Maaaan Netflix doesn't have this on streaming or DVD, not sure I want to spend the $3 on iTunes to rent what looks to be a VHS transfer. (I've been spoiled rotten by my hometown video rental store's awesome 2 for $1 for a week rentals).
But in movie-watching news, I decided to make a Don't Break the Chain thing with the goal of watching at least one movie I haven't seen before every week, because I have to get new ideas into my brain somehow. This is what I've gotten through so far, all of which I've dug:
-Finally watched 'The Thin Man' (Got a lot of information to throw at the viewer? Throw some goofy drunks at the camera to keep things lively.)
-'Z'. Gotta respect a movie that opens with, "Similarities to real events and persons is NOT unintentional. IT IS INTENTIONAL." Would recommend to anyone that likes political thrillers, or feeling outraged.
-'Inside Out'. (Y'all probably have already seen it. It's Pixar, it's good, watch it.)
Next week: 'Gravity'. (Curious to see if this is a movie that actually holds up on my unimpressively sized TV, or if it's a movie that kinda needs to be seen on a huge IMAX screen to really be appreciated.)
I've loaded up my queue mostly with Flop House Podcast recommendations at this point, but I'm wondering what movies are worth adding on a "everyone seems to have seen this except me" basis. If I didn't see 'Ferris Bueller' or 'Willow' as a kid (just assume I missed most of everyone's Favorite Movie As A Kid from the 80's- I only got around to seeing all of 'Ghostbusters' start to finish within the last 2 years, for example), am I going to give a shit about them if I were to watch them now? Or should I just go on watching shit nobody's ever heard of except film dorks. (One day I'll find some people that will know what I'm talking about when I make a passing reference to 'Le Samourai' dammit.)
Have you seen all of the pixar movies/generally classic anime (akira, myazaki..)? I could recommend a list of animation, but I'm admittedly low in knowledge on other film types.
Have you seen all of the pixar movies/generally classic anime (akira, myazaki..)? I could recommend a list of animation, but I'm admittedly low in knowledge on other film types.
<checks IMDB>
I've seen all Pixar's movies except Cars 2 and The Good Dinosaur. (Ooh, I forgot to watch the short that goes with Inside Out, probably should watch that.) I know I missed (or rather, probably saw but completely forgot about because I was a baby) a lot of the classic old Disney films, and then missed a lot of the later Disney and Dreamworks and Aardman movies and all of Blue Sky's and Laika's movies. I know as a one-time-wannabe animator I should probably do something about that at some point, since all the animators I know have seen all that stuff and keep on it religiously regardless if the movies are actually good or not, but ehhhh. A good deal of it looks like it would interest me more as something to break down and flip through frame by frame to tease out the secrets of the animators, more than they would as actual films. Maybe that's why I never made it into that line of work <shrug>.
I've seen all Miyazaki's features except for Ponyo and The Wind Rises, haven't seen any of his short films, haven't seen any of his TV work other than the 2 Lupin the 3rd episodes that he directed (which are so much better than any other episodes of that show that I've seen it's ridiculous.) Haven't seen any of the other non-Miyazaki directed Ghibli movies other than Grave of the Fireflies, which I absolutely will not ever watch again because it would break me in two if I tried.
And yeah I've watched Akira like a dozen times over the years. I think I've got a pretty good handle on the big anime movies most everyone's heard of...excepting for ones that are part of huge, 'wanna get into it well I hope you've got a free year to plow through 15000 episodes of it' franchises like Pokemon and such, which I don't have the time or interest to get into.
I got my tablet working right in MyPaint, so I'm going to do what I wanted to do all along and paint digitally. :rotate:
Also, check out Longmire, Dark Matter, and Clone Wars (series and movie) if you're looking for Netflix stuff. Clone Wars is a little weird and random until season 4 or 5, but it's good if you want to fill in some gaps in your Star Wars knowledge.
Mindgames
Persepolis
The Rabbi's Cat
Triplets of Belleville
The Illusionist (animation, there's another movie called this. Both this and belleville are weird, slow, and super french)
Iron Giant
Chicken Run,
Prince of Egypt (its seriously beautiful animation, if you haven't seen it)
Fantasia (if you haven't seen the original since childhood it's worth another watch. Don't watch fantasia 2000, its shit)
The Hotel Transylvania movies are actually pretty funny (shtick) and well animated.
Dang, yeah I probably never would have watched it if it wasn't free on amazon prime anyways. Like I mentioned originally, a couple of the main actors overact (and that's putting it lightly).
I still need to watch inside out and I guess I'll check out Z too. Speaking of which, I just finished the book Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmul of Pixar. Holy hell if you want an inspiring book check that one out, I specifically listened to the audio book which was fantastic.
It is hourly comic day. Without fail, I always forget about this until nearly the end of the day. Dunno if anyone else does that here, but I try to do it, even if it's a day or two late! I'd LOVE to see @m3nace do this sort of thing, if only to get a glimpse of what one of his days looks like (but also to see a guaranteed amazing comic).
I too love obscure movies but just haven't kept it up at all these past 10 or so years, I feel like it was way easier when I lived next to a cult classic video store where I could pop over and read descriptions and get excited for something weird or different, it's much harder to do nowadays and I really miss that.
There was a site that's super old now that I haven't used in ages and need to start using again, it was a student research project at the u of minnesota but it's helped me so much, and that's https://movielens.org/ Always good recommendations through different decades and countries that helped me find interesting stuff.
Just looking through it now is getting me so excited to check stuff out, that it predicts things I've already seen so well is somehow very gratifying.
