#visually stunning <3 some of the jokes were very hit or miss for me but maybe cause it brought back too much old tumblR flashbacks | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

unnursvanablog · 2 years

Text

Every movie I watched in 2021

and what I though of it.

Wonder Woman 2: The plot in this movie was just one big joke. It was stupid. Wonder Woman deserves better.

Howl's Moving Castle: I do not know why I've never watched this one before. Maybe I have, but I don't remember it. Really enjoyable, although I have seen so much talk about this movie that not much about it surprised me.

Revenge of the Pontianak: a solid b-horror film. I do not remember much about the story itself so it does not live on in the memory.

The Dig: I really enjoyed the characters, the history and the storyline here. The message of life and death that is wrapped within the story is really neat and the ending stays with you.

The Yin-Yang Master - Dream of Eternity: The story itself was so thin and jumped a bit from one thing to another, but visually I thought it was really stunning.

Space Sweepers: A big blockbuster movie from Korea. It looked like a lot of effort was put into it. I found the story drag a bit towards the middle before picking up towards the end. The story is not very original, but I still thought it carried a certain charm to it.

To All the Boys I've Loved Before 3: Nether this one or the second one has really achieved the same charm as the first film for. I was however quite impressed with how it ended as it came as a pleasant surprise to me (I had not read the book).

Samjin Company English Class: There is this essence of girl power within the story and it has fun and engaging plot that has some unexpected twists. Couple of re-watches and it might end up there with korean movies such as Sunny or Miss Granny for me.

Minari: It's very slow story, it's just this mundane family story but it does sits with you for a long time afterwards.

Atonement: I actually felt like O appreciating this movie more on this re-watch. I found the storyline a bit confusing when I first saw it.

Raya and the Last Dragon: A fun Disney princess movie that hit all the boxes that I think a disney movie has to have. The plot was a bit obvious towards the end, but that can be said for many of these Disney movies. Good, family fun.

Soul: the story was really charming with a good message and the drawing style was lively. I really enjoyed it.

The Yin Yang Master: I do not know why China made two films based on the same story and released it so close to each other. If those two movies might have joined forces, they could have made one really good story. But instead we got two pictures that were just fine but there was something missing from the plot in both of them.

Mortal Kombant (1995): Ridiculously ridiculous is all I can say about this one.

Ever After - A Cinderella Story: This was one of my favorite childhood movies. It was still quite good.

George of the Jungle: It was both much sillier than I remembered and funnier than I thought it would be. There were some things I remembered very well and some that surprised me. Great entertainment and a fun nostalgia trip.

Rurouni Kenshin 1: These movies have some of the best fight scenes I've ever seen in a movie. This is a really good action movie that still manages to have a really good heart and a great story too. Ticks all the boxes.

Narnia 2: Still my favorite Narnia movie which is maybe a little weird because it does not follow the book that well. An excellent fantasy film nonetheless. Still a Suspian shipper.

Narnia 3: This film has its moments but it also drags on a bit and it is too much nonsense was added which adds nothing to the original story from the book.

Voice of Silence: Yoo Ah In is just such a charming actor. He really nails being a bit of a jerk but still being so sensitive at the same time that you can't help but root for him. A really interesting story with unforeseen complications and good twist.

Border: This was such an interesting and weird movie (but in a good way). I really enjoyed it.

Killing of a Sacred Deer: another interesting but weird movie, but it is also done with the intention of making you feel uncomfortable and make you think. I enjoyed it a lot.

Rurouni Kenshin 2, 3 and 4: These are just some really good action movies but they also manage to convey such touching story within it as well. There is this thread of honor and such things within the narrative and there is some actual character development within each of then. Good stuff.

Kingdom: Ashin of the North: I felt like there was a little missing from this story. I found it not have enough buildup and so slow in parts. I felt like I was not watching a whole story, which bugged me.

Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning: There was so much of story that I knew beforehand so not many surprises there. But it's a good character study and once again the action is really cool.

The Green Knight: I think films capture the vibe of the medieval story of Sir Gawain and the green knight quite well, although the message of the poems is not necessarily present in this adaptation. I still liked the atmosphere that the film evoked and Dev Patel is absolutely amazing in his role.

Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: A good marvel movie. Is not doing anything new when it comes to the Marvel plot perhaps, but the fun blockbuster movie that is a fun trip to the movie theaters.

Monk comes Down the Mountain: I was a little lost within the story towards the end. The humor wasn't for me and although I liked the fight-scenes I was not connected well enough with the characters to care much what happened.

Royal Kitchen in Qing Dynasty: The decent love story. Enjoyed it while I watched it. Can't tell you the plot right now as nothing about it is rememberable.

The Cursed: Dead Man's Pray: An excellent sequel to the drama The Cursed (which ended up in my top spot last year). It was nice to see these characters again. Good horror elements but the story drags its feet a little too much and could have been bolder in it's approach.

Seobok: Gong Yoo in a rather Gong Yoo-like movie. Much more of a tragedy and much less sci-fi thriller than I initially expected. Korea loves to make films that do not end in some kind of happily-ever-after (Hollywood could learn from that) which kinda I appreciate.

Free Guy: Good fun, but I personally felt a little lacking in character development and the plot is a bit too predictable at times. Hated the romance and it felt so forced. But that's hollywood for ya.

Lamb: I found this story really fascinating. It's so strange in parts, but in a good way. Very fable-like and unpredictable. I felt sorry for this lamb and cared so much for its welfare. One of the better Icelandic films that I have watched in recent years.

Dune: Slow in a way that will not work for everyone. It's hard to try to mix action and this sand politics without making it too dense or too complicated. The film does away with some of heaviest world building to tell the story and strips the story to it's core. Some people might want more action, but I rather enjoyed the cold, brutal atmosphere and the politics within the story. All the actors do really good job and do a lot for this dry and slow story. It's a difficult story to adapt. Practical Magic: Not witchy enough for my liking but good fun.

Practical Magic: Not enough witchy stuff for my taste, but good fun.

Enternals: The fine blockbuster movie. It's always fun to go and see a Marvel movie in cinemas. I think even though the story is starting to be really predictable and repetitive. Here I felt like the story lacked focus and most of the character seem a bit superficial and in fact I feel like Marvel should have made this story into a Disney + series and not a movie. I wish Marvel would take more risks with it's plot.

Love Hard: I just watched one cliché Christmas romcom movie in December and I just thought it was okay.

Krampus: I wish that would have been a bit more folklore used in this film. A bit more that side of Christmas maybe. But otherwise it was just pretty funny but at the same time a bit too stereotypical American comedy.

Spider-Man - no way home: This is a movie to see in the cinema. It did managed to surprise me, which Marvel movies do not always do these days. Great entertainment all the way through, although a bit fan-servicey. It was about like 20 years of western pop culture rolled up in one film. Such fun!

Fellowship of the Ring: What a classic! 20 years and still just so so so good. We are not worthy!

#movie review #Movie Reviews

2 notes · View notes

mikiib · 3 years

Text

The Magnus Archives: ALIEN AU (Part 3)

Jon manages to remember to close the door to the Artifacts Room but in his panic does not lock it. Rushing quicker till he reaches the cryochamber room he immediately wakes them all up, yelling at them to get up even as he quickly looks around in paranoia for one of those creatures to pop up- there are 2 entrances to this room by door and he hastily rushes back and forth between them as the others- much more exhausted from having to rush their cryosleep recovery- question his sanity. That is- until Martin notices Jon’s neck and shirt- the entire left side of him seemingly splashed with blood.

Melanie at first thinks this is some elaborate joke, asking where Sasha is and when she’s gonna pop out to surprise them before Tim shuts her up- demanding to know where Sasha is if these creatures Jon’s describing are real. Jon says it was Sasha that led him into a trap with that nest of creatures, and Tim grabs the front of Jon’s shirt and slams him against the wall.

Tim is basically outraged at the thought that Sasha might not really be Sasha but its Georgie and Martin playing peacemakers as they pull the two apart. Georgie reasons if they really are in danger they need to go to the security surveillance hub- it’s doors can be locked on command from the inside and they all agree this is a smart idea. Nikola is quick to tend to Jon’s wound- remarking that the slash to his throat is similar to that of a barbed mouth- meant to latch on and not be yanked off for whatever reason. Jon is deeply unsettled- considering himself very lucky. Melanie picks up The Admiral- him much more sleepy than the rest to even wake up properly yet.

They eventually make their way to the Security room and lock themselves in there. Georgie, not wasting time as she logs into the camera system to find- not only finds the visual feed on the cameras no longer working but the audio as well. Jon turns to Tim and Martin and asks them what could’ve done that, and Tim eventually shoots back that the cameras had to have been entirely destroyed if they no longer are picking up anything. They turn to look at their own cameras location in this room and just that- the whole camera is missing from its place.

The room grows silent, a chill rippling across their moods as they begin to realize how serious this whole thing is. Martin then asks if there's any way for them to view the ship otherwise, Tim then points out there are the motion sensors that are all over the ship's floor panels. Only way those are busted is if they to get fully removed from the floor. Turns out they are all intact- aside from the ones in the Artifact Storage. Movement is noted coming from that direction and moving randomly now throughout the ship.

Nikola openly ponders just how such creatures could’ve been born on the ship- and asks them that if they are to hunt these creatures down- to bring her the corpse of one to study. She claims that even if they are violent- a dead one will be enough to bring back for proof of their events thus far.

They agree to this- not wanting the whole of this ship's damage to be placed on them for any reason. They split up into 2 groups, equipping themselves with some spare pipes and walkie talkies. Melanie and Georgie are Team A and Jon, Tim and Martin are Team B. Nikola is set to feed them information on the creatures locations as well as keeping track of their own.

Melanie and Georgie are headed towards the location Jon last said the creatures were, while the boys make their way to the engine room where movement is being tracked.

Jon eventually is the first to find a face hugger- it jumps out at him just as Tim bats it away from him.

Scene:

Jon’s ears were ringing. The squeal of the creature combined with the whistle of the pipe playing back in his mind as he stares up at Tim. He doesn’t even register Martin’s hands pulling him up from the ground from where he fell out of shock until a hand presses against the small of his back to balance him.

“You saved me,” he breaths, the present seemingly slapping him across the face as Tim snatches Jon’s crowbar from his grasp,” Thank you,” he stutters.

“Don’t thank me yet-“ Tim steps away from him and stabs the creature from its dazed state,” I’m just fucking pissed,” he brought the weapon up into the air before repeating the action several more times until the creature stopped squirming. Its shrieks nothing but a low hum now as its impaled body is lifted up and examined. He offers the skewered creature towards Jon, instinctively his hand reaching out to take it. The crowbar now seems to be deteriorating, bending and hissing from the blood that oozed slowly from the creature. He makes a not to see the ship has also started corroding from where the creature was brutally killed only moments prior.

Acid blood Jon realizes as he tosses the creature's body away from the engines. Taking a moment to examine his hands to see if any had gotten on him.

The radio chirps as Martin reports they killed one of the creatures, and all else seems clear from that room. Static comes before Nikolas voice chimes back.

“No, no, no! That can’t be right! More movement is still detected within that room,” Jon narrows his eye towards the radio and Tim reaches for his own as he cautiously walks through the narrow spaces of the engines, pipe in hand.

“Where-?” In a flash Tims body is slammed backwards onto the floor from the passageway- his shout muffled and gurgled by some terrible squishing sound. In less than a moment Tims body stops struggling and Jon and Martin are stunned by the scene.

“Tim!” they simultaneously shout, rushing forward to assist their downed crewmate.

Scene Ends

Martin calls out for help over the radio and Nikola says she’ll meet them in the observation and medicine room. Jon swears under his breath as he struggles to carry Tim, Martin taking it upon himself to guard them with a fire extinguisher. He reasons it has enough heft it should send them flying like the crowbars. It isn’t until they reach the last stretch that they find another face hugger- going for Martin.

He doesn’t think as he swings his weapon, and only knocks it back a bit. He pulls the pin of the fire extinguisher and hoses the creature down- hoping to stun it as his swing didn’t seem to have much effect as he’d hoped. As the fog clears away however they find the creature is very much dead- curled in on itself like a spider. Jon shutters at the thought. They find shelter in the medical room and try not to stare too much at Tim as Nikola makes it to them- no issues that come across on her way.

Jon radios Team A their current situation but to no response. His nerves are on fire, as he’s torn to know why Georgie and Melanie aren’t responding and saying by Tims side. Martin tries himself, informing them of the weakness found with the fire extinguisher, and warning them of the blood. Jon didn’t tell Martin about the blood, but it seems he’s perceptive enough to have pieced it together himself.

Melanie and Georgie however are in their own situation- too busy shutting off the radios to hide from the xenomorph that is currently searching for them. They had spotted it down the hall near the docking bays entrance, and when running away they noticed the creature jump into a vent and hear it chasing after them through them.

Melanie and Georgie had indeed made it to the artifact storage. Now however were hiding in the office lounge- both crouching behind their respected desks. The creature jumps down from the vents, its forehead looking like a morphed face of Sasha, with a body mixed with that from what they saw on the alien ship and that of a human body. It looked wrong to say the least.

Melanie- closer to the fire extinguisher grabs it quietly as Georgie goes to sneak towards Melanie's desk- which had a survival knife in it. As she does her pipe hits the floor creating a loud enough echo to catch the Not-Sashas attention. It screams and laughs as it hurdles its way towards Georgie. Melanie- ever quick on her feet pulls the pin and sprays the creature in the face- right before bashing it in the head. It clicks unholy sounds as Georgie grabs the knife and makes a dash for the door. Melanie follows quickly behind her but when she goes to lock the door the creature's tail shoots out and stabs her in the eye.

She screams in pain and rage before she sprays the creature once more- it’s body not dying but shaking violently in pain from the cold as it jumps into a vent to escape the extinguisher's wrath. Just in time too as Melanie almost collapses from pain of her own bodily injury. Georgie catches her just in time.

Georgie tells Melanie to head to the Med bay where the others are- equipping Melanie with the knife, but Melanie pleads with her to not leave her alone. Georgie kisses her forehead before pushing her off in the right direction and takes the pipe and swings at the vents opening, grabbing the aliens' attention more than Melanie's running away. PART 1 PART 2

1 note · View note

raijinhasverybigpecs · 4 years

Text

THE RE-UP: Tu’er Shen, the Leveret Spirit 🐇

“While other gods may proclaim endlessly over the power they have over their domains, causing no end of trouble for their fellow pantheon members and their followers as a result, Tu’er Shen patiently and quietly tends to those who request his services with unmatched loyalty and dedication.”

