|
Post by Nudeviking on Jul 23, 2020 0:08:27 GMT -5
Beyond the Mat (1999) - Before Vice started doing that Dark Side of the Ring documentary series I'd have said that this was probably the best wrestling documentary out there and watching it 20 or so years later there's it still holds up as a good look into perhaps the most popular period of professional wrestling in America. When I first saw it back in 1999 or 2000 I enjoyed the behind the scenes look we were given into stuff like how WWF put shows together or gave people try-outs and the goofy stuff that became wrestling memes in the late 90s ("HE'S GONNA PUKE!!!!" and "I'm not booked Terry,") but watching it now the stuff that was more engaging was the human aspect of it, in particular how the three primary focal points treated fatherhood.
On the one hand you had a guys like Mick Foley and Terry Funk who both came across as good fathers that were involved with their kids. Foley especially seemed like a genuinely good dude who in the documentary wrestled with the effect him wrestling in bloody brawls was going to have on his children going so far as to declaring that maybe he wasn't as good a father as he thought he was when he saw footage of his kids crying during one of his matches.
On the opposite end of the spectrum was a guy like Jake Roberts who never really saw his kids and in the postscript to the movie is said to have spent time in jail for not paying child-support, though it's hard to blame him entirely for his poor parenting skills if the stories he tells of his own father in this film are even partially true. All in all this is a good documentary if you like wrestling, dads, stories about broken people, people dreaming of making it big, weirdos, and/or performative violence.
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Jul 26, 2020 21:08:00 GMT -5
Isolation week 19 movies
My Left Foot Always been a bit curious about this one. It's easy to see why Lewis won the Oscar, there's such a physicality to this that puts Dustin Hoffman in Rainman to shame. After reading Breihan's AVC article on the latter, I have to wonder how the comparable community feels about this. To my mind there's no comparison - this movie is all about humanizing Christy Brown, even making him look like kind of an asshole. His drunken beratement of the therapist at the restaurant is something else. The mother really is the soul of the movie, and it is genuinely heartwarming to see Christy interact with his family. Even if they are from the Irish version of the Third World.
Guns Akimbo What 14-year-old wrote this? It's not bad, exactly; it's just what it promises to be. Some movie exec pitched, "Picture an XTREME actioner for the internet age! Yeah, like all the others, except this one stars Harry Potter!" And the result was this amalgam of Wanted (ugh), Ready Player One (meh), the Crank franchise, and I don't know, maybe Hardcore Henry? Samara Weaving of Ready or Not returns to give her best Kate McKinnon impression. Anyway Daniel Radcliffe can do whatever project he feels like, and everyone gets in a silly mood sometimes. I wonder if it's an intentional joke that his voiceover sounds so much like Jesse Eisenberg.
First Blood A real cultural touchstone that looks like a generic actioner until you know a little history. For example, I had to explain to Wifemate why Brian Dennehy would warn against Rambo being seen with a flag patch on his jacket. Technically the first time I saw this would have been around 4 years old, when the babysitter's college-aged son would watch inappropriate movies during naptime (I have distinct memories that I later learned came from this, Aliens, and Fright Night; in this case it's the scarecrow line). Jerkwater, USA over here sure does have a lot of automatic rifles for being a "quiet little town". I wonder how ridiculous their armory was for 1981, considering how it's not shocking with today's militarized police. I don't know when armed forces members got to be lionized (though not actually supported) by Conservative politicians the way they have been for my adult life, but I can't help but feel that it started with post-Vietnam movies like this. Somewhere some movie exec has or soon will pitch the idea of remaking this movie pretty much exactly the same but with Michael B. Jordan, who has/will reject it as being too obvious. Besides, it would work better if said black dude wasn't a super-soldier but just a regular black dude. Harriet Wifemate and I actually went to Dorchester County on Maryland's eastern shore last weekend to see the comet, but of course the Tubman museum was closed like everything else. This was an okay biopic that fell short of all the cool things Harriet Tubman actually did, plus changing some things. The weirdest choice was having her sideswipe Frederick Douglass (credited but not named, and come on, the hair) for having been free too long to remember the pains of slavery, something I do not see historically supported at all. Mainly the movie goes wrong by taking a strongly devout woman with a history of episodes she attributed to the religious and turning her into an apparent God psychic. Whereas the real Tubman had many clever practical strategies that don't get shown, we get Harriet having a moment and then changing the direction to run because God told her. She also foretells someone's death in the Civil War. In my opinion this diminishes her real accomplishments. The movie sure makes the whites look stupid. I barely believe the mistaken-sex thing in Shakespeare, it seems even more unlikely here - these crackers who care about nothing so much as race can't tell a light-skinned part-black girl from a white man at least 20 years older? I knew of Jennifer Nettles 20 years ago as an Atlanta musician, her second career is apparently acting as racist white southern women. Also, Janelle Monae in period dress.
