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barney-james · 4 years

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Reunion Drama || Chris Evans Imagine

{anon} Can I request Chris finding out you and you’re male best friend used to be friends with benefits

A/n i’m not sure how it got where it did my mind just kind of ran, but i love this, also it’s long and probably should’ve been broken into parts, but i’m one of those people who most of the time won’t read something on here in multiple parts (i don’t know why lmao). It also saves the waiting for the next part and easier to put in the masterlist i’m going to make.

Warnings angsty and sad, fluff and nudity at the end but no smut

*gif not mine*

The shower turns off in the bathroom, and through the open door, you can hear your boyfriend get out and sigh. You lean in the door way and look at him, his back facing you as he wraps a clean white towel around his hips. He looks up in the mirror, seeing you staring at him from behind.

“Like what you see?” he smirks, folding the towel in so it won’t fall.

You snort, rolling your eyes at his usual cockiness. “You know,” you begin, walking across the tile towards him, your hand brushing water out of the hair at the base of his neck. “I’d tease you about taking longer than me to get ready, but you waited until the absolute last second to get in the shower.” You run your fingers through his hair, your nails lightly scratching his scalp.

“I didn’t take that long,” he chuckles. “It’s fine.”

“I have been sitting out there, getting wrinkles in my dress and scrolling through channels on the TV for 45 minutes,” you explain. “You decided it best to start getting ready when I’m completely done. Why’d you take 45 minutes anyway?”

“Had to carefully trim the beard, babe,” he retorts, turning his head and kissing you cheek. He steps away from you and grabs his deodorant off of the counter. “Besides, we’ll still get there in time.”

“It started 20 minutes ago, Chris,” you laugh, poking his sides and making him jolt.

“Fashionably late is on time these days. Why are you in such a rush? You hate everyone that’s going to be there.”

“Ethan’s been there waiting.” Your best friend since childhood, Ethan, was also attending the event this evening, seeing as how it’s a 20 year high school reunion. He’d gotten to know Chris pretty well, and they got along well when he’d come visit you in Boston.

“Will you use my phone to get an Uber?” your fiance asks, looking at you over his shoulder. “It’s on the dresser. I just need to get dresses. Give me like 5 minutes.” He turns and kisses your head, following you out of the bathroom.

You grab his phone off the dresser and stand by the window, looking at the final moments of the sunset as you wait for the Uber app to load.

“10 minutes,” you tell him, turning around to see him already buttoning up his shirt. “How do you get dressed so fast?”

“I wear formal clothes a lot more than the average person, honey,” he says as you walk over to him. He grabs a tie from the dresser and wraps it around his neck, waiting for you to tie it for him like you usually do.

“It’s not that special,” you laugh. “You don’t need a tie.” You slide the silk material through your fingers.

“But look at you,” he gestures to you. “You look all dressed up and pretty.” His hands fall to your waist and you smile, pulling him closer to you by the tie still draped over his shoulders. You connect your lips to his in a hot passionate kiss. He pulls your hips closer to him, trying to wrap his arms around you, but you pull away.

You slide the tie out of his collar and put it back on the dresser. When you look back at him, your lipstick had smeared over his lips messily. You wipe your thumb across his lips, biting your lip.

“You can’t do that if you’re really going to make me go out in 5 minutes,” he says sternly, looking into your eyes.

You step back from him and back into the bathroom to fix your lipstick.

“Uber’s here, babe,” Chris calls into the bathroom.

You meet him by the door and unlock it, open it and wait for him. He grabs the door and meets you in the hall, walking with you arm in arm to the elevator. You sit in comfortable silence while waiting to reach the lobby. You look over at him lovingly, smiling, and see that his shirt is still buttoned up all the way as he thought he’d wear a tie. You turn to him, pulling his arm so he faces you, too, and you undo the top few buttons on the shirt, revealing the perfect about of skin.

The elevator door opens and you’re still toying with his shirt. He clears his throat and you look up at him, scrunch your nose cutely and walk out of the elevator with his hand in yours. As you walk out of the hotel lobby and to the Uber, Chris steps ahead of you and opens the door for you. You thank him as you duck your head and get into the car. A short moment after closing your door, he opens the door on the other side of the car and gets in himself.

“Smells like rain,” he comments, grabbing your hand.

“That’s typical.”

You engage in casual conversation with your driver, mostly Chris as you sit nervously smoothing your hands over your satin dress. Chris notices and simply squeezes your thigh, knowing you’re nervous to see all your old class mates again.

When you reach the venue, you thank the driver, and get out before Chris could reach your side of the car to help you. He looks at you disapprovingly and you just nudge his shoulder and grab his hand. You pull your phone out of your clutch and text Ethan to let him know you’ve arrived.

“Ah shit,” you hear Chris say beside you. You look over at him confused and see him tucking his shirt into his pants. “You noticed the buttons but not that it was untucked?”

“Cuffs, too,” you point out, and he buttons his cuffs while you walk with your arm in his into the old school gym. The music is loud, and of course it’s mostly 90s and early 2000s.

“I have to piss,” you hear Chris say.

“Oh my god, Chris,” you laugh. “We just got here.”

“I’m sorry,” he replies adjusting his pants. You point him towards the bathroom, he kisses your cheek quickly and walks off.

You begin to make your way over to the bar they’ve set up, and Ethan catches up with you.

“Y/n!” the familiar voice calls. You turn to see him rushing towards you, and you pull him into a hug. “Where’s Chris?” he asks when he pulls away from your friendly embrace.

“Bathroom,” you roll your eyes.

“Of course,” he laughs. “Let’s get you a drink.”

