Midnight Manor Boarding House's Living Room, Wednesday Night

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Okay, sure. Arden didn't know much more than what TV said about throwing movie nights, but surely she had the gist. Many moddable pizzas and sodas had been ordered from Pizza Planet - look, Arden loved sweet tea, but even she knew soda was necessary for movie nights. A truly disturbing number of bags of popcorn had been popped and put into bowls and a quick stop at T&C had been made to grab a couple of different popcorn seasonings in case people wanted to experiment with popcorn flavors.

All that was left was to wait for people to show up. She'd texted both Kamala and Cal in full capslock mode about the glory of this movie, and then had handwavily tried to contact as many other residents as possible to tell them about the movie night - texts, email, sign on the door, whatever. Sure, nobody had to come, but she at least wanted to make sure everyone knew they were welcome. She'd also invited Steven and Watts (while double checking that, yes, it really was okay to move furniture around the living room and also eat in there) and had made sure to get a few bags of unbuttered popcorn just for them. Did she think the butter flavoring had any actual dairy in it? No. But she was gonna be careful all the same.

Now she was just pushing the furniture around to make sure that every possible seat had a good view of the incredibly large TV and was in reaching distance of a bowl of popcorn and places to put their cups of soda and plates of pizza down. Midnight Movie Night was about to begin, showcasing the absolute work of art and cultural tour de force that 2 Fast and 2 Family 4 Oceans, the fifteenth 2 Fast 2 Family sequel that was also a prequel to the Oceans Edge series.

This was gonna be great.

[Open to all Midnight Manor Boarding House residents!]

Comments

Watch the Movie

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Laugh! Gasp! Cheer! Cry? Debate the possible resemblance between Arden and the cool hacker chick!


[Okay, so we're basically going to be making up this absolutely stupid mashup of the Fast and Furious and Pacific Rim series, a prequel taking place before the events of Rim or Uprising. Rather than trying to make up the film shot by shot or ping by ping, we're gonna use an improv exercise, "My Favorite Part of the Movie," wherein someone talks about their favorite (or least favorite) part of the movie, which is now canon, and other people respond. People can argue, but not outright contradict each other - if someone says it happened, it happened. (So everybody be cool about declaring events, plot points, and themes, yeah?) Basically, ping around and lets see how ridiculous a movie we can make that still remains true to the spirit of its shared franchises. (Which includes shooting a car into space, so like...do with that as you will.)]

Re: Watch the Movie

[hasaknightjob]

"I thought the way the teams worked together to operate the.. robots?" Steven wasn't sure if that was the right word. "Was interesting. Makes me wonder what it would be like if Marc and me did it."

Marc of course would never use a word like family but on the other hand surely he and Steven were Tokyo drift compatible? Or whatever it had been called?

Re: Watch the Movie

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Okay, so I know that I said that you don't need to know anything about the previous movies to enjoy this one," Arden said, smiling brightly at Steven enjoying the movie, "and I do stand by that, but the hacker chick being drift compatible with the Bollywood guy? That was actually really moving because she came into the franchise being a loner who didn't interact with people very well. So this is a...surprisingly nice conclusion to her character arc, where she not only learned to trust people, but actually became part of a trusted pairing."

Re: Watch the Movie

[hasaknightjob]

"Sometimes all someone needs is the chance to meet the right person," Steven said. "Someone who fits in a way no others can."

Steven wasn't thinking of anyone in particular here or anything.

"The battle scenes were rather exciting," Steven said. "I've never seen a building used as a weapon before."

Re: Watch the Movie

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Excellent topic change, Steven! Just in time to keep Arden from getting a little maudlin, too. "RIP the Space Needle," she said. "But it did made for an impressive weapon. Just, like, smacked the shhh-crap outta that kaiju, too."

Re: Watch the Movie

[hasaknightjob]

"Not that I condone that sort of violence normally," Steven said. "But in the realm of cinema it's all right. I did like that they tried talking to the kaiju though. Or, well, having those two little girls try singing. Even if it didn't work it was an attempt at communicating to find a solution."

Steven took a sip of his soda, then added, "Shame it turned out that particular beast didn't care for country music."

Re: Watch the Movie

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Right? I was really happy they didn't just immediately respond with violence," she said. "Although I still think if those little girls had been ready to drop some bars or were actually Baby Metal, they maybe would have got somewhere."

