As always, it’s the weekend, and that means we can talk about anything published this week, or anything you’ve got on your mind. Are you outraged by the outrage overload? Just wanna talk about something great you saw? Here’s the place!
Has anyone had any success getting older family members to watch modern, serialized, non-CBS procedural shows?
I think I successfully got my mom hooked on Arrow and The Flash and Justified, as well (it was just added to Hulu). She didn't like The Good Place. She also hates sci-fi, so something like The Orville and Person of Interest are a no go. She recently got rid of cable, so I'm trying to think of some other shows that may be Boomer-friendly that lend well to binging.
That’s would normally be a good suggestion, but she doesn’t have Prime and I can’t share my password because she has to use her non-Prime Amazon account for her jailbroken Fire Stick. So it’s stuff on Netflix and Hulu she can watch.
One - Little America on Apple TV+ is so very good. It is a much needed escape from...well, everything.
Two - Speaking of Apple TV+ I think people have been too quick to write it off. I think it is growing both in content and quality. Also, it doesn't have to succeed in the same way that other services need to survive. It is part of the larger Apple ecosystem so as long as they have a few shows people really like they will keep buying Apple products to view them.
Three - Not to get all Oscar prediction-ing but I'm seeing that momentum has been building for 1917 and I'm not mad! It's a pretty great film. If the 2020 Oscars comes down to 1917 and Parasite then we all win.
Hope everybody is doing well! Take care of yourselves out there.
I'm going to write about Little America for the next Friday snapshot. I agree with you. It's wonderful.
I'm curious to see what happens with Apple Plus. On the one hand, there's no real rudder. They're just throwing stuff at the wall, and not a ton of stuff. But they're not a channel. They don't need to fill hours. Streaming is different, and that's important to remember.
I've thought a bit about the Best Picture nominees this year, and ultimately land on the following:
Eight of the nine films would make for a fine winner this year (*avoids eye contact with Joker*). That said, there are at least two films I would happily swap in for my lower tier titles. A binary between 1917 and Parasite is fine, and I find plenty to like in both, which is more than I could say a year ago. But there is a chasm filled with movies that got overlooked, and that bothers me.
0. Avoiding outrage here, because it's so readily (and justifiably) visible elsewhere.
1. Hoping The Good Place sticks the landing. This week's episode provides a good setup.
2. William Gibson's _Agency_ dropped, but I'm picking up my copy when the man himself visits this upcoming week. Trying to avoid spoilers, but it sounds just as good as The Peripheral.
I thought AGENCY was dense and fascinating, and I'm happy to see Gibson still throwing heat.
If this had been the last episode of THE GOOD PLACE, it would have been a solid landing. Now I'm curious what they could possibly have in mind with 90 more minutes. We're being fucked with. Wildly. We do not fully know what we've been watching yet.
Wondering if they will simply have a very human ending with the team spending time together (stretched out over hundreds of years) before each one moves through the door to non existence. I can see them focusing on each member up till the point they walk through.
I don't NEED them to pull the rug out from under me. I don't trust them to have played all their cards yet, either. It's one of the rare shows where I have faith that they know where they're going, and I don't want to get ahead of them.
They earned that. They've been so good about making the big points but remaining wildly funny and inventive and weird. It would be nice to just enjoy this final stretch with everyone.
100% would be more than happy with that ending. Reading over the paragraph makes it sound like that would be a disappointment. I can't think of anything more moving than an ending as final as that for characters you see attached too.
Good point about this past ep possibly serving as a solid landing. IMHO it means Megan Amram should get to run a show... An Emmy for Megan (the Hard Way).
Mike Schur has a great track record of sticking he landing. His Parks & Rec finale was fantastic, and his work on The Office finale almost made me forget the terrible last couple of seasons. I'm also hoping he is allowed to craft a great ending to the underrated Brooklyn Nine-Nine as well!
Oh yeah, while we never watched them when they aired, we did the binge thing on both Parks & Rec and The Office. And B99 doesn't have a "final season" yet, does it?
Watched Serenity (2019) last night. Has to be seen to be believed. And I’m still not sure I believe that it exists. Would make a great WTF double feature with Winter’s Tale.
I got spoiled (or at least pieced together some of the bigger reveals ahead of time) on SERENITY. And yet, I still admired the audacity. There is a good movie in there somewhere. I was more inclined to pair it with EXISTENZ. Different aesthetics to be sure, but for me they were on similar wavelengths.
First, thank you Drew for offering this space every week. Grateful for a place to talk about what I watch with less noise.
I finally got to I LOST MY BODY this week. I wish I took away from it what you did. I lost sympathy for Naoufel early on, and by the time that story intersected with that of the hand, I was largely disengaged.
Life hasn't allowed for a ton of movie watching, but I'm excited to revisit PARASITE (which just landed in my digital library), and I'm considering a rewatch of KNIVES OUT, in the hope it reveals more on second viewing. Later this week I'm seeing JOJO RABBIT again, with Taika Waititi in attendance. Can't wait.
On the TV front, I dove headfirst into THE EXPANSE, and I'm hooked. Also started UNDONE, the rotoscoped Amazon series from the guy who made BOJACK HORSEMAN. I havent wrapped my head around it yet, but I still want more.
I think Naoufel starts as a guy chasing an idea of a girl instead of a guy who is interested in a real person, and part of what I like is how that ultimately hurts him. We get conditioned by romantic movies to believe that certain types of gestures are romantic, but we are rarely taught how to approach someone openly and honestly. I like seeing that refuted in films, and I think this is ultimately about realizing how immature that is.
In the beginning stages of loading my own media server (Emby, not Plex). Expanse really makes me want to drop my current DVD rip queue and just start ripping all my Battlestar Galactica disks to drive.
I took my parents (both in their 60s, and fascinated by British crime dramas) to see this over Thanksgiving, thinking it would at least entertain them. They ADORED it. Are there films from 2019 I liked more? Probably. Are there films from 2019 I'm more excited to revisit? That's tougher.
I felt that strongly after my first viewing. When they sent it as an end-of-the-year screener and I was able to show it to my girlfriend and my kids, I realized just how much I enjoyed it. That's a real factor for me... am I excited about sharing this film with other people, whether writing about it or actually sitting down and showing it to them? And KNIVES OUT is a film I can see revisiting as a pure pleasure in the future. It was even better a second time.
I had the opposite reaction. I usually enjoy films more on repeat viewings, but so much of Knives Out’s appeal is in the chase and the reveal, knowing how it all plays out for me lessened the experience, so much so that I’m not sure I’ll even buy it now when it’s released. Of course I’ll need to see it again to be sure, but this might be one of those excellent films that I don’t need to revisit.
I was pretty lukewarm on KNIVES OUT on first viewing... I really didn't like the dynamic between Marta and all the white folks (they are very Prescriptive on how she should be living her life, to the point that there are multiple times in the movie she's about to say what she wants and a white person speaks for her). But second time around, the fact that Ana de Armas was central, and got so much screen time, and is a wide open, vulnerable actor overcame all that. And she does have a specific, strong moment of personal agency and it's clear that the intent of her arc is that she opts out of the structure that the Thrombeys have grown up in. (Also second time around: nice little touch when Linda says to communicate with Harlan you have to come up with a "little game").