Ethan walks with you to the bar, catching up with you since it had been a couple months since you had last seen each other. Of course there wasn’t much new to talk about since you’d text and call him every time something exciting or annoying happens.

When you reach the bar, you notice name tags sitting at the far end. ‘oh geez,’ you think to yourself and go to find yours.

“I already grabbed it for you,” Ethan says, fishing it out of his pocket. “Don’t want anyone seeing your school photo from senior year.”

“Oh my god, shut up,” you laugh and take the tag from your friend, noticing that he had crossed out ‘Ms Y/n Y/l/n’ and put ‘soon Mrs Y/n Evans’. You laugh at your best friend and his silliness.

“Oo, I haven’t seen it yet,” Ethan says and grabs your left hand, holding it up to his face to inspect your engagement ring. “So much prettier than the pictures, hon.”

“Thanks,” you blush.

“That man sure does have a wallet,” he pesters you.

You look at him with the ‘stop it’ face, and he puts his hands up, defeated. You both hear his name get called, and he turns to see his girlfriend waving him over. You wave at her politely and she smiles back at you.

Ethan looks at you. “Get him to send me a link,” he says, pointing to your ring with a wink as he walks back to his date.

You straighten your back, standing tall trying to hid your nerves of currently being alone at this horrid event. You only came to flaunt Chris. He wasn’t your only accomplishment, but he’s the one most people would notice, or talk about.

The bartender hands you your drink, you thank him and put it down beside you while you stuff the name tag into you purse, not wanting to put it on.

“Y/n?” you hear a voice call. You look up and see a woman parade towards you.

You curse to yourself, wishing you hadn’t been noticed. Your personality and style had changes a lot in the past 20 years, and you rarely post online, but your face never really changes.

Except for her. You recognized most people here, but you didn’t recognize her, yet she wore a name tag, so she had gone to your school. You couldn’t quite read the name tag, and as politely as possible, you look at her quizzically, silently asking who she is.

“It’s Stephanie!” she say excited. Your taken aback. You thought she was overly pretty in high school, being a popular cheerleader, but apparently not pretty enough, because she had obviously had some unnecessary work done. Talk a bout a Karen. Not only did her appearance surprise you, but the fact that she was talking to you. She had been a terrible friend, that you wish you’d never had, and you both said some nasty things at graduation. Why is she acting like nothing happened?

“Oh, hi,” you greet her. She starts a dreaded, yet casual conversation to catch up, luckily focusing it on herself so you don’t have to talk about you, but that’s natural for her -- being the center of attention. She tells you about her husband, a lawyer, who unfortunately couldn’t make it to the event. She tells you she’s his secretary, and that they have 3 kids. 4, 9, and 15. You zone out at the rest, wondering how she met a lawyer and had a kid with him at 23. It seemed unreal for her to actually find real love and not just be playing a game. You concluded that they probably hooked up once or twice, and she got pregnant and with her master manipulation somehow convinced him to stay.

“What about you?” she asks, and your shoulders drop, not wanting to talk about your own life. “I heard you and Ethan started sleeping together in college. He’s always been hot. Is that still a thing?”

“No, it’s not. I’m -” you begin but get interrupted buy someone clearing their throat behind Stephanie. She turns around and sees Chris standing behind her.

Chris looks surprised, angry even, He considered Ethan a friend at this point, but he was unaware of the fact he just heard. You didn’t think to mention it, it having been so many years ago. It didn’t seem relevant or important until Stephanie let it slip.

She was dumb-struck looking at Chris. “Oh my gosh!” she exclaimed. “I heard you were here. I didn’t want to believe it until I saw it for myself. Who are you here with?”

Chris walks around her and over to you, wrapping his arm around your waist. “My fiance,” he answers. He grabs your hand and holds it out for Stephanie to see the large rock on your left ring finger. You blush as her jaw practically hits the floor.

She takes a step closer to the two of you, Chris towering over you both. “How much did she pay you?” she laughs, obviously not believing the situation. “How did she pay you? She certainly couldn’t afford something this extreme.”

You scoff and roll your eyes, thinking it typical of her. Chris looks at her in disbelief and pulls you away from the snooty bitch, his arm wrapped tightly around you. He pulls you out of the gym to the lobby, walking so fast you could barely keep up, and you were stumbling over your heels.

“Chris what’re you doing?” you ask, worried.

He drops his arm from around you and turns away from you, several steps away. he runs his hands over his face and through his hair.

“Chris?” you say again, more concerned. He only ever acted like this when he was mad, and seeing him mad was never pleasant.

He turns back to you, dropping his arms by his side. “How long?”

“How long what, Chris?” you are still very confused.

“Don’t bullshit me and try to play dumb, Y/n,” he says, his voice gradually getting louder. “How long were you and Ethan sleeping together?”

You sigh, finally realizing what this was about. You could always tell he was wary of Ethan, you just wondered how long it would take him to say something. You look up at him, a mix of angry and sad tears prickling your eyes.

“How long?!” he yells.

You wince, feeling lucky that the music in the gym was so loud. “A year or two,” you say quietly and he huffs, throwing his arms up in the air, “but it doesn’t matter.”

Chris turns away from you again, facing the wall and slamming his hand against it. You know it wasn’t anywhere near full force because he showed no sign of the impact against the brick wall hurting him. You jump back, intimidated by him.

“There were never any strings attached,” your voice cracks. “It was purely friends with benefits. We both just needed the physical affection.” As you try to explain, you step closer to him, putting your hand on his shoulder as he leans against his forearm up against the wall with his head hanging, pinching the bridge of his nose.