I always want to love Miyazaki movies because they're so gorgeous to look at, but I usually end up finding them pretty boring. I don't know if it's just Western sensibilities, but I'm not a huge fan of his loose plotting. A lot of his movies seem to be more like a string of vaguely related vignettes than a real cohesive story. I recently watched Ponyo and was simultaneously thrilled by how beautiful and imaginative the art and characters are, and bored to tears by the tedious pace of the story. Come to think of it, I feel the same way about a lot of Wes Anderson movies.
On the topic of non-Miyazaki-directed Ghibli, though, I recently watched Princess Kaguya and found it totally charming and maybe the most beautiful animated movie I've ever seen. Can't recommend it enough.
I always want to love Miyazaki movies because they're so gorgeous to look at, but I usually end up finding them pretty boring. I don't know if it's just Western sensibilities, but I'm not a huge fan of his loose plotting. A lot of his movies seem to be more like a string of vaguely related vignettes than a real cohesive story.
I feel this, I think some of his movies have a really nice structure to them like Princess Mononoke or Porco Rosso and then some are just kinda noodly with an odd pacing like The Wind Rises or Howl's Moving Castle. There's always something to be appreciated, the work is great and beautiful and something to behold even despite its shortcomings. Although that's not quite how I felt after having watched The Wind Rises, time makes it a little more palatable. Porco Rosso and Castle of Cagliostro are probly my two most fave, I feel like everything in them just work so well. I find the oddball ones like My Neighbors the Yamadas also very endearing.
Personally, I've been angling to pick up a better reading habit. I've been reading comics more, but I want to start actually digging into some novels.
Take up a subway commute to work, that'll force a reading habit on ya. (That said, me being tired going to and from work means I've haven't exactly plowing through Works of Great Literature or Very Important Non-Fiction.)
I think my favorite Miyazaki movies are Laputa and Castle of Cagliostro*. Porco Rosso is up there near the top as well.
Oddly, the movie that I heard the most hype about over the years, Naussica, I know I saw it but can not for the life of me remember anything about it.
*Also anyone who can get on Hulu that likes Castle of Cagliostro, I'd recommend those 2 episodes of the Lupin tv series he directed. (Look up the Lupin the 3rd Part II series, they're the 2 episodes available in season 4).
And I can understand needing some adjustment to get used to Miyazaki's pacing, but that's kinda part of what makes his work stand out as being unique, setting time aside to just have some little moment of life happen in front of the camera. Like Kiki's Delivery Service is great, but it does kinda feel like he had just taken a long vacation in Italy, and decided to make a movie primarily about how charming he found the little European villages and towns.
Tangentally related, it kinda bums me out that having to account for a general audience's expectations makes me hesitant to recommend older movies, which often play by rules that will just frustrate people not used to them. Like I love old Humphrey Bogart movies, but not everyone is going to immediately dig on a hardboiled crime movie that just happens to be shot like a stage play, and there's a lot more smartassery than there is action.
In regards to that recommendation engine, I feel like I've seen enough movies that I don't necessarily need help to see more movies like the one's I've already seen and liked, that now I'm kinda on the hunt for movies that I'd have no idea I'd like yet- like one of my favorite movies now, All The President's Men, I only watched because I had heard the name- didn't know anything about it other than it's supposed to be good, so I gave it a shot.
What I might want to use that recommendation engine for though is to try to figure out what movies will keep my brother awake, when we're all home for Christmas and have nothing to do other than watch movies. This dude'll fall asleep at the drop of a hat (fell asleep during Mad Max: Fury Road...and Edge of Tomorrow he said he fell asleep during on 3 separate occasions), and so far the only things that are certain to keep him awake are Inception, and Werner Herzog documentaries. This is not the behavior of a normal human and I could see a heartless, mindless computer helping decipher that enigma.
He also managed to stay awake for The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 (the original one), which I rented because I vaguely remembered it being really good, and Elliott Kalan on the Flop House mentioned it was one of his favorite films of all time. What I DIDN'T remember was that, being a 'gritty' movie in 1970's New York City, means that it's also full of 1970's bigoted New Yorkers, which I hope didn't make me look like a real shithead in front of my family for recommending it.
And I can understand needing some adjustment to get used to Miyazaki's pacing, but that's kinda part of what makes his work stand out as being unique, setting time aside to just have some little moment of life happen in front of the camera. Like Kiki's Delivery Service is great, but it does kinda feel like he had just taken a long vacation in Italy, and decided to make a movie primarily about how charming he found the little European villages and towns.
Yeah, I totally get this. Like when I watch Totoro, I get that it's more a movie about being in nature, and nostalgia for childhood imagination. I love many of the little moments in that movie, but I still ultimately wind up feeling pretty bored by the end. Sometimes I feel totally baffled by how much work goes into so many minutes of animation that don't drive the story forward at all. I think I get it, and I'm glad that these movies exist, but they're not really to my taste I guess. I still watch all of them for the art alone, if nothing else.
Funny you bring up Humphrey Bogart, because my girlfriend recently made me sit down and watch the Maltese Falcon for the first time and I found it to be among the most boring films I've ever seen. Part of that probably has to do with my general disinterest in detective stories, though.
Sometimes I feel totally baffled by how much work goes into so many minutes of animation that don't drive the story forward at all.
Well, if you hold a strict standard of 'the maximum amount of time must be spent driving the plot forward', that's really going to limit the number of movies you can enjoy. I mean, most movies spend a great deal of time engaging in pure spectacle, mood building, or deliberately manipulating the pace for dramatic effect- without which, you might as well just read the screenplay instead of watching the film.
Example, I think you're going to find yourself in a real minority if you were to state a Jackie Chan movie would be improved by tightening up the storytelling by excising all that time Jackie spends roundhouse kicking nameless thugs in the face, in favor of getting the plot across more efficiently. The only difference is that 'spectacle time' in a Jackie Chan movie is designed to pump an audience up, whereas in a Miyazaki movie it's designed to elicit a more calm/contemplative/meditative response.
