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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.
Just watched Lawrence of Arabia (1962) for the first time ever. Been meaning to watch it for years but never got around to it until earlier this week. Incredible movie. The wide shots in the desert were incredible, really great sense of scale.
(Note: Mild spoilers below)
The only criticism I have is that towards the end of the movie, Lawrence's personality and actions completely flip-flop around on a whim. In the beginning he is stoic in his support of the Arabs and in his belief in himself. But then he gets a savior's complex, goes on a maniacal bend for a while, then pulls it back, then basically disavows his Arab-ness and tells his followers to buzz off. Kinda all over the place. I looked up some reviews/plot summaries after watching it and the consensus seems to be that his personality shifted after he was tortured, but it just seemed a bit too confusing to me.
But overall the movie was a lot more enjoyable than many other 3hr+ movies I've seen. Unique setting, great practical effects, lots and lots and lots of wide shots, and tons of camels which added a lot to the realism.
Tonight was The African Queen (1951) -- not a bad pic, but it really leans in to their natural chemistry.
Believe it or not, I've never seen Beeltejuice. No idea why --- but I'm watching it on Halloween at a friend's place. There are a lot of films like this that I never saw. Long story short, when piracy was going to be enforced, my parents' friend with a video store had to get rid of all of his copies... so we pretty much had every movie up to around 1983. It was great, but in the same, we didn't rent a lot of movies or even watch movies as a family.
I watched BeetleJuice, BeetleJuice this past weekend and it works as a great follow on from the original.
Casting wise, it's great. It's just a fun family movie. You grab the popcorn and relax, turn your brain off and just enjoy. I'm not saying anything else so as not to give away spoilers, but the use of practical effects mixed with CGI is great. Mr Burton did an excellent job with this. I'm glad he has said that there won't be a third though.
until about three years ago, i didn’t even know it was Keaton. haha. Between this and seemingly being the only person my age who hasn’t watched Buffy, I’m not really sure where I’ve been.
Great news that the second one is also good.
Conclave
I liked this a lot. It is wildly entertaining, which I couldn’t say about Berger’s previous film All Quiet on the Western Front.
It’s based on an airport novel, so it’s pulpy trash. The thing with pulpy trash is that it’s really fun. The cool thing about this though is that it’s presented in prestige clothing. It reminds me of Fincher a little bit, in the sense that he takes pulpy material and elevates it.
It’s one of those films that makes you go “they don’t make them like this anymore.” It’s surprisingly funny. Gorgeously shot and edited. It’s a good time at the movies, which you wouldn’t expect from a movie about electing a new pope.
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Now because of the new song Aquamarine by Addison Rae I decided to do a marathon of her movies. She only has two so it was short. He’s All That is a terrible cheap Netflix movie. Rae is terrible in it, sings terribly, and dances mediocre.
I had already seen her other film Thanksgiving. At the time I thought she did well because I wasn’t expecting a TikToker to be any good.
A sort of theory I have is that the negative reception of He’s All That made Rae step back and start taking show business seriously. She took singing, dancing, and acting lessons. The difference in her performances in He’s All That and Thanksgiving are night and day.
Rae’s kind of an exciting figure because you wouldn’t expect an influencer to say “wait a minute let me take this seriously.”
ok, this is a fun documentary that kept me gripped -- * APEX: The Secret Race Across America* (2019)
Basically, they're driving from NY to LA as fast as possible. I was looking up Alex Roy because of this post from /r/Justrolledintotheshop. The car is insane.
I think 32 Hours 7 minutes (2013) is the same footage, but I haven't seen it.
Fun little documentary.