Saturday Evening Movie Thread [moviegique]: Drive Away Dolls

Drive, don't walk, away from Drive-Away Dolls. Ha!

That's my best Jay Sherman impression, right there. Unfortunately, it also reflets my feelings about the freshman effort from newly brotherless Ethan Coen. The brothers split for no clear reason, and Joel's first solo project was the golf-clapped The Tragedy of MacBeth, which I didn't see, but which featured Joel's wife, the very talented if unlikely star Frances McDormand.

Turns out Ethan wanted to partner with his wife, editor Tricia Cooke, to make movies and she co-wrote the script for the film, which actually displays its title as "Henry James' Drive-Away Dykes". (Henry James is a theme of this film, but more on that in a moment.)

We got a Yoko situation goin' on, is what I'm sayin'. Or maybe even a Linda.

Ethan Coen wearing a mask in 2023

In the beginning, I found myself apologizing for the movie while I was watching it. It looks like a Coen-brothers knock-off. "I recognize that shot from Blood Simple. Oh, and there's one from Raising Arizona." And the film has a road trip with a couple of heavies, reminiscent of Fargo. There's also a sudden violent tonal shift a la Burn After Reading, not to mention a dildo-centric plot-point (also in Burn).

But, I rationalized, this is to be expected. It's going to be sort of like some other Coen movies, minus Joel's contributions.

After the first dozen of my "cheap Coen knock-off" defenses, I gave up. Because not only does this feel like a poorly considered rip-off of their earlier work, it's the most woke movie I've seen in a long time.

Critics, especially in the '90s, called the Coens' "cold". However, it wasn't that they were cold but that they wrote about a universe which was indifferent to man's passions, to his drama, to his ambitions—and his morality. Their movies always had something in common with great horror movies: Anyone could die at any moment (or substitute "be thwarted" for die when talking about a comedy).

You know, if you girls would just smile more...

But in a woke movie, women can't ever be imperiled, and lesbians might as well be from Krypton. You know there's no chance they'll die, nor are they ever convincingly in danger. (They're only in danger once, at the climax of the film, but that's a quick scene devoid of tension.)

So, it's maybe 30% as clever as a Coen movie, with 0% of the chance for surprise.

The premise is this: A promiscuous lesbian (Margaret Qualley, Poor Things) is thrown out of her former lover's (Beanie Feldstein, Lady Bird) apartment, and proposes a "drive-away" road trip with a more serious "platonic" friend (Geraldine Viswanathan) and, uh oh, by mistake they get a car that contains something in the trunk that some bad people want. (The actresses do a fine job but their characters are rather unpleasant, a persistent theme.)

So they drive the car to their destination, discovering the contents of trunk along the way, using these contents to blackmail the villain and even kill him with the help of the former lover.

Perils along the way? Uh, well, they're driving from the northeast to Tallahassee, so they have to drive through the Deep South. That's an obstacle, right? The police can just sense lesbians within their jurisdiction and hunt them for sport! (It's the repressive dark ages of 1998!)

Let's see. They're struggling with their emotions. The more conservative lesbian constantly flashes back to being a little girl and peeping on a beautiful neighbor woman. (The sort of vignette that's normally considered reprehensible in a hetero context, but hey: lesbians! There's a brief peeping scene in A Serious Man, and it plays havoc with the hero's life.)

You enjoy shots of women looking down and scowling, right?

There's an aggressive soccer team (who are all lesbians, of course) that threatens to make out with them.

A cop picks up the conservative lesbian for vagrancy. The other one (the manic-pixie-dream lesbian?) gets her out the next morning. It doesn't actually slow them up or present any real barrier.

There's a flat tire which reveals the MacGuffin to the girls. The implication is that they don't know how to change a tire, but it's immediately a non-problem when they discover the MacGuffin. There's no tension in the first half of the movie because they don't know about the MacGuffin and are never in proximity to the guys who do, and no tension after because they casually (and amorally) use it as leverage against the villains.

The two heavies? Well, the tougher of the two is easily dispatched when they go to former lover's house. The "smarter" one is beclowned by the soccer team. They never seem like a threat. They don't cross paths much with the girls. (Contrast with Fargo, where the clownish hitmen ae also constantly on the edge of violence.)

There's a lot of lesbian sex. In a Coen brothers movie (which this is not), sex is always played for laughs. No exceptions. Here, it's occasionally comic, occasionally serious, rather graphic and more respectful than anything.

The big struggle is internal. What is it? I don't know. The serious lesbian is struggling to get through Henry James' The Europeans. Why? I don't know. It's hard to imagine caring less about something.

I mean, if you love lesbians, maybe this is the movie for you? But Rolling Stone didn't like it, and they're all lesbians over there, especially the guys. I saw one review that claimed it was a good genre film, but I don't know what genre that would be. It's not a chase movie or a road movie. It's not really a romantic comedy or a caper.

The heavies.

The worst aspect of this—actually, there are so many bad aspects of this it's hard to pick a worst one—are the moments of near-Coen-ness.

There are "interstitials" of a sort that are extremely evocative of The Dude's psychedelic trips, for example. But these work in The Big Lebowski both as a character element (the dude has "the occasional acid flashback") and as a structural element (because the noir Lebowski references frequently had nightmare sequences when the hero was slipped a mickey).

Here, there are similar interstitials—dream sequences—where a hippie girl (Miley Cyrus, not looking totally off-putting for once) seduces a younger man. This does have a story connection, but until you learn it, it's just irritating. Whose memory/dream/hallucination is this? It's like someone saw The Big Lebowski and put this in without understanding the character and story aspects that made it work. Ironically, because this dream explains the plot, these elements could have been better integrated than TBL's Viking bowling women.

But that might have meant spending more time with the white, heterosexual Republican family values guy (Matt Damon). Ew.

Well, at least she's not scowling.

The climactic moment of the movie, arguably, is when the villain sits down to negotiate for the MacGuffin and says "Who are you?" and the sassy one replies, "We're Democrats."

Hail Caesar, which is the Coen bros roughest work since their studio pictures (Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers) and the only one of their movies where the protagonist (Josh Brolin, playing a highly romanticized version of Eddie Mannix) knows what's going on, has a shining gem of a scene.

Mannix is confronting Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) over his ties to the Communist Party, and Baird is regurgitating this Marxist claptrap, when Mannix starts slapping the crap out of him, telling him he should be grateful to the studio and that he's going to finish the movie and be grateful, and so on. It's beautifully in character and absolutely unexpected from a modern (2016) movie.

It's possible that the "grind" Joel references is increasing wokeness in Ethan. If so, that's tragic, as the two were always described as one-director-in-two-bodies, and the very "coldness" they had been criticized for in the past was an unswerving dedication to the principle that "Man plans, God laughs".

Perhaps Ethan and his wife are still struggling to find their voice. I wish them luck, but I will never know if they do. Rumors are that the brothers are getting back together for a project, but this movie was so lazy, I'm not sure even a reunion could get me back.

Curlie: The only likable character in the movie, and the only one with any sense of boundaries.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 06:22 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Evening.

Posted by: Robert at March 16, 2024 07:46 PM (96iV/)

2 Good evening everyone

Posted by: Skip at March 16, 2024 07:47 PM (fwDg9)

3 Heya, peeps.

Ob: Buy my books!

Exopreneurs #1: Silk Unspun
Exopreneurs #2: Foul Brood
Exopreneurs #3: Wingless (avail Apr 25)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJWYDNSN

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 07:50 PM (asXVI)

4 Saw this extended trailer when I saw Napoleon

Posted by: Skip at March 16, 2024 07:52 PM (fwDg9)

5 "There's a lot of lesbian sex."

Sold!

Posted by: Robert at March 16, 2024 07:53 PM (SaUDQ)

6 I don't know how much the Coens had to do with the most recent season of Fargo. But I had to quit. Way to girl boss woke.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at March 16, 2024 07:54 PM (15lwl)

7 Hail, Caesar! was the last Coen Brothers movie I saw. I remember really enjoying it.

Too bad they broke up. Sad.

Posted by: Robert at March 16, 2024 07:55 PM (SaUDQ)

8 Plus MovieSign!!!

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at March 16, 2024 07:55 PM (15lwl)

9 5 "There's a lot of lesbian sex."

Sold!
||

No, no, not the GOOD kind.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 07:56 PM (asXVI)

10 I'm not a Coen Brothers movie fan. I think Millers Crossing is the only one I half way like.

I'm even in the minority liking the original True Grit more and that was before I realized the remake was a Coen Brothers movie.

Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 07:58 PM (GzpNE)

11 So, Hollywood is basically making movies exclusively for themselves and the lefty critics. Good to know.

What year would you say Hollywood died?

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at March 16, 2024 07:59 PM (CHHv1)

12 What year would you say Hollywood died?
Posted by: BeckoningChasm

When was American Beauty? Probably that year. Just rancid.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at March 16, 2024 08:00 PM (15lwl)

13 I recently watched Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon of Time in America back to back. Leone is better when he has Clint in his movies.

Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 08:01 PM (GzpNE)

14 || What year would you say Hollywood died?

1948

No, actually, I recently was listening to someone who had it pinpointed. It was around the #metoo period. #metoo was used to eliminate all non-woke thought. It's how they got John Lasseter out of Disney, for example, to clear the way for such blockbusters as "Strange World" and "Wish".

The DEI stuff kicked in and Hollywood already was at a tipping point. Getting money to make "correct" movies has given them cover to not worry about actually making movies people want to see.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:02 PM (asXVI)

15 Finally saw Oppenheimer and was pleasantly surprised. So many familiar faces. Plus Florence Pugh's boobs. Which is a plus, if I'm not being clear.

Boy, did they hate Edward Teller.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at March 16, 2024 08:03 PM (15lwl)

16 I'd suggest a Saturday movie thread of the old Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies. There are about 13 of them of varying quality but all very watchable. All are available on YouTube.

Posted by: MAGA_Ken at March 16, 2024 08:03 PM (2fIO4)

17
What year would you say Hollywood died?
Posted by: BeckoningChasm

1968

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 16, 2024 08:04 PM (63Dwl)

18 1968
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr.

