Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Episode 6.When Netflix and Marvel Studios partnered to bring the comic giant’s vast array of street-level heroes to life in the MCU, the plan was always to expand beyond Daredevil. Matt Murdock’s (Charlie Cox) debut was just the beginning of a sort of miniature version of the MCU, one that solely focused on New York’s mightiest heroes in a grittier, TV-MA format, which was a big departure from the more family-friendly MCU movies at the time. After Daredevil‘s first season but long before Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Punisher, Marvel’s second Defender entered the fray with Krysten Ritter‘s Jessica Jones.

With a detective-mystery vibe, a likable anti-hero, and one of the scariest villains in MCU history in David Tennant‘s Kilgrave, Netflix’s Jessica Jones was quickly able to catch the same lightning in a bottle as Daredevil. Ritter’s snarky, foul-mouthed private investigator with a hidden heart of gold quickly became a fan-favorite, which is why it was surprising when it initially looked like Disney‘s approach to the previous Netflix continuity was going to be ignoring it at best and outright decanonizing it at worst, despite Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio reprising their beloved roles. Thankfully, that decision was reversed before Daredevil: Born Again Season 1, and now, fans have finally been reunited with the character they’ve been waiting to see back on their screens.

Jessica Jones Officially Returns in ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2 Episode 6

Before Marvel’s greatest detective returns, there’s one pretty important thing that Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 needs to address first — the death of Vanessa Fisk (Ayelet Zurer). Yes, any hope that Wilson Fisk’s better half somehow pulled through after being caught in the crossfire between Fisk and Bullseye (Wilson Bethel) is quickly dashed when her doctor confirmsshe didn’t survive her injury. It’s a shocking development for the Kingpin, as Vanessa has been a part of Fisk’s journey since the very beginning of Daredevil Season 1. Fisk is responding about as well as one would expect, as shown when he crushes the doctor’s spine before attending Vanessa’s funeral, setting the groundwork for an unpredictable future for the grieving Marvel villain.

After the doom and gloom comes the moment fans have been eagerly anticipating since Ritter was announced to be joining Daredevil: Born Again‘s cast, as well as a pretty big surprise. In a quaint suburb outside the hustle and bustle of New York, a crew of armed thugs descends upon a particular home, only to be thrown around like ragdolls by an unseen force. Meanwhile, a young girl is inside, gleefully unaware of what’s going on until her mom, who is none other than our beloved Jessica, checks on her after dealing with the gang of thugs. If the reveal that Jessica Jones has left her life as a PI to raise a daughter wasn’t already huge enough, the young girl’s name, Danielle, also drops a major bombshell for comic fans. In the original Earth-616 comicsverse, Danielle is the daughter of Jessica Jones and Luke Cage (played in the Netflix shows by Mike Colter, already confirmed to reprise his fan-favorite role in Daredevil: Born Again Season 3), so her appearance here all but confirms that Jessica and Luke rekindled their romance at some point during the Defender saga’s hiatus.

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‘Daredevil: Born Again’s Ayelet Zurer Promises a “Devastatingly Bad” Future for Kingpin After Vanessa’s Fate

The actress also reveals what she definitely won’t miss about playing Vanessa.

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Mom or not, armed mercenaries showing up where Jessica and her daughter live isn’t ideal, and she dusts off her signature leather jacket to find out who’s responsible, reuniting with Daredevil for the first time in almost 10 years. Jessica doesn’t seem too surprised to see her one-time teammate, even though the last time she saw him (as far as we know), he sacrificed himself to stop a sinister plot from The Hand, but with Danielle’s safety at risk, she has bigger things on her mind. Thus, Daredevil and Jessica team up to track down and beat up some thugs while Fisk’s empire begins to fall apart at the seams. It’s a reunion that’s bound to please the fans, though right now Jessica’s return continues last episode’s problem of feeling more like a fun cameo than a necessary plot development.

Fisk’s Empire Starts To Crumble and Karen Almost Makes a Colossal Decision in ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2 Episode 6

Things aren’t looking good for Fisk, who has been largely keeping himself out of the public eye since Vanessa’s funeral. He’s not the only one having a hard time, either, as Matt’s worst-ever love interest-turned-worst-ever therapist, Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva), is devastated by the loss of the woman she grew to admire and respect. Fisk’s right-hand man, Buck (Arty Froushan), even goes to comfort Heather, only for her to start violently choking him in a moment that both furthers her progression toward becoming Muse’s (Hunter Doohan) successor and her weirdly charged tension with Buck. Speaking of will-they-won’t-they romances, Buck’s protégé, Daniel (Michael Gandolfini), is getting closer and closer to figuring out that BB Urich (Genneya Walton) is the one making those anti-Fisk propaganda videos, but still trusts her enough to drop a bombshell reveal — Fisk is not seeking re-election as mayor.

Back at Daredevil HQ, Bullseye is now in Matt and Karen’s (Deborah Ann Woll) custody after the boxing match massacre. It’s the first time Karen has been face-to-face with the serial killer known as Benjamin Poindexter, and the torment of looking Foggy Nelson’s (Elden Henson) murderer in the eye is almost too much to bear. Karen may be in love with Daredevil, but in some ways, she does have more in common with the Punisher (Jon Bernthal), since she knows what it’s like to take a life. She almost does that very thing again with Poindexter before Matt stops her, leading to a fierce confrontation between the couple.

