#there's a fine line between being critical of vigilante justice

[hopalongfairywren]

can people ever get it through their skulls that their experiences aren't universal and what's healing for them is not for others.

[astaroth1357]

Demigod MC Series: Ares

Demigod MC Series: Intro, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hades, Dionysus, Demeter, Athena, Hades Pt. 2, Poseidon, Ares

Lucifer

He cannot overstate what kind of damage this mortal was able to do in their first few seconds in the Devildom...

The instant they got to their feet, they had managed to incapacitate Satan and knock down Beel. Lucifer himself tried to get between them and Diavolo but…

If he hadn’t moved his head, if he was standing just ONE INCH to the left… he wouldn’t have a head anymore. Barbatos was there to intervene, but had he not they could have probably taken out the Avatar of Pride and done critical damage to the Demon Prince himself in one strike...

Frankly, Lucifer prefers not to dwell on that moment... He's sure Ares must be proud of this one...

He pretty much treats the mortal like a live bomb afterward, if he can get away with not interacting with them at all, that’s what he’ll do.

He’s NOT scared of them... much... It’s just that they have a bullish and uncooperative attitude at best and since they know they can take any of them, they don't even consider him - Lucifer, the eldest demon brother - a threat...

But you know what the most frustrating thing is? They won't give him an inch of respect, but they'll always listen to Levi! Levi!!

Look, Lucifer knows he may not hold a rank among the Hell's army and he might not have been a major player in the Celestial/Demonic wars of the day, but he's still the strongest demons here, dammit!! 😡

Lucifer finds nothing is more embarrassing than having to ask Levi of all people to keep the mortal in line because he can't... Oh, the humiliation… He hopes they leave soon...

Mammon

At first, he thought they were scary. But in time he thought they were scary… and also pretty damn awkward.

Mammon wasn’t there when they more or less wiped out the majority of his brothers in the Conference Hall but when he finally showed up he'd never seen Lucifer look so pale… If THAT doesn't make you shit your pants, he doesn't know what will.

Naturally, he kind of toned it down on the "stupid human" stuff real quick after seeing that…

But here's the thing. After the two made a pact together, Mammon started to notice that the MC wasn't all that mean, they were just… violent?

He legitimately thought that they couldn’t stand him for a while until one day a guy on the street called him a dirtbag. The MC threw a punch right there! No questions asked, they just decked that guy!!

It was kind of touching… and messy. Very messy. Did he mention that they’re terrifying yet? 😥

As it turns out, the MC has apparently spent a lot of their life just fighting things and being asked to fight things so they're not very used to showing non-violent affection… 

It took him awhile, but he realized that their way of saying, "I like you," is, "I will attack your enemies." So now all he does when his brothers tease him is say, "I'm telling MC!'' and they'll stop immediately. It's great!! 😁

Considers them to be his bodyguard when he goes out to gamble in some… shadier places. Most of the time not even the bouncers want to take on the MC, ain't nobody getting paid enough to lose that many teeth…

Leviathan

Okay, so. It's not very obvious anymore, but he USED to be on the front lines of the war against demons in the Celestial Realm. He was in charge of battle strategies, he led armies, and even now he still holds the highest rank of the royal navy!

So leave it to the kid of a war god to sniff all that out about him, huh…? They appeared to know all about his record the instant they saw him and they actually seemed to respect him for it!

For context, this mortal tells pretty much everybody to shove off but any time he’s around they call him “Admiral” or “sir” and actually pay attention to what he says! He can tell it drives Lucifer insane, but honestly? It’s a bit of an ego boost. 😌

It’s sort of cute when they come to him asking for tactical advice… They get just as into it as he does with his anime and any time he points out something that they haven't seen before they get so excited it's like they're a kid watching a magic trick. HUGE ego boost. 😏

Speaking of anime, it’s hit or miss whether or not they can watch any of it. Anything with good fight scenes (and let’s be honest, not that much talking) they’re on board for. But if the hero and the villain talk to each other for like an episode before throwing punches then the MC will just rant...

MC: “The enemy is distracted... Why aren’t they attacking yet??”

Levi: “Because the villain killed the hero’s best friend and they’re-”

MC: “They could avenge their friend right now if they ended things right here!”

Levi: “MC, we’ve been over this... That’s not how plot works.”

MC: “And now he got away!! See?? They should have killed him when they had the chance!”

Levi: “*sigh*... Let’s just play some CoD.”

Satan 

The last thing he remembered when the “human” hopped out of the portal was a sharp pain to the side of the temple and Asmo wailing as he fell unconscious…

Yeeeeah, not great. And unfortunately for the mortal the Avatar of Wrath tends to hold a grudge… 

For a comparatively brief moment in time, all of Satan’s considerable ire had shifted away from Lucifer and to their new housemate. They found their bed, clothes, pillows, food, and even their toothbrush cursed!

… But Ares kids must be built from some strong stuff, because half of what he employed didn’t even faze them! He even put an explosive spell on their backpack and not only did they tank the blast, it didn’t hurt them at all!! It was like they’re damn near immortal!

Annnnd they kind of are. Apparently the MC had taken a dip in the River Styx at some point before and became nigh invulnerable…

Was it maybe a little terrifying to know that they had kidnapped a nearly invincible demigod on the level of Achilles? Yes. Did that also mean that they must have had a weakness too? In theory....

Satan honestly devoted a depressing amount of time trying to uncover the “Achilles’ Heel” of his new sworn enemy… until…

The MC was walking with him and Asmo to RAD one morning when they passed by a group of lesser demons harassing a small puppy. Now Satan may be more of a cat man, but NO ONE fucks with animals while he’s around.

He was right about to go over and rip those demons a new one but the MC actually beat him to it! Apparently, the second that they realized what was happening, they launched themselves forward and started bashing the abusers' heads into a wall!

… Live by violence, forgive by violence because in that very moment Satan decided they weren’t so bad after all. He even joined in!

Oh, Asmo gave them both shit all day for the bloodstains on their uniforms and the scratches on their… everywhere, but it’s not like either of them cared. Righteous justice had been served and it was glorious!!

100% would team up with the MC in some kind of vigilante “punish-all-animal-abusers” gig. They have but to ask. 😌

Asmodeus

Oh they TERRIFIED Asmo when they first showed up! How else was he supposed to react?? They brought down his brothers like they were made of cardboard!!

Though he had to admit that the confident, battle-ready look they had about them was sexy as hell, he knew better than to go bear poking! 😣 He avoided them like plague until they finally asked him for a pact.

And then he discovered something… something very unexpected….

They're actually adorable!!!

Okay, like, not in appearance (they look like they could pile drive Cerberus for Pete’s sake!) but he discovered that they have NO CLUE how to handle physical affection. Like zero!!

The first time Asmo actually got the courage to try and hug them he expected them to toss him off, but instead they just stood there like a malfunctioning doll, all flustered and confused… It was so cute!!! 🥰

From that point on, Asmo would take every chance he could to wrap his arms around them or kiss their cheeks just to watch them try and fail to handle it. It's more fun than picking on Levi!!

It took two months for them to finally attempt any kind of reciprocation and even that was adorable! They pecked him on the forehead without thinking about it then nearly passed out from the realization. Apparently, they had never felt like kissing anyone before so he was quite honored!

The brothers know that if the MC's looking too mad to listen to Levi, they just need to call Asmo. A nigh invincible warrior becomes a LOT less scary after you’ve cuddled them into submission! 🤭

Beelzebub

Beel didn't like them one bit, at least not at the beginning. They had managed to get past him and actually attack Lucifer which was NOT a great first impression on their part...

He honestly saw them as a threat for a while, but unlike the rest of his brothers he didn’t avoid them. He just kept an eye on them.... constantly….

Look. Beel is a big guy. Stealth is not his strong suit… If he's tailing you, you're probably going to know about it because there's a six-foot something behemoth in orange following you around while pounding down bags of chips. He's not very subtle…

That being said, after following them around for a while the two finally got to talking and he realized that they didn’t want to hurt anybody or anything. They were just acting on instinct before.

After making the MC promise not to hurt any of his family, they got on much better terms. Hell, he actually got them into fangol!

Beel's sport of choice is pretty much just ultra-violent American football so the MC took a liking to it instantly! After enough begging, the coach let them try out and they got onto his team immediately.

He likes having them as a teammate! They're very good at the game, uh... even if they take it a little too seriously…

They once tried to convince his teammates to decorate the team bus with "the helmets of their fallen foes." They're REALLY into the sport… But hey, they haven't lost a game since they’ve joined. It’ll be fine!... Probably.

Belphegor

Hahaha… He’s in danger… 😥

It took one look at this mortal to make him rethink the whole, “Trick the Human” plan… Since when have humans looked like that?? They could crush his skull under their heel!!

It took all he had in him to play it cool when they first met because his internal monologue was nothing but screaming… THIS was the "human" he had to use to get him out of there?? How in the WORLD was he going to kill them?!

Admittedly, he had to think about it for a while. Belphie's a clever guy… and a demon. So who needs an honorable fight, anyway? If he can’t win one-on-one, then he’ll cheat!

He waited until the MC got the door open and didn't attempt a frontal assault… No laughter, no gloating. He just waited for them to turn their back, claws ready to dig out their heart, and then-!

MC: "Do you really want to try that?"

The MC must have had some kind of danger sense, because they didn't even have to turn around to know what Belphie was doing…

MC: "Look. I like Beel and you're his twin brother… So I'm willing to let this slide. But if you really want to try me…"

MC: *looks over their shoulder with the glare of a bona fide killer* "I won't hold back."

That was... very persuasive.

The MC brought Belphie down to the others peacefully with his tail between his legs and honestly Lucifer was more relieved that he wasn’t a bloodstain on the floor than he was mad… They could have killed him sooo easily… 

They did, indeed, forgive and forget about the whole “attempted murder” thing, though Belphie was never quite able to shake off how frightening they were in that moment… He had nightmares for a while.

Thankfully, Asmo clued him in that the MC would melt into a harmless puddle of fluff if they got even the slightest bit of physical affection... Oh, the sweet payback he could dish out... It’s cuddle time. 😏

[night-fallz]

I'll do anything for you

(A female Jason Todd fanfic)

Jayla knew what the other vigilantes thought of her. In their eyes, she was nothing but a reckless, impulsive, murderer who they only kept around because she was a valuable ally.

A valuable soldier.

And even though it hurts her to know that her family will never love her unless she quits her current lifestyle, she’ll do anything for them. No matter the price.

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Ao3 // Wattpad

next

The Price You Have To Pay

Lex Luthor was a man with many enemies. And because of that, his private office was a highly secured facility.

You’d have to pass dozens of security protocols before you could even step foot in the building.

But considering the fact that his security team caught a little bird with his wannabe team of superheroes sneaking around, he suspected that he would be getting a visitor soon.

A hot vigilante with dark hair that also contained a stubborn streak of white, perhaps.

He could hear small footsteps getting louder.

Lex leaned forward just as the door swung open. Red Hood walked in like she owned the place.

He eyed her up and down, trying to hide the smirk that was beginning to form as he felt the tension between them steadily rise.

“You know that ignoring the dress code isn’t really a good way to start our negotiations.” Lex drawled, impatiently tapping his fingers against his desk.

Red removed her helmet before raising a perfectly arched eyebrow, “I wasn’t about to walk into your building half-naked.”

“Good thing that no one’s here to see you then.”

Red’s plump lips formed a pretty scowl, “Lex.”

“Hood.”

