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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: The Big Screen - movies 2016
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
I have just watched the 40+ year old Young Frankenstein by Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder. It is a really terrible movie but I love it.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Pine Marten
Shipmate
# 11068
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Posted
Yesterday I watched one of my prezzies from the kids: the 1932 film Island of Lost Souls, a version of HG Wells' 'Island of Dr Moreau'.
It was very good, creepy, atmospheric, and Charles Laughton as Moreau was suitably sadistic. The make up on the crowd of beast-men was particularly good too, and having no background music made the screaming more chilling.....
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Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. - Oscar Wilde
Posts: 1731 | From: Isle of Albion | Registered: Feb 2006
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Sitting here with tears dripping off the end of my nose - on a whim I've just watched Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song Trilogy - it is simply brilliant and doesn't seem to have aged much despite despite the nearly 30 years since it was released.
Anne Bancroft almost steals the show as the mother but it is such a strong cast she has competition - superbly cast, great performances and a brilliant screenplay - what more can you ask of a movie?
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
Torch Song Trilogy was one of the stepping stones on my path to becoming an advocate. And it is indeed very satisfying to watch Fierstein come toe to toe with Anne Bancroft. The kaddish scene is one of the great moment in film history.
In the age of Netflix, I can now add two recommendations to anyone who liked the above-- first, Angels in America, a three part HBO miniseries based on the play trilogy by Tony Kushner. The story revolves around a young man who is abandoned by his boyfriend after becoming increasingly more ill with AIDS. It is set at the beginning of the AZT trials, which becomes a big plot point, and uses dream imagery, magical realism, and (of all things) Mormon iconography to excellent effect. Also, remember that godawful gay- bashing flick, Cruising, that Robert DeNiro did? DeNiro totally redeems himself for that piece of crap in this production by chewing the scenery as a fictional version of "the incarnation of human evil", Senator Roy Cohn. Every year or so I get the urge to rewatch this, and it is at least ten years old.
The second recommendation is The Normal Heart, another HBO film, starring Mark Ruffalo. Be forwarned it is sad on top of sad, being a stark depiction of the early days of the AIDS epidemic, the infuriating politics surrounding it, and the treatment of patients. (It also featured some pretty frank sex scenes, being HBO and all). A particularly heartbreaking scene involves a man describing the heartless way his sick boyfriend (and later, his corpse) was treated by an NYC hospital. Gutting, infuriating, but if you can steel yourself, well worth it.
Also, a quick praise for Ms. Julia Roberts, who has grown out of romcoms into a surprisingly fierce actress. She is utterly convincing as a hard-- boiled early AIDS researcher who also runs one of the men's health clinics in New York.
[ 02. January 2016, 18:53: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
(Should also add that The Normal Heart is based on the controversial play of the same name, written by Larry Kramer, author of the famous "1,112 and Counting" manifesto that was a political rallying cry demanding more national attention to the AIDS crisis.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
I just watched The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) (original German title: "Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse"). I was watching the DVD from the Criterion Collection which has wonderful extras such as the dubbed French language version and a special extra comparing the original with the edits made in the French and American versions). But what I watched was the German language original (with English subtitles).
This was Fritz Lang's second Mabuse film. The first was a silent film (in two parts) called Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922) ("Dr. Mabuse der Spieler"). Mabuse is a criminal mastermind plaguing Berlin in the 1920s. As a cute touch, in Testament Mabuse is in an insane asylum and, as part of his insanity, he does not speak. So a villain from a silent film remains "silent" in this sound film. (The same actor--Rudolf Klein-Rogge--was used.)
Another cute touch is a casting stunt. Testament was not Lang's first sound film. His first sound film was the classic M (1931)--in which Peter Lorre plays a child murderer hunted by police and criminals alike. On the police side, there is Inspector Lohmann (played by Otto Wernicke).
So it is a delight when the Chief Inspector in Testament is Inspector Lohmann! It is cute to think that the Berlin of Mabuse and the Berlin of M is the same place.
