#i dont think their series would hit the same if it was all scripted

[luxshua]

The winners of the life series all had their own ways of winning:

1. Grian loyalty, playing into every one of Scar's schemes no matter how stupid they seemed. His win came from blood and tears, a descion made surronded by sand and cacti.

2. Scott defiance, he was never going to play the game the way it was designed. Why would he take life needlessly, no his win came from the refusal to do the watchers bidding.

3. Pearl alone, discarded by her soulmate, discarded by the one who pulled her into the nether in the first place. She won with her ties cut, she won not of her own descion but of the one who decided for her.

4. Martyn scavenger, taking time where most convient, stealing kills from right under peoples noses. His win came when even his trusted ally had his guard down, feral and desperate for just a drop more time, even if it left him frenzied and alone.

[zutarawasrobbed]

ALTA Live Action Season 1 Initial Thoughts (Spoilers)

I just finished the season, and holy shit!

Quick things that need to be addressed/debunked:

“Sokka is no longer sexist”

I dont know what people were talking about when they talked about Sokka’s “sexism” being removed. It’s still there! But not in the overly exaggerated comical way it was in the original.

In fact, it’s more in line with ancient practices of indigenous tribes where men are seen as protectors and providers while women are expected to nurture. It’s not the same “boys are better than girls” narrative in the original.

Additionally, Suki still beats the fuck out of Sokka and humbled him really quick. They’re super cute by the way. And I love Suki’s “I like my men a little stupid” vibe. She’s great.

“Aang doesn’t run away like the original!”

That is not true. He does run away, but not because he’s trying to get away from the temple but instead to get some air because he feels overwhelmed. He’s more like taking a quick break and planning to come back. It’s not exactly the same, but almost. It also is done in a way where his guilt feels more justified.

“Katara doesn’t talk about her mom anymore like the original”

This is true… BECAUSE THEY SHOW INSTEAD OF TELL. I was honestly not prepared to see the death Kya in such graphic detail and how Katara was in the room hiding when it happened. It’s honestly really sad and more heartbreaking.

Plot:

The timeline seems to be ambiguous compared to the original series where it was “end of current year.” In fact, they repeat “three years” a few times, which makes me think if the series get greenlit for more seasons, it would be over a three year period.

Jet is still villainized but given more nuance and not a simple "good v bad" way like the original.

Zuko’s story about how he got his scar has additional lore that makes him come across as even more selfless and compassionate. The additional context of the platoon he advocated for in the war meeting, becoming his current crew, really added to the story.

Eradicated the nepotism baby plot point with Pakku only training Katara when he finds out he used to date her grandma. Instead, Katara proves herself and ends up teaching the other male fighters the techniques she learned from watching other benders use their elements and mimics them.

This season doesn’t have Aang learning any waterbending, but rather facing his trauma and the consequences of his actions. He get roasted by all his past lives. Which is an interesting choice, but I think it works well in how they executed it.

This season seems to actually be Katara focused and her journey of learning waterbending which I honestly loved because it really hits home the element of “water” being the story of an untrained waterbender learning her element. But, I do think Aang could’ve learned a little bending. It felt a little off.

Katara ends up advocating for all waterbending women and ends up leading an army of both men and women during the siege. She’s really bad ass and is given the title of master without being formally trained by Pakku. She made herself a master.

I think the timeline is a little wonky because of how much they had to fit in with the limited episodes they had.

Kuruk is given respect! I loved that.

June actually seems into Iroh which I thought was a funny but cool way to flip the script from the original.

The relationship between Zuko and Iroh is really beautifully executed. I love the depth they added with flashback scenes and their bond prior to the Agni Kai. It also wasn’t as frustrating watching Iroh and Zuko’s dynamic because Iroh communicated with Zuko in a way he could understand with straight answers rather than seeming to actively sabotage him with cryptic puns and shenanigans like the original.

They changed the love triangle with Yue Hahn and Sokka to be very healthy. They gave Yue autonomy and a choice in her relationship- which- again- is much more in line with indigenous cultures. Also, Hahn and Sokka’s relationship is really supportive and full of respect and no ill will.

They way they handled grief and the realities of war with the loss of life was very well done and really drove home the point that this is a war and these are child soldiers.

There’s a lot more but these are my initial thoughts. Will probably post more later.

Shipping:

Kataang is all but removed. Literally DOA. There is no indication of a crust on either side. It’s painted like a sibling relationship, which is like the original, but this time everyone seems to be on the same page. But, I swear the writers had to have read ZK fics because damn.

They canonized a popular Zutara theory/hc about the cave of two lovers and how the crystals would light up once it went completely dark instead of a “kiss” activating the crystal glow.

Speaking of the Cave of two lovers. They keep the Oma and Shu story with red and blue coloring. Making it come across more as foreshadowing than a direct link to the present tunnel story.

Sokka is put in Aang’s place with Katara in the tunnels and turned it into a story about the love of family and sibling bonds. Aang wasn’t even present.

Zuko and Katara share a meaningful look when they first see each other and continue to have a Katara centric scene followed by a Zuko centric scene and vice versa.

The scarf scene. I will not be elaborating further. If you know, you know.

Zuko and Katara fight scene in the North is epic. He still taunts her with almost the exact same dialogue but it’s so sassy- I love the banter.

Suki and Sokka were really cute and the actors had great chemistry. I think Yue and Sokka was really rushed and didn’t really feel anything about them, honestly. But I attribute that to lack of episodes to develop all that plot.

[employee052]

ozzies long-ass TSP ramble

For context, a few days ago i was in a thinky mood when i watched this video on Valve catwalks. it mentioned death of the author, and while ive heard of it, I didnt understand what it meant until after the video explained it. So i got thinking. the following was a series of messages I sent to my friends on a discord server im in (with the exception of the last part bc i just thought of it now even tho im sick) that i compiled for yall into sections so its easier to read. these are just my thoughts and could be totally wrong, i just wanted to share aksjdh :P (plus this is my second time im posting this so there might be some inconsistencies)

(ramble under the cut so yall dont get a massive wave of text on your dash)

"smth smth death of the author smth smth reviews smth smth interpretations smth smth skip button"

like idk if this was obvious to everyone else n im just finally getting it or not, but the skip button ending being about the narrator seeing the negative reviews causing him to create the button in order to appease them, which said reviews ended up making him believe he was being preachy and obnoxious and unfunny, but as a result, he ends up believing it and trying to appease those interpretations rather than be more confident of his dialogue and what it means to him(whatever he may believe) and ending up dying at the end bc of it being a kind of literal version a death of an author of sorts

---

im just thinking about how timekeeper/settings person/432/whatever is really only interested in the player, but not stanley himself. and if the narrator ends up dying (or decaying at least in my interpretation) during the skip button, could the same be said about stanley as a character as well?

like we never see stanleys model as us, we dont see his feet when we look down, and the only time we see him in game is either as a hand during the bucket escape pod ending, the mariella endings, and the not stanley ending. and the last two are cutscenes. for all we know, stanley could have died at some point during the skip button after the narrator did and we would never know bc we cant see him

but since 432's desk being at the end of the epilogue which happens post skip button ending, i would have said that was the first time we ever see him interact with the game internally rather than asking for the time. but i do remember someone suggesting that the timekeeper was the one who removed the door in the skip button in order to kill the narrator off and get stanley/the player away from him in order to talk more

with that thought in mind, that would mean TK had to kill stanley and the narrator off in order to be able to lead the game, push beyond the barriers of a narrator and character and just talk to the player, one on one

---

it makes me wonder if what the curator said in the museum ending holds more weight

like, she talks to the player as well. both she and TK talk to the player themselves instead of stanley the character. and when she says "When every path you can walk has been created for you long in advance, death becomes meaningless, making life the same. Do you see now? Do you see that Stanley was already dead from the moment he hit start?"

stanley's function is a character in the narrators story, a literary device to propel the game forward. the narrator makes the race track, and stanley drives. without the narrator where would stanley go or do, without stanley who would move the story along?

"Can you see? Can you see how much they need one another? No, perhaps not. Sometimes these things cannot be seen."

and yet, hes dead, just like the curator said. because no matter what, he's never going to be able to truly make his own decisions. the confusion ending lays out how all the endings are scripted despite what the narrator believes and acts, its all predetermined.

and in a sense, the narrators dead too. no matter what stanley tries to do to change the story, or the narrator changes to the game in order for stanley to react to, its been planned long in advance for the eventuality. every word, every event. and with stanley's deaths, it ends up just bringing them back to the beginning again, "What exactly did the Narrator think he was going to accomplish?" if they always come back to the same preplanned paths, to the illusion of free will, it doesnt matter regardless. death doesnt become a statement, it becomes an inconvenience.

"But listen to me, you can still save these two. You can stop the program before they both fail. Push escape, and press quit. There's no other way to beat this game. As long as you move forward, you'll be walking someone else's path. Stop now, and it'll be your only true choice."

The only way to save both Stanley and The Narrator is by not letting the story play out to begin with. To beat the game, which means to let the game end after you win.

and yet,

the end is never the end is never the end is never the end is never the end is never the end is neve-

In a game where there is no ending that stops the game in its entirety, where everything will keep on happening again and again and the end is never the end, the only way to beat it is to make a choice as yourself the player, not stanley the character.

because he doesnt get a choice, the narrator doesnt get a choice. they think they do, but they dont. the only way to beat the game is to not play it. (which makes sense given that there are achievements involving not playing the game in both the 2013 HD remaster and 2022 Ultra Deluxe)

both Stanley and The Narrator are two sides of the same coin that make up The Stanley Parable, and the only way to use the coin is to give it away.

maybe thats why the true ending of the game with credits and stuff like that, is the Not Stanley Ending.

You the player have successfully broken the fourth wall from the outside in, even though that ending was planned like all the others (ie, the game allowing you to disconect the phone), you break the illusion of being stanley the character, which the game ends up booting you out of stanley as it cant handle the "narrative contradiction".

maybe thats why the escape pod ending has the sign that reads "both the player and the narrator must be present in order to leave". its not stanley, its the player, us.

maybe thats why that ending is one of the most cruel. the only way to get there is to leave the narrator trapped in the boss' office. there's no way to get him to the escape pod. the end is never the end.

