#it’s funny because of the Kamala scandal

[faceyourphobia]

Donald Trump can’t even open a dumpster truck, is this actually the guy we want as our fucking dictator president?

[ultramaga]

"An aggressively racist man can still have the support of numerous people of color", says the moron incapable of consciousness. Here's an idea. Maybe he wasn't racist? Maybe, instead, you are ? "A chauvinist that wants to enforce laws" Oh no. He wants to enforce laws. How dreadful. "an restrictions on women's bodies" Everyone's body is restricted. Which is why it is a crime for a man to punch you. Every Leftist manages to forget that one the second it is inconvenient.

Good thing he enforces the laws. "coined the term "grab 'em by the pussy"" Oh, how dreadful, a heterosexual wants to touch the genitals of the opposite sex. Where is my fainting couch? Leftists always edit out the "when you’re a star, they let you do it".

Because it's inconvenient to admit that women do gravitate to high status males, even if it's just to use them as cash machines.

Oh, I am sure they let him grab more than a pussy ....

"A xenophobic man who wanted to build a wall" If he was xenophobic, he wouldn't have married his wife and certainly wouldn't be beloved by foreigners. You confuse wanting to keep out criminals with hating outsiders because you don't know there's a difference. Because you are racist, or a moron.

Walls around countries are pretty common.

Or are Indians just xenophobes as well?

"still has the support of immigrants" Yeah, the people who obey laws don't want the criminals inside the house. So what does that make you, glassmermaids?

Oh right, you are from South Africa, the country where whites are routinely murdered if they aren't behind walls. So of course you want the walls torn down - silly me!

"People still support and voted for a convicted felon" As opposed to Kamala Harris, who boasted that she broke the laws and never, ever was punished - the same laws she imprisoned young black men with, the same laws she used to make them slave for her. Of course you are in favour of two-tier justice -- rules for thee, not for me. And look at the trial -

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/29/jurors-must-be-unanimous-convict-trump-can-disagree-underlying-crimes/

THE JURORS WERE TOLD THAT THEY DIDN'T HAVE TO THINK HE WAS GUILTY OF THE ACCUSATIONS TO VOTE HIM GUILTY. There's no precedent for that.

Which is why HE HASN'T BEEN SENTENCED. It was obvious to everyone that it was a political witchhunt of exactly the sort that is routinely used in corrupt states to eliminate political opposition. So the accusation that he's a felon? He literally isn't! And the American people didn't think he was guilty either. Of course, what was he even accused of? Paying hush money to a sex worker? What happened to "sex work is real work"? Funny how that vanished the second it was inconvenient. But tell me, how many convictions did Hunter Biden get for his under-age hookers? None? Even mentioning his laptop got you censored and threatened with prison? Laws for thee, and none for meeeee! What about the cocaine in the Whitehouse? No consequences? Huh.

But as Leftists point out, it's not "hush money" when Leftist leaders do it, it's "a settlement between gentlemen and their many ladies of the night".

"People still support and voted for a convicted felon, racist, rapist" Number of convictions is zero - the best you ever got was he paid hush money to a sex worker. In fact, you know who does commit rape?

Yup! South African women are proven to be more likely to be rapists than Donald Trump. Huh. Makes me wonder. Makes the old noggin' go a'joggin'.

"people still support and voted for Donald Trump" And they will never do that to you. Your birth is back there in time, your death somewhere forward of now, and nothing in between those events will matter a fig.

So much salt.

So. Much. Salttttttt.

Rape allegations and charges do not ruin mens' lives because a rapist can run for president and win. An aggressively racist man can still have the support of numerous people of color, can run for president and win. A chauvinist that wants to enforce laws an restrictions on women's bodies and coined the term "grab 'em by the pussy" still has the support of women. A xenophobic man who wanted to build a wall to keep foreigners out of the country still has the support of immigrants. People still support and voted for a convicted felon, racist, rapist and scum of the earth. Despite it all, people still support and voted for Donald Trump.

