#keyser soze is everything

[undergroundusa]

"From open borders to the expansion of Executive Branch power to balkanizing our society by race, gender, and economics to destroying the worth of the US dollar, everything the Obamaites of the Biden administration have instituted has been destructive to our Republic…"

ORIGINAL CONTENT: https://www.undergroundusa.com/p/is-biden-keyser-soze-ing-the-constitution

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE, SHARE & EDUCATE

Is Biden ‘Keyser Söze-ing’ The Constitution On His Way Out?

[andrewtverylegitimateblog]

Rashomon and The Usual Suspects

Who is Keyser Soze? Who actually killed that samurai? Why does Kevin Spacey look like Pee Wee Herman in this? Toshiro Mifune sure looked like he had fun running around, don't you think? These are all things I thought while I watched both Rashomon and The Usual Suspects respectively. While I feel there is grounds for comparison between Rashomon and The Usual Suspects I feel that perhaps this may not be the most productive way to discuss these films.

Rashomon and The Usual Suspects might in their simplest forms be reduced to two films that are essentially about a deeper world of darkness and terror that exist beyond what we can or even might want to perceive. The Usual Suspects departs considerably from Rashomon in many ways however.

Rashomon follows a series of simple archetype characters throughout it's narrative: woodcutter, priest, samurai, bandit, lady, and vagrant. Each of them occupies a particular role and is presented in a way to the audience that correlates immediately to every aspect of what is presented to the audience visually. We are presented four respective stories and are asked to make judgements based on these conflicting accounts.

The Usual Suspects follows a gang of five self-interested criminal associates after they're drawn back together following an interrogation in which they're all held under suspicion on trumped up-charges. Afterwards they all fall back into their old habits and return to working together. While one might argue that some of the characters are archetypes, the hard ass New York police detective or the former criminal doing their best to go straight. None of them particularly embody the same folk-tale character role that any of the characters do in Rashomon. Perhaps the largest departure from Rashomon is that there are not multiple narrators but one.

Verbal is often presented as one of the weaker members of the criminal group. Physically disabled and burdened with a constant limp he's most times spoken at and not with. In many shots he's almost entirely to the side or almost just within frame.

Verbal presents the entire story of the film. Everything we are told about what occurred to his associates and their ultimate demise is entirely conveyed to the audience through his own words. Scenes outside of the room in which Verbal is being interrogated provide us with some insight into the reverberations on the incident that ended in the death of his comrades and the "deal that went wrong". As his story progresses an essential figure becomes the target of interest.

Keyser Soze is all things criminal, he is all things evil, and he is the very embodiment of brutality. His victims are numerous and are not only limited to smugglers and killers but innocent women and children. Verbal is eventually broken down and learns that he was betrayed by what he thought to be his only friend who was in fact the shadow Keyser Soze, and straggles out of the police station . It is at this point The Usual Suspects become an evolution upon Rashomon. We learn that the identity of the criminal matches precisely with that of Verbal based on a police sketch. Keyser Soze is Verbal.

Everything is suspected to be a fiction. Every plot point, every interaction, and all things contained within the world presented to us by Verbal are now all in doubt. Rashomon presents the audience with some leading throughline, it's four main narrators, and allows the audience to deduce from them what may or may not be true. In the closing scene of The Usual Suspects we learn that everything we were just told may in every way be a fabrication. The madness, deception, and confusion that make up Rashomon take on even grander form as EVERYTHING is brought into question.

Personally I feel that Rashomon is in every way conceivable the superior film. It's actors, camera work, and narrative appeal to me more than anything in The Usual Suspects did. I understand fully why The Usual Suspects holds the level of acclaim it does, but the late 90s crime drama and overall story fall flat compared to the absurd historical epic that is Rashomon.

[originallandlockedmariner]

A short course on surviving the web (pilfered from a friend)

Thing is: the internet’s made of IP addresses, algorithms, opinions, and relentless arseholes. It’s what’s there. That’s the basic equipment. A short course on surviving the web: 1.Everything’s amplified. Except subtlety. 2.Say things you believe - and can prove are true. 3.No one truly understands; no one cares. 4.Never explain yourself. Drop a comment and then pull a Keyser Soze. 5.Apologize less; think more. Listen more. Learn more. 6.Avatars aren’t people; people aren’t avatars. 7.Everyone thinks you’re talking to them. Seriously. 8.Distinguish attacks against people from attacks against one person. 9.Assume everyone is alone, drunk, and a little feistier than they’d like. 10.Never argue in public. absolutely never. 11.When in doubt, take it offline. 12.Your hundreds of “friends” aren’t friends. 13.Embrace “hypocrisy.” Master the flip flop. It drives critics crazy. 14.Remember who your *real* friends are. 15.Remember who *you* are. 16.Remember you can always stop. Anything. Any time. 17.Never make lists of rules.

[gooodtoast]

I think the best thing about the succession finale and the Tom twist at the end was that it’s not just a shocking thing to pull out of nowhere. The past season has been leading up to this the whole time within the narrative of the story and also the little quotes and details were then called-back to in the finale. Everything came together perfectly. A real Keyser Soze moment to me.

[rye-views]

The Usual Suspects (1995) dir. Bryan Singer. 7.3/10

I don’t enjoy when people are so pathetic right before they die when they knew what they were getting themselves into.

I love that Mcmanus had to pet the dog.

I could never be a top notch criminal.

