sonicshoulder Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 "Paris, Texas". Had never seen it but it is referenced in songs by two of my favorite artists so I needed to see what it was all about. "Val" on Amazon. A documentary on Val Kilmer by Val Kilmer. He has been documenting his own life since childhood on home videos and compiled them for this film. Very interesting imo Link to post Share on other sites
Analogman Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 1 hour ago, calvino said: For the love of Pete -- I have been playing and singing that song on my guitar for 30 years and just realized it when you mentioned it. That 1st stanza --- the song never even crossed my mind while I was watching that scene... I saw her standing on her front lawn Just twirling her baton Me and her went for a ride, sir And ten innocent people died From the town of Lincoln, Nebraska With a sawed off .410 on my lap Through to the badlands of Wyoming I killed everything in my path I can't say that I'm sorry For the things that we done At least for a little while, sir Me and her we had us some fun Now the jury brought in a guilty verdict And the judge he sentenced me to death Midnight in a prison storeroom With leather straps across my chest Sheriff, when the man pulls that switch, sir And snaps my poor head back You make sure my pretty baby Is sitting right there on my lap They declared me unfit to live Said into that great void my soul'd be hurled They wanted to know why I did what I did Well sir I guess there's just a meanness in this world I think Dylan once questioned his motives on writing that song. Link to post Share on other sites
calvino Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 1 hour ago, Analogman said: I think Dylan once questioned his motives on writing that song. Really? Not sure why Dylan would have any beef with Springsteen about writing a song about a killer or killings. Dylan has written plenty of those types of songs. Link to post Share on other sites
Analogman Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 1 hour ago, calvino said: Really? Not sure why Dylan would have any beef with Springsteen about writing a song about a killer or killings. Dylan has written plenty of those types of songs. I think it was something about how did he know what they were thinking, Bruce was not around at that time/place, etc. Link to post Share on other sites
calvino Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 Oh jeez --- Dylan must have been crabby that day he was being interviewed.... Maybe he was hanging out with Keith the night before of the interview. Link to post Share on other sites
Chez Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 We watched "Who Has My Pig" last night and enjoyed it. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
sonicshoulder Posted August 17, 2021 Share Posted August 17, 2021 "The White Lotus"...multiple thumbs up Link to post Share on other sites
Chez Posted August 17, 2021 Share Posted August 17, 2021 2 hours ago, sonicshoulder said: "The White Lotus"...multiple thumbs up We finished it on Sunday. Agree - it's entertaining. notwithstanding the fact that almost all the characters are unlikable. Link to post Share on other sites
sonicshoulder Posted August 17, 2021 Share Posted August 17, 2021 22 minutes ago, Chez said: We finished it on Sunday. Agree - it's entertaining. notwithstanding the fact that almost all the characters are unlikable. Interesting observation that I hadn't made but is definitely true. Each little sub-story is so good and then they all tie together very intricately. My wife came in late to the show and I didn't really even know where to start in telling her what was going on. Link to post Share on other sites
uncool2pillow Posted August 18, 2021 Share Posted August 18, 2021 Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Available on Netflix. Taika Waititi is brilliant! Link to post Share on other sites
kidsmoke Posted August 18, 2021 Share Posted August 18, 2021 48 minutes ago, uncool2pillow said: Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Available on Netflix. Taika Waititi is brilliant! Thanks for the reminder...my sister raved about this film but I keep forgetting to search it out. Link to post Share on other sites
TCP Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 If you like Hunt For the Wilderpeople check out Jojo Rabbit, another Taika film! Link to post Share on other sites
uncool2pillow Posted August 19, 2021 Share Posted August 19, 2021 5 hours ago, TCP said: If you like Hunt For the Wilderpeople check out Jojo Rabbit, another Taika film! Seen it at least 3 times. The first time, I was kind of disappointed in the ending. The second and third time, I cried. Not sure how it hit me differently, but it sure did! 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Beltmann Posted August 23, 2021 Author Share Posted August 23, 2021 On 8/21/2021 at 3:38 AM, chuckrh said: I've seen Da 5 Bloods three times now, and I still haven't been able to reconcile all of my conflicting thoughts about its pinballing ideas. I suppose that's entirely to its credit. The movie doesn't strive for realism; with the different aspect ratios and the reconfiguration of familiar genre cliches, the style and tone reminds me a little of Godard. Sometimes it even feels like satire. Lee also throws everything at the wall to signal a large thesis involving how many social ills past and present are connected skirmishes in the same neverending umbrella war. Delroy Lindo is magnificent. As a poisoned veteran whose resentment manifests in Trumpism, he commands the screen. He might be one of the most complex and fearsome characters Lee has ever conjured. I'm especially drawn to the prevailing thread of continuous Black trauma. What's interesting is how even the simplest stuff--the gold is obviously a symbol for reparations--ends up muddier and more complex. Much has been made of how none of the actors are replaced or de-aged for the scenes set decades earlier, but that stylistic choice isn’t jarring at all. What we are seeing, I think, are memories rather than flashbacks, so it makes sense that these old men would envision their current selves inside their own memories. The choice ends up amplifying the themes. Quite a few dialogue exchanges are didactic, but the more I consider how the movie is practically structured as film criticism--as a freewheeling, interrogative pastiche of war and adventure movie formulas--the more I wonder whether those clunky exchanges are by design. At times it seems that Lee is intentionally appropriating the bombastic qualities of classic Vietnam movies (there's a reason for the transparent nod to Apocalypse Now) in order to put the screws to how cinema has typically addressed such subject matter. The casting of Chadwick Boseman, too, only promotes the idea of watching this story through the prism of cinematic baggage--Norman, their romanticized mentor, is Jackie Robinson, James Brown, Thurgood Marshall and T'Challa all at once. Link to post Share on other sites
