#hitchcock 2012

[fanofspooky]

Scream King - Anthony Hopkins

[heavenlycinema]

Hitchcock 2012

Dir. Sacha Gervasi

“And that my dear is why they call me the master of suspense.”

[superstarbarbie1977]

Grace Kelly in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window Barbie (2012)

[rabbitcruiser]

The Coit Tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 29, 2008.

[bkenber]

Anthony Hopkins on Playing the 'Psycho' Director in 'Hitchcock'

WRITER’S NOTE: This article was originally written back in 2012. Sir Anthony Hopkins has played real-life people in movies such as President Richard Nixon in “Nixon” and John Quincy Adams in “Amistad,” but he was initially hesitant about playing the brilliant filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock in “Hitchcock.” The master of suspense has been imitated so many times over the years to where it seems…

[fictionadventurer]

Details:

1940s Hans Christian Andersen shorts: Intended as animated segments within a live-action film about the author's life, these would have adapted The Little Mermaid, The Fir Tree, Through the Picture Frame, The Emperor's Nightingale, and The Steadfast Tin Soldier. (Yes, I know we got adaptations of several of these, but I still want to share the concept art for old versions).

Gremlins: A film they worked on a lot during WWII but couldn't crack the story (or find money to make it)

Don Quixote: They tried to adapt the story in various ways in the '40s, '50s, and '00s, which is too long to get into here, but it led to some interesting concept art.

Chanticleer: A story about an arrogant rooster who thought his crow made the sun rise, and used this to rule over the other farmyard animals. Reynard the Fox was a villain who tried to take advantage of the discontent in the farm animals to take over as their leader (with plans to eat them), which leads to Chanticleer saving them and learning humility. Work started on it in the 1940s, and it was so close to being made in the 1960s, but they decided to go with The Sword in the Stone instead. Some of the animators loved it, though, and some of the character concepts were later adapted into Robin Hood.

Catfish Bend: I haven't found much about the story beyond "talking animals in the South", but the concept art intrigues me. It would have been released in 1981, but after it was shelved, some of the concepts went on to inspire The Rescuers.

Mistress Masham's Repose: An adaptation of T.H. White's novel, pitched in the late 1980s

Fraidy Cat: 2009 film about a pampered housecat named Oscar who is falsely accused of kidnapping another pet and has to team up with a cockatoo and try to find the real culprit to clear his name. Shelved because they figured kids and general audiences wouldn't understand the Hitchcock references (which seems like a terrible reason, but alas).

King of the Elves: Announced in 2009, it was a 3D animated film scheduled for 2012, before being shelved in 2016. Adapted from a Philip K. Dick story, it was about an ordinary man who saves some elves from a troll and (apparently reluctantly) gets declared their king.

Gigantic: A retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk set during the Spanish exploration, it involves Jack meeting an 11-year-old female giant who treats him like a doll, and eventually fighting much larger Storm Giants. Would have had songs written by the team from Frozen and was set to be released in 2018, then moved to 2020 before being cancelled because apparently they couldn't figure out the story.

[oldmanpeace]

My favorite movie from each year, 1960+.