Spoiler: [About 5 criminals being rounded up for a lineup for a truck hijacking. Four of them are notorious and one guy doesn’t fit in. They end up getting released but team up. They steal emeralds from a criminal, who is being escorted by the cops. The whole event gets the cops in trouble. They meet with a guy named Redfoot, who offers them another job of a jewel heist, which then goes wrong. They meet a lawyer named Kobayashi, who says he works for Keyser Soze, who wants them to a job for him because everyone individually had unknowingly stolen from him before. Keyser is known in the criminal world as the baddest and no one even knows who he is. They have to stop a ship filled with $91 mil worth of the cocaine. The ship is blown up, along with many Hungarians on the boat, and none survive. One Hungarian is found and speaks that Keyser was on the ship. One of the 5 criminals, Verbal, is the only who gets out because he was ordered by one of the others, Keaton, to stay behind and get his lawyer girlfriend to help and be helped. Verbal is the one being investigated for further information even though he has immunity. There was no coke on the ship, turns out, and the reason for all of it was to kill one man in the ship, who was the only man in the world able to identify Keyser. Keyser personally was there to kill him. Verbal explains everything. The cop gets more of the story and concludes that Keaton was Keyser. Keaton led everything and made sure Verbal survived, because he was the weakest one in the group. Verbal insists Keaton was his friend. He then posts bail and leaves. The cop, Kujan, ends up looking at the bulletin board in his office with evidence of the entire story and realizes that everything Verbal was saying was coming from little bits and pieces of what’s on the wall. A fax comes in at that moment of a facial composite of Soze, which is Verbal. Verbal gets away as the cop hurries after him.]

[agoddamn]

Like it may be just me being Catholic but I've never had a problem with how Rhea talks about the Church's enemies. "Those who turn their blades against the Church will die.". Well YEAH generally trying to kill someone will get you killed back it might be harsh but that's pretty standard by medieval standards. Considering she ONLY shows animosity to people actually trying to kill her (and remember, those people are fine killing children) I'm not sure what it is people find wrong about her.

I think a lot of it comes from a hair-trigger sensitivity to religious people multiplied by 3H's own writing issues.

This is the most elegant way I've managed to describe it…

Part 1 of 3H is set up around casting suspicion on Rhea.

Part 2 is NOT set up around exonerating her or properly contextualizing her actions.

(To be clear I don't mean "exonerating" as in unironic SHE DID NOTHING WRONG EVER, but, say, explaining that Rhea wasn't trying to steal the Lance of Ruin for nefarious purposes, but to reclaim her family's bones. Exonerating her from the specific shady implications made in part 1.)

In all four routes, part 2 is instead set up around the Lord's rough arc. You don't know shit about what's going on at large. The moment the twist--Edelgard attacking instead of Rhea and Rhea being a dragon--happens, instead of exploring what just happened and what that means about your assumptions up until now you are flung directly into the timeskip. The immediate revelations you just experienced are old news to all of the characters who can speak, and the story pivots toward a straightforward war conflict instead.

In half of the routes, all the true information is flung at you in a massive infodump at once near the very end. Instead of getting a chance to absorb this information and how it relates to what you've been told up until now, the game ends with "happily ever after" text.

Claude's path is the only one where a character actively chases the truth in part 2, but even there the information is saved for the finale infodump instead of being integrated into the story.

This is, objectively, a terrible way to tell a mystery story unless you're trying for some Keyser Soze-level mindfuck.

I think the game expects you to take everything you've learned and apply it to your next playthrough, but that's not the same thing as having characters realize their assumptions were incredibly wrong on-screen. I don't think anyone ever actually reacts to the revelation that the Hero Relics are corpses, do they? That's a massive missed opportunity. Every character is robbed of the chance to react to the world they're in.

Imagine anyone getting to realize how their world is build on murder. That would have been incredible, but we didn't get it.

[objectsthattalk]

The Trick Of The Trade

Theme: Collecting

The question was:

On who do you think is the onus/responsibility in acquiring legally sourced/purchased or authentic artifacts for the museum? The art dealer, auction house, museum curator, museum executives, etc.? Why? Do you think it makes a difference for visitors to museums? Explain.

So here’s my answer:

The art of collecting isn’t for the faint-hearted it requires one to jump through the cultural and legal obstacles that come your way... and that’s the easy part. Once the collector does his thing, flying into a foreign country, immersing himself into the country so much, has a coffee (or two), he then has this urge of picking up some extra souvenirs (you know to tie the room/workspace together). He returns home, either with the souvenirs on the person or the souvenirs arrive a few weeks later. Now he has to come up with an excuse for how he acquired said souvenirs so he “turns to the five myths” (Elia 2010). After all, that is done the souvenir turns out to be a priceless heirloom that he just so happened to have found. Now to me, this story sounds too good to be true but the people at the museums do not know that, nor they care how it has ended up in the museum. Matter of fact the patrons are glad it ended up in the museum and not in some private collection because then they will not be able to see it.

I believe it was Keyser Soze once said: “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.” Turns out Keyser Soze was quoting Charles Baudelaire (a famous French poet). Well, the greatest trick the collectors/curators pull is that they prove time and time again, they are not the problem to the antiquity industry. If they are not hiring people to obtain the material for them or going in and taking a slice of the action everything would be simple. Unfortunately, the research the collectors do for finding a specific reason why they must have that priceless heirloom makes it okay for them to continue the practise they do. Mind you I too am a collector but there are right and wrong ways to do it and in the confines of material culture, through the collection practises museums have partaken in or continue to partake in are inherently wrong. But we are taking little shuffles in the right direction ending up at a masterpiece that only one could dream of and that is the portrait of an honest collector.

By: Nicholas Bosco

Works Cited:

R. J. Elia. “Mythology of the Antiquities Market.” In Cultural Heritage Issues: The Legacy of Conquest, Colonization, and Commerce, edited by J. A. R. Nafziger and A. M. Nicgorski. Leiden, NL: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2010, pp. 239-255.

The Usual Suspects by Bryan Singer

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael After Midnight: TGWTG Anniversary Crossovers

I think enough time has passed where I can talk about these films without looking like I’m jumping on a trend.

Back when it was, you know, an actual thing, Channel Awesome would every so often gather together and make a big-as anniversary film to celebrate the site. The movies would always be these massive doorstoppers where everyone would be running around in Halloween costumes of whatever character they liked the most that fit the theme and fighting some random villain. None of this ever really tied in to their work, and none of this even remotely had anything to do with reviews. It was all just hanging around with friends and having dumb fun, and when I was younger I kind of just accepted that.

