#THE FAMILY MONTAGE CLIPS I-

[countrichmond]

Additional clip of The Witcher season 3

[angelpuns]

50au part 26

When Leo woke, it was with a throbbing pain in his leg ( big shocker ) and a faint memory of the nightmare he'd had. 

He sat up as quickly as his aching muscle would allow it, glancing around the room.for evidence that it had been real. Because it had felt so, so real. 

His leg ached, sure, but it wasn't concrete enough. His room was dark, but everything seemed to be in place. His TV was still on his desk, where he'd moved it on a whim a few days ago. His bed was still halfway made and there were no green, shadowy mutants in the corner of his room. Even the step stool was gone. 

The camera! Leo squinted at the corner of the room, but there was nothing. Just darkness. 

“Holy shit I'm losing it…” He muttered, dragging a hand down his face. The TV flickered on a moment later, Leo only jumping a little bit. 

It was dark for a moment before a hand pulled away and a mutant - a turtle mutant - in bright orange grinned into the camera. 

“ Good Morning, Leo! You probably don't know who I am, but don't panic! First of all, there's water and medicine on your nightstand for your pain,” The turtle said cheerily. Leo glanced at his nightstand. Sure enough, there was two pills and a glass of water. 

Leo didn't like this, but he fought back the panic. Something was happening here, clearly, but his nightmare had been just that. A nightmare. Because there wasn't a shred of physical evidence it had actually happened, save for the weird TV shit happening and the water and meds. Which was still scary and weird, but not nearly as bad as the camera. 

“ don't panic, okay? I'll explain everything!” The turtle grinned. He seemed to be a bit nervous. That bothered Leo, but he kept watching. Because hopefully whatever this guy said would make sense and would clue him into what the hell was going on. 

“ So, like 4 or 5 days ago you were cursed, by a witch! Specifically a witch from witch town? And we all totally thought it was a dud, but it turns out that she actually curse you to forget all your memories of your family - that's us!” the turtle rambled on, “its kind of like 50 First dates, and you’re Drew Barrymore. I know that makes more sense then my explanation, except its not really a brain thing, its more like a mystical thing. Anyway, today we're going to help you get your memory back, by washing away the curse!”

The turtle leaned off screen for a moment, seemingly murmuring to someone else. 

“ oh, yes, and if we have to put you to sleep or something, we will. But we really don't want to, so please, please cooperate, okay?” 

The turtle gave him a wink and started to turn the camera off, before a voice off screen muttered something and he suddenly stepped back, “ oh, right!” 

“ I'm Mikey, and Raph and Donnie are here too! And we're your brothers! And we love you so much and-”

“Okay, Mikey, that's enough, he gets the point” someone off screen said, and Mikey chuckled. 

“Okay, here's a montage and a message from Donnie! Love you lots!” he added, before the video shut off and was replaced with a montage of pictures and video clips of- of Leo. Leo and some.other turtle mutants he’d never seen before. 

And the most shocking and horrific thing was that the purple turtle mutant from his dream was there too. He swallowed down the panic that made him feel. Because that was a lot of evidence that his nightmare had been real. And that these guys were evil and going to something to him and- 

The montage ended and the purple turtle appeared on the screen. He looked tired. But he didn't look as menacing as he had in Leo's dream, and  he didn't even look injured. From what Leo remembered, he'd punched this guy hard enough to break something. But he looked fine.

So it- it had to be a dream, right? 

“ ‘Nardo, I’m sure you're really confused and scared and- and you can't possibly believe us, but I promise you we're not going to hurt you,” He started, sighing deeply, “ I am not going to hurt you. We just want to get rid of this curse and- and if for some reason we can't and you're stuck like this…then we’ll figure something else out. But we are not going to hurt you, I promise. So please cooperate and let us help you, okay?” 

The video flickered off, and Leo was left alone in his dark, silent room. 

He let out a shaky breath. He knew they were probably waiting on him out there. Maybe with weapons or some kind of evil plan. 

Or maybe they were just waiting to see if he was going to hear them out. 

He honestly didn't know if he believed it. Any of it. Because the dream had seemed so real, and he knew his own memories. He trusted his memories. But…

Leo looked down at his hands. He really didn't have a choice but to trust them.

---

My back still hurts and I wrote this one last night as well so I don't have much to say bout it. Hope y'all enjoy tho <3333

part 1 | part 25 | Part 27

[cobbbvanth]

okay my one (1) wish for the finale is that the characters get a moment to reflect on how their family has changed since we saw them at the beginning of the show. I'd love for them to watch parts of the documentary (like we got to see in the office) but really ANY recognition of how their relationships have developed in that time would suffice. colin seeing a clip of laszlo with him as a baby. the vampires seeing the way guillermo has protected them without their knowledge over the years. the editors finally including that nandor caring about guillermo montage he was waiting for at the beginning of last season. I fear they like to use the documentary format as gag but don't care for its narrative purpose and paul simms hates seeing any forward development but come on man it's YOUR LAST CHANCE

[fivelasanctum]

