Random Movie Thoughts Thread

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I don't care about the negative press. I'm seeing this. I think I was going to see it even before the trailer.

 

[Red Herring]

I don't care about the negative press. I'm seeing this. I think I was going to see it even before the trailer.

That's the two hour treatise on the socio-political aspects of urban planning and the dangers of populism disguised as a futuristic neo-Cecil-de-Mille Catiline conspiracy drama I heard about earlier today, right? The one Coppola had in the works for decades?

Quo usque tandem abutere, Francis, patientia nostra?

 

[Totenkindly]

What she said

 

[The Cat]

When indeed...

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

That's the two hour treatise on the socio-political aspects of urban planning and the dangers of populism disguised as a futuristic neo-Cecil-de-Mille Catiline conspiracy drama I heard about earlier today, right? The one Coppola had in the works for decades?

Quo usque tandem abutere, Francis, patientia nostra?

Yes. It's entirely possible the negative attention could in fact be that it's actually very good. At any rate, I need to see for myself with this one, even if it does turn out to be terrible.

 

[Totenkindly]

 

[The Cat]

View attachment 30625

Either that or all DJ's are villainous servants of unhallowed darkness.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Either that or all DJ's are villainous servants of unhallowed darkness.

I think DJs are wizards, well-learned in ancient lore from cracked and forgotten tomes.

 

[Totenkindly]

Dammit. I came into this pretty steely and cynical and ended up crying by the end, because it's hitting a lot of the right story beats. How ...annoying.

Basically, the trailer at least gets the story core right -- it's really about two women are total opposites, and even pitted against each other at first, who against all expectations end up becoming best friends (albeit through a rocky ride at times).

Glinda is the child of expectation and the popular one, who is chagrinned to realize the gloomy loner/outside is more talented than her and favored by the Wizard instead. Elphaba disdains a lot of what Glinda seems to be about, while at the same time Glinda has some of what Elphaba needs to be effective. But it is the story of matched opposites, because they both become better people by learning from each other.

The Wizard has no actual magic power, just his wits and reputation, but when he tries to utilize Elphaba, she sees right through him to his lack of moral core and violently rejects him (even though he has everything she thought she wanted, to be successful in life) -- so he turns on her and portrays her as the people's enemy.

I think what got me:

Fiero: She doesn't seem to care what anyone thinks.
Glinda: Of course she does. She just pretends not to.

It's the turning point in Glinda's attitude and vice versa, she just tried to undermine her socially but Elphaba's boldness makes her aspire to be better.

And then when the broom levitates (from the power of the book that only Elphaba can use):

Glinda: Don't be afraid.
Elphaba: I'm not afraid. It's the wizard who should be afraid of me.

(Erivo is so great -- her expression and voice is both a mixture of apprehension, she's afraid on some level, but also resoluteness -- however she feels, she is not backing down and any fear she has will not change her mind.)

Michelle Yeoh in yet another villainous role (Madame Morrible).

I am assuming the first part will end with the First Act ending (Defying Gravity).

Hopeful, maybe? Still not sure if Arianna Grande has the acting chops to really exude Glinda in her simple-looking complexity, but I guess we will find out. Glinda has to be obnoxious, yet sympathetic to the audience; she's a dichotomy of someone who looks shallow but has increasing depth over time, her polar qualities are often played for comic relief. You want to admire her despite her flawed nature by the end of the story, versus thinking she's a clueless fool or else overlook her flaws entirely.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

@Doctor Cringelord

Asking in general but I know you're the likely expert. Was she or wasn't she? I thought she was. As others in the Facebook comments suggested, that was the big joke.

View attachment 30585

I could have sworn she had braces and I had to go back and rewatch my Blu-ray to be sure. It seemed to be the whole point of the joke—metal mouth Jaws meeting a metal mouthed girl of his dreams. Nope. No braces. I think parallel universes are probably real but I don’t put any stock in mandela effect conspiracy theories—however, this one is a head scratcher and got me wondering. The only explanation I can imagine is that perhaps older, pre-HD era home video copies may have looked fuzzier and made Dolly appear to be wearing braces. I first watched this movie years ago on a VHS tapes from cable TV, so it was especially fuzzy—I wonder how many people that are remembering her with braces originally watched Moonraker on a smaller, older, pre-HD TV… unfortunately I no longer have my old Bond VHS but I’d love to see side-by-side screen captures of Dolly

 

[Totenkindly]

 

[The Cat]

View attachment 30628

Back when I used to be on social medias more, I used to look through for people's vacation or group pics and imagine them in the context of the beginning of a horror movie. It's never not fun.

 

[Totenkindly]

Finally watched Inside LLewyn Davis, this might be one of the Coen brothers' best films in terms of getting their trademark sardonic humor but on a very subtle level, along with some sadness/pathos around Davis struggling so hard to remain authentic and just not getting any decent breaks. (The film showcases him moving from one crazy/bad break to the next.) Davis is also pretty stressed or hasn't healed from some of the things that have happened in his pursuit of his craft, and at times he acts like a royal a-hole.

I knew Isaacs could sing back from his role in Sucker Punch, and he manages to carry this film forward musically too. The song "Please Mr. Kennedy" with him, Timberlake, and Driver is just the crazy kind of camp heard in music from time to time in that period. (I had to think about the Carpenters singing "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft.")

There is also the great story of a cat here. I have to add a prerequisite shot of Pyrrha, who was very curious about this cat on our TV; I didn't get the best shot I hoped for, but this is the gist and note they both have similar coloration:

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Finally watched Inside LLewyn Davis, this might be one of the Coen brothers' best films in terms of getting their trademark sardonic humor but on a very subtle level, along with some sadness/pathos around Davis struggling so hard to remain authentic and just not getting any decent breaks. (The film showcases him moving from one crazy/bad break to the next.) Davis is also pretty stressed or hasn't healed from some of the things that have happened in his pursuit of his craft, and at times he acts like a royal a-hole.