|
|
|
Post by Hachiman on Jul 26, 2020 23:41:57 GMT -5
All the Bright Places A Netflix YA-Adaptation starring Justice Smith and Elle Fanning. I actually thought it did a good job portraying what adolescent mental illness and childhood trauma look like as well as showing the piss poor resources available for addressing it. Justice Smith basically recycles most his character from Detective Pikachu where he also played some guy with obvious underlying emotional issues and no parents anywhere to be seen. As a romance, I actually bought Justice Smith and Elle Fanning as a couple too. They had a really natural chemistry.
Destiny: Kamakura Monogatari (A Tale of Kamakura) This movie takes place in Kamakura, a suburb of Tokyo that once served as the de-facto capital of Japan under the Kamakura Shogunate and is home to the large Buddha statue that you've probably seen in travel ads. A ton happened during the Kamakura-era but what's important for the story is that this is a very old city with a lot of history and superstition surrounding it. The Kamakura in the film functions as something similar to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter if they granted squatting rights to muggles that somehow found their way in. There's all sorts of creatures and spirits walking around and doing their thing without any of the normal humans really caring. There's some real Spirited Away vibes, if the bathhouse was located 45 minutes outside of Tokyo and wasn't a secret. The story focuses on a middle-aged writer and his new (and much younger) wife. The story acknowledges a 10 year difference but the actors are actually more than 20 years apart in age, with the actor for the wife still playing high school characters at this point in her career. It was kind of jarring, albeit not unusual since you do see these kind of couples here. For the most of its 2 hour running time, the movie plays as a slice-of-life story concerning the all the weird things encountered in this town, but then the movie changes gears about 30 minutes toward the end to be about a relatively short adventure going deeper into the spirit realm. Again, similar to Spirited Away. It wasn't bad and I might even watch it again, but it really needed some editing on the story level as there were some noticeable plotholes, slumps, and clear signs that the movie couldn't figure out what it wanted to be.
Oh Lucy! Another film I have been meaning to watch forever now. The film follows this middle-aged office worker named Setsuko, who takes on an alter-ego named Lucy for her English classes at a shady English School. The instructor, played by Josh Hartnett, has her wear a blonde wig and practice things like greeting her other classmate with a "What's up?", a high-five, and a hug. For Setsuko this kind of warm, candid interaction and escapism turned out to be something she really needed and she quickly fades into her new personality. Her teacher ends up abruptly quitting and moving back to America with Setsuko's niece. The niece was responsible for getting Setsuko into the class through something of a con where Setsuko agreed to take over her contract to the school while paying the remainder back to the niece as a refund. Setsuko and her extremely terrible sister then go to America to track down the niece and Josh Hartnett. It turns out that few things are what they seem and you can't just go starting a new life willy-nilly. It's a dark and often uncomfortable movie, but I found it both touching and extremely funny. It also is one of the few movies I can think of concerning Japanese-American relations that doesn't attempt to romanticize either side. If anything, the movie is about popping that bubble for either viewer and portraying both places in a more realistic light. The grayness of Tokyo easily overpowers what bright lights there are and the sun-bleached stripmalls of SoCal outweigh any American glitz one would hope for. There is also a strong theme of starting a new life and ideas about whether it is possible, a good idea at all, and whether there is a good way to go about it. Pretty much all the characters we meet begin to start or fail in their attempt at a new life. We never quite find out if it is truly possible. It might not be for everyone, but my wife and I discussed this one for hours and could identify various characters from the film (I, um, may have had several friends like Josh Hartnett's character who ran off home with their girlfriends and a poorly thought-out plan, usually to unsatisfactory ends).
|
|
|
Post by Lurky McLurk on Jul 27, 2020 4:43:46 GMT -5
Filled in a major gap this weekend with The Blues Brothers.
