#ok so this is pre- marc and steven knowing about him

[normaltothemax]

@templeofvengeance from here

Fuck Khonshu. No, really, fuck him for being such a condescending prick, even now. Jake’s trying, here. He’s doing his goddamn best, and the fact that whatever the fuck this is just snuck up on him doesn’t mean anything. He doesn’t need attitude from a stupid, dead pigeon that doesn’t even have a neck, when Jake can’t even breathe.

“Que te jodan,” he snaps, though the way he’s gasping and clutching at his chest lessens the bite, somewhat. Eyes squeeze shut as he braces his free hand against the nearest wall, fingers curling against the bricks. “¡Dame un puto respiro, maldita gallina momificada gigante!”

[mrcspectr]

ok i'm jumping in on the sending u feral lengthy mk meta bandwagon, i may be retreading ground here and this might be all over the place but i've been Thinking

if steven is in part a representation of what marc believes is a good person and is built upon the good within himself, jake's foundation is somewhat what marc fears in himself, what he thinks is bad in him. but marc is an unreliable narrator. marc's idea of good and bad and /fault/ has been fucked up since childhood due to the abuse he suffered.

jake doesn't feel guilt for many things marc would. he can't. thats part of his function tbh. but its also a reflection of marc's desire to not feel the burden of that guilt.

Steven didn't have the guilt or the pain of their abuse bc he didn't know about it, didn't experience it. Jake doesn't have it bc he (rightly) knows they didn't deserve it. he knew then and he knows now. and i think he's incredibly perceptive of manipulation and abuse when it happens to marc and steven (jury's out on himself tho with khonshu 😬😥). marc doesn't let himself be angry about his lot in life bc he thinks he's a fuck-up and deserves it/did it to himself. jake is fucking pissed about it.

steven holds the desires marc has that he sees as good. jake holds desires he thinks aren't. and again, if ur concept of good/bad has been fucked, many base human desires can fall into the bad category. the desire to take up space, unapologetically, falls into that category.

steven has a strong moral code and sense of grander right and wrong, but he lets (relatively) smaller social slights and bullshit happen to him without much contest. he's largely passive and at MOST will quietly correct or speak his alternate viewpoint.

jake? jake takes no bullshit and will not stand for disrespect. if u hurt them, he will fuck u up. but his moral code on a grander scale is more bendy, its self-preserving, self-serving. Or more accurately, system-(pre)serving. And vengeful.

marc for sure feels guilt about taking up space, about Being. And i think, interestingly, when the wall between them is down and they're communicating, Steven is incredibly strong-willed in his right to exist whenever he first finds himself 'on the inside'. he lashes out at marc about it, yells at him, says cruel things to him. he fights. when the stakes are high, he fights.

and like the thing is. whenever steven finally knows about the abuse marc has shielded him from, he's angry at first, yes, but then. Then, the Good in them, the Good desires, the part of Marc he's protected from this pain all their lives, Steven tells him it wasn't his fault.

whenever marc finally communicates to steven, lets down this wall between them, he gets to see Steven doing and wanting and saying things he's wanted but seen as wrong. when the stakes change for steven, he fights, and he forgives, neither things I think Marc considered as Good desires within him. when Marc and Steven collide, no longer a wall between them, Steven illuminates the wrongness in so many of the ingrained guilts in Marc, and it truly surprises him. The abstract Good of Steven is suddenly concrete and impacting Marc himself, and it fucks me up

Oh, I love it when ya'll start thinking, I am rubbing my hands together, let's get into it.

I've talked about this a bit before but never had the opportunity to explore it in depth until now, and I am zeroing in on the way you said "Jake's foundation." Because the idea we have of him so far is this foundation that Marc built on his own misunderstandings and this.. warped concept of what he considers wrong, and it's rocky. He truly is the unreliable narrator of the system's moral code toward the end, and it's what makes you assume that what Jake does is so horrific.

