Author Topic: Top 100 Club: JDC  (Read 25032 times)

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #40 on: February 28, 2018, 06:41:49 PM »
Given the way Fletcher is, it is just as possible

Teproc

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #41 on: February 28, 2018, 07:00:42 PM »
Just watched Rushmore, will get a review in sometime tomorrow.
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PeacefulAnarchy

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #42 on: February 28, 2018, 07:21:52 PM »
Thirst 9/10
A plot summary of this would not yield many surprises or feel particularly original, but seeing it unfold makes everything pop; I was surprised by turns that shouldn't have been surprising, appropriately shocked when the movie wanted me to be, and in general, as far fetched as so much of it is, there's an honest grounding in the lead performance that makes everything feel real in a way I wouldn't have expected. As I've come to expect from Park, the execution is top notch, building small crescendos that take the characters from the mundane to the extreme in organic ways. There are some very interesting takes on ethical dilemmas, nothing hugely surprising for a movie about a vampire, but the context brings out the complexity nicely and rarely feels trite. It's gorgeous to look at, even during those moments when the content isn't, and the atmosphere is enveloping. It did feel a bit lethargic, maybe that's my fault for watching the directors cut, but it's great work otherwise.

jdc

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #43 on: February 28, 2018, 07:27:52 PM »
thanks to all that have responded on films in the last couple of days. I think there will be a couple more and I will get back with replies.
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Teproc

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #44 on: March 01, 2018, 08:42:50 AM »
Rushmore (Wes Anderson, 1998)

The more I see of Wes Anderson's filmography (this being my fourth), the more I sympathize with the people who hate his style. It really is precious to the point of self-parody, and it really does always look the same... even the music in this made me think "wait, Desplat wasn't around then, was he ?", which I find pretty impressive: it's a rare filmmaker that even manages to shape the score to his movies with different composers.

This kept teetering on the edge of insuferable for the first half-hour or so, and I wasn't immediately sold on Schwartzman particularly... but as it goes along, there is something irresistible about it. Part of it is the cast: Murray of course (is this the beginning of his lovable and jaded phase ?) and especially Olivia Williams who is incredibly charming: I can definitely sympathize with Murray and Schwartzmann's infuation for her. It's also as clever and funny as I suppose I should have expected : "I saved latin. What did you ever do?" would have to be a front-runner for Best Line if we ever do 1998 Retro-Filmspots.

I guess I don't have much more to say about it: it's fun and lovely, and I'm more enthusiastic about it than this review might make it seem.

8/10
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PeacefulAnarchy

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #45 on: March 03, 2018, 09:42:50 PM »
Review from Wednesday that I forgot to click post on:
At the last minute I changed my mind and instead of watching Benny's video I chose Shallow Grave. This may have been a mistake, or maybe watching anything at all in the mood I was in was a mistake.

Shallow Grave
This is not a bad film, but it's not a film for me, and it especially wasn't a film for me last night when I was feeling kind of sour. There are three main strikes against this,
1. The characters are hugely unsympathetic, and not in any interesting or flamboyant way. I don't need to identify with people in a film, though it helps, but I need some reason to be interested in what they're doing. All three leads come off as people I wouldn't like to spend any time with and the film seems to go out of its way to establish them this way from the opening scene. Are they meant to be intentionally offputting? I don't know, but they're mundane that I'm not particularly interested in seeing them learn a lesson or get their comeuppance or getting to know their complexities.
2. Plots of this kind where idiots stumble into crime and do idiot things are something I almost never enjoy. It's the crime film equivalent of the horror cliche where the group splits up and goes off exploring creepy room on their own. I'm just watching a slow moving avalanche of bad decisions that don't make sense and depending on my sympathy for the characters I either feel indifference or frustration.
3. I really don't like Danny Boyle's style. I'm not even sure I know what his style is, but when the music gets in your face or the film attempts comedy in a half assed way that falls completely off the mark or when the script tries for a clever turn that isn't clever it just makes me roll my eyes. None of it is a dealbreaker, but it pushes me away from the movie rather than towards it, and this movie was already pushing me away on its own.
I do feel like my mood wasn't helping, its scenes aren't overdone and in general seems paced well enough and the performances are good, but it was never going to be the film for me.

