#dead snow movie review

[the-celluloid-correspondent]

Society of the Snow Review

In 1972, a Uruguayan flight crashes in the remote heart of the Andes, forcing the survivors to become each other's best hope for survival, even resorting to the extremes to stay alive. 

The saga of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, marked by tragedy and miracle, has found its way to the silver screen in various adaptations. While previous renditions often emphasized the spectacle of survival, “Society of the Snow” courageously delves into the horrors accompanying the miraculous event. 

Internationally renowned as a miraculous tale of survival, the narrative unfolds as a tragic flight where the majority of passengers met instant death—either crushed or thrown into the unforgiving Andes Mountains. Soon the survivors, beginning to starve, resorted to cannibalism to stay alive. At one point, the survivors were buried under an avalanche for several days, which claimed the lives of several members. Then as the winter’s bite begins to thaw, two survivors made the treacherous journey across the Andes mountains to Chile, seeking rescuers for their fellow survivors. 

Director J.A. Bayona fearlessly confronts the grim realities of this extraordinary event. The depiction of the plane crash is strikingly accurate and chilling, resonating with the sounds of crushing metal, shattering bones, and human screams. Bayona meticulously portrays the crash with all the terrifying details one can fathom. The horror intensifies as the survivors find themselves buried alive in the confining fuselage of the shattered aircraft for several days, subjected to multiple avalanches. Their muffled screams, stifled by the encroaching snow, evoke a profound sense of horror. The cinematography adeptly conveys the claustrophobic and uneasy atmosphere as the survivors endure their harrowing ordeal. Yet, when bathed in the radiant sunlight, the cinematography transforms into a beautiful yet desolate portrait of the haunting magnificence of the Andes Mountains. Despite this horrifying spectacle, it is not the center of this story.

At its core, "Society of the Snow" revolves around the indomitable human spirit's resilience in the face of adversity. The survivors, confronted by a relentless series of tragedies, remain steadfast in their mutual commitment to survival. Their awe-inspiring and powerful will to endure becomes a masterclass illustration, emphasizing that survival transcends mere physical strength and encompasses profound psychological resilience. Moreover, the film navigates the complex theme of cannibalism with utmost respect. It portrays the survivors grappling with their faith as they reluctantly engage in an act deemed unspeakable. The narrative sheds light on the compelling reasons behind such actions, all framed in a manner respectful to the survivors and victims of this tragic event. The spirit and internalized conflict surrounding cannibalism are expertly conveyed by the ensemble cast. Despite not all characters receiving ample screen time for thorough development, the audience can still comprehend and empathize with their struggles for survival. The film skillfully captures the essence of these characters and their collective journey to overcome the odds.

While the narrative of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 has seen various adaptations, "Society of the Snow" distinguishes itself as the first to authentically capture the horror embedded in this tragic tale. This emotionally charged cinematic experience explores the profound resilience of the human spirit amidst unimaginable challenges. The film pays due respect to the victims of this tragedy by vividly portraying the true horror of the event. The impact it leaves on viewers is profound, and one can't help but think that its power would be even more palpable if experienced beyond the comforts of home.

My Rating: A

[oneofusnet]

Digital Noise Episode 312: Supersons and Supermonsters DIGITAL NOISE EPISODE 312: SUPERSONS AND SUPERMONSTERS Chris and Wright have a mighty stack. So mighty, they don’t quite get to everything they planned on. But what you do get is a look at some supersons vs Starro, 80s wide-release horror classics getting the 4k and a 90s one that was rightfully overlooked, a loving… Read More »Digital Noise Episode 312: Supersons and Supermonsters read more on One of Us

[diamondmeadow]

out of context snippet

tagged by my lovely @ohyou-pretty-things

This is a snippet from a fic I tried to save my arse with last year when I wasn't able to finish my original idea for RLfest. In the end, I haven't finished this one either thought there's a good chunk written out and I have it all planned out. Hopefully one day soon.

Remus doesn’t count on being caught in a snowpocalypse at such a place—at least, not when he wakes up that morning, not when he arrives at the library, and not when he takes his first break after two hours of research on British telefantasy of the '70s and '80s. It’s actually all quite filmesque, really, and for the first time in his life, Remus is surprised to realize that these things actually do happen in his geographic location in real life as well. He has seen enough movies with this premise, but he’s always been somewhat doubtful, skeptical about things until they actually happen to him personally, though with enough common sense and empathy that people still like him well enough. Maybe that’s why Remus went into film studies in the first place. For him, watching movies has always come with learning new perspectives, seeing (other) ways of life. That’s what Remus has really been interested in since he was a small child with a heart condition, always stuck at home out of his parents’ fear that he might drop dead in the middle of the schoolyard or a street. He truly owes a lot to film.

