#wow this was honestly the longest review i ever gave a film. i just. had so many thoughts right after watching it

[clownkiwi]

rubys thoughts on the new presidents snevil movie

hiiii besties, i just got back from my first movie experience after the initial lockdowns from the past year and a half!! resident evil: welcome to raccoon city!! as a new fan only getting into the series seriously this year after enjoying the re2 fandub & watching snapcube play re7 & re8, i've grown a fond appreciation of the franchise. i haven't personally seen the previous film series, i'm only familiar with the original playstation games, re7 & re8, and i'm also well aware of some of the jokes these games generate. i can totally see and get how groundbreaking these games were, and how they shaped not only a whole franchise from them, but revolutionized the horror genre. so i was pretty excited to hear that the next resident evil film would be a reboot more closely following the games rather than the milla jovovich movies. heck, the writer and director of this movie boasted how much of a resident evil fan he is, and how he hoped he'd be able to translate his passion of the playstation games onto the big screen.

so, did it work out??? did this film accurately recreate the classic games for a modern audience onto the big screen, or is it just another average horror movie with nods to a 25 year old video game that built capcoms horror house??

tldr if you dont wanna read below as i go into spoilers, but yea!!! i like this film quite a bit :] i'll go into more reasons why down below, but if you're a fan of the games and want a fun film to watch that recreates everything that made the playstation games great, then check it out for yourself

anyways,

PROS

theres defo a lot of good things that i love and appreciate about this film!!! having familiarized myself with re1 through my own streams & re2 through snapcubes fandub, i can say johannes roberts certainly did his homework and it shows off on the screen. from the tone, to the writing, to even the camera work of certain scenes, and even the designs; this absolutely feels like i'm watching the original playstation games on the big screen!!

with that said, this film does make some changes from the original games that i'm fine with and think work well for a fun, cheesy horror movie. the first obvious changes are the casting for our main leads. in terms of main leads i love the most, leon nails it perfectly. he's a new police officer that just moved in, and he's kinda a hot wimp. but that's what i think work for his character!!! and i loved seeing him everytime he's on screen. and in terms of pretty strong characters, i think claire redfield ain't too bad either!! her origin story she shared with her brother is pretty good and i think it fits in well at the climax of the film. claire and leon are definitely the stronger characters of this film, they practically carry this film on their back.

i also really appreciate how this adaptation actually brings in a character from re1 that isn't too well known outside of fans. lisa trevor and her role in the story as this tragic child who was tortured through umbrella's experiments is very heartbreaking, and while you only get a glimpse and assumption of what she went through, at the same time, you feel really bad for her even though she's this movies first scare. she's just a victim in a tragic story, and even though she isn't in the film that long, she definitely left an impact on me i feel.

the mid credits scene is also pretty neat, not only by setting up albert wesker as a future villain, but by setting up ada wongs role, i thought that was pretty neat.

speaking of wesker, ehhhh??? i'll be entirely honest, the re2 side of this film had pretty strong characters, altho that's because re2 is definitively one of the best games in the franchise by fans (both the original and remake). with that said, i feel that the re1 side of things aren't. quite as strong. again, i think the references they make to re1 are pretty neat, and there's some interestingly shot scenes. but idk, i felt that this films connections to re1 arent nearly as strong as re2, and that sentiment also goes to the actors

in terms of how id rank the re1 characters in this film, here's how i'd rank them

1) lisa trevor

2) albert wesker

3) chris redfield

4) jill valentine

yea, while lisa trevor was one of the stronger parts of this adaptation, the rest of the re1 cast aren't nearly as strong? like, i think albert weskers & chris redfields castings are spot on. whenever i think of wesker & chris in real life, that's who i think of. and i don't think jill valentine was a bad choice either, i like their introduction scenes together, i think they wouldve made for fun characters!! but as soon as they go in the mansion, they all kinda turn into stale bread that just shoot zombies, explore the mansion, and play out the main narrative beat of re1.

and, ok, while chris redfield i believe was certainly stronger due to his connections with her sister (it was very nice for me to actually see them on screen interacting with each other), i don't know if i can say the same for jill valentine. after the mansion, she doesn't have much of an impact. she's just following chris redfield because wesker betrayed them and she needed to stick together with someone, which is fine, but i guess i would've asked for more character from her part.

also i think this film setting up wesker & jill's relationship is pretty ok too??? i don't think it's super strong, but it's whatever.