Dark Fivela *Five Edition*

Update on the nightmare sequence. Apparently they filmed it with five which hits hard in the feels. He could be holding on to his own sanity but it's precarious at best. Would be romantic but also depressing if Lila and Five had the same nightmares of losing the other to insanity. Lila has been called 'Crazy Lady' but it's five who has danced with madness multiple times in his life. Some outwardly, some from his past and emotions/feelings underneath the surface. Ironic given the from the montage, he seemed like he was her rock. Which makes sense since this is Lila's first rodeo with dealing with it to this degree. Five here, doesn't look as unhinged as Lila but might be worse. He stares listlessly at her. No emotion. The opposite of love isn't always hate but apathy. He surrenders to the impulse to give up. Foreshadowing of his suicidal, broken hearted mindset at the end of the season. If he doesn't have her, he rather let the world burn. Go back to their purgatory alone to be lost physically and in the mind or worse...end himself. He saw himself when he was on that course but in the end...death would happen. Just about how one dies. (Least they had a chance to communicate with their eyes and hold each other) He slowly backs away from her. Abandoning lila to it all. Going into the light of the cracked open subway. Symbolically it's beautiful. Where as they cursed the subway often for their predicament; it was their safe haven from the horrors they could face outside of the time stops. A place for them to laugh, share stories...where they truly sat down to know each other. In this case, can represent the mind. Given how five was going towards the broken opening of it. It's ambiguous given the short clip but if you look between the lines, Lila's own fears were manifesting. Yes being alone like Five suffered for 45 years but something more there with him walking away. Not having warmth in his eyes. Not caring (loving) her anymore and shutting down. Leaving everything behind. This was early in their subway travels so could show that she did already love him but was hidden under denial and how it would look like. Perhaps, scared if she did reveal her feelings too early...the judgements from Five since one would think he would be more loyal to his family over someone who cares for him (at this point she could have been unsure) The fear of losing him by misreading the emotions but also the domino effect of the entire family closing her out if it wasn't reciprocated. Their is her complications with kids and still being married and all ^^; Or this was a sobering moment in the nightmare, causing her to realize how much she had grown to care for him (outside of reliance for survival) if she lost him completely to insanity. Much to ponder with these clips. This song came to my mind with this whole concept. If we had more darker fivela scenes I could imagine all the edits with the song. Missed opportunities... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn862pSFe_M

[chefkids]

Did you notice at the end of s3 ep9 carmy ia getting ready for Ever's funeral service and the last shot it's just a scrunchie and Mike's Jesús pastor image?? Idk what that means but that shot is stuck in my brain

The Scrunchie Does Not Fit In, but Carmy is Saving it for Later

Carmy finds a funeral card from Mikey's funeral in his suit jacket and puts it on top of a book next to the scrunchie and some bobby pins.

The book is I DON’T FIT IN – My Wild Ride Through The Punk and Power Pop Trenches with The NERVES and THE BEAT, which is a memoir about the lead singer from the band The Beat, but not the british one that wrote Save it For Later.

There are actually two bands called The Beat, an English one and an American one. The two bands came up around the same time and were often confused with each other, so the English one went by The English Beat and the American one went by Paul Collins' Beat. They actually ended up touring together. So why have a book about the Paul Collins' Beat when the recurring song this season is written by The English Beat?

Save it for Later has a few versions of it throughout the season. The first version we hear is from the American singer Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam when Sydney is on her way to The Bear after the incident and there is montage of classic Chicago spots. And if you listen closely to the full song, at the very end you can hear in the backing vocals "can't find a better man" from Better Man by Pearl Jam. We know Carmy is a big fan of Pearl Jam. Come Back by Pearl Jam was the song playing in the table scene with Sydney and we know the music in the show is supposed to represent their inner thoughts and feelings, so at this point Sydney is still thinking about Carmy.

Then an instrumental version of Save it for Later plays when Richie is talking to Jess on the phone about the Ever funeral. When Sydney is talking to Shapiro and he makes her the offer, the original Save it for Later by The English Beat plays.

They are setting up the American vs British confusion. Sydney is going to be torn between Carmy and Luca (and Shapiro by de facto), the same way Carmy is torn between Sydney and Claire. The song is instrumental, neither british or american, with Richie because he is the puppet master in this whole british vs american ordeal that is going to happen between them.

So much of this season and the previous have been about confusing people or projecting them on to the other, like with Claire and Sydney in Season 2, and then again in Season 3 with the polka dot dish freezer incident. This all ties back to the plotlines of Vertigo and A Midsummer Night's Dream that are referenced in Season 3 where the love interests are frequently confused with each other, sometimes on purpose and sometimes on accident.

The bobby pins seems more like a Claire item that she probably left behind, but when Claire's hair is tied up it is always with a plain black hair tie. The hair clip at the beginning of Tomorrow is probably Claire's, but a girly floral pink scrunchie? That is so Sydney.

The Bear had pink floral dinner plates back in Season 2 before Carmy switched to natural earthenware in Season 3, which also when he basically erased Sydney from The Bear. The scrunchie is a remnant of Season 2.

Sydney has been seen in pink and florals, whereas Claire never has. Sydney also loves patterns. From her bandanas to her shirts and jackets.

She actually has a whole book about them sitting in her locker. She was probably the one who picked the tropical wallpaper in The Bear's bathroom.

Claire is really never seen wearing patterns or prints aside from Friends & Family night (aka ClaireCarmy's relationship funeral) when she wears a black floral shrug, which is the last time Carmy saw Claire. The funeral card is notably Mikey's, not Marcus' mom, which has also always been tied back to Sydney and the Let it rip note. He texted Sydney before opening the note and then had Richie give it to her in a frame to put on her expo.

It's easy to see why he might confuse the scrunchie with Claire's things and put them together when the don't fit actually fit in, the same way The Beat's get confused. And probably the same way Sydney is going to feel confused about Luca vs Carmy in season 4. Is Carmy going to realize the scrunchie is Sydney's and not Claires? It's in his bedroom so I doubt it was Sydney herself that put it there. Seems like he is once again using Claire to project his feelings for Syd, by missing her instead of Sydney.

