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FBG Movie Club: We're Getting the Band Back Together: Metallica vs Nina Simone Movie Docs (4 Viewers)

I currently have

  • Netflix

    Votes: 9 90.0%

  • Amazon Prime

    Votes: 9 90.0%

  • HBO Max

    Votes: 8 80.0%

  • Hulu

    Votes: 8 80.0%

  • Disney+

    Votes: 6 60.0%

  • Criterion

    Votes: 1 10.0%

  • TCM Chanel

    Votes: 6 60.0%
  • Total voters
    10
If you followed my Dylan/Bosley thread, you know I'm a train fan.  Big trains, model trains, train cab videos, songs about trains, you name it.  Some of my favorite movies are set on trains:  The General, The Palm Beach Story, Some Like It Hot, From Russia with Love, The Sting, North by Northwest to name a few.  There are also a bunch of memorable films where the train is like a main character:  The Train, Runaway Train, Emperor of the North, etc.  I was hoping Snowpiercer would at least fall into that second category but it was a big letdown.

Trains offer a unique setting for a film--a claustrophobic space hurtling toward a destination on an unalterable path.  Snowpiercer gave some of that away to begin with because the train was going nowhere and the frozen environment outside gave no opportunities for passengers to get on or off.  There was no chase along the top of the train or characters swinging through windows.  Trains are noot suitable for large pitched battles (or deep water aquariums) but that's what we got.  The story only really used one dimension of the train, the limited width and height rarely came into play which left us only with the length of the train.  But the narrative treated that in a very linear manner that reminded me more of video game levels than anything resembling what we know as trains.  Don't get me started on the logistics of maintaining the tracks and rolling stock of a train operating in perpetuity.

I probably would have enjoyed Snowpiercer a little more if it used the train as a train instead of a metaphor.  I would have liked it a lot more if the polar bear devoured the two survivors at the end to eliminate any chance for a sequel.

 
Ilov80s said:
I wonder why so few people watched Okja? Maybe they disliked Snowpiercer so much they didn’t bother?
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As I liked Snowpiercer more than most, this was not my issue. 

For me, it was strictly a time issue. 

Also, irt an earlier question...I won't be getting any new subscription services, but I will gladly rent any movies. Time provided. 

 
KarmaPolice said:
Strangers on a Train + Murder on the Orient Express? 
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As I recall, Strangers on a Train has its setup take place on a train but there's not much train action afterwards.  It's been decades since I've watched it but I think The Lady Vanishes takes place almost entirely on a train.  The idea that someone could pull off a kidnapping on a train is an interesting concept and the film is full of entertaining characters.

Hitchcock knew how to make use of a train.  This article invokes Freud and makes some good points that I missed about movies and trains
 

Not only did the train contain the action of the film, it provided a scenic and cinematic backdrop through the train window. The slightly detached observation of the world, facilitated through the train window, was understood as analogous to the sensation of dreaming. The expression train of thought, gives credence to the associations between train travel, movement and feeling.

The established punctuality of railway services provided a readily understandable timeframe against which the action of the film could be played out. The time-pressure implicit in this sense of an unalterable timetable was a most effective device in creating a feeling of excitement, suspense and anxiety as good and bad play out along the tracks. Lastly, the speeding train gives the protagonists, and the audience, a powerful sense of unstoppable destiny. Obviously and because the train is roaring along the tracks, there is no escape from this destiny.
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Ilov80s said:
I wonder why so few people watched Okja? Maybe they disliked Snowpiercer so much they didn’t bother?
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I am curious about this too - I was surprised to see 1/2 the votes come in for not seeing Okja.    

Time?  Like you said - didn't like Snowpiercer?  The trailer pretty much tell people what it's about and they thought it would be too political?

 
I liked them both.   I think Snowpiercer gets to be a bit much at the end, but I still thought the ride was OK.  

I enjoyed Okja more - just had a nice blend of sweetness, humor and  social commentary to give me a little bit of everything and kept me engaged more.   I think somebody else said it, but I did like that it was both sides were playing with her and Okja for their own reasons - it wasn't quite as one sided as I thought it would be entering the movie, and goes right along with what was on display during Parasite.  

I would like to post yet again, that while I enjoyed them, I still think these are the bottom of the list for me as far as Bong's movies go, and I would still suggest that even if people weren't on board for Snowpiercer to try to get their hands on Parasite or Mother.  

