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gacmediadaily · 8 months

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True, we haven’t bought our Halloween candy yet, but as loyal fans of the holiday romance genre, we are prepared to start the most wonderful time of the year today. With Hallmark Channel’s annual Countdown to Christmas and Great American Family’s Great American Christmas now in full swing, and Lifetime and other networks loading their sleighs, we’re here to help you choose between the season’s many offerings. Each Thursday, we’ll spotlight the movie that should be at the top of your weekend list and preview why other debuts will make you merry.

THE ONE TO WATCH

Bringing Christmas Home (Premieres Saturday, Oct. 28 at 8 pm on Great American Family)

The holiday movie genre has made a tradition of honoring veterans for their service, and this film is another worthy salute — with mystery and romance to boot. Jill Wagner stars as army intelligence officer-turned-military history professor Caroline, whom antique shop owner Russell (Paul Greene) enlists to help return a recently-acquired WWII dress uniform jacket to the hero’s family in time for Christmas. A love letter and photo found in a pocket sweeten their mission to uncover who this man was, what happened to him after he was listed MIA, and whether he ever reunited with the gal who wrote him endlessly (juicy twist alert!).

Fans of the Mystery 101 franchise will enjoy seeing Wagner play another smart sleuth. But beyond that, she’s riveting in the scenes where Caroline, who’s trying to adjust to civilian life with help from her army buddy Alton (Simon Arblaster), recounts a Christmas Eve they spent in the desert. As always, Greene’s vibe is as warm and soothing as a cup of cocoa. You believe that Russell would be chill enough to leave his plucky sister Jules (Jess Brown) alone at their store during the holiday rush, and that he’d be patient with Caroline, who’s afraid her past will scare off future happiness. As Caroline points out, not every story has a happy ending; you’ll root for hers to.

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Runner-Up: Ms. Christmas Comes to Town

Keep those tissues handy! In our runner-up pick, Ms. Christmas Comes to Town (premiering Thursday, Oct. 26 at 8 pm, repeating Saturday, Oct. 28 at 10 pm on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries), Barbara Niven plays Gale, a beloved host of the Holiday Shopping Channel, who receives a terminal diagnosis and decides to retire — but not before taking her “Ms. Christmas” act on the road for a farewell tour. She wants to train Amanda (Erica Durance), the daughter she never had, to be her on-air successor, Ms. Holiday. And since Gale is hiding her illness, she makes Travis (Brennan Elliott), the nurse traveling with them, pull a double shift as Mr. Winters. It’s great to see Niven, a scene-stealer in the network’s Hannah Swensen movies, take center stage. She and Durance have co-starred before, so their affection for each other feels real, as do their eventual tears. Just know the movie brings tidings of comfort and joy, not sorrow.

The Best of the Rest…

Mystic Christmas (premieres Saturday, Oct. 28 at 8 pm on Hallmark Channel) When globe-trotting marine veterinarian Juniper (Jessy Schram) spends the holidays in Mystic, Connecticut helping her college roommate Candace (Patti Murin) rehab Peppermint the harbor seal, it’s also a chance for Juniper to reignite her spark with Candace’s brother, George Bailey-esque pizza restauranteur Sawyer (Chandler Massey). Schram and Massey have the weekend’s winningest chemistry, and you’ll definitely want to add a boat parade to your yuletide itinerary after this.

Christmas By Design (premieres Friday, Oct. 27 at 8 pm on Hallmark Channel) In need of inspiration for a Christmas Eve fashion show/contest, luxury designer Charlotte (Rebecca Dalton) reluctantly heads home and agrees to attend the town’s “Elfcapades” events with mechanic/mannequin Spencer (Jonathan Keltz). In exchange, the thoughtful, handsome widower gets a buffer between him and the local single ladies whose engines he rightfully revs.

Joyeux Noel (premieres Sunday, Oct. 29 at 8 pm on Hallmark Channel) Two newspaper colleagues, green idealist Lea (Jaicy Elliot) and seasoned Grinch Mark (Brant Daugherty), are sent to France to unearth the untold love story behind a popular painting of a holiday market where, legend says, people meet their soulmates. As they retrace the enigmatic artist’s steps…well, you can guess!

Journey to Christmas (premieres Sunday, Oct. 29 at 8 pm on Great American Family) Kindhearted model Cali (Ash Tsai, charming even when delivering the weekend’s most stilted dialogue) embarks on a cross-country road trip with hired driver Jack (Joey Heyworth), who took the gig to avoid spending the holidays with his family and ex-fiancée. Unfortunately, a storm strands them in Illinois with his relatives. Unsurprisingly, it’s the diversion they both needed.

#great american christmas #great american family #jill wagner #paul greene #bringing christmas home #journey to christmas #hallmark #Youtube

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celticbarb · 8 months

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Book: Highland Surrender

Author: Heather McCollum

Series: Sons of Sinclair, book 5

Release date: October 24, 2023

Publisher: Entangled

Book Length: 340 pages

Overall rating: 5/5 Stars

Blog Rating: 5/5 Saltire Flags

Northern Scotland 1592

Hannah Sinclair is feeling a bit of sorrow and depressed watching all her sister in laws with their bairns. She isn’t jealous as she is happy for each of them, it is just that she desires a child of her own. Yet there was no special man for her to love and she was almost 30 years old! Plus even if there was one it had to be one who wasn’t afraid of her four over protective brothers who are known as the four horsemen of the apocalypse! She felt she was surely headed for a lonely future of spinsterhood and every one of her nieces and nephews favorite Auntie. Yet she desired that special someone to love too but more than anything she wants a baby!

Erik Halverston of Norway has no choice, but to follow orders of the House of Denmark since his precious sister Iselin’s life is on the line. He will do anything to protect his sister, even deceiving the Sinclairs of Scotia. He really is not a villain, he is just between a rock and a hard place and his sister is the only family he has left and the only person he will ever love! According to his Queen he must find the Clan Sinclair’s weakest link and he feels kidnapping his Queen’s enemies sister is the answer, but he is in for a rude awakening since Hannah Sinclair is far from being a frightened, biddable, timid, lass who will obey to an enemy! Especially one who lied claiming he was a trader not a Wolf Warrior seeking to abduct her and forcing her to marry this middle aged chancellor to keep her brother’s in line! See who becomes the real prisoner in this battle of the sexes!

The attraction between Hannah and Eric is immediate, but there are a lot of obstacles in their way, for one he is trying to protect his sister who is in the Queen's custody. He is the General and leader of Wolf Warriors for the House of Denmark. For another he kidnapped a Sinclair sister and he will have to deal with four braw horsemen of the apocalypse who will not accept a man who took their sister against her will! So dealing with a dowager Queen and four protective braw highland brothers Eric will definitely be in a bad position, not to mention their wives. Will it take a warrior Sinclair sister to save him from some of his own mistakes even if he had no real choice. Will the brothers accept this or even care? Read and find out in this brilliant series finale!

In this series finale which I am sad to see end as I have loved each and every book in the Sinclair series including this book Highland Surrender. McCollum’s books have a bit of everything including true history. As this one for example has Dowager Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. She was the Dowager Queen, mother of King Christian IV of Denmark and Anne of Denmark. She was Regent of Schleswig-Holstein from 1590 to 1594. Her daughter Anne was married to King James of Scotland and James I of England and Ireland.

I absolutely love how she puts some true iconic characters from history into her fictional stories which are positively brilliant! She also does an amazing amount of research, including interviews with experts that is absolutely extraordinary! This also includes enchanting landscapes, breathtaking betrayal and heartwarming passion that includes this author's triumphant series finale! It had me mesmerized and glued to each word on every single page that definitely swept me away. Yet the major scene stealer is the two stallaways Libby and Trix! It shows how two wee lassies try to save and rescue their favorite Aunt, yet win the hearts of all of the Wolf warriors too! One of the many reasons Heather McCollum has become one of my most favorite authors in the Scottish historical genre.

Disclaimer: I received a free advance readers copy from Entangled publishing. I voluntarily agreed to do an honest, fair, review and blog through netgalley. All words, thoughts, ideas are my own.

Buy Links:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSD4DH2S?_bbid=169567907&tag=individualbookpagesite-20

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/highland-surrender-heather-mccollum/1142856547?ean=9781649374950&st=AFF&2sid=

https://books.apple.com/us/book/highland-surrender/id6445438791

https://play.google.com/store/books/details?_bbid=169567914&_bbreg=us&_bbtype=blog&id=lJunEAAAQBAJ

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?query=Highland%20Surrender%20(Heather%20McCollum)&ac=1&acp=Highla&ac.title=Highland%20Surrender&ac.author=Heather%20McCollum

https://www.entangledpublishing.com/books/highland-surrender

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courtneysmovieblog · 1 year

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Mini Reviews: Hanks, Fraser, and Sandler

I finally got around to seeing some Oscar nominated movies, and both Murder Mystery movies on Netflix. What did I think?

Bye Bye Birdie: I love Dick Van Dyke, but I really can’t get over the fact that they cast Janet Leigh as Latina character. And of course she didn’t really sing either.

Happy Gilmore: “The price is wrong, BITCH!” Never gets old.

True Lies: Jamie Lee Curtis was the scene stealer in this one. She should have gotten an Oscar for this instead.

