Movie/TV recommendations

[brkl]

Definitely don't watch it like this for the first time. You'll have to endure a whole lot of flapping gums with no words coming out and people acting crazy because their motivations are only apparent in the missing dialogue. I don't know if the black and white gives anything extra to the movie, although it works well enough.

 

The lack of dialogue really brings out the music. I wonder if it would have worked better without sound effects as well, because it just gets really discordant to see people talking without words coming out while you can hear everything else. 

 

There's also some great stuff in the dialogue that fills in the world, such as Joe's speech at the beginning. A lot of character is lost this way along with plot cohesion. 

[BadHat]

Man, I don't like it. The colours were so vibrant and distinct in the original. B&W makes everything look too muddled, makes it hard to keep up with the frenetic action sequences.

 

Does make me wanna go watch some Kurosawa, tho.

[Bjorn]

George Miller said that the best version of Fury Road was in black and white and with no dialogue.

So here ya go: https://blackandchrome.wordpress.com/

Get it while it's available. I've watched the first 20 min and its shockingly good.

 

I'll just download this so I've got a chance to watch it once it's been inevitably scrubbed from the Interwebs.  Sounds intriguing though.

[namman siggins]

If someone comes across a download, PM me, please.

[Bjorn]

I used this site to download it:

 

http://savevideo.me/

 

No clue on it's safety, so I ran it sandboxed to be on the safe side, checked the file once it was downloaded, the removed the file from the sandbox. 

[Mawd]

Fark I wanted to see that

I'd say keep the fx, you don't link two v8's in series and not hear their roar

[brkl]

Good point.

[Coods]

Rick and Morty has had this sort of ridiculous, all-over-the-place direction to it for the past few episodes, which is something a lot of off-kilter Adult Swim shows do, but there's something sort of uniquely fascinating in how strange it gets. I had this same feeling when watching Dan Harmon's other show Community. A lot of comedy TV breaks rules in goofy ways, but when Harmon does it, it feels strangely self-destructive. 

 

The episode tonight was really good, and had the most phenomenally minimal B-story ive ever seen.

[BadHat]

So I watched Sixth Sense with my girlfriend the other night, after learning that she hadn't seen it and didn't know anything about it. I was so goddamn excited through the whole thing. Had to casually shrug off a few questions like "why is he just stalking this kid?" to keep her from sniffing out the trail. Witnessing her oh shit moment at the end was something truly special. Also it's a pretty good movie! Holds up fairly well, minus a few awkward pieces of dialog.

 

Then we watched M. Night's latest one, The Visit. Yeah, it's not so great.

[Mangela Lansbury]

I recently rewatched the Star Wars prequels for the first time since seeing them in theaters. I don't really get the exaggerated hate they get. They're not that good, but the most they really need is heavy editing. Am I not Star Wars enough? Have I become too forgiving in my old age?

[Gwardinen]

So I watched Sixth Sense with my girlfriend the other night, after learning that she hadn't seen it and didn't know anything about it.

 

This is amazing not so much because she hadn't seen it (it's a popular film, sure, but I would imagine there are still plenty of people who haven't seen it), but because she didn't know the twist anyway. "He was dead all along" has basically become a byword for twists in popular fiction. M. Night is known almost exclusively for twists, beginning with the Sixth Sense, and the Sixth Sense is the prime example of the twist film. Popular culture has iconicised that film in every way it possibly could.

 

Making it to 2015 without knowing the twist of the Sixth Sense, or at the very least that there is a giant twist that the whole film is based around is shockingly unlikely for an adult in the western world. I'm so pleased for you that you got to experience this particular unicorn of a situation.

[SecretAsianMan]

This is amazing not so much because she hadn't seen it (it's a popular film, sure, but I would imagine there are still plenty of people who haven't seen it), but because she didn't know the twist anyway. "He was dead all along" has basically become a byword for twists in popular fiction. M. Night is known almost exclusively for twists, beginning with the Sixth Sense, and the Sixth Sense is the prime example of the twist film. Popular culture has iconicised that film in every way it possibly could.

 

Making it to 2015 without knowing the twist of the Sixth Sense, or at the very least that there is a giant twist that the whole film is based around is shockingly unlikely for an adult in the western world. I'm so pleased for you that you got to experience this particular unicorn of a situation.

