Watch, Watched, Watching: Coming 2 America is the reward for our sinful life

[polishgenius]

6 hours ago, Zorral said:

By now though, as Cooper's Bumpo's not instagram ready, not suave, not ripped, etc. he's surely of no interest at all to these later generations

ffs

[Teng Ai Hui]

11 hours ago, WarGalley said:

Yeah one time during a lazy Saturday in college I watched the Last of the Mohicans on HBO. Then I watched it again on HBO2. Then I watched it again on HBO West for a 3rd time in a row, in a single sitting. I also had the DVD in front of me on the coffee table the entire time. That music.. there's just no turning it off once it starts.

Never done that before or after with another movie.

It certainly get my vote for best soundtrack.

[Veltigar]

14 hours ago, Zorral said:

Which was another thing I disliked about LotM -- for a watcher, one even even superficially acquainted with both these these woodlands, that watcher knew it wasn't the Northeast coastal hinterlands.  It jarred.  A lot. 

This seems a strange thing to be tripped up about. Were you mad that they didn't film GoT in Westeros but chose Croatia and Northern-Ireland? 

14 hours ago, Zorral said:

 Also Natty Bumpo -- he wasn't Cooper's Natty. Who Bumpo is -- is a huge part of Cooper's archtypical creation, which is what kept that character alive through so many changing times and tastes and media.  By now though, as Cooper's Bumpo's not instagram ready, not suave, not ripped, etc. he's surely of no interest at all to these later generations

 

Exactly, I'm glad you understand Zorral. I want to see a hero on screen that resembles me, not some gnarly old geezer who wears leather pants 

[Isis]

I finished Behind Her Eyes and I think they did a good job with adapting it and the pacing of the backstory into the present day was just right. There was only one thing that wasn't quite right

 

when Louise is given the notebook why does she take so long to finish reading it? It's only about 30 pages long. It makes no sense that you'd just read two pages of it and then set it aside for some more moody staring off the balcony.

The ending was deftly handled too.

 

They managed to make it quite subtly creepy and uncomfortable (and almost funny) without making it super a hammy horror moment. The discomfort of Adam is perfectly ambiguous, like he's not terrified at this point, just a tiny bit unsure. 

I would recommend it to someone who wants to watch a short thriller series that's a bit out there (only six episodes - so you can do it in a day). I enjoyed it.

[Maithanet]

Finished Last Chance U:  Basketball.  Thought it was well made with a strong soundtrack.  For those who aren't familiar with Last Chance U, it's a series about guys who are trying to make it to Division 1 basketball, but didn't for various reasons, so now they're at a community college to try and show they are worthy of one of those big scholarships.  The assistant coach says it best: guys end up at our school for the three As:  Athletics (not good enough), Academics (not good enough), or they're an Asshole. 

The show ended on:

Spoiler

An unusual note since the state championship tournament the team has worked for so hard is cancelled for COVID.  They were literally on the bus to go.  That really sucks, and it provided a very unusual ending to a sports documentary, because every other one I've seen the team either wins or loses.  Sports typically provides that closure, but not in this case.  Still, overall it's enjoyable enough television. 

I haven't seen the other Last Chance U seasons (which were all about football).  But apparently this was the first time they had a black coach, which was a good thing to see. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Finished season one of Rome. It's as good as I remember, but it still doesn't sit right with me how one character dies. Seems rather forced. Oh well. I'm going into season two blind, so that should be fun.

I'm also going to try and watch Parasite this morning because I have a decent amount of down time.

[polishgenius]

4 hours ago, Veltigar said:

This seems a strange thing to be tripped up about. Were you mad that they didn't film GoT in Westeros but chose Croatia and Northern-Ireland? 

 

In fairness, while I wouldn't mark a film down for it unless it interfered with the plot in some way, it can be very distracting when you're really familiar with a place and you know it's not what's on screen. I was constantly aware that House of Flying Daggers filmed in large part in Carpathian forests rather than anywhere in China, and Run Lola Run constantly throws its complete infidelity to geography in the face of anyone who's ever been to Berlin (even moreso for actually being filmed in Berlin tbqh, her constant teleportation is glaring).

[Zorral]

5 hours ago, Veltigar said:

This seems a strange thing to be tripped up about. Were you mad that they didn't film GoT in Westeros but chose Croatia and Northern-Ireland? 

Yanno? don't be an ass when you aren't one by inclination (though, of course, I could be wrong about inclination, this being merely an internet acquaintanceship   ). 

Of course these days, you may have noticed, it's generally gnarly old dudes from the golden years of Rock 'n Roll who are still wearing leather pants and still rakin' in the bux -- just as they were wearing the pants and rakin' in the bux when much younger than you are now.  Leather pants, leather jackets, young, old and in-between. 

Actually, Bumpo would be wearing doe skin pants just like all the bucks and the officers, particularly in the cavalry, in England did.  They were the best for riding. Which is why for a long time the deer population of North America (like that of the beaver) declined so heavily.  In fact, in the South, prior to the War of Independence, the entire region that became known after 1803 as the Cotton Kingdom, was hunted out, for the comfort of European and Brit butts, and hands -- they were The material for gloves for bridles and driving reins.  Doe skin was such a lucrative commodity that they could easily be exchanged for African slaves in the Caribbean.

This is enormously different from Westros, which never existed, whereas the French and Indian war did, and Native Americans, and the forests, and the forts did exist, still exist, and what happened in them, and the effects of such upon the world in which we still live (though for how long will any of it and us survive in climate change?), are still studied and written about.

