#my dad saw the cliff scene. he laughed at me as he read the song lyrics out loud

[tsty-brry]

going insane over him‼️

[allthatglittersisnotgoldrush]

Author Interview: Victoryindeath2 (by Mythopoeia

Thank you @abadpoetwithdreams! I hope you don't regret the last question you asked :D

1. You are responsible for creating the characters of Frog and Sticks! What canon Silm event are you most excited to see from their child perspectives?

Soooo many things—but I am interested to see how they will feel when Mae is back on his feet, a warrior more deadly with his left than he even was with his right, the sort of man who can in canon create the Union of Maedhros. The children have seen Maedhros at his lowest, seen him tormented and crushed into the earth in the cruelest of ways. They also saw how he could be his best even when there was no hope or light for him—he protected them and was kind to them and loved them. I am just interested to see how other men’s and women’s opinions might change as Maedhros moves into the next phase of his life, and how the children will, in some ways, always see Maedhros as their Russandol.

Sticks: yeah I knew he was cool before you all realized it

Frog: *drops a rock in Mae’s left hand and curls up in his lap* tell me and my pet rock a story Mae

Mae: I actually have leadership things to do....

Sticks: you owe us for all the stories you didn’t tell us back in the Bad Place

Mae: *tells them a story and Fingon finds the kids sleeping under Mae’s arms twenty minutes later*

(There is also a non-canon event sometime in the future that I want so VERY badly but guess I can’t say because of spoilers *sighs*)

2. We often joke about how this AU is basically our own crazy version of a Silm tv series. What are some of favourite moments in the series so far that stand out to you as particularly cinematic?

There are so many moments, some of the wondrous and stunning variety, and some of the quiet and beautiful....but here are a few that leapt right to my mind:

a. Maedhros and Fingon parting the last time before Feanor divided the families almost forever! Maedhros with his hair in the sunlight on his horse and the line, “see you on the other side, cano!”

b. Gosh DARN it Mae on the cliff, with Morgoth offering him the chance to leap to his death, and he doesn’t take it *cries*

c. FINGON’S CHILD OF THE WOLF MOMENT WHERE HE TAKES MAIRON OUT (ALSO RIGHT BEFORE WHEN MAE GRABS AT HIS ANKLE AND TRIES TO GET FINGON TO SAVE HIMSELF)

d. Maedhros riding into the thrall camp and basically falling into Gwindor and SLINGING AN ARM AROUND HIS NECK YES HUGS ALL AROUND YESSSS

e. Look Ceili fic I know we talk about it all the time but I am here to talk about it again, especially the moment where Mae pulls Caranthir out on the dance floor and then they all dance together and everyone ends up in a pile on the floor except for Mae who just stands over them all laughing I think doubled over and there is so much good energy in that scene I NEED IT ON SCREEN

f. Personally I like to think that Celegorm stalking his way into a club in New York City and beating the living daylights out of Eol was cinematic

g. Maedhros having successfully argued Huan’s way into the journey west, stumbling all tired like up to the stairs, and meeting Nerdanel there, and resting his head on his mom’s neck. The darling tol bby

h. MAE ATTACKING ULFANG FOR THE SAKE OF HIS BROS, GOING FROM DEPRESSED BROKEN BABY WHO HAS LOST ALL HOPE TO DEPRESSED BROKEN BABY WHO HAS LOST ALL HOPE BUT STILL WILL FIGHT FOR HIS BROS

i. Bby Mae lying on Feanor’s chest ;;;;;;;;;;; before Feanor became the worst

j. Can’t even remember what fic it was at this point but there is a dream? Mae has? Of like....the sea and red sun or something? It was a lot

k. There are many many more moments and I am mad that I can’t remember the one that stood out to me recently

l. ..........the whole fic Seven Card Stud

m. MOONLIGHT GUNSLINGER MAE AND HOW HE TOTALLY OUTCLASSED MAIRON

n. Every hug and brotp and found family moment ever. I have addictions and there is never enough of what I want on screen

o. THERE ARE MORE SPECIFIC ONES BUT I HAVE TO STOP AT SOME POINT DON’T I

3. Walk me through what an ideal day would look like for Caranthir?

The MOST ideal day would be Caranthir waking up in his little closet bedroom in Formenos and realizing he just had a horrible nightmare, and also realizing that he still has his mom and ALL of his brothers. And then at the breakfast table Feanor says something like “wow I’ve been stupid in a good many ways, and a rotten dad because of that, good thing I have recognized my flaws and shall now be a better person, also Mae you can stop going to live in the city if you want, just stay here with your brothers. Also you know, Caranthir, even though you’re still my least favorite child, I’m proud of you. And not just because these are the best pancakes I have ever tasted.”

