Entertainment
The 20 Most Pause Worthy Moments in Movie History!
If you grew up with a VHS Player in your living room, you probably learned to get pretty handy with the pause and rewind buttons. With DVDs and streaming services ruling the day, those same skills are being put to the test! Hollywood is well known for putting together scandalous, exciting, and scintillating entertainment that can leave us dropping our jaw. Today, we are going to look at 20 moments in Hollywood history that we had to pause again and again and again!
Welcome to the 20 most paused moments in cinematic history!
1. ‘Basic Instinct’ – The Interrogation
Some films leave you with your mouth agape. Other flicks have you reaching for your remote control to rewind the sequence. In 1992, Basic Instinct had viewers wearing out their remote controls from home during one of the most famous interrogation scenes in Hollywood history.
The sequence features Sharon Stone seated provocatively in a chair with a cigarette hanging languidly from her hand. During one moment in the film, Stone’s character crosses and uncrosses her legs, revealing much more than viewers had expected. The sequence has solidified itself in Hollywood.
2. ‘The Departed’ – Watch For The Red X
Martin Scorsese is one of the most skilled filmmakers in the history of cinema, a title he has more than earned through works such as The Departed. This cop-and-criminal thriller features a sneaky showdown between the Irish mob and the Police, often as the two intermingle to deadly effect.
Eagle-eyed viewers will begin to notice a disturbing pattern in the film. Characters that are doomed to die later in the script will always be featured in a shot with prominent red Xs surrounding them.
3. ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ – The Pool Scene
1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High woke up something stirring in many young and hormonal viewers of that generation. When Jennifer Jason Leigh emerged from the swimming pool as Stacy Hamilton in her red bikini, well, every teenage fantasy we had to that point would come true.
The film used the shot to great effect, creating one of the most memorable provocative scenes in an otherwise traditional coming-of-age comedy. It was all a dream scene to the characters, but our pause button doesn’t lie!
4. ‘Toy Story 3’ Honors an Animation Legend
Where would the world of animation be without the work of Hayao Miyazaki, famed Japanese animation director and founder of the vaunted Studio Ghibli? Of course, the team at Toy Story has done their fair share of work too, though they decided to honor Miyazaki in their own way.
During Toy Story 3, Woody and the gang use a computer to map a route to recover a lost toy. During this scene, Woody stands next to Totoro, one of the most iconic characters in the entirety of Studio Ghibli’s catalog. Check out My Neighbor Totoro if you haven’t already!
5. ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ – A Special Grave
We could literally spend weeks of our lives combing each movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for pause-worthy Easter Eggs. Instead, we’ll just focus on one of our favorite hidden in-universe moments within the series. Toward the end of The Winter Soldier, Nick Fury appears before his own grave. Upon the grave is a verse from Ezekiel 25:17.
Fans of Pulp Fiction will understand why this verse is as darkly funny as it is perfectly fitting for a character like Nick Fury. Could we be looking forward to Marvel-and-Tarantino crossovers in the future?
6. ‘Total Recall’ Brings Over the Top Nudity
We would call this sequence exploitative if it weren’t for the fact that all 90’s Arnold Schwarzenegger films were exploitative romps through blood, action, and steamy sexuality. In Total Recall, the writers dialed up the sexuality of the film at least 33% with one of the most memorable moments of sci-fi nudity to date.
There are funky sequences all throughout Total Recall, but nothing will ever top the Three-Breasted but otherwise completely normal Human-Alien hybrid. Yes, you read all of those words correctly and we are sorry.
7. Wild Things – Neve and Denise and the Kiss
What Fast Times at Ridgemont High did for teenage boys, Wild Things did for our older selves. While Wild Things was a largely forgettable romp through sexuality and steamy sequences, most of the film’s longevity comes from a specific scene in a pool shared between superstars Neve Campbell and Denise Richards.
The two characters enjoyed a wet-in-the-water make-out sequence that probably leads to more than a few worn-out VHS tapes.
