[!@#$%!]

THE BIG LEBOWSKI

 

i don't "own" a lot of movies, except from leftovers from a bygone era, but i think this would make a great video wallpaper to have on perpetual play because i've seen it a bunch of times and it's so fucking great

in glorious bluray the dude's hallucinations come extra-crisp and glossy

[demonrail666]

Re-watched The Master

Nothing new to say about it except that the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman has robbed us of the perfect Trump in any future biopic.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Re-watched The Master

Nothing new to say about it except that the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman has robbed us of the perfect Trump in any future biopic.

See, I think DENNIS HOPPER needs to be cast as Trump. He's fucking perfect. I'm not exactly sure how he's looking these days, but he's a crazy ass and I think he'd come out of retirement if, say, Oliver Stone offered him the part right now.

Granted, he's not the world's best actor, but he knows how to commit, and in a fat suit with a big dumbass wig, I believe he could give us a Heath Ledger's Joker-level (gold standard for screen incarnations of insane motherfuckers) performance.

John C. Reilly also comes to mind. Just because he's actually a very talented dramatic actor, and he's ... y'know... lumpy.

Never seen the Master and now I'm a bit turned off of PTA after Inherent Vice. But some think the Master is even better than There Will Be Blood, so maybe I should shut the fuck up and give it a shot.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

THE BIG LEBOWSKI

 

i don't "own" a lot of movies, except from leftovers from a bygone era, but i think this would make a great video wallpaper to have on perpetual play because i've seen it a bunch of times and it's so fucking great

in glorious bluray the dude's hallucinations come extra-crisp and glossy

Oh man, I know.
Kinda like some of the Wes Anderson movies I love so much (namely Royal Tenenbaums), The Big Lebowski is sometimes too tied up with hipster and college cultures, but I don't give a fuck, I think it's one of the best movies of its era. It should have won Best Picture at the fucking Oscars, but everyone was still so in love with Fargo that this gloriously dark existential comedy felt "beneath" critics at the time. Fuckers. It's a goddamn perfect movie. And I LOVE the Coen Brothers, so I pretty much think everything they do is insanely good.. but this is the crown fucking jewel.

They do crime and noir and tragedy so well that people forget how comedic they are at heart. I'd rank this above Fargo, No Country for Old Men and even fucking Barton Fink. One of my absolute favorite movies of all time, period.

[Severian]

Are they still making the "Jesus" spin-off with John Turturro? That would really make my year, dammit. I want that to fucking happen.

[noisereductions]

Haha I am really excited about Logan, sev.

[TheDom]

Originally Posted by Severian

Oh yeah, that one was rough. All Noah Bombauch (sp?) films are. Funny that he was mentored by, and originally touted as "the next," Wes Anderson. I know Anderson is way too heavily associated with hipsterdom to be considered legit by most film buffs, but I love (LOVE) his movies, and think he's perfected the art of telling family-based dramedies in an almost Salinger-esque degree. And his movies are generally hilarious, while Bombauch's just go for the gut and pull out the talons. So, the next Anderson, Bombauch is not. But he still has a unique, if heartbreaking, style and vision.

Man I am actually really bummed on Anderson lately and it's only because he really is so great. Moonrise Kingdom was pretty terrible in my eyes and while I loved Grand Budapest at first, it really doesn't hold up at all. I kind of feel like he doesn't love his characters as much as he used to. The dude is a legit filmmaker but I'm kind of over his wacky stuff and especially over him doing "homages" (I'm looking right at the museum scene in Grand Budapest). Most of those film buffs yr talking about that I know really only hate him for making Rushmore and not coming close to it ever again.

[TheDom]

Last on the watch for me: Coco Before Chanel. Fucking bad. Fuck biopics they are probably the worst fucking genre ever. Only one I've ever seen that was any good: Love & Mercy but even that was teetering on being awful a lot of the time.

Going to see Rogue One tonight

[!@#$%!]

