Movies Thread

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With so many slots and categories, half of Hollywood gets nominated for GG’s.

But still glad to see Sentimental Value and One Battle with good early momentum. My two favorites of the year so far.
 
I tried to watch this and couldn’t make more than 15 minutes. These fuckheads are insufferable and so far at least I refuse to believe this societal phase is inevitable. Armstrong really challenges you to stay with his despicable creatures and here I just couldn’t.
{ Mountainhead }

This reply is for Centerpiece as well. You could read the plot on Wiki and decide, but hi jinks and violence ensue, and I had a lot of fun watching these purely awful people have a nuclear meltdown of awful among each other. It's the same form and style of takedown of the hyper rich in Succession and In the Loop. Do the bad guys lose? They and we all do, which is truthful stuff, actually.
 
Finally watched Bugonia. It actually wasn’t as bad as I was braced for, in terms of creepy or weird. Or maybe Yorgos is just losing that effect on me. But I’d put Killing of a Sacred Deer ahead of this one on the creepy scale.

Plemons and Stone were very good, some good dark humor, and plenty of social and political commentary. But kinda like Eddington in that regard, it wasn’t saying anything in a way that compels much new thought or inspires action. And probably even lets conspiracy kooks off the hook a bit, too.

I give it a B-.
 
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Debut from Eva Victor, wrote/directed/starred in it. Nominated for GG Best Actress in a Drama. I guess she’s on Billions.

Really good funny little movie about big not so funny stuff. Loved the tone and the delicate touch. Very worthwhile, B+/A-.
 
but hi jinks and violence ensue, and I had a lot of fun watching these purely awful people have a nuclear meltdown of awful among each other. It's the same form and style of takedown of the hyper rich in Succession and In the Loop.
And in the interplanetary infighting of trillionaires in Alien Earth. Massive/mega/maga forces aligned agin one another, oh my. Same as it ever was. I think I commented not long ago on reading Thoreau's account of a battle between red and black ants. He portrayed it as an Attic tragedy: " In the meanwhile there came along a single red ant on the hillside of this valley, evidently full of excitement, who either had despatched his foe, or had not yet taken part in the battle; probably the latter, for he had lost none of his limbs; whose mother had charged him to return with his shield or upon it. Or perchance he was some Achilles, who had nourished his wrath apart, and had now come to avenge or rescue his Patroclus." Of course I'm not saying ants are awful, but maybe it's just in the nature of... life?.. to seek the wonton destruction of creatures similiar to oneself. Obviously there's a lot more to "the nature of life" than that, but that does seem to be a fairly consistent note...
 
But I’d put Killing of a Sacred Deer ahead of this one on the creepy scale.
Well if it gets much creepier than KoaSD, I don't need to see it. Although damn it, I liked that movie. Speaking of creepy, what was the movie where they were at some kinda Swiss alpine meadow summer solstice celebration and somebody got sewn up into a bear? That one got me, even though I can't recall the name. Sommer-something, I think...
 
Well if it gets much creepier than KoaSD, I don't need to see it. Although damn it, I liked that movie. Speaking of creepy, what was the movie where they were at some kinda Swiss alpine meadow summer solstice celebration and somebody got sewn up into a bear? That one got me, even though I can't recall the name. Sommer-something, I think...
Midsommar, Ari Aster. And he produced and helped develop Bugonia before Yorgos was even brought on.

But anyway I meant to convey that I didn’t find Bugonia as creepy as Sacred Deer. It’s creepy but with some dark humor to balance.
 
I am utterly fascinated by James Cameron and Avatar. I saw the first one in Nashville at a legit IMAX and was quite impressed with the visual effects. I still remember the experience to this day. But, I really don’t remember that much about the movie.

I didn’t see the sequel and really didn’t have that much interest for whatever reason.

I’m quite fascinated that they are the number one and number three highest grossing films of all time and you really don’t hear that much about them in popular culture. No lines repeated in public like Luke I am your father or life is like a box of chocolates. No kids running around, for the most part, with Pandora apparel and toys and what not.

All this to say, for whatever reason, I am going to go see Fire and Ash which is apparently getting incredible reviews. Once again, people say it’s one of the most incredible things they’ve ever seen and that James Cameron is a visionary.
 
I'm guilty of scorning Avatar, even though I've never seen it (them?). Nothing against Cameron, I rever T2 and also thought Titanic was aight. I was talking to a cinematically like-minded friend about Pan's Labyrinth, I said it had always given me an Avatar vibe (that's the scorn), he said oh no, not at all, and of course he was right. But he knew what I meant when I said I'd stayed away b/c I thought it had Avatar vibes. Now I feel like a racist against digitized blue oingo boingo Star Wars muppet puppets that I'm supposed to be agog over but never was...
 
