Talk About Movies: Part 4

I dug Slither, but it's been years since I've watched it. And I remember hearing about Piranha 3D. The cast is ridiculous for a movie like that. I'll check it out. Thanks.

I don't know what the movie is, but I would be nearly certain that it would have to be terrible based on Ringo being in the film.

“They DYED me this color!”

Bubba Ho-Tep is elite. Slither is a lot of fun.

Candy. Don't concentrate on all those guys you mentioned. Concentrate on the chick.

I've read the book, but haven't seen the movie.

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I'm really enjoying my film class this semester. Showed them Punch-Drunk Love, and they loved it. A couple of students sitting behind were alarmed by what they thought might happen in one scene. I kinda smiled because I knew what was going to happen next. Then they laughed.

One young woman said after class that she was going to ask her therapist to see it because it helped her understand some of her issues.

I'm amazed that they want to stay after class to keep talking about the films.

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Nice. Very fond of this movie. The music and the sets and the costumes make this movie special.

Learned this recently:
The term "Blade runner" is not in the novel . Ever wonder where the term came from? In the far-flung future the healthcare system has broken down, and renegade doctors must hire people to smuggle medical supplies for them. Those people, who traffic in scalpels and syringes, are called blade runners. So it implies that Dekard got his start that way.

Read More:

https://www.looper.com/1334103/what-is-a-blade-runner/

Looper

What Is A

I read that "Blade Runner" comes from a William S. Burroughs novel...Hampton Fancher, the original writer of BR, read the book and loved the term and appropriated it.

Are you finding your students to be a little more easily "shocked" or triggered over older movies that are, shall we say, disturbing or shocking at times?

Mine are. One student insisted on choosing Irreversible for an assignment, even though she had never seen it before but had heard about it. She said she loved gore and horror and would be fine. lol I warned her.

Next class, she was quite quiet and just said. "That movie changed me. "

Dom,

This class seems pretty open to almost anything. I'm not sure about Irreversible (although I liked it), but they have enjoyed In the Mood for Love and City Lights.

I try to show movies that build on the terminology, so with Punch-Drunk Love, I want them to analyze mise-en-scene and cinematography.

I also gave them this analysis to read:

https://youtu.be/2untlg3bFmk?si=FRPt_sNTUwkrECvY

YouTube

PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE | Why Barry Egan is Superman?

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I wonder what they will think of The Substance, especially women...

Meh. The chick didn't really do it for me. The movie was really bizarre but the Walter Matthau scene was hilarious. The rest not so much.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, it appeared that the first 10 or so minutes of the film that showed the defense attorney and prosecutor's entire opening statements was one full, uncut shot. Or was that my imagination? Pretty amazing if so

I love Paul Thomas Anderson, but for whatever reason, I couldn't get into Punch Drunk Love. I almost want to watch it again just for analysis.

Sandler was outstanding in it. He reminds me of Robin Williams and Jim Carrey; a comedian who just shines in dramatic roles. I read an article a while back about how that film is an example of how an Adam Sandler comedy would play out in real life. If you think about the movies that preceded it (Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore and The Wedding Singer), it makes sense. He's a loser and stalker in those, but it's all laughs. In the real world, not so much. Can't you picture one of his comedic characters breaking a window and yelling, "Shuuuudddduuuup!" or wacky hijinks ensuing after calling a phone sex line? I think PTA wrote that role specifically for him, but I could be mistaken.

Wolfs (2024)

I thought this was great. Plot was only okay, so its mostly down to the chemistry between the two leads and few better than Pitt and Clooney. Its a whole other movie/very average movie without them. Also some really funny scenes, i had a great time

Rewatch Predestination (2014)

Movies like this ofcourse aren't as good on a rewatch, but was still really good. Just go in blind

yes, that was special too. The director put in real effort into this film.

GF and I are watching a lot of horror movies this month...the first two are newer, foreign films...

Oddity, Damian McCarthy, 2024

Irish film about a psychic blind woman who owns an oddity shop her mother left her, whose twin sister is murdered while renovating an old, Irish manor in the middle of nowhere. A year later, she goes to visit her brother-in-law in the now-finished manor - and he has a new girlfriend.

