Random Movie Thoughts Thread

[The Cat]

Haven't seen it yet, and I see it has a hell of a cast -- it's on Hulu, so I will probably check it out. Mann is interesting, his Manhunter adaptation of Harris' "Red Dragon" did not really appeal to me, but I could probably watch Heat a few times a month without getting bored, I just love that film so much.


A New World was one of the few films I didn't see on Farrell's best of list, but hey it is Malick. I did actually see Horrible Bosses some years back, lol... don't remember much, just that it was kind of amusing.



I agree, I went in expecting more of a horror and it ended up being over the top enough to feel a bit like farce and is comedy-horror (horror only in the trappings? I didn't particularly ever feel scared, it's just dark murderous humor, lol!) The film itself is a bit thin (although perfectly great at what it does), but Fiennes there basically makes his nuanced performance look deceptively simple -- he's so great at the role he played that it just felt effortless, all while I am having trouble thinking of anyone else who could have done it so perfectly. he could shift nuanced directions on a dime and keeps the movie on the high wire through some pretty crazy plot points.

I am pretty fond of Taylor-Joy and Hoult too in general.

Heat is such a GOOD movie. The Miami Vice reboot was pretty spot on for the times. I dont think it would have been good if they tried to set it back in the 80s and tried to run it like the show...the neon was there, and that's the most important part of Miami Vice...that and Jan Hammer.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

lol I saw this movie in the theater. I mean I was like 10. I have seen it since and to consider The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton as the most obvious seasoned actors in which to play musicians with magical instruments had to happen in some cocaine/booze haze. But it was the 70's after all.

You mean drugs were involved? I don't believe it.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I dont know why, but Wes Anderson Films(with the exception of the fantastic mr fox) really leave me with a visceral feeling of wrongness. I feel like Im watching a profoundly unsettling psychological horror. Its a similar feeling I think to the unsettling feeling I get when checking out Jordan Peele's horror, except Jordan is honest with us about what kind of movie we're watching. By far the creepiest thing for me, is watching Wes Anderson movies with other people...because it feels like we're watching two different movies. I feel utterly alien when trying to discuss the films or why i keep getting anxiety attacks when i watch them. The Royal Tennenbaums feels like being in a hospital where everyone is bleeding from the eyes nose and ears but doesnt seem to notice, and the Life Aquatic feels like watching a movie in Purgatory somehow. Like if Im very quiet and still maybe it will move past me and I can escape. Its so bizzare, but literal physical fear responses...even typing this, my hands sweat and I feel skittish, like Bill Murray is rising slowly up behind me to give me clammy hugs and tell me that Hell is repetition.

Well what did you think of the French Dispatch and Grand Budapest Hotel? Same thing? I felt like those had more pathos.

 

[The Cat]

Well what did you think of the French Dispatch and Grand Budapest Hotel? Same thing? I felt like those had more pathos.

I'll have to check those out; to be clear i dont think its the writing or the acting... theyre well written and well acted tbh, the ones that bother me, they're very much well made movies. Like The craft is solid the writing is tight, these are things I would, I suspect, really enjoy as stage plays and would really enjoy working on...but something about the aesthetics is profoundly unsettling. The films look like an acid trip to me and...you know what its almost like they trigger sensory overload. For the most part the characters seem to live in a world I can't relate to, with the exception of FFMF.... I feel like a trespasser in their movies...

Royal tennebaums shouldnt have bothered me as much as it did aesthetically, I like pink, like A LOT. but something about the pink and the dalmation themes... in that film screams at my eyes and riles my sense of fashionable.

 

[The Cat]

You mean drugs were involved? I don't believe it.

maybe even a marijuana cigarette had been involved.

 

[Totenkindly]

Strange Days is actually on HBO Max currently -- which means it's probably the cleanest / largest version of the film available right now (esp on large TVs), even if the quality is only HD.

 

[The Cat]

Let's all take a moment to enjoy one of the more precient movies of the mid 90's...

 

[Totenkindly]

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I dont know why, but Wes Anderson Films(with the exception of the fantastic mr fox) really leave me with a visceral feeling of wrongness. I feel like Im watching a profoundly unsettling psychological horror. Its a similar feeling I think to the unsettling feeling I get when checking out Jordan Peele's horror, except Jordan is honest with us about what kind of movie we're watching. By far the creepiest thing for me, is watching Wes Anderson movies with other people...because it feels like we're watching two different movies. I feel utterly alien when trying to discuss the films or why i keep getting anxiety attacks when i watch them. The Royal Tennenbaums feels like being in a hospital where everyone is bleeding from the eyes nose and ears but doesnt seem to notice, and the Life Aquatic feels like watching a movie in Purgatory somehow. Like if Im very quiet and still maybe it will move past me and I can escape. Its so bizzare, but literal physical fear responses...even typing this, my hands sweat and I feel skittish, like Bill Murray is rising slowly up behind me to give me clammy hugs and tell me that Hell is repetition.