Name: Tu’er Shen, the Leveret Spirit

Pantheon: Chinese, Minor Diety

Class: Hunter/Healer Hybrid, Medium Difficulty

Positives: Healer, High Movement

Negatives: Hybrid Specialisations

please click on the read more for everything else lol

appearance details 🐇

old (above) vs new (below)

so perhaps i made him a bara rabbit after all lmao. blame the new outfit and how much better it’d look if tu’er shen has big ol bitties to work with :^) it’s still the same hair as the ears work really well with that colour but the basically the whole face has changed to be a lil more Dramatic(tm). the makeup skills have also improved with new tu’er shen rocking more subtle eyeliner alongside some very pretty and shiny pink liner. the eyes are also another major change, they’re a pretty grey as it goes nice with his hair. i still love the idea of his eyes changing colour according to his mood and grey is just a neutral mood :^) anyways, yes he looks beautiful, yes you can compliment him!

outfit details 🐇

tu’er shen now has an in-game outfit!! yay 🥳 it’s been a while coming mostly bc i have no art or visual character design skills but i’m pretty proud of how this turned out lol. it’s super cute and p goddamn chinese if i say so myself but it’s still very hoe and feels modern enough to fit smite’s standards i feel lol. big thanks to @izahunny (who is dead on that blog but a clown on twitter) for helping me with designing the outfit, the back layers and lil extra dress fabric for the front bottom left corner of the dress were his idea and they make everything much more balanced 🥰 i didn’t add a weapon but he’s just using a bow, i might update this later if i care enough to add that lmao

abilities 🐇

(please note that i am terrible with stats and don’t care about how viable in-game he actually is, these are just general ideas and the stats can be changed lol)

PASSIVE - Protector

Tu’er Shen passively grants a medium range aura of regenation around him to his allies, increasing their HPS, MPS and magical and physical protections by 5% of their totals for each statistic. Additionally, Tu’er Shen gains a 3% movement speed bonus every 4 levels.

40 unit aura radius, 5% increase of total HPS, MPS and protections

3% bonus movement speed every 4 levels, total bonus is 12% at level 20

ABILITY 1 - Passion Arrow

Tu’er Shen charges his arrows with passion, amplifying his next basic attacks with a small AOE on hit or at max basic attack range and causing them to go through minions. If Tu’er Shen hits an ally while Passion Arrow is active, he heals them for a flat amount. If an enemy is hit the charges deal increased damage on impact and if they are hit 3 times they are charmed and walk harmlessly towards Tu’er Shen for 1.5 seconds.

Cooldown: 10 seconds

3/3/4/5/5 charges, Heal: 50/75/95/125/150 + 30% scaling

Extra damage: 10/30/60/90/120, Mana cost: 55/60/70/75/85

ABILITY 2 - Matchmaker

Tu’er Shen calls upon his matchmaking skills to select and connect two allied gods or one ally and one enemy god with each other in a 55 unit targeter. If two allies are linked then their damage is increased by 10% and they receive a heal over time. If an ally and an enemy are connected then the enemy is revealed to Tu’er Shen’s team and the enemy deals 20% less damage to their partner. Additionally, the connected ally receives 50% of their enemy partner’s healing.

Cooldown: 20/19/18/17/16 secs

Duration: 6 seconds, Heal over time: 20/25/30/35/40 + 20% scaling

HOT ticks every 1 second, Mana cost: 50/55/60/65/70

ABILITY 3 - Bunny Hop

Tu’er Shen hops in the direction he is currently travelling. If Tu’er Shen hits a wall, player-made deployable or god he bounces off the surface, doubling his movement. Additionally, enemy gods are stunned for 1 second upon impact. Tu’er Shen can store 1 charge of this ability.

Cooldown: 14/13/12/11/10 secs

2 charges maximum, range of 55 with an amplified range of 110 units

Damage: 100/150/200/250/300 + 100% scaling, Mana cost: 70/80/90/100/110 mana

ULTIMATE - Romantic Rush

Tu’er Shen, after a short duration, channels the full extent of his love powers, amplifying all of his basic attacks with the effects of Passion Arrow for 10 seconds. If an ally is hit and they are at full health they receive a a health shield equal to half of Passion Arrow’s healing. On enemy hit, the charm duration is doubled but they cannot be charmed again while Romantic Rush is active. The effects of Matchmaker are doubled and Tu’er Shen receives a 20% damage buff if he is linked with another male god.

Cooldown: 80 seconds

Duration: 10 seconds

Mana cost: 80/90/100/110/120 mana

lore 🐇

While other gods may proclaim endlessly over the power they have over their domains, causing no end of trouble for their fellow pantheon members and their followers as a result, Tu’er Shen patiently and quietly tends to those who request his services with unmatched loyalty and dedication. For he is not a god who takes to the spotlight easily, but one who will see his responsibilities through to help and protect those who he serves, an opportunity he was once not afforded in his youth.

Such are the origins of Tu’er Shen, the Leveret God.

Once a young man known as Hu Tianbao, he fell deeply in love with a handsome imperial inspector of Fujian Province. Such was the intensity of his love that he looked upon the inspector while he bathed, peering at him through a bathroom wall. Tianbao was caught in the act, confessing his sincere affections for the other man in hopes of reaching an understanding. The inspector was quick to retaliate in violence, sentencing him to death by beating.

Underworld officials, seeing his crime as one of love, sought to justify his death by appointing him the god and safe guarder of homosexual affections. A month after his death, he appeared in the dreams of a man from his hometown – not as Hu Tianbao but reborn as Tu’er Shen. From this came the erection of a humble shrine for his worship and Tu’er Shen has dutifully served those who seek him ever since.

The battlefield of the gods is a strange place to find Tu’er Shen, usually one so far removed from the world of ugly violence and mindless bloodshed. Even so, perhaps love can soothe and heal the wounds caused by the warring of pantheons, or maybe it can even help end the war in some way. Knowing firsthand the true cost of thoughtless hate and violence, Tu’er Shen picks up his bow in the hope that he can protect even one person of those who cannot protect themselves in the war of the gods.

voicelines 🐇

god selection

“Tu’er Shen!” (duh)

introduction

“Is anyone in need of my services?”

“Let’s see what I can do.”

“Wonder if there are any cute gods around? Wait, no! Work first, then play later!”

“In their own ways, everyone here is fighting for love.”

(this isn’t an official one but as a joke it was highly entertaining) “Come on Season 6 let’s get sickening!”

abilities

ability 1 - passion arrow

“Fallen for me yet?”

“I’ve got you!”

“Coming for your heart!”

ability 2 - matchmaker

self/ally match - male gods only

“Our connection is strong.”

“Let your heart speak to me.”

self/ally match - general

“Together we’re stronger.”

“I’ve got your back.”

ally/ally match

“You’d make a good pair.”

“Another successful match.”

ally/enemy

“Swipe left next time!”

“This’ll end badly.”

ability 3 - bunny hop

“Excuse me!”

“Coming through!”

ability 4/ultimate - romantic rush

“Feel the love!”

low health

“I will not give in just yet.”

“I don’t mind playing rough, but this is a bit too much even for me…”

items

when placing wards

“Reveal their hearts to me little ward.”

“Any romantic confessions I should be aware of?”

when buying consumables

“Isn’t this interesting?”

“The colour is lovely.”

when buying offensive items

“I don’t want to harm others but if I must.”

“Love hurts indeed…”

when buying defensive items

“Will this protect my ears?”

“Hope this won’t slow me down.”

“Even the gods have to use a little protection.”

kills

when in a killstreak

“I can heal them later on, right?”

“Love never misses its mark.”

when killing a jungle boss

“That creature was awfully big…”

“Thank you for your sacrifice.”

when destroying a tower

“Love conquers all, man and structure alike.”

“Ack, that’s so loud!”

death

“You’ll never kill my spirit…”

“Love is eternal…”

directed voicelines

Aphrodite - “It’s a great honour to finally meet the goddess of love, I have much to learn from you.”

Cupid - “Speaking from... past experiences, it seems as though you should work on your aim.”

Jing Wei & Xing Tian - “I admire your perseverance in the face of insurmountable odds, we are not too dissimilar in that way.”

Loki - “If you haven’t already, I suggest you pay Chiron a visit at some point. He is single after all...”

Bellona - “Any luck asking Amaterasu out yet? She’s still waiting for you to make a move you know..”

Raijin - “I’m willing to bet you’re more satisfying in bed than you are an opponent on the battlefield.”

Bacchus - “I’m not the drinking type... but perhaps you’d like to come in for tea?’

Achilles - “How’s Patroclus doing? Maybe you should spar with him more often, you’ve gotten rusty.”

Apollo - “Playing the lyre isn’t the only thing you make look easy.”

Ravana - “When I see you, the term ‘rope bunny’ comes to mind...”

jokes

“I hope Cupid doesn’t get jealous of all the time I’m spending with Aphrodite…”

“Technically I’m not this closely associated with actual rabbits, but the aesthetic was too cute to pass up.”

“Considering what I’ve been through, I think I’ve earnt the right to proud of who I am.”

“It is technically homophobia if you hit me. Just saying.”

“The Jade Rabbit? He’s certainly cute... but I think there’s another rabbit who’s cuter.”

taunts

Animation: Tu’er Shen draws a neon heart in the air, shooting an arrow through it shortly after.

“[Yawns] I think I might have a nap, perhaps that’ll give you a chance to catch up.”

“You have an awfully big weapon there, are you compensating for something?”

“I’ll show you why they say love hurts.”

“Fighting for your overblown ego isn’t a good reason to wage war.”

“Take it from a matchmaker, I don’t think anyone’s standards are low enough for you.”

skin concepts 🐇

new tu’er shen body

floral fairy

squeaky clean, night corps, bunny server

country cowboy, casual, devilish

old tu’er shen body

kitsune, spring revelry, leather bunny

hello nurse, debonair devil

old notes 🐇

this concept is super inspired by Kaios’ concept for Tu’er Shen (which you’ll find linked in the description of this post), i loved his ideas for rabbit lad and wanted to add more to the concept. my final kit concept is a lil bit similar but i think i’ve changed enough for it to not be a copy lmao. anyways, i’ve wanted a hunter support since i played tyrande a while ago in heroes of the storm. she was super fun and the mix of dealing strong consistent damage and still being able to support allies is something i’d kill to have in smite

tu’er shen is also a really cool god, and recently I’ve been prokoved by my mutuals making lots of god concepts when i haven’t made any in a very long time lol (if you remember my other smite oc you’re a real stan). obvs i don’t think hi-rez would do him justice and gamerbros would totally complain about the Gays™ shoving their unsatiable need for Representation™ down their throats and what not but it’s still a fun concept regardless!

new notes 🐇

he’s back and 10x beefier and sluttier looking than ever lmao. the self-insert squad may be missing plenty of people (y’all better come back like...) but it’d be a waste of time and effort to not do more with tu’er shen. also i love him so! i’m still kinda sad over twink tu’er shen being replaced by bara tu’er shen but it’s for the best, he’s v handsome now and big ol bitties in that dress? iconic. he does fit better into the male cast, the added beef makes him more attractive to basically everyone (he’s serving taric teas now lol) and he was a soldier so there’s plenty of reasons to make him a hunk. anyways... i don’t have much to say about the outfit than it’s flawless lol. it was interesting and p fun to make although i always feel awkward about posting drawn stuff in a serious context. it’s weird but i’m happy about the final product 🥰 i’ll try to write more stuff about him soon but don’t expect too much lol

links/resources 🐇

personal

headcanons (they’re a lil outdated in reference to his body lol)

tu’er shen’s tag

original post

my smite oc tag

other

kaios’ super cool concept for tu’er shen you should check out as it’s cooler than mine lol. his art of tu’er shen goes full furry and it’s kinda cute ngl

other links you can read for more information about tu’er shen: 1, 2

a beautiful short film about tu’er shen helping a guy accept his sexuality, gore warning towards the end

thanks for reading if you got to the end! please send asks or whatever, i’m dying for any excuse to talk about him lmao 🐇

#smite #smite game #hi-rez smite #smite oc #gay rabbit stuff #MY OCs #pwease support my boy. i care him

10 notes · View notes

peasent-ff · 4 years

Text

What I loved about Frozen 2

It’s easy to rush to criticism, so to change that I’m starting it off by listing what I loved about the movie. It also means from now on this whole blog is gonna be spoilers, I will be tagging it appropriately until mid January.

1) Anna is ******* gorgeous. Like out of this world beautiful. There’s something about the upgrade to the visuals plus the growth of the character that results in a genuine ‘grown up’ feel to it. She’s so much more confident, mature and vibrant. The outfit is amazing, I know the Frozen 1 outfits were iconic but they always seemed out of place for an ‘adventure’ movie, but this time Anna gets an awesome outfit plus a new hairstyle that better suits her. Plus the royal bun she has at the end, but I mean that whole ensemble left my jaw on the ground.

2) There are some seriously stunning visuals in this movie. The best way I can describe it is like watching a living painting, every element is so well pieced together and the emotional value to it hits hard. I think particularly to Elsa riding towards Ahtohallan, and how stunning it was.

3) The serious side to the callbacks hit home hard. I especially recall the Northuldra tribe welcoming the crew with Vuelie, the opening song to the original Frozen. I won’t lie, it hit me deep, I got seriously emotional and I think I might have shed a tear. I can’t explain it, but they did it so well.

4) The tone of the comedy in this movie is so damn good. Like it’s right up my alley, with great callbacks, great timing and wit, good self-awareness, and enough subtle adult jokes. Olaf steals the show here hands down, and I am loving it. I was worried at first about how Olaf would fit into a more darker film than the first, but that was unnecessary. I mentioned before from an ad that if Olaf was going to joke like this through the movie, I would lose it. I wasn’t kidding, I barely contained myself especially when he performed his retelling of the first movie. Bonus to Matthias for making it even better. I also love Kristoff’s totally unexpected 80′s power ballad. That sent me, as soon as I realize what was going on, like kid you not I felt guilty for laughing that much in a cinema.

5) Elsa’s magic in action looked soooo good! It’s like Frozone but so much better. They absolutely nailed the flow, animation, effects, pacing and composition. The only thing I would improve is the sound effects, they were just missing that magical emphasis to them. But watching Elsa really using her powers at full throttle was both exhilarating and emotional. Especially how confident she is using it around people and especially Anna.

6) The facial animation is criminally good. The emotions are so clear, so raw and so relatable. There’s so much life to it that I genuinely forgot it was just CGI.

7) Olaf’s involvement in a very emotional and heavy scene was brilliant. A callback to ‘Some people are worth melting for’ but a 100x better. Like, to use a comedic character in such a way to bring more depth is genius writing. It may sound a tad ridiculous on paper, but there in that cinema it stabbed deep.

8) The spirits being different and most importantly not human is perfect and the kind of subversion I needed. It makes Elsa stand out so much more, and makes her more unique amongst the spirits.

9) Anna’s scene where she learns to keep pushing on even when the way is not clear is such a powerful one I think I’m not biased to say it is the biggest development and most significant in the entire franchise. You can’t just integrate crying into a song and expect me to be composed.

#frozen 2 #frozen 2 spoilers #spoilers

20 notes · View notes

osamuniichann · 4 years

Text

Map of the Soul: 7

After a ~315 day drought without new music and a comeback from the legends, we are finally back with MOTS: 7! It been a hot minute since ive done a album review (solely for myself LMAO) so lets get back into it bc this album is a home run

Interlude: Shadow. Here we have the extended version of the interlude. can i just say that the lyrics to this masterpiece are so real and true. its not suga speaking nor is it agust d, this is min yoongi speaking of his internal conflict with the celebrity life, which is heartbreaking. on another note, the visuals of the mv are stunning and the ending--dont u just wanna go apeshit??? truly a great addition to the album!

Black Swan. sister black swan has been with us for a month-ish now? it still bumps. HARD. i blasted this to and from my drive to work to the point where i was scared if id get sick of the song but that didnt happen. the way how its hard to pinpoint when and where a member would sing/rap because they INTENTIONALLY wanted the voices to blend as if they were one body. this is the group’s narrative on how no matter how passionate one is on a certain craft, when they lose that drive, its like a death. and it is up to themselves to spark that love and interest once again. a very relatable story across various media, talents, skills, etc.

