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Watch, Watched, Watching: Looking for the Light


Ramsay B.

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5 hours ago, Veltigar said:

I was aimlessly scrolling through  a list of 250 must watch films on IMDB yesterday. It was a tad depressing because I had seen most of the films included, but then I noticed a film that I had heard off, but never actually watched before. It is 1997's Donnie Brasco, directed by the same guy who made Four Weddings and a Funeral.

It sort of cracked me up that that guy directed a hardcore mob movie, so I decided to give it a chance. That was something I didn't regret. This film is amazing. Everyone in it is really acting their pants off and is giving a performance that must rank in their professional top three. For someone like Depp (probably his best role after Jack Sparrow) or Michael Madsen (probably his best role outside of the Tarantino universe) that might not be that surprising, but I'm willing to say that the same thing is true for Al Pacino as well. He completely nails it as Lefty, who as a pathetic (yet strangely endearing) working class gangster is the perfect antidote for Pacino's altogether more glamorous upper class Michael from The Godfather franchise. 

In fact, I feel like this film, even more than Goodfellas might have a good claim to be the anti-Godfather. The world of the mob is so realistically rendered (amongst other things due to the fact that all the wiretaps from the undercover agent were mined for mob slang to up the veracity of the dialogue) and it is so grubby, you cannot help but wonder why anyone would choose to get involved with these sad-eyed clowns.

The scene where they discuss forgetaboutit is amazing. Also when Lefty realizes what's up and before he leaves home he takes off his jewelry.

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9 hours ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

A documentary made recently by Oliver Stone that explores material that's been released since his film came out. Pretty fascinating. I'm not sure I agree with some of the conclusions but there are recent revelations that are pretty interesting.  

I haven't seen the documentary, but nearly twenty years ago now when I was at AU I took a course called "Oliver Stone's America" with Peter Kuznick - who has worked with Stone for decades.  It was a pretty cool course and he brought in some really interesting speakers - namely Ron Kovic (the subject of Born on the Fourth of July) over the phone and Daniel Ellsburg in person. 

Eventually Stone came in to take questions.  At the time, it was interesting how he but the kibosh on many students asking about the 9/11 truther conspiracy.  One of my best friends asked him probably the most interesting question though - how he felt about Quentin Tarantino's criticism of Natural Born Killers.  Stone's response was surprisingly pretty mature.  He was like (paraphrasing) "well, Quentin was young at the time and I know he felt passionate about it, but I think at this point he's gotten over it.  I certainly have."

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1 hour ago, dbunting said:

The scene where they discuss forgetaboutit is amazing. Also when Lefty realizes what's up and before he leaves home he takes off his jewelry.

Spoiler

The jewellery scene (which IMDB tells me was based on the last night of the real-life Sonny Black) is my favourite scene of the entire film and a strong contender for best scene ever from Al Pacino. Right up there with the final shoot out in Scarface or Michael confronting Kay in Godfather II or the Dunkacino scene from Jack & Jill.

 

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7 hours ago, Veltigar said:

 

Since you are feeling so evangelical about this, why not force the people's eyes open with ducktape to ensure they keep looking :p 

You...

KNOW... I cannot

RESIST!!!

 

 

I'm too weak... too weak... 

 

 

 

:P 

 

I speak Literati and Memelennial... flawlessly! (Put that in your twitter and listen to it) @Wade1865

 

I'm very talented. 

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I finished re-watching season 1 of Carnival Row, as season 2, which is the last, premieres on the 17th. 

I like the premise of the show and the early episodes do well with the murder mystery and setting up various plotlines, but wow the last two episodes forcibly pull plot threads together with little chance for additional, sensible development. But I'm looking forward to season 2.

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Watched Treason on Netflix over the weekend. Its an ok not great spy series, only 5 episodes so it's easy to watch. Some parts were a little hard to find believable but over all it was pretty good and not a big time investment.

Spoiler

How the wifes CIA friend just happens to show up out of no where the day after her husband gets the temp move up to head of MI6 and the wife doesn't see the connection. 

 

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3 hours ago, DMC said:

I haven't seen the documentary, but nearly twenty years ago now when I was at AU I took a course called "Oliver Stone's America" with Peter Kuznick - who has worked with Stone for decades.  It was a pretty cool course and he brought in some really interesting speakers - namely Ron Kovic (the subject of Born on the Fourth of July) over the phone and Daniel Ellsburg in person. 

Eventually Stone came in to take questions.  At the time, it was interesting how he but the kibosh on many students asking about the 9/11 truther conspiracy.  One of my best friends asked him probably the most interesting question though - how he felt about Quentin Tarantino's criticism of Natural Born Killers.  Stone's response was surprisingly pretty mature.  He was like (paraphrasing) "well, Quentin was young at the time and I know he felt passionate about it, but I think at this point he's gotten over it.  I certainly have."

His Untold History of the USA series is also great.

I was never a 9-11 truther, but I was a lot closer to becoming one than I'd care to acknowledge. I think a lot of younger so-and-so's at the time were. The PNAC policy paper is what started selling me on it, but I never bought the crap about steel beams and the controlled demolition. 