Testament has an interesting take. As a critic explained succinctly, Mabuse does not want to rule the world. He wants to destroy the world and rule the ashes. His plans are not to gain financial gain, but to cause chaos, fear and anxiety to break down social order. In short, he is a terrorist before it became all fashionable.
Lang would return to Mabuse one last time in The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960). Sadly, Wernicke made his last movie in 1959 (and died in 1965) so Lohmann is not around for a re-match. The Inspector in 1000 Eyes is called Kras and played by Gert Fröbe.
While Lang stopped with the character there, Dr. Mabuse continued on in a series of spy thrillers in the 1960s (it was part of the James Bond craze of the time). The first of these, The Return of Dr. Mabuse (1961) (original "Im Stahlnetz des Dr. Mabuse") also featured Gert Fröbe--except this time he is called "Inspector Lohmann"!
[ 03. January 2016, 01:12: Message edited by: Hedgehog ]
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
Went to see Quentin Tarantino's latest, The H8ful Eight, yesterday. No spoilers, but . . .
At about 2 1/2 hours, it's too long. It did hold my attention, though -- mostly.
The cinematography is great, especially the snow and blizzard scenes.
The acting is top-notch. With Tarantino you can never tell if the characters are reciting dialog or ad-libbing, but even so there are some memorable one-liners.
My biggest complaint, aside from the length and a couple of non sequiturs, is a decidedly deus ex machina ending involving a flashback. But the more I think about it, the more I conclude it was the only logical way to end the movie.
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
I think I'm on some sort of nostalgia kick!
This afternoon I watched Beautiful Thing, the 1996 movie set in the Thamesmead Estate in south London about two teenage boys falling in love - I think I'm on a tear-jerker kick as well as it always does this to me, but they weren't dripping down my nose tonight - lots of laughs in it as well. Linda Henry is superb as Jamie's mother, a very strong performance from her.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
quote:
Also, remember that godawful gay- bashing flick, Cruising, that Robert DeNiro did? DeNiro totally redeems himself for that piece of crap in this production by chewing the scenery as a fictional version of "the incarnation of human evil", Senator Roy Cohn. Every year or so I get the urge to rewatch this, and it is at least ten years old.
I think you mean Al Pacino. He was in both Cruising and Angels In America.
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
YES, dammit, I did that thing where I corrected myself out of the right name. Sorry, Bob.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
They have never yet made the Batman movie that does justice to the character. The drive for a mega-action-blockbuster ruins it.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Mamacita
Lakefront liberal
# 3659
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Posted
Kelly, thanks for those Netflix recommendations. I've wanted to see Angels in America and will look it up.
I saw "Brooklyn" recently, and it is a lovely film. A good story line, solid performances, and beautifully filmed.
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Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
Posts: 20761 | From: where the purple line ends | Registered: Dec 2002
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
I think I'm on some sort of nostalgia kick!
This afternoon I watched Beautiful Thing, the 1996 movie set in the Thamesmead Estate in south London about two teenage boys falling in love - I think I'm on a tear-jerker kick as well as it always does this to me, but they weren't dripping down my nose tonight - lots of laughs in it as well. Linda Henry is superb as Jamie's mother, a very strong performance from her.
I saw this years ago, but unfortunately forgot most of it... Except Mama Cass. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
(IMDB notification!) If you liked this, you may also like...
A Home at the End of the World, based on a Michael Connelly book ( author of The Hours.) It follows the love story of two men who meet as teens, when one of them becomes orphaned and the other convinces his mother to take him in. One is gay , the other is seemingly pansexual-- definitely panamorous --and they end up involved in a sort of three way marriage with a woman, including a resulting child. Corny as it sounds, it is a sweet exploration of what constitutes love and family.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
(Oh, and for cinematography nerds-- the above was filmed in varios urban/ rural locations in New York State, and the camerawork is gorgeous.)
