#this guy wrote the script for the remake

[kacievvbbbb]

Apollo giving letterboxd reviewers the gift of prophecy

[thanatika]

pathologic 3 thoughts... i almost made a post awhile ago about hoping that they incorporate frostpunk-like gameplay mechanics into the bachelor remake, if they really are going all in on getting rid of the fps survival elements and adding more town management and resource sim elements. and now i'm mad that i never actually wrote it, because it seems like pathologic 3 is going to be incorporating frostpunk-like mechanics into its town management. "shape their lives with your decrees" and all that.

though one resource that frostpunk never really deals in is currency, and i hope they lean on that for dankovsky's town management mechanics. in that long dev post back in 2022 or something, i remember an offhand mention about getting rid of the survival elements because dankovsky's position means he shouldn't have to struggle for food, healing items, or money... and for one thing, pathologic classic has him struggle easily without it feeling unrealistic, so i think they might as well have just said "we wanted to do something original instead of a reskin of the previous game" and left it at that. but with money specifically... even if dankovsky is put in control of funds due to his position (which he canonically is, there was just no fleshed out mechanic for it in the first game) the bigger question would be how to effectively use them? based on the original game, the amount of medicine and food and money was never quite enough, even when the town's nobility would finally hand it over after trying to ignore the problem. so you have access to resources, the real painful challenge comes from having to allocate them, whether it's an equal distribution that isn't enough to help anyone at all, or an unequal distribution where some are left out.

i'm imagining something like The Fund in pathologic 2, which was a very barebones mechanic of just "heal more people = get more money". the bachelor route is possibly going to be more hands on in its management, and more incriminatory towards you if resources run scarce due to mistakes or mismanagement.

and as for dankovsky's own survival, well, i guess he could be sitting pretty if he has access to all of the resources, and can just take however much he needs off the top. that's certainly what npcs are accusing him of doing throughout both games and the dlc. but is that really in character for him? you certainly have the option to do that, most explicitly with taking lara's money and running on day 2. but personally i think that characterization makes less sense than him trying to distribute as much as possible. not because i think he's such a great guy, but because:

a) why does the first game have so many side quests that hinge on him agreeing to go put his own life at risk and his own mission on hold just to save someone else for 0 reward, if it's out of character for him to do it? like taking over from all the ladies who agreed to test medicines, or going and getting shot at by soldiers to save the father of two random kids. what a waste of writing and scripting, if he really isn't "supposed" to do those things.

b) even if he doesn't give a shit about the town or its people (which his dialogue and quest logs imply he does care, up to a point), his whole purpose in trying to stop the plague is that it's his mandate from the powers that be, with the promise that they'll restore his lab to him if he succeeds. his lab that he canonically values so much that he equates losing it to his own death or suicide, all the way back from day 1. yeah, i think he'd deprive himself if he thought the resources might make the difference between saving it or not.

so i think that's also important to keep in mind for his motivations, because especially if they do end up removing the pressures of surviving against hunger and combat, the tension is kinda lost if we're supposed to think that he actually doesn't care about what he's trying to save, at least in the beginning.

[centrally-unplanned]

YU-NO thought #2, polite below-the-cut due to mildly erotic imagery

So something that is very obvious in YU-NO is that the art team and the script didn't have perfect communication on this one. And I know this because whoever was the lead character designer absolutely loved curvaceous boss bitches. It is a game of c-suite women with d-cup tits:

It's most hilarious in that it got a remake, and there is this elf-girl, and this is her on the modern cover:

And in original is like this:

Which, like, respect his vision okay? Insulting.

Anyway, so amoung this crew is, of course, the ultimate romantic queen, the object of all your teen protagonist's lustful desires - your mom:

And you are going through this game, being like oh yeah, a mommy in more ways than one, bring on the matron of the house. This game has its only two tags on the Hitomi VN CG database of "glasses" and "MILF" for a fucking reason, lets go. Then you get your big mommy milkers sex scene moment - after she attempts to commit suicide in a bathtub and you stop her, obviously - and suddenly both of you just start going off about how she has tiny breasts!

Partner and I broke out laughing at this point while we were playing, we couldn't help it, total mood assassination. I think its obvious that Ayumi here was supposed to be a certain type, the "dainty, soft type", and they wrote the script and sex scenes with that in mind. And then lead artist guy dropped off his CG files of a Choose Your Fighter Roster of Hourglass Women and told them to hang themselves, he wasn't changing a pixel. Absolutely King-tier moment, its great.

[superm4ks]

~personally~ of course as someone who is very interested in 3344 i would love to hear from lewis what his perspective is on max, who is compared more to senna, who is lewis' hero within his senna stannie fan card. like if senna wrote the fucking book max wrote the smash remake. like obviously humans are messy and complicated but like in ur pysche if the guy you "hate" is cut from the exact same cloth (and even sharper!) than the guy you love hmmmm. there's a lot of things to be talked about when drivers talk about who they idolize and why (or don't idolize). but i also love what u posted form that 1991 article bc f1 has never not been messy and human and solely about "wheel" or whatever and that makes it more interesting.

This is such supermaks bait anyway lets TALK about it 🌷

Literally thats the whole thing wid Canada that really stuck wid me after Max broke Sennas most wins oat, like Lewis' lil selfie wid him and his 'this is a pretty iconic podium' and that whole sloppy toppy moment wid fellow old Dawg Nando ((yall remember Nando podiums . damn 🕊️)) like theres a certain gravitas here. Max ended the most dominant streak by an f1 driver in the most controversial, soul crushing devastating fashion and followed that shit wid his own brand of dominance. That is fucking brutal lmfao. U said it like this is thee smash f1 remake this is textbook Senna, we've seen the script, we know what kind of driver it takes to enact the script. Its not gonna be a nice lil driver, its gonna be somebody who has a deep cynicism for the whole thing while simultaneously being unable to not execute it to perfection. That is Senna. It is Lewis. And it is Max. Max is, by all measures, in his current form, wid this red bull team, driving this car, untouchable. Bro is the final dawg. And the way that he still drives bro, that aggressiveness he has, that unwillingness to give up the line, thats every ((good)) drivers' dream to face a driver like that and come out on top because, ironically, thats as close to racing as it gets and it is old school. It does emulate a different time, a time that Lewis not only grew up watching but contributed to himself. It is about 'wheel' in the end but theres also a person in that car that can break you, which is like an extraordinarily human thing.

