I'm in a real small town surrounded by desert and it's a small small store he was filming at. Usually the town gets used to depict Texas. X-Files filmed it's Texas stuff out here
Which is always hilarious to me in media, since the desert parts of Texas are virtually uninhabited, and almost everyone lives in the hilly, swampy parts of Texas with dense pine forests.
Having spent a lot of time in British Columbia it's insane how much it pops up as a stand-in for essentially anywhere.
Vancouver is the non-union Mexican equivalent of NYC
I'm not sure what it says about me that my initial thought was, "I should watch The Core again."
You're a fan of Xena, Hot Pockets, and unobtainium?
Having grown up with most of the campy Godzilla movies and MST3K, I do love a truly awful movie but The Core holds a special place in my heart. I'm watching the movie with my sister and I'm so enjoyably appalled by how stupid everything is in this movie. Just everything.
Then we get to the big planning scene where all the "smart" people are saying "here's the problem and this is what we have to do to fix it". The problem being that the Earth's core is getting lazy, and if its stops the planet would be scoured by cosmic radiation. This part is true, because the Earth gets it's bigass magnetic shield from the spinning liquid core and that keeps the sun from frying us.
So they're discussing the solution, which is the American Solution of just nuking a problem. Obviously, getting nukes to the Earth's core is a problem. Somebody mentions it's impossible. I can't help myself and comment out loud "...but what if we could?" The movie then decides to nuke my brain, because not five seconds later (starting at the 1:46 mark): https://youtu.be/jr7HNZg0ljU?t=113
"But what if we could?"
"BUT WHAT IF WE COULD?"
I WAS FUCKING JOKING, MOVIE. YOU WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO SAY THAT OUT LOUD. The technological premise for being able to reach the core is "but what if we could?" Oh, and unobtanium. Yes, you heard me, unobtanium. The same utterly dumbass mcguffin used in Avatar.
And the movie is just downhill from there in all the best ways.
Ninja Snarl P on
+12
jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
I'm not sure what it says about me that my initial thought was, "I should watch The Core again."
You're a fan of Xena, Hot Pockets, and unobtainium?
Having grown up with most of the campy Godzilla movies and MST3K, I do love a truly awful movie but The Core holds a special place in my heart. I'm watching the movie with my sister and I'm so enjoyably appalled by how stupid everything is in this movie. Just everything.
Then we get to the big planning scene where all the "smart" people are saying "here's the problem and this is what we have to do to fix it". The problem being that the Earth's core is getting lazy, and if its stops the planet would be scoured by cosmic radiation. This part is true, because the Earth gets it's bigass magnetic shield from the spinning liquid core and that keeps the sun from frying us.
So they're discussing the solution, which is the American Solution of just nuking a problem. Obviously, getting nukes to the Earth's core is a problem. Somebody mentions it's impossible. I can't help myself and comment out loud "...but what if we could?" The movie then decides to nuke my brain, because not five seconds later (starting at the 1:46 mark): https://youtu.be/jr7HNZg0ljU?t=113
"But what if we could?"
"BUT WHAT IF WE COULD?"
I WAS FUCKING JOKING, MOVIE. YOU WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO SAY THAT OUT LOUD. The technological premise for being able to reach the core is "but what if we could?" Oh, and unobtanium. Yes, you heard me, unobtanium. The same utterly dumbass mcguffin used in Avatar.
And the movie is just downhill from there in all the best ways.
I enjoy The Core more than it deserves as well so I'll just say the unobtanium, AKA "its real name has 37 syllables", in The Core wasn't a mcguffin. It's ridiculous physical properties were necessary but it wasn't a motivating factor for the plot itself. Just as my car may be necessary for me to reach work, but that doesn't make it a mcguffin, well, unless we're in a Dude, Where's My Car? scenario. The unobtanium in Avatar on the other hand is a complete mcguffin. It's the only reason humans are on the planet and thus the instigator of the plot, but it's otherwise utterly irrelevant to the events of the movie. You could change all the references in Avatar to grapefruit and it wouldn't make a difference to the plot.
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
You have to have it be a complete MacGuffin. Unobtanium was treated like gold or grapefruits in Avatar because if securing the unobtanium were vital to Earth's daily operation like oil is, audiences would be rooting for the invading humans.
I knew what I was doing when I did it, but I’ve only ever seen Gravity on an iPad.
It worked surprisingly well.
My wife and I watched Cruel Intentions last night, which also worked surprisingly well. That movie borders on camp masterpiece in a way I did not remember at all.
Edit: It’s all adults pretending to be children pretending to be older adults. Except for Selma Blair, the oldest actual adult, playing the youngest child, pretending to be an even younger child.
