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Author Topic: Respond to the last movie you watched  (Read 684547 times)

Junior

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2830 on: December 11, 2018, 07:04:12 AM »
Definitely disagree. The engine is the examination of toxic masculinity which has infected the four subjects' lives in similar but different ways. I found the film super compelling because I thought both of the boys were likeable if stereotypical initially but then as we found out more about them and their relationships with their various families they became real human beings. I feel like the movie was grappling with that alongside me, and that was what made it great for me.
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philip918

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2831 on: December 11, 2018, 11:53:39 AM »
Between Minding the Gap, The Rider, and Sorry to Bother you, I think 1SO has eclipsed DarkeningHumor as my movie-watching opposite.

BlueVoid

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2832 on: December 11, 2018, 01:41:02 PM »
There is no film this year whose praise I understand less than Minding the Gap. Reading the letterboxd reviews afterwards - which were even more rapturous than I thought before I watched the film - gave me nothing. I get what the skateboarding is an escape from and it's interesting how matter-of-factly Bing Liu drops in information to let you know the troubled lives these people lead, but there's no engine driving this story anywhere while at the same time it's attempting to do more than simply exist with these people, (or else why add the layers of dysfunction.) I just never got caught up, never got involved and never cared. I'm willing to take the blame for that but I don't see where the moments were that should've raised my interest.
★ ★

I just watched this last night, so its a good timing. I think what you said is all true, but it did resonate with me. It's a meandering film, and there is no huge revelation. It doesn't really fit in to the mold of what I consider a great documentary. That said, it felt much more like a coming of age story we are used to in narrative indies. It just happened to be these group of people actual life. I think about the line of the film where one of the kids is praising Bing's film working saying he was impressed that he could edit them all goofing off and make it look like it was the best time ever. There is a meandering quality to this-- you don't really know chronologically exactly when the sequence is. It doesn't matter too much either, Bing paints a picture of these individuals-- from where they came from, how their experiences shaped them and the kind of people they are becoming. I found them all compelling and their experiences hit a chord with me. I was invested in them-- I AM invested in them. I feel for them. I was never a skater and their hometown was not like mine, but Bing was able to very succinctly make me empathize with them and make me feel as though I was part of their circle of friends. I think it is a remarkable film, even if it doesn't say anything monumentally profound. It's about growing up, the cycle of abuse and the choices we make in life and the consequences of them. It feels like a modern day 'Stand By Me'
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1SO

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2833 on: December 11, 2018, 03:29:43 PM »
Between Minding the Gap, The Rider, and Sorry to Bother you, I think 1SO has eclipsed DarkeningHumor as my movie-watching opposite.

You can include your previous post. The unforgivable blackface aside, Holiday Inn is one of my favorite films of All Time. (Cinema's greatest dancer and its finest singer together in one film.) That version of "White Christmas" is the definitive take to me.

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2834 on: December 11, 2018, 03:57:23 PM »
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
★ ★

Finally caught up with this mess. There's a lot of the Wizarding World being dumped on us, but very little focus to it all. (It's like the first 10 minutes of FB1, but for two hours.) I'm pretty knowledgeable about the series, but I was lost in a few places. Turns out my wife - a major Potterhead - was lost a bit too. My biggest disappointment is the character of Queenie, who disappears for most of the film and returns believing the answer to her problem is something that's the exact opposite of what caused her to flee in the first place.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2835 on: December 11, 2018, 04:30:45 PM »
I go back and forth on Minding the Gap. I certainly pick up on the toxic masculinity thread Junior talks about and I agree that I was invested in these character's lives like BlueVoid says, but I'm not sure anything about it strikes me as great. It's compelling and watchable, but I'm hard-pressed to think of it as being in the league of the best films I saw this year. Like 1SO I'm left baffled by all the people falling all over themselves praising this film.

I'm already predisposed to not be a huge documentary fan, but even then I don't get the appeal here. I think about documentaries I don't like at all like Grizzly Bear and I can at least see why people adore that film. Here I'm just left scratching my head like a teen in a modern art museum wondering if he's just too dumb to get it.

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2836 on: December 11, 2018, 08:11:26 PM »
Damn, I've got to get on this Hulu subscription. Figured this would be just another doc that I watch and settle on it being a doc, except without the heft of a James or Wiseman behind it, but seems like it's divisive enough that my general docaphobia will leave me less alone than anticipated.

philip918

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2837 on: December 11, 2018, 08:29:28 PM »
Damn, I've got to get on this Hulu subscription. Figured this would be just another doc that I watch and settle on it being a doc, except without the heft of a James or Wiseman behind it, but seems like it's divisive enough that my general docaphobia will leave me less alone than anticipated.

James is behind it.

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2838 on: December 11, 2018, 08:35:10 PM »
Damn, I've got to get on this Hulu subscription. Figured this would be just another doc that I watch and settle on it being a doc, except without the heft of a James or Wiseman behind it, but seems like it's divisive enough that my general docaphobia will leave me less alone than anticipated.

James is behind it.

Involved, but not in the way I was meaning it, Liu is a new voice for me, but I guess if it leans in to his sensibilities I ought to be on slightly higher alert.

jdc

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2839 on: December 11, 2018, 08:46:58 PM »
I think I can almost agree with all of the above, even when there might be opposing points of view. It is often meandering and in parts riveting, in particular when Bing actually active as part of the film and not just behind the camera. And while each of these friend's had similar experiences growing up, it is interesting to see how differently they come through it, at least to this point in their life. The story is certainly not over if Bing continues to film
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