---

(this part was the new idea i just had today so this might not make sense i appologize)

going back to the beginning of this ramble about the death of the author and such. perhaps there is a way to get the narrator out.

with thoughts about interpretations and with he idea of the "death of the author", all of us have our own interpretations of the TSP characters. whether its design, or relationship wise, or characterization, or what have you. The Narrator in my head is different from you reading this, and that narrator is different from another persons perspective, and definitely our narrators are different to the one that lives in Davey Wreden's head, or Kevan Brighting, or anyone who has even heard of the stanley parable.

and that's not a bad thing! there can be many similarities to the characters that our interpretations share, some more common than others and some that make no sense at all, but for the most part we all have different interpretations of the characters.

I read a book called Book Simulator (The Reader's guide to not reading) by Chris Yee on stream once. The VOD is gone now. But I discovered the book because I heard the guy writing/the narrator of sorts for the book was written like the Stanley Parable Narrator.

It didnt help that Kevan brighting voiced over the commercial for it too askjdh

but back to the book. this will contain somewhat spoilers for it since it brings up a moment at the end of the book so feel free to stop here if you dont want to be spoiled

---

basically, in Book Simulator, Booksi (The book's instructional narrator on how to fake read at the start of the book) is arguing with The Narrator (no not ours, but the general narrator who speaks in the third person), however, its revealed by The Narrator that Booksi has a plan to take over the world by inhabiting more book simulators and distributing them across the world. But, the reader could kill off the booksi that they have in their hands that they are reading, to quote:

"Or was he the original Booksi? Maybe not. Maybe the original Booksi had been vanquished long ago, and the reader was now facing one of the many copies roaming the world. Both Booksi and the Narrator knew the answer to this question, but neither would reveal the truth."

---

Taking from Book Simulator the concept of multiple iterations of one character existing in different copies of the media they originate from, maybe in a way that's how the Narrator may die in the stanley parable, forever stuck to repeat the same endings with the illusion of free will, but he lives on somewhat for everyone that has seen or heard of him in any capacity.

this may sound a bit preachy (oh the irony) but bare with me:

The Original Narrator from The Stanley Parable is dead, dead in the sense that he and Stanley are stuck within the game, given the illusion of free choice, and unable to leave nor do anything to try and escape, is also alive in the sense that we the players perception of The Narrator lives on in our minds.

The Narrator from the game might be stuck, but the Narrator i see in my head, the one i designed and draw and think of is perfectly fine and alive as ever.

and the same goes with you and anyone else who has heard of the narrator. their interpretation is still unique and different to them even if it all comes from the same media. he may not be exactly the same as the original, but hes still there. and in a way, hes free.

(man typing this last segment down makes me feel like a gd priest, and/or someone talking abt the barbie movie akjdhkjasdh so sorry if doesnt make sense at all :P)

[eerna]

truly in agony bc we can't even just write the sab show off as simply bad and at least derive pleasure from laughing at its terribleness. we really got our dream cast and a decent budget, but the soc part will forever be a botched adaptation. despite how beloved the series is among fans, it doesn't occupy the same space in traditional pop culture as like, iconic video games (like mario/sonic) superhero comics or even books like sherlock holmes or lord of the rings, so i dont expect another chance like this (this is the one time i'll advocate for a 4 movie deal of a popular series, covering the duology). i've watched carnival row w/ its great special effects and gritty industrial setting. this leads me to believe my ideal soc show would have guillermo del toro as a writer and/or director. on the upside, if once-popular YA series do suddenly get hit with the same fervour as comics, i will look forward to a second Twilight movie adaptation that features the 'saw a snail today... effervescent' meme as a line in the trailer

Yeah!! Inej, Nina, and Wylan were perfectly cast in my eyes and I can't imagine someone better to play them. It's just sad that the script is very not good at all. TGT was improved, SoC was demolished. I don't think a reboot is out of question, since I can think of quite a few recent reboots of stuff that was popular, but not in a cultural icon way (His Dark Materials, Spiderwick, Vampire Academy). Oh well

[naesarangyunho]

I feel the same about the main pairing in WoH vs. The Untamed tbh. I love the Untamed for its plot, its characters, its story overall that I find better than WoH. But WKX and ZZS work better as a pairing imho. More development (which is helped I think by the fact that the plot of WoH is less complex with less characters), netter chemistry and the feeling you know...the feeling that they 1000% are in a romantic relationship, which I don't get in The Untamed (which feels like a one-sided love to me, which I suppose it kinda is in the novel till the very end anyway).

Yeah exactly. The Untamed's novel was a lot better than the live action because at least in there we can see their relationship is better expanded upon. It could've been portrayed way better in the series. I think part of the problem may be that they had to rewrite the script. I read that aparently they originally intended to change it to be a relationship between Wei Wuxian and Wen Qing but there was a massive uproar about that when fans found out so they changed it to be the original but down played it a lot. Whether that claim is completely true or not I dont know but it would make a little more sense.

But yeah

WoH just had so much more depth to it. I love mdzs and I always will but WoH just hits different. The romance was better and storyline was complex but not too complex that you get confused. I personally felt a little lost when I watched the Untamed the first time but everything made a lot more sense after i read the novel and rewatched the series.

I don't if I'm making sense😂 I've been studying all day and I'm tired😭

[single-malt-scotch]

hrmmm hrmm thinking about minecraft and roleplaying and d&d.

i mentioned it before i think in a post but i DO love roleplay actually, i love roleplaying overall- my lack of appeal w recent rp in things like hermitcraft more so comes from the fact theyre aimed at being family friendly/for kids (and that they dont really make "characters" to separate from themselves) buut also i kinda wonder how much any folk doing this stuff thinks of their role as a 'dm' of sorts. this isnt to say everyone needs to take such a organized role, but as the interest in minecraft SMP storytelling increases, i do wonder more if anyone would tackle this with more organization, bc I often feel like it lacks that and it's why I don't hold interest in it.

honestly i cannot deny that i would looove to be in charge of story telling in a setting like a minecraft server. if i had people to play with id get so into the idea of directing a general story. but thats the one thing i realize- many SMPs that i see that are popular dont have much direction in this regard, and theres many times where story pops up and fizzles out with no ending because... there was no goal in mind.

RPing is complicated while it is improv, in setting like D&D and other group settings, its likely someone is in charge of the overall direction. or its what would be recommended, because without proper planning for the long term, you lose the plot unless everyone involved is capable of winging it very very well.

personally id love to see someone tackle an SMP with the same intention as tackling a normal D&D campaign... not to say they need dice roles or NPCs planned out but, i think theres a big lack of management in some SMPs that reach for very ambitious ideas and that can often be their downfall/what causes stories to stay unfinished or forgotten.

not everyone needs to make an SMP like that, im just saying id enjoy seeing someone use minecraft as a D&D sandbox tbh. and i think of LOM because i think thats what Rob kinda went for before deciding minecraft wasnt the platform he wanted. he went on to DM multiple campaigns of D&D with his friends and they were all very well done-- if hed done it in minecraft too i wouldnt been all over it still! funny enough the only other thing that came to mind while writing this was Shadow of Israphel which felt very D&D-ish with the fact there were NPCs, but it was also heavily scripted- still, it hits a lot of the marks when it comes to storytelling in minecraft.

its hard to draw the line though, since RPing can get quite intense on a certain scale. i wouldnt want to see heavily scripted super serious plot all the time. but i do feel like one issue i have had is seeing improv RP from random players can really deviate the tone across the server and videos. Like, to see some people engaging in the Hermitcraft s8 plot while some are just... not at all? kinda awkward. it feels like im watching someone put on a crazy LARP constume while other people are just sitting in casual wear minding their own business. and i have to decide one of those doesnt exist - and i feel like the same is kinda happening with hermitcraft s9 too now with ren being king and all. its also why i completely ignore some players on the Life series bc i was immediately slapped with them putting on a roleplay-ish persona that just did not feel along side the people i watched. even some bits in the middle of videos i skipped past just to not see it lol.

so yeah idk what im saying here other than.... RP is cool, love it! would love to see more RP focused SMP where perhaps... 1) everyone was actually into it so it didnt feel awkward between different tones of playing 2) there was more organization, perhaps treated more like D&D dming, in order to not lose plot lines when they do happen. it would be great too, as it would help keep everyone tied together, having a proper dm figure would help so no one gets left out tbh. 3) i also just hate the family friendly vibes sorry thats what im missing most.

and admittedly i loved dming a 20-30 member RP when i did it on discord. kinda wanna run a rp focused smp now, whoops

[eremiie]

aot 139 rant bc i dont think ppl r understanding this chapter lmao

i’ve been seeing a lot of people hate on this chapter and call it a bad ending and everything so i’m here to break it down for the ones who aren’t understanding what’s going on and think it was a shit ending LMFAO

okay so first i think the issue is that a lot of people fail to realize that the way eren acted all throughout season 4 isn’t eren really, that is him putting his emotions at bay so that he can complete something that he laid out for himself for his friends.

eren from season 1-3 still exists, and that’s lowkey the eren that was talking the whole time in chapter 139— you can see the how he cares for his friends, you can see the desperation again, the compassion, everything in between.

so lets break down these panels;

panels 1-13 consists of the whole talk with armin. eren basically tells armin that everything that happened wasn’t by will, it was laid out for him, it was the path he needed to take in order to free his friends and free ymir.

think about this— this was destined for eren from the beginning. 

his plan wasn’t to have the rumbling destroy the whole earth, it wasn’t for any of his friends to die (he wasn’t even aware that some of them died), it wasn’t for anything besides for them to defeat him so that they can be free.

he sent a titan out to eat his mom because bertholdt dying would’ve fucked up the plan, he would strategically send memories down to his younger self, armin getting the colossal titan, eren telling mikasa he hated her, everything was according to plan— it was a part of the script that he needed to follow.

panels 14-16 consist of eren talking about mikasa. eren basically tells armin he doesn’t want her to move on form him, and he wants to live a long life with his friends and her. and that he doesn’t want to die.

people say this is out of character for eren— people don’t think that he has ever had feelings for mikasa, and it’s hard to see, i’ll give you that.

but people also fail to realize that relating back to panels 1-13, eren had something set out for him to do, the last thing he was thinking about was love. of course as a kid mikasa came off as overbearing, and she was, he had other things to worry about other things to accomplish— there was no time to reciprocate feelings. 

that doesn’t mean he doesn’t love her, because he does, and i don’t even mean so in a romantic OR platonic way. the gist is he loves her period, and her love is reciprocated in the best way he can.

