#tom hopper and his freaking puppy eyes

[ambercblog]

Same energy. 

Random man trying “help” Luther calling for Allison (The Umbrella Academy, S2E01)  //  Randall trying help Billy to keep an eye on Silver (Black Sails, S1E03)

Really, what’s wrong with people shouting at Tom Hopper’s characters? 

[maevelin]

Episode 1x06 

1. Such an opening scene! 

And Klaus remembering Dave and throwing away the drugs in the toilet. OMG!

And the reason for Klaus wanting to get sober! MY HEART!

“His name was Dave...”

And my baby loved so much and so hard that fought to the first line only to lose the one he loved...he is a war hero that lost his love...Dave died in his hands...and for him it must be so raw and so soon...and now the world is ending and all he wants is to see Dave again...only that...I JUST FEEL THINKS OKAY?

Klaus’ story with Dave was so pure and beautiful. And tragic. Why? Why did it have to be tragic? I can’t take this anymore. This type of storytelling always seems to end in one endgame and it is always death and pain and I am sick of it. And especially in Klaus’ case it just...I can’t! Okay? I CANNOT!

And I know I am generally allergic to fluff but in this case...why couldn’t we get the rainbows and the unicorns and the puppies? WHY?

And then Klaus finally saw Dave again...and the timeline was erased...I just...

2. I just love Diego’s and Klaus’ scenes! Seriously and I am soaking them up like a sponge! And the fact that Klaus turned to Diego for help!

They can be funny and sad at the same time. 

It was so sad that only Ben could see him struggling with his withdrawal symptoms. 

But then Diego stepped up...out of all his siblings he is the one that is there for Klaus. He makes it seem as if he is annoyed but it is such a brotherly thing to do. And truly Diego feels that he has let his mom and Eudora down but he is not letting Klaus down too and that gets me! He truly cares. It just gets me! Precious baby!

And in return...Klaus needs to ...pee LMFAO! 

I also love Diego’s scenes with his mom. She is definitely feeling things. I would like to see more of that.

Pogo is annoying me to be honest. Supposedly he cares and is wise and is there for the siblings and is a better father figure but no...he is just as problematic as Reginald was in my eyes. He supported this toxicity, he still does and apocalypse or not that is a shitty thing to do to children.

3. Hazel was right. Boy he was right. Five is a legend! My deadly little thing! 

YEAH BABY...FIVE IS A LEGEND! A FREAKING LEGEND!

Five’s scenes are electric! And his showdown with the Handler...AWESOME!

At this point I can’t choose between who I like more, Five or Klaus? I am more sentimental for Klaus for sure and I love him all the way but Five...Five is my iconic kind of character! Badass to the bone and legendary! Not to mention a cynic with a heart and a sarcastic disposition! My bitter cinnamon roll of an assassin! My precious little hit man! Brilliant, manipulative, kicking ass taking names, lethal, a killer, so done with life but still a survivor! A pragmatist and a dreamer.,,with an unhealthy obsession for coffee, alcohol and...Dolores...WHAT IS NOT TO LIKE?

Boy oh boy it is always the same characters! 

4. Vanya’s guy is such a creeper. Every time he is in a scene I cringe. And you can see how creepy he is. It is just so sad that Vanya is unable to see it because she was treated so horribly in her life that even a shred of kindness can blind her so because she is starving for it. Her father did a number on her. If we are honest all her family did.

That book though...to keep her sedated...Vanya finding that book will definitely push her off the edge.

And her powers...with the apocalypse coming...it’s her powers that lead to it right? 

She will go out like a bomb of something? It would make sense because if the drugs were the cause of keeping her emotions on a leash and repressing them along with her powers now that the leash is gone and after all this time of repressing her powers and feeling worthless she is like a ticking bomb ready to go off. Who thought it would be a good idea to do that to her? That fucked up excuse of a father she had for sure (what an asshole indeed!) but no matter how destructive her powers can be it does not take a genius to understand that bottling up emotions and suppressing them along with powers of such scale is like just delaying the inevitable and creating the right circumstances for a freaking big bang. Those powers laying dormant for so long and Vanya building up all those negative emotions inside her that she can now feel...well shit...Why not train Vanya like her siblings? Maybe her powers were uncontrollable but this alternative does not seem much better.

5.  LOL at Luther’s revelation...we died...I said...WE DIED...LMAO

But all jokes aside...

