#film writing sequels better money

[cherrysweather]

hi!! i'm unsure if ur still taking asks or anything, but i was wondering, if you still are, if you could write phoenix/miles with a nerdy s/o? just the type to ramble about random details from video games to things like star trek or even horror movies, they always have these little trivia facts they seem to have ready and manage to tie into the conversation.

of course if you're still doing asks!! thank you and have a wonderful day!!

Anon helluuuu! I'm sorry you had to wait a year +, but know that I really loved this ask and wanted to write it so much! I don't know if it could be useful, but I already wrote some headcanons about Edgeworth with a gamer S/O (It's this one!), so I hope you'll like this, if you still follow this blog! Thanks again and drink some water! --------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth x Nerdy!S/O:

Phoenix Wright:

Phoenix per se isn't really a fan of something in particular;

Sure, Maya taught him the ways of the Steel Samurai, Trucy taught him some magic tricks, but he prefers to not spend all his time and energy on just one thing;

But even so, he doesn't judge you, since sometimes he also understands how passionate you could be;

When he visits you, he always tries to understand what you're doing, and why it's so captivating;

Even after hours, film after film, game descriptions one after another, he just can't remember it all;

However he loves playing games with you and, depending on the film, watching your favorites and hear you afterwards explain all the detail he surely missed, the messages behind, each character personality and backstories...

Whenever he see a new film released that you might be interested in, he takes the opportunity to spend some time together doing something both of you can enjoy;

Surely, most of the time is the other way around, since you always watch out for every new announcement about a game, a film or a serie, so most of the time you're faster than him in asking to go to the cinema or buy a new game;

Whenever he can set aside some money, he happily buys you something in the lines of your passions;

The funniest part is however when you two start talking about a certain topic, and every five minutes it changes;

Starting from how the day was, to a new information you discovered about that particular character of that game, but then he answers telling you of that case where he defended someone with that exact same hair;

And it goes on;

But most of the time the talking is led by you;

He doesn't particularly hate horrors, but he surely prefers something that doesn't reminds him of any of his past cases;

So he gladly stars a quite long exchange of opinions whenever you finish to see one together.

Miles Edgeworth:

Miles probably knows a pair of films that you really like;

The rest? A mystery;

Whenever you start to rant about how that game could have had a way better sequel, he urges to find something else to do and listen to you "in the background";

Otherwise, he only comes out of there confused, speechless and sometimes with a headache;

He's taken by surprise each time you explain to him in the smallest detail how that game somewhat represents society, and the protagonist of that game is the perfect hero of who knows what kind of literature;

Don't expect him to sit alongside you while a horror film is playing;

And if he does (surely on his will) he won't watch it entirely;

In the years you two were together, Miles discovered a new way of falling asleep if he couldn't on his own;

He calls you and asks about some details or explaining of the most recent thing you played;

This is both to try and enter your world and to use your voice to empty his head and relax until falling asleep;

The first time it happened, you thought he found you boring or logorrheic, but he really just finds your voice relaxing;

And it's so cute when you get so hyped over something;

So you got along with his strategy, since you know too how difficult it is for him to fall asleep, and when he calls at impractical hours, you first check that he's ok, then just ramble about something;

Miles just puts his phone on his pillow and tries to get some sleep, answering you with "mhmh" or simply "mh" while he's awake;

Whenever he can, he does some research on what he remembers you nominated during the day and notes something of it, just to try and have a conversation with you;

Miles also tries to understand how you tie an argument with another with so much sense but at the same time with so little sense that he wants to learn to connect two things so far away from each other.

[nikox400x]

Kung Fu Panda 4-All the budget went to the animation (spoilers)

Hey all, its me, the guy who everyday make a tour around this site but almost never talk. How are ya?

Two days ago something arrived to the cinema's screens, something that me and everyone were waiting for since 2018, the fourth film and the begginig of the new kung fu panda triology.

You know? When I sat on that theather seat with my friends to see what Dreamworks had prepared for us, I told myself; "Maybe that post I made a while ago throwing shit at what seemed like Kfp 4 was going to be was a bit hard, I hope I can come out regretting what I said that time"

And as soon as the credits ended, it was clear to me, I dont regret a shit. Maybe it was a little exaggerated, compared to what a megamind fan would think about the terrible sequel they made, but still: the film is crappy and boring most of the time. But why?

I'm going to explain some points.

1- Po? Is that you?

I don't know you guys, but i don't think the panda we knew in the end of the third film is the same as this one. Seriously, he share more comparisons with the Po from the legend of awessonless than the one from the films, maybe its a personal thing but it feels that way. At least in the beggining of the film feel like that.

And I don't know what he was thinking about when he decided to follow a thief he doesn't know at all and who tried to steal in his own palace, and that suspiciously know who is the chameleon, whose were her plans, her past, where she lived, where exacly they had to pass through avoiding all the guard inside her home, why the others thiefs of the city hate her so much... With Po's experience with criminals this is like a chef throwing water on a pan with boiling oil, it's obvious what is going to happen.

2- Zheng- Female Nick Wilde but without charisma or half of his intelligence.

I knew it from the first moment I saw Zheng's desing, the people who know me can corroborate that; her facial expressions, her tone while she talk, her animal race, her position as thief, her final when she is part of the justice same as the protagonist... it's clearer than water I think.

Everyone could say this is forgivable if she's smart, but surprise, she's not. This character is just an absurd try of this company for """"conect with infant audience""""(I don't know in what sense, I supose for the cute design, idk). But the point is, the supposed objective of the hollywood companies is give the new generetions better things than we got at their age, but what I see is laziness for write a decent scrip only for take an advantage of a known IP and make easy money. Even the children have quality standars, this is not the dragon warrior and of course this is not kung fu panda.

And talking about the dragon warrior, having our deep and lovely Tigress with her magnific development or Tai Lung back from the spirit realm... why in the hell this character exists?! Oh yeah, for being trending topic in twitter for three days. Yay...

3- The furious five and Shifu, for us : our pretty boys, and for Dreamworks: living jokes.

What made Kung Fu Panda what it is, is not the fucking panda, it's them. They're the inspiration for Po, their allies, the royale representation of kung fu and the ones which everything started with.

Po's a comic relief, and his mission is show his development in part using his humor, but the humor in this film barely works because of the lazy script. Something that even the talented Jack Black himself can't fix, beacuse his only role there is dublin his character, unlike the rest of the residents of the Jade Palace except Dustin Hoffman.

Seth Rogen (Mantis) himself even said that he wasn't even contact by Dreamworks in the first place, only for make a scream in the credits, that's sad beacause he really wanted to see Mantis on the screen. And I know and I understand that the five are expensive, but cmon, they could just simply change the voice actors and offset it with a good script but that's not the case of course. Their role in the film is being a counter for Po's constant jokes, for not to saturate the spectator with jokes, now that's not in there anymore, thank you Dreamworks.

4-The chameleoooohhn and her "motivation".

I can't say much, basically because out of her design she's nonsense. She says that because of her size, she was reyected for being a kung fu warrior.

Yeah of course but only one little thing, what about Shifu? Viper, a warrior without tips? Mantis, literally a dawn insect? Master Oogway, a TURTLE? The masters goose? C'mon even there's a fucking master chicken! Don't talk shit chameleon!

Her importance for the plot? Its almost a lie, the others villains had links to important characters; Tai Lung (with his link to Shifu's past), Shen (with his link to Po's past) or Kai (with his link to Oogway's past), all of them related to important characters. And her? To zheng's past and present I guess? But again, anyone know this character. She's like a villain from a Disney show, you know the type of villain who say a lot of things but at the end, she don't support nothing to the lore.

