#in my mind this man survived the film & went on to become a real superhero o7

[anotherscrappile]

I just watched & thoroughly enjoyed The Suicide Squad (2021) except they gave us what seemed to be a joke character

who actually has interesting & highly effective powers

as well as a complex personality & backstory.

Then, they killed him off in the cheapest way possible at the end.

I’m so sorry they did you dirty, Mr. Polka Dot Man. You deserved so much better.

#the suicide squad #polka dot man #abner krill #ford speaks #ford reviews films #in my mind this man survived the film & went on to become a real superhero o7 #ALSO THEY TOTALLY UNDERUTILIZED HIS POWERS

[spooky-z]

In your pack au it says that the Fam know about everything since the pack thought that it would be easier this way instead of having to explain everything later, but what about the other superheros? What would happen if on a mission Damian is captured or hurt and the other heros/JL/Teen Titans members are panicking only to have this group of FERAL animal themed heros bust in to save the day?

Here it is. 1.3k of badass pack!

PACK’S FURY

Warning: blood. Lots of blood and violence. Gore (I think) and Dark.

Blood.

There was blood, a lot of blood.

Damian's blood.

Damian, who was as limp as a rag doll in Bruce's arms after being hit by a bullet.

Weak pulse, unconscious.

Everyone was fighting and she should be doing the same, but the sight of Damian, fragile and broken, was glued to her eyes. Burning like fire soaked in alcohol.

Everything Marinette was capable of feeling; anger running through every part of her body, from the sole of her foot, to the root of her hair. The fear of losing someone she loved. Impotence for not being able to prevent it from happening ...

She was ready.

Ready to finish.

To destroy.

To avenge.

And the pack, like her, wanted blood.

They wanted to hunt, bite, tear, crush, vaporize those responsible for this.

Viperion looked at Ladybug, he was barely able to control himself, wanting permission. A signal. Chat Noir had its claws embedded in the concrete. Queen Bee buzzed like an angry beehive. Ryuko had smoke coming out of her nose. Pegase and Roi Singe had murderous expressions.

They were waiting for the alpha prime command.

And Ladybug was already tired of waiting for Batman's signal.

They were losing.

A green hero - whom she vaguely resembles Damian calling him Garfield - had been knocked out by two villains. The shadowy girl in the cloak was overwhelmed looking after another group while trying to protect him.

Nightwing, Red Robin, Red Hood and Blue Beetle were trapped and injured by dozens of men.

Star Fire fought and tried to cover Batman, who protected Damian.

Meanwhile, the man who had shot Damian, watched everything as if it were the best comedy film he had ever seen.

"... Leave him to me." She says, her voice clinical and emotionless. “Make them regret hurting what's belongs the pack. I want them to suffer.”

It didn't take much more words for the group to come out of hiding and attack.

Chat Noir's cataclysm vaporized dozens at once; Queen Bee paralyzed everyone she could, while Roi Singe and Pegase destroyed them; Ryuko cremated everyone who dared to get close; Viperion took no care in breaking necks.

They paved the way for alpha prime to reach her goal.

American heroes - and aliens - looked horrified by the bloodbath. The mad eyes. The cruel smiles when blood spilled and the henchman fell dead on the floor.

"My God." Nightwing whispered, incredulous of what he was watching.

Children who were once pure sun and rainbows were now bloodthirsty demons looking for revenge. He felt his stomach churn.

Red Robin believed that it could only be a hallucination induced by some toxin, because it couldn't be real.

Red Hood had sat on the floor, worn out and not at all surprised. He knew what potentialized hatred was capable of doing to even the best of men.

Blue Beetle, Raven and Beast Boy - who had woken up - retreated amid the carnage. That group was an uncertain and unstable group, they didn't know if they could be trusted.

Star Fire was in a defensive position, even though she knew who they were, instinct speaking louder than reason. Her tension grew when one of them, all in green with scales, approached her and Batman.

The whole place froze watching the scene.

He held out his arms to the man, paying no attention to her.

"Give him to me." Demanded.

Batman stepped back as if to hide Robin from the other hero, but the angry whistle and the icy gaze held him in place.

"I said, give him to me." He waved his hands. “You don't want to face the fury of the pack, Batsy. We are not in our best mood right now, so you better cooperate.”

Batman hesitated for a moment, but ended up handing Robin over to the other hero.

"What-" Star Fire murmured confused when Robin was placed on the floor.

The boy did not seem to have heard her as he bent over Robin's body, placing his left hand over the bullet wound in the kevlar.

For a moment, she thought he was mourning over his body, but then his hand began to shine and the glow began to envelop the vigilant’s entire body. The light show didn't last barely five seconds before it went out and Robin stood up in panic, choking on the air.

The chest, where there should have been a bullet hole, now fully healed. No traces of blood.

He looked confused at everyone, before his gaze landed on the scaly hero.

“Viperion? What are you doing here?"

The hero sighed in relief and smiled.

"We came to take what was ours, Ure."

"We...?" And then he noticed the unusual color in the place.

Queen Bee strangling the last henchman on the floor.

"Did you come to Gotham because of me?!" He complained.

Viperion opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted.

"We would go to hell for the pack, my love." Ladybug replied.

She was standing in the center of all the carnage. The red-spattered face and the black gloves of the suit, dripping blood on the concrete floor. At her feet, Harvey Dent – Two-Face - lay dead. The jaw completely broken, the left eye missing and the right arm at an unnatural angle.

Damian's heart raced at the sight.

His angel had become a demon and all he could think about was how he wanted to kiss her breathlessly.

"We have a rule of not killing, Ms. Ladybug." Batman cut Robin's line of thought. "You and your... pack... just killed thirty men without mercy."

The pack made a mocking sound.

Ladybug raised an eyebrow at the man.

"And...?" Her voice was icy. “They took what is mine. They hurt and almost killed him.” The Parisian heroes - except Viperion, who still held Robin - approached her. "No one who hurts the pack, survives to tell a story."

Batman sighed tightly.

"Even so. We don't do that in Gotham.”

Ladybug put a finger to her chin, eyes away; seeming to ponder the man's words before focusing on him again. The face contorted in an animalistic expression.

"So, the next time Robin is sent on a solo mission, keep in mind that if he suffers any serious injury, it will happen again." She smiled bestially. “You're lucky that I'm not around your neck, Batsy. Because that's what I want to do.”

And everyone felt the truth in those words.

She was prepared to burn the whole world if the pack was attacked.

BONUS:

"Bro, Robin's girlfriend is scary like him." Beast Boy whispered to Blue Beetle.

"Her friends too." The bluish hero replied. “And what is this about a pack? Does it have to do with those animal suits?”

They didn't notice the presence behind them, until it was too late.

"You are very curious, huh." Chat Noir put his arms around the shoulders of the two heroes, who jumped in fright. He had a smile that would seem docile, if it weren't for the sharp look. “But I think it's better if you keep that curiosity for yourself. It's just like that proverb: curiosity killed the cat and I'm sure you don't want to die, right?"

Beast Boy and Blue Beetle nodded violently.

Chat Noir smiled even more.

"Great!" He released both of them and clapped his hands, passing them. “It was nice to finally meet the other Ure partners. I hope to be able to fight alongside you again in the future. Have to go now! Bye!" He waved and a portal opened in front of him, swallowing the hero and disappearing.

The american heroes were paralyzed by what had happened.

"I really hope I don't have to meet them again."

"I agree."

I hope I have met your expectations.

#daminette #pack AU #maribat #lukadren #chlogami #le chien kim #marinette dupain cheng #damian #adrien agreste #max kante #luka couffaine #Kagami Tsurugi #chloe bourgeois

[rapeculturerealities]

I moved to Los Angeles to become an actress at 24. These are character descriptions of roles I have read for: “thin, attractive, Dave’s wife”; “robot girl, a remarkable feat of engineering”; “her breasts are large and she’s wearing a red sweater.”

I stuffed my bra for that last one. I still did not get the part.

After a while it was hard to tell what was the greater source of my depression: that I could not book a part in a horror film where I had three lines and died on Page 4, or that I was even auditioning to play these roles at all. After dozens of auditions and zero callbacks, my mom suggested I get breast implants. From her perspective, I had walked away from a coveted job at Goldman Sachs and chosen a profession of self-commodification. She wanted to help me sell better.

But I wasn’t drawn to acting because I wanted to be desired. I was drawn to acting because I felt it would allow me to become the whole, embodied person I remembered being in childhood — one that could imagine freely, listen deeply and feel wholeheartedly.

I continued to audition and continued to fail. My depression deepened. My self-esteem plummeted. My boyfriend would get drunk and punch holes in the wall next to my head. I let him. He spat in my face. I let him. He dissolved into tears in my arms. I let him. And then I sifted through the ashes of his anger and his father’s anger before him to help him uncover the forgiveness he needed to move on. I was auditioning to be “Dave’s wife.” I was “robot girl, a remarkable feat of engineering.”

After a day of running from men with chain saws in audition rooms and a night of running from the man I shared a bed with, I decided I was done auditioning. I felt I had to write my way out of these roles or I wouldn’t find my way in the real world, either. I could not be what I could not see onscreen.

So I went to the library in downtown Los Angeles and started reading books and watching films about how to write dramas for the screen. I clung to Jodie Foster in Jonathan Demme’s “Silence of the Lambs,” to Holly Hunter in Jane Campion’s “The Piano.”

But aside from a handful of exceptions, I was overwhelmed by the number of dramatic narratives that murdered their female characters.

In “The Big Heat” she has a pot of boiling coffee thrown in her face and is then shot in the back. In “Chinatown” the bullet tears through her brain and out her eye. And in case this seems like a trend of the past, consider the more recent noir “Blade Runner 2049,” where the holographic femme fatale is deleted and the remaining women are stabbed, drowned and gutted like a fish.

Even the spirited Antigone, the brave Joan of Arc and the unfettered Thelma and Louise meet tragic ends in large part because they are spirited, brave and unfettered. They can defy kings, refuse beauty and defend themselves against violence. But it’s challenging for a writer to imagine a world in which such free women can exist without brutal consequences.

We live in a world that is a direct reflection of these stories we’ve been telling. Close to four women a day are murdered in America at the hands of their partners or former partners. One out of every four women in America has been the victim of a rape.

I am one of those one out of four. Our narratives tell us that women are objects and objects are disposable, so we are always objectified and often disposed of.

There are centuries of trial and error inside the “hero’s journey,” in which a young man is called to adventure, challenged by trials, faces a climactic battle and emerges victorious, changed and a hero. And while there are narrative patterns for the adventures of girls — “Alice in Wonderland,” “The Wizard of Oz” — those are few and far between, and for adult women, even less so.

Even when I found myself writing stories about women rebelling against the patriarchy, it still felt like what I largely ended up describing was the confines of patriarchy. The more fettered I felt inside the real world, the more I turned toward science fiction, speculative fiction and lo-fi fantasy.

I eventually co-wrote, produced and starred in two microbudget films, “Another Earth” and “Sound of My Voice.” Both stories left reality just far enough behind to give me the mental freedom to imagine female characters behaving in ways not often seen onscreen.

I emerged from the Sundance Film Festival with offers to act in projects I would never have been allowed to read for a week prior. Most of those roles were still girlfriend, mistress, mother. But there was a new character on offer to me as well, one that survived the story.

Enter, stage right: the Strong Female Lead.

She’s an assassin, a spy, a soldier, a superhero, a C.E.O. She can make a wound compress out of a maxi pad while on the lam. She’s got MacGyver’s resourcefulness but looks better in a tank top.

Acting the part of the Strong Female Lead changed both who I was and what I thought I was capable of. Training to do my own stunt work made me feel formidable and respected on set. Playing scenes where I was the boss firing men tasted like empowerment. And it will always feel better to be holding the gun in the scene than to be pleading for your life at the other end of the barrel.

It would be hard to deny that there is nutrition to be drawn from any narrative that gives women agency and voice in a world where they are most often without both. But the more I acted the Strong Female Lead, the more I became aware of the narrow specificity of the characters’ strengths — physical prowess, linear ambition, focused rationality. Masculine modalities of power.

I thought back to the films I watched and stories I read burrowed deep in the stacks of the library. I began to see something deeper and more insidious behind all those images of dead and dying women.

When we kill women in our stories, we aren’t just annihilating female gendered bodies. We are annihilating the feminine as a force wherever it resides — in women, in men, of the natural world. Because what we really mean when we say we want strong female leads is: “Give me a man but in the body of a woman I still want to see naked.”

It’s difficult for us to imagine femininity itself — empathy, vulnerability, listening — as strong. When I look at the world our stories have helped us envision and then erect, these are the very qualities that have been vanquished in favor of an overwrought masculinity.

I’ve played the Strong Female Lead in real life, too — as an analyst at an investment bank before coming to Hollywood. I wore suits, drank Scotch neat and talked about the women and the men I was sleeping with like commodities on an open market. I buried my feminine intelligence alive in order to survive. I excelled at my linear task of making more money from a lot of money regardless of the long-term consequences for others and the environment.

The lone female V.P. on my floor and my mentor at the time gave me the following advice when she left to partner at a hedge fund: Once a week, open the door to your office when they finally give you one, and place a phone call where you shout a string of expletives in a threatening voice.

She added that there doesn’t actually need to be someone on the other end of the line.

I don’t believe the feminine is sublime and the masculine is horrifying. I believe both are valuable, essential, powerful. But we have maligned one, venerated the other, and fallen into exaggerated performances of both that cause harm to all. How do we restore balance? Or how do we evolve beyond the limitations that binaries like feminine/masculine present in the first place?

In 2014 I went back to the library and encountered Octavia Butler’s “Parable of the Sower,” a sci-fi novel written in 1993 imagining a 2020 where society has largely collapsed from climate change and growing wealth inequality. Butler’s heroine, the 17 year-old Lauren, has “hyperempathy” — she feels, quite literally, other people’s pain. This feminine gift and curse uniquely prepares her to survive the violent attack on her community in Los Angeles and successfully encourage a small tribe north to begin again from seeds she has saved from her family’s garden.

Butler felt to me like a lighthouse blinking from an island of understanding way out at sea. I had no idea how to get there, but I knew she had found something life saving. She had found a form of resistance.

Butler and other writers like Ursula Le Guin, Toni Morrison and Margaret Atwood did not employ speculative fiction to colonize other planets, enslave new life-forms, or extract alien minerals for capital gains only to have them taken at gunpoint by A.I. robots. These women used the tenets of genre to reveal the injustices of the present and imagine our evolution.

With these ideas in mind, Zal Batmanglij and I wrote and created “The OA,” a Netflix series about Prairie, a blind girl who is kidnapped and returns seven years later to the community she grew up in with her sight restored. She opens up to a group of lost teenage boys in her neighborhood, telling them about her captivity and the inter-dimensional travel she discovered to survive it. It turns out these boys need to hear Prairie’s story as much as she needs to tell it. For the boys face their own kind of captivity: growing up inside the increasingly toxic obligations of American manhood.

As time has passed, I’ve come to understand what deep influence shaping a narrative has. Stories inspire our actions. They frame for us existences that are and are not possible, delineate tracks we can or cannot travel. They choose who we can find empathy for and who we cannot. What we have fellow feeling for, we protect. What we objectify and commodify, we eventually destroy.

I don’t want to be the dead girl, or Dave’s wife. But I don’t want to be a strong female lead either, if my power is defined largely by violence and domination, conquest and colonization.

Sometimes I get a feeling of what she could be like. A truly free woman. But when I try to fit her into the hero’s journey she recedes from the picture like a mirage. She says to me: Brit, the hero’s journey is centuries of narrative precedent written by men to mythologize men. Its pattern is inciting incident, rising tension, explosive climax and denouement. What does that remind you of?

And I say, a male orgasm.

And she says: Correct. I love the arc of male pleasure. But how could you bring me into being if I must satisfy the choreography of his desire only?

And I say: Good on you. But then how do I bring you into being?

Then I hear only silence.