This may be also why you couldn't get into The Maltese Falcon or detective stories, if you're just looking for story. People think that detective stories hinge on a great, detailed, intricate plot- but if you look at Sherlock Holmes, or Philip Marlowe, or Poirot, or Columbo, it becomes apparent that the plot really is basically just an excuse for a fun main character to get into fun altercations with a broad ranging cast of characters and situations. So if you're not on board with just kinda hanging out with a character for awhile, you're going to find the story dull. I've read all the Philip Marlowe novels and I could not tell you the plot of any one of them from memory, but I love reading them because I love Philip Marlowe's character; and throwing him in almost any situation- even if it's just him ordering a sandwich at a deli counter- is going to be entertaining for me.
Yeah, I get what you're saying. But I think that kung fu fighting is a pretty important part of moving a Jackie Chan story along, even if it's just building up the character as a flashy fighter. For me, Miyazaki movies are like a Jackie Chan flick with five too many superfluous fights, to the point where you're saying, "OK I get it, he's good at fighting, is there a story here?" A movie needs the right balance of mood setting, character and plot, and for me Miyazaki doesn't strike the right balance. I'm definitely not a person who need my movies to be viscerally exciting and action-packed or anything like that.
I think you kind of nailed it with the analysis of why I have trouble getting excited about detective stories. I have the same problem with James Bond movies. I come out talking to my friends about plot inconsistencies ("how in the world did he make X leap of logic to determine where to go next?) when I should probably just stop worrying so much about it and enjoy James Bond doing cool James Bond stuff.
Old films are really fun, you just have to find the right ones to keep you interested and that takes making an effort to get engaged which can be an undertaking in itself. I wasn't crazy about the Maltese Falcon, it is kinda slow but it's all about the atmosphere anyway, you could try something more modern like the Man Who Wasn't There or Barton Fink and ease into it. You can never go wrong with any classic hitchcock, North by Northwest and Rear Window have such a great hook to them and stand the test of time.
I tried watching The Bicycle Thief by recommendation of storyboard friends this last christmas and it was so gruelling, so painfully boring despite all its accolades. On the other hand I loved Il Posto which also has a slow pacing, it just had something to it that drew me in.
The best way to watch a film you'd never in any other way consider is by going to film festivals. I go to Vancouver's from time to time but Seattle always had the best films, so many unique theaters. I watched a voiceless film from the czech republic (I think?) about this small town where women were slowly poisoning their husbands, but I can't for the life of me remember the title and I'll probly never know in a million billion years. It was good!
Going to see anything on a big screen really does change your mood. I like the alamos here because you can sit through anything if you also have food and drink. Movie is slow? eat french fries. Movie is great? Good! also you have fries! Its win win.
Its been a while since I watched a slow flick, though.
I need to go to more film festival stuff (especially since film is gaining more momentum in Denver).
My only experience at a film festival thus far was about a month ago. My girlfriend and I went to the last day of the Denver film festival and the film we saw was agonizingly slow, silent, mostly out of focus (so it hurt my eyes pretty badly), and a majority of the time you couldn't even tell what he was filming. It was basically 10 to 30 second clips put together for three 15 minute movies. I can usually find just about anything to be "good" in its own unique way, this was the first time, possibly in my life, I couldn't find something good to say. I almost felt like the guy was messing with us, that or he was dropping his camera into inconspicuous places and just letting it film as it fell. Around 30 people left after the second 15 minute movie.
I guess there were a few clips that almost looked like some of the fever dream type shots from The Tree of Life (which I found cinematically gorgeous, but pretty depressing). But that's a few out of what?... 45-60 clips per 15 minute movie?
Anyways TLDR - I should give festivals more of a chance, but my experience left a really bad taste in my mouth.
I've all about stopped watching plot driven movies and reading plot driven stories.
Plot just doesn't hit me in my feelings the same way that a single vignette of a recognizable situation or feeling does. I can tolerate plot, but gosh darn it I can't stand when I consume something and can taste the bitter labor of plot all over it.
In my eyes a story doesn't have to move anywhere at all in order to be succesful, so long as it has some element that keeps your emotions invested.
The times that I find myself the most invested in a movie hasn't been because of any meaningful excitement or thrill of watching fantasy unfold, but because I can recognize something from my own tedious and mediocre life. I wholly disregard the notion that good film provides an escape from reality, to me it's the entirely opposite that is true. My everyday life doesn't readily offer up distilled sequences of pure emotion, mostly it's just staring blankly at paper or people, and so a good movie for me is something that manages to have the same impact on me as a heated argument or a breakup, and these moments seldom come about as a result of plot. They just happen For long untraceable and ultimately meaningless reasons.
For some good plotless films that have hit me square in the existential anxiety, here's a little list:
The Tree of Life - Terrence Malick is often called pretentious garbage, all style and no substance. And while I agree that at times his stuff can be hollow and drab stories all dressed up like a cheap prostitute with the make up of good style, he did have some ringers when it came to the emotional trauma of childhood and growing up in The Tree of Life. That film captures boyhood better than Boyhood ever did.
Involuntary - Practically all of Ruben Östlund's films can be recommended. He's all about how people's worst fear is losing face, and I think Involuntary distills that the best. It is an intensely uncomfortable movie, made up of several vignettes in which people's fear of losing face brings them into more and more ridiculous and rage-inducing situations. I get so angry whenever I think of the stuff that happens in this film, so fucking angry. I also recommend watching Force Majeure and Play. They're equal parts entertaining as uncomfortable.