He jerks away from your touch as soon as your hand grazes his shirt. “Do you know how many ‘friends with benefits’ relationships end in feelings, Y/n?” he looks at you, astounded. “Your mom always wanted you to marry him anyway!” He takes a few breaths, but you don’t dare try to interrupt him. “And you just expect me to believe that Hot-Shot Ethan, who can have whoever the fuck he wants, chose to fuck around with you?” His voice is louder than it had ever been when talking to you.

His words hit you like a slap across the face. Like high school all over. Before college, before you cut off trying to find a romantic interest, all you had ever been was used, played, lead on. Then forgotten about or thrown away. A sob wracks through your body, and you take off your engagement ring. The logical part of you knows he’s just saying this because he’s mad, and he wouldn’t have asked you to marry him if he were just using you. But then your paranoid and insecure side tells you he is, that he’s just with you because the media thinks he needs a wife. It tells you you’ve never been good enough, and you never will be. You grip the ring tightly in your hand, the stone pressing into your soft skin.

“He trusts me, Chris,” you say weakly, covering your sobs with your other hand. “And I thought you did, too.” Your voice is broken, and you sound nothing like your normally composed self. You press your hand with the ring against his chest. “I thought you loved me. But apparently I’m wrong about a lot of things.” You let the ring drop from your hand as you pull away from him and trudge away, your broken heart making it difficult for you to walk straight. You hear Chris calling after you, asking you to wait. Saying not to go, but you ignore his pleads and open the door, stepping into the rain unfazed, letting your feet take you anywhere away from here.

Chris watches you leave, wanting to run after you but glued to the spot. The words that left his mouth astound him. The creaky gym door open behinds him, and he swings around to see Ethan walking towards him. Chris wants to scream, maybe even throw a punch, but all energy suddenly sucked from his body, he can only collapse on the bench next to him.

“What’s wrong?” Ethan asks as Chris hangs his head in his hands and puts pressure on his eyes with his palm. “I asked Stephanie where Y/n went, she said you pulled her out of the gym really suddenly.”

“I should be screaming at you right now,” Chris says, his voice loud, but hoarse from the need to cry burning his throat. “How could you to just hide the fact you were sleeping together and go around like it never happened. Are you still?”

Realization hits Ethan. Stephanie hears everything about everyone, and word spreads fast, especially since you and Ethan both went to the local university. She would spill anything she hears in high school, craving the drama. Evidently, some people never change.

“That was nothing,” Ethan explains. “We were both lonely college kids, and old friends who needed company. We were comfortable around each other, it was just easy. But it meant nothing. Not feelings developed on either side.”

“Why’d you stay friends with her?” Chris’ voice finally breaks.

“We’ve been best friends since kindergarten, and we mutually agreed to stop when we left college. I’m not just going to abandon her like everyone else she let close. It shouldn’t matter. We didn’t think it would because she loves and is completely committed to you. You should at least know by now that she doesn’t take loyalty lightly.”

Chris’ body shakes as he tries to hold back his tears and he doesn’t say anything.

A shiny glint a ways from Chris’ foot, and bends down, finding your engagement ring on the ground. “Where’d she go?” Ethan asks, picking up the ring. “Where’s Y/n, Chris?”

“She left,” Chris sobs. “I -” he inhales deeply. “I told her a hot-shot like you wouldn’t chose her.”

“Chris, what the fuck?!”

“I know! I-I just couldn’t bare the thought of losing her to you -- to someone she’s known her whole life. I just love her so much any possible threat of losing her blinds me and I just say stupid shit that I don’t really think. I can’t lose her; she’s the best thing to every happen to me.”

Ethan, knowing you so well, and loving you like a sister, fights the urge to hit Chris, knowing he’ll most likely lose, for one, and for two that won’t help the situation. Chris is already extremely distraught, so there’s no need to physically drill him with the emotional damage he’s done.

“I know where she might me,” Ethan starts. “I’ll go find her. You go back to the hotel before you do anything else you’ll regret.”

Chris jumps off the bench, angry. “No, you stay the hell away from her! Just because I fucked up by saying that shit doesn’t mean I trust you,” he yells, almost the top of his voice, and jabs a finger into Ethan’s chest, pushing him backwards slightly.

“I know her better than you do, jackass,” Ethan yells back at Chris. “She won’t talk to you anyway, at least not now. We’re best friends, and I have always been there for her as she has for me. One thing I do know without being with her right now, Y/n needs you. Not because she can’t support herself, but because she loves you so damn much. But after what you just said, her walls are going to built back higher than they were when you met her because she feels like she can’t have you. And if she can’t have you -- the love of her life -- then she won’t want anyone. So she needs me. She needs a friend’s shoulder to cry on, someone to tell her everything is going to be okay. Someone she can trust and vent to like she always has. So, yeah, Chris. I am going to find her.”

Ethan turns and walks out the doors before Chris can protest further, shoving your engagement ring in his pocket in hopes of convincing you to take it, and Chris back. He get’s outside, and a nostalgic feeling hits him, and guides him to the most logical place you’d be before he could even thing about it. He did think about it once he realized where he was going. And he felt like a teenager again, running after his best friend who just got her heart ripped out. That was true, accept he was twenty years older now. So he goes to the place you’d always run and hide, where he could always find you when he lost you. He goes to the park, a couple streets over from the school. The walk is longer than he remembers, and he sympathizes for you, thinking about the heels and dress you’re wearing, how cold you must be in the freezing rain with no jacket, only a thin dress. The walk always seemed shorter and less inclined as a kid, but that was probably because being 20 years younger gave you more energy.