Then Caranthir probably helps his mom in the garden, gets some quality one on one time with Mae when Mae helps him make a pie, Mae reminds him how special and good he thinks Caranthir is, and Celegorm and Curufin ask Caranthir to join them for fishing. Not that Caranthir necessarily wants to do that, but he does want to be asked. Then Amras and Amrod ask him to help them with sums, so that he feels like a helpful big brother, and without being asked, Maglor takes out his fiddle and plays the slow-moving, peaceful song that Caranthir loves and Maglor despises because it is not challenging enough

4. What is a character POV you have not written yet about but would like to?

I would like to write something from Maeglin’s POV—I feel a powerful urge to protect that lost boy. He’s had an odd and often terrifying life and he needs a break. Good grief imagine having a mom like his mom, imagine Morgoth commanding you to call him uncle. Ew. Anyway, he’s exactly the sort of character I usually adopt as my son. An angsty sad boy without much future, who needs LOVE

5. If you could recommend only one fic from each author (including yourself, of course) what would they be?

HOW TO PICK?!

TolkienGirl: wayyyyy too many to really choose from but I have to go back to the beginning and say “news, breaking” because of the way it introduces my Feanorian boys, and also because of Mae wearing a flowered apron one minute and then a half open leather vest the next, with his glorious hair tied back!

Mythopoeia: I feel like I have to say “those gathered beneath” because it was so DEFINITIVE of our favorite Irish family, and also Turgon is a great narrator (but since I always talk about this fic I shall also add another, lesser known perhaps: “save ourselves unaided” because it introduces Haleth and more people need to appreciate Haleth and Mythopoeia’s Haleth is SO GOOD)

Victoryindeath2: “a certain slant of light (where the meanings are)” because it was my first Caranthir fic, and so it holds a special place in my heart

Bonus Q: The Feanorians are now a KPop group. What are their hair colors and roles?

THE WAY I CHOKED ON MY LAUGHTER WHEN I FIRST READ THIS QUESTION

I ALSO GOT WAY TOO CAUGHT UP IN THIS SO IF YOU ARE AN AU READER WHO DOESN’T CARE ABOUT KPOP IN ANY WAY YOU CAN STOP HERE, I WON’T BE MAD. On the other hand I think I have really good answers so maybe you should continue lol

Maedhros: He has to be a coppery red-head, doesn’t he? Maybe something of the red color that you once told me you wanted Heeseung to try. He would make a great leader, but ALSO. Also I think that he has had enough stress in canon in and in our AU, so I really just want to give him the opportunity to be merely the eldest hyung, who everyone goes to for comfort, for hugs and advice, and who supports the leader quietly. He is a good vocalist and can maybe rap in a pinch? but we put so much emphasis on him as a dancer that he HAS to be the dance leader. Obviously. Is widely acknowledged as the visual of the group

Maglor: Longish black hair, maybe midnight blue or deep purple. Has tried several different hairstyles and regretted half of them. He claims a specific aesthetic in hair and dress is necessary for him to compose the group’s songs, and while he gets teased by everyone for this he also writes amazing music so? It works? Is definitely a vocalist. His vlives consist of him playing every instrument known to man, and half the time Mae is sitting in the background listening with an awed expression on his face—till he falls asleep. Maglor can’t decide if he is pleased by this or insulted

Celegorm: Usually rocks blond or silver hair, but one time some fool insulted Amrod’s pink hair and the next thing you know Celegorm had pink hair for three months. Probably disparaged Maglor’s mullet phase but tried it once himself as a penalty for a game in a Run Feanorian episode and kinda thought it wasn’t half bad.

Celegorm is the “I don’t follow what the company says” member, “screw the rules if they aren’t good for my fam.” He is also a sick rapper and his diss tracks and mixtapes are things of beauty. He also clearly frequents the gym and will toss an annoyed member—most likely Maglor, but sometimes Curufin—over his shoulder any chance he can get. Has definitely done pushups with Amrod or Amras on his back. He and Mae swept the ISAC games

Caranthir: Typically goes with brown/black hair, which only throws the fandom into more of an uproar when the rare occasion arises in which he actually dyes it some other color. Probably went mint for a music video and Curufin started calling him mint choco boy, which offends him deeply as he is (sadly) on the side of “mint chocolate ice cream tastes like toothpaste.” He’s a vocalist with a rougher voice that is surprisingly pleasing to listen too.

Speaking of surprises, Caranthir never quite understands his own popularity. He didn’t like to do vlives by himself for ages, until Mae encouraged him to do cooking and baking vlives, and now he does one once a month on a schedule. Fans are putting together a book of his recipes

Curufin: He does intense and striking hairstyles and colors, and is probably the most likely to do black hair streaked through with red, teal, green, gold, white, etc. He claims to be the visual of the group and Mae is the one member who always agrees with him. I’d say he is also a dancer, one almost as good as Mae but with a different style, and he has a quick and sharp rap. He is heavily involved in the production of their songs over time.

Here is the thing though—I think, in this better non-canon non-Gold Rush AU universe, that Curufin could be the leader. See, Feanor is not gonna be the company CEO loll. Fingolfin is. And Fingolfin mentors better than Feanor EVER could. And Curufin is a sharp lad, very smart and crafty, and if he could just be convinced to care about all his brothers/group members like he does about himself and Celegorm in the AU, and if he just has proper guidance, allowing Mae to assist him in struggles, going to him for support, I think he would be an excellent leader

Ambarussa: Amras and Amrod have tried every color and color combination under the SUN, and they often coordinate with each other either to match or complement. Amras sometimes gets tired of this, preferring to stick to the general group color scheme, and when that happens Amrod just says fine be like that and goes off and does his own thing. Sooner or later though, Amras always gives in and joins him once again.

