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phantomtrader19 · 6 months

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POTO LONDON 16/03/2024 CHUMISA’S 3RD SHOW!! - REVIEW

(Audio will be gifted soon!)

I had booked this trip before Chumisa was announced to be taking over as alternate the day before so I was kicking myself I just missed her first show, I had heard clips of her online and she sounded incredible and lots of people were raving about her.

I went to the show expecting Eve or Colleen to be on as Lily had been off the Thursday and I didn’t think Chumisa would have done 2 shows directly after her debut BUT low and behold her name was on the castboard however I was a little skeptical as there has been a few times where it’s been incorrect.

During the Hannibal ballet Chumisa came out and I was so excited!! She looked gorgeous in the costume and wig! I also got the pleasure of seeing Lily as Carlotta again who was also brilliant, during Carlotta’s think of me Chumisa was in awe of her and just as the cloth was about to drop you could sense that she had sensed the presence of the phantom.

She began think of me and had a lovely vibrato to start off and then she delivered an unbelievable rendition of the song! So elegant in the way she moved in the Elissa skirt and so smiley like her Christine couldn’t believe her luck! Her cadenza was angelic to say the least so floaty and the high note so strong!

Her chemistry with Joe in the dressing room was so so good she played Christine like a total giddy teenager which really worked!

Her title song was lovely she has a great lower register for the beginning and then her cadenza was BEAUTIFUL and really powerful!

Perfect acting in music of the night played Christine with so much curiosity she was just fascinated by the phantom, her facial expressions and again so elegant in the way she moved!

The unmasking again just great acting and she held the note when singing “who’s is that face in the shadows…who’s is that face in the maaaaask” tiny detail that I LOVED

In the rooftop she was not having any of Raoul’s BS she completely stood on her own and almost seemed to be like well if you don’t believe me see ya later!

All I ask of you was brilliant! Again their chemistry was so palpable one of my fave performances I’ve seen of that song!

Masquerade again her little acting choices were so solid it was as if she was searching for the phantom in the crowd! Notes/managers 2 she stood up to Carlotta really strongly and when she got to Twisted every way you could see her Christine totally break down like she had nothing left to give, truly wonderful poignant acting choices!

Her wishing was SOOOO GOOD she relied a little more on her belt which I imagine she’ll get more into the soprano side further into her run but for her 3rd ever show an absolute acting masterclass!

In PONR she was stunning! When she knew it was the phantom it was almost rage coming out in her singing like she was so over his nonsense lol

NOW…..the final lair…..WOW

She was inCREDible!!! Again a lot of belt but it worked so so well for her portrayal of Christine she really held her own here I was blown away! I got that Chumisa rn is more of a Raoul Christine as opposed to Lily who’s the polar opposite so a really lovely change!

Overall for her 3rd show as Christine I see Chumisa being a fan favourite, so much charisma and charm in her Christine and vocally was beautiful and will only get better! All 4 London Christine’s are top of their game we’re truly spoiled!

Costume notes:

- Her wig texture and style was stunning I just wish they’d add a bit more hair to make it a bit fluffier.

- Her Elissa Skirt is like Anouk’s one so no big bow in the back and gold appliqué round the fake bodice.

- Lovely mint bow in her hair for Il muto and I’m not a massive costume buff however her rooftop dress looked different and I can’t pinpoint why?

- Her masquerade dress was slightly better than Lily’s the bodice was perfectly fit and adequately beaded and the skirt had a lovely shape! West end star princess’ are just not my fave tbh!

- Her wishing dress was like the original production ones with the waterfall drape which was interesting I wonder if that will change

#phantomoftheopera #poto #poto london #phantom of the opera #poto west end revival #his majesty’s theatre #christine alternate #Chumisa Dornford May

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garyalanhidalgo · 26 days

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3. The Hotel Cairo Is Private Property

Who knew Hughie Roman would be grateful to this Fabian person after ignoring his calls many times over the past two months? Accepting the Acting Manager’s invitation sounded like a long overdue holiday, but taking a rideshare to the Hotel Cairo was anything but. It truly was an act of desperation.

He opened the passenger door of the black circa 1990s Jetta, and a cloud mushroomed off it from the thick layer of dust that camouflaged its countless scratches, dents, and bald spots.

“Hughie Roman?” the red-haired woman at the wheel asked as she lifted her sunglasses to reveal her pale blue eyes. “I’m Rusty Fontana, your rideshare to Hannibal. I tried to run your credit card, but it got rejected.”

Hughie reached for his wallet and said, “I can give you cash. Why do you look so familiar?”

“I must have one of those faces,” she said. “You know an average Joe. I mean Josie.”

At least Rusty Fontana’s charming company made the two-day road trip from Los Angeles to Hannibal feel shorter and less repetitious than he feared. His chauffeur hesitated to share additional details about herself. To compensate, Hughie shared more than Rusty, who’d never seen his show, probably wanted to know about her outspoken passenger for the next forty-eight hours.

“Where do you want to get dropped off?” Rusty asked as they passed by trees, then more trees, followed by even more trees.

Hughie glimpsed the white and gray building with four massive pillars that made it look like, to his ex, the Pantheon, and Hughie, the White House. For once, they had both been correct. The Hotel Cairo was the premier example of Greek revival architecture that deserved to sit in Los Angeles or New York, not here in this backwater setting out of The Last Picture Show or—he choked—Deliverance.

“I’m headed there,” he pointed out the Hotel Cairo to an exasperated Rusty as they got closer to the hill it reverently crowned.

“You’re staying at the Hotel Cairo?”

“Just until next week. It’s not quite like I pictured it.” As they got closer, he identified that the stucco white was actually dirty white, and bald spots scarred the roof where some gray shingles had slid off. Sure, they were minor wear and tear, but Hughie cringed at the thought as they diminished the hotel’s face value. “It’s seen better days.”

“As someone born three decades before they built that hotel,” Rusty said, “I won’t comment. Hey, at least they have running water.”

Hughie glumly noted that the fountains spread out across the grounds that, per the agent’s vivid description, once spouted water were now used as planters for common-looking yellow flowers. He would take it up with the actual manager soon enough, not just someone acting as manager.

“Speaking of running water,” Rusty said, “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, Mr. Roman.

“We’ve been stuck like glue for two days. You can speak your mind freely and please call me Hughie.”

“Alright, Hughie.” Rusty fanned her nose. “You may want to freshen up once you get to your room. Sorry, but I told you to wash up at the last three gas stations.”

“I have a thing about using public bathrooms.”

Rusty pinched her nose and scrutinized him from head to toe. “While you are quite handsome in a devil may care way, you smell like a—I forgot what’s politically correct for—bum.”

“I haven’t used a public toilet since I was in high school. Even then, I detested them. Who knows what nasty diseases you’d pick up?”

“Yet you don’t have an issue with stinking up my car. Thank God I keep Pine Air Freshener handy for my riders’ enjoyment. If you could reach for it below my seat and apply it per instruction to the rear-view mirror. I’d be much obliged. And feel free to wear one. Please, I keep extras.”

Hughie did as advised to hang one in the rear-view mirror. Then he panicked as the Jetta began to pull into the hotel driveway. Before the car turned to wind its way up the hill and arrive at the main building, he abruptly hit the vehicle’s horn.

“What the fuck?” Rusty cursed, not amused by the scare he gave her.

“Can we please stop here?” he asked.

“But the hotel’s still further up. Let me drop you off at the door even if you aren’t fit to mingle with the townsfolk. Main Street locals maybe, but this hotel is a four-star establishment. They have a higher class of riffraff.”

“Ahem,” Hughie said. “It’s a five-star hotel. They have a gourmet restaurant, health club, and spa. And the only local I’m gonna mingle with is the honor bar.”

Rusty scratched her head. “If you’re not careful, those things could run up an enormous debt.”

“I meant I’ll hit up the hotel bar.” Hughie sniffed his reeking armpits as he got out of the car. “After I take a shower and change.”

Because of their abrupt stop, they currently blocked the driveway of the Hotel Cairo. As he stretched beside the Jetta, he spotted an antique white and gold Rolls Royce as it rolled down the hill at the same time. Even in car-obsessed Los Angeles, the elegant automobile would have commanded a great deal of attention. This model, a 1938 Wraith, would have particularly earned his adulation.

Its engine may have purred like a cat, but its horn trumpeted like an elephant at him as he pulled out his luggage from the trunk of the more practical Jetta. With his luggage in hand, Rusty left Hughie in the dust, frightened off by the warning.

Having expelled at least one inconvenience from its path, the Rolls prepared to mow down its remaining obstruction. Face to face with the vehicle, Hughie angrily reminded himself that it was half his property and, therefore, whoever it was inside owed him some respect. He shivered as he looked into the icy-blue pupils of the attractive, middle-aged lady with dazzling flaxen hair snug in the backseat. She scolded her chauffeur, who winked at Hughie as they flew within an inch of his life.

Narrowly missing him, Hughie waved to get their attention, but the Rolls sped off the property in a huff. The vanity plates XENIA1 glared at him as he gave the Rolls one last look. He rolled his eyes while he stifled his envy.

Hughie dragged his Louis Vuitton rolling luggage and wheeled duffle bag, both matching Monogram Canvas, up the winding road to the Hotel Cairo. Surveying the sprawling property, this had indeed been his only worthwhile investment in thirty years of get-rich-quick schemes that included the late nineties Dot-com bubble and bust and cryptocurrency, whose concept he still couldn’t understand.

It wasn’t exactly that he was trying to get rich. Thanks to Autumn of My Discontent, he was rich longer than most actors managed. But alas, he got old. Everything went downhill from there.

Hughie felt guilty for not telling Rusty the truth. He didn’t want the hotel staff or their manager to see him get dropped off in her over-the-hill Jetta. Not that it wasn’t a fuel-efficient and comfy ride, Lameo Larry would say. It just wasn’t the right fit. He may be a loser back home, but Hughie Roman wanted to arrive at his hotel as a winner even if he had to pretend that he took a limousine from the airport after flying first class, of course. Obviously, the limo had a flat tire outside the driveway, forcing him to walk the rest of the way up.

Thank God he brought Louis Vuitton luggage. It was still the unmissable mark of a celebrity.

* * *

At the peak of the steep last length of the driveway, two men lost no time welcoming him to the Hotel Cairo.

“Hello,” Hughie said. “Which one of you is—” Before he could finish his friendly how-do-you-do, a well-dressed man with gray-green eyes immediately punched his face with wanton disregard. With that, he lost consciousness for at least a minute, in which he fantasized he cuddled an Oscar like a long-lost child.

“Whoever the man is, you should never have hit him. You’re the lawyer. You should know better.”

“What’s this drunken bum doing with expensive luggage like this? He must’ve stolen it from one of your guests.”

“Don’t call him that. It’s disparaging. He’s an unhoused person with an alcohol use disorder.”

As the Oscar tore itself away from his forlorn embrace, Hughie groaned in relief, then rubbed his left cheek. The thickness of his beard had protected his precious face from any superficial damage.

“I-I-I’m ...” he said.

“Thank God, you’re awake.” One of them kneeled to check on him. It wasn’t the man that struck him. This man had beaming brown eyes that matched his carefully tapered chestnut hair. If he wasn’t already fully awake, Hughie would’ve mistaken him for an angel shielding him from the nasty piece of work in the blue blazer. “I’m sorry, sir. The Hotel Cairo is private property and James just wanted you to go. But he should have asked and not laid a finger on you. Is your jaw okay?”

Hughie turned his head to show off his chiseled jaw. The nice man saw he was okay, sighed with relief, and caressed his cheek with tenderness.

“Fabian,” the mean man shouted. “You don’t know where he’s been.”

“Fabian Flores?” Hughie stood up.

“That’s me.”

“As I was trying to say before your security guard pummeled me without mercy, I’m Hughie Roman. We spoke last Monday.”

“I am not the security guard,” the one named James growled at him, “and you aren’t Mr. Roman. But this is probably his luggage.”

He unzipped the leather duffel bag and dumped its contents on the ground before Hughie or Fabian could protest.

“James, please stop,” Fabian said to his crazed co-worker. “Do you have any I.D. to prove you’re Hughie Roman?”

“Yes, I do.” Hughie reached for his wallet, but his back pocket was empty. “No, I don’t. I must’ve dropped it in the Uber.”

“You took an Uber here?” Fabian asked. He crouched on the ground and scooped up Hughie’s belongings.

Hughie saw a familiar wine-colored envelope sticking out among his unmentionables. He grabbed it and presented it to Fabian.

The hotel manager’s eyes dilated. “It’s our seal, and it’s sent courtesy of Carraway & Sons.”

“I still don’t believe him.” The man named James would’ve been handsome even by Hollywood’s lofty standards had he not had a disagreeable scowl. “He looks and smells putrid. Hughie Roman is a wealthy television star. Surely, he would’ve showered and dressed up before he checked into his hotel.”

James took the envelope from Fabian and pulled out the thick packet of papers inside. Finally, identifying an unmistakable sign made him laugh hysterically.

“What is it?” Fabian asked.

“It’s my father’s signature.”

“Now, do you believe him?” Fabian said like he definitely knew Hughie had told them the truth.

