Abe Lincoln in ALVH was Abe Lincoln though. It was someone playing as a vampire hunting Abe Lincoln. Even CG Abe Lincoln playing Abe Lincoln would still just be Abe Lincoln. James Dean in this movie won't be James Dean, he'll be the digital representation of James Dean playing a character in the movie. If they were just recreating his likeness because they really wanted James Dean in their movie as James Dean it would be one thing. This is recreating a dead actor to play a different part, and then imagining how Dean would've played the role.
On top of that, as the movie takes place at the end of the Vietnam war, James Dean had been dead for 20 years at that point. Even if we're talking "official" start of the Vietnam war, November 1st 1955, Dean had been dead for a month and a day by then. So it won't even be a representation of the James Dean everyone's seen in actual movies, it will be whatever they think he might've been like had he not died in 1955, and experienced something he never experienced.
I'd watch a film called James Dean Destroys Hollywood where a CG James Dean plays James Dean James Deaning Hollywood. Also James Deen should be the meat actor behind the CG James Dean, just for extra meta.
I'd watch a film called James Dean Destroys Hollywood where a CG James Dean plays James Dean James Deaning Hollywood. Also James Deen should be the meat actor behind the CG James Dean, just for extra meta.
It's fair to say DC has higher highs than Marvel, it's when terrible movies that everyone knows is terrible gets a pass over the majority of Marvel's output that I find irritating.
There are some very good DC movies, though I would say Dark Knight is the only actually great one. There have been some very good Marvel movies, and I think Logan is also legit great.
The DCU movies are almost universally garbage, though. Wonder Woman was good, the rest range from meh to crimes against humanity.
MCU movies, by almost any sane metric, are leaps and bounds ahead of the DCU.
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.
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BlackDragon480Bluster KerfuffleMaster of Windy ImportRegistered Userregular
I'd watch a film called James Dean Destroys Hollywood where a CG James Dean plays James Dean James Deaning Hollywood. Also James Deen should be the meat actor behind the CG James Dean, just for extra meta.
I'd watch a film called James Dean Destroys Hollywood where a CG James Dean plays James Dean James Deaning Hollywood. Also James Deen should be the meat actor behind the CG James Dean, just for extra meta.
So Jeff Goldblum got canceled today for supporting Woody Allen. Hate to see it.
There has been a lot of talk, from a lot of women, about Jeff Goldblum for a while now. The "everybody knows not to let him get close to young, female interns" kind of talk. My eyes almost rolled out of my head when I saw him defending Woody Allen.
So Jeff Goldblum got canceled today for supporting Woody Allen. Hate to see it.
There has been a lot of talk, from a lot of women, about Jeff Goldblum for a while now. The "everybody knows not to let him get close to young, female interns" kind of talk. My eyes almost rolled out of my head when I saw him defending Woody Allen.
I heard it myself only recently, and didn't want to believe, but... well, this is certainly Not A Good Look.
What's weird is I kind of want to see this come out to see what it looks like. Is it even viable or do we need not get up in arms. I'm against but have a curiosity
It was viable-ish with Peter Cushing in the recent Star Wars movies, but only because it was a recreation of an existing character. And even then it still was obvious. Reading about the movie they're going to use Dean's likeness in it almost sounds like a form of deepfake, CG masking over someone else, not a full not-actually-there CGI character.
It will always hit uncanny valley, it needs to hit uncanny valley, and the day it doesn't is the day Hollywood needs to be burned to the ground, because no video will be able to be trusted ever again.
Peter Cushing's face was OK, but he moved like Judge Doom just after he'd been run over by the steamroller
What's weird is I kind of want to see this come out to see what it looks like. Is it even viable or do we need not get up in arms. I'm against but have a curiosity
It was viable-ish with Peter Cushing in the recent Star Wars movies, but only because it was a recreation of an existing character. And even then it still was obvious. Reading about the movie they're going to use Dean's likeness in it almost sounds like a form of deepfake, CG masking over someone else, not a full not-actually-there CGI character.
It will always hit uncanny valley, it needs to hit uncanny valley, and the day it doesn't is the day Hollywood needs to be burned to the ground, because no video will be able to be trusted ever again.
