Lurker > Seginustemple

Pi

On a purely audiovisual level I really enjoyed this - I'm a sucker for black and white film, especially the way its stylized here with the grainy stock and blown-out contrast. The 90's breakbeat music was totally up my alley and scores bonus points for using Autechre(!). A b&w movie with a techno soundtrack is a unique combination. Kinetic editing further affects an intense, spiky aesthetic that works as an expression of its subjects neurotic state of mind. Eraserhead influence is noticeable.

However some things about it don't work for me. There are weaknesses on the surface - thin characters and vague plot points paired with a ridiculously self-serious vibe - although I guess I could say the same for Enter the Void and I loved the way that came together. I think something about Aronofsky's style just leaves me cold, I had the same problem with Requiem for a Dream. Another part of it is I don't think the math angle is quite as deep as it wants me to believe, and here the vagueness works against it.

I do like the various themes - computers and consciousness, numerology and pareidolia, Jewish mysticism and the Wall Street cabal. A lot of movies by and about Jewish people are very self-conscious about the stereotype of greed (A Serious Man, Uncut Gems) and I'm sensing some of that here in the character starting out gaming the stock market with what turns out to be the Hebrew name of god, later rejecting materialism in the name of truth. I'm also fascinated with the mystic intonations. This is random but last year I saved an interesting comment on the music theory subreddit that's strangely relevant to this movie's esoteric side - https://www.reddit.com/r/musictheory/comments/g0n45n/my_friend_said_calling_sounds_tonicized_stable/fnb64h4/

I suppose you could read the whole thing as the psychodrama of a mathemetician going through a brain tumor. I wanted to like this more but I gotta call it like it hits me 6/10
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Lord Zedd definitely looks cool as fuck, he freaked me out as a kid
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You bow to no one, azuarc

I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Kung Fu Hustle
Gladiator
Ocean's Eleven
Dora and the Lost City of Gold

jcgamer107 posted...

I guess the US versions of The Ring & The Grudge, if that counts.

There's actually a Ring/Grudge crossover movie, Sadako vs. Kayako. Although it's not the U.S. versions
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Fast and the Furious was never obscure, they've been box office hits since the first one
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You bow to no one, azuarc

From that list I'd have to go with Thin Red Line/Saving Private Ryan, Fear of a Black Hat/CB4, and Babe/Gordy

A loose one that comes to mind is Elephant Man/Raging Bull. Both black and white 1980 best picture nominees where the title character has the famous line "I am not an animal!"
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You bow to no one, azuarc

this is far more offensive to me than decapitation
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You bow to no one, azuarc

how do people tolerate this guy spamming trash every day
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Have we seen Raiden's strength post-Metal Gear: Rising? I'm wondering if he's the most popular MGS character that doesn't appear in Twin Snakes
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You bow to no one, azuarc

I'll vote for the two I haven't seen, the other three are great though

Pi
The Fountain
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie

Where to even begin with this one? For as much of this is still lodged in my memory banks (every single music cue and stupid one-liner) there's one glaring aspect that I never noticed as a child - this isn't the original Power Rangers cast. The blue, pink, and white ranger are the same but red is a new guy and black and yellow have actually swapped ethnicity, presumably because at some point the producers realized the black guy being the black ranger and the asian chick being the yellow ranger was pretty fucking tacky. But it my mind it was still Zach and Trini in the movie. And I think it's because the Rangers are honestly just 100% forgettable here. They have zero real character moments, it's just action and walking and generic one-liners. No time for personality when they're busy skydiving into rollerblading into karate fights. And I have to guess it's done this way because none of these people can really act anyways.

All the personality went into the villains. Rita and Zedd are more entertaining than the Rangers in their brief appearance, even Goldar has some charm and he does jack-all for the entire movie (which is weird because he's typically the mini-boss). Ivan Ooze is clearly the star of the show, he has lot of fun with the role and injects some much-needed charisma and humor. He's a terrible strategist, guy sends a dozen shock troops in and when that doesn't work he sends a dozen flying guys in and when that doesn't work he sends all his drone workers to die. Ivan Ooze is ten-year-old me playing Starcraft. But he's the life of the party and really this movie wouldn't be much without him. Thanos doesn't have shit on Ivan Ooze.