But certain revelations have made that dubious. No one was having fun making these. Everyone was miserable, except perhaps Doug Walker, who was just utterly oblivious to the plight of his coworkers. There was seedy stuff going on, people were pretty much being tortured and abused, and it’s a wonder anyone was ever able to feign enjoyment in any of their scenes. And looking back on these movies I used to remember fondly, I have to say… they kind of really, legitimately suck ass. These three films – Kickassia, Suburban Knights, and To Boldly Flee – are just legitimately painful and depressing to sit through, for reasons both meta and writing-wise.

The biggest problem with all of them is their humor, which is a pretty big problem when you’re starring a bunch of comedians, some of whom can be legitimately funny. The worst bits tend to revolve around the mind-boggling number of references they cram into each script; To Boldly Flee and Suburban Knights are much worse in this regard, as they have all of the actors literally dressed up as their favorite characters, but there are two examples of this sort of thing that shine as the worst examples of all. The first is Lindsay Ellis doing a Sarah Palin impersonation in Kickassia; Palin was such a flash-in-the-pan politician that it instantly dates the whole movie, and I don’t know if it was just bad writing, lack of direction, or what, but Ellis just fails to make this joke work at all. Like I know I can’t expect this to be as funny as Iron Sky’s Palin riffing, but still, it’s just sad.

The absolute worst, however, is JO in To Boldly Flee as Ed from Cowboy Bepob… at least that’s who I think he’s supposed to be playing. I know nothing about Cowboy Bebop and have outright refused to ever watch it because if Ed is anything like how JO played her, I’m going to fucking hate the whole show, Steve Blum and Melissa Fahn be damned. JO’s portrayal is whiny, hyper, annoying, manic, obnoxious… there’s not a single positive thing that can be said. His performance of the character is pretty much the poster child for just how absolutely awful these movies could get.

There’s also a lot of jokes where the punchline is basically just “this guy’s body/genitalia is funny, teehee.” Suburban Knights and To Boldly Flee have some truly awful examples of this, such as the numerous upskirts Doug Walker gets as Link and the infamous Spoony Dune scene. But even that isn’t the worst of it. The worst of it comes from the frequent states of near-nudity that Justin “JewWario” Carmichael would find himself in throughout these films. To Boldly Flee has him channeling George Takei and fencing without his shirt on, which is bad enough, but Suburban Knights has perhaps the worst scene of all, in any of these films, though only with hindsight.

For those of you not familiar, JewWario was outed as a creepy sexual predator during the whole #ChangeTheChannel fiasco. The guy groomed young women and did god knows what else during his time on the site, with none of his coworkers any the wiser and the management doing their best to cover it up; in fact, everyone only found out because the suits who owned CA made a huge blunder during their rebuttal of the claims of its former employees. With all of that context, please try and rewatch Suburban Knights’ climax in which JewWario helps save the day by revealing his penis to everyone. This right here is Keyser Soze levels of “uncomfortable in hindsight.”

The stories aren’t much better, and often fall into the same sort of issues that The Angry Video Game Nerd movie fell into, in that nothing in these films really showcases why we love the reviewers; Kickassia infamously has the Dr. Insano twist, as one example of how they botched this. All of these movies just feel too epic in scope and don’t really try to incorporate anything that we love about these reviewers into the films. Only To Boldly Flee really does anything right in that regard, as it throws back to everything from oneshot Nostalgia Critic villains to the Todd-Lindsay-Lupa love triangle to Phelous dying… the real problem is you have to actually sit through To Boldly Flee to see that. The movies go for these epic plots where the reviewers do cool shit like take over micronations (Kickassia), quest for powerful artifacts (Suburban Knights), or deal with extremely heavy-handed and hamfisted allegories for internet privacy bills (To Boldly Flee). You’d think maybe throwing a bunch of comedians into an epic plot like any of these could lead to some funny jokes, or maybe some sort of Monty Python-esque parody, but no, instead these comedians decide to revel in melodrama and try to genuinely act, with EXTREMELY mixed results. It doesn’t help that some of these people just aren’t even remotely funny when they’re trying to be.

Here’s the thing with The Angry Video Game Nerd’s movie, in comparison to these, though: it may have had this epic, ridiculous, goofy plot involving Area 51, kaiju, aliens, and crappy Atari games buried in a landfill, but the entire plot was building up to, and ultimately delivered on, the promise of the long-awaited review of the E.T. game. For all the film’s flaws, Rolfe knew what we loved about the Nerd, he knew what the fans wanted, and by god did he give it to them in the silliest, most epic way possible. Even if I didn’t love the film, the fact Rolfe knew why we’d want to see a feature-length Nerd film in the first place speaks volumes about how he understands that he can do what will make him happy artistically and still show the fans what they want to see.

These movies from the Channel Awesome crew don’t seem to get that at all. They don’t build up to a review. They don’t build up to them discovering the worst movie or song or whatever they review. They’re all very straightforward genre comedies where they can make a bunch of shallow, Seltzer & Friedberg-esque “Look at this thing that exists! That’s a joke right?” references. Aside from seeing your favorite reviewers in a goofy plot like this, where is there any bit of the reason you watch these people in the first place? Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if they were playing characters instead of them playing themselves, in their internet reviewer personas; at least then you wouldn’t be watching Brad Jones stumbling around in a Darth Vader helmet and think to yourself miserably “God I wish that poor guy was watching another E.T. porno.”

So there are some positives in these films, shockingly enough. Brad Jones is consistently good across the entire ‘trilogy,’ especially in Kickassia where he has the good sense to walk out on all the bullshit for a while. Maybe it’s just because these films got me interested in him, but I definitely think he does a good job. The same can be said for a lot of the actors, such as the bad guy in Suburban Knights and Ma-Ti’s actor; they manage to deliver at least solid performances in spite of the films. And then there are the James Rolfe cameos, and it’s just always good to see Rolfe in general.

