TV/Movies Megathread

[The Minsky Moment]

Dune is all about the intersection of politics and mysticism . . .

Well there's a lot going on - there's the theme of how human society interacts with ecology; there's the theme of the power of belief and how it can result in unexpected consequences; there's a bildingsroman around Paul.  As s filmmaker you have to choose your focus.  Dune Messiah is more about political intrigue than Dune, where the intrigue is there but mostly to set up the main action.  You can argue that focusing on those politics would be like telling the story of the rise of Islam through the lens of the political dynamics of the 7th century Byzantine Empire.

[The Brain]

I summed it up in February, in a review of Lynch's attempt. There is no great mystery what Dune is about.

Shaddam rules the desert planet Arrakis, home to the oil, Melange. The civilized superpower sends troops and the natives instinctively give them their wholehearted support, hailing the son of the first civilized leader as a Messiah. The son, Paul W Atreides, having grown up guided by his loyal servants Guernsey, Dr Huey Lewis, an old Mentos, and a hot mom, easily dominates a field of mystic knowledge where previously silly women have failed to make any headway. W finally establishes a new world order by the power of his awesomeness, a far cry from the carefree youth who enjoyed dressing up as a waiter and fighting appliances. But the movie is not just a neo-con male fantasy, it is also a film version of the old Sci-Fi novel Dune.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Only Murders in the BUilding had been great. I recommend it. 

I now have no interest in Dune, not if it isn't the complete story and they didn't have a plan to deal with the rest of it in a sequel. It'd b IT all over again.

I am looking forward to Ghostbusters though.

As leadup to Halloween we've been watching the old greats, like You can't Do That On Television, Boo!, Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin, and the garfield Halloween special. 

[viper37]

Watching Apocalypse Now Redux on Netflix, and the mango picking scene really reminds me of Avatar.  I wonder if that was conscious.

I don't think Coppola had Avatar in mind when he shot that scene.  Probably a coincidence.   

[viper37]

Black Widow- Weird film. Why make this now? It might have worked better had it been made and released at the proper time.

Because a few female-led action movies bombed at the theater around that time.
Disney is many thing, but not a risk taker.  If another studio has done something that didn't work, Disney isn't gonna try it until they are 110% sure they can bring back the format to success.

[FunkMonk]

Went with a friend to watch Dune. He had no previous experience of the book, 80s movie, or the TV miniseries. He usually gets lost in convoluted movie plots.

He really loved the movie and couldn't stop talking about it afterward. I think Villeneuve hit a good spot between well-paced, intelligent filmmaking and OMGEXPLOSIONS WOW.

I really enjoyed it too and look forward to watching it again with my wife on HBO later this week.

[The Larch]

Even my mom watched Dune out of her own free will and enjoyed it, so Villeneuve must have done something right. 

[The Larch]

This weekend I watched Wes Anderson's latest, The French Dispatch. It's quite probably the most Wes Anderson that Wes Anderson has ever Wes Andersoned, with the Style - Substance slider pulled all the way to Style.

Now seriously, the film is a bit uneven, only logical due to it being constituted of three separate stories, but the atmosphere, production and soundtrack are wonderfully quaint throughout and all the actors are amazing in their roles.

[garbon]

Only Murders in the BUilding had been great. I recommend it. 

I now have no interest in Dune, not if it isn't the complete story and they didn't have a plan to deal with the rest of it in a sequel. It'd b IT all over again.

I am looking forward to Ghostbusters though.

As leadup to Halloween we've been watching the old greats, like You can't Do That On Television, Boo!, Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin, and the garfield Halloween special. 

I'm also enjoying Only Murderers in the Building.

[The Brain]

Unfaithful. Bored MILF finds excitement in Gallic charmer. Very good.

[Sheilbh]

Right, it's  feudalism in space -  conflict between houses is not particularly restricted as long as the proper forms are observed and the interests of the major powers (Emperor/Guild/"Church") are not threatened.  There is a reason why noble families have "masters of assassins" as retainers.

Although politics goes beyond the feudal house thing, I think it's very good on the colonial aspects of it, which is certainly political. And is pretty good at the politics of the mysticism (myths being planted).

I think he handles the politics pretty well - it's broadly show don't tell with limited exposition which maybe doesn't capture everything but I think gives enough.

Just went to see The Velvet Underground which I enjoyed - I like the band. I particularly like how tightly focused it is on the band and basically the director (Todd Haynes) clearly hates the last album because it gets about five minutes, then Lou Reed and the film is over. I think the lazy but maybe more common approach would be the band as part of step in Lou Reed's artistic development. It doesn't even just get caught up in Cale-Reed but has a good amount of Maureen Tucker and Sterling Morrison.

It's the first film I've seen from or about this time that seems at all sympathetic to Warhol. Still cynical and vain and selfish and commercial and a vampire - but maybe more of a genius because of it. Similarly I think it portrays Nico very sympathetically and not just as a femme fatale.

It's very good and Todd Haynes is the perfect person to do a Velvet Underground documentary and I'm really glad he did.

[Sheilbh]

This weekend I watched Wes Anderson's latest, The French Dispatch. It's quite probably the most Wes Anderson that Wes Anderson has ever Wes Andersoned, with the Style - Substance slider pulled all the way to Style.

Now seriously, the film is a bit uneven, only logical due to it being constituted of three separate stories, but the atmosphere, production and soundtrack are wonderfully quaint throughout and all the actors are amazing in their roles.

Yeah - going to see it this week I think. Keen. I love Grand Budapest Hotel which felt very Wes Anderson even in the universe of things Wes Anderson.

We'll see - a little trepidatious.

[Savonarola]

Vertigo (1958)

This time I learned that Hitchcock (along with Edith Head) made Kim Novak's wardrobe look unnerving.  The iconic grey suit is an unusual choice for a blonde woman and the black scarf stands out on her white coat.  The score, the lighting, the weirdly deserted San Francisