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The Last Movie(s) You Watched... (quick one or two sentence reviews)

mnkykungfu

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Moe_Syzlak said:
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. But how much if it is actually real? We quickly found that the debutant scene, for example, was staged, with extras  hired and screened and costumes provided. 

Do you have a source for that? Cohen has been accused of staging his acts many times, and has always shown that yes, it was real. Of course, he has to be careful to not be around people who know who he is, but that's not to say he's not capturing real attitudes and reactions.  The only thing I could find on this was here, which is not the same thing as "staging" a performance.
 

Moe_Syzlak

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mnkykungfu said:
Moe_Syzlak said:
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. But how much if it is actually real? We quickly found that the debutant scene, for example, was staged, with extras  hired and screened and costumes provided. 

Do you have a source for that? Cohen has been accused of staging his acts many times, and has always shown that yes, it was real. Of course, he has to be careful to not be around people who know who he is, but that's not to say he's not capturing real attitudes and reactions.  The only thing I could find on this was here, which is not the same thing as "staging" a performance.

The article says exactly what I said, the ball was staged (I.e. it wasn’t a real ball that Borat attended, but rather one staged and extras hired to attend), the costumes were provided, the participants screened. Never did I say their reactions were acting, but the premise that Borat was at a debutante ball where the women were having their “coming out” ruined by Borat and his daughter’s behavior is fake. It wasn’t real. You are free to feel that it was real enough. I didn’t.
 

mnkykungfu

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^I'm afraid that article I posted does not say "exactly what you said". The article only says "Will Davis was at the event and claims people were paid $100 to attend, as well as being questioned if they knew who Baron Cohen was...Anyone who didn't know him was in the audience for the dance." It absolutely does not mention costumes, and your contextualization of them as "extras" who were "screened" makes the entire event sound highly filtered to create a very specific result. Maybe that's true, but it's not what I posted.

Look, I'm open to evidence if someone wants to characterize Cohen as a fraud and imply his whole schtick is disingenuous, as you seem to want to do. But based only on this I'd have to say he's far less guilty than say, Werner Herzog. Debutante balls are super common in Georgia. The biggest one in the world is near Macon, in Savannah. Should it matter who hosted it, or that Cohen followed legal procedures by paying those who would be on film so that he would be able to use their reactions? It seems like a misunderstanding of how he manages to get his TV and film work made. Anyway, I get your opinion: you felt duped and didn't like it. I guess any potential viewers of the film are now forewarned and can decide for themselves.
 

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That Thing You Do! (1996) Extended Edition
I've essentially watched this movie about 20 times during the editing process. The extended edition brings some rich material to the characters and especially to Faye and Guy. The EE does have some scenes that drag on a bit here and there, but again the scenes that enhance the characters make you wonder why they were omitted in the first place. Such scenes are those involving Guy and Faye and the band having that "wow" moment at the Vicksburg. I love the Theatrical and the Extended Edition for the most part adds to it very well. 9/10
 

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Somewhere in Time (1980)
Rewatched this for an upcoming Fan Preservation. It's one of those movies that I watched in my youth and it made me cry like a baby and it will just get me every time. Here is my love letter to it.
 

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Moe_Syzlak said:
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. I’m not sure how to judge this movie. Its humor and much of its messages come from the idea that these are real people reacting to Borat and his daughter. But how much if it is actually real? We quickly found that the debutant scene, for example, was staged, with extras  hired and screened and costumes provided. And, for me, if you take it as a complete work of fiction—a straight comedy—it just doesn’t hold up.

Was planning to watch it tonight, I will write my review later
 

Moe_Syzlak

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Muron said:
Moe_Syzlak said:
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. I’m not sure how to judge this movie. Its humor and much of its messages come from the idea that these are real people reacting to Borat and his daughter. But how much if it is actually real? We quickly found that the debutant scene, for example, was staged, with extras  hired and screened and costumes provided. And, for me, if you take it as a complete work of fiction—a straight comedy—it just doesn’t hold up.