It probably didn't help that this was released around the same time.

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I watched Knock at the Cabin over the weekend, M. Knight Shyamalan's latest. I didn't love it, but also didn't hate it. Thought it was a worthwhile watch, in that uncomfortable manner which MKS likes to provide. Small cast, tight setting. The performances were great, especially Bautista, who's screen presence here, seemed greater than his obvious physical presence. The thing that I couldn't quite buy into, until very late, was the basic premise. I'm reminded of the amorphism made popular by Carl Sagan, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence", and for me this came a little too late to make me buy into the whole setting. Cameron did it more abruptly in Terminator 2 when Joe Morton's character was presented with a world changing dilemma.          

If anyone's interested, MKS appeared in the always excellent le Video Club to mark Knock at the Cabin's release.
His mantra for his crew is, "Our films should be sushi. The least ingredients at the highest quality."

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On 2/6/2023 at 12:53 AM, Ran said:

Started rewatching HBO's Rome, and have to say Vorenus and Pullo are among the best "buddies" ever put on TV. Kevin McKidd's Vorenus is so stoic and Catonian, while Pullo's such a happy go-lucky thug. The role really made Ray Stevenson's career, in particular.

I absolutely adore this show and have watched it several times. Even though they deviated from history, the show had such an authentic, lived-in feel that I have to find in any other depiction of Ancient Rome, sadly. It's such a shame they rushed through S2 and ended it after - it would've been brilliant to trace Augustus' ascent all the way through. If you can recc any similar shows on that time period, do share. 

On 2/6/2023 at 12:53 AM, Ran said:

 

I still have Sandman and His Dark Materials half-unfinished and it feels like a slog to get back into them, which is a shame, but will try eventually to get back into them. Still have Avenue 5's second season to watch...

 

Sandman was a bit of a slog for me after the diner episode. His Dark Materials last season was actually pretty good, particularly the last few episodes. It captured the essence of the trilogy in many ways, for me.  

 

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On 1/22/2023 at 8:33 PM, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

High Life A very somber, slow burn of a Sci Fi film with people on a space ship for some reason and they're all simultaneously very alienated and really, really horny. Juliette Binoche... does things. I'm sure there's a subtext there that I'm missing. 

Known on Twitter as that movie where Ewan Mitchell is fully naked and that people make screencaps from while trying to ignore the context and how awful his character is.

On 1/22/2023 at 9:41 PM, Padraig said:

 

City Lights (1931).  Something completely different.  I've never seen a Charlie Chaplin movie before and I feared the worst but this is very charming.  A silent movie can still work well.

 

Chaplin's movies are great and very watchable. Modern Times, Gold Rush, The Great Dictator are also classics.

The really good silent movies still work well today. The issue can just be about having a good musical accompanyment. Versions on DVD usually have a musical score composed by modern musicians, but you have to be careful when watching them in cinema. I once made a terrible mistake of watching Pandora's Box in cinema (one that's specialised for showing old movies) but it turned out the version they were showing had no music to accompany it. (The fact that it only had subttles in Czech for some reason and the translation was provided live by a guy sitting on the balcony also didn't help, but the lack of music was the part that ruined it all.) THe other two times I watched silent movies not at home was a screening (accompanied by a lecture and discussion) of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari at a public library, from a DVD that had a really good score, and a mini-festival at a students' cultural center where they screened three silent movies with live music by local bands who composed and performed it for that occasion. I watched Victor Sjöström's The Scarlet Letter starring Lillian Gish that way and it was great, the music was really great and ftting. 

My current viewing: I have a ton of 2022 shows to catch up on or finish, but in the meantime I've finally decided to check out Derry Girls. Finished season 1 and I'm 2 episodes into season 2. Very enjoyable show, although one of the funny things about it is how it pretends that the main cast are not a bunch of 30 year olds dressed as teenagers, but that's what we're all used to in teen shows. Fun to see which 1990s song they will use next. Good to see Barristan Selmy aka Ian McInnerny again.

Then I decided to check out another UK Channel 4 show starring Jamie Lee O'Donnell, Screw, also starring Nina Sosanya. It's a prison drama with comedy elements, and I'm really enjoying it. The cast of characters, both the prison guards and the prisoners, are all compelling, and they tackle various issues without being peachy about it. Too more episodes in season 1 but I know season 2 is coming too. (ETA: and another GoT veteran is in this - Ron Donachie aka Ser Rodrik Cassel).

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On 2/2/2023 at 12:40 PM, Heartofice said:

Wakanda Forever is ok, no real better or worse than most other Marvel offerings these days. It's too long, it's quite dull, it has your standard big stupid CGI fights in it. If you really care about the story then you probably would have watched it already, if you aren't fussed then I guess you'll be bored and drop out quite quickly.

I was really bored by it. And rolled my eyes at the movie going overboard with the "teenage scientific genius" trope. 

Spoiler

Was it really necessary to 1) add another teenage genius - who was entirely pointless and did nothing and 2) have that ridiculous line that Shuri built her first machine at age 3 or 4, I don't remember? That one had me laughing out loud.