The twins obviously have all their hyungs wrapped around their little fingers, even Maglor who is driven insane by them crashing into his room shrieking and giggling when he is trying to write music or run a very serious vlive. As far as their musical talents go, I love when maknaes are ridiculously well-rounded, and these are Feanorian maknaes, so I’m gonna say they can both dance, sing, and rap. People have placed bets on whether they will grow as tall as Mae (spoilers, they won’t, no one ever will, he’s the tallest in Kpop world)

Huan: is the team mascot, and lives in their large dorm with them because Celegorm said so

Anddd that’s all folks

[alwaysahiccupandastrid]

“The Lion King” (2019) - Thoughts/Review

So my sister, Ciara, and I went and saw the remake of The Lion King at the cinema where I work since I get free tickets and I didn’t really want to have to pay £20 just to watch a film I could easily watch at home. To add, my sister has been super sick recently and I felt it might be nice to treat her - even though she has been saying for weeks “they’ve ruined it, I can tell”. The original Lion King is Ciara’s favourite movie and we actually rewatched the original on Friday because it’s one we both love.  Ciara and I went in with absolutely zero expectations, thinking “it’ll be absolutely shit” based on what we’ve seen trailer/advert/clip wise.

I’m going to put my thoughts/feelings under a “read more”, just to be safe. Also, reminder that it’s just my opinion and that I can’t tell other people how to feel about the film.

So...it wasn’t as terrible as we expected it to be but it wasn’t a masterpiece like the original either.

They could have just reused the original “Circle of Life” as it was, really, but whatever.

Having said that, they could have frankly just lifted the entire audio of the animated film and animated the film to it instead of bringing in other cast members.

One of the first things my sister said was “where the fuck is Rafiki’s staff?”, and she kept saying it throughout the film, like it REALLY annoyed her that he didn’t have his stick with him the entire time.

Ciara said that the opening was the best part for her personally, I don’t know if that’s because nostalgia or because there was no talking, but that’s her thought on it.

BABY SIMBA IS SO SWEET OH MY GOODNESS

I love James Earl Jones but for some reason he just sounded...rather unbothered here. Like he was bored. Maybe it’s because hes old(er) now and he just doesn’t have the energy for it, maybe I was comparing his vocal performance here too much to his original one in 1994, but for some reason he just didn’t sound at all bothered or like the wise powerful King you can respect and fear.

I didn’t hate Scar’s new voice but I did feel like Jeremy Irons’ performance had more character to it, more sass/sarcasm. Here he just seemed a little..I don’t know. It was a little less sassy, if that makes sense.

It honest to God does feel like watching a nature documentary, like I was half expecting fucking David Attenborough to suddenly start talking over it to be honest. 

Baby Simba reminded me of our cat, Dave, and he was admittedly very cute. I also really loved the things that the lions did that reflected actual cat behaviour, like pouncing and stuff like that. 

Is it just me or did the filmmakers have the same issue as the original did in that they couldn’t decide what colour Nala’s eyes were? Like at one point I was like “oh, they’re actually green, cool”, but then in the next scene I was like “they’re brown?!” etc. 

I liked the hyenas in this, I like that they were allowed to make actual hyena cackles because real hyena cackles are creepy as fuck. I also really loved Shenzi, even if I do wish they’d brought Whoopi Goldberg back.

During “I just can’t wait to be King”, I couldn’t help but feel like it paled in comparison to the original. I know I’m talking about the original a lot, but that’s the issue with these remakes - they will always be compared to their original films. In the original, the cubs were jumping on top of animals, making big gestures, the colours were bright etc. Here it was just two cubs running around a watering hole, the colours just...normal. Muted even. The vocals were fine, but compared to the original it just wasn’t the same. 

My sister wanted to know why they didn’t bring back Rowan Atkinson as Zazu and I kind of have to agree. I found his woodpecker joke funny though.

I stand by what I said about Simba and Nala as cubs looking too similar. In the wild, yeah, that might be the case but this is a movie - the audience should be able to tell who is who. Eventually I think I understood which cub was which but that was only because they were talking and Simba is nearly-always in front. 

Nala’s “Simba, do you speak bird” had my sister giggling though, so there’s that.

There were moments where I could see the animals expressing some emotion but for the most part it was very uncanny. It was like those voices shouldn’t have been coming out of lions - which is kind of the point. That’s why the Lion King on screen works better as an animation instead of realistic CGI.

I’m assuming that they changed Ed a bit to be more politically correct since in the original he was a bit...not quite there. 

Unless they were talking, I could not tell which hyena was supposed to be which. The original three hyenas had very clear differences in their designs, whereas here they all look the same.

I did like the “Kings of the Past” scene under the stars - I think my sister and I both agree that it was very sweet.

Having said that, it went from broad daylight to dark as night in about two seconds and I can’t stand it because it should have been FAR more gradual.

