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Midweek Movie Free Talk
Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
I haven’t wanted to go to the theater in quite a while. The tickets are expensive and I can’t abide the super-loud commercials before the movie.
We went to a small independent theater to see Barbie yesterday (also a $6 Tuesday; we spent the rest on popcorn) and had SUCH a good time. The film was so smart and funny, and Ryan Gosling was phenomenal as Ken. The crowd was enthusiastic and there were no ear-splitting ads. It made me realize I don’t hate going to the movies so much as I dislike paying a bunch to see mediocre movies in unpleasant corporate-run chain theaters.
It got me thinking maybe I’ve been going to the wrong movies and the wrong places.
Saw Barbie last night and I also loved it. I smiled the whole way through (well not the whole way, I cried a bit too). More than anything the vibes were just so good. Phenomenal acting from the leads, especially Ryan Gosling who played Ken so well.
It's funny because I've kind of grown sick of a lot of the 'funny because it's meta' humor that seems to have made its way into a few films recently (most notably Deadpool), but I didn't mind it one bit in Barbie for some reason. It wasn't some kind of revolutionary masterpiece, and I believe it very much is a product of its time but I don't think that's a bad thing. I only worry that it's success will introduce countless copycat pieces which won't have nearly as much love poured into them. Although knowing myself, I tend to get bored of any given trope quite quickly, so I imagine it won't take too long for me to get bored of anything like it that is of equal quality.
I also think the music deserves praise, excellent song choices from Lizzo, Charlie XCX, and especially Billie Eilish's 'What was I made for' which teased us with a Musical motif that set the tone for every sad/unsettling moment and really packed a powerful punch when it was finally sung.
Definitely the best film I've seen this year and I hope it does win an/some Oscars.
Edit: Forgot to add, I haven't seen it discussed much anywhere online, but myself and about 75% of movie goers were all wearing pink, which added to the good vibes of the viewing. Normally I prefer as empty a cinema as possible but being in a theatre with so many people who were just as exited for the film as I was made the atmosphere incredible.
I had an identical experience. local theater. 6 dollar Tuesday ticket.
Buuuut, they put on this crazy premiere! Barbie photobooth with a barbie box. Pink carpet and pink popcorn. We live in a tiny town and the turnout was incredible. I don't think I've laughed that hard at a movie in a long time. I loved it!
We had an interesting/awkward moment after where all the native english speakers in our swooned over the movie, while the two primarily spanish speakers (one from Mexico/one from Spain) who are fluent in english didn't like it and didn't understand many of the jokes. We discussed it for a while and decided the cultural context was missing for them. The woman from Mexico said pretty abruptly, "the speech was bang on, everything else felt unnecessary". I'd love to understand better at some point. She did give us the cherry on top of the night though. My partner and I walked home and as we were about 2 blocks away she drove by and shouted "Bye Barbie!" out the window. It made the evening.
my favorite joke
I nearly keeled over when Ken recounted "I got bored of the patriarchy pretty quickly when I found out it wasn't about horses" What a masterfully written movie.
It’s probably gonna get nominated for the real version of both of those things anyway
I watched Oppenheimer last Friday on opening night and I didn’t love it. It was enjoyable and certainly technically a great movie, but I just felt something was missing. Weirdly I didn’t feel like there was any real momentum or anything at stake. I think the back and forth between timelines meant that the important one (when they’re developing the bomb) didn’t feel as impactful. To me it just felt like they were going through the motions of getting the team together and building the bomb and testing it.
I know it’s getting amazing reviews so perhaps I need to give it another watch at home.
I also saw Oppenheimer, Monday night. I was impressed with the cinematography, including shots of Cal campus in Berkeley. I could have done with more explaining of who was who, or perhaps read the wiki of Oppenheimer's life before going. I did like the movie, but I understand why some devout Hindu's are upset. The scene in question is short, doesn't add to the story and could have easily been left out or not shot in the first place.
I think it just cheapens the quote, "I am become death" sounds like a fancy way of saying "wow I made a bomb that kills people" but knowing the context of The Bhagavad-Gita, Arjuna unwilling to fight and Vishnu persuading him to do so, it's a really powerful line.
