they're not that bad though, trust me (and i added a warning in the one place it is major)]

ALSO CONTENT WARNING i'm gonna talk about kiryu's passive suicidality a good amount in this one, so stay away from this if you think that might affect you negatively/you'd be better off skipping it. i'll also make a tl;dr (which i will highlight in red) at the very end if you really wanna know what my point is that will exclude those elements <3. i am also going to use a lot of choice-based language in regards to kiryu's contemplation of suicide because i think it's the lens through which the games treat the topic, but i personally don't find it a productive or realistic way to look at suicide or suicidal ideation at all. someone dying by suicide absolutely does not mean they don't care about their loved ones enough to fight on or whatever. i love you, and proceed with caution on this one.

(also i'm using the kiwamis as my point of reference because i uh. don't have a ps2? those are the games that i played, and though the differences are likely slight, i wanna be clear about that. also,, ignore the watermark on these screenshots,, i didn't notice them and i'm not retaking them. we're all gonna have to settle for youtube cutscene comps for now xoxo)

first, we have to talk about the ending of the first game.

[note: i am Really Really Confident kiryu has a conversation earlier in the game about his going to jail in nishiki's stead being him running away and choosing not to resist his two options (go to jail or let nishiki go to jail) and define his own path, fighting his way against fate to make it happen. part of why i'm so confident it exists is because it made such an impression on me at the time. it's pretty important to my interpretation of things but i also can't find it for the life of me, so uh. sorry ✌️ i really tried. this post's takes/analysis will be dependent on this scene existing, so keep that in mind. if anyone knows where to find the scene/screenshots of it, lmk and i'll add a follow-up with it]

kiwami stuff

so as she's dying, yumi tells haruka this:

that she may be dying (painfully, and right as she's getting everything she wanted), but she doesn't regret it, because at least she did something rather than running away from it all. that you shouldn't run away, ever.

shortly thereafter, when the police find kiryu and haruka, this exchange happens between him and date. here's the play by play:

date tells kiryu he can get him out of trouble with this, and that if he doesn't, he'll get life in prison; kiryu declines his help:

kiryu is so devastated (understandably) by the back to back losses of the three people closest to him that he resigns himself to life in prison, and the death-in-effect that would be. he would prefer to waste away rather than struggle through a life without them. prison was monotonous and isolating, but coming back after a decade was overwhelming, and coming back to everything being so warped and twisted, and then losing the corrupted scraps he had anyway, well. he wants to go back to sleep. he doesn't want to be in a world where everything's the same except he's on his own. better to return to safety, to die slowly in a hell he knows well than weather a new one where he has control and agency, and thus one where he has the ability to fail and to lose anything at any time. he explains to date that that loss is why he can accept his death:

date shakes him and asks him if there's really nothing left for him, no reason to keep living at all:

then echoes yumi's advice to haruka:

which makes an impression on kiryu:

date gives him a reason to live in the form of haruka, saying she'll be on her own again if he goes to jail. he hijacks kiryu's tragic protector complex to keep him alive, because she needs him, and because she's someone precious to him:

after the dust has cleared,

kiryu and date also have this exchange, where date tells him to stay away from the cops (and presumably arrest and a return to prison, the aforementioned fate akin to death), and kiryu cites haruka as his reason to stay away, one he holds to with no uncertainty (showing again that he's accepted date's logic, that his reason to keep living even when it's incredibly difficult is to care for the more vulnerable haruka). given the weight of the consequences, to me, it feels like date's telling him not to be alone with his thoughts or something. it's almost frightening:

so, what's our takeaway from kiwami?

kiryu lost everything and hit rock bottom, but he chose to fight, and to live life on his own terms, even when it got difficult. that's the narrative life lesson he had to learn to avoid repeating the events of 1995. he made that choice for haruka's sake. it's seen as growth.

and without him, haruka would've just returned to the orphanage (assuming she could make it back to sunflower at all) with no one who knew or understood what she had been through, no one to mourn with her, and no one to give her the attention, care, and protection she needs. kiryu knows what it's like to be an orphan with a limited parental figure who only checks in every so often (kazama, "aunt" yumi), and what someone will do for attention/affection from that person (via both himself and nishiki swearing up, climbing the ranks, etc. arguably haruka coming to kamurocho by herself to find "mizuki" is similar), and what it's like to lose them anyway (again, kazama, yumi). their situations parallel each others' somewhat, and that binds them further. and after losing everyone (which he blames himself for to some extent, as one can probably assume from this and 2, and something key to his arc in later games), he chooses to protect her. and this time, he won't fail. at least partially because failing would hurt him, too. he'd have nothing left again.

okay. now we get to kiwami 2.