I've always found Lewis' bias for Senna very interesting because I think prolly until he was 25, and mind u I havent watched every Hamilton title winning season only 2008 and then obvi 2020 was my first so like obvi really influences how I c him, but he had that same restless nature. The shouts Max was getting even in 2021, Lewis got them too, including being a risk to his own peers, being rash, arrogant, etc. But then Lewis moved past Senna, imo, and became ‘Hamilton’, took over his own narrative, his team, made his own legend, wid his own dominant cars, and like he was settling back into that. Max came in at a point where u thought a Senna-like figure had no more space in f1. But Max created room, literally by force, and is also slowly outgrowing that to become ‘Verstappen’. I think thats the thread that wont snap between them, the knowledge that they are the last true protagonists of their respective eras. I have in faith in sharl, I think sharl wid a competent car, a good team, can achieve history too, but I dont have faith in Ferrari. Ferrari cannot perform to that level rn. So u have this monster at 25 whos like alone in his greatness and refuses to act the part. I get why people who dont fw Max's achievements might not like it, but that doesnt keep him from being the racing driver he is. That has no bearing on it, on him. Its a complete fabrication from fans. That is why Max feels so inevitable, and like, genuinely upsets people who dislike him by saying or doing anything because he will always own up on track and like theres an almost existential horror u cause haters wid that type of aura. Lewis is that same breed of driver, so he recognizes it, he knows what it takes be f1's villain. U cant cast a shadow on something u dont stand over.

After Silverstone he said: 'for a long, long time we’ve had periods of dominance. I’m lucky to have had one with my team. Michael Schumacher had it, Sebastian Vettel had it, and now Max’s period has arrived.' Just now in Hungary right after taking pole he said some shit like 'Max was doing 'Max things' in quali' which is a lil crazy to me. 😐 when the fuck did u ever hear Lewis Hamilton refer to a 'Max thing' except when Max has his ((much beloved)) category 5 Jeddah moments or bullies him during fp1 because he liked dared to breathe in his direction. Like since when is 'Max thing' a compliment. Like something shifted here and part of that is Max's inevitability in this car but also like how Lewis perceives that inevitability. Yk personally I cud only ever measure myself thru the people who beat me. In sports truly competition is all that is, u find somebody better and u chase after them. That's what Max did. He's rewriting those same records, because he can. And everybody who was ever somebody in motorsport did the exact same thing, including Lewis. And Senna right up until he died, because of the way it happened too, unfortunately, changed not only how u saw motorsport but also how u saw the person inside the car.

sharl was recently asked about lewis and max and had a very Leclerc type answer that I found very interesting:

Q: You were able to beat both Verstappen and Hamilton, who is more difficult to deal with?

Charles: "Both of them, they have completely different driving styles. Max always goes to the limit, I like his approach. He is aggressive and creates spectacular fights. Lewis on the other hand is very clever. In the way he positions the car after a corner, for example. He is less aggressive but thinks more. If he doesn't overtake you in one place, it's because he's thinking of an easier one in which to attack!"

Like is this not the most senna prost shit you've ever read in your entire life 😭😭. I think it comes down to how u approach a race and what u do wid the machinery ur given and faced wid certain track-specific challenges. Like look at this Spa weekend and you'd think it's the opposite of what sharl described, but it isnt. Max and Lewis can both be very aggressive, they just came up in the sport differently and established themselves wid different cars. Also neither of them about to let checo catch a break djdkdkd. In CONCLUSION ‼️ motorsport in general is a narrative driven competition wid a mechanical element that can make or break anybody no matter how good they are. Max himself becoming part of the mechanical element is unique to him, tho. Its above and beyond. Trust that the driver who became synonym for dominance in f1 is definitely paying attention lmfao

[randomnameless]

Checking the FB bout on PK for the Eyvel Brigid banner and...

Some stuff is really watermelon worthy, while some other stuff is kind of nice, so, in a way, it's a mixed bag, with the biggest offender being in the general (with everyone, not a character specific dialogue) script :

We have the traditional "new summoned heroes are being chased by bandits!!!" but...

Sure sure, GT is wonky as hell but lol @"I'll heal you with my walking stick"

Less lol though, the "Brigid is tired after fending off against so many pirates and says so to her sister, hopefully Midir and Dew are here to save the day" like... are we talking about the same Brigid who was holding off on a bridge against her entire crew who turned against her?

and the very same Brigid who will later on fight against many gladiators and face tank her possessed!daughter without ever complaining ?

And why the crap is she saved by Midir out of anyone??? I mean, did the people who wrote this thing checked his stats or what??

...

Bar the usual shaddening thrown at someone's spiel, Brigid remembered yesterday she was a Crusader and got her HW from her sister, before she was a captain/member of the Orgahill pirates, a "robin hood"-esque group of randoms. Where does this "what's most important isn't HB or HW but bonds!" come from? Brigid, spent most her life as a random without HW!

In Dew's FB :

TFW Brigid thinks she is called Eyvel and she doesn't have a * rank in bows meaning she can use them at inception, or got the "It's as if I've known this weapon for all my life!".

I've said it already, but I dread a FE4 remake.

Dew wanting to become a good/honorable thief is totes not a thing that happens in FE5 with what Pahn's/Perne is supposed to be, I guess wanting the two of them to interact would have been too much ?

Edain's FB :

Bar the utter nonsense that is Charlotte's "maybe studying Edain will teach me the secret of marrying a rich guy" spiel, it was refreshing/fun to see her interact with Edain and realise that, nope, she's just someone who's kind and her kindness attracts people all around.

Hilariously, she's paired with Doro in this FB and damn how FEH pisses on the so-called teenage dramas from the academy days, from Sharena relying on Sylvain to fight just like she relies on everyone else, regardless of his crust and status, to here, Doro (even if it's Charlotte who has this realisation!) learning that people aren't only attracted to Edain because of her status, they are attracted to her because of her kindness.

i swear at times FEH is trying to retcon/rewrite Doro lol

Brigid's FB :

The last lines with Lifis wanting to join the Brigids' pirate gang is hilarious in its own way, sure it's too bad A!Brigid didn't meet Eyvel, but she and P!Brigid interacted!