1960. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock) 1961. Breakfast At Tiffany's (Blake Edwards) 1962. Cleo from 5 to 7 (Agnés Varda) 1963. 8½ (Federico Fellini) 1964. Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick) 1965. Pierrot le Fou (Jean-Luc Godard) 1966. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone) 1967. The Fearless Vampire Killers (Roman Polanski) 1968. Bullitt (Peter Yates) 1969. Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper) 1970. Kelly's Heroes (Brian G. Hutton) 1971. Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby) 1972. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola) 1973. Badlands (Terrence Malick) 1974. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (Sam Peckinpah) 1975. Jaws (Steven Spielberg) 1976. The Bad News Bears (Michael Ritchie) 1977. Smokey and the Bandit (Hal Needham) 1978. Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick) 1979. Alien (Ridley Scott) 1980. Dressed To Kill (Brian De Palma) 1981. Thief (Michael Mann) 1982. Diner (Barry Levinson) 1983. Scarface (Brian De Palma) 1984. Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders) 1985. To Live and Die in L.A. (William Friedkin) 1986. Hoosiers (David Anspaugh) 1987. Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick) 1988. Big (Penny Marshall) 1989. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee) 1990. Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese) 1991. JFK (Oliver Stone) 1992. Scent of a Woman (Martin Brest) 1993. Dazed and Confused (Richard Linklater) 1994. The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont) 1995. Heat (Michael Mann) 1996. A Time to Kill (Joel Schumacher) 1997. Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki) 1998. Fucking Åmål (Lucas Moodysson) 1999. Fight Club (David Fincher) 2000. High Fidelity (Stephen Frears) 2001. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson) 2002. Spider-Man (Sam Raimi) 2003. The Station Agent (Tom McCarthy) 2004. Sideways (Alexander Payne) 2005. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (Shane Black) 2006. Volver (Pedro Almodóvar) 2007. Into the Wild (Sean Penn) 2008. In Bruges (Martin McDonagh) 2009. Up in the Air (Jason Reitman) 2010. Hesher (Spencer Susser) 2011. Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn) 2012. Zero Dark Thirty (Kathryn Bigelow) 2013. Nebraska (Alexander Payne) 2014. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson) 2015. Sicario (Denis Villeneuve) 2016. Hell or High Water (David Mackenzie) 2017. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh) 2018. Manbiki kazoku (Hirokazu Koreeda) 2019. Uncut Gems (Benny & Josh Safdie) 2020. Nomadland (Chloé Zhao) 2021. Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson) 2022. The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh) 2023. The Holdovers (Alexander Payne)

[pompadourpink]

hi mom ik you're a big fan of cinema and im lookign for new movies to watch, can u share your top 4? thank uuu

Oh dear, you're killing me.

Phantom of the Paradise - Brian de Palma (1974), a musical and the lovechild of the myth of Faust, the Phantom of the Opera, and the Shining (the soundtrack is to die for).

La Folie des Grandeurs - Gérard Oury (1971), an adaptation from a play (by the author of les Mis) about politics, the Court of Spain, love, greed - I've been in love with the lackey my whole life.

The Seventh Seal - Ingmar Bergman (1957), the story of a medieval soldier playing chess against Death to save his life (and a great source of relief when my head was playing against me).

The 101 Dalmatians - Stephen Herek (1996), not quite auteur cinema but my favourite comfort movie, at first a great reminder of how peaceful life without modern day tech was, then an amazing love story, then an investigation, a fantastic cast, perfect villains, many dogs, great music, my whole heart on a platter.

I will make a longer list and you cannot stop me:

Rear Window - Alfred Hitchcock (1954), where a photographer stuck at home after an accident grows suspicious of a neighbour whose wife has disappeared.

La Jetée - Chris Marker (1962), an experimental sci-fi short movie made by one of my favourite directors, about the scientific experiments done on a man to save the world, that later inspired Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys (that could also be on this list).

Anything? (Seven chances, Cops, The Cameraman) - Buster Keaton (1920s), my second favourite director and a firework on legs who was never afraid of a stunt.

The Host - Bong Joon Ho (2006), where lab waste thrown into the sea creates a monster that kidnaps a girl, forcing her good for nothing father to finally do something with his life.

Death becomes her - Robert Zemeckis (1992), where two middle-aged actresses fight for a man, get blinded by their desire for youth and cross paths with magic and murder.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Jim Sharman (1975), the meeting between a young old school couple and a group of weird creatures in a mansion (including my husband Tim Curry).

Pride and Prejudice - Joe Wright (2005), of course.

Body Snatchers - Philip Kaufman (1978), one of the four adaptations of the book and the best one in my opinion, the story of people mysteriously disappearing and returning changed and a tale about human passion.