Peter Cushing's face was OK, but he moved like Judge Doom just after he'd been run over by the steamroller
I felt like they could have easily just kept his face a reflection in the window of the death star, as that's how he's introduced. That worked pretty well. It was hubris that led them to give their imperfect CGI humans unobscured close-ups in that movie.
So I watched a movie called Hanagatami. It's based on a 1937 Japanese novel by Kazuo Dan, and it's the career-long passion project of its director Nobuhiko Obayashi. Obayashi is something of a pop-art icon in Japan, with a career starting in spry, playful experimental films, and decadent, campy commercials, like the one in which Charles Bronson goes to his hotel alone, flamboyantly flings his shirt off, and then douses himself in cologne to the sound of gunshots. Obayashi wanted his first feature film to be an adaptation of this novel, but knew it wasn't feasible, so he was instead contracted to make a horror film.
He teamed up with a writing partner (his pre-teen daughter) and developed Hausu, a wacky, profoundly artificial horror film full of bizzare character work, story logic, and implementation of special effects. It was a hit in Japan, and decades later a cult-hit everywhere else; it's oblong, but impossible not to appreciate for its vitality and invention. I like it a lot. Obayashi then carried on as a sort of pop-art auteur through the 80's, making several films aimed at teenage audiences starring pop-idols, and has continued making films for decades, though he never got around to his adaptation of until recently.
In 2012, remembering a chat he had with his late friend Akira Kurosawa, Obayashi decided to undertake the making of an anti-war trilogy. The first film, Casting Cherry Blossoms to the Sky, is set in Nagaoka, about a journalist covering the 3/11 earthquake and the town's history---which includes a fireworks festival in memory of the war. The second film, Seven Weeks, is a multi-decade drama about the effects of the bomb (Obayashi was raised in Hiroshima prefecture and lost all his friends as a child) and current nuclear radiation issues. They were successful films, and reestablished him as one of the most thoughtful and stylistically distinctive directors in the country. Because of this success, the third film is his adaptation of Hanagatami, the story of a group of teenagers whose lives are destroyed by the cultural climate of wartime Japan. As Obayashi was going into production for Hanagatami, he was diagnosed with stage-four cancer and was given three months to live. He decided to go ahead with production, and not only finished the film, but lived to see it release and grow into one of his most celebrated achievements.
Seeing it, I was shocked by how he didn't miss a step at all since Hausu. This film is wildly artificial, and yet takes its subject matter and characters as seriously as it can. It challenges every stylistic notion of what a period film should look like. There's very apparent green screen in almost every shot, the central teenagers are played by actors as old as their early 40's, colours are saturated and unnatural, editing decisions are all very visible (wipes, jittery slow-mo, etc.) and dream, memory, fantasy, and reality all blend with and overtop one another. It's already a dense, culturally specific, three-hour story of the passions, frustrations, and personal histories of several characters; having it rendered in such a flagrantly bizarre manner only increases any bewilderment or disconnect an audience member might have watching it.
But I thought it was great! I haven't seen a film so wildly maximalistic in a while, and it's one of the most successful uses of camp I've seen in a long, long time. And I don't mean funny-camp, but using heightened style and emotional ironies for commentative, aesthetic, and accumulative effect. The title gets its name from a Noh play, and it's fair to say that that theatrical form was an inspiration, as was opera, and TV melodrama---all mostly tragic art forms that move against the unspoken expectations of naturalism in cinema. And I think this film's mode, which renders the lives of its teenage protagonists in large, bright, colourful, inventive, unwieldly strokes---speaks to adolescence. It makes it all the more tragic that what their society wanted from them, and what they had to convince themselves to offer, was their death. There's a cellist scoring sections of the film from beyond the grave, soldiers marching themselves into an ocean lined with battleships, characters getting naked and riding horses, people swimming in places where there shouldn't be water; it's dizzying.
I haven't seen the previous two films in the trilogy but I really want to (a friend has an unsubbed blu ray of Seven Weeks, but there are no English subtitles available), because this saccharine, candy-land style applied to such serious material is wild. Trailer in Japanese; it gives some idea of how strange it all is.
...
