Random Movie Thoughts Thread

[Tomb1]

I recently saw City of God. I liked it a ton.

 

[Jaguar]

In The Year of Living Dangerously, Linda Hunt's performance as Billy Kwan is one of the more impressive I have seen. I recall the first time I saw it, I never knew Billy was played by a woman. I enjoyed the character immensely, but did not enjoy what happened to him in the end. She definitely deserved the Oscar she received.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I watched the Rifftrax of Godmonster of Indian Flats, and it's a much stranger movie than I thought it would be. It's like a fever dream and the monster barely even figures in; it's mostly about land ownership in a Nevada town. But there's a fake dog funeral, a lab assistant who seems to have Deanna Troi powers, random old-timey shootouts and horse chases (seriously, everyone dresses like it's the late 19th century... but I think that is a thing people do in more rural parts of the Western states; I 've seen that on occasion). I looked up the guy who made it and apparently he was an artist, which makes sense. It's kind of like a strange hippie take on a monster movie. I felt at times that the movie was grasping for some kind of artsy statement (what that is, I don't know; filmmaking was not his forte).

I was expecting a z-grade Night of the Lepus (which, absurd premise aside, is more competently made than this), but this felt more like somebody was trying to cross Easy Rider with Chinatown and a Bert I Gordon movie (very badly).

 

[Totenkindly]

"Boss Level" -- it is really a showcase for Frank Grillo and he does a decent enough job as the action lead. It's another time loop story but not one that takes itself very seriously. In fact, the best part of it is simply that it's pretty funny and doesn't overstay its welcome. I laughed at a lot of it.

there's a number of star cameos in it, primarily used to boost Grillo. I've seen complaints about Naomi Watts because the film isn't at all Bechdel friendly (which is true), but then again, Mel Gibson's part isn't very great either. Basically they were all there because you can throw these folks into a film without much directing or practice and they elevate the film and generate name recognition. Watts is a good case in point, she takes his role that anyone could have played and pretty much adds gravitas in her sleep to it.

I think the only action sequences that were noticeably under par were the sword-fighting/training sequences. it's clear Grillo doesn't know much about sword-play, and the relevant clips pretty much use lots and lots of edits to hide the fact (though not well). they also have Michelle Yeoh training him, and she's actually very talented in that regard, but they barely show anything with her either. Grillo is better at full-body stunts, brawling, and emulated gunplay, and that's what much of the film revolves around.

So Groundhog Day is kind of sentimental, and Palm Springs is about two quirky people falling kind of in love, and Edge of Tomorrow is more serious despite its humor, showing how a guy develops courage and battle smarts while also having a strong female co-lead in Emily Blunt. This is more junk food along the lines of Guns Akimbo (2019), but it's still funny and Grillo is likeable.

 

[Totenkindly]

"Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" -- finally got around to watching this. it's nicely lit and shot. Strong performances all around, but Boseman and Davis are just wonderful and have the meatiest parts in terms of dialogue.

Davis made me laugh as soon as she appears on screen; she is entirely terrifying without saying a word, just by how she carries herself; and the rest of the script after establishing this solidly helps to explain why she acts like this. It's one thing I enjoyed about the film; it isn't afraid to portray its leads in a mixed light (negative as well as positive), and then proceeding to provide backstory that illuminates their behavior.

Boseman is just great. It's sad at first because to me he looked very gaunt as the film opens and no doubt this was related to him being in the late stages of Stage 4 cancer, which few people knew about. But it doesn't appear in his acting. It is a very strong performance (emotionally AND physically), maybe fueled by the knowledge that this would likely be one of his last roles; he holds nothing back. Levee is a distinct character that will stick with me for a long time. What's interesting is that while the film does showcase the struggles of black people trying to exist within a white world of the 1920's, it focuses more on the internal struggles as each of them has distinct approaches to survival within that setting, which often puts them at odds even with each other. There's also the age differences, with the old-time "cool cat" session players negotiating sessions with the younger more ambitious man, coupled with an established powerhouse like Ma Rainey who is also a woman and how that pushes her to be far more like a mountain in regards to her demands for proper treatment. When you don't have much power, you have to leverage what power you do get or there is a strong possibility of being ground underfoot in situations where people don't share personal ties.

I wish Boseman had been around longer. He did a lot of TV work but his film work really only spans a decade, and probably 30-45% of it was related to the MCU (not a bad thing, he brought gravitas to the role of T'Challa); in everything I've seem him in, he makes characters spring to life and feel unique. He also isn't afraid to grapple with the complex and the uglier sides of being human.

 

[Jaguar]

.

