Talk About Movies: Part 4
Somehow threads merged, so here's part 4 of our ongoing movie discussion.
Student emails me to add class late and tells me his favorite directors are Guadagnino, Lanthimos, and James Gunn. I don't know what to make of this.
Sent from my Pixel 7a using Tapatalk
Student emails me to add class late and tells me his favorite directors are Guadagnino, Lanthimos, and James Gunn. I don't know what to make of this.
Sent from my Pixel 7a using Tapatalk
Just curious? What would you think if he said Wilder, Hitchcock, and The Coens?
That would be terrific.
Sent from my Pixel 7a using Tapatalk
Weapons got me all ****ed up. Zach Cregger's latest entry is deeply personal and a completely naked telling of the grief he's going through following the death of his best friend. If you want a surface level enjoyment of the film it's completely accessible, but for film nuts like us it's a FEAST of subtle (and not so subtle) nods to previous films/filmmakers. (slight spoiler for opening)
Spoiler
The opening voice over is a complete lift of the Magnolia opening. The cadence of the voice over is just like Magnolia, and the camera movements mimic the frantic pace that Magnolia opens with. I felt my body levitating off the couch during the opening. I was like, "HELL YEAH! CINEMAAAAA!"
I'm not sure what else to say. I don't want to wander too far into spoiler territory. Between this, Sinners, and Bring Her Back, it feels like horror is carrying cinema in 2025. Fight me.
Yeah 2025 has been a surprisingly good year for horror and arguably the best year of the 2020s so far. I wasn't aware of Cregger's loss thanks for the heads up. I much preferred Weapons to Barbarian, which I thought had an excellent first half but a rather derivative second half.
Yeah 2025 has been a surprisingly good year for horror and arguably the best year of the 2020s so far. I wasn't aware of Cregger's loss thanks for the heads up. I much preferred Weapons to Barbarian, which I thought had an excellent first half but a rather derivative second half.
I have that exact critique for 90% of horror. WHY
Finally got around to watching 2024 Nosteratu. Loved it!
Anyone ever seen this? Think I’m going to pick up a copy, feels like it has gem potential. On a bit of a noir kick over here.
Anyone ever seen this? Think I’m going to pick up a copy, feels like it has gem potential. On a bit of a noir kick over here.
I rented it back in the day but wasn't crazy about it, as I remember finding it pretty convoluted and muddled, but was just a teen at the time. I'd possibly re-evaluate on a revisit. Great cast though, loads pop up in it.
I was really impressed by Blink Twice directed by Zoe Kravitz in her directorial debut ; I was not sure where it was going at times and thought that the mood/narrative was overextending itself/repetitive at times, but I think the ending really was effective and salvaged the process. Definitely worth a watch and am looking forward to her next releases 
The Naked Gun (2025) way funnier than I was expecting. The deadpan humor, Neeson's timing is terrific and Pamela Anderson is game the entire way. A solid comedy if you need a laugh.
Clueless (1995)
Don’t tell me those brain dead low-lifes have been calling again: They are your parents!
Snaps: We could totally!
The columns date back to 1972: During a routine liposuction!
That’s a famous quote from: Cliff Note’s!
Spark it! Suck and Blow!: I’ve never had straight friends before!
High School Valley Party: I’m calling your mom!
Would you call me selfish?: No, not to your face!
I remember Mel Gibson: Polonius said that!
Hymennically Challenged!: That’s an unequivocal Sex Invite!
I’ve got a .45 and a shovel: I doubt anybody would miss you!
Dope!
Pismo Beach Disaster: Foreshadowing Redondo Beach!
A film featuring adults playing high school girls --but gives the impression that it was made by high school girls pretending to be adults. Yet, I can’t stop loving this movie. Should I be embarrassed? Is my love based entirely on its abundance of cute girls in short skirts? Who cares! Snappy dialog! Constantly hilarious! Check it out!
Showed up on Kanopy.
IÂ’d like to welcome 86yo Ali MacGraw to the Abe Vigoda AllStars. She was THIRTY during the filming of Love Story. 32/33 and a mom here from The Getaway & premiere with then husband Bob Evans.
SheÂ’s been quiet lo these decades, and I was only 7 then, but I definitely remember her wearing both the Biggest Star & Most Beautiful championship belts.
Probably from an old National Lampoon letters column:
Spoiler
Dear Editor,
People ask me why I hit Ali. Well, I was in a bad mood one day and she said, “What’s eating you?”
Sincerely,
Steve McQueen
My three word review of The Long Walk:
Spoiler
Walking Mister Garraty!
To be fair, it’s a very difficult book to adapt from an author who’s written many of such. It’s no coincidence that the best King adaptations were of a short sparse novel, two novellas, his best selling novel that was radically reimagined by an all-time great director, and the most straightforward of his great novels
Spoiler
The Dead Zone.