It's weird... now that I don't write about marketing materials, I'll watch a trailer once, maybe show it to my kids if I thought it was cool or my girlfriend if I think she'll want to see the film with me, and then that's it. I don't watch them repeatedly, and I think it's starting to really help me re-engage with the films as films instead of things I have to count down to.
Which is not to rain on you for doing it. It's just weird... I used to watch them more often, especially for big-ticket stuff.
Not weird at all. Especially considering how many you had to watch and pore over in the past. Must feel like a relief not to have to do that.
While I’m not a “no trailers” zealot, I rarely watch them more then once or twice. The TENET one just seems like such a piece of art in its own right, like PTA’s have become. It’s not only telling you what the movie is, It’s preparing you for how to watch it. Haven’t seen something quite like it since... THE MATRIX? It’s not just the plot elements or many little clues/tricks, but the tone and vibe — without laying out the whole bloody plot. I can only assume Nolan cuts then himself.
Yup. Gotta go watch it again now. Christ I hope the movie’s as good...
Btw, thanks for this space. Feels like an old Movie Nerd Newsgroup. I’m home again...
Thanks for using it! That's the point. Once I have commenting turned on for paid subscribers, I look forward to conversation on all of the pieces, but I am going to make sure I keep the Saturday place open for everyone.
At least once a day. It's kinda like watching football on Boise State's blue turf... my mind doesn't believe what my eyes are seeing in the trailer and tries to "fix" it. It's freaking amazing.
Nolan always seems to know exactly what I want without me knowing what I want. His movies are original and engaging, which is more precious than gold in today's world. The man is a true artistic genius and yet, has a blank check from WB to do these insanely large scale movies with the spirit of independent films.
Got a new job near the end of last year, so I missed out on some movies, shows, etc... still playing catch up. You may have answered this one, but how do you determine what you’re going to watch on a daily/weekly basis?
In life outside of pop culture, my Dawgs just fixed their biggest issue from 2019 by hiring an OC that can run a modern offense. This means for the first time since Kirby's been in Athens our outstanding defense (projected to be the best in CFB in 2020) will be paired with an offense designed to get the ball to players in space over the middle and down the field for maximum YAC. No more will we stubbornly play inside a 20 yard phone booth, only throwing the ball outside the hashes. As a result, there's not much to complain about right now on that front. Not happy the Braves let Donaldson sign with the Twins, but it was always a leap to expect uninvested ownership to spend like drunken sailors on shore leave.
The backdoor pilot for Green Arrow and the Canaries was okay, but not as good as I was hoping it would be. The last few Arrowverse shows haven't been very good, sacrificing good storytelling and character development for preachy nonsense that appeals to smaller and smaller audiences (check the ratings). It's possible to tell great stories with any message you want (check out any Whedonverse show or most good sci-fi like the original Star Trek, DS9, or BSG for proof of that), but to do so in such an un-artful way makes for painful viewing. I'm not against messages, whatever they may be, in a television show. I just want it to be entertaining, but these newer, younger writers forget to make entertainment their top priority.
Be they novelists, comic book writers, screenwriters, or TV writers: To them, the message is more important than the story. Instead of using allegory or metaphor as a way to reach their audience, they preach. Perhaps they're worried the audience is too stupid to understand? Regardless of the reason, it vastly lessens the impact of the message and shrinks the audience because no one wants to be preached-to or even worse, -at. If you want people to learn a lesson, or consider a different point of view, it's much better to come at them sideways. To bluntly hammer your point home is a quick way to be ignored. You must first seek to entertain. If you can entertain, your desired message will be far easier received. A spoonful of sugar and all that. Someone sit all the millennial writers down and have them collectively binge old episodes of Star Trek and Buffy to see what it means to write entertaining stories that contain important messages.
As far as what's playing at the theater, I'd love to go see The Last Full Measure, if only because God knows how much longer Christopher Plummer will be around and he's a National Treasure. The "true life" story looks amazing, and the cast is solid all around. Other than that, the films getting wide release over the first few months of the year look kinda bleak. I hope Call of the Wild will be good, because I love the novel and Harrison Ford in equal measure. I'm curious about Birds of Prey and if DC can keep its recent win streak alive. I will avoid the ridiculous-looking Taylor Swift documentary Miss Americana because it looks, almost beat-for-beat, like a real-life (and thus incredibly lame and sad) version of the (prescient?) The Lonely Island film: Popstar - Never Stop Never Stopping.
Did anyone else get Popstar vibes when watching that trailer on Netflix? The lack of self-awareness from all involved is baffling. I'll just rewatch It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood to satisfy my documentary ya-yas.
I wish I still lived there, but I'm in Atlanta! The time I spent at UGA was the best time of my life, as college generally is for most people! I've had season tickets the last few years (won't be able to afford them this year) and loved getting back 5-6 times a year. For the day games I would always make sure to stop into Wuxtry and buy any good vinyl I could find. It's always amazing to see how things change from autumn to autumn. Transmetropolitan shut down and was replaced by another pizza place. There are more chain stores and restaurants (yuck) downtown. It's nice there are some things that'll never change, though: Little Italy, Walkers, Last Resort, Horton's, 40 Watt, and The Georgia Theater.
My plan is to retire in Athens. The sooner the better!
Gonna rewatch The Matrix Trilogy this weekend. Just finished the first and it really is wild how it just plays like gangbusters every time you watch it.
Might also try to dive into Miyazaki for the first time this weekend as well.
I love the trilogy. Rewatching them in college opened them up for me knowing to not expect the first one. And this will be my second rewatch since college. They're just so big and wild and entertaining that I can't help but love them.
Having finished the trilogy, it is very surprising to me that the Wachowski's haven't worked with Lindelof on something. Seems to be aLOT of overlap in thematic concerns and a swing for the fences gutsiness.
I'm gonna start from the beginning with Cagliostro. Have never seen one of his stuff. Big blind spot and the Blank Check podcast has really sold me on them. Luckily enough Amazon was doing a buy 2 get 1 free sale and a few of his movies were apart of it.
Let us know what you think. I didn't get my education in Miyazaki until MONONOKE came out here in the US, and then UCLA did a screening series of everything so I saw them all theatrically. Holy shit, what a week that was.
Dying to know what you think of TOTORO and KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE from the early batch of stuff, as well as NAUSICAA, which is one of the most amazing fantasy films ever made.
I once had plans to do the same thing late last year when I got The Matrix on 4K UHD Blu Ray. The first film is still mind-blowing in many different ways, not just for the stunts, but for the allegory of The Matrix itself, and how scarily it applies to our modern lives.
I than began watching the second film and quickly turned stopped. Better to remember how great the first film is and "forget" there are any sequels.
Apparently missed the news yesterday Netflix got a deal with Criterion to bring Irishman and Marriage Story on a physical disk. I hope more movies are on the way
The report I saw also included AMERICAN FACTORY and ATLANTICS. I like the idea of a marriage between Criterion and Netflix, I worry about the speed at which those films are being added to the collection.
They were such a huge part of the '90s for me. I personally have a soft spot for any commentary with Kurt Russell and John Carpenter together. They're so hilarious, so loose, and it's like they forget the microphones are there.
I'm kind of partial to the DVD commentary for THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED, Kirby Dick's documentary on movie ratings. :)
I don’t know why but I’m partial to the Graham Yost and Mark Gordon track for Speed. They sound like an old married couple and the banter is hilarious. Oh and PTA’s for Boogie Nights, natch!