But even in the silence I dream of answers. I imagine new structures and mythologies born from the choreography of female bodies, non-gendered bodies, bodies of color, disabled bodies. I imagine excavating my own desires, wants and needs, which I have buried so deeply to meet the desires, wants and needs of men around me that I’m not yet sure how my own desire would power the protagonist of a narrative.

These are not yet solutions. But they are places to dig.

Excavating, teaching and celebrating the feminine through stories is, inside our climate emergency, a matter of human survival. The moment we start imagining a new world and sharing it with one another through story is the moment that new world may actually come.

#sexism #misogyny #entertainment #workplace #strong female leads #voices

[liltimfrance]

TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET

New interview for German media (2020)

Translation

He is what Leonardo DiCaprio was in the 1990s. But Timothée Chalamet is not only enthusiastic as an actor. With his appearance, feminine and still male, he is also considered a model for a young generation. And he understands his work more politically than his predecessors did. Allow: the future of Hollywood!

NZZ am Sonntag magazine: Timothée, the story of a gay love "Call Me by Your Name" made you an international film star and earned you an Oscar nomination for best actor. What memory do you have of the evening in March 2018?

Timothée Chalamet: Oh, that was a fantastic evening! I went there with my mom, she was my date that evening. For me, a dream came true that day. I was so thankful to meet all these stars that I look up to. I had already met her at other events from time to time in the weeks before, so there was almost a buddy feeling - crazy! Friends of mine were also nominated, Saoirse Ronan and Greta Gerwig. And James Ivory even won an Oscar for our film, for the script. That was the most incredible moment.

In 2019 you were nominated a second time for the Golden Globe as the best supporting actor in «Beautiful Boy». Is that becoming the rule for you now?

I don't expect it in the near future. But of course I wouldn't mind if it works again at some point.

How has your life changed since the great success of "Call Me by Your Name"?

Oh, I don't think about that very much. I am happy that I have more options now and prefer to concentrate on doing good work and finding roles that challenge me. I've always been a violent film nerd, I grew up with indie films, I love this job - I was just extremely skeptical that young actors would get any chances out there. But the reactions from the audience confirm that it is worth being an actor. You can inspire people like that. We really wanted to say something with “The King” too. I love the language of the film alone - it is a cross between Shakespeare and “Game of Thrones”.

The drama “The King” deals with political issues such as abuse of power, manipulation, betrayal and trust. Did you learn anything personally from the subject?

When I was playing I noticed something: power feels very different than you think. Because you always feel yourself as a normal person, never as an overpowering figure or one of the most important drivers in the world. There are no machines even in the control centers of world politics. When I was in my costume and had to take on this leading role, I felt exactly like my young regent, who is faced with great tasks and challenges and who is not sure whether he can master them.

How does a young man, who carries a film of several million on his shoulders, who is quite slim by permission, deal with self-doubt? Didn't the heavy armor bring you to your knees, not to mention that you wielded the sword for hours?

The director wanted dirty, hard sword fights, and that's exactly what we shot. I gained a good seven kilos of muscle for this role. Of course I'm far from being a handsome warrior. If the director had wanted that, he would have taken another one. What we paid attention to was the attitude with which I went to war. It shouldn't be an invincible king, but one who just barely survives. The bottom line is that he still faces the fight. Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun with it. I was able to bring the ten-year-old to life in me.

Even if “The King” is not a superhero movie but a modern allegory, many young people will probably only watch the film for your sake.

Phew, it can be, of course I don't know. But if I can make these important issues accessible to the masses, then I'm happy. It's about what makes power out of people who only came to this position through privileges or their family tree. Yes, I was still at school six years ago and I remember how hard the teachers tried in vain to get us excited about politics. Today it really worries me which regents are currently in power.

You've been dating Lily-Rose Depp since the shoot. Now you are both considered new Hollywood royalties like Brangelina once. How do you like being such a modern prince?

Now I have to think carefully about what I say. Modern Prince: Somehow this description doesn't suit me at all. My career was not a straight line that quickly led to great success. I would describe it as a zigzag. I always chose very different projects, sometimes they ran better, sometimes worse. First I made small independent films. It was only last year that the projects suddenly got bigger, but "The King" and "Dune" were not filmed in the hustle and bustle of Hollywood. Honestly? I don't even feel like a movie star.

Do you still feel the pressure from your fans? Do you want to live up to expectations?

No. What I feel is really just a big thank you. Because films are important. I believe that films can change the world. You are just my big love. I am incredibly happy that they obviously want to see me in it. It's fantastic how much films can move, isn't it? I remember seeing the Oscar-winning drama "Moonlight" in a sold-out movie theater and how it was felt after the show how deeply the whole audience was touched by the story. I work to make moments like this possible!

And what about your own life? Do you also allow space for all the successes?

To be honest, I struggle quite a bit: to find a kind of balance or rhythm between my complete dedication to playing and a normal one - if there is any! - Development of my living conditions. At 24, that's easier than when I'm 17. But I still have no idea what is good for me, apart from playing.

How old were you when you realized you really wanted to be an actor?

13 years. That was in high school in New York, we had an acting class that I was enrolled in. And after a few hours it was clear to me: "That's my thing!" But maybe it wasn't that coincidental. I grew up in the show business environment. , 

Your mother was a dancer, your uncle is director Rodman Flender, your grandfather is screenwriter Harold Flender, and you went to the acting and art specialist high school La Guardia, along with Madonna's daughter Lourdes. , ,, , ,

 But what really shaped me was the experience of performing something on stage with other people and thus generating deep emotions. When I finished high school, I immediately looked for an agent and started going to auditions. During an audition I met a colleague who had just got a small role in a TV series. That was when I felt my ambition for the first time: I wanted to achieve something. I really wanted to be part of a really good project, whether on TV, cinema or theater. ,

In any case, you've worked hard over the past few months.

But how! After “The King” came Greta Gerwig's historical drama “Little Women”, followed by Wes Anderson's “The French Dispatch”, and finally the sci-fi adventure “Dune” for six months in a row. That was a lot, but I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunities. The good thing is that you don't have time to think about all the work, you just concentrate on the task in front of you. I don't want to disappoint anyone.

Who is a source of inspiration for you personally?

Talented colleagues with whom I work, for example Greta Gerwig, with whom I have already made two films.

What seduced you to “Little Women”, which now starts in late January?

Greta as director and Saoirse Ronan as main actress, whom I also knew from Ladybird before. We are already something of a gang. I am very proud of “Little Women” and will soon see it together with Saoirse, that has already been agreed.

Do you mind if fans are more interested in your amours than in your work?

What can I say? I can hardly influence what people think. Fortunately, it doesn't feel like many are interested in me privately. I know that it can be dangerous for young people if they focus too much on what the public thinks about them. So I decided to just focus on my job and my work.

What is going on in you when you are greeted and cheered by thousands at premieres in Toronto, Venice or anywhere else in the world?

In Venice I was just happy that so many, especially young people came to the premiere. It's not like people go crazy every night when I leave the house. A premiere like this is an exceptional situation, and that's exactly how I perceive it. It is not real life.

#Timothee Chalamet #timothée chalamet #little women #life #personal life #interview #2020

[crepuscular-gloom]

Poptropica Island Ratings

okay I saw a post on here a while ago and someone rated the Poptropica islands. I remember agreeing with a lot of them, but they only went so far so a lot of the newer islands were missed out. I came across it again recently and got hit by a wave of nostalgia so I’m gonna do my own now. Unoriginal content very good. i’ll put a keep reading link to stop it from taking up too much space

Early Poptropica - mega nostalgia but kinda boring. I like the original Poptropicans being pixely and there is a goth gf in the sewers however the giant green spider scared the shit out of me as a kid and the idea of an aircraft graveyard made me sad so 6/10

Shark Tooth Island - also nostalgic but I didn’t complete it for a long time for some reason.. very short. it has a story but its there is nasty shark and people stuck on an island so make a calming potion. the medicine man looks like he is from viva pinata so 6/10

Time Tangled Island - VERY GOOD AND FUN AND HISTORICAL FUCK THAT AZTEC THO DICKHEAD. quite lengthy for an island but this is good because that means more time periods to explore. it’s also educational but i just care about restoring time. very legendary the iconic just jumped out - 10/10

24 Carrot Island - stupid pun point taken off. introduces Dr Hare and people are THIRSTY. you can dye your hair with milkshakes. i thought it was creepy as a kid honestly. i think its mind control or something. but i like it, it still has nostalgia value 8/10

Super Power Island - very legend like. i loooove the antagonists, especially copy cat but i think i had to look up a guide to beat her because i was dumb af. you need a licence to be a superhero but you are a superhero!!! very fun i like this one a lot 10/10

Spy Island - i remember sucking at this one as well as a kid.  i think it fucks with peoples hair and i only remember because my character looks fresh 100% of the time and this island fucked it up i think. i don't really remember it tho. 5/10

Nabooti Island - it’s based on a Choose Your Own Adventure book so good premise. go around the world is also good. you have to get jewels i think. ngl i didn’t finish this one because i sucked at it so i’m just going off the wiki and how far i got into it. fuck the animal puzzle 7/10

Big Nate Island - who the fuck is Big Nate. i only remember the school climbing frame and a stink bomb. fuck you big nate we don’t have your comics in England 1/10

Astro-Knights Island - medieval knights.... IN SPACE?!?! COUNT ME IN. crazy jester bard guy antagonist. people are thirsty for him too. i’m pretty sure you end up in another dimension or something. cyborgs and shit 9/10

Counterfeit Island - bruh i loved this island. pretty sure antagonist is also making people thirsty. you have to go back to Early Poptropica Island to complete it, very cool. investigating crime is cool idea it’s l.a. noire in poptropica. the wiki says there is a glitch called anti-social clown and i have to say relatable 9/10

Reality TV Island - i think i completed this like twice and i remember jackshit. you get to see past characters tho so very good. it’s just doing challenges. 4/10

Mythology Island - VERY GOOD. LEARN ABOUT MYTHOLOGY. you can fight hydra and other creatures, you meet Zeus you meet Hades, Aphrodite is a bitch. 9/10

Skullduggery Island - pirates are always good no matter what. apparently it is one of the hardest islands which explains why i never completed it but you fight other pirates and sea monsters for doubloons or some shit sounds cool to me 8/10

Steamworks Island - steampunk is good. i remember completing this and thinking it was interesting and weird to look at. i think the atmosphere is was lonely tho. there’s a boss battle against a plant i think. otherwise i don’t fuckin remember 7/10

Great Pumpkin Island - it’s Peanuts so it’s nice. very nice and simple. it’s just about the great pumpkin except you’re there. 6/10

Cryptids Island - GOD TIER. CRYPTIDS IS SUCH A GOOD IDEA. some of it is scary tho. the jersey devil just fucking staring at you from the window was a shit the bed moment for a kids game. also before the islands got rebooted, it was one of the only islands to have sound effects, i.e. when the chupacabra bursts out the box. honestly because of the balls on this kids game to scare children and also being good island 10/10

Wild West Island - the only thing better than pirates is cowboys. i don’t really remember it but you do go against an outlaw gang. i like cowboys 10/10

Wimpy Wonderland Island - Jeff I know you made doawk and poptropica but did you have to show it. ngl i liked it because i like doawk. but it’s kinda... creatively bankrupt i guess. 3/10 2 points because Rodrick is there

Red Dragon Island - i think more time travel but just to old Japan. you have to save a girl. that’s all i remember. also i think there is a nasty samurai guy. but also evil dragon. i can’t remember because for the longest time this was a premium account only island so i never got to finish it for the longest time. that was a dick move 7/10 for that alone.

Shrink Ray Island - cool premise but this island expects me to learn morse code 3/10

Mystery Train Island - detectives? on a train? very nice. basically murder on the orient express except no murder and thomas edison is there and also various other 1700/1800 nerds

Game Show Island - basically Reality TV except it’s to save the world from robots. 5/10

Ghost Story Island - wow iconic. this is the only island with voice acting and it’s to fucking jumpscare you i shat myself.  ghost hunting, very cool 10/10

S.O.S Island - it’s basically Titanic mixed with Moby Dick. it’s ok 6/10

Vampire’s Curse Island - i reaaaally like this one. i like vampires. it has a vampire daddy in it so. he kidnaps a teenage girl tho because he thinks its the love of his life who is dead. kinda weird. he does stop being insane at the end tho and says sorry and dies. the girls bf is a dickhead tho. 9/10

Twisted Thicket Island - i think you’re saving a forest from becoming housing. i really like it because it introduces various folkloric creatures like the nokken. i only remember the nokken because i went on akinator to see if he knew what it was and i don’t think he did so i added it and it’s photo to his database. or maybe it was just his photo but i remember uploading something to akinator. 8/10

Poptropolis Games Island - i don’t think i liked this one 3/10

Wimpy Boardwalk Island - Jeff. 2/10 1 point added because Rodrick is also there

Lunar Colony Island - space is good. do i remember this island tho? no. i think theres aliens tho. 5/10 because i like space and aliens.

Super Villain Island - it brings back the most memorable villains like binary bard and black widow. you find out why they are evil. pretty chill 8/10

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory Island - what do you expect 5/10

Zomberry Island - the last of us except i think people are just eating nasty berries really. i like it it’s spooky 7/10

Night Watch Island - Paul Blart Mall Cop 6/10

Back Lot Island - you make a film. i can’t remeber it like at all. 6/10 because it sounds ok

Poptropolis Games Island Part 2 - fuck off 2/10

Virus Hunter Island - i don’t think i completed this one either. however it is one of those inside the human body things which is always cool if cliche. 8/10

Mocktropica Island - very satirical what if about if poptropica was run by assholes. ironic since a bunch of islands were made premium only for a while. pretty sure the bonus missions still are too which is why i’m not mentioning them. funny tho 7/10

Monster Carnival Island - spooky yes. people thirst over the ringmaster raven guy too. theres a spooky clown on the ferris wheel. i don’t remember much other than i liked it because it was about monsters in a theme park. 9/10 i remember it was surprisingly short tho

Survival Island - castaway except it’s you. i don’t remember it either lmao. i got out of touch with old poptropica real bad by this time so my next ratings might be unfair sorry. pretty sure it also becomes the most dangerous game tho and some guy wants to actually fucking kill you. ballsy. 7/10 because it sounds ok i should maybe play it.

Mission Atlantis Island - i like atlantis but i didn’t play this one either. you see deepsea creatures which are spooky so extra points 8/10

PoptropiCon Island - poptropica’s answer to comicon. now i did play this one for some reason but i don’t remember it too well either. i was 14 when it came out so. sounds like yu-gi-oh so good. 7/10

Arabian Nights Island - didn’t play it i think it’s just telling the story. it’s a cool story so 7/10

Galactic Hotdogs Island - what the fuck 1/10

Mystery of The Map Island - vikings are cool. island seems very short tho. 5/10

Timmy Failure Island - who the fuck. this would be more impactful if i read these fucking things but i don’t. who the fuck are you timmy. i guess it’s called failure for a reason. (that was mean sorry) 1/10

Escape from Pelican Rock Island - prison break, nice idea. you have like a twin in this one. seems a bit repetitive sometimes tho. theres like 7 days of doing similar things. 6/10

Monkey Wrench Island - it was created to be the new tutorial, i.e. an actual tutorial rather than Early Poptropica. very fast and boring, especially if you already know everything. 2/10

Crisis Caverns Island - i know nothing about this. even the wiki is incomplete. maybe that means its shit then. 1/10 the wiki doesn’t even care too much about this one.

Greek Sea Odyssey - more ancient greece is always good. you get to beat the shit out of zeus this time 8/10

Snagglemast Island - all you do is collect coins. another tutorial one. 1/10.

bonus: home island. legit just a hub. points added because you can do a lot of customisation here and pick up a pet that doesn’t cost credits. 4/10

DOUBLE BONUS: the little haunted house mini thing. very good because spooky costumes, spooky house fun little monster party. 10/10

#poptropica #feel free to add your opinions #do you agree #or disagree #i get unfair because i stopped playing a loooong time ago #tho i sometimes jump on #if you see me i'm called chilly skull #edgy i know but i made it when i was 7 #poptropica islands #this felt like writing a goddamn essay enjoy

[darringauthier]

John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum (2019)

Genre: Action

Who’s In It: Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, Mark Dacascos, Asia Kate Dillion, Lance Reddick

Who Directed It: Chad Stahelski

Plot:  John Wick is on the run after killing a member of the international assassins' guild, and with a $14 million price tag on his head, he is the target of hit men and women everywhere.

