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bartist
Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2021 9:06 am Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Hey, fellow 3rd Eyeballers....

Can we do a roll call, see who's still looking in here? I notice Weeds hasn't posted here since late May, and a couple others have mostly vanished. If it's down to a couple members, might it be time for someone who has access to Marc to let him know? Someone's paying bills, and they might want it to be for more than tumbleweeds rolling through and doors creaking in the wind.

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gromit
Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2021 4:29 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
If you posted properly in the Lobby, likely thousands of our many members would respond ...

Seriously, Syd has wanted to keep this place running.
I will post more here when I get a new Dvd player.
But since they don't really sell Dvd's here I guess I need to figure out a streaming option to see any recent films.

And since they don't actually sell DVD machines in stores anymore, and I haven't mastered online shopping in Chinese, I've put off bothering a friend to help me buy a Dvd player for almost 2 years now. My old old machine plays maybe 50% of my old discs, but since I don't know where the remote control is I can only play discs that start up and are in English (I can't change the language). Issues ...

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bartist
Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2021 10:23 am Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
https://www.chinaexpatsociety.com/expat-life/watch-foreign-tv-shows-in-china

Don't know if this would help. Amazon prime would give you a lot of recent movies.

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carrobin
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2021 1:54 am Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 7795 Location: NYC
I'm still hanging in, but since I no longer seem to get Third Eye in my inbox, I have to look it up whenever it crosses my mind to check on the latest entries. And I'm not seeing much new lately, except the TV news, which I thought would lose some of its magnetism when the Previous POTUS was off the scene, but somehow, he just won't go off the scene...and it's hard to break the Rachel Maddow habit anyway. I don't even get around to books much these days, although I'm now reading "Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore" on my Nook. Why is it that working from home takes so much more time than working at an office, though it pays so much less? I don't even have time for Netflix these days.
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Syd
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2021 7:19 am Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
I was watching the Olympics for two weeks. I saw Onward on Saturday, and liked it but not as much as Soul; more like Monsters, Inc. or A Bug's Life. We have two brothers in a place where beings like elves and centaurs still live but the use of magic has fallen into abeyance because mechanical devices were more reliable, which produced our world. Two elves, Ian and his older brother Barley lost their father shortly before Ian was born, but on Ian's sixteen birthday receive a wizard's staff with a Phoenix Jewel and a spell to bring back their father for a day. However, the spell only brings back the bottom half of their father (but apparently his awareness), and Barley, who is heavily into D&D type gaming (which here is based on past reality) knows what that means: a Quest. Their mother, worried about their safety, and her boyfriend, a well-meaning piece chief who is a centaur, follow. Ian shows the ability to cast magic, while Barley knows the spells, so we have a buddy comedy. Since Ian is inexperienced and Barley is fearless and somewhat of an oaf, misadventures ensue, and they're facing a firm deadline at sunset.

Note, there are no villains here, not even the centaur cop, just grown-ups. I liked these characters, although the father doesn't have much of a personality since he's topless. And there's a questing manticore, which isn't something I've seen before.

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bartist
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2021 11:52 am Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
carrobin wrote:
I'm still hanging in, but since I no longer seem to get Third Eye in my inbox, I have to look it up whenever it crosses my mind to check on the latest entries. And I'm not seeing much new lately, except the TV news, which I thought would lose some of its magnetism when the Previous POTUS was off the scene, but somehow, he just won't go off the scene...and it's hard to break the Rachel Maddow habit anyway. I don't even get around to books much these days, although I'm now reading "Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore" on my Nook. Why is it that working from home takes so much more time than working at an office, though it pays so much less? I don't even have time for Netflix these days.


The library edition of Mr Penumbra I read had a cover that glowed in the dark. It was kind of eerie, because I wasn't expecting that when I popped an eye open around 2 am (the cat was really pissed about an empty food bowl). I thought at first a streetlight was somehow hitting the cover, but no, it was phosphorescent ink. The book was okay, it seemed kind of like a YA novel in some respects, where you know everything's going to resolve okay and the characters can be a little underdeveloped.

The problem with working at home is, maybe, the less-defined stopping point?

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bartist
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2021 12:05 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Syd wrote:
We have two brothers in a place where beings like elves and centaurs still live but the use of magic has fallen into abeyance because mechanical devices were more reliable, which produced our world. Two elves, Ian and his older brother Barley...


I've never been into fantasy (as I've maybe mentioned here), so it may be a good sign of expanding boundaries that I went with the sigboth to "The Green Knight" and enjoyed it immensely. It's almost an art film, really, taking its time with its settings and situations, and capturing that unbathed quality of medieval times. It is an indication of the film's quality and capturing of the Arthurian themes and moods that not once (well hardly at all) did any quotes from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" pop into my head.

Now I must go find a shrubbery....

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bartist
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:11 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
...

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gromit
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2021 3:00 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
I hope everybody has seen The Great Santini, a 1979 film with Robert Duvall as a domineering marine pilot father. I rewatch it every 5 to 10 years and always enjoy it. Father-son conflict, racism, basketball -- what more could you want (okay, maybe cats). Just a powerful story, and well put together film.
It captures the 50's era well, and is a bit more artistic than I recalled.

