#tony is genuinely fascinating to me because his original direction was going to be so much different but improv changed him for the better.

[royaltyfreeramblings]

Talk about Tony the Most Divorced Man or else.

first of all. this is mr. the tiger

as you can see he is not a cereal mascot. in fact he is not affiliated with kell or oggs. he is pro-union and anti-capitalist as well. He is a beast of PURE improv and everything about him is literally spawned from people saying words and dealing with the consequences later. the laws of god do not apply to this man. I love him so much.

But before we dive deeper into the Tony Lore, we'll need to talk about what happened to Jersey.

In this universe, New Jersey got utterly fucked up by the death-but-not-really of a God, who straight up exploded and unleashed a ton of energy into the surrounding area, permanently altering it into two distinct zones. These zones are Old New Jersey, which consists of a wasteland full of strange creatures, rust storms and more, and New New Jersey, which has parking lots full of floating vehicles and a commune of formerly-monarchist alligators in the sewers. It is one of the most Fucked Places in-universe.

Where does Tony fit into all of this?

Well, Tony was born in New New Jersey and learned how to fight in the Lots, dodging cars and lava. He quickly earned a reputation as a hometown hero known as the Demon of the Lot. His escapades became rather well-known, and over time he got involved in all sorts of nonsense, such as becoming friends with a group of mercenaries and also dismantling the aforementioned alligator sewer monarchy. At some point in his life, he met Hazard, who is someone that actively deals psychic damage to people around him and is one of the most guys of all time as well. Tony is immune to psychic damage. The two of them got married and had a daughter who basically learned everything from Wikipedia articles which she has memorized. In this time frame, he also mastered the use of the Lot Stance, a powerful technique that is effective against Landlords, Monarchists, and more. It involves dropping down ontop of your opponent really fast.

For this next bit, we need to talk about parallel universes as well as stuff made by one of my hella rad friends.

So in some Fanfuffles there are two universes, U1 and U2. U2 is like U1, but events are slightly pushed in a different direction for a lot of characters as a way to explore how these characters would exist in different circumstances.

In U2, Tony does not change, because he is constant across all universes. The U2 counterpart of Hazard is known as Selenicereus. Sel divorced Tony (u2) so joddamn hard that every Tony across the multiverse lost their asses collectively, and the universe intervenes every time his ass is threatened to be restored to it's full power. In U2, Tony lost his ass in the Divorce. In U1, Tony lost his ass in mourning, as Hazard had died around the same time of The Divorce.

In the time leading up to Ai Altercation, things got both better and worse. His mercenary friends got captured while going to assassinate the head of a major corporation, for starters. He also adopted a weird fish alien who came to earth to conquer it and now is just Dealing With Imposter Syndrome. We'll get to it. Eventually, he wound up as the captain of Team Charge, a team dedicated to fighting for glory, for the fun of it, or some other reason. Just a bunch of people who like fighting for the hell of it.

I'm gonna speedrun the Tony Events from 1 to 10 the best I can here.

AA1 is the big team captain bracket where the current captains at the time all fought. He had to fight Regional Manager. The one who had most of his friends killed/experimented on because they aren't actually dead except for Knight but ANYWAYS. After that Tony goes on a date with Goro Majima (Shapeshifter Forme) in the parking lot of a Home Depot where they eat Glass together. Tony can just do that.

From AA2 onward is when the REAL stuff happens for him. He shows up in a different Fanfuffle around that time with Rook (One of the Mercenaries) and Jessica and the three of them sweep a bracket and take the champion spot. Jessica took champ title while her fish bestie Mazu was champion in New York. Then before AA5, Tony went to Florida to visit. This visit resulted in the resurrection of Hazard through the sacrifice of Chris Pratt, who was killed by two of Hazard's teammates (who are now married) and an undead punk singer. (Travis King my beloved.) So Hazard is back, Jessica gets to see her other dad again, big family reunion. Tony and Hazard both show up in bracket for AA6, which you can find on the VOD channel I should link somewhere. For the past few tournaments he's honestly done very little except provide support for his team, but he IS in bracket for Gaiden 2. So look forward to that if you want to see him in action

[starlight-thoughts-ao3]

Handle With Care

Summary: For a moment, he considered walking back out of the room, give her the privacy she clearly desired, but she wasn't stopping, so he kept watching. She kept dancing to the delicate music and he sank to the floor in front of her, his legs crossed over themselves, a captive audience. Her lips quirked up into a smile, and as the song came to an end, she bowed in his direction.

TW: Nothing, so far as I’m aware. Let me know if you disagree.

Notes: This is part me being poetic and pretentious and part me being unable to get the image of Natasha dancing for Tony out of my head. I just, their relationship in the MCU is one I find fascinating. The "I should not care about you, but I can't help it" on both ends of that is something I can't help but play around with, and I've been toying with this fic for months and I'm not entirely happy with it, but I have it written so here. Cross-posted on AO3.

Human beings like to tell themselves such pretty lies. Things will get better. Everything happens for a reason. Love always wins. We tell ourselves stories where the good guys win and the bad guys get put away behind bars because we can't cope with the concept that sometimes, life just doesn't care. Tony Stark was born into a world that would always know his name, though not for the reasons he'd wish they would. Such careful manipulation of the facts made sure that no one would ever think that the man who was known as the Merchant of Death was so full of life and energy he was drowning in it. He poured all his passion into things he'd never publicize but they were his children; they were made of metal and code, but they were real and he loved them enough to hide them away from prying eyes. Act like you don't care about anything or anyone long enough and eventually, people stop caring about you.

Tony Stark was born a disappointment, and he learned early on that he'd be allowed more freedom if he didn't even try to change their minds. So he wore a mask made of recklessness and failure and watched as the world forgot that he was brilliant. The problem with masks is that some people will see them and decide it's far more interesting to see what they're hiding.

James Rhodes watched as the boy who was way too young to be sitting in the college lab twisted lines of code into a simple, but charming, personality like it was magic, then build it a body, sketching designs for the robotic arm over the blueprints his father wanted him to look over, just to see if his son had a mind for weapons as he did. James watched as Tony fixed all the issues his father's designs had, then go back to creating life like it was nothing special. James watched as his best friend was told his parents were dead and he watched as Tony shut himself off from the world and created JARVIS. It would occur to him later that AI was the first bit of armor Tony built.

Virginia Potts was the most terrifyingly competent person Tony had ever had the pleasure of being yelled at by. He had stumbled into her -- literally -- one night while leaving the R&D offices and she had given him hell for it, all while towering over him in her high heels, not a hair out of place. Her fury mixed with her composure startled a genuine laugh out of him. He promoted her on the spot. He liked the way she treated him as human, instead of a toy or a trophy. Things were easier with her at his side. The world didn't seem as overwhelming when she was there to take care of the practical things. She didn't judge him for having his head in the clouds, she just tied a string around his wrist and guided him like a balloon while she stayed firmly on the ground. It had taken him much too long to realize that there wasn't enough money in the world to keep someone with him, so her continued presence in his life had to be because she genuinely cared, and that was when he gave her the codes to his personal lab. He found her, his Pepper, asleep on the couch more than once, hair loose, feet curled up under a blanket she had brought down because she liked to watch him work.

One kidnapping and betrayal later, Tony began to distrust everything and anyone connected to his father. The only ones who actually seemed to care about him were the ones he chose himself.

Steve Rogers was everything everyone had wanted Tony to be and having all that rush back into his head out of nowhere put him on the defensive. He knew Pepper would tell him that none of that was Steve's fault and could he please get his head out of his head now? But he couldn't. This was the man that his father had idolized and searched for until the day he died. This was the man that Howard had poured all his time and energy into instead of his son, and while Tony knew, and he did know, that Rogers had no part of that, Tony was tired of the past coming to haunt him. Realistically, anyone his father had liked was bad news for him and there was no one, save Aunt Peggy, that Howard Stark liked more than Steve Rogers.

They clashed and shattered against each other, the whole world watching as Tony Stark and Steve Rogers fell into synchronization, the pieces of shared history falling to the wayside in the light of victory.

Natasha was difficult for Tony to process. She was the only person he'd ever met who wore as many masks as he did, and he tried desperately to not think about the fact that she was so deadly because of it. People underestimated her, didn't see how clever her eyes were, didn't see how she'd change everything about herself to fit the image they wanted to see. He saw how it wore her down. He could relate, and she knew it. It was strange, the art of being seen as what other people wanted shared between a man who was always in the spotlight and a woman who learned to blend into the background.

He liked to watch her dance. It wasn't that it made him forget that she was lethal -- quite the opposite, actually -- but more that she looked more human while she did. It was almost like whatever it was that allowed her to drift seamlessly between personalities melted away and left just a woman who loved to dance behind. She was talented and beautiful because of course, she was, but it was how carefree and unguarded she was as she twirled around that caught -- and held -- his attention. The funny thing is, he almost didn't have this, he almost let it slip through his fingers. The shooting range was originally going to be both Clint and Natasha's "welcome to the dysfunctional family" present, but the archer had a different idea.

"You want her happy, Stark, you give her a place to dance," Clint had said in such a no-nonsense tone that he almost thought that he was playing a prank on him, and if he followed through, she'd kill him without mercy. But the glint in Clint's eyes told him to take a chance, and so he lined one wall of the gym with mirrors and had a barre installed, much to the confusion of the builders. When he took all of them around the tower, the way her fingers trailed along the metal was reverent. She and Clint shared a look, he nodded, and suddenly Tony's arms were full of a redhead who could kill in an instant if she wanted.

"Thank you," she whispered into his ear. He's still not sure what platitudes he said, but a second later, she was across the room, no hint of the raw emotion she had just displayed on her face. And that was that.

He hadn't expected to ever see her actually use the space he had carved out for her, as it was well known that she was in the gym late at night when the more sensible members of their team had long since gone to sleep or pretended to. But he was no stranger to aimless insomnia, and had wandered into the gym one night, just walking around, and had been startled out of daydreams by slow music, and it would have been ethereal if not for the haunting melody. The sound of her feet hitting the floor came after and his eyes drifted to her. It was in that moment he had reconsidered the meaning of the word "revealing". He had certainly seen more of her skin than the leotard was showing, but he had never seen more of her. He looked so much like his father that they tended to forget that he was Maria's son as well. He'd been to enough ballet performances to know that while her movements weren't the most technically accurate, that was only because she didn't want them to be. He also knew she was aware of his presence. For a moment, he considered walking back out of the room, give her the privacy she clearly desired, but she wasn't stopping, so he kept watching. She kept dancing to the delicate music and he sank to the floor in front of her, his legs crossed over themselves, a captive audience. Her lips quirked up into a smile, and as the song came to an end, she bowed in his direction.

"You could do that professionally, you know. Drop the whole spy thing and just do that," he told her as she offered him her hand. She shook her head.

"No, I couldn't," she said. He looked her up and down, and smiled sadly.

"No, you couldn't," he agreed, "but you should dance for us, sometimes. Pretty sure that little number you just did would scandalize our dear captain." He wiggled his eyebrows and she laughed and laughed. Tony pulled her into him and began a simple waltz in the silence. She fell into step so effortlessly that it almost startled him, but only almost.

"Maybe I'll dance for everyone one day. We'll see. It's not personal, it's just," she sighed, unsure how to finish the sentence.

"It's just too personal," he suggested. She nodded. His hands on her body felt warm and distracting in a way she was not accustomed to. They were not wandering; they stayed exactly where they were supposed to be for the dance, and while his embrace was steady, it was not strict. She could walk away from this moment, and he would let her.

"I don't know how to let people in, Tony. I don't know how to be a person, not really." Her steps never faltered, but her voice wobbled, just a bit.

"One person at a time, one little truth at a time," he said, switching the dance from a formal ballroom to a playful mishmash of whatever he wanted. She grinned and teased him with chaos of her own. She twirled away from him, and as just as he pulled her back to him, he whispered into her ear, "and sometimes, Miss Rushman, you don't let them in at all. They come barging in anyway and you hope and pray they don't break your heart."

[inzannatea-arts]

#21 Days of Nathan - A Recap Pt 2 Days 11-21

Apparently there was just too much on the other post, so here we go with post #2! 

Day 11: One word to describe Nathan

My one word to describe Nathan is "Ebullient" -- meaning cheerful and full of energy. There's also an archaic meaning of boiling or agitated as if boiling. I feel in both watching Nathan's performances and in the few times I've had the opportunity to meet him in person this word is fitting. In person, he is a boundless energy and pure serotonin. Just a genuinely delightful and kind human who CANNOT SIT STILL FOR 5 SECONDS. But that same frenetic energy is contained, if only just barely, in so many of his performances... most especially Jack. You can tell there is something boiling just beneath the surface and it's utterly fascinating to watch.

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Day 12: Play I’d like to see Nathan in

Really the answer is "anything". He has great range. But I think he'd give the appropriate gravitas and hilarity to the role of Septimus Hodge in Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia".  He might be a little on the mature side, but he could probably pull it off. Arcadia takes place both in 1809/1812 and the present day with the activities of the modern overlaid on the action of the past. We gradually learn the fates of the past protagonists as the modern actors learn them in the present. It's a very interesting play exploring the nature of evidence and modern theories of history maths, and physics. It brings together themes of romanticism and empiricism, logic and love, sex and sensibility. I think it would be a fantastic role for Nathan and he would knock it out of the park.

Day 13: Favorite picture of Nathan Page from a public event

Event was originally supposed to be the cast and crew preview, part 2 for all the folks who bought that level of movie support, but who couldn't get away for (US) Thanksgiving weekend to the other side of the planet with three week's notice. I like it because I'm photobombing it 🤣 Not only that, it was just such a fun day. @skirtswithpocketsplease is always the right person to stand near in a crowd, fyi. @lechatnoir1918 can also be spotted in this great shot of Mary and Nathan (and bombastic me... and someone's very supportive husband just behind us) from @themissfisherphiles. So hard to believe it's been just over a year!

Day 14: Actor you’d like Nathan to work with

This is another one of those "anyone" answers... However, I would really love to have Nathan and Claudia Black (of Farscape, Stargate) work together. It's probably part of my  Tony Tilse love, or maybe just that I could listen to these two talk for hours on end and it wouldn't even matter what they said. They both have amazing voices in addition to formidable acting talent.

Week 3 below the fold

Day 15: Favorite Behind the Scenes moment

This video was shot by Essie Davis’s dresser for series 1&3 Peter O'Halloran. Essie and Nathan are just so delightfully playful together, even when they're supposed to be Jedi-serious. I adore them 💓

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Day 16: TV Show you’d like to see Nathan Page on

I choose Ms. Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries. I'd love to have silver fox Jack Robinson come wandering back into his house to find, not the Miss Fisher he expects, but Miss Fisher the younger. He's been on his own long term mission and didn't know Phryne had gone missing... or maybe has been with her and neither realized the world thinks her dead-again. Either way, bring me silver fox Jack in mid-century Mod to drive the nail in Sparrow's coffin.

Day 17: Fav Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears moment

There were a lot of moments I really loved, but I think this was the moment that Essie and Nathan really made me swoon. Methinks the Inspector doth protest too much. No. No. No. No. 

Day 18: Favorite Jack Photo

This lovely shot of Nathan probably needs to be credited to DP Roger Lanser since it's a Screen-cap directly from the Kate Dennis directed episode S1E3 The Green Mill Murder. Other crew are certainly to be credited as well, but Roger... man. Roger just has that eye for good light.

Day 19: Question I’d like to ask Nathan, given the opportunity

I've been lucky enough to have a very casual conversation with Nathan and I didn't really have any burning questions to ask him. We just talked about life and kids and the fires that were raging in Australia, and Lola. Mostly Lola. And how he wants to do more bicycle stunts. I guess after all this lockdown what my wing clipped wandedlusting self wants to know is, where have you always wanted to ride but haven't yet?

Day 20: All-time favorite photo of Nathan Page

This is from the 2016 Logies when Essie Davis had been nominated for a Golden Logie and brought Nathan Page along for the ride. All of the photos were wonderful. It was the first time we'd seen them together since Phryne flew away... and it was clear these too truly were friends. Truly just enjoying each other's company. This one is my favorite because of the sweetness of it. Essie looks a touch nervous. Nathan is full of pride for his friend. Beautiful.