Running Time: 2 Hours 11 Minutes 

IMDB Score: 7.5

Metascore: 73

Rotten Tomatoes: Critics 90%  Audience 86%

Why I Watched It: Really?

How I Watched It: I saw it went it first came out on iTunes, it’s on Amazon Prime now.

Random Thoughts: I being a huge genre/action fan have seen the other two John Wicks, the first one to be has quickly become one of my all-time favorite action films, an almost perfect revenge/action film, love it to death.  The second one was good but not great and I kind of blame that one it being a much bigger story.  What was great about the first one was it was a very personal story and in the second and now the third the world is much bigger and it’s now about world building.  Also I think the second and third are hurt by just how good the first one is, almost no action can stand being compared to John Wick.

What I Liked: What I liked most about Parabellum is what I like the most about all three films, the amazing action and Keanu Reeves as John Wick, say what you want about Reeves as an actor and for me he’s hit or miss but Wick is effortless for him and he’s so good even in his silences.  The action here is mind blowing and you have to give director Chad Stahelski a ton of credit he hasn’t gotten lazy and phone in the action set pieces for this franchise the action is as fresh and as well shot as the first one.  The opening 20 minutes is a great short film on it’s own, an amazing escape short.

As with most sequels John Wick as a franchise has gotten bigger and longer and louder but at it’s core I still like the heart and really the humanity of the lead character, he’s flawed and a murder but you still cheer him.  The acting for the most part is good here, don’t be misled by the trailers Halle Berry isn’t in it a lot but she’s good and I like how each film opens up more of this world and we see the history and damage of what this world is to the people in it.

The movie lives on it’s action and I want to give some time to it cause it’s something that gets screwed up all the time in action movies, it’s real easy to screw up action and John Wick’s action sequences are so well laid out and so well filmed that it’s more than just action it truly serves the story. Even though I think this film is flawed the action is beyond reproach.

Now I’ll touch on the end without spoiling too much and I will put it in both my like and dislike sections, what I liked its that it sets up a very interesting Chapter 4 and also sets some characters up to do more and I like that and I’m giddy with what they could do.

What I Didn’t Like: Each film is getting longer and more convoluted, sure it’s decent story telling and yes they have set up a very interesting world but it does bog the story down.  As sleek and has trimmed down the first film was the series as it goes gets bigger and the cast is larger and some of the heart is lost.

Now I’m a bit of a hypocrite here but some of the action sequences just go on too long, there’s a couple near the end that honestly I was zoning out is was going so long, I know I love the action but it’s like I love candy but I don’t want to eat three bags at one sitting.  It also kind of pushed the disbelief a little far cause you realize there’s no way in hello Wick could survive all this.  The come close to turning Wick into a superhero, I prefer the myth, the man the legend John Wick.

My biggest beef with the film is the very end, now I’ll see where they go with it but there’s a turn and I din’t like it or buy it, at this point who in their right mind stabs John Wick in the back, in the second film a character says this to the main bad guy, who stab the devil in the back what did you except yet someone does that again here. Also there’s a fear of turning the High Table into the Empire.

Final Thoughts: Not perfect maybe my least favorite of the three but it’s still pretty darn good and I liked it overall but I love the first one so much I tend to be protective of the series.

Rating: 7/10

#john wick chapter 3 #parabellum #keanu reeves #chad stahelski #action movies

[hollenka99]

The Friend

Summary: When Sean is six, he creates an imaginary friend. Jack lingers into adulthood and their friendship isn’t as perfect as the little boy had hoped.

When Sean is six, he spends the night at his friend's house. Max's big brother dared them to stay up all night. As much as he tried, the little boy couldn't stop himself from dozing off before midnight. Max teased him about his failure until it got out of hand. Years later, Sean would look back on it all and conclude that Max was a bad friend. In response to the teasing, he invents an imaginary friend. Jack is kind and forgiving. He doesn't care if Sean is loud and instead joins in with the noise. More importantly, at least to the boy, he never sleeps. He is there for him whenever Sean requires him to be. He has no mind with which to object or act otherwise if he wanted. He is the perfect friend. Jack has more energy than Sean. He can continue to run around the school track while Sean has to call it quits. As children, they laugh and suggest it's because Sean plays too many video games. They know their logic is flawed. Sean runs around with his friends as much as they sit down to play on game consoles. But like all children, Sean grows up. Teenagers aren't meant to have imaginary friends. When he was younger, conversing with Jack was seen as sweet. Now older, he'd begun to leave childish things like invisible buddies behind. However, Jack lingers and Sean notices him on occasions. One such moment was after he plays the PlayStation version of Spider-Man 2 and they design a superhero together. Jack is a ghost, no longer required to serve his purpose. He collects figurative dust in the corner of his best friend's mind. Each time he is brought back, even if he can't express it, he is grateful. It prevents him from completely fading into non-existence. Existing as a faded memory is all he really knows by this point. One day, he'll be able to say barely existing is purely numbing. However, for the moment, he doesn't know better. For now, his 'life' and actions continue to be entirely at Sean's mercy. Soon, Sean is 23 and passing 1000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. Jack is proud of him. He smiles on his own accord. It disappears when he feels the muscles in his cheeks tug themselves upwards. Sean is nowhere to be seen. He hasn't existed without Sean being present before. He's not sure what to do without him or how to find him. Awareness of free will dumps him in an empty room. It is only him, the floorboards, four bare walls and a single door. He needs to know where Sean is. How does he proceed without his creator instructing him? Despite all the energetic activity he was subjected to as a child, he is clumsy as he runs towards the door. He falls on his face in front of Sean's TV. His hands sting from absorbing the impact. Upon laying eyes on his only friend, he realises they are wearing the exact same outfit. Neither of them know how to deal with this development. The two of them eventually progress past 'What the fuck?!' 'Don't ask me!'. Becoming real is the strangest thing he's experienced thus far. If he came into contact with something real like a desk, his body would reacted the same way as Sean's because he couldn't imagine a body clipping through surfaces like a badly designed character model. Now when he sits on a sofa, he actually feels the seat underneath his body. Being alive, being able to feel things for the first time is beyond any expectations he could have had. It's July, summer is underway. If he'll be able to register the sensation now, he wants to have the sun on his exposed skin. Sean laughs when he hears this and says it's a shame they don't live in a place where sunshine is more common. A particularly hot day arrives and Sean brings a tub of Ben and Jerry's ice cream back to the cabin. It's cold and chocolatey, with little chewy bits of brownie. Jack falls in love instantly. He goes out and buys more flavours any time the sky warms his skin. Sean playfully teases him about getting fat if his habit continues. The Jacksepticeye channel becomes theirs, not just Sean's. They both play games and grumble to each other about how slow things take to get uploaded thanks to the cabin's terrible broadband. Anything personal like a Q&A or comment reading video remains purely Sean's territory. Their arrangement works, especially with Jack editing into the night so Sean could sleep. Months pass and the weather cools. Unlike warmth, he hates being unable to have complete control of his body as it is overtaken by tiny shaking movements. Sean tells him he's just shivering. If he puts on another layer of clothing, it won't be so bad. His friend seems happier in general. He's not quite so lonely anymore. Jack is glad to be able to contribute to that in any way. He notices Sean making himself hot chocolate one day in December. He's confused when he is abruptly forbidden from making or tasting the drink himself. A week into February, everything becomes clear. "Hey Jack, happy birthday!" Sean hands him a mug of milky brown liquid. He accepts it hesitantly. "But it's your birthday. I got you a present and everything." "Yeah but you need to have a birthday too. And February 7th the best day to have one, in my opinion. Might be the tiniest bit biased on that though." He grins. "Go on, I've been wanting to see what you think of hot chocolate." Later, after Jack has made a few cups of the drink for himself, he'll realise this first serving was a little milk heavy. However, his obliviousness is beneficial. He drinks it eagerly once it cools a little, his first ever birthday present. Sean promises to get him something better next year, once they're more sure of Jack's likes and dislikes. Jack tells Angus about it. The Australian hunter appeared three months before him, as a result of the Survival Hunter series. With only the other for company, they rapidly develop a close friendship. Angus understands how strange existence is. Together, they discuss nature and watch David Attenborough or compete against each other in multiplayer mode of various games. In time, he notices something wrong. At first, in the summer of 2014, Angus begins to sleep in longer. It isn't exactly alarming but it is certainly a change in behaviour. By the time they are discussing hibernation, the wildlife expert is getting forgetful. By the end of 2015, he's constantly in his room, resting. Angus is a shadow, quite literally a faded memory, and Jack knows exactly who's to blame for his friend's condition. He returns to Sean multiple times, forever attempting to persuade him to bring the Survival Hunter series back to the channel. Time after time, Sean argues there isn't anywhere he can take the series. If he thought harder, maybe their creator would find a way to stop it all. He's been so accommodating before that Jack struggles to understand why Sean is so unwilling to cooperate. The first crack shows. When Sean tells him about breaking up with his girlfriend, he provides any support his friend needs from him. Months later, Sean is telling Jack about a Danish artist he's befriended. He gushes about how much he likes her art and how easy it is to talk to her. One day, Jack teases him about having a crush on Signe. With a short, self conscious laugh, Sean admits they were actually dating now and that he hoped to invite her to Ireland soon. Jack ruffles his hair, much to Sean's chagrin. Dude's in love again. Good on him. When she does eventually set foot in their home country, Jack keeps away. She may be a twin but Sean definitely isn't. If she saw a duplicate of her boyfriend, there would be a lot of explaining to do. Seeing as she was solely here to spend time with him, it would be best if they avoided having to say "Well, it's a long story...". Besides, Jack had something that required his own attention. He kept spotting Sean lurking around Jack and Angus' home. Except, he could have sworn their creator had a murderous glint in his eye. His appearance wasn't consistent either. Some occasions, his eyes would be dark or he'd have blood visible on his person. Other times, the intruder simply gave the impression of being unhinged. The problem was that Jack couldn't get a good look at the stalker. The guy would always be in the corner of his eye or disappear as soon as the two made eye contact. Jack could almost say the evil Sean glitched out of reality. He questions if this is a new 'ego' as they'd come to call the two Sean lookalikes. Waking up with brown hair and making dinner with the top being green was a little disorientating. He didn't even realise his hair had changed until he went to the bathroom and shocked himself. Yes, he knew Sean was dyeing his hair for charity in response to Mark doing so. He'd even received a photo from the new grass top himself about the change. What he didn't know was that he'd change appearance too. He checks on Angus. No, his hair was still the natural brown. Sean later gives him forewarning before making an appointment at a tattoo parlour. Despite this, Jack does a double take when the Bold Hunter's Mark appears on his right arm. When the summer of 2016 begins, Sean brings up the superhero they'd designed in 2004. After filming with Ninja Sex Party, he's got a red suit and a lot of ideas. The night of July 10th, a younger version of Sean with his current hairstyle stood at his door. The teenager introduces himself as Jackieboy Man, or Jackie for short. Jackie is the breath of fresh air Jack didn't realise he needed. The 16 year old boy is brimming with energy, enough to match his own. He doesn't seem to have actual superpowers but the older ego assures him that's okay. He introduces him to Batman, one of the most famous non-powered heros. More importantly, Jackie is someone to talk to when Angus is busy spending the majority of the day resting. Within days, they are firm friends. Despite his age and having only just been granted autonomy, Jackie proves his eagerness to play the hero he'd been designed to be. He's also very adept with technology. It isn't long before he's made some improvements to the house. Jack catches him trying to access the dark web at one point. The boy shrugs it off as making the most of his skills. After all, he'd been doing just that in Welcome To The Game. Jack remains skeptical. A month after Jackie appears, Sean messes around with a magic kit on camera. Shortly after the video is uploaded, a man wearing a cape and a cat mask finds himself before the three other egos. His cynicism makes Jack question whether they'll get along. He does like the mask though. Jack stares at Sean when he admits the magician was an unintentional character. He swears he will go prematurely bald from wanting to yank his hair out. Sure, Jack could understand his own beginnings as a separate entity. How could Sean have known that by calling himself Jack, his childhood imaginary friend of the same name would be given life? The same went for Angus. Their creator was entirely oblivious to the power a bad Australian accent and a few hundred subscribers held. By now, Sean should have learned his lesson. The new guy believes his name is Jack the Magnificent. It won't do. Jack wouldn't mind there being another Jack if it wasn't for the fact it would get confusing quick. Not to mention there would be two Jacks and a Jackie. Yes, it would be extremely confusing. Jack watches the magician's introductory video again. Fifty Amazing Magic Tricks from Marvin's Magic. Marvin. Marvin the Magician. Marvin the Magnificent. Marvin's face lights up when Jack suggests the name. It's almost like he's had an epiphany. Marvin's right, the name does fit him. Jack is glad he could help. The boost in Marvin's self confidence motivates him to practise his magic. He was able to conjure fire in the video. Logic dictates he can do it again. Jack and Jackie are ready to assist Marvin in whatever way they can with exploring the extent of his magical abilities. Within two weeks of Marvin's arrival, he is dragging a bloodied Jackie into the house. With no medical knowledge at his disposal apart from basic first aid, the incident ends with the youngest housemate being admitted to hospital. He doesn't wish for this to become a common occurrence but they should be better prepared. Perhaps having a doctor as back-up wouldn't be a bad idea. To his relief, Sean is all for it. He purchases a copy of Operation and a doctor outfit. It's a mystery why Dr Schneeplestein is given an awful German accent. Nevertheless, Jack his excited to welcome the doctor. He's unsure about the backstory. The guy's brought into the world with a disloyal wife who is blackmailing him. He knows they have children but can't remember their names or their ages. The doctor doesn't have a first name either. He was simply 'Dr Schneeplestein' in the Operation video. Like he did with Marvin, Jack attempts to find a name that suits the new ego. He goes through baby name websites, specifically ones featuring German names, with the doctor. They eventually bump into Heinrich which prompts a minute of deep thought before the nameless ego announces Henrik is the right name. Several days later, Jack learns of Elias, Heidi and Alina. In mid-October, the morning after Ninja Sex Party upload their music video for 'Cool Patrol', Jackie challenges him to an arm wrestle. He wins several matches. The young superhero giggles as he admits he's going easy on Jack. The two of them spend the following days exploring Jackie's new powers. Marvin shows up, either to watch or practise a defensive spell, while Henrik stood by. They soon establish that, along with technological expertise, Jackie has super strength, flight and lasers at his disposal. By far, his favourite power is the ability to fly. Jack comes out from a recording session towards the end of October to be ambushed by Marvin. He's questioned on whether he'd like a balloon. The minute he accepts, Marvin fetches the 'balloon'. When Henrik spots Jackie being transported around the room, floating while attached to a piece of string, he mutters something in German and retires to his area with coffee. As the month draws to a close, Sean offers him the opportunity to carve the pumpkin this year. He gladly accepts, only later remembering the weird stuff happening to the footage of several videos. He brings it up with his friend. Sean insists nothing will happen. Yes, he's building up to Antisepticeye making his debut appearance but that will be the second video of the day. Jack is skeptical but lets it slide. While their creator could be wildly irresponsible with his ideas at times, Jack trusts him not to deliberately put any of them in harm's way. He is even promised the dangerous upcoming character wouldn't be a threat between videos. During the carving, his nose begins leaking blood so he jokes about how big of a coincidence it was. Off screen he allows himself to be freaked out by the nosebleed. The actual bleeding nose isn't the issue. He's had nosebleeds before, namely when Jackie's aim was off during training. It's the timing that scares him. It's Halloween, with Antisepticeye due to show up today. This is too much of a coincidence. Despite not wanting to, he decides the show must go on. He says some uncharacteristically mean things to Gerald. When he argues with Sean, at least there's some reason to let insults slip. Gerald hasn't done anything wrong. It fails to matter when he is forced to lose control his body. Regardless of how much he'd love to resist, the knife slices through skin. He wakes up in a hospital bed. Dr Schneeplestein explains everything, advising Jack doesn't watch the video himself. He gets incredibly caught up in sudden, painful revelations as soon as he's left to his thoughts. Sean told him Antisepticeye wouldn't target the pumpkin video. Sean had lied. Apparently, his creator could deceive him without hesitation. Worst of all, he now knew how his 'friend' saw him. Expendable; Jack was expendable. He can't believe he'd trusted Sean like that. What was he thinking? Sean had gone against him in the past, namely ignoring his suggestions to improve the lives of the egos. Did he for one second consider how terrifying being suddenly robbed of your autonomy could be? Or suffering through being murdered by your own hand? Sure, the anaesthetic helped dull it to an ache. That didn't change the fact Jack would have a scar as a daily reminder of Sean's willingness to sacrifice the one he'd designed to be everything he wanted in a friend. If his life wasn't as important as Sean's, the difference should be so small it was inconsequential. By the time he is able to be discharged, he had forgiven Sean. Of course he was expendable. He was just made up like the others. No harm could come to Sean, he was too important to lose. None of them would exist without their creator. In a way, he should be thankful for being used as bait. At least he could still be relevant, unlike Angus. He'd been in Angus' position for years. Jack never wanted to feel like that again, as if he was nothing. He's never resented his basic character traits more. He hates that a little boy could force his best friend to always forgive him. He wouldn't be surprised if Sean committed genocide and Jack let it slide. Never sleepy, unable to stay angry at him forever, always willing to provide emotional support should he require it. Well, at least free will had allowed him to bend those rules at times. The truth was that Sean wasn't perfect and Jack didn't want to treat him as such. It didn't matter. The forgiveness comes too late to save Jackie. Sean's visit to the infirmary sparks another row. Frustrated with the disagreements, Jackie bursts into the room halfway through, screaming at them to stop. As soon as he had thundered off, both faces of the Jacksepticeye channel allowed themselves to resolve the latest issue calmly. "What are we doing? This constant arguing is getting us nowhere." "Tell me about it." Jack grumbled back. "Want to call a truce?" "I'm still furious you used me as bait. I don't know how you could have consciously done that." "I know. I'm not sure what I was thinking. Just wanted to give the subscribers something fun for Halloween, I guess. I-" "A community event where they post art would have been more fun." He interrupts. "Hey, I could do that next year." Sean's smile is cautious. "I promise I won't pull something like that again." His friend extends a fist with only his smallest finger out. He's got to be kidding. "What are you, five?" "Come on, humour me. Please?" Jack is reluctant but does it anyway. "You're a fucking idiot." "Don't we know it." Only one laughs. "This doesn't mean I'm going to let it slide just yet." He fidgets. Despite the stuff Schneeplestein had given him, the ghost of Jack's neck wound bothered him still. "Tell me about Antisepticeye. You've made a video with him so he'll be out there now. I should at least know what to look out for." Jack's biggest regret after that night isn't repeatedly allowing himself to forgive Sean. Instead, he becomes remorseful for not getting his friend to follow the young superhero. By the time either of them realise Jackie was yet to return, it was too late. Jack postpones his German studies to focus on bringing the youngest member of the household back to them. His efforts bear no fruit, even months later. The joint birthday celebrations go far better than either of them could have hoped. There are no ill feelings between the two of them on that day. The only fight they have is when Jack silences Sean's complaints of getting older by 'accidentally' smearing frosting on his face. Signe takes a photo of them, crumbs and frost littering their neon green hair. He keeps the photograph with the other reminders the two of them did have great times amongst the disagreements and resentment. He plays the first chapter of Bendy and the Ink Machine while Sean is away at PAX East and the other egos are sleeping. Sean's been hyped for this game for a while, Cuphead too, so Jack is leaving them for him to record. That said, there's no reason why he can't play it in his spare time. Later that month, he absentmindedly watches Sean's playthrough of it. "'The creator lied to us.' Well boohoo, people lie all the time. It's part of life." Jack had found that message on the wall intriguing when he'd played it. As much as he tried not to let Sean's comment get to him, it lingered. At least this time, he could exit the video and never return to it. The week after Angus' birthday, Chase Brody arrives with a name from the get-go. Unfortunately, he also has a wife who's divorcing him and a suicide attempt under his belt before meeting any of his fellow egos. Sean's done some stupid shit before but portraying a suicide? Really? Jack knows for a fact that his friend isn't one to see poor mental health and suicide as something to joke about. Nevertheless, Chase grows on him. Once you got past all the self deprecation and depression, he proved to be a cool guy who loved his two children. Unfortunately, the bullet Henrik has to extract from Chase's brain ruins his ability to perform complex actions with his left arm. "I'm not changing his character." Sean states during a gaming session. "Okay, but-" "Jack, I'm not doing it. This isn't me being stubborn and unwilling to compromise. People split up all the time and sometimes children are involved. A bunch of my subscribers will be able to relate to the situation, either as the parent or the child." "He shot himself in the head." "Unfortunately, that's something people in Chase's headspace consider doing." There's something in the way Sean speaks that worries Jack. "Some of them out there need proof things can change. I could show that." "You're not depressed." He's really unsure on how to have this conversation. "Well, no, but neither are you." They don't go further and Jack's guilt grows. He is sure he's missing something but he can't put his finger on it. They instead discuss topics that were more pleasant. Any miniscule progress Chase makes with his arm, Jack cheers him on. At least he understands where the issues lay with the latest ego. He wishes he was as in tune with Sean. He had been once. Now they were both watching their tongues in case either of them accidentally triggered a disagreement. Home wasn't so bad. He and Marvin still dedicated hours to locating Jackie but, as ever, no breakthroughs were made. However, progress was being made in other places. May brought a second cat into the household. The white feline was usually found lazing around with Jack and Chase or hanging out with Marvin's Abyssinian, Bastet. Jack feels so dumb when he finally learns why he can never find Marvin when the white cat is present. He couldn't be prouder of how far the magician's abilities had developed since August. He had returned to learning German at night. When reading German texts, occasional words begin to become familiar. Every now and again, he doesn't have to check what a word, or even rarer a phrase, means. It takes him a while to remember how accents change the sound of letters. Practising his speech alone, he is convinced his pronunciation is off by miles. Nevertheless, the delight on Henrik's face when he haphazardly makes his way through imperfect sentences proves it is undoubtedly worth it. Henrik coaches him on his native tongue while Jack continued to correct the doctor's English grammar. Henrik's ability to speak French is utilised after Sean plays a game called Passpartout. Jacques Septique often enclosed himself in his room, painting whatever he felt like that day. Once he became more comfortable around the five others living under the same roof, he offered to paint their doors. Soon, the house was a little more colourful. Jack promises himself he won't get too close to the French artist. He'll be kind and welcoming to him, of course he will, but he knows Jacques wasn't made last. He's a fan creation. All you needed to do was visit Angus to see what happened to that kind of ego. He'd been wary of Marvin when he'd first appeared. Unintentional with no name? He couldn't be more fan made. Jack had been an idiot and allowed himself to become close friends with the magician. It had taken Angus little over a year to start going downhill. That meant that by Christmas, Marvin would show signs too. There was the hope that the near 16 million subscribers were more able to preserve Marvin than the hundreds or thousands who saw Angus' ten videos. However, it was just hope. On the last day of July, Jack has a bad morning. He trips on something, spilling scalding coffee all over himself and breaking one of his favourite mugs in the process. After that, he records a video, only for him to notice none of the footage was recording. Frustrated, he calls Sean to see if he's free. His best friend almost succeeds in cheering him up with his jokes and sympathy. Jack is on the brink of feeling better when Sean ruins it all. "I'm burnt out, man." Sean admits. "YouTube needs to sort itself out." "You're burned out?" Jack scoffed. "Sure, how long have you been feeling like that?" "Oh don't give me that. This isn't a contest to see who's more tired. Besides, you don't get tired." He knows he has the power to avoid this argument before it truly begins. But years of Sean not listening have resulted in little patience concerning these topics. His mind isn't able to stop his mouth in time. "No, you don't give me that, Sean. For three years, I've watched one of my closest friends deteriorate into nothing. We could save Angus but you refuse to help me. Plus you don't let me upload any of the videos anymore." "I... I never have." "I'm not finished." He continues. "You need to stop playing God because you clearly suck at it. If we could find a game with wildlife in an open world for Angus, we could bring him back to his original condition. I'm not saying we go back to Far Cry, especially with the 5th instalment coming next year. But can you finally co-operate with me so we can save him? It would be one less mess of yours for me to fix. Not to mention it's practically 9 months since Jackie disappeared. We both know what happened to him. Anti is your creation. I don't care if he has as much free will as the rest of us. You could think of something, shit I'll take anything at this point, to keep him at bay. I'm sick of having to be the one who everyone relies on. That should be your job. You can't create us and then leave us to deal with suddenly existing by ourselves. If you want to keep acting like this, at least let me sleep. Even just once. Everyone can just escape all the problems you mindlessly burden them with for a few hours. Not me, I have to stay up and wait for the next big disaster you throw at us. Joke all you want about never needing sleep. I won't be laughing." Sean looks at him like he's insane. "Sleep? You're... kidding right? Just lie down and close your eyes. It's not rocket science." "I can't! I physically can't fall asleep because that's how you made me." "I was six!" "Yeah, and now you're 27. You have the power to help us but instead, you just create more of us. Stop being so irresponsible." The fight escalates. Jack is a broken record, repeating many of the points he's made over the years that still remain issues. If that isn't a line of argument in itself, he doesn't know what is. He also insists Marvin's name should be made canon already. After all, it was nearing a full year since the magician's first appearance. The spat ends with Jack forcing himself to leave the situation. "You want to sleep, I'll let you sleep." The words sound more malicious than they should. "Bring back Jackie. He's been missing for months. Do something!" At home, he marathons Harry Potter with Marvin and Chase for a few hours. It doesn't take his mind off the argument with Sean completely. If he knew they wouldn't get the chance to reconcile for two years, he would have apologised sooner. Unbeknownst to him, things were already being set in motion. Just three days later, he is overcome with queasiness as he introduces the latest episode of Bio Inc Redemption. He doesn't understand what's happening. One thing he does know is that nothing about this is good. Excusing himself, he stumbles carefully to Henrik's section of the building. "Hen-" He gags, hand flying to his mouth again. "Henrik, I need help. Something's wrong."

