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Recently viewed movie thread - Rental Edition (10 Viewers)

wikkidpissah said:
not terrible, but massively overrated. no art shifts my guts like the heart of noir and it just didnt have it. all the elements, stylishly done. but i couldnt feel the fatal turn of the cylinder.
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It felt like they tried to cram a whole bunch of noir elements that were great in their original films into a star-studded movie that was just meh imo. 

 
Osaurus said:
It felt like they tried to cram a whole bunch of noir elements that were great in their original films into a star-studded movie that was just meh imo. 
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Was it really all that "star-studded"?  Looking back, it is now. Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce were not well-known (at least in the US), and this movie helped turn them into stars. It had some other people who were well-known like Kevin Spacey and Kim Basinger (and that guy that was the "that'll do, Pig" guy from Babe), but I'm not sure that rises to star-studded in its time.

 
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Don Quixote said:
Was it really all that "star-studded"?  Looking back, it is now. Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce were not well-known (at least in the US), and this movie helped turn them into stars. It had some other people who were well-known like Kevin Spacey and Kim Basinger (and that guy that was the "that'll do, Pig" guy from Babe), but I'm not sure that rises to star-studded in its time.
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Yeah, I think in retrospect it seems star-studded, but Crowe had only done Romper Stomper I believe, and Pierce was an unknown.  Even Spacey was just ramping up coming off of Glengarry and was Usual Suspects the year before?  

If I remember the bonus features correctly, the studio wouldn't fund it because they didn't have any stars in the leads, and they repeatedly asked them to trim it down to either focus just on White or Exley.  

 
Don Quixote said:
Was it really all that "star-studded"?  Looking back, it is now. Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce were not well-known (at least in the US), and this movie helped turn them into stars. It had some other people who were well-known like Kevin Spacey and Kim Basinger (and that guy that was the "that'll do, Pig" guy from Babe), but I'm not sure that rises to star-studded in its time.
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Don’t forget Danny Devito who was on that sitcom that got cancelled twice 15 years earlier. 

 
So there is either such a thing as too clear of a picture or a little too much weed.   I've been fighting a little urge to buy a bunch of Pixar, Marvel, and SW movies again in 4K.   Decided F-it and reupped the Disney+ sub to watch them all in 4K since in the long run it will be cheaper.   

Last night I started watching A New Hope, and boy was that rough.  Again, probably a function of the 4K and the vape, but it really looked rough in a cheap home movie way.   Then I started laughing about how few humans there are at the start of the movie and that I was basically watching people just move their heads in a mask or droid outfit and I had to tap out.  :lol:   I am going to end up destroying my love of childhood movies at this rate.  

On the flip side - Monsters Inc looked ####### amazing.  

 
wikkidpissah said:
not terrible, but massively overrated. no art shifts my guts like the heart of noir and it just didnt have it. all the elements, stylishly done. but i couldnt feel the fatal turn of the cylinder.
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I understood a wikkid post!  Also, while I am not sure I would say that it's massively overrated, after thinking about it for a day, I agree with the bolded.   In the end, I wasn't overly invested in the characters and revelations at the end of the movie.  Despite the style and performances, it didn't 100% hook me the other night, and really didn't like the ending with Crowe/Pierce/Bassinger.  The performances were great though - especially Crowe.   Captivating role and he did a fantastic job of switching between mindless tough guy and being vulnerable.   Nobody plays that lovable sleazeball like DaVito too.  

 
Watched Underworld (‘27) by Josef Von Sternberg and it impressed me how much of the gangster genre it set up. A few years before Scarface or Public Enemy, much of the framework was already built. Including the whole “The World is Yours” written in the sky element. Unlike the WB gangster movies though this is a lot more humanist and gets more into the relationships. Pretty good stuff.

 
Ilov80s said:
Watched Underworld (‘27) by Josef Von Sternberg and it impressed me how much of the gangster genre it set up. A few years before Scarface or Public Enemy, much of the framework was already built. Including the whole “The World is Yours” written in the sky element. Unlike the WB gangster movies though this is a lot more humanist and gets more into the relationships. Pretty good stuff.
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Now for a double feature with Kate Beckinsale's Underworld!  