Let’s have a moment of silence for “Be Prepared”. Somehow the best song from the original is the worst one in the remake because they cut 90% of it and turned it into a weird chant. It just makes it even more glaringly obvious that Jeremy Irons was a better Scar, to be honest. The beat is good but goddamit, the song deserved better.

I know Disney changed it because the original “Be Prepared” had sort of Nazi undertones but like...isn’t that the point? Scar is an evil dictator, it’s not like he’s a good guy. It’s like changing Chicken Run so that the farm isn’t operated like a concentration camp - it ruins the whole point.

I could be wrong but did they not use the “Mufasa has something he didn’t have before...a weakness” line? Because that was the line I heard in the adverts and thought was a good addition. 

THE GORGE SCENE JFC

Not gonna lie, I kinda miss Scar knocking Zazu out - though I suppose it makes sense for Zazu to get the lionesses (and where the frick were they then?!)

I audibly gasped when Mufasa was knocked over trying to help Simba off the tree branch like I KNEW what was coming but it genuinely still gets to me.

Mufasa REALLY had to jump carefully down the gorge, huh

Mufasa’s death gave me mixed feelings to be honest; the delivery of “Long Live the King” was disappointing. Like in the original it’s slowly said, so evil it gives you chills, whereas here it’s so...meh. And I had to try not to laugh still because I turned to my sister and just said, “...Did Scar just bitch-slap Mufasa off a cliff?!”

Okay, Simba in the gorge and finding his dad’s body, him calling for help... god fucking damn it. My sister was openly crying and saying “for fuck sake, I’ve seen the original a hundred times and it still gets to me!”. I was crying too...it’s just something about that baby lion calling for help as his dad lies dead on the floor...shit, it gets to you.

It also helps that Hans Zimmer composed the soundtrack again - it’s beautiful, but I think that because we’ve heard it before and associate it with the original, it adds to the feelings. Like I hear the “Stampede” soundtrack and immediately I think of Simba crying for help. 

I wish they had showed more fear on Simba’s face when Scar told him to run away - in the original, his ears are down, his eyes are wide, his posture/stance is clearly showing he’s terrified. Here he just looks a little...surprised.

OKAY BUT HOW DID SIMBA END UP ON THE LOWER PART OF THE CLIFF?! I DON’T...HOW?!

The imagery of Scar walking onto the ledge of Pride Rock as the hyenas surround the other lions is still super powerful, to be honest.

I wish Zazu had been trapped like in the original, like that was comedy gold and they missed it.

Disney really couldn’t have brought back Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella huh -_-

Look, I’m not a huge fan of Seth Rogen anyway - Sausage Party HAUNTS me to this day - but usually in voice over I find him more bearable. Not that I hate him that much but still... I would have felt ten times more generous about his Pumbaa voiceover if he hadn’t done his laugh. We ALL know the Seth Rogen laugh.

I still liked the dynamic between Timon and Pumbaa, even if my sister felt it wasn’t the same. 

Some absolutely GOLDEN lines were cut, and it should be a crime:  “he looks blue” “I’d say goldish-brown”.

THANK GOD they kept in “what’s a-motto with you?” though

“I got downhearted every time that I...farted, are you gonna stop me?!” “NO I AM NOT, YOU DISGUST ME” - wHAT. I mean...what?!

I’m glad there were a few other animals living in the jungle other than Timon and Pumbaa, like it makes more sense that there’s others living there. Having said that, I also liked the idea of them having this utopia to themselves in the original so...yeah.

My sister pointed out that the Timon-Pumbaa-Simba relationship was severely lacking in this film. In the original, you could tell that Timon and Pumbaa loved Simba dearly and that he was seen as a total equal. Here they seemed so much stand-offish even after living with him for so long.

“Yeah, you’ve grown 400 pounds since we started” - LMFAO THIS WAS A GOOD LINE OKAY

“Oh now he’s riffing” - honestly same, was it necessary XD

Ciara felt that the added scene showing Nala/the lionesses in the Pridelands/Nala leaving was unnecessary. In the original, you feel the shock with Simba when he returns because it’s the first time you see what a wasteland it has become. Here you don’t have that. It was clearly just to fill some extra time and get their money’s worth out of Beyonce, milking it for all they have.

The tension in that scene was nice though, and I sort of liked how a) Sarabi rejected Scar and b) how this was then a catalyst for Scar saying “the hyenas eat before the lions...but they don’t leave much behind”. Good addition that was.

Was the additional exposition showing a tuft of Simba’s mane journeying really necessary? Like we didn’t need to see a giraffe fucking eat it or a dung beetle rolling a ball of shit with the mane inside of it. Like come on, Disney, really? They clearly just wanted to show off that they could pull it off.

What’s that quote Jeff Goldblum says in Jurassic Park (I think?)? “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should”. THE SAME GOES FOR THE PEOPLE AT DISNEY, JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN, DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD

How did Rafiki see a random tuft of hair and immediately go “FUCK YEAH IT’S SIMBA HE’S ALIVE”, like he didn’t smell it (it would have smelt of shit though) or anything, he just looked at it and was like “SIMBA IS ALIVE”. HOW THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW THAT.

