thebtskink
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Post by thebtskink on Mar 15, 2021 7:59:18 GMT -5
Wow. Just wow.
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Mar 15, 2021 10:25:23 GMT -5
For the record, since posting that I found out that the $23,000 that came into play at the end of the film was part of a savings account for a boat he wanted to buy, which was part of the reason they were arguing at the beginning of the film and I either wasn't paying attention or forgot about it. It does answer a question I had later in the film about him looking at boats whenever he was on his computer too.
So I will take the L on that one.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Mar 15, 2021 11:09:47 GMT -5
That was one of the greatest reviews I've ever read. Each word, each phrase better than the one previous. And welcome to the boards, American Eagle.
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Mar 15, 2021 12:30:29 GMT -5
I encourage everyone to watch this scene:
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Mar 15, 2021 14:02:43 GMT -5
I encourage everyone to watch this scene: You know that there were some super Christian middle aged folks watching that scene and howling with laughter.
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Mar 15, 2021 14:27:19 GMT -5
I encourage everyone to watch this scene: You know that there were some super Christian middle aged folks watching that scene and howling with laughter. The more I think about this guy, the more amazed I am. The movie goes out of its way to come to a screeching halt at several points just so we can watch...him. He has no bearing on anything, and is just present throughout the movie, and only says anything when it's a comedic scene devoted to him. It's like how you'd be watching Power Rangers and then suddenly Bulk and Skull would interject themselves into a scene. I'm going to continue using Marriage Story as an example, but imagine you're watching that film then every half hour it just stops the story dead and you're watching this: It's fucking incredible. The fact that this guy exists in the movie at all is funnier than anything he does in the movie, and I love it.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Mar 15, 2021 14:40:18 GMT -5
No joke man, I showed my wife your review. She knows that I like posting on a movie message board that I've been going to since I was 15 and while she thinks it's a little silly she also knows that I know a lot of you guys in some degree or another. So when I mentioned the film club and showed her your review she read the entire thing. She asked me to point out her favorite scene, when Kirk's wife is in bed (I think she's sick? I can't remember) and Kirk walks into the room with something behind his back. Not flowers, not jewelry, it's her favorite meal...Chik Fil A. I forgot about that and laughed when she mentioned it.
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Mar 15, 2021 15:15:23 GMT -5
I'm happy I could pleasure your wife, Doomsday. Mostly my goal was to make sitting through Justice League worthwhile.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Mar 15, 2021 16:03:38 GMT -5
I'm happy I could pleasure your wife, Doomsday . Well somebody has to.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Mar 17, 2021 1:12:05 GMT -5
1godzillafan you forgot to mention the tour de force performances throughout the film.
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Mar 17, 2021 1:26:48 GMT -5
It's a movie where the best actor is Kirk Cameron. I mist have thought that was implied. My bad.
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IanTheCool
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Post by IanTheCool on Mar 19, 2021 12:11:30 GMT -5
A Shot in the Dark
I watched The Pink Panther a year or two ago and remember being completely underwhelmed. I think Peter Sellers is really funny, but that movie just... wasn't. I was confused as to why it became a big comedy franchise. But now after watching the sequel, A Shot in the Dark, I get it.
A Shot in the Dark focuses its attention of the bumbling character of Inspector Clouseau, brilliantly played by Sellers who really shows his stuff like we know he can. The story is pinned on a classic Clue-like murder mystery, but the way Clouseau (I have no idea if I'm spelling that right, but am also not going to open a new tab to find out (oh hey, it shows up in the spellcheck, how about that)) handles it is where Shot in the Dark sets itself apart. Its a great mixed of verbal and physical comedy, all of which is rooted in character, which generally produces the best results.
As much as Pink Panther disappointed me, there was an incredible sequence involving a ridiculous back and forth car chase that was great. There's no set piece quite on that level here, but because the movie is far more consistently funny and interesting, it far surpasses its predecessor regardless. Some of my favourite parts were the date where they are followed by the assassin, when he arrives at the nudist colony, and the running gag of the paddywagon.