#creator au #jack's pov #writersofjack #my writing #jacksepticeye #sean mcloughlin #toxic relationship #jacksepticeye egos #angus the survival hunter #jackieboy man #marvin the magnificent #henrik von schneeplestein #antisepticeye #chase brody #jacques septique

[tornrose24]

CU Pinocchio AU

I couldn’t stop thinking of the potential of a CU Pinocchio inspired AU and I just... I HAD to get it out of my system. Or at least what I could come up with at the time.

While I could see such an AU going either way, the one I imagine has CU himself as Pinocchio with George and Harold as a combination of Gepetto/Jiminy Cricket. The setting I have in mind is a 1940′s WWII era (I’ll explain why in a bit), and while my version has a small amount of Egg Casserole, I see this AU having a little more platonic/familial love involved between CU and the boys.

This is what I was mostly able to come up with (the climax and ending would need to be it’s own separate thing however). I didn’t pick out who would get to be the antagonists yet, especially in case I get any recommendations, and I didn’t flesh everything out in case anyone wanted to put their own ideas out for this.

So this AU takes place in America during WWII because while it’s a time of when superhero comics were a big deal, it was also a time of chaos and while only the bravest of adults would have gone overseas, there’s still a handful of adults back home who wouldn’t be willing to risk their lives so easily and might be suspicious of anyone who seemed out of place. It would definitely be a time period where believing in a happy ending or heroes would be hard amongst the fears and tragedies.

In this AU, both the boys and Heidi were orphaned (their parents either succumbed to the remaining effects of the Great Depression or they went overseas into the war and didn’t survive). They all have to live in this orphanage that’s kind of like the sucky orphanage in Annie, complete with some jerk running it (no it’s not Krupp because he’s merged with CU in a way this time around). I also imagined Edith working there too as an assistant, but she’s the only nice adult who works there that the kids adore and she’s struggling to make sure they all have enough to survive and not have to suffer.

But as per usual, George and Harold still make comic books about CU for the other kids when there’s not enough money to buy their own.

Then one day while exploring after school, they find an abandoned, unfinished marionette puppet that not only is adult sized, but is shaped almost exactly like their superhero. So they take the puppet back to the orphanage and after finding it the right clothes and after Harold uses his artistic skills to fix the puppet up, it manages to look exactly like CU.

They use the puppet to delight the other kids and act out some scenarios. They even manage to get Edith involved and she pretends to be a damsel in distress that ‘CU’ saves and she even kisses the puppet on the cheek as thanks (to the disgust of half the kids and the amusement to the others). But when she asks what ‘CU’’s civilian name is, Heidi tells her it’s top secret because not even Superman revealed his identity to Lois Lane. George and Harold are amused by this and let Heidi choose ‘CU’’s secret identity name and she settles on ‘Benjamin’ because it sounds right for some reason.

Though before the kids have to go to bed, they all admit that it’s too bad ‘CU’ can’t be alive. Then that night, George and Harold look at a certain star through their window and admit that it would be nice if CU was real–there’s not enough nice adults in the world, and they want at least someone who won’t let them down and who can be there for them. They don’t want their parents to be replaced, but they just want someone who can make everyone’s lives better and fun again.

And this is where I had some trouble with who would get to be the Blue Fairy since I obviously didn’t go with Edith. I was considering Erica, but I could see Lisa and Billy in this role too (especially since Jimminy fancied BF a bit and I could see this happening with the boys too.) George and Harold wake up in time for CU to come to life and it’s a complete shock for everyone–ESPECIALLY for CU himself.

So much like in the Disney version, in order for CU to become completely human, he has to prove that he has the right qualities needed to look after a child. Kindness and bravery are of course two of them, but there’s some that’s going to be the hardest for him–having wisdom and maturity (I don’t think honesty would be a problem for CU but THIS one would be).

As you may guess, considering CU’s personality and behavior, the boys are going to have a lot of work ahead of them in order to help him.

From here on out I have a few ideas, but not enough for a complete story at the moment.

-I had the idea that Heidi is the only other kid that George and Harold first reveal CU’s existence as a living being to.

-Another idea I had was that the boys try to get CU to wear clothing out in public for awhile to 1. Hide that he’s not human and 2. No normal person dresses like CU does and he would draw unwanted attention. They also convince him use the name Benjamin. Then they just happen to be there when Edith gets in a bit of trouble (a stolen purse most likely), and when CU helps her out the two have an instant attraction to each other. Of course, Edith doesn’t immediately recognize ‘Benjamin’ as the puppet from before because not only does the disguise work well enough to fool her, but you’d have to really look at the details of his face and hands or be able to touch him to know that he’s not made of flesh.

-Like I said, I’m not sure who would get the roles of the antagonists, especially when it comes to Honest John and Gideon since those two are fan favorites. I could easily see either Meaner or Bernice getting the role of Stromboli because of how hilarious it would be (but it would also be a bit dark and have a certain layer of meaning if CU turned out to be one of Bernice’s unfinished puppets that she horribly mistreated. And if things had gone bad, CU could have easily turned into Krupp at his worst if the boys never found him and shown him proper care and affection as an inanimate puppet in time).

-Pleasure Island would be a hard one because it would also be a temptation to George and Harold since it comes across as a fun place on the surface (but then again, when I think of how they didn’t participate at the theme park in CU’s brain in the season 2 finale, maybe they have more restraint than I thought). And by this point, while they do love CU, he keeps getting them all in so much trouble that it’s hard to stay patient and they get more angry with him. Then when they all finally escape into the ocean, CU and the boys get separated and only CU returns back to the town.

