jennegatron

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Posts posted by jennegatron

  5. Posted

     

    Gene Demby, a writer for NPR tweeted and talked extensively about 3 billboards. (He did not like it and said that it's the worst movie he's seen since Crash) I recommend looking at the top thread in response to this tweet to see why he didn't like it.

  9. Posted

    25 minutes ago, Beasteh said:

    Before this thread descends into endless criticism of the show, I just want to point out that you can enjoy a piece of media even if it is "problematic", and that's OK.

     

     

    We have repeatedly had conversations on this forum about how it's okay to enjoy something problematic. This forum almost never devolves into 'if you like this thing you're a bad person.' You can criticize things you like and you can criticize things you don't like without criticizing the people who like them.

     

    A conversation where everyone talks about how they like something is boring and dies fast. Unless you bring a lens and a perspective and a reading to something you can only type 'I like this because it makes me laugh' so many times before a thread just dies.

  10. Posted

    45 minutes ago, Apelsin said:

    If one has never tried rum before, what should one get? Something to mix?

    paging @Gormongous for more refined recommendations

     

    I would recommend you get some rum drinks at a bar actually before you commit to a whole bottle!

  11. Posted

    I want to clarify that I liked Black Panther, and don't like/lack interest lots of Marvel movies. 

    Marvel Movies I've liked:

    • Thor Ragnarock
    • Black Panther
    • Spider-man Homecoming
    • Guardians of the Galaxy 1 & 2
    • Captain America Civil War

    Marvel Movies I didn't like

    • The Avengers
    • Thor
    • Ant-Man

    Marvel Movies  I didn't even see because I don't really care or like the characters:

    • Iron Man 1 - 3
    • Doctor Strange
    • Avengers Ultron
    • Captain America first avenger or winter soldier
    • Thor 2
    • The Incredible Hulk

    I do think the movies are getting better as time goes on. I like that they're trying new things and not making garbage movies like Thor 1 any more. Even Ant-Man which I didn't really like was at least trying something different, than all the other movies.

     

    I liked Black Panther because it was fun to look at, had a story that was good enough to merit being told in movie form, and I liked the characters & the performances. I am a white woman but I thought it was neat to watch a movie that was about the African Diaspora and feelings of Blackness and isolation and responsibility. Plus the jokes were good.

     

    I like that I don't have to see every MCU movie and watch all the tv shows to be able to follow the movies. There's enough connective tissue that I believe that all these things are happening in the same universe but I don't feel like I'm lost or confused because I skipped huge chunks of releases. I would be much less likely to take a chance on a movie that I'm unsure of going in (like Ant-Man or CA:Civil War) if I thought it was necessary for me to see all of the films leading up to that.

  14. Posted

    The Good Place becomes a show that's properly about ethics and learning that what makes a good person is doing good things without the expectation of a reward, afterlife or not. It's a show that seems like it'll introduce a thing and take the rest of the season to build to it, but actually within the next episode it's completely turned its premise upside down, and it does this over and over. 

     

    If you don't like it, you don't like it, but I would recommend sticking through the first big turning point, which I would agree happens in episode 7. My favorite turning point in the show happens in the season 1 finale though. I grew to really appreciate Jason, the DJ character, especially after episode 11 when you get the story of how he died. He continued to win me over in the course of season 2.

     

    It's a show that's hard to talk about without undercutting the surprise of some of those story pivots.

  15. Posted

    On 2/21/2018 at 6:09 AM, dartmonkey said:

    Hi everyone. I'm halfway through listening to On The Road and I'm on the cusp of throwing the towel in. I started reading it years and years ago but couldn't get very far with it, so I thought the audiobook would be a good way to tick it off the list. But i've spent 5 hours feeling nothing but creeping boredom. The period is relatively interesting, and I get that, in context, it must've been quite something. But I just can't seem to find a way into it. I'm guessing that there's nothing in the second half that'll grab me if the first half hasn't. Has anybody here read it and, if so, what did you take from it?

     

    I read it over 10 years ago. I mostly just let it wash over me. Not much stood out to me except that Kerouac talks about going through my home town and talks about the Mississippi River in a way that I've never been able to shake as so evocative and beautiful. Here's the excerpt: 

    Quote

    And here for the first time in my life I saw my beloved Mississippi River, dry in the summer haze, low water, with its big rank smell that smells like the raw body of America itself because it washes it up. Rock Island - railroad tracks, shacks, small downtown section; and over the bridge to Davenport, same kind of town, all smelling of sawdust in the warm midwest sun.