He reaches the park, passing the play grounds you and him used to play on as kids, and even some as teenagers. He heads to the back, where a large open space sits, a stage at the front of it. Local bands or school music groups would play on the stage sometimes, mostly during the holidays, otherwise it was unused. As he had suspected, he saw you sitting on the stage, your feet hanging off the edge. He walks closer, picking his pace to a faster jog, and stops at the wall of the stage, when he’s below you, making you look at him as you look at your feet.

You look at his worried expression when you see him, and the tears the stopped not long ago came running back. You thought you had dried out your eyes to the point you couldn’t cry anymore, but it turns out you were emotionally numb to the pain you’ve already felt. Cut the knife into the wound more, and you could still feel it.

Ethan climbs the stage, sitting next to you and wrapping his arm around your shaking form. Shaking from the cold, and crying. He holds you a moment, letting you lean on his shoulder as you cry, before he says anything.

“Y/n,” he starts, but you don’t respond. You don’t even look at him. “You should go talk to Chris.”

You inhale shakily as you sit up. “I thought he was different,” you sob. “I thought he’d be different than everyone else. Everyone just treats me like shit. Use me. Lead me on. Play me. Throw me away. Forget about me. He’s the same as all of them. I always thought he’d be different. Even when he was just a stupid celebrity crush. But I was wrong. I’m always wrong. He used me, played me. Worse than anyone. It’s all I’ve ever gotten. Maybe it’s what I deserve. I’ve never been good enough”

“Oh, shut the fuck up, Y/n,” Ethan exclaims. “You are worth everything. You’re an amazing friend, an amazing person. You’re unbelievably smart -- you’re an attending surgeon for god’s sake. You did that on your own. You’re strong and you don’t let anything challenge you.”

“That’s because i got over everyone treating me like shit.” You laugh at your own stupidity, wiping at your tears. “I avoided talking to anyone if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. But then Chris waltzes into my life, convinced me he’s the love of my life, and then rips my heart out.”

“Chris is the love of your life, stupid,” Ethan laughs. “His love for you -- God, I’ve never seen anything like it. That man loves you more than anything. He’s scared of losing you, Y/n, and, take it from another guy, we get scared and we say shit we would never mean. He’s broken. He broke himself when he said that, and in all honesty, he seems more broken then you. You need each other.”

You sit, listening to your best friend go on about this. And as much as you hate to admit it, Ethan’s right. “Fine,” you sigh.

Ethan orders you an Uber back to the hotel and waits with you in comfortable silence until it arrives. When it does, he stops you before opening the door, and pulls your ring out of his pocket, placing it gingerly in your hand. He opens the door for you, tells the drive to turn on the heat, and waves you off. You get the impression that the drive see’s you’re not in the mood for casual conversation.

When you get up to your hotel room, you quietly open the door. Chris is laying on the bed, crying against the pillow you slept against last night. He’s still wearing his button up and slacks.

“Chris,” you call, barely above a whisper, but still loud enough so he can hear you.

Chris doesn’t respond, thinking his mind is playing tricks on him.

You put your wet clutch down on the table and crawl onto the bed next to him, wrapping your arms around his shaking body. You had never seen him like this before, and you absolutely hate it. As you hold him, you begin to cry again with hi, silently but your body still trembles.

“Chris,” you sob out against his shoulder.

He sits up, leaving your arms but then pulling you into his. Your smeared makeup stains his shirt, but he doesn’t care. He only cares that he has you. As he holds you, he says he’s sorry, over and over again. You cry into his chest, gripping onto his shirt. Chris holds your head in his sizable hand, holding you to him as he cries, kissing your hair.

You stay like that, with him repeatedly saying he’s sorry. After a few moments in each other’s arms, where you’re meant to be, you both calm down. Chris moves, cradling your cheeks gently in his hands, wiping the tears away from your eyes.

“Y/n,” he says, still breathing shakily as the aftershocks of your bodies persist to wrack through you. “I’m so, so sorry. I never meant any of that. You’re the love of my life, and you are perfect in every way shape and form. Any guy would be the luckiest to call you theirs like I get to. I was just scared -- terrified of losing you. Especially to someone you know so well. Someone who has been there for you practically your whole life. I felt like I can’t compete.

You look up at him, tears prickling your eyes again. “You used my biggest insecurity against me,” you tell him, sobs convulsing you once more.

He grabs your waist, pulling you into his lap and stoking your hair. “I’m sorry. I was wrong to ever suggest anything like that. You’re more than good enough. If anything, you’re too good for anyone. I sure as hell don’t deserve you. You deserve the pure world, and I would give it to you in a heartbeat if I could, but this corrupt piece of shit planet we live on doesn’t deserve you. You’re just too good.” With his words, his constant reassurance, you begin to calm down again. “Everyone from your past is stupid. High school and college kids are all drama, sex crazed maniacs. Some people -- you -- don’t deserve to be around such bullshit for so long. That’s life, and there’s no easy way to avoid it. You’re so strong and you prevailed through all you’ve been through. All those assholes were naive. If they had actually taken the time to get to know you, like I do, and if they would get over their stupid everlasting pubescent hormones, like I did, they’d all be begging for you, like I do, and they’d love you more than anything. Like I do. Those five minutes after the bathroom before I found you, when I did find you, everyone’s eyes were on you. You;re beautiful, and when you’re confident like you’ve become it just radiates more. It’s more noticeable. You’ve become so confident since college, you’re still the same adorable geek, but you own it, you don’t shy away from it anymore. You’re proud to be you, and not many people can say that.” He kisses the top of your head as he finishes his spiel.

You look up at him, caressing his cheek gently as you look at him with all the love in the world. “I don’t deserve you, Chris,” you smile pathetically.