He caught the thoughtful hotel manager staring at him from time to time. Why was he so obsessed with his face long after he brushed his cheek while he’d been on the ground? Now that Hughie was on his feet again, Fabian studied his face even more conspicuously. It was as if he looked more familiar now that gravity hadn’t flattened his features out of proportion. Who did he see in those stolen glances?

Hughie’s mind raced as he heard James call someone on his phone. “Sheriff Holden, we have a criminal element at the Hotel Cairo.”

After a forty-eight-hour trip, being knocked unconscious upon arriving, and having his clothes scattered across the driveway, Hughie was out of steam.

Buy The Hotel Cairo now in a beautiful 280-page hardcover and digital/Kindle Unlimited:

#lgbt books #gay romance #lgbt novel #romance #romance novels #romance books #romcom #rom com #excerpts

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edenparkway · 1 year

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Current Hyperfixation on (and Amplexations of) Hannibal and its Metaphors

(A note, before reading. Please excuse my wordy and cringe style. This is what it sounded like in my head, and in a passage on introspection I decided it more emotionally honest to leave it as such. I read a lot of old books. My apologies, it will happen again.)

Part One, Introspection

Lately, I have resumed my on-again-off-again hyper fixation with the show Hannibal. On Tumblr, we are in good company for this.

There are many reasons to hyper-fixate on the show Hannibal as a fan, the complexity of the characters both on their own and in relation to each other, it's signature visually striking and artistic cinematography and dark and atmospheric visuals, and its various symbolic elements that leave room for interpretation, leading fans to engage in discussions and theories about the hidden meanings and motives within the narrative.

But why this time?

I am not old, but nor am I young. I came into the world in 1981.(The same year as the novel Red Dragon, if you will allow me to nerd about it.) I am routinely mistaken for someone in my thirties. The twenties even, if I am in a slim phase and play up my femininity. But I am not either. I am 42. A lot of people close to me have died lately. My elders of natural causes and way too many friends in deaths of despair. And of course, the planet is on fire. It causes one to feel the clock ticking on their mortality. And I am seized with this profound desire to know myself fully, the good and the bad, before I run out of time.

I've gone to professionals and friends, taken assessments, been prescribed medications, and seen therapists that delved into my family's histories of addiction, mental illness, abuse, and neglect. I've scored positive for autism, slightly lower for dark triads, gender dysphoria, etc. I've seen many kinds of professionals, all with wildly different perspectives on what is going on with me. And I have run out of options with the insurance I have before I could come to any conclusions.

A friend of mine from my past who shares some of these issues and is in a better place in his life than he ever has been reached out to me. We began to discuss my journey. He asked me why I was trying so hard to find a label or a hard and fast answer. He supported my self-exploration but put to me the question, to what end? Why could I not see myself simply as me for what I am without picking apart all these tiny elements?

What I explained to him was not that I needed a label to sum me up. I have no desire to pick the feature which describes me best and call myself that thing, but rather to blow up all these elements out into my field of vision like stars. To look at them, to make note of their constellations, to zoom in on certain stars and zoom out and see where they fit in my own personal galaxy and what and where my fractures are, so I can move on. I just hope when I'm done driving myself mad to find my true self, that all these shattered elements come back together neatly.

AHH, there's the metaphor!

And if you're a Fannibal, I need not explain what it is, and you'll understand without question how I find myself like the prodigal AFAB son coming home to the fictional world of Bryan Fuller's Chesapeake Bay area. (Known in our world as the Washington–Baltimore–Arlington, DC–MD–VA–WV–PA Combined Statistical Area) And following Will's journey like another stray dog, ever-present but helpless to intervene and just happy to have found a place here.

To be continued in Part Two, The Teacup

#self introspection #mental illness #gender dysphoria #depression #bipolar #autism #hannibal #will graham #fannibal family #fannibals

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slashyrogue · 3 years

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I posted 1,138 times in 2021

327 posts created (29%)

811 posts reblogged (71%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 2.5 posts.

I added 1,536 tags in 2021

#hannibal - 345 posts

#hannigram au - 211 posts

#hannigram - 198 posts

#fan art - 195 posts

#hannibal fan art - 157 posts

#hannibal lecter - 103 posts

#will graham - 100 posts

#my patreon - 77 posts

#my ao3 - 76 posts

#my writing - 74 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#i saw some people arguing on twitter about bottom hannibal and it pissed me off so i'm gonna reblog all my bottom hannibal shit tomorrow lol

My Top Posts in 2021

Fake dating!!!!!!! Sincerely, a basic bitch

Will sat down in the armchair across from Hannibal with a long sigh. He seemed more exhausted than usual.

“Is there something wrong?”

He ran a hand over his face. “It’s...you don’t want to hear about it.”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.”

Will threw his head back and sighed louder. “There’s this student.”

Hannibal’s lip twitched. “You’re having difficulties with them?”

“She’s been bringing me gifts.”

He squeezed his pen so tight it nearly cracked. “Oh?”

Will shook his head. “I...I told her it’s inappropriate but she keeps reminding me she’s over eighteen and the semester is nearly over. She made dog treats for the dogs! She told me she’s knitting them sweaters!”

Hannibal set his pen and notebook down on the table beside him. His anger felt like a living thing, so much so he was prepared to ask for this student’s full name and deal with her himself. “Will, perhaps you need to be more firm.”

Will leaned forward, looking distraught. “I HAVE BEEN FIRM! I told her no in as many ways as possible! I’m worried she’s gonna follow me home one day and...”

He nearly hissed at the various imagined ends of that sentence. “Perhaps...I can be of service.”

“I don’t know how.”

“I could...pretend to be your paramour.”

Will blinked. “You want to be my fake boyfriend?”

Hannibal smiled. “If it will help this young woman leave you alone? Yes.”

Will let out a long breath. “You...I can’t ask you to do that, Dr. Lecter.”

“Hannibal,” he corrected, “If I’m going to be your boyfriend you need to start calling me Hannibal.”

He loved to see the slight blush to Will’s cheeks as he pushed the glasses up his nose. “I....you’re sure? I mean, I’m not exactly the type of guy you normally socialize with.”

“Have we not been socializing, Will? I thought we were just having conversations?”

Will smiled. “Touché.”

“And as for what ‘type’ of person I socialize with....perhaps it’s time for me to change that. I enjoy spending time with you, Will. More time spent with you will not be a burden.”

He saw the way Will relaxed at his words and wondered just how few times Will had been told that very thing.

“Okay,” Will said, shaking his head, “It sounds crazy and I’m sure it’ll all come crashing down but I’m desperate. So...Doc...Hannibal, would you be my fake boyfriend?”

Hannibal reached out and took Will’s hand, kissing it softly. “It would be an honor.”

Will blushed. “I...no one’s here now to...”

“True,” he said, still holding Will’s hand, “But I thought perhaps I should rehearse just a bit before my first curtain call.”

“Oh.”

“So...tomorrow? I can bring you lunch? What time is this young woman’s class?”

See the full post

66 notes • Posted 2021-02-08 05:04:05 GMT

Failed Twitter Attempts - Hannigram A/B/O AU: Where You Belong

Will never meant to become a nanny.

Betas were not known for their paternal instincts, normally assigned blue collar jobs that filled their days with hard work and little pay. But the flier at the grocery store caught his eye and the rest was history.

ARE YOU AGED 18-35 LOOKING FOR A JOB? CALL 1-800-8475 WE NEED YOU!

It sounded like a scam right off the bat, some sort of scheme to lure younger people into something sinister, but the woman on the other end of the phone sounded sincere.

"You're a beta?"

He sighed. "Yeah, so any sort of job you have going I can probably do."

"Hmm...have you ever...looked after children before?"

Will hadn't, but he lied, and his first job, Missy Bennett, was a disaster.

He didn't know jack of shit about kids, and Missy was a terror that could not be calmed.

The agency tried three more kids before that, and Will realized he just wasn't cut out for this type of work.

Though on the fourth try that year somehow he was assigned to the Lecter household.

Hannibal Lecter had fired six others before him, all omegas, and Will came into the interview not expecting to be hired. The house, if you wanted to call it that but really the place could be considered a castle, shined and glittered as he sat across from Omega who seemed very little like an omega.

He was bigger than most, it was obvious he liked expensive pretty things, and his scent was sweet like most omegas were. But he just didn't seem like one.

Not at all.

"I see you've had similar troubles like I have," Hannibal said, smiling, "Not compatible with your previous employers?"

Will sighed. "I...can I be honest?"

"Please."

"I started this job because I had no other choice," he said, falling back in his chair, "I'm...not really all that good with kids, and I think if this doesn't work out I'll just go back to working in the lumber yard. Betas don't usually---"

"Daddy?"

Will turned and saw a little blonde haired girl peek out of the sliding doors that Hannibal had closed in the study. He felt an odd jolt to his heart at the sight of her.

She looked very much like her father.

"Desdemona," Hannibal sighed, standing as he walked over, "I told you to stay in your room, Darling. Daddy has to--"

Desdemona met him halfway, grabbing his legs, and looked at Will.

"Are you gonna be my new nanny?"

Will swallowed. "Um..."

"This is Will, Darling," Hannibal said, "Do you like him?"

Desdemona smiled. "He's pretty."

Will blushed. "I...um..."

Hannibal smiled. "He is quite handsome, yes," he said, making Will blush harder, though that is not what I asked."

See the full post

66 notes • Posted 2021-07-13 22:14:22 GMT

Hannigram AU: Chomp

Every year there was an event.

Monsters of all kinds were invited, though some were not exactly welcome in the same areas. There were many tiers of monsters: shapeshifters and vampires were among the very highest while the lowest of the low were creatures who could not easily blend in to polite society.

Creatures like Will Graham.

Will was born a zombie, which traditionally were made by bites from the walking dead. His mother had been human and his father a zombie who rose quite suddenly after death. They’d been happy for a while, or so he’d been told, until his mother found someone normal.

His father died not long after Will graduated high school, and throughout he’d been ostracized for his gaunt deadlike skin, deep sunken in eyes, and strange abilities to read people. Will lived on brains but didn’t need much.

That still didn’t keep him from being summoned to this event.

He was, after all, a zombie born. Very few of his kind lived to be older than their teens and despite initial excitement that perhaps he’d be among people who would not look down upon him the minute he entered the lower rung Will knew differently.

No one wanted him here.

There were whispers, obvious ones, and he was there only an hour before he snuck away to the upper gardens. None of the more important monsters bothered to go there, the wine and booze were flowing inside, and he stared out into the darkness trying not to cry.

He only needed to be here for a few hours and then he could leave.

Hopefully they would not invite him again next year.

It was there, in the garden, where Will met Hannibal.

One minute he was chewing a fried brain stick and the next he was scared out of his mind when a man appeared out of nowhere. “Hello.”

Will froze.

The man was wearing a fine looking suit, three piece, and looked so human Will was almost certain he had to be. “I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?”

“I’ll go,” Will said, standing so fast he nearly dropped his food.

The man appeared just in front of him then, like magic, and reached out to touch Will’s face. “No, I’d like you to stay. I’ve never met any monsters who look like you. What are you?”

He swallowed. “I...a zombie.”

The man smiled. “You live on human meat?”

“A little,” Will whispered, tears in his eyes, “Mister…”

“Lecter,” the man said, “Hannibal Lecter. I’m the host of this event.”

Will blinked. “Oh.”

“What is your name?”

“Will,” he said, his voice shaking, “Mister Lecter, I’m sorry that I came up here I didn’t…”

Hannibal leaned in and sniffed at Will’s neck. He shuddered at the touch of his skin, so warm, and for the first time Will felt his body respond in ways it never had before. He hadn’t even been aware his body could respond quite like this. He groaned and to his shock he felt his cock fall off and roll out of his pant leg.

His face turned bright red as Hannibal moved back to stare down at it. “I apologize, I was unaware that was a possibility.”

He reached down to pick it up but his cock vanished before he could and Will felt it return between his legs. “I...thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Do your body parts fall off that easily? I cannot smell you at all so I was unaware of any hidden dangers.”

See the full post

79 notes • Posted 2021-04-07 13:24:10 GMT

All these years of being in the Hannibal fandom and I still get irrationally upset when I see people spelling it "Lector". It's LECTER. Do you know how upset Hannibal Lecter would be with you if you spelled his name wrong?

163 notes • Posted 2021-01-26 17:41:57 GMT

Late night cuteness from the princess.

183 notes • Posted 2021-06-08 03:28:27 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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darling-i-read-it · 4 years

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Comforted

Hannibal Lecter x reader

Word Count: 900

Warnings: just some sweet fluff

Author’s Note: Thank you for being so supportive @llperfectsymmetryll ! I’m so sorry you’re grieving and I hope this gives you some peace, if for only a few minutes.

Summary: You and Hannibal have a night in.

Genre: fluff!

I don’t own these characters. They belong to author/director

(not my gif)

Hannibal knew what he wanted to do for dinner nights before he even started cooking. It was his talent, amongst other things. He loved to plan out a nice course for you and him to eat even if it was just the two of you. Typically, very little could stray from that plan.

