#THE KARATE KID PART II THE COMPUTER GAME | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

california-raccoon · 4 years

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eye's on the sparrow

He just stares at her, like he’d been wishing for his mom but she appeared instead. This belief - in wishing, in divine intervention, in fate - is probably the reason why he chooses to believe in her. BLEACH / AU / ICHIRUKI • [PART 1/?]

A/N: It figures my first official attempt at fanfic is gonna be for this old ship in the wildest year 2020. Apologies in advance because I am no writer, but like a kid messing around in a kitchen, I hope you enjoy it anyway. Bone apple teeths, my dudes.

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The first time she meets him, he’s by himself on the side of the road. He isn’t doing much of anything, just a lot of crying, same as that day his mother died. Rukia wasn’t there to see it happen, but she saw the officers and the cars all hovered around the scene in the aftermath, a pop of bright yellow about her height wailing like a siren.

For all of her seven years of living, she is precocious enough to understand death and loss, but when she greets him weeks later, she has no kid gloves to treat him with, just her bare-knuckled fists knocking into his shoulders. He loses his balance among other things, face no longer crunched together in tears but spread wide with shock.

“What’s wrong?” says she, without any hint of sympathy. The boy offers her nothing in response. His hand is on the pavement, catching himself.

“Was she pretty?” Is all Rukia asks, trying to imagine her, and the boy cracks a smile.

“The prettiest. She made the best blueberry pancakes for breakfast and held my hand while we walked. I was supposed to protect her… but,” The boy chokes, big drops forming on the sides of his eyes.

“Just… don’t forget her.”

The boy gulps at this, not really understanding but nodding anyway. Maybe it’s Rukia’s imagination of his mother now in her mind, as pretty and warm as the sunshine, smelling like pancakes and blueberries, that causes her to reflect. She squats down next to him with a frown on her face.

“You’re lucky, I don’t have a mother to remember.” Rukia says, “So whatever you do, don’t forget her.”

He looks up at her then, eyes as big as saucers, and she helps him up to his feet. They say nothing else in the exchange, but he keeps looking at her, so she ruffles his hair to make him stop. She likes that she’s a little taller than him that she can do that; the other boys she knows are older and too tall for her fingers and fists to reach.

When she sees him the next day, he isn’t crying anymore but he talks. About little things, at first. A lot of stories about his mom, so he won’t forget. How she warmed the room with her presence, could peel apple skins in one long strip and loved reading books about funny English plays. As the days go on, it mixes with stories of things he’s learned in school, or his classmate in karate who he can never seem to beat. Rukia listens. They walk together down the road on his way home.

“Where do you live?” he asks one day, between showing her this new Pokemon card he’d traded Mizuiro during recess. It’s another rainy afternoon, but he’s okay, and they’re sharing his umbrella on the road home.

“Up that hill over there,” she says, pointing past the street they’re on.

“That’s pretty far. You can take my umbrella with you; I live right here.” The boy exclaims, stopping right in front of a family clinic. There’s a chipper smile on his face as he hands her the umbrella to hold.

She doesn’t really know what to think, the gesture unusual to her, but she takes it with a small thanks before parting ways.

II.

Ichigo is six the first time he invites a girl over to his house. He doesn’t really know her name, nor does he know much of anything about her, now that he thinks about it, but they somehow walk home together every day and he’s happy for the company of his new friend.

She doesn’t accept at first, but once she manages to sneak up to his window by climbing the adjacent tree, it’s as if she’s always been there. He shares his manga and his favorite snacks and teaches her how to play Pokemon among his growing collection of cards. She’ll stay over an hour after sunset, the pair of them reading and laughing until he has to head down for dinner, and she’ll leave the way she came. If his dad is wise to the situation, Ichigo doesn’t really know, but the man is all too happy to give him extra snacks to carry into his room whenever he asks.

On one weekend Ichigo finds himself packed in with his sisters in the car, dad behind the wheel with a list of things to buy and the promise of candy and ice cream at the end of the day if they behave. When they pass the hill, all he sees are lush forest greens and the Torii that pokes its head among the body of stairs. There are no houses, so he asks where they are.

“There are no houses there, son. Just the orphanage near the Shinto shrine.” His dad answers with unexpected gravity.

Ichigo says nothing in response to this, but he looks up what an orphanage is later in the dictionary once they get home, remembers the girl with no mother and cries.

He notices it, seeing her again on his way home from karate. She usually comes up to meet him from the river, playing by herself. Her clothes are a little too big on her, waiting to grow into them like the hand-me-downs his sisters complain about.