I wonder if Lifis and/or Ronan would have made a link lol

It was nice to see her interact with other pirates (tfw no P!Naesala or P!Tibarn convo though) and exchange a bit more with Fergus, with a reference to Dartz! Maybe it's a sign he'll join the next pirate festival? Who am I kidding, we will get P!Ursula with P!Nino instead.

Midir's FB was milquetoast, but it was to be expected lol

[agentnico]

The Instigators (2024) review

Just a regular day in Boston.

Plot: Rory and Cobby are unlikely partners thrown together for a heist. However, when it goes awry, they team up to outrun police, backward bureaucrats, and a vengeful crime boss.

I feel kind of sorry for director Doug Liman. Guy was screwed by Amazon who promised to give his Road House remake earlier this year a theatrical release only to dump it straight to Prime Video to the director’s dismay, and now he’s had the same treatment again twice in a row courtesy of Apple TV+ with The Instigators. Dude must be fuming! That being said, from what I’ve heard about Road House, it sounded like that was a fun action flick. Same can’t be said for The Instigators, as this definitely feels like a straight-to-streaming release.

That’s not to say there isn’t plenty of talent behind and front of camera. As aforementioned, Doug Liman directs (by the way if you haven’t seen his film American Made with Tom Cruise, do yourself a favour, just saying), and we have the good will of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as producers, and then Damon again and Casey Affleck (who wrote the script) leading this Boston buddy action romp. Look, on its own merit The Instigators is a perfectly watchable ridiculous heist movie, with some semi-decent action sequences, a charming comedic energy from its two leads and a surprisingly stacked cast. I’m not even kidding, we have appearances from Hong Chau, Alfred Molina, Michael Stuhlbarg, Toby Jones, Paul Walter Hauser, Ving Rhames and Ron Perlman! Evidently the Affleck’s called in a heck of a lot of favours, as this set gives the Deadpool & Wolverine cameos a run for their money! I do admit though that most of the cast are wasted and appear for maybe a scene or two if that, so most of them were in all likelihood there for an easy pay-check. And I don’t blame them - Apple has a lot of money that it evidently doesn’t know what to do with.

The issue with The Instigators is simply how normal it is. This is the most generic by-the-numbers heist-gone-wrong film you can possibly imagine, with lazy jokes, uninspired set pieces and the whole thing feels so repetitive as we’ve seen it before. It’s such a shame as again, one naturally goes into this with a certain level of expectation due to the talent involved, but the end product is nothing more than a shoulder shrugger. I didn’t even think Matt Damon did that well - his line delivery felt lazy and he looked bored throughout. Casey Affleck is a bit more fun and probably is the reason for some of the laughs. I guess we’re so accustomed to him playing serious roles that it’s nice to see him relaxed and spread his comedic chops a little.

Though they have been killing in the television medium, Apple have struggled with their original films, as aside from Martin Scorsese’s The Killers of the Flower Moon, and I also have a soft-spot for that Tetris movie as for some reason tetrominos are my jam, but aside from those the movies from Apple haven’t really struck a spark. Shame really. Oh well, they’ve still given us Ted Lasso so can’t hate on them too much now.

Overall score: 3/10

[flowerthatmeansass]

It's interesting to note that the guy who wrote the post-Super Paper Marios (Taro Kudo) worked on the original Super Mario RPG as an Event Designer (and given the lack of a "writing by"/"script"/"scenario" type of credit, I think might've had a hand in writing the game? Maybe the remake will specify who the writers were). He was also one of the Moon: Remix RPG guys and the Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland guy

i know i made "liking paper mario" my personality online for a long time but you can't just send me random paper mario factoids unprompted and expect me to have any meaningful response other than "ok"

[denimbex1986]

'The steps of social advancement can hardly be more painful than here: built into the cliffs of the Amalfi Coast, covered by vaults and passages, they force Tom Ripley ever further up through the semi-darkness, sweating, breathless. “Le scale, su, su,” the aged postman instructed him downstairs in Italian with a corresponding hand gesture. Dickie Greenleaf is said to be waiting upstairs, where bright light floods a villa for the gods' favorites. The con artist Ripley, who crawled out of his New York rat hole, was given the task by Greenleaf's father to bring the American magnate filius back to the States on a dolce vita detour. Soon Ripley will come up with a plan of his own: to kill his son to take his place.

This is how Patricia Highsmith came up with it in 1955 in her first Ripley crime novel, which Steven Zaillian has now re-adapted as director and screenwriter and had cameraman Robert Elswit shoot it. The result is an eight-part Netflix miniseries of high cinematographic artistry. Faced with two hard-to-top previous adaptations - Anthony Minghella's 1999's The Talented Mr. Ripley and René Clément's 1960's Only the Sun Witnessed - Zaillian is starting a new game. Instead of dressing the dark story in the candy colors of the luxury life of a post-war haute volee, he shot in black and white - and calls up cinema history from silent films to film noir, and not just with the recurring staircase motif.

Up and down

Following this, however, is a pleasure of cruel beauty. The fact that we are dealing with a murderer no longer has to be kept a secret with Ripley. Right at the beginning we get to know the man as a capital criminal when he carries a corpse down the stairs of an apartment building - in front of a cat. The original novel does not know this omniscient supporting character. His crime series “The Night Of – The Truth of a Night” – also a remake – proved that Zaillian has a feline soft spot. He gained experience with black and white early on as he wrote the script for “Schindler’s List”. So now “Ripley,” as the series is simply titled, the ambitious reincarnation of a classic that nevertheless lacks the beguiling, lethal magic of its predecessors.

For Zaillian, murder is too serious a business to give evil the mask of an ice-cold angel or the oatmeal health of a boy next door. In the character of Andrew Scott - born in 1976 - Ripley appears as a middle-aged fraud veteran, a guy on the verge of bankruptcy without the youthful beauty of Alain Delon or the nerdiness of Matt Damon in the role. The target, Dickie Greenleaf, now played by Johnny Flynn, is no longer a jazz lover, constantly drunk on his own spumante mood, with heartbreak qualities, as once embodied by Jude Law, but a bland character with a painting habit. The writer friend Marge (Dakota Fanning) appears fresher, if only fashionable: she consistently wears trousers throughout the early 1960s.