Some of the practical effects actually hold up. The way the ooze guys explode on impact is still satisfying, a big step up from the lame putty mobs of the show. Zedd's exposed brain pulsating was a nice detail. Ivan's prosthetics look fantastic (and the costume, he is fabulously purple). The CG stuff is obviously limited and holds back the big battle at the end, as a kid I was impressed by how shiny and sleek it was but in hindsight the show version was much more effective, with guys in suits stomping around. It was visceral, there were real explosions and sparks and shit - https://youtu.be/TBHKeRWKqN8?t=129. Also the original Power Rangers costumes look way better than the crap they wear in the movie.

This franchise was indirectly my first brush with Japanese media, although I didn't know it at the time. Looking back it's interesting to note the stylistic differences between the show (which lifted scenes wholesale from its Japanese counterpart) and this completely American production. The actual Super Sentai fights take on a sense of heightened theatricality which I now find sorely lacking in the movie - https://youtu.be/s2_PczpjnUA?t=105.

This time my favorite moment came at 50:17. Isn't that Dana Carvey's impression of Bush Sr.? I love that bird guy #2 has that voice. 2/10 but it's a loving 2.
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You bow to no one, azuarc

kateee posted...

I think it's also interesting that Marianne says before that by painting and finishing the portrait, she "give[s] you (Heloise) to another" so she is crediting herself with some action here.

Ohh see I was reading that all wrong, I thought she was talking about giving to her yet another painting and I was like "that seems like overkill". I must have gotten a little dyslexic there with the subtitles. It makes way more sense that this is the final painting, that's why it's a big moment for them. The crystallization of the stolen look before the fates separate them.

The mood shift did feel real. Like one second everything is peachy, body language is super positive, three sentences later one of them is crying over something that's been under the surface the whole time. I like the way you explained it, it just happened so fast I wasn't paying enough attention in the moment.
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Hoop Dreams is already up there, I don't watch too many documentaries. For longer anthology stuff the Ken Burns series on Jazz and the one on Vietnam are excellent, if those are considered documentaries. The Evolution of Hip-Hop series on Netflix is really good too. Seems like true crime series are all the rage now, I'm not into that really.

Koyaanisqatsi - Not even sure if this counts but it's worth a mention, says a lot without words. Was really popular back in the day
Into The Inferno - Herzog's recent volcano documentary, at one point he sneaks into North Korea for rare footage and it swerves into a peek behind the curtain
F For Fake - Orson Welles final completed film, a weird meta examination of art forgery that is itself only half-true
Pumping Iron - I find Schwarzenegger a totally fascinating figure, though he's not the sole focus of the doc
David Lynch: The Art Life - I'm a big Lynch fan, I could go on about his stuff forever. A creative hero of mine
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

As in portraiture, this movie is a study of the face. Every look says something, every glance has stakes. The mythological allegory adds a nice layer by highlighting a key motif for the story to explore, the fatal look back.This scene is reconfigured a few times, in the climax I think Heloise may be aware that Marianna is behind her but chooses not to look back, symbolically making the 'lover's choice' as opposed to Marianna who made the 'poet's choice' a few scenes earlier (Heloise even tells her to turn around as per her interpretation of the story). Orpheus being a musician ties into their connection via the song. The subtle motion tracking on Heloise in the last shot was a perfect way to end it, with painterly fixation on her face. The cinematography was excellent throughout and that shot was a cherry on top.

I really liked the choice to not use any soundtrack except for sparse diegetic music. It's historically grounding since this is a time where you couldn't hear music without someone performing it live, and that makes it more powerful when it does show up. I'll admit when I first saw it I thought it was a bit cheap to lean on Vivaldi so much in the final shot, but you know what I love 2001 and if Kubrick can get away with shoving Strauss into every scene then dammit, Sciamma can tap the Four Seasons for the money shot at the end because it fucking works. The relative absence of music also leaves a lot of room for the sound design to go full asmr with the brushes on canvas, crashing waves, whipping wind, crackling fire. Those details really stood out in the theater. Also, I feel like everyone is constantly whispering, was that just me?