Remus stares out of the window of the library for a good while before he fully accepts that, yes, indeed, he has been snowed in—at a library he rode a bus for 40 minutes to get to, of all places. He is snowed in to the point that it’ll be impossible to leave the building until it stops snowing, and even then, it will be impossible to get any bus back home for a few more hours before someone in the city council decides it’s a good idea to send a few snow trucks around to make life happen again. To trudge back all the way home in these conditions would definitely take at least two or three hours, especially for someone like him, who gets unreasonably tired unreasonably fast (cue the heart). Plus, Remus looks down at his Converse with a small, resigned sigh—he reckons he needs to install a different weather app on his phone. Which he promptly does, because now it seems like he has all the time in the world in this place anyway, so he might as well.

Perhaps if Remus had paid a bit more attention to his surroundings an hour or two ago, when people suddenly started leaving en masse, this exceedingly unfortunate situation could have been prevented. But at 2 p.m., after four hours of research, Remus is still enthusiastically (and unironically) into it, with the deadline for his article for Cinema Retro looming over his head. So, he doesn’t notice and keeps his nose buried in '70s magazines and movie reviews. The next time he looks up, everything outside the windows is so white he fears conjunctivitis, and there are exactly two other people on the floor with him—the librarian Remus spoke to when he arrived at the library in the morning, and a young bloke with long, dark hair and earphones in his pierced ears, sitting in the very corner of the room, his brows knitted behind a huge pile of what looks like medical books. Remus twists his mouth to the side pensively, and after a moment, starts rummaging in his messenger bag, slung on the back of his chair, for a bottle of water. He has resigned himself to the idea of being stuck here for the next several hours. Slumping backward into the backrest of his chair, he winces a little as his bony spine collides with the wooden construction. Well, these chairs are not the most comfortable to sit in for much longer. Tagging anyone who would like to do it and @lemndrps @moonwalker94 @onehundredflamingos

[youssefguedira]

someday i'll write a long and in depth letterboxd review detailing Why, exactly, le otto montagne hit me the way it did but until that day comes. the thing i feel like i keep coming back to with this movie is specifically the ending and the way it COULD show us all ice and snow and winter, i.e. it's over, it's dead. and i think if the movie were more tragic, which it isn't really to me, it would work, but the thing is we see the ice melting, we see new life, we see things growing again. and part of this is to give us the last shot with the birds, but another part to me is the idea that things will still go on, nothing has changed really, spring will come and then summer and then fall and there will be another winter, and the house will fall into ruin again and it will all continue. but at the same time there is the dead tree, which is dead and isn't coming back. there are some mountains you can't return to etc etc

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 33 - Solaris by Stanislaw Lem

This was the third work of really classic sci I read in June, and the second that’s probably more famous as the raw material for an adaptation than as a book in its own right. Though in fairness the Tarkovsky movie is as far as I’m aware a better adaptation of this than Shadows of Chernobyl is of Roadside Picnic. Anyway, all to say that I think I’m starting to get used to the sort of abruptness and lack of narration regarding the protagonist’s emotions that seem to have been common in sci fi from the 60s-70s.

Solaris takes places on an eponymous alien world, almost entirely covered in a vast and strange ocean-like body with only half a Europe’s worth of rocky islands scattered across its surface. The story follows Kriss, a scientist, as he arrives for a posting on the skeleton crew living in a station floating above the ocean and studying it. As he arrives, he learns that the only member of the crew he personally knew had died the day before, and that the only two residents are acting paranoid and erratic; this all starts making sense when something that seems to all appearances to be his dead ex-girlfriend appears and starts talking to him, and he learns that the other two have doppelgangers of their own bothering them. Things spiral from there.

So, I’m not sure if this is a cosmic horror story, exactly, but it’s not not one either. The overriding theme is the limits of human rationality and understanding, the total impossibility of what we’d recognize as communication with something truly alien, the feeling of smallness and insignificance in the face of vast and strange and awe-inspiring. The first chapter of the book includes an intellectual history of the Solarists, going over decades of study and all the discarded theories and failed experiments that have made the posting such a dead end as the bright lights of science moved on to more promising problems. The ocean is Other, beyond human comprehension, and even at the end of the book none of the characters have come any closer to determining whether the phantoms it conjured out of their memories is an attempt to reach out and communicate, an experiment to see how they react, a reward or punishment, a purely reflexive response by something that isn’t even really properly conscious, or something else entirely.

I honestly don’t rightly know just what sort of science fiction a Polish guy in 1961 might have been writing in conversation with, but from my perspective there were definitely a few passages that seemed to be taking shots at what most space opera treats as aliens. ‘We have no need of other worlds. We need mirrors.’ and all that. But again, that could very easily be me projecting – easy enough to read it as commenting on a dozen other things.

It was interesting that Rheya was the only doppelganger we ever meet – the story’s quite claustrophobic, and the other two scientists go quite out of their way to make sure Kriss absolutely never sees whose haunting them. Interesting, too, that Kriss is the only one whose actually got anything to be guilty about with regard to his – or, at least, according to Snow the other two were the subject of intrusive thoughts or unbecoming fantasies, whereas Rheya did in fact kill herself a couple days after the two have them had a particularly cruel argument and ugly breakup.