actually, seeing the re1 & re2 characters interacting with each other were pretty novel, and i enjoyed any interactions they had!! really makes me wish we got a game that actually was just re1&2 happening at the same time just to see these interactions, and i think this flim does that pretty fine!!

so from the sounds of it, i really enjoyed this movie, and i still stand by that. however, i do have a few disappointments i do wanna get off my chest

CONS

where's mr x??? where's the giant meat train at the end of the film??? this film was building up to a giant meat train, but all we got were the lunchables and its 2 forms. not having mr x in this film really blows considering how important he is to re2. i'm also a lil disappointed that the film didn't end with saudade from re2make. and like i said, the weakest parts of this film are still the weakest parts of this film

i also feel like this film was kinda short??? like, they did their best to fit in 2 games into one movie, and i think they did as best of a job as they couldve, but i feel like this film couldve asked for. 20 more minutes at least. i couldnt tell if it was just how fast the finale went, it wouldve been alot more fun to introduce the lunchables halfway through, and build him up to the meat train, but what we got was fine, i guess.

but hey, i did say i have a few disappointments, and that was about it. maybe mr x will appear in the resident evil show coming to netflix in sometime or in a sequel, along with the goopy grandma house from re7, who knows

Final Thoughts

despite what i just said, yea, this film is fun. don't expect coming into this film expecting a critically acclaimed subversive masterpiece that'll change you as a person; it's resident evil. resident evil has always been cheesy and fun, from it's outdated 90s classics, to the boulder punching shenanigans of the 2000s games, and i think this film absolutely captured it well. yes, it has moments of depth to it, for sure; just like the original games. but it's also able to have fun, and for once, i can say it doesn't feel like watching an mcu film; which is honestly the highest praise i could ever give a film

so yea!!! if you wanna have a fun time watching a film i feel accurately portrays the zany goofiness of the playstation classics, go check it out in theaters!! or wait until it comes to streaming, if you want

[heybibliolater]

☆Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag 2019☆

Hello everyone! I have seen a couple of these on YouTube and really enjoyed watching them. I decided that I wanted to participate as well so below I have listed the fifteen questions for the mid-year book freakout tag, along with my answers. Enjoy!♡

Best book you’ve read so far in 2019:

-I would definitely have to say Kingsbane by Claire Legrand. I absolutely loved this book. For those of you who don’t know, this is the second book in the Empirium Trilogy following Furyborn. I am not sure yet but this might become one of my favorite series ever. The writing was beautiful and I am so emotionally invested in these characters. I loved seeing the characters develop from the first book. I gave this 5 out of 5 stars.

Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2019:

-I really want to say Kingsbane again, but I also had another sequel I really enjoyed so I will list that one. That sequel is A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas. Going into this sequel, I was a little nervous because I did not like A Court of Thorns and Roses as much as I expected to. I know, unpopular opinion. It’s not like I didin’t enjoy it, I did. Mainly in the last 1/3 of the book. I feel like the first 2/3 could have had a little more action, but I thought it was enjoyable and relaxing. I did really like Feyre and one of my favorite booktubers said that ACOMAF was the best book in the series so I decided to continue. I am so glad that I did. This book was phenomenal, I couldn’t put it down. The characters, the events, the conversations- LOVED. If any of you weren’t the biggest fans of ACOTAR and are unsure whether to continue, I absolutely think you should. I gave this 5 out of 5 stars.

New release that you haven’t read yet but want to:

-I am really excited to read Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson. It has a library full of magical books, what more could I want? I am kind of upset that I missed the June fairyloot box with the exclusive cover of this book and greenish shimmery sprayed edges. I guess I’ll just get the regular cover.

Most anticipated release for the rest of the year:

-I have two equally anticipated ones The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black and Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan. The Queen of Nothing is the third book the Folk of the Air trilogy following The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King. I loved the first two books and I cannot wait to see how Jude’s story ends. Girls of Storm and Shadow is the sequel to Girls of Paper and Fire. The first book was so good and I am eager to continue the series. 

Biggest disappointment of the year so far:

-The Young Elites by Marie Lu. It saddens me to say this but I was not all that into this book. It was a shame because I loved Marie’s Legend series and I had high hopes for this one as well. It ended up just falling flat for me and I wasn’t invested in the characters, at all. There was a big shock near the end of the book and I honestly didn’t feel a thing. The second book in the series was better for me. I did like the storyline, though which is why I gave it four out of five stars.