Matt and Karen have to put their trouble in paradise on hold, as City Hall currently has hundreds of protesters dressed in Daredevil gear waiting outside. As the AVTF predictably prepares to violate the protesters’ civil rights, Daredevil has his first face-to-face confrontation with Fisk this season, the latter of whom was just given even more bad news in the form of the New York governor pulling her support for him. Even after everything Fisk has done, Matt still tries to give his archnemesis the chance to do the right thing and shut the protest down himself. Of course, Fisk chooses the hard way, leading to another impressive scuffle between the foes that even damages Fisk’s beloved blank white painting, which he bought from Vanessa many years ago. Daredevil survives the encounter in what seems to be another sign that Fisk is losing control, but there’s just one problem: Karen was at the protest at City Hall, and she’s now been taken into custody by the AVTF.

The first six episodes of Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 are streaming now on Disney+.

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Release Date

March 4, 2025

Network

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Disney+

Showrunner

Dario Scardapane

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Directors

Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson, David Boyd, Jeffrey Nachmanoff

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Writers

Jesse Wigutow, Jill Blankenship, Thomas Wong, David Feige, Grainne Godfree

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Pros & Cons

• Krysten Ritter makes it feel like she never left with a dynamite performance as Jessica Jones.
• Matt and Karen’s argument introduces an interesting dynamic to their relationship.
• Fisk’s unpredictable behavior after Vanessa’s death makes him even scarier.

• Jessica’s role in the plot doesn’t feel super relevant to Matt’s story (yet).

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Found-footage horror has always depended on one trick above all others: making the audience feel like they have stumbled onto something they were never meant to see. Grainy video, awkward interview fragments, dead air, and procedural details can make invented terror feel uncomfortably close to reality. That is why Prime Video reviving John Erick Dowdle’s 2007 found-footage horror film matters. Not to mention that there has been a genuine lack of horror films in this genre, so it perfectly fills a gap.

A handful of titles like this mockumentary carry a warning-label reputation years later. They do more than scare and create the queasy feeling of witnessing cruelty in a form that looks half-archival, half-documentary. And in this case, the film’s legacy has long been tied to how convincingly it stages torture, stalking, coercion, and psychological breakdown inside a faux-investigative framework. Its interviews with police and victims’ families give the material a procedural shape, while the recovered tapes push the experience into something harsher and more intimate. For horror fans, that combination turned it into one of the genre’s most infamous dare-to-watch movies, the kind people discuss almost as often as they actually finish.

The title Prime Video has added is The Poughkeepsie Tapes. John Erick Dowdle’s 2007 mockumentary that spent years being treated like a buried artifact of extreme horror, helped by the fact that MGM shelved it after its Tribeca premiere and its release history stayed messy for years afterward. Now that it is easier to stream again, the film gets a fresh chance to unsettle a new wave of viewers. Its reputation remains earned: this is a deeply unpleasant, hyper-realistic serial-killer nightmare built around humiliation, manipulation, and sustained dread.

‘The Poughkeepsie Tapes’ Features Extremely Detailed, Disturbing Scenes But It’s Fictional

The Poughkeepsie Tapes gets under people’s skin because it presents cruelty with an almost documentary plainness, but it is still a fictional mockumentary, not real recovered footage. Because of that distinction, the footage’s power comes from how carefully it imitates true-crime structure: interviews, police framing, degraded VHS textures, and long stretches of humiliating, psychological abuse that feel horribly plausible. The film is disturbing less because of gore alone and more because it studies control, stalking, and degradation in such an intimate way. Viewers should approach it as extreme horror built to simulate reality, which is exactly why so many people find it difficult to finish.

The Poughkeepsie Tapes is available to watch on Prime Video. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

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Release Date

January 2, 2009

Runtime

86 minutes

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Director

John Erick Dowdle

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Writers

Drew Dowdle, John Erick Dowdle

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The films in this list all understand that music can make pain more intimate rather than less. Hope sounds brighter when it is under threat. Romance cuts deeper when the world outside the lovers is already tightening into something cruel. And musicals last when the songs are doing more than decorating the story.

That’s only when I’m unable to sit through a musical and this list here ensures that. The greatest ones turn emotion into movement at the exact point ordinary dialogue would fall short. Longing gets bigger, fear gets stranger, joy gets almost unbearable, and heartbreak finally has the scale it deserves. They kind of drag you into the feeling until your own nerves start moving with the rhythm. At least that’s how it is with me but I understand for some, musicals might be more immersive. Either way, the movies below will sit with you.

7

‘La La Land’ (2016)

Image via Lionsgate

La La Land lands hard on people who know what it is like to want two beautiful things that do not fit in the same life. It starts with that traffic-jam blast of color and motion, a city declaring itself as a place where fantasy might still break through routine, then narrows into two people carrying private disappointments like bruises. Mia Dolan (Emma Stone) keeps walking into rooms that measure her and dismiss her. Sebastian Wilder (Ryan Gosling) keeps clinging to an idea of artistic purity that sounds noble until you notice how much loneliness is hiding inside it. Their first meetings have spark, friction, ego, flirtation, all the things that make romance feel like it might actually rearrange a life.

