#it's the footage itself that i'm taking that isn't super great

[rolandkaros]

JASMINE PAOLINI [ITA] d. SORANA CÎRSTEA [ROU] || DUBAI TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS SEMIFINAL || 02 23 2024

[rookie-critic]

The Outwaters (2022, dir. Robbie Banfitch) - review by Rookie-Critic

There is a quiet uprising in experimental horror happening. We got a glimpse of it in January with Skinamarink, and we're seeing it now with The Outwaters, a new found footage horror from Robbie Banfitch, who makes his feature film debut with this. It has me very excited, and I am very open and welcoming of what is hopefully a new trend, the genre needs the injection of big risks and massive creativity from fresh minds. Skinamarink took a next-to-nothing budget, a fairly modest story, and an incredibly minimalist approach to its shooting style and turned it into an incredibly unsettling, deeply engaging and creepy horror film. It works because, despite its sparse engagement with the setting and dialogue, it does engage with its characters, and makes the absolute most of every frame. It keeps you guessing, keeps you listening, keeps you engaged, and most importantly, keeps its story coherent enough for you to get by. The Outwaters, unfortunately, takes a very similar minimalist approach to its shooting style, a very similar approach with the low engagement of setting and dialogue, but fails to keep itself coherent or engaging.

The setup is decent enough, we get a sense of who our central four protagonists are, and as the movie inches closer to its hard left into the pit of terror that makes up the film's second half, things begin to get steadily creepier and more unnerving with each passing shot. It's a great setup, and even when the rug gets pulled out from under the audience, and we are basically ejected out of this slow burn we thought we were in directly into a blood-soaked nightmare of desert darkness and seemingly supernatural, almost Lovecraftian "descent into madness" type stuff, I was still on board. Full on sitting forward, hands on the top of the seat in front of me, wide-eyed bought in. I was wildly wondering where it could go from here, and applauding the film's massive tone shift as well as its truly unique take on found footage camerawork. After the big change, the protagonist, Robbie, starts to film the events happening to him almost as someone who has forgotten their camera is even running. He's not interested in documentation, he's interested in getting the hell out of the desert, and that's such a brilliant way to play it. However, as far as that wild pondering about where it was going, the answer was it doesn't really go anywhere from there. The darkness becomes less terrifying and more frustrating, the scenes that take place during the daytime provide little support, and are really a series of vignettes as opposed to a coherent through line; they all work decently fine as their own segments or shorts, but don't really connect in any real, narrative sense. It almost becomes more of a mood piece, which is fine in a sense, but it overstays its welcome, and the little tidbits of history we were given on our ensemble don't add up to enough to make any of the abstract pieces in the second half of the film hold ground.

I could name a dozen little things that kind of irked me in the film as well: it's presented as "raw footage" found in the desert years after these people went missing, but then there are nondiegetic music cues and sound effects added into the film. There is something towards the end of the film that insinuates something about the nature of their situation that, to me, makes no sense with the things that our camera is able to see, because ultimately we're not seeing the film through Robbie's actual eyes, we're seeing this through what we're told is raw camera footage, and I just couldn't make some things make sense. There's this big question of whether or not our characters are alone out there, and I think arguments could be made for either choice, but really the film isn't super interested in its potential fifth cast member too much, outside of making a couple of scenes a little creepier. There's more, but I'm already verging on spoiler territory. I wanted this to be better than it was, it has a lot of potential and I think it takes a lot of big swings at changing the perception of how found footage has to be presented, and I applaud it for all of that, I don't want to take any of that away from Banfitch. I just don't think his narrative or the overall feel of his film ended up connecting with me in any real way, and that's a shame.

5/10

Currently only in theaters.