if you forgot, the context is basically:

everybody's fighting on the roof of a building which i'm sure will not be a running theme or anything as the series goes on

there's a bomb that's about to go off and they don't know how to/can't defuse it

ryuji shot the twist villain to death, but took fatal hits to do so

sayama's like hey!! let's get out of here!!! and kiryu and ryuji are like nooo we have to settle this oughh it's punchin time and they stick her on an elevator and send her down so she doesn't have to watch

ryuji loses. sayama returns, they have a cute sibling heart to heart, and ryuji dies in her arms. sad

kiryu is in rough shape as well, and there's like 2 minutes left on the bomb's timer

here's the scene itself:

sayama tells kiryu they have to run, and kiryu says he can't. the gist is "let's run!" "you go without me" "i'm not leaving you!" "i'm in no condition to run" "i'll carry you then!!" sayama: *sees how fucked up kiryu is, realizes he's Going To Die Anyway* "ok, then i'm staying with you!" and then further bickering about that, before they give up and make out (as one does i guess)

date (he's here now) yells this at them from a helicopter:

before someone else in the helicopter tells date this:

we get this shot of haruka calling out to kiryu as the helicopter swerves away:

and kiryu and sayama have this exchange about haruka where they say they let her down, but that she'll understand:

then they hug and the bomb ticks to zero right when the credits hit. in post credits it's revealed that the twist villain defused the bomb when they weren't looking, betraying his co-villain for reasons i truthfully do not remember and am unwilling to look up. it's not about that right now.

so, how does this scene interact with the ending of the previous game?

the short answer is "badly <3" but here's the long answer:

it's about choices.

the thing about fiction is that anything you want to have happen, as a writer, can happen. it may not be effective, internally consistent, or logical, but you can write it regardless. audiences suspend their disbelief for the sake of engaging fully with your fiction, but everyone has a threshold past which they will stop being engaged in a story and either become uninvested or annoyed. writers usually have lines they're unwilling to cross as well. but in almost every story, there's at least a couple of places where they stretch reality a little to make the narrative they want happen. this is not a bad thing at all. that's how stories get told.

now, i'm gonna be real with you. i don't care about how feasible plots are like 95% of the time. it's not something i think about much, nor is it something i prioritize. i am a very character-centric media consumer, so if world building and/or plot are a bit stale or contrived, that doesn't really bother me much so long as i'm invested in the characters involved. some people can't stand plot holes or the ways musicals burst into song or whatever, and that's fine for them. but it's not something i tend to find that all that important.

this is all to say that i have a sorta affection for rgg's flavor of bullshit pulling. and it is a powerful flavor, maybe even an acquired taste, but i can and do rock with it so long as it doesn't damage the characters too much. this is why i'm not making a lengthy post howling into the void about joji kazama or the second joon-gi han or how many secret relatives there are. those things are silly and endearing and a clumsy yet heartfelt part of a series i care about very deeply. i'll joke about it, but i don't consider it much of a flaw. it's more like personality. flaws are texture, and they help a piece's identity. point is i am very, very willing and able to suspend my disbelief for these games in exchange for a good time, particularly via good characters.

(if you want another example of where i draw the line from within rgg, the answer's the YAKUZA 4 SPOILERS INCOMING rubber bullets twist, because i think 1) it's actively horrifically stupid (especially retconning a scene we SAW HAPPEN. WE SAW BLOOD ON EACH IMPACT, AND RUBBER BULLETS DON'T OFTEN BREAK SKIN THAT DEEPLY (THEIR DAMAGE IS MORE PERCUSSIVE THAN PENETRATIVE). THESE EVENTS HAPPEN IN THE SAME GAME YOU DON'T HAVE TO RETCON IT JUST REWRITE IT. OR DON'T SHOW THE HIT AT ALL SO THERE'S MORE PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY. DON'T DO THIS JUST TO HYPE UP YOUR SHITTY VILLAIN NO ONE CARES ABOUT. and 2) (a bit more importantly) i think it actively removes saejima's primary internal conflict for that game, that being his intense guilt over the 18 murders he thinks he committed, one i was invested and interested in. but this isn't a rubber bullets post.)

characters in this series walk off a lot of life threatening injuries. they survive miraculously, they escape in the nick of time, and they pull through in the end. kiryu still somehow hasn't killed anyone. almost every game in his saga ends with an "is kiryu gonna make it out this time?!?" shortly followed by a "yeah lol. lmao" postcredits reveal. kiryu fucking punches a marble statue into dust in the first game. having a story that asks you to suspend your disbelief so much and so often means that when a decision is made, it's not the writers saying, "well, this would have to happen so we are obligated/forced to write it happening" so much as "we wanted this to happen for some reason(s)," because you already know that they're not guided solely by logic. again, this is true of all writers, it's just amplified in stories like these because they've already given you so many hard mode suspension of disbelief moments (they've broken you in like leather, yeah? or like how obvious internet scams allow for self selection by being so obvious that only the most vulnerable people would fall for them. they curate an audience willing to play along with their bullshit flavor so they can tell a story that's more likely to satisfy that audience. in a good way, in a fun way! mass appeal is overrated). there is not much limit to what this series is willing to try and sell you.