Day 21: Best Cycling Moment

Really it was hard to choose. I love the koala 🐨 and all of the stuff with Lola 🐕 It's really fun to get to go barreling down the hills of rural South Australia 🇦🇺 whilst sitting behind my home office desk. It sparks that sense of adventure that seems to have faded to a mere ember in last year of lockdowns and loss. But--with all of those already cataloged elsewhere in this list, I had to go with this image of pure #couplegoals from shortly after the move to Adelaide. It came from the 18 April 2018 edition of "The Advertiser," (hand delivered to me by a certain delightful person who shall remain @geenee27) at #missfishercon 2018 in Portland, OR.

I wasn't sure I could manage to get through all 21 days, but it was really fun to do! Thank you, @izzyandlouie​ for organizing it! Thank you, Nathan Page for being so generous with your time and care. Thank you to Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and Every Cloud Productions for introducing the world to our favorite dapper detective. Thank you @adventuressclubamericas for organizing the North American fans and making us a force. Also, also... since 21 days of Nathan is done, check out @adventuressesclubamericas for #Miss Fisher March Madness if you haven't already!

[artemisegeria]

A Day Out (Belated Scarlet Vision Fic Exchange 2020)

I finally finished my pinch hit for @spellsofscarlet for the 2020 Scarlet Vision Fic Exchange. At least it’s still June lol. Based on this prompt: “Maybe a fluffy Wanda and vision teaching each other things? Like Wanda was trapped in hydra from a young age, and he’s an Android, so maybe a cute lil fic of them discovering and finding things out together about the world they don’t really understand. Two idiots learning how to love each other when they haven’t had chance to express this emotion before. Idk whatever u wanted to do loosely around this idea would be awesome!!!”

I hope you enjoy. 

Summary: Natasha and Steve give Wanda and Vision a special mission in preparation for increased undercover work. Takes place shortly pre-Civil War. Rated G; no warnings apply.

After almost a year together, the new Avengers had settled into a comfortable rhythm. Long days of intense training were broken up by missions and movie nights. Tense, awkward introductions had become camaraderie. Lonely isolation had become warmth.

The core of Wanda’s grief was still untouched, but she found it easier to cope day to day than she had at the beginning. She was finally letting herself accept her new place in the world.

That’s why she was relaxed enough to be dozing off on Vision’s shoulder during one team bonding night. He gently nudged her awake. The credits were rolling, and the others were beginning to stretch and stand up when Steve cleared his throat. “Good night, everyone. Get some sleep; early run at five hundred sharp tomorrow.” There were grumbles all around, but they all nodded in agreement before heading to their rooms.

“Wanda, Vision, could you two stay back for a minute?” They both glanced at each other and back to Steve.

Natasha remained by Steve’s side. “We have a special little mission for you two.” Wanda felt Vision’s eagerness at this news, but Wanda watched Natasha’s slightly maniacal grin warily. “We’ve noticed you’re still a little uncomfortable when we go out in public. We have a few undercover missions coming up, and we want you to be prepared. So, your assignment is to go out together.”

Wanda eyed her skeptically. “That’s it?” There had to be more to it.

“Yep. Go into the city. Practice the subway. Go to the movies. Whatever you want. Just spend some time among civilians.” Natasha thought for a moment, then added, “Just no skulking around museums. Stay out among the people.” Though Vision’s posture and demeanor did not change, Wanda felt him droop.

His distress became even sharper upon further thought. She squeezed his hand instinctively. “Will my appearance be a problem?”

Steve replied, “It’s not a problem, but this would be a good opportunity to work on your disguise.” Wanda’s heart hurt that Vision had to hide himself away, but she still glowed with pride at the control he had gained over his powers. She had been the one to help him in the early days when he could not maintain the disguise for more than a few minutes at a time.

“Yes, undoubtedly. So far I have only practiced in the relatively controlled environment of the compound.”

When Steve and Natasha dismissed them, they headed toward the residential section. Wanda realized that she was still holding Vision’s hand. The thought did not bother her as much as she thought it might. He was quiet, not immediately launching into plans for their assigned outing or questions of what she would like to do.

Vision started to bid her good night at her door when she placed her hand on his arm. “After we finish this mission, we should try going out just as we are. We deserve to be ourselves. It’s everyone else’s problem if they can’t handle it.”

A tentative smile turned up his lips. “I would look forward to that, Wanda.”

“It’s a date, then. Good night, Vizh.”

“Sleep well, Wanda.”

***

Wanda and Vision landed in an alleyway at the edge of the city. They had decided they could enjoy themselves by flying to the city before donning their civilian appearance. Wanda was still fascinated at the ripple of pale skin forming over Vision’s body. The hair and a change of casual clothes were the finishing touches.

“Do you think my appearance is acceptable?”

She grinned at him. “More than acceptable. What about me?” She did a little twirl for him. She had borrowed one of Natasha’s wigs for this mission, a short black bob. She wasn’t too fond of it, but it did give her a different look, along with the light-colored clothing and makeup she had chosen.

Vision considered her with pursed lips. She didn’t think that he was about to insult her, but she grew unaccountably nervous at his pause. “You look lovely, as always.” He paused again, looking away from her as if afraid that he had said too much. Wanda squeezed his hand in a familiar comforting gesture. He returned his eyes to her. “But I wish you could go out in clothes you are comfortable in as well.”

“Next time, like we agreed.” He nodded, and she pulled him into the street. They walked hand in hand. She told herself it was only to stay together among the crowds, but a curious warmth traveled up her arm all the way to her heart. She did her best to ignore it.

Instead, she focused on their surroundings. Wanda had seldom been able to simply stroll along. She had hidden in the streets after her parents’ deaths, she had protested in the streets, but she had not been afforded the opportunity to wander in the streets aimlessly. Now, she watched the endlessly varieties of people swirl around them. She took in all the savory and less-than-savory scents. She absorbed Vision’s fascination with the city.

Vision had wanted to plan out every minute of their outing, but Wanda had convinced him to be a little more spontaneous. They had no schedule or destination. They could simply be.

Still, the thoughts of the crowd beat on Wanda relentlessly. Vision was not the only one who had been kept to a controlled environment.

Vision gripped her hand harder upon feeling her distress. “Wanda, we happen to be near Central Park. Shall we take a stroll in there?” She nodded. Vision took the lead, pulling her along with him. They walked toward an out-of-the-way bench. Wanda collapsed gratefully onto it.

After some moments of relaxation, Wanda noted that Vision looked very pleased with himself. She narrowed her eyes at him. “We weren’t really wandering with no destination in mind, were we?”

Vision smiled sheepishly at her. “Well, you were. But I must admit that I was leading us here.” She thought back to every casual turn and decision. In hindsight, it seemed that Vision had subtly suggested certain directions. She was beginning to doubt her telepathy because she had not seen it at all.

“Well done. Nat would be proud.”

He frowned slightly. She imagined he was judging whether she was being sarcastic. Wanda did not fully know herself. “I apologize for my subterfuge, but I thought it would be a prime opportunity to practice for undercover missions.” He truly did seem sorry, his head hanging low and his mind projecting remorse.

Wanda relented. “It’s okay. I like it here.”

“I am glad.” Vision relaxed, smiling more genuinely at her.

After some moments of pleasant silence, Wanda felt ready to go on. They could not stay here all day. “We might as well give up the pretense of our day being unplanned.”

“Agreed.”

“But since you chose first, it’s my turn to choose the next place.”

“Of course.”

She thought for a moment. There was one place part of her wanted to go, though she was not entirely sure she would enjoy it. “Let’s go to Madame Tussaud’s. I don’t think it counts as a museum.” Tapping his head, she grinned at him. “I assume you know how to get there.”

“I do.”

“Lead on.”

They both stood and walked toward the edge of the park. “Right this way.” He took her hand, leading them firmly into the crowd. Wanda grinned secretly. Vision was not the only one who could be sneaky. She enjoyed his growing confidence as he was encouraged to use his skills to guide them to the next destination.

When they reached their destination, Vision bought tickets. The place was crowded today. Wanda veiled her mind more carefully as they navigated their way through the masses. At least it was providing the practice Nat wanted. And a quieter voice in her head pointed out that it was an excuse to keep holding onto Vision.

The displays of life-size, wax figurines were filled with a number of celebrities she had never heard of. Vision added running commentary of what movies the actors had been in or where she might have seen the famous faces. Much to her amusement, he added on stories that he retained from J.AR.V.I.S. of encounters some of them had had with Tony Stark.

Finally, they reached the Avengers exhibit. The original six were all prominently displayed, but Thor, Steve, and Tony took pride of place. While Wanda no longer carried the burning rage or ice-cold vengeance toward Iron Man that she once had and they could be civil, she could not help the satisfied smirk that formed on her face when more people were trying to get pictures with Steve and Thor than with him. If Vision noticed, he did not comment.

They moved quickly through the rest of the displays and back out into the warm sunshine. Wanda was growing more used to the people all around her. She could breathe a little easier.

“Would you like something to eat?” Wanda had not thought about it, but her stomach grumbled at the question. She looked around her. There was a little cart on the sidewalk selling a variety of foods that one could take with them.

She walked toward the cart, pulling out a few bills from her pocket. “I’ll have a pretzel, please.” The owner handed her the item wrapped in paper and she paid him. Then, she and Vision continued on their way. Her teeth sank into the hot, doughy treat. She enjoyed the way the salt burned her tongue.

A glance at Vision showed him still taking in all the city had to offer. His eyes moved back and forth rapidly, trying to scan everything before them. She grinned at his attention. She tore off a piece of pretzel, waving it in front of him. When he looked down in confusion, she asked, “Want to try?”

He looked at it as if it might bite him for a moment before tentatively taking it from her hand. Vision sniffed at it suspiciously. Finally, he put the treat in his mouth and chewed slowly. When he said nothing and his face remained neutral, Wanda prompted him, “Well?”

“I suppose it is pleasant enough.”

“You can say you don’t like it if that’s the case.”

His expression opened up a bit. “Very well. I would not choose to eat this again.”

Wanda grinned. “Okay. More for me then!”

“I am happy to leave you to it.”

“What’s next? It’s your turn.”

“Since the day is nearing a close, I propose we make the next stop our last attraction.”

“Okay. But you didn’t answer my question.” She slipped her arm into his. Vision accepted the move with a hand covering hers.

He smiled shyly down at her. “I would like to maintain an element of surprise. If you do not mind, that is.”

“Sure. Keep your secrets.” She grinned at him. Her plan was working very well. Vision was certainly growing more comfortable with asserting his own wishes.

When they came to a stop, she could see what Vision wanted to do. There was a massive structure in front of them. It reminded her of Vision, all clean lines, gleaming metal, and a sense of mystery inside. It was a maze of staircases crossing over each other in an open tower that somewhat resembled an acorn.

Vision insisted on taking Wanda’s picture. Her hair kept blowing in her face, but as usual, his enthusiasm inspired her to smile. Then, they switched places. Finally, Wanda decided that they needed the true civilian tourist experience, so she asked a stranger to take a picture of them both. She wrapped an arm around Vision’s waist while he draped his over her shoulder.

Once they had taken their fill of pictures, they entered the structure to climb to the top. While they were going up the stairs, pausing to look around every once in a while, Vision narrated the history of the Vessel. There was a magnificent view of the city skyline. The sun shone down, lighting up all the metal and glass buildings.

Finally, they made their way back to the ground. They ended their day by taking the subway toward the edge of the city.

As much fun as the day had been, Wanda was relieved when they were able to take to the air. Being a civilian was highly overrated. With Vision and the Avengers, she could be herself without having to hide her powers or her appearance. Vision had also immediately removed his disguise when they were out of sight. She smiled at his textured red skin. She had missed his true self as well.

It was late evening when they arrived at the compound. Wanda’s stomach was growling again. None of the other Avengers were anywhere to be found. She had thought that Steve and Natasha, at least, would be waiting to interrogate her and Vision. Since that was not the case, she went to the refrigerator, seeing what had been for dinner that night.

A plate of grilled chicken, potatoes, and vegetables was reserved with her name on it. She put in the microwave to heat up. Vision was hanging around the edge of the kitchen. “Would you like some tea?”

“Sure, but you don’t have to make it if you’re tired.”

His lips tilted in a slightly mischievous smile. Wanda always enjoyed these hints of emotion that peeked out more and more. “As you know, I do not grow tired. I am happy to do this for you.”

She poked her tongue out at him. “I was trying to be nice. You don’t have to wait on me, you know.” She paused as his face fell. His mind sped up, and she realized he was trying to think of an excuse to hang around. “But I would like a cup if you want to.”

Vision relaxed. He removed the kettle from the cupboard and put it on the stove. Wanda leaned against the counter, taking slow bites of her dinner. Vision prepared her tea just the way she liked it. A warmth that was completely separate from the hot tea filled her at his care.

When she had finished her meal and they had both cleaned up for the evening, there was no good excuse to linger. It was a regular training day the next morning, so she should say good night and go to her room. But she didn’t want the day to end.

Wanda stopped Vision on his way to his room. “Do you want to plan our next outing?” She saw his protest coming and added, “I’m still way too caught up in the day to sleep right now.”

His concern immediately transformed into a slight smile. “That sounds like a valuable pursuit. I have obtained analog guidebooks. They are in my quarters if that is acceptable to you.”

Wanda grinned at him. “Lead on,” she said once more.

The Vessel: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d16875019-Reviews-The_Vessel-New_York_City_New_York.html

Madame Tussaud’s: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d209439-Reviews-Madame_Tussauds_New_York-New_York_City_New_York.html

[tonystarktogo]

Since we are doing this. Let's go all in. An au where the avengers are each a stone. Tony: Reality Natasha: Soul Steve: Time Bruce: Power Bucky: Mind or Death (death stone is native to battlerealm it's Canon and thanks used it to collect the others unaposed) Sam: Mind or Death Thor: Space What say you? Should the stones be switched around for others you think might match better with?

I absolutely love your designations and the concept of the Death stone but just take a moment to consider: 

(This got very, very long. If you prefer, you can read it on AO3.)

The Infinity Stones are not simply stones. They are energy. They are intent. They are will. They are origin. They are beyond our understanding and beyond our perception. They can take many shapes and forms, but before everything else they are a concept. An idea.

And yet despite all that, they can be found.

They were made to be found.

Time

Thor is at his heart a simple man. 

Not in the sense that he is stupid – Thor has never found the same passion for history and books and knowledge that burns so brightly in Loki, may never possess the same razor-sharp wit that his brother wields with the same deadliness as his daggers, but Thor is smart and intuitive and far more calculating than anyone, safe his mother and Loki and perhaps his father give him credit for – but in the sense that he is generally happy to live his life one day at a time.

Perhaps he has to thank Asgardian’s long lifespan for this. For the calm with which he regards the history he has no desire to discover, for he has lived it himself thousands of years ago, and once was more than enough. For the lack of hurry when facing an uncertain future, knowing you will in all likelihood be around long enough to see it come to pass.

[goes on after the cut]

Knowing, even after thousands of years, the universe can still surprise you – and that it is those surprises that make life bearable. Make life interesting.

Even after having spent much time on Midgard in recent years, there are still many things about mortals that Thor doesn’t understand. Their obsession with time travel – with traveling into the past, jumping head-first into the future – is one of them.

Jane had tried to explain it to him. The fascination of exploring lost civilizations, of getting a chance to undo your own mistakes and make better choices, the concept of knowing what is to come and how it may affect the present… Thor had liked listening to her, to the genuine enthusiasm and boundless curiosity, see her eyes sparkle with fascination. But he hadn’t really understood.

From what Thor has seen, it doesn’t matter if you have two hours or fifteen thousand years of time at your hands – at the end of the day, time is intangible and unstoppable and even with an endless supply, you’ll always feel it racing through your fingers, running out too quickly to accomplish all your goals.

That – the endless, boring court meetings, the uneventful evenings filled with laughter and mead and jokes that never change, the sudden, startling realization that after having traveled the universe for centuries you are suddenly running out of time – that is life.

Time is linear and cyclic, is constant and ever-changing, is always and never enough and Thor has little interest in hypothetical scenarios, in jumping back and forth between is and was and will be. He has no need for any more than the time he’s been given.

And if he dreams of better times – his mother’s warm embrace, the safest place in the entire universe, his brother’s jokes, back when they were still amusing instead of hurtful – long passed or never been sometimes, with the clarity of a freshly-born memory, that is just what dreams offer us. A dual edge of peace and misses opportunities.

There are no theories and time twists and paradoxes because Thor has no need for them. At his heart, he’s a simple man with simple wishes. Some of which he works for, some of which are already beyond his reach.

And time – like life, like Thor – goes on.