To Boldly Flee, despite its reputation, actually has a lot of genuinely good bits. For instance, the distraction song is actually a really solid musical number. Linkara, Doug, and Spoony actually play really well off of each other, so when they have their three idiot villains team up they at least get some decently good moments. And other reviewers I generally like such as Phelous or Todd do a solid job, and frankly in To Boldly Flee Doug Walker does show some impressive dramatic acting… but it’s in service of a character who has previously been portrayed as a petulant, whiny, self-serving, egotistical manchild, so it almost feels like he’s playing a totally different character. Still, credit where credit is due.

None of these films succeed at what they want to. Ostensibly, they are supposed to be celebrating the site and the friendship of the reviewers, but as I mentioned, there’s no reviewing, there’s nothing that indicates what the site is about, and they all just come off as ego-stroking self-congratulatory wanking. None of these films were worth the pain and suffering that the cast and crew had to go through to produce these, and watching them at all these days is especially hard knowing that a lot of these people are smiling and joking through pain, stress, and abuse. It’s sick.

Kickassia may be the most competent, but that isn’t saying much at all. Aside from the whole Palin bit, this one has a simple, straightforward plot and is relatively down-to-earth, and it almost feels like it really was just a bunch of friends making a shitty low budget action movie in the desert… something sadly undermined by reality. Suburban Knights is probably one of the most uncomfortable to sit through due to jokes like Film Brain saying he’d eat Kinley Mochrie’s “pea-ness” (this was before she came out mind you) and the numerous jokes surrounding JewWario’s junk, but it almost works, like it nearly comes close to being a dumb epic fantasy comedy, but it just frequently shoots itself in the foot with the bad writing and acting and its overreliance on references.

To Boldly Flee is, to put it absolutely simple, a hot mess. This film is an utter trainwreck from start to finish. It is the Battlefield Earth of internet review movies, a bloated, messy, overly long dumpster fire with some of the most nightmarish behind-the-scenes stories and horrendous financial mismanagement you could ever imagine. But where Battlefield Earth is at least unintentionally funny, this film… is not. This film just makes you feel bad for everyone involved, it makes your heart ache for all the poor reviewers who had to suffer under the miserable conditions, it makes you question Doug Walker’s sanity in thinking he could turn his screeching manchild of a reviewer into some tragic martyr in a total 180 from how he had always been portrayed prior. None of these three films are worth sitting through, but I think To Boldly Flee is, with hindsight, the one least worth sitting through, which is a truly incredible accomplishment.

It’s kind of tragic. I still like a lot of the reviewers who took part in these – Todd, Linkara, Phelous, Brad Jones, and even Doug to some extent (though that’s an unpopular opinion these days) – but I just can’t muster up any forgiveness for these films anymore. And I don’t blame any of the people in it (except maybe Doug); most of them were there out of obligation or friendship or what have you. These films are just a monument to hubris, ignorance, broken friendships, horrible management, and wanton cruelty to those who called you friends.

See that picture up there at the top? With all of them gathered together like friends? God, how I wish that were the reality. How I wish that picture accurately reflected life, that they were all pals having a good time and that these films were something they were proud of. But behind that picture are stories all of them could tell of hurt, betrayal, resentment, anger, contempt, and some very unspeakable things in Carmichael’s case. I wish the sort of world a surface level glance at that picture shows you existed, where the crew of TGWTG all had a blast making these shitty movies together, because at least in that case I could find a sort of ironic enjoyment in them. But reality has gone out of its way to undermine any of that. 

[toast-the-unknowing]

LA verse question: how surprised was ronan when he realized adam didn't think they were dating or was he just like 'wow this is very on brand for my life and also adam's social skills'

Ronan is completely surprised, but then he has one of those Keyser Soze moments where he looks back on everything that’s happened and it all suddenly makes sense now, like oh, he didn’t think we were dating, that’s why he pulls away so much, that’s why he keeps his distance.

Except then he goes, wait no that doesn’t make any fucking sense, because if they weren’t dating then why does Adam refer to himself as Ronan’s boyfriend, and feed him, and help him fix up his apartment, and look at him like that, like Ronan is the most amazing thing he’s ever seen, and Jesus Christ, Parrish, you suck at not dating people, do you even know what platonic means?

Adam is the one with the more “yeah, this sounds about right for my life” attitude.

[thebaconsandwichofregret]

Oh absolutely! 

Obviously I am biased. I would say that this is probably my favourite Shakespeare play. But I am incredibly picky about adaptations about it. I absolutely hated the much praised BBC Hollow Crown version which to my mind did exactly what you are concerned about The King doing. The Hollow Crown made lots of claims about showing Henry as vulnerable and unsure and in a difficult position but in actual fact it just makes him a boring, unquestioned heroic figure. Traditionally we’re shown Henry as a merciful and chivalrous person, in The King they tell the truth about the fact that he straight up has the captured French prisoners all murdered simply because it’s going to be difficult to keep them alive which is just one example of how I think they did something quite interesting with the source text. 

And while the Dauphin is of course the antagonist this is because Henry is the POV character and we are seeing him through Henry’s eyes and so our view of him is tainted by Henry’s opinion. I won’t ruin the ending, it all gets a bit Keyser Soze to be honest. 

Also I found the whole thing to have an interestingly anti-monarchy tone to it too, which again is unusual for adaptations of Henry V. 

I’m very pleased with this adaptation. You are absolutely right to be suspicious of Henry V adaptations, they so often fall short and end up being, frankly, lazy when the play is so very interesting and offers so many opportunities to try new things. That’s what I think the team on The King have managed to do. 

I will say that one criticism I have is that in the beginning the pacing is off but that’s because they’re basically condensing Henry IV down into a prologue so it feels a bit rushed. As soon as Henry V is crowned everything settles into a far better pace. I think you could genuinely skip to the coronation scene and miss almost nothing. 

