Tag: Movies

Philosophical Thoughts on Movie Watching from Siskel and Ebert

Why do we go to the movies in the first place? To have a vicarious experience. For two hours we sit there and if the movie works we stop being ourselves to some degree and become the characters on the screen. And then a review to some degree should talk about whether we enjoyed that vicarious experience. —Roger Ebert…

In a 20/20 interview, he took things even further. “When you disagree on a movie,” Ebert said, “you’re not disagreeing on the movie. You’re disagreeing on who you are. If I don’t like a movie and he does, then I’m not saying that the movie is flawed, I’m saying that he’s flawed.”…

Because the crosstalk was unplanned and unscripted, it occasionally ventured off into fascinating tangents. A Siskel & Ebert movie review could mutate at a moment’s notice into a debate about philosophy, morality, or spirituality. The occasion of the 1987 fantasy film Made in Heaven, about a young man who dies, meets his soulmate in heaven, then must return to Earth to find her when she is reincarnated in a new human body, inspired Roger and Gene to talk less about the movie than their own beliefs about the afterlife.

“I believe,” Siskel revealed, “that if you think of someone, whether it be here or in someplace else, that they come alive. I think the film had a religious content to it. So I found the film beautiful.”
“Yeah, but, of course, whether or not you believe in this doesn’t have anything to do with whether the movie is good or not,” Ebert countered.
“For me, it does,” Siskel responded.
“Okay, well, in that case you think every movie you agree with is good!” Ebert said.
“I have for years,” Siskel replied.

Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever
Matt Singer

Note – recommended

2024 – Best Movies, Desultory Notes Selection of

In no order. Selections mine, description IMDB’s.

Dune Part 2
Paul Atreides unites with the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future.

Furiosa
The origin story of renegade warrior Furiosa before her encounter and teamup with Mad Max.

Sing Sing
Divine G, imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn’t commit, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men in this story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art.

Souleymane’s Story
A Paris food delivery cyclist and asylum seeker named Souleymane has two days to prepare his story for a make-or-break interview to secure legal residency.

All We Imagine as Light
In Mumbai, Nurse Prabha’s routine is troubled when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a spot in the city to be intimate with her boyfriend.

Goodbye Esquire Theater

Say goodbye to another beloved Denver institution.

The Landmark Esquire Theatre will close after its final screenings on Thursday, July 18.

The theater is known for arthouse and independent films, as well as regular programming of the cult classics “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “The Room.”

Jimenez said he wants to thank the Esquire for “all of the cool stuff that I’ve been able to see here and all of the stuff that I wasn’t able to see anywhere else.”

‘A great place for weirdos’: Who we met on closing weekend at the Esquire Theatre
Another icon of old Denver is fading into the past.

Ebert & Roeper: Best Of 2006

In this episode, Roeper and guest talk about their favorite films of 2006. These films include: 51 Birch Street, A Prairie Home Companion, Babel, Blood Diamond, Days of Glory, Flags of Our Fathers, L’Enfant, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Children, Little Miss Sunshine, Notes on a Scandal, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Departed, The Good Shepherd, The Lives of Others, The Queen, Three Times, United 93 and Volver.

5 Talky, Word-Rich Movies

My Dinner With Andre  – 1981
Two old friends meet for dinner; as one tells anecdotes detailing his experiences, the other notices their differing worldviews.

Swiming to Cambodia – 1987
Spalding Gray discusses his participation in the film The Killing Fields (1984) and the background story about the troubles of Cambodia.

Talk Radio – 1988
A rude, contemptuous talk show host becomes overwhelmed by the hatred that surrounds his program just before it goes national.

Waking Life2001
A man shuffles through a dream meeting various people and discussing the meanings and purposes of the universe.

The Social Network – 2010
As Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.

NOTE – summaries via IMDB

Office Space – 3 Quotes

Dom Portwood: Hi, Peter. What’s happening? We need to talk about your TPS reports.
Peter Gibbons: Yeah. The coversheet. I know, I know. Uh, Bill talked to me about it.
Dom Portwood: Yeah. Did you get that memo?
Peter Gibbons: Yeah. I got the memo. And I understand the policy. And the problem is just that I forgot the one time. And I’ve already taken care of it so it’s not even really a problem anymore.
Dom Portwood: Ah! Yeah. It’s just we’re putting new coversheets on all the TPS reports before they go out now. So if you could go ahead and try to remember to do that from now on, that’d be great. All right!