Camden posted...

The only scene in the entire movie I didn't particularly care for was the argument they get in to, if only because it felt like they were trying to force some tension into the relationship when it was entirely unnecessary and didn't really have much payoff.

...First, while I understand the running to the point of exhaustion and herbal remedies, what would the possible reasoning be for hanging from a board like me trying to do pull-ups in gym class when it comes to forcing an abortion? Also, beyond it just being a good way to get some overt sexual imagery in the film, who was telling these women back then that the place to rub your magic drugs is your armpit

Totally agree with all of this, the only parts of the movie that didn't really make sense to me. Even for an old-timey abortion practice the idea of just dangling until a fetus drops out seems beyond silly. Was that a thing? And when the drugs popped up I was certain they were going to hit it from the tobacco pipe. She even said it slowed down time, I was like for sure this is weed. And then she daps her pits and her eyes go black, I have no idea wtf drug even does that. With the argument I just felt like I was having a stereotype guy moment because I couldn't even figure out what they were arguing about, even the second time through.

Overall it's an elegant and affecting drama, a little dry at times in its seriousness but never too dour. Well-performed, looks and sounds great. Didn't hit as hard the second time around so I'm gonna go with an 8 but it's a high 8/10
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You bow to no one, azuarc

kateee posted...

i thought you already fulfilled your bizarro quota with HOUSE

I can always go weirder >_>

Hoop Dreams

I'll admit I wasn't as immediately swept up by this as I was hoping, and I suspect there's some Seinfeld Effect going here in terms of the impact this had on the documentary style. But it comes with a lot of qualities that will lead me to revisit it later - the atmosphere, the setting, this may be shallow but the authentic early 90's nostalgia is very appealing to me. The way the buildings look, how the high school kids dress, the picture quality. I know the movie wasn't meant to be a time-capsule necessarily but it works on that level for me in a big way.

I don't want to romanticize it too much though. This has a lot to say about poverty, exploited aspirations, commodified students, institutional callousness and greed. "One walks out the door, another one comes in the door, that's what it's all about". Man, I hated that guy. At one point Spike Lee briefly appeared to highlight the root of all evil and I momentarily wondered why he wasn't the one making this. I think his version would have been interesting. Anyway, basketball is a fine enough subject for study on its own but for me this movie was all about the broader commentary, seeing the kinetics of the sport as an externalization of the struggle with unreasonable social pressure.

Side note, it really bugged me when the high school coach was telling these kids that they're lazy, don't work hard at all, have no potential. Like, bitch one of these kids has a documentary team following him around, obviously there is potential. It's just a coaching style I guess but something about that guy bothered the shit out of me. 8/10
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You bow to no one, azuarc

it was those damn dumpster fire jokes
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You bow to no one, azuarc

I do feel bad for snubbing John Waters this time, I'll have to include him on my next turn. I'm thinking of doing a bizarro batch anyways

Finally starting Hoop Dreams now, took me too long to realize I actually have it on showtime through my spotify account
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Anyone else still using Windows 7 or is it just me?
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Ah you had to do it to me with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie - probably the first movie I dragged my parents to as a kid and I still have the promo big gulp cup they gave out at the popcorn stands - https://imgur.com/u2KdE86 - I've used it to stash pens/pencils/brushes forever

Haven't seen the movie in probably twenty years though...
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You bow to no one, azuarc

if you can't beat 'em, wampum
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Unbelievably fast comebacks/witty banter, nobody in real life actually talks like an Aaron Sorkin character.

