28 Film Discussion Threads Later

[Yxklyx]

Reddit has some gems:

https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinter...in_this_exact/

[Dukefrukem]

Anyone want to have a MC movie night (watch party)? - https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/jolt

https://www.amazon.com/Jolt-KATE-BEC...t-video&sr=1-1

Sat night? 745:PM EST start?

Still on for tonight

[megladon8]

Of course there is a big storm brewing here now. I may not be able to connect. I'll still try my darnedest.

[Irish]

Still on for tonight

I will be there

[Ezee E]

Not tonight. Sundays are better for the future.

[Dukefrukem]

Here's the Watch Party link - https://amz.onl/1whHJfW

[Irish]

Anyone want to have a MC movie night (watch party)? - https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/jolt

https://www.amazon.com/Jolt-KATE-BEC...t-video&sr=1-1

Sat night? 745:PM EST start?

STARTS IN 5!

COME ONE COME ALL!

[Ezee E]

Watched a few random clips of The Truman Show recently. Great acting and production all around...

But...

Who would've actually watched this show over the course of 30 some years? No way it would have a large scale audience.

[Skitch]

Survivor has 40 seasons and almost 600 episodes. I've never watched one, but there it is

[StuSmallz]

Goodfellas is probably Scorsese's greatest film, and one of the supreme achievements of post-1960 Hollywood cinema, in large part, I would argue, because it represents Scorsese's most successful synthesis of the conventions of classical Hollywood cinema and European art cinema. The narrative is frankly episodic (and thus non-classical), essentially a series of annotations on mob life, and as a result, Scorsese and Pileggi's observations on the subject have a freshness that would not be possible had they opted for a more classical structure. Yet, the film doesn't feel like an art movie because it is constantly in motion, achieving a narrative momentum that eluded Scorsese in choppier efforts like Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ, with the voice-overs functioning as a bridge from one episode to the next. Moreover, Scorsese's borrowings from other directors here are more purposeful and less distracting than his citations of Welles and Visconti in The Age of Innocence and Godard in Casino, where they mainly serve to paper over giant holes in the script (if the audience believed in and cared about relationship between Robert DeNiro and Sharon Stone in the latter film, Scorsese wouldn't have had to phone in Georges Delerue's score from Le Mépris to generate a sense of poignancy that the threadbare plot fails to provide for itself). In Goodfellas, Scorsese doesn't merely lift the dolly/zoom effect from Vertigo as an empty homage but repurposes it, to show the walls literally closing in on the characters. Yet, all that granted, is it as impressive as the best Hollywood films of the studio era or the best postwar art movies? That seems to me a rather high bar to clear and I don't think the film quite reaches it. In hybridizing the two modes, Hollywood cinema and art cinema, it loses the narrative unity of the former while sanding the edges off the latter. In the '50s, this would've been called mid-cult, domesticating modernist art in order to make it palatable to a mass audience and thus lacking the genuine vitality of both high modernism and mass culture.

Well, while I obviously don't feel 100% the same way that you do about post-Classical movie-making on the whole, I can still respect your personal take on it, and while, from my experience, I'd put the peak of Hollywood as taking place a little bit later than you would (during the period in-between the studio control of the Classical era, and the emphasis on mass market blockbusters of modern Hollywood), I do agree that Hollywood peaked some time ago, at least (and it's not the only form of art I feel that way about; heck, I did an entire series on how I think Heavy Metal peaked for about a decade from the mid-80's to the middle of the 90's).

Anyway, regarding the importance of innovation in movie-making, while I don't automatically tie it to overall quality, there are examples of "unoriginal" movies that I've been critical of, because their unoriginality specifically lead to them feeling uninspired on the whole, like the failure of something like American Gangster to feel fresh as a Gangster movie, which was already an over-crowded, increasingly stale genre at the time, or the way that The Force Awakens mostly just takes influences from previous Star Wars (as opposed to the way that Lucas and company mixed influences from fairly diverse sources to avoid feeling overly derivative), or even the way that Scorsese has walked over the same ground he himself trod before at times, like how Casino felt like a vain attempt to recapture the lightning-in-a-bottle of Goodfellas (as opposed to the way The Irishman "recycled" certain elements he used before in order to view them in a new light). So, while it's all still on a case-by-case basis for me, I can still empathize with your take on things.

[DFA1979]

Watched a few random clips of The Truman Show recently. Great acting and production all around...

