Saturday, December 17, 2016

Weekend Open Thread

I am with Bale Organa and Bale Organa is with me.

I know everyone will be jonesing to talk Rogue One, which is cool. We'll have a review up on Monday if you haven't already talked yourselves out on it. In the meantime, what has everyone been watching this week?

SIDE QUESTION: Who would play you in the movie of your life?

29 comments:

  1. To my surprise, Too Late appeared on Finnish Netflix, and it's amazing. Might be in my top 10 of the year. Tickled is a bizarre documentary worth seeing for its twists and turns. Arrival was as good, if not better, on second viewing. I can see why The Thing from Another World is a classic, but it didn't really grab me. The Thing (1982) on the other hand always does. Tex Montana Will Survive was hilarious in parts, but felt overlong. I always love Twins, but I'm sure part of that is the nostalgia from watching it a lot as a kid. Man vs. Snake is a fun little video gaming documentary in the same vein as King of Kong. Kaasua, Komisario Palmu! (1961) is my favorite ever Finnish movie, but I doubt it's available internationally, so I won't say any more about that. 48 Hrs. wasn't as funny as I thought it would be, I was expecting a different tone. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping had some really funny moments, the Bin Laden song was a highlight. And Rogue One, like The Force Awakens, entertained me for its duration but left no lasting impression. And currently I'm halfway through Weiner, which seems worth watching, if oftentimes awkward and cringeworthy.

    That's what I've been watching this week.

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  2. I watched Dark Passage (really good Bogart and Bacall movie) a couple weeks back on Prime and since then I've been going through a lot of the similar movies it's been recommending to me. In the last week I've watched a lot of Cary Grant (The Amazing Adventure, An Affair to Remember, and of course His Girl Friday), some Gary Cooper in Casanova Brown, a great June Lang performance in Redhead, and Ginger Rogers in Heartbeat. I think it all put me in a really good mindset for La La Land, although I would have loved it regardless.

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  3. I'm so glad that we're likely to get a Best Picture winner that I can get behind this year. La La Land is wonderful, charming, fun and funny in addition to carrying emotional weight and looking good. I loved it.

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  4. Bill hicks birthday today, he would of been 55, died at only 32, my all time hero, I Love him, he inspires me everyday, I wish he was alive now, I would give anything to hear his thoughts on the world we live in today, tonight I'm watching Bill hicks stuff all night,

    "There is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves"

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    1. Bill saw the potential of humanity, which is why he was so frequently disheartened and enraged to see what humanity was actually doing.

      "People suck. That's my contention. Give me scratch paper and a pen. I'll prove it, I'll show my work, case closed. I'm tired of this backslapping ain't humanity neat bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are."

      The man was brilliant, which is why it's a sin that he's dead while Dennis Leary continues to draw breath.

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    2. Crazy that he would have been only 55 considering how long he's been gone.

      For those in need of a fix and that have not seen it, American: The Bill Hicks Story is an excellent doc. I have not checked, but there's bound to be a copy floating around on youube.
      But, if you can wait, the DVD is a pretty perfect example of the potential of the format. Extra interviews and footage at least as long as the main feature, and all of it relevant and fascinating.

      RIP Bill.

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    3. A tortured genius, imagine what he would say about today's world, I miss him everyday

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  5. Started the new Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij show "The OA". So far I'm two episodes in and it's decent. Looking forward to seeing where it goes. Also watched "It Watches", stay far away from this one, believe me.

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    1. Finished "The OA" - it's very frustrating to say the least.

      "Counter Clockwise" is a decent indie time travel flick.

      "Incarnate" is a mess.

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  6. I'm on a Scorsese kick and I just watched one of his underrated movies I think Cape Fear. All the performance are great and it's just a great thriller overall. Now onto another underrated gem The Age Of Innocence

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    1. BTW I would pick DiCaprio to play me in my life story because why wouldn't you pick one of the best looking and best actors in Hollywood to play you lol :-)

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    2. Better yet, get Tilda Swinton to play DiCaprio playing you.

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    3. Only if she's bald

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  7. I watched Moonlight on Thursday and absolutely adored it. One of my favorite movies in years. I'm seeing Rogue One tonight and even though Star Wars is one of my favorite things ever I'm genuinely concerned that I won't enjoy the movie as much as I normally would solely because I'll be wishing I could just watch Moonlight again.

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  8. Watched Rogue One, of course, and really loved it. It definitely has faults but I'm willing to forgive them more than I am the faults of Force Awakens. It's a very different kind of Star Wars movie and I think that's great; we're moving away from making movies that fulfill an idea of how Star Wars should feel and towards more stylistically liberated. I'm really looking forward to hearing about the behind the scenes, what was re-shot, and what was left on the cutting room floor because I get the impression that this movie went through a ton of changes.