Biggest surprise of the year:

-Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. I was pleasantly surprised. I held off on picking this book up for the longest time because I just wasn’t sure if I would end up liking it or not. I ended up loving it. The writing was so beautiful and I really like Zelie’s character. And that ending.. Wow. I am trying my best to be patient for Children of Virtue and Vengeance to be released.

Favorite new author:

-I would have to say Claire Legrand. She is not a new author by any means, but she is new to me. She is the author of Furyborn and Kinsgbane, two of my most recently favorited books. The way she portrays her characters and the world around them has allowed me to truly connect with the story. I care for these characters and I feel as though I am right there with them.

Newest fictional crush:

-Oh, definitely Rhysand from the ACOTAR series. If you have read this series, you know why. If not, you definitely should. He is just absolutely stunning and I love his character. His personality, his drive, his ambitions and the way he carries himself has me in awe. I adore him.

Newest favorite character:

-Aelin Ashryver Galathynius from the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. The amount of times Aelin has surprised me is ridiculous. Honestly it’s not the actions that she does, but just the sole fact that she is an absolute badass character. I love her scenes, especially the ones where she showcases her clever wit and sass. She is without a doubt my favorite.

A book that made me cry:

-The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas made me SOB. This book is a collection of five novellas that follow the main character in the Throne of Glass series, and the events that led up to the start of Throne of Glass.

A book that made me happy:

-Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas made me happy. I know a lot of people didn't care for that book but I absolutely loved reading about the main character really accepting who she is and growing into herself. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll just leave it at that.

Favorite book to film adaptation:

-Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any this year. However, I found out that the film rights for A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas have been optioned so I am really looking forward to that. Also, highly anticipating the Throne of Glass series TV show that will be released on Hulu and the Shadow & Bone/Six of Crows series to be aired on Netflix.

Favorite review you’ve written so far:

-I actually haven’t gotten around to writing reviews. I always plan to, but then I end up delving right into the next one after I finish a book. I will get to it eventually, maybe in the second half of the year.

Most beautiful book you’ve bought the year so far:

-The Wicked King by Holly Black, I am obsessed with the cover.

Books you need to read by the end of the year:

-I really want to read the Seven Realms and the Shattered Realm series both by Cinda Williams Chima. I have heard really good things about both the series and I like that they are in the same universe. 

I realize this is a very SJM filled post, but I have just been loving her books so far and her books have had lasting impacts. Also I didn’t read a single book in the months of January through the first half of April so I have only the books I read from three months to choose from. 

[sueboohscorner]

#OnceUponATime 6x17 “Awake” Recap & Review

Clearly, there will be spoilers in this article so let’s just start off by freaking out because EMMA AND KILLIAN ARE BACK TOGETHER YAY. *Calming breaths* ALSO SNOWINGS SLEEPING CURSE IS BROKEN YAY. Okay, now that that’s out of the way, this was BY FAR the best episode of the Season so far. Which is saying something since there are only about 5 episodes left.

6x17 begins with Killian still trapped on Neverland trying to escape the lost boys. He’s rescued by a new character never before seen on #OUAT – Tiger Lily (played by Sara Tomko). She does a fabulous job as Tiger Lily! Just as Hook is thanking her-er, somewhat, for her rescue…she jabs him in the neck with a tranquilizer dart and knocks him out……. what?! Just when I was starting to like you Tiger Lily!!

Back in Storybrooke Regina is telling Emma and David/Charming what we found out last week about Henry, the author, the end of the book, and The Final Battle. This worries David a lot more than it seems to worry Emma as he wants both he and Snow to be there when Emma fights this “Final Battle”. David and Regina talk about this and Regina tells him she may have a fix to their curse, but it could be life threatening. David responds with “It’s not like it’s the first curse we’ve ever woken up from”.

This leads to a flashback of the previous Snowing curses and a new Flashback we’ve never seen before which reveals that Snow and Charming woke up during the curse with the help of a special pixie dust flower. (side note: Charming just waking up from the curse and trying to convince Snow that he’s her true love is the most adorable thing ever and their kiss is EVERYTHING.) They also manage to awaken Rumpelstiltskin who tells them how they’re awake and how they can find their daughter. (Who’s still a child at this point in the curse.) But that if they find her and get her back, she will never become the savior and the curse will never be broken for everyone else in the town. So Snow and Charming ultimately make what’s probably the second most difficult decision of their lives and do what’s better for their people, they decide to go back under the curse and wait another 18 years for Emma to find them! This was a beautiful scene and the acting on Ginny and Josh’s part was stunning! I cried so hard! This was an awesome piece of Snowing’s story to see and I’m super glad they added it!