Then the movie deepens. They become each other’s witness. Her one-woman play matters since he believes in it when nobody else does. His club dream stays alive since she treats it like a future instead of a fantasy. That is what hurts later. The film does not wreck them through betrayal and instead lets ambition, timing, compromise, and ordinary adult momentum push them onto different tracks. The final fantasy sequence devastates people since it lays out the whole emotional crime scene in one sweep: the tenderness, the missed version of the future, the knowledge that love can be real and still lose. That is why La La Land became so big after its release and keeps hitting long after the first watch. In fact, no musical since then has come close in fame.

6

‘Cabaret’ (1972)

Image via Allied Artists

Cabaret unsettles in a way few musicals even attempt. It pulls you in through seduction first. Berlin feels alive, permissive, nocturnal, full of flirtation and danger that still looks glamorous from across the room. Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) sweeps in as pure appetite and performance, someone turning instability into style with such force that people around her start mistaking self-invention for freedom. The Kit Kat Club makes that confusion feel intoxicating. Everything is a show, every desire has lighting, every fear gets dressed up before it walks onstage. That is exactly why the film lingers under the skin. The pleasure is part of the trap.

As the plot keeps moving, the air changes. Brian Roberts (Michael York) brings reserve, Sally brings reckless hunger, and Maximilian von Heune (Helmut Griem) carries the wealth and ease that make the whole arrangement feel more decadent and more doomed. It all starts to feel less like romantic complication and more like people dancing on ground that is quietly giving way beneath them. The songs stop functioning as cheerful release and start behaving like coded warnings, taunts, or mirrors held up to moral collapse. On a macro frame, the movie tears at a very human weakness: our talent for confusing charm with safety. The personal mess and the political nightmare have fused so completely in it that you feel sullied by the glamour you once enjoyed.

5

‘Fiddler on the Roof’ (1971)

Image via United Artists

Fiddler on the Roof goes straight into one of the deepest human fears there is: the fear that the world which shaped you will not survive the lives of your children. It’s so weird and discomforting to think about in real life and the movie makes you sit with it. It follows Tevye (Chaim Topol), who is a man anchored by rhythm, routine, prayer, poverty, family, and the fragile dignity of tradition. His opening reflections are warm and funny, though the humor already carries strain. He is trying to hold together a life where structure keeps chaos from swallowing everyone whole.

Then the daughters begin forcing change into the house one choice at a time. One marriage bends custom, another breaks it further, another tears into the deepest boundary of all. The film’s power comes from how carefully it walks Tevye through each emotional stage: pride, shock, bargaining, anger, hurt, helpless love. He keeps trying to negotiate with a world that is no longer interested in slow negotiation. That is why the ending cuts so deep. Exile is not presented as one dramatic blow. It feels like the final removal of whatever was left standing after history, modernity, and private heartbreak had already done their work. Fiddler on the Roof lasts since it understands that tradition can be both shelter and burden, and losing it can feel like losing the grammar of your own life.

4

‘The Sound of Music’ (1965)

Image via 20th Century Studios

The Sound of Music lives in people’s memory as comfort, and it absolutely is comfort, though that only explains half its hold. The other half comes from how expertly it lets warmth grow in a house that initially feels airless. Maria (Julie Andrews) enters the von Trapp full of energy, clumsiness, uncertainty, and instinctive tenderness. Captain von Trapp (Christopher Plummer), the titular character, on the other hand, has turned grief into order, the children have been disciplined into stiffness, and the whole household moves like a place trying very hard not to feel anything uncontrolled. Then the songs start reopening the windows.

That process is why the film grips generations. The curtain-clothes outing, the singing lessons, the boat scene, the gradual thaw between Maria and the children, then between Maria and the Captain, all of it is paced with enormous emotional intelligence. Joy returns first as play, then as connection, then as love, and finally as resistance. The second half darkens The Sound of Music beautifully. Fascism moves closer, innocence gets cornered, and the family’s music turns into an assertion of identity under threat.

3

‘Singin’ in the Rain’ (1952)

Image via MGM

Singin’ in the Rain follows the story of Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly), a silent-film star whose entire image has been manufactured, right down to the fake romantic publicity around him and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen). Then talking pictures arrive, and suddenly the whole illusion is in danger. Lina has a shrill, grating voice that does not match the glamorous persona audiences have been sold, and the studio’s prestige picture collapses in front of everyone once sound exposes the lie.

That is where Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) matters. She is not just the love interest who softens Don but becomes the actual solution to the movie’s central crisis. She can sing, she can speak properly, and she has the professional ability Lina lacks. When Don falls for her, the romance works since it grows inside a plot where he is finally forced to value substance over image. Then Cosmo Brown (Donald O’Connor) steps in and helps turn disaster into invention by pushing the movie-within-the-movie toward a musical. Singin’ in the Rain is a musical fully locked onto its deepest pleasure: the talented person doing the real work in the shadows finally being revealed in front of the crowd. It’s a lovely film.

2

‘West Side Story’ (1961)

Image via United Artists

West Side Story gets people at a gut level since it does not treat the romance as some dreamy idea floating above the plot. Instead, Tony (Richard Beymer) and Maria (Natalie Wood) fall for each other inside an active street war between the Jets and the Sharks, and the film never lets you forget that every tender moment is surrounded by people ready to ruin it. Tony used to run with the Jets and is trying to step away from that life. Maria is Bernardo’s (George Chakiris) sister, which means the relationship is already explosive before it even has time to breathe. Their first connection at the dance is thrilling precisely since the room is full of bodies, noise, rivalry, and watchful hostility.