8. ‘Teen Wolf’ and the Excited Extra
Good help can be hard to find, even when it comes time to fill the background of a shot with extras and stand-ins. In the hit 80s flick Teen Wolf, there is a sequence set in a basketball gymnasium that features Scott winning the big game. During the sequence, the camera pans toward the bleachers where we see the excited crowd going wild. Only if you let your gaze linger, you’ll notice that one extra has his pants unzipped as if he is ready to pull them down!
9. ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ and the Great Helmet Boop
As you will soon find out, we could probably fill a book with pause-worthy scenes from the Star Wars universe. For what it is worth, our favorite moment in the Star Wars canon that is worth revisiting time and again involves a background Stormtrooper, an oversized helmet, and a low-hanging door.
If you are a Star Wars superfan, you likely already know the scene that we are describing. And if you don’t know the scene, well, you just got the perfect reason to binge the Original Trilogy all over again!
10. ‘A Knight’s Tale’ and the Nike Swoosh
There are few feel-good movies more entertaining or optimistic than A Knight’s Tale. One of Heath Ledger’s most underrated romps into action and comedy, A Knight’s Tale took the mickey out of The Canterbury Tales while incorporating its own brand of anachronistic fun.
In one sequence during the film, William is looking for new armor. A female blacksmith comes to William’s aid, offering him a beautiful set of custom-engraved armor. The blacksmith finishes the set with a perfectly emblazoned Nike Swoosh on the chest. We don’t know why. We can’t explain it.
11. ET in ‘Star Wars: The Phantom Menace’
Are there any science fiction films more important than Star Wars and E.T.? In terms of their impact on the genre, we can’t say enough about the two aforementioned films, though they do share one unique moment in time together on screen!
In Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, eagle-eyed viewers can spot a platform of E.T.’s during one of the many political sequences in the film. This doesn’t mean that E.T. is part of the canon, just that Spielberg and Lucas were close friends.
12. The Norman Bates Stare in ‘Psycho’
What Kevin Spacey and David Fincher did for serial killers in Se7en, Alfred Hitchcock began with his work on the horror classic, Psycho. Toward the end of the film when Norman Bates is finally locked up, his eyes drift toward the camera. The moment that they lock with the lens, breaking the fourth wall, a skull appears superimposed atop the entire image.
This shot is so fleeting and so fast that many people didn’t realize what they had seen, thus leading it to become one of the most paused moments in horror movie history.
13. ‘Wild Wild West’ References ‘Men In Black’
While Wild Wild West may not be one of the best western movies in existence, it gave us the chance to watch Will Smith and Kevin Kline chew the scenery in a steampunk-inspired Wild West and for that we are thankful. One of the (many) stupidly fun moments in the film involves Will Smith’s character outfitting himself with weapons. One shot in this sequence features an empty gun slot labeled, ‘Noisy Cricket’.
Fans of Men in Black will understand this reference and for those that don’t, you’ve just gotten some homework!
14. ‘Fight Club’ and the Subliminal Starbucks
David Fincher is one of the most ambitious and creative directors in Hollywood right now. One of his most successful works is that of Fight Club, the flick about toxic masculinity that somehow never actually got the message across to those it meant to target.
With that being said, fans of Fight Club might not have noticed that nearly every single scene in the film features a Starbucks logo! It’s true! Keep an eye out during your next re-watch of Fight Club, just make sure not to tell anyone. That is the first rule, after all.
15. ‘Three Men and a Baby’ and the Cursed Cardboard Cutout
Just glancing at the back cover of Three Men and a Baby leads us to believe that this film has more than a few wacky sequences within it. Aside from the insane plot and the fact that the film was directed by Spock (actor Leonard Nimoy), there is one particular moment that has given this comedy incredible longevity, a cursed cardboard cutout!
Paused just so, savvy viewers will find a creepy ghost hanging in the background of Ted Danson’s home. For years, this cardboard cutout was purported to be a ghost but we know better now. Maybe. Might still be a ghost, though.