 
Andy Dufresne said:
I like that movie a lot.

Lilly Raines: [in a conference room] What makes you think he'll call again?

Frank Horrigan: Oh, he'll call again. He's got, uh, "panache."

Lilly Raines: Panache?

Frank Horrigan: Yeah, it means flamboyance.

Lilly Raines: Mm, I know what it means.

Frank Horrigan: Really? I had to look it up.
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I will throw it out there that it has not held up well.  I was laughing a bit more than I think the movie was intended for.  

Last night was that and Bull Durham.  

 
Man I hated Coming to America 2. The original is one of my favorite comedies. This had none of the charm, none of the wide eyed appeal of the first. And I guess it couldn’t have, but it was just so bad to me. Amazing costumes, some cool dance scenes but overall sheesh. I was disappointed. 
 

Watched the 1967 Producers last night. The last half hour was hilarious, I was crying during Springtime for Hitler but the rest was a bit boorish. 1960s comedies don’t hit for me for some reason. It’s like comedy was just people being loud and screaming.  

 
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Another Von Sternberg silent: Last Command. Fantastic movie. It has two things going on, the main plot is about a broken down old man who claims to be a former Russian General and cousin of the Czar being cast as an extra in a movie about Russia and inside of that is his flashback telling the story of the Russian Revolution. Emil Jennings won the first ever Best Actor Oscar for his role here. He later became a NAZI so f him but great performance and one of the best silent movies I’ve seen. I never felt the urge to check my phone which happens a lot with my adhd self and silent movies. 

 
KarmaPolice said:
This is a bold statement.   Just curious why you think this.  
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Because the evil she confronts and defeats doesn't change her and she innocently persists on being a force for good. 

Case in point 1: She kindly bcorrects Lou when he doesn't get the DLR license plate thing right. But even then she reads in his demeanor  that he feels bad about the mistake. So she tries to raise his spirits with the joke about the guy with vanity plated who changed his name. 

Case in point 2: After things are wrapped up, even though her worldview was tainted a bit, she's still tender hearted, as evidenced by her support of Norm winning second place in the stamp competition. She proclamation of "we're doin' pretty good Norm". It's also a nice counterpart to Jerry's discontent that started everything - she prevents Norm from taking a step on the path of discontentment that consumed Jerry.

I'd suggest watching on Kanopy the Great Courses video called "Existential Meaning: Fargo". It does a great job deconstructing the plot and characters of the movie.

 
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Andy Dufresne said:
Because the evil she confronts and defeats doesn't change her and she innocently persists on being a force for good. 

Case in point 1: She kindly bcorrects Lou when he doesn't get the DLR license plate thing right. But even then she reads in his demeanor  that he feels bad about the mistake. So she tries to raise his spirits with the joke about the guy with vanity plated who changed his name. 

Case in point 2: After things are wrapped up, even though her worldview was tainted a bit, she's still tender hearted, as evidenced by her support of Norm winning second place in the stamp competition. She proclamation of "we're doin' pretty good Norm". It's also a nice counterpart to Jerry's discontent that started everything - she prevents Norm from taking a step on the path of discontentment that consumed Jerry.

I'd suggest watching on Kanopy the Great Courses video called "Existential Meaning: Fargo". It does a great job deconstructing the plot and characters of the movie.
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Is there is a film series for the Great Courses?

 
Great post, @Andy Dufresne.   Reading that and piecing together that when we watch movies we seem to be drawn to the different sides of humanity in our favorite movies most of the time.   I battle with Fargo a little bit because while I always find her interesting and a damn good officer, I think for my tastes she doesn't change much as a character or go to the dark places that I usually am drawn to.   

