Board 8 > Movie Club Topic 4 - We Need to Talk About the Genius Saint Who Killed The Muppe

(+) Yeah! (+)

Barry Lyndon

Absolutely gorgeous movie, but that's really the thing that kept me watching. I spent pretty much the entire first half of the movie waiting for an actual story to start. The second part is a lot better, but it's just a generic "guy falls from power because of personal flaws" story. There's some great stuff there, but I'm not sure I'd recommend sitting through that first half to get to the good parts.

6/10
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I'm not sure Barry Lyndon is a movie I could ever watch with how y'all are describing it along with the 3 and 1/2 hours runtime

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pretty hyped to see if i'll feel differently now

btw i do keep averages of ratings in my spreadsheet, i just don't post them on the public one lol

Barry Lyndon - 6/10

My biggest fears about the movie pretty much came true. There's no ultimate resolution to just about anything in the movie, it's like a terminal case of blue balls.

Barry wins a duel. Nope, that guy lived and got what he wanted, Barry never meets him again.

Barry leaves with the last of his widowed mothers money? Nope, robbed. Robbers never seen again.

He joins the army, a chance at making a second life for himself? Dude from earlier shows up and tells him about the duel being a setup, get completely emotionally wrecked Redmond Barry Lyndon. But hey, at least we see this guy again! And him and Barry seem to be good friends. Something has a happy endi oh wait he gets shot and killed in the war.

Barry runs away to some widow? Then he leaves her and we never see her again. And so on.

Maybe if ol' Barry had been more of a villain this wouldn't have bothered me as much, but I just kind of felt bad for him for most of the movie. Thing was gorgeous, sound was great, narrator was wonderful, acting was fine, but it was just too much of the same thing happening with no real climax. Was kind of like reading collections of those pulp fantasy stories collected from older magazines but each one of the stories has the last 10% of the word count just chopped off.

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Barry Lyndon

Yeah it's hard to rate this fairly because Kubrick may be a genius in terms of production and sound design and cinematography and such, but his storytelling is all over the place, and never have I been more jaded to one of his works than I was with Barry Lyndon. This strikes me entirely as Kubrick displaying his artful directing techniques and then just calling it a film by stringing together a series of barely-connected scenes using literally the worst narrative technique in film: exorbitant monotone narration. Seriously, did Michael Hordern know this wasn't a documentary?

As excellent as the movie looks (yeah yeah, every frame is a painting, natural lights, all that) it's the length of an epic drama without any of the epic... or the drama.

4/10

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@Raka_Putra

Your turn to recommend

Okay.

Luca
Vivo
Kung Fu Hustle
The Green Mile
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom


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Vote for all movies you would be interested in seeing for the next week (~Sep. 3rd, NA). Rank your choices. If you do not intend to vote for whatever reason, please reply with "No Vote" so there is as little of a waiting period as possible. Please vote by Friday Sep 3rd, 3:05 A.M EST./12:05 A.M. PST (midnight)

Luca (2021)
Vivo (2021)
Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
The Green Mile (1999)
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)

@Camden
@jcgamer107
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@lucifiere
@Raka_Putra
@Seginustemple
@SwiftyDC
@ViolentAbacus
@Xeybozn

Luca (2021)
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)
Vivo (2021)

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Kung Fu Hustle
Green Mile

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Kung Fu Hustle
Luca

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Vivo

Only one I haven't seen

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The Green Mile
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
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Luca
Vivo

I done seen the rest
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Luca
Vivo
Kung Fu Hustle

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Ma Rainey
Vivo
Luca
Kung Fu Hustle

seen Kung Fu Hustle before

nnext movie is Luca (2021) directed by Enrico Casarosa

@Camden
@jcgamer107
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Alright

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It's Such A Beautiful Day - 4/10

Visually I loved the stick figure style, but the scenes where it took a backseat to the rest of the imagery used kind of lost me. Whenever there was a shot focused on something like grass I wanted it to hurry up and get back to what it was doing before.

There were a couple of points where it started bothering my eyes, things are frequently frantic in this film and I was constantly wary about needing to pause the movie and kind of reset myself. Honestly a bit surprised that it didn't happen more often, glad it didn't though because my eyes seem to be aging fast enough lately and I'd prefer them not to continue the process any faster than necessary.

I guess after Barry Lyndon, where I liked everything about the movie except the story climaxes, had you told me the next movie would be entirely different I'd be happy, but it went in the opposite direction from the one I'd want. It was read in a way that made it feel like an old webcomic was adapted into a film, or as if tweets from a gimmick comedy account had been read aloud the way everything was short, blunt and then over and on to the next line. Also gave me Adult Swim vibes from a long time ago when I used to watch that every night, which seems like a lifetime ago and maybe a very different person as well.

There were some lines that just kind of came out of nowhere and I assume were supposed to get a chuckle out of me, but nothing was hitting at all for me. I've been accused of not liking to laugh in the past though so me sitting there stone-faced during comedy isn't much of an indictment.

I hate the narrators voice, tone, pacing. Not much to add to this. Hate it.