Filter. When I first heard that this was a jimin solo showcasing the many sides of Jimin, i thought that it was going to be a sad ballad to kind of follow the theme mots: 7 seemed to give off; thought that it would talk about how he has to force personas onto himself to appeal to the masses, but it is the complete opposite. Jimin is all the faces he puts on, he can be cute, sweet, and caring Jimin but he is also a sexy, flirty young man that can attract any living being. how he switches from falsettos to a lower register voice is beyond me, what a versatile one he is! <3

My Time. Moving onto jungkook’s solo, I knew the lyrics were going to be sad especially when it seems to compare himself to others his age. How he speaks about how fast time runs for him, how his childhood and current life is not of the average 22 year old (LIKE UM HERE I AM, SAME AGE AS JUNGKOOK AND IM NORMAL AF while he’s out here breaking records?? WOW). but the life of jungoo can be a bit overwhelming, completely understandable. I just want our boi JK to know that he can be himself and live freely despite such different circumstances. On another note, the groove of this track is so GOOD. it reminds me of Ari and ugh i LIVE for this jam

Louder Than Bombs. When the track started, I could totally tell Troye Sivan helped produce it, it has such a unique sound that only Troye would use. It sounds like this song would totally be on a movie soundtrack IDK WHY. like, i can picture it during an apocalypse movie sldkjg im not completely sure what the meaning is to the song (bc im big stupid) but i feel like its a track saying that no matter the struggles, they will continue to sing confidently, strongly, and wholly to us endlessly. beautiful, just beautiful.

ON. Moving on to the title track of MOTS: 7! I’m very picky about strong anthem-type songs but ON is actually p addicting HAHA There’s a background sound that repeats in the back that sounds like Sans from Undertale, aint that wild LMAO but anyways, the Manifesto Film was crazy good. The drums, the band, the breakdown of it all? UNBELIEVABLE. Also, JK’s vocals during the bridge? H O W. That breakdown tho...oof, that was amazing. They still dance with the thirst that rookie bts would and i think thats why ppl are so drawn to them no matter how many years pass. Fun fact: the choreographer of ON as well as Dionysus actually is from my city in Hawaii and we went to the same high school THATS WILD. the talent she holds!

UGH! Rap line ATE this shit, are we KIDDING. An ode to all the hate comments that we receive, u can see how fed up they are. They made POINTS and we all agree, its the damn law. The way how they opened up with a gunshot, we knew it was coming. Everyone joked about how we bout to hear some gunshots on this album, well they threw ALL of it on this track. Can i just say that Hobi’s verse tho? it hits different, it really do. When they went “ahem, ahem. ahem, ahem-ahem, YOUR AHEM. AHEM-AHEM--” OOOOOUGH i felt that shit!! god, imagine this in concert...the building aint ready!

0:00 (Zero O’ clock). Now we have the vocal line track, we knew they were bout to present some vocals. Great sound, slow and reflecting. Not the first track I’d listen to but it is a great listen. The lyrics tho get to me. The way how they comfort us and say that life can be rough but you can be happy. no matter what happens, with the turning of the clock to 0:00, its a brand new day and we can make the day better. what a powerful message that all of us need to hear once in a while. we will be happy guys, we deserve to be.

Inner Child. Tae’s solo which is a message to his young self. I expected a slow ballad filled with his warm vocals reminiscent of Winter Bear, 4 o’ clock, and Scenery but boi was I wrong. He has this sunset glow voice that wraps u so warmly and the sound is just so happy, pure, and innocent. Its a hopeful message to his younger self on how we will change and be the amazing person we want to or will be. I was sobbing at this song, I tell u. It was 2:00 am in the morning and I was sobbing into my pillow. Imagine comforting your past self that everything will be okay and to take ur hand, it will be all worth it in the end. When he sang “ur my boy, my boy, my boy, my boy!” Ugh...the tears!

Friends. When I heard this was a vmin duet expressing their friendship with each other, I knew it was going to be so emotional! I didn’t expect such a fun, poppy sound tho. They truly are soulmates, the love they have for each other is so wholesome and real, it truly exhibits the love I have for my friends--they’ve been with me through thick and thin, during happy and sad times; the amounts of serotonin they give me is just HHHH. The way how Tae and Jimin have been friends since high school until now is just ugh...we love it. Towards the end when they started singing “you are my soulmate!” towards each other, i started sobbing so hard because WOW. the shivers i felt, this song made me so happy and full!

Moon. Next we have Jin’s solo which is an ode to us army’s. And on another perspective, this is a song from the moon (jin) to the Earth (army)--i have tears in my eyes. The lyrics especially got me in a chokehold and made me sob, the way how he says that he will always be by our side no matter what, the same way how we are there for him...god. The chorus really gets to me, it feels so happy and thankful and I just want to tell Jin that I will forever follow him and the boys. They’ve been with me for years now and I will continue to support, love, and listen to them. Ily to the moon and back, our moon.

Respect. I didn’t expect a Namgi duet but HERE WE ARE. Goddd when i heard that i was SO EXCITE. They’ve known each other for +10 years now and they never miss the chance to tell everyone that they’ve been friends for that long. Not @ how they disliked each other at first but grew to be so mf close, to the point where their family. Ughhh, im so uwu rn. Im so happy, so so happy that Nams started it with AYO SUGA; i SCREAMED. Also, i heard that they recorded it in one take and i could see how much fun they had--especially considering that their rap styles are completely different. Even tho in the song they joke about not knowing what the word Respect means, we know...we just KNOW the high amounts of respect they have for each other. As they mentioned before, Yoon’s respects towards Nams’ leadership and care towards everyone and Nams’ respect towards Yoon’s love and passion for music and producing. Peak comedy is Yoongs overloading on autotune during his parts to the point where its intentional. Bless Namgi.

We are Bulletproof: The Eternal. I felt like a CLOWN when this track started. Like everyone, i thought we were going to have a third installment similar to that of the strong, hip-hop, gunshot-filled part 1 and 2 of we are bulletproof, but we were met with soft vocals and rap. The lyrics tho get to me. This truly was a song about their entire journey and i felt like I experienced all years with them. They’ve been through so much and the way how they sang “we are we are together/forever bulletproof!” They are proud of where they came from and it has stuck with them till now. They are such real people...i cry. ALSO the “We were only seven, but we have you all now.” Whenever i see pictures of their debut fanmeets/concerts vs now its just crazy. imagine singing as an entire being during concerts when they start “OOOOH OH OHH” im so immensely proud of the feats they’ve reached and im excited on what they do next! <3

Outro: Ego. The way how he started it with the fitness gram pacer test just like in previous albums, ugh what a throwback! this song is such a Hobi track, its fun, dance-inducing and its just so FEEL GOOD. the way how he switches flows and is capable of doing so is *chef’s kiss* the way how he speaks about the path he takes is difficult but he doesnt regret it...SOBS also the mv??? UGH SO CUTE. the flashbacks too;; i cry

ON (feat. Sia). With this track, there’s not much extra I can say, all my opinions still stand with the original track wit ot7. I jokingly told my friend that if Sia is gonna be on the track “hey nanana’ing” the same why Halsey was only “oh my my my’ing” i will ctfu. and...welp, that was what happened. I do love Sia tho so props to her!

Overall: I initially thought that MOTS: 7 was going to be a dark, ballad-filled album but it was anything but. It had so much fun songs, the lyrics are again, so deep and meaningful--it pulls at your heartstrings. It felt so raw, personal, emotional, and i love it in all its being. The boys will continue to amaze me no matter what they put out and i forever and endlessly will support and love them the same way they do for us. MOTS: 7 is a masterpiece and im in love

#trish speaks #map of the soul #7 #seven #mots #mots 7 #map of the soul 7 #bts #i do this as a tradition at this point from...maybe WINGS album #so idc if its just me rambling and being mf cringey i just needed a place to rant about good music and cool ppl lol #yall can ignore this dis just a thing for me to let out my emotions lmao #anyway imma go back to drawing haikyuu pretty setters

6 notes · View notes

nathanneedsausername · 5 years

Text

The MCU (So Far) Ranked

With Avengers: Endgame right around the corner now feels like a good time to talk about all 21 films that brought us to this moment.

#21 - Thor: The Dark World (Alan Taylor)

Rating - 3/10

Look, there always has to be one.

Thor: The Dark World suffers from the same problem that most bad comic book movies do it is simply forgettable, this is the worst type of film to write about because I have noting to say. Far from being insultingly bad but also far from being any good. Honestly if you ever plan on cramming these films again do yourself a favour and skip this one.

#20 - The Incredible Hulk (Louis Leterrier)

Rating - 4/10

You can skip this one too.

The Incredible Hulk is a product of its time, in the late ‘00s this was about as good as action movies not called The Dark Knight got. This one isn’t unwatchable and the bit were The Hulk kicks Tim Roth into a tree is pretty cool but given how little this film has effected the franchise going forward you really wont miss anything by skipping it.

#19 - Iron Man 2 (Jon Favreau)

Rating - 4/10

I get why they made this movie, but I’d rather they hadn’t.

Iron Man 2 is basically just a teaser trailer for the better movies that were about to come out. This movie consists of boring conversations between Tony Stark and Nick Fury and even more boring scenes with the villains that really kicked of the cliché that these movies have boring villains. The suitcase Iron Man suit is really dope though.

#18 - Ant-Man and the Wasp (Peyton Reed)

Rating - 6/10

Meh.

Ant-Man and the Wasp is actually pretty good. Paul Rudd is allowed to fully explore his comedic talent making this a very watchable film however the script lacks any focus and it is ultimately difficult to stay invested in anything happening on screen. It’s a mixed bag but it’s pretty fun.

#17 - Thor (Kenneth Branagh)

Rating - 6/10

Kenneth Branagh made a super-hero movie, this is about as good as that idea could ever have been.

Thor is a surprisingly small movie, revisiting this film now feels slightly strange given what we have since seen of the character. Branagh was always the wrong choice to direct a Marvel movie especially during a time were the studio had far more say than any of their filmmakers. It’s worth revising this film to set up the Avengers but other than that it isn’t anything special.

#16 - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Joss Whedon)

Rating - 6/10

It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that this movie is just ok.

Avengers: Age of Ultron should be so much better than it is but it ended up being the poster child for when a studio gets cold feet and tries to take over on directors vision. Joss Whedon is an excellent story teller but this does not so off his talents at all. Once again this certainly isn’t a bad film it just isn’t great, there is some good dialogue and the introduction of both Scarlet Witch and Vision is worth seeing.

#15 - Captain America: The First Avenger (Joe Johnston)

Rating - 7/10

Way more camp than I remember .

Captain America: The First Avenger feels as though it has taken the framework of a more conventional war drama and just thrown in some superhero stuff and I don’t necessarily think that is a bad thing. When this film embraces its campness it can be very entertaining. Chris Evans was a prefect casting choice for Steve Rodgers and this film does go in an unexpected direction by making Captain America basically just a mascot but once again the villain is weak and large sections of the plot are forgettable. Overall worth re-watching it is probably better than you remember.

#14 - Captain Marvel (Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden)

Rating - 7/10

I’m sorry, I like this one.

Captain Marvel might be the most controversial film in the whole franchise. I have some grievances with this one, namely lack of any style or originality in the writing or direction but the chemistry between Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson helps to make this an enjoyable watch. I know you probably don’t agree with me but this is my list and I like this movie, so there!

#13 - Iron Man (Jon Favreau)

Rating - 7/10

Not as great as I remember but still pretty good.

Iron Man will forever be remembered as a film that changed cinema witch is so weird to me having re-watched it recently. This is a rather slow and somewhat cliché 2000s action flick with a paper-thin plot. Robert Downey Jr. and Jeff Bridges both give it their all and I have nothing but respect for Jon Favreau for turning RDJ’s mad ramblings into a coherent film.

#12 - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (James Gunn)

Rating - 7/10

I’m still not sure how to take this.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is the most visually stunning film in the MCU, almost every shot could be used as a laptop wallpaper. This also has quite possibly the strongest theming as its story about fatherhood and toxic relationships can bring a tear to your eye if you let it. So it is such a shame that this film is full of jokes that just do not land and weird side plots that feel like set-ups for movies that Marvel would probably never let James Gunn make. I kinda love this movie but this is as high as I can put it on this list.

#11 - Captain America: Civil War (Anthony Russo, Joe Russo)

Rating - 8/10

The fight scene though!

Captain America: Civil War is one great fight scene that is all anyone ever wants to talk about. I think the rest of the movie is also pretty good, this was our first look at how the Russo brothers would handle a larger ensemble cast and every character gets the screen time they deserve. Really though the airport fight is amazing!

#10 - Doctor Strange (Scott Derrickson)

Rating - 8/10

The word Strange is in the title.

Doctor Strange has a remarkably safe plot given the source materiel, although that can all be forgiven given how amazing the visual effects are. This is a very entertaining film mainly for the creative and ingenious uses of special effects. This film can drag a bit but it is worth it to see something that gives the end of 2001 a run for its money.

#9 - Iron Man 3 (Shane Black)

Rating - 8/10

And you thought my views on Captain Marvel were controversial!

Iron Man 3 is great and I will not change my mind on that. This was the first team up between Robert Downey Jr. and screenwriter/director Shane Black since 2005′s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and it was worth the wait. The dialogue is sharp and the plot with Tony Stark dealing with P.T.S.D. after the events of The Avengers makes for a great character study.

I am aware that the general consensus is that the plot twist sucks but with Ben Kingsley’s fantastic performance and the wonderfully absurd way that it is reveled I can’t help but love it. In all honesty I just to big a Shane Black fan to hate this (the same logic does not apply to The Predator).

#8 - Ant-Man (Peyton Reed)

Rating - 8/10

I can only image how great the Edgar Wright version of this would have been.

Ant-Man is so much better than people give it credit for. The dialogue is constantly funny and the screenplay is paced perfectly so that the film never has a dull moment even in the quieter character scenes. Moments like the train-set fight and the first time Scott Lang uses the Ant-Man suit are among the best scenes in the whole franchise. Like most people I have to believe that the Edgar Wright version would have been better but I must say that Peyton Reed did a pretty great job piecing what he had together.

#7 - Black Panther (Ryan Coogler)

Rating - 8/10

Marvel’s little awards season darling.

Black Panther is somehow one of the most important and talked about films of the decade and in all honesty it sort of deserves it. Coogler does what other MCU filmmakers would never do and dives head first into real world political issue, ending his film with a poignant note about free trade and open borders. Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger adds a nuance that is missing in most comic book movies. Overall Black Panther is a breath of fresh air in an over-saturated genre.

P.S that soundtrack is awesome!

#6 - Thor: Ragnarok (Taika Waititi)

Rating - 8/10

How did this happen?

Thor: Ragnarok is everything I wanted it to be. Taika Waititi is one of the most interesting filmmakers working today and it is great to see a major studio allow such a unique voice to make the exact film that they wanted to without sacrificing their creativity. This is not only one of the best Marvel films but one of the best straight comedies of the decade. I cannot wait to see what Waititi has in store in the future.

#5 - Spider-Man: Homecoming (Jon Watts)

Rating - 8/10

Things are looking up for Spider-Man.

Spider-Man: Homecoming was my favourite Spider-Man movie up until very recently. This genuinely feels like watching an 80s John Hughes film in the 2010s that also happens to action sequences in it. The scene where Peter Parker and Adrian Toomes are in the car together is brilliantly tense and shows of the dramatic range of both Tom Holland and Michael Keaton. The characters feel real and fleshed out and the breezy feel of the editing brings the world to life through the naive eyes of a young Peter Parker. I honestly can’t believe how good this ended up being.