I had a similar conversation with my wife recently. The only Anderson film I really love is Bottle Rocket and maybe it’s because it’s the least Wes Andersonish of his films. Rushmore was alright but I have a hard time going back to that one. I do like Life Aquatic because it reminds me of being a kid and getting lost in books and movies about deep sea exploratIon—visually it reminds me of how my child brain imagined the underwater world might look

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I watched Imperium (2016). More relevant now than it was then. Daniel Radcliffe transitioned into a really great adult actor. I like the bait and switch where we’re sort of fooled in who the most dangerous villains really are, even if I did kind of see it coming. I like that the caricature compound skinheads weren’t the real danger, just a bunch of guys cosplaying revolutionaries. The really dangerous people are often right in our midst, blending. A lot of portrayals of white nationalists in film almost defang them by always showing them as almost cartoonish versions. So this was a refreshing but sobering take.

 

[ceecee]

I agree, I went in expecting more of a horror and it ended up being over the top enough to feel a bit like farce and is comedy-horror (horror only in the trappings? I didn't particularly ever feel scared, it's just dark murderous humor, lol!) The film itself is a bit thin (although perfectly great at what it does), but Fiennes there basically makes his nuanced performance look deceptively simple -- he's so great at the role he played that it just felt effortless, all while I am having trouble thinking of anyone else who could have done it so perfectly. he could shift nuanced directions on a dime and keeps the movie on the high wire through some pretty crazy plot points.

I am pretty fond of Taylor-Joy and Hoult too in general.

Yes I think it was more murderous humor (as opposed to dark humor or comedy). Naturally I will like anything where a villain basically says Eat The Rich as Chef Slowik pretty much does (which makes him less of a villain imo). Triangle of Sadness is much more a class and social construct satire, plus gross out humor and if that's what anyone is looking for - see it, it's great. Personally I hate those shows like Below Deck or anything with revolting rich people abusing lowly staff and staff abusing each other and I thought ToS may have been that going in but it's not.

 

[Totenkindly]

Yes I think it was more murderous humor (as opposed to dark humor or comedy). Naturally I will like anything where a villain basically says Eat The Rich as Chef Slowik pretty much does (which makes him less of a villain imo). Triangle of Sadness is much more a class and social construct satire, plus gross out humor and if that's what anyone is looking for - see it, it's great. Personally I hate those shows like Below Deck or anything with revolting rich people abusing lowly staff and staff abusing each other and I thought ToS may have been that going in but it's not.

thanks for the quick Summary. I've seen ToS touted and was considering whether to watch it at some point, so... on the list.

 

[The Cat]

I had a similar conversation with my wife recently. The only Anderson film I really love is Bottle Rocket and maybe it’s because it’s the least Wes Andersonish of his films. Rushmore was alright but I have a hard time going back to that one. I do like Life Aquatic because it reminds me of being a kid and getting lost in books and movies about deep sea exploratIon—visually it reminds me of how my child brain imagined the underwater world might look

What is is about the films that makes you feel weird?

 

[Totenkindly]

That's kind of fascinating to read the multiple responses to Wes Anderson films -- I have never experienced anything like that. my responses to his films runs from indifference (the Royal Tannebaums) to tender doting (Moonrise Kingdom) to pleasant wonder (Isle of Dogs). I still have not seen four of his films.

I find him distinctive and quirky and thus fascinating in that regard -- at least I'm not gonna see regurgitated pablum watching one of his films. But i usually don't have much desire to rewatch his films either, which is odd. I did just pick up Rushmore on Criterion over the winter sales and want to rewatch -- I have not seen it for at least 20 years (?).

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

What is is about the films that makes you feel weird?

They're often about mopey young men who feel like the world is against them, when really their lives don't seem particularly terrible; maybe it just hits a little too close to home for me. Hard to describe.

My sister used to compare me to Max Fischer from Rushmore, but I really never saw the similarity. But it's occurred to me how much I'm like a lot of male Wes Anderson characters, but not in a particularly flattering way. And the older I get, the more I'm afraid of becoming like the Bill Murray characters from Rushmore or Life Aquatic--sad old bastards with narcissistic tendencies who were once themselves young Max Fischer types.

A lot of Anderson's stuff seems very dark and nihilistic, but I think he hides it with cool soundtracks and bright scenery. Has a Kubrickian feel at times. I have to be in the right mood or mindset to watch a lot of Kubrick's stuff as well.

You compared it to Jordan Peele's horror. That's a good comparison. And yeah, at least with directors like Peele, PT (the other) Anderson, and maybe Tarantino (sort of), you more or less know exactly what you're heading into.