Space

Long before Bruce grows up, he learns to be small. To make himself fit into places people don’t give a second glance, squeeze into tiny spaces that shouldn’t fit until he makes it work.

He puts things into his pockets and finds them days later. Small, odd things, like missing keys and chewing gum and coins. They’re never full, his pockets, but Bruce doesn’t think pockets are supposed to be full. And anyways, he has bigger things to worry about.

Like that time he opened his closet and found endless legions of monsters with scary, glowing eyes staring back at him. Like that time he pulled a window open and could feel the air getting sucked out of the room, a black nothingness before him that sucked everything in. Like that time Bruce stumbled through the door, aching and desperately, and he doesn’t know how he made it to the hospital. Somehow he was just there.

Things don’t necessarily change, but Bruce grows up.

He stops believing in monsters in his closet and under his bed. Stops believing he can reach the milky way through his window. Stops squeezing himself into too small places that people keep telling him he doesn’t fit in.

(Sometimes Bruce carries books in his backpack that he’s been searching for months. He’s a forgetful person, apparently.)

In retrospect, things were always gonna go wrong in that damn lab.

But even with all his degrees and theoretical knowledge, Bruce couldn’t have foreseen the Hulk. And even after living with him for years, he is no closer to understanding it. The phenomenon. The way the Hulk works. The rules, all the god damn rules of physics he breaks every god damn time.

As Bruce shifts back and forth with the Hulk, sometimes on purpose, often accidentally, perhaps one of the strangest sensations will always be the way he grows. The way he twists his mass, changes his body and twists the space around him to make it work.

(There’s a crazed, genocidal demigod somewhere in Bruce’s future that looks at him in horrified terror – and for a brief moment, Bruce wonders what this monster sees when it looks at him to fear him so.

And it is many years after that, when Bruce doesn’t just change but consumes the space around him, leaves nothing behind, that he asks himself for the first time whether Loki feared him enough.)

Mind

Steve sees the world with a certain clarity, long before the serum fixes his color-blindness and gets his body up to speed with what his head has already figured out a long time ago. He looks over the busy streets of New York and thinks pattern, follows grumbled debates in smokey diners with terrible coffee and learns politics, watches two old men play chess on a corner twice a week and understands strategy. 

The thing is, Steve knows he’s smart. And nobody’s ever called him stupid – but that doesn’t matter when he doesn’t have the physical strength to back his ideas up.

When war comes, deciding to sign up is the easiest thing Steve has ever done. Getting in, well. That’s what brings him to a government-sanctioned human experiment – and Steve is smart enough to know that ‘government-sanctioned’ isn’t much of an assurance in dark times like these.

(Doctor Erskine takes a shine to him. Steve isn’t sure why, if it’s the potential the man sees in him, for what his serum might be able to do or something else. But they end up chatting a few times during the days before the experiment starts and surprisingly Steve finds he has quite a few things to say about the composition of the serum.

And if Doctor Erskine makes a few last-minute changes that never make it into his notes – what with him getting killed in the direct aftermath of the successful implementation – well.

Nobody thinks to ask Steve whether he understands the chemical details. And after witnessing firsthand how far HYDRA’s arm reaches, Steve wouldn’t have told them anyways.)

War is uglier and crueler than anything Steve had imagined. But there is light to be found – in the people around him, the men following him, the friends he makes among those just as terrified and determined as he is.

“You bring out the best in me,” Peggy tells him once, as they outline their new plan of attack, a challenging smirk on her red-painted lips that dares him to do even better.

A few weeks later, Howard refers to Steve as his muse and inspiration – a comment that the Howling Commandos tease him endlessly for.

It’s Bucky – of course it’s Bucky – who finds him after dinner that day, crushing a rare cigarette between his fingers as he stares blindly ahead. “You do, you know?” he says, and nothing else.

Doesn’t mention the shots he’s taken in the last fight – the ones Steve could’ve sworn were impossible, except that impossible is a word that’s lost much of its initial meaning these days.

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Steve asks. Try as he might, he can’t make his voice as light as he wants to.

If he’d turn his head, he knows he’d see the same question on Bucky’s face, the same doubt. What do we really know about this serum? What do we really know about what it does? Isn’t it just too good to be true?

But Steve doesn’t turn. Because they’re in the middle of a war they can’t lose and need all the help they can get. They’ll deal with everything else later.

(Bucky falls and Steve follows and later turns out to be much, much later than either of them could have hoped to imagine.)

Power

Natasha never shares more than the barebones of the skeleton that is her time in the hands of the Red Room with anyone. Entire years are summed up in simple words and descriptions that will never accurately express the horror underneath. Small girls with unsmiling faces and sharp elbows, tied to their beds with handcuffs and fear, turned into cold, merciless killers.

Black Widows, Natasha says, calm, clinical, detached.

That is all SHIELD needs to know about a program too easily replicated.

Natasha never talks about the moves they taught her, again and again, an endless routine until she can do them in her sleep. Never talks about how she was always the last one to fall asleep. How she moved faster and faster until she noticed the other girls couldn’t keep up. How sometimes, in the rare, quiet moments she has, Natasha closes her eyes and swear she can hear electricity humming in her veins.

But the Red Room has taught her all about hidden trump cards (all about the limits of humanity and how far some are willing to push beyond them) and Natasha has no wish to test SHIELD’s respect for ethnic guidelines.

She waits for that one mission where she’ll be too fast, too strong, will mess up. Because Black Widows are made of marble, but they aren’t perfect – false confidence gets you killed faster than any other mistake.

It doesn’t come.

(It takes Natasha years to realize that her first slip has nothing to do with her ability to drop-kick the Hulk into a crate.) 

The truth is, Natasha doesn’t mess up. She’s a child raised as a killer, a girl trained for murder and hunting. At SHIELD, she’s almost at home. Not quite comfortable, but as close as she ever gets. Functional. And that’s the operative word isn’t it?

(The first thing Phil Coulson notices about Natasha Romanoff is her calm aura. There is nothing manic or desperate about her, not even when they have her surrounded, sniper rifles aimed at her forehead, the ultimate nowhere left to go painted on the wall for all to see.

The second thing is the lack of nightmares. The third is her odd, emotional connection with Clint Barton.

Coulson knows more about the Black Widow program than most people. But what truly disturbs him is not Natasha’s eerily efficient kills, it’s the way she’s handled her unconventional upbringing. It’s the lack of trauma and psychological problems. It’s her settled state of mind, her steadiness. There’s a layer of steel underneath her bright red hair and calculating eyes that even a lifetime with the Red Room hasn’t touched. An unbreakable core that doesn’t yield, not to anything.

Handle with caution, Coulson notes in his first assessment. Do not push.

Natasha comes close only two times in her life. The first time is after Budapest, after Clint lost most of his hearing and is looking at her for anything, anything at all to believe in, and Natasha can’t carry that responsibility, doesn’t want anyone to ever look at her like that again and she almost–

The second time, the Winter Soldier re-enters her life like a forgotten childhood horror remembering its form. Her eyes fly over paper after paper, observe data, anything and everything she can get her hands on before she dumps it all – almost all – on the Internet.

(She never tells anyone about the words they yelled at her until she was deaf to their original meaning. Never tells anyone about the endless repetitions, the carefully calculated conditioning. About watching it sink like poison into the minds of those around her. About getting better and better at pretending, so they would finally leave her alone.

Natasha never tells anyone but when she’s twenty-six and an old handler uses those words on her, she guts him without pause and never looks back.)

Soul

Clint doesn’t put a name on it for the longest time. It’s just instincts, really, honed by years of pulling one after the other over unsuspecting people as a carnie, followed by a surprisingly successful, if not particularly long-lived career as a mercenary. He says ‘no’ to more jobs than he takes. Sometimes because the pay isn’t right or the risk isn’t worth it. But mostly because Clint can read people.

To this day, it’s still the best way of putting it that he can think of.

There’s just something there, in the back of his mind that tells Clint when a customer is about to double-cross him. Like an itch in his mind that he can’t quite scratch.

He looks at people sometimes, on the streets, just passing by, and he picks out the ones he wouldn’t mind hitting with an arrow or two.

It’s that same itch that makes Clint listen Phil Coulson when the man first approaches him. And he doesn’t need to read the contracts or listen to the empty promises SHIELD makes him. All Clint needs is to take a long, hard look at Director Fury before he makes it choice.

(All Clint needs is to take one long, hard look at any target SHIELD points him at before he makes his choice. Clint’s tendency to disobey orders is only overshadowed by his success rate.

It’s what helps him convince Coulson to give Natasha a shot. It’s what helps him knowing she wants that shot.)

Clint reads people. Better than Natasha, maybe. Not that there’s any way to reliably measure such a skill. But it’s just damn good instincts. That’s all there is to it.

(Only years later, after his future, his family has crumbled to dust, after a fight that’s cost him everything, does Clint put his gift to use. He looks and looks and looks, closer than he’s ever dared to before.

And it’s there, surrounded by dead bodies and blood and rain, the hysterical laughter of a dying man ringing in his ears, that Clint smiles the only smile his lips still remember.

It’s easy to become judge, jury and executioner when you see everyone for who they really are. When they can’t hide their sins, can’t evade your gaze, their deepest secrets bared for you to see.)

Reality

Tony talks a lot about his plans for a first robot. It’s the topic of his master thesis, so it’s not like he has much of a choice and his supervisor is awesome. But all too soon everyone and their grandma’s cat seem to have an opinion on the feasibility of his project. Tony’s getting tired of having people tell him what he can and can’t do.

He doesn’t need daily reminders of the limits of their current technology. He doesn’t need the mocking quips and eye-rolls of people who don’t have the guts to say ‘just another Stark with his head in the clouds’ to his face.

DUM-E turns out not even half of what Tony hoped he would be – but still more than anyone else expected.

(He’s Tony’s pride and joy, but that’s another topic altogether.)

Tony doesn’t say a word about JARVIS. Not until it’s over and done with. At first because it’s just a spur-of-the-moment idea. Then because he and Obadiah have different ideas about Stark Industries, and are arguing enough as it is.

There’s no one around to tell Tony that AIs aren’t actually possible outside of science fiction. No one around to tell him that a computer program can’t replicate emotions, can’t actually understand sarcasm.

JARVIS surpasses any program the world has seen – not that the world knows as much. Tony is careful to keep his true capacities on the down low.

There’s no need to share this feat with the world. Tony knows what he’s created, and that’s more than enough.

(Tony builds himself an arc reactor in a cave, dried blood and sand on his lips. It’s months later, when he finally runs the numbers. Figures out that the materials he’s used shouldn’t have worked, shouldn’t have been stable, should have overloaded the human organism instead of integrating seamlessly.

He stops the calculations then. Clearly, there’s some variable he’s missing because the math is wrong.

And so what if he has the self-built equivalent of a star in his chest? So what if mankind isn’t supposed to build stars just because they need one?)

*

“Make a wish, Mister Stark!” Peter Parker will insist years later with a brilliant smile as he pushes a self-made, oddly shaped cake in front of Tony.

And.

Tony looks up. Meets the eyes of these familiar strangers, his team, his family, the people he’s been drawn to from the moment they met. The first people he’d instantly clicked with, like something finally slid into place and settled down, and all the ones they’d collected since then. Since they first started out as a rag-tag group of six desperately cobbling a last-minute plan together to save the world.

Closes his eyes. Blows out the candles.

Makes a wish.

Thoughts @thoughtfulbreadpolice?

[creativity-is-rebellion]

Top 10 Favourite Movies I Have Seen (So Far)

How to Make an American Quilt (1994)

I’m not sure exactly why, but I have always had a thing for intergenerational movies that go back and forth in time, which I think that this movie does superbly. You get to know each of the character’s backstories, and it is also a coming-of-age film where the main protagonist must choose a path and be happy with the one she goes down. This was a film I would watch again and again as a teenager when I was sad (movie marathons were always the cure for my blues back then). More recently, there are other reasons why this movie appeals to me; I can relate to Finn’s thesis-writing (I know it’s frustrating and easy to distract yourself from), and I can also relate with her dilemma in choosing what kind of future she will have. Also, Winona Ryder can do no wrong. Winona forever.

The Joy Luck Club (1993)

Another intergenerational film, I think it does a great job of juxtaposing the difference between parents who immigrate to another country and their children who do not really understand the sacrifices they have made to actually get there, which can cause rifts and divides. It does this specifically with the Chinese culture in mind, which is fascinating in its own right, and quite different to the US, which is where they immigrate to. The daughters who try to understand their mothers are able to bridge the divide when they are able to empathise with where their parents are coming from, by the parents telling them tales of their origins. My favourite character is hands-down Ying-Ying St. Clair, whose backstory is definitely the most tragic. In China, Ying-Ying was happily married to Lin-Xiao (Russell Wong) with a baby boy in China until Lin-Xiao abuses her and abandons her for an opera singer. Overwhelmed by her depression, Ying-Ying begins to dissociate and accidentally drowns their baby son in the bathtub during one of these episodes, which haunts her ever afterwards. Years later, she has emigrated to America and suffers from trauma of her past, worrying her new family, including her daughter Lena. When she is able to get Lena find her voice and to leave her own abusive husband, Harold. I have nothing but love for this film, which breathes life into Amy Tan’s equally beautiful novel. This film adaptation does the novel proud; It’s well-acted, well-told, and simply just heart-warming.

Sinister (2008)

I love myself a good horror movie, and Sinister flips the script by starting out as a crime mystery before going bananas and introducing Mr. Boogie (or Bughuul), a pagan demon who manipulates the lives of children, having them kill their families, until he can consume the child's soul. Ethan Hawke, who both directs and stars in this film, does a phenomenal acting job as washed-up crime author Ellison Oswalt, who moves his family into one of the homes which was the scene of one of the ‘crimes’, where a whole family has been massacred and one child is missing. It isn’t long until he finds a bunch of 8mm tapes in the attic, which represent the equivalent of snuff films, detailing previous family massacres occurring elsewhere. Seriously, some of these 8mm tapes are both difficult but strangely thrilling to watch, due to their haunting quality. It takes him a while before he becomes aware of Bughuul, who he discovers hiding in the corner of one of the tapes, and who he is able to get to know about with the help of a rookie cop and a professor. The ending is also a delicious twist, and indicates the inevitability of not being able to escape evil. Seriously, it’s a must-watch, as it breathes rare new life into the tired horror genre.

Insidious, Chapter One (2010)

Another worthy 21st century horror addition, the Insidious franchise (especially the first film) delivers some great twists, and creates a rich universe way beyond any ordinary haunted house or child-plagued-by-demon trope, by introducing some genuinely scary characters (The Lipstick Demon, Doll Girl, and the Bride in Black, anyone?!), and also introducing The Further, a dark and timeless astral world filled with tortured dead souls and nightmarish spirits. I love the twist that the end of this movie delivers, and also the appropriate jump-scares throughout. It is yet another horror movie that breathes life into a somewhat tired genre. 10/10, I highly recommend this movie, even if The Lipstick Demon looks kinda like Darth Maul, lol.

Reality Bites (1994)

Although it’s kind of aged badly, due to advancing technology, this movie was one of the first to introduce the idea of reality television, whilst also capturing the zeitgeist of Generation X, with it’s rather nihilist message about life after college, and the trials and tribulations of growing up. Some of the characters (especially Lelaina and Troy) are self-indulgent, immature, intellectually snobby and navel-gazing, but you root for Lelaina to succeed because she is played with enough sympathy by the amazing and incomparable Winona Ryder that we believe she deserves better. This is one of the reasons I hate that she ends up with Troy, even if he is the broody bad boy we are all expected to swoon over. Seriously, he treats Lelaina so badly that I just want to punch him in the face. It also has some great side characters, like Vicky, who works at The Gap, but is scared to find a real job, and Sammy, who is gay and afraid that he may have HIV. It is also relatable for me as a Millenial who graduated from university when the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) hit, making it complicated to find a good job, mirroring the recession that these characters graduated into. I love that it talks about pivotal Generation X issues, as well as universal issues that encompass growing up and moving into adulthood. Also, again, Winona forever.

Candyman (1992)

Candyman is a horror film that subverts horror movie expectations whilst still managing to deliver some great scares. Being set in the long-gone notorious Chicago housing projects Cabrini Green, a name synonymous with vice, violence and murder, and a place which instils non-supernatural horror in an individual all on its own, tells the story of thesis student Helen, who is researching urban legends, and through her participants, she learns the story of Candyman, a vengeful rendition of the classic Bloody Mary, who will split you from groin to gullet with his hook for a hand if you say his name five times in the mirror. 