Jake is, at face value (because that's all we really have to go on at the moment), everything that Marc fears. Marc wakes up surrounded by bodies, Steven wakes up covered in blood, the both of them unsure where it started or how it ended. They blame each other in a desperate attempt to make sense of it. And if you watch the aftermath of that final scene in Cairo, after Jake fronts to protect them from Harrow, we've reached a point where their accusations have devolved into questioning concern. And even that is so hollow, because Steven and Marc know themselves well enough now that they could never mistake those events as a fault of the other.

The fragments of Jake that they have so far are just that; pieces of him, violence that they can't explain, choices that they'd never willingly make, never the full picture. Never fully understanding. Steven is so inherently good, with his compassion, his empathy, and that goodness is obvious to us as an audience. You can't mistake it for anything else. Marc on the other hand, while still good, is a bit more subdued in that just because he's weighed down by all this guilt and shame. We've spent season 1 watching Steven dig through it, put the puzzle of Marc together, and we've seen him go from fearful adversion of him to compassionate acceptance. And now we've come full circle, and the lense is on Marc, and he's being forced to address a life that he didn't know with that same fearful adversion.

Marc's choice to not kill Harrow when he had the chance was.. faulty. I understand the reasoning, I understand he's exhausted and would do whatever it took to just stop killing, to stop breaking things. He feels like he's been tearing things apart his whole life, but taking him out would've been for the greater good, and Jake understood that in a way that Marc doesn't, in a way that Marc won’t. Marc wants to run away from it, because if he accepts that, learns to live with it, he’ll have to address that feeling of satisfaction he tries to bury in putting bad people away. Because that’s the thing, right? He likes it, and he twists himself up over it because god he thinks it makes him just like mom and everything she ever told him he’d be. He won't prove her right, and so he can’t win, no matter how he tries to frame it. So he avoids it, like he tries to avoid everything else that makes him take a harder look at himself. And the whole thing isn’t right, not necessarily, but it’s what he believes.

Jake's goodness is so muddied in all this death and destruction that you have to dig for it, but I promise you, it's there. I honestly feel like this general assumption and fascination with Jake being the "evil alter" is because we don't know everything yet. Marc doesn't know everything yet. And our perspective has shifted from Steven's to Marc's, and once again, we are in a position where we just don't know enough to make any assumptions, but Marc does anyway. We are taking that same journey with him, and we still don't have the full picture. From Marc's perspective, it is such an interesting parallel to how Steven judged him at first, and now Marc is judging Jake.

They’ve built this idea of him in their mind as something dark and wrong, as something to ignore, or even as something they need to bury down so deep, no one else can see it. But Jake knows things that they don’t. He knows they didn’t deserve to be hurt, and that although he’s killed and caused, on some level, destruction, that he’s done it in the name of protecting people that needed his protection. He’s saved those people in the same way Marc and Steven needed to be saved, protected them in the same way they needed to be protected all those years ago. Sees their faces in every frightened victim. He is unwavering in that, feels no regret in it, because it's not wrong. He doesn’t get caught up in Marc’s internal struggle between justice and what he thinks is the right thing to do (which, again, comes from a good place but is still incredibly flawed), because he doesn’t share in that struggle. Jake sees it clearly for what it is. He hasn’t been warped by Wendy, manipulated by her. He carries his anger with pride and he’s forged it into a sword. It’s what makes it so unfortunate that he’s the one still ensnared to Khonshu’s service because he thinks he’s playing the situation to his benefit, to the world’s benefit, and we all know that’s not quite true.

I want a season 2 for a lot of reasons, but mostly I want it because I want Marc and Steven to understand Jake Lockley. I think they deserve to go on that same journey of discovery and that Jake deserves to have the same depth of character, because by knowing him, caring for him in the same way that Marc and Steven care for each other, it becomes a story of accepting every part of yourself. There’s a harmony in them seeing each other for what they are, and seeing all the intention behind their choices, all the good in what they do no matter how different it looks.

I say it all the time, but it’s a story about behind seen.

[luxshine]

Ramblings about Moon Knight episode 3

I know, I know, I am a bit late, but I am trying to make them last!

So, yes, Steven is still my woobie husbando, and I love that he is starting to stand up to Marc and Khonshu even if he is WAY over his head at times and shouldn't be asking for the body at those times!