Murder Mystery: Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston work surprisingly well together. A different dynamic than him and Drew, certainly, but it still works. And this movie, while silly, is one of the better Adam Sandler movies.

Mystery Mystery 2: Sillier and more of an action movie, but still a fun way to pass the time.

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On: If you like cute and quirky, go for it.

The Whale: Despite the fact that the melodrama got excessive, Brendan Fraser was definitely the best part of this movie. And he tried to do the role with as much sensitivity as possible, so I’m glad he won the Oscar.

A Man Called Otto: Tom Hanks plays a suicidal curmudgeon who is unwillingly drawn back to life by new neighbors. I enjoyed it very much, even though it was sad.

#Mini Reviews #musicals #Adam Sandler #sequels

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mommasaystoread · 1 year

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https://www.mommasaystoread.com/2023/02/audio-book-review-you-cant-kiss-nanny.html

Piper Rayne is fast becoming a must-read for me - or a must-listen as the case may be. And I have to ask: is anyone else absolutely loving the titles in this series?! If nothing else grabs your attention, those titles will. The covers aren't exactly hard on the eyes either. Obviously, this is a sports romance and a nanny romance. More than that, it's a laugh-out-loud RomCom, and the steamy goodness is scorching hot. I already liked Brady from the first book in the series, and his son, Theo, is a total scene-stealer. My heart went out to Violet, who has had more than her fair share of disappointments. You can't help but want good things for Violet, and she and Brady have such good chemistry that you just have to root for them. There is a little bit of relationship angst, but it doesn't fall back on the easy thing to do, the thing that so often happens with this trope. Instead, it's true to the characters, and it works for the story.As for the narration, Aaron Shedlock and Cindy Kay give superb performances in duet narration. I love duet narration when it's done right, and these two definitely do it right. It's so easy to get lost in the story with these two giving voice to the characters. I already knew and liked Aaron Shedlock, so I expected him to be good. Cindy Kay was new to me, and after what I've heard here, I won't hesitate to listen to her again..To sum it up, You Can't Kiss the Nanny, Brady Banks is an engaging and entertaining romance, and Piper Rayne placed it in the right hands for narration. I'm thoroughly enjoying this series, and after the way this one ended, I can't wait for book 3.

#YouCantKissTheNannyBradyBanks #KingsmenFootballStars #PiperRayne #AaronShedlock #CindyKay #SingleDad #NannyRomance #SportsRomance #Football #ValentinePR #DuetNarration #AudioBookReview #AudioBook #Review

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matthewgiggles · 2 years

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‘The King’s Man‘ - Review

After quite a saga thanks to my Belgian government closing down our cinemas for 5 weeks, only to be forced to re-open them again by our courts after just 5 days… I quickly booked my ticket to see the film, before any more unexpected delays!

After all, Matthew Vaughn’s prequel to The Kingsman franchise was originally supposed to be released by November 2019! Just a couple of weeks before the release of Sam Mendes’ stunning WWI drama ‘1917’ (more on that later).

The film features an ensemble cast that includes Ralph Fiennes , Matthew Goode , Gemma Arterton, Rhys Ifans, Tom Hollander, Harris Dickinson, Daniel Brühl, Djimon Hounsou, and Charles Dance, and focuses on several events during World War I and the birth of the Kingsman organization.

Naturally you probably just want to know about Matthew Goode’s performance as Morton 😉. Unfortunately it’s almost entirely impossible to talk about Matthew in this film without mentioning spoilers.

However to keep it short and sweet for those who wish to remain spoilers - free:

Matthew is an utter brilliant scene stealer in the film and gives so much energy to his performance. He really gives his all 💯 and his scenes with his good ol’ friend Ralph Fiennes (Orlando,Duke of Oxford) are the highlights of the film and so much fun to watch!

The King’s Man has a terrific cast and is entertaining throughout - and blends action, drama and comedy very well indeed. If you want pure historical accuracy about the period : go see ‘1917’. (Well it’s also worth a watch in any case) However this is a Matthew Vaughn’s production and a Kingsman film with a twist - so if you are familiar with the franchise, you already kinda know what to expect.

So definitely go see it in cinemas if you can and if you feel safe enough to do so.

SPOILERS ⬇️

I won’t go through the plot of the entire film and will leave out some spoilers. Will just highlight a few Goode things 😉

The film starts in 1902 in South-Africa during the Boer War and this is where we first get to meet Morton , who is Lord Kitchener’s aide (Charles Dance - Game of Thrones, The Imitation Game). Something very tragic happens to Orlando, Duke of Oxford (Ralph Fiennes) and his family when he visits a concentration camp there while on a mission for the Red Cross. Which is then followed by a 12 year long time-jump to 1914. During those 12 years, Morton remains by the side of Lord Kitchener - Secretary of State for War. So for more than a decade Morton seems like a very trustworthy and loyal soldier of the British Army and defender of the British Empire.

So once we arrive in 1914, we get a first glimpse of our Shepherd in a large barn at the top of a cliff surrounded by goats, who is instructing his flock of his plans to destabilise and destroy the entire British Empire. His motive is revenge for his family and Scottish ancestors : for all those hundreds of years of oppression and suffering at the hands of the English. We never get to see his face until the very end of the film, but oh boy do you hear him! 🤣 So the plan is to pit Queen Victoria’s three grandchildren against each other, (because as cousins growing up they already had a childhood feud) by infiltrating the courts of the Russian, German and the British Empire. You can hear such a pure evil menacing cackle of laughter (it’s the best!) as he explains that he already has a mole at the heart of the British government. I guess this was Vaughn’s biggest hint at giving the audience a clue of the Shepherd’s true identity 😉.

Matthew Vaughn was rather clever here: because even if the audience now suspects that it could be Morton who is the double agent, the events and scenes that follows - immediately puts this theory into doubt. As the plot moves forward, Lord Kitchener and Morton find themselves on a ship bound for Russia who is then torpedoed by a submarine. So for all intent and purpose everyone thinks that Kitchener and Morton perished together at sea.

Unfortunately for our Shepherd he isn’t the only one who has secret operatives all around the world, as Orlando (Duke of Oxford) and his son Conrad together with Polly & Shola get into the action themselves to try and put a stop to all his murderous plans. Rasputin gets his chance to shine, but is rather quickly dealt with.

However the Great War rages on, and as the film depicts the brutal reality and heroism of WWI on the battle field and the trenches - this entire section of the film is truly emotional to watch. And I get the similarity with Sam Mendes’ 1917 here. It’s the real heart of the entire film.

Eventually Orlando & co find out where to find this mysterious Shepherd, and the big reveal is a joy to watch! Matthew uses his voice perfectly here, as before showing his face he switches slowly from that loud booming Scottish accent to his more natural everyday speaking voice as Morton. Brilliantly done! 👏

The confrontation and sword fight with Orlando is outstanding! I am sure Ralph and Matthew had so much fun and the best time rehearsing some of those tricky sneaky moves (together with stunt doubles I know…). I absolutely loved it! I am also beyond thrilled that it was Matthew who got his “Manners Maketh Man” scene and got to say it too! 😊

Now about those goats eh 🐐 🐐🐐They are very rare CASHMERE GOATS thank you very much, and Angus is his favourite! 🤣 Sadly for the goats… their Shepherd has quite a bit of a temper when his plans go south - and even manhandles Angus with his sword 🗡 , by cutting a piece of his horns. 🤬 So when the time came for the villain of the film to come to his untimely death… I am pleased to say that Angus got his revenge by sticking his abused horn right through Morton’s already wounded leg - causing him to lose his momentum against Orlando. With the Duke of Oxford now on the winning end, he decides to let Morton fall to his death. So a few moments later our Shepherd ends up at the bottom of the cliff. It was a very very very long drop and 0 chance of survival - or sequel appearance chances.

Matthew’s Scottish accent is EVERYTHING! 💥 His intonation is just perfect as always and it’s just dripping with malice. I also loved hearing him swear “You’ve got to be f*cking kidding me” and “for f*ck’s sake” throughout the film! 😁 If swearing bothers you… 🤷‍♀️ I wonder how many non-Goodey fans guessed he was the villain? Because from reading and listening to Vaughn’s interviews, the audience really isn’t supposed to know it was ‘Morton’ who was pulling the strings all along. It’s not MG’s fault in the slightest as his two ‘voices’ in the film are very different from each other! However, Matthew’s voice is so distinctive - especially to us who have watched him over so many years , that we can’t but recognise it instantly. 😊

Which brings me to the PROMO and media campaign, together with the critics’ low ratings of the film.

The premise that the events that leads to WWI are orchestrated by a Scottish radical nationalist is hilarious! Yet for some reason it was blasted for its silliness and historical inaccuracy. 🙄 FFS It’s meant to be entertainment! If you have watched the Marvel films and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. , the Shepherd is basically the head of Hydra and his flock are all the secret double agents manipulating people and events for their own benefit. Vaughn never claimed to make The King’s Man 100% accurate! He did want to make a WWI film that audiences from all ages could enjoy. It’s not like everyone will suddenly forget the history lessons from school, Uni etc… 😉

By keeping our temperamental Scottish lunatic’s identity secretive throughout the film, I do understand why it was difficult to involve Matthew in the promo campaign. However as a direct result - all eyes were on Rhys Ifans’ Rasputin. Countless of trailers, posters etc showed a teaser of his most iconic scene in the film: the dancing action sequence and his sword fight with Ralph Fiennes. With all that promotion I think everyone thought he would have far more scenes, and thus end up disappointed.