In 1968, Henry Fonda made (or released at least) Once Upon a Time in the West, Boston Strangler and Yours, Mine and Ours. Those are three VERY different movies.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at March 16, 2024 08:06 PM (15lwl)

19 Yesterday watched a YouTube movie from Vietnam, while didn't understand a word it was mostly a few women driving trucks on Highway 555 which assume was the Ho Chi Minh trail. Shame on 2 or 3 Communists died in it. The comments were all from Vietnam Communists

Posted by: Skip at March 16, 2024 08:06 PM (fwDg9)

20 When was American Beauty? Probably that year. Just rancid.||

Oh, no, if you go by "rancid Best Picture winners", you could easily go back to "Ordinary People".

And "American Beauty" was followed by "Gladiator" and "Lord of the Rings" for example.

But N.B. despite those being both huge hits and critical darlings, we can't get any more? We get a "Napoleon" movie that's about his sex life. We get a super-lame "Hobbit" and then nothing.

There's money just lying there and Hollywood doesn't want it.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:07 PM (asXVI)

21 The comments were all from Vietnam Communists
Posted by: Skip

Did John Kerry weigh in?

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at March 16, 2024 08:07 PM (15lwl)

22 Since this is a movie thread...

So I saw Pink Flamingos.

Okay, so Red Letter Media did a review and I was like, "Okay, sounds cool. I can give it a chance."

So I gave it a chance.

So, to be clear, I already knew this was the movie that featured a transvestite eating dog shit. I've known that little detail forever. I was prepared.

What I wasn't prepared for was the fact that it was straight up porn. That was a surprise! Couple having sex while strangling chickens was...uh...is that a kink? Is that a thing? I think a dude took a shit on camera. I'm not sure because when he exposed his gaping asshole to the camera I put my hand in front of me. Even I have limits. I even put my hand up when Divine ate the dog shit. But prior to that was when Divine, the aforementioned transvestite, blew the guy that played his son. And I don't mean it was intimated, I mean he's got the guy's dick in his mouth. Sooooooo not only porn but gay porn.

This film beat me. It utterly defeated me.

Posted by: Robert at March 16, 2024 08:07 PM (UmGZG)

23 I mentioned on yesterday's ONT that I watched a very nice 4K disk of "Beetlejuice." That's a tremendously fun and creative movie. The only flaw is that Alec Baldwin became a creep (at best) but he's kind of charming in this.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at March 16, 2024 08:07 PM (CHHv1)

24 In honor of ' The Godfather' that is what I'm watching

Posted by: Ben Had at March 16, 2024 08:08 PM (6ZY4c)

25 Yikes! Such an angry review...

Margaret Qualley is so good looking, I find it funny that the stills here seem to be showing her trying to do her best Kristen Stewart impersonation.

Which is fine. You had me at "a lot of lesbian sex."

So I'm gonna put this one on a list, right next to "Barbie." The people who seem maddest about these films, maybe there's something they're missing, so I will have to see it for myself, because the idea of an over the top lesbian buddy road movie might be quite a hoot, whether it's intentional or not.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 08:08 PM (QOpc8)

26 I wonder if the Coen brothers have a Lennon/McCartney, (or maybe more pointedly) Roger Waters/David Gilmore dynamic going on where they are so much better together than apart, but ultimately had to separate because the personality traits led to the inevitable split up.

Posted by: Lee (in KY) at March 16, 2024 08:10 PM (d66GD)

27 I used to like movies. When movies were fun, entertaining and worth the time and money to sit on my hairy ass and watch.

Then poof!, gone. All weird homo wacky shit with no basis in reality is all that comes outta hollyweird nowadays.

"Chuck And Buck" would win an Oscar today.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 16, 2024 08:11 PM (R/m4+)

28 "Pink Flamingos" sole point is to shock. It has no story, no characters, nothing other than a relentless desire to shock people.

It's like advertising. Once you realize it's supposed to provoke a reaction in you, it ceases to have any power and, in the case of "Pink Flamingos" it becomes what it always was: junk with nothing behind it.

The fact that John Waters is rated at all, let along overrated, shows that, as the gravedigger in Friday the 13th 6 says, "Some people have a strange idea of entertainment."

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at March 16, 2024 08:12 PM (CHHv1)

29 I'll stick to my DVD collection.

Posted by: Ben Had at March 16, 2024 08:13 PM (6ZY4c)

30 Speaking of unintentionally hilarious anti-woke crap, I'm gonna have to see The American Society of Magical Negroes at some point.

Come on, man. You can't even get past the title without realizing these people can't be serious. Apparently though, the worst thing about it is that it devolves into a romcom love triangle. And really, if it's that tone deaf, it's gotta be fun to watch, doesn't it?

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 08:13 PM (QOpc8)

31 "In 1968, Henry Fonda made (or released at least) Once Upon a Time in the West, Boston Strangler and Yours, Mine and Ours. Those are three VERY different movies."

Versatile actors are hard to find these days.

Posted by: Tuna at March 16, 2024 08:13 PM (oaGWv)

32 I suppose it came up as watch mostly history videos or movies, watched it as reading a book on Vietnam War

Posted by: Skip at March 16, 2024 08:13 PM (fwDg9)

33 I'll stick to my DVD collection.
Posted by: Ben Had

I've started watching a lot of old movies on YouTube. No woke.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at March 16, 2024 08:13 PM (15lwl)

34 Perhaps "we're Democrats" is the most important line n the movie. They are Democrats: amoral, nihilistic, humorless narcissistic psychopaths totally indifferent to the world outside of themselves.
Of course nothing unfamiliar is a problem, they're Democrats.
Of course nothing is really a threat to them, they're Democrats.
Of course they are opaque to you, they're Democrats.
They are transcendent specters imbued with the power of The Future.

Posted by: Jamaica at March 16, 2024 08:15 PM (IG7T0)

35 However! Criticism aside, the movie was pretty good. John Waters' dialogue was quite good. It's actually a kind of thoughtful movie in an over the top obscene way. Is it a celebration of filth, a criticism of modern society or is it merely holding a mirror up to society so that it may reflect? It's porn, for sure. Porn with a plot, even. But porn with some kind of point to make? That's fucked up.

Loved the character of Edie. An old fat (and kinda retarded) woman who just loves her some eggs. In a world of filth and depravity she's the purest and most innocent and in the end she marries the Egg Man and they go off and live happily together. That's just beautiful.

It's a weird and fucked up and depraved film that defeated me. I now, rather unfortunately, get to say I have one film in my collection that's kinda sorta gay porn. But ya know what?

I regret nothing.

Four stars because fuck it why not.

Posted by: Robert at March 16, 2024 08:15 PM (C0aHI)

36 I'm still processing that we now live in a timeline where Emma Stone has two best actress Oscars.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 16, 2024 08:15 PM (XV/Pl)

37 Versatile actors are hard to find these days.
Posted by: Tuna at March 16, 2024 08:13 PM (oaGWv)

Well that soi boy looking actor made Dune and Wonka so maybe there is some versatility though I don't ever think he's going to be able to play a tough guy ( Dune wasn't tough guy. It was prophecy guy)

Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 08:17 PM (GzpNE)

38 This film beat me. It utterly defeated me.||

I've never tried. They used to show it routinely on a double-bill with "Polyester" and, yeah, no, yeah. Don't need it. We see some pretty outre stuff at the drive-in, that's more than enough tasteless for me.

Yikes! Such an angry review... ||

lol, this is boredom. If you want angry, check out my reviews of "The Ninja" on GoodReads.

So I'm gonna put this one on a list, right next to "Barbie."||

Knock yourself out. I don't view my opinion as being particularly important, and if I steered you to a movie you like because I didn't, that's just as good as steering you away from one you wouldn't like because I did.

Or something.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:17 PM (asXVI)

39 I'm still processing that we now live in a timeline where Emma Stone has two best actress Oscars.
Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 16, 2024 08:15 PM (XV/Pl)

I like her as an actress, but have no interest in seeing the La la movie. I'll watch this latest one at some point. From the descriptions it seems like the kind of weird I like.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 08:18 PM (QOpc8)

40 Henry Fonda's best movie is Mr Roberts. IMO.

Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 08:18 PM (GzpNE)

41 Get rich. Get successful. Get married. Try to satisfy wife using 1 & 2. Lose 1, 2 & 3.

Posted by: Ex Rex Reeder at March 16, 2024 08:19 PM (MZ+PY)

42 Ob: Buy my books!

Exopreneurs #1: Silk Unspun
Exopreneurs #2: Foul Brood
Exopreneurs #3: Wingless (avail Apr 25)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJWYDNSN
Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 07:50 PM (asXVI)
---
You're turning the Movie Thread into a Book Thread? Isn't that like crossing the streams? Can we expect a rupture in the time-space continuum?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 16, 2024 08:19 PM (BpYfr)

43 "I'm still processing that we now live in a timeline where Emma Stone has two best actress Oscars."

Speaking of redheads, I see that "Solomon's Mines" is on tonight. Deborah Kerr was wonderful in everything she did. Fine actress. No academy awards I believe. Then we have Emma Stone with 2 Oscars. Pitiful.

Posted by: Tuna at March 16, 2024 08:20 PM (oaGWv)

44 @39

>>I like her as an actress, but have no interest in seeing the La la movie. I'll watch this latest one at some point. From the descriptions it seems like the kind of weird I like.

The director specializes in nihilism and depravity, it is safe to skip this particular film.

She is an adequate actress, but just that, adequate.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 16, 2024 08:21 PM (XV/Pl)

45 polynikes I think I might agree with that call

Posted by: Skip at March 16, 2024 08:21 PM (fwDg9)

46 Ok, completely obtuse but my old friend Utoob just offered me 45 minutes of the Rocky and Bullwinkle show.
I was pleasantly surprised how many times I chuckled. So many jokes intended for adults and expertly delivered.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at March 16, 2024 08:21 PM (dg+HA)

47 Tuna, Kerr in 'An affair to remember ".

Posted by: Ben Had at March 16, 2024 08:22 PM (6ZY4c)

48 Knock yourself out. I don't view my opinion as being particularly important, and if I steered you to a movie you like because I didn't, that's just as good as steering you away from one you wouldn't like because I did.