For me, Gravity didn't really live up to the first, oh, fifteen minutes or so? The initial crisis is just so visceral, everything that comes after felt less intense and interesting to me, doubly so because I found the whole (re-)birth imagery kinda overbearing. It doesn't help that other than in a handful of films, I'm not really a big fan of Sandra Bullock.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
+1
knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
Even as a dumb horny 18 year old i remember thinking “why is this grown woman pretending to be a little girl”
Sarah Michelle Gellar on the other hand, absolutely ruined me
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
As silly as the movie is, there are moments that I think worked as intended. Reese Witherspoon is waaaaay outclassing the acting talent of everybody else, and, as you might expect, she actually has some chemistry with the otherwise lifeless Ryan Phillipe.
The whole thing is also an amazing time capsule now.
“E-mail is for weirdos and pedophiles, Ronald.”
Sarah Michelle Gellar primarily dresses like an 80 year old widow, which somehow feels extremely 90s.
OneAngryPossum on
+2
knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
No because i have never seen a single episode of Buffy
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
No because i have never seen a single episode of Buffy
Get thee to a streaming service!
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.
+11
KoopahTroopahThe koopas, the troopas.Philadelphia, PARegistered Userregular
edited May 2020
Oh man, both Buffy and Faith were a one-two punch to my hormones.
No because i have never seen a single episode of Buffy
Watch every episode of Buffy and also Angel, in the proper order, and then read the Buffy and Angel comics and also go track down an original Xbox and the Xbox Buffy games because they were good and think of nothing else but Buffy ever again.
edit: Essentially the same thing that ElJeffe said, but with a ton of obsessive insanity added in.
The comic followups and the animated series pilot they did just proved to me that a limited budget was one of the biggest things that made Buffy and Angel so good because it reigned in Whedon and his crew's worst impulses.
Hell, a big reason vampires in the series are the way they are is because it was too expensive to make them able to fly.
Also they turn to dust because they thought it might be kinda disturbing for every episode to end with Buffy and crew disposing of a pile of bodies.
The comic followups and the animated series pilot they did just proved to me that a limited budget was one of the biggest things that made Buffy and Angel so good because it reigned in Whedon and his crew's worst impulses.
Hell, a big reason vampires in the series are the way they are is because it was too expensive to make them able to fly.
Also they turn to dust because they thought it might be kinda disturbing for every episode to end with Buffy and crew disposing of a pile of bodies.
I've only read a couple of the comics to be honest, I just want knitdan to do all of those things immediately anyway.
I do remember enjoying the Xbox game, though, even though that was like a million years ago now and I don't remember much of it anymore.
Switch: SW-7690-2320-9238Steam/PSN/Xbox: Drezdar
0
BlackDragon480Bluster KerfuffleMaster of Windy ImportRegistered Userregular
Criterion spine #808: The Kennedy Films of Robert Drew & Associates
This is a box set of four documentaries about JFK. These were made in the early 60's for ABC news by a group of pioneering documentarians led by Robert Drew that also included directors like D.A. Pennebaker (Monterey Pop, The War Room, Don't Look Back), and Albert Maysles (Salesman, Gimme Shelter, Grey Gardens). These films are pretty influential works of cinema verité, with a direct visual style and still startling amount of access into the life and work of a president.
The first film, Primary, is maybe the most atmospheric, following John F. Kennedy's campaigning for the Democratic bid. Images like JFK pushing through a swamp of supporters and press, or the heavy lights at the many pressers, or nervous back-seat contemplation are all humanizing and visually arresting.
The second film, the forgettable Adventures on the New Frontier, documenting Kennedy's early presidency feels more like a TV program. It has didactic voiceover and is structured as 'a day in the life of'. Still nicely shot, but it doesn't have the same sense of visual excitement or narrative specificity as the rest of the films.
Crisis, the third film, is probably the most dramatically arresting. About the integration of black students in the University of Alabama, the hook of the Kennedy brothers vs. George Wallace makes it a really engaging watch. There's a much grander sense of social importance to this one, and the relationship between John and Bobby is nice to see.
The fourth film, Faces of November---only 12 minutes long, documents the funeral ceremony of John F. Kennedy. It doesn't try to capture the grandiosity or somber glory of the event, but instead focuses on the faces of spectators both family and general public. Something about feels a little unreal; I don't know if I need to see Jackie O approach the coffin and silently say something to her deceased husband, but I suppose the merging of the private and the public is necessary for a film on the subject. There are some moving images, but its feels a little incidental.
In all, these are interesting as both uninhibited documents of a pretty important 20th century figure, and as a progression in the art of documentary. Crisis probably comes the closest to capturing a kind of pragmatic poetry, or of representing the spirit of a politician, so I'd say that was my favourite of the bunch.