and you have to remember that eren knows he’s about to die when his time with armin is up, he’s getting frantic and desperate— everything's dawning on him, he gets a little time to actually sit down think and talk about mikasa.

eren loves mikasa whether it be platonically or romantically, and that kind of hits him in that moment, and this is coming from someone who hasn’t always shipped eremika.

panels 17-21 consists of eren basically saying to atone for his “sins” it’a only right for him to die too and that armin will be the one to save humanity.

pretty self explanatory, but once again this was planned out, eren was gonna paint the eldians to be the heros, and eren did his whole mass murder plan for their sake, not his.

panels 22-39 eren completes his mission, the curse of ymir is broken, and im sure that at somewhat the same time that he was talking to armin through paths he was sending the same message of what he was doing to everyone else— since all eldians are connected through paths. that’s how they all found out and that’s why they all resonated with eren. it needed to be let know that he isn’t a bad guy, especially with real people running around thinking he is LMAO

panels 39 and onward, everyone moves on, they’ll live out their lives with the freedom that eren granted them.

this is mikasa’s character development, she’s finally able to move on and live her life without eren. she’s allowed to mourn, she’s allowed to be sad, hell— they’re about to have eren’s funeral, that’s one reason she’s there. 

i say this is her character development because the first time eren died she was ready to die herself, but now that eren has actually died she’s not trying to go out with him— she’s mourning, and she misses him, but she’s trying her best to live her life with the freedom eren granted her.

she grows out her hair again that she always kept short for eren. to me that says a lot albeit how minor that detail is.

i’m not gonna say eren necessarily got reincarnated as a bird but i’ll say that these birds we see in attack on titan represent eren, and that’s why the bird tugs on her scarf, it’s like eren letting her know that he’s still with all of them and that he’s happy that they’re happy.

it’s tragic, that our main character who sought freedom the whole entire time doesn’t get to experience it himself, but it shows how sacrifices have to be made, that shonens don’t always have to be about winning. that there are tragic heroes, and everyone has a story to tell.

attack on titan teaches you lessons, it gives you an insight on life— and if you let this ending ruin the whole series for you because you fail to grasp the whole concept, every character, and every plot element, that is on you.

so thank you, isayama for creating and sharing such a beautiful story, because this series will live in my heart forever, and so will eren— he’s such a complex well written character and it’s sad to see that not everyone can understand him.

anyways ty for listening to my rant if you made it all the way through, gn <3.

[shiftingfrom---andback]

Where do I plan to shift to?

-A list (with a few reasons)

Undertale - I wanna see how terrifying it would be to see sans, pap, and toriel.

Harry Potter - Twins and Draco, need I explain myself further?

Avengers - I'm scripting that Bucky is a hero, would you say a freed POW, because he was totally a victim, plus loki, I mean, come on. (Also me and quill are like 2 halfs of a braincell and we must complete) also I can script in a lightsaber for both me and parker :)

Ib - I wanna meet Gary and Mary and see the art gallery

Descendants - Ben and Harry, again, need I say more?

Winnie the pooh - Eeyore, that depressed bitch, need to get him a house

Star Wars - Rey Era - Ha! SIKE, I'm Rey's twin sister, and instead of her in the spotlight, it me, but she's also there because Palpatine and Snoke can never figure out who is who and we confuse Kylo too, but still I have a dyad with Kylo and also who doesnt want to be a spy wearing red.

Star Wars - Luke Era - Han Solo :)

Star Wars - Anakin Era - Obi-Wan :)

Star Wars - Mando Era - Imagine Grogu and Mando *squeal*

Transformers - I'd try and fix Bee's voice box, that's pretty much it.

Dream SMP - yeah

Tangled (Series/Movie) - I'd be Rapunzel, big plus, Eugene :)

Lilo and Stitch - Stitch and Jumba, end of argument

Aladdin - Me omw to hit up will Smith genie and aladdin :)

The Selection - I want to see why America was so insistent on going back to Aspen, like gawd damn, that boy better look like sweet jesus with the voice of Mr. CorpseHusband

If I were a famous YouTuber - Speaking of CorpseHusband, I would script I'm best friends with him, everyone who plays among us with him, everyone in the Dream SMP, Mark, Eef, and Sean

Hamilton - It would be the musical, but with the actual historical figures playing it out, itd be funny tbh

WKM/ADWM/AHWM - Darkiplier and Wilford. That's it. That's the whole post

Lucifer - Lucifer

Merlin - I'd script that Arthur was ok with magic and never fully dies, he just goes into a "presumed dead" coma for 3 days and when he comes back, boom, baby, killers think hes gone, but kingdom knows better.

Umbrella Academy - script me and Five are the same age (cause hes like canonically 13? 14? Let that kid be 16 bby), I have the power to mimic any power I see (on tv (time for elsa powers bb) or irl) and am on good terms with everyone, and have very high pain tolerance.

Doctor Who - 11th Dr. Era - The TARDIS, I mean, come on!

The Testing - Script that I, Cia, and Tomas are all from The Five Lakes, we are immune to dying, failing tests (meaning we can skip a test and still pass), and being poisoned, and I am Cia's roommate. Also traumatic events dont hurt or affect me ✌😗 and Tomas likes me :)

:) - all fruit gummies are, for an entire week, only grape flavoured... I want to see the chaos. They will look and taste like grape, no matter what. As soon as they're made. Boom. Grape gummies.

Among Us - Ok ok, hear me out. It is literally just a game of among us, like we do our tasks, we move around, but in 3D and in first person. When you die you get turned into a ghost and when the game is done, you get put into the lobby. You can see the task bar, have anon votes, all of the settings, it's literally just among us in VR but cooler. Also script that theres no pain when you get killed.

Deadpool - Deadpool

Adventure Time - Princess Bubblegum and Marceline :)

Once Upon a Time - not me scripting that I'm Emma Swans twin sister and killian instead falls in love with me oop-

Gravity Falls - they ain't twins now, they gon be triplets :) just want some sibling love tbh

Up - Kevin

Unus Annus Lore - HeeHoo would be pretty fun to hang out with, same for MerMer and Gongoozeler

MAKE SURE YOU SCRIPT THAT YOU ARE IMMUNE TO TRAUMA OF ANY KIND

I might add more sooner or later, but this is what I have so far!

Everyone reading this will shift!

[jazajas]

okay so i finished love, victor a while ago and i saw some other reviews and thoughts about it here so now i've got a pretty good list on my thoughts and feelings.

tl;dr: it has some issues, yes, but im gonna hold out and hope it gets better later on because the same thing happened with the first few eps, i wasn't that into it but then it got good, and nothing is ever great with the first season, because at that point we're getting used to those characters.

⚠️caution: spoilers ahead (im on mobile, i cant get an under-the-cut)⚠️

1. while a leah on the offbeat movie would have been amazing movie sequel (even tho i havent read the book yet, im just here for the wlw content) i am kind of glad we got this instead. mostly because I've seen book series where one movie was good, so they decide to do the rest, turn out bad (hunger games? divergent? percy jackson? the hobbit?) because so much was cut from the book-to-first movie writing, that other scenes wouldn't make sense to future movies if they had those in while cutting others. however, i am sad that i didn't get to make the choice of deciding whether what was cut was wrong etc. about future movies, but i'll take what i can get.

2. LGBTQ+ POC as a lead! that's amazing! as a ace/bi lantina that's close to home (it also is great that victor's from texas and so is ya gorl) and even then it's a mixed latinx family! i think pilar mentioned that at least the grandmother left Colombia and i saw the Puerto Rican flag in victor's room. also the salazar's are definitely from small town texas, even without knowing the name. (church barbeques, the use of the words "such a diverse city" in regards to atlanta)

3. a lack of actual lgbtq+ main storylines (so far) is kind of sad for a show like this. i was getting serious bi/pan vibes (as a lot of other people) from victor from the beginning, and when it was implied that victor was actually gay (while great, not shaming) as it has been brought to my attention, there was a lot of looking at a lot of straight relationship problems (please let us know more about benji)- edit 6/18: upon further consideration, it very much is a show about questioning your sexuality, I'm speaking about the other straight relationship issues, not mia and Victor's, its just the first season.

4. let us talk about cheating for a sec. never okay, in any circumstance. i feel sorry for mia that she saw victor making out with benji and the fact that he was doing any of that in the first place. victor made a choice to lie about the espresso machine and then kissed benji at the hotel and then when benji was fighting with derek, basically confessed his love and mistakes, then proceeded to makeout with benji after he broke up with derek, he built that grave and now he must lie in it. i get having feelings for a guy when you are in a relationship with a girl, and not accepting yourself enough to end that relationship but you really want it to work so you can be "normal". really, he should have told mia after he got back from the trip tho. i get being in highschool and doing stupid stuff and making dumb decisions, but for a show aimed at teens i think we should also remind said teens to make good choices even if we have to lose some realism within the character choices.

4. pilar and her decisions based off her brother pissed me off. because i honestly think that if she'd kept her mouth shut about what she knew or confronted victor about it in the first place we could have avoided a LOT of mess. did she not learn from snooping around her mother's business about her relationships that going behind a person's back doesnt end well? i did, however, like the pilar/felix friendship and was really kind of hoping that they'd get together during their coffee hangout (although now im glad that didn't happen) because they had a deeper understanding of each other. same with wendy/felix, although they do seem to much alike to work out in the long run but i still feel bad for wendy.

5. i don't know how i feel about lake and andrew, as people separate from each other. both seem to be the way they are from their upbringing (not confirmed why andrew is such an ass, but if his comment about his dad is anything to go by i bet it's got something to do with attention) but andrew seems to be less, idk, superficial? like he turned down mia because he didn't want to be a rebound, he didn't out victor, he actually stood up to early teasing the other dudes in the lockerroom were doing at victor (with teasing of his own obviously but that interaction had him on my nice list until much later). lake? lake. i honestly don't have an opinion of her? not really. i mean after hanging out with pilar i was hoping felix wouldn't go back to lake. is her name laken? i feel like her full name is laken. but they also played the "im only like this because my mom is really superficial about stuff and i do like the geeky nice guy but appearances" to "actually screw the norms im gonna makeout with him infront of the whole student body". i honestly thought she was gonna be bi because she kept hitting on mia when she was helping set up for her "date" and "big night" and there was one point where i saw her face fall at something mia said in relation to her and idk i was hoping she'd be bi (i figured early on that victor/mia wasnt gonna work and was like "oh mia/lake would be cute" but now idk.