Old boy - Park Chan-Wook (2003), the visually stunning and heartbreaking story of a man randomly kidnapped, kept somewhere for years, then released without a word.

Minority Report - Spielberg (2002), a dystopian movie about a world where the efforts of science and exploitation have put an end to criminality, at a great price.

Sleeping Beauty - Disney (1959), the most beautiful one, the only one with a composer's music, one of the best villains.

The Age of Adaline - Lee Toland Krieger (2015), the story of a woman who stopped aging and navigates the world while trying to not get caught or catch feelings.

Planet Terror - Robert Rodriguez (2007), an unserious tale of zombies, a virus, and Rose McGowan's pew pew leg.

Home alone 2 - Chris Columbus (1992), for Christmas in New York, Tim Curry, the toy store's owner, and the pigeon lady.

Electrick children - Rebecca Thomas (2012), where a Mormon teenager gets pregnant with the child of God after listening to a tape and runs away to Vegas to find the dad.

And many more I'm afraid. Hope you will like those! x

[historyofglee]

On this day in 2012:

Glee season 4, episode 5 “The Role You Were Born to Play” aired.

Written by Michael Hitchcock and directed by Brad Falchuk, the episode was originally watched by 5.68m viewers in the United States.

4x05 featured 5 new cover songs- Hopelessly Devoted to You, Blow Me (One Last Kiss), Juke Box Hero, Everybody Talks, and Born to Hand Jive.

The episode also followed a 5 week hiatus and was the first episode to not feature Lea Michele as Rachel Berry.

[nalyra-dreaming]

The writing on Eric’s chair is most likely Hitchcock. It’s the same font as the logo for the 2012 film Hitchcock. They blur it out cuz of copyright reasons and so AMC doesn’t accidentally advertise another studio product.

Maybe. We'll see :) (maybe^^)

[cinemaocd]

Movies I watched in March 2024

Under the Cherry Moon (1986)** I'm Not There (2007)*** Jingle All the Way (1996)* Three Graves to Cairo (1943)** Hitchcock (2012) ** Silent Partner (1978)** Possession (2002)** Oppenheimer (2023)** Oscar Wilde (1960)** Turning Point: The Cold War and the Bomb (2024)** Anselm (2023)*** 24 Hour Party People (2002)** Two of Us (1999)*** Remains of the Day (1993)*** Doubt (2008)*** Dune (1984)*** Dune Part II (2024)***

Under the Cherry Moon (1986)** Absolute bobbins of a script is still beautiful to look at, very gay and of course mainly a vehicle for Prince's music. Under the Cherry Moon was the follow up to Purple Rain. It was a box office flop, a critical failure that earned Razzie nominations, but is a worth another look. Prince and Jerome Beton are sex workers with a rich female clientele on the French Riviera, the kind of career that only exists in movies. Kristin Scott Thomas makes her film debut as the debutante who comes between the friends and threatens to part them. Prince's death scene, harkens back to Camille with Prince playing Garbo. Like Garbo, Prince was happy to exploit his own androgyny and like Garbo, he was doomed to only explore that in a way that could be squeezed into heteronormative films.

I'm not There: (2007)*** A fascinating look at Bob Dylan, dividing him into six personae played by six different actors. Haynes uses different film styles, the Cate Blanchett mid Sixties Dylan of Bringing it All Back Home and Blonde on Blonde is matched in style with the black and white cinematography of D.A. Pennebaker's Don't Look Back. It also has elements of the Italian Surrealists like Felinni or Antonioni with a scoch of A Hard Day's Night. The soundtrack is particularly good, avoiding for the most part, the licensing pitfalls that plagued Haynes' Bowie biopic, Velvet Goldmine. Some of the most effective moments of I'm Not There, pair landscape shots with Dylan's music. Given the catalogue and the array of talent, Haynes has gathered, one perhaps expects a bit more , but then that has always been Dylan's nature, he's mysterious and aloof, leaving us wanting more.