     

  17. Posted

    5 hours ago, Roderick said:

    Last week I chanced upon the Pro Wrestling (whatever) episode of Monster Factory, the first one I ever watched, and I had to pause it because I was laughing to the point of hurting myself.

    they've done i think 3 of these now (one with THE PEBBLE, a wrestlemania one where all of the creations wrestle and then a very recent one I haven't watched yet.)

    THE PEBBLE is one of my favorite things ever

  18. Posted

    9 hours ago, Erkki said:

    Where were all these The Good Place recommendations before jennegatron recommended it? J/K, started watching and starting to like it after 2nd episode.

    what can I say Erkki, I'm a trend setter

  19. Posted

    9 hours ago, osmosisch said:

    Thanks!

     

    Goodness, thankfully nowhere near my place. He lived & died in Southern France. Would have been an opportunity for a nice trip in other circumstances.

     

    I think it's Nice, but it's an understandable mistake.

  20. Posted

    I think you, dear reader, should check out The Good Place if you haven't already! It takes a handful of episodes to really hit its stride, but when it does it's truly remarkable. it's a great, funny show with a delightful cast. Ted Danson is the best, and quietly has a diverse and charming cast. if Mike Schur has earned any good will with you, give it a chance!

  21. Posted

    I, personally, am willing to forego seeing Weinstein distributed and produced movies. It seems that even though he was forced to resign he maintains stakeholder status  is unlikely to be removed. I like movies, and have Movie Pass which means I am starting to see a lot more movies in theater, but like I said before, there's enough good stuff in the world to see that I don't need these movies in my life.

     

    Like I said before it's 100% a personal line to draw for yourself. If you continue to see movies produced by his company though, you may face some questioning or pushback from other people, but that's the risk of living in the world no matter what choices you make /shrug

  22. Posted

    A point well taken tycho. There's bound to be someone involved in the movie somewhere that is an abuser and we just don't know it. I can only act on the information I have, like you said.

     

    4 minutes ago, TychoCelchuuu said:

    My own view is that I tend to not give a shit about my own particular expenditure in terms of that money going into a monster's pocket, because I don't care whether or not monsters have money. I do care about my particular expenditure sending some sort of message, like "Woody Allen is a bankable name" or something like that, so I usually avoid seeing movies/buying books/music/etc. that involve high profile abusers. I want those works to fail, not because I care about who gets money but because I think the message we as a society should be sending is "keep making your stuff, but we're not going to support you."

     

    This is kind of what I was trying to get at with this:

    17 minutes ago, jennegatron said:

     I can't in good conscious go see a Woody Allen movie knowing that it's going to make him more money and get him more movie deals so that he can continue to be rich and famous and do things like prey upon his adoptive children.

     

    Knowing that spending money on the projects of people I find detestable helps prop up their careers and allows them to continue working and having the visibility to find and groom victims to abuse. I want them to be denied the privilege of making profitable art and no longer have the power of fame.

  23. Posted

    Personally, I refuse to participate in spending my money in a way that supports men (it's almost always men) who are monsters. I refuse to see Polanski's or Woody Allen's movies, I refuse to listen to R. Kelly's music. I refuse to see movies based off of Orson Scott Card's books knowing that he's a bigot who uses his money to fund anti-LGBT campaigns.


    This line has to be drawn differently for everyone. For example once a person is dead, consuming the art they make no longer contributes to their wealth and ability to abuse more people. I'm much more likely to consume the art of someone problematic if they're no longer alive, but I can't in good conscious go see a Woody Allen movie knowing that it's going to make him more money and get him more movie deals so that he can continue to be rich and famous and do things like prey upon his adoptive children.

     

    My only request to people who continue to consume the art of monsters ask themselves the question of 'is my enjoyment of this thing worth the potential ramifications of this person's continued success to me?' and the answer of that question may very well be 'yes' but I just want people to at least ask the question to themselves.

     

    There's so much art in the world that we can never hope to get to all of it, so I think why not allow a creator's real world actions impact my decision making? They are just helping me narrow down my options to things I don't feel guilty about liking.

  25. Posted

    I watched I, Tonya on Saturday. What a well acted, gripping movie about cycles of abuse, classism, the 90's and delusions of grandeur. I highly recommend it, and I highly recommend the 30 for 30 doc about the same topic The Price of Gold.

     

    I also saw Paddington 2 on Sunday. It was an extremely warm, heartfelt, well constructed movie. Its message of "being kind and polite is powerful, and will be rewarded in ways you can never anticipate" is clearly communicated and never comes off as 'and you should be nice because then people owe you' kind of way. It's a joy to look at, Hugh Grant as the washed up actor villain is extremely good, and I particularly enjoyed the Charlie Chaplin gag.