-Which of course would make him upset with himself as he begins to realize how much they looked after him when it should have been the other way around, how much trouble he put them through, and now he’s lost them. When he returns to the orphanage and talks to Heidi about what’s happened, she tells him a bit about the circumstances that lead to the boys and herself being sent to the orphanage and how CU truly is one of the few adults the children trust after so many have let them down. He still has a chance to become real–maybe he just needs one moment to really prove himself worthy. I also had this cute idea that Heidi teaches him the song ‘When you wish upon a star’ since it was a song her mom used to sing to her and Harold to cheer them up (and what was what ironically made Harold consider wishing him to life). So of course he sings it and a nearby Edith is alerted to the voice which recognizes it as the voice of the strange, yet sweet man who helped her out earlier and who she developed a bit of a crush on. Though when she sees that ‘Benjamin’ is the very same puppet the boys brought back home, the shock is enough to make her faint before him and Heidi. Oh, then ALL the kids find out CU is alive.

-Also much like in the film, the AU’s blue fairy reveals the location of the boys’ whereabouts to CU, via a letter.... and unfortunately the boys got swallowed up by a monster of the sea, which horrifies all the kids because they thought that it was a scary story the adults made up. Though of course CU is going to get the boys back, no matter how scary it will be, so Heidi, the kids, and Edith get him back to the ocean and make sure he’s tied to a heavy stone to keep him from floating to the surface.

-Though I had a hilariously cute idea–when CU reassures Edith that he’ll be fine and make sure the boys come back safely, she gives him a small kiss on the cheek for luck/as a way to thank him for earlier. Of course he gets so excited/flustered that he trips and falls off the something feet high cliff and into the ocean.

That’s all for now. While I guarantee that CU reunites with the boys and that it will be sweet, the climax will unfortunately have to include some heart break/that one tear jerker moment.

#captain underpants #cu pinocchio au #pinocchio au

[scifigeneration]

Why is it fun to be frightened?

by Margee Kerr

Visiting an extreme haunted house can be delightfully terrifying. AP Photo/John Minchillo

John Carpenter’s iconic horror film “Halloween” celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Few horror movies have achieved similar notoriety, and it’s credited with kicking off the steady stream of slasher flicks that followed.

Audiences flocked to theaters to witness the seemingly random murder and mayhem a masked man brought to a small suburban town, reminding them that picket fences and manicured lawns cannot protect us from the unjust, the unknown or the uncertainty that awaits us all in both life and death. The film offers no justice for the victims in the end, no rebalancing of good and evil.

Why, then, would anyone want to spend their time and money to watch such macabre scenes filled with depressing reminders of just how unfair and scary our world can be?

I’ve spent the past 10 years investigating just this question, finding the typical answer of “Because I like it! It’s fun!” incredibly unsatisfying. I’ve long been convinced there’s more to it than the “natural high” or adrenaline rush many describe – and indeed, the body does kick into “go” mode when you’re startled or scared, amping up not only adrenaline but a multitude of chemicals that ensure your body is fueled and ready to respond. This “fight or flight” response to threat has helped keep humans alive for millennia.

That still doesn’t explain why people would want to intentionally scare themselves, though. As a sociologist, I’ve kept asking “But, why?” After two years collecting data in a haunted attraction with my colleague Greg Siegle, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Pittsburgh, we’ve found the gains from thrills and chills can go further than the natural high.

Around Halloween, some people love to head to haunted attractions like this one in an old Cincinnati schoolhouse. AP Photo/John Minchillo

Studying fear at a terrifying attraction

To capture in real time what makes fear fun, what motivates people to pay to be scared out of their skin and what they experience when engaging with this material, we needed to gather data in the field. In this case, that meant setting up a mobile lab in the basement of an extreme haunted attraction outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

This adults-only extreme attraction went beyond the typical startling lights and sounds and animated characters found in a family-friendly haunted house. Over the course of about 35 minutes, visitors experienced a series of intense scenarios where, in addition to unsettling characters and special effects, they were touched by the actors, restrained and exposed to electricity. It was not for the faint of heart.

For our study, we recruited 262 guests who had already purchased tickets. Before they entered the attraction, each completed a survey about their expectations and how they were feeling. We had them answer questions again about how they were feeling once they had gone through the attraction.

We also used mobile EEG technology to compare 100 participants’ brainwave activity as they sat through 15 minutes of various cognitive and emotional tasks before and after the attraction.

Guests reported significantly higher mood, and felt less anxious and tired, directly after their trip through the haunted attraction. The more terrifying the better: Feeling happy afterward was related to rating the experience as highly intense and scary. This set of volunteers also reported feeling that they’d challenged their personal fears and learned about themselves.

Analysis of the EEG data revealed widespread decreases in brain reactivity from before to after among those whose mood improved. In other words, highly intense and scary activities – at least in a controlled environment like this haunted attraction – may “shut down” the brain to an extent, and that in turn is associated with feeling better. Studies of those who practice mindfulness meditation have made a similar observation.

Coming out stronger on the other side

Together our findings suggest that going through an extreme haunted attraction provides gains similar to choosing to run a 5K race or tackling a difficult climbing wall. There’s a sense of uncertainty, physical exertion, a challenge to push yourself – and eventually achievement when it’s over and done with.

Fun-scary experiences could serve as an in-the-moment recalibration of what registers as stressful and even provide a kind of confidence boost. After watching a scary movie or going through a haunted attraction, maybe everything else seems like no big deal in comparison. You rationally understand that the actors in a haunted house aren’t real, but when you suspend your disbelief and allow yourself to become immersed in the experience, the fear certainly can feel real, as does the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment when you make it through. As I experienced myself after all kinds of scary adventures in Japan, Colombia and all over the U.S., confronting a horde of zombies can actually make you feel pretty invincible.

Movies like “Halloween” allow people to tackle the big, existential fears we all have, like why bad things happen without reason, through the protective frame of entertainment. Choosing to do fun, scary activities may also serve as a way to practice being scared, building greater self-knowledge and resilience, similar to rough-and-tumble play. It’s an opportunity to engage with fear on your own terms, in environments where you can push your boundaries, safely. Because you’re not in real danger, and thus not occupied with survival, you can choose to observe your reactions and how your body changes, gaining greater insight to yourself.

Friends stuck together in a ‘Gates of Hell’ haunted house. AP Photo/John Locher

What it takes to be safely scared

While there are countless differences in the nature, content, intensity and overall quality of haunted attractions, horror movies and other forms of scary entertainment, they all share a few critical components that help pave the way for a fun scary time.

First and foremost, you have to make the choice to engage – don’t drag your best friend with you unless she is also on board. But do try to gather some friends when you’re ready. When you engage in activities with other people, even just watching a movie, your own emotional experience is intensified. Doing intense, exciting and thrilling things together can make them more fun and help create rewarding social bonds. Emotions can be contagious, so when you see your friend scream and laugh, you may feel compelled to do the same.

No matter the potential benefits, horror movies and scary entertainment are not for everyone, and that’s OK. While the fight-or-flight response is universal, there are important differences between individuals – for example, in genetic expressions, environment and personal history – that help explain why some loathe and others love thrills and chills.

Regardless of your taste (or distaste) for all things horror or thrill-related, an adventurous and curious mindset can benefit everyone. After all, we’re the descendants of those who were adventurous and curious enough to explore the new and novel, but also quick and smart enough to run or fight when danger appeared. This Halloween, maybe challenge yourself to at least one fun scary experience and prepare to unleash your inner superhero.

About The Author:

Margee Kerr is an Adjunct Professor of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh.

This article is republished from our content partners,  The Conversation, under a Creative Commons license. 

#psychology #sociology #halloween #movies #haloween movies #also horror #fear #adrenaline #horror movies #scary movies

[americanhistoryeveryday]

My Favourite Films of July 2018

These are the films, I enjoyed watching this month! They aren’t exclusively films that came out this month but the films I enjoyed watching this month. 

(There may be light spoilers but nothing major)

Number 5- ‘The Usual Suspects’ (1995)

This film has one of the best endings in film history! It’s truly amazing! It’s hard to really divulge about the film because the ending is what makes the film so good. The ending is amazing, it’s up there with ‘Fight Club’  and ‘Snatch’. The performance from Kevin Spacey was truly brilliant! He plays a character called, ‘Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint’, a disabled fraudster. Kevin Spacey definitely has the best performance of the film. You need to watch this film! The ending is truly amazing. 

Number 4- Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

This film is a lot to take in. I went into this film thinking it was a film about a criminal. It’s really a film about FDA corruption, the stigma against people diagnosed with HIV & AIDS. The film is about a man named ‘Ron Woodruff’, who gets diagnosed with HIV and is given 30 days to live. During these 30 days he searches for different treatments to HIV. This leads him to a makeshift hospital in Mexico. The doctor there tells him about different HIV treatments. This gives our main character an idea to create a business where he sells non-approved FDA drugs to people suffering from HIV and AIDS.  During all of this we see him lose his friends due to them thinking he was a homosexual.  

There are two stand out performances in this film. One from Matthew McConaughey and the other from Jared Leto. Matthew McConaughey lost a lot of weight for this role, at some points looking like he really was ill. His performance in the movie was outstanding, he played the role of ‘Ron Woodruff’, the main character. Jared Leto’s performance was also amazing. Jared Leto played Ron’s friend and business partner, ‘Rayon’. Both men had a great chemistry with each other. This film was great and I recommend you watch it.  This film also has one of the most jaw-dropping scenes ever! Ron enters a room full of butterflies, the scene is jaw-dropping.

Number 3- Airplane! (1980)

This film is just insane. It was weird and hilarious! There were so many scenes that made me giggle. There are so many scenes where weird stuff happens and it just makes you laugh. From watermelons falling from ceilings to hilarious Spanish translations. One of my favorite running jokes is that the main character can’t drink properly so he pours every drink he has in his eye. It’s really ridiculous humor but that’s what makes it so good. It’s a bunch of nonsensical, silly moments stitched together to create an acid trip of a film. I love it! 

My favorite character has to be the autopilot, Otto. Yes, the autopilot is a character in this film. He is an inflatable pilot and just makes me laugh, I don’t know what it is about it him but I just crack up whenever I see him. I also liked the pilot, he said one of my favorite lines from the film, “ Joey, have you ever been in a... in a Turkish prison? “. He says that to a little kid! This film is hilarious! I can’t wait to watch ‘Airplane 2: The Sequel’.

Number 2- Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance (2014)

Birdman is amazing! Most things about this film are amazing: the soundtrack, the acting, the themes and the cinematography.  Birdman is a film about family, relevancy, integrity and mental illness. Michael Keaton plays ‘Riggan’  an actor who used to play an iconic superhero called Birdman. Riggan hates his birdman persona, though everyone else seems to love it. Riggan wants to be seen as an artist but everyone else sees him as Birdman. Riggan tries to put together a Broadway play to revitalize his image. This play is ridden with issues!  There are many standout performances, mainly from Edward Norton, Emma Stone, and Michael Keaton. All three of these actors used to be in superhero films, what a strange but happy coincidence. (Edward Norton used to be ‘Bruce Banner’ in  ‘The Incredible Hulk’, Emma Stone played ‘Gwen Stacy’ in ‘The Amazing Spider-man’ (2012) and Michael Keaton played Batman in ‘Batman’ (1989). 

Edward Norton plays a hard to deal with actor, much like he is in real life. He plays this role exceptionally well, his chemistry with Keaton makes their scenes together a highlight of the film. Speaking of Keaton, he plays a mentally ill actor who is trying to give himself an artistic integrity, whilst juggling a damming family life and a failing Broadway production. His daughter ‘Sam’, played by Emma Stone, is his difficult assistant who couldn’t care less about the production. However, her apathetic attitude attracts her to Edward’s character, creating a weird romance between a douche bag actor and a rebellious young woman.  

To cut my rambling short, the characters make this film an experience! I also love the cinematography, it’s impressive! They made the film look like it was done in one continuous shot! Finally, the soundtrack is one of the best! 

Honorable Mentions

The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)

This is another crazy film and boy, do I love my crazy films! The film is about a journalist, played by Ewan McGregor, who decides to become a war journalist in Iraq after going through some huge lifestyle changes. There he discovers a secret military service who are trained in psychic mind powers.  Starring George Clooney, we follow a journalist as he uncovers the secrets of this military operation. It’s pretty crazy, I recommend it, just for the story. 

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

I love a good bit of Body Horror and this film is one of the best! Two Americans get attacked by a werewolf whilst backpacking in Britain! One of the boys dies, whilst the other survives! The survivor has been bitten by the werewolf so we get to see him transform and rampage through London! It also has one of the best contrapuntal sound scenes, where a werewolf is mauling people in a porn theatre, the police arrive and try to kill the wolf. It’s iconic and a must watch for any horror fan. 

Number 1-Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

This film really caught me off guard.  I expected a generic road trip movie about family but it’s a lot more than that. It’s the ‘Stand By Me’ of family films.  The acting by everyone is superb, with stand out performances from Steve Carrel and Paul Dano. We follow the Hoover family, made up of the father, Richard Hoover, played by Greg Kinnear. He is a motivational speaker who is failing to bring in an income to support his family, his unique outlook on life is always creating friction with his family. The grandad, Edwin Hoover, who is a secret heroin addict who craves women and a better life. There’s the son, Dwayne Hoover, played by Paul Dano. He is a dedicated young man who wants to become a jet pilot, however, he has sworn a vow of silence until he succeeds that goal. Then there’s the mother, played by Toni Collette, who wants the best for her family and is dedicated to making everyone happy. There’s the daughter, played by Abigail Breslin. This little girl wants to become a pageant girl who is chosen to be apart of the Little Miss Sunshine pageant show! Finally, there’s the uncle, played by Steve Carrell. The uncle is probably my favorite character, a gay scholar who attempted to end his own life after the boy he loved chose someone else over him. These weird and wonderful characters are thrown into a minivan and are made to travel to California together.

The chemistry between everyone in the film creates some powerful scenes. They just eliminate the feeling of togetherness. Just watching them gives you a warm feeling inside. It makes you empathize with the characters as you recall road trips you have done with your family. It’s just a feel-good film that, makes the audience feel happy. I recommend this film to everyone, as it’s a film everyone can enjoy! This is the best family film ever made!