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #46 on: March 13, 2018, 12:28:26 AM »
American Psycho



*Spoilery*

Knocked Out Loaded: Have you any previous experience with Bret Easton Ellis?
Sandy: I haven’t. Have you read anything of his? Or seen Less Than Zero?
Knocked Out Loaded: None whatsoever?
Sandy: I'm afraid not.
Knocked Out Loaded: Myself, I have started to read a couple of his books, but have always been severely put off by the people they are about. I never have read a full book of his. It is fun that you mentioned Less Than Zero, because I think the title actually is borrowed from the Elvis Costello song, which I love. So I wanted to like that book, but did not, so I never saw the movie.
Sandy: How about Rules of Attraction?
Knocked Out Loaded: I saw that last year and it ended up on my surprise list of the year! :)
Sandy: :)
Knocked Out Loaded: It formally is a great movie. The nihilism of the story finally reeled me in, and I ended up feeling sorry for them in an encompassing way. I never for my life would like to see them at our kitchen table though.
Sandy: It's like other movies you’ve enjoyed, like watching a fishbowl. People you wouldn’t want to interact with, but who are interesting to observe.
Knocked Out Loaded: Yes, but often when you look at them that way, you feel nothing. After Rules I felt, or at least I think i did. So, in that way the film worked impressively. It won me over.
Sandy: What do you think made the difference with those characters?
Knocked Out Loaded: They lead empty lives, but when i finally realized how lonely they were in their emptiness my heart weakened. They became models for us all. A side note on the kitchen table thing: I'd gladly have Bret Easton Ellis there, even if I don't like his novels.
Sandy: :)  If a movie can convey such complex ideas, it’s doing something right!
Knocked Out Loaded: He has a really entertaining podcast (on hold at the moment, i think).
Sandy: I didn’t know that. Is it about writing?
Knocked Out Loaded: It is on contemporary culture, music and movies for the most part and he also twitters eloquently.
Sandy: You're right. He would be a fascinating dinner guest.
Knocked Out Loaded: The Rules of Attraction did plenty things right. What about American Psycho?
Sandy: He subverts the me generation.
Knocked Out Loaded: The me generation is from when? the 80s?
Sandy: Yes, and the late 70's. Baby boomers and their self involvement.
Knocked Out Loaded: At least they are not as curled (or hovered over) as the 90s kids?!
Sandy: True, but the pursuits, as parodied in American Psycho, are so vacuous. That's hard to beat... Ellis doesn’t just subvert the culture, he obliterates it.
Knocked Out Loaded: Obliterates! he shows them no mercy whatsoever.
Sandy: No, nor us.
Knocked Out Loaded: I wonder if he sees them from an ivory tower, or if he feels involved himself?
Sandy: He's a product of the eighties, so I bet he has gotten lost down the rabbit hole a time or two. Maybe there is some self loathing seeping into the characters, since he goes so dark.
Knocked Out Loaded: I think so too, and he is an intelligent person, so I guess that he is aware of all that.
Sandy: It's hard to imagine him doing that from an ivory tower perspective. After seeing the movie, you mentioned that this might be a one time viewing for you. In what way?
Knocked Out Loaded: Yes, it feels like been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Not that I have been in Bateman’s chair, mind you!
Sandy: Have you seen other movies like this?
Knocked Out Loaded: It is a special film, I do not think that I have seen a similar one. Maybe something like Wall Street plays in the same league, or the Wolf of Wall Street, people leading detached lives. But Bateman's spiral I felt was allegorical. Things like these are hard to see unfolding in real life. What goes on during the second half of the movie feels over the top. I read somewhere that this is supposed to have at least some autobiographical angle of the life BEE lead when he lived in NYC.
Sandy: He tapped into a lifestyle that is all too real. But the Psycho part, it's hard to tell what is really happening.
Knocked Out Loaded: It is.
Sandy: You mentioned that the end gave you some insight.
Knocked Out Loaded: Some feels empty and unreal, but everything was built up to the final scene where we see Bateman's gaze and he says,

There are no more barriers to cross. All I have in common with the uncontrollable and the insane, the vicious and the evil, all the mayhem I have caused and my utter indifference toward it I have now surpassed. My pain is constant and sharp and I do not hope for a better world for anyone. In fact, I want my pain to be inflicted on others. I want no one to escape, but even after admitting this, there is no catharsis. My punishment continues to elude me and I gain no deeper knowledge of myself. No new knowledge can be extracted from my telling. This confession has meant nothing.

