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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.
Does anybody want to talk about:
Office Space (1999): ★☆☆
Clerks, but with cubicles. I've worked in an office and been laid off, so I enjoyed the jokes about that. But the actual plot of the movie didn't keep my interest. It's interesting to compare what the office was like in the mid 90s compared to today.
The Land Before Time (1988): ★★☆ (rewatch)
This is a movie I haven't seen since I was a kid, and my theater was showing it for $3. This is definitely a different movie to watch as an adult, but still enjoyable. I didn't remember it being so short, but the story is simple and doesn't need two hours to make its point.
Thelma and Louise (1991): ★☆☆
Somehow I had gotten the idea that this was a lighthearted road trip romp, so I was not expecting a thriller/drama. That made me more surprised at the inciting act and beginning of the movie, but that also means it wasn't really what I was in the mood to watch. So, entering from stage left...
Happy Gilmore (1996): ★★☆
Expected a dumb Adam Sandler comedy; got a dumb Adam Sandler comedy. For once I was able to set aside the fact that a sports movie took ridiculous artistic license with the rules and was able to let go and enjoy it. It starts kinda slow and the early gags don't land, but it does better in the second act and manages to save par.
Her (2013): ★☆☆
I think this is a movie I needed to see before generative AI entered the zeitgeist. In the same way that you can't remember not knowing how to do something after you learn to do it, I can never watch this movie without preconceived expectations about AI, so I can never really put myself into the character's shoes.
The operating system, holographic video games, wireless earbuds, and other tech would have seemed futuristic and impressive at the time this movie released, but now they're mostly not-quite-right versions of things that actually exist. The depictions of the tech fall into uncanny valleys that wouldn't have existed in 2013. So the main character makes some dumb decisions early on that make him hard to sympathize with, which usually kills my enjoyment of movies. Now people are more wary of chatbots hallucinating and flattering you, so Theodore seems dumb at times. But I only got that impression because I'm watching the movie over a decade late after a serious shift in the culture around AI. This is a movie that I literally can't give a reasonable opinion on because of how much the world has changed since its release.
The credits of Her contain a special thanks for the late Catherine O'Hara. Does anyone know why she got that credit?
Her: Spike Jonze (apparently) had a habit of thanking friends even if all they did was read the script over. Notably the ex-wife’s name is Catherine.
The movie is supposed to take place now which is why you’re getting that uncanny valley feeling. If anything I think it’s quite impressive that Jonze was able to predict so much stuff as closely as he did, with the main thing he got wrong being that the world was a lot more serene and colorful compared to what we see actually have.
I think it’s actually prescient. There’s been so many articles about how people have AI partners. I’ve seen TikTok videos of people talking to the AI voices as if it were their boyfriend. It’s not as good as we see in Her, but that’s because it’s dialogue written and performed by humans. And I think the main commentary is the increasing isolation we’re experiencing.
Thelma and Louise: don’t have much to add to this BUT this was Brad Pitt’s first major role. Famously George Clooney auditioned for it. And someone I get told I look a lot like, Mark Ruffalo, also auditioned for it. Which makes me feel pretty good since the role is supposed to be a very attractive guy.