Was planning to watch it tonight, I will write my review later

FWIW, since there seems to be some confusion, I didn’t dislike the movie or feel duped. What I thought was that many of the participants, though their responses may have been unscripted, were cast and paid, aware of the cameras in many cases. This makes it difficult to discern what is genuine and what is not. Today I saw in the news that the black woman hired to be the babysitter was hired and paid and aware it wasn’t a straight babysitting job, but a documentary film. But she was recruited through her church and was aware of the cameras. So while I think her reactions were genuine, it’s genuine with a grain of salt for me. I hope you enjoy it, but I also hope those who watch, watch with a critical eye. This isn’t reality, it’s reality TV movie.
 

mnkykungfu

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Alice (1988)
Of all the films I've watched this month, this has been the creepiest. A Czech film that primarily uses stop motion to tell a dark version of Alice in Wonderland, only with a live little girl, only dubbed by an adult, only sometimes the girl turns into a creepy doll... yeah, just watch this if you can find it. But not with the lil ones unless you wanna scar them for life. Details here.

A Ghost Story (2017)
Not really for me. Pretty emblematic of the kind of indulgent, exploratory indie film-making that I find trying. You know, when a director says "I made this for me, not for an audience. But I'll be happy if someone sees it and likes it." Code for: I did not really think this through or have a cohesive message, I just like the artistic process. For me, much more fun to DO than to watch. Analysis here.
 

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I'm not a fan of Halloween; the ghouls, guts and gore. So this year I wanted to focus more on Día de los Muertos as it approaches and is observed on the 1st and 2nd of November. While I grew up knowing of it, I sadly have not spent much time learning about this aspect of Mexican culture. Two films I recently watched with the little Mod-ites are The Book of Life and Coco.

The Book of Life (2014)
I really enjoyed this movie. While I'm sure it's a caricature of Mexican tradition and culture, I appreciated the doorway to access this rich culture. The themes of family and connection beyond the current life we are living really resonates with me. I also found myself really liking the aesthetic and artistic style of this film more than I had thought I would. A fun outing and experience. 7.5/10

Coco  (2017)
I watched this a week ago for the same reason as stated above. Again, the themes of family, remembering, and connection beyond this life are something that really resonate with me. I also love the culminating moments with Miguel & Coco that bring the story together. This movie offers a heartfelt entrance into the richness of Mexican culture and tradition. 8/10
 

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I love The Book of Life. I remember hearing something about that and Coco being in development at the same time, and that Coco ripped off The Book of Life. I went into Coco wanting to hate it because of this, but I ended up loving it too, and there's really hardly any similarities that can't be chalked up to both portraying the same culture. The thing I heard must've not been entirely accurate, I don't know.
I have since heard claims that Disney took the story of Coco from a real family without compensating the family. I don't know how accurate this is but it sounds about accurate for a big rich corporation to do. Doesn't really make me enjoy it less though. It's a great movie regardless of whatever happened behind the scenes (I heard another claim about Disney trying to copyright Day of the Dead or some aspects of the culture).
In any case, both are great movies that really have me interested in this culture. I do prefer Book of Life though. I need to watch it again really.
 

mnkykungfu

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The last of my month-long Horror/Thriller/Suspense lead-up to Halloween:

Hereditary (2018)
I try not to watch whatever the new hot horror movie is whenever people are saying it's the next greatest thing ever. It's almost always disappointing if I do. Even later, I'm often disappointed, as I'm not a big gore fan and find most Horror stories to be so poorly written that I can't invest in them. So I really appreciated this film, which plays like a gut-wrenching family drama for nearly 2/3s of its runtime. Full thoughts here.

The Haunting (1963)
I liked the writing here much less, though the techniques to achieve suspense hold up well and are iconic. Funny that this director's filmography varies from this to West Side Story to Star Trek to Run Silent, Run Deep. There are so many connections between this and other films, I had to muse on them more here.
 

mnkykungfu

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I've also rewatched the entire six original Star Trek films... I really should have stopped at three. With the Director's Cut of the first film, that trilogy tells a full story with a solid ending point and something to say for each film.

The following three films lean much more heavily into the humor and really don't age well, imho. The cast starts looking way too old to justify being there, and where the productions should get glossier and higher-budget, it often looks like they were trying to do more with less. The episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, filmed at the same time as the final three films, are generally far superior.

I've posted about these here before except for Star Trek V, which is flawed but probably has a worse reputation than it deserves. And Star Trek VI has a far better reputation than it deserves. I REALLY don't go for the latter-day Star Trek goofiness, so your mileage will vary here, but it's the main reason why I disagree that IV and VI are some of "the best ST films", as their reputation goes.
 

