#if you know my blog you Know I love my comfort himbo ghost show but sometimes I kinda prefer the vampire family dynamic

[artflameball]

Presenting: my OCs!

Raven, Skylar, Myra, Jasmine, Carissa, and Vlad!

More info under the cut.

(PLEASE reblog art and add comments about it, and don't like it! Reblogging is the only way artists like me can grow, and comments are what gives us validation, which helps boost confidence in art skills!)

So ages ago, I tried starting a roleplay with these OCs with barely a story in mind. It failed, obviously, but I did make designs with picrew for them. I've been thinking about them again lately, so I decided to remake them. I'll probably make a blog focused on them, but maybe not. Who knows. You guys can send asks about them here too, that'd work too.

So, let's go down the list and show these characters!

Raven

Sexuality: Lesbian

Gender: Feminine-presenting demigirl

Age: Early mid-twenties

Goes nonverbal when stressed

Forgetful

Black-and-white morality

Himbo energy

Takes being wrong hard

The main character! Stubborn as hell, a big adrenaline junkie, and DEFINITELY undiagnosed ADHD, this somewhat forgetful adventurer's biggest visible weakness is her social anxiety and lack of self care. Her thirst for danger can get her into trouble, and she can get WAY in over her head, but she's always been a fast healer, so she keeps going, scars be damned. Hell, they're a bit like badges for her! She gets to run from the bad people, and gets a cool scar? Why wouldn't you wanna do that? Who cares about getting hurt? She heals.

She woke up four years ago. She didn't know who she was. She still doesn't.

Skylar

Sexuality: Queer ace

Gender: Genderfluid, presentation depends on mood

Age: Mid-twenties

Easily overwhelmed

Can overthink

Raven's best friend! Cheerful, bubbly, and happy, Skylar is a confident social butterfly who's kind to everyone not her. She's loving and sweet, always having comfort food she made herself to share with her friends. But don't mistake that for naivety - she's excellent at reading people, and she keeps Raven from getting herself hurt on a lot of her adventures. She's protective of Raven. Very protective.

She can't lose her. Not again. She wouldn't be able to handle that.

Myra

Sexuality: Not straight

Gender: Cis woman, neutral presenting

Age: Centuries old

Powerful elf

Ah, Myra. The powerful, mysterious elf. Barely willing to talk to anyone, an unstoppable force, a powerful elf, a liar liar LIAR. She's withdrawn, clever, a tad selfish, and whenever she's with Raven and Skylar, she leads them with grace. The way she holds herself is almost regal, and the respect she commands with her mere presence doubly so. She's closed off and cold, yet will do what is right.

She misses her old love so much, she barely sees what she herself has turned into.

Jasmine

Sexuality: Not straight

Gender:

Age: Early forties

Main villain

Has killed people who get in their way

Started the fucking main conflict (a war)

God. Jasmine. What is there to say about them? They're strong and confident, cold and regal, calm and collected, and full of pure villainous panache. They're incredible in a fight, second to one. They're out to get as much power as they can, but they treat all their schemes like games. They toy with the main trio, not letting them die because that'd be boring.

There's a spot of warmth when it comes to their right-hand girl. As if they'd admit it.

Carissa

Sexuality: Queer

Gender: Come back later

Age: Early mid-twenties

I made her first she's my favorite tbh

Six feet tall

My bestie is in love with her and I don't blame him she looks like a goddess imo

Carissa. God. Confident, strong, a polar opposite to Jasmine in every way, and yet their closest confidant. She's flirty, though they're TERRIBLE at handling being flirted with, and she's easily flustered. She always wears a strange amulet and if you fucking touch it she'll RIP YOU APART She's a very emotional person, letting them run her most of the time, and is distracted easily by little things.

She's confused, stunned, on the verge of breaking down. Ghosts aren't real, she knows that. Yet whenever she faces the main trio, she sees one of flesh and blood.

Vlad

Sexuality: Omni

Gender: Surprisingly, a cis man (though very gnc)

Age: Mid twenties

I designed him to murder my friend and fucking succeeded

He's a demon btw

Vlad is a loner with a HUGE crush on Carissa. They flirt with each other, he allies with her often, but he classifies himself as neutral. He's a badass with demon powers and the ability to summon wings i was too lazy to draw. Despite his outward experience as a bad boy, he's quite respectful, always asking for boundaries, stopping when people tell him, and just drinking his respect women juice daily.