And if you are very worried about Pattinson’s portrayal of the Dauphin he is only in 3 scenes. 

good night to robert pattinson in long hair only

[smokeybrand]

Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Cream of the Crop

I was going through my older posts on my review blog, which you should totally go check out, by the way:

http://smokeybrandreviews.tumblr.com/

I was just kind reviewing the reviews there and i kind of figured it was necessary to create a list of my all-time favorite films. i have a rather wide taste when it comes to cinema and i’m curious where these flicks will shake out. Plus, it might give you all a better sense of why i like or dislike a movies. Or, i might just disappoint everyone with my mundane choices, we’ll see.

1- The Dark Knight

I love The Dark Knight. For me, it’s about as close to a perfect film as you can get. Beautifully shot, expertly directed, and paced to perfection. Christopher Nolan created a masterpiece and i think it’s his finest film to date. That’s saying a lot because of Dunkirk and The Prestige but i cannot stress how great TDK is. Seriously, he took and absurd and abstract concept like Batman and made one of the best crime thrillers ever. That, and f*cking Heath Ledger. Dude gave one of the greatest performances in all of cinema. Seriously, if Ledger’s Joker wasn’t as brilliant as it was, would er even be talking about this film like we do?

So, the thing about these next two films is i love them almost equally. Depending on the day or my mood, either one could come in 2nd or 3rd so i’m just gonna cheat and put them both in the second spot. If you don’t like it, munch me, b*tch!

2A - Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump is the best of us and i’ll fight you if you say otherwise!

2B - The Usual Suspects

I imagine there’s going to be a running theme in this list but i adore a well written, well executed, villain. F*cking Keyser Soze, man. Holy sh*t was that a twist! who could have seen at hat mess coming? I like Bryan Singer as a director, even if he’s a borderline pedo, but his magnum opus is definitely Verbal Kent’s 2 hour bullsh*tibuster!

I think that mire works out well enough so on with the list!

4 - Alien

Ridley Scott’s second major directing stint is still his very best. I saw Aliens, the James Cameron sequel, before i saw this one and fell in love with it. I actually saw Alien on accident. I thought it was the Aliens when i rented it from Blockuster and got home anticipating a bunch of raucous Space Marine vs Xenomorph action. What i got was one of the most terrifying, atmospheric, horror spirals i have ever seen in my life. Holy sh*t was i enthralled. Holy sh*t was i panicked! Holy sh*t is this a great film!

5 - Logan

Logan is Marvel’s The Dark Knight. It is easily their best film and, oh my god, does it send Hugh Jackman off with one of the best performances i have ever seen captured on film. Everyone was SO excellent in this flick but a particular standout was little Daphne Keen who gave real life to Laura Kinney as she stole scenes from Sir Patrick Stewart, himself! i love Logan. I love how this is the truest adaption of The Wolverine character. I love how this is essentially a love letter written by James Mangold and read to us by Hugh Jackman as we put to sleep the only Wolverine we’ve known for 17 years.

6 - The Empire Strikes Back

When i was little, i like Return Of The Jedi more. I don’t know why, it’s easily the weakest of the first Star Wars Trilogy, but i think it was because all of the finality of it. I didn’t understand what it meant to be a great film until i got older. Around when i turned 20 or so, i picked up that gold box of the DVDs and watched the entire saga from episode 1 to Episode 6, with the discerning eye of an adult. Let me tell you, Empire is head and shoulders above the rest of these films. That Vader/Luke duel, alone, is enough to cement it in this spot.

And now, another twist! the next two entries on this list are from overseas. And animated. but goddamn if they’re not spectacular films. and crazy influential. You wouldn’t have you’re Matrixes or Ex Machinas or I,Robots or Loopers without these next two. we’re going the A/B situation again because, my god, how do you honestly put one over the other? they’re both Classics! They’re both masterpieces!!

7a - Ghost In The Shell

I mean the original 1995 anime, not that abortion of American nonsense that got crapped out earlier this year. No, the original GITS is one of my all-time favorite films. Everything about it is how a movie should be.I love how it’s shot, how deftly the direction is executed, the way every scene is framed, the use of color, the use of negative space; all of it is just stunning. But it’s the overall plot that draws me in. The big questions of hum existence, what it means to be alive, all of that heady, thought provoking ideology makes me tingle just thinking about it. i LOVE films like that and GITS is one of the best.

7B - Akira

I saw Akira for the first time in, like 90 on a late night anime block that aired on SyFy back when it was known as the Sci-Fi Channel. I have memories of seeing it even earlier than that on VHS because i was familiar with the version i watched on TV but those are some fuzzy ass memories. I watched it again as an adult and it’s held up brilliantly. Akira came out in 1988. It was a truncated adaption of Hashimoto Izo’s 8 year magnum opus. The last act of this film had to be created from scratch because the manga, it’s source material, ran for two more years after the films release. Even with all of that, you’d be hard pressed to find a better lloking, better executed film than Akira nowadays.

And now back to our regularly scheduled ratings!

9 - One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

I thought about putting Chinatown here but it’s Cuckoo’s Nest, for sure. I loved this movie. I saw it for the first time my senior year in high school. I had Reading For Pleasure and my “teacher” was a weenie who just showed movies. He happened to play this one and i fell in love with it. We all did. It was goddamn outstanding.  I was a fan of Jack Nicholson but a lot of his catalog that i was familiar with was from the 80s onward. This was my first taste of young Jack and i immediately understood why he was considered one of the best of his generation. If you’ve never seen this flick, i highly advise you take it in. It’s a great film and one of the best book-to-cinema adaptions out there.

10 - Ingourious Basterds

HANS! F*CKING! LANDA!