It may just be that Aaron Sorkin's stuff bothers me
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Always hated the guy and the day he killed himself was the greatest day of my life, I often fantasized about killing him myself
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Shit I always forget to do this before Sunday, that's like four classics I've missed now

Half the songs on this album have a legit argument for the top spot
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You bow to no one, azuarc

chess
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You bow to no one, azuarc

No Vote

I'm cool with all of these, haven't seen Trainspotting but I loved Mandy and Portrait of a Lady on Fire so I'm totally down to rewatch either
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You bow to no one, azuarc

if you want content that treats the audience like adults you gotta get away from superhero shit
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You bow to no one, azuarc

I went ahead and watched Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, without getting into a spoiler review I have to say it's one of the best biopics I've ever seen. Definitely worth a watch if you're interested in the subject
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You bow to no one, azuarc

House

Camden was right, this is a weird one. I'm all about weird! Anything unique or experimental gets bonus points from me and this is the kind of movie that thrives on bonus points. I can see why it developed a cult following, it has that Rocky Horror Picture show energy where the counterculture crowd can enjoy how kitsch it it. The acting is camp, sound-stages hokey, editing is bonkers, the music is a joke drawn out until it stops being funny and keeps going until it starts being funny again. The familiar tropes of haunted houses and lovesick ghosts are entirely less disturbing than the uncanny film grammar used to express them.

After watching it twice (it was short enough) what I really appreciated is how on on the surface it has this spontaneous, improvisational energy but there's an undercurrent that feels very designed and deliberate. Not all the foreshadowing is obvious at first. The wedding and camera/picture motifs are well-threaded. For a long time Fantasy is the only one seeing things, on second watch it seems like you could read it as her 'dreamer' trait helping manifest the supernatural. But then there's so much random shit that's thrown in on top it feels like there's no consistent rules or logic, in a fun way. I wasn't sure where Mr. Togo's arc was going at first but absurdly turning him into a pile of bananas completely justifies the subplot to me. They cut to his bits at absolutely the wrongest times but I can put up with his Benny Hill bucket-ass bullshit knowing there is a big banana payoff at the end. I guess he's supposed to be a comic inversion of the ghosts' m.i.a husband, the knight in shining armor who never arrives and is tragically killed in war's absurdity...here expressed as 'bananas'. Craziness.

Favorite scenes were the bleeding mirror with Gorgeous on fire (that was just cool), the silent film flashback on the train, and Kung-Fu's final attack - felt like a very JJBA moment and the definition of 'sending it'. Got a kick out of her funky fight music too, pun intended. And here's the flood of blood three years before The Shining did it!

I don't know much about traditional Japanese homes or architecture so someone tell me if I'm wrong here - but wasn't the staircase/second floor more of a Western design? It felt like the house was stitched together from different styles, I'm not sure if that's just a thing that happened in mid-century Japanese homes or if it's specific to this movie but it caught my eye. 8/10
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Hoop Dreams
Modern Times
Dog Day Afternoon
Shoplifters
Bicycle Thieves
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You bow to no one, azuarc

.999~ is to 1 as Broly is to Ipkiss
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You bow to no one, azuarc

He should bust out the guitar more that was a good tune
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Aw damn the series is ending?

Somewhere Over the Rainbow
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You bow to no one, azuarc

I was definitely considering Kwaidan but I figured 3 hours was a bit risky for a blind rec (speaking of which, someone mentioned The Human Condition last page), and I didn't wanna double up on one director since I was already eyeing Harakiri. But as I understand it Paul Schrader took a lot of inspiration from Kwaidan when he made Mishima, so there's a bit of a residual connection there.

I also had Tetsuo: The Iron Man on there at one point but I had a sneaking suspicion that one might be too weird...
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Berry Shelley
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Despite last round's misfire I'm gonna roll the dice on five movies I haven't yet seen but are on my watchlist

Harakiri (1962)
Woman in the Dunes (1964)
Onibaba (1964)
House (1977)
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
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You bow to no one, azuarc

The Vast of Night

I was really into the vibe, felt very Twin Peaks Season 3 adjacent with the whole 50's New Mexico radio station setting and ensuing strange signals and aliens toying with our brains to make us do things. The long takes are so immersive whether the camera is fixed on the switchboard operator for ten minutes or flying through the town like a mad spirit (this shot was a technical marvel, I couldn't believe they maneuvered through the basketball game without cutting). Leads were good, the guy seemed to be doing his best Matthew McConaughey impression and put out a sufficiently creepy/pushy edge that added to the general unease.