16. Oranges in ‘The Godfather’
Famous directors like to foreshadow the fates of their characters as early and often as possible. Francis Ford Coppola became a master of the art by utilizing one of our favorite fruits to show that a character was on their way out of the film. A bowl of oranges or a simple orange peel should be more than enough to put these characters on edge.
The orange motif has been echoed by other filmmakers, including Vince Gilligan and the team at Breaking Bad.
17. The Ultimate ‘Cabin in the Woods’ Freeze Frame
If you are like us then you ended up falling in love with the hit comedy-horror film, Cabin in the Woods. The film skewered the horror drama with a lovingly crafted script just brimming with horror homages. One of our favorite scenes in the film involves a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment where a whiteboard appears in the background of one of the office sequences. The whiteboard is filled with all of the monsters in the movie as well as specific details about them.
18. ‘The Watchmen’ Introduces the Caped Crusader
Zack Snyder is as divisive a filmmaker as they come, especially when discussing superheroes and comic books. One of Snyder’s most widely appreciated works is his superhero adaptation of Watchmen. In one sequence, Snyder pays homage to a D.C. character that he would one day have creative control over, Batman.
In the 2009 silver screen debut of Watchmen, the character Nite Owl is walking through an alley when a man bearing a suspicious resemblance to Joe Chill appears. Nite Owl socks the man in the face, sending him on his way to go on and murder Mrs. and Mr. Wayne. In fact, the Wayne Family can be seen next to a sign bearing Gotham’s name.
19. An Excited Priest in ‘The Little Mermaid’
While The Little Mermaid may be one of our favorite animated Disney flicks, certain scenes require an extra ‘time out’ to analyze. One such scene revolves around Ariel and her beloved Prince finally tying the knot before a Priest. Unfortunately, said Priest caused more than a couple of parents to turn off their television! The Priest was sporting more than a simple white robe, as we can so abundantly tell from this image.
Disney would, fortunately, fix the Priest’s excitement in later editions of the film, opting to cover him with a less exciting pair of pants.
20. The False Grave in ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’
In 2015 when Star Wars: The Force Awakens hit cinemas, fans around the globe went wild. The return to the Skywalker legacy was a welcome one and rejoining fan-favorites Luke Skywalker and Han Solo was something we were thrilled for. Toward the end of The Force Awakens, we spot Luke Skywalker standing on a cliffside, overlooking the water. To his immediate left is a rocky outcropping that looks similar to a grave.
This single image would be meticulously analyzed for months while fans awaited the next installment in the series. Was this a grave? A random rock? Well, for the sake of protecting spoilers, we’ll say nothing to allow you to find out for yourself!
Emma Selwyn makes up a quarter of a theater group dubbed, Not Your Circus Dog, which specifically makes a point of incorporating members who generally have some aspect that mainstream society has not accepted well historically. Whether it be queer orientation, learning disabilities, or being neurodiverse, the group includes performers who were introduced to each other through an acting course provided by Access All Areas, another theater company, as well as the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
With their creativity and determination, the foursome ended up developing their own presentation, which is now running with a first show in mid-December, at the Southbank Centre. This is after a similar run at the Soho theater a few months earlier. The show itself has an eye-catching title, “Not F**kin’ Sorry.” However, the script isn’t about swearing; instead, the actors spend the stage time opening up the audience to the fantasies of people who society typically puts on the edge or thinks aren’t normal. It’s intended to flip audiences’ perspectives of people dubbed “different” in society.
The audience goes through a bit of a rollercoaster of a show. The first half warms them up, gets the mood light with humor and joking, and then, a bit like the movie, Trainspotting, it all comes crashing down with a cold reality of brutal life. In this show, COVID-19 is the aspect that works like a bucket of cold water, emphasizing how disabled people have been disproportionately killed by the virus.