#4 - Avengers: Infinity War (Joe Russo, Anthony Russo)

Rating - 9/10

This simply should not have worked.

Avengers: Infinity War is one of the most ambitious films in cinema history. I have so much respect for the Russo brothers for managing to make a film with this many characters and this many plot points feels cohesive and endlessly entertaining. I think the real triumph of Infinity War is how watchable and fun this movie is despite being 2 1/2 hours long, full of characters and constantly hitting you in the face with really depressing stuff. Let’s hope that the Russo brothers can pull of the same trick twice.

#3 - The Avengers (Joss Whedon)

Rating - 9/10

This movie isn’t given enough credit anyone.

The Avengers was a huge gamble back in 2012 and although it may now feel quaint given the achievement that was last year’s Infinity War Joss Whedon was able change the landscape of blockbuster cinema and make this whole thing possible. Almost every plot point in this film has since become cliché, Whedon and Feige laid out a blueprint for success that no one else has been able to copy since. The Joss Whedon humour and snarky dialogue helped to pave the way that these characters would interact in the future and his unique approach to utilizing an ensemble cast makes this film worth revisiting over and over again.

#2 - Guardians of the Galaxy (James Gunn)

Rating - 9/10

James Gunn hit the mainstream with a movie about a talking raccoon, I can never complain about the Hollywood system ever again.

Guardians of the Galaxy should not work on most levels but Gunn was just crazy enough to pull it off. The character interactions here rival the Wheadon penned interactions in The Avengers and the Gunn’s direction brings the strange worlds he has created to live in striking ways. Gunn was given a chance to showcase his humour and he ran with it, Guardians goes from dark and meandering to fun and rapidly paced within seconds and it is a complete joy to watch no matter how many times you have seen it.

#1 - Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Joe Russo, Anthony Russo)

Rating - 9/10

The Russo brothers came out swinging.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is an entertaining, tightly directed, brilliantly acted, fast paced and well edited action film that just so happens to be a squeal to the First Avenger. Many of the best moments in the franchise are in this film including the elevator scene and the fight on the bridge, this film also has great character interactions especially with Steve Rodgers and Nick Fury. This feels like an update on classic James Bond stories with a modern edge, this is everything that a comic book movie could be and I highly recommend checking it out again if you haven’t seen it in a while. There is no question that The Winter Soldier is the best of the MCU.

Franchise Rating - 7.1/10

Nathan Needs A Username’s Must See Movies: https://letterboxd.com/nathan_r_l/list/nathan-needs-a-usernames-must-see-movies/

Nathan Needs A Username’s Avoid At All Cost Movies: https://letterboxd.com/nathan_r_l/list/nathan-needs-a-usernames-avoid-at-all-cost/

24 notes · View notes

sraawrats · 5 years

Text

🦇🎃Kana’s Halloween Hangover Rec List🎃🦇

Love Halloween? Not ready for it to be over? No worries! Old and new, these are some of my favorite spooky, suspenseful, and supernatural Kylux reads--perfect for drawing out your favorite month a little longer!

which is 100% why i’m posting this on november 1st, definitely not because i didnt manage to finish it before yesterday. nope, not at all

My Baby’s a Devil in the Bedroom | @callmelyss

- E - 4/5 chapters, 14 645 words - “Oh, obviously.” Kylo let out a shaky laugh and ran both hands through his hair. “Wait, no, you’re serious. You’re a fucking demon.”

“Well, yes, not to put too fine a point on it.” Hux smiled, clearly pleased with himself at the joke. “Or more accurately, I’m a succubus. A sex demon.”

—

Kylo has an unusual squatter. He's pretty fine with it. -

This fic is seriously amazing. It’s a super fun idea, the dialogue is hilarious, and it perfectly balances the sweetness and humor with angst/intrigue. Plus, I’m absolutely taken with snarky, smug, candy-tasting succubus Hux <3 <3

strange phenomenon | @brawlite, @kyluxtrashcompactor

- E - 8/8 chapters, 65 756 words - Kylo Ren is haunted by recent tragedy. He answers an ad posted by one Armitage Hux for a roommate, and he thinks a fresh start will help him begin to heal. He brings next to nothing with him from the past when he moves in.Or so he thinks. -

This fic is wonderfully suspenseful, and perfect if you’re looking for something to keep you on the edge of your seat. I also had a lot of Han feels when reading this one. Overall it’s just really nicely well-rounded with heartfelt and genuine characterizations, good spooks, and some searing sexual tension.

Something Wicked | @marlonbookcase

- G - 7/7 chapters, 22 514 words - Kylo and Armitage have been friends since they were kids. Now in university, they run a semi-popular YouTube channel called "London Below" where they investigate all sorts of haunted and paranormal happenings in and around London and try to answer the question, are ghosts real? When they take on the mysterious and tragic case of the Pendle Witches, they come face to face with the spirit world in a way they never have before. Will they make it out of Pendle alive? Are ghosts real? And most importantly, does Armitage return Kylo's affections? -

I love Buzzfeed Unsolved. I love Kylux. I love this fic. A lot. As it says in the description, it’s not an exact Unsolved AU, but it really captured the format/feel of the “paranormal investigator” genre, so if you’re a fan of that, you’ll love this. Bonus points for some mutual pining and sugary fluff 👀👀

Second Spring, First Fall | @huxandthehound

- T - 5/? chapters, 7 018 words - Nothing brings people together quite like the holidays. Well, maybe not Halloween... After a scare, Hux has to confront his neighbor. Lucky for him, Kylo might be a little sweeter than his tricks let on. -

A cute multi-chap made of Huxloween prompt fills! Lighthearted, but it’s still got that Halloween spirit. Plus I’ve got a soft spot for sweet modern AU Kylo :))

Some Strange and Unnerving Events | @longstoryshortikilledhim

- E - 10/10 chapters, 158 815 words - As a boy in a dreary school on the moors, Kylo Ren had only one friend, a red-headed boy whose sharp tongue and wit drew Kylo to him. But that friend was taken from him. Now grown, Kylo goes into the service of the master of Stormfield Hall, the enigmatic Lord Arkanis, who is seeking a tutor for his charge. Kylo's past will come rushing back to him, both in his new employer and some unusual circumstances that bring to the fore powers that Kylo thought long-suppressed. -

This fic hit me like a ton of bricks. This fic hit me like TWO tons of bricks. Start this one when you’re ready to be feeling it for a few days afterwards. It’s an incredible historical AU with magic and a great murder mystery--it basically pushes, like, all of my buttons. And it’s /genuinely/ spooky, I had to start keeping a light on while I read it. Oh, and it features definitely my favorite Millicent ever. If you’ve got the time for something long, go for this one.

Reach Out in the Darkness | unicornsandbutane

- E - 2/2 chapters, 9 321 words - Having spent a decent amount of time researching the history and folklore of Arkanis, Cadet Hux strikes out one chilly evening in search of some legendary creature that's supposed to be extremely powerful. If the myths aren't true, all he's wasted is time. But, if they are based in some actual fact, then what a boon such an entity would be to his cause. He doesn't know what he will find, but he is prepared for any (absolutely ANY) eventuality. -

Tentacle monster Kylo. I am unapologetic. It’s really good.

Witchfeather | Whatever21ism

- E - 14/? chapters, 16 015 words - Armitage Hux is a new witch trying to establish himself in a new town. One day he goes out seeking a familiar, particularly a cat, somehow instead he ends up with a raven who is much more than they appear to be. -

A favorite of mine! Apothecary witch Hux & his crow familiar Kylo. There’s some really nice worldbuilding and crow Kylo is super cute. Possibly abandoned, but defs worth checking out what’s there & showing the author some love.

First Order Investigations | @mistresseast

- Unrated - series, 3 works, 58 094 words, incomplete - Hux and Phasma have been running First Order Investigations since high school, and Dr. Snoke's metaphysical research graduate program seemed like the perfect opportunity to pursue their interests under the protective umbrella of academia. Unfortunately, that meant allowing Snoke's personal project, a taciturn medium named Kylo Ren, to join their team. Hux and Kylo mix like oil and water, or, more accurately, like fire and gasoline, and Hux is convinced that working effectively with Kylo is absolutely impossible. They hate each other, and Hux is content to leave it that way.

But then, a case in the sweltering heat of South Carolina begins to change things between them, and Hux finds himself questioning not only Kylo's feelings, but his own as well. -

Paranormal Investigator AU of the highest quality. The detail and thought put into each investigation site is incredible. I love this fic to pieces, and if you like ghost stories, you will too.

Undead | @heyktula, @splinteredscript

- E - series, 2 works, 6 855 words, incomplete - They’ve been circling around each other for years. Kylo Ren, the most powerful vampire in Supreme Leader Snoke’s house, and Armitage Hux, the human liaison between the world of mortals and that of eternal darkness. Baiting, taunting, the cord between them growing ever tighter.Sooner or later, one of them is going to snap. -

A lovely and dark vampire AU~~ Gives off some real classic Kylux vibes, and is an absolute pleasure to read :D

Fixer Upper | @irisparry

- T - 5/7 chapters, 10 034 words - When Armitage Hux starts with First Order estate agents, he thinks the house on Alderaan Drive is an insult, a patronising set of training wheels for the new boy. He is ... not correct. -

Adorable haunted house AU! I love both of their characterizations in this one, especially shy, grumpy ghost Kylo~

Hair of the Dog That Bit You | @theweddingofthefoxes

- M - 9/9 chapters, 21 597 words - Ren owns a popular tavern, and Armitage is a respected physician in town and the surrounding villages. Their years-long friendship will survive anything -- even the bite of a werewolf. Won't it? -

Full disclosure, I haven’t actually finished this one-- I have a tendency to get distracted unless I finish something in one sitting, rip. But I remember being SUPER stoked about starting it, and anything by weddingofthefoxes is guaranteed to be a treat, so I’m putting it on here anyway :D tbh now that I’m thinking about it again I’ll probably finish it tonight.

The Eldritch Effect | @generallyhuxurious

- E - 17/17 chapters, 67 899 words - For the last three years Major Donal A. Hux, formerly of the British Army's Parachute Regiment, and Kylo Ren, estranged son of US Defence Secretary Leia Organa, have been tooling around North America investigating "weirdness"- and they're plenty weird themselves. Their latest tip off is leading them towards a haunting in rural Alabama. But first they need to make a stop in Trinity, South Carolina... -

A real goofy Paranormal Investigators AU that I super love (but I also need to catch up on rip). It’s an American Gothic AU, but you don’t need to have any knowledge of the show to follow along (I don’t). It also comes with a series of oneshots set in the universe but outside the main plotline, so when you finish the fic and inevitably want more, you’re covered ;)

blackbird, fly | @acroamatica

- M - 19 265 words - One sunny afternoon in the mountains of Washington state, Ben Organa-Solo walked out into the woods.

He never came home.

Six years later, a journalist specialising in missing-persons cold cases decides to follow his footsteps and see where they might lead. -

This is a sad beautiful horror AU that is very close to my heart. The writing is just gorgeous and the suspense is beautifully done. Also, it about doubled the amount of emotions already attached to the song Blackbird for me (I still get a little heart-squeeze every time I hear it)

what’s real or isn’t | @brawlite

- E - 12/12 chapters, 57 398 words - Hux's new house is not haunted. It isn't. -

Super surreal haunted house AU. There’s also monster sex. This is definitely a staple of spooky Kylux fics :D

How to Kill a Living Thing | hedgerowhag

- E - 10/10 chapters, 25 394 words - It starts like any other horror movie: a young man moves into a strange old house full of relics of the past and becomes haunted by some strange entity. However, Ren doesn't find the monster that he expects. -

This one has got some of the most stunning, spooky visuals I’ve ever read. I could picture every scene and character so clearly. Plus, I love Hux’s characterization--he’s kind of a shit, and it’s beautiful.

Twenty-Six Weeks | @vmprsm

- E (eventually) - series, 4 works, 28 539 words, probably complete - Two mature adults need to do two things: live an a house with a stranger for six months, and keep their secrets to themselves. How hard could that be?

Apparently very. -

The author made a point of trying not to give too much away in the summary/tags, so I won’t either :D I’ll just say it’s one of my favorites, and definitely worth a read if you haven’t already~~

The Brief Wondrous Return of Vampire Boy | @hollyhark

- T - 21 190 words - Two days before Halloween, Hux hears a rumor that Ben Solo is back in town. While Hux does not believe the sensational version-- that his estranged childhood friend/enemy escaped from an asylum and is out for revenge --he is left on edge as to how to proceed. -

One of my favorite Halloween fics; it really encompasses the feel of fall/Halloween but also, like, good ol’ ~teenage bullshit~. There’s a lot of creepy Snoke stuff, some dealing with the fallout, and a nice hopeful ending :))

Ghost Encounters of the Hux Kind | carefulren

- T - 9/9 chapters, 25 610 words - Kylo purchases an old, abandoned house in order to get away from his family. He just wants the chance to be alone for a while, and he considers this house as the start of his new, isolated freedom.

Everything is going as smoothly as possible, until it's not.

Perhaps, Kylo isn't living alone after all.-

A sweet and soft ghost story AU. I adore the ending <3 <3

Spookylux Huxloween 2018 | @nofootprintsinsalt

- T - series, 31 works, 36 896 words, complete - Huxloween 2018 - 31 benarmie fics in 31 days -

A series of benarmie fluff/horror for the Huxloween prompts this year! These were so so fun to read throughout the month and I adore the little universe that develops as they go on :))

Of Our Time | @ezlebe

- E - 15 297 words - “Do you know how many people would think it’s weird you walk around in the day?”

Hux grits his teeth in vain against an uncanny sensation, his own words digging and clawing up his throat to leave behind the taste of blood and bitterness thick on his tongue. “I could care less. I was made this way before there were movies – before fucking Stroker. Call me a demon if it makes you feel better.” -

I only read this really recently, and I was BLOWN AWAY. Seriously, this packs so much into 15k--it’s got feels, it’s got lore, it’s got steamy smut. What more could one ask for?

Shiver The Whole Night Through | @theweddingofthefoxes

- T- 5/5 chapters, 7 977 words - Ren's always loved hunting, so when he's told his paid time off won't roll over into the next year, he decides to take a week, get his gun and rent a cabin in the woods. But it takes no time at all for the hunter to become the hunted. -

This one’s very accurately tagged “Mind Games,” which really made it stand out to me--I do love a good spooky woods story~~

The Ghost Under My Bed | @longstoryshortikilledhim

- E - 19 525 words - Amateur witch, aspiring actor and full-time family fuckup Ben Solo discovers that his house is being haunted. Best part? His very own poltergeist, Armitage Hux, is kinda cute. Worst part? Well. He's dead. -

THIS IS THE SWEETEST GHOST STORY. I love it so so much. The sweetness of their relationship set against the sad backdrop of both of their histories gives this one a really unique feel. And the ending is guaranteed to give you the warm fuzzies <3

aaaand that’s all, folks! Lord, this post turned into a behemoth lmao. I just. really love supernatural stuff. (on that note, if anyone has read/written anything even tangentially spooky/supernatural, feel free to send it my way. I will happily give it a read ;)))

Happy reading! ^_^

#kylux #fic rec #halloween #huxloween #spookylux

119 notes · View notes

thequlturecritic · 5 years

Text

QULTURE’S TOP 20 SERIES OF 2018

20. BUSY TONIGHT

You guys! Good energy is, like, totally in right now. And it’s never going away. You may know her from Freaks and Geeks, but I know her from Cougar Town as CC’s fun-loving, super-supportive sidekick. When you watch Busy Phillips on her cheeky, positive-vibes only E! talk show, a sense of “we’re all in this together” and “being kind to one another” is definitely a recipe for demolishing disaster. Remember how major Chelsea’s career became because of what so many probably considered a silly little talk show… well. I’m not a fortune teller or anything, but I could totally see Ms. Phillips taking over the universe. I want to be one of her minions. Cheers to another leading lady of late night!