6. okay on to the "big night", i have one word. NO. i didn't like the peer pressure into having sex. i agreed with felix when he said "your body your choice" but im also disappointed that victor made out with mia and when lake was talking to felix after victor left he didn't try to stand up for victor.

7. on to age gaps because i hadn't really thought of this at first. we'll start with benji/derek: WHAT GRADE IS BENJI?! because that determines my thoughts. if he's a sophomore that meant that he and Derek started dating benji's freshman year and thats eugh, don't do that, don't care if its a gay couple that shouldn't be happening because the maturity of the two characters is DRASTICALLY different (this is also a reason i am not a fan of cmbyn) but that would explain why they were so rocky. hoping the event at the gay bar was open to anyone not just for drinking, but not liking that fact that not one of the adults with victor were like: hey, this is a 16 year old, that's kind of wack when that dude was hitting on victor. that made me question some stuff. although i figure it might be making up for the lack of a gay bar scene in love, simon. but even then, in svthsa it's a restaurant with a bar that some people go to just to drink at, it wasn't just a bar, simon could be there but should NOT have accepted drinks from college kids, not matter how attractive.

8. i loved how bram and simon and their friends helped victor out though. i like how bram was like: hey i know my friends are a lot so here's a gay basketball league becaue there's no one way to be gay. i like how Simon talked about needing help himself just to help victor and how he said his friends were cool with it because it's a community. i like of justin(?) mentioned how being what his parents wanted was putting on a mask and pretending, not him doing drag. my favorite lines from that ep are: "and before you ask my pronouns are they/them/theirs" "'they're all gay? even that guy? he's like [insert really tall number]' 'yeah. you should see him in heels'" "or in simon's case: really unathletic" "and also because bram said that if i wore [the jean jacket] one more time he'd burn it". also katya was there. and the group hug too!

9. the back hand homophobia in relation to family is sad, but realistic and i sincerely hope his parents are kind enough not to be too harsh on victor because of it. anything they say that isn't positive or supportive of victor is bad but i hope they realize that there is more to him than that and that they can come to terms with it because it's not always that hard to be a part of that community and super religious. i am biromantic and catholic. and while there are some things i wont agree on my mom with, i know that it's more of a strike against God for kicking out gay kids from families than it is to be gay, because those parents were given trust by GOD to love those kids no matter what, and be good parents. so in the end, the parents are wrong and harmful and in the case of christians against jesus's teachings to love everyone.

10. this is fan speculation but dont think simon/bram are going through a rough patch? i honestly think it'd be a little cruel to the characters to have on of their actors be producing but then not have that relationship stay. and while it's not set in stone and obviously things happen in the real world, we have no proof script wise about there being a rift. all we have are bad photoshopped ig photos and scenes where two characters are never standing next to each other probably beccaue schedules never link up correctly for minor characters. who knows, maybe nick robinson was filming for a movie where is does have an even more major role than victor's gay guru in a series about victor so his filming time was around that. im gonna keep hope that things are okay.

11. that being said: we need more mainstream wlw content, because someone said it earlier and it really does seem to be catering to straight girls. i'll admit i did freak out when benji played call me maybe which is something i associated with him and victor but then kissed a guy because who wouldn't? we get that serenade and sweetness and then it'a ripped from us. but i did mellow out. if i flipped later it was because victor was making dumb decisions and i had to give myself a moment of compsure before i continued.

in the end, i'd say that there is a lot of growth this series needs to go through, but i also know that some people just aren't going to like it and i get that. but i also know that sometimes the best of stories have rocky starts, nothing is ever perfect from the beginning. and besides, further seasons are on hold until we figure out this covid thing, which means that you bet they're gonna be looking at our feedback. they saw what we thought before, they can do it again

i really did like it but we need more ACTUAL lgbtq+ relationship stuff from this series and better decisions on what we are teaching the younger generations, as well as what we want to focus on and realism within characters. i'm giving it an 8/10, because there is always room for growth and i really hope we get better things out of this than what we have been given in season 2.

edit: someone mentioned it really seeming like it was meant for Disney+ and i felt that. also to anyone who reaches the tags agter reading ALL OF THIS: i am sorry

[mrsrhys23]

The Royal Romance

Summary: You are an actress working on a show called ‘The Royal Romance.” and you’re doing an interview talking about it. 

Word count: 1,103 

Warnings: Complete nonsense..?

A/N:  All the characters belong to Pixelberry. This is apart of my series The Royal Romance, I got bored and decided to write a one shot for it. 

The cast list HERE

Permatags: @desiree-0816, @cordoniaqueensworld, @itschoicesstuff, @roisebeaumontworld21, @emilypowell001

Series tags: @bbrandy2002, @texaskitten30

The audience cheered and clapped as you made your way onto the stage and took a seat in front of the talk show host. 

“So Y/N Y/L/N is joining us here to talk about her hit show called The Royal Romance,” the woman interviewing you explained to audience both in the studio and watching at home. “Y/N, it’s a pleasure to have you on the show. Thank you for coming,” the older woman smiled. 

“Thank you for having me. It's lovely to be here,” you replied. 

She turned to you a smile on her face. “So Y/N tell us about it because I mean it has done really, really well. So well that it’s been renewed for a second series. Did you know that it was going to do this well? Did you have any idea how much people were going to love it?” 

You thought about your answer for a second, “ No, you never know how something is going to be perceived but I think all the cast had an inkling that it was going to do well,” you explained. 

“But you didn’t think It’d get the response it has gotten?” She asked. 

“No, like I said we all had a good feeling about it but you just never know,” you shrugged. 

“What can you tell us about this series? The last one ended on such a cliffhanger.”

“Yeah, We’ve just started filming again, I can’t really say much but in this season Riley Brooks comes back sort to clear her name and find out who orchestrated the photographs. We kind of see Riley trying to figure out who she is as cliche as that sounds and we see Liam trying to navigate being king and trying to fit in to his new role. I think in a way all the characters are trying to figure out who they are amongst the ‘courtly drama’ as they call it.”

“Do you know who’s behind it?” the host asked. 

I don’t. It seems to be all on a need to know basis. Daniel di Tamasso likes to say he knows but I don’t think he does,” You explained, smiling when you thought over that conversation. 

“In the first series we saw quite the friendship between your and Daniels characters,” the woman said. 

Yeah, we did. There is definitely something there, I can’t speak for Daniel but I’d dont think Drake would ever betray his friend. I think the love Drake has for his best friend holds him back pursuing anything with her. I don’t think it is all romantic between them, they did bond over both being outsiders initially and Riley doesn’t seem to have the same feelings towards Drake as he does her, but we'll see what happens. Like I said it really is about each character figuring out who they are in all of this.”

“We also saw a very good friendship between Riley and Hana, that was an interesting one,” she noted. 

It was, they’re both competitors but that doesn’t seem to affect their relationship in anyway. Riley bonded with her because they are both outsiders. Riley is an American and not nobility whereas Hana is nobility but is from Shanghai, they both have an unfair disadvantage here.”

“You talk about Riley uncovering a plot against her, but isn’t she sort of out of her depth?” She ventured. 

You nodded your head, “Yes, they all are I think. We have Maxwell who invited Riley to Cordonia in the first season and was given the responsibility in the first to sort of mentor this girl and now  he has to help her uncover this plot against her and he still  isn't really trusted by his brother. We then have Drake who is always just been considered as ‘the prince's best friend’ and had never really engaged with court suddenly is. Then we have Liam who was simply the spare and is suddenly king. Hana who has been trained for courtly life but lacks in certain areas, I think her kindness really is used against her. Then we have Olivia who is going to be more involved this season, she’s had a tough life, the loss of her parents then being raised by her aunt who was never there, then living in the palace where she was never really accepted by anyone other than Liam. We have six young adults who if you look past the titles are very ordinary, who are taking on something very big and very dangerous,” you explained. 

The host  nodded, thinking over what you just said, looking down at the note-cards in her lap then back up to you. “Is there any pressure to do better this season, do you think?”

You pondered over it for a moment. Last season had gone down really quite well, so of course there was pressure to do better this time around.  “Yes. I think there is pressure to up our game here a little and do better than we did last time. We’ve finished the first episode and we’ve just gotten the script for the second, I don’t want to jinx it but I think we’re doing it.”

The host looked back down to her notes then back up to you again, “What a lot of people don’t know is that this is a spin off from another two shows.”

“It is,” you nodded, “There’s three series’ in the same universe. We have The Crown And The Flame, Rules Of Engagement and The Royal Romance.”

“Do they ever overlap?” she asked. 

“Yeah, The Crown And The Flame is all about the five kingdoms coming together which make up Cordonia, so what takes place in that does overlap more so in to The Royal Romance. Rules Of Engagement is about a family, who essentially needed to earn their inheritance from their grandmother on a cruise  and the main character, Katie, meets Leo who is Liam’s brother. Then The Royal Romance is everything going on in the kingdom now. We have had a few crossovers with the Rules Of Engagement and vise versa. Mainly Chris Hemsworth who plays Leo, Rupert Everett who plays Constantine, Sara Stuart who plays Regina and Margot Robbie who plays Madeline go in and out of the two shows, whereas our characters are just mentioned. 

The host looked down to her watch then back up to you. “We’re running out of time now, but it was absolutely lovely to have you on the show. Thank you for coming on to talk about the show with us, Y/N.” 

“Thank you for having me,” you grinned.

[docmurph12]

Ok review time. And remember, there is no war in Ba Sing Se.

My next request comes from my very good friend. The last time he and I sat down and tried to watch this was after we cleared through every episode of the animated series this movie was based on. We didnt get through ten minutes. So this was a fun, frustrating challenge. For those noticing, yes this is a retroactive review, instead of a "live" one. Reason for this is that as a fan it would be really difficult to be as objective as possible (given I already know this thing to be really bad) if I was distracted.

So what I know going in is that Shyamalan had a couple big flops and that he picked out this series to be his resurrection, thinking going the large scale epic route would be beneficial to his career. What happened was a ruthlessly infamous flop that resulted in nearly 6 years of silence, jokes, and memes prior to "Split" bringing Shyamalan back to relevance again.