Marc has completely warmed up to me, although now I am 80% sure that Layla is just an upgraded Marlene, which means I know exactly what Harrow is implying about her dad, and he (Arthur, I mean, not Marc) is a jerk and a manipulative bastard. But we knew that.

IF Layla is an upgraded Marlene? Good upgrade since Marlene IS pretty cool on her own, and knows precisely how to treat the idiots in her life, and more specifically, the three idiots sharing her love's body when she's not written horribly and acts as if her boyfriend was the only Alter that matters (Even if currently in the comics things are... complicated and I have SO many theories about that storyline... but that's for a different topic). I mean, how many women you know that when faced with the incarnation of RA himself will just MACE the guy?

So yeah, I can't wait for Layla to meet Jake (since Marlene's relationship with Jake is the most complicated one)

Khonshu, as always, is that weird goth guy who never had friends in Highschool but is trying SO hard to do the right thing. Pity he still sounds like the weird goth guy when talking to the other Gods' avatars. Perhaps had he let Marc OR Steven talk BEFORE they summoned Arthur things would've gone more his way. But hey, he DID try, and unlike the other gods, he IS trying to protect mankind so... points for that (And STYLE, since the two scenes of him manipulating heaven? AMAZING). Oh, and again, seeing him warm up to Steven? lovely. First time he doesn't call him worm! And he TRUSTS him!

Marc realizing Steven has abilities that he has not was great, again, BIG reminder of Lemire's run. Although it is weird since in Lemire's run it's STEVEN who has the protector role even if he is not much of a fighter (his own words) so seeing here that Marc is still trying to protect everyone around, but still realizes Steven has a role? AMAZING.

Can't wait to see WHY Marc lost control of his "situation" to be honest.

Oh, oh, oh. And I CAN'T wait to meet Oscar's Jake since what little we saw here makes obvious that Jake is FAR MORE dangerous than Marc! Which, ok, yes, it IS the normal state of affairs in the comic (In fact, Marc and Jake? Rarely see eye to eye, which is why Marc created the Mr. Knight persona, since Jake is the one who does most of Moon Knight's work) but I really want to meet the man who can make THIS Marc Spector pause.

Oh, and someone give Oscar Issac an Emmy and a pre-emptive Oscar! Not only he has given us Steven and Marc so distinctively that you can tell which one is running the body by small bits of body language? His moment as Marc-used-by-Khonshu were incredibly creepy. So yeah, WOW.

I just wish Arthur had a bit more... bite. Yes, he was very gaslightingly-creepy here but... I feel that it was less him being very smart, and more the Egypcian gods being complete idiots.

I mean, seriously, I think Loki could take over THAT pantheon with an Etch-a-sketch.

[usaigi]

Ok that’s what I thought! I think it depends on what Marc we're talking about and what symptoms you mean. Like if pre-canon Marc had a kid, then 100% he's so good at repressing and not talking about anything meaningful. Post-canon Marc, I think Steven or Layla would try to talk some sense into him, let him know that he’s still capable of being a good father despite his trauma. Maybe he wouldn’t explain to his child right away, but eventually I think he’d open up. (especially if Marc like went to therapy and developed some healthy coping skills and learn to forgive himself 🥺👉🏼👈🏼)

Marc, as seen in episode 3, is uncomfortable with switching in front of Layla. Maybe Marc would open up some aspects of his disorder like having alters but try to hide his switching, panic attacks, nightmares, etc. I can’t imagine Marc having a problem with Steven and Jake co-parenting? Having a relationship with the child?(sorry I don’t know what the right word would be) But maybe would have a problem with some other alters like the Kid alter or the persecutor alter we were talking about interacting with the child

do we think marc tries to hide his disorder from his kid at first?