He can’t really bring himself to say anything to her, though he really wants to. It’s on the tip of his tongue, to tell her that he knows, but he never gets the chance to because they’re home before he realizes it and the door bursts open just as soon as he gathers the courage to speak.

“Welcome home, Ichigo!” His dad surprises him outside their doors just as they’ve arrived. There’s a sly look on his eye that Ichigo is too young to decipher, but he feels as if some secret’s been found out when his dad turns to the person frozen in place next to him.

“And who is this young lady accompanying my son home today?”

Ichigo’s mind is racing to respond but he can’t find a simple answer. Static bubbles out of him instead in stammers and incoherent half-words that only stop when she says her name.

“Rukia,” his dad repeats with gentlemanly charm. “Thank you for keeping an eye out for my son. Come in and stay for dinner.”

His dad figures out everything but he’s surprisingly lenient about it. She’s allowed to stay as she wishes, for snacks, for games, as long as she heads back before nightfall. The terms are fair, especially with the long summer days ahead of them, and sometimes his dad will leave work ahead of schedule so they can have earlier dinners with her as their guest.

It’s how most of Ichigo’s summer unfolds: him, his sisters, and Rukia eating dinners together, watching tv and playing video games. Her drawings of bears and rabbits mix with Yuzu and Karin’s on the refrigerator. The newness of having her over gives the family something to talk about, and they welcome her openly. The rest of the days are a haze of laughs and pixelated dungeons where they save princesses.

“Why do you always play by the river?” Ichigo asks her one afternoon. The question stops her in her tracks, thrown off by the question. They’re on the way home, the usual babble of the river filling her sudden silence. She’d been talking to him about her strategy to defeat the boss at the Fire Temple. He’s a little guilty he wasn’t paying attention.

“My friend Renji was adopted a week before I met you,” she tells him. “We used to sneak out and play by the river all the time before he went away.”

“Will you go away too when you get adopted?”

“I don’t know. Probably.” She shrugs, but her fingers are tightly wound like the first day they met.

Later that night after she leaves, Ichigo tugs on the bottom of his dads shirt as he’s putting away the last of the clean dishes and stares up at him.

“Can’t we adopt her?” He chokes out, vision wet and blurry as he says it because he already knows the answer.

His dad sighs, picking him up by his armpits, and suddenly he’s four years old again, crying on the kitchen counter. Ichigo is surprised to find himself tightly wound in his dads arms, a hug so warm and sincere he thinks he could choke if he doesn’t remember to breathe.

“Sorry, kiddo.” His dad ruffles his hair when they pull apart, and looking up at him, his eyes look wet too.

The last of his summer is a countdown till it finally happens. It’s a normal sunny afternoon walking back from karate. He lingers over the view of the river before walking home alone for the first time in months. There’s a pit in his stomach that he ignores and he mostly sulks in his room the rest of the evening.

She shows up two days later with a big smile on her face that he’s never seen. He knows before she even says it.

Her smile is so big it eclipses the frown that threatens to show on his face because the more he listens to her, the happier he genuinely feels for her. A young couple from Tokyo, and the woman is warm and sunny just like any mother should be, she says.

“The man isn’t as goofy as your dad, but he seems nice… I’m moving with them to Tokyo this week once the papers are signed.”

The mention of the move makes her nervous, the only other emotion she’s expressed in her retelling of the past two days. They spend the rest of the afternoon on his father’s computer looking up pictures of Tokyo, then find a map in the garage to see how far it is from Karakura.

On her last day, Ichigo and his dad go out to buy a small bouquet of flowers in congratulations, and they snap a photo together along with his sisters, who are hugging her in a fond embrace.

“Write to me,” he says with a grin, hand stuffed in his pockets, suddenly feeling too cool for goodbyes. She ignores it completely and gives him a fierce hug.

“Of course.” She laughs at him, then punches him fondly on the shoulder for good measure. “Thanks, Ichigo.”

The words throw him off, the first time she’s ever called him by name, and he tries hers in kind.

“See ya later, Rukia.”

They write to each other the way pen pals do, in a pattern of energetic bursts of conversation between the pauses of closing signatures that grow wider until their lives fill with classes, exams, friends and families. The letters stop coming at the end of the year.

[PART 2 → ]

#ichiruki #writing is hard #i dont understand it #ca-r-makes

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chuckepisodes · 3 years

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Chuck vs. The Alma Mater Part 4

As Sarah and Casey continued shooting the other men, you and Chuck looked over at the computer noticing the disk was still in and Chuck quickly took out the disc putting it back in its case. "I have an idea. Get us out of here!" Chuck shouted. Chuck, Y/N, when I say go, run out the side door. Protect the disc. We'll cover you two. Go!" Chuck grabbed your hand as you both got up and ran out of the room, leaving Casey and Sarah to fight them off.

