Taus-inc - Taus Inc.

this post kinda makes me want to do an entirely new fancast for this movie since we didn't get all the characters from the books. unfortunately, im not very knowledgeable on different actors and actresses and i dont want to just throw the ones i know in there and say good enough cause that's what the joey king as tally feels like.

My thoughts and feelings on Uglies the movie

I'm starting to think I understand a bit of how people who read Percy Jackson before watching the movies feel. Uglies was... a movie. I have thoughts that I wanna share with a condensed version of my rant with the notes I took at the very bottom. I know in the end it's just a movie but at the moment it's important to me. Obviously SPOILERS for Uglies, the book (mainly the first one) and the movie.

I want to start with the things I liked since that's a much shorter list.

The flowers being made by the city, not the rusties. Though it changes things, I think having the cities saying they made them for an energy source just for it to be pushing people into the city and away from the wild is a very nice touch instead of it being a random rusty that engineered it considering the parasitic and destructive nature of them. So, this change actually contributes positively to the story and gives them more meaning

i LOOVEE the casting for Dr. Cable as Laverne Cox, Keith Powers as David, Brianne Tju as Shay. I also like the casting for David's parents, Croy, Sussy, Dex and An.

Not all the design elements hit for me but the look and sound of the hover cars and boards i really liked. As well as how the interface rings looked and worked, kinda showing how easy it was for things to be "hacked". The look of the operation tank wasn't something I thought too hard about but I like how they brought it to life. And "THE SMOKE LIVES" was beautifully done. While reading the books I imagined something more childish given the sparklers but the movie did them wonderfully.

And something small and rather insignificant, Tally telling Shay that Peris was the one who gave her the necklace makes a little more sense than some random person giving it to her and her caring enough to wear it all the way to the Smoke.

Now... on to the nitty gritty of the things I didn't like as much. Some are kinda nitpicky so take my word with a grain of salt as these are all just my personal opinions. I took notes as I watched so they will kind of be in chronological order.

First is the casting of Tally and Peris. I knew when I saw the trailers I wouldn't like Joey King as Tally Youngblood, I don't think she's that bad of an actress, she just doesn't fit my vision of Tally. I like alternatives of someone like HAVANA ROSE LIU !!!, Sophia Lillis, Emma Myers, Paris Berelc, Chandler Kinney, Inde Navarrette, Talia Ryder, Quintessa Swindell. Basically, anyone other than Joey King. Someone I could see being book 1 Tally but also becoming who she was in later books. And for Peris maybe someone like Archie Renaux, Archie Madekwe, Nico Hiraga, Brodie Townsend, Connor Sherry, maybe a Finn Little or even a Charlie Plummer. Clearly, I don't have a set look for these characters just vibes.

I don't like that Dr. Cable is a public figurehead. Most of the things she does and are capable of are because she's more secretive. She's a manipulator who works behind the scenes. I could've appreciated it if they had done more with it and made it a purposeful change but like many other things I don't see the point in it.

Tally's relationships with anyone are honestly one of the most disappointing things done and my #1 gripe with this movie. It just does not make me care at all. We're missing so many vital scenes that I'm sure they couldn't fit all of them in but because of what they cut out I couldn't buy into them as people. Everything just felt so temporary and non concrete. I know it was probably to save money from actors ( f you btw netflix) but I'm sad the only other scene with Tally's parents, them convincing her to give up Shay and the Smoke, was missing. Her and Peris' relationship falls very one note and her and Shay's just falls flat. No real friendship between the two, bonding over feeling lonely and (at least to Tally) beginning their next step to prettiness together. Shay's constant reassurance that she doesn't think Tally is ugly and how she feels about keeping her original face because she doesn't think of herself as ugly either. Shay's anger is completely missing for me when in the book it was a very big thing considering how much Tally's betrayal cost her. The same anger thing with Maddy happened too but more on that later. Even with Dr. Cable manipulating her I think it was so poorly done. She just straight up lied to her about what was going on in the Smoke instead of using everything Tally had wanted for the last 16 years against her.