19. THE VOICE

I’ve always been anti-reality competition shows when it comes to singing, only because I’m a total snob when it comes to what I subject my ears to. My musical tastes are versed and varied, but I still am pretty picky about who I let in to my drums, mostly because I need it to stimulate an eargasm and coincide with my life’s soundtrack. When American Idol launched, I definitely was enamored with Kelly Clarkson’s powerful vocals, but I still kept the close mind that an artist is discovered naturally, not “created” by producers with the backdrop and illusion that AMERICA gets to vote and pick the winner. Ah, who knows, maybe they do… I would just never take the time out to vote. HOWEVER. When I found out Kelly was going to be a judge on The Voice, which is a whole separate animal than Idol, I was shitting my pants with glee, because she really is such a goddamn force of fucking nature. Her spirit is overwhelmingly angelic and I simply love everything about watching her. Last season’s competition was magical, at least for me, perhaps because it was the first time I really got to experience the message and place the show has in the universe. It really is inspiring and lovely to see how much these artists themselves care for the teams they build and the individuals they want to see grow – regardless of whether or not it leads to fame. Alicia Keys and Kelly Clarkson’s dynamic was really something special that inspired me in so many ways.

18. COMEDIANS IN CARS GETTING COFFEE

I love nothing more than a loose format, sans makeup, realistic conversation between famous people. Talk shows rock and all, but there’s something to be said for two people we all know and (often) admire, getting together and doing something that, ya know, regular people do! Like… go out to breakfast. I was never a fan of the Seinfeld sitcom, mostly because when it was popular it was kinda over my head and nothing that interested me. I’d probably be more inclined to watch and enjoy it now because of how much Veep has made me adore Julia-Louis Dreyfus and now much Jerry Seinfeld’s Netflix series about him… getting coffee… with comedians… has made me adore his admiration for vintage cars, honesty in humanity and one of the most important things we all seem to forget sometimes – which is to LAUGH! We live in such politically charged times, and while I get how important it is to talk about the very things we were always brainwashed to believe were impolite to talk about, we also need to be able to make jokes and not be so sensitive about everything. Ya heard?

17. AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL

Oh how I love me some Tyra, but it seems the future is all about Ashley Graham. Yet again – another fucking beautiful superhuman. I am really starting to hate that people even think of someone as “plus size”, but hey, it’s the world we live in. All I see when I look at her is someone with a whole lot of personality, gorgeous features and a personality that you’d be crazy to not gravitate toward. She is living proof that good vibes, energy and kindness (in the fashion industry?! How dare you!) go a long way. Tyra and Co. are doing such a bang-up job sending young women empowering messages about feeling safe in their own skin by infusing all shapes, sizes, colors and archetypes. This cycle was full of hilarious moments and was totally unpredictable. Despite her Trump-loving, Republican ways and complaining about being transformed into a “fire-crotch”, I was rooting for Liberty, Rio and Jeana to compete in the Top 3. That certainly evolved as the season went on, mainly because Jeana’s insecurities were getting the best of her (she had alopecia and they convinced her to be the alien-like, bald beauty – which she looked 10X better as vs. wearing wigs) and Rio had the most off-putting temper tantrum that had me and my bestie Carlee yelling at the the TV, “Who da fuck you think you talkin’ to?!” as if we were speaking for Tyra. Be humble, girls! Beauty ain’t just skin deep. At the end of the day, I loved seeing Kyla take the crown, because her activism, big heart and growth really was something special at the end of the day. Keep up the good work! I want 1000 more cycles.

16. SWEETBITTER

Starz’s adaptation of the best-selling novel by Stephanie Danler is short, but bittersweet. Ella Purnell is a breakout star, headlining the cast of unknowns who are all as equally as fantastic. I think that’s one of my favorite things about it (Caitlin Fitzgerald, in particular, who definitely has that thing) – how naturally gifted the entire cast is. Purnell stars as Tess, an All-American girl from bumfuck who makes her way to New York City to chase the dream, even if she has no idea what it is yet. Any of you who have worked in the service industry as a waiter or waitress will appreciate the authenticity of how intimidating, grueling and chaotic the industry can be… but how much fun it can be once your shift is over.

15. MANIAC

What is Netflix’s limited, vivid, disturbing, funny, emotional rollercoaster about? My brain is exploding from trying to analyze. Typically, in each episode, I get so lost in the perfection that is Emma Stone, I’m completely enthralled by how inspiring it is to watch one of our most exceptional young talents only seem to get better and better. It’s also always a pleasant surprise to see someone like Jonah Hill continue to prove himself as truly versatile. Remember when these two were just getting into stoner cinema and taking over the shelves at Blockbuster, during their Superbad days? Justin Theroux, plus. Sally Field, super-plus. Julia Garner (also of Ozark), a star on the rise! It might make you feel a little crazy while watching, but hey, we all go a little mad sometimes.

14. SHARP OBJECTS

Gillian Flynn’s book to big screen success with Gone Girl made a lot of us anxious to see what would be translated next. Following the trend of mini-series, binge-worthy greatness and big stars coming to the “small” screen, HBO announced Amy Adams would star in Sharp Objects, a dark, sultry murder mystery set in the swampy south that co-stars the amazing Patricia Clarkson – one of my absolute favorite actors. I’ll never forget when I “discovered” her, in Lisa Cholodenko’s High Art, one of my all-time faves. There’s a similar hypnotism with the limited series which also features a deliciously naked Chris Messina, and, of course, the direction of the man I’d say is pretty much cinematic perfection these days – Jean Marc Valee. If you have not yet seen Dallas Buyers Club, and another all-time favorite of mine, Wild, you are missing out. I’m assuming you have watched all of Big Little Lies once or twice, and can’t wait for season two next year. Neither can I. These are the people doing AWESOME awesome things in Hollywood.

13. AMERICAN HORROR STORY: APOCALYPSE

So, I’m always back and forth with AHS. I always love how visually stunning it is, but some seasons either lack substance or are literally just too fucking freaky for me to engage. I can not even set my eyes on Freak Show, thought Cults was too gory and scattered (although fresh off of the Trump presidency was a possible prediction of the future if we don’t all get our shit together) and definitely didn’t even give that Roanoke one a chance. The first two seasons rocked, and Gaga slayed in Hotel, but being that I love witches (Hocus Pocus, Witches of Eastwick) I have to say Coven is my favorite season. I love every Farmiga in life, Precious’ Gaborey Sidibe always makes me laugh and Emma Roberts is a rock star. How gorgeous?! She’s also such a little asshole in the best way. She’s someone I can picture punching me in the face, and I’d invite her to. Apocalypse is the best infusion of boy/girl magic and the ultimate comradery casting wise – as what could make for a perfect finale for the series ties all of Ryan Murphy’s brilliance together. That’s just my opinion – because I think a great series needs to know when to wrap it up, but these days everything is all about milking everything to the last drop, so… idk.

12. THE CONNERS

Roseanne returning was definitely the best of the best in reboot land, until her big mouth got her fired from ABC and launched The Conners, which features the entire cast minus a dead mother. I still respect her as an artist and will always love when TV wasn’t so linked to the Twitterverse, but these days I guess everyone really does have to be super careful about the shit they say – especially when we should know better that racism isn’t cool. It’s such an odd thing, because Roseanne was always so controversial, brave with their material, and was one of the first shows to have an out lesbian comedian/actress and character (the great Sandra Bernhard)… so… idk. That Sarah Gilbert though… she’s somethin’ special.

11. THE GOOD PLACE

Kristen Bell!!!!!!! That’s all. Ok, well, that’s not all… because Ted Danson is equally as amazing. Who wouldn’t love someone married to a dame like Mary Steenburgen?! I’ve been a fan of his since Three Men (and a Little Lady!). The diversity, quick wit, modern spin on the classic sitcom and concept behind this hit NBC series reminds us of why the network is always killing it when it comes to delivering quality, quantity and maintaining its colorful edge. I’m surprised I didn’t get into this show when it premiered, as season 4 approaches and the Globes, and surely the Emmy’s now are getting into recognizing genius when they see it. This show is filled with all the good feels! Maybe Heaven really is a place on Earth.

10. WILL & GRACE

When the reboot of W&G first returned to NBC, I was a bit underwhelmed by some of the writing. It seemed forced and a bit insecure – but it just took a few episodes for them to really get back in the swing of things and season 2 of the return is really on point. Debra Messing is better than ever (congrats on a Globe nomination!), as are Eric, Megan and Sean Hayes – who I’ve always greatly admired because of, what I like to consider his “big break” – the film, Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss. Growing up gay, Will and Grace was a trailblazing, extremely important and relevant show to so many of us because there wasn’t much of that on TV. But I’ll always remember that adorable indie of Sean’s. He should make more movies! I love him in Pieces of April too!

9. I LOVE YOU AMERICA: with SARAH SILVERMAN

Sarah has always been my absolute favorite comedian. Jesus is Magic is probably one of the most brilliant stand-up comedy feature films I’ve ever seen (are there many of those) combining music, comedy, political satire, sexually inappropriate and explicit linguistics… nothing is off limits. From jokes about AIDS, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Holocaust, to her dead grandmother’s rape to pussy jokes about child lesbians she’s related to. On her new Hulu series, Silverman takes a tour of the great country we live in, United States of A, talking to Trump supporters, men and women of all colors, shapes and sizes and makes an honest, unbiased, non-judgmental effort to deliver an intellectual perspective on all things current and heated in the minds of many. I love her condescending approach, ability to keep her cool, remain true to herself and do something important with her career. It’s a humbled and divine dose of reality that I think we all need, as at the end of the day she’s basically trying to unite us and get people to understand that despite our differences, respect and kindness can truly inspire change.

8. POSE

First of all – watch Paris is Burning, if you’ve never seen it.

I remember when I worked for the super cool East-coast indie video chain, TLA Video, it was one of the most popular rentals in our Gay and Lesbian section, as it should be. It’s a classic documentary that captures the heart, sole and strut of African American LGBTQ culture during the AIDS epidemic, when being a queen and going to the balls would begin to define what FIERCE meant for a generation. (Play: Azealia Banks, Fierce). It’s one of RuPaul’s favorite movies and certainly inspiration for Ryan Murphy’s vivid and heartfelt FX series starring Evan Peters, James Van Der Beek, Kate Mara and a wonderful assortment of newcomers including the fetch, fierce, versatile and gorgeous MJ Rodriguez, Dominique Jackson and (MY FAVE) Indya Moore.

7. CAMPING

Ever since 13 Going on 30, I’ve known Jennifer Garner was a unicorn. She has that innate ability to charm, impress and entertain us with charisma and natural comedic talent. When it comes to the American adaptation of the Brit series Camping, developed for HBO (in part with Girls’ master Lena Dunham), the team surely arranged the most perfect blend of talent for both behind and in front of the camera. Garner brings the most complicated and hilarious nuances to her character and proves she is more than capable of leading a most diverse and perfectly perfect blend of talent.

6. OZARK

Janet McTeer!! OMG! This woman is amazing and really the force that makes the sophomore season of the hit Netflix drug smuggling/money laundering/gangsta livin’ series all the more bombastic. Sure, Jason Bateman continues to be awesome in every way, but the women on the latest season (even the creepy old meth lady who wants a baby at 99) really slay and own the show, keeping us on the edges of our seats and beyond impressed with how hard anyone with a vagina is proving that they are taking over the world these days. As if we needed more reasons to be obsessed with Laura Linney – she takes her character to new heights, getting more screen time and really being thrust into a more evolved dynamic – sort of how Robin Wright does on House of Cards. As though the audience was more drawn to the female than the male lead the series was built around. But Janet McTeer?! Holy fuck, Janet McTeer. She’ll make your skin crawl and keep you up at night… binge-watching.

5. THE AFFAIR

Showtime’s scandalous, suspenseful and intricate portrait of love, marriage and infidelity has been one of my must-see series since its debut. The entire cast is pure magic, especially the four leads – Dominic West, Ruth Wilson, Maura Tierney and Joshua Jackson. I’m constantly lobbying for Tierney, who continues to blow my mind with everything from those perfect, pouty lips to the way she can make my heart melt with a single tear. Last season, the twists and turns were so unexpected – something so refreshing these days when it comes to storytelling – that none of us could’ve ever seen coming what we now have to go into season five knowing (and grieving with, in my case). This is one of of those shows that stands tall from start to finish, and continues to inspire the way character and perspective is conveyed, as well as how we process it ourselves as an audience. I’ve always been fascinated by the same story being told through different goggles – kind of like in The Rules of Attraction, or Go. I can’t wait to see how this show wraps up, as I am pretty certain we move into the final act, which in itself is always a great quality for a series to know when to wrap it up.

4. HERE & NOW

Alan Ball, oh how I love thee. In the evidence of his brilliance, my affection toward Ball’s beautiful writing and ability to conduct such a beautiful cinematic symphony began with Six Feet Under, as it did most. If ever there were a perfect start to finish series… Rare is the artistic bird who can take such a celebrated drama and weave the social and political issues into a horror series – which is what he did with the addictive True Blood, a show that I would find myself equally hypnotized and aroused by. Ball’s latest gem is yet again a celebration of why we love HBO, his observant mind and heart, and ability to recognize genius when he sees it, in regard to casting. The always wonderful Holly Hunter and Tim Robbins headline a cast of brave, beautiful talents – including the tiny miracle that is the birth-child of Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon, Sosie, who is one of my favorite actors/characters in this captivating new drama that celebrates all the feels of our current reality. It’s a mixed blend of understanding the human condition and how people of all walks relate to one another while truggling with matters of the heart and psychological warfare.

3. RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE

For ten seasons now, Queen of Drag, RuPaul Charles has been taking her dynasty and giving it a royal upgrade every season with eye-popping elements that consistently allow this groundbreaking competition series to be one of queer and pop culture’s most celebrated. From the guest judges (Season X premiered with a Farrah Moan-esque Christina Aguilera dolled up for all the queens to gag over, which they did – myself included) to Michelle Visage’s dazzling eyewear collection to the costumes to the casting and the challenges – which get more and more innovative – Rupaul’s Drag Race has become a small empire that has the promise to spinning into so many different types of series and assure celebrity drag careers are a thing of the future, now more than ever. I loved the queens this season, especially my future husband Kameron Michaels (beautiful inside and out, boy or girl) and the well-deserved winner Aquaria. This was the second season in a row for me (I haven’t seen a lot of the previous seasons) where Ru got it absolutely perfect. I’m also a huge fan of Vice’s The Trixie and Katya Show which you should get into as well!

2. THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL

All of the hype surrounding the Golden Globe & Emmy winning Amazon Prime series starring the incomparable Rachel Brosnahan as Mrs. Maisel, is the type of perfection that isn’t all-talk. Everything you’ve heard about this hilarious gem of a binge-worthy comedy is true: the costumes, the production design, the brilliant performances, directing and top-notch writing is on trend with celebrating everything we love about women in the world right now, and the time capsule reminds us of how far everyone has come marching to the beat of optimism and fighting for equality. I’m so happy the great Alex Borstein has been honored and been receiving praise for her work, and rightfully so, as she steals scenes from the great Maisel herself in the latest season. It’s truly one of the best watches out there, so get into it!

