Author Topic: Top 100 Club: JDC  (Read 25026 times)

jdc

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #70 on: November 16, 2019, 12:08:51 AM »
2011
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“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

smirnoff

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #71 on: November 17, 2019, 12:14:19 AM »
The Descendants

Payne sends this one right down the middle. Safe and solid. It's the most Payneful of Payne's films. All his trademark flavours are in play and in balance. It was an easy viewing that generated mild chuckles and mild amusement and mild emotions... without ever becoming a bore. There's not really anything to complain about here. I like it when Clooney describes his family as "Haole as shit" during a climactic rant. His narration surrounding the island and island-life was well delivered and endeared me to the character.

The film would be so different with a different lead. Clooney's ability to look dumbstruck is better than most. It suites the part. There is an underlying lightness or goofiness to the film because of Clooney. Not a bad thing. It would be an interesting film to cast the humourless Daniel Day Lewis in the role and see the results. Or king-of-angry-acting Tom Cruise. I can see either actor improving certain scenes and weakening others.

Second best Payne. I don't know that it's going to stick with me, but I enjoyed myself. I don't know how something so soft and charming found it's way into your top 100 JDC but I'm grateful. :))

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #72 on: November 17, 2019, 11:43:38 AM »
Naked Lunch

*insert obligatory Simpsons reference*

While I did praise Spring Breakers for its plot arc, and general mood, that paralleled the high and withdrawal of alcohol/drugs, I think I tend to be averse to films that put you in the drug-compromised perspective. Lost in the incoherent haze is narrative structure and thematic resonance. It becomes merely experiential and not intellectual. Unsurprisingly with Cronenberg, that experience is dominated by the grotesque. I suppose points for design in the variety of insectoid aspects, building on The Fly five years prior.

Of course, I also ponder whether any work inspired by Burroughs should be contemplated since he is a wife-killer. Ditto the terrible Normal Mailer and his own history of violence against women (notably Mailer testified on behalf of Borroughs when this work was banned as obscene). The great literary circle jerk that is metaphorically incorporated in this film is something I can do without.

jdc

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #73 on: November 17, 2019, 07:19:28 PM »
The Descendants
 

Second best Payne. I don't know that it's going to stick with me, but I enjoyed myself. I don't know how something so soft and charming found it's way into your top 100 JDC but I'm grateful. :))

There was something about all the interactions between the characters that that felt true given the tragic situation they were dealing with. Given that, the emotional aspect of the film pulled me in more than most films which may cause me to roll my eyes. At the same time, there are many humorist moments that stay with me
"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

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #74 on: November 18, 2019, 10:55:03 PM »

Samsara
My history with this type of film begins with a theatrical screening during college of Koyaanisqatsi (1982). I've seen similar films, like Baraka and other travelogue films from the early days of cinema. It dawned on me that cinema was meant to show people places they would otherwise never see. That was part of the appeal of James Bond and other international pictures like Around the World in 80 Days, bouncing all around the globe. Ron Fricke does it with a more cultural gaze. Films like this that love to smash cut cultures still living like it's the dawn of man with the soullessness of modern cities. Fricke goes for harmony instead of a clash, finding both ends - and therefore everything in between - to be beautiful in its own way.

What makes this different is the presentation of certain behavior as performance art. The scene of the worker covering his face with mud before adding violent accents was shocking because it's a performance in a doc that's about capturing moments, but it focused this film in a new way. It opened the door for images of sex dolls waiting to be boxed and shipped, a machine that quickly collects dozens of free range chickens, the sad truth of very different cultures united by an unexplainable love of weaponry.

On Letterboxd someone asks:
"Am I supposed to feel a part of the world, or more isolated?" A tough question here. Usually I feel separate from less-developed cultures. I admire their art, clothes, dance and other culture but I would never consider giving up my internet and iPhone for it. Samsara doesn't advocate that, but instead shows how I'm as strange a creature to people living in a monastery in India as they are to me, yet we are all connected. I know because the Van Nuys Costco shown in the film, that's my Costco.

jdc

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #75 on: November 19, 2019, 02:40:51 AM »

Samsara
My history with this type of film begins with a theatrical screening during college of Koyaanisqatsi (1982). I've seen similar films, like Baraka and other travelogue films from the early days of cinema. It dawned on me that cinema was meant to show people places they would otherwise never see. That was part of the appeal of James Bond and other international pictures like Around the World in 80 Days, bouncing all around the globe. Ron Fricke does it with a more cultural gaze. Films like this that love to smash cut cultures still living like it's the dawn of man with the soullessness of modern cities. Fricke goes for harmony instead of a clash, finding both ends - and therefore everything in between - to be beautiful in its own way.