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Lyda*Rose
Ship's broken porthole
# 4544
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Posted
I went to see "Big Short" based on events of the 2008 mortgage lending/bank crash. A beautifully savage comedy! However, despite moments of breaking the fourth wall and having economic facts explained by the likes of Anthony Bourdain, Selena Gomez and a big time economist, there are still things that happened that I don't understand. ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif) It is well worth seeing just to affirm to oneself how incredibly stupid nominally smart people are.
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"Dear God, whose name I do not know - thank you for my life. I forgot how BIG... thank you. Thank you for my life." ~from Joe Vs the Volcano
Posts: 21377 | From: CA | Registered: May 2003
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Stercus Tauri
Shipmate
# 16668
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
I have just watched the 40+ year old Young Frankenstein by Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder. It is a really terrible movie but I love it.
A happy memory, sort of. I hate horror and suspense films: it was among the worst of them, but Gene Wilder was a beautiful antidote and the funny bits (almost the whole film) are still funny. It must have been 1975 when we saw it in New York.
We just saw Spotlight about the investigation by the Boston Globe of child abuse by priests in Boston - an excellent film that told the story well and without superfluous drama. Long, but it never dragged - very skilfully made.
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Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)
Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
USA Today had a charming article about Mel Brooks a few months back.
Apparently, his kids don't want him to entertain the grandchildren by doing the Hitler salute, but he does it anyway.
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
OK, you know a movie is really shitty when you have to keep reversing to catch the stuff you missed while you were surfing on the Ship.
Paramormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension.
I actually qualify as an unabashed fan of found footage horror.
I found the first five installments of this series pretty satisfying (especially # 3). But this latest pile of crap is a bunch of over expository, enigma- shattering bullshit. Just endless speeches that destroy the whole draw of FF-- that sense that you don't really know what is going on. And their decision to make the "badguy" visible was, IMO a huge mistake-- if they had left it at things moving around and people doing disturbing, unexplained things, cool-- but what they gave us was some wimpy punk version of a Ent.
Really bad follow up to an otherwise fairly decent representation of the genre.
[ 09. January 2016, 05:17: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pine Marten:
Yesterday I watched one of my prezzies from the kids: the 1932 film Island of Lost Souls, a version of HG Wells' 'Island of Dr Moreau'.
It was very good, creepy, atmospheric, and Charles Laughton as Moreau was suitably sadistic....
I saw it on television, that is to say Turner Classic Movies.
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
Speaking of H.G. Wells, I just finished watching the 1953 version of War Of The Worlds.
Pretty decent special-effects, I imagine that it blew the audiences away back in its era. And good battle scenes, military hardware etc.
But, my word, did that relgious theme ever grate. I love religious motifs in films, big time, but not in H.G. Wells! Especially when it's laced in with dialogue otherwise extolling the benefits of natural selection.
(And, yes, I realize that evolution and theology aren't neccessarily incompatible, but I don't think that's what they they were getting at in this film. It just comes off as awkwardly trying to talk about evolution, while not offending Christians.)
And as much as I'd like to report that things have improved since the 1950s, Spielberg's WOTW from a few years back does the same thing at the very end, with Morgan Freeman's narration.
[ 09. January 2016, 15:01: Message edited by: Stetson ]
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
Is that the version with the creepy moment when the time machine accidentally gets put into fast forward?
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
Is that the version with the creepy moment when the time machine accidentally gets put into fast forward?
I don't think so. There is no time machine in War Of The Worlds.
I think maybe you're thinking of...The Time Machine?
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I have the power...Lucifer is lord!
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
![[brick wall]](graemlins/brick_wall.gif) Had just woken up.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Pine Marten
Shipmate
# 11068
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Posted
We saw The Hateful Eight yesterday. I was a bit concerned that it was listed as being 187 mins long, but it didn't drag - and the Odeon didn't have an interval, as some cinemas apparently did - and it was beautifully filmed. Typical Tarantino stuff, with moments of extreme, sudden violence, but I liked it.