Re: Watch the Movie

[hasaknightjob]

"Surprised they didn't go with Bollywood," Steven said, since that had shown up elsewhere in the movie. "Though perhaps they were trying to get variety for the soundtrack? Increase sales? I did like the one kaiju who attempted dancing. The one with three heads, not the one with the lion's mane. I'm not entirely certain the second one was meant to be dancing?"

Re: Watch the Movie

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Maybe to appeal to the Midwest, considering the pretty cosmopolitan view the movie had in general?" Arden suggested. "And yeah, I'm not sure what was up with the lion's mane one. I think maybe it was improperly rigged or something? It just looked very jerky kind of all over. You can really see it when it's coming out of the water the first time. I thought it might fall over before anybody even touched it."

Re: Watch the Movie

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Okay, but I'm so mad that the monsters interrupted the giant Bollywood number that introduced Dev Patel's character," Arden said, laughing. "I wanted to watch at least four more minutes of that. But, like, Dev is welcome to run around my screen in artfully torn Bollywood costuming any day."

Re: Watch the Movie

[slothbabyproductions]

"Oh, there was nothing wrong with that," Kamala agreed, fanning herself. "Plus the dancing was on point. Did not expect that in a Vin Diesel movie."

Re: Watch the Movie

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"I liked that the Jaeger incorporated some of the dance moves in the final Kaiju battle," she said. "So it wasn't just an awesome spectacle at the beginning, it was also relevant for plot."

Re: Watch the Movie

[slothbabyproductions]

"Yeah but I thought them putting the Jaeger in a giant sari was a bit much," Kamala said munching on some popcorn. "But if you like the Bollywood costumes, I know where I can get some outfits for you and Cal to wear."

Re: Watch the Movie

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"That's fair," Arden said, nodding. Then choked on her soda. "Wait. Me and Cal?"

...Even if he could kinda rock the outfit that Dev had been wearing earlier in the film...

Re: Watch the Movie

[slothbabyproductions]

"Sure," Kamala replied. "They'd be more Pakistani design than Indian. My family goes to this guy in Jersey City and I can hook you up. If you'd be interested."

Re: Watch the Movie

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"I mean, I'd wear one," Arden said. "So long as it wasn't, like, being appropriative or disrespectful. But they're so pretty."

Very sparkly. Arden liked sparkles.

Re: Watch the Movie

[slothbabyproductions]

When a certain actress appeared in the scene where the mysterious government agency approached Vin and his crew for help, Kamala pretty much just froze looking at the woman on the screen.

And then that bar fight? Froze again. She didn't put that piece of popcorn in her mouth until the scene was over.

Huh.

Apparently she has a type.

Re: Watch the Movie

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"You good?" Arden hissed, leaning over to poke Kamala. Because she wasn't sure she'd seen her friend breathe in a minute.

Re: Watch the Movie

[slothbabyproductions]

"Hmm. What? Oh! Yes. Good. Fine. Great," Kamala said with a big intake of breath. "Just really enjoying the show."

Wait... Was she now in one of the Jaegers?

Damn.

Re: Watch the Movie

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

It looked like someone was having an awakening. Arden leaned back against Cal and tried not to smirk. "Favorite actress of yours?" she asked, innocently.

Re: Watch the Movie

[slothbabyproductions]

Shut up. You're having an awakening.

"Um. Who is she?" Kamala asked innocently. "She's pretty good in this."

Re: Watch the Movie

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Hey, Arden wasn't the one having trouble breathing over here.

"Oh, she's been in a bunch of things," she said. "I don't follow her much but she seems pretty popular. She might even be in the superhero mega franchise?"

Re: Watch the Movie

[slothbabyproductions]

"Oh, maybe that's where I've seen her before," Kamala said, completely ignoring the scene with the hacker woman who was incorporating an engine from a 1970 Dodge Charger into a Jaeger so Kamala could look at IMDB on her phone.

Re: Watch the Movie

[single_man_tear]

Dean came in after a late night at the bar, stuck his head into the room and realized what was on TV.

“IT’S ABOUT FAMILY!” He shouted before walking away and then pumping his fist into the air like Judd Nelson at the end of Breakfast Club.

Re: Watch the Movie

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Family!" Arden calls after him, her own fist shooting up into the air.