#usual suspects #film #movies #dallas buyers club #airplane! #birdman #the men who stare at goats #an american werewolf in london #little miss sunshine #great movies #cinematography

[djbudds]

Easy Living

I hate my life! All I wanted to do was make a little extra money, but oh no robbing the rich to survive as a poor man is illegal.  I mean what do they even need it for? It's only a few hundred grand. They have millions more of it stashed away in their expensive mansions. I need it more than they do, I have bills to pay, kids to feed. Well not real kids, more like my future kids I will have when I get out of this joint. That's the dream. When I get out I'm gonna find me a wife, then together we will have children by the dozens. Short ones, tall ones, curly haired, blonde locks, boys, girls, nerds and popular kids. Yeah I will be a great dad. But first I need to get myself out of these cells, into some money and then I can settle down. I should have planned ahead. I'm 30 years old now, and before all this the family life had never crossed my mind. It was all about the money and the thrills. I had started thieving when I was only 12. I used to pick pocket, it was easy. I would go to live gigs or theme parks, and as the people were watching the main attractions, I would reach into their coats and snatch a wallet. By the end of the day I would make hundreds and just scatter the wallets around so I could never get pinned. It was brilliant, masterful, I never got caught, but as I got older I got more greedy. Snatching wallets wasn't enough anymore. I got into house burglaries and robbing shops. I only took real cash though. Never would I steal a television or a console, too much hassle, cos then once I stole them, I would have to sell them on, and that's just too much work. Besides that is some ones stuff, their pride and joys. With money you can just make it back, or sell some belongings you don't need to get by. Well that's how I justified it to myself. So yeah I did that for a few years, just robbing cash and never getting caught. It was easy. Then I met Andrew. He was doing the same as me, robbing shops and homes, but he was ok with stealing other people's possessions. Each to their own I guess. So I met him while I was holding up a corner shop at cricket bat point, no gun or knife, I didn't need the accidental death on my conscience.  I was about to take the money from the owner and in walks Andrew. Face masked and gun aimed he pointed it at the owner and demanded the money. He didn't seem to notice me already robbing the place, and god knows what the owner was thinking, he was already being robbed once and now a second has come along. Talk about bad luck. When Andrew finally did notice me he aimed his gun towards me, but after a few loud words we just laughed it off and agreed to share the proceeds. Afterwards we hung out, got to know each other, realised we had a lot in common and became friends. We agreed to be partners, him doing his thing and me doing mine, then in the evenings sharing the money. For a few years that is how it was. Easy money and no trouble. Well I make it sound easy, it wasn't. Every so often there would be a hiccup. The cops would get too close and we would have to do a runner, or a passer by would be a Good Samaritan and Andrew would have to deal with them. Only Andrew had the taste for violence. It's never been for me, I don't like pain so why would I inflict it on others?  And that is how I got myself into a real mess. Me and Andrew would often go for a few drinks a week or so after a robbery, you let to celebrate a job well done and to let off some steam. This one night though Andrew bumped into an old friend from back in his younger robbing days. They got to talking and Andrew introduced me, this guy was boasting about how he was working for a genius thief that was robbing millions. The genius even had a fancy name. " Black Robin". Can you believe that? He seemed to believe he was some big time villain that you watch about in these superhero films. The guy continues on about how he is making twenty grand for each robbery he is helping with. He made it sound like it was the jet set life. Andrew was hooked straight away, he wanted in. I on the other hand weren't so interested. I was already making enough money, and I was working for myself. I didn't want to become some fake wanna be super villains henchman. I watched those movies, and the henchmen were always the first to be shot down or sent to prison. so I told them no. I wasn't having any of it. Andrew of course tried to convince me otherwise. He went on about how we could do a few jobs and then retire early and have normal everyday lives. To him it was a quick way to an easy life, but I wasn't interested. Andrews plan was to do a few jobs, get on a plane to Miami and enjoy the sun. The thing about that is that a year down the line he would get bored and get back into robbing, and because he would then be rusty he would probably get caught. So I told them no for the last time and walked away. I thought I was doing the best thing. Turns out a week later, while holding up a nearby corner shop, two police men walked in and arrested me, so here I am. I got two years for robbery and also punching the coppers. Meanwhile Andrew has been making thousands. I've been seeing it all on the news about all of Black Robins success. He's infamous. Every time I hear a news story about them I just smile and think well done Andrew. He comes to see me twice a month and let's me know he is well. Says when I get out he will bring me into Black Robins jobs. I just tell him no, I'm gonna go straight and find myself a wife, I will have kids by the dozen. Well that's the plan anyway.

#short story #challenge #writersontumblr #lit #long reads #short #stories #literature #writing #creative #writers #writer

[moodboardinthecloud]

I don’t want to be the strong female lead

By Brit Marling

Ms. Marling is a filmmaker.

Feb. 7, 2020

I moved to Los Angeles to become an actress at 24. These are character descriptions of roles I have read for: “thin, attractive, Dave’s wife”; “robot girl, a remarkable feat of engineering”; “her breasts are large and she’s wearing a red sweater.”

I stuffed my bra for that last one. I still did not get the part.

After a while it was hard to tell what was the greater source of my depression: that I could not book a part in a horror film where I had three lines and died on Page 4, or that I was even auditioning to play these roles at all. After dozens of auditions and zero callbacks, my mom suggested I get breast implants. From her perspective, I had walked away from a coveted job at Goldman Sachs and chosen a profession of self-commodification. She wanted to help me sell better.

But I wasn’t drawn to acting because I wanted to be desired. I was drawn to acting because I felt it would allow me to become the whole, embodied person I remembered being in childhood — one that could imagine freely, listen deeply and feel wholeheartedly.

I continued to audition and continued to fail. My depression deepened. My self-esteem plummeted. My boyfriend would get drunk and punch holes in the wall next to my head. I let him. He spat in my face. I let him. He dissolved into tears in my arms. I let him. And then I sifted through the ashes of his anger and his father’s anger before him to help him uncover the forgiveness he needed to move on. I was auditioning to be “Dave’s wife.” I was “robot girl, a remarkable feat of engineering.”

After a day of running from men with chain saws in audition rooms and a night of running from the man I shared a bed with, I decided I was done auditioning. I felt I had to write my way out of these roles or I wouldn’t find my way in the real world, either. I could not be what I could not see onscreen.

So I went to the library in downtown Los Angeles and started reading books and watching films about how to write dramas for the screen. I clung to Jodie Foster in Jonathan Demme’s “Silence of the Lambs,” to Holly Hunter in Jane Campion’s “The Piano.”

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But aside from a handful of exceptions, I was overwhelmed by the number of dramatic narratives that murdered their female characters.

In “The Big Heat” she has a pot of boiling coffee thrown in her face and is then shot in the back. In “Chinatown” the bullet tears through her brain and out her eye. And in case this seems like a trend of the past, consider the more recent noir “Blade Runner 2049,” where the holographic femme fatale is deleted and the remaining women are stabbed, drowned and gutted like a fish.

Even the spirited Antigone, the brave Joan of Arc and the unfettered Thelma and Louise meet tragic ends in large part because they are spirited, brave and unfettered. They can defy kings, refuse beauty and defend themselves against violence. But it’s challenging for a writer to imagine a world in which such free women can exist without brutal consequences.

We live in a world that is a direct reflection of these stories we’ve been telling. Close to four women a day are murdered in America at the hands of their partners or former partners. One out of every four women in America has been the victim of a rape.

I am one of those one out of four. Our narratives tell us that women are objects and objects are disposable, so we are always objectified and often disposed of.

There are centuries of trial and error inside the “hero’s journey,” in which a young man is called to adventure, challenged by trials, faces a climactic battle and emerges victorious, changed and a hero. And while there are narrative patterns for the adventures of girls — “Alice in Wonderland,” “The Wizard of Oz” — those are few and far between, and for adult women, even less so.

Even when I found myself writing stories about women rebelling against the patriarchy, it still felt like what I largely ended up describing was the confines of patriarchy. The more fettered I felt inside the real world, the more I turned toward science fiction, speculative fiction and lo-fi fantasy.

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I eventually co-wrote, produced and starred in two microbudget films, “Another Earth” and “Sound of My Voice.” Both stories left reality just far enough behind to give me the mental freedom to imagine female characters behaving in ways not often seen onscreen.

I emerged from the Sundance Film Festival with offers to act in projects I would never have been allowed to read for a week prior. Most of those roles were still girlfriend, mistress, mother. But there was a new character on offer to me as well, one that survived the story.

Enter, stage right: the Strong Female Lead.

She’s an assassin, a spy, a soldier, a superhero, a C.E.O. She can make a wound compress out of a maxi pad while on the lam. She’s got MacGyver’s resourcefulness but looks better in a tank top.

Acting the part of the Strong Female Lead changed both who I was and what I thought I was capable of. Training to do my own stunt work made me feel formidable and respected on set. Playing scenes where I was the boss firing men tasted like empowerment. And it will always feel better to be holding the gun in the scene than to be pleading for your life at the other end of the barrel.

It would be hard to deny that there is nutrition to be drawn from any narrative that gives women agency and voice in a world where they are most often without both. But the more I acted the Strong Female Lead, the more I became aware of the narrow specificity of the characters’ strengths — physical prowess, linear ambition, focused rationality. Masculine modalities of power.

I thought back to the films I watched and stories I read burrowed deep in the stacks of the library. I began to see something deeper and more insidious behind all those images of dead and dying women.

When we kill women in our stories, we aren’t just annihilating female gendered bodies. We are annihilating the feminine as a force wherever it resides — in women, in men, of the natural world. Because what we really mean when we say we want strong female leads is: “Give me a man but in the body of a woman I still want to see naked.”

It’s difficult for us to imagine femininity itself — empathy, vulnerability, listening — as strong. When I look at the world our stories have helped us envision and then erect, these are the very qualities that have been vanquished in favor of an overwrought masculinity.

I’ve played the Strong Female Lead in real life, too — as an analyst at an investment bank before coming to Hollywood. I wore suits, drank Scotch neat and talked about the women and the men I was sleeping with like commodities on an open market. I buried my feminine intelligence alive in order to survive. I excelled at my linear task of making more money from a lot of money regardless of the long-term consequences for others and the environment.

The lone female V.P. on my floor and my mentor at the time gave me the following advice when she left to partner at a hedge fund: Once a week, open the door to your office when they finally give you one, and place a phone call where you shout a string of expletives in a threatening voice.

She added that there doesn’t actually need to be someone on the other end of the line.

I don’t believe the feminine is sublime and the masculine is horrifying. I believe both are valuable, essential, powerful. But we have maligned one, venerated the other, and fallen into exaggerated performances of both that cause harm to all. How do we restore balance? Or how do we evolve beyond the limitations that binaries like feminine/masculine present in the first place?

In 2014 I went back to the library and encountered Octavia Butler’s “Parable of the Sower,” a sci-fi novel written in 1993 imagining a 2020 where society has largely collapsed from climate change and growing wealth inequality. Butler’s heroine, the 17 year-old Lauren, has “hyperempathy” — she feels, quite literally, other people’s pain. This feminine gift and curse uniquely prepares her to survive the violent attack on her community in Los Angeles and successfully encourage a small tribe north to begin again from seeds she has saved from her family’s garden.

Butler felt to me like a lighthouse blinking from an island of understanding way out at sea. I had no idea how to get there, but I knew she had found something life saving. She had found a form of resistance.

Butler and other writers like Ursula Le Guin, Toni Morrison and Margaret Atwood did not employ speculative fiction to colonize other planets, enslave new life-forms, or extract alien minerals for capital gains only to have them taken at gunpoint by A.I. robots. These women used the tenets of genre to reveal the injustices of the present and imagine our evolution.

With these ideas in mind, Zal Batmanglij and I wrote and created “The OA,” a Netflix series about Prairie, a blind girl who is kidnapped and returns seven years later to the community she grew up in with her sight restored. She opens up to a group of lost teenage boys in her neighborhood, telling them about her captivity and the inter-dimensional travel she discovered to survive it. It turns out these boys need to hear Prairie’s story as much as she needs to tell it. For the boys face their own kind of captivity: growing up inside the increasingly toxic obligations of American manhood.

As time has passed, I’ve come to understand what deep influence shaping a narrative has. Stories inspire our actions. They frame for us existences that are and are not possible, delineate tracks we can or cannot travel. They choose who we can find empathy for and who we cannot. What we have fellow feeling for, we protect. What we objectify and commodify, we eventually destroy.

I don’t want to be the dead girl, or Dave’s wife. But I don’t want to be a strong female lead either, if my power is defined largely by violence and domination, conquest and colonization.

Sometimes I get a feeling of what she could be like. A truly free woman. But when I try to fit her into the hero’s journey she recedes from the picture like a mirage. She says to me: Brit, the hero’s journey is centuries of narrative precedent written by men to mythologize men. Its pattern is inciting incident, rising tension, explosive climax and denouement. What does that remind you of?

And I say, a male orgasm.

And she says: Correct. I love the arc of male pleasure. But how could you bring me into being if I must satisfy the choreography of his desire only?

And I say: Good on you. But then how do I bring you into being?

Then I hear only silence.

But even in the silence I dream of answers. I imagine new structures and mythologies born from the choreography of female bodies, non-gendered bodies, bodies of color, disabled bodies. I imagine excavating my own desires, wants and needs, which I have buried so deeply to meet the desires, wants and needs of men around me that I’m not yet sure how my own desire would power the protagonist of a narrative.

These are not yet solutions. But they are places to dig.

Excavating, teaching and celebrating the feminine through stories is, inside our climate emergency, a matter of human survival. The moment we start imagining a new world and sharing it with one another through story is the moment that new world may actually come.

Brit Marling (@britmarling) is the co-creator and star of “The OA.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/opinion/sunday/brit-marling-women-movies.html?fbclid=IwAR3DSJ3Q6shZQwE8jGHxNhuU5skF62SAcfJzXap0j_XPFdZHK4JKYa5n02E

[snakebitcat]

All Good Things Must Come To An Endgame (Avengers: Endgame)

“A man of vision, you say? Yeah. A hell of a vision.”

-Woodrow Call, Lonesome Dove

Hi there. It’s been awhile.

Firstly, here’s the State of the Manchild: The 2016 election took a lot of wind out of my sails, and then finding out that the guy who encouraged me to start writing reviews was a sexual predator (and the resultant end of the review site I was writing for) didn’t help my morale any, either. Also, I had some personal setbacks that I’d rather not go into that sent me into a long spiral of depression, so that didn’t help either. But I’ve missed this, and I’ve been wanting to come back to it, and when I saw Avengers: Endgame I felt the same inspiration that I felt when I watched Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made, so here we are. Time to kick off Grumpy Old Manchild 2.0, so without further ado, a review:

Avengers: Endgame was amazing, and that makes me fucking furious.

Why, you ask? Let me tell you about my friend John. I met him in 1987, back when I was just a grumpy young manchild. I was in a bookstore at my local mall, reading a sourcebook for the Marvel Super Heroes RPG, and some random stranger came up to me and started talking about the superhero game he was running at his college. We had a great time nerding the hell out over how much we loved superheroes and gaming, and because this was the era before anybody had cell phones and we were oblivious nerd boys, neither one of us thought that exchanging contact information would be a good idea. It was just a nice talk, and I’d figured that would be that.

Then that fall, when I went to go register for classes at the college I was attending at the time, we spotted each other in the halls, and I thought “Hey, it’s that guy; I should go say hi,” and we started hanging out and gaming together, and co-GM’d a superhero RPG from 1989 to 2006. I ran the first session the same night we went to go see the Michael Keaton Batman movie. And n 2008 we went to go see Iron Man together, and both lost our fucking minds when Nick Fury showed up at the end. And then we saw Incredible Hulk together, and when Tony Stark showed up at the end we lost of goddamned minds again.

And then in May of 2009, he died. He only got to see two of the twenty-two MCU movies, and nobody’s ever going to convince me that’s even remotely close to fair. But it seems somehow appropriate that when I’m thinking about him while I’m writing about a movie about superheroes and loss.

But I digress.

How was the movie, you ask? I absolutely loved it. Best installment in the MCU, bar none, because they accomplished something that  no other American movie studio ever has: They perfectly reproduced the experience of being a comic book reader following multiple titles by multiple creative teams working on a single storyline while also moving their individual storylines forward, and they absolutely stuck the landing.

And from here, there be spoilers, so I’ll put the rest under a cut.

OK, then. Other reviewers have already covered the plot, and if you’re still reading then chances are good you’ve already seen it, so rather than hit on that, I’m going to start by discussing how the movie deals with the original six Avengers.

First, we have Hawkeye. Most of the Avengers have fit the standard superhero mold of unmarried people with no kids, but Clint Barton is a husband and father, and his commitment to that kept him out of Infinity War. So because we didn’t get to see him in that (and because, unlike Scott Lang, he didn’t get a solo movie), the Russo’s decision to start with a scene of him with his family was a good one. It sparks Clint’s descent into darkness as Ronin, and it really drives home what it would be like to be there during the Snap.

Bruce Banner finally reconciles the two warring halves of his personality, and we get the Smart Hulk that I never expected to see in the movies, but was delighted to. How many PhDs does Hulk have? Same as you now, buddy.

When the Avengers finally locate Thanos, Thor goes for the head (as Thanos told him he should have done) only to discover that the vengeance he was desperate to take upon the Mad Titan means nothing. While the fat jokes at his expense were unnecessary, even disappointing, it makes sense that he would sink into the depressed haze of alcohol, food, and resignation we find him stewing in five years later.

Captain America has taken over Sam’s job, and is helping the Snap survivors learn to live with their tragedy, because he’s still trying to figure out how to live with his own. He hasn’t quite managed to move on, but then again that’s been his defining trait ever since he woke up in the modern world at the end of his first movie.

Iron Man has become the sort of dad he always wished his own father had been. It was great to see how he has, over the eleven years and 22 movies that the MCU has given us, gone from being someone who put himself and his own desires above everything and everyone else to someone whose first priority is the well-being of his friends and family.