But not only did Obayashi live to see Hanagatami release; he's still alive, besting his three month life expectancy by over three years. He's even completed another film, called Labyrinth of Cinema, it just premiered at the Tokyo Film Festival a month ago. That conversation with Kurosawa I mentioned earlier was the direct inspiration for this film, which is advocating for cinema, for the power of art, to stop wars. Kurosawa reportedly told him: "The beauty and power of film can save the world from war and lead it toward peace. If you can't do it, your children can. If not, your grandchildren can continue for me, little by little. Then one day, 400 years from now, someone will make my movie, and the power of film will erase all wars from the world."
Obayashi speaks of his responsibility: "In the last 100 years we’ve hit the point where there is no winner and loser. During the war there were winners and losers and so in a way war no longer exists today. Now, we’re just fighting to prevent whoever presses the button first. Trump can press the button anytime. What a world we’re living in. If anyone asks whether it’s faster for Trump to press the button or for me to make films that would bring people together—of course it’s faster to press the button. But to live is to think 'I’ll make 30 films in the time it takes for Trump to reach that button.' That’s the job of an artist."
I'll take Bob Iger's studio buying spree and movie formula-weaponizing over Michael Eisner's near destruction of the brand through direct-to-video sequels and desecration of the theme parks any day honestly.
I'll take Bob Iger's studio buying spree and movie formula-weaponizing over Michael Eisner's near destruction of the brand through direct-to-video sequels and desecration of the theme parks any day honestly.
I'll take Bob Iger's studio buying spree and movie formula-weaponizing over Michael Eisner's near destruction of the brand through direct-to-video sequels and desecration of the theme parks any day honestly.
Michael Eisner seems like a bad person.
Idk, he almost took down Disney
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MonwynApathy's a tragedy, and boredom is a crime.A little bit of everything, all of the time.Registered Userregular
I'll take Bob Iger's studio buying spree and movie formula-weaponizing over Michael Eisner's near destruction of the brand through direct-to-video sequels and desecration of the theme parks any day honestly.
Michael Eisner seems like a bad person.
Idk, he almost took down Disney
Eisner made a couple of boneheaded business decisions but Disney has never been close to bankruptcy and it's unlikely it's even possible for them to be, even at that point
I watched Shadow of the Vampire because I remembered it was a thing that exists and it was on Prime Video.
What a strange movie. It rides entirely on Malkovich and Dafoe... and also viewer knowledge of Nosferatu. I honestly don't know how I would have felt about this film if I hadn't seen that film already. Differently, to be sure.
It's easily one of the best movies I've seen recently. I don't think there's anything I didn't like about it, really. The cinematography, acting, music, dialogue, and story were all really good.
My thoughts on what I've seen of this year's films:
Midsommar - Excellent, unsettling, beautiful to watch. I loved how this movie was sort the inverse of Hereditary (which I loved) - Hereditary was dark and claustrophobic, taking place almost entirely inside and usually at night in cramped hallways and cluttered rooms, while Midsommar is almost always outside in nature, and always in the sun. The horror in Hereditary is paranormal and inexplicable, while Midsommar's is entirely human. I think I love Hereditary more of the two, though my girlfriend has the opposite view, but the two have me eager to see whatever Aster comes out with next.
Ad Astra - Decent. I loved the way it looked and sounded, and the somber atmosphere and relatively slow pace of the film appealed to me. The plot was fine and I liked the climax at Neptune. But I found Brad Pitt's character to be extremely boring, and since the movie is very dependent on him, that prevented me from really loving it.
The Shadow - I liked it, but didn't love it. The fight scenes are beautiful and memorable - particularly the training battles in the cave and the showdown aboard the Trojan barge thing - and the plot was pretty cool, with some enjoyable Revolver Ocelot levels of convoluted triple crossing. The spinning umbrella sliding assault part was silly though. And the main character was kinda lame and empty in my opinion. Not bad, but not on the same level as Hero.
Joker - Greatly enjoyed it, Phoenix was awesome, cinematography was great. First time I've watched a comic book movie and not regretted it afterward in years.
Us - It was quite good, but not Get Out good. I kinda found the ending to be a bit of a let down; the whole thing was more compelling when it was mysterious, unlike Get Out, which only becomes more awesome when you know what's going on. Still, well executed and engaging.
