Watch, Watched, Watching: Those aren't pillows!

[Zorral]

This discussion around Knives Out seems to compare with that around Roma (2018), and the saintly maid for the wealthy Mexican family.

However, Beatriz at Dinner (2017 - Selma Hayek) is rather a contrast to them both.

[Lord of Rhinos]

3 hours ago, Raja said:

I think her point regarding the film resorting to a 'virtuous latina' trope is pretty spot on. I also think there are legitimate criticisms of her agency in the film, and something that twitter thread touches on. It's why the film's final shot that is supposed to be a a bit of a  'fuck you' doesn't really land for me.

It's a pity because there's a lot of potential and you have to enjoy the craft, but the writing just fell a little short for me.  I'd personally like to see Johnson direct a script that isn't written by him at some point.

 

Don't really agree.  That being said I'm not familiar with the virtuous Latina trope so maybe if I was it would change my mind.  It seems to me that the film is narrower than a lot of the readings.  So just a couple points:

Spoiler

(A) Marta is a legal immigrant. Unless you see legal vs. illegal immigrant as a virtue issue, then Marta's virtuousness  has nothing to do with her humanity.

(B) There is no revenge narrative for Marta, although the movie hints there may be one coming.  Marta doesn't have anything to be vengeful about until she becomes the sole heir.  What we see before that is Marta has some unthinking bigotry and two-facedness directed towards her.  The idea that this film is "latinx maid revenge film" is ridiculous.

(C) Marta has the most agency out of any of the suspects with the possible exception of Ransom.

(D) I see the movies main theme being a critique of generational wealth rather than being about immigration.

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

8 hours ago, Raja said:

I think her point regarding the film resorting to a 'virtuous latina' trope is pretty spot on. I also think there are legitimate criticisms of her agency in the film, and something that twitter thread touches on. It's why the film's final shot that is supposed to be a a bit of a  'fuck you' doesn't really land for me.

It's a pity because there's a lot of potential and you have to enjoy the craft, but the writing just fell a little short for me.  I'd personally like to see Johnson direct a script that isn't written by him at some point.

 

The audience I was with went nuts when they revealed what she was holding.

3 hours ago, Lord of Rhinos said:

Don't really agree.  That being said I'm not familiar with the virtuous Latina trope so maybe if I was it would change my mind.  It seems to me that the film is narrower than a lot of the readings.  So just a couple points:

  Reveal hidden contents

(A) Marta is a legal immigrant. Unless you see legal vs. illegal immigrant as a virtue issue, then Marta's virtuousness  has nothing to do with her humanity.

(B) There is no revenge narrative for Marta, although the movie hints there may be one coming.  Marta doesn't have anything to be vengeful about until she becomes the sole heir.  What we see before that is Marta has some unthinking bigotry and two-facedness directed towards her.  The idea that this film is "latinx maid revenge film" is ridiculous.

(C) Marta has the most agency out of any of the suspects with the possible exception of Ransom.

(D) I see the movies main theme being a critique of generational wealth rather than being about immigration.

 

I agree with point D. I felt that was more the central issue being tackled than immigration. The immigration angle just shows you how awful the Thrombeys were and how insincere they were when they told her she was like family to them. Once the money got involved, they showed their true colors.

 

ETA:

I am also some what unfamiliar with the virtuous Latina trope. 

[RedEyedGhost]

Netflix is pushing their new Merry Happy Whatever.  Hadn't heard anything about it, so I thought I would see what it's about.  Turned it on, 10 seconds later...

 

Did watch The Irishman, and that felt like an overly long inferior version of Goodfellas, should have just rewatched that.  De Niro's eyes were creeping me out the entire time too.

[Nictarion]

1 hour ago, RedEyedGhost said:

Netflix is pushing their new Merry Happy Whatever.  Hadn't heard anything about it, so I thought I would see what it's about.  Turned it on, 10 seconds later...

 

Did watch The Irishman, and that felt like an overly long inferior version of Goodfellas, should have just rewatched that.  De Niro's eyes were creeping me out the entire time too.

It’s really not, and for the life of me I don’t understand the comparison. It’s like people straight up didn’t watch the ending or something...

[Zorral]

Shetland (2019) season 5 – final season, or so I seem to have read it is, somewhere.  Or perhaps I have that confused with the novel series itself, on which the characters are based, now concluded, by Ann Cleeves (author as well of the acclaimed novels on which the acclaimed Vera Stanhope television series is based).  Cleeves has announced she had finished with writing about those characters and Shetland Islands.