Selwyn has been part of the production from its start, and is, unsurprisingly, a heavy proponent of casting actors with known disabilities. Rather than a drawback, in her opinion, they should be used even more given their additional complexities added to the created characters. The show is intended to highlight that people with disabilities can create characters with vivid portfolios for audiences than any other actors can, and sometimes probably even more because if their uncommon situation. Disabled actors just need to be incorporated better by projects and productions versus being ignored.
Disabled people are regularly ignored in every aspect of life. While they receive the requisite medical and living support, as well as the obligatory familial help if available, many are relegated to a loneliness of being outcasts in normal society activities as well as commiserating with each other with nothing else to do. The theater group’s goal is to show that, just like anyone else, disabled people including individuals with complexities of life, thought and emotion, including the ability to dream and fantasize about anything anyone else does. In other words, they are human beings too.
If you’re a fan of South Park, the long-running animated series that tackles topical issues, particularly in politics, then you’re likely familiar with its multiple mentions of the famous restaurant Casa Bonita in the series, including a classic episode.
The restaurant could soon move from just a few mentions and features to be a childhood dream turn reality for the show’s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The ink is nowhere near dry yet, but the duo who’ve loved this restaurant from their childhood hometown forever are bursting with pride.
Casa Bonita was not just any restaurant but a staple in Colorado, the venue for many first dates and a general, hang out for people of all ages since it offered both dining and entertainment.
The restaurant was shutting down, but now the delighted owners of Casa Bonita, the famous Colorado restaurant depicted on South Park, are Trey Matt, and they are bursting with pride at being able to save the iconic structure for themselves and thousands of fans.
It was in July that Parker and Stone announced that they were pursuing ownership of the restaurant. Casa Bonita, a favorite childhood haunt of Parker and Stone, has been mentioned multiple times in South Park and was even the subject of a famous 2003 episode. Casa Bonita got featured as downloadable content in the 2017 video game South Park: The Fractured but Whole.
Gov. Jared Polis interviewed the Colorado natives on Friday, where they revealed the news.
Parker later told the media that the purchase had concluded earlier that day. He added that “buying the restaurant just felt like the right thing to do.” Although the men have provided no financial specifics, Parker described the final amount as “fair.”
Soon after inking a six-year, 935 million dollar contract with ViacomCBS that comprises the streaming of fourteen South Park movies, the two secured a deal to acquire the restaurant.
Summit Family Restaurants, the corporation that operated Casa Bonita, filed for protection via Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Arizona on the sixth of April. According to Parker, the final sale could take several months as the bankruptcy hearing and sale are pending court approval, which could take months.
Meanwhile, Matt Stone and Trey Parker have been cashing in on their CBS multimillion-dollar ‘South Park’ deal. Parker added of the duo’s ambitions to improve the famed Mexican restaurant that, if they had control of the situation, contractors should be working on upgrading the facility right now.
The massive and popular Mexican restaurant, which offers a waterfall and cave with cliff jumpers, an arcade, and many other enticements, first opened to the public in 1974 at 6715 W. Colfax Ave. in Lakewood.
Lakewood Mayor Adam Paul told THR, “This is a truly wonderful development not just for residents of Lakewood, but for the state as a whole.”
Mayor Paul added that “ A lot of activities have been underway behind the scenes, and these transactions may be difficult. Buying the iconic restaurant would not only help save a famous Lakewood landmark, but it would also act as a catalyst for a growing arts district. I want to express my gratitude to Matt and Trey for their dedication to the community!”
The popular animated series South Park is not suitable for youngsters. It appears that its objective in presenting the exploits of Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Cartman is to upset as many people as possible. Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, lawmakers of all stripes, and self-important celebrities have been the show’s highlight. Spoiler alert! Kenny also gets snuffed out in several episodes.
Turfing might sound like what someone does to aerate a front lawn or prepare a garden for growing. However, for a teacher living in Alameda and who has spent most of his lifetime in Oakland, CA, turfing is far more personal as an expression of dance. Distinct and unique, Predovic has been “turfing” for decades, blending a mix of boogaloo and improv together into a form that is both eye-catching and artistic all at once.