“No,” he says seriously. “Nuh-uh. Nope. Don’t start that bullshit. You’re a puppy.”

You laugh, looking at him confused.

“Puppies deserve anything they want, but they’re too precious and must be protected at all costs. So are you. Therefore, you are a puppy.”

“How much time have you been spending on twitter?” you laugh at him, feeling overwhelmed with love.

He nudges your shoulder, and you purposely over react and fall over dramatically as he gets off the bed. He takes you into the bathroom and you both get cleaned up from the eventful night that felt like a whole week. You shower together, but neither of you let things get steamy, as you’ve both agreed that sex is not the appropriate way to make up a mistake or argument. He holds you while in the shower, your back pressed to his chest, and he just admires you lovingly as he washes your back. You get in the bed together after putting some random late-night reruns on the TV, and you lay in his arms.

“My beautiful wife-to-be, you fit so perfectly into my arms,” Chris says, kissing your shoulder. “You were made for me, and I can’t wait to marry you. It’s already the best day of my life, and it hasn’t happened yet.”

You giggle at his lovey-ness, and settle comfortable into your fiance’s arms, falling asleep with ease in your favorite place.

------

A/n ok now i feel hella fucking lonely, don’t know if you could tell, but i used things my therapist tells me, all while helping my friend deal with his friends. this took forever, and i don’t know how it ended up here, but i love it and my heart is just tangled in different emotions. like damn i need a man like chris/seb but that’s never gonna happen because im not good enough :’)

#chris evans #chris evans x reader #chris evans imagine #Steve Rogers #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers imagine #marvel #marvel imagine

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Best Movies Coming to Netflix in July 2021

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Movies are back. It at least feels that way when you see the numbers that films like F9 and A Quiet Place Part II are earning. But more than just the thrill of going back to theaters, July signals what is typically considered to be the height of the summer movie season. On a hot evening, there are few things better than some cold air conditioning and a colder drink of your choice while escapism plays across a screen.

That can prove just as true at home as in theaters. And as luck would have it, Netflix is pretty stuffed with new streaming content this month. Below there are space adventures, comedies, dramas, and more than a few epics worth your attention, either as a revisit or new discovery. And we’ve rounded them up for your scrolling pleasure.

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

July 1

When the first Austin Powers opened in 1997, it was intended to be as much a crude love letter to the popular cinema of the 1960s as a modern day raunchy laugh-fest. Now with the benefit of another 20 years’ worth of hindsight, Mike Myers and Jay Roach’s spoof of Bondmania is itself an amusing time capsule of 1990s comedy tropes. There’s Myers’ cartoonishly larger-than-life characters—beginning with Powers but most dementedly perfected with Dr. Evil, the comedian’s riff on Ernst Stavro Blofeld—as well as the pair’s embrace of what they considered to be the defining trappings of the late ‘90s.

The film’s nostalgia for the ‘60s and its value as a piece of kitsch ‘90s nostalgia makes this Austin Powers (and to a lesser extent the second movie, The Spy Who Shagged Me) a fascinating relic, as well as a genuinely funny lowbrow symphony of sex gags, bathroom humor, and multiple digs at British stereotypes, including bad teeth. In other words, it’s a good time if you don’t take it too seriously. Just avoid the third one, which is also coming to Netflix.

The Karate Kid (1984)

July 1

1984’s The Karate Kid is the cultural apex of Reagan America’s obsession with martial arts movies and Rocky-style underdog stories. It offered ’80s kids the ultimate fantasy of learning martial arts to defeat local bullies and finding time to squeeze in a love subplot along the way. Granted, the Cobra Kai series has thrown a wrench into this film’s seemingly simple morality tale, but just try not to root for Daniel by the time you reach arguably the greatest montage in movie history.

There’s also something eternally comforting about watching Pat Morita beat-up ’80s thugs while validating parents everywhere by suggesting that you to can one day grow up to be a great warrior if you just sweep the floor, wax the car, and paint the fence.

Love Actually

July 1

Christmas in July? Sure, why not. This Yuletide classic likely needs no introduction. Writer-director Richard Curtis’ Love Actually is the ultimate romantic comedy, stuffing every cliché and setup from a holiday bag of tricks into one beautifully wrapped package. Perhaps its greatest strength though is it mixes in a touch of the bitter with its sweet, and doesn’t hide the thorns in its bouquet of roses. Plus, its use of “All I Want for Christmas” is still a banger nearly 20 years on.

Admittedly, we aren’t particularly inclined to watch this in July ourselves, but if you don’t mind the Christmas of it all, there are few better rom-coms in your queue at the moment.

Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

July 1

This adaptation of the Arthur Golden novel of the same name was one of the highest profile literary adaptations of the early 2000s. It’s the story of a young girl sold to a geisha house in the legendary Gion district of Kyoto who then grows up to be the most famous geisha of 1930s imperial Japan… right before the war. The film (like its source material) had controversy in its day due to having a somewhat exoticized view of Japanese customs, as well as for the casting of Chinese actresses Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi in the roles of icons of Japanese culture, with Zhang playing central geisha Sayuri.

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How Underworld Mixed Werewolves, Vampires, and Shakespeare

By David Crow

But whatever its shortcomings, Memoirs of a Geisha is still an exquisitely crafted melodrama that provides an often delicate window into one of he most graceful and misunderstood arts. The film won Oscars for its costumes, art direction, and cinematography for a reason. Plus whenever Zhang and the actually Japanese Ken Watanabe share the screen, unrequited sizzle is hot to the touch.

Mortal Kombat (1995)

July 1

Look, 1995’s Mortal Kombat isn’t a great movie in the classic sense of the word. Those looking for notable ’90s schlock might even have a better time with 1994’s Street Fighter and Raul Julia’s scene-stealing performance as General M. Bison.

