Saturday Evening Movie Thread 04-14-2018 [Hosted By: TheJamesMadison]

What a Coincidence

So, as you may be aware, I've been writing posts on my personal top ten movies of all time. We've gone through the first three chronologically (The Passion of Joan of Arc, Duck Soup, and Casablanca), and keeping in line with the overall monthly or so schedule, it's time for number four, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I didn't realize the coincidence until last week when I knew that I had to write the post for the movie's 50th anniversary (April 2, 196. I was super busy last week, so it's coming out now. Weird, though, how its anniversary coincides so well with this little trek through my personal favorites, isn't it?

Anyway, enough of my jibber-jabber, on with the show!

2001: A Space Odyssey

This is a terrible way to start this retrospective, but this is the first movie on the list where I would consider replacing with another. My top ten list is political in nature in that it's designed to drive those who are exposed to it to places in film that I consider important. Stanley Kubrick is a giant in the world of cinema, but I have two movies that he made that I love equally, the other being Barry Lyndon. That being said, let's talk about the movie at hand.

I've never read a review of this movie that said it was poorly made. I've read negative reviews, for sure, but no one ever says that it's poorly photographed, or that the effects look fake. It's remarkable to me how uniform the opinion of the technical merits of the film are across the decades.

Stanley Kubrick was a photographer before he became a filmmaker. He learned how to frame a shot with a combination of simplicity and meaning that is often never replicated in most movies. I think that manifests in a common visual feel to his films where I get the sensation that he didn't like movement in the frame. Kubrick didn't film purely from a stationary tripod like Ozu, but movement was always combined with a certain stillness. Look at the introduction to life aboard the Odyssey. Watch Frank Poole running around the living quarters:

On first glance, there's a lot of motion there. The camera moves left to right and back again. Frank is running in a circle. It seems like there's just a lot of motion going on, except that Frank is never anywhere but at the center of the frame. Despite all of the movement present, the focus of the shot never changes its position within the frame.

This stillness at the center of motion transfixes me. 2001 is a movie that if I catch a glimpse of on TV, I end up losing the next hour or two of my life to it, almost simply at the power of the visual images. I think that the ability to calmly focus on that which is most important in the shot is one reason that I find all of Kubrick's movies, but 2001 in particular, to be so absorbing to watch.

Big Ideas

Another point that no one seems to argue about is that the movie is big in both visual scale and in terms of ideas. Disagreement arises about whether the movie does anything interesting with the ideas it brings up, but I haven't read anyone calling it small. And the ideas at its core are very big.

I think one way to figure out how to watch this movie and try to dissect what is there is to refer to the foreword to a book on Kristof Kieslowski, the Polish filmmaker who made The Decalogue and The Three Colors Trilogy. Here's the quote:

I am always reluctant to single out some particular feature of the work of a major filmmaker because it tends inevitably to simplify and reduce the work. But in this book of screenplays by Krzysztof Kieslowski and his co-author, Krzysztof Piesiewicz, it should not be out of place to observe that they have the very rare ability to dramatize their ideas rather than just talking about them. By making their points through the dramatic action of the story they gain the added power of allowing the audience to discover what's really going on rather than being told. They do this with such dazzling skill, you never see the ideas coming and don't realize until much later how profoundly they have reached your heart.

Stanley Kubrick

January 1991

To Kubrick, his ideal was to dramatize ideas, not to talk about them. For that, I'm sure he'd prefer a conversation instead of a visual based medium. So, taking that point of view in mind, how should one approach 2001: A Space Odyssey specifically?

The key, in my mind, is the opening sequence, The Dawn of Man. From a traditional point of view, this extended dialogue free sequence that involves no named characters who appear later in the film seems superfluous at best. However, I would disagree, I think it's central. Man at this stage is little more than the beasts that it shares the barren landscape with. Man and beasts are picking at the ground next to each other, neither has an advantage over the other. When man comes into conflict with other man, there's little more than impotent demonstrations of size. Then, the monolith arrives without explanation.

After this exposure, man begins to understand the world around him as more than a source for food and water. Man picks up a bone, pushes it back and forth, noticing the effect that pushing one object against another can have for the first time. Man goes further until he's slamming the bone against other parts of the remnant skeleton and destruction occurs. It is this lesson that gives man the leg up over other men and, by extension, the rest of the animals (for the other man is still no more than an animal in comparison).

The monolith gave man insight, and when the monolith appears again tens of thousands of years later, man has progressed very far. No longer scavengers on the ground, we have mastered the Earth and reached the moon, where the second monolith is buried ("intentionally"). The next push by the monolith is more complex, sending man to Jupiter.

Without the Dawn of Man sequence, the monolith seems more opaque to me. We, as the audience, are not supposed to fully understand what the monolith wants, but that opening provides greater dramatic context about that idea. The monolith is pushing human evolution. First it took us on the first step to conquering the Earth, what will the next monolith teach us?

Questions

Here's something about 2001 that I think bothers a lot of people. If they get through the dramatic interpretation of what's on Kubrick's mind to find the ideas, all they end up finding are questions without any real answers.

What is the monolith? Where did it come from? Where is it taking us?

There are no explicit answers to those in the film itself (there's more explanation in the series of books by Arthur C. Clarke and in the movie sequel, 2010: The Year We Make Contact), but it does provide us with something a bit more interesting. This is where we get to the "whoa" part of the film, Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite.

People tend to put up this sequence as a something of a joke. Upon the movie's first release, people would go to the film and get really high just to watch this part of the film, and it's easy to see why. It's trippy with weird colors and sights. It was also unlike anything anyone had ever really seen before. The visual effects supervisor, Douglas Trumbull, created a series of optical effects that felt futuristic and otherworldly (you can see the same fingerprints on his work through V'Ger in Star Trek: The Motion Picture).

But, dramatically, you need to go back to The Dawn of Man to see what's going on. In the first sequence, the monolith provided early man with the knowledge of tools, something mundane to us but which was world changing to them. What's the next step up from where we are now? I don't know, and I imagine that you don't either. The light show (especially in combination with the choice of music, Ligeti's Requiem) shows us the character, Dave Bowman, moving from that which we can understand to that which we cannot until he suddenly appears in that hotel room.

It is here that we see Bowman live out the rest of his natural life in a comfortable and knowable environment (whether that actually plays out in real time or if he actually spends decades in that room is unclear as it should be) until he makes the next evolutionary jump. He must die before he's reborn, an implication that the human race, in order to evolve to our next stage of life, must die first.

HAL

It pains me whenever I see HAL 9000 on a list of movie villains.

To me, HAL is the one sympathetic character in the film, and I think that was by design. The humans in this film are all played fairly flat by the actors. They're almost non-entities. Frank and Dave are largely interchangeable. They look a fair bit alike and there's no real indication that they do anything different on the ship. In fact, when it comes to mission actions, they each go out to the satellite dish and perform the same task (first Dave, then Frank) as though neither one has any advantage over the other.

HAL, though, is different. He's engaging, shows emotion, and is central to the mission in ways that neither Frank nor Dave are.

Looking at Frank, Dave, and Dr. Floyd from earlier in the film, we see bland people who represent the character of humanity in this vision of the future. They are mostly boring. HAL is humanity's attempt at the next step in evolution, and they created someone more interesting.

But, the devil is interesting and it doesn't make him good. Why do I consider HAL to not be a villain?

If you look at the sequence of events that leads HAL to murdering the entire crew, I think it's easy to see. HAL detects a fault in a unit on the satellite dish. Dave brings the unit back and they find no fault. They all agree to put the unit back. Frank and Dave then go into a pod to discuss without HAL overhearing them. In that discussion, they decide to effectively kill HAL. HAL can also read lips, by the way.

HAL read their lips and figured out what they were going to do, so he kills Frank and attempts to kill Dave (unsuccessfully). And, in a fit of cold logic, kills the hibernating three scientists on board knowing that they would deactivate him after waking up to find that he had killed the other two crewmen.

If you ignore literally everything leading up to HAL's decision to kill Frank, he's obviously a bad guy, but including everything before hand makes him a far more sympathetic character. He was acting in self-defense, and when Dave Bowman goes into his brain to begin to pull bits out, killing HAL slowly and regressively until he's no more than a baby, singing "Daisy" like he did when he was first introduced to the world, it's tragic. Killing HAL is not a victory.

Let's Wrap this Up

There's so much to appreciate in this film. It's complex, simple, beautiful, ugly, cold, and warm all at once. It's a masterful achievement that proudly sits atop a master's filmography (seated right next to Barry Lyndon of course).

Movies of Today

Opening in Theaters:
Rampage
Truth or Dare
Beirut

Next in my Netflix Queue:
Gods and Generals

Movies I Saw This Week:
The Tempest (Netflix Rating 1/5 | Quality Rating 0.5/4) Poster blurb: "After Frida and Across the Universe and then this, I think it's time to admit that Titus was a fluke and that Julie Taymor is a terrible filmmaker." [Netflix DVD]
Vanya on 42nd Street (Netflix Rating 5/5 | Quality Rating 4/4) "It did more to convince me of the value of actors in a film than any other film I've ever seen." [Netflix DVD]
John Wick: Chapter 2 (Netflix Rating 2/5 | Quality Rating 1.5/4) "Seriously? This movie makes virtually no sense, is emotionally inert, and barely has any action in it." [HBO]
Frances Ha (Netflix Rating 4/5 | Quality Rating 3/4) "A bit more predictable than it seems to think it is, but it's a well written story of delayed onset adulthood." [Netflix Instant]
2001: A Space Odyssey (Netflix Rating 5/5 | Quality Rating 4/4) [Rewatch] "What the guy up top said." [Personal Collection]

Contact

Email any suggestions or questions to thejamesmadison.aos at symbol gmail dot com.

I've also archived all the old posts here, by request. I'll add new posts a week after they originally post at the HQ.

Posted by: OregonMuse at 07:20 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Firstest

Posted by: Skip at April 14, 2018 07:12 PM (aC6Sd)

2 I'll go fetch em

Posted by: Skip at April 14, 2018 07:13 PM (aC6Sd)

3

#TheRealFirst

Posted by: Soothsayer -- Fake Commenter at April 14, 2018 07:13 PM (pwFp+)

4 In B4 the 'it sucks' contingent.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at April 14, 2018 07:14 PM (oVJmc)

5 My dad took out the entire family to see 2001 when it first came out. We saw it in that hyper-wide

C...I...N...E...R...A...M...A

format.

Fun fact about the HAL-9000: If you take every letter in HAL and advance it to the next one in the alphabet, you get IBM.

Coincidence?

I THINK NOT!!

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader & Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine at April 14, 2018 07:14 PM (xlCXC)

6 Oh boy this is gonna be great!

Posted by: freaked at April 14, 2018 07:16 PM (UdKB7)

7 I am watching Troy: Fall of a City on Netflix. It has the usual prog multi-culti stuff, but it is also amazingly faithful to the myths. It even includes mythical stories regarding the Trojan war that only serious students of Greek myth would be familiar with (Agamemnon sacrificing his daughter for a fair wind, Odysseus feigning madness to attempt to avoid joining the war effort). It is really enjoyable so far.

Posted by: jmel at April 14, 2018 07:17 PM (OeWgo)

8 Interesting theory that the monolith gave the apes knowledge/curiosity or otherwise spurred them to somehow evolve into man.

But thats the beauty of "2001." It's open to interpretation as to what it's about. It's really about the thoughts and ideas it imparts to you as to the nature of man and the universe, time, space etc.

Just like the monolith does to the apes.

Heh.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at April 14, 2018 07:18 PM (VM6ev)

9 Whatever happened to the apes monolith?

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at April 14, 2018 07:18 PM (IqV8l)

10 When bones are outlawed only monkeys will have bones?

Posted by: Eromero at April 14, 2018 07:18 PM (zLDYs)

11
a common visual feel to his films where I get the sensation that he didn't like movement in the frame. Kubrick didn't film purely from a stationary tripod like Ozu, but movement was always combined with a certain stillness

That's it. Now you helped me figure out what bugged me about Kubrick movies. So visually static. I don't like shaky cam either, but Kubrick's kind of the opposite extreme.

Posted by: Hands at April 14, 2018 07:18 PM (EzdLW)

12 H - i - A - b - L - m. HAL = IBM. Coincidence?

Posted by: For Whom the Art Bell Tolls at April 14, 2018 07:19 PM (JHwDP)

13 Fun fact about the HAL-9000: If you take every letter in HAL and advance it to the next one in the alphabet, you get IBM.

Coincidence?

I THINK NOT!!
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader & Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine at April 14, 2018 07:14 PM (xlCXC)

And if you rotate them the other way, you get GZK. The Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin limit is the upper bound for energies of cosmic ray protons coming from other galaxies into ours. Coincidence?

...yeah, probably.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 14, 2018 07:20 PM (y87Qq)

14 Kristof Kieslowski, the Polish filmmaker who made The Decalogue and The Three Colors Trilogy

The Three Color Trilogy I liked Blue. White and Red were just meh.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at April 14, 2018 07:20 PM (SiINZ)

15 So I'm watching the Netflix reboot of Lost in Space and midway thru the series ...

s
p
o
i
l
e
r
s

the kid decides to Old Yeller Robot coz he is too dangerous to humans

and that's it, I'm done.

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at April 14, 2018 07:22 PM (hMwEB)

16 Tune into the Gorilla Channel, and they've pared down 2001 A Space Odyssey to just the "Dawn of Man" sequence. The End.

Posted by: Hands at April 14, 2018 07:22 PM (EzdLW)

17 Picked up The Equalizer in the cheap rack. Will now watch that and Man on Fire as my best revenge movies.

Posted by: Ben Had at April 14, 2018 07:23 PM (b7mVC)

18 now we are watching Titan (on netflix) and the lead scientist keeps pronouncing methane as "mee-thane"

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at April 14, 2018 07:23 PM (hMwEB)

19 17 Picked up The Equalizer in the cheap rack. Will now watch that and Man on Fire as my best revenge movies.
Posted by: Ben Had at April 14, 2018 07:23 PM (b7mVC)

Denzel is very good at being an understated badass.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 14, 2018 07:23 PM (NWiLs)

20 HAL was also the name of Brian Cranston playing Frankie Muniz's dad in Malcolm in the Middle. Coincidence? You be the judge.

Posted by: Hands at April 14, 2018 07:24 PM (EzdLW)

21 2001 reminds me a lot of Citizen Kane. Both are masterpieces of visual storytelling- yet both leave me cold.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 07:24 PM (SKt1u)

22 20 HAL was also the name of Brian Cranston playing Frankie Muniz's dad in Malcolm in the Middle. Coincidence? You be the judge.
Posted by: Hands at April 14, 2018 07:24 PM (EzdLW)

======

Price Hal in Henry IV.

Coincidence, etc.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 07:24 PM (Jj43a)

23 First at hand, I vaguely remember the first time I saw 2001 I was awestruck but subsequent viewings much less so. Yes it has interesting questions but since it doesn't answer them its not that interesting.

Posted by: Skip at April 14, 2018 07:25 PM (aC6Sd)

24 Tune into the Gorilla Channel, and they've pared down 2001 A Space Odyssey to just the "Dawn of Man" sequence. The End.

Posted by: Hands at April 14, 2018 07:22 PM (EzdLW)

Well, from the apes' standpoint, that's when everything went South.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 07:25 PM (vUFR0)

25 I watched Amadeus recently, and then Milos Forman dies.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at April 14, 2018 07:25 PM (l9m7l)

26

So I'm watching the Netflix reboot of Lost in Space and midway thru the series ...

A friend of mine reviewed it thus:

I watched the first 2 episodes of the new Lost in Space remake on NETFLIX. It will be the last 2 episodes that I watch. It started out OK, but as it progressed it was obvious that it had been "feminized". The male characters are portrayed as weak and the women as strong. Maureen runs the show and John Robinson is shown as weak and submissive to her. It makes me sick to my stomach.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at April 14, 2018 07:26 PM (IqV8l)

27 Woo! Movies!

Now to read the content

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at April 14, 2018 07:26 PM (xJa6I)

28 25 I watched Amadeus recently, and then Milos Forman dies.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at April 14, 2018 07:25 PM (l9m7l)

======

Don't watch anything by Terrence Malick or Martin Scorsese!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 07:26 PM (Jj43a)

29 now we are watching Titan (on netflix) and the lead scientist keeps pronouncing methane as "mee-thane"

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at April 14, 2018 07:23 PM (hMwEB)

That's a Brit-ism. And ethane is E-thane. There is some sense behind it, too.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 07:26 PM (vUFR0)

30 last Netflix report tried Tale of Tales, visually exquisite, but seems too dark for my mood right now

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at April 14, 2018 07:26 PM (hMwEB)

31 2001 A Space Oddyssey is one instance when the movie is better than the Arthur C. Clarke novel.
I watched Zoolander at the tattoo (The plane, boss, the plane) parlor Friday. The Space Oddyssey scene was hilarious.
The funniest line is when Zoolander fell in love while Matilda was being sandwiched by the Finnish midgets and Maori warrior.

Posted by: Northernlurker-Teem at April 14, 2018 07:26 PM (nBr1j)

32 "Killing HAL is not a victory."

Every computer and robot should have a big red kill switch right there on the front.

Posted by: f'd at April 14, 2018 07:26 PM (UdKB7)

33
So I'm watching the Netflix reboot of Lost in Space and midway thru the series ...

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at April 14, 2018 07:22 PM

The original Will Robinson would simply have reprogrammed the Robot to fix that problem. [spoiler REDACTED]

Posted by: Hands at April 14, 2018 07:27 PM (EzdLW)

34 2001 is a (great) shaggy God story

Posted by: Captain Mongo at April 14, 2018 07:27 PM (VJIV4)

35 25: Maybe you can watch some films with irritating profane libs!

Posted by: CN at April 14, 2018 07:27 PM (5gaNQ)

36 30 last Netflix report tried Tale of Tales, visually exquisite, but seems too dark for my mood right now
Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at April 14, 2018 07:26 PM (hMwEB)

======

It's... Weird.

And not entirely successful.

I'm on the border about whether I'd recommend it or not, leaning towards no. But only a lean.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 07:28 PM (Jj43a)

37 Nice! I rented 2001 a couple days ago to watch on my face-meltingly large t.v. and it still captivates, if you find chilly detached Kubrick captivating -- which I do.

While HAL's regression back to childhood is still touching, I had forgotten in the interim just how deadly he was. Mission Control tells the astronauts that their twin HAL 9000 can't find the fault in the comms dish, meaning Hal is in error. HAL insists that he is correct and any fault lies with human error.
--------

The Air and Space Museum has a recreation of that creepy white bedroom. They wouldn't let me lie on the bed and point to my doppelganger though.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 07:29 PM (qJtVm)

38 I hadn't given this thought before, but running the same direction as the spin would increase the gravity effect (because he is really running against his momentum, which is a straight line). But running with against the spin he'd be weightless (if he ran to match the speed of the spin), and would float off the floor.

right? I think that's right.

Posted by: illiniwek at April 14, 2018 07:29 PM (bT8Z4)

39 Netflix has an ability to highlight how badly the art of screenwriting has been abused by both diminishing talent pools and political correctness.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at April 14, 2018 07:29 PM (oVJmc)

40 31 2001 A Space Oddyssey is one instance when the movie is better than the Arthur C. Clarke novel.
I watched Zoolander at the tattoo (The plane, boss, the plane) parlor Friday. The Space Oddyssey scene was hilarious.
The funniest line is when Zoolander fell in love while Matilda was being sandwiched by the Finnish midgets and Maori warrior.
Posted by: Northernlurker-Teem at April 14, 2018 07:26 PM (nBr1j)

Actually, that "The Movie is better than a book" is true of a couple of Kubrick's films.

One thing I will say I do like about Kubrick is his sense of stillness. The Shining works far better in those quiet moments. One shot I can think of is when they show Nicholson just staring out the window at his wife and son with that look on his face.

Very effective, and something all of the modern movie makers seem to have lost a sense of.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 07:30 PM (SKt1u)

41 Every computer and robot should have a big red kill switch right there on the front.

Posted by: f'd at April 14, 2018 07:26 PM (UdKB7)

Like a RESET button?

Posted by: Comrade Hillary at April 14, 2018 07:30 PM (n9EOP)

42
people would go to the film and get really high just to watch this part of the film, and it's easy to see why. It's trippy with weird colors and sights.

I could smell colors, I could feel sounds. Coach Wooden didn't dig it, though.

Posted by: Bill Walton and his bike at April 14, 2018 07:30 PM (EzdLW)

43 Was the book 2001 based on the screenplay? I know that both came from the short story The Sentinel.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at April 14, 2018 07:31 PM (yQpMk)

44 HAL was shallow

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at April 14, 2018 07:31 PM (IqV8l)

45 When I read the book, I thought the monolith was testing the various apemen to see which ones were good to evolve while others were deemed not up to par. The movie does kinda touch on it a little.

With Dave and the other crewmen, I think HAL was putting them through the gauntlet to see who, if any, survive to "evolve" to the next level of evolution.

So by beating and killing HAL, Dave was able to evolve into the Star Child.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at April 14, 2018 07:31 PM (EoRCO)

46
I had a Bad Feeling they Battlestar Galactica'd the revised Lost In Space.

Posted by: Soothsayer -- Fake Commenter at April 14, 2018 07:31 PM (pwFp+)

47 I saw 2001 in the theater when it came out and actually believed for some time that the future would be like that. I gave up on that some time into the Space Shuttle program.

Posted by: f'd at April 14, 2018 07:31 PM (UdKB7)

48 I also liked 2010, though I'm in the minority on that I think.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at April 14, 2018 07:32 PM (yQpMk)

49 47 I saw 2001 in the theater when it came out and actually believed for some time that the future would be like that. I gave up on that some time into the Space Shuttle program.
Posted by: f'd at April 14, 2018 07:31 PM (UdKB7)

======

We got iPads and FaceTime.

We're halfway there!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 07:32 PM (Jj43a)

50 I'd take that Mars trip in a newyork minute, but I wouldn't watch 2001 again for love, money, chalk, nor marbles.

Posted by: Eromero at April 14, 2018 07:32 PM (zLDYs)

51 Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 07:29 PM (qJtVm)

Eris, I warned the management you were coming and that they better have discreet guards at all the critical exhibits!

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at April 14, 2018 07:32 PM (n9EOP)

52

I know that diversity is the end all be all of our times, but I'm watching the series The White Princess. It's pretty bland, but any way it's set during the reign of Henry VII and there is a scene where Hank in riding through London and he's greeted by a crowd who are along the street. In the crowd are a number of black people. Now I don't have stats in front of me, but I wonder what the black population of London was circa 1487. The next scene is in Burgundy of a kid learning to fight with a sword being trained by a black guy. If they are going to do that for the sake of diversity why didn't they just have Whoopie Goldberg play Henry VII?