@THE DOM (also severian) -- meant to reply about sqid + whale earlier but got sidetracked. great movie yeah. saw it around the time it came out & been paying attention to baumbach since.

speaking of wes anderson-- baumbach actually wrote zissou and mr fox! ha ha. (well, co-wrote)

also directed his gf's project, FRANCES HA, which it's like a smarter and more concise and less narcissistic variant of "girls". i went in wanting to hate it but couldn't--greta gerwig is too adorable and it was well done anyway. MISTRESS AMERICA was also alright. but yeah no other project he's done comes close to the squid and the whale though, that i know. haven't seen KICKING AND SCREAMING, but want to.

[pepper_green]

I swear the Big Lebowski gets funnier every time I view it. laughter with tears in my eyes. in stitches man, in stitches.. yea, don't give a fug how popular it is among eggheads. hell, I might be one of those eggheads. what's wrong it being popular with the college crowd? Animal House is still classic. I don't know. I watched it with a now ex-girlfriend last year and she's like " I get it, it just centers around them bowling, right". I guess, hell if I know. lol.

the scene when Lebowski traces the note with a silhouette of a guy with a hard on kills me everytime.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by TheDom

Man I am actually really bummed on Anderson lately and it's only because he really is so great. Moonrise Kingdom was pretty terrible in my eyes and while I loved Grand Budapest at first, it really doesn't hold up at all. I kind of feel like he doesn't love his characters as much as he used to. The dude is a legit filmmaker but I'm kind of over his wacky stuff and especially over him doing "homages" (I'm looking right at the museum scene in Grand Budapest). Most of those film buffs yr talking about that I know really only hate him for making Rushmore and not coming close to it ever again.

I thought Moonrise Kingdom was his worst.
Grand Budapest Hotel was like a distillation of everything he does best. It's like a snow-globe in movie form. He creates these beautiful little vignettes, and then sketches stories in around them, and they become character studies along the way. Grand Budapest restored my faith in him.

But ... I loved (fucking LOVED) Darjeeling Ltd. That scene with "Play With Fire" by the Stones? Glorious. Not many people loved that one, but I did.

And Rushmore and Royal Tenenbaums (and Bottle Rocket!) are three of my favorite movies. Even Life Aquatic is good. Not nuts about Mr. Fox, but didn't hate it either.

Anyway, all in all he's among my favorite filmmakers, not because he's the best (that's just silly) but because he has almost invented his own genre, kind of like Scorcese, or Kubrick, or even the Coens or Tarantino. Just because he makes (mostly) goofy shit doesn't make him any less of a talent. He really turned the "age of irony" on its head and distilled it into film form.

Shrug. I watch superhero movies man. I'm lowbrow.

[TheDom]

Sev - nothing wrong with lowbrow! Something to learn from anything. Like I said Anderson is no doubt a great filmmaker just three films in a row have been a little underwhelming compared to what he's capable of. I like Darjeeling a lot btw, it was the first one I saw of his and one of the first I guess "different" movies I watched.

[pepper_green]

Bottle Rocket, yea. the other day or maybe today I was trying to remember what that was about. robbing something. landscaping. 2000 man. ugh!

my question begs to be asked but, what year was the Royal Tenenbaums set in? early 80's.

[noisereductions]

The vast majority of what i watch is pron considered lowbrow. It is entertainment tho. Escapism.

[!@#$%!]

charlie kaufman's ANOMALISA

 

i don't wanna spoil this strange thing. it was very unusual and depressing and while it had its interesting aspects i didn't like it a whole lot. not saying it was bad either. it can either be a portrayal of mental illness or a critique of romantic delusions, depending on how you look at it, or just charlie kaufman exorcizing his usual obsessions.

also forgot to mention the other day watched SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE.

 

i know that's an appealing photo that might make you wanna see more, but it was only so-so.

i wanted a sex comedy and netflix sent this. but upon starting you realize-- this is not a sex comedy but a fucking rom com! and yet, if you don't turn it off right away it surprises you with being actually smart and well written and entertaining, so you keep watching and yeah it has funny parts, and there's a bit of fucking, and drug use, etc., and you say thank fuck for IFC providing tonight's grownup amusement.

but then, when you think you've arrived to the end of the interesting and funny movie with advertisements for nyc tourism, they glue on it another half an hour of cheese and absurd complications and romcom bullshit that doesn't need to be there. and that brings it back down to the level of the usual hollywood bullshit and "love" clichés. aghhh.