Hot take time: hey, you know what, The Blues Brothers is a really entertaining movie. And as it involves nazis and disproportionately violent overreaction by law enforcement officials, it's surprisingly relevant forty years later.
Even taking the dark glasses and black hat into account, Dan Aykroyd is unrecognisable. On the evidence of this and Sneakers, he should have done more dancing in movies.
|
|
|
Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Jul 27, 2020 6:32:41 GMT -5
Isolation week 19 movies
My Left Foot Always been a bit curious about this one. It's easy to see why Lewis won the Oscar, there's such a physicality to this that puts Dustin Hoffman in Rainman to shame. After reading Breihan's AVC article on the latter, I have to wonder how the comparable community feels about this. To my mind there's no comparison - this movie is all about humanizing Christy Brown, even making him look like kind of an asshole. His drunken beratement of the therapist at the restaurant is something else. The mother really is the soul of the movie, and it is genuinely heartwarming to see Christy interact with his family. Even if they are from the Irish version of the Third World.
Guns Akimbo What 14-year-old wrote this? It's not bad, exactly; it's just what it promises to be. Some movie exec pitched, "Picture an XTREME actioner for the internet age! Yeah, like all the others, except this one stars Harry Potter!" And the result was this amalgam of Wanted (ugh), Ready Player One (meh), the Crank franchise, and I don't know, maybe Hardcore Henry? Samara Weaving of Ready or Not returns to give her best Kate McKinnon impression. Anyway Daniel Radcliffe can do whatever project he feels like, and everyone gets in a silly mood sometimes. I wonder if it's an intentional joke that his voiceover sounds so much like Jesse Eisenberg.
First Blood A real cultural touchstone that looks like a generic actioner until you know a little history. For example, I had to explain to Wifemate why Brian Dennehy would warn against Rambo being seen with a flag patch on his jacket. Technically the first time I saw this would have been around 4 years old, when the babysitter's college-aged son would watch inappropriate movies during naptime (I have distinct memories that I later learned came from this, Aliens, and Fright Night; in this case it's the scarecrow line). Jerkwater, USA over here sure does have a lot of automatic rifles for being a "quiet little town". I wonder how ridiculous their armory was for 1981, considering how it's not shocking with today's militarized police. I don't know when armed forces members got to be lionized (though not actually supported) by Conservative politicians the way they have been for my adult life, but I can't help but feel that it started with post-Vietnam movies like this. Somewhere some movie exec has or soon will pitch the idea of remaking this movie pretty much exactly the same but with Michael B. Jordan, who has/will reject it as being too obvious. Besides, it would work better if said black dude wasn't a super-soldier but just a regular black dude. Harriet Wifemate and I actually went to Dorchester County on Maryland's eastern shore last weekend to see the comet, but of course the Tubman museum was closed like everything else. This was an okay biopic that fell short of all the cool things Harriet Tubman actually did, plus changing some things. The weirdest choice was having her sideswipe Frederick Douglass (credited but not named, and come on, the hair) for having been free too long to remember the pains of slavery, something I do not see historically supported at all. Mainly the movie goes wrong by taking a strongly devout woman with a history of episodes she attributed to the religious and turning her into an apparent God psychic. Whereas the real Tubman had many clever practical strategies that don't get shown, we get Harriet having a moment and then changing the direction to run because God told her. She also foretells someone's death in the Civil War. In my opinion this diminishes her real accomplishments. The movie sure makes the whites look stupid. I barely believe the mistaken-sex thing in Shakespeare, it seems even more unlikely here - these crackers who care about nothing so much as race can't tell a light-skinned part-black girl from a white man at least 20 years older? I knew of Jennifer Nettles 20 years ago as an Atlanta musician, her second career is apparently acting as racist white southern women. Also, Janelle Monae in period dress. The Tubman biopic sounds dreadful. Isn’t the villain of the film a black slave catcher who didn’t even exist in real life?