“The Lion Sleeps Tonight” was a fucking delight, and my sister and I both sung/danced along to it, no regrets.

I jumped so hard when Nala just came out of nowhere and interrupted the song to be honest

The close-ups of Timon’s face in this film are hilarious to be honest - creepy but hilarious.

HOW DID NALA REALIZE IT WAS SIMBA RIGHT AWAY?! In the original she was like “who are you?” but now she just knew?! SHE THOUGHT SIMBA WAS DEAD BUT SHE SEES A RANDOM MALE LION AND IMMEDIATELY KNOWS THAT’S HER OLD BEST FRIEND WHO IS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD?! FUCK OFF

“Can You Feel the Love Tonight”...hmmm. Sorry, I gotta have a whole separate section for this.

Firstly...TONIGHT. CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE TONIGHT, DISNEY. IT’S AT NIGHT TIME. IN THE EVENING. AT LEAST PUT A FUCKING SUNSET OR SOMETHING TO SHOW IT’S EVENING.

Don’t get me wrong, the animation was beautiful, but jesus christ, it’s set at NIGHT TIME. How do you fuck that up?! It’s literally IN the damn song.

My sister and I are really not Beyonce fans, I’m sorry. Ciara literally leaned over and whispered “I’m going to sing the song myself to block out Beyonce”, that’s how much she despised it.

Look, Beyonce is a singer and yeah, she’s a strong singer. No one is disputing that. Do I think she’s overrated? Absolutely, but I can admit she can sing. She is NOT a voice actress and she should NOT be voicing a character like Nala. Every time she spoke, I just missed Moira Kelly’s performance from the original even more.

Beyonce’s voice just doesn’t fit the song. She was overpowering Donald Glover far too much - it was like he was a backup singer in a song meant to be a duet. A duet is supposed to have the two voices melding together and harmonizing to create a beautiful sound - not one person taking over and making it all about them

Okay but why the fuck does Seth Rogen sound like Kermit right at the end of the song? 

Anyway, moving on back to the rest of the film:

Another moment of my sister saying “BUT WHERE IS HIS STICK, HE HAS TO WACK PEOPLE WITH IT”

Disney really cut out the stick metaphor where Rafiki hits Simba and says “it hurts, yes, but it’s in the past”. Like COME ON DISNEY. That’s one of the key moments for god’s sake!

So they could animate Simba’s mane-hair being rolled along the ground in giraffe shit but NOT Mufasa in the clouds? LMFAO OKAY WHATEVER

Jesus Christ Disney, did you HAVE to put that “Spirit” song over Simba going back to the Pridelands?! It just a) doesn’t fit the scene and b) comes out of nowhere. Like nowhere else in the film is there a moment like that, so why now? 

Unpopular Opinion: “Spirit” is a bad song and my sister agrees. Everyone’s kissing Beyonce’s ass about it but me, my mum and my sister have all on separate occasions heard it and said “wow that’s fucking shit”. 

I miss the slo-mo of Simba running through the desert more than ever. Couldn’t we have just had a recreation of that scene with the same music and NOT Beyonce’s random song ruining it?

I had a feeling they would cut out the Hula dance thing but it still annoys me because that is ICONIC

My sister and I were both far too happy when Rafiki took his stick out of the tree, like we were like “FINALLY”

Instead Timon and Pumbaa start singing “Be Our Guest” and like...Why?! Is this a joke just for Disney fans? BATB and TLK aren’t even set in the same continent, for a start, let alone being a part of the same story, so how the hell does Timon know it? I mean, it’s hilarious if you’re a Disney fan but just...why? It makes absolutely zero sense. 

Sarabi still manages to be a badass Queen and I love it

The vocals during the big reveal scene really weren’t anywhere NEAR the standard of the original, especially on Scar’s part. It just felt so weak compared to Matthew Broderick and Jeremy Irons, to be honest.

Why...Why does Nala suddenly have beef with Shenzi? Just...yeah, Shenzi and like 50 other hyenas tried to eat Nala (and Simba) as a cub but like...why does Nala suddenly have personal beef with her based on that one interaction? They don’t even LOOK at each other again until this moment in the film.

The battle was cool, I guess, but maybe I’m just super blood-thirsty and gory so...who knows. The Simba/Scar fight was especially good.

I wish Rafiki using his stick was more karate/martial arts like the original, here it’s just like he’s flailing it about randomly

I did like that they reused the part where Scar basically flings smoldering soot/ash/rock into Simba’s face. Like that’s the kinda dirty tactic I live for.

“You were right about one thing, Scar...a hyena’s belly is never full” - OH SHIT, MY WIG WAS SNATCHED OH MY LORD WHAT A LINE

The hyenas eating Scar is so dark in the original and it’s even darker here because it looks so real, like I genuinely felt horrified watching it even though you don’t see anything.

Towards the end when Simba nuzzled two of the lionesses, I couldn’t tell which one was supposed to be Sarabi and which was supposed to be Nala.

