Saturday, January 21, 2017

Weekend Open Thread

Hundreds of thousands of women are marching today, every one of them a badass.

If, like me, you're unable to attend one of the marches happening all over the country this weekend, let someone know that you're there in spirit. Celebrate badass women everywhere by watching His Girl Friday or Gun Crazy or Erin Brockovich or Switchblade Sisters or any number of movies I could mention. And come back here to talk about the things you're watching, the things you're thinking about, the things you love, because that's what we need more of right now.

Also, I did not make the above collage. I would not include Lara Croft (not because she's not strong or something, but because I don't dig those movies) or Milla Jovovich as Joan of Arc because I've never seen The Messenger. Naturally, I would include Milla Jovovich from Kuffs.

35 comments:

  1. I'd give Milla the bad-ass nod just for pretending to be in love with Shawn Pickford in "Dazed and Confused," but that's just me. :-P

    Haven't written in one of these weekend threads in a while. Busy as heck working three jobs and cleaning my apartment, which is such a dust trap I literally get sick every few hours with coughing-blood bouts from inhaling so much dust (even with a mask). Have to stop, go for a walk to breath clean air, then back to getting killed by my own house. Sucks, but it's a NYC rent-controlled apartment. That's my excuse for staying, which is a lot better than the family in "Poltergeist's" excuse for spending just one more night in their haunted house. ;-)

    Got a killer deal on a quality Samsung 55" 4K TV for under $600 shipped and taxed. When this cleaning ordeal is over I'll be set for next month's Twitter Film Fest with upscaled-to-4K BD copies of three of the movies (four if "Raising Arizona" is streaming somewhere on HD). Already have my first Ultra HD disc to watch even before owning a player to watch it with (the true sign of a hopeless vidiot): Paul Feig's "Ghostbusters 2016." It came as a package with the 3D version of the movie (the one I really wanted), but it's ready for whenever an XBox One goes on sale or I can get a standalone player for under $200.

    I gave up on watching Fox News sometime in the early 2000's, and I'm taking a similar approach to Trump. It has helped me and my dad (who went into a serious depression before, during and after the election) deal wit everyday life to ignore him as much as possible rather than let him take over our lives. We shouldn't stay quiet or don't do anything when he crosses the line, but we should definitely not feed the troll and let him get a rise out of us and dominate our thoughts. If he does then he will have truly won.

    Happy to see Patrick using F This Movie to exorcise his Trump demons without descending into an 'F Trump' bashing tone. Glad to see me, my family, friends, co-workers and people I know aren't alone feeling sad about the country these days. Basically I can't watch the ends of "Finding Dory" or "12 Monkeys" because Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" hurts to hear right now, a tune that makes me long for the good old days... of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, for heaven's sake! :-O :'(

    Sorry about the random incoherent thoughts. It's after 5AM in New York, got to get up at 8:30AM and work until 9AM Monday with few hours-long breaks in-between and I just watched Peter Weir's "The Truman Show" and T̶o̶p̶e̶ ̶H̶o̶o̶p̶e̶r̶'̶s̶ Steven Spielberg's "Poltergeist" with new-to-me commentary tracks from the defunct-and-dearly-missed Friends In Your Head podcast. Man, why do the good die young and good triumphs over evil only in movies and not during presidential elections? Sob, sob. :'(

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  2. My mom actually went to D.C. to march so that's pretty cool. Can't say that I did anything quite so exciting with my week. I was in the mood to watch some horror Westerns so I watched Dead Birds which wasn't bad but was very slowly paced and then followed that up the next night with Cut-Throats Nine which I enjoyed quite a bit. It's not horror really but has a good amount of gore in it. Very much worth watching.

    We're most of the way through January now and I haven't watched any 2017 releases so far despite working a job where they are readily available. I was going to watch Split but then had a last minute change of plan and there's not really much I'm actually looking forward to until John Wick: Chapter Two. I've been more tempted to dig out my DVD of Mean Guns than to watch any recent releases.

    Aside from that I finished up rewatching Season 1 of Twin Peaks and now debating whether I want to rewatch all of Season 2 or just the stuff Lynch had a hand in.

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  3. I also was in the mood for some horror, so I put on Silence of the Lambs last night. I haven't given it extensive thought, but off the top of my head, it might be my favorite Best Picture winner ever.

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    1. And by the way, Clarice Starling is pretty badass.