It’s not what the book was about, but I’m honestly kind of sad we didn’t get more insight into Rheya’s psychology? A simulacrum that knows she’s a simulacrum, created by by some unknowable agency for some purely instrumental purpose, not even in her own right but entirely to prod someone else with, unable to spend too long out of sight of him without some control mechanism sending her into a panic attack. There’s some real meat to dig into there, right? Just think of all the juicy existential angst.

My library’s copy of this is the old Kilmartin-Cox translation, which I’ve since regrettably learned is considered pretty rough and low-quality relative to the newer editions. Still, even given that, I kind of adored a decent amount of the prose in this? Or the descriptions of the alien environments, to be specific – the lengthy descriptions of the constructs thrown up by the ocean and how the appearance of the station shifted so dramatically with the rising and setting of each of the system’s two suns were just legitimately beautiful, and make me extremely eager to watch one of the movie adaptations when I can conscript some friends for it.

[basterdk]

kung fu panda 4 made me walk out of the cinema already with a 1 star review so rapidly is insane. not only was the movie an absolute bullshit, they also massacred my boy (a anthropomorphic 40 years old (dead) snow leopard) and i will never recover from that

[queen-of-boops]

2023 Fic Year in Review

Thanks for the tag @longbobmckenzie! Somehow, 2023 was my second full year publishing fics in this fandom!

In 2023, I...

Finished/wrote the following chaptered WIPs:

Are You The One? (Henrik/MC)

Wild Child (Henrik/MC)

Dead to Rights (Bobby/MC)

Deep Dive (Levi/MC)

Uninhibited (multiple pairings)

Like No One's Watching (Ozzy/MC)

Wrote/completed the following oneshots:

Crash Into You (Oliver/MC)

Lessons In Lust (Noah/MC)

Sparks Fly (Angie/MC)

Special (Tai/MC)

Perfectly Infuriating (Blake/MC)

Take The Shot (Lucas/MC)

A Midsummer Night's Song (Rafi/MC)

Image is Everything (Jasper/MC)

Just Say No (Andy/MC)

How I Met Your Mother (Andy/MC)

Wipe Out (Jamal/MC)

Diamond In The Rough (Roberto/MC)

Try (Tom/MC)

Not Another Horror Movie (Rafi)

Evergreen (Henrik/MC)

Frozen (Lucas/Henrik)

Snow Joke (Bruno/MC)

Reached the following milestones:

had two fics reach 100 kudos for the first time, one of which had gone on to blow me away with over 250 kudos

Past 25k total hits on ao3

Participated in three gift exchanges and a trope roulette

Wrote ~400k words in 2023, published ~390k words Wrote for a ton of different LIs (can't even count them all if you count kinktober) Read a bunch of new fics (no idea how many). Made a bunch of new fandom friends

Tagging: @whatisreggieshortfor (LITG or all fandoms, I want to celebrate how much you've written!) @rebelrayne @oodelally3

Don't feel obligated! Let's just celebrate the things we've done this year!

Here's to hoping 2024 is another fantastic year!

[wildfire-wordsmith]

Damsel Movie Review

I watched the movie Damsel, and I was extremely excited about writing this review. It's spoiler free as to actually encourage people to watch it. The film is a semi-classic damsel in distress retelling, hence the title. The trailer makes the premise quite clear: there is a princess cornered by a monstrous dragon, but there is no gallant knight to save her. In fact, the knightly and rich prince is the one to throw her to the dragon as a sacrifice instead.

In terms of thematic impact, the tale clearly aims for feminist tones. I appreciated that the movie did not just make the character a woman in order to call the film feminist. The characters felt like real women, and not just a male character technically played by a woman. The main princess, Elodie, enjoys beautiful dresses and jewelry at the beginning of the film, even though she is also willing to fight for her life. She is excited to meet her husband, and she still has dreams of traveling the world and maintains a well-rounded character. She does not have to reject femininity to be strong or have independent wishes. It is great that many movies depict women of all types who do not have to be feminine, but there is also a strength in movies that tell women that they can be feminine and be capable at the same time. There seems to be a gap to fill for the second kind of movie, and this movie filled that gap quite well.

The film also has many characters that passively resist other tropes for women. The stepmother is not an evil stepmother; she cares for her adopted children deeply. The evil stepmother is a classic trope. For example, Disney princesses in Cinderella and Snow-White (and their many retellings) often had loving dead biological mothers who were replaced by vain and power hungry step mothers as villains. It was refreshing to see a remarried woman who was not taking advantage of her husband: hunting for power or money and mistreating her children in the process. The stepmother in Damsel passively challenges harmful stereotypes about remarried women by clearly and specifically valuing her family more than money in kingdom politics.  

