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Ace_Spade's Replies
I think we completely disagree on this. I think there are great films in every era. There are certainly things about different eras that I miss or that I think we did better at that time, but there's still a lot of wonderful cinema out there.
They still make really, really great movies. Although, they aren't really the big promoted ones. There's a bunch of dull, indiscernible superhero junk, lazy CGI kids' movies, and mediocre streaming movies flopping around eating up a lot of commercial time while invested media giants desperately push them, but if you poke a little, you can find great stuff.
Nosferatu is a feast; the Dune films; Everything, Everywhere, All At Once; Babylon; The Green Knight; Arrival; The Tragedy of Macbeth - and those are just some of the films I've watched and really enjoyed. There are a bunch more I've loved, and still more that I've heard great things about but haven't yet seen.
There are always great movies.
I obviously think it's wonderful, so I hope you check it out and love it.
Yeah. It's two people parting, but having this acknowledgement between them that their time in Japan was special and always will be. They probably won't see each other again, but they'll always have each other.
Yeah, if a film can't stick the ending, it loses a lot of points. Funny, I'm not usually a fan of things like the unknown whisper - these key secrets deliberately kept from the audience - but it kinda works here. Lost in Translation pulls it off, I think. I don't know exactly why it gets away with it, but it does. Maybe it's the performances by Bill and Scarlett - we feel what was said, so we don't need to hear it.
That's exactly how I feel about it. I think this is one of the qualities that sends it over the top as a magnificent work of art. It has many possibilities of connection and it grows and becomes richer with each viewing.
It looked pretty cool, but the BBs were what sent it over the top. I think they were glow-in-the-dark or something - looked like tracer rounds.
This or Match Point for me. Although, I also really like Under the Skin and Her, but those would definitely take second and third place to this and Match Point. Oh, and Ghost World is great, too.
This is me, learning right now that Johansson was only 17 when she made this. Holy cow, is she a great actor. The character seems more like 20-22, and I figured Johansson was close (19 at least). The fact that she holds her own here makes me admire the performance even more.
It's a BB gun. In the script it says it's a BB gun, and in the clip I've linked below, you can hear Bill Murray shout something like, "like BBs!" or, "light BBs!" around 23 seconds in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPKO7C543ls
After Murray says that, Scarlett Johansson says something like, "They sting!" while laughing.
Sounds like the kind of universe Lea Thompson would be very interested in achieving.
Huh. Been ages since I've seen a dot-nu address...
That source just had the lyrics written out, but it still didn't really credit anything or have any primary sources. I did a bit of digging and found the Wookiepeedia page. The Wookiepeedia article has this scanned page (https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Ewok_Celebration?file=Ewok_Celebration.png) of sheet music that has credits. English lyrics are Joseph Williams and "Ewokese" lyrics are Ben Burtt. The page does appear to come from some official Star Wars song book. It looks like beginner sheet music for a "learn to play!" book or something.
The article also linked me to an interview with Ben Burtt where he says he wrote the lyrics, so that lends some credibility to the whole thing. It's unclear if they figured out what the words actually meant while composing the song or if they just made a song that sounded neat and then later on grafted a translation into the whole thing.
Where are you getting this? How official are these lyrics?
It's deliberately clunky so it has rhythms reminiscent of old kung fu movies. That's just my theory. But even parts like the overly-melodramatic way Elle says, "I killed your master!" sounds like it's right out of Hong Kong '70s cinema. Evocation of this kind of film - not to mention Westerns and samurai movies - is part of the charm and style of the Kill Bill flicks.
It conveys both the level of disappointment in the viewer and lets everybody know that the show was given a fair shake.
Definitely a little bit.
I agree with you that Blanchett + Blanchett are number one. There's more focus there than in any of the other scenic gestures. The performances by Cate Blanchett are also so good; a masterclass in acting. It does a great job of never giving us an easy relationship, either.
My next choice would be Cousins? with Coogan and Molina. This one is filled with great moments and some interesting table-turning. It's also a symphony of awkward comedy.
Third choice for me, Delirium with Bill Murray and the Wu Tang Clang. It's gleefully tongue-in-cheek (they *always* call him by his full name, "Bill Murray") It's an unexpected bit of comic delight.
Next, I'd probably put the "oddball" segments. Somewhere in California and Tesla Coil. You're right: Tesla Coil embraces strangeness in a great way. It's both over-the-top (all three characters - including the random cafe waiter - casually riffing on the intricacies of troubleshooting the components in a Tesla coil) and understated. I think it's a little smoother than Waits and Iggy Pop, which feels a bit stilted sometimes.
Renee is number six for me. Something about it is intriguing and almost tragic - the guy keeps trying to strike up a conversation. The fact that Renee is flipping through a gun magazine is weird, fun, and interesting, too.
Next, I'll go with Champagne. The two workin' Joes on break is kinda neat. I liked it. I don't entirely know why.
I'll slot in No Problems next. You're right: the ambiguity is neat. But I sort of forget about it. It's not as interesting to me.
Ninth place goes to the fun, but not quite as fun, segment Twins. There was something great about the way the twins interacted and told lies and half-truths. I didn't care as much about the "twin Elvis" theory part. There were also a lot of amusing (and I assume deliberate continuity errors.
At number ten, Wright and Benigni. They're quirky and funny, but they almost seem to be improvising and not always in a good way. They also - improv or planned - never seem to figure out how to best utilize Benigni's fantastic physical prowess and Wright's understated, quirky, non-sequitur style, let alone have them compliment each other. This clash sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, but it's a very uneven segment.
Finally, yeah, the two Italian guys and the kid who just doesn't speak for no good reason. This one rambles around, can't find its way, loops back on itself, and kinda runs out of ideas before it's half-way done. It's not a great segment.
I was going to say this. They are very different films, but both have that lackadaisical quality, almost floating, while two people discuss deep subjects - and sometimes odd, quirky, or silly subjects - over food/drink. Yeah, MDWA is definitely close to C&C.
Perhaps because of Coogan, perhaps because of the blurring of reality with script, or because of the celebrities sort-of being themselves, I also saw a bit of "The Trip to Italy" present in C&C.
Oh, yes, absolutely. Sorry - just to clarify - I didn't mean to imply that it's a conspiracy or anti-straight men, just that it's an underlying factor in the selection of fashion models. The only time this is really relevant is when heterosexual men are blamed for pressuring women into being skinny when the bracket of "attractive woman" is actually much, much wider for straight guys, who will find a lot of different body types attractive - whereas the fashion industry/beauty magazines promote a specific kind of woman to - as you rightly point out - highlight and sell clothing.
So, yes, no conspiracy, no disrespect or blame placed on women or gay men or even the fashion industry - just saying that it is what it is and there is this important element that gets overlooked.
Somebody once pointed out to me that women and gay men make up a large proportion of the fashion industry and then pointed out that a lot of models are rail-thin without a lot of the curves that hetero guys find seductive and it has coloured my perception of model selection ever since.