Honorable mentions

The Fifth Element, Cashback, No Country For Old Men, Amadeus, Skyfall, Fight Club, American Beauty, The Lion King, Gone Girl, Goodnight Mommy, Spiderman: Homecoming, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Scott Pilgrim Versus The World, Ex Machina, The VVitch, Terminator, Transfomers: The Movie (eh, f*ck you, buddy!), Wonder Woman, Raw, Under The Skin, Neon Demon, John Wick, John Wick Chapter 2, Excalibur, Legend and probably hundreds of other flicks hen i think about it.

So, there you have it, my personal top 10. There are, of course, some glaring omissions. I feel like cats would expect the Matrix to be on here or 2001 or Kagemusha or some other popularly exalted flick but they’re not my personal top 10. They’re not films i would want to see over and over again. Sure, they’re great and i wouldn’t mind checking them out again occasionally but that’s not what this list is for. This is a list of the 10 films i would love to watch, over and over again. This is the list of films that have left a deep, deep, impression on me. This is the list i judge all other films by, good or bad.

[brookeoverbros]

One last theory before we go pt. 2

Please see here: http://howtotallyamazing.tumblr.com/post/162092869456/one-last-theory-before-we-go for the first part of the theory. Putting all of this under a cut tag again as to not to spoil the movie The Usual Suspects for those who haven’t seen it. Proceed with caution. (Or go on Hulu and watch it)

Let me get this part out of the way: Kevin Spacey's character, Verbal Kint, is Keyser Soze. That's the twist. He's a master manipulator and unreliable narrator. Agent Kujan discovers this before it's too late. In my earlier theory, I assigned AD as being the one who was the elusive Keyser Soze and Mona being Agent Kujan in this.

I forgot another plot point and major character that mirrors Mona's journey more so: Keaton.

Keaton is the red herring when it comes to who the elusive Keyser Soze is.

Keaton sees who Keyser Soze actually is before he is killed.

(PLL, 7B, around the fifteen second mark)

(The Usual Suspects, 1995, Keaton comes face to face with Keyser Soze and dies)

(The Usual Suspects, 1995, Keaton was Keyser Soze)

(PLL, 7x19, everyone thinks Mona is AD)

Keaton and Mona have some similarities. Keaton is a reformed criminal who gets pulled back into the game to do a job on behalf of Keyser Soze. Mona is constantly trying to redeem herself after being A and gets sucked back into the game to find out who AD is. Getting sucked back into old behavior is what ultimately causes their demise at the hands of the puppet master who engineered everything.

If this theory holds any water, Keaton and Verbal were close with one another throughout the movie. Which reaffirms my point that AD has been close to Mona the entire time. Right in front of her.

Watch the scene from 7x19 again.

(The Usual Suspects, 1995)

Notice how around the 2:30 mark that they finally pan to Kevin Spacey after the men squabble and discuss how they got there.

Much like how Ezra comes out of the woodwork in the 7x19 clip.

Around the three minute mark in The Usual Suspects clip, they start talking about a “job”. Keaton is the most reluctant to get involved. Wants nothing to do with it. He eventually does. 

Much like Mona wanted nothing to do with the game until Hanna convinced her.

Just some food for thought.

[marytagus]

I’ve read this interview and my excitement went through the roof. I love big manipulators as villains and Wendy tells us that, to construe Prometheus, they talked a lot about “American Psycho” (did not saw this one so I will not go into further details on it) but then it cames what has me all excited, the inspirations for Prometheus were

Hannibal Lecter

Verbal from The Usual Suspects (AWESOME)

John Doe from Seven 

Wendy mentions especially Kevin Spacey character in Usual Suspects and I was

I love that movie, I love how it all plays out, 

..................................The Usual Suspect Spoilers.........................................

the fact that the under dog is playing everyone and is in fact the almighty Villain, that manages to escape in the end.

Keyser Soze was a code name in the Criminal Underworld, the character name on Police records was Roger Kint, but everyone called him Verbal.

From all the Usual Suspects Verbal give the less vibe of powerful criminal, always looking scared and frighten, limping, the Police were convinced he would spill everything after all the other Usual Suspects get murdered supposedly by “Keyser Soze”. The movie is spent on a Police Officer office where Verbal talks to a Patronizing Detective. 

Verbal is verbal and he talks and talks telling everything, feigning fear for the Invisible Devil that is Keyser Soze.

At the end of the movie the cocky Policeman, proud of himself, sends Verbal packing. In slow pace Verbal takes his things and leaves the Police Station.

Meanwhile the Policeman returns to his office and is stunned when he notices that every name of people or place, every story, Verbal had given him is written some where on the board behind the desk, one he had his back turned too, while Verbal had a clear view of.

Outside Verbal walks progressively with less limping until the limp is gone. He enters a car where Keyser Soze lawyer awaits.

The Detective runs outside but it’s too late. Verbal / Keyser Soze is gone.

................................End of The Usual Suspects Spoilers..............................

1. That was the movie (sorry for the spoilers), I loved it because we don’t see it coming, never.

They are doing the same with Prometheus. That we knew already.

2. Verbal had a beef with everyone of the Usual Suspects.

Exactly like Prometheus who by chasing to punish Oliver has everyone on his sights.

3. Verbal was one of the Usual Suspects. 

Can Prometheus be someone on Team Oliver? If he was Team Arrow now he wouldn’t have needed Artemis. But he could have been someone on Team Oliver before, plenty of candidates (Tommy, Roy, Malcolm...)? Or someone in Mayor Queen Team (Adrian...)? I think he is close to Oliver.

4. Verbal was the least expected candidate. He looked physically and mentally unable to be a top nodge criminal.

Is there someone close to Oliver that fits this bill? I would take my bet on Adrian Chase.

5. In fact Verbal was the most clever and was playing everyone all along.

I think Adrian fits this bill.