The people who recount this legend go on to recount a notorious murder that has taken place recently in Cabrini Green which has been attributed to Candyman, and Helen chooses to investigate the claim. Helen rationalises that the residents of Cabrini Green use the legend of Candy Man to cope with their stressful daily lives. Before visiting Cabrini Green, Helen and her research associate decide to test the theory by saying ‘Candy Man’ five times in a mirror, but nothing happens, at least not yet. In real life, the murder rate in Cabrini Green peaked in 1992, the same year that Candy Man was made. Candy Man himself (played with great aplomb by the legendary Tony Todd) doesn’t show up until around 44 minutes into the movie, but when he does, he steals the show with his dangerous charisma. 

In total, Candy Man subverts 3 horror rules: Number one, that you need to have a high body count to keep audiences engaged. By doing so, it stretches out the tension for as long as it can. Number two, there is a Black antagonist. There were some issues addressed by Black critics that this depiction played into some racist stereotypes, such as the idea that Black people need a White saviour, that Black people are especially superstitious, and that Black men prefer to pursue White women. But one could say that Candy Man is more a depiction of the White fears associated with Black poverty, and specifically, White Liberal fears that Black poverty can’t be helped, despite their best efforts. Helen doesn’t mean any harm (some may even call her an ally), yet she dies anyway. 

By making the antagonist Black, the film becomes about so much more than just visceral horror, it is about societal, racial and historical horror as well, albeit told from a White perspective. It also plays into the fear that Black people, through no fault of their own, could be killed for no reason at all but panicky neighbours. Finally, number three, this film is more sad than scary; sadness tends to be the most common negative emotion that I experience, so I am drawn to movies that have something to say about it. The only reason Candy Man gives for wanting to kill Helen is that she demystified him, which seems pretty petty and vindictive. She is also supposed to resemble his long-lost love that got him killed in the first place. When Candy Man kills the psychiatrist in the movie, it is literally the only on-screen proof we have that Candy Man isn’t just a figment of Helen’s imagination. Candy Man, like my most favourite horror film, The Shining, begs the question: Are there really supernatural elements at play here, or is the main character simply going insane? Phew, this was more than I planned to write, but I guess this film is complex enough to warrant it. See it for yourself.

Final Destination (2000)

As time wore on, the Final Destination franchise became more well-known for its gruesome deaths (and tired plot) than anything else, but the first addition was a fresh take on the inescapability of death, and the vengance Death Itself may take if you screw with his Design. The first 15 minutes of the film are truly thrilling through the main character Alex’s premonition, and the wait after the gang have been kicked off the airline for the plane to blow up without them on board. Seriously, that scene gave me aerophobia more than any Air Crash Investigation episode. What follows are some truly twisted, macabre domino-like deaths that prove that Death has a wicked, dark sense of humour. That every character in this franchise dies eventually is kind of disappointing, and definitely places Death in this franchise as possibly the most diabolical villain in all of the horror genre (move over, Jason and Michael and Freddy). The mysterious undertaker played with delightful maliciousness again by Tony Todd adds to the mystery of understanding Death’s Design. and the reality that no matter what the survivors do, Death will eventually come for them, really adds to the overall hopelessness and nihilism of the whole situation. The way that the last film of the Final Destination franchise, which is really a prequel to the first film, rounded out the franchise really well, and provided a twist as good as the original film was epic. If you are going to watch any of the films in this franchise, I cannot recommend the first and last film enough.

Now and Then (1996)

I love this film more for the cheesy, feel-good memories of my childhood it gives me. Christina Ricci is also one of my all-time favourite actresses (I absolutely loved her as Wednesday Addams), which just bolsters this movie in my eyes. Thora Birch does a good job as well. But seriously, I can pop this movie on any time and it’ll just make me instantly happy for a simpler era. Even if I wasn’t born in the 60′s or 70′s, there is a lot to relate to about bridging the gaps between childhood and the inevitable teen cross-over. I mean, who didn’t have seances in graveyards with their friends as a 12-year-old girl? No-one?! Just me then. OK. Ahem. I think my favourite character was hands-down Gabby Hoffman’s Sam, who is trying to cope with her parent’s divorce in a town and time when divorce is unheard of. I like that her grown-up character played by Demi Moore is a successful writer, and is also the narrator of the entire movie. If you want to watch a truly feel-good movie that promotes feminist ideals, this movie is for you.

IT: Chapter One (2017)

Since I watched the 1990 TV miniseries in 1992 at the tender age of 7 (my parents never monitored what I watched - which sometimes led to some gnarly nightmares), I have been waiting for a worthy remake. I, like most of the aficionados that watched the miniseries, loved Tim Curry’s rendition of the demonic entity of IT, but weren’t quite happy about the spider ending. If you’ve seen it, you know what I mean. You may be asking why I haven’t included Chapter Two that came out this year (2019), and the reason is, despite Bill Hader’s wonderful performance as the grown-up Ritchie, a cameo by Stephen King himself, and more screen-time for Bill Skarsgaard’s scary clown, the ending here was also disappointing. IT’s true form just doesn’t seem to translate well onto screen. It was adequate. Meh. Anywho.

IT Chapter One, however, is awesome. Instead of jumping back-and-forth in time like both the mini-series and the book did, it focuses on the well-acted ‘Loser’s Club’ as kids, and is truly scary like this story should be. The bully Henry Bowers is truly sociopathic, and Bill Skarsgaard as IT truly nails the fact that IT is so much more than just a killer clown. The death scene with Georgie at the beginning of the film is quite subversive and daring, as it actually shows you the death of a child in all its gory detail. My verdict? Watch the first with gusto, but do not expect anything great from Part Two. Part Two has to exist for continuity, but the first film outshines the second installment in every way possible.

Lady Bird (2017)

For an Indie sleeper film, this story is fantastic as both a coming-of-age film and a depiction of separating from your parents and becoming your own person. Ladybird’s mum is overprotective, and Ladybird needs to break free, whilst also trying not to cause a permanent rift. She’s a different kind of gal, sensitive, intelligent, artistic, and so not meant for a dead-end small town. Her transition toward independence is extremely relatable to me, as I grew up with an over-bearing, interfering mother myself. Also, it’s set in 2002, the year I graduated, with adds to my feelings of nostalgia. It’s the relatablity of Ladybird that makes it so re-watchable to me. I grew up in a dead-end town, was creative and different to my peers, and went to a fancy private school that I didn’t fit into as well. So Ladybird is a cinematic delight as you see her progress to something more hopeful in the future. A must-watch.

[sweetdeathwrites]

And It All Comes Down To This

Pairing: Tony Stark/Reader, as well as past/ex!Tony Stark/Reader

Summary: It's not often that Tony Stark is on his knees for someone. You just wish it wasn't like this.

Warnings: serious violence, death, and suicide warnings. This ain’t for the light of heart... very dark. Specifically, guns. ANGST ANGST ANGST! Mentions of sexual situations, fantasizing for sexual things as well as nonsexual things. Again, HUGE suicide warning.... an AU!!!!!!... Iron Man 3 spoilers?

Word Count: 2,289 

AU! Where stopping Aldrich Killian didn't go as planned, and rescuing a certain someone didn't go as hoped. ~ this is for April's Challenge (on Luna) for the prompt "Villainous"–– but it's quite late...~

(posted on Luna/AO3! My latest posted fic!! yay!! Here’s the original A/N! finally,y the last time I have to type that!...

(hi!! i've been gone ages!! this is for the April Challenge with the prompt of "Villainous", but it's... late.... sorry! The wonderful mod Shade said I could submit it and have it added anyway!! if you liked it, please comment! if after reading this you felt like i came into your house and ripped your heart out, also let me know! I've got more MCU things in works, because I've been binging the movies so I can watch Endgame soon.... I'm a decade behind in the movies atm... thanks!!! PLEASE comment! send this story to your friends so you can both cry about it and comment!! i am motivated write and post because of comments! (and READ the goddamned warnings, please!) )

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After everything, he still wants you. Maybe that’s not right. He needs you, but he wants her– had her. But when one is the direct cause of the love of their life’s death, hey– you’ll take what you can get. “Come on, kid, don’t let me down now,” he laughs but it’s cold, and he’s pressing your hand forward into his chest even harder. Gunmetal is not a pretty color on him. “I can’t,” you beg, “Tony, please don’t make me.” “I’m not making you do anything.” He’s on his knees in front of you, your living room carpet has been trampled over by him a million times by now. He’s run out of steam from his pacing, and burned the skin off his knees from his shuffling. He’ll be crawling to press his skull against the barrel of your gun if you don’t show him mercy. “Honey,” he says with the smoothness of syrup, but it’s nothing like how he used to say it. He used to call your name so sweetly. With reverence. Like you were worth the worship he gave. “Honey, please give me this. Just this one thing, and I promise, I promise everything will be okay.” Tony’s goddamn charming smile breaks through his dark circles and the tear tracks that scar his face and swell his eyes. That fucking smile that made you weak in the knees until he found Pepper–and bye-bye, baby– he couldn’t be pried from her with a crowbar. Bye-bye, baby, indeed. You don’t want this. You want to go to bed. You want to drain your wine cellar and steal his warmth and the comforter off him, you want the scratch of his stubble on your jaw, you want his rough hands, you want– He’s all too much. But god, do you want him in your life again. His hands curl around your own, long fingers tracing yours. Tracing the trigger. “Babe, I don’t have anything. I don’t have anything at all.” “You have me.” He doesn’t answer but his smile grows a touch more genuine. Not sweet, but there’s less force in it. His eyes shine brightly, a fevered brightness that hints that perhaps the feeling you sense is pity. “And you have me.” Yes, that’s it. It’s definitely pity. “I never have, Tony. It’s always been her,” he winces at that, cows at the mention of his dear, dead almost-wife. Your carpet is fucked up beyond repair. You always told him to take off his shoes, but he never did. Now he’s got blood and dirt and those fucking steel boots all over your cream-colored carpet. He was the one who bought it for you. God fucking damn it. “Come on,” Tony tries again, kissing your knuckles and looking up at you so sweetly. Sickeningly sweet. The view he gives you is unfair; reminding you of all those times he made love to you so sweet and slow you felt like you would go mad with it. When he used to bend you over, chest flushed to chest, and kiss you and whisper things that were so intimate and vulnerable, that now bring tears at the memory. His eyes look up at you and his lashes are so long, a fact you’ve damned him for and yourself for because you were jealous. The way he used to look up at you from between your thighs, pressing fluttering kisses to the thin skin of your inner thighs and leg hitched over his shoulder. “Baby?” Can’t you stop it all? Can’t you go back to how it used to be? “She’s not coming back, Tony. Pepper wouldn’t want this.” Tony’s lip curls and his grip on your hand turns painful. “And how the fuck would you know what she would want?” You don’t bother answering, just slide down on the carpet with him. Colors flow and wrap around you like silk, soft and cool and so satisfying against the hurt you feel. He wasn’t your first, but he was the best. It was for a few months, though that was a lifetime for Tony Stark, who bragged about who he could keep in his sheets. Tony’s passionate– selfish, maybe, but you were always compensated, satisfied beyond what you’ve ever thought was possible by yourself. His bites left marks for days that fascinated you, pretty little bruises that proved what you had was real. And then he would stay to leave new marks. You wish he wanted to stay now. “Pepper’s not here right now.” Right. She’s not. But when she was, she had him wrapped around her finger. You were stupid to think he was all yours. It hurt, when he left you for Pepper, but you understood. They fit together– simple as that. On some level, it was inevitable. Imminent as death. Death– “Pepper’s not here right now,” Tony repeats, bowed over and practically shoving the gun to that shining light that keeps his heart going, that keeps danger and death and shrapnel always minutes away from tearing that tired, aching muscle to bits. “So that’s why I need this. Need you.” “Not me, baby,” you whisper, lips pressed to his temple. His sweat smells like fear and calamity, but you can’t not taste it. You burn that salt into your memory because you know you’ll never be the same, never find peace in another as you’ve found it in him. Reap what you sow, and all that. “You don’t need me, you need this,” you press that cursed metal into his chest, trail it up to his collar. Massage that pulse with the muzzle of the gun and his breath hitches, excited and impatient. “I need it,” Tony gasps, beautiful brown eyes clouded over with that suicidal greed you’ve known all too well– from him and from yourself. Fuck it all. “I’ll miss you, Tony. I already do,” you hold back tears. If you don’t pull the trigger, he’ll squeeze it for you– as long as he’s not holding the gun, it’s all good in his warped, complicated book. “I wish you never left me, I wish you didn’t love Pepper more than me, I wish I kept you safe, I wish–” The tears roll down and you only stop begging to cry, to sob, really. You can’t breathe but he holds you upright, tight and secure. Whatever soft words he’s whispering in your ear don’t make a lick of sense to you, you can’t understand yourself, much less him. He’s not genuine, anyway. He’s got a goal. “Hey, hey, shh, baby,” his nose is buried in your hair. Sweaty as he is, probaby. But he won’t have to burn the smell and feel of you in his head, because he’s only got a half hour, at most, left to hold anything at all in that genius skull of his. The cold of the gun burns your palm, burns you like holy water to the devil. Tony kisses your hair and the faint sensation of his stubble is a balm over you. His hand is insistent against you. “I know, baby, I know,” he says. Not ‘I love you,’ but ‘I know’. You know too. Hiccuping, you pull the gun up, trail it between the two of you. “So is this it? This is what it comes down to?” You ask, cocking it and pressing it to that glowing core that you used to kiss. You’ve kissed him there before he had it, too. At least you had that over Pepper. Had him before her. “What comes next?” “You’ll get everything you want,” Tony croaks, hand trailing up your body as if to memorize the shape of you– as if he’s forgotten. “JARVIS knows. Whatever you don’t want, charity. The Avengers. Goes wherever,” he shrugs, like his billions in cash and investments are disposable. Like you wouldn’t have killed for that money when you were younger. “They’re just things, isn’t that what you used to say, sweetheart?” Tony kisses the shell of your ear and it stings to have your well-meaning intentions thrown back at you like this. It was years ago. “Sure.” You take a slow, deep breath. The gun presses against that metal bit over his heart. Your eyes flicker up to his and he’s staring at you so intensely you could catch on fire. Those molten brown eyes envelop you in a warmth you used to know, still feel in your dreams. Chill crawls up your spine with how cooly he’s regarding you but the weight of it isn’t lost on you. He’s calm. He’s ready. Tony trusts you to do this… But that trust is what hurts the most. “Okay,” you say, swallowing that suffocating lump in your throat. You lean in and kiss him slowly, as slow as you can. His lips are hot and dry but then he licks at your mouth, pulls your hair back to open you up to him and kisses you deeply. He pulls back right when a moan crawls out of you, grinning slightly. “Best one yet, I hope.” You smile sadly. “You wouldn’t be wrong.” The trigger is heavy. You yearn to kiss him again, bruise those pretty lips with your own. If you did you’d never be able to carry through, though. “Goodbye, Tony.” You say. “I love you.” And the trigger snaps under your hand, hammer striking metal and– nothing. Cold. Your blood is cold. “Tony?” A slow satisfaction creeps up his face, pulling him up like he was strung. Warm laughter bubbles up in him. “I had to know,” Tony says, taking the gun from your hands and giving your fingers a fond pass. You don’t feel it. Everything is numb and far away. “Had to know if you loved me enough to try. If I asked you to kill me, I needed to know you would,” he explains, as if though it’s the easiest thing in the world. He’s elated, really. “Sweetheart, you don’t know how much you mean to me. No one else could do this, believe me, I’ve asked.” “T-Tony…” tears blur your vision. He wanted you to kill him. He wanted you to kill him– he wanted you to kill him! And now Tony’s just going to move on, like he hasn’t fucked you up in the worst way possible? “Tony–” “Hush, pretty thing,” he says, hands occupied. You’re shaking but you look down and it’s just shock after shock tonight, isn’t it? Tony’s loading up his gun with a bullet. He takes a second one and holds it up, shakes it slowly in front of you. “I’m just being considerate with this one,” he says, lightly and with some terrible, dark humor– as if he’s about to tell you to have fun, but don’t do anything he wouldn’t do. “Though I’d advise against it. Guns are pretty dangerous.” Then that silver little bitch is loaded too– Stark Industries, of course– and the hammer is cocked and it’s pressed up to his pulse, skin beating over it quickly. “I appreciate what you’ve done for me tonight, princess.” Tony pulls you in for another kiss, this one desperate, harder. He kisses you like it’s his last and at that moment the gravity hits you that this time, he really intends for it to be. His tongue smooths against your teeth and over the roof of your mouth, sucking and he bites you with all the heat and life still left in him. When he breaks away, lips shiny with spit and jaw half open in a hungry sigh, he speaks. “One for the road,” he says, voice rough and weak with arousal, fear, and a burning love for you. A love that he knows is returned, from your kisses and begging him not to go and your helping him on his way out. For once since Pepper’s death, Tony is satisfied and almost happy. No, he is happy. And it’s all thanks to you. Almost as an afterthought, but the most sincere thing he’s ever said, “Thank you.” “Tony, don’t–” you start to say, reaching to turn the barrel away. “Please–” He grabs your wrist firmly and keeps it away from the gun. They’re dangerous, he told you. He presses a wild little kiss to your palm first, then when he looks up at you his eyes are bright with fear and excitement: eyes of death. “See you on the other side, babe,” and he pulls the trigger. This time, there’s a reaction. You scream, the gun explodes and so does Tony. The hand that held your wrist slackens and falls to the carpet growing red, the light in his eyes gone, but the smile sticks. White and bright and painfully horrific against the bloodstains spreading. You can’t stop the shakes or your sobs, but Tony’s been considerate and left an extra bullet in the gun for you. The gun is warm with him, with his blood too. Fits better in his hand than yours, but it’s okay. You’d never make it after this, so, might as well follow him. Anyway, the carpet’s already fucked.