This lives up to its reputation as a comedy classic.
8.5/10
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Mar 19, 2021 12:20:42 GMT -5
Yeah, A Shot in the Dark is really funny.
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Mar 19, 2021 12:39:05 GMT -5
That first Pink Panther movie is pretty much not what you'd expect it to be. Peter Sellers is only a supporting role, and it's a bit long and casually paced for a caper comedy. I don't think I liked it very much on my first viewing, but it sat very well with me and it just kind of aged kindly. Second time I watched it I adored it.
A Shot in the Dark though is a stone cold comedy gem.
Of the other Panther movies I'd probably say Return and Strikes Back are worth checking out. Skip the rest.
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1godzillafan
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Post by 1godzillafan on Mar 23, 2021 11:44:42 GMT -5
Fireproof is $7.99 on Vudu for Easter.
Should I buy it and relive the magic again?
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Mar 23, 2021 12:08:19 GMT -5
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
Outside of some SNL stuff and the recent wonderful comedy Palm Springs, I can't say I'm really overly familiar with the work of Andy Samberg (I've only seen one full episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine). So I had sort of nebulous expectations for his 2016 film, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, which by all accounts was received well. And I can mostly see why. Taking lots of cues from This Is Spinal Tap, the movie is a behind-the-scenes mockumentary that follows a famous singer (Samberg) as his career takes a downward turn some time after he goes off solo from a band he was a part of. The first thing to say about Popstar is that is indeed pretty funny. In terms of its approach, it does actually feel like something an SNL vet would come up with, in that its main focus is on getting laughs at whatever cost. But fortunately, that's never to its own detriment, cause the comey honestly does hit a lot more than it misses. This is very much a more goofy kind of comedy, where normal logic is often sacrificed in the name of making the gags work, but it's a testament to the skill of the team behind this thing that such an approach works for the story they're telling and never feels like a distraction. That also applies to the logic of the premise/storytelling device: while I haven't really seen any real-life documentaries about popular singers, I would think they wouldn't show a lot of the more "ugly stuff" that this fake documentary showcases about its subject, Conner4Real. But at the same time, a lot of that stuff is honestly pretty damn funny, so it's hard to criticize that too much. Same goes for the songs, which are obviously more ridiculous with their lyrics than regular songs -- to the point where you wonder how anyone could take them any kind of seriously. But again, the movie mostly gets away with it at the end of the day because it's just funny.
And that's ultimately the measure of a worthwhile comedy -- is it funny or not. I wouldn't say I found Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping to be some new modern comedy classic, but it's still successful at what it sets out to do and provides more than enough quality laughs to make everything work.
***/****
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Mar 23, 2021 17:11:03 GMT -5
I've been meaning to watch Popstar at some point or another. I don't care for Andy Samberg but I've heard really good things about it.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Mar 23, 2021 17:11:37 GMT -5
Fireproof is $7.99 on Vudu for Easter. Should I buy it and relive the magic again? It's on Movies Anywhere. We should all buy it and watch together.
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thebtskink
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Post by thebtskink on Mar 23, 2021 22:51:08 GMT -5
Take Shelter (2011)
Another indie filmmaker I'm mostly aware of, I'd only seen one of Jeff Nichols' other efforts going into this film. I love me some crazy-eyed Michael Shannon, so knowing not much beyond the basic premise of a family man convinced a cataclysmic storm is coming, I jumped in.
Let's start up with the directing. The camera work isn't all too spectacular, though the staging of a few scenes where Shannon's Curtis LaForche is visited by his brother Kyle (Sons of Anarchy's Ray McKinnon) or where Shannon is looking out to the horizon are enough to give pause visually. The flocks of starlings look wonky, but this is a $4.75 million budget independent film in 2011, so I'm willing to let that slide. The story is slow, but methodical; each scene logically plays off of a prior one and keeps interest.