Turfing is not that old, however, as a dance form. It technically started in the mid-2000s, according to Predovic, when territorial dance-offs were a regular thing in Oakland and eventually much of the East Bay region at the high school level. Literally, entire events would occur in school parking lots and on basketball courts as groups tried to out-dance and out-impress the crowd and each other with what was physically possible in dance form.
At age 63, however, Predovic continues to maintain the dance life with the best locally. He boogaloos and shimmies, bends and twists as the teacher continues to defend his “turf” and has done so personally since 2008. His discovery of the dance form was entirely accidental, however. Instead, Predovic was busy skimming through videos online for Johnny Carson videos of all things when he unintentionally caught a turfing video instead. Predovic was immediately hooked. Watching the video piqued such an interest, the teacher immediately figured out where the next event was going to be locally and went in person to see it for himself. Predovic couldn’t have picked a better show.
The competition he first attended turned out to be a front row seat for Predovic of some of the best turfing possible. It was a dance-off between groups from Oakland versus Los Angeles, and there was an intense showing and display of talent as a result. The competition was the closest thing possible to a national championship, if one could call it that.
Predovic’s personal introduction was trial by fire. He immediately stood out by color, being the only Caucasian present in a sea of ethnicity. One character decided to be insulting to Predovic, challenging his simple presence at the show; the teacher responded with his own moves on the spot. That caught attention, and within minutes Predovic was being put front and center in front of the crowd. It was a hit. And the teacher also became a known commodity and accepted among the regular turfers as well.
Decades later, Predovic still teaches at the high school level, dispensing the classic principles of math to students of all stripes. While his daytime career at Mt. Diablo High School might seem sedate, Predovic still makes a regular showing with an official dance crew, Turf Inc. Led by one of Predovic’s former math students, Turf Inc. the group regularly attends competitions, Predovic continues to be a classic draw and known name.
Even in the social media digital age, Predovic’s dancing still commands a draw. His TikTok video has a cool 61,000 unique viewers, and older tools like Instagram still draw an easy 5,000 views as well. In his 60s, the math teacher isn’t as nimble as he was years earlier, but the dancing and turfing continues to keep Predovic fit and limber for every new event. Most importantly, though, he feels a direct connection with the youth at the turfing events, and they want him there too. That’s priceless for Predovic, and is rare for older people his age in general. Hoping to keep dancing into his 80s, Predovic knows time is catching up with him, but he can always try.
Twitch is one of the largest video streaming platforms on the planet right now. An innovator and one of the leaders in the ‘let’s play’ revolution, Twitch generates more than 71 million hours of content every single day. Buoyed by top-of-the-line streamers like XQCOW and TOMMYINNIT, Twitch has become a proverbial playground for some of the most popular young entertainers of the day and age. However, that isn’t where our story is heading today.
Instead, we are talking about one of the unsung heroes of Twitch, the random streamer who streams despite a lack of attention. Today, we are going to be focusing on a live musician named Cameron Ferguson and the massive crypto movement that would appear in his streaming room.
Crypto, Raiding, and Zero Viewers.
While the top-ranked streamers on Twitch can exceed tens of thousands of viewers at a time, the majority of streamers don’t have that kind of success. Instead, the vast amount of streamers will end up with just a handful of viewers throughout their session. Still, that didn’t matter to a musician named Cameron Ferguson and the live music that he wanted to share with the world.
While playing live music to an empty room one evening, Cameron was startled to see that his session had been flooded with hundreds of people watching him play. It quickly became apparent to the viewers that Cameron was more than just another streamer, he was a talented musician who was appreciative of the sudden influx of attention.
Still new to Twitch, Cameron tried not to let his nerves get to him as he played to a suddenly very crowded room. A few donations would come in as viewers saw how talented Cameron was and in the blink of an eye, the musician had raised thousands! Not bad for a night of music, right? If that was where this story ended, that’d be great — but it isn’t.