The critics also have a collective tantrum over the so called ‘tonal changes’. I wonder if these same critics have watched ‘Silent Night’? Because let me tell you: watching The King’s Man is like sailing on a gentle wave compared to the devastating tsunami of SN. The tonal changes aren’t jarring at all. I loved the mix of poignant raw emotional scenes of the WWI battles, the father-son relationship and of course the pure joy and fun watching our maniacal Scottish swearing friend at work behind the scenes. The King’s Man has comedic notes, but after Rasputin’s demise there’s not that many laugh out loud scenes anymore. Which fits with the changing tone of the film as we see the devastating ravages of war and its consequences.

The King’s Man is bombing at the box office sadly and it’s a real shame as it deserves far more credit. I truly hope that Matthew Vaughn will release his extended edition of this one in a couple of years, as he said he had to cut 1 entire hour from the film!

Matthew once again excels at playing the bad guy, so you truly won’t be disappointed by his performance! 💥😆

The King’s Man is out now in theatres and will be released for streaming sometime by end of February.

📷 All pictures belong to Marv Studios / Disney / 20th Cent Fox

#the king’s man #kingsman #the king’s man review #kingsman spoilers #the king’s man spoilers #matthew goode

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ratingtheframe · 3 years

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10 Films to watch this Valentine’s Day if you’re single as hell.

If anyone or anything is making you feel worthless on the Capitalist Holiday that is Valentine’s Day because you’re single AF, then don’t fret because it means one of two things;

You’re happy enough with yourself to not need anyone else.

You’re allergic to people.

Though mine is both the former and the latter, I can still get down to a good romance movie now and again. Now I’m not talking about those horrendous rom coms that Netflix seems to be churning out every damn minute, but those emotionally invested, earthy and well written dramas that has you ugly crying into your bathrobe for 17 minutes straight (me at the end of Her.). Here is a compiled list of some of the best romance films I’ve seen over the years and how each one doesn’t showcase an abundance of clichés and brands them as “acts of love”.

A Star is Born (2018 or 1953, take your pick)

I’ve found that both the 1953 version of A Star is Born with Judy Garland and the 2018 newer version to be a perfect and well rounded love story. What makes this love story so fierce is the vulnerabilities and downfall of its characters, which even though there are many sad moments, it perpetuates and strengthens the acts of love shown in the film. Both versions are similar in that they follow a woman who’s rise to fame as a performer becomes overshadowed by her jealous partner, who is also a notable celebrity. In the 2018 version starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, Gaga’s character Ally is helped by a country singer, Jackson Maine to become a successful singer and icon amongst the music industry. As she rises, Jackson falls and the character dynamics and intensity between them is a fitting love story. I was thoroughly bawling at the end and I guarantee you will too as Lady Gaga’s rendition of Love Again was the true scene stealer of the film.

Call me by your name (2017)

I have an incredible bias towards this film and it has nothing to do with the film’s context or characters or even Timothée Chalamet The reason why I feel so connected to this film and proclaim it as my favourite film of all time is because of when I watched the film. It’s almost like seeing a film about a political event right after it's happened; you have this rush and connection towards something that’s actually affected you in the real world. I had the same feeling with Call me by your name after going through a rough and confusing patch whilst trying to get over someone I thought I truly loved. Turns out I didn’t (thank god) and yet Call me your name was almost like a shoulder to cry on. It’s a film that’s taught me to love and love hard but most importantly, not beat yourself up or try to distinguish the pain felt by true love. If you haven’t been fortunate to catch this beauty of a film, it follows two men, Elio (Timothée Chalamet) and Oliver (Armie Hammer) and their brief relationship in the summer of 1983 in Northern Italy. 17 year old Elio lives with his parents and his father (Michael Stuhlbarg) is a scholar who invites students from outside the country for the summer in hope of passing on his wisdom to them. This is when Oliver arrives, a handsome twenty something American who becomes the infatuation of Elio.

I’ll never forget the first time I heard the monologue that Elio’s father gave his son at the end, explaining to Elio why he shouldn’t feel embarrassed by the pain he felt after loving Oliver:

“We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster, that we go bankrupt by the age of thirty and have less to offer each time we start with someone new. But to make yourself feel nothing so as not to feel anything - what a waste”

That, ladies and gentlemen and all in between, is what love is.

Her. (2013)

Once again, another film about love that had a profound effect on me because of when I watched it. Her. follows the story of Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) and his search for a story using an A.I to help him write. However, after getting to know this A.I named Samantha (Scarlett Johansson) and hearing the way she adapts and shows emotions, he soon falls in love with it. Some may deem this as rather sad (which it is) but I think it speaks to bigger constructs like internet dating and letting go of people you loved thus diminishing the fantasy and world you created for the two of you. This part of the film got to me a stark way as I felt the pain of letting go of not only a person, but a fantasy, just like Theodore had to do in letting his past partners go. Her. is truly beautiful, with some great production design, cinematography and acting.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

The absolute queen of love stories would be Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire, a film about the romance between two women in the late 18th Century. Definitely not a narrative you see every day or one that’s been painted in such a way (pun intended). Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is commissioned to paint the beautiful and stubborn Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) and the portrait is to be gifted to a suitor of Héloïse’s from Milan. But instead of getting the painting done and sending it off, Marianne and Héloïse unexpectedly fall for one another at a subtle and well timed pace that had me gawping at the screen the entire way through. Slow, sensual and moving is Portrait of a Lady on Fire and I would definitely say is one of the best LGBTQ plus films ever made to date.

Broke Back Mountain (2005)

Ang Lee scooped up a BAFTA, Golden Globe and Oscar for his direction on his adapted screenplay of Brokeback Mountain. Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) form a romantic bond after shepherding alone together on the side of a mountain. Once their time herding sheep comes to a close and they return back to their respective lives, it's clear that their bond is stronger than they had anticipated. They live in constant fear of their relationship becoming apparent to those around them, which leaves one of them taking matters into their own hands. A controversial yet extremely successful film of its time, Brokeback Mountain does a fabulous job of showcasing the consequences and despair of love using two of Hollywood’s finest actors.

Carol (2013)

It’s difficult to fully appreciate LGBTQ plus films set in the past as they mostly focus on the persecution of homosexuals as opposed to the love they wish to express. However, this was pretty accurate of the time and it's only very recently that we have begun to accept one another’s sexualities and genders fully so much that we play these stories out on screen without the persecution part. Carol is a film directed by Todd Haynes and stars Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett. I found them to be an extremely intense pairing whilst they unravelled as their characters on screen. Therese (Rooney Mara) works in the toy department of a department store when one day she lays eyes upon Carol Aird, a beautiful and elegant married woman who becomes the infatuation of Therese. Therese throws all caution to the wind in order to be closer to Carol and because of this and the 1950s society they live in, their relationship is doomed from the beginning. I was in complete awe of the way Carol had been shot and created into this sensual and rich drama set in the 1950s. From the costumes, to the lighting to the acting, everything about Carol held weight to it showcasing the devotion of a truly talented director.

Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind (2004)

Usually I’d pass on a Charlie Kaufman film, seeing as they make no sense, however I felt that it was time I delved into this cult classic starring Kate Winslet, Jim Carrey, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo and Elijah Wood. It’s a really well made film with a clear and distinct message to it that’s represented in some phenomenal filmmaking techniques. The plot line of this film follows a man trying to erase a past lover and his memories of her get wiped away physically before your eyes on screen. It made me wish that I could do the same with people I’ve liked in the past, but the contradictory of this would be the trauma of eventually ending up with someone you had already met in another life. I haven’t experienced a break up nor felt the pain of one, though I could judge that this film tells that experience really well.

Moonlight (2016)

Moonlight is one of few films that I would genuinely worship if it were a religion. It's also one of the films that I outwardly shame people for not having seen, as it is truly a masterpiece and film lover’s film. Deep, emotionally connected, colourful, harsh, moving and eye opening, this film takes you on an emotional rollercoaster through the eyes of Chiron and the three stages of his life that have carved out his essence as a human being. Not only that, but he falls in love with another boy at his school, and when he does, he’s hurt rather badly. Literally. Moonlight is the definition of profundity and was awarded the top prize of Best Picture at the 2017 Academy Awards.

Loving (2016)

When I think of a truthful and honest testament of love, the film Loving comes to mind which is a fitting title for such a delicate yet strong story. The film is based on a true story of an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred (Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga) being banned from Virginia in the 1950s for choosing to be together. If that ain’t a true sacrifice of love, then I don’t know what is. Choosing someone you love over your own home is an unfathomable thing and certainly shows the strength that this couple had in facing the judgements of others whilst remaining emotionally truthful to themselves.

The Shape of Water (2017)

The Shape of Water is a strange yet enlightening love story between Eliza, a deaf woman (Sally Hawkins) and a creature being tested on in a laboratory. Awards season went mental for this back in 2018, winning four of the THIRTEEN Oscars it was nominated for. I would categorize it as quite the niche film and wouldn’t usually think that such a film could be garnered with Oscar success. However everyone who worked on this film really pulled out the stops in creating an entire new world and perspective that has many layers to it, as well as an abundance of conflict and dynamics for audiences to lull over. The relationship between Eliza and the feared swamp monster that’s being cruelly tested in the laboratories where she works, is heartfelt and honest, which is strange seeing as Eliza’s virtually in love with a monster. The casting in this was outlandish yet it really worked as all actors in this melded well into the story as their prospective characters. It also has one of the most touching endings to a film I’ve ever seen.