I can’t recall if the whole thing is worth listening to, and now I’m not even sure if it was The Killer or Hard Boiled, but John Woo’s opening on the commentary of one of those discs was the greatest thing I’d heard at that time.
Ghostbusters has a great commentary track with Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis. I haven't checked it out for the 4K release, but for the 20th Anniverary DVD, they did it like MST3K with their shadows super-imposed on the screen.
They're coming back! I'm seeing them on the Apple movies I buy more and more, and Criterion Channel includes them often as well.
Faves:
THE THING -- Russell and Carpenter. Just the best.
BOOGIE NIGHTS (special ed) -- a rare PTA one. Two, actually -- one just him, one with him and the cast. Harder to find now, but worth hunting down.
THE LIMEY -- Soderbergh and Lem Dobbs, arguing, commiserating, and talking a LOT of craft.
MALLRATS -- not a fave movie, but the commentary makes it worth the purchase. Affleck is in his "No one's listening to these, right?" mode (see also the Criterion ARMAGEDDON, if you can). I'm glad he's clean these days, but Jay Mewes is a damn funny stoned drunk, and I think he's passed out at the end. Basically a good night hanging with drinking buddies.
GODFATHER TRILOGY -- Coppola is just delightful, and lots of fun anecdotes about two of the best movies ever made (and hey, can you blame a proud papa watching his daughter in the 3rd?)
MISHIMA -- I would listen to Paul Schrader talk about anything. Talking about his best movie (one of the best ever made) is even better.
RULES OF ATTRACTION -- not a movie I like. At all. But it has a surprise commentary track -- by Carrot Top, who has never seen the movie and doesn't know anything about it. Listening to him react to the date rape/vomitting scene makes that movie almost worthwhile.
I was fortunate enough to see Color Out of Space in my areas only screening. I had about the same amount of excitement going in as I did for Blair Witch. Back in 1999, I walked out totally disappointed and bored. With Color I walked out with a huge smile, and so did my 16-yr-old son. We thought it was a blast.
I missed Hardware when I was in the Navy - I was either out at sea or drunk in a gutter - but I’m going to seek that out. And Dust Devil too. Oh, and Lost Soul is on Prime now.
Thanks to The Movie Crypt for interviewing Stanley, or I would have missed the boat again.
I'm so happy to see horror fans showing up to support Stanley's work, and to see them happy about what they're seeing. I am flipping out about the news he wants to do Dunwich Horror next. Yes, please!
You mentioned Roger Zelazny's THE GUNS OF AVALON in this week's books. I just wanted to <slow clap> that. Zelazny is my literary hero. I just finished that a week ago and am rereading book three of the Amber Chronicles, THE SIGN OF THE UNICORN as we speak. I'm also reading his disciples, Steven Brust's book DRAGON and QUILLIFER from Walter Jon Williams.
I like them a lot. Zelazny overall? Great. The Amber series is such a weird, wild idea, and sort of like he's playing this long game of exquisite corpse with himself. I've got the first five loaded up on the Kindle. I just got the itch to read them again between other stuff.
Watched THE BLACK HOLE for the first time last night. Not a great movie, but the John Barry score felt like an evolution of MOONRAKER. Nice wireframe graphics on the opening credits as well.
Hey Drew, that TerraMaster NAS you mentioned for Plex. Does that plug directly into your computer or does it need a rack as a bypass? Thinking of upgrading.
There isn't a single movie I'm looking forward to more than Dune. But I'm also terrified because I think the studio might try to sell it as something more "mainstream " than it actually is. Like Jigsaw says: "I wanna play a game ". If you were a marketing executive, how would you market Dune, to make it clear what kind of story it is, but also to appeal to people unfamiliar with it.
My heart goes out to the Bryant family and any Angelinos here and everywhere. I love sports every bit as much as I love movies, and today is a shocking, terrible, sad, awful day. No icon I ever cheered and loved the way Angelinos felt about Kobe Bryant has ever been taken in such a way, so young, and with so much more to give to his community. There had been things Kobe had been putting into motion the last year or so to create a charitable legacy that would've been his lasting mark on the world. We can only hope his wife and family can carry this on his name.
Today brings to mind the lasting message Jonathan Larson left us before he too died far too young:
There's only us. There's only this. Forget regret, or life is your's to miss. No other road. No other way. No day but today.
Saw the Director's Cut of "Doctor Sleep" this weekend. That movie was way better than I thought it would be and I really think Mike Flanagan is turning into a director to look out for. "Hush", "Gerald's Game", "Haunting Of Hill House", "Doctor Sleep"... that guy has quite a track record!
Not this weekend but this week i saw A Beautiful day in the neighborhood. What a powerful movie! The movie doesnt come out til March in my country and we have no relationship whatever with Mr Rogers´ figure but the movie absolutely destroyed me. It is probably the most powerful study in recent years about the experience of being human and try to be a good person. Marielle Heller is a powerful filmaker. The final shot of the movie destroyed me
With Scott Derrickson pulling out of Dr Strange. I think a great replacement would be Richard Stanley and just wanted to back up what Drew said and if you have seen the documentary about the making of The Island of Dr. Moreau please do so!
Seeing that Mr. McWeeny had mentioned in a previous post that he had watched The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock I would like to share an experience I had with some younger(roughly 2 years or so younger then a guy like me who is 30) geeks watching some "big people" focused 50s/60s Sci-Fi movies on a Discord server back in late July 2019.
It was a delightful experience watching these younger people engage with these corny movies on a genuine level appreciation and curiosity. They loved talking about all sorts ancillary details of 50s culture, and the the cliches of 50s monsters movies. For instance, any time a shapely dressed heroic male scientist showed up to explain a movie's pseudoscience, that character was always dubbed Chad by the chat.
They also loved rooting for Dorothy Provine in 30ft Bride and anytime there was giant woman in one of these movies. Even when the movies didn't end the way they would want them too(especially since 30 ft Bride REALLY goes off the rails in the end) they loved seeing these female characters become so assertive and powerful in defiance of 50s culture norms.
It also gave a new found appreciation of the last film of the stream, the 1993 version of Attack of the 50 ft Woman. While that movie is frankly a mess(it opens with three different framing devices and never returns to either of them, WTF man?) it's ending is surprisingly cathartic after watching the previous movies were the giants are gunned down or defeated by other means.
Other highlights from the is stream included:
Several LGBTQ members watching the dancing teens from Village of the Giants and asking if this is what heterosexuality is like.
The affection they had for the bumbling Eddie Deezenesque sheriff's deputy in Attack of the 50ft Woman and his female counterpart in the remake.
Their utter befuddlement at the climax of 30ft Bride and the "single celled heart" explanation of of The Amazing Colossal Man.
Have finally gotten in my first substantial week of moviewatching this year. Watched "Harriet" finally (really good biopic), a short called "Miss Freelance," rewatched the "Bad Boys" flicks in prep for the new one, saw my first theatrical film in Almodovar's "Pain and Glory," rewatched "Top Gun" with my wife, and saw Malick's "A Hidden Life," rewatched "Pulp Fiction" for the first time in years, and showed my wife "2050," which I recorded a critics commentary for.
