In other news, I rewatched Once Upon a Time in America today. It's still one of the greatest movies ever made, although it's uncomfortably regressive in terms of its sexual politics. Still a masterclass in visual filmmaking, and at 3 hours 45 minutes, far too short.
Sweet god, the idea of almost 4 hours of "another film about american gangsters" is inducing a literal gag-reflex.
Calling Once Upon a Time in America (or The Godfather) "another film about American gangsters" is roughly like calling da Vinci's Last Supper "another painting about that Christ guy", or Shakespeare's Macbeth "another play about stabby, ambitious noblemen". I can absolutely understand not wanting to watch another film with that subject matter, but Madonn', always with the dismissiveness!
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
In other news, I rewatched Once Upon a Time in America today. It's still one of the greatest movies ever made, although it's uncomfortably regressive in terms of its sexual politics. Still a masterclass in visual filmmaking, and at 3 hours 45 minutes, far too short.
Sweet god, the idea of almost 4 hours of "another film about american gangsters" is inducing a literal gag-reflex.
Calling Once Upon a Time in America (or The Godfather) "another film about American gangsters" is roughly like calling da Vinci's Last Supper "another painting about that Christ guy", or Shakespeare's Macbeth "another play about stabby, ambitious noblemen". I can absolutely understand not wanting to watch another film with that subject matter, but Madonn', always with the dismissiveness!
See, that's the thing, this is the kind of sentence people say about like at least half a dozen films about the exact same subject matter. (Which is the exact opposite of your examples on both levels btw) There is not even a shortage of "films about american gangsters that everyone gushes over".
Dismissing genuine classics because of a large number of movies on the same subject is a thing you can do but not really a thing that makes sense unless the whole area is just not to your taste.
The many, many mediocre cowboy movies out there don't make Shane or Once Upon A Time In The West any less compelling. The glut of romantic comedies doesn't make Annie Hall any less evergreen. A mountain of spy movies doesn't stop Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy from being a masterpiece.
I can think of Once Upon a Time in America, The Godfather 1 & 2 and probably Goodfellas, films that apart from their subject matter are pretty different in tone and style, though there are some overlaps. After that, I don't think the gushing is as universal as you suggest; you get people who wet themselves over Scarface, but while they're very loud they're not ubiquitous. What other films are there about American gangsters that are on the same level in terms of craft and artistry?
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Note that the rule of thumb on movie profitability is, theatrical gross / 2 = gross revenue, and budget plus advertising = costs. (And in the long run, theatrical gross = home video gross.) In a general sense, profitability matters in terms of how much money the movie made for producers, distributors, etc., as well as whether or not the actors and filmmakers made their rent payments while filming.
--
Talk of Oculus makes me realize I didn't relate an inspiring story to y'all, so here it is now.
A friend of mine went to a screening of the film (and the short film), where the director, Mike Flanagan, did a Q&A talking about his experiences. Flanagan told the story of Oculus's inception, which was the short film El Jeffe described, a found footage, one-actor, one-room 30 minute short. The short got Flanagan noticed, and got him meetings with all these producers who would say, "Okay, we liked this thing. What do you want to make?" and Flanagan would say, "I want to make the feature version of this short, but I don't want to make it a found footage movie." The found footage aspect was basically something he did because that's all he could afford, not something that was integral to the film. But none of the producers would do it--this was around 2005, 2006, when Paranormal Activity was big and found footage horror was super hot. So none of those meetings went anywhere.
So Flanagan spent the next decade or so doing, like, cutting car dealership commercials and hating himself. Finally he's like, "Look, the only way I can get to make a feature is to have already made a feature, so I just have to go out and do it." So he scraped together the money and made Absentia, a pretty good horror movie (especially for its budget) which you can find on Netflix. Absentia got him more meetings! And he goes into a meeting with this producer and pitches like 10 different film projects, and the producer is like, "All of those are shit, no." So Flanagan is literally on his way out the door when he goes, "Fuck it" and turns around and says, "So I have this short film..." And he shows the producer the short film and tells him, "I want to make this movie and I don't want it to be found footage," and the producer says OK, and that's how he got to make Oculus.
Maybe that's not super inspiring, but it definitely was to me, and the lesson I took was "go make a damn feature," so now I am going to do that.
--
In other news, I rewatched Once Upon a Time in America today. It's still one of the greatest movies ever made, although it's uncomfortably regressive in terms of its sexual politics. Still a masterclass in visual filmmaking, and at 3 hours 45 minutes, far too short.
My company actually got a brief to create an interactive experience to promote Oculus. We didn't win which made me sad.