Or something.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:17 PM (asXVI)

That's not it. I just think this is an interesting time, where the Wokies are so un-self aware, they're making anti-woke movies, without even knowing it.

But I do have a line I won't cross, so I'll never watch Mindy Kalig's Scoobie thing, for example. Or the She-Hulk thing. Or the She-Indiana Jones movie. Might be hard to define, but I do think there's a point at which, regardless of the intent of the artists, their work becomes a mockery of itself, or something like that. In which case, they don't get to decide whether I enjoy it or not.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 08:22 PM (QOpc8)

49 I liked Emma Stone in Crazy Stupid Love.

Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 08:22 PM (GzpNE)

50 37 Versatile actors are hard to find these days.
Posted by: Tuna at March 16, 2024 08:13 PM (oaGWv)
||||

I disagree. Versatile actors are never hard to find. But once you become a star, your range is typically limited.

Yeah, Henry Fonda is great as the villain. But nobody wants to see Henry Fonda play the villain in 1968. Same with Jimmy Stewart.

Actors can almost always exceed the boundaries their audience sets for them. Sometimes it drives them nuts. But it's the price of stardom.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:22 PM (asXVI)

51 "So I saw Pink Flamingos." Robert comment #22

I saw Multiple Maniacs, and yeah, it's hard to offend me, it really is, but damn when I got to the church crucifix scene (crucifix as a sex toy, while repeating the stages of the cross) I'd found my limit. Wiped my hands, I was out.

Decided I didn't need Pink Flamingos at that point.

Posted by: Lee (in KY) at March 16, 2024 08:22 PM (d66GD)

52 This year's Oscars did not have the worst distribution(of winners), nor the worst nominees. I heard great things about Stone's performance in Poor Things. Steam punk extravaganza, I hear.

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 08:24 PM (V13WU)

53 I watched a Basil Rathbone movie from 1930 where he was playing Philo Vance. A minor movie, but I liked it. The Bishop Murder Case. On Youtube, or at least it was last week.

Rathbone was a Captain and war hero in WWI. His younger brother died in action in France in 1918.

Posted by: Elementary at March 16, 2024 08:25 PM (V5BDR)

54 Peacock is offering the Holdovers. I mentioned this to Mrs B and she said it's really good, but I'll cry. Now I don't know how to feel about it.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at March 16, 2024 08:25 PM (15lwl)

55 Fonda - always a lead man.

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 08:25 PM (V13WU)

56 Whoever said Hollywood died in 1968 missed its golden age during the 1970s and 80s. Scorcese. Nicholson. Kubrick. Bertolucci. Philip Kaufman. Coppola. Johns Hughes and Landis. Harold Fucking Ramis.

And the Coen Bros were the closest things to modern day autuers right through Buster Struggs.

Posted by: Field Marshal Zhukov, now, where does a war hero get some lubrication around here? at March 16, 2024 08:26 PM (wBaIH)

57 The director specializes in nihilism and depravity, it is safe to skip this particular film.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 16, 2024 08:21 PM (XV/Pl)

I like his movies. Even at some points, love them.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 08:26 PM (QOpc8)

58 Tuna, Kerr in 'An affair to remember ".
Posted by: Ben Had

Lovely woman. Seemed to create chemistry with every actor she worked with and she does have great chemistry with Cary Grant in "An Affair to Remember". I also love her in "Heaven Knows Mr. Allison" with Mitchum.

Posted by: Tuna at March 16, 2024 08:26 PM (oaGWv)

59 Tuna, yes !

Posted by: Ben Had at March 16, 2024 08:27 PM (6ZY4c)

60 Kerr and Susan Hayward are my two favorite actresses.

Posted by: Ben Had at March 16, 2024 08:28 PM (6ZY4c)

61 Peacock is offering the Holdovers. I mentioned this to Mrs B and she said it's really good, but I'll cry. Now I don't know how to feel about it.
Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at March 16, 2024 08:25 PM (15lwl)

Watched it recently. I liked it quite a bit, did not cry, for it's worth. I think Giamatti was more deserving of an Oscar than Murphy.

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 08:30 PM (V13WU)

62 Kerr and Susan Hayward are my two favorite actresses.
Posted by: Ben Had

Kerr was in a weird film with David Niven that had a Wicker man vibe to it. Niven is a French Nobleman whose estate has a few lean years and he's expected to offer himself up as an offering. I was surprised I'd never heard of it.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at March 16, 2024 08:31 PM (15lwl)

63 I also think it's hilarious that Sydney Sweeney is emerging (heh) as a major star, not necessarily because of the quality of her work, but because she's self-aware, is able to laugh off some of the nonsense of her business, and... oh my yes, they are absolutely spectacular, and that seems to piss off all the right people.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 08:31 PM (QOpc8)

64 I thought there was just the one Cone daughter, Connie, and no brothers.

Posted by: davidt at March 16, 2024 08:31 PM (SYTee)

65 *for what it's worth

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 08:31 PM (V13WU)

66 You're turning the Movie Thread into a Book Thread? Isn't that like crossing the streams? Can we expect a rupture in the time-space continuum? ||

No, no, I'm just using the movie thread for crass commercialism, as is expected. Besides no one in this thread can read, ironically.

(I'm trying to neg the audience. It's not working.)

||The director specializes in nihilism and depravity, it is safe to skip this particular film.||

Yorgos Lanthimos...well, my feelings on his work can scrutinized here:

https://moviegique.com/2016/07/the-lobster/
https://moviegique.com/2018/12/the-favourite/
https://moviegique.com/2024/01/poor-things/

I like him. There are few people I would recommend his films to, however.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:32 PM (asXVI)

67 Has anyone seen "One Life" yet". Wanted to go this weekend but pulled something in my lower right back and I'm walking around dragging my right leg. I look like Igor in Frankenstein

Posted by: Tuna at March 16, 2024 08:33 PM (oaGWv)

68 I think Joanne Woodward is a great actress because I never found her attractive but she came across very alluring in her roles . I'm assuming she was the same in real life since she snagged Paul Newman.

Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 08:33 PM (GzpNE)

69 Peacock is offering the Holdovers. I mentioned this to Mrs B and she said it's really good, but I'll cry. Now I don't know how to feel about it.
Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at March 16, 2024 08:25 PM (15lwl)

It's excellent. Highly recommended.

Posted by: Robert at March 16, 2024 08:34 PM (0Zswy)

70 I have the whole concept of Oppenheimer. Yes, he was a very important scientist, and yes the Manhattan project was a big deal, but ...was his life that extraordinarily exciting that we needed a million dollar movies made?

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 08:34 PM (V13WU)

71 *movie

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 08:35 PM (V13WU)

72 68 I think Joanne Woodward is a great actress because I never found her attractive but she came across very alluring in her roles . I'm assuming she was the same in real life since she snagged Paul Newman.

"The Long Hot Summer"

Posted by: Tuna at March 16, 2024 08:35 PM (oaGWv)

73 40 Henry Fonda's best movie is Mr Roberts. IMO.

I agree. I think I've seen that move 40 times. Just got to watch it with my grandkids, had to wait til they were old enough to understand it.
I get a lump in my throat at the end when they read the letter every time. And the scene with the Palm Tree award. That gets me, too.

Posted by: TecumsehTea at March 16, 2024 08:36 PM (JrYM1)

74 Oh...The Lobster...that Yorgos Lanthimos...

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 08:36 PM (V13WU)

75 Well way past bed time, no alarm needed just will be up early as a matter of course.
Hope everyone has a great evening

Posted by: Skip at March 16, 2024 08:37 PM (fwDg9)

76 Posted by: TecumsehTea at March 16, 2024 08:36 PM (JrYM1)

Yes one of my all time favorite movies. Everything you said plus I love the final influence he had on Pulver.

Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 08:37 PM (GzpNE)

77 That's not it. I just think this is an interesting time, where the Wokies are so un-self aware, they're making anti-woke movies, without even knowing it.

But I do have a line I won't cross,||

See, I feel like this is very aware and very lazy. And I think the laziness bugs me most of all. (Laziness may be the main appeal of woke.)

I'll be interested in what you think of it, though.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:38 PM (asXVI)

78 Let's see. They're struggling with their emotions. The more conservative lesbian constantly flashes back to being a little girl and peeping on a beautiful neighbor woman. (The sort of vignette that's normally considered reprehensible in a hetero context, but hey: lesbians!

-

Man, what an opportunity to open the door to the reality and inevitable public discourse on homosexuality being tied to some level of abuse at a crucial point(s) in the victims' lives.

But oh well.

Posted by: Moron Robbie- 80% positives in a mate to a man is a soulmate, the same 80% to a woman is settling at March 16, 2024 08:38 PM (Wg1x4)

79 Has anyone seen "One Life" yet". ||

This week, most likely.

After going to see "Hundreds of Beavers". (Yes, yes, that is the actual title and it involves actual beavers, or at least guys walking around in beaver suits.)

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:39 PM (asXVI)

80 I have the whole concept of Oppenheimer. Yes, he was a very important scientist, and yes the Manhattan project was a big deal, but ...was his life that extraordinarily exciting that we needed a million dollar movies made?
Posted by: runner

-

I assumed it was more of an attempt at a history lesson for people who can barely read or write and who are being graduated (notice I didn't say graduating through their own actions) from high school without any real knowledge of anything.