Except for you.

You could tell him that you didn’t want a dish and it was changed. He kept a mental log of everything you did and did not like. Although on occasion he still made things he knew you wouldn’t facy to much, just to get you to expand your palate. He was very proud to say that you had expanded it much further than he thought you would.

All of that being said, when he came home from work he had a plan for dinner but when he saw you he knew that would be changed very quickly.

You were sitting on the couch. There were an array of movies in front of you but you were flipping through a book. You had come home from work early which meant that something was bothering you.

You looked up at him and smiled which threw him off a bit.

“You’re home early,” he said obviously. You nodded.

“I thought maybe we could just have a nice night in. There’s going to be a storm and I think the power might go out so I figured…” you trailed off, shrugging. You had a blanket wrapped around you and looked profusely comfortable.

Hannibal thought about his dinner plans and when he really thought of them, they didn’t seem that important. He found himself quite wanting a night off with you, especially if the power went out and the darkness succumbed the home.

“Sounds like a nice idea,” he said which was his way of agreeing with you. You smiled, a little happy with yourself that he had agreed to just relax. Hannibal liked to relax but he was also constantly planning, plotting, moving. It was nice when he just stopped.

It was already raining outside. Hannibal got the leftovers from last night's dinner (one of your favorites) and heated them up for the two of you. You watched a movie and while the storm raged on, you talked about your days. The movie was merely background noise. You had your legs on his lap so that both of you had the large blanket draped over you.

The power eventually went out at around 9 that night. You and him looked at each other, the empty plates on your lap. The TV went silent, as did the fan you had on in the corner. It went absolutely motionless in the home.

“I’ll take the plates,” you whispered. You grabbed it off of him and kicked off the blanket as you walked to the kitchen. Hannibal stood as well and walked into one of the other rooms wordlessly.

You put the dishes in the dishwasher and poured some of the nice wine Hannibal liked to keep out. The rest was downstairs but you didn’t want to bother going down there, especially not in the darkness of night.

When you returned to the living room, two drinks in hand, Hannibal had lit some candles and placed them in various places.

“Don’t tip any over,” he said cautiously.

“Only if you don’t,” you teased. You handed him the wine glass and he took it swiftly with a kind smile.

He was standing, holding the blanket in his other hand. He walked over to the piano and sat down, putting the blanket over his lap. You sat down next to him and he moved the blanket so that it covered you as well.

You brought your knees up to your chin and put your head there as he put his wine glass down on the floor. Illuminated by candle light he started to play. You watched his fingers without saying a word. He was concentrated and whatever piece he was playing was beautifully comforting. You had never heard him play it before.

You cuddled into the blanket with a soft, serene smile on your face. You fell asleep with your head leaned against his shoulder, to the gentle sound of music still playing. Hannibal only noticed when he was finished.

He smiled, kissing your forehead. He was pleased you had been comforted. As he looked he noticed that he really did love you. He loved times like this afternoon more than most other times. He picked you up princess style and brought you to bed. He fell asleep facing you.

#hannibal lecter x reader #hannibal lecter imagines #hannibal imagines

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a-secret-bolton-vampire · 3 years

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Hannibal Season 4 Resource

Taking a break from ASOIAF to instead talk about my favourite show, Hannibal. We're coming up on the 6th year anniversary of the series finale, and I still miss the show every day. Even though it ended in a satisfying way, I still really want to see what season 4 would've been like. Fortunately, we have some hints on what season 4 would be about, and I figured I'd make a resource for all the stuff we know about it, since I'm bored and I like sharing.

Will Graham's Most Interesting Chapter

“There is something in the novel Hannibal that has not been done in any of the adaptations and I would love to explore that with Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter. I’m hoping that someday, whether it’s a year from now … two years from now … that we will continue to get to tell that story. I feel like if Will Graham did survive that plunge, his most interesting chapter is yet to be told.”

- From Bryan Fuller in 2015

"Bryan pitched it to me … well, he, described to me in an overview with what he wanted to do with the 4th season, had there been an interest, and it was really fantastic. It was a complete restart, without describing it — because who knows, God knows, maybe some way we may be able to do it in the future — but it took us back to the first season in a very unexpected way, and made total sense of that cliffhanger ending; it seemed justified. It was born out of a part of one of the books so it was still coming out of that universe, but it wasn’t the Clarice / Silence of the Lambs storyline."

- From Hugh Dancy in 2016

"It was not so much about a rebranding as [being] able to go back to earlier dynamics through a brand new prism, which was Hannibal and Will getting to know each other from a different state of mind. I’d want to play point-of-view in a dramatic way. I think I’ve said that season four is Inception meets Angel Heart. And that means that there’s going to be considerable mind-palacing and obfuscating of reality, or at least the perception of reality. And the thing that I’m most excited about is, because there’s going to be such a mental landscape to explore, that means actors who play characters who have previously died can manifest in the mess of Will Graham’s brain."

- From Brayn Fuller in 2020

"Because of the nature of what would be happening in season 4 in terms of the grander manipulations that Hannibal has on Will Graham’s mind, I don’t think Hannibal would want to have sex with Will if Will wasn’t in his right mind, and Will won’t be in his right mind in Season 4."

- From Bryan Fuller in 2020

So Will was going to be in a very interesting place. I'm not sure what exactly this means, if this is full blown Murder Husbands or not, or perhaps Will in a catatonic depression and delving into alcoholism that he's implies to do in the novels after Red Dragon? I really want to know what this means.

Hannibal and Will in Cuba

He also said he imagines a fourth season as “sunny and sweaty as compared to the cold harsh realities of Toronto.”

- From Bryan Fuller in 2020

In a twitter thread, Bryan Fuller asked fans what the planned cultural cuisine for season 4 would be, and it's implied that it would be Cuban. There are more allusions to Cuba (such as the sunny and sweaty quote above), as well as this from the partial transcription of FannibalFest Sofacon webinar last year.

FannibalFest: Oh, I’m supposed to ask, right now, where do you imagine Hannibal and Will, right now? Before we continue. This is an important question. Bryan Fuller: Cuba. Martha De Laurentiis: Listen to the man who knows. Cuba. FannibalFest: Right, so they’re still in Cuba.

So they're in Cuba! It sounds a bit like the ending of the novel Hannibal with Hannibal and Clarice running off to Buenos Aires, but instead of Argentina it's the more northern part of Latin America. Given that the show has often been set in very cold, dark, gloomy settings (East Coast of the US) that fits perfectly with the dark tone of the series, I wonder how being in a bright, sunny location would contrast to a very dark tone.

Alana and Margot

"There’s a whole storyline that I want to do with Katharine Isabelle’s character, Margot Verger, who now is the mother of the Verger heir and in control of the Verger meatpacking industry. I wanted her to be like Joan Crawford at Pepsi saying “Don’t Fuck with me fellas” and just humanize all the Verger meatpacking plants and turn them over to PETA-approved [authority]. That would definitely be marbled through the season, Margot Verger taking down the meat industry as a hot, powerful lesbian."

- From Bryan Fuller in 2017

I tried finding a source for this, and it's hard to find and it's repeated often, but Chilton would have gone back to running the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. If anyone could find a source for that, that'd be grand.

I think there's a lot of interesting things that could be done with Margot trying to humanize the meatpacking industry, especially in a show where cannibalism is a recurring central theme.

The Silence of the Lambs

Fuller really wants to adapt Silence of the Lambs, and he has certain ideas for it, specifically when it comes to Clarice:

"Well, there’s a couple of ways to go. There’s the [Elliot] Page way, which I think would be fantastic and more kind of in line with the Clarice that we all know. But I know I would also like to explore who Clarice would be from a different racial background. There’s something about being poor and white in the South but there’s something else about being poor and black in the South, and I think it could be the necessary gateway into the character, to make Clarice as much our own signature character as we tried to make Will Graham."

- 2015

“I am imagining a parallel structure of Hannibal in the institution, with a severely scarred Chilton, now having returned to his post, and juxtaposing that, back in the heyday of Hannibal as a psychiatrist, perhaps even earlier than we met him the first time, when he had Benjamin Raspail as a patient, and weave that story in and around the modern day Silence of the Lambs tale as we know it.”

- 2015

“I think the film adaptation is a perfect film, but there’s a lot of interesting nooks and crannies to explore in a television series. I hope we get to tell the story…I think, ideally for the cast, it would be as a miniseries, here and there. Let’s do six to eight episodes of that, and six to eight episodes over here. And do it as an irregular thing.”

- 2016

Now it should be noted that despite some headlines, Silence of the Lambs is not the plan for season 4, but rather some time after it, as season 4 would be covering an aspect of the books that has never been depicted onscreen before.

Anyways, that's all the info I could find! I hope one day we will get a season 4, even if currently I am not very hopeful. I just want my Murder Husbands back :(.

#hannibal #we need hannibal season 4 #hannibal season 4 #hannigram #will graham #alana bloom #margot verger

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hyperionshipping · 3 years

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Backyard Garden

a/n: wowo! I did indeed write a whole fic instead of sleeping at a decent time. I had fun though!

---

It was a particular hot day, and though it wasn't out of the ordinary for Hannibal to spend a day home instead of being out, it was rare he wasn't doing something in his own home. The summer heat seemed to have other plans, and Hannibal was currently enjoying the cooling breeze of the A.C.

Despite this, just outside in the back, Elias was filling his watering can. He turned the spigot off, and picked up the water can, carefully hauling it towards his small garden. Hannibal had been happy to let him start a small garden, and Elias had been vigilant with watering and tending to the plants in it. Currently, he was watering the celery. Some were ready to be picked. He made sure the celery got extra water. Celery was something that could always use more water. He then moved to the cucumbers. The fencing he made for the cucumbers to climb was very DIY, and it showed. But, it worked.

He put the water can down to carefully weave the leaves and plant itself through the holes of the fence. "I think this should have been taller. You are growing so much!" Elias told the plant as he watered it. Halfway through, he had to refill the watering can. Next came the radishes. Elias didn't like radishes, but Hannibal had picked the seeds out when they were shopping earlier when Elias started to plan the garden out. He squatted down, "I think there are some here ready to be picked. Are you early?" he got back up and watered them.

The last plant that needed to be watered was the tomatoes. Elias with the help of Hannibal had planted four tomato plants. And they were growing wildly. Elias fanned himself as he stood by one plant. He needed a drink. Looking at the tomato plant, he pulled a few yellowing stems off, stuffing them in his pocket to throw away when he was done. He picked up the watering can once again, and finally finished watering the small garden.

After dropping the watering can back in its spot, he stepped into the cool house and immediately made a beeline to the fridge, moving around a few things to find the pitcher of juice he had. He poured himself a glass and chugged it. He placed the glass in the sink, making a note to clean it after.

He went searching for a pot, alerting Hannibal, who looked over. "Looking to cook, Elias? It's a bit hot for a large meal, don't you think?" Elias shook his head, pulling a pot out, and putting it to the side.

"No, not cooking right now." Elias pulled a smaller pot out, and then put it back. "Can I use this?"

"What for?"

"Just to hold something." Elias picked the pot up, showing to it Hannibal, who had walked closer to the kitchen. "This one."

"Yes, you may. I assume you're going to hold something food related?"

"Uh huh." Elias nodded, walking past him, arm wrapped around the pot. He opened a drawer, grabbing a knife. Hannibal just watched him, not saying anything.

***

Elias first came in with a few cut pieces of Celery. He placed them on the table. Then it was the cucumbers. "Hannibal! Look! Look, at these. 3 big ones." Hannibal smiled at how enthusiastic Elias was.

"They look good."

"Yeah! They're gonna be good. Have one!" Elias ran back out, and disappeared again for a little. While he was out, Hannibal took the cucumbers and moved them to the fridge.

Elias was quickly back in with a small handful of radishes. "I didn't know if these were ready or not, so they're kinda small." Hannibal watched Elias put them by the sink. "I'll clean my cup in a second. You don't see it there." Hannibal took a radish in his hand, and looked at it. It was a bit small, but Elias was happy.

"They look fine to me. Sometimes homegrown vegetables aren't as big or grand as the ones in the market. That is what makes them unique, though."

"Yeah! You have to eat all this radish, though. I'm not gonna. Or give it away. Anyway, I need to finish up." Elias was back out one last time to pick tomatoes.

There was a good amount of tomatoes to pick. Some were riper than others. The pot was filled quickly with a mix of regular tomatoes and cherry ones. Elias popped a cherry tomato in his mouth as he brought the pot inside. He made sure to throw away the part of the tomato plants he'd pulled off before going inside, however.

"Hannibal," Elias said, putting the pot on the counter. "Come look at this. This is crazy!" Hannibal made his way back to the kitchen, looking at the full pot. He laughed a little.

"Elias, did you pick every tomato?"

"No! These were just mostly ready ones. There's still tomatoes growing out there."

"Well, I guess we just have soil the tomatoes must love."

"I guess!" Elias grabbed a tomato and put it aside, turning his back to Hannibal as he searched for a cutting board. "What are we gonna do with all of them? I can't eat this many sandwiches." Hannibal thought for a moment.