We were going to put a bunch of two-way mirrors and secret compartments in movie theatre bathrooms and give some motherfuckers heart attacks. I think they eventually just spent the budget on buying more trailer pre-rolls on YouToob
Spaffy on
ALRIGHT FINE I GOT AN AVATAR
Steam: adamjnet
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
happy madison movies seem like enormous scams to me, they got big budgets and have product placement out the whazoo and look like they were made on a shoestring
Dismissing genuine classics because of a large number of movies on the same subject is a thing you can do but not really a thing that makes sense unless the whole area is just not to your taste.
The many, many mediocre cowboy movies out there don't make Shane or Once Upon A Time In The West any less compelling. The glut of romantic comedies doesn't make Annie Hall any less evergreen. A mountain of spy movies doesn't stop Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy from being a masterpiece.
I don't see how it doesn't make sense. At some point, you can get tired of the same kind of story and setting over and over and over again. It doesn't mean they are bad. Just like not wanting a burger for dinner for the 14th day in a row means that burgers are bad. Especially if the idea of the genre doesn't really get you wet to begin with.
Mafia films are the most pronounced imo because it seems to have been the genre to try and make your "sprawling epic that becomes a classic" film in since The Godfather came out. And that alot of them are generally considered to have succeeded.
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ElJeffeRoaming the streets, waving his mod gun around.Moderator, ClubPAMod Emeritus
We were going to put a bunch of two-way mirrors and secret compartments in movie theatre bathrooms and give some motherfuckers heart attacks. I think they eventually just spent the budget on buying more trailer pre-rolls on YouToob
That would have been inspired. You probably would've gotten sued after the third guy suffered a coronary, but I would have cheered you guys all the way to bankruptcy.
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
We were going to put a bunch of two-way mirrors and secret compartments in movie theatre bathrooms and give some motherfuckers heart attacks. I think they eventually just spent the budget on buying more trailer pre-rolls on YouToob
That would have been inspired. You probably would've gotten sued after the third guy suffered a coronary, but I would have cheered you guys all the way to bankruptcy.
We do this kind of stuff a lot, and no lawsuits yet. Come at me, lawyers!
We did the launch of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, for example. We got a full page spread in London's biggest financial daily, for example. Headline? "Time to invest... In a new pair of pants."
Spaffy on
ALRIGHT FINE I GOT AN AVATAR
Steam: adamjnet
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ElJeffeRoaming the streets, waving his mod gun around.Moderator, ClubPAMod Emeritus
I started watching that, and managed to be extremely impressed before it even got through the opening credits. Just the way the credits are blocked and timed along with the characters marching into view of the camera is goddamn masterful. By the time I got to the end of the opening sequence, I kinda wanted to go back in time and get into filmmaking at a young age.
You can pretty much pick a still shot at random from that film and it's a fucking work of art.
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
Also I saw The Riot Club today. It's getting fairly good reviews and it's well performed but as someone that went to Oxford holy fuckballs I hope nobody thinks this is realistic.
AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
I saw Raiders in 4k last year.
Art direction that never intended to been seen in that resolution should not be.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
Small Apartments, one of those ensemble movies that was supposed to be some kind of off kilter comedy but was more just depressing and joyless. I admit to basically trailing off the last half of the film.
It's about a small apartment complex where all these weird people live and you're supposed to laugh at them not with them, and Matt Lucas is the main character who walks around everywhere in his underwear and he's pale and completely bald but has a variety of wigs to wear so you're supposed to laugh and sneer at him even more but he's got mental issues and his brother is Cyclops who is in a mental institution who sends him audiotapes every day with toenail clippings (wacky! get it!), James Caan is the old jerk guy next door, Rebel Wilson and Johnny Knoxville are stoner punk rock goths (see, he's wacky and she's fat so it's silly), and Juno Temple is the underage girl who Lucas watches across the complex dance and dress like a prostitute and it's heavily implied she is one. Oh and Billy Crystal is in it too.
It's all these stereotypes that seem to come from europeans thinking they're doing something groundbreaking in examining modern america, when in reality at best they're examining a section of L.A. they saw off their tour bus when they visited one summer or looked at instagram pictures. The director is some swede who made Madonna's Ray of Light video and a lot of other music videos, and while Matt Lucas does a good job and a few other characters (Lucas was clearly trying to do something more than his Little Britain stuff but the film kept pushing him back into that slot) in the end it feels like a bizarro My Name is Earl; that show featured the dregs of society but allowed their character to appear and realize among the 70's wooden paneling and vinyl chairs there's good out there where you might not think there is, where this film just tries the whole retro dilapidated schtick without anything really to say or comment on outside of how stupid these people look and how above it all everyone involved with the film was.
This is why we will continue to make Germans evil, Swedes psychos, and French people assholes. It's a two way street, bros!
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
I love the sound of old films (and I'm basically talking about films up to 1985), Foley artists pulling street traffic and shoesteps that you just never hear anymore, the sound of money rustling as a dude pulls off a bunch of twenties or paper folding, it makes a movie feel more complete.