The dancing/fighting scene at the end was cool, but the whole premise of the others being government-developed clone marionette people or whatever just seemed sorta goofy to me. And the line of people holding hands thing was sorta silly too IMO.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - Probably my movie of the year from what I've seen so far (Midsommar in second place), and my favorite Tarantino film since Kill Bill. DiCaprio and Pitt were both great, the dialogue was continually entertaining, and the ending was amazing and unexpected.
Maleficent 2 - Yeah this wasn't good, don't go see it. I thought the first one was more watchable than I had expected, but it really didn't need a sequel, and this was one of the more unnecessary movies I've seen. The climax was cool from a pretty CGI perspective though.
Ugh I don't know. There's something about 80s action flicks that are more enjoyable to watch then the Fallen movies. Granted I watched the first one and checked out when they started reciting the National Anthem while being held up by the terrorists. Like fuck off with your bullshit, movie.
Ugh I don't know. There's something about 80s action flicks that are more enjoyable to watch then the Fallen movies. Granted I watched the first one and checked out when they started reciting the National Anthem while being held up by the terrorists. Like fuck off with your bullshit, movie.
80's action films were having fun and exploring varied premises. Total Recall is action in space, Running Man is action on a gameshow, Robocop was a satire, even Die Hard which has maybe the most straight, non tongue-in-cheek premise is "fun" because of the characters. Hans is an evil piece of shit but he's charismatic and sardonic. Beverly Hills Cop has some pretty dark aspects, the main, jokey hero's friend is executed in the opening act, but it still has way more fun than misery. The "Has Fallen" films take themselves deadly seriously despite being bad, bad films, so they're just miserable.
EDIT: Lethal Weapon is probably the darkest film because it's got suicide, murder, torture, etc. But again the characters are fun and play off each other well. Gibson and Glover were just charismatic and their chemistry was fantastic. It says a lot thatn when White House Down came out people were like "finally a new Die Hard" and then they got it and it was just more forgettable trash.
Ugh I don't know. There's something about 80s action flicks that are more enjoyable to watch then the Fallen movies. Granted I watched the first one and checked out when they started reciting the National Anthem while being held up by the terrorists. Like fuck off with your bullshit, movie.
80's action films were having fun and exploring varied premises. Total Recall is action in space, Running Man is action on a gameshow, Robocop was a satire, even Die Hard which has maybe the most straight, non tongue-in-cheek premise is "fun" because of the characters. Hans is an evil piece of shit but he's charismatic and sardonic. Beverly Hills Cop has some pretty dark aspects, the main, jokey hero's friend is executed in the opening act, but it still has way more fun than misery. The "Has Fallen" films take themselves deadly seriously despite being bad, bad films, so they're just miserable.
Yeah I'd almost consider superhero movies the new replacement for 80s action flicks nowadays (even though I only mildly enjoy superhero films).
I'd watch Big Trouble in Little China 100 times before any of the Has Fallen movies, personally.
Ugh I don't know. There's something about 80s action flicks that are more enjoyable to watch then the Fallen movies. Granted I watched the first one and checked out when they started reciting the National Anthem while being held up by the terrorists. Like fuck off with your bullshit, movie.
80's action films were having fun and exploring varied premises. Total Recall is action in space, Running Man is action on a gameshow, Robocop was a satire, even Die Hard which has maybe the most straight, non tongue-in-cheek premise is "fun" because of the characters. Hans is an evil piece of shit but he's charismatic and sardonic. Beverly Hills Cop has some pretty dark aspects, the main, jokey hero's friend is executed in the opening act, but it still has way more fun than misery. The "Has Fallen" films take themselves deadly seriously despite being bad, bad films, so they're just miserable.
Yeah I'd almost consider superhero movies the new replacement for 80s action flicks nowadays (even though I only mildly enjoy superhero films).
I'd watch Big Trouble in Little China 100 times before any of the Has Fallen movies, personally.
This is probably fair, you wouldn't get an 80's action film today because it would need to be sanitized down to what a modern superhero film is, but they share the same aspects of people taking major injuries and walking them off like they're a scratch. I'd argue the superhero films are more on the "taking themselves seriously" side though, apart from maybe Ragnarok. Ragnarok, unsurprisingly, is probably the most 80's film of the superhero bunch.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
I have a Hong Kong Has Fallen script ready to go, it can be filmed in Taiwan and Gerry B fights commie tanks but Nick Nolte sends them all flying with a 300 chain explosion and in the end Gerry Bs daughter inadvertently saves the day with her bullet proof Winnie The Pooh toy in Gerry Bs jacket pocket, I’m faxing this over to Lionsgate on my Flinstones Phone now.