 
KarmaPolice said:
Great post, @Andy Dufresne.   Reading that and piecing together that when we watch movies we seem to be drawn to the different sides of humanity in our favorite movies most of the time.   I battle with Fargo a little bit because while I always find her interesting and a damn good officer, I think for my tastes she doesn't change much as a character or go to the dark places that I usually am drawn to.   
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Well there's other characters that should appeal to you in that regard, I'd think.

One of the worst people in the show is Wade. It wouldn't kill him to throw his son in law a bone. And he's only worried about getting his daughter back if it's a good deal. He's a psychopath.

It is true though that the characters are strictly archetypal. There's not much nuance or change through the story.

 
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KarmaPolice said:
In the Line of Fire 

:oldunsure: . :lol:
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That film was significant to me because Clint finally got fully away from his superhero roles with it and Unforgiven.

Previously he had made the same cardboard crap like Pale Rider (a lousy remake) and the last Dirty Harry film.

It started a new trend of flawed, more believable characters.

 
Mr. Mojo said:
That film was significant to me because Clint finally got fully away from his superhero roles with it and Unforgiven.

Previously he had made the same cardboard crap like Pale Rider (a lousy remake) and the last Dirty Harry film.

It started a new trend of flawed, more believable characters.
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Good point. Then when he made Gran Torino it was the most believable role for him yet. 

 
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Started Battle of Algiers last night. So good; makes you feel like you are there.

I read Alistair Horne’s A Savage War of Peace many years ago on the Algerian War — great book. Felt like a precursor to so many modern wars from the Balkans to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. 

 
Mr. Mojo said:
That film was significant to me because Clint finally got fully away from his superhero roles with it and Unforgiven.

Previously he had made the same cardboard crap like Pale Rider (a lousy remake) and the last Dirty Harry film.

It started a new trend of flawed, more believable characters.
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I think a bit of it for me was the :rolleyes:  relationship with him and Russo.   

But you bring up a great point about it being a bridge for him to other roles.  He is flawed, obviously has that spectre of his inaction of the Kennedy assassination hanging over him, broken marriage, etc.   Been awhile since I've seen Unforgiven, and that is pretty high on the queue as a I work through some 90s movies I haven't seen in a long time.  

 
Andy Dufresne said:
It is true though that the characters are strictly archetypal. There's not much nuance or change through the story.
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only because i know how excited AD gets when i go all frufru on one of his topics, i'll get into this.

i don't believe in evil. it was best expressed this way: "Doing evil is an attempt to transform the terrible passivity and helplessness of suffering into activity". The Coen bros Dostoyevskied this sentiment into personalizing evil & good is what i'm guessing that course would say about Fargo. The big quiet guy is nameless, faceless rage, the funny-looking little guy is a trapped, wound-licking animal, Lundergard is simpering greed, Wade is stomping greed. All other evil is stoopitity - pretty much all characters who are not good or evil are thick as a brick, charmingly enough.

Marge is more than good. she's honest (i really need to say that w the accent but i dont know how to spell it). She projects honesty upon everyone w whom she deals because she is good and she cares, but has learned, as women most commonly do, that when the sonar of her projections bounce back w disingenuity on em that sumn's wrong. she successfully follows dishonesty to find "evil". that she can shoot a guy and wish him well and, brought to such exigency, want to change him still all at the same time is the good - and it actually is inside us physiologically (too complicated to explain) - we should each be listening to/,

have i ruined it for everyone, yet?

 
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@wikkidpissah I agree with a lot of that, especially about Marge being ahnest...err...honest.

Not only is she honest, she can't initially conceive that someone else wouldn't be. That's why she basically says okey dokey to Jerry after the first interview when he lies about nope, nothing to see here. She just up and leaves.

That's where the peculiar Mike Yanagita character comes in. Before meeting with Mike, Marge takes everyone at face value. But after talking with her friend who informs her that Mike was never married, she realizes he was lying to her - which subsequently makes her realize that JERRY was also lying. It's her "break in the case".

That's part of what makes McDormand's performance Oscar worthy. Her facial expression changes as she starts the drive home. It dawns on her that if Mike can lie then that means Jerry can to and then...OH HECK!