And there you have it, ten Romance films for you to enjoy this Valentine’s Day. Watch them all at once, or maybe just watch one. Whether you watch it alone or with someone, it doesn’t really matter!

Lots of love

Ang x

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tobi-smp · 3 years

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From what I can gather the “discourse” about c!wilbur’s portrayal was about the way that c!wilbur is constantly drawn as a zombie or with stitches or with red eyes and how it is often used to make him look creepy or evil. Like there is a large amount of fanart that involves c!wilbur having red eyes, or being a zombie or having stitches, and that also have him looming evilly over other characters or that have him blowing smoke in peoples faces. And from what I can gather a lot of c!wilbur fans are tired of it.

Context: [Link 1, Link 2]

I've seen that discourse before yes, that has its roots all the way back in the pogtopia days. it probably got pulled back up by the fresh wave of discourse, though this was apparently started with discussions about the potential arg? (as seen in the second link) it's That bit that I'm unsure of since I haven't seen the context

that said I get it, it's fine to get annoyed by/tired of tropes in fanart. that said, I don't think it's a Real issue in the same way that genuine discourse about his character or the writing is. mainly because a lot of it is done because people think it's cool and that's the start and end of it

wilbur definitely has More fanart leaning in that direction which makes it harder to just ignore if you don't like it (and it Does annoy me that it happens more with him than it does say, dream). but at the end of the day people just kinda do that with fanart. there was lots of art of tubbo looking menacing with warning signs for eyes when the nuke plot was prominent, and the zombie thing Started with tommy after he was revived (though its definitely true that I've seen more sinister zombie art with wil, while the zombie art with tommy was either "heehoo zombie" or with a sadder bend).

wilbur is one of the active pieces in the story right now (especially before the prison break), and he's a scene stealer to be sure. cc!wilbur knows how to pull off an entertaining character and arc. which means people are going to focus on him more at the moment. and sometimes that just means making art because they think it looks cool

it's partially a symptom of the way the fandom misunderstands him as a character, but it's mostly harmless. which it's perfectly fine to complain about it as long as its not blowing the situation out of proportion.

that said, the "blowing smoke into people's faces" thing sucks unless that person is quackity then it's funny (provided quackity also gets his ass)

#wilbur soot #meta

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agentnico · 3 years

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The Suicide Squad (2021) Review

This may be the better of the two, but the first Suicide Squad film will always hold the crown for managing to win an Oscar... somehow.

Plot: The government sends the most dangerous supervillains in the world -- Bloodsport, Peacemaker, King Shark, Harley Quinn and others -- to the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. Armed with high-tech weapons, they trek through the dangerous jungle on a search-and-destroy mission, with only Col. Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave.

“So that’s it, huh? We’re some kind of suicide squad?” says Will Smith in the original first film, with the line in itself being a poor attempt at a fourth wall break, yet, that movie never reached that promise of being a true Suicide Squad film. Because hardly anyone died, and as a whole David Ayer’s film was a generic mess, regardless of studio interference or not. In comes James Gunn from Marvel, who seems to have cracked the code for how to bring this comic book series to live action in proper gratuitous form, with even the ‘The’ in the title symbolizing that this is the one!

I remember going to see the first Guardians of the Galaxy film at the cinema, and back then I was still only just getting acquainted with watching western media, and that included superhero films. Heck my first ever Marvel movie was Thor: The Dark World! I know, what a banger to start with.......NAAAWT!! Anyway, I went to see Guardians and it was one of the first superhero films I came out of feeling like I truly witnessed something special. It had action, comedy and a good heart to it, and wouldn’t you know, my good old pal James Gunn was behind that flick. I don’t know why I called him my good old pal, I don’t even know the fella. Except in my dreams, but we don’t talk about that. So, flashforward to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which I absolutely hated, and for that movie I’m pretty sure Marvel gave Mr Gunn mostly full reigns of creative freedom, as long as he kept it family friendly, and the result was a mess. Hence naturally now I was really sceptical when James Gunn ended up at Warner Bros. following the controversial moment when cancel culture decided to aim it’s slimy fingers at him, as he was given directing and writing duties for this new The Suicide Squad film, and also it was heavily insinuated that Warner Bros. basically told him he could do with the movie whatever the f*** he wanted, excuse my French. And we remember how it panned out last time when James Gunn was given a lot of creative freedom.

Flashforward to present day; here I am wondering and scratching my head thinking what in the heavens has happened, as by golly I am happy to report that The Suicide Squad is a total winner and a blast with a capital B - Blast! Gosh goodness golly goblin, this movie is so much fun from beginning to end. Right from the opening sequence you know that this film isn’t holding back any punches. It’s going at a 447.19 km/h speed of a Koenigsegg Agera RS crashing through any barriers like it’s nothing. Speaking of the opening sequence, it establishes why the movie is called what it’s called from the get-go. You straight away are proven how not a single character is safe, minus the obvious one that we know who it is, as there ain’t no way Warner Bros. would have allowed James Gunn to kill off that one character. But besides that person, everyone else feels like they could die at any given moment. That’s really a big charm of it, as it is frustrating how in many superhero films, let alone any blockbuster action flicks, so many characters always feel so safe and unstoppable, no matter how many times they get shot or how many buildings crash down upon them. And yes, this movie features a certain CGI character that constantly gets that treatment and survives, although it’s very self aware in that regard and is purposefully humoristic. But overall the entire set of characters feel easily disposable, and so so many of them die in such gruesome fashion, so indeed don’t get attached, as they don’t.

Speaking of which, this movie is hardcore gory! You see limbs and intestines flying round left and right, a guy gets ripped in half by a humanoid shark, another’s face gets teared off by a shotgun bullet and so on forth in all kinds of gruesome fashion. Visually this is one for the big screen, as here’s the thing: you’re either a mummy’s boy or you grow some cojones and go see a man’s heart get stabbed with a piece of debris glass in 4K high rate definition! Your choice! Oh, and it’s not just the violence, also the cinematography and the practical set pieces all look incredible. This is easily James Gunn’s best looking movie. The entire think LOOKS incredible!

We also have to talk about the cast, as they are all great! There literally isn’t a single weakling among them. Each one, no matter how big or small their role is, brings something to the table. I can’t talk about all of them, as we’d be here all day, so I’m simply going to mention a few of the stand-outs. Idris Elba comes in to replace Will Smith as a character called Bloodsport, who is in some ways a different character but evidently is a replacement of Smith’s. But that’s no bad thing, as with any ensemble movie you still need a main character to latch onto and have an emotional hook towards, and he is that character. In fact, I’d say he’s arguably better than Will Smith in the last movie, or at least he seems to be having more fun here. He works as a solid leading man, however what works even more is his banterous competitive genital-size-measuring back and forth with John Cena’s Peacemaker, who by the way is awesome as that character. He is not a good character, in fact he is as bad as a bad guy can get, especially cause he’s someone who believes that what he is doing is right, making him much more of a dangerous wild card. This is easily John Cena’s best role, with him adding to the comedy one-liners, but also delivering such an interesting character who I’m looking forward to seeing more of in his standalone spin-off show confirmed for next year. Oh, and he wears a toilet helmet on his head which he defines as “a beacon of freedom” which says it all. We also have returning characters from the last film Joel Kinnaman and Viola Davis as Rick Flag and Amanda Waller respectively, and both are given much more room to stretch their talents and spread their beautiful acting wings like the Hollywood angels that they are. Kinnaman’s Rick Flag is the moral compass of the group, as even though Elba is our main guy, he’s nonetheless a villain still, whilst Flag is a genuinely good guy and what is defined as a true American hero, to which Kinnaman fits the part well. And Viola Davis as Amanda Waller is on an absolutely different level. You can tell she’s an Academy Award winner through and through, as she plays such a serious character in an otherwise goofy movie, and so her presence is felt and it is felt BAD! She’s such a despicable yet intimidating personality and she gravitates all of the screen presence to herself. Margot Robbie returns as Harley Quinn, and she gets even more chance to develop this character that she’s played in multiple DCEU films now, and as per usual the Harley Quinn shtick works well for her, though I do kind of wish she didn’t always get all the attention. Look, I think she’s a fun character and Robbie plays her well, however she’s constantly used to overshadow others in these films which I don’t think is too fair, and its evident as ever in this film too. Anyway, the remainder of the cast including Jay Courtney as Captain Boomerang, David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man, Michael Rooker as Savant, Nathan Fillion as TDK, Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher 2 (who gave me strong A Plague Tale: Innocence vibes) and many more all play villains, but villains that don’t have particularly great superpowers. This is where the tragedy of Task Force X as a team plays a part, as many of these villains aren’t even good at being villains. They are useless, and the movie is really self aware of this and so treats all characters as they should be. Dare I also not forget to mention the CGI characters in this film, with both Weasel and King Shark being absolute scene stealers!