|
|
|
Post by The Sensational She-Hulk on Jul 27, 2020 8:25:08 GMT -5
The Old Guard was incredibly gay, super-violent, and had Charlize Theron in a tank top. Needless to say, I loved it and can't wait to watch it again.
|
|
LazBro
Prolific Poster
Posts: 10,181
|
Post by LazBro on Jul 27, 2020 11:06:51 GMT -5
Parasite is great. The first half as the family sets up their scheme is some of the most devilishly entertaining storytelling I've seen, and while of course you know it's going to go wrong somehow, I couldn't predict at all just where the story was headed after the reveal. This movie is nuts.
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Jul 27, 2020 12:02:51 GMT -5
Harriet Wifemate and I actually went to Dorchester County on Maryland's eastern shore last weekend to see the comet, but of course the Tubman museum was closed like everything else. This was an okay biopic that fell short of all the cool things Harriet Tubman actually did, plus changing some things. The weirdest choice was having her sideswipe Frederick Douglass (credited but not named, and come on, the hair) for having been free too long to remember the pains of slavery, something I do not see historically supported at all. Mainly the movie goes wrong by taking a strongly devout woman with a history of episodes she attributed to the religious and turning her into an apparent God psychic. Whereas the real Tubman had many clever practical strategies that don't get shown, we get Harriet having a moment and then changing the direction to run because God told her. She also foretells someone's death in the Civil War. In my opinion this diminishes her real accomplishments. The movie sure makes the whites look stupid. I barely believe the mistaken-sex thing in Shakespeare, it seems even more unlikely here - these crackers who care about nothing so much as race can't tell a light-skinned part-black girl from a white man at least 20 years older? I knew of Jennifer Nettles 20 years ago as an Atlanta musician, her second career is apparently acting as racist white southern women. Also, Janelle Monae in period dress. The Tubman biopic sounds dreadful. Isn’t the villain of the film a black slave catcher who didn’t even exist in real life? The black slave catcher is *a* villain who works with the the main villain, the son of her former owner, who looks like Haley Joel Osment if he had grown up skinny. It seems like the latter is the most significant fictionalization; movie-Tubman got her brain injury stepping in front of him instead of another slave who was trying to run.
The movie kind of takes pains to show that Harriet tried doing the things the "right" way, hiring a lawyer to advocate her legal freedom (true) and being formerly close to the family/eldest son (unsupported), before going on the run. The historical figure was always quite rebellious, which made her good at running. The son hints at this too, to be fair.
I wouldn't go all the way to dreadful. But it's a far cry from Twelve Years a Slave, and I wouldn't watch it again.
|
|
|
Post by Nudeviking on Jul 28, 2020 7:28:08 GMT -5
Predator (1987) - I'm not entirely certain how I've made it this far in my life without ever seeing this movie since this might be the single most on brand movie for me as it combines my love of boneheaded 80s action, boneheaded 80s slasher flicks with a dash of random sci-fi bullshit and a touch of catchphrase bellowing wrestlemen. This movie rules so much goddamn ass! 90,000,002 thumbs up!
|
|
|
Post by chalkdevil 😈 on Jul 28, 2020 8:56:03 GMT -5
Predator (1987) - I'm not entirely certain how I've made it this far in my life without ever seeing this movie since this might be the single most on brand movie for me as it combines my love of boneheaded 80s action, boneheaded 80s slasher flicks with a dash of random sci-fi bullshit and a touch of catchphrase bellowing wrestlemen. This movie rules so much goddamn ass! 90,000,002 thumbs up! "I'm too busy to bleed!" "Go to the helicopter!" Classics. I've got good news for you! Since you enjoyed this one so much, you have 5 sequels you can watch! I promise they aren't mostly terrible.