This season the big crime around which all the other actions circle is human trafficking, which is so awful and so enormous, with tendrils into every corner of life everywhere in the globe, that it is indeed, the equivalent of the African slave trade. And, indeed, a huge amount of this filth does pour out of Africa again, with literal kidnapping of Africans who are literally sold in the marketplace for everything from kitchen work to agriculture and food processing and, of course, sex work. In reality, as opposed to tv, Just recently it has been discovered that one of the huge enablers and actual markets for these African slaves in particular, is on FaceBook and its Instagram.

Possible, though very slight, spoiler:

Spoiler

We begin with the discovery of a young Nigerian man's murder and dismemberment on Shetland.  His mother left the family and Nigeria years ago, washing up on the mainland, presumably London. She recognizes the facial photo put out over television and comes to Jimmy Perez’s police station on Shetland.  It turns out her son was trying to rescue his sister, that the traffickers were holding for ransom.

Among the suspects who get murdered along the line, part of the trafficking operation, are a criminal scrap metal family operation.  Their vehicle is plastered with CSA flag stickers, as one will find throughout Scotland and England. Nobody in the story mentions this, but that detail leaped into my attention instantly, particularly as the initial victims are black. Additionally, when Jimmy Perez travels to Glasgow, he talks with a man who may be the Big Boss of this international human trafficking network, who is a Big Biz guy, in an 18-19th Century mansion originally built by sea captain, who “did a lot of trade with Africa.”  Jimmy responds with "slave trading," and, “So you’re in a house built on slavery.”

"I guess you could say that." responds Big Biz Guy, with a who cares so what shrug.

More than once during this series bodies of trafficked people – into slavery – are found thrown overboard to drown. The reason is to avoid getting caught by the authorities with these illegally marketed slaves and kidnap for ransom victims on board.  Or because the weather is bad.  Or because some or all the victims are sick.

Again, though nobody in the series talks about why, or the history, it hits us over the head, all right.  Throwing the victims overboard to the cold water and sharks happened constantly during the African slave trade, right through the late 19th century, even after the War of the Rebellion was over and slavery abolished in North America.  The African slave trade still ran, to Cuba and Brasil, under the false flag, bought from US wealthy shipowners, because the British navy etc., were not allowed to stop US shipping for search and seizure, part of the Treaty of Ghent, that concluded the War of 1812 between the US and Britain.

If this is indeed the final television season of Shetland, it is going out very strong, though with an awareness of grief and horror, that is going on everywhere, everyday, right under our own noses.

 

[dbunting]

On 12/4/2019 at 10:52 PM, RedEyedGhost said:

Netflix is pushing their new Merry Happy Whatever.  Hadn't heard anything about it, so I thought I would see what it's about.  Turned it on, 10 seconds later...

 

Did watch The Irishman, and that felt like an overly long inferior version of Goodfellas, should have just rewatched that.  De Niro's eyes were creeping me out the entire time too.

I thought it was just me, his eyes were very different colors in different scenes. I liked the movie though.

[Veltigar]

Stuck on a long flight yesterday, so I saw two films:

1) Jules er Jim: a classic by Truffaut which I still had to Cross of my list. I'm a philistine at heart because I didn't really enjoy it all that much. The film is sort of compelling, but I wonder if I would have stuck with it if it didn't have such great cultural Capital backing it. The plot was predictable, I can't stand voice-over and the characters were obnoxious as hell. Stand-ins for the flowerchildren of the Sixties. 

 

2) detective Pickachu: never say that I don't have a wide spectrum of interest in film because combining these two films in one sitting is quite extra-ordinary.

I was pleasantly surprised by the film. Thé beginning was attrocious and if I hadn't been on an airplane I would have walked away. After Pickachu was introduced, it markedly improved. Still not great, but the 67% or so it has on rotten tomatoes is fair I'd say. Very predictable plot, but Reynolds was perfect.

[BigFatCoward]

The end of the fucking world season 2 was excellent. if depressing as shit. The 2 leads were again amazing. The creepy professor dude really was the most perfectly creepy professor ever. 

[williamjm]

I watched Knives Out yesterday, which I thought was very entertaining. It's a cleverly plotted whodunnit (even if it is completely ludicrous), and some of the dark comedy was very funny. The cast was good, particularly Daniel Craig and Ana De Armas, and Chris Evans seemed to be enjoying playing a character as little like Steve Rogers as it would be possible to get.