He can be perfect if he tries. It's possible. He can be perfect. If he's not... Who cares? He may as well not matter.

#shards #cassie draws #shards of the moon and stars #raven #skylar #myra #jasmine #carissa #vlad #my ocs

[0bianidalas]

I was supposed to post a gifset of my favorite ship of the show for the JATP Week for Day 3 but I realized I've done plenty of gifsets and I haven't done the mandatory ship manifesto so, I guess this is it.

DISCLAIMER: like I did for my AlexReggie post, I'll mention again that this is me discussing why this OT3 can be enjoyed in fandom spaces rather than this is me actively asking JATP writers/producers to make this ship canon. That's not what shipping means to me.

So, let's dive in into the softest, most wholesome OT3 I have ever had the privilege of shipping:

Luke/Alex/Reggie

Ok, so first off, I wanna start by saying that if you think that polyamory inherently means something sexual or dirty then please kindly fuck off this post and my blog altogether. 

The definition of Polyamory on Wiki: (from Greek πολύ poly, "many, several", and Latin amor, "love") is the practice of, or desire for, intimate relationships with more than one partner, with the informed consent of all partners involved. 

It is a way of expericing both romantic and sexual attraction, a way of living. And as so, there’s nothing wrong with teenagers being polyamorous because there’s nothing wrong with loving more than one person at the same time. It doesn’t always have something to do with sexual activities. 

So, circle back to this Power Trio: our main himbo ghosts. 

Luke, Alex and Reggie have a lot of common settings of your basic Power Trios, but to their own degree; the Comic Trio being surely the most fitting for them as they are indeed all himbos in their own right (yes, Alex is SO included even though he’s the one who holds the braincell most of the time). 

However, I maintain that other than the obvious Rock Trio (which I will get on in a beat), the most evident trope for Luke, Alex and Reggie is the Brawn, Brains and Beauty: 

“Brawn — body or the impulsive, pleasure-seeking one [Luke] Brain — mind or the academic, reasonable one [Alex] Beauty — heart or the one who ties them together, as the calming, healing influence [Reggie]” 

Luke and Alex aren’t antagonistic towards each other at all as you would expect from most of these common tropes (especially Freudian Trio; which is also very fitting for them as they all have each contrasting personalities), but Luke and Alex have the type of personalities that would ensue them getting conflictive towards each other. Enter Reggie, who’s a happy bean and hates conflict. 

They’re also obviously a perfectly balanced best friends trio, which is super uncommon. I’ve talked about how Alex and Reggie seem like actual best friends more than they do with Luke on their own but that’s only because Luke suffers from his being the male protagonist so the plot forces him to be on his own (or with Julie) oftentimes and so he leaves Alex and Reggie to develop more their Power Duo friendship on screen. 

But it is no secret that Luke is, to his core, the central and focal point of their bond. He’s the one who, according to the plot, ties them together as he is their Leader character. 

And Luke is a good one at it, too. Even if he’s not as bright or as emotionally sensitive as the other two, Luke fights for what he believes in and what they all want and he protects them. And Alex and Reggie pay back by being the most loyal and caring they can be. So it’s great.

Now, I'll get on the absolute softest side of them as both their canon platonic bond and why I tear up imagining them as something else than that:

The Family of Choice aspect

Luke, Alex and Reggie are together because of their shared interest in music and dream of making a life out of it, sure. But things happened along the way that made them have a deeper bond than that, and it's what forged them, almost by fire, closer together and no, I'm not just talking about the poisoned hotdog that drove them to an early grave at just 17: all three of them have lost their families one way or the other. And in doing so, the three of them found a family in each other. (Which then they end up adding Julie to it and it's an absolute blessing).

Luke ran away from home after a heated fight with his mom, which took an emotional toll on him and we learn that even though they had a difficult relationship, the Pattersons loved their only child enough to still commemorate him on his birthday even 25 years after his passing.