My heart broke for him in this episode. Poor baby. To be sent to the moon. To exile. All alone. A monster hidden from the world. With no love, no support, no humanity. It is dreadful. 

I honestly don’t understand how a person can fuck up their children in so many ways each one of them individually but also collectively. 

And Luther that always looked up to his father and in the end all he wanted was for his dad to be proud of him. Despite all the abuse he trusted him. Truth is though that if he was leader material and if he wanted to be the leader of his team, a team created by his family, then he should have responded to that abuse and tried to make it stop. For him and for his siblings. He just averted his eyes and found excuses for what his father was doing both to him and his siblings and I don’t blame him because he was also an abused victim but in the end it was all coming to this. In the same way it happened with the rest of his siblings. 

“I was never good to be number one.”

That’s the thing though. I don’t think that his number means what he thought it meant. Best case scenario it was a lucky pick by a negligent asshole, or the babies were born the same day but not in the exact time so their numbers just showcase which one is the oldest....however worst case scenario for Luther anyway is that his father probably labeled the children based on the potential of their powers starting from the most basic level one in the power scale leading up to the strongest while is probably Vanya that reaches the highest and most dangerous level of power. In that case Luther was probably the weakest link.

Also let us face it. When Tom cries...boy that shit hurts. He has very expressive eyes. He is like a big sad bear that you want to hug when he gets like that.

6. Allison’s and Luther’s romance story on the other hand...Yikes...thanks NO THANKS.

That was probably the only normal fatherly reaction their dad had when he caught them....

.....and then it was because they played out of schedule..moron...

And when I said I wanted more from Allison’s storyline...this is not what I meant...and yeah it was always brewing but YUCK!

P.s” 

- “What are we? Chopped Liver?” Well Cha Cha one can hope! For you anyway! Hazel, the work bee can drive away in the sunset with the bird waitress LOL

- I loved how one of Hazel’s motivations to stop the apocalypse is to have the freedom to kill whomever he wants and not those the Commission wants LOL

- The Commission has to go!

- Side note: As much as I despise that incest thing between Allison and Luther...admittedly in their dance scene I’d be blind not to notice that Tom Hopper is hella fine! I mean...damn! 

[ambercblog]

Leopard (movie, 2013)

Finally had the chance to watch this small, super indie movie, that is "Leopard" (also known as "Cold") directed and interpreted by Eoin Macken.

Plot: << Cold centres around two disconnected English brothers, Tom (Tom Hopper) and Jack (Eoin Macken), who are ostracised in a small village in the west of Ireland. Drawn back together by the unexpected and mysterious death of their father, they are immediately at odds until they find a girl dumped still alive in the moors. What follows is a bizarre turn of events, both beautiful and surreal, as the two brothers search for their own resolutions. At times both a love story and a tragic tale, the story is inspired by a piece in John Steinbeck's East of Eden >>

Did I enjoy it? Yes. Did I find it weird? Yes, definitely. If anyone wants to know why, here is my review/report on it (be careful, I’m basically telling you the whole story). And, yes, this is a looong post. ***WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD***

What I loved about the movie was the cinematography. Visually is awesome, full of beautiful irish landscapes, super lighted or gloomy, reflecting the mood of the characters and the whole plot. Indeed the movie starts with a panoramic shot ending on a dead wild animal. Hinting something? Of course, but this is something the viewer will get gradually, like solving a puzzle. We see Tom getting ready for his father’s funeral and going to the church. From here you can already get Tom has some mental dirsorder or something (from the way he dressed is clear some OCD behaviour or the way he walks, stiffened and wary). The church is pretty much empty, as if nobody cared about the man.

Outside Jack joins him but clearly Tom is not happy to see him there. They go back home and, again, Tom looks bothered by his brother and Jack does nothing to make things easy: he steals Tom food from his plate, starts talking without waiting for a response or simply opens and closes the door too loudly. Nothing really annoying but still upsetting, especially for someone who used to live alone and with some social issues. You can see him losing control when Jake takes the father's will, almost choking him to retrieve the sheets. About that, they are quite discouraged when they discover that their father has left them nothing (they are about to lose the house Tom still lives in too).

