Talk About Movies: Part 4

hey!

Soderberg is somehow still underrated.

Re: “cerebral”

One of my favorite film professors was this old British dude. Several of us were chatting about “capital F Films” with him after class one night. We students balked when he told us he watched the newest Resident Evil film over the weekend (I think it was Extinction? One of the really awful ones).

I’m paraphrasing, but he said something to the effect of, “Every film, even the lowest of the low, has something to be learned from it. Even if it’s only a singular sequence, or one shot framing, an editing or sound design choice— there is always some knowledge to be gained.”

His principle really altered the way I look at media as a whole. Definitely a major effect that still resonates with me today.

I'm pretty much the only cerebral one.

That's me! Except I call them Gojira movies in an otaku kinda way. That's what makes me cerebral!!!

Edited by the magnificent Anne V. Coates. I'm a real fan of this movie.

There is a Cerebral Brewing located in Denver, Co. check it out.

Brainy Brewing is the new Sexy!

Finally watched Oppenheimer.

I enjoyed it but I do have a couple of minor complaints.

There were so many players involved that I sort of lost track of who was who. That's really on me, though. My old brain struggles sometimes.

My beef with the actual movie was that there were so many short scenes and it jumped around too much. I think that added to me not being able to follow the characters well.

But, overall it was pretty good.

I sort of agree with this. Maybe it’s an older person problem.

Nah, you both are correct. Most of the characters are forgettable and blend together in a sea of bland faces.

I would say “pretty good” is a perfect judging of the movie. I find it baffling when people rate it higher.

I thought it was very average tbh, and im a big fan of Nolan's movies like Interstellar, TDK and Inception.
He tried to make a it to much mystery and twists, which is not needed in a biopic imo. It indeed jumped way to much and the big bomb scene was a big letdown.

Going to a couple of Nolan's this week... I went to a Theatrical release of The Dark knight last night and tonight is Interstellar @redrock... in iMax. Both were a single day releases.

I also saw it but I didn't like it as much. For me, the journalist story gets old really quickly - yes, Dunst is dead inside because of everything she's seen but so what? There's absolutely no explanation why this random teenager decides she wants to walk into this mess to be a photo journalist, and the relationship between her and the male journalist is always walking on just this side of creepy.

Maybe I just went in with the wrong expectations. The concept of an upcoming civil war in America is real and scary enough that I wanted that to be the primary driver of the movie - not whether this ragtag group of journalists can get to Washington.

a week later, and I have to say...Civil War did not stay with me at all. Haven't thought about it at all. I think the main reason is that we do not know WHY there is a Civil War, and I think that could be a cop out.

Also I would say having seen the film and its strong themes particularly with the Jesse Plemons' scene it really depends on too if you like horror as a film genre. If you do, it is just the usual if the horror film was good it stays with you for half a day and then you move on.

Saw Late Night with the Devil (2003) yesterday at the cinemas. It wasn't being showed widely so had to go to a cinema I haven't been to yet.

For its budget and the way it gradually increased suspense until the climax of the movie it was very good. David Dastmalchian does a very good job as the lead but I thought as the sceptic Ian Bliss was also very convincing in his role. Very original and be interested to see what these two directors next project is.

Also I think some have commented on that there were like 9 production company credits shown before the film which some people thought was a joke. I just want to say this film proves that if you can't get support of Film Australia or any of the state movie funding bodies (although this one did come with some Victoria movie funding) don't give up and pitch the idea elsewhere as they did with the UAE coming on board with the US. Just because the film financiers here think the genre is too overly represented in the percentage of films financed in this country and they want to support something else do not give up on your project especially if you have an original idea for that genre.

Looking forward to this. It’s streaming on Sudder/AMC+ now.

I thought it was really good. The look is amazing. They nailed that 70s aesthetic and tone.

The Knick was a fantastic show and criminally underappreciated.

Was scrolling through Max and saw that they had "My Dinner With Andre" on there. This was one I've meant to watch ever since Siskel and Ebert reviewed it back in the 80s on their show. I think they both may have had it on their all-time Top 10. But I never got around to watching it - I suspect I was put off by the idea of a movie that consisted entirely of 2 men conversing over dinner.

At any rate, finally watched it and found it immensely enjoyable. Most of the film is Andre Gregory telling stories of his travels and new-age adventures, and he's a fantastic storyteller so it never drags. But I probably related more to the Wallace Shawn character. He spent most of the film just listening wide-eyed to his friend's stories... but near the end he makes an impassioned argument for the joys of life's simple pleasures that really struck a chord with me.

It's definitely worth watching if you're looking for interesting philosophical conversation and a break from the latest Marvel Universe whatever.

It's one of my top ten movies. Andre is the wild one, and Wally just wants to stay home with his electric blanket. But they are friends.

The city looks dingy when Wally heads to dinner, but it seems to sparkle on his way home after dinner. And Wally wants to talk about his dinner with Andre.

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I've tried 3 times over 40 some years to get into that movie, never made it more than 5 minutes. Found it completely unwatchable. Me, I'da got up and left the restaurant, even if I liked that Andre guy otherwise. Zero interest in the crap he was spewing.

Do you feel this way with all conversation films, or just Andre?

Not entirely sure that we were supposed to believe any of it, or even to take it seriously. Perhaps it was merely intended to illustrate the weird way certain minds work.

Of course, I am known for misunderstanding everything about movies, but perhaps that's why I enjoy so many of them. Also, I have a lot of crazy friends.

I’d rather have dinner with Ingrid Bergman.

Hm, good question. Something about his pretentious "art as sacred religion" attitude I find very off-putting. I could see a mundane conversation movie also being unwatchable for me but probably in a different way.

Just out of curiousity, what are the other revered conversation films besides Andre?