In Regina’s vault, Zelena and Regina try Regina’s experimental method to cure the sleeping curse snowing is under, but it doesn’t work. It only weakens their hearts and Regina tells them by the end of the day, they’ll both be asleep with no way to wake up.  Which means they can’t be there for Emma when she fights the final battle. *BUM BUM BUM*

But there’s hope for their curse to be broken once again when David discovers Pixie Petals (the same flower that woke him up during the curse) floating around Storybrooke. Zelena tells everyone that there’s one problem with that – these flowers only grow in reaction to the presence of great evil -YIKES. This means whoever Emma’s meant to face in The Final Battle is already here, Which we know!

In Gold’s shop (side note: Would Storybrooke implode if Mr. Gold left his shop? Honestly curious at this point.) The Black Fairy pays her son and his wife a visit and brings along his son! This leads to a very interesting family reunion! Especially when Belle tells Gideon he can always come back to them, The Black Fairy tells her daughter in law that Gideon’s not going anywhere. A very angered Mr. Gold replies that “we’ll see about that” and tries to use what I assume is squid ink on The Black Fairy. Which is when she reveals she has his dagger-yikes!-She tells him she won’t make him do anything, because when the darkness comes, he’ll want to join her, and that they can be the family they were always meant to be. *BUM BUM BUM*

We FINALLY cut back to Neverland where Killian is waking up from the tranquilizer Tiger Lily shot him with. (He asks her if this is about skull rock….hmm….wonder what happened between them there? Unless they’re talking about what happens in the original Peter Pan film where Captain Hook kidnaps Tiger Lily and Peter Pan saves her). She says it’s not about Skull Rock and tells him she can’t let him go until he agrees to do something for her, fortunately, what she needs him to do is a win-win for the both of them! She has a weapon she needs to be delivered to the savior for The Final Battle and he, of course, wants to get home to his savior. The weapon Tiger Lily has is Emma’s only hope of defeating her! The only problem left is how he’s gonna get home!

Back in Storybrooke Snow is running out of time, literally, and they’re spending every second looking for more Pixie Dust flowers. Snow and Emma find a whole field full of them and guess who pops out?

 Pan!

No, I’m just kidding, it’s The Black Fairy. Emma finally finds out who she’s meant to fight in The Final Battle. She explains that she created the Dark Curse and Emma was born to break it. That they’ve been destined to clash since the beginning of time. Snow says that she and Charming won’t let her hurt her daughter, to which The Black Fairy responds that it’s going to be hard to stop her when they’re both asleep from the curse! Uh oh! She then orders Gideon (Who’s heart she still controls) to destroy all of the Pixie Dust Flowers in the field! Crap, now how are they gonna break the curse? The Black Fairy responds that it’s better this way because no mother should have to watch their child die.

Back on Neverland Killian and Tiger Lily are preparing to infiltrate Pan’s old camp which is overrun with the worst of the Lost Boys who refused to go back to the real world back in Season 3. Killian asks Tiger Lily how she got this weapon they need to give Emma. She replies that she used to be a fairy…..wow! She admits that she was close to the Black Fairy and that she should’ve stopped her from going down her dark path. When the other fairies banished her Tiger Lily gave up her wins and went to Neverland. She then creates a distraction so Killian can get to a tree that Tiger Lily says has the power to get her weapon to Emma. He uses the trees magic to remove his shadow and gets his shadow to deliver it to Emma.

Back in Storybrooke Snow and Emma are understandably feeling miserable after their encounter with The Black Fairy, but they find hope again when they discover Gideon didn’t destroy all of the Pixie Dust Flowers, there’s one remaining. Regina gets just enough Pixie Dust out of the flower to break the curse, but just before they can break it Killian's shadow arrives with the weapon for Emma. She knows he’s in trouble and is immediately worried about him. Feeling frustrated she exclaims that they don’t even know where he is! Snow White (who’s looking veeery Sleepy at this point -ha see what I did there?) explains that she can use the little bit of Pixie Dust magic they have to find Killian. She also explains that she knows that because they used it before to find her when she was little. She tells her the whole story and about how if they had gone through with getting her back, she would’ve grown up with them and they would’ve been a family. But that she couldn’t do it and damn all of the townspeople to be under the curse forever. It’s a very touching mother-daughter scene. Emma tells her she understands and that she had to do what was right and think of everyone else before herself. Snow tells her that today, she’s putting Emma first and she give her the Pixie Dust magic and tells her to find Killian. Emma tells her she can’t do it but that doesn’t stop Snow. She tells her that they’ve taken so much from her, they won’t take Killian too. Not before the Final Battle and Snow White drifts off to sleep. Now both of the Charming’s are under the sleeping curse and things are looking pretty bleak.