After that, there's a first plot twist. In two different moments we can see Tom walking through the moor doing something. We also see Jack on his way home, drunk from few hours spent at the local bar, crossing the moor. He witnesses the beating of a girl but he passes out. When he comes back home the next morning, he tells Tom (that clearly tries to hide some scratches on his hand) what he saw but Tom is mad at him because he thinks he is there just for their dad’s money. Jack says he is there "for someone" and Tom asks if that "someone" is their mother which, for some reasons we don't know yet, left the family many years ago. Jack admits that but a look on the puzzle Tom is making (it's the paint "Opehlia" by Millais, and I LOVED this reference, since the whole water/drowning thing is a strong theme in the movie) reminds him of the girl he saw the night before, so he convinces Tom to go find her. They actually finds the girl still alive even if really cold. Is this a reference for the movie title? Maybe, maybe not.

They decide to take her home. Their home, and this is one of the things I didn't quite understand and like of the movie. I mean: two men find a woman beated up and instead of searching for help, call an ambulance and/or the police they take her home? Why? Mmmh. The music here is great tho, possibly hinting to something both good and bad. I say so because, after a first moment of the girl panicking (finding herself in an unknown place with two men and no memory of what happened to her), Tom clarify the situation telling her she is safe now. This scene is incredibly cute, since the girl actually seems to trust Tom to take care of her. Tom face almost lightens up when she tells him " You are a good man, Tom. I feel safe. I trust you". It's like is the first time someone spoke so gently to him.

BUT. But. The music slightly changes tone hinting there's something strange in this. Jack's expression seems to say the same. He doesn't say a word but his face does.

Leaving the house Jack goes to town and meets Rory, the bartender, which asks him about a missing girl (his sister I think), accusing him to know something about it. Of course the reason Rory is sospicious is that something serious is happened years before involving Jack and Tom (and/or their father). But Jack denies any accusation, saying that he doesn’t know any girl. To him every girl is the same, "No face, nameless".

Meanwhile at home Tom is making breakfast/lunch for the girl, making sure everything is perfect.

Again here the music is soft, almost mirroring his current mood: he and the girl are sitting on the couch and are smiling at each other for the first time.

There we can see their faces more closely and... an alarm should go off. How is it possible that a girl heavily beaten up has almost no signs of that aggression? A day or so is passed and she has just few faded bruises? No complaints about any pain? Mmmh. Anyway here is the “romantic” or, at least, sweet scene of the entire movie. My romantic heart liked it :D Tom drops something on the table so he starts panicking while she smiles, clearly amused by his  awkwardness. He then explains that everything he touches just breaks. (*another alarm here*). Then she asks him to touch her face but he doesn't want to risk to hurt her. She insist.

She asks him to kiss her. That is a big no for him, so distressed he can't even look at her. She manages to convince him again so he kisses her tentatively but there's something wrong (again the music changes) and she has to pat him hard on the shoulders to get his attention and break the kiss. Needless to say, he is extremely sorry for that.

Meanwhile Jack has a a pleasant encounter with a bartender girl, but they stop because there's something bothering him. I guessed Tom wasn't the only one with issues, especially towards women. And we'll soon understand why. Anyway, the girl sensing there's something wrong asks him what really happened many years ago, if the rumours are true. "Did you kill her? Or she really just drowned?"

So we discover part of the story, with the frames turning in a nice sepia effect as a flashback starts. We can see Tom chasing a girl through the trees until they reach the river/lake near his house. There the girl starts panicking and screaming at Tom so he kills her, drowning her to stop her screams. It's not clear who was the girl and why she was running from Tom, we can only hear him mutters "You always told Jack you would never talk to me. I don't know why. I just wanted to talk to you, ok?". He's definitely not aware that he killed her and when he notices he just runs away leaving the dead body floating in the water, also because of the approach of some hunters.

Again, it's not clear if Jack actually tells all of this story to the bartender or if he just recalls it in his mind. But it's implied that he covered up his brother to protect him and that the two never talked about what happened.

After this revelation we can see another intimate moment between Tom and the NewGirl (to distinguish her from the drowned one). They are relaxing on a jetty, looking almost like a couple, quietly basking in the sun, listening to the water rustling and to some bird tweeting.

The girl asks Tom about his mother. He tells her that actually, even if he's sure he was beatiful (like every kid thinks of their mom) he can remember only her eyes because he always thought "she hated him with those eyes". (*alarm*) He also says that his dad always blamed him of her leaving the family. Then he mention that the father knew a girl, maybe a new love interest, and when the NewGirl asks Tom if he hated the father for that, he tells her that he hated the girl. (Sooo questions arises here: that dad-girl was the same he drowned? If no, who was she? If yes, why he killed her excatly?Too many questions, no answers at all). Then they come back home.