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  4. My 24-hr. rental of "Poltergeist" still hasn't run out, so I might as well play in the background later today while doing some four-hour writing project for one of my jobs. I could knock off commentary tracks for Sofa Dogs and Popcorn Poops to make rewatching this flick tolerable. Gotta squeeze the most from that $3.99 rental. :-)

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  5. Going with Raiders of the Lost Ark with its 2-for-1 of a badass woman and Nazis getting their comeuppance.

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  6. I checked "Billy Bathgate" as my film to watch last night. A pretty disappointing crime drama with Dustin Hoffman, Nicole Kidman and Bruce Willis about a New York teen who becomes a protege of Dutch Schultz. Loren Dean underwhelms in the title role, playing the character that comes across as so bland and wooden, it makes you think why anyone would follow this guy.

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    1. Yeah man, I remember having some association between this and Family Business, and loving both, but it's been forever since the last time I saw either. Thanks for jogging my memory!

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  7. My Facebook feed is full of friends in Park City, L.A., D.C. and beyond taking to the streets. Very proud of all of them.
    I went out and caught a Sundance screening of Macon Blair's feature debut, I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore. It's a fun ride. I think Melanie Lynskey has easily become my favorite actress regularly working in films. Just incredible. The movie is less tonally focused than Blair's work with Saulnier, but that is mostly a good thing for this movie. Mr. Blair's q&a was a long one (he was enjoying himself) and he confirmed the movie will be on Netflix at the end of next month. Woo hoo!

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  8. Just went to the NYC march for a few hours. I'm currently halfway through watching 1948's I Remember Mama. It is a wonderful and subtly feminist movie. For those who don't know ( and haven't ready JB's piece about it- unless I'm remembering wrong) it is about a family of Norwegian-Americans (immigrant parents) living in San Francisco in 1910. The narrator is the oldest daughter, an aspiring writer, who observes the strength and power which with her mother operates her family. Rather than placing a woman in the place of the male archetype, as Fury Road does masterfully, this movie celebrates the powerful women found in the most unexpected places.

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  9. Inspired by Patrick's end of the world marathon, and the fact I found it for $2, I'm watching Death Race 2000 for the first time. Nazis just fell off a cliff. Fuck nazis, fuck hate.

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  10. I'm watching The Interview, which is about foreigners coming into a country to assassinate a new leader. (Does that count?)

    It's better than I remembered

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  11. Finally got around to watching Hush, yeah really good, I loved Kate Siegal's physicality. Wish all movies were at least that good. Also re-watched Hateful Eight after I saw it on streaming. After everything that has happened in my city and also in the world I found it surprisingly soothing. Still my favourite Tarantino. Though waking up to the photos of the Womens March gave me hope :)

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  12. What an odd experience tonight - watched "The Wailing" which I had really been anticipating and thought it was meh. Then watched "Siren" which I had no intention of even watching and actually thought it was pretty good! Ya never know.

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    1. Oh jeez, man. If you didn't dig The Wailing, that I can handle, but Siren was no bueno.

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    2. Bummer, man, The Wailing worked for me big time. The South Koreans have an uncanny ability to weave humour into their horror while still keeping things deadly serious and I dig that paradoxical shit.

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    3. Tale of Two Sisters is one of my favorite Horror films of all time so I dig what you mean. Again, I blame the hype machine. It was on so many top 10 lists of 2016 that I just built myself up. Although, even without that, I can honestly say I thought The Wailing was a pretty run of the mill possession flick, masked by excellent film making.

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  13. Rewatched Wrath of Khan. Yeah, Star Trek Beyond is decent but It's about 1/100th the movie Wrath of Khan is.

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  14. For my final horror Western of the week I had picked up Ghost Town (1988) which I had a lot of fun with. Basically a cop ends up getting stuck in an Old West ghost town populated of course by ghosts who are stuck being tormented for eternity by a band of undead gunmen. Sure it's a little low budget and partly because the smallish set and the thin premise things feel a little stretched out even at 85 mins. Still, it's maybe the closest I've come to what I'm looking for out of these things. As I have maybe mentioned before I'm a huge fan of the Jonah Hex comics Lansdale and Truman did back in the 90's (handily collected in the currently in print graphic novel Jonah Hex: Shadows West which I can't recommend enough).

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  15. Xtro Reboot!!!