And her personality is like a mix of all the previous villains, and this sounds good right? HAHAH nope. Do you remember when as a child you mixed all the plasticines of all the colors to create the final color and you ended up with a color similar to poop? well that's exacly how her personality feels like.

5- Po's dads; the only reason they're there is because they ran out of characters to make the film.

The tittle itself tell everything, they don't do anything for the script in all the film, and their objective could be done since the start.

The script of the film except for the final looks like a draft which they didn't know how to complete, everyone who watch it can see it perfecly. The animation, the music and the backgrounds are the only things notable here.

6- Tai Lung and the cheapness nostalgia.

Fan service is not necesarry bad, above all if is used in a good way, they sold us Tai Lung as a miracle but his importance for the plot feels just like a Stan Lee cameo, I like Tai Lung I can say that. But this is too weak, Shen and Kai are only characters in the background who don't do nothing except being defeated or make facial expressions (I don't even joke that Shen would show respect to Po considering what we saw in the second movie, and Kai wasn't supposed to be destroyed as a spirit, what the hell is he doing here again? *sign* I'll to stop trying to make sense of this).

By the way, anyone else think that the dragon warrior role is understimated? I mean Shifu obligated Po to transfers the role to another one just because yes, i mean he only has been the dragon warrior for less than 5 years and now they want to replace him with a random. Everything just for at the end, he choosed a thief with at least 30 crimes registred and who was a traitor during the 75% of the movie.

7- The """""""""humor"""""""", except they forgot the parts where I must to laugh.

Seeing nonsense hits only beacuse yes stopped of being funny a long time ago, and no, I don't want to talk about the bunnies of the portrait because I would get sick. I had to go to the cinema drunk to endure the filler that the movie had, no joke, it was the only way to laugh at those jokes.

So I think about applying the same method as in any movie with bad jokes, ignoring the jokes. I tried to do the same thing but with the pace that the film managed, such a thing was impossible, the pace of the movie seems to be made for Tiktoker children with attention deficit. From the chaos in the quarry until Po takes the bitc... uhg fox out of prison, only 10 fucking minutes pass, all of that for what? So that you feel like the baseless information and the nonsensical plot that they tell us is of any use? they could simply make a non-canonical short and that's it, but no, yes or they were going to tell us a story written by rotten old men who spend the entire day watching Tik Tok. It's not going to be that the child who sees this doesn't get bored, we know that much today's children don't have many neurons as they say, but even to make movies for them you have to have a certain talent.

In some point at the beguining Po make a joke about the ausence of the furious five saying that at least he had them in cardboard posters, and this would be a good joke. Only if the stupid film could be prove that the franquise can do something memorable without the furious five, but again, that's not the case.

Don't have any respect for this movie, look what it had with you. I understand that it is enjoyable because of the animation but it does not go beyond that line, it destroys important things about the canon and spoils its teaching about the need for change by treating it in a terrible way.

Coclusion: KFP 4 is just another Po's adventure as Shifu says, it won't tell nothing to you or make you feel different, it's a shame but after Megamind 2 I imagined something like this. It's a dark era for film, expecially the animated one so like Scar said; Be prepare, there're worse things waiting for us.

Do you want something with real quality? You don't even need kung fu panda 1,2 or 3, for make it easy to this film let's take this marvelous example; kung fu panda: secrets of the scroll (2016). You'll say; "An animated short, this is not like-" Shhh Just watch it, you won't regret it.

If you think I'm wrong in something, just rewatch the film. And if still you aren't agreed with me, well, I respect you and I'm happy you like it. I wish I could love it as you do, but that doesn't mean that the movie isn't bad, because if you watch it with your brain on or remembering the previous movies it's terrible.

. Me? I've to write a story, I love you all. Except you, Dreamworks, I'm mad with you, expecially when you do this at the same day as Akira Toriyama's death :(

[i-drop-level-one-loot]

You watch slasher movies? I haven't done so in years (much to my disappointment), got any recommendations, classics, popular, underrated, anything really?

I knew I hadn't watched them in a long time, but it wasn't till I had to try and write something based on classic slashers, that I realized how long its been since I consumed that kind of content.

My only plan so far is that I need to watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Alright, Pandora, it depends on your tastes, and what you look for in a "slasher" ❤️

As you may remember, I fucking love the OG the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and when I got pretty bad last month emotionally I watched it on repeat for two weeks straight. However, if you go in for a regular slasher film you will be disappointed. The first movie is incredible, focusing on amazing shots and atmosphere for nearly the entire first half. It's less of a slasher as we would come to know the genre, and more of an artistic film centered around the horrors of humanity. The series is a wonderful mess of multiple timelines and little continuity, but the sequels better fit the slasher archetype. The best sequel (imo) is the one directly after the first, and it's a black comedy slasher, focusing more on the kills.

Now, slashers ❤️

If you're a nerd and want to experience the slasher history, then before Halloween (which still holds up) there was Black Christmas, and before that the Town that Dreaded Sundown.

The Town that Dreaded Sundown is based off a true serial killer, and unlike TCM which is loosely inspired by Ed Gein, a lot of the kills (except the trombone scene) are based on actual murders, with his mask accurate to the only real world survivor's testimony of her assault. It's very slow pace, and with how desensitized we are as a society you might find it boring, but if you ever get a phonecall from Ghostface, then you have to know the Town that Dreaded Sundown. Fun fact, his mask also inspired Jason's mask from Friday the 13th part 2!

Black Christmas is awesome! I'd recommend it more than Sundown, because of pacing, characters, acting, and overall atmosphere. I love my second wave feminism horror (Stepford Wives (mwah)), and it did a lot better with it's feminist themes than the loose remake from 2019 that tried to be intentionally feminist (ignore the 2006 remake entirely, so bad, so lame, so gross). It did the first person perspective of the killer nearly four years before Halloween's iconic opening. It introduced the idea of the final girl, but she wouldn't become a sexually repressed younger woman until Halloween solidified the trope. It has some great kills that still hold up, and Billy is iconic. I really feel the only reason why he isn't more well known in non-horror spaces is because he doesn't have a mask or outfit that can be replicated and sold in Spirit.

After that we have our most well known slashers, and they're popular for good reason ❤️

A Nightmare on Elm St, Friday the 13th, and Halloween spawned sequels that spiraled off into varying degrees of madness, but still have fun moments.

After the success of Friday the 13th (and the realization of the franchise-ability of slashers) there were a lot of slashers that tried to capture the money magic of the first few success stories. Not all of them were great, but a few notable slashers imo are My Bloody Valentine and the Dentist.

Although Candyman is often lumped in with slashers, like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the first movie is more than a traditional slasher. I recommend the first one as a beautiful love story about the horrors of American racism. It's score is still incredible, the behind the scenes are so interesting, and Tony Todd is absolutely beautiful. Such an amazing actor. (Not so) Fun fact: Tony Todd said in the behind the scenes that there originally was a romantic scene where Helen proclaimed her love for Candyman, but they were forced to cut it, because "they were okay with a tall, black man covered in bees.. but, mm, when it came to a kiss, or something like that, it was a little bit too risque..." ( :/ )

(Please please please watch Candyman)

Then the best, or worst (depending on your views), thing happened to the genre; Scream.

One of the best slashers there is, it isn't the first self referential, meta horror (see Wes Craven's New Nightmare), but it did change the slasher genre for a very long time. It was a revival for the genre, since it was declining in popularity by the early 90s. However, post Scream horror was very meta. See Chucky's personality changing from the occasional funny quip, to Bride of Chucky levels of silly (still love him tho). Of the terrible horror trying to copy Scream, I'd recommend Urban Legend over I Know What You Did Last Summer. It was a shame, just how silly a lot of scary movies got back then, trying to be as smart and self aware as Scream was.