Stan, Chotchkie’s Manager: We need to talk about your flair.
Joanna: Really? I… I have fifteen pieces on. I, also…
Stan, Chotchkie’s Manager: Well, okay. Fifteen is the minimum, okay?
Joanna: Okay.
Stan, Chotchkie’s Manager: Now, you know it’s up to you whether or not you want to just do the bare minimum. Or… well, like Brian, for example, has thirty seven pieces of flair, okay. And a terrific smile.
Joanna: Okay. So you… you want me to wear more?
Stan, Chotchkie’s Manager: Look. Joanna.
Joanna: Yeah.
Stan, Chotchkie’s Manager: People can get a cheeseburger anywhere, okay? They come to Chotchkie’s for the atmosphere and the attitude. Okay? That’s what the flair’s about. It’s about fun.
Joanna: Yeah. Okay. So more then, yeah?
Stan, Chotchkie’s Manager: Look, we want you to express yourself, okay? Now if you feel that the bare minimum is enough, then okay. But some people choose to wear more and we encourage that, okay? You do want to express yourself, don’t you?
Joanna: Yeah, yeah.
Stan, Chotchkie’s Manager: Okay. Great. Great. That’s all I ask.

Peter Gibbons: Let me ask you something. When you come in on Monday and you’re not feeling real well, does anyone ever say to you, “Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays?”
Lawrence: No. No, man. Shit, no, man. I believe you’d get your ass kicked sayin’ something like that, man.

IMDB

Random Movie Details – Reddit

What’s a small detail in a movie that most people wouldn’t notice, but that you know about and are willing to share?
byu/Stuck_in_a_depo inmovies

InvasionXX
In Pulp Fiction, Vincent Vega and Mia Wallace return home with the trophy from the dance competition at Jack Rabbit Slims, suggesting they won. However, later in the movie you can barely hear in a news announcement on TV that a trophy has been stolen from a local dance competition, suggesting instead that Mia and Vincent lost and stole the trophy.

BlakeSiefken
In the first Terminator movie, “fuck you, asshole” appears near the bottom of the list of possible responses because it’s the same line that Bill Paxton says to him at the start of the film. The Terminator is a learning computer; the more interaction he has with humans, the more he learns. He learned the line from Bill Paxton’s character and added it to his list.

gurk_the_magnificent
Lots of people probably know about this one, but my favorite is Back to the Future. The mall starts as “Twin Pine Mall”, but Marty runs over a tree when he initially goes back to 1955, and when he returns to 1985 the mall is “Lone Pine Mall”.

Bourbone
This is a small music one.
We’re all familiar with the “dah dum” of the jaws theme.
Well, Williams used it masterfully to fully scare you in the last act in a way you don’t expect.
Throughout the movie, the jaws theme never lies.
When you hear it, the shark is there. When you DONT hear it, like when the main guy is overreacting about the kid on the beach day, the shark isn’t there.
Williams gets you to subconsciously trust that shark theme by proving that it works in every case.
This makes it scary AF, when in the final scene on the Orca, the shark appears out of nowhere without the music warning you first. It just comes up and chomps the boat.
Williams spent ~2 hours setting up that moment perfectly.

my_simple-review
In Goodfellas, when Ray Liotta is applying for witness protection, the prosecutor who is speaking with him is Ed McDonald, who was the real federal prosecutor in Henry Hill’s court case.

ImaginaryNemesis

The final scene with Ray Liotta in witness protection is a great wardrobe joke if you’ve been paying attention.
Through the whole movie, clothes are used to show people’s status. The members of the mob are generally shown in darker earth tones, and the ‘normies’ are in bright colors.
There’s a gag around the start where mobsters have stolen a truck of clothes and they all look out of place trying on brightly colored sweaters.
You can track Karen’s descent into crime from the changes in the color of her clothes.
Having Henry open the door at the end in a poorly fitting pastel blue bath robe is hilarious.

Pizzazzinator
The naked people at the end of Hereditary were all the same people at Annie’s support group, so it was a long con to get to Paimon.

TLMoss
In Finding Nemo, in the fish tank in the Dentist’s office, the fish use proper dental terminology when they discuss the procedures.