Suddenly the situation worsens. The bar owner, which had previously asked Jack to leave town, goes to Tom's home searching for Jack and he finds the girl body laying in bed. So the real mystery is revealed to us: the NewGirl died during the beating so Tom, actually, talked to, kissed and walked with a corpse (or, maybe, he imagined it all). This makes sense since no one else but Tom talked to the girl. Plus, it was strange that a beaten up person had almost no signs. Now we can see her face paler, blue lips and more bruises. Also the expression on Jack face when they discovered the girl and took her home was weird and wary because he noticed she was already dead. (Then why he didn't say anything and let his brother going on with his "fantasy"? I can't understand his reasons.)

Tom sees the man standing next to the girl and, noticing only now that she is dead, he thinks that the man has just killed her. The man tries to explaining that the girl must have been dead for at least a couple of days already, looking at her conditions.

But Tom can't believe him and blinded by rage he kills the man drowning him in the bath tub (the theme of the water/drowning returns). Jack comes back home finding Tom sitting on a bench with the girl in his arms.

The shocked man confesses this new murder and Jack decides to bury both bodies into the wood. But once again the girl “comes to life” before Tom's eyes.

She tells that it's all right, like she wants to comfort him. He shake is head but after a last kiss he realizes that she is indeed dead and that he has to let her go.

Jack suggests him to say few words and Tom, sobbing, confesses "I loved you. You meant everything to me" and that he's sorry that he was unable to protect her. His pain is heartbreaking (Tom Hopper here is phenomenal).

But again there are too many questions. In his speech Tom is referring to the other girl (the one he killed), as if he were imagining her all this time? Or he's really referring to this NewGirl? And if so, he's talking about the fact that he didn't protect her before the beating, like that if he had met her earlier he could have saved her from the aggression? Or he's talking about the "after death" part, as if he wanted to take care of her forever, especially since he doesn't realize she is dead?(this option doesn't really make sense tho). Too many questions, no answers. Only guesses.

After the burials the two brothers set off to finally meet their mother. Jack found out that the woman is a lap dancer in a private club, so he goes first (to check when/if they can meet her) while Tom, exhausted by the events and the long walk to Jack's apartment, falls asleep. When Jack comes back, Tom just woke up (and let's face it, Hopper had the cutest sleepy face there) 

and he changed his shirt and jacket, as he wants to look all clean and nice. But when he asks Jack if their mother is excited to see him (just him, because he assumed that the two have already met), we find out that actually Jack didn't even ever talk to her. Tom doesn't understand why and Jacks explains that if she wanted to see / talk to them, she would have been looking for them too long ago.

So, against all hopes, they goes to the club. The atmosphere there is almost relaxing, there's a band palying a smooth track, but Tom is clearly in discomfort (that is not his ideal habitat). He can't even look at the waitress offering him a drink, searching his brother eyes for help. When the music stops playing, Jack leaves Tom alone in a private room with just a letter, asking him to read it to the mother. She enters the room and, because she doesn't know who Tom is, she just starts dancing and flirting with him, like she would do with any other customer. He can barely move, just asks her to listening to what he has to say, after begging her to not look at him so he can read the letter.

*MAJOR SPOILERS HERE*

This is the last piece of the puzzle as we find out what happened in that family. The story Jack wrote is pretty simple yet sad (something we viewers have already in part guessed): a married couple was in love and had two kids (Tom and Jack) who just wanted to be loved. The mom wasn't bad but she left the family. The kids (someway) figured out that she left them because the father, "a hard man", beated her and the kids up, so they hoped on her return to save them from the dad but she never came back. The kids still love the father but while one boy (Tom) locked everything up, like it didn't never happened, the other (Jack) left too, leaving his brother to their father mercy (this sounded like a confession, an apology to Tom from Jack). Jack left also to serching for the mother, to ask her why she really left. The letter ends there.

The woman listens to all of that in silence, she almost looks sad, contrite. For a moment - just a moment - this looks like a family reunion, with her looking up at him with sparkling eyes.

"Wow, my baby grown up!"

BUT. But suddently the background music changes as she sits on Tom's lap, making him extremely distressed. And she starts telling the real truth behind the story they thought they knew: she was actually abused by the father (because, she explains, "if you are married there's no rape"), so Tom and Jack are the results of violence. Just watching them grow up was too much for her, she felt trapped, so she left.