And then we have Black Widow. Survivor’s guilt has been her defining trait ever since we got her hints about “red in her ledger” in Avengers, and it’s become the entirety of her being when we see what she’s up to after the jump forward in time. She’s so dedicated to coordinating the missions the surviving Avengers and Guardians are carrying out to the exclusion of letting herself have a life that her friends and colleagues are starting to worry about her.

So we have two Avengers who have collapsed in on themselves (Clint and Thor), two who are, while functional, too consumed by their pasts to move forward (Steve and Natasha), and two who are living the sort of post-heroic lives that their pre-Snap selves could only dream of (Bruce and Tony). Thus their situations are perfectly balanced, as all things should be.

As good as the movie is, it’s not entirely without its weak points. When Tony and Steve first meet each other, Tony lashes out at Steve for not being there when Thanos attacked. But because the reason Steve wasn’t there was because Tony never managed to swallow his pride enough to call Steve, that’s all on you, Stank. There are two others, both of them dialogue choices. The first is them not having Steve say “I can do this all day” when he gets up after Thanos has broken his shield and beaten him down, because that would have taken us full circle to when Steve was fighting the bully in Captain America: the First Avenger. And speaking of taking things full circle, when Tony says “I am Iron Man” just before he Snaps, he should have said “I am Tony Stark.” It wasn’t Iron Man, Avenger who stops Thanos and saves the universe, but rather Tony Stark, friend and father who will do whatever it takes to ensure that his little girl and the other people he loves will be safe from Thanos’ evil.

And now for some of the highlights from the plot – the things that pleasantly surprised me, or just made me grin. We finally got to hear Steve say “Avengers assemble!” I was hoping for that in Avengers, and then in Age of Ultron they blueballed us by cutting away before he could finish saying it, and there was never a point in Infinity War when it would have been appropriate. So finally, after almost a full decade of waiting, having it at long last be paid off felt especially sweet. Tony and Steve finally putting their bad blood aside and becoming friends again was exactly the sort of sweet moment we needed. The scene with Bruce and the Ancient One was an absolute delight, because he was one of the only members of the team who could talk multiversal theory and timeline integrity with her at her level. Tony meeting his father helped him realize that for all of Howard’s many faults, his father did the best he was capable of, in a heartfelt callback to Star-Lord having the same realization about Yondu in Guardians of the Galaxy 2. The moment when all of the Avengers and Guardians whom Thanos had Snapped portaled in along with all of the sorcerers, Ravagers, and all of Wakanda’s warriors was an absolutely beautiful “Fuck yeah” moment. Star-Lord got to see Gamora again, but when he tried to resume where they had left off their relationship, he got a knee to the pills for his trouble because this was the Gamora that hadn’t met him yet, rather than the one who had gotten the chance to see the real him yet. And Steve finally proved that we he worthy to wield Mjolnir, and Thor was even happier about it than anyone in the audience!

And with that I’ll move on to how each of the original team’s individual stories ended up.

Clint got to be back with the family that he had lost all hope of seeing again.

Bruce got to leave the violence and anger that had defined his life for years behind him, and retire with the recognition as a hero and a genius that he deserved.

Thor has left the weight of all the expectations – both his own, and of all the other Asgardians and Avengers – behind him, and can start to discover what sort of person he is and what sort he wants to be.

Steve has finally moved on, by moving back. He returns to the past, and becomes the husband that Peggy had mentioned in past movies but whom we never saw. As a fan of the character and someone who is hopelessly sentimental, seeing him finally get that dance she promised him had me weeping with joy.

Tony’s story started the MCU, and he has, appropriately enough, grown the most of any of the characters in it. He proved that he was capable of self-sacrifice in Avengers, and in Endgame he knows what he’s sacrificing himself for, and that it’s worth the cost he pays.

And Natasha … it hurt so much to see her sacrifice herself. But it also made perfect sense. Clint was too blinded by the loss of his family to realize that if they won, his family would be back. But Natasha knew that, and she wanted Clint to have the chance at a life with his wife and children that Thanos had taken away from him. And with that act of supreme love for her best and truest friend, the last of the red was finally gone from her ledger.

Their situations are no longer perfectly balanced, but obsession with balance was what drove Thanos to attempt to commit omnicide. We don’t need for all of the Avengers to be equally well off, as long as their storylines have reached their logical conclusions, and for good or ill, whether in joy or in mourning, they all have.

We will miss the ones we lost in Endgame, as I miss John. But we will continue on, and although I’m sure they would have preferred to have gotten to continue along with us, we can keep living our lives and do our best to make things a little better, a little kinder, and a little more just for those who will continue along after we are gone.

Speaking of which, please join me next Wednesday, when I’ll be reviewing a movie whose title was too weird for me to ignore: The Man Who Killed Hitler and then the Bigfoot.

#grumpy old manchild #reviews #avengers #avengers endgame #mcu #it felt good to write reviews again #i hope people read this

[hermanwatts]

Sensor Sweep: 10/7/2019

Culture Wars (Monster Hunter Nation): Here’s a fascinating demonstration of just how stupid and backwards the political gatekeepers in fiction really are. This week author Dan Simmons wrote a post about Greta the Climate Scold, and because his opinion went against left wing orthodoxy, a bunch of virtue signalling morons threw a fit.

Historical Fiction (DMR Books): Swords are a recurring feature of Talbot Mundy’s stories, as we will see as we continue our look at his work.  This is especially true of his tales set in central and southern Asia, but before we begin discussing yataghans and chooras, let’s take a look at four of the blades that would have been used the armies of Rome and her enemies in Tros’s time.  Keep in mind that swords that were used on the battlefield were quite different from the swords that are commonly seen in anime, comics and cover art.  For one thing, they must obey the laws of Physics.

Robert Heinlein (PR News): One of the year’s most significant science

Robert A. Heinlein

fiction releases is a new novel by Robert A. Heinlein, a rediscovered manuscript titled The Pursuit of the Pankera. Heinlein is, arguably, one of the best-known writers of science fiction, with titles like Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Known as the “dean” of science fiction, he died in 1988 but his books continue to sell worldwide and are often made into movies and TV series.

Robert E. Howard (Adventures Fantastic): Kane and another man, calling himself Gaston l”Armon, have stopped at an isolated inn somewhere in the Black Forest.  The innkeeper isn’t a friendly sort, but he serves them a meal and then shows them to their room.  A room down a dark corridor.  A room with no bar for the door. Kane and l’Armon go looking for a bar in one of the other rooms, neither trusting the innkeeper.  They stumble upon a secret closet in a room at the end of the corridor, where they find a skeleton chained to the floor.

D&D (Blog That Time Forgot): The Beithir is one of many serpentine creatures one can find in the folklore of Scotland – all the more unusual, since the moors & glens aren’t exactly the ideal habitat for reptiles. The fact that one beast devoured seven horses (which I hinted towards in the illustration) suggests it was a mite larger than Scotland’s modern reptiles, like the adder or the slow worm.

Science Fiction (Best British Fantasy): It took me over 10 years to find all 33 books in the Dumarest of Terra series, a far-ranging and rollicking set of science fiction novels by Edwin Charles (E.C.) Tubb, concerning Earl Dumarest, formerly of Terra, who stowed away as a child on a spaceship and now, as an adult, finds himself very far from home and wanting only to return. Earl possess genetically superior luck and is inordinately fast with his reflexes when he chooses to be (mostly to the detriment of those whom he reluctantly kills who barely have time to gasp “too fast, he was just too fast….” before they die of a chest wound).

Writing (Mad Genius Club): We’re all familiar with the terrible trope of action movies (and cop shows) where a guy takes a bullet, and then in the end of the episode, he has his arm in a sling, but he’s all better by the end of the movie / very next episode. In the really real world, people don’t end up with a little artistic bruising or smudge of blood or soot, and walk, run, and fight perfectly…acrobatically and dramatically.

Art (DMR Books): Wollheim’s instincts for spotting promising artistic talent were second to none in the entire history of the field. In fact, I considered just typing, “Frank Frazetta and Michael Whelan. Mic drop.” While Don always had an eye for a pretty picture, it was during the long decade betwixt 1962 and 1975 that he consistently kept hitting it out of the park as an art director, giving artists new to the field—and soon to be legends in their own right—their first shots at doing cover work for the American paperback market.

D&D (Skulls in the Stars): CB1: Conan Unchained (1984), by David Cook. As a company, TSR was not immune to the allure of making more money by licensing deals.  Later, I’ll discuss some products that will blow your mind! One of the more obvious choices was to take advantage of the popularity of a certain barbarian, and the actor who played him!

Hard Boiled (Rough Edges): I first encountered Frederick Nebel’s work in the iconic 1965 anthology THE HARDBOILED DICKS, which made me a fan of hardboiled pulp crime fiction ever since. Editor Ron Goulart included one of Nebel’s Kennedy and MacBride stories, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. But then for years after that, I didn’t read much by Nebel since there just wasn’t a lot available. Half a dozen of his stories were collected in the paperback SIX DEADLY DAMES, but I never came across a copy of it.

Paperbacks (Paperback Warrior): Author David Morrell’s 1972 action-thriller “First Blood” was a runaway hit, eventually adapted to film in 1982 and kick-starting the ‘Rambo’ franchise that’s still thriving today. Attempting overnight success, many authors and publishers exploited the idea and began releasing similar novels featuring wilderness pursuits, small town sheriffs and ex-military survivalists. As good as author Brian Garfield is, I’ve got solid evidence that his 1973 Fawcett Gold Medal novel “Relentless” may have been imitating the “First Blood” literary phenomenon.

Horror (To Much Horror Fiction): Late ’80s and early ’90s horror writer Gene Lazuta was born on this date in 1959. Lazuta wrote several paperback originals under pseudonyms (as well as a mystery series), but did not continue his career as a horror author; indeed, you can see his professional bio here. While the cover art is striking and in keeping with totemic pulp horror imagery—drippy typeface, fangs, skulls, hands crawling out of eyes.

Genre Fiction (The Silver Key): If S&S is only Howard, and defined only by what he wrote, then it’s not a genre. It’s the works of a single man. Howard created sword-and-sorcery in the 1920s, but he did not consciously set out to do so. He was trying to tell entertaining stories of blood and thunder, and make a living. When he died in 1936 there were very few indications sword-and-sorcery would survive, let alone flourish. It had a lot more growing to do.

Fiction (Ty Johnston): This was more space fantasy than true fantasy, but it still rocked along with plenty of monsters and sword-swinging action. In the far future, Earth is ruled from another planet by the Dream Lords, semi-benevolent humans with vast powers of the mind. Yet the world of the Dream Lords is crumbling as one evil figure vies for their power. Fortunately, this evil being is thwarted by the mighty thews of our hero, an heir to being one of the Dream Lords.

Gaming (Walker’s Retreat): In short, making a hobby normie-friendly is a mistake. Gates exist. They will be kept. Either you hold those gates to keep those who do not belong out, or they will hold those gates to keep you–the rightful hobbyist–out of the very domain you made possible. To that end, having some barriers to entry is good. Uninituitive mechanics is one. Liminality is another; liminality is anathema to normies, who are too often NPCs requiring a script to execute to function, and liminality confounds that entirely.

Cinema (Unz.com): Todd Phillips’ much-anticipated new film Joker is an origin story starring Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, who becomes the Joker. Frankly, both of Ledger’s origin stories are more interesting. The question on everybody’s mind is: How does Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker compare to Heath Ledger’s?

D&D (Goodman Games): “Co-author of Dungeons & Dragons games?” What did that mean, I asked myself. I could not recall ever hearing of this David L. Arneson before and now, suddenly, here he was before my eyes, being touted as having had a hand in the creation of my beloved D&D. How was this possible? How had I never come across him before? I quickly consulted the rulebook of the Basic Set and, lo and behold, there was his name on the title page: “By Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.”

Comic Books (Lovecraft E-zine): That said, Swamp Thing  originally came out of the gate roaring, the creation of two legends in the comics industry having a blast. The two individuals in question would be the writer Len Wein and the artist Bernie Wrightson. Len Wein wrote for every major superhero book published by Marvel and DC from the time he entered the field in the very early seventies until shortly before his death in 2017.

Sensor Sweep: 10/7/2019 published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

[weekendwarriorblog]

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND – May 11 (Mother’s Day!)

Usually, the second week of May wouldn’t necessarily be a dumping zone, but you’d rarely find a big hit, because whatever movies open are usually going up against the second weekend of whatever big superhero movie is kicking off the summer, usually something from Marvel Studios. That would be the case again this year except that Marvel Studios moved Avengers: Infinity War forward a week, which means that it’s now in its third weekend. That makes it a great time for a little female-friendly counterprogramming as two movies try to take advantage of the Mother’s Day holiday on Sunday.

LIFE OF THE PARTY (New Line/WB)

Actor/comedian Melissa McCarthy is back in theaters with a third movie directed by husband Ben Falcone following 2014’s Tammy and 2016’s The Boss.  This is McCarthy’s first movie in almost two years after starring in Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters, and it’s basically a remake of Rodney Dangerfield’s Back to School, in which she plays a mother who goes to college with her daughter after getting divorced.

McCarthy’s been making a name for herself as a comic actress since Paul Feig’s hit Bridesmaids, for which McCarthy was nominated for an Oscar. She reteamed with Feig a number of times after that for The Heat, Spy and the aforementioned Ghostbusters, all relatively big hits. In the last couple years, McCarthy has been seen more on television with regular appearances on Saturday Night Live, which probably has helped keep the attention of her younger fans, so we’ll have to see if her absence from theaters has created a vacuum that needs to be filled. (McCarthy has a couple more movies coming out this year, although they’re smaller releases.)

Life of the Party is a PG-13 comedy which means it won’t be limited by its R-rating, although it still seems like the type of movie that will appeal more to older women than younger ones. Guys? They’ll either go see Infinity Waragain or stay home and catch up on TV, since they’ll be out in force for next week’s Deadpool 2.  I personally haven’t seen the movie (thanks for not inviting me to a screening, WB!), but I also haven’t seen much in terms of promotion, which isn’t a good sign.

McCarthy still has enough of a fanbase that I can see Life of the Party opening with $18 million or more, but it doesn’t seem as strong as some of McCarthy’s other offerings in terms of potentially bringing in a wide-range audience, and that’s likely to keep it under the $20 million mark, even if it gets a nice Mother’s Day bump.

BREAKING IN (Universal)

Offering some counter-programming for audiences wanting something a little darker is this high-concept psychological thriller starring Gabriel Union as a mother trying to protect her family during a home invasion of their high-security home.  It’s the latest thriller from Will Packer, who has had quite a few hits among African-American audiences including Think Like a Manand its sequel, the Ride Along movies as well as last year’s summer comedy hit Girls Trip.

For this one, Packer is teaming with Final Destination and American Pie producer Craig Perry and director James McTeigue, who is best known for doing 2ndunit with the Wachowskis and directing V for Vendetta. Packer previously produced thrillers Obsessed, which grossed $68 million,and No Good Deed, which grossed $52.5 million after opening with $24.2 million. Both movies were quite profitable since they were made for less than $20 million, and this is Packer’s fourth movie with Union, who has carved a nice niche for herself among African-American audiences with movies like Love and Basketball, Bring It On and others.

Universal is well aware of the movie’s Mother’s Day weekend opening and the business it can bring in from women who happen to be mothers with the tagline for the film being “Payback Is a Mother,” which could give the film a nice bump on Sunday it might not have received otherwise.

Breaking In is opening in over 2,500 theaters, which is more than No Good Deed, but it’s about a thousand less theaters than Life of the Party, which means it’s likely to end up in third place with somewhere between $13 and 16 million.  (I will add a caveat here that I tend to under-estimate Packer’s films, maybe because I don’t see nearly as much as the marketing as I should to be able to gauge interest in his movies.)