|
|
|
Post by nowimnothing on Jul 28, 2020 9:10:20 GMT -5
Predator (1987) - I'm not entirely certain how I've made it this far in my life without ever seeing this movie since this might be the single most on brand movie for me as it combines my love of boneheaded 80s action, boneheaded 80s slasher flicks with a dash of random sci-fi bullshit and a touch of catchphrase bellowing wrestlemen. This movie rules so much goddamn ass! 90,000,002 thumbs up! "I'm too busy to bleed!" "Go to the helicopter!" Classics. I've got good news for you! Since you enjoyed this one so much, you have 5 sequels you can watch! I promise they aren't mostly terrible. Damn, this made me think about Danny Glover in the sequel which I am afraid to revisit. Then that made me think about Lethal Weapon and how Murtaugh was "Too old for this shit." So I looked it up: while the character of Murtaugh was supposed to be 50 and planning to retire, Glover was only 40 during filming. This makes me feel very, very old.
|
|
|
Post by Nudeviking on Jul 28, 2020 9:17:05 GMT -5
Predator (1987) - I'm not entirely certain how I've made it this far in my life without ever seeing this movie since this might be the single most on brand movie for me as it combines my love of boneheaded 80s action, boneheaded 80s slasher flicks with a dash of random sci-fi bullshit and a touch of catchphrase bellowing wrestlemen. This movie rules so much goddamn ass! 90,000,002 thumbs up! "I'm too busy to bleed!" "Go to the helicopter!" Classics. I've got good news for you! Since you enjoyed this one so much, you have 5 sequels you can watch! I promise they aren't mostly terrible. Wasn’t it “GET TO DAH CHOPPAH!!” I might be wrong because I howled with laughter when Arnold delivered the line. That being said I was also confused how that guerrilla lady knew where the choppah was going to be.
|
|
|
Post by Ben Grimm on Jul 28, 2020 9:21:54 GMT -5
Predator (1987) - I'm not entirely certain how I've made it this far in my life without ever seeing this movie since this might be the single most on brand movie for me as it combines my love of boneheaded 80s action, boneheaded 80s slasher flicks with a dash of random sci-fi bullshit and a touch of catchphrase bellowing wrestlemen. This movie rules so much goddamn ass! 90,000,002 thumbs up! "I'm too busy to bleed!" "Go to the helicopter!" "You are one unattractive asshole."
|
|
|
Post by chalkdevil 😈 on Jul 28, 2020 9:39:10 GMT -5
"I'm too busy to bleed!" "Go to the helicopter!" Classics. I've got good news for you! Since you enjoyed this one so much, you have 5 sequels you can watch! I promise they aren't mostly terrible. Damn, this made me think about Danny Glover in the sequel which I am afraid to revisit. Then that made me think about Lethal Weapon and how Murtaugh was "Too old for this shit." So I looked it up: while the character of Murtaugh was supposed to be 50 and planning to retire, Glover was only 40 during filming. This makes me feel very, very old. I've also haven't seen Predator 2 for probably 25 years and then only on cable TV. I cannot rightly speak to it's quality. Is that way Danny Glover has seemed old for 30+ years? We're we lied to? Hell, I'm 39 now, definitely feel too old for this shit, and would welcome the opportunity to retire next year as long as no one plants a bomb on my toilet.
|
|
|
Post by Ben Grimm on Jul 28, 2020 10:00:06 GMT -5
Damn, this made me think about Danny Glover in the sequel which I am afraid to revisit. Then that made me think about Lethal Weapon and how Murtaugh was "Too old for this shit." So I looked it up: while the character of Murtaugh was supposed to be 50 and planning to retire, Glover was only 40 during filming. This makes me feel very, very old. I've also haven't seen Predator 2 for probably 25 years and then only on cable TV. I cannot rightly speak to it's quality. Is that way Danny Glover has seemed old for 30+ years? We're we lied to? Hell, I'm 39 now, definitely feel too old for this shit, and would welcome the opportunity to retire next year as long as no one plants a bomb on my toilet. You're roughly the same age Danny Glover was when he filmed Lethal Weapon.
|
|
|
Post by Dr. Rumak on Jul 28, 2020 11:04:32 GMT -5
Is that way Danny Glover has seemed old for 30+ years? We're we lied to? I mean, he's no Wilford Brimley, who was 49 when he filmed Cocoon.
|
|
|
Post by chalkdevil 😈 on Jul 28, 2020 11:41:23 GMT -5
Is that way Danny Glover has seemed old for 30+ years? We're we lied to? I mean, he's no Wilford Brimley, who was 49 when he filmed Cocoon. I find the Wilford Brimley Line twitter account to be very distressing. You can't tell me that Gwen Stefani is the same age as Brimley in Coccon and not expect me to come away pondering my own mortality. She's just a girl, dammit! That's all that you'll let her be!
