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| gromit |
 Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2017 9:21 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Hackman is the panicky one who does use up too much oxygen by being a doofus. But it's the commander who leaves so the other two can use the dwindling oxygen. I liked that part, as the commander says he's going to try to fix the thruster or whatever and goes outside the ship to die. Like in those Antarctic tales where food is running out, and one guy says he's going outside for a short walk, and self-sacrificingly disappears into the blizzard.
Unfortunately, most of the hypoxia scenes are not well-acted or well-handled. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2017 11:54 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Watched a very interesting bittersweet film, A Special Day (1977).
It's the day in 1938 that Hitler comes to Italy to cement his partnership with Mussolini. Everyone goes to the big fascist parade, except Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni -- both playing against type -- and a busybody concierge. In a hulking apartment complex they meet by accident, and ti becomes a special day for them as well. There's one more layer to the title, but that refers to the end and would require spoilers.
It's a low key film. Loren is a beaten-down housewife with a half-dozen kids and a loutish husband. Mastroianni is a type of nonconformist under threat from the fascist regime. the whole film takes place in a giant apartment complex, with the fascist parade echoing in the air. For the most part, everything is gray and drab.
It's a smart, sensitive film, with some nice small touches of humor.
I liked how we start off following Loren and she seems put-upon and having a tough go of things, and only gradually do we realize that MM in fact has it worse. It also makes it clear that fascism has an ugly side without any of the characters being opposed to it. Loren's housewife is caught up in the fascist wave, while MM simply says that he isn't anti-fascist, but fascism is ant-him.
Definitely recommended, when your in the mood for a minor key minor classic. Released by Criterion a year or so ago. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2017 2:51 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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Synecdoche New York, Barton Fink and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are three of the greatest movies ever made!
If that doesn't smoke billy out of hiding nothing will. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2017 3:18 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6945
Location: Black Hills
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 10:07 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6945
Location: Black Hills
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| Mere shadow puppet shows compared to the masterpiece that is Torn Curtain! Without question, the greatest brainchild of the ovophobic maestro of cinema. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 8:12 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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| Hitchcock is overrated. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 9:05 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6945
Location: Black Hills
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If Weeds is not in a coma, then we are dead men.
Does anyone have FB and know how to "ping" Billyweeds, or whatever TF they do on FB?
I am actually starting to be a bit worried. If he departs for a couple months, he usually posts something here like "If you all are going to be in Reykjavik this summer, stop in and see me in the Icelandic revival of Oh, Calcutta...."
It's hard to define the Weedster - moderator, mascot, figurehead, shameless extrovert - he defies easy labeling, but I do know he is very much the spirit of Third Eye Film and the subtle drop in barometric pressure I feel should only be the melancholy perturbations of my tormented imagination and nothing more. Tell me, O Muse, that he will drop by any minute now.... |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 11:32 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12890
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| Billy posts regularly on Facebook. He doesn't like Trump. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 8:54 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6945
Location: Black Hills
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I never suspected. Does he not want to make America great again? Has he no regard for the hungry children of coal miners, or the oppressed white male?
Does he post reviews of recent films there now? |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| knox |
| Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 6:53 pm |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1245
Location: St. Louis
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Guy has a birthday dinner pic on his public page, but that guy can't be 77 years old. If that's the case, then well done, sir. Rock on!
I check out reviews here, FTtT, and hope Mr. Weeden will continue to contribute. Gromit, Syd, Ghulam, Bart all write short reviews, each with particular distinct focuses (foci?), but Weed provides the insider's eye, so if he's moving on, then that's a loss for the site. |
Last edited by knox on Sat Aug 12, 2017 4:07 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2017 1:27 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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knox wrote:
I check out reviews here, FTtT, and hope Mr. Weeden will continue to contribute. Gromit, Syd, Ghulam, Bart all write short reviews, each with particular distinct focuses (foci?), but Weed provides the insider's eye, so if he's moving on, then that's a loss for the site.
Hey Billy, what does FTtT mean?
I skipped that when I first read Knox's post, then went back and it took a half minute before it clicked. Then again my allergies are killing me. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| pedersencr |
| Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2017 6:06 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 921
Location: New Orleans
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I'm very glad to see that Billyweeds has been spotted. He has been one of the people who has meant TEFF to me, even if I myself don't get here very much anymore.
But I see 'moving on' has been mentioned. Unfortunately, that seems to be the trend at several of the forums I am familiar with. And, cruelest cut of all, to Facebook! The social media do indeed seem to have sucked the oxygen out of discussion forums, across the board. One discussion forum I know doesn't even discuss anymore.
Times change, people change, forums change.
For myself, 'I don't get around much anymore' but I'm trying to catch up.
Very best to you all.
Especially Billyweeds |
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What we know is not what we think |
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| knox |
| Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2017 4:06 pm |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1245
Location: St. Louis
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People move on, esp creative people, who tend to be at war with electronic media when said media start to take over their free time. I notice the actor/performer types here - Marc, Brownstone, Weeds, Joe - have all vamoosed. There's only so many hours in a day, and if you want to hone an art, you have to sacrifice things. So, when I reflect on it, I can honor their absence.
PS - I am deleting my open reg advice from earlier. I know that "meta" crap is just annoying to regulars. If you wanted the tweak, you woulda done it by now. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 10:56 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| I get Billy's Facebook notifications too, and he's been pretty busy. When one is past 70 it's good to have work to do--at 73, I'm still working from home, but not sure how long things will continue now that our Time Inc. division has lost our major account, the Ford magazine. However, I'm pretty sure I'm their lowest-paid copy editor/proofreader, so I should be the last one they let go. Maybe. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2017 12:36 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6945
Location: Black Hills
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My earlier (tongue-in-cheek) comments aside, I felt it might be as Knox outlined. And you confirmed, Carro. A creative person at work is a cause for celebration (don't know if Kafka would have agreed with that, but NM....) Even at the tender age of 61, I find myself paring back Net time some, just from eye strain. (and I love the new Blue Filter thing that Windows 10-plus offers for the swollen eyeball).
Knox, I saw your open regn. stuff before you deleted, you sneaky bahstid. I guess one minus to that is that 3rd Eye was a "diaspora" website, so its historical foundation was it being a haven for refugees from the old NYT forums. If newbies flood in who aren't former NYT forumites, then there's the loss of that historical (heh) identity and panic among the old guard. Plus no one hangs around enough to pick off all the spam we'd get. All that aside, it's a great idea. Fresh blood. I'm getting mine freshened this fall, at a clinic in Switzerland. |
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