[formyloveoflove]

Characters I Would've Liked to See More than the Faks in S3

I learned too fak'ing much about that family in S3. I loved the Faks in S2. Their increased screentime felt like an over-compensation. Much of the comedy that I loved in S1 came from the staff interactions. The feeling of an ensemble was truly missed for me.

But without further ado and in no particular order-

1. Marcus

Marcus Brooks, I am so sorry that the writers didn't give your story the necessary space it truly needed. You were the only child of a single mother, and you watched her die. I wish we could've seen more of your grief. The little glimpses we saw - your eulogy speech, the way you were inspired to make a dish to honor her, and your thinking about legacy - were so beautiful, but it felt like it had no place to breathe.

The glossing over this tragic loss, the fumbling of showcasing Black Catholic influences (sidenote: did you know that Chicago is home to the biggest African American Catholic population), and the diminishing of his grief were some lows of the season. I would've loved to see more of Marcus dealing with the loss of a parent because no matter how "prepared" you are, that shit will knock you off your feet.

2. Sweeps

If we needed a break from the melancholy of the main plot, I would've loved to see Mr. Gary “Sweeps” Woods go to wine school. It could've been in clips, similar to Tina going to culinary school in S2. Some comedic slip-ups, or maybe somebody else recognized him from his baseball days, or maybe he messed around and got too drunk. Better yet: he and some fellow sommelier get drunk. We've seen this character for three seasons, and we barely see him.

I did enjoy his monologue in Legacy and thought it was very fitting.

3. Manny and Angel

I remember seeing them for a split second in the 30-minute montage S3 E3 "Doors." They are truly the unsung heroes, and it would be good to see them for some comic relief. Maybe they're pranksters? Maybe they could've been the reason the teaspoons and forks were missing. Or maybe they could've been tasked with counting how many come through.

What's their dynamic? What are their personalities? Three seasons, and they feel like cameos.

4. Thee Adamus

One of the things that I wanted from S3 was some more Sydney's mom, and while I was delighted to see she has her mom as her lock screen, I wanted more. I love Syd's dynamic with her Dad whose unyielding support can come off a little worrisome to his baby girl. But Dreamer! Daughter x Practical! Father hits close to home for me. And the Adamus have a healthier relationship with loss and grief, and I want to know more about that process.

When I say more of the Adamus, I mean I want to see why and how Sydney became Sydney. I wanted to see their family dynamics. Why does Syd like to cook? Why is Syd avoidant?

Plus, this was a season about mothers, goshdarnit. More mother content, please.

5. Ebra

Ebra is so funny to me. Like I'm begging on my knees for more Ebra content. He's so cryptic and genuine in a way that only older Black men sharing snapshots of their trauma are. In S1, he's very attentive when it comes to the younger staff members, like when he was sensitive to Marcus gaining confidence in his skills and when he read Sydney's review for the whole kitchen to see.

One of my critiques of S2 was that they just let Ebra fall by the waistside. They didn't fully commit to his journey to accepting change as an older professional. This season, we barely got him at all. I would've had him at least show up to Syd's party. Maybe even via Facetime with the camera all up his nose because he doesn't understand the mechanics just yet.

[gleefullypolin]

Whiplash Opinion on the last 5 mins...

Thankfully talking out my feelings I think I understand why I'm numb. I've been so angry at myself trying to figure out why I'm just like...what's wrong with me? All day. Because I loved this season. Like seriously I enjoyed Season 3. I am not one of those people who hated it or am wanting to complain about it.

But I think my issue is simply the ending. The last 4 episodes were jam packed with feeling. And not easy feelings. They were angsty. There was anger, sadness, jealousy, fear, loneliness...and then love, devotion, loyalty, bravery, empowerment. All of that in 4 hours is a lot to work through. And we went through it all.

And then suddenly, its resolved and so very quickly they wrapped it up. With very little transition. We literally went from a wedding, to Colin sleeping on the couch and avoiding any intimacy with his wife, to resolving the main story, to a 10 second sex clip in bed to BOOM here's a baby THE END.

I think the edits they did right before release hurt them. Removing the montage hurt that piece of intimacy for Polin that would have helped ease feelings back into where they were pre-revelation. it would have eased the audience into family Polin even if it was simply easing us into that bedroom scene. I'll be honest that scene came on like a jump scare.

Mind you I love seeing it but I was like WTF is happening. I would have loved to have seen them entering the room together or laying in bed first together. Something that wasn't as abrupt. They lost the intimacy right at the end and it sort of hurt the ending.

And it left me feeling a bit numb and I think that's what I'm trying to recover from.

Again, I loved the season and I'm happy with Season 3, I still think its the best season of the 3 we have. But it was a pretty big case of whiplash in those last 5 minutes and that's all post editing. They messed that piece up. That's just my two cents.

[bukatra]

The last episode, instead of giving Sam a mystery wife and a kid named Dean Junior, i wish they had made Sam be like a Bobby for hunters and have him mentor 2 or 3 young hunters and have those be his surrogate family. They should have done a montage where they juxtaposed clips of bright lively daytime memories of leading the American Hunters and training these teens with night clips of Sam alone and depressed, wandering the halls of the Bunker looking for Dean only to remember he isnt there. Maybe one of the surrogate 'children having their own sleepless nights mourning their own lost loved ones.

Busy and living life but empty and lost without his brother. Maybe him holding his 'grandchild' - the child of one of his surrogate kids, family because Sam is all they have despite him being very broken and not always present emotionally or mentally due to all the trauma.