Next is what I think to be one another major failing on the movie that I have to force myself to understand that they simply didn't have time for but.. Cutting basically all of Tally's journey to the Smoke really hurt me because I feel like throughout all the books Tally's relationship and outlook on the wild is some of the most important because it shows a lot about who she is as a person when she really has to be alone with herself in such dangerous conditions and situations. The wild is always the start of her radicalization and her free thinking. It helps her be more open about the Smoke and it honestly informs a lot of her decisions later down the line. Her puzzling through Shay's note and learning to survive (with the help of some city things) were very detrimental and sad almost none of it made it into the script. And they didn't even get the note right!!

Short and to the point- replacing the rangers who helped Tally (and gave lowkey clues about what she learns later) with the Smokies.. Again, I understand time and money restraints but still Ugh!

Them making Croy immediately overly aggressive and skeptical of Tally also just takes away from his character. Even in the books we have little to go on, but I think taking away making him slowly put pieces together about Tally's stories and the math of the SpagBols simply not mathing is a small but disappointing takeaway.

The entire time in the Smoke went by wayy too fast, they never let you or Tally just sit and exist with the people living there already so again i just don't care that it was raided! We missed out on Tally discovering the people who lived there along with more of her relationship with Shay being discarded. Taking out the library, Tally discovering all of the people and faces from before through books and magazines and the man who looked over all of that. Which flattens her character more seeing as that was one of the first deaths she experiences that she feels is her fault. Tally meeting David's parents felt rushed and their conversation about the lesions just felt like it was her entire reason for suddenly not wanting to listen to Dr. Cable instead of her forming her own opinions and that being her final straw.

Something the movie loved to do was take away so many crucial parts of the story, a major thing being the raid of The Smoke. In the movie it happens so quickly even though I'm sure they could've included a majority of it. Tally's desperation in fighting for something she had inadvertently helped destroy, her and the Boss fighting to protect the last of the books and her watching him get killed because of it. Because of her. Her getting captured and gaining trust and respect from people (Croy!) who previously doubted her, but at the same time her relationship with Shay hitting the fan because she instantly knew Tally was at fault. Her being smart enough to outwit and out maneuver a Special Circumstance soldier and escape. Her hiding in the cave with David. Her coming back to see Croy had convinced people to leave their shoes because she didn't have any while hoverboarding away. All which fuels her guilt and need to protect and rebuild The Smoke seeing as she felt it her fault. In the movie she hid out in the open.. ran out screaming when Az was killed... outed what she had done in front of everyone. Then she blew up a building and Dr. Cable literally just let her go for no apparent reason. David finding out what she had done and what she caused should've warranted more anger but of course we get none of that. Next we just jump into helping the captured Smokies escape and Tally's crazy ass plan that actually helped show the depth of how smart she is was glazed over. We lose the reveal of Dr. Cable testing on Az causing him to pass away which, on top of being a doctor, fuels Maddy's need to have someone give informed consent before testing the cure for the lesions. The movie also took Maddy rightful anger toward Tally away from her. It might seem small in the grand scheme of things but agreeing to be the test subject for an untested brain alter for a woman who dislikes you for having a part in her husband dying is a step in her trying to earn forgiveness.

Shay's reveal to be turned pretty was completely under done and felt because of the lack of depth they gave to her character along with her relationship with Tally. Shay never wanted to be turned pretty and Tally is a big part of the reason her choice was taken away from her. Her becoming pretty was another thing that made Tally completely regret all that she had done and showed more of the ripple effect of the consequences of her actions. Plus that fuck ass wig and ugly silver dress they had her running around in !!

Overall so many of the choices made by netflix just lets me know they never intended on continuing the series in future movies regardless of the outcome of this one. Like them making Peris special and then killing him off ??!! The Specials having special suits and not special bodies. Changing out the rangers to not expand on the lore. Making the ending open ended because there was no way they could fully close it out because of the nature of the books but every other choice felt so definitive as to an ending and nothing more, like showing Tally pretty at the end when the closing of the book was just her surrendering. The movie itself didn't expand on even just the first books’ lore and it just felt like an extremely lukewarm version of the story that happens over a 30 minute period even though the movie is an hour and a half long. Everything felt rushed and not true to Uglies the book at all and it upsets me to see these books introduced to people in this way.

Ok, rant over. Peace out.

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TLDR, my sparknote ver.