And even if we don't know a lot about them, we know that Reggie's relationship with his parents was also hard on him because they were a "fight away from a divorce", which implies that their arguing escalated to the points that even Luke knew about them.

And then you have Alex, who probably has the hardest backstory with his parents and their stopping "being cool" after he told them he was gay.

So you have three boys who are very inclined to love and appreciating family (Luke writing Unsaid, Emily is an evident example of how much his mom matters to him, Reggie being the first to ask to see his parents after they come back and then Alex voicing his 'I was always trustworthy' and the implication that he trusted his parents enough to tell them about his sexuality) losing that ground and safe place and deciding to build one of their own with each other:

The symbolism of them being a ‘Rock Trio’ - guitar, bass, and drums

As it has been discussed a few times before on this site: Kenny Ortega lives for symbolism and he likes implementing imagery and semiotics into his stuff. So, yeah, I absolutely believe you can look into their instruments as a window to who they are as characters and how they blend together -- like their music does. 

You have Luke in guitars (and vocals, but that’s not key here): Guitar is in charge of harmony. And it being a lead guitar is also very up-in-your-face. The guitar makes its presence known, it is obvious, and usually a central focus--- it’s Luke through and through. 

Then you have Drums: Drums is in charge of rhythm. It provides the ground they all follow, the stability, it is the backbone. It’s loud when it needs to, but it can blend in the back, too. And drums is usually placed behind, laid back -- if that doesn’t say Alex, I don’t know what does.

And there’s the bridge between both: Bass. “It bridges the gap between treble (guitar) and percussion (drums), providing a rhythmic and harmonic function at the same time”. (x) It serves both elements constituting music. Bass is low, quiet, and often underlooked but it is essential in a band. You just can’t be without bass -- Just like Reggie, who’s an odd mix of both Luke and Alex. 

Another set of “Rule of three” that these himbos are is the Hands (Luke), the Head (Alex) and the Heart (Reggie), meaning that Luke is the one who takes actions, Alex is the sensible one and Reggie is the sensitive one. 

All in all, they’re the whole set together. You can’t just have one without the other two, either as friends or siblings tropes-- they’re just that tight.

You just can’t pin-point if either of them love one above the other, it’s all equal. And even if you feel like one is third-wheeling, it’s still alright. You know why? Because third-wheels provide support and comfort. Just like these three do for each other. 

#alex x luke x reggie #sunset curve #jatpweek #jatp #luke x reggie x alex #luke x alex x reggie #reggie x luke x alex #reggie x alex x luke #alex x reggie x luke #i really just put the WHOLE SETS of ways this ot3 can be tagged as huh #ot3: we're the only family we need #long post #meta #luke patterson #luke #alex #reggie

[skinks]

hi!!! what are your favourite movies? like actually good ones but also any trashy comfort movies? is IT (2017) one of them?

Hello!! IT (2017) IS ABSOLUTELY ONE OF THEM oh man, thank you for this, I love talking about movies!!!! This is possibly the most difficult question you could have asked me. Apologies for how absolutely off the rails this got, I just... love movies so much lmao

I’ve said this before, but opening night of IT ch1 was the best cinema experience I’ve ever had, I’m so glad I got to see it with a fully packed audience who were all laughing and screaming together the whole way through. I’m a huge fan of... everything ch1 was doing, the 80s nostalgia, the summer-coming-of-age themes, the solid ghost train funhouse JOY of the Pennywise performance and scares, the washed-out cinematography, the tiny background details to make everything that much more eerie, the kids’ ACTING?!

Like, a lot of the time I find child actors can be really awkward and stilted to watch, but I remember leaving the cinema really impressed by JDG and Sophia Lillis in particular. I liked that they were all allowed to be little shitheads with potty mouths, it felt like a callback to 80s movies like The Lost Boys or Stand By Me. The whole thing worked to make me really care about what happened to the kids (even if I do still have issues with how they handled Mike. I understand even ch1 had limitations with juggling so many characters, but still). I saw it another 2 times in the cinema and have rewatched it at least, I dunno, 7-10 more times since then?

Add to all of that the retroactive CANON R+E baby pining subplot? I just love it, as if that wasn’t obvious by now given my Whole Blog. It’s a really special movie to me!