so when ryuji takes lethal damage taking out the big bad, that's a choice. when he doesn't die immediately, that's a choice. when ryuji and kiryu send sayama away in the soon-to-be-forgotten elevator so they can settle this like men or whatever despite the literal actual bomb about to go off, that's a choice. when sayama comes back, that's a choice. when ryuji does die, that's a choice. when kiryu determines that he can't escape in time, that's a choice. when sayama is unwilling to leave him, that's a choice. when she says she'll carry him out and there's an elevator right fucking there and then she's like never mind i guess i won't anymore we're dying together right now kiryu like they're not gonna even try?? wouldn't distancing themselves from the blast give themselves a better shot, something that's super possible given the 2 minutes they have with that elevator??? sayama you met him like a week and a half ago why are you ready to die with him that's not a plot hole i just think that's kinda strange whatever anyway, that's a choice. when kiryu stops arguing with her so they can kiss (next to her brother's corpse), that's a choice. when date shows up, that's a choice. when the helicopter can't save them because the bomb was going to go off too soon, that's a choice. when they put haruka in that helicopter and take her away, let her only impact be reminding kiryu and sayama that they can't help her, that's a choice. when they spend their last moments talking as if they're already dead, then simply waiting, that's a choice.

they're all choices that the writers made for the characters, and we are asked to believe them for the sake of achieving the writers' vision, as with any story. the only problem is that the writers' vision here fucking blows.

i'm not saying it would be realistic for kiryu and sayama (and even ryuji) to make it out alive, but it wouldn't be out of character for the series in the slightest. kiryu is suddenly unable to power through here, and that's a choice. so, what is their vision?

put simply, i think they wanted a romantic last stand for kiryu and sayama, a tragic scene of doomed, devoted lovers. and i think they wanted an edge-of-your-seat fake out death. they wanted spectacle.

here's how some specific choices they made undermine all that shit we talked about earlier from the first game.

once again, kiryu is called by date to live, to pick himself up and keep going, no matter how impossible the odds are. he's even reminded by haruka's presence, his one anchor in keeping himself going. the growth he had in the parallel scene in the previous game is challenged, and he fails.

it's not enough this time. and that's a choice.

it's also one i can't think of a good reason for, and that's the real kicker.

characters can have developmental backslide just like people do, and if they're given good reason for it, it can be just as, if not far more compelling that purely linear growth (i am a chimera ant arc enjoyer, and that's all i'll say. sorry if you haven't seen hunter x hunter. uhh. i am also a zuko avatar enjoyer if that helps). but i can't think of anything that happened in that game that would cause this from a character perspective. if anything, kiryu should be less likely to do this intentionally. he's spent around a year raising haruka, and a year has passed since he lost his loved ones. at the very least, the pain should be more dull, though it is established through an early nightmare sequence that his ass is (justifiably) not over it yet. given that their deaths were the initial motivation for his willingness to rot forever, theoretically, he should be more motivated to stay alive than before now that he's got more investment and stability in his life outside of them, particularly when it comes to haruka, his reason for surviving. and if the ongoing nature of the trauma was the motivator for this, then they should've had it affect him more past that nightmare scene (it really serves more as a recap of the last game than anything else) so it didn't come out of nowhere. so the reminder of the lesson that saved his life and then guided it for at least a year afterwards, one that the whole resolution of the previous game relied on heavily falls flat for... some reason.

i think this is a good time to mention that, generally speaking, you don't write arbitrary choices into characters. sure, people in real life are often sporadic, but when analyzing fictional characters, every choice is filed into a portfolio of characterization that can and should be analyzed. going for pure realism can obfuscate their development, motivations, themes, etc. their choices and reactions may be unorthodox, but they must be internally consistent. this is very related to how i view plot contrivance as well. characters drive the plot, not the other way around. stories are about the ways characters affect their worlds/lives and vice versa, and they're the human face to the themes and ideas the writers are trying to explore and express. maybe my stance on this seems hypocritical. i don't know if it is. but to me, plot issues are usually a matter of engagement and investment, while character issues are a matter of substance.

i hope this doesn't feel patronizing explaining all of this, but i want you guys to know where i'm coming from in my analysis. starting at my base philosophy on writing is the easiest way to do that, i feel. defining the terms of the debate, and all that. anyway

and i mean, look. they survive because "it was defused the whole time we just didn't see it happen", so it's not like narrative tension or realism or whatever was THAT big of a priority overall. if it was gonna be a cop-out anyway, they should'nt have ruined kiryu's development too, yeah?. and sayama fucks off to america after this game anyway, so it's not like the doomed lovers thing had much payoff or meaning after this one (though you could argue that's more an issue with yakuza 3 than yk2, which has some merit to it). which means that they chose to sacrifice kiryu's prior development and internal logic for the sake of cheap tension for their finale that was both kinda illogical in and of itself (the elevator!! the elevator!!!) and a romantic climax that neither required nor really benefitted from this staging. (like. you coulda had them make out and then get saved by date, or kiss on the elevator in a "it's moving, but will we make it in time??" way or whatever. look i'm not saying those are great options either but they're SOMETHING okay. it would remove/reduce the amount of time wasted on characters sitting around with their thumbs up their asses for no reason in this finale).