 
Capella said:
Watched the 1967 Producers last night. The last half hour was hilarious, I was crying during Springtime for Hitler but the rest was a bit boorish. 1960s comedies don’t hit for me for some reason. It’s like comedy was just people being loud and screaming.  
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Starting to see why we agree on so little.....This is my alltime favorite comedy BECAUSE of the first half hour. Watched it for maybe the 200th (not exaggerating - i briefly taught standup in the 90s and i used Zero's performance as the exemplar for use of comic notes, beats & gestures) time last evening and openly laughed (and i dont do that) 6-7 times.

I miss hostile. It's what the best comedy is based on. I been making people laugh instead of killing em my whole life. I'm the only person who liked the final Seinfeld for simple reason the whole bunch got sent to prison. We are all sickass, obsessive jackholes who are dead serious about who we are and how we're seen, think it matters deeply to everybody what we do and take all of life personally. We are unforgiveable and must either be laughed at or rounded up. You can have your passive-aggressive stoner goofin'. I want blood!!

 
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LINK

Oscar noms came out today.   Interesting mix of movies, and the streaming services for sure got a bump from COVID.     Going to go through the list and watch as many as I can that are on streaming or for rent.   I looks like 6/8 of the best Picture noms are available to watch at home in one way or the other (- 2 NF, 1 Hulu, 1 Prime, 2 for $20 rental).    It looks like all of the docs are watchable, and 3/5 of the foreign noms.  

I was excited to see Sound of Metal get some love.   

 
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KarmaPolice said:
LINK

Oscar noms came out today.   Interesting mix of movies, and the streaming services for sure got a bump from COVID.     Going to go through the list and watch as many as I can that are on streaming or for rent.   I looks like 6/8 of the best Picture noms are available to watch at home in one way or the other (- 2 NF, 1 Hulu, 1 Prime, 2 for $20 rental).    It looks like all of the docs are watchable, and 3/5 of the foreign noms.  

I was excited to see Sound of Metal get some love.   
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Just watched Nomandland tonight. Well made and interesting.  I didn’t really love it snd doubt I’ll ever have the urge to watch it again though. Very introspective.  Cinematography was incredible though, they must have only filmed for like 15 mins a day given how much magic hour there is in this. It paid off because those scenes were stunning to look at. 

 
I’m the anti-KP in that I rarely rewatch a movie, but I watched Nomadland again last night and loved it even more than I had the first time.  Caught a few bits I hadn’t noticed the first time, and was struck even more strongly by what a loving and gentle look at life it was.

 
krista4 said:
I’m the anti-KP in that I rarely rewatch a movie, but I watched Nomadland again last night and loved it even more than I had the first time.  Caught a few bits I hadn’t noticed the first time, and was struck even more strongly by what a loving and gentle look at life it was.
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Have you seen Minari or any of the documentaries?

 
I've only seen 2 of the Best Picture noms, so I have some work to do.   I was just happy to see Sound of Metal on there, and even happier that I didn't see Hillbilly Elegy on there.  

 
krista4 said:
I’m the anti-KP in that I rarely rewatch a movie, but I watched Nomadland again last night and loved it even more than I had the first time.  Caught a few bits I hadn’t noticed the first time, and was struck even more strongly by what a loving and gentle look at life it was.
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Really is. Well edited also. Sometimes it lingered a little longer than expected and sometimes it cut away just when the perfect framing had just come into being. Was very interesting. It captured something hard and beautiful in all the faces. I am definitely onboard with  Zhao winning editor and director. It’s just not the kind of movie I imagine I’ll want to revisit.

 
KarmaPolice said:
Have you seen Minari or any of the documentaries?
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I’ve planned to watch Minari a few times and then had intervening events!  It’s definitely next on my list.  I only rewatched Nomadland because it had come up at social events two days in a row and ex-Mr krista had not seen it (he loved it).

I've only seen two of the docs so far:  Time, which is going to win yet I disliked, and Collective, which was amazing.

 
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