TV/Movies Megathread

[Ideologue]

Read the review and I actually completely agree with everything in it. Enjoyable review. 

Adrien Brody's first line in the movie is immaculate. 

I'd have to watch it again but it's probably my favorite Wes Anderson film. It's just so damn funny.

It is.  My favorite line in the movie was Brody's, when the patter degenerates fully into schoolyard taunting.

Dmitri says something about M. Gustave having sex with whores.  M. Gustave, calling back to Dmitri's earlier insult, "I thought I was a fucking faggot."  Dmitri stares glassily, and says, "You are.  But you're a bisexual."

Doesn't look like much on the page, but Brody nails that shit.

[Capetan Mihali]

It's a social issues movie and would make a great double-feature with The Act of Killing, were The Act of Killing a movie especially worth watching.

I thought The Act of Killing was fantastic.

[Ideologue]

It's a social issues movie and would make a great double-feature with The Act of Killing, were The Act of Killing a movie especially worth watching.

I thought The Act of Killing was fantastic.

I know.  That's why I said that.

It has a fair point, but I thought it was exploitative and too ready to indulge its monstrous subjects.  It doesn't help that they're so morally stupid that they're hard to relate to as human at all.  But documentaries are a hard branch of film to review.

[Capetan Mihali]

I know.  That's why I said that.

  Troll me once, shame on you.

It has a fair point, but I thought it was exploitative and too ready to indulge its monstrous subjects.  It doesn't help that they're so morally stupid that they're hard to relate to as human at all.  But documentaries are a hard branch of film to review.

I liked the movie precisely because it was willing to indulge its subjects, and let you see the panorama of attitudes (all banal) towards their crimes that they display.  I thought it was also an interesting commentary on the way cinema mediates violence -- "The Act of Filming," if you will.

For me, good documentaries can be really breathtaking.  The Thin Blue Line was the one I first remember blowing me away.  I'm always up for a good documentary, whether its the subject matter or the director/approach that interests me.

For all the ribbing it gets here (exclusively from Yi, I guess), the National Film Board of Canada has generously made a ton of their movies available for free streaming worldwide, and there are some very good docs on there.   I saw "Project Grizzly" on TV by chance 15 years ago in a hotel room on a trip to Toronto and was totally riveted.  It is both hilarious and moving -- the story of a man building a massively-armored suit that he can wear to withstand a grizzly attack, so that he can get up close to them. "Through A Blue Lens" shows some very nice Vancouver cops talking with junkies on the Downtown Eastside.  The archive is worth perusing.

[celedhring]

"Capturing the Friedmans" is one of the most breathtaking pieces of filmmaking I've ever watched. Wish I had more time to watch docs.

[Ideologue]

I know.  That's why I said that.

  Troll me once, shame on you.

Aw, it wasn't trolling, exactly, but rather needling.   I gave it a B initially--honestly, in part out of the pressure of its critical reputation--but on reflection lowered it to a C+.  I didn't like it, so a B is inappropriate.

I liked the movie precisely because it was willing to indulge its subjects, and let you see the panorama of attitudes (all banal) towards their crimes that they display.  I thought it was also an interesting commentary on the way cinema mediates violence -- "The Act of Filming," if you will.

True, but so is Videodrome, and that movie's good.

For me, good documentaries can be really breathtaking.  The Thin Blue Line was the one I first remember blowing me away.  I'm always up for a good documentary, whether its the subject matter or the director/approach that interests me.

Last year, I liked Blackfish and, despite some problems with its style, Leviathan.  Previously I've quite enjoyed Fog of War, and I am always a sucker for gross insect documentaries.

Still, documentaries are defined by their content and not their style.  As a result, in a way, they're not real movies.  I can't complain about the story in Act of Killing, or its characters.  So even if I don't find them elucidating or entertaining, even if I found it an exercise in ugliness and careerism, I'm open to charges of missing the point; and perhaps I did.  That's why I have issues with the whole medium.  Ultimately, except for the filmmaking techniques used to capture their subject (and in that regard, I think Act of Killing is a failure), you can only look at the content of a documentary and decide whether you found it interesting or informative.  With a real movie, there is a conversation.  With a documentary, there is a lecture.

I mean, if you liked Act of Killing, you surely aren't alone.  I mean, I fully concede that Blackfish is a lot less challenging and a lot more populist, a simple message delivered in an hour and a half.  Perhaps it's a matter of taste.

For all the ribbing it gets here (exclusively from Yi, I guess), the National Film Board of Canada has generously made a ton of their movies available for free streaming worldwide, and there are some very good docs on there.   I saw "Project Grizzly" on TV by chance 15 years ago in a hotel room on a trip to Toronto and was totally riveted.  It is both hilarious and moving -- the story of a man building a massively-armored suit that he can wear to withstand a grizzly attack, so that he can get up close to them. "Through A Blue Lens" shows some very nice Vancouver cops talking with junkies on the Downtown Eastside.  The archive is worth perusing.

I still want to see "Crack Shack or Mansion: The Motion Picture."

[Malthus]

As for documentaries, one I remember beimng particularly riveting is titled Fast, Cheap and Out of Control.

Despite its title, it was not, in fact, a porno.  It featured: naked african mole rats, topiary, and robots (and it all made sense at the time ... ).

[Capetan Mihali]

Errol Morris.

As I mentioned, watching The Thin Blue Line was just incredible for me, and is probably part of how I ended up interested in criminal defense...

His first documentary The Gates Of Heaven is great too, a hilarious but also moving and respectful look at the California pet cemetery business in the late 70s.

[Malthus]

Errol Morris.

As I mentioned, watching The Thin Blue Line was just incredible for me, and is probably part of how I ended up interested in criminal defense...

His first documentary The Gates Of Heaven is great too, a hilarious but also moving and respectful look at the California pet cemetery business in the late 70s.

Reminds me of The Loved One. Which isn't a documentary. I think. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059410/

[Ideologue]

He also did Fog of War, which, as noted, I really, really liked.

McNamara.

[Ideologue]

Yo, Mihali, you might be interested in The Unknown Known.  That's Morris' new joint, about (obviously) Donald Rumsfeld.

[Syt]

The Atlantic had an article contrasting Fog of War and Known Unknowns:

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/04/the-true-subject-of-errol-morriss-donald-rumsfeld-doc-smugness/360344/

"The True Subject of Errol Morris's Donald Rumsfeld Doc: Smugness"

[mongers]

He also did Fog of War, which, as noted, I really, really liked.

McNamara.

You're liking it for the wrong reasons.     

[Ideologue]

He also did Fog of War, which, as noted, I really, really liked.

McNamara.

You're liking it for the wrong reasons.     

That is almost certainly true.

[Capetan Mihali]

Yo, Mihali, you might be interested in The Unknown Known.  That's Morris' new joint, about (obviously) Donald Rumsfeld.

Yeah, I saw that was playing in Boston.  Ended up opting for "Big Trouble" that night for fun and other person's taste, but I'd still like to see it.