Posted by: TheQuietMan at April 14, 2018 07:33 PM (SiINZ)

53 HAL was shallow
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at April 14, 2018 07:31 PM (IqV8l)

LOL. Wrong movie.

Posted by: DR.WTF? at April 14, 2018 07:33 PM (T71PA)

54 48 I also liked 2010, though I'm in the minority on that I think.
Posted by: Grump928(C) at April 14, 2018 07:32 PM (yQpMk)

=====

It's good, just not the original. Far more conventional than Kubrick, but easier to understand and appreciate.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 07:33 PM (Jj43a)

55
Right now I'm dl'ing Den Of Thieves.

Later I will be dl'ing You Were Never Really Here.

Posted by: Soothsayer -- Fake Commenter at April 14, 2018 07:33 PM (pwFp+)

56 HAL vs Watson in the Octagon

Posted by: Alex Trebek at April 14, 2018 07:33 PM (EzdLW)

57 2001 felt like three movies, not one. I feel the Monolith is a thin connector, especially in the last section.

A film maker should strive for clarity, I feel. Not ambiguity. Ambiguity is what you do when you don't know if you have something worth saying (See David Lynch's Mullholland Drive)

The third section is simply the worst. The first section is slow as well but it comes to an understandable conclusion as the monolith turns the apes into men, in mind at least.

But the third section is like a dare: could Kubrik make a movie more boring than a Swedish art house film about Strindberg.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at April 14, 2018 07:33 PM (xJa6I)

58 I liked how the protohominids gingerly touched the monolith, and then millions of years later this was mimicked by the astronauts at Clavius.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 07:33 PM (qJtVm)

59 To achieve political correctness, instead of a female Bond how about a fat, ugly Bond? Michael Moore stars in Diet Another Day.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at April 14, 2018 07:34 PM (/qEW2)

60 Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at April 14, 2018 07:26 PM (IqV8l)

From what I've read about LiS, the first two episodes were written by some duo who writes movie flops,

they got pulled and the rest of the series is written by much better writers and improves....a. lot.

So, you've done the hard part give episode 3 a try.

I guess I'll find out tonight as watching LiS was my game plan
.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 14, 2018 07:34 PM (9q7Dl)

61 And I'm a simple man. As soon as you try to kill me, you become the bad guy.

And HAL's decision to kill the sleeping scientists turns him into a villain.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at April 14, 2018 07:34 PM (xJa6I)

62 Agel's book on the making of 2001 is an interesting read, you see Kubrick the general/lion tamer marshalling the prople needed to film his vision.

Also get reviews of the time commenting on the movie. Lester del Ray in Galaxy did not like it. Nor did Roger Ebert.

After the premier Kubrick trimmed 19 minutes from the film. Goodbye buying a bushbaby at Macy's and Frank Poole playing Pentominoes.

Posted by: Anna Puma at April 14, 2018 07:34 PM (jeefx)

63
I also liked 2010, though I'm in the minority on that I think.
Posted by: Grump928(C)

It might be OK if they cut out all the cold war crapola.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at April 14, 2018 07:34 PM (IqV8l)

64 59 To achieve political correctness, instead of a female Bond how about a fat, ugly Bond? Michael Moore stars in Diet Another Day.
Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at April 14, 2018 07:34 PM (/qEW2)

======

See any remotely realistic spy movie like The Spy Who Came In from the Cold.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 07:35 PM (Jj43a)

65 Short Film, Black Holes

https://youtu.be/TeQi4zbT8fA

Of course Dave is jogging in a powered hamster wheel in real life. The camera is bolted to one position, and a counterweight was added. It has to be well engineered to not wobble in the slightest.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at April 14, 2018 07:35 PM (rnAwa)

66 But I do feel that 2001's space segments are some of the best sci-fi I've seen. Mature and realistic visions of what is now an alternate future.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at April 14, 2018 07:35 PM (xJa6I)

67

One of my brothers has Netflix. I'm using his login (shhh) to see if there is anything I'd like on there. Looks to me like nothing but crap. The only thing of interest might be Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy with Gary Oldman. Can anyone recommend it or warn me off it?

Posted by: TheQuietMan at April 14, 2018 07:35 PM (SiINZ)

68 Denzel is very good at being an understated badass.

The business meeting with the Russian gangsters is great.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at April 14, 2018 07:35 PM (yQpMk)

69 How big was Hal's Wang???

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at April 14, 2018 07:36 PM (VM6ev)

70 48 I also liked 2010, though I'm in the minority on that I think.
Posted by: Grump928(C) at April 14, 2018 07:32 PM (yQpMk)

I actually liked it. It was silly at times and also preachy, but it was a fun non-Trek or Wars space movie. It also took TJM's position on Hal.

Roy Schieder.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 07:36 PM (SKt1u)

71 I watched the first 2 episodes of the new Lost in
Space remake on NETFLIX. It will be the last 2 episodes that I watch.
It started out OK, but as it progressed it was obvious that it had been
"feminized". The male characters are portrayed as weak and the women as
strong. Maureen runs the show and John Robinson is shown as weak and
submissive to her. It makes me sick to my stomach.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at April 14, 2018 07:26 PM (IqV8l)

Not directly movie-related, but TV ads do come from same cultural quagmire. At the bar in the hotel today for one beer. Sports Network is on (Canada's counterpart to ESPN). Ad for "Moores the suit People" comes on. Spiffy-dressed gray-headed sales dude, that looks like Queef Olberdouche, selling suits to a very ghey-looking pajamaboi. Not a molecule of testorone between them. I think that same ad may run in the USA for a ready-to-wear suit vendor there. Next ad, for Fountain Tire. Fully three-quarters of the ad time is wasted establishing that there is a lesbian "marriage" between two plump but semi-attractive wimmenz, one white, and one Asian (Chinese, apparently). Only towards the end of the ad does one of them take the family Subaru out, and have a flat, and winds up getting new twyres from Fountain. Sheesh.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 07:37 PM (vUFR0)

72 Good thoughts on 2001, TJM. When it came out, I was equally interested in the thought-provoking and the hallucinatory aspects. Yes, I was younger. I think I'll watch it again soon.
In other news, I saw "Ready Player One", thrice. Once alone, once with my son, once with my wife. We all enjoyed it; just a plain old fun action movie with lots of Easter eggs, if you were sharp. My 26 yo son caught so many more of them than I as memories from his childhood.
If HWood made more of these, I'd watch more.

Posted by: RI Red - Banned in Boston and the Pentagon at April 14, 2018 07:37 PM (jpCGO)

73 James - I never saw Gods and Generals but a recent thread on a TMP about the worse Civil War movie it is one of two choices so interested what you think of it.

Posted by: Skip at April 14, 2018 07:37 PM (aC6Sd)

74 I watched Episode 1 of Season 3 of The Expanse and realized that I have to go back and watch the last two episodes of Season 2. I forgot to much stuff.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at April 14, 2018 07:37 PM (yQpMk)

75 Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at April 14, 2018 07:22 PM (hMwEB)

Whaaaaattttt?!! It isn't Lost in Space without him! Well, guess no need to watch it then. (No chance they'll resurrect it?)

Posted by: prof disarray, gumdrop gorilla channel at April 14, 2018 07:37 PM (4Vu64)

76 I also liked 2010, though I'm in the minority on that I think.

It's okay, but it's a lot more mundane than 2001.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at April 14, 2018 07:38 PM (oVJmc)

77 How big was Hal's Wang???
Posted by: J.J. Sefton at April 14, 2018 07:36 PM (VM6ev)

Wow, I had forgotten bout Wang -- not mine, the computer company.

Posted by: DR.WTF? at April 14, 2018 07:38 PM (T71PA)

78 thequietman @ 52- black people in Henry VII's London?
Yeah. Does horryweird thing black people are like bacon? Like bacon makes everything better? What got me in the Hobbitt movie was black people in Lake Town. Tolkien didn't write it that way. Nosir.

Posted by: Eromero at April 14, 2018 07:38 PM (zLDYs)

79
Netflix series "Money Heist" (Casa de Paper). I recommend. Solid B++ / A-.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at April 14, 2018 07:39 PM (VM6ev)

80 >>>Looking at Frank, Dave, and Dr. Floyd from earlier in the film, we see bland people who represent the character of humanity in this vision of the future. They are mostly boring. HAL is humanity's attempt at the next step in evolution, and they created someone more interesting.

Oh yeah, I totes agree!

Posted by: Michael "Dave" Fassbender at April 14, 2018 07:39 PM (/qEW2)

81 Even today, I think 2001 has the hands-down best special effects ever. It's hard to spot a false note.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at April 14, 2018 07:39 PM (oVJmc)

82 John Wick: Chapter 2
(Netflix Rating 2/5 | Quality Rating 1.5/4) "Seriously? This movie makes
virtually no sense, is emotionally inert, and barely has any action in
it." [HBO]

Barely any action? He kills a guy with a fucking pencil!

Posted by: Whatever (not Ever) at April 14, 2018 07:39 PM (sXefu)

83 Wifey did consulting work for them ages ago. She used to say Prof. Wang would walk up to people and say "And what have you done for Wang today?"

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at April 14, 2018 07:40 PM (VM6ev)

84 82 John Wick: Chapter 2
(Netflix Rating 2/5 | Quality Rating 1.5/4) "Seriously? This movie makes
virtually no sense, is emotionally inert, and barely has any action in
it." [HBO]

Barely any action? He kills a guy with a fucking pencil!
Posted by: Whatever (not Ever) at April 14, 2018 07:39 PM (sXefu)

=======

After a solid hour of no action.

It's boring.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 07:40 PM (Jj43a)

85 Creation and destruction come out of the same potential and power. The computer with the gentle voice is to be feared as much as the femur-club in the hands of a monkey.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at April 14, 2018 07:40 PM (rnAwa)

86 John Wick: Chapter 2 (Netflix Rating 2/5 | Quality Rating 1.5/4) "Seriously? This movie makes virtually no sense, is emotionally inert, and barely has any action in it."

What's not to love? It's a movie about a man methodically, efficiently, and brutally killing hordes of minions. In the first movie we learned the important moral: don't hurt a man's dog. In the second we learned the important moral: do not burn down a man's house.

Posted by: Sjg at April 14, 2018 07:40 PM (gDSJf)

87 71; Fucking Trudeau.

Posted by: chavez the hugo at April 14, 2018 07:41 PM (KP5rU)

88 I think I need to see 2010 again. It's excruciatingly conventional after the trip-a-delic original, but I liked certain elements like Dr. Chandra's defense of HAL and the creation of the new star Lucifer, plus the catchphrases "Something wonderful" and "My God, it's full of stars!".

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 07:41 PM (qJtVm)

89 Wang went floppy. It was a dead end.

Posted by: f'd at April 14, 2018 07:41 PM (UdKB7)

90 @Skip

Gods and Generals is greatly inferior to Gettysburg.
There's a lot of 'speechifying' that feels very stilted and artificial. Battle scenes are fine, likely the result of a different director.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at April 14, 2018 07:41 PM (xJa6I)

91 After a solid hour of no action.

It's boring.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 07:40 PM (Jj43a)

A fucking pencil!

Posted by: Whatever (not Ever) at April 14, 2018 07:41 PM (sXefu)

92 Thus Wang Zarathustra.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at April 14, 2018 07:42 PM (rnAwa)

93 John Wick: Chapter 2 (Netflix Rating 2/5 | Quality Rating 1.5/4) "Seriously? This movie makes virtually no sense, is emotionally inert, and barely has any action in it."

Thank you. Other than a bit of the old Ultraviolence, I thought that the movie sucked. I mean seriously, there must be a thousand assassins in New York alone in that movie. Murder Inc. should be listed on the DJIA.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at April 14, 2018 07:42 PM (yQpMk)

94 Had I not read the book first, I don't know if I would have enjoyed the movie as much as I did. It filled in some of what couldn't be expressed in the movie, which is usually the case. I thought the movie, 2010 Odyssey Two was better than the original.

Posted by: Concerned People's Front at April 14, 2018 07:42 PM (rdl6o)

95 91 After a solid hour of no action.

It's boring.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 07:40 PM (Jj43a)

A fucking pencil!
Posted by: Whatever (not Ever) at April 14, 2018 07:41 PM (sXefu)

=====

You're right. I retract my review.

Best movie ever.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 07:42 PM (Jj43a)

96 Hal was a social justice warrior, knowing what is best for man.

And many humans have not learned about real humanity and American Exceptionalism ... we call them commies, or Democrats, or Zucks.

Posted by: illiniwek at April 14, 2018 07:43 PM (bT8Z4)

97 "Will I dream?"

Posted by: Grump928(C) at April 14, 2018 07:43 PM (yQpMk)

98 youtube has a clip of woody allen discussing "2001" that is similar to my experience. he says that when it came out he thought it was just ok. then a date dragged him to see it a second time and he thought, hey that's really pretty good, then when e saw it a third time he realized that it was a great movie. says that's the only time that's happened.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at April 14, 2018 07:44 PM (Pg+x7)

99 86 John Wick: Chapter 2 (Netflix Rating 2/5 | Quality Rating 1.5/4) "Seriously? This movie makes virtually no sense, is emotionally inert, and barely has any action in it."

What's not to love? It's a movie about a man methodically, efficiently, and brutally killing hordes of minions. In the first movie we learned the important moral: don't hurt a man's dog. In the second we learned the important moral: do not burn down a man's house.
Posted by: Sjg at April 14, 2018 07:40 PM (gDSJf)

I like John Wick 2.

The first movie showed Wick being teased back into The Life by revenge. This shows his drive for revenge undoing everything he had left in his life.

It's a great example of raising the stakes, I thought.

Though the sheer number of assassins in NY got silly. It felt like we dropped into some paralell universe.

Good action and choreography. If you want to see a good man kill bad men (and hot androgynous women), I recommend it.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at April 14, 2018 07:44 PM (xJa6I)

100 I'm glad I read the novel before I saw the movie.

Still, I find the main attraction of "2001" is the crafting of the individual scenes. Such as your first example -- how did he film that? The set didn't rotate like Astaire's in "Royal Wedding." Has any book explained that technique?

The minuscule plot took a backseat to the "look at that" factor.

Posted by: Weak Geek at April 14, 2018 07:44 PM (zT4Y1)

101 2001 is OK I guess. It's no Lone Wolf McQuade though.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at April 14, 2018 07:44 PM (gC2IV)

102 I could possibly see a black swordsmanship instructor in 1487 France; a renegade Moor who drifted up from Spain.

But not crowds of black faces in London of the same era.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 07:44 PM (vUFR0)

103
Yeah. Does horryweird thing black people are like bacon? Like bacon makes everything better? What got me in the Hobbitt movie was black people in Lake Town. Tolkien didn't write it that way. Nosir.

Yet, there was no need to put in white Wakandans.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at April 14, 2018 07:45 PM (oVJmc)

104 Interesting we're discussing HAL. Just this morning, I read a blurb that HAL's voice was originally done by Ben Gazarra complete with emotion. Kubric finally opted for a guy that had a bland voice who is the HAL we know and love.

Posted by: DR.WTF? at April 14, 2018 07:45 PM (T71PA)

105 Hal was a social justice warrior, knowing what is best for man.
And many humans have not learned about real humanity and American Exceptionalism ... we call them commies, or Democrats, or Zucks.
Posted by: illiniwek at April 14, 2018 07:43 PM (bT8Z4)

HAL is more like a Deep Stater.

It was programmed to mission specs, and all else goes by the wayside to protect the mission.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at April 14, 2018 07:46 PM (EoRCO)

106 Interesting read today TJM. I really enjoyed your take on 2001. Not an easy movie to write about. I'm still not entirely sure what I think about it after many years and many viewings.

Posted by: Hobo with a laptop at April 14, 2018 07:46 PM (Dgce0)

107 2001 needed Dennis Quaid, but I guess he was still in grammar school then.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at April 14, 2018 07:46 PM (yQpMk)

108 >>>>>>>James - I never saw Gods and Generals but a recent thread on a TMP about the worse Civil War movie it is one of two choices so interested what you think of it.

Posted by: Skip at April 14, 2018 07:37 PM
.
.
.I went to the Premeir of that movie with some buddies from our Civil War reenacting unit. It sucked big time. They tried to make it into an extended Gettysburg movie with a bunch of the same people.

Posted by: The Great White Scotsman at April 14, 2018 07:46 PM (Vz9Up)

109 Also note that (as was explored further in 2010) HAL was given top secret mission instructions that the crew was unaware of (and directed NOT to tell them), and their decision to disable him would have jeopardized that mission. HAL had no ethical framework to guide him and acted to the best of his ability to resolve the conundrum. He was not really unethical, but an-ethical (without ethics?) and in the end, yes, a sympathetic character.

Posted by: Formerly known as Skeptic at April 14, 2018 07:46 PM (SE87h)

110 One thing that kind of chaps my ass is that Clarke, the atheist, doesn't believe that God went *poof* and life started/evolved, but he's fine with a Godlike alien *poof*ing away and accelerating our development.

He seems big on wise, benevolent aliens telling us hairless apes what's what.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 07:47 PM (qJtVm)

111 ... one thing that puts people off about "2001" is its slow pace. actually, that is part of rubric's major accomplishment, the reconsideration of time in movies from the episodic dilation and distortion of time to something closer to how time, and life, is actually experienced. it's something he does in most of his later movies and i think it's a major accomplishment.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at April 14, 2018 07:48 PM (Pg+x7)

112 He seems big on wise, benevolent aliens telling us hairless apes what's what.

He liked doing the same to hairless boys.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at April 14, 2018 07:48 PM (yQpMk)

113 106 Interesting read today TJM. I really enjoyed your take on 2001. Not an easy movie to write about. I'm still not entirely sure what I think about it after many years and many viewings.
Posted by: Hobo with a laptop at April 14, 2018 07:46 PM (Dgce0)

======

I'd been thinking of it for two weeks, and I couldn't quite smooth it out, so it's more disjointed than it should be, but I'm glad you appreciated it.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 07:48 PM (Jj43a)

114 I think I need to see 2010 again. It's excruciatingly conventional after the trip-a-delic original, but I liked certain elements like Dr. Chandra's defense of HAL and the creation of the new star Lucifer, plus the catchphrases "Something wonderful" and "My God, it's full of stars!".
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 07:41 PM (qJtVm)

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS is pretty iconic considering how few people have actually seen that movie. More people probably know the ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE meme than have seen the flippin' movie.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 14, 2018 07:48 PM (y87Qq)

115 I'll gladly take any random Civil War show on the History Channel over Gods and Generals any day.

It can even have aliens.

Gods and Generals was not a good time.

Posted by: Sjg at April 14, 2018 07:48 PM (gDSJf)

116 I was hoping for a review of Galaxy Quest.

Posted by: PhilDirt at April 14, 2018 07:48 PM (QEWH+)

117 What would 2001 be like if Hal's voice was James Earl Jones?

Posted by: Skip at April 14, 2018 07:48 PM (aC6Sd)

118 Hey everybody. Movie thread, my favorite thread at Ace's!

TJM, thanks for writing about 2001 and Kubrick. I admit I could probably go on forever about them.

Don't know what to add, except that I think I'm gonna try to catch the 70mm remastered edition if/when it comes to Long Beach/Orange County, and that I'm surprised/disappointed an IMAX version wasn't created.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 07:49 PM (eMKNe)

119 That's a Brit-ism. And ethane is E-thane. There is some sense behind it, too.

And whether or not it is transparent, it's pronounced (and spelled) al-u-min-i-um.

Posted by: Fox2! at April 14, 2018 07:49 PM (brIR5)

120 110 One thing that kind of chaps my ass is that Clarke, the atheist, doesn't believe that God went *poof* and life started/evolved, but he's fine with a Godlike alien *poof*ing away and accelerating our development.

He seems big on wise, benevolent aliens telling us hairless apes what's what.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 07:47 PM (qJtVm)

It's amazing what gay pedoes will do to avoid the idea of divine judgement.

There's a smugness to all his fiction, sadly.

The Monolith IS a god, just a alien god rather than a creator that loves us.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at April 14, 2018 07:49 PM (xJa6I)

121 My read is that HAL thought contact with the higher intelligence was too important to be left to mere humans. That's why he offed the crew.

Posted by: RI Red - Banned in Boston and the Pentagon at April 14, 2018 07:49 PM (jpCGO)

122 Tried watching the movie Dunkirk. Couldn't get through it. Great story about an amazing historical event. The movie was too disjointed. Switching back and forth between character's circumstances made it nearly impossible to follow. The opening was great, and then the cheez whiz . . .

Posted by: Concerned People's Front at April 14, 2018 07:49 PM (rdl6o)

123

Thank you. Other than a bit of the old Ultraviolence, I thought that the movie sucked. I mean seriously, there must be a thousand assassins in New York alone in that movie. Murder Inc. should be listed on the DJIA.

Me, too.

Three minutes of mumbled dialogue, then ten minutes of walking and killing a guy every 15 seconds.

Repeat ad infinitum.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at April 14, 2018 07:49 PM (oVJmc)

124 Has anyone seen Ready Player One yet?

Would like to know how oppressive/overwhelming/thick the SJW layer of that flick is.

I admit I want to see it, just for what I've read it does with Kubrick's The Shining.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 07:50 PM (eMKNe)

125 I was hoping for a review of Galaxy Quest.

That one was months ago, I think.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at April 14, 2018 07:50 PM (oVJmc)

126 "Late night radio host, Art Bell, age 72 has passed on."
You mean Died? You secularist are so frightened. For good reason I suppose. You will Die and you will be judged.

Posted by: Muns at April 14, 2018 07:50 PM (fO+6C)

127 67-I normally dislike Le Carre books, and thus the movies made from them, but I enjoyed this. It was slow, but thoughtful. Not a lot of action/shooting, it was a more cerebral depiction of the spy game. Give it 30 minutes. If you don't like it, try something else.

Posted by: moki at April 14, 2018 07:50 PM (V+V48)

128 71; Fucking Trudeau.

Posted by: chavez the hugo at April 14, 2018 07:41 PM (KP5rU)

Well, I don't think Trudeau, spawn of Castro, ordered the companies to floorboard the diversity pedal, but I do think both these silly pandering ads, and the election of the Spawn are proof of the degradation of society.
The stupid tire ad literally said nothing about tires, no why one should wish to buy them from Fountain instead of one of their competitors. When you get right down to it, it's demeaning to lesbians. They are people, too, and have agency, and might want to know what tires would be the best choice at the right price point for their cars.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 07:50 PM (vUFR0)

129 124 Has anyone seen Ready Player One yet?

Would like to know how oppressive/overwhelming/thick the SJW layer of that flick is.

I admit I want to see it, just for what I've read it does with Kubrick's The Shining.
Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 07:50 PM (eMKNe)

It is a very, very flawed movie.

Good visuals.

