Random Movie Thoughts Thread

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

Dr Zhivago has an Egyptian playing a Russian.

Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji to an English mother and an Indian father) might have become famous playing Ghandi but also repeatedly played Persians (3x IIRC) and Ashkenazi Jews (3x that I know of) as well as at least one Latino besides the occasional Indian role.

Yul Brunner, who got a kick out of keeping his roots a mystery but was born in Russia, has played an Egyptian, a Burmese, a Native American, a Japanese-American, diverse Europeans and a Mexican ... to name but a few.

I get majority actors not stealing roles from minority actors but playing something you are not is...acting (as long as it is done respectfully).


EDIT: I'm obviously not defending the cringe scenes in Breakfast at Tiffany's (which would have been spiteful even if played by an actual Japanese Person)

Daily Show had an interesting discussion during a recent interview. They were interviewing Daniel Dae Kim and speaking about the move toward hiring actors of asian ancestry to play ethnically asian characters, generally seen as a positive trend. But they were wondering how exact/accurate this casting needs to be, for instance, should it be someone of Korean ancestry portraying a Korean character, does it have to be a Vietnamese actor portraying a Vietnamese character, and so on? I mean we're not expecting every Italian American character to be played by an Italian American actor (for instance James Caan was great as Sonny in the Godfather). And for that matter, how often do we see Brits portraying Americans (I realize that example has more to do with nationality than with ethnicity)

I'm with you, acting is acting and as long as it isn't done in a mocking, mean-spirited racist way that is making the character's ethnicity a punchline (i.e. Breakfast at Tiffany's or the character of Chiun in Remo Williams), I don't see an issue with actors portraying characters of different ethnicities.

 

[The Cat]

Like Star Wars! I hate the Acolyte the more I think about it.

This is the way.

 

[The Cat]

In the days of New Coke I mean Star Wars
And the Onion Rings of Power
A hero emerges.
This one is pretty good.
Spectacle should never be held above substance.​

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Oooooh...

I hope this is good.

 

[The Cat]

Come gather round people, where ever you roam, and admit that the biopic waters have grown, and sooner or later storytelling will sink like a stone, for the times they are a changin.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Come gather round people, where ever you roam, and admit that the biopic waters have grown, and sooner or later storytelling will sink like a stone, for the times they are a changin.

If you haven't, you need to watch Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

"And he never once paid for drugs!"

 

[The Cat]

 

[Totenkindly]

I don't blame him. WB has been rather terrible.

Christopher Nolan Didn't Even Consider Warner Bros For His Next Film — World of Reel

Warner Bros co-chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy weren’t even allowed allowed to read the script for Nolan’s next movie. Only Universal’s Donna Langley was given the honor of going through the pages. It turns out, Nolan didn’t even consider Warner Bros.

www.worldofreel.com

 

[The Cat]

Grabbers was fun. Bet this will be too.​

 

[The Cat]

"Where do you live Simon?"

"I live in the weak, and the wounded."​

 

[The Cat]

Session 9 is one of those movies that I saw once, and stayed with me in crystal clarity through this day. My worst fears are highlighted in this film, and done so subtly that I can honestly say only gets more terrifying with time.

 

[Totenkindly]

Session 9 is one of those movies that I saw once, and stayed with me in crystal clarity through this day. My worst fears are highlighted in this film, and done so subtly that I can honestly say only gets more terrifying with time.

"Hello... Gor-don...."

Such a great ending. I will always love this film. I'm surprised some people did not. It just makes my skin crawl. His refusal to cleanly tie everything up and just make allusionary connections is a feature, not a bug.

His "TranSsiberia" is worth a watch too, it just isn't quite as good as this one IMO. It's also more of a thriller, versus psychological horror.

He's done lot of films over the years, he just seems to sit around the 60% mark on RT lol. But considering his work on The Machinist, TS, and this, he's seemingly a director worth taking a chance viewing on.

 

[Tomb1]

the style Coppola chose to shoot Megalopolis in within fifteen minutes left me like "no way i am sitting through this for two hours"

 

[The Cat]

Gather round children, and put on your tin foil hats because this idle thought is a doozy.
"What if Disney is tanking its shows on purpose?"
Why would they do that?
Possible theories include:
1) They burnt out and are only now thinking of over saturating the brands.
2) They don't want to pay writers.
3) They don't actually believe in the "Message" whatever it's supposed to be, but they don't want to get killed in the court of popular opinion, lose cash resources- I mean the audience, and dont want to appear "right wing" so they're over marketing a bunch of allegedly diverse stuff but they're setting it all up to fail in such a way that they can say. It isnt us, its the fans...
4) South Park got it right.
5) They want to see just how far they can manipulate the audience and are actively looking to see if we can be satisfied with a bunch of cgi and ai written product rather than actual story telling.
6) And this is the most likely... They arent doing it on purpose, they've just lost touch with their consumers, and are catering to both sides of moneyed interests from all over the world and they care less about what they produce as much as they care about that people will still shell out money to escape from the stark realities of life for even just a few minutes.
​

Please, someone, anyone. I need a fan art of Goofy dressed like Pagliacci. Also Donald Duck in that one scene in Platoon, and one of Mickey Mouse hosting family feud with the same tired haunted expression that Steve Harvey has.