Lex didn’t know how long they stared at each other before Red gave in, shutting her eyes as she allowed a seductive smile to grace upon her face.

This time, Lex couldn’t hold back his grin. “You know what to do.”

She didn’t protest as she slowly took off her clothes, leaving her with only a pair of matching dark red lingerie.

No matter how many times he saw her like this, Lex still felt like he forgot how to breathe.

The heroes might hate her, but even they won’t be able to deny the fact that her beauty is unmatched. One could even go as far and say that her looks pass Wonder Woman's.

She was absolutely breathtaking.

“Are you done staring at me?” The amusement laced in her voice brought him out of his trance.

A predatory glint appeared in his eyes, “For now.”

Red leaned forward. “What do you want, Lex?” Her voice was soft as her lip curled upwards.

Without even thinking, he grabbed her hips. Dragging her entire body towards the older man so that she was straddling him. “Now we can talk.”

Even though her domino mask was still on, Lex knew her well enough to know that she was rolling her eyes. “Perv,” she couldn’t help but laugh out as she shifted to a more comfortable position.

“I’m more of an opportunist than a pervert, darling. I mean, no one with a brain could ever resist this sight?” He slapped her ass before giving her a mocking smile. “One day, I’m going to wreck your body with all the other suitors you have until the only thing you’ll remember is how good it feels to be under our control.”

The vigilante let out a surprised breath of air, “As fun as that sounds, it probably won’t happen.” He felt her calloused, yet still, somehow soft fingers trail over his chest, “Considering my expertise, you should know how expensive I can be.”

He squeezed her ass, “Then I guess it’s a good thing that we’re some of the richest people in the world.”

She ignored his last remark, “What do you want, Lex.”

“Come on, Red.” he groaned in annoyance, “It was just starting to become fun.”

She shot him an irritated look, “Sorry,” she said, not sounding apologetic at all, “But I’m in a bit of a time crunch right now.”

Lex sighed, for once letting it go. He knows how much of a rough time she’s been having with her other coworkers.

He swears that superheroes are never satisfied.

“What do you want,” she repeated. This time, he could hear a bit of impatience leaking in her voice.

“This one shouldn’t be as difficult as the other agreements we’ve had over the past few months,”

“Just say it,” Red interrupted.

“In a few weeks, there’s going to be a convention in Dubai. And we all know how dangerous these meetings can be sometimes.”

“If by dangerous, do you mean boring?” Red’s voice cut in as rested her head on his shoulder. “You just need someone to entertain you.” she teasingly accused.

“You caught me.” he said dryly, “This convention is going to last at least a week, so prepare your excuse or something.”

Red leaned away from him, “Excuse for what? No one will even notice that I’m gone.” she waved off, “Unless there’s a mission that the bats can’t solve, of course. But even then, it barely ever happens, so I’ll be fine.”

For some reason, hearing those words come out of her mouth made his jaw clench. “Yet every time a hero is in a situation where they won’t be able to win, you still try your hardest to bargain for their life.” He scoffed, “Even though they can’t even bother to treat you decently.”

Red refused to meet his eyes as she clenched her fists. “It’s not their fault. You know that they can’t trust me after what I’ve done.”

“But you haven’t done anything wrong.”

“I tried to kill-“

Lex let out a harsh laugh, “If you wanted to kill them, you would’ve.”

Red flushed, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He raised an eyebrow as he tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “Really? Cause I know about all the training you went through with the League of Assassins. You were holding back. You tried to keep the madness of the pit at bay.” she still refused to meet his gaze, her eyes stubbornly staying on the floor. “And because they’re all well- alive, you succeeded.”

Red shifted, her ass grinding against his cock. She leaned forward and he felt her lips brush against his neck, “Stop talking.” she softly muttered.

Lex gently pushed her away, he was not done talking about this subject. “Do they know?” he questioned. “Do they know that if you wanted them dead, they would be? Do they know-“

She gripped his shirt, “Stop.”

He ignored her, she needed to hear this. “With how badly they treat you, one would wonder why you go to such extreme lengths to help them. They don’t even care about you. They’re only-“

“Please.” Red’s voice wavered, filled with insecurity. Her hands were still tightly clenching onto his shirt. “Just- just stop.” she pleaded.

Lex froze, finally realizing just how much his words affected her. His face immediately softened. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her. He just wanted to show her that they weren’t worth her time.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized. He carefully lifted her chin so that his eyes would meet hers. “What I said was uncalled for. I should’ve phrased it better.”

She gave him a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, “It’s fine.” Lex didn’t know who she was trying to convince, him or her. “You aren’t exactly wrong.”

“No, it isn’t fine. I really am sorry, my little agnar.” He ignored how her whole face seemed to turn red at the nickname, “I shouldn’t have been so-“ he searched his head for the right word. “-inconsiderate about your feelings.”

Red only nodded, “Is there anything else you need for the release of my brother and his team?”

“I’ll also need you to pay for all the damage they caused,” he admitted.

“Again?” When he nodded, she only sighed and got off his lap. “Okay, I’ll send you the money soon.”

“Do try and get these heroes in line, Red. Some people have plans, and it’ll be so much easier to complete them when a group of teenagers playing superheroes aren’t around to mess it up.”

Red only gave him a smirk, her small breakdown already forgotten. “You know that I can’t do that. If you have any complaints, you can always report it to the Justice League.”

“As if they’d actually do something about it.”

Red laughed, “You aren’t wrong. They preach about saving the world, yet they ignore all the damages they’ve inflicted when they do just that.”

“Since you’re in a bit of a time crunch, I think I might just let you go now.” He licked his lips as he gave her body another attentive glance, “Just a warning though, our next meeting will probably be more intense than this one.”

She gave him a mischievous look, “Is that a promise?”

“You know it.”

She gave him a final smile before bending down to grab her clothes, then walking away as her hips slowly swayed from side to side.

She didn’t even bother to put them on.

Even though he could no longer see her face, he knew that she was smirking. The vigilante was aware of his body’s reaction towards hers.

Lex dropped onto his chair, moving to try and hide his erection before his eyes started drifting towards the office camera.

He couldn’t hold back a grin as a plan started to form in his head.

If there was one thing that Lex was sure of- it was that the bats were naturally suspicious. If the little bird and his team were suddenly free and were able to escape his building without much trouble, they would start to become skeptical.

He wasn’t known for being intelligent for nothing.

Lex would prove to Red that she deserved better.

She doesn’t owe those heroes anything.

Despite everything that she’s done for them, they still tore out the feathers of her damaged wings until she could no longer fly.

Lex could forget Superman for a while. This was a more crucial matter.

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Translation: agnar - warrior

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So what do you guys think? Should I continue this or should I just leave it here? Feel free to comment your thoughts, along with any criticism or suggestions you have. I love to read them!

[moviewarfare]

A Review of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - Ultimate Edition (2016)″

In anticipation of Zack Snyder's Justice League, I decided to rewatch Zack's previous two DCEU entries. I watched BvS in theatres in 2016 and remember feeling immeasurable disappointment. Now that 5 years have passed and I have watched many movies, I was wondering if my opinions on this movie would change. Additionally, I would be would watching the Ultimate edition which contains 31 minutes of additional footage. This is my first time watching the Ultimate edition so it was also a sort of new experience in a way. "It's been nearly two years since Superman's (Henry Cavill) colossal battle with Zod (Michael Shannon) devastated the city of Metropolis. The loss of life and collateral damage left many feeling angry and helpless, including crime-fighting billionaire Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck). Convinced that Superman is now a threat to humanity, Batman embarks on a personal vendetta to end his reign on Earth, while the conniving Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) launches his crusade against the Man of Steel". So is this a misunderstood gem or still a massive disappointment?

Firstly, Ben Affleck is still an excellent Batman. I find him incredibly charming as Bruce Wayne while also portraying the jaded and the rage-filled Batman perfectly. Gal Gadot is introduced as Wonder Woman in this movie and is honestly still one of the best parts. She is very elegant and mysterious as Diana but then an absolute badass as Wonder Woman. Jeremy Irons is snarky and wise as the beloved Alfred as well. Henry Cavill returns as Superman and Amy Adams returns as Lois Lane with both still doing a great job in their respective roles. There are some other supporting actors new and returning who all do fine jobs as well.

The cinematography by Larry Fong is really good and visually there are still some great shots. Hans Zimmer returns to score but is now collaborating with Junkie XL and it is an absolute phenomenal score. The Batman theme is amazing, the Wonder Woman theme is exciting and the Lex Luthor theme is unsettling. There is more oomph in the score thanks to Junkie XL which makes the action scene feel more thrilling.

On that note, the action scenes concerning Batman are exceptional. The Metropolis destruction but from Bruce Wayne perspective is one of the most exciting intros in a superhero movie ever. It also perfectly captures the destruction from a bystander view and also illustrates exactly why Batman hates Superman. The Batmobile chase sequence is also quite a stand-out with how awesome it is. Just seeing the Batmobile destroy everything in its path is fun to watch. The Batman warehouse fight scene is the best to have ever graced the screen. It is choreographed amazingly and shot in such a way that it is easy to see what is going on while still feeling every punch.

However, the same can't be said with the Batman vs Superman fight. Rewatching it again makes me see how underwhelming this fight is. The first thing to note that is only one fight between these two characters in a 3-hour movie which already sucks but the fight itself is visually boring. It's choreographed in a way that feels like it is from a slapstick comedy. Superman launches him through some walls, Batman gases him and then punches him in the face for a bit, repeat and that's the fight. Superman acts dumb in the fight and Batman just moves slowly due to the armour which leads to a really silly fight to watch. I think people tear into it a lot but the fight resolution of Martha is still quite silly. I think the idea behind it is fine with Batman realizing Superman's humanity. It's just that the scene doesn't convey this very well and put too much emphasis on the "Martha" name instead of the human aspect. It's also executed very clunkily which leads to an ironically hilarious scene when it shouldn't be. The fight against Doomsday at the end is just a big CGI-fest against some dark grey looking thing at night. It's hideous to look at with its abundant of grey and black colours with overly flashy lights that just makes it seem dull.

The story has 4 perspectives with the Batman one being the best. His hatred for Superman is understandable and trying to get the Kryptonite to fight him is the most easily enjoyable parts. On the other hand, Superman's perspective is so boring and forgettable. The people treating him like a hero or a god while some detesting him is fine. It's just he is so mopey in every scene which makes every scene involving him just not fun to watch. There is also a weird part in his arc where he goes into a snow mountain and hallucinates his dad which was just so dumb. I do find Superman dislike for Batman a mixed bag as he is criticizing him for his vigilantism and being above the law but that is exactly what Superman does too. The Ultimate edition adds more Clark Kent investigation which adds more to it and shows that he dislikes the brutality of his method and the fear he causes which is more understandable. Lois Lane is also another perspective with her trying to figure out who is producing this mysterious bullet. It's a very pointless perspective and quite a waste of time considering it amounts to something that the audience already knows, Lex Luthor was the one who did it! Lex is also the last perspective with him dealing with senators who obstruct him and him building a monster just because I guess? His perspective is fine for the plot but it's not enjoyable to watch because of the actor.

Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor is one of the worst casting choices I have ever seen. While every other actor feels grounded and serious, Jesse Eisenburg feels very cartoony and over the top. It's made worst as a majority of his lines are dumb. There are some great lines from Lex but they are poorly executed because of Jesse's terrible performance. His character's motivation is understandable but his whole plan is borderline ridiculous and convoluted. It makes genuinely no sense apart from the fact that the movie just needed a mastermind. The Granny's peach tea thing is oddly hilarious but a dumb moment too. There are also some random dream sequences in this movie that adds nothing to the main narrative. The noted Knightmare sequence just happens midway through the movie without any setup or any reference later. Likewise for the future flash sequence which you think Batman would make a note of later but doesn't. There is also the famous Wonder Woman checks her email sequence that is just so unnecessary. It baffles me that Zack didn't just have it at the end of the movie as these scenes are so distracting and unconnected to the main story.

Overall, the Ultimate edition makes the plot feel more coherent but BvS is still a massive disappointment. There are some great moments but the writing is just so atrociously bad that it is very difficult for these moments to shine through. However, it is a unique vision and doesn't completely feel like most Superhero movies. I can see why people kept campaigning for Zack's version of Justice League because even if it is bad, it's going to be unique. In the end, it's not the worst Superhero movie as some, including me originally, would make it out to be but it's not a hidden masterpiece as some others would too.

[charliejrogers]

Gone With the Wind (Or, Why are we still talking about this?)

Beyond the second Godfather, Titanic, Avengers: Endgame, The Irishman, and Tarantino at his most indulgent (The Hateful 8) my experience with films over the 180-min mark is rather paltry. I haven’t seen many of those epic “classics” of days past, not because of disinterest, just lack of time. I’ll get to you yet, Doctor Zhivago! But that’s not the case for Gone With the Wind: I just never had any interest. Though I love Titanic, I never had interest in watching a four-hour love story from the 1930s. And for all it’s praise, I never knew anyone who had seen it, nor did I hear a lot of praise about it on online forums/websites. Perhaps because the internet tends to dominated by male voices who would rather tout gangster films than the passionate drama I was led to believe this film was. In sum, I just sort of took it for granted that Gone With the Wind was some all-time classic, but one which I would just never get around to seeing, and I was ok with that.

That changed in 2018, when Spike Lee used a scene from the film to start his own movie BlacKkKlansmen. Before this, I had never known there was ever any controversy surrounding a move that was supposedly as good if not better than Casablanca. Lee used the scene from Gone With the Wind (in addition to a scene from The Birth of a Nation) to criticize the way Hollywood has long served as a bastion for white supremacy, giving voice and platform to hateful speech and thoughts. In the case of Gone With the Wind, that means a work which embodies those hateful thoughts, and yet has been celebrated and praised despite doing so ad nauseum for 80+ years. At that point, I lost even more interest in the film, now not wanting to watch a racist movie.

Fast-forward to 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s murder (among many other Black people killed by police recently and throughout American history) when HBO is under severe controversy for first putting Gone With the Wind on its streaming service, and then subsequently under more controversy for taking it down. A debate took place about censorship, free speech, and the other bullshit conservatives use to sustain their own beliefs while hypocritically arguing against when things don’t go their way. Regardless, for myself, in order to enter into the debate informed I felt like I wanted to know what the hubbub was all about. Frankly, I was curious to see why a movie that was so obviously racist was so adored.

Three hours and forty-five minutes later, I’m not really that sure. On the one hand, putting myself in the shoes of an audience member in 1939, the first half would have blown me away, with the drama taking place in Georgia at the very start of the Civil War up through its grand destruction under General Sherman. The colors and cinematography capturing the landscape of Georgia are just downright beautiful , unlike anything that had been in films prior. Yes, it’s not the first movie to be shot in color (nor was the Wizard of Oz which came out just 4 months prior), but I can’t imagine films before this were as devastatingly beautiful. Everything from the colors of the women’s dresses to the multiple picture-perfect sunsets pops out and catches your eye, and not in the fairytale, bubblegum way of Wizard of Oz. Gone With the Wind captures the natural beauty and colors of our world, and put it on display in a grand way. The cinematography really deserves every praise it gets.

The recurrent motif of characters’ shadows being casted onto the wall behind them during key emotional scenes was one I never tired of. Not only are the shadows beautifully captured by the camera, but, especially in a movie where every character seems to have a secret passion they refuse to express, the shadows strip away all our external beauties (make-up, facial features, dresses, and all the stuff this film has in spades), leaving us with figures that are still obviously human and whose feelings are immediately understood. All that is needed to convey grief is to see two shadows with the heads hung low.

The other positives of this film? Clark Gable is a handsome fucking man. He walks the fine line of confidence and smug so well that few others than, say, Brad Pitt could have ever performed the role of Rhett Butler so well. I particularly loved how he portrayed his relationship with his daughter, and the genuine love he showers upon her. Yes, he obviously spoils the child, but he’s so charming and so sincere that rarely have I seen such devoting love from father to daughter on screen, even 80 years later. As one character says, “there must be a great deal of good in a man who would love a child so much.”

But Rhett’s also kind of a despicable human being. He’s a brutish MAN, who loves his daughter because she is someone he can finally “completely own,” (an interesting choice of words said by a Southerner just after the Civil War) which is indicative of his philosophy towards love. Yes, love should be reciprocal, but his idea that his wife should exist in strict subservient, obedient love to him is ridiculous, yet he pursues it like it’s his right. He is otherwise prone to petty jealousy and drunkenness, and he is emotionally abuse toward his wife, Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh). It’s uncomfortable today to watch these scenes of abuse, like where he threatens to crush her skull to get the thoughts of another man out of her head, or where, after O’Hara makes abundantly clear that she never wants sex with Butler again, he in a drunken fit picks her up in order to carry her to bed, saying essentially “I know you said you didn’t want to but I’m going to fuck you.” After such deplorable behavior in a movie today, there would at least be ambiguity about Butler’s character or morality. Nope, not here. We see O’Hara the next morning essentially elated by the burst of passion that just a few hours earlier she was dreading and resisting. Throughout everything, Butler is held up as one of the film’s main heroes, growing from the film’s start as a noble rapscallion who values money too much and gradually evolves into a war hero who earns his people’s respect by protecting his people (and we’ll for argument’s sake just ignore that “protecting his people” means protecting men accused of doling out vigilante, lynch-mob justice which we can only assume implies the KKK). In sum, he’s a complex and charismatic character played wonderfully by Gable, but a character nevertheless that is problematic and would have been better served by a film as willing to highlight these problems as they are willing to highlight them in the film’s protagonist Scarlett O’Hara.

Yes, I’m a thousand words in, and I haven’t even started talking about the actual main character. The movie, for as much as it is discussed as being a love story between O’Hara and Butler or an ode to the Old South, is more a coming-of-age tale (in its first half) and a character study (in its second) focused on O’Hara. She starts the film out a vain, self-indulgent belle of the ball, but faced with the horrors of war and subsequent poverty, she becomes an embodiment of the rotten side of the American Dream: greedy, self-indulgent, and out-of-touch with the world she came from. I suppose that at the end of the film, abandoned by her husband, having lost both of her children, as well as her best friend, O’Hara’s revelation that she should return home to her family’s plantation is supposed to be suggest that she will seek redemption and give up her excesses. That’s fine with me, but I’m not sure the film deserves to just end it there and not allow us to see if she actually earns that redemption. I’m not saying I want MORE Gone With the Wind, just that the story feels incomplete in telling O’Hara’s full story arc.

Still, I can’t say I didn’t enjoy watching O’Hara’s tale unfold. It is always somewhat refreshing to watch film from decades’ past that refuse to present stories that are morally simple (not that I think people in the 30’s were incapable of complex morality, just that movies at the time tend to reflect more simple black-and-white values). To that extent, O’Hara is not a simple character, and is actually quite fascinating. She’s a ruthless capitalist and opportunist, much in the vain of her male counterpart, Butler. I’m curious to know how, for a country just starting to crawl its way out of the Depression and which in just a few short years would see the rise of Rosie the Riveter women, how O’Hara’s devotion to never be in poverty ever again (even if she has to “lie, steal, cheat, or kill”!) was perceived by audiences. Specifically, released at a time when gender norms were all but fixed, I wonder how men thought of her taking advantage of, and almost weaponizing, her femininity for her advantage, marrying three times not out of love but to better herself and survive. Yet, hypocritically she clings to the ideals of femininity of the past. Her use of her femininity to survive she accepts, yet she abhors the film’s stereotypical heart-of-gold prostitute for her moral licentiousness despite her good nature.

Throughout the film, especially in the later half, it was unclear to me how much we as the audience were supposed to like or dislike O’Hara. Yes, she’s hard-working, resilient, and acts heroically multiple times in the film. But she’s also kind of a child til the very end, obscenely jealous, while also cold and calculating, counting down the days til her best friend dies so that she can sleep with her husband. I liked that ambiguity. It made her feel like a real person. To some degree Leigh’s performance as O’Hara is undercut by histrionics and bouts of “hysteria” that were more common in film performances from that time, but which seem a little annoying and grating today. But damn if it isn’t a great performance, display the full emotional range in this film, from buoyantly bright and cheery, to desperate and despaired.

So yeah, I guess I do get why it’s considered a classic, or at least why it made such a splash in 1939. There was nothing like it! The cinematography is great, its characters are fascinating, complex, and engrossing, and the performances (by Gable in particular) are wonderful. But the elephant in the room, then but especially now, is that… damn… this movie is racist, like in its DNA. They double down on this at the VERY START! The fourth shot of the movie (FOURTH!), after first showing a sign announcing the studio who produced the film, then a look at the plantation-like building bearing the studio’s name, and finally some clouds at daybreak, is of slaves tending to crops. The image is set to a triumphant score while the overlaying text tells us that the movie will be based on Margaret Mitchell’s “Story of the Old South.” This is not done ironically. With the beautiful landscape and music, we as audience are to think, “Wow, what a great time this was.” At the end of the opening credits, the prologue text tells us that the antebellum South was the last in a long line of great lands. It’s the last time “gallantry” would exist, and “the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, or Master and of Slave.” Holy Shit. As if “Master and Slave” is something to celebrate?! “Those damn Yankees would destroy such a beautiful world!” the film argues. Again… not presented ironically. It’s pretty jarring.

That said, I do want to say that to a minimal degree that film is right when it just presents War (with a capital W) in general as a destructive force that either destroys lives outright, or destroys enough property to send lives to ruin. That’s a truth propagated by media as far back as the Iliad, and is sometimes shown effectively here, such as the oft-discussed slow-pan show of the countless Confederate bodies lying dead on the ground mid-way through the film. It’s a depressing sight on an apolitical human level. But, at the same time, the movie’s inability and refusal to address the reason those bodies are there in the first place (racist need to continue slavery), and instead obliquely suggest that the Antebellum South was without any suffering until those damn Yankees brought them ruin is, frankly, insulting and disgusting. It outright ignores the suffering of Black people in favor of highlighting the suffering of whites. A tale unfortunately told ab aeterno in America.

I know others can, have, and will say more about the treatment of Black characters within the film and how they serve only to reinforce negative stereotypes. Mammy, despite being wonderfully acted by Hattie McDaniel, and other house slaves are presented as being eternally grateful to have been enslaved to their white masters, so much so that even after the war they continue to serve them --- because why would they ever want to do differently?! (the film seemingly asks and answers). After the war, Scarlett is more than willing to accept that her lumber mill should be worked by convicts who will be paid less than other workers and suffer harsh treatment, arguing that it is no different than slavery and that has always been ok. WHAT?! And Prissy, the slave who reassures Scarlett that she knows everything about birthing babies, up until the point where her knowledge is needed and she turns out to be nothing more than an airheaded twit, has to be one of the ugliest depictions of a slave I have seen. Particularly, she serves little more than really bad comic relief… with the joke seemingly just being “wow look at how stupid and annoying slaves were.”