Anyway!! Ok, the main handful of movies I rewatch all the fucking time are:

Back to the Future, The Lost Boys, Pride and Prejudice (2005), Jaws, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Ocean’s 11, POTC 1, The Dark Knight, Inception, Die Hard, LOTR trilogy, Snatch, The Nice Guys, Logan Lucky, Mad Max Fury Road, Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, Billy Elliot, Dirty Dancing, Tomb Raider (2018)...

Those are the easily consumable ones that I’ve seen so many times I don’t really have to concentrate or think about them, but I really love them and unfortunately often KEEP rewatching them instead of new stuff. It would take too long to go into why I love all these movies so much because I could write the same amount as I already did for ITCH1, and everyone already knows why those movies are good, so, lol.

I think I’m gonna have to subdivide and categorise this whole post because there are too many separate criteria for... goOD MOVIES, AUUHH 😩

Okay so first off, HORROR MOVIES? I’m especially in love with Re-Animator (1985) and its sequel Bride of Re-Animator, they’re such good examples of camp and batshit 80s practical effects, and also EXTREMELY funny. I’m actually just gonna post my list of my fave horror movies that I do actually keep on my phone at all times lmao. These are in no particular order:

Wholeheartedly recommend every one of these. I’ve never been so scared in my life as I was watching Hereditary in the cinema, hoo boy. Mother! by Aronofsky is one of the strangest experiences I’ve ever had (and I actually saw it on the same day I saw IT ch1 for the first time!! That was a fun day)

Psycho (1960) and The Fly from 1986 should also be on there but I couldn’t fit them in the screenshot.

I’m a HUGE fan of a ton of martial arts movies too, like Kung Fu Hustle, Shaolin Soccer, Ip Man, The Raid movies, John Wick 3 is my fave of the trilogy, Drive from 1997 with Mark Dacascos is incredible, SPL 2, Ong-Bak, Operation Condor, Project A, Iron Monkey, and Zatoichi (2003) are some favourites.

My favourite Tarantino is Reservoir Dogs, fave Coen brothers are Raising Arizona, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and O Brother Where Art Thou. Love some old-timey colour correction and weird offbeat dialogue. I also love Goodfellas!!! And Donnie Brasco! And The Firm, I’m so easy for any good crime/law/gangster/heist procedural like that, especially if they’re from the 80s or 90s in a super dated way.

Fave Disney movie is Tarzan, favourite Ghibli movies are Spirited Away and Lupin III. I remember watching Spirited Away during a thunderstorm one time and it being.... god! Transcendent! Favourite Pixar movie is The Incredibles (the first one. ALSO the documentary “The Pixar Story” is great and well worth a watch, it’s very comforting for some reason) and my favourite Dreamworks movies are HTTYD1 and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron.

I tend to watch more anime movies than tv shows, so stuff like Akira, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, Journey to Agartha, and my ultimate fave anime is Sword of the Stranger (2008). The climactic fight in that movie is fucking stunning and should be counted in “bests fights” lists right alongside anything live action

Also if we’re talking animated movies another hearty favourite is Rango, and a Belgian stop-motion (which at one time I considered my favourite movie ever) called Panique Au Village (2009) which is one of the funniest movies ever made imo.

As for TRASHY movies, I’m not sure if that’s the right word for how I feel about these ones but.. dumb/silly/slightly guilty pleasure movies? Ones that I feel need some kind of justification lmfao

Troy - something u must know about me is that I’m a giant slut for the Assassin’s Creed franchise, so if a movie smashes historical and mythological nonsense together with fun costumes and sword fights, I’m gonna enjoy myself. Even if they should have made Achilles and Patroclus gay. Other movies in this vein are King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, and Immortals (2011)

Gods of Egypt - I know all the reasons this movie is whitewashed bullshit. But it was already bullshit with giant Anubis mecha and giant snakes and bad acting and ridiculous CGI and frankly I had a blast at the cinema (my friend who I forced to come with me did not have a blast. Sorry H***)

Avatar - yes, the one with the big blue people. This movie gets a lot of flack nowadays but I really do enjoy it just for the spectacle. The full CGI world technology was so new at the time and I love to wallow in the visuals and daydream about riding a cool dragon around in the jungle