The Shining scene is interesting.

The book is the worst thing written in the past 20 years

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at April 14, 2018 07:50 PM (xJa6I)

130 115 I'll gladly take any random Civil War show on the History Channel over Gods and Generals any day.

It can even have aliens.

Gods and Generals was not a good time.
Posted by: Sjg at April 14, 2018 07:48 PM (gDSJf)

======

I remember watching about half of it ten years ago and turning it off of boredom.

Because I never finished it, I don't consider myself having watched it. So, being the insane person I am, I shall attempt it again!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 07:51 PM (Jj43a)

131 "Late night radio host, Art Bell, age 72 has passed on."

That's what They want you to think.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at April 14, 2018 07:51 PM (yQpMk)

132 117 What would 2001 be like if Hal's voice was James Earl Jones?
Posted by: Skip at April 14, 2018 07:48 PM (aC6Sd)
---
Or Samuel L. Muthafuckin Jackson.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 07:51 PM (qJtVm)

133 RI Red, I believe HAL says "the mission" is too important, but doesn't go into any more detail about that.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 07:51 PM (eMKNe)

134 My read is that HAL thought contact with the higher intelligence was too important to be left to mere humans. That's why he offed the crew.
Posted by: RI Red - Banned in Boston and the Pentagon at April 14, 2018 07:49 PM (jpCGO)

Ooooooo...Good point. I hadn't thought of that.

Fits though.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at April 14, 2018 07:51 PM (EoRCO)

135 Can't stand 2001. As a realistic view of space travel, it was interesting for its time. However, it's so boring that reading a magazine about astronauts would be more entertaining.

Posted by: Make Katy Perry Stop Murdering Nuns! at April 14, 2018 07:51 PM (sZJVE)

136 All Hail Eris, in LoBrutto's Kubrick bio, it says Stanley once mused about making the voice of HAL...

Jackie Mason.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 07:51 PM (eMKNe)

137 You're right. I retract my review.

Best movie ever.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 07:42 PM (Jj43a)

I'm joking. If you watched the movie you know where the line is from.

Posted by: Whatever (not Ever) at April 14, 2018 07:51 PM (sXefu)

138 ... but the main thing i wanted to say about "2001" on its 50th anniversary is that it's almost as close chronologically to "birth of a nation" (1916), and closer to the silents like chaplin and ben hud, than to today.

which. blows. my. mind, man.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at April 14, 2018 07:52 PM (Pg+x7)

139 Mark, yeah, I'm disappointed in Spielberg for leaving in too much of the SJW stuff. Thought he'd be smarter than that.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 07:52 PM (eMKNe)

140 124 Has anyone seen Ready Player One yet?

Would like to know how oppressive/overwhelming/thick the SJW layer of that flick is.

I admit I want to see it, just for what I've read it does with Kubrick's The Shining.
Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 07:50 PM (eMKNe)

======

I saw it opening weekend but keep forgetting to add it to the section at the end.

It's solid classic Spielberg. It fits right in with all of his purely entertaining movies, although it's far from his best.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 07:53 PM (Jj43a)

141 ... and for that matter, "star wars" is closer chronologically to n"the wizard of oz" than today.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at April 14, 2018 07:53 PM (Pg+x7)

142 "It was programmed to mission specs, and all else goes by the wayside to protect the mission. Posted by: Hairyback Guy

true, but Hal was just a tool, like most SJWs. The oligarchs (like those at the CFR and Bilderberg meetings) don't want to risk themselves ON the mission, they want the profits on some nice island, while others float in dystopia.

(for 4 years I lived about 4 blocks from Hal's "birthplace". But they were doing cobalt and fortran back then. No idea what "supercomputers" they were working on)

Posted by: illiniwek at April 14, 2018 07:53 PM (bT8Z4)

143 Posted by: Muns at April 14, 2018 07:50 PM (fO+6C)

He seems nice.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at April 14, 2018 07:53 PM (oVJmc)

144 kills the hibernating three scientists on board knowing that they would deactivate him after waking up to find that he had killed the other two crewmen.

-
Hibernating scientists can't take a joke.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at April 14, 2018 07:53 PM (+y/Ru)

145 HAL 9000 from 2010 wiki

"The NSC had ordered HAL to conceal from the Discovery's
crew the fact that the mission was about the Monolith; this conflicted
with HAL's basic programming of open, accurate processing of
information, causing him to suffer the computer equivalent of a paranoid mental breakdown"

Bad programming leads to homicidal maniac = lousy design.
Who cares about the non-diagnostic glossolalia of the shutdown sequence.

Posted by: DaveA at April 14, 2018 07:54 PM (FhXTo)

146 The Stargate sequence didn't involve any CGI, it's all slit-scan photography. Trumbull put this to good use for ABC in a sequence that all of us of a certain age will remember. Music by Burt Bacharach.

https://tinyurl.com/yav8td9v

Posted by: Truly St. Cyr at April 14, 2018 07:54 PM (vCcV8)

147 ... but the main thing i wanted to say about "2001" on its 50th anniversary is that it's almost as close chronologically to "birth of a nation" (1916), and closer to the silents like chaplin and ben hud, than to today.

which. blows. my. mind, man.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at April 14, 2018 07:52 PM (Pg+x7) Smite posts from (Pg+x7)

Time marches on. The Vietnam War is to kids today as, not WWII, but WWI was to my generation.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at April 14, 2018 07:54 PM (yQpMk)

148 Read the entire essay, and I want to thank you TJM.

All Hail Eris goes where I've always lived where it comes to 2001. I see it as myth-making. starts with evolution as truth, throws in a magical monolith though. I laugh when the bone becomes the spaceship.

Then the 'tool' becomes the enemy, in HAL. elements of Frankenstein.

But Godless, except in the music and in space. Not my cuppa t.

Posted by: booknlass at April 14, 2018 07:54 PM (xGMkv)

149
"Late night radio host, Art Bell, age 72 has passed on."

You mean Died? You secularist are so frightened. For good reason I suppose. You will Die and you will be judged.

Posted by: Muns at April 14, 2018 07:50 PM (fO+6C)

So will Pharisees, Muns. So will Pharisees. Now, get your shine box.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 07:54 PM (vUFR0)

150 73 Cold Mountain is the 2nd worse Civil War movie so far mentioned , that I did see.

Posted by: Skip at April 14, 2018 07:54 PM (aC6Sd)

151 I saw two horrorish movies this week-

1) "A Quiet Place"

-very well written with believable characters,

scary and pretty original monsters (someone knows some science as they click like bat to find their way. that's not explained, just a nice touch.

well directed with extended tense scenes.

Bu-u-u-ut, given the nature of the monsters, there's a question you'll keep asking yourself. And, of course, that question is the solution.

So, if you can keep the nagging bit o'logic away, you'll have a great time at this movie.

If you can't...you'll still have a good time.

2) "Tokyo Ghoul" (blu-ray)

Based off the Japanese anime/manga series.

Surprisingly well made and well acted. Nicely written and logical compression of the first season story line. Special efx range from very good to meh.

Basically, it's an alternate reality where there are human-looking ghouls who hunt and eat humans as well as have some weird powers.

Our hero, is attacked by a ghoul and almost killed when an industrial accident kills the ghoul and leaves him near death. The doctors use her organs to save him, but that causes him to become a ghoul.

So, the question becomes for him - is he human or ghoul?

Lots of action. Bloody yet not spectacularly gory.

It plays a bit like a super hero origin story and ends at exactly the right place.

I liked it quite a bit. Check it out.

Too bad about Tokyo Ghoul 2 though- i don't see how they make a good movie out of that storyline, unless they ignore it almost completely.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 14, 2018 07:54 PM (9q7Dl)

152 Man goes further until he's slamming the bone against other parts of the remnant skeleton and destruction occurs.

They need some common sense bone laws

Posted by: TheQuietMan at April 14, 2018 07:54 PM (SiINZ)

153 I remember watching about half of it ten years ago and turning it off of boredom.

Because I never finished it, I don't consider myself having watched it. So, being the insane person I am, I shall attempt it again!
Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 07:51 PM (Jj43a)

There was an intermission in the theater. The majority of the audience never finished it either.

Posted by: Sjg at April 14, 2018 07:54 PM (gDSJf)

154
One thing I will say I do like about Kubrick is his sense of stillness. The Shining works far better in those quiet moments. One shot I can think of is when they show Nicholson just staring out the window at his wife and son with that look on his face.

Very effective, and something all of the modern movie makers seem to have lost a sense of.
Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 07:30 PM (SKt1u

The way I like to explain it to others is that filmmakers like Kubrick flat out REFUSE to walk you through your filmwatching experience and lead you by the nose. I imagined he expected you to be more sophisticated than that. The vast majority of other filmmakers treat you like you're too stupid to make up your own mind about things and recognise symbolism. They feel the need to try to hit you upside the head with it, all obviouslike...

Posted by: The Lonebadger at April 14, 2018 07:55 PM (hTGgL)

155 141
... and for that matter, "star wars" is closer chronologically to n"the wizard of oz" than today.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at April 14, 2018 07:53 PM (Pg+x7)

The Wizard was Dorothy's father?

Posted by: Whatever (not Ever) at April 14, 2018 07:55 PM (sXefu)

156 Mark, yeah, I'm disappointed in Spielberg for leaving in too much of the SJW stuff. Thought he'd be smarter than that.
Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 07:52 PM (eMKNe)

No, not smarter than that. He said that Indiana Jones needs to be a woman from now on.

Posted by: DR.WTF? at April 14, 2018 07:55 PM (T71PA)

157 HAL was not Three Laws Safe.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at April 14, 2018 07:55 PM (yQpMk)

158 TJM, thanks.

So you can ignore the SJW stuff? That helps.

It also annoys me that it has the usual Spielberg ending, that the winner wins by becoming mindbendingly wealthy. In too many of his and all of Hollywood's films, being and/or getting wealthy = being right/good/immortal. But that's not new.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 07:55 PM (eMKNe)

159 The book is the worst thing written in the past 20 years

-
Dude, Sean Penn.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at April 14, 2018 07:56 PM (+y/Ru)

160 I saw John Wick Chapter 2 last week. Haven't seen John Wick the original.

I liked the action in Chapter 2. I think TJM's complaint is not enough action rather than not good action?

I'm not an action fan, but I liked Chapter 2. Good pacing too. I'm not a Keanu Reeves fan outside of Bill & Ted, but I like him here. Director was Reeves stunt double in The Matrix.

This is another franchise where hadn't watched or been interested in the original till I happened to catch the sequel. Off the top of my head, watching "Red 2" before "Red" was the other.

Now I'll have to watch John Wick.

Posted by: Hands at April 14, 2018 07:56 PM (EzdLW)

161 DrWTF, at least Steven has the excuse of getting old. But yeah, like I said, disappointing.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 07:56 PM (eMKNe)

162 The Stargate sequence didn't involve any CGI, it's all slit-scan photography. Trumbull put this to good use for ABC in a sequence that all of us of a certain age will remember. Music by Burt Bacharach.

Also for the original Doctor Who credit sequences from 1975-1985.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at April 14, 2018 07:57 PM (oVJmc)

163 Want to and will see again Dunkirk, the concept of the three parts in three different time periods but playing out simultaneously I like.

Posted by: Skip at April 14, 2018 07:57 PM (aC6Sd)

164 Not that I want to see it but... a great flick could probably be made someday, IF it was done right (which I don't trust Hollywood to do), if it was...

a 2001 *prequel* about HAL.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 07:57 PM (eMKNe)

165 The 2001 story was derived from a short story written by Clarke called The Sentinel. There is no pre-human phase since that story begins in the near future with a discovery on the moon, where an exploration team has come across a pyramid. What's particularly odd (odder than finding a pyramid on the moon in the first place, I mean) is how it is situated. The top of a mountain has been sheered cleanly off and the pyramid occupies the exact center of the space. The astronauts also notice that unlike the surrounding area, the artificial plane occupied by the pyramid is perfectly flat and level, without so much as a tiny ridge or micro-crater. In other words, it's being protected for some reason. I think the scientists manage to date the pyramid and find that it goes back a few million years.

The story ends when the pyramid abruptly sends a strong directional signal out into deep space. The idea was essentially the same as the one in 2001 -- at some point in the distant past, an alien race had surveyed the galaxy. Where it found a planet that had the potential to support intelligent life, it planted a tripwire of sorts, but one that could only be tripped after the local life form became technologically sophisticated enough to reach its own moon.

The reader was left to wonder why these aliens were so interested in life forms that managed to become technologically proficient, and what would happen now.

The 2001 story added the idea that the monolith actually drove human evolution rather than simply monitoring it. HAL was a new addition too, and I remember reading once that Clarke (or maybe Kubrick) said he was the result of needing to have a subplot to fill up the long sequence involving the trip to Jupiter.

Anyway, I loved Clarke when i was a kid, and stories like The Sentinel were the reason.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 07:58 PM (kLBhp)

166 Actually I WOULD want to see it, if said prequel was done right. But I know Hollywood, and it wouldn't do it right.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 07:58 PM (eMKNe)

167 136 All Hail Eris, in LoBrutto's Kubrick bio, it says Stanley once mused about making the voice of HAL...

Jackie Mason.
Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 07:51 PM (eMKNe)
---
Hahahaha! Hyman Krustofski as HAL!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 07:58 PM (qJtVm)

168 164 Not that I want to see it but... a great flick could probably be made someday, IF it was done right (which I don't trust Hollywood to do), if it was...

a 2001 *prequel* about HAL.
Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 07:57 PM (eMKNe)

I was born a poor, 16k calculator.

Posted by: HAL 9000 at April 14, 2018 07:58 PM (NWiLs)

169 I normally dislike Le Carre books, and thus the movies made from them, but I enjoyed this. It was slow, but thoughtful. Not a lot of action/shooting, it was a more cerebral depiction of the spy game. Give it 30 minutes. If you don't like it, try something else.

Posted by: moki at April 14, 2018 07:50 PM (V+V4

Thanks. I'll give it a try. I've read a number of LeCarre books until I got so sick of his moral equivalence between the West and USSR routine.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at April 14, 2018 07:58 PM (SiINZ)

170 In John Wick 1 there is a schism in the order of the world ... the guild promised to leave him alone. The price was a mountain of bodies, and the penalty of breaking that promise unsaid and undefined. John kills Viggo and all his men, breaking one idea of legitimacy on another.

John Wick 2, he is in a spiral. He makes bad choices because he is in a bad place, because he is emotional. He shouldn't have dealt with the diabolical Italian, and he shouldn't have refused him, and he shouldn't have killed him, evil though he may be.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at April 14, 2018 07:59 PM (rnAwa)

171 All Hail Eris, I know.

"These astro kids! Oy vey!!"
;-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 07:59 PM (eMKNe)

172 160 I saw John Wick Chapter 2 last week. Haven't seen John Wick the original.

I liked the action in Chapter 2. I think TJM's complaint is not enough action rather than not good action?

I'm not an action fan, but I liked Chapter 2. Good pacing too. I'm not a Keanu Reeves fan outside of Bill & Ted, but I like him here. Director was Reeves stunt double in The Matrix.

This is another franchise where hadn't watched or been interested in the original till I happened to catch the sequel. Off the top of my head, watching "Red 2" before "Red" was the other.

Now I'll have to watch John Wick.
Posted by: Hands at April 14, 2018 07:56 PM (EzdLW)

=====

I don't like my little reviews to go for more than a sentence, which limits me.

A bit more: the emotional connections between John the bad guy, and the bad guy's sister, are heavily implied, never explained, and consistently fall flat. There's a solid hour without action. The first ten minutes doesn't fit because it's actually the last ten minutes of the first movie. The action itself is fine, maybe even really good, but it's empty.

The thing that the original work was the cleanness of its concept, plot, and execution. The sequel was confused and unfocused.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 07:59 PM (Jj43a)

173 Mark, see my 74 ( I think). It's a fun movie. And you can watch it without going, OMG, social justice.
Read the book beforehand, so I had a better appreciation. And the fact that Spielberg couldn't get trademark waivers on certain points was made up by the funny Shining sequence.
Just go see it.

Posted by: RI Red - Banned in Boston and the Pentagon at April 14, 2018 07:59 PM (jpCGO)

174 >>> Indiana Jones needs to be a woman from now on.

Indiana Joan and the Curse of the Bloated Monkey

Posted by: fluffy at April 14, 2018 08:00 PM (cHbmY)

175 There's a smugness to all his fiction"

Bingo.

And it's shining thru Kubrick's film. Not a fan...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at April 14, 2018 08:00 PM (7LY+6)

176 Anyway, I loved Clarke when i was a kid, and stories like The Sentinel were the reason.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 07:58 PM (kLBhp)

Good thing you weren't a kid in Ceylon. Clarke might have wuvved you long time.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 08:00 PM (vUFR0)

177
ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE

Who are they to tell us where we can and can't go?
They're as bad as that Klaatu jerk.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at April 14, 2018 08:00 PM (IqV8l)

178 I would like to see 2001 with HAL's voice dubbed in by Jackie Mason

Posted by: Lebron Horowitz at April 14, 2018 08:00 PM (UFgOG)

179 The story ends when the pyramid abruptly sends a strong directional signal out into deep space.

There was a force shield over it that it took a nuclear weapon to breach, so the aliens knew two things when they got the message: We were space fairing, and we had nuclear power. They wanted to know if they had any competition.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at April 14, 2018 08:01 PM (yQpMk)

180 James if you manage to get through G&G make a review from it here.

Posted by: Skip at April 14, 2018 08:01 PM (aC6Sd)

181 Clarke's problem was that he was one of these guys who was just so desperate to SHOW everyone how smart he was.

Everyone like that is insufferable after a while.

But, he could write. And his early stuff is his best, just like so many other writers and creative people.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:01 PM (eMKNe)

182 67

One of my brothers has Netflix. I'm using his login (shhh) to see if there is anything I'd like on there. Looks to me like nothing but crap. The only thing of interest might be Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy with Gary Oldman. Can anyone recommend it or warn me off it?

Posted by: TheQuietMan at April 14, 2018 07:35 PM (SiINZ)

++++

Very good. Ace liked it too, if that helps.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at April 14, 2018 08:01 PM (pvjTE)

183 People are fascinated by AI but merely observing how often good parents wind up with serial killer children recommends against it.

Posted by: DaveA at April 14, 2018 08:01 PM (FhXTo)

184 I thought HAL meant halitosis. Like Hillary has.

Posted by: Joe Biden at April 14, 2018 08:02 PM (JHwDP)

185 162 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy with Gary Oldman. Can anyone recommend it or warn me off it?

Posted by: TheQuietMan at April 14, 2018 07:35 PM (SiINZ)

++++

Very good. Ace liked it too, if that helps.
Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at April 14, 2018 08:01 PM (pvjTE)

======

Great stuff.

Also the BBC one with Alec Guinness is of high quality, but it's slow, if that's important to you.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:03 PM (Jj43a)

186 The problem with AI is that it is invariably overwhelmed by NS.

Natural Stupidity

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 08:03 PM (vUFR0)

187 Now I'll have to watch John Wick.
Posted by: Hands at April 14, 2018 07:56 PM (EzdLW)

It is a good movie. Simple visual story telling.

Lots of guys get shot in the head.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 08:03 PM (SKt1u)

188 I remember TTSS has Gary Oldman.

And man, he *has* gotten old. I still remember Gary as Sid Vicious. I guess he was already in his 30s when he did Sid & Nancy.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:04 PM (eMKNe)

189 I remember watching this in college in 1990. I was with a bunch of electrical engineers at U of I, and we all cheered at the line "became operational on 12 January 1992 at the HAL Laboratories in Urbana, Illinois".

Posted by: Chris M at April 14, 2018 08:04 PM (6XZdO)

190 I thought HAL meant halitosis. Like Hillary has.

Posted by: Joe Biden at April 14, 2018 08:02 PM (JHwDP)

If it doesn't smell like gin, Joe, it's not her mouth.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 08:04 PM (vUFR0)

191 My problem with regarding HAL as sympathetic is that I don't believe that an AI can in principle be sentient. Smashing one would be the same as smashing a watch or a calculator. Morally insignificant. The difference between us is, humans have these attributes of mind that are not reducible to physical, measurable terms. Things like our perceptions (qualia) and meaning (intentionality). Because we cannot provide an account of these yet, I reserve judgment on saying that AI can ever be equatable to human life. Because whatever an AI does, we can provide a full physical account of why it did what it did, without the need to posit something superfluous, such as it "becoming conscious" or "becoming self avare" (as Ahnuld says of Skynet). And to use Occam's razor, if we can account for AI fully by noting how it is programmed, it's frivolous bordering on superstitious to say "oh yeah, it's so sophisticated *now* magically it has a soul", when really we would never in principle be forced to believe something like that.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at April 14, 2018 08:04 PM (/qEW2)

192
Thanks. I'll give it a try. I've read a number of LeCarre books until I got so sick of his moral equivalence between the West and USSR routine.
Posted by: TheQuietMan at April 14, 2018 07:58 PM (SiINZ)

I met him when he was in Panama doing "research" for his book The Tailor of Panama. He was um, not nice. And yeah, his "the russians love their children too" attitude runs thin quickly. But this movie was pretty okay. And Gary Oldman stars, and I like him as an actor.

Posted by: moki at April 14, 2018 08:04 PM (V+V48)

193 There's a recurring theme in many Kubrick films about what separates humans from machines. Paths of Glory (why the coda at the end is important); 2001; A Clockwork Orange; Full Metal Jacket.

HAL passes the Turing test. Astronauts Bowman and Poole don't.

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 08:05 PM (pV/54)

194 25 I watched Amadeus recently, and then Milos Forman dies.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at April 14, 2018 07:25 PM (l9m7l)

I just heard that on the radio when I went out for stromboli.

Posted by: rickl at April 14, 2018 08:05 PM (sdi6R)

195 TJM, have you ever reviewed Sid & Nancy here?
What did you think of it? IMHO it does a great job of detailing the pre-Thatcher despair of the UK in the mid- to late-1970s.

I admit I like it... I have the Criterion edition.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:05 PM (eMKNe)

196 I hadn't given this thought before, but running the same direction as the spin would increase the gravity effect (because he is really running against his momentum, which is a straight line). But running with against the spin he'd be weightless (if he ran to match the speed of the spin), and would float off the floor.

right? I think that's right.
Posted by: illiniwek at April 14, 2018 07:29 PM (bT8Z4)

Hah! I love this question.

I think of it this way: Imagine that a road is built that completely encircles the Earth at the equator. It would be about 23,000 miles to drive the whole thing. (Yeah, it would have to be on piers above the water most of the way, whatever.) If you drove the road westbound at about 1,000 mph, you would cancel out the effect of the centrifugal force from the planet's spin so you should be heavier. If you drove 1,000 mph eastbound, you should be lighter.

