Watch, Watched, Watching: The Good, Bad and Ugly

[Nictarion]

35 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Tonys younger sister was so pretty in that movie, it was surprizing we didnt really see her in any major roles after that.

Both the mother and daughter roles so strongly delivered in this impressive scene.

The Abyss, The Color of Money, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves...

[DireWolfSpirit]

6 hours ago, Nictarion said:

The Abyss, The Color of Money, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves...

Really, wow didnt realize that. I only saw The Color of Money out of those though, so I guess thats why I was unaware of those roles for her.

[Veltigar]

10 hours ago, Nictarion said:

Who watches Scarface as a kid?

I did. In general, we're not as conservative over here as I think people in the States are. If they air a film like Scarface or Platoon on a Saturday night, you're bound to have children watch it  

10 hours ago, dbunting said:

As to the fashion, what you don't like polyester?

Not at all apparently, those suits just looked terribly uncomfortable and inconvenient. Was there anyone who really enjoyed their vest covering the whole of their ass? Or the constant showing of chest hair? The ridiculously long tips on the collars? The garish colours and so on? Fashion crimes are the real subject of Scarface, not the cocaine business 

10 hours ago, dbunting said:

 I did pick up on the strange attraction between Tony and his sister, before she calls him out on it. 

Perhaps I was too primed by the influence of ASOIAF but from the moment he walked in his mother's house and gave her that trincket, everything about their relationship just screamed incest. It was actually a lot more uncomfortable than what you see in GoT in my opinion. There was this kind of possesive violence to their relationship, which reminded me a bit of the stories you read occassionaly about honour killings. Very disturbing.

10 hours ago, dbunting said:

 The Wolf of Wallstreet is a damn close movie, minus the violence. The drug use, sex, attitudes toward women, dwarves, hell anyone is pretty shocking!

Point taken, that is indeed a close one. Although I still think it's  not entirely equivalent. Aside from the incest and the violence, I feel like tWoWS derives a certain sense of pleasure out of the antics of Belfort and his cronies. Scarface on the other hand, well not so much, I would describe that film like a neon lit take on hell. Even when doing a mountain of cocaine or conquering the women of his dreams, I don't feel like Montana derives any pleasure out of it all. He's completely dead on the inside and the film is just waiting for that revelation to catch up to him. 

10 hours ago, dbunting said:

Me! And by kid I mean teenager. Let's just say my mom was not too worried about movies messing me up. I remember being like 12 and going to the drive in and seeing Corpsegrinder(?) and some worm movie as a family...double feature! What were they thinking? 

They just trusted your natural intelligence. Kids aren't plants after all, they are capable of more than we care to imagine. So hurray for your parents for realising that!

9 hours ago, Nictarion said:

I assumed @Veltigar was talking younger than that if he missed how weird Tony’s relationship with his sister was. 

Perhaps I was just a very innocent young critter  I think I was about 10 or 11 when I watched it for the first time. Vice City was very popular back then, so that was probably the reason why Scarface was getting a lot of airtime on our TV-stations. Commercial TV was also a relatively recent phenomenom were I lived at that time, so I guess they tried to capitalise on every trend they could to lure people away from national TV. 

 

7 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Tonys younger sister was so pretty in that movie, it was surprizing we didnt really see her in any major roles after that.

Both the mother and daughter roles so strongly delivered in this impressive scene.

It's a great scene, that's true. It really does a lot to your perception of Tony to see that even his own mother can't stand him. His talk right before his departure with Gina also hints at something I really find fascinating about Tony. We don't really have much backstory on him. We know he was

Spoiler

in the army, did some criminal stuff and that he seemed to have had a difficult relationship with his father but that's about it.

If Scarface was made in this day and age, you'd have pages and pages full of internet speculation about his origins. I'm sure of it.  

EDIT: Come to think of it, I'm surprised that, in this age obsessed with spin-offs, franchises and developing properties with built-in fanbases,  no one has tried to sell the idea of a Scarface prequel to studios. 