Is it merely a combination of I and II or are there new scenes? Love it either way.

Was it on TV Sunday? While flipping the channels I saw part of II.
There's an additional animated scene that's much longer in this version - also the big fight with the crazy 88's is on color whereas in the original it was in black and white - I think the fight scenes are more gorey too

Also after the credits there's a completely new animated section that's kind of interesting although you could probably find it online
 
Has anyone mentioned or seen Train Dreams?
Since nobody responded, I'll just say this movie quietly blew my mind. Based on a novella by Denis Johnson, who also wrote the novella Jesus' Son, upon which a film was based that also quietly blew my mind in the 90's. I actually read that novella (JS) based on seeing the movie back then and will certainly be getting this one soon. If you ever saw Jesus' Son, you'll know what I'm talking about when I say quietly blew my mind, although thematically they are not really the same (I guess??), but the DNA is there.

There's just something about this sorta-known but quietly revered by those who do know kind of writers that captures the imagination. People who were doing these quiet works of unique genius but were either unknown or underknown (to various degrees) in their time. It's a long list: Melville (had fame early for his travel adventure novels, but was met with not much acclaim and sometimes outright scorn for his later works), Poe (ditto somewhat: he was a known writer in his day, but nothing like the later appreciation and fame he achieved), Nietzsche (so self-aware of the paucity of his readership in comparison with the magnitude of what he was producing that he quipped "some men are born posthumously"), Cormac McCarthy (certainly attained great acclaim later in life, but toiled for decades in relative obscurity, up to and including Blood Meridian).

Anyway, to make matters more interesting, my sister-in-law sent me a NYTimes article about Johnson a couple of weeks ago, it didn't register with me who he was when I read the title of the article, but I was intrigued enough to keep the tab open (which I rarely do, I'm weirdly fastidious about keeping as few tabs open as possible, on my phone, at least). Then I randomly (ha!) saw Train Dreams in the Netflix "you might like" queue, I glanced at the blurb and though, meh, why not? Such are the tenuous strands that lead us (and contribute) to our aesthetic bliss. Did I mention "highly recommended?"
 
Since nobody responded, I'll just say this movie quietly blew my mind. Based on a novella by Denis Johnson, who also wrote the novella Jesus' Son, upon which a film was based that also quietly blew my mind in the 90's. I actually read that novella (JS) based on seeing the movie back then and will certainly be getting this one soon. If you ever saw Jesus' Son, you'll know what I'm talking about when I say quietly blew my mind, although thematically they are not really the same (I guess??), but the DNA is there.

There's just something about this sorta-known but quietly revered by those who do know kind of writers that captures the imagination. People who were doing these quiet works of unique genius but were either unknown or underknown (to various degrees) in their time. It's a long list: Melville (had fame early for his travel adventure novels, but was met with not much acclaim and sometimes outright scorn for his later works), Poe (ditto somewhat: he was a known writer in his day, but nothing like the later appreciation and fame he achieved), Nietzsche (so self-aware of the paucity of his readership in comparison with the magnitude of what he was producing that he quipped "some men are born posthumously"), Cormac McCarthy (certainly attained great acclaim later in life, but toiled for decades in relative obscurity, up to and including Blood Meridian).

Anyway, to make matters more interesting, my sister-in-law sent me a NYTimes article about Johnson a couple of weeks ago, it didn't register with me who he was when I read the title of the article, but I was intrigued enough to keep the tab open (which I rarely do, I'm weirdly fastidious about keeping as few tabs open as possible, on my phone, at least). Then I randomly (ha!) saw Train Dreams in the Netflix "you might like" queue, I glanced at the blurb and though, meh, why not? Such are the tenuous strands that lead us (and contribute) to our aesthetic bliss. Did I mention "highly recommended?"
You need to look back in this thread.
 
Hmmm, I thought I searched for that title and didn't see anything?

ETA: Just searched again, the only three posts that come up when I typed in Train Dreams was my original post (from last night), my follow up post, and your reply. Odd. I thought I had been following this thread kinda/sorta diligently...
 
Hmmm, I thought I searched for that title and didn't see anything?

ETA: Just searched again, the only three posts that come up when I typed in Train Dreams was my original post (from last night), my follow up post, and your reply. Odd. I thought I had been following this thread kinda/sorta diligently...
On what looks like the last page to me, 27.
 
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