[theharrowing]

What was your inspiration for Dollhouse and Collateral? How did you come up with those ideas 🤯🤩

Ashley’s Random thoughts…

this is a great question and probably one that i do not have a short answer for, but i will try my best to be concise lol.

i'll start with Collateral! i saw yoongi's outfit in That That and i joked about him being a mafia boss, and then enough people (like 6 bc i cave quickly to peer pressure) on twitter and tumblr were into the idea, so i decided to make a fic. i honestly have never really read mafia fics, so i just kinda started winging it (i've read a few chapters here and there since, but haven't had as much as i would like to dedicate to anything.)

as for Dollhouse! i created Dollhouse and The Hooksborough Demon at the same time, and they were originally just one story, so the inspiration for Dollhouse starts with THD. and since that is way more interesting, i'll explain it even tho you never asked! lmao. this explanation will be kinda lengthy...

back when i was writing boy blue, i was reading a fic (that seems to have disappeared, sadly) called daylight saving (or daylight saving time?) where two people would meet in their dreams and have to fight monsters and if one was injured or died, they were both similarly injured or died in the waking world, and the two of them would have a sort of physical bleeding over experience after a while where they would feel what the other feels, because they were connected in some special way.

and it was tense and sad and incredible and i really liked the idea of characters meeting in their dreams and having certain aspects of the waking and dreaming worlds affect each other. and i actually had pretty intense dreams/nightmares at the time that became most of the plot of The Hooksborough Demon. (there are also some things that i borrowed from a book called house of leaves, where there's a mysterious space that shifts around and grows/shrinks on its own, and if you leave something behind it disappears.)

(HBD side note: i also get night terrors & sleep paralysis, and as a kid i would "wake up" in my room and see an overwhelming black mist hovering over me, and at the time i couldn't differentiate it from reality and genuinely thought my room was super haunted. i'm still not 100% convinced it wasn't lmao. but i couldn't resist including that in the story, too.)

soooooo, at the same time, i also really wanted to do something with the mental bleeding over, specifically with smut, and i felt like i couldn't also fit that into THD (since it's a found footage/"ghost" story, i wanted that one to be more scary than smutty) so then i decided to take a sci-fi approach and create an entire universe solely around the thought of 2 men mentally and physically experiencing the same thing (which i think finally happens in chapter 10 lmao.)

so i had to create dollhouse. there's a film called the possessor by brandon cronenberg where, basically, the lead is a hired assassin who enters bodies the way hoseok does. i did my best to let similarities mostly end after the first chapter, but the basic vibe for the story itself was influenced by that film.

i think it just clicked one night while i was laying in bed fretting over how to make my one grand idea split up into two more manageable stories. i liked the idea of having a cis character body swap with a trans character, and then the cis character has an identity crisis. i was originally going to focus more on jungkook and less on yoongi & namjoon but i let all of that carry me away when i discovered how fun it was to write.

this.....isn't concise at all. i feel like i just babbled a lot about nothing much, but long story short: i have an overactive imagination and i like to pick inspiration from stories that really resonate with me. it is my hope that my work is always way more different than that which inspires me, but i do it to silently pay homage too.

sorry for writing a drabble-length answer to your question lolol.

[scurpmun]

So with the rewatching of the Gamera movies. I decided to give my opinions on the whole Showa Era.

Gamera (1965)

The place where the turtle began. Originally created by Daiei to combat the popularity of Gojira/Godzilla. No friend of the children here... well besides one kid he saves mid movie. He starts as a city destroying Kaiju awoken by missles and bomb testing during the cold war and begins to terrorize the people of Japan. He nothing goofy or kid friendly in this movie and it's pretty good.

Gamera vs Barugon (1966)

Gamera's first enemy Kaiju gets introduced here and it continues the feel of the first movie. Gamera isn't a friend of the children just yet He's kinda just there along with Barugon to be a villain. It is one of the first times however that Humanity and Gamera work together to stop the threat of Barugon. The movie itself is also pretty good but not as rememberable.

Gamera vs Gyaos (1967)

In this movie we start to lean a little more into the friend of the children route and also get introduced to the Kaiju that would be Gamera's main rival like how King Ghidorah is to Goji. Gyaos is a much more rememberable villain to Gamera and puts up a good fight as well as being the first Kaiju to make Gamera bleed (Back to my knowledge). Another good entry in Gamera's roster.