Yet at a time when video game movies still struggle to capture the magic of the games themselves, Mortal Kombat stands tall as one of the few adaptations that feel like an essential companion piece. It might lack the blood and gore that helped make 1992’s Mortal Kombat arcade game a cultural touchstone, but it perfectly captures the campy, shameless joy that has defined this franchise for nearly 30 years.

Star Trek (2009)

July 1

The idea of a Star Trek movie reboot wasn’t greeted with universal enthusiasm when it was first announced but then J.J. Abrams delighted many fans by creating a Trek origin story that was both familiar and new. Chris Pine shone as the cocky Kirk, bickering with Zachary Quinto’s Vulcan Spock while trying to save the universe from a pesky Romulan (Eric Bana). This was a standalone that could be enjoyed by audiences completely ignorant of the Star Trek legacy which also achieved the feat of not annoying many long-term followers of the multiple series. It was a combination of humor, heart, action and a zingy cast that won the day – it’s still the best of the three Star Trek reboot movies to date.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2005)

July 1

Alongside Step Brothers, Tallageda Nights remains a a biting snapshot of the 2000s zeitgeist from writer-director Adam McKay. Eventually he would drop (most of) the crude smirks in favor of dramedies about the excesses of the Bush years via The Big Short (2013) and Dick Cheney biopic Vice (2018), however Talladega Nights remains a well-aged and damning satire of that brief time when “NASCAR Dads” were a thing, which is all the more impressive since it was filmed in the midst of such jingoistic fervor.

So enters Will Ferrell in one of his signature roles as a NASCAR driver and the quintessential ugly American who’s boastful of his ignorance and proud that his two sons are named “Walker” and “Texas Ranger.” He’d be almost irredeemable if the movie wasn’t so quotable and endearing with its sketch comedy absurdities. There’s a reason Ferrell and co-star John C. Reilly became a recurring thing after this lunacy. Plus, that ending where adherents of the homophobic humor of the mid-2000s found out the joke was on them? Still pretty satisfying.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

July 1

This is the movie that changed everything. Filmmakers had been experimenting with computer-generated visual effects for years, including director James Cameron with 1989’s The Abyss. But Cameron, as usual, upped his game with this 1991 action/sci-fi epic in which the main character — the villain — was a hybrid of live-action actor and CG visuals.

Those of us who saw T2 in the theater when it first came out can remember hearing the audience (and probably ourselves) audibly gasp as the T-1000 (an underrated and chilling Robert Patrick) slithered into his liquid metal form, creating a surreal and genuinely eerie moving target that not even Arnold Schwarzenegger’s brute strength could easily defeat. There were moments in this movie that remained seared into our brains for years as high points of what could be accomplished with CG.

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This writer prefers T2 to the original Terminator. It’s fashionable to go the other way, but the first movie, while excellent, is essentially a low-budget horror film, Schwarzenegger’s T-800 a somewhat more formidable stand-in for the usual unstoppable slasher. The characters in T2 are far more fleshed out, the action bigger and more spectacular, the stakes more grave and palpable. It was the first movie to cost more than $100 million but it felt like every penny was right there on the screen. And Cameron tied up his story ingeniously, making all the sequels and prequels, and sidequels since irrelevant and incoherent. We don’t need them; we have Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Underworld (2003)

July 1

Is Underworld a good movie? No, not really. Is it a scary movie, what with the vampires and werewolves? Not at all. Well, is it at least entertaining?! Absolutely. Never before has a B-studio actioner been so deliciously pretentious and delightful in its pomposity.

Every bit the product of early 2000s action movie clichés, right down to Kate Beckinsale’s oh-so tight leather number, Underworld excels in part because of the casting of talent like Beckinsale. A former Oxford student and star of the West End stage, she got her start in cinema by appearing in a Kenneth Branagh Shakespeare adaptation, and she brings a wholly unneeded (but welcome) conviction to this tale of vampire versus werewolves in a centuries-long feud. Shamelessly riffing on Romeo and Juliet, the film ups the British thespian pedigree with movie-stealing performances by Bill Nighy as a vampire patriarch and Michael Sheen (Beckinsale’s then-husband who she met in a production of The Seagull) as an angsty, tragic werewolf. It’s bizarre, overdone, and highly entertaining in addition to all the fang on fur action.

Snowpiercer (2013)

July 2

Before there was Parasite, there was Snowpiercer, the action-driven class parable brought to horrific and mesmerizing life by Oscar-winning Korean director Bong Joon-ho in 2013. The film is set in a future ice age in which the last of humanity survives on a train that circumnavigates a post-climate change Earth. The story follows Chris Evans‘ Curtis as he leads a revolt from the working class caboose to the upper class engine at the front of the train.

Loosely based on a French graphic novel, filmed in the Czech Republic as a Korean-Czech co-production, and featuring some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, with dialogue in both English and Korean, Snowpiercer is not only a truly international production that will keep Western audiences guessing, but it packs an ever effective social critique as we head further into an age of climate change and wealth inequality. Also, there is a scene in which Chris Evans slips on a fish.

The Beguiled (2017)

July 16

Sofia Coppola’s remake of the 1971 film of the same name (both are based on a Thomas Cullinan novel) is a somewhat slight yet undeniably intriguing addition to the filmmaker’s catalog. It’s the story of a wounded Union soldier being taken in by a Southern school for girls–stranded in the middle of the American Civil War–with salvation turning into damnation as the power dynamics between the sexes are tested. It is also an evocative piece of Southern Gothic with an ending that will stick with you. Top notch work from a cast that also includes Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning, and Colin Farrell makes this a bit of an underrated gem.