1. SCHITT’S CREEK

What started out as a little Canadian sitcom from a then unknown Pop TV, has since become a pop culture phenomenon and one of the small screen’s most celebrated, quoted and adored comedies out there. In Season four, we continue to follow the Rose’s on their journey of personal growth, going from riches to rags in a small bumfuck town where they clearly stick out like a redneck tooth fairy for plenty of good reasons. We already knew Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy were totes brilliant, but every season I grow more and more enamored with how crazy talented Dan Levy & Annie Murphy are. Their nuances, the way the arcs of their characters have evolved… it’s like their learning from two comic legends and its working for them every step of the way. This is truly already an iconic, feel good show that is spreading such messages of love and beauty throughout society. Loves it!

18 notes · View notes

metalandmagi · 6 years

Text

August Media Madness

Well, August may have sucked for me personally, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t keep track of all the media I consumed this month! And spoiler alert, I watched a lot of movies involving adorable talking bears. Although, I have a feeling that as soon as the fall television premieres start, I’ll be watching a lot less movies.

July’s media

Movies!

Dear Evan Hansen

Thank you bootlegs. This isn’t a movie, but I didn’t want to make a separate category for plays when I’ve only seen one this month. Anyway, if you haven’t heard of it, Dear Evan Hansen involves an incredibly anxious teenage boy who is tasked by his therapist to write motivational letters to himself. Unfortunately, Connor Murphy, an angsty boy who goes to Evan’s school sees one of the letters, takes it, and promptly decides to kill himself, with the letter still on his person. Everyone ends up thinking he and Evan were friends and that this letter was a suicide note that Connor wrote to Evan...and a beautiful fake gay relationship friendship was born. Call me basic as hell, but I’ve watched this show twice now, and listened to the soundtrack more times than I can count, and it’s turning into my favorite musical. There are so many important messages in it, and it takes you on a roller coaster of emotions. Every character does good and bad things, and no one is blameless or innocent...except maybe Zoe Murphy. If anything just listen to the soundtrack. 10/10

Night on the Galactic Railroad

Cats...on a mystical train...This seems like the kind of movie they would show you in film school. Very dull plot and characters with the themes being the main takeaway. What even is the plot of this movie? Darker, grittier, furry version of the Polar Express? Incredibly boring slightly more religious version of Over the Garden Wall? I just kept watching it because the main character looks like a cat version of Kagayama Tobio in middle school...cat-gayama. 4/10

Paddington

An adorable bear from South America travels to London and gets into all sorts of trouble with an English family. It’s very charming and sweet, and the aesthetic in this movie is on point, like Wes Anderson directed a children’s movie. This is one of those movies you hear about where everyone loves it, and you think it can’t possibly be that good, but then you watch it and you were wrong! So wrong! 10/10

Paddington 2

Naturally. This time an adorable South American bear goes to prison, and his family tries to clear his name. Again, A+ aesthetic and imagery, but I think I preferred the plot of the first movie a little more because everyone was all together. 9/10

Christopher Robin

Do you like Winnie the Pooh? Do you like jaded adults finding happiness in their lives again? Do you think the movie Hook had a good premise but was extremely long and kinda boring and could have been a better movie with a little tweaking? Well this is the movie for you! Christopher Robin has grown into an overworked adult, and his old friend Winnie the Pooh inadvertently helps him reconnect with his wife and daughter (and also his inner child) just by being the sweet, clumsy, dry humored bear we all know and love. I was so skeptical of this movie at first, and I was absolutely blown away by how funny and meaningful it was. 100/10

The Road to El Dorado

Two lovable Spanish con men named Miguel and Tulio are accidentally swept away on a journey to the fabled city of El Dorado, where everything is made of gold. Once they reach the city, the locals believe they’re gods due to an (un)fortunate series of coincidences, and the con men try to keep up the charade with the help of the best character in the movie, Chel (who I’m pretty sure caused an entire generation of lesbians’ sexual awakening). This is one of my favorite animated movies of all time and one of the reasons I wish Dreamworks would go back to their 2D animation days, where the visuals and music were just as stunning as 3D movies are now. This movie is a classic, and I desperately want a sequel! 10/10

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before

When Lara Jean thinks it’s a good idea to write 5 secret love letters to 5 boys that she’s had crushes on over the years, everything is fine until her little sister mails the letters to all the boys (because even a 6th grader knows Lara Jean is lonely and emotionally stunted as fuck). This is a Netflix original movie that was adapted from the book by Jenny Han...which I haven’t read, but now I really want to. Overall, this was super cute, but I wasn’t really crazy about the boys. They weren’t horrible people or anything, and they never pressured Lara Jean or made fun of her for being “innocent”, but they were just kind of bland. I’m much more interested in the other boys we didn’t see in the movie! But the family relationships were so heartfelt, Lara Jean’s fashion sense is AMAZING, and the acting/casting was awesome. 8/10

Summer Wars

I...don’t even know how to describe the plot of this one. A teenage boy named Kenji goes on a country holiday and pretends to date an acquaintance of his in order to impress her enormous family...but it’s really about an AI that becomes sentient and wants to mess up the world through this universal internet program called OZ that’s kind of like a mashup of Facebook and Second Life...but actually no it’s about family sticking together and using a Japanese card game to save the world…but apparently it’s got the same plot as the Digimon movie because they’re both directed by Mamoru Hosoda. Yeah...

Guys, I have a confession to make...this has always been my favorite Mamoru Hosoda movie. Everyone falls all over themselves saying Wolf Children is the best Mamoru Hosoda movie, and that’s great for them but it doesn’t even come in second for me. Summer Wars means a lot more to me personally because I come from a big extended family, and when I first saw this movie, I was blown away by how accurate the family dynamic was. There are so many characters, but everyone has their own personality. Not to mention the music makes the summer atmosphere so on point. And I’m not going to lie...I bawled like a fucking baby the first time I saw this movie. So anyway, I like Summer Wars more than Wolf Children, thanks for coming to my TED talk. 10/10

Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Unappreciated researcher Milo Thatch goes on an expedition to find the lost city of Atlantis.

Okay, there are two kinds of Disney fans in this world: Treasure Planet fans, and Atlantis fans. And I will support Treasure Planet as the best underrated vaguely steampunk inspired Disney movie until you can pry my 15 year old dvd copy away from my cold dead hands. But Atlantis is pretty good too. I could write essays comparing the two and why both of them should be successful but weren’t. My main problem with it is that the characters are great, but I feel like we don’t see enough of them, and as a kid a lot of the humor went by so fast that I completely missed it. Also the glowing eyes and spirits taking over the Atlantian princess’s body freaked me the fuck out as a child. NEVERTHELESS! This really is a great movie, with extremely well developed lore and well designed characters that chills me to this day. 8/10

Deadpool 2

The merc with a mouth is back, and man there’s so much going on in this movie I won’t even try to explain the plot. I literally had to go back and add this in because I was so into this movie when I was watching it that I forgot to write it down! Even though I really liked this sequel, I think I liked the first one better, just based on how much I laughed. There was so much going on plot wise, but it really seemed to work for this movie. There were also a lot of great new characters (Domino is my favorite character of the franchise now), but since there was so much stuff going on, a lot of jokes and plot lines were sort of hit and miss. Anyway, I’m sure everyone’s seen this one by now but just in case, I highly recommend it. 9/10

Books!

The Adventure Zone Graphic Novel: Here There be Gerblins by Clint McElroy (technically all the McElboys) and Carey Pietsch

Yeah yeah, for anyone who doesn’t know I’m Adventure Zone trash okay. TAZ is a DnD podcast where 3 brothers and their father create one of the most famous campaigns in history involving three idiot adventurers going on a quest to find a missing person and getting sucked into a much larger grand plan to protect the world. This graphic novel is a visualization of the first arc. I don’t even really like Here There be Gerblins all that much, and yet here I am. Oh well, the art was amazing, and of course I already knew the story. But it was kind of hilarious to see the name changes they had to make to some of the characters and places. I was a little disappointed that the ending was so rushed, and we don’t really spend time around the moon base before The Director is in our face changing the Lunar Interlude parts but whatever. 10 dead gerblins/10

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

When a disease that only affects children kills off nearly all the kids on the planet, the survivors are left with supernatural powers and are taken away to concentration camps in order to “protect” the public. I’ve been wanting to read this for a long time, and since the movie just came out I thought it was the perfect time. This is one of those books that some people adore and some people hate. I thought it was just okay. For everything that I didn’t like, there was something to make up for it. Personally, I felt that Bracken focused on the wrong part of the story. Everything takes place years after this disease has come, and I think it would have been more interesting to see everything from the children’s points of view when this disease was first starting. I would focus on each different character as a child and how they wound up in their respective camps. Oh well, there’s way too many pros and cons that I could delve into, but you like the YA dystopian genre then I say go for it. I didn’t like it enough to read the other two books (not yet anyway). 7/10

TV Shows!

Camp Camp

You know how there are summer camps that specialize in science, or acting, or space, or whatever? Yeah Camp Camp is about a summer camp that throws literally everything you can think of into one summer camp. If you don’t believe me, just listen to the theme song. Seriously though this is one of the best shows I’ve watched all year, but boy howdy this is not one for young children. It’s like Gravity Falls and Rick and Morty had a baby! Anyway, the characters are both surprising and hilarious. David the camp counselor (voiced by Miles Luna) is genuinely likable when you think he’d be the most annoying person on the planet, and the kids are so accurate it’s scary. Also Yuri Lowenthal is in it. And Griffin McElroy has a recurring role where he plays A GHOST! I’ve never been into Rooster Teeth stuff, but they have a winner with this one. 10/10

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

After her husband leaves her, Midge Maisel gets super drunk, goes on stage, and gives a hilarious rant about her relationship at a small comedy/talent club and somehow gets sucked into becoming a rising comedian as a woman in the 1950s. It’s good. Great acting pretty funny, but Midge and her agent/manager Susie are the only likable characters. Everyone else just kind of...sucks 8/10

Voltron Season 7 (spoilers)

Okay, I know everyone had mixed feelings about this season, but I did come out liking a lot of it. It had a lot of flaws (I really thought it would be Shiro’s season, and man was I wrong), but this is the sort of thing we can’t really judge until the last episode of the series is finished. I like to think of the positives: the action was amazing as usual, HUNK IS GETTING MORE AND MORE DEVELOPMENT EVERY SEASON, I refuse to believe the team introduced Adam just to have him killed off immediately so he’s still alive in my mind, we get to see everyone’s reunions with their families, the lost in space episode was cool, and say what you want about the game show episode, but I loved it! There were a lot of good things so it was easier for me to look past the...not so great aspects of the season. 7/10

Galavant

A musical comedy mini series involving a renowned medieval hero named Galavant on a quest to rescue his ex girlfriend from her “evil” husband King Richard. But maybe she doesn’t want to be rescued. Well, that’s just the first season. It’s best to go in knowing as little as possible. I remember liking it when it first came out, and it’s still pretty cute...but sometimes I feel like it’s trying too hard. A lot of the music isn’t really...memorable, but the characters are likable so it’s still worth the watch. 8/10

Disenchantment

Speaking of medieval comedies...Princess Bean doesn’t want to get married, mystical elf Elfo doesn’t want to live in an enchanted forest where everyone is happy all the time, and Bean’s personal demon Luci just wants to watch people suffer. Honestly, I wasn’t very into this show at first, but something compelled me to just keep watching, and by the end I was totally into it! This is one of those shows where you think there isn’t going to be a plot, but then the last few episodes come up and smack you in the face! 7.5/10

Round Planet

A documentary parody...mockumentary...satire...That’s really not a great way to describe it. It’s a nature documentary with funny commentary. I like nature shots and animals so I liked it, but there’s a lot of tangents and running jokes and British references that sometimes don’t land. Oh well, if you like unconventional documentaries, just watch it. 8/10

Honorable Mentions

DnDnD: I don’t think I’ve ever talked about this podcast before, but there’s a DnD podcast made by Practical Folks (aka the Drunk Disney youtube channel). It’s pretty good! I want an Adventure Zone crossover now!

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: Every time I think I’m out, it pulls me back in. I finally got the DLC and spent most of this month playing this freaking game AGAIN!

The Heathers soundtrack: I finally listened to the Heathers musical soundtrack...and I didn’t love it. There are some good songs in it, but overall I’m unimpressed. And I never could really get into the plot, I’ve always thought it was really weird and over dramatic.

Legendary by Stephanie Garber: I’m about halfway through this book, which is the second in the Caraval series. And it’s pretty good! More on that next month.

35 notes · View notes

aceofthorns · 7 years

Text

Why "THOR: RAGNAROK" Disappointed Me

***WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD***

***Go ahead and scroll right to the end for the TL;DR version, but I would appreciate it if you read the whole piece, and gave your response in the comments. I will do my best to respond.***

First, a disclosure: Yes, I am currently experiencing a difficult time with a sick relative, which has been extremely stressful at times, but presently, things are "back to (something approaching) normal". I would like to make it clear that I am in no way lashing out at this movie as a result. Looking forward to this movie has certainly helped recently.

Second: this is not a trolling exercise. I am not a DC fan looking to prick holes in the ultra-successful Marvel Cinematic Universe. I'm a fan of both (cue gasps of amazement), and I want BOTH to succeed - I fully intend to be there on Opening Day for JUSTICE LEAGUE, and I already really like what I've seen (and the same was definitely true for THOR: RAGNAROK).

Third: I am the most forgiving soul in the audience. There are many movies that others have been very scathing about, yet I am always there to give a production the benefit of the doubt. I really enjoyed AVATAR, but I can see why people have drawn parallels with DANCES WITH WOLVES - even so, I love a movie/book/whatever that creates a vibrant world, and lets you immerse yourself in it. That's partly why I prefer THE DARK CRYSTAL to LABYRINTH (painting another target on my back in the process)...

I have never - NEVER - walked out on a movie.

That said, there are two movies that really bugged me in recent years: STAR TREK - THE FINAL FRONTIER, and ALIEN 3. I'm sure there are others who will agree with me on those, and some still who will argue otherwise. More on the reasons for the latter choice later...

Okay, on to the "review". But before that, a bit of explanation.

I have been a Marvel fan from my earliest recollections. I remember the original SPIDER-MAN cartoon series, and the weekly British black-and-white reprints of classic Marvel stories (yeah, I'm THAT old). I remember being SO disappointed by THE INCREDIBLE HULK TV series... I remember crying out "YES!" in the cinema when that Phoenix-shape appeared under the waters of Alkali Lake at the end of X-MEN 2... I will never forget that encounter between Tony Stark and Nick Fury at the end of IRON MAN - and I will always cherish the memory of sitting down in my seat in a packed local cinema to watch AVENGERS, a movie I genuinely never, NEVER imagined I would EVER see.

There's one other moment - again from an end-credits scene - that hit me the hardest. Coulson out in the desert, reporting in that he'd "found it", and the camera panning down to the crater, and Mjolnir.

They were making a THOR movie. A THOR MOVIE. That was the bravest thing I've ever seen anyone try - to start building a down-to-earth superhero universe, and then, so early on, bring in some of the most outlandish elements in the comic-book world. The Thunder God - a favourite character of mine - Asgard, Loki, The Warriors Three...