I felt like this was the gospel of the book and/or the movie. I do not understand what is being said totally, but I in a way got angry with the author, who takes so much time and space to build up to this and then we are left with a paragraph that not is possible to understand. It felt like a con.
Sandy: The director said she wished she had done a better job with the ending. She felt like she added to the confusion.
Knocked Out Loaded: ah!

... Knocked Out Loaded: I watched that last scene again earlier today. It really is effective.
Sandy: Did it clarify anything more the second time around?
Knocked Out Loaded: I can see how the book is written to have that statement made, not clearer as in coherent, but it kind of sweeps the rug away from under your feet. BEE sure did take his time to say what he said. Probably that time is needed, but I nevertheless feel a little foolish to have been a subject for his whims.
Sandy: It was not an enjoyable experience for me. Enjoyable isn’t the right term, though.
Knocked Out Loaded: No, there is nothing to enjoy here, but it works as a counterpoint.
Sandy: Bateman reminds me of a child who is given no boundaries, so flails about and has no concept of consequence, and creates an empty, vast void.
Knocked Out Loaded: Yes, and I guess some people can afford to be like this. For us it becomes like a cleansing process to watch them.
Sandy: A cautionary tale?
Knocked Out Loaded: No, more cathartic, almost like a Jesus figure he has to carry out his sins, so that we can go clean.
Sandy: Do you almost feel sorry for him?
Knocked Out Loaded: No not really, but it would not be hard to do so. he carries a heavy weight. It is easy to sympathize on a general, humanistic level?
Sandy: If it wasn’t such a horrific psychosis, I could find sympathy. I find sympathy for those who are lost and are caught up in different avenues of self destruction. The concept of mental illness holds sympathy, but if someone is that far gone, it’s a matter of stopping the evil.
Knocked Out Loaded: As we are in the filmspot period of the year there are a few that could be awarded to this movie, I think.
Sandy: Which ones would you vote for?
Knocked Out Loaded: Best line: "I have to return some video tapes." Best comic scene: the business cards one.
Sandy: The business card scene was great! So stupid in it's self important minutiae.



Sandy: You had asked me about Bateman's description of the different artists' music. For me, it was rather nauseating in its pretentiousness. What are your thoughts on what he was saying?
Knocked Out Loaded: For the rants Bateman has over Huey Lewis, Phil Collins and Whitney Houston, I think they are short, but to the point, deconstructions of contemporary culture and consumerism. He totally disclosed how hollow these barrels rattles!
Sandy: :D ouch! That's pointed and on point!

jdc

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #47 on: March 13, 2018, 03:42:16 AM »
Nothing to enjoy!!! But the video tapes, the business cards, do you like Huey Lewis and the News?  No, I like music. Just they're... Huey's too black sounding for me.

The funny thing about the business cards is that it reminds me of when I was in University looking for a job and all the care we put into selecting the correct paper for our resumes. It couldn't be white but not too off-white and had to have a bit of weight and texture to it. As I worked at a Kinko's, I had to deal a lot with resumes.

Now it seems silly as you do it all online though I do notice most of the time the person interviewing has printed the resume. But often when you load it into the application system, their HR software has dissected it and loaded it into their system without all the nice formatting. Makes me wonder why I professionally paid to have it done. At least I no longer have to agonize over my paper selection anymore.

"Beer. Now there's a temporary solution."  Homer S.
“The direct use of physical force is so poor a solution to the problem of limited resources that it is commonly employed only by small children and great nations” - David Friedman

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #48 on: March 14, 2018, 02:59:17 PM »
Plenty to "enjoy"! But again, I wouldn't use that word here either. Thought provoking, confronting, obliterating... those are words more suited for this slaughter fest. Like you, most people can probably find some way this movie hits memory and hits too close to the mark, making us reevaluate our values and priorities. I too used to work with copy machines a whole lot when I worked at a law library. Those were the days. :)

jdc

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #49 on: March 14, 2018, 06:57:05 PM »
Like you, most people can probably find some way this movie hits memory and hits too close to the mark, making us reevaluate our values and priorities.

At the very least,  gain a deeper appreciation of Phil Collins.

"Beer. Now there's a temporary solution."  Homer S.
“The direct use of physical force is so poor a solution to the problem of limited resources that it is commonly employed only by small children and great nations” - David Friedman