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Befade
Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2020 6:26 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 3784 Location: AZ
I read that she had attended 11 executions. I guess you’re presupposing that she was pro capital punishment in the beginning. It’s something I can’t fathom......seeing one inmate die would repulse me.

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billyweeds
Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2020 11:35 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
Wow, what a movie. The new version of "The Invisible Man" is suspenseful almost from first frame to last, and Elisabeth Moss even tops herself in the lead role--well, "lead role" is an understatement because it's practically a one-woman show. But the supporting cast is perfect as well. Leigh Whannell ("Saw") wrote and directed, and until I found out he was a man I would have sworn this movie was written and directed by a woman, because I've seldom seen such a strong feminist statement--certainly not in the horror genre in which this gem belongs. Prepare yourself for non-stop heart-in-the-throat thrills AND a great performance from a great actor.
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bartist
Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2020 12:44 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
You had me at "Elisabeth Moss." No clod rains on her talent!

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gromit
Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2020 11:42 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
Interesting. First time I've heard of that.

I caught Rocketman on the back of an airplane seat. Despite all the razzle that they tried to deploy, it felt rather perfunctory and bland. A lot of the techniques were borrowed from other films, and I think the problem is that it never achieves a unifying tone or style. It's just a mishmash of arty/quirky styles tossed together*. I also thought the framing device (which also pops back in once or twice) was unconvincing and boring. The costumes were pretty terrific. They nailed that (then drew attention to it throughout the credits).
I wasn't bored, but never got too interested either.


* a bit of a musical; some talking to your childhood self; Birdman-style costumed interludes at an alcohol counseling session; concert and costume montages, etc.

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bartist
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2020 12:16 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Rocketman was better in the theater. By that I mean that big screen and sound tends to paper over some cracks in overall production. I think you spotted the cracks pretty well. It was better than the Freddie Mercury movie - maybe it helps if the target is still alive...

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gromit
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2020 3:27 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
Yeah, I felt Rocketman would work better on a large screen with large sound. On headphones I constantly had to turn down the sound for the musical numbers and turn it back up for the dialogue scenes. Which distracted me somewhat from the film.

I liked the Queen film better, I think. Because the lead performance of FredMerc was better. But they were kinda the same. I didn't like how the band Queen were portrayed as blameless and smart guys who stood up to their imploding leader.

One thing that didn't work for me was that the first Elton John number was Sat Night is Allright for Fighting* a song I always thought was kinda dopey. They needed to hook you in with the first number, and didn't for me.

* It's kind of a proto-Village People song, now that I think about it.


Last edited by gromit on Wed Mar 04, 2020 1:05 pm; edited 1 time in total

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bartist
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2020 12:55 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
During my teens (late sixties thru mid-70s), SNIARFF received such intensive airplay (esp. on Saturday nights, oddly enough) that I got pretty tired of it. Something about it doesn't hold up, which I could say about half of John's oeuvre. Then came the late 70s and local FM stations were dominated by Bob Seger, who I never really got tired of. Somehow, during that extension of adolescence that is American college years, Bob Seger's wondrous voice conveys the right note of yearning.

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billyweeds
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2020 2:35 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
bartist wrote:
During my teens (late sixties thru mid-70s), SNIARFF received such intensive airplay (esp. on Saturday nights, oddly enough) that I got pretty tired of it. Something about it doesn't hold up, which I could say about half of John's oeuvre. Then came the late 70s and local FM stations were dominated by Bob Seger, who I never really got tired of. Somehow, during that extension of adolescence that is American college years, Bob Seger's wondrous voice conveys the right note of yearning.


I know just what you mean. I really like Elton John's early work, but Seger is much more to my liking.
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billyweeds
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2020 2:42 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
bartist wrote:
You had me at "Elisabeth Moss." No clod rains on her talent!


Ewwww. Crude reigns!
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billyweeds
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2020 2:43 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
gromit wrote:
Interesting. First time I've heard of that.

I caught Rocketman on the back of an airplane seat. Despite all the razzle that they tried to deploy, it felt rather perfunctory and bland. A lot of the techniques were borrowed from other films, and I think the problem is that it never achieves a unifying tone or style. It's just a mishmash of arty/quirky styles tossed together*. I also thought the framing device (which also pops back in once or twice) was unconvincing and boring. The costumes were pretty terrific. They nailed that (then drew attention to it throughout the credits).
I wasn't bored, but never got too interested either.