You The Living - Roy Andersson is like a creepy, cancer ridden Wes Andersson, composed of existential enui and solemn hilarity. Watch all of his films, they're uncomfortable.
The Time That Remains - Elia Suleiman retraces his and his parents' life on the west bank with humor and absurdity.
oh, and one comic: Lint - Chris Ware's ultimate existential comic. Read an entire life pass before your eyes.
I should probably make a point to check out film festivals here (it's a big city, there has to be some)- I kinda-sorta got a similar experience of just getting to see movies that I'd normally not seek out during film classes in college, which I miss. Although I could do without ever seeing Battleship Potemkin or Man With a Movie Camera ever again, I might never have gotten around to Sergio Leone or Wong Kar-Wai movies without those classes.
Definitely never would have never gotten around to/made a point to sit through Tokyo Story, which is both a great film that I'm glad I've seen and feel it belongs on the tops of all those critics' lists it resides on, while also being one of the slowest and dullest films I've ever seen. Certainly if I had rented it, my ability to pause a movie and go do something else would ensure I'd never make my way through it. Which I hope you don't take exception to this @m3nace, but I think if I tried any of those films you suggested, I'd have a similar reaction- probably would agree that they're great films I was glad to have seen once the credits roll, would have to strap me to a chair Clockwork Orange-style to get me to last that long. After a hard week's work and just looking forward to a nice, relaxing weekend, it can be a struggle to pop in a disc whose primary selling point is "unflinchingly truthful bleakness".
Back to film classes though: best film class I had in college was on 60's-80's exploitation films. You know you're in for something really special when the teacher introduces a film screening as "This is a movie about a soldier who comes back from Vietnam...as a ZOMBIE!" (That movie being Death Dream, AKA Dead of Night, AKA The Night Andy Came Home), and on the final exam he shows a scene from Rambo 2 of Rambo just blowing up a ton of dudes with a helicopter, and the following exam question is basically, "Hey, what did you make of that??"
And I'd like to throw out the suggestion of The Big Sleep, as I'd say that's the better of the major 2 Bogart-as-a-smartass-detective films between that and The Maltese Falcon since we're still kinda talking about it- though again if you're looking for a tight plot, you're probably not going to find it there.
(Favorite story about that movie was that when the screenwriters were trying to adapt the book to a film script, they realized that a character gets killed, and it's never explained who killed them, or how, or why, or how the murder was even possible. So they called in Raymond Chandler, the author of the book, and asked him what happened- and he told them that he didn't know either. Turns out the book was written by slamming together two previous short stories he'd written, and while that character getting killed made sense in the original story, it is rendered totally unfathomable as it reads in the book. But it turns out it doesn't really matter, because at the end of the day people are reading or watching because they really just want to see Philip Marlowe being a smartass to everyone he comes across- so the film and the book have become classics regardless. I've read the book, I've seen the movie twice- I didn't notice the mystery dead guy at any point, I don't know if it was fixed in the film or not, and I don't care. I kinda like it just that little bit more, just because I find it funny that such a famous book/film is getting away with just going 'ah, fuck it' to the issue, and not suffering at all for it.)
If you guys haven't seen Horace and Pete yet, and would like to see something so sad that it's sometimes hilarious (but is also good at capturing the exact right tone for a situation), do so.
Gravity: Wish I'd seen this in IMAX when it came out, and not 2 years later on a standard DVD on my computer, immediately after I'd just finished reading The Martian, and watching Adam Savage's podcast where he talked about The Martian, and his interview with Andy Weir about The Martian, and his videos about him geeking out about spacesuits. (Ironically, I still have not seen the movie The Martian).
I liked Gravity, but I think it could stand a rewatch a couple years from now on a bigger screen, when I've forgotten some Space Facts so I can take in the movie as it was intended by the filmmakers, instead of being the 'well actually' nerd scientist from The Simpsons about it.
Weirdest side effect of taking up drawing: Suddenly, my handwriting has become legible.
That must be a pretty individual side effect- since my handwriting is, at best, incredibly mediocre.
Either that, or in the alternate universe where I never took up drawing, my 'handwriting' consists entirely of lines scratched in the mud with a stick.
My handwriting is stellar. Drawing is getting better, but most of what I learned lapsed on account of not doing it for years. I forgot how fun it is once I hit a flow state. :rotate:
Hey guys and gals, I miss you. I should come back here more often.
Also, I'm stuck in a rut in so many ways. No job, no money...sometimes it feels like all I'm good at is drinking and sex. This may or may not be a cry for help.
What if I consider eating excellent food to be an erotic experience.
Yeah, who says you can't combine the two?? Also, it is a significant consolation to my woes that I am great at sex-having. Unfortunately I can't really put that on my resumé...
Anyways, ever since I graduated college in 2013, I haven't had a steady job, only freelance and contracts for a couple months at a time. It's been very discouraging. I feel so far behind my professional peers. I look at my roommate who has been working at Apple since we graduated together, and now he's an Art Director. I'm always ever just "Freelance Junior Designer #3." My anxiety and ADHD makes it hard to focus on anything or sit still for too long, and I think it makes me a pretty shitty employee.
I thought moving to San Francisco would help with the job hunt, and it has, sort of...I hated the job I moved out here for and have been bouncing from job to job since last summer. That's not a very sustainable lifestyle for how expensive everything is out here. Our 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment costs us $5,000 a month. So now I'm basically out of money and will have to move back to Ohio if I don't find a steady job in the next month or so.
I find my escape through books and games, but even those make me feel depressed for not doing something productive. Every day I wake up to nothing, try to fill my afternoons by being "productive," and go to bed early because if I'm asleep, I don't have to feel shitty about myself. I think the last time I was truly happy was either highschool or college, and that was probably because I was financially stable from my parents. Which, upon realizing, makes me feel even worse because I'm a failure at being a self-sufficient adult.
