Talk About Movies: Part 4
Somehow threads merged, so here's part 4 of our ongoing movie discussion.
Been going through a long list of new stuff and rewatches. Did Little Miss Sunshine last night, and forgot how enjoyable it was. The casting was fantastic yet having said that, it was even better than the sum of all its parts. Great movie.
That’s funny I just rewatched it because it came on TV and had the same reaction. It has a lot of heart without feeling forced. Pretty stacked cast in retrospect but less well-known at the time it came out.
Prolly one of Alan Arkin's better roles. I still remember him making it rain.
“**** a lotta women, kid. A lot of women.”
Followed it up last night with a rewatch of No Country For Old Men for the upteenth time. What a banger of a movie.
last night I ate a gummy and watched Flash Gordon for the umpteenth time.
Love that movie so much.
I didnt find Salo (1975) "disturbing" since it seemed so unreal. It had little or no rationale. It was hard to imagine why something like that could be happening.
Requiem for a Dream (2000) ,I think, is a great film. If you've ever been around someone with an addiction disorder who ruined their life you know the film is realistic and tragic. Back before 2000, our society didn't have much understanding of how to deal with substance abuse , not that we are great at it now.
If people are intereste
I just watched The Innocents and it just didn't work for me although I can understand others digging it. Had a nice ominous atmosphere with amazing performances from some of the child actors and one or two rather disturbing individual scenes.
That said, while I don't necessarily mind slow burns, this was fricken glacially paced and came across as simply dragged out. I thought it's conclusion was really poor-
Spoiler
the build up suggested it would end with a bang instead of a whimper and the ambiguity as to how they had their powers
didn't work for me. Overall a nay from me although again I can understand others liking it.
I just watched The Innocents and it just didn't work for me although I can understand others digging it. Had a nice ominous atmosphere with amazing performances from some of the child actors and one or two rather disturbing individual scenes.
That said, while I don't necessarily mind slow burns, this was fricken glacially paced and came across as simply dragged out. I thought it's conclusion was really poor-
Understood. Maybe you've developed a high tolerance to horror and you need high doses to get off. The Coffee Table film probably won't bother you at all. Lol keep trying.
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I can't say I liked it, but I think Salo is an important film. Actually, I hated it. Still think it's important.
genuinely curious what do you think makes it important?
I'm a horror and exploitation fan so watch the likes of Saló purely within that context. If it raises my eyebrows or better yet drops my jaw, it's done its job. I found Saló a very well made film with apart from the depravity, a decent enough plot. I didn't think much of it as an allegory for fascism, consumerism or whatever, but as an exploitation flick, it was spot on that totally delivered in what it set out to do.
I'm not gonna necessarily disagree w th you re pretentiousness in the art/acad
if you think I'm offended you don't know me very well it's pretty hard to actually offend me I just think it's laughable when ppl try to make these movies to be anything other than fantasy porn.
if ppl just described the films like you did and said all they wanted them for was to be shocked/grossed out etc then I'd say sounds good enjoy but I have read so much absolute nonsense from academics and movie critics trying to make them into super important films almost to the point where oh my god it pained the filmmakers so much to have to make such a film but it was just sooooooooooooooo important it had to be done so they made the ultimate sacrifice blah blah blah just ludicrous.
thing is they never come close to explaining why they're so important and I really would love to know.
I have never once suggested it should be illegal to make them or they should be banned.
and no offense but not gonna lie if you watch salo and actually enjoy it and would gladly watch it again I'm gonna be very shocked if there isn't something wrong with your brain.
I get this sinking feeling whenever I hear that a movie, or any work of art, is important. I've come to regard it as a "Nice try!" award, or a participation trophy. I like unimportant movies made by people who are really good at making movies. Consider this my "Get off my lawn!" post for today.
I watched Requiem for a Dream several years ago and I honestly don't remember a thing about it. Maybe I was high?
I just don't have any desire to see films like Serbian, Salo, etc. If it gets a lot of buzz about being tough to watch, I just don't have any curiosity about it.
Watched Atonement last night. I was there for the first half, but they completely lost me in the second half. I was confused about what was going on in the Dunkirk scene and it went way too long. The going back and forth in time didn't work for me at all. The ending/reveal was maddening.
Spoiler
Oh, never mind - didn't really happen. AARRGGGHHH!!!
Was she looking for some sort of absolution? Ugh.
Watched In Cold Blood again. What a great film. Superb cinematography by Conrad Hall, great performances from Robert Blake and Scott Wilson (he played Herschel in The Walking Dead), as Perry and Dick, and a host of recognizable character actors.
I never realized how much the film contained a strong argument against capital punishment.
Also watched a documentary about The Flaming Lips and their space bubble concerts. Sounds weird but it is highly entertaining. Standouts are Wayne Coyne, the lead singer, and, believe it or not, the mayor of Oklahoma City.
Both on Criterion.
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In Cold Blood is a great film, John.
lol G. Esposito recreating his famous scene from Do the Right Thing...
genuinely curious what do you think makes it important?
if you think I'm offended you don't know me very well it's pretty hard to actually offend me I just think it's laughable when ppl try to make these movies to be anything other than fantasy porn.
if ppl just described the films like you did and said all they wanted them for was to be shocked/grossed out etc then I'd say sounds good enjoy but I have read so much absolute nonsense from academics and movie critics trying to make them into super i
See the last paragraph again does intimate on some level you're offended and are again engaging in moral posturing.I don't think it's a good faith argument, it's kinda like saying you're racist if you think OJ did it or Ebert going the moral route when complaining about films he didn't like. You don't like it or appreciate it on some level, so anyone who does has something wrong with their brain. I mean absolutely fair enough if it's not for you, but again essentially disparaging others who may differ isn't a good faith argument. That said I've read your posts before and overall respect your opinion on film so we leave it at that.