But my favorite (outside of Scream) meta horror slasher film is Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon ❤️ took meta to a whole new level, mockumentary style, a camera crew follows a wannabe slasher killer explaining how to be a slasher icon.

I've watched too many slashers to remember all of them right now, but if you want really meta black comedies, Tucker and Dale vs Evil isn't a slasher but a loving joke on the genre, and the Final Girls made me laugh and cry like a little bitch.

A lot of slashers since the late 90s have drifted closer to the black comedy sub genre. Killers that kill for the sake of killing are often B-rated blood fests, that can be great for mindless fun but not so great for box office gains, especially in our current horror renaissance. Slashers don't fit in to the current horror culture. Serial killers aren't scary for desensitized audiences, and the mindless gore expectations set by older slasher films have created a pretty specific genre setup and pay off (dumb people who only exist to die get brutally murdered). It either has to be B-rated mindless fun (Laid to Rest 1 and 2 had terrible camera work and directing, making even incredible actors like Lena Headey feel lackluster, but the practical effects are so impressive I'd recommend it just for the blood and guts (and bewbs)), or comedic (the Hatchet series has great cameos, genuine laughs, and more impressive practical effects, but with good cinematography and directing (still bewbs)). Slashers that don't lean in to how ridiculous the concept of slashers are and try to take themselves seriously often end up falling short, either creating boring killers with no personality or trying to force a plot into a generic slasher shaped hole.

This does include most remakes of slasher movies, as a lot of slashers were remade in the early 2000's with less interesting characters to be killed off by the slashers. The remake of Candyman was an exception, because even though it wasn't as good as the original, it did go back to it's non slasher roots, learning from the mistake that was the third Candyman.

TLDR:

Non slashers that are considered slashers because of the slasher sequels/iconic murderers:

the Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Candyman

Child's Play

Best Precursor to the genre:

Black Christmas

Popular Classics:

Halloween

Friday the 13th

a Nightmare on Elm St

Pre 90's Slashers that I recommend:

The Dentist

Sleepaway Camp (it's divided on whether it's problematic or interesting representation)

Alice, Sweet Alice

My Bloody Valentine

Post 90's meta commentary/black comedy:

Scream

Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon

Hatchet

The Final Girls

Tucker and Dale vs Evil

There are obviously a lot more, but these are a few off the top of my head ❤️

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Knock knock, Simba...

INSIDE OUT 2 - with a little Labor Day bump - finally dethrones LION KING '19, and looks to wrap up with or a little below $1.7b, in addition to being one of the only animated features to cross $1b in overseas non-North American totals. Hey Disney, why doncha use that money to cover the so-called "losses" of LUCA, TURNING RED, ELEMENTAL, etc. instead of writing those movies off as "failures" or whatever. (Yeah right, lol.)

DESPICABLE ME 4 tops $900m, now at around $915m, looks to unseat MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU's $940m take from two years back. Might even do the big billion. Outside of the animation-loaded DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE, it's really cartoony animated features making the big behemoth bucks this summer, if not whole year. Keep that in mind, industry...

Elsewhere, CORALINE 15th Anniversary continues to do pretty well, only slipping 45% for the three-day. At $116m domestically, it is now the highest-earning stop-motion film, topping Aardman's CHICKEN RUN from 24 years ago. Worldwide, the fowl still have the upper bunk. Still, $169m worldwide so far, a second life well-lived for CORALINE, proving once more how the first theatrical release is really only the infancy of a movie.

I wonder how long INSIDE OUT 2 keeps this highest grossing record, considering how amazingly it has done around the world.

If any upcoming animated film can challenge it for that throne, I think it's SHREK 5. If not SHREK 5, I really do not know. FROZEN III could outgross the already massive second movie, which is in 3rd place currently behind LION KING '19. Maybe the MARIO sequel, given how huge the first one was. INCREDIBLES 3 has a shot. MINIONS 3 probably not, I think the first MINIONS was the box office peak of that series. I would love to say BEYOND THE SPIDER-VERSE could do it, but those movies do better domestically than they do overseas.

Anyways, it's nothing short of amazing how much of a bump we saw from INSIDE OUT ($850m-ish) to INSIDE OUT 2. Didn't stay flat nor make less, pretty much nearly doubled what the original made back in 2015. Just printing money, really. But let's do hope that ELIO and HOPPERS don't fall under, the last thing we need is Disney telling Pixar to re-route once again and stop taking risks.

[amplifyme]

Fannish Year Review - 2023

1. Your main fandom of the year: The X-Files, Beauty and the Beast 1987, A Song of Ice and Fire (specifically SanSan). Can't narrow it down to one.

2. Your favorite film this year: Barbie. America Ferrara's monologue on the rules women are expected to follow made me laugh and then sob. Been there, trying my best to no longer do that.

You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can't ask for money because that's crass. You have to be a boss, but you can't be mean. You have to lead, but you can't squash other people's ideas. You're supposed to love being a mother, but don't talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman but also always be looking out for other people.

You have to answer for men's bad behavior, which is insane, but if you point that out, you're accused of complaining. You're supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you're supposed to be a part of the sisterhood.

But always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged. So find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful.

You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It's too hard! It's too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault.

3. Your favorite book this year:  Wayward, Chuck Wendig's sequel to Wanderers. Read these! Chuck is the modern day old-school Stephen King. Not to be missed.

4. Your favorite album or song this year: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit's Weathervanes. Every album these guys put out is better than the last, and they're all superb. Jason Isbell's lyrics are always a revelation. Best songwriter of his generation.

5. Your favorite TV shows this year:  The Last of Us. Humanity and inhumanity all wrapped up into a heartbreaking and uplifting package. Best show of the year. Long, Long Time will live with me forever.

6. Your favorite Tumblr community this year: Don't have one. I love all the different 'verses I move within.

7. Your best new fandom discovery of the year:  That's hard to say, what with the age of my favorite fandoms. They're all getting on in years, which makes new discoveries rare.

8. Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year: None, really. Well, maybe the weirdness of the SanSan fics I've seen posted lately. Hopefully that will soon pass.

9. Your TV/movie boyfriend of the year: Gotta go with Vincent from Beauty and the Beast. He never disappoints. And everything he does and why he does it is the epitome of what it is to be human. And to be alive. 🥰

10. Your TV/movie girlfriend of the year: Weird Barbie. She is me.

11. Your biggest squee moment of the year: Introducing @randomfoggytiger to the BATB universe through Nan Dibble's writing, and soon after that the show itself, and her getting it. Best feeling in the world, to bring a new fan into the fold.

I'm tagging @randomfoggytiger @nobodysuspectsthebutterfly @kateofthecanals @storybycorey @baronessblixen @littlefeatherr @enigmaticxbee @xxsksxxx @lilydalexf @ladytp @daisies-cats-and-spacemen @musingsofaquietmind @settle-down-frohike

No pressure. Only play if you want to.

[showtoonzfan]

My thoughts on the upcoming Disney brand sequel movies:

Zootopia 2: Hell yes, this is one of those Disney movies I believed actually DESERVES a sequel, unlike movies like Wreck it Ralph 2, The Incredibles 2, or Toy Story 4, because I actually thought the originals had decent or satisfying conclusions and we didn’t need more. However Zootopia is one of my favorite modern Disney movies, and there’s so much more to explore and expand regarding this world and it’s characters, and since there’s a shitload of issues going on in the world right now, I’m confident this sequel will touch up upon another great lesson and handle it really well because Jared Bush and Bryon Howard are very good directors and writers in my eyes.