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The kids watched The Iron Giant tonight. I had seen it before but didn’t remember much. I loved the old school animation which, unfortunately, really stands out these days. The story, while very derivative of ET, is executed to perfection. The kids loved it and I loved it too.
 

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Just watched the Nolan Dark Knight trilogy last week. These are easily my favorite treatment of the Batman character. Now, I am ready to watch njvc's edits with an eye to what was fixed.

Currently watching Yojimbo and greatly enjoying it. I am amused by the circular referencing. It's a western...which influenced and spawned well-known westerns.
 

asterixsmeagol

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mnkykungfu said:
I've also rewatched the entire six original Star Trek films... I really should have stopped at three. With the Director's Cut of the first film, that trilogy tells a full story with a solid ending point and something to say for each film.

The following three films lean much more heavily into the humor and really don't age well, imho. The cast starts looking way too old to justify being there, and where the productions should get glossier and higher-budget, it often looks like they were trying to do more with less. The episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, filmed at the same time as the final three films, are generally far superior.

I've posted about these here before except for Star Trek V, which is flawed but probably has a worse reputation than it deserves. And Star Trek VI has a far better reputation than it deserves. I REALLY don't go for the latter-day Star Trek goofiness, so your mileage will vary here, but it's the main reason why I disagree that IV and VI are some of "the best ST films", as their reputation goes.

I'm sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy them. From the original run, I like 1, 2, 4, and 6. I think 1 could have used some trimming to improve the pacing, but the story is fantastic and the special effects are pretty good. Of course I love 2, and since I enjoy the humor in 4 I like it as well. Unfortunately to really get the most out of 2&4, you have to watch 3 in the middle which isn't terrible, but it's not really fun to watch. 5 is just terrible, but 6 is a marked improvement. Not as good in my opinion as 2 or 4, but I like it more than 1.

Also a slight correction: Star Trek IV finished filming just before TNG started. In fact, parts of the sets for that movie were later used on TNG. I know the main table console in TNG's warp engine room was taken from Starfleet Command, but I can't think of any other examples off hand.
 

mnkykungfu

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^Comedy is always highly subjective, so if someone digs what's there in ST IV-VI then I can't fault them for differing tastes. Humor was never what I tuned into Star Trek for though, so it feels like Hollywood not knowing how to faithfully execute hardcore sci-fi and so instead turning it into lots of jokes. Like Thor: Ragnarok, which I also felt was a betrayal of the characters. But I digress...

Watched for All Saint's Day: Romero (1989)
This is one of those biopics that focuses on a really specific point in a famous figure's life rather than trying to go birth-to-death. I almost always feel I get a better sense of who they are with the latter, but I understand that some people feel it's formulaic. Those people may really love this, though for me it was fair-to-middling.

Watched for Election Day: Braveheart (1995)
I desperately needed to feel that common people could stand up for some measure of honor and principles (even if it kills them), so I watched this a bit early this year (I usually save it for Nov. 5th). Haven't watched in a couple years and I had totally forgotten about the long prologue with the kids. I wonder if a fanedit could cut that and add in some deleted/alternate scenes instead? Is the beginning actually necessary? I love the film regardless, and it always wrings a few manly tears from me by the end.
 

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A couple of cheeky Bonfire Night watches:

Firestarter (1984)
I spent half the movie debating if David Keith looked more like Patrick Swayze or Kurt Russell, and the other half wondering why this hadn't been remade as an X-Men movie. It's easily better than half of them. Worth watching for the build up to the ending alone. Full review.

Attack the Block (2011)
I'd been putting this off for years as I suspected I would like it a lot less than most of the critics did. I was unprepared for how quickly and how much I would hate it though. Here's why it's so problematic.
 

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I just watched The Trial of the Chicago 7 via Netflix last night; it is a great movie in my opinion.
 

Moe_Syzlak

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hothstation said:
I just watched The Trial of the Chicago 7 via Netflix last night; it is a great movie in my opinion.

I was coming here to post my thoughts on this after watching last night. I wish I could share your review. I thought it was one of Sorkin’s weaker scripts, plagued by lack of depth in the characters (despite some great performances) and forced sentimentality. This severely undermines the modern relevance. Not to mention, the movie is lacking in any sophistication in its presentation. I really wanted to like this one more.
 
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