So I was finally able to see Oppenheimer again in 70mm.
It was an interesting experience, and it actually unlocked a memory I had of sneaking into a Dunkirk 70mm showing of it for a few minutes.
It was actually kind of cool seeing all the scratches and the cigarette burns. Seeing a lot of shots with backlight be completely blown out, seeing that some of the black and white reels were more sepia than others. It like adds character to the movie.
What it did teach me, ultimately, is that movie theaters need to upgrade to laser ASAP. Because 70mm showed me that resolution and color reproduction fucking sucks on xenon projectors. At the very least the Liemax screen and other premium screens like Cinemark XD need to be upgraded to laser.
Saw Oppenheimer a few days ago and really enjoyed it overall, I didn't know too much about his story, and found it really interesting to go on a Wikipedia dive afterwards and learn more about the scientists involved, and the arms race/cold war. I remember feeling like they could have covered the actual bombing of Japan more closely, but then remembered that it's really from Oppenheimer's perspective and is first and foremost a biopic about him.
I will probably check out Barbie in a couple weeks but I'm not in a rush. I just watched Little Women, and liked Lady Bird, so I'm looking forward to it.
I re-watched Oppenheimer one last time (this would be a third). It gets better with each subsequent viewing.
What an incredible score that I just cannot stop listening to. I know people get annoyed that Nolan puts the score so loud over the dialogue, but man this is so good I don't care (and I also don't think it's as distracting as everyone claims it is). It's an incredibly beautiful looking movie, it feels intimate on a grand scale.
The Trinity Test is thrilling, it's suspenseful, it's beautiful.
Something I noticed and came to appreciate is that before the bombs are dropped on Japan there's more of an objective quality to the film. We're still in Oppenheimer's head but after the bombings it's like a hyper-subjectivity. And there's this surreal quality to it as Oppenheimer's mind really starts to break.
It's so good. I think it's probably going to remain my favorite of the year. It's probably going to remain one of my favorites of the decade.
Any kiwi Tilderites (Tilderinos?), definitely check out Loop Track if you can. It's a very fun time.
Not kiwi and now I'm intrigued.
Psychological thriller about a man who goes off on a multi-day round-trip hike to get away from it all. Very small cast. The theatre was absolutely loving it!
In case you want more opinions re demonyms for Tildes users. : )
I was surprised at the number of people simply opposed to the idea, but at least an equal number seem to be fine with playing with the name lol. https://tildes.net/~talk/187p/what_are_some_of_your_favorite_names_for_the_users_of_tildes
Wow, that discussion got heated. I love Tildren though. Self-effacing. Fantastic.
I'm trying to get a gist of the recent streaming premieres, rather than theatrical, but got super busy with other things. Help?
Intriguing premise. Thanks!
Extraction 2 was a pretty decent turn-off-your-brain-for-two-hours action flick
Thank you, 2 hours of downtime sound great!
What do you mean like streaming originals or movies that are theatrical and are now streaming
Either. Or even Blu-Ray if it's really worth it. I just don't like theaters whatsoever.
I am probably going to be going to see Barbie some time in the next couple of weeks - breaking my multi-year hiatus of going to theatre. I don't have anything pink to wear, but I have a light red t-shirt that I hope will be acceptable.
I watched *The Man from U.N.C.L.E." which I thought was a movie full of charm but short on substance. I also felt like there were some things missing that I vaguely recall from the TV show; I feel like there was usually a normal person embroiled in the shenanigans, which was missing here. And there was no Count Zark (that would have made for a terrible movie actually). It seems obvious that they were trying to set up for a few movies, but then the movie flopped, and they didn't make any more.
Overall: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
In the last week, I've watched:
Patriot Games
Escape From New York
Stargate
Barbie
and Virtuosity
I'm kind of amazed Kurt Russell never became a massive action star. He had the perfect grizzled look. Escape From New York in particular was a trip. Virtuousity was... Something. I can see good ideas in there maybe, but the whole package was a mess. Also some random blurry topless woman on a camera pan in the middle of the movie for some reason?