This week’s Top 10 should look something like this…

1. Avengers: Infinity War (Disney/Marvel) - $60 million -48% 2. Life of the Party (New Line / WB) - $19 million N/A 3. Breaking In (Universal) - $14.8 million N/A 4. Overboard (MGM/Pantelion) - $7.1 million -51% 5. A Quiet Place (Paramount) - $5.4 million -30% 6. I Feel Pretty (STXfilms) - $3 million -38% 7. Rampage (New Line/WB) - $2.8 million -45% 8. Black Panther (Marvel/Disney) - $2.1 million -32% 9.Tully (Focus Features) - $2.1 million -37% 10. Super Troopers 2(Fox Searchlight) - $1 million -49%

LIMITED RELEASES

There is an absolutely CRAZY number of specialty releases this weekend, and as before, I’ve seen merely a handful of them, although there’s definitely some intriguing options to the wide releases if you live in a big city.

We’ll start with one of this week’s stronger genre films, Coralie Fargeat’s action-thriller Revenge (Shudder, Neon), starring Matilda Lutz as Jen, a young woman on a romantic getaway with her married boyfriend. When his two hunting buddies join them, one of them rapes Jen, and as she tries to escape, she falls off the edge of a cliff. Left for dead, she somehow survives and returns to get….  Okay, you read the title of this movie, right? Then you kind of know what to expect. I liked the movie but didn’t think it went far enough in terms of Jen’s revenge. It was gory enough, sure, but the trailer’s better than the actual movie.

I saw Michael Pearce’s Beast (Roadside Attractions) at Toronto last year, and it was also okay, starring Jessie Buckley as 27-year-old Moll, who has led a sheltered life in a small island community when she meets Johnny Flynn’s Pascal, a stranger who Moll is immediately attracted to. When she learns he might be responsible for murders, she worries that moving in with him might be a mistake.  Ya think? It opens in New York and L.A.

Anton Chekhov’s play The Seagull (Sony Pictures Classic) gets the big screen treatment with an all-star cast that includes Elisabeth Moss, Saoirse Ronan, Annette Bening and Corey Stoll, directed by Michael Mayer (Flicka). Bening plays aging actress Irina Arkadina who visits her brother Pjotr and son Konstantin (Billy Howle, who is amazing in the upcoming On Chesil Beach, also starring Ronan), bringing a novelist Boris Trigorin with her. A young girl named Nina falls in love with Boris but is rejected, and man, this does sound a lot like a Russian play. I haven’t seen it and have no interest in seeing it, but it will open in New York and L.A. if you do.

Gemma Arterton and Dominic Cooper reunite for Dominic Savage’s The Escape (IFC Films), which opens in New York at the IFC Center and L.A. at the Laemmle in Santa Monica. Arterton play Tara, a woman who wants to ESCAPE from her boring and mundane life, something her husband (Cooper) doesn’t understand.  I love Arterton as an actor, and I’ll definitely try to see this one soon, as she can do no wrong in my book.

Timothy McNeil’s rom-com Anything (Paladin) stars John Carroll Lynch as Earl, a widower who moves to L.A. to be with his family who rents an apartment in a bad neighborhood, meeting all sorts of characters include Freda (Matt Bomer), his transgender next-door neighbor. The film also stars Maura Tierney, and it opens in select cities Friday, including a first-run at New York’s Roxy Cinema, which looks to become a player in the city’s thriving indie theater business.

Vaughn Stein’s Terminal (RLJE) looks to give Revenge and Breaking In a run for their money with its tagline “Revenge never looked so good”… and it stars the beautiful Margot Robbie, so it might have a point. It’s about two assassins on a mission to kill a teacher, a janitor and a waitress, and it co-stars Simon Pegg, Mike Myers (where has HE been?!?), Max Irons and Dexter Fletcher. It’s in select theaters and On Demand/Digital HD.

The Japanese Anime film Lu Over the Wall (GKIDS) from Masaaki Yuasa (Mind Game), this one a family-friendly adaptation of the fairy tale about Lu, a mermaid who comes ashore and joins a middle school rock band, taking them to great fame. It opens in a bunch of theaters.

Let’s get to this week’s docs…

Sara Driver’s Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat (Magnolia) looks promising, and it’s fairly self-explanatory from the title.  Jennifer Peedom’s Mountain (Greenwich Entertainment) is a doc about mountains… what else?

I can highly recommend Filmworker (Kino Lorber), Tony Zierra’s documentary about long-time Stanley Kubrick accomplice Leon Vitali, who played Lord Bullingdon in Kubrick’s 1975 film Barry Lyndon and then went on to become Kubrick’s right-hand man on films like The Shining.  This intriguing doc is a must-see for Kubrick fans, and it’s opening at the Metrographin New York in conjunction with an 8-film retrospective, some of which I haven’t seen on the big screen. Filmworker will open in L.A. at the Nuart on May 18.

Always at the Carlyle (Good Deed Entertainment) is the new documentary from Matthew Miele, which looks at the Upper East Side institution whose guests have included George Clooney, Wes Anderson, Anthony Bourdain and more. It’s opening at the Quad Cinema in New York and elsewhere.

Other films out this week include Jim Loach’s The Measure of a Man (Great Point Media), based on Robert Lipsyte novel One Fat Summer, about a bullied teen and starring Judy Greer and Donald Sutherland; Pat Kiely’s comedy Another Kind of Wedding (Vertical) starring Kathleen Turner (holy shit! Where has SHE been) and Kevin Zegers; Elissa Down’s The Honor List (L) about a group of teen girls who go on a journey to fulfill their bucket list after tragedy strikes; and Eric Stolz’s teen comedy Class Rank (Cinedigm ) starring Skyler Gisondo, Olivia Holt, Bruce Dern and Kristin Chenoweth.  I tell you, that’s a lot of talent for a bunch of movies that are mainly getting digital/VOD releases this weekend.

This week’s Netflix offerings include its new true crime series Evil Genius about one of the strangest bank heists ever, and the streaming network will also premiere something called The Kissing Booth from Vince Marcello, which stars Joey King as a girl who has never been kissed so she starts a kissing booth.

That’s it for this week… I’ll be back next week with my thoughts on Deadpool 2!

#TheWeekendWarrior WhatToWatch Movies BoxOffice LifeOftheParty BreakingIn AvengersInfinityWar Revenge

[threeoutoffive]

BEST OF 2017

It’s almost a new year which means it’s once again time for my personal Top Ten movies of the past twelve months.

There have definitely been some less-than-great movies this year from true turkeys such as The Mummy and Alien: Covenant to movies that didn’t quite live up to my own expectations such as Justice League and Jigsaw. I would also add Star Wars: The Last Jedi to this latter category as, whilst not a bad movie, it personally left me feeling a little underwhelmed and didn’t live up to The Force Awakens or even last year’s Rogue One, both of which made my Top Ten.

Without further ado, please enjoy my Top Ten of 2017.

10. LIFE

With sci-fi blockbusters Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Blade Runner 2049 smashing this year’s box-office, it would be all too easy for this sci-fi/horror released way back in March to be forgotten about. However, with a great cast and even better story, it would a real shame if this were to happen. Life is essentially “Alien meets The Blob” and follows a crew of scientists on a space station who are the first people to discover signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life in the form of a small one-celled organism. When the organism quickly begins to learn, grow and evolve, they realise that the organism could be far more dangerous than anticipated. Released in the same year as Alien: Covenant, it manages to be ten times scarier and a hundred times more necessary with a killer ending to boot. A must-see for any sci-fi fans.

9. LOGAN

Out of all the superhero franchises, the X-Men cinematic universe has always been the most willing to push the boundaries and step out of its comfort zone; see last year’s Deadpool and next year’s horror-themed The New Mutants for evidence of this. Even with this in mind, I don’t think anybody expected such a stunning, artistic piece for Jackman’s final appearance as Wolverine. Jackman is fantastic as Logan at his most tragic (and violent) but I felt Stewart’s performance as the aged Professor X was a personal highlight and I would put the “psychic seizure” moments up there with my favourite scenes of the year. If this is definitely the last we see of this incarnation of Wolverine on screen - a high likelihood thanks to the recent Fox-Disney deal - there could be no better way to go out.

8. THE DISASTER ARTIST

I admit I am a sucker for so-called “bad movies” and followers of my yearly movie lists will know the Sharknado movies have appeared more than one occasion. Needless to say, when I originally watched The Room - often referred to as the “Citizen Kane of bad movies” - I was blown away in the best way. As it turns out, the behind-the-scenes story of The Room is as fun and outright bonkers as the movie itself. The Disaster Artist follows the story of director Tommy Wiseau and wannabe actor Greg Sestero as they accidentally make one of the worst films ever made. Those looking for answers to some of the most-asked questions (how did Tommy finance the movie? where is Tommy really from?) may be left wanting but, within the confines of the movie itself, Tommy’s question-dodging makes for some of the funniest moments of the movie. As well as being a great movie about filmmaking in general, it also manages to be one of the funniest films of the year. The Franco brothers are fantastic as the co-leads but I genuinely believe James Franco should be in Oscar talks for his spot-on portrayal of Tommy. Considering Tommy’s misguided belief that The Room should receive an Oscar, I feel it would be hilarious for The Disaster Artist to be nominated.

7. MOTHER!

This is likely to be the most controversial and divisive movie on my list this year but I personally thought it was absolutely great and had to be in my Top Ten. Aronofsky has made some strange movies in the past but it’s fair to say this movie is way more abstract and unsettling that any before it which is why it seems to have alienated some of its audience. The movie follows a young woman whose life starts to unravel when her poet husband invites a stranger into their home. Saying much more would mean going into spoiler territory and Mother! is a movie that greatly benefits from going in blind. There is a lot to be read from the movie which is essentially one big allegory but, even without looking for hidden layers, I found Mother! to be one hell of an unsettling psychological horror. One scene in particular towards the end - those who have seen it will know exactly what I’m talking about - truly shocked me and caused an audience-member I watched it with to actually cry out in horror. Any horror movie that causes such an involuntary, visceral response from anybody deserves a place on my list.

6. SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

Since his introduction to the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) in Captain America: Civil War, I never thought for a moment that I would be disappointed by the new Spider-Man movie. That said, it managed to even surpass my expectations to become one of my favourite movies of the year. Tom Holland is an inspired choice for Peter Parker and I feel he manages to combine the characters of Peter and Spider-Man more seamlessly than either McGuire or Garfield before him. There were more MCU links that I’d expected and even more of Tony Stark than the trailers had suggested. However, rather than suggesting an lack of trust in the Spider-Man property, I felt that it actually grounded Spider-Man more in the universe the audience are used to and believe it would have actually been odd if they hadn’t taken this direction. Michael Keaton as The Vulture was another great choice and, even out of his mechanical flight-suit, he is a worthy opponent for the titular hero. Here’s to hoping for many more Spider-Man appearances in the MCU as, if they do it right, Peter Parker could soon become the real heart of the franchise.

5. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

When news broke that a live-action Beauty And The Beast remake was being made, most peoples’ first question was ‘why?’ The more negative critics said it smacked of unoriginality and cynicism on Disney’s part but, after watching it, it became clear that it better than the sum of its parts. For me, if the upcoming Disney remakes are half as good as Beauty And The Beast, I would be more than happy to check them out. It seems like the entire cast and crew had a blast making the movie but the stand-out performance is Luke Evans who puts his heart and soul into bringing the arrogant, villainous Gaston to life and clearly has fun hamming it up to the max. The general plot and songs are almost identical to the original animation and it’s clear the filmmakers have taken a “ain’t-broke-don’t-fix” approach but still add enough changes and a couple of original tunes to make it feel fresh. Possibly the most re-watchable of all the movies on my Top Ten this year.

4. PADDINGTON 2

When the first Paddington movie came out I went in with fairly low expectations. After all, how good could a quaint movie with a marmalade-loving CGI bear as its lead really be? However it managed to completely charm me in a way that I hadn’t expected and the sheer niceness of it and old-fashioned aesthetic totally won me over. Expectations were therefore high for the sequel and so I was pleased to find my expectations were more than exceeded.  The story is so simple – Paddington wants to buy his aunt a present for her 100th birthday – but quickly escalates into a fantastic set of scenes where Paddington finds a job and eventually finds himself locked up in prison. The idea of throwing a young, idealistic character such as Paddington against tough, grizzled characters like the prisoners he is forced to live with is a touch of genius and the end result is more charming and heart-warming than any recent movie I can remember.

3. WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES

When Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes was released in 2011, I wasn’t actually a fan of the original Apes movies. However I was quickly won over by the story of Caesar the chimp and have enjoyed every movie in the franchise since. The third in the rebooted series is very much the end of Caesar’s tale and focuses on him and his group of apes as they attempt to survive one final stand against a group of desperate human survivors led by Woody Harrelson’s Colonel. Whilst Harrelson is great in the villainous role, full kudos goes to Andy Serkis whose mo-cap genius truly brings Caesar to life and the story is so enthralling it is almost easy to forget what a technology marvel War really is. Many of the shots of Caesar (along with the other apes) are done in extreme close-up which, even in the prior Apes movies, would have not been possible or at least would not look as incredible as they do in this movie. Wherever the Apes series goes now, it’s safe to say that this is a fantastic, fitting end to the current story arc and one of the most emotionally moving stories of the year.

2. THOR: RAGNAROK

Just when I thought Spider-Man: Homecoming would be the funniest Marvel movie of the year, Thor: Ragnarok came along and became probably the funniest Marvel movie of all time! When it was revealed that Taika Waititi would be directing the latest Thor movie, some people thought his particular comedic style could steamroll the film and reduce any potential stakes set up by the existing MCU movies. It clear after watching the movie that this is not the case; I mean did anyway expect the total destruction of Asgard to occur in this movie?! Thor: Ragnarok is effectively a ‘buddy movie” with Thor and The Hulk teaming up, along with Loki and a ragtag group of warriors, against Hela the goddess of death. Whilst the stakes are as high as they have ever been, the comedy factor is the biggest take-away from the movie and I simply cannot review it without mentioning Waititi’s role as benevolent rock-creature Korg who acts as a vessel for the director’s comedic chops and is by far one of the funniest MCU characters to date. Whilst the big event lies with next year’s long-awaited Infinity War, audiences have been truly spoiled after receiving such great MCU movies this year. Here’s to many more ahead!

1. IT: CHAPTER ONE

As a fan of all things horror-related, there was no way IT wouldn’t be at the top of this year’s list. It took 31 years but they finally did it. They finally made an adaptation of – in my opinion – Stephen King’s magnum opus that is worthy of the title and a whole lot of fun to boot. The basic story follows a group of children who are forced to fight for survival against a supernatural, killer clown that is killing the townsfolk. However the tale has always been much more than that; a coming-of-age story, a slice of nostalgic Americana, a twisted “adventure” tale of sorts… Everything that the 1990 TV movie got wrong, the remake manages to get right, from the children interacting the way children actually act with each other (see the 90’s version for the very definition of overacting) to removal of the more schmaltzy moments.  There have been some criticisms of the amount of CGI in the movie – required, I would say, to pull off many of the weirder scenes from the book – and the lack of true scares. Whilst I agree wholeheartedly that the movie could have been a lot scarier, Skarsgard’s performance of Pennywise the Dancing Clown manages to be extremely unsettling nonetheless and I feel it may even top Tim Curry’s from the original for me. IT has become the highest-grossing horror movie of all time and it’s great to see it’s been commercially as well as critically acclaimed. We have to wait until 2019 for It: Chapter Two but I have no doubt it’ll be worth waiting for...

Well that’s that! It’s been another great year of movies and it would be utterly dismissive not to add some honourable mentions for the likes of Wonder Woman, Get Out, Baby Driver, Guardians Of The Galaxy: Vol 2, Kong: Skull Island, John Wick 2 and The Lego Batman Movie, all of which were pretty damn great and made it very difficult choosing my Top Ten this year.

2018 looks to be a great year ahead in cinema with superhero big-hitters Deadpool 2, Black Panther, Ant-Man And The Wasp, The New Mutants, Aquaman and a little movie called Avengers: Infinity War as well as The Predator, Ready Player One, Insidious: The Last Key and, probably my most anticipated movie if next year Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

See you all on the other side!