And the billionaire's son's best friend? According to the director, there was only one person who didn't cast him as a Ciao Bella bon vivant à la Philip Seymour Hoffman during the casting, and that was Eliot Sumner. Sumner, born as the daughter of the pop musician Sting and now identifying as non-binary, portrays the friend as an ambiguous figure with homoerotic charisma, quiet and distinguished, very contemporary but not very expressive.

Comparisons are all the more obvious today as Netflix makes Minghella's film available to watch alongside the series. But they don't lead very far: the new version is intended to create its own fictional world. Their ruler is Andrew Scott – caught in the role of a Ripley without charisma. The lack of conscience covers his figure like a dusty cloak. The murderer is a bore. However, to make him appear as believably unbelievable when lying as Scott manages to do, someone first has to imitate him. Ripley struggles to get rid of the dead on an epic scale. Zaillian lets Scott wordlessly act out what it means to walk over dead bodies.

We see the mechanics of compassionless thinking in action, but also Ripley's imaginations apart from reality. Little by little we finally get to know the con artist – “con artist” in English – as he develops into a blood perpetrator as a connoisseur of the arts. These seem just wasted on the rich with their Picasso on the wall and their own brushes on the easel.

Images that overlap each other

The baroque painter Caravaggio, also a murderer and master of chiaroscuro, becomes Ripley's obsession. He makes a pilgrimage across the Bel Paese to see his pictures, and so that everyone understands why, he also cuts to Rome in 1606 - a dubious detour. On the other hand, Ripley's interpretation of Caravaggio's image of the biblical David with the severed head of Goliath is almost congenial. The artist's face may be painted with the features of the youthful hero as well as those of the murdered Philistine - as the Romantics later scolded philistines.

Ripley's amoral dual identification shines through on several levels. David's gaze, in turn, oscillates between disgust, pity and perhaps even love - and reflects the fatal relationship flicker between Ripley and Greenleaf. Didn't Marge only appear in the spotlight when her boyfriend Dickie finally disappeared?

Empathy with the murderer does not produce any of this, on the contrary. Caravaggio's chiaroscuro and cinematic black and white each stage in their own way: without light, the dark remains invisible, without beauty the ugliness remains undefined. In the series, Ripley embellishes her own inhumanity with accessories of sophistication that serve as objects of longing for the de-sensualized digital age. The fountain pen, the typewriter, the ashtray: crimes, their planning, execution and concealment are physical acts in the series. “Ripley” calls objects as witnesses. The price for this is lifelessness.

Italy without tourists

In view of the wet, shiny asphalt, picturesque peeling plaster and rusty iron, the series uninhibitedly indulges in retro aesthetics. Not to forget the Italian supporting actors: With their character heads, they seem as if they had just stepped over from the Neorealismo of the late 1940s to today's film sets - in holiday hotspots without tourists. Slowly, very slowly, exhaustingly slowly, “Ripley” unfolds its drama, psychologically not always convincing, acting shaky, aesthetically always at its best.

Is it worth the wait? One man without a doubt: John Malkovich. A baring of his teeth in the role of the self-proclaimed art dealer - a metafictional reference to another Highsmith film adaptation - and we have seen a true master of the portrayal of the abyssal. His smile only lasts seconds.'

[haroldgross]

New Post has been published on Harold Gross: The 5a.m. Critic

New Post has been published on https://literaryends.com/hgblog/wonka/

Wonka

[3 stars]

Where to begin with this one? It is a perfectly entertaining distraction. It even manages to stand on its own while still building on the world you probably already knew from it’s 1971 original adaptation, or it’s later Charlie and the Chocolate Factory remake.

But prequels are always tricky. We know a good deal of what can and cannot happen in the story because we know what comes next. Wonka walks a fine line of showing us the young man that becomes the somewhat jaded middle-aged factory owner in the original movie. But, on top of that, Paul King and Simon Farnaby wanted to embrace more of the Roald Dahl of it all… and they managed to nicely. And yes, I’m aware of the irony that Dahl wrote the ’71 script and yet this was still brought more of his style to the screen than that did in many ways.

This presentation of our favorite chocolatier in this prequel is closer to Mathilda in style than the classic Willy Wonka. While I’d usually cheer on that sensibility it makes for an odd cognitive clash. One that is bridged at the very end with the one song you can never forget once you’ve heard it…and, in the process, imbues it with new meaning.

However, that final song is two-edged as it reminds you just how unforgettable the original movie was and how the new songs and music aren’t quite at that caliber. They’re fine, they’re sweet, but they are wholly forgettable despite the solid performances and effort. And the overall story is lacking in comparison, in part because there really isn’t much of one. There are antics and unsurprising setbacks, but it isn’t like we don’t know Wonka wins in the end. Also, unlike the first film, there just isn’t a lot of heart to it all.

That said, Timothée Chalamet (Dune) does deliver a beautifully balanced performance that constantly teeters between potential despair and uncrushable optimism. The child story in Wonka is a bit darker than Charlie’s, with Calah Lane navigating a path out of her circumstances thanks to the arrival of Chalamet. And they’re surrounded by a motley band of others in similar circumstances who come together to win the day (was there ever any doubt?).

There is also no dearth of bad guys. But it’s Olivia Colman (Secret Invasion) and Tom Davis (Free Fire) who really take the cake (and shillings) from it all. It isn’t to knock the other actors, they’re all fine, but these two had more depth and story than the rest. And then there is the neutral-ish character played by Hugh Grant (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) who stole every scene he was in.

Ultimately, watching this part of the story just wanted to make me watch the original again more than anything else. (Which, of course, I did.) I don’t know if I need to return to this prequel world again, however well it was done. It’s pretty and it’s distracting, and there are some clever plot devices, but it didn’t make an indelible mark on my soul the way the 1971 classic did. Perhaps it was trying too hard? Or perhaps it simply ended way too soon in Wonka’s story; completing its journey at the opening of the factory rather than his rise to fame and the closing of the factory before Charlie arrives on the scene. Or maybe we just needed to meet the Wonka that was willing to tell all his secrets, but only to another child? But, all that said, I also don’t feel my time was wasted visiting it the once. Nor would yours be.