I seem to categorize Great Santini along with And Justice For All, another 1979 film, with a star at the center, and plenty of interesting side characters and plot details. Both immerse us in a specific world. The warts-and-all 70's aesthetic works well for both. These are reasonably well-known films, but not as highly praised as I think they deserve. To me, these are classics I revisit often. I've probably seen Santini and Justice close to 10x each!

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bartist
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2021 7:52 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Both great movies, from a sort of mini golden age of 70s realism, with iconic scenes. Not sure I could begin to count the number of hommages, of various form, to the basketball You-gonna-cry scene in TGS. Ditto the You're Outta Order scene in AJFA. TGS probably my favorite of those two, and I tend to think of Duvall as one of the underrated great actors who people should be rewatching the way they do any of the heavyweights.

Sometimes wonder what happened to Mike O'Keeffe, who seemed like an up and coming actor in Caddyshack and Santini, then never saw him again.

Have family members who are King of the Hill fans, which is how I know this trivium that Hank Hill rented The Great Santini 23 times. When you said 10x each, I remembered this period when my kids were still at home and I headed to a video store (remember those, America?) and someone would ask me "Are you going to rent The Great Santini again?" It became a running joke, on the basis of my renting it, what, TWICE, and the airing of the KotH episode.

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Syd
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2021 8:41 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
St. Trinian's: The Legend of Fritton's Gold: remarkably silly and way too frenetic, so I can understand why it got panned by critics, but I laughed quite a few times, and you don't often see Rupert Everett playing the headmistress of a girl's school (originally juvenile delinquents, but toned down very slightly). It suffered a bit since I hadn't seen the first of the reboots, but all in all it's a remarkably faithful study of 21st Century English education, which includes classes in medieval warfare and Saturday exorcism classes. A third movie has been in developer's hell for twelve years, which is probably a good thing.

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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 Aug 25, 2021 10:31 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
Bouncing the basketball off his son's head to induce tears is crazy behavior.
But I like the follow up where Bull Meechem practices his hoop skills in the rain at night, so he can avenge his defeat next time. It's that progression of a few levels of demented behavior I really like. #1 try to cheat his son out of victory; 2) try to humiliate and belittle his son to compensate for his own vulnerability/failure 3) go an extra insane mile to make sure he doesn't lose again. And of course this is just an intra-family driveway basketball game.

My brother (and father) are controlling/domineering personalities. Everyone has to abide by their mood. They can't stand to be wrong. Can't stand to lose. My brother is 3 years older, so through most of our childhood, he could beat me at sports, games. I remember one time I finally beat him at ping pong and he cursed and threw his paddle at me. Such behavior seemed so extreme and bizarre to me. You'd think after winning the previous hundred plus games, you could be a gracious loser of one game.

Later, I wouldn't exactly lose on purpose, but if I was heading towards a possible win, say at pool or ping pong, I'd go in for an extra degree of difficulty, trying trickier shots than necessary. I figured it didn't really matter to me if I won or not, and was obviously a big point of pride for my brother. Besides, if I won, then he'd curse and rage and wouldn't play anymore. And usually I'd prefer to keep playing.

The funny thing is my father and brother have trouble getting along, both getting on each other nerves. It's because they are both exactly the same. But neither agrees with that assessment, and they both insist that they are not alike at all. It's wondrous how little self-awareness some people possess.


Last edited by gromit on Thu Aug 26, 2021 3:12 pm; edited 1 time in total

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bartist
Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2021 2:13 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Thanks, that was one of those posts where the reader is reminded how we connect with films on a personal level. I remember my first viewing of "Lebowski" drew me in partly because I had an uncle I was close to (and sadly, died when I was 23, way too early) who the Dude reminded me of. Or "Woman of the Year, " where Kate Hepburn seemed to provide a window into my mother's years (before I existed) as a journalist. Kind of drops the ball at the end, though, tossing out witty farce in favor of convention.

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carrobin
Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2021 2:16 am Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 7795 Location: NYC
I wonder if Kate would have demanded a different end of "Woman of the Year" if her costar had been anyone but Spencer.

Although "No Highway in the Sky" has been on TV numerous times, I always skipped it, but today I ran across it on the Movies Channel and was intrigued by the scene in the plane, with the passengers in their seats with little tables for their coffee and sandwiches, room to roam around, and big windows--more like train cars than what we're used to now. And Glynis Johns and Marlene Dietrich? I had to watch it through, of course. It was a pretty good flick, with a very satisfying ending.
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gromit
Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2021 1:24 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
Continuing on a '70's binge.
Dog Day Afternoon. Just great stuff. I found myself focusing on the comedy/black comedy:
- "Happy Birthday, Leon!"
- "Don't worry Ma, I've got everything under control"
- "Wyoming"
- "Attica!"

The Harder They Come.
Is there a better original soundtrack anywhere?
And it's just such a great time capsule of Jamaica.
I like how Jimmy Cliff keeps escaping police and bullets on his bicycle.
A bicycle he's fixed up and has a near death-brawl over at one point.
(I don't know why but I kept thinking of Haiti, not Jamaica for some reason, maybe just how much Haiti has been in the news and how poor and African Jamaica appears in the film).
I didn't have subtitles, so missed a fair amount of dialog and didn't really matter. I like how the glamour of being an outlaw comes directly from the movies. And we get Ivan posing for photos in his cool clothes and guns in hand. Gotta like Jimmy Cliff's outfits, especially the yellow hat ...

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