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gromit
Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2019 7:05 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
I saw American Factory and wrote up a bit about it elsewhere. I'll re-post that here below.

To summarize: the access the filmmakers have to the factory, workers and even head of the company is impressive. It's mostly a culture clash film taking place in a glass factory in Ohio, with a unionization drive (or really an anti-unionization drive, as the company is dead set against having a union).

You have to marvel at the Chinese thinking they can just import their work methods and model to the US and things will go smoothly. Of course since globalization, US workers are competing with Chinese and Indonesian workers etc, so wages are pretty low ($12/hr) and factory work is no longer a pathway to the middle class, but just a repetitive grind that hopefully pays the rent. The GM plant, which closed and FuYao Glass took over some years later, was paying nearly $30/hr. So unsurprisingly you're not going to get highly motivated or skilled US workers, whereas in China, factory work is a step into the middle class for rural farmers.

It's a good film. The culture clash. The union/anti-union drive. I thought the music score was too loud and intrusive. And there could have been more depth/detail about some issues. For example, were there safety violations or serious injuries at FuYao? We get an anecdotal hint of some, but no follow-up or details.

Here's Edelstein's full review which I just read. He gets some things right and is a little fuzzy on others. Yes, the Chinese factory song is about transparency because they make automotive glass. Edelstein laughs at commie drones singing about transparency, but the intended secondary meaning is global transparency -- globalization, which made these Chinese wealthy and in which the joke is on us. And if you want to unearth political irony, here's a film from Obama, the self-professed champion of transparency, who droned to death thousands in various countries, couldn't manage to close or really change Guantanamo, went after whistleblowers, etc.

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billyweeds
Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2019 8:32 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
bartist wrote:
Marriage Story seemed pretty real, even if the fracturing couple moved in circles most of us don't. The film is certainly a showcase of naturalistic acting, and (my earlier kvetching about Netflix aside) deserving of The Academy's attention. I'm coming around to my daughter's and her friend's view that Adam Driver is an acting god. Laura Dern and ScarJo also amazing.


Though I agree Adam Driver is #1 in the movie, Alan Alda, whom you did not mention, is perhaps #2. He is so convincing at first as a "mensch" that SPOILER ALERT the subsequent revelation that he's just as awful in his own way as Dern and Liotta are in theirs comes as a big surprise. Alda is an acting god on his own. As are the amazingly versatile Dern (she plays everything from saint to horror and makes it work) and the perennially underrated Liotta (whose performance in "Goodfellas" deserved the Oscar and was not even nominated).
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gromit
Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 6:38 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
So i found the last Dvd store still extant in Shanghai.
While that isn't likely to be true, it's certainly what it felt like.
The irony is this is the first Dvd store I ever shopped at, say 2 decades ago, and I'm pretty sure I used to buy VCD's there. It's just across the street from where I used to live and not much more than 2 blocks form where I am now, but it's tucked down an alleyway and you sort of need to be in the know to find it.

With those prelims out of the way, I picked up a handful of films:
The Lighthouse
Yesterday
Under the Silver Lake
Uncut Gems
Once Upon a Time in ... Billy's Favorite Movie

Some other items that looked interesting:
Norman
Rocketman
Sori (doc on abused Indian women?)
Tower - an animated film about the Texas Tower shooting

Any thoughts on those?

There was one other that looked potentially good whose title escapes me.
When you flip through say 400+ films in 15 minutes it's hard to remember a thing. I used to sometimes write down titles. probably should just take a photo. Lucky I remembered those 4 ...

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billyweeds
Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 8:15 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
gromit wrote:
So i found the last Dvd store still extant in Shanghai.
While that isn't likely to be true, it's certainly what it felt like.
The irony is this is the first Dvd store I ever shopped at, say 2 decades ago, and I'm pretty sure I used to buy VCD's there. It's just across the street from where I used to live and not much more than 2 blocks form where I am now, but it's tucked down an alleyway and you sort of need to be in the know to find it.

With those prelims out of the way, I picked up a handful of films:
The Lighthouse
Yesterday
Under the Silver Lake
Uncut Gems
Once Upon a Time in ... Billy's Favorite Movie

Some other items that looked interesting:
Norman
Rocketman
Sori (doc on abused Indian women?)
Tower - an animated film about the Texas Tower shooting

Any thoughts on those?

There was one other that looked potentially good whose title escapes me.
When you flip through say 400+ films in 15 minutes it's hard to remember a thing. I used to sometimes write down titles. probably should just take a photo. Lucky I remembered those 4 ...