Where to watch

[thebuzztrack]

Sarah Polley in Talks With Disney to Direct a Live-Action Remake Of ‘Bambi’

Sarah Polley, the Oscar-winning writer and director of Women Talking (2022), is in talks with Disney to direct a live-action remake of Bambi, the classic animated film about a young deer who loses his mother and grows up in the forest with his friends Thumper and Flower. The project, still in early development, will use photorealistic CGI to bring the animals to life and feature original music from country star Kacey Musgraves. Polley will work from a script by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster, who previously wrote for Transparent and Maleficent.

Bambi is one of Disney’s most beloved films, released in 1942 and based on the novel by Felix Salten. It was nominated for three Academy Awards and has been preserved in the National Film Registry for its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance. It is also known for its emotional impact, especially the scene where Bambi’s mother is killed by a hunter.

Polley is an acclaimed filmmaker who started her career as an actor in films such as The Sweet Hereafter (1997), Go (1999), and Dawn of the Dead (2004). She made her directorial debut with Away From Her (2006), which earned her an Oscar nomination for best-adapted screenplay. She followed that with Take This Waltz, Stories We Tell, and Women Talking, which won her the Oscar for best-adapted screenplay in 2022. Women Talking was based on the novel by Miriam Toews and told the story of a group of Mennonite women who collectively resolve to leave their isolated community after suffering sexual abuse.

She joins a list of talented directors who have helmed live-action adaptations of Disney’s animated classics, such as Jon Favreau, Kenneth Branagh, Niki Caro, Guy Ritchie, Tim Burton, and Robert Zemeckis. Disney’s most recent live-action remake was The Little Mermaid, directed by Rob Marshall and starring Halle Bailey as Ariel. The film was released in May 2023 and has grossed over $400 million worldwide.

Bambi is expected to be released sometime in 2025.

[baileycatarina]

I suppose I could blab here as well... Lack of a character limit would certainly make things easier for me, but for some reason I get embarrassed about posting here?? Like I'm gonna get made fun of or something, no idea why LMAO. Whatever, let's chance it.

So Basically I remembered an old story I wrote called Full Moon Love (it's on youtube but it's unlisted because it's EMBARRASSING) that I wrote when I was twelve (so in 2008), it was my first real story that I posted to the internet using Maplestory sprites and windows movie maker. I tried to script it but gave up on that and basically just made it up as I went along, so there's a lot of small plot points that don't go anywhere. It was a self insert series about my crush from grade school. I decided 'hey haha how about I make a Funny Joke' and was like

'haha hey guys what if Full Moon Love HD Remake'.

Then I was like.

'haha guys look at these silly concept images I made as a joke haha'

And then it 100% spiraled out of control because my brain LATCHED THE FUCK ONTO THIS and it's been the only thing consuming my mind. It's all I can think about. I'm 50 pages into a script for a rewrite. This is the most passionate I've been about a project in years. The idea is to make it into a video eventually but to be honest the Maplestory community on youtube is dead in the water so... I moved onto Gacha Life... you're not allowed to make fun of me okay.

I'm just having a good time here okay.

I know Twitter's kind of a mess but for whatever reason I feel more comfortable blabbing about OC related projects over there so if you wanna watch me lose my mind over a rewrite of a 16 year old story then [come hang out].

[tearblossom]

I think Halloween II is an abomination and a horrible movie. I was really disappointed in it. The director has gone on and done some other films and I think his career is launched now. But I don’t think he had a feel for the material. I think that’s the problem, he didn’t have a feeling for what was going on. - John Carpenter, interviewed by Jim Whaley for Cinema Showcase (1984)

I will say that what got me through writing that script was Budweiser six pack of beer a night, sitting in front of the typewriter saying, “What in the hell can I put down? I have no idea.” We’re remaking the same film, only not as good. - John Carpenter, Halloween - A Cut Above the Rest (2003)

The Daily Beast Interview with John Carpenter (2018)

You and Debra Hill wrote Halloween II (although you didn’t direct it), and now, the new film “erases” it, and all the subsequent sequels, from the timeline. I assume you were okay with that?

Sure. I’m happy with it. I think it’s great. - John Carpenter

In erasing Halloween II, Green’s movie also does away with the long-standing idea that Laurie Strode is Michael’s sister. Did you always object to that twist?

Well, okay. Here's how it was. I made Halloween, and then Halloween was sold to NBC to show it. But it was too short—they needed it to be a certain length. So I had to go back and shoot some more footage to make it longer. And I was absolutely stuck. I didn't know what to do. I mean, the movie is the movie—I don't want to touch it. But everybody will be happy with me, and they'll make money, and that's great. So I had to come up with something. I think it was, perhaps, a late night fueled by alcoholic beverages was that idea. A terrible, stupid idea! But that's what we did. - John Carpenter

To your mind, did any of the sequels get close to the feel or effectiveness of the original?

Let’s stop talking about these silly sequels, will you please? I beg you. - John Carpenter

This was as good as I’ve seen since we did the first movie. - John Carpenter, Halloween - A Look Inside (2018)

The teenagers that are victims are the more sexually active. But that misses just the essential point of the film. The movie is about the revenge of the repressed. And Jamie Lee (Laurie strode) has a connection with the killer because she’s repressed too. - John Carpenter, Halloween - A Cut Above the Rest (2003)

The one girl who is the most sexually uptight just keeps stabbing this guy with a long knife. She's the most sexually frustrated. She's the one that's killed him. Not because she's a virgin but because all that sexually repressed energy starts coming out. She uses all those phallic symbols on the guy. She doesn’t have a boyfriend ... and she finds someone—him. - John Carpenter, The Rough Guide to Horror Movies (2005)