George of the Jungle - I’ll defend this movie to the death ok this movie shaped me as a person, it is fucking hilarious and Brendan Fraser is the himbo to end all himbos. It’s perfect. The song Dela is perfect. I still want to write a reddie AU about it. It’s one of the best movies ever made and I’m not being ironic

Set It Up - I KNOW this is a dumb Netflix original romcom but consider this; it was funny and the leads had great chemistry. I got butterflies. I once watched it and then literally immediately set it back to the start so I could watch it again

The Brady Bunch Movie - when people talk about great satires or parodies you will see them bring up the same movies over and over again, Blazing Saddles, This Is Spinal Tap etc, but they never talk about The Brady Bunch Movie from 1995 for some reason, which they should. It is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen and every time i watch it somehow it gets funnier

Some more general favourites that I do still love but don’t rewatch as often, and don’t wanna go into more detail about are:

Moon (2009), Crna Mačka Beli Mačor, The Sixth Sense, Parasite, The Handmaiden, Tremors, Wet Hot American Summer, Tucker and Dale vs Evil, What We Do In The Shadows, Hunt For the Wilderpeople, The Secret of My Success (I love kitschy 80s movies, is that obvious by now), The Green Mile, When Harry Met Sally, Rear Window, The Odd Couple, Breaking Away, Pan’s Labyrinth, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Eagle, Gladiator, The Artist, The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec, Call Me By Your Name, Master and Commander, Pacific Rim, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Legend (1985), Emma. (2020), Flash Gordon, Trolljegeren, Hross í Oss, Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America, WarGames, District 9, Ajeossi (2010), Tracks (2013), Sightseers, Mud (2012), Pitch Black, Four Lions, Shaun of the Dead, Starship Troopers, The Truman Show, Withnail & I....... Jesus Christ ok I need to stop

NOTABLE EXTREME FAVOURITES that I didn’t include in the regular rewatch list because they’re too heavy/not as well known/require more attention.:

Thin Red Line (1998), Badlands (1973) both dir. Terrence Malick

Malick’s brand of dreamy impressionistic filmmaking is something I find really appealing, both of these movies are gorgeous and unusual and poignant and, in the case of Thin Red Line at least, have a lot of things to say about a lot of rough subjects. I don’t totally understand all those things sometimes, but a theme with a lot of my favourite movies is that I’ll be more likely to love something long-term if it raises unanswered questions, or is surreal/esoteric etc. Plus the cinematography is incredible, and I wish there was a way to get Jim Caviezel’s narration from The Thin Red Line as an audiobook because it’s very poetic and soothing.

Let the Bullets Fly (2010) dir. Jiang Wen

This movie is WILD, it’s so much fun. It’s sprawling and intricate and epic and smart and really fucking funny, it! Has! Everything! A gang of very tolerant outlaws!! Jiang Wen’s beautiful broad chest!!! Chow Yun Fat absolutely DECIMATING the scenery, and the two of them outsmarting each other in order to gain control of a small Chinese town!!! Plus it’s long, but it packs so much nonsense and intrigue that it goes by really fast. Wow what a flick

A Field in England (2013) dir. Ben Wheatley

I know I included this in my horror list but aaaaahhh ahhhh Wheatley is one of my favourite directors (he also made Sightseers, and is directing the Tomb Raider sequel which makes me absolutely rabid.) This is a surreal black-and-white psychological horror black comedy set in the English Civil War about some deserters who may or may not meet the Devil in a field. People eat mushrooms. It’s bonkers. I love being blasted in the face with imagery that I don’t understand

Mandy (2018) dir. Panos Cosmatos

Speaking of being blasted in the face!!!!! This movie... I saw it in the cinema and I can’t even begin to explain the experience, but I’ll try. My favourite review site described it like this:

“...somewhere between a prog album cover come to life and a metal album cover come to life, and subscribes to both genre's artistic tendency towards maximalism: what it ends up being is basically naught else but two glorious hours of being pounded by bold colors...”