[bllsbailey]

Trump Campaign Reacts To 'Morbid' SNL Skit Making Fun Of Trump Assassination Attempt

(Left-top) Actor and comedian James Austin Johnson attends the American Museum of Natural History’s 2023 Museum Gala at the American Museum of Natural History on November 30, 2023.(Left-bottom) Donald Trump prepares visits furniture store that was damaged during Hurricane Helene on September 30, 2024 in Valdosta, Georgia.(R) SNL Creator and producer Lorne Michaels attends 2024 Paley Honors at Cipriani 42nd Street on June 13, 2024 in New York City.

The official Trump campaign X (Twitter) page reacted to a recent “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) skit over the weekend on social media after the show’s season debut included a sketch about the July 13th assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.

In the sketch, actor and comedian James Austin Johnson, 35, portrayed Donald Trump while attempting to poke fun at the former president during one of his rallies, referencing the July 13th murder attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“Where the hell is everyone going? Where are you going?” Johnson said in the skit, while dressed in his Trump makeup, hair, and costume. “I see you trying to leave, but the doors are locked. Come on back—we’re having fun. We love my rallies, except when someone does the ‘bing, bong, bing, bing, bing’ right at me. You know that happened, because of the rhetoric of the radical left? They say that me blaming the Democrats for inciting violence is the pot calling the kettle black.”

However, many conservatives on social media platforms were confused by the sketch’s “pot calling the kettle black” line, as no conservative has attempted to assassinate Democrat President Joe Biden or Kamala Harris, unlike Trump, who has now had two men come close to taking his life.

“You realize a man was killed and two others seriously wounded, right? But, go ahead with your pathetic little show,” said one X user replying to the skit.

Liberal SNL cast member and writer Colin Jost also had some bold words to say in reference to the assassination attempt on Trump’s life during a recent “Weekend Update” segment of the show.

“Speaking of, Melania Trump gave a rare TV interview this week in which she blamed Democrats for creating conditions that led to Trump’s assassination attempts, which is ridiculous. When Democrats want to take out a presidential candidate, they get the job done,” Jost said, which could be referencing how some Democrats believe that the 20-year-old Trump shooter was a Republican, or how the party kicked Joe Biden to the curb during his reelection campaign, or even the assassination of JFK in 1963.

This most recent Trump skit comes after SNL’s creator and producer, Lorne Michaels, previously told journalists working for New York Magazine that Republicans tend to have a better sense of humor than Democrats.

“Republicans are easier for us than Democrats,” Lorne Michaels told New York Magazine in a past interview. “Democrats tend to take it personally; Republicans think it’s funny,” he added.

Since its debut in 1975, NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” has typically always featured political satire, with a wealth of material derived from scandals, missteps, and elections.

Michaels hinted that SNL’s Trump imitation will need to be recreated in a recent cover article for the Hollywood Reporter, similar to how it was recreated when cast member James Austin Johnson, who played him in this most recent skit, replaced SNL’s former Trump impersonator, Alec Baldwin.

Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts

[sergeant-angels-trashcan]

the more i think about it the more i’m convinced the young avengers represent a HUGE missed opportunity for Marvel (mostly the comics, but MCU as well)

because the Young Avengers are millennials. based on their ages and the release of their first comic, they are. and I know that some of you are like “well that’s not important” but as a millennial I can assure you one of the first things I realized when reading that comic was that, with the exception of Nate, all of them would have witnessed and dealt with the immediate aftermath of the Trade Towers coming down and that there was no way that didn’t influence at least some of them in their desire to become superheroes. That they would have come of age during the great recession, that they would remember a time before Columbine and a time After, the Clinton sex scandal, the endless war in the middle east, the birth of the modern internet, hanging chads, crushing debt, and being told that they’re lazy and entitled, and that this is the perfect group to have in opposition to government contractor superheroes. 