Then the plot starts tightening around every hope they build. Tony tries to stop the rumble instead of feeding it, but he arrives too late to prevent Bernardo from killing Riff. In panic and grief, Tony kills Bernardo, and from there the film never really lets the lovers recover. Maria still chooses Tony, which is part of why the movie hurts so much. The love remains real even after blood has entered it. There’s more to the story but the point is — West Side Story makes hatred feel like a system ordinary people keep helping to operate even while it destroys the only good thing in front of them.

1

‘The Wizard of Oz’ (1939)

Image via MGM

The Wizard of Oz works so deeply since its fantasy never loses contact with Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) and her original emotional problem. Dorothy starts in Kansas feeling powerless. Miss Gulch (Margaret Hamilton) can take Toto (Terry), the adults around Dorothy are distracted, and every attempt she makes to explain how upset she is gets brushed aside. When she sings about somewhere over the rainbow, she is a scared girl imagining a place where trouble cannot reach into her life so easily. Then the tornado comes, and the film transforms that wish into a literal journey through a world where every fear and desire gets enlarged into storybook form. Once she lands in Oz, the plot keeps giving Dorothy a clear objective: follow the Yellow Brick Road and ask the Wizard (Frank Morgan) to send her home.

Along the way she meets the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), the Tin Man (Jack Haley), and the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), each of them convinced they are missing the one thing that would make them complete. The Scarecrow thinks he lacks intelligence, the Tin Man thinks he lacks a heart, and the Lion thinks he lacks courage. The film’s emotional trick is simple and brilliant: every one of them keeps displaying the exact quality they believe they do not possess. Dorothy sees that before they do, which is why the friendship feels so comforting. The Wicked Witch (Margaret Hamilton) then gives the story real menace by turning the journey into something more than a cheerful quest. Dorothy, in the disguise of exploring a magical world, is being hunted through it. By the time the Wizard is exposed as a fraud and Glinda (Billie Burke) tells Dorothy she had the power to return home all along, The Wizard of Oz lands on a truth people never outgrow: we spend so much time chasing authority figures, distant places, or grand solutions, only to realize the thing we needed most was already tied to love, home, and the people who actually see us. That’s simply why this movie is amazing.

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The Wizard of Oz

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Release Date

August 25, 1939

Runtime

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102 minutes

Director

Victor Fleming

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Writers

Edgar Allan Woolf, Florence Ryerson, Noel Langley, L. Frank Baum

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  Judy Garland

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  Dorothy Gale

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  Ray Bolger

  “Hunk” / Scarecrow

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FBI is about to lose a main cast member — temporarily — ahead of the highly anticipated season 8 finale.

CBS released a synopsis for the Monday, May 11, episode of the show, which read, “Following the assassination of a major corporate executive, the team races to find leaders of a dormant terrorist organization that has reemerged.” The sneak peek went on to tease how Zeeko Zaki’s fan-favorite character, OA, is “temporarily reassigned after refusing to follow orders but is paired up with a familiar face.”

Based on the first look images, Agent Zara Ushruf (Pardis Saremi) is the familiar face. The duo originally met in episode 17 while on a case before they went out to dinner. OA was then noticeably absent from the Monday, April 20, episode of FBI and is expected to go missing again in the penultimate episode.

It is still unclear how long OA could be separate from the FBI. This comes after the procedural faced another surprise shakeup when a March episode of the hit show had Maggie’s (Missy Peregrym) first arrest — serial slasher Ray DiStefano (Matthew Rauch) — kidnap her sister, Erin (Adrienne Rose Bengtsson). Maggie spent the episode trying to save her sibling, only to find her dead in the back of DiStefano’s truck.

Related: Which ‘FBI’ Stars Are — And Aren’t — Returning for Season 8?

The FBI universe experienced a massive shakeup at the end of the 2024-2025 TV season — but how was the flagship series affected? CBS shocked fans in March after announcing that FBI spinoffs FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted were cancelled ahead of their respective season 4 and season 6 finales later that spring. While […]

While Peregrym, 43, was missing from one episode, she has denied plans to leave the show entirely.

“I’ll be honest. I’m on a procedural show, and I wonder what impact this is possibly making? And sometimes I get freaked out because I think we’re just highlighting some of the horrors of humanity every week,” Peregrym told Deadline. “And what is this? What are we doing this for? What am I investing a lot of my life in to do this for?”

The actress expressed gratitude for the show’s decision to address such a topic, adding, “I think it’s really important what we’re doing, because we’re highlighting how to move forward.”

“Everybody experiences loss. Everybody goes through the depths of emotions in life,” she continued. “You have an opportunity to show connection, relationship, intimacy and growth. And this is exactly why I do what I do. I hope this makes people feel seen and that they want to keep going after such a horrific experience, and that they don’t give up.”

At the time, Peregrym remained hopeful about the plans for the show.

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“To go so far. I was like, ‘What are we doing after this?’ You know, I’ve been playing the same character for eight years, and we’re going so far,” she noted. “What’s the plan? How are we going to move through the next steps of getting back on your feet and being able to be in the world again? We’re not a drama where we sit around in our underwear and chat on the couch. We’ve got to get back to work.”

She concluded, “So at what point are we going to address the reality of this scenario, and we are, we are doing it in the best way that we can with our show, like the way we do it on a procedural. But you know, as much as it scared me, I was terrified to go into that space at the end. I’m finding it really interesting to play my character now and finding these beats of when I can insert this stuff and when to work. And it’s just a challenge. It just feels like we’re doing a new show again. Do you know what I mean? And maybe that’s a gift.”