@vaelisamaza @hope-for-olicity@tdgal1@bindy417@supersillyanddorky06@emmaamelia95@coal000@miriam1779@felicityollies@eilowyn1@taurusclh@jules85@scu11y22@quant-um-fizzx@memcjo@dmichellewrites@bringbackianto@mogirl97@laurabelle2930@oli-feli@oliverfel4@mel-loves-all@spaztronautwriter@cruzrogue@bekaoperetta@cndyprfumegirl@somewhatinvisible@charlinert @almondblossomme @oliverdant @nalla-madness @scu11y22

[flauntpage]

Even With a Change in Scenery, Jahlil Okafor is Still an Affront to Everything Good and Pure About Basketball

Things were supposed to be different in the past two months for Jahlil Okafor and the Brooklyn Nets.

You remember all the reasons why he would turns things around with the Nets, don’t you? He was the #2 pick in the draft for a reason, right? He changed his diet this year, he’s a vegetarian now! He’s in great shape this year, but the 76ers weren’t giving him a chance to play! He just needed a change of scenery to become great again! It’s not his fault, the 76ers screwed with his head for a season and a half! The 76ers coaching staff didn’t help him become a better player, it was their fault, not his!

Except after 22 games with the Brooklyn Nets, maybe none of those were true at all? Maybe a coaching staff can’t help a lost cause who hasn’t evolved one aspect of his game in three years.

Maybe… just maybe… he’s not a good basketball player.

Maybe he’s simply a huge black hole when he’s on the court, sucking all intelligent basketball and smart decision making into his gravitational pull to be lost forever. Just a big blob of awful defense, turnovers, and the same three post-up moves you’ve seen since his days at Duke.

It’s insane to think that we live in a world where journeyman center Trevor Booker is a more polished and effective player than Okafor. Emeka Okafor has logged more starts in an NBA uniform THIS YEAR than Jahlil Okafor, and Emeka Okafor has only started one game.

You can find a lot of statistical evidence that proves just how ineffective Okafor has been for the Nets since his trade, but two particular stats after the jump are the most striking pieces of evidence for his on-court futility.

The Nets are on a 6-game losing streak. They're -70 in Jahlil Okafor's 77 minutes during this streak. They're +10 in the minutes he's not on the court.

— Jason Patt (@Bulls_Jay) February 13, 2018

For the season, the Nets have a -26.2 net rating with Okafor on the court. It's -1.7 with him on the bench.

— Jason Patt (@Bulls_Jay) February 13, 2018

That is…. that’s just not good.

In Monday’s loss against the Clippers, Okafor played only 13 minutes but somehow ended up with a -18 plus/minus differential. HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!

For comparison, in the entire season Joel Embiid has only had three games with a worse overall plus/minus showing; -23, -19, and -20 stinkers in losses against Cleveland, Toronto and Indiana. He averaged 30 minutes a game in those losses, compared with the 13 minutes Okafor played Monday.

You could potentially point to him playing with the Nets third team for his putrid plus/minus results, but before you do maybe take a look at this recent defensive effort against the Clippers:

Everyone needs to watch this. How the hell did NONE of the three referees call Jahlil Okafor for three-in-the-key here? He was in the paint for 12 seconds before getting near anyone. pic.twitter.com/fUCibTmk4a

— Justin Russo (@FlyByKnite) February 13, 2018

Is that not a perfect microcosm of every single criticism of Okafor since his time in the NBA? He’s in the paint for nearly 12-seconds without covering a soul (and why he’s not whistled by the refs for a violation, as the original tweeter points out, is beyond me), basically wandering around as he watches the play unfold in front of him, doesn’t give initial help on the screen, backs way down into the paint before finally recognizing what is happening and weakly fouls the forward for an easy and-1 bucket.

No basketball IQ, no sense of anything unfolding around him, and a poor overall effort.

Well, at least the Nets fan haven’t started turning on him…

Jahlil Okafor isn’t just bad on defense, he literally looks like he’s just physically incapable and mentally unaware of how to defend any sort of movement.

— Charles LaRocca (@CLaRoccaJr) February 13, 2018

I, for one, am shocked to see Jahlil Okafor getting abused on defense again.

— Jon Toto (@JonSToto) February 13, 2018

Jahlil Okafor just doesnt get defense, even regular principles of defense. Like dont leave people wide open.

— Keyser Soze (@PabloDollas) February 3, 2018

Jahlil okafor: still not good at the defense

— Lealand Hage (@LealandHage) February 7, 2018

Anyone else wanna know why Jahlil Okafor gets no love? The man can't play defense or jump

https://t.co/bCXufhseAO

— Bryce Losty (@sendy_bryce) February 4, 2018

Jahlil Okafor for once comes in for help defense… and this happens. https://t.co/BitlQfff1f

— Dennis Chambers (@DennisChambers_) February 3, 2018

Steelers defense showing as much effort in this game as a jahlil okafor closeout

— Steven Day (@steve_swaggy_D) January 14, 2018

Jahlil Okafor still BBQ

on defense

— LuAyton Bagter Jr (@REGGIES_WORLD) January 13, 2018

Jahlil Okafor has been exactly what we've come to expect. He'll get you buckets on one end of the floor, but his defense … pic.twitter.com/p3gbZTUgf8

— A. Sherrod Blakely (@ASherrodblakely) January 6, 2018

Jahlil Okafor playing defense like pic.twitter.com/V22j5cOx7x

— Ethan Zombek (@ezbeezy214) January 4, 2018

When Nets fans finally realize what Jahlil Okafor is pic.twitter.com/JgLQOfd0AW

— Super Paul Champion (@PaulB9585) February 14, 2018

How crazy is it that Emeka Okafor (35 yrs old) makes Jahlil Okafor (22 yrs old) looked washed

https://t.co/J76XPnTLbF

— Nick Arguelles (@Nick_Argue) February 14, 2018

Enjoy him, Brooklyn. He’s all yours.

Even With a Change in Scenery, Jahlil Okafor is Still an Affront to Everything Good and Pure About Basketball published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[hiddenremains-blog]

The Soulzay Interview: @budwisermane_

Soulzay is a rapper hailing from Texas who’s certainly gotten the attention of people as well as making waves in the underground. We here at HiddenRemains got the opportunity to interview. Thank you to any and all who read, enjoy!