Talk about Civil War and superhero registration now. With a bunch of disenfranchised technically-adults who have been hearing the message that the government doesn’t care about regular people for their entire lives and are finally like “you know what? fuck you. we’ll protect people whether or not you want us to since YOU’RE not doing it”. reconnect with the vigilante part of superheroes. What prompts someone to be a vigilante when there are government-sanctioned superheroes? What experience does someone have with the government that prompts them to do things the government might approve of but without government support?

and that’s the essence of the young avengers! their first interaction with the Avengers was being told to stop. 

(and also. kinda funny. that maybe they stopped being a team a decade ago but you’ve pissed them off so bad that they’re coming out of retirement to be the Most Done superheroes ever)

and it would be so satisfying to team them up with the Actually Young Heroes, like Kamala. Because there’s a really interesting juxtaposition between Gen Z and Millennials that you could really show in superhero stuff, if you’d just let everyone Be An Actual Age for half a second. And it’s late/early and I’m stress brain so I don’t know if this will make sense but I think it boils down to expectations and belief. 

Millennials (and therefore Millennial heroes) remember a time when things were Better Than Now In Some Ways. And they remember The Moment It Changed. And they had a time when they believed that people--the government, authorities, people in charge--actually had their best interests at heart. And part of that is being young, and part of that is a culture of fear, and part of that is remembering the Before Times. And then you realize that it’s all bullshit and you’re just tired. you’ve been lied to but so has everyone else and you have to make sure your anger is directed the right place this time and you have to triple check because you need to make sure nobody has an agenda when they say This Person is the Enemy, because everyone believed them last time and it turns out we really wanted oil.

Whereas Gen Z and Gen Z heroes...that’s just what they know. They never lived in the Before Times. They’ve always known Hopes and Prayers and No Real Action. It’s a tiredness of having always fought the fight, and never trusting the promise that it will get better because you know better. 

anyway i love that the young avengers get to be on other teams but I also think that they should be allowed to exist as their own team again. partially because i’m emotionally invested in them and partly because i think there’s points to be made

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #536

Top Ten Legacy Superheroes

So Ms. Marvel is out. At the time of writing, I’ve not watched the first episode yet; I was out on Wednesday watching Everything Everywhere All at Once. Anyway, it’s about Ms. Marvel, a superhero, but get this: she’s not the first person to be called Ms. Marvel. Oh no; it’s actually the name of another superhero. Scandal! The tea leaf! But no, it’s okay: these things happen in comics. It’s quite ordinary. One hero retires or dies or is promoted or whatever, and another person steps into their cowl to assume their heroic identity. These are “legacy heroes”.

Now, in the MCU, it’s a bit weird because Carol Danvers has never been Ms. Marvel; she got blasted by Annette Benning’s magical box (oo-er) and, after being gaslit by Jude Law for a little bit, just went straight to “Captain Marvel” without any in-between rigamarole. But it’s true that, as a comic book character at least, Kamala Khan is a legacy hero, adopting the mantle of Ms. Marvel after Danvers discarded it. And she’s following in a long line of successor supes.

And that’s that, really. A fairly short preamble this week. Except to say that some of these are absolutely my most favourite characters ever. Oh, and their status in this list is a determination of how I feel they have best adopted the legacy title; that is to say, how much they succeeded in making it their own, how well they performed the duties as that particular hero. It’s not really a popularity contest, otherwise Dick Grayson would win.