This is more than I intended to write, so I won’t go on, but I think everything I had to say has been said. It’s a beautifully shot film, with rich, deep, and complex characters that would be even better served in a movie more willing to dive into the moral ambiguity of their characters, and for Butler in particular not bend over backwards to make him look like a good guy. And I get why it made such an impact 80 years ago, especially in that first half where there’s all the excitement of war and some notable action set-pieces. But even taking out the significant problems the movie has with race, it’s hard for me to understand anyone considers this essential viewing for anyone today besides those with an interest in cinematography, film history, or interested in how race is presented on screen. Its proto-feminist Scarlett O’Hara and her role within an evolving economy and evolving societal ideas of what “love” is are interesting, but they certainly not things that are worth the average viewer’s nearly four hours’ worth of time. It’s a museum piece, one that captured the spirit of a time (and the decades beyond it) where Hollywood felt it was completely OK to romanticize life under slavery, and bemoan its destruction by Yankees. If you want to see this museum piece, go ahead, but don’t let anyone convince you it’s one of the all-time greats.

***/ (Three and a half out of four stars)

Capsule Review: Long movie with great performances and beautiful cinematography... also racist to its core.

[comicteaparty]

January 27th-February 2nd, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from January 27th, 2020 to February 2nd, 2020.  The chat focused on HOPE KILLERZ by stc019.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Week Long Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on HOPE KILLERZ by stc019~! (https://tapas.io/series/HOPE-KILLERZ)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until February 2nd, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic!

Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

SAWHAND

Ooh! The first thing I'm noticing about this comic is the colors, which are lovely!!

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

agreed! the characters designs made me laugh, too. Haven't finished it yet but will definitely pop in to say a few words when I do

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I'm going through this too - what an awesome style!

RebelVampire

I'm a prompt kind of person, so I'm gonna answer this a bit going by those. XD I like how the comic opens up, mostly at the end of the prologue with the ominous phone message about Isa and Scotty being dead. Like, just when you thought things were ominous enough, there's already a quick payoff, and I like that about this story. It's not holding its punches. As for a favorite moment, I really liked the argument between Hodori and Behzad, because that moment didn't go how I expected. I actually thought Behzad would include Hodori, not go for immediate betrayal. So to me that was interesting and I like things that don't go with my expectations. This is why they are also my favorite characters to interact, cause I liked Hodori was also the one to know what was going on, and I can't wait to see how Hodori will react when Behzad's sort of betrayal is revealed. For a favorite character, at the moment Chaker cause I think Chaker is the most mysterious and I'd love to learn more about Chaker. Who doesn't like mysterious characters with secrets?

In terms what I liked about the art, I find the use of color interesting. I'm not sure I'd classify as like persay, but it's interesting to see how the colors are used to sort of experiment with the mood or each image. Which for me I feel is the comic's strength. Regardless of how you feel about the content, the comic is intriguing to look at and catches your eye.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. Do you think what Behzad wants is justice or vengeance? How will he get it ultimately do you think? Overall, what do you think the story might show us regarding the line between the two and how the pursuit of either can change someone?

10. How do you think everyone’s relationships with each other will be challenged given both Behzad’s solo pursuit of the murderers and some of the team member’s withholding information? Will the team be able to survive the conflict?

11. Do you think the characters will be able to recover their hope after losing Isa and Scotty? Overall, given the themes of hope within the story, what do you think is the overall message regarding it?

12. What do you think the ultimate plan of 58 is? Why does it involve murdering Isa and Scotty and replacing them with doubles? Why do you think Behzad wasn’t killed yet, and what might the villains have planned for him?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I'm absolutely loving Hope Killerz! The artstyle is amazing, as everyone's said. I love how each panel sets the mood with its unique playing of color palettes! I am curious as to what the ultimate plan is, replacing Isa and Scotty with doubles and seemingly wanting to use this version of Behzad too. Perhaps... 58's plan is to create a team consisting of the most "bold" versions of each hero? Like, Behzad went off on his own rather than waiting around for an investigation - 58 wants a whole team of people like him. As for why... perhaps vengeance for 58 losing his own team?

RebelVampire

Vengeance is plausible. Although I kind of feel there's gotta be more to it than that. Since you can get vengeance without needing to create doubles.

I really like that this comic kind of explores the theme of justice vs. vengeance. With the rise of superhero movies and such, it's kind of easy to forget that there is a really fine line between them. Which in this case, I think Behzad definitely wants vengeance, although I don't think Behzad will get it. I think someone will knock some sense into the idea before it gets that far. However, overall though, I think the story does a great job that it only really takes one step to go from justice to just wanting to hurt people because you're hurt - even at the cost of your personal relationships. Which is definitely going to be a big thing. I definitely think the other characters, especially Hodori, is gonna feel betrayed by Behzad's action. Maybe empathetic, but no way there isn't a rift created. And as more comes to light, none of them will be sure they can trust each other, and that will make Isa and Scotty's loss even more poignant and bring up the question if the group can survive without them.

But I don't think it's all hopeless. I kind of feel that despite their feelings at the moment, time will heal the teams wounds and that they'll find the resolve to hope. Cause you can basically pull hope out of nothing.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Unfortunately I'm feeling a bit lost in the story. There are a lot of characters and a lot of scene changes, and I'm having a hard time differentiating the personalities of all the characters. Maybe I just wasn't reading closely enough? Or maybe the plot'll be more clear in the future? The story is just getting started, after all, so I figure the author is kind of front loading all the setup and character introductions. I do really like the art. It's fun and different. I stumbled across this comic a while ago but didn't read much of it, and the art was memorable enough that seeing it again in the bookclub I immediately recognized that I'd seen it before. 9) Both. Don't think he's really thinking straight due to his grief, and is mostly just driven by emotion right now. 10) Probably, just going from the tone of the comic and the art I feel like this will have a happy ending. I think this is an optimistic comic. 5) The author seems to have a love of drawing butts. I appreciate that. Particularly in the little end chapter sketches. 1) I liked everything about the beginning of the comic. Though it was very strong. Not often do you see a vigilante character feeling regret over their chosen path

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

RebelVampire

For this comic, I'm definitely looking forward mostly to finding out about 58's plan since there's a lot of directions the story could go at the moment. I'll be interested to see which path will be taken. Regardless, I hope the creator continues with the color experimentation in the comic since it makes it visually stand out, and it'll be interesting to see how this plays out when the comic is further along.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Yeah for Hope Killerz, what I'm really looking forward to is... more. Like the art is so unique and so stylish, and the characters have interesting motivations behind them, I'm just curious to see where this all pans out.

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about HOPE KILLERZ this week! Please also give a special thank you to stc019 for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked HOPE KILLERZ, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: https://tapas.io/series/HOPE-KILLERZ

stc019’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stc019

stc019’s Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/stconineteen

stc019’s Storenvy: http://stc019.storenvy.com/

stc019’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/stc019?lang=en

[littleladygodiva]

Not to be that person...(I’m about to rant about Karen Page for a good couple paragraphs)

but fuck it. I’ve been seething for a full 24 hours now. Karen Page is an inherently flawed character. That is what makes character writing good! All of the Daredevil characters are extremely complex, and are dealing with a host of difficult and seemingly hopeless situations at any point. If characters always knew what to do all the time, and were confident in there decision making then we as viewers would miss out on watching them grow. We would miss out on the sweet feeling of pride swelling in our chests when they finally find themselves down the right path and gain clarity. But there is a fine line between being flawed and completely lacking foresight and critical thinking. 

Karen Page is a good person. 

Everything she does is to, what she perceives, is the greater good. She is always working hard to find out the truth and help people. Even when she knows she’s going to put her own life in danger, it doesn’t stop her from wanting to do what is right and expose the truth. It’s this dedication to truth and justice that makes her such a thrilling compliment to Matt and Foggy. One who chases justice through vigilantism and the other who has almost complete faith that the law (despite seeing the system fail time and time again). Karen Page is the middle ground between Matt and Foggy’s ideals. 

That being said Karen is extremely reckless and at any given point she goes from asset to liability. I’m not sure what it is. Maybe her desperate need to help Matt and Foggy bring down Wilson Fisk makes her want to contribute more. Karen, just as much, if not MORE, than Matt and Foggy has every reason to fear Wilson Fisk and want him locked behind bars. Going toe to toe with Wilson Fisk will always come with high risks, and that is absolutely unavoidable, but that means more than anything you have to be smart and plan ahead (even if Fisk is 5 steps ahead of you). For Example:

- What happened at the Bulletin was NOT Karen’s fault. She and Matt both agreed that Jasper Evans was there best shot at taking down Fisk and she did the right thing trying to bring him in for questioning. There’s not way she could have known that Wilson Fisk was planning to mold Benjamin Poindexter into a fake Daredevil. There’s no way she could have known that he would have come down to her office and kill innocent people. Of course Karen and Matt could have both anticipated that Jasper Evans was being watched (as all people of interest under Wilson Fisk are) and that bringing him to the Bulletin could be dangerous, but the Bulletin is also a NEWSPAPER office. If you wanted to assassinate a person of interest a the office of a famous newspaper is not the place to do it. But yet again, Wilson Fisk was planning more than that so the Bulletin ended up being the perfect place for him to plan his smear campaign against Daredevil. 

- What happened at Clinton Church was 100% Karen’s fault. First and foremost, it was not in anyway smart for Karen to assume that she could go toe to toe in mental mind games with Wilson Fisk of all people. This is the same woman that couldn’t even stand questioning by Agent Nadeem without stuttering, and almost breaking down into tears. That whole 10 minutes of questioning was downright painful. Every ‘No’ that came out of her mouth sounded like more of a lie than the last one (Yeah she was telling the truth, but it didn’t look like it and if I didn’t know any better I would assume she was lying just be her behavior). Agent Nadeem and Wilson Fisk aren’t even in the same league. It was idiotic for Karen to try and challenge Fisk, even if she intended for him to choke her tf out and go back to prison. James Wesley was extremely important to Fisk, the man himself says that Wesley was like a son to him. 

Karen knew that once Wilson knew the truth that he was going to send people after her to kill her. THAT’S WHY SHE RAN IN THE FIRST PLACE. It’s not likely that she would have gotten very far, but that’s the poison she picked. Knowing that she was number one of Wilson Fisk’s hit-list, she STILL allowed herself to let Sister Maggie talk her into staying a Clinton Church. Karen knew damn well it wouldn’t be safe.

KARE PAGE WILLINGLY AND KNOWINGLY PUT EVERYONE IN THAT CHURCH AT RISK BY STAYING THERE. THE DEATH OF FATHER LANTOM IS HER FAULT AND THIS IS FACT.

The moment Karen Page left Wilson’s penthouse he was watching. There’s no way she couldn’t have known. Wilson Fisk is calculated in that way and that’s no secret for people who have been up close and person with him before. She knew someone would come after her and therefore putting everyone else at the church at risk. (I’m sure you could argue the same thing for Matt, but this isn’t about him so). And yeah, everything worked out in the end, but that’s only because Matt was able to get there in time to rescue her. 

So long story short, I have a lot of feelings about Karen Page and they could not be more conflicted. Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

@peachesannndgravy @the-winter-senpai

[popwasabi]

“Aquaman” Review: DCEU finds life as Seaman Rises (Heh)

Directed by James Wan

Starring: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Nicole Kidman

 Throughout the two and a half hour run time of James Wan’s “Aquaman” you get the feeling you’re not watching your typical super hero flick.