    The original producer along with the director of Xtro have been collaborating to make an Xtro reboot about an Alien invasion of Xtro's all over the earth, Xtro, The Big one! im not yet sold on the title but it is all the same amazing thinking I might get another film from the original team, here is the statement they released

    "We – Harry Bromley Davenport and I – are at the start of a plan to make a new version of XTRO. It’s going to be called XTRO -The Big One, and I’ll explain why later. Harry and I made the original XTRO in 1981-2 and it was released in 1983. It was very successful for New Line Cinema, who were in dire need of cash-flow at that time and XTRO kept the company afloat until they found massive success with A Nightmare on Elm Street.

    Harry went on to do two sequels to XTRO, neither of which I produced. Two years ago he asked me if I was interested in working with him again on a new version and I thought that was a good idea. Harry introduced me to a writer he wanted to work with- Ken Segall. With Harry and Ken in LA and me in London, we had to use email and skype to send scripts, notes, ideas and comments back and forth. A slightly cumbersome process, but one which seems to have worked. The new script, which has gone through about 6 drafts, is now in good shape. It’s full of that special blend of XTRO weirdness.

    The story of the new film imagines what it would be like if an alien invasion took place during a massive earthquake – hence the title XTRO – The Big One. The new film is certainly not lacking in scope or ambition. We are really pushing the boat out.

    So now comes the big problem of all indie producers – raising the money. How do you raise enough to make an exciting film featuring good actors and with imaginative and striking FX that will stand comparison with other Sci-Fi films?"

    Most likely may not happen, its too early to tell, the bluray is out in Feb after the 4K official screening at the Berlin film festival, the 35th anniversary release, Damn this makes me feel old, I cant wait for my bluray, test footage looks stunning

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    1. Ha ha ha, congratulations Dennis!! You should lobby Harry on Twitter to get yourself a walk-on part in it. :)

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    2. Damn, I would pay for my own flights and accommodation for that!

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    3. I like how Mark (Producer) makes it perfectly clear he had nothing to do with the sequel's!

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    4. Rather than clog up this thread with Xtro I put the full Synosis from Harry "Bromley" Davenport on our Xtro page here http://www.fthismovie.net/2016/10/talking-xtro-with-1-fan-of-xtro.html?showComment=1485097417199#c1324890522421288966

      it makes an interesting read

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  16. I heard one of the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard in my life early on Saturday morning! Because in the morning, up through the buildings all through Manhattan you could hear choruses of women's voices. In unison, so beautiful, so clear, and SO many. They sounded like they were having so much fun. I couldn't join them on Saturday, but the sound was GLORIOUS. As the day went on it sounded more like a mixed crowd, which was exciting, too, but the morning felt really special, with women and girls together, filling the whole city with their voices! :))

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    1. Be careful...sounds like the song of the siren :) Kidding....awesome, Meredith! Here's one for you that I love that makes me think of what you just wrote. One of the most beatutiful songs I've ever heard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-odF-y1nQvw

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    2. Song exchange! Sweet! It's very haunting, I like! :) Also sounds like good driving music.

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  17. Oh yes! Knowing people's songs, like knowing their movies, is the best! Ah that brings back a lot of memories of meeting new people and talking music and movies (in person). Now everyone has babies and stuff. That was years ago :)

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  18. Honoring badass women...well, I finally watched "Don´t breathe" and Jane Levy is pretty badass in really great thriller. I had a ton of fun with it.
    I also watched "Morgan" which is populated with a lot of badass women and some very wimpy men. No masterpiece but entertaining, even if the final twist can be spotted miles away.
    More female badassery in "Nerve" with a fine Emma Roberts. Again, no masterpiece but the film ist visually interesting and has great pacing, leaving little time to think about plotholes or other nitpicks.
    Next was german dramedy "Toni Erdmann" which is a strange and very long but constantly entertaining movie. It has a great badass role for my fantastic fellow german Sandra Hueller as well as for Peter Simonischek in the title role.
    Finally I watched the always watchable badass Eva Green in the harmless, frequently annoying "Miss Peregine`s home for peculiar children". Great fight at the pier but otherwise I´m done with Burton, I think.

    So, without really planning that, I think I had a great movie wekkend with a lot of badass heroines.

    Also really great was the news yesterday that the crowds at the womens marches were way bigger than the crowds at the inauguration...even if the lying press mouthpiece of the yellow man says that it was the greatest crowd ever attending an inauguration...and the blonde campaign witch speaks of alternate facts...
    All this feels like the Twilight Zone...

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