You and Chuck now found yourselves in a computer room. Chuck quickly sat down on on the computer chair and popped the disk in as you stood close to him, looking around the room, hoping no one finds you both. "Chuck what are we doing? We can't leave Sarah and Casey in there with all those men. They're gonna get killed." "I know Y/N. That's why I'm doing this." He clicked on one student and her number came up and he quickly dialed it. "Is this Glenda Mitchell?" he asked, starting to talk on the phone." We're in the science building. It's an emergency. Bring lots of big guns." Then there was a pause and you can see Chuck was trying to remember something. "Crap, there's a code phrase.... Are you coming to the toga party?!" he then hung up. You smiled at him. "Chuck you're a genius!" You both then began to work together, calling all the students in the file asking them if they would love to come to the toga party. Chuck's phone all of a sudden rang and he quickly answered. "Agent Katz?" All of a sudden you can see Chuck's face become annoyed and you had a feeling you knew why. "Morgan, this is really, really not a good time." Chuck said annoyed. "I knew it." you said rolling your eyes, laughing a little. He always had the worst timing. "Okay buddy I get that, but I'm at Stanford with Y/N. What do you want me to do?" he asked as he looked over at you. Whatever Morgan asked Chuck next angered him as he had to pull away from the phone and take a moment before continuing. You were trying not to laugh. Being best friends with both Chuck and Morgan was always entertaining. "Okay, okay. The code is O-U-8- 1-2-pound." and then he hung up and looked over at you. He can see you smirking. "Don't start Y/NN." "You good?" "I will be. Now..." he then bent down and took the disk out of the computer. You can see Chuck then become tense when he sat back up. "Chuck what is it?" What you didn't know was the man with the crossbow was behind both of you. "Oh no." Chuck said. He then jumped to the side, bringing you down with him as he tried to shield you from the man as he shot his crossbow, hitting the computer.

The man was walking around trying to find you both as you both crawled across the floor trying to hide. It didn't last long though when you appeared from behind a desk, Chuck behind you, the man was right there with the crossbow pointed right at your head. "Oh my God." you said scared. Chuck began to freak out seeing this. No. Please don't, please don't, please don't. Don't." Chuck pleaded with the man as he bent down to grab the disk from you. Out of nowhere, a woman came in high kicking the guy, knocking him out as well as the disk out of his hand. "You must be Chuck Bartowski. I just got your message. Are you okay?" "I'm just glad you check your voice mail." Chuck said sounding relieved. "Yeah me too." you said letting out a sigh. Chuck crawled over grabbing the disk and then quickly pulled you into a hug, relieved nothing bad happened to you.

After all that, you were all finally back home. Well at Chuck and Ellie's place since they decided to invite you over. "I can't believe that game was such a wash." Ellie said as you all entered the house. " What a blowout." " Worst game ever." Chuck said. Devon was trying to wash the paint off of his face but was not having any luck. " It's not coming off. I think I used the wrong kind of paint." he said coming up to Ellie. " Well, what brand was it?" " Brand? I don't know. One of the guys picked it up." "Try some stronger soap." You and Chuck both walked into the kitchen and he passed you a beer as he took one for himself as well. "So how painful was it? Not the game, I mean." Ellie said coming up to you both. " Well, uh, do you remember the evening with Morgan at the karaoke club? His cover of Peter Cetera's "Glory of Love" he dedicated to you?" Chuck asked. " That completely ruined Karate Kid II. " Ellie said still sounding angry about it. "Seriously, though, thanks for pushing me." "Yeah me too." "After the initial shock and horror, it was a relief to finally go back. Say goodbye." "Yeah and seeing stuff from my school. Even some people I knew. It was scary but...it was good for me." "I'm proud of you. You know? Both of you. You faced your past, head-on. Did you find what you were looking for?" " Almost." he said, but feeling bad for you because you'll probably never know. " You'll get there." Ellie said smiling at you both as she walked away.