Of the new films, "Pain and Glory" and "A Hidden Life" probably had the strongest impact on me. "Pain and Glory" felt like a rejuvenating experience for me, much in the same way Banderas's Salvador feels rejuvenated when he revisits his most well-known film, and almost watches it with new perspective, leading him to reconnect with the star he was bitter towards for the liberties he took in his performance. This may be my favorite Almodovar film, and it would be great to see Banderas win an Oscar for the role. "A Hidden Life" spoke to me as an example of a man who is undeterred in his convictions in how he stands up to the evil of Hitler in WWII, even if it means never being able to go back to his life. Malick is someone I am hot and cold on, but this one resonated with me unexpectedly.
I have to say I loved HARRIET when I saw it, but then my wife & I came home and did some research only to find major characters/events/plot points were highly dramatized and invented. It made me feel a lot differently about it. The film works, but the narrative choices they made in the script baffle me. It's very much the same as RICHARD JEWELL. I watched my screener of it, loved the film and then realized that the bit about the reporter sleeping with Hamm's character wasn't based on fact. I think when you look at both HARRIET & RICHARD JEWELL it's surprising why they needed to make stuff/people/events up. Both stories work without the fictional elements slipped into them. I wish both had left the dramatization stuff out. I don't see why they couldn't tell both of those stories based on actual history/facts and they wouldn't be compelling.
After Scorsese’s recent comments, I decided to rewatch Goodfellas. I saw The Irishman in the cinema, and thought it was fine, so I was curious how Goodfellas would hold up for me. And as much as it’s a good movie, I kind of felt the same way I did about The Irishman, it was fine. As much Marvel movies are fun rides, I don’t know that these films are really saying all that much either. But I’m alright with that, I mainly want to be entertained, and if it’s stories aimed at a wide general audience or more adult audience, it’s all the same to me. Maybe. I don’t know.
I did the double feature of the live action Attack On Titan films last night, and while I can see Goodfellas and The Irishman being better films, neither of them have the simple joy of seeing men in rubber suits beating each other up in. That’s where I seem to be at these days.
You have mentioned it before, but the need for movies to now throw everything out of the window so they can franchise and run forever reared its ugly head again with Bad Boys. Whilst I would love to see more craziness like BB2, BB3 was doing a decent job of being a decent action movie like part 1 until that ending. Having his son kill the captain (who is at his daughters Bball game) and then ending the movie instantly wiping that slate and setting the son up as the next hero to follow is hard to swallow. FF did it with Statham but this takes it to a new level. Makes it hard to recommend the movie at all and surprised most reviewers had no issue with it.
My week has been all over the place. Absolutely loved KNIVES + HEART — I kinda thought I didn’t need slashers in my life anymore but this was just gorgeous. Caught WITHOUT RESERVATIONS, one of the only straight romcoms John Wayne ever did, and it was pretty delightful, and hard to find (so thanks TCM). I scored twice on the Criterion Channel with 1) THE PROFESSIONALS, a really fun Lee Marvin heist-y western, and BAXTER, a film I’d never heard of, but belongs right beside WHITE DOG as the darkest dog-movies ever made (basically it’s a Dog-meets-Nazi story). Wanted to love QUEEN & SLIM but only liked; loved most of SLEEPING BEAUTY (the weird sleeping sex one, not the Disney); and then topped if off with the Nazisploitation flick THE BEAST IN HEAT (for reasons). ~Fin~
I keep getting KNIVES + HEART and KNIVES AND SKIN confused as titles, even though they're nothing alike as movies. BAXTER's wild, right? Saw that one theatrically a million years ago and couldn't stop laughing at the sheer audacity.
That's partly because I keep misspelling it: It's KNIFE + HEART. Versus KNIVES AND SKIN. Versus KNIVES OUT. Verses KNIVERS + KNIFE. Ok I made up that last one
I recently finished an ebook from Kindle Unlimited titled Pixels to Premieres: A History of Video Game Movies. It was more of a book of reviews of video game adjacent movies in chronological order but I enjoyed it. I've been on a heavy cosmic horror kick as well reading and research wise and cannot wait for Stanley's A Colour Out of Space. I am currently reading The Netherwell Horror by Lee Mountford which I'm enjoying. I usually read a lot of nonfiction about film but I am trying to read more fiction this year.
As far as new stuff I have watched, I got a chance to sit down with A Perfect Host (2019) aka Adonis Complex. It releases next month and I really liked it. It was a weird little thriller and one folks should keep an eye out for,
I remember you had an encounter with Robert Urich. Am watching Yr 2 of Spenser for Hire. Did you like the show any? He was a pretty good TV guy--big screen not so much.
I just saw The Gentleman today and it was surprisingly really enjoyable! Definitely a diverting type of flick but for a January release it was a very pleasant surprise.
I impulse went to see The Turning on Thursday night and kinda loved it and I’m quickly realizing I may be in a very small minority. I liked the ending and the audience seemed really into the movie as a whole until the last ten or so minutes. Gorgeous looking movie at the very least, sadly I think it’ll be forgotten as a dud January horror movie. Curious if anyone else even remotely liked it.
I'm curious about reports that this was a Spielberg pet project at one point and that he was on set for quite a bit of it. Especially since there's not a whiff of him on the final release.
Even more scandalous is now both Finn Wolfhard and Floria Sigismondi have said in recent interviews that Spielberg was never on set but gave notes. Who knows what actually went down. But as I watch the internet just pile on this movie I feel like I saw something entirely different.
It's wonderful, right? She's a great writer and she found a great subject. It's a really interesting take on what could have been a straightforward biographical piece.
Has anyone had any success getting older family members to watch modern, serialized, non-CBS procedural shows?
I think I successfully got my mom hooked on Arrow and The Flash and Justified, as well (it was just added to Hulu). She didn't like The Good Place. She also hates sci-fi, so something like The Orville and Person of Interest are a no go. She recently got rid of cable, so I'm trying to think of some other shows that may be Boomer-friendly that lend well to binging.
My parents flipped for Yellowstone. Give that one a try.
I'll let her know, thanks!
What about the The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel??
That’s would normally be a good suggestion, but she doesn’t have Prime and I can’t share my password because she has to use her non-Prime Amazon account for her jailbroken Fire Stick. So it’s stuff on Netflix and Hulu she can watch.
There are very few perfect films but damned if The Apartment isn’t one of them.
Don't know what prompted this, but amen, brother. Amen.
Comedy and tragedy are dancing on such a fine line in it. It’s a miracle of a movie.
Did you buy The Arrow Academy SE Blu Ray of The Apartment? It's almost the equal of a Criterion release it's so good.
No but that sounds wonderful! Thanks for the tip🙂
Yeah, those Arrow releases have gotten to be pretty great, though it is a little weird that The Apartment is not on Criterion.
Three things are on my mind after this week:
One - Little America on Apple TV+ is so very good. It is a much needed escape from...well, everything.
Two - Speaking of Apple TV+ I think people have been too quick to write it off. I think it is growing both in content and quality. Also, it doesn't have to succeed in the same way that other services need to survive. It is part of the larger Apple ecosystem so as long as they have a few shows people really like they will keep buying Apple products to view them.
Three - Not to get all Oscar prediction-ing but I'm seeing that momentum has been building for 1917 and I'm not mad! It's a pretty great film. If the 2020 Oscars comes down to 1917 and Parasite then we all win.