FBI airs on CBS Mondays at 9 p.m. ET.

Kendall Jenner’s love life is once again making headlines, but this time, the story may have been unfolding quietly for longer than anyone realized.

What first appeared to be a spontaneous Coachella moment with Jacob Elordi is now being revealed as something much deeper, with insiders claiming their romance had been building behind the scenes for months before going public.

Kendall Jenner And Jacob Elordi Romance Was Already Underway

When Kendall Jenner and Jacob Elordi were spotted sharing a kiss at a Coachella after-party hosted by Justin Bieber, many assumed it marked the beginning of a new relationship. However, new details suggest otherwise.

According to a source who spoke to the Daily Mail, “They have been together for a couple of months already, and it’s going well.”

The insider added further context, explaining, “They were an item as far back as early February, so it’s been a while. It helps that they have both been in Los Angeles a lot for the past couple of months, it has really given them time to bond.”

These revelations paint a picture of a relationship that developed gradually, away from the spotlight, before finally surfacing in a very public way.

Kendall Jenner’s Inner Circle Played A Key Role

Behind the scenes, the romance may not have happened without a little nudge from someone close to Kendall Jenner.

Her younger sister, Kylie Jenner, is said to have been instrumental in bringing the pair together.

“Kylie was around Jacob a lot during Timothee [Chalamet’s] award season marathon because Jacob was nominated for Frankenstein and Timothee was nominated for Marty Supreme,” the source explained.

The insider continued, revealing just how direct Kylie was in encouraging the match: “Kylie liked him and thought he would be good for Kenny so she was like, girl, get on it, date this guy already.”

While Kendall Jenner and Elordi had been friends for years, the shift toward romance did not come immediately.

The source noted that she “was not sure if she wanted to keep him in the friend zone or not,” suggesting there was hesitation before things evolved.

Kendall Jenner Moves From Friendship To Something More

Despite initial uncertainty, the relationship eventually took a more serious turn, thanks in part to Kylie’s continued encouragement.

According to the insider, “Kylie is the alpha sister and pushed Kenny to start a romance with Jacob because she wanted to set up double dates with Timothee.”

The motivation behind the matchmaking effort was also revealed. The insider shared, “She thought it would be fun if she and Timothee and Kenny and Jacob all hung out together.”

The dynamic between the sisters also appears to have influenced the situation.

“Though Kylie is younger, she is really the leader between those two, she has dominant Leo energy for sure, while her sister is more casual,” the source added.

What began as a long-standing friendship between Kendall Jenner and Elordi gradually transformed into something more, with the support and persistence of those closest to her.

Private Moments And Early Dates Behind Closed Doors

Taylor Swift‘s recent appearances and outings have led to speculations that she’s pregnant ahead of her wedding to Travis Kelce.

The baby buzz intensified after a popular influencer shared an old video of the singer, claiming her “rapid weight gain” was proof of the pregnancy and a “rush” to get married.

However, fans of Taylor Swift have been quick to shut down the wild rumors, with many noting that none of the supposed signs in the video mean she is expecting a baby.

Viral Social Media Post Reignites Taylor Swift Pregnancy Rumors Ahead Of Wedding

The internet was sent into a frenzy this week as rumors suggesting Taylor Swift is pregnant and hiding her baby bump went viral online.

The “Blank Space” singer has reportedly been busy perfecting her summer wedding plans to NFL star Travis Kelce, but has rarely made any public sightings in recent times without some form of cover-up or baggy wears.

Back in February, she shared a behind-the-scenes video of the making of her song “Opalite” to celebrate it reaching number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. One clip sees a barefaced Swift recording the vocals of the song while in another, she’s seen listening to the track with producer Shellback.

The clip recently resurfaced on X, as influencer Matt Wallace shared it to his 2.3 million followers, while claiming that Swift is heavy and expecting.

“Taylor Swift is 100% pregnant! She experienced a rapid weight gain, then seemed to disappear off the map. That is also why they are rushing the wedding for June 13th,” Wallace boldly wrote alongside the clip.

Fans Slam The Influencer’s Claim About The Pop Star

Reaction to the claim seemed mostly negative, with some speculating there may be truth to what the influencer said, while others criticized him for commenting on Swift’s body.

“I’m getting pregnancy vibes also. Don’t have proof. Just vibes. I hope it turns out to be true!!!” an X user commented. “But the wedding rush could also be because her future husband is playing NFL again. Preseason is months.”

Someone else wrote, “Nah, she’s not pregnant. She just looks like every woman I’ve ever known that got bangs.”

One angry critic stated, “Stupid men always have something to say about a woman’s body. F-ck you.”

Another noted, “Why are y’all so freaking weird? It’s literally none of our business. The obsession over the life of someone you’ll never know personally is gross.”

“The math ain’t mathing, if the album came out in October last year, this would have been recorded months prior, a baby should’ve popped out by now if that was the case,” one more person added.

Taylor Swift Has Reportedly Sent Out Wedding Invitations With Strict NDAs

Plans are in full gear for the “Anti Hero” singer’s special day, with reports suggesting many celebs have already gotten save-the-dates invites.

However, specific details about the nuptials remain unclear as Swift has not only kept her cards very close to her chest, but reportedly made guests sign off on a Non-Disclosure Agreement to prevent them from speaking about it.