As it turns out, Cameron had been raided by a team of crypto enthusiasts who had been listening to the cryptocurrency internet show, Up Only. The program is run by @CyrptoCobain and @Ledgerstatus and these two figures were the reason for Cameron’s suddenly packed house. The radio co-hosts had been browsing Twitch for crypto news when they stumbled upon Cameron’s stream.
After raiding the stream, the crypto team decided to do something even nicer for Cameron, they would decide to help him open a crypto wallet. Cobie and Ledger would walk Cameron through establishing a wallet on Blockfolio before helping the man add his Ethereum address to his Twitch bio. Cobie and the rest of the gang would donate a couple of thousand dollars through the wallet almost immediately.
Cameron could easily have been left behind by the group had he not blown them away with his music. Given an opportunity and a reason to excel, Cameron took advantage of his chance. The musician would keep the stream going for hours, before inviting his wife onto the stream to share the news. While she didn’t believe him at first, that would change when a billionaire by the name of SBF donated $10,000 worth of Dogecoin to the musician.
The funniest thing about this entire story is that Cameron almost quit the stream when the crypto raid arrived. His reasoning? He thought he was getting spammed. By the end of the session, Cameron had streamed for five hours, earning more than $85,000 along the way.
When we say that the internet can change lives, we really mean it. The internet can change lives!
Regardless of the ups and downs faced by former child star Macaulay Culkin over the years, his name still manages to trigger beautiful memories for people both old and young.
Many people fail to see him beyond his role in the Home Alone movies(afterall he was absolutely adorable) but now hearing that he is not only in a relationship but also welcoming a child has set the internet in a flurry.
Additionally it is with another former child star, Brenda Song, known for her role as a spoiled rich kid in the TV show “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.”
As per a statement to TODAY, the couple welcomed the boy on April 5, who weighed six pounds and 14 ounces, in a Los Angeles hospital. It’s their firstborn and the couple is clearly elated.
Dakota Song Culkin is the name they’ve chosen for their bundle of joy. If you’re wondering who Dakota is, well, she was Culkin’s sister who passed away thirteen years ago in 2008. According to the announcement, the new three-person family is happy and healthy.
The couple said, “We’re overjoyed.”
The “Home Alone” star, hit a new milestone in 2020 when he reached age forty and made everybody feel elderly, has previously expressed his intention to create a child, his girlfriend who is a former Disney celebrity.
He informed Esquire last year, “We prepare a lot.” “We’re working it out and figuring out how to make the timing work. Hardly anything sparks you on with your lady coming into the bedroom and saying, ‘Honey, I’m ovulating.’
Despite his meteoric rise to fame as a teen, Culkin is now at ease in his relationship with Song.
“People think I’m crazy, a kook, or mentally ill. Strange. He told the paper, “Cracked.” “But I’ve never really put myself forward until the most recent year or two. But that’s something I can appreciate. It’s also like, “Well, everybody, stop being so surprised that I’m reasonably well-adjusted.”
“Look at me,” he continued, “I’ve got money, I’ve got fame, I’ve got a beautiful girlfriend, a beautiful home, and beautiful animals.” “It may have taken me a long while to get here, and I had to have that talk with myself and ask myself, “Honestly, Mack?” It isn’t all evil. I have nothing I want and much less that I want. “I’m fine, man.”
Meanwhile, Song, who is 33, has been waxing poetic about her relationship with Culkin.
In 2020, she informed Esquire that, “Individuals are unaware how incredibly kind, loyal, nice, and smart he is.” “Truly, what distinguishes Mack is that he is unapologetically himself.
“Mack is aware of who he is and is perfectly content with it. And that, to me, is a very enticing feature. He’s put in a lot of effort to become the guy he is.”
Now what everyone is wondering is whether wedding bells will be ringing soon and if they intend to make the family any bigger.
In the meantime, everyone is basking in happiness for the cute couple and wishing them and Dakota all the best.