This can kind of be chalked up to a movie that was absolutely not made for someone like me. Just didn't click at all.

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Luca - 8/10

I knew very little about this movie going in, though I think I watched a little of its trailer months ago and forgot most of it. Luca is a very competently made film with a ton of heart; it's very fun to watch throughout with gorgeous animation that Pixar is known for. The dynamic between the main characters is excellent.
I do have a few small grips. The premise itself is not as memorably unique as some of other Pixar outings. The villain's take-down was really quick and could've been more satisfying. And the sea monsters being accepted right away didn't really feel all that natural.
But yeah those are minor enough and it was still a very lovable movie. Shout out also to the character designs that felt familiar but different enough, I'm glad Pixar's not too attached to their usual human proportions and such.

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@jcgamer107 your turn to recommend

It's SHORT FILM week!

Opal (2020, Jack Stauber)
https://youtu.be/-1pVLJl_snc

Munchausen (2013, Ari Aster)
https://youtu.be/xj5MDQhga5w

The Meaning of Life (2005, Don Hertzfeldt)
https://youtu.be/xMsyOowMaEY

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You can't nominate three short films and just expect me to not watch all three of them.

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jcgamer107 posted...

It's SHORT FILM week!

Heh, that's actually a pretty interesting theme idea.

Opal
Munchausen

Seen Meaning of Life before, didn't like it much. (Plus we just had a Hertzfeldt film recently anyway.)
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Camden posted...

You can't nominate three short films and just expect me to not watch all three of them.

That works too! It's just over 40 minutes of runtime total.

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No vote

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Vote for all movies you would be interested in seeing for the next week (~Sep. 10th NA). Rank your choices. If you do not intend to vote for whatever reason, please reply with "No Vote" so there is as little of a waiting period as possible. Please vote by Friday Sep 10th, 11:59:59 EST/8:59:59 PM PST (midnight)

Opal (2020, Jack Stauber)
Munchausen (2013, Ari Aster)
The Meaning of Life (2005, Don Hertzfeldt)

@Camden
@Johnbobb
@lucifiere
@Raka_Putra
@Seginustemple
@ViolentAbacus

The Meaning of Life
Opal
Munchausen

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Munchausen
Opal

Cut Throat City - 5/10

Good but not great movie for most of the run, but boy do things fall apart at the end. They're all but told that they're free even after committing those extra robberies, and instead of thinking it would be a great time to pick up their chips from the table they decide to bet it all on Red 19.

Would a FEMA place like that even have all that money? Blink dies but then he's alive, magically not in jail and his graphic novel is a big hit? And then the mid-credits scene to top it off? Was a really strange and poor kind of wish fulfillment after-life bit that just feels entirely out of place with the rest of the movie, and him being alive isn't even close to believable but if they don't want you to draw your own conclusions from an ambiguous ending then I don't know what the point of all of that was, and if they did it was terribly executed.

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The Meaning of Life

Always vote for Don Hertzfeld

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Munchausen (2013, Ari Aster)

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No vote

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no vote I'll watch all these sumbitches
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next film is Munchausen (2013) directed by Ari Aster

@Camden
@jcgamer107
@Johnbobb
@lucifiere
@Raka_Putra
@Seginustemple
@SwiftyDC
@tyder21
@ViolentAbacus
@Xeybozn

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night - 7/10

I'm 100% that guy who loves a black and white film whether it's from 2020 or 1920, so stylistically I loved this movie. Music also played well, everything fit even if a couple of the scenes that were very still with just the music taking center stage seemed like they kind of dragged on a bit too long.

Really feels like the story was kind of incomplete. Never get to know anyone that well, no one is really the hero of the story and outside of the dealer from the first act no one else is even really a villain. Stories between characters either seem like they're over right after they just got started, or just never see a climax.

Really don't care for endings that just say 'okay, you take it from here'. I don't know how to write a complete story worth experiencing, that's why I'm watching someone elses. Randomly driving off with a girl he's met just a couple of times who he has to know killed his father and then that's it. I just don't get enough from his character to buy him reacting in that way.

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Munchausen - 7/10

It was a pretty short but fun watch. It was really well-directed, shot, and edited, but there just wasn't too much meat on it. The transitions were wild and the slightly exaggerated acting was a good fit for the film. Nothing much to add, I suppose. The characters were really expressive. Also why was that doctor wearing a modern-looking bike helmet? Though maybe the anachronism was intended all along.


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Just like Marnie from earlier in this topic was my first Ghibli movie, I believe Luca is going to be my first Pixar movie. Which I imagine will strike most people as unbelievable, how could I have not at least seen Toy Story, but the vast majority of animated content I've seen in my life has been tv shows. Looney Tunes and Hanna Barbera, TMNT and Inspector Gadget, Doug and Rugrats, Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill. Even now when I watch anything animated it's usually some anime from the 80's, or whatever you want to call the recent Castlevania show.

Hell, looking at the Wikipedia entry for Disney Theatrical Animated Feature Films, the last movie I've seen from Disney was Aladdin way back in '94. To be fair, I've seen about 80% of the films before Aladdin, but after that it's just nothing.