Gamera vs Viras (1968)

Continuing with the friend of the children route but also showing that they were making these movies for cheaper and cheaper... this movie is not that great. It does however introduce for the first time an American character as one of the boys gamera saves. The movie relies heavily on footage from Barugon and Gyaos to pad it out for Viras to learn the weakness of Gamera (it plays just about all of the Gyaos and Barugon fight). It also adds in the "mind control to turn against the humans" plot for these movies for a little longer then it should be. I'm not the biggest fan of this movie but to each there own

Gamera vs Guiron (1969)

My favorite movie of the Showa Era. Being introduce it and most of the Showa Era with Mystery Science Theater 3000. This is also the first to mostly take place on an Alien planet and also includes my favorite villain Guiron. Basically big knife head boi and he crawls. It also is the first reappearance of Gyaos with Space Gyaos which is Silver instead of brown with redish bits. It also relies a little on recap footage but does not have as much compared to Viras namely for the alien face to learn about gamera to prepare to face against him. I still love the movie and it's still my favorite movie in the series. Also this is wherethe funny acrobatic turtle scene is from.

Gamera vs Jiger (1970)

With the Japan world fair/ expo 70 happening at the same time as filming it is essential the main location for a good bit of the movie. Gamera's villain in this movie Jiger is an interesting Kaiju. With the ability of Super Heat Waves that with sound make people sick and can dissolve particles and leaves skellingtons of peoples. Jiger also has the ability with his tail to impale Gamera and leave a baby of himself in him to block his windpipe. The kaiju action is cool and has some funny moments and also has one of the grimmest deaths of a villain kaiju.

Gamera vs Zigra (1971)

One the movies I forget the most and with this rewatch... I have been proven right. It's just as bad if not worse than I remember. They drill in the friend of the children story line way to hard to the point that with the past few movies the kids were older... this time the kids are kindergartens. The movies goes for an ocean pollution story message which I'm fine with cause at the time and still now it's an issue. An Alien ship from the planet Zigra with its 2 passengers, a space woman and the kaiju Zigra come to take over the world to make it their new home after their original planet got filled with pollution and sludge in the oceans that they lived in. Most of the movie focuses on the spacewoman chasing the 2 kids after they escape the spaceship and has the weirdness that is a chase through parts of Sea World... no not Orlando Sea World, Kamogawa Sea World. Also the kids I swear are the worst part of this movie, they never stop messing with stuff and are basically always there for the "friend of the children" stuff with gamera, I know they're young during this but they look like they'd rather be anywhere else then on this film until the characters do something that leads towards them being in danger. It takes about half the film before you meet Zigra and he is a shark like Kaiju and honestly... They're kinda meh imo. This film would've been the end of the Showa Era... but Daiei was running out of money and was about to go bankrupt and as a last ditch effort... 9 years later.

Gamera Super Monster (1980)

I had not even heard of this movie until a year or so ago. The last film of the Showa Era Gamera and the Showa Era of Kaiju films in general before the Hesei Era began with Godzilla 1985. And it no joke has a ripped off Star Destroyer recreating the opening of of star wars episode 4. And ripping off Superman and Ultraman with 3 alien superwoman outfits. Apparently they are hiding on Earth and the ripoff stardestroyer people are after them. Also while there is friend of the children stuff in it the children feel more like the comic relief. And while I know the recycling footage is somewhat common in the Showa Era. This movie is about 80% recycled footage. Any time there is new footage it's not really not good and the low budget really shows with the really choppy edits especially heading back to footage between newer shot and the past movie footages and when it's not weird shots between new and old they treat the old footage like news footage. Also any new footage of our turtle boy Gamera looks like he is a parade float or something. He's extremely stiff with really only mouth movements for roars and sounds. Also the new "Gamera March" imo is way worse then the one before it. It just doesn't sound that good at all. I'll give Daiei one thing, they atleast "tried" to make the past kaiju fight footage make sense at certain locations. Like Zigra happening and Viras happening right after... i say as reviewing this and we have literal anime mid movie with gamera in it. The movie could've possibly turned out to be maybe interesting but well... Gamera Super Monster happened instead. A sad end and death to Friend of the Children Gamera... no joke he actually dies at the end.

For my official ratings on which movie is better.