Academy Awards:

Best Picture
Best Original Score
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Director
Best Cinematography
Best Production Design
Best Sound Mixing

All that but no Best Actress. Harumph.

 

[Totenkindly]

"Judas and the Black Messiah" -- same bullshit has continued for fifty years. Same exact bullshit. It's disheartening.

What's interesting to me is that Hampton was only 21 years old when he died. Most 21 year olds are still working in McDonald's nowadays or wondering what the hell they will do with their lives. It's also mind-boggling he was able within a year to find common ground and bring together three or more disparate Chicago groups together, at his age.

The film itself focuses more on O'Neal, the arm-twisted informant, who seemed ambivalent towards everything -- highly invested and actually more of a reactionary in his mole role, yet while simultaneously not feeling like he cared at all and setting up (most likely) the police raid. He committed suicide by traffic at age 41, the day his interview aired in a documentary. It sounds like he never got over his part in all this.

Film quality itself is decent. Nice cinematography. Decent acting.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

"Judas and the Black Messiah" -- same bullshit has continued for fifty years. Same exact bullshit. It's disheartening.

What's interesting to me is that Hampton was only 21 years old when he died. Most 21 year olds are still working in McDonald's nowadays or wondering what the hell they will do with their lives. It's also mind-boggling he was able within a year to find common ground and bring together three or more disparate Chicago groups together, at his age.

The film itself focuses more on O'Neal, the arm-twisted informant, who seemed ambivalent towards everything -- highly invested and actually more of a reactionary in his mole role, yet while simultaneously not feeling like he cared at all and setting up (most likely) the police raid. He committed suicide by traffic at age 41, the day his interview aired in a documentary. It sounds like he never got over his part in all this.

Film quality itself is decent. Nice cinematography. Decent acting.

This is definitely on my list of things to watch. I did watch a documentary about the Black Panthers recently, though.

 

[ceecee]

"Judas and the Black Messiah" -- same bullshit has continued for fifty years. Same exact bullshit. It's disheartening.

What's interesting to me is that Hampton was only 21 years old when he died. Most 21 year olds are still working in McDonald's nowadays or wondering what the hell they will do with their lives. It's also mind-boggling he was able within a year to find common ground and bring together three or more disparate Chicago groups together, at his age.

The film itself focuses more on O'Neal, the arm-twisted informant, who seemed ambivalent towards everything -- highly invested and actually more of a reactionary in his mole role, yet while simultaneously not feeling like he cared at all and setting up (most likely) the police raid. He committed suicide by traffic at age 41, the day his interview aired in a documentary. It sounds like he never got over his part in all this.

Film quality itself is decent. Nice cinematography. Decent acting.

Yes. I liked the movie but I think for so many people, even the way this time period is famed is warped. Reading the transcripts of the Chicago 7 trail vs watching the movie is a good option too. All of these historical events are very much of this moment, right now. Fred Hampton was an organizer of almost superhuman ability for the time. Of course assassinating him was the only option the establishment had.

 

[Jaguar]

Finally, a film up my alley.

 

[cascadeco]

"Judas and the Black Messiah" -- same bullshit has continued for fifty years. Same exact bullshit. It's disheartening.

What's interesting to me is that Hampton was only 21 years old when he died. Most 21 year olds are still working in McDonald's nowadays or wondering what the hell they will do with their lives. It's also mind-boggling he was able within a year to find common ground and bring together three or more disparate Chicago groups together, at his age.

The film itself focuses more on O'Neal, the arm-twisted informant, who seemed ambivalent towards everything -- highly invested and actually more of a reactionary in his mole role, yet while simultaneously not feeling like he cared at all and setting up (most likely) the police raid. He committed suicide by traffic at age 41, the day his interview aired in a documentary. It sounds like he never got over his part in all this.

Film quality itself is decent. Nice cinematography. Decent acting.

Now I know what I'm going to watch tonight!

 

[Patches]

I'm cranking through the Disney live action remakes en masse.

Beauty and the Beast is my favorite. Aladdin was much better than the curmudgeonly internet would have led me to believe. Dumbo was great, considering I always hated that cartoon one. Mulan was meh. There were no songs. I wanted songs. Maleficent/Maleficent 2 were great. Lion King was alright. Christopher Robin was cute.


Next up: Lady and the Tramp.

 

[Patches]

"Judas and the Black Messiah" -- same bullshit has continued for fifty years. Same exact bullshit. It's disheartening.

What's interesting to me is that Hampton was only 21 years old when he died. Most 21 year olds are still working in McDonald's nowadays or wondering what the hell they will do with their lives. It's also mind-boggling he was able within a year to find common ground and bring together three or more disparate Chicago groups together, at his age.

