Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Jan 22, 2018 11:55:35 GMT -5
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967) Old fart movie critics and scholars love to talk about how amazing 1939 was in Hollywood. Fuck that! 1967 is where it's at. Bonnie & Clyde. The Graduate. Cool Hand Luke. These are heavyweights of American cinema. When the filmmaking community got together 50 years ago to honor the years best, In the Heat of the Night was chosen as Best Picture. Is it really the best of the best? No. Not at all. It's a bland detective story about a northern Black cop and a southern White cop joining forces to solve a murder. Where it stands out it's through its social commentary. The movie doesn't shy away from the racial hostility occurring at the time nor is it preachy about it. That same year, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner was released and centered on racism. Here you have a cop film that just happens to also tackle discrimination. There's a distinction and that's what led to it winning. People don't like feeling attacked, so the less guilt-driven option is gonna receive the accolades. Whether it actually deserved its honors or not can be debated, but at least it made sense within context. This isn't a year where the top awards went to an outrageous choice. MANHATTAN (1979) Academy Award nominations will be announced tomorrow morning, but we all know none of it will matter. All anyone will care about is which men will next be thrown into the lion's den in the #MeToo/#TimesUp movement. One of the past winners caught up in the scandal is none other than Woody Allen. Perhaps his most notorious film at the moment is Manhattan, for which he received a best screenplay nomination, and revolved around his relationship with a 17-year-old girl. This isn't fantasy because he did in fact date a high school student at the time, an actress by the name of Stacey Nelkin, and the movie is partially based on their history together. What's striking is how nonchalant Woody Allen is about it. He doesn't depict their affair as creepy, sexual or even romantic. It's all very... casual. In a way, that's kinda realistic because day-to-day life is largely mundane. At the same time, however, it's weird that he barely acknowledges the age-difference. He was 42 at the time. 17 and 42 are world's apart and a true comedian would use that as a source of comedy. That same year, Blake Edwards did just that in 10 which is also about a 42-year-old man hooking up with a young woman. It was a box office success because audiences can tolerate a difficult subject matter if they can laugh with it. Manhattan, gorgeous cinematography aside, is just awkward.
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Jan 22, 2018 12:09:03 GMT -5
Have you seen Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? Trust me, there's nothing "guilt driven" about it, it's the softest of pitches.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Jan 22, 2018 12:55:23 GMT -5
The picture is from the tv show!
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Jan 22, 2018 21:43:54 GMT -5
I wouldn't have even nominated In the Heat of the Night, but I'd argue it's way bolder and more challenging than Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Feb 16, 2018 20:21:04 GMT -5
MARTY (1955) White America has created an image of the 1950's that's 100% sugarcoated. A perfect example of that is the Best Picture winning Marty from 1955. Here you have the story of a George Costanza type who at 34 is single, working in food service and living with his overbearing Italian mother. You could literally make this movie in 2018 and not change the plot at all. It's that insanely relatable. The story begins with friends and relatives criticizing Marty for being a loser. Overwhelmed by all this, he goes to a party and meets a fellow loser and falls in love with her. People then change their tune and tell Marty that he shouldn't settle for a Plain Jane and continue the life of a loser. Marty is confused by all this, but at the end realizes that they're a bunch of idiots and chooses the vagina. Again, you could literally make this movie in 2018. But here's where the differences arise and where the bullshit of the 50's come up. If you're 34, single and have a minimum wage job, you might as well dig a hole for yourself. All your friends from youth are married and have children. You can't relate to younger people. You're gonna hate your job. You're gonna dread living with your parents if you have to. As I said, this is literally George Costanza. So when you watch this movie and are exposed to its good nature and charm, it rings false. Truth is, the characters and story are pathetic. That said, does it matter? Have we gotten THAT cynical? Have we waged war against happiness? Marty is a fucking great movie. So what if it's bullshit? Just sit back and enjoy it. The world is a horrible place. Bring some damn joy into your life.
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Feb 16, 2018 22:00:56 GMT -5
Marty is fine. I enjoy it, and I can see why it felt special when it first came out, but in a year that gave us Rebel Without a Cause, The Night of the Hunter, East of Eden, The Man with the Golden Arm, and The Man from Laramie (not to mention excellent foreign language films like Rififi, Smiles of a Summer Night, and Ordet), I don't think Marty compares.
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Feb 16, 2018 22:43:25 GMT -5
Marty is fine. I enjoy it, and I can see why it felt special when it first came out, but in a year that gave us Rebel Without a Cause, The Night of the Hunter, East of Eden, The Man with the Golden Arm, and The Man from Laramie (not to mention excellent foreign language films like Rififi, Smiles of a Summer Night, and Ordet), I don't think Marty compares. |
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Mar 3, 2018 18:06:35 GMT -5
BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE (2002) Thanks to Netflix, documentaries have gotten loads of exposure and are now a major category at the Academy Awards. It wasn't always that way. I remember when the only documentaries to get mainstream exposure were the Michael Moore ones. Of all those, Bowling for Columbine is the most relevant one at this particular moment. The school shooting at Parkland is still fresh in our minds and has sparked debates we've been having since 1999 when the shooting at Columbine occurred. For some, it's easy to dismiss the movie because there are silly things in it like Michael Moore investigating whether or not Canadians lock their door or the infamous ending in which he leaves a dead child's photo on Charlton Heston's doorstep. But the movie does make some strong arguments. Whenever a mass shooting happens there's always the same talking points and Michael Moore dissects all of them. He points out that other countries have a history of war, millions of gun owners, poverty, racism, broken homes and the youth are exposed to action movies and angry music but their murder rate isn't in the same ballpark as ours. What makes US so much more violent? His conclusion is the commercialization of fear. The government, corporations and the media profit from us stocking up on weapons and shooting each other. Valid point, I'd argue. What the movie DOESN'T cover, and where it shows its age, is in its lack of a spotlight for mental health issues. 2002 feels like yesterday but it was a long time ago. We've always had mental health issues, but it has definitely escalated in this decade and is now interwoven with the gun control debate. It might be time for Michael Moore to do a sequel.