Inside Out 2: FUCK yes. This has got to be the one I’m the most excited for. I can see why some people are skeptical because some think it could be another “Turning Red” where they focus on puberty regarding a teenage girl, and yes that seems to be the route Inside Out 2 is making, but I personally have no problem with that, for me it’s all about how good the first one was. I could honestly write a whole essay on how well written this film was and the emotional impact it had on me as a person. The lesson that being sad is okay, not just sad…but embracing your other emotions and allowing yourself to feel those other emotions is SUCH a good moral to teach younger kids, and the way they handled that lesson was just amazing in my opinion. Inside Out has got to be one of my favorite if not THE favorite modern Pixar films I’ve ever seen, and I’m confident that the second film will be just as good. I can’t wait.

Frozen 3: I’m not really passionate about Frozen, I remember being dragged to the theater to see the first movie when it came out, and while the movie was obliviously flawed in many areas, I do think it’s deserves its praise here and there, wether you think it was handled well or not I’ll always applaud the film for at least attempting to write a complicated sister dynamic, and yes…most of the songs are really good. I never saw the sequel but good GOD I heard about the production issues it went through, going through many rewrites and scrapped content (that btw, was better than the end result) and how the team was STILL working on it a mere month or two before the film would release. They made an entire documentary about it and how it was hell for everyone, and I couldn’t help but feel really bad. Despite me not really caring for this franchise, I think Frozen deserves a third movie because with the right amount of time and effort, they can possibly create a better movie.

Toy Story 5: No. Just no. We don’t need any more, while I never saw the 4th movie because even THEN I thought there didn’t need to be any more, in SOME way, from what I’ve seen it did try to pull off a satisfying conclusion, especially for Woody’s character. However I will admit, the audience reactions were always split between saying it was really bad and not needed, to how it was really good and a perfect sendoff. All of that doesn’t matter now however, since they’re making another one and this is a sequel I can clearly tell Disney is just doing for the money. I always hate it when people take a franchise I used to love dearly and then just DRAAG it for way too long, like Despicable Me or Hotel Transylvania. No matter how good the franchise, no movie like these should be going up to 5 freaking sequels and all, that’s just ridiculous. I’d say “wait and see” but I’ve honestly lost passion for this franchise, in my opinion the third movie ended with a really good conclusion for everyone and they should have stopped there.

[winderlylandchime]

People You’d Like To Get To Know Better

tagged by @classic-maya thank you for tagging me 💜

3 Ships

1. Brian Kinney/Justin Taylor (Queer as Folk) - I mean… what can I say? Forever and always. It’s only time.

2. Crowley/Aziraphale (Good Omens) - It’s… ineffable

3. Alex / Henry (Red White and Royal Blue) - CMQ created magic

First Ship

I have a shameful past of writing fic for a het ship. It is Lois/Clark from Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

Last Song

Walked home from meeting @sheisraging and @headbandsandflats listening to the eras setlist so

Currently Reading

Just finished a sensitivity read of Alter Ego, the forthcoming sequel to Secret Identity by Alex Segura (which I also was a sensitivity reader for and I highly recommend!)

Last Film

Good Grief

Dumb Money

Both enjoyable in very different ways.

Currently Craving

Something sweet…

no pressure tagging: @toddisawarlock @sheisraging @headbandsandflats @bartbarthelme @provenance @lostcol @eusuntgratie @kiranerysed

[destinyc1020]

You are right, fans shouldn’t compare actors. But when as fans you see other actors having movies that aren’t well received by critics or don’t do much money at the box and You don’t see the media writing essays about how bad they performed, then you see Tom and how everything he fails is overblown, how his play was insanely criticized because his co star was black, when other actors have had black leads and nobody blinked an eye or cared. We as fans see this and feel that is so unfair to Tom. If Tom had been the lead in a movie like Challengers, I can bet on that the media would had written essays calling him a flop because the movie underperformed at the box office. It seems all the actors have a free pass but Tom is not allowed to. Even NWH having the other Spider-Men, instead of becoming something good, help to create this narrative that he is not good enough and Sony should do more movies with the others.

If Tom had been the lead in a movie like Challengers, I can bet on that the media would had written essays calling him a flop because the movie underperformed at the box office. It seems all the actors have a free pass but Tom is not allowed to. Even NWH having the other Spider-Men, instead of becoming something good, help to create this narrative that he is not good enough and Sony should do more movies with the others.

I'm sorry, but I had to stop reading when you claimed that "Challengers" "UNDERperformed" at the box office.

Last I checked, Challengers did pretty well at the box office! Especially considering that it was a film that wasn't based on a franchise, a sequel, and wasn't part of a huge IP and had an original screenplay.

I mean, these smaller films are doing pretty well imo. It probably did BETTER than expected actually.

And since when has Tom had a box office film that was called a "flop" Anon? Seriously.... I'm waiting. From what I've seen, most of Tom's films since Spiderman have done pretty well at the box office? Maybe CW would have been a flop had it actually come out to theaters, but it didn't.... it went straight to streaming. 🤷🏾‍♀️

So which imaginary film is this that you've said Tom has had come out to theaters, and he's been called a "flop"? I swear sometimes you all just make stuff up. 🤦🏾‍♀️ The Avengers films did AMAZING at the box office, the Spiderman films did awesome at the box office, Uncharted did amazingly well (even surprisingly well) at the box office. Sooo...... 👀

And what actors are you saying get a "free pass"??? I just posted an article where Tom Hardy's film with Austin Butler got called a "flop". Tom Hardy didn't get a free pass did he? 🥴

Look, you can't take these media articles this seriously. EVERY single actor has had a bad review of their film or TV show at SOME point in their lives. Guess what... they're still acting!

Some people HATED the "Venom" films. Well guess what? Tom's 3rd Venom movie is STILL coming out in the future.

Like seriously y'all.... 🙄

You are right, fans shouldn’t compare actors. But when as fans you see other actors having movies that aren’t well received by critics or don’t do much money at the box and You don’t see the media writing essays about how bad they performed, then you see Tom and how everything he fails is overblown,

Please see my points above ☝🏾

how his play was insanely criticized because his co star was black, when other actors have had black leads and nobody blinked an eye or cared. We as fans see this and feel that is so unfair to Tom.

Now hold up. ✋🏾

I know you're not going to blame the racist hate that Fran got from weirdos online, and put that as "proof" of Tom getting crapped on?

SERIOUSLY Anon? 🤨 That's a horrible take. Not to mention, it's very insensitive and dismissive to Fran, when SHE was the one who was at the brunt of the backlash and hatred. 😒

Anything that I've read about Tom's play had nothing but good things to say about Tom's performance! Maybe some didn't care for the austere vibe of the stage set, or didn't really care for some of Jamie's decisions with regards to this play, but I rarely saw anyone criticizing Tom's acting in the play. And if the crowd size is just a snippet of how people felt about this play, then I'd say that most of the general public liked it? 😅

The play sold out in HOURS with just Tom's name being announced Anon. 😒 Idk how anyone can say that this was a "flop".

With regards to Tom's other projects on streaming platforms, I actually recall TDATT getting pretty good reviews? 🤷🏾‍♀️ And with Cherry and TCR, the critics may have had issues with the Russo brothers and their directorial choices, or with Akiva and his writing or his refusal of wanting critics to mention DID in their reviews, but that's not TOM'S fault Anon.

Anon, as long as an actor is an actor, they are GOING to get bad reviews. It's just a fact of life.

Every actor has a "flop" at some point in their career. Even the great Meryl Streep. Yes, even Mr. Timmy Chalamet. 😏

"Bones & All"... hello?? 🥴

But look, there are plenty of smaller and indie films out here that aren't MEANT to be box office kings. They are just made for the art of film. "Saltburn", "Challengers", "The Bikeriders", "Bones and All", "Kinds of Kindness", etc.

