Movies Thread

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TarSpiel said:
I've been going on a western binge for the last couple of weeks...my goal is to watch all the movies in Rotten Tomatoes "Top 100 Westerns of All-Time" list.

Some early observations:

Unforgiven is really one of the best movies ever made...Gene Hackman's character is so compelling, and he plays it so damn well. Treasure of the Sierra Madre is my leading candidate so far for all time best western. Red River is a dark horse for all-time best...it's such an awesome movie.

Tuco in "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" has to be one of the greatest characters in cinema history. Whoever the actor was who played him deserves to have his jersey hung in the rafters.

"The Searchers" is such a pile of crap it's hard to know where to start. Awful movie, and it's a self-indictment of western society itself that it keeps getting put on everybody's all-time lists. In related news, John Wayne is a complete dumbass. The man just oozes charisma, but boy is he an empty suit.

Clint Eastwood does his "lip up" thing all the time, and it gets super annoying. He looks like a fish that just ate a fishook.

There is so much anti-native American bias in these films it's mind boggling. What makes it so much worse is that the one movie that actually tries to humanize them, Dances With Wolves, is almost always characterized as "Good movie..but it misrepresents the people it's trying to celebrate." That's just such bullcrap. How should Costner have represented them, like all the other movies as target practices for ignorant alcoholics like John Wayne?

Sergio Leone is a really, really good storyteller.
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Tuco was played by the great Eli Wallach. Tons of roles over the years including several other westerns (Magnificent Seven, How the West was Won, The Misfits....) and has a nice part in the the Holiday with Kate Winslet. He also did commercial voiceovers for Toyota trucks for years.
 
Saw "The Rider" last night. Really incredible movie.

I guess the director found some kid on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, Brady Jandreau, and even though the kid had no acting experience, she thought he could carry a lead in a movie. And boy did he. She also cast his dad, his sister, and a couple of his friends to play with him in the movie - none had any acting experience - and they all just nailed it.

Fantastic movie. And really a monumental work of art by director Chloe Zhao.

I guess none of them have done any acting since the movie was made in 2017. Brady still just operates his horse-training business. Amazing.
 
dukeman92 said:
I was just trying to name some movies that might not make most lists... But Once Upon a Time in the West is a really good one. Young Charles Bronson!
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The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford won’t make most lists.

Nor will McCabe and Mrs. Miller.
 
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Western, Greatest: The Oxbow Incident.

Hands down.


In a modern setting: Lonestar with second place to The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez.
 
The new Superman movie is getting pretty good reviews - looking forward to seeing it tonight - feel like it's been forever since we had a good superman movie
 
GoHeelsweeeehoooo said:
The new Superman movie is getting pretty good reviews - looking forward to seeing it tonight - feel like it's been forever since we had a good superman movie
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But do we need more superman movies, even if they are good? I don't even know what a good superman movie looks like. The character is absurd. As gamers would say, he's OP and needs to be nerfed or banned.

The problem with Superman is that he's too powerful to find himself in any kind of real danger, except perhaps at the hands of a super villain who would be completely ridiculous.

It's true that I'm generally not a fan of comic book movies. But I enjoyed the Dark Knight and the Dark Knight Rising. In part that's because Batman is very much not OP. He's got vulnerabilities -- indeed, we even see them addressed early on in the Dark Knight, and of course he's got a bum knee in Rising. He has great gadgets but even with them he can't just fly wherever he wants. He's mortal.
 
superrific said:
The problem with Superman is that he's too powerful to find himself in any kind of real danger, except perhaps at the hands of a super villain who would be completely ridiculous.
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There's an interview circulating with the actor who plays Supes in this iteration where he addresses this exact point - this only becomes a problem when you try to create a Superman movie that mirrors what we see in Spiderman and Batman, with memorable villains and life/world-threatening danger and a hero who is pressed into service against his will or want. Nobody cares about Superman's villains. The appeal of Superman is the appeal of Ted Lasso, essentially - we see this borderline omnipotent being (Ted isn't omnipotent, but he is the epitome of American privilege) who could easily think he's better than everybody else but a) still deals with extremely human interior troubles, and b) cares deeply about the lives and well-being of those around him, particularly the less fortunate.

eta: this article compiling some quotes about how and why this edition put the briefs back on Superman gets at the point. The frivolity and goofiness are what make Superman, given that nigh-invulnerability - making him cool and in the style of the contemporary superhero movie would be missing the point. How Superman actor David Corenswet convinced James Gunn to go with trunks

I'm not a comic books guy, but it was really refreshing to see this subject approached with an actual understanding of character, and I'm rooting for this movie to be good and do well.
 
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Oddball said:
Eli Wallach also played a very old (but still bad) mob boss in Godfather 3.

Surprised no mention of Stagecoach (1939 version) yet. Pretty foundational for the genre...
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I thought it was pretty good.

I don't think it comes within a half a mile of Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Red River, or Unforgiven...but still a good movie. I guess it was John Wayne's breakout role.
 
Friendship was dark and had some lulls but when it hits it hits. Had me crying laughing a few times.

If you’re a Tim Robinson fan you’ll definitely like it.
 
donbosco said:
Western, Greatest: The Oxbow Incident.

Hands down.


In a modern setting: Lonestar with second place to The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez.
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For Lonestar, are you talking about the John Sayles directed movie? Because that is a phenomenal flick - he is such a good director and I am going to make a separate post about Matewan, which is one of my favorite movies ever.
 
This is an old one, but the movie Matewan (1987), directed by John Sayles is one of my favorite ever.

A rich saga about the coal wars in West Virginia in the 1920s. It has an incredibly strong cast. And a really good script.

I had direct relatives who died in a mine explosion in 1932, so it rings very true for me.
 
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