Peter Mayhew, the actor best known for playing Chewbacca in the "Star Wars" films has passed away at the age of 74, his family said.
In a statement posted on the actor's twitter page, the family said Mayhew died on April 30, 2019, "with his family by his side in his North Texas home."
This is a...
Cyntoia Denise Brown, a woman serving a life sentence for killing a man who bought her for sex when she was 16 years old, has been granted clemency, the Tennessee governor's office said Monday.
This needed to happen b/c I can guaran-damn-tee you that had it been a white man or woman, she’d have not gotten such a harsh sentence. It was complete bullshit this happened as a travesty of justice.
Ch, 16 of Probate is written. (And it’s fluffy compared to the knife wrenching I put you through in the last 2 chapters.)
Ch. 17 of Ron Weasley Chronicles is halfway written (right now it’s a question of sorting what won’t happen right now than what does happen before the big push to the ending.)
Ch. 3 of Beloved is written in entirety (I wrote that on the car ride on vacation to the stopping point.)
I will work on editing them in the next week, but only after I finish editing The Wonderful Won Won for @hillnerd .Y’all all will want to read what is coming up. I can guarantee you that.
So @soldierjhwatson - I read your review and can promise that update is coming shortly. But wisdom says.....
Be careful what you wish for because you may get it.
I got your email and I think I can give it some due discourse (aka a ficlet or short one-shot) but it’ll have to wait a little so I can do deep and intense edits on Beloved and see if I can finish hashing out the next chapter for RWC which has been on the back burner over a month now.
But yeah, I will, since you asked so nicely and I’ve not written 4th-year drama before.
EDIT: Since one of my followers did ask, I will say this now: If you have epilepsy, this movie is not safe, not from the first 10 minutes. About 1/3 of the scenes can trigger an episode and I want y’alll to be safe.
TL;DR - worth watching.
First of all, the rating on Rotten Tomatoes by the self-centered bois who have a case of butthurt because Captain Marvel doesn't have a white male protagnist can go sit on soe cactus. They can protest all they want but they will miss out on a fun movie with an amazing theme, one that is important for anyone, guy, girl, NB, and more.
The movie was enjoyable, trope filled but also subverts some tropes in it. The plot had a couple of holes in it and somet things were a little cliche overall I enoyed it and will go watch it again in the theatre sooner than later.
The plot.... I'll be able to make a better review on the plot once I watch it a second time. There are some plot holes and some of the elements are a bit off chronologically (as someone who lived through the era at that age, too.) but they won't distract from viewing it ('cept us picky as fuck writers but I digress.)
I know I was in stitches in one scene where there is an Anachronistic search engine used for the film and my niece (who is 15) was in stitches by the time to wait factors happening. (What a flashback on how much time was wasted waiting on information or data recovery!)
The storytelling was enjoyable at the start, making it a bit of a mystery but anyone who hasn't watched anyting of Marvel movies can pick up on the story fast enough to understand. As the story unfolds and the pieces of the story start getting filled in, the story turns predictable but nothing that distracts from the overall enjoyment of the movie.
Djimon Hansou was good but I'd have enjoyed seeing him on screen more in a larger role (but that's just me.) and the CGI work on SLJ was good - you couldn't tell unless you'd have done a side-by-side of him now. ('Cause he looked like he did pre-Pulp Fiction but without the Jheri curl.) Clark Gregg had a small part for the movie but it’s an influential part. They CGI’d him some and it’s subtle but not painfully obvious. Jude Law is Jude Law and while he's not on my 5 list anymore he still is pretty to look at. The big surprise is Ben Mendelsohn. I didn't recognize him 'til I saw the name at the end and appreciated the banter and subtlety he brought to his role. But y’all keep your eyes open for Akira Akbar. Lt. Trouble is adorable as all get out - and brings a sass that only she can pull off.
Where I want to brag is the addition of Annette Benning.
