Love it Spinal.
Love it Spinal.
I watched The Black Stallion for the first time in its entirety last night. It's magnificent. My dad tried to show it to me as a kid but I got so scared I only made it through the first 20 minutes. Had no idea about [] I distinctly remember being frightened by the quick scene at the beginning where the horse is fighting against the ropes on the deck of the ship. Also, the ship wreck sequence is really scary and so is the bit with the cobra.
Anyway, got me thinking about other movies that scared me as a kid:
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial - The bit where the guys in spacesuits enter the house.
Jurassic Park - Not a particular part, but I had nightmares about velociraptors after the second time I saw the movie.
The Empire Strikes Back - I saw this first because my dad got confused as to whether Star Wars was the first movie in the Star Wars saga or not . Again, nothing specific, but I remember thinking that when I turned on lights in dark rooms at night that Vader would be standing there ready to get me. Not unlike this scene:
What movies scared you as a kid?
last four:
black widow - 8
zero dark thirty - 9
the muse - 7
freaky - 7
now reading:
lonesome dove - larry mcmurtry
Letterboxd
The Harrison Marathon - A Podcast About Harrison Ford
I feel like I peel back a new layer or idea every time I watch it. Same with Akira. Love it. Are you going to watch any more GiTS stuff? I recommend Stand Alone Complex.Quoting Spinal (view post)
This is sorta brilliant on a couple of different levels, but the coup de grace is burying a "Hacksaw Ridge" rating in the middle of it
I'm surprised you weren't skeptical of the amount of Land Before Time sequels. What happened, did your son get bored of the Criterion Collection?Quoting Spinal (view post)
[]
Last Five Films I've Seen (Out of 5)
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse (Mackesy, 2022) 4.5
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Crawford, 2022) 4
Confess, Fletch (Mottola, 2022) 3.5
M3GAN (Johnstone, 2023) 3.5
Turning Red (Shi, 2022) 4.5
Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953) 5
615 Film
Letterboxd
Maybe eventually. I'll have to do some more research as to what I'd be getting into. Looks like there's a lot to digest.Quoting Skitch (view post)
Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***
I learned that there's more Land Before Time movies than can be fit in a signature.Quoting Irish (view post)
Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***
The one I always remember is Poltergeist which I saw around the age of 9.Quoting Lazlo (view post)
Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***
I proudly own the Land Before Time on laserdisc.
One question that keeps coming back to me over time. Why do people in the US love The Shawshank Redemption so much? It HAS to be a cultural thing. I've spoken to people of all countries who don't think it's that big of a deal. But every American seems to regard it as a masterpiece.
Wow, really? Huh. Whats not to like?
I want to know someone who saw it in the theater. Everyone I know came across it on TBS/TNT.Quoting Grouchy (view post)
I did. Good movie, but I also am a bit mystified at it's elevated reputation. It surprises me when it's mentioned alongside all-time classics.Quoting Ezee E (view post)
Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***
I did. Great movie.Quoting Ezee E (view post)
Last 10 Movies Seen
(90+ = canonical, 80-89 = brilliant, 70-79 = strongly recommended, 60-69 = good, 50-59 = mixed, 40-49 = below average with some good points, 30-39 = poor, 20-29 = bad, 10-19 = terrible, 0-9 = soul-crushingly inept in every way)
Run (2020) 64
The Whistlers (2019) 55
Pawn (2020) 62
Matilda (1996) 37
The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1976) 61
Moby Dick (2011) 50
Soul (2020) 64
Heroic Duo (2003) 55
A Moment of Romance (1990) 61
As Tears Go By (1988) 65
Stuff at Letterboxd
Listening Habits at LastFM
Top 5 movie all-time for me.
Whoops. Looks like I demoted it to #26.Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)
Blind rent on VHS. Blew my mind. Watched it twice in 24 hours.
First, explain your countrymen's love of Eva Perón.Quoting Grouchy (view post)
I really hope that's Spinal's actual rating for Hacksaw Ridge.
Sure why not?
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (Rian Johnson) - 9
STRONGER (David Gordon Green) - 6
THE DISASTER ARTIST (James Franco) - 7
THE FLORIDA PROJECT (Sean Baker) - 9
LADY BIRD (Greta Gerwig) - 8
"Hitchcock is really bad at suspense."