In terms of entertainment value, a gigantic dragon can't be beat. Admittedly, the motivations and reveals were a bit predictable. I found this not to be a bad aspect of the film. It is retelling a fairly classic story, and therefore meant to play on predictable aspects of the trope. There were still a few plot elements that did take me off guard (regarding Elodie’s sister Floria). Overall, the more predictable elements were balanced with both a “cool” factor from the dragon, along with a few world building elements. The castle of Aurea was not only beautiful, but had decent foreshadowing for the dragon. I thought attention to detail served me well in this film, as the creators clearly had an eye for detail themselves. Many of the scenes are more intricate in terms of castle detailing than I would have expected. This balance was also struck by still finding ways to surprise the audience in ways that add to instead of distracting from the plot, while still maintaining core elements of the story it retells.  

I highly recommend this film, which manages classic fairy tale elements in ways that both do not tire the audience of the tropes they use, and develop well thought out themes and characters.

[no-where-new-hero]

Full review to come, but one thing that I think TBOSAS accomplished so well through SC’s blistering irony across Coryo’s downfall—something that proves, in some way, its fitness as a YA series despite a lot of reasonable claims to the contrary—is its defining motif of youthful vulnerability in the face of an uncaring or actively discriminating world. I feel like that, more than anything else, is the point that SC has to keep coming around to hammer home again and again—more than the revolutionary stance, more than the politics. That’s why MJ ended the way it did. That’s why Snow has to come to the exact wrong conclusion from the right experiences. In a grown-up novel, it might come across as patronizing or indulgent, to show childhood suffering in a character-impetus way (like dead wives); but when you’re going through it in Katniss’s POV or listening to Snow’s bitter thoughts, it shoves you up against this theme inescapably and makes it real. That’s probably supposed to be obvious, but I do feel like vulnerability isn’t popular in fiction, and books always want to have “strong” main characters (esp female characters! Beloathed!) or show an empowered young protagonist like “Hey! See! You can be great too!” And through that, they start downplaying the structures that make young people vulnerable, insist on vulnerability, provide a vulnerability that the story wouldn’t exist without. (Hell, that’s what happened to the original movies).

In many ways, Snow’s suffering is first-world problems and we’re meant to scoff a little—but on the other hand, he did suffer deprivation during the war, he has trauma from it, and he’s forced to navigate among forces of authority (Highbottom, Gaul, Plinth) who have a say in his life and will shape his future. Yes, he had many choices to be a better person and we know as readers he could have done basically anything other than what he did and he’d have likely survived. But it still shows, through his fear and his hunger, that even he can be vulnerable, with great consequences.

[agentnico]

The Holdovers (2023) Review

Gosh, I do miss snow. Not something we get much of here in the dreary old UK. So thank you Alexander Payne for really rubbing it in our face.

Plot: A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school remains on campus during Christmas break to babysit a handful of students with nowhere to go. He soon forms an unlikely bond with a brainy but damaged troublemaker, and with the school's head cook, a woman who just lost a son in the Vietnam War.

Payne’s last movie 2017’s Downsizing was an underwhelming mess, with an interesting concept that is dropped within the first half hour, and instead of the fun science fiction/biting social satire we get a movie dealing with real-world dangers and a random apocalypse for reasons I don’t believe even Alexander Payne knows. It was very much a movie that was not conceived or thought out properly, hence why it was a flop financially and critically. And I didn’t like it myself, which is the worst of it all. So many may be doubting checking out Payne’s new film The Holdovers, however luckily this is a return to form for the talented scriptwriter/director, as pushed aside are any high concepts and instead we get a simple premise, yet it’s one that’s delivered in such an entertaining and heartwarming way.

The Holdovers is very much a vibes movie. It has that old-timey retro feel to it from how it is shot to make it look like it’s from the 70s (reminiscent of John Hughes films and Dead Poets Society). You also have the constant snow falling and the Christmas music just really delivers that cozy winter feel. It’s a wholesome Christmas movie through and through. Which is ironic due to two of the three main characters being absolute asses, but it’s the way the narrative forces these three characters to be stuck together by themselves over the holiday period, and how they develop from this that results in a very delightful little film. Also, having your main characters have flawed personas doesn’t always work with certain films, for as an audience it is easy to disconnect if you don’t at all sympathize with the characters you follow, however here Alexander Payne successfully manages to make you care about them by showcasing that at the end of the day, they are all just human, and through their dickishness they do still have some redeemable qualities too. Boasted by David Hemingson's very well-written script - some good wit and humour throughout, but also it’s the emotional backbone with the film reflectively diving into themes of grief and loneliness. It’s a dialogue-centric feature but one that easily wraps itself around you as you enjoy spending time with these characters.