I think fans need to stop looking at Tom's work as always needing to be on the level of Spiderman success and acclaim. Just be happy for Tom that he's doing the types of work that he wants to do! 😊

Whether critics like it or not, oh well!? 🤷🏾‍♀️ I'm sure Tom isn't taking on projects for critic review. Most actors take on roles because the script or the story appeals to them in some way.

[woomycritiques543]

Honestly.

People cry and scream about people critiqueing HB or Hazbin for any reason whatsoever-

As if people were dogpilling a “real” person and they were “defending” them or feeling exhausted and sad that so many people are “unjustifyngly hateful” towards a real person by constantly sending bad faith criticism towards them-

When Hazbin and Helluva Boss characters….

ARE NOT REAL!

So if people want to say “Stolas is a bad person!” or “HB should have been written better” is that some “harassment you need to fight against!”?

No, because Stolas is NOT REAL!

He’s fictional, he’s a drawing with directions written by a person on a laptop! People are allowed to supposedly “dogpile” a cartoon show with fictional characters by pointing out plot issues to help themselves or other writers improve so they can try to write well-

Because that cartoon- is NOT A PERSON!

It’s a drawing on a piece of paper!

So do people need to go private as if they were wanting to dogpile a real person with insults and harassment? No, because in reality, those people are talking about not some human being they shouldn’t dogpile, but making a critique about FICTIONAL CHARACTERS!

It’s so fucking funny, because people will be saying mostly non-hateful critique while people in Hazbin or HB’s fandom will dogpile people with comments like “YOU NEVER DESERVED YOUR FOLLOWERS!” or “YOU’RE A [insert ableist comment here] or will be posting about how “criticism is bad don’t hawass my blorbos!”…. as a criticism post, towards the criticism… which is still criticism. Which makes said posts a complete waste of time, because it’s not even something important to talk about it’s just some random people disliking a cartoon clown! You really can just block and move on, hell, if anything causes you genuine distress- move on, dont harass people over material things such as “but I like this character!” or “it’s my favorite show!” or it just comes off as being selfish.

Being able to handle any different opinion at all is called being an adult. I swear these people wouldnt have been able to survive being one of the creators critiqued for the Sonic movie trailer.

-and you know what happened with that trailer?

People saw it. critiqued it. clowned on a fictional character, gave him redesigns: aka the exact thing the non-stans have been doing with Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss since day one!

-and instead of pitching a fit about these people being "HATERS!" to "GO WATCH SOMETHING ELSE!" or "GOOD WRITERS DONT CRITICIZE OTHER WRITERS OWO!" the creators accepted the criticism, and gave movie sonic a redesign! The sonic movie improved and became 100+ million dollar hit! In fact, the film got 100+ viewers and made even more money in it's sequel!

While Vivziepop is slowly losing large sums of money because she lets her fans harass people over SIMPLE criticism. Same for her accociated that do the same. -and though the softcore porn will still bring in viewers temporarily, eventually they get bored of it due to the badly written plot and lack of plot direction and world building... and move onto Pornhub. In 9 days, the last episode had over 13 million, while for this episode, it has only 8 million and got only 1 million in a 6+ hours while episode 3 got FIVE MILLION in about six hours!

While anyone who just wanted a plot moves on immediatly after seeing just ONE episode, which is why HB has been losing over 9 mil viewers since day ONE! It’s just now noticeable because season two is causing them to lose viewers even FASTER and the losses have now added up a TON! Over 30 mil!, so you know what harassing people over basic feedback does? It makes you lose respect-

-AND MONEY!

So you either be a decent human to your fans, or you lose a dime!

It’s not kindergarten where you can cry about a kid liking the blur crayon and not the one you have, and it still be acceptable behavior. You’re an adult, most of you are even nearing your thirties yet here you are, excusing transphobia, ableism, and using whether people like a cartoon or not to fuel your bigotry and use that as a chance to harass them, or sending dogpiling or death threats over any critique at all. You cant force someone to like something, that’s just being a hateful asshole, not a “positive and nice fan!” when you’re bashing your keyboard with dogpilling and slurs towards random people you’ve never even met before.

Saying critique out of good faith and love for a show or to help other writers doesn’t make you a “hater” for doing it. A “hater” is being-

HATEFUL!

-as in dogpiling, harassment through public slander, and threatening people, aka what the standom has been doing since day one:

Being a HATER!

[ilovescaredysquirrel2]

So I watched Chicken Run 2 (is it knock off sequel?)

So yeah, Chicken Run 2 is technically a knock off since Sam Fell kind of stole the movie that wasn't his in the first place... but it was actually a decent movie? Dare I say it was, a GOOD MOVIE! Nothe first movie but it wasn't bad at all. I do think it got a little too dark, more than the first movie did. I mean, the first movie was dark but was dark because of the heavy topics like disability (Rocky's broken wing), racism (Fowler negativity towards Rocky for being American), and Mr and Mrs Tweedy keeping everyone trapped (could be symbolism for different things). I feel like this didn't have the same vibes as the first one but it wasn't a bad movie in general. Just like Barnyard and Back at the Barnyard, in which the knock off tv series was different from the movie but still funny and enjoyable. There is A LOT that didn't make sense from the first movie.

First off, WHERE WERE ALL THE LITTLE CHICKS FROM THE FIRST FILM? Molly was apparently the only chick and that doesn't make sense at all. Chickens usually lay more than one egg at once, and Rocky and Ginger probably had chicks at the end, along with Flower and other hens (one of them obviously being Bunty). Second, the art style looked slightly more Aardman when it came to the humans, the designs looked very different. Like, they looked like Victor Quartermaine wannabes. The biggest issue I had was Mrs Tweedy's new design and that I'm assuming Mr Tweedy went to jail so she married Dr Fry for money. Like, I know the studio had a fire and lost the models but did they have to make Mrs Tweedy look 20 years younger???? Like, they ruined her design! She was cool looking before, not "attractive" but just a plain normal looking woman. We don't have to make every female adult character be attractive, do we? Come on, Aardman! That was a bad move! Like, I liked that she looked like a plain ordinary farmer lady, even though she was the villain. They changed her design by making her body type look different and making her eyes bigger and more makeup. Third, I think if DreamWorks was doing their part like in the first one, it would be better but this wasn't bad. I'm mostly mad about the new voices though (especially Ginger and Fetcher's voice). Say what you want about Mel Gibson, but he does an amazing job playing Rocky! He's not the nicest person but he's not the worst either. Ginger sounds NOTHING like Ginger, Molly sounds more like Ginger than Ginger! Nick's new voice kind of worked but Fetcher was a big no! I think the new voice for Fowler did good, Nick was okay, Rocky was... meh but it wasn't as off as Ginger and Fetcher. I was so mad when I heard Ginger and Fetcher's new voices because they were so in character (especially my adorable mouse boi Fetch).

At least they didn't make Molly as bad as I thought she was going to be. I didn't think I was going to like her but I did! It's the girls-support-girls thing that really won me over and Molly helping Frizzle! I thought Molly was going a spoiled teen rebel but she wasn't! She was just an adventurous chick who was tricked by seeing a colorful van (I didn't care for that symbolism in the movie, it symbolised HT). I also wished more people from the first movie were working on it by understand not everyone could return.