Saw the new terminator last night. It was pretty good. Liked the action, the pacing was good, and Arnold wasn't that annoying.
At the end of it, I decided that this Terminator universe is the far past of the Dune universe and that the Bene Gesserit's actual origin comes from Sara Conner and all the other women targeted by the time traveling robots sent back to kill them. It's the thing that's needed for them to evolve the survival techniques which allow the Gesserit to peer into the future.
There are some events that I thought were going to go in a different direction. I'm not sure if those were good moves or not. If they really wanted to write certain characters out of the story there's far more interesting ways to do it than what they did. Which is a really small complaint in an otherwise decent movie. It does more to add to the overall Terminator mythos than detract like the last few movies have.
Martini_Philosopher on
All opinions are my own and in no way reflect that of my employer.
Ugh I don't know. There's something about 80s action flicks that are more enjoyable to watch then the Fallen movies. Granted I watched the first one and checked out when they started reciting the National Anthem while being held up by the terrorists. Like fuck off with your bullshit, movie.
80's action films were having fun and exploring varied premises. Total Recall is action in space, Running Man is action on a gameshow, Robocop was a satire, even Die Hard which has maybe the most straight, non tongue-in-cheek premise is "fun" because of the characters. Hans is an evil piece of shit but he's charismatic and sardonic. Beverly Hills Cop has some pretty dark aspects, the main, jokey hero's friend is executed in the opening act, but it still has way more fun than misery. The "Has Fallen" films take themselves deadly seriously despite being bad, bad films, so they're just miserable.
Yeah I'd almost consider superhero movies the new replacement for 80s action flicks nowadays (even though I only mildly enjoy superhero films).
I'd watch Big Trouble in Little China 100 times before any of the Has Fallen movies, personally.
This is probably fair, you wouldn't get an 80's action film today because it would need to be sanitized down to what a modern superhero film is, but they share the same aspects of people taking major injuries and walking them off like they're a scratch. I'd argue the superhero films are more on the "taking themselves seriously" side though, apart from maybe Ragnarok. Ragnarok, unsurprisingly, is probably the most 80's film of the superhero bunch.
Ragnarok is the best MCU film ever and no one can change my mind! It's the only one I've seen more than once and can watch anytime.
Saw the new terminator last night. It was pretty good. Liked the action, the pacing was good, and Arnold wasn't that annoying.
At the end of it, I decided that this Terminator universe is the far past of the Dune universe and that the Bene Gesserit's actual origin comes from Sara Conner and all the other women targeted by the time traveling robots sent back to kill them. It's the thing that's needed for them to evolve the survival techniques which allow the Gesserit to peer into the future.
There are some events that I thought were going to go in a different direction. I'm not sure if those were good moves or not. If they really wanted to write certain characters out of the story there's far more interesting ways to do it than what they did. Which is a really small complaint in an otherwise decent movie. It does more to add to the overall Terminator mythos than detract like the last few movies have.
I hated the first 20 minutes of Dark Fate just because of the expospeak and needless call backs. There was a better way to do that.
Saw the new terminator last night. It was pretty good. Liked the action, the pacing was good, and Arnold wasn't that annoying.
At the end of it, I decided that this Terminator universe is the far past of the Dune universe and that the Bene Gesserit's actual origin comes from Sara Conner and all the other women targeted by the time traveling robots sent back to kill them. It's the thing that's needed for them to evolve the survival techniques which allow the Gesserit to peer into the future.
There are some events that I thought were going to go in a different direction. I'm not sure if those were good moves or not. If they really wanted to write certain characters out of the story there's far more interesting ways to do it than what they did. Which is a really small complaint in an otherwise decent movie. It does more to add to the overall Terminator mythos than detract like the last few movies have.
I hated the first 20 minutes of Dark Fate just because of the expospeak and needless call backs. There was a better way to do that.
I'll respectfully disagree inasmuch as this one needed to give the audience a blunt answer to the question of where it stood in respect to the other, lesser Terminator sequels.