I don’t mean this in the critic buzz-wordy sense of “It changes everything you know about super heroes!” but rather it’s distinctively its own thing in the tonally all over the place DC Cinematic Universe.

It’s bright, loud, cheesy and very strange but for a film that’s as long as it is there sure isn’t a dull moment within it and if this film says anything about the DCEU it has its first real pulse since “Wonder Woman.”

(My thoughts after “Dawn of Justice” and “Justice League”...)

“Aquaman” takes place sometime after the events of “Justice League” as Arthur Curry, the Aquaman, continues to reap his own vigilante justice upon the evil-doers of the seven seas. When an Atlantian named Meera warns him of an impending war that’s about to be waged on the surface from his half brother King Orm, Arthur reluctantly sets off to retrieve a legendary trident to stop him all while contemplating his complicated roots to the under water kingdom.

As mentioned, “Aquaman” is not a normal super hero flick. If anything it bares more resemblance to Indiana Jones with a splash (heh) of Lord of the Rings (not to mention some fanciful tech elements borrowed from the Kingdom of Wakanda). This isn’t a bad thing though as a character as strange and cheesy as Aquaman might not have worked with your standard super hero script of good guy donning his or her cape to combat billionaire psychopaths, mad titans, or poorly rendered CGI demigods.

“Aquaman’s” strength IS that its bonkers though. Atlantis is a strange setting, even in the world of men who dress as bats and super-powered aliens named Clark but James Wan was right to lean into this weirdness. It’s sincere and cheesy at the same time, perhaps sincerely cheesy, and unapologetic about the fact there are humans with futuristic technology living in the depths of the ocean riding sharks (that roar??) and settle disputes in Klingon-esque trial by combat. It’s a credit to the film’s script that you recognize all this weirdness and yet you buy into it anyways. It’s absurd in the best way and it’s impossible to look away while grinning (sometimes laughing) ear to ear.

(Seriously, weird shit like this actually happens in the film and no one is bothered by it.)

The action is solid with some superb fight choreography to go along with even better cinematography and editing and the variety of adversaries Arthur and Meera face throughout the film between high tech pirates, Atlantean commandos and deep sea monsters are all pure visual treats for the eye. The pacing is superb because of this and makes the film’s lengthy run-time feel like 90 minutes. It’ll be hard to feel bored watching Arthur kick ass, while Meera waterbends enemies around her and it’s a credit to James Wan’s directing that allows this to be way more fun that it deserves.

Jason Momoa does a fine job here, though, as this film’s fish man lead. Though he at times can remind you of that high school football captain who pantsed you in your teenage years with his often jocky line delivery he is nonetheless charismatic and a joy to watch as this character. Traditional Aquaman is just a little too vanilla ice cream (not to be confused with Boy Scout types like Captain America and Superman) for this era of super heroes and Momoa was the right man for this more rugged take on the character. Sure, Momoa can be a bit of a bro but he’s sincere at least and carries each scene he is in perfectly well and will likely be a treat in the sequel.

(Not to be confused with “Being a treat” not that I a straight man would ever say about such a fine hunk of meat...hey wait a minute...)

Amber Heard’s Meera plays off him well, barely tolerating Arthur’s “too cool for this shit” demeanor, but more importantly she is a rare example of a love interest who is helpful to the plot (if anything she does most of the heavy lifting of the story). It helps that Meera is a super powered character herself but too often female characters in these super hero flicks offer little beyond being a prize for the main character at the end and it’s good to see a character like her actually written to be truly strong in more ways than one for a change.

If you liked villains like Lee Pace’s Ronan from “Guardians of the Galaxy” you’ll love Patrick Wilson’s King Orm aka Ocean Master. The script doesn’t lend much depth to Orm beyond “Half brother impure! Surface bad!” but Wilson hams it up to 11 spending most of the film yelling and giving broad dictator speeches on conquest and victory. But this is fine once again cause the movie doesn’t need him to be anything beyond an adversary for Arthur. They probably could’ve played up the brother plot line a little more (somewhat like what “Black Panther” did for T’Challa and Killmonger) but the film gets all it’s points in about power, humility and love that’s it’s not 100 percent necessary.

(Black Manta is a bit wasted here though but perhaps will offer more in the sequel.)

The only real negatives I can say about the film is it could’ve expanded a bit more on the half breed plotline, where Momoa (a hapa himself) is more than capable to play up and Nicole Kidman is wasted as Arthur’s mom as she seemed have a strict line limit set in her contract. But these are pretty minor issues and again it’s impossible to not enjoy the strangeness, cheesiness and crazy shit that happens in this movie.

It’s pretty safe to say at this point that the DCEU is finally starting to find its groove as the “grittiness” and long-winded shit of the Synder-verse appears to be waaay in the rear-view mirror now. Warner Brothers is probably going to play the rest of the franchise as if everything pre-“Justice League” other than “Wonder Woman,” never happened and if this film is any indication the franchise has found its sea legs after enduring some pretty harsh waves. It still has a ways to go before it even sniffs MCU success but at the very least the future is bright.

Hopefully Warner Brothers rides this sea of good fortune and makes a splash with “Shazam” next year.

Sorry.

 VERDICT:

4 out of 5

So what do the dbags have to say about Rotten Tomatoes “DC bias” now? #getoverit

[houseofswords]

Mike Conner

Theme song / Theme Song / Moodboard

Divinity: Archaros, The King in Black, Father of Iron (primordial darkness, cosmic forces, death and rebirth, ingenuity, metal and machinery)

 

BASIC INFORMATION

Full name: Michael Alex Conner Gender: Male Age: 42 Birthday: 3rd September

Myers-Briggs: ESTP Zodiac: Virgo Tarot card: Knight of Swords

Nationality: British Birthplace: Doncaster, Yorkshire

Sexuality: Bisexual Relationship status: It’s complicated

Occupation: Classic car mechanic (previously: security guard, police officer, SWAT sniper.)

 

APPEARANCE

Height: 6’1” Weight: 210 lbs

Hair: Iron black, choppy, currently worn in a spiked undercut. Style can vary but it’s always rough because he cuts it himself. Eye colour: Dark grey

Physical characteristics: Physically fit and muscular build, with broad shoulders, tapered waist and large, strong hands. His face is long and angular, with high cheekbones and defined jaw, and dark, narrow eyes. Other traits: Two piercings in the cartilage of each ear, usually with silver rings in them. He used to have snakebites under his lip, but took the studs out and let them heal closed. He has an impressive collection of scars all over his body, especially his arms and hands. Tattoos: Smiley emoticon on his left wrist, later covered with a sparrow. Chains wrapped around his hips. Technically a scar, but his right arm is covered in ritual scarification in the form of arcane geometric shapes, all the way down to his wrist.

Clothes: He doesn’t vary his clothing much and typically wears a band shirt, ripped and scuffed old jeans, combat boots and his favourite black leather jacket on all but the hottest of days. He has a chest holster that he only takes off when he’s sleeping, and wears a diamond engagement ring on a cord around his neck.

 

TRAITS

Personality: Mike is short-tempered and prickly by nature, even in a good mood, and swift to pick a fight. He’s impatient, paranoid, easily frustrated and hates small talk. People see him as reclusive, erratic and difficult to handle—unaware that his thorns and anger hide a soft underbelly. He’s honest to a fault and completely selfless, willing to do whatever is necessary to protect those he cares about. He would take a bullet to save a life without hesitation. He’s surprisingly gentle and understanding towards his loved ones, though overbearingly protective.

Motives: He spent much of his life after Gael’s disappearance feeling lost and without purpose, a void which even his time in law enforcement couldn’t fill. Eventually he was pulled back to Holyhead in the wake of another disaster, and realised that his purpose was to protect others from its darkness—Ash most importantly of all. His goal is for Ash to live in a world where he won’t be hurt and afraid any more.

Values: Burning with righteous fury at a world he sees as unjust, Mike believes that heinous crimes should be appropriately punished. He has no qualms killing people who would just as readily kill him or someone else. He tends towards pessimism, seeing no reason to have faith in systems that are flawed and inefficient, preferring instead to rely on himself and him alone; it’s the duty of the strong to protect the weak, and he’ll carry the world on his shoulders if he has to.

Fears: Terrified of the thought of losing the few people he loves that he has left, and wary of forming new friendships and attachments for fear of losing them. He’s aware of his own anger, and the thought of becoming a worse monster than those he fights haunts him on those long, sleepless nights.

Weaknesses: Stubborn and hates showing weakness, preferring to tackle his problems alone. This combined with his aggressive, paranoid nature often means that when he does need help, he seldom gets it. He’s excessively self-critical and constantly berates himself for his perceived failures, even if they weren’t his fault.

Quirks: Bares his teeth a lot, rarely smiles, laughs even less. Impulsive when drunk. His strong Yorkshire accent hasn’t dulled at all over the many years he’s lived in Holyhead.

 

STRENGTHS AND SKILLS

Skills: Keen eye, excellent marksman, knows his way around tools and guns. Highly competent, handles stress and survival situations well. Also a seasoned close-quarters fighter and knows how to make various traps, tripwires and explosives. He’s good with machines and can fix most things that are broken on intuition alone, though he’s not formally trained. In his youth he dreamed of being in a famous band—that dream is dead, now, but he still plays the guitar regularly and he’s very good at it.

Hobbies: Playing his guitar, video games, putting things together and taking them apart again, going to the bar with Louise, metalwork, road trips, just going out in his car with no destination in mind just to see where he’ll end up.

Powers: — Abnormally resilient, doesn’t tire or injure easily and recovers quickly when he is. — Far stronger than a normal human of his fitness level, able to punch through walls, flip cars over and jump from the third floor without breaking any bones. — Empowered by his fury, growing faster and stronger the angrier he gets. — Power over darkness, shadows, machinery and metals, including summoning them, manipulating them, altering their properties, and changing one to another. — Reality warping, altering physics and gravity in particular. — Machines must obey his orders, regardless of programming or physical restraints. — Archaros is unstoppable when in control of his body. This won’t happen in RPs unless specifically planned for.

 

OTHER FACTS

Favourite music: Disturbed, Metallica, Lamb of God, Five Finger Death Punch, Devilskin Favourite films: Die Hard, Snatch, Inglorious Bastards, Transporter, Alien Favourite food: Tea, whiskey, bacon, pies, cake, chocolate, oranges and orange-flavoured things Favourite animals: Dogs, cats, if it’s cute and fluffy he’ll have a soft spot for it but dogs are his favourite. Favourite colour: Black. Likes: Swearing like a sailor, drinking scotch on the rocks, driving at night, fast cars, guns, British comedies Dislikes: Things that are obnoxiously American, Eric, people who drive slowly down the middle of the road, bright colours, incompetence, ERIC.

Misc. info: Eschews rules, dress codes, the establishment and wearing colours that aren’t black. He had an Irish wolfhound called Cujo.

