View Poll Results: Yay or Nay?

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Thread: The Beach Bum (Harmony Korine)

  1. #1
    Administrator Ezee E's Avatar
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    The Beach Bum (Harmony Korine)


    Barbarian - ***
    Bones and All - ***
    Tar - **


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  2. #2
    Guttenbergian Pop Trash's Avatar
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    Not since Darren Aronofsky's mother! has a filmmaker so used an A-list name actor as a trojan horse to light up a stinky art-bomb at your local multiplex. And this stinky art-bomb reeks of weed, suntan oil, butthole, and chlorine.

    Will probably be the most bewildering crowd un-pleaser of the year... at least until Under the Silver Lake and Her Smell come out (which I fully expect to bomb at the b/o as well). Two people walked out at my screening and the rest of the (very small) audience seemed thoroughly unamused. Me? I had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing like a hyena during the final scene. Someone described it as like a Happy Madison production directed by Terrence Malick which seems as good of a description as any. Won't be anything else like it at the multiplex all year.
    Last edited by Pop Trash; 04-07-2019 at 02:22 AM.
    Ratings on a 1-10 scale for your pleasure:

    Top Gun: Maverick - 8
    Top Gun - 7
    McCabe & Mrs. Miller - 8
    Crimes of the Future - 8
    Videodrome - 9
    Valley Girl - 8
    Summer of '42 - 7
    In the Line of Fire - 8
    Passenger 57 - 7
    Everything Everywhere All at Once - 6



  3. #3
    Administrator Ezee E's Avatar
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    Sure, it's zany. Matt keeps it alive from beginning to end, but in a way, I couldn't wait for it to be over. There's really nothing at stake because Moondog will just roll with the punches or charm his way out of trouble. Repeat.

    Barbarian - ***
    Bones and All - ***
    Tar - **


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  4. #4
    The Pan Spinal's Avatar
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    Is Korine critiquing irresponsible wealth and excess or celebrating it? Does he have a take at all? Hard to say, but either way, this movie is as tedious as anything he's ever done. Spring Breakers may have been a fluke.
    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 (NoƩ, 2018) **1/2
    Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
    Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***

  5. #5
    In the belly of a whale Henry Gale's Avatar
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    Maybe my favourite film so far of this young year.

    Just like Spring Breakers, I'm not positive as to exactly what Korine is trying to say with a lot of it, but I know I'm positive I don't care about that nearly as much as the stirringly lucid and effervescent journey he conjures in simply expressing it. And with a film with a protagonist like this, that mentality suits the playground and bonkers moments he constructs perfectly.

    Such a gorgeous and gonzo anomaly of a work. Can't wait to watch it again when the weather is as nice as it looks on screen.
    Last 11 things I really enjoyed:

    Speed Racer (Wachowski/Wachowski, 2008)
    Safe (Haynes, 1995)
    South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)
    Beastie Boys Story (Jonze, 2020)
    Bad Trip (Sakurai, 2020)
    What's Up Doc? (Bogdanovich, 1972)
    Diva (Beineix, 1981)
    Delicatessen (Caro/Jeunet, 1991)
    The Hunger (Scott, 1983)
    Pineapple Express (Green, 2008)
    Chungking Express (Wong, 1994)

  6. #6
    A Platypus Grouchy's Avatar
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    I gave it a Yay because it defies belief a lot of the time and gave me some savage laughs, but yeah, I don't know what to make of it either, to be honest. It's a film that deliberately spoofs the three act narrative structure by having the key plot points happen, only the characters don't really give a shit about them.

  7. #7
    Evil mind, evil sword. Ivan Drago's Avatar
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    I thought this was a trip. It's an absurdist portrayal of rich, white male privilege that gets more and more horrifying as it goes along. And McConnaughey just cackles through his movie-long drug-riddled haze blissfully unaware or apathetic about how dangerous his carelessness is causing from beginning to end. Compared to Spring Breakers, the cinematography is still stylish but much grittier this time around, and the soundtrack provides a euphoric, wondrous contrast to the hedonistic chaos on screen. Also, a collaboration between Jimmy Buffett and Snoop Dogg on the soundtrack is something I didn't know I wanted, but I'm glad it exists, just like the movie itself.
    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
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  8. #8
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    A most cheerfully perverse, hedonistic entry into hangout film genre, with maybe *the* definitive McConaughey performance. Almost breaks the spell any time it threatens to have a formed plot point (the near-the-end rush to glory, even if to be undercut later, is the most jarring of this), but both Korine and McConaughey always pull it back to the film's main darkly mesmerizing effervescence (kind of an Upside Down Malick vibe?) every time. 7.5/10
    Midnight Run (1988) - 9
    The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) - 8.5
    The Adventures of Robinhood (1938) - 8
    Sisters (1973) - 6.5
    Shin Godzilla (2016) - 7.5

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