Saturday, January 28, 2023

Weekend Open Thread

24 comments:

  1. Happy Weekend To All In Movie-loving-land!

    some quickie catchup reviews:

    Patton (blu 1970): I adore this flick but only watch it every 5ish years or so. This is my first watch on blu on a bigger tv. OMG the transfer is gorgeous. It honestly looks 4k. The movie is an incredible...dont let the length throw you..its such an incredible character piece.

    The Car (blu 1977): My kid is getting into horror early and so i thought id share two childhood auto horrors. We first watched Duel which i see thru completely different eyes as an adult who deals with a$$hole road ragers regularly. Then i showed him this which is a nice Christine primer. Its a hoot of a flick which is very much a Jaws rip off.

    Reservoir Dogs (4k 1992): No bones about it, i find QT's flicks of the most rewatchable. I FINALLY started playing in the 4k sandbox so i was excited to see this. Wow. Wow wow wow. The upgrade is worth it as its beyond crisp.

    Elvis (streaming 2022): Had a lot of fun with this...more than i expected. Its a bit like most biopics, kinda script via wikipedia page, but theres no denying Austin Butler is BRILLIANT evoking one of the all time entertainers. Hanks Col Parker feels like its skimming parody most of the time but stays juuuust shy of it and i liked it.

    Take Care Y'all!

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    1. OOOOO....one more bonus review inspired by JBs recent riffing

      Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (blu 1963): This movie was one of my top 10 favorites growing up. In a time before cable/vhs it was one that you had to watch for in the tv guide. Fond memories of watching with my pop. So decades later i decided to share it with my son. And im giddy to say it played like gangbusters..he dug it! Its such a weird time capsule of a movie with a jam packed cast of stars and cameos. Its darn near a living looney tunes cartoon road trip treasure hunt at times. So much fun.

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    2. "War movies" is a genre I enjoy and frequently watch, but somehow I haven't ever seen Patton. I believe it's regarded as one of the greats. I admit the runtime has stopped me from watching on a couple of occasions; it's a movie I want to watch in it's entirety, and not fall asleep half way through, or be broken up over a couple days.

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    3. Sounds like you're really appreciating your new big TV! I still have a little 720p screen. I'm not exactly floating in money, so it'll have to do for now. It's still big in comparison to what I've had before.

      I just sit very close to it! It's on a desk and doubles as my computer monitor. When I visit my parents, with a giant TV, their couch is so far back I find it a worse viewing experience than at home with my smaller one.

      I have a nice stereo system which complements my setup. My parents are just using whatever mono sound the TV is equipped with. But as they're just watching mostly dvd's of TV shows they get from the library, so it's good enough for them.

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    4. great call about connecting thru the stereo! for most of my movie going life ive piecemealed together what i could but i think the biggest improvement came when i started incorporating external elements for sound. makes a great difference!

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  2. Yes, remember when movies were fun?

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    1. Yes, I remember from an hour ago, when a movie was fun! The landscape of movies might be changing a lot, but there's still a ton of good stuff being made.

      And if that ever stops, well there's 100 years of great cinema out there. More than enough to last me until I die.

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    2. "remember when movies were fun". indeed. and honestly im super thankful for it as when i find myself facing a general malaise with regards to current cinema, i dont dwell, i just take it as a sign that i should dig back into so much that ive not seen or stuff meriting a revisit!!!

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  3. Hope everyone had lots of time for movie watching! I love reading everyone’s thoughts about what they’ve seen lately. Some of mine:

    Aftersun (2022, dir. Charlotte Wells) was pretty incredible and should have been in my top 10 of 2022. The sound and camera work really add to the feeling of it being a fragmented memory.

    The Long Riders (1980, dir. Walter Hill). Finally got around to seeing this fun western. I didn’t realize it was about Jesse James. I’ve owned the soundtrack by Ry Cooder since buying it on CD sometime around 2000.

    Thirty Seconds over Tokyo (1944, dir. Mervyn LeRoy) was a wartime “propaganda” movie about The Doolittle Raid following Japan’s attack at Pearl Harbor. The “Golly gee! Isn’t going to war the best!” stuff is contained mostly at the beginning, and the actual raid scene is fantastic, using a mix of actual footage of the mission, model work, and some footage they acquired of real factories being blown up (purposely for demolition). The 2nd half is very interesting, as it was pre-cold war, and the Chinese were depicted very differently than they would be today. They were are as friendly and helpful as the Japanese were evil and ruthless. The romantic subplot can often feel superfluous in war movies, but it works well here and is driving the plot in parts.

    It’s amusing, I was thinking of watching Time after Time (1979) this weekend, and heard it mentioned in passing during 2 separate podcasts in a single day yesterday. I think that’s a sign.

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    1. OOOOO i havent seen Time after Time since i was a kid...i must revisit..i remember realllly loving it. McDowell and Warner!? Cant go wrong!

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  4. AMBULANCE (2022). This certainly had a ton of fast-paced car action, but the plot and character work just didn't work for me. Gyllenhaal keeps ping-ponging from being super intense to being the fun-loving wisecracker, and it never feels like two halves of one character.

    FANTASTIC BEASTS AND THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE (2022). I wasn't expecting much, but I still did not enjoy this. Just a dour, joyless, and overall unpleasant movie.

    SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD (2010). "What's that from?" "My brain!"

    DUAL (2022). I was a little put off by this at first, because everybody's acting is very flat and deadpan, when what I wanted was cool clone fighting. As I got into the movie, I started digging the deadpan humor of it. It's certainly different, but I liked it.