 

ALTERNATE VERSES

Superhuman: Mike is a ruthless vigilante who goes by the name of Cage. Tired of watching other heroes let villains go, he uses his shadow powers to hunt them down and eliminate them—permanently. Victorian Gothic: Mike is as nocturnal as the monsters he hunts, and just as apt to sit and brood on top of gargoyles. It doesn’t dampen his ferocity and dedication to keeping the city streets flee of bloodsuckers and foul creatures. Dead in the Water: Death took Mike’s family, but it couldn’t take him. Now he seeks vengeance, a pirate who hunts other pirates, in his eyes the only force of justice on a lawless ocean. Swords and Sorcery: Michael was a paladin, once… but he broke his oath to pursue bloody vengeance after the death of his daughter. It’s a fine line between good and evil, and all that keeps him from crossing it is the sad eyes of the boy he swore to protect. Gotta Catch Em All: Mike is a Pokemon ranger, currently investigating the surge in poaching in the mountains he watches over. His partner is a Tyranitar he bonded with over their mutual understanding of what it’s like to lose a child. Blood and Wine: The people are thirsty, and someone has to get them their drink. But Mike’s reasons for diving into the criminal underbelly of the Prohibition are deeper than they first appear. Behind the Lines: Mike’s squad of paratroopers were slaughtered when they were dropped into the wrong position behind enemy lines. Now he fights his way across France alone, desperate to return home to his daughter. Apocalypse Now: Mike wakes from suspended animation with no memory of how he got there. Accompanied by his robotic dog, he heads out into the wasteland in search of survivors who can tell him what happened.

[jesterlady]

Avengers Endgame Review

So it's finally time, I am about to give the world my review and feelings of Endgame.  I've had this swirling around in my head for weeks but am finally ready to give it voice.  I've seen the movie twice and there are obviously massive spoilers ahead so read at your own risk.

First off, I like this movie.  It's a good movie despite the sadness and the stupid time travel, so when I criticize it, know I still enjoyed it.  I think it's a beautiful crowning achievement, the end of an era of the MCU. In many ways I wish it was the end of the MCU, it would be fitting and sometimes things should end.  I laughed and cried and cheered with everyone and seeing it opening weekend was absolutely an amazing experience.  For a full time fan it had some amazing fanservice and callbacks.

I also want to point out that I am usually incredibly good at liking a movie on its own terms.  Even if something doesn't make sense or doesn't make sense in our world, so long as that universe has claimed it as its own, I'll put on my suspension of disbelief and shrug my shoulders and say, 'whatever you say, squire.'  So really I'm the type of person who should be okay with the way they handled time travel in this movie.  Spoiler, I'm not.  I'll go into all of that.

Let's get the generals out of the way.  Visually it's fantastic, acting its ass off, I'm okay with the writing, I laughed at all the funny bits, it's heartwarming and gives all the feels.  Love the music, love the cinematography, all that jazz.

Character looks changes since, wow, there were a lot:

Steve: Thank you, Cap, for shaving the beard.  Chrevans is a fine looking man with a beard but it does not scream clean linen and fresh apple pie and I need my Cap that way.

Natasha: I'm actually a fan of the red ombre look, Katniss braid and all.  It's pretty and I need her red because the blonde was not good, not good at all.  I know people complain about hair not growing out that slow, but I think it's a good symbol, Natasha caught between two worlds, the old and the new, becoming more herself, but unable to let go of the past.  And it's red and it's pretty.

Clint: Yeah, the mohawk grew on me.  I actually think when you see it moving and in action, it works, it's only in the pictures and promos that it just looks weird.  I feel like the tattoo sleeve was a bit much.  (That can't come off so easy post-snap, Clint!)  His Ronin suit was cool; I would have liked to have seen more of it.

Carol: I don't like the haircut.  That's it; I just don't like the look.  But whatever. I think it's kind of pointless other than to emphasize again time has passed, but they were hammering that point in hard enough without that reminder.  But honestly, I don't care.

Bruce: So, this is more about my feelings on Bruce in the movie than his look, but it's all tied up in his look so I'll put it here.  I am leery of Professor Hulk.  I'm gonna go with Valkyrie, better either of the other ways.  The CGI was really cool, but I think it says something alarming about how Bruce is handling his situation and his solution…is not good. We'll skip over how he magically invented a Gammatron thing to accomplish this and go into how it directly goes against what had been happening in the MCU so far and how Bruce/Hulk is handled in the comics.  The best way is when Bruce and Hulk both develop as individuals and come to a symbiotic understanding, two beings sharing a body.  Eddie and Venom style.  Hulk had been given his own story in Ragnarok and had his own path as evidenced by him hiding in IW.  Now, there is no Hulk.  It's Bruce wearing a Hulk suit, just like him wearing Tony's armor.  That almost feels like murder to me.  My mom said she thought Bruce had more Hulkish characteristics now, okay, maybe, but I think it's more like him acting a part now that he's Professor Hulk and feels like he beat the beast.  My theory is supported by the fact that when the Ancient One astral planes him, it's only Bruce that comes out of the body.  Now, I'm happy he's happy, but I think they went the wrong way on this one.

Thor: Loving the long hair again, though I wish he'd brush it a bit, hate the beard.  The lightning makeover made it very cool with the Viking look, but otherwise, please shave immediately!  You know, it was funny for him to be so out of shape, it was also sad because it showed how depressed he really was.  I am okay with the jokes and don't think it was wrong for us to think it funny because we're conditioned to think that Chris Hemsworth with his shirt off is supposed to be the latest in hunk.  Did they have to joke about it as much as they did? Probably not, but I don't think it was horrendous and body shaming and he clearly does need to get more healthy in body and mind.  I fully expect and will be fine with, if we see him again, him being unmelted ice cream.

Superficial out of the way, let's walk through the movie and then dive into the time travel issues.

Okay, Tony and Nebula dynamic is the best and I would have wanted so much more of that. Tony leaving the message for Pepper is all the feels.

Did Carol go looking for them or just find them?  It doesn't really matter, but I'd still like to know.  With Pepper being at the compound I'm thinking yes.

Poor Steve and Tony, that was not a good reunion, and I don't like Tony yelling at Steve, but I can understand it in his frame of mind.

Going off to kill Thanos, yay!  Okay, so all along I've been pulling for Nebula to kill Thanos and honestly, she deserves it.  Second in line, Thor.  So I was glad Thor did that, but poor Nebula.  She's such a beautiful character and so tragic and I just wish there had been a bit more catharsis for her other than the potential of acceptance and pride she didn't need and blood splattering her face.  I mean, ouch!  My ultimate version of a Thanos death in this movie would have been both Nebulas and past Gamora killing him with help from Thor. 

And Five Years Later.  Lol, the audience was all what!  I'm all, duh!

So yeah, a rat really did save the world, you guys.  I mean, come on!  Poor Scott. Though I am thinking, okay, the world is clearly a trashpile now and yet we had the resources to create giant monument graveyards presumably all over the world?  Also, his reunion with Cassie was sweet, but I'm sorry, I can't help but mourn the loss of the munchkin.  That actress was super adorbz and now we'll never see her again and I am not okay with that.  Also, I really feel like that new Cassie was way too old looking.  (Guys, I'm not good with ages, but little Cassie was like 6, 5 years makes her 11, that girl was clearly 15 or 16.  Though again...seeing as how Harley looks way too old to me as well and that's the actual actor, what do I know?)

Love the team effort spread out over the globe and universe.  It's also a good way to handle Carol.  Over-powered characters are so difficult to handle because then there is no conflict, so it was good to show her off saving the whole universe (honestly just like she's apparently been doing this whole time).

Oh Nat.  Her and her sandwich.  Her and Clint!  Finally this movie gives me the Clint/Natasha content I deserve and then rips my heart from me.  She's handling this burden but her partner is lost and that's what's breaking her and I can't handle it!

Her and Steve's friendship has always been aces and I loved that scene.

Scott there to save the world and he's so refreshing and then on to Tony and it's so precious he has little Morgan and they did a good job showcasing that he is handling this the best of anyone and honestly deserves to.

Nat is wearing the arrow necklace again!!!!

I'm glad Tony said no, but honestly, it's so like him to have a problem and need to fix it. And Pepper is such a queen, such an amazing giver, and the world doesn't deserve her.

We've gone over my feelings on Bruce (the joke with him and Scott went on way too long and was not funny.  Also, thank you for only doing the barest of alluding to a Bruce/Nat romance.)

Tony and Steve scenes are the best and I love them rebuilding something and Steve getting the shield back.

Tokyo in the rain kills me.  Okay, so let's talk a bit about Clint here.  I am not a fan of the farm, I wish the farm had never happened and I like to live in a world where it didn't.  In fact that gifset where Clint introduces Laura as his sister is my preferred canon and I think would have done the trick in his grief spiral.  Personally, I don't have any issues with a Ronin lifestyle and my only worry is what it's doing to his psyche.  Oh, but them in the rain, my feels, my feels, my feels.  Honestly, the world is chaotic now and needs a bit of vigilante justice.

Thor and New Asgard.  My first thought is that while obviously the most decimated people in the universe, the Asgardians really lucked out coming to earth when they did, because at what other time would we have accepted an alien race landing on earth to come and live with us without freaking out?  I don't even know how there are any left anyway because clearly so many died in Ragnarok and then half of them were wiped out by Thanos (pre-snap, remember, so did they come back?!  Not likely unless Bruce (who was there) included them, but still unlikely.)  Then the half that were left...were on a ship that got completely destroyed and left Thor floating in space.  So all I'm saying is they did not take care of continuity for this people and they were the real victims of the MCU. 

But clearly some escaped and I find it hilarious Thor is a depressed bum playing video games and it's so so sad at the same time and I just want to wrap him up and let him rest.  Honestly, Thor has lost everything and it's no wonder he's a giant mess and he deserves to be.  I'm also glad he didn't magically buck up, because honestly no one would.

The PLAN:

Them all planning together is so cute and a bit smart and good times apart from their ridiculous time travel premise we'll get into later.  I do want to be very clear here, Nebula did not know about the price for the soul stone or she would have told them.  There's no way she could have known.

Let's go over each era individually.

2012

You remember 2012 right?  It was glorious.  I don't care what you think about Joss Whedon or the rest of the MCU, 2012 was magic. In fact right after watching Endgame, I went home and read all my fave gen domestic team tower fic and I needed it. So the fanservice was lovely and seeing behind the scenes almost of what we loved was the best.  Everyone was perfect.  Hulk and the stairs, Thor and his hammer, Tony giving himself a heart attack, Cap in the elevator, America's ass, Loki and the tesseract, even being reminded that Hydra was in SHIELD at the time.  Apart from the time travel issues, it was all wonderful.

I’ve seen a lot of people point out how they didn’t like Steve in 2012 and how Endgame Steve was annoyed at himself, but I don’t see it.  2012 Steve is perfection, fight me.

I liked seeing the Ancient One as well, knowing they would have been there.  Seeing how much she knew about Strange ahead of time is good and her knowing what he meant by giving it up.  I'll go into the Stones and their conversation later as well.

2014 Asgard.

Poor Thor, but having him talk to his mom, that was beautiful and just what he needed.  I know some people were mad he didn't spend more time being sad about Loki but honestly, Frigga was what he needed right then. And not to have to be reminded of Jane and how annoyingly that ended up for no reason whatsoever other than Natalie Portman deciding not to come back.  What if Gwyneth Paltrow had felt that way!  I shudder to think.  But that’s part of my ongoing saga of how horribly the Thor saga in particular, yes, even Ragnarok, especially Ragnarok, treats its characters and continuity.