instead the message of this finale is that, actually, sometimes it is impossible to change your circumstances and fight for your own way out of an awful situation. and what should you do about this unfortunate truth? uh. die! i guess. it's the exact opposite of the encouraging, optimistic message of the last game. zetsubou chou pride my ass.

note: i feel i should mention that when suicidality is brought up within the series (particularly in substories), it is always something someone has to overcome themselves through wanting it badly enough. they simply need the inspiration and the motivation to keep going. it's arguably treated as a moral obligation. frankly, the series is broadly very meritocratic (<- bad) when it comes to this topic (and others, but that's a Whole Other Thing. see akiyama's weird loan shark tests as well). sheer will and resolve is enough to conquer any problem, be it physical or mental/emotional, and it's irresponsible to act/feel otherwise. this is the logic the games operating under, and kiryu is often the mouthpiece for this bootstrap-pulling "tough love" sentiment. so when kiryu "chooses" to die, yet faces no emotional fallout from date, haruka, or anyone else, it feels very out of place. it's not just an odd choice; it's specifically, once again, an odd choice to make in context of the game/series/character it appears in.

kiryu's just like eh, haruka'll watch her only family die right as she gets some sense of tentative stability and lets her guard down after a devastating month the year prior (and a relatively dismal upbringing before that) that we trauma bonded over. sure, she likely came to view me as the one who would stay no matter what, who was too strong to be taken out, who she could always rely on, and so i know that dying would hurt her immensely, but she's smart enough to know it'd happen eventually. her eventual recovery means it's okay for me to do this (somehow, in a way it wasn't in the first game). it's an excuse within the narrative's logic, and one it is uncritical of simply because it's kiryu. he gets a pass.

and i think with the previously mentioned passive suicidality and general series-long mental health issues kiryu displays (i mean. yakuza 5's literally his depression arc), this could be retroactively seen as an interesting choice, like a piece in that particular narrative. i don't even dislike that viewing, especially in terms of fan approach. but (assuming this went down the same in yakuza 2), they likely didn't have that in mind. all they had then was the first game and the movie. and they took the first game's Entire Message and contradicted it for nothing but a scene they wanted to have happen because it'd be suspenseful and/or emotional (without actually doing the work to earn it). and they're not fans trying to analyze his character, they're the ones making choices for him. and they chose to massacre my boy. and if the subject of kiryu's mental health was a priority of theirs, why didn't they explore that? haruka and date's feelings on him not resisting and their words not being enough (whether that blame is justified by the narrative or not (it shouldn't be btw)), the uncomfortable drifting that resigning yourself to death and living afterwards anyway often brings, literally any conversation about it besides the minimal shit we get post credits of date being like "did you know about the bomb not having a fuse?" which like. bad answer either way (which is why they weren't straightforward about it, the cowards). you can't just be like "oh uh. idk he just gave up this time. yeah he was gonna die on purpose for some reason. good thing the bomb was fake lol" and then pack up and go home!! that's stupid!! any merit the idea of kiryu dying by suicide in this scene and in this way could have had from a character-based perspective loses its weight because 1. it didn't happen (for kinda stupid reasons), which makes it fall flat and 2. no one is really affected by the fact that it almost did, including him. they sacrificed his ass and replaced it with nothing, even when there could have been interesting outcomes to it.

so the narrative effectively chose to kill him by making the situation impossible, and this impossibility is ultimately arbitrary, given the series' usual approach to miraculous, illogical escapes. that, or the choice to stay was up to kiryu and sayama, one that 1. doesn't make sense and is actively regressive in context of kiryu's arc in the only other game in the series (as well as his whole saga in retrospect) and 2. one that contradicts how the series sees/treats resignation to death/death by suicide in all other contexts without being addressed, challenged, or condemned in ways it would in all other contexts. because they don't want you to think about it like that. they want you to think he (and the narrative) had no choice, that it made sense to do that. but it didn't. it doesn't.

and look, honestly? if i was bleeding out and had like 2 minutes to live, there's a non zero chance i'd say fuck it and kiss a girl too. i get it. but i am (and this is crucial) not a fucking yakuza character. and i'm certainly not kiryu kazuma.

tl;dr (basically just rephrasing the second to last main paragraph)

there are not sufficient character reasons for kiryu and sayama not trying to escape. additionally, because the narrative regularly facilitates even less likely escapes, it's not so constrained to logic and reality that it couldn't pull this one off. the choice to let their situation be impossible this one time was a cheap and arbitrary way of forcing a scene they thought would be cool and dramatic, and in doing so they chose to cannibalize a key emotional note of the previous finale (namely kiryu's mission to dedicate his life to protecting haruka) for hollow last minute stakes-upping in this one. it is then completely disregarded anyway. god damn.