The Twilight Saga

July 16

In July, not one, not two, not three, not even four, but all five of the movies adapted from Stephenie Meyer’s young adult phenomenon book series will be accessible on Netflix. Indulge in the nostalgia of Catherine Hardwicke’s faithful and comparatively intimate Twilight. Travel to Italy with a depressing Edward and Bella in New Moon. Lean into the horror absurdity of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 2. Or marathon all five for maximal escapism into a world where vegetarian vampires are the boyfriend ideal, the sun is always clouded, and the truly iconic emo-pop tunes never stop.

Django Unchained (2012)

July 24

The second film Quentin Tarantino won an Oscar for, Django Unchained remains a highly potent revenge fantasy where a Black former slave (Jamie Foxx) seeks to free his wife from Mississippian bondage and ends up wiping out the entire infrastructure of a plantation in the process. Brutal, dazzlingly verbose in dialogue, and highly triggering in every meaning of the word—including quickdraw shootouts—this is a Southern-fried Spaghetti Western at its finest.

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Perhaps its other great asset is a terrific cast of richly drawn characters, including Foxx as Django (the “D” is silent), Christoph Waltz as German dentist-turned-bounty hunter Dr. King Shultz, Leonardo DiCaprio as sadistic slaveowner Calvin Candie, and Samuel L. Jackson as Stephen. While Waltz won a deserved Oscar for the film (his second from a Tarantino joint), it is Jackson’s turn as a house slave who becomes by far the most dangerous and cruel of Django’s adversaries who lingers in the memory years later…

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theliterateape · 6 years

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"Here's My Heart": Braid's 'Frame & Canvas' Turns 20

By David Himmel

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Frame & Canvas by the Champaign, Illinois-based band Braid. This album mattered. It mattered when it was first released for what it meant for the punk/emo/hardcore genre. It mattered for what it meant for the band. It mattered for what it meant to me and the thousands (Tens of thousands? Millions?) of kids like me. And yeah, it matters now.

I know I’m not the first to get all fanboy gooey over this album or this band. But lately I’m having a hard time not submitting to the allure of nostalgia, that gorgeous siren. No, it’s not nostalgia. It’s reference to the past, my past. It could be that the last year was a wild one — first year of marriage; dog gets sick; land a new job; wife gets pregnant; lose the new job; dog dies; first child is born. A lot of impactful things have happened personally — internally. And it’s been busy externally, too — all things Trump; the generational war; the race/socio-economic war; the geographical war; Stranger Things 2. In wild times like these, it does one best to cite history for the guidance, clues and cues for how to best navigate the new, but always familiar, waters. And so, I’ve been going back to the well of my favorite movies, books and music for comfort and clarity.

Frame & Canvas is a favorite. Braid is a favorite. As such, the record release of 20 years ago today is worth writing about.

On April 7, 1998, I was a freshman in college at UNLV. I was miserable. The whys and whats of why are too numerous and convoluted to get into here but I can tell you that overall, I felt stale.

I didn’t run out and buy Frame & Canvas on its release day. I don’t remember when I bought the CD but I remember that it did not leave its place in the 6-CD disk changer in my new Volkswagen Golf — my first car — for all of my sophomore year at school. I remember playing it at full volume with the windows down and the sunroof open as one of my sophomore year roommates, Matt Sandoval, and I drove to San Diego for a weekend on the beach. He was impressed with it. It sounded like nothing he’d ever heard before. He wanted more. So did I.

“So I’m told that Chicago’s cold. Can’t be cool as California.” — First Day Back

Braid wasn’t new to me. The released two albums (and a slew of singles and splits and compilations, etc.) but Braid hadn’t resonated with me until Frame & Canvas. The band’s third and final album — before the release of a two-volume compilation of singles and B-sides, and a temp-to-full-time reunion release 16 years later — was just the right mix of nuance that my sensitive, wannabe rockstar heart and ears required. I had even seen Braid perform the earlier stuff at Chicago’s Fireside Bowl several times when they shared the bill with my favorites at the time, The Promise Ring and The Get Up Kids to name two. (Those bands still rank among my favorites, and their albums remain in routine rotation on my turntable, in my iTunes and in my car.) After I completely absorbed every lyric, drum beat, guitar riff and bass line I could from Frame & Canvas, I dove into the older stuff. And now I loved it. All of it. I became a superfan.

Braid broke up in 1999. They went on a one-off reunion tour in 2004. I flew from Las Vegas to Detroit to see them open for Minus the Bear. I still have the ticket stub. It wasn my birthday weekend. It was fucking incredible.

But back to the record at hand…

The songs were about being in a state of certain uncertainty. A place of transition with the balls to step up and have no fear of fucking it all up. The songs were about girls and friends and getting older and being younger and parents and longing and having and missing and distance and places and things and giving a shit and not giving a shit at all.

“We’ve got a lot of great mistakes to make. We’ve a lot of chances to take, so let’s take our time and hurry.” — The New Nathan Detroits

Or that’s how I perceived them. What do I know? I didn’t write them, I only listened to them. It’s that old argument: What Does The Art Mean And Who Does It Mean It To? The album, front to back and back again was everything my tender Midwestern heart was feeling and everything my late teenage brain was thinking

Frame & Canvas was released at the end of my freshman year, but it was wholly consumed throughout my sophomore year. My sophomore year was the year when I was still sad but sick of being sad; bored but sick of being bored; interested but struggling to find something interesting. Throughout the album, there were lyrics that spoke to exactly what I was feeling or thinking, or needed to hear because I hadn’t thought of it that way. And certainly not with that shift in time signature or run down the frets.