What makes this different is the presentation of certain behavior as performance art. The scene of the worker covering his face with mud before adding violent accents was shocking because it's a performance in a doc that's about capturing moments, but it focused this film in a new way. It opened the door for images of sex dolls waiting to be boxed and shipped, a machine that quickly collects dozens of free range chickens, the sad truth of very different cultures united by an unexplainable love of weaponry.

On Letterboxd someone asks:
"Am I supposed to feel a part of the world, or more isolated?" A tough question here. Usually I feel separate from less-developed cultures. I admire their art, clothes, dance and other culture but I would never consider giving up my internet and iPhone for it. Samsara doesn't advocate that, but instead shows how I'm as strange a creature to people living in a monastery in India as they are to me, yet we are all connected. I know because the Van Nuys Costco shown in the film, that's my Costco.

If I remember, I think I put this and Baraka together, they are close in format and flow and leave me with a very similar feeling, though have a difference in focus.

A better explanation of the differences than I could come up with...


https://www.dailycal.org/2012/09/05/baraka-makers-awe-with-new-film-samsara/

Baraka” is about humans and our environs. In 1992, with the Cold War over and the environmental movement entering a new phase, it allowed us to step back to measure the Earth’s collective pulse.

After five years of shooting across several continents, Fricke and Magidson have returned with “Samsara,” a sequel of sorts to “Baraka.” If “Baraka” was about the intersection of humanity and nature, then “Samsara” has its lens set squarely on humanity



One thing about all these films, including Koyaanisqatsi, is that they can be "enjoyed" in just chapters as oppose to needing to watch the the entire film (sometimes I feel the same for Tarantino).  I suppose if they got released in a 4k version, I would go back to watch from start to finish but now I am more likely to watch in part and pieces, similar to Stop Making Sense. I've gotten a few to go buy the Blu-ray by using them as Eye Candy demos....

« Last Edit: November 20, 2019, 12:36:13 AM by jdc »
"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

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #76 on: November 20, 2019, 12:16:59 AM »
I wondered if Baraka was once on your list. I preferred this, by like a lot, because of the humanity. Baraka leaned too hard into the pretty landscape imagery for me and pretty as it is, I quickly grew tired of it.

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #77 on: November 26, 2019, 02:52:27 PM »
mother!

I wasn't entirely looking forward to this knowing that it relies heavily on symbolism and abstraction. Aronofsky is so deft at weaving lofty and grand symbolism into this that it completely works. It isn't exactly subtle about its themes, but it doesn't make them aggressively burdensome either. The magic is that this movie and its meaning can be interpreted many different ways and it work just as well. I think I took it to mean several different things simultaneously as I was watching it. I think its a testament to good art that a film can evoke so many different valid interpretations and so many wildly different reactions -- from hatred and revulsion to awe and amazement. It mostly works for me. It's gripping and intense. It's visually spectacular and the acting phenomenal. It's not a movie that is easy to love, but it leaves its impact.

8.5/10

I really enjoyed this and I thought I would hate it. Thanks for spurring me to watch it!
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smirnoff

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #78 on: November 28, 2019, 12:30:49 AM »
I wonder what he's going to do next. I wonder if he feels he's gone far enough down this abstract religious rabbit hole yet. I am bracing myself for some Dogville-esque story of creation. Juaquin Pheonix acts out the first seven days of the universe. It's just him naked, suspended in front of a black background. 300 frames per second but shot with a daguerreotype-style camera. The "soundtrack" is done by Clint Mansell, but it's just the sound of his heartbeat while he reads Genesis. It's four hours long... the title is _

Genius.

jdc

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Re: Top 100 Club: JDC
« Reply #79 on: November 30, 2019, 06:43:09 PM »
It doesn’t look like he has anything in IMDB in the works as Director. He seems to always make bold moves but more times than not, does well.  The exceptions being Noah and The Fountain for me but I think Josh loves The Fountain so I sometimes consider trying it again.

Thanks playing along, will try to get back into everybody else’s month and update mine next time
"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

 

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