#got so into this post that i used tumblr on my laptop for the first time to surpass mobile's image limit #i also added transcriptions in the alt text (which i should do more often)#actually thinking about it in the movie kiryu teaches haruka that lesson about stumbling on.. and she's the one to ask to follow him... hm.#just interesting given that the movie came out before 2. i don't think it makes much of a difference to the post it's just neat to me #one of my favorite parts of writing this was skimming through a bunch of yk1/yk2 cutscenes and noticing how often kiryu pats haruka's head #it happens a lot more than i remembered and it's very sweet to me. get bonked little one <3 #another good thing was realizing you can edit tags when you're not on mobile.... fucking life changing. i have lost hours to mobile tag #editing and i'm not even kidding about that #speaking of editing this one took like 6 hours.. my brother used “yakuza autism” (verb) for me earlier and it's so true. source: this post #i did have a short break to get food bc i hadn't eaten all day but that's mostly because i woke up at 3pm. anyway #also if you like kiwami 2's ending you're not even remotely alone. i looked at the comment sections of the scene comps and ppl love it #and more power to you!! i like it when people enjoy things. and tbh i DO have feelings that i'm supposed to about that ending #i just also have feelings you're not supposed to. like. anger. i guess.#rgg #ryu ga gotoku #skrunk meta #aww yeah it's a new tag babeyy #yakuza kiwami 2 #kiwami 2 #yakuza #like a dragon #yk2 #kiryu kazuma #sawamura haruka #sayama kaoru #maybe my thoughts'll change after replaying the games...? it's been like a year and a half since i beat yk2 so i am a bit fuzzy on it #yakuza kiwami spoilers #yakuza kiwami 2 spoilers

32 notes · View notes

devilsskettle · 2 years

Text

mad at the guys in hellraiser who are like “i have experienced every single possible physical sensation and i need something more transcendent” only to get mad when the cenobites show up. like maybe you should’ve tried heroin or something first idk

#get pegged. drop acid and then go skydiving. find a really good masseuse. idk #or stop bitching and enjoy the novelty of torture #not @ the people who get caught up in it accidentally but like if you are obsessing over finding the lament configuration #and will do whatever you possibly can to solve it? just to be disappointed? you should’ve gotten more creative in the first place #hellraiser #anyway thinking about the review i read that said it would’ve been more interesting if the protagonist of the new movie would’ve become #compelled by/obsessed with the lament configuration like frank was #like make use of the addiction background. don’t just stick it in there to pretend to be ‘elevated’ or whatever #anyway. i’m a lot more interested in a character’s attraction to the lament configuration than their horror at the cenobites tbh #i mean there needs to be both for the story to work. but if you ignore the compulsion then the horror feels pointless and flat

84 notes · View notes

libraryleopard · 1 year

Photo

Adult romance novel

Second-chance romance about two authors (one of literary fiction, one of paranormal romance) who spent a week in love as teenagers before they were torn apart until they reunite twenty years later and must confront that they’ve been unable to forget each other in the intervening years–and may have a chance for a real future together now

Complicated romance with a real connection at the heart and equally real barriers to happiness the two protagonists must confront

Explores addiction, trauma, and living with an invisible disability (chronic migraines)

Black main characters

#very good second-chance romance!#the obstacles to their relationship felt very real #but so did the chemistry/connectionn #tbh i was way more interested in the present-day stuff than the flashbacks #there was a bit of 'huh that's it?' when i got to the end of their first week together #but i really enjoyed the present-day timeline #good balance of humor/romance/serious topics i think #liked the author aspect and the commentary on the publishing world #also i have read two books this year (this plus yerba buena)#where a character is researching her creole family's history #and now i want to read a historical fiction novel about creole communities #will have to do some googling #oh and this would make a good movie or miniseries i think #seven days in june #tia williams #2023 reads #i remember this from the tiffany achy books i think!#lulu speaks #lulu reads seven days in june #books #last note: this is a romance novel but deals with some quite serious topics #so i might suggest checking content warnings if you need to know that kind of stuff

20 notes · View notes

piplupod · 7 months

Text

have had this in my head the past 48 hours and goddamn 80s movies rly went off with soundtracks huh

#i gotta rewatch the movie tbh dhdkdls i didn't understand the Vibe the first time i watched it #and i kept waiting to be afraid so djdksl i did not get to fully enjoy it #now i know its a campy 80s horror full of cunted up vampires SHDJDKL #pippen needs 2nd breakfast #audio #music #dandy song recs

6 notes · View notes

hecckyeah · 6 months

Text

i could honestly write an essay, but for now.... i just have to say. taika waititi ruined thor and loki and i will never forgive him for it

#not to say i didn't enjoy watching ragnarok. i did when it first came out #but i have some serious beef with it #like. some SERIOUS beef #basically he took all the emotional nuance and literary weight of the first 2 thor movies + avengers 1 and yeeted it directly out the windo #and i just can't forgive him for that #tbh ragnarok was the beginning of my disinterest for the broader mcu #and now it's harder to enjoy the actually GOOD movies because i know what comes next #it sucks #>:(#anti mcu

5 notes · View notes

pnuk-r0ck · 11 months

Note

Twilight rant bc your into it rn so lets go?!

-Honestly the only reason twilight is cool bc the movies r fucking funny as hell (especially the first)

-The actors regret it so thats better

- The only scene that got me so hooked and on the edge of my seat was that fight scene (in the last movie i think) like they popped off

- Alice was literally the number one hot out of all you cannot deny she has the personality to match

- Charlie deserved better like I can write a whole collage essay on it

- Okay so this is my opinion and im not sure others would agree because I think Bellas whole life would be easier if she got with Jacob like she wouldnt have to go through all those fights with the main vampires or whatever they’re called

This is what I have for now im pretty sure I have more but enjoy! or not ig idk?