It was my sophomore when I shook off the dust and salt and tried new things while staying evermore true to myself. That was the year college started to be enjoyable and life started to suck. That was the year my twenties began and a new, more confident, less afraid David emerged. I didn’t know what a Nathan Detroit was — I didn’t get the reference, but I couldn’t help to relate because there was something both familiar and new about this guy, Nathan. (I later, of course, realized that Nathan Detroit was a reference to the character from Guys and Dolls. The reference and connection still accurately applies.)

One of my longest standing and still best friends, Brian Wolff, once told me, “You treat lead singers like they’re great philosophers.” Yeah, I do. Fuck Socrates. Eat shit, Voltaire. Bite my dick, Angelou. Give me my Nanna, Broach, Portman, Schwartzenbach, Andriano…

I’m not alone in this, I know. Music matters. Bands matter. Singers and guitarists and bassists and drummers matter. They say and play what we want to say and play but can’t because we’re in our own way. And get this; there are bands for the bands, too. Everyone is inspired.

So, it’s 20 years later…

I’ve seen Braid perform live countless times at this point — considering all the times in high school at the Fireside, the reunion show, the quieter shows before the release of the new album in 2014 and the few since. And yeah, I own the VHS and DVD of Killing a Camera, the live performance documentary of the band’s swan song performances. I’m a fan. Superfan.

In the years since Frame & Canvas has been among us, the listening public, it has remained a constant source of companionship. Through girlfriends of distance, through missing my Midwestern roots while living my dear dessert life in Nevada, through being married...

“I can’t come home, I’m stuck in a phone booth again. But once in your arms, we’ll rise above the ground. You and me, and the beautiful aerial view… I’m never coming down.” — Collect from Clark Kent

A short departure for a story of a different tone, yet related…

When I was making my move from Las Vegas to Chicago during June of 2007, I stopped in Rock Springs, Wyoming. It was on the way and I had to pee. I also was jonesing for a small town beer. Preferably a draft. I found what I considered a local-enough tavern to piss and throw anchor in, and steered the VW into the small parking lot. I too my piss, drank my beer and scribbled in my notebook. Those writings are somewhere, actually close to me in a well-disheveled filing of notebooks in my desk just to the left of this very keyboard. I’ll spare you the contents of that bar top writing because it’s not good. At least not without music to it…

Point is, while I was drinking and writing, it dawned on me that Braid had recorded a song about Rock Springs, Wyoming. It’s called I Keep a Diary, and as I realized that, I recognized that was living out a song I loved. For I, too, was keeping a diary. Bonus: The date of the diary entry in that song is my wife’s birthday. How about that?

“Ten-ten, ninety-seven… Rock Springs, Wyoming hotel. As far as I can tell, I just don’t miss you anymore.” — I Keep a Diary

OK. So here we are, 20 years later. I embarked on my career, I poured through and over girlfriends, I bought a house with a pool, I lost my virginity, I bought a boat — sort of — I got married, I became a dad, I bought another VW Golf then a VW GTI, I got some cancer, I became a scotch drinker.

The thing about our formative years is that they’re always formative. We don’t grow out of who we were when we were angsty, emotional, needy, angry, confused, certain, brilliant, and dumb-as-fuck teenagers and twentysomethings. That is our base. All of us. That’s why our record collection, and collecting, caps out around the time between our teenage and late twenties years. Unless you’re a music critic or seriously committed to avoiding atrophy in spite of the certain emotional disappointment new music will bring your aging ass, this is true.

But Braid keeps on.

Never mind that the band got back together. Never mind what members went on to do in subsequent years. Never mind that Bob Nanna — guitarist and vocalist of Braid — went on to write — for hire — our wedding song. Yeah, it’s pretty fucking cool that my rock ‘n’ roll emotional hero knows my dog’s name!

How does one reconcile fandom with heroism. I see these guys at shows… they are cool enough and real enough to be friends but incredible enough to pass me over as a passing piece of late ’90s and early 2000s dust. Except that we’re all part of the same thing… The Scene, the listening public. And wouldn’t you know it? My wife hired Braid’s lyricist to pen our wedding song.

Jesus Christ.

The frame… the canvas… it’s still so real and so important.

And if Bob, Todd, Chris, Damen or Roy happen to read this… Thanks. Next time I see you at some show in town, the drinks are on me.

#Braid #David Himmel #Emo #Frame & Canvas

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literateape · 6 years

Text

"Here's My Heart": Braid's 'Frame & Canvas' Turns 20

By David Himmel

Frame & Canvas is a favorite. Braid is a favorite. As such, the record release of 20 years ago today is worth writing about.

On April 7, 1998, I was a freshman in college at UNLV. I was miserable. The whys and whats of why are too numerous and convoluted to get into here but I can tell you that overall, I felt stale.

“So I’m told that Chicago’s cold. Can’t be cool as California.” — First Day Back

But back to the record at hand…

“We’ve got a lot of great mistakes to make. We’ve a lot of chances to take, so let’s take our time and hurry.” — The New Nathan Detroits

So, it’s 20 years later…

A short departure for a story of a different tone, yet related…

“Ten-ten, ninety-seven… Rock Springs, Wyoming hotel. As far as I can tell, I just don’t miss you anymore.” — I Keep a Diary

But Braid keeps on.

Jesus Christ.

The frame… the canvas… it’s still so real and so important.

And if Bob, Todd, Chris, Damen or Roy happen to read this… Thanks. Next time I see you at some show in town, the drinks are on me.

#Braid #David Himmel #Emo #Frame & Canvas

0 notes