First of all, this film could literally have been directed by anyone. Looking back at my review for Aladdin, I recall saying that I was shocked to find out it was directed by Guy Richey, because all of his hallmark signatures were missing. Same story here; The Last Airbender feels like a basic level cookie cutter epic filmmaking school project. Everything that makes a Shyamalan film is gone, which is crazy because the levity that makes ATLA (the acronym I'll use for the show going forward) is gone too. I have always said that as a director your job is to take what is written (which in this case was written by Shyamalan as well) and use your style to create a visual aspect that compliments the story told by the dialogue and events. Think of this writer/director relationship like one in comics between the writer and the artist. The artist is selected because stylistically he matches what is needed for the story. Great example of a good match is Sin City (picked because of loudness of its specific style). That story doesnt get told the same way or with the same impact with different color palettes, camera work, or actor direction. The Last Airbender is missing everything that gives a person a reason to select a specific director, especially one known for work in small scale supernatural thrillers.

The writing is.....super bad. There are a couple simple tools I like to use to identify if a film has scripting issues as opposed to anything else. First, is the dialogue done in a way that feels contextually natural? Do real people talk this way or is it written like shlockey, overly dramatic stage dialogue (think the Star Wars prequel trilogy)? Second, how easy is the story to follow? Are there gaping plot holes? Is it subtle with a good surprise? Does it hit you in the face with a story shovel with a handle made of heavy handed expositional dialogue?

Lastly, how hard are the actors trying to act around your script? Is it a good film where great performances outweigh poor to middling dialogue (Batman V Superman), or is it Bloodrayne? I've said enough on that, you get the point. That said, I am not sure the actors could have been saved by a better script. The cast was very poorly selected. Insensitive at worst (though I genuinely think the brown dude that insisted on the specific and coincidentally white folk he picked probably DIDN'T have a whitewashing agenda given what he said prior to release), out of touch with the source material at best, picking the virtual unknowns that he did really didnt pan out for him. The kid cast as Aang (pronounced AAng, goddamnit, not ONG, more on that later) got the role because he looks like the character, kind of, and only had a week of acting school worth of experience prior to filming the movie. Let's just say it definitely showed.

I am not sure TOTALLY crucifying the cast is entirely fair, so let's move the witch hunt to almost everything else. There is some good though, I promise so hang in there.

I really hope the editor got sent back to school. The purpose of editing is to make a cut that not only maintains but heightens interest in what you are watching. Cutting the fat in order to get to the point while not giving the movie away. Sometimes that means giving more than a 90 minute cut (which Shyamalan has taken at least partial responsibility for in this case) in order to preserve the story. There are scenes where the continuity from one cut to the next doesnt match up. Like consecutive cuts in one scene with massive distances traveled between cuts and even in at least one case a partial or complete costume change. It's extremely jarring. Something else about cuts--generally you cut to another angle or scene because the film requires you to in order to display more information that you wouldn't get in one single long cut. Usually a film has choppy cuts in it because the scene requires an character to do something the actor can't, or because the director or editor are bad at their job. The story, or sometimes in lucky cases just one scene, suffers as a result of bad or needless cuts. This is the case here. The strange thing is there are truly WONDERFUL long cuts of fight scenes that really suck you in, but the wierd juxtaposition between great non-editing and strange and bad editing really kicks you in the head. Enough on that. On to the next.

I did NOT see this movie in 3d. I understand that the conversion was really bad, but that said what I CAN speak to is the VFX. This film, with the exception of the lighting, was pretty well put together in terms of effects. There were really only a couple issues that were glaring in terms of VFX, but by and large it wasnt awful. There are definitely newer films that look worse. In standard. I dont know about 3d.

I think the thing that makes this film more frustrating than anything is that there are things about this movie I love. They are few and far between, but I really do love them. The intro was a really neat callback to the series intro to each episode. Then the movie happens. Then, the flying bison appears!! Then more movie. Then, a scene where Aang (not Awng) uses the glider in his staff. Then more movie. Then, all the practical martial arts, then, yet more movie. It's like this the entire way. Best comparison here? Green Lantern. It's like the Shyamalan said, "Hey, I like this and need a career boost.", then proceeded to cherry pick things from a beloved series and then ham and egged a movie with a confusing plot that absolutely requires you to be super familiar with the source material. There are a lot of assumptions made by characters in the movie that made sense given background provided by the show, but make absolutely none if you are going in blind. "Those are air bending tattoos, and I think he might be the avatar, despite he fact that I havent seen him bend anything and airbenders havent even been seen in over 100 years! Before my time!" Fucking come on. Throw the newcomers here a bone man.

The long story short here is I guess in spite of the casting decisions, editing, and direction, a good script could have made at least a fun movie. This movie should not have made it past script in the form we all saw it though, and it makes one wonder how much pressure was on everyone involved (almost all of it internally applied, Shyamalan did this project almost entirely on his own volition and cast a bunch of almost unknowns with the exception of maybe Cliff Curtis, so of course they said yes) to join in and take part in this without asking questions. Its upsetting to know the original showrunners were as ostracized as they were on this thing.

I dont see myself going back. Yes there were things that made me smile a little, but the film as a whole is so overwhelmingly bad in the face of those things it is just not worth it. I AM however going to go and rewatch the series with my wife and the kids for their first time, and maybe as a result of having to sit through this war crime of a film adaptation.

Final Verdict? I give it a D-. Purely out of respect for the very small handful of things I did appreciate. Next up?? The Lobster. Really looking forward to that one.

[palukoo]

so a couple months ago i relistened to w359 and made a 18000 word document while doing so containing iconic quotes, my reactions, feelings, et cetera. heres some highlights with varying amounts of context. (theres lowkey spoilers for the whole series btw)

""""i empathize too much""""

crazy how i still vividly remember walking outside [my old job] and to starbucks while listening to the spider ep... trauma

i mean i dont love it but it makes me feel things

GABRIEL THATS TOO ON THE NOSE

"let me have my badass space chick victory cocktail"

god like i AM team what wrong with handcuffs but I WOULD NOT HESITATE to kill hilbert for hera

the girlssss are fightinggg

THE SAD W359 MUSIC IS KILLING ME

like memoria who maxwell who jk jk

i love you renee minkowski marry me

local idiot's heart is in the right place

HARPOOOOOOONSSSS

lovelace lovelace lovelace loveLACE LOVELACE

"maybe she's some kind of clone thing" EIFFEL... this is day 1!!!

i hate these self sacrificial idiots

no no no not this music again ill cry

yall are so emotionally stunted it fucking hurts but damn if you dont care

literally how are they still alive

i want to hug her so much omg

alan rody shut the FUCK up im crying

rip zach valenti's throat

face the death reality via math

jacobi being a piece of shit

maxwell said lets kill hilbert rights

this is a kepler hate blog

minkowski thinking her emotions dont matter to the mission oh ho ho

"youre gonna straighten up" cutter they cant theyre not straight

maxwell and jacobi show up and blow up lads

"and you should really be more careful with your queen" KEPLER WHAT DOES THAT MEAN

wolf 359 stop making me stan these literally terrible people

FUNZO FUNZO FUNZO

i am caring about men tonight lads

theyre both awful sure go ahead have history

hilbert you interrupted their emotional moment they wouldve had a MOMENT

hera said im gay

ohhhh nooo interpersonal conflict makes me sad

hug minkowski rn

FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC jacobi and maxwell are iconic

minkowski how did you not kill him

how much do yall use the words "good enough" and "cant"

"are you an alien" GOD the Hints

"one of our... sexier jobs" vs "this is gonna said less sexy after that"

eiffel stop cockblocking them

y'all's choice of pronouns IS illuminating

PROTECT HERA AT ALL COSTS

aw eiffel... minkowski... communication is KEY

oh yeah THATS what the psi wave regulator is for.... SURE

hilbert read the room

JACOBI you can't just describe minkowski like that without giving me a heart attack

how many times have all these bitches almost died

SORRY ANYTHING THEY SAY I LOSE IT

oh minkowski finally flipped (VALID)

oh wait that fact isnt fun at all and im literally crying

LIKE sometimes you save someone's life at great personal risk only to kill her a little while later

minkowski cries to “back to before” from ragtime

i feel to many things about the gals here idk what to tell you i love them thats the problem

its gay and it hurts!

lovelace laughing at people who can and will kill her... hot

OH WERE STARTING LOVELACES SELF SACRIFICE ALREADY

they let lovelace say FUCK

OH WAIT NO I FORGOT ITS WORSE

THANKS FOR MURDERING ME WITH YOUR TEARY ANGRY VOICE

ouchie anyways gay or no but also gay

hilarious and sad at the same time?

MAXWELL dont be a bitch... i expect this from jacobi and honestly i actually expect this from maxwell too but i dont like it

NO NOT THIS MUSIC

BROTP BROTP BROTP

i cant say anything else im too busy crying

UGH I COULD WRITE ESSAYS ON MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS THE MESSAGE THE TAKEAWAY BROADLY THE PERSONAL EMOTIONAL ANGUISH THE DESIRE TO HUG HERA ITS

im mad but thank you... all of you... explain... 

stop stop stop im literally so tense gone straight from sobbing to freeze instinct

GOD I HATE ALL THESE SURVIVALS GUILT IDIOTS

OH theyre all about uncertainty... the what ifs... okay... ouch ouch ouch

give everyone awards for bolero

eris are you gay

she said gay rights and AI rights

like i know i know we been knew but goddard really is so awful

Hera stop narrating Lovelace’s ongoing existential crisis

HOW IS THIS NOT GAY (I know how it’s not gay but. Let me have this)

KEPLER stop giving Lovelace insecurities and existential crises

Team back off lovelace for the win

like not to be dramatic but her arc is beautiful

oh boy thats my girlsssss

THATS FLIRTING MINKOWSKI

god i love that concern for your gf keep it up minkowski

COMMUNICATION? WITH THIS CREW? BOLD

GOD angrey hera is great

you know hera is having the time of her life witnessing it

eiffel you just ruined their romantic moment

minkowski is gonna kill them

a much better gayer more altruistic light

WE’RE ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT COMMUNICATION

WAIT I WAS BEING CANON DAMN I THOUGHT I WAS BEING CREATIVE AND PERHAPS OOC BUT IM IN THE CLEAR I GUESS

god hera has needed to snap at eiffel for so long

i can already feel myself about to get hit with the tears... the emotions

that shit hits different renee

The implications that Goddard like destroyed global warming omfg

it’s the moral grayness babeyyy

when it hits you with minkowski's shaky sigh first thing you know its gonna hit different