Posted by: Moron Robbie- 80% positives in a mate to a man is a soulmate, the same 80% to a woman is settling at March 16, 2024 08:40 PM (Wg1x4)

81 Man, what an opportunity to open the door to the reality and inevitable public discourse on homosexuality being tied to some level of abuse at a crucial point(s) in the victims' lives.||

lol

No, the Malthusians pushing all the depravity need for lesbian-ism to be the #1 lifestyle. Every non-reproducing woman is worth ten non-reproducing men.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:40 PM (asXVI)

82 I agree. I think I've seen that move 40 times. Just got to watch it with my grandkids, had to wait til they were old enough to understand it.
I get a lump in my throat at the end when they read the letter every time. And the scene with the Palm Tree award. That gets me, too.
Posted by: TecumsehTea at March 16, 2024 08:36 PM (JrYM1)

I think his best work was The Lady Eve. He's great as the dupe, and if I were him, I'd have kept flubbing my lines in the on-ship seduction scene with Stanwyck. Just because.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 08:41 PM (3jD8i)

83 I assumed it was more of an attempt at a history lesson for people who can barely read or write and who are being graduated (notice I didn't say graduating through their own actions) from high school without any real knowledge of anything.

==

It was a very obvious vehicle for Nolan's anti-war feelings.

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 08:42 PM (V13WU)

84 Yeah, Henry Fonda is great as the villain. But nobody wants to see Henry Fonda play the villain in 1968. Same with Jimmy Stewart.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:22 PM (asXVI)
++++

In addition to Once Upon a Time in the West, Firecreek was released in 1968. Starred Fonda & Stewart, with Fonda as the bad guy. Not a bad movie.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062975/

1968 was the year for Fonda bad guys.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at March 16, 2024 08:43 PM (klJTj)

85 I think his best work was The Lady Eve.||

Positively the same dame!

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:43 PM (asXVI)

86 The Holdovers > Dead Poets Society

The movie that Dead Poets Society was aiming for but didn't achieve due to its reliance on cliche. Same themes, same setting, but the comedic moments are funnier, and the tragic moments are much more grounded, complex, and real.

Posted by: Lee (in KY) at March 16, 2024 08:43 PM (d66GD)

87 See, I feel like this is very aware and very lazy. And I think the laziness bugs me most of all. (Laziness may be the main appeal of woke.)

I'll be interested in what you think of it, though.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:38 PM (asXVI)

You may be right, of course, and I might end up hating it.

I'm willing to take the chance. Truth is, I end up smitten with some actresses, and Qualley is one of them. I'll watch movies that aren't very good, and enjoy them nonetheless, because I'm easy to please that way.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 08:44 PM (3jD8i)

88
Positively the same dame!
Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:43 PM (asXVI)

Heh, are you sure???

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 08:44 PM (3jD8i)

89 It was a very obvious vehicle for Nolan's anti-war feelings.
Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 08:42 PM (V13WU

Did they do an epilogue where Einstein subsequently came out against his initial recommendation to help create the bomb? Just more proof that very smart people can also be very very dumb.

Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 08:45 PM (GzpNE)

90 Some directors telegraph what they will do. I saw The Lobster, and while it was well made and well acted, it was so stupid and nihilistic that I determined I would never see anything else that Lanthimos directed. For me, he shot himself in the foot.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at March 16, 2024 08:45 PM (CHHv1)

91 Had less than zero interest in this film about the traveling dykes. Glad to know I chose wisely.

Posted by: Chairman LMAO, AI Expert at March 16, 2024 08:45 PM (snyZJ)

92 BurtTC

I like a lot of Fonda's movies. I agree The Lady Eve is one of his best. Idk best, hard to judge, so subjective.

Posted by: TecumsehTea at March 16, 2024 08:45 PM (JrYM1)

93 "85 I think his best work was The Lady Eve.||

Positively the same dame!"

A great movie. Stanwyck at her best. Another no Oscar actress. Love the scene where's she's reciting her "past affairs" to Henry Fonda"

Posted by: Tuna at March 16, 2024 08:48 PM (oaGWv)

94 @86 Dead Poet's Society would probably be on Tobias Fünke's (Arrested Development) list of the top 5 movies of all time.

Posted by: Chairman LMAO, AI Expert at March 16, 2024 08:48 PM (snyZJ)

95 Some directors telegraph what they will do. I saw The Lobster, and while it was well made and well acted, it was so stupid and nihilistic that I determined I would never see anything else that Lanthimos directed. For me, he shot himself in the foot.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at March 16, 2024 08:45 PM (CHHv1)

I think for me, the movie must take me out of this world, and into whatever they're doing on screen. I don't have to relate it to this world, at all, and I think his films do that quite nicely.

Set up a world, then have things happen in it. No matter how absurd. The Lobster is wonderful in that way. Don't watch Dogtooth though. Just don't. Great film. Just... don't.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 08:49 PM (3jD8i)

96 Heh, are you sure???||

No! I mean, yes! But no!

Did they do an epilogue where Einstein subsequently came out against his initial recommendation to help create the bomb?||

Didn't he deny that he recommended it at some point?

I'm willing to take the chance. Truth is, I end up smitten with some actresses, and Qualley is one of them. I'll watch movies that aren't very good, and enjoy them nonetheless, because I'm easy to please that way.||

Eh, I get that. I've seen her in, oh, I don't know, "Poor Things" (speaking of Yorgos) and "The Nice Guys" and she hasn't made much of an impression on me.

Now, Sidney Sweeney? I haven't seen her in ANYTHING and I might try to find that romcom she was in this year.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:49 PM (asXVI)

97 I also think it's hilarious that Sydney Sweeney is emerging (heh) as a major star, not necessarily because of the quality of her work, but because she's self-aware, is able to laugh off some of the nonsense of her business, and... oh my yes, they are absolutely spectacular, and that seems to piss off all the right people.
Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 08:31 PM

--------------------------

Agree. She gives off a potentially doable girl next door vibe that is appealing.

I read somewhere that a few years ago she was seriously considering breast reduction surgery because she thought it would make her more credible as an actress, and her mother talked her out of it. Smart
mom.

Posted by: Bigsmith at March 16, 2024 08:49 PM (rpgBi)

98 I don’t know what to say.

Posted by: Eromero at March 16, 2024 08:49 PM (NxC5+)

99 @90

>>For me, he shot himself in the foot.

Its like The Banshees of Inisherin, all performances, amazing, great cinematography and direction, I get it that its an allegory of the Irish Civil War, did not need to see Brenden Gleasons character cut off all of his fingers, throw them at his friend house and watch a dog eat one of the digits and choke on it and die.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 16, 2024 08:51 PM (XV/Pl)

100 97

I read somewhere that a few years ago she was seriously considering breast reduction surgery because she thought it would make her more credible as an actress, and her mother talked her out of it. Smart
mom.
Posted by: Bigsmith at March 16, 2024 08:49 PM (rpgBi)
-----
Her mother is a saint.

Posted by: Chairman LMAO, AI Expert at March 16, 2024 08:51 PM (snyZJ)

101 Other movies I saw.

La Bamba.

When I was a little boy I must have watched this movie no less than 10,736,952,857,253 times. My dad and his family seemed to really like it. (For context, my dad's side of the family is Mexican-American.). I can't recall seeing this since the 80s.

Picked up the Criterion Blu-ray.

It's not like I could recall much of anything before rewatching it except for maybe the actors and the music. Still, I expected much to become familiar as I rewatched it.

I couldn't recall like freakin' 90% of this movie.

It's a fantastic movie, for sure. It's only tangentially about Ritchie Valens. It's mostly about being Mexican-American in the 1950s and the intracultural tension between striving for a middle class American dream (represented by Lou Diamond Philips' Ritchie Valens) and the desire to maintain a more Mexican identity (represented by Esai Morales' Bob).

And now I know why Dad and the rest liked it so much.

The performances are good, the music is fun, definitely brought back a few memories and totally worth a watch.

Posted by: Robert at March 16, 2024 08:51 PM (Fob1X)

102 Did they do an epilogue where Einstein subsequently came out against his initial recommendation to help create the bomb? Just more proof that very smart people can also be very very dumb.

==

Every man who created the most destructive weapon known to mankind came to that conclusion. Nobel created the peace prize, and Sakharov was exiled for his human rights work. If they did not realize and internalize the powers they unleashed, they would have been very dangerous psychopaths, like the nazis.

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 08:52 PM (V13WU)

103 BurtTC

I like a lot of Fonda's movies. I agree The Lady Eve is one of his best. Idk best, hard to judge, so subjective.
Posted by: TecumsehTea at March 16, 2024 08:45 PM (JrYM1)

Indeed. I'd say it's my favorite of his though, because of her.

Everything I see her do though, I end up falling in love with her all over again. I watched Christmas In Connecticut recently, and really, it's a nice film, but not any kind of masterpiece. But good grief... I'd steal a horse drawn sleigh to be with her.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 08:52 PM (3jD8i)

104 96

Now, Sidney Sweeney? I haven't seen her in ANYTHING and I might try to find that romcom she was in this year.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:49 PM (asXVI)
----
I think she spent a bit of time naked in a series called Euphoria.

Posted by: Chairman LMAO, AI Expert at March 16, 2024 08:52 PM (snyZJ)

105 Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:49 PM (asXVI)

He didn't want to at first and then they convinced him why it was important and wrote a letter to get others on board and then when he saw the devastation he went dumb and forgot the reasons he accepted it as important .

Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 08:53 PM (GzpNE)

106 I don't have to relate it to this world, at all, and I think his films do that quite nicely.||

Poor things starts out sort of like an intimate little fairy tale, but as it goes along, we see it takes place in a world that only superficially resembles our own.

Sort of like how Hayao Miyazaki portrays "Europe". Where? You know "Europe"? When? "That time...before the War." Which war? "The War!"

I do love that kind of thing. We do it here and the usual suspects start shrieking.

>> Don't watch Dogtooth though. Just don't. Great film. Just... don't.

Any Lars von Trier film, really.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:53 PM (asXVI)

107 In the latest and last episode of Masters of the Air, the POWs are transferred to Stalag 13. No sign of Klink or Schultz, though.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at March 16, 2024 08:55 PM (FVME7)

108 100 97

I read somewhere that a few years ago she was seriously considering breast reduction surgery because she thought it would make her more credible as an actress, and her mother talked her out of it. Smart
mom.
Posted by: Bigsmith at March 16, 2024 08:49 PM (rpgBi)
-----
Her mother is a saint.
Posted by: Chairman LMAO, AI Expert at March 16, 2024 08:51 PM (snyZJ)

Sofia Vergera tells a similar story.