I also recently watched a much older Daniel Craig film I hadn't seen before - Layer Cake. It is amusing how much some of the scenes feel like an audition for him playing Bond. It was an entertaining gangland thriller.

[Heartofice]

I also watched Knives Out and found it quite entertaining. I was a little scared it was going to copy the Agatha Christie formula too much, but it didn’t , and I wasn’t bored. 
 

I did feel like it could have been a bit quirkier , it felt like it was a Wes Anderson movie without being one, and needed a bit more Andersoness 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, williamjm said:

Chris Evans seemed to be enjoying playing a character as little like Steve Rogers as it would be possible to get.

It's still blows me away that he's the guy from Not Another Teen Movie. Talk about one hell of a career pivot.

I watched The Dead Don't Die this weekend and absolutely loved it. Such a good blend of comedy and horror. If you enjoyed Shaun of the Dead, check this one out ASAP.

 

[Zorral]

Why is that Marriage Story being pushed as the greatest film of the last mumblty-whatever?  It's a totally slick and competent production of people who live in very comfy circumstances and their white people's problems which aren't problems at all, not really, because after all, we are really nice white liberals.  Or something.  Nothing really bad actually happens to us.  Or something.  This is just like many, many, many other films about this sort of class of people -- Hannah and Her Sisters, and most certainly Wars of the Roses and Kramer vs. Kramer come to mind. Richard Gere flicks and so on.  Nice, I suppose for those who like this sort of thing, totally competent, but come on -- who actually gives a damn about these people? Especially as they seem completely unconnected to the world in which we're all living where we can't avoid politics. The Marriage Story characters are successful theater and screen people. Even these people in real life aren't avoiding politics at all!

 

[polishgenius]

9 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Why is that Marriage Story being pushed as the greatest film of the last mumblty-whatever? 

Is it? I'd barely even noticed any hype for it. It's certainly not getting as much love as Parasite as year-closing films go.

[Zorral]

6 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

Is it? I'd barely even noticed any hype for it. It's certainly not getting as much love as Parasite as year-closing films go.

It's got enormous numbers of glowing reviews, interviews, etc. everywhere, and has been for over two months (at least here and LA -- for weeks haven't been able to tune into the talk shows on the local NPR stations without interviews, etc.).  Released first in Film Festivals, then this month in theaters, and now on Netflix. already nominated in 5 of the major categories for the Golden Globes.  Somehow Noah Baumbach is supposed to be the greatest original filmic genius in a very long time.

[WarGalley]

Yeah I barely heard about Marriage Story until today. Though to be fair, I hadn't really heard about Parasite until today either... Usually this my favorite time of the year for movies and I'm generally on top of what is critically acclaimed and not but I guess I've just been overloaded with streaming options.

[HexMachina]

Elizabeth is Missing as the previews caught my attention before His Dark Materials last night. Glad i stayed tuned in because that was an excellent program, highly recommend

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

The latest Rick and Morty was legit hilarious. Best episode of the season by far.

[drawkcabi]

Quantum Leap has never been rebooted, right? I mean there was that Princess Di fan film, but that's it, yes?

Cause I keep having a recurring dream where it was...I've had it for so long I think it started less than a year after the actual show ended. The earlier ones were that it got picked up by USA network and ran for another 13 episodes. Always in the dream I miss seeing/recording about half of them and I'm always waiting for the reruns to get back to those episodes I missed but I keep missing them again.

More recent ones is NBC brings it back as a mini-series, it's on every night for a week.

I've had the dreams so much and for so long I wake up and even half an hour later I'm still genuinely legit confused trying to sort out in my head if there were any new episodes after the series finale or not. 

I miss Quantum Leap    

[drawkcabi]

On 12/5/2019 at 12:19 AM, Nictarion said:

It’s really not, and for the life of me I don’t understand the comparison. It’s like people straight up didn’t watch the ending or something...

I didn't think so either. I liked the movie, however, I'm used to Scorcese films popping with energy like Goodfellas and Casino, or with single-minded obsession to the point of insanity like Taxi Driver or The Aviator, or downright strung out drugged up hyper like The Wolf of Wall Street, in this movie everyone, DeNiro, Pesci, Pacino, even Cannavale all seemed so damn tired. Scorcese's directing felt like he was tired too.