Watch, Watched, Watching: The cancellations continue

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

24 minutes ago, Fez said:

There's something delightfully grungy about the original though. I really like it a lot, almost more than The Road Warrior even; though not quite. And of course it's got nothing on Fury Road.

I take it that means you have Thunderdome last. Mad Max isn't a bad film by any means, but it does drag and imo is the least rewatchable of the four.

Fury Road is a legit Top 100 films ever though.

[BigFatCoward]

6 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

 

Regarding the Rocky films, perhaps I need to revisit Balboa, but why do you have 3 so low? I normally hear people say it's their favorite. 

I thought it was pretty much accepted that 1 and 2 were by far the best and 5 the worst, with 3/4 trashy but entertaining in the middle. 

6 is difficult to place. 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

6 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

 

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What do you think of the theory that it wasn't scotch in the bottle, but gasoline? 

 

That's awesome. I'd never heard that.

[Heartofice]

17 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

I thought it was pretty much accepted that 1 and 2 were by far the best and 5 the worst, with 3/4 trashy but entertaining in the middle. 

6 is difficult to place. 

I’d say that was the accepted order by most people. Even as a child it was well established that 3 was pretty bad despite having Mr T in it.

4 is all levels of cheesy awesome.

I kind of lost interest after that 

[Argonath Diver]

6 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

I take it that means you have Thunderdome last. Mad Max isn't a bad film by any means, but it does drag and imo is the least rewatchable of the four.

Fury Road is a legit Top 100 films ever though.

I legitimately classify Fury Road as my all time favorite movie. I doubt I'll ever see an action movie that tops its glory. I'd say every two or three months, I default to watching the first ~40 minutes (through to the tornado scene which is just unbelievably gorgeous on my bigscreen). Needless to say, I have high hopes for Furiousa. 

The first Mad Max I don't find very interesting. Beyond Thunderdome is just, well, a bit too damn weird for me.

I wrote a big paper in a 400 level literature course arguing that The Road Warrior was the greatest work of fiction of all time (everyone else wrote about Dickens and Shakespeare... pussies!) I'd give hundreds of dollars if I could find that file, alas disappeared on a 20-year-old .edu email account. I heavily referenced Joseph Campbell. The professor gave me an A, and with her prim and proper English Professor manner of speech, said "You know you almost make me want to watch that wretched movie." It was probably the pinnacle of my failed college career.

[Kalbear]

Fury Road is definitely one of the best movies made. Not 'action' movies, just movies. It's also one of the best action movies ever made. It's incredibly rewatchable too, with absurd details about seeing how people move from place to place in these massive set pieces that actually make sense. Like, seriously, no one just shockingly pops up out of nowhere. All of it can be traced back to an establishing shot somewhere in one scene or another. 

I often think of this quote:

 

 

[BigFatCoward]

I'm going to have to re watch Fury Road. When everyone says you are wrong about something you owe at least a proper go. I gave up after 30 mins, it felt like it was written by an incel and directed by Jeremy Clarkson. 

[Ran]

11 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

it felt like it was written by an incel

Furiosa is not a character that would come out of a misogynists imagination, and indeed the actual misogynists who got pissy that she was more the lead than Mad Max prove the point.

It's basically a feminist film, hard as it may be to believe, about women revolting against the subjugation of the patriarchy.

If you didn't like it, you didn't like it, but I do think it's worth a second shot.

[Heartofice]

I sort of understand how some people don't really like Fury Road. I don't think the story is it's strong point, I think it barely has any depth to any of it's characters. It has a soggy middle section and maybe loses some steam after the first hour.  Watching again on a smaller screen I didn't love it quite so much.

But I do love it. I love so much of it. It so frenetic and mental at times, the car chases and the pumping soundtrack make watching the movie an experience. I think to get the best out of it you need a massive screen, a thumping soundsystem and you want to put yourself right in the middle of it. I got super annoyed at a couple of friends telling me the movie was shit, after they watched it on some dodgy stream on their laptop. 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

I honestly thought Fury Road was a bit overrated when I first saw it. It just got better and better on repeat viewings. Masterpiece. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

6 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

I thought it was pretty much accepted that 1 and 2 were by far the best and 5 the worst, with 3/4 trashy but entertaining in the middle. 

6 is difficult to place. 

Not at all. A lot of people actively dislike the first film. The second film is a better made film than 3 or 4, but the trashy fun is what makes them far more enjoyable in my book. They're both more rewatchable in my book. 