Jingle All the Way (1996)* We watched this Christmas movie in March because we recently learned that part of it was filmed at my son's elementary school. It had Jake Lloyd somehow being more annoying than he was in the Phantom Menace as a bonus. Phil Hartman got dragged into this unfunny mess as well.

Three Graves to Cairo (1943)** Tense war time drama about a British officer who gets trapped behind the lines and ends up hiding out in a hotel working as a waiter for Field Marshall Rommel. Billy Wilder ratchets up the tension, his script giving all the best lines to Rommel, played by Erich Von Stroheim who really owns the film though Anne Baxter and Franchot Tone nominally "star."

Hitchcock (2012)** Hichcock's struggle to make Pyscho dramatized with fantasies where he hangs out with Ed Gein, while Alma Hitchcock gets involved in a Hitchcockian romance with a hack writer. Scarlett Johannson plays an almost deliberately obtuse Janet Leigh and James Darcy captures pre-Psycho Tony Perkins. It's a bit silly but I'll never turn down Helen Mirren and Anthony Hopkins in anything. This has a slight, arch feel to it, like many of Hitchcock's pictures, but lurking underneath are the ordinary hates and passions of a man who fears being left behind, at the height of his career. For his long-suffering wife's part, she too feels she's being replaced by the young actresses that Hitchcock is obsessed with at the moment. The conclusion is sweet enough for the Hayes office: husband and wife rediscover the magic of their working relationship, which was always the rock upon which their relationship was built.

The Silent Partner (1978)** With Elliott Gould, Christopher Plummer and Susannah York in the cast, this should have been better. Decent heist plot that devolves into slasher film . Christopher Plummer takes on the dubious mantels of playing a villain in a piss-poor American action film and a cross-dressing murderer.

Possession (2002)** A rather thin adaptation of a great novel, A.S. Byatt's story of two modern academics who disover a previous hidden romance between two Victorian poets. The film lacks the poetry of the novel, which I think is necessary for the story to have its full impact, but the film is full of plenty of jabs at academia as well as burning passions. Gweneth Paltrow and Aaron Ecklund play the young couple, while Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle play the poet/lovers. Tom Hollander has a small but memorable part as does Toby Stephens.

Oppenheimer (2023)** My least favorite half of Barbenheimer still damn good and the physics nerd in me reveled in seeing my dead physicist boyfriends on screen. There are better films about Oppenheimer's life (BBC did a mini series starring Sam Waterston and it's on youtube) but something about the dreamy quality of Nolan's film captures that quantum mystery kinda vibe and put it in a blockbuster package. Cool.

Oscar Wilde (1960)** Preceded the landmark film Crisis by one year, without the world shaking honesty that film managed, around the topic of homosexuality and the law. Both films hinged on blackmail of a gay man but Oscar Wilde is careful to skirt around explicit mentions of sexuality, using tricks like showing the dictionary definition of "sodomy" briefly on camera. More was needed and more was achieved a year later. Ralph Richardson contributes to the courtroom scenes admirably and Morley is a terrific Wilde, who would rather make point for style than save himself from prison.

Turning Point: The Cold War and the Bomb (2024)** Fascinating background to our current situation, most of which is terrifying and now I'm worrying about the bomb again. I took off a star for the sheer number neo-con/Reaganite talking heads in this...

Anselm (2023)*** Wim Wenders stirring mostly visual documentary about Anselm Kiefer, a German artist who has explored his childhood memories of post war Germany in a frank and intimidatingly in your face way, on a massive scale combining sculpture, painting and physical spaces, many of which he has engineered himself. As a middle aged person who feels estranged and terrified to look more deeply into her own childhood, Anselm was something to sit with for two hours.