The Suicide Squad is the type of wham-bam-thank-you-mam batshit crazy entertainment which exists for the pure reasons of fun. It doesn’t set out to be the best superhero film ever, nor does it need to be. It’s an exhilarating, shocking, funny and amusing ride from beginning to end, with the energy never stopping, and is easily the best time I’ve had with a comic-book film in a long while, and I’m even talking about before COVID! Do yourself a favour and watch this one as soon as you can, as I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - The Suicide Squad is a BLAST!!

Overall score: 9/10

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popentertainment-interviews · 2 years

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Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Keegan-Michael Key, Fran Drescher & David Spade

Living in Transformania

by Jay S. Jacobs

It’s checkout time at Hotel Transylvania.

Ten years and four films into the popular animated series of films, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania will tell the final chapter of the resort that is run and visited by monsters and ghouls.

Of course change is in the air – and not just because the voice of the main character of Drac is no longer played by Adam Sandler in this chapter, instead taken on by YouTube phenomenon Brian Hull. In Transformania, the staff and guests of the place are affected by a laser which turns humans into monsters and monsters into humans.

About a month before Hotel Transylvania: Transformania was to be released exclusively on Amazon Prime, we were able to take part in a virtual press conference with stars Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Keegan-Michael Key, Fran Drescher and David Spade. Here is what they had to say about the fourth (and apparently last) film in the Hotel Transylvania series.

I love that this film really flips the script on a lot of fan favorite characters. How much were you all aware of what the new character designs would look like and what were your reactions?

Andy Samberg: I love the new design. Johnny becomes monsterficationIzed. I believe that's the correct word. He goes basically full birdy man backpacker meets Godzilla, which I think is something I dreamed about looking like as a child, anyhow. So, it was a dream come true for me.

David Spade: I play Griffin the invisible man, who is a bit of a scene stealer. I was a bit surprised because they put out some pictures of Griffin and I guess it wasn't what people thought. They wanted Griffin to be better looking like Bradley Cooper or something. I'm like, “Griffin's like this goofy dingdong that hangs out with the monsters. A little out of shape. Red hair.” They were looking for more of a Prince Harry or something. But I think it's funnier that Griffin looks funnier. It's for kids and families and I think cartoons should be funny looking. So, I'm 100% into my Griffin.

Keegan-Michael Key: I was surprised. I expected Murray to be bigger. To me it was like one revolution of wraps. I thought it'd be really this big kind of fat, corpulent guy. Then when all the wraps come off, and you see that first of all, he was super short, but he's really working the jowls. That was my favorite thing. Just got jowls for days. I like that. Yeah, it's really great because it helps inform you as to what you're going to what you want to do vocally, then.

Selena and Fran, you've brought these characters to life for nearly 10 years, and they're wonderful outsiders. What advice do you have for those who in real life are struggling to fit in?

Selena Gomez: Oh, man, that's a loaded question. Because I could give you the “believe in yourself” kind of answer. But I think it's a challenge, right? Every day you wake up. Sometimes you can't sit there and make a choice. Sometimes, you do feel those feelings. I think it's important to take moments and breaks from social media personally. It's just nice to be present and be with yourself for a bit. It doesn't mean that you need to have a lot of friends and a lot of people around you to be cool, because like, I have four friends and I think we're the coolest. We're definitely not.

Andy Samberg: Drac’s pack. We're back. We're back. Yeah. Yeah. (Everyone laughs.)

Fran Drescher: I think the most attractive thing you can be is yourself, and not give in to peer pressure. Not feel like you have to be like anybody else. Or you have to twist yourself into a pretzel because you think that's what somebody else expects you to be. Every single day, the more you practice self-confidence and loving exactly who you are and doing exactly what makes your heart sing and nothing else, then you're on the right path to living a really successful life. Successful in the sense of being happy both inside. Making kindness and compassion your compass is also something that brings value to your life and to those you touch.

David Spade: I've been doing it wrong. (Everyone laughs.)

Andy, what are the challenges in trying to bring comedic timing to an animated role?

Andy Samberg: I love talking about the craft. It's not particularly challenging. We're on the fourth one here. Not to deflect, but you've seen the style of animation they do, which in my opinion, is one of the greatest things about these movies. It's so fun and exaggerated. Obviously, kids love it. When I watch it, it makes me giggle just seeing the expressions and the gesticulations they give all the characters. So, this time around doing the recording, you pretty much know they want you to go huge and insane. Then they are going to push that even further with the way they animate it, which is very freeing. You know that you're not going to get like, “Whoa, buddy, come on. That's too much. Too much.”

Fran Drescher: (laughs) Never too much.

David Spade: Never bring it down.

Selena, we have loved watching Mavis grow and mature over the last three films. What can fans expect from her this time around?

Selena Gomez: It's been such a pleasure playing this character and also growing up. Because it was so long ago that [the series started]. I was in a different phase of my life. It's actually wonderful to be able to grow with this character. She's definitely just tough and she's not always demanded to be as big. She's just always worrying, and that matches my personality really well. (laughs) I just want things to run smoothly. I actually understand what it's like to have differences between family members and things like that. It's nice that we're touching on such a real thing, but in such a crazy way. It's fun.

David, we're going to get a little deep here. I'm going to warn you this is the first time that your character Griffin has actually been seen. What do you think that symbolizes? In a movie like this it's all about transformation.

David Spade: Selena, what's the answer on this one? (They laugh.) First of all I would like to say I love that I got to do these four movies with all these people. It was such a fun time. I get so many nice comments from so many different, older and younger people about watching them together. It's been a blast. I just wanted to get that out there because it was a really cool thing to be a part of. Having Griffin be not seen was interesting the whole time. I'm just floating glasses. It was nice to be a full-on character that was relating to other people. I think that's going to be really fun for kids. It was a great hooky fourth idea, because then it's a switcheroo. Everyone gets different. It's just a fun visual thing. Like Andy was saying, when you see these jokes, you see them written on the page. Then when they add the animation to it, the jokes are like three times better, because there's a joke behind you, there's a joke over here. It just flushes it out so much that the movie turns into just more and more fun. It's just so clever when you see what they can do. It's really not us. We're adding one layer. Then what they do to it makes it even better. They just really know what they're doing. That's why these are so fun and [I’m] proud to be a part of.

Fran, you certainly found that the secret to good live action comedy through The Nanny. What do you think is the secret to good comedy and animation?

Fran Drescher: I think physical comedy is very important. We did quite a bit of it on The Nanny. In animation, it's absolutely imperative. You can do so much because it's such a make-believe world. You can contort characters in ways that they could never really do in real life. Even the best stunt person couldn't get away with some of the stuff that animated characters can do. That's a big through theme of doing an animated movie: how far can we physically take these characters to do funny and surprising things?

Keegan, you've lent your voice to a number of animated movies, including several on the way. What has been the most rewarding part of the voice-acting animation experience?

Keegan-Michael Key: The most rewarding part – to actually go back to what Andy was saying – is that concept of not having any limitations. Especially in these movies, like we were saying, the look of these characters is so exaggerated that anything that you would have been busted for on a live action movie, you don't have to worry about. It reminds me of being a kid. When you were a kid and you play with the other friends, your imagination went everywhere. There would be times you're out at the field and playing and screaming and all of that abandon. You get to channel that again as an adult when you're doing animated films. It's not only not frowned upon, it is encouraged. That's my favorite thing about working in this space.

Andy Samberg: I love Keegan that you and I both are like “we just like that no one gives us the note that we're being too big.”

Keegan-Michael Key: (laughs) Exactly. Exactly. That's the answer to the question for me and Andy. It like no one's ever going to tell you take it down a notch. That's like the best.

Andy Samberg: A real peek inside at our process.

It's been nearly 10 years since the first film was released. Did you ever think this franchise would last this long would and would lead to three sequels like it has?

Andy Samberg: No. But I'm really glad it did. I think the reason is because kids love them so much. That's the real bottom line with these movies, which makes it such an easy call. They're just so infused with joy and positivity. Everyone grew up loving these classic monsters, and it's a new spin on it. It's really fun for families. That's why it's endured.

Fran Drescher: What I like about this movie also is that it's really written funny. Parents really enjoy it as much as kids. Similarly, certain jokes may go right over the kids’ heads, but the parents get it and see the humor in it.

David Spade: It is a good mix.

Fran Drescher: It’s very positive. And look at the talent, the roles. Very serious comic actors.

David Spade: Sometimes I'm too funny in the thing and they have to really bring me back.

Keegan-Michael Key: I've heard that many times. I've been giving that as an example during my sessions. The other thing I think is interesting is the way that they portray the family dynamics, like how spouses and loved ones and girlfriends and everybody is working off of each other. Those dynamics are really well observed in the movies. I think they're really well observed.

Fran Drescher: And relatable, right?

Keegan-Michael Key: Super relatable. Yeah, Fran. That sense where an adult can be laughing at a hard joke with a hard punch line. Also at the same time, there's this sense of like, “Oh, my God, we do that. Me and my wife do that.” Yeah, it's super deliciously relatable.

From all indications, this will be the final Hotel Transylvania installment. What would you each say that you will miss most about this series?

Fran Drescher: I’ll miss Eunice. I love her. I love the way they drew her. I love her look. I love that she is a bit of a matriarch to the monsters. She gets wound up and screams a lot. But for the most part, she really cares about Mavis and her family and her husband too, Frank. So I will miss my character, Eunice.