 

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1 hour ago, Annara Snow said:

I was really bored by it. And rolled my eyes at the movie going overboard with the "teenage scientific genius" trope. 

  Hide contents

Was it really necessary to 1) add another teenage genius - who was entirely pointless and did nothing and 2) have that ridiculous line that Shuri built her first machine at age 3 or 4, I don't remember? That one had me laughing out loud.

 

Your hidden part was also what took me out of the movie.

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5 hours ago, Annara Snow said:

Chaplin's movies are great and very watchable. Modern Times, Gold Rush, The Great Dictator are also classics.

I did subsequently watch Modern Times.  I don't think it is as delightful as City Lights but its definitely an enjoyable movie.  Interesting to see cocaine make an appearance in a movie from the 1930s, although it isn't named.  And while we never hear the hobo talk, he does sing quite well! :)

I also saw Bride of Frankenstein.  A solid movie but I wouldn't be too fond of it.  Not helped by all the horror movies since this one.  But it doesn't pull that many punches when it comes to the Monster's deeds, which did shock me a little.

I saw the Adventures of Robin Hood.  Another enjoyable movie but again, it loses points because I am way too familiar with the Robin Hood mythos by now.  I imagine a 1938 movie being in colour was a major calling card.  And the visuals are very impressive.

While Robin Hood wasn't ambitious beyond being in colour, you can't say that about Gone with the Wind.  Very problematic though.  From the very first minute, it makes very clear its viewpoint about the South.  That was a lot more than I expected (and I knew it had serious issues).  Yet at the same time, you can view Scarlet O'Hara as a very progressive heroine.  I could imagine many people would find it unwatchable now but I did find it very entertaining.

The hidden gem is Make Way for Tomorrow.  The first thing you'll want to do after watching it is call your parents or grand parents (if they are alive).  The actors are completely unknown to me.  The director did win a few Academy Awards but not for this one.  This was his favourite movie though.  It is a movie you wouldn't expect from 1930's Hollywood.  But it does reflect the Great Depression.  An elderly couple lose their home and their subsequent travails are heartbreaking.  Whatever sympathy is raises is well deserved.  Minorities are actually treated quite well in this movie too.

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I watched Amsterdam which had some good bits but felt a bit incoherent overall. The right-wing conspiracy plotline was interesting and felt depressingly topical but there were also a lot of subplots in there and I didn't find Christian Bale's lovelife or Mike Myers and Michael Shannon discussing birdwatching to be as compelling.

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Season 4 thoughts.
 

David Boreanaz just shines as Angelus, the role looks much better on him than Angel. 

Connor is the worst thing I’ve ever seen on tv, Dawn had been an absolute delight in comparison. 

Spoiler

I’m sad that lilah was immediately killed off after her joining the crew. She brought an amazing dynamic to a bunch of people who’s been in need on a shakeup for some time. I would have loved a few more episodes of Lilah/Fred and Lilah/Cordelia micro clashes. 
 

I was so happy that Willow and Faith were brought in because it would have been a real plot hole if they hadn’t showed up. I really loved the Gunn and Faith dynamic. 
 

Fred and her love triangle are quite boring. I’m still not sure what she brings to the table. 
 

I Know that Connor is dumber than an arse but doesn’t Wesley as the smartest person or Fred as another woman or Lorne as an empath sense that something is not right with Cordelia?

 

I kinda like Gwen. she’s a fresh color on the palette. Her dynamic with Gunn is also fresh. 
 

I can also see how this beast-angelus-Cordelia storyline was a temper-tantrum joss whedon needed to get out of his system. (This is something that Reddit claimed)


Wesley peaked when he played rouge and had that affair with Lilah. Now he just ended up back with the crew and everybody pretends they hadn’t been absolute garbage to one another. Which is pretty realistic and I suppose deliberately disenchanting. Still, a bit sad.
 

did I mention I despise Connor? 

 

 

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1 hour ago, williamjm said:

I watched Amsterdam which had some good bits but felt a bit incoherent overall. The right-wing conspiracy plotline was interesting and felt depressingly topical but there were also a lot of subplots in there and I didn't find Christian Bale's lovelife or Mike Myers and Michael Shannon discussing birdwatching to be as compelling.

I plan on seeing it. 

My understanding is that events in the film are actually based on the 1933 business plot

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I finished WeCrashed, and it was surprisingly fun, and as I said before I strangely really enjoyed Jared Leto's performance.

I was thinking that if you wanted to teach a layperson about why the modern post 2008 economy is so utterly fucked you should make them sit down and watch WeCrashed together with The Dropout. 

See the state of things using WeWork and Theranos as examples of how you can basically inhale a shit ton of investor cash through the power of utter bullshit and lies pretty much sums up where we are at the moment. Both are stories about how there is essentially too much free money floating around the system and it can be thrown at worthless garbage on the off chance the crazy person in charge of a company actually knows what they are doing.

Everything is pure speculation, nothing has any intrinsic value, nobody produces anything of worth, they just promise something that can never be achieved. 

Just need an 8 part Apple TV+ dramatisation of the FTX scandal for a real trilogy

 

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