The “Bad Blood” singer has been actively involved in the plans, although she’s also using an event planner.

Some of the guests that have been invited to the high-profile nuptials include her fellow stars Selena Gomez and Sabrina Carpenter, model Gigi Hadid, and actress Emma Stone.

The Singer Has Been Left ‘On Edge’ By Wedding Leaks

Meanwhile, reports suggest the “Karma” singer is struggling with wedding nerves ahead of the July 3rd date, as alleged details of her plan continue to make their way to the public.

According to OK! Magazine, this has sparked fears that the long-awaited event could spiral into a public spectacle.

A source close to the couple expressed Swift’s excitement about getting married to the love of her life, but said planning such a massive event, especially when she’s under scrutiny, has left her “feeling increasingly on edge.”

“She is known for being incredibly detail-oriented and fiercely protective of her private life, so seeing carefully laid plans and personal decisions exposed before she is ready has been deeply unsettling for her,” the insider said.

“It has knocked her confidence in how everything is unfolding and prompted serious conversations about whether she should rethink the entire setup, change key elements, or even pivot to a completely different approach in order to regain control and prevent the day from becoming the kind of media frenzy she has always tried to avoid,” they added.

Taylor Swift And Travis Kelce’s Wedding Gift Request Has Guests Talking

Ahead of their nuptials, Swift and Kelce’s alleged wedding gift request has sparked buzz and is said to have left guests stunned.

A source shared that the couple’s friends and family were told not to get them gifts for their big day, as they have more than enough already.

“They don’t need anything,” the source told journalist Rob Shuter for his Substack. “Between them, they have more than enough. So they decided — why not use this moment to help others?”

According to the insider, Swift and Kelce have directed their guests to instead donate to charities for their wedding.

“They’ve chosen causes that truly matter to them,” the source said. “Guests are being asked to donate instead of buying gifts.”

On 90 Day Fiance, Lisa finds a suspicious contact in Daniel Tito Herrera‘s emails thanks to some detective work by her daughter Faith. Josh Lawson blows his chance with Elise Benson after spending her last night down under partying with friends. Birkan proposes to Laura Nevenner as she prepares to head home. Rick Van Vactor gets a surprise at the airport. And Annalyn Fox shares exciting news with Jovon Fox. Let’s take a look at who’s crying and who’s lying in this recap of Season 8, Episode 19 Now Departing.

90 Day Fiance: Lisa Questions Daniel’s Behavior

On 90 Day Fiance, Lisa is back home in Pennsylvania working 3 jobs and sporting a fresh blonde wig. But her relationship with Daniel Tito Herrera has deteriorated. For the past few months Daniel has been distant. And Lisa’s daughter Faith does some snooping of his texts and emails. What she finds is definitely concerning. While Daniel has Lisa’s number in his contacts as Lis B, there’s another contact that just says “wife”. And the number isn’t Lisa’s.

When pressed, the wife contact says so what. And requests not to be contacted. Lisa isn’t having it. And confronts Daniel Tito Herrera when he calls her. Lisa wants to know what’s changed. And he says he was traveling and returned to some debts. Lisa reiterates that she’s working 3 jobs to pay her debts. But still makes time for him. Next she brings up the “wife” contact. Daniel plays dumb and gaslights, leading her to end the relationship and hang up heading into next week’s Tell All.

Elise Benson Walks Away from Josh Lawson

After some rocky times down under, 90 Day Fiance couple Elise Benson and Josh Lawson head to the rental for her last night. But what happens next is definitely a he said /she said mess. While Elise plans for a night alone with Josh, he’s got other plans. He invites friends over for some partying. And according to Elise disrespects her in front of them. While Josh and friends (including two women) rage all night, Elise weeps alone in the bedroom.

Roommate Chris backs up that he heard Elise Benson crying. Meanwhile, Elise is still weeping. Since it’s an hour till she has to leave for the airport. And Josh has dipped again. And turned off his location sharing. A disheveled Elise rocks back and forth. Josh returns and begs for forgiveness. But when it’s time for her to get on the plane, she breaks it off completely. Citing his inability to fight for her or show up for her. So Josh returns to his old life and says maybe in another lifetime they would work.

90 Day Fiance: Birkan Isn’t Stringing Laura Along

As with the other 90 Day Fiance couples, Laura Nevenner and Birkan’s time together is running out. For her final day in Turkey, Birkan wants to do something near and dear to him. Play soccer. He shows off his ball skills and Laura admits she’s impressed. So much so it’s “panty dropping” hot. Birkan encourages her to kick some balls. She’s not very good at first. But eventually lands a goal in the net. Birkan uses some soccer analogies to segue into a marriage proposal.

He speaks of patience, distance and believing until you score a goal. He ties a red string around Laura’s ring finger. While explaining that it’s called the ring finger because it’s the only finger with a vein that leads to the heart. Laura is smitten and says yes. The next morning its time for her to fly home with her BFF Michal. She shares the news with Michal while Birkan loads luggage into a cab. And Laura knows once she gets home boundaries need to be established with her and Michal’s friendship.

Rick Van Vactor Gets a Chance to Say Goodbye

Before the 90 Days couple Rick Van Vactor and Trish have called it quits. Rick mopes and cries as he prepares to go back home. He blames his ex for contacting him. And it led to a series of events that ultimately made Trish end it all. Because not only did he respond back, but he also admits he still has feelings and won’t block her. Trish understandably doesn’t want to be a second choice and is tired of his wishy washy ways.