Hope everybody is doing well! Take care of yourselves out there.
I'm going to write about Little America for the next Friday snapshot. I agree with you. It's wonderful.
I'm curious to see what happens with Apple Plus. On the one hand, there's no real rudder. They're just throwing stuff at the wall, and not a ton of stuff. But they're not a channel. They don't need to fill hours. Streaming is different, and that's important to remember.
Little America is great so far. I’m three episodes in & trying to pace myself thru the rest so it’ll last...
I've thought a bit about the Best Picture nominees this year, and ultimately land on the following:
Eight of the nine films would make for a fine winner this year (*avoids eye contact with Joker*). That said, there are at least two films I would happily swap in for my lower tier titles. A binary between 1917 and Parasite is fine, and I find plenty to like in both, which is more than I could say a year ago. But there is a chasm filled with movies that got overlooked, and that bothers me.
0. Avoiding outrage here, because it's so readily (and justifiably) visible elsewhere.
1. Hoping The Good Place sticks the landing. This week's episode provides a good setup.
2. William Gibson's _Agency_ dropped, but I'm picking up my copy when the man himself visits this upcoming week. Trying to avoid spoilers, but it sounds just as good as The Peripheral.
I thought AGENCY was dense and fascinating, and I'm happy to see Gibson still throwing heat.
If this had been the last episode of THE GOOD PLACE, it would have been a solid landing. Now I'm curious what they could possibly have in mind with 90 more minutes. We're being fucked with. Wildly. We do not fully know what we've been watching yet.
Can't wait to see the ending.
Wondering if they will simply have a very human ending with the team spending time together (stretched out over hundreds of years) before each one moves through the door to non existence. I can see them focusing on each member up till the point they walk through.
See, I'm good with that!
I don't NEED them to pull the rug out from under me. I don't trust them to have played all their cards yet, either. It's one of the rare shows where I have faith that they know where they're going, and I don't want to get ahead of them.
They earned that. They've been so good about making the big points but remaining wildly funny and inventive and weird. It would be nice to just enjoy this final stretch with everyone.
I will miss this show more than most.
100% would be more than happy with that ending. Reading over the paragraph makes it sound like that would be a disappointment. I can't think of anything more moving than an ending as final as that for characters you see attached too.
Good point about this past ep possibly serving as a solid landing. IMHO it means Megan Amram should get to run a show... An Emmy for Megan (the Hard Way).
Mike Schur has a great track record of sticking he landing. His Parks & Rec finale was fantastic, and his work on The Office finale almost made me forget the terrible last couple of seasons. I'm also hoping he is allowed to craft a great ending to the underrated Brooklyn Nine-Nine as well!
Oh yeah, while we never watched them when they aired, we did the binge thing on both Parks & Rec and The Office. And B99 doesn't have a "final season" yet, does it?
B99 has been renewed for an eighth season (although I don't know how much longer that will go)
Watched Serenity (2019) last night. Has to be seen to be believed. And I’m still not sure I believe that it exists. Would make a great WTF double feature with Winter’s Tale.
I got spoiled (or at least pieced together some of the bigger reveals ahead of time) on SERENITY. And yet, I still admired the audacity. There is a good movie in there somewhere. I was more inclined to pair it with EXISTENZ. Different aesthetics to be sure, but for me they were on similar wavelengths.
Can’t go with you on that comparison. eXistenZ is smart and audacious. Serenity is audacious but is far from smart.
I don't disagree, and I think that's part of what makes them a curious pairing
First, thank you Drew for offering this space every week. Grateful for a place to talk about what I watch with less noise.
I finally got to I LOST MY BODY this week. I wish I took away from it what you did. I lost sympathy for Naoufel early on, and by the time that story intersected with that of the hand, I was largely disengaged.
Life hasn't allowed for a ton of movie watching, but I'm excited to revisit PARASITE (which just landed in my digital library), and I'm considering a rewatch of KNIVES OUT, in the hope it reveals more on second viewing. Later this week I'm seeing JOJO RABBIT again, with Taika Waititi in attendance. Can't wait.
On the TV front, I dove headfirst into THE EXPANSE, and I'm hooked. Also started UNDONE, the rotoscoped Amazon series from the guy who made BOJACK HORSEMAN. I havent wrapped my head around it yet, but I still want more.
I think Naoufel starts as a guy chasing an idea of a girl instead of a guy who is interested in a real person, and part of what I like is how that ultimately hurts him. We get conditioned by romantic movies to believe that certain types of gestures are romantic, but we are rarely taught how to approach someone openly and honestly. I like seeing that refuted in films, and I think this is ultimately about realizing how immature that is.
The Expanse is one of my favorites from recent years. I still haven’t gotten around to the newest season but am really looking forward to it.
I'm 3/4 thru Season 2 now (the Roci just got to Ganymede). Took some time to get invested, but now I'm hooked.
The Expanse - finally enjoyable TV Sci-Fi.
In the beginning stages of loading my own media server (Emby, not Plex). Expanse really makes me want to drop my current DVD rip queue and just start ripping all my Battlestar Galactica disks to drive.
KNIVES OUT was the best time I had in the cinema in 2019. (Not the /best/ film, but the most entertaining one.)
I took my parents (both in their 60s, and fascinated by British crime dramas) to see this over Thanksgiving, thinking it would at least entertain them. They ADORED it. Are there films from 2019 I liked more? Probably. Are there films from 2019 I'm more excited to revisit? That's tougher.
I felt that strongly after my first viewing. When they sent it as an end-of-the-year screener and I was able to show it to my girlfriend and my kids, I realized just how much I enjoyed it. That's a real factor for me... am I excited about sharing this film with other people, whether writing about it or actually sitting down and showing it to them? And KNIVES OUT is a film I can see revisiting as a pure pleasure in the future. It was even better a second time.
I had the opposite reaction. I usually enjoy films more on repeat viewings, but so much of Knives Out’s appeal is in the chase and the reveal, knowing how it all plays out for me lessened the experience, so much so that I’m not sure I’ll even buy it now when it’s released. Of course I’ll need to see it again to be sure, but this might be one of those excellent films that I don’t need to revisit.
So much of the appeal on the second viewing was enjoying how airtight it is, knowing what's going on. It's beautifully built.
I was pretty lukewarm on KNIVES OUT on first viewing... I really didn't like the dynamic between Marta and all the white folks (they are very Prescriptive on how she should be living her life, to the point that there are multiple times in the movie she's about to say what she wants and a white person speaks for her). But second time around, the fact that Ana de Armas was central, and got so much screen time, and is a wide open, vulnerable actor overcame all that. And she does have a specific, strong moment of personal agency and it's clear that the intent of her arc is that she opts out of the structure that the Thrombeys have grown up in. (Also second time around: nice little touch when Linda says to communicate with Harlan you have to come up with a "little game").
Anyone else watching and rewatching the TENET trailer still? Just me? Didn’t realize how much I’d missed High Concept Action Nolan, I guess...
It's weird... now that I don't write about marketing materials, I'll watch a trailer once, maybe show it to my kids if I thought it was cool or my girlfriend if I think she'll want to see the film with me, and then that's it. I don't watch them repeatedly, and I think it's starting to really help me re-engage with the films as films instead of things I have to count down to.