 

[Totenkindly]

Can't understand how a company who can charge $150 no questions asked for a one-day admission for an individual to their shitty theme park can lose touch with their consumers. Sounds silly, doesn't it? Oh wait -- we're AT&T, we don't care (because we don't have to).

I can't believe people spend that much money on their shit. Like, people here saving up thousands of dollars for a family of four to go to theme parks for a few days.

Hey bitches -- I play TTRPGs every week and get to cast magic, explore castles, and meet lots of made-up people using the power of my imagiNAtion -- for free. Who is the fool now?

 

[The Cat]

Can't understand how a company who can charge $150 no questions asked for a one-day admission for an individual to their shitty theme park can lose touch with their consumers. Sounds silly, doesn't it? Oh wait -- we're AT&T, we don't care (because we don't have to).

I can't believe people spend that much money on their shit. Like, people here saving up thousands of dollars for a family of four to go to theme parks for a few days.

Hey bitches -- I play TTRPGs every week and get to cast magic, explore castles, and meet lots of made-up people using the power of my imagiNAtion -- for free. Who is the fool now?

Can you even imagine having so much money that you could actually consistently plan out said trip and still look at yourself in the mirror without just breaking down in soul wracked sobs as to how your life went so wrong?

That's why Im raising my children Goth. I just have to hang in there till they become teenagers and naturally lose interest in Disney. If I end up raising a Disney adult, I wont be ashamed of them, because by god they would have had to struggle their whole lives to make that dream happen.
"Dad can we go to Disney?"

"I don't know child, can you? Because you would have to pay for it, the rest of the family and I would rather have two jet skis and and a small cabin in Tasmania instead of a trip to Disney."

 

[Totenkindly]

Can you even imagine having so much money that you could actually consistently plan out said trip and still look at yourself in the mirror without just breaking down in soul wracked sobs as to how your life went so wrong?

Those aren't the people I'm talking about -- I am talking about regular middle class and/or blue collar folks who don't make a ton, who have described to me how they save money for the entire year and sacrifice other things so that they can experience the magic of Disney in crowded theme parks with overpriced housing and food and wait in long lines for rides.

The rich can do wtf they want without sacrificing. These people prioritize Disney so highly that they give up other things to go there. I don't get it.

 

[The Cat]

Those aren't the people I'm talking about -- I am talking about regular middle class and/or blue collar folks who don't make a ton, who have described to me how they save money for the entire year and sacrifice other things so that they can experience the magic of Disney in crowded theme parks with overpriced housing and food and wait in long lines for rides.

The rich can do wtf they want without sacrificing. These people prioritize Disney so highly that they give up other things to go there. I don't get it.

Effective brainwashing?

 

[Red Herring]

Effective brainwashing?

My daughters enjoy way too much screentime and mostly watch all sorts of animation. That includes a few Disney movies but they tend to prefer other stuff. They can endlessly rewatch series or movies they love but for some reason they only watched "Frozen" once and never expressed any interest in rewatching that. I'm not complaining

Disney made some very solid children's movies and they form a part of many people's childhood around the globe but I seriously think this cult is unjustified. It would also be interesting to see what percentage of their income is from movies compared to income from merchandice licenses (which reminds me of reading that Paw Patrole was explicitely conceived as an excuse to sell toys)

 

[Totenkindly]

Disney made some very solid children's movies and they form a part of many people's childhood around the globe but I seriously think this cult is unjustified. It would also be interesting to see what percentage of their income is from movies compared to income from merchandice licenses (which reminds me of reading that Paw Patrole was explicitely conceived as an excuse to sell toys)

Disney revenue by segment 2024 | Statista

Disney's revenue breakdown shows that the Media and Entertainment segment generates the largest portion of revenue for the company.

www.statista.com

I'll have to look for more specific detail, but it looks like "entertainment" beat out "experiences" (which is theme parks) but... they aren't really that far apart in revenue. Entertainment probably would include product lines but I am not sure.

I have kinda hated that Disney for so long would often win the biggest awards for Animated films when it was mostly their cut of the market/exposure and the Disney brand that earned them wins compared to films of better quality. For example, Big Hero 6 winning an Oscar over HTTYD and a Studio Ghibli film, etc. That's not always the case, they've had some decent films from time to time still, and they've been losing more often to non-Disney films. So maybe things are improving a bit on that score.