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  9. Saw Rogue One today and liked it, there was some VERY cool Star Wars lore elements and visuals. Unfortunately, it felt like something was missing and I didn't connect the way I usually do with a Star Wars showing. However, anytime spent in that universe is worth my time and money.

    I did get to see get to see some truly stellar trailers for the first time. I mean WTF Fast and the Furious: Rogue Dom just looked banannas. I don't know how that series keeps outdoing the previous outing but it looks like they have... a submarine? Fuck yeah. Also, Guardians 2 was just gold. My initial thoughts were that the franchise couldn't match it's previous outing but, amongst many things, Bautista and the psychic scene still has me laughing.

    Happy Holidays all. Here's to hoping we have a Black Christmas (podcast this week)!

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  10. SPOILERS FOR ROGUE ONE BELOW







    Any thoughts on Peter Cushing's resurrection? I thought it looked like crap, but I have no moral issues if the estate signed off.

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    1. I thought it looked ok for the first few seconds and if they had kept it to that it would have been fine. The longer he was on screen the more distracting it was.

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    2. I do hope things can get better in that department. It was generally fine for me, but I won't deny there's still room for improvement.

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    3. I found it real distracting at first, but then I got used to it (although considering how often they went to it, I suppose I had no choice but to get used to it). Story-wise, I think having Cushing there really gave extra shades to Ben Mendelsohn's character.

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  11. Blue Jay on Netflix. Sort of like the before series lite but I found it deeply affecting with that sense of urgency and prevalent foreboding throughout. Perfectly paced at 80 minutes and a nice lack of in your face exposition. I highly recommend.

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  12. Eye In The Sky and Anthropoid for me. Eye is a really excellent piece of work that wraps up the ethics of drone strikes in a really engaging little thriller (and gives Alan Rickman a great little role to go out on), while Anthropoid is less effective (and over-long, with a tracked on romance plot) but a decent take on the assassination of Heydrich in Prague in 1942.

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  13. Trying to get caught up on all the movies I've missed this year that I had an interest in so I can put together a more accurate year end Top 10 list. Both Yoga Hosers and Tickled were disappointments for me. De Palma was entertaining, but only has appeal if you're a fan of his already; not very cinematic, obviously. Southbound felt like something the V/H/S guys would bring us, and I don't really mean that in a positive way. Wasn't into All Through the House either, though it's clearly an above average achievement for something of its budget bracket. I guess the only thing thus far from my list that made an impact was the Raiders! documentary; those guys were a bit weirder than I was expecting them to be. Still plenty of leftovers to peruse before making my list, though!

    As far I casting myself for a movie, I'd prefer an all-CG digital likeness, Peter Cushing-style.

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  14. ROGUE ONE SPOILERS


    Rogue One puzzles me. I enjoyed myself, and I left the theater happy, but something feels off. I think the movie itself just didn't really impact me for 75% of it. The pacing felt really off, and the gratuitous fan service distracted me. My biggest complaint is the CG actors. Red and gold leaders were fine, but Tarkin and Leia really pulled me out of it. I thought they would do Tarkin from behind and that was it, but I was really surprised with his involvement. I just really with the entire middle had more to offer.

    That last act is something else entirely though. The space battle and the land war were very well executed in my opinion. But holy shit was the Darth Vader scene worth it. I was pacified by the Vader scene in his castle(?), but that fight was unbelievable. I so wish the movie ended on the shot of him looking out the ship at Leia's escaping ship. I held my breath for the credits, but they had to go and hammer in that "hope" bit.

    It satisfied me, and I'm looking forward to VIII and the young Han and Childish Landino

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    1. I will never not call him Childish Landino now. So funny.

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  15. I watched the last 4 episodes of the first season of Outcast. It was pretty entertaining.
    Then I rewatched Paul Verhoeven´s Total Recall after a very long time. I had a blast. What an insanely entertaining movie. I think I had nearly as much fun as back in 1990, when I saw it for the first time.
    Then I saw the pretty intense Deepwater Horizon, which worked great and had a wonderful cast playing characters instead of the cardboards that disaster movies so often are populated with.
    Next and last for this weekend were the first 5 episodes of HBO´s gripping thriller The night of with Rogue One´s Riz Ahmed. Can´t wait to watch the remaining 3 episodes.
    Rogue One has to wait until christmas.

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    1. Ultimately, I was lukewarm on "The Night Of" but Riz's performance and physical transformation made me want to watch everything he is in moving forward. He was so good. To my surprise, he was in a few episodes the "The OA" and was he was great as well given his character really didn't have much going on.

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    2. Yeah I have some reservations with The Night Of as a whole, but the first episode is fantastic. Oliver, I'll be interested to hear what you think after you've finished it.

      I also saw Deepwater Horizon this week, and I was surprised that I actually liked it.

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