    THE MUNSTERS (2022) with the Blu-ray commentary. It's impressive how they filmed this under incredibly difficult circumstances. Zombie also speaks very smartly about when to be faithful to the source material, and when to mix things up. The movie is still a narrative mess (my apologies, Patrick) but the commentary made me appreciate it much more.

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    1. I really enjoyed the drone camera stuff in Ambulance. I saw the trailer for it sometime last year, and only seconds in I knew it was a Sir Michael Bay movie. The American flags and giant explosions confirmed it. I love giant explosions, and the flags are humorous (I'm not American, so they don't stir anything but comedic amusement on my part). He has such a signature style which is impressive in and of itself. While I don't like most of his movies (transformers=bleh), I'm glad he's still getting the budget to make stuff like this.

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    2. Dual was really great! Who do you think was the surviving woman at the end? I think it's been long enough for spoilers. I thought it was the original person, who inserts herself back into her life (while pretending to be the other), but then regrets it.

      Rob, in the comment section of his review of the movie, said he was certain who the survivor was, but didn't say which, for spoiler reasons.

      But it's completely uncertain. And the movie works no matter who survives. I really loved this one.

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    3. The movie's Wikipedia article insists that it's the clone, but I kind of like your ending better.

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  5. I had an accidental Jean-Louis Trintignant themed movie night today. I watched The Great Silence and Z. Both great movies, the latter being a straight up masterpiece. And it's a shame it never came out on blu-ray in north america

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    1. Hey Kunider, did you end up checking out the Friendly Fire podcast? I've been enjoying another one, the World War II Movie Night podcast. It's just one host (which rarely works, but does in this case), that goes through the plot of the movie and gives his thoughts on them.

      I love Friendly Fire, and relisten to it quite a bit. Two of the hosts have a Star Trek episode watch-through podcast called Greatest Generation which is super funny and fun to listen to as well. If you're watching episodes of TNG, DS9, or Voyager, it's certainly entertaining to listen to their corresponding episode afterwards.

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    2. Yes, i listened to a few episodes. Good stuff

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  6. Patrick's discussion of Ruggero Deodato a couple weeks ago inspired me to re-visit a film had previously appreciated and watch a documentary about the director. That is all I really got to during the week.

    JUNGLE HOLOCAUST or LAST CANNIBAL WORLD (1977) – A petroleum engineer who is captured by a cannibalistic stone-age tribe has to “revert” to savagery to survive. Deodato’s first cannibal entry is among the best of that disreputable genre. The lead performance of Massimo Foschi and Deodato’s commitment to the storytelling gives the film a serious, grim tone that I find appealing. The jungle adventure element is handled very well. The animal killings are not certainly not pleasant or necessary, but they also do not feel completely out of place in certain scenes. The alligator was a bit too much, however. If you are not ready to dip your toe into Cannibal Holocaust yet, Last Cannibal World (my preferred title) is a good test viewing.

    DEODATO HOLOCAUST (2019, dir. Felipe M. Guerra) – Hearing Ruggero Deodato’s version of the controversies of his career is interesting, but the whole story of his career is the best part of this doc for me. It is evident how Cannibal Holocaust was a both a blessing and a curse to him. His dismissive comments about other directors struck me as snobbish. In the end, his perceived integrity served the same exploitative ends as their cinematic efforts. Deodato’s comments about growing up in a time of war also struck a nerve with me. The darkness of post-WWII European cinema has always been one of its most attractive aspects.

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  7. Hi everyone! Happy weekend.

    So we just watched SHOTGUN WEDDING (2023). It was watchable. Jennifer Coolidge is yes, cute and funny. I was surprised they made the pirates native Balinese in 2023. That's a choice. The movie made me wonder: when are divas funny? There must be some instances. Goldie Hawn in Bird On A Wire? Was she a diva? What I'm trying to say is I don't enjoy J Lo's brand of diva. Being unreasonable is not, in itself, that funny. She also does a victim-y kind of diva thing, similar to what Barbra Streisand did in a lot of her later movies. Anyway, I personally think J Lo, like Barbra, was funny in the beginning but got in a rut.

    I watch LOVE AFFAIR (1939) a LOT. I'm super in love with Charles Boyer in it. Warmth and sweetness and fun just radiate out of his eyeballs. His voice is gorrgeous. I just rewatch him saying "Where will you be in six months?" at the end over and over again. Even though he's gorgeous and clearly like electrically charming, it's still amazing that he was famous BEFORE films had sound and people could hear his voice.

    So I watched the remake of it, AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (1957), which is like a word-for-word replica of the script, with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr and they do NOT play it as a comedy, it's like very sullen and sad and...boring. I am not convinced they like each other AT ALL. Same script!

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  8. Oh yeah, i'm topping off the weekend with a few comedies to kill the time. God i miss the 90 minutes comedy. Legally Blonde 1 and 2, Waiting, Still Waiting, Romy And Michelle. Not masterpieces, but fun enough

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  9. Only managed 5 this week, all at home:

    The 36th Chamber of Shaolin in honor of Lunar New Year

    High Fidelity and Maltese Falcon comfort movie rewatches for the umpteenth time each

    The Adventures of Robin Hood, which even on the first watch I'm comfortable calling a masterpiece, after catching up on last year's podcast, followed by the Disney animated Robin Hood which I know is of the xerography period that many people dislike but I love the most. Why doesn't every movie have a framing device where Roger Miller does singsong narration as a lute-playing rooster? Is there still time to incorporate this into Killers of the Flower Moon?

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    1. I rewatched Robin Hood with a friend a few weeks ago, but you post make me realise i'm due for a rewatch of the animation

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    2. I heard "Lute Playing Rooster" is Scorsese's next film!

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    3. Great call about The Adventures of Robin Hood...havent seen in forever but recall just instantly loving it.

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