24 Hour Party People (2002)** Steve Coogan plays Tony Wilson, the Manchester TV personality and club owner who helped launch the careers of Joy Division, New Order and The Happy Mondays. Coogan has a tendency to make all his characters Alan Partridge and this is no exception, but it kind of works? It did more to get me to listen to Joy Division that numerous goth roommates ever could...

Two of Us (1999)*** I can't stop watching this made for VH-1 fanfiction of a movie starring Jared Harris and Aidan Quinn as John Lennon and Paul McCartney, dramatizing a probably apocryphal tale that John and Paul met up in NYC in the 70s when Paul was playing Madison Square Garden. Pure fluff and nonsense. I need it like air.

Remains of the Day (1993)*** Revisiting this old favorite and finding that it's kind of pacey and funny for a Merchant Ivory pic. The movie that made me love Tony Hopkins as an actor, his Stevens is really such a fascinating, ostensibly tragic character and yet there is a weird kind of triumph to living one's life so completely to a schedule and a code, and yet never being to eliminate desire and feeling.

Doubt (2008)*** This is the second Philip Seymour Hoffman movie I've watched in the last few months that has left me utterly haunted. Like The Master, Hoffman creates a villain who charms the audience at the same time you know that he's probably done unforgivable things and is only at the start of a long career of doing unforgivable things. Meryl Streep gives a heavy handed performance (Streep never met a colloquial accent that she didn't wear like a Groucho Marx nose) that certainly gets the point across that unpleasant people usually aren't the bad guys you want them to be. Amy Adams plays a naive young nun who, like the audience, is left wondering what to believe.

Dune (1984)*** Unapologetic Lynch Dune lover here. I love the cheesy acting, the wild tonal shifts, and the attempts to put this sprawling multibook epic in the Star Wars shaped box that the studio wanted him to use. My favorite scene has become Lynch's cameo, he seems so happy just pretending to be a spice miner, in his little spice mining suit in his little unconvincing space ship. I love him and this whole stupid mess. Sorry Frank Herbert.

Dune Part II (2024)*** My prediction is that Villeneuve's probable trilogy will--like so many franchises--peak in the second film. The first part was a slow-moving visual feast, that only hinted at the potential of this cast. Things actually start moving in the plot and Chalamet's Paul does his best to cope. Unlike MacLachlan's avuncular Atreides, who takes being a Messiah as just being another Tuesday of being the Universe's Most Gifted Child, he actually seems conflicted. Zendaya continues to utterly dominate every time she's on screen. Can Channi be the focus of the movie? Please?

[fanofspooky]

Hitchcock posters

[algebraicvarietyshow]

és nem jut eszembe, csak holnap, amit mondani kellett volna

gondolkoztam, hogy haladni kéne a korral és egy 2023-as lemezlistát már egy mesterséges intelligencia is meg tudna írni (nyilván ha beletáplálnánk a megfelelő információt). és valóban, ennél az összeállításnál én is egyre inkább támaszkodom számszerűsíthető adatokra, pl. az év végi spotify-statisztikákra, de azért ez még mindig egy kézművesen összerakott lista a hozzáadott humán faktorral, például a spotify szerint 2023-ban általam legtöbbet hallgatott boygenius a 2. helyre fért fel (mert nyilván az is számít például, hogy mi mikor jött ki, meg a beazonosíthatatlan egyedi érzések, ami így karácsony napján eszembe jut az egyes albumokról).