 
Walking Boot said:
Scanning IMDB, the top grossing film the year Snowpiercer came out, 2013, was Hunger Games, directed by Austria's Francis Lawrence. Cuaron's Gravity was 6th. Peter Jackson's on the list, and, Taiwan's Justin Lin rounded out the top 10 with a Fast & Furious franchise movie. Germany's Marc Forster did World War Z, Australia's Baz Luhrmann put out Gatsby, Malaysia's James Wan directed The Conjuring and Insidious 2 that year, and France's Louis Leterrier directed Now You See Me. Paul Greengrass from the UK directed Captain Phillips, Guillermo del Toro did Pacific Rim, South African Neill Blomkamp put out Elysium, some Iclandic dude named Baltasar Kormakur directed Denzel Washington's "2 Guns", Roland Emmerich did White House Down, Argentina's Andy Muschietti directed Mama, and Lasse Hallstrom also had a movie in the top 50. 
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Not quite where I was going with this, but I admit there were a few that I had forgotten and brain farted on like Innarittu and Cuaron.  But even those guys were 1-2 films and then right into American films.  I guess I thought Bong's filmography was a little different, but again - not really relaying what was going on in my mind correctly.  

 
Ilov80s said:
Jake Gyllenhaal really goes for it in Okja lol. He’s turned out to have had quite an interesting career. 
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He really has.  I haven't seen a couple newer ones like Southpaw and Stronger, but he seems to be one of those "one for the studio, one for me" type of actors.  I usually really like what he does in the small budget and drama movies - Brokeback, Donnie Darko, Nightcrawler, Prisoners, Zodiac.   Hell, I remember even liking Jarhead when that came out.  

 
Ilov80s said:
Do people like when movies get so overtly political? Or is that a turnoff for you?
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Not sure I would say either is the answer for me.  It's not something that I seek out in a movie, and it's not something that gets my panties in a wad if it shows up.   Mainly I just think it's interesting thinking about what the director/writer is trying to express and why.  Even more so one of the things I love the most about talking about movies is how people interpret those messages and react to them.  We saw it in here with the doc last month.   We all bring our own backgrounds, baggage, moods, and ways of looking at the world to the table when we sit down and watch something, and I love seeing how that is reflected in our opinions about those things.  

 
Ok, I guess I do have situations where I don't like it personally.  Maybe not politics per se, but I have found that I don't click with it in genre movies where the commentary trumps making a good movie for the genre.   Perfect example for me would be the horror movie Us.   It's not that the social commentary turned me off, it's just that it was hitting that harder than it was being a good horror movie.   

 
The best pure train movie imo is The Narrow Margin. It’s 90% on a train and I think uses the train devices perfectly. Taking of Pelham 123 isn’t too bad either if one allows for trains underground.

 
Ilov80s said:
The best pure train movie imo is The Narrow Margin. It’s 90% on a train and I think uses the train devices perfectly. Taking of Pelham 123 isn’t too bad either if one allows for trains underground.
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Are you talking about the film noir original of Narrow Margin or the 90s remake with Gene Hackman?

 
3-4 yrs ago, my cousin Kathleen directed a Broadway musical, In Transit, which took place entirely in a subway car. it's also the only entirely a capella musical in Broadway history. If there's ever a touring company, i'll let you know...

 
I also dig the Hawks train comedy, 20th Century. 

I'm in the market for 25 camels, several elephants, and an ibis... Give me the rock-bottom price.  

 
Ilov80s said:
The Future Champs said:
Runaway Train ftw, IMO.
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I’ll keep an eye for it, haven’t seen that one.
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In between months, we discussed foreign directors who made Hollywood movies in English.  Runaway Train was directed by Andrei Konchalovsky who came up in the Soviet film industry working with Andrei Tarkovsky.

During the time of Perestroika, Konchalovsky came to America and made Runaway Train, Tango & Cash and some artier fare in English.  He returned to Russia in the 90s and is still making movies in his early 80s.

 
Ilov80s said:
Did the Marx Brothers get on a train? It’s a shame if not, they could have caused some total havoc.
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The climax of Go West is a chase scene where the Marx brothers destroy the train they're riding on to stoke the boiler.  It's late era MGM and not great but like all Marx movies, includes some hilarious bits.

 
The Man With No Name said:
Terror By Night - Sherlock Holmes movie on a train
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I see a Charlie Chan movie now & then and am still able to understand why i used to get a kick out of em (one was shown @ 2am every Tuesday on Boston's Ch.5 when i was young) but i often wake up to the Rathbone/Bruce SHolmes movies (they are on the Movies! channel every Sun @ 7:30am) and i have no clue what i ever saw in them.

 
I didn't do this month. Had the flu and a super-big work project. Still in this thing - just passed on Feb. Sorry.

That said, Okja would not have piqued my interest. Not many types of movie I do not like, but the "human befriends animal is in peril are separated but it works out bittersweet perhaps and maybe we all learned something" is my least favorite genre.

 
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