* a bit of a musical; some talking to your childhood self; Birdman-style costumed interludes at an alcohol counseling session; concert and costume montages, etc.


Agree completely. Pretty much hated this movie, though not nearly as much as I hated the Mercury debacle.
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gromit
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2020 8:10 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
It's really the same story. British working class kid growing up in the conservative late 50's/early 60's has musical talent, family issues, is gay, becomes a flamboyant international star, devolves into alcohol/drug abuse. One has a band, the other a songwriting partner and managers. Roll credits.

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billyweeds
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2020 3:27 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
gromit wrote:
It's really the same story. British working class kid growing up in the conservative late 50's/early 60's has musical talent, family issues, is gay, becomes a flamboyant international star, devolves into alcohol/drug abuse. One has a band, the other a songwriting partner and managers. Roll credits.


One dies, one doesn't. That's practically the only difference.
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gromit
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2020 6:45 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
I also saw the first half of The Last Black Man in San Francisco.
It was on a 2 hour flight from Malta to Cyprus and I didn't notice the film was available until halfway through the flight. Oddly our Air Malta flight which i assumed would be on a dinky plane turned out to be on a giant Emirates plane that was heading to Dubai after its island hopping. No idea where it originated.
Emirates had a nice selection of films.

I enjoyed the 46 minutes I saw of LBMinSF. It had a good sense of humor which made me laugh at times. A low key film with two out-of-step fellows fighting gentrification in their own idiosyncratic way. Not sure how it was going to sustain another 45 minutes, but sorry I wasn't able to catch the rest of it.

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gromit
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2020 11:09 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
I picked up a handful of films today:

JoJo Rabbit
Motherless Brooklyn
First Reformed
Where'd You Go Bernadette?

and
Soni, an Indian police procedural focusing on abused women.

So that oughta keep me off the viral streets at night.

Sidenote: This is the very last Dvd shop I know of.
It's actually the first shop I started buying Dvd's at, and even VCD's for a few years before that. Say 1997-99. It's across the street from my old apartment that I moved out of circa 2004. I'm pretty sure '99 is when I started switching to Dvd's.

Well, it's still run by the same guy, who back then was something like a 21 year old kid. He seemed somewhat desperate, probably a combination of streaming and coronavirus killing street traffic. He made a big effort to search around and dredged up a copy of 1st Reformed for me. Then he wanted me to add him to my wechat contacts, which I demurred. But then for paying he had me scan him to my contacts and then pay him -- I'm sure he had a store QR code I could have scanned directly. Seemed like he really needed customers and I imagine, the money. So at least I bought 5 Dvd's instead of my usual 1 or 2 the past few years.

As I was leaving, I asked and they had a sink with soap, so I washed my hands, after having touched maybe 400 dvd's covers. A somewhat odd experience.

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gromit
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2020 2:27 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
Where'd You Go Bernadette? is mostly a quirkfest that strains to be serious. It's rather overwritten and a bit clunky. Also, the minor problems of the highly overprivileged get a bit wearisome.

Actually I only managed half the film so far, as my super-old Dvd player wasn't able to manage the turn (to the dual layer). I'll give it another try, but not too concerned if I don't get to finish it. This would have made a decent airplane film, where you have a cruddy little screen and distractions. But I forgot to watch it on the plane.

Well, the 2nd half turned out to be a steady stream of disappointments. It's easy to see where this is all heading, almost becomes a sort of Disney happy-family, things-work-out type film, while people learn about themselves and grow.

It's a very conformist film about non-conformity. It's very careful to check all the proper liberal agenda boxes. An empowered black character. A competent Asian woman. But they seem too worry to much about avoiding stereotypes -- we can't make her too hyper-competent -- and heaven forbid any jokes anywhere near her character, that they have no idea what to with her. Really all the characters are just types and none believable.

Better off watching something like Running with Scissors, which is a quirky family affair and much better. I have a long-running vague family vacation idea of going to Antarctica, so I thought at least that part of the film -- much of the last 1/3 of the film -- and the scenery there, would hold my attention. But they went in for some cheesy/slick camera movements around the glaciers, and the hyper-safety/lack of fun was kind of discouraging.

Bernadette didn't do it for me. Watching the 1st half of the film on an airplane or cable wouldn't be terrible. They really should have played the 4 Tops song over the end credits...

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