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Mar 3, 2018 19:15:26 GMT -5
It took me a while to see what you were doing with that picture.
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Deexan
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Post by Deexan on Mar 3, 2018 19:50:27 GMT -5
16 years later and not a single sign of progress.
The mind boggles.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Mar 3, 2018 20:15:49 GMT -5
It took me a while to see what you were doing with that picture. It is pretty brilliant. |
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thebtskink
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It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.
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Post by thebtskink on Mar 3, 2018 20:58:34 GMT -5
A fat guy confronting Charleton Heston?
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Feb 5, 2019 21:14:52 GMT -5
THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY (1978) A pre-crazy Gary Busey, in a stunning Oscar-nominated performance, stars as rock n roll pioneer Buddy Holly in a biopic about the recording artist. Busey actually sings and plays in the role, which gives him an edge over a lot of actors that play famous musicians. The movie itself, however, can’t quite keep up with Busey. It focuses on a white boy from Texas overcoming the stigma of playing “negro music” to become a superstar of the genre and then the trials and tribulations that follow. Let’s ignore the Black entertainers that were neglected by the industry and gained no access to mainstream audiences. Critics and historians have also pointed out how the film doesn’t mention the real drama in Buddy Holly’s life, getting screwed over by his manager, which would have probably been more relatable than portraying Buddy Holly as a wigger.
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Feb 8, 2019 23:20:47 GMT -5
GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER (1967) Completing Sidney Poitier’s trilogy of career-defining roles in 1967 is Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, a movie dismissed as fluff, but is actually the best of the three. The centerpiece of the story is a rich white girl marrying an Obama-type black man (we used to call those Cosby like) so you can see why people roll their eyes. But the movie actually tackles subject matters that are still relevant today. The black maid objects to a black man hooking up with a white woman, a topic that comedians joke about to this day. The parents are presented as fake progressives, a topic at the centerpiece of a recent Oscar winning film you may have heard of called Get Out. There’s themes of ageism and generation gaps that are universal. You can show this movie to a modern audience and they’ll dig it.
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Feb 16, 2019 2:04:11 GMT -5
DICK TRACY (1990) Black Panther has become the first comic book adaptation to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. That’s a milestone for a genre that has largely been dismissed by the Oscars. So much so that, as if this writing, Dick Tracy still holds the record for most wins at three. Think about all the comic book movies that have been released since 1990, including non superhero ones like Road to Perdition. None of them won more than one or two awards. That’s if it was even nominated. So what makes Dick Tracy so special, besides it being nostalgic for the old farts that read the comics in the 1930’s? It won for Set Design, Make-Up and Music. Looking at the competition for that year, you can’t really dispute those wins. So, really, the question should be: what has made nearly 30 years of comic book adaptations so UN-special? Competition? Politics? The voters distaste for the genre? One could argue that Dick Tracy was simply in the right place at the right time. It’s an argument you could make for Black Panther too. Neither movie is great and I’m sure Academy members agree. This is just the stars aligning in a weak year. The question now becomes: will Black Panther dethrone Dick Tracy? That’s a question no one has asked themselves this entire awards season.
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Mar 11, 2021 4:53:49 GMT -5
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1998) I must confess that I enjoyed this movie upon release. Was it better than Saving Private Ryan? Probably not. But it’s certainly no English Patient nor King’s Speech. Getting lumped together with those movies is unfortunate, but Miramax has itself to blame. Their notorious awards season tactics hurt the legacy of all their movies. It gained them short-term monetary gain but long-term disdain. Nowadays, do people willingly watch this movie, even fans of the genre? People say Avatar is relevant because of its box office achievement. Is Shakespeare in Love relevant because it stole a Best Picture award? I don’t know. What I do know is that it holds up. It’s silly, really silly, but it’s charming. I like the cast and its revisionist take on an otherwise mundane story.
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Mar 12, 2021 4:45:03 GMT -5
CINEMA PARADISO (1988)Been a year since we almost lost movie theatres for good. It reminds me of 2000 when I worked at a video store in Utah called CleanFlicks. They specialized in censoring R-rated movies for family audiences. I didn't believe in it, but it was a living. One day, a snot-nosed 9-year-old named SnoBorderZero strolled in and rented Jim Cameron's Titanic. Didn't think much of it at the moment, but later found out he used the milk money to rent the movie and his mom beat the shit out of him for it. Let me tell ya, she was a real Karen. Stormed into the store, cursed me out and demanded her money back. I felt bad for the kid. He has to live with that. So I hooked him up with Kate Winslet's nude scene. Blew his mind. He then started bugging me at work, asking for all the naughty bits I was cutting out of movies. Kid was turning out to be a real pervert. But whatever. I needed an apprentice and he worked for no money. I taught him the trade and felt better about slacking off at work. Good times didn't last long though. One day, the 56K computers we used overheated and burned down the store. Owners built a new one, and since I could no longer be trusted to run the place, they hired SnoBorderZero as my replacement. He ran the place till Netflix made the business obsolete. Last I heard he had moved to Hollywood and worked on an indie film named Coming 2 America. Don't know if y'all heard of it. Supposed to be a real piece of shit. But whatever. At least he's no longer working for slave labor. Before we departed, I left him a gift. It was a DVD with a montage of all the naughty bits I cut from the movies in our store. I hope he saw it. 
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SnoBorderZero
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Post by SnoBorderZero on Mar 12, 2021 14:34:49 GMT -5
This may be your best write up yet.
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