So I'm watching the Raid 2 and holy fuck it's awful and boring and WOAH THAT PRISON FIGHT IN THE MUD and now it's boring again and the dubs are fucking embarrassing.
So I'm watching the Raid 2 and holy fuck it's awful and boring and WOAH THAT PRISON FIGHT IN THE MUD and now it's boring again and the dubs are fucking embarrassing.
So I'm watching the Raid 2 and holy fuck it's awful and boring and WOAH THAT PRISON FIGHT IN THE MUD and now it's boring again and the dubs are fucking embarrassing.
So I'm watching the Raid 2 and holy fuck it's awful and boring and WOAH THAT PRISON FIGHT IN THE MUD and now it's boring again and the dubs are fucking embarrassing.
So I'm watching the Raid 2 and holy fuck it's awful and boring and WOAH THAT PRISON FIGHT IN THE MUD and now it's boring again and the dubs are fucking embarrassing.
Fuck's sake, you were watching the dub?
Do not watch the dub.
The theatrical release didn't have the dub. It sort of works for the Raid 1, which is just about dudes getting brutalized, but the Raid 2 is trying for drama, and that does not work with the level of dub they're going for.
Plus, that kills one of the best subtle touches in the whole movie.
So I'm watching the Raid 2 and holy fuck it's awful and boring and WOAH THAT PRISON FIGHT IN THE MUD and now it's boring again and the dubs are fucking embarrassing.
Here's a tip: fast forward through the Raid 2.
I liked it but I got bored by the end.
I turned it off. Tripe.
First question: Why would anyone want to watch a foreign made live-action movie with a dub? Bruce Lee movies got ruined that way.
Second: How is the Raid 2 awful and boring?
I thought it was a lot of fun with a bunch of cool fights and a coherent if generic and slightly watered down story.
I mean, I thought it was weird that by the end,
the Yakuza taking over crime in Jakarta was a good thing
, and I was disappointed we didn't get to see any Hapkido/Karate/Jiujitsu vs Silat fights between the Yakuza and the Indonesian gangsters but besides that, I thought it was a very fun film.
Pretty much everything outside of the action scenes is terrible in The Raid 2, and personally, if I don't give a shit about the plot or characters I have a hard time caring about the action.
I really don't get all the hoopla. It was a fun enough movie, but it's not even the best Marvel movie I've seen this year.
It's got a few good performances and some great jokes and a light tone but other then that it's pretty unexciting. The whole movie felt rushed, I can't think of almost any action scene that was really exciting enough to stick in my memory and the character development was increadibly shallow and came out of nowhere for the most part. Like, it really felt like we skipped the entire part where the team slowly comes together and the movie just kind of assumes they did because that's the way this formula works. Also a few parts where I swear they forgot to replace the stand-in actor cues with actual dialogue before shooting the script and so a character literally just says "I feel X!".
It felt like basically a mid-tier Marvel movie with all the problems that comes with, only elevated slightly by some funny jokes.
For all it's problems, I'd take Cap2 over it. That movie felt like it knew what pacing means and how to develop character relationships so they are meaningful by the climax and how to shoot an action scene so it wasn't just "OMG, the CGI madness".
shryke on
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cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
Saw Snowpiercer in the second run theater.
Wow. Definitely a theatrical film. Loved it from start to finish, never felt too long to me. I'm glad it kept on as long as it did.
Posts
Once Upon A Time In America is a stunning film (with the downside of Leone's somewhat problematic view of women).
Here's a young Tarantino talking about it. It contains spoilers and NSFW footage from the movie.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Yes. And a shit-ton of other films all on the same damn subject and premise.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
See, that's the thing, this is the kind of sentence people say about like at least half a dozen films about the exact same subject matter. (Which is the exact opposite of your examples on both levels btw) There is not even a shortage of "films about american gangsters that everyone gushes over".
The many, many mediocre cowboy movies out there don't make Shane or Once Upon A Time In The West any less compelling. The glut of romantic comedies doesn't make Annie Hall any less evergreen. A mountain of spy movies doesn't stop Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy from being a masterpiece.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
My company actually got a brief to create an interactive experience to promote Oculus. We didn't win which made me sad.
We were going to put a bunch of two-way mirrors and secret compartments in movie theatre bathrooms and give some motherfuckers heart attacks. I think they eventually just spent the budget on buying more trailer pre-rolls on YouToob
Steam: adamjnet
shooting on location costs a lot
Also, yes, they are scams
I don't see how it doesn't make sense. At some point, you can get tired of the same kind of story and setting over and over and over again. It doesn't mean they are bad. Just like not wanting a burger for dinner for the 14th day in a row means that burgers are bad. Especially if the idea of the genre doesn't really get you wet to begin with.