Paul Giamatti is fantastic here. Giamatti always delivers a great performance, heck, even in the forgettable disaster CGI fest film San Andreas he managed to somehow deliver a solid turn as the climate professor, delivering endless exposition and science mumbo jumbo with such passion and vigor that one wouldn’t have questioned it if he got nominated for a Noble Prize. But with The Holdovers he finally gets to take on a lead role and he’s phenomenal. He’s very reserved as this Scrooge type who’s very bitter at life and life is bitter at him. Like it’s still Giamatti being Giamatti, yet you truly buy into his performance. Dominic Sessa as the troublesome kid too plays his part well, and in fact his performance mirrors a lot of what Giamatti is doing with that feeling that he is willing to help others, but he is also so stuck in his own ways and pissed off at the world that he constantly makes bad decisions. Da’Vine Joy Randolph brings so much to her role as a grieving mother and as such I do wish the movie did more with her character. There is only one real scene where she’s given rein to really portray the grief, anger and distress of her character but otherwise is written a bit one note, so I do wish Payne gave her more to work with as Randolph really brings it, but I also understand the movie’s intentions and focus were more on the professor and the student. That being said for Randolph to go from the crude Christmas comedy Office Christmas Party to another Christmas movie but one where she really brings her dramatic chops is very impressive. Now all she needs is to appear in a holiday-themed horror flick and she’s fully become the holiday movie queen!

In terms of negatives, there aren’t many. As I mentioned, Randolph’s character could have been explored more. Also, the film’s narrative is very predictable; again, just think of Dead Poets Society. However, Payne so successfully tells this story and delivers a heartwarming nostalgic experience that it’s hard not to love. It’s been a while since we’ve had a perfect old-school well-spirited Christmas movie, and luckily The Holdovers is destined to become a holiday classic.

Overall score: 8/10

[official-anonymous]

YOOO, I JUST WATCHED THIS CRAZY-ASS MOVIE!!!

This thing is completely batshit. Seriously. Here's a list of shit that goes down in this thing:

A fuckton of people die in the first scene. (you don't actually see bodies, but its one of those things where you just know they're dead)

A woman gets eaten by an alien rock

Timeskip to: Some nerd giving a lecture......to his pet fish......in the depressing as hell basement where he works (he's basically a janitor)

A group of Mr. Monopoly cosplayers talk shit about someone

A guy chases down a MOVING CAR and JUMPS ONTO THE FUCKING HOOD just to tell his asshole boss he's quitting (boss responds by being more of an asshole)

A woman cut power to and broke into a guy's apartment and waited in the dark in a thunderstorm for him to come home.......but she didn't kill him or bang him.

An old dude flashes another dude while doing yoga

There's a Cap'n Crunch cosplayer.

GIANT FUCKING ROBOT LOBSTER FUCKS SHIT UP WITH MOUTH PHASERS!!!! (A bunch of people die)

A grown-ass man plays with a car horn while grinning like he's four years old.

Someone drinks an explosives propellant.....and is not affected at all.

A guy says digging is his pleasure in a voice that sounds like he's talking about kinky sex

There's fuckin snow. In a cave. (no, this isn't either of the Frozen movies)

People dump their unfinished meals onto a fire and create a mushroom cloud

("🎶 We didn't start the fire!🎶") Bugs did......but they didn't go after any humans (except, apparently, one. Who then announces that someone will have to suck his ass.)

A clumsy doofus is suddenly a frickin ninja when he chases after a pretty girl.

Old-ass falling apart rope bridges missing boards somehow support two trucks and a bunch of people

There's some weird half fish, half pterodactyl bird things.

A blind guy somehow knows the person he's talking to has a gun, even though no one has told him that in any way.

Two people discover an ancient hovercraft........and total it in less than five minutes (and no one else ever notices this going on)

A guy just grabs a random child that runs by and puts them on his shoulders......and the parents invite this rando and his friends in for a meal.

Arson bugs again! (But they're not committing arson now)

Guy who can't read ancient writing at all somehow knows the document he stole is about a treasure he's looking for and not just a review of some amazing dish the writer had at a party

Someone merges with an alien rock that may actually be an AI

More hovercraft are discovered (and a second one is almost totaled)

A dude who can't drive a car can suddenly fly like he's Top Gun Maverick or something

Shit-ton of shooting......from guys with worse aim than Stormtroopers. Shit-ton of ammo wasted.

The hovercraft have phasers

Dumbass stick person tries to fight a guy who looks like The Hulk (he loses, of course)

Someone escapes death......by turning their would-be killer into a mutant demon-looking thing, then sending the thing into what's basically a giant Salad Shooter.

A person doesn't get killed or even burned to a crisp.....even thought they're inside an erupting volcano (there's other people inside it, but this one was deeper inside it than anyone else.

There's giant robot Iron-Giant-looking things creating a force-field

The one who merged with the possible AI goes back to normal

The characters concoct an elaborate cover up for everything that happened in the movie.

This was some kind of unhinged insanity but I loved it.

[waitformethistime]

The Church on Ruby Road review

Well that was fun, for the most part. Weird pacing issues and it's mostly used as set-up for the oncoming season. But also a fresh new jumping on point for those who are interested in starting the show.

So let's dive in.

To start, I think Ncuti is a very charismatic actor. But, and this is an RTD problem more than a him problem, he plays the Doctor like a superhero. I was fine with the rope gloves the first time around, but by the end of the episode with him dramatically pulling down a ship like he's in a comic book movie, I was ready to see the back of them.

Then we get Ruby, our other lead, who is...Fine. She's just like every other NuWho companion we've gotten. This isn't a knock on her, but there's only so many times you can do plucky modern girl who also happens to be uber special in some way without it becoming stale and unfortunately NuWho has done it too many times at this point. So I'm a bit jaded now I guess, but she hasn't sold me yet.