Where this movie butters its bread is in the performances. Nichols has an astoundingly stacked cast of known names and character actors here: Jessica Chastain as Curtis's wife Samantha, Shea Wigham as his co-worker, Kathy Baker as his mom, Kenny Powers' girlfriend from Eastbound and Down as Shea Wigham's wife, and Michael Shannon himself.
Curtis LaForche is a stubborn, prideful man--while he's at first uneasy then terrified of his increasingly disturbing nightmares/visions of the storm, he's not so willing to admit his fears to others or to himself. The movie spends considerable time alone with LaForche, letting Shannon's emotive eyes and facial expressions tell you enough about his state of mind to grasp his fear yourself. By the time LaForche is hallucinating the storm in his waking hours, he has been slowly letting his guard down to the himself and the audience; you fully buy into his fear that he is succumbing to the same schizophrenia that caused his mother to be institutionalized when he was 10 years old. Nevertheless, Shannon's LaForche is still reluctant to let others in, shutting out his wife and best friend and going so far as to push people away from him that he believes have harmed him in his dreams.
That previous paragraph encompasses maybe 20 lines of dialogue from Shannon. I told you his eyes and face were doing a lot of work here.
The supporting performances are all great. Baker's five-minute scene at the care facility and Wigham's dejected best friend confrontation precipitate two of Shannon's best moments. Chastain is allowed a variety of emotions between her care for the couples' deaf daughter or discomfort/perplexion/anger/support of her husband. Shea Wigham's ferret hairpiece deserves special praise.
Like a lot of my recent favorites, the film is subtle in all the right moments. Until the intensely personal climax between Chastain and Shannon, there is only one shouty inter-personal character interaction from Shannon's character, and it's not towards her. This is where Nichols' true genius shines through: in trusting his actors to build the dread the movie is aiming for. The movie more than succeeds in that regard.
The "ambiguous" ending here I suppose depends on how close you're paying attention to the dynamic between Chastain and Shannon. Personally, I'm more inclined to think of it as a component in an overarching allegory that I find truly beautiful and uplifting in an otherwise dark movie.
I really, really loved this movie.
9/10.
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Mar 24, 2021 15:56:42 GMT -5
Take Shelter (2011)Another indie filmmaker I'm mostly aware of, I'd only seen one of Jeff Nichols' other efforts going into this film. I love me some crazy-eyed Michael Shannon, so knowing not much beyond the basic premise of a family man convinced a cataclysmic storm is coming, I jumped in. Let's start up with the directing. The camera work isn't all too spectacular, though the staging of a few scenes where Shannon's Curtis LaForche is visited by his brother Kyle ( Sons of Anarchy's Ray McKinnon) or where Shannon is looking out to the horizon are enough to give pause visually. The flocks of starlings look wonky, but this is a $4.75 million budget independent film in 2011, so I'm willing to let that slide. The story is slow, but methodical; each scene logically plays off of a prior one and keeps interest. Where this movie butters its bread is in the performances. Nichols has an astoundingly stacked cast of known names and character actors here: Jessica Chastain as Curtis's wife Samantha, Shea Wigham as his co-worker, Kathy Baker as his mom, Kenny Powers' girlfriend from Eastbound and Down as Shea Wigham's wife, and Michael Shannon himself. Curtis LaForche is a stubborn, prideful man--while he's at first uneasy then terrified of his increasingly disturbing nightmares/visions of the storm, he's not so willing to admit his fears to others or to himself. The movie spends considerable time alone with LaForche, letting Shannon's emotive eyes and facial expressions tell you enough about his state of mind to grasp his fear yourself. By the time LaForche is hallucinating the storm in his waking hours, he has been slowly letting his guard down to the himself and the audience; you fully buy into his fear that he is succumbing to the same schizophrenia that caused his mother to be institutionalized when he was 10 years old. Nevertheless, Shannon's LaForche is still reluctant to let others in, shutting out his wife and best friend and going so far as to push people away from him that he believes have harmed him in his dreams. That previous paragraph encompasses