Keegan-Michael Key: I'm going to miss the final products that we always see. The movies are really done on such a high level. It's the rhythm of the movies and the spirit behind them that really moves me. In a way I'm saying I'm going to miss seeing them because if indeed this is the last, I'm going to miss seeing the new one if a new one comes out because they're always really well done.

David Spade: I do like when they come out. That's a good point. We always did one and you're waiting for it to come out and see if it worked. It's nice to be a part of something that works. When it worked, it was fun. Then you're there already talking about another one, so it's fun. People are like “is there going to be another one?” You go, “Yeah, yeah, we're working on it. It's coming out soon.” Then that comes out and you see it you go, “Oh good, it's funny again.” Then there's like. “Oh, there's going to be another one.” To have it stop is a bummer but seeing the fourth one I'm glad they all were good quality. If that's where they have to stop that's where they have to stop.

Andy Samberg: I don’t like to admit that it's over. If we say it's done, we're just caving to Sony.

David Spade: Wrap-a-phobia.

Andy Samberg: I'll miss it all. It's been such a fun thing to do. I'll miss the swag bags. I’ll miss the junkets. I'll miss Selena.

Selena Gomez: I didn't enjoy working with Andy at all, actually.

Andy Samberg: Aww, burn.

David Spade: That's all she wants to add.

Selena Gomez: But I did want to answer the question. I remember I was really excited to meet Andy because I watched all of SNL [Saturday Night Live], watching David too, and everyone growing up. So I would have to say the first time being able to sit down with them, he made it so fun and easy. If anything he's helped me relax more in interviews and just feel a bit a little bit normal. He also had my back. I will never forget because they asked me like a dating question or something and I don't do those. Andy answered for me. It was nice.

Fran Drescher: Remember when we all went to the Toronto Film Festival?

Selena Gomez: That was so fun.

Fran Drescher: Thanks to Amazon for taking it on so everybody can watch it from home.

Andy Samberg: For the record, Fran said that this movie is as good as Spinal Tap.

Keegan-Michael Key: Yes, we heard it. We all heard that.

#Andy Samberg #Selena Gomez #Keegan-Michael Key #Fran Drescher #David Spade #2022 #Hotel Transylvania: Transformania #Jay S. Jacobs

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13eyond13 · 4 years

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your fav fictional character and why you love em!

omg thx @morphinejunkie, and sorry for the slow reply! I totally fell asleep right after reblogging that meme hahaha

OK so my fave fictional character is definitely L! It's a bit tricky to articulate exactly why I enjoy him so much, and I think it's complicated by the fact that I feel he's sometimes overrated in the fandom and/or reduced to a lesser caricature of himself in basically every DN adaptation/spinoff out there. But manga!L is very entertaining to analyze for me because there’s always this intriguing duality and ambiguity about his personality and behaviour. Hmmm, let me try to explain...

THE ODD DUALITY OF L:

HONEST vs DISHONEST- he's clearly often deceptive and elusive about stuff, and yet there's also this sense that he's actually a very simple and bluntly straight-forward person much of the time, too. I have so much fun reading between the lines with his cryptic moods and so many of the unexpected things that he does and says from time to time. And I love that all the other characters around him are constantly doing the same with L, too. Their incredulous double-takes and suspicious side-eyeing of him always makes me lol

EGOTISTICAL vs HUMBLE - there are so many examples in the manga of moments where L is either slyly showing off or possibly being genuinely demure regarding impressive things about himself. It's always so hard to tell the difference and it’s always 10/10

CORRUPT vs THE "GOOD GUY" - he's super morally grey at all times, and I'm always drawn to those more complicated types. I’ve seen the fandom produce so many wildly different takes about his goodness and his evilness over time on both extreme ends of the scale, and I often find it difficult to strike the proper balance when talking about L as well. It’s very easy to characterize him as overly cruel and corrupt or overly noble and kind, and it’s always way more interesting to me when a character is that difficult to define

REFINED vs FERAL - L’s always daintily sipping tea cups in his luxury hotel suite while simultaneously barefoot crouching on the chair and scribbling all over the coffee table with a permanent marker. Everything about him is a bizarre combination of these two polar opposite traits, and yet it always seems to make sense completely whenever you think about it as well

AWKWARD/OBLIVIOUS vs SLY/MANIPULATIVE- always a fun question to ask yourself during L’s more questionable social interactions and shady decisions

KINKY vs TAME- he's so weirdly suggestive and also extremely not at the same time, idk why but it works so well for his character and it's just the funniest thing ever to me lol

OVERBEARING vs ALOOF- he's somehow both incredibly nosy and overly involved and also very detached and distant from everyone simultaneously

LIVING THE DREAM vs TRAGIC, LONELY LIFE- I enjoy the depressing implications that can arise from contemplating his lonely existence and questionable past and the sad way his story ends... but that he's also totally non-edgy and oddly goofy in some ways and seems to be having a great time doing exactly what he wants to be doing, too

I think all this ambiguity and constant tightrope-walking could easily become gimmicky and tiresome in a character, and yet it's so well done and always makes sense and never annoys me in the least. L's somehow both incredibly vague and incredibly precise and consistent as a character at the same time, which is pretty interesting and impressive to me. Light and the other characters in L’s orbit always seem to have the same questions about him as the audience does, and you never get concrete answers about any of it most of the time. There's so much stuff left up to interpretation intentionally by O&O in Death Note, and I appreciate that enduring sense of mystery surrounding some of L’s true feelings and motives even long after he’s gone.

I also can't overstate how much of L's appeal is simply due to what an excellent foil and antagonist he is for Light. L is my favourite, but I think Light is by far the most interesting character and the whole reason the story is such a classic in the first place. The way L constantly thwarts Light and yet also spurs him on to show off and double down on his Kira shit is super entertaining to watch. You gotta respect how effectively L can push Light’s buttons and always keep him sweating, and you really get why Light seemingly both loves and hates their interactions so much. Light's curiously positive emotional reactions to L and his enduring respect for him even after he dies is some of the most interesting stuff about the entire story to me, too. That definitely adds to L’s intrigue, as does the way the successors and the task force continue to muse about him long after he's gone.

Overall I just think L is a highly entertaining and well-written and well-designed character, weirdly simple and complicated and funny and sad all at once, super relatable and a Constant Mood™ despite being so prickly and enigmatic, and a definite scene-stealer for me whenever he's onscreen. I’m not really sure what pushes him to favourite of all time status for me?? But my lizard brain just seems to love him and has loved him for at least the past 12 years. So at this point I must simply shrug and accept my fate

#death note #l lawliet #meta #ask #morphinejunkie #p

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that-shamrock-vibe · 3 years

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Movie Review: Cruella

Disclaimer: This is my non-spoiler review for Cruella, posting either the day or the day after the movie is released in the U.K, so if you are yet to see the movie and want to go in with a clear head do not read on until you do.

General Reaction:

Cruella however, I knew from the first trailer I was determined to see in cinemas and the fact it was my first time back in cinemas seeing a movie, I could not think of a better opening play.

It has been a while not only since I have been to the cinema, but also since I watched a new movie. Anything new that has come to me through the lockdowns have been older movies that are new to me. I haven't watched movies on PVOD or Premier Accees because I don't want to pay for them while in my bedroom on a small television and also they don't interest me enough to pay for them.

And that's what this movie is, an origin story. It's a Disney live-action adaptation of a beloved Disney villain's origins, sound familiar? That's what fans originally believed Maleficent to be before it became a redemption story of sorts.

Cruella was the villain of One Hundred and One Dalmatians because she wanted to skin puppies to make a coat, but this movie isn't about that, despite there being some excellent foreshadowing and even reworking as a prequel to the original story, this movie is about how Cruella became Cruella, not necessarily how she became a villain but making the character more three-dimensional and layered.

Here, without going into spoilers, we do see the reasoning behind Cruella being the villain we love her for and it is very much a nature vs nurture style of moral, but it isn't done to the detriment of the villainy Cruella is known for.

What Disney and the creatives behind Cruella have done with this movie is not only take note with everything great and bad with the more recent Disney live-action movies and filter out the bad, but also the potential of movies like Maleficent and even Mulan to a degree which failed to live up to their promises creatively, have seemingly been reworked for this origin story.

Does that mean she's not a villain in this movie? Well while she's not the movie's primary antagonist, Cruella stays true to herself and doesn't compromise why fans love the original character, if anything she amplifies why she's such a great character.

Cruella is such a love letter to the 1970s punk rock era while also managing to not just be style over substance but deliver on story and character as well, that I can't imagine anyone having that much of a problem with it.

It's what I would honestly call an artisan's delight, I'm not creative in a fashion sense, I love fashion and it's a reason I connect with Cruella so much, but I couldn't do what she does. I'd possibly be the Artie of her gang if not Horace and honestly I'm okay with that. But the way fashion, music and visual storytelling is used in this movies rivals the 1996 live-action 101 Dalmatians in that sense when scenes largely focused on the dogs selling the scenes without speaking. A picture paints a thousands words and Cruella's eccentric fashions were scene stealers.

It's funny, it's dramatic, it's well acted and directed. The writing is brilliant with maybe one exception with the Baroness which we will discuss in the spoiler review.