Batgirl (all of them, from 1967): I had to include her, because there have been multiple girl bats, and all of them absolutely rock. The definitive Batgirl, in pop culture terms – the one from the sixties show and the nineties animation and the upcoming movie – is Barbara Gordon, daughter of Commissioner Gordon, but even she wasn’t the first Batgirl. She inherited the mantle from Betty Kane, niece of Kathy Kane, the Batwoman (technically, Betty stylised it as “Bat-Girl”, predating Spider-Man’s love of hyphens). Comics continuity being what it was back then, there was no real handover or acknowledgement of the change, and it’s fair to say that, generally speaking, Betty’s time in the cowl has been written out of continuity, so that Babs is usually considered the inaugural Batgirl. However, Barbara was famously – infamously – crippled by the Joker in the 1980s, and over the years saw a number of replacements stepping in to be the new Batgirl: Helena Bertinelli, Cassandra Cain, and Stephanie Brown. Helena – aka the Huntress – was more of a plot point stop-gap, but both Cass and Steph were the real deal, genuine successors to the role, and both were tremendous, anchoring themselves and making it their own outside of Babs’ shadow. Cass was silent but deadly (er, not like that), a mute assassin trying to atone, in a head-to-toe all-black number, very much a junior Batman; Steph, on the other hand, had a far gaudier costume with pink highlights and yellow pouches, and was a less capable but far sunnier presence, like Spider-Man in a batsuit. All of them are tremendous characters, and to celebrate the variety and success of the disparate Batgirls, I’m counting them all as number one.

Robin (Tim Drake, 1990): Batgirl might have the edge on numbers, but if there’s one hero who most made a legacy role their own, it’s Tim Drake. He’s not the first Robin – not even the second – but he’s the definitive Robin. He’s the platonic ideal of Robin. If, for thirty years or more, the Batman mythos has solidified around four key personalities – Batman, Nightwing, Robin, and Batgirl – then Tim just is Robin. He’s the default Robin. His success is because he feels, like Peter Parker, a relatively realistic teenager in the way Dick Grayson arguably didn’t. He’s also part Grayson, part Wayne, but – at least originally – distinct and divorced from the two of them. A nerdy computer whiz kid who’s also funny and empathetic, but more pragmatic and colder than Dick; someone who isn’t peak-human, uber-trained, the world’s greatest acrobat. He works at it. He embodies the best qualities of the heroes that preceded him, but makes the role his own.

The Flash (Wally West, 1986): another character who absolutely claimed the mantle given to him in such a way that, for a generation, he’ll always be the true incarnation. A looser, funnier version of the Flash than his staid uncle Barry Allen, Wally was young – barely off the Teen Titans – when destiny (and a Crisis event) handed him the red pyjamas. And he grew into it, struggling, cocking up, learning and growing – not just as a hero, but as a person. He got married and had a family, he remained a devoted friend to the Titans, and he brought a bit of youthful vigour to an aging Justice League. He also represented DC’s willingness to age its characters, to allow them to mature and move on, in a way that sadly seems to have been reversed. He’s so cool in the role, so iconic, he was the default Flash in the Justice League cartoon, and there’s no greater compliment than that.

Batman (Dick Grayson, 1994): Dick arguably inherited his Nightwing identity from an old Kryptonian legend, so maybe the world’s first Robin was already a legacy hero, but it’s in his almost-inevitable ascension to the role of Batman that puts him on this list. He’s donned the pointy ears a couple of times, first in 1994 (and these dates, incidentally, are when the characters debuted in these roles), although I’d argue his greatest stint was in Grant Morrison’s Batman and Robin comic and its related series. Like Wally as the Flash, Dick is a wittier and warmer presence, a much more open-hearted vision of Batman. His lithe acrobatics suit the character, and in Frank Quitely’s subtly tweaked version of the Batsuit, he cuts a leaner figure than Bruce, his cape shorter, his fists smaller. He managed to be Batman with a twinkle in his eye, bringing a touch of the Roger Moores to his interpretation of Batman as a hairy-chested love-god. But it’s in his warm relationships with his colleagues and other heroes that he excels, as Dick always does, the most empathetic and friendly of characters; he supports and encourages, especially his Robin, Damian Wayne. Their relationship is an absolute delight, and whilst Damian isn’t my favourite Robin, their version of the Dynamic Duo is one for the ages.