...and, to my delight, IT WORKED. The THOR movies may not be the most fondly regarded in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but they're still a good deal better than the worst others have tried to make - like, say, X-MEN - LAST STAND, or SPIDER-MAN 3. It fitted together, it felt RIGHT. Yes, Josh Whedon gave Thor some funny lines in AVENGERS, and there was "The Punch", but it was well-executed light relief - not almost wall-to-wall comedy. That, dear reader, was what dragged THOR: RAGNAROK down.

THOR: RAGNAROK is a very entertaining movie. That we can, hopefully, agree on. It's visually very potent, with some eye-popping moments... but no sense, in the end, of any gravity. The events that transpire are quite literally cataclysmic - but they all end in a joke from a character who is, to be honest, wasted. Yes, Korg, I'm looking at you.

The MCU has been regularly criticised for weak villains - sometimes unfairly - but Hela stood a great chance of righting that balance. When she was dark, she was SERIOUSLY dark; when she was menacing, she was SERIOUSLY menacing... SHE DESTROYED MJOLNIR - and then she sat on the throne and started cracking jokes like Joanna Lumley's character in ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS. She animated the dead, woke the Fenris Wolf, had that cool scene where she tore down the gates of the Asgardian sanctuary.... WHY did she NEED those bloody funny bits?

Skurge was wasted, too, and that's an even greater crime when you consider that's Karl Urban in the armour. He's AWESOME as McCoy in the Kelvin Timeline STAR TREK movies, and he absolutely NAILED IT as DREDD, but here, he comes across as a bargain-basement Johnny Depp character. His final change of heart, and ultimate sacrifice, should have been a stunning moment, classic in the comics, but it ended up blunted somewhat.

The deaths... oh, those bloody deaths. That's what pissed me off about ALIEN 3; the wholesale slaughter of characters you'd come to know and care about in ALIENS. Hicks. Newt. Bishop, sort of... but NEWT. Goddammit, THOR: RAGNAROK slaughtered The Warriors Three like they were NOTHING - and maybe, compared to Hela, they were, but THEY DESERVED BETTER. If you wanted to do a comedy Thor movie, well, there's your team... oh, wait, they're all DEAD now. Nice one.

"They're DEAD, okay? Can we go now...?"

Sorry, Newt, not just yet.

There's also the matter of Odin's passing, which also felt very empty - like a lot of deaths in comic books these days, I guess. Never mind, we can just "Force Ghost" him, right?

Right...?

(cue echoes)

The best parts of the movie were the heavy action. The battles in Muspelheim, realm of Surtur - including the brilliant end of the chase sequence; the first encounter between our heroes (!) and Hela; pretty much everything on Sakaar, especially the battle between The Lord of Thunder and The Green Scar (yeah, they kinda hollowed out PLANET HULK for that part of the movie, but at least they tried); and of course, the return to Asgard, and all that entailed. There isn't much time for comedy there, but when it comes, that's when it DOESN'T feel out of place. Paging Dr Banner, paging Dr Banner...

I'm not against there being ANY comedy in these movies. I LOVED GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, and the second one - although I felt the soundtrack wasn't anything like as strong as the first - and I was greatly impressed by ANT-MAN, which managed to be light-hearted AND slot firmly into the MCU ongoing narrative. The previous two Thor movies were played pretty straight-faced, with the comedy coming from other, Earth-born characters, softening the edges just enough. THOR: RAGNAROK came across as a bit TOO much of a departure from what had been set out before, and all in a story which is guaranteed to have repercussions that will rock the rest of the Nine Realms.

Pity it just didn't FEEL that way.

Oh, and this is a Marvel Studios movie that you can walk out on as the credits roll, 'cause you won't miss anything. Any foreshadowing is right there in the middile of the movie: Hela knocks over the Infinity Gauntlet, declaring it "fake", and Loki gives The Tesseract a longing look - hey, we all know where that's going, don't we...?

Three months to BLACK PANTHER, six to AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR. I remain a dedicated MCU fan, and look forward to both these movies - and a return to form. This is a ship I have no intention of abandoning, but I still reserve the right to be disappointed, when it is, I feel, justified.

The TL;DR version: This was the wrong movie to take along the comedy route. It went against the tone of the previous Thor movies, and felt false as a result, with an underwhelming ending.

7/10

#thor ragnarok #marvel #marvel studios #marvel cinematic universe #thor #avengers #avengers infinity war #guardians of the galaxy #ant man #personal review

10 notes · View notes

heyheyhaydn · 6 years

Text

An Adventure at Annecy

Tumblr extended edition

A few years ago, I had discovered the existence of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in 2015 when some of my online friends had attended it. When they shared their experience on Facebook, I knew I had to go some day.

In finishing the second year of my animation course, I felt this would be the best time for me to visit, so I planned my journey, got advice on what to see and how to get around and made my way.

Annecy is a really nice city. The main building that the Festival was hosted at Théâtre Bonlieu is just across the road from the huge open air screening, the lake and a view across to the mountain range. I was stunned by how the mountains loomed in the distance everywhere I went and everyone just went about their business. Since Norwich doesn’t have a mountain range, I was just in awe of them everywhere I went. There are also a lot of colourful buildings with grand architecture, large comfy cinema theatres and startlingly blue water.

Having never been before, and being unaware of Annecy Festival traditions, I was surprised by the amount of paper planes being thrown while the cinemas filled up. It was a completely different experience to going to the cinema any other day, and was a hard time adjusting to when I returned to England and no one was throwing paper planes and the like.

The experience at Annecy was very informative, and helped develop my ideas on my practice, which is extremely useful as I enter into third year.

WHAT I LEARNT

NEW CREATIVE CONTEXTS: A shared talk with Jean-Baptiste Spieser of Teamto and Tom Box of Blue-Zoo about current and upcoming things in the industry. The Teamto talk was about the production pipeline and how it can change radically depending on productions. The Blue Zoo talk was also quite interesting as it explained how they built and overhauled their render farm, as well as how they collaborate creatively within their studio.

The Art of Visual Storytelling with WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS: The two speakers were Nathan Engelhardt, an animation supervisor, and story artist Lissa Treiman (who had, coincidentally, illustrated the first few issues that got me hooked to the comic GIANT DAYS). This was a massively helpful talk, very much worth the wait. The two speakers talked about how to make good shots great, through the positioning of cameras to the two cores of 'greatness' in animation – truth and entertainment.

Triggerfish's MAKING REVOLTING RHYMES: Mike Buckland and Sarah Scrimgeour of Triggerfish discussed the creative process of collaborating on the production of the short film Revolting Rhymes, including compositing and rendering.

The Art and Science of RENDERMAN: Dylan Sisson of Pixar held a talk showing the developments and potential for their Renderman renderer. It opened my eyes to the scope of things that Renderman takes into consideration, such as a recent shot in a Pixar film that had over ten thousand individually rendered lights.

VIRTUAL REALITY is the future: Google Spotlight Stories had a VR station set up with new videos daily. I managed to catch the session on Thursday which presented a preview of SON OF JAGUAR (dir. Jorge Gutierrez) and ARDEN'S WAKE: PROLOGUE (dir. Eugene Chung, Jimmy Maidens). I had never understood the true potential of VR in animation until after watching these, so much so that after I'd watched them I wandered around Annecy in a daze. Arden's Wake was especially mind blowing, as you could actually walk into the setting and see it from all angles. This has made me want to experiment with VR in my own practice.

WHAT I WATCHED

THE PEANUTS MOVIE outdoor screening: Having seen this movie before in English, I was surprised at how easy to understand it was in French. The broad animation style of the movie definitely helped.

A SILENT VOICE: A rather touching story about communication, repentance and forgiveness. Quite interestingly featured sign language in animation, which to me feels like a perfect match of two things, visual language and visual storytelling.

DESPICABLE ME 3: This is the first world premiere I have ever been to, and the atmosphere was wonderful. This was without a doubt one of the most active audiences I have ever been in. Whenever a joke hit, there would be a wave of laughter and applause, when one of the characters did something cute, there was a collective 'awww', even the applause at the end of the film ended up slipping into the same beat as the music of the credits. It was wonderful.

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS: I never read that many Captain Underpants books when I was younger, so I was pleasantly surprised with how funny this was. Much like The Peanuts Movie, it managed to capture the style of its source really well, whilst still giving it their own flair.

ZOMBILLENIUM: An adaptation of a French graphic novel. Before the film began, the crew were on stage and threw production caps into the audience. The film was very stylish, with bold colours and shapes for the characters and making the CG look 2D.

SHORTS: I caught several showings of graduation shorts and shorts in competition. I was amazed by the diversity of shorts on display, showing the talents from animators of all walk-cycles of life. Shorts that stood out to me were the following:

Wednesday with Goddard (dir. Nicolas Menard, Canadian/UK) – a humorous and existential journey as a man tries to find answers to whether or not God exists.

vimeo

When Time Moves Faster (dir. Anna Vasof, Austria) – stop motion using objects like plates and curtains to animate sequences, showing each frame being set up in real time, then speeding up the footage to bring the sequence to life.

Double King (dir. Felix Colgrave, Australia) – there is something in seeing this on a big screen that makes it all that more fun.

youtube

Nachthexen (dir. Julie Herdichek Baltzer, Denmark) – documentary short about the Nachthexen of WW2, animated in the style of Soviet posters

vimeo

The Burden (dir. Niki Lindroth Von Bahr, Sweden) – a musical stop motion based around anthropomorphic animals who are stuck in an anxious and existential space in their lives. Won this year's Cristal for a Short Film award

vimeo

Aenigma (dir. Antonios Doussias and Aris Fatouros, Greek) – a surreal trip through a painter's landscape mind-bendingly presented in 3D

Tuhi rumm (dir. Ulo Pikkov, Estonia) – stop motion of a doll in a doll house-like setting, has a mix of a nostalgic and haunting feeling

Casino (dir. Steven Woloshen, Canada) – a musical, energetic drawn-on-film animation capturing the frenetic energy of a casino

vimeo

After All – Michael Cusack (Australia) – a very poignant stop motion film about a man going through his recently-deceased mother's belongings and reliving memories he had, very heart-rendering but with the occasional splash of humour

TIPS FROM MY EXPERIENCE

Take care of yourself: In the height of summer in the south-east of France, Annecy is hot. But when you are standing, walking, waiting and surrounded by other people who are also hot, the heat becomes unbearable (so much so that my watch had condensation on it at several points). Drink lots of water, try to keep in the shade when waiting outside, remember to eat.

Learn key phrases in France: This is something I'm going to try and pick up should I go again. I used to know quite a bit of French, but having forgot most of it, struggled at points of my visit. A lot of the hosts are bilingual should you have any questions, but knowing the sound of general phrases and what they mean is helpful in a pinch.

Beat the crowd: The Festival's 'first come first seated' events will fill up fast, and the queues for the screening events might result in you not getting in if you don't book a place during ticketing. The 'first come first serve' events that I missed were with popular big names, such as a talk with Guillermo del Toro and another with the creators of The Amazing World of Gumball and Don't Hug Me I'm Scared, which I am still kicking myself over, so be sure to arrive early for those.

Patience is a virtue: The queueing process at Annecy is quite arduous, but the wait is always worth it. I got into the talk with Walt Disney Animation Studios by waiting two hours earlier. It pays off very much.

Be tactical: Annecy is a big festival in a big city. Events conflict and travel times might be longer than you expect if you are travelling by foot or if you need to retrace your steps. When it comes down to seeing a mainstream film or a studio focus talk, choose which one would be a more informative experience. This links in well with taking care of yourself too. If you haven't eaten or drank anything for a while and you are thinking of joining a queue for something that needs you to wait for an hour and a half in the sun, it's better to take care of yourself first and foremost.

If you can, go in a group: Not only will this be a 'strength in numbers' type deal, where you can book into the same events and wait together in the queue and tap out should you need to get food, but this experience is one to share if you are enthusiastic about animation and the like.

Don't be afraid to try: I hate plane travel. I knew very limited French. I have the worst sense of direction in the world at times. But I went to Annecy regardless of these things and actually had a brilliant time.

#my writing #annecy

3 notes · View notes

thomasroach · 5 years

Text

A Plague Tale: Innocence Review – A Tail and a Half

The post A Plague Tale: Innocence Review – A Tail and a Half appeared first on Fextralife.

A Plague Tale Innocence combines a narrative driven story with puzzles, choices and a whole lot of rats…I’m not joking there are a ton of rats in this game. In this review I will look at how this title sets itself apart from your usual story driven titles with plenty of interesting rat mechanics, engaging plot as well as how it performs in terms of gameplay.

A Plague Tale: Innocence Review – A Tail and a Half

youtube

Genre: Action, adventure, puzzle, narrative-driven Published by: Focus Home Interactive Release date: May 14th Platforms: PC (review platform), PS4, Xbox One Price at time of review: $44.99 Website: http://bit.ly/2JGQ8K0

Story & Setting

A Plague Tale Innocence follows a woeful tale of a family who are ripped apart during an Inquisition. The main focus is 15 year old Amicia who must now look after her ailing brother Hugo, afflicted with a mysterious disease. In order to save her brother, their journey will take them through the plagued streets that have now devastated the Kingdom of France.

They must find a path through the numerous soldiers, enemies and the masses of rats. With only a trusty sling shot to protect her brother and her resourcefulness, Amicia will face a number of evils, but will also find a few friendly faces along the way. There is a sense of mystery in this story that starts right from the beginning. Why are people after Hugo? How can his sister save him from his illness? Why are there so many damn rats?

Expect a lot of violence in this one as Amicia will find herself against a number of foes, the imagery is quite realistic and gruesome in places. If that hasn’t put you off, then you’re in for a unique adventure.

Gameplay

Since A Plague Tale is primarily a story driven title, you will find most of the gameplay consists of exploring areas which will be met with playing out scenarios or cut scenes, the ability to gather materials, stealth, combat and puzzles to solve. While the puzzles aren’t your traditional read a text to discover a clue, or enter a combination of numbers to unlock doors, you will find in order to progress certain areas you will need to find ways to navigate through rats. The game cleverly uses lights to help steer rats away, meaning you will need to figure out the best way out of different situations.

Using a sling shot you will find there is auto-aim in this title, you simply need to point in the general direction of your target to lock on and then prime your shot for strength. There is an option to turn off assisted aim, but I didn’t feel is was necessary as targets are pre-determined and you don’t need to aim at specific body parts. No need to worry about the subtleties of projectile estimations, simply lock on, determine whether the target it close or at a distance, and away you go. There are definitely David and Goliath situations in the game, which makes you wonder whether its realistic, but that soon gets pushed out of your mind by the sheer awesomeness of delivering a final blow to the giant stacked soldier which is truly satisfying.

The game is told in chapters, meaning if you wish to go back to a previous chapter to pick up collectibles or simply replay a certain scene, you can do so. But be warned as any upgrades made during your playthrough from then on will be wiped clean. There are autosave points meaning you will need to wait until certain parts of the chapter or to progress to the next chapter in order to have your progress saved.

Mechanics

The strategy in this game concentrates on two main factors: stealth and puzzles. Letting you choose how you wish to distract the soldiers, either letting you hide while throwing a rock at a crate full of armor, or to choose a more invasive move of throwing Deverantis (a poisonous powder substance) at their helmets, causing them to remove them and then letting you swiftly hit them in the head using your sling shot. As you progress the game you will pick up new abilities that are chosen from a circular menu, most will require you to choose a target, and similar to the sling shot, prime your shot.