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Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. - Oscar Wilde
Posts: 1731 | From: Isle of Albion | Registered: Feb 2006
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Kaplan Corday
Shipmate
# 16119
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Posted
Suffragette is worthy, conscientious,
competent, and at times quite moving, but somehow falls short of the stature of its theme.
It s hard to imagine it ever making the list of 100 greatest films ever.
Its Lloyd George isn't sufficiently goatish or Welsh.
The only laugh is just before the credits, when there is a chronological list of when countries gave the vote to women - including Russia 1917 and China 1949.
Posts: 3355 | Registered: Jan 2011
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
Over in the Star Wars thread, Trudy Scrumptious referred to the Bechdel Test for movies.
[Don't worry. The link does NOT go to the Star Wars thread--so no danger of spoilers. It is the link Trudy provided for the test itself.]
To quote from the link:
quote:
The Bechdel Test asks a few simple questions from a movie: Is there more than one named female character? Do they have a conversation? Is it about something other than a man? If the answer to all three questions is yes, then the movie passes the Bechdel Test.
I had never heard of the Bechdel Test before, but I find it an interesting test to use. It is sad the number of current films that do not pass the test, but what I find more interesting is the unlikely movies that do pass it!
Case in point: Murder on Flight 502 (1975). It was a made for TV movie. A note found in the first class lounge (after the flight is off for overseas) threatens multiple murders. It is not as interesting as it sounds.
To get the sense of the type of movie it is, the one flight attendant (actually, they call them "stewardesses" in the film) is on her last flight. Why? Because she is going to get married (tee hee!). And is she sad that she will be giving up her career? Nope. To quote her: "I have been liberated long enough!" The other female characters are similarly stock characters: the star-struck young woman; the Jewish grandmother; the cynical middle-aged drunk woman (who, when her fellow passenger tells her he doesn't want advice from "a drunken broad" replies that "under other circumstances I'd be offended at being called drunk!")
Yeah. It is a bad movie drenched with fairly blatant 70s-style sexism in it. And that is why it is amazing to report...it passes the Bechdel Test.
There are two flight att...oh, okay, "stewardesses", Karen White and Vera Franklin (so they are named characters). They have a conversation together--just the two of them, in the galley of the plane. Vera complains that a sharp serving fork has disappeared and she wants help looking for it. Karen tells her not to worry about it because who would bother to swipe a sharp instrument? Karen then tells Vera to help her put away the dishes. Later in the film, Karen and Vera also have a brief conversation dividing duties as Karen takes up a plate of food and Vera agrees to bring the coffee when it is done.
So they had a conversation that was not about men. Bechdel Test passed in a film that has no business passing it.
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
I would argue that it is a perfect example of how easy it is to pass the test. You don't have to make a high art film with a lot of amazing female characters, you just have to put enough women in the story to have a conversation with each other!
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Rossweisse
High Church Valkyrie
# 2349
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Mamacita:
I saw "Brooklyn" recently, and it is a lovely film. A good story line, solid performances, and beautifully filmed.
So did I. It's a beautiful film. I might even try to see it again.
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I'm not dead yet.
Posts: 15117 | From: Valhalla | Registered: Feb 2002
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
Bridge of Spies has not long been released here. It's been eclipsed by Star Wars, but I was very glad to have gone and seen it before its cinema run ended. Interesting parallels with contemporary issues of immigration and East-West relations.
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Hedgehog:
So they had a conversation that was not about men. Bechdel Test passed in a film that has no business passing it.
Alison Bechdel originally wrote that as a conversation between two lesbians in her fabulous comic strip "Dykes to watch out for". To spoil the punch line; "The last film I got to see was "Aliens".
And besides her strip which covers a group of Lesbian friends over decades, do read her best seller "Fun Home" a memoir of growing up as the child of a closeted gay man. It's now a Broadway musical so it may make it to film.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
It's a freaking fantastic book, and the musical score is fantastic. I hope it does make the big screen.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Twilight
Puddleglum's sister
# 2832
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Posted
We saw two at the Big Movies last week.