első ránézésre az idei lista (is) remekül befér a "sad indie" kategória műfaji áttekintésének, sajnos az első helyen végző posztumusz (több mint tíz évvel mark linkous halála után kijött) sparklehorse-album pedig ezt bizonyos értelemben megkoronázza, többek közt az egyik legtorokszorítóbb pillanattal, de azért még erre a lemezre se mondanám, hogy kizárólag szomorkodásról szólna, pl. milyen jó energikus ez a robyn hitchcock-feldolgozás. (aki adakozó kedvében volt sallai laci felhívására, olvashatott többet is a lemezről.) a listakészítés történetében az is egyedülálló, hogy egy alkotó két lemezét egy helyre soroltam be végül: a national számomra igazán fontos előadó az elmúlt tizenegynéhány évből, és mind a két idei lemezen találtam nekem sokat jelentő számokat, de közben kicsit úgy is vagyok vele, hogy a kettő helyett lehetett volna egy igazán ütős idei lemez, talán kicsit kevesebb kollaborációval (bocsánat, de a taylor swift-es szám pl. nekem semmit nem mondott, és ez most nem taylorról egy kijelentés, hanem erről a konkrét alkotásról).

szóval jöjjön 17 (18 igazából) jó lemez 2023-ból (a cappuccino projekt az 2022-ből igazából, de mivel december közepén jött ki, idén volt bemutatva és amúgy is idén hallgattam többet, a recordert követve én is az idei listára teszem), mindenhonnan ajánlva egy számot:

13-17. belle and sebastian: late developers 13-17. the clientele: i am not there anymore 13-17. kurt vile: back to moon beach ep 13-17. nation of language: strange disciple 13-17. sufjan stevens: javelin

12. káltes ekwa: átváltozások 11. beach fossils: bunny 10. soccer mommy: karaoke night ep 9. cappuccino projekt: az utak kifürkészhetetlenül rögösek 8. caroline polachek: desire, i want to turn into you 7. the national: first two pages of frankenstein / laugh track 6. yo la tengo: this stupid world 5. wilco: cousin 4. galaxisok: minket ne szeress! 3. slowdive: everything is alive 2. boygenius: the record 1. sparklehorse: bird machine

és! még! voltak! jó koncertek is idén! (mindenféle feljegyzéseim szerint többre jutottam el, mint 2017 óta bármikor.) szóval jön a folytatás.

[korábban: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 pt. 1, pt. 2, 2012, 2011]

[poppypickle]

Half-Finished Fic Fest

Back with more old fic. I think I wrote this around 2012, probably as a fill for this prompt during a Gossip Girl promptathon:

No, no, I think it's more like a ghost That's been following us both Something vague that we're not seeing Something more like a feeling

I think I never posted because I felt like others had already done post-canon Dair reunions more justice. But begone, self-doubt!

There's a dream in my brain that just won't go away Dan/Blair  1162 words

Blair tells herself she's happy. Because happy is what happens when your dreams come true, right? When you get everything you ever wanted? Yes, of course she is happy.

She does not think about what ifs — does not imagine any other path but the one she has chosen. No Frost-ian ruminations about roads less traveled for her (no poetry whatsoever, in fact). Because what would be the point? She has finally (finally) won Chuck's heart, and Blair is blissfully, perfectly happy thankyouverymuch.

It's just… Maybe she expected the happiness to feel a little bit different. To be less heavy.

But it does not do to dwell, so Blair clutches the sparkling diamond ring around her neck until it leaves angry red imprints on her palm, and reminds herself that she is very, very happy.

***

Dan tells himself he's over her. He dabbles in revenge for a little while, writing nasty tell-all essays about everyone in his life and hoping they will fill the aching hole inside of him where her pithy insults about his hair used to be. He lets it all drain out of him like a thick, infected puss until he wakes up one morning and discovers there's nothing left but a nasty scar. And suddenly, he is sad instead of angry.

So Dan throws himself into new pursuits — he re-enrolls at NYU, gets another internship, dates as many tall blondes and redheads as his schedule allows. He rents a new apartment and does his best not to feel sentimental when he finds three of her DVDs and a pot of La Mer face cream tucked away in the bedside table he's cleaning out.

Tossing everything into the garbage with a purposefully casual flick, Dan thinks of Blair only in the abstract. They were together until they weren't. It was wonderful until it wasn't. Until she decided it wasn't.