She brings with her as a present a life-sized wooden man from her shop - that is absolutely horrifying looking.

Let's just say...things go poorly.

This is masterfully directed and written by McCarthy and a fantastic horror movie. Most of the horror is subtle...until it's not. And it gave me more scary movie shivers than any other movie that I can remember. The lead actress, Carolyn Bracken is a revelation as both sisters - I didn't believe they were the same woman until I saw the credits. There's a creepily great performance by Irish musician Steve Wall (of The Stunning) as a mental hospital attendant that is run by the brother-in-law.

Watch this one.

***

Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes, Kevin Kopacka, 2021

German film that pays homage to European Gothic Horror and psychedelic films of the 1960s and 1970s. Think Mario Bava on acid.

Absolutely BONKERS movie about an arguing German couple who visits an old, abandoned Bavarian castle that the woman has inherited from her rich uncle. Let's just say, old, abandoned Bavarian castles are not a good place to fix a relationship. The first half is quite spooky and then gets pretty crazy....until there is a TWIST that makes so little sense that it works. Somehow. And THEN, the bonkers section begins...

I absolutely loved this. The atmosphere and music and wildness is so very late 60s, so European, with sweeping camera moves, unreal lighting like from a Dario Argento movie, and an orgy sequence that has to be seen to be believed. Warning - there is some VERY graphic mutilation scenes.

Two very different movies, but both are immediately added to my "best recent horror movies" list.

Last night, I stumbled upon a documentary on Prime about South African shock-rap group Die Antwoord...

ZEF: The Story Of Die Antwoord, John Day, 2024

This is a brand new documentary on the world-famous group: Ninja, Yolandi Visser, and DJ Hi-Tek (now known as HITEK5000):

Ninja and Yolandi with their daughter, Sixteen, on the cover of Rolling Stone. Sixteen is also a burgeoning music artist now.

I had actually seen this group in concert a few years ago when they stopped in Vegas on a world tour, I didn't know much about them then, but I was blown away at the energy and hooks and stage presence of the three main musicians. An incredible show.

The movie is perhaps the best documentary about art and artists that I have seen since Exit Through the Gift Shop, by graffiti artist Banksy. It blew me away. The movie is not just a documentary on the group, but an art film with a capital A. Their image revolves around the South African counterculture movement known as zef and has incorporated work by other artists associated with the movement, such as photographer Roger Ballen. And Ballen's vision, along with Ninja's, infects this movie with originality and darkness and fun.

It's about a dirt poor couple who become global superstars without changing who they are or their original vision. It's also a moving love story between Ninja and Yolandi. They are so very cute together in interviews and obviously their respective worlds revolve around the other. The movie starts out with teen Sixteen telling us about her family...and we get a great biography of that family and DJ Hi-Tek.

Just fantastic in every way. Might be my favorite movie of the year. In fact, I'm going to go post a few Die Antwoord videos in the music thread!

ZEF 2 DEF

Definitely put that on my watch list. I’d highly recommend diving deep on their early albums like SOS and Tension. They also essentially play themselves in Neill Blomkamp’s Chappie (2015), which is basically a South African gangland version of Short Circuit.

yes, I will be watching that soon. Tension has long been a favorite on my playlist

Haha, wonderful. My favorite reply to anyone who “doesn’t get” Die Antwoord is the same line they spit in Fatty Boom Boom:

“If you haven’t got it by now, YO YOU NEVA GONNA GET IT!”

I FINK U FREEKY is a damn masterpiece. Both the song and video. Evil Boy 4 life.

They are amazing...the live show was insane

I believe!! I discovered them in a similar way to you.

I was at an Austin City Limits music fest and I heard Hi-Tek’s synth in the distance and found myself drawn to it. My older brother said something like, “Oh, those are some kind of clown rap group from South Africa or something…” I wandered off from the group. Before I realized what was happening, I was in the pit moshing with all these rap rave ****ers. Absolutely fantastic experience.