#behold my favorite shot in the entire movie

[buck-yyyy]

did i just skip through the entire goldfinch movie to find my favorite cinematic shots of boris and theo? yes. yes i did.

BEHOLD

also, note, these aren't all of my favorites- they're just my favorites where the focus isn't on their faces, bc i'm looking to use them as wallpapers for my laptop and it feels weird to have a huge picture of someone's face as your wallpaper-

[whoslaurapalmer]

top five black and white movies !! 👀

I Love Being Asked About Movies And Yet I Suffer Because I Must Pick So Few. alas.......

black and white specifically........hmmmm.......................okay so once again this is perhaps not The top 5 but certainly A top 5 re: movies, a top 5 i have scraped around in my brain for to shake up my default picks

-the night of the hunter has some extreme light and shadow, especially shadow, and i don't think it would have worked, i don't think it would be the same movie, without those extremes.

-les yeux sans visage has some really striking and haunting shots, and a bit of blood that i think would have read as weird in color, but is perfectly acceptable in black and white. and the face mask, too!! i don't think it would have been the same if it wasn't so, fuzzy and muted and gray. almost blending into her face until the light hits it right and you really feel the sadness and horror of it.

-inherit the wind. i never want to say a lot about inherit the wind bc i feel it speaks for itself but i think it's a gorgeous movie, AND it has gene kelly in a non-dancing and non-singing role, which i love.

-GOD I SHOULD REALLY PICK A COMEDY OR SOMETHING. one of the things i find fascinating about black and white is that, well clearly it was filmed in color (never forget the story of carl reiner being asked 'so how do you feel about the dick van dyke show being colorized? won't it be strange to see it like that?' and he said 'well, we filmed it in color. i saw it in color. while we were shooting.'), but i just cannot imagine it in color (like, myrna loy's christmas party dress in the thin man. it's probably like, red and white, like a candy cane, bc it was christmas. but to me it is gray and white, bc that's how it shows up on the screen, and i love it like that.), and i think that becomes really funny and charming in a movie like, mr. blandings builds his dream house. it's a light and fun little time with cary grant and myrna loy, uh, building their dream house, and there's a moment where myrna loy is describing the super particular paint shades she wants. and it's in black and white. does she ever get her robin's egg blue?????? but it also still doesn't matter that it's in black and white!! you still haven't lost anything!!!

-the gazebo. for some reason it took quite a few watches for this movie to grow on me, like when i first watched it i didn't think it executed everything right but i loved the idea of it so much i still just kept watching it, until it became a movie i go back to with relative frequency. it's just such a fun little black comedy with like, all the pieces of a noir, you could say, murder and blackmail and a man turned to the darkest act by circumstances, at times shadowy and dark, just played entirely as a comedy, bc it's also so fucking absurd. there's a pigeon!!!! there's a phone call with alfred hitchcock!!!!! the murder victim is wrapped in shower curtains!!! lo and behold, carl reiner is here!!!!!! my all time favorite character actor, john mcgiver, is here, pronouncing gazebo as gaze-bo!!!! debbie reynolds gets some of the best dialogue in the whole movie!!!!!!!

[cherry-bomb-ships]

Happy anniversary to you and Ralph!!! I'm curious (sorry if you've been asked this before!) But was your love instant or did it take a few watches of the movie for it to take root? 💝 and if ur s/i Ruby Redblood was in a dating Sim what gifts would one need to give her to earn her affection? What do you think Ralph's would be? :3 @rexscanonwife

HI BABY HIIIIIIII HELLO BABY 💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘 Thank you so much for this ask Jane my love!!! 🥺💘🥺💘 Just fair warning please prepare yourself for a mile-long answer cuz ohhhhh Imma have some things to S A Y >:3

As for your question, oh my god its so perfect you asked that cuz I was literally gonna make a textpost about this today 😭💖💖💖 Tbh the way I first caught interest and fell for Ralph may be one of my favorite ways I've fallen for an f/o... What happened was in early April 2021, when I was still living with my parents we had lost Wifi and cable for like an entire day and by hour 5 I was starting to get pretty anxious, so I looked to my shelf to find a movie to watch to satiate the boredom. Lo and behold, on the shelf I spotted Wreck-it Ralph and I was like "awww hell yeah I haven't seen this movie in YEARS, it's time for a rewatch", so that's the one I ended up popping in the Blu Ray player.

Throughout my entire rewatch, of course I was enjoying it a ton and getting super nostalgic but I wasn't quite feeling anything romantic-wise, until one scene- no, not even one scene but one shot, one particular way that Ralph smiled that literally made time STOP and made me go "oh. Oh noooooo this is LOVE 😳💘💘💘". He got added to my f/o list two days later 😂💖💖💖

As for your other question, omg first of all can you imagine a dating sim spinoff of a survival horror like Undead Apocalypse 3? I'd buy it 😂 ANYWAYS, I haven't played too many dating sims or life sims where you can romance people so I don't really know how they work ehehe, but I think Dr. Redblood would be easily wooed by the player character joining her for quality research or experiment time, complimenting her intelligence or gifting her some new beakers and the like :3 Ralph, I think, wouldn't need as much tangible stuff as much as he just would need quality time and reassurance he's loved 🥺💖 No one's really given him much of anything tbh, so I'm sure even the simplest and cliche of gifts would mean the world to him! 🥺💖💖💖

[gentlemancrow]

Crow's TMA fan fic Masterpost

GREETINGS!! Welcome to my tumblr and BEHOLD!! A master list of all of my TMA fics which can be found on my AO3 here! Feel free to peruse, and I'll keep this list updated as I write things! :>

Multi-Chapter Fics:

In Scientia, Magicae - A Beauty and the Beast inspired AU. Martin winds up the new assistant to the mysterious and beastly Head Archivist of The Magnus Institute. Together they must work to unravel the secrets of magical statements, the nature of magic itself, and The Archivist's curse before it overtakes him, the institute, and perhaps even the entire world.

The Graveyard Shift - A Halloween themed fic! (Written for the @seasons-in-the-archives Halloween Event!) Werewolf Martin gets transferred to the graveyard shift in The Archives which is run by Vampire Jon. Supernatural workplace shenanigans ensue.

Anyone Can Whistle - An unabashedly fluffy Holiday karaoke fic! The Archives Crew heads out for karaoke! Both Martin and Jon try so hard to win the attention of the other a potentially disastrous miscommunication occurs, only to be mended by the magic of Sondheim...

White Shores Are Calling - Written for the Fiction Podcast Big Bang 2022. The year is 1863 and ghosts are all the rage, but Head Butler Jonathan Sims of Magnus Manor does not believe in ghost stories. Until, that is, he finds himself inextricably tied up in the mysterious tale of Martin, the last lonely spirit remaining there. Though Jon too, is facing the end of his mortal life, he will do whatever it takes to unravel the secrets of the house and free them both from its tethers.

One Shot Fics:

Written in the Stars Will Have to Do - A post Mag 200 fic about healing, moving on, and a stolen wedding for two people who don't technically exist underneath the stars.

Presented in Technicolor - A Scottish Safehouse fic where Martin is left with his fair share of demons after The Lonely, and they haunt him in the form of parroting lines from all his old favorite movies when he should be able to finally tell Jon how he feels about him.

The Grapes of Mild Annoyance - Written for the What the Tapes Didn't Catch zine! (@tapesdidntcatchzine) Jon is being extremely weird about grapes during lunch. Martin is decidedly concerned, to say the least, but the reason why comes as a rather pleasant surprise.

One Night in the Garden of Unhappy Endings - The Archivist keeps telling him there is nothing left of Jon inside of it, but Martin never believed that. Not really. Martin is tired of unhappy endings, and only he seems to understand that fate is only a story itself. It can be rewritten, reborn, regrown as well.

Collections:

Tumblr Ask Drabbles - A collection of all the request fics/ask drabbles that I get here! Posted either as one shots or compilations!

[purplecantaloupe]

I was scrolling through Instagram when I saw this pic. The way his hand is resting on Mike’s face. His JAW. The things this boy does to my soul is just RUDE. This pic isn’t mine (obvs)

Disclaimer: I wrote this at 1:46am at work yesterday so there definitely will be poor writing and grammar/punctuation errors.. I haven’t posted on here in awhile and I just thought that it’d be nice to give you guys something, I hope you enjoy

Warnings: like two maybe three swear words, ABUNDANT amount of fluff, the entire thing sucks and it’s not really realistic, also this is gender neutral

Word Count: 1386

So you and Calum are hanging out at one of your places, let’s say Calum’s. Duke is laying on the couch next to you on top of the large fuzzy blanket that you have thrown over you and Calum. Tummies full of pizza and wings, a scary movie playing on the tv in front of you, your head practically behind the blanket at this point.

“Cal tell me what’s going on, I can’t look; fuck them jumpscares,” you say and hold up a middle finger towards the screen, suddenly hearing a boom from the surround sound speakers in front of you. Your head immediately goes into Calum’s chest/armpit area and you grip into his thigh for dear life. You hear the vibration of a chuckle from his chest and you whimper. “Not funny…” you mumble.

Calum’s arm wraps around your waist tighter, causing your (his) shirt to ride up, he then gently rubs circles into the exposed skin with his thumb to distract you.

“No worries love, a skinwalker.. looking.. thing is chasing after one or the chicks who’s half naked,” he says trying to soften the scene for you. You open one eye—not even realizing your eyes were shut for who knows how long— and low and behold there’s a woman running from a creature as it shrieks and runs towards her before scooping her up and her screams can be heard from behind, next, and in front of you.

“Caluuum,” you whine, “that’s terrifying, how are you okay with this?” You ask and look up at him instead of the screen. He shrugs before responding.

“Dunno it’s just a movie,” he says, still rubbing circles into your side. He turns his head from the screen and presses a kiss to your temple, “I’m here to protect you, don’t worry, love.” Your favorite nickname came from his mouth instantly spreading warmth to your cheeks and security through your body.

His free hand comes up to cup the side of your face and he presses a soft and gentle kiss to your nose. Then his other hand comes up from your waist and it pulls your head down to his chest, his instinct knowing that a jumpscare was due to happen. He puts his hand over your eyes to shield you from the torment and before you can protest and question his actions he jumps, full well knowing that it was going to happen. You both let out a breath of a chuckle and his hand moves from your eyes to your shoulder.

Calum reaches up to the table, pausing the movie and you furrow your brow at him.

“Bathroom break,” he says, clearing up your confusion. You nod and look up at the screen and gasp. He had paused it at a scene where the half naked woman is now getting eaten, her picture blurry from the movement of the scene, her mouth wide open in a scream as the monster appears to be stalking her.

Calum glances at you and rubs your shoulder, “just a movie, honey. Don’t look at it if it scares you.” He says and pecks your cheek before he stands and stretches his back out. Duke hears his dad’s movements in his sleep and his ears perk up and eyes open ready to follow him no matter what.

“No my protector!” You joke gently grabbing Duke and hold him to your chest. Calum looks down at you as he stretches and chuckles.

“He’ll keep you company while I pee, isn’t that right? You’re gonna be Y/N’s guard dog from the big bad monsters.” Calum teases and you swat at his arm as it reaches down to rub Duke’s head and he gives Calum a lick on his hand in approval. Cal chuckles, “That’s my good boy,” he says before he turns to clean up a little of the food mess and drop it in the kitchen before he makes his way to the bathroom.

While Calum is gone you roll onto your back, lying on the couch, and lay Duke on your chest. You lull him back into his slumber as you rub your hand down his back gently and sigh, feeling peaceful. You pull the blanket up over Duke’s back and smile down at him and how similar he looks to an actual human baby and Calum has the same idea as he chuckles while he walks back to meet you. You start to sit back up in the position you three were in but Calum stops you.

“Just sit up a bit,” Calum says and he scoots in behind you so you’re practically lying on him, your back to his chest. You sigh, fully content with your position.

He resumes the tv and you jump again, the music of the background in the movie startling you as well as subconsciously knowing exactly what was going to happen, but the moment of content made you forget that you were scared in the first place. Your jump stirred Duke awake which made him get fed up from all the moving around and he jumped onto the floor to go lay in his bed where he wouldn’t be disturbed.

“I guess he didn’t want to protect anymore,” you say and giggle quietly. You roll over and lay face down on Calum’s chest to which he groans from the weight shift and then lets out a chuckle and wraps his arms around your back.

“The movie’s almost over, honey and then we can go to bed,” he says as he glances down and watches your head snuggle into his chest.

Once the movie ends Calum sighs as the realization sets in that all the main characters died and the ending wasn’t at all what he wished. He looked down, despite not being able to see your face he saw your back moving up and down at a rhythm which he knew meant that you had fallen asleep. He gently scooted out from underneath you and lifted you up into his arms, carrying you to the bedroom and set you down in the bed, pulling the covers up over you and he made his way into the bathroom. He did his normal night routine, pulling his shirt off, tossing it into the hamper and made his way back to you in the bed.

He saw you sitting up and practically jumps out of his skin.

“Holy shit, don’t do that oh my god.” He whispers breathless as you let out a laugh, throwing your head back.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I just woke up and didn’t know where you were,” you say and he nods. Making his way to his side and lying down next to you. He props himself up on his elbow, head on his hand and he looks over at you, a huge grin on his face. Your eyes and lips puffy from your nap, cheeks a little red from laying on his chest. He was totally smitten with you. “What?” You day and furrow your eyebrows but smile at him.

“You are just so beautiful, I can’t believe that I get to go to sleep with you next to me every night, I wake up next to you every morning. I get to hold you, touch you, love you. You are everything.” He whispers and you smile.

“I love you, Calum. You sappy mother fucker.” You giggle and he chuckles quietly, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

“I love you too,” he whispers and leans up and cups the side of your face, pulling you towards him in a kiss. This kiss meant everything. It was different than many of your other kisses, this type of kiss has only happened when you least expected it. It was like you saw stars, the world stopped and you both shot up into space, head spinning, spine tingling type of kiss. Neither of you wanted to pull away but having to breathe was a factor in this situation so you reluctantly pulled away first, laying your hand on his jaw, tracing it with your finger nail. The sharp curve where his jaw meets decorated with a small amount of stubble.

“You were made for me,” he whispers into your ear.

“And you were made for me.”

[pikapals16]

Headcannon: Queens favorite musicals

uh yea never done this before but heyy i'm bored let's do it

(oh and ps these are from my notes for Six Queens Under One Roof)

Aragon: Sister Act. She started liking it after watching the movies, which she has DVDs for both of them, and then was really surprised to hear there was a Broadway musical (courtesy of Anne, per usual). She refuses to watch any bootlegs because she says it's disrespectful, but she has watched one for Sister Act exactly once, and at the middle of the night.

Anne: Heathers. Anne always claims she listened to Heathers first, but actually the first musical her friends introduced to her was Mean Girls, and through that obsession she found Heathers and fell in love with it. She'd love to play any of the characters except for Kurt and Ram (yes, that means she wants to play JD as well). Will find excuses for JD's behavior, and she's a hardcore Chansaw shipper. She has the OG Broadway and OG UK tour bootlegs and has memorized the entire show as you do. (She also loves the movie as well)

Jane: Sound of Music. I mean are we surprised? She love the family dynamic she first saw in the movie, and then she was surprised at the differences and added songs in the musical. She keeps the fact that she prefers the movie to herself to avoid a screeching Anne, but she enjoys the Broadway as well. Jane has no idea what a bootleg is, and no one wants to tell her. She often hums Do Re Mi when doing chores and such.