Revenant which we had really been looking forward to since my son thought the book by Punke was one of the best he ever read. We were not disappointed, and it's not my usual thing.
Star Wars which I thought was the most boring movie I've ever seen. Not the worst, it wasn't offensive in any way, but most boring. It seemed to have a total of about one script page of dialogue and a plot so simple I can't understand how it managed to have so many holes: Two nice parents have evil son for no explained reason? Rey has just been given a lightsaber and is better with it than two guys who have been trained in it all their lives? She understands Wookie speak? She has the best mind bending force ever? I know girlpower is beyond amazing but when it goes outside show rules it's a little like cheating the story.
To me, it was basically just two hours of running.
Running from Stormtroopers, running up and down the old space craft for no reason, running from Velociraptors, running from more Stormtroopers, running in aircraft from other aircraft, running through the woods. I commend all the cast for their stamina.
Someone in the old thread thought Carol was the most boring thing ever. I'll have to wait for the DVD since I live in a cultural wasteland where the theatres don't show it, but I know the book "The Price of Salt," from which it was taken, kept me up all night, heart pounding with fear and tension. It just goes to show how different tastes can be and with Star Wars getting 94% from Rotten Tomatoes, I doubt if we're going to get many more "Carol"s.
Posts: 6817 | Registered: May 2002
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
Big Eyes.
I quite liked it. Among the four Alexander/Karaszewski screenplays I've seen, it's the odd man out, in that Ed Wood, People Vs. Larry Flynt, and Man On The Moon dealt with narcissists who did things that they themselves found amusing, but which alienated others. Whereas Big Eyes deals with a modest person who does things that other people like, but fails to receive proper recognition.
The courtroom scenes are fairly similar to TPVLF, with the difference that this time, the buffoon is the villain.
Generally, I try to avoid Tim Burton, and I found that his trademark touches added little to this film(I really coulda done without the hallucination sequences). Recommended, overall.
[ 17. January 2016, 16:39: Message edited by: Stetson ]
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
I should check and see if that has gone to On Demand yet.
Anyway: Sundance line up!
I totally want to see Weiner-dog . Also, a number of intriguing sounding horror/ scifi things on offer.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Mili
Shipmate
# 3254
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Posted
I just saw 'The Lobster'. I don't regret seeing it, but it certainly was dystopian as promised though funny in parts. My friends and I talked a lot about it afterwards, though partly to cleanse it from our systems and not have nightmares tonight!
I felt unsettled, uncomfortable, on edge or disturbed through the whole movie. There was one scene I'm pretty sure no one in the sold out audience watched. On the plus side singles and couples will both appreciate the world we live in and that we don't live in the film's world.
If you see it don't get attached to anyone. Most of the characters aren't likeable, but you may still get upset. I would warn certain people not to see it, but am not sure how without giving away an important plot point.
Posts: 1015 | From: Melbourne, Australia | Registered: Aug 2002
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basso
Ship’s Crypt Keeper
# 4228
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Posted
I read a review in the SF Chronicle today of something called "The 5th Wave". A pan of a movie that seems to be a real stinker.
The reviewer (long-time Chronicle light Mick LaSalle) closes thus:
quote:
"The 5th Wave" is the first book in a trilogy...if we're not really vigilant, and look to the skies, and prepare, they're going to make at least two more of these things. We've got to beat back the invasion now...
which delighted me enough to share. We all love this kind of thing, right?
Posts: 4358 | From: Bay Area, Calif | Registered: Mar 2003
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Marama
Shipmate
# 330
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Twilight:
Someone in the old thread thought Carol was the most boring thing ever. I'll have to wait for the DVD since I live in a cultural wasteland where the theatres don't show it, but I know the book "The Price of Salt," from which it was taken, kept me up all night, heart pounding with fear and tension. It just goes to show how different tastes can be and with Star Wars getting 94% from Rotten Tomatoes, I doubt if we're going to get many more "Carol"s.