I have a tech job and work from home. I can genuinely say the day I stopped pursing art as my sole income was a pretty positive turn for me. I take my job seriously and pretty much plan to do it, or something like it, for the foreseeable future, and do my art on the side. It gives me the most control I can have over my work, which is pretty liberating. I hated having the crux of my self worth hang on my art. Hated it. Hated comparing myself to my friends success. Hated Facebook. The year after graduation when I was unemployed and looking for art jobs was the most depressed I've ever been in my life.
Games are great escapes from a busy life, or for a trapped teen, but I know from experience they can be hell on a depressed unemployed adult. Set aside a time to play games, like a weekend night, and spend the rest doing anything else. I'm not good at keeping schedules, but If I tell myself I can only do X if I've done Y, I can actually control my habits quite well. "I can only have this soda if I drink it while I work" "I can only play mass effect if I apply for this job" I gave myself a break on nights I wen to work, which was gamestop at the time (hated that too). When I couldn't find productive things to do with art, I volunteered. That I actually enjoyed quite a bit.
Its a pretty shitty lie that we tell art students that job placement in the magical fields of art, design, and games are the only path to a successful life. Your Anxiety and ADHD may make office jobs hard, but you might be great at other things. Sometimes people really excel if their job requires some physical effort, to help calm them down and keep them on task. Maybe you need to be on your feet? Maybe you are good at talking to people? Figure out some alternatives, list them, look at the whole of your network of friends and family, take an odd job to help make ends meet. Expand your options.
Feeling like you need your parents to finance your life sucks so hard and I understand the feeling 100%. I really lucked out to some degree, with my work, but I also slaved away in food service and struck it out on my own for a while, Its hard, but all considering if you're not in any debt, you can do it.
What I'm trying to say is, you can be successful and not be a designer at apple, and also being a designer at apple does not make you "successful". If you can find a way to survive and not value yourself through your job, you might have an easier time finding some happiness. You career doesn't have to be the whole of your self worth.
If you were given a choice, tonight you can have the best sex of your life or the best meal of your life. Which do you chose?
Sex, then I go get pizza with him in the cheapest hole in the wall pizzeria and we have a great time.
@Siegfried: I was in a very similar place not that long ago. I don't know if this helps, but the climb got easier once I found the ladder and started going up. Hopefully you'll have a similar experience.
Thanks guys, it's just very discouraging to have been doing this for a number of years and have basically nothing to show for it. I appreciate the support though.
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Maaaan Netflix doesn't have this on streaming or DVD, not sure I want to spend the $3 on iTunes to rent what looks to be a VHS transfer. (I've been spoiled rotten by my hometown video rental store's awesome 2 for $1 for a week rentals).
But in movie-watching news, I decided to make a Don't Break the Chain thing with the goal of watching at least one movie I haven't seen before every week, because I have to get new ideas into my brain somehow. This is what I've gotten through so far, all of which I've dug:
-Finally watched 'The Thin Man' (Got a lot of information to throw at the viewer? Throw some goofy drunks at the camera to keep things lively.)
-'Z'. Gotta respect a movie that opens with, "Similarities to real events and persons is NOT unintentional. IT IS INTENTIONAL." Would recommend to anyone that likes political thrillers, or feeling outraged.
-'Inside Out'. (Y'all probably have already seen it. It's Pixar, it's good, watch it.)
Next week: 'Gravity'. (Curious to see if this is a movie that actually holds up on my unimpressively sized TV, or if it's a movie that kinda needs to be seen on a huge IMAX screen to really be appreciated.)
I've loaded up my queue mostly with Flop House Podcast recommendations at this point, but I'm wondering what movies are worth adding on a "everyone seems to have seen this except me" basis. If I didn't see 'Ferris Bueller' or 'Willow' as a kid (just assume I missed most of everyone's Favorite Movie As A Kid from the 80's- I only got around to seeing all of 'Ghostbusters' start to finish within the last 2 years, for example), am I going to give a shit about them if I were to watch them now? Or should I just go on watching shit nobody's ever heard of except film dorks. (One day I'll find some people that will know what I'm talking about when I make a passing reference to 'Le Samourai' dammit.)
Twitter
<checks IMDB>
I've seen all Pixar's movies except Cars 2 and The Good Dinosaur. (Ooh, I forgot to watch the short that goes with Inside Out, probably should watch that.) I know I missed (or rather, probably saw but completely forgot about because I was a baby) a lot of the classic old Disney films, and then missed a lot of the later Disney and Dreamworks and Aardman movies and all of Blue Sky's and Laika's movies. I know as a one-time-wannabe animator I should probably do something about that at some point, since all the animators I know have seen all that stuff and keep on it religiously regardless if the movies are actually good or not, but ehhhh. A good deal of it looks like it would interest me more as something to break down and flip through frame by frame to tease out the secrets of the animators, more than they would as actual films. Maybe that's why I never made it into that line of work <shrug>.
I've seen all Miyazaki's features except for Ponyo and The Wind Rises, haven't seen any of his short films, haven't seen any of his TV work other than the 2 Lupin the 3rd episodes that he directed (which are so much better than any other episodes of that show that I've seen it's ridiculous.) Haven't seen any of the other non-Miyazaki directed Ghibli movies other than Grave of the Fireflies, which I absolutely will not ever watch again because it would break me in two if I tried.
And yeah I've watched Akira like a dozen times over the years. I think I've got a pretty good handle on the big anime movies most everyone's heard of...excepting for ones that are part of huge, 'wanna get into it well I hope you've got a free year to plow through 15000 episodes of it' franchises like Pokemon and such, which I don't have the time or interest to get into.
