for some reason the way I always heard it told was that d.w. griffith made intolerance as some kind of apology for accidentally making a 3 hour epic glorifying the kkk, even though that makes no sense, and of course the reality is he was really just another of these “actually the people being mean to me about being a racist shithead are the real intolerant ones if you think about it” clowns, and even then there were apologists bending backwards to put these people and their actions in the best possible light cause they made a movie they thought was impressive, because we’re in an unchanging, never ending groundhog day hell and people living their lives from start to finish with ultra hidef digital film equipment in hand at all times is making this fact more inescapable and is partly why everyone is being driven insane now
yeah learning that a) everyone knew Birth of a Nation was racist trash from the moment it released and b) Intolerance is the most anyone has ever committed to “NO, it is the children who are wrong” / “I’m not mad, I’m actually laughing” in film history really helped me realize how shitty the Culture truly is
Just about the exact same boat for me. There’s a few words that give me away, I say orange like AH-range, (and FLAH-rida). Dawg, water. “Did you eat?” comes out as “Dijeet?” if I’m speaking with someone casually.
Someone I met recently who is Palestinian and has spent large swaths of her 50+ years on earth traveling abroad just told me last week she thinks I have a remarkably neutral accent and asked if I was educated internationally.
wellman shows he’s a better filmmaker than scorsese by including bookeending disclaimers in the public enemy*
*lol this didn’t stop catholic psychos being granted twenty years of censor power over hollywood
Scorsese actually intended to start every movie he makes with a disclaimer that says “[Protagonist]* is the hero of this movie, and everything he does is good and ethically justified. The parts of the movie where he is having fun, loving life, indulging in his passions is the part you should pay attention to and be influenced by. The part where he must face the consequences of his actions and is reduced to a mere husk of a man is not important, I don’t think you need to pay attention to it. Remember kids, the moral of this movie is you should definitely try to be like [Protagonist]*”
Red Desert is an excellent pandemic vibe movie
finally managed to watch minari too! was wondering what people were saying about it
i definitely understand how it fell flat for people - it weirdly seems to fall flat for most asian americans i know so that’s kind of an interesting dynamic that’s emerged
it feels overstuffed. there’s two interesting movies in here stepping on top of each other and making the other one worse imo - i can see a live action miyazaki-esque movie about a grandma and grandson getting closer with each other and learning about the other one’s heritage and i can also see an interesting movie about a korean guy attempting to do something “traditionally” american like farming, and each movie works if it’s given time to breathe but the end result doesn’t
like none of the big narrative events hit as hard as i feel they should, and nika ended up saying that it was just kind of a detached depressing movie and then it’s over
i get not wanting to waste steven yeun and han ye-ri, but alan kim and noel cho and youn yuh-jung are also great? just make two movies lee issac chung come on
it feels overstuffed.
That’s the perfect way to describe it.
I watched Still Walking the other day. I’m a sucker for movies that are contained within a 24 hour period and quiet, family dramas. It also has all these great food moments; I loved it opening with the sound of peeling daikon.
I guess you could argue that he riffed off Ozu too much, but I feel like he’s telling a different story and isn’t as subtle- though Still Walking is still very delicate. The espial camera work only breaks a couple times, and it’s so comfy to settle into hanging out with this familiar family. It makes sense that Hirokazu Kore-eda has a background in documentaries. He has an eye for the mundane and knows how to draw out the story. The couple of gut punches he puts in don’t feel like big reveals. I guess mostly because all that stuff has been on a low simmer throughout their lives and he relies on the actor’s expressions and gestures. I particularly liked watching Kirin Kiki’s face- it’s a nice counter to everyone’s polite smiles and tendency toward the taciturn.
not taylor kitsch apparently
Tim Riggins! Hell yeah.
Seriously would not have guessed Jesse Plemmons as the FNL season 1 actor to have a career, but here we are. I mean, Michael B. Jordan was obvious, but he didn’t start till season 3.
Breaking Bad made everyone in it famous… except Skylar and Walt Jr 
i love taylor kitsch.
true detective s2 is canon for a lot of reasons, but that’s a real good tim riggins role too.
watched TABOO, oshimas last movie. its like that part in basic instinct where the dude gets laid and goes absolutely doodoo dummy for the pussy except its one samurai in makeup having to revenge every horny rapist shinsengumi
it ruled
I got that cool collection of Godzilla movies from Criterion and have been watching some of them this week.
The first Godzilla is kind of gnarly. The sound design and the look of Godzilla is tremendous, frightening. Its black and white look adds to this, I see Tetsuo the Iron Man directly linked to this film. I am 100% for praising this film for the thematic elements too, I really love that Godzilla is like a cultural dream of a mobile atomic blast, which is just terrifying. However, I do not get the idea that Godzilla is a sympathetic creature in this one. That seems like something created more in retrospect than by the movie, because I felt like the details about his Home Being Destroyed and Him Being Angry-Sad about it was not very developed, and only lightly touched upon. I also had no idea Godzilla fuckn DIES in this one lmao.
Godzilla Raids Again was not terrible. It had more delightful prop destruction action. The characters are better, so at least until the third act the human stuff is more interesting. It’s when the Tokyo office is destroyed and everyone’s laughing like it’s a sitcom, and the later planning sequence to trap Godzilla in an iceberg, that this movie becomes pretty boring imo. Still overall good!
And I really enjoyed the American version of King Kong vs Godzilla lol I know this is because it was the first movie in color, it was the first movie where Godzilla had a kind of personality, and because there were lots of bad qualities created in byediting and American mingling that were still charming in a stupid way. But it really is a kind of spectacle. They lift the monky in to the sky with fishing wires “stronger than steel” then dump him on Mt. Fuji for a fight with Godzilla. Hilarious, stupid, and full of intricate prop destruction and COLOR. King Kong fucking sucks though. Even neath the butchers blades of Universal Studios they couldn’t carve out any personality for that dumb ape except for retreading the shit everyone knows about him from the old movie. I liked when he got drunk of berries after fighting a real octopus. Between this and watching Star Trek TOS, I should have my fill of people in full body paint costumes enacting ethnic stereotypes quite soon.
I am tempted to watch the Japanese version of King Kong vs Godzilla next but may move onto Mothra and Ghidora next, unless anyone can strongly recommend the Japanese version?
(Also, I can’t hit enter to create an empty line between these paragraphs like I used to be able to?)
i have this set! i still haven’t opened it! should i prioritize it?
only just watched the first one but it had a great shitty childhood to crimelife montage intro and a good 1 vs 30 dudes knife fighting retreat while slowly accumulating injuries in a muddy construction site in the rain