- Stay Puft
Here's a non-horror (the film that scarred me the most was Demons, but that is a no-brainer - I would have been scarred by any gory horror at the time I saw it) movie that freaked me out when I was younger: Return to Oz
Last 10 Movies Seen
(90+ = canonical, 80-89 = brilliant, 70-79 = strongly recommended, 60-69 = good, 50-59 = mixed, 40-49 = below average with some good points, 30-39 = poor, 20-29 = bad, 10-19 = terrible, 0-9 = soul-crushingly inept in every way)
Run (2020) 64
The Whistlers (2019) 55
Pawn (2020) 62
Matilda (1996) 37
The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1976) 61
Moby Dick (2011) 50
Soul (2020) 64
Heroic Duo (2003) 55
A Moment of Romance (1990) 61
As Tears Go By (1988) 65
Stuff at Letterboxd
Listening Habits at LastFM
I think The Shawshank Redemption is almost the perfectly told story. In terms of how the plot is laid out, and how it comes together, and how it works to deepen the characters and their relationship with each other, and how it ends, and how all of the shots and scenes are almost perfectly chosen to seamlessly move the story forward, it is something that should be more of an inspiration for mainstream cinema today - seriously, some of the blockbusters we see today have atrociously banal screenplays and little idea how to tell a story that isn't (a) a chosen one parable (snooze!) or (b) some jerk learning to not be a jerk (eh).
Some movies aren't interested in telling a perfect story, and this is not necessarily a negative - I think Mulholland Dr. (purposefully) leaves a lot of holes and mysteries in its central narrative, but it is richer for it, being able to generate a brilliantly realized atmosphere... so, anyway...
Last edited by transmogrifier; 04-02-2017 at 04:07 AM.
Last 10 Movies Seen
(90+ = canonical, 80-89 = brilliant, 70-79 = strongly recommended, 60-69 = good, 50-59 = mixed, 40-49 = below average with some good points, 30-39 = poor, 20-29 = bad, 10-19 = terrible, 0-9 = soul-crushingly inept in every way)
Run (2020) 64
The Whistlers (2019) 55
Pawn (2020) 62
Matilda (1996) 37
The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1976) 61
Moby Dick (2011) 50
Soul (2020) 64
Heroic Duo (2003) 55
A Moment of Romance (1990) 61
As Tears Go By (1988) 65
Stuff at Letterboxd
Listening Habits at LastFM
Maybe part of it is that the film is in some ways America's overall self-narrative, the idea of the free individual self-liberating from a destructive system. It's also a film that anybody can understand without coming off as condescending (your mileage may vary on that, though). I think part of it for a lot of viewers is that you feel like you discovered it; it was recommended by somebody and then you rented it, or maybe you caught it on cable (which was how a lot of people saw it for the first time after its tepid theatrical reception). That's always a fun feeling, discovering something on your own - it's the opposite of how a lot of "great films" are promoted to casual movie-watchers, with superlative-heavy reviews from Esteemed Sources and Noted Filmmakers, to the point that watching Citizen Kane or La Dolce Vita starts to feel like an obligation, like coursework instead of a good time.Quoting Grouchy (view post)
Also, don't underestimate the popular appeal of a movie that has an uplifting and well-told story.
Last edited by Dead & Messed Up; 04-02-2017 at 04:07 AM.
Hah, you lapped me on it simply being a good, well-told story. But to piggyback on the shot choices and scenes, absolutely, Darabont does a great job of crafting a film that's sort of quietly elegant, that sometimes does very dramatic things with camera, lighting, and composition, but without making you too conscious of the effects - maybe because they almost always come in to support a moment of high drama. They feel proportional, like that gigantic crane twist when Hadley's dangling Andy off the roof, but as Andy talks and you realize that he has leverage (as an accountant), the camera moves down and tilts up, drops the vertiginous angle, and puts them at eye-level with each other. It's graceful and unintrusive and helps communicate stakes (the plunge) and then communicates character dynamics.Quoting transmogrifier (view post)
Steven Spielberg is sort of the God of that kind of old Hollywood style of filmmaking (at his best, he is, anyway).
My problem with The Shawshank Redemption is that it feels like two fundamentally different movies awkwardly spliced together: On the one hand, it's a liberal screed against the abusive conditions prisoners are subjected to in American prisons (or at least, were in the past) and the inability of those prisoners to adjust to normal life once they get out, but on the other hand, it's an uplifting personal story about interracial male bonding in which the sympathetic characters overcome major obstacles and the unsympathetic ones get their comeuppance. Without the former, the latter would just be schmaltzy wish-fulfillment, and without the latter, the former would be unspeakably depressing, but I'm not sure grafting them together like some kind of Frankenstein monster is an ideal solution either.
Just because...
The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022) mild
Petite maman (Céline Sciamma, 2021) mild
The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022) mild
The last book I read was...
The Complete Short Stories by Mark Twain
The (New) World
Oh shit, just realized that King basically wrote this story twice, once in the original novella, and once (to some degree) in The Eyes of the Dragon, where someone innocent is imprisoned and must think of a slow-boiling plan for escape. []