Anna: Hamilton. Anna first listened to it with Anne while they were home alone. She walked in thinking Anne was listening to hip hop or something but lo and behold it's a musical. She spent an entire week screaming when she found out about the Hamilton pro-shot, and actually found out before Anne did. She strives to be both Angelica and Eliza and demands Cathy and Kat being the other sisters (despite Kat not liking Hamilton all that much). She's also the type to love and appreciate literally everyone in every cast and has watched all the boots.

Kat: Dear Evan Hansen. No surprise, Anne introduced the show to Kat. She loves that it's so relatable, and appreciates the example that DEH gives on the Broadway community (obviously not the whole lying thing, but you get her point). Her favorite song is "For Forever" and the queens know to play it when she needs a bit of cheering up. Her favorite ship is Kleinsen and she will rant about Jared's pining for Evan for a while. And as much as she loves Ben Platt, her favorite Evan is Jordan Fisher and that's the bootleg she has downloaded.

Cathy: Waitress. Once again, this is due to Anne's theatre kid energy and need to rant about musicals. Anne was ranting about the show and Cathy was intrigued by the plot and so she listened to it in the middle of the night. She adores "When He Sees Me" because it's kind of similar to how she felt for Kat before they started dating. She loves that they're all badass women and the feminist vibes from it. She wants to watch a bootleg but she has no idea how to find one and her searches end up empty.

[curedigiqueen]

So while I was working on my… analysis I suppose, on why Digimon Adventure: does not work as a show, it occurred to me that despite claims that Taichi in Adventure: is inspired by V-Tamer Taichi, his partner is an Agumon whose final evolution is Omegamon, and why that doesn’t work. But I realized that it is a point that I could expand on, and so I have separated it out here. Consider it a preview.

The protagonists of Digimon V-Tamer are Yagami Taichi and his partner Zero, a Veedramon. The story is carried by these two alone. While others help and hinder them on their way, their mission is theirs, and the responsibility of defeating Daemon belongs to no one else. It is with that power that they reach their highest form, UlforceVeedramon Future Mode While Taichi is the main protagonist, Zero is just as much a protagonist. Their names, even reference binary. While there are other characters who impact the plot, the role of protagonist belongs to these two. 

This is echoed in the themes of Digimon Adventure:, the digivice in the title supposedly representing the bonds between human and digimon. And, while I don’t think it particularly succeeds, I can see clear attempts to be made to make the digimon partners their own characters, equals to their human partners. 

But yet, Digimon Adventure: uses Omegamon as Taichi and Agumon’s final evolution. And that is a bit of a problem. Digimon Partners are not interchangeable. Well, okay, the species are a bit arbitrary, all things considered, (after all, Zero’s rookie form is also Agumon) but the problem is what UlforceVeedramon represents vs. Omegamon. 

In Digimon Adventure, Omegamon is not Taichi’s power alone. Not by a long shot. Taichi is not the solo human protagonist of Digimon Adventure. Even in the first film, before Hikari was even meant to play a key role in the series, she shared the series debut. Regardless, the burden of defeating Apocalymon is not his alone to bear. And Agumon’s evolutions reflect that. WarGreymon is reached through borrowing Hikari’s power. Omegamon is literally formed by WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon (who was formed by borrowing Takeru’s power), but in reality is born from the power of hundreds of people reaching out from across the world. And perhaps even Taichi’s crest of Courage is not something that belongs to him alone. As Yamato puts it, “It’s everyone's Friendship”. Though Taichi best embodies courage, the courage he wields is not his alone. Even tri. which I usually avoid using as an example, has Omegamon Merciful Mode, which very explicitly draws from the other children’s partners. Adventure’s Taichi’s not strong because he himself is powerful. Really compared to Hikari he seems rather unimpressive on his own. He’s strong because he is able to easily act as a receiver to others powers, a trait that is fitting for a leader. Because that’s what sets Adventure Taichi apart from his peers, he’s a leader.

Note, that I didn’t really bring up the partners in regards to the discussion of Adventure, not that they aren’t important, but that they aren’t a driving factor. Digimon partners are something vastly different in Digimon Adventure. They are reflections of the children’s inner selves. For straightforward characters, like Taichi, his partner Agumon is very much like him, and for characters like Sora, Piyomon seems very different. This isn’t to say that the digimon are simply their partners, Tailmon went through quite a bit on her own. But nevertheless, Tailmon is the way she is, because Hikari is the way she is. 

Digimon Partners and their evolutions are not things that are just assigned, and given. They are things that arise from the circumstances. Omegamon is there because the themes and circumstances make Omegamon the most appropriate "Ultra”. This is true both in and out of universe, who can forget SkullGreymon? SkullGreymon isn’t wrong. It’s just not the evolution that fits Taichi and Agumon’s situation.

And here’s the thing. Digimon has done the whole focus on “Bonds with Partner’s” before. That’s Tamers. And in Tamers, the final evolution was born from a human and a digimon literally coming together as one. The final episodes all appear somewhat humanoid as a result, particularly notable from WarGrowmon to Gallentmon. Because that was what evolutions were needed narratively and thematically. Otherwise, we have Megidramon. And guess what, the Adventure timeline also has a movie in which the focus is on the bonds between human and friendship, and lo and behold. In Digimon Adventure Kizuna, Agumon (Bond of Courage) and Gabumon (Bond of Friendship) were born. Born from the bond between human and digimon. They even use the “looking like humans” idea from Tamers.

Interestingly, Kizuna came right before Digimon Adventure: started. 

Now, I am really advocating for the Bond forms to be used in Adventure:, those forms were something special to that timeline. But that’s just the thing. Many evolutions, whether unique digimon or not, are brought about by circumstances unique to that timeline. Look at 02’s usage of Armor levels, Frontier's Hybrids, and Xros Wars' Xros mechanic. It’s not new for later seasons to take these Digimon that have existed in these specific circumstances and use them generically later. It would, after all, be a shame to put all those good designs to waste. But at the very least, the evolutions of the main cast are carefully chosen, created if need be, to fit the show.

And that creates a problem for Adventure: as a reboot. It is pulling from the evolutionary lines of its predecessor, despite aiming for different themes and using an entirely different world and characters, and in the process the meaning behind the evolutions has been stripped out. While it has been able to throw in additional evolutions, most of those are well within the confines of precedent: Armors and Ultimate’s that are already related to these evolutionary lines. Adventure: is trying to be a show that, as a reboot of Adventure, it cannot be. Adventure: spends so much of its time screaming that it is not the original Adventure, while simultaneously dragging in call backs that it loses any sense of identity.

The enemies they fight are not Taichi’s responsibility alone. These kids have to have crests. Agumon must evolve into Omegamon.  Angemon still has to die, HolyAngemon and Angemon have to mean something. Tailmon has to be Adult, and has to have been evil. Hikari and Takeru have to give their brother’s power. Omegamon still has to appear. . They still go to summer camp, and Taichi still fights Parrotmon. 

Note, that this is far from Adventure:’s only problem, however I do think it illustrates a large problem that affects the way certain elements and characters are used in this show. Taichi is a solo protagonist, but his “Ultra” is still Omegamon born of Yamato, Takeru and HIkari’s influence. Mimi is now a bossy rich girl, but her crest is still Purity. Yamato is a loner who doesn’t overly concern himself with others, but he’s still Friendship, and still Takeru’s semi-estranged younger brother. 

When Adventure: manages to work a new angle into the old mold, it works well. Yamato’s focus on his friendship with Gabumon works well, and various side characters work alright. Resolving the conflict over Tailmon’s Ultimates by using both for separate things and bringing in Goddramon is a great idea. But more often than not, it doesn’t. Properly contextualizing what a holy digimon is is great, but Angemon’s death is awkward, and Pegususmon’s presence smooths over the issues of Tailmon being champion and keeping Angemon special in an awkward way, refusing to address what an Armor is. Because they are trying to write a story around a set of evolutions they are required to have while absolutely refusing to be Adventure where it matters. Leading to the awkward mesh of Adventure elements and characters, with themes and stories that they were never meant for. 

If Adventure: was meant to be about the bond between Taichi and Agumon, Omegamon was never going to work, including the concepts of crests, was going to muddle things at the very least, and including 7 whole other partner pairs who are going to require at least a few episodes of focus a piece was not going to work out. It’s not that we couldn’t have had more focus on Taichi and Agumon within a reboot and their bond, or that the idea of Taichi and Agumon (or any other pair), activating an evolution because they are in agreement on a concept isn’t a good idea. Just an understanding that this primary focus wasn’t going to work because Adventure in its very concept has a lot of characters that need some degree of focus. Savers with its heavier Masaru focus and use of shonen tropes, dials back the number of “main” characters to half that of Adventure, because it is built around its premise. That unless they were going to be bumped down to secondary, recurring characters, this was never going to work, because that’s not how Adventure’s concept was intended. To tell a new story, it needed to have dropped a few more of Adventure’s elements. But to do that would be to essentially admit that this isn’t Adventure at all. Adventure: needed to have evaluated what story it could tell with what elements it was required to include.

Anything goes in Digimon, and Adventure: seems to want to make the most of this, using armors, Hybrids and Xros Wars digimon with regularity. But you can’t build a cohesive narrative simply by plucking your favorite ingredients and sticking it in a pot. Some things just don’t go together. You can’t take the ingredients to make bread and make a salad. But in short, V-Tamer Taichi and Adventure Taichi aren’t interchangeable. They are two different characters because they are designed for two different stories, and their partners reflect this. Adventure: was doomed from the start if it didn’t realize this. 

[andie-cake]

Sorry, didn't see that you didn't want HOHF! Instead, would it be okay for regular Paulkins having a fluffy movie date night?

It's all good! And I'm very excited for this one bc I've had a fun idea for a paulkins movie night fic for a while now. And for the record, the movie they're watching is real, and it must be seen to be believed. But also, it's been a while since I've seen it, so I might get some details wrong.

"So, whaddya think, Em?" Paul asked as he and Emma rifled through his impressive DVD collection, prepping for another movie night. "Any genres in mind? Comedy? Horror?"

"I wanna watch whatever the fuck this is."

Paul turned to face Emma, and he felt his face light up at the sight of the Blu-Ray case she was holding. The cover depicted a helicopter shot of a nice neighborhood, with several clip-art pictures of eagles photoshopped over it. And just above the generic tagline of "Who will survive?", was the title of the film:

"Birdemic: Shock and Terror?" Emma read off the case in bafflement. "Paul, what the fuck is this, and why do you have it on Blu-Ray?"

Paul clasped his hands together eagerly. "You've never seen Birdemic?" he asked, earning a puzzled head shake from Emma. "Oh, you're in for a treat!"

Emma snickered, eyeing the ridiculous cover once more. "Why? Is it secretly amazing or something?"

"Oh, god no!" Paul exclaimed, aghast. "It's terrible! But in a fun way!"

"What, like The Room?" Emma inquired with a quirked eyebrow. Paul gave an eager nod. "Well, shit! I guess we gotta watch it then!"

"We do!" Paul agreed. "It's probably my favorite bad movie."

"Does it top The Room, though?" Emma pressed further, looking skeptical. "Because I have my doubts that anything could top Tommy Wiseau fucking his girlfriend's navel."

"It doesn't have any bellybutton fucking, no," Paul mused casually. "But it does have the coat hanger scene!"

"...What's the coat hanger scene?"

"You'll see..."

~

"Okay, so we're what, forty-five minutes into this film?" Emma chimed in impatiently as the characters searched for weapons in a motel room. "And I don't think I've seen a single person get bird-murdered."

"Oh, believe me, Em," Paul said, watching the screen with an excited grin. "We're almost there."

It was true, Birdemic was the type of movie that took a while to get going. That's not to say there were no laughs to be had, though. Emma had gotten a real kick out of the scene of the main character Rod and his co-workers clapping for an uncomfortably long time. The little absurdities of the film had really tickled her as well. Things such as the main characters choosing to see An Inconvenient Truth for a double date, or the completely pointless scene of Rod getting a solar panel installed on his house. But now, as the four leads grabbed their makeshift weapons, Paul knew that the true comedy of this supposed "horror film" was about to begin.

"Wait, coat hangers..." Emma observed, noticing the objects in the characters' hands as they headed outside. "Paul, is this-?"

"The coat hanger scene?" Paul finished for her. He nodded. "Oh yeah."

The couple watched in silent anticipation as the characters made their way out into a parking lot, coat hangers raised. For a moment, nothing happened.

And then the eagles came.

Emma's eyes widened in disbelief at what she was seeing. "Oh my fucking god, what!?" she guffawed.

Displayed proudly on the screen was a pulled-back shot of the main characters aimlessly swinging their coat hangers at the eagles. And the eagles themselves were truly a sight to behold. Computer animated birds that could generously be described as looking like looping gifs, gently hovering over the characters' heads and making sounds more befitting of a flock of seagulls. Emma and Paul burst out laughing at the sight, falling back on the couch.

"It's still good!" Paul huffed out between chuckles. "This is probably the sixth time I've seen this movie, and this scene still kills me!"

"Fuck!" Emma squealed, her laughter muffled by her hands. "Holy shit, pause it!"

Paul reached for the remote, still chuckling as he paused the film. Emma continued to laugh, shaking her head in disbelief as she drummed her hands on the couch cushions. He couldn't help his adoring smile as he watched her react. She had a smile that lit up her whole face, and a laugh that lit up the entire room. Emma's joy could be truly infectious. It was part of why Paul loved watching comedies with her. And the fact that this reaction had been caused by a scene in a bad movie that Paul had personally been hyping up for the past forty-five or so minutes? Well, that just made it so much sweeter. Emma took in a big breath of air, and released it with a sigh, calming herself down.

"Fuck, that really got me," she snickered, catching her breath. She shook her head with another giggle, seeing that the screen was still paused on a frame from the scene of legend. "Why coat hangers, though?"

"I think they were going to use shower rods originally," Paul mused, fanning his flushed face with one hand. "But they didn't have enough money in the budget to buy four of them, so they went with coat hangers instead."

Emma snorted. "God, why do you know trivia for this movie?"

"Everyone has their ways of passing the time when they wake up at 3 AM," Paul replied with a shrug. "I like to look at IMDb trivia for bad movies."

Emma sighed once more, laying her head in Paul's lap. "Well, whatever the case, that scene lived up to the hype," she conceded. "My fucking stomach hurts from laughing now."

"Well, I'm sorry to say it," Paul chuckled, gently placing his hand on Emma's abdomen. "But we've still got an hour or so of movie left, so you're gonna be getting one hell of an ab workout."

Emma looked up at him- a playful spark in her eyes, and grabbed the TV remote from the coffee table. "Bring it on." she said boldly, handing the remote to Paul.

"If you insist, babe," Paul complied, accepting the remote. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

[not-close-to-straight]

Lost and Found (Sixteen)

Ughhhh Tissues Needed

Also Generic WS-typical warning for mentions of slightly torture-y things

MASTERLIST HERE

*****************

“Sir, could I remind you that use of this particular suit results in more wear on the arc reactor? With numbers pushing 70%, surely you don’t want to risk it?” 

Tony called James from the suit as it blasted towards Washington D.C., ignoring the warning numbers on the screen as the arc reactor surged to maintain the suits demand for power and the projected poison levels in his blood climbed higher. 

“Tony?” 

Just hearing James’s voice made Tony’s resolve falter, and he was glad he’d programmed in the auto pilot for D.C. as the need to turn around and forget what he’d learned, forget about Project Resurrection and the Ghost Protocol climbed strangling up his throat. 

