Author Topic: July MDC 2010 Free Skate: Write ups  (Read 15394 times)

ses

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July MDC 2010 Free Skate: Write ups
« on: July 03, 2010, 10:28:03 PM »
Who's first?
"It's a fool who looks for logic in the chambers of the human heart"

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Bondo

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Re: July MDC 2010 Free Skate: Write ups
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2010, 06:28:59 PM »
I guess I'm first up.

The Room

Between the bad script and acting and the music and set design choices, this plays as combination of after-school special and softcore porn (though with insufficient T&A to really qualify on the latter account). Yet, it is kind of awesome as a post-feminist anthem about how women are deceptive CINECAST!rags. Johnny is set up as this awesome provider, yet it isn’t enough for his fiancée who finds him boring and cheats on him with his best friend and even disappoints her mom as not being generous enough because he didn’t help with the down payment on a house of some random friend of hers. Not only is Johnny existing in a world where it is completely impossible to satisfy a woman, but his excelling at work isn’t sufficient to get a promotion there. It is all a comment on how used and powerless men feel in a world that takes just as much from them but gives them less in return. It is a world where women have come to feel entitled to happiness, but settle for narcissism instead. I’m certainly not saying this is an accurate worldview, just that it is the worldview that the film develops from, and for all its shoddy filmmaking, follows through on.

Watching this I get absolutely no sense that it is intentionally bad, though whether this is true is a point of some dispute. I’m sure it could be campy fun given a group and whatever cues the group screenings have developed. Not being observant, I don’t think I picked up on what a lot of those jokes are based on (apparently there is something to do with cutlery?) There are a lot of really unintentionally funny elements here. One that comes to mind is when the mother says, “no one listens to me” and the daughter’s next line is “well, you’re probably right about that,” in theory talking about something earlier in the conversation. But it need not only be viewed as a joke, intentional or otherwise. If you excuse its low-quality filmmaking, it is a reasonably interesting narrative. I think you actually have to respect Wiseau a little here.

Anyway, thanks to tjwells for getting me to watch this. It was certainly an experience, and a rather different one than I think I was expecting.

Beavermoose

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Re: July MDC 2010 Free Skate: Write ups
« Reply #2 on: July 09, 2010, 08:54:38 PM »
I Shot Andy Warhol


I shot Andy Warhol is the story of Valerie Solanas, a lesbian/feminist living as a part of New York City fringe culture in the 60's, before the advent of the actual feminist movement. Living in the streets, she survives by selling her body and her personality. She meets Andy Warhol and attempts to get him to produce a play she's written. She also writes her feminist manifesto and tries to sell it on the streets.
Lili Taylor is very good as Solanas; at times charming at others annoying she fully realizes the character and plays her with lots of passion. The film is very well made and the story is interesting but there are a few things that bothered me. Firstly, as a man, I had trouble relating to Solanas' point of view. She says on numerous occasion that women are intellectually superior to men but never elaborates on it. Most of her opinions on men are said in defensive situations and she does very little to back up her statements. She often sounds not like a feminist but more like a sexist. Her hatred of men seems illogical as we are never shown or told why or how she developed this way of thinking. A lot of her friends in the film are cross dressing men yet she still considers them inferior.
Obviously its a true story about a true person so I can not critique the film on the unlikable character, I just wish that they'd gotten more into the characters head instead of sitting back and watching the story unfold. Random quotes read from the manifesto as an attempt to give us more information was irrelevant to the plot and interrupted unnecessarily the story.
The movie is worth seeing for Taylor's performance as well as a few very good scenes throughout but overall it's an average flick.

tinyholidays

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Re: July MDC 2010 Free Skate: Write ups
« Reply #3 on: July 10, 2010, 12:22:32 PM »


1992. Directed by Curtis Hanson. Written by Amanda Silver.

(Spoilers for the beginning of the movie.)

The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, which could have easily been titled LOL White People, shows a richy rich Seattle family just struggling to build a fence to keep the undesirables out. Really, their lives were going fine until...



Ahhh! A black guy!

It's okay, though. He's retarded, and thus not a threat.

The lady up there is Claire (Annabella Sciorra), and she's all kindsa pregnant. So, she goes to the gyno...


It's Q! And he's here to seem creepy. Claire, who fears all, decides he was molesting her during her exam. Maybe he was. It's unclear. I mean, with the camera angles and music, we're really looking at the situation through the filter of Claire's paranoia.

After Claire's accusations, Dr. Q offs himself. And his wife, Mrs. Dr. Q, played by Rebecca De Mornay, decides to take her revenge on Claire and her family by becoming their perfect Aryan nanny.


She moves in and starts a race war against Solomon, the retarded black fix-it man. In the above image, Solomon shakes her hand, and she gets super angry because he smudges his blackness on her. Nooooooooooo.


Did you know that Julianne Moore is in this? Badass.


More badass.