Black Canary (Dinah Laurel Lance, 1986): making the current Black Canary the daughter of the Golden Age character was a stroke of genius, at once recognising decades-past comics as being part of the continuity, but also adding a sense of gravitas and longevity to the tale. It also gives Dinah a great backstory and helps with her origin. But in another way it’s irrelevant; I didn’t know, when I started reading comics earnestly about twenty years ago, that she was supposed to be a second-generation hero. Dinah is great regardless, a determined and self-possessed woman, a formidable fighter and natural leader, but one also possessed of warmth and empathy. Her tumultuous relationship with Green Arrow is iconic and beautiful but also believable in all its rollercoaster turns. And she has an awesome costume. By this point, surely, she’s the one and only Black Canary in any way that matters, yeah?

Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan, 2014): ah, a Marvel character, how quaint. It’s true and fair that, for years, it was DC who were the “Legacy Company”, trading on their great history, unafraid to bench or even write off significant characters and allow another secret identity to take them over. Here, though, we have a truly excellent re-imagining of a classic hero. Kamala came from nowhere, a totally believable and instantly loveable creation, showing us a hitherto under-explored portion not of the Marvel Universe but of our own; a child of immigrants living in America, a Muslim, a brown-skinned girl torn between two cultures and traditions. It gave us a fresh and vibrant twist on the usual teen hero tropes and was all the better for it. Plus Kamala is just fun and funny and great all round.

The Question (Renee Montoya, 2007): probably not one with the legs of other characters on this list, as I’m fairly certain she’s already been retconned away, but I loved Montoya as the Question. Already an excellent supporting character in Batman comics, Montoya grew slowly over the years, being given more depth and nuance – we discovered she was gay (arguably one of the first prominent gay characters in superhero comics), and then she drifted into alcoholism, losing her job and becoming nihilistic and self-destructive. In the series 52, she inherited the mask of the Question, becoming basically a badass P.I. in a totally terrific outfit. She suited the role perfectly, and it became one of those brilliant bits of the DC Universe that I felt just really worked (like the Riddler also becoming a P.I.). I love Montoya, she’s great, and it was so cool to see her properly rubbing shoulders with other superheroes.

Spider-Man (Miles Morales, 2011): how can you top Peter Parker? He’s an icon, one of the few superheroes everyone knows. He feels so indelibly linked to Spidey that it’s a fool’s errand to replace him, surely. But Miles managed it. Earnest and clumsy, with his own sense of guilt and justice to guide him, he was a worthy successor to the spider-mantle, and brought a welcome dose of youth and naivete to the role nearly fifty years after Spidey’s debut. He also, and let’s not understate this, brought some diversity to the overwhelmingly white ranks of big mainstream comic book heroes. Like Kamala Khan, it gave us a new window onto the life of a hero, a twist on a story we may be used to, and was also more realistic and reflective of the times in which it was written. Now, of course, Miles Morales is ascendent, with movies and videogames, and everyone knows who he is and why he rocks as Spider-Man.

Wonder Girl (Donna Troy, 1965): this one feels a bit weird because whilst she’s an awesome character, arguably people don’t associate her quite so much with her legacy role. But technically Donna was the second Wonder Girl, adopting the role her sister Diana had as a child; the actual real-life circumstances of this are a bit weird and amusing (rumour has it the creators of the first Teen Titans story didn’t know the previous appearances of Wonder Girl were of a young Wonder Woman and not a separate character), and Donna was a regular fixture in the Titans. She was an essential part of the Titans’ great run in the eighties, but it’s here where – like Dick Grayson’s Robin becoming Nightwing – she eventually dropped the Wonder Girl mantle. Nowadays she’s usually just “Donna Troy”, but her compassion and integrity still shine through. I also really, really love her platonic relationship with Dick; it’s still quite rare to see two people who might otherwise become a couple instead just remain very close friends.