This was beautiful I love rants and I heart Twilight

#I very must enjoyed this #Tbh the books are a lot better than the movies #Bella is very autistic coded #Edward is so goofy in the books though #Like in the first one he’s all like “Oh I’ll take you to Seattle I don’t trust your truck. It’s old BUT STAY AWAY FROM ME”#I would read your essay on how Charlie deserves better tbh #Victor Speaks

9 notes · View notes

voidoflotusblooms · 6 months

Text

I feel like I'm the only og fnaf fan that didn't really enjoy the movie 💀

In my opinion, it was just really boring. I honestly wouldn't have minded if the movie was actually horror, like advertised?? Personally, i find horror movies to be really slow at first, but a lot of the time, they tend to pick up towards the middle. However, this movie just never picked up for me until pretty much the very end. I think it was just bc there was a lack of jumpscares imo. Like the BB jumpscares were affective, don't get me wrong, but I wish there was more from the others? I would've happily gone in with a different mindset if it was advertised as a thriller tbh. Also, a little bit more gore would've been nice. There were so many scenes that would've been awesome if they hadn't cut away right as a victim was about to die. Also, I didn't really see any lore confirmations that everyone keeps going on about? I feel like Scott just retconned stuff more than he confirmed it? It just seemed like Scott had so many ideas he wanted to do, and instead of picking one, he threw them altogether and hoped for the best

Spoilers ahead from this point on 👉🏼

Final warning... scroll past quickly if you don't want spoilers

Ok so here are my disappointments:

What was the purpose of not confirming Mike was Mike Schmidt until pretty much the end of the movie? I feel that was really unnecessary as it wasn't a huge plot twist or anything. Like I understand why Afton cut himself off when reading the name, but to me, it just felt like it was leading to a big reveal that never happened. Maybe it was to help reveal Vanessa was an Afton, but it wasn't pulled off well if that was the case imo

I understand the purpose of the fort scene with animatronics, but that personally ruined the immersion for me. It genuinely just took me right out of the movie bc it was too silly imo. I did think it was cute af how they all interacted in that scene, but I feel there could've been better ways to show that these are dead kids

Where was Afton this whole movie?? I knew Steve was him the whole time, but I wish they developed his character a bit more. A sad short story from Vanessa was not enough for me to really hate William in this movie

Another thing about Afton is that I wish he showed more fear once he lost control of animatronics. Hell, if not more fearful than at least have him be more threatening?? The lack of character development really hindered this scene imo. Matthew Lillard definitely needed more screen time

Back to first thing kinda, the whole Vanessa Afton reveal was confusing for me. Why make her his child when Mike was in the movie? Michael Afton was such a huge part of the lore, and not being a part of the movie franchise was a bit of letdown for me. It doesn't help I just did not have a reason to care for Vanessa till she revealed who she really was. Like William, I wish we could've gone more in-depth with her character

Mike's dreams were kinda dumb. I get it was a way for him to communicate to the dead children, and so we can see his trauma, but imo it wasn't done very well. It also felt like a slap in the face since the majority of the fan base dogged on the dream theory in the past. Like it seemed like a mean way of teasing more than it felt like a lighthearted kind

Lastly, William having literal control of the kids was really disappointing. Especially with only a picture. Again, the whole picture thing could've worked out a lot better if Afton was in the movie more. Maybe if we could've somehow seen Vanessa drawing the image as a kid and William putting up the artwork to seem like a good dad when in reality it was for his own personal gain or at least something to show he had some part in it. If done correctly, this movie could've really used some flashbacks

To sum it up a bit, I just really wish there was more character development. It was really hard to care or even relate to majority of these characters bc we brushed past things so quickly

Ok, now on to things I liked! ->

Mike Schmidt's character. I thought he was very well developed actually (despite my previous complaints). He (and Abby as well) was one of the couple of characters I really cared for

The actors/actresses. They all played their parts so well. Especially Abby's actress, Josh Hutcherson, and Matthew Lillard (at least when he was on screen lol). I was actually satisfied by their performances

The animatronics. They were stunning. It really was as if they were pulled straight from the game. Jim Henson company really pulled it off. I also loved how expressive they are. Also, SPARKY!! Never thought he would be an Easter egg in the movie, so that was a really cool surprise. From fake screenshot to being on the big screen :')

The Balloon Boy jumpscares. Got me twice and had me giggling. I just know this was Scott being the troll that we all know he is. It so fucking funny. Really brought out the intense hate we all tend to have for that lil fucker 😂

The springlock scene itself. Tho I wish it was a bit more gorey as well as had more expressive emotions, I still really enjoyed it. The animatronics dragging him away to rot for god knows how long movie wise was such a nice touch