She’s over 60 now and the fact that an older woman is featured, with her showing some age and also having her in a pretty important role and second important role is a good if not excellent showing of how older women are making a name and more in films now and not just the pretty faces of younger women. It's an excellent balance in that she's not there because she's someone's wife or Mom or anything so trite. The same goes for Brie Larsen. Shes not there strictly as a focus for some romantic subplot. She gets some of the typical manspaining and gets told to smile more which has a funny reaction from her along with everyone who has heard that from a man and doing what we'd all like to do in response to being told to smile more.
Thing is, she does smile. She laughs. She's cheeky and sassy and sharp as a tack and smart as a whip. Her backstory is told well along with how she earned her place and the glass ceiling she faced in the mid 90s. The explanation for how she became who she is is demonstrated and works well, even if it's been used countless times, especially in the Marvel Universe.
She has her moments of weakness, of questioning things, and wondering what to do. She's not cold, frigid, robotic or any of the other complaints that men make regarding women actresses. She's not a Mary Sue but she is a male power fantasy but with a woman in the role, it's subversive simply because it's a woman in the role. Had the MRA’s bothered to watch it and not blindly disabuse it because it wasn't a white man as the main character, they'd see the elements of the male power fantasy: smart, earned their place, willing to do anything to protect, stands up for what is right, incorruptible, do the right thing even if it's not easy, etc.
Had it been a white man in the role, the reviews would be off the chart, even if the plot had been weaker. Had it been a white man in the role, no one would complain that she has resting bitch face because men are never told to smile more or demonstrate overt emotional labor for anyone who is a man.
The intersectional feminism is wonderful stseeing two women interacting in a heart-felt way was so rewarding. There are some friendly competition moments and banter but it's far removed from any catty antagonism you'd expect. The rewarding part for me was how the Hero gets called out for what happened and why they were gone like they were. You get to see a competent, incredibly emotionally strong black woman in a role that only a few treads (like Dr. Mae Jemison.) The Hero trusts her friend completely and has no worries that she's capable. That demonstration of platonic love and trust warms my heart.
In short, it does pass the Bechtel test. It passes the Sexy Leg Lamp test. It passes the Mako Maori test. I can’t say for certain it passes the Sphynx test. The protagonist has an incomplete backstory but you get snippets and anecdotes explaining enough about her and her attitude towards life and more.
The CGI was excellent and pay attention to Goose and the 4 ginger kitties that play Goose.
And no, the cat doesn't die.
Back to the CGI thought. It's excellent and it's obvious in some places and spots but some of the CGI is very subtle which is nice, too. The movie has a sci-fi feel to it, where the ideas for future technology would be excellent leaps forward.
Colourful language? Only 1 or 2 that I remember, and one is a sexist reference.
The misogyny is present and it comes from many aspects, from institutional to familial to competitive. Part of it is expected in the 90s when institutional sexism was accepted in the early days of the opening of MOS billets in the military and the intentional glass ceiling limited opportunities for women then.
There is one incidence that could be considered questionable for the Ace test but it’s played up as humourous and cheeky rather than a tension charged moment and plays on some caricature stereotypes.
Violence is present in the movie in some abundance and there are some fatalities but mostly casualties and more where the outcome is left to viewer discretion. The two main antagonists don't perish and it fits in the storyline brilliantly but there are some that happen.
There are noticeable trope elements borrowed from some other movies, like Matrix and Men in Black (you'll know them when you see them) as well as Independence Day, Wonder Woman and even Star Wars. The blend is nice but not too overwhelming to be called derivative.
I’d say it’s worth buying a ticket in the theatre.lem
ronaldswheezy replied to your post: Ron and the Snatchers
If I remember right there’s a fic which explores this issue with the snatchers !! I think it was Stay Standing by windschild ?? (I could be getting confused but I *think* that’s it) where Harry and Hermione uncover the truth of what really happened and it’s all told via flashbacks (I think I lost track of it at some point but I remember it being a really good fic!!)
I could have sworn that either @trademarkblue or @wildegreenlight wrote a fic for this. (It’s late, I’ve had a migraine all day, and been distracted editing.)
