2022-07-06 21:47 from zelgomer
Tonight I conclude my Indiana Jones marathon. Raiders is still the best

one by a long shot.

I prefer the Last Crusade because it has a bit more plot (with the Austrian she-Nazi doing her backstabbing and then some more backstabbings, and the hidden ultra-christian sect etc.) The Lost Ark was amazing too.

Sadly, I just don't have the attention span for a full length film anymore.
And that's ironic because I pepper my narratives with a lot of movie quotes.

2022-07-11 12:31 from IGnatius T Foobar <ajc@citadel.org>
Sadly, I just don't have the attention span for a full length film
anymore.
And that's ironic because I pepper my narratives with a lot of movie

quotes.

I used to think of movies as the novels of the idiot box, but then they started making these high production series like Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad. Now it feels like those are the novels and movies are the short stories.

Around 90 minutes is still the perfect length, though. I feel lile the Lord of the Rings trilogy made it fashionable to have your grandiose fantasy drag on for three hours. That's just too damn long to sit there and stare at a screen. Unless it's irc, in which case I can stare at that 24/7.

A maybe unusual recommendation: Doctor Sleep. It's a sequel to The Shining. I know, I know, sounds awful. But don't think of it that way. Go into it thinking of The Shining as more of a fantasy than a horror (as I think the book was, but Kubrick turned it into horror, though admittedly I never read the book myself). Doctor Sleep follows Danny Torrence's life after the hotel, culminating in a bit of an adventure at the end.

My only complaints about the film.
1. It breaks my 90 minute rule that I just described in my last post by 100%. That's right, it's 3 hours long!! I still found it engaging, though. I'm actually not sure what I'd have cut. Maybe in these sorts of cases they would be better served as a TV or streaming series.
2. I hate the score. It should have had an original score, but instead they tried to shoehorn in the score from The Shining, and it just doesn't fit.
3. The climax at the very very end lost me a bit. A little too much fan service "remember this part from the first one? Remember that time when Jack Nicholson said here's Johnny? Remember the creepy twins? REMEMBER ROOM 237????"

So: go into it and think of it as a fantasy tale about how Danny grows up with the trauma from the events of The Shining and learns to face his super powers and use them for good, and it's a pretty good flick in my opinion. Also I think I really like Ewan McGregor as an actor.

2022-07-05 21:25 from zelgomer
And then there's Temple of Doom. Holy shit, how did this dumpster fire

happen? Every time I watch it I think maybe I'm too hard on it and I
should give it another chance, and then I'm shocked all over again at

what an incredible disaster of a sequel to Raiders it is. At least they

managed to bring it back with The Last Crusade.

I'm actually kinda partial to Temple of Doom out of all the others. It is campy for sure, but for me that's part of the appeal.

unfortunately the Indian characters are more like caricatures. That's its biggest fault.

unfortunately the Indian characters are more like caricatures. That's

its biggest fault.

Oh no, that's far from its biggest fault. You and darknetuser are insane.


The girl is annoying and unlikable.
The plot is basically "Indiana Jones visits a Scooby-Doo haunted house."

The villain is generic, nameless, and doesn't really do all that much.

His master plan is something about using the magic stones to mine diamonds or something. I actually can't even remember already, it's so forgettable. And you don't even SEE it in action, he just looks at the camera and explains it to the audience in one scene. At least we all understood why Hitler and Boloch wanted the Ark, or why Schneider and whatshisface wanted the Grail, and there was payoff when we got to see those powers turned against them.

The part where Indy gets mind controlled is bad and pointless. Nothing comes of that except that he gets bonked in the head and then snaps out of it, and then for a brief moment he winks at Shortround like they're going to do some clever trick, but the clever trick turns out to be just that he starts punching the bad guys.
Seriously, who the fuck was the villain priest guy? Did we even meet his character when they first arrived at the palace and were eating monkey brains, or is that first ritual scene seriously the first time we ever see him? Does he even have a name?
I think the entire movie is comprised of about five nondescript locations: China, the village/jungle, the palace entrance and bedrooms, the spooky ritual room, and then the mines.
Indy's motivation is not very compelling. Okay, they happend upon a down-trodden village where all the children and a magical stone have been stolen. Indy doesn't care about that shit, he's a treasure hunter.