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Also, check out Longmire, Dark Matter, and Clone Wars (series and movie) if you're looking for Netflix stuff. Clone Wars is a little weird and random until season 4 or 5, but it's good if you want to fill in some gaps in your Star Wars knowledge.
Persepolis
The Rabbi's Cat
Triplets of Belleville
The Illusionist (animation, there's another movie called this. Both this and belleville are weird, slow, and super french)
Iron Giant
Chicken Run,
Prince of Egypt (its seriously beautiful animation, if you haven't seen it)
Fantasia (if you haven't seen the original since childhood it's worth another watch. Don't watch fantasia 2000, its shit)
The Hotel Transylvania movies are actually pretty funny (shtick) and well animated.
If you want to go down the rabbit hole of weird animated shorts, I will probably at some point post way more in here: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/200546/art-news-and-inspiration#latest
I might also revive my old DnD thread for it.
I still need to watch inside out and I guess I'll check out Z too. Speaking of which, I just finished the book Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmul of Pixar. Holy hell if you want an inspiring book check that one out, I specifically listened to the audio book which was fantastic.
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There was a site that's super old now that I haven't used in ages and need to start using again, it was a student research project at the u of minnesota but it's helped me so much, and that's https://movielens.org/ Always good recommendations through different decades and countries that helped me find interesting stuff.
Just looking through it now is getting me so excited to check stuff out, that it predicts things I've already seen so well is somehow very gratifying.
On the topic of non-Miyazaki-directed Ghibli, though, I recently watched Princess Kaguya and found it totally charming and maybe the most beautiful animated movie I've ever seen. Can't recommend it enough.
Personally, I've been angling to pick up a better reading habit. I've been reading comics more, but I want to start actually digging into some novels.
I feel this, I think some of his movies have a really nice structure to them like Princess Mononoke or Porco Rosso and then some are just kinda noodly with an odd pacing like The Wind Rises or Howl's Moving Castle. There's always something to be appreciated, the work is great and beautiful and something to behold even despite its shortcomings. Although that's not quite how I felt after having watched The Wind Rises, time makes it a little more palatable. Porco Rosso and Castle of Cagliostro are probly my two most fave, I feel like everything in them just work so well. I find the oddball ones like My Neighbors the Yamadas also very endearing.
Take up a subway commute to work, that'll force a reading habit on ya. (That said, me being tired going to and from work means I've haven't exactly plowing through Works of Great Literature or Very Important Non-Fiction.)
I think my favorite Miyazaki movies are Laputa and Castle of Cagliostro*. Porco Rosso is up there near the top as well.
Oddly, the movie that I heard the most hype about over the years, Naussica, I know I saw it but can not for the life of me remember anything about it.
*Also anyone who can get on Hulu that likes Castle of Cagliostro, I'd recommend those 2 episodes of the Lupin tv series he directed. (Look up the Lupin the 3rd Part II series, they're the 2 episodes available in season 4).
And I can understand needing some adjustment to get used to Miyazaki's pacing, but that's kinda part of what makes his work stand out as being unique, setting time aside to just have some little moment of life happen in front of the camera. Like Kiki's Delivery Service is great, but it does kinda feel like he had just taken a long vacation in Italy, and decided to make a movie primarily about how charming he found the little European villages and towns.
Tangentally related, it kinda bums me out that having to account for a general audience's expectations makes me hesitant to recommend older movies, which often play by rules that will just frustrate people not used to them. Like I love old Humphrey Bogart movies, but not everyone is going to immediately dig on a hardboiled crime movie that just happens to be shot like a stage play, and there's a lot more smartassery than there is action.
In regards to that recommendation engine, I feel like I've seen enough movies that I don't necessarily need help to see more movies like the one's I've already seen and liked, that now I'm kinda on the hunt for movies that I'd have no idea I'd like yet- like one of my favorite movies now, All The President's Men, I only watched because I had heard the name- didn't know anything about it other than it's supposed to be good, so I gave it a shot.
What I might want to use that recommendation engine for though is to try to figure out what movies will keep my brother awake, when we're all home for Christmas and have nothing to do other than watch movies. This dude'll fall asleep at the drop of a hat (fell asleep during Mad Max: Fury Road...and Edge of Tomorrow he said he fell asleep during on 3 separate occasions), and so far the only things that are certain to keep him awake are Inception, and Werner Herzog documentaries. This is not the behavior of a normal human and I could see a heartless, mindless computer helping decipher that enigma.
He also managed to stay awake for The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 (the original one), which I rented because I vaguely remembered it being really good, and Elliott Kalan on the Flop House mentioned it was one of his favorite films of all time. What I DIDN'T remember was that, being a 'gritty' movie in 1970's New York City, means that it's also full of 1970's bigoted New Yorkers, which I hope didn't make me look like a real shithead in front of my family for recommending it.
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Yeah, I totally get this. Like when I watch Totoro, I get that it's more a movie about being in nature, and nostalgia for childhood imagination. I love many of the little moments in that movie, but I still ultimately wind up feeling pretty bored by the end. Sometimes I feel totally baffled by how much work goes into so many minutes of animation that don't drive the story forward at all. I think I get it, and I'm glad that these movies exist, but they're not really to my taste I guess. I still watch all of them for the art alone, if nothing else.
Funny you bring up Humphrey Bogart, because my girlfriend recently made me sit down and watch the Maltese Falcon for the first time and I found it to be among the most boring films I've ever seen. Part of that probably has to do with my general disinterest in detective stories, though.
Well, if you hold a strict standard of 'the maximum amount of time must be spent driving the plot forward', that's really going to limit the number of movies you can enjoy. I mean, most movies spend a great deal of time engaging in pure spectacle, mood building, or deliberately manipulating the pace for dramatic effect- without which, you might as well just read the screenplay instead of watching the film.