MINKOWSKI i need you to. love yourself as much as i love you

GOD the mutual concern they always have for each other is touching whether or not you think its gay. i think its gay

HERA WOULD YOU ASK A COW TO NOT BE A COW

oh of COURSE they cut coms first

lovelace is man, butterfly is quote, it says "is this flirting"

jacobi i need you to chill

but jacobiiiii thats lovelaces schtick

oh eiffel... you fucking idiot who gets really lucky sometimes

this game of chicken where theyre both chickens and kepler doesnt know any of that and each of them only know half

minkowski said im an ethics teacher now

who taught minkowski empathy in high stress situations?

yeah so i stay hitting the nail on the head

“kepler SHUT UP” is what brings everyone together

this is, como se dice.... kinda gay

this statement does not bode well for that

“Maybe less talking to yourself” he says to himself

ugh, to be Pop Culture Man™️

RACHEL i love you even tho I also hate you

Rachel if you make one more hand joke I’ll lose my mind

HER NAME!!!! IS HERA!!!! And I love her!!

i have a vivid mental image of post-series eiffel doing stand up like chris fleming style 

"my crew has made it very clear through a series of looks and gestures that one more slip up and i am out, thats it, so im taking this job very seriously"

"minkowski is very overprotective in a weird, erratic way, like when your seat belt randomly locks and its like i appreciate what youre trying to do but im going 4mph in a drive way."

"so when something like this happens you have to at least consider going away for a long time and living on a cursed space station"

"you know how when maxwell and hera are talking ive never felt less needed, you know, like ‘cause you guys would be totally happy alone on a rock in the middle of a lake"

"this is the kind of body you look at and go he'd probably be ok in space without a space suit"

the whole "theater kids" video is actually him going off about minkowski

minkowski is too swole for her own good

jacobi im gonna need you to take the redemption arc more seriously

i love my crazy crazy bitches

this FUCKING music

GOD HOW DOES PRYCE JUST ALWAYS GET WORSE

she just like mutilated that man he is doa absolutely destroyed one hit ko

can you tone down the gay, sweetie

you did it you broke rachel and Goddard down to their bare essentials

GOSH shes so AWKWARD 

so damn jacobi was just IMMEDIATELY ride or die for maxwell

this is too much for my poor baby heart

pryce & carter literally are just like lets do eugenics, lets do genocide

when hera says ill pull a yall and sacrifice myself for minkowski and lovelace 

god like cant believe KEPLER got a redemption arc (well not arc but you know)

ah yes the most tragic scenes all take place at once :)

I HAD TO STOP LISTENING TO BRAVE NEW WORLD CAUSE IT MADE ME TOO CRAZYYYY

THE SCRIPT SAID IT NOT ME

i love space moms!

this fucking music ALAN RODY IM SUING FOR DAMAGES

like the document also does have a lot of like deep thoughts and meta and parallels and discussion of motivations but this is just fun random things i said

[fal-carrington]

Love Will Tear Us Apart

Pairing: Victoria x Mc

Gender: Slightly Angst/heartbreaking filled with romance

A/N: Hi everybody, today I was inspired and I decided to write this. The idea popped into my mind as I was replaying the last chapter of RCD's book 2 when Victoria admits being in love with MC, and MC alternately rejects her, so Victoria says "Don’t say anything else please. If you get there... Amazing. If you don’t... I still think having you in my life has been for the best”

Prompt: Falling in love with your best friend and seeing her date someone else can be painful, especially when you do not admit your feelings to her for fear of losing her and being rejected. That was what Victoria thought, but that was before her agent called with an unexpected offer. When Victoria and Kat have to act as lovers in Thomas Hunt's new series, things can turn out to be disastrous, would Victoria finally admit the truth when she's about to kiss her best friend for the first time on a TV show? Somebody is going to get out of this with a broken heart?

"So what do you think Victoria? I mean, it's a great opportunity and you were saying a few years ago that you wanted to reinvent yourself. That may be the perfect moment." Rachel, her agent was looking at her waiting for a response from the diva. Victoria stared at the script with no expression on her face. She knew perfectly well that this was a great opportunity, many famous names in Hollywood would be in that show, Hunt was the director, that had everything to succeed and be a glorious, but what she did not expect was who would be her co-star. Kat.

"You know very well that I don’t do TV shows, Rachel." Victoria left the script on the coffee table, turning her eyes to her garden, feeling the cool wind hit her face. Her agent took a sip of coffee with an expression Victoria knew well. She would not take an no so easily.

"That role is perfect for you and you know it. I honestly do not know what the problem is in accepting." Rachel groaned again, waiting for a true answer from the diva. "Is this because of Katherine?" Rachel narrowed her eyes. Victoria sighed.

"She is my best friend. She has nothing to do with my refusal,” Victoria lied, swallowing dry, distractedly stirring her croissant on her plate.

"You're a great actress, but I know you're lying." Rachel pointed. "Are you still having that unprofessional tension on the set? I thought that had been solved in Tender Nothings."

"And it was! We get along really well, I love being around her, we talk about everything, we spend most of our time together. She's a good friend,” Victoria said feeling the words run down her throat like acid. Referring to the person she was in love with as a friend was perhaps as bad as being rejected by her.

Rachel stared at her for a few moments before taking her coffee.

"So it happened, huh? I was wondering how long it would take to happen," Rachel said casually.

"What are you talking about?"

"You and her. You fell in love with her. Who would say, honestly I'm not surprised at all. I do not know how the media has not yet realized this tension between you two"

"Oh, please." Victoria rolled her eyes.

"It's true, huh? Tell me how long you've noticed” Rachel leaned back in Victoria's summer chair and looked at her with a triumphant smile.

Victoria sighed. She knew she would not escape that conversation even if she tried. The best thing would be to open the game for her agent and stop denying it at once.

"Since she visited me in New York. Before the recordings of The Last Duchess begin,” She admitted. “... And she show up at The Godmother premiere.”

"And you never opened the game for her? Has nothing ever happened between you both?”

"No, never. And besides, she's dating Matt.” She sighed heavily, feeling the weight of those words. "Why would I say anything? I do not want to ruin our friendship. She clearly doesn’t feel the same and I dont even know if she’s into girls.”

“You never asked?”

“No!”

"So you're afraid of rejection."

"Oh, for god's sake. Enough talking about Katherine.” She rolled her eyes. But deep down inside, she knew that Rachel was right and with that came the memory of last night in her mind.

Victoria was coming down through her Pictagram feed, smiling gratefully at the thousands of likes that popped up in her newest photo. She liked a photo that Teja had excitedly posted from her new chair of director of the film she was directing, Victoria's eyes went down to the end of the screen immediately to the unexpected photo posted a few seconds ago. It had been posted 10 seconds and there were already a thousand likes.

"Night out with bae! Love you.”

Her eyes lingered on the photo for a few moments. Until her fingers went automatically and without her permission to give like in the photo.

It was a picture of Kat with Matt. Both were hugging and smiling, sitting in a booth couch at Vertigo's. Kat was as beautiful as ever, the flash had made a beautiful contrast in her blue eyes. Victoria swallowed hard looking at the photo of the new Hollywood couple. It had been a huge bang when they both took over the relationship, gave in all the magazines and newspapers. Both were in innumerable interviews and the cover of the magazines, she lost her account of the photoshoots they did together. Leland and Candy always demanded new interviews to see them again, just as the paparazzi pursued them in the streets. She wanted to hate Matt.

She wanted to hate him with all her strength, but she could not. Matt was a good person and a good boy, and he was certainly making Kat happy. He probably was a good boyfriend too, he was going in all the fashion shows that Kat participated as a model, she knew perfectly well that he was going, because she also went in all. He had been with her on all her travels, and had been with her almost all her tours, since she had decided to invest in the music career dropping her first album, making a huge success.

He was with the person she wanted to be, the person she had fallen in love with. Her girl, her best friend. But she understood or she tried at least, Matt was young. Both were, and it was undeniable that both could not take their eyes off each other during the entire Tender Nothings recording, Victoria would like to say that she was surprised when Kat came to tell her the news, but she was not.

"I'm not going to lie, it fucking hurts," Victoria murmured softly to herself. She had never told Kat what she felt, but what was the point of doing this? She would only be rejected. She remembered perfectly the tough beginning of their friendship, how she had been rude and cruel to Kat, until she truly knew the girl and realized she was a good person. End up liking her without even realizing what was happening, what was a rivalry became a friendship... And the friendship became love. She never expected to fall in love with her best friend. She'd known Kat for four years, and she had not expected to be so attached to her. She needed her and couldn’t imagine her life without her best friend. Maybe the universe has a sick sense of humor after all.

"... And It's kind of hard to put aside when we're going to have to play as lovers on this show!" Victoria said, running her hand through her blond hair in frustration.

"I know this complicates things."

"Just to say the least." She sighed.

"You have much to consider. Think about it and try to put this question about Katherine aside. I know you two are best friends, you're in love with her, but you're a complete professional actress. Certainly, I know you can leave your personal problems aside on the set.” Before she could said something else, her cell phone vibrated. "Oh, it's Pippa Majors, I have to pick it up. Think about what I told you and then call me, okay? " She stood up leaving a confused Victoria behind.

21h30pm

Victoria paced back and forth in her bedroom, with Rachel's words in her mind. She knew that accepting the role was a difficult choice, but it was probably the right thing to do.

California's hot air entered the room of the actress porch, causing the curtains to sway. She was too busy in her thoughts to realize that her cell phone was vibrating a few seconds ago.

"Oh, fuck," she said to herself and took him in her hands. She bit her own lips, cursing herself when she saw the name and the picture on the screen.

Kat. She watched for mere seconds to Kat’s dork photo and she answered.

"Katherine, what can I do for you?"

"Hey, you." Kat laughed on the other end of the line. "You're not busy right now, right? You can talk?"

"Sure. What's it?"

"So I was talking to Chazz this morning and Hunt came up with this incredible new series offering he's producing, so he mentioned that he offered it to you as well. So of course I got the script, and I was wondering if you already accepted it.”

 "Well, I'm still thinking about. I'm not much of a type making series."