 

Knowing there was a twist but not specifically what it was ruined the movie for me.  I had been told by several people before I saw it that there was a surprise ending, which led to me figuring out what it was early on.  And that was within months of the release.  It's impressive to be able to be surprised by that today.

 

 

I recently rewatched the Star Wars prequels for the first time since seeing them in theaters. I don't really get the exaggerated hate they get. They're not that good, but the most they really need is heavy editing. Am I not Star Wars enough? Have I become too forgiving in my old age?

 

The real sin the prequels committed (besides introducing Jar Jar Binks to the world) was that they failed to live up to the hype.  And when you're talking about Star Wars, there's a LOT of hype to live up to.  They get a hasher-than-probably-deserved rap because there was no way those expectations were going to get met.  In the words of Yoda, "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering"

[dibs]

Bets on BadHat's girlfriend being a spooky ghost.

[Coods]

Knowing there was a twist but not specifically what it was ruined the movie for me.  I had been told by several people before I saw it that there was a surprise ending, which led to me figuring out what it was early on.  And that was within months of the release.  It's impressive to be able to be surprised by that today.

 

The same is true for me and the Usual Suspects. It's really easy to figure out the twist in that movie when you know that one exists.

[Patrick R]

It's been maybe over a decade since I've seen it but I think Sixth Sense holds up when you know the twist. Maybe there's weird levels of spoiler for first time viewings of movies with twist endings. Like,

 

 

1. You don't know a twist ending is coming, so your first time viewing is as intended.
2. You know a twist ending is coming, but you don't know what it is, so you spend the movie focusing more on clues than the characters or plot.
3. You know what the twist ending is, so you watch the movie as a story, appreciating the added subtext is building to a surprise conclusion, which is how the filmmakers intended the second time viewing to play out.

Where the 2nd example is actually a worse way to see a movie than the 1st or 3rd.

 

Psycho actually eschews the second example, because the most obvious spoiler* is not the twist ending.

 

1. Basically no one watching that movie for the first time in 2015 is unaware that Marion is going to die in the shower. That shock is just gone forever, basically.
2. But you can watch it waiting for her to die, but not knowing Mrs. Bates is dead and it's Norman doing the killing. So that twist at the end can still get you.
3. And then you can watch it knowing all the plot points and appreciate the incredibly creepy subtext of the parlor scene.

 

Memento is another movie that works on every front. Because of the structure and genre a twist ending is basically promised to anyone watching, so whether or not you go in knowing there's a twist ending, you'll probably assume as much pretty early on. The fun of the first time viewing is getting fed all these bits and pieces and trying to put them together.

 

BUT once you know how it goes, it becomes an incredibly moving character piece about the power of denial.

 

*As a side note I think history has blown the shock of Janet Leigh's death in Psycho way out of proportion. Not saying that it wouldn't have surprised anyone, but that idea of killing off the main character at the midpoint has become a larger part of the film's identity than I think it should.

 

For one, Psycho was a popular novel before it was ever a movie, so that plot point was already floating out there for anyone who cared to know. And also the scene is heavily implied by the trailer itself. I think savvy audiences probably didn't guess her death would come so sudden and early on, but the second she starts to run the shower anyone who's seen the trailer will know what's about to happen.

[BadHat]

Completely unrelated to current discussion (sorry girlfriend).

 

[Ninety-Three]

It's been maybe over a decade since I've seen it but I think Sixth Sense holds up when you know the twist. Maybe there's weird levels of spoiler for first time viewings of movies with twist endings.

 

I watched the movie for the first time in 2013 and the only thing I knew about it was "He's dead the whole time". The movie still worked great, and I believe my experience was quite different than that of someone re-watching it. Despite being famous for its twist, the movie isn't about the twist. It would still work as a movie (probably a less good movie, but still a functional one) if the protagonist were an ordinary living human. The fact that I was expecting it to be more built around the twist than it was made the actual structure of the movie a pleasant surprise.

 

Basically by going in expecting a twist, I created a scenario where the real twist was that there was a main story.

[namman siggins]

I've rec'd this movie numerous times and I'll keep recing numerous times

 

 

A modern masterpiece of cinema

[Patrick R]

I've rec'd this movie numerous times and I'll keep recing numerous times

 

 

A modern masterpiece of cinema

It's the best. And it's on Netflix now.