The film itself focuses more on O'Neal, the arm-twisted informant, who seemed ambivalent towards everything -- highly invested and actually more of a reactionary in his mole role, yet while simultaneously not feeling like he cared at all and setting up (most likely) the police raid. He committed suicide by traffic at age 41, the day his interview aired in a documentary. It sounds like he never got over his part in all this.

Film quality itself is decent. Nice cinematography. Decent acting.

Definitely putting this on my list. I recently listened to a podcast about Fred Hampton's life, then I watched Trial of the Chicago 7, which includes Fred Hampton as kind of a side story. Crazy that he was so young - he would have been mentioned in every conversation alongside influential leaders like Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X if he had led a full life.

 

[Totenkindly]

This is definitely on my list of things to watch. I did watch a documentary about the Black Panthers recently, though.

Now I know what I'm going to watch tonight!

Definitely putting this on my list. I recently listened to a podcast about Fred Hampton's life, then I watched Trial of the Chicago 7, which includes Fred Hampton as kind of a side story. Crazy that he was so young - he would have been mentioned in every conversation alongside influential leaders like Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X if he had led a full life.

It might be too late now, but I think it leaves HBO Max tonight at 2am or so. So if you guys want to see it free on that streaming service, you should start watching now. it's about 2:12 hours long.

"Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" is still on Netflix probably forever.

Yes. I liked the movie but I think for so many people, even the way this time period is famed is warped. Reading the transcripts of the Chicago 7 trail vs watching the movie is a good option too. All of these historical events are very much of this moment, right now. Fred Hampton was an organizer of almost superhuman ability for the time. Of course assassinating him was the only option the establishment had.

I suspected it would still find reflections in what was currently happening (since the movie is being made now) but it was disappointing and yet eye-opening to see. We don't know shit about our own history, which is one reason why we continue to relive it; Americans are so damn historically illiterate, aside from our broad vague ideas of what "patriotism" is. Not all of this problem is necessarily the individual, although a lot of us (and I include myself) don't push ourselves to dig through everything; some of it is systematic repression of knowledge by the power structures that disregard those details or don't really want them to be known. There is no reason I should have never heard of the Tulsa riots when I was coming through school. History is kind of a joke... and that's even the better textbooks, there are some states that promote alternate views of history that prevent this stuff from ever being dealt with. I am always amazed when I run across a new bit of history I had no idea about previously.

I'm not super-informed on the Chicago 7, I started watching the film and planned to get back to it, but hadn't. Also, there's the thing where these are dramatic tellings, so then I feel inclined to read about the history to correct any misperceptions I picked up in a dramatized film; the film more provides me with a direction to motivate further reading. But this is all something people have to work for, to inform ourselves. Until today I didn't even realize Hampton existed; now I'm kind of blown away. I also grew up in a locale where the Black Panthers were just spoken of poorly (and then by the time I reached adulthood, they had disbanded, so I went blithely on my way), but it was really interesting to me to see Hampton instituting all the free social help for people, like providing breakfast for kids.

 

[cascadeco]

It might be too late now, but I think it leaves HBO Max tonight at 2am or so. So if you guys want to see it free on that streaming service, you should start watching now. it's about 2:12 hours long.

"Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" is still on Netflix probably forever.



I suspected it would still find reflections in what was currently happening (since the movie is being made now) but it was disappointing and yet eye-opening to see. We don't know shit about our own history, which is one reason why we continue to relive it; Americans are so damn historically illiterate, aside from our broad vague ideas of what "patriotism" is. Not all of this problem is necessarily the individual, although a lot of us (and I include myself) don't push ourselves to dig through everything; some of it is systematic repression of knowledge by the power structures that disregard those details or don't really want them to be known. There is no reason I should have never heard of the Tulsa riots when I was coming through school. History is kind of a joke... and that's even the better textbooks, there are some states that promote alternate views of history that prevent this stuff from ever being dealt with. I am always amazed when I run across a new bit of history I had no idea about previously.

I'm not super-informed on the Chicago 7, I started watching the film and planned to get back to it, but hadn't. Also, there's the thing where these are dramatic tellings, so then I feel inclined to read about the history to correct any misperceptions I picked up in a dramatized film; the film more provides me with a direction to motivate further reading. But this is all something people have to work for, to inform ourselves. Until today I didn't even realize Hampton existed; now I'm kind of blown away. I also grew up in a locale where the Black Panthers were just spoken of poorly (and then by the time I reached adulthood, they had disbanded, so I went blithely on my way, but it was really interesting to me to see Hampton instituting all the free social help for people, like providing breakfast for kids.