Things I liked:

Lavern Cox as Dr. Cable

Keith Powers as David

Brianne Tju as Shay

Design of the hover cars and boards

Design of the operation tanks

Design of the "THE SMOKE LIVES" message

Thing I did Not like:

how this movie is a TERRIBLE introduction into this world

their failed attempts at humor

joey king as tally youngblood

dr. cable being a public figure head

the montage that skips basically all the world building

tally and shays watered down relationship

tally and davids watered down relationship

tally's parents not coming to see her before peris and really showing she was pushed into working with dr. cable

making the crash bracelets work like a bungee jacket and not using the mechanics from the book

dr cable lying abt what david and the smoke were doing to that extent

montage of the tallys journey in the wild

replacing the rangers with smokies

croy being over aggressive abt not trusting tally when he was sly and smart abt figuring out her story doesn't make sense

david just going "these are my parents" and no one clarifying their names

tally not slowly coming to realize that the smoke isn't that bad and her doubts before learning abt the lesions

the talk abt the lesions

peris being special

the attack on the smoke

not meeting the boss who keeps track of the books/magazines

tally and david hiding out in the open during the attack on the smoke

peris killing az bc az dying from medical testing was important !!! + az's "wah are yu doin"

tally outing herself in front of everyone 😒 + her dumbass escape scene bc she literally just got let go

not explaining or using tally's very smart plan to get into special headquarters

no pretty speak

shays ATROCIOUS ASS WIG that thing looks like a lego piece on her head and them contacts and that dumb ass dress

that glass breaking as soon as the fire touches it

the pt 2 of the solution being so easy to find and maddy not stealing dr. cables interface ring

the body suit for the specials bc their body is what made them special not the suits

joey king breaking up peris and david's fights was giving the fighting from the kissing booth

peris dying ??!!(!(!(

maddy not RIGHTFULLY being mad at tally for destroying her home and getting her husband killed

croy all of a sudden being on tallys side 

i love how much of an open book michonne can be seeing how much she tries to hide.

🔻 A Guide to Boycotting for Palestine

Everything you need to know

that whole inhaler situation was so.... 😕. sawyer is such a sad little man making multiple people put their efforts into getting him to give up smth that he knows he didn't have and then to try and spin it like "he had a bad childhood awwnn 🥺" i give absolutely no fucks abt his childhood and how he wants to be hated. he let shannon suffer and pushed people to act out of character and that kiss from kate... barf. all for what? and then he wants to get mad at kate for figuring out he wrote the letter because he decided to make bad life decisions.

yall are literally stuck on an island you ignorant, intolerant, selfish dickwad shell of a man and instead of ovarieing up and being a better person you decide to risk a woman's life bc you want yours to continue to be miserable???

realizing now the true otp's are nate + dan and serena + nobody

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

Repost of Instagram post by alessandra_sanguinetti:

“In 2004 I worked as an intern in Newsweek and had to go through the wires coming in from the Middle East.

The Iraq war was raging. Israel was committing its routine violations and killings.

The images were devastating and unequivocally condemning of both the USA and Israel, but I remember the editors would reject all my picks and demand images of burnt cars or vague images of destruction.

So I brought a hard drive and collected everything they didn't publish.

It was my first live glimpse of the lack of ethics or integrity in most US media.

Not the journalists on the ground, but of the senior editors making the calls - in their self important glass cubicles.

And no, to the cynics out there..it's not all too complicated to discuss on social media.

Social media is the only reason we know what's happening in Palestine.

And the only reason mainstream news has to keep up and sprinkle some actual news now and then.

Meanwhile we are seeing much less footage coming out of Gaza - Israel has been killing off all the journalists.

This is terrifying.”

Photo credits: Nasser Ishtayeh, Yossi Alon, Saif Dahlah, Jaafar Ashtiyeh, Musa Al-Shaer, Abed Onar Qusini

i want stew made by a viking. mayhaps even some made from a witch's cauldron. i want stew made like i have shepherds work to attend to before dawn

the calamari poppers is what got me after watching him be forced to eat a living octopus

the deep not liking to eat fish bc he can talk to them and all his brand orders from vought a burger are all seafood is so deeply evil and hilarious but not talked abt enough