Another thing that strikes me is how strange scenes from Scarface look in isolation. The whole film borders so close to parody, individual scenes can just throw you off completely. 

7 hours ago, Nictarion said:

The Abyss, The Color of Money, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves...

I thought I recognised her from that! 

 

[Red Tiger]

14 hours ago, Veltigar said:

I saw Scarface tonight. It was the first time since I was a kid and it was quite a new experience watching it with adult eyes. For starters, I was really surprised by how incest-heavy it was. Definitely blew over my head while I was younger. I also think that I now appreciate the boldness of the film more than I did before.

Seeing this film back when it came out for the first time must have been truly shocking. I have watched more Scarface knock-offs than I care to count and I still remembered most of the major beats from watching it earlier and yet I was still surprised by the loudness/craziness/etc. of it all. 

Despite the huge influence it has had, I don't think a film like this could get made today. The excess, the violence and the outdated attitudes towards women make that impossible. It's also to mean spirited for modern audiences I think, because Scarface really makes you question whether there are good people left in the world. 

One final observation I like to end on, is the shere uggliness of the thing. I feel sorry for the poor souls who had to endure the eighties. The fashion was just hidious. The movie almost read like a collection of the uggliest suits I have ever seen. And the fashion was okay compared to the interior design. The offices in this film really just made my head hurt. i can't imagine any coke dealer working efficiently in that kind of environment. 

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It's not as if any of the flaked heroes are going to remain dead :p 

 

Spoiler

Don't you go moving the goalposts, mister! Im still mad at you for going off the grid for a year and making me think you were dead.

 

[Zorral]

Quote

One final observation I like to end on, is the shere uggliness of the thing. I feel sorry for the poor souls who had to endure the eighties. The fashion was just hidious. The movie almost read like a collection of the uggliest suits I have ever seen. And the fashion was okay compared to the interior design. The offices in this film really just made my head hurt. i can't imagine any coke dealer working efficiently in that kind of environment. 

You forget -- this takes place in MIAMI!  source of so much else that is really ugly in our country -- and that's because thanks to Pacino  everybody is seeing the Godfather all over again.  This is the era of true drug ugliness violence, all right, coming from the general lawlessness of white Cuban Batistianos of Miami -- this Cuban Miami is where so much in our nation starts going off the rails. Everybody was getting big gulps of the Miami drug moola, coming in from so many places, particularly the DR and Escobar and pals everywhere.

Also, I never can stand seeing a Cuban played like an Italian.  Pacino, man, he wasn't in the least Spanish, much less Cuban.

Michelle Pfeiffer, was by the great thing about this film -- and she could make even those clothes look great.

[Veltigar]

5 hours ago, Red Tiger said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Don't you go moving the goalposts, mister! Im still mad at you for going off the grid for a year and making me think you were dead.

 

To quote our dear friend Nux 

Spoiler

I live, I die, I live again

 

1 hour ago, Zorral said:

Michelle Pfeiffer, was by the great thing about this film -- and she could make even those clothes look great.

She really looks like a coke addict in this film. I know Hollywood has a problem with way to skinny actresses but I can't recall any actress in a mainstream film looking as unhealthy as she did.

1 hour ago, Zorral said:

You forget -- this takes place in MIAMI!  source of so much else that is really ugly in our country -- and that's because thanks to Pacino  everybody is seeing the Godfather all over again.  This is the era of true drug ugliness violence, all right, coming from the general lawlessness of white Cuban Batistianos of Miami -- this Cuban Miami is where so much in our nation starts going off the rails. Everybody was getting big gulps of the Miami drug moola, coming in from so many places, particularly the DR and Escobar and pals everywhere.

So Miami is the root of all evil in modern day America? Is that generally accepted?  

[Sour Billy Tipton]

The Royal Wedding coverage by Cord Hosenbeck and Tish Cattigan was amazing yesterday:

 

[Zorral]

2 hours ago, Veltigar said:

To quote our dear friend Nux 

  Hide contents

I live, I die, I live again

 

She really looks like a coke addict in this film. I know Hollywood has a problem with way to skinny actresses but I can't recall any actress in a mainstream film looking as unhealthy as she did.