[tocinephile]

Ada’s Top 20 Films of the 2010′s

2010 seems long ago. It was the year when Netflix, previously a mail order DVD rental operation, launched its streaming service and changed our TV/movie consumption forever. Originally known for old favourites and terrible in-house productions, Netflix and its competitors such as Amazon Studios have gone on to become award season contenders in just a few short years. The functions of film festivals and movie theatres have shifted due to streaming services’ enormous effects. This decade also saw the warp up of some beloved sagas and series on the big screen - from Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy to Harry Potter (more on those later!) Then there was an entire Star Wars Trilogy and end to a saga, which, love or hate it, was something many of us have been literally waiting our whole lives for. Throw in some Marvel at every turn, and an assuring expanse into the exploration of LGBTQ+ subjects, toss out Harvey Weinstein, and I think you have a reasonably accurate summation of film in the 2010′s. Something else close to my heart that unfortunately also fell to the wayside this past decade is Hong Kong cinema.  Once famed for slick neo noir style action with an eye-popping blend of gun play and kung fu, the genre has died to a trickle as the Chinese film industry evolves. Without (much) further pre-amble, here is a list of my top 20 films of the 2010′s, chosen based on personal preference, and what I perceive to be cultural/technological/cinematic significance, presented in no definitive order...

The Social Network (2010) I talk about the things that were different at the start of the decade, and Facebook was certainly one of them. Although still a top contender in the social media minefield, at the beginning of the decade Facebook was king. From the cinema perspective, this was also a David Fincher directed, and Aaron Sorkin written film.  These credentials aside, the film was additionally recognized for its editing, soundtrack, and transforming Jesse Eisenberg from the “poor man’s Michael Cera” (and what is Michael Cera doing these days again??) to a formidable dramatic talent. Altogether was a way to immortalize Mark Zuckerberg on screen eh? Inception (2010) Brace yourselves, I will tell you now that the 2010′s was the decade of Christopher Nolan for me. I didn’t realize until I compiled this list, that starting with this mind-bending thriller, every film he made this decade is right up there for me. Aside from its story, the stunning visuals, and pacing, Inception was cleverly tied together to give me one of the most unforgettable movie going experiences this decade. The Artist (2011) The best kind of homage here, and reminder that story and performance are what make up a good film. Is this an Art House film? Sure, but the story transcends even words, it’s a celebration, and a love story not just between two characters but to cinema itself.

Hugo (2011)

And speaking of celebration of cinema, does anyone really do it better than Martin Scorsese? In this case, an homage to a forefather of motion picture wrapped in the ultimate feel good family film. Seeing Melies’ films within a film, the automatons, and the blend of history and fantasy, make you believe. When asked to name a good family film, I often name this one. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011) The final film of the series and also my favourite chapter. Deathly Hallows is a good example where the 2-parter turns out to be a good idea rather than a mere cash grab (as in the case Twilight).  It set a precedent showcasing the benefits of a longer story format that is enhancing for the story. Also, the Battle of Hogwarts, how do you get enough? Amiright? Super 8 (2011) 2011 was really the year of terrific family films. J.J. Abram’s Super 8 was no exception.  It was through Super 8 that I was introduced to Abram’s sense of adventure and wonder through his characters.  This was also Steven Spielberg produced adding to its positive attributes. When Abrams made Star Wars: The Force Awakens later in the decade, I was thrilled he was at the helm based on my love for Super 8. Moonrise Kingdom (2012) A different family film by Wes Anderson, and also one of the most endearing love stories told on the big screen this year. His follow up The Grand Budapest Hotel was also a contender for my best of the decade list but ultimately the unconventional young couple in Moonrise Kingdom versus the flagrantly over the top romantic gestures in Grand Budapest helped me make my choice.  Still, both are visually spectacular. The Dark Knight Rises (2012) Christopher Nolan film #2 and the close out to the best Batman trilogy. While a certain level of campiness has come to be associated with preceding Batman offerings, Nolan and Christian Bale did something different and in turn won over a lot of new audiences for the superhero genre.  While you can’t turn these days without bumping into a Marvel, etc. production, I think the quality of superhero films was raised leaps and bounds this decade and much of it in thanks to Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy which began in the decade before. Dallas Buyers Club (2013) Oscar accolades (and Jennifer Garner) aside, Dallas Buyers Club by Canadian filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallee told a important story and told it well. It also brought Vallee’s work to a larger scale audience than any of his previous projects, giving him the attention he so very much deserves. From set design to story to acting, I truly believe this was one of the best films of the decade.