maybe 20 lines of dialogue from Shannon. I told you his eyes and face were doing a lot of work here. The supporting performances are all great. Baker's five-minute scene at the care facility and Wigham's dejected best friend confrontation precipitate two of Shannon's best moments. Chastain is allowed a variety of emotions between her care for the couples' deaf daughter or discomfort/perplexion/anger/support of her husband. Shea Wigham's ferret hairpiece deserves special praise. Like a lot of my recent favorites, the film is subtle in all the right moments. Until the intensely personal climax between Chastain and Shannon, there is only one shouty inter-personal character interaction from Shannon's character, and it's not towards her. This is where Nichols' true genius shines through: in trusting his actors to build the dread the movie is aiming for. The movie more than succeeds in that regard. The "ambiguous" ending here I suppose depends on how close you're paying attention to the dynamic between Chastain and Shannon. Personally, I'm more inclined to think of it as a component in an overarching allegory that I find truly beautiful and uplifting in an otherwise dark movie. I really, really loved this movie. 9/10. Awesome! This is a movie not a lot of people talk about, but one I think is firmly among the best of the 2010's and very much Jeff Nichols' best work so far. Those dream sequences still stick out vividly in my mind. Glad you liked it.
And I think I've settled on watching Harold & Maude from your list.
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donny
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Post by donny on Mar 25, 2021 9:12:03 GMT -5
I listen to the Take Shelter soundtrack frequently. Great sounds.
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Mar 31, 2021 18:21:07 GMT -5
The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975) The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum is a movie I’ve known about it for a very long time by virtue of it having been a very early Criterion spine number and it’s always sounded interesting but I never quite had a reason to actually watch it. Seeing it now I can see how this could be a movie whose relevance is constantly evolving. The film looks at a fictional character who would have nonetheless seemed like a slightly familiar type to West German audiences at the time. Katharina Blum is a woman in her twenties who, through what is essentially guilt by association, is believed by the police and the media to be involved in a revolutionary terrorist outfit (essentially the Baader-Meinhof Group), and sees her life kind of fall apart through this infamy. I imagine that there’s a lot in this that would seem wildly topical and familiar to audiences in 1975 (to the point where there’s a disclaimer that similarities to any real newspapers, especially “Bild-Zeitung” *wink wink*), like the equivalent of how there’s a character in Gone Girl who is almost certainly Nancy Grace. So in that sense this maybe hasn’t aged perfectly, but it’s found ways to still prove relevant since then. I suspect that when Criterion first put it out on DVD in 2003 they were interested in its parallels to the post-9/11 world and the due process (or lack thereof) granted to terrorism suspects in that environment. And today the film still feels familiar in the way the press can really mess with people’s reputations while having very little self-awareness about how much they’re distorting things. On the other hand, I think I liked Katharina Blum more as a victim than I did as an actual character. She seems frustratingly bad at explaining herself through much of the film (I kept thinking, “girl, just get a lawyer”) and the ultimate place she went at the end never entirely felt earned. Still, this is a good cynical little movie, almost like a European equivalent to something like Network. **** out of Five
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Apr 1, 2021 18:27:32 GMT -5
I've been busy lately and neglected this thread. A few days left for this round and here's how we're looking so far. thebtskink - PhantomKnight Dracula - PG Cooper Neverending - donny IanTheCool - 1godzillafanDoomsday - 1godzillafanNo rush for anyone, just posting that for my own tracking purposes. In the meantime, who's in for next round?
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Apr 1, 2021 18:36:51 GMT -5
In
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thebtskink
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Post by thebtskink on Apr 1, 2021 18:40:14 GMT -5
Yessir
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