So, the question at the end: Is The Hand That Rocks the Cradle a document of early-90s race fail, or is it actually an indictment of upper-middle class isolationism? I think... that it's probably more of the latter but still a bit of the former. Anyone who is paying attention will see that this horror scenario is launched through the family's fear-driven interaction with the world. But the movie still plays to an audience of similarly-minded people, counting on them identifying with Claire and her family and rooting for their triumph over the evil that lurks outside their fence.

It's kind of a fascinating film. If I were teaching a course on Bush-era America, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle would be a perfect inclusion.

Thanks a lot for this dictation, smirnoff. I did enjoy watching it very much. In no way would I mean for this review to discourage anyone from seeing it. It would make a great double feature with Sleeping with the Enemy. So much popcorn.

By the way, smirnoff's runner-up choice was Tremors, which is playing in theatre here on Wednesday. In theatre!! I'm going to try to make it over there, and, if I do, I'll probably put that review up in this thread too.

Bondo

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Re: July MDC 2010 Free Skate: Write ups
« Reply #4 on: July 10, 2010, 12:32:02 PM »
That sounds really awesome. I like films that comment on the culture of paranoia. I wish I could comment more on these two reviews but I haven't seen either of them.

alexarch

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Re: July MDC 2010 Free Skate: Write ups
« Reply #5 on: July 10, 2010, 01:06:04 PM »
I saw I Shot Andy Warhol when I was just coming out and at a time when independent film was just becoming mainstream. It was showing at one of the two Dallas independent theaters, old, broken-down buildings, not the wine-and-cheese Magnolias we have now.

That's all to say my experience with it was greatly enhanced by the circumstances. Because I didn't understand where I fit into gay culture, this image of it freaked me out. I remember thinking, "If these are the types of people that I have to befriend or emulate, this gay thing is going to be shit." It all felt so dirty, repulsive.

That's why I dictated it, to see if it holds up, to see if 15+ years of mainstream independent filmmaking has changed the audience, to see if my personal experience crossed over to people with different backgrounds.

Sad to hear it doesn't hold up. 

Beavermoose

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Re: July MDC 2010 Free Skate: Write ups
« Reply #6 on: July 10, 2010, 02:18:35 PM »
I saw I Shot Andy Warhol when I was just coming out and at a time when independent film was just becoming mainstream. It was showing at one of the two Dallas independent theaters, old, broken-down buildings, not the wine-and-cheese Magnolias we have now.

That's all to say my experience with it was greatly enhanced by the circumstances. Because I didn't understand where I fit into gay culture, this image of it freaked me out. I remember thinking, "If these are the types of people that I have to befriend or emulate, this gay thing is going to be shit." It all felt so dirty, repulsive.

That's why I dictated it, to see if it holds up, to see if 15+ years of mainstream independent filmmaking has changed the audience, to see if my personal experience crossed over to people with different backgrounds.

Sad to hear it doesn't hold up. 

Gay culture has changed so much within the last 15 years, lots more is known about it, it is less of a fringe culture. This is probably why I didn't have the sense of discovery/repulsion that you had seeing this portrayal of it back when it came out.  It was an interesting watch though something I probably wouldn't have sought out.

smirnoff

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Re: July MDC 2010 Free Skate: Write ups
« Reply #7 on: July 10, 2010, 03:36:01 PM »
So, the question at the end: Is The Hand That Rocks the Cradle a document of early-90s race fail, or is it actually an indictment of upper-middle class isolationism?


It's kind of a fascinating film. If I were teaching a course on Bush-era America, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle would be a perfect inclusion.

Ouch. :D

I think we had two very different experiences, but I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the experience. And how good was it when Payton got punched in the face? IN THE FACE! :)

Quote
By the way, smirnoff's runner-up choice was Tremors, which is playing in theatre here on Wednesday. In theatre!! I'm going to try to make it over there, and, if I do, I'll probably put that review up in this thread too.
It will replenish your life force! I hope you see it!

tinyholidays

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Re: July MDC 2010 Free Skate: Write ups
« Reply #8 on: July 10, 2010, 06:19:29 PM »
So, the question at the end: Is The Hand That Rocks the Cradle a document of early-90s race fail, or is it actually an indictment of upper-middle class isolationism?


Ha. Sorry. I kind of went full grad school there. At least I didn't start referencing any Marxist theorists.

I think we had two very different experiences, but I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the experience. And how good was it when Payton got punched in the face? IN THE FACE! :)

What was your experience? I want to know!

IT WAS AWESOME.

smirnoff

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Re: July MDC 2010 Free Skate: Write ups
« Reply #9 on: July 10, 2010, 09:43:34 PM »
What was your experience? I want to know!

I just never took a step back and asked any of the questions you did. In short, I ate it up.

the movie still plays to an audience of similarly-minded people, counting on them identifying with Claire and her family and rooting for their triumph over the evil that lurks outside their fence.

I think that's me. :D