Matpat and Corey's cameos. I was so excited seeing them! Esp Matpat. The dude's acting in that one livestream of his had me fully convinced he wasn't in the movie. Then boom, there he was as waiter. A waiter whose name was NESS, btw. Whoever came up with that is a fucking legend 👏🏻

Og TLT fnaf song as the end credits theme. That was such a nice nod to the fans. I'm so glad they added that in. So deserving

THE PUPPETS THEME. Look, I'm a huge fnaf 2 fan, so hearing that had me ascending lmaoooo

SPOILERS DONE

Overall, the movie was meh, and this is coming from someone who went in with low expectations. I'd advise just watching on Peacock (or 🏴‍☠️ it) personally. Don't go in expecting it to be anything similar to the games or even the books cause it's not. Treat it as a separate project. I went in expecting at least some of the basic things we've had confirmed, so I'd enjoy the movie more, but that just didn't work out for me, which is fine 🤷

Also, these are just my thoughts after my first watch. I could totally have a change of heart after another watch or 2. Unfortunately, the first impression was just not a good one, and that happens sometimes. So please don't take what I say to heart as, again, my opinion could change 😅

Overall rating: 5/10

I'm going to watch again at some point, so I'll update if my opinion changes in another post

#just want to put out there again these are just my first impressions and feeling towards the movie could change after some rewatches #im glad some really enjoyed the movie :)#tho i personally didnt like i hope theres a sequel. like all this movie needs is more in-depth characters and a sequel could fix that tbh #also remember this is just my opinion please still go watch and form your own opinion. you never know you might actually like it!#fnaf #fnaf movie #lotus is just reviewing

4 notes · View notes

strangesickness · 3 months

Text

it has been so weird getting into live action film in the past little while because prior to late 2023 i was basically only into video games, comics, and cartoons (i have pretty bad face blindness so i can find it difficult to follow live action movies, especially if characters have similar hair or clothes. top gun maverick was a NIGHTMARE for me), and now i'm like? recognizing actors? it's kind of weird to think that when i'm my parents age kids aren't going to know who. chris evans or like. finn wolfhard are. and i'm going to do the exact same thing my parents always do like "what? you don't know who chris evans is? he's only captain america!" and the kid is going to be like... "why would i know who captain america is...? that movie came out before i was even born... no one cares about captain america these days gramps" and then i'll go to bingo or something and cry about it.

#but like. realizing i can just. recall some actors names???#like. i had a few moments where i was like “who played that guy” and i didn't even have to look up “[character name] actor"#i just knew???#which has been like. really weird #i am chronically uncaring about celebrities #i've just never taken an interest #it gets me similar looks to the ones i get when i say “i don't have tiktok”#people will show me a picture of a popular musician and even if its one i listen to i'm like... dude idk who that is #like if you're thinking of like “big celebrities” that EVERYONE knows? i probably do not. except like taylor swift and notable politicians #and jerry seinfeld #but that has more to do with my dad having like every episode of seinfeld memorized than it does anything else #posts afflicted with a strange sickness #this is about knives out btw #i just watched knives out for the first time since it came out and i recognized chris evans AND jaden martell #i also recognized daniel craig and katherine langford but i couldn't remember their names lol #one of the reasons i didn't enjoy watching live action films for a long time is that i have really bad face blindness #if a movie has more than one 20-40yr old attractive white guy in it who dress similarly i will be completely unable to tell them apart /srs #and this makes understanding the plot of a lot of movies incredibly difficult #all of this is to say i spent all of knives out convinced that michael shannon was woody harrelson but they don't even look alike tbh

2 notes · View notes

james-silenthill · 3 months

Text

Ohhh I've god to figure out my very own batman verse

#delete later skater #i was there for the very beginning of c*dotverse ive seen bad apples i know a decent amount of fan ones. despite only naming two #censored the first one just bcs i knoe the tag is active and i dont want to steo in there tbh #mine will also probably have a rogue focus tbh. though ive been reading a lot of loeb and i cannot lie im an enjoyer of a good #mafia storyline #<- guy that actually enjoys scorsese #and noire. and the beautiful movie some like it hot #anywayyys #im gonna figure out my personal canon events and work from there #ughh. ill need to read abt the court of owls #i do not care for them tbh but who knows. a lot changes in ten years

2 notes · View notes

thompsborn · 7 months

Text

sorry just the genuine anger people are apparently feeling over a fucking poll ?? like?? it’s just. it’s. it’s “gay pirates or gay soldiers” and that’s literally it. it’s not that serious. it’s fictional characters. if anything at least the pirates actually kissed. like. take an internet break. it’s literally fine.

#i voted for stede and ed because tbh i never liked stucky #like i totally see why people love them and i have enjoyed fics that include stucky but just. idk man.#mcu steve always rubbed me wrong lmao #like i love him but also i’ve been a tony stark stan since i was 8 and the first iron man came out #when the first captain america movie cane out i was like ok cool but tony stark is my dad #also like. stucky is fine i guess. but sambucky is RIGHT THERE and WAY BETTER #anyway if anyone wants to argue about it don’t approach me i literally Don’t Care it’s not worth fighting #there are so many things worth being upset about in this world and fucking gay pirates vs stucky is not one of them lmao

4 notes · View notes

toytulini · 9 months

Text

I saw Barbie last night, I dont think i have a long film review of it for yall but idk I'll put some thoughts under a readmore I guess?