Death’s Head II (1992): sorry, Kyle Rayner; I love you as Green Lantern (and John Stewart, too), but I had an excuse to put my boy in the list and I took it. Death’s Head rocks, one of my favourite characters, and his successor – Death’s Head II, natch – is always interesting to me, even if it’s probably more for his place in history than his actual character. He was an attempt to create an iconic figurehead for Marvel UK as it sought to branch out with “American-style” comics in the nineties; a hulkier yet more organic-looking mechanoid than his predecessor, he exemplified the excesses of the “extreme” era of comics. He does have a striking design, with his demonic skull-like face and weird morphing arm. And the fact that he adopted the role after killing the first Death’s Head and absorbing his personality just makes him all the more edgy and – yes – extreme. Whilst I still prefer my freelance peacekeeping agents to have a little more chrome on their dome, DHII still rocks.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #464

Top Ten Feelgood Moments in Movies

Serendipity’s a funny thing, isn’t it? I’ve been planning to make this week about feelgood films since, oooh, late November maybe. I mean, we’ve had enough misery since 2016 to last us an entire Middle-Earth Extended Edition boxset. We need our Pelennor Fields moments wherever we can get them, and Joe Biden being sworn in as President is a good a moment as any right now. So anyway, that was the plan, and then along comes good old Empire magazine with a month dedicated to top cinema moments. They’re not all feelgood, to be fair – there’s the chestburster scene from Alien for a kick-off – but it’s one of those instances of curious synchronicity. What I’m saying is, I didn’t rip them off, okay? This was percolating since the Tangerine Nightmare lost Georgia.

Anyway: feelgood.

This was surprisingly hard, because the moments that I cherish aren’t always feelgood. Even in Lord of the Rings, even in the Pelennor Fields, the whole Ride of the Rohirrim stuff is laced with tragedy. The best bits of those films – “Fly, you fools!”, “For Frodo,” “I can’t carry it but I can carry you,” “Go away and don’t come back” – they’re all melancholy, aren’t they? It’s a saga about people being heroic under duress, and in those cases quite often people don’t make it back all in one piece. Think about Pixar, what are the great moments? “Thanks for the adventure, “So long partner,” “Take her to the moon for me” – they’re all about loss. Or rather, new joy from loss, hope from despair, that kind of thing. They’re terrific, they always make me cry, but they’re not exactly feelgood if you know what I mean.

So here we are. Moments of utter joy, that’s what I’m after. Heart soaring, tears pouring, euphoric moments of extreme happiness. I’ve tried for the most part to avoid joyous moments of excess: there’s one explosion and one bit where a dude gets stabbed in the face, but for the most part I’ve eschewed “feelgood violence” for want of a better word. These are scenes that are supposed to make you smile.

And y’know what? We could all do with smiling more in this day and age.

Good luck, Joe and Kamala. Do a good job. Take us to the moon.

(P.S. spoiler alert for, well, pretty much every film in the list)

“Happy birthday, Aunt Lucy.” (Paddington 2, 2017): after ninety minutes of watching Paddington bring out the best in everybody just by existing, we all feel he deserves a happy ending. And everyone pulls together and gets it for him. Everyone he’s helped, everyone whose life he touched, they’re all there, leading Paddington – and us – to the door. As an adult, you know what’s coming; kids are less sure. But it’s a joyous moment of nothing but true happiness. Two CGI characters hug with such sincerity you can feel the warmth from the screen, and then comes those last words – quiet, whispered, almost thrown away. It’s perfect.

“When you realise you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” (When Harry Met Sally, 1989): romcom endings are very hard. You’ve navigated a couple’s relationship, generally speaking you’ve split them up in act three, and now they need to get back together in a big, extravagant way, that undoes the plot machinations that separated them. No one does it as well as Harry here, delivering a soliloquy on what it means to be in love, loving a person’s quirks and foibles and how they occupy your mind, ending with that superb line. Sally says it best: when he says stuff like that, he makes it impossible for us to hate him.

“On your left.” (Avengers: Endgame, 2019): Captain America stands alone, battered and beaten, his unbreakable shield broken. The vast armies of Thanos stand before him. He faces certain death, and the probable destruction of everything. He grits his teeth, tightens his shield straps, and then… Sam Wilson’s voice, delivering a line from several films ago, a moment of levity and shared continuity. His friends arrive, slowly at first; Black Panther, the Guardians, Spider-Man. Legions from across the cosmos. “Is that everyone?” asks Doctor Strange. “You wanted more?!” replies Wong. And then giant Ant-Man bursts through a building, with Hulk and co. An army of good from across the galaxy to face the forces of evil. Cap calls forth Mjolnir (and that moment was so nearly my choice), and then… “Avengers… assemble.”