"Well, we could can a few. Or I could make tomato soup to freeze for later." Elias nodded as Hannibal talked, grabbing a cutting board and placing it on the counter. He grabbed the tomato he put to the side, and started to wash it off.

"Can you teach me how to make a tomato sauce? You made pasta one time, and that's what I really remember." Elias turned the water off. "I mean, I know 'tomato sauce' kinda sounds easy, but your recipes are all so fancy."

"Well, it is a bit hot to cook a sauce right now, Elias. To make a good one, it needs to cook for a while." Elias looked at him for a moment. "I suppose, though, it wouldn't hurt to have some sauce on hand. Or to eat some pasta."

"Awesome!" Elias smiled at him, "can I eat first? I'm gonna make a tomato sandwich. Do you want one?"

"I'm fine," Hannibal grabbed the pot of tomatoes. "You eat. I'll wash the tomatoes we need, and then I'll teach you how to make a basic pasta sauce."

"Can I make the pasta? Please let me make the pasta."

"You can. But it'll be a few hours."

"Right, right yeah. Few hours got it. Whatever." Hannibal shook his head a little as Elias cut his tomato into slices for a sandwich. He knew Elias was more excited to just make the pasta than learn the best way to let a sauce simmer and what spices to add and when, but that was fine.

#tricks writing #cannibal dad #selfship #self ship #selfshipping #selfship community #yes Hannibal is my dad. No i dont call him.that directly a lot. He understands this it's ok #anyway!! cute little gardening fic ^_^. im gonna make egg pasta as Hannibal tells me in detail how to make the best sauce. And!! Hes gonna s #how me how to make good meatballs. It's all about simmering the sauce and forming good meatballs and letting that cook together or something #like that

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arkashas · 3 years

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was tagged by @calvarydrive thank u ^_^ in small text cause its long

1. why did you choose your url?

it's a song from the official hannibal soundtrack + it sounds pretty

2. any side blogs?

just for saved urls

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

i made this blog august last year but if we're talking the whole time i had an asoiaf blog in 2020 until i abandoned it after a few months

4. do you have a queue tag?

nope we come on every once in a while reblog everything on the dash and then log off like men

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

i wanted to find more hannibal fans and reddit and twitter were cesspits

6. why did you choose your icon?

having a hannibal icon is too bitchless </3 joking aha it looks nice ig + its tangentially hannibal related

7. why did you choose your header?

it goes well w my url also this is partly a music blog and i love chelsea wolfe

8. what’s your post with the most notes?

this gifset about hannibal murders I think

9. how many mutuals do you have?

100+

10. how many followers do you have?

400

11. how many ppl do you follow?

144

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

yes i do tend to delete text posts tho

13. how many times do you use tumblr a day?

once a day perhaps

14. have you ever had a fight with another blog?

YES bc someone reblogged my post which was critical of their post. we kind of settled it but then later they blocked me cause of another post i made and i softblocked a follower bc they liked my post but then said it made them extremely angry and thanked them for bashing it to the person who blocked me? which was weird. ALSO I had someone constantly calling me a cunt in my inbox I can only assume it's another outcome of the TakeTM. however i do not regret anything i was right

15. how do you feel about need to rb posts?

no <3

16. do you like tag games?

yes

17. do you like ask games?

yes i like to talk about myself ^_^

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

i'm not going to tag them that's embarassing...

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

20. tags

if you see this and want to do it feel free!

#tag games #:)

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masterthespianduchovny · 4 years

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I never wished for Gillian’s relationship to fail, but I was largely indifferent to it and it has nothing to do with Gillovny. Funny enough, I do actively dislike David’s relationship for obvious reasons.

I wasn’t super involved in the tumblr fandom during 2015-2016, but I do remember all of the fuckery that went down with David and gillian. Their behavior was what ignited dormant and new shippers. It added flames for those who never let that flame die.

So, you had all of G and D’s antics and shit, which many were going crazy over. Some notable people as well who have since distanced themselves from that era. Like most people were for this shit because whatever was going on between them was too hard to dismiss as being friendly or professional behavior. Or even harmless flirting.

Now, there are those who always insisted that G and D were acting and putting this show on for the fans. I guess to drive ratings, but this argument has always been nonsensical to me. For starters, people who are interested in Gillovny are going to watch regardless. Almost everyone else don’t give a shit and was going to watch the revival for Mulder and Scully. The things fans went crazy over wasn’t enough to even get anyone interested in the show who wasn’t already interested.

Like, the kimmel interview is mostly only interesting to someone who follows Gillovny or knows of their history. Other people would find their behavior interesting, but would they really make them watch the show??? And it’s barely even a headline.

So, what they were doing back then was enough to get philes excited, but not enough to drive ratings. Which cancels out the idea that they behaved the way they did to garner attention.

But, the naysayers kept insisting that this was all a PR ploy.

After (???) season 10 premiered, Gillian was spotted with Peter I suppose. And she kept being spotted with him. Don’t know the true timeline. But, when this happened, suddenly, these same naysayers were Gorgan. They were all in on Peter and Gillian and throwing shots at Gillovny fans and how we were “played.”

(It must be noted that just because Gillian ended up dating Peter doesn’t mean she didn’t have a thing with David. Lol)

Over time, they were gassing up this relationship and talking about Peter’s greatness and how he and Gillian balanced each other.

For me, my bullshit meter was going on.

Yes, some fans just wanted Gillian to be happy and shit, which I’m all for, but the loud gorgan supporters used this relationship to “get back” at the Gillovny crowd. I honestly don’t know how hostile it became between the two groups, but from what I did see, this support was superficial, which was proven years later.

Because, imo, how can you be for a relationship that just started and you barely know anything about it? How can you know all of this about two people you have no insight on? Gillian keeps her relationships largely private and we know even less about Peter’s relationships (read: marriage), yet there are posts about how these two are a good fit? Lol

What solidified my indifference was Gillian’s behavior. Pre like 2013, Gillian wasn’t really featured in the media all that much because she wasn’t doing any noteworthy projects. Then, she did the fall and was featured more. She was very vocal about being a feminist and shit. “Future is female”, talking about her same sex relationships, didn’t want to be in relationships unless she was in control. Isn’t this the woman who famously ended a relationship by going home and leaving her then boyfriend on the beach to find his way home? Lol.

Gillian’s image was very independent, assertive, I’m the boss, blah blah blah.

Then, she gets with Peter and it’s “he’s responsible for my success.” Peter this, Peter that, blah blah blah blah.

Gillian’s image is now submissive, insecure, handing the reigns over to her man.

That was something that made me look at her differently and not care for her relationship. It felt like whiplash from her previous image.

That image she cultivated with Peter was so contradictory in what she presented herself as while they were together. So, although I still supported her professionally, I just wasn’t here for the relationship.

Ironically enough, Gillian and Peter are the ones who come off as having the PR relationship compared to whatever David and Gillian were doing. Maybe not on the red carpet, but Gillian has (always) been silly and sexual with David. There are x files outtakes that proves this. She jokes/“jokes” with David about wanting to suck his “cock” and David has said shit to her like “did you just cum?” In many of their interviews, Gillian is the the giggly and silly.

Even when Gillian was with Mark and David was still with Tea, that dynamic was there, but a muted. 2015/16 was more pronounced, but it didn’t come out of nowhere. So, the idea that this was PR doesn’t track.

But, Gillian gets with peter and, suddenly, she has a personality change and is singing the praises of her boyfriend who she later works with.

Do I believe this was a PR relationship? Tbh, I don’t give a shit either way. But, PR relationships exist and have always existed in Hollywood. They function many ways: to bring attention to one or both parties, to deflect from (potential) rumors, to build hype for a project, etc.

Peter and Gillian were gassing each other up and shit, selling one another and their relationship. Many famous married couples don’t even talk about their spouses like them (and, yes, I believe these married couples love one another).

The thing about David and Gillian is that, even tho some thought something may have been going on around 2015, some people have always thought they were fucking at one point in time. Others think they just have massive chemistry. But, why would they need to fake a thing between them that they won’t admit to to manufacture interest in the show that people were excited to see come back? It sounds contrived, doesn’t it?

Compare that to: a well loved and acclaimed actress who hasn’t had meaty work in a while getting together with the creator and writer of a show that’s an Emmy darling. They’re always singing each other’s praise, which is noteworthy for a person who doesn’t talk about her relationship much. Who she then later works with on said show.

Which one sounds more like PR?

The actors who’ve had mad chemistry since they’ve auditioned together? Who’s chemistry never wavered even when they couldn’t stand each other and now are in a better place?

Or...

The actress and writer who talk about how wonderful their partner is and that this relationship is so mature, and then later work on his show together before breaking up a month later?

I honestly don’t think it’s absurd to have skepticism towards gorgan. Many of those adamant that gorgan was real and others are delusional are invested in gorgan because their anti Gillovny. And some did truly want to see her happy, but most weren’t invested in that way.

Whether someone thinks gorgan was real or not, I found it embarrassing on Gillian’s part. It’s probably more embarrassing if it was PR and sad if it was real.

And I know ppl will disagree with that because they found the relationship mature and supportive, but again, crediting Peter with the success of her career??? You can’t even argue, “she means now” because Gillian was getting a career resurgence and rave reviews for Stella Gibson and bedelia de murier (???). She had her role in American gods (I know it was one episode).

And in each of these roles, it was “omg! Gillian Anderson!!!”

She was so loved in Hannibal, they fucking expanded her role. And this was all pre Peter (American gods may have had some overlap).

Gillian isnt “struggling” for roles because people don’t want to hire her, she’s “struggling” because she’s trying to find roles that balances being a working actor with being a hands on mom.

And that’s why I was always “meh” about the relationship. I don’t think Peter’s a bad guy and he’s good at his job, but the way Gillian’s persona changed during this relationship was off putting and I didn’t care to get invested in them for that reason. But, as I mentioned on other occasions, the vocal support of the relationship and notable silence when they ended will always be fascinating to me. I honestly believe that gorgan support was fueled by the anti Gillovny crowd and backlash to David’s relationship (its a 🤮 for me too) and behavior towards Gillian regarding the x files’ potential continuance.

#gillian anderson #Peter Morgan #PMs tag only shows up when you type it all of the way #lol #yet I’m supposed to believe y’all talk about him a lot???#or at all?#gorgan

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imnotwolverine · 4 years

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Couch People

Henry Cavill x OC (you) drabble

Word count: 2.907

Warnings: Alcohol consumption and pure and utter fluff.

Author’s note: I had a DREAM (last night). And I decided to write about it in Henry’s POV, since that’s a cute lil’ twist on the usual meet-cute situation.

My couch is my new favourite object. It wasn’t up to last night. Yesterday it probably was like..my kitchen aid, or my glute drive. But today? It’s definitely my couch. Not only because I’m still slightly hungover and the thing is darn comfortable. No. It’s something else.

Sighing, I sink further down into the soft pillows, that darn tartan red throw still lingering in the corner, smelling of you. Fuck. I’m having it bad, huh?

—

Should I lose the tie? Was it too formal? Hesitantly tugging at the silk I watch the last of the audience leave the London Studios, the infamous red couch now moved to the side so a cleaning crew can ready the stage for the next show. I’m glad it’s over and fans leave me be for a hot second, my mind quite elsewhere as of this moment.

Before me stand the people I recognise to be your friends. Men, all of them. Their voices low but merry as they bounce off the walls of the almost completely emptied out space.

‘Hi Henry.’ Your voice tinkles above the low hum of voices and quite instantly I feel my nerves back in my throat. Shit..Now what? What the hell was I even planning on…Damnit …

‘Hi.’ Is all I can manage back, the six men around you now also turning to offer me a warm welcome. And from the looks on their faces, they know full well why I am here. You, however, seems to be a bit clueless, your fingers reaching into one of your friends’ backpacks to fetch some lip balm.

‘Good show, hmm?’ You mumble, brushing the balm over your supple lips. Kissable lips.

‘Sure was.’ I agree. Come on Henry. You’ll have to do better than that! You don’t seem to care though, your attention drifting back to one of your friends, who raises an expecting eyebrow at you.

‘Oh, eh..Henry, you want to join us? We want to go out for some drinks..and some food maybe?’

‘FOOODD.’ One of the guys grabs his beer belly and makes a gesture like he’s been starved for weeks - which is obviously not true. I chuckle. They seem like good guys. And so very normal, which only makes me like you more.

‘I’d love to.’

‘Oh! And I still have to pee.’ One of the more lanky built men intervenes, to which the whole group blurts; ‘Pee-break!’

—

One pee-break and a short cab drive later, I have brought you to one of my favourite pubs. Not only because it’s close to my home. Also, because I know the owner and with a blink of my blue eyes I can get us to use the room upstairs, which is usually reserved for exclusive events. Well. Tonight is an exclusive event, okay? The pub is old, mahogany and smelling of good times, the upstairs level reached through a very, VERY steep and very narrow step of stairs. With hands and feet we climb up, finding a low ceiling room, in equally dark and wooden hues. A lone rough table is set up, inviting us to take a seat before an old paned window that lets you look out over the drunken banter below.