So, prog and metal are my two favourite genres of music. This movie opens with the quote “When I die, bury me deep, lay two speakers at my feet, put some headphones on my head and rock and roll me when I'm dead.” and then a King Crimson song, it is SURREAL to the nth degree, it’s violent and bizarre and Nic Cage forges a giant silver axe to destroy demonic bikers and there is a CHAINSAW DUEL. A galaxy swirls above a quarry. Multiple animated horror nightmare sequences. At one point a man says “you exude a cosmic darkness” and releases a live tiger. At another point Cage says, in a digitally deepened voice, “The psychotic drowns where the mystic swims. You’re drowning. I’m swimming.” and I haven’t stopped thinking about it for two years

Paper Moon (1973) dir. Peter Bogdanovich

Really fantastic movie set in the Great Depression (and also in black & white) about a conman and a little kid who may or may not be his daughter, running cons across the Midwest. It’s beautifully shot, so sharp and sweet and the progression of their dynamic is really well done because they’re played by an IRL father and daughter. Tatum O’Neal was NINE YEARS OLD and she’s so amazing in this movie she’s actually the youngest person to win a competitive category Oscar. I keep trying to get people to watch this fbdjfjdbf it’s wonderful

Alpha (2018) dir. Albert Hughes

THIS MOVIE IS A VICTIM OF BAD MARKETING ok, the trailers made it look like some twee crappy sentimental Boy And His Dog Adventure, plus it had voiceovers in American-accented english? That’s a total disservice to one of the coolest things about this film; the fact that they got a linguist to construct an entirely original Neolithic language that all the characters speak for the entire runtime. And yes, it is eventually a Boy And His Wolf adventure, but it’s COOL and fairly brutal, and it has some really incredible cinematography. The landscapes are so strange and barren and alien, you really get the sense that this is an ancient world we no longer have any connection to. And it’s also about like, the birth of dog & human companionship sooo it’s perfect.

Free Solo (2018) dir. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin

The Free Climbing Documentary. I loved climbing as a kid, I love outdoor sports, and I love movies that elicit a physical reaction in me, whether that’s horny, scared, real laughter, overwhelming shivers, or in the case of Free Solo - HORRIBLE SWEATING TENSION. Like, I knew about Alex Honnold beforehand because of this adventure film festival I go to every year and I followed him on IG so obviously I knew he lived, but the actual climb itself was torture. My hands sweat every time I see it!! It’s incredible, such a cool look into generally what the human body can do, and more specifically, why Honnold’s psychology and life means he’s so well suited to free soloing. It’s such an exercise in getting to know an individual and get invested in them, before they attempt something very potentially fatal.

Brokeback Mountain (2005) dir. Ang Lee

I can’t even talk about this. When I was around 13 I snuck downstairs to watch this on TV at 11pm in secret, and my life was forever changed. I wouldn’t be who I am if I hadn’t seen Brokeback at the age I did. I seriously can’t talk about this or I’ll write an even longer essay than this already is

God’s Own Country (2017) dir. Francis Lee

The antidote to Brokeback Mountain, I’m so glad I managed to see this one in the cinema too. It makes me cry every time, as someone who’s spent years working on a cold British farm with sheep it was very realistic, which is expected since Lee grew up on a farm in Yorkshire. I love that this movie isn’t really about being closeted, but about being so emotionally repressed and self-loathing that the main character finds it so hard to accept love. Or that he deserves to be loved. The cinnamontographies.... lordt... but also the intimacy and sex scenes are fucking searing wow who hasn’t seen this movie by now. 10 stars. 20 stars!!!

Tomboy (2011) dir. Céline Sciamma

I saw this years ago but I’ve never forgotten it, it cut so deep. It’s from the director of Portrait of a Lady on Fire and it’s about a gnc kid struggling with gender and misogyny and homophobia in a really raw, scrappy way, it reminded me very much of my own... childhood... ahh the central performance is amazing for such a young age. I haven’t seen Portrait yet but I feel like if you went nuts for that, you should definitely check this out, it’s lovely.