The music was good, the art at the end credits made me laugh but it didn't feel like Chicken Run (they did Ginger so dirty tho). Anyway, that's my review on Chicken Run 2 sequel. Tell me what you think! This movie was still better than Wish! I still hope the new Wallace & Gromit movie makes more money though... If you want, feel free to write your own opinions in the comments

[spiderdreamer-blog]

The Rescuers Down Under (1990)

Movie sequels are a funny thing. Done well, they can be clever, meaningful expansions of the original film or give artists chances to take the creative impulse in a different direction; compare Ridley Scott's Alien to James Cameron's Aliens. Done poorly, they seem like cheap cash-ins with lazy writing and not an ounce of true artistic passion. Nowhere can this divide be more apparent than in the decade-plus of direct-to-video Disney sequels that kicked off with 1994's Aladdin follow-up The Retun of Jafar. As I've said in other posts, it's not ALWAYS true that these or the TV spinoffs were bad. In addition to my previously published review of 101 Dalmatians II and Atlantis: Milo's Return, I swear by Aladdin and the King of Thieves for being a solid adventure film. And Cinderella III: A Twist in Time fills in characterizations for characters that often came off as ciphers in the original, as well as being a clever story in its own right. Some could even be downright inspired, like how The Lion King 1 1/2 takes a page from both MST3K and Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead compared to the original's Hamlet influences. But many fumbled in trying to justify further stories for characters that weren't necessarily built for them or did lazy reversal rehashes. Curiously, though, a built-for-the-theaters sequel beat this crowd to it, in the form of 1990's The Rescuers Down Under, coming to us in the midst of the Disney Renaissance. How does that one stack up?

A sequel to the 1977 film The Rescuers, Down Under reunites us with Miss Bianca and Bernard (Eva Gabor and Bob Newhart, reprising their roles), two mice who are agents of the Rescue Aid Society, which dedicates itself to helping lost or kidnapped children. Their case this time is Cody (Adam Ryen, who, in a fun fact, dubbed his own part in the Norwegian dub), an Australian boy captured by the evil poacher McLeach (George C. Scott) and his sidekick goanna Joanna (Frank Welker) in pursuit of the great golden eagle Marahute. Bianca and Bernard catch a flight with Wilbur the albatross (John Candy), taking over from his brother Orville from the original, and catch up with local hero Jake (Tristan Rogers, the only natively Australian actor in the film) to track down McLeach.

The most immediately striking thing about the film compared to its predecessor is its look. The original Rescuers was made in the heyday of Xerography, the process wherein Xerox machines could print animators' drawings directly onto cels and save a shitload of money/time in terms of hand-inking and painting. Starting with 101 Dalmatians (which necessitated the process both for the logistics of all those puppies and because the gorgeously rendered, lovingly hand-painted over years of production Sleeping Beauty had been a financial failure), this gave Disney's films a scratchier, more graphic look through the next couple decades. It's not a BAD way to make a film, and I would say the results often looked quite good, especially for moody, atmospheric scenes such as the swamplands in the original film.

Down Under, however, took a different approach, being the first Disney animated film to be fully inked-and-painted digitally in Disney's CAPS (Computer Animation Production System) pipeline. This has a number of advantages, such as better integration of the CGI elements like McLeach's Truck Of Doom, but not the least of which is the bright, vibrant colors. The Outback truly feels like an epic stage for the adventures, with the justly famous Marahute flight showing off its grand scope and beauty. Even the urban night-time New York scenes feel freshened up compared to the muddier vision of before. Even beyond that, the filmmaking has evolved. The original's director, Wolfgang "Woolie" Reitherman, was a fine talent (I'm especially partial to his Robin Hood), but the 1977 film feels awfully slow-paced for what's supposed to be exciting and propulsive. Down Under's directors Hendel Butoy and Mike Gabriel use tighter angles and much brisker editing to lend a real sense of Spielbergian action mechanics, such as in a scene where the mice try and board the Truck Of Doom or the nervy climax.

The character animation is excellent as usual, with the obvious standout being Glen Keane's Marahute. Bird anatomy is perhaps the hardest to do in animation outside of horses, and Keane gives the eagle both a sense of realism and character without anthropomorphizing her to the same degree as the rest of the cast. Mark Henn, meanwhile, does a solid job of grounding Bianca and Bernard as a duo and separately; they never reach too far for effect and seem more or less like normal people doing their best. The great Ruben Aquino, whose resume is more diverse than he gets credit for (Ursula, Adult Simba, and Pleakley are among his characters), gives Jake a full dashing-rogue bearing. Nik Ranieri does honestly some underrated work with Wilbur on the anatomy front, and Duncan Marjoribanks and David Cutler attack the duo of McLeach and Joanna with gusto. The way the latter moves in particular is hilarious, such as in a scene where she tries to steal eggs from a pondering McLeach.

Story-wise are where things get interesting. In addition to the original being well-suited to a sequel (literally having the "you've got another case!" ending), we smartly get things rolling fast. The first film is about the same runtime length-wise, but it spends a long-ass time getting anywhere, or at least feels that way. Whereas this is like "yup, we're off to the races, kids, iconic eagle flight in the first 10 dang minutes". Thus, while Bianca and Bernard don't enter the film for a hot minute, we don't feel like our time's being wasted in the first act as we set up the situation. I like also how the potential triangle between Bernard, Bianca, and Jake is handled with remarkable subtlety. Bianca barely seems to notice, while Jake is certainly puffed-up but never outright cruel to Bernard, and the latter gets a great chance to step up to prove himself when the time comes. The only possible negative effect is that the film is ultimately on the short end, and the plot is fairly simple as a result. Thus we get some goofy comedy padding with Wilbur being subjected to unhelpful medical practices to straighten out his back, as well as a pair of scenes with Cody and some Marketable Animal Friends as they try to escape McLeach. Hardly bad, but a little perfunctory.

I also like Cody a little better as a kid protagonist, tbh. The original film tries to get a lot of pathos out of the plight of Penny, who's not just an orphan, but a KIDNAPPED orphan. It's not bad in and of itself, with an effective scene where the villainous Madame Medusa insults her passive-aggressively to try and get her under her thumb. And it anticipates where Don Bluth, who worked on the film as a directing animator, would go in terms of his own child protagonists like Fievel or Littlefoot. But a little of it goes a long way, even if my heart's not fully made of stone. Down Under trades things up for Cody in terms of being well-adjusted with a single mother and tenacious enough both to save Marahute upfront, as well as seeing right through McLeach's transparent attempt at bullshitting him (though a later manipulation DOES succeed).

The audio end is a good marriage here too, starting with Bruce Broughton giving us an absolutely iconic adventure score. There's lots of distinct themes here that all weave together fantastically, never feeling overly like a "cartoon" score. In terms of the voice cast, Ryen gives a nicely natural performance, kid-like without ever being too cutesy, and brave, but not SO brave that it feels out of place. Gabor and Newhart, the highlight of the earlier film, reach a nice equilibrium between "society lady who takes nobody's shit" and "nice normal guy who can nonetheless keep up with her". Rogers is one of my favorites here, his Aussie twang lending some authenticity to the proceedings, and his soap opera experience (he's a longtime fixture on General Hospital) lets him access the slightly broader cartoon acting necessary. Candy, of course, was a comedy legend, and he adjusts well here in terms of making Wilbur a distinct chatterbug with a noble streak rather than simply recycling his genteel screen presence. My favorite performance, though, is undoubtedly George C. Scott as McLeach. Always an intense, thoughtful actor (he's my favorite Ebenezer Scrooge on film), he makes what could've been a generic "evil hunter" type into something really memorable by snacking on the scenery and giving him a real cruel streak. And I'd be remiss without mentioning Welker's Joanna, who nearly sounds like an anticipation of Andy Serkis' Gollum in her slobbery growls and chuckles.

