Author Topic: Random Movie Thoughts and Questions  (Read 163370 times)

1SO

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Re: Random Movie Thoughts and Questions
« Reply #1110 on: January 31, 2020, 01:52:13 AM »
I feel like The Rock kind of gave me that. I'd rather see this done with Pierce Brosnan.

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Random Movie Thoughts and Questions
« Reply #1111 on: February 01, 2020, 11:30:22 AM »
Passed on seeing Dead Pigs at PFF 2018 even though it was a Narrative Competition film because those usually tend to make their way out and it conflicted with something else/was only showing at the Film Center that day. I knew it was a debut, but even at that time Yan's next project had been announced, which seemed like a huge jump, but intended to catch up with it at some point. Now, with Birds Of Prey coming out on Thursday, I wanted to get to it, and I'm starting to think it didn't get distribution? It certainly isn't streaming for rent or own that I can find, and reviews, even at the time, were pretty strong for it, so surprised that this thing isn't able to be watched anywhere. Looking like Robbie even specifically requested Yan to direct this based on how taken she was with Dead Pigs, and idk if this thing even released on video in China for import. Maybe there's somewhere online to find it, but I wouldn't really know. Kind of baffled by this.

MartinTeller

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Re: Random Movie Thoughts and Questions
« Reply #1112 on: February 18, 2020, 09:50:50 AM »
While watching Portrait of a Lady on Fire last night, at first I was so enthralled I felt it could be a new entry in my top movies list. Afterwards, picking it apart, it didn't really seem to hit that spot, it didn't have quite the emotional impact I was hoping for. And it made me sad because I realized it's been a long time since a movie won me over enough to qualify as a "favorite". Have I gotten too picky? Am I setting impossible standards? Am I dead inside?

So I thought back... what was the last movie I allowed entry into my hallowed top 250 list? It was Gimme the Loot. And here's the interesting part: that was one of the last films I saw before my first wife and I finally agreed to get a divorce. And also I realized that my serious cinephilia really kicked in about a year into that tumultuous, disastrous, prolonged relationship. I mean, I had always loved movies but I didn't start deep exploration until then. Granted, that was also largely due to a lengthy period of being unemployed... but I see now that my film fanaticism was very much tied to that relationship. Lacking anything else truly satisfying in my life, I clung to movies as the thing to give me emotional sustenance.

So maybe I can't find that spark in movies any more because I no longer need it. Not that I don't still love watching them, or that I can't think really, really highly of one (I gave Portrait a 91). Just that I no longer hang my identity on them to the degree that I used to. There may never be a new entry on my tops list because the ones that are already there meant so much to me at the time.

Or I dunno, maybe I've also gotten too picky.

pixote

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Re: Random Movie Thoughts and Questions
« Reply #1113 on: February 18, 2020, 11:49:09 AM »
One of the best uses of this thread ever. That's some good cinephile soul-searching right there.

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Junior

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Re: Random Movie Thoughts and Questions
« Reply #1114 on: February 18, 2020, 11:55:29 AM »
Yeah, that was a great read. I think we've all experienced the phenomenon of watching the same movie at different times in our life and finding that it means something different the second or third or thirtieth time around. Of course, the movies don't change, but we do. Based on what I see of your family on Facebook, Martin, your domestic bliss seems like a very good thing, and if the tradeoff is having movies mean less overall to you, that's probably a trade you'd agree to if you knew it would happen ahead of time.

For me, I've made studying movies my livelihood, and I hope to never lose that enthusiasm I still have for the medium, though if I were presented with the hypothetical choice I wrote about above, I don't know what I'd do.
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Random Movie Thoughts and Questions
« Reply #1115 on: February 18, 2020, 12:27:51 PM »
I certainly feel some of that now MT. I'm in much more healthy relationships than I used to be at the peak of my movie obsession and the joy I used to solely get from them I now get from many places so I don't feel as starved for it when I come to movies. I'm at a place now where most nights I'd rather go spend time with people than watch a movie. And when I do watch a movie I don't feel as compelled to analyze my feelings and thoughts about it because I have just as much other stuff I'd rather think about.

MartinTeller

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Re: Random Movie Thoughts and Questions
« Reply #1116 on: February 18, 2020, 02:10:23 PM »
Thanks for the feedback, guys! I knew this group would appreciate it.

Sandy

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Re: Random Movie Thoughts and Questions
« Reply #1117 on: February 18, 2020, 04:33:34 PM »
Well said, Martin. And, a life well-lived. (I too have the benefit of getting little facebook snapshots into your goings on. :) )

Bondo

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Re: Random Movie Thoughts and Questions
« Reply #1118 on: February 18, 2020, 07:23:50 PM »
I figure it's like with music. A few years back I just hit a point where I have enough music I like, so it takes a great deal for a new artist to break through. The music presumptively hasn't gotten worse, I just hit a limit.

I don't think it is quite that bad with movies (I hardly ever rewatch things while I always listen to music again) but especially at the very top level nothing seems to be able to get the deep roots. Most of my #1 of the year films in the past few years wouldn't be top-50 all time. I don't think they got worse, I think the ability to have that kind of deep reaction just gets sanded down a bit.

Junior

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Re: Random Movie Thoughts and Questions
« Reply #1119 on: February 18, 2020, 08:29:44 PM »
Funny that we had this convo today, and tonight I watched Under the Silver Lake, which felt like it was made specifically for me. It will definitely be one of the movies from last year that I rotate into my Top 100 list next go around.
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