Judging from your review, it seems like there's I wasn't paying enough attention to Oscar Isaac, and too much time looking at my phone. I was very distracted when I watched, and that's not a good way to watch anything. I think I missed much of what was going on, but I thought what happened to him in Chicago was particularly awful. Anyway, I suppose I need to rewatch this.

I knew Isaacs could sing back from his role in Sucker Punch, and he manages to carry this film forward musically too. The song "Please Mr. Kennedy" with him, Timberlake, and Driver is just the crazy kind of camp heard in music from time to time in that period. (I had to think about the Carpenters singing "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft.")

There is also the great story of a cat here. I have to add a prerequisite shot of Pyrrha, who was very curious about this cat on our TV; I didn't get the best shot I hoped for, but this is the gist and note they both have similar coloration:

View attachment 30634

Pyrrha looks more leonine.

My sister's cat looks somewhat like the cat in this movie, also. I think the face patterns were different.

Are there two red-haired cats in this movie or just one? He brings it to the family, and someone says "this is not our cat." Does this mean the cat that visits him in the apartment he's staying at is different?

 

[Totenkindly]

Pyrrha looks more leonine.

Yeah, it was more a domestic shorthair (DSH) in the film, whereas Pyrrha is pretty fluffy from being a Maine coon and in particular it's like she is wearing a ruffled shirt the way her white neck fur puffs out in every direction.

Are there two red-haired cats in this movie or just one? He brings it to the family, and someone says "this is not our cat." Does this mean the cat that visits him in the apartment he's staying at is different?

He lets the original cat out of his friends' apartment by accident and the door locks behind them, so he takes it with him because no one wants to keep it until they get home.

He then loses the cat at Jim and Jean's apartment when it runs down the fire escape.

He then finds a cat a day or two later on the street and thinks it is the same one and takes it back to the owners (his friends' original apartment), but after they accept it back in (and it acts like it lives there), the wife freaks out because it's a female cat and their cat was male. Llewyn of course never knew the cat's name nor its original gender.

So he takes this new cat with him since no one wants it and somehow manages to abandon it in a car along side the road on his way to Chicago from New York.

After what happens in Chicago, he clips a cat on his way driving back when it runs in front of him, but it vanishes into the woods. Was it the cat that had been abandoned? It looks like it might be the same stretch of woods. Or was it the other cat? Or a hallucination?

When he visits his friends near the movie's end, the original cat is there and apparently found its way home. It turns out his name is Ulysses (obviously, the hero of the Odyssey), and he has been out on many strange journeys lol. It's not really clear what happened to the abandoned cat nor whether the cat hit at night on the road was Ulysses.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Yeah, it was more a domestic shorthair (DSH) in the film, whereas Pyrrha is pretty fluffy from being a Maine coon and in particular it's like she is wearing a ruffled shirt the way her white neck fur puffs out in every direction.

He lets the original cat out of his friends' apartment by accident and the door locks behind them, so he takes it with him because no one wants to keep it until they get home.

He then loses the cat at Jim and Jean's apartment when it runs down the fire escape.

He then finds a cat a day or two later on the street and thinks it is the same one and takes it back to the owners (his friends' original apartment), but after they accept it back in (and it acts like it lives there), the wife freaks out because it's a female cat and their cat was male. Llewyn of course never knew the cat's name nor its original gender.

So he takes this new cat with him since no one wants it and somehow manages to abandon it in a car along side the road on his way to Chicago from New York.

After what happens in Chicago, he clips a cat on his way driving back when it runs in front of him, but it vanishes into the woods. Was it the cat that had been abandoned? It looks like it might be the same stretch of woods. Or was it the other cat? Or a hallucination?

When he visits his friends near the movie's end, the original cat is there and apparently found its way home. It turns out his name is Ulysses (obviously, the hero of the Odyssey), and he has been out on many strange journeys lol. It's not really clear what happened to the abandoned cat nor whether the cat hit at night on the road was Ulysses.

Isn't there a scene at the end where the cat climbs through the window and wakes Llewyn up, perhaps the female cat? Or is there some fun-with-timelines stuff going on here?

 

[Totenkindly]

Isn't there a scene at the end where the cat climbs through the window and wakes Llewyn up, perhaps the female cat? Or is there some fun-with-timelines stuff going on here?

I don't think there is.

But the first scene in the movie actually occurs at the end of the film timeline.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I don't think there is.

But the first scene in the movie actually occurs at the end of the film timeline.

I wondered about that. Why did they do that?

 

[The Cat]

I wondered about that. Why did they do that?

Couldn't say specifically, but whenever a movie does this, it changes how i watch a movie. I start to process it in terms of continuity and the film feels like instead of watching the movie, I'm reliving a memory in real time.

 

[Totenkindly]

This could be a pretty great film, just based on director and cast.

Next up for Austin Butler, though, is the drama The Bikeriders, which premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival back in August 2023 to much critical acclaim. Written and directed by Jeff Nichols, who is known for crafting powerful dramas such as Take Shelter, Mud, Midnight Special, and Loving, The Bikeriders stars a stellar ensemble cast, including Jodie Comer (The Last Duel), Austin Butler (Elvis), Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road), Michael Shannon (The Shape of Water), Mike Faist (West Side Story), Boyd Holbrook (Logan), and Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead).

You can check out the official synopsis for The Bikeriders below.

“The Bikeriders follows the rise of a midwestern motorcycle club, the Vandals. Seen through the lives of its members, the club evolves over the course of a decade from a gathering place for local outsiders into a more sinister gang, threatening the original group’s unique way of life.”