 

[ceecee]

They're often about mopey young men who feel like the world is against them, when really their lives don't seem particularly terrible; maybe it just hits a little too close to home for me. Hard to describe.

My sister used to compare me to Max Fischer from Rushmore, but I really never saw the similarity. But it's occurred to me how much I'm like a lot of male Wes Anderson characters, but not in a particularly flattering way. And the older I get, the more I'm afraid of becoming like the Bill Murray characters from Rushmore or Life Aquatic--sad old bastards with narcissistic tendencies who were once themselves young Max Fischer types.

A lot of Anderson's stuff seems very dark and nihilistic, but I think he hides it with cool soundtracks and bright scenery. Has a Kubrickian feel at times. I have to be in the right mood or mindset to watch a lot of Kubrick's stuff as well.

You compared it to Jordan Peele's horror. That's a good comparison. And yeah, at least with directors like Peele, PT (the other) Anderson, and maybe Tarantino (sort of), you more or less know exactly what you're heading into.

I agree with that. Paul Thomas Anderson movies are worth a conversation of their own.

I never saw Anderson's films as nihilistic although there certainly are characters that are nihilists. I see his movies as restrained and the acting is too. But perhaps Bill Murray in Life Aquatic may serve as a warning - hey don't be this guy.

In Moonlight Kingdom, I think Bruce Willis' character Capt. Sharp is even more of an argument against nihilism. And I think it is even better than his role in Unbreakable. He's sad and lonely but the only authority figure on the island. I don't see him as insecure either. He's empathetic and not hot headed like Sam's parents. The best part of his character is - he didn't have to validate anything Sam was feeling in regards to Suzie but he did. Just because Sam is a preteen doesn't make those feelings he has less real and Capt. Sharp is the only person that seems to understand this. It's great acting, I love this scene, it's so different than most of his roles. Makes what's happening to Bruce Willis even sadder.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I find Wes Anderson's movies life-affirming. I think it's because while he shows you tragedy or dysfunction, he also shows you moments of sublime beauty and whimsy.

 

[The Cat]

They're often about mopey young men who feel like the world is against them, when really their lives don't seem particularly terrible; maybe it just hits a little too close to home for me. Hard to describe.

Owen Wilson with a pipe haunts my dreams.

I find Wes Anderson's movies life-affirming. I think it's because while he shows you tragedy or dysfunction, he also shows you moments of sublime beauty and whimsy.

How so?

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Owen Wilson with a pipe haunts my dreams.


How so?

Well,the whole observatory sequence in Grand Budapest hotel for one. Or just the shots of the trains travelling across the landscape.

Or maybe Zeffereli on a rocketship headed towards space. It evoked something about being young and feeling so much more intensely.

I mean the reality is that, in the end we were never comets streaking towards infinity. That being said I think there's something about the fact that it's possible to feel that way or believe such a thing is possible makes the reality more endurable. Perhaps even beautiful.

A lot of the really beautiful sequences are wrapped up with the tragic elements. It's tragic, but not nihilistic somehow.

 

[Totenkindly]

Watched Tár today. Pretty excellent. Todd Fields has made three films in his career and garnered 6 Academy Award noms just for his parts of this films over those three (including noms for many of his top cast). He's really great at what he does.

Tar can't really be put in a box or be chalked up as supporting a particular view, it feels more like a psychological study of the eponymous character and interesting in how it reminds me more of foreign films I've watched made by folks like Olivier Assayas (than a typical American film) -- maybe the average movie-going audience in the US doesn't know quite how to parse them, as I've seen some less finessed takes on what the film is saying. I see it as exploring particular spaces, with the ultimate story still being about Lydia Tar, her strengths and flaws, the guilt that grows nibbling and then gnawing at the corners of her psyche, and then a reset of her life. She's both glorious and awful, and it's really also a review of how easily power can corrupt if someone allows the trappings of power to go to their head. So many small and large lies, so much opportunities practice self-indulgence while pretending to be beyond such things, viewing life as a series of transactions rather than commitment to other important individuals in one's life.

Blanchett does offer a powerful performance, there's no denying that.

It's sad to with so many falling from grace. Just reminded of James Levine (who I actually saw once at the Met, one of my dad's high school music students was principal bassoonist there for some years), who was associated with so much success and the pinnacle of concert music for so many years, but apparently also for whom there was talk behind the scenes for years of his abuses. In this world and so many others that have insular power, there's a culture where much is known, yet little is done until a kind of critical mass is reached.

I felt like the film also asked a bit of hard questions about identity politics, that are difficult and confusing to answer -- whether it's tied into systematic inequities or individual abuses. If a person who achieves admirable things ends up also being a dick (or even a monster), how does that impact the value of what they've provided? How much can the work be separated from the creator? This is still a relevant topic today. I think Fields has a strong approach in that he explores it but I don't feel like he is dictating an answer to that.