You and Chuck were now in his room, chilling once again on his bed. Chuck had one question on his mind and he turned his head to look at you. "Y/N. I realized you never fully told me why you hate UCLA so much. Everytime I ask you always try to change to subject." "I know..." you said with a sad sigh. "I mean it's been quite a few years since and I mean...we are best friends. I thought we told each other everything?" "We do. It's just...I've had a hard time talking about it." "Okay. Well I won't force you to talk but...you know I'm always here." "I know..." you then took deep breath. "Okay." You then sat up and turned to him and Chuck did the same. He can tell you looked really nervous. "One night, my house was having this party. It was huge. Anyways, me and some of my so called friends got a little crazy with the drinking and...I got so drunk. And my ex, Steve, thought he could take advantage of me." You could see Chuck was getting angry at the thought of someone doing this to you. "He decided to do it in front of everyone to see and none of my friends helped and...and people were filming it and the next thing I know it's all over the school." you were now crying and Chuck quickly pulled you into his arms as you cried and shaked. "Oh my God Y/N. Hey...Shhh...Y/NN. I am so so sorry." he said softly as you still cried. "I am sorry I didn't tell you sooner. Hell even called you at school when this all happened. I was just so ashamed." "Hey. Look at me." You pulled away and saw there were tears in his eyes too. "It was his fault. Okay? Not yours .Plus you didn't let that bastard stop you did you? You still graduated at the top of your class. And you should be damn proud about that. I still really want to beat the crap out of him though." You smiled at him. "Thanks Chuck." "Thank you for having the courage to tell me." You hugged him tightly one more time.

“Please tell me he got taken care of. You know by the police and all.”

“Oh he did.”

“Thank God.”

You smiled at him once more.”

"Want to check out your file?"

You both got up and walked over to Chuck's computer. As he sat down he brought you down with him to sit on his lap and held you close as he popped the disk in. "You didn't think we'd let you keep that, did you?" Sarah said appearing at Chuck's door. " I need to know, Sarah." "Okay, Chuck." she said walking up to the both of you. "Test subject 0326. Bartowski. This will be his first interview. Send Chuck in. " Fleming said appearing on the screen. "Bryce? This isn't a good time. I'm waiting for another student." You and Chuck looked at each other shocked then over at Sarah who looked just as shocked. "Chuck Bartowski? He never got your message." "What are you talking about?" " You put Chuck on the CIA recruitment track? " "It's not up to me, Bryce. They want him for the Omaha Project." "That's a military operation. They'll turn Chuck into- " "I'm required to send all the top test results to the Agency." " I want my friend out of this." "He's a perfect candidate. Keywords in his essay responses correlate to 98 percent... of the images in the exam." "You don't get it. Chuck's a good person. He's got too much heart for this kind of work. He's no operative. You can't put him out in the field. He won't survive. " Chuck looked a little saddened watching this and you noticed and leaned your head on his. "The Agency is not gonna let go of a recruit this promising. The amount of information he can retain... ? They're not gonna give him a choice? He's in no matter what." "If he cheated on the exam, copied all the answers... it would invalidate the results, wouldn't it? " "Yes. " "Good. Now you're going to help me, professor." And the video was over.

"I'm sorry Chuck." you said softly. "Bryce framed me for cheating to save me. Why didn't he just tell me that?" he said, sadness in his voice. "He couldn't. They had already recruited him." Sarah said, trying not to cry. " If he had a reason for getting me kicked out... maybe he had a good reason to break into the Intersect too." " And maybe he had a good reason for sending it to you." " I just wish I could talk to him. It must have tore him up to not be able to tell me." "No one can know about this. " Sarah said walking over and taking the desk. "For your own safety, okay?" " Sure. No one would believe me anyway." You looked over at Sarah and gave her a little smile as she smiled back at you and closed the door, starting to let the tears come down over Bryce.

FLASHBACK You pulled into the Stanford parking lot and saw Chuck sitting there with his stuff, sadness and anger all over his face. You got out of your car and walked up to him. "Chuck?" He looked up and tried to smile but it didn't work. You kneeled down in front of him now and grabbed his hands. "Oh Chuck. What happened?" "I...I don't know. Bryce set me up. Why would he do that?" "I'm sorry Chuck. I don't know." He sighed and got up, picking up his stuff as you both slowly walked over to his car. "Thanks for picking me up and taking me home Y/N. I just didn't think I could deal with Ellie in the car right now." "Oh it's no problem at all Chuck. You know I would do anything for you. Plus I am all caught up with school right now and acing all my classes so I think I can manage being away for a short while." "That's amazing Y/N. I am so proud of you." Chuck quickly put his things in the car and then walked over to hug you which you accepted. "And Chuck?" He looked down at you still holding you. "I'm still proud of you too. No matter what." Chuck smiled and you both got in your car and drove away. END OF FLASHBACK

#Chuck Series Rewrite #Chuck #Chuck TV Series #Chuck x Reader #Chuck Bartowski #Chuck Bartowski x Reader #Zachary Levi

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humor-y-videojuegos · 4 years

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The Karate Kid: Part II - The Computer Game Año: 1986 Plataformas: Amiga, Atari ST

#Amiga #Atari ST

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kotstarpro · 3 years

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Sega Retro Adventure Games Online and Other Classic Options

Retro games have a certain charismatic appeal, the charm of which is hard to resist. Even younger adults also sometimes are spotted indulging in sega retro adventure games online, but it is the older crowd that finds it intriguing. Nostalgic gaming sentiments compel us to search for retro collections both online and offline.

