The Third Man wrote:My Star Wars rankings are that almost all of the non-AvP Alien films are better than any of them.
Pretty weird that there are so many things you could make a Movie Religion out of--The transcendentalists, The French New Wave, The Italian Neorealists, Tarkovsky, The Hollywood Mavericks of the 1970s, Cassavetes, lots more, all of them meaningful and artistic and interesting and with something to say about the world--yet the one people most often choose is one that Popeye summed up perfectly: mediocre, sleep-inducing, flaming piles of crap. Dumb, simpleton stories that are mostly suitable for kids and their PG sensibilities.
We should attempt to divert everybody's energy for Star Wars into a broader appreciation of Terry Gilliam films. If you're gonna do fantasy, do it right.
Anyway, I need a new religion. I haven't had one in a while. I think my last one was when I got really heavily into Sion Sono a few years ago. That was a hoot.
Maybe I'll finally begin checking out some Jia Zhangke.
The Third Man wrote:Maybe I'll finally begin checking out some Jia Zhangke.
I tried to PM you this and it's been stuck in Outbox, but anyway: go chronological starting at Platform. His primary theme is disaffected young people in a rapidly modernizing and globalizing world, and to watch those 8 movies unfold over the 20 year span in which he makes them, a span in which the world modernized and globalized even faster than its pace when he made Platform, is to watch a director and the world literally volley back and forth and it's really remarkable. Obviously if there's a theater near you showing The World. you should run to go see it even if it's out of sequence, but to watch him grow and evolve while the world grows and evolves is a pleasure.
I wasn't sure where to put this but it's star wars related. So there are like 10 of us that want to go see it together and we are thinking sometime before Christmas. There is one guy in the group that is being super annoying that we have to go see it Friday. It's like a junkie who needs a fix. Basically the deal is about 5 of us have a function Friday night we have to be at, so the other four are like ok cool we will go whenever. But this one guy is just throwing quite frankly a childish fit about seeing it Friday. He's been covertly texting other members of the group like "hey let's just go Friday ourselves." Everyone is like go ahead man go see it Friday but the rest of us are going together sometime.
Anyway that's super annoying and really weird. He's a 40 year old man. Shocker he's single.
What other movies are people like this about? Maybe Harry Potter?
IMADreamer wrote:I wasn't sure where to put this but it's star wars related. So there are like 10 of us that want to go see it together and we are thinking sometime before Christmas. There is one guy in the group that is being super annoying that we have to go see it Friday. It's like a junkie who needs a fix. Basically the deal is about 5 of us have a function Friday night we have to be at, so the other four are like ok cool we will go whenever. But this one guy is just throwing quite frankly a childish fit about seeing it Friday. He's been covertly texting other members of the group like "hey let's just go Friday ourselves." Everyone is like go ahead man go see it Friday but the rest of us are going together sometime.
Anyway that's super annoying and really weird. He's a 40 year old man. Shocker he's single.
What other movies are people like this about? Maybe Harry Potter?
All nine of you should go Saturday and leave him out.
anyone see star wars last night? reviews seem mixed, some high, some low but ultimately mixed. rushed/not enough time seems like common issue. i read the wikipedia story entry this morning (who knows when/if i'll see it). the wiki entry reads entertaining i suppose but can see how things would get messy.
i haven't even watched TLJ all the way through...i think i've attempted it 2 or 3 times on netflix at this point and then usually get bored/distracted and stop watching with like, 40 mins left. not that it was awful or bad or anything, i'm just losing interest (though i've read TLJ wiki entry as well). i don't want to be one of those grumps that can't accept anything new but i also know personally that neither prequel or sequel trilogy will compare, to me, with original trilogy.
i don't know how common my history with star wars is to others. i was born in '83 so it wouldn't have been until early 90s that i was getting into them, got a few years of really enjoying the original trilogy and getting into that lore (plus had 2 older brothers who had action figures and stuff so i absorbed a lot even if i wasn't living the experience in real time of movies, etc). i distinctly remember getting to see re-released originals in theaters in 97 etc and thinking that was so cool. it was one of those real fun movie experiences, everyone in crowd was happy/excited, talking to strangers, cheering at all the big moments that we knew were coming, etc.
i remember seeing episode 1 in theaters and enjoying it at the time, even with the awkward parts. i think partially just 'cause "can you believe it, a new star wars?!". i liked liam neeson and ewan as young obi wan. darth maul was great. i like natalie portman even if amidala is kinda meh. jake lloyd was a bad child actor, i hate to say it. i really did not like episode 2, and thought hayden was bad actor as well. i'm not sure i watched episode 3 in theaters and remember just thinking "meh/blah" whenever i did see it so i don't have high marks on the prequels, though sure, they have some "moments". force awakens was fun but it really did just seem like a re-tread of so many of the other movies, which it was well done but i'd seen it before.
Just the opinion of some movie reviewers. I'm sure there will be other lists published soon:
The 25 best movies of 2019
2019 was a year of cinematic goodbyes. Some of the longest-tenured Avengers didn’t make it out of the box-office-dominating Endgame. The adventures of the Skywalker family came to a close in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. And Sheriff Woody bid adieu to his gang in the tear-jerking Toy Story 4. You could also argue movies said goodbye to the big screen with the proliferation of streamers like Netflix, Amazon, Apple+ and Disney+ producing quality feature-length films.
Whatever the medium, however, there were dozens of worthy films, from the aforementioned blockbusters to auteurs like Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino offering some of the best work of their careers, and on-the-rise visionaries like Jordan Peele, Greta Gerwig, Taika Waititi, the Safdie brothers, Trey Edward Shults and Lulu Wang continuing to impress.
Here is Yahoo Entertainment’s hard-fought picks for the best 25 movies of 2019.
That list, maybe it is fair. But Rocketman was the worst movie I had seen in a long while. And I wanted to like it. Here you have a pop musical genius that finds success, becomes a drug addict, the shopaholic thing is especially pathetic
Somehow the terrible "I'm stiill standing" is a redemption. Complete and utter fail.
Dolemite, I mean, i enjoyed it but my goodness, #10...
Oi, The state of big theater movies. Thank goodness for the other venues for film.
1. June 1, 1982. John Dykstra, Special Effects Artist.
2. June 22, 1982. Harrison Ford. Promotes "Blade Runner."
3. May 30, 1983. Carrie Fisher. "Return of the Jedi."
4. June 20, 1983. Mark Hamill. "Return of the Jedi." Then a Star Wars quiz, later with the "audience" winner (Production Staffer Sandy Gillis).
5. July 28, 1983. Mark Hamill: Viewer Mail #5.
6. April 19, 1984. Mark Hamill: Viewer Mail #4.
7. February 26, 1986. Sir Alec Guinness. Book: _Blessings in Disguise._ Preceded by the last participant (Mary Connelly) in "Who Asked For It?"
