Jump to content

Wa Wa Watching Nothing


TheLastWolf
 Share

Recommended Posts

Rewatched Lost in Translation a couple of weeks back, a film I love and find endlessly rewatchable. Funnily enough, it was the subject of this week's Rewatchables podcast, which is what reminded me about posting about it.

Watched Wong Kar-wai's Chungking Express for the first time, which is my fault as I've long considered In the Mood for Love one of the greatest films ever made. This earlier film, also lensed by Christopher Doyle and featuring Tony Leung (his recent lifetime achievement award at the Venice Film Festival partly triggered my watch), has a very distinctive look, a lot of kinetic moments but also some unmistakable Wong Kar-wai composition. It's an interesting little film, telling two separate but thematically connected stories about love and loneliness and chance connections.

 

I think I liked the first story a little more, as there's a certain noir flavor to it as the lovelorn detective meets and falls in love with a woman involved in Hong Kong's criminal underworld. But the second story features the magnetic Leung, and  singer Faye Wong both on camera but also she contributes a couple of songs to the soundtrack, particularly a very appealing Cantonese cover of The Cranberries's "Dreaming":

 

Edited by Ran
Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, dog-days said:

I hope you're the same age or older than me. If you're younger then this will ultimately mark the dawn of a new, degenerate age when the good things are swept aside and everyone just watches TickTock. :crying:

That movie came out close to when I was born, if that helps.  I know it does have huge fans.  Just not me. :)  Some of the films I watched from the 70s were really good but I felt earlier decades were more consistent (but my sample size is the widely acclaimed movies from all those decades, so its far from random).

2 hours ago, TheLastWolf said:

Please explain as much as possible without spoiling the rest

Wow.  What an ask!  That could take years!

Edited by Padraig
Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, Padraig said:

It really was a delightful movie until it gets to one of the most shocking lines from a movie that I've ever heard.  I would say it didn't age well but I can't believe it was ok in the first place.

Was it the one about horrible vs miserable life? I don't find it that shocking, it's literally a very fallible character making the reference.

It's definitely a delightful film. Allen's made a lot of very good ones.

To add to my own watching, I also showed Linda Real Genius after not having seen it in many years. Still a fun film, and seeing it now when I'm much more versed in cinema made me realize something I always missed: Chris Knight is basically a Bill Murray-style character, and there are scenes where the script is basically channeling Murray, and Val Kilmer obliges. Also, the sexual politics is hilarious -- it's one thing that the 15-year-old genius Mitch is interested in ADD 19-year-old Jordan.... but quite another when you have the woman with a fetish for sleeping with geniuses telling Mitch that's she's been waiting to seduce him... for a whole three years!

Fun soundtrack, to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, TheLastWolf said:

Just finished Twin Peaks S2. The films and S3 are pending.

MY BRAIN HAS MORE HOLES THAN SWISS CHEESE. thats how fucked lynch left me 

Please explain as much as possible without spoiling the rest

Oh you sweet summer child. :P

You do get one pretty big explanation wrt Killer Bob in S3 though. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm thinking about buying from Walmart season 1 of the Lord of the Rings TV show Rings of Power. I haven't watched any of it! But I sure do love The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the books as well. 

I keep watching Ancient Aliens since there are marathons on the History Channel. As well as Friends, The Office, Futurama, Chicago Fire. I guess that I am not that open to discovering new things because I've been viewing these things forever. 

I watched The Truman Show again and the music is stupidly good according to me. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, WH1T3PH03N1X said:

I'm thinking about buying from Walmart season 1 of the Lord of the Rings TV show Rings of Power. I haven't watched any of it! But I sure do love The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the books as well. 

 

 

is it not cheaper to just sign up to Prime for a month then cancel?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Ran said:

Watched Wong Kar-wai's Chungking Express for the first time

I loved Chungking Express when I saw it some twenty years ago, though I don't remember much of it, apart from a dreamy, addictive atmosphere. Perhaps it is a time for a rewatch.

I'm not sure if I managed to watch In the Mood for Love back then. I remember I had a soft spot for Wong Kar-Wai, but his movies weren't easily found here in the late nineties or early 2000's. Few independent cinemas had them, but that's about it.

Does any of the major streaming services have them now?

Quote

is it not cheaper to just sign up to Prime for a month then cancel?

Yeah, plus there is some good or even great stuff on Prime too. Both seasons of Good Omens, for starters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, The Social Liability said:

I'm thinking about buying from Walmart season 1 of the Lord of the Rings TV show Rings of Power. I haven't watched any of it! But I sure do love The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the books as well. 

If it's in the $5 bin, sure, buy it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just finished watching the second season of Good Omens. That was ... very unexpected.

Spoiler

I thought the first season (based on the book, of course) worked so well as a rounded-up story that I didn't have high expectations for the second one because I thought there wasn't much story to be told anymore ... and just like that, the second season was both a repeat of very similar messages from season 1 (the scenes from Aziraphale's and Crowley's past showing that morality is not black and white, that life on Earth is more about nuance etc.), and a completely different story at the same time, with only A. and C. appearing again. The characters in season 2 are fine, but I really expected to see more of Adam and gang, Anathema Device and Newt, Shadwell etc., not a completely new story that tried to be some weird love story with a Notting Hill-like background insead of the quirky Tadfield.

In short, I haven't quite decided yet if I like it for what it is or if I am very disappointed because it is so different than the original (book and series 1).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, The Social Liability said:

I'm thinking about buying from Walmart season 1 of the Lord of the Rings TV show Rings of Power. I haven't watched any of it! But I sure do love The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the books as well. 

I keep watching Ancient Aliens since there are marathons on the History Channel. As well as Friends, The Office, Futurama, Chicago Fire. I guess that I am not that open to discovering new things because I've been viewing these things forever. 

I watched The Truman Show again and the music is stupidly good according to me. 

 

Rings of power was fine. Production values are pretty impressive. Opinions are divided. 

If you’re looking for something different and really engaging, The Expanse and Arcane both really blew me away. 

Edited by Deadlines? What Deadlines?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said:

Rings of power was fine. Production values are pretty impressive. Opinions are divided. 

If you’re looking for something different and really engaging, The Expanse and Arcane both really blew me away. 

Opinions are divided is misrepresenting things a bit no. At least around here, Rings of Power apologists are kind of like climate crisis deniers in real-life :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...