Mafia films are the most pronounced imo because it seems to have been the genre to try and make your "sprawling epic that becomes a classic" film in since The Godfather came out. And that alot of them are generally considered to have succeeded.
That would have been inspired. You probably would've gotten sued after the third guy suffered a coronary, but I would have cheered you guys all the way to bankruptcy.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
We do this kind of stuff a lot, and no lawsuits yet. Come at me, lawyers!
We did the launch of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, for example. We got a full page spread in London's biggest financial daily, for example. Headline? "Time to invest... In a new pair of pants."
Steam: adamjnet
I started watching that, and managed to be extremely impressed before it even got through the opening credits. Just the way the credits are blocked and timed along with the characters marching into view of the camera is goddamn masterful. By the time I got to the end of the opening sequence, I kinda wanted to go back in time and get into filmmaking at a young age.
You can pretty much pick a still shot at random from that film and it's a fucking work of art.
Was just reading this piece on Grantland about that
Steam: adamjnet
pleasepaypreacher.net
I was about to hate you then I realized the joke
still hate you but whatevs
pleasepaypreacher.net
Art direction that never intended to been seen in that resolution should not be.
It's about a small apartment complex where all these weird people live and you're supposed to laugh at them not with them, and Matt Lucas is the main character who walks around everywhere in his underwear and he's pale and completely bald but has a variety of wigs to wear so you're supposed to laugh and sneer at him even more but he's got mental issues and his brother is Cyclops who is in a mental institution who sends him audiotapes every day with toenail clippings (wacky! get it!), James Caan is the old jerk guy next door, Rebel Wilson and Johnny Knoxville are stoner punk rock goths (see, he's wacky and she's fat so it's silly), and Juno Temple is the underage girl who Lucas watches across the complex dance and dress like a prostitute and it's heavily implied she is one. Oh and Billy Crystal is in it too.
It's all these stereotypes that seem to come from europeans thinking they're doing something groundbreaking in examining modern america, when in reality at best they're examining a section of L.A. they saw off their tour bus when they visited one summer or looked at instagram pictures. The director is some swede who made Madonna's Ray of Light video and a lot of other music videos, and while Matt Lucas does a good job and a few other characters (Lucas was clearly trying to do something more than his Little Britain stuff but the film kept pushing him back into that slot) in the end it feels like a bizarro My Name is Earl; that show featured the dregs of society but allowed their character to appear and realize among the 70's wooden paneling and vinyl chairs there's good out there where you might not think there is, where this film just tries the whole retro dilapidated schtick without anything really to say or comment on outside of how stupid these people look and how above it all everyone involved with the film was.
This is why we will continue to make Germans evil, Swedes psychos, and French people assholes. It's a two way street, bros!
Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
Steam: adamjnet
Here's a tip: fast forward through the Raid 2.
Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
They are doing their best to pretend that entire movie never happened.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
Enjoyed Days of Future Past. Not perfect by any stretch but fun to watch and the story was engaging.
I liked it but I got bored by the end.
I turned it off. Tripe.
Steam: adamjnet
-Bryan Singer
Fuck's sake, you were watching the dub?
Do not watch the dub.
The theatrical release didn't have the dub. It sort of works for the Raid 1, which is just about dudes getting brutalized, but the Raid 2 is trying for drama, and that does not work with the level of dub they're going for.
Plus, that kills one of the best subtle touches in the whole movie.
Why I fear the ocean.
First question: Why would anyone want to watch a foreign made live-action movie with a dub? Bruce Lee movies got ruined that way.
Second: How is the Raid 2 awful and boring?
I thought it was a lot of fun with a bunch of cool fights and a coherent if generic and slightly watered down story.
I mean, I thought it was weird that by the end,
I really don't get all the hoopla. It was a fun enough movie, but it's not even the best Marvel movie I've seen this year.
It's got a few good performances and some great jokes and a light tone but other then that it's pretty unexciting. The whole movie felt rushed, I can't think of almost any action scene that was really exciting enough to stick in my memory and the character development was increadibly shallow and came out of nowhere for the most part. Like, it really felt like we skipped the entire part where the team slowly comes together and the movie just kind of assumes they did because that's the way this formula works. Also a few parts where I swear they forgot to replace the stand-in actor cues with actual dialogue before shooting the script and so a character literally just says "I feel X!".
It felt like basically a mid-tier Marvel movie with all the problems that comes with, only elevated slightly by some funny jokes.
For all it's problems, I'd take Cap2 over it. That movie felt like it knew what pacing means and how to develop character relationships so they are meaningful by the climax and how to shoot an action scene so it wasn't just "OMG, the CGI madness".
Wow. Definitely a theatrical film. Loved it from start to finish, never felt too long to me. I'm glad it kept on as long as it did.