In moments there is fish and chips by the bucket load and a few pitchers of beer, which your friends drink from greedily. And, of course, a glass of wine for you. You don’t like the bitter taste of beer. I make a mental note of that.

There’s nothing stuck up about you. You smile so easily, joke so merrily - and did I spot some nerdy references that escaped your lips? With every glass of wine there are more and it makes my whole body thrum with excitement. Though perhaps that’s also just the beer talking.

Much too soon your friends have to leave to take their late flight back home. The fact that they had flown out here just to celebrate your success after years of hard work, just shows how good a bunch they are. And you are to them. With any other women with male friends, I’d easily pick on ulterior motives. But not with these guys. You go way back. You’re good. Golden. One of the guys. Though, dear god in heaven, am I happy you’re a woman.

Long bear hugs are exchanged between you and your friends as I stand there on the sidewalk, trying to evade the looks and attention of the drunken merry. The night is cold and winter is soon to come, the lot of us huddling in our winter coats as cars pass by, driving through deep puddles. With a last wave we send your friends off into a cab, back to their homes.

And then it’s just us.

‘So..’ You suck your lips in, eyes darting out to send a warning glance at some drunk brits that take a snapshot of us - it happens so often I barely even care about it still. I try to look as gentlemanly as ever, but the pints dance happily in my eyes. I know it from the way your gaze softens when you look back at me. ‘It was a good night.’ You say.

And I half disagree; ‘It IS a good night.’ As soon as I say it, I’m not sure if the drink is making me overly courageous, my arm hesitating to reach out and offer you something to hold onto. You chuckle.

‘You’re right. Especially since it’s not raining. GOOD HEAVENS.’ And with that you slip your hand around the crook of my arm without question. Like it’s the most natural thing to do, your cold fingers feeling like icicles through the wool of my coat. If only I could warm you up properly.

‘And you’re taking a long holiday? Any plans?’ I try to keep easy conversation flowing, referring to something you had mentioned during Graham’s show. I knew you were taking some time off after this movie was all wrapped up. I had been there, working on the same set, so I know how crazy it had been.

‘Yea...it’s been a crazy two years. Which is a long time not to have any holidays.’ You widen your eyes in exasperation as your feet elegantly move around a large puddle.

‘Tell me all about it.’ I sigh. Unfortunately for me, I’m soon to start on yet another production. Which means no holidays for me.

‘But ehm..I actually made zero plans. My whole life was planned out near minute to minute for the past years. I just need to ..get back to basics, you know? Sleep a full 8 hours. Walk. Cook. Take long baths. Maybe..go hiking in the highlands. Or..go to the Bahamas..I’ve never been to the Bahamas! Or…’

‘A right here.’ I interrupt you, sending us into the direction of a small alleyway.

‘Oohh..must I trust you now or is this where I find out you’re a serial killer, Mr. Cavill?’ You tease.

‘Mm..I’m too busy a man to spend my time planning out how to murder people.’

‘Very well Hannibal.’

‘Hahaha..good series.’ - There’s those nerdy references bubbling up again.

’Tis.’ You agree, sighing deeply as the darkness swallows us, leaving the crowded street behind until there’s nothing else but us and the tap of our feet on the cold wet cobble stone. You lean slightly closer to me and I’m glad you do.

‘So..’ You look up at me. ‘Are we mere wanderers or are we heading to mount doom to get rid of some pesky ring?’

I snort laugh. Yep. I definitely snorted. And you laugh merrily in turn. God, you’re cute.

‘I don’t know Sam, I don’t know.’

You grumble softly in playful dissatisfaction. ‘What if I want to be Frodo?’

‘If you so wish to be, fellow over-sized hobbit. Though I think, since you sound like such a well planned, yet easy going lady, you’re a Sam. BESIDES, you say you love to cook and work in the garden..that definitely makes you a Sam.’

‘True, true.’ You hum, the light at the other side of the alley coming closer, your feet suddenly starting to drag. Almost as if you don’t want to get back into the light, where drunk hustle and bustle is about. I stop and you look up at me, head tilting slightly upwards.

‘Say, Frodo. What does a woman do in this town when she doesn’t want to call it a night, yet?’

I pretend to think about it, though my mind knows full well where we could be going now. ‘Depends on what you want to do, Sam.’

‘As much as I’d like an adventure..so cold are my feet. Something indoors, perhaps?’

Exactly what I was planning.

‘I know just the place. Though…it’s..very private, okay?’

‘Are we going to find prancing ponies and kitten heeled Striders there?’ - With that you print this vision in my head of Aragorn in high heels, lurking on a pipe, and it makes me chuckle aloud. You are slightly cheeky too.

‘Mmm..more like large hounds and vast amounts of books, all crammed into a cute little..’

‘It’s your place isn’t it?’

I chuckle. ‘Yea..I live 5 minutes from here.’

‘Okay. But just in case you are considering a career change; please don’t eat me.’

I smile, nudging us to move ahead, our eyes squinting at the bright street light as we return to the land of the living drunk and the hum of stationary engines. As most pubs are closing for the night, everyone tries to grab a cab.

‘Well, looks like I wouldn’t have come home at this hour anyways haha.’ You mumble, our feet jumping over another puddle as we move to yet another alleyway.

We don’t have to take this route. But I like the lack of people. And having you squeezed up against my arm. So maybe it’s not a five minute walk entirely. You thankfully don’t seem to care.

‘You live in London?’

’Not really. Though for work I’m here half of the week. I stay at this cute hostel with THE MOST COMFORTABLE BEDS I have ever slept in. Like. Ugh. It’s fantastic.’

‘And your real home?’

‘Not such a good bed.’

We shouldn’t be talking about beds at this hour, but I suddenly can’t think of anything else to talk about.

‘Well, the best bed I’ve ever slept in is right at home.’

‘Mmm..are you suggesting anything there, Hannibal?’ Where you were clueless about my flirtations whilst we were sitting on Graham’s couch, the message seems to come across quite perfectly now, your eyes glittering with promise.

I act shocked, but we both know better. ‘Never!’ I say, to which we belt out in loud laughter, the sound echoing off the tall buildings at either side of us.

‘Gods, you are cheeky after a few pints hahah.’ You laugh.

‘And you are walking home with a complete stranger.’

‘Naa..I checked your Wikipedia page. So. Not complete stranger. I think it’s actually YOU who’s walking home with a stranger.’

‘Quite so.’

You’re right. We’ve worked together for 3 months on the same set, but I’ve only seen you from afar. In fact, you were kind of my boss. Which would’ve made any advances from my side even weirder. Tonight felt like the first real opportunity, now the project was finished. And here we were. In front of my house.

After a few awkward fumbles I manage to unlock the door, the two of us being welcomed by a sleepy Kal, his wet nose diving head-first into my face.

‘Down boy.’ I grumble, but thankfully you’re not afraid of my large hound, your fingers already racing through his thick fur before I have managed to close the door behind us.

‘Hi baby!! You are SO CUTE! JUST LOOK AT YOU!! And so tired too! You been sleeping, big boy?’

Kal loves you already. And I..?

‘A wine would be good.’ You look up at me as I just stand there staring at you. Shaking myself from my thoughts and awkward nerves, I put our coats away and try to find some decent bottle of red wine. I forgot to ask what kind you like, so I’ll just have to pick whatever. ‘Make yourself comfortable!’ I say aloud, but as I return with a bottle and two glasses I already see you’ve done just that, legs pulled up and that stupid tartan throw wrapped around your legs, Kal getting yet another head scratch from you.

Oh, he loves you a lot.

‘I hope cabernet is alright?’

You laugh and wave it away; ‘Henry. I had 5 glasses of wine. By this point you’d ALMOST get me drinking beer. Almost haha.’

In what seems like a blink of the eye this bottle is finished as well and the world is near spinning when I get up to make us a snack. Which of course is the worst idea ever at like 2..3..4 am? I can’t see quite straight enough anymore and the giddiness in my bones is showing in the most idiotic grins I’ve probably ever had on my cheeks. My face is going to hurt tomorrow. From laughing, that is.

As I haphazardly decide I should first ask what you want to eat, I suddenly find the long despised throw of my ex earning a much welcomed new, far sweeter memory. In the deep soft pillows of the couch, there you lie. Knocked out asleep, fingers still trailing through Kal’s fur, his head not daring to move as I look the pupper in the eye.

‘Well..’

I can’t send you home like this. And so, with a dangerous wobble in my inebriated knees, I tuck you in, the smooth wool warm as it moves beneath my fingertips.

For just a moment I wonder if I should put you in my bed, so I’ll sleep on the couch. But you’re laying so comfortably, that I’m afraid I’ll wake you..and then you’ll probably leave. I don’t want you to leave. Yes. I should have you stay. I..eh…

Blinking I look around the room, deciding how I should keep you to at least stay for breakfast. I don’t want this to be the last time I see you, you know? And so I grab for some paper and a pen, my handwriting not what it should be.

“Good morning, Sunshine. In case the drinks were too many; the dog’s name is Kal. Don’t worry about him. And I’m upstairs. Feel free to grab anything you like. Also. In exchange for a couch..how about we have breakfast, together? Henry.”

—

Waking up was like thinking everything was a dream. A very drunken dream. My head was screaming for water and sleep, but I couldn’t stop myself from racing downstairs first, only to find you were still asleep. Just where I left you. It was only after I started cracking up my cooking skills (cheesy eggs with toast), that you woke up. Large yawns were heard from the couch-area, before you groggily walked into the kitchen, hair in disarray and just perfect in my humble opinion.

‘Mmmoo- *yawn* -orning.’ You bring out, hands rubbing over your eyes.

‘Hi.’

You are so cute.

And then you step in closer, eyeing my cooking, your scent and body so close, I wish we were at the point that I could grab you into a hug, delve my nose into your hair.

‘Sleep well?’ I ask with a crooked smile, your face nodding but your body saying: I need more sleep, for the love of the gods.

After breakfast you quirk up, that cute smirk back on your lips as you lick them in satisfaction.

‘That’s some fine cooking there Frodo.’

‘Thanks Sam.’

‘And a couch that makes a close second to the hostel’s bed.’

‘HAhaha..oh..yes. I was not sure what to do. Wake you up? Put you in my bed? I mean..a lot of..options.’ I trail off as your smile grows.

‘..I’m so sorry for putting you in that position, Henry. And also, apologies for falling asleep as you were just about to make a snack. Its typical me; midnight snack-time? I fall asleep.’

‘Well, it’s your holidays. You can sleep all you want’

‘So it is.’ You fold your fingers around your hot cup of tea - no sugar, no milk. I make a mental note of that too.

With curious eyes you watch me sit across you, the kitchen table suddenly feeling too large, too wide. I want to be closer to you. Snuggle up to you. You look so snuggable.

‘Any plans for today?’ You inquire lightly.

And that’s when it clicks. I could keep you around a little longer, maybe? De-hangover together, maybe?

‘Want to stay for a bit?’ I ask, hope sparking in the swallow of my nervous throat.

‘Sure.’

I think that’s what I like the most about you. It’s easy. Natural. No hassle. No hunt. Though I would have hunted you, if that is what it would have taken.

—

Now I’m sitting here on the couch and you’ve just gone back to your hostel. I mean, I get it. We’ve been together for nearly 24 hours. When we’re not even..like..more than strangers. For a moment I wondered if I should kiss you, after we walked Kal, our hands interlinked - which also felt so very normal.

The more glad I was when you did it for me.

You kissed me.

Those sweet chapped lips on mine.

I sink further into the couch and sigh. I like you a lot my sweet Sam.

(Link to my Masterlist)

General Tagsquad: @harrysthiccthighss @tumblnewby @magdelen69 @thereisa8ella @mary-ann84 @darkbooksarwin @summersong69 @madbaddic7ed @luclittlepond @maroonmolly

#henry cavill fanfiction #henry cavill fanfic #henry cavill fluff #couch people #graham norton show #henry pov #henry cavill x you #lord of the rings #hint of nerdy stuff #sam x frodo

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tornrose24 · 4 years

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Thoughts on Cinema Sins ‘Everything wrong with Phantom of the Opera’ video.

Well at least ONE of the movies I was hoping Cinema Sins would cover happened. Some sins were expected, but I wasn’t expecting that the CS guy apparently saw the musical and has some knowledge about the history of PotO in general.

-”Several people died.” No not really unless not everyone got out of the burning opera house.

-Knew he’d make a Minions joke the second ‘illumination’ was mentioned.

-Aww, no sins off for the use of the Overture music? And its from the 80’s so of course it would sound the way it does.

-Ok, I admit showing the seats losing their dust and becoming brand new again as a ‘what if’ for movie theaters when quarantine was over was amusing.

-There’s a difference between good opera singing and annoying opera singing, which is why the ladies didn’t care for Carlotta’s singing.

-I wonder what a Silence of the Lambs opera would be like, speaking of CS getting his Hannibals mixed up.

-Raoul and Christine are supposed to be around the same age, so the fact that Patrick Wilson was like 13 years older than Emmy does make the ‘childhood sweethearts’ thing strange.

-Oh great, now CS made 2004!Raoul and Christine’s age gap as problematic as with her and Erik’s by pointing that out.