Speaking of spoilers. Way back when this movie was first announced I believe in 2016 I was adamantly against it, I thought it was sacrilege and that it would not be a patch on the original movies.

That being said, since seeing that first trailer and that stunning dress reveal I was hooked and have since watched pretty much every single trailer and TV spot this movie could churn out to the point where I feel I saw the entire movie already...but I was wrong.

From the trailers if you think this movie is going to end at a certain point you'd be wrong. I could kinda tell when the movie was going to end based on how the scene was set up, but even then there's more to the story.

I mentioned how this movie foreshadowed to the original One Hundred and One Dalmatians story as a prequel of sorts but also how it rewrote history so to speak, again the mid credits scene blows my mind as a Dalmatians fan and it cries out for a sequel.

However, to sum up, the original 1961 animated One Hundred and One Dalmatians is to this day my favourite movie of all time. Dalmatians are my favourite dog breed despite the fact I currently own a frenchie pug and Cruella De Vil I believe to be my spiritual mother.

Usually in these reactions I'll give a quick recap of my opinions of the movie or franchise the one in question is a part of, but I feel I've spoken about my love of all things Cruella De Vil and One Hundred and One Dalmatians enough in the past to get the point across.

All that being said, I am trying to compartmentalise my thoughts and be unbiased in my opinions for this movie. But honestly if this movie was bad I'd be coming down the hardest out of any critic on it because of what the property means to me personally.

So yes, I am going to big this movie up because pretty much every single element in this movie is 99% perfect. There is room for improvement, but that's where a sequel comes in to not only capitalise but better itself. And keeping the same creative team and bringing back the same cast, I feel this will be the Disney sequel to break the mould just as Cruella is the Disney movie to break the mould

But I have hyped up the lore and the character enough, what do I think of the movie? Well as much as I praised the creatives behind the movie for such a fabulous movie, director Chris Gillespe is partially to blame for how the movie looks. It’s still a visually orgasmic movie in terms of how it portrays its artistic choices, but in terms of those scenes and shots that could’ve been and should’ve been as visually pleasing as the fashion and art shots, just don’t leave as striking and lasting an impression as those shots and scenes.

Cast:

Honestly upon the announcement, to the point where I made a rant session post about it, Emma Stone as Cruella just didn’t land with me upon said announcement. However, as I said since seeing the first trailer, Emma Stone is young Cruella for me.

Glenn Close for me is Cruella De Vil in live-action. Victoria Smurfit on Once Upon a Time was fabulous but in opinion an elseworlds version of Cruella because she had magic and her story wasn’t really in line with the source material. Now, without spoilers but because it’s an origin you kinda can guess, Emma Stone’s version isn’t really in line with the source material either and up until seeing the movie I was all for viewing this version as an elseworlds story. even after seeing it I am all for viewing it as an elseworlds story from the original source material.

But does that mean it’s bad? No it’s just different. As I said earlier this is definitely a more fleshed out three-dimensional version of the Cruella that the original animated version and Glenn Close’s adaptation delivered, but honestly I’m excited to know where this Cruella goes from after seeing this movie. This is my favourite Emma Stone performance to date.

As for the other Emma, Emma Thompson as the Baroness, well she and Stone’s Cruella not only capitalize on Meryl Streep’s The Devil Wears Prada performance, but also adds that extra layer that make both characters not only believable as people but also villains. There’s no mistaking Thompson’s Baroness is a villain, but she does it in the best way and has never looked more fantastic doing so.

This movie also humanizes Jasper and Horace for me, I’m still unsure as to their relationship, if they’re friends or brothers, but based on the fact Jasper is race-bent in this movie and Hotace is still caucasian I’m going with not. However, without spoilers, based on how they meet Cruella I’m in favour of them not being related and simply lost souls coming together. But yeah they’re both funny, you believe they’re Jasper and Horace there’s no thinking one should be the other, and the chemistry between Jasper and Cruella is so electric that it demands a pay off in a sequel and actually speaks to a problem I know some male fans (including me) may actually have with Cruella as a character.

The other biggest breakout in this movie is John McCrea as Artie, who is not only Disney’s first clearly openly LGBT character but a scene-stealer in every shot that he is in. I said I would probably be Artie or Horace in Cruella’s gang and I stand by that because I think Artie is who I’d want to be (aside from Cruella herself) but Horace is physically who I would be.

Then as for the side characters, the movie does an interesting turn on the Anita/Roger origin story, Mark Strong as the Alonzo substitute is mysterious and brilliant, and the dogs are again scene stealers. Aside from 3 dalmatians (who are still alive at the end) there are two completely original new dogs who are part of Cruella’s gang and whether or not it’s because I’m a dog lover and own a dog or just because of the dog’s direction, they just pull focus every scene and make the characters more sympathetic because of how they interact with them.

Is this a knockout movie? Unfortunately no, I feel mistakes are made that leave holes for trolls to swoop in, however, I don’t think they should/ Honestly uou cannot make the “live-action” The Lion King a billion dollar flick and then complain about this movie, this is original, brilliant and 95% well executed. Yes I’ve dropped from 99 and we will discuss the issues in the spoiler review.

Recommendation:

But honestly this movie is worth the watch, it deserves the watch. As for seeing it in cinemas vs. Disney+, I could say it’s worth the £20/$30, but to get a true feel of some of the bigger and better artistic scenes it demands a big screen viewing. Also support local cinemas and all that jazz.

So that’s my non-spoiler review for Cruella, what did you guys think? Post your comments and stay tuned for my spoiler review hopefully coming soon, meanwhile you can check out other Movie Reviews and posts.

#cruella #disney #cruella de vil #101 dalmatians #one hundred and one dalmatians #baroness von hellman #jasper and horace #emma stone #emma thompson #glenn close

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greensparty · 3 years

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Movie Review: Small Engine Repair

John Pollono has quietly been one of the busiest actors and writers in the last decade in film, TV and theater. What got my attention about him was the 2017 film Stronger, which he co-wrote. The film, based on the true story of Boston Marathon Bombing survivor Jeff Bauman, was such a buried treasure of the 2010s. I even included it on my Best Movies of the 2010s list. Years before that, Pollono co-founded the Rogue Machine Theatre in L.A. and they produced Pollono’s 2011 play Small Engine Repair about three lifelong friends from his native New Hampshire. Pollono played the lead role of Frank in the LA production as well as the 2013 Off Broadway production. Now Pollono has adapted his play to film with his directorial debut Small Engine Repair, which opened this weekend from Vertical Entertainment. In the supporting role of Swaino, Jon Bernthal returns in the role he played in the original LA play. Pollono was lucky to get Bernthal at exactly the moment he was becoming a star on The Walking Dead as Shane during the early seasons. He’s been a scene-stealer in countless other films like The Wolf of Wall Street, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, and Ford v. Ferrari and now he’s about to become a big star with the upcoming Sopranos movie prequel The Many Saints of Newark.

movie poster

Frank and his lifelong friends Swaino and Packie (played by Shea Whigham) meet up for dinner one night along with Frank’s teenage daughter Crystal (Ciara Bravo), who is like a daughter to the friends too. After the booze-fueled night goes on, things spiral out of control. Months later, the friends reunite at Frank’s mechanic garage. Then things take a really dark turn...that would be very unfair for me to spoil.

Jon Bernthal, Shea Whigham, Jordana Sprio and John Pollono

I grew up in Boston suburbs and there is a very specific Boston townie, but New Hampshire townies are even more specific. I thought Pollono really made this feel authentic. Since the film wasn’t even filmed in NH (they filmed in NY for NH), it could’ve ended up a group of Hollywood over-exaggerated Boston caricatures. But Pollono really kept things grounded. He also gave himself the meatiest role in the film to showcase his acting abilities. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder what if Bernthal had played Frank instead? Bernthal did a lot with Swaino, which could’ve been another tough guy meathead in a lesser actor’s hands, but I kinda wondered if he could’ve really run with the Frank role. I am not going to get into spoilers, but the film took a very dark turn, one I didn’t see coming. It was like a suburban Reservoir Dogs but with a commentary about the digital age. At times this definitely felt like you were watching theater (small cast, limited locations) and some of the film adaptation worked, other times I wondered if the theater would’ve been more effective for this story. But it works as a showcase for this cast.