So Miami is the root of all evil in modern day America? Is that generally accepted?  

Last week I read an interview with MP that brought up this very thing.  She made herself that skinny on purpose, she said.  And through that she got as crazy as her character.  There wasn't anything for her in the making of Scarface that she recalls with satisfaction -- it was a most unpleasant experience.

Along with Christian evangelicalism and Israel, and the cray cray CRAY of Miami Cubans, and their waving their Florida voters' commie flag and all of them pouring money into the political system since the 1960's, you will see these detailed in the histories.  It goes on to this day, you all may have noticed -- Marco Rubio anybody?  Also, recall that a lot of what became very quickly the huge Cuban migrants fleeing the Revolution quickly organized into the drug and racketeering Cuban mafia.  Many of them were that already back in Cuba, and more than often legally so, since they were the Guardia. Many of these same individuals went to the Bay of Pigs -- and o did and do they hate JFK . . . .

 

[Martini Sigil]

7 hours ago, Triskele said:

Has anyone checked out The Frankenstein Chronicles with Sean Bean?  I feel like I've hardly seen any discussion of it or hype about it online which surprises me a bit given how much I might have thought they'd use Bean's GOT background to hype it. 

We watched it.... if I was still catholic I think I'd be absolved of any sins committed after 2015 

[l2 0 5 5]

7/8 eps down for Safe on Netflix. I'm digging it. Not sure if it's a miniseries like The Sinner, or if they're planning on a second season. The pace is pretty quick so I'd prefer it to be a one season thing. Michael C Hall's British accent is passable, but has its moments.

[RedEyedGhost]

9 hours ago, Triskele said:

Has anyone checked out The Frankenstein Chronicles with Sean Bean?  I feel like I've hardly seen any discussion of it or hype about it online which surprises me a bit given how much I might have thought they'd use Bean's GOT background to hype it. 

Well Bean has died in 14 other movies and television shows since the first season of GoT, so the shine of his appearance in that has worn off.

 

46 minutes ago, l2 0 5 5 said:

7/8 eps down for Safe on Netflix. I'm digging it. Not sure if it's a miniseries like The Sinner, or if they're planning on a second season. The pace is pretty quick so I'd prefer it to be a one season thing. Michael C Hall's British accent is passable, but has its moments.

The Sinner is having a second season...

[l2 0 5 5]

13 minutes ago, RedEyedGhost said:

The Sinner is having a second season...

Wasn't aware. That's good news.

[Zorral]

The Frankenstein Chronicles was SO dreary and muddy I barely made it through the first season.  I gave up the second season about one episode in.  Did not care about anyone or anything, and particularly did not care about the primary character and his syphilis driven hallucinations.  And the drear, and the grime -- did we mention the mud?  Plod, drudge, lurch.

[drawkcabi]

I think Cartoon Network broke the 80's:

 

check out the dislikes  

[dbunting]

On 5/20/2018 at 2:57 PM, Veltigar said:

To quote our dear friend Nux 

  Hide contents

I live, I die, I live again

 

She really looks like a coke addict in this film. I know Hollywood has a problem with way to skinny actresses but I can't recall any actress in a mainstream film looking as unhealthy as she did.

So Miami is the root of all evil in modern day America? Is that generally accepted?  

Well, I live near Detroit and on two separate radio stations, one is Canadian btw, they have segments daily called loosely, WTF is up with Florida. They pick a headline from Florida news, papers and it is generally pretty f'd up!

[Veltigar]

7 hours ago, dbunting said:

Well, I live near Detroit and on two separate radio stations, one is Canadian btw, they have segments daily called loosely, WTF is up with Florida. They pick a headline from Florida news, papers and it is generally pretty f'd up!

 Oh, that's just brilliant. Now I'm curious what kind of stuff those segments feature. 