I'm in the camp that found 'Carol' at least very slow, if not quite boring. Heart-pounding it was not! The clothes are wonderful, Cate is of course good, but it should be at least three quarters of an hour shorter. A shame.
Posts: 910 | From: Canberra | Registered: May 2001
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lyda*Rose:
I went to see "Big Short" based on events of the 2008 mortgage lending/bank crash. A beautifully savage comedy! However, despite moments of breaking the fourth wall and having economic facts explained by the likes of Anthony Bourdain, Selena Gomez and a big time economist, there are still things that happened that I don't understand. It is well worth seeing just to affirm to oneself how incredibly stupid nominally smart people are.
Just saw it a few hours ago.
Yeah, I didn't really get what they were talking about most of the time, besides that the main characters were basing their actions on the assumption that lots of people would soon be unable to pay their mortages, and expecting to benefit from this.
So, if part of the purpose of the script was to explain to economic illiterates like myself the intricacies of the mortgage market, it failed. Even the metaphors didn't really work, eg. everyone in a casino betting on everyone else's bets doesn't quite line up with an overheated market, since people who buy debt are actually buying something, not just taking bets between themselves.
And while I liked the period aspects and fast pace, there was still something a little underwhelming about it that I can't quite put my finger on. I guess I've always bought the basic line that the people responsible for the mortgage crisis were bad(morally or competently), so I wasn't quite swept away by the supposedly hard-hitting revelations.
That said, I'll probably have to watch it again to get a clearer impression.
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I have the power...Lucifer is lord!
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
Lewis said a couple times that real evil is boring.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Garasu
Shipmate
# 17152
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Posted
Didn't someone (Iris Murdoch?) say the same thing about good?
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"Could I believe in the doctrine without believing in the deity?". - Modesitt, L. E., Jr., 1943- Imager.
Posts: 889 | From: Surrey Heath (England) | Registered: Jun 2012
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Garasu:
Didn't someone (Iris Murdoch?) say the same thing about good?
I think there are numerous versions of that. Nietzsche wrote in The Antichrist that boredom was "the only kind of distress found in every Paradise".
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I have the power...Lucifer is lord!
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
Lewis said a couple times that real evil is boring.
Hmm. Maybe that was part of the problem for me. The script was trying to generate excitement around events that, apart from their long-term signiicance(which we already know about anyway), just aren't that exciting.
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I have the power...Lucifer is lord!
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Paul.
Shipmate
# 37
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Posted
Watched a couple of films in the last couple of days.
Re-watched Truly, Madly, Deeply for the obvious reason. I've seen it before (once) and cringed because of the hopping scene. This time I minded that less (focus on the dialogue which is quite funny). Rickman is good of course. The film as a whole - enjoyed it but for me, not worthy of the hype it sometimes gets.
Anomalisa was... what? Hard to say what I felt about it without spoiling. Hard to say anyway because it messed with my head a bit. OK so as well as stop-motion animation this is a film that uses a "device" to make a point (which is very Kaufman I suppose). You could tell a similar story in live action without the device. Not sure such a film would get the same level of accolades then. Also, I kinda get that disquiet I feel over characters' actions and relationships is probably intended, it's the point it's trying to make I think, but it makes it hard to like the film. It's a sad, cynical, depressing point, even if accurate in some cases. I do admire it technically though.
Posts: 3690 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2004
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
Oh why not throw out a wild card?
I was surfing On Demand options, growing more and more bored with the same old shit, and finally started surfing through Streampix, which is like the second run B-movie $1.50 theater version of On Demand, and while checking out the Doc section I saw the title, "Shut Up, Little Man!"
I remembered this as a title of a very popular compilation comic put out by Fantagraphics, and vaguely remembered it had something to do with a couple of old men arguing with each other. When I saw cartoonist Daniel Clowes was one of the interview subjects, I remembered he was in on some of it, and I turned it on.