RadLibRaphaelWarnock
In Baby Driver, there is a scene towards the end where the protagonist steals an old lady’s car. He turns the radio to 97.1, where “Radar Love” by Golden Earring starts playing. The film takes place in Atlanta, and there is only one radio station in the city that would play music like that – 97.1 The River.
A cool little detail in a movie full of them.

ridd666
I shared it in another thread, but in the movie Frailty, when the father kills Demons, there is blood on the demon, but never shown on the dad or sons, or the weapons.
But when he kills an innocent, in this see the sheriff gets killed, the blood is everywhere. On the weapon, the dad, his hands, the kids clothes and even his face.
A small but awesome detail.

5 Best Movies of 2023

No order. Selections mine, summary via IMDB

Beau is Afraid
Following the sudden death of his mother, a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man confronts his darkest fears as he embarks on an epic, Kafkaesque odyssey back home.

The Holdovers
A cranky history teacher at a remote prep school is forced to remain on campus over the holidays with a troubled student who has no place to go.

Talk to Me
When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.

Little Richard: I am Everything
The life and career of Little Richard, the one-of-a-kind rock ‘n’ roll icon who shaped the world of music.

Barbie
Barbie suffers a crisis that leads her to question her world and her existence.

Indications the Movie is Going to Suck

What’s the first sign that a movie is going to suck?
byu/fuzzyloulou inAskReddit

fomalhottie
“I don’t do that anymore. I’m retired.”

“But you’re the best.”

“If I’m gonna do this… I’m gonna do this MY way.”

HailToTheKingslayer
“We need you back in the game.”

“I’m in the game, it’s called retirement.”

“Your old partner was killed.”

“I’m in.”

YellowB
“He died from old age”

Shitizen_Kain
Geriatric Hero IV – Bad to the bone

KeepGoing655
Whole movie is shown in the trailer.

GiJoint
Hulk (2003) was like that. As a kid I was so pumped for that movie, watching the teaser multiple times, then they dropped this absolutely incredible action packed trailer, with epic music and everything, holy shit, it’s still one of the best trailers I’ve ever seen.

Then I see the movie with my dad and it was like this slow art piece. Every action scene made an appearance in that trailer.

DarrellIsMyRealName
Seen this with my dad as well. He was already irritated, but when Hulk started crying, he was done. “My Hulk don’t damn cry.” were his exact words lol

Skapti
I don’t know if this happens in other countries, but in the UK you occasionally get TV spots where they have mini-interviews with members of an audience who’ve just watched the film. So it’ll be filmed in a cinema lobby and be like “What did you think of the film?” and there’ll be a family of four going “Oh it was great, really funny, just perfect for all the family!”.

When you see one of these you know it’s going to be absolute dogshit.

The Video Archives Podcast with Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary

Longtime friends and filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary will launch their first podcast next month on which they’ll revisit some of their favorite old B-movies and discover new ones.

Set to premiere July 19, “The Video Archives Podcast” will feature the duo rewatching and discussing movies pulled from the actual collection of VHS tapes that they used to recommend to customers when they worked at the original location of the iconic Video Archives movie rental store in Manhattan Beach, Calif., almost 40 years ago. It’s being produced with SiriusXM podcast subsidiary Stitcher.

Variety

You can check it out here: stitcher
Notes from an early episode:

After Show 01 – Video Vault: Women In Cages
Welcome to the Video Archives After Show, where Gala Avary brings you exclusive content, answers to your burning questions, and even more film discussion from Quentin and Roger. This week, we’re cracking open the Video Vault for a never-before-heard discussion of 1971’s Women In Cages. Originally recorded for the Video Archives pilot, Quentin and Roger discuss this Filipino exploitation classic, covering everything from an early Pam Grier knockout performance to an absolutely ginormous rat.

 

It Feels Like Movies are Getting Longer – Reddit Discussion

petantic
It’s actually to do with the fact that the length of time it takes to watch movies has gone up.

brisketandbeans
Interesting. Why is that?

petantic
It’s to do with the actual amount of movie they put into the film and that the film requires to be watched concurrently.

chameleonjunkie
Huh. Well I wonder why that is?

Apeman117
It has to do with the ending of the film getting further and further away from the start.

soulofboop
More movie per movie

2inchesofsteel
Right, right, I get that, but I wonder why that is the way it is, is what I’m wondering

petemorley
It’s like inflation. Back in the day you’d get 120 mins of movie, but these days that’s worth more like 240 mins. Same amount of movie.