The only ones I've seen besides my favorite are "Uncut Gems" (my #2 movie of 2019, absolutely terrific with a great lead performance by Adam Sandler) and "Rocketman" (good lead performance but cliche-ridden to the max).
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Syd
Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 8:21 am Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
I really disliked "Uncut Gems," and agreed with his wife that Howie's the most annoying person she ever met. I seem to be in the minority, so maybe it just rubbed me the wrong way. Haven't seen any of the others except for "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," which has some extraordinary scenes but takes a long time to get going. Still well worth seeing.

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billyweeds
Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 8:58 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
Syd wrote:
I really disliked "Uncut Gems," and agreed with his wife that Howie's the most annoying person she ever met. I seem to be in the minority, so maybe it just rubbed me the wrong way. Haven't seen any of the others except for "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," which has some extraordinary scenes but takes a long time to get going. Still well worth seeing.


Howie is definitely annoying but as played by Sandler he's the most vivid depiction of gambling addiction ever put on film--and maybe the most vivid depiction of addiction, period, rivaled only by Michael Keaton in "Clean and Sober." So to say he's annoying is to praise Sandler's selfless work.

As for OUATIH the leisurely pace was part and parcel of the greatness of the film. JMO, but a strong one, as I think you know.
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Syd
Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 7:19 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
I liked the new version of Little Women, which has a very good cast including Saoirse Ronan as Jo, Emma Watson as Meg, Laura Dern as Marmee, and Louis Garrel as Professor Bhaer. Timothée Chalamet is Laurie and I had a feeling that he was too young for any of the Marsh sisters, including Amy. The story's told non-linearly, which can get confusing, but does help develop the relationship between Amy and Jo and their final loves. Meg's love isn't as well developed and kind of disappears. (He was handled better in the 1994 Winona Ryder version.) I've seen the 1933 version with Katharine Hepburn and the 1994 version, and like all three.

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gromit
Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 7:25 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
I didn't engage much with Under the Silver Lake. It's kind of a slacker version of Inherent Vice. A shaggy mystery film where our anti-hero starts looking for clues in pop music songs and nostalgic toys (Nintendo and cereal). I guess it aspires to be Mulholland Drive.

But it all just meanders and adds up to very little. One problem is the lead character is rather annoying while trying to act cute. And somehow beds great looking girls since this is LA. There's a lot of gratuitous breasts in there as well. Plus a lot of borrowing from other films and filmmakers, and sometimes these references are made overtly. In case you don't catch on, most characters live in apartments with framed classic movie posters on the walls. A lot of the film is clearly phony and silly, relying on red herrings and misdirections and dead ends -- so that I felt disengaged and remote, just watching random scenes unfold.

The filmmaker has some talent and a few scenes play well, and the music is quite well-integrated, but overall the film plays out like a pointless mishmash.

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Syd
Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 8:56 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
Spent the last 11 days of December catching up on movies. (Now I'll complain there are no new movies I want to see.). So (on a scale of 1 - 10)

Jumanji: The Next Level: 7 of 10. Not as strong as "Welcome to the Jungle," but still a lot of fun. Still, the four characters in the first one were a lot more interesting.

Dark Waters: 8 of 10

Richard Jewell: 9 of 10. One of the best movies of the year.

Spies in Disguise: 7 of 10. Sometimes I want to see a movie that is just plain fun. I hope there's a sequel.

Bombshell: 6 of 10. Nicely acted and properly strident. I didn't enjoy it much as I might have because the the theatre had the volume way up and it wasn't high quality. Also got confused with all the blondes.

Uncut Gems: 3 of 10.

The Irishman: 4 of 10. Overlong by at least an hour, sluggishly paced, and, frankly, not all that interesting.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: 7 of 10. I enjoyed it a lot, but it was a bit sloppy, and how the hell were people and animals breathing on the surface of a spacecraft? Loved the reveal of Rey's ancestry.

Little Women: 8 of 10. Should get a bunch of Oscar nominations for technical excellence. And much better than Lady Bird.

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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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gromit
Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 10:35 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
Once Upon a Time in ... H-wood.

I thought this was entirely okay.
The casting is a bit odd. Would we care about and want to watch these two guys live their somewhat ordinary LA lives if they weren't played by charismatic actors Pitt and DiCaprio. That casting somewhat undercuts the premise that these are faded guys on a downward trajectory, because on one level we know they're really not. (not an uncommon movie cheat, btw)

The Spahn Ranch scene was interesting because we don't really know what's going on or how much danger there is. I was aware that there was a Manson Family killing at Spahn Ranch prior to their more infamous spree, which heightened things for me.