2014 Morag

Seeing the opening of Guardians was so funny and I loved it.  But I got super annoyed at Rhodey saying Quill was an idiot for it. Rude!  Do you know how often I dance around my house lip syncing to music only I can hear?  We adore it when people do that in the movies.  There was nothing idiotic about it and I resented the way people looked down on Quill in the movie.  For instance, I’m super mad about how his reunion with Gamora went.  He reacted beautifully and I also understand her reacting the way she did if she didn’t know him, but Nebula had told her about him and that was just mean and condescending.  In fact, I also get annoyed about the whole rivalry between him and Thor.  I mean, just let Quill alone.  Having his own team, his own family, be so cavalier is annoying, especially when they’ve all lost Gamora and Peter has lost a lot of people very important to him in a very short period of time.  Yes, he is insecure, but he’s also lost a lot and I’m a fan of loyalty.

There not being traps is so funny and then 2014 Thanos happens.  Ugh.  It was the way to bring Gamora into the film and Thanos honestly.  But ugh.  I do think the network with the Nebulas was clever, though very convenient, memories just project themselves out and happen to be the ones that would clue Thanos in to what happened!  I hate for Nebula to be subject to that again after being free for 5 years.   More really.  Poor 2014 Nebula as well. 

Switching the Nebulas was clever as well (though why on earth wouldn’t anyone wonder why Nebula wasn’t with them when they tried the snap?)

Also, let’s not get into it too deeply yet but they are very clear, so clear, that Pym Particles are the only way you get through the quantum realm and they ONLY had enough for ONE round trip per person.  It’s why we had to go to the 70s in the first place, remember?  When 2014 Nebula presents herself to Thanos, she hands him the vial of particles, we never see him hand it back.  Now, either she was just showing it to him and he gave it back and that’s how she came to the future, (which is most likely), or she gave it to him so he could come to the future with their evil plan (but then how did she get back with the others?)  But either way, someone shouldn’t have been able to get to the future.  No matter what Nebula did to the Quantum tunnel, (so convenient she just plugged in and did all these science/mechanic/time travel things) there were no Pym particles that could have brought Thanos, our Nebula, 2014 Gamora, and all of his vast armies and armada to the present. IT LITERALLY COMPLETELY FALLS APART AND MAKES NO SENSE AND GOES AGAINST THEIR OWN RULES!

2014 Vormir

Oh my heart. I’m actually ashamed, I didn’t see it coming until they were headed to Vormir and then I knew, I knew one would die and I was so unhappy the whole scene.  I didn’t go into this movie fearing for either one of them so it was a big shock.  I’d been expecting Steve and/or Tony to die. 

So like I said, I’ve been a Clint/Natasha shipper since day one.  Honestly, I didn’t even care if they were together so long as they were always the most important people to each other and were together. The MCU tore that from me with Ultron, but also with their cavalier treatment of Clint in general.  Say what you will about Natasha’s arc, it’s hella better than Clint’s.  So don’t give me that.  Clint is my favorite character so naturally I’m biased in his favor, I accept that.  But I love him and Natasha and so it was going to devastate me either way.  (I also love Natasha).  Remember the early version of Winter Soldier when Clint and Nat were in it and he stayed with Hydra to fool everyone while she went off with Steve and Sam and they were secret partners just like I’m convinced they were in Civil War?  Jeremy Renner wasn’t available as I recall, oh sadness.

Anyway, so this scene just slayed me.  They were so pure together, each trying to die for the other.  Oh, it was awful and visually stunning and I am so annoyed at how it ended.  How deep a contrast between the parallel scene with Thanos and Gamora, each just as sad though.  But no matter what the end result was, it brought Clint and Natasha back to each other, back to their rightful spots at each other’s sides and uppermost in each other’s hearts.  It was always them and if they’d killed one or the other without letting the other one be there, I would have been so furious.

And I’ve seen a lot of hate about letting Natasha die this way.  For a man, no funeral, but I don’t agree.  I don’t want her to have died and I’m so sad, but I think it was a glorious death and I think it did close out her arc beautifully.  Clint tried his darndest but she was better than him and she chose it and she saved everyone.  You want the credit in this film, it goes…rat, Scott, Natasha, Tony. As for her not being mourned, heck yeah she was.  Clint clearly is mourning and that funeral was absolutely for her just as much as Tony. It’s a movie structure thing, and I have no issues with that.  There’s no way she wasn’t heralded just as much as he was to the people who matter if not to the world.

I did read that the writers/directors didn’t know there was a Black Widow movie in the works and if that’s true, it both proves and illustrates my two points that Marvel really is the deciding force in everything if the individual movies are so sure that they’ll get stopped if they’re wrong they don’t even bother to check on things, and that the MCU has gotten too big for its britches and doesn’t bother to take care of the characters they have in their insane rush to bring in new stories and characters.

1970s

Goodbye Stan Lee cameo, we miss you already.  And look at Community sneaking into the MCU one bit at a time.  And Jarvis!  You know, that’s the first character from one of the shows who’s been allowed to be in a movie rather than the other way around.  Way to validate, Marvel.  It’s scary how the technology works to make younger versions of people these days (provided the actors are still alive to play underneath the CGI).  And Peggy, glorious Peggy, that was an important moment for Steve and I don’t care what anyone else thinks.  I’m not overly fond of old Howard Stark but if Tony got to see him, I’m glad.  I’m so glad for his sake.  He deserves validation he was loved.

Back to our present.  A mourning scene for Natasha is appropriate and, boy, would I hate to be Clint.

The second snap. Appropriate in many ways for it to be Bruce and the snap worked!  Everyone came back.  Question: did everyone come back in the same place they left just 5 years forward in time? It seems that way from what Peter said. So…what about the people who came back in planes that were no longer in the same space in the sky or in space or underwater or in buildings long gone?  For that matter, did Thanos consider all those things when he wiped out half the universe?  Did the accidents resulting from people being gone get considered in his numbers?  I know these are more IW questions, but they’re valid. And like I said, Asgardians?  The people who died as a result of people being snapped, did Bruce bring them back as well?  And we can also talk about how a sudden influx of people like that will likely cause quite a lot of chaos and issues.

But then explosions and Thanos attacks even though it makes no sense for him to be there and people are drowning and the compound is destroyed!

Battle commences and the three of them pounding on Thanos like that is pretty cool. Unfortunately, guys, remember how unbeatable Thanos was with the Stones in IW, and how it almost seemed like Thor by himself would get him?  Here, he doesn’t have the Stones and our three main guys are not able to beat him. That’s a little contrived, just saying.

Okay, but Steve with the hammer, how cool is that?  And how cool is it for Thor not to be jealous?  We all cheered so loud and it was awesome.  Love it, love it, love it.  Don’t break the shield though!!!  (Never mind, pop back to the PAST store and pick up a replacement.)  Good fighting, good visuals, yay.

And the image of Steve standing by himself, ready to take on a whole army…it’s so him.  He is willing to fight to his last breath always (so stop hating on him finally getting to rest himself, guys).  It was glorious.

And then…on your left.  Oh my heart, oh we all cheered for every portal opening.  That music, it was the best.  Such awesome moments, everyone was there.  And extra sorcerers and Wakandans and Asgardians because like it or not our superheroes are not an army.  Epic battle!

Okay, and remember how people complain about Natasha not being there in the all woman power move (which I am totally fine with and it was a cool throwback and tribute), that’s sad and all, but you know who deserves to be there who wasn’t? Maria frikking Hill!  No reason her and Fury couldn’t have been there and if you’re going to bring Hope, you might as well bring Hank and Janet.  And frankly, I wish Sif had shown up and the SHIELD folks and all the other people who weren’t there, Nakia anyone?  Strange clearly gathered more people than he knew about with his knowledge of the future.  Heck, let’s remember Betty Ross exists since her dad clearly does.

So anyway, fabulous battle.  I just want to point out that Wanda could have beaten Thanos on her own (poor Wanda) and so could have Carol. 

Peter and Tony reunion brought my cold dead heart back to life.  He’s learned a little bit about being a Dad and he did this mainly for Peter. 

Nebula has to shoot herself, like how messed up is that.  Also, makes no sense, but it’s very sad.  Thought maybe that’s her catharsis, she puts the past literally behind her and moves on with her new family.  She was so tragic in this movie and I love her.

T’Challa knows Clint’s name. 

Peter and the Gauntlet clutching.

It’s nice to know why Strange saved Tony’s life by giving up the Gauntlet and that was a horrible one finger to have to lift up and condemn a man’s life.

Tony and Pepper fighting together

AvengersAssemble one more time

For heaven’s sake, where did the flying horse come from?

And then the culmination of eleven years of our lives and full circle I am Iron Man.  Oh brave Tony, I love you, sir, you are aces and I respect the heck out of you and I’m so thankful for you and it was very fitting.

Oh and having Rhodey and Peter and Pepper say goodbye.  Oh Pepper, you brave soul, you queen of the MCU, you absolute giver. Ugh, being the one left behind sucks.

And then everyone is fine and together and better and Tony gives us a voice over and there’s a funeral and we see everyone there, Tony Stark has a heart, and when Happy starts talking about cheeseburgers, I lost it.

I didn’t recognize Harley, but I love he was there.  Ross doesn’t deserve to be there.

Clint and Wanda’s moment gives me life and is the only remembrance for poor Vision.  Let’s remember folks, that I called it. Everyone who was snapped came back. Those that died apart from that, didn’t. Heimdell, Loki, Gamora, and Vision are still dead.

No one saw what happened to 2014 Gamora, did they?  A mystery likely to be unanswered until Guardians 3.  But Peter searching for her made me sad.  And it made me sad for everyone to gang up on him though I do like the idea of Thor joining the Guardians.

Scott, Hope, and Cassie together is so sweet.

And Steve…

I am a fan, I don’t think it’s OOC, I don’t think it’s lazy writing, I think Captain Frikking America deserves to dance and love his lady and not have to fight a battle anymore.  It’s a fitting end to Chris Evans and it was beautiful.  I would have been happy with either Bucky or Sam getting the shield and so that’s lovely.  As for people being upset about Steve just leaving and then Bucky not talking to Old Cap along with Sam.  Come on, guys.  Watch that scene.  Bucky knew what Steve was going to do and they had their goodbye there.  Also, Old Cap didn’t drop dead the second the camera left, guys.  There was plenty of time for him to talk to Bucky.  It was just was more important for Sam to get his proper goodbye and to pass the baton. 

Them ending it all on a happy Steve and Peggy, well, one of the couples deserves a happy ending, geesh.  Nobody else got one!  (I don’t count Clint and Laura!)  Granted, the next phase of lovers, T’Challa and Nakia, Strange and Christine, Scott and Hope, I guess, they could make it.  But Steve and Peggy living a life together, Steve learned how to let it go, and Tony learned how to give it up, and both are valid paths for their characters. Sad either way, but ultimately right in my opinion.

The credits were so cool and I was so happy they did the OG6 at the end like that.  They are the reason we love this and they deserve all the glory for the first few phases of the MCU.  They’re now passing the baton and that’s always why it was good and final for there not to be an end credit scene.

So time travel…I don’t pretend to know anything about quantum physics, but I know a lot about science fiction time travel.  The quantum tunnel being how they did it, that was the part that I could accept as being their rules of how they want to play it.  Doesn’t matter if it isn’t science, it’s their science.  Pym particles necessary to nagivate?  Okay, if that’s what you want to do.  Everyone always back at the exact same time with no time having passed no matter when you push your button to come back?  Okay, whatever.

There’s a lot of ways to do time travel.  Closed loops, paradoxes, alternate timelines, whatever happened happened.  LOST does the latter and it makes logical sense. The past happened the way it did because you always had gone back to the past and affected it, you just didn’t know it at the time.