“Hey.” he tried for bright, but was afraid it only came out miserable. “Why don’t you fly out to DC tonight? Have Pepper come with you in the jet. I have to get to a meeting that’s taken about three years to arrange, so I took a suit.” 

“I can just wait till you get home again, sugar.” Happy called something in the background and James laughed and the sound almost killed Tony. “What sorta meeting was so important it took three years to set up?”

“Nothing you should worry about.” Tony lied. “But it would be fun to have dinner in D.C. or something, right? I’d like to see you tonight.”  

James’s voice got soft, “Dunno how I feel about getting back into D.C. but I’d like to see you tonight too. You feeling better? Last night you were real tired.” 

“I’m feeling better.” Tony promised and he’d never lied so much in his life. “Let me know when you guys land and I’ll send a car for you. See you soon?” 

“See you real soon, sweet thing.”

******** 

From Rhodey: Pep says you’re in D.C.? If you aren’t sucking face with soldier boy, let’s get dinner. 

From Tony: Only if it’s one of those giant steak eating places.

From Rhodey: Tones, last time we ate at one of those I threw up for three days. 

From Tony: And you were gorgeous the entire time. 

From Rhodey: I hate you

From Tony: Smooches! 

It was so damn easy to lie over text message, maybe that was how Tony should handle every conversation from now until 100%. 

It was warm out, but Tony still wore a long sleeve to hide the handcuff on his wrist that attached to the briefcase at his side. Eventually--if he had time-- he was going to tap the tech into a watch that would form into a gauntlet and then a suit from there but for now he had to carry the admittedly stylishly packaged armor at his side. 

JARVIS was right, using the suit took more energy than the other ones simply because it assembled in place instead of using robotics to piece together around him, but it had been worth it to get to D.C. so quickly...

...and it would be worth it tonight if everything went right and he needed to leave. If everything fell into place the way it should, but the way Tony kept secretly hoping it wouldn’t, he would leave and not take anyone with him so the suit was perfect. 

Perfectly like a prison he kept willingly locking himself into and wasn’t that a piece of poetry worthy of writing down or at the very least making into a tragic movie or maybe he could request it got put in his biography because there should be at least one true thing amidst all the crap they were going to write about Tony Stark. 

At least one line should be truth, even if everything else was written by people who had never known him at all.

But he shouldn’t think about that. Not yet. Not at only seventy percent, he had another ten maybe fifteen percent before he had to think about a biography, right? 

Right? 

Christ, it was getting hard to think. 

The SHIELD headquarters were ostentatious and ugly, an eyesore at the banks of the river and a clear warning to anyone who thought to look twice at the city and dare to take a shot. The Pentagon might house the dressed up generals who gave out orders, but SHIELD was the real power behind the United States Government right now. 

The ugly building housed all the best minds, all the best weaponry, and spoke of a clearly visible statement Director Fury and Secretary Pierce had been less and less subtle about in the past few years-- Fuck. Off. America is done playing nice.

Not that Tony blamed them for being so blatantly bold. There was no need to be subtle when there was an actual legendary super soldier leading the charge to protect America’s interests both at home and abroad, right? 

Tony and Fury met in a little cafe along the river, the eatery quiet and unobtrusive in a way that was meant to be as visibly invisible as possible. There was nothing particularly interesting about the staff or their uniforms, the menu didn’t boast anything that would garner extra attention, there was never a chalkboard out front with a gimmick or sale to draw pedestrians in to try a daily special. 

It was the sort of cafe someone either went to as a habit, or never even noticed on their commute and it was exactly the sort of cafe where Nick Fury preferred to get his tuna melt sandwich. 

“Well this is quaint and terrible.” Tony sat down across from Fury with suitcase settled between his feet and sunglasses firmly on his face. “What happened to high profile business meetings at steakhouses, or at the very least good greasy pizza? And are you eating a tuna melt? With a fork?” 

“Contrary to what you might believe, my Ma didn’t raise a heathen.” Fury was a sight to behold in his trademark trench coat, intimidating eye patch and somehow more intimidating single eye, a napkin tucked neatly at his collar and a knife and fork held daintily to cut his sandwich into bite sized pieces. “And this isn’t as good as hers used to be, but it does just fine for our conversation today.” 

“Alright then.” Tony motioned to the waiter, and pointed towards Fury’s plate. “Could I have the same thing please? Make mine with pickles.” 

“You’re pushing it.” Fury warned. “You don’t disrespect a sandwich by putting pickles on it.”  

“Ma’am, would you make that extra pickles please?” 

“Damn you, Stark.” 

“Don’t tell me how to eat a sandwich and I won’t tell you to not do all of--” Tony made a vague motion to encompass all of Fury’s look. “--all of this. You look like the Grim Reaper.” 

“And you look like a man the Grim Reaper isn’t too far from visiting.” Fury stabbed his fork at Tony bluntly. “Lookin’ like chicken shit these days, Stark. What’s going on?” 

“Nothing that matters.” Tony waved off the Director’s sarcastic concern. “I need to talk to you about two things and then we can move on.” 

The Director made a ‘go ahead’ motion and went back to eating. Tony watched the knife and fork dissection of a perfectly respectable tuna melt for a moment and then stated, “I don’t trust Pierce. I went to his party a few weeks ago and got a real sketchy vibe from him.” 

“Uh-huh.” Fury nodded. “And?” 

“And since you have the whole all seeing eye thing going on, I thought you’d want to know.” Tony smiled up at the waitress when she brought him the sandwich, and with eyes firmly on Fury, took a huge bite and crunched deliberately through the pickles. “How do you feel about him lately?” 

“I feel like the world’s most reckless billionaire should be more concerned about the effects all that poisoning is having on your complexion and less about what those of us in trench coats are doing.” Fury wiped his mouth and pointed over his shoulder to someone Tony couldn’t see. “Brace yourself, Stark.” 

“Brace myself for wha---OW!” Tony jumped when a needle jammed into his neck, delivered courtesy of one rather spandexy clad Natalie Rushman. “Christ! Natalie, what the fuck!?” 

“I forgot you still think her name is Natalie.” Fury pushed his plate away and then dragged a chair over for the redhead. “Tony Stark, meet Natasha Romanov. Former KGB agent, former Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, former traitor to that particular country and defector to this one, and currently my favorite agent at SHIELD.” 

Tony rubbed at his neck a few times and scowled at Fury, then over at Natalie/Natasha. “Former KGB? That was dismantled in ‘91, and you’re only twenty four. Nice try.” 

“You do pass for a very convincing twenty four, Tasha.” Fury took a sip of his water. “In fact Mr. Stark, Natasha here is an absolute beauty at the ripe old age of--” 

“--you tell him I’m a day over thirty and I’ll cut your tongue out.” Natasha said coolly, and Tony blanched but Fury didn’t so much as blink. “Tony, I just gave you a shot of lithium dioxide. It’s not going to solve anything with the palladium, but it’s going to temporarily slow down the effects so you can focus. I know you’ve been struggling with it for a while, there’s no other way to explain how scattered you’ve been.” 

“First you stab me, then you insult me? You are fired.” Tony breathed in slow and purposeful, then out again when his headache started to ease thanks to the hypodermic hit to the neck. “Warn a fella before you shank him, is this foreplay to you scary spandex types?” 

Natasha gave him one of those always consistently enigmatic smirks and Tony accused, “How’d you get here so fast? Pretty sure Pepper told me you two were shopping today. In fact, I’m pretty sure she took the jet to Vegas just to spend a gross amount of money.” 

“The moment you hung up with Director Fury I excused myself from Ms. Potts and headed towards D.C from Vegas.” Natasha held up her hand to stop the next words from Tony. “And yes, I know there’s no civilian aircraft that could possibly get me to D.C. faster than your suit would, but you left an hour or so after me and also, as everyone is now aware, I am not a civilian.” 

Still literally and figuratively wounded from the jab to the neck, Tony only huffed at the redhead and went back to eating because honestly, a new secretary turning out to be a secret spy wasn’t the worst thing that had ever happened. At least she was on their side, right? Later Tony could get a little hysterical about having a former KGB agent helping him pick out ties, but for right now, he had other things on his mind. 

“Alright then. Ms. Romanov.  How do you feel about Secretary Pierce?”  

“I don’t think that’s the question you’ve come to ask.” Natasha deflected, green eyes glittering curiously. “So ask the other one.” 

“Okay I will.” Tony put his sandwich down and pleated the napkin between his fingers until it tore. “How long have the two of you known the hundred year old prisoner of war Sergeant James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes was camping out in my house in Malibu?”

“If it makes you feel any better?” Director Fury shrugged. “We just thought he was the Winter Soldier. Wasn’t one hundred percent on the Barnes angle until recently.” 

“The Winter Soldier.” Tony repeated, and this time his mind snapped into place with out the stuttered click click click of trying to process. It was almost like being him again and even though Tony knew the lithium oxide was a poison all in itself, he was already wondering how many shots of it he could take to remain lucid up until the end. “Ghost assassin from the sixties and seventies, silver arm, once thought to be Steve Rogers risen from the ice and back to seek revenge. It was James, instead. Product of Hydra experimentation, amiright?” 

“And then some.” Fury nodded.  “When Project Resurrection came to be and the Captain woke up, he asked for his best pal Bucky and then his best gal Peggy in exactly that order. SHIELD had been aware of the Winter Soldier for decades, but we couldn’t have imagined the connection to the missing Sergeant Barnes. The Captain saw a surveillance photo, said he’d recognize that scowl anywhere, and went off half feral trying to track him down.” 

“Half-feral.” Tony glanced between the two of them. “Captain America. Are you serious?” 

“I spent almost two years at his side.” Natasha spoke up. “Half feral is an understatement. I’ve never seen a man so determined to burn the world down if it meant finding his friend.” 

“Two years.” Fury echoed. “And then just over a year ago, a few months before Stane engineered your trip to Afghanistan, the Winter Soldier dropped off the map. Guess Hydra got tired of having their spots blown to shit or something like that, decided to cut their losses and run.” 

Tony only blinked and Fury explained, “Turns out the Captain isn’t exactly the aw shucks good ol boy those posters made him out to be. Anything that stood in the way of finding his Bucky went up in flames, and the man didn’t care if anyone was left inside. On more than one occassion, Romanov went into the rubble herself because the Captain wouldn’t do it. It was a wasted effort though, there were never any survivors.”

Tony looked around and then lowered his voice. “Captain America let people die like that?” 

“Not the aw shucks good ol boy we all thought.” The Director repeated. “Never seen a man so angry in my life when we lost the Soldier. Definitely never could have predicted you’d show up with him as your date at a few high profile event. I see a lot.” Fury pointed to his one good eye. “But even I didn’t see that coming.” 

“Does the Captain know about James?” 

“We thought it was best to feel out the situation and see if we were dealing with the Winter Soldier or if we were actually seeing Sergeant Barnes.” Fury hedged. “Wanted to be sure we weren’t going to walk into a situation with a still activated super assassin when from all appearances, he’s just a nice kid with some memory loss situations. Captain Rogers isn’t the sort to knock and ask to come in, he would have brought that fancy Malibu house of yours down into the ocean trying to get his friend.” 

“That seems a little over the top, but--” 

“--but you’ve never been seventy years out of your own time looking for the one person in the world who can understand what you’ve been through.” Natasha interrupted. “I’m telling you, there isn’t anything that would stop the Captain from trying to get to his Bucky.” 

“His Bucky.” Tony echoed faintly. “Is that so?” 

“I’ve been watching James for several weeks now.” Natasha’s voice dipped in sympathy when Tony’s face flickered with misery. I don’t think he remembers anything about his time as the Winter Soldier, but you’re closer to him. What do you think? Do you think he knows who he was?” 

“No way.” Tony denied tiredly. “James doesn’t know anything. Not his last name, nothing about technology or recent history. He panicked about using too many eggs the other day and now that I know what I still can’t fucking believe I know... it makes sense. In some weird way, everything I know about James makes perfect sense now.” 

“So Sergeant Barnes doesn’t remember anything before he showed up in D.C.?” 

“Nothing at all.” Tony said adamantly. “He remembers waking up beneath a bridge and then everything’s a blur for a while and he’s not sure how much time passed. He thinks he lived a year in D.C. before meeting me, but he doesn’t know anything beyond that.” 

“That could be for the best.” Natasha muttered, and Fury nodded. 

“Well you can be sure we will be keeping an eye on the situation.” the waitress came by for the plates and Fury waited until she was gone before mentioning oh so casually, “I have something that belongs to you, by the way. Your dad left it in storage along with instructions to give it to you when you were ready.” 

“I have everything I want of Howard’s and none of it’s worth anything at all.” Tony shook his head. “Forget about it, I want to meet the Captain.”

“You’re going to want this.” Fury countered, and pulled up a photo on his phone. “The real thing is about ten times heavier than anything I’d ever want to life, but take a look at it anyway.” 

“I’ve seen this.” Tony barely glanced at the picture. “It’s Dad’s diorama model of the Stark Expo. I used to race my cars up and down the roads until he screamed at me to stop. Why would I want a giant piece of cardboard that holds so many shitty memories for me?” 

“I don’t know why you want it.” Fury put his phone away again. “And I don’t know why Howard wanted you to have it. Something about how you’d see the design when no one else could, and how he wouldn’t ever have access to the tools necessary to make it a reality, but you’d probably be the one to invent the technology to make it happen.”

“That’s nice.” Tony pulled out a couple twenties and dropped them on the table to cover the bill. “Put it in the mail and I’ll open it when I get back to Malibu. I’m feeling normal for the first time since Afghanistan and I’m not going to waste it on some homework from beyond the grave. Take me to see the Captain.” 

“He’s going to be cranky.” Fury tried one last time to stall the stubborn billionaire. “He doesn’t really sleep much, and since losing track of the Soldier, I don’t think he sleeps more than a few hours a week. Maybe you don’t show up as your patented brand of asshole, huh?” 

“I do what I want.” Tony stood up and patted the Director on the shoulder. “I’ll see you and Mrs. Super Spy later on. We should talk about Pierce.” 

“I know what you’re doing Stark.” Fury said then, and Tony paused. “You’re getting everything set up so when that poison kills you off, your boytoy is set with someone he knows and loves.” 

“Oh, you think so?” 

“I’d say it’s admirable, but really I think it’s cowardly.” Fury shrugged. “You’re doing all this without even trying to fight, without figuring out a way to beat it. Gonna sign ye olde master assassin over to the Man with a Plan and then jet off somewhere dramatic to die. Cowardly way out.” 

“I’ve exhausted all my options.” Tony said flatly. “I’ve tried everything over and over and nothing works. Now my option is to make sure the people I care about can keep on going with out me. How is that cowardly?” 

“This might shock you, but the world will keep turning without Tony Stark in it.” the Director retorted, and Tony shot back, “Yeah well, at least this way it keeps turning with my loved ones well taken care of. Send the address to my phone please, I’ve got a star spangled super soldier to meet.” 

Natasha sent a text with directions to Tony’s phone, and after Tony had stalked out and hailed a cab, she turned to ask Fury, “Why does he want to talk about Pierce?” 

“Don’t you worry about Pierce.”

“Director--” 

“Ms. Romanoff, I am already dealing with Secretary Pierce. Don’t you worry.” 

“Do you really think he’s being cowardly?” 

“I think if Tony Stark wasn’t so tired of living in pain, he’d realize he could just invent something new to cure himself.” Fury stated. “I watched his dad create scientific miracles out of every day things. Watched his Auntie Peggy create unbreakable codes based on her knitting patterns. He’s been so obsessed with being Iron Man that he’s forgotten he’s Tony Stark. If anyone can fix what is literally killing them, its a Stark. Hell, he did it once in a cave with a box of scraps. He should damn well be able to do it in a state of the art lab.” 