|
|
|
Post by sarapen on Jul 28, 2020 15:36:30 GMT -5
Damn, this made me think about Danny Glover in the sequel which I am afraid to revisit. Then that made me think about Lethal Weapon and how Murtaugh was "Too old for this shit." So I looked it up: while the character of Murtaugh was supposed to be 50 and planning to retire, Glover was only 40 during filming. This makes me feel very, very old. I've also haven't seen Predator 2 for probably 25 years and then only on cable TV. I cannot rightly speak to it's quality. Is that way Danny Glover has seemed old for 30+ years? We're we lied to? Hell, I'm 39 now, definitely feel too old for this shit, and would welcome the opportunity to retire next year as long as no one plants a bomb on my toilet. It's nowhere near as good as the first one. I think the greatest impact it had was at the end when it was implied that Predators have been visiting Earth for centuries. This opened the door for all kinds of comic crossovers like Tarzan vs. Predator or Magnus: Robot Fighter vs. Predator (I recommend both of those miniseries by the way). Or Batman vs. Predator, that one was pretty good too.
|
|
|
Post by Nudeviking on Jul 28, 2020 21:08:21 GMT -5
Little Miss Sumo (2018) - Kon Hiyori is a woman fighting for gender equality via sumo wrestling in this short documentary. I thought the cinematography was great and the subject matter interesting but I wish there was a little more meat to it as the runtime is only 19 minutes.
|
|
|
Post by sarapen on Jul 29, 2020 17:39:51 GMT -5
36th Chamber of Shaolin. I’m not sure if it was the first “main character grows through combined physical/mental trials so he can properly do righteous acts” movie but it’s definitely the archetype. There’s less action-action than I thought there’d be, but concentrating the brute force at the beginning and a burst of different kinds of action in the end of the second and third act: in-monastery duels, passing on his Shaolin knowledge to the colorful locals, and taking back the village in the end. Just classic. But why does it always have to be the Manchus? I know why, but I know a bunch of them and they’re pretty cool. Just a weird personal thing for me I guess. There are still Manchus? I thought they'd almost been entirely assimilated into the wider Han culture?
|
|
|
Post by Nudeviking on Jul 30, 2020 1:34:27 GMT -5
36th Chamber of Shaolin. I’m not sure if it was the first “main character grows through combined physical/mental trials so he can properly do righteous acts” movie but it’s definitely the archetype. There’s less action-action than I thought there’d be, but concentrating the brute force at the beginning and a burst of different kinds of action in the end of the second and third act: in-monastery duels, passing on his Shaolin knowledge to the colorful locals, and taking back the village in the end. Just classic. But why does it always have to be the Manchus? I know why, but I know a bunch of them and they’re pretty cool. Just a weird personal thing for me I guess. The movie that answers the question "What would happen if the entire movie WAS the training montage!" As for the Machus I'm guessing it was because rag-tag heroes against an evil empire of outsiders played well to local audiences in Hong Kong. It's the same reason Bruce Lee was always beating the shit out of Japanese guys in his Hong Kong flicks and there are films where opium dealers (but never actually British people) had to get kung-fu'd. I don't know of any 70s kung-fu flicks where rag-tag heroes had to battle the evil Mongolian Yuan Dynasty though I'm sure there are some out there.
|
|
Crash Test Dumbass
AV Clubber
ffc what now
Posts: 7,058
Gender (additional): mostly snacks
|
Post by Crash Test Dumbass on Jul 30, 2020 20:46:21 GMT -5
There are still Manchus? I thought they'd almost been entirely assimilated into the wider Han culture?
Totally assimilated (though when I lived in Beijing there was a bit of a revival in interest in the culture, tied to the fact that being demonstrably Manchu got you out of one-child), but I know people in the States who think of it as an ethnic identity (even a generation or two down, esp. Taiwanese-Americans I think) even if it has no real bearing on anything.