5 hours ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

That's awesome. I'd never heard that.

 

Spoiler

I've read it in a few different articles. The ending is left a little bit ambiguous, other than you know that everyone is dead or about to be dead.

 

5 hours ago, Argonath Diver said:

I legitimately classify Fury Road as my all time favorite movie. I doubt I'll ever see an action movie that tops its glory. I'd say every two or three months, I default to watching the first ~40 minutes (through to the tornado scene which is just unbelievably gorgeous on my bigscreen). Needless to say, I have high hopes for Furiousa. 

The first Mad Max I don't find very interesting. Beyond Thunderdome is just, well, a bit too damn weird for me.

I can't call Fury Road my favorite film, but the cinematography and set design are second to none. There may be equals, but you're not finding anything better than what they did.

And the weirdness of Thunderdome is what makes it great. 

Quote

I wrote a big paper in a 400 level literature course arguing that The Road Warrior was the greatest work of fiction of all time (everyone else wrote about Dickens and Shakespeare... pussies!) I'd give hundreds of dollars if I could find that file, alas disappeared on a 20-year-old .edu email account. I heavily referenced Joseph Campbell. The professor gave me an A, and with her prim and proper English Professor manner of speech, said "You know you almost make me want to watch that wretched movie." It was probably the pinnacle of my failed college career.

This has me roaring with laughter. 

[Isis]

4 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

I'm going to have to re watch Fury Road. When everyone says you are wrong about something you owe at least a proper go. I gave up after 30 mins, it felt like it was written by an incel and directed by Jeremy Clarkson. 

For real? You didn't see all the backlash at the time about how a female character was ruining a Mad Max film? There was loads of it. It's the incels that were mad about the film. 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

4 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

I'm going to have to re watch Fury Road. When everyone says you are wrong about something you owe at least a proper go. I gave up after 30 mins, it felt like it was written by an incel and directed by Jeremy Clarkson. 

The relevant bit plays for about a minute.

[Maithanet]

14 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

What do you think of the theory that it wasn't scotch in the bottle, but gasoline? 

 

I'm aware of that theory.  On the whole
 

Spoiler

 

I definitely think that Childs is assimilated and that MacReady figures that out and that's why he laughs at the end.  How MacReady figures that out could be any of:

1. Childs has changed clothes.  When the Thing assimilates you, it ruins your clothes, so him changing clothes is extremely suspicious.  It is hard to come up with a reasonable explanation for why he would have gone to the trouble to do this given all that was happening.

2. Childs breath isn't steaming as much as MacReady's breath.

3. Childs accepts the drink, even though earlier in the movie they establish that Thing can spread by even a small amount of saliva.  It is almost impossible to believe that Childs would do this. 

4. Possibly the bottle is filled with gasoline, which confirms MacReady's suspicions from items #1-3.  But personally I don't even think it is needed. 

 

15 hours ago, Veltigar said:

Curious ranking of the Rocky films btw, if I had to rank them I'd definitely go:

Creed > Rocky Balboa > Rocky IV > Rocky > Creed II/Rocky II/Rocky III (hard to rank these three in my book) > Rocky V

 

I would rank them Rocky > Creed > Rocky IV > Rocky III > Rocky Balboa > Creed II > Rocky II > Rocky V

Rocky and Creed are legit good movies.  Rocky IV and III are very good as cheesy movies, but terrible as good movies.  Rocky Balboa and Creed II aren't as cheesy as III or IV, and aren't as good as Rocky or Creed, but are still perfectly watchable movies.  Rocky II is not good, it takes itself too seriously to be fun and doesn't have the heart of the first movie.  At best it's a transitional effort.  Rocky V was terrible, I haven't seen that since the 90s. 

[Fez]

32 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

I'm aware of that theory.  On the whole
 

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I definitely think that Childs is assimilated and that MacReady figures that out and that's why he laughs at the end.  How MacReady figures that out could be any of:

1. Childs has changed clothes.  When the Thing assimilates you, it ruins your clothes, so him changing clothes is extremely suspicious.  It is hard to come up with a reasonable explanation for why he would have gone to the trouble to do this given all that was happening.

2. Childs breath isn't steaming as much as MacReady's breath.

3. Childs accepts the drink, even though earlier in the movie they establish that Thing can spread by even a small amount of saliva.  It is almost impossible to believe that Childs would do this. 