Stealth was a bit of hit or miss with me, at times it was well thought out and other points just seemed to be there for you to have something to do. Don’t expect Assassin’s Creed Odyssey or Sekiro stealth mechanics here, its a bit rough around the edges but it does its job and creates some sense of danger in-game. Each enemy has its own trigger meter, so you know if they have sensed your position. There is also the added factor of Amicia’s younger brother, who you can leave in certain situations to perform tasks, but leaving too much distance will cause him to panic. You will need to choose whether to distract guards by throwing a pot or going straight for a kill. With a number of enemies this can become be quite tricky to determine and can often have more than one way to be carried out.

Puzzles consist of using light to help navigate your way through the vermin infested lands. You will also run into 3 or even 4 person puzzles where you will need figure out who needs to assist in turning a lever at the right time or shift different blocks around. While not overly difficult, it does make you stop and think about your next move. If you fail at successfully coaxing the rats with a light source, this can result in the most devastating death, being eaten alive by these flesh hungry vermin. From time to time you may send Hugo to help with unlocking doors or reaching places that Amicia can’t fit, while pretty straight forward it provides a bit of variation.

As I was playing on PC, controls for the radial menu wasn’t always easy to navigate in certain areas of game, especially if you need to switch quickly between different abilities. Re-binding keys for shortcuts was needed in my opinion, as after doing this is felt much easier to tackle more intense gameplay.

Crafting

There is some degree of crafting in A Plague Tale, by gathering scraps of materials you will encounter crafting tables to help upgrade a few different aspects. You can increase the effectiveness of Amicia’s sling shot to lessen the time it takes to fire at an enemy. Other options include ways to help with stealth, abilities or to increase number of items carried. The crafting tables also acts as a save point, which is useful when you’re in between auto saves.

Audio & Visuals

At times that I can only describe as the ickiness of the game, really out does itself. Whether its the sound of rats scurrying in a huge mass, or just the visual itself, the developer does well to make you feel a little on edge especially when you’re trying to manoeuvre around a huge vermin pile. The story is in a medieval setting, full of stone castles, close knit towns and natural forest areas. Often these places are rather creepy looking due to the rat nests that have taken over the place, which is contrasted with some really idyllic areas.

Characters had voice actors that did well to bring life to the scenes as well as created some sort of connection, making you a little worried whether they’ll survive or not. The game is developed by a French studio, so you can also switch the audio to the original French soundtrack, there is also a German option. I tried to switch the language options mid-game but it seems you need to exit to the menu and begin at a check point to have this work. As far as I could tell from the brief experience of other language options, voice acting in other languages were well chosen.

The music swells at the right moments, with daunting cello sounds that can really put you on edge. There is also the sound of rats echoing throughout the game and sticks in your memory when you’ve even shut it off.

There were a few glitches here and there, some were visual where one characters head was placed at a rather awkward angle. The other caused a slight problem with solving one of the puzzles, resulting in restarting at a checkpoint to reset the puzzle. While neither of these glitches caused any major upset to gameplay, it just needed a couple of details ironed out to make the experience a little smoother.

Visually the characters are stunning, a lot of attention to detail to what they wear and the way they were designed. A slight drawback at times were the muted expressions in certain scenes. The more menacing characters really fitted their looks, and their armor was awesome.

Final Thoughts

Aboso Studio has done well to tell this particularly grim set story of a plague infested time. They truly got me to care about the characters as well as managed to throw in a few surprises along the way. A Plague Tale Innocence really manages to immerse you through the story telling, the beautiful and at times pretty disgusting surroundings. I don’t think I’ve played a game that has introduced this many rats, which definitely makes it feel quite unsettling.

The gameplay while not always as smooth as I would have liked, did a good job of creating urgency with oncoming soldiers and the piles of rats that are ready to devour anything that crosses their path. Using the sling shot was fun as it gave quite a few ways to play the game, choosing from the different abilities such as Deverantis or Luminosa (to light objects) made it feel very unique. I think if it was strictly just a straight forward sling shot option, it wouldn’t have been as enjoyable.

While you won’t be choosing the outcome of the story, how you play is where the options lie. You can go back and play out chapters differently, whether choosing a more stealthy approach or choosing to use different abilities. Unless you wish to playthrough in another language option or use different upgrade choices, replayability is a tad limited as there is only one ending.

If you’re looking to be whisked off into a grim yet intriguing title to play, introducing mystery, puzzles and something quite supernatural, then this is a title you should pick up.

A Plague Tale Innocence is available to play on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

If you enjoyed this review we recommend you read more our reviews in Days Gone Review: A Saphire In The Rough and Sekiro Review: Shinobis Die Many Times. If you want another narrative driven title, you should look into the lovecraftian investigative title Call Of Cthulhu Review. You can also check out what’s releasing this month in Top 5 Upcoming RPGs Of June 2019 (Bloodstained, Warhammer And More!).

The post A Plague Tale: Innocence Review – A Tail and a Half appeared first on Fextralife.

A Plague Tale: Innocence Review – A Tail and a Half published first on https://juanaframi.tumblr.com/

0 notes

dampgaming · 7 years

Text

Part of my motivation for restarting this blog is Wooden Potatoes new contest, signal boosted previously. I was somewhat hyped for the contest, with the idea for subject matter, twists, humor, and well timed visuals... and then I realized I could never put something like that together with zero video editing skills.

Still, my inability to compete doesn’t change the fact that Guild Wars 2 is a great game in need of some grassroots evangelizing. So the obvious altruistic thing to do is let my words do the talking and to write out my idea without witness or reward... and failed Doctor Who quotes.

So what is the twist with a top ten list? It’s the fact it’s not a top ten list, but two top five lists. The top five things great about Guild Wars 2 and their achilles heels, and the top five worst things about Guild Wars 2 and their silver linings. Nothing is perfect, and if I send you charging into Guild Wars 2 it’s all sunshine and roses you’ll just come trudging right back out the second you get a thorn in your paw.

Small disclaimer before your baptism by fire, these points are only my opinion and not supported by any statistical data outside of my experience. With that aside, prepare yourself for twenty opinions on the best and worst of Guild Wars 2.

Best #1 Open World Cooperation

In Guild Wars 2, you don’t need a group to play together. In fact, the most common form of playing together is often just running competing events in zergs of various sizes. Squads and Commander tags are used and encouraged on certain maps, but on the individual level they aren’t required. Head out into the map, do hearts, complete events, and play the game other people.

Achilles Heel #1 Alone in a Crowd

Just because it’s easy to play together doesn’t mean it’s easy to group for for all challenges. Personal Story help, Living Story Achievements, dungeons... it’s sometimes very hard to get people together to do the little things. Even with a guild it’s hard to get help at times, as often if it isn’t daily reset or weekly Guild Missions your guildies just might not be around. This isn’t game breaking, but it’s certainly less... fluid than following the zerg.

Best #2 Joy of Movement

Latest buzz word for the up and coming expansion, but it applies to more than just the soon to be released mounts. Guild Wars 2 is all about movement. The combat is like an adventure game, where even when you can just stand still and auto attack you find yourself strafing just a little bit to be ready to dodge out of something. Add onto that jumping puzzles, guild rushes/puzzles, and various movement related masteries... you’ll quickly find yourself mostly standing still when you need to park yourself for a bio break.

Achilles Heel #2 Eight Fingers and Two Thumbs

Everyone has their limits. Some jumping puzzles are just hair pulling frustrating; one is literally called the Chalice of Tears. Every once in awhile you’ll run into a mob that will stun lock you if you make a mistake, wait for you come back with stun breaks and stability, and just stun lock you once those are all on cooldown. And don’t get me started on PvP; the cyborg age must already be here because some of those people can’t be using human hands to maneuver around you the way they do. Challenge is great, up until the point it breaks you.

Best #3 Fashion Wars 2

Everyone wants to be a pretty snowflake, and while those starter dyes you use in character creation might seem stifling, you’ll soon grow past them. The base dyes in Guild Wars 2 is simply huge and very encouraging for you try out new things. The wardrobe system is a bit more limiting, as they (mostly) require transmutation charge, but there are a decent amount of ways to get those for free. There are also various ways to earn otherwise premium items for free as well, though your mileage may vary with those.

Achilles Heel #3 Those Pants You Never Wear

All the various customization options are great, spectacular and wonderful... and you’ll very likely end up not using even a tenth of it. Seriously, sometimes you’ll find just the right skin to slap on your hard fought for ascended weapon or armor, but often you’ll leave it either as is or stick to certain staples across all characters. And the amount of times you actively work for a skin only to never use it... it’s mind boggling.

Best #4 Horizontal Progression

While there is value in being able to do something over and over again, there’s also value in doing something once checking it off the list. Horizontal progression provides for this need. Wardrobe skins, dye unlocks, achievements, and masteries. All are important aspects of Guild Wars 2 were you need progress just once and then it’s unlocked for good. Some complain about masteries at times, but nothing is more rewarding than jumping on an alt for a hero point train and having all your various jungle movement masteries right away.

Achilles Heel #4 Elusive Stat Perfection

Guild Wars 2 has a level cap of 80, and as part of Horizontal Progression that isn’t changing. The armor you should be wearing will change, and that will be trail of tears. Ever since they triple tapped with the nerf hammer on leather, crafting exotics new exotics is a pain. Crafting in the new stat combination that is just right for you even more so. And yes, changing ascended equipment is easier, but you still need to be at the point where ascended armor is a thing for you. Not to mention be will to reacquire all the runes and sigil, and sink another half dozen transmutation charges. If you solo one character to perfection, that may be workable. But if you’re an alt-aholic... be ready for disappointment when a change in the skill craft invalidates your current gear in playing the way you want to play.

Best #5 You Can Play For Free

Guild Wars 2 has always been buy to play, with no subscription fee. With Heart of Thorns they retired the ability to purchase the base game in lieu of free accounts... and we should really just focus on the no subscription fee thing. Yes, the new model where you buy either expansion to upgrade a free game into a full game is nice, but the only thing to upsell free accounts is the fact you can log in every few months to unlock the Living Story Episodes for free. Even the major ability to trade gold for gems from Arena Net itself is locked out to free accounts, so you can’t get everything and be completely free.

Achilles Heel #5 Your Mileage May Vary

As stated above, free accounts are more for trying out the mechanics to see if things like combat and movement in the game are things you can enjoy. No map chat for asking for help, limited bag space, and denied access to the currency exchange... yeah, it won’t get you much for actually playing the game. Currency exchange also takes sacks of gold to get decent purchases, so be ready to cook up a gold making routine if that is a path you want to take.

Worst #1 They’ve Given Up On Underwater Combat

Underwater combat hasn’t has a major balance pass in years, choices are limited to any and all of the underwater weapons your profession has, and a good chunk of utilities that might be critical to your build are turned off underwater. Reverents in particular are limited to just two of your legends underwater, which with one weapons means you know exactly what a Rev will bring to the table for underwater combat. Heart of Thorns didn’t have any underwater sections of note, and Path of Fire takes place in a desert... so yes, it looks like we aren’t going to be taking on the Elder Dragon Steve any time soon.

Silver Lining #1 It’s Better Underwater Combat Than Any Other Game

You have not fought underwater in a video game till you’ve fought underwater in Guild Wars 2. The unique skills and lack of breath meter are both amazing. If anything the problems are mechanics clashing with aesthetics. Barracudas, for instance, were pocket raptors before pocket raptors existed. It’s visually pleasing to see certain enemies traveling in densely packed groups... less so when they hit as hard as their solo strength counterparts. Weapon diversity in regards to power and condition damage needs to be addressed as well. And hopefully they will be addressed when we are ready to fight where the quaggans called home.

Worst #2 Raid Contamination

Raids have come to Guild Wars 2, and they’re single handedly the reason one of my guilds don’t do Guild Missions anymore. Spirit, we always joked about you being the raid mom, but now that raids are actually a thing we miss you. (Yes, I know you moving to Australia was also a factor, but still...) But yes, raids are a thing, and even with the legendary armor being unlocked for WvW and PvP, there is still a lot of things locked behind that raid wall. Not least of which is story.

Silver Lining #2 Stories We’d Only Get With Raids

It has been said by the developers, that if it wasn’t for raids we would not have gotten the conclusion to Saul D’Alessio’s story arc. Similarly, while the story of the White Mantle was told in Living Story Season 3, it’s prequel story was told in raids. A prequel story that was cool on several levels... but realistically might not have been told at all if not for raids, and the game would be lesser for it.

Worst #3 Solves Surpluses With A Triple Tap

Sometimes there is an imbalance in the economy that results in too much of one resource in circulation and costing comparatively nothing. The proper reaction is to take one action at a time gradually to nudge things back into equilibrium. Arena Net has on more than one occasion done multiple solutions at the same time. They did it with cloth, and then they did it again with leather. It really needs to stop.

Silver Lining #3 Always Monitoring The Economy

First thing, overreacting is better than not reacting at all. Nothing is worse than watching the economy spiral into disrepair. Second... they will eventually correct an imbalance created by their actions. We did eventually get a leather farm to help get the leather we desperately needed. Yes, we would have prefered if some of their previous actions were undone rather than waiting several months for an injection, but help eventually came.

Worst #4 Spam 2 To Kill Elder Dragon

The Core World Personal Story has all kinds of small things wrong with it that just add up to a big frustration. Certain parts of the endstory only make sense if you play multiple characters of multiple races and select almost every single story path, with many of those paths not paying off the personal connection when the time comes if you selected that path. When they revamped the story for the Chinese release, they cut an entire chapter for several months before adding it back.

But most of all, the battle with Zhaitan is just the underwhelming use of an environmental item, taking aim and spamming skill two. After eighty levels of content and several grand sub bosses, and then suddenly the big bad can be auto attacked away. Arena Net has said that they are unlikely to come back to this, with the maybe acceptable reason it would take a team the size of a living world episode to work on for about the same time as a living world episode to do right. With that said, it isn’t going away on it’s own and hangs like an albatross over Guild Wars 2’s neck.

Silver Lining #4 Constant Improvement

Quality has really picked up during the Living World and build up to where we are now. Season 1 had some growing pains, but from the get go they still had epic bosses like the molten twins, and the season ended with the epic battle for Lion's Arch. Season 2 was a little shaky at times, but we had two epic fights against the Shadow of the Dragon with the final death definitely satisfying. And while I’ve heard some people complain about HoT’s Mordremoth battle, I personally find it mostly perfect; we actually get to fight the thing, and when we finish him it is satisfying. Season 3 meanwhile started strong and had a chain of three epic bosses. I don’t know what lies ahead in Path of Fire, but I look forward to it.

Worst #5 Particle Spam

The best times is Guild Wars 2 are when you are running with the Zerg. The only problem with that is that two hundred players all firing attack skills on a mob... tend to obscure the action. Yes, one could argue that this flurry of blows actually is the action, but such arguments fall on deaf ears when you're flat on your face because you missed the bosses big stomp animation. They did introduce culling for particle effects that you can turn on, but it’s efficiency is sometimes debatable.

Silver Lining #5 Telegraphs Do Work

Arena Net are aware of particle effect spam, if only because two hundred players in one area is also a server load issue. Because of this, they have been designing around it. Giants make big bold clear actions that can be seen when they are literally on fire. Wyverns mouths light aflame just before they breathe fire onto the ground right in front of them. AoEs are now signaled partially with big huge orange fields rather than red fields for clearer visibility through the spam. Pay attention, and you’ll know at least what killed you if not how you could have avoided it.

#Guild Wars 2 #Opinions

0 notes