His life is good and bad and he made a difference despite everything. No shitty faceless wife. No son who's clearly just a stand-in for Dean. Instead family that felt loved despite knowing they are only getting half of Sam because The other part died in a barn with Dean. But thats ok because all of them feel equally broken and they all are missing parts of themselves when the people they loved died. He makes a home and it isn't happy but it isn't nothing

[sunflowerdigs]

I can't decide whether this would be totally cheesy or not, but, imagine that Buck returns to the loft after Maddie and Chim have helped him put a name to his feelings for Eddie. He's walking around, kind of dazed, and unsure of what to think or feel, because this is such an earth-shattering revelation for him. What does it mean for his identity? His friendship with Eddie? His connection to Chris? Do Maddie and Chim really know what they're talking about? Maybe they're just projecting because they're about to get married - they're seeing love everywhere, even where it isn't.

And while he's wandering around the apartment, looking for something to ground him, he finds a picture of Eddie and Chris that he keeps on his refrigerator or a side table or wherever. He picks it up and looks it over, subconsciously searching for an answer. And as he does so, a montage plays of all of the moments that he and Eddie and Chris have shared outside of work, and of the ones that only he and Eddie have shared on the job. All of the pain, the sadness, the fear, and the laughter. And in between clips, we see Buck's face shift from confusion, to enlightenment, and then finally, to a soft, slow-spreading, and all-encompassing joy because yes, yes, Chim and Maddie were right. This is it, this is exactly what he has been searching for all of these years. In love with Eddie sounded so strange when Maddie said it but it's not weird at all because Eddie and Chris are his home, are his family, and that's what it means to say that he is in love with Eddie Diaz. That he's coming home, finally, at last.

[thedyingwriter]

somethings that i needed to get out regarding today's episode:

9-1-1 live airs in the US around 7 am Friday in my country and i get to watch it at 10:30 am on disney hotstar.

I couldn't wait so i was awake all night and was literally on twt since 6:30 am to get some clips.

that's where i find out that bucktommy break up.

i have been devastated all day. i have cried multiple times and i have literally lost count atp. it hurts like an actual breakup and i have absolutely no one irl to share this grief with.

the Abby being the ex-fiance wasn't even a major issue. i have been seen it done so well in so many fics.

Josh's speech was so beautiful and important but then to pull a breakup like that makes no fucking sense.

after what we saw in 8x5 breaking them made absolutely zero sense.

i was too overwhelmed so i tried to sleep and actually watched the entire episode around 11 am. I wanted to keep and open mind and analyse the episode.

twt is literally so toxic rn. I'm not even opening it.

after watching the entire episode i was even more confused as the breakup made zero sense.

we have had 8 seasons of character growth for buck, if they end up making him go back to casual relationships it just feels a complete wastage of 8 seasons of growth.

and from what we've seen in the past episodes the breakup was completely uncharacteristic to both buck and tommy.

it made no sense. why would tommy put so much effort if he knew it wouldn't last.

him constantly showing up for evan and talking about family just made zero sense for him to break up like that.

also it kinda felt weird to bring moving in together before saying i love yous.

and the way he said "the parking spot was too good to be true". this breakup doesn't feel good at all. he was obviously in pain and so was buck. this isn't doing any of them any good.

utter bullshit.

plus the "I'll see you around buck" broke me. like why the fuck would you do that to me and to buck.

it felt like someone put fucking alcohol all over a stab wound and then rubbed salt all over it.

LOW BLOW.

now coming to the post ep interviews which btw made it worse.

i was still under the impression that the way the breakup happened there was still hope for reconciliation because remember even tarlos went through breakups.

but then lou confirmed he might not be back and that this is it. specially that buck line. UGH.

and that #letbuckfuck interview with oliver really triggered me. I'm a bisexual woman and the reason i really loved buck's discovery of his sexuality was bcs Oliver was very determined in Givin a good bi rep.

but this doesn't feel that way. he could have said that he wants to see buck explore his sexuality more with both men and woman but the whole "girl, girl, guy. guy, girl, guy" montage was a very disturbing image.

it feels very stereotypical and biphobic.

it just hurts me so much. idk why i expected so much from a network tv show who has been queerbating for years.

i am gonna be watching this season just to see how they salvage buck's relationship and sexuality. it feels incomplete.

but if it goes in the buck 1.0 direction that's it for me.

i watch 911 as an escape from reality and if it goes so bad i am not continuing with the show.

it has already tested my limits and mental health enough.

also i need to point out that there are a lot of people who enjoy watching sports a lot more than they enjoy playing it. buck is a watcher. he would have loved seeing the Lakers match. just bcs he doesn't like to play doesn't mean he hates basketball.

a little extra side notes-

really excited for another buckley han kid. hope they don't ruin it. want to see how they deal with ppd this time.

also happy for eddie and really hoping he gets chris back soon.

ya'll need to understand how platonic friendship buddie is also so important rn then them getting together bcs eddie is def not ready to date.

if he starts dating he'll feel super guilty for putting his desire above chris all over again.

ALSO FOR PEOPLE IN THE BACK- EDMUNDO DIAZ IS CANON STRAIGHT.

[phoenixwatchesmovies]

Dracula Season Watch Party: The Lost Boys (1987)

After moving to a new town, two brothers discover that the area is a haven for vampires. - Dir. Joel Schumacher

Let's get one thing straight: this movie isn't. Stick a pin in that because we'll get back to that in due time.