The first act had an interesting technology angle I had fun reading into. Early on I sensed some connection between attitudes on personal recording then and now, how self-appointed content creators farm gossip and hearsay and trivia for material. The dude is a natural douche vlogger. Then there's of course the winking irony that even in the 50's they're talking about self-driving cars and bullet trains and the craziest of all, cell phones. The second act took a cue from Pontypool in subverting the 'show don't tell' school of film-making, the palpable tension-building with the radio callers proves sometimes all you need is a good reaction shot over good storytelling and the audience's imagination will run wild. The classic War of the Worlds radio play needs a shoutout here too, notice the radio station is named WOTW.

Only minor weakness is it doesn't have the strongest ending, it reverts from great back to average in the third act when they visit spooky exposition lady and then reveals straight-up saucer aliens. Not that I was expecting a twist (I mean it is riffing on classic pulp sci-fi) but maybe something a little more open-ended or restrained? I felt like they had done so well telling-and-not-showing up to that point they didn't really need to blow any of the budget confirming that there is in fact a saucer. Let it be ambiguous I say!

Excellent style for a directorial debut, I'll have to keep an eye on this Andrew Patterson guy 8/10

*not opposed to the deadline change at all, whatever works best for you
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You bow to no one, azuarc

StealThisSheen posted...

You've definitely said it was from inheritance before, so this wrongful termination stuff is newer lore.

I thought the story was he got a settlement from being hit by a car
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Anagram posted...

What other series have female villains who can be Wickedified?

They own the Alien franchise now, don't they?
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Those IDLES videos are pretty catchy, same vibe as Protomartyr. The second one especially

Does anyone listen to Cloudkicker? I keep going back to his album from last year "Solitude", just an excellent heavy guitar album - all instrumental https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7zhvUDrOy4
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Alphaville
High Plains Drifter
The Vast of Night
Ping Pong
First Cow
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You bow to no one, azuarc

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Haven't read the book, but I thought it was an effective if somewhat flawed movie experience. Kudos to the casting/directing/young actors for the dead-behind-the-eyes continuity of the Kevins, he really makes your skin crawl. Excellent villainy. Tilda is great as the battled mother who somehow doesn't visibly age during Kevin's life.

The flaw for me is that the character behavior/motivations often just seem unbelievable. Usually with these kind of parental anxiety/bad egg horror films there's a supernatural bent to place us in a surreal space (Omen/Exorcist/Eraserhead) and here it seems like realism is implied but not quite realized. It's like if you took a 'kid possessed by the devil' story and replaced the devil with nihilism - I like that premise but it leaves toddler Kevin's overly cunning manipulations with no real explanation other than the inference that the mother is completely unreliable and paints herself the victim of an initially innocent child, but I don't think that tracks with what we're shown. The mom/dad are the 'trips-while-being-chased' of parenting technique. So many bad decisions. I'm no parent but in classic horror fashion they made me want to yell advice at the screen: "Give him some chores already, where are the boundaries and discipline?" "Why are you training him with a bow? Make him join a team sport!" "Oh god don't keep a hamster around him!" The vacant dad is just way too oblivious, he almost had it coming. And no way would Kevin get out in two years on some Prozac excuse, that seems completely unrealistic.

I couldn't tell if it was obliquely commenting on gun culture (via bow/nerf/squirt gun) or if it was specifically omitting real guns to sidestep that, or if they weren't even thinking of that. But I've never heard of a school shooting with a bow and arrow so I'm inclined to think it's the former. It's sort of an American epidemic (see: prominent flag in the gym at the end), even my high school went through a shooting. It's sad how much this feels like it's a post-Sandy Hook/Elliot Rodgers text but really it's just post-Columbine.