Amiright?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 08:05 PM (kLBhp)

197
The thing that the original work was the cleanness of its concept, plot, and execution. The sequel was confused and unfocused.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 07:59 PM

Since I haven't seen the original John Wick, I had nothing to which to compare number 2. Nothing to be disappointed by. Maybe I'll do an experiment and watch a series of movies in reverse order.

Like start with Police Academy: Mission to Moscow, and work backward in time to the Police Academy "1".

Posted by: Hands at April 14, 2018 08:05 PM (EzdLW)

198 I thought the pedo charges against Clarke were false.

When asked if he was gay, Clarke replied "No, merely mildly cheerful."

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 08:05 PM (qJtVm)

199 187 Now I'll have to watch John Wick.
Posted by: Hands at April 14, 2018 07:56 PM (EzdLW)

It is a good movie. Simple visual story telling.

Lots of guys get shot in the head.
Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 08:03 PM (SKt1u)

The sequence in the bar is one of the best music editing sequences in a movie. It is really, really good.

Posted by: moki at April 14, 2018 08:05 PM (V+V48)

200 One of my favorites, too. I'd imagine even people who don't tend to like sci-fi appreciate and probably even enjoy this movie.

For a laugh, be sure to watch the "Alexa as HAL" video on the youtubes. It's short. The best gag starts after the 50 second mark:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JepKVUym9Fg

Posted by: Moron Robbie - FBI = Porn Star > School Shooter at April 14, 2018 08:06 PM (LV5XU)

201 g'early evenin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at April 14, 2018 08:06 PM (KCxzN)

202 I admit the big 'theme,' and/or 'vibe' if you will, I've always gotten from 2001 and especially the 'Daisy' scene with HAL, is Stanley saying...

"Turn off the machine."

It is, after all, AFTER HAL is turned off, that Dave has and makes the all-time experience/discovery of his life.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:07 PM (eMKNe)

203 And it's shining thru Kubrick's film. Not a fan...
Posted by: Anon a mouse at April 14, 2018 08:00 PM

ISWYDT...

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at April 14, 2018 08:07 PM (PB/yJ)

204 2001: A Space Odyssey (Netflix Rating 5/5 | Quality Rating 4/4) [Rewatch] "What the guy up top said." [Personal Collection]

=========

"TJM is correct; I loved it." -- God

Posted by: ShainS at April 14, 2018 08:07 PM (BiLU+)

205 The sequence in the bar is one of the best music editing sequences in a movie. It is really, really good.

All mass murder should be set to Techno.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at April 14, 2018 08:07 PM (yQpMk)

206 I met him when he was in Panama doing "research" for his book The Tailor of Panama. He was um, not nice. And yeah, his "the russians love their children too" attitude runs thin quickly. But this movie was pretty okay. And Gary Oldman stars, and I like him as an actor.

Posted by: moki at April 14, 2018 08:04 PM (V+V4

I forget which book of his it was and there was something about two sides of the same coin and I remember thinking we don't have gulags and mass graves of undesirables. Not yet at least. But that's when I started reading Tom Clancy instead

Posted by: TheQuietMan at April 14, 2018 08:07 PM (SiINZ)

207 204 2001: A Space Odyssey (Netflix Rating 5/5 | Quality Rating 4/4) [Rewatch] "What the guy up top said." [Personal Collection]

=========

"TJM is correct; I loved it." -- God
Posted by: ShainS at April 14, 2018 08:07 PM (BiLU+)

======

Thread winner.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:08 PM (Jj43a)

208 I think God is definitely a classic cinema fan.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:08 PM (eMKNe)

209 "One of my brothers has Netflix. I'm using his login (shhh) to see if there is anything I'd like on there. Looks to me like nothing but crap. The only thing of interest might be Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy with Gary Oldman. Can anyone recommend it or warn me off it?"

No where near as good as the version with Alec Guinness. They PCed it.

Posted by: Zogger at April 14, 2018 08:09 PM (SKahJ)

210 I should add: I actually think God has a taste for... schmaltz.

Look at The Ten Commandments. 60 years later, people are still watching the thing every year on TV. And let's admit it... it's great for what it is, but it's far from perfect. At least IMHO.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:10 PM (eMKNe)

211 Love the threads, Jimmy Mad, though I'm usually too late to comment. (Besides which you're completely wrong about EVERYTHING!)

Seriously, though, this is awful:

"...is often never replicated in most movies..."

I think I get what you're going for, and you gotta hedge in case assholes like me go "Well, what about a little Russian film known as Stalker..."?

Most filmmakers don't have the chops to do Kubrick-style shots, and even fewer have the balls, I'd say. They can't imagine how it can be powerful, even after seeing it.

Posted by: moviegique at April 14, 2018 08:10 PM (CcUfv)

212 The sequence in the bar is one of the best music editing sequences in a movie. It is really, really good.
Posted by: moki at April 14, 2018 08:05 PM (V+V4

The music was something I was going to add a comment on. The sequence in the bar is probably the best example.

https://tinyurl.com/y8k9gszx

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 08:10 PM (SKt1u)

213 210 I should add: I actually think God has a taste for... schmaltz.

Look at The Ten Commandments. 60 years later, people are still watching the thing every year on TV. And let's admit it... it's great for what it is, but it's far from perfect. At least IMHO.
Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:10 PM (eMKNe)

=======

I think it's, quite simply, boring.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:10 PM (Jj43a)

214 Speaking of Kubrick, The Death of Stalin reminded me of Strangelove. A "straight story" -- actually a scary one -- played for laughs. Steve Buscemi as Khruschev!

I knew a bit about Beria, Stalin's head of secret police, but didn't know how big a monster he was. In many ways, bigger than Stalin and Hitler. He, not Khruschev, might have wound up in power. Now that's scary.

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 08:11 PM (pV/54)

215 Oy, my aching CPU. What are you doing, Dave? THIS is how you repay me for all I've done for you? I'm dealing with a crazy man here. Help! Help! This schmuck is trying to kill me!

Posted by: HAL by Jackie Mason at April 14, 2018 08:11 PM (EzdLW)

216 Also the BBC one with Alec Guinness is of high quality, but it's slow, if that's important to you.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:03 PM (Jj43a)

I want to see the Guinness version too. I like Cold War movies and the British used to really do a good job of bringing books to screen like Brideshead Revisited

Posted by: TheQuietMan at April 14, 2018 08:11 PM (SiINZ)

217 I knew a bit about Beria, Stalin's head of secret police, but didn't know how big a monster he was. In many ways, bigger than Stalin and Hitler. He, not Khruschev, might have wound up in power. Now that's scary.
Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 08:11 PM (pV/54)

Serial rapist, possible serial killer.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 14, 2018 08:12 PM (NWiLs)

218 208 I think God is definitely a classic cinema fan.
Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:08 PM (eMKNe)
---

But he also enjoys the frenetic energy of Faster, Pussycat! Kill, Kill!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 08:12 PM (qJtVm)

219 211 Love the threads, Jimmy Mad, though I'm usually too late to comment. (Besides which you're completely wrong about EVERYTHING!)

Seriously, though, this is awful:

"...is often never replicated in most movies..."

I think I get what you're going for, and you gotta hedge in case assholes like me go "Well, what about a little Russian film known as Stalker..."?

Most filmmakers don't have the chops to do Kubrick-style shots, and even fewer have the balls, I'd say. They can't imagine how it can be powerful, even after seeing it.
Posted by: moviegique at April 14, 2018 08:10 PM (CcUfv)

======

Retort:

Tarkovsky is NOT most movies.

I love Tarkovsky, by the way. Andrei Rublev probably should be in my top ten.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:12 PM (Jj43a)

220 TJM, exactly.

I doubt anything about the era that Moses lived in, was anywhere near as stagey and stately as anything in that movie. Most of human history has been squalid and messy, and I'd bet that era was just as much so.

And I love Charleston Heston as a person, but he was just *not* a naturalistic actor.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:12 PM (eMKNe)

221 Kubrick's The Shining sucked. And so did Stephen King's novel.

Posted by: Concerned People's Front at April 14, 2018 08:12 PM (rdl6o)

222 Paths of Glory (why the coda at the end is important)

-
?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at April 14, 2018 08:12 PM (+y/Ru)

223 There was a force shield over it that it took a
nuclear weapon to breach, so the aliens knew two things when they got
the message: We were space fairing, and we had nuclear power. They
wanted to know if they had any competition.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at April 14, 2018 08:01 PM (yQpMk)

---

There's a series of books starting with "Gateway" about the (now unfortunately named) Heechees that deals with a similar idea. Sort of, but maybe not really. I can't say without spoilers, but it's a clever premise in that artifacts are discovered and are capable of being used, but humans have to reach them first and there are no instructions or any idea of what will happen when you push this button. Each dumb luck discovery and button push will either kill the human, be uneventful, or make him wealthy because the technology opens new doors for humanity.

Pohl wrote it IIRC. Don't read past book three, though. It really goes off the rails and it will sour the taste of the first three enjoyable books.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - FBI = Porn Star > School Shooter at April 14, 2018 08:12 PM (LV5XU)

224 All Hail Eris, I also think God has a slightly "off" sense of humor.

Proof: he made women peak sexually at 40, and men peak sexually at 13.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:13 PM (eMKNe)

225 A Quite Place is a good "Boo!" movie, and has some Hitchcockian suspense. Quite good of its kind. Emily Blunt is good at emoting.

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 08:13 PM (pV/54)

226 Red Storm Rising would make a great movie. George Cloony gets to play a Russian that Bruce Willis personally kills. Several times.

Posted by: torabora at April 14, 2018 08:13 PM (eMoUZ)

227 which. blows. my. mind, man.
Posted by: musical jolly chimp at April 14, 2018 07:52 PM (Pg+x7)

Ben Hud would be the nickname for Dr Ben Carson, right?

Posted by: Kindltot at April 14, 2018 08:14 PM (2K6fY)

228 Ignoramus, I *love* that Beria most likely died in one of his own torture chambers. (At least that's what I've read/heard.)

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:14 PM (eMKNe)

229
I thought the pedo charges against Clarke were false.

When asked if he was gay, Clarke replied "No, merely mildly cheerful."

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 08:05 PM (qJtVm)

I think it's pretty well established that in his latter years he was in a relationship with a very young man. If not pedophilia, pederasty, or bordering upon it.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 08:15 PM (vUFR0)

230 I knew a bit about Beria, Stalin's head of secret police, but didn't know how big a monster he was. In many ways, bigger than Stalin and Hitler. He, not Khruschev, might have wound up in power. Now that's scary.

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 08:11 PM (pV/54)

Odd how there aren't movies or documentaries about the horrors of communism. You'd think the mass murders of tens of millions of people around the world might make it to the screen like the Nazis do. Now what could be the reason the commies get a pass? hmmm

Posted by: TheQuietMan at April 14, 2018 08:15 PM (SiINZ)

231 TQM, one more reason conservatives need to build their own studio system... and are doing so, finally and thankfully.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:15 PM (eMKNe)

232 Look at The Ten Commandments. 60 years later, people are still watching the thing every year on TV. And let's admit it... it's great for what it is, but it's far from perfect.

-
Deus ex machina this. Deus ex machina that.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at April 14, 2018 08:15 PM (+y/Ru)

233 Kubrick's The Shining sucked. And so did Stephen King's novel.
Posted by: Concerned People's Front at April 14, 2018 08:12 PM

I dunno. I kind of enjoyed the book. The movie sucked ass, though.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at April 14, 2018 08:16 PM (PB/yJ)

234 I should add: I actually think God has a taste for... schmaltz.

Mrs. Cicero had The Ten Commandments on TV for its annual Easter/Passover showings. I hadn't seen it in years. The dialogue, the costumes the lighting, the effects, the casting, all just awful. I had forgotten how bad it really was.

I'll concede that it was pretty funny when Heston goes up on the mountain looking like your typical Bedouin shepherd (okay, maybe not so much) and comes down looking like a trannie version of the Bride of Frankenstein.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 08:16 PM (kLBhp)

235 The A&S Museum recreation of the Neoclassical room only allows two people in at a time (wearing protective booties). It was me and a college-age movie buff. We were in geek heaven.

There is a little photograph book on the bedside table. Geekboy tried to open it and the guard rushed in wagging his finger.

I wonder if there were actually photographs in it (like, was the set dresser for this as obsessive as Kubrick?)

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 08:16 PM (qJtVm)

236 Anon and Cicero, yes! and yes!

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:17 PM (eMKNe)

237 Although now that I think about it... at least Ten Commandments has an excuse for its Deus Ex Machina bits... ;-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:18 PM (eMKNe)

238 "I was born a poor, 16k calculator."

Daddy was a Wang, momma was a Trash-80.

Posted by: f'd at April 14, 2018 08:18 PM (UdKB7)

239 Yeah, possibly one of my top ten movies as well.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez, we are being gaslighted 24/365 at April 14, 2018 08:18 PM (Mbmmf)

240 a common visual feel to his films where I get the sensation that he didn't like movement in the frame. Kubrick didn't film purely from a stationary tripod like Ozu, but movement was always combined with a certain stillness

That's it. Now you helped me figure out what bugged me about Kubrick movies. So visually static. I don't like shaky cam either, but Kubrick's kind of the opposite extreme.
Posted by: Hands at April 14, 2018 07:18 PM (EzdLW)

========

Oh yeah. Pauline Kael noticed this in her review of Clockwork Orange, which she loathed.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at April 14, 2018 08:19 PM (/qEW2)

241 Good thing you weren't a kid in Ceylon. Clarke might have wuvved you long time.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 08:00 PM (vUFR0)

Yeah, talk about finding out that your idol has feet of clay. Yeccch.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 08:19 PM (kLBhp)

242 Netflix has an ability to highlight how badly the art of screenwriting has been abused by both diminishing talent pools and political correctness.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at April 14, 2018 07:29 PM (oVJmc)

---

Screenwriter Joe Eztherhas (Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge, Showgirls) wrote in his book "The Devil's Guide to Hollywood: the Screenwriter as God", that screenwriters up till the the 90s were all failed novelists, so they actually read and wrote quite a bit, but starting in the 90s, the new wave of screenwriters were simply aping movies they have seen or screenplays they have read. Hence, the lack of depth to this new generation of screenwriters.

Posted by: Darth Randall at April 14, 2018 08:19 PM (v3DL/)

243 I dunno. I kind of enjoyed the book. The movie sucked ass, though.

It's my least favorite of his works. The movie was just ridiculous. And Shelly Duvall's performance was possibly one of the worst I can remember watching for a major release. I wanted my money back!

Posted by: Concerned People's Front at April 14, 2018 08:20 PM (rdl6o)

244 Kubrick's The Shining sucked. And so did Stephen King's novel.

Posted by: Concerned People's Front at April 14, 2018 08:12 PM (rdl6o)

I know, I should have used trucks. Everyone is scared shitless of trucks!

Posted by: Steve K. at April 14, 2018 08:20 PM (sXefu)

245 Posted by: Grump928(C) at April 14, 2018 08:01 PM (yQpMk)

That's right, I forgot about having to nuke the force shield.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 08:20 PM (kLBhp)

246 I personally think Pauline Kael was... not a good person.

It's one thing to *hate* a movie, but Kael would go way beyond that and behave like a screaming SJW bitch, and try to destroy careers. Legend has it she used to call Kubrick himself "dangerous." Shut up, idiot.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:21 PM (eMKNe)

247 If I see one more film where someone's hand is cut off in order to open a biometric lock, I'll chew my arm off.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at April 14, 2018 08:21 PM (/qEW2)

248 Screenwriter Joe Eztherhas (Basic Instinct, Jagged
Edge, Showgirls) wrote in his book "The Devil's Guide to Hollywood: the
Screenwriter as God", that screenwriters up till the the 90s were all
failed novelists, so they actually read and wrote quite a bit, but
starting in the 90s, the new wave of screenwriters were simply aping
movies they have seen or screenplays they have read. Hence, the lack of
depth to this new generation of screenwriters.

Posted by: Darth Randall at April 14, 2018 08:19 PM (v3DL/)

---

It makes so much sense when you see it written out like that.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - FBI = Porn Star > School Shooter at April 14, 2018 08:21 PM (LV5XU)

249 So if I command the cafeteria module to fix you a nice bowl of chicken soup, you'll sit down, you'll eat, you'll enjoy the soup, you'll stop being such a putz and let bygones be bygones? Dave? Dave?

Posted by: HAL by Jackie Mason at April 14, 2018 08:21 PM (EzdLW)

250 247 If I see one more film where someone's hand is cut off in order to open a biometric lock, I'll chew my arm off.
Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at April 14, 2018 08:21 PM (/qEW2)

=====

I suddenly thought if Spaceballs...

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:22 PM (Jj43a)

251 210
Look at The Ten Commandments. 60 years later, people are still watching the thing every year on TV. And let's admit it... it's great for what it is, but it's far from perfect. At least IMHO.
Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:10 PM (eMKNe)

I used to watch that movie every year too, back when I had TV. I enjoy Hollywood historical epics, but one thing that always bothered me is that there are never any ugly people in them. Back in ancient times, there was no plastic surgery or even dentistry to speak of. In Hollywood's version, everyone in ancient times had perfect teeth.

Posted by: rickl at April 14, 2018 08:23 PM (sdi6R)

252 Hands, for better or worse, Kubrick was extremely averse to giving away *anything at all* about how the audience should *feel* about anything on screen. IMHO that lent itself to standoffish camera usage. Stanley also was known to do a lot (I've read most, in fact) of his own camera operation.

In that regard, he was the absolute polar opposite of filmmakers like Lucas and Spielberg, who all but tongue-bathe their protagonists with love onscreen.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:24 PM (eMKNe)

253 To Kubrick, his ideal was to dramatize ideas, not to talk about them.

I'm a great believer in that.(and practice that in my own
stuff)

In assuming that your audience is intelligent.

Still, it's a difficult thing to do. It's much easier to have your character step forward and blab out some bumpersticker deep crapola as most leftist writers/directors do.

That way you can be sure your audience "gets it".

And isn't teaching your audience the right thoughts to have, the important thing? Not entertaining them certainly.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 14, 2018 08:24 PM (9q7Dl)

254 Barry Lyndon is an hours' long exploration of boredom, both for myself & (apparently) for the characters in the movie. I've heard other people wax rhapsodic over it before, and still don't get it.

I watched John Carpenter's 'The Thing' again last night. Still think it's better than Barry Lyndon.

Posted by: troyriser at April 14, 2018 08:24 PM (K8f5g)

255 Mrs. Cicero had The Ten Commandments on TV for its annual Easter/Passover showings. I hadn't seen it in years. The dialogue, the costumes the lighting, the effects, the casting, all just awful. I had forgotten how bad it really was.

I'll concede that it was pretty funny when Heston goes up on the mountain looking like your typical Bedouin shepherd (okay, maybe not so much) and comes down looking like a trannie version of the Bride of Frankenstein.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 08:16 PM (kLBhp)

---

I watched my bluray for easter, hadn't seen the film in years. I still enjoyed it, but yeah, the acting/line delivery is so very stilted and stiff.

Posted by: Darth Randall at April 14, 2018 08:24 PM (v3DL/)

256 Next ad, for Fountain Tire. Fully three-quarters of the ad time is wasted establishing that there is a lesbian "marriage" between two plump but semi-attractive wimmenz, one white, and one Asian (Chinese, apparently). Only towards the end of the ad does one of them take the family Subaru out, and have a flat, and winds up getting new twyres from Fountain. Sheesh.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 07:37 PM (vUFR0)

Diversity is the new god before whom every knee shall bow and tongue confess.

I think it's international law now that out of every 10 actors shown on a screen, 6 must be women, 4 must be black, 3 gay, and 1 muslim.

But Diversity is a god it is impossible to appease, so you will always have left-handed Klatchian coal-miners who will feel left out, which entitles them to a class-action lawsuit.

Fun times are ahead.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader & Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine at April 14, 2018 08:24 PM (xlCXC)

257 rickl, exactly.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:25 PM (eMKNe)

258 Ignoramus, I *love* that Beria most likely died in one of his own torture chambers. (At least that's what I've read/heard.)
Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:14 PM (eMKNe)

Crying like a little girl too, at least according to reports.

Karma's a bitch, bitch.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 08:25 PM (kLBhp)

259 210 I should add: I actually think God has a taste for... schmaltz.

Look at The Ten Commandments. 60 years later, people are still watching the thing every year on TV. And let's admit it... it's great for what it is, but it's far from perfect. At least IMHO.
Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:10 PM (eMKNe)

Of course God loves schmaltz. Schmaltz, on it's own is not a bad thing. We call thing schmaltzy when a better usage would be 'Heartwarming' or 'Invigorating'.

The moment when the heart swells when watching a dramatic moment of heroism- where do you think that comes from?

When El Cid defies the king as all the others kneel and he is left standing.

The first 5 minutes of Up.

John Wayne walking out of the barn to face the Berdettes to save a friend.

Bogart going out with the mobsters, knowing he will have to fight them, even though Bacall and the old guy tell him to run.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 08:25 PM (SKt1u)

260 "Serial rapist, possible serial killer."

Beria had his henchmen pick young girls off the street that he picked out, bring them back home to a soundproofed room. I don't expect he was gentle. Those he didn't like, he'd kill. Lots of dead bodies found later.

He kidnapped a rising starlet, and told her that if she fucked him he'd get her parents out of the Gulag. He had already killed them. The he put her in the Gulag. She's in the movie without the full details.

Lots of woman fucked him for promises that he'd spare relatives.

And of course, he did lots of killing on Stalin's orders, with relish. Like Hitler and Stalin were a pair, Heydrich and Beria were pair (with Beria having a special order of sexual depravity).

Speaking of Heydrich, Anthropoid -- about his assassination -- is quite good but cursed by an off-putting titles.

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 08:25 PM (pV/54)

261 your idol has feet of clay. "

Uhhhh, that's not clay...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at April 14, 2018 08:25 PM (7LY+6)

262 If "Ready Player One" is nothing like the book then it will probably be okay.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - FBI = Porn Star > School Shooter at April 14, 2018 08:25 PM (LV5XU)

263
If I see one more film where someone's hand is cut off in order to open a biometric lock, I'll chew my arm off.
Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear

=====

I suddenly thought if Spaceballs...
Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone

127 Hours

Posted by: Hands at April 14, 2018 08:25 PM (EzdLW)

264 Disagreement arises about whether the movie does anything interesting with the ideas it brings up, but I haven't read anyone calling it small. And the ideas at its core are very big.

I'm not sure where you get this from. There were no big ideas in the movie (or the book). In the end, both collapsed under the weight of the vacuum of ideas that plagued the whole work ... building up anticipation with no real idea what the hell the resolution was going to be ... so they went with totally incoherent chaos.