On 5/20/2018 at 11:11 PM, Zorral said:

Last week I read an interview with MP that brought up this very thing.  She made herself that skinny on purpose, she said.  And through that she got as crazy as her character.  There wasn't anything for her in the making of Scarface that she recalls with satisfaction -- it was a most unpleasant experience.

I can imagine that. Must have been a pain to starve herself out. People really underestimate how much such extreme skinnines can effect your body. 

On 5/20/2018 at 11:11 PM, Zorral said:

Along with Christian evangelicalism and Israel, and the cray cray CRAY of Miami Cubans, and their waving their Florida voters' commie flag and all of them pouring money into the political system since the 1960's, you will see these detailed in the histories.  It goes on to this day, you all may have noticed -- Marco Rubio anybody?  Also, recall that a lot of what became very quickly the huge Cuban migrants fleeing the Revolution quickly organized into the drug and racketeering Cuban mafia.  Many of them were that already back in Cuba, and more than often legally so, since they were the Guardia. Many of these same individuals went to the Bay of Pigs -- and o did and do they hate JFK . . . .

I'm still not entirely sure what you mean with that description. So they have spread evangelicalism and love for Israel across the States. And they made a ton of political donations to support their cause, corrupting American public life. They are hardly the only group to do so however, what makes them so much crazier?

[Zorral]

5 hours ago, Veltigar said:

 Oh, that's just brilliant. Now I'm curious what kind of stuff those segments feature. 

I can imagine that. Must have been a pain to starve herself out. People really underestimate how much such extreme skinnines can effect your body. 

I'm still not entirely sure what you mean with that description. So they have spread evangelicalism and love for Israel across the States. And they made a ton of political donations to support their cause, corrupting American public life. They are hardly the only group to do so however, what makes them so much crazier?

The Miami Cuban-gusano-Batistianos were the first concerted outside attack on the USA's system of democracy, constantly hammering at the system from every angle including the outright criminal drug and racketeering trades, to change it to what they'd had back in madly corrupt, racist and autocratic, non-democratic Cuba -- all in the name of anti-communism.  Don't toe the line one gets de-elected or unelected.

Israel did it's own attacks and propaganda -- all in the name of anti-semitism.  Doesn't toe the line one gets de-elected or unelected.

The evangelicals did theirs against equality for women and Others - all in the name of the culture wars -- think of the poor fetus and THE CHILDREN -- except of course when it comes to taking care of pregnant women, getting them decent nutrition and health care, and The CHILDREN, who need to die for the sake of the freedoms of GUNZ and the NRA.

Now they are all aligned, with vast right wing extremist corporations, of course.  Though the Miami Cubans aren't quite as powerful a force as they've been since the 1960's, as that generation dies out -- though many have successfully inculcated their children and grandchildren with the same unthinking, unknowing, knee-jerk attitudes about Cuba and commmies.  Of course, these latest days, it's gotten really confused even for them, since the dumbster and his orange agents in D.C. are all besties with Russia -- because you know, autocrat, oligarches, torture, murder, collusion and corruption, wherever they are found, are what they all like.  Still, don't toe the line one gets de-elected or unelected.

Toe the line and one gets loads and loads and loads of money, in so many ways, including campaign contributions, lobby funds, seats of boards of directors, etc.

 

[RedEyedGhost]

6 hours ago, Veltigar said:

14 hours ago, dbunting said:

 

 Oh, that's just brilliant. Now I'm curious what kind of stuff those segments feature. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/FloridaMan/

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Because Xfinity wasn't working again, I had to turn to Netflix, and was delighted to see they added Gringo: The Dangerous Life of John McAfee. It's a documentary about the title character, who created a lot of the anti-virus technology we use today. My three main takeaways are (i) he's absolutely insane, (ii) he probably killed a guy, or at least had his death ordered, and (iii) he gets off from eating poop. You did not misread that last bit.

[Nictarion]

Speaking of Netflix documentaries I watched Wild Wild Country. It’s about an Indian guru and his cult that built their own city in Oregon in the early 80’s. All kinds of crazy stuff from bioterrorism to rigged elections to plotting political assassanations. It was really interesting, especially as I’d never even heard about any of it.