CHOSO LITERALLY DIED FOR HIS BROTHER AND SUKUNA STILL HAVE MORE BIG BROTHER AU FAN ART THAN CHOSO! LAWD

watching mirko rip a nomu's head off with her thighs is doing smth to me

my sister got me to do this art challenge w her and here are the results !!!

base by @/Left_sick__2👇🏾

I love that Laios and Marcille are both willing to immediately go off the legal/moral deep end for Falin, no questions asked. Laios doesn't even question Marcille's devotion when he asks her to use black magic, he knows she loves Falin too.

And the best part? That almost sinister level of devotion is returned in both of their directions. (Also, this is just a great Falin image)

"What if I took your hand in mine and told you I'd hurt others to guarantee your safety? And we were both girls?"

this !!! this feels so very true to my experience, picking up the books on a whim just to learn about the movie all too late. and truthfully the movie was very pretty to look at in certain parts but the overall story just feels flat. and i very much agree laverne cox could've played davids mother and we might've gotten more substance from that. the whole movie feels like everyone in the writing room skimmed over the first book and that was it.

Uglies - Movie Thoughts

On a whim, I decided to start re-reading the Uglies series a couple months ago -- so imagine my surprise when I found out it was getting a movie! Said movie is now out, and it was interesting to watch with the book being so fresh in my head.

Overall, it's... eh. It's not a complete train wreck, the way most critics seem to want you to think, but it is fairly bland and uninspired. It's a very watered down version of the book. It also has the misfortune of feeling like yet another a Hunger Games wannabe, despite the original book pre-dating that series by several years.

Spoilers for everything under the cut.

What I Liked

Based on reviews, I seem to be in the minority here, but I thought the cast was pretty good. People seem to hate Joey King as Tally, but I thought she was fine. Brianne Tju is easily the best in the cast, stealing the whole damn movie as Shay. Laverne Cox also gives an excellent performance as Cable, though I do think she should not have been given that role for other reasons (which I'll get into later).

I've also seen complaints that the characters aren't ugly enough. They talk about how ugly they are and point out their specific ugly features, when they don't actually appear that ugly. And I think everyone complaining about that is completely missing the point. The "Uglies" aren't actually ugly -- they're just normal people, who've been conditioned to think their imperfect features are hideous.

I was honestly unsure how the Pretties would be visualized -- in fact, I wondered if the book would just be fundamentally unadaptable because of it -- but they did a fairly good job. I think leaning on CGI and unnatural affectations was the right way to go. All the Pretties have this uncanny quality to them that suits the story perfectly.

The overall production design was solid as well. I like how Uglyville is all gray concrete and muted tones, while New Pretty Town is shimmering golds. Then upon reaching the Smoke, all the colors of nature finally come through. I do think that could have pushed that last one a little bit more, but it still works well.

Apart from that, I don't really have much to shout out. It's competently written, well-performed, well put together. I know it doesn't sound like I have much praise, but it is a competent movie.

What I'm Mixed On

By far the biggest change from the book is Peris becoming a Special. And I'm torn on it. On the one hand, it does make him a bigger part of the story -- he's honestly not much more than an inciting incident in the book. It gives him and Tally a unique arc that's probably the strongest through-line in the story. On the other hand, the Specials as a concept are so under-cooked (more on that later) and the actor is so bland that it still doesn't quite land the way it's supposed to.

What I Didn't Like

The pacing of this movie is by far its worst issue. We are flying through this plot. There is no time for anything to breathe, for characters to develop meaningful connections, for the bigger moments to feel earned. Some things do make sense to condense -- Tally's journey to the Smoke would have been incredibly boring without her internal monologue, so condensing most of that into a montage makes sense. But I do feel we lost too much. That's where a lot of Tally's characterization comes out, where we can see her bravery and ingenuity -- none of that comes across in the movie.

A lot of important beats are rushed. Tally agreeing to help Dr. Cable is over in a flash. It feels like Tally's in the Smoke for all of fifteen minutes. Tally and David barely interact, so their relationship has no real stake. Everyone is kidnapped by Special Circumstances, and then rescued immediately after. I almost think a 5-6 episode mini-series would have worked better -- but that might have introduced the opposite problem, where everything takes too long.

The movie also has frequent montages that don't really work. It seems like they were trying to show the passage of time, but it just makes everything feel even shorter.

The beginning of the movie has an exposition problem, as well. It opens with a montage explaining the entire setting... before leading into several scenes that also explain the setting through dialogue. We get fed the same details about the surgery and the Rusties and the flowers at least three times at the start, and it gets grating.

As already mentioned, Tally is pretty severely underwritten. In the book, she has a distinct personality and a unique presence. In the movie, she's just the main character because she happens to be the main character. Her intelligence and resourcefulness are pretty much gone.

I also think changing her motivation for going to the Smoke did her a disservice. In the book, Tally goes to the Smoke so she can have her surgery, and because she's convinced herself that Shay needs her help. In the movie, Dr. Cable tells her that the Smokies have a weapon, and she will be saving lives by helping to find them. I think giving her a more selfless motivation robs her of her character arc. She always comes across as someone trying to help, who wants to best for other people, rather than someone who had to consciously learn that.

The Specials are barely even a presence. I'm not sure they were even directly called Specials. People who hadn't read the book would never realize that there was an entire separate status of person here. You never see their disturbingly beautiful faces or their terrifying strength. Considering how pivotal the Specials are to the overall story, especially in the later books, it's really odd not to see them properly established here.

Like I said, Laverne Cox gives an excellent performance as Dr. Cable... but I think they should have thought twice before casting a trans woman. It's not necessarily that there's a trans woman in the villainous role, but that there's a trans woman in the villainous role who specifically wants to force people to have surgeries to brainwash them. Like... did the optics of that really not occur to anyone? At all? I think Cox could have played David's mother, instead.

watching katherine be so sad and desperate in elena body pmo bc why is nobody noticing ts... elena would not do half ts katherine is and evrryone is writing it off as left over damon feelings

Screw Daddys Boy or Mommys Boy Damian Al Ghul Wayne is the biggest fucking siblings boy in the whole entire world. He wears all of his siblings hoodies no matter who it belongs to or how old or small or whether its been washed in weeks or not. He learns how to do gymnastics and dance so he can hang out with his two oldest siblings, he learns memes so he can text his sister, he absorbs books faster than anyone has ever seen just so he has an excuse to talk to his brother, he learned photography and did weird stunts and dangled off buildings to capture good pictures to have a hobby like his brother, he becomes the best detective he can be, searching for information, going through cold cases in order to be like his sister and hang out with her at her base. Damian Wayne is such a mesh of all of his siblings its actually concerning. Kids at school are jealous and think hes a stuck up snob and brainiac because he has so many hobbies and interests and is good at a lot of things when in reality its just what his siblings do and he wants to be like them and spend time with them so he learns too. Hes the one trusted with the aux cord on family road trips but nowhere else because his music taste is so out of whack and all over the place its insane. His style is both bright and obnoxious and muted and calm. He knows simultaneously how to dance like a ballerina and how to store heads without them going bad. Damian is the biggest siblings boy in the entire world and this is a hill i will die on.

was making ciabatta bread for the first time and somehow made a whole pizza in the process...

i love how many conversations bob has with his food

because i don't actually know how to draw so nothing stays consistent bc im completely bullshitting my entire process

will never understand how i can never keep the same style

watching damsel to see if it beats the "it sucks ass" allegations