Back to Neverland the Lost Boys have captured Killian and Tiger Lily and are about to sentence them to death when Emma bursts through a portal and saves them, Tiger Lily gets away and Killian goes back through the portal with Emma! Captain Swan has officially been reunited! It’s a beautiful scene! Killian apologizes for not telling her about killing her grandfather and gets on one knee to do something “the right way”. Yep. That’s right. He proposes, Again(ish). Emma accepts of course. Killian tells her he wants to finally face her father and Emma has to explain to him what happened with the sleeping curse. Regina then tells Emma she may have just thought of another way to break the curse (Which is good because there are only 5 minutes left in this episode and with a title like “Awake” I’m pretty sure if they don’t wake up now, they never will.)

 DISCLAIMER: THE NEXT SCENE I’M ABOUT TO RECAP IS MY FAVORITE SCENE OF THE EPISODE, THE SEASON, AND POSSIBLY THE SERIES.

 Regina calls the town into The Mayor’s Office and makes a beautiful speech about how Snow and Charming once had a chance to leave this town and have their happy ending. (Of course referring to this episode's flashback sequence). That they chose to stay for the good of everyone in the town, the people that are there. She proposes that if everyone in the town shares The Sleeping Curse they both are under, that they may be able to dilute the power of the curse, which would wake them up. Killian, not skipping a beat, steps forward and takes the first sip, followed by Regina, then Emma, Henry, Leroy, Archie, Gepetto, Granny, Sneezy, and so on until everyone’s had some of the sleeping curses. Eventually, Snowing does wake up from the curse! (Let’s take a minute to enjoy the fact that they FINALLY broke what’s probably the longest sleeping curse they’ve ever been under.) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But their happiness is short-lived when they look around and realize everyone in the room with them who took part of the sleeping curse is curled up on the floor fast asleep! Uh oh! They immediately rush to Emma and Killian, who wake up easily after a moment, along with everyone else! There’s a beautiful scene between Killian and David where David forgives him for killing his father, he tells him that he’s a changed man. They’ve all seen it. As everyone's awakening, there’s a beautiful happy soundtrack playing in the background (Props to Mark Isham and the OUAT orchestra team, y’all always floor me.) Regina makes another beautiful speech to Snow telling her that the plan wouldn’t’ve worked if Snow and Charming hadn’t inspired everyone in that town.  This entire scene is beautiful and tears worthy and so full of magic and hope and everything that OUAT is about. In a Sea of misery and doubt over the looming Final Battle with the Black Fairy, this scene is an island of hope. I can’t say enough good things about this scene or this episode! (Also, Gepanny HUG-squeal!!!)

But we’re not done yet! At the clock tower, Mr. Gold FINALLY comes out of his shop to confront The Black Fairy and asks why she gave him his dagger back. She reiterates that it’s because he’s going to “choose to be a part of this family”. Gold asks if it’s because Gideon’s never chose her. That’s right. He knows she controls his son’s, heart. And he’s clearly not happy about it. When she asks how Gold figured it out he tells her it’s because Gideon spared a Pixie Flower for the Charmings. He resisted her order. He says it’s because Gideon has his mother in him, the one that truly loves him. But that he won’t have to resist anymore because he WILL get his heart back. The Black Fairy very threateningly responds “If you come at me, there may be nothing left of this town when we’re done.” And in true Mr. Gold fashion, he replies that it may be a price he’s willing to pay, and struts away as only he can, not looking back.

BUM

BUM

BUM

When will Emma and Killian get married? What does the end of the book mean for Henry as The Author? What will the Final Battle entail? Will Gideon get his heart back? Tune in next week to find out!!

Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Concerns? Comment below or tweet me @onceuponakayy and be sure to look around SueboohsCorner.com for all of your TV Show needs!