-Minnie Driver is a great Carlotta AND was a memorable part of this film.

-Oh Christ, 200,000 francs equals almost a million bucks in today’s world? Isn’t that a little too much to demand, Erik?

-Yeah Emmy doesn’t exactly HAVE the right voice for Christine when you compare her to other stage Christines (but at least she doesn’t have a weird vibrato like a certain someone).

-Christine doesn’t strike me as a super social person, and her father was a supporter of her musical talents so it makes sense that she wouldn’t be amongst her new fans and pay a visit to the chapel.

-I wonder if Ramin (aka one of the best Phantoms) found out that he was compared to Harry Styles in this video.

-Christine was supposed to keep her lessons a secret, so it makes sense that she’d confide in Meg after that.

-CS points out the unfortunate implications of Christine being a child when she was approached by Erik in this adaptation and I’m pretty sure CS is going to utterly destroy Webber for this someday.

-Actually yeah-where the hell did everyone go when there was so many people outside Christine’s dressing room a few moments ago?

-I do appreciate CS calling out Giry for just letting the Phantom stalk Christine and not stopping it sooner. (And it does feel strange that she’d let the girl she considers a surrogate daughter go through this).

-”Psychedelically laced smoke.” Every fan thinks that too.

-Also, the mirror is a trick mirror. Kind of obvious later.

-Also he needed her to think he was a divine tutor and didn’t show up until Raoul came into the picture (and because he wanted to move on to actually facing her like a real person).

-Well the horse WAS in the book, but him being part of Christine’s ‘possible hallucination’ makes sense too. Also the idea of her ridding the Phantom is amusing.

-No that WASN’T the sewers they were going through–the opera house literally had an underground lake and there’s a history behind it since the opera house this story is based on is real.

-Erik building the statues makes more sense to me since the guy is meant to be hyper talented.Also note that this is where you can especially tell CS had experience with die hard fans of the book since he refers to the Phantom by his actual name for this sin in addition to saying WHAT they told him specifically.

-Actually CS has a good point about how the final note of the title song is shown off. They should draw more attention to Christine singing that note since its not only a display of her talent but a show of just how much influence/power Erik has over that. Instead we don’t see Emmy singing (and as anyone will tell you, she sang it as an E flat and not an actual E note).

-Yeah that scarf mask is weird.

-The smoke eye has been a mystery for AGES CS and no one can answer why.

-Love the description of singing “Music of the night” as to treat it like going to a glorious destination.

-Thanks for reminding me why the casting choices and changed up backstory makes 2004!Erik worse than he needs to be (God... what the hell were you thinking ALW and JS?!)

-If CS is familiar with the musical, I wonder if he’s aware that 2004!Erik was many a teenage girls’ crush with that in mind.

-Ah the return of the original ‘creepy doll that looks like a character’ that I almost forgot about. Except CS makes it more creepier by pointing out something about it that makes 2004!Erik more creepier than he needs to.

-CS keeps referring to actors by whatever they were in/a character they also played. And I’m just reminded how strange it was to see Emmy in Shameless (and she’s not enough to make me want to watch that show).

-CS forgot that the managers were supposed to be ass-kissing when he wondered why they were in the dressing room.

-If I remember correctly, a company performs one opera production at night and then practices/rehearses for the next one during the day. The one they perform happens for a certain amount of time before its time to switch out. But yeah, the film makes it look like this is all happening in 24 hours which shouldn’t be possible.

-Nothing for that guy mooning Carlotta? Ok then, moving on I suppose.

-I’ve seen this movie hundreds of times and I NEVER saw the boat in the woman’s wig until it was pointed out.

-Was he not paying attention? Erik kills Bouquet because the guy was trying to go after him. The original reason why he died in the book was for the same reason.

-I’m glad that CS has sympathy for Christine for all she went though in a supposed 24 hours. I’d crack under all that too.

-Surprised he didn’t sin the snot shot on the roof. (You know what I’m talking about).

-Yeah, so much for a secret engagement if you got the ring exposed.

-Not sure why CS finds the gold guys funny other than they are ‘just there.’

-I would love to see the party-goers go after Erik since they DO outnumber him as an alternate scene during that moment after ‘Masquerade.’

-No ‘This is Sparta’ jokes? Ok then, moving on I suppose.

-Christine’s dad is implied to be famous in this movie (explaining the mausoleum, but in the book he was poor so he shouldn’t have one). But that does raise questions as to why Christine seemingly has little money to her name in this version.

-Dude, seeing the gave fight scene as Nite Owl vs. Leonidas was something I couldn’t unsee for more than 10 years. But I bet the Snyder fans loved that joke. (Speaking of CS and superhero films WHEN WILL YOU STOP TEASING ME WITH ‘ANIMATED SUPERHERO FILMS’ THAT ARE JUST ANIMATED DC FILMS AND SHOW ME THE ONE I ACTUALLY WANT TO SEE?!)

-I would love to see a Home Alone version of PotO since CS pointed it out.

-Actually I would love to see the au where CS is a critic in the PotO world and just not give a shit if Erik threatened him.

-Yeah, Raoul making Christine the bait and endangering her IS messed up. As much of a dolt he is, novel!Raoul would NEVER have done that to her.

-Erik’s hair looks nice because its a wig, CS.

-Oh boy, the reveal of the bad make up. No surprise it got a sin. I loved that CS showed Lon Chaney’s version (and hopefully will get people to watch the original silent PotO) and was more impressed by it over what this movie had. I also love how blunt CS is in summing up the deformity.

-There wasn’t a fire when the mob went after the Phantom in the musical. But as history can prove, some mobs care more about their goals than their own safety.

-I think they wanted to squeeze in one more trap before the final confrontation and Raoul WAS trapped in a room that became filled with water in the book and silent film. Though I’m amazed CS didn’t notice the reverse direction the bubbles were going during that scene.

-I don’t know how to answer why Christine was just standing around and doing jack shit to help Raoul during the final confrontation.

-A recreation of one of the most famous kiss scenes in musical history and CS just sums it up as ‘yeah your first kiss always sucks.’

-I love the contrast of Super Mario music with shots of PotO for the bonus round.

-Holy crap, that WAS a lot of candles.

-Some of the alternate audios for the last bit were unfamiliar but that Bug’s Life scene for when Christine is heading towards the mirror is perfection.

-And of COURSE CS would use that one Mission Impossible scene.

Final verdict: Predictable at times, but pretty amusing for a PotO fan like myself. I do hope the next movie musical CS covers is ‘Little Shop of Horrors.’

#phantom of the opera #the phantom of the opera #cinema sins

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ultrahpfan5blog · 4 years

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Rewatching TDK Trilogy

Easily my favorite superhero trilogy and arguably one of my favorite trilogies of all time. I think in terms of superhero trilogies, Captain America is the one that comes closest because I love all three movies, but they aren’t a trilogy in the normal sense in that Civil War is essentially Avengers 2.5 and neither Civil War nor Winter Soldier can be understood without having watched Avengers and Age of Ultron. But even putting that aside, I adore TDK trilogy and it still ranks as my favorite superhero movies. The trilogy, obviously starting with Batman Begins, is what put introduced me to Nolan. I hadn’t seen Memento and Insomnia till then so Batman Begins was literally my first introduction to him.

I was always a big Batman fan as a huge follower of the DCAU cartoons with Kevin Conroy voicing a really badass Batman throughout the 90′s and into the early 2000′s. While I enjoyed the first 4 Batman movies as a kid, yes even B&R, I always wanted to see the more somber version from the cartoons. Batman Begins hit me at the perfect time where I started to have longer attention spans and wasn’t just looking for the next action scene. Rewatching the movie, it amazes me that Batman doesn’t show up for half the movie. I think that was a really brave call given pretty much all previous Batman movies introduced Batman almost immediately. I genuinely love all the prelude to Bruce becoming Batman. I liked that we got to see his training extensively and we are introduced to the city and see the dynamics of the rich and the poor, the police, the mob, the lawyers etc... It really gives Gotham a very grounded personality. I think Nolan really killed it at the casting level. By getting Caine as Alfred, Freeman as Fox, and Oldman as Gordon, he created a superbly acted support structure around Bruce/Batman, so we aren’t just always waiting for Bruce to show up. On top of that, they had Liam Neeson as Ra’s, who is effortlessly compelling, as well as other strong supporting actors like Cillian Murphy as a scene stealing Scarecrow, Tom Wilkinson as Falcone, Rutger Hauer as Earle etc... All giving personality to a difference facet of the city and Bruce’s life. But this truly is Bale’s movie. I didn’t know him at all prior to this film, but I have been a fan ever since. He carries the movie on his shoulders and he delivers the ferociousness of Batman and the humanity of Bruce Wayne effortlessly. If there is someone who doesn’t make a big impression, its Katie Holmes. I didn’t find her terrible, but rather the character isn’t exactly well written which bleeds into the next movie with Maggie Gyllenhall as well. My favorite Batman performance. Rewatching, what surprised me the most is the amount of humor in the movie. This is actually reflective of the entire trilogy. The movies deal with darkness and death, but there is actually plenty of humor sprinkled throughout these movies which prevent it from being dour. There have been a lot of superhero origin stories, but this still remains the gold standard of superhero origin stories. A 9/10 for me.

There is nothing I can say about The Dark Knight that hasn’t been said a 100 times over. It quite literally is the best comic book movie of all time. But it basically is at heart a drama about Gotham. Whereas BB acts as a character centric piece, this film is about all the characters living in Gotham. Arguable, the character that has the biggest arc in the film is Harvey Dent. Again, the casting department knocked it out of the park with the casting of Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent. Unfortunately, Eckhart never really capitalized on his performance here because he really was terrific in the film, both as Harvey and as Two-Face, to the point where you wished you had more of Two-Face. Gary Oldman gave his best work in the trilogy in this movie. The desperation as the situation spins out of control is fabulous. Freeman also has a very meaty role in the movie and continues to add a lot of weight to the scenes as well as plenty of humor, as does Michael Caine. Christian Bale continued to be terrific. There were some complaints about his voice, which I feel have been overexaggerated over the years. I definitely think his Begins voice is better, but barring one or two scenes, I never really had an issue with Bale’s voice in this film. He delivers a very nuanced performance. Maggie Gyllenhaal took over from Katie Holmes in TDK and while I think she is a far better actress than Katie Holmes, I think the character itself is not very well written. In both movies, Rachel comes off as very judgmental. Whereas in BB I can understand her reason in being so, given Bruce was ready to commit murder and later was out being a playboy in front of her for the sake of appearances, in this movie she is judgmental towards Bruce even though she knows what he has been doing to help the city. Also, she did come off a bit flaky in the whole Bruce/Rachel/Harvey triangle. And then there is Heath Ledger. There are very few performances that I consider perfect. This is one of them. I think every choice Ledger makes in this movie, be it intentional or unintentional, works amazingly well. Like him licking his lips to keep the make up on. It just adds a creepy quality to his character, even if it is completely unintentional. There are so many ticks and quirks in Ledger’s performance that make this a phenomenal performance. I don’t see any villain performance having matches that since 2008. I think the closest I have seen prior to that is Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs. It really is a performance that adds such a big extra edge to the movie. I love that Nolan sticks to certain details such as Bruce never actually drinking alcohol and throwing it away at the part and then Joker showing up and taking a glass and him spilling almost all of it. It gives a lot of personality to the characters. If I have any complaint about the movie, it is that Bruce does at times feel like a stationary character as he does not have as big of an arc as a Harvey Dent. And if you want, you can pick apart the holes in the series of events that happen that cause the chaos. But the drama of the film is just so intense that you forget all of that behind. I give it a 9.5/10

The Dark Knight Rises to me is the film that gets often maligned just because it isn’t TDK. And that is a crazy yardstick to compare it to. But as a movie on its own, its pretty damn awesome. TDKR is where the film truly steps away from being a version of the comics to being an Elseworld story with Batman having been absent for 8 years and then Bruce retiring and leaving Gotham at the end of the movie. But I don’t think there was any way for Nolan to close out his trilogy without it becoming an Elseworld story and it really didn’t matter because I always figured that as long as Bruce is out there, if Gotham needed him, he would come back. Its not as if there aren’t existing comic book stories of Bruce having retired or left being Batman behind. Again, there is some superb new casting. JGL ends up being surprising integral and he is terrific. Tom Hardy is awesome as Bane. He manages to provide a terrifying presence. I actually loved his voice. I love that a terrifying brute of a man has a polite, gentlemanly sounding voice. It gave him a unique personality. Marion Cotillard is pretty good as Talia/Miranda. She has an awkwardly filmed death scene but she’s good throughout the rest of the film, particularly during the reveal scene. But the casting of the movie for me was Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle. I knew Anne Hathaway mostly from the Princess Bride movies till then even though she had gotten an academy award nomination by then. But I really didn’t envisage her as Selina Kyle but she blew me out of the water with her performance. She was seductive, yet very likable. I love the clever costume design of her goggles looking like cat ears when she puts them up. I also love Nolan’s version of the Lazarus Pit. Certainly Bruce’s climb out of the pit is one of the most compelling scenes of the movie. You truly feel the emotion. The film also has one of the best acted scenes I have scene between Michael Caine and Christian Bale in the hallway. Its the scene I remember first whenever I think about TDKR. Oscar quality acting by both in that scene. The returning cast is all terrific but Michael Caine has a few gut wrenching scenes, including this one and the scene at the funeral at the end. Oldman and Freeman continue to be stalwarts throughout the movie, I really admire that Nolan did not waste these actors and given them very substantial roles in all the movies and all these actors really respected the material to not sleep walk through the roles. I think Bale’s performance here rivals his performance in Begins. Particularly in the scenes in the Pit. You get to see a full range of emotions, from pain, to despair, to anger, to hope. Its a superb performance. The film isn’t flawless. Its just a tad too long and there is some clunky editing at times. None of the three films can be said to contain very memorable action sequences because Nolan is not known to have great action sequences in his film until more recently, but the drama in the action negates that. Like, the Bane vs Batman fight where Bane breaks Batman, isn’t the greatest action scene in terms of fight choreography, but there is a lot weight to these characters which is what makes it incredibly compelling. Same is true to an extent for the climax at the end. When Batman beats Bane, I felt a sense of satisfaction after what I had witnessed in the previous fight. Overall, I genuinely feel that I love the last act of TDKR the most out of all three films. The Batplane, Batpod, and Tumbler chase scene was thrilling and it was cool to watch all three Bat vehicles in operation. The ending montage also ends the movie on a real uplifting note for all characters, which is very satisfying. I really love the movie. A 9/10.