The Theory of Everything (2014) I may be partial to biopics but there’s no denying the venerability of Stephen Hawking, and Stephen Hawking as portrayed by Eddie Redmayne... well, there are no words! Boyhood (2014) When I first began compiling this list, Boyhood was one of the first few films to come to mind. Aside from being directed by one of my favourite filmmakers Richard Linklater (who was also featured in my 2000′s list with Before Sunset - which I argue is still the best of the trilogy) it was also a very ambitious undertaking as a filmmaker.  It’s my hope that the significance of Boyhood isn’t diminished in the age of digital aging/de-aging technologies, to do something like this organically is a labour of love. To commit to a project that spends 12 years in production is firstly insanity, but then to have a finished product that ties so seamlessly together in a tale of family, life, and love. Who knows if this will ever be done again? Interstellar (2014) Christopher Nolan film #3. I’m not as into movies about space and time travel as I was as a teenager/young adult, so I’m of the belief that while I still watch a fair amount of them, fewer and fewer truly stand out. When it came to explore this decade’s offerings, Interstellar and First Man were the only two even worth mentioning to me.  The latter was more traditionally biopic-ish, though well told, and I maintain has the best soundtrack of 2018. Interstellar on the other hand had other thought-provoking layers (as I have come to expect from Nolan). What We Do in the Shadows (2014) And now for something completely different! What would life be like if Taika Waititi didn't make films? Mankind has been telling stories since the beginning of time so it’s understandingly hard to come up with truly original stories after thousands of years, and yet... Taika Waititi does it!  Seriously though , What We Do In the Shadows was the single funniest film I’ve watched this decade. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) If What We Do in the Shadows was the funniest movie of the decade, then Mad Max: Fury Road had to be hands down the most intense, non-stop, adrenaline rush thriller. Again, I watch a lot of this stuff and find myself largely disillusioned or unimpressed with most of what’s out there.  Sure, I love the Avengers movies, and I’m always up for gratuitous violence but so few of these films will make me stop everything that I’m doing and stay rooted on the spot for the entire film - which I can recall distinctly is what happened when I put on this film on in early 2016. The Hateful Eight (2015) Westerns aren’t my cup of tea, but it’s common knowledge that Quentin Tarantino certainly is. When it came time to choose a QT film for my list, and we all know that’s exactly how I went about it.  Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood was never even a contender, it was between Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight, overall I appreciated the simple (but elaborate!) set up of a cast of questionable characters in a cabin that kept me entranced for near 3 hours just listening to them talk. Straight Outta Compton (2015) Ok, there’s a clear nostalgia factor in play here, but Straight Outta Compton was also straight up good storytelling, coupled with a badass soundtrack. I didn’t give it much thought until later, but there’s also a certain level of accessibility in the storytelling, it was a film that was made for a wide audience without sparking disdain from dedicated members of the rap/hip hop community (not much significant backlash that I'm aware anyway... As someone who’s been devoted to certain subcultures, I can vouch this is entirely a possibility.)