Interestingly enough though, she, and by extension, what looks to be this season's main plot, very much reminds me of Moffat's era. So if this is RTD's attempt at doing a Moffat plot, I'm interested to see how he pulls it off because his writing is quite a bit blunter than Moffat's is. Say what you will about Moffat, but I love a good mystery, and I'm very interested to know who dropped baby Ruby off (bootstrap paradox maybe?) I thought at first it would just end up being 15, but apparently RTD has something else in mind.

This whole episode kinda played like a Moffat plot, but with none of the build-up or emotional pay-off (Doctor going back to meet his companion as a child, crack in the ceiling, timey-wimey nonsense) except I barely know these characters so it was really hard for me to care. And with how reckless 15 was with baby Ruby, I'm left wondering what the point was. Why would he destroy a ship that she was still on?! Get her off first, you idiot! Not to mention with how far she fell, the impact of falling in his arms would've probably broken her neck. Newborn babies are very fragile. Not to mention, just leaving her outside in the snow. Damn, atleast open the door and put inside or something where her cries will echo. What if they hadn't heard her? I remember a similar scene from Meet the Robinsons. But that was a cartoon so I can let it slide more.

The direction of the warm tones turning cool once adult Ruby disappeared was really good and immediately clued me in that something was wrong. Though I thought the dialogue afterwards with Carla was very heavy-handed and unnatural. Why was it specifically taking care of baby Ruby that made Carla a better person? The fact that Ruby is white also has some unfortunate implications since Carla and Cherry are a black family, but that could just be me being cynical with how RTD has done his previous black characters a disservice..And why was she telling a whole stranger her whole life story with this dead look on her face? I would've been asking why tf he was in my house...

Then we get the Goblins. First of all, they're massively underutilized with a total of 5 minutes of screentime, and most of that is used on an overproduced pop song that made me think I was watching a Disney Channel movie. 15 getting in on it certainly didn't help that impression. I'm a big fan of musicals, but this just felt out of place. I could forgive 15 singing if it was obvious he was just BS-ing his way through an escape and it was acapella. But the excessive autotune just really took me out of it.

Also don't like that 15 just automatically knew what goblins were and how they worked. When did he encounter them? This isn't the first time Doctor Who has used fantasy creatures, but I like when the Doctor's scientific mind is a bit more skeptical. And again, the carelessness with the baby was annoying. A baby's about to be eaten and all 15 is focusing on is "ooh cool singing!" And then after that, him and Ruby leave Lulubelle alone again. Are you guys stupid?

I did like how we incorporated Timeless Child here. It's clear that despite the rehab, his heritage is still very much a sore spot for him, so it's nice that he was able to find that common ground with Ruby. She's not the first adopted child (Bill, anyone?), but she is the first to come after his own shocking news, so it's significant. And even though she's happily adopted, there's still this curiosity about where she comes from, and I appreciate that she isn't shamed for that.

Another thing I appreciated was the casual trans rep. The singer for Ruby's band is a transwoman and RTD opted for subtlety this time instead of whacking me over the head with a lecture about it. I appreciate that. Sometimes the best rep you can have is where they're just casually existing and not you checking off diversity points.

Cherry Sunday (and what a name) was a delight. All she wanted was a cuppa tea.

Who is Mrs. Flood? If this were Moffat, I would say she's meant to be older Ruby, but this isn't Moffat, so I feel like she could be anyone. She could also just be no one.

I get this was meant to be a jumping on point, but I am a little sad we missed out on all these firsts for Ncuti (picking out his outfit, getting his sonic, etc.) and that it all happened off-screen. And coming right after the specials it just feels a bit jarring to not get it. How long has he been an established Doctor? Why hasn't he decorated the TARDIS yet? (Seriously, it's so huge and empty. Get a couch or something. This is why Capaldi's console is >>>). The night rave scene just felt a bit pointless and didn't really add anything to the episode, same with the taxi scene. There were quite a few scenes that just felt like pointless filler honestly, while the plot was resolved in 5 minutes. It was kinda frustrating.

Overall, kind of mid, but a solid start for 15. I'm looking forward to seeing more of him atleast and seeing what RTD has in mind for the mystery of Ruby's origins.

[local-hyena]

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE IDEA ? MINE IS BEING CREATIVE !

INTRO POST THINGIE

Hi there ! I'm Nethal (or Em), the hyena that lives locally to you. I like video games, books and music (emo/goth/power metal/new wave/dark cabaret/experimental/noise/steampunk). I am an avid reader of xenofiction and I'm really into virtual pet browser games such as Flight Rising, Dragon Cave, MagiStream and Lorwolf. I also LOVE dragons, musicals and taxidermy.

