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Watch, Watched, Watching: Strange Times


Ramsay B.

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25 minutes ago, WarGalley said:

Hmm looking back on the list, it's a hard pick in hindsight. I last saw ET about 10 years ago but I remember it holding up very well even in adulthood. Completely forgot about Raiders but I like Last Crusade more. And we haven't mentioned Saving Private Ryan yet either which I find to be a very solid film. 

Won't do a comprehensive list but of the major films he's done, I haven't seen:

AI

Schindler's list 

Amistad

Adventures of Tin Tin (is this actually a major film?)

Empire of the Sun

Catch me if you can (pretty much watched it all on TNT but never entirely in one sitting)

Warhorse

Lincoln

Bridge of Spies

Ready Player One

ETA: Woah.. Christian Bale is the protagonist in Empire of the Sun at 12 years old?? I never heard of him before Batman Begins.

Totally forgot he did Saving Private Ryan too.  Goddamn he's got a hell of a resume.

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Spielberg indeed has quite the extensive CV.  But his big budget movies - from Jaws to ET to Indiana to Jurassic Park - are all kinda meh to me.  I love Saving Private Ryan, but it's pretty standard fare as a war film.  It's almost like "here, this is how you make a WWII film and make a lot of money."  Lincoln's just a platform for DDL to show off.  Then there's Schindler's List.  It's...a little too on the nose for me.  I don't know, maybe that's not the best way to describe it, but I remember reading he wanted Polanski to do it instead of him and..well you can kinda get that sense.  Munich always struck me as something he was truly passionate about and put in the effort.  Amistad would probably be my #2.  Love Hopkins as John Quincy Adams.

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8 minutes ago, DMC said:

Spielberg indeed has quite the extensive CV.  But his big budget movies - from Jaws to ET to Indiana to Jurassic Park - are all kinda meh to me.  I love Saving Private Ryan, but it's pretty standard fare as a war film.  It's almost like "here, this is how you make a WWII film and make a lot of money."  Lincoln's just a platform for DDL to show off.  Then there's Schindler's List.  It's...a little too on the nose for me.  I don't know, maybe that's not the best way to describe it, but I remember reading he wanted Polanski to do it instead of him and..well you can kinda get that sense.  Munich always struck me as something he was truly passionate about and put in the effort. 

Jaws, ET, Raiders and JP are four of the most important films ever made. How can you be so meh on all of them (ET never did it for me)? I am a big SPR fan though, and those who argue it just has the an all-time great opening scene need an education in film.

ETA: Schindler's List was meant to be too on the nose. How else could you make people understand?

Quote

Amistad would probably be my #2.  Love Hopkins as John Quincy Adams.

This is absolutely something I've meant to revisit, but life happens.

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1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

Jaws, ET, Raiders and JP are four of the most important films ever made. How can you be so meh on all of them (ET never did it for me)?

I don't know what you mean by important.  They are incredibly influential within the industry, sure, but it's not like sharks, aliens, dinosaurs, and..adventurist archeologists are "important."  I'm talking about personal taste, not their impact.

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Just now, DMC said:

I don't know what you mean by important.  They are incredibly influential within the industry, sure, but it's not like sharks, aliens, dinosaurs, and..adventurist archeologists are "important."  I'm talking about personal taste, not their impact.

How many kids were inspired to be archaeologists, or paleontologists, or anthropologists, or marine biologists because of such films or the books that inspired them? Or the mediums that allowed these concepts to reach far more people?

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7 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

How many kids were inspired to be archaeologists, or paleontologists, or anthropologists, or marine biologists because of such films or the books that inspired them? Or the mediums that allowed these concepts to reach far more people?

I dunno, looking at the state of the world today it seems equally likely the indiana jones movies inspired kids to be nazis?

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13 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

How many kids were inspired to be archaeologists, or paleontologists, or anthropologists, or marine biologists because of such films or the books that inspired them? Or the mediums that allowed these concepts to reach far more people?

Again, I'm talking about independent of their influence.  Just in terms of personal taste, I prefer Munich.

4 minutes ago, RumHam said:

I dunno, looking at the state of the world today it seems equally likely the indiana jones movies inspired kids to be nazis?

This is both funny and sad.

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6 minutes ago, RumHam said:

I dunno, looking at the state of the world today it seems equally likely the indiana jones movies inspired kids to be nazis?

Only when we can't punch them in thew face! 

What kind of Brit are you, after all?

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8 minutes ago, RumHam said:

I dunno, looking at the state of the world today it seems equally likely the indiana jones movies inspired kids to be nazis?

Makes me wonder if some people watch those movies today and root for the bad guys.

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3 minutes ago, DMC said:

Again, I'm talking about independent of their influence.  Just in terms of personal taste, I prefer Munich.

Well because I respect your tastes, I will watch that film in the near distant future, as I don't recall seeing it.

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4 minutes ago, DMC said:

Don't punish Munich for me being a smartass.

I thought that was one of your kinks.

We can't tell @Jace, Basilissa it's all been a lie.

Though I do take my training from Mr. Bateman* over Mr. Ripley, after all.

The only somewhat insane Bateman, not the completely insane one. 

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12 hours ago, RumHam said:

I dunno, looking at the state of the world today it seems equally likely the indiana jones movies inspired kids to be nazis?

You Sir, have won the internet for today! Use it wisely.

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33 minutes ago, Zorral said:

I def. put Waterworld in the 'bad but somehow enjoyable' category, I've watched it more than once.  It is undeniably not a good movie but I like it. 

In a similar vein I finally finished The Witcher, and I don't even know how I feel about it.  It had great production values, some good acting, some bad acting, the directing seemed overall fairly good to me, the white wig on Cavil is simply unspeakable, but otherwise, I'm not sure what it was that prevented it from being good, but something.

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40 minutes ago, Zorral said:

A bit of spurious article no? I think Waterworld already is a cult classic. Most of Costner's crazy nineties films are.

4 minutes ago, Cas Stark said:

In a similar vein I finally finished The Witcher, and I don't even know how I feel about it.  It had great production values, some good acting, some bad acting, the directing seemed overall fairly good to me, the white wig on Cavil is simply unspeakable, but otherwise, I'm not sure what it was that prevented it from being good, but something.

The problem is that The Witcher at its core is just "generic fantasy product 3001" and it never rises above that, which is a shame because in what little I read of Sapkowski, his main strength came from pilfering other sources of inspiration than the usual mix of Tolkien and English history. 

Can't believe this is getting a prequel already (I mean, I can, because it is all about money). But certainly not a property that quality wise would have earned it.

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it’s taken me months to get through the Witcher and that is odd because I do sort of enjoy it. I think Cavil is great in the role and there some genuinely interesting threads with Yennefer. But the problem with watching it in such a broken fashion is that it makes the time and location jumps even harder to parse.

Ive taken to watching it as a collection of reasonably enjoyable scenes with almost no connecting thread between them as I am truly unable to tell when or where anyone is at any time. It’s like watching it with brain damage 

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