Which is not to rain on you for doing it. It's just weird... I used to watch them more often, especially for big-ticket stuff.
Not weird at all. Especially considering how many you had to watch and pore over in the past. Must feel like a relief not to have to do that.
While I’m not a “no trailers” zealot, I rarely watch them more then once or twice. The TENET one just seems like such a piece of art in its own right, like PTA’s have become. It’s not only telling you what the movie is, It’s preparing you for how to watch it. Haven’t seen something quite like it since... THE MATRIX? It’s not just the plot elements or many little clues/tricks, but the tone and vibe — without laying out the whole bloody plot. I can only assume Nolan cuts then himself.
Yup. Gotta go watch it again now. Christ I hope the movie’s as good...
Btw, thanks for this space. Feels like an old Movie Nerd Newsgroup. I’m home again...
Thanks for using it! That's the point. Once I have commenting turned on for paid subscribers, I look forward to conversation on all of the pieces, but I am going to make sure I keep the Saturday place open for everyone.
Digging it so far!
At least once a day. It's kinda like watching football on Boise State's blue turf... my mind doesn't believe what my eyes are seeing in the trailer and tries to "fix" it. It's freaking amazing.
Yup. You seen the “backwards” version. Crazy how well the audio still works. And how many scenes are actually in reverse.
Nolan always seems to know exactly what I want without me knowing what I want. His movies are original and engaging, which is more precious than gold in today's world. The man is a true artistic genius and yet, has a blank check from WB to do these insanely large scale movies with the spirit of independent films.
Got a new job near the end of last year, so I missed out on some movies, shows, etc... still playing catch up. You may have answered this one, but how do you determine what you’re going to watch on a daily/weekly basis?
A lot of it is random. I'll be getting into it on Monday in a new column.
I have stuff earmarked that I want to watch, stuff I need to watch, and then I throw in pure chance with my Big Honkin' Movie Jukebox.
Fair warning... it's all tl;dr.
In life outside of pop culture, my Dawgs just fixed their biggest issue from 2019 by hiring an OC that can run a modern offense. This means for the first time since Kirby's been in Athens our outstanding defense (projected to be the best in CFB in 2020) will be paired with an offense designed to get the ball to players in space over the middle and down the field for maximum YAC. No more will we stubbornly play inside a 20 yard phone booth, only throwing the ball outside the hashes. As a result, there's not much to complain about right now on that front. Not happy the Braves let Donaldson sign with the Twins, but it was always a leap to expect uninvested ownership to spend like drunken sailors on shore leave.
The backdoor pilot for Green Arrow and the Canaries was okay, but not as good as I was hoping it would be. The last few Arrowverse shows haven't been very good, sacrificing good storytelling and character development for preachy nonsense that appeals to smaller and smaller audiences (check the ratings). It's possible to tell great stories with any message you want (check out any Whedonverse show or most good sci-fi like the original Star Trek, DS9, or BSG for proof of that), but to do so in such an un-artful way makes for painful viewing. I'm not against messages, whatever they may be, in a television show. I just want it to be entertaining, but these newer, younger writers forget to make entertainment their top priority.
Be they novelists, comic book writers, screenwriters, or TV writers: To them, the message is more important than the story. Instead of using allegory or metaphor as a way to reach their audience, they preach. Perhaps they're worried the audience is too stupid to understand? Regardless of the reason, it vastly lessens the impact of the message and shrinks the audience because no one wants to be preached-to or even worse, -at. If you want people to learn a lesson, or consider a different point of view, it's much better to come at them sideways. To bluntly hammer your point home is a quick way to be ignored. You must first seek to entertain. If you can entertain, your desired message will be far easier received. A spoonful of sugar and all that. Someone sit all the millennial writers down and have them collectively binge old episodes of Star Trek and Buffy to see what it means to write entertaining stories that contain important messages.
As far as what's playing at the theater, I'd love to go see The Last Full Measure, if only because God knows how much longer Christopher Plummer will be around and he's a National Treasure. The "true life" story looks amazing, and the cast is solid all around. Other than that, the films getting wide release over the first few months of the year look kinda bleak. I hope Call of the Wild will be good, because I love the novel and Harrison Ford in equal measure. I'm curious about Birds of Prey and if DC can keep its recent win streak alive. I will avoid the ridiculous-looking Taylor Swift documentary Miss Americana because it looks, almost beat-for-beat, like a real-life (and thus incredibly lame and sad) version of the (prescient?) The Lonely Island film: Popstar - Never Stop Never Stopping.
Did anyone else get Popstar vibes when watching that trailer on Netflix? The lack of self-awareness from all involved is baffling. I'll just rewatch It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood to satisfy my documentary ya-yas.
Cool to see other Athens folks here!
I wish I still lived there, but I'm in Atlanta! The time I spent at UGA was the best time of my life, as college generally is for most people! I've had season tickets the last few years (won't be able to afford them this year) and loved getting back 5-6 times a year. For the day games I would always make sure to stop into Wuxtry and buy any good vinyl I could find. It's always amazing to see how things change from autumn to autumn. Transmetropolitan shut down and was replaced by another pizza place. There are more chain stores and restaurants (yuck) downtown. It's nice there are some things that'll never change, though: Little Italy, Walkers, Last Resort, Horton's, 40 Watt, and The Georgia Theater.
My plan is to retire in Athens. The sooner the better!
Gonna rewatch The Matrix Trilogy this weekend. Just finished the first and it really is wild how it just plays like gangbusters every time you watch it.
Might also try to dive into Miyazaki for the first time this weekend as well.
Looking forward to yr thoughts. I always start Reloaded thinking “the first one was so good, how can the rest not be good??” And then...
Not that they’re worthless, at all. Just nowhere near as tight or developed. But of course now I wanna watch again...
I love the trilogy. Rewatching them in college opened them up for me knowing to not expect the first one. And this will be my second rewatch since college. They're just so big and wild and entertaining that I can't help but love them.
Having finished the trilogy, it is very surprising to me that the Wachowski's haven't worked with Lindelof on something. Seems to be aLOT of overlap in thematic concerns and a swing for the fences gutsiness.
Where are you starting with Miyazaki?
I'm gonna start from the beginning with Cagliostro. Have never seen one of his stuff. Big blind spot and the Blank Check podcast has really sold me on them. Luckily enough Amazon was doing a buy 2 get 1 free sale and a few of his movies were apart of it.
Let us know what you think. I didn't get my education in Miyazaki until MONONOKE came out here in the US, and then UCLA did a screening series of everything so I saw them all theatrically. Holy shit, what a week that was.
Dying to know what you think of TOTORO and KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE from the early batch of stuff, as well as NAUSICAA, which is one of the most amazing fantasy films ever made.
The Blank Check episode about Nausicaa is what sold me bc it just sounded so amazing and I'm itching to watch some great fantasy stuff.
I once had plans to do the same thing late last year when I got The Matrix on 4K UHD Blu Ray. The first film is still mind-blowing in many different ways, not just for the stunts, but for the allegory of The Matrix itself, and how scarily it applies to our modern lives.
I than began watching the second film and quickly turned stopped. Better to remember how great the first film is and "forget" there are any sequels.