Example, I think you're going to find yourself in a real minority if you were to state a Jackie Chan movie would be improved by tightening up the storytelling by excising all that time Jackie spends roundhouse kicking nameless thugs in the face, in favor of getting the plot across more efficiently. The only difference is that 'spectacle time' in a Jackie Chan movie is designed to pump an audience up, whereas in a Miyazaki movie it's designed to elicit a more calm/contemplative/meditative response.
This may be also why you couldn't get into The Maltese Falcon or detective stories, if you're just looking for story. People think that detective stories hinge on a great, detailed, intricate plot- but if you look at Sherlock Holmes, or Philip Marlowe, or Poirot, or Columbo, it becomes apparent that the plot really is basically just an excuse for a fun main character to get into fun altercations with a broad ranging cast of characters and situations. So if you're not on board with just kinda hanging out with a character for awhile, you're going to find the story dull. I've read all the Philip Marlowe novels and I could not tell you the plot of any one of them from memory, but I love reading them because I love Philip Marlowe's character; and throwing him in almost any situation- even if it's just him ordering a sandwich at a deli counter- is going to be entertaining for me.
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I think you kind of nailed it with the analysis of why I have trouble getting excited about detective stories. I have the same problem with James Bond movies. I come out talking to my friends about plot inconsistencies ("how in the world did he make X leap of logic to determine where to go next?) when I should probably just stop worrying so much about it and enjoy James Bond doing cool James Bond stuff.
DOES NOT COMPUTE
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*takes jacket off, dispatches three goons with it, puts it on coat hanger*
"Sorry!"
I tried watching The Bicycle Thief by recommendation of storyboard friends this last christmas and it was so gruelling, so painfully boring despite all its accolades. On the other hand I loved Il Posto which also has a slow pacing, it just had something to it that drew me in.
The best way to watch a film you'd never in any other way consider is by going to film festivals. I go to Vancouver's from time to time but Seattle always had the best films, so many unique theaters. I watched a voiceless film from the czech republic (I think?) about this small town where women were slowly poisoning their husbands, but I can't for the life of me remember the title and I'll probly never know in a million billion years. It was good!
Its been a while since I watched a slow flick, though.
I need to go to more film festival stuff (especially since film is gaining more momentum in Denver).
My only experience at a film festival thus far was about a month ago. My girlfriend and I went to the last day of the Denver film festival and the film we saw was agonizingly slow, silent, mostly out of focus (so it hurt my eyes pretty badly), and a majority of the time you couldn't even tell what he was filming. It was basically 10 to 30 second clips put together for three 15 minute movies. I can usually find just about anything to be "good" in its own unique way, this was the first time, possibly in my life, I couldn't find something good to say. I almost felt like the guy was messing with us, that or he was dropping his camera into inconspicuous places and just letting it film as it fell. Around 30 people left after the second 15 minute movie.
I guess there were a few clips that almost looked like some of the fever dream type shots from The Tree of Life (which I found cinematically gorgeous, but pretty depressing). But that's a few out of what?... 45-60 clips per 15 minute movie?
Anyways TLDR - I should give festivals more of a chance, but my experience left a really bad taste in my mouth.
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Plot just doesn't hit me in my feelings the same way that a single vignette of a recognizable situation or feeling does. I can tolerate plot, but gosh darn it I can't stand when I consume something and can taste the bitter labor of plot all over it.
In my eyes a story doesn't have to move anywhere at all in order to be succesful, so long as it has some element that keeps your emotions invested.
The times that I find myself the most invested in a movie hasn't been because of any meaningful excitement or thrill of watching fantasy unfold, but because I can recognize something from my own tedious and mediocre life. I wholly disregard the notion that good film provides an escape from reality, to me it's the entirely opposite that is true. My everyday life doesn't readily offer up distilled sequences of pure emotion, mostly it's just staring blankly at paper or people, and so a good movie for me is something that manages to have the same impact on me as a heated argument or a breakup, and these moments seldom come about as a result of plot. They just happen For long untraceable and ultimately meaningless reasons.
For some good plotless films that have hit me square in the existential anxiety, here's a little list:
The Tree of Life - Terrence Malick is often called pretentious garbage, all style and no substance. And while I agree that at times his stuff can be hollow and drab stories all dressed up like a cheap prostitute with the make up of good style, he did have some ringers when it came to the emotional trauma of childhood and growing up in The Tree of Life. That film captures boyhood better than Boyhood ever did.
Involuntary - Practically all of Ruben Östlund's films can be recommended. He's all about how people's worst fear is losing face, and I think Involuntary distills that the best. It is an intensely uncomfortable movie, made up of several vignettes in which people's fear of losing face brings them into more and more ridiculous and rage-inducing situations. I get so angry whenever I think of the stuff that happens in this film, so fucking angry. I also recommend watching Force Majeure and Play. They're equal parts entertaining as uncomfortable.
You The Living - Roy Andersson is like a creepy, cancer ridden Wes Andersson, composed of existential enui and solemn hilarity. Watch all of his films, they're uncomfortable.
The Time That Remains - Elia Suleiman retraces his and his parents' life on the west bank with humor and absurdity.
oh, and one comic:
Lint - Chris Ware's ultimate existential comic. Read an entire life pass before your eyes.
Definitely never would have never gotten around to/made a point to sit through Tokyo Story, which is both a great film that I'm glad I've seen and feel it belongs on the tops of all those critics' lists it resides on, while also being one of the slowest and dullest films I've ever seen. Certainly if I had rented it, my ability to pause a movie and go do something else would ensure I'd never make my way through it. Which I hope you don't take exception to this @m3nace, but I think if I tried any of those films you suggested, I'd have a similar reaction- probably would agree that they're great films I was glad to have seen once the credits roll, would have to strap me to a chair Clockwork Orange-style to get me to last that long. After a hard week's work and just looking forward to a nice, relaxing weekend, it can be a struggle to pop in a disc whose primary selling point is "unflinchingly truthful bleakness".