Natasha’s lips tipped up at the corner. “You like him.” 

“I think he’s a spoiled brat with a small man complex.” Fury picked up the dessert menu. “But I think our world is a lot better off with him in it, so yeah. I’d appreciate if he didn't keel over and die.” 

“You like him.” 

“You’re pushing it, Romanov.” 

*************

*************

It was fifteen minutes to a low rise apartment building, three flights up stairs and then down a long hallway until Tony could raise his hand and knock at the door of a piece of American history

Two knocks and then three more just because Tony was impatient even on his best days and today was not one of his best days. 

Besides, when else would he have the chance annoy an actual living Smithsonian relic by knocking too many times at their--

“Can I help you?” The door swung open to Big and Blond and Patriotic, deep blue eyes and a square jaw, ruggedly handsome in a way that the old posters and pictures had never come close to capturing, and the sort of bulging All American Muscles that belonged on a Lumberjack’s Weekly pin up calendar.

Holy Spangles, Batman. Tony thought, and then grinned internally because that hit to the neck might have hurt but at least it had given him back Grade-A witty one liners. Thank you, Ms. Rushman-Romanov. 

“Captain Steven Rogers.” he finally dragged his eyes away from the muscles and up to the piercing gaze. “It's nice to officially meet you. Name’s Tony Stark, long time fan, first time fanboy. How are you?” 

“Tony Stark.” Captain Rogers extended a hand big enough to cover Tony’s entire face. “Howard’s boy, isn’t that right? Director Fury has mentioned you a few times. Figures you’d know about me being awake, though I’m a little surprised it took you this long to track me down. Howard wasn’t exactly the patient, subtle type and Fury made it seem like you inherited all those qualities as well.” 

Tony blinked, and Captain Rogers grimaced. “Ah. Sorry. That came out worse than I intended. I’ve never been quite as charming as those old movies like to pretend I was.” 

“No that’s--” Tony blinked again. “It’s fine. It’s actually a little hilarious-- um--” 

“I was real sorry to hear about your parents passing.” The Captain’s blue eyes dimmed in sympathy. “I didn’t know your Ma, but despite me and Howard’s differences, we worked together for several years. He was a good man.” 

“He was an asshole even on his best days.” Tony finally found his words, and offered a smile to his childhood nemesis hero. “But that doesn’t change the good work he did, so thanks. And yes, I inherited all of his less than charming traits and created a few more of my own which is why I’ve known about you and Project Resurrection for a few years now but just couldn't muster the interest to give a damn.” 

“Any by the way, if you were a brunette, I’d be charming your pants off.” Tony winked because he couldn’t stop himself from flirting with an American icon. “But you’re blond, so consider yourself safe from my efforts. That and it’s hard to think sexy thoughts about the literal embodiment of the American flag.” 

Good God, even the Captain’s laugh was patriotic, head thrown back and a hand over his heart like he was pledging allegiance to hilarity and Tony looked away to hide an answering grin. Shit, he didn’t want to like Steve Rogers, he had spent his entire life trying to measure up to the bastard, he didn’t want to be making friends when they had more important things to talk about.

“If it makes you feel any better?” Captain Rogers was still cheesing a grin. “Under all that patriotism I’m just a loudmouth Brooklyn kid with a big mouth and not a single shred of self preservation.” 

“Eh.” Tony made a show of shrugging. “You’re still blond. I tend to prefer them brunette--” 

--he hesitated, then pulled out the picture of he and James together at the redwoods. “--And smolderingly intense in a scary ex soldier sort of way. You know the type?” 

All laughter fell away in an instant, the surprisingly easy conversation Tony hadn’t expected to find with Captain Rogers ground to a halt, the smile on the big blond’s face wiped away as quickly as it had appeared. 

“I took that in the redwoods last week.” Tony actually took a step backwards when powerful shoulders squared up and one of those massive hands closed into a fist. “Me and James-- we’ve been living together the last couple months. Figured it’s high time you and he got together again, you know?” 

“James.” The Captain’s throat jerked when he swallowed. “Not Bucky. He goes by James now?” 

“James is the only name he knows.” Tony watched him carefully for any sign of what might be rage, but there was only heartbreak on the rugged features. “We’ve been looking for answers into his past, but it wasn’t until early this morning I came across a family link and traced it backwards. You can bet I was surprised as hell to find myself looking at a picture of you two when the facial recognition software finally pinged him.” 

“I see.” The picture shook in the Captain’s fingers and nearly tore between his grip. “Mr. Stark--”

“Call me Tony.” 

“Tony. I think you’d better come inside.” 

****************

The apartment housing the Greatest American Soldier was sparse to the point of being bare, clean to the point of being sterile, and warm enough that Tony broke into a sweat just walking through the door. 

“Sheesh, Captain.” Tony undid a few buttons at his collar. “Tropical, much?” 

“Sorry, I’ll turn it down.” The Captain really was massive, had to turn sideways to get down the narrow hall and to the thermometer. “I uh-- I’m always cold, you know?” 

Tony waited with a raised eyebrow and Captain Rogers pursed his lips, shoved both hands into his pockets self consciously. “I did seventy years in the ice, Tony. That’s the sort of chill that gets into your bones. Into your soul. I’m always cold. Can’t seem to shake it.”  

“I can fix that.” Tony spoke before thinking, the words eerily similar to his very first thought about James. Was it the super soldier thing that drove him to offer help? Or just the countdown and toxicity monitor and desperately tallying marks on the good karma side so maybe it would get him into heaven? 

“I can fix that.” he said again. “I’d think a super soldier would run hot because of your metabolism, so the cold is probably psychosomatic and a weighted blanket or even a sweater with heavier threads might take care of it. People equate weight with warmth, and being covered with being safe so if you let me get some sizes I could have my AI run some programs and figure out a material that could--” 

He stopped when the big blond just looked at him. “Sorry, Captain. I tend to ramble. Alot.” 

“Call me Steve.” the Captain went for some water and handed a bottle to Tony, then sat down in a nearby chair and clasped his hands between his knees. “And you know, your Dad did that too? He’d get an idea and talk for an hour and you’d start the conversation not even knowing you needed the thing he ended up handing you when he was finished.”

“Sounds like Dad.” Tony agreed. “Guess I did inherit all his annoying habits.” 

“You must get your looks from your Ma, then.” Steve said casually, and when Tony about fell out of his chair in surprise, he grinned. “Oh no, not for me. I mean sure, I can appreciate a good lookin’ fella just as much as the next guy, but I used to tell Buck if he got together with Howard--” 

“I might actually throw up if you finish that sentence.” 

“--then we could double date, but he said he’d sooner kiss Dugan.” he finished and Tony breathed out noisily in relief. “If he likes you, you must look like your Ma. Buck couldn’t hardly stand to be in the same room as Howard.” 

And then almost awkwardly, “No offense meant.” 

“None taken, most days I couldn’t handle it either.” Tony rolled the water bottle between his palms. “So um, how are you adjusting to life in the twenty first--” 

“Tell me about Bucky.” Steve interrupted and Tony’s mouth clicked shut. “I wanna know everything. Where did you find him? How did you find him? Does he know who he is? Who I am? Does he know about--” 

He clenched his jaw. “--does he remember being the Winter Soldier?” 

“Captain.” Tony began slowly, but Steve cut him off again, “It’s just Steve, Tony. Captain Rogers, Captain America, that’s not who I am. I’m Steve. Call me Steve.” 

“Steve.” he started again. “James--er, Bucky-- and I met a few months ago in a diner right here in D.C. I don’t know if you watch the news at all, but I was mid Senate meeting and mid nervous break down, apparently he was just there having breakfast. I saw he was missing an arm--” 

“--his left arm?” 

“--his left arm.” Tony nodded. “And since I have a weird assortment of various robotic arm pieces laying around the house, I told him I could build him a new one. I gave him a whole spiel about wanting to do some good and that he didn’t have to take me up on the offer but he told me--” 

“--that you got a pretty smile.” Steve interjected. “Yeah, you’re just his type. Dark hair, pretty eyes, big smile. Just his type.” 

The simple statement from the soldier warmed Tony clear down to his heart, and he ducked his head to hide a barely there flush. “Uh, anyway. He came home to Malibu with me and we’ve been there ever since. He’s getting better. No more panic attacks and his Brooklyn accent comes out more every day and um--” 

It felt awkward talking to a total stranger about his boyfriend--partner? He was too old to call someone a boyfriend, right? 

It felt more awkward talking to a total stranger that wasn’t really a total stranger considering how Tony knew everything everything about Steve Rogers and Howard had literally helped create the soldier. More awkward talking to a not-total stranger who actually knew James Bucky better than Tony could ever hope to. More awkward talking to a not-total stranger who knew Bucky better than Tony did and would be around at Bucky’s side after Tony--

--after Tony--

“--sometimes I think he’s remembering things, but then I don’t really know.” he finished lamely. “Captain, er Steve. I’ll be honest, it seems weird to tell you about your best friend. I can tell you that he doesn’t have nightmares anymore and that he hasn’t had a panic attack in weeks. He likes Rocky Road ice cream and looks great in the color red and when he calls me sweet thing I actually melt a little bit inside. What else do you want to know?” 

“I just want to know if he’s okay.” Steve said softly, softly, spread his hands helplessly and made those All American baby blues as heartbreakingly earnest as possible. “Tony, I woke up from the ice and found a picture of the Winter Soldier and spent the next two years trying to figure out what the hell had happened to my best pal. How did he survive the fall? Who captured him? What have they been doing with him? To him?” 

The Captain’s throat jerked when he swallowed. “Does he-- does he smile? Do you make him smile? Or is he real quiet now? Did they ruin him? Break him?” 

Steve got to his feet to pace, rubbing his hands down his thighs in agitation. “I’ve read all the Winter Soldier files, Tony. I know what they did to him. You know they-- they didn’t do that stuff to me. Howard juiced me up and sent me out the door but Bucky? He was always a good soldier but there’s a lot of steps between a good soldier and a master assassin. What they did to him to make him into the Soldier…” 

His steps stuttered, faltered, and when Steve turned around to pin Tony with a look, his jaw was set stubbornly. “Tell me how he really is. Did they break him? Is he even Bucky anymore?” 

“I don’t know if he’s Bucky anymore.” Tony said slowly, honestly. “But I know he’s James, and he’s a good man. Not broken. Definitely hurt, but not broken. He’s-- I think he’s okay, Captain. Or at least he’s getting better.” 

“Okay.” Steve dropped back down onto the chair and the springs groaned under his weight. “Okay okay okay. Have you done any research on the Winter Soldier? About what he did?” 

“No.” 

“Don’t.” That super soldier strength showed up when the arms of the chair splintered beneath Steve’s fingers. “Tony, for your own sake. Don’t. I haven’t read the mission files because it makes me sick to my stomach but I saw enough of what they did to him to know there can’t be anything good in the other ones.” 

Tony’s whole body went cold, horror stricken and wanting to scream thinking about his soldier, his Brooklyn being hurt for however long he’d been captive as the Winter Soldier. “What they did to him?” 

“Experiments.” Steve muttered hoarsely. “Testing his strength, his healing factor. Whatever super juice they gave him, they had to make sure it worked so they experimented. Broke major bones to time how long it took to heal up again. Put bullets close to major arteries wondering if he’d bleed out. Made him run until he was vomiting and couldn’t take another step to check his endurance.” 

“Shit.” 

“They wiped his mind after every mission.” the Captain continued miserably. “Got him to the point where all he could do was carry out orders. That’s not even human, they took his soul Tony. My best friend and they took his soul. Wiped it away every time they hooked him up to that damn chair--” 

“Chair?” 

“--it had straps.” Steve made a motion and Tony’s heart sank, then sank further still when he added, “I crashed a set up once and it was this monstrous chair. Straps and hooks and this helmet thing that went down over his head to fry his brain.” 

“What--” Tony wet his lips, flashes of that first awful panic attack hitting him like a punch to the stomach. “-- What did you do to the chair?” 

“Broke it apart with my bare hands and then snapped some bad guy’s femur just because I wasn’t done breaking things.” Steve said coldly, calmly. “I can’t read the mission files, not after seeing that. I don’t think you should read them either. Buck deserves to have people who look at him and don’t see everything he did as the Soldier. He deserves to be loved by people who just see him.” 

“Yeah, I--” Tony dug his fingers into his knees and bit back a heartbroken noise. “Yeah, he does. So what did you do with the data? It can’t just be out there, that’s not--” 

Even now, his brain was shifting into gear, trying to figure out the next step, trying to figure out what he could do to fix what had happened with James or how he could make sure it never came back to ruin his soldier’s new life. “--it can’t be out there for someone else to find. What did you do with it?” 

“Natasha dumped it all.” The Captain informed him. “Burned it, erased it, whatever she does. I’m not really up on all the tech of this century yet. But she swore it was gone, and that’s all I care about.” 

“You trust her?” 

“...I do.” Steve’s smile was almost… melancholy. Almost lonely. “Most people wouldn’t, but she hasn’t lied to me once so I have no reason to think she would about this.” 

“Alright.” It was a relief to know the Winter Soldier’s actions weren’t out there for anyone to find, a relief to know someone else was looking out for James the same way Tony wanted to. “That’s-- that’s good. If Captain America can trust her with that, I can trust her too.” 

“Yeah.” Steve screwed his eyes shut tight and pushed out a long breath. “Tony um-- can I see him? Feels weird to ask permission to see my own best friend, but I think you know him better than I do at this point. Can I see him? Will you bring him back to D.C., or could I come with you to Malibu? I searched for him for so long, Tony. The canyon below the train-- I spent days there. Days in the snow trying to find him, and I spent the first years waking up trying to find him… can I see him?” 

Quieter, almost afraid, “Do you think he’ll know me?” 

“I don’t know.” Tony said honestly, and Steve’s shoulders hunched in like the words physically hurt. “But they should be landing here in D.C. in a few hours and I already sent him this address.” 

“Seriously?” Steve’s head snapped up. “You would-- you didn’t even know me. You told him to come here when you hadn’t met me yet?” 

“You’re Captain America.” Tony shrugged carelessly, shrugged like his heart wasn’t tearing in two right there in his chest as everything he’d feared started falling into place. This was the right decision but it hurt and his heart could have collapsed under the strain. “And he’s Sergeant Barnes. There’s no question you two should be spending time together, in fact, I’m probably just in the way. I’ll bring him in and as soon as I know James is okay, I’ll leave you in peace and let you get reacquainted.

“That’s amazing.” Steve lit up with a mega watt grin. “Tony, thank you. Thank you. You’re giving me a piece of my life back, I swear. I don’t even know where to begin to thank you.” 

“Just...take care of him.” 

“I promise I will.” the Captain swore. “I promise. I’ll help him readjust to life and we’ll figure out… I dunno. Netflix together? I’ll help him Tony, I will.” 

“I don’t doubt it.” Tony tried for a smile that didn’t feel like it was crumbling at the edges. “Now. Are you a enough of a rebel to have a beer in this place while we wait? Or still too good ol’ boy for that?” 

“Are you kidding?” Steve laughed again, and yep, Tony would have been seeing stars and stripes if he hadn’t been blinking back tears. “Good beer is the best part of this century! And I don’t get drunk, so I’ve been trying them all! Come on and pick one out!” 

“Picking out a beer with Captain America.” Tony struggled to his feet with a hand over his chest and followed the blond to the tiny kitchen. “How could anyone pass that up?” 