Attacking him is like losing her virginity, as she thrusts a knitting needle into his neck. It’s a phallic act that she repeats with the stab of a metal hanger and a knife, the ferocity of sex and penetration crashing over her like a wave of blood. The hungry chase that ensues is like an inverted courtship between young lovers, with Laurie reaching a fateful, shuddering climax as Myers falls from the bedroom window. Laurie doesn’t survive Halloween because she’s pure, but because she’s now tied to Myers. She comes out of the film changed, a sexual being dressed as a lamb. And as Halloween slashes its way into cinemas, Laurie loads her gun in anticipation. The person who meets us now isn’t a wounded girl, but a woman who followed the monster into his lair and recognized his face. - Little White Lies, Exploring the Monstrous Desire Between Michael Myers and Laurie Strode (2018)

Though its first sequel would fall into the early '80s habit of retconning franchise characters as brother and sister, the original Halloween does flirt with the idea of Michael Myers, Death himself, being something of a warped suitor for Laurie. This happens when Annie pulls ahead of Laurie on the sidewalk to check out the row of bushes where Laurie has just seen Myers playing peek-a-boo with her. Annie chimes, "Laurie, dear, he wants to talk to you. He wants to take you out tonight!" - Slash Film, Halloween at 40 (2018)

In one sequence, Laurie sings “Just the Two of Us,” a song about wishing to be alone with a lover. As she sings, Michael Myers springs into the foreground, as if on cue. She is singing, subconsciously at least, to him. - John Kenneth Muir, The Films of John Carpenter (2005)

If one is to take Carpenter’s arguments to their logical conclusion, Laurie is guilty of the murders because she has “wished” Michael Myers into her life through her repressed sexuality. - John Kenneth Muir, The Films of John Carpenter (2005)

The above quote may be way older than Halloween Kills but it resonates perfectly with what Laurie says here, in said movie:

Though, Laurie is only responsible, indirectly, for the murders of those close to her, as she would/will be for Karen and Allyson. Not every single person Michael has ever murdered. Nor is it her fault that Michael is the way he is. She’s a good person who would never wish harm on the undeserving. :)

[valya-dudycz-lupescu]

A Little Goncharov for Thanksgiving

I learned about Goncharov the way I learn about most memes and pop culture, from my teenagers. In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, we had a group chat spring up on Discord that included two family friends who were going to be joining us for the holiday from out of town. One of the topics of conversation turned to Goncharov, the imaginary film around which an active Tumblr fan community had sprung up, as if it had been a real, little-known cult classic from 1973 made by Martin Scorsese. 

It became a fun creative exercise—in the middle of the day, one of the kids would send a question about Goncharov: “What do you think about the relationship between Katya and Sofia?” or “What did you make of the clock tower imagery?” or “Goncharov… iphone or android guy?” To which someone else would playfully answer. 

This same kind of thing was happening on a massive scale on Tumblr, where artists created movie posters and promotional materials, composers posted songs and soundtracks, people posted deleted scenes and script fragments. There are reviews and academic papers, fictitious Wikipedia and IMDb listings, and A LOT of fan art.

Lynda Carter posted a photo on her Tumblr with Henry Winkler that she captioned, “Me and ‘The Fonz’ at the premiere of Goncharov (1973) at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.”

Discussions popped up about the characters and who would play them in the reboot. Posts were shared hundreds, then thousands of times. A Goncharov (1973) Lore Google Doc and Discord server were created to help keep the content organized.

Our family’s fan-favorite character was Ice-Pick Joe, so I wrote “Musings on Ice-Pick Joe” in between chopping veggies for stuffing and waiting for the sweet potatoes to roast, complete with some AI-generated art. That was four days ago, and the post has been liked and shared more than I anticipated, and I keep thinking about why that is.

Conversations around Goncharov have continued, and I find myself wondering what it is about this moment in time and this type of activity that continues to capture so many people’s imagination and engagement?

Tumblr is a hub for public fandom culture and community in a way that the other social media platforms are not. It’s where you can find discourse and fanfiction/fanart for almost anything.

Still, this is a little different and on a much larger scale. At a time when people are looking for Twitter alternatives, with the stress and joy of holidays approaching, what is drawing so many people in?

We talked about this over Thanksgiving: the way Goncharov allowed people low-stakes permission to create, to play to their particular strengths, to connect with other people, to escape reality for a moment, to build a new community. We talked about the shortcomings and challenges we saw: power dynamics, issues of race, etc.

It’s an evolving experiment, and as such, it has been shaped by the many variables involved and course-corrected each time someone notices a gap or opportunity: What would a musical look like? What if some of the actors had gone on Sesame Street or the Muppet Show? What if Gonzo played Goncharov and Miss Piggy played Katya? What would the remake look like set in 1980s NYC? What recipes might be created for the Goncharov cookbook? (I remember how much fun we had making the Forking Good cookbook.) There really is no end to what people can come up with. I’m waiting to see if Goncharov gets a Tom Gauld comic or a mention on Saturday Night Live. 

It seems relevant that role-playing games, both online and tabletop, have recently increased in popularity. Dungeons and Dragons was the cornerstone of Stranger Things, and 50,000 people attended Gen Con (tabletop game convention) in 2022. It’s not my world, although I’ve watched the joy my kids take in it. My energy goes into writing, but I can absolutely appreciate the fun of playing together. 

As a writer, I walk around with worlds in my head, but I don’t get to share them until they get published. Something like Goncharov, which was not an intellectual property “owned” by anyone, gives people permission to imagine and play.

I think it speaks to a need we have an human beings to experience connection, joy, wonder, and hope. We've always had those needs. People have been gathering around fires or tables, telling stories, for thousands of years.

Today, the hearth may be a computer or a phone, but the desire is not that different. My November began with the publication of Mother Christmas, my graphic novel, the secret origin of the Santa Claus story which is rooted in the ancient Muses, whose gifts inspire humanity. One of the questions my story attempts to answer is: Where does inspiration come from?

If we look at Goncharov we can see that inspiration comes from so many places. So much is possible when people given themselves permission to play, to shrug off the inner critics and outer trolls, and to imagine for a moment a different world that they have a part in creating. That is such a powerful and compelling idea.

Stories remind us that we are not alone, that we share struggles, and that we can overcome obstacles. There are so many challenges in the world right now.

Maybe Goncharov is a lens through which people are seeing themselves and each other, reminding us how much fun it is to make-believe and how powerful it can be to have a shared image of the world.