The film creates a period but then the radio with its commercials and even the music got tiresome. Maybe it's just me since I live in a very ad-free world of my own creation -- I don't watch Tv at all, I don't go to the movies where thsi century they show ads, I use an adblocker on my browser etc. And I have an aversion to talk on the radio, which certainly includes commercials. I did like the idea of showing how much radio was ubiquitous back then, but in practice it got tiresome for me.

Then there's the ending which is weird and awfully problematic.
SPOILAGE Set to Commence:

I don't have trouble with an alternatehistory. The Manson family members could have gone to the wrong home or just changed their mind and chose an easier target (or chose Rick Dalton's house since he acts like a jerk to them). It's even interesting that Pitt's stunt man is tripping on LSD provided earlier by a Manson chick. But then the cartoonish violence, the comedy mixed with ultra-violence is extremely weird. Suddenly the Manson killers are buffoons and get grotesquely wiped out in an orgy of Hollywood violence (underscored by the flamethrower prop).

Not sure what to make of that, but it took me out of the film in many ways. Then when Rick meets Sharon Tate, all I could think of was how this was possibly Rick's break, rather than that Tate was still alive and would have her baby etc. I guess Tarantino was using film magic to change reality and transforming the Manson ultra-violence into Hollywood violence where the big guys are on receiving end. But for what purpose and are we still enjoying and rooting for such righteous violence? It doesn't seem we are meant to feel repulsed by the repulsive violence.

In any case, I thought the film was okay, watchable, meandering, a nice period piece but nothing more, with strange violence and tonal shift tacked on. I came away much like I have with every other Tarantino film. It's watchable, fine enough, a bit boring at times, somewhat pointless, and I don't like the violence. As of now, I have no idea why anyone would rave about this film. At least I see the possible allure of Pulp Fiction. Guess i'll have to read around why folks love this film.

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billyweeds
Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 11:06 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
gromit--Well, unless you've been living under a rock and/or haven't been reading my posts, you're aware that "Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood" is not only my favorite film of the past 20 years but also resides on my all-time top-ten list. But rather than try to elucidate the manifold and myriad reasons for my adoration, which probably wouldn't make sense to you anyway, I'm going to post this link to a story by a blogger who doesn't even think this is Tarantino's best movie but says it's the one he'll be rewatching more than any other. (IMO it's by far QT's best, but that doesn't really matter.) Just read the article. Here 'tis.

https://tinyurl.com/vvrn8mx


Last edited by billyweeds on Wed Jan 01, 2020 1:29 pm; edited 1 time in total
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gromit
Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 1:24 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
Well, looks like China now blocks tinyurl.
I didn't know that. I need to get a new proxy server, as the past month China has cut off my previous free proxy. Guess I'll need to start paying for a VPN.

Kind of odd that I watched back to back shaggy meandering LA based films.

I think my overall impression is that Tarantino is better at constructing scenes rather than whole films. And that his concerns and mine don't converge much.

The scene with the precocious 8 year old actress was interesting. Maybe a bit too long and mannered, but I like what was going on there, especially the way the paperback gets a hold of Rick Dalton once he starts thinking about it and how it relates to his life.

I think that scene and the Spahn Ranch were the two scenes I liked/liked best from the film.

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billyweeds
Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 1:28 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
gromit wrote:
Well, looks like China now blocks tinyurl.
I didn't know that. I need to get a new proxy server, as the past month China has cut off my previous free proxy. Guess I'll need to start paying for a VPN.

Kind of odd that I watched back to back shaggy meandering LA based films.

I think my overall impression is that Tarantino is better at constructing scenes rather than whole films. And that his concerns and mine don't converge much.

The scene with the precocious 8 year old actress was interesting. Maybe a bit too long and mannered, but I like what was going on there, especially the way the paperback gets a hold of Rick Dalton once he starts thinking about it and how it relates to his life.

I think that scene and the Spahn Ranch were the two scenes I liked/liked best from the film.


That's weird about blocking tinyurl. I'll link you to the original url. Here.

https://slumshollywood.blogspot.com/2019/09/once-upon-time-in-hollywood-and-joy-of.html?fbclid=IwAR3lQBFYUMAaB5f1ncu-FkZsBjshQLfmov03U7Ak-Mw3FgbAZnD60C6EObI
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bartist
Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 2:44 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Tin Yurl gets blocked because keyword algorithms designed to detect subversive words are thwarted by the enigma of random alphanumeric strings.

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bartist
Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 2:58 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Never been much excited about Tarantino, find him too vignettish and violence obsessed, but I did like Once upon. Pitt, Qualley, and Robbie turned in such arresting perfs that it kind of smoothed any plot problems I might have had. I still don't get into people set aflame or beaten to pulps, no matter how bad they're presented to be.

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