Beltmann Posted August 23, 2021 Author Share Posted August 23, 2021 Set in Senegal and shot in Wolof, the local language, Ousmane Sembene's Mandabi (1968) tells a simple story freighted with a powerful attack on colonialism: When an unemployed man receives a money order from a helpful nephew laboring in Paris, he is thrown into a roundelay of bureaucracy that makes it impossible for him to cash the order. The real frustration, though, lies in how those with power manipulate his illiteracy, lack of proper identification, and financial ignorance for personal gain. Sembene, often cited as the “father of African cinema,” presents a Senegalese culture brutalized by colonialism. His key insight, perhaps, is that those colonized by the French have learned from their oppressors the art of exploitation and now wield it against their own kind. I've seen only half of Sembene's output, but Mandabi joins 2004's Moolaade among my favorites. (Viewed on the Criterion Channel.) Link to post Share on other sites
chuckrh Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 8 hours ago, Beltmann said: I've seen Da 5 Bloods three times now, and I still haven't been able to reconcile all of my conflicting thoughts about its pinballing ideas. I suppose that's entirely to its credit. The movie doesn't strive for realism; with the different aspect ratios and the reconfiguration of familiar genre cliches, the style and tone reminds me a little of Godard. Sometimes it even feels like satire. Lee also throws everything at the wall to signal a large thesis involving how many social ills past and present are connected skirmishes in the same neverending umbrella war. Delroy Lindo is magnificent. As a poisoned veteran whose resentment manifests in Trumpism, he commands the screen. He might be one of the most complex and fearsome characters Lee has ever conjured. I'm especially drawn to the prevailing thread of continuous Black trauma. What's interesting is how even the simplest stuff--the gold is obviously a symbol for reparations--ends up muddier and more complex. Much has been made of how none of the actors are replaced or de-aged for the scenes set decades earlier, but that stylistic choice isn’t jarring at all. What we are seeing, I think, are memories rather than flashbacks, so it makes sense that these old men would envision their current selves inside their own memories. The choice ends up amplifying the themes. Quite a few dialogue exchanges are didactic, but the more I consider how the movie is practically structured as film criticism--as a freewheeling, interrogative pastiche of war and adventure movie formulas--the more I wonder whether those clunky exchanges are by design. At times it seems that Lee is intentionally appropriating the bombastic qualities of classic Vietnam movies (there's a reason for the transparent nod to Apocalypse Now) in order to put the screws to how cinema has typically addressed such subject matter. The casting of Chadwick Boseman, too, only promotes the idea of watching this story through the prism of cinematic baggage--Norman, their romanticized mentor, is Jackie Robinson, James Brown, Thurgood Marshall and T'Challa all at once. I was struck by all of the "Treasure of Sierra Madre" references. I need to watch that movie again. It has been awhile. Link to post Share on other sites
TCP Posted August 24, 2021 Share Posted August 24, 2021 Yesterday I watched a couple of old scifi movies I'd never seen before. Blade Runner The Final Cut -This movies oozes style and mood. It's a little slower paced than it should be but I was captivated in the world it created. Harrison Ford is great but how awesome was that "tears in the rain" speech at the end?? Alien -This one was even better than Blade Runner. A seriously well put together movie. It's amazing how much better this movie from 1979 looks with it's practical effects than a movie 20+ years later does like Attack of the Clones. Even though I had never seen Alien before I recognized so much of it from popculture... for instance as soon as they sat down for that last meal I knew something was going to pop out of John Hurt's chest, probably because I've seen it parodied or referenced so many times before. It's an effective sci-fi movie AND horror movie. They could have gone bigger with it but they didn't and I really appreciate that, you just don't see major films these days like that unless it's an indie film like something A24 does. The scene where they broke quarantine procedures and brought John Hurt's character on the ship, hits hard after 2020. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
u2roolz Posted September 6, 2021 Share Posted September 6, 2021 David Lowery’s The Green Knight is one of the most visually stunning films in years. It’s also what I would consider to be one of the best films this year. (Available in theaters & on VOD for $19.99. Price should drop on October 12th same day as Blu-ray release in the U.S.) Link to post Share on other sites
calvino Posted September 6, 2021 Share Posted September 6, 2021 On 8/12/2021 at 8:56 AM, sonicshoulder said: "Paris, Texas". Had never seen it but it is referenced in songs by two of my favorite artists so I needed to see what it was all about. "Val" on Amazon. A documentary on Val Kilmer by Val Kilmer. He has been documenting his own life since childhood on home videos and compiled them for this film. Very interesting imo Watched both of these ---- Paris, Texas was shot great --- I will watch anything that has Harry Dean Stanton. His character and his son played a great road-trip duo. Val was also pretty good ---- sad. It's great that he had a great relationship with his parents, though they didn't seem to all that great to him --- guess they probably paid for his Juilliard training. It's great that it seems that he has a better relationship with kids. Also like the fact that he is still pretty weird. The footage of Top Gun was pretty cool to see. Remember my buddy's mom taking us to see it the movie theater. It was pretty cool. Granted that Doors movie was a mess - I always thought Kilmer nailed the character. Link to post Share on other sites
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