[Ninety-Three]

Is it too early to complain about the new Daily Show? The interview they did last night was awful. The guest was there entirely to shill for their product, and the interviewer seemed entirely on-board with that. Jon Stewart often had people on promoting their stuff, but I never ended one of his interviews feeling like I just watched an infomercial. It seems like the kind of thing that doesn't happen by accident, Trevor Noah wasn't just a weak interviewer who let her shill, he was an active participant in it. I'm worried that it's an indication they intend to sell the interview slot to people with something to advertise, and we'll get tons of awful product-pushing interviews.

[Bjorn]

I enjoyed the first episode, felt that it was pretty solid considering it was his first time out, but haven't got around to watching yesterday's show yet.  I actually liked his interview with Kevin Hart a lot, I think he's got the potential to be a good interviewer.  I've never felt that Stewart was a particularly strong interviewer.  Sometimes he was willing to ask tough questions, sometimes he wasn't.  He had a tendency to spend as much, or more, time talking than his interview subjects did.  For most of the last 4-5 years I've skipped the interview portion unless it was someone particularly compelling, so if I have to do the same with Noah, it won't represent any change in my viewing habit. 

[Bjorn]

Is it too early to complain about the new Daily Show? The interview they did last night was awful. The guest was there entirely to shill for their product, and the interviewer seemed entirely on-board with that. Jon Stewart often had people on promoting their stuff, but I never ended one of his interviews feeling like I just watched an infomercial. It seems like the kind of thing that doesn't happen by accident, Trevor Noah wasn't just a weak interviewer who let her shill, he was an active participant in it. I'm worried that it's an indication they intend to sell the interview slot to people with something to advertise, and we'll get tons of awful product-pushing interviews.

 

Okay, so I watched it over lunch today, and I think you're just being overly critical.  Like, having the founder of a dating app doesn't strike me as an abnormal guest, and what were they supposed to talk about?  I don't think her private life is a particularly good topic, so that leaves professional.  It did feel promotional, but I'm not sure how else the interview could have gone.  There were some other questions I personally would have asked, I would have drilled into the more negative aspects of women's experiences on modern dating platforms (Noah just mentioned them in passing, and left out a bunch), but I think that still could have come off as being pretty promotional even if they were good questions.  Same thing with asking about her experience with Tinder, probably still would have sounded promotional.  She was there to talk about her business. She also seemed pretty nervous.  Maybe that's practiced persona, or maybe she's someone who isn't used to being interviewed on major cable shows with a live audience. 

 

I actually would have skipped this episode in favor of watching the Chris Christie episode from last night if you hadn't brought up that interview, but I'll have to check it out over lunch tomorrow. 

[jennegatron]

The Mindy Project has been picked up by Hulu after Fox didn't renew it and it's still really good and I like it a lot.

[Ninety-Three]

Okay, so I watched it over lunch today, and I think you're just being overly critical.  Like, having the founder of a dating app doesn't strike me as an abnormal guest, and what were they supposed to talk about?  I don't think her private life is a particularly good topic, so that leaves professional.  It did feel promotional, but I'm not sure how else the interview could have gone.

 

I agree that promotional was pretty much the only way it could have gone, and I see that as not a defense of the interview but an indictment their guest selection. It was an interview more concerned with promoting a product than being worth watching, and I can't help but assume that's deliberate (which is to say, it feels like the interview was "selling out"). 

[Bjorn]

I agree that promotional was pretty much the only way it could have gone, and I see that as not a defense of the interview but an indictment their guest selection. It was an interview more concerned with promoting a product than being worth watching, and I can't help but assume that's deliberate (which is to say, it feels like the interview was "selling out"). 

 

I'm struggling to see how this is any different than roughly 90 percent of late night guests.  Actors go on to promote their movies, politicians go on to promote themselves, authors go on to promote their books.  Like, promotion is literally the primary reason for the interview portion of these shows, and the Daily Show has never been significantly different, other than once every few months having on a politician who Jon would actually press with some interesting questions.  Was it because this was about a company (or a dating company specifically)?  Was it because the illusion broke with this interview, and it has held for you with other interviews?