In that case, though, WHERE DO I START? This is a fucking great movie and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise. (I didn't say you have to like it. Quality is objective and personal taste is not. Go forth with that nugget of wisdom.)

Starting at the beginning, then, we get one of the best movie themes ever written (as evidenced by the amount of covers that exist), some of my favorite establishing shots ever filmed, and the character entrance that made me say out loud, "OH SHIT 👀"

YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN. As the top comment on the video says, "you know it's awesome when you click just to watch the opening."

The entire movie is like that, TBH. It's almost as quotable as The Princess Bride Thee Greatest Movie Ever Made, and is matched only by The Shining for scenes I'll just watch on their own because I love them that much. Like this one, for instance, that I'm linking because I'm going to bring it up again later:

^^ the music, the camera, the lighting, the transition from the headlights to the lighthouse... It's so good...

Other great music moments include the "People Are Strange" montage of slice-of-life style clips of folks going about their day in Santa Carla intercut with all the posters of missing people hung up around the boardwalk, "I Still Believe" featuring Tim Cappello, Tina Turner's former saxophone player, "Walk This Way" as the boys close in on the surfers on the beach, and ENDLESS uses of "Cry Little Sister."

Brief moment to talk about the Emerson family dynamic. Script, performances, and direction all work together in all the best ways so you never doubt how much they care about each other, or how far they'll go for each other. You can argue for family being one of the core themes of the story, whether it's the one you're born into or the one you're...well, born in a sense, into. Either way, it's about the bonds you make, be it for a lifetime or an eternity.

Grandpa gets his own bullet for being such an icon, and for having the absolute #1 best last line of a movie in history. We waited an hour and a half for the punchline of a joke we didn't even notice we were being told. 🫡

Suppose I'll move onto the Frog brothers. Their antics are where most of the comedy comes from, and if there's one thing I have a problem with in this movie, it's the way the two halves don't quite fit together. Michael and David and Co. work on their own as an edgy, stylish, coming-of-age story. Sam and the Frog brothers are the most obvious giveaway that the original concept was something a bit more similar to The Goonies. And it's probably because I like the vampires a lot more, but the kids just aren't that interesting. They're funny and necessary, but I'm not as invested in what they're doing.

Which brings us back to the Lost Boys themselves. The name is a deliberate reference to Peter Pan, and that's where the tragedy of the whole thing comes in. Screenwriter James Jeremias, after reading Interview With The Vampire and the character Claudia in particular, ran with the idea that the reason Peter and his gang never grow up is because they're vampires (which came first, this movie, or the theory that Peter and Co. are the souls of dead children?). You can see that influence throughout the story, and apparently David and the boys were meant to contrast with Michael in the way they represent adolescence, given they're eternal teenagers.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut I don't get that very much. I'm sure it's there, but in terms of x vs y, the vampires and the Frog brothers have always stood out more to me. Compare the two kids trying so hard to appear grown up (Edgar even puts on a deep voice that fools no one) and the four kids who will literally never grow up.

I also called this a tragedy, at least as far as the boys are concerned. What else could it be, being a horror movie, but you watch scenes like the bike ride and it's fun and exciting and you understand what Schumacher is going for. They're alive and living in the moment, free in the way only kids seem to be. As you learn what they are, you realize that, for them, at least, this freedom is forever. Life will always be one big party going from one thrill to the next. The tag line is literally "never grow old, never die." And only one of those is true by the end of the movie. The gut punch about David's death (aside from the fact that he dies at all, what can I say, I'm obsessed with him) is that he doesn't go out like the others do, with blood and melting flesh and explosions. He just...dies, as that child choir kicks in one last time, and you see him for what he always was--a dead kid.

In conversation with tragedy is the theme of monsterhood as a whole. When Michael is faced with the reality of what his new friends are and what he himself is becoming, David has this to say: "You'll never grow old, Michael, and you'll never die. But you must feed." Spoken after the vampires have slaughtered half a dozen beach bums, we have the cost of immortality underlined for us. We've also seen Michael struggle against his new nature when he nearly attacked his own brother earlier in the movie, and it's not like he chose to go after Sam because he's evil. It's instinct. Hunger. A matter of survival. We see him alternatively warning Sam to stay away from him and pleading for help to stop what's happening to him because he doesn't want to become a monster, a killer like David. And that's what makes David and the rest of the boys the antagonists, because their survival depends on killing and feeding on other people, but that's all they're doing, is surviving according to their nature. That's the tragedy of monsterhood.

Along with the realization that someone had to have done that to these kids. Someone chose to make them what they are, and that's the real evil of the story.

And speaking of Max, I appreciate the fake-out approach to revealing him as the real Big Bad. It's very Scream, where you were pretty sure it was Billy the whole time but there was that one scene that threw a temporary wrench in your theory. But Star's line about Max being a secret David was protecting comes out of nowhere in a way that feels like there was a bit more context for it initially, but it never made the final cut.

Which leads me to my other gripe. The pacing and timeline don't seem to be in obvious cooperation. Again, it feels like more was there at one point, but transitional scenes were left out, so it's hard to tell how much time passes between the Emersons moving to Santa Carla and the final showdown. Things could either happen very quickly in which case the escalation is on a level with Romeo and Juliet, or it's more spaced out and the space isn't apparent. And I'm leaning towards the "spaced out" approach.

Now. Allow me a few more indulgent moments, because we gotta talk about David.

Look at him.

LOOK AGAIN.