-Right off the bat, I enjoyed it, it was fun. It was a fun pink poppy romp. Thats about what I expected of it, and thats pretty much what I got

-Its not particularly radical in its gender/feminism takes, its very basic, which, I saw a number of ppl mention that before I saw it so I wasnt expecting anything radical. It couldve done better. it was. fine. im shrug about it i guess.

-My mom enjoyed it and was apparently not expecting any sort of emotional depth or story at all so it caught her off guard. I heard her crying. she cries easy at movies. I'm glad my mom liked it. Maybe she'll absorb some of the very basic feminism it drops idk.

-I knew the Kens adopted patriarchy and introduced it to Barbieland but it felt lile that happened very fast, idk.

-The ending....I. is her going to a gynecologist supposed to be like. shes gotten a vagina by deciding to be human?? or is she trying to schedule a surgery or something? that felt pretty weird to me if im honest, i thought it was gonna be a job interview or smth... Especially with how everyone was like "Barbie is ace (heheeh i agree) cos she has no genitals! (sorry what. excuse me. wanna run that by me again?)" like okay that makes that headcanon reasoning even more dewply uncomfortable that it already was?

-I enjoyed weird Barbie. i wish theyd cast someone else cos iirc ka/te mckin/non was a transmisogynist? unless she apologized or said she changed her mind on the topic since like 2017?? but i havent seen anything? idk. just. annoying to keep platforming these ppl. i guess theres probably other actors involved that have shit views of trans ppl. whatever i guess.

-I did dress up a little. i feel like my outfit had Weird Barbie Vibes. maybe ill post a pic.

-I did enjoy it and it had a number of shots and or transitions i liked, i think the one with the disco ball to the moon or whatever was enjoyable.

-god we really are so weird about barbie

-it just feels factually incorrect that all dolls pre barbie were baby dolls? idk. im sure it was the most common kind. but idk. not to be weird about The History Of Dolls but like. the porcelain dolls from the Victorian era. idk if those count as baby dolls. iirc those were to help young girls practice prepping dead bodies of loved ones for funerals or smth??? but i guess porcelain dolls have a sort of babyish look about them. and are fragile so you cant play rough with them.

-Like i Know its a 2hr long toy commercial for mattel but also god that cant be right. even if they werent filling the same niche as barbie as idk basically a fashion doll? there had to be other dolls right?

-I know the flat foot thing is Supposed to be over the top and silly for them all to get upset about but also tbh. as a bitch with falling arches the way some of yall make jokes about flat feet still is uh. well. rude. but also lmao man. the day my arches started hurting for no reason while i was barefoot did sorta feel emotionally like her feet falling to the ground lol.

-i want to introduce barbie to margot robbie's harley quinn owo. i think that would be Fun :3

-i want Ken's job. how do i do Beach as an occupation.

-I actually liked how they handled Ken and Barbie's rship til the end. i feel weird about that ending overall and also it feels weak wrt her dynamic as Ken. they make him grapple w her not reciprocating his feelings the same way but then she just leaves barbieland anyway?? and ig they dont get to explore a friendship or qpr dynamic. ok. its fine i guess.

-her saying she has no genitalia felt so transgender in a way im not sure it was intended to. ken saying he has all of the genitalia felt even more transgender. headcanoning them both as extremely transgender in fun weird new ways and no one can stop me.

-Allan is my favorite character i think. bro me too

-bibbleless movie. add bibble.

#toy txt post #barbie spoilers #barbie movie #everyone kept trying to get my dad to come see it and like.i get it.but genuinely he would hate it even if not for his conservative bullshit #he hates goofy fun movies. OR. he wouldve actually enjoyed it a little bit and been REALLY ANNOYING ABOUT IT bc he would never admit it #and insist he hated it #and hed enjoy the ken patriarchy thing too much #basically im very glad we didnt drag my dad along cos i have to live with him and i think he would be insufferable about it #he has no appreciation for any kind of whimsy or fun! he would hate this silly movie #also this was the first time id been in a movie theater since pre2020.#i enjoyed dressing up in a silly little outfit. but i think i wouldve been happier to wait for it to be out of theaters tbh. theaters teste #tested my patience even before covid like oh im gonna sit uncomfortably in this chair and crane my neck up at this screen and i cant pause #it and theres no captions and people are Eating all around me and now i go and its all the same but im the only one wearing a mask so i dont #get to have a lil snack either and i still have to hear ppl eating around me and part way thru the movie someone across the aisle was making #some kind of horrible very wet and loud gulping noise with their drink or Something?? and i did feel violent about it #i would never be violent about it but my god do i feel like biting. you know. anyway. not sure if ill bother seeing any more movies #in theater now. i just would like them at home. idk #i will give props to barbie. it was like kovie theater loud but at least it wasnt giant major booms and inaudible ass dialogue

3 notes · View notes