Author Topic: 1980s US Bracket: Verdicts  (Read 395716 times)

roujin

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Re: 1980s US Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #40 on: July 03, 2009, 02:53:06 PM »
Yeah, My Dinner With Andre sounds pretty good.

plus baseball sucks

ses

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Re: 1980s US Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #41 on: July 03, 2009, 03:01:24 PM »
I think you are completely wrong about The Natural, but I have never seen My Dinner with Andre, so I can't say which film I think should move forward. 
"It's a fool who looks for logic in the chambers of the human heart"

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maņana

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Re: 1980s US Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #42 on: July 03, 2009, 03:11:56 PM »
The Natural is so boring, but I do like the score. I'm fine with this verdict. 
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skjerva

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Re: 1980s US Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #43 on: July 03, 2009, 03:21:32 PM »
I think you are completely wrong about The Natural

which part? 
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

roujin

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Re: 1980s US Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #44 on: July 03, 2009, 03:21:52 PM »
the part where it loses :)

skjerva

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Re: 1980s US Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #45 on: July 03, 2009, 03:28:11 PM »
the part where it loses :)

i had that feeling.  also, i am guessing ses is uncomfortable with my critique of it as portraying a "traditional society" where the women are there for the men and the men are there for baseball.  again, vomit.  but hey, i'm open to other interpretations  ;D
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

ses

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Re: 1980s US Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #46 on: July 03, 2009, 03:40:03 PM »
the part where it loses :)

i had that feeling.  also, i am guessing ses is uncomfortable with my critique of it as portraying a "traditional society" where the women are there for the men and the men are there for baseball.  again, vomit.  but hey, i'm open to other interpretations  ;D

That's a little insulting, i am not going to get into a discussion about this with you skjerva, I just disagree with a lot of what you said let's just leave it at that.  And like I said before, I am okay with it losing because I have not seen My Dinner with Andre, so I can't say which movie should move forward
"It's a fool who looks for logic in the chambers of the human heart"

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jbissell

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Re: 1980s US Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #47 on: July 03, 2009, 05:38:52 PM »
Yeah, My Dinner With Andre sounds pretty good.

plus baseball sucks

You sucks.

I love baseball, but I never loved The Natural.  Haven't seen My Dinner with Andre in many years but remember liking it quite a bit.

Not that anyone cares.

skjerva

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Re: 1980s US Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #48 on: July 03, 2009, 09:02:19 PM »
the part where it loses :)

i had that feeling.  also, i am guessing ses is uncomfortable with my critique of it as portraying a "traditional society" where the women are there for the men and the men are there for baseball.  again, vomit.  but hey, i'm open to other interpretations  ;D

That's a little insulting, i am not going to get into a discussion about this with you skjerva, I just disagree with a lot of what you said let's just leave it at that.  And like I said before, I am okay with it losing because I have not seen My Dinner with Andre, so I can't say which movie should move forward

sorry the playfulness didn't come across  :-\  but i am interested in what you disagree with me about :) 

Not that anyone cares.

i care  ::)
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

roujin

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Re: 1980s US Bracket: Verdicts
« Reply #49 on: July 04, 2009, 10:58:40 AM »
roujin's 2nd verdict. what are you doing to yourself?

A Nightmare on Elm Street vs. Tongues Untied


A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven, 1984)

Another 80s classic that I've never seen before. I think I saw Freddy vs. Jason once and it was one of the most terrible movies I'd ever seen. Long story short: I didn't really know what to expect from this. I know Wes Craven isn't really involved with the other movies so it should be different. I mean, the first one is always the best one, right? Turns out I had a lot of fun with it. It seems different from other horror films. It's kind of about dread more than the violence (although the violence ramps up the feeling of dread). The concept is also kind of perfect. A villain who attacks you in your dreams. You can't really stop yourself from sleeping for too long. He'll get you either way. I enjoyed the way the film toyed with my expectations during the beginning as it opens with that one girl but then switches. Is this another case of the slutty teen dying first? Stupid horror movies. Anyway, who cares about these demons. What I meant to say was, the true horror of this being set in a dream world is that our dream worlds can be changed and not to our advantage. That's scary. Plus that Johnny Depp set piece is bananas. Too bad he wasn't tortured and beaten in a savage commentary on American foreign policy. What am I talking about?


Tongues Untied (Marlon Riggs, 1989/1990)

Fascinating stuff. The film is about how black men loving black men is a revolutionary act. No, really, the movie says that. The film uses a variety of methods to explore this, from direct address (by the filmmaker and others) to poetry/spoken word to documentary methods (found footage + other) to whatever else is needed. There's also a fair bit of personal testimony from Marlon Riggs himself covering his own experience (as one of many). The film covers a little bit of the same ground as something like Paris is Burning does (I think I even spotted one of the vogue dancers from that film in here) but in a much more interesting way.

Faceboy, in his review of Black Is... Black Ain't (also by Marlon Riggs), described this film's style fairly accurately with its "lone actor in front of the black background making movements meant to be thematically evocative" all while the actor also recites poetry that is meant to be profound and relevant and beautiful. It comes off as a bit silly but it kind of gets to you after a while and the poetry and the images and the cadences that the speakers imbue the words with, give it a certain kind of slant and oddness which is refreshing.

What I personally thought the most interesting was the segment when the film dispels the notion that being Gay and Black presented a conflict because, as they say, who will you be loyal to you? By film's end, the silence is gone, the music is back, black men loving black men is presented as something beautiful and wonderful. Also, Eddie Murphy's stand up routine from way back when was pretty homophobic. I should rewatch those films. . .

To be honest, I don't really know where to go. I know that I would probably rather watch Nightmare, not because Tongues isn't entertaining or illuminating in its own right, but because it's just a lot of fun. Tongues is certainly the more ambitious work but I kept wishing it was longer, specially to flesh out the final passages.

I think I'll give it to Nightmare, but I really want to check out Ethnic Notions and Black Is... Black Ain't now.