Donnie Darko (2001) dir. Richard Kelly

EVERY TIME I WATCH THIS MOVIE I UNDERSTAND LESS AND LESS and that’s what I love so much about it. I love surreal movies, I love time-fuckery and stuff about altered perception etc etc and Donnie Darko scratches all my itches. I wish I could find a way to figure out an IT AU for it, because I know it would work! Somehow! Plus it’s got the subdued 80s nostalgia and I found it at an age when I was really starting to explore movies and music and the soundtrack FUCKS.

Offside (2006) dir. Jafar Panahi

I wish more people knew about this!!! It’s an Iranian film about a disparate group of women and girls who are football fans and want to watch Iran’s qualifying match for the World Cup, but women aren’t allowed into the stadium, so they all get thrown into the Stadium Jail together? They don’t know each other beforehand, but it’s about their changing relationships with each other and the guards and just, their defiance alongside hearing the match from the outside and WOW it’s so lively. Great dialogue and very funny, and such a different kind of story from anything you usually see from Hollywood.

The Fall (2006) dir. Tarsem Singh

This movie... I guess it’s the ideal. This is the platonic ideal of a film for me, it has fantasy, magical realism, glorious visuals, amazing score and costumes and production design and a really interesting, heartbreaking relationship at the core of it. I don’t know why so many of my favourite films feature incredibly raw performances by child actors but this is another one, Catinca Untaru barely knew any English and improvised so much because of that, and it’s fascinating to watch! Also the dynamic with Lee Pace is one of my favourites, where a kid forms a friendship with a guardian figure who isn’t their parent, but the guardian grows to really care for them by the end. It’s like Paper Moon in that sense. What is there to even say about this movie, it’s pure magic joy tempered and countered by genuine gutwrenching emotional conflict in the real world, it’s also ABOUT old moviemaking, in a way, and it’s stunning to look at!

Mad Max Fury Road (2015) dir. George Miller

I know I included this in my “most rewatched” section but it deserves its own thing. We all know why this movie is fucking incredible. I remember clutching my armrests in the cinema and feeling like my skeleton was being blasted back into the seat behind me and tbh that is the high I’m constantly chasing when I go to see any movie. What a fucking gift this film is

Théo et Hugo dans le Même Bateau (2016) dir. Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau

I only found this movie last year and it became an instant favourite. Initially I was just curious because I’d never seen a movie with unsimulated sex before, but it’s so much more than the 18 minute gay sex club orgy it opens with. No, not more than, AS WELL AS. The orgy is important because this movie is so candid and frank about sex and HIV treatment in the modern day, it was eye-opening. Another thing that really got me is that I’d never seen a real-time film before. It’s literally an hour and a half in the lives of these two men, their intense connection and conversation and conflict in the middle of the night in Paris, with some really nice night photography and just!!! Wow!!! AMAZING CHEMISTRY between the actors. This is such a gem if you’re comfortable with explicit sexual content.

Ok. This is already over 3k but film is obviously one of my ridiculous passions and I can and do talk about it for hours. I’ve been reading magazines about it for years, listening to podcasts and reading review blogs and recently, watching video essays on YouTube because the whole process is so interesting to me and I want to learn more!!

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of valuing form over narrative. The idea that story can often come second to the deeper physical experience and emotional reaction that’s created by using ALL the elements of filmmaking and not just The Story, y’know? Whether that’s editing, shot composition, colour, the sound mix, the actors, how it should all be used to heighten the emotional state the script wants you to feel. And so, I think for a few years now this approach has been influencing the types of films I really, really love.

I think I love surreality and mind-bending magical realism in films specifically because the filmmakers have to use all those different tools to convey things that can be way too metaphysical for just... a script? I’m always chasing that physical response; if a movie can make me stop thinking “I wonder what it was like to set up that shot” and instead overwhelm that suspension of disbelief, if I can be terrified or woozy or crying for whatever reason, that’s what I’m looking for. That’s why I watch so many fuckin movies, and why I’ll always remember nights like seeing IT (2017) for giving me another favourite.

Thank you again for this question, I didn’t mean to go so overboard. Also there’s no way to do a readmore on tumblr mobile so apologies to anyone’s dashboard 😬

#long post #films #this is like bill hader being asked to pick his fave comedies and he gives a 4 page list #he has such good taste though ahhahbfhfhfhh lemme talk with him nonstop about movies while i ride him. thank you