I thought the Walk itself was done as well as it could be. Be interesting to know how much actual walking they did—did they walk 8-16 hours a day for five days in the same clothes improvising dialogue around a rough script then sleep outside, existing only on canteen water & MREs?
The Walkers are the de riguer Bennetton commercial (they’re all fine with the psycho kid deserving an extra star) and the soldiers obviously being all white. One of the second leads is horribly miscast for his role if you've read the book; he would’ve been fine in a smaller part. It’s an interesting thought to have had the two main leads switch roles but the studio certainly never would’ve OK’d THAT. In a shocking development
Spoiler
teh ghey stuff from the book is removed but there’s a lil bit of homophobic slurs added.
Hamill as Trump clowns it up like a poor man’s Baldwin. The last two minutes are just disastrous and it just would’ve required a little tweaking of the book to get the point across much more effectively imo.
For those who don’t know this was King’s first completed novel to be submitted for publication—it was rejected & returned without even a form letter—written as a HS Sr/College Fr. Pretty damn good for a teenager, though it does have it’s issues as King has mentioned at some length.
Godzilla Minus One - Cinema!!!!! One of the best portrayals of Godzilla outside of the original. An absolute menace and still haunting Japan with his city destroying attacks. A beautiful allegory for Hiroshima and the survivors guilt I’m sure many in Japan carried following the war.
It was really cool seeing Kamiki in a live action film following his work in Makoto Shinkai films. The character arcs are incredible. I felt emotionally attached to everyone and during its darkest moments, felt so much pain and fear. This is the hardest cry I've had since The Iron Claw, I probably cried more during Godzilla Minus One. Absolutely blown away and sad I missed its theatrical run.
The 4K UHD disc is a beautiful transfer.
Random YouTube video popped up in my channel “why Gary Sinise left Hollywood” so I watched out of curiosity. In like a 3 year span the guys dad died, his wife got diagnosed with stage 3 cancer, and his son was complaining about tailbone pain and ended up having some incurable form of cancer that eventually he died from.
Easy to remember the bad luck you have but stories like these put things in perspective. Hope the man and anyone else going thru such tragedy find some peace. I always liked him in his roles.
Amazon Prime has lots of "old" movies and I clicked on one tonight I never heard of. Made For Each Other starring James Stewart and Carol Lombard. Ehhh, it was okay. But I really like watching these very old movies (1939) as a historic slice of America. A major plot point was flying a pnemonia serum from Salt Lake City to New York in a biplane. We have come a long way since then! 86 years old and I recon that the kid that played the baby is likely dead :( This version was colorized which was sort of offputting and I would have just prefered it in B&W.
Peking Opera Blues, Tsui Hark, 1986
Classic martial arts action/comedy, starring Brigitte Lin and Sally Yeh. It was playing in town at our revival theater, and I had to see it on the big screen. So much fun. Great cast, great action and music, fun story.
Going to see Yeh in another Honk Kong movie, The Killer next week.
No No: A Dockumentary: The Vibrant Life of Baseball Legend Dock Ellis (2014)
He can see Zero Zero Zero where it says San Diego: I didn’t see the hitters -- but I saw which side of the plate they were on!
You better wake him up, he’s supposed to be in San Diego right now!: And I said, Well, What happened to yesterday?
The real high from LSD came from snorting LSD: They wanted him to shut up.
It was Dexamyl, better known in baseball as greenies: No it was 95% maybe 96%.
He won’t hit me ‘cause I’m a Brother -- And I popped his butt: I never bought another drink for the rest of the year!
The art of intimidation -- Kick your ass and laugh at you: I throw the ball!
But there were a lot of things you wrote that could have been extremely damaging to a public figure: No way they are going to start two black pitchers in the All-Star game.
That’s not the image that MLB wants to portray!: Maybe it's a culture thing!
Putting curlers in my hair, that was hip and slick: Dock was so up-to-date -- he was always on the next chapter.
You know, it’s not that you got to watch me dress, you got to watch how I play: The first ballplayer I ever saw to wear an earring.
I was gone, I was in the wind all night. I pitched every game in the Major Leagues under the influence of drugs. They knew I was high, but they didn’t know what I was high on.
One of the most fun-to-watch flicks that I have seen in a long time. Irrepressible Dock Ellis. Unfortunately, if you didn’t live through these times, you are not going to be able to follow the movie. Consult a qualified cultural historian, or a baseball fan, then check it out!
finally saw anora
enjoyed the titties, thought it was a decent film, but way overhyped
the final seconds were great though - turned a meh film into a good one
finally saw anora
enjoyed the titties, thought it was a decent film, but way overhyped
the final seconds were great though - turned a meh film into a good one
Lol, is this okbuddycinephile? Pfffffft.