But there’s always a certain amount of hand waving in time travel, okay?  It’s not easy to make it make sense.  Back to the Future is very solid, but there’s a certain amount you just have to accept.  Doctor Who does it really well, because it uses practically every type of time travel in its timey wimey way and manages for it to mostly make sense.  (River Song’s creator and his glorious power mad timeline aside.  Had to write two different fics to fix that!)  So like I said, you can go with a different version and have it make sci fi sense, but there are two incredibly important things to remember about time travel. 1. Ethics.  2. Stick to your own rules.

The Russos have confirmed alternate timelines were created with every change our peeps made in the past.  According to their version of time travel, it didn’t change their own pasts and can’t affect their future, but it does create alternate timelines.

Just to be clear, alternate realities and alternate timelines are different.  The multi-verse theory allows for completely different realities to be stacked alongside each other where every possibility is played out.  You can cross between them, sometimes the rules are that you can’t function in that dimension or sometimes you can take the place of that version of you and live there, either way.  It’s a whole separate place apart from your reality.  Generally, it’s not good form to interfere too much, but if you do, best to get back to your reality quickly.  You being there and making changes doesn’t change that world though any more than you switching jobs or meeting someone does in your own timeline. Too much crossing could destroy all realities though!

Alternate timelines are different though.  They are deliberate changes stemming from a cause and affect everything from that point on. Most of the time if you jump back to the future from a past where you changed something, then you’re jumping back to the future that change created.  Endgame doesn’t do that.  Which is very convenient and again, they can make their own rules even if they’re not logical and I’ll believe them, so long as they follow the two main things I said up above.

However, they don’t.

1.       Ethically, do they have the right to create other timelines and affect those people’s lives without knowledge of the consequences?  There’s now a timeline where a 2012 Loki is loose with the Tesseract. Folks, that’s not a good thing considering his mindset at the time.  There’s a 2014 Asgard Thor that doesn’t have his hammer (although when Steve took it back with him in time, I’m unsure whether he returned that as well as the Stones) and whatever Hank was going to use those Pym particles for, he now can’t. 2012 Steve knows about Bucky being alive.  2012 Hydra thinks Steve is on their side.  2014 Thanos and Gamora and Nebula and all his children are gone from that year and now the Guardians will never form in that timeline. 

Sure, maybe Frigga doesn’t die now, but the point is there are now numerous different timelines where billions of people’s lives will be different for better or for worse simply because our heroes decided to change their own timeline. How selfish is that?  Generally, it’s even a huge question when you’re trying to fix something that’s already been changed, ala SG1 Continuum.  Beau Bridges calls Cam, Daniel, and Sam arrogant for assuming that he’ll change billions of people’s lives because they insist the world was supposed to be different.  All any of us know is the reality we’re presented with.  Anya asks in Buffy how Giles knows the other world (the timeline Buffy came to Sunnydale) is any better.  He didn’t.  We did, but that’s another story.  We should consider how our actions changing time affects things other than the one thing we’re trying to fix.

2.       We’ve already been over how they gloss over the need for Pym Particles when it’s convenient for them so I won’t rehash that, but let’s talk about the Stones.  Why the heck is it all right to take any person or object you want from the past so long as it’s not the Stones?  Just because they make up the fabric of time?  Well, if that’s the case, when Thanos destroyed them, all time should have stopped or the universe exploded or something. Honestly, I could have handled their way of doing time travel a lot more if they hadn’t made such a big deal about needing to restore the Stones to the exact moment in time they were left in order to avoid these dark branches.  The Ancient One is just arguing for the logic of all the sci fi time travel that Endgame is saying is so wrong.  They should have just cut that part out.  Of course, that gave Steve an excuse to go back in time…so maybe it was all in the name of his ending, but that’s the poor writing part of that.

How do they get from one timeline to the other?  When they jump to the past, they always conveniently end up back in their own present but Old Cap had to jump from his alternate timeline to this one (specified by the Russos, mind you) to give Sam the shield.  How did he do that?  If he had just used his wrist device at the time he wanted to use it basically as long as it takes for him to accomplish his goal as Bruce says (according to their logic of time travel), he would have appeared on the platform when they expected him to, just old.  Of course, that’s not as nice of an aesthetic as Old Cap sitting on a bench, so I’ll give them artistic license on that.

It’s awfully convenient that Steve jumping back to the past and replacing all the Stones is so easy to do.  He never runs into any problems jumping into an alternate timeline, but they’ve created so many different ones, I feel like it should be easy to.  For instance because they changed things in 2012 and the 1970s, if he jumps into the 2012 one first, couldn’t he possibly jump back to the wrong one?  Tony sure made time travel infallible when he fixed it on the fly in his house with his only a genius on earth brain…

But one of my biggest issues is that the past has now become a get out of jail free card. Provided they have enough Pym Particles (which he’s alive now to make), they can fix anything they want in their own timeline (screwing all others) whenever they want.  Guys, no one ever has to die again!  Because here’s the thing, you can grab anyone from the past seconds before their death and it’s fine. 

All of the pathos and feels from Endgame have become meaningless.  Let’s go back and get Yinsen from Iron Man, we’re definitely saving Pietro.  What about Stanley Tucci?  I’m definitely saving Yondu. T’Chaka?  Odin, Frigga, Loki, Heimdell, the Warriors Three, and most definitely Vision, Gamora, Natasha, and Tony.  See, you can’t bring them back in the snap, but if you grab them before they die, then their timeline suffers, but yours doesn’t and as we’ve already established, apparently that doesn’t matter.

So, guys, we never have to cry again.  Everybody lives, Rose, everybody lives!  That’s what’s so dangerous and illogical about Endgame and time travel in my opinion.

Yeah, I know that was a novel, but there’s probably actually more I’ve forgotten which is ridiculous.  Kudos if you actually read that.

[trashartandmovies]

Damsel (or, the 68th Berlin International Film Festival Pt. 3; or, Let's Give Some Love to the Farce)

You don't see many farces these days. At least, as far as movies are concerned. On the world stage, you could argue that the farce is doing better than ever, but very few movies are made in this all-but-abandoned genre. The only current purveyors that come to mind are the Coen Brothers, and when they work in this mode, à la Burn After Reading, they tend to get their lowest levels of appreciation. (For the record, I love Burn After Reading -- as well as The Hudsucker Proxy, for that matter.)  I believe it is this decline in familiarity that is behind the luke warm reception that has so far greeted the Zellner Brother's fine little movie, Damsel.

Current cinema favors realism. There are very few musicals or whimsical fantasies, and even the en vogue superhero movies tend to shoot for "gritty." It feels like the only way a movie can be deemed relevant is if it is also realistic, which greatly underestimates the capabilities of film and storytelling in general. Much of this goes back to the 60s and 70s, when the heightened styles and theatrics of previous generations were abandoned in favor of method acting and the devices of cinema vérité. Since then, there's only the odd movie like Hail, Caesar! or the hat tip in the second half of Mistress America that displeased a good deal of critics. The last zany farce to win the hearts and minds of both critics and audiences may have been Bogdanovich's 1972 classic, What's Up Doc? Since then it's been mostly cinema non grata.

The Zellner Brother's Damsel may have more than one preemptive strike against it by being a farcical western, thereby combining two classic genres that are currently out of favor. Or, perhaps just as troubling is the idea of putting comedy into a genre that's been more or less strictly serious business since Blazing Saddles (no, we don't count The Ridiculous 6). Nevertheless, this combination still works perfectly well, especially as the means to tell a twisted tale of unrequited love and longing to be part of something unattainable.

Damsel starts off with a fantastic preamble between co-director/co-writer/co-star, David Zellner, and an old priest, played by an especially grizzled Robert Forster. While the two wait for a carriage that may or may never come, Forster provides something of a monologue about his experiences as a priest, and by the end he's suggested that the pages of the Good Book are more useful as toilet paper, stripped down to his long johns and headed off into the desert. The scene sets the mood rather well for the off-beat nature of what unfolds, which might be best described as a goofy brand of gallows humor. What's also immediately apparent is that it's all going to look superb since Adam Stone in on hand -- perhaps better known as the cinematographer behind every Jeff Nichols movie.

After Forster's self-defrocked priest moseys off into the great beyond (sadly never to be seen from again) we hop ahead in time, where Zellner has taken up Forster's outfit and is now known as Parson Henry, for a lowly congregation of miscreants and drunkards. Henry himself has fallen to drink, and is discovered by the newly arrived Samuel (admirably played by Robert Pattinson) passed out on the beach, covered in crabs. Samuel wants Henry to accompany him on a short journey to where his would-be-fiancée, Penelope (Mia Wasikowska), is staying. Or, as Samuel soon elaborates, the journey is taking them to where Penelope is being held against her will, and Samuel plans to heroically free her and then cap things off by bending-the-knee and proposing. As he explains it, she'll be over the moon. After all, Samuel has written a (hilariously bad) tune on the guitar he's carrying with him. And, if that weren't enough, he's also towing along a miniature horse named Butterscotch, which is supposedly Penelope's favorite animal.

All of this is naturally a bit much for Parson Henry, who hardly qualifies as a legitimate justice of the peace for his tiny town of misfits, never mind a vigilante or man of action. And if you don't want the movie's twists and turns ruined, you may want to stop here. But a seasoned viewer will quickly start to sense that Samuel isn't exactly being honest with Henry. For starters, why would he choose this parson, from such a backwater hellhole, for this particular task?

The title of the movie is, of course, a reference to the standard western trope of the "damsel in distress," and the movie is getting some publicity as being a feminist twist on this archetype. So, there's a good amount of unease in knowing that Penelope is very likely distress-free. Or, that our glad-handing dandy, Samuel, might be the real agent of distress.

Indeed, when we finally reach Penelope, the movie takes quite a gruesome turn. The movie then becomes about Penelope, who we come to find is handy with dynamite, and Henry -- one upset about having her place in the world taken away, and one desperate to find a new place. In an effective bit of comedy, Henry is obsessed with Indians, but in a very different way than most Wild West preachers: he wants to be one. Taken by the concept of the noble savage, Henry would love nothing more than to live in a teepee, hunt buffalo and take part in powwows. The last thing he wants to do is return to a life in that horror show of a town Samuel dragged him out of.

In a scene both touching and absurd, Henry find himself at a makeshift campsite, lying next to a Native American man, and can't help himself. He starts prodding him with questions about the possibility of becoming an Indian, eliciting a furrowed brow and some exasperated eye rolls. Stupid white man, indeed.   

As usual, Mia Wasikowska does a fine job in capturing an furious heartbreak at the varying levels of invasiveness and stupidity of the men around her. Even though she may be somewhat too fond of dynamite, she is truly the most stable and rational person in the movie. She has no use for Henry or any of the other guy who might insist that she need a man to get along. As improbable as some of the movie's events are, her character rings strong and true.

When critics and audiences dismiss a farce, the standard line is that there was problems with the tone -- that the movie will bounce around too much, veer wildly from one scene to the next, that it's too broad or improbable. All of these things are applicable to Damsel, but these elements are all hallmarks of the genre. Robert Pattinson has supposedly called the movie a "slapstick western," but I have a hunch he may have intended something closer to a "western farce." These terms tend to get mixed up because they often coexist. It's common for a farce to contain some slapstick elements as a way of reinforcing the chaotic and unpredictable nature of the genre (or the spirit of the story being told), but Damsel isn't much of a slapstick anything. It's not a Three Stooges western. It is quite silly, clever and violent at times, but at its heart it is a tragedy -- one that is both funny and sad, sometimes within the same scene. And I think that's a big reason why it makes for a very successful farce.