Blue Jay (2016) Who has no idea what film this is? Hint: go watch it on Netflix. In the 2000′s I included Conversations with Other Women in my top 20 list, I feel like Blue Jay is my 2010′s equivalent.  Not that I was looking for an equivalent but I have an appreciation for unforgettable stories about the undeniable attraction between two people who have previously had a failed relationship with each other. It's Sarah Paulson and Mark Duplass on screen the entire time, and it's completely engrossing.  Not an easy feat, not appreciated by many, but glorious to me. Call Me By Your Name (2017) This is my Ghost World of the 2010′s, not because the content is at all alike, but because it’s the only movie I watched repeatedly, and the only book in history that I’ve read twice in a single month. Some stories just touch you, this one did. Factor in the brilliant performances, the exquisite writing, beautiful settings, music, and every intricacy that together made up the whole film.  I only wish I had more pretty words to give it a proper description but I will never come close to what Andre Aciman and James Ivory and Luca Guadagnino put on screen. Dunkirk (2017) Christopher Nolan film #4. Dunkirk was the first film I thought of when I started to make this list.  It seemed so obvious. While I said I wasn’t ranking these Top 20 films of the decade, if hard pressed, I would put Dunkirk at the top. Not merely a good historical drama, this was a technical achievement. There’s a lot of articles out there about how a special plane was refitted to house the camera, you can read those online. What I think needs to be mentioned more often is astounding sound mixing and design in Dunkirk.  It’s so good, and I’ve been privileged to see it in 70MM and in Imax that I’m hesitant to watch it in my home with my dinky home theatre now. When they update the history of film textbooks, they’d better be adding Dunkirk. The Irishman (2019) Ok, so maybe this isn’t Marty’s best.  Maybe it’s a slight rehashing of his best work. (But his best is so good, the rehashing is still miles beyond the rest!) But to me, it’s Martin Scorsese embracing the evolution of storytelling in film, the formats in which it's presented, and how he’s going to adapt it in his favour.  What you have here is an excessive piece of work that would likely not ever have been made in the last 50 years due to cost, impracticality, audience appreciation, what have you.  However, in an unexpected turn, longer formats have come back into favour, and found a new platform in which to present themselves (ie. streaming servies like Netflix) So here he is, and here is The Irishman. There you have it movie lovers, more or less my top 20 films for the 2010's. Here is an abbreviated recap:

The Social Network - dir. David Fincher (2010)

Inception - dir. Christopher Nolan (2010)

The Artist - dir. Michel Hazanavicius (2011)

Hugo - dir. Martin Scorsese (2011)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - dir. David Yates (2011)

Super 8 - dir. J.J. Abrams (2011)

Moonrise Kingdom - dir. Wes Anderson (2012)

The Dark Knight Rises - dir. Christopher Nolan (2012)

Dallas Buyers Club - dir. Jean-Marc Vallee (2013)

The Theory of Everything - dir. James Marsh (2014)

Boyhood - dir. Richard Linklater (2014)

Interstellar - dir. Christopher Nolan (2014)

What We Do in the Shadows - dir. Taika Waititi (2014)

Mad Max: Fury Road - dir. George Miller (2015)

The Hateful Eight - dir. Quentin Tarantino (2015)

Straight Outta Compton - dir. F. Gary Gray (2015)

Blue Jay - dir. Alex Lehmann (2016)

Call Me By Your Name - dir. Luca Guadagnino (2017)

Dunkirk - dir. Christopher Nolan (2017)

The Irishman - dir. Martin Scorsese (2019)

Just missing the list was The Favourite - dir. Yorgos Lanthimos (2018). I actually miscounted my movies during the first draft of this list and originally had this to say about The Favourite when I'd mistakenly thought it'd made the list:

The Favourite (2018) This is the only film on the list that's not here because of its story.  It’s not a bad story, but plot alone wouldn’t put The Favourite amongst my favourites. (Also a part of me has yet to forgive Yorgos Lanthimos for making me endure Dogtooth) What makes The Favourite stand out is that it’s genre-bending, it’s like an absurd period piece for lack of a better description, and it’s awesome. Also the camera work including those panning shots with an extreme wide angle lens combined with the elaborate costume design really makes the film pop visually in a most wonderfully unconventional way.

Other films that didn't wind up making the cut:

The Town (2010)

Last Night (2010)

Rare Exports (Finland 2010)

Django Unchained (2012)

Cloud Atlas (2012)

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

Captain Phillips (2013)

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)

The Danish Girl (2015)

Get Out (2017)

The Shape of Water (2017)

The Hate U Give (2018)

And two others I'd like to mention are:

1. Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012), which is an affecting film but admittedly will never be my cup of tea.  Doesn't mean it's not great. And,

2. Eden (France 2014) a personal favourite that I had not even considered for one of the 20 best films of the decade, but delightfully it showed up on a Vulture article about the best films of the decade in 47th place (coincidentally the writer's initials are also A.W. and this is what they had to say...)

There you have it, my decade in film summed up. I look forward to sharing many more film experiences and thoughts with you in the years to come. Our annual January challenge "30 Films in 31 Days" commences for another year starting tomorrow, and I hope to be able to follow shortly after with my top films of 2019. Happy movie-going and happy new year!