75 Criterion spines left. Some, like Showa Godzilla, Zatoichi, and the Olympic box set are pretty big. I might have to save a couple of those for last.
+4
AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
I just watched The Martian, which I initially recorded to test out my new TV on a newish film
More films about scientists scienceing the shit out of things, please
I wish they'd release a 4K Blu-Ray for this. A re-watch is way overdue.
Not a movie to watch for the science.
Also real life astronaut and International Space Station commander Chris Hadfield is really not a fan. Although he says they got the look right, that was about it apparently.
Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
edited May 2020
I do like the bit Hadfield brings up about the wind in The Martian, since the original author of the book has also outright stated that it's the one big thing about the book he didn't like. The wind speed you would need to knock over that ship with a Martian atmosphere would probably be impossible short of something like a really big or really close explosion, so it's a shame he didn't come up with a more plausible situation for evacuating the site while leaving Watney behind. I don't feel like doing the math, but I'm betting the wind velocity would need to be on the order of several hundred or maybe even thousands of kph to have the force needed to be a threat.
That being said, I've got both the theatrical and extended version of The Martian, and I don't even know how many times I've read the book. Probably one of my top five films to watch in the last decade or something, I love the movies and the book so much. I think one of my favorite things is that at the end of the book Whatney remarks that, if it were a movie, everybody would be at the airlock to slap him on the back as he returned; then in the movie, they actually do basically have everybody at the airlock to greet his return.
There's at least one(or more?) other point in the book that the character wants to do something actiony and another character goes 'no dont do that, that is beyond fucking stupid' and then it just happens in the movie. I was a bit disappointed with that but it was still a good film.
I mostly appreciate The Martian for being a movie that makes science really cool and the heroes are heroic because they're smart and do science. It's not super important that it be 100% accurate to me.
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.
I'm having a hard time of thinking of alternative scenarios that would work for the start of The Martian. You need something dangerous enough to make them all leave, yet not dangerous enough to kill a person exposed to it, nor dangerous enough to damage the habitat, something that occurs suddenly enough to have no time to prepare properly, and time sensitive enough that you cannot go back to retrieve someone.
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
I thought the big handwave in the book was that the Martian soil wouldn't support growth even with fertilizer? And the author was like "yeah I had to just kinda go with it."
Posts
I believe that's actually Toronto.
More films about scientists scienceing the shit out of things, please
I will never watch this movie on TV
But I will go out of my way to see it on a big screen again
Come Overwatch with meeeee
Give me 3D IMAX Gravity in the theaters and I will pay to go see it again.
It was absolutely incredible.
You're a fan of Xena, Hot Pockets, and unobtainium?
~ Buckaroo Banzai
Man, Batman really fucking hates sea gulls.
yeah but the Green Goblin fucking LOVES lobster.
Yep.
I saw it on TV the first time and it was still goddamn incredible.
Maybe the director is a comicgater and thought they were getting Ibai Canales
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
Having grown up with most of the campy Godzilla movies and MST3K, I do love a truly awful movie but The Core holds a special place in my heart. I'm watching the movie with my sister and I'm so enjoyably appalled by how stupid everything is in this movie. Just everything.
Then we get to the big planning scene where all the "smart" people are saying "here's the problem and this is what we have to do to fix it". The problem being that the Earth's core is getting lazy, and if its stops the planet would be scoured by cosmic radiation. This part is true, because the Earth gets it's bigass magnetic shield from the spinning liquid core and that keeps the sun from frying us.
So they're discussing the solution, which is the American Solution of just nuking a problem. Obviously, getting nukes to the Earth's core is a problem. Somebody mentions it's impossible. I can't help myself and comment out loud "...but what if we could?" The movie then decides to nuke my brain, because not five seconds later (starting at the 1:46 mark):
"But what if we could?"
"BUT WHAT IF WE COULD?"
I WAS FUCKING JOKING, MOVIE. YOU WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO SAY THAT OUT LOUD. The technological premise for being able to reach the core is "but what if we could?" Oh, and unobtanium. Yes, you heard me, unobtanium. The same utterly dumbass mcguffin used in Avatar.
And the movie is just downhill from there in all the best ways.
That movie when I saw it in the theater... whew
...when she was spinning off into the void, that was the first time I could almost feel the impossible breadth of the universe in a movie.
I enjoy The Core more than it deserves as well so I'll just say the unobtanium, AKA "its real name has 37 syllables", in The Core wasn't a mcguffin. It's ridiculous physical properties were necessary but it wasn't a motivating factor for the plot itself. Just as my car may be necessary for me to reach work, but that doesn't make it a mcguffin, well, unless we're in a Dude, Where's My Car? scenario. The unobtanium in Avatar on the other hand is a complete mcguffin. It's the only reason humans are on the planet and thus the instigator of the plot, but it's otherwise utterly irrelevant to the events of the movie. You could change all the references in Avatar to grapefruit and it wouldn't make a difference to the plot.
