Also started this, on the second episode now. It really seems like you’re supposed to just watch it all the way through, the breaks between episodes don’t make much sense. I like it though, very curious to see where it goes.
Oh yeah, I just meant that the people who seemed to enjoy American Vandal the most are those who have binged on other similar things that it is parodying, Wormwood is not a parody but, like, an elevation, I guess? I mean Morris kind of wrote the book on this type of interventionist documentary filmmaking and now it seems like he’s borrowing a few tricks from more recent versions of it while also doing something he hasn’t really done before.
The reenactment sections are good, but I feel like they basically function as mood setting tone things that don’t really make any sense until they are given context in the interviews. Obviously that’s deliberate, to place the interviewees recollections of the events after the fictionalized recreations of them, but I’m not sure how I feel about it yet.
I really liked the first two so I’m glad to hear it. Apes-firing-rifles-on-horseback forever and ever amen.
Also I saw most of Kong: Skull Island and it wasn’t bad. There are some good fight scenes with dinosaurs. I hope they do a Kong vs. Godzilla cross over movie.
I should probably see Dunkirk because 1. it was the only original live-action movie of this year that wasn’t a sequel or remake or whatever, 2. history and 3. Christopher Nolan. I feel weirdly obligated to see Get Out and the Morgan Freeman narrated documentary I am Not Your Negro because they’re socially relevant (when were these kinds of movies ever not?) but I know that’s a weird way to feel about this stuff and I should just see them because they’re good in their own right.
Get out rules and I am not your negro is Sam Jackson. It’s also good but I honestly recommend just watching James Baldwin interviews and debates on YouTube almost all the clips used in the doc are online
I just saw The Disaster Artist. I’ve enjoyed midnight screenings of The Room before, and I knew the general outline of this story, but actually seeing it play out was kind of rough! I once conscripted a friend to help me make a movie completely outside the Hollywood system, so… parts of this movie really hit me harder than I think they were really meant to. Of course, my film was a no-budget documentary, and I’m not a narcissistic secret alien, so similarities are limited in that regard at least.
Weird movie overall. I was impressed with Franco’s performance as Wiseau. I thought the ending was a bit forced, and didn’t really engage with the reality of just how much of a mindfuck it is to see a theater laughing uproariously at something you meant to be completely serious. The film doesn’t really delve into the interior life of Wiseau (for good reason, who could even hope to understand that guy’s mind?), so I understand why they chose not to reckon with this… But I doubt even that guy (especially that guy) would suddenly decide to embrace his own public embarrassment so easily.
Embracing embarrassment – I think Wiseau has the same gene as Trump that seeks out attention even when it’s been repeatedly shown to be embarrassing to him. I’m sure it’s a deep need (certainly you can easily see it in The Room, in how he portrays himself and how mundane actions by other characters are completely based around him (“Whenever he’s not on screen, the other characters should be asking, ‘Where’s Poochy?’”)).
I totally agree, and the comparison to Trump struck me as well as I was watching the movie. This really could have captured the age of Trump pretty well, if the film were about 40% more acidic.
I kind of assumed Wiseau was just a fake persona that guy was putting on as a publicity stunt to make his intentionally bad movie appear like a sincere yet horribly misguided attempt at good filmmaking
the moment when everyone is laughing at the movie during the premiere—including of course me, the real audience—and then you see Tommy’s very sad reaction, was a really great moment. I honestly felt bad for laughing in that moment (shock). really strong stuff from Franco
I’m 30 minutes into this and I gotta say it’s doing nothing for me
kinda hoping this trend for every mildly well liked performer to write the most literal memoir imaginable and pass it off as fiction passes soon
then again I just got done really enjoying Elif Batuman’s the idiot which is exactly that so maybe I just like people from New Jersey and hate people from California
that must be it
I do hope this Irish lady gets more work on the strength of this which she almost certainly will, she carries the role perfectly
just noticed that I spent the past fifteen minutes of the movie vaguely thinking to myself “you know, Noah Baumbach is such a shithead” which is probably not fair
but like
the self-consciousness of the characters in this movie is so much different than the kind of self-consciousness that scans to me
and it’s not at all a gendered thing in my experience
yeah i have friends who are keen on this which makes me happy coz i felt like ‘i wanna see more Saoirse Ronan’ isn’t justification enough to go to a movie