Istg, he stepped around the bend of that merry-go-round and I said, out loud, with words, "oh shit." I had a crisis for days afterward due to the gender envy. I STILL don't know if I want him or if I want to be him. (I'm too fond of my hair as it is to even think about whether or not I'm brave enough for a bleached mullet, so at least I don't really have to think too hard about the answer.) All this to say, can you really blame Michael? One look at this guy and I didn't know what kind of egg joke I wanted to make, so I'm not surprised our boy Mike was trying so hard to fit into this group.

(Yes, you're correct, I'm circling back to my opening statement.)

You can read this as straight up, pun slightly intended, guys being dudes and Michael just wanting to be accepted by the local cool kids. Makes sense, really. They are cool. He's the new kid in town, and that folds right into the usual coming of age narrative with finding your place in the world along with discovering your own identity, etc etc. But if that's the case, then why all the long, frequent, intense eye contact?

@verified-villain-fxcker gets it. 🥂

Look, I'm sure if you tried hard enough to find a heterosexual explanation for the homoerotic tension I'm seeing, you could. But you're on this site, browsing the tag for this movie, so do you really want to? I've got a whole thesis statement on how Schumacher being a gay man/identity influencing one's art/motorcycle clubs being part of queer culture rattling around somewhere in my head, but to keep mostly on topic, I'm sticking with this: part of the coming of age story is discovering your identity, which includes your sexuality. Therefore, it's hardly a stretch to say this is a movie about gay awakening as much as anything else and that Michael Emerson is a disaster bisexual. Of course I'm not the first person to see it that way, but Pride Month is almost over. What else was I going to end on?

He's queer, your honor. Happy Pride. 🏳️‍🌈

[likesomanywrecksdo]

ALRIGHT LET'S FUCKING TALK ABOUT THIS EPISODE

what i think happens

Blitzø and Millie get recruited for a job in the human world, investigating paranormal activities and its pays a shit ton of money. They arrive at the venue (which is a undercover D.H.O.R.K facility probably a hotel) and meet an off-putting receptionist. Now there are theories that this is Leviathan but i personally feel it is a right-hand man or devout believer in Leviathan's rule over the Envy ring. I feel that this receptionist is a hellborn demon, undercover as a D.H.O.R.K employe (a position that allows him to remain covert and not ever be suspected).

So the receptionist lets them do their thing slowly luring them with short hallucinations (mostly auditory) of their deepest fears (eg: Millie's guilt over not having time for her family or Blitzø's seeing Fizzarolli in the hospital). These small moments set the tone for when Blitzø and Millie get seperated. Millie get lured away with the voice of Moxxie in trouble and Blitzø with Stolas' voice (hallucinated Stolas is likely angry at him). The receptionist exposes Blitzø with the chemical that causes the acid trip (which he knows is efficient because of Agent 1&2). The receptionists attempts to pick off Millie by shapeshifting into Blitzø and get her to hurt her friends and people she loves.

Blitzø

Stolas' voice lures him in and away from Millie and suddenly he's in his van or car or wtvr outside Stolas' house and the scenes of him being angry at him and sarcastic from the trailer ensue. The reason I think this is because the clip of Stolas smiling sarcastically (above) is JUST before the full montage of everyone he's hurt in the past, so I think this whole "stolas is pissed" (makes sense since the last ep literally had Stolas singing on a stage that had 'Blitzø Sucks' on it) plays out until he says the infamous, soul-ruining line; "do you feel any remorse for what you do" . Let me explain my reasoning for this segment a bit. As of the event of the music video 'Look My Way', Stolas understand why Blitzø is closed off and he has these (literal) walls around him that prevent him from opening up ("the walls you conjured up to live, is this what you feel? scorned by a realm that cannot comprehend, what you are.")

So saying this NOT EVEN ON THE NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON where emotions are high and you can get caught in the heat of the moment (which would make more sense) would make ZERO character sense for Stolas. It's not that I don't want to see Stolas snap it's just the line honestly just seems like a manifestation of Blitzø's self hatred and not an actual line Stolas would say.

So after the Stolas scene, Blitzø is at the circus fire, then he's at the hospital, then Ozzie's while Verosika is singing. Everything is happening so fast he can't keep up. Then, it all stops at the sight of one person. His mom. Blitzø is his teenage self again, the braces and everything, crying in his mom's arms and her telling him everything will be alright and that he's not a bad person. Just as he is starting to snap out of his acid trip. The receptionist pulls him back in with seemingly real footage of her getting really badly hurt by some version of Blitzø. He's spiralling again, this time with Millie and Moxxie in his hallucinations but not for very long as once Blitzø sees Millie come to break him out, he calms down enough to snap out of it but his emotions are still running high which leads to a real-life breakdown in front of Millie (below).

and that's our acid trip guys. sorry if it's badly written, just needed to get it out of my system.

THIS ENTIRE POST HAS MADE ME REALISE HOW HARD IT TO SPELL HALLUCINATION UGH

[theautismcorner]

I just had a realization that almost made me cry (yes this is related to X-Men)

It’s an informal tradition for members of the theater company I was apart of for the past four years to make post show Instagram posts and I just made my last one in the first week of August (I’m going to college and the company is for late middle school and high schoolers). The realization came from watching an edit on tiktok of the X-Men to Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) by Green Day which was the song over the ending montage of Deadpool and Wolverine with the behind the scenes clips of the cast from all of the X-Men movies. The realization was that that was also the song I had used for my last theater post show post. Both the montage as well as this post mean the end or at least a transition of things I hold so dear to me. It’s bittersweet. I don’t want Disney to own the X-Men and I don’t want to leave my family (the theater company). And I love the X-Men for many reasons but the thing that stood out the most to me as a kid was that everyone was welcome and they were a big happy (and sometimes unstable) family full of people society thinks are weird and I found my own real life version in my theater company. The fact that both came to an end with the same song means a lot to me (especially given that it was unintentional). Basically I’m a huge autistic nerdy sap who is scared of change

[lover-of-mine]

So I just recently joined the fandom and binged the whole series. So color me surprised, when watching Eddie Begins I was like “wow Buck is in like every one of this Chris clips in this life or death flashback. It’s probably just because of the footage they had available in editing.” And then, in 4x14, Eddie says right after the well is when he put Buck in the will. No, those clips WERE about Buck and Eddie.