I am so glad I stumbled across your post today as I'd seen the icon for the movie on HBOmax over the past week or so but not knowing anything about it/looking into it hadn't checked it out. Just finished it; really enjoyed it and now know a tiny bit about something I knew nothing about prior.

 

[cascadeco]

It might be too late now, but I think it leaves HBO Max tonight at 2am or so. So if you guys want to see it free on that streaming service, you should start watching now. it's about 2:12 hours long.

"Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" is still on Netflix probably forever.



I suspected it would still find reflections in what was currently happening (since the movie is being made now) but it was disappointing and yet eye-opening to see. We don't know shit about our own history, which is one reason why we continue to relive it; Americans are so damn historically illiterate, aside from our broad vague ideas of what "patriotism" is. Not all of this problem is necessarily the individual, although a lot of us (and I include myself) don't push ourselves to dig through everything; some of it is systematic repression of knowledge by the power structures that disregard those details or don't really want them to be known. There is no reason I should have never heard of the Tulsa riots when I was coming through school. History is kind of a joke... and that's even the better textbooks, there are some states that promote alternate views of history that prevent this stuff from ever being dealt with. I am always amazed when I run across a new bit of history I had no idea about previously.

I'm not super-informed on the Chicago 7, I started watching the film and planned to get back to it, but hadn't. Also, there's the thing where these are dramatic tellings, so then I feel inclined to read about the history to correct any misperceptions I picked up in a dramatized film; the film more provides me with a direction to motivate further reading. But this is all something people have to work for, to inform ourselves. Until today I didn't even realize Hampton existed; now I'm kind of blown away. I also grew up in a locale where the Black Panthers were just spoken of poorly (and then by the time I reached adulthood, they had disbanded, so I went blithely on my way, but it was really interesting to me to see Hampton instituting all the free social help for people, like providing breakfast for kids.

Well said.

 

[Totenkindly]

I'm cranking through the Disney live action remakes en masse.

Beauty and the Beast is my favorite. Aladdin was much better than the curmudgeonly internet would have led me to believe. Dumbo was great, considering I always hated that cartoon one. Mulan was meh. There were no songs. I wanted songs. Maleficent/Maleficent 2 were great. Lion King was alright. Christopher Robin was cute.


Next up: Lady and the Tramp.

I've pretty much disliked all of them, aside from The Jungle Book (which felt like it was telling its own story). Mulan was meh. I guess I'm happy you liked B&tB and Aladdin? I was totally bored by the first and really despise the Aladdin movie; Will Smith is totally fine and Jasmine sings well but was wasted, like... it was one of the worst things I've seen, I honestly preferring going to the dentist over that film. Maleficent only felt like half a movie, I quit M2 after five minutes because it seemed to be more of the same, and I never bothered with TLK because I heard it was a beat for beat of the animated film. Why do they do that -- copy the film, but with less verve and life than the original?

I've been toying with the idea of watching Dumbo. I still haven't summoned the courage. I guess I'll wait and see what you think about Lady & the Tramp?

Honestly, these movies generally all just feel like cash grabs. Let's make the same movie again (and often an inferior version), so then we can generate interest in both versions and make twice as much money.

I did not mind Mulan missing the music -- and there was some homage to the animated film music in the score if you listen for it -- but I think I commented else on the forum about it, Mulan was a different character and (I hate saying this) but it seemed to really depend on being "woke" more than writing a good story. There were seeds of a good story there, and I wish they had really dug into the witch a lot more. it reminded me of the failure of "A Wrinkle in Time," which had a great human cast (I wasn't much into the Three Witches casting) but just really depended on being this affirming woke tale rather than telling a really engrossing story. I was so bummed. I really wanted Mulan to work, and the trailer gave me hope. Even the sword play / action was fairly lame compared to similar fare actually made in Asia.

 

[Totenkindly]

I am so glad I stumbled across your post today as I'd seen the icon for the movie on HBOmax over the past week or so but not knowing anything about it/looking into it hadn't checked it out. Just finished it; really enjoyed it and now know a tiny bit about something I knew nothing about prior.

Yay! I'm glad you were able to see it.

 

[Tomb1]

Saw Inception. Shooting some of those scenes with 70 mm film was a perfect choice. Same Director who did Memento

 

[Totenkindly]

Saw Inception. Shooting some of those scenes with 70 mm film was a perfect choice. Same Director who did Memento

yup. And in general Nolan is a big proponent of film (rather than digital) shooting and pushes for cinematic experience.

His films usually look great on 4K when they're transferred to home media.