pleiades

❝And crawling on the planet's face, some insects, called the human race... lost in time... and lost in space... and meaning.❞ · · ───── ⊱ ·✦· ⊰ ───── · · RIP Tim Curry 🕊 – an absolute legend of both screen and stage. Though I haven't seen a lot of his work, he always stood out and delivered fantastic performances, and he'll be greatly missed. I decided to watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show in his honour, and though I'm not usually a big fan of musicals, I really enjoyed the film. The plot was very interesting, and I loved the various elements from different horror stories that were included. Of course Tim Curry was absolutely outstanding as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, and I especially loved "Sweet Transvestite"; Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick were also excellent as Janet and Brad respectively. The costumes and sets were beautifully done, and overall I had a great time with this film, and I'll definitely be rewatching it in the future.

❝Who do you think you are? How dare you wear the markings of my ancestors? Come here! I'll rip that face off you!❞ · · ───── ⊱ ·✦· ⊰ ───── · · Any film that highlights the horrors of colonialism (especially that of the English) is automatically gonna score points in my books, but Mārama exceeded any expectations I had, and it was fantastic. The creeping feeling of revulsion and horror that slowly built over time was genuinely chilling, and several plot twists were executed really well. I loved how the dark Victorian Gothic atmosphere intertwined with indigenous Māori culture, and the costumes worn by Mārama in particular were beautiful. Ariāna Osborne was utterly brilliant as the titular character, and her performance truly gave me chills; Toby Stephens made a great antagonist, providing his character of Nathaniel Cole with an unsettling atmosphere, especially during the last act. All in all, I really liked Mārama, and if you haven't seen this film already, I highly recommend giving it a watch.

❝Friendship is something that teaches you how to live, not how to die.❞ ❝You can't dance with anyone without trusting them.❞ · · ───── ⊱ ·✦· ⊰ ───── · · I last watched ABCD years and years ago, and I remember loving it as a kid. On rewatch, it's hard to ignore its cheesiness and millennial humour, but it's lot of fun and the dancing is great. I can't really say that the acting performances are excellent or out of this world, but I guess the cast members were chosen for their dance ability rather than acting. There's quite heavy use of slo-mo, which gets a bit much after the first few times, and it does take some time for the story to get started, but overall I wouldn't say this is bad by any stretch of the imagination.

❝You'll have to make tough choices. You'll influence the past. Can we change our futures? I don't know. The only thing that I know for sure, is that you are the best thing that's ever happened to me. I miss you dreadfully.❞ ❝It's never too late to be who you might have been.❞ · · ───── ⊱ ·✦· ⊰ ───── · · I absolutely love time travel media, so I was already predisposed to like Predestination, but it completely blew me away, and I don't think I looked away from the screen until the credits started rolling. I read the short story this is based on a while ago, so I already knew the big plot twists, but I still really enjoyed the way the film built on the source material and elevated it. The cinematography is excellent, and I love that practical effects were used instead of CGI for the relevant scenes; the use of different lighting for the various eras of time, in particular, was brilliantly done and very effective. Music can make or break a film for me, and while it doesn't have many tracks, the score by Peter Spierig matched the haunting atmosphere of the film perfectly. Ethan Hawke was really good in this, but the best performance by far came from Sarah Snook, and I'm shocked she didn't win many awards that year; she was just brilliant, and completely stole the show. On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed Predestination, and while I can understand why some people aren't a fan, it's definitely getting added to my list of favourite films.