I wish they'd release a 4K Blu-Ray for this. A re-watch is way overdue.
It worked surprisingly well.
My wife and I watched Cruel Intentions last night, which also worked surprisingly well. That movie borders on camp masterpiece in a way I did not remember at all.
Edit: It’s all adults pretending to be children pretending to be older adults. Except for Selma Blair, the oldest actual adult, playing the youngest child, pretending to be an even younger child.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Sarah Michelle Gellar on the other hand, absolutely ruined me
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
Remember that one episode of Buffy where every one was in love with Xander and she came into the library in just a trenchcoat?
I went into that episode but a boy.
The whole thing is also an amazing time capsule now.
“E-mail is for weirdos and pedophiles, Ronald.”
Sarah Michelle Gellar primarily dresses like an 80 year old widow, which somehow feels extremely 90s.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
The scene at the end where
Get thee to a streaming service!
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
Watch every episode of Buffy and also Angel, in the proper order, and then read the Buffy and Angel comics and also go track down an original Xbox and the Xbox Buffy games because they were good and think of nothing else but Buffy ever again.
edit: Essentially the same thing that ElJeffe said, but with a ton of obsessive insanity added in.
Yes.
Hell, a big reason vampires in the series are the way they are is because it was too expensive to make them able to fly.
Also they turn to dust because they thought it might be kinda disturbing for every episode to end with Buffy and crew disposing of a pile of bodies.
I've only read a couple of the comics to be honest, I just want knitdan to do all of those things immediately anyway.
I do remember enjoying the Xbox game, though, even though that was like a million years ago now and I don't remember much of it anymore.
While Randall Wallace knows jackshit about history (see; Braveheart) he is an okay screenwriter and director and I can enjoy most of his stuff.
The line and delivery from Lt. Andre (D'artagnan's second) in the end of that scene:
was simply fantastic.
~ Buckaroo Banzai
and other parts, I imagine.
This is a box set of four documentaries about JFK. These were made in the early 60's for ABC news by a group of pioneering documentarians led by Robert Drew that also included directors like D.A. Pennebaker (Monterey Pop, The War Room, Don't Look Back), and Albert Maysles (Salesman, Gimme Shelter, Grey Gardens). These films are pretty influential works of cinema verité, with a direct visual style and still startling amount of access into the life and work of a president.
The first film, Primary, is maybe the most atmospheric, following John F. Kennedy's campaigning for the Democratic bid. Images like JFK pushing through a swamp of supporters and press, or the heavy lights at the many pressers, or nervous back-seat contemplation are all humanizing and visually arresting.
The second film, the forgettable Adventures on the New Frontier, documenting Kennedy's early presidency feels more like a TV program. It has didactic voiceover and is structured as 'a day in the life of'. Still nicely shot, but it doesn't have the same sense of visual excitement or narrative specificity as the rest of the films.
Crisis, the third film, is probably the most dramatically arresting. About the integration of black students in the University of Alabama, the hook of the Kennedy brothers vs. George Wallace makes it a really engaging watch. There's a much grander sense of social importance to this one, and the relationship between John and Bobby is nice to see.
The fourth film, Faces of November---only 12 minutes long, documents the funeral ceremony of John F. Kennedy. It doesn't try to capture the grandiosity or somber glory of the event, but instead focuses on the faces of spectators both family and general public. Something about feels a little unreal; I don't know if I need to see Jackie O approach the coffin and silently say something to her deceased husband, but I suppose the merging of the private and the public is necessary for a film on the subject. There are some moving images, but its feels a little incidental.
In all, these are interesting as both uninhibited documents of a pretty important 20th century figure, and as a progression in the art of documentary. Crisis probably comes the closest to capturing a kind of pragmatic poetry, or of representing the spirit of a politician, so I'd say that was my favourite of the bunch.
75 Criterion spines left. Some, like Showa Godzilla, Zatoichi, and the Olympic box set are pretty big. I might have to save a couple of those for last.
Not a movie to watch for the science.
Also real life astronaut and International Space Station commander Chris Hadfield is really not a fan. Although he says they got the look right, that was about it apparently.
That being said, I've got both the theatrical and extended version of The Martian, and I don't even know how many times I've read the book. Probably one of my top five films to watch in the last decade or something, I love the movies and the book so much. I think one of my favorite things is that at the end of the book Whatney remarks that, if it were a movie, everybody would be at the airlock to slap him on the back as he returned; then in the movie, they actually do basically have everybody at the airlock to greet his return.
Bear in mind, I've never read it.