THAT MUSIC AS SIMBA BECOMES KING, THANK YOU HANS ZIMMER FOR NOT LETTING US DOWN 

Okay but I genuinely want to know if the baby cub at the end is Kopa, Kiara or Kion. Disney can’t seem to make up their minds about Simba and Nala’s cub so...yeah. It could literally be any of them at this rate.

I had no idea that the first credits song was Elton John, and I miss his renditions of Circle of Life/Can You Feel the Love Tonight even more, like those are arguably two of the best Elton John songs.

THEY USED “He Lives in You” AS AN END CREDIT SONG AND I WANT TO WATCH THE LION KING 2 AGAIN

So here’s the thing...it wasn’t as horrendous as I thought it would be, and Ciara agrees. Ciara is arguably the one to ask about Lion King matters since it’s literally her favourite film (having said that, for the longest time I thought her favourite was Tangled so...). It was nowhere near the standard of the original, and you could definitely just stay at home and watch the original and get more out of it then paying £30 at the cinema (far more if you’re a family). Some of the jokes fell sort of flat, some of them worked, it was a bit of a mix. 

For the most part, the new voices weren’t too bad but none of them were better than the original voice actors. I honestly don’t understand why they didn’t bring back Matthew Broderick, Moira Kelly, Nathan Lane, Jeremy Irons, Rowan Atkinson, Ernie Sabella, Whoopi Goldberg etc. Obviously I know at least two of the original voice actors died (the ones for Sarabi and Rafiki) but why replace the ones who are still alive? I just...I don’t understand to be honest. Having more members of the original cast would have definitely triggered nostalgia for the adults watching the trailer/adverts and made them want to watch it more. 

I didn’t hate it as much as I expected to. I don’t think I would want to pay to see it again (so if I do end up seeing it again, it’ll probably be at my place and for free) but it was cute and I can understand why parents would want to bring their kids to watch it. I did feel super nostalgic but afterwards, I kind of just wanted to go home and watch the original again. And I literally rewatched it three days ago. 

It’s definitely not a masterpiece like the original was - none of the remakes are up to the standard of their original movies, but The Lion King is definitely nearer the bottom of my list in terms of how good a movie it is. Like I said, it wasn’t anywhere near as terrible as I thought it would end up being - I fully expected to want to leave halfway through and to have a raging headache, but that was not the case. It was a fine way to pass the afternoon, no doubt, and I think I ate too much food whilst I was there, but other than that...yeah, you get the idea.

If nothing else, it has adorable lion cubs in it so that’s a big plus I guess.

[letsanimetayposts]

Lion King live action 2019 review

STRAP IN YOU GUYS I have a lot to say. I am seeing it again on Wednesday night. First off the original Disney cartoon version is my disney movie of all time. I have four Lion King shirts. There are Lion King drawings/ paintings in my house. My phone background and lock screen is The Lion King art. 

As a child my favorite characters in the lion king were Simba, Timon and Pumba. Now as an adult I’m more into Scar, Mufasa and Simba. I will not say the original Lion King is flawless. There are some things from the orginal that were kind of ehhhh but I can’t think of any examples at the moment. So I loved all of the songs and animation from the original Lion King. The characters struggles in the original were kind of real. *Cough* Lets get down to business to critic ( can’t spell what I am trying to spell sorry) the new movie....ha *Cough* okay. So the new movie let’s go through pros and cons. 

So first off the beginning of the movie was fantastic. Con- But why wasn’t Mufasa and adult Simba’s hair not red. *Shrugs* Scar as a moody dark drama queen was fine in the animated version but in this movie he was ehhhhhhhhh he was okay... not bad... just okay. Hrmmmm mmmm simba’s mom and Nala were awesome in this movie. Con- I wanted to see more of the in this new movie. Timon and Pumba were fine in this they were better in the original movie. Con- Sometimes they were to much in the film. Their jokes were a hit or miss. Timon stole some of Rafiki’s lines from the original movie. Mufasa was fine and nothing really from the remake about him (when he was alive) made me upset or anything. 

The Hyenas were ughh ehhhh okay. I liked them more in the original movie. Auh....auhhh but the main female hyena was awesome in the remake. Female hyenas in the wild in reality are the dominate over the males in their group. That made it more realistic. Okay lets get to Simba... he was okay too. Tiny cute Simba and Adult Simba didn’t express their emotions through facial features in the movie. Some of the other characters did show some facial expressions in some scenes in the remake. In the original movie all the characters showed different emotions through their faces and body language. When something was funny and when something was sad I could tell because of their facial expressions in the original movie.

 I laughed and sort of cried during some scenes in the remake. Whooooah okay let’s get into the songs. I was fine with some of the songs. Con- Be prepared was ehhh in the new film. In some of the songs there wasn’t a lot of movement and colors. In (Can You Feel The Love Tonight) it was set during the afternoon and by the end of the song it was close to being dark. Also when Simba is climbing Pride Rock in the new movie it’s already RAINING. WTF the original when Simba gets to the top he roars and then it rains oh wait scratch that sentence hahah hahah haahaa. All the other songs seem okay. Beyonce and Donald Glover and a lot of the voice actors/ actresses were amazing. 