Posted by: Robert at March 16, 2024 08:57 PM (dbdCh)

109 What other movie does Poor Things resemble ? I did not see it, just want to get an idea.

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 08:57 PM (V13WU)

110 They should have made the movie about General Leslie Groves.

Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 08:57 PM (GzpNE)

111 || The Banshees of Inisherin

Now there's a godless picture, just the McDonagh's previous picture "Calvary". His movies yell "There is no God!" without anyone ever saying it. It's quite astonishing. And weirdly alienating.

|| He didn't want to at first and then they convinced him why it was important and wrote a letter to get others on board and then when he saw the devastation he went dumb and forgot the reasons he accepted it as important .

What a world it would've been if atomic energy had been used for power and no one had thought of the bomb part until much later.

I think she spent a bit of time naked in a series called Euphoria.||

I don't watch TV shows, generally. But I may have seen clips.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:58 PM (asXVI)

112 Eh, I get that. I've seen her in, oh, I don't know, "Poor Things" (speaking of Yorgos) and "The Nice Guys" and she hasn't made much of an impression on me.

Now, Sidney Sweeney? I haven't seen her in ANYTHING and I might try to find that romcom she was in this year.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:49 PM (asXVI)

The Nice Guys is a fine film. Almost... Coenesque? Qualley's part in it is small, but important, and she doesn't really have to do much. Same thing with her role in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. And yes, she shows her dirty feet in that one.

Where she really captured my attention was the HBO show, The Leftovers. Which I assume is a work that has strong negative detractors, but there's something about that still haunts me. Even though I wasn't terribly satisfied with the conclusion. I almost wish there had been no answer, no resolution.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 08:58 PM (Y0Zsg)

113 30 Speaking of unintentionally hilarious anti-woke crap, I'm gonna have to see The American Society of Magical Negroes at some point.

Come on, man. You can't even get past the title without realizing these people can't be serious. Apparently though, the worst thing about it is that it devolves into a romcom love triangle. And really, if it's that tone deaf, it's gotta be fun to watch, doesn't it?
Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 08:13 PM (QOpc

Everyone involved in this project need to be taken to a room, subjected to Ludovico's Technique, watching the "I Have A Dream" speech for 12 hours straight.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 16, 2024 08:59 PM (8sMut)

114 63 I also think it's hilarious that Sydney Sweeney is emerging (heh) as a major star, not necessarily because of the quality of her work, but because she's self-aware, is able to laugh off some of the nonsense of her business, and... oh my yes, they are absolutely spectacular, and that seems to piss off all the right people.
Posted by: BurtTC

She is delightful. A young woman who enjoys being a woman. It's refreshing.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at March 16, 2024 08:59 PM (v9vY1)

115 @109

>>What other movie does Poor Things resemble ? I did not see it, just want to get an idea.

Imagine if Edward Scissor Hands was directed by Harmony Korine.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 16, 2024 09:01 PM (XV/Pl)

116 Sweeney is more of a Playboy centerfold material than an actress. Nothing wrong with that , just know your place kind of thing. She had trouble reading cue cards on SNL.

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 09:01 PM (V13WU)

117 The director specializes in nihilism and depravity

-
Nihilism and depravity are no Simon and Gaefunkel.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at March 16, 2024 09:01 PM (FVME7)

118 "They should have made the movie about General Leslie Groves."

Wasn't there a movie about the Manhattan Project with Paul Newman as Groves? Can't remember the name. Saw it many moons ago. It was pretty good as I recall.

Posted by: Tuna at March 16, 2024 09:01 PM (oaGWv)

119 What other movie does Poor Things resemble||

It's a cross between Frankenstein and a Victorian bodice ripper. I can't think of a specific title but it flips the "naive girl seduced and abandoned, whose life turns to prostitution" on its head.

You can read my review (moviegique.com) for a more fleshed (heh) out idea. It's not really like a lot of other movies, so the story resembles some sci-fi tropes for sure.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 09:03 PM (asXVI)

120 La Bamba.

The great, underrated, band, Los Lobos, did a lot of the music in that movie. I haven't seen it in years, but I recall liking it.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at March 16, 2024 09:03 PM (v9vY1)

121 Now, Sidney Sweeney? I haven't seen her in ANYTHING and I might try to find that romcom she was in this year.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:49 PM (asXVI)
----
I think she spent a bit of time naked in a series called Euphoria.
Posted by: Chairman LMAO, AI Expert at March 16, 2024 08:52 PM (snyZJ)

You can find all the nudie scenes at, uh...ya know, the usual sites.

And yeah! Great tits.

Posted by: Robert at March 16, 2024 09:03 PM (CYl8T)

122 Boy, did they hate Edward Teller.
Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at March 16, 2024 08:03 PM (15lwl)

He was pro-bomb, so yes, he would have special hatred directed at him.

The pool where people were betting on the explosive yield was a real thing. Edward Teller won it: he predicted the gadget would have an explosive yield of 20 kilotons. Enrico Fermi took side bets on the possibility of the gadget incinerating NM.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 16, 2024 09:03 PM (8sMut)

123 Tuna, Fat Man and Little Boy

Posted by: Ben Had at March 16, 2024 09:04 PM (6ZY4c)

124 What a world it would've been if atomic energy had been used for power and no one had thought of the bomb part until much later. ---

A million extra dead Japanese and a hundred thousand Americans . And it kept the superpowers from fighting each other. Assured Mutual Destruction was and is still real.

Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 09:04 PM (GzpNE)

125 Holy crap! It's 55deg F here, so before I hit Amazon to stream a couple of 2nd rate flicks, Imma hit the butcher shop and roast some beef on the charcoal grill. This weekend is shaping up!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at March 16, 2024 09:04 PM (Wexm1)

126 I watched a little short on youtube , some dance Stone's character performs. Looks like she is on a ship. It. was.weird.

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 09:04 PM (V13WU)

127 Catch Thirty Thr33 @ 113- magical negroes.
I can’t help but wonder what would happen to somebody like if I came up with that? These people are just hypocrites and not worth my time.

Posted by: Eromero at March 16, 2024 09:04 PM (NxC5+)

128 Don't watch Dogtooth though. Just don't. Great film. Just... don't.
--------
Any Lars von Trier film, really.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 08:53 PM (asXVI)

Dogtooth, not Dogville. I haven't seen any of the Von Trier films. I'm not sure I'm missing anything.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 09:05 PM (bNJTc)

129 >>>"The Long Hot Summer"
Posted by: Tuna at March 16, 2024 08:35 PM (oaGWv)
———-
One of my favorites. “You think you can walk away from me, I will dog you boy wherever you go “. No you won’t says Newman, you’ll miss me” Just a great movie.

Posted by: Rufus T. Firefly at March 16, 2024 09:07 PM (SQmE5)

130 Tuna, Fat Man and Little Boy
Posted by: Ben Had

Yep. That's it.

Posted by: Tuna at March 16, 2024 09:07 PM (oaGWv)

131 I liked Oppenheimer, but I was shocked at how much of it was about his homosexuality.

Posted by: chris+opher at March 16, 2024 09:08 PM (dSco/)

132 Imagine if Edward Scissor Hands was directed by Harmony Korine||

I get the Burton connection and, yeah, although far less about personal neuroses I think. Harmony Korine...of "Spring Breakers"?

A million extra dead Japanese and a hundred thousand Americans . And it kept the superpowers from fighting each other. Assured Mutual Destruction was and is still real.||

Of those two choices, I agree the Bomb was preferable.

Dogtooth, not Dogville. I haven't seen any of the Von Trier films. I'm not sure I'm missing anything.||

I get them mixed up all the time.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 09:08 PM (asXVI)

133 Everyone involved in this project need to be taken to a room, subjected to Ludovico's Technique, watching the "I Have A Dream" speech for 12 hours straight.
Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 16, 2024 08:59 PM (8sMut)

Nerdrotic refers to the skit by Key and Peele, with the concept of the magical negro. The clips he showed, I remembered having seen the skit. It's quite funny.

Apparently this movie, is not.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 09:08 PM (bNJTc)

134 I liked Oppenheimer, but I was shocked at how much of it was about his homosexuality.
Posted by: chris+opher at March 16, 2024 09:08 PM (dSco/)

Seriously? I wasn't aware of that.

The only interesting question about Oppy is, was he actually commie-adjacent, or just too stupid to realize they were using him.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 09:10 PM (bNJTc)

135 70 I have the whole concept of Oppenheimer. Yes, he was a very important scientist, and yes the Manhattan project was a big deal, but ...was his life that extraordinarily exciting that we needed a million dollar movies made?
Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 08:34 PM (V13WU)

He didn't run across a new award winning recipe for chili.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 16, 2024 09:10 PM (8sMut)

136 I admit , I fell asleep here and there watching Oppenheimer, so I must have missed the homosexuality angle. I only remember his wife and mistress angle.

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 09:12 PM (V13WU)

137 who are being graduated (notice I didn't say graduating through their own actions) from high school without any real knowledge of anything.
Posted by: Moron Robbie- 80% positives in a mate to a man is a soulmate, the same 80% to a woman is settling at March 16, 2024 08:40 PM (Wg1x4)

Yet another reason why high school graduations are the most overblown, overhyped events in life.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 16, 2024 09:12 PM (8sMut)

138 There was no homosexuality, that must have been a joke...

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 09:13 PM (V13WU)

139 I liked Oppenheimer, but I was shocked at how much of it was about his homosexuality.
Posted by: chris+opher at March 16, 2024 09:08 PM (dSco/)

Seriously? I wasn't aware of that.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 09:10 PM (bNJTc)

lol no he's just fuckin' with you.

Posted by: Robert at March 16, 2024 09:13 PM (CYl8T)

140 In Fat Man and Little Boy, Oppenheimer was having an affair while married. There was no evidence of being a homo.

Posted by: Ben Had at March 16, 2024 09:13 PM (6ZY4c)

141 More movies I watched!

The Trial directed by Orson Welles.