Apparently missed the news yesterday Netflix got a deal with Criterion to bring Irishman and Marriage Story on a physical disk. I hope more movies are on the way
The report I saw also included AMERICAN FACTORY and ATLANTICS. I like the idea of a marriage between Criterion and Netflix, I worry about the speed at which those films are being added to the collection.
So far it's just Roma and those right?
Thus far its
- Roma
- Marriage Story
- American Factory
- The Irishman
- Atlantics
But it's easy to assume this is a precursor to Netflix finding a way to get its critically acclaimed stuff a different audience
I miss commentary tracks! Do any of you have any favorites?
They were such a huge part of the '90s for me. I personally have a soft spot for any commentary with Kurt Russell and John Carpenter together. They're so hilarious, so loose, and it's like they forget the microphones are there.
I'm kind of partial to the DVD commentary for THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED, Kirby Dick's documentary on movie ratings. :)
I don’t know why but I’m partial to the Graham Yost and Mark Gordon track for Speed. They sound like an old married couple and the banter is hilarious. Oh and PTA’s for Boogie Nights, natch!
Ebert's on the CITIZEN KANE disc.
...or Ebert on Casablanca! -That one is great.
I can’t recall if the whole thing is worth listening to, and now I’m not even sure if it was The Killer or Hard Boiled, but John Woo’s opening on the commentary of one of those discs was the greatest thing I’d heard at that time.
Ghostbusters has a great commentary track with Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis. I haven't checked it out for the 4K release, but for the 20th Anniverary DVD, they did it like MST3K with their shadows super-imposed on the screen.
They're coming back! I'm seeing them on the Apple movies I buy more and more, and Criterion Channel includes them often as well.
Faves:
THE THING -- Russell and Carpenter. Just the best.
BOOGIE NIGHTS (special ed) -- a rare PTA one. Two, actually -- one just him, one with him and the cast. Harder to find now, but worth hunting down.
THE LIMEY -- Soderbergh and Lem Dobbs, arguing, commiserating, and talking a LOT of craft.
MALLRATS -- not a fave movie, but the commentary makes it worth the purchase. Affleck is in his "No one's listening to these, right?" mode (see also the Criterion ARMAGEDDON, if you can). I'm glad he's clean these days, but Jay Mewes is a damn funny stoned drunk, and I think he's passed out at the end. Basically a good night hanging with drinking buddies.
GODFATHER TRILOGY -- Coppola is just delightful, and lots of fun anecdotes about two of the best movies ever made (and hey, can you blame a proud papa watching his daughter in the 3rd?)
MISHIMA -- I would listen to Paul Schrader talk about anything. Talking about his best movie (one of the best ever made) is even better.
RULES OF ATTRACTION -- not a movie I like. At all. But it has a surprise commentary track -- by Carrot Top, who has never seen the movie and doesn't know anything about it. Listening to him react to the date rape/vomitting scene makes that movie almost worthwhile.
I was fortunate enough to see Color Out of Space in my areas only screening. I had about the same amount of excitement going in as I did for Blair Witch. Back in 1999, I walked out totally disappointed and bored. With Color I walked out with a huge smile, and so did my 16-yr-old son. We thought it was a blast.
I missed Hardware when I was in the Navy - I was either out at sea or drunk in a gutter - but I’m going to seek that out. And Dust Devil too. Oh, and Lost Soul is on Prime now.
Thanks to The Movie Crypt for interviewing Stanley, or I would have missed the boat again.
I'm so happy to see horror fans showing up to support Stanley's work, and to see them happy about what they're seeing. I am flipping out about the news he wants to do Dunwich Horror next. Yes, please!
That is exciting news! I’d also love to someone do The Haunter in the Dark. It’s short, but really creepy.
You mentioned Roger Zelazny's THE GUNS OF AVALON in this week's books. I just wanted to <slow clap> that. Zelazny is my literary hero. I just finished that a week ago and am rereading book three of the Amber Chronicles, THE SIGN OF THE UNICORN as we speak. I'm also reading his disciples, Steven Brust's book DRAGON and QUILLIFER from Walter Jon Williams.
I like them a lot. Zelazny overall? Great. The Amber series is such a weird, wild idea, and sort of like he's playing this long game of exquisite corpse with himself. I've got the first five loaded up on the Kindle. I just got the itch to read them again between other stuff.
Watched THE BLACK HOLE for the first time last night. Not a great movie, but the John Barry score felt like an evolution of MOONRAKER. Nice wireframe graphics on the opening credits as well.
Hey Drew, that TerraMaster NAS you mentioned for Plex. Does that plug directly into your computer or does it need a rack as a bypass? Thinking of upgrading.
There isn't a single movie I'm looking forward to more than Dune. But I'm also terrified because I think the studio might try to sell it as something more "mainstream " than it actually is. Like Jigsaw says: "I wanna play a game ". If you were a marketing executive, how would you market Dune, to make it clear what kind of story it is, but also to appeal to people unfamiliar with it.
My heart goes out to the Bryant family and any Angelinos here and everywhere. I love sports every bit as much as I love movies, and today is a shocking, terrible, sad, awful day. No icon I ever cheered and loved the way Angelinos felt about Kobe Bryant has ever been taken in such a way, so young, and with so much more to give to his community. There had been things Kobe had been putting into motion the last year or so to create a charitable legacy that would've been his lasting mark on the world. We can only hope his wife and family can carry this on his name.
Today brings to mind the lasting message Jonathan Larson left us before he too died far too young:
There's only us. There's only this. Forget regret, or life is your's to miss. No other road. No other way. No day but today.
Saw the Director's Cut of "Doctor Sleep" this weekend. That movie was way better than I thought it would be and I really think Mike Flanagan is turning into a director to look out for. "Hush", "Gerald's Game", "Haunting Of Hill House", "Doctor Sleep"... that guy has quite a track record!
Not this weekend but this week i saw A Beautiful day in the neighborhood. What a powerful movie! The movie doesnt come out til March in my country and we have no relationship whatever with Mr Rogers´ figure but the movie absolutely destroyed me. It is probably the most powerful study in recent years about the experience of being human and try to be a good person. Marielle Heller is a powerful filmaker. The final shot of the movie destroyed me
My girlfriend and I are watching the Nominated films and getting ready for the Oscars.
Nefta Football Club was very fun and I loved the ending.
Life Overtakes Me is very depressing but also showed a different perspective of immigration.
Klaus was a whimsical and enjoyable animated feature that I truly enjoyed.
American Factory was awkwardly eye opening. The difference of work ethics between Chinese and American workers is interesting.
A lot left to view going to go and decompress.
With Scott Derrickson pulling out of Dr Strange. I think a great replacement would be Richard Stanley and just wanted to back up what Drew said and if you have seen the documentary about the making of The Island of Dr. Moreau please do so!
I just watched The Sound of Fury for the first time this morning on TCM. A brutal noir; it would make a hell of a double feature with Ace In The Hole.
Seeing that Mr. McWeeny had mentioned in a previous post that he had watched The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock I would like to share an experience I had with some younger(roughly 2 years or so younger then a guy like me who is 30) geeks watching some "big people" focused 50s/60s Sci-Fi movies on a Discord server back in late July 2019.
It was a delightful experience watching these younger people engage with these corny movies on a genuine level appreciation and curiosity. They loved talking about all sorts ancillary details of 50s culture, and the the cliches of 50s monsters movies. For instance, any time a shapely dressed heroic male scientist showed up to explain a movie's pseudoscience, that character was always dubbed Chad by the chat.