[takerfoxx]

Strap in folks, because I couldn’t narrow it down to a single fav from this series, so buck up guys, because today we have a four-way tie! The fav(s) of the day are...

MEGABYTE! 

Reboot was a very special show. Not only was it the first all CGI show ever and singlehandedly innovated much of the technology, but it also featured great writing, great direction, and a lot of creativity. And it had some amazing characters, not the least of which was its main villain.

In fact, Megabyte might just very well be one of the coolest villains ever. He hasan awesome design that conveyed power, malice, speed, and intelligence, and he checked off just about every box off an awesome bad guy. Strong enough to throw around armored vehicles like toys? Check. Genuinely brilliant? Check. A thin veneer of class and manners? Check. Does everything with style? Check. Ends up being completely immune to the threat decay most animated villains suffer from and actually becomes more threatening, more ruthless, and more terrifying as the show goes on? Big check. Hell, he spends most of season three having actually defeated the good guys and ruling over all of Mainframe, and is only stopped from spreading his infection to the super computer at the very last second. 

But most of all, credit has to be given to the late, great Tony Jay for giving him just the most awesome voice ever. Ever line is just so silky smooth, so dripping with malice and evil. Whether he be trying to manipulate the heroes, giving dastardly commands to his underlings, or just dropping the pretenses and making it clear that he is here to fuck shit up, every word just sends a chill down your spine. 

But the best of it is, he actually wins! No, I’m serious, the final episode ends on a cliff-hanger, with a now more vicious than ever Megabyte having taken over Mainframe again and making it clear that he intends to hunt down the heroes one by one to eliminate them. This was done in hopes that it would drum up enough fan interest to get funding for a full continuation. Sadly, this never materialized and Reboot was cancelled for good, but I guess that does mean that Megabyte ends up the winner. And no, the Guardian Code doesn’t fucking count.

Plus he dueled Bob in an awesome guitar duel in what is probably the greatest moment in animation history ever, so that’s amazing.

AND HEXADECIMAL!

However, his sister Hexadecimal is a different sort of beast entirely, but no less awesome. If Megabyte is the perfect example of lawful evil, than she is chaotic evil incarnate. The woman of a million masks is far more powerful than her already OP brother, and a million times crazier. She cares little for power and control. After all, she has it already, and would rather spend her time wreaking havoc just for the fun of it.

Hex isn’t all that active for a first season and a half, probably because the creators knew that a villain that powerful would be too much of a problem to keep trying to come up with a solutions for. But her rare solo episodes are among the series’ best, with the heroes barely managing to snatch victory by the barest of centimeters, and having to rely on their wits to do so. And she is just a joy to watch on-screen, with Shirley Millner obviously having a blast voicing her. She can go from kind and grandmotherly to downright seductive to shrieking with laughter at the carnage she’s about to unleash to driven by blind fury at the drop of a hat, and every conversation with her has the participants constantly shitting themselves, hoping not to upset her. And she knows it.

Hex also gets a rather fascinating character arc. As twisted as she is, her infatuation with Bob does give her some redeeming qualities, and he is smart enough to take advantage of that to get her to do the right thing on more than one occasion. He also is the only person to show her genuine kindness, and one act of mercy eventually does convince her to throw in with the good guys. Even then she’s great fun to watch, as it’s clear she’s only in it out of affection for Bob, and everyone just has to learn to work with that, because what else can they do? But in time she becomes an actual hero herself, giving her life for save the entire Net from the greatest threat the show has ever seen. And it’s awesome.

I’ll freely admit, when I wrote Yuuka Kazami in Imperfect Metamorphosis, I pretty much ripped off Hexadecimal’s personality for her, to...interesting results. But as much fun as Yuuka was to write, she doesn’t hold a candle to the original Queen of Chaos, long may she reign.

AND MATRIX!

As far as kid characters go, little Enzo Matrix was...all right. He started off annoying as such characters do, but he did grow and mature and actually make himself useful, so his over-enthusiasm eventually became kind of endearing. And his struggles to prove himself once the heroes lose Bob was pretty fascinating. 

But then the show flips the script. He loses a game and is forced to switch into Game Sprite mode to avoid being nullified, causing him and Andraia to leave wit the game. And when we do catch up with them, it is much later, and little Enzo is all grown up.

And he is awesome.

Matrix is every 90′s anti-hero all rolled into one. He’s big, he’s muscular, he’s gruff, he’s short tempered, he likes shooting things, he has all the angst, and he even has a cool mechanical eye to replace the one he lost in the games. Normally this sort of thing would be annoying, but the show does take a great deal of time to show how his insecurities and PTSD have shaped him into what he became, with him often having to face his own flaws in his quest to get home. Added to the fact that we already know the plucky kid he used to be instead of just getting to see him in flashbacks, and you got yourself some great television.

But while show doesn’t cut Matrix any slack when he screws up (which is awesome), it also doesn’t condemn him for changing like he did, acknowledging that what he went through was terrible and he did what he had to do to survive. Plus, it also doesn’t shy away from giving him a lot of genuine badass moments. And that final fight where he goes one-on-one with Megabyte? Pure awesome.

AND ANDRAIA!

No raging angst machine is complete without someone level-headed to keep them in check, and AndrAIa is exactly that. A Game Sprite that befriended Enzo during a game and managed to trick the game itself into letting her stay with him. I admit, when I was a kid, I had wee bit of a crush on her, and was really interested in what this new character could bring to the story.

Like Enzo, she also has to do a lot of growing up to survive the games, maturing from an overly-literal fish-out-of-water into a cool and confident (and hot, I’ll freely admit it) warrior, who was the Ying to Matrix’s Yang. Their relationship was pretty great, from how they support one another to their bickering but always reconciling. AndrAIa is never one to take Matrix’s shit and will call him on it, but also be there to build him back up when he’s down.

Unfortunately, given how late in the series she appeared, AndrAIa doesn’t have much of a character arc of her own, which is a real shame. She’s a constant supporting character, and it did annoy me that she never really got much to do that wasn’t directly related to what another character was doing. Personally I would liked to see her have more agency and more of her own struggles to deal with instead of always being the one to help others with their own. Still, for what it’s worth, she is incredibly cool. I just wish she got to have more to do.

I come from the net. Through systems, peoples and cities to this place: Mainframe.

[sasorikigai]

Ask me top five of anything || @desxderium​ || accepting 

I’m also going to include the obvious and ramble about them (as usual), because I have no self control. 

1. Hanzo Hasashi; Your typical anti-hero gone astray to becoming a reformed hero after he realizes that his fate had been entangled in the machinations of Quan Chi. The moment I fell in love with his character was when in MKX, with the aid of Kenshi, he severs his ties to "the darkness" and is leading an effort to rescue and train orphans stranded by the Netherrealm War, forming a new Shirai Ryu in the process. 

I absolutely love the trope he goes through, for a revolving door moves in a circle and so does Hanzo’s character in terms of morality. A villain decides to give heroism a try (for whatever reason) and switches sides but then goes back to being a villain and back again (through the time disruption). This phenomenon works the other way, as well. A hero loses perspective and becomes a Well-Intentioned Extremist (Scorpion’s persona), and then comes back from the edge again. He's done it before — why not do it again? The long-term result is the same either way — the character in question will switch sides often enough that, in the long run, he doesn't have a side. I love the neutrality of Hanzo’s character, yet the roaring rampage of revenge does not consume him any longer and that the fact of his growth is what makes him one of the best characters ever. 

My favorite part of the storyline, by far, is witnessing Hanzo's reaction in that ‘tea party’ with Sub-Zero, which is not only remorse for the pain he's caused Kuai Liang in killing his older brother Bi-Han (the elder Sub-Zero), but also because he threw away his one chance to restore his wife and son. The sheer amount of self-disgust in his voice is palpable.

Scorpion: (having witnessed evidence of Quan Chi's guilt in exterminating the original Shirai Ryu) Harumi... Satoshi... Sub-Zero: Had I known of my clan's complicity in the Shirai Ryu's extinction, our history would be different. Scorpion: I killed your brother because I thought he... Sub-Zero: Quan Chi is responsible for Bi-Han's death.

2. Kuai Liang; I love the duality he wears, the badass vibe ("I will freeze your very soul," "I destroy whom I please!" and "You will know the sting of winter.” And of course, who could forget the Lin Kuei's badass creed? “Be as stealthful as the night and as deadly as the dawn.”) with the heart of gold. He’s THE best Sub-Zero to ever hold the mantle of the Grandmaster, despite having started out as a silent assassin in II/9, but when the Lin Kuei becomes interested in cybernetics in 3/9, he splits because he disagrees with the methodology. From 4/X his character evolves greatly and becomes one of the most morally aware characters of the series, even taking over his former clan to lead them in a more righteous direction.

I also love the fact that his name, Kuai Liang, can translate into "fast ice," or more prosaically, "quick freeze." Considering his abilities and the fact that he's a Chinese Cryomancer, this is likely intentional even in-universe (which I especially love, because that name just sticks to me as a ‘cyromancer.’). He is one of the most good characters in the MK universe and the fact that he’s able to endure so many hardships, going through excruciating transformations. And he still holds that innocence, that naivety because he was forced to act much older than his age ever since Bi-Han and him were kidnapped to the Lin Kuei, only to be raised into mindless assassins and kill even the innocents. Unless it’s dark magic, his heart would never be corrupted or shattered beneath the unbearable weight of the world threatening to collide into him. I absolutely admire the fact that he’s phlegmatic and stoic, but could crack a joke (mostly through puns) and being ever so snarky. 

Sub-Zero: The Lin-Kuei are restored, Shang Tsung. Shang Tsung: I sense this is no amicable visit. Sub-Zero: How perceptive, sorcerer.

3. Hannibal Lecter; He is a quintessentially affable evil character, as he does genuinely have sincere regard for the other characters he interacts with. The events of the first season can be seen as the doctor's efforts first to make Will into his friend and get him to quit profiling in order to ensure he never captures Hannibal, and then deciding to betray Will and make him an enemy, because otherwise Will would ultimately capture Hannibal. Allowing Will's encephalitis to cloud his mind could similarly be seen as pre-emptive self-defence. He seems to display genuine regret for Will's incarceration and Abigail's murder, evil though he might be. Of course, in keeping with the source material, this is left deliberately ambiguous... and I also love the fact that he may be the most complex and enigmatic character in the cinematic universe. I absolutely love him also as the anti-villain, because he’s so subverted. The first season was crafted to lull the audience into developing a fondness for him before really springing the duplicity and mind games and worse, and eventually clarifying his depraved motives for what were earlier seemingly, possibly well-intentioned actions.

4. Anthony Edward Stark, aka Iron Man; As easy as it often looks to be Tony Stark—the success, the money, the endless array of awesome gadgets—the question of who, exactly, Tony Stark is as a person is more difficult to pin down. From movie to movie (and often even within a single film), no other character goes on as transformative a journey as Iron Man. The character arc, with the notion of a powerful man sunk beneath ever-agglomerated hubris, and from mocking Steve Roger (Captain America)’s valorization of nobility, that’s precisely what Tony does at the end of the Infinity War; from being in-denial of his panic attacks and personal traumas without having much compassion for the others to work with them to willing to work with others, humble about the scope of his abilities, and comfortable in his own skin for the first time since his first appearance—is what makes for such a fascinating journey indeed. 

Most importantly, Tony’s desire to build a family in his personal life, in his work, and the inevitable overlap between the two. The ultimate outsider, the one who used to look down on everyone, is now just trying to get the band back together and I believe even in the most heroic death of all, Tony has achieved them all. 

5. Darth Vader, aka Anakin Skywalker; The one who was strongly believed to be the Chosen One of the Force by the Jedi Order and developed from a lowly slave on Tatooine to a hero of the Clone Wars, but his promising career tragically did not last when his personal demons lured him into turning to the Dark Side and becoming known as Darth Vader. What’s most remarkable about this character arc is the fact that never do we see Vader’s face beneath the mask, but we can feel his anguish. It’s a transformation anchored by physicality and vocalization alone and I find that most unique and most difficult. Also, what makes Darth Vader so special to me is the depth of his character as he went from hero to villain to hero. 

[nightmareonfilmstreet]

Pioneer of the Plot Twist: Ranking M. Night Shyamalan’s 10 Best Films On His Birthday

Surprise! Happy Birthday, M. Night Shyamalan

Here at Nightmare on Film Street, we love to celebrate the most influential creators in the world of genre film. Today is no different as we celebrate the birth of one of the most innovative, and polarizing, directors in modern cinema: M. Night Shyamalan.

Born August 6th 1970, Shyamalan burst on to the scene in 1999 with the success of his third film, the supernatural mystery The Sixth Sense. The film was both a critical and commercial success, earning 6 Oscar nominations and a whopping $672 million at the box office. The Sixth Sense also changed the landscape of genre cinema with it’s mind-scrambling twist. A surprise ending that would eventually become Shyamalan’s signature style. Over the years, Shyamalan’s name has even become a pop culture reference, used as a verb when a movie or life reveals a perspective altering twist. Example: “My best friend is actually my reincarnated Iguana from 4th grade, I just got Shyamalaned!

But M. Night Shyamalan’s career isn’t based solely off twists. The writer/director’s filmography is substantially unique, combining his inventive story premises with a myriad of different film genres from pseudo-superhero to found footage. It would also be an understatement to say M. Night’s career has been unpredictable. Two films on his resumé are often regarded the best in their respective genres, while others have been called “the worst movie of all time”. So as we celebrate M. Night Shyamalan’s birthday, let’s break it down by ranking his filmography! NOTE: I’m not including his first two films since they are so small and not really genre-driven. Also watch out for spoilers, duh. It’s a Shyamalan list.

  10. The Last Airbender (2010)

      Oof, this thing is bad. I’d say not by coincidence, Shyamalan’s only non-original property ends up at the bottom of the list. Some will say because of the white-washing, some will say the wonky 3D effects, but I say it boils down to not following the source material. Shyamalan claimed to be a big fan of the show, but character and plot inconsistencies in the film seem to say otherwise. Don’t agree? That’s absolutely fine. Let us here all about it in the comments below!

    9. After Earth (2013)

    Ironically, the word on the street is that Will Smith convinced Shyamalan to do this movie when texting him on his birthday. BE ON ALERT TODAY SHYAMALAN! After Earth is a particular low point because after this, the world was wondering if M. Night had anything left in him. He had a string of underwhelming films leading up to this one and After Earth is the equivalent of a very long sigh. There is just no energy or life in this film, with a twist that doesn’t help since he pretty much recycled it from The Village. BUT! A twist none the less. And who doesn’t like a 3rd act twist??

    8. Lady in the Water (2006)

    It’s hard to defend a movie involving a “Narf” named Story looking for The Author while trying to get home and avoid being killed by a Scrunt (yes, that is indeed the real plot), but I give this movie a little more slack than others. Some call it Shyamalan’s most pretentious and self-indulgent film, I call it ambition. Which is always respectable, even if it doesn’t fully execute because at least he was definitely trying to tell an interesting story. Also, Paul Giamatti was pretty solid as usual.