I'll be honest, I can't be TOTALLY objective about this movie. It was one of the first Disney films I owned on VHS, and many a rewind was had because I couldn't get enough. It's a little rougher around the edges now that I'm an adult, true, but when Marahute starts to fly as the music swells? Every time, I get transported back to a living room in Peachtree City, Georgia, inches away from the TV. That still means something, and thankfully, most of the movie still backs that kid up.

[sinsiriuslyemo]

Orphan: First Kill (Review)

In 2009, going to the movies was somewhat of a special occasion for my family. We were better off financially than we had been when I was much younger, but still, spending money on going to the theater was something we did only when a film was being released that we absolutely wanted to see. I remember whenever a trailer would release, waiting for it to be shown on TV (how we would see a trailer long before online trailer drops) and weighing whether we wanted to watch it as soon as it was put in theaters or whether we could wait for the DVD release.

Orphan was one of the films that we just had to watch in theaters.

It did not disappoint. I’ve never been a superfan of horror films, but a well-made thriller is right up my alley. The films that stretch the imagination in terms of what’s possible in a film meant to make you feel terrified. Orphan more than delivered on that front, both with the interesting storyline of a young couple wanting to adopt a child after suffering a horrible loss, and the amazing performances from Vera Farmiga and Isabelle Fuhrman.

And who can forget the adorable Max, played by Arianna Engineer.

So when I heard recently that a prequel had recently been released on Paramount +, I knew I wanted to check it out.

Bring on the scares!

I’m always very skeptical of sequels and prequels, especially ones that are made years after their original films. When I decide to watch one, I have high expectations. Orphan: First Kill was no different.

I was encouraged by the fact that Isabelle Fuhrman was reprising her role as Leena Klammer/Esther Albright, but that was all I knew going into it. The morning I sat down to watch Orphan: First Kill, I was expecting a journey on how Leena came to be Esther, with plenty of thrills and kills.

Not only did it not disappoint, but it also veered away from the typical prequel formula and subverted my expectations in ways I could not have anticipated. In the original release from 2009, we learn a bit about the Albright family, the first family to adopt Esther and bring her to America (or so we thought). We learn that they died in a house fire that is later revealed to have been arson, and by then we assume that Esther was responsible for the fire. So going into Orphan: First Kill, I was expecting a similar nightmare situation of a grown woman with a hormonal disorder terrorizing a family, leading to their imminent death.

I did not anticipate that expectation to be turned on its head. Instead of a run-of-the-mill origin story, we get a more complex and nuanced story that in the end, had me actually rooting for the last person I thought I would ever be rooting for.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t better than the original. I’m not even sure I would say it was as good as the original. But it did surprise me in some great ways. And it was really great to see Julia Stiles on my screen again. So now let’s talk about performances!

Isabelle Fuhrman had already impressed me in 2009 as Esther. She had done such an amazing job convincing me that she was a grown adult without giving away the final twist that for a second I wondered whether she actually was an adult in real life. Nope. She was 12 in the original Orphan, and she was absolutely brilliant. That hasn’t changed in Orphan: First Kill. If anything, she managed to add more depth and texture to the character, delivering a performance that makes me want to watch everything she’s ever been in. I think we can expect great things from her in the future.

I hadn’t seen Julia Stiles since I watched Save the Last Dance. Never in a million years did I ever think I would see her in a psychological thriller. Ya’ll, she was amazing. She played her character, Tricia Albright with such nuance and complexity, and even managed to make the cheesiest of the writing sound believable. I sincerely hope this is only the beginning of a comeback for her.

The rest of the cast was good in their supporting roles, but Isabelle and Julia’s performances were what truly kept me engaged from beginning to end.

The writing was just okay. It had some really great, impactful moments a lot of the time, but every once in a while there was a line that would have me rolling my eyes. Overall though, it was a well crafted and well packaged story that was a nice follow up to the original from 2009.

At the end of the day, I think it was the right decision to release this onto a streaming platform instead of having a theatrical release. It was good, it wasn’t great. It didn’t have me thinking about it days after like the first one did. Still, I’m not sorry I watched it. I was thoroughly entertained, appropriately creeped out and never bored. You can’t ask for more from a psychological thriller.

Stars: 3/5

[sflow-er]

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?🍦 What's the sweetest fic you've created so far?

Thank you so much for the ask! I'll invert the order for readability reasons.

[Ask list for reference.]

🍦 What's the sweetest fic you've created so far?

Definitely Like you better. It's an S2-compliant one-shot, basically just 2k of Henry and Walter being sweet together. It can be read as either queerplatonic or romantic; I wanted to do something a bit different with them and I think it turned out very well. I have actually been brewing a sequel/second chapter for a while now.

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

No, I don't listen to music while I write. I find lyrics distracting, and the instrumental stuff I sometimes listen to doesn't really match the vibe of my writing (it's mostly music from game or film soundtracks).

But that's a very boring answer so aside from my writing... A Finnish pop icon called Antti Tuisku just wrapped up his 20-year career last weekend, and I've been feeling very nostalgic about that. He's not my genre at all, but I still think he's amazing and I've always admired him for how loudly and proudly he dares to be his (unlabelled) self.

The song I've been playing on loop this week is an absolute earworm about the daily grind, literally called 'For the money.' I'll include a Spotify link and live video from his last show for anyone who wants to check it out - tw for flashing lights in the live:

[mk-wizard]

Not Hiring Fans == Bad Idea

Hi, guys.

I refuse to be silent about Disney/Marvel’s latest bad idea which is how they actively refuse to hire fans of comics to write or have any professional hand in films or shows based on comics. Their exact words are that it is a “red flag” for someone to be a fan of the media. Now... I can understand not wanting to hire inflexible purists and looking at skill first, but actively refusing to hire people who love and respect the medium you want to work with is such a bad idea on so many levels. In fact, I have four counter arguments as to why you should hire fans.

1- Issue #___ may have been done, but NOT in film or TV. - And even if it has been, so what? How many times has Cinderella, been adapted multiple times just by Disney alone? Disney keeps re-adapting it with two sequels to the classic, a live action remake, a few films which re-imagine the premise completely and cartoon shorts which adapt the tale in some way or the other all the time. Great stories are worth telling again and again by anyone who is happy to do so and in the medium of their choosing. It is a part creative freedom.

2- Not everyone has read issue #___ . - People forget that a lot of these comic books have been around for decades, so not everyone has read every single one because they didn’t know about them, or they weren’t born yet. Just look at the Lord of the Rings trilogy. A lot of people didn’t even know the books existed until the movies came out and they have been around for a long time. After the films aired, people everywhere were getting their hands on the books. The same thing can and often does happen with Marvel movies. In a way, a superhero movie is just an elaborate comic book commercial, so when done right, it can be the reason comic sales skyrocketed.

3- A fan will reinvent the story right. - I understand that times change, and some heroes have not aged well, so you need to give things a face lift. However, you also need to know where and how to make those changes without breaking the character or the story. And I am not talking about little changes like updating the year, swapping rotary phones for cellphones, updating wardrobes and such. You need to know and accept what is and isn’t, as the Sorcerer Supreme would call it, a “constant point” as in something cannot be changed. This isn’t to say you cannot experiment with reinvention or pass on mantles, but even that has to be done right. You cannot turn Aunt May into a teenager while raising Peter. You cannot create a G-rated Punisher. You cannot turn Black Widow into a spoiled incompetent rich girl. You cannot change Captain America’s nationality. Some reinventions just don’t work no matter how funny, progressive or clever they sound on paper. A fan can differentiate between what changes are ok and may even make a story better while also knowing when to say no in order to avoid failure or worse, controversy.