Back to film classes though: best film class I had in college was on 60's-80's exploitation films. You know you're in for something really special when the teacher introduces a film screening as "This is a movie about a soldier who comes back from Vietnam...as a ZOMBIE!" (That movie being Death Dream, AKA Dead of Night, AKA The Night Andy Came Home), and on the final exam he shows a scene from Rambo 2 of Rambo just blowing up a ton of dudes with a helicopter, and the following exam question is basically, "Hey, what did you make of that??"
And I'd like to throw out the suggestion of The Big Sleep, as I'd say that's the better of the major 2 Bogart-as-a-smartass-detective films between that and The Maltese Falcon since we're still kinda talking about it- though again if you're looking for a tight plot, you're probably not going to find it there.
(Favorite story about that movie was that when the screenwriters were trying to adapt the book to a film script, they realized that a character gets killed, and it's never explained who killed them, or how, or why, or how the murder was even possible. So they called in Raymond Chandler, the author of the book, and asked him what happened- and he told them that he didn't know either. Turns out the book was written by slamming together two previous short stories he'd written, and while that character getting killed made sense in the original story, it is rendered totally unfathomable as it reads in the book. But it turns out it doesn't really matter, because at the end of the day people are reading or watching because they really just want to see Philip Marlowe being a smartass to everyone he comes across- so the film and the book have become classics regardless. I've read the book, I've seen the movie twice- I didn't notice the mystery dead guy at any point, I don't know if it was fixed in the film or not, and I don't care. I kinda like it just that little bit more, just because I find it funny that such a famous book/film is getting away with just going 'ah, fuck it' to the issue, and not suffering at all for it.)
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I liked Gravity, but I think it could stand a rewatch a couple years from now on a bigger screen, when I've forgotten some Space Facts so I can take in the movie as it was intended by the filmmakers, instead of being the 'well actually' nerd scientist from The Simpsons about it.
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That must be a pretty individual side effect- since my handwriting is, at best, incredibly mediocre.
Either that, or in the alternate universe where I never took up drawing, my 'handwriting' consists entirely of lines scratched in the mud with a stick.
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Also, I'm stuck in a rut in so many ways. No job, no money...sometimes it feels like all I'm good at is drinking and sex. This may or may not be a cry for help.
Also sex isnt the worst thing to be good at, if you had to make a list.
Yeah, who says you can't combine the two?? Also, it is a significant consolation to my woes that I am great at sex-having. Unfortunately I can't really put that on my resumé...
Anyways, ever since I graduated college in 2013, I haven't had a steady job, only freelance and contracts for a couple months at a time. It's been very discouraging. I feel so far behind my professional peers. I look at my roommate who has been working at Apple since we graduated together, and now he's an Art Director. I'm always ever just "Freelance Junior Designer #3." My anxiety and ADHD makes it hard to focus on anything or sit still for too long, and I think it makes me a pretty shitty employee.
I thought moving to San Francisco would help with the job hunt, and it has, sort of...I hated the job I moved out here for and have been bouncing from job to job since last summer. That's not a very sustainable lifestyle for how expensive everything is out here. Our 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment costs us $5,000 a month. So now I'm basically out of money and will have to move back to Ohio if I don't find a steady job in the next month or so.
I find my escape through books and games, but even those make me feel depressed for not doing something productive. Every day I wake up to nothing, try to fill my afternoons by being "productive," and go to bed early because if I'm asleep, I don't have to feel shitty about myself. I think the last time I was truly happy was either highschool or college, and that was probably because I was financially stable from my parents. Which, upon realizing, makes me feel even worse because I'm a failure at being a self-sufficient adult.
Games are great escapes from a busy life, or for a trapped teen, but I know from experience they can be hell on a depressed unemployed adult. Set aside a time to play games, like a weekend night, and spend the rest doing anything else. I'm not good at keeping schedules, but If I tell myself I can only do X if I've done Y, I can actually control my habits quite well. "I can only have this soda if I drink it while I work" "I can only play mass effect if I apply for this job" I gave myself a break on nights I wen to work, which was gamestop at the time (hated that too). When I couldn't find productive things to do with art, I volunteered. That I actually enjoyed quite a bit.
Its a pretty shitty lie that we tell art students that job placement in the magical fields of art, design, and games are the only path to a successful life. Your Anxiety and ADHD may make office jobs hard, but you might be great at other things. Sometimes people really excel if their job requires some physical effort, to help calm them down and keep them on task. Maybe you need to be on your feet? Maybe you are good at talking to people? Figure out some alternatives, list them, look at the whole of your network of friends and family, take an odd job to help make ends meet. Expand your options.
Feeling like you need your parents to finance your life sucks so hard and I understand the feeling 100%. I really lucked out to some degree, with my work, but I also slaved away in food service and struck it out on my own for a while, Its hard, but all considering if you're not in any debt, you can do it.
What I'm trying to say is, you can be successful and not be a designer at apple, and also being a designer at apple does not make you "successful". If you can find a way to survive and not value yourself through your job, you might have an easier time finding some happiness. You career doesn't have to be the whole of your self worth.
Sex, then I go get pizza with him in the cheapest hole in the wall pizzeria and we have a great time.
@Siegfried: I was in a very similar place not that long ago. I don't know if this helps, but the climb got easier once I found the ladder and started going up. Hopefully you'll have a similar experience.
This sounds like a great time, you'd probably win me over.