“Tony!” Steve sounded immeasurably lighter, the smile on his face evident in his voice as he called, “Does Bucky ever listen to music anymore? Have you ever heard of the Andrews Sisters? We heard them sing the night he shipped out for the war, this was his favorite song!” 

Before Tony could object or protest or fall to his knees and beg for mercy because he didn’t think he could take another second of this self inflicted torture, the all too familiar beginning notes of ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’ floated through the apartment and everything got worse.

“Me and Pegs used to dance to this.” Steve tossed Tony a beer he could only barely catch. “She made Buck dance too even though he didn’t have any interest in the other dames. She always said one day he’d find a fella to dance with too, have you guys danced together yet?” 

“Once.” Tony said faintly. “Just uh-- just the once.” 

He closed his eyes when the song got to the chorus, when the beat changed and he could almost feel James pulling him in closer like he’d done that night in the lab when everything changed between them. 

“...just the once.” 

**************

**************

“Hey babydoll.” James was confused when he finally made it up to the apartment door, confused and stiff when he bent to give Tony a kiss hello. “This is uh--” he cleared his throat. “Don’t like being back here, Tony. D.C. doesn’t have any good memories for me. I didn’t want to come.” 

“I know.” Tony stood on his toes to chase one more kiss, gratified when James automatically wound an arm at his waist to hold him. “And I’m sorry but this is important, alright? What we’re doing here is important.” 

“Important like the way Pepper’s fancy parties are important?” James teased halfheartedly, and tugged at Tony’s shirt sleeve. “Let’s get out of here. I’m a real big fan of the way you’ve blown off work the last few weeks to spend time with me, we should keep doing that.”

“James.” Tony tried for words and failed, squeezed at James’s fingers and tried again, “I’ve got someone you should meet. Re-meet. Someone you used to know and I think it’s important you see him again. I think he can fill in a lot more blanks, help you out a lot more than I can, alright?” 

“I don’t want anyone helping me but you.” James glanced around the hallway, glanced at the door and out the far window, then back down at Tony, shoulders set uncomfortably tense and jaw clenched. “Tony, can we go? Something feels weird here, I don’t like it.” 

“It will feel better in a few minutes.” Tony promised. “Just um-- be brave, Brooklyn. Okay?” 

“Brave? Tony, I’m telling you this don’t feel right, I don’t want to be--” 

Tony turned the knob and shoved the door open before James could finish the sentence, pushed the soldier through into the living room and then hung back to just watch. 

Be brave, Brooklyn. 

“Bucky.” Steve stood in the middle of the room, hands in his pockets and chin ducked like he was trying to look small, the unmistakable shield sat prominently on one of the chairs, that old picture of he and James from the Smithsonian propped up on the table. 

“Holy shit.” The Captain choked out a strangled sort of laugh and freed his hands to run them both through his hair, tugging at the strands and then rubbing at his eyes as they filled with tears. “Bucky. It’s really you.” 

James narrowed his eyes at the big blond, at the picture and at the shield, then looked back at Tony in confusion. 

“Bucky? Who the hell is--” 

Click click click. 

“I had ‘em on the ropes.” 

“Yeah Stevie, sure you did.” 

Click click click.  

“Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.” 

“How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you.” 

Click click click. 

“You’re keeping the suit, right?

Click Click Click

“I’m with you to the end of the line.” 

“I’m with you to the end of the line.” 

“I’m with you to the end of the line.” 

Click click click.

I know him.

Stevie.

“...Stevie?” 

The Captain covered the room in two big steps and James met him in the middle for a bone crushing, desperate hug. James’s legs crumpled and Steve caught him halfway down, Captain America crying unashamed tears and swearing under his breath as he smoothed Jame’s hair back from his face to get a good look at him.

“Stevie?”

“Christ, Bucky I can’t believe I finally found you. I finally found you and I’m never gonna let anything happen to you again, I swear it. I swear it.” ----

--- Tony closed the door to the apartment and walked alone down the hallway, took the stairs up to the roof and stood for a long time looking over the city, over the monuments in the distance and the barest glimmer of blue from the river. 

His phone rang and it was James but Tony ignored it so he could undo the latches on the briefcase suit and step into the boots, shivering as the armor climbed his body and encased him in cold metal before it warmed to his temperature. 

His phone rang and it was James, and the picture on the screen was of them at the redwoods, the name beneath “Sergeant Barnes” because already James wasn’t James anymore, he was Sergeant Barnes, he was Bucky. 

His phone rang and it was James and JARVIS intoned, “Sir, it’s Sergeant Barnes calling.” 

“Send it to voicemail.” Tony whispered and the call shut down as the suit powered up. 

“May I remind you sir that extended use of this suit specifically strains--” 

“I remember.” Tony closed his eyes for a minute. “Send a message to Rhodey? Tell him I won’t make dinner tonight. He won’t be surprised, I’ve missed at least a hundred dinners. Call Pep and remind her that I owe her something expensive and sparkly and to pick out whatever she’d like.” 

“...Yes sir.” 

“JARVIS.” Tony’s chest tightened until he couldn’t breathe. “Enable Ghost Protocol.” 

“Are you sure?” 

“Just like we talked about.” Tony was shaking inside the suit, grateful for the exoskeleton that kept him on his feet. “I won’t let this be catastrophic and I-- I can’t watch while James realizes he doesn’t need me anymore. Start the process now.” 

In the lab in Malibu, lights in the lab started to dim and the myriad of suits Tony had worked on for months drew back into the walls. The lock codes blinking on each panel changed from Tony’s preferences to ones coded to Honeybear, to Rhodey, to Sourpatch and Platypus, on and on the list went. 

Computer screens flickered as dozens of letters went out to various charities and foundations, notifications of soon-to-be-arriving checks meant for specific projects that desperately needed funded. Signed paperwork irrevocably keeping Pepper as CEO and turning over any stock held by Tony Stark to her after a death certificate was produced was sent off to the proper compliance departments to make sure everything was legal. 

A program was uploaded into Dum-E’s limited software that would allow the robot to function a bit safer and up it’s interaction levels to ones that would make the kiddos in the Children’s Wing at the Cancer Center smile and laugh whenever it rolled through the halls. 

Back in Washington, JARVIS’s comforting monotone listed off each point of Ghost Protocol as it was engaged and completed, and the phone rang as Sergeant Barnes tried again and again and again. 

“Send it to voicemail.” Tony whispered through a sheen of tears, and the call went silent as the Iron Man armor took off from the roof and soared into the darkening sky, punching through the atmosphere and heading for the stars. 

This was the right decision.

Send it to voicemail. 

73%

***************

Chapter Notes: 

Did you cry? I cried. 

I love Steve in this verse. The “First Winteriron, then Steve comes Along” dynamic is something I’ve never written, and I’ve also never written Fresh from the Freezer Steve and I sort of love him?? 

SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE CHAPTER!

***************

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[aion-rsa]

Best Serial Killer Movies of the ’90s Ranked

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Someone must have left the freezer door in the morgue open, because grisly reminders of the past are thawing before our eyes. You can see it this weekend with the release of John Lee Hancock’s The Little Things, a throwback to the days when movie stars hung out at crime scenes instead of in spandex, and it’ll be more apparent next month with the launch of Clarice, a television spinoff of 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs. All the evidence points to only one conclusion: the serial killer thrillers of the ‘90s are back!

Not that we’re complaining. For a macabre minute or two, every Hollywood name appeared eager to play either the detective or the killer—the hunter or the obsessed, which often proved interchangeable for both characters. Granted that means there can be something formulaic about many of these movies. Yet they can also be bleak, hard-edged, and ambiguous. From our modern gaze, where the dominant studio conventions prefer reassuring morality tales and sunny lighting, these movies’ preference for shadows and discomfort in the mainstream is kind of startling.

So grab your magnifying glass and fortify your stomach, because we’re about to revisit some of the best (and worst) of ‘90s serial killer thrillers. (Also this list is strictly for the decade when the genre was at its height and it excludes slasher movies like Scream, which may feature serial killers but were not exactly adult-oriented thrillers.)

12. Eye of the Beholder (1999)

Eye of the Beholder is a tonal oddity that only passingly flirts with the conventions of ‘90s serial killer thrillers, all while it tries to pay homage to (read: rip-off) Alfred Hitchcock. But any credit it deserves for deviation—including making Ashley Judd’s central femme fatale the killer—it loses in execution. As a muddied, impenetrable tale about an intelligence officer (Ewan McGregor) who spies on and falls in love with a serial killer, Eye of the Beholder is a scattershot of bad ideas that run the gamut from ludicrous to misogynistic.

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but this movie will close the lids over your pupils inside of 30 minutes.

11. Nightwatch (1997)

It feels a little mean to rag on Ewan McGregor back-to-back, but maybe serial killer movies just aren’t his genre? That could be at least one takeaway from an ill-advised double feature of Eye of the Beholder and Nightwatch, the latter of which is a remake of a 1994 Danish film that I’ve not seen… and probably won’t since both the original film and American remake are directed by the same man.

McGregor plays medical student Martin here, a kid who gets an after school job by becoming the night watch security at the local morgue. But as a series of grisly prostitute murders pile up, Martin realizes he needs to figure out who the killer is—that or continue to be framed by the necrophiliac fiend who keeps coming by the morgue for one last liaison. It’s exactly as skeevy as it sounds. Do yourself a favor and go your whole life without hearing Nick Nolte sing “This Old Man” while climbing onto a corpse.

10. Natural Born Killers (1994)

The movie that Quentin Tarantino disowned, Natural Born Killers is a seedy mess based on a Tarantino script that was heavily rewritten by Oliver Stone, David Veloz, and Richard Rutowski. The concept itself is a seemingly inevitable escalation of the “bad romance outlaws” archetype that’s been floating around Hollywood since at least 1950’s Gun Crazy, and which was then made iconic by Bonnie & Clyde (1967).

But whereas those films relied on bank robbers living fast, Natural Born Killers descends into a seeming final form with Mickey and Mallory (Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis) as giddy serial killers who are eventually out for maximum carnage. Technically the pair are supposed to be presented as victims of traumatic child abuse—and who are then wrongfully glorified by the media. But Stone’s sloppy and tanked vision lacks the discipline to achieve anything beyond its maliciousness. Early sequences imagining Mallory’s abusive childhood like it’s a television sitcom, and later psychedelic visions of Robert Downey Jr.’s opportunistic news reporter as the Devil, do little to divorce the film from its shallow self-satisfaction in close-ups of heads being shot.

The movie came under controversy in the years after its release for inspiring alleged copycat killers as well as school shooters. It feels irresponsible to blame media for actual violence, but it’s still quite an indictment that Stone’s attempt to criticize media glorification became a favorite for many a disturbed individual with a gun.

9. Kiss the Girls (1997)

When studying competent, middle of the road Hollywood thrillers, Kiss the Girls is a solid place to start. As a decently made bit of studio convention, the movie is anchored by strong elements like Morgan Freeman as James Paterson’s literary hero, Alex Cross, and Ashley Judd as Kate, the victim who survives a masked killer’s attempt to abduct her into his harem.

Moments like Kate’s escape sequence through the North Carolina wilderness are effectively filled with adrenaline, and Judd particularly gives the salacious piece conviction. However, it is salacious to a fault. Even if the movie toned down the source novel’s even more lurid misogyny, the film studies Kate and the other victims with a lascivious male gaze, blurring sex with violence, real world horror with leering entertainment. Right down to its title, the film can be rightly criticized as Hollywood glamourizing another story about violence against women. Whether that damns the whole movie depends on the viewer, but it certainly keeps it low on our list.

8. The Bone Collector (1999)

Marketed with a hell of a tagline about there being thousands of taxi cabs in New York City that’ll get you home—and one that won’t—The Bone Collector is almost comically slavish to the clichés of ‘90s moviemaking. The wrinkle here is that after a faux cab driver begins abducting his victims off the street, the crime psychologist who must stop him is entirely stuck by his bedside. Due to a tragic accident, Denzel Washington’s Lincoln Rhyme is paralyzed from the neck down. Yet he is still able to catch serial killers by communicating in the earpiece of police officer Amelia Donaghy (an entirely unconvincing Angelina Jolie).

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The Last Book on the Left Takes on the Grim History of Serial Killers

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Together the pair stay one step behind the mystery killer’s tracks as he executes a series of increasingly gruesome and ridiculous murders. It’s preposterous, and in some ways a forerunner for Saw with the satisfaction it takes in absurd death traps, but Washington is effortlessly compelling, even when he never leaves his apartment. As a bit of absurd Hollywood fluff, right down to the ultimately lackluster unmasking of the killer, it can be entertaining, even if you’ll deny it afterward.

7. Copycat (1995)

More potent than I remembered, Copycat is a genuinely well-crafted Hollywood thriller that may not reinvent the wheel but takes it out for a damn good spin. In the driver’s seat is Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Helen Hudson, a criminal psychologist who is an expert on serial killers until one follows her into the bathroom after a guest lecture. He nearly hangs her from the ceiling. Following that white-knuckled opening, the film jumps years ahead and Helen has become agoraphobic and afraid to leave her home.

Yet when a local series of murders reveal the pattern of a predator imitating the methods of his favorite “celebrities”—one crime scene is like the Boston Strangler and another emulates the horrors of Jeffrey Dahmer—Helen is pulled out of retirement by a no-nonsense detective (Holly Hunter). The winning chemistry between Weaver and Hunter—who are refreshingly free from the studio-mandated romantic subplots in some of the other movies on this list—and the blunt force power of their performances aid this sincerely disquieting flick. A needlessly convoluted third act aside, the movie still works as a warning about the danger of fanboys a generation early.

6. Fallen (1998)

Denzel Washington appears again thanks to this clever supernatural spin on the serial killer genre. At the beginning of Fallen, Washington’s John Hobbes appears on top of the world. The serial killer he chased for years (Elias Koteas) is about to breathe deeply in the gas chamber. Yet after the lever is pulled, and with Koteas singing the Rolling Stones’ “Time is On My Side” until his last breath, a funny thing happens: the murders continue.

In fact, more than just the killings, strangers in the street sing “Time is On My Side” in Hobbes’ ear, and he soon realizes that he faces a devil of a killer whose been operating since the beginning—quite literally since the villain is a demon who was once an angel that fell with Lucifer. It’s a bizarre premise given strutting confidence thanks to Washington’s performance, as well as good supporting work by John Goodman and Donald Sutherland. Twenty years later and its ending still sticks with me.

5. The Exorcist III (1990)

If you haven’t seen The Exorcist III, we know what you’re thinking: “Really?!” Yes. In fact, this isn’t even an exorcist movie; it should’ve been titled Legion like the 1983 novel it’s based on. Alas writer-director William Peter Blatty was forced to use the title and do reshoots that added an exorcism in the climax. Still, this supernatural thriller which involves a serial killer back from the dead is far better than it has any right to be.

Following the character of Lt. Kinderman from the 1973 masterpiece, the middle-aged gumshoe is now played by George C. Scott instead of the late Lee J. Cobb, and he possesses Scott’s usual love for contrasts between the restrained whisper and a bombastic howl. He also makes a sympathetic, secular detective forced to face the horrors of Hell when a series of murders committed against Catholic priests appear to be the work of the Gemini Killer (Brad Dourif), a serial killer whom Kinderman sent to the chair more than 10 years ago.