The overall message in this new movie is the same as the original... (Believe in yourself and take responsibility for your actions even though life can be rough.) Oh Joy lets get into the death and cloud Mufasa from the original and the remake. Pros go to the original Lion King. Let me get into this. Spoilers a head on these two scenes. So you all know the Death of Mufasa scene and if not why the F are you reading this. So Scar tells simba in the original that he has a surprise for him. The Hyenas make the wildabeasts stampede and Scar is like, “HYENAS IN THE GOURGE! SIMBA’S DOWN THERE!” Then Mufasa says, “Simba?” He has a shocked expression on his face. 

Then Simba tries to save Simba a lot and he puts him on a ledge. Scar is just pacing around and Mufasa jumps up the cliff but he struggles too. Mufasa says, “Scar....brother...help me.” Scar looks at Mufasa with disgust and smashes his claws into Mufasa’s paws. Scar says, “Long...live ... the king” and he throws Mufasa off the cliff. Mufasa is falling and screaming “AHHHHHHH!” He almost hits the ground into the wildabeasts and it zooms out of Simba’s face going ‘NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” After that Simba tries to find his dad alone. He finds him alone and dead. He tries to get Mufasa’s dead body up by pushing him and pulling on his ear. He tries to get help but no one is coming to help him. He cries and lays next to his dead father until Scar emerges from the smoke/ debris. Then Scar tells Simba it’s all Simba’s fault and he tells him to “run away and never return.” 

So yep the live action one is sort of different with the ending scene of Mufasa’s death. Simba isn’t with his dead father long enough to bring out a more depressing image to me. The original always got me crying when I see mufasa’s dead corpse on the ground alone and Simba has to realize as a kid tat his father is gone but still up somewhere watching him. In ANOTHER SCENE URGHHHH I didin’t like in the new remake was when they portray Mufasa in the clouds. In the remake it’s just clouds and lightning and Mufasa’s voice and that was it. Then the sky just turns back into the night sky with stars. In the original film/movie whatever urghhh Mufasa emerges out of the clouds like an awesome god. It was impactful with his booming voice and the beautiful animation/ colors in the original movie. It was very impactful for me as a kid and now as an adult. I am actually going to paint that scene from the original and put it somewhere in my house. Ok uh lets talk about the battle close to the end of the movie. It was okay... uh Ta-Da.  Okay lets get into the audience reactions. So I saw the remake the night before it came out in theaters. My two friends went with me. My friend’s sister paid for our tickets. I was sitting next to one of my friends and my other friend was in another aisle with his sister and her friends. Then my friend leans over to me and says he has to go. He told me a while after the movie that he ate something that upset his stomach before the movie. He missed the death of Mufasa scene. I was alone uhhh well two random guys were sitting two chairs away from me in the row I was in. There were a lot of kids laughing. GOOOOOOOD JOB DISNEY FOR MAKING KIDS LAUGH! I did chuckle at some jokes. There were some scenes that felt to long and could have been cut out of the movie or shortened. So that is all I have to say about this remake. I give this movie aaaaaaaaa UHHHH B minus or C PLUS. WAHHHHBAMMMM okay BYEEEEEEEEEEEE! 

[tinkdw]

Mixtapes are Romantic

We all know it, everyone who recognises a trope knows it. @margarittet and I just wanted to catalogue a few obvious ones in one place to put this to rest.

So what is a trope? 

It’s an agreed-upon narrative, an archetypal, recognisable reading of a story or situation, a kind of narrative stereotype. Tvtropes says “tropes are devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members' minds and expectations”.

So essentially a trope is a way for a writer to tell the audience something, something important that they want to get across without saying blatantly out loud... yet. They have pay off but in the mean time it’s a means to convey the authors INTENT and for the audience to be prepared when the pay off happens without being surprised.

Examples of tropes in Supernatural: 

- The cough of death. If you just cough once on screen, you’re gonna die (or at the very least it’s showing there’s a BIG health issue at hand) eg. Karen. It’s not like coughing irl. This is a long running laughed about trope in hospital dramas, you come in with an unknown cancerous tumour that should definitely kill you, you are cured and live! BUT the guy in the bed next to you who thought he was just there for a check up coughs once and he’s the one who dies.

- Love nostalgia songs. Dean singing along to “can’t fight this feeling” as a romantic link to Jo with lyrics “what started out as friendship has grown stronger”. Dean later singing along to “all outta love” as a romantic link to Cas after his death where he now feels huge guilt with lyrics “I’m so lost without you, I know you were right believing for so long, what am I without you, it cant be too late to say that I was so wrong”. 

- Redemption = Death. As soon as “bad guy” Crowley saved Cas in 12x12 and seemed on a path to bettering himself/redemption. DEAD. It’s a standard semi-villain trope, eg. Darth Vader.

- Sadness Tropes. Depression, lack of sense of belonging etc.  When Cas in early season 11 had a meltdown the flashbacks are a PTSD trope. It’s thus clear his depression is going to have a key role in the story. It led directly to saying yes to Lucifer after this was exposed further by Ambriel, but the earlier meltdown is the set up trope. 