Man, that was freakin' weird.

Posted by: Robert at March 16, 2024 09:14 PM (CYl8T)

142 Oops, I fell for that one too.

Posted by: Ben Had at March 16, 2024 09:14 PM (6ZY4c)

143 Scientists' (even the most famous ones) personal lives generally are not very exciting.

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 09:14 PM (V13WU)

144 Nerdrotic refers to the skit by Key and Peele, with the concept of the magical negro. The clips he showed, I remembered having seen the skit. It's quite funny.

Apparently this movie, is not.
Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 09:08 PM (bNJTc)

Just saw Nerdrotic's review. Genius as usual.

Can't wait for his book.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 16, 2024 09:15 PM (8sMut)

145 Ben Had @ 140-
Was they a heap of maths in Oppenheimer, then?

Posted by: Eromero at March 16, 2024 09:16 PM (NxC5+)

146 Eromero, yes there was.

Posted by: Ben Had at March 16, 2024 09:17 PM (6ZY4c)

147 >The only interesting question about Oppy is, was he actually commie-adjacent, or just too stupid to realize they were using him.

Posted by: BurtTC
---

the film portrayed him as commie-curious
has anyone read the book (American Prometheus) the film was based on? Thinking about getting it

Posted by: Don Black at March 16, 2024 09:17 PM (oCjPU)

148 lol no he's just fuckin' with you.
Posted by: Robert at March 16, 2024 09:13 PM (CYl8T)

Easy to believe though. The man was a dunce. He was a genius of course, but a dunce nonetheless.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 09:18 PM (Y0Zsg)

149 I think the wife or mistress questioned their sexuality . I don’t know if the movie showed that.

Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 09:18 PM (MNhXM)

150 The mistress was a commie

Posted by: Ben Had at March 16, 2024 09:18 PM (6ZY4c)

151 Did you get washed away today, Ben Had? We almost did.

Posted by: Eromero at March 16, 2024 09:19 PM (NxC5+)

152 >The mistress was a commie

she'd be a Democrat today

Posted by: Don Black at March 16, 2024 09:19 PM (oCjPU)

153 Eromero, thankfully not. Skipped over me and took aim on ya'll

Posted by: Ben Had at March 16, 2024 09:20 PM (6ZY4c)

154 The only interesting question about Oppy is, was he actually commie-adjacent, or just too stupid to realize they were using him.
Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 09:10 PM (bNJTc)

Leading up to WWII the major political theories among the US Elites were Fascism and Trotskyites. Once the war started the Trotskyites were ascendant and outlasted any competition.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 16, 2024 09:21 PM (D7oie)

155 the film portrayed him as commie-curious
has anyone read the book (American Prometheus) the film was based on? Thinking about getting it
Posted by: Don Black at March 16, 2024 09:17 PM (oCjPU)

I forget which book, but there were several written after the fall of the Soviet Union, researchers who were able to go in and see some of the archives before they were closed off.

I don't recall what Oppy did or didn't do, but I think that was the open question that was never resolved: Was he aware he was being used or not. Because the people who took advantage of him, some of them absolutely were commies.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 09:21 PM (Y0Zsg)

156 Valley of the Dolls > Drive Away Dolls

Posted by: Diogenes at March 16, 2024 09:22 PM (W/lyH)

157 Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but yeah, it was mentioned several times.

Posted by: chris+opher at March 16, 2024 09:22 PM (dSco/)

158 she'd be a Democrat today
Posted by: Don Black at March 16, 2024 09:19 PM (oCjPU)

You sure? Perhaps she'd be too right leaning for today's Democrat Party.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 09:22 PM (Y0Zsg)

159 Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but yeah, it was mentioned several times.

==

must have been that other movie

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 09:22 PM (V13WU)

160 I mentioned on yesterday's ONT that I watched a very nice 4K disk of "Beetlejuice." That's a tremendously fun and creative movie. The only flaw is that Alec Baldwin became a creep (at best) but he's kind of charming in this.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at March 16, 2024 08:07 PM (CHHv1)

He was great in "Miami Blues".

Early Alec Baldwin had real star quality.

But, then his ego and dickishness got into a steel-cage death match with his talent.

And talent lost.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 16, 2024 09:23 PM (nFnyb)

161 Beyond the Valley of the Dolls > Valley of the Dolls > Drive Away Dolls

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 09:24 PM (asXVI)

162 He was great in "Miami Blues".

Early Alec Baldwin had real star quality.

But, then his ego and dickishness got into a steel-cage death match with his talent.

And talent lost.

==

that is pretty accurate

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 09:24 PM (V13WU)

163 Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but yeah, it was mentioned several times.
Posted by: chris+opher at March 16, 2024 09:22 PM (dSco/)

Now I'm forgetting what movie it was, but something I saw recently, there was basically no gay throughout the film, but toward the end one of the characters revealed he was gay.

I think it's required these days. Films have to throw it in.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 09:24 PM (Y0Zsg)

164 Thx moviegique . Always liked the Corn brothers. Barton Fink and Burn After Reading I thought were misses but a lot of critics loved them. Miller's Crossing, Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, Blood Simple , Fargo and their version of True Grit are classics. I also liked The Hudsucker Proxy. Haven't seen Hail Caeser thx everyone for the recommendation.
Everyone seems to think the Society of Magical Negroes sucks.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at March 16, 2024 09:25 PM (5q0pY)

165 156 Valley of the Dolls > Drive Away Dolls
Posted by: Diogenes at March 16, 2024 09:22 PM (W/lyH)

On movie topic , Roger Elbert wrote the screenplay for Beyond the Valley of the Dolls with Russ Meyer.

Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 09:25 PM (MNhXM)

166 Yet another reason why high school graduations are the most overblown, overhyped events in life.
Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at March 16, 2024 09:12 PM (8sMut)

But for me a good reason to go to Texas for Granddaughter of Diogenes #2's graduation.
I'm taking my golf clubs.

Posted by: Diogenes at March 16, 2024 09:26 PM (W/lyH)

167 But, then his ego and dickishness got into a steel-cage death match with his talent.

And talent lost.
Posted by: naturalfake at March 16, 2024 09:23 PM (nFnyb)

Only movie stars for whom I think that might not be the case these days are Downey Jr. and Pitt.

Both seem capable of leaving their ego in between takes.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 09:27 PM (Y0Zsg)

168 More movies!

War Of The Worlds.

I think I only ever saw part of this once when I was little.

King Kong Vs Godzilla (the old one), Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah (91), Godzilla Versus Mothra (92), Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla II (90something) and Godzilla Vs Megaguirus.

Sooooo much Godzilla.

And because my favorite YouTube reviewer mentioned them, I watched a couple of Ishiro Honda movies. Atragon ( which features a flying submarine with a giant drill stuck on the end) and Matango (about a group of people shipwrecked on an island with weird looking Mushroom People).

Check out her review.

https://youtu.be/s0B-MrfBJPg

Posted by: Robert at March 16, 2024 09:27 PM (9GQh/)

169 for me a good reason to go to Texas for Granddaughter of Diogenes #2's graduation.
I'm taking my golf clubs.
Posted by: Diogenes at March 16, 2024 09:26 PM (W/lyH)

What part of Texas?

Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 09:27 PM (MNhXM)

170 What part of Texas?
Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 09:27 PM (MNhXM)

Austin

Posted by: Diogenes at March 16, 2024 09:29 PM (W/lyH)

171 "But, then his ego and dickishness got into a steel-cage death match with his talent.

And talent lost."

Looking at Baldwin now, it's hard to believe he was in "The Hunt for Red October"

Posted by: Tuna at March 16, 2024 09:29 PM (oaGWv)

172 Thx moviegique . Always liked the Corn brothers. Barton Fink and Burn After Reading I thought were misses but a lot of critics loved them. Miller's Crossing, Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, Blood Simple , Fargo and their version of True Grit are classics. I also liked The Hudsucker Proxy. Haven't seen Hail Caeser thx everyone for the recommendation.
Everyone seems to think the Society of Magical Negroes sucks.
Posted by: Smell the Glove at March 16, 2024 09:25 PM (5q0pY)

I would agree regarding Barton Fink. It's just not as good as the rest of their work, and Burn After Reading, it was enjoyable, but not remarkable.

I think Hail Caesar is one of their best. I'm also a big fan of The Hudsucker Proxy. I love how it's basically a sendup of Capra, and Jennifer-Jason Leigh is absolutely perfect in that role.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 09:30 PM (Y0Zsg)

173 162 He was great in "Miami Blues".

Early Alec Baldwin had real star quality.

But, then his ego and dickishness got into a steel-cage death match with his talent.

And talent lost.

==

that is pretty accurate
Posted by: runner

He was great in The Hunt for Red October.

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at March 16, 2024 09:30 PM (v9vY1)

174 Austin
Posted by: Diogenes at March 16, 2024 09:29 PM (W/lyH)

Lot of nice courses in the Hill country area.

Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 09:31 PM (MNhXM)

175
Now I'm forgetting what movie it was, but something I saw recently, there was basically no gay throughout the film, but toward the end one of the characters revealed he was gay.

Was he the one who wanted to call the bomb Big Boy?

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 16, 2024 09:31 PM (63Dwl)

176 I'm gonna admit, "Margaret Qualley" plus "a lot of lesbian sex" would normally add up to a good time, but I'm gonna trust moviegique here because everything else about that movie sounds dreadful.

Posted by: Ian S. at March 16, 2024 09:32 PM (P9pDS)

177 70
'was his life that extraordinarily exciting that we needed a million dollar movies made?'

Not at all AFAIAC. His entire relevance was his role in the Manhattan project. His bellyaching after the fact was rather selfish and undermined the men whose jobs it was to resist the Axis and then the Communists.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at March 16, 2024 09:33 PM (roH4R)

178 "Poor Things remained me a lot of "Freddie Got Fingered" if it was written by Erica jong.