    7. The Happening (2008)

    The Happening isn’t exactly what one would call a “good movie”, however: it’s a very fun movie. Sporting a low 14% score on Rotten Tomatoes, the only critics that seemed to enjoy this film viewed it as a B-Film, almost a “so bad it’s good” movie. So if you think of it that way and buy into the idea of Mark Wahlberg as a scientist trying to survive killer plants, you can easily have a great time watching this movie. Invite some friends and crack open a few beers for optimal viewing!

    6. Signs (2002)

    At the time of release, Signs was pretty well received. Lately, it’s been the subject of debate to whether it hold up or not, specifically the “twist”. But all in all, Signs is a pretty good movie. I loved the idea of telling a family drama with the added element of aliens. The film is also a masterclass in suspense, with multiple scenes that keep you on the edge of your seat. The scene showing the birthday party footage of the alien still gives me chills just thinking about it.

    5. The Village (2004)

    I guess this is my controversial ranking for this list. When people complain about The Village, it’s literally only criticism of the twist. The whole time we are invested in the monsters surrounding the woods, it turned out to be The Elders doing it to convince the villagers to stay in and not discover we were in present times the whole time. To me, that’s terrifying in itself and I also commend Shyamalan on convincing the audience we were watching a period piece. The film also features a fantastic score, fun creature designs (even if they were fake), and a supremely eerie trailer.

    4. The Visit (2015)

    May be a bit high for this one, but seeing this in theaters was an absolute blast. Not sure if it was from the low expectations I had going in or the effective use of found footage, but The Visit is just good ol’ creepy fun. We saw M. Night go back to his roots, where he had to get inventive to overcome the small budget. Some theories even speculate that the film was satire of himself and his career to an extent. Loved the premise and the movie is filled with genuinely unsettling moments, including one involving an old person diaper. The Visit was a return to form for Shyamalan, even easing up on his usual twist ending (it’s not even a twist, really).

    3. The Sixth Sense (1999)

    Probably gonna get some flack for the placement of (debatably) Shyamalan’s best film, but I still appreciate The Sixth Sense immensely. This movie not only blasted off M. Night’s career, it would be the one to make his name synonymous with plot twists. And though it’s almost become a meme, it can’t be understated how monumental this movie was to cinema in the way he pulled off the twist. Only reason it’s at #3 is because past the second or third viewing, you’re not nearly as invested in the film because the twist really did change the scope of the entire film (In my opinion). The Sixth Sense is still fantastic th

ough, held together by a tight script and Oscar-nominated performances from Haley Joel Osment and Toni Collette.

    2. Unbreakable (2000)

    Another film that could be argued as his best, especially for reasons I’ll get to in a second, Unbreakable is one of the most unique of all his films. Coming out the same year as X-Men and 8 years before Iron Man really kicked off the superhero craze, Shyamalan broke into the comic book movie genre with one of his own. Even more fascinating, was disguising it and grounding it in reality. It’s not even til the final 15 minutes that you discover what you’re actually watching. Unbreakable creates an interesting world, with top notch performances from Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, respectively. Shyamalan tapped into what it really means to be a hero and overcoming adversity, something he would have to do himself many years later. Luckily, Shymalan would do just that when he eventually returned to this world…

    1. Split (2017)

      Are you shocked to see this movie at #1? Just like you were surprised at the end of Split to find out it was a secret sequel to Unbreakable? Probably so! Not the fan favorite for the top spot, but it’s definitely the film that got you back on board with Shyamalan if The Visit didn’t do so already. Even before the twist, I already loved everything about Split. Anchored by a powerhouse performance by James McAvoy, the movie is intense thriller filled to the brim with tension.

The premise behind getting kidnapped by someone with 23 personalities was already horrifying, but then what the hell is The Beast!? Split keeps you guessing the entire film until you figure out what’s going on, but then the reveal just takes it to entirely new level. On top of that, this movie probably has the best production of any of his previous films. The dread-filled score and cinematography complimented Shyamalan’s story nicely. Top to bottom, a great piece of horror. I remember feeling so proud that after years of defending him, M. Night Shyamalan was officially back and created a cinematic universe right under our noses. But it’s still not his best contribution to cinema…

  What!? This isn’t the end of the list!!!

  In 1999, the same year Shyamalan was soaring to new heights with the success of The Sixth Sense, M. Night was secretly working on another project that would go on to shape a generation…Stuart Little. Before he was a household name, Shyamalan served as a ghostwriter on a few projects in the late 90s. Yes, that’s right, M. Night Shyamalan co-wrote the movie that would spawn 2 sequels, an animated series, and the career of Jonathan Lipnicki. Sure he wasn’t around around for any later installments, but Shyamalan’s contributions laid the foundation to the franchise that would momentarily steal the hearts of America. This was an achievement for Shyamalan, being a ghost and writing a successful family film. It not only broke the stigma around ghostwriters, but reanimated Shyamalan back to life so he could have a successful directing career. Which, if you think about it, makes M. Night Shyamalan a zombie. Boom, you’ve just been Shyamalaned!

    There you have it people, my ranking of M. Night Shyamalan’s films. I can’t wait so see where Glass ends up on here. But enough about my list, what about you? How do you rank his filmography? Does the fact that he’s a zombie change your list? Tell us living un-dead folks here at Nightmare on Film Street your rankings on Twitter or our super cool Facebook group!

    The post Pioneer of the Plot Twist: Ranking M. Night Shyamalan’s 10 Best Films On His Birthday appeared first on Nightmare on Film Street - Horror Movie Podcast, News and Reviews.

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[firefield]

David Bowie - Space Oddity (2019 Visconti Remix)

I’m a fan (so far) of all the times Bowie commissioned a remix of an entire album. Individual tracks, not always, but albums, yes. Some were desperately needed (Lodger and NLMD) some fixed technical flaws, restored sequencings, and generally balanced things up (David Live, Stage) some were about detail and subtlety possibly lost on casual listeners, but reward active listening (Ziggy Stardust, Station To Station.)

But with those wrapped up and in the can with the Legacy Box sets, I didn’t anticipate any new remix work, mainly because the key works/fixes are completed and the remasters of all the original mixes are overall pretty gorgeous. So this announcement of Tony Visconti’s two-month-long remix project of this brilliant 1969 record surprised me. Doing some digging, TV made his case and it makes sense. Limited funds originally to do the mix, so very limited time. The whole record was mixed in less than a week. So I could see the appeal for him, the original engineer, to sit with those recording sessions for awhile... revisit what did and didn’t make the cut, look at the balance of instruments in the stereo field, play with all those stems and see if anything special grows.

So yeah - I was happy about that and excited to hear his work. To some degree, I expected to hear some new parts, probably DB vocal layers never heard, a “modern” mix that shimmered and enveloped and impressed as is typical of Tony’s sympathetic and DB attuned aesthetic.

What we got instead was something much more sludgy and of its time. A psychedelic aural sieve with tracks jammed through it like hand-mixed sausage through a press. Holy shit! What the hell is this? If like me you have heard this album 100’s of times since you were basically a kid, it’s absolutely disarming. This is brave work. It’s not safe, anticipated or typical in any way, save the majestic treatment of the title track, which by the way, is not indicative of the overall effect this new mix has.

Fans of this record understand its depth, and I still hold that lyrically it’s one of his most profound and sincere works - and Visconti has absolutely impregnated this material with a dense gravity that I could not have seen coming. It’s just *heavy* man. The vocal treatments and layering make me feel like DB is alive and tracked these himself from some planet like Venus, with its crushing atmosphere and yellow green swamps of mystery. It’s one of those listens that happens sometimes in music where you sit there with your jaw open, not sure if you even like what you are hearing. Like the sound is happening and it’s something beyond your judgement until you’ve at least honored the work enough to listen through it quite a few times. Like you have to earn your hall pass, and until you get one, your job is to shut up and just listen.

The album opens of course with a stratospheric Space Oddity, with just absolutely amazing and heart rending strings and a vocal treatment that is alive with power and mystery and echoes into the universe from which it arrived. Instantly my favorite version of this well-known song.

Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed blends much more smoothly with the title track, but then begins to morph as the bass stabs into the speaker cones, mixed high and defiant, and by the time “I’m a phallus in pigtails” arrives, you’ve got a glorious sludge of footstomping thick-as-theives rock and roll. Guitars are nasty and tightened up, harmonicas drip sweat, and the dirty ride cymbal washes it all out over an extended Americana deep-south voodoo coda that just keeps on keeping on in spite of the oppressive humidity.

Letter To Hermoine is also thickened with an almost suffocating warmth and reverb - the sparkle of the original is dampened into a mush and David’s vocal is made stark, demo-ish, slipped more to the right channel forcing it to stick out even more than its already increased amplitude. I would never have considered treating this song in this way, a mix like this, but it makes a more personal song even more so, in a way that makes every crack of David’s voice feel like he stayed up all night writing it just for you. An extraordinary interpretation by Tony Visconti.

And now an album centerpiece, Cygnet Committee, with its lyrical themes that speak to literally the entirely of Bowie’s remaining career. The reverb immediately noticeable on the opening bass part unifies what has come before, and I’m impressed how “Beatlesque” this mix is, with the drums hard-panned, the rosedale electric chord organ mixed higher, the vocal reverbs appearing and disappearing, going from a near complete wash to totally absent when the narrator has a point to make. It’s not a “modern” mix at all, but perfectly suits the material and the time in which it was written. It doesn’t play tricks, or attempt to tickle ears with novelty - it lets this incredible song stand on its own and march it’s way to closing out the A-side.

So how to tackle Janine after all that? Tie it directly to an album to come, TMWSTW, stick that bass out far, and make all those whooping and earnest vocal layers pop. Wonderful B-side opener, begs you to turn up the volume and feel the bass in your gut.

One of my favorite mixes on the record is An Occasional Dream with its confident flutes and recorders, shimmering prickly guitars, and unusual and dreamlike backing vocal layers doing some very odd things. What an incredible song to be written by someone so young.

Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud is fascinating with its horn-centric arrangement and elevated strings and harps. Is it my imagination that I’m hearing entire vocal passages that I’ve never heard before? Are these vocal takes that were on tape but totally unused in the previous mix? I’d have to do an A/B comparison, but I think so.

“really you and really me.”

Hearing this vocal is like a timewarp into the future to his work on Baal. Like he’s able to suck up the experience and timbre of his own self 30 years on and use them when he likes. Incredible.

Aww man. Wow. How nicely does Conversation Piece sit here as originally intended... whew. Emotion. “I can’t see the road for the rain in my eyes.”

I’ll just let you enjoy this song in your own way without my input, expect to say that you will miss this artist’s presence in the world.

So yeah. Get it together. Alrighty. “God Knows I’m Good” is a brilliant song IMO although plenty seem to disagree, and that’s cool. Lyrically, it’s just killer, and I’m enjoying David’s natural centered vocal clean and clear. Beautiful smoothed out 12-strings gliding and gorgeous. Nothing out of the ordinary here besides some balancing and reverb choices, but an honest and heartfelt interpretation of an underrated DB song.

I’m expecting more of a Beatles/George Martin approach to the mix of Memory Of A Free Festival, and we’ll see. Lovely, honest and direct vocal treatment on David’s voice, and I’m looking forward to seeing how this morphs into the slew of background vocalists that include Marc Bolan and friends... wait - what? A Pink Floydian bridge into the coda? Wow! The Sun Machine is coming down and it joined a religious cult and it wants you to believe! Alright well, this is amazing.

If you have any love for this record, and aren’t one of those people who think remixing is akin to spray painting over the Mona Lisa, GET THIS. You’ll be surprised and touched by it, I guarantee. Hearing these voices swirl and smear at the end of this record makes me feel like Tony Visconti made this for David, his friend, and we just get to enjoy it too. Tony captured lightning in a bottle with this work here. Having access to original track stems included unused music, and the privilege of being there for the recording sessions so long ago, he’s in a literally singular position to rebuild and reinterpret these songs from scratch in a way that would be impossible for anyone else, even if they had the access to the masters that this requires.

I think one of the reasons I love it so much is that it lays bare the importance of mixing and mastering to the artwork itself, and Tony’s voice is all over this. And unsurprisingly, it’s a voice filled with genuine emotion and reverence for his friend. Space Oddity blows me away. For a song that is SO well known to fans and otherwise, one that is intimately mapped on our minds, it’s just remarkable that he can mine, find, and yank this sort of soaring majesty out of well-trodden aural paths. It’s just a wonder, and without hesitation my favorite version of the song. It’s absolutely perfect. His use of modern delays made me nervous with Lodger (I’ve since warmed to them) but in the context of this lead off track, they are just... yeah. David’s still around.

From the dizzying psychedelia of Unwashed, to the chiming percussive harmonics flittering like butterflies all over Letter To Hermione, to the brilliant inclusion and interpretation of the deeply lovely Conversation Piece, to the closing triumphant aural densities of Memory Of A Free Festival, this record is a masterful window into the genius of music itself. But the fact that it shows off Tony’s skill without feeling arrogant or showy at all is just wild. Work like this is risky, and guaranteed to smack a glowing target on your back from the “why-do-we-need-this-cash-grab” crowd - so I’m impressed with his ability to honor the art and the artist in this way, and to respect the impressive craft of audio and sound studio science. He’s one of the Masters of the craft and this is Legacy work. A gift and a treasure.

[theantisocialcritic]

Archive Project - February 7, 2014 - Avengers Lineup

2012's Avengers movie is too easily forgotten as a miracle of modern film. What was once considered a film that could and wouldn't ever work, with a lot working against it, managed to become one of the best movies of the early 21st century. This is due largely to the miracle casting of Joss Whedon as director. Prior to selling his soul… I mean future career prospects to Marvel/Disney, he gained extreme nerd credibility for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog and Cabin in the Woods (which premiered around the same time as Avengers). Joss Whedon's strength as a director has always been inter-character dynamics. By that I mean, he is able to establish a large cast of characters with differing personalities that all interact with each other differently in fascinating ways. This, I imagine, was largely why he was chosen for The Avengers. His touch really does show through as we see certain characters get along and bicker. For example, Tony Stark immediately gets along with Bruce Banner, but clashes with Steve Rogers. Ultimately though, I will admit that The Avenger's as a movie suffers from 1 flaw: an overall lack of depth.  Joss spent all of his time working the movie developing the character's personalities and interactions, but the resulting script was pretty much a standard action movie with little to say about people, life, the universe, etc. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and it doesn't detract from the movie, but what it does is two things. The first is that is keeps the movie from really standing out as potentially the greatest Superhero and Action movie of all time (though I will say it easily get's second best for me personally). The second is that it makes me really worried for the sequel, 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron. Joss has stated in interviews that his influences for making this movie are The Empire Strikes Back and The Godfather Part II, which I would take as good signs if that actually was some sort of signifier that the movie's inspiration was other good movies. What he has also seemed to have done is to take nearly every single fan request for a character appearance and stuck them into the script while simultaneously making the story darker and more complex. I'm nervous because the last time I saw a movie that tried this strategy, making the movie darker, more complex, with more characters, and taking inspiration from another great movie (in this case Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan) was the unfortunately complicated misfire that was Star Trek into Darkness. I'm not saying that Joss Whedon is going in a bad direction with Avengers 2 or that he isn't talented at what he does. In fact if there is any director I would trust to make this movie work.. IT IS JOSS WHEDON! I'm just worried too many people out there are already convinced that Avengers Age of Ultron is predestined to become some sort of modern cinematic masterpiece when there is just as good a chance that the whole experiment could fall apart on itself if it makes a severe misfire. Overall though my main fear, as I mentioned briefly before, is the casting. Reading the cast list for this movie on Wikipedia makes me really afraid that Joss Whedon might be a bit over his head here and that he could be biting off more than he can chew. Lets look back of his record so far: Ok.. Firefly: 9 central characters, plus rotating cast of antagonists The characters had great dynamics and the show had a deep emotional core with a fully realized world. Avengers 1: 10 central characters, plus 1 primary antagonist One of the best Superhero-Action movies ever, kinda weak story but REALLY awesome!!   Avengers 2: 9 Protagonists, 5 antagonists remains to be seen.. So maybe it doesn't sound like that much, but 14 main characters are a lot to throw around, especially when you are balancing multiple bad guys with different goals and story lines. Again, thats not to say it can't work. The first Die Hard movie had 12 villains.   So the question is, how do you balance a two hour movie with fourteen or more characters. My best guess: do it the way they did in the old Star Trek shows: create a diverse cast of personalities but keep the focus primarily on the important figures. In old Star Trek, the stories usually revolved around Captain Kirk, Commander Spock and Dr. "Bones". Yah, characters like Uhara and Scotty got screen time but it wasn't guaranteed in every episode and was less significant than the main trio. If Avengers: Age of Ultron keeps it's focus on the right characters and gives screen time where it is needed then it really could end up something of a great movie! But it's important to approach this cautiously, as this could very easily turn out to be an X-Men: The Last Stand level disaster if the ball is dropped. Or alternatively, it could be a Man of Steel 2… I mean Batman vs… I mean NOT Justice League level screwup. The saving grace here is that we have hope. At the helm of this movie is an incredibly talented group of actors, directors and special effects artists who genuinely care about the material. The Avengers movies are one of those rare little treats where Hollywood figured out that they could make a lot of money by honoring the source materials people care about and making genuinely great, light hearted and fun action movies out of such odd, out there concepts. Who would have thought a movie about The Norse God of Thunder or Ayn Rand in a robot suit would become to most dominating movies out there. What i'm really hoping for is that the huge cast that Joss Whedon is collecting is for a greater purpose for these movies. The fact is, sadly.. these actors aren't going to be around forever. Eventually Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evens, Robert Downey Jr and the rest will get tired of the roles and try to retire the characters. We almost saw this with Downey in Iron Man 3. By making such a huge cast, maybe Joss is preparing for the ugly reality that we will all have to face at some point, that Chris Hemsworth as Thor really isn't immortal. That the invincible Iron Man really isn't. Just looking ahead at Marvel's Phase 3 movies, you can really see this. Marvel/Disney is currently in talks right now for potential movies for Dr. Strange, Black Panther, Ms. Marvel and Blade. Not to mention the Netflix Original Series' coming in 2015 for Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Don't take this as cynical. If anything, the untold possibilities with these films has me more excited for them than anything else! I'm not nearly excited for stuff like Star Wars VII or The LEGO Movie as I am for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man and Avengers 2! And in the meantime, I can confidently say that the characters we know and love will be around for quite a while! Thor 3 and Captain America 3 have already been announced! Take from this a sense of cautious optimism. These are the movies we will hand down to our children. Even if things crash and burn from here on out, we still got 8 amazing movies out of this deal! And I can say with confidence, that we will probably have more than 8 of these films to pass on. :) Thank you for reading! Live long and prosper!