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Somehow the fiend—plus Kinderman’s long dead pal Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller)—appear to now be living in the same body of a John Doe kept in a mental asylum. With an unrelenting atmosphere of dread, palpable tension, and more of Blatty’s intellectual struggle with concepts of faith and evil, the film is more high-minded than its hacky title suggests. It also features one of the best jump scares in movie history.

4. Summer of Sam (1999)

The only movie on this list directly based on an actual serial killer’s crimes, Spike Lee’s Summer of Sam is a serious-minded joint. However, it’s only partially about the murders perpetrated by David Berkowitz, aka the “.44 Caliber Killer,” aka the Son of Sam. Rather the film focuses on the effects a serial killer has on the culture of New York City during the sweltering summer of 1977, and how it affects young lives trying to make it in the big city.

Influenced by Lee and his co-writers Michael Imperioli and Victor Colicchio’s memories of growing up in 1970s New York, the pic is a love letter to a grim moment in history when the city was about to explode with murders, blackouts, crime, and disco. All of this is digested from the vantages of Vinny (John Leguizamo), a philandering hairdresser guilt-ridden for cheating on his wife (Mira Sorvino), and his childhood pal Ritchie (Adrien Brody), who’s left the old neighborhood behind to join the fledgling punk rock scene.

With a greater interest in how a serial killer affects the culture and institutions of a city on edge than being a traditional crime drama, Summer of Sam is a bit of a forerunner to David Fincher’s far more polished Zodiac from a few years later. With heavy-handed dialogue and a plot too big for Lee to fully get his arms around, even at 142 minutes, Summer of Sam can be uneven and messy. But it has the sweaty incorrigibility of a long night out, and of revelries half remembered like from a fever dream.

3. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

The rare serial killer movie told entirely from the perspective of the killer, Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley is disarmingly creepy. Despite its glossy awards bait sheen, there is a cold-blooded streak that runs deep to the heart of the piece, likely due to Patricia Highsmith’s source 1955 novel. Starring Matt Damon fresh off his Good Will Hunting golden boy sheen, the film uses its casting to disorient and ultimately disturb.

Like Highsmith’s book, the film is not structured like a traditional thriller. It instead favors a detached ambivalence about its seemingly nebbish hero as he agrees to become an errand boy for the rich by traveling to 1950s Italy in order to retrieve a silver spoon cad (Jude Law) for his father. But the more time Tom Ripley (Damon) spends with Law’s Dickie Greenleaf, the more he grows envious of Dickie’s lifestyle, his wealth and confidence, and maybe even his affection for socialite Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow). There is a subtle—too subtle due to ‘90s Hollywood conventions—homoerotic undercurrent throughout the film as Ripley slowly works up the courage to take his first life. It won’t be his last.

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Highsmith wound up publishing four subsequent sequels to The Talented Mr. Ripley, but unfortunately no more were made with Damon. Perhaps because this was too unsettling for an ongoing franchise.

2. Seven (1995)

While watching David Fincher’s masterful Seven, the thing that immediately stands out is the oppressive nihilism that permeates throughout. There were decades of neo noir before this detective yarn about the hunt for a serial killer, but none demonstrated such an overbearing sense of despair before the opening credits were even concluded. And perhaps what makes it unshakable is how welcoming the film is toward bleakness; it succumbs long before the gut-punch finale.

Telling the story of an old cop days from retirement (Morgan Freeman) and a hotheaded rookie detective (Brad Pitt), Andrew Kevin Walker’s script has an economy of pace that still impresses despite its cynicism. Very quickly one murder becomes two, then three, and soon four. Yet none of the atrocities are reveled in by Fincher’s blocking; they’re off-screen mutilations which leave psychic damage on his two leads and, eventually, us. The deaths also quickly establish a pattern that their serial killer is targeting seven souls, each intended to embody one of the seven deadly sins.

The movie is a classic now for its climax where the killer “John Doe” (a reptilian Kevin Spacey) turns himself in and leads the cops into the darkest pit, but it’s the entire package that makes this one linger more than 25 years later. At the end of the film, Somerset quotes Hemingway by saying, “‘The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.’ I agree with the second part.” I’m not convinced his film does.

1. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

As the film that kick-started the idea that serial killers could create their own film genre, The Silence of the Lambs still remains the best of its kind. Blessedly unaware that it was creating conventions for countless copycats, the film tells its psychological drama with simplicity and clarity. Whereas other films on this list bask in their bleakness, there is a dogged optimism and even perverse warmth to this Jonathan Demme adaptation of Thomas Harris’ Silence of the Lambs novel. And that’s of course largely attributable to the casting of Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster.

As Dr. Hannibal Lecter, Hopkins is of course monumental. It’s a performance that turned a quinquagenarian into an overnight movie star, and became Hopkins’ calling card as he returned to the not-so-good doctor’s well one too many times. Still, he’s undeniably enthralling as Hannibal, a cannibal psychologist with superhuman powers of observation and mental menace. Even so, Foster is often overlooked by critics for her own contributions as the FBI trainee who’s proverbially fed to the incarcerated Lecter—a pretty face to get the serial killer to consult pro bono on the crimes of another mass murderer. It’s just one more example of casual sexism faced by Clarice that gives Foster as much to play as Hopkins.

Read more

Culture

David Fincher’s Zodiac: The Movie That Never Ended

By Don Kaye

Movies

The Little Things Ending Explained

By David Crow

Surrounded by the slights and prejudices of men—be they in law enforcement or straight jackets—Clarice is constantly underestimated. She finds an intellectual rapport with Hannibal, but she pulls herself out of the darkest night, and the screaming of the lambs, without assistance. Her perseverance matched by Hannibal’s darkly seductive qualities is the juxtaposition that makes Silence of the Lambs one of the finest films of its decade.

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from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3r5iYGk

[extreme-technicality]

Behold,

Lloyd “🥺” Garmadork

Ranked, obviously, in order of personal favorites (I have literally like 30+ other shots of Lloyd “🥺” Garmadork, I had to cut it down SOMEHOW)

Coming in at number 10, we have Therapy 🥺 !!!!

Following at number 9, Oh My God Where Is My Arm 🥺 !!!!!!

Number 8 is more subtle, more of an impression, but an Honest 🥺 !!!!!

The only reason I have this one ranked seventh is because it’s very unpracticed. Baby 🥺 !!!!!!!!!

Number six!!!! The HOPE on that face!!!!!!! Absolutely amazing, we love this one but there are others I love more - Hope 🥺 !!!!!!!

Alright folks we are in Top Five territory, number five is another subtle one but the timing in the movie makes me cry, it’s Understanding 🥺 !!!!!!!!

Subtlety is overrated. Heartbreak 🥺 at number 4!!!!

The bronze medal goes to number three, Crushing Guilt 🥺 !!!!!!!!!!

Silver and the runner-up spot, numero dos, is awarded to the one, the only, the Father, Why? 🥺 !!!!!!!!

We have seen many flavors of Lloyd “🥺” Garmadork on this fine evening, and there are many flavors that, unfortunately, didn’t make the final cut (again, I have over 40 shots of Lloyd “🥺” Garmadork saved). But, as is the case in many things, there can only be one Number One…and the number one Lloyd “🥺” Garmadork goes to Appreciating Your Single Mom Who Literally Gave Up Her Entire Life And Supported You Unequivocally, Only For You To Run Right To The Life She Never Wanted For You Behind Her Back, Holy Shit Mom I’m Sorry And I Love You So Much 🥺 !!!!

Thank you to everyone for reading this completely necessary post, I’ll reblog in a second with some Honorable Mentions and then I’m going to bed ✌️

[theydontknowaboutusimagines]

What A Man Gotta Do - Harry Styles One Shot

Based on What A Man Gotta Do by the Jonas Brothers 

**

You and Harry have been friends for years. You two had met due to having several mutual friends that usually hung out together. To say there wasn’t an attraction or flirting that went on between the two of would be an absolute lie. However, despite that, you two never tried to pursue more than a friendship. Usually, what happened is career wise your life just wasn't in the right place for a relationship or one of you was seeing someone. 

Now, if it were up to Harry, he would be changing that sooner rather than later. After another failed attempt at finding love, he decided that maybe the reason none of his relationships were working was due to the fact that he had feelings for you. So, he told himself that he would tell you how he felt about you and see what happened from there. 

Which is exactly what he did and luckily you reciprocated his feelings, but you weren’t about to give him a chance right away. Now, his next mission was to do whatever he could to get his chance with you. 

**

First up was showing up at your house with a huge bouquet of your favorite flowers, a bag of groceries to cook up some dinner, and your favorite movie. You laughed as he kicked you out of the kitchen when you offered to help. 

“I’m the cook tonight,” he said. “So, stay out of my kitchen!” 

“Technically it’s mine kitchen!” You pointed out. “This is my house!” 

“Not tonight,” he smirked. 

You rolled your eyes as you sat at the bar, watching him set everything out and get to work. He was doing well for the most part, but at one point it took him five minutes to find the cutting board. 

“For fuck’s sake, why do you need so many drawers?” He groaned. 

“For storage, duh,” you said. “And I could have told you where it was, but I figured you knew where to look since it is your kitchen after all.” 

He pointed the knife at you with a raised eyebrow, “Hey, now, there’s no need for that.” 

“Whatever,” you joked. 

Once dinner was finished, you both sat down on the couch with your plates in your lap as you pressed play on the movie. When you were finished eating, you found yourself cuddling up to him and he wrapped his arms around your shoulder. 

“So, does this count as a date?” He smirked. 

“Yeah, nope,” you smirked. 

“Can I take you out on a date?” He asked. 

“Hm, maybe,” you shrugged. 

He groaned dramatically before going back to watching the movie. 

**

The next time was when you were in the studio working late on a song that you were determined to finished. He had texted you asking you if you wanted to go out with some friends, but you told him you were going to be in the studio all night. Less than an hour later, Harry arrives to the studio carrying enough food and drinks for everyone. 

“Hey,” he smiled kissing your head. “I figured you all might want some dinner.” 

You took a bite of the sandwich quickly, “Thank you. This is wonderful.” 

“You’re welcome,” he smiled. “How’s it going so far?” 

“It’s going.. I guess. We’ve got the vocals, which I’m not totally happy with at the moment, but they’ll do for now. We’re mostly working on production to give my voice a bit of a rest,” you said. 

“Do you mind if I hear what you’ve got?” He asked. 

“Sure,” you nodded. 

Your producer messed around with a few buttons before the song started playing through the speakers. You nibbled on your sandwich as you watched Harry listen to the song. You were nervous as to what he would think or the input he would give, but maybe that was exactly what you needed in order finally finish the song. 

After another two hours, you ran another vocal take and added in the ideas Harry had given to the production. Low and behold you finally finished the song. When you all called it a night, Harry offered to drive you home while you listened to the song you just recorded. 

“Thank you so much,” you smiled when he pulled up to your house. “I’m so happy to get that song finished.” 

“You’re welcome,” he smiled. “I’m happy I was able to help and we finally worked on a song together.” 

“Yeah, we did,” you smiled. 

“Speaking of...” he said. “How about we finally go on that date then?” 

“Hmm,” you smirked. “I guess you’re right. Give me a time and place and I’ll think about showing up.” 

“You’re such a tease!” He groaned. 

“You love it,” you smirked kissing his cheek before getting out of the car. 

**

It was the night of your date with Harry. He insisted on picking you up so that you couldn’t decide not to show up. He told you he was taking you out for a nice dinner, so you chose a nice skirt/shirt combo with heels. Your hair was halfway pulled back on one side and you wore diamond hoop earrings. You grabbed your purse and headed for the door when he rang the doorbell. 

“Wow,” he smiled. “You look beautiful.” 

“I know,” you smirked. 

He laughed, “Ready to go?” 

“I am,” you said following him out to the car. 

When you arrived at the restaurant, you both were seated in a private section. The lights were dimmed making it a little difficult to see one another. You both ordered before starting up a conversation. 

“Are you enjoying yourself so far?” Harry asked sipping his wine. 

“Yeah, the wine’s fabulous,” you joked. 

“Heeeey,” he laughed. 

“I’m joking,” you smiled. “I always enjoy myself whenever I’m around you.” 

“Me too,” he smiled taking your hand in his. “So, what finally to you to say yes to this date?” 

“Honestly?” You asked. 

“Preferably,” he laughed. 

“Nothing in particular,” you giggled. “I figured I let you suffer enough with the playing hard to get.” 

“So, that’s what you were doing?” He raised an eyebrow. 

“Well, I wanted to make sure you were serious about your feelings,” you said. 

“Of course, I’m serious,” he said. “Why would you think I wasn’t?” 

“I don’t know,” you shrugged. “I mean our entire friendship we’ve flirted with the other, so I guess I never thought it could be more than that.” 

“Do you want it be more than that?” He asked. “Because I do.” 

“I do, too,” you smiled. “But first we should see how this date goes.” 

**

You went back to his place after dinner and stopping for ice cream. You had changed into some borrowed jogger pants and a hoodie while you both sat on the couch. Staying over at his house wasn’t something new, but that time it felt different. 

“So, movie night?” You asked. 

“Actually,” he smirked walking over to the iPod speaker and playing a song. “May I have the dance?” 

You smiled taking his hand as he wrapped one arm around your waist and held your other hand. You laughed as a song by the Jonas Brothers started filling up the room. 

“I’m not tryin’ to be your part-time lover, sign me up for the full-time, I’m yours, all yours,” Harry sang to you with a smirk. “So, what a man gotta do? To be totally locked up by you? What a man gotta say? What a man gotta pray? To be your last good night and your first good day?”

You laughed as you both danced around the living room as he sang almost every word to you. At times he even twirled you around and dipped you down before bringing you close. When the song was over, you both were mere inches apart. Both of you were breathing heavily mostly from laughing. 

Harry looked down at you, “So what do you say? Can I be your last good night and your first good day?” He whispered. 

“That depends,” you whispered. “Do I get to be yours?” 

“I’d love nothing more,” he smiled. 

You smiled pressing your lips against his. He smirked wrapping both arms around you kissing you back. 

“Now, just so we’re clear, this means you’re my girlfriend, right?” Harry asked. 

“Yep,” you giggled. “And you’re my boyfriend.” 

He smirked picking you up and spinning you around. You giggled holding onto him. He was finally yours and you were finally his. 

[megabucks85]

Christmas with The Terror Cast (Part 4)

No list of Christmas films is complete without a focus on the kids. Let’s segue into a few family-friendly flicks featuring actors from The Terror. Each is a breath of fresh air in an era of bottomless Christmas films with tired plotlines that streaming services release annually in their endless competition for young viewers. While two of these are too young to be considered classics just yet, all three are visually stunning, beautiful stories with the potential to stand the test of time.

 Togo (2019)

Beautiful shots of the Alaskan wilderness and an uplifting story make Togo a perfect watch for this time of year. The plot centers on the true story of the 1925 serum run, in which a musher and his sled dogs overcame extraordinary obstacles to bring a diphtheria treatment to their remote community. While 2020 has seen viewers turn to Contagion and (gulp) the American remake of Utopia, Togo is the film we need right now. Not only does it allow us to believe in happy endings, it acknowledges the remarkable beings that make them possible.

Featured Terror Actor: Nive Nielsen

I sadly don’t have an image of Nive Nielsen from Togo. But just because her character doesn’t have a lot of screen time doesn’t mean the role is insignificant. She portrays a healer at one of the outposts, and yes, she gets to showcase her beautiful, hypnotic vocals. It’s a small role, but a scene-stealing performance.    

 Hugo (2011)

Let me begin by saying that Hugo is one of my all-time favorite films. I want to literally curl up in this movie. It’s absolutely gorgeous from start to finish; the score is an escapist adventure by itself; and the latter half of the film offers one touching scene after another that by the time you reach the credits, you’re left with a wide-eyed, intoxicated smile on your face.