What I mean is that like FGF, PT is a weird off-putting comedy movie by design and not particularly funny even if you can see how it's trying to be funny.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 16, 2024 09:34 PM (nFnyb)

179 This is a repost but fits here. The Critical Drinker does Damsel. Pretty funny but language warning.

https://tinyurl.com/2f9srsjr

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at March 16, 2024 09:34 PM (FVME7)

180 Arek Barwin learn fast be assho, get rorr in movie with other assho.

Posted by: Eromero at March 16, 2024 09:34 PM (NxC5+)

181 I really don’t try to be a contrarian but I only see Alec Baldwin playing a character . The Cooler is a favorite movie of mine but Baldwin almost ruins it for me with his put on accent.

Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 09:34 PM (MNhXM)

182 What I mean is that like FGF, PT is a weird off-putting comedy movie by design and not particularly funny even if you can see how it's trying to be funny.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 16, 2024 09:34 PM (nFnyb)

I've come to love Tom Green, and while I saw FGF around the time it was released, will admit I didn't exactly understand what it was supposed to be.

I should re-watch it one of these days.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 09:38 PM (Y0Zsg)

183 Again, I can't fault him and all the others for having
regrets. It is one thing to theorize, or to create something in a lab. Another, giving it to politicians and trusting them to be judicious with something that destructive.

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 09:38 PM (V13WU)

184 Breitbart: British ‘Civil War’ Director Alex Garland Disses America: ‘Nobody Is Exceptional’

https://tinyurl.com/uk79t4b5

'"America has an internal concept in its exceptionalism that means it feels it’s immune to some kinds of problems. One of the things history shows us is that nobody is immune. Nobody is exceptional,” he said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.'

Huh?!? Looks like someone doesn't understand the definition of American Exceptionalism.

Posted by: Robert at March 16, 2024 09:39 PM (DhBsN)

185 'was his life that extraordinarily exciting that we needed a million dollar movies made?'

-
Well, he was no Joe Biden.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at March 16, 2024 09:39 PM (FVME7)

186 Everyone seems to think the Society of Magical Negroes sucks.||

The trailer seems to hint at an amusing satire, that goes condescending, that leads to a bland romcom. After "American Fiction", you can feel the disappointment: Maybe black people are sick enough of this shit, too, and they want to make fun of the people pushing it. But by the end, it's "Nah, it's all white people's fault and the problem is too many black people are too accommodating to them."

I don't know if that's what it's about, it's just the arc of the trailer.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 09:40 PM (asXVI)

187 This is a repost but fits here. The Critical Drinker does Damsel. Pretty funny but language warning.

https://tinyurl.com/2f9srsjr

To BurtTC's point earlier, Damsel sounds like a genuine "you can interpret it as anti-woke" movie. I mean, a strong female fire-breathing dragon who don't need no man?

Posted by: Ian S. at March 16, 2024 09:40 PM (P9pDS)

188 Lot of nice courses in the Hill country area.
Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 09:31 PM (MNhXM)

Last trip.I played Westlake Country Club, and also up in Georgetown.
Beautiful courses. And sunny!!!

Posted by: Diogenes at March 16, 2024 09:42 PM (W/lyH)

189 *wanders in*

Something strange in the trunk of a car.

Either they are ripping off Repo Man and/or the OVA California Crisis.

Maybe this Coen should go and do a Thelma&Louise and save the movie public from another Oh No Yoko level performance.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 16, 2024 09:42 PM (g3Y8C)

190 I really don’t try to be a contrarian but I only see Alec Baldwin playing a character . The Cooler is a favorite movie of mine but Baldwin almost ruins it for me with his put on accent.
Posted by: polynikes

He was good in a small role in Glengarry Glen Ross. Of course, he played an asshole.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at March 16, 2024 09:43 PM (FVME7)

191 It sounds like this movie needs something like the rug that really ties everything together.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at March 16, 2024 09:44 PM (a3Q+t)

192 . I love how it's basically a sendup of Capra, and Jennifer-Jason Leigh is absolutely perfect in that role.||

I would say Hawks, not Capra. Leigh is doing Rosalind Russell from "His Gal Friday", the award-winning reporter--except that Leigh has a heart, and IIRC Grant and Russell get together on HGF because they're BOTH soulless scumbags.

HGF is kind of an odd movie. The main characters are awful, the movie knows they're awful, and the audience says "Oh, yeah, journalists."

By comparison, Jason-Leigh's character in THP is positively a bleeding heart.

(THP is underrated, IMO, and a perfect example of a film regarded as cold. Topically, it also features a magic negro!)

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 09:44 PM (asXVI)

193 Beyond the Valley of the Dolls > Valley of the Dolls > Drive Away Dolls > New York Dolls

Posted by: Kindltot at March 16, 2024 09:44 PM (D7oie)

194 I don't know if that's what it's about, it's just the arc of the trailer.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 09:40 PM (asXVI)

Nerdrotic says that's exactly what it's about. There's no subtext, no satire, no subtlety. Just that black people should stop trying to not scare white people.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 09:44 PM (Y0Zsg)

195 Sounds like Alex Garland has a very bad case of America Envy.

Dude, Jealousy Green is NOT your colour.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 16, 2024 09:45 PM (g3Y8C)

196 >He was good in a small role in Glengarry Glen Ross. Of course, he played an asshole.
---

but that speech is epic

IMO

Posted by: Don Black at March 16, 2024 09:45 PM (oCjPU)

197 I think that comparison is actually an insult to the New York Dolls and one Buster Poindexter.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 16, 2024 09:46 PM (g3Y8C)

198 To BurtTC's point earlier, Damsel sounds like a genuine "you can interpret it as anti-woke" movie. I mean, a strong female fire-breathing dragon who don't need no man?
Posted by: Ian S. at March 16, 2024 09:40 PM (P9pDS)

Yeah, I saw The Drinker's take on it, and thought "hmmm, maybe I should see this."

Something about Millie Vanilli Jingleheimer Brown is quite appealing. And I'm really not sure what it is.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 09:46 PM (Y0Zsg)

199 He was good in a small role in Glengarry Glen Ross. Of course, he played an asshole.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at March 16, 2024 09:43 PM (FVME7)

Hah I was going to say the same thing but decided not to give him any credit in my post.

I’ll dog on him again and say his role in The Departed was comical .

Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 09:46 PM (MNhXM)

200 He was good in a small role in Glengarry Glen Ross. Of course, he played an asshole.

Alec was genuinely fantastic in the Tina Fey TV series 30 Rock. Where he also played an asshole.

Posted by: Ian S. at March 16, 2024 09:47 PM (FD5dr)

201 Damsel?

I think Disparu reviewed it also. Well he mocked it IIRC.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 16, 2024 09:48 PM (g3Y8C)

202 Thought Baldwin was okay in The Edge too.

I forget what kept him from doing the part, but he was the original choice for the movie version of The Fugitive, and I gotta say I think he'd have been a better Richard Kimble than Harrison Ford (not that either of them could have carried David Janssen's suitcase).

Posted by: Just Some Guy at March 16, 2024 09:48 PM (q3u5l)

203 195
'Alex Garland has a very bad case of America Envy'

You called it. Completely correct.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at March 16, 2024 09:48 PM (roH4R)

204 I would say Hawks, not Capra. Leigh is doing Rosalind Russell from "His Gal Friday", the award-winning reporter--except that Leigh has a heart, and IIRC Grant and Russell get together on HGF because they're BOTH soulless scumbags.

HGF is kind of an odd movie. The main characters are awful, the movie knows they're awful, and the audience says "Oh, yeah, journalists."

By comparison, Jason-Leigh's character in THP is positively a bleeding heart.

(THP is underrated, IMO, and a perfect example of a film regarded as cold. Topically, it also features a magic negro!)
Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 09:44 PM (asXVI)

Perhaps so, but I was thinking JJL's character might have been sort of like Stanwyck's in Meet John Doe.

And then there's Durning, who is almost Clarence the angel!

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 09:49 PM (Y0Zsg)

205 Either they are ripping off Repo Man and/or the OVA California Crisis. ||

They sorta lampshade it. Not well. Something like "I saw a movie where a guy had something in his trunk and it didn't go well for anyone who saw what it was."

*rim shot*

It sounds like this movie needs something like the rug that really ties everything together. ||

Actually, yeah. Like I said...and it wasn't till A Serious Man that I figured it out...but the element that ties their movies together, singly and as a whole is this whole notion of how little in control we are and how little we really know, even in our most important plans.

Now, nothing wrong with setting that idea aside, but it's not replaced with anything.

|| I'm gonna admit, "Margaret Qualley" plus "a lot of lesbian sex" would normally add up to a good time, but I'm gonna trust moviegique here because everything else about that movie sounds dreadful. ||

Well, maybe someone will counter here, but I thought the sex was cringe. Not funny enough for a comedy, too funny for a drama, and totally out of place in a RomCom.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 09:49 PM (asXVI)

206 He was good in a small role in Glengarry Glen Ross. Of course, he played an asshole.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at March 16, 2024 09:43 PM (FVME7)

Hah I was going to say the same thing but decided not to give him any credit in my post.

I’ll dog on him again and say his role in The Departed was comical .
Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 09:46 PM (MNhXM)
***

It's been so long since Ive seen that, that I'd forgotten he was even in it.
Oh well.
He look...Murder She Wrote is on!

Posted by: Diogenes at March 16, 2024 09:50 PM (W/lyH)

207 War of the Worlds (George Pal version) looks great in 4K, except the smoke effects look like small smoke.

Watched "M3gan" which I think I bought because it was "buy 5 4K disks and get a discount" and I was trying to find a 5th.

It's okay. It's basically "Cyber-Chuckie." Professional all the way through.

Now trying to make my way through "IJ and the Temple of Doom." This movie defines stupid.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at March 16, 2024 09:51 PM (CHHv1)

208 Richard Kimble than Harrison Ford (not that either of them could have carried David Janssen's suitcase).
Posted by: Just Some Guy at March 16, 2024 09:48 PM (q3u5l)

Harrison Ford is overrated IMO also. I don’t think he knows how to smile or laugh. He definitely has the smirk down pat though.

Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 09:51 PM (MNhXM)

209 This movie defines stupid.

Indy, Kate Capshaw, or Short Round?

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 16, 2024 09:52 PM (g3Y8C)

210 >>>I have the whole concept of Oppenheimer. Yes, he was a very important scientist, and yes the Manhattan project was a big deal, but ...was his life that extraordinarily exciting that we needed a million dollar movies made?

Posted by: runner

>

Posted by: Dr. Bone at March 16, 2024 09:52 PM (Wexm1)

211 Perhaps so, but I was thinking JJL's character might have been sort of like Stanwyck's in Meet John Doe.||

Oh, I can see that. Sometimes the Coens are tricky, too. So JJL's mannerisms may be straight Russell, but the Coens may have had Stanwyck in mind. Certainly Tim Robbins is more of a John Doe than a Walter Burns.

(It's kind of like Lebowski being, obviously, a reference to "The Big Sleep", but it follows the plotline of "Murder, My Sweet" a lot more closely, I think.)

|| And then there's Durning, who is almost Clarence the angel!

Yeah, definitely. They even hung him on wires, IIRC--something Capra wouldn't have touched for IAWL.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 09:52 PM (asXVI)

212 So they made a passing reference to Repo Man?

Geez do a better job then, this sounds like a movie written by Amy Schumer.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 16, 2024 09:53 PM (g3Y8C)

213 OK, dinnertime. Will check in after for wrap ups.

Thanks everyone!

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 09:53 PM (asXVI)

214 Now trying to make my way through "IJ and the Temple of Doom." This movie defines stupid.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at March 16, 2024 09:51 PM (CHHv1)

I watched it again recently, because I had remembered that it was dumb, compared to the other two (yes, there are only 3 IJ movies).

It's still dumb. I don't care what anyone else says, Capshaw is unwatchable.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 09:54 PM (Y0Zsg)

215 || So they made a passing reference to Repo Man?

Not specific enough to say. It seemed like the most likely reference, but it could've been the Spillane movie, "Kiss Me, Deadly."

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 09:54 PM (asXVI)

216 George Pal's War of the Worlds.

The Hispanic character is saying "Let's be friends"

And is murdered by illegal aliens from another planet.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 16, 2024 09:55 PM (g3Y8C)

217 I think Oppenheimer was more about the government's ability to use and abuse people for whatever they think is "in the national interest."

He ended up being a tool. Couldn't figure it out. Being a brainiac and all.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at March 16, 2024 09:55 PM (Q4IgG)

218 Now trying to make my way through "IJ and the Temple of Doom." This movie defines stupid.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at March 16, 2024 09:51 PM (CHHv1)

*Signals to Robert The Cat to bite you*

Posted by: Robert at March 16, 2024 09:55 PM (O1gXl)

219 >
Posted by: Dr. Bone at March 16, 2024 09:52 PM (Wexm1)

in english ??

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 09:55 PM (V13WU)

220 Oh, I can see that. Sometimes the Coens are tricky, too. So JJL's mannerisms may be straight Russell, but the Coens may have had Stanwyck in mind. Certainly Tim Robbins is more of a John Doe than a Walter Burns.

(It's kind of like Lebowski being, obviously, a reference to "The Big Sleep", but it follows the plotline of "Murder, My Sweet" a lot more closely, I think.)

|| And then there's Durning, who is almost Clarence the angel!

Yeah, definitely. They even hung him on wires, IIRC--something Capra wouldn't have touched for IAWL.
Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 09:52 PM (asXVI)

Yeah, I think the character was more like Stanwyck's in John Doe, but the mannerisms were more... maybe Hepburn? Sort of a mix, a Bringing Up Baby/Philadelphia Story combo.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 16, 2024 09:57 PM (Y0Zsg)

221 That was strange.

I've read many accounts of the history of the Manhattan Project and while I enjoyed the movie and have nothing critical to say about it, - it wasn't very remarkable. It was well done, a fine production, but even as a treatise of the man as a socialist, it wasn't compelling.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at March 16, 2024 09:57 PM (Wexm1)

222 The Manhattan Engineering District managed to invent a bigger firecracker.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 16, 2024 09:58 PM (g3Y8C)

223 Meanwhile MIT's Radiation Lab helped invent GCI radar.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 16, 2024 09:59 PM (g3Y8C)

224 Robert the Cat (TM) says "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" is the worst thing since whatever it was I put in the litter box." He then adds, "Plus what I hwarked up behind that new cabinet."

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at March 16, 2024 10:00 PM (CHHv1)

225 I think Oppenheimer was more about the government's ability to use and abuse people for whatever they think is "in the national interest."

He ended up being a tool. Couldn't figure it out. Being a brainiac and all.
Posted by: Martini Farmer at March 16, 2024 09:55 PM (Q4IgG)

It's interesting in reading The Making of the Atomic Bomb just how many egos and, by todays standards, the level of naivety among the eggheads. They would be easy tools to use.

Posted by: Diogenes at March 16, 2024 10:01 PM (W/lyH)

226 I nearly fell asleep in the theater during Temple of Doom (and wish I had), and I believe I actually did nod off for a while during Return of the Jedi.

Saw them both (mostly) when they first came out, and again when they came out on disc just to make sure I hadn't actually missed anything nifty, and don't plan on ever seeing either one again.

The Coens get all kinds of points for No Country for Old Men.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at March 16, 2024 10:01 PM (q3u5l)

227 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

It might have been better if Indy had drank that poison in Shanghai.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 16, 2024 10:01 PM (g3Y8C)

228 Temple of Doom lost me when they jumped out of the plane in the inflatable raft.

Posted by: polynikes at March 16, 2024 10:03 PM (MNhXM)

229 Klaus Fuchs and David Greenglass wanted the USSR to have nuclear parity.

And here we are.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 16, 2024 10:03 PM (g3Y8C)

230 Temple of Doom lost me when they jumped out of the plane in the inflatable raft.

Yeah, that was a real Fonzie moment.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 16, 2024 10:04 PM (g3Y8C)

231 Drive Away Dolls sounds like a hot mess. Thanks for warning me away from it.

I saw a movie I kinda liked last week-- "Kill the Irishman."

I wouldn't put it on my Top 10 list, mind. Or even my Top 100, probably. But it was fun to see all the famous character actors interact.

Posted by: mnw at March 16, 2024 10:04 PM (NLIak)

232 @227 That's what gets me. I suspected that he would say something Wesley-like, like, "I drank all the antidotes, jerkwad." Instead he was like, "Sure I'll drink with my enemies because what bad could happen?" "Oh, THIS bad could happen? Oh no!"

It just lost me then and there.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at March 16, 2024 10:07 PM (CHHv1)

233 >>>Temple of Doom lost me when they jumped out of the plane in the inflatable raft.

Posted by: polynikes

>That shit is real, buddy, and we did it on a Saturday before breakfast. Nobody broke their spine, but we did lose a couple of beers.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at March 16, 2024 10:07 PM (Wexm1)

234 Luckily Crystal Numbskulls and Dial of Despair save Temple of Doom from being a movie one never talks about.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 16, 2024 10:10 PM (g3Y8C)

235 Daily Star: Woman raped, decapitated and hung upside-down in forest on retreat to cure depression

https://tinyurl.com/m44uv5m9

Well, she's not depressed anymore.

Posted by: Robert at March 16, 2024 10:12 PM (op3cS)

236 Klaus Fuchs and David Greenglass wanted the USSR to have nuclear parity.
And here we are.
Posted by: Anna Puma at March 16, 2024 10:03 PM (g3Y8C)

there is a song about that

https://tinyurl.com/5b6ukc72

Posted by: Kindltot at March 16, 2024 10:12 PM (D7oie)

237 Daily Star: Woman raped, decapitated and hung upside-down in forest on retreat to cure depression

https://tinyurl.com/m44uv5m9

Well, she's not depressed anymore.
Posted by: Robert at March 16, 2024 10:12 PM (op3cS)

to cure whose depression ? her husbands ?

Posted by: runner at March 16, 2024 10:13 PM (V13WU)

238 Whoops! That was for the ONT.

Not that it matters, this thread b ded.

Posted by: Robert at March 16, 2024 10:13 PM (op3cS)

239 236

'there is a song about that'

Yep, it was the one I thought it would be.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at March 16, 2024 10:18 PM (roH4R)

240 So, just for the record--

Riding the submarine was a-okay for some of you...

...but the raft was a bridge too far?

Just checking because RotLA lost me on the submarine ride, but then I enjoyed IJatToD because I went in knowing it was =supposed= to be stupid.

Posted by: moviegique (buy my book!) at March 16, 2024 10:31 PM (asXVI)

241 He ended up being a tool. Couldn't figure it out. Being a brainiac and all.
Posted by: Martini Farmer at March 16, 2024 09:55 PM (Q4IgG)

Aaaaaaand had no reliable moral, spiritual direction other than rueful hindsight from the Commie lover and Einstein experience.

Its like the Secret Srevice telling us lone wolf assassins were bullied in school or gangsters were molested as children in foster care.

Formation has much more to do with these things than "figure it out."

Posted by: 80's music fan at March 16, 2024 10:40 PM (as3uC)

242
I recently watched Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon of Time in America back to back. Leone is better when he has Clint in his movies.

Posted by: polynikes

Both movies are tedious bores. I have never gotten more than 20 minutes into OUaTiTW before turning it off. I know that I have watched OUaTiA in its entirety at least twice and I was thoroughly disinterested in any of the characters both times. Bore after bore through the entire thing. Mysteries that aren't, much less interesting. Strike the set, set it on fire, and burn all rolls of the film in that fire, please!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 17, 2024 12:02 AM (xG4kz)

243 "There's a lot of lesbian sex. ... I mean, if you love lesbians, maybe this is the movie for you?"

Pass!

Posted by: m at March 17, 2024 04:20 AM (o3SCB)

244 “In a Coen brothers movie…sex is always played for laughs. No exceptions.” I think Blood Simple is definitely an exception.

Posted by: LeeCW at March 17, 2024 07:59 PM (oza6I)

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