RollBos
In a sense, that’s true. But in another sense, doesn’t it have as much to do with the fact that the total amount of time that is in a movie is becoming a larger amount of time?

ididntunderstandyou
You’re on to something here

see also: https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/06/entertainment/movie-runtimes-longer-mcu-batman-oscar-bait-cec/index.html

5 Best Movies of 2021

5 movies I saw this past year and recommend, blurbs via IMDB.

Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Feature documentary about the legendary 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival which celebrated African American music and culture, and promoted Black pride and unity.

Licorice Pizza

The story of Alana Kane and Gary Valentine growing up, running around and going through the treacherous navigation of first love in the San Fernando Valley, 1973.

Nightmare Alley

An ambitious carny with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychiatrist who is even more dangerous than he is.

Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain

A documentary about Anthony Bourdain and his career as a chef, writer and host, revered and renowned for his authentic approach to food, culture and travel.

Dune

Feature adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel about the son of a noble family entrusted with the protection of the most valuable asset and most vital element in the galaxy.

5 Movies I Saw in 2021 that Weren’t Released in 2021

5 movies that I watched this year and recommend. Blurbs via Amazon.

My Dinner with Andre – 1981

In Louis Malle’s captivating and philosophical My Dinner with André, actor and playwright Wallace Shawn sits down with friend and theater director André Gregory at an Upper West Side restaurant, and the two proceed into an alternately whimsical and despairing confessional on love, death, money, and all the superstition in between.

The Source Family – 2013

The Source Family’s outlandish lifestyle made them the darlings of Hollywood; but their outsider ideals and spiritual leader, Father Yod, caused controversy with local authorities.

The Overnighters  – 2014

A modern-day Grapes of Wrath, award-winning documentary THE OVERNIGHTERS is a portrait of job-seekers desperately chasing the American Dream to the tiny oil boom town of Williston, North Dakota.

Bad Times at the El Royale – 2018

Several strangers meet up at a rundown Lake Tahoe hotel in 1969 for a violent and fateful night filled with wild twists and turns.

Collective – 2020

Follow a heroic team of journalists as they uncover shocking corruption in the Romanian national healthcare system. Take an up-close look as the Gazette team methodically discovers layer upon layer of unbridled fraud and criminal malfeasance.

Worst Movies of 1972

The Ten Worst Movies Of 1972 *
Vincent Canby
Jan. 7, 1973

Mary, Queen of Scots, directed by Charles Jarrott
what I recall about this film most vividly is its complete lack of urgency. It’s a Christmas card sale in January.

Young Winston, directed by Richard Attenborough
“Young Winston” is one of those movie biographies in which a character asks the great‐man‐to‐be: “What’s ever to become of you?”

The Man, directed by Joseph Sargent
According to a long‐popular myth, some movies are so bad they’re good. If it’s possible, though, I doubt it, you might describe “The Man” that way.

The Public Eye, directed by Carol Reed
It takes Topol, who gives what is positively the year’s worst performance as a lovable private detective, to reunite the couple. The film spends so much time sight‐seeing around London you might reasonably wonder if it was financed by BOAC.

Portnoy’s Complaint, directed by Ernest Lehman
Roth’s hugely funny, dirty, first‐person narrative becomes embarrassingly crude and show‐offy.

A Place Called Today, directed and written by Don Schain
This is my sentimental choice as the most horrible film of the year, one of the two soft‐core porn films of 1972 that, starred Cheri Caffaro

The War Between Men and Women, directed by Melville Shavelson
This was undoubtedly the year’s most peculiarly mixed‐up comedy, about a cartoonist (Jack Lemmon) who’s going blind and tries to keep it a secret from the decent woman (Barbara Harris)

Trouble Man, directed by Ivan Dixon
This stands out as one of the worst black rip‐off films of the year

Savage Messiah, directed by Ken Russell
No list of the most awful films of the year would be complete without something by Ken Russell

. . . . And Hope To Die, directed by René Clément
the story is about some underworld characters in Montreal and more than that ye need not know.

The Trial of The Catonsville Nine, directed by Gordon Davison
so full of self‐congratulations that you’re likely to wind up questioning your original admiration for the nine.

* Listed 11 by my count.