THIS IS MY PERSONAL BLOG, FOR REBLOGS GO TO @local-hyena-reblogs

I have visual snow syndrom, and I recently got diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Which means I constantly see weird stuff and my brain is way too creative. I really enjoy making stuff, especially stories. This blog is meant to share these things, and blabber about whatever I want to blabber about :). Here's what you'll find here :

Drawings : #nethal draws

Text posts/shitposts : #nethal chats

Devlogs : #nethal gamedevs

Video game reviews/stuff : #nethal plays

Book reviews : #nethal reads

Movie/series reviews : #nethal watches

Writing (you know you play too much Ace Attorney when your try to write "write" as "wright") : #nethal writes

Crochet/sewing/any type of craft : #nethal crafts

Taxidermy/bones stuff : #vulture culture

Music stuff : #nethal listens

I am interested in SO MANY THINGS OMG, I cannot list everything but here's what I'm into at the moment :

DRAGONS

Ace Attorney

Half-Life ( + Half-Life VR but the AI is self-aware)

TF2

Kirby

Sonic

Pokémon

You will find more under the cut

Feel free to dm/ask me about anything !!

Meet my mutuals 💞💞 (Hi guyss how are y'all ?)

@vanillabeenflower

@fandomshmandom69

@a-big-mess-of-a-person

@clowndeery

@dilfsuzanneyk

Btw, I'm a furry, here's my fursona !

Her name is Nethal. She's a hyena (how surprising) with horns. I recently designed an alternative version lf her who's a hyena/dragon hybrid, which i feel represent myself even more. I'll keep her hyena design for stories.

I have other blogs too !

@supermemer is.. my meme blog

@broadwayslimefactory for free slime IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN ',:)

@vivid-flesh vulture culture/dead stuff (a bit gore sometimes) (not my vulture culture-ing)

@team-aqua-grunt-marine and @team-skull-grunt-lin are my pokémon irl/rp blogs, centered around, respectively, Team Aqua and Team Skull

To finish, here's a list of people I look up to and (secretly) want to impress :

Nepptenio

Marsoid

Tilkidud

Neil Cicierega

Toby Fox

Other things I like :

My Chemical Romance

Steam Powered Giraffe

Oingo Boingo

Will Wood

Lemon Demon

Hetalia and Homestuck (I have no shame)

Tally Hall

That Handsome Devil

The Stupendium

Fnaf

Rick Riordan books

Hollow Knight

The Grishaverse

Undertale

Mario universe

[cantaloupe-cowgirl]

Welcome to my blog!

→ My name is Freddie → I'm 19 → I go by she/they pronouns → Currently taken by the funniest person in the world, ladies and gents → Formerly the blog @daisy-bell-blue (was logged out, have been trying to get back in, eventually just gave up-) → I tend to post a lot of oc related content along with the occasional fandom related blurb, so beware → Feel free to jump into my askbox or pms if you'd like to talk! → I will always accept cat pictures or pictures of very small frogs → DO NOT interact with my content OR follow me if you're underage/a minor → I will block ANY blogs that are blank, or don't have any visible age in their bio/intro post

Current Fandoms + Fixations

→ Outlander → Bridgerton/Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story → TURN: Washington's Spies → The Walking Dead → The Legend of Vox Machina → Elemental (2023) → Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) → Godzilla (Shin Godzilla, Godzilla Minus One, Legendary Pictures Godzilla) → Joy Ride (2001) → Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) → House of 1000 Corpses (2003) → Saw (2004 - 2023) → The OG Star-Wars trilogy

Other Fun Stuff!

→ My Cosplay Blog - @reach-for-the-skywalker → My Book Review Blog - @freddie-reads-n-rambles (Snowed in at The Overlook) → My Movie/TV Show Review Blog - @freddie-watches-n-rambles (Lost in Westeros) → OC Masterlists (to be added... sorry, y'all)

[breezybeej]

Wolf of Snow Hollow Review

So I'm going to be super super SUPER generous to the film for a moment and make a really really really long review:

If you take a really big step back and view the movie as a vehicle for a metaphor, here is what I take away:

In modern day policing, there is a training and cultural phenomenon known as The Sheepdog. It says that citizens are sheep, criminals are wolves, and cops are the sheepdogs that have to protect the sheep.

It creates this toxic paradigm where the police feel the need to forsake all other responsibilities besides this one because what is more important than protecting the innocent from the evil? So every little thing becomes an obstacle to the most important job.

It leads a lot of cops into power trips, as expected, and it leads a ton of cops into substance abuse and also domestic abuse because of the constant stress they chose to put themselves under for basically no reason.

This is why so many cops say shit like "it was a split second decision to shoot an unarmed man" because what if he was one of these wolves trying to kill the sheepdog? You can't endanger the sheepdog, who will protect the sheep?

In the Wolf of Snow Hollow, it starts out kind of maybe seeming like a ham handed social commentary on the police and then slowly shifts into "Oh yeah this is exactly what they are talking about"

We have a man who prioritizes his role as a cop over his (ex-)wife, daughter, AA support group, and father. He is obsessed with finding this wolf himself and not letting the FBI do it because this is his herd.