Speaking of which this is where
I thought that the Arnold terminator was going to say that John sent him back after realizing that the only to permanently get rid of that future was to kill himself. It seemed to me the only way to explain how that terminator knew where they were, when. But that got handwaved and I don't know if I'm disappointed or not in that.
All opinions are my own and in no way reflect that of my employer.
But think of all the original stories of those early 2000s action movies that we got!
They had such great stories that I can think of many of them off the top of my head and not only manage like...the first Bourne movie was then right? And like...the first F&F movie? Uh, what other action movies were there? Also what were the compelling stories that have been crowded out?
The decade after the creative explosion of 1999 was pretty universally disappointing. The national mood after 9/11, especially, led to a lot of safe choices and stifled creativity. There were great films, of course, but it wasn't a great time to be into movies overall.
Saw the new terminator last night. It was pretty good. Liked the action, the pacing was good, and Arnold wasn't that annoying.
At the end of it, I decided that this Terminator universe is the far past of the Dune universe and that the Bene Gesserit's actual origin comes from Sara Conner and all the other women targeted by the time traveling robots sent back to kill them. It's the thing that's needed for them to evolve the survival techniques which allow the Gesserit to peer into the future.
"We found it was inevitable. If Thinking Machines are built, they will travel into the past to kill people. Thus, the Jihad."
Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human skeleton. - the O.C. Bible (revised)
I have a Hong Kong Has Fallen script ready to go, it can be filmed in Taiwan and Gerry B fights commie tanks but Nick Nolte sends them all flying with a 300 chain explosion and in the end Gerry Bs daughter inadvertently saves the day with her bullet proof Winnie The Pooh toy in Gerry Bs jacket pocket, I’m faxing this over to Lionsgate on my Flinstones Phone now.
I ain't gonna lie TexiKen, that sounds fucking amazing!
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Also, he's not going to be aged up 20 years
pleasepaypreacher.net
Avengers: Age of James Dean
There are some very good DC movies, though I would say Dark Knight is the only actually great one. There have been some very good Marvel movies, and I think Logan is also legit great.
The DCU movies are almost universally garbage, though. Wonder Woman was good, the rest range from meh to crimes against humanity.
MCU movies, by almost any sane metric, are leaps and bounds ahead of the DCU.
~ Buckaroo Banzai
There has been a lot of talk, from a lot of women, about Jeff Goldblum for a while now. The "everybody knows not to let him get close to young, female interns" kind of talk. My eyes almost rolled out of my head when I saw him defending Woody Allen.
I heard it myself only recently, and didn't want to believe, but... well, this is certainly Not A Good Look.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Peter Cushing's face was OK, but he moved like Judge Doom just after he'd been run over by the steamroller
I felt like they could have easily just kept his face a reflection in the window of the death star, as that's how he's introduced. That worked pretty well. It was hubris that led them to give their imperfect CGI humans unobscured close-ups in that movie.
I doubt he'll have trouble finding another job. And even if he does, he can cry himself to sleep on his mattress of money.
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
Cancel culture is not a thing.
He teamed up with a writing partner (his pre-teen daughter) and developed Hausu, a wacky, profoundly artificial horror film full of bizzare character work, story logic, and implementation of special effects. It was a hit in Japan, and decades later a cult-hit everywhere else; it's oblong, but impossible not to appreciate for its vitality and invention. I like it a lot. Obayashi then carried on as a sort of pop-art auteur through the 80's, making several films aimed at teenage audiences starring pop-idols, and has continued making films for decades, though he never got around to his adaptation of until recently.
In 2012, remembering a chat he had with his late friend Akira Kurosawa, Obayashi decided to undertake the making of an anti-war trilogy. The first film, Casting Cherry Blossoms to the Sky, is set in Nagaoka, about a journalist covering the 3/11 earthquake and the town's history---which includes a fireworks festival in memory of the war. The second film, Seven Weeks, is a multi-decade drama about the effects of the bomb (Obayashi was raised in Hiroshima prefecture and lost all his friends as a child) and current nuclear radiation issues. They were successful films, and reestablished him as one of the most thoughtful and stylistically distinctive directors in the country. Because of this success, the third film is his adaptation of Hanagatami, the story of a group of teenagers whose lives are destroyed by the cultural climate of wartime Japan. As Obayashi was going into production for Hanagatami, he was diagnosed with stage-four cancer and was given three months to live. He decided to go ahead with production, and not only finished the film, but lived to see it release and grow into one of his most celebrated achievements.