But...

Who would've actually watched this show over the course of 30 some years? No way it would have a large scale audience.

The Simpsons, Survivor and Gunsmoke come to mind. Also the Bachelor and Bachelorette shows.

[Ezee E]

The Simpsons, Survivor and Gunsmoke come to mind. Also the Bachelor and Bachelorette shows.

But I mean, who would've watched THIS show? From what I remember, it was an entire channel just dedicated to him right? Everything was pretty drama-free too in a Leave it to Beaver plot, except that he was afraid of water and his dad had disappeared.

I'm obviously looking into it more than I need to, as the movie works in its own world, but just playing devil's advocate to the premise. Like, if it was a complete flop, what do they do to Truman?

[quido8_5]

Found Sweet and Lowdown at a used bookstore for 95 cents and purchased immediately. Had a great memory of watching it as a teenager. Held up much better than remembered. Performances are fantastic all around, which it was initially heralded for. Aside from the performances (which are all exemplary), what seals the deal is Allen's immaculate direction and fully confident incorporation of fiction and non-fiction. It's all up in the air as it should be. Nothing in this film is to be trusted, but everything is soluble and easily perceived as a potential reality. The last half-hour is heartbreaking and magical, both of which serve to administer an emotional wallop that is rare.

[transmogrifier]

Woody Allen is actually an underrated director. He knows how to block a scene and he works with good editors. Mostly he gets his reputation from his scripts and work with actors.

[transmogrifier]

Fuck me it is nice to watch movies that totally nail their climaxes, having them (a) build on what has come before in an organic manner and (b) be shot and edited with rhythm and style.

(Aliens and Rosemary's Baby, for the record).

[Dukefrukem]

Fuck me it is nice to watch movies that totally nail their climaxes, having them (a) build on what has come before in an organic manner and (b) be shot and edited with rhythm and style.

(Aliens and Rosemary's Baby, for the record).

Yup. Movies that set up their own third acts rule.

[megladon8]

Rewatched Once Upon a Time in Hollywood last night.

Think it might jump into my top 5 movies seen this year.

It's incredible.

[Mal]

Gonna rewatch it with my parents this weekend and make frozen margaritas.

[DFA1979]

But I mean, who would've watched THIS show? From what I remember, it was an entire channel just dedicated to him right? Everything was pretty drama-free too in a Leave it to Beaver plot, except that he was afraid of water and his dad had disappeared.

I'm obviously looking into it more than I need to, as the movie works in its own world, but just playing devil's advocate to the premise. Like, if it was a complete flop, what do they do to Truman?

Seems like it had a pretty loyal fanbase. Also I'm sure people asked those same questions when The Real World premiered, too.

[DFA1979]

Rewatched Once Upon a Time in Hollywood last night.

Think it might jump into my top 5 movies seen this year.

It's incredible.

I love that movie a lot. Saw it in a packed theater on a hot Thursday, was glad I got to see it opening weekend and witness everyone else reacting to the last act.

[Dukefrukem]

Reminder: MC Watch Party will be held this Sat night. The goal is to watch a movie that no one has seen. Random movie will be chosen by RNG.

If you would like to participate let me know.

Possible Movies On the Random List:

1 Identifying Features
2 Blood Hands, Empty Pockets
3 Veins of the World
4 Cowboys
5 The Wolf of Snow Hollow
6 Lapsis
7 West No More
8 Concrete Cowboy
9 Train To Busan: Peninsula
10 Money Plane
11 IP Man 4
12 Greyhound
13 Dick Johnson is Dead
14 The Life Ahead
15 The Painted Bird
16 The Empty Man
17 Mulan
18 Black Bear
19 Wolfwalkers

[Ivan Drago]

Haven't seen it, but I've heard enough about The Painted Bird to guess that'd be one hell of a dour watch party.

[Skitch]

No one has seen Ip Man 4, what is wrong with you people

[Ezee E]

Train to Busan, please. I might be able to do this one.

[quido8_5]

I love that movie a lot. Saw it in a packed theater on a hot Thursday, was glad I got to see it opening weekend and witness everyone else reacting to the last act.

One of the moments in a film when I definitely wished I had been in a theater. *That* scene showed that Tarantino still had the ability to create situations that are as outrageous as they are enjoyable. Crowd pleasing in a way that is exciting instead pandering. I wasn't watching, but a friend told me that the Academy Awards showed that scene in one of their clips.