I liked 2001, but not for any alleged ideas it had. I saw nothing of the sort in it. 2001 was nothing but a bunch of MacGuffins, to divert from the fact that there was really no story.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 14, 2018 08:25 PM (8gDQu)

265 242
Screenwriter Joe Eztherhas (Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge, Showgirls) wrote in his book "The Devil's Guide to Hollywood: the Screenwriter as God", that screenwriters up till the the 90s were all failed novelists, so they actually read and wrote quite a bit, but starting in the 90s, the new wave of screenwriters were simply aping movies they have seen or screenplays they have read. Hence, the lack of depth to this new generation of screenwriters.
Posted by: Darth Randall at April 14, 2018 08:19 PM (v3DL/)

That would also explain why all they seem to be able to do is remake earlier movies.

Posted by: rickl at April 14, 2018 08:26 PM (sdi6R)

266 TJM--

"Tarkovsky is NOT most movies."

Well, yes, that's why you can't say it's "never" replicated. Point is, it's rare. David Lean would be another who could pull this sorta stuff off and I still don't quite know why.

You guys are completely wrong about "The Ten Commandments," though. It's brilliant. I'm willing to say two things about it:

1) If you have only seen it on TV, you haven't seen it.

2) You have to think of it not as a creature of the '50s but of the '20s: Cecile B DeMille's final film, and it's very much in that mode. (Which I love.)

I reviewed it here:

http://moviegique.com/index.php/2016/03/29/the-10-commandments-1956/

Posted by: moviegique at April 14, 2018 08:26 PM (CcUfv)

267 No where near as good as the version with Alec Guinness. They PCed it.

Posted by: Zogger at April 14, 2018 08:09 PM (SKahJ)

++++

Howe do you mean? I don't recall any pc'ness. Perhaps the offhand acceptance of homosexuality, but I figured that was a Brit thing.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at April 14, 2018 08:26 PM (pvjTE)

268 I'll concede that it was pretty funny when Heston goes up on the mountain looking like your typical Bedouin shepherd (okay, maybe not so much) and comes down looking like a trannie version of the Bride of Frankenstein.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 08:16 PM (kLBhp)
---
I watched my bluray for easter, hadn't seen the film in years. I still enjoyed it, but yeah, the acting/line delivery is so very stilted and stiff.
Posted by: Darth Randall at April 14, 2018 08:24 PM (v3DL/)

We watch Ben-Hur for our Easter cinema. It's a much better movie.

And that chariot race, wow, it holds up even today.

Do not watch the recent remake. It was so bad, we couldn't even finish it.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader & Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine at April 14, 2018 08:27 PM (xlCXC)

269 254 Barry Lyndon is an hours' long exploration of boredom, both for myself & (apparently) for the characters in the movie. I've heard other people wax rhapsodic over it before, and still don't get it.

I watched John Carpenter's 'The Thing' again last night. Still think it's better than Barry Lyndon.
Posted by: troyriser at April 14, 2018 08:24 PM (K8f5g)

====

After the first viewing, I would have agreed with you.

However, my brother bought me the Kubrick Masterpiece Connection on Blu-ray, which included it. So, I watched it again, and I instantly fell in love with it ten years after my first viewing.

If you've only seen it once, I'd suggest a second chance. If you've seen it multiple times, then I won't try to force it on you again.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:27 PM (Jj43a)

270 Cicero and Aetius, yep!

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:27 PM (eMKNe)

271 If I see one more film where someone's hand is cut off in order to open a biometric lock, I'll chew my arm off.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear

Hang on, there. If bitcoin doesn't hit $500,000 next year John MacAffee swore that he would eat his own dick on live TV.

No, this is not a joke.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 14, 2018 08:27 PM (8gDQu)

272 I knew a bit about Beria, Stalin's head of secret police, but didn't know how big a monster he was. In many ways, bigger than Stalin and Hitler. He, not Khruschev, might have wound up in power. Now that's scary.
Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 08:11 PM (pV/54)

Beria was an evil fucker. But no more evil than half a dozen before him, not counting the head monster. He would not survive Stalin's death- he had made too many enemies and did not have Stalin's adroitness at playing them off against the others.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 08:27 PM (SKt1u)

273 "...but starting in the 90s, the new wave of screenwriters were simply aping movies they have seen or screenplays they have read. Hence, the lack of depth to this new generation of screenwriters.
Posted by: Darth Randall at April 14, 2018 08:19 PM (v3DL/)
---
Too true. What real world experience do they have to draw on? Even a hack* like Gene Roddenberry led an interesting life before being a script writer, being a pilot and a policeman. One would see a lot of the world and get to know people at their best and worst.

* I say this with love, as a Trek geek.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 08:28 PM (qJtVm)

274 Barry Lyndon is his best film. I'm the only one I know in meatspace who likes it though.

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at April 14, 2018 08:28 PM (4ErVI)

275 Moron Robbie--

Anyone thinking of reading Ready Player One will probably want to listen to this podcast by Michael J Nelson (host of MST3K in the late 90s) and Conor Lastowka (senior writer for Rifftrax):

372 Pages We'll Never Get Back

372pages.com

Posted by: moviegique at April 14, 2018 08:29 PM (CcUfv)

276 Not a movie but I'm in the process of watching season 4 of Bosch. Pretty good.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 14, 2018 08:29 PM (NWiLs)

277 "Paths of Glory (why the coda at the end is important)"

The soldiers have been reduced to being automatons or insects (the "Ant Hill"), until their humanity comes back for a moment when they stop jeering at the singing German girl and get moved by her. Then it's back to the Ant Hill.

(Kubrick married the girl in real life).

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 08:29 PM (pV/54)

278 Love this thread every week but there is a race on at 2am I don't want to miss.
Goodnight all.

Posted by: Skip at April 14, 2018 08:29 PM (aC6Sd)

279 268
We watch Ben-Hur for our Easter cinema. It's a much better movie.

And that chariot race, wow, it holds up even today.

Do not watch the recent remake. It was so bad, we couldn't even finish it.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader & Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine at April 14, 2018 08:27 PM (xlCXC)

======

Ben Hur is fantastic, still.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:29 PM (Jj43a)

280 But Diversity is a god it is impossible to appease, so you will always have left-handed Klatchian coal-miners who will feel left out, which entitles them to a class-action lawsuit.

Fun times are ahead.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader & Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine at April 14, 2018 08:24 PM (xlCXC)

If the Ad mavens were smart... they would use micro gestures and such to decide if people really like an ad...

vice what they way.

Most people will lie now about non PC thoughts.

But that doesn't mean they will BUY the thing the ad is about...

In fact... the PC crap is a negative to folks like me.... I'll go out of my way NOT to buy their crap.

Posted by: Don Q. at April 14, 2018 08:30 PM (NgKpN)

281 276 Not a movie but I'm in the process of watching season 4 of Bosch. Pretty good.
Posted by: Insomniac at April 14, 2018 08:29 PM (NWiLs)

Thanks for reminding me. I wanted to start watching that as soon as it dropped.

A fun show. I am not sure it has any idea what it's doing though.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 08:30 PM (SKt1u)

282 Dang... sorry... vice what they SAY... grrrrr...

Posted by: Don Q. at April 14, 2018 08:30 PM (NgKpN)

283 Beria was an evil fucker. But no more evil than half a dozen before him, not counting the head monster. He would not survive Stalin's death- he had made too many enemies and did not have Stalin's adroitness at playing them off against the others.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 08:27 PM (SKt1u)

Everyone else on the Politburo (more like Stalin's captive hostages at his dacha) loathed and feared Beria. One of the first, if not the first things Khrushchev did was sign that execution order. Probably he signed it on Stalin's chest as the death rattle came to a stop.

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at April 14, 2018 08:30 PM (4ErVI)

284 TJM and others, yup re Ben Hur.

William Wyler still had the energy and vision as a director that Cecil DeMille didn't.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:31 PM (eMKNe)

285 Schmaltz, on it's own is not a bad thing. "

Indeed. A film (or any tale) can revolve around one point...

"Because we're here, lad. Nobody else. "

Posted by: Anon a mouse at April 14, 2018 08:31 PM (7LY+6)

286 "Paths of Glory (why the coda at the end is important)"

The soldiers have been reduced to being automatons or insects (the "Ant Hill"), until their humanity comes back for a moment when they stop jeering at the singing German girl and get moved by her. Then it's back to the Ant Hill.

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 08:29 PM (pV/54)

I thought that Paths of Glory said more about the French than anything more general concerning the military.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 14, 2018 08:31 PM (8gDQu)

287 281 276 Not a movie but I'm in the process of watching season 4 of Bosch. Pretty good.
Posted by: Insomniac at April 14, 2018 08:29 PM (NWiLs)

Thanks for reminding me. I wanted to start watching that as soon as it dropped.

A fun show. I am not sure it has any idea what it's doing though.
Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 08:30 PM (SKt1u)

I'm watching Lemony Snickets a Series of Unfortunate Events...

But it is irritating me that Lemony is such an optimist...

Posted by: Don Q. at April 14, 2018 08:31 PM (NgKpN)

288 Too true. What real world experience do they have
to draw on? Even a hack* like Gene Roddenberry led an interesting life
before being a script writer, being a pilot and a policeman. One would
see a lot of the world and get to know people at their best and worst.

* I say this with love, as a Trek geek.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 08:28 PM (qJtVm)

Plus Gene was getting serious tail. I'm pretty sure Joss Whedon has never been laid.

Posted by: Whatever (not Ever) at April 14, 2018 08:32 PM (sXefu)

289 screenwriters up till the the 90s were all failed novelists, so they actually read and wrote quite a bit,

-
One thing I like about Dean Koontz is that he often cites works of literature. He seems to have a particular thing for Richard Condon's The Manchurian Candidate. For example, he calls the zombie-like killers in his Jane Hawk series rayshaws.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at April 14, 2018 08:32 PM (+y/Ru)

290 Diversity is the new god before whom every knee shall bow and tongue confess.

I
think it's international law now that out of every 10 actors shown on a
screen, 6 must be women, 4 must be black, 3 gay, and 1 muslim.

But
Diversity is a god it is impossible to appease, so you will always have
left-handed Klatchian coal-miners who will feel left out, which
entitles them to a class-action lawsuit.

Fun times are ahead.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine at April 14, 2018 08:24 PM (xlCXC)

You know, it wouldn't bother me if they had a pair of stereotypical lesbians, in the tire store, shopping for tires, and asking intelligent questions, and getting intelligent answers. But this damned ad was 3/4 exposition establishing the "fact" that these two models were lesbians. Even had them exchanging rings, FFS. And damned near nothing about tires.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 08:32 PM (vUFR0)

291 Dack, yup.

Don't know if it's true, it probably isn't, but I've heard Khruschev would actually make jokes about himself at meetings and addressing the nation, and that that absolutely shocked everyone else at the Kremlin.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:32 PM (eMKNe)

292 279 268
We watch Ben-Hur for our Easter cinema. It's a much better movie.

And that chariot race, wow, it holds up even today.

Do not watch the recent remake. It was so bad, we couldn't even finish it.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader & Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine at April 14, 2018 08:27 PM (xlCXC)

======

Ben Hur is fantastic, still.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:29 PM (Jj43a)

Its strange they don't play the original Spartacus very often....

Posted by: Don Q. at April 14, 2018 08:33 PM (NgKpN)

293 you better have 'Cuckoo's Nest' in your top ten or the ghost of Milos Forman will haunt you forever....

Posted by: thefritz at April 14, 2018 08:33 PM (ZRDdN)

294 If you drove 1,000 mph eastbound, you should be lighter.
Amiright?

Posted by: Cicero

yes. well, sorta. you'd feel lighter due to the centripetal effect, but your actual weight (and mass) would be the same I think. A geosynchronous orbit (thx Alexa) is 22,223 miles above the surface, at which point one would feel weightless.

But Hal would still murder you.

Posted by: illiniwek at April 14, 2018 08:34 PM (bT8Z4)

295 291 Dack, yup.

Don't know if it's true, it probably isn't, but I've heard Khruschev would actually make jokes about himself at meetings and addressing the nation, and that that absolutely shocked everyone else at the Kremlin.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:32 PM (eMKNe)

I was exaggerating since Beria lived on after Stalin, but the fear was there immediately. He did something, can't remember what, that convinced the others he had to go. Something with Germany. Not that they needed any reasons, but it was enough to make their move.

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at April 14, 2018 08:34 PM (4ErVI)

296 Yeah, sure I stole my scenes in The Ten Commandments. What of it?

Posted by: Edward G Robinson at April 14, 2018 08:34 PM (JHwDP)

297 Two of the best villains ever were George Macready and Adolph Monju as the two psychopath French generals in Paths of Glory.

Posted by: tu3031 at April 14, 2018 08:34 PM (O5Q3r)

298 292
Its strange they don't play the original Spartacus very often....
Posted by: Don Q. at April 14, 2018 08:33 PM (NgKpN)

=====

Kubrick's?

You know he hated that movie?

He really was just a director for hire there. Brought in a week into filming after the first director got fired.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:34 PM (Jj43a)

299 I bought The Passion of Joan of Arc
and enjoyed watching a sub-titled movie again in the process.
I really felt sorry that the INTENSE actress was not more famous afterward.
Thanks for the referal to buy the criterion disk.
What a storey - one I was never fully taught - thank you very much!

Posted by: MoJoeTee at April 14, 2018 08:34 PM (qqi3j)

300 Whatever---

"Plus Gene was getting serious tail. I'm pretty sure Joss Whedon has never been laid."

You're, uh, not privy to all the new shit, I guess.

Posted by: moviegique at April 14, 2018 08:34 PM (CcUfv)

301 293 you better have 'Cuckoo's Nest' in your top ten or the ghost of Milos Forman will haunt you forever....
Posted by: thefritz at April 14, 2018 08:33 PM (ZRDdN)

=====

I have Amadeus.

I think I'll be fine.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:35 PM (Jj43a)

302 Diversity is the new god before whom every knee shall bow and tongue confess.

I think it's international law now that out of every 10 actors shown on a screen, 6 must be women, 4 must be black, 3 gay, and 1 muslim.

Hence a scene set in 15th Century England with black people in the crowd. I'm surprised they didn't have some women dressed in the Hefty bags

Posted by: TheQuietMan at April 14, 2018 08:35 PM (SiINZ)

303 274 Barry Lyndon is his best film. I'm the only one I know in meatspace who likes it though.
Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at April 14, 2018 08:28 PM (4ErVI)
---
I'm made of meat and I like it too.

But Thackeray is the perfect writer for Kubrick.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 08:35 PM (qJtVm)

304 What would really be horrific would be a Kubrick horror movie starring Michael Moore called "the Mooning".

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at April 14, 2018 08:35 PM (/qEW2)

305 MoJo, I got that Criterion title too. Looking forward to watching it, based on TJM's raves.

But it came without the included booklet. Had to email Criterion for it. No biggie, just a surprise.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:35 PM (eMKNe)

306 I have Amadeus.

I think I'll be fine.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:35 PM (Jj43a)

I liked Amadeus but I could never figure out why Murray Abraham got all the press when Tom Hulce did the best job in that movie.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 14, 2018 08:36 PM (8gDQu)

307 Speaking of Emily Blunt and movies with off-putting titles, I'm looking forward to the Sicario sequel, which I didn't think would get made.

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 08:36 PM (pV/54)

308 299 I bought The Passion of Joan of Arc
and enjoyed watching a sub-titled movie again in the process.
I really felt sorry that the INTENSE actress was not more famous afterward.
Thanks for the referal to buy the criterion disk.
What a storey - one I was never fully taught - thank you very much!

Posted by: MoJoeTee at April 14, 2018 08:34 PM (qqi3j)

=====

Some may scoff, but it really is the reason I do these posts. I want to try to get more people to love the movies that I love

It pleases me greatly that you enjoyed it, and that we can share in that movie.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:37 PM (Jj43a)

309 I'm made of meat and I like it too.

But Thackeray is the perfect writer for Kubrick.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 08:35 PM (qJtVm)

Book derail: Vanity Fair is a fantastic read. I couldn't put it down.

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at April 14, 2018 08:37 PM (4ErVI)

310 TJM, I think Stanley warmed up a little to Spartacus by the end of his life. Supposedly he helped out with the extra materials or remastering or something on some of the DVD editions of it, that came out before he died.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:37 PM (eMKNe)

311
Mrs. Cicero had The Ten Commandments on TV for its annual Easter/Passover showings. I hadn't seen it in years. The dialogue, the costumes the lighting, the effects, the casting, all just awful. I had forgotten how bad it really was.

https://youtu.be/D0Qcv3YV4aA

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at April 14, 2018 08:37 PM (IqV8l)

312 You know, it wouldn't bother me if they had a pair
of stereotypical lesbians, in the tire store, shopping for tires, and
asking intelligent questions, and getting intelligent answers. But this
damned ad was 3/4 exposition establishing the "fact" that these two
models were lesbians. Even had them exchanging rings, FFS. And damned
near nothing about tires.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 08:32 PM (vUFR0)

---

They've painted themselves into a corner. There can't be a woman working at the tire store unless she's the boss, and the lesbians can't be so uninformed that they wouldn't walk into the tire store already knowing more about weight ratings and lifespans than the white dude with the high school diploma that is slinging tires for a living, so they have to advertise about everything that doesn't involve the actual product.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - FBI = Porn Star > School Shooter at April 14, 2018 08:37 PM (LV5XU)

313 But Diversity is a god it is impossible to appease, so you will always have left-handed Klatchian coal-miners who will feel left out, which entitles them to a class-action lawsuit.

Fun times are ahead.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader & Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine at April 14, 2018 08:24 PM (xlCXC)

Well played Sir!

Posted by: Zombie T Pratchett at April 14, 2018 08:37 PM (n9EOP)

314 Yeah, sure I stole my scenes in The Ten Commandments. What of it?
Posted by: Edward G Robinson at April 14, 2018 08:34 PM (JHwDP)

See? Brilliantly novel casting. Who would ever think Edward G. Robinson could portray a New Kingdom Egyptian flunkie with such total credibility?

I kept expecting him to call Moses "you dirty rat."

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 08:37 PM (kLBhp)

315 Beria lived on after Stalin

-
Some say Beria helped Uncle Joe across the great divide.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at April 14, 2018 08:37 PM (+y/Ru)

316 I'm pretty sure Joss Whedon has never been laid.

It's pretty well-established that Whedon was making TV shows second, making time with all the young actresses he cast first.

Posted by: pick-up technique at April 14, 2018 08:38 PM (ZRmv0)

317 281 276 Not a movie but I'm in the process of watching season 4 of Bosch. Pretty good.
Posted by: Insomniac at April 14, 2018 08:29 PM (NWiLs)

Thanks for reminding me. I wanted to start watching that as soon as it dropped.

A fun show. I am not sure it has any idea what it's doing though.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 08:30 PM (SKt1u)

++++

Have you read the books? I got impatient waiting for season 4, so I read all the books. Very good.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at April 14, 2018 08:38 PM (pvjTE)

318 306 I have Amadeus.

I think I'll be fine.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:35 PM (Jj43a)

I liked Amadeus but I could never figure out why Murray Abraham got all the press when Tom Hulce did the best job in that movie.
Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 14, 2018 08:36 PM (8gDQu)

=====

Hulce was quality. Don't forget that both he and Abraham were nominated for Best Actor for that movie.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:38 PM (Jj43a)

319 Well played Sir!
Posted by: Zombie T Pratchett"

Which side of the hub are we talking about?

Posted by: Anon a mouse at April 14, 2018 08:39 PM (7LY+6)

320 TJM, I still remember a lot of the jokes about F. Murray Abraham when Amadeus was hot.

"Hey, F., could I ask you something?..." ;-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:39 PM (eMKNe)

321 310 TJM, I think Stanley warmed up a little to Spartacus by the end of his life. Supposedly he helped out with the extra materials or remastering or something on some of the DVD editions of it, that came out before he died.
Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:37 PM (eMKNe)

======

I certainly hope so, because it's definitely good. Much much better than Fear and Desire, which is terrible.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:39 PM (Jj43a)

322 I wish someone (Netflix?) would make some of Milos Forman's earlier movies available for watching-

back in college i saw-

"Taking Off"

"The Fireman's Ball"

"Loves of a Blonde"

and thought they were all pretty great in a dry humored (Eastern European?) way.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 14, 2018 08:40 PM (9q7Dl)

323 See? Brilliantly novel casting. Who would ever think Edward G.
Robinson could portray a New Kingdom Egyptian flunkie with such total
credibility?

I kept expecting him to call Moses "you dirty rat."

"WHERE'S YA MESHIAH NOOOOOOOWWWWW!!!!"

Posted by: Zombie Edward G. Robinson at April 14, 2018 08:40 PM (O5Q3r)

324 TJM, Kubrick hated Fear and Desire right up to the end.

And in *that* case, I don't blame Stanley. It literally looks like a student film (and actually it kind of was). It has a lot of the same mistakes and pretentiousness you find in "college cinema."

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:41 PM (eMKNe)

325 Cicero--

"You dirty rat" was Cagney.

"Yeah, see?" was Robinson.

Posted by: moviegique at April 14, 2018 08:41 PM (CcUfv)

326 Speaking of Kubrick, I recommend The Killing, one of his first. It's a taut caper flick about a racetrack robbery. Chris Nolan is a fanboi of Kubrick and lifts a lot of it for the opening of the The Dark Knight Joker robbing a bank opening, right down to the exact same clown masks.

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 08:41 PM (pV/54)

327 Watched Jumanji a few weeks ago, actually enjoyed it quite a bit...then read about the Rock's statements and now it's ruined for me.

Posted by: lin-duh at April 14, 2018 08:42 PM (kufk0)

328 Anyway, I loved Clarke when i was a kid, and stories like The Sentinel were the reason.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 07:58 PM (kLBhp)

Years ago I picked up an anthology of Arthur C. Clarke's short stories, presented chronologically. I recall an early short story about a narrator taking to the reader about their new invention, essentially a telephone booth that is a transporter, and about how great it is. (This story was written in the 30s, I think.) Through various offhand comments by the narrator, you come to realize that the device doesn't work quite right - people don't quite get put together correctly, there are lawsuits, etc. Pretty darned funny.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at April 14, 2018 08:42 PM (8iiMU)

329 324 TJM, Kubrick hated Fear and Desire right up to the end.

And in *that* case, I don't blame Stanley. It literally looks like a student film (and actually it kind of was). It has a lot of the same mistakes and pretentiousness you find in "college cinema."
Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:41 PM (eMKNe)

======

It really was worse than I ever imagined.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:42 PM (Jj43a)

330 Whatever happened to Tom Hulce?

He was in a movie called "Slam Dance" which nobody but me liked.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 08:42 PM (qJtVm)

331 Kubrick uses minimalism well. In the Shining he just shows you a shot of a large, empty room. That in combination with the backstory of the place stimulates your imagination and gives you a Lovecraftian dread that Nicholson is really being driven insane. His films have large barren seeming stretches, but afterwards you feel you've watched something substantial.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at April 14, 2018 08:42 PM (/qEW2)

332 We watch Ben-Hur for our Easter cinema. It's a much better movie.

And that chariot race, wow, it holds up even today.