[tilltheendwilliwrite]

Willing to Learn

A Vision x Reader Fic Request

For @this-kitty-has-claws because she whines but I love her, and she convinced me Vision needed more fiction.

Pairing: Vision x Reader   |   Word Count: 2800 Warnings: none, just fluff and stuff

You were standing in the kitchen, lit only by the glow from the stove, eating a bowl of cereal over the sink as you tried to slow your racing heart. You knew better. Oh how you knew better than to watch a scary movie by yourself at eleven o’clock at night, but nearly everyone was gone from the compound, and you’d really wanted to see The Conjuring which everyone else had watched without you when you’d been off on a mission for Fury.

Now you were halfway through and scared stupid, wolfing down cereal because your freaky ass stomach had decided it wanted food, requiring you to walk through the compound, alone, in the dark, at night, by yourself, to get something to eat. It was horrifying to realize A the compound was far bigger than you’d thought, and B the place was fudging scary at night. Had it always had so many shadows? Did it always make those noises? Were those footsteps or were you imagining things?

When the hand came down on your shoulder, you screamed like a banshee, bowl, spoon and cereal going in the sink with a shatter of glass as you spun to defend yourself from the witch come to possess you only to come face to face with Vision.

“Holy shit!” you squealed, grabbing for your chest.

“(Y/N)? Are you alright? I noticed elevated levels of cortisol and a rapid increase in your heart rate, and came to see why you were in distress?” He peered curiously into the sink. “Did the cereal somehow… threaten you?” His strange but beautiful eyes seemed to twinkle with amusement.

“Ha! You’re so not funny,” you grumbled, turning to clean up the mess when he batted your hands away.

“You will only cause yourself damage in your nervous state. Let me.”

Rolling your eyes, you went to the freezer and pulled out a pint of Tom and Jerry’s, still needing to fill the void and opting for comfort food after the fright of your life. “What are you doing skulking around?” you asked, leaning against the counter and eating straight from the carton.

“I do not skulk. I was reading when your presence disturbed me.” He glanced at you, brow arched accusingly.

You looked down at your ice cream. “Oh,” you murmured. It was very hard to get a read on Vision. The others, you knew, all liked you well enough to laugh and tease and joke. You were part of the team, mostly normal with a few special quirks that came in handy on missions. If it wasn’t for the bullet that had clipped your upper arm a week ago, you would have been out with Steve and Bucky and Sam like always.

Still healing, you’d been taken off the roster until Bruce, Wanda, and Nat returned from their mission, and Bruce could give you the all clear. Any doc could, technically, but you preferred Bruce. He wouldn’t bullshit you about your progress. If he didn’t like the healing, he’d tell you.

You weren’t quite sure why Vision was here when Wanda wasn’t. Usually wherever one was the other wasn’t far behind.

Their relationship was another you’d had a difficult time understanding. They were so close you’d originally thought they had a thing, but a giggling Wanda had only shaken her head.

She and Vision had been through a lot together, good and bad, and were indeed very close. She may love him, but she wasn’t in love with him. Her sly grin showed she was well aware of why you were asking, setting you blushing and stammering before you’d run very quickly out of the room.

He was such a sweet guy, Vision, but you always felt ever so slightly chastised by him. It was subtle, but it picked at your confidence. Tonight was clearly no different.

“Sorry for disturbing you.” Turning away from the kitchen, you headed back toward your room with your tub of ice cream.

“I did not mean to send you scurrying away, (Y/N),” he said as his long red fingers wrapped around your wrist.

“It’s fine.” But you didn’t look at him, only at the slowly melting ice cream.

“Will you tell me what truly upset you? Perhaps I can assist.”

A flush darkened your cheeks. “Made the mistake of watching a scary movie by myself. Don’t worry about it. I’ll leave you to your reading.” Pulling away, you headed back to your room, a little less scared, replaced by sadness and disappointment.

The trip back, though faster, was no less unnerving as you made your way through dark corridors and down deserted hallways, the glow of security lights and emergency exits the only ones to guide your way. There was little point in turning them all on, wasting power, when it was just you, well, and Vision, but he could see perfectly fine in this lighting.

Walking into your room, you sighed, prepared to return to your movie and not sleep for the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours.

“This scary movie…”

His voice coming from the darkened corner made you shriek a second time.

Evidently prepared, he was there to catch the tub of ice cream and your spoon before they could hit the ground.

“Goddammit, Vision! What did we say about doing that?” Again you stood holding your chest, fearing for the heart trying to hammer its way free.

This time he could not contain the chuckle your terror caused. “Apologies. I will endeavour to remember in the future.” He drifted closer.

“You have a perfectly fine, functional memory. I think you do it on purpose!” you groused, flopping to pout on the couch.

A smile twitched his lips as he sat beside you. “As I was saying, this scary movie, is it the one the others watched without you?”

“Yeah. I really want to see it, but damn… she's scary!” you said, tucking into the bucket of chocolate chip goodness once he handed it back. “Bite?” you asked without thinking, used to sharing your food with whoever was with you. But you rarely saw Vision eat and flushed when you realized you'd offered not only the ice cream but a shared spoon. “Never mind,” you murmured, drawing your offering back.

His warm fingers wrapped around your wrist. “Wait. I am not familiar with this flavour. Wanda prefers the cherry kind.”

You watched him lead the spoon back to his mouth, eyes locked with yours as it slipped between his lips.

He had such a unique face. Strong lines and interesting structures. The red and silver colours did nothing to detract from his features, you actually found them enticing. He may be different, but he was still handsome.

“Hm. Interesting,” he murmured when he released your hand.

Drawing the spoon back swiftly, you blinked at him before finding your voice. “Better or worse than Cherry Garcia?”

“Different. I think… I prefer the chocolate chips.”

A radiant smile bloomed upon your face. “Really?”

“Indeed.” He settled further into the couch. “I've heard tell if one watches a scary movie in the company of another, especially one of masculine persuasion, they are less likely to be afraid. I would test this hypothesis if you'd allow me?”

You weren't about to look a gift horse in the mouth and scrambled for the remote. “I'll even share my ice cream,” you beamed at him, scooting up on the couch, so your legs were curled beneath you, knees pointed his direction.

It wasn't until he shifted to drape his arm along the back of the sofa you realized just how close he was. “I would expect no less from you,” he said softly, turning his attention to the movie.

The soft words made you wonder, but you pushed them aside in favour of asking, “Do you need a rundown on the movie to this point?”

He only looked pointedly at you, causing you to blush.

“Ah. Right. Computer brain with the crazy WiFi access. Never mind.” You dug out another spoonful of ice cream and pressed play.

The movie started again, engrossing you enough to have you forgetting it was Vision sitting at your side. When he wanted ice cream, he simply commandeered the spoon, no different than Bucky or Steve. When the tub was empty, and you'd jumped for the third time, you didn't remember the thigh you were gripping didn't belong to Sam.

The squeak of fright left you, and you buried your face in the argyle sweater vest, finding yourself wrapped up in strong arms which offered comfort and protection but weren't Thor.

Throwing your legs over his, you watched the rest of the movie from the safety of his lap from behind the screen of your fingers until the witch was finally defeated and you relaxed your tense muscles as the volume was lowered by his hand on the remote.

“Fascinating,” Vision murmured.

All your slowly softening muscles became rock hard in an instant when reality returned. Turning to look up at his incredibly close face, you swallowed in unease. “What… what is?”

“You reacted no different with me then you would with any of the others once the movie took your attention. I had wondered.” He seemed genuinely puzzled about why that was.

“I… don’t understand,” you frowned.

His arm was still wrapped firmly around your back, the other across your thighs, hand resting on your hip. “In our day to day interactions, you rarely have contact with me. With Steve, Bucky, Tony, Wanda, even Thor who you see far less frequently than I, all receive your affection so easily… but not… me.”

Surprise filled you, he appeared almost… hurt. “Vision?”

His hands flexed as if he was inclined to draw you closer. “What did I do to make you dislike me?”

You gaped, shocked beyond words. “I don’t!”

This time he frowned, eyes locked intently on your face. “Now I do not understand.”

When he made to shift you from your position, you grabbed onto his sweater with both hands. “Wait! No, I…” you swallowed, dropping your hands to your lap, watching them twist together. “It’s not… not what you think.”

“Then… what is it?”

Sighing, you wish now you had let him shift you away, perhaps it would have made this easier. “I do like you, Vision… quite a lot actually,” you whispered.

“Excuse me?” he sounded shocked.

“I like you.”

“I am… uncertain what to do with this information.”

Blushing fully red, you shifted, trying to remove yourself from him.

“Wait.” His arms tightened.

“Why? I think I’ve embarrassed myself enough.”

“(Y/N), I seem to always be chasing you away.” He drew you closer, right up against him.

“What… what…?” you gasped, hands coming up to press against his chest.

“I am not yet as adept at speaking my thoughts or my… feelings as I would like.”

Wide-eyed, you could only stare into his electric blue eyes, mind numb, until your brain kicked back in. “What? What are you saying?”

“It seems as I have failed in speaking my desires, I have been just as terrible at showing my interest.”

“Yah think?” you muttered, making him flinch and look away. “I thought… I thought you didn’t like me.”

“Why would you ever think that?” His eyes darted back to yours.

It was your turn to look away. “Because… I seem to always be inept to you. Couldn’t even clean out the sink tonight,” you muttered. “You tend to… scold me…” The lightbulb in your brain went off. “You’re trying to protect me.”

He nodded slowly. “I find it very… disheartening when you are injured.”

“Really?” you asked, smile growing.

His brow arched. “You find my disquiet over your injuries pleasing?”

“No, no, no.” You reached up and hesitantly touched his face.

Eyes closing, Vision leaned into the contact, rubbing against your palm in little nods which set your heart fluttering.

“The fact that you care pleases me,” you whispered.

The hand at your hip lifted, mirrored the touch you had on his face. His thumb traced your bottom lip. “(Y/N) I am… uneducated in the ways of romance and love. I fear I will not make a very pleasing… suitor.”

You smiled at the old-fashioned term. “You been talking to Bucky about this?”

“Steve,” he admitted.

“What was his advice?” you asked, figuring you already knew.

“He thought it would be best if I stayed back, spent time with you away from the others.”

“Good advice,” you agreed. “Anything else?”

“Sam said…” if an android could blush, he would have, “if I really wanted to know if I had a shot, I should just kiss you and see what happened.”

You’re breath hitched softly in excitement. “Why don’t you try it and find out.”

His thumb swept your lip again, pulling down on it just slightly, and sending your heart rate skyrocketing. Red lips descended tentatively, hesitating just before they touched yours, and you closed the distance.

It wasn’t fireworks and earthquakes, but it was sweet, tender, and so very gentle. It melted your heart. “Vision,” you sighed when his head lifted.

“I am not well versed in this new path… but I’m willing to learn if you’ll teach me.” Earnest eyes and a soft smile were your undoing.

Shifting around, you straddled his lap and ran your hands lightly over his smooth head, following the lines of silver in his skin. “I’ve always been one to believe in hands-on training,” you said with a smile before sinking into his mouth and showing him what he’d been missing.

When you broke some minutes later, needing air, he looked remarkable hazy-eyed, a flirty smile on his lips as his hands caressed your thighs. “That was… fascinating,” he murmured, making you chuckle.

“It gets better,” you promised, rocking your hips.

His hands gripped you tighter. “(Y/N) I... am more than willing just… not yet.”

Cupping his face, you kissed him with all the care you could muster. “That’s fine.”

“You’re not… upset?”

“No, Vision.” you shook your head. “I care for you, a lot, very deeply. I’m not going to rush you into anything.”

He relaxed muscles you hadn’t realized were so tight. “There is something else.”

You placed a finger on his lips. “I understand.”

He was an android, created to house the consciousness that had been Ultron. While he may be willing, he was not able in the most carnal sense.

“When you’re ready, you need only ask, and I’ll grant you your heart’s desire,” you smiled with your words, for, that was your gift, your quirk of nature. For one hour, you could give people their greatest desire. Once the hour was up, everything returned to the way it once was. They didn’t call you Genie - or in some cases Fairy Godmother - for nothing. And while you could grant the same desire repeatedly, it only ever lasted a single hour.

It made you invaluable on missions. Need to be invisible? Poof! For an hour you could be so. Run out of bullets? Never ending ammo for an hour. It had taken time to train the others to block out their personal desires to be able to get what they needed in that instant, but for Vision, personal desires wouldn’t be a problem. If he wished to be simply able or wished to be fully human, the option was his, but either would be fine for you.

He pulled you closer, eyes full of warm affection. “Thank you,” he whispered before kissing you again.

When you broke apart the second time, a yawn escaped your control, and Vision was lifting you from the couch with ease.

“You need sleep,” he said in the same chastising tone as before, but now it meant something different.

When he settled you on your bed, you reached for his hand. “Stay? I won’t sleep if you go, not after that movie.”

“Is this another custom? My presence, somehow, counteracts the nightmares you may have in regards to the movie?” he asked, already settling to the bed behind you, pulling you into his warm chest.

“Mmm,” you nodded, snuggling back into his big spoon position.

“Very well,” he murmured, nose tucking into your hair where he rubbed it slowly and closed his eyes.

He didn’t sleep in the traditional sense, but he did occasionally power down.

The next morning when Wanda, Nat and Bruce returned early, it was Wanda who came upon your open door and just happened to peek in.

She smiled brightly, happy to see the two of you snuggled up and dreaming after so long of dancing around each other. Before Nat or Bruce could notice, she slipped out and shut the door, unable to contain her grin.

-The End-

[inzannatea-arts]

#21 Days of Nathan - A Recap Days 1-10

I just wrapped up the @izzyandlouie​ sparked #21daysofNathan on Instagram and thought it might be fun to recap it all in one place. Tumblr seemed like the best place to do that, so here we are.

Day 1: Movie I’d like to see Nathan in. 

I'd Ike to see Nathan Page and Essie Davis take the roles originally played by Peter O'Toole and Audrey Hepburn in How To Steal A Million and I'd like master 'ship builder Tony Tilse to direct.

Day 2: Favorite Jack Quote

It's actually a favorite Shakespearean quote from Enobarbus in Antony and Cleopatra: "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety. Other women cloy The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry. Where most she satisfies." Nathan has a very...um...moving delivery of the line.