So what does this mean for the movie, though. What they tried to film is a character study for a cop who, like so many in the real world, has lost perspective on reality and thinks he is the one thing standing between the 'wolf' and the civilians.

That's why they talked about how bad cops were every 3 minutes. They want to remind you that cops in real life don't really solve crimes very much. They want to remind you that cops abuse their power (like threatening to impound a car for a favor). They want to remind you that public opinion on cops is rightfully in the tank. No one sees them as the sheepdogs they were trained to be. This is also why cops are so insular. They tend to only be friends with other cops because only they can understand each other. They separate themselves from the civilians around them by choice.

Once... I can't remember any of their names... once the main cop distances himself from the police force, he starts drinking, investigating on his own, becomes a lone wolf, he starts making progress on the case and it further drives a wedge between him and his family and friends. It also makes him 'become' the wolf as he empties his gun into a dead body and feels REALLY good about it.

The movie, I think, really wants to demonstrate that this mentality (that like 80+% of precincts have training seminars on) is the primary motivating factor that makes cops into abusive assholes and that's true. There's been a ton of studies on how that shit warps their brains and keeps them in this hypervigilant stress state all the time.

So then what did I think of this movie? It sucked. I saw what they WANTED to say but they did not say it very well. They tried to make a character study and you can tell because of all the montage scenes where he is unraveling and the metaphorical hallucinations of crime scenes and all that other stuff where the actor just screamed at whoever was in the room with no regard for body movement or facial expression.

-The acting sucked ass.

-The pacing was awful.

-So much happened off screen that it was pointless keeping track of side characters.

-Fake out Kidnapping, real father death, fake out main character death. That just pissed me off.

-The Wolf among the sheep was not set up at all. This might have been trying to say something about how cops want to be detectives but really they are just bad at it but that flies in the face of good movie making fundamentals and it just pissed me off.

This movie gets a 3/10. 3 for acknowledging the current paradigm in police training and zero for doing absolute fuck all with that message.

OH AND THE COMEDY. THIS WAS LABELED AS A COMEDY. THERE WAS NO CONSISTENCY TO THE HUMOR. THE ONLY FUNNY THING WAS WHEN HE RIPPED A PHONE OUT OF THE WALL AS EVIDENCE EVEN THOUGH THE MESSAGE ON IT WOULD BE STORED IN THE COMPANY VOICEMAIL SYSTEM. THAT WAS THE ONLY FUNNY THING. THE REST WAS LIKE "WHY ARE YOU BEHAVING THIS WAY? OH YOU ARE EXCUSING BAD WRITING BY SAYING IT WAS A JOKE" FUCK YOU. FUCK YOU FUCK YOU.

[amplifyme]

Hello, and happy new year! I couldn't pick just one ask, so I smushed them all together: 30/31 for FTF, 33, 39, and 27 (how you would have changed S9, anyway~.) :D Always interested to hear!

Happy new year to you, @randomfoggytiger!

30/31. How did you feel about FTF? Favorite thing(s) / moment(s) from FTF?

Love FTF! I always describe it as a love story that just happens to have aliens in it. As far as favorites, the hallway scene of course. Also these smaller moments/things that I don't see mentioned as much:

~ The parallel between Stevie falling into the cave and getting the wind knocked out of him at the beginning and Mulder falling through the snow in Antarctica and getting the wind knocked out of him.

~ Whatever it was that Mulder pulled out of his pants pocket and tossed on the floor when he went to fetch something sweet for Scully. I want to know what it was and at the same time tell him not be a litterbug, dammit! 🤣

~ Mulder very clearly mouthing "Fuck" in that same scene when he figures out he's in trouble.

~ Scully little leg swing when she's alone in the hallway outside the OPR review the first time.

~ The way Scully looks up at Mulder after she examines the bone fragments in Dallas.

~ The way the shot is framed as Mulder steps out onto the sidewalk after he leaves Kurtzweil's apartment. Gorgeous! Rob Bowman was a gift to TXF and this movie.

~ The "No shit, Sherlock" look Mulder gives her when they reach the crossroads and Scully tells him, "We've got two choices - one of them's wrong."

I'm gonna stop with those. Otherwise this will be novel-length. 😆Maybe I'll write something up someday.

27. List some season 9 MSR headcanons.

Can't, sorry. The only episode of S9 I watched was The Truth. I have zero HCs for that season. And that means I can't even begin to tell you how I'd change it. I mean... toss that mf'er into the trash and forget it ever happened, along with 90% of S8, IWTB, and Seasons 10 & 11?

33. Favorite season finale?

Probably Gethsemane. I mean, the majority of Philes knew Mulder wasn't really dead. But there was much more we didn't know, and that sparked so much discussion and so much fanfic that that break between S4 and S5 was just as exciting as it was frustrating. That was like the pinnacle of what it meant to be a fan of the show. Good times!

39. When do you think Mulder and Scully first started dating?

I have two answers to this: the first is that they never "dated," at least not in the widely understood definition of that term. The second is that every time they were together was a date. Does that make sense?

Thanks for the asks!