Seeing it, I was shocked by how he didn't miss a step at all since Hausu. This film is wildly artificial, and yet takes its subject matter and characters as seriously as it can. It challenges every stylistic notion of what a period film should look like. There's very apparent green screen in almost every shot, the central teenagers are played by actors as old as their early 40's, colours are saturated and unnatural, editing decisions are all very visible (wipes, jittery slow-mo, etc.) and dream, memory, fantasy, and reality all blend with and overtop one another. It's already a dense, culturally specific, three-hour story of the passions, frustrations, and personal histories of several characters; having it rendered in such a flagrantly bizarre manner only increases any bewilderment or disconnect an audience member might have watching it.
But I thought it was great! I haven't seen a film so wildly maximalistic in a while, and it's one of the most successful uses of camp I've seen in a long, long time. And I don't mean funny-camp, but using heightened style and emotional ironies for commentative, aesthetic, and accumulative effect. The title gets its name from a Noh play, and it's fair to say that that theatrical form was an inspiration, as was opera, and TV melodrama---all mostly tragic art forms that move against the unspoken expectations of naturalism in cinema. And I think this film's mode, which renders the lives of its teenage protagonists in large, bright, colourful, inventive, unwieldly strokes---speaks to adolescence. It makes it all the more tragic that what their society wanted from them, and what they had to convince themselves to offer, was their death. There's a cellist scoring sections of the film from beyond the grave, soldiers marching themselves into an ocean lined with battleships, characters getting naked and riding horses, people swimming in places where there shouldn't be water; it's dizzying.
I haven't seen the previous two films in the trilogy but I really want to (a friend has an unsubbed blu ray of Seven Weeks, but there are no English subtitles available), because this saccharine, candy-land style applied to such serious material is wild. Trailer in Japanese; it gives some idea of how strange it all is.
...
But not only did Obayashi live to see Hanagatami release; he's still alive, besting his three month life expectancy by over three years. He's even completed another film, called Labyrinth of Cinema, it just premiered at the Tokyo Film Festival a month ago. That conversation with Kurosawa I mentioned earlier was the direct inspiration for this film, which is advocating for cinema, for the power of art, to stop wars. Kurosawa reportedly told him: "The beauty and power of film can save the world from war and lead it toward peace. If you can't do it, your children can. If not, your grandchildren can continue for me, little by little. Then one day, 400 years from now, someone will make my movie, and the power of film will erase all wars from the world."
Obayashi speaks of his responsibility: "In the last 100 years we’ve hit the point where there is no winner and loser. During the war there were winners and losers and so in a way war no longer exists today. Now, we’re just fighting to prevent whoever presses the button first. Trump can press the button anytime. What a world we’re living in. If anyone asks whether it’s faster for Trump to press the button or for me to make films that would bring people together—of course it’s faster to press the button. But to live is to think 'I’ll make 30 films in the time it takes for Trump to reach that button.' That’s the job of an artist."
What a guy.
I'll take Bob Iger's studio buying spree and movie formula-weaponizing over Michael Eisner's near destruction of the brand through direct-to-video sequels and desecration of the theme parks any day honestly.
Michael Eisner seems like a bad person.
Idk, he almost took down Disney
Eisner made a couple of boneheaded business decisions but Disney has never been close to bankruptcy and it's unlikely it's even possible for them to be, even at that point
What a strange movie. It rides entirely on Malkovich and Dafoe... and also viewer knowledge of Nosferatu. I honestly don't know how I would have felt about this film if I hadn't seen that film already. Differently, to be sure.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
It's easily one of the best movies I've seen recently. I don't think there's anything I didn't like about it, really. The cinematography, acting, music, dialogue, and story were all really good.