"Oh, come on Vic. It'll be great, you'll love it! "

"I'm not so sure about that."

"What's the problem?"

"Nothing. It's just... It's not my style."

"It's never too late to change." Victoria sighed impatiently.

"I'm thinking about it, okay? I know this is a great opportunity, but I still do not know."

"I'll be there. Let's act together like we did in the past. Tender Nothing’s was great and you know it."

"Yeah... I'm aware of that."

"... And we can see each other everyday. It's been a long time since we've been out, I've been busy and so have you. I have not known what it's like to see you for months. This project will be great for us "

"I'm sure Matt fills my seat." Kat laughed.

"You are my best friend. Do not get me wrong, I love Matt, but he's not you." A smile grew on Victoria's lips at those words.

"Grow up, Kat." Victoria rolled her eyes.

"Oh, come on, do not be mean."

"Yeah. Maybe you're right. Maybe it's good."

"Look, you're already agreeing."

"You're so biased." Victoria laughed and sighed. "Okay fine. I'll talk to my agent."

"Finally! Thank you, Vic."

"Do not thank me, I'll get paid for it." Kat laughed in response. "So ... Uh. Do you have plans for tomorrow? I'm free, and if you want to have coffee or something..." Victoria bit her lip anxiously.

"Sure thing. We can catch up. I have plenty things to tell you."

"Alright. See you tomorrow."

"See ya." She hung up and swallowed dry looking of her cell phone. Until her fingers automatically went up to her agent's name in her agenda and soon the phone was already dialing.

"Victoria?"

"Hey, Rach. I was thinking about the paper... And I decided to accept it."

"That’s great. What made you change your mind?"

"Kat did."

Saint Monica, Malibu 15h30pm 

Victoria was staring at her coffee in her hands, watching people passing by, people looking over her shoulder and taking pictures of her with flash and the paparazzi doing a terrible job of hiding themselves at the tables. She rolled her eyes. As the cafeteria door opened and Kat emerged, a smile lit up her face involuntarily. She looked gorgeous in that white summer dress, her honey-colored hair loose and her blue eyes vibrant. She smiled back when she saw Victoria, walking to her table.

"Hey, Vic." She hugged her.

"Hey Kat," Victoria sighed, patting her back slightly.

"I feel like I have not seen you for decades! You've been so busy lately.” Kat laughed as she sat beside Victoria.

"Oh, shut up. It's you who's been traveling all the time,” Victoria said and Kat chuckled.

"I know, things are going crazy these days. But I'm so happy to see my best friend again." Kat touched Victoria's hand on the table, taking one look from Victoria to the pair of hands together. "I missed you."

"Yeah... Me too. So ... How's it going with Matt?" Victoria scratched her throat trying to distract herself from the scene.

“Like always. He's recording his new movie in London and I'm getting new work in mind now."

"Hunt's new series," Victoria concluded.

"I'm so excited about this. It will be wonderful, all the scenery that goes, the forbidden romance ... All the crime and the action scenes. And of course, I'm excited to see the guys, Chris, Holly, and I was told Pippa's going to be in the movie. Are you excited to see her?’” Kat took a sip of her coffee.

"Who?" Victoria frowned.

"Pippa." Kat shrugged.

"Why would I be?" Victoria looked at her blankly.

"I remembered the chemistry between the two of you that day at the party at her house. You seemed very interested."

"That was... Nothing." Victoria dismissed it with one hand.

"Oh... okay. Well, anyway, The fact that we're going to star together as lovers is awesome. I’m so excited, I mean, you're a great mentor and my best friend, I feel like we're going to do a great job."

"Oh, yeah." Victoria chose the words carefully. Watching the big dimpled smile on Kat's face. "Well, what can I say... Two hot women as a couple on a tv series? This series is already ours.”

“That’s the spirit!” Kat grinned.

“What can get wrong?" Victoria muttered to herself.

[oscar-isaacs-number-one-bitch]

“The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” Movie Review

Back on Oscar nomination day in 2014, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 5 nominees for the Best Animated Feature of the year, and while that list included some crowd favorites like Big Hero 6 and more mature blockbusters like How to Train Your Dragon 2, the largest story that day wasn’t about any of the nominations, but one film that was left out of them. Most pundits and basically any critic who had seen the brilliantly creative, immensely funny, and more-emotionally-affecting-than-it-had-any-right-to-be Lego Movie had it pegged as not only a surefire nominee, but surefire winner of that award, and our jaws were left hanging on the floor at the lack of its mention during the announcement.

Despite that though, The Lego Movie went on to be an animated hit in the homes of people all across the world, two mildly-to-wildly successful spinoffs were launched to critical praise, and the studio immediately began plans for a sequel, with directors Phil Lord & Chris Miller not returning to the project as they were already booked to direct the Solo movie for Lucasfilm (which they were fired from, and then they moved on to Into the Spider-Verse and we all saw how that shook out). Thus, we have The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, which finds Emmet and the rest of the Lego people 5 years removed from the ending of that first film. Bricksburg has been ravaged and destroyed by the toys of DuPlon, and our heroes now live in Apocalypseburg. But when some of the residents are captured by a mysterious new character from the Sistar system, Emmet must embark on a daring new mission to rescue his friends and prove that he truly is The Special.

I’ve made it no small secret that I love The Lego Movie and thoroughly enjoyed Lego Batman. Lego Ninjago was…fine for me, but I mostly chalked that up to it being very much tied into the popular children’s Ninjago series, which I hadn’t watched. With the direct sequel to the film that birthed them all being not only released but also set 5 years after the original, I was curious to see if the team at Warner Bros. would be able to pull off the same magnificent feat they did in 2014, especially without the direction of Lord & Miller. And, for the most part, they almost do. Much like How to Train Your Dragon 3, I thought Lego Movie 2 was pretty good – just not as good as those initial outings. While there are certainly moments of levity and plenty of jokes from a script by Lord & Miller, something did feel missing in its direction and pacing.

For a start, there are too many musical numbers in this movie. That may seem like a strange thing to say about a Lego movie, especially as a critique to start with over something more significant, but that’s exactly my point. It doesn’t make much sense until one realizes that the studio fell so in love with what worked in the original that they just decided to do that again – but a lot more. Sure, the original film this one is following had an iconic original theme song, and even Lego Batman dabbled a bit in the introduction, but Lego movies are not musicals. Even Tiffany Haddish (who can’t sing very well, as we find out) gets no less than two numbers essentially all to herself, and basically all of them take place in the second act. This not only overcrowds the movie as a whole, but the second act is simply too repetitive. On a story level, that means there’s less time devoted to moving it along rather than just using the same jokes for a little while longer than necessary. They’re not bad jokes, and some of them are actually quite funny, but that zippiness that was so profound in the original film is missing here, giving way to a slightly more elementary-style humor, which follows, considering the director they found to replace Lord & Miller is Mike Mitchell, director of Trolls.

Not only is the second act overly repetitive and reliant on the same jokes, the newer characters added to the franchise aren’t exactly super memorable. None of them leave the lasting impact that a character like a Lego Batman did on the first movie, and there are basically zero interesting cameos throughout (save for one that actually does turn into a pretty hilarious real-world reference joke during the third act). General Mayhem seems to be the stand-in for the Batman character this time around, but apart from capturing the main heroes and transporting them to the Sistar system, there’s really not much else to her until the final couple of minutes and she doesn’t help craft other characters’ development like Batman did for Lucy. In addition to this, the villain this time around (whose name I’m not even going to attempt to type since I’m writing this at almost 2:00 in the morning) might be a more intimidating presence than Lord Business, but she’s not exactly as or more compelling.

One of the things that made Lord Business compelling was his tie-in to the real world that informed the surprise reveal at the end of the original Lego Movie, but while the added-on real-world element to this entry in the series presents a beautiful intent with its message, the actual Lego sections don’t handle telling that message quite as clearly as the first one did its central themes, which makes understanding the villain character in The Second Part more difficult than it honestly should be. Most of the supporting cast that are introduced in this movie aren’t very memorable, which doesn’t bode well for a franchise plan. Even though the Rex Dangervest storyline does go to some pretty ambitious places, he remains sort of a watered-down version of what he’s probably meant to be, and a lot of that is wrapped up in his very convoluted storyline.

Even the animation seems to have taken a bit of a hit; in the original movie, it was made fairly obvious that everything was made of legos, and that was a super cool and innovative way to create an animated movie, but when this sequel gets busy in the Sistar system or with characters not from the Lego world, it becomes difficult to get very invested in the animation, as it no longer carries that particularly unique look. If we’re going to continue to get Lego movies in this vein for a while, spending more time outside of the Lego world than in it is a bad idea. Legos are fun! Spending time in the Lego world should take up the majority of a movie in this franchise, not a minority.

There is a fair amount to like about this movie though; pretty much all the original characters carry the same weight and charm they have since 5 years ago, and the story and themes this movie presents in conjunction with the last one are actually very sweet. Some of the music is actually quite catchy as well, and The Lonely Island come back again with a stellar closing credits sequence. While the direction could have used quite a bit of work, the script by Lord & Miller does what it can to keep the franchise fresh and new, and if nothing else, most of the jokes are funny on first arrival.

It may sound like I’m knocking on this movie too much, but much like How to Train Your Dragon 3 (the superior film between these two, if you’re wondering), I did enjoy it – I just find it to be a bit disappointing as a sequel. That’s the tough part about being a film critic; if you’re reviewing a sequel, talking about the stuff that worked again isn’t nearly interesting as what doesn’t work as well this time around or what works better because that sticks out more, which can make it sound like that’s all you think of the film. With Lego Movie 2, that means telling you that while what worked last time mostly works again this time, there are a few spots that don’t work as well, and that’s okay, if a little bit of a bummer.

“I’m giving The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” a 7.6/10

[tvtalk247]

The Purge ep 6

Is anyone watching this besides me? lol

I think it’s doing a better job exploring other aspects of The Purge night than the recent movies. The movies has heavily focused on the poor/race angle. Which, I do believe that’s what the night would primarily have been created for. But after 4 films, it’s time to explore the million other things that would be going on. Because not everyone is racists and elitists. There’s other things people are angry about. There other shameful sins people would love to do in public without being judge for it. Like explore that. And we do get some of that in the tv series. So I like it.

