Saturday, August 15, 2020

Weekend Open Thread


22 comments:

  1. The two cinemas in my city are opening again and one of them is showing some classics like Rear Window, E. T., Jurassic Park, Clockwork Orange etc. This might be nothing special for you in the US, but cinemas in Germany don't do that very often (sadly I've to say). For me it's simply fun to go back to the cinemas in this weird times (we haven't had one case within the last 14 days within the city) and to enjoy the movies how they were meant to be.

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    1. Stay safe, I can't imagine going anywhere near a theater right now.

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    2. I wouldn't be either, if I would live in the US atm - but here... we have close to 35 times lesser numbers than the US and while they are on the rise again, I've had to support my local cinema because I truly believe this could be the last/final call for a lot of them. But most important: In my region, I feel safe atm, and I am ready to go back into lockdown, if the virus returns here.

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    3. Here in NYC we're a long way from reopening theaters. We're not as bad as other hot spots around the country, but since we got it worse than any other state early on in the pandemic the local government doesn't want to take chances.

      Unlike you, Quackhell, I'll be back inside theaters the morning they're allowed to reopen in Gotham. Movies are my religion, and l haven't been to church since March. :-)

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    4. Your chruch shouldn't kill you, though. ;) I wouldn't go if I wouldn't feel safe atm

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  2. Been doing a rewatch of the Fast & Furious movies. I have to admit to myself that Tokyo Drift has moved up to my second favorite (behind 5) in my rankings.

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  3. Another week gone by with a few watches.


    FOXY BROWN (1974, dir. Jack Hill) – I recorded this recently off of TCM Underground because I had not watched it in a long time. It has not overtaken Coffy in my affections, but I do like it more than I previously have. The one-liners are terrific, the action is over-the-top, and the opening credit sequence is beyond cool. Pam Grier is, of course, great in the title role, but Antonio Fargas steals any scene that he is in. My favorite scenes are the one’s with Grier and Sid Haig (such chemistry) and the fight in the lesbian bar.

    L7: PRETEND WE’RE DEAD (2016) – An engaging documentary about a rock group made up of women who fearlessly pursued their own musical path. I remember the grunge explosion of the early 1990s very well. It was, in fact, the last time that I got swept up in any current musical movement. L7, though not a grunge band (more punk mixed with hard rock), rode the wave of it, having a minor hit and lasting longer than they probably would have otherwise. Recognition does eventually come, but not always with money and fame.

    HIT THE DECK (1955) – This is an MGM musical that is lacking something considering the high standards of the studio. Despite a game cast (Ann Miller, Russ Tamblyn, and Debbie Reynold), the story failed to engage me and most of the songs are not very memorable. What you do get is plenty of beautiful Technicolor photography. If you want to see a musical about sailors, you are better off watching ON THE TOWN.

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    1. Always been a fan of L7. Still listen to it today

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    2. I remember L7 from their peak period around 1992-93, when they had MTV and radio airplay. Considering the difficulties they experienced afterward, the amount of time they remained active was a testament to their will.

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  4. Australia got Shudder last week, so I have been going through and watching it. Blue Sunshine is werid and I loved it. I also watched The Guest because I needed some Dan Stevens in my life. I'm really happy I can finally click on to Shudder.

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    1. The 1960s subtext of Blue Sunshine in interesting. I do not know if it was a conscious act, but the story of Blue Sunshine undoubtedly bares traces of an emerging conservative backlash to growing openness of the era, particularly concerning drugs. It is also about a generation moving away from youthful idealism to the pragmatism of adulthood.

      I recently re-watched Cronenberg's Shivers, which also bares traces of a backlash against the grown openness of the 1960s and '70s.

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    2. I had never thought about in that way. But you're right, it is a story about free love heading into the more nihilistic late 70s.

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  5. Hi gang! Hope everyone's having a good one.

    So I started going through Criterion's Showa Era Godzilla boxset. Before this, I'd only seen the original and some of the later ones that are not included on this set. Four movies in, I'm enjoying these. The original, obviously, is a classic for a reason. The American version with Raymond Burr was more a fun curiosity than a good movie. Godzilla Raids Again was made in a hurry after the original's success, and it shows. Not a bad movie but kinda lackluster. King Kong Vs. Godzilla, the first one in color, was silly and fun. Weirdly, the original version of that is a bonus feature in the box set, while the American version is presented as part of the main collection. Don't know how different the American version is, but that's next on my list.

    Also watched a Belgian movie called The Brand New Testament. It's a bizarre comedy about God, who it presents as an evil and petty man bent on making everyone's life miserable, and his daughter who runs away from home to Earth and starts gathering apostles to write the titular Brand New Testament. There are some intriguing ideas, inventive visuals, and funny jokes there, but overall it suffers from an over-abundance of ideas.

    In other news, they started selling tickets to Tenet, which comes out in a week and a half over here. Didn't buy mine yet, but I'm definitely going if there's no change for the worse before then (looking pretty good right now but you never know).

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    1. Last October an American movie channel showed all of the Godzilla restorations. I watched at least six of them. My favorite new watch was Mothra vs. Godzilla. Of the sillier films, Ebirah: Horror from the Deep was an absolute blast. I really responded to the ridiculousness of the whole film.

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  6. THE MATRIX (1999) It seems like whenever folks talk about this one, it's about how it ushered in new movie tech, or what the symbolism may or may not be. But upon this rewatch I was reminded of how well it plays on the surface level, as a rockin' action flick. Great fun!

    MAD MAX FURY ROAD (2015) "Witness me!"

    Then I came across an early Verhoeven film, THE FOURTH MAN (1983). On paper, it's your basic late-night cable erotic thriller, but Verhoeven films it with a lot of slick '80s neon gloss. Plus there are some dream sequences that are wonderfully weird. I guess I liked it, but it's more advanced Verhoeven than it is beginner Verhoeven.

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    1. Pre-hollywood Verhoeven is awesome. All of his movies are great

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    2. Soldier of Orange is an early Verhoeven film I have wanted to see for a while. It does not seem to have gotten any kind of recent video release in the US.

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    3. Yeah, I don't think Soldier of Orange is available in HD anywhere. If you have something that will play other regions, there are some fairly inexpensive UK DVDs of it. It's also available to rent digitally on Amazon's UK site (in SD), but there's probably a lot of hoops you'd have to jump through to get that to work outside the UK.

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  7. I just watched Extra Ordinary, with Will Forte, and i must say i'm floored. This was excellent. It's weird and the dark humor is just what i needed. And that finale... that was something else.

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    1. Thanks, I'll check that out. Will Forte. It's available through Hoopla!

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