[demonrail666]

 

To Rome With Love

Another one of Woody Allen's Euro-comedies that, while enjoyable, are always a little too picture postcard in their depiction of Europe. European tourist boards should employ him to do their ad campaigns. Saying that, so should New York's.

 

[Severian]

Originally Posted by TheDom

Sev - nothing wrong with lowbrow! Something to learn from anything. Like I said Anderson is no doubt a great filmmaker just three films in a row have been a little underwhelming compared to what he's capable of. I like Darjeeling a lot btw, it was the first one I saw of his and one of the first I guess "different" movies I watched.

Really, Darjeeling Ltd. was the first you saw? I saw Bottle Rocket when it was first catching buzz, and was looked forward to Rushmore with heated anticipation back in the day, so I'm we probably have different perspectives on this stuff, but I'm glad you like Darjeeling.

Like Tenenbaums, it's a touching story about an eccentric family that's dressed up as an absurdist romp. But there's real, genuine emotion behind both films. This is why I think of Anderson as Salinger-esque. I actually think he could potentially pull off an adaptation of something like "Raise High the Roofbeam Carpenters" or "Franny and Zooey." Not "Catcher in the Rye" though. Nobody should ever attempt that. Jesus Christ, that would be wretched.

Bombauch might also be able to do it, now that I think of it.

Anyway, yeah, loved Darjeeling. What a great soundtrack too! The Kinks, the Stones, bunch of sitar shit. Lovely. Also, I want some of those opiate eye drops from the movie.

[!@#$%!]

catcher in the rye? that's kinda igby goes down, pretty much. which i liked a lot when i saw it. maybe on account of my film crush on sookie sapperstein. but yeah. igby was very much a holden cuntifield, in his way, updated for the 2000s. it's definitely an adaptation.

re: darjeeling- that was for me the weakest of them all. very forgettable. was tilda swinton in it? i can't remember what it was about except they're looking for their mom and she's a tibetan nun or something.

re: MOONRISE KINGDOM -- i fucking liked it! it really did capture some dreamlike qualities of prepubescent life -- right before raging hormones set in. it was like a storybook "come to life." as they say (who is they?). but yeah. they say storybook. they say come to life. it was sweet and innocent and i liked it in those terms. i don't need cynical ultraviolent irony everywhere.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

catcher in the rye? that's kinda igby goes down, pretty much. which i liked a lot when i saw it. maybe on account of my film crush on sookie sapperstein. but yeah. igby was very much a holden cuntifield, in his way, updated for the 2000s. it's definitely an adaptation.

well, not an adaptation, but yeah, definitely an homage. I felt the same way when that film first came out. I felt that it did a pretty good job of fulfilling a desire some folks might have to see a Holden-esque character on screen without the fallout that would inevitably come from commercializing such a cherished classic. I don't ever want to see Catcher in the Rye directly adapted into a film. Ever. No Fucking thank you. But I did really like Igby Goes Down, and thought it had the kind of spirit that a Catcher film would need.

Not sure how it would hold up today. Haven't seen it since way back, but I definitely loved it at the time.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Severian

well, not an adaptation, but yeah, definitely an homage. I felt the same way when that film first came out. I felt that it did a pretty good job of fulfilling a desire some folks might have to see a Holden-esque character on screen without the fallout that would inevitably come from commercializing such a cherished classic. I don't ever want to see Catcher in the Rye directly adapted into a film. Ever. No Fucking thank you. But I did really like Igby Goes Down, and thought it had the kind of spirit that a Catcher film would need.

Not sure how it would hold up today. Haven't seen it since way back, but I definitely loved it at the time.

igby is catcher, just reworked. it's not an homage, it's the same blueprint, just names and details changed to protect the innocent and themes updated for our century. just like grizzly and piranha aren't homages to jaws but as close as you can get without plagiarism charges.