The first step in creation is imagining. Exercising that muscle, allowing ourselves to play and tell stories and make art is a worthwhile one, and I think it's one that we need to survive.  The Goncharov phenomenon gives me hope, because if we can have this many people put their energy into creating a whole world around Goncharov, just imagine what else is possible?

[simplytheevebest]

Spoilers for Season 2 of Fate: The Winx Saga Concerning *That One Specific Spoiler*

It's Farah. The spoiler is Farah coming back.

I know there are a lot of thoughts and emotions about Farah’s return and I know that there are some that aren’t going to agree with me just as I don’t agree with others. I wrote this very shortly after watching, and then after I could sit with my thoughts and feelings I made edits so. Here we go.

They brought Farah back exactly as we imagined. Her magic was kept in a plant and the girls released it with their combined magic (through the crystal). I love that. It’s such a clear nod to the OG cartoon I can’t help but like it. It’s what we suspected all along. Go cartoon super sleuths! So either we truly were right, or they saw our speculations and that made an impact on the script.

Farah returning... and then immediately leaving again. My heart is broken. Beautiful. Upset. I refuse to accept it as canon, but it was a nice moment. Farah is alive. We did it guys. Manifestation. I so badly wanted her to be back for good, and I am a confusing mess of emotions about her being back but not back. I think it’s best if I answer targeted questions.

Am I happy Farah is back? Abso-fucking-lutely. Why wouldn’t I be? It’s all I and most of the fandom have been harping on about since the conclusion of season 1.

Do I think her being dead for good at the end of season 1 is better than the short bit we got in season 2? I have seen other opinions on this, but for me? No. Absolutely not. Because we all agree, her death was an insult. It was naive. Weak. Not the Farah Dowling we know and love, to turn her back on her enemy like a wounded hare to a wolf.

Does it make it worse that she admits she “didn’t survive” Rosalind’s attack and that actually was her death in season 1? Immediately my response is: yes. It’s the worst thing, for me, to think that not only did Farah die in that way, she then died again for real and left for good. But then I thought about it, and here’s where we stray into headcanon territory. The fact that Farah had no body and her energy was encapsulated in the fern is deliberate. We saw the sinkhole of magic being funneled into that little plant and keeping Farah’s spirit alive. That was a LOT of energy. Not just any fairy could do that, but Farah is (not was, is) the most powerful fairy, more so than Rosalind. So naturally, not just because I didn’t want her death to be true, I believed she was strong enough to survive Rosalind’s attack on her life. But in order for Rosalind to gain control, in order for Farah to have influence, Rosalind had to believe Farah didn’t survive. It had to look real. And an illusion wasn’t enough. So effectively, Farah had to not survive because otherwise it wouldn’t have worked. And the fern was the only way she did, in some way. In soul, if not also body. And she admits that as soon as she knew what Rosalind was going to do, she reached out to nature to preserve her. So she did survive. It's just that her body did not. And no, I don’t accept it as canon, but she came back. She did not go out at the end of s1 never to be heard from again.

In short, I’m still living in denial, and I refuse to believe that that’s really how Farah went out, and that we only saw her force ghost.

Look, at the end of the day, we all wanted Farah back. And we would’ve raised hell if she wasn’t. And yeah, we can be upset that she’s back-not-back, or we can do what we do best, and write fanfics and make fanart and edits and reject canon and say you know what? She is back. She came back, and then went on vacation, and that’s why she’s not in season 3 if they get one. Or she is, and we remake the canon. Because let’s be honest, we’re going to anyway, and we’re going to do it better.

As for the lack of Silrah, I too am upset we didn’t get even a single interaction with them, not even a hug. I’m not upset we didn’t get a romantic moment, because honestly we the fandom can and have and will write and draw it better anyway. Again, I’m upset we got nothing. But because we were lucky to even get Eve Best in her scenes and I can imagine there was conflicts of schedules meaning the actors couldn’t film together, I can’t be too mad.

She came back, guys. And remember this is a show about teen fairies targeted towards a teen demographic. We were not supposed to care this much about the adults. And if we hadn’t, I 100% believe Farah would’ve stayed dead. I believe, and I will believe until Brian himself looks me in the eyes and says “you’re wrong” that we the fandom had a direct hand in getting that ending for Farah. Is it perfect? No. Is it better than it was? For me, yes. Was it fan service? Hell yeah. But God did I love it.

So, though others may not agree and that’s okay, I say thank you to the creators and show runners and ESPECIALLY Eve Best for making this happen. I would not have enjoyed season 2 as much as I did if I’d known in my heart of hearts and my head that she wasn’t making an appearance. Just in bringing her back they’ve eased the insult of her “death,” and if I must accept her send-off as goodbye, at least it was emotional and proper and not off screen or minimized. Could there have been more? Sure, but we forget this show isn’t about her, as much as we want it to be.

Now let’s all get back out there and write/draw/create/edit/etc to our Farah-loving hearts’ content!

[fantasyinvader]

I'm not even sure if it's KT's fault. They were the ones who wrote the routes other than Snow, which IS handled. They were the ones who oversaw Flower, which the Japanese do view as a villain route for the most part. Kinda get the impression that what Pat did backed them into a corner when they were making Hopes, making it so they had to try and write something that would fit both scripts. I mean, we heard recently that the Dragon Quest 3 remake changed things for a global release even in Japan, and it wouldn't surprise me if the toning down of sexual content in the Live A Live remake was for a similar reason. We're at a point where, unlike back in the days of Metroid Other M, companies are making games for a more global audience first rather than the domestic market with localization happening afterwards. Could even be that NoA were the ones behind the changes to Houses in the firstplace, believing the original would attract controversy due to Edelgard's villain status combined the religious symbolism.

Personally, I see stuff nowadays trying to paint Cao Cao in a better light. Like The Lost Bladesman trying to make the Emperor out to be the bad guy, plus there are differences between Rot3K and actual history. There is room to argue Cao Cao could be seen as a hero.

In Snow, before taking Enbarr Flayn gives a speech about how the crew are rejecting Edelgard's “twisted morality” and is willing to kill, and that to go down the same dark path themselves. Yet Seteth talks about how Edelgard will never bend to the player's will a few scenes later despite how Byleth would wish for a peaceful solution. It makes Snow sound hypocritical, no?