Hugo is a film about finding purpose and community in unexpected places and amongst unexpected people. With that said, I’d be remiss not to mention that it’s also very much about the magic of the movies. As someone who hired Disney+ as a full-time nanny during the shutdown, I’ve certainly taken film and television for granted. But at one time, a visual story accessible to everyday people was a ground-breaking phenomenon. This film recreates that period through the story of George Méliès, portrayed by Ben Kingsley, who uses the art of filmmaking to bring dreams to life.

Featured Terror Actor: Christos Lawton

Source: Instagram.com/christos_lawton/

While reviewing the filmography of the entire Terror cast as one does, my jaw nearly hit the floor when I learned that Christos Lawton played a small role in Hugo. He’s unrecognizable as an Arabian Knight in one of Méliès’s early films. The entire flashback of which he’s a part is illustrative of a time when filmmakers sacrificed everything to bring a story to life. It’s such a wonderful sequence and an example of how this film as a whole feels like nothing less than a fairytale.

 The Secret Garden (1993)

Before PBS Masterpiece, my romantic notions of life in an English manor were entirely attributed The Secret Garden. Who doesn’t love this movie? It’s three adorable children planting seeds and giving hope to heartbroken adults in the beautiful English countryside. Now, I’m willing to admit that with this film probably more than any other film I’ve mentioned so far, I’m pushing it as a Christmas film. It’s really more of a Spring/Summer flick with themes like rebirth and new beginnings. But, guess what? It’s enjoyable any time of year, it includes an actor from The Terror, and I have no intention of creating an Easter film list.

Featured Terror Actor: John Lynch

This one was another jaw-dropper for me. I didn’t catch it until I introduced it to my kids and thought that the handsome Uncle Craven looked familiar. Lo and behold, it’s our favorite lending librarian. There’s something about John Lynch’s expressions that allows him to convey emotion so well. When we see him approach Colin, setting eyes on his healthy child for the first time in years, it’s impossible not to get the feels.

 It’s fair to say that all three of these can be enjoyed any time of year. They certainly make for wonderful holiday viewing if you’re searching for great, kid-friendly films outside the norm.

[mister-maiden]

Parasite (2019): The Distinction of Perfection

No film from 2019 surprised me as much as Parasite did. 

I took interest in the film after I heard of its rumors. Created by South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-Ho, creator of some of my favorite films such as Snowpiercer, Mother, and the Host, Parasite stands to be one of the greatest films of 2019 alongside Joker for showing what understanding the utilization of basic film  technique looks like, and refining it to perfection.

I shall only be writing about the elements of what was seen rather than the plot for spoilers sake. I wouldn’t want a single one of you to be spoiled of viewing such a masterpiece, so I will attempt to present vague samples of how the elements are used rather than specific moments at first. This shall change towards the end where I shall list a *SPOILER WARNING* line. You have been warned. So! Let’s get to it. 

*****************************************PARASITE********************************************

Created by Bong Joon-Ho, Parasite (2019) is about a low income family, the Kims, slowly infiltrating the lives of a wealthier family, the Parks, by taking over as staff through whatever means necessary.  While the story is expertly crafted to give a seamless story to the audience, its visual elements are what excited me to no end. Through its usage of the most basic elements of framing such as lines, lighting, and camera angle, Parasite was able to utilize film as its medium to tell a story completely through visuals.

In other films, typically there is some thought placed in the set and design of each shot. Where should this pencil go? Is this starbucks cup in the way of our medieval series? While there are some filmmakers who briefly touch on this, some such as Wes Anderson has made their own vision of how film should be. For instance, when you are watching a Wes Anderson film, you will know exactly who made it because of his signature visual elements like the ultra wide shot, color, and costume design. All of these choices are entirely deliberate to separate itself from other films and filmmakers. What makes Parasite so great is its attention to the most basic of these elements. Rather than choosing elements that would have surely made it stick out like color and costumes, Bong Joon-Ho chose to harness the most basic of components such as lines.

Lines are used to create boundaries between objects, form objects into groups, and more. In the visual space, lines can be produced from just about anything like corners, cracks, and anything that can place an interruption between two objects. In Parasite, the line is used to separate the families before and after the families collide to contrast their lifestyles, wealth, and more. This is to use film to its full extent as the best visual storytelling medium. In full control of everything that happens on screen, Bong Joon-Ho has each family separated in shots by lines consistently in the first half by harsh lines that van be easy to point out, and then he switches to vague, difficult to see lines in the second half. Instead of constantly using the same type of lines, he creates the sense of slow invasion and the idea that no matter what the Kim family does, they will never be in the same light nor grouping as the Parks. This is further explored through the story in several instances such as smell, language, and manners; however, this is not a review of the content of the film, rather the visual stimuli, so I will touch on this at a later time. 

Through the usage of the most basic of shapes, Parasite continually presented the struggle of non-belonging, difference, and invasion. With lines being placed in strategic areas to contrast workers with the higher class, they also show the slow infestation of what was happening. Solid lines which were placed in visual form became boundaries. There are even several times when Mr. Park speaks about “the line” and when someone crosses it. In my opinion, the visual line is the perfect representation of this line that Park talks about.

It brings a certain level of class difference to the world around the families, with the Parks being used to this large house and room, the Kims have forever made their home in insect covered filth due to unfortunate circumstances and poor financial choices. The visual invades the story itself by displaying how different these two families are and contrasting the two using a simple element of visual art. This family who has been in the limelight for as long as we know has had this type of life forever, acclimating to the manners, items, and personality that comes with it while the Kims have never seen such behavior to the point that Mr. Kim became surprised the Park family was so kind even though they were rich. This type of alienation comes from the lack of standing in another's’ shoes. Bong Joon-Ho not only formed this paradigm through his usage of dialogue and actors. He brought it into the environment itself, making the line its own character as a silent antagonist that follows the Kims. Another element which plays into the storytelling is the lighting. 

While living in their home, the Kims are lit with drab lighting which forces the home and environment to seem dark yet natural, representing the Kims perfectly. Their home is in a hit of disarray yet they continue to live their lives through it all. There is also a certain tinge of green which stays with the family which separates them even further from the Parks. In comparison, the Park’s home is filled with a gorgeous golden light which peers from every corner of their home. Be it from the ceiling lights to the small shelves on the wall. This envelops everything in frame to create a golden shade over everything, representing the mass amount of wealth and elevation of their lifestyle. Compared to their drab, green tint, the Parks is something entirely else to behold akin to that of a dream which can never be grasped. 

Even the lighting outside is used for storytelling. For instance, light is used in many cases to show the presence of intelligence, malevolence, or progression in comparison to darkness being this sickly, dirty element. As such, the Kims step out of the darkness of their dirty hidey hole to dream in the majestic gold of this beautiful environment...much like that of a cockroach. 

Insects, in this case a cockroach, generally reside in darker areas. This is explored heavily through how the family acts when the lights are on and off. The Kim family hides themselves to put on the facade of a group of golden employees all the while constraining their parasitic nature until they can leach more from the family. In each scene the Kim family is inside the house without the Parks, the lighting is darker.to show that they will never escape what they are and what they are doing. This existential circumstance is being entirely interpreted by a few lights and the lack of. There is even a scene where the Kim family panics and scatters as the lights slowly come back on. Just like a cockroach as shown by a direct representation in the film (you’ll know it when you see it). 

On the topic of insects, they can generally be found in low, slightly difficult to reach places. Small corners, constricted spaces, and at low elevations. To further the visual story, Bong Joon-Ho focused on refining elevation and camera angle as a further way to emphasize the Kim family behaving like Parasites. This is a continual element in the film that is explored through other characters.

Every time the Kims seem to rise physically in frame, the lights are brighter. The same vice versa as when the Kims go back home, the lights are dark, drab, and disgusting. I believe this is to continually group the families and continue this notion of how a bug can only be a bug while opening a discussion about the class solidarity of South Korea. Then again, this whole film is an entire discussion of classes in any economic system. 

This angle of elevation does not simply mean a direction for either family. It represents the gradual increase of class and difference that separates one another. There’s a reason we use phrases such as downwards spiral and climbing up the work ladder. We have vaguely identified as up to be better and down to be failure. All from things such as groveling to jumping for victory. This is by far the least used visual element in comparison to lighting and lines, but it was too prominent to not mention as there are entire scenes dedicating to visually telling the story of these families only using the shots of rising and falling. 

Visually, Parasite is one of the best films of 2019. There are few films which are able to tell an entire story so perfectly through the refinement of such basic visual elements. This is where it all comes together though. Even though all of these elements are different to each family, they are present within each.

It concretes the feeling of class solidarity because it shows that both families have each element. From the bluntest of lines to the brightest of lights, these elements are constantly in life of the Kim family and forever holds a boundary that near invisibly separates them as the insects, and the Park family as, well, more. It’s this solidarity that sparks the question of if any of these boundaries, if any of these visual ques and verbal manners even mean anything and if the Kim family ever even had a chance in the first place. 

I absolutely urge you to watch this film, not simply because it is good. It is the perfect example of what distinction by perfection is. Work on an element long enough and it will come to be the very thing you are known by. As Bruce Lee said: I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

********************************SPOILERS AND MOVIE TALK******************

There are so many moments in this film that scream amazing at me. First, I’d like to take a moment to analyze scenes involving lines. Then I will look to lighting, then to elevation. Here I will be giving examples of the scenes I remember the most fondly. 

In this scene, the sister of the Kim family and the mother of the Park family are conversing about the young boy from the Park Family. Poising herself as someone from art school specializing in “art therapy”, Jessica (Kim daughter) is able to convince the mother of her talents by controlling the quite rowdy child. What I want to draw attention to is the lighting in the back, this very faint light coming from the basement in the form of three bright lights.

From the beginning of the conversation, Jessica and Mrs. Park are seated on the same side of the table sitting side by side. The entire time, Mrs. Park stays on the left side of the lights while Jessica stays on the right, meanwhile the Maid slowly moves to Mrs. Park’s side and slightly obscures the line. In my opinion, this is a way to represent that the maid was in a similar position to the Kim family, and had already infiltrated the Park’s sanctum. It was something quite small, but I don’t believe it was not on purpose because of what happens next. 

As the conversation goes on, the lights suddenly disappear. Before, the line was vague at best because of how blurred the lights were, so it seems this was a “weak barrier” so to speak. This is to represent the infiltration of Jessica into the Park family. Jessica reaffirmed herself as knowing Psychology and Art Therapy. As soon as she said this, the barrier was put down since she reminded Mrs. Park of her credibility/Ethos. As the line is gone, the conversation is suddenly controlled by Jessica as she begins to ask the questions. 

The camera then does a sudden pan to capture an over the shoulder shot of Mrs. Park listening to Jessica. This right here is the visual representation of Jessica taking hold of the barrier and destroying it, as we never see that line in this scene again. The camera stays with Jessica showing how dominant she is in control as opposed to the “simple” Mrs. Park simply listening to this nonsense Jessica is spouting. 

In this scene, only two lines were used to show boundaries, and in two minutes those boundaries were turned off, or atleast dampened by Jessica because of her attention to detail and acting. The visual boundary of lights were destroyed through her credibility while the pan of the mother got rid of the line created by Jessica’s hair which represented both a loss of power, and the idea that this question may not have ended well if Jessica had not proven her credentials first. For my next example, I will be using the conversation between Mr. Kim and Mr. Park in their car. This is when Mr. Kim comments on Mr. Park’s wife for the first time about how Park must love her. 

In this scene, Mr. Park is complaining about his wife and her lack of skill in housework. Mr. Kim then adds the comment, “You love her, right?” 

The distinction between these two characters is carried out between an invisible line between the front and the backseat that the camera constantly balances on. Every time a character speaks, the camera cuts to them rather than panning as to show a constant flow of conversation. So far everything seems completely okay until it gets to this one comment.

The camera, rather than cut out, pans on a swivel and looks to Mr. Park. This was a direct difference than the previous cuts because it was an invasion of privacy and a crossing of that line that shouldn’t be crossed. As I stated before, Jessica was okay with crossing this line because she easily demolished the line that stopped her from asking those type of questions. For instance, I doubt the interview would have gone well if she had said she was from a culinary school. In this scene, in no place does Mr. Kim get the chance to destroy any of these lines, and he rushed in to capitalize either on any weaknesses in the family, or in some way to feel good about his own marriage which seemed fine. 

With the sudden pan came the annoyed expression of Mr. Park as Kim obviously crossed a line that shouldn’t be touched. There was no need for a driver to talk to his employer about relationships in comparison to the art therapist talking to a mother about her child’s...art therapy. 

This was the best example of Mr. Kim crossing the line visually because the camera only pans like this in precise moments. Why would Bong Joon-Ho pick this moment to add a random pan? It was to disorient audiences since it was such a change in visuals and a hard hitting question. While this is one of my favorite examples of the line being crossed, here is an example of the line being ever present in the inner turmoil of the Kim family’s son, Kevin.

As seen in many scenes of Kevin, he is quite philosophical with how he views things. From tests to giant rocks, Kevin believes many elements of his life can be seen as metaphorical. It is this scene that hits hardest in this regard, and it can all be explained through a simple explanation of the line in this scene.

This is Kevin staring out into the courtyard at all the upper class preparing for the party. Some are chopping wood with a single arm while others are tuning their instruments. Many of the activities can be seen as “upper class” since they have the time to practice as well as the activities being more elegant rather than horsing around. This is paired with a bright light which is cast on them from above to make them seem even more angelic. While he looks, a pale reflection of him is casted on the window above...yet he is separated from himself by the line this time under the stress of heavy inner turmoil.

The line which previously separated the Kim family from the Park’s is now creating a metaphorical barrier of who Kevin is and how he should act. His entire arc in the film has been finding out who he was while also knowing what he was doing was a complete lie and fabricated. Everything of what he has been doing has been fake and meant nothing. From the tutoring to the party. The reflection of Kevin is the Kevin that was perfect and went to University, while the pale reality was he is nothing like any of these people. He knows he is separated, and he can’t change it. There is even a faint golden light in his reflection to show how it was all fake. meanwhile in his real appearance not a single shed of golden light is on him. Only faint shades of it as he was slowly coming to reality...And the line showed it all in a single visual as not only acting as a physical barrier of glass. It acted as a metaphorical barrier of disorder.

There is one scene with a line I’d like to discuss that sort of envisioned the story as a whole. This scene is while the Kim family are taking in the pleasures of the Park household but must hide underneath the table.

In this scene, when the Parks sit down at the couch and the Kims hid under the table, a slow pan occurs with the camera slowly lowering itself to show the situation underneath the table. The line here is the table, and it is the only pan shot in this scene. 

This is without a doubt the perfect representation of the film through its usage of visual alone. For one, the Kim family are seen having to lay in their own filth in the darkness similar to their starting point in the film while the Parks get to lounge. These two lives are divided by a single line which seems impossible to cross. The Kims must stick to their cramped, disgusting space while the Parks are able to lounge and roam their large space without a care in the world. They don’t need to lift a finger because their employees had already done everything. 

While under the line, Mr. Park talks about Mr. Kim’s smell because it crossed the line in the car. It was even crossing this line made by the table by him even smelling it in the first place. In my opinion, I believe this line represents so much more. It’s the lack of understanding of one another, the differences between these groups. The Parks have never had to lift a finger so they can’t imagine the lives the Kims lead and vice versa. Neither can fully understand the other because of this *line* this...separation of the two entities that can never be completely overcome and thrown away. Neither understand why or how the other does what they do and it will remain just as that. 