I’m chewing on the bars of my enclosure

No, but you're so right, the amount of Buck in Eddie's I need to keep fighting montage is CRAZY when you put it next to the will reveal. That man had some sort of revelation under all that dirt because DAMN. Because seriously, the first scene is Eddie telling Buck about Chris aka the start of their family, and if it was the first time the audience learns about Chris too it would've been a different situation. But it isn't, they could've started with the scene where Eddie drops Chris off at school, but they didn't, they just decided Buck needed to be there. THEY MAKE ME INSANE!!!!!!!!!!! (Also welcome to the madness 🩷🩷)

[thenightling]

I think Tim Burton wants to do Dracula

For a long time both Guillermo del Toro and Tim Burton were obsessed with Frankenstein. Guillermo made little references to it in the Hellboy movies and even his Pinocchio. Tim Burton created Frankenweenie (Live action and stop motion). Sally in Nightmare before Christmas is a rag doll / Frankenstein creation. Even Delores in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice resembles something stitched together even though she used staplers. But more recently I've seen Tim Burton drifting toward vampires, one in particular, Dracula. (there will be some minor Wednesday and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice spoilers ahead). Back in Nightmare before Christmas you had the Dracula-esque vampire quartet. In Frankenweenie (the stop motion version) there was a cat version of Dracula. And there was a clip of Christopher Lee's Dracula in Frankenweenie. Christopher Lee played Dracula several times for Hammer horror and even some other companies. Since Sleepy Hollow Christopher Lee had been in several of Tim Burton's movies up until his passing. Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Alice in wonderland and Dark Shadows. Dark Shadows was... a thing... (as a fan of the original show I was disappointed). And more recently there are vampires in Wednesday since essentially the plot is The Addams Family do Monster High (I'm not complaining, it's a fun combo). And they filmed in Romania. Wednesday's fencing coach is named Vlad. (I suspect he'll eventually be revealed as Dracula, by the way). In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice there is a montage at the end where Astrid falls for a boy dressed as Dracula outside Bran Castle (the so-called Dracula's castle used for tourists in Romania. The one where the real, historic Dracula actually lived is the now very ruined and dangerous Poenari Castle). In the end credits that boy is listed as Vlad. Astrid fell for a boy dressed as Dracula outside Castle Dracula (the tourist version) and he happens to be named Vlad. (I hope Lydia's invested in garlic! Note: before I forget, there's also an episode of the Beetlejuice animated series where a vampire has the hots for Delia). So that's two recent things with Jenna Ortega where there's an ambiguous Romanian who MIGHT be a vampire, and happens to be named Vlad. One of which was literally dressed as Dracula outside Castle Dracula. ...Someone just have Tim Burton do a Dracula film already! Here's an idea, someone pitch to him Fred Saberhagen's The Dracula tape (Dracula retold from Dracula's point of view) and have Jenna Ortega play Mina. That would be glorious!

[louisminyard]

From Rolling Stone:

The Untamed Heart of Liam Payne

Mourning the kid brother of One Direction

By Rob Sheffield

October 17, 2024

The first night Liam Payne ever did a headlining solo show, the One Direction song he sang was a deep cut: “History.” It’s not the most famous 1D song, but it’s one of their most direct statements about the bond they shared with their audience. Liam surprised the crowd with it on that first night, at New York’s Beacon Theatre in June 2018, complete with a video montage of One Direction over the years, as he sang, “You and me got a whole lot of history/We could be the greatest team that the world has ever seen.” For some reason, that’s the first song I turned to at the shocking news of Liam’s death on Tuesday. There are so many clips of Liam singing “History” in his solo shows, openly inviting the audience to celebrate that history with him. He always let them take over and sing the final hook by themselves: “We can live forever!”

“History” might seem like an odd way to kick-start your solo career, but it was a very Liam gesture — his way of keeping faith with everything that he, the band, and their fans built together. He honored the history they shared — but also the history everybody hoped he still had ahead of him. That open-hearted warmth was there in his songs, his voice, his effervescent onstage presence — that’s why so many people felt a deep personal connection with him, and kept rooting for him.

And that’s why the world is grieving for Liam Payne today, after the tragic and heartbreaking news about his death, after falling from a third-floor hotel-room balcony in Buenos Aires. He was only 31. The circumstances of his death are still mysterious. He was the 1D member who struggled most after the group ended. But something about Liam made it easy to hold out hope that he’d make it. He had a lot more to give, more history to make.

One Direction were a brotherhood — even when they were a troubled and pained brotherhood — with five very different personalities and aesthetics thrown together into an accidentally perfect combination. Liam always came on like the kid brother of the group, with his boyish air of vulnerability and eager-puppy live enthusiasm. He was the one who seemed totally guileless, wearing his heart on his sleeve.