Now, the characters. Most of them are dumb as hell. But at least Miguel has excuse for his. He love his sister and willing to die to save her. That’s understandable. But FUCKING Jane. First, she puts a hit out on her skevy boss. Then, changes her mind and tries to call it off. She had a million chances to change her mind BEFORE the purge. But she waits until one her co-workers kill another to realize killing is wrong. And since boss doesn’t answer phone, this dumb bitch leaves a secure building and run through the streets to his house. And since this is fictional, she gets saved by some kickass women from being drugged and raped. But no, that wasn’t a sign for her to give up this quest to save her boss. She leaves the group because now she’s all high and mighty about morals. *insert eye roll* She get to her rich boss’ house and the door is WIDE FUCKING OPEN. And that’s not a clue for her dumb ass. She thinks her hired assassin somehow just happened to get in. *insert another eye roll* Then when she makes it up the stairs, there he is, in the kitchen acting like nothing’s wrong. ANOTHER FUCKING RED FLAG. He doesn’t even acknowledge it was open. Why would you have your door wide open during purge night? 

The biggest red flag that she completely overlooks is the fact that he acted like he didn’t care she put a hit out on him. No one is that freaking calm and collected. She’s so dumb that I dont even care what happens to her at this point. 

Now, the couple. Anyone else found it laughable how Jenna flip the script on Rick when he was calling her out about sneaking off at the party to be with Lila? Then she made it about how she couldn’t be with him if he didn’t change his ways of wanting to improve their lifestyle with any means necessary. Like, chick. It doesn’t matter how much he changes it’s obvious she loves Lila. She wasn’t giving a flying fuck about Rick during that party. But the kicker is, the people he is kissing up to is the same people she would be around and money she would be spending if she decided to leave him for Lila. And I don’t trust Lila. I’m like 70 percent sure she planned this from the very beginning. She’s going to try to kill Rick. Also, how did she know they made it out of the house? Of all the places to go, she ran to their house? I don’t trust it. So I think Jenna and Jane are biggest idiots of the show.

[filmstruck]

Six Questions With FilmStruck: Josh Boone 

Writer-Director Josh Boone’s filmography includes indie romance STUCK IN LOVE (’12), blockbuster adaptation THE FAULT IN OUR STARS (’14), and coming soon comic book adaptation THE NEW MUTANTS (’18). A cinephile to the core, Boone spoke to FilmStruck’s Marya E. Gates about his early love of film, how he discovered the Criterion Collection, and what films he thinks everyone should stream immediately. 

FS: What was the movie that made you fall in love with movies? 

Josh Boone: There’s so many. Could you name just one? 

FS: No. 

JB: Right? You’d have to name a couple I think. 

FS: You can name a couple. 

JB: My dad had a very large collection of movies on Beta that he taped off HBO when I was a kid in the 80s and he had a lot of those movies from the 70s, those Jack Nicholson movies like ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST and FIVE EASY PIECES and CARNAL KNOWLEDGE. He had all these old Jack Nicholson movies, so I watched those a lot. Jack Nicholson was always my favorite actor. Those 70s Jack Nicholson movies got me into Bogdanovich and THE LAST PICTURE SHOW and all the BBS stuff. When you learn about movies it’s like one thing leads to another. Back then I had to buy Video Watchdog books every year, or an Ebert guide to try to find stuff that I hadn’t seen. I remember seeing E.T. vividly as a kid. It was the 80s, so all those Spielberg movies and THE GOONIES. THE NEVERENDING STORY was one of my favorite movies of all time. That was a big deal when I was a kid. I saw that in theaters a couple of times. I watched movie after movie after movie and then I amassed over the years laserdiscs and DVDs. I didn’t go to film school, I really learned everything from DVD commentaries, behind the scenes documentaries, reading books about movies, and just watching movies. So I watched thousands and thousands of movies when I was a kid. I’d say I watch much less now because it takes so much time to make movies you have much less time to study them. You use them for reference and things like that and you watch them, but not with the same passion that you watched them with when you were young because you have to let that go a little bit to go do the job you have to do, and put the time in to do it. You build it all up and then you hold it inside you and then you go and make movies. 

FS: That’s a great segue to the next question. What was the movie that made you want to make movies? 

JB: I was obsessed with directors when I was young and I would keep file folders with every magazine clipping about David Lynch or Oliver Stone or Steven Spielberg or Quentin Tarantino. I had all these files on them. It’s hard for me to think back to before I even wanted to make movies because my best friend (Knate Lee) and I who I wrote THE NEW MUTANTS with, we’ve known each other since we were little kids. Since we were little Muppet Babies or whatever. Our moms were best friends. We made movies on home video growing up all the time. Really as early as like 7 or 8 because my dad had one of those over the shoulder Beta cams and his parents had a Hi8 or something and we would shoot movies and edit in camera. We started making BATMAN rip-offs where my dad would play the Joker or a BACK TO THE FUTURE rip-off and that gradually led to us writing our own scripts and things like that. It was sort of an organic, long-term process so it’s hard to say the specific movie. But I can say the movie-going experience of my life when I was 12 years old my dad took me to see J.F.K. and that was maybe one of the great movie events I had at the theater when I was young. I remember gripping the armrests of my seat so tightly that there are probably still impressions of them there today. I think Oliver Stone’s run From SALVADOR to NIXON is one of the greatest runs a director has ever had. Those ten movies he made with Bob Richardson, all those movies were really big in our lives when we were young. We’d spend our lives reading comic books and watching movies and listening to music, and Oliver Stone movies were some of the first movies that made us want to go and read history books. Movies opened us up to the entire world because we were raised by very religious parents, like evangelical Christians, so like Paul Schrader – who I think wasn’t allowed to watch movies until he left for college – it was a bit of a forbidden fruit. We watched them all the time and they were an escape and a good way to see what the world was actually like beyond the crazy religious stuff. 

FS: What was your first introduction to the Criterion Collection? 

JB: I used to have a friend named Bill Kelley who worked at newspaper called the Virginian Pilot, which was the main newspaper in Virginia Beach. He was a big movie buff and he had a laserdisc player and we would all go over to his house on Sunday nights and he always had this massive collection of laserdiscs that we would pour over - religious, and old Hollywood classics, and even Spielberg movies. He had a couple of Criterions and he had a big glossy, like a brochure almost, like a 50-page Criterion catalogue that they would send out back in the day, before you could go online and just scroll through everything. It was full color and it was as big as a vinyl record. It had pictures from all the movies and all the extras. You just started to want to check all those boxes off and watch them all. So I got a laserdisc player for Christmas one year and I think the very first one I had was SE7EN, which was one like 8 discs or something. It was ridiculous. It weighed a ton. So I started collecting laserdisc and Criterion editions and listened to commentaries and all that. Oliver Stone did big pioneering laserdisc editions. I have one of PLATOON and THE DOORS. They cost like $150 dollars and they were so heavy. I loved all of that stuff. 

FS: What was the first film you streamed on FilmStruck? 

JB: I think I streamed some extras before I actually watched a movie. Then I watched some Kurosawa and Bergman that weren’t released on disc yet. I like that Criterion has all these titles in their catalogue and they can’t get them all out immediately so they’ll have them on the site so you can stream them even though it might be a couple of years before they come out on disc. There were so many things on their that haven’t been released. Kieślowski is one of my favorite directors and I love Annette Insdorf’s books about him, so she wrote this book called Double Lives, Second Chances, which I have read a couple of times. She just released a book about movie opening scenes (Cinematic Overtures: How to Read Opening Scenes), like what great movies do them well and what a great opening scene is. I love that video series [on the Cinematic Overtures: How to Read Opening Scenes theme] where she goes over the opening of BADLANDS and a bunch of other movies. She’s so eloquent and a great historian. She’s a hero a little bit. 

Those Kieślowski movies certainly meant an awful lot to me. I always loved those because I am a big fan of Philip K. Dick and when I say Philip K. Dick, I do love BLADE RUNNER and MINORITY REPORT and TOTAL RECALL, but those really are no way representative of what reading one of his books is like. The only movie that really feels like Philip K. Dick is A SCANNER DARKLY, which is really like a word for word adaptation of the book. Some of those metaphysical ideas that were in Philip K. Dick I found in Kieślowski as well and I thought all of that stuff was really interesting. I love Tarkovsky movies, as long and boring as some of my friends might think they are, they blow your mind and make you think of things you hadn’t thought about before. I love things that are imaginative. Like LA JETÉE, I love watching that and it’s inspiration on 12 MONKEYS. 

FS: If the world were about to end what movies on FilmStruck would you recommend everyone stream before we all died? 

JB: I’d put a Kieślowski on there. Certainly THREE COLORS: BLUE. I fucking love Kurosawa’s THRONE OF BLOOD with the arrows and all that. That one is amazing. A Cronenberg. 

FS: We have THE BROOD. 

JB: That is one of the scariest movies ever. Those little kids beating that lady to death. It’s pretty awful. I’d put that up if you really want to barf one night. This will do it for you. I love all those music docs like DONT LOOK BACK. I love Robert Altman. The fucking  THE CONFORMIST for sure. I love love love [Jean-Luc] Godard’s stuff with Anna Karina. I love MASCULIN FÉMININ, even though she’s not in that, I love PIERROT LE FOU. I love all the Kurosawa stuff. THRONE OF BLOOD especially I love. The movie I would recommend the most right now because it’s not on Blu-ray is Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s 1997 CURE. It’s one of the scariest, best horror movies ever made. I’m so glad it’s on here because I can’t watch it anywhere else. I’m a huge Terry Gilliam fan. TIME BANDITS is one of my favorite movies from back when I was a kid. I love IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE, THE GRADUATE. All this stuff. It’s all just such great stuff. 

FS: Have you found anything while you’re browsing FilmStruck that you’d never heard of but just had to watch it? 

JB: I go into the directors and I look through different filmmakers and I look through all of the ones that have introductions. Like, I will go through all of the ones that Guillermo Del Toro did an introduction for. I like when people come and talk about their favorite movies. I go through all the extras, all the additional things that you guys do that are exclusive and add context. When you guys had all those [Mario] Bava movies up, we just let those play. It’s good in the background. You don’t have to pay super close attention, but it’s like those movies look so amazing.

Shot by cinematographer Peter Deming (long-time David Lynch collaborator), and co-written by Knate Lee, director Josh Boone’s latest film THE NEW MUTANTS hits theaters on April 13.