Next I will be using an example of lighting use that is very simple but 100% effective at its storytelling. Refined to a tip, Bong Joon-Ho uses the lighting in this scene to tell the tale of Kevin’s step into the wealthy life of the Park’s.

(Not a good picture, but couldn’t find one)

In this scene, Kevin talks to his father about his fake university document being made early as he will go to University when he gets the money. He then steps out of his home of shadows and into the light of the streets as he makes his way upwards towards the Park House.

A scene that could easily be looked over. This whole time Kevin has been in this dank house but had been given the opportunity to go into the light. It showed that he was making his first steps into a world entirely unknown to him. I don’t have much else to say, but the scene was grand. 

For an example of elevation, I don’t want to just post lots of scenes of them going up and down so I will just talk about them.

In general, there are 6 directions you can take when it comes to cameras. Up, down, left, right, closer, farther. You can argue diagonal directions are different but I digress. In all scenes showing the trips to the Park’s home, it is always filled with bright light. Anyone walking upwards in this city will be blinded as the sun always seems to shine on those moving upwards. It is almost like the environment itself is a character and is representing what is happening. Then, the one time the KIm family must fall down from their lovely home they infested, the environment is dark, gloomy, and wet. 

All and all, the usage of elevation was very simple, yet used so much that it was refined perfectly to represent exactly what it set out to show - the difference between the families. 

I feel as though I could continue on about these three aspects, but I have grown sorta tired of writing this one. Parasite is an amazing film and I truly do hope you see it. It would be an absolute waste to skip out on a film like this.

[hey-you-i-just]

oh how sweet it is (to be loved by you)

For  @adrinetteapril 2020 -  Posted to AO3 & FFN - Chapter 1 here

This is a continuing story, but it can stand alone if you don’t want to read the whole thing. Also get ready for some adrinette cuddles

Rated G

Chapter 14: Movie Night

Summary: Movie night with our favorite friend group.

How Adrien had been convinced to lie to his father about his whereabouts, he wasn’t entirely sure. But here he was sitting next to Marinette at Alya’s house watching a random superhero movie.

The movie Nino had chosen was incredibly slow paced and, if he was being honest, it was so dreadfully boring. Everything the characters were doing made absolutely no sense. He chalked his disinterest up to the fact that he was a superhero and was therefore disillusioned by the way the movies portrayed everything about it.

He eventually stopped paying attention to the screen altogether to favor the girl sitting next to him on the couch. In fact, he was hyperaware of how close he was to his new love and couldn’t help sneaking a few lingering glances her way. She only caught him once and the light dusting of pink across her cheeks made his heart soar.

He had noticed that after his conversation with Ladybug a few days ago, being around Marinette was a lot less nerve racking. Sure, he was nervous she would reject him, but the fear of being unfaithful to Ladybug or unfair to Marinette was gone.

He had realized that there would always be a piece of his heart that belonged to his lady love, but he knew in his heart that there wasn’t much hope for a future with her since they had to keep their identities a secret.

With that in mind, he decided to explore his feelings towards Marinette and he began to realize just how much he cared about her. And now that he knew she probably felt the same way, he was starting to get bolder in his flirtations.

Although, he still got flustered at the prospect of her returning his feelings, though. After all, he’d been turned down by Ladybug for over a year so he wasn’t used to the idea of someone wanting him as much as he wanted them.

Nino’s snoring brought him out of his reverie. He looked over and saw the couple passed out on their couch.

“I didn’t know Alya was dating a lawn mower,” Marinette whispered.

Adrien chuckled. “I think weed better follow suit.”

Marinette rolled her eyes in annoyance, but her smile gave her away. “Oh, stop. You’re almost as bad as-” She cut herself off abruptly.

“As bad as who?” He asked, curiously.

She hesitated. “Promise me you won’t laugh?”

“I’ll do no such thing,” he teased.

“Then I won’t tell you.” She stuck her tongue out at him before turning back towards the movie.

He was really enjoying this silly, comfortable side of Marinette. “Ok, ok. I promise.”

She eyed him suspiciously before letting out a long sigh. “You can’t tell anyone this, not even Alya.”

His eyebrows shot up. She was trusting him with something she hadn’t even told her best friend.

“Actually, why am I even telling you this? It’s embarrassing.”

Adrien grabbed her hand gently. “Hey, I promise I won’t tell. But you don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to, ok?”

“I went on a date Chat Noir once,” she hissed, her face turning a brilliant shade of red. “And your puns reminded me of him.��

Adrien blinked. Of course he remembered their date, but he couldn’t let her know that. “You dated Chat Noir?”

Marinette buried her face in her hands. “Yeah. But he turned me down for Ladybug, which I expected,” she muttered. “Anyway, you act kind of like him sometimes.”

Adrien swallowed. He hadn’t planned for her to bring this up and he wasn’t sure how to handle this. He settled on playing dumb. “I do?”

“A little. And not just the jokes,” she took a deep breath before meeting his eyes. “You… you almost called me a nickname he used for me the other day.”

So she had noticed. He had chided himself for that slip-up when it happened. “What name?”

“Princess,” she said quietly.

His heart was racing. She was too close to discovering his identity and he had no idea what to do. All he knew was that he needed to get her mind away from connecting the dots. He looked away from her curious gaze.  “Well, at least you got to date your superhero crush.”

Her brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I used to have a huge crush on Ladybug,” he confessed, trying his best to diffuse the situation.

“You did?”

“Yeah.”

“So you don’t anymore?”

He met her eyes again and willed her to see how he truly felt about her. “Not anymore.”

“What changed?” she asked, her voice small.

“I realized something,” he held her gaze. He wasn’t ready to confess to her. Not yet. He still hadn’t completely let go of Ladybug. But he could feel himself falling hard and fast for the girl in front of him. He really didn’t want to screw this up.

She cleared her throat and became very interested in her fingernails. “I can’t believe your dad let you spend the night at Alya’s.”

He smiled, both grateful and disappointed in the change of subject. “Technically, he didn’t.”

She gaped at him. “Did you sneak out?”

“No, I would never,” He said, the irony not lost on him. “I may have told him there was an important project I had to work on with Nino. He thinks I’m at Nino’s house for the night.”

“You’re not going to get in trouble with him, are you?”

“Not if I’m at Nino’s house by the time the car comes to pick me up.”

Marinette hummed in response.

“What about you? Your parents let you have a sleepover with boys?”

She grimaced. “Not exactly. My parents think it’s just me and Alya. My maman would be scandalized if she knew Alya’s mom let Nino stay the night.”

Adrien nodded his understanding, letting a comfortable silence settle between them.

“Looks like it’s over,” she said after a few minutes.

He looked up to see the credits rolling across the screen. “Yeah.”

“Do you want to sleep on the couch or the floor?”

He flashed her a mischievous grin. “I’m sure we could both fit.”

“What?” Her eyes went wide.  

He chuckled. Man, he loved seeing her get flustered. “I’m just kidding. I’ll take the floor.” He moved to get up and grab some blankets but was stopped by her hand on his wrist.

“Wait.”

He turned and took in the sight of her flushed face, messy hair. She was truly a sight to behold. His mouth went dry.  

“You can sleep on the couch if you want.” She wouldn’t meet his eyes.

He shook his head. “I can’t make a lady sleep on the floor.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. “That’s not what I meant.”

His head tilted to the side as he tried to understand. How could he sleep on the couch if she wasn’t sleeping on the floor?

Oh.

Oh.  

“Okay,” he said dumbfounded as he sat back down on the couch. His heart was pounding as he made himself comfortable under his blanket before beckoning her to lay next to him. She hesitated momentarily before laying down between his body and the back of the couch, resting her head and hand on his chest.

“Comfy?” She squeaked.

“Yep,” He replied breathlessly. “You?”

“Yeah.”

He knew without a shadow of a doubt she could feel his erratic heartbeat beneath her fingertips. “Goodnight, Marinette.”

“Night.”

His skin was electric under her touch and the heady aroma of her shampoo flooded his senses until everything was her; her figure pressed flush against his side, her hair tickling his chin. It took everything in him to keep his breathing under control. He tried to keep his mind occupied by tracing shapes where his hand rested on her upper arm.

After a while, he heard her breathing slow and felt her relax fully into him. He smiled and grabbed the hand resting on his chest with his free hand. Sure she was asleep, he pressed a chaste kiss to the top of her head.

“Goodnight, Princess,” he murmured as he let sleep overtake him.

[galladerocksgamer]

I saw several other blogs passing this around and it looked fun so I decided I’d give it a shot and see if I can’t spread it around to some others to do too!

Pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions!  Don’t look at them first. Then tag some people.

Gravity Falls

BoJack Horseman

My Hero Academia

Trollhunters

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Who is your favorite character in 2?

Wow I’ve never really stopped to consider this one that hard before.  My gut reaction is to say Todd because he is simply wonderful.  But Diane is definitely up there too, she’s a character that I really connected to in ways I didn’t expect.  Princess Carolyn is in the running too, her series-long character arc was one of the most heartbreaking and heartwarming.  I’m not sure I can pick one fave, I just love the development of these three.

Who is your least favorite character in 1? 

Uh geez I’m not sure I really have a LEAST favorite, I can’t think of anyone that I particularly dislike.  I mean sure there are characters that I dislike because they’re jerks, like Filbrick or Preston or (duh) Bill, but in terms of like disliking them as a character?  I’m probably gonna say Priscilla Northwest, she’s as much of a rich jerk as her husband but is a lot less entertaining.  Or maybe Gabe Bensen, he’s the least amusing of Mabel’s various love interests to me.

What is your favorite episode of 4? 

A House Divided.  Just ... no contest, it’s A House Divided.  Haven’t seen much else that just stops my dang heart like the ending of that episode.  It just HURTS OKAY.  In all the best ways.  Jimhunters and Unbecoming are very close seconds.

What is your favorite season of 5? 

Overall I think it’s gotta be Season 3.  There’s a lot that I love in Season 2 especially, but on the whole Season 3 just has so much going for it.  There’s some fantastic character development and new moral issues explored within the Fire Nation itself.  There’s the invasion, Zuko joining the Gaang and having various life-changing adventures, the Boiling Rock, the freaking Ember Island Players, and of course one of the absolute best series finales in television. So yeah, it’s gotta be Season 3.

Who is your favorite couple in 3? 

Tbh I don’t really have that many ships for MHA (probably in the minority on that one).  There’s really only two couples I’m particularly into, and that’s Mirio/Amajiki and Yaoyorozu/Jiro.  Mirio is just so supportive of Amajiki and they’re just cute and GAH they’re fantastic.  And Yaoyorozu and Jiro, I think it was the first movie that got me attached to them, they’re just super cute too.  They’re both just pure adorable pairs, I love them.

What is your favorite episode of 1? 

Once again, no contest, because Not What He Seems is just, like, my favorite episode of literally anything ever.  It’s just SO GOOD.  The culmination of so much story and theory, the animation, the music, the tension of the climax, the ending reveal.  It’s just.  The best.  Gosh.  Weirdmageddon 3 is definitely close, the best finale in animation imo, but just absolutely nothing beats Not What He Seems.

What is your favorite episode of 5? 

Okay now this one is actually tough.  I’m probably gonna say Zuko Alone, it’s just brimming with heartwarming and heartbreaking material, between Zuko’s childhood flashbacks and his touching - and tragic - present story.  The Tales of Ba Sing Se is the other top candidate, of course it has the tearjerker Iroh story that is probably my favorite thing in the whole series, but I also love, well, the whole thing.  The Katara/Toph and Zuko stories are so sweet and pure, the Sokka story is hilarious, and the Momo story is also dang sad.  The Blind Bandit, Sokka’s Master, and The Southern Raiders are also personal favorites.

what is your favorite season of 2? 

I am surprised I have a definitive answer for this because the whole series is so transcendentally great, but I do in fact have an answer, and it is Season 4.  It’s my favorite story arc of the series, with BoJack for once not having a special project to center his life on, still reeling from what happened to Sarah Lynn, and having Hollyhock and Beatrice rather suddenly entering his daily life.  It’s about the closest we ever see to BoJack having some semblance of a family life.  The whole storyline of Hollyhock and Beatrice is just fantastic, and it’s the start of the real meat of Todd and Princess Carolyn’s character arcs too - and ends with the setup for Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter finally breaking their destructive cycle.  Plus it’s got my two favorite episodes of the entire series - The Old Sugarman Place and Stupid Piece of Sh*t.  Also Time’s Arrow is definitely top 10, maybe even top 5.  Also also love Hooray! Todd Episode!  And Thoughts and Prayers.  And Ruthie.  Yeah seriously no contest it is my favorite season.

How long have you watched 1? 

I started watching Gravity Falls really near the beginning.  The first episode I watched was The Inconveniencing, the fifth episode overall, and after that I was immediately intrigued and went back and watched the first four.  After that, I watched the whole series as it went.

How did you become interested in 3? 

I don’t tend to watch a lot of anime, and my experience with shounen before MHA was touch-and-go.  Like I’m a big fan of Fairy Tail and to a lesser extent Dragon Ball but I’m still heavily critical of both and would have a hard time recommending them without a heavy disclaimer.  So it was something I’d considered before but never really took the plunge into watching until, funnily enough, my anime-adverse girlfriend decided to check it out.  She’s significantly less anime-invested than me (well, she used to be at least) but lo and behold, we both wound up obsessed with it.  Color me surprised that this series wasn’t being overhyped and didn’t come with the glaring flaws of every other shounen I’ve watched.  So now this is definitely my big interest of the moment, and I am grateful to have it.

Who is your favorite actor in 4? 

Anton Yelchin, he just brought so much heart and emotion to Jim.  He’s a big part of the reason that Unbecoming just snaps my heart in two, my gosh.  As for comedic delivery, Kelsey Grammer absolutely kills it as Blinky, not that I’d expect any less from him.  He just has so many lines that completely crack me up and that’s largely because of his delightfully hammy delivery.

Which do you prefer: 1, 2, or 5? 

Oh my gosh they are literally my three favorite pieces of media in existence.  But it’s Gravity Falls.  Like I would just roll over and die without any of these three but it’s not debatable, the absolute #1 in my heart is Gravity Falls.

If you could be anyone from 4, who would it be? 

Probably Toby?  I think I’d be good in the “well-meaning dorky disaster-prone best friend” role.

Would a crossover between 3 and 4 work? 

Theoretically, maybe?  Magical troll warriors team up with superheroes to fight a wizard supervillian.  It could happen.

Pair two characters in 1 who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple?

Hmm, not sure I have a good answer to this one.  I’ll just say Manly Dan and Tyler.  It’s not exactly an ODD pick because we see them together quite a few times and honestly they always look like a dang couple, but we never really see what their INTERACTION is like, so it’s kinda difficult to judge exactly how that relationship does/would work.  But I think it’s a nice one to think about.

Overall, which show has the best storyline: 3 or 5?

Oof.  Probably gonna have to say AtLA on this one, if only because MHA isn’t exactly that focused on a super-condensed story at this point?  Its progress tends to come through more world-building and character development than major plot beats, though it certainly has that too.  So yeah I’ll say AtLA.

Which has better theme music: 2 or 4? 

Oh absolutely BoJack, it’s one of my favorite theme songs.

Okay, I’m only gonna actually tag @immaplatypus for this, but if you see this and want to do it then absolutely go right ahead and do it!  I’ve had fun seeing some other people doing these and would love to see even more going forward.