That spirit was always there when he sang — you could hear something bruised and unguarded in his voice. In the 2013 classic “Story of My Life,” a hit he co-wrote, Liam sings the most pained lines alone: “She told me in the morning she don’t feel the same about us in her bones/It seems to me that when I die these words will be written on my stone.” As in so many 1D songs, the boys tell the story together, tossing the mic back and forth. In the video, there’s a childhood photo of Liam posing with his family, then morphing into the adult Liam, gazing into the mirror as he sings the key line, “Although I am broken, my heart is untamed still.” It’s a moment that encapsulates everything people loved and connected to about him.

One Direction were never just a boy band. They were a whole new paradigm for a pop group, and Liam was a crucial reason why. Instead of doing corny choreographed steps, they gave one another room to explore their individual voices. Niall Horan had his Irish folk-music affinities; Louis Tomlinson had his Brit-pop rock-star swagger, as if he’d just stepped off the Oasis tour bus; Zayn Malik quit to pursue his hip-hop and R&B style. As for Harry Styles, he decided to turn into Stevie Nicks times Bowie times the Stones times Elton times Joni, before taking off into his own solo stratosphere.

Liam seemed like the baby of the bunch at first, yet he became an ace songwriter, from the cocky pop punk of “No Control” to the heartache of “Fireproof.” When 1D made three of the all-time great pop albums in a mad rush — Midnight Memories in 2013, Four in 2014, Made in the A.M. in 2015 — they were often singing Liam tunes. He became a major creative force, co-writing gems like “Diana,” “Little Black Dress,” “Fool’s Gold,” “Steal My Girl,” “Clouds,” and “History.”

One Direction formed on TV, on the U.K. X Factor with Simon Cowell. As everybody knows, TV singing contests are never the start of a promising group — maybe with solo artists, you might get a long shot like Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood or Adam Lambert, but not groups. Nobody expected greatness from 1D — they didn’t even win X Factor. (Liam’s big solo songs on the show were the lounge standards “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Cry Me a River.”) Even people who loved their debut hit, “What Makes You Beautiful” — and everybody loved it — assumed these lads were just destined for a year or so of boy-band radio fun. But they built a unique bond with their fans. Liam always had his own exuberant charm live, a bit of a cheerleader, but intent on making a direct connection with the crowd. “You’re the greatest fans in the world because you all fell in love with a song called ‘No Control,’” Liam yelled at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, on 1D’s legendary 2015 tour, one of the best live shows I’ve ever witnessed. “You made it your own!”

Liam wasn’t the biggest One Direction fan in One Direction — that would be Niall — and admitted he often had trouble getting along with the others. But he was deeply attached to the group identity, and he was the one who had the toughest time moving on. 1D went on an alleged hiatus in 2015, a charade that dragged on for four years, until Harry finally came out and declared in Rolling Stone that the group was finished. Liam, unlike the four others, seemed confused about what to do next. “How do you go from there?” Liam asked in his infamous 2022 Logan Paul interview. “I still don’t know who I am. I replicate different people on a daily basis.”

THE LAST TO test his solo wings, Liam started on the wrong foot with “Strip That Down,” his unfortunate 2017 debut single with Quavo. He tried to dismiss the group, rapping, “I used to be in 1D/Now I’m out free/People want one thing from me/That’s not me.” He sang about boozing and grinding on groupies — two months after becoming a dad — as Quavo added the hook, “She gonna strip it down for a thug.” There are many words you could use to describe Liam, but “thug” wasn’t one of them. Yet he seemed to shrug off his debut album, with the title LP1, as if he’d already given up on it. His long-promised follow-up never happened, although he released the March 2024 single “Teardrops,” written with ‘NSync’s JC Chasez.

He had well-publicized problems with substance abuse. In 2022, he alienated fans with a disastrous (and drunken) Logan Paul interview, where he bragged that Simon Cowell built the whole group around him. “He kind of started with my face and then worked around the rest,” Liam said. “I’ve never told that story before.” He boasted that he was 1D’s most successful soloist, claiming “Strip That Down” “outsold everybody within the band.” (The U.S. Number One hit at the time was Harry’s “As It Was,” in the middle of a 15-week run at the top.) Liam wisely took this interview as a sign that he needed to go to rehab. But his troubles continued. He once revealed that he was terrified his son, Bear, born in 2017, might grow up to be a pop star. “Bear loves music, which kind of scares the crap out of me,” he told the U.K.’s Hits Radio Breakfast Show. “This job’s a bit scary … the amount of stuff that comes with it, you really have to be in it. So as a parent, you’re like, ‘This is a little bit scary, mate. I don’t know.’”

When he did his first solo shows as a headliner, in 2018, he was clearly touched by the affection from the crowd. “I’m so overwhelmed,” he said in New York. “I’ve missed that sound since I played with my boys.” He mostly sang cover versions, doing recent hits by Ed Sheeran, Pink, Zedd, and Charlie Puth. But the emotional payoff was “History” — the room erupted as he pleaded, “This is not the end! This is not the end!”

It was a vulnerable moment, for sure — he didn’t try to hide how much he needed those cheers. Yet it was also a profoundly generous moment — acknowledging that the fans were in the room because of their shared history, the same reason he was there. One Direction’s history is still expanding, as their music just keeps getting more influential and beloved, nearly 10 years after they split. There should have been many more chapters in Liam’s history. But that emotion he brought to “History” sums up everything people loved about him. Moments like this are the words that will be written on his stone. That’s Liam Payne as the world will remember him, and that’s the Liam Payne we’re all mourning today.