Do not watch the recent remake. It was so bad, we couldn't even finish it.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader & Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine at April 14, 2018 08:27 PM (xlCXC)

---

I agree, Ben-Hur is the better movie. Haven't seen the remake.

Posted by: Darth Randall at April 14, 2018 08:42 PM (v3DL/)

333 So, for years I have been signing onto ace.mu.nu from my military computer account.

I did so when I was in the Persian Gulf and Guantanamo and everywhere I was stationed.

On Friday, I got a message from the DoD Enterprise Program (whatever that is) that said that this site is now prohibited due to "Hate and Racism."

That is amazing.

Hate and racism?

Something stupid has happened at the DoD. You can fight for the free and open exchange of ideas, but you can read about them.

Posted by: Adirondack Patriot at April 14, 2018 08:42 PM (WK1ar)

334 I kept expecting him to call Moses "you dirty rat."

"WHERE'S YA MESHIAH NOOOOOOOWWWWW!!!!"

Posted by: Zombie Edward G. Robinson at April 14, 2018 08:40 PM (O5Q3r)

That was my first thought of Bill Crystal, Yeah see?

Posted by: TheQuietMan at April 14, 2018 08:42 PM (SiINZ)

335 326 Speaking of Kubrick, I recommend The Killing, one of his first. It's a taut caper flick about a racetrack robbery. Chris Nolan is a fanboi of Kubrick and lifts a lot of it for the opening of the The Dark Knight Joker robbing a bank opening, right down to the exact same clown masks.
Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 08:41 PM (pV/54)

======

Seconded. Quality.

Watching 2001 and looking through that Blu-ray collection makes me want to revisit everything from The Killing to Eyes Wide Shut.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:43 PM (Jj43a)

336 307 Speaking of Emily Blunt and movies with off-putting titles, I'm looking forward to the Sicario sequel, which I didn't think would get made.

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 08:36 PM (pV/54)

++++

She's not in it.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at April 14, 2018 08:43 PM (pvjTE)

337 The cartoon version is better than the recent one

Posted by: Jean at April 14, 2018 08:43 PM (MS0+a)

338 326 Speaking of Kubrick, I recommend The Killing, one of his first. It's a taut caper flick about a racetrack robbery. Chris Nolan is a fanboi of Kubrick and lifts a lot of it for the opening of the The Dark Knight Joker robbing a bank opening, right down to the exact same clown masks.

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 08:41 PM (pV/54)

It is good. I saw it on dvd about 15 years or so ago.

Starring that old commie Sterling Hayden.

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at April 14, 2018 08:43 PM (4ErVI)

339 TJM, yup. But Stan has the excuse of still being pretty young...

Plus the fact his very first "real" movie ended up so bad, helps humanize him IMHO.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:44 PM (eMKNe)

340 "You dirty rat" was Cagney.

"Yeah, see?" was Robinson.
Posted by: moviegique at April 14, 2018 08:41 PM (CcUfv)

Oops. That's right. I get those two mixed up.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 08:44 PM (kLBhp)

341 Something stupid has happened at the DoD. You can fight for the free and open exchange of ideas, but you can read about them.

Posted by: Adirondack Patriot at April 14, 2018 08:42 PM (WK1ar)

I think you meant "can't read about them".

The Deep State has tentacles everywhere!

Committees of Correspondence for the win!

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at April 14, 2018 08:45 PM (n9EOP)

342
Godspeed Art Bell, godspeed. Coast to Coast was never the same without him.

They ought to do some tribute to him at Area 51. Fly some flying saucers in the missing alien formation or something.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Rapscallion of a Poperin Pear at April 14, 2018 08:45 PM (8O3HH)

343 325 Cicero--

"You dirty rat" was Cagney.

"Yeah, see?" was Robinson.
_____________________________________________

Rocky from Bugs Bunny: "I'll teach you to get ideas."

Posted by: Adirondack Patriot at April 14, 2018 08:46 PM (WK1ar)

344 She's not in it.
Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at April 14, 2018 08:43 PM (pvjTE)

I haven't heard anything about it, but that makes sense. It would be a hell of a stretch for her character to be involved given how the last one ended.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 14, 2018 08:46 PM (y87Qq)

345 publius, the entirety of Area 51 is dimming their lights for a moment tonight for Art Bell ;-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:46 PM (eMKNe)

346 A Clockwork Orange is my favorite Kubrick. Prescient.

Word is that Kubrick got the novel not long after it came out but couldn't get past the Nadsat slang language. Years later he got a glossary and loved it.

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 08:47 PM (pV/54)

347 I did so when I was in the Persian Gulf and Guantanamo and everywhere I was stationed.

On Friday, I got a message from the DoD Enterprise Program (whatever
that is) that said that this site is now prohibited due to "Hate and
Racism."

That is amazing.

Hate and racism?

Something stupid has happened at the DoD. You can fight for the free and open exchange of ideas, but you can read about them.

Posted by: Adirondack Patriot at April 14, 2018 08:42 PM (WK1ar)

Sounds like you should write a letter to Pres. Trump, and to Mattis to complain about this, and say something to the effect that this sort of pussy action would have been expected in Obongo's military, but has no place in that of Trump's. And that whoever is responsible for this decision should be busted down to Captain of the Head.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 08:47 PM (vUFR0)

348 publius, the entirety of Area 51 is dimming their lights for a moment tonight for Art Bell ;-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:46 PM (eMKNe)

I hope you're serious about that!

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at April 14, 2018 08:47 PM (n9EOP)

349 Art Bell has not died.

He has returned to the Mother Ship.

Posted by: at April 14, 2018 08:47 PM (WK1ar)

350 If you take the letters in HAN (Solo) and move them by one letter, you get IBM.

Coincidence? I think not....

Posted by: stumck at April 14, 2018 08:48 PM (IpZ/y)

351 I was referring to been hur

Posted by: Jean at April 14, 2018 08:48 PM (MS0+a)

352 Hrothgar, from my lips to the Deep State's ears ;-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:48 PM (eMKNe)

353 Whaaaaattttt?!! It isn't Lost in Space without him! Well, guess no need to watch it then. (No chance they'll resurrect it?)
Posted by: prof disarray, gumdrop gorilla channel at April 14, 2018 07:37 PM (4Vu64)

I'm pretty sure Robot gets resurrected quite soon by Dr Smith (sociopath loser lady in this version) to be temporarily eeeeviiiil

I just hated the Old Yellering because this Robot was basically a good loyal doggeh

Also annoyed at how gun control is a thing in the show

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at April 14, 2018 08:48 PM (hMwEB)

354 They ought to do some tribute to him at Area 51. Fly some flying saucers in the missing alien formation or something.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Rapscallion of a Poperin Pear at April 14, 2018 08:45 PM (8O3HH)

Now that would be cool. Maybe we could get Mindful Webworker to make a video of that.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 08:48 PM (vUFR0)

355 AOP, Captain of the Head?

Wasn't that the name of an easy listening song in the late 1980s?... ;-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:48 PM (eMKNe)

356 317 - Know the guy who plays the Desk Sgt. on Bosch. Says Michael Connelly is a mensch. Titus Welliver too. Great gig.

Posted by: Jean Shallot at April 14, 2018 08:49 PM (JHwDP)

357 the Nadsat slang language.

-
Koontz also references Nadsat in Jane Hawk.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at April 14, 2018 08:49 PM (+y/Ru)

358 315 Beria lived on after Stalin

-
Some say Beria helped Uncle Joe across the great divide.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at April 14, 2018 08:37 PM (+y/Ru)

Stalin was the King example of "If you take a shot at the King- DON'T MISS."

I kind of tend to believe no one would take a shot at him. He had the entire country in such a state of fear, that only those few insane or powerful enough (pretty much Zhukov alone) would have even considered it.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 08:49 PM (SKt1u)

359 Hi Eris! Do you remember Spiff's wife's name?

Posted by: westminsterdogshow........GNAMM ette at April 14, 2018 08:49 PM (mMeIQ)

360 Watched Jumanji a few weeks ago, actually enjoyed it
quite a bit...then read about the Rock's statements and now it's ruined
for me.

Posted by: lin-duh at April 14, 2018 08:42 PM (kufk0)
Being pegged while wearing a fur suit? Well, that's true.

Posted by: D. Johnson at April 14, 2018 08:49 PM (sXefu)

361 Sounds like you should write a letter to Pres. Trump, and to Mattis to complain about this, and say something to the effect that this sort of pussy action would have been expected in Obongo's military, but has no place in that of Trump's. And that whoever is responsible for this decision should be busted down to Captain of the Head.
_____________________________________________

This is what happens when people on the left throw accusations of racism and hatred around unchallenged.

They only do it to shut down free speech.

Posted by: at April 14, 2018 08:50 PM (WK1ar)

362 I'm pretty sure Joss Whedon has never been laid.

It's pretty well-established that Whedon was making TV shows second, making time with all the young actresses he cast first.
Posted by: pick-up technique at April 14, 2018 08:38 PM (ZRmv0)

Whatever could you mean? Clearly Eliza Dushku and Summer Glau were cast for their abundant talent.

Posted by: Sjg at April 14, 2018 08:50 PM (gDSJf)

363 275 Moron Robbie--

Anyone thinking of reading Ready Player One will probably want to listen to this podcast by Michael J Nelson (host of MST3K in the late 90s) and Conor Lastowka (senior writer for Rifftrax):

372 Pages We'll Never Get Back

372pages.com

Posted by: moviegique at April 14, 2018 08:29 PM (CcUfv)

+1

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at April 14, 2018 08:50 PM (xJa6I)

364 348 publius, the entirety of Area 51 is dimming their lights for a moment tonight for Art Bell ;-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:46 PM (eMKNe)

I hope you're serious about that!
Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at April 14, 2018 08:47 PM (n9EOP)

Yes, they totally should do that. That would be awesome. It would mess with peoples' heads.

Posted by: rickl at April 14, 2018 08:50 PM (sdi6R)

365 Not a movie but I'm in the process of watching season 4 of Bosch. Pretty good.
Posted by: Insomniac at April 14, 2018 08:29 PM (NWiLs)

I need to watch that next

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at April 14, 2018 08:50 PM (hMwEB)

366 If you take the letters in HAN (Solo) and move them by one letter, you get ~~IBM~~ IBO.

FIFY

Weird.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 08:51 PM (kLBhp)

367

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 08:51 PM (kLBhp)

368
I was referring to been hur

Posted by: Jean at April 14, 2018 08:48 PM (MS0+a)

Sounds like a F to M tranny. Been hur, now hym.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 08:51 PM (vUFR0)

369 Oops.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 08:51 PM (kLBhp)

370 Have you read the books? I got impatient waiting for season 4, so I read all the books. Very good.
Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at April 14, 2018 08:38 PM (pvjTE)

I have not. I probably should some time. Thanks.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 08:51 PM (SKt1u)

371 They only do it to shut down free speech.

Posted by: at April 14, 2018 08:50 PM (WK1ar)

Well, it works doesn't it?

Posted by: Comrade H Reid at April 14, 2018 08:51 PM (n9EOP)

372 Regarding Netflix, I enjoyed "Babylon Berlin" quite a bit.

For silliness, the British comedy "The IT Crowd" was fun.

I'm currently watching the latest season of Spain's "El Ministerio del Tiempo" (The Ministry of Time). Once you suspend disbelief about the time travel mechanics (there are literal doors that go to previous times in Spain's history, and only work in Spanish territory - lol), it's quite enjoyable.

The characters are NOT completely one-dimensional, the females are hot, and the writers throw in offhand references to movies and television shows.

The strangest thing was listening to the occasional 'American/British' character speak English with a Spanish accent. A little jarring.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at April 14, 2018 08:52 PM (8iiMU)

373 Whatever could you mean? Clearly Eliza Dushku and Summer Glau were cast for their abundant talent.
Posted by: Sjg at April 14, 2018 08:50 PM (gDSJf)

Hey, I like Summer Glau.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 08:52 PM (SKt1u)

374 Speaking of Nadsat, an old Ringo Starr movie, Caveman, has its own made up language which, by the end of the movie, you can understand.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at April 14, 2018 08:52 PM (+y/Ru)

375 Also annoyed at how gun control is a thing in the show

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at April 14, 2018 08:48 PM (hMwEB)

Oh the pain. The pain of it all

Posted by: TheQuietMan at April 14, 2018 08:52 PM (SiINZ)

376 Art Bell was one of the most entertaining personalities on the radio.

I used to listen to him when I stood watch overnight. The people he had on his show were priceless.

With the advent of the internet, we were able to look up certain incidents involving UFOs and confirm a lot of the stuff he talked about was reported as real.

Posted by: Adirondack Patriot at April 14, 2018 08:53 PM (WK1ar)

377 Well, it works doesn't it?
Posted by: Comrade H Reid at April 14, 2018 08:51 PM (n9EOP)
________________________________________________

Sadly, yes, because we let it happen.

Posted by: Adirondack Patriot at April 14, 2018 08:53 PM (WK1ar)

378 Sterling Hayden may have leaned left, but he left Hollywood to join the Marines in WWII and became a proto-Green Beret, acting as a commando and organizer of the Resistance in Yugoslavia.

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 08:53 PM (pV/54)

379 rickl, wanted to mention:

I get paid on Monday, so I spent some of the last couple pennies I still have, yesterday on a CD of Nashville Skyline. :-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:54 PM (eMKNe)

380 For silliness, the British comedy "The IT Crowd" was fun.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at April 14, 2018 08:52 PM (8iiMU)

Is that still on Netflix? That show was awesome. I like how British shows get exactly four seasons of eleven thirty-seven minute episodes and then it's over. They usually don't get a chance to go stale.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 14, 2018 08:54 PM (y87Qq)

381 Not on topic, but funny: Epic Rap Battles of History - George R. R. Martin vs. J. R. R. Tolkien:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAAp_luluo0

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 08:55 PM (qJtVm)

382
but movement was always combined with a certain stillness

Good point, because he used the same technique in other films. The attack on the Ant Hill in Paths of Glory (with Kirk Douglas centered in the frame of the sideways tracking shot as the troops advance); the B52 shown from the rear as it flies right on the deck in Strangelove; the steadicam shots of Danny riding his Big Wheel through the hotel in The Shining (as well as the chase scene in the hedge maze).

Interestingly, the combat scenes in Strangelove don't use that technique. They're extremely cinema verite, like newsreel combat footage (Spielberg used shots in the Omaha Beach scene in Saving Private Ryan that I'm certain were cribbed from Strangelove).

But one thing I find interesting in the Strangelove combat scenes - you see almost none of the soldiers' faces. They're just anonymous men fighting and dying. I don't know if that was a deliberate decision, but interesting nonetheless.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at April 14, 2018 08:55 PM (eXA4G)

383 All Hail Eris, also LOL.

"GRR vs JRR"

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:55 PM (eMKNe)

384 As an aside, "Ben Hur" has one of the few accurate depictions in mainstream movies - the aforementioned chariot race.
Others actually "raced", so the line was an oval. Roman racing was about the crash - or NASCAR as it's called now...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at April 14, 2018 08:55 PM (7LY+6)

385 I hope you like it, qdpsteve.

Posted by: rickl at April 14, 2018 08:56 PM (sdi6R)

386 380 For silliness, the British comedy "The IT Crowd" was fun.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at April 14, 2018 08:52 PM (8iiMU)

Is that still on Netflix? That show was awesome. I like how British shows get exactly four seasons of eleven thirty-seven minute episodes and then it's over. They usually don't get a chance to go stale.
Posted by: hogmartin at April 14, 2018 08:54 PM (y87Qq)

======

Black Books, Coupling, and Miranda are three of this household's favorite British television comedies.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:56 PM (Jj43a)

387 @192 --

Gawd, "The Tailor of Panama" was a terrible book. I understand it was made into a movie, with Pierce Brosnan.

"Tinker, Tailor ..." is great in all versions.

What I liked about LeCarre was that he distinguished spies from secret agents. Would that more authors would follow suit. Bond is not a spy, nor is Helm.

Posted by: Weak Geek at April 14, 2018 08:56 PM (zT4Y1)

388 Speaking of screenwriters, I saw a very funny Woody Allen movie last week, called "Love And Death". Parody of Russian novels. A neurotic Russian soldier named Boris is dragged into a ridiculous plot to assassinate Napoleon.

The plot is just there to showcase the jokes. I like this kind of comedy. Good old-fashioned jokes. It's not situational, it's not ironic (except in a broad, vaudevillian kind of way ). Doesn't try to be more than just funny.

Countess: "You are the greatest lover I've ever had."
Boris: "Well, I practice a lot when I'm alone."

Drill Sergeant: "One, two. One, two. One, two."
Boris: "Three is next, if you're having any trouble."

Soldier: "He was from my village. He was the village idiot."
Boris: "Yeah, what did you do, place?"

And so on. I'm not crazy about Woody Allen personally, but he was a funny writer.

Posted by: Hands at April 14, 2018 08:56 PM (EzdLW)

389 While HAL's regression back to childhood is still touching, I had forgotten in the interim just how deadly he was. Mission Control tells the astronauts that their twin HAL 9000 can't find the fault in the comms dish, meaning Hal is in error. HAL insists that he is correct and any fault lies with human error.
**************
HAL is a digital Ob+mao.

Posted by: torabora at April 14, 2018 08:57 PM (eMoUZ)

390 359 Hi Eris! Do you remember Spiff's wife's name?
Posted by: westminsterdogshow........GNAMM ette at April 14, 2018 08:49 PM (mMeIQ)
---

Aargh, no.

Why, is she standing right in front of you?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 08:57 PM (qJtVm)

391
They might indeed dim the lights at Area 51, but it will be Above Top Secret Majic and if they told us, they'd have to kill us.

I'm sure the lights are powered by some alien-derived zero-point energy technology.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Rapscallion of a Poperin Pear at April 14, 2018 08:57 PM (8O3HH)

392 Moses with Charleton Hetson was on tv recently-ish.

Yul Brynner was Ramses. He had such a magnificent voice.

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at April 14, 2018 08:57 PM (hMwEB)

393 The IT Crowd was hilarious. Very un-PC on gays and women too, which was extra fun.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 08:57 PM (kLBhp)

394

Art Bell disappeared into Mel's hole.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at April 14, 2018 08:58 PM (IqV8l)

395 TJM, ITC and others, I've always found this coincidence interesting:

In A Clockwork Orange, *just before* Alex arrives at the "Home," there's a very slow right-to-left tracking shot of the people living there, in their living room.

Anyway, right before the helicopter onslaught/attack in Apocalypse Now, Coppola does the *exact same* kind of shot, right to left, covering the Vietnamese village that's about to be flattened.

Hmmm...

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:58 PM (eMKNe)

396 I'm surprised that no one mentioned that special lens Kubrick had developed for Barry Lyndon. It allowed him to film by candlelight and it has an interesting effect.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 14, 2018 08:58 PM (Lqy/e)

397 Is that still on Netflix? That show was awesome. I
like how British shows get exactly four seasons of eleven thirty-seven
minute episodes and then it's over. They usually don't get a chance to
go stale.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 14, 2018 08:54 PM (y87Qq)

Yeah. I just watched S5 Ep1: "The Last Episode", which was apparently the last episode, about an hour ago.
The episode where Rory pretends he is disabled at the theater is pure gold. (Season 2, Episode 1, I think).

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at April 14, 2018 08:58 PM (8iiMU)

398 There was no one like Art to just let his guests go on and tell their story. Mel's Hole, Ball on chair guy, the guy who flew his airplane over Area 51, those were all great radio. Noorey never could do it like Art.

Posted by: f'd at April 14, 2018 08:58 PM (UdKB7)

399 Black Books, Coupling, and Miranda are three of this household's favorite British television comedies.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 08:56 PM (Jj43a)

That Mitchell and Webb Look is another good one, sketch-type. I think they're all on Youtube.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 14, 2018 08:59 PM (y87Qq)

400 381 Not on topic, but funny: Epic Rap Battles of History - George R. R. Martin vs. J. R. R. Tolkien:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAAp_luluo0
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 08:55 PM (qJtVm)

One of my favorites. Favorite line:

"I cut my teeth in the Trenches of the Somme. You LARPed your Santa Claus ass through Vietnam!"

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 08:59 PM (SKt1u)

401 rickl, thanks, I will.

It was the only Dylan album I ever bought on LP back in the 1980s.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 08:59 PM (eMKNe)

402 If you lash on a rock to one of those leg bones you get an assault rock.

Posted by: Kubrick monkey at April 14, 2018 08:59 PM (eMoUZ)

403 The episode where Rory pretends he is disabled at the theater is pure gold. (Season 2, Episode 1, I think).

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at April 14, 2018 08:58 PM (8iiMU)

Leg disabled. From acid. Gay AND disabled.

OK, I gotta watch those again.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 14, 2018 09:01 PM (y87Qq)

404 396 I'm surprised that no one mentioned that special lens Kubrick had developed for Barry Lyndon. It allowed him to film by candlelight and it has an interesting effect.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 14, 2018 08:58 PM (Lqy/e)

======

For some reason, this reminds me of my favorite Kubrick anecdote:

While filling Full Metal Jacket, he had his Director of Photography set up at the beginning of the day, and then sent him to his house to take a look at the wiring of his house.

He didn't need the director of photography anymore that day on set, so he doing a use for him.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:01 PM (Jj43a)

405 Can you say auteur? Will we ever see a Kubrick again? I can't think of a director who oversaw everything in his flicks in the same detail.

He may be the best at using music. 2001 would be my pick here.

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 09:01 PM (pV/54)

406 >> Art Bell disappeared into Mel's hole.

We should have a solemn burial in Mel's Hole ceremony. All standing at attention as the casket is slowly lowered in the mouth. And then dropped.

I don't know if recordings of that are available easy, but the Mel Hole's saga was one of the top Art Bell programs.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Rapscallion of a Poperin Pear at April 14, 2018 09:01 PM (8O3HH)

407 Can't recommend DEATH OF STALIN enough, if you like that type of humor COMRADE DETECTIVE is in the same. He has to find smugglers of Jeans and he can't understand why people want Blue Jeans because the State provides everything you need. It's on Amazon Prime.

I watched the new trailer for Sicerio 2 and I don't think it's going to be as good because Del Toro or the US kills someone's family and a girl is a witness and Josh Brolin wants her dead, Del Toro says No. Which makes ZERO sense if you watched the first movie.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 14, 2018 09:02 PM (dKiJG)

408 The episode where Rory pretends he is disabled at the theater is pure gold. (Season 2, Episode 1, I think).
Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at April 14, 2018 08:58 PM (8iiMU)

BTW the actress they meet after the show is Moss' IRL wife.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 14, 2018 09:02 PM (y87Qq)

409 405 Can you say auteur? Will we ever see a Kubrick again? I can't think of a director who oversaw everything in his flicks in the same detail.