In Cold Blood is a great film, John.
lol G. Esposito recreating his famous scene from Do the Right Thing...
I was delighted Breaking Bad got him more known I thought he was amazing in Do the Right Thing and he always had a lot of range, I really liked him in Bob Roberts and The Usual Suspects too and I'm a big fan of King of New York as a movie although he only has a minor role in that one.
See the last paragraph again does intimate on some level you're offended and are again engaging in moral posturing.I don't think it's a good faith argument, it's kinda like saying you're racist if you think OJ did it or Ebert going the moral route when complaining about films he didn't like. You don't like it or appreciate it on some level, so anyone who does has something wrong with their brain. I mean absolutely fair enough if it's not for you, but again essentially disparaging others who may
ya I probably went a little hyperbolic because I also have always enjoyed and respected your posts so I guess there is at least one person who enjoyed it and may not have anything wrong with their brain.
I would be very curious tho if we posted the wiki description of salo what the general reaction would be.
oh and fwiw the sex stuff was by far the least disturbing parts of the film imo.
oh also it's ironic as I recently found myself defending chuck berry and his love of eating fresh defecation so not sure why I get like this about the films.
I honestly think I just got so tilted reading pretentious blowhards talking about how deep and important the marquis de sade was and then doing the same with salo.
I never had a problem with gross out horror stuff before I just choose not to watch them but had 0 issues with ppl making them or other ppl watching them.
just something about watching nonstop rape and **** eating and then saying it's a super important and deep examination of society blah blah blah got me all riled up and I really don't know why.
if a buddy said they watched it and enjoyed it I would probably make fun of them for their horrible taste but in a friendly joking way and not really ever think about it again so I probably went a bit overboard generalizing the entire audience due to my annoyance of the critical community.
I've seen Salo in a theater, and I estimate that 90% of the audience left during the film. I had seen a number of Pasolini's films, and I think that he thought the film was important.
Did I "like" it? No. Can I find meaning in the film on some level? Yes. I can only compare what I see throughout the film and what I see at the end, the way the horror of the film hits us in the face throughout compared to the way we see from a distance at the end.
So how can we read the film? I'm not sure, and I would need to see it again, but I don't want to. Perhaps Salo is about being a spectator. I don't know.
But I do think Pasolini was a serious filmmaker.
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Watched Atonement last night. I was there for the first half, but they completely lost me in the second half. I was confused about what was going on in the Dunkirk scene and it went way too long. The going back and forth in time didn't work for me at all. The ending/reveal was maddening.
Spoiler
Oh, never mind - didn't really happen. AARRGGGHHH!!!
Was she looking for some sort of absolution? Ugh.
Atonement is one of the most faithful adaptations of a book I've seen as it has the same strengths and flaws. The transition to Dunkirk in the book is both jarring and the weakest part of the novel. Ian McEwan apparently did a lot of research for this segment which somehow lead to a dull story.
In answer to your spoiler
Spoiler
not entirely. Briony knows she can never make up for what she did and specifically does not grant herself absolution. She deliberately doesn't write a scene where Celia and Robbie forgive her. Her book is an act of penance and a way to give them the happy ending they never had. It's a very effective twist.
I get this sinking feeling whenever I hear that a movie, or any work of art, is important. I've come to regard it as a "Nice try!" award, or a participation trophy. I like unimportant movies made by people who are really good at making movies. Consider this my "Get off my lawn!" post for today.
When I hear a film is "important" that's code to me for "no one is going to watch this".
If you want to talk "importance", I think you could argue that no film drove a decade plus of the film industry on anywhere near the magnitude that Iron Man did. Was it a cinematic masterpiece, no. Did it win any awards? no. Was it actually important in the sense that you cannot talk about the movie industry without acknowledging it? Yes.
On the flip side, I've never heard of the movie that was described as important here and based on the summary I read, god help us if this becomes anything other than an example of the type of movie we don't need.
I don't exactly disagree, but by that metric Star Wars is far more important than Iron Man.
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song is an important film.
Atonement is one of the most faithful adaptations of a book I've seen as it has the same strengths and flaws. The transition to Dunkirk in the book is both jarring and the weakest part of the novel. Ian McEwan apparently did a lot of research for this segment which somehow lead to a dull story.
In answer to your spoiler
Thanks for the feedback. I didn't know it was a book, but I probably should have.
American Fiction A black writer rebels over writing "black". Meanwhile, his personal life has been turned upside down.
We really enjoyed this. I would label it "charming". Worth a watch.
Missouri Breaks A horse thief buys a ranch next to a rancher who hires a vigilante to track down....horse thiefs.
Nicholson and Brando! The story was fine and with Harry Dean Stanton and Randy Quaid, the acting was pretty good. Good movie, not great movie.
I need to rant a little about Brando. I feel like when he's good, he's really good, but damn, he can be bad too. I found him almost unwatchable in this one. Reminds me of Teahouse of the August Moon when he was supposed to be Japanese. Here he's supposed to be Irish but I just couldn't buy it. Maybe because he's Brando? I dunno. Just didn't work for me.
Nicholson, on the other hand, is always great to watch.