I could probably keep going if I sat down and watched it again, but I've already forgotten so much of it. Campy doesn't bother me if there are other redeeming qualities, but Temple of Doom has no redeeming qualities to save it.

Oh, are we supposed to care about the sultan kid? What happened to him? Did he have a name? Are there any characters in the film other than Indy, the annoying girl, and Shortround?

Also if you're flying a plane and you want to assassinate your passengers, wouldn't it be easier to just chuck them out the door rather than waiting for them to fall asleep, dumping the fuel, and then jumping out of your own damn plane??

2022-07-13 21:40 from zelgomer
A maybe unusual recommendation: Doctor Sleep. It's a sequel to The

You are doing a very poor job selling this movie.

The Shinning was very mediocre to begin with, and it is only saved by Nicholson's performance. It didn't need a sequel so I think I'll pass.

I am still wondering if Kubric ever did any movie that was any good. Full Metal Jacket was fine until everybody got sent to 'Nam. Then it turned average.

The Shinning was very mediocre to begin with, and it is only saved by

Nicholson's performance. It didn't need a sequel so I think I'll pass.

It is very different from The Shining, which is why in my opinion the original score is very out of place. But fair enough, if you didn't enjoy The Shining then you'll probably be even more bothered than I was by the over the top nostalgia porn that makes up the last act.

Oh no, that's far from its biggest fault. You and darknetuser are
insane.

I mean you're not wrong. It was a B-movie with an A-list budget and actors.

Bad is good, though.

I am still wondering if Kubric ever did any movie that was any good.

Dr. Strangelove!

2022-07-18 19:06 from LoanShark <loanshark@uncensored.citadel.org>

I am still wondering if Kubric ever did any movie that was any good.

Dr. Strangelove!

I have actually never seen that. Probably should go on my list. Thanks!

I would watch it again and again and again if I hadn't already seen it.

2022-07-18 15:04 from LoanShark

Oh no, that's far from its biggest fault. You and darknetuser are

insane.

I mean you're not wrong. It was a B-movie with an A-list budget and

actors.

Bad is good, though.

Precisely.

Something I mind when watching a movie is whether it is pretentious or not. The Temple of Doom never intended to be anything other than a silly adventure movie so I don't mind it being campy. It is when films try to be smart and profound and fail that they bother me.

2022-07-21 01:17 from LadySerenaKitty
I saw "Minions: The Rise of Gru" last Caturday.  It was PAWESOME! 

4/4 paws.  No pawlitical correctness (french movie).  Would watch
again.

Thanks for the tip.

All the minions and Gru theme are so mainstream that I was suspecting it was yet another pile of crap. I know it sounds hipster as heck, but that is what things have become...

I am still wondering if Kubric ever did any movie that was any good.

Full Metal Jacket was fine until everybody got sent to 'Nam. Then it
turned average.

You're not alone in that opinion. I've actually never seen the Vietnam part of the movie because the person who brought it over for us to watch many years ago actually turned it off after the "me love you long time" scene. He said "it's just a bunch of boring war stuff after this, nothing worth watching".

It is very different from The Shining, which is why in my opinion the

original score is very out of place. But fair enough, if you didn't

Shining? The romcom?

[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6QgNuZcxTw ]

<grin>

I saw "Minions: The Rise of Gru" last Caturday.  It was PAWESOME! 
4/4 paws.  No pawlitical correctness (french movie).  Would watch

Illumination/Universal isn't flushing itself down the toilet like Disney?
That's good news. I loved the original Despicable Me but I haven't seen the others.

2022-07-23 11:02 from IGnatius T Foobar

I am still wondering if Kubric ever did any movie that was any good.

Full Metal Jacket was fine until everybody got sent to 'Nam. Then it

turned average.

You're not alone in that opinion. I've actually never seen the
Vietnam part of the movie because the person who brought it over for us

to watch many years ago actually turned it off after the "me love you

long time" scene. He said "it's just a bunch of boring war stuff after

this, nothing worth watching".

It is not even "boring war stuff." I am ok watching a film composed of cheap character deaths and shootings and explosions. It is like industrial buns: we all know they are empty calories but we all can stand some every now and then, and even enjoy it.

The problem is that it was boring war stuff that tried to be clever, and I hate that sort of pretentiousness.