Real twist-of-the-knife ending, too. A mothers forgiveness knows no bounds? The redemptive power of prison? I mean, breaking the kids arm was what potty-trained him so is it saying you gotta break a bad egg to make an omelette? It's an extreme example to make a case for corporal punishment if that. For me it's simply easier to take the "beware having kids" message out of it...8/10
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You bow to no one, azuarc

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

Time Bandits and Holy Grail were childhood favorites of mine so I'm fascinated by this film's meta angle. It's been in development hell since I was born and tracks so closely with the themes of those early works of Gilliam's - time-traveling, larping, parody of historical fiction, it's own history adding a chronological dimension to the story. The director is compelled to go back and polish off old ideas. Somehow I still didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition to show up.

Spoilers for Holy Grail in case it's considered a twist that the ending reveals it's all a historical re-enactment set in modern day. It's really similar to what's going on here, the delusions are just more powerful for Quixote and Sancho, bordering on the literal time travel of Time Bandits /spoilers. I actually liked how ambiguous it was about this, suggesting a point where the delusion approaches the real thing as long as disbelief is suspended. Isn't that the magic of movies? Is this about the past, the present, are they the same in a pretend space? Are they both Don Quixote?.

Yet while this is an explicitly meta movie on multiple levels, I'm not sure if the surface story actually works that well. Longtime Gilliam collaborator Jonathan Pryce does a great job as the titular character and Adam Driver continues to charm with his goofy persona and exciting pec cleave but I'm not about any of the other characters. As some others have said the story feels disjointed at times. I agree with CoolCly's take that it got halfway to a message about an artist using people up but never followed through on it. And I suspect the plot of Don Quixote is not exactly the most riveting baseline to start from, but I fully admit I haven't read it. I understand it's cultural relevance as a parody of chivalry and delusion but I regret that the details are lost on me. I feel like I understand the film as it relates to Gilliam's work very well but have little familiarity with its connection to Miguel de Cervantes' classic novel so this one might merit a re-watch if I ever get around to the proper homework. 7/10
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Saint Maud

Another tightly controlled slow burn from A24's boutique horror shop. The genre has been branching in an interesting direction in both style and content recently, pairing sleek and classy-looking productions with restrained and minimal stories often focused on the female aspect of horror. Unfortunately I don't think Maud hits as hard as her contemporaries in this arena. Morfydd Clark gives an unnerving performance but we kind of know where her character is going from scene one and the story takes no real twists or turns to get there. It ends up being a well-executed but bare-bones character study and cautionary tale of god as self-image. However it's a promising start for Rose Glass (excellent name, right?), who I believe is the first director we've had who's younger than I am.

The highlights for me were the subtle distortions on Maud's face in her moments of rapture, the shot of her in the dark at Amanda's birthday party, and the way the scares hit on the off-beat. It's interesting that the character is isolated from organized religion, this lack of community seems to amplify her connection to the divine. One thing I didn't quite track was the meaning of the large bug she saw crawling around throughout the movie. Was it merely a sign of delusion? Guilt or grief? I'm sure some broader Christian iconography slipped by me too.

Self-immolation is becoming a familiar trend after Hereditary/Midsommar. What is it with people burning themselves? I guess for Catholics it's purification by fire which is not nearly as cool as Tibetan Buddhists doing it in political protest without moving a muscle. Chad Buddha > Virgin Mary 6/10
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You bow to no one, azuarc

TS2 co-op campaign was the shit if you both knew what you were doing
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You bow to no one, azuarc

City of God
Before Sunrise
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Inventing the Abbots
American Animals
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Hikaru Nakamura
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You bow to no one, azuarc

ah you know what fuck it I don't have time

1. Climbing Up The Walls
2. Let Down
3. Karma Police
4. Airbag
5. Lucky
6. Exit Music
7. Paranoid Android
8. Subterranean Homesick Alien
9. The Tourist
10. Electioneering
11. No Surprises
12. Fitter, Happier
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Oh shit gimme like an hour or two I just woke up I do wanna write these tracks up
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You bow to no one, azuarc

Narrator (the David Attenborough commentary)
Dionysus
Theseus
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You bow to no one, azuarc