For info on Small Engine Repair: https://www.vert-ent.com/basic-08?pgid=kl4hocxn-a6b97351-4948-4831-9070-9044f3f0096d

3 out of 5 stars

#small engine repair #john pollono #movie review #film geek

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smallcrystals · 3 years

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How and why did you start liking Flash Sentry so much?

this is probably gonna be long

i got into eqg pretty young tbh, like i loved the first movie when it came out, but i didn't get into the fandom until around late 2016? which i consider a good thing bc i definitely wouldn't have been able to deal with the amount of hate flash got eariler (but even then i still saw some crazy shit)

it took a few months or so to end up super attached to him but after those months i was like . this is my baby. he is mine. he just grew on me, made me giggle and smile in every scene he was in (excluding the part where he yells at twi in rainbow rocks, we don't speak of that). not to mention i cried during cheer you on, jesus christ

i think with all the hate i saw of him at such a young age (like . early teens) it definitely left me super sensitive to how people jokingly treat him now. i know mostly everyone is joking when they make fun of him but it just reminds me of those days where he got non-stop hate for just existing.

im not against the valid reasons for disliking him, such as poor writing, forced heterormativity at all because i can definitely see why!! it makes sense. but the other reasons ,, did not make sense to me and still don't

mainly bc these reasons were spewed up by stupid bronies. like . "waifu stealer"???? really????

however, hate aside, i just got super attached to this dorky, super sweet guy. i see a lot of myself in him. maybe it's the way that i've basically grown up with him that i might have just subconsciously kinned him before knowing what that meant.

i'm really shy, socially awkward, a stupid dork, clumsy and i often get brushed aside. i'm sort of in my own corner a lot of the time and i kinda see that in flash, despite him being literally one of the most popular students at chs lmao

my friends say im most likely to fall in love easily and maybe that's true, i can see that (i have this really bad crush on a girl rn so hahahaha) but yeah.

since then ive kind of . projected onto flash sentry. i just love him so much, it's so stupid lol

there's so much i want to discover abt him that the writers failed to do, like what was his relationship with sunset like, what's his family like, does him being popular actually affect him and has it affected him in the past, what does he wanna become in the future? that ended up spiralling me down the path of fanfiction and here i am :')

but yeah that's !! how i ended up being basically a shitpost headcanon blog for this blue haired dork boy !! thanks for coming to my tedtalk !!! :D

#i love him so so SO much #*fist clench*#flash sentry #rasa speaks #ask tag

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grigori77 · 4 years

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2019 In TV - My Top 10 Shows

This past year may have sucked balls in a lot of ways, but we certainly never got short-changed when it came to our TV. There was an absolute WEALTH of truly cracking TV around, both on regular networks and on the various on-demand platforms, and so here is my pick of the best, my absolute favourites of 2019.

10. WATCHMEN

Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof brings us a blinding sequel to comic book legend Alan Moore’s legendary graphic novel with a delightfully trippy, ruthlessly efficient rug-puller that seems pretty tailor-made for HBO. Old faces return in interesting ways, while there are some cracking new “masks” on offer, particularly Regina King’s Sister Night and the always-brilliant Tim Blake Nelson as morally complex antihero Looking Glass (in some ways very much the show’s own answer to Rorschach). It never goes where you expect it to go, and refuses to give easy answers to the questions it raises, effortlessly paving the way for more next year ...

9. THE BOYS

Amazon offers up its own edgy, thoroughly adult superhero property with this darkly funny antiheroic gem based on the cult Garth Ennis comic, expertly adapted by Supernatural creator Eric Kripke. Karl Urban dominates as Billy Butcher, the foul-mouthed, morally bankrupt “leader” of a makeshift crew of mercenaries, hitmen and psycho killers devoted to “taking care of” superheroes when they inevitably go bad. Season 1 ultimately serves as an origin story, showing how the team come together, laying quality groundwork for the incoming sophomore tour that promises to open the already fascinating world out significantly.

8. PREACHER (SEASON 4)

More Garth Ennis, namely this blinder of a closing season for AMC’s consistently impressive adaptation of his best known series for Vertigo comics. Surprisingly epic, deliciously subversive and constantly, darkly hilarious, this thoroughly non-PC series from showrunners Sam Catlin, Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen (yes! I Know!) certainly went out on a high note, providing its loyal followers with perfectly-pitched bow-outs and sometimes heartbreaking goodbyes for all its players, especially its dynamite leads, Dominic Cooper, Ruth Negga and, in particular, Joe Gilgun as unapologetic bad boy vampire Cassidy. A worthy end to one of my all-time favourite TV shows.

7. THE WITCHER

While it’s clearly taken its look from the wildly successful video games, Netflix’s second most ambitious long-form offering of the year takes its lead from the fantasy book series by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski that started it all. With its somewhat episodic set-up and decidedly twisted narrative timelines, it take a few chapters to get the hang of it, but there’s plenty to draw you in, from the exotic world-building to the frenetic action and compelling collection of richly crafted characters. Henry Cavill is the titular hero, lovably grouchy mutant monster-hunter Geralt of Rivia, but the real scene-stealer is co-star Anya Chalotra as roguishly self-serving mage Yennefer of Vengenberg.

6. CARNIVAL ROW

One of the year’s two big sleeper hit TV surprises for me was this inventively offbeat allegorical Amazon fantasy series from The 4400 creator René Echevarria and screenwriter Travis Beacham. Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevigne are the star-crossed lovers at the heart of this intriguingly dark and dirty murder mystery thriller set in Victorian London-esque city-state the Burgue, in which humans struggle to co-exist alongside a struggling disenfranchised underclass of fae (fairies, fawns, centaurs and the like). The racial turmoil undertones are writ large throughout, but this is far more well-written and lavishly appointed than you might expect on first glance, and almost ridiculously addictive viewing.

5. LOVE, DEATH + ROBOTS

My other big TV surprise was this wonderfully bizarre sci-fi anthology series of animated shorts from Netflix, mostly adapted from an eclectic selection of short stories from a wide range of top-notch literary talent including Peter F. Hamilton, John Scalzi, Marko Kloos and Alastair Reynolds (a particular favourite of mine). As you’d expect from the brainchild of Deadpool director Tim Miller and producer David Fincher, this is edgy, leftfield stuff, frequently ultra-violent and decidedly adult, and the wildly varied nature of the material on offer makes for a decidedly uneven tone, but there are some absolute gems on offer here, my favourite being Suits, an enjoyably simple tale of salt-of-the-earth farmers on an alien world utilising clunky mech suits to protect their settlement from rampaging giant xeno-bugs.

4. THE DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE

The show with the biggest cinematic wow factor in 2019 had to be this long-awaited prequel series to Jim Henson’s classic fantasy movie masterpiece, created for Netflix by, of all people, Louis Leterrier (yes, the director of The Transporter, Now You See Me and Clash of the Titans, if you can believe it). The technology may have evolved in leaps and bounds, but there’s a wonderfully old school vibe in the delightfully physical puppet effects used to bring the fantastical world of Thra and its denizens to life, so that it truly does feel like it’s based in the same world as the film. This was EASILY the most visually arresting show of 2019, packed with exquisite character, creature and set design that perfectly complements the awesome work done by Henson and Brian Froud on the original, while the writers have created a darkly rich narrative tapestry that makes Thra seem a more dangerous place than ever.

3. THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY

I was a HUGE fan of My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way’s magnificently oddball alternative superhero comic, so when I learned that Netflix were adapting it I was a little wary because I knew how spectacularly hard it would be for ANY showrunners to get right. Thankfully Steve Blackman (Fargo season 2) and Jeremy Slater (The Exorcist TV series) were the right choice, because this perfectly captured the outsider nature of the characters and their endearingly dysfunctional family dynamic. Ellen Page, Tom Hopper (Black Sails, Merlin), David Castañeda and Emmy Raver-Lampman are all excellent as the more “functional” Hargreeves siblings, but the show is roundly stolen by Misfits star Robert Sheehan and Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn’s Aidan Gallagher as nihilistic clairvoyant Klaus and the old-man-in-a-child’s-body sociopath known only as Number Five. Consistently surprising and brilliantly bonkers, this was definitely the year’s most wonderfully WEIRD show.

2. STRANGER THINGS (SEASON 3)

Writer-director duo the Duffer Brothers’ ultra-nostalgic 80s-set coming-of-age sci-fi horror series remains the undisputed jewel in Netflix’s long-form crown with this consistently top-drawer third season expertly maintaining the blockbuster-level standards we’ve come to expect. This year the cross-dimensional shenanigans have largely been jettisoned, replaced by a gleefully nasty through-line of icky body horror that would make major influences like David Cronenberg and Stuart Gordon proud, as perennial teenage bad boy Billy Hargrove (the fantastically menacing Dacre Montgomery) becomes the leader of an army of psychic slaves under the control of the Upside Down’s monstrous Mind Flayer. The kids are all brilliant as always, Winona Ryder and David Harbour really get to build on their strong-yet-spiky chemistry, and the show is almost effortlessly stolen by Joe Keery as one-time golden boy Steve Harrington and series-newcomer Maya Hawke as his nerdy new foil Robin Buckley, who were very nearly the cutest couple on TV in 2019. Another gold standard season for a true gold standard show.

1. GOOD OMENS

Sadly, legendary author Terry Pratchett died before he could see the adaptation of one of his most beloved novels (and one of my all-time literary favourites too) see the light of day, but at least his co-author Neil Gaiman was around to bring it to fruition with the aid of seasoned TV director David Mckinnon (Jekyll, Doctor Who, Sherlock), and the end result sure did him proud, perfectly capturing the deeply satirical voice and winningly anarchic, gleefully offbeat and gently subversive humour of the original novel. David Tennant and Michael Sheen could both have been born to play Crowley and Aziraphale, the angel and demon nominally charged with watching over the young Antichrist in preparation for his role in the End Times, even though they would both much rather the world just went on quite happily the way it is, thanks very much. This is about as perfect an adaptation as you can get, the six hour-long episodes giving the surprisingly complex story time to breathe and grow organically, and the result is the most fun I spent in front of my TV this year.

#best TV 2019 #watchmen #the boys #preacher #the witcher #carnival row #love death + robots #love death & robots #the dark crystal age of resistance #The Umbrella Academy #stranger things 3 #good omens

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