They also loved rooting for Dorothy Provine in 30ft Bride and anytime there was giant woman in one of these movies. Even when the movies didn't end the way they would want them too(especially since 30 ft Bride REALLY goes off the rails in the end) they loved seeing these female characters become so assertive and powerful in defiance of 50s culture norms.
It also gave a new found appreciation of the last film of the stream, the 1993 version of Attack of the 50 ft Woman. While that movie is frankly a mess(it opens with three different framing devices and never returns to either of them, WTF man?) it's ending is surprisingly cathartic after watching the previous movies were the giants are gunned down or defeated by other means.
Other highlights from the is stream included:
Several LGBTQ members watching the dancing teens from Village of the Giants and asking if this is what heterosexuality is like.
The affection they had for the bumbling Eddie Deezenesque sheriff's deputy in Attack of the 50ft Woman and his female counterpart in the remake.
Their utter befuddlement at the climax of 30ft Bride and the "single celled heart" explanation of of The Amazing Colossal Man.
Watched the Shy People with my wife last night. I'm a sucker for anything on the Bayou. Music by Tangerine Dream!
Have finally gotten in my first substantial week of moviewatching this year. Watched "Harriet" finally (really good biopic), a short called "Miss Freelance," rewatched the "Bad Boys" flicks in prep for the new one, saw my first theatrical film in Almodovar's "Pain and Glory," rewatched "Top Gun" with my wife, and saw Malick's "A Hidden Life," rewatched "Pulp Fiction" for the first time in years, and showed my wife "2050," which I recorded a critics commentary for.
Of the new films, "Pain and Glory" and "A Hidden Life" probably had the strongest impact on me. "Pain and Glory" felt like a rejuvenating experience for me, much in the same way Banderas's Salvador feels rejuvenated when he revisits his most well-known film, and almost watches it with new perspective, leading him to reconnect with the star he was bitter towards for the liberties he took in his performance. This may be my favorite Almodovar film, and it would be great to see Banderas win an Oscar for the role. "A Hidden Life" spoke to me as an example of a man who is undeterred in his convictions in how he stands up to the evil of Hitler in WWII, even if it means never being able to go back to his life. Malick is someone I am hot and cold on, but this one resonated with me unexpectedly.
I have to say I loved HARRIET when I saw it, but then my wife & I came home and did some research only to find major characters/events/plot points were highly dramatized and invented. It made me feel a lot differently about it. The film works, but the narrative choices they made in the script baffle me. It's very much the same as RICHARD JEWELL. I watched my screener of it, loved the film and then realized that the bit about the reporter sleeping with Hamm's character wasn't based on fact. I think when you look at both HARRIET & RICHARD JEWELL it's surprising why they needed to make stuff/people/events up. Both stories work without the fictional elements slipped into them. I wish both had left the dramatization stuff out. I don't see why they couldn't tell both of those stories based on actual history/facts and they wouldn't be compelling.
After Scorsese’s recent comments, I decided to rewatch Goodfellas. I saw The Irishman in the cinema, and thought it was fine, so I was curious how Goodfellas would hold up for me. And as much as it’s a good movie, I kind of felt the same way I did about The Irishman, it was fine. As much Marvel movies are fun rides, I don’t know that these films are really saying all that much either. But I’m alright with that, I mainly want to be entertained, and if it’s stories aimed at a wide general audience or more adult audience, it’s all the same to me. Maybe. I don’t know.
I did the double feature of the live action Attack On Titan films last night, and while I can see Goodfellas and The Irishman being better films, neither of them have the simple joy of seeing men in rubber suits beating each other up in. That’s where I seem to be at these days.
*Spoilers for BB3*
You have mentioned it before, but the need for movies to now throw everything out of the window so they can franchise and run forever reared its ugly head again with Bad Boys. Whilst I would love to see more craziness like BB2, BB3 was doing a decent job of being a decent action movie like part 1 until that ending. Having his son kill the captain (who is at his daughters Bball game) and then ending the movie instantly wiping that slate and setting the son up as the next hero to follow is hard to swallow. FF did it with Statham but this takes it to a new level. Makes it hard to recommend the movie at all and surprised most reviewers had no issue with it.
My week has been all over the place. Absolutely loved KNIVES + HEART — I kinda thought I didn’t need slashers in my life anymore but this was just gorgeous. Caught WITHOUT RESERVATIONS, one of the only straight romcoms John Wayne ever did, and it was pretty delightful, and hard to find (so thanks TCM). I scored twice on the Criterion Channel with 1) THE PROFESSIONALS, a really fun Lee Marvin heist-y western, and BAXTER, a film I’d never heard of, but belongs right beside WHITE DOG as the darkest dog-movies ever made (basically it’s a Dog-meets-Nazi story). Wanted to love QUEEN & SLIM but only liked; loved most of SLEEPING BEAUTY (the weird sleeping sex one, not the Disney); and then topped if off with the Nazisploitation flick THE BEAST IN HEAT (for reasons). ~Fin~
I keep getting KNIVES + HEART and KNIVES AND SKIN confused as titles, even though they're nothing alike as movies. BAXTER's wild, right? Saw that one theatrically a million years ago and couldn't stop laughing at the sheer audacity.
That's partly because I keep misspelling it: It's KNIFE + HEART. Versus KNIVES AND SKIN. Versus KNIVES OUT. Verses KNIVERS + KNIFE. Ok I made up that last one
I recently finished an ebook from Kindle Unlimited titled Pixels to Premieres: A History of Video Game Movies. It was more of a book of reviews of video game adjacent movies in chronological order but I enjoyed it. I've been on a heavy cosmic horror kick as well reading and research wise and cannot wait for Stanley's A Colour Out of Space. I am currently reading The Netherwell Horror by Lee Mountford which I'm enjoying. I usually read a lot of nonfiction about film but I am trying to read more fiction this year.
As far as new stuff I have watched, I got a chance to sit down with A Perfect Host (2019) aka Adonis Complex. It releases next month and I really liked it. It was a weird little thriller and one folks should keep an eye out for,
I remember you had an encounter with Robert Urich. Am watching Yr 2 of Spenser for Hire. Did you like the show any? He was a pretty good TV guy--big screen not so much.
I just saw The Gentleman today and it was surprisingly really enjoyable! Definitely a diverting type of flick but for a January release it was a very pleasant surprise.
I impulse went to see The Turning on Thursday night and kinda loved it and I’m quickly realizing I may be in a very small minority. I liked the ending and the audience seemed really into the movie as a whole until the last ten or so minutes. Gorgeous looking movie at the very least, sadly I think it’ll be forgotten as a dud January horror movie. Curious if anyone else even remotely liked it.
Boy, people seem to haaaaaaaaaaaate it, right?
I'm curious about reports that this was a Spielberg pet project at one point and that he was on set for quite a bit of it. Especially since there's not a whiff of him on the final release.
Even more scandalous is now both Finn Wolfhard and Floria Sigismondi have said in recent interviews that Spielberg was never on set but gave notes. Who knows what actually went down. But as I watch the internet just pile on this movie I feel like I saw something entirely different.
It's wonderful, right? She's a great writer and she found a great subject. It's a really interesting take on what could have been a straightforward biographical piece.