These revelations hit Tom so hard he has a strong panic attack. The woman tells him "You still get your strange panic attacks. Of course you do" and "You're still just a child" and that suggests that Tom has suffered from that since he was a kid, that's why she also accused them to be "needy kids": not only they were unwanted, but also they probably had “special” needs or something. Tom calls Jack for help which comes in a hurry to calm him down. But the mom keeps flirting and making sexual allusions with both the stressed men. Is pretty obvious that the past abuses have left marks on them all and have created a toxic environment where everyone has an unhealthy conduct about sex and social relations: Tom can't even look girls in the eyes (he has probably never had an intimate relationship, that's why the kiss was so clumsy and out of control), Jack seems to be a one-night stand type of guy, as if is afraid to bonding with someone or as if he doesn't really trust anyone, and the mom too. She tells Jack that she saw him watch her dancing many times (not knowing he was his son but still) and then asks him "Do you love me, Jackie?" and he says "Yes... you are my mother", but his tone is almost insecure, as if he as if he could really consider the idea of incestuous love (or, at least, this is what the woman thinks).

Anyway, all the hustle and bustle attracts the club owner's attention which demands both the guys to leave. Jack leaves immediately. Tom, still in shock, can't really move and when the owner get too close he attacks him. Only Jack's intervention prevents him from choking the man. 

Eventually the brothers leave the place, leaving a slightly shoked mother. Like I said, the meeting left everyone upset, even the woman. One of the other dancer suggests her to quit for the night but the owner is mad because of what happened and reminds the woman that that's her job so she accecpts to continue (better to say she is forced to) with a new customer. This suggests that, despite she said she is loved by her "audience", she is still trapped living a sad, lonely life doing an humiliating job, especially after what she's been through.

In the end we can see Tom and Jack back in his apartment. Jack locks himself in the bathroom, taking some sort of pills (?). Tom joins him, taking away whatever he is taking, and for the first time we can see Jack falling apart. Tom hugs him as he starts sobbing.

The movie ends with the fading shot of the two embracing each other.

It's a pretty angsty ending but I liked it nontheless because, even if their relationship is damaged too, it's like the brothers can rely on each other, no matter what, especially now that they are truly alone (mom and dad definitively gone from their lives).

Sooo... This was my summary/explanation of the whole movie. I liked it but I think it could have been better. The pros (for me) are. - The shots. Great frames with impact and meaningful, visually nice - The music. I LOVE music and movie soundtracks are key elements for me. Here I find it pretty good, both the music-solo and the songs with lyrics - The psychology behind all. - Tom Hopper. Every actor was good in here but Tom definitely stole the scene, even from Eoin. They filmed this just after shooting "Merlin" or so, so watching this (even after 10 years) reminded me of it: physically they were basically the two Camelot knights in plain clothes, especially Eoin character :') But, again, Tom was reaaally good, super cute and I just wanted to hug his character forever.

The cons: - What I already said in the review. It’s all too complicted. The movie starts as a thriller, with the case of the missing/beaten up girl, but then it adds too many things in the mix: the illusory element of Tom talking to the dead girl, the difficult relationship between different brothers and, in the end, the raw truth of abused kids and women and the entire judgment of a small town. And the fact that none of the problems ultimately find a solution bothered me. The movie makes you taking guesses without giving you the right one. Too many unresolved things. Plus, all the questions left without answers: - Who really killed the beaten girl? - Who was the girl Tom killed? why she was running from him? Where was Jack in that moment? And the father? What was that last shot with her looking back at Jack over her shoulder? what’s the meaning? - Why Jack didn't say anything when he realized the girl they rescued was dead? I mean, I can understand maybe to protect Tom (from having a crisis or something), but still that was a dangerous behaviour (in fact, Tom ends up committing another homicide). - Why the mother acted that way, so weird and cruel? I understand her trauma and pain but back then Tom and Jack were just kids and it's never kids fault (unless it is some creepy possessed kid in horror movies, lol), and now that they are adults (more or less) what do you, flirting with them recalling old traumas instead of talking to them? You are too overwhelmed by feelings and bad memories to talk? Ok, totally understandable, just ignore them then. You had to rage against them, just to get screwed too.

And some other other stuff that confused me.

So, in the end, I recommend it? Yes, I think it's worth watching. It's a slooow burn with a unhappy ending but it makes you think about sensitive topics (abuses, mental disorders, the importance of an healthy family environment). And for the old Merlin fans out there, at least we have two of our beloved knights. 

I mean, look at these two! <3