How does one demonstrate being Manchu? Rocking a sweet mustache? Sacking Beijing? Being the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful person anyone has ever known in their life?
|
|
|
Post by Nudeviking on Jul 31, 2020 2:31:29 GMT -5
Totally assimilated (though when I lived in Beijing there was a bit of a revival in interest in the culture, tied to the fact that being demonstrably Manchu got you out of one-child), but I know people in the States who think of it as an ethnic identity (even a generation or two down, esp. Taiwanese-Americans I think) even if it has no real bearing on anything.
How does one demonstrate being Manchu? Rocking a sweet mustache? Sacking Beijing? Being the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful person anyone has ever known in their life? Probably via family records. They're real big on family records here in Asia. Surnames probably pay a factor in it as well since those are also a thing that people in this neck of the woods keep track of (ie: Where did this name originate from geographically? Does it tie to some other clan? Etc.). Like there are a couple surnames here in Korea that if you have them someone in your past came from mainland China. There's one that's like that but with Japan too. I'm assuming it's similar in China and there are some surnames in China that people would see and be like "Oh they're Manchurian."
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Aug 2, 2020 19:24:45 GMT -5
Isolation week 20 movies - note, first break in isolation: we spent 3 hours today in the backyard of a friend sitting 10 feet away on the opposite side of a kiddie pool drinking beer. Have to call this thread something else now.
A Prairie Home Companion Altman's final movie. It is entirely a product of Garrison Keillor, who I was always a big fan of; I've read most of his books and listened to the radio show for years. I meant to see this at the Chapel Hill arthouse when it was new, but it was grad school and I was busy. This movie from 2006 marked the real high water mark of the radio show, but it's actually a rather poor representation. A couple of Keillor's characters get personified by Hollywood actors (and it's quite the ensemble), and it's nice to see the actors and musicians on-screen after knowing their names by heart. But the "News from Lake Wobegon" monologue that was the highlight of the show doesn't appear (it would grind any movie to a halt) or get a mention; the fake old-timey ads are piled on thicker which makes them more corny than charming; the filmed show is more repetitive and loose even than the downhill years; Meryl Streep's singing sisters act plays like a parody of the musical acts the show featured. Virginia Madsen's angel of death is just plain weird to include. I note that Keillor's on-screen feelings about endings are consistent with the opinions he expressed when handing the show off to Chris Thile. And the most unfortunate thing is that the real show didn't follow the movie's ending and continued for another ten years of declining quality, until the hand-off and then Keillor getting caught up in MeToo for copping a feel or something. In short, you can go on prairiehome.org and listen to a recording of any episode from 1996-2006 (and surely earlier) and it will be much better with an equal runtime. Hustle You wouldn't know it if you skipped the description and read only this terrible title, but this is actually a gender-flipped remake of the delightful Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with Anne Hathaway in the part of Michael Caine and Rebel Wilson in the part of Steve Martin. And I don't mean "inspired by", I mean an almost perfect beat-for-beat remake. Nevertheless it's actually quite good and tells almost entirely its own jokes plus a couple other twists and contemporary updates. There are only a couple oddities, like the illogical flash-forward and the way Rebel Wilson keeps implying that Anne Hathaway is getting old despite the latter being 3 years younger (and objectively hotter than 1988 Michael Caine). The premise of Annetimothy s Hathaway's cons as explained rely on men thinking they are smarter than women, which makes a lot more sense than Ocean's 8 relying on the invisibility of women (smart except that the thieves look like beautiful starlets not even transformed into Hollywood-ugly). Timothy Simons in the Timothy Simons roll. Solid laugh from the three club ladies being credited as "Chloe, Shiraz, and Other Chloe".