A: Welcome man, mind introducing yourself for those reading today?

S: Wassup mane, this Soulzay straight outta Dallas, Texas.

A: How long have you been making music? Has music always been a big part of your life?

S: Music has always been a part of my life since i could remember..My mom and dad had introduced to Latin Freestyle..that Lil Suzy, Johnny O, Stevie B type shit,also a lot of oldies as well as some Soul from the 70-80s. My brother, sisters, aunts and uncles who grew up and lived during the 90s hit me with a lot of rap from the decade. During elementary I listened to a lot of Three Six Mafia, UGK, Mystikal, Big Hawk, Fat Pat, Z-ro, Outkast, DJ Screw, I could go on forever really.

S: I’ve been writing lyrics since I was about 16..At the time I was on my Triple 6 six so all I did was study Lord Infamous’ lyrics…and it was some of the hardest shit I ever listened to, I wanted to memorize them all word for word. After some time, I was intrigued by the idea of putting together rhymes as well as trying to tell a story, the rest is now history, but shoutout and RIP to The Scarecrow.

A: What made you decide on the name Soulzay? It’s pretty damn unique.

S: The name Soulzay actually came from Lord Infamous as well. He took the alias Keyser Soze, which he got from the film The Usual Suspects that dropped in ‘95. In the film, Keyser Soze is a cold blooded motherfucker, and I feel the same way when i’m on the mic. Soulzay came from me rewriting the name Soze since they sound similar, and it’s also a nod to jazz, a genre that’s influenced my style.

A: You have a very dark, very southern sound to your work. Did those you grew up listening to influence you in some way?

S: Everything I listened to growing up plays a big role in my music…I feel like I can range from different sounds and flows and it’ll still gonna sound like some Soulzay shit. I also want to say one time for 8 Ball and MJG influenced me too man, space age forevah!

A: I wanted to ask, do you ever consider leaving Texas? I see you’re pretty into car shows, and LA surely still has a scene for that and music.

S: Shiiit playa, I could never leave this great state and live somewhere else…it just wouldn’t feel right..I feel like if you got the talnet people gon find you regardless..You don’t gotta move to LA or NY. Also, Lord and Paul from Three Six had an interview where they talk about why they never left their hometown and I couldn’t agree more with them…

A: I wanted to get into your music man. How’d you link up with the folks you have, like BAKER and ROOTS?

S: I initially hit BAKER on Instagram for a beat which I paid for(all you rappers start paying your producers and quit being a ho), two days pass by and he sends back another file with a verse on it. I hit GrimeFiends for the art and the rest speaks for itself. As for ROOTS, he had hit me on SoundCloud saying he wanted to drop a couple of tracks with me. I checked his work out and his shit is tight, so I was down to work with him. His boy maverick produced Swangin Bangin Mackin Stackin and Heard Of Me for ROOTS and Me. He from CA so shoutout to Cali one time.

A: Is there any other work you got coming in the future?

S: Yeah, me and BAKER actually dropping some work. It’s a 5 track EP titled 'Destruction From Corruption’, BAKER, producin’ all the tracks. Ima drop it soon, most likely before my Show with Tommy Wright III on December 1st in Dallas.

A: Very dope man. I wanted to ask, what do you set to accomplish as a rapper? I know you mentioned painting a story through your lyrics, but is there a greater message?

S: I wanna tell stories and have a message man. From the songs I’ve made currently, you can hear me mention government corruption and how fucked up our system is..the message I wanna put out is that as people we have power, and as much if not moreso than the government, and I’ll do this throught the stories I tell on how to keep it G in this fucked up world…you’ll hear more about it on the tape when it drops.

A: Awesome man, I gotta ask now, what’s your overall goal or plan for the future?

S: With this music shit man, it don’t really matter..I do this for the love. In life though, I just want my daughter taken care of and eating good. A couple more cars in my driveway wouldn’t hurt either. Haha

A: Good shit man. I think that may do it. Got any final words/shoutouts?

S: A show with Tommy Wright III coming soon, we hope you can see us in Dallas. Get a ticket here. Shoutout to anyone reading this ho. Go follow my Soundcloud, Twitter, and Instagram. Shoutout to you for the interview man.

A: Pleasure’s all mine . Thank you for your time.

[weeklyhumorist]

Shocking Twists Recalibrated For Cardiac Patients

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“The Sixth Sense” – In the last five minutes, it’s revealed that throughout the entire movie, Bruce Willis was also the guy from “Die Hard.” 

“Get Out” – Turns out the entire white family is secretly conspiring to lure in young African-American men for the sole purpose of guiltily asking, “What Black people think about” various items in the news. 

“Citizen Kane” – “ROSE…BUD…” was what, as a boy (and also as a teenager and man young and old) Charles Foster Kane used to call the not-yet- unfurled roses in his garden. 

“Game of Thrones” – Hear ye! Hear ye ! The true and lasting monarch of Westeros is… currently being determined via an exhaustive online application process. 

“The Avengers: Infinity War” – Ignore everything you’ve heard: Thanos is actually a blues giant whose “Snap” is him finding the beat again, after a quiet two-and-a-half-hours of musical introspection. 

“The Usual Suspects” – Keyser Soze turns out to be a near-mythical figure, famous for always being late. 

“The Empire Strikes Back” – Who can forget those iconic words from Darth Vader: “Luke… I have been like a father to you, thanks to the hardworking folks at Big Brothers International….” 

“Fight Club” – Brad Pitt and Ed Norton turn out to be the same person – when it comes to their taste in room décor. The real first rule of Fight Club? “Do not talk about where you got that adorable area rug!” 

“The Avengers: Endgame” – Maybe if you have a heart condition, you might want to avoid these?

Shocking Twists Recalibrated For Cardiac Patients was originally published on Weekly Humorist