It has to be said that Zimmer’s score across all three films contributes enormously to these movies. All in all, these set of movies are still my favorite superhero movies and my favorite Nolan movies till date.

#batman #batman begins #the dark knight #the dark knight rises #christopher nolan #christian bale #michael caine #heath ledger #morgan freeman #gary oldman #anne hathaway #tom hardy #joseph gordon levitt #liam neeson #cillian murphy #hans zimmer #katie holmes #maggie gyllenhaal #aaron eckhart

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coffeebeannate · 4 years

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Nate Watches Things: A Saga

Or in this case, one thing. One thing that was far too long of a thing, but such a bizarre venture that I felt rather compelled to put an actual review of said thing together.

Why? Because I can and because others HAVE to experience this..this journey. A nice lil journey called Die Pfeiler der Macht/ A Dangerous Fortune. And I watched it solely because Luca looks cute in Victorian clothes, and I was intrigued by the gifs.

Curiosity has always been such a great human motivator, eh?

And..guys. I just. I don’t know what the 3-4 hours (it’s two movies, and I took a couple days to watch it) WERE, exactly, but they were..a thing? I know that it’s based on a book by Ken Follett and that this production is German. Despite being based in England.

Oh, and Luca’s character Mickey Miranda, is uh, Spanish. Make of that what you will.

So the summary is this:

A shocking secret behind a young boys death leads to three generations of treachery in this breathtaking saga of love, power and revenge, set amid the wealth and decadence of Victorian England.

And no it does not do this thing justice whatsoever.

Review under the cut. It’s too long *again, two movies here*, and I took far too many screencaps of this absolute wtfery, and uh, it’s probably better suited for a real-time live blog but nah. You can have this instead.

Some images under the cut are NSFW because nefarious boning is a key point in this..thing.

SPOILERS. So many spoilers. This thing is a spoiler fest. The caps have a very obvious Luca bias, I know why we’re here everyone. Hehe. There’s also some triggering stuff in this thing, so be warned there too.

BEHOLD:

So, a point I want to make is that the costuming in this movie is LEGIT. If absolutely nothing else works? Note that the costuming absolutely does.

The opening credits are very nice, Luca’s very pretty, this cap serves purely to showcase that because I’m a very serious man doing a very serious review.

Pretty.

So the beginning is..confusing. We have a girl, Maisie Robinson. (Around 10-13 here?) Her father is very poor and it’s her and her two siblings. He works for a man who is part of our main characters, the Pilasters? and they run this bank. The head of the bank commits suicide, since they’re having financial troubles and he cannot repay his workers. He pens a note to his young son *under 12 at this point*, Hugh.

Hugh never finds out about this letter, but anyway. At the moment, it’s 1866. Maisie’s father was one of those employees. Destitute, he leaves Maisie to..raise her siblings, and goes to America.

We never hear from this man again.

Hugh goes to live with his aunt (Augusta/Augustina?), uncle Joseph, and cousins, Edward and Clara.

THEN IT’S 1877 (we jump ten years)

Maisie’s two siblings have died, and she has a daughter, Rachel now. Who is also dying. This movie is very keen on people dying. I’d also like to point out that there is like, endless plots all happening alongside one another, and it took me until mid-way into part two to even really grasp what the main plot is.

The movie has a LOT of bank talk as well. I cannot express this earnestly enough, there is SO MUCH bank chatter. SO MUCH. This thing does not have to be as long as it is but again, bank stuff.

Anyway, the one plot is that Maisie is from the poor area, she’s had a horrible life and has struggled from day one. She’s in a constant battle with Hugh, and they argue a lot. A lot. (They like each other, they met as kids, but they’re from very different worlds. Hugh has money, she doesn’t, but Hugh has suffered as well and basically it’s your normal class struggle social commentary thing).

Maisie and Hugh in 1866, as kids, after Maisie’s father left for America. This is the funeral for Hugh’s father. So that’s the theme I mean.

Anywho.

Back in 1877, this is Samuel *left*, Joseph *middle* and Edward. The Pilaster’s get marched into work like they’re freaking army Captain’s and not just rich ass bankers. Imagine saluting your CEO. At work. Outside of the military. WHERE IS THIS A THING? Maybe this was a thing in Victorian England I have no clue I’ve certainly never come across it in my studies. Ffs.

Anyway.

So while all this is going on, there’s this man that wants to marry Maisie.

And his name is,

(That’s Rachel, Maisie’s daughter). Anyway, Solly here loves Maisie and wants to marry her. But Maisie loves Hugh, and neither of them realize this yet. Solly is a himbo and we mostly like him, but stay tuned because that doesn’t stick. Sorta. Depends on how-

Nevermind I’ll just keep going.

ANYWAY, more plot.

Here’s Edward again, doing drugs, being gay, and overall..useless. Edward is..Edward is kind of like a person who would make an interesting wall decoration. Fun enough to look at, but utterly freaking hopeless, and useless, and so dumb. Just so dumb. This character is given the substance of ash fault. Kinda like, only vaguely solid enough to be entertaining. Kinda.

I don’t know guys, BUT LOOK!

It’s his good old pal Mickey! And he’s slapped Edward awake out of his drug coma (okay he grabs his face and shakes him rather than slapping but given how much slapping happens in the rest of this movie I think I can be forgiven) and he has PLOTS.

Mostly it’s his dads plot, but it’s a plot. A very devious scheme and he needs our favourite wallpapers assistance!

(Sorry Edward, but it’s true)

So keeping in mind that the ‘theme’ of this movie is bone-and-soul crushing sadness paired with periods of intense chaos and insanity that you never see coming, our plots continue to thicken.

What Mickey means here, is that Edward’s family denied Mickey’s father what he wanted *weapons deal*, and beat the crap out of Mickey in a carriage. But that’s fine that’s fine Mickey is not deterred! BECAUSE.

*sigh*

So.

OK.

This scene.

Remember what I said about how this movie goes from being incredibly boring to so off the walls bonkers without actually WARNING YOU that it is going to do this? Yeah.

Edward, you see, really does not ‘do’ women. He’s gay. He’s extremely gay. Edward’s mother wants him to marry Florence Stalworthy for idk rich people reasons.

So..Mickey. Uh. Mickey’s solution is..this.

What is this, you ask??

Fuck if I know.

Anyway, no, uhm. This is a brothel. So (not) pictured here (I can’t post the scene on tumblr guys we have a ban) is Edward on a couch across from mask-and-feathers MIckey and this tied down woman, with another woman who is not tied down. And this is Mickey..showing Edward..how to.have sex with women. Apparently. Sort of. His lesson falls very flat. It is not a good scene, Mickey’s ‘instructions’ get increasingly louder, and he at one point makes this noise that sounds like a Joker laugh.

It is...it’s something.

(Also note there’s some extremely uncomfortable, misogynistic name-calling on Mickey’s part here..so yeah).

Oh, and it doesn’t convince Edward. At all. IMAGINE.

Around all this time, the Hugh/Maisie/Solly plot is also ongoing. And that also encompasses bar fighting (bare knuckles boxing and wrestling I think? And gambling)

Hugh has gambling debt we’ll get back to this. (He’s also obsessed with getting Russian bonds into the bank, again, the banking plot losses me a LOT)

So meanwhile, Mickey meets up with Edward’s mother.

But why Edward’s mother, you ask??

Well. *sigh*. Something I didn’t mention earlier is that Mickey likes Ed’s mum. A lot. A lot a lot. Mickey wants to take that woman to town and then some, is a very basic way of me putting it and-

Fuck it. Mickey wants to bang Ed’s mum. BADLY.

(She’s not opposed either, at all)

So their little scheme here is that Ed’s mum wants Ed to take control of the bank, but with the father-in-law alive, that’s not going to happen. So they’re plotting to take down the next person in charge who would succeed said father in law, (Samuel) who is in a relationship with the secretary mentioned above, Michael.

Yes, another GODDAMNED PLOT.

(Samuel is fairly unpleasant like all of these people, so I don’t feel that bad for him. He also kinda treats Michael like garbage, and is called out for this by Joseph later in the movie)

So the scheme here is to get rid of the father-in-law, and get Ed married. Cake walk!

(Also, while ALL THIS is going on, Mickey’s got his own mini-plot about doing these things for his father, the weapons and stuff but we don’t actually find out about the main goal of that whole thing till the end, you’ll see)

Oh, and since we’ve not had a good dose of ‘WHAT THE FUCK’ lately, Solly proposes to Maisie with an honest-to-god Alice in Wonderland party.

Yeah.

Meet the Mad Hatter! He’s a guide, he says nothing. Other people are in costume too, but you know-I have enough caps as it is.

So anyway, Maisie and Solly get engaged, Maisie and Hugh meet up at some point and bang instead.

And while that’s happening, Edward is convinced by Mickey to marry Florence.

So he does.

Lookit this shit faced smug ass grin.

(Also ahead is Samuel again, and Hugh)

BUT THEN the bank finds out about Hugh’s gambling debts. So he leaves. Taking his cousin Clara (Edward’s teenage sister-at her insistence) to the USA. And just like Maisie’s dad, another man abandons her for the States.

So the father in law is still alive, so!

It’s murder time.

Perfect wedding time event yeah?

So Mickey murders the father-in-law. (He jumps on him, suffocates him with a pillow, gets caught by Augusta and then they do this..weird ‘tensely make the bed thing’)

Murdered.

And then, exactly five seconds or so later..

Nothing like some murder pre-boning with the dead guy two feet away amiright?

Anyway at this point I was just:

And yelling at my ceiling. Not pictured.

I was a Hannibal fan and I STILL went !?!?!?

END PART ONE.

Part two starts out in 1912, and then cuts back to 1882. So in this messy timeline, note it has been six years since part one. And Hugh is married now to Nora, an American singer, and Clara is older and pregnant. (Father is never determined, but he’s a married man and that’s why Clara didn’t stay)

SO the three of them are returning home. Maisie and Solly have a son, David, and Maisie is depressed and distant, so Solly is the one who spends all the time with David. He’s shown as a legit good dad and it’s quite cute watching them.

(The kids Hugh’s, btw, he and Maisie both know this, Hugh does not, it’s revealed dramatically later but we still have so many plots)

Edward and Florence are childless. Edward doesn’t sleep with her. Everyone knows this.

(At this point I kept asking myself when this would end, I cannot stress how LONG this thing feels at times)

So Hugh and Nora meet up with Maisie and Solly, and they chat and there’s more love plots, more bank plots and a masquerade party where at some point Maisie thinks a little girl at the party is Rachel (who died in the end of part one, sorry!) and there’s a fire and Maisie and Hugh make out and Nora and Solly are both upset and it’s a whole thing.

Samuel now does something of a side business that’s unspecified with Michael, and pregnant Clara is being persued by the only man who might be a good match for her (she’s not keen on getting married. But he’s also..really old.) PLOTS.

And Mickey and Augusta are..still a thing. And Edward being chlidless is becoming an issue. So what is the solution dear friends??

*BANGS HEAD INTO A WALL*

Why the fuck not.

Absolutely flawless! Eddie will NEVER notice.

SO with this plan in motion, Mickey sets out to seduce Florence, Eddie’s neglected wife. He starts in a church, and I have to admit, this one line he gives is quite funny.

“I don’t go to church.”

Cannot begin to imagine why.

Also, around this time is when we get the infamous scene about how he fcked the wives of the three men and then made the guys suck his dick one by one. I didn’t cap that since it’s in gif form, but yeah.

Hugh and Solly and Nora and Maisie are still having their love issues. And there is still bank stuff as all this is going down.

But while on his Florence quest, we see Mickey beat up a guy who was abusing a small boy, and Florence see’s him do this as well and:

He looks so baffled.