However, the Japanese instead says it's Edelgard's willingness to sacrifice others and rejecting that path, whereas Seteth says that while it's understandable that Byleth would want to walk a path with Edelgard it's Edelgard who refuses to give in towards that goal. This bookends the map, where Edelgard on her defeat says that through her death she and Byleth will walk the same path together.

You can see how the changes, though slight in some places, alter the meaning of the story. But this, ultimately, is the case. Byleth's path is supposed to be representative of Nirvana, the Path of Liberation, with Byleth's ending title being The Flame Who Seeks Their Destiny. Edelgard's path is identified as both hadou, where she uses her power to impose her will upon people including through the use of violence, as well as the animal path, the antithesis of Nirvana. Byleth can reject their own path and walk Edelgard's, but it's not meant to be a good thing. Meanwhile, Edelgard's joining Byleth's side through her death comes across as an act of redemption. That by defeating her ideals by winning without the methods she used to gain strength, Edelgard realized her own wrongdoing.

But the thing is, looking at the choices at Snow, it's basically clear the player is being pushed to choose rational thought and logic rather than act on emotion. The player doesn't have a choice, instead the game tells them “no, you have to do this.” Case in point, where the player may want to join Dimitri their forces are in no state to do so so they sit Gronder out. Or how Byleth in the end is pushed to become the new ruler of Fodlan. In the English script, pushing the idea that Edelgard champions freedom if supported rather than oppression, it only makes it look worse.

But it makes sense when you consider Edelgard's path is meant to be the animal path (though the other lords at their worst could be said to have sunk to Edelgard's level.). It's not just that she's hurting through her ignorance, it's also that she's abandoned morality and her humanity doing so. Edelgard might appear rational, but in reality this is saying that she's acting more on instinct and impulses in order to achieve her goals. In contrast, Snow is about saying to have the self-control Edelgard doesn't and to do the right thing. It's not saying to be emotionless, but to look at things logically before acting.

Just like how Seteth says at the beginning of the route, to not see the intent behind Edelgard's words would be a dire mistake while in the Japanese script she flat out says that she did everything she could to try and sway Byleth to her side. Being in the BE House just gave her more opportunities to do so.

Plus the hadou stuff would make it clear that Edelgard isn't benevolent, whereas Byleth is meant to be if they follow their path. The Animal path is thought to be a path of evil, leading to a world of suffering where the strong rule over the weak who cower in fear. To be human means to have the ability to act in a humane manner in Buddhism. Edelgard and Byleth's ideologies being in direct conflict, with hers being made out as evil in the Japanese script, only serves to say that Snow is the hero route for the BE class. To walk Edelgard's path doesn't make her see the light, it just tells her her methods work and encourage their usage further.

But all this is lost due to the translation mischaracterizing Edelgard and trying to make the game grey. Houses essentially wanted players to be Jedi only for the translation to pull a “From my point of view, it's the Jedi who are evil.” And because of that, Edelgard's redemption is lost and instead they try to justify her means by altering her ends.

[beautifully-lumpy]

introducing my new AU...bricks and border!

back in april, jetpackbraggin's thumbnail image for caddicarus' resident evil 4 remake stream series sparked something in me - i started developing an idea for a cartoon series about the personas of online reviewers living in a large city. this idea eventually evolved into bricks and border!

bricks and border follows the escapades of the nintendo-obsessed scott (the woz) - an ambitious guy from the midwest who just so happens to be the younger cousin of the hot-headed mayor, and "laz" (caddicarus) - a brit with a mysterious past who is only known by his nickname. together they solve mysteries and get into other shenanigans in their city of oaksport. nothing is off limits!

this is basically a love letter to the entire comedic review genre on youtube. i'm super excited to start working on this!!

more info about the world and its wacky cast of characters will be revealed soon, but first we need to get into some format/release/disclaimer talk...(some of it's pretty important!)

this project will be written in prose format. i'm still deciding whether it will be in first person with the chapters alternating between scott's and laz's viewpoints, or just in third person. i know first person is looked down upon in fanfic, but that's just what my mind immediately goes to because they're youtubers who review things, and it's easy to imagine them narrating their points of view. i'm still deciding that though.

i will draw a lot for it as it's meant to be imagined as a cartoon series - and just like my previous major fandom project (onward the fanmade series), i will be drawing stills to accompany each chapter/episode! and i will gladly negotiate with any lumpy germ or wozzer who would like to contribute a guest still! and yes - you absolutely CAN create fanart/edits/etc. based on this AU! i would love to see them!

the big differences between this and OTFS are that B&B will not be contained in one book/AO3 work. OTFS episodes were written in script format, and episodes were released as one whole chapter. however, for B&B, "episodes" will be separate stories that could range from 3 chapters to 15.

as to when the first story will come out? i can say maybe soon, but i can't say the exact date and time. i'm gonna be a bit easier on myself with this one - as in, i won't be busting my ass to get a chapter out every single week. not only will i not be able to accomplish that with both my summer job consistently exhausting me and my senior year of college on the horizon, but i also don't want to burn myself out and not want to produce anymore content for the project. that's how the original caddicarus show died.

also, just a little disclaimer - this is not RPF. these are heavily fictionalized versions of the youtubers' already exaggerated personas - i mean for god's sake, B&B!scott is the younger cousin of B&B!AVGN, who is the mayor of the fictional city oaksport. lore from scott's and caddy's shows is referenced, and private people in their lives are absolutely not included in this (for example, cerys and the kids will not be mentioned). however, caddy's sister may be included, as she's a public figure.

with all that being said, i'm doing this as responsibly and cautiously as i possibly can - trust me, i previously wrote realistic non-AU caddicarus RPF and i almost got in trouble for it in 2017 when i was a stupid 15 year old who didn't know better. i know the harm RPF can do, which is why this is strictly being labeled as an AU. also i'm just gonna go ahead and say i won't be shipping characters in this. even though they're fictionalized AU versions of the youtubers, i feel uncomfortable shipping them. if you would like to create your own fan content of this AU where you ship the characters, i can't stop you. but i'm not gonna make it canon or anything.

that's pretty much all i have to say, i think. i hope that the caddicarus and scott the woz fans of tumblr will take interest in this!