Midsommar - Excellent, unsettling, beautiful to watch. I loved how this movie was sort the inverse of Hereditary (which I loved) - Hereditary was dark and claustrophobic, taking place almost entirely inside and usually at night in cramped hallways and cluttered rooms, while Midsommar is almost always outside in nature, and always in the sun. The horror in Hereditary is paranormal and inexplicable, while Midsommar's is entirely human. I think I love Hereditary more of the two, though my girlfriend has the opposite view, but the two have me eager to see whatever Aster comes out with next.
Ad Astra - Decent. I loved the way it looked and sounded, and the somber atmosphere and relatively slow pace of the film appealed to me. The plot was fine and I liked the climax at Neptune. But I found Brad Pitt's character to be extremely boring, and since the movie is very dependent on him, that prevented me from really loving it.
The Shadow - I liked it, but didn't love it. The fight scenes are beautiful and memorable - particularly the training battles in the cave and the showdown aboard the Trojan barge thing - and the plot was pretty cool, with some enjoyable Revolver Ocelot levels of convoluted triple crossing. The spinning umbrella sliding assault part was silly though. And the main character was kinda lame and empty in my opinion. Not bad, but not on the same level as Hero.
Joker - Greatly enjoyed it, Phoenix was awesome, cinematography was great. First time I've watched a comic book movie and not regretted it afterward in years.
Us - It was quite good, but not Get Out good. I kinda found the ending to be a bit of a let down; the whole thing was more compelling when it was mysterious, unlike Get Out, which only becomes more awesome when you know what's going on. Still, well executed and engaging.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - Probably my movie of the year from what I've seen so far (Midsommar in second place), and my favorite Tarantino film since Kill Bill. DiCaprio and Pitt were both great, the dialogue was continually entertaining, and the ending was amazing and unexpected.
Maleficent 2 - Yeah this wasn't good, don't go see it. I thought the first one was more watchable than I had expected, but it really didn't need a sequel, and this was one of the more unnecessary movies I've seen. The climax was cool from a pretty CGI perspective though.
Going to see The Lighthouse tomorrow, am excited.
Jeff Goldblum gets away with some pretty questionable behaviour, really
There are no words...
@TexiKen
80's action films were having fun and exploring varied premises. Total Recall is action in space, Running Man is action on a gameshow, Robocop was a satire, even Die Hard which has maybe the most straight, non tongue-in-cheek premise is "fun" because of the characters. Hans is an evil piece of shit but he's charismatic and sardonic. Beverly Hills Cop has some pretty dark aspects, the main, jokey hero's friend is executed in the opening act, but it still has way more fun than misery. The "Has Fallen" films take themselves deadly seriously despite being bad, bad films, so they're just miserable.
EDIT: Lethal Weapon is probably the darkest film because it's got suicide, murder, torture, etc. But again the characters are fun and play off each other well. Gibson and Glover were just charismatic and their chemistry was fantastic. It says a lot thatn when White House Down came out people were like "finally a new Die Hard" and then they got it and it was just more forgettable trash.
Yeah I'd almost consider superhero movies the new replacement for 80s action flicks nowadays (even though I only mildly enjoy superhero films).
I'd watch Big Trouble in Little China 100 times before any of the Has Fallen movies, personally.
This is probably fair, you wouldn't get an 80's action film today because it would need to be sanitized down to what a modern superhero film is, but they share the same aspects of people taking major injuries and walking them off like they're a scratch. I'd argue the superhero films are more on the "taking themselves seriously" side though, apart from maybe Ragnarok. Ragnarok, unsurprisingly, is probably the most 80's film of the superhero bunch.
There are some events that I thought were going to go in a different direction. I'm not sure if those were good moves or not. If they really wanted to write certain characters out of the story there's far more interesting ways to do it than what they did. Which is a really small complaint in an otherwise decent movie. It does more to add to the overall Terminator mythos than detract like the last few movies have.
Ragnarok is the best MCU film ever and no one can change my mind! It's the only one I've seen more than once and can watch anytime.
I hated the first 20 minutes of Dark Fate just because of the expospeak and needless call backs. There was a better way to do that.
I'll respectfully disagree inasmuch as this one needed to give the audience a blunt answer to the question of where it stood in respect to the other, lesser Terminator sequels.
Speaking of which this is where
The early 2000s had quite a few great indy films.
Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human skeleton. - the O.C. Bible (revised)
I ain't gonna lie TexiKen, that sounds fucking amazing!