4. Possibly the bottle is filled with gasoline, which confirms MacReady's suspicions from items #1-3.  But personally I don't even think it is needed. 

 

 

 

Spoiler

I'm fine with the idea that either of them is The Thing (or even that both of them are, but aren't aware that the other is), but I prefer the theory that both of them are human. I think it better fits the movie that they are both human, but can't even begin to trust each other, so they won't make any attempt to cooperate and survive.

They'd probably be doomed anyway, but they could at least try to make it through the night and see in the morning if there are any supplies still around that they can gather up and set out for nearest other research base. But that's not possible, because of their fear and paranoia of the other one.

 

[Maithanet]

46 minutes ago, Fez said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I'm fine with the idea that either of them is The Thing (or even that both of them are, but aren't aware that the other is), but I prefer the theory that both of them are human. I think it better fits the movie that they are both human, but can't even begin to trust each other, so they won't make any attempt to cooperate and survive.

They'd probably be doomed anyway, but they could at least try to make it through the night and see in the morning if there are any supplies still around that they can gather up and set out for nearest other research base. But that's not possible, because of their fear and paranoia of the other one.

 

From a thematic POV, I like that ending.  But while I agree it is left ambiguous, I think that it is more likely that

Spoiler

Childs is a Thing. For what it's worth, Carpeter has said that one (and only one) of them was infected in that final scene.  Now, I don't take that to be canon, because the ending he made does not reflect that being an established fact.  But I think that if you weigh the evidence, Childs being infected and MacReady not is a most likely. 

I would also like to note that it is pretty strange that other filmmakers haven't tried to make more movies like this.  IMO this is just so much more horrifying than most "horror" movies where a bunch of nobodies die gristly deaths.  I'm not a horror aficionado, but I'm not aware of any other movies that are so reliant on paranoia, mistrust and confusion.  The Thing is a movie that makes you feel really trapped and alone.  I know the X-Files made an episode that was very much an homage to The Thing, but that's about all that I've seen. 

[DMC]

13 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

I'm not aware of any other movies that are so reliant on paranoia, mistrust and confusion.

The Conversation?

[Nictarion]

13 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

From a thematic POV, I like that ending.  But while I agree it is left ambiguous, I think that it is more likely that

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Childs is a Thing. For what it's worth, Carpeter has said that one (and only one) of them was infected in that final scene.  Now, I don't take that to be canon, because the ending he made does not reflect that being an established fact.  But I think that if you weigh the evidence, Childs being infected and MacReady not is a most likely. 

I would also like to note that it is pretty strange that other filmmakers haven't tried to make more movies like this.  IMO this is just so much more horrifying than most "horror" movies where a bunch of nobodies die gristly deaths.  I'm not a horror aficionado, but I'm not aware of any other movies that are so reliant on paranoia, mistrust and confusion.  The Thing is a movie that makes you feel really trapped and alone.  I know the X-Files made an episode that was very much an homage to The Thing, but that's about all that I've seen. 

The Hateful Eight. Tarantino has sited The Thing as inspiration, and Russell talks about the similarities here:

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_56883db0e4b014efe0daaaff

[Maithanet]

12 minutes ago, DMC said:

The Conversation?

The Coppola movie?  I liked that movie, but I wouldn't compare the two. 

6 minutes ago, Nictarion said:

The Hateful Eight. Tarantino has sited The Thing as inspiration, and Russell talks about the similarities here:

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_56883db0e4b014efe0daaaff

I thought Hateful Eight was terrible, really highlighting the worst aspects of Tarantino's excesses. 

 

Look, I know that other movies have that feeling of paranoia and confusion, I just mean that using it for a horror movie as a way of making the audience feel more vulnerable is fairly unique.  Plenty of zombie and vampire movies have people "turn", but usually it's pretty obvious.  There are a few body snatcher movies, but usually they only use the confusion of who's compromised for like one scene, rather than leaning into it the whole movie.  Particularly where even the protagonist MacReady could be infected, and we as the audience just aren't sure.

[Ran]

I'll never understand why Tarantino revived Ultra Panavision, a format not used in some 50 years that famous for its extraordinary panoramic vistas .... and then set the vast majority of the film inside a cramped cabin. I know he just thought it was awfully cool and something he wanted to work with, but why not save it for a script where you could really use those qualities? Weird.