Probably watch Luca tomorrow, then I'm a set of short films away from being completely caught up.

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ohh shit i forgot that topic about you came up before LOL

my expectations for Luca: not very high tbh

Meh, went ahead and watched it now.

Luca - 7/10

I know that Vespa was in rough shape, but I hope they got something for it other than a single train ticket to Genova. Bad trade, that's how those guys start with a stick of gum and trade their way up to owning Amazon or however that works.

Movie is fantastic in most ways. Looks and sounds gorgeous, voice acting is great though not watching a lot of western animated movies it took me back when Jim Gaffigan all of a sudden started talking, not used to hearing voices of people I'm familiar with.

Plot... everything felt safe? Kind of reminds me of a lot of Marvel movies, where it feels like a non-comedic madlib where they just insert new names and places into the same madlib and pass it off as a new movie. Feels like I've seen this before without having seen it before.

And if you take the most accepting group of people in the world, on top of that make them super vegans who would as soon kill themselves before eating an egg, and all of a sudden you put a harpoon in their hands and magically a sea monster appears in front of them... that sea monster is getting 'pooned. I know that's not a story they're going to tell in a movie mostly geared towards children but everyone seemed way too okay way too fast about that.

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Opal - NR

This thing didn't need the [adult swim] watermark, kind of went without saying. I don't think I even understood the entire thing outside of the happy family being fake and the evil house being her real family, I imagine there's deeper meaning to things but I didn't catch it, at least not on a single viewing. But I 100% believe the person who made this had an incredibly bad trip while watching Moral Orel, or maybe even something off of the old Kablam show, or some kind of fever dream, and Adult Swim showed up and gave them a box of cash to recreate it.

The Meaning of Life - NR

I remember when I was first looking into watching It's Such A Beautiful Day I noticed there was a feature length version and a short version, and when this started playing at first I thought it was just the same movie but the short version. Had to look the name back up to make sure, nope, just made by the same guy. Liked it more than It's Such A Beautiful Day I guess? This guys style definitely works better in short form to me, but still not my cup of tea.

Munchausen - 6/10?

Not sure how to review short films, really, so here's more just a few thoughts I had during the movie.

Thought the main kid was Drake Bell at first, had to look it up.

Thought the doctor was Wilford Brimley at first, had to look it up.

Feel Bad and Feel Good are made by the same company, great business strategy. Maybe make Feel Bad slightly weaker, though, or you won't have very many repeat customers.

Does anyone think ring-in-the-food is a good way to propose? Maybe because I've taken bad care of my teeth through my life and I'm paranoid about biting something like that and needing an expensive trip to the dentist, but please leave the jewelry outside of the baked goods.

Also, just like in this film I was digging around in the yard to fill some holes my dog left, and I dug up an old action figure of mine as well. Except mine was missing a leg. There was a lot of broken bricks and stone around here when I was a kid so when my friends and I would play, action figures would not only fall off stuff and get shot or stabbed, they would have said bricks and stone dropped on them, which resulted in a lot of broken limbs. With a lot of the smaller GI Joe types you could get a screwdriver and open them up and put custom guys together piecemeal from the leftover parts of all the broken ones, so you could have a Joe with a blue torso, green legs and red arms, but that was a no-go with the larger ones. I dug this dude up, minus a leg and all accessories.

https://live.staticflickr.com/4144/5019324980_278ed2a550_b.jpg

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@SwiftyDC your turn to recommend

kateee posted...

@SwiftyDC your turn to recommend

Before Sunrise
Nobody
The Social Dilemma
Sorry to Bother You
The Empty Man

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Im so far behind. Ill try to watch a few movies this weekend. Going on a business trip so Ill squeeze a few movies being bored in my hotel room.

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Vote for all movies you would be interested in seeing for the next week (~Sep. 17th NA). Rank your choices. If you do not intend to vote for whatever reason, please reply with "No Vote" so there is as little of a waiting period as possible. Please vote by Friday Sep 17th, 3:00 A.M EST./12 A.M. PST (midnight)

Before Sunrise (1995)
Nobody (2021)
The Social Dilemma (2020)
Sorry to Bother You (2018)
The Empty Man (2020)

@Camden
@jcgamer107
@Johnbobb
@lucifiere
@Raka_Putra
@Seginustemple
@ViolentAbacus
@Xeybozn

Late add to the list, sorry. The Empty Man for the fifth one.

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Nobody (2021)

A couple of others on there I wouldn't mind watching, but I forgot there was a Bob Odenkirk movie where he plays more of an action star.

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Nobody
Before Sunrise
The Social Dilemma

only seen Sorry to Bother You from the list but i'm actually pretty fucking down to see Nobody

the full feature of The Social Dilemma is up on youtube btw (until Sep. 30th) in case people are interested

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mqR_e2seeM

Nobody (2021)
The Social Dilemma (2020)
Sorry to Bother You (2018)
The Empty Man (2020)

I'm not in the mood for Before series right now.

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