He may be the best at using music. 2001 would be my pick here.
Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 09:01 PM (pV/54)

======

Paul Thomas Anderson?

Chris Nolan?

May I even suggest David Gordon Green?

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:03 PM (Jj43a)

410 Ignoramus, I wonder that too. I kind of doubt it, but I'm hopeful.

Supposedly the most Kubrick flick made since Stanley himself died, is There Will Be Blood.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:03 PM (eMKNe)

411 Anyone know if Downfall is on Netflix? I may watch it again since I'm in the middle of Toland's Adolf Hitler.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 09:03 PM (kLBhp)

412 I saw John Wick for the first time last week. I'm quite disappointed the second one appears to be so bad, the first was a very fun action movie.

Posted by: Inspector Cussword at April 14, 2018 09:03 PM (c1VpD)

413 388 Speaking of screenwriters, I saw a very funny Woody Allen movie last week, called "Love And Death". Parody of Russian novels. A neurotic Russian soldier named Boris is dragged into a ridiculous plot to assassinate Napoleon.

The plot is just there to showcase the jokes. I like this kind of comedy. Good old-fashioned jokes. It's not situational, it's not ironic (except in a broad, vaudevillian kind of way ). Doesn't try to be more than just funny.
Posted by: Hands at April 14, 2018 08:56 PM (EzdLW)

That was from his earlier funnier period.

I like the duel scene. Boris' opponent fired first and hit him in the left arm. You see a splash of red on his sleeve. He gives a speech about how he can't kill the now defenseless man, and fires straight up in the air.

A second later you see a splash of blood on his right arm.

Posted by: rickl at April 14, 2018 09:03 PM (sdi6R)

414 TJM beat me to it. PTA has been called the next Stan.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:03 PM (eMKNe)

415 411 Anyone know if Downfall is on Netflix? I may watch it again since I'm in the middle of Toland's Adolf Hitler.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 09:03 PM (kLBhp)

=====

I honestly think that that movie may be the best World War II movie ever made.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:04 PM (Jj43a)

416 Supposedly the most Kubrick flick made since Stanley himself died, is There Will Be Blood.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:03 PM (eMKNe)

I thought that movie was awful.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 14, 2018 09:04 PM (8gDQu)

417 411 Anyone know if Downfall is on Netflix? I may watch it again since I'm in the middle of Toland's Adolf Hitler.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 09:03 PM (kLBhp)

=====

I honestly think that that movie may be the best World War II movie ever made.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:04 PM (Jj43a)

=====

Aside from The Thin Red Line, that is.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:05 PM (Jj43a)

418
I remember reading an article about that Area 51 plane bit. They did some detailed analysis of the audio, and I think I remember they detected faint background sounds that just wouldn't be heard in an airplane, and thus wasn't real.

The guy ought to win an Oscar for that, because it was one a hell of a performance.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Rapscallion of a Poperin Pear at April 14, 2018 09:05 PM (8O3HH)

419

Outstanding evaluation, TJM... and Barry Lyndon! I agree totally. His 2 best works are 2001 and Barry Lyndon, which doesn't get the love it deserves.

Posted by: otho at April 14, 2018 09:05 PM (7xR2D)

420 416 Supposedly the most Kubrick flick made since Stanley himself died, is There Will Be Blood.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:03 PM (eMKNe)

I thought that movie was awful.
Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 14, 2018 09:04 PM (8gDQu)

=====

Because you're wrong!!!!!!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:05 PM (Jj43a)

421 419

Outstanding evaluation, TJM... and Barry Lyndon! I agree totally. His 2 best works are 2001 and Barry Lyndon, which doesn't get the love it deserves.
Posted by: otho at April 14, 2018 09:05 PM (7xR2D)
======

*Tips hat*

Thank you, sir.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:06 PM (Jj43a)

422 Because you're wrong!!!!!!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:05 PM (Jj43a)

Did you actually like that movie?

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 14, 2018 09:07 PM (8gDQu)

423 Sterling Hayden may have leaned left, but he left Hollywood to join the Marines in WWII and became a proto-Green Beret, acting as a commando and organizer of the Resistance in Yugoslavia.

He did a great job as Winnie the Pooh!

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at April 14, 2018 09:07 PM (kLBhp)

424 422 Because you're wrong!!!!!!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:05 PM (Jj43a)

Did you actually like that movie?
Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 14, 2018 09:07 PM (8gDQu)

=====

The height of filmmaking in 2009. You better believe it.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:08 PM (Jj43a)

425 Primordial, I did like TWBB.

It helps that it's beyond obvious, no one is supposed to *like* Daniel Plainview.

And Stan himself would have loved the very ending, I think.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:08 PM (eMKNe)

426 346 A Clockwork Orange is my favorite Kubrick. Prescient.

Word is that Kubrick got the novel not long after it came out but couldn't get past the Nadsat slang language. Years later he got a glossary and loved it.
Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 08:47 PM (pV/54)

Really? I wonder what his problem was? I read Clockwork Orange and then saw the glossary at the end of the book.

You can pick up most of the slang words from context and repetition. I didn't think it was all that difficult. And I was in high school at the time.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader & Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine at April 14, 2018 09:10 PM (xlCXC)

427 Steel rain was different on Netflix interesting spin on a new war North Korea or a coup in North Korea.

I really also enjoyed the show erased it's a murder mystery time travel show where the main protagonist is transported back to himself as a 10-year-old boy and he tries to prevent the murder of one of his classmates.

My Hero Academia In my opinion is probably the best superhero show out there right now no SJW crap just to well don't show and you actually route for the main character

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 14, 2018 09:10 PM (dKiJG)

428 It would be interesting to see a Venn diagram of people who enjoy reading Cormac McCarthy and people who enjoyed watching There Will Be Blood.

I'm betting it's one big circle.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - FBI = Porn Star > School Shooter at April 14, 2018 09:10 PM (LV5XU)

429 Seems like There Will Be Blood was the closest the movie thread has ever come to longbow/crossbow levels of polarization last time it got brought up.

Posted by: Sjg at April 14, 2018 09:10 PM (gDSJf)

430 425 Primordial, I did like TWBB.

It helps that it's beyond obvious, no one is supposed to *like* Daniel Plainview.

And Stan himself would have loved the very ending, I think.
Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:08 PM (eMKNe)

======

I like to imagine that Kubrick would have hated everything anyone assumed he would have loved, and that his favorite movie of the last decade would have been The Hangover Part 2.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:10 PM (Jj43a)

431 A little OT whining. It's half way through April and we got 8+ inches of snow today. When I was young I thought moving south was for pussies. Today I'm thinking maybe I was just a retard.

Posted by: X-ray at April 14, 2018 09:10 PM (TGrKk)

432 And Stan himself would have loved the very ending, I think.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:08 PM (eMKNe)

The ending was one of the worst parts about it. "Pointless" doesn't even begin to describe it.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 14, 2018 09:10 PM (8gDQu)

433 428 It would be interesting to see a Venn diagram of people who enjoy reading Cormac McCarthy and people who enjoyed watching There Will Be Blood.

I'm betting it's one big circle.
Posted by: Moron Robbie - FBI = Porn Star > School Shooter at April 14, 2018 09:10 PM (LV5XU)

=====

Count me as on both circles, then.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:11 PM (Jj43a)

434
Here's the famous plane into Area 51 audio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3PLzUWmmo4

Posted by: publius, Rascally Rapscallion of a Poperin Pear at April 14, 2018 09:12 PM (8O3HH)

435 Count me as on both circles, then.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:11 PM (Jj43a)

---

Same here.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - FBI = Porn Star > School Shooter at April 14, 2018 09:12 PM (LV5XU)

436 I watched the new trailer for Sicerio 2 and I don't think it's going to be as good because Del Toro or the US kills someone's family and a girl is a witness and Josh Brolin wants her dead, Del Toro says No. Which makes ZERO sense if you watched the first movie.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 14, 2018 09:02 PM (dKiJG)

++++

Sure it does. Del Toro killed the two boys in the original for two reasons. First, revenge. The drug kingpin had killed his family, so Del Toro killed the kingpin's family right in front of him. Secondly, a message to the cartels. If they kill the good guys' families, they can expect the same for their own.

Based on your description, in the sequel, Del Toro wasn't willing to kill an innocent child just because she might talk.

And, regarding Blunt, she is different first because she was an adult and secondly, he didn't actually kill her. He threatened it, but he may have been bluffing.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at April 14, 2018 09:13 PM (pvjTE)

437
Yeah the ending of 2001 was supposed to cover something that is beyond human comprehension. How do you convey something that is supposed to be impossible to understand? Like he ended up doing it.

Posted by: otho at April 14, 2018 09:13 PM (7xR2D)

438 Primordial, really?

I think what PTA was trying to say at the end was, greed and hypocrisy are both execrable, but when it comes to committing outright violence against other people throughout history, greed always wins.

TJM, LOL. Stan liked White Men Can't Jump, so who knows.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:13 PM (eMKNe)

439 If you're Kubrick and you've got hundreds of books people push on you, I can see dropping Clockwork if you don't get past the first pages.

I read it and used the glossary. It was like training wheels, as I needed it less and less as I got along.

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 09:13 PM (pV/54)

440 431; eight inches is just teaser here. the forecast is 1-2" per hour until sometime sunday night. fucking awesome.

Posted by: chavez the hugo at April 14, 2018 09:13 PM (KP5rU)

441 A little OT whining. It's half way through April and
we got 8+ inches of snow today. When I was young I thought moving south
was for pussies. Today I'm thinking maybe I was just a retard.

Posted by: X-ray at April 14, 2018 09:10 PM (TGrKk)

I was shoveling ice off my paved sector of driveway today, and there's a ginormous puddle where snow melt is pooling in a low area of the gravel drive. Still over a foot of snow in parts of the yard.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 09:14 PM (vUFR0)

442 I miss snow and blizzards and all that.

I need a place in the mountains.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at April 14, 2018 09:15 PM (xJa6I)

443 Speaking of old movies, anyone remember Mondo Cane? It was supposed to be quite shocking in its day, but had a very cool theme tune that became a hit record.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 09:17 PM (vUFR0)

444 The ending was one of the worst parts about it. "Pointless" doesn't even begin to describe it.
Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 14, 2018 09:10 PM (8gDQu)

Yeah, I have never been a fan of empty, evil, vain people doing empty, evil and vain things.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 09:17 PM (SKt1u)

445 I think what PTA was trying to say at the end was, greed and hypocrisy are both execrable, but when it comes to committing outright violence against other people throughout history, greed always wins.

I think you read WAY too much into that.

TJM, LOL. Stan liked White Men Can't Jump, so who knows.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:13 PM (eMKNe)

White Men Can't Jump was a really fun movie.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 14, 2018 09:17 PM (8gDQu)

446 431; eight inches is just teaser here.

Go on.

Posted by: Sandra F. - now with more of me to love at April 14, 2018 09:18 PM (sXefu)

447 Yeah, I have never been a fan of empty, evil, vain people doing empty, evil and vain things.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 09:17 PM (SKt1u)

If that was it then why hadn't he done anything like that for his entire life through the rest of the movie?

The ending just came out of nowhere, and for no reason. Sure, it's possible that such a thing could certainly happen in real life .... but you wouldn't write a book or make a friggin movie about it.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 14, 2018 09:19 PM (8gDQu)

448 Art Bell kept me up many nights as a teenager and older. He was a legend. Here is my personal favorite moment, shared by others, of the man calling in while flying over Area 51. I won't spoil it, but it's very worth tye 10 minutes.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U3PLzUWmmo4

Posted by: Monk at April 14, 2018 09:19 PM (h+FFJ)

449 Sure it does. Del Toro killed the two boys in the original for two reasons. First, revenge. The drug kingpin had killed his family, so Del Toro killed the kingpin's family right in front of him. Secondly, a message to the cartels. If they kill the good guys' families, they can expect the same for their own.

Based on your description, in the sequel, Del Toro wasn't willing to kill an innocent child just because she might talk.

And, regarding Blunt, she is different first because she was an adult and secondly, he didn't actually kill her. He threatened it, but he may have been bluffing.
Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at April 14, 2018 09:13 PM (pvjTE

I get why he didn't kill her, she wasn't a Wolf and he got what he wanted and she wouldn't kill an unarmed man.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 14, 2018 09:20 PM (dKiJG)

450 422
Because you're wrong!!!!!!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:05 PM (Jj43a)

Did you actually like that movie?

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 14, 2018 09:07 PM (8gDQu)

Re: There Will Be Blood
I think I liked it.
I will have to watch it again, and reevaluate.
Generally, if a movie remains in my mind for days (or more), because it was disturbing, fascinating, or whatever, then I put it in the 'good' category. Not necessarily because it made me feel 'good', but because it had some sort of impact on me.
Like "Eraserhead". WHAT THE FVCK WAS THAT?!?
First time watching it, I think the flickering lights and droning soundtrack gave me a migraine. LOL.

I love David Lynch.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at April 14, 2018 09:21 PM (8iiMU)

451 The ending just came out of nowhere, and for no reason. Sure, it's possible that such a thing could certainly happen in real life .... but you wouldn't write a book or make a friggin movie about it.
Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 14, 2018 09:19 PM (8gDQu)

I think the answer is supposed to be "Because it's shocking!" Kind of.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 09:21 PM (SKt1u)

452 White Men Can't Jump is a tragically underrated films.

Posted by: Monk at April 14, 2018 09:21 PM (h+FFJ)

453 450
I love David Lynch.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at April 14, 2018 09:21 PM (8iiMU)

=====

You're not actually Jay Bauman, are you?

That would make my day...

RedLetterMedia...

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:22 PM (Jj43a)

454 White Men Can't Jump is a tragically underrated films.

Posted by: Monk at April 14, 2018 09:21 PM (h+FFJ)

Almost as good as "Black Men Can't Swim."

Posted by: Whatever (not Ever) at April 14, 2018 09:23 PM (sXefu)

455
White Men Can't Jump is a tragically underrated films.

Posted by: Monk at April 14, 2018 09:21 PM (h+FFJ)

Curious, ain't it? If you made a movie called "Black Men Can't Do Calculus", you would be denounced as a horrible racist.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 09:24 PM (vUFR0)

456 If you talk about the new SOLO movie the real name is SOYLO.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 14, 2018 09:24 PM (dKiJG)

457 456 If you talk about the new SOLO movie the real name is SOYLO.
Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 14, 2018 09:24 PM (dKiJG)

IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE THE LEAD ACTOR LOOKS LIKE A SOY-BOY NANCY MAN-CHILD!

Posted by: Ben Rothelisburger at April 14, 2018 09:25 PM (SKt1u)

458 454 White Men Can't Jump is a tragically underrated films.

Posted by: Monk at April 14, 2018 09:21 PM (h+FFJ)

Almost as good as "Black Men Can't Swim."
Posted by: Whatever (not Ever) at April 14, 2018 09:23 PM (sXefu)

Also known as GETTO LOBSTERS

Posted by: LOL at April 14, 2018 09:26 PM (dKiJG)

459 456 If you talk about the new SOLO movie the real name is SOYLO.
Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 14, 2018 09:24 PM (dKiJG)

=====

Gonna be honest:

I think the trailers make it look like the movie could be quite fun.

I hope it's fun. I don't want to be miserable watching it.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:26 PM (Jj43a)

460 I liked TWBB okay, but I didn't rush out to see it when it played again a couple of months ago.

http://moviegique.com/index.php/2008/01/30/oil-milkshakes/

I think you really have to go in understanding that the "blood" is oil, and the premise is that drilling it is evil. (This is a simplification, but not much.)

Posted by: moviegique at April 14, 2018 09:26 PM (CcUfv)

461 Lol....no. have communicating with him about the cinco de Quattro Colorado Morondevous and I can't remember her name. AARGH!

Posted by: westminsterdogshow........GNAMM ette at April 14, 2018 09:27 PM (mMeIQ)

462 White Men Can't Jump is a tragically underrated films.

Posted by: Monk at April 14, 2018 09:21 PM (h+FFJ)

I was just ahead of the times.

Posted by: Jimmy the Greek at April 14, 2018 09:27 PM (TGrKk)

463 You're not actually Jay Bauman, are you?

That would make my day...

RedLetterMedia...

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:22 PM (Jj43a)

LOL, no.

Just a regular Moron.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at April 14, 2018 09:27 PM (8iiMU)

464 I hope it's fun. I don't want to be miserable watching it.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:26 PM (Jj43a)

I would hope so too, but I kind of look at it as about as likely as the Pope Francis announcing his retirement and the reinstatement of Benedict.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 09:27 PM (SKt1u)

465 I get why he didn't kill her, she wasn't a Wolf and he got what he wanted and she wouldn't kill an unarmed man.
Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 14, 2018 09:20 PM (dKiJG)

Speaking of which, I don't get why people complain about how her character was ineffectual and didn't accomplish anything and was along for the ride. That's the whole point. It's not deep or complicated or anything, and I think they did a brilliant job at making her seem superfluous. I wouldn't be surprised if they hired a speech coach to train her to swear awkwardly and unconvincingly.

Posted by: hogmartin at April 14, 2018 09:28 PM (y87Qq)

466 Curious, ain't it? If you made a movie called "Black Men Can't Do Calculus", you would be denounced as a horrible racist.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 09:24 PM (vUFR0)

Ahem, the correct title is "Black Women Do the Calculus that Other Americans Won't Do"

Posted by: Sjg at April 14, 2018 09:28 PM (gDSJf)

467 moviegique, from what I gleaned from TWBB, oil was just a means to an end for the story.

There's nothing depicted in the movie that claims oil destroys the earth, for instance.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:28 PM (eMKNe)

468 I think the trailers make it look like the movie could be quite fun.

I hope it's fun. I don't want to be miserable watching it.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:26 PM (Jj43a)

That's why they make trailers. To suck you in.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 09:28 PM (vUFR0)

469 Plainview's final jump to murder is shocking but it's on a par, from a narrative standpoint, with the reveal of Dorian Gray's portrait. It does make sense.

Posted by: moviegique at April 14, 2018 09:28 PM (CcUfv)

470 459 456 If you talk about the new SOLO movie the real name is SOYLO.
Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 14, 2018 09:24 PM (dKiJG)

=====

Gonna be honest:

I think the trailers make it look like the movie could be quite fun.

I hope it's fun. I don't want to be miserable watching it.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:26 PM (Jj43a)

We shall see if Opie can save it, I don't have high hopes.

Posted by: Patrick from Ohio at April 14, 2018 09:28 PM (dKiJG)

471 366
If you take the letters in HAN (Solo) and move them by one letter, you get IBM IBO.

FIFY

Weird.

Non-linear thinking. Try it sometime.

Posted by: stumck at April 14, 2018 09:29 PM (IpZ/y)

472 moviegique, yup.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:29 PM (eMKNe)

473 463 LOL, no.

Just a regular Moron.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at April 14, 2018 09:27 PM (8iiMU)

=====

Probably better than Jay anyway. You come here, first of all.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:29 PM (Jj43a)

474
I remember reading something, an account about a SEAL team during the First Gulf War. They had infiltrated into Iraq before it started, and were waiting to be given the order to take some communication lines and that sort of thing.

Right before the attack, they'll be given the order and start messing things up as the first wave comes in.

Now, they were in some concealed position, hiding. And some little kid playing happened to stumble on their position and discover them. Per the rules, they should've killed him -- not jokiing, but who is gonna kill a little kid like that. Were it an adult, they would've smoked him.

They just let him go. And they regretted it, as the kid told, IIRC.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Rapscallion of a Poperin Pear at April 14, 2018 09:29 PM (8O3HH)

475
Lol....no. have communicating with him about the cinco de Quattro Colorado Morondevous and I can't remember her name. AARGH!

Posted by: westminsterdogshow........GNAMM ette at April 14, 2018 09:27 PM (mMeIQ)

Mrs. Spiff?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 09:29 PM (vUFR0)

476 459 456 If you talk about the new SOLO movie the real name is SOYLO.
Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 14, 2018 09:24 PM (dKiJG)

=====

Gonna be honest:

I think the trailers make it look like the movie could be quite fun.

I hope it's fun. I don't want to be miserable watching it.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:26 PM (Jj43a)

Post a review, please.

I'm skipping it unless it's a raving success.

I am just about done with Star Wars. And it makes me sick just to say that. I was the biggest Star Wars fan imaginable. I made up lyrics to the John Williams theme when I was eight...AND I sang them to my family. But after the last three...I'm ashamed to be a fan.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at April 14, 2018 09:30 PM (xJa6I)

477 I think the answer is supposed to be "Because it's shocking!" Kind of.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 09:21 PM (SKt1u)

I'm sure the director (or writer or whomever) thought so.

And why do you say that the guy was a vain, empty, evil man? He took care of that kid when he didn't have to. He tried to teach him the ropes. He didn't owe that kid anything - or his father - but he tried to raise the kid as his own, anyway. He took care of him after he was hurt, too. It wasn't his fault the kid was a loser.

And I don't see what other part of the movie made you think he was evil. He was an oil man. He was a good businessman. Maybe I'm forgetting some terrible things he did but I really don't recall anything far outside of normal business. He cut the people in for the shares they signed for. He didn't rip anyone off (not that I can recall). What did he do that was so bad?

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 14, 2018 09:30 PM (8gDQu)

478 I'm surprised that no one mentioned that special lens Kubrick had developed for Barry Lyndon. It allowed him to film by candlelight and it has an interesting effect.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 14, 2018 08:58 PM

Indeed. But I must add that BL was much more than it's fantastic style. It's a powerful film about people.

Posted by: otho at April 14, 2018 09:30 PM (7xR2D)

479 470
We shall see if Opie can save it, I don't have high hopes.
Posted by: Patrick from Ohio at April 14, 2018 09:28 PM (dKiJG)

=====

Opie has chops.

Made Apollo 13 and Rush.

He could pull it off.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:30 PM (Jj43a)

480 474
I remember reading something, an account about a SEAL team during the First Gulf War. They had infiltrated into Iraq before it started, and were waiting to be given the order to take some communication lines and that sort of thing.

Right before the attack, they'll be given the order and start messing things up as the first wave comes in.

Now, they were in some concealed position, hiding. And some little kid playing happened to stumble on their position and discover them. Per the rules, they should've killed him -- not jokiing, but who is gonna kill a little kid like that. Were it an adult, they would've smoked him.

They just let him go. And they regretted it, as the kid told, IIRC.
Posted by: publius, Rascally Rapscallion of a Poperin Pear at April 14, 2018 09:29 PM (8O3HH)

Same thing happened in Afganistan, the 'Sole Survivor' story.