The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford This one has been on my to-do list for a long time. Return of the Thin Olive Duke was right, 2007 was a helluva year for movies. Casey Affleck is perfectly cast in this, continuing his type from Good Will Hunting and the Ocean's franchise as a joke loser who wants to be somebody respected. It was right for him to be nominated by the Academy, although he's at least as much the lead of the movie as Brad Pitt is. Pitt is even better as the unstable, charismatic, and terrifying gang leader. Had it been made 70 years earlier Jesse James would have been played by James Cagney and no one would be able to remember who played Robert Ford, plus the movie would have been an hour shorter. Speaking of which, the music (50% by Nick Cave, nice) sounds just like the cuts TCM plays while showing what's on next. Pretty well-stacked cast, including Sam Rockwell who is always good as a hangdog. James Carville as governor of Missourah! Ever read about Jesse James? He was pretty terrible and actually didn't do any of the things that made him seem heroic, unless you're a Confederate sympathizer.
|
|
|
Post by Desert Dweller on Aug 3, 2020 0:51:13 GMT -5
The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford This one has been on my to-do list for a long time. Return of the Thin Olive Duke was right, 2007 was a helluva year for movies. Casey Affleck is perfectly cast in this, continuing his type from Good Will Hunting and the Ocean's franchise as a joke loser who wants to be somebody respected. It was right for him to be nominated by the Academy, although he's at least as much the lead of the movie as Brad Pitt is. Pitt is even better as the unstable, charismatic, and terrifying gang leader. Had it been made 70 years earlier Jesse James would have been played by James Cagney and no one would be able to remember who played Robert Ford, plus the movie would have been an hour shorter. Speaking of which, the music (50% by Nick Cave, nice) sounds just like the cuts TCM plays while showing what's on next. Pretty well-stacked cast, including Sam Rockwell who is always good as a hangdog. James Carville as governor of Missourah! Ever read about Jesse James? He was pretty terrible and actually didn't do any of the things that made him seem heroic, unless you're a Confederate sympathizer. This is an INCREDIBLE film. Casey Affleck was the Lead and should have been nominated in Lead Actor. Silly studio, playing games trying to score him a nomination. He was well deserving of a nomination for that. Great performance. Brad Pitt is also excellent, as you say.
This may be my favorite cinematography of Roger Deakins. So, so, so great.
|
|
|
Post by Mrs David Tennant on Aug 3, 2020 9:05:14 GMT -5
I watched a couple of movies this weekend. The Witches - so scary! I don't know who the intended audience was, because that would freak out most children. And another one which I'll have to come back to because I can't remember it right now.
|
|
|
Post by chalkdevil 😈 on Aug 3, 2020 9:48:43 GMT -5
I watched a couple of movies this weekend. The Witches - so scary! I don't know who the intended audience was, because that would freak out most children. And another one which I'll have to come back to because I can't remember it right now. As a 9 year old who saw The Witches in the theater, I can confirm that it did indeed freak out most children, but kids movies used to be scary. Anyway, I still kind of loved it and still do.
|
|
|
Post by chalkdevil 😈 on Aug 3, 2020 10:03:54 GMT -5
The Old Guard - Charlize Theron leads an immortal, Wolverine-powered mercenary squad but Dudley Dursley is a pharma bro trying to capture them to steal the secret to long life. This was surprisingly introspective and melancholy. Lots of time actually spent reflecting on immortality and what that would actually mean. Plus interspersed with some pretty decent action scenes wherein Theron kills people with a battle ax.
Galaxy Quest - I mean, it's Galaxy Quest. It's great.
|
|
|
Post by Mrs David Tennant on Aug 3, 2020 14:54:48 GMT -5
I remembered the other movie I watched - The Never-Ending Story. Haven't watched this one in a while, and I wasn't too crazy about it this time. I mean, it was okay but nothing special.
|
|
|
Post by Albert Fish Taco on Aug 4, 2020 13:29:01 GMT -5
How does one demonstrate being Manchu? Rocking a sweet mustache? Sacking Beijing? Being the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful person anyone has ever known in their life? Probably via family records. They're real big on family records here in Asia. Surnames probably pay a factor in it as well since those are also a thing that people in this neck of the woods keep track of (ie: Where did this name originate from geographically? Does it tie to some other clan? Etc.). Like there are a couple surnames here in Korea that if you have them someone in your past came from mainland China. There's one that's like that but with Japan too. I'm assuming it's similar in China and there are some surnames in China that people would see and be like "Oh they're Manchurian." My Dad worked with a Manchurian. His family’s last name meant stone. They changed it to the Mandarin word for stone, and they anglicized it to Stone when they fled China after 1949. Apparently everyone else in Flushing could tell they were Manchu anyway, and held it against them.
|
|