The Movie (and TV show) Watching Thread

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

For schedule reasons, I have actually haven't seen that much of TV or movies. That said, @Dule, Great Escape is amazing and it's nice to run into folks who appreciate it, given that no one in my current friend group seems to be in touch with postwar classics--one of the problems of hegemonic 80s nostalgia (which I do love).

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Watched The Beach Bum, written/directed by Harmony Korine and starring Matthew McConaughey.

Fairly enjoyable and funny, and has me yearning to leave the material world behind for some form of Bohemian couch surfing and maybe the tropics. Too bad I've nothing to write about. Def. gotta get a typewriter.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Some more films I've been watching:

Charade: Great mystery/thriller with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. The plot twists are genuinely unpredictable, and even when you think you've gotten the story straightened out at the end it presents you with one last genius reversal of your expectations. This movie is a masterclass on how to write witty, funny dialogue without resorting to cheap pop culture references or self-congratulatory humor. As a result, it has aged like a fine wine. I think it might belong on my 100 favorite films list. I do wish I could find a copy with decent sound and video quality, though.

"Charade" is absolutely charming, and I watched it relatively recently (within the last year). Although it seems to be listed as a "romantic comedy", I remembered it from my childhood as a straight-up "spy" film with, as you said, some ingenious twists.

Patton: A fantastic character study, in a way that war films seldom are. I watched this for Memorial Day, and despite a handful of overlong battle sequences (I suppose they had to get the bang for their budget on this one), it is as entertaining as the first time I watched it. George C Scott gives a tremendously layered performance, portraying a man forced to confine his enormous personality to an intolerably small role in history. His ramblings on honor, military history, and reincarnation are poetic (in a brutal, uncomfortable sort of way). The film is just critical enough of Patton to make the audience wonder about the value of such men in the modern world-- do we still need Alexanders, Caesars, or William the Conquerors today? If not, are we free to judge them based on the morality of today, or do we have no right to criticize those who lived in much harsher times than we do? This movie always makes me think, and for that, I think it ranks among the greatest war films of all time.

This definitely should go on my rewatch list, haven't seen it in years. My family got it on that classic two-VHS set you find at flea markets.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

So my brother is a cinephile (or, perhaps more accurately, "kinophile") and since restrictions have eased we've been watching a few movies here and there, maybe one every week or so.

Uncut Gems
Tonight's watch. I am in absolute awe. The movie starts out very awkwardly, primarily because of the nonstop pace of conversation, but mostly because of the strange sound-mixing in the first few scenes. It is very hard to discern what is being said and we had to adjust the volume. I don't know if this problem disappears later, or if the movie draws you in enough for it to just be part of the package. What is so magnetic about the movie is that our protagonist is an on-paper despicable man who we are nevertheless compelled to root for as he embarks on an incessant ride through stress-filled situation after stress-filled situation. In each scene in a way that can probably only be compared to a horror film, you are on the edge of your seat, jittering, wanting to scream, swinging at the air. Added to this is the possibility that the man's entire social circle is either unreliable or outright dislikes him. As someone who despises real life awkwardness, my heart was pounding watching this absolute madman somehow walk himself into one terrible situation after another, all the while caught in a revolving circle of robbing Peter to pay Paul. And just when you think the movie should hit its resolution, you are thrown into another half hour of inescapable drama. Meanwhile, the soundtrack--reminiscent of Vangelis' Bladerunner work or anything by Tangerine Dream--is at once alienating and glorious.

The Lighthouse
Overall good, but I can't say I "got" it in terms of the ending. As I write this, I have told my brother only minutes ago (right before he left my house) "How could I have known Uncut Gems would f#ck me up more than The Lighthouse?" Writing the review at this time does not seem fair. Nevertheless: solid performances by our two costars, and definitely looking forward to what Robert Pattinson can bring to future roles. My favorite feature would have to be the tendency of Defoe's character to lapse into ocean-inspired verse at the drop of a hat. Nevertheless, I'm not sure that viewers are supposed to walk away with anything more than an "Oh, that happened."

Dune
As I was a yuge fan of Bladerunner 2049, I was excited to see that Dennis Villenueve is doing the 2020 release of Dune. This inspired me to read the book, so that I would be prepared for the movie when it hopefully comes out later this year. The night after I finished the book I made sure to catch the 1984 movie. Terrible special effects (even for the time), and they crammed 2/3 of the book into about 1/3 of the movie. Those two things a given, a fantastic ride for any reader of the book to see this thing in film. My two other friends who have read Dune and seen the movie have the exact same review--great film with about a million caveats--which is to say that it's much better than I expected. Anyone watching this without reading the book first is doing themselves a disservice. "Usul! We have more wormsign than even God has ever seen!" I hope I say those words on my deathbed because they are delivered fantastically. And let's not forget the bombastic portrayal of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen by Kenneth McMillan. I also want to say that despite the film's special effects being far from great even for the 1980s, Lynch embarked on an incredibly ambitious undertaking in bothering to five form to things that are scarcely at all describe in the books, right down to the Hellscape that is his portrayal of Geidi Prime.