It starts out pretty simply-- a couple of guys move into a skeezy apartment on Steiner Street in San Francisco, and quickly learn that their next door neighbors (Ray and Pete, chronic alcoholic retirees and possible partners) argue all night. One of the guys makes an attempt to confront the loudest of the two men who live next door (Ray), and the resulting conversation drives him to record the man's rants , which now include lines like "Come and knock on my door ,you piece of shit, and I'll kill ya," for his own safety, and for possible submission to the police..
From there, the roommates begin to realize that the arguments are kind of entertaining, and they record them on a regular basis. When they make mix tapes for their friends, the include snippets of the recordings, and the friends start asking to come over so they can hear it live. The two audiophiles then make a master copy of the rants which they publish vie Matador Records (foolishly including a free use comment in their copyright info), and despite the fact that the internet did not exist at this time, the recording go viral via cassette tapes,spawn several comic adaptations (including the one I mentioned) two short films and a popular avante garde stage play.
The story drifts from the San Francisco underground art scene celebrating Found Audio to the obvious problems with "free use" and the whole idea of publishing surreptitiously recorded material in the first place. Also, after everyone has had a blast celebrating Ray and Pete, it suddenly dawns on them that they were living pretty sad lives.
The actual audio shared in the doc is pretty blood curdling-- it's kind of like if "The Odd Couple" was written by Edward Albee. The title phrase becomes a mantra. If you don't like gratuitous swearing don't even bother.
But I liked it because it was a neat little trip back in some to when you could run into Dan Clowes down at Comics and Comix in Berkeley, not signing anything but just picking up a few copies of Peter Bagge's latest before he hit the Billy Nayer Show at the Starry Plough.
The terrifying Ray, who dominates the audio with his high octane rants, actually shines when the director tracks him down and fill him in on his celebrity status, of which he is completely unaware. He reacts with grace, blowing off the idea of suing and insisting Brad Pitt play him in the move.
[ 24. January 2016, 04:50: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505
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Posted
Saw The Hateful Eight last night. TP and I both appreciated the dialogue, the cinematography, and the layers of hate, prejudice and perfidy being peeled back bit by bit. I can see why it is not to everyone's taste - it's an old convention to have various characters stuck together in one place by circumstances, and it would probably seem interminable to action movie fans. But I think it will eventually become an appreciated part of Tarantino's full hand.
Great acting performance by Kurt Russell. ![[Overused]](graemlins/notworthy.gif)
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Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.
Posts: 7080 | From: Canberra Australia | Registered: Oct 2005
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
You'll all wonder what Miss Amanda was thinking when she went to see Dirty Grandpa this past weekend -- but let me just say that I can't imagine what Robert De Niro and Zac Efron were thinking when they prostituted themselves into making it.
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
You'll all wonder what Miss Amanda was thinking when she went to see Dirty Grandpa this past weekend -- but let me just say that I can't imagine what Robert De Niro and Zac Efron were thinking when they prostituted themselves into making it.
Serious question.
Would you say it's one of those films that's bad if one doesn't like the genre, or is it bad even by the standards of the genre?
What I mean is, I gather it's some sort of gross-out bromance, which a lot of people dislike just BECAUSE it's a gross-out bromance. But I actually like GOBs, so I'm thinking I might actually wanna see this one.
Pineapple Express would be an example of a GOB that I didn't like, simply because, while it conformed to all the genre conventions, the jokes just fell flat. Knocked Up would be an example of one that I like, though someone who dislikes the genre would probably hate it.
As for De Niro, it's long been apparent that he isn't crafting any sort of ongoing screen-persona for himself, where every role would have to be either a continuation of, reinterpretation of, or negation of, the "character" that is often thought to define him(bascially, some variation of "crazy ethnic criminal guy"). The impression I get is that he's an actor who likes to work, and doesn't really care what the job is.
[ 29. January 2016, 15:30: Message edited by: Stetson ]
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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