Day 3: Favorite moment from Nathan’s Instagram

I feel like this is a lot of people’s favoite. It’s just so pure and sweet and perfect. Nathan is clearly a genuinely lovely human and the koala is being the adorable idiot that is so purely koalaness. Just perfect.

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More under the fold

Day 4: Favorite Nathan role

Look, Nathan is a very talented actor and I have enjoyed his work in roles that I may (or more likely would not) have discovered had it not been for his work on Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. But it was Jack (and Phryne) that compelled me to get on an airplane exactly a year ago today (Posted Feb 16, 2021) to fly to the other side of the planet just to see a movie. It was this character and the other characters of the show that compelled me to send a lot of money just to invest in something that mattered to me on a deep level. It's Jack and the characters surrounding him that inspire me to create every day. Thank you Nathan Page for breathing life into Kerry Greenwood’s and Every Cloud Production’s Creation.

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Day 5: Best Hair Moment

Nathan is what I consider a "hair actor". I was unfamiliar with the term until my cousin and cousin-in-law who are also working professional actors used the term to describe the male spouse. Essie is as well (though she did wear a wig in CoT). The hair helps embody the character. Between roles, it is just hair, but in the role, the hair is a character in its own right. When the Miss Fisher Movie Kickstarter kicked off, we were presented with this character. Nathan who was just as desperate as we were to get the band back together. He was as far from Jack as we'd ever seen him. We wanted... nay... NEEDED... to return Nathan to a Jack-state, post-haste. It. Was. Genius. I'm not sure who actually dreamt up the marketing campaign, but I developed a serious marketing crush on new Marketing Director Drew, imagining he had a hand. 

I don’t mean to be cynical about the whole thing. I’m sure it wasn’t as calculated as all that, I just think someone had the smarts to see they had an opportunity, and seized it. As someone who has been involved in marketing to varying degrees for decades, I was deeply appreciative. 

Day 6: Favorite Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries Moment

Soooo...this is may not my very favorite... but y'all... how can I pick? Seriously? This is pretty close to the top "reasons I admire Nathan" I edited the scene to only show his face journey because that's what I'm in love with here. The dawning realization, the perturbation, the wrestling for control of his emotions, thinking he has it together until he looks at her again... 😙👌 Perfection. Master class. Bravo!

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Day 7: Favorite Nathan Quote

Mine is this little story from 6 questions with Nathan Page from the nathanpagetheactor.com website. Nathan is talking about both delightful and disturbing food he's consumed in his travels. Go watch the whole thing. It's a thing of joy... But it's the "Eelgut" that gets quoted on the regular around the house.

Day 8: Character you’d like Nathan to portray

I would like to see Nathan as a high ranking Peacekeeper Officer who has some sort of secret personal agenda but is who is morally ambiguous. Mostly, I want more Farscape, and I want more opportunities for Nathan and I think he'd enjoy it. Plus I'd like him to work more with Tony Tilse who must be involved in this reboot. Space needs more Australian accents. Bring back Farscape! 

Day 9: Favorite Fan Art

It's probably not cool to choose my own fan art, but Nathan is probably my favorite fan art subject. He’s just so... interesting looking. Of the multitude of drawings I've done over the years, these remain my favorite. Hedgehog Jack was a particular favorite collaborative work borne out of a conversation with @scruggzi​ back in the day.

Day 10: Book you’d love Nathan to narrate. 

This suggestion The Making of Martin Sparrow came directly from Nathan Page back in 2018. It’s a fascinating story filled with excellent characters that would be fun to hear Nathan interpret. He recommended it highly, and it would be great to put his mouth where our money is. 

Looks like the Tumblr app won’t let me add more videos, so I’ll split this list in half. 

[ramblings-from-elsinore]

*slides in* Obsession numbers 9, 7, 11, 12, 2, 4, 5, and 13? Sorry that's a lot... you don't have to answer all of them if you don't want to :3

What was my inspiration for this fic? How did it come to me?

What’s my favorite part of the fic?

What’s the part of the fic I’m most proud of?

What part of the fic was the hardest for me to write?

What part of the fic am I still dissatisfied with?

Who’s my favorite character in the fic?

Were there any major decisions I made about the fic that could have made it go a whole different direction?

Was there anything I only learned about the fic after I had finished it? (themes, motifs, symbolism, etc)

Did anyone in the fic surprise me by doing anything? If so, what?

If I had to sum up this fic in a sentence, what would it be?

If I were to rewrite this fic, what would I change?

Did any thing about this fic’s reception surprise me?

What were my beta’s major comments about the first draft of this fic?

If I were to write a sequel to this fic, what would it be about?

Any other question about the fic!

Were there any major decisions I made about the fic that could have made it go a whole different direction?

So. Many.  Were and are still.  Honestly I am very undecided about many elements of this story and certain plot points that I have been toying with for a long time.  Some of the biggest decisions are yet to come, and I have been weighing them from the start.  But as for decisions I made in the past: one of the most important ones was probably regarding Ludwig’s confession and Gilbert’s ultimate capitulation.  I didn’t originally plan for Ludwig to have such a breakdown, and I thought Gilbert would agree more easily, without the crisis they both go through before the first time they sleep together.  Luckily, after much thought, I realized that that would not be true to character.  They both had to be pushed to their breaking points: Ludwig, to even consider confessing, and Gilbert, to possibly think that crossing that line was the best course of action.  They had to be desperate.  That decision didn’t really affect the direction of the story so much–they were going to end up getting together somehow or other–but it did affect the tone, I think, as both brothers are still so plagued with self doubt.

Now it occurs to me there’s another big decision that has had a ripple effect on this story: Francis and Toni sexually assaulting Ludwig.  At first I planned for this to be a consensual encounter, something that would expand Ludwig’s horizons and make him consider new things about himself.  But having a threesome with two other men seemed a bit of a stretch, and I realized that with drugs involved, that situation could easily become nonconsensual.  As it’s something that happens all too often on campuses, I decided it would be appropriate to include.  And, since I want to do justice to Ludwig as a survivor, I’ve ended up weaving the aftereffects of that assault into the narrative in ways that have changed it.  And, heads up; we haven’t seen the last of it yet.  If anything, Ludwig is bottling up his feelings about what happened to him, but they’ll have to come to the surface eventually.

What part of the fic am I still dissatisfied with?/If I were to rewrite this fic, what would I change?

Lol, so much.  Really though, I have grown so much as a writer (I hope) in the time I’ve been writing this story that when I look back on earlier chapters–most of Obsession, honestly–I cringe.  Mostly, that has to do with the fact that when I started, I was really thinking of it as fanfiction.  I thought I had to include all the little nods to canon, all the in-jokes and tics of characterization, as well as fanon interpretations of characters.  I used cringe-worthy fanfiction standbys such as “the blond” for Ludwig or, worse, “the albino” for Gilbert.  And I put Feliciano in there just because GerIta was so popular, I felt obliged to include it.  I sort of wish I could retcon Feli out of the story.  Sorry, Feli fans.  It’s not that I hate him so much, I just think he adds nothing to the story.  I do have a trajectory in mind for his character, though, so I’ll try to keep it consistent and make it work.

Did anything about this fic’s reception surprise me?

Yes–that I haven’t gotten any hate for it, really, unless you count one chapter being taken down from DeviantArt (back in the dark days when I still posted my writing there).  There have only been a few unwelcome comments in all this time, and those weren’t from haters so much as entitled, angry readers.  Mostly the reception has been warm and beyond my wildest hopes.  I’m surprised this fic became so popular–I don’t think it would be wrong to say it’s among the most popular fics for the pairing.  I’m so thankful for each and every kind comment I get.  The responses never fail to surprise me–it warms my heart to hear from folks who have been reading for years, sticking with me and my slow-ass updates and feeling for my boys all this long time.  So thank you, deeply and truly. :)

Did anyone in the fic surprise me by doing anything?  If so, what?

The two characters I’ve been most surprised by are probably Liz and Sebastian, the boys’ father.  I didn’t have big plans for either of them, but they’ve both turned out to be important and lots of fun to write.  The whole backstory with the Beilschmidt family history has developed over time, and I’m so glad I’ve been able to flesh it out.  It’s important for me to keep Sebastian human, even if he’s often cast in a bad light.  And as for Liz, it’s fascinating to write someone on the outside who knows about the brothers’ relationship.  I realized, once she found out, she was going to be much more important than I had thought.  I knew I didn’t want her to have a stereotypical “eww you’re so gross that’s wrong” or “omg you’re made for each other, who cares love is love” reaction–I wanted her to be human and complex, as well.  I realized she’s struggling, too–with how to support a friend she genuinely loves and shares a complicated past with, while also being very troubled by what she knows.  I think Liz has a strong moral compass, but a nuanced one as well.

Angie has also surprised me some.  In writing her, I’ve come to flesh her out more and think about her past and future–she’s become much more than “Ludwig’s heterosexual experiment” as she was originally pegged to be.  I have big plans for her that I hope I’ll get to include as the story goes forward.

None of these characters really did any one surprising thing–it’s been more of a gradual revelation with them.

What were my beta’s major comments about the first draft of this fic?

I actually don’t really have a beta.  I’ve talked things over with lilienpasse in the past, though, and have appreciated her input on a number of chapters, and she has made a wonderful sounding board when I’m trying to figure out where I’m going.  I remember some conversations where I’ve been able to use her as the guinea pig for some of my more outlandish ideas (thanks for letting me subject you to that, LP!) and she definitely reigned me in where I needed it.

I am going to have to think a bit more on my favorite part of the story and which was hardest to write.  I’ll answer later :)  Thank you for the questions, and for your patience waiting for a response!!

[ryanmeft]

Spider-Man: Homecoming Movie Review

All Marvel Studios really had to do with their new Spider-Man movie, after a rash of poorly received efforts from Sony, was to get it right. It didn't need to blow anyone's mind; it just needed to be Spider-Man. It is that. It also contains the best supporting cast in a Marvel movie to date, pitch-perfect comedic timing, a fantastic villain, and some genuine twists whether you've read Spider-Man for decades or couldn't tell a Doctor Octopus from a Doctor Robert.

No matter how good a superhero movie is, the part a reviewer always dreads is having to describe the origin story, but I'll give it m...wait, there's no origin story? No, there isn't. It's one of the many touches that make this iteration of the web-slinger fast and funny: it just assumes you already know about Peter Parker's famous origin, and only briefly mentions a bite from a spider in passing. Right to it then: the film begins eight years ago, as a private clean-up crew led by a man named Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) is getting set to cart away the remains of the alien battle from the Avengers, a job that is apparently a windfall (2017 minus 2012 equals five, not eight, but it's no big deal). He's stopped by an officious Tyne Daly, who informs him Tony Stark has created a thing called Damage Control to deal with this kind of stuff and that he's out of a job. Realizing he's already got some of that sweet, sweet alien tech sitting in his warehouse, he announces "World's changing, boys. Time we changed too."

Jump ahead eight years, and Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is an energetic, overconfident Spider-Man, getting on the nerves of his handler Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) and begging his patron Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) for more important assignments than retrieving stolen bicycles and giving directions to old ladies. All of this builds from Captain America: Civil War, though Homecoming is a stand alone story that doesn't deal too directly with the fallout from that movie. Parker's no Avenger. Despite his comics pre-dating those of most of Marvel's characters, he's always been the kid in the room; the movie makes that official by having him be several decades younger than Iron Man or Cap. He's enthusiastic, naive, awkward, and yes, sometimes annoying, because a 15-year-old who is never annoying is like a unicorn. He acts before thinking (as when he heroically stops a man from stealing his own car), confronts crooks without considering the potential collateral damage, dismisses the advice of his mentors and treats it all like a game. He's bullied, too, though not as brutally or physically as in the comics, perhaps because that's a hot topic these days. If you give a put-upon kid a high tech suit that can actually talk to him, the power's likely going to go to his head. Holland gets both the man and the mask right: inside the suit he's a celebrity, outside of it he's too awkward to admit a crush.

He's up against a baddie who is a nice break from the usually larger-than-life villains of Marvel's movies. Toomes builds himself a suit of armor and set of mechanical wings that he can also operate independently of the suit, and becomes The Vulture, though this name is never stated. He doesn't want to rule anything; he simply wants to make a better life for his family and crew. To this end, he pulls off small-scale heists of alien tech, which his men turn into weapons for sale to ambitious crooks. Keaton is vital to the film. As Sam Raimi proved in his first two Spider-Man films,  the hero needs a good villain to be effective, someone who is fascinating even when not pulling off acrobatics. Keaton makes Toomes more of an antagonist that should get equal billing. He doesn't kill if he can help it, focuses on crimes that won't get him noticed, and isn't given to grandstanding. Keaton's key moments come late in the film, in which, like any smart super-baddie, he tries to get the hero on his side. Most of the time that goes something like this: "Join me and be totally evil and kill lots of people." Not tempting for most. Toomes's offer is more realistic: join me and get a slice. Donald Glover, in a small-but-effective role that is also a nerd nod, calls him a psychopath, but he doesn't seem like one.

Also vital is the strong supporting cast. I was of the opinion that this was a major weakness in the much-loved Wonder Woman film, and Spider-Man is the opposite of that. Instead of being defined entirely by a single character trait, Parker's classmates, teachers and family seem like real people living real lives. The students naturally get the most attention. Parker's crush Liz (Laura Harrier) is the serious leader of his Academic Decathalon team, while his classmate Michelle (Zendaya) is frankly more interesting, nerdy, aloof and abrasive in that way young, smart people are. It's frankly a major step forward for female roles in superhero movies that she is both a nerd and not the butt of jokes; she puts me in mind of Mae Whitman in the underrated film The Duff. Peter's best friend Ned (Jacob Batalan) is adorably nerdy, more so than Parker, and I'd like to note that no jokes are made at the expense of his size. Marisa Tomei is completely perfect as an updated Aunt May, and rather than shy away from the ridiculous nothingburger that was the controversy about her age, director Watts and his army of screenwriters emphasize it, as waiters and billionaires are not shy about flirting with her.

Other excellent roles that I just don't have the space to go into detail about (I'm so sorry, actor people) go to Tony Revolori, Garcelle Beauvais, Logan-Marshall Green, Bokeem Woodbine, Michael Chernus, Michael Mando, Jennifer Connelly, Kenneth Choi, Hannibal Buress, Angourie Rice and Martin Starr. This alone is a shock. I recall my dread at having to simply list every X-Men character every damn time, and here I am wishing I had space to devote to each of a dozen minor characters.

The film's more down-to-earth plot is reflected in action sequences that mostly feature Spider-Man squaring off against a single baddie, but the two that define the character are when he must try and keep the Staten Island Ferry from splitting in half due to his own arrogance, and the final showdown with the Vulture, which I dare not describe. The reason they're fighting in the first place may be a bit shaky, but that's par for the course. What matters is the last fight feels, like the one in the original Iron Man, true to each combatant. Their respective motivations don't change at the last minute, and neither behaves in ways that haven't been established as part of their personality. The conclusion, and even the obligatory mid-credits scene, reinforce this as one of the better rivalries in superhero flicks. I'll go ahead and toss in a disclaimer here: I'm a big Spider-Man fan for lots of reasons I won't be discussing here. I have enjoyed all of the movies, though unlike the first two, I haven't felt the need to see the last few more than once. I saw this one twice in one day, when I almost never see a movie twice, period. Your mileage, as they say, may vary, and if you loathe the webbed one this won't change your mind. It is absolutely a product of the MCU universe, and trades in the quirk of earlier films for a more grounded story that may not be to everyone's tastes. Those who longed for Edgar Wright to return to Ant-Man may be left cold. For most, though, I think they'll find Jon Watts and his mob of writers have made a true crowd-pleaser. That word gets thrown around a lot to define a movie that is basically sugar (all sweetness, no nutrition), a definition I personally reject. Homecoming may not be prime rib, but it's completely enjoyable the whole way through, sad and surprising at times, with both good guys and bad guys you want to see again. The day I feel the need to get sniffy about a movie like that is the day I ought to hang it up. And yes, that was a reference to Spider-Man's webs. Hey, I never denied my own nerddom. Verdict: Highly Recommended Note: I don’t use stars but here are my possible verdicts. I suppose you could consider each one as adding a star. Must-See Highly Recommended Recommended Average Not Recommended Avoid like the Plague You can follow Ryan's reviews on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/ryanmeftmovies/ Or his very infrequent tweets here: https://twitter.com/RyanmEft All images are property of the people what own the movie.