Whatever, he's over it.

***

It's five years later when they see each other again, at a Saturday Film Forum matinee, of all places. Blair hears herself calling out his name before she can stop herself, and when Dan turns around he looks so perfectly like himself (messy hair, a knowing half smile pulling at his lips) that it nearly takes her breath away.

It takes four long strides for him to reach her, and just like that Dan Humphrey is standing in front of her again, two steaming cups of coffee clasped in his hands. For a split second, Blair imagines that they are 22 again and that one of those cups is for her. She flicks the thought away with a sharp intake of breath.

"Blair," Dan says finally, and it comes out far gentler than she expects. "Are you here to see Rebecca?"

"Of course," she says, fidgeting idly with the edges of her skirt. She forces her fingers to still against her thighs. "It's a classic."

"Hitchcock's best, some might say."

"Some might say. Not me."

Dan smiles in spite of himself. "North by Northwest is still your favorite I assume?"

Blair cocks her head to the side. "And you preferred –"

"Vertigo," he nods.

She smirks in spite of herself. "You always did have a weakness for blondes."

"A long time ago," he acknowledges.

"How have you been?" she asks, and it seems like such a silly thing to say that she finds a blush creeping up her cheeks. But Dan just tilts his head to the side and smiles.

"I'm good," he says simply. "How are you? How's work? Chuck?"

"Work is wonderful, busier than ever," Blair smiles. “And Chuck is…Somewhere in Europe right now, I think. It didn't work out."

Dan's eyes crinkle. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

She shrugs it off with a wave of her hand. "It's fine."

They hold each other’s gaze for a moment before Dan murmurs, “I only ever wanted you to be happy, you know…”

It’s such a Dan Humphrey thing to say. A shade too earnest. A little wounded. Perfectly sincere.

Blair feels a lump rise in her throat. She opens her mouth to reply, but just then a petite woman with an auburn bob slides up next to Dan with two matching striped bags of popcorn in her hands.

“The line was so long. I hope all the good seats aren’t taken.”

Dan seems to startle ever-so-slightly before remembering himself and sliding his eyes away from Blair to smile down at the other woman. He fumbles with the coffee cups in his hands, passing one to her as he takes one of the bags of popcorn in between his long fingers. 

"Blair, this is Tess. Tess, Blair. Blair and I…went to high school and college together."

Blair’s eyebrows lift before she can stop them, but she quickly schools her face into something more neutral. “Nice to meet you.”

"Are you seeing the movie?” Tess asks, her smile wide and bright. “I'm a Hitchcock virgin."

Blair purses her lips, an insult on the tip of her tongue before she catches Dan's knowing smirk and stops herself. "Well you'll love Rebecca. It's the only one of his movies that ever won Best Picture.”

"That's what Dan was saying."

"Go grab us some seats and I’ll be right in,” Dan says, and Blair tries not to notice the way he puts his hand against the small of Tess’ back before she walks away.

“Girlfriend?” Blair asks after a moment, when it’s just the two of them again.

“Not yet.” Then, “It’s new.”

“But it could be something?” she presses, unable to stop herself.

“Lots of things could be something,” Dan says vaguely, scuffing the toe of his shoe against the floor. Then he lifts his chin to look her right in the eyes. “If you get the timing right.”

They stare at each other for a few long moments before Blair finally says, “It was good to see you.”

Dan looks like he wants to say something else, but then he seems to think better of it. “Yeah, you too,” he says, then turns toward the theater doors.

Blair rocks back and forth on her kitten heels, staring at Dan’s back as he walks away. When he opens the doors and starts to disappear inside, she hears Joan Fontaine utter that haunting first line.

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.

Blair sucks in a sharp breath and turns away from the theater. She’s not in the mood for a movie after all. 

***

Four hours and two glasses of wine later, Blair texts him, her fingers trembling over her phone. Maybe he doesn’t even have the same number.