“That’ll do, pig.” (Babe, 1995): Babe is one of those films that’s mostly joy: feelgood throughout, really, despite moments of drama or sadness. But after some nail-biting scenes as Farmer Hoggett and his piggy bud do their sheepdog act, we have a moment of angsty silence before the crowd goes ballistic, cheers everywhere, women crying, top marks. And then very softly, oh-so-tenderly, Hoggett’s great catchphrase. It’ll do. It’ll always do.

“Indiana… let it go.” (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, 1989): a film built on witty repartee and full-throated spectacle, Crusade lingers in the memory due to the subtle character work between father and son. They mend their fractured relationship over the course of the movie, but it’s really symbolised when Henry saves “Junior” at the expense of rescuing the Grail, calling Indiana by his chosen name for the first time in the film. It’s a great character beat, and is followed shortly afterwards by the protagonists literally riding off into the sunset.

“I am no man!” (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2003): as I alluded to above, the Rings trilogy is full of incredible moments of awe, pathos, tragic heroism, and bittersweet joy. But arguably the biggest cheer is reserved for when Eowyn of Rohan dispatches the Witch-King of Angmar courtesy of a Shakespearean loophole in his whole “no man can kill me!” schtick. Coming between the awe-inspiring Ride of the Rohirrim and the death of Theoden, it’s a terrific punch of joy and satisfaction.

“E.T. phone HOOOOOME!” (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982): E.T. is another of those films full of joy, but it’s also tinged with sadness. Melancholia bleeds into the film like sunlight through Elliot’s blinds. E.T. himself spends half the film getting sicker and sicker, until he appears to die, all pale and cold-looking. But then! The flower comes back to life! His heart glows bright red, visible through his weird hyperbaric chamber/coffin thing! Elliot flings back the lid, and E.T. barks his catchphrase euphorically. God, it’s great.

“Andy Dufresne, who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.” (The Shawshank Redemption, 1994): it’s a bit of a grim watch, Shawshank; this isn’t a Paddington-style joy-fest. Andy is wrongfully impression and then spends twenty years being brow-beaten and abused before making his escape. But what an escape; not just the audacity of it – not just the fact he gets out at all – but how he ingeniously tunnels his way out over the decades, steals the warden’s ill-gotten money, exposes the scandal at the prison, and – as Red says – crawls through a sewer. It’s a beautifully put-together scene, everyone getting their just desserts and deserved rewards, and is capped off shortly after when Red himself is released and gets to retire alongside his friend.

“You’re all clear, kid, now let’s blow this thing and go home!” (Star Wars, 1977): I almost had the mothership explosion from Independence Day on this list, because I remember how much that impacted me as a teenager; seeing the baddie aliens get theirs was just great. But really it’s a replication of this, the grandaddy of all “beating the bad guys” big bangs. Luke, whiney teenager from nowhere, ends up flying an X-Wing against the evil oppressive Empire’s mighty Death Star. When all hope seems lost, Han Solo returns, proving his heroism, knocking Darth Vader for six and leaving our hero free and clear to use the Force, Luke. Cue phenomenal fireball. Joy!

“I’m singin’ in the rain…” (Singin’ in the Rain, 1952): musicals are joyous, aren’t they? A proper old-fashioned feelgood sing-song can be transcendent. “Singin’ in the Rain” – as in, the song/dance number – is about a bloke so bloody happy that he doesn’t care if he gets wet. It’s a euphoric statement of intent, a declaration of both love and supreme serenity in and of itself. And as a piece of cinema, it’s all that and more; an escalating dance routine, as the music soars and the camera lifts up, and we take in the splendour of this one bloke kicking in puddles. It’s daft, it’s funny, and it’s just, well, feelgood.