So, yanno, that's partly why I care about Natty Bumpo's forest and not a fig for the preposterously geological and geographical cobbled landscapes of Westros.  Though I did enjoy seeing some of the rooms and gardens of the palace in King's Landing (immensely more than seeing their inhabitants, except for Sir Pounce, of course, and Margaery -- who were the only two deserving of getting out alive, but of course, well -- spoilers!  ).

[Ran]

Put me in as another fan of the Michael Mann Last of the Mohicans, even if it's a very different beast to Fenimore Cooper's... but then, when it comes to James Fenimore Cooper, I side with Mark Twain.

Also, folks have mentioned Justified here, so this news -- that Graham Yost and co. are developing a new Elmore Leonard adaptation that might possibly see Timothy Olyphant return as Raylan Givens -- just about made my day. I hope with every fiber of my being that it comes to pass.

[Mexal]

5 minutes ago, Ran said:

Also, folks have mentioned Justified here, so this news -- that Graham Yost and co. are developing a new Elmore Leonard adaptation that might possibly see Timothy Olyphant return as Raylan Givens -- just about made my day. I hope with every fiber of my being that it comes to pass.

This would be awesome!

[DMC]

14 minutes ago, Ran said:

Also, folks have mentioned Justified here, so this news -- that Graham Yost and co. are developing a new Elmore Leonard adaptation that might possibly see Timothy Olyphant return as Raylan Givens -- just about made my day. I hope with every fiber of my being that it comes to pass.

Exciting!

[Corvinus85]

I like Last of the Mohicans, too, but I understand Zorral's point. My favorite part of the movie really is the score, still among my favorites.

[Cas Stark]

Finally got around to watching The Two Popes, very nice, felt like a throwback to a different era of moviemaking.

Has anyone seen the 4 hour Zack Snyder Justice League?  Is anyone going to watch this?  Four hours?  FFS.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Can't lie, Parasite was good, but not Best Picture good, though 2019 didn't have another film that felt like the obvious candidate.

[RumHam]

3 hours ago, Cas Stark said:

Finally got around to watching The Two Popes, very nice, felt like a throwback to a different era of moviemaking.

Has anyone seen the 4 hour Zack Snyder Justice League?  Is anyone going to watch this?  Four hours?  FFS.

I will. In short bursts and mostly out of morbid curiosity. 

[dbunting]

4 hours ago, Cas Stark said:

Has anyone seen the 4 hour Zack Snyder Justice League?  Is anyone going to watch this?  Four hours?  FFS.

I am sure I will at some point, but likely not all at once.

[Red Tiger]

On 3/16/2021 at 8:07 PM, Veltigar said:

If you'd force me to give this movie a compliment, I would say that some of the actresses were very pretty. That's about as far as I'd go XD

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Magua does some horrific shit, but he does so after his children were murdered by the British and he himself has been forced into slavery for years, before emerging and finding that his wife remarried and he is a man without property or family.

That experience fortifies him and gives him a strong motive to seek out revenge. While doing so, he not only shows great cunning, strategic insight and martial prowess but he more importantly shows that he actually clearly understands the challenges the Huron confederacy is facing far more clearly than the wise old man to whose judgement he submits at the end of the film.

Magua's plan of building an independent Indian "nation" which trades and wars with the colonial powers on equal footing is ahead of his time. As depicted by Mann, he's basically a cross between Tecumseh and the Punisher. Sadly enough, he was politically hamstrung by the old wise, man at the end.

Contrast this with the Magua in the books, who if memory serves (I read this like 10 years ago once) was mad at Colonel Munro for whipping him after he was caught drinking whiskey? I know that alcholism and the spread of "firewater" is historically significant but that's a bullshit motive to be hellbent on revenge.

The solution chosen by the movie is far more brutal, but also far more elegance. No one is in the right and it provides tension as it is clear that Munro is a secondary villain here even though we are rooting for his children to make it out alive.

Not to mention the many other dramatic failings of Cooper's original. I remember learning about the word octoroon for the first time from this novel and it was super annoying to see Cora, who is such a fierce character in the film, basically going out of her way to sacrifice herself for her younger sister and pure white girl Alice. Again, there is historical relevance in there and it gives you a good insight in historic attitudes towards race but as the basis for a story it's rubbish.

Connecting Cora to La Longue Carabine gives the latter something to do, as I though he was more of a side character than a hero in the book. Their connection creates an emotional connection and the implied love affair that gets room to grow between Uncas and Alice (a double brother/sister pairing) as a result packs a lot more emotional power this way.

Obviously this is based on recollections from 10 years ago (it really stuck with me, how much I disliked it) and I'm not knocking the novel's historical significance, but as a story the movie adaption is far superior. There is actual drama and nuance in place of the dull scenes provided by the novel.

 

Prince whatshisname's eventual wife. Oh my lawd.

[Mindwalker]

You've all done it: I'm watching The Last Of The Mohicans now!

I must have seen it before, because I regocnize the music.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Mindwalker said:

You've all done it: I'm watching The Last Of The Mohicans now!

I must have seen it before, because I regocnize the music.

I'm fairly certain I first saw that movie in a history class in high school, because we had a sub for the week. Not sure if I've seen it since then. I did like it, for what it's worth.

[Mindwalker]

Despite a few nitpicks, it's very good.

Magua was a great villain in that you can sympathize with him; he basically just wants to do what the British have done to him...