Rick walks through the airport feeling sorry for himself. When lo and behold he sees Trish walking towards him holding a gift bag. He sobs and runs to her and she gives him a hug. He wants to know why she’s there. And she opens the bag to reveal an outfit. She had bought matching outfits for them and forgot to give it to him. He wants to know if they can still make it work. Trish agrees to stay in contact. But doesn’t promise reconciliation. And she’s got a big surprise according to the Tell All trailer.

Jovon Fox and Annalyn Fox Expecting

While Jovon Fox stayed a little longer to travel with wife Annalyn Fox, his time too is coming to an end. But Annalyn feels a little nauseous and decides to take a pregnancy test. And it’s positive. And Annalyn is overjoyed to let Jovon know he’s going to be a dad. Jovon is encouraged by the big news. But also upset that he’s got to leave for the U.S. right after finding out. He packs and they both discuss their concerns.

Annalyn’s mom is thrilled with the news on 90 Day Fiance. But also wary of the long distance and history on both sides of a broken family. She is sad to see her son-in-law go. But sends him off with some home cooked chicken adobo. Jovon admits he’s concerned to leave Annalyn behind. Admitting it’s like leaving a part of himself behind. Especially with her being pregnant. But he promises to return sooner than later.

90 Day Fiance Couples Struggle as Season Wraps

It’s time for Forrest and family to head home. And Sheena struggles to say goodbye. Forrest will miss her teeth grinding. And she will miss his flatulence. Mom Molly sticks to her guns that forcing Forrest to leave with them is the right decision. Nevertheless Sheena sobs and hugs Molly when it’s time to say goodbye. Forrest gifts Sheena his cowboy hat bedazzled with a gold chain as collateral that he will return for her. And Sheena sobs as he disappears through airport security.

Aviva Duhamel makes a tearful appearance on 90 Day Fiance. It seems the engagement to Stig Da Artist is off. And Aviva chokes back tears while she explains what happened. Stig visited her in the United States. But after he returned to Belize she saw a different side to him. And suspected he was talking to other women. After ghosting her he broke up with her via text. Although the accusations fly both ways at next week’s Tell-All. Till next time!

Starting with a definition is never particularly fun, but it’s necessary here, before properly talking about the greatest climaxes in cinema history. A climax is not the same thing as an ending, being defined as: “the most important or exciting point in a story or situation, especially when this happens near the end.” So, emphasis on that part about “near the end.”

A climax will sometimes play out across multiple scenes, especially if it’s some kind of massive battle, or if the story is epic enough that action is taking place across different areas. Sometimes, the climax is the penultimate scene, and then you’ll have a denouement, which can be a little like an epilogue, or some kind of quieter scene that actually concludes things. Some climaxes happen at the very end, though, especially if the storyteller/filmmaker wants to leave you hanging, to some extent. So, with the following examples, some take place at the very end, while others are the most exhilarating parts of their stories and take place close to the end.

10

‘Goodfellas’ (1990)

Image via Warner Bros.

Goodfellas is a good example to demonstrate how a climax can function without itself being the very end of the story. Goodfellas wraps up with Henry Hill in witness protection, and maybe the ending also includes the courtroom scene where he rats on his surviving associates, but the climax of Goodfellas details the lead-up to his arrest over one very hectic day in 1980.

Singling out one sequence in Goodfellas as the best is difficult, when the movie as a whole is so immaculate, but the paranoia-heavy sequence where things fall apart for Hill is maybe as good as it gets (which, again, is saying a lot). It’s like a perfect short film housed inside a perfect gangster movie, and it’s an essential climax in the sense that it leads to – and sets up – the also-perfect (proper) ending of Goodfellas.

9

‘Hard Boiled’ (1992)

Image via Golden Princess Film Production

If you watch a John Woo movie, you can be fairly confident you’re going to get some incredible action. With his very best films, you happen to get a ton of incredible action, and Hard Boiled might be the clearest example of that. It’s probably the most John Woo of all the John Woo movies, telling a typically heightened and bombastic story about a pair of good guys with guns who shoot the hell out of a whole bunch of bad guys with guns.

That might not sound like the most complex story out there, and it’s not. Hard Boiled does what it needs to, premise-wise, to showcase a ton of amazing action, and really, it’s the final act that makes Hard Boiled a classic. It’s a remarkably long climax of sorts, but can sort of be counted as one whole “sequence” because all the action takes place in and around a hospital, and it’s all glorious.

8

‘The Last of the Mohicans’ (1992)

Image via 20th Century Fox

While The Last of the Mohicans is not a perfect movie, it does have a perfect final act, climax included. It takes place in the mid-18th century, during the French and Indian War, with its plot involving a trio of trappers agreeing to protect and escort a pair of daughters through dangerous/war-torn territory, and then there’s a good deal of romance and some melodrama wrapped up in all of it.

But it’s the good kind of melodrama, and you get a lot of it throughout the final stretch of The Last of the Mohicans. It’s like one set piece after another, all moving at a mean pace, and it’s also where the movie really pops even more than before on a visual and musical front. If there had just been more time spent on the lead-up to the climax, The Last of the Mohicans could well have been perfect (it’s a two-hour movie that really needed to be three hours), but at least it ends as strongly as it does.