Funny thing, I wasn’t happy.

Dan’s reply comes almost immediately.

Funny thing, I thought I was over you.

Blair bites the inside of her cheek, her heart racing as her fingers hover over the phone keyboard. Then:

Maybe we could get the timing right this time.

Maybe we could.

Want to get coffee tomorrow, Waldorf?

I thought you’d never ask, Humphrey.

[rabbitcruiser]

The Coit Tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 29, 2008.

[mischievouslittlecreature]

Hello 🌻

hope you are having fun during your holiday :)

So... I noticed in your bio you describe yourself as a film snob, and I was curious if you could put together a list of films you believe everyone should watch. It doesn't matter whether they're niche films or d'essai or blockbuster, I used to adore going to cine-forums and watch every kind of genre, they always leave you something to bring home

Thank you! <3

(Sorry for the ramble, but I'm stuck in bed for the next couple of weeks with way too much free time, and I figured I might as well put it to good use! xD )

Ohhh my god, Ari, you have no idea just how badly I wanna hug you right now. Films and filmmaking are one of my special interests and I could literally talk your ear off about the industry!

Please keep in mind that these are just my personal picks/opinions, and I am almost certainly forgetting a few because I'm doing this off of memory. I'm also not including any films that I haven't seen yet (there are a few classics that I embarrassingly just somehow never got around to seeing that are currently in my watchlist) so if you notice any strange omissions that's why. Please keep in mind that I tend to prefer dark, pessimistic films, so this list is going to reflect that.

If you'd like specific recommendations, wish for me elaborate anymore on any of these films, or want a part 2 to this, please let me know!

Also, I recently got a Letterboxd account back in December, so if you want to see what I've been watching recently, give me a follow over there!

Under a read more because this got LONG.

Alien (1979, Dir. Ridley Scott)

Aliens (1986, Dir. James Cameron)

Anthropoid (2016, Dir. Sean Ellis)

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022, Dir. Martin McDonagh)

Batman Begins (2005, Dir. Christopher Nolan)

Black Swan (2010, Dir. Darren Aronofsky)

Children of Men (2006, Dir. Alfonso Cuaron)

A Clockwork Orange (1971, Dir. Stanley Kubrick)

Clue (1985, Dir. Jonathan Lynn)

The Dark Knight (2008, Dir. Christopher Nolan)

The Dark Knight Rises (2012, Dir. Christopher Nolan)

Dune Part I (2021, Dir. Denis Villeneuve)

Dunkirk (2017, Dir. Christopher Nolan)

Get Out (2017, Dir. Jordan Peele)

The Godfather (1972, Dir. Francis Ford Coppola)

The Godfather Part II (1974, Dir. Francis Ford Coppola)

Inception (2010, Dir. Christopher Nolan)

Interstellar (2014, Dir. Christopher Nolan)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001, Dir. Peter Jackson)

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003, Dir. Peter Jackson)

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002, Dir. Peter Jackson)

Memento (2000, Dir. Christopher Nolan)

Molly's Game (2017, Dir. Aaron Sorkin)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993, Dir. Henry Selick)

No Country for Old Men (2007, Dir. Joel Coen & Ethan Coen)

Oppenheimer (2023, Dir. Christopher Nolan)

Platoon (1986, Dir. Oliver Stone)

The Prestige (2006, Dir. Christopher Nolan)

Psycho (1960, Dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

Pulp Fiction (1994, Dir. Quentin Tarantino)

Rear Window (1954, Dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

The Shining (1980, Dir. Stanley Kubrick)

The Silence of the Lambs (1991, Dir. Jonathan Demme)

Spotlight (2015, Dir. Tom McCarthy)

Titanic (1997, Dir. James Cameron)

12 Years a Slave (2013, Dir. Steve McQueen)

28 Days Later (2002, Dir. Danny Boyle)

Zero Dark Thirty (2012, Dir. Kathryn Bigelow)