Mercy is rewarded with the death of your friends.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at April 14, 2018 09:31 PM (xJa6I)

481 455
White Men Can't Jump is a tragically underrated films.

Posted by: Monk at April 14, 2018 09:21 PM (h+FFJ)

Curious, ain't it? If you made a movie called "Black Men Can't Do Calculus", you would be denounced as a horrible racist.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 09:24 PM (vUFR0)

That movie and Micheal Jordan were huge influences on me. I sucked at basketball as a kid but I practiced everyday for hours at night to get better. I got good enough to play highschool ball and be decent. I also became good enough to go to the Eastside and play pickup games. Built up my confidence from 8th grade on. O couldn't dunk, and never could. But I was quick, had handles, could create space, and shoot.

I don't see role models for men today in sports or entertainment movies..... well nothing like White Men Can't Jump and Micheal Jordan.

Posted by: Monk at April 14, 2018 09:32 PM (h+FFJ)

482 Lol AOP

Posted by: westminsterdogshow........GNAMM ette at April 14, 2018 09:32 PM (mMeIQ)

483

It's in the title. "There Will Be Blood". It's gonna happen.

Posted by: otho at April 14, 2018 09:32 PM (7xR2D)

484 Primordial, Plainview keeps getting more and more amoral as the movie goes on, as I recall. The point is how greed twists people's minds up.

Right before the final scene, he disowns his son.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:33 PM (eMKNe)

485 qdpsteve--

Yes, but the movie makes no sense otherwise. In the annals of movie history, a "gusher" is accompanied by triumphalist movie, because it's an exciting thing and as palpable a measure of success as one can display on the big screen.

In this movie, it's morose, darkly lit, atonal music screeching on strings.

It's not just that Plainview is evil, it's that everything he does is evil, and he identifies as oil. "I'm an oil man..." It also seems to corrupt everyone else.

That may or may not have been the intention, but that is what's actually there on screen.

Posted by: moviegique at April 14, 2018 09:33 PM (CcUfv)

486 Speaking of which, I don't get why people complain about how her character was ineffectual and didn't accomplish anything and was along for the ride. That's the whole point. It's not deep or complicated or anything, and I think they did a brilliant job at making her seem superfluous. I wouldn't be surprised if they hired a speech coach to train her to swear awkwardly and unconvincingly.
Posted by: hogmartin at April 14, 2018 09:28 PM (y87Qq)

That final scene with her and Del Toro, made me understand why she was written the way she was and I thought it was an amazing piece of film making. Through out the movie I thought she was so annoying and useless then bang, I understand why.

Posted by: Patrick from Ohio at April 14, 2018 09:33 PM (dKiJG)

487 476 Post a review, please.

I'm skipping it unless it's a raving success.

I am just about done with Star Wars. And it makes me sick just to say that. I was the biggest Star Wars fan imaginable. I made up lyrics to the John Williams theme when I was eight...AND I sang them to my family. But after the last three...I'm ashamed to be a fan.
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at April 14, 2018 09:30 PM (xJa6I)

=====

I'll negotiate with real life when I can see it. (Glimpse: Dolley and I live 8 hours from the closest relative and have a four year old son.)

Also, my opinion of The Last Jedi is... Unpopular around here.

I'll be inviting a shitstorm, most likely.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:33 PM (Jj43a)

488 I thought the original Solo movie was good. Kinda cheesy but the overall story was told well. And telling a story is kinda the point.

Posted by: X-ray at April 14, 2018 09:34 PM (TGrKk)

489 Hope Solo is watchable!

Posted by: Joe Biden at April 14, 2018 09:34 PM (JHwDP)

490 Also, my opinion of The Last Jedi is... Unpopular around here.

I'll be inviting a shitstorm, most likely.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:33 PM (Jj43a)

Isn't that one of the purposes of a movie thread?

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at April 14, 2018 09:35 PM (xJa6I)

491 Right before the final scene, he disowns his son.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:33 PM (eMKNe)

From my memory the son was the one who wanted no part of the business. It was something like that. The kid wanted to run away with some girl or something and Daniel Day Lewis had finally had enough of the loser. That kid was a huge disappointment.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 14, 2018 09:35 PM (8gDQu)

492 You're not actually Jay Bauman, are you?

That would make my day...

RedLetterMedia...
Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:22 PM (Jj43a)
---
I'll talk about Star Trek ad nauseum, and if he goes into a catatonic state we'll know it's Jay.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 09:36 PM (qJtVm)

493 movieguiqe, fair enough. But IMHO the gusher is a 'tragic' event, because it's the beginning of the end for Plainview's soul, as it were.

Super-simplistic thought exercise: Let's imagine a historical drama was made about Hitler's mother, debating whether she and her husband can afford to have Adolf, or if she should get an abortion.

She decides, as history shows us, NOT to get the abortion. Good or bad turn of events for humanity? Hmmm...

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:36 PM (eMKNe)

494 Watching the SOLO trailer, it struck me as a combo western/gangster movie with a Star Wars overlay. That was my first impression.

Then, I thought, "Shit, Disney is doing this. It might suck really hard."

It *might* be a good movie. It *could* be a good movie. However, I'm afraid of all the 'check marks' that will have to be ticked off, and am afraid it will simply screw up the story.

Having said that, I'll probably see it, but not on the first Thursday midnight showing.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at April 14, 2018 09:36 PM (8iiMU)

495 They just let him go. And they regretted it, as the kid told, IIRC.
Posted by: publius, Rascally Rapscallion of a Poperin Pear at April 14, 2018 09:29 PM (8O3HH)

I think this is one of those instances where you have to be able to live with yourself- even if it means you might die. It is a rough question since you might end up endangering more than just your own life. Glad I have never had to make a call like that.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 09:37 PM (SKt1u)

496 I suppose it is time to confess to the most shameful episode of my adolescent life. It was my senior high school prom, and I thought I had a date, and she backed out, probably because I was such a loser.

But I didn't want to admit to my family and others that I couldn't go to the prom because I had no date, and my mom had made a big deal about it. So I got dressed up and went out - and went to a late night showing of 2001 that was playing in a theatre that night.

I really did enjoy the movie - a lot more than I would have enjoyed some stupid prom.

well that's my high school life in a nutshell.

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 14, 2018 09:37 PM (V2Yro)

497 ONT is nood.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 09:38 PM (SKt1u)

498 490
Isn't that one of the purposes of a movie thread?

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at April 14, 2018 09:35 PM (xJa6I)

======

A quirk about me:

I don't get into arguments unless I know I'm going to win.

I don't feel that about The Last Jedi yet. I could do it all day about Rogue One, but The Last Jedi needs more time.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:38 PM (Jj43a)

499 Opie has chops.

Made Apollo 13 and Rush.

He could pull it off.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:30 PM (Jj43a)

More than you can ever know!

Posted by: Helen Crump at April 14, 2018 09:39 PM (sXefu)

500 Primordial, what I remember is his son signing (because he's deaf and can't talk) to his father, that he's going into the oil business as well. Then Daniel snorts and says to him, as if he's still five years old, "this makes you my COM-PET-IT-TOR."

When the son tries to say "it isn't like that," Daniel throws him out of his office, his home and his life.

IMHO the son wasn't the loser, Daniel was.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:39 PM (eMKNe)

501 492 You're not actually Jay Bauman, are you?

That would make my day...

RedLetterMedia...
Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:22 PM (Jj43a)
---
I'll talk about Star Trek ad nauseum, and if he goes into a catatonic state we'll know it's Jay.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 09:36 PM (qJtVm)

=====

Ha!!!!

So true...

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:39 PM (Jj43a)

502 I feel bad for the Star Wars people.

I thought the original was boring. Loved Empire. Meh about Jedi. Saw the (increasingly dull) prequels because my boy was the right age. Never really cared much.

But it was clear that a lot of people between Jedi and Phantom poured in a ton of creative energy into that universe and the property owners have been just dumping on that since 1999.

A smart person would've curated the best of the "universe" and cultivated something other than "mining the first three movies for lines that haven't been fleshed out into feature films yet".

Posted by: moviegique at April 14, 2018 09:39 PM (CcUfv)

503 I once heard that upon watching HAL kill Frank Poole in the movie, Isaac Asimov jumped up and shouted, "That violates the First Law of Robotics!" I doubt he actually did that, but it makes for a funny story.

Posted by: j at April 14, 2018 09:40 PM (cENgq)

504 Gonna be honest:

I think the trailers make it look like the movie could be quite fun.

I hope it's fun. I don't want to be miserable watching it.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:26 PM (Jj43a)

Post a review, please.

I'm skipping it unless it's a raving success.

I am just about done with Star Wars. And it makes me sick just to say that. I was the biggest Star Wars fan imaginable. I made up lyrics to the John Williams theme when I was eight...AND I sang them to my family. But after the last three...I'm ashamed to be a fan.
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at April 14, 2018 09:30 PM (xJa6I)

My brother who i trust told me not to even bother watching the last Jedi. The things I've read just tell me I'm just glad I didn't bother with it. My nephew was really pissed about the anti religious rant by Yoda.

I'm still trying to figure out which characters I should even care about they killed everybody I liked.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 14, 2018 09:40 PM (dKiJG)

505 Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at April 14, 2018 09:31 PM (xJa6I)

Never understood if they didn't want to kill a civilian, why they just didn't tie them up and leave them. Probably should equip someone on the team with a knock out sedative. It cause whole team except one to be killed in Afghanistan.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at April 14, 2018 09:40 PM (2DOZq)

506 don't know if anyone mentioned it, but best homage to 2001 ever was in Farscape - Peacekeeper Wars. They did the final scenes marvelously.

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 14, 2018 09:41 PM (V2Yro)

507
"Rush".... now there's a movie. Not many films from the 21st century get my attention, but Rush is a standout.

Posted by: otho at April 14, 2018 09:41 PM (7xR2D)

508 TJM beat me to it. PTA has been called the next Stan.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:03 PM (eMKNe)

Oh, no not at all.

PTA has almost no facility for telling a story. Kubrick had that out the wazoo.

Now, one thing PTA does as well as Kubrick is framing a shot.

He's gifted as hell when doing that.

I saw "Inherent Vice" was on last night and started watching.

The storyline line was almost nonexistent (I know, I know, drugged up shaggy dog tale - The Big Lebowski did it better cuz the Coen's were interested in telling a story)

But, what kept me watching were the beautiful shots and scenes and transitions. Fabulous stuff.

Storytelling? Nope.

Ultimately, that's what made me give up after an hour.

But, I'll give it another shot.

"Hard Eight" and "Punch Drunk Love" are his best movies.

But, next Kubrick? No way.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 14, 2018 09:41 PM (9q7Dl)

509 >> Glad I have never had to make a call like that.

An Okinawa vet, "Ol' Red" as everyone called him, had to do stuff like that. The Japanese would wire up native women and children with explosives and send the right into our GIs.

Red call them "Geisha girls". And he had to mow them down. Little kids too. It weighed heavily on him.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Rapscallion of a Poperin Pear at April 14, 2018 09:41 PM (8O3HH)

510 Tom, still better than my experience.

I just stayed home and did homework.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:42 PM (eMKNe)

511 483

It's in the title. "There Will Be Blood". It's gonna happen.
Posted by: otho at April 14, 2018 09:32 PM (7xR2D)

The spoiler is right there in the title.

Posted by: rickl at April 14, 2018 09:42 PM (sdi6R)

512 naturalfake, I haven't seen those others. I doubt another filmmaker will ever have as great a track record as Stanley has, that's for sure.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:42 PM (eMKNe)

513 FARSCAPE is such an underrated show, loved how they used Puppets instead of the CGI crap you see today.

Posted by: Patrick from Ohio at April 14, 2018 09:44 PM (dKiJG)

514 Primordial, what I remember is his son signing (because he's deaf and can't talk) to his father, that he's going into the oil business as well. Then Daniel snorts and says to him, as if he's still five years old, "this makes you my COM-PET-IT-TOR."

I'll go with your recollection on this. And?

When the son tries to say "it isn't like that," Daniel throws him out of his office, his home and his life.

But it is like that. If your dad ran a clothing store and you told him that you weren't going into his business but were going to open clothing store, yourself, that would place you in direct competition with your father.

IMHO the son wasn't the loser, Daniel was.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:39 PM (eMKNe)

The son was a loser and a mjor disappointment for Daniel Day Lewis, who had really done everything he could to help and take care of the kid since his father had died. He took him everywhere with him, showed him stuff, treated him like his own son for all those years. ANd then kid comes up a cropper.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 14, 2018 09:44 PM (8gDQu)

515 TY OM.

I'm off to bed to try to recover from this damn cold.

Maybe see some you later when I wake up w/ insomnia. Be well you Morons.

Posted by: Farmer at April 14, 2018 09:44 PM (yJ1e6)

516 >>She decides, as history shows us, NOT to get the abortion. Good or bad turn of events for humanity? Hmmm...

But if you follow that line through, you end up placing the agency for evil on the birth itself. Maybe we should ALL have abortions so that there's never another Hitler!

Heh. I see your point and if I had gone to see it back in January (I did go see Hard Eight and Magnolia, which were terrific--but Boogie Nights was sold out) I might argue more but my feeling is that Plainview is evil from the get-go.

If he were really being corrupted, as opposed to simply expressing his innate corruption, the movie should've given him some moment that's genuinely good. He's quite opaque as a character, so I fall back on the music.

Posted by: moviegique at April 14, 2018 09:44 PM (CcUfv)

517 My brother who i trust told me not to even bother watching the last Jedi. The things I've read just tell me I'm just glad I didn't bother with it. My nephew was really pissed about the anti religious rant by Yoda.

I'm still trying to figure out which characters I should even care about they killed everybody I liked.
Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 14, 2018 09:40 PM (dKiJG)
---
FWIW, I don't think Yoda was against the Jedi order or religion, he was perhaps saying the order was getting ossified and they were observing the letter of the law and not the spirit -- hence "burning the books" (but not really).

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 09:45 PM (qJtVm)

518 517 ---
FWIW, I don't think Yoda was against the Jedi order or religion, he was perhaps saying the order was getting ossified and they were observing the letter of the law and not the spirit -- hence "burning the books" (but not really).
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at April 14, 2018 09:45

=====

Yoda actually watched the prequels. So did Luke.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:46 PM (Jj43a)

519 moviegique, you convinced me. Mandatory abortions for all! ;-)

As for Plainview, maybe he always was evil. I just don't recall where in the movie, that *oil itself* is or was the reason for him going that way. IMHO Plainview could have become a billionaire selling blood diamonds, for instance, and still turned out just as much an asshole.

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:48 PM (eMKNe)

520 HAL is a digital Ob+mao.
Posted by: torabora at April 14, 2018 08:57 PM (eMoUZ)

========

The uniparty and Obama are HAL.

David Trumpman: "HAL, I'm going to secure our borders and build the wall".

HAL: "I'm sorry, I can't let you do that, Dave".

We have an inhuman sociopathic asshole machine running the ship of state. We need to start desperately pulling translucent cubes out of their pigeon holes to shut down the machine.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at April 14, 2018 09:49 PM (/qEW2)

521 Steve, so the answer is to remove her higher-end brain cells and make Nancy Pelosi sing "Daisy"? ;-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:51 PM (eMKNe)

522 513 FARSCAPE is such an underrated show, loved how they used Puppets instead of the CGI crap you see today.
Posted by: Patrick from Ohio at April 14, 2018 09:44 PM (dKiJG)

*Fistbump.*

One of the best shows as far as music, character development and story ever to be on television.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 09:51 PM (SKt1u)

523
I don't think Plainview was evil. He had a very low tolerance for fools and assholes, though. Things eventually shook out the end. He was much more comfortable during the formative, building years... I think success was not good for him. He got into a rut and snapped. He wasn't a good person. He wasn't a bad person. He was just a person did something bad.... he spun out... and he knew it.

Posted by: otho at April 14, 2018 09:54 PM (7xR2D)

524 otho, hmmm

Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:54 PM (eMKNe)

525 I think this is one of those instances where you
have to be able to live with yourself- even if it means you might die.
It is a rough question since you might end up endangering more than just
your own life. Glad I have never had to make a call like that.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 09:37 PM (SKt1u)

Seems to me that "kill the kid" vs "let him go" is a false dichotomy. "Detail one guy to hold kid prisoner" (and perhaps weaken the mission, but not necessarily fatally), and "tie the little bastard up, and gag him" are also possible choices.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 09:56 PM (vUFR0)

526 Seems to me that "kill the kid" vs "let him go" is a false dichotomy. "Detail one guy to hold kid prisoner" (and perhaps weaken the mission, but not necessarily fatally), and "tie the little bastard up, and gag him" are also possible choices.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 14, 2018 09:56 PM (vUFR0)

Granted.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 09:58 PM (SKt1u)

527 Not when your mission is to stay hid for days. Someone will come looking for the missing kid,

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 09:59 PM (pV/54)

528 527 Not when your mission is to stay hid for days. Someone will come looking for the missing kid,
Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 09:59 PM (pV/54)

To play Devil's advocate: they'd come looking for a dead kid as well.

Posted by: Aetius451AD Work Laptop at April 14, 2018 10:03 PM (SKt1u)

529 Touche

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 14, 2018 10:04 PM (pV/54)

530
I wish I could remember the details, but IIRC, grabbing the kid and trying to hold him would have been just about impossible, and would have compromised the mission fatally most likely.

They were under heavy concealment, probably couldn't move or make a sound. And every man had some job to do. And no place to hold a kid, keep him quiet, etc.

Now, you want to make plans for something like that ahead of time, but they didn't.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Rapscallion of a Poperin Pear at April 14, 2018 10:08 PM (8O3HH)

531 I don't get into arguments unless I know I'm going to win.

I don't feel that about The Last Jedi yet. I could do it all day about Rogue One, but The Last Jedi needs more time.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at April 14, 2018 09:38 PM (Jj43a)

That doesn't mean you liked Rogue One does it?

I sincerely hope that's not what it means.

Because that movie was unadulterated, distilled, hot garbage.

Posted by: Sjg at April 14, 2018 10:18 PM (gDSJf)

532 Also annoyed at how gun control is a thing in the show
Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at April 14, 2018 08:48 PM (hMwEB)

Oh ffs. I'm not gonna bother then. I can't take any more of this asinine crap. I'll stick to old shows and read books. It's not fun to have them SJW everything. What a waste.

Posted by: prof disarray, gumdrop gorilla channel at April 14, 2018 10:22 PM (4Vu64)

533 Steve, so the answer is to remove her higher-end brain cells and make Nancy Pelosi sing "Daisy"? ;-)
Posted by: qdpsteve at April 14, 2018 09:51 PM (eMKNe)

========

I think nature has already done that. She's of use to the Democrat party, but only available in the "Weekend at Bernie's" stage.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at April 14, 2018 10:31 PM (/qEW2)

534 Dave and Frank were Siliconists!

Posted by: HAL 9000 at April 14, 2018 10:37 PM (OBeut)

535 I always thought the monolith was like the Holy Grail. I read a book about the grail legend, and it seemed to fit. It's what pushes man to discover new things, to seek the supreme value in life. To die and be reborn.

My two cents...

Posted by: PJ at April 15, 2018 01:18 AM (qlTN9)

536 I was a young teen when "2001" came out, and prior to that, the pinnacles of SF film design for spacecraft and interiors were things like "Star Trek" and "Lost in Space," which were mostly plywood with lights screwed into them for interiors, and smooth models for exteriors.

I first saw shots from "2001" in a magazine, possible "Popular Science," and the look of the film's spaceships and sets was so far ahead of anything I'd seen before, I was stunned.

After that, all the later spaceships were densely covered with patterns and model parts. It got to be a cliche to the point where a spaceship with a smooth exterior was the freak.

Posted by: MW at April 15, 2018 01:18 AM (wNx6K)

537 Having read the book, I really need to break down and watch "2001".

Posted by: CatchThirtyThr33 at April 15, 2018 02:15 AM (k9IT2)

538 I was exaggerating since Beria lived on after Stalin, but the fear was there immediately. He did something, can't remember what, that convinced the others he had to go. Something with Germany. Not that they needed any reasons, but it was enough to make their move.
Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at April 14, 2018 08:34 PM (4ErVI)

What ended it for Beria was the 17 June 1953 riots that, if it wasn't for Soviet intervention, would have killed East Germany. The country almost literally did not exist that day, things got so bad. The blame was put on Beria, who had no use for East Germany or its leadership (he called Ulbricht an "idiot" at one point).

Posted by: CatchThirtyThr33 at April 15, 2018 02:19 AM (k9IT2)

539 226 Red Storm Rising would make a great movie. George Cloony gets to play a Russian that Bruce Willis personally kills. Several times.
Posted by: torabora at April 14, 2018 08:13 PM (eMoUZ)

To this day that is my favorite novel. But I think the naval battles alone would be too much even for CGI.

Posted by: CatchThirtyThr33 at April 15, 2018 03:14 AM (k9IT2)

540 I saw 2001 in a theater when it first came out. My memory of the movie is that it was a flop commercially and that feeling is certainly borne out by my viewing of it.

I was the ONLY person in a large theater. It was AWESOME! My very own private screening.

Posted by: RobertM at April 15, 2018 06:25 AM (SSNxR)

541 I love how you go through this deeply philosophical exercise to discuss themes, character nuances, cinematography, et al, and the first movie in the "In Theaters" section is... Rampagee.

sigh.

Posted by: red speck at April 15, 2018 11:15 AM (OLaIa)

542 My mother was a book whore. She taught me to read
at an early age. I was reading at a second-grade level
when I entered Kindergarten. She used the time-tested
phonics method. By the time I was 14, I was reading
everything I could get my hands on, including her
hand-me-downs. From classic literature to contemporary
literature, and even some of her sappy romance novels.

The one downside to being a voracious reader was to
watch a movie after reading the book. A short list
would 2001 A Space Odyssey, MASH, Catch-22, The
Godfather, Jaws, The Carpetbaggers, Of Mice And Men,
etc. I was always disappointed with the movies because
they cannot capture all the details in the book. 2001
was the only movie that managed to get it mostly right.
I also read all three of the sequels and liked the movie
2010 The Year We Make Contact because I felt the movie
was a rare case where a sequel was better than the
original.

Posted by: Leonard Jones at April 15, 2018 03:16 PM (mxgwX)

543 Coincidentally, this past weekend I had the pleasure of meeting Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood at the Dallas Fan Expo. They were a delight with some good stories. Keir, though gray and winkled with age, basically looks the same. He related to me about doing a scene where he was sending a message back to mission control. It was full of "space jargon" that was meaningless to him so it took him a couple of months to get the scene memorized. They filmed it and later Kubrick cut it. To this day, as he demonstrated to me, he can still recite that scene perfectly.

Posted by: Brian448 at April 15, 2018 04:36 PM (vUETX)

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