1. Gamera vs Gurion

2. Gamera vs Gyaos

3. Gamera vs Jiger

4. Gamera

5. Gamera vs Barugon

6. Gamera vs Viras

7. Gamera vs Zigra

8. Gamera Super Monster

We'll start the Hesei Era Gamera films after we get back from the Con me and my wife have this week. But hopefully you guys enjoyed my part review part rating

[silver-state-knights]

Zach Whitecloud for the gear ask thing 🥺 i know nothing about gear

hi there anon! thank you so much for the ask!!! this is gonna be a long one, so i'm going to put it under a cut! there will be a summary at the end of these, since I know these are all gonna get pretty long. i'll also be trying to include game footage and pictures of every player i do for this ask game! also...if you guys want further explanations on what i'm saying about the gear itself, i'm always happy to go more in depth!

so, without further ado, let's get into the essay i'm gonna write about the VGK's Zach Whitecloud!

---

So first, here's Zach Whitecloud's current gear specs (via. GearGeek):

Helmet: Bauer, Re-Akt 150

Glove: Bauer, Vapor 2X Pro

Stick: Bauer, Vapor Hyperlite

Skates: Bauer, Vapor Hyperlite

So, my first impression with Whitecloud, even if I didn't know who he was and just by looking at his gear, is that when he's playing, he likes to be as quick and as agile as possible.

The fact that almost all of his equipment is in the Vapor family might as well be a big bright neon sign telling me that- the Vapor family of Bauer's products are specifically designed to be lighter so that the player using it can be more mobile, agile, and quick.

The players using Vapor skates like to be able change directions at the drop of a hat, and while they may not be getting those super powerful and aggressive strides that other players have, they're pretty quick.

Players who use the Vapor line of sticks typically take a lot of snapshots and wrist shots, and want a quicker release on their shot vs. a more powerful/harder one. These players are more of your "sniper" archetype when they're taking shots.

Keeping in mind that Whitecloud also isn't super big for a defenseman, standing at 6'2" and weighing in at about 210 lbs, this kinda makes sense. I feel like being a bit of a smaller guy is a key feature of his playing style. He often plays on a pair with Nic Hague, who is pretty much a giraffe (6'6" and 230lb)- but if you look at how they play together, you'll often see that Hague sticks closer to the net while Whitecloud is usually chasing the puck carrier. Usually your quicker defenseman will be doing that, while the bigger/slower of the pair will stay closer to the net to prevent the other team from scoring that way.

Whitecloud also is far from what we would call a "stay at home" defenseman. He is often moving, often following the puck, and often doing everything he can to make sure the puck is either in the VGK's offensive zone, or far from their net. Another thing of note is that Whitecloud has quite the offensive streak for someone who plays defense- he scores quite a few goals in a season, and often knows what to do to get his forwards that puck if he can't score it himself. He can play both sides of the game pretty well, which is always an asset to any team.

For the more "off ice" aspect of things, Whitecloud definitely strikes me as someone who knows what he likes. He's entirely using Bauer, and clearly it's working very well for him.

He also seems like somebody who's pretty practical; his skates and his stick are the newest top line Vapor model, while his gloves and helmet are ever so slightly older (the Re-Akt 150 helmet released ~2019, while the 2X Pro glove released about the same time). I say that because the gloves and helmet, as far as pure performance goes, are not really as important as skates or sticks. They also tend to be able to take more of a beating than your skates or your stick, especially when you're on the ice as much as an NHLer is. In short, he's got great priorities as far as his gear goes and probably wants to maximize his skillset as much as possible.

Here's some stuff I found that might be able to show this a bit better than just words):

First, I found some example videos of Zach Whitecloud on the ice, some even going back to juniors:

Video 1

Video 2 (*this is Whitecloud's junior team, he is wearing #29 in these clips, and not his usual #2)

Video 3 (**shows footage from junior (where he is wearing #29), and his stint with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL (where he is wearing #32), and even has some neat background info on him!)

The TL;DR on Zach Whitecloud: Whitecloud is a competitive player who knows what his strengths are, and capitalizes on them. He really loves the game, and only wants to grow as a player as his career goes on. I see a lot of drive looking at his gear AND looking at footage of him playing. There's really nothing unhinged about him gear wise, but it is very fascinating to see what makes his brand of hockey work!

side note, but Whitecloud has one of the most normal tape jobs I've ever seen:

anyways...that's my analysis on Zach Whitecloud! I hope you enjoyed, anon! :)

got a player you want me to talk about? send me an ask about them!