‘Me? GOOD? I really don’t think so.”

She’s also holding a baby, and he gives the infant this face:

“Eugh, what is that?”

He also finds her in church again at some point and comes alongside her like this:

”Sup? Whatcha prayin’ about?”

Anyway, while doing all this, he’s still having some issues. He needs Eddie’s signature for a bank transfer (for his father, his father’s plot is STILL a THING) and so it is time to seduce someone ELSE. This time it’s Edward. This won’t be hard. Edward wants him so bad you could probably see it from fucking space.

Mickey is well aware of this.(I don’t think it’s one sided either, he looks at Edward all wide eyed half the time, but he’s so manipulative it’s hard to judge).

Actually me right now tbh.

So that’s this followed by the infamous gif set.

Edward takes him up on it.

‘Come along my dear there’s nefarious boning to be done’.

Absolutely vital screencap below (which is the most we get anyway and I didn’t cap the line about the freaking signature because fuck plots over nice images okay)

Vital

Anyway Edward gives him the bloody signature. And then Mickey goes along to talk to Augusta. But at this point Mickey is very much beginning to unravel. His goal seems to be more centralized to finishing whatever long ass convoluted job his father has been making him do for the last six years (possibly more tbh) and he’s sort of done with everything.

And Edward see’s this exchange. Le. Oof.

SO! IN BETWEEN ALL THIS. There’s some party where there’s drama and then basically Nora..willing gives up Hugh so he can be with Maisie and Solly just..I don’t even know, single dad for life and all. Edward knows that his family has basically been doing shit all around him, and Mickey STILL seduces Florence. He has her meet him outside that night at two am and they get together, but when he’s with her he kinda has these doubts but she wants him anyway so they bang.

Yeesh.

AFTER that there’s Edward again, because Edward knows shit is up, Mickey goes to a room to grab a bag and see’s Edward there. He tells Edward goodbye, but Edward pulls a gun. Mickey just...drops the bag, tells him to shoot. Edward doesn’t, instead he turns the gun on himself and then Mickey shoots himself in a chair.

Yeah.

DEATH! SADNESS! REMEMBER-THIS MOVIE LOVES DEAD PEOPLE~!

At some point in all this, Augusta goes to her daughter, Clara, apologies for being an absolutely evil mother for her entire life and then the movie sort of begins to wrap up.

Maisie and David were going to leave for the States together, but David wants to stay with Solly, who well DID raise him despite him being Hugh’s kid. So Maisie and Hugh are alone and David lives with Solly and the Pilaster bank has discovered the ACTUAL FREAKING PLOT OF MICKEY’S DAD AND THE ENTIRE BACKGROUND THING. Which was this:

THIS DIDN’T NEED TO BE ALMOST FOUR HOURS, GERMANY.

SO Hugh lets the mob inside. We don’t see what happens after that, but Augusta comes in to tell Joseph Edward shot himself.

Lots of sadness.

So the movie ends in 1912, with David and Hugh meeting up. David never saw Maisie again *she’s deceased now, as is Solly.* they talk, there is some moral lesson or something about love. The goddamned end.

OOF.

SO overall?

I don’t know.

It’s a movie. It has a script and plot and..it was put on screen? The costumes are legitimately amazing. They might be the best thing about this thing. But it REALLY feels like Ken really wanted to make a movie about banking, noticed that’d be boring and tried to make it spicy.

It’s so bizarre. So depressing. So many people are horrible. So many bad things happen. So much slapping, so much weirdness. There’s nothing happy in this thing. Not one. The so called ‘good’-ish ending falls flat amongst a sea of depression and I re-iterate, IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE SO LONG.

I distinctly recall lots of clock watching at times, wondering how I could POSSIBLY have more to go. It then goes so completely off the rails that you just don’t know what is happening and it’s just WEIRD.

At times that weirdness makes it fun, but overall it’s really not great. I probably would never rewatch it, and I can say that it’s an uh, experience in movie-watching.

A good one? I don’t know. But an experience, none the less.

#a dangerous fortune #nate reviews things #nate reviewing #look don't expect coherency here ya'll this thing is A TRIP #long post #too many screenshots #am i legit posting this thing at quarter to four in the morning #yes because i dont want my drafts to eat it askjdnkas #i'll just rebagel later in the day if needed ok

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jazzviewswithcj · 3 years

Text

A deeper look at Merci Miles: (Warner Records, 2021)

Miles Davis: trumpet; Kenny Garrett: saxophone; Deron Johnson: keyboard; Richard Patterson: bass; Ricky Wellman: drums

By July, 1991 Miles Davis was music royalty. The previous decade saw him reach a level of popularity and stardom seldom seen in jazz. By the early 80’s the trumpeter had changed music multiple times, 4 to be exact, with his foray into hip hop, the first recording to be issued after his death Doo Bop (Warner Bros, 1992) , marking the fifth groundbreaking turn in his career. Prior to his passing from stroke complications in 1991, he maintained a vigorous touring schedule, and the performances of his sextet of the period, the finest late career band he ever led (and arguably one of the best bands of his entire career) were supercharged. The music captured on the newly released Merci Miles: Live at Vienne (Rhino, 2021) marks the first time anywhere save two YouTube videos the concert has been available in full, and is significant and historically important for two reasons: it is one of Miles’ final performances in France available legally, and it features two compositions by Prince, the cheeky entendre laden titles “Penetration” and “Jailbait” that the late icon wrote specifically for Davis.

The picture of the late singer/composer/multi instrumentalist’s involvement with Davis is much clearer through the release of Prince’s own Sign O’ The Times multi disc mega box set and the official release of “Can I Play With U?” a track originally written by The Purple One during the legendary Rubberband (Rhino, 2018) sessions. Prince’s track was going to be included on what eventually turned out to be Davis’ first album with his new label, Warner Bros. Tutu (1986) but was eventually shelved. The track was then slated to be issued in the original, much more substantial The Last Word: The Complete Warner Brothers Recordings box set from the early 2000’s (of which promo copies existed) but was fazed out due to rights issues.

The trumpeter always regarded France warmly, from the time he first set foot on French soil as a 22 year old in 1949. The country was also where in the late 1950’s he recorded the innovative soundtrack to Elevator To The Gallows or Ascenseur pour l’echafaud director Louis Malle’s smoky noir film of which the trumpeter’s soundtrack, completely improvised featuring a top French rhythm section crystallized some of the ideas the trumpeter later would apply on Kind of Blue (Columbia, 1959). France was also the setting for the infamous romance with the late French starlet Juliette Greco. More importantly, France, being the first country to wholeheartedly embrace jazz and recognize creative improvised Black music to be on par with European art music, was ready for whatever Davis brought to the table, instead of the misdirected pining that many fans and critics demonstrated in the U.S. for his past, acoustic centered work.

Merci Miles was captured on July 1, 1991 at the Jazz a Vienne festival, at a picturesque Roman amphitheater filled to capacity. 7 days later on July 8, Miles would revisit the material from Porgy and Bess, Miles Ahead and Sketches of Spain at the Montreux Jazz Festival with a double orchestra conducted by Quincy Jones and featuring the late trumpeter Wallace Roney as a second voice alongside occasional spots for alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett. The appearance featuring this music was followed by an appearance with former band mates in Paris on July 10 (a concert that unfortunately of this writing is being thieved by bootleggers for album release), and the European swing wrapped up in Nice, France on July 16th.

Miles’ band that July 1st evening, featuring Deron Johnson (who grew up with Miles’ nephew and former drummer Vince Wilburn, Jr) on keyboards; Kenny Garrett on alto saxophone and flute) lead bassist and Parliament alumnus Foley, bassist Richard Patterson, and the late Ricky Wellman on drums were inspired and smoking.

“Hannibal” written by Marcus Miller, which appeared on the group’s latest studio album Amandla (1989) is the high energy set opener, with the rhythm section of Johnson, Patterson and Wellman in perfect sync. Miles flies free with some solo lines before the head appears, and Kenny Garrett makes his first appearance with a lengthy solo. Garrett (who has a new Mack Avenue studio album in August) is like a heat seeking missile, the rhythm section responding and creating inner dialogues with him in response to his impassioned, pulpit stirring cries. Deron Johnson, often alongside with Garrett in taking some of the best solos of the evening, briefly dialogues with Miles before spinning off into his own, substantial solo turn. Johnson is a complete history of the keyboardist’s who played with the trumpeter and distills everything in his sparkling, distinctive soloing voice, swinging slightly behind the beat against the mightily funky bass and drums underneath.

“Human Nature”, the classic ballad from Michael Jackson’s Thriller (Epic, 1982) Davis first debuted on You’re Under Arrest (Columbia, 1985). The sensuous existential track became a blank canvas for the Davis band to paint on nightly. The trumpeter renders the melody with longing, then gradually shifts into a resourceful solo with a double time sprint. Within Davis’ solo and the use of Spanish tinged scales, and the colorful keyboard backing, the intense drama of the beautiful arrangements that Gil Evans crafted for Sketches of Spain (Columbia, 1959) which Marcus Miller expanded upon in a sense for the film soundtrack Siesta (Warner Bros, 1989) are clearly felt. Davis quotes “Nature Boy” and a few other asides before passing the baton to Garrett, who used the tune as a nightly feature for intense late period Coltrane trance like meditation. Garrett fits in a quote of the old spiritual “Joshua Fit De Battle of Jericho” before rocketing into space; Wellman in particular follows him wherever he goes. Every now and then Miles jabs some mood setting chords with his Oberheim OBX synth as cues, while Garrett continues to combust. The saxophonist bursting at the seams as a fragment from the bridge to “Milestones” is used as an ostinato, Davis signals a quick blast with his trumpet and the tune ends. Garrett brought the audience and listeners at home on a thrill ride.

“Time After Time” , the Cyndi Lauper classic is ushered in as volcanic applause erupts from the audience, nearly drowning out the music. For 9 and a half minutes, the show belongs to Davis, as he gently finds all the melodic contours he can in the tune. Like “Round Midnight” and “My Funny Valentine” of decades past, “Time After Time” became one of Davis’ signature ballads. He drives his improvisation the same way as Aretha Franklin, Pavarotti, Bocelli or Carreras would, with a marked sense of passion and timeless beauty.

Disc 1 closes with one of the Prince tunes, “Penetration” where everyone gets off on the raunchy funk. Davis and Garrett are one during the track, and it truly shows the admiration and border less musicality that both icons would have shared, Davis struts with swagger between melody statements and Johnson rips into his solo with passion, Garrett’s searing alto ups the ante further. As a contrast, “Jailbait” on disc 2, is a gut bucket blues where both Johnson and Garrett take scintillating solos..

The show closes with “Wrinkle” a wondrous maze of a melody that is awe inspiring when played a top speed, and “Finale” a drum solo feature for Wellman that showcases his patented bass drum triplets while keeping rock solid time on the snare, a sort of shuffle where the bass and snare switch roles, and some lightning samba as well as his signature Go-Go groove.

Sound:

Merci Miles is taken directly from the original tapes recorded and mixed by Patrick Savey and Mastered by John Webber at Air Studios in London. Similar to Sony/Legacy’s Bootleg Series releases for Davis, the tape is from the official broadcast, in this case captured by the small Zycopolis studios. Curiously for 1991, the sound is mono which could be due to whatever technical limitations of the tape, but it is very good strong mono. The Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC manages to wring out very nice separation for the band in the mono soundstage: In particular, Davis trumpet is vibrant, brassy, golden and present. Richard Patterson’s bass is commanding and takes the center of the sound stage, deep and rich. Ricky Wellman’s drums are full of gusto, there is a reason his nickname was “Sugarfoot” and you hear that in all it’s glory. Kenny Garrett’s passion radiates past the speakers, Deron Johnson’s keyboards float above the proceedings and Foley’s lead bass provides a wonderful textural contrast to everything else.

Concluding Thoughts:

The 80’s and early 90’s Miles cannon has seen relatively scant archival releases versus everything from the 50’s-70’s. Merci Miles is a welcome document of a band that truly was at the top of it’s game and at the peak of its powers. Miles Davis, judging from this concert was showing little sign of slowing down in his playing, there is a vitality and joy here that easily places this alongside his Montreux concerts of the period and the excellent Live Around The World (Warner Brothers, 1996). A wonderful present honoring the great musical icon thirty years on from his passing. The CD (reviewed here) and LP packages contain some particularly touching photos in a triple gatefold in the French Flag colors of Miles memorabilia from that final tour provided by Vince Wilburn, Jr and a superb liner essay from noted scholar Ashley Kahn contextualizing the history of the trumpeter’s French sojourns and the event itself, alongside some great photos. The cover also features some nice embossing of the album title text and Davis’ name. If there is any doubt about physical media, this album is a compelling case for why it’s so good to OWN a physical copy of an album.

Music: 10/10

Sound: 8.5/10

Equipment used for this review

Audiolab 6000 CDT transport

Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC

Marantz NR 1200 stereo receiver (as pre amp)

Marantz MM 7025 stereo power amplifier

Focal Chora 826 speakers

Audioquest Forest and Golden Gate cables

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#miles davis #jazz #trumpet #prince #funk

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