- Longing looks and held gazes. Need I say more.

- The male gaze. The 8x07 gaze trope as Cas exits the bathroom and Dean has a full body and face reaction.

- Star crossed lovers. Lovers who are told they cannot be together. Usually due to fate, duty, family, cultural norms, or, for example sacred oaths... something will always be in the way, until it isn’t or they die.

These are standard tropes of storytelling, they pay off. The trope is there to show us the author’s intent to do so. So mixtapes, what do they tell us?

Let’s set the scene with what I believe is the most succinct quote below:

“Maybe I need some kind of a gesture. You know, something that says we’re moving forward without having to talk about it...” “A mixtape?”

1. High Fidelity - of course is the place to start, Rob making Laura a mixtape to show how he feels (romantic love of course).

“the making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art. Many do’s and don’ts. First of all, you’re using someone else’s poetry to express how you feel. This is a delicate thing.”

2. Bring it On - This is my favourite, cos hey, I grew up with this movie :) So Cliff gives Torrance a mixtape to show he’s crushing on her and I shit you not the lyrics repeated over and over again are “you’re what I need!”:

“Cliff makes Torrance a mixtape that even by 2000 standards would have been outdated technology, to say nothing of the fact that all these characters would have been listening to their music in MP3 form in just a few months. Still, in movies and in real life, mixtapes have special properties, and this one gives Torrance the drive to push through the final leg of the story. It’s a lot more romantic than, say, giving someone a thumbdrive” - People Magazine

“Even by 2000 standards”. Yep 17 YEARS later it’s even better, especially when the recipient doesn't even have a tape player in their car so it’s literally JUST a trope for the trope’s sake. They could have given Cas any excuse to talk to Dean, he could have asked for his phone to be charged, his car to be fixed to get Dean out of his room, whatever, it could have been a borrowed tape that was clearly Dean’s and not a gift. Anyway he didn’t even need an excuse, he could have just gone to talk to him as buddies/brothers would after the heated exchange earlier, they’ve talked in his room before, there was no plot narrative NEED for the gift of a romantic trope mixtape (of crotch rock music that is already associated with love interests, Jo saying that’s how men think they get into her panties and John/Mary)  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

3. Friends - 8x11 The one with Ross’s step forward.

Ross says: “Maybe I need some kind of a gesture. You know, something that says we're moving forward without having to talk about it.” 

Rachel & Phoebe tell Ross to give her a mixtape ;)

4. Friends -  Monica & Chandler and Chandler & Janice. A mixtape is seen as a romantic gesture twice in one episode. It’s undeniably romantic.

5. Family Guy - 4x08. Stewie comically makes a mixtape for his crush (the babysitter) because it’s such a recognisable trope.

6. Guardians of the Galaxy - I keep seeing this used as an anti argument and it’s kinda hilarious as there’s one instance of it as a platonic parent-child gift but everything else around it is 100% romantic and it’s use is overtly romantic for the protagonist. It’s a platonic sandwich (starlord-mom) between two bits of romantic bread (mom-dad and Starlord-Gamorrah). It represents the love of his mom for his dad, her gift is a legacy of that love that she then gifts to her child. Starlord then in GotG 2 uses it to woo Gamorrah, thus reinstating the original romantic meaning of the mixtape and it’s music in the movie.

7. No Strings Attached - As Adam’s feelings becomes more obviously romantic, he’s jealous of others and wants to take it to the next level, he gifts her a mixCD because it’s 2011 and a mixtape would be so outdated and too obvious a cliché for even this tacky romcom.... uhhhh ;)

Emma: “Adam, did you make me a period mix?”  Friend: “That’s so romantic!”

*Tink stares into the camera*

8. Cuban Fury - Bruce makes Julia a mixtape to show her how he feels (hint, it’s romatic, shocker I know!), he is kind and respectful of her. This is directly compared with Drew who also is vying for her attentions but does so in a sleazy and patronising way. The mixtape represents his romantic feelings and the time, thought and effort that went into making it, showcasing him as a caring person who cares for her in particular.

So yeah, mixtapes are romantic. They’re consistently romantic and used as a “moving this relationship to the next level, trying to tell you how I feel without saying it out loud” trope.

It’s so weird that they’d use a romance trope here though right? There’s been no reason to read the two of them as written as a love story for 9 years. It’s so out of the blue! No-one has noticed this before now! I’M SHOCKED AT THIS UNFORSEEN TURN OF EVENTS. 

If only there were other indications that this was just a part of the consistent theme between Dean and Cas, that it felt like the author intent in season 12 was to show us “you know, something that says we’re moving forward without having to talk about it”...oh wait ;)

I feel like this is enough, there’s no need to flog a dead horse after all. It’s a romance trope. Some lovely people did send me more though so they’re below the cut :)

- https://youtu.be/b-Uztuhzedc - mixtape puppet musical, I didn’t know I needed this til I saw it :p - Nick & Norah’s infinite playlist - Not another teen movie - The perks of being a wallflower - Juno - Without a Paddle - The secret life of Walter Mitty - Boogie Nights