4- Making art with love is more likely to be fantastic. - I admit not every fan can create good art, but amazing art has always been made by people who put their hearts into it. Just look at the original Star Wars trilogy. You can see, feel and even hear the love put into that, and that is why we are still talking about it to this day. Films and shows that are just made to pass a buck will be kind of fun, but they will not be memorable. If you are going to invest time, money and work into something, why not have people who want to do it? Who want to be there? Who want to make sure this project turns out great? Yes, it isn’t easy to work with people who get emotionally attached and argue about ideas, but when a project means something to the people working with it, they are more likely to be committed to it and really do their best instead of just doing things half-baked because their only concern is getting paid.

As for Disney, it has been clear for a long time that they stand by their choice, but I also think it has been coming back to bite them in the butt for a while now and it is only going to get worse before it gets better, I’m afraid. Then again, maybe it is the only way they’ll learn.

Thank you for reading and as always, stay safe.

-Mary

[these-are-the-first-steps]

what if rian johnson was co writer of tfa and tros when Sabe was Rey's grandmother

Tbh with you, anon, I think tfa was a perfect star wars movie for what it needed to be. It remains the best film of the ST. And I actually didn’t like tlj when it came out because it was clearly a six hour movie crammed into two and a half and I didn’t feel like Rian pulled it off. It took too long to get to the points it wanted to make and imo chose the wrong scenarios to make them- aka “The only real difference between the empire/FO and the rebellion/resistance is money” (which I really really liked and is a theme also reflected in the books that came out- too bad they chose a weird casino escapade for it??), and “Sometimes things fail and it’s a disaster and that’s just the way it is and you have to eat it if you want to keep going”. They didn’t know how to write for a disillusioned Luke Skywalker and Kylo was half baked at best.

Honestly all of tlj was half baked. It needed another year of pre-pro to become its best, and it couldn’t get it because of disney and their shitty “schedules”.

All this to say that I don’t know how much better TROS would have been with Rian because the notice was so so short. Do I think we would have gotten a happier ending? Yeah, I do, unless it was disney dictating Kylo die (who knows) in which case it would have ended the same. I think it would have been a little smarter and less plot hole-y. Frankly TROS set the bar in the sewer it’s so low, so even a disjointed Rian sequel would have been mediocre on the surface but 50x better than what JJ Abrams put out. So maybe that’s a win? We would have been disappointed either way, to be honest with you.

Otherwise, I like Rey being nobody. I don’t want her to be anyone’s granddaughter. I want her to be a sad but optimistic feral little sand rat who knows what she wants and takes it while maintaining a heart. Why does she need to have any fancy relatives to be that and still be attractive and still make an impact? Why do we still try to pigeonhole ourselves with all that?

Thanks for the message, anon, sorry I wrote an essay. I guess I have Thoughts these days. 🫠

[agentnico]

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) Review

Knives Out holds a special place in my heart. It was the movie I took my lovely fiancée to see on our very first date, and naturally both the film and the relationship turned out to be a great success. Now our 3rd year anniversary together is only weeks away, and ironically a sequel to the movie that started it all off for us has come out. Couldn’t get any more sentimental than this now can it. Was half expecting it to rain on the way to the cinema just to add to the romantic clichés. It didn’t rain though. Instead our Uber driver nearly killed us by driving against traffic on a one way street to the cinema. So that was fun.

Plot: Tech billionaire Miles Bron invites his friends for a getaway on his private Greek island. When someone turns up dead, Detective Benoit Blanc is put on the case.

Knives Out was a great whodunnit that shocked everyone by how good it was when it came out back in 2019. Not least due to it having been directed by Rian Johnson who was fresh off of making the very divisive Star Wars: The Last Jedi. However Knives Out was such a pitch perfect movie which brought the classic murder mystery to modern day, whilst still in-keeping with the old-school Agatha Christie vibe, with Daniel Craig even playing the very clear Hercule Poirot type character. The dialogue was sharply written, the performances were great and overall Knives Out was nothing short of being AWESOME. So much so that it was a box office smash hit. On a $40 million budget it made over $312 million profit. That’s a good fashioned pay-check right there. So then Netflix bought the rights to two sequels for a ridiculous $469 million, where the deal also includes a $100 paycheck to both Johnson and Craig for each sequel. Look I don’t really understand the Netflix algorithm and how it makes money, but now I REALLY don’t understand it. Knives Out was successful, but not successful with these paychecks! Again though, don’t get me started on algorithms - I don’t get them!

So Glass Onion is the first sequel to Knives Out, and one that sets out to show if Knives Out was a one trick pony or if this murder mystery is destined to be a hugely successful murder mystery franchise. The only real connection between Glass Onion and Knives Out is that they both feature the social commentary on the rich and wealthy, as well as Daniel Craig’s detective Benoit Blanc. So let’s start with Blanc himself. He stole the show in the first film with his Southern accent, and he does so again in Glass Onion. Seeing him be the fish-out-of-water by being a lower class member stuck on this Greek island with all the rich folk, it was adorable seeing him in his matching outfit be shocked and in awe at all the expensive tech and aspects of this place. When he tries a special celebrity-made hot sauce and exclaims “Oh Halle Berry! That has a kick” in his Southern drawl... honestly that was peak. Couldn’t get any better than that. Benoit Blanc is an icon at this point. He’s clever, funny, super likeable, and I would love for Craig to keep playing this character for as long as possible.

Rian Johnson is also back on both writing and directing duty, and he swaps out the cold and damp suburban setting of Knives Out to the colourful sunny holiday shots of Greece. It’s as if he’s trying to distance himself visually from the first film as much as possible to signify that this is it’s own murder mystery tale. Well, you know, just like with any Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle book. Same detective but dealing with completely different scenarios. But Ryan really establishes the light vistas of the island, and I must say I am glad I got to see it this film on the big screen rather than on Netflix (where it premieres end of December), as the setting and even the central ‘glass onion’ (yes, there really is an actual glass onion, it’s not just a metaphor) are worth seeing in their true spectacle. Speaking of spectacle, I’m also not going to talk much about the plot, as this is one of those films best seen when not knowing anything, as there are many twists and turns throughout that should be experienced in the moment. Johnson presents the movie in very non linear fashion on purpose, so as to reveal parts of the puzzle only at the exact time he intends to. Like an onion, he peels the layers one by one, only at the end revealing the entire grand plan. Does it at time become style over substance? Partially, however Johnson’s script is so cleverly put, and minus the first 30 minutes where the movie drags a little before getting to the actual murder mystery, the thing as a whole is really well paced an keeps you on your toes.

Glass Onion is also very funny. It dials up on the humour in comparison to Knives Out, and some of these new characters are even more wackier that the previous line up, with the cast all very game here. Edward Norton is evidently relishing playing the Elon Musk-type tech genius billionaire and is on top form. Kate Hudson is on a whole new level of over the top here, dancing and prancing her way from shot to shot wearing massive My Fair Lady hats and taking over the room with her exclamations. Janelle Monae plays the role that Ana de Armas had in the first Knives Out film in that she is the outsider, and the one that Benoit Blanc warms up to the most. Monae is very good in the role, but again, cannot say much about her character without spilling spoilers. The rest of the cast all play the parts well. You’ve got Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr.... they’re all great, however some are a little under-used. There’s also an abundance of great if not a bit random cameos, which were really fun. Look, we get to meet Benoic Blanc’s partner in this one for one moment, and I must say that the casting choice for that was brilliant. 

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is a great successor to the original movie (though the first film I’d say is still superior) that goes bigger and wackier, and though it doesn’t always work (the first half an hour is rocky), it’s well made up by the murder mystery itself, the great cast and a solid script by Rian Johnson. It’s all very entertaining and super enjoyable. And again, Daniel Craig’s detective Benoit Blanc is a character creation that is so damn good, that I cannot wait to see him again.

Overall score: 8/10