Blue Velvet
As you may guess from above, I've been on a Lynch kick. It comes both from reading Dune and from subsequently getting into Twin Peaks. My film prof was a yuge fan of this movie. I don't totally get it, I'll admit. Probably not the type of thing I'll rewatch, and in some ways veering into male fantasy where Kyle MacLachlan's character can have his cake and eat it too, so to speak.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The Lighthouse
Overall good, but I can't say I "got" it in terms of the ending. As I write this, I have told my brother only minutes ago (right before he left my house) "How could I have known Uncut Gems would f#ck me up more than The Lighthouse?" Writing the review at this time does not seem fair. Nevertheless: solid performances by our two costars, and definitely looking forward to what Robert Pattinson can bring to future roles. My favorite feature would have to be the tendency of Defoe's character to lapse into ocean-inspired verse at the drop of a hat. Nevertheless, I'm not sure that viewers are supposed to walk away with anything more than an "Oh, that happened."

I found some interesting thoughts online. It makes more sense if you view the film as a Prometheus-esque Greek/Roman god ancient story. Another interesting opinion piece I read online said the message if the movie was about the futility and the lie of the American Dream, specifically on regards to labour and heirarchy, implying that the film's message is socialist and/or Marxist.

I can definitely see someone getting a "master-slave dialectic" from it.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I'm a big David Lynch fan too, and of weird-ass surreal films in general (like 'The Lighthouse') but have you seen 'Mulholland Drive?' That's my favorite film of his and I'm curious how you'd feel about it since you seem to be trying to interpret these films. I love it, and I don't even get it, but I think a large part of Lynch's films is that they aren't really meant to be understood, he kind of makes his films for himself but at least makes them engaging enough for audiences too.

I would also recommend 'Under the Silver Lake.' It's from last year but it has a very Lynchian feel to it. I think it should still be on Amazon Prime. It's more understandable than most Lunch films, if you ask me, but still quite a bit on the abstract side.

Thanks for the suggestion. Mulholland Drive is actually on our list but as I recall must be purchased or rented, which has delayed our watching it. And I don't know if "interpret" is the right word--I'm mostly just trying to seem deep and to provide some "value added" rather than just copying and pasting the name of each movie I've seen. And never heard of Under the Silver Lake but I'll look into it!

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I've watched Howl's Moving Castle (2004) and Spirited Away (2001) with my sibling this past weekend.

How'd you like them?

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Guns Akimbo (2020), starring Daniel Radcliffe and the source of the infamous "guy holding guns wearing bathrobe and tiger slippers in the middle of NYC" photo. The movie's a blast and very much resembled Nerve, which I was and am a huge fan of. That said, there was obvious cheesiness and suspension of disbelief, but overall solid and hilarious. Not sure yet on whether I'd watch again in, say, six months (I've seen Nerve at least twice and would easily watch again), but leaning yes.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The most accurate comment I saw was that this movie does a good job making itself feel like it's a sequel to a movie we haven't seen.

A million times.

All in all--and I've only been out of the theater for a few hours now, so the high hasn't worm off--this film feels like one that got a lot of the beautiful missteps of earlier films "right".

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Compare, for example, the Riddler's rather grounded path to terroristic chaos when compared to the Heath Ledger Joker's deus ex machina of sourceless and undirected rage.

It also feels like the most "mature" Batman film insofar as

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it calls on Bruce and the audience to actively question Batman's initial mission and "muh dark Batman"--the penultimate scene is one of Batman, instead of beating the crap out of people, performimg disaster relief work!

Agree on Alfred.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I went to see The Batrman. Boy, was that intense. Compared to The Batman The Dark Knight is lighthearted comedy and Christian Bale's Batman a cheerful fellow with a positive attitude. Pretty good movie, albeit a tad long. A little trimming was required.

This is literally what Nolan's Batman is on the grand scale of Batmen, just because it's "grounded and realistic and philosophical" doesn't mean it's dark and edgy.

Hopefully it's not as bloated as those Nolan movies were.

#BurtonOrBust.

The new movie pays palpable homage to Burton.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

IDK why people are hating on this new Velma show. I never felt represented on TV until Fred.

I only watched the first two episodes. I felt I should at least see what everyone was hating on before hating on it myself. It didn't seem... good by any stretch. But it seemed like there was a nugget of something that was entirely overlooked by the haters. By the end of episode 2, it seems like the show is about a protagonist who had habitually attributed everything she didn't like to race and class and sex, and was realizing that this wasn't actually the case. Did the show abandon this for cheap attempts at jokes and lazy ideologizing?

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I should also note that my conflict with my own bladder was superior to Oppenheimer's conflict with Strauss.

Many such cases.

How do you deal with this during three-hour movie shows?

Usually, I just pause the movie and go pee, but that's because I don't usually go to movie theaters.

It's very resourceful.

I think cinema owners should do an intermission in the middle of movies of two hours or more.

Anything less is disrespect to filmgoers.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Enjoyed Fallout more than I expected, despite the abject cheesiness and (apparent) low special effects budget. The rumors of complaints from the right I'd heard about seem poorly founded, though the series has a very present anti-corporate (anti-capitalist, even) message in the second half. One is led to think that the primary thing that certain people disliked was the presence of non-white characters. The first few episodes on their own were actually amusingly right-wing--apparently poorer outsiders are shown to be an existential threat to [civilization], and those who would seek the barbarians' rehabilitation are fools.