Let's roll our eyes over a few most popular retro games presently available on Android.

Castlevania

Castlevania Symphony of the Night is readily available these days with modern add-ons without compromising on the classic one. You can add more thrill to the gaming session, several attachments, and on-screen game controllers. Support for six languages is available.

SEGA Forever Games

The SEGA Forever collection boasts of a fascinating and compelling stock on retro games of this genre. A few retro titles worth mentioning here are Kid Chameleon, Phantasy Star ll, Altered Beast, Sonic the Hedgehog etc. All these feature a set of unique mechanics, different from one another. These are available for Android and you can also check the sega mega drive games for sale available at certain reliable classic game stores.

Minecraft

It is a classic gaming option you have to play on Android. The retro graphics featured are worth appreciating. Play it in creative mode. Either you can craft quirk things via this video game or deal with Creepers for getting a slice of adrenaline rush.

The list also includes several other notable retro game titles like Old School RuneScape, Friday the 13th, Sky Force Reloaded, Star Wars:

Types or Genres of Retro Games: In a Nutshell

It will be indeed interesting to take a brief note of the type of retro games here. Let us see in how many categories one can segment the versatile collection of classic video games.

Fighting or Action Retro Games

These fast-paced action games are typically two-player competitive video games. Fighting genre games happen to be the most popular game genre that is engineered to beat the opponent till one proves its dominance over the co-player. The rise of 3d graphics these days further popularized this gaming genre. Super Smash Bros. deserves a special mention when it comes to the most sought-after classic game consoles.

Nintendo, Karate Champ, Street Fighter II, and Yie Ar Kung Fu are popular examples.

Survival Games or Horror Ones

The first Resident Evil formulated the term "Survival Horror". During 1996, it steadily escalated to popularity resembling Resident Evil, which earned it a common nickname Resident Evil Clone.

Console-based horror survival games intend to make the player feel insecure, uncomfortable by creating weird camera angles and limiting the number of weapons or equipment available. This genre aims at making you feel scared of the unknown.

Haunted House and Halloween, Alone In The Dark, Capcom's Suite Home, and Shadow Of The Comet, are some of the popular horror survival retro games.

Platforming Games

One of the most preferred video game genres, Platforming games still constitute a quintessential part of modern gaming culture. Older platforms games essentially revolved around hopping from one platform to another using ladders. It is the environment that is the challenge in such games and not an enemy encounter.

Put your moving ability through a situation tactic to test with games like Pitfall and Bionic Commando, Donkey Kong, Jump Bug, the Super Mario Bros., and Sonic the Hedgehog series. Grab a suitable retro game console and have a thrilling session of "hop and bop" platform games.

Wrapping Up

With online and offline game stores more inclined to stock up their arsenals with the latest gaming options, the classic collection is now disappearing faster. Retro Adventure owner also had this serious complaint against the non-availability of the classic video games.

Being a well-versed classic gamer, he decided to not compromise on his passion for retro games. and set up an online hub, flaunting a versatile collection of all popular electronic games.

KotStar is Leading Tech & Game Blog. Read Few of Best Gaming blog Mentioned Below:

· top games you can play without graphics card 2gb or 4 gb ram

· top favorite addictive high quality android games

· fall guys game for the people who love to take challenges

· try your luck in online casino

· what makes online games among best pastimes

· how online card games help in improving analytical skills

· 4 valuable tips to win apex legends

· valorant tips tricks

· how to choose good online game websites

· top 3 gta 5 secrets you did not know before

Read Few of Best Tech Bogs Mentioned Below:

· dont do this to your computer computer tips for all

· how to know if your phone is hacked security tips for android

· hacker vs programmer who is best who has more knowledge

· tips for succeeding in the tech industry

· why disable your adblocker at the time of using facebook video downloader

· how you can secure your wordpress site 2

· website development technologies and their types

· ever wondered what backlinking is here is your answer and why you should take it up

· samsung galaxy note 20 ultra pricing specification screen size battery ram processor

#gaming #gamings #gaming studio #onlinegaming #tech

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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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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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