7

‘Se7en’ (1995)

Image via New Line Cinema

A big reason why Se7en is considered such a classic is the way it wraps up, but it’s been more than 30 years since it came out, and it’s well-known for such a dark film, so it doesn’t feel like too much of a crime to allude toward that. It’s nowhere near as bad a crime as the spree the killer orchestrates throughout this film, basing a series of murders on the seven deadly sins, and doing so unnervingly well.

If you’ve seen how Se7en wraps up, then you know all that already. Basically, everything that happens regarding the final two “victims” of the whole ordeal makes up the climax of Se7en, and it elevates what was already a great/grim/gritty crime/thriller movie into genuine all-timer status.

6

‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’ (2002)

Image via New Line Cinema

While The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King has the better ending (it kind of has to, what with it wrapping up a trilogy’s worth of movies and all), The Two Towers arguably has the better climax. The Return of the King peaks spectacle-wise around its mid-point, and then it’s the epilogue (a series of scenes) that resonates the most emotionally, while The Two Towers does build throughout to its most impressive sequence.

That is, of course, the whole Battle of Helm’s Deep, or the Battle of the Hornburg; whatever you want to call it. It’s the point at which the whole trilogy gets truly epic, and the climax of The Two Towers also has a great deal going on at other locations, like the parts in the city of Osgiliath and the Ents storming Isengard, all cut together very well editing-wise to make for a final act that’s rather superb.

5

‘Kill Bill: Vol. 1’ (2003)

Image via Miramax

Another movie split into parts, and it came out around the same time as The Lord of the Rings, Kill Bill was initially two volumes, one released in 2003 and the other in 2004, but nowadays, it’s easier to watch them as The Whole Bloody Affair. Still, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 remains watchable as its own movie, and it does very much have a climax in the classic sense, with a huge fight sequence that takes place right near the end.

Or if you count the showdown with O-Ren Ishii as the climax, rather than the Bride battling O’Ren’s Crazy 88, then that’s also a pretty great climactic scene. Hell, throw in the big fight and then the smaller/more intimate fight as the one big climax. It’s an incredible set piece, to put it mildly (though the quieter showdown at the end of Kill Bill: Vol. 2, when the Bride confronts the titular character, is also fantastic).

4

‘The Godfather’ (1972)

Image via Paramount Pictures

If you look at The Godfather as a duology (or, perhaps begrudgingly, as a trilogy), then the overall narrative is one of Michael Corleone sinking morally, and taking down many family members and associates with him. He takes over control of the Corleone crime family, proving to be more ruthless – and quicker to make enemies – than his father was, and the climax of The Godfather really makes that clear.

Not that he’d been a saint before, but he orchestrates a series of murders right near the end of The Godfather, and they’re all shown occurring in rather brutal fashion while Michael himself is at his nephew’s baptism. So he becomes a godfather at the same time he becomes “the godfather.” It’s not subtle, but it doesn’t have to be when it’s so effective and memorable a sequence (and honorable mention to the final scene/denouement, with Michael’s wife, Kay, realizing just who her husband’s become).

3

‘Whiplash’ (2014)

Image via Sony Pictures Classics

Damien Chazelle has made bigger films since 2014, but nothing he’s done has ever felt quite as exciting and relentless as Whiplash. It’s a movie about jazz and drumming, which might not sound particularly intense, but Whiplash is one of the most intense films in recent memory, and it’s one of many instances of the execution being everything. That it has such a great ending to build toward doesn’t hurt, either.

Basically, Whiplash has a dangerously driven student and a full-on dangerous instructor battling each other psychologically (and even a little physically), and that conflict comes to a head in a way that really does have to be seen to be believed. It’s an incredibly suspenseful film up until that point, and then the climax is, on one hand, cathartic, but then, on the other hand, perhaps more unsettling than anything else in the film up until that point, and the whole thing leaves you both thinking and feeling things long after it’s all over.

2

‘Seven Samurai’ (1954)

Seven Samurai is one of those movies that pretty much defined a genre, or a kind of film, all the while remaining, decades later, perhaps the peak of that overall genre. It’s definable as an early action movie, and it’s also an epic, unfolding across a runtime of about 3.5 hours and telling the story of a town that employs seven warriors as a way to defend against an imminent bandit raid/attack.

It’s structurally untouchable, as you get introduced to everyone in the first act, the plan’s set in the second act, and then the third act is mostly centered around the inevitable battle. It’s hard to define the battle as one scene, since it takes place over an extended period of time, and the fighting is very stop-and-start in nature, but all the action there does feel like it takes place within a stretch of the movie definable as its climax. So, it’s the whole final act of Seven Samurai that goes here, which might sound like cheating, but it’s a long movie and, appropriately, much of it’s spent on setup, so an above-average amount of payoff (so to speak) makes sense.

1

‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ (1966)

Image via Produzioni Europee Associati

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The climax of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is pretty much everything that happens in the graveyard right near the end, though the Civil War battle sequence that takes place right before is also remarkable. But it’s from “The Ecstasy of Gold” to the end of the three-way showdown that’s truly climactic, and the overall best part of what would have to be one of the best Westerns ever made.

Wait, scratch that. It’s as good as movies get, really. Westerns, epics, whatever sort of film, this climax has pretty much never been topped. Maybe this will be the climax of cinema as a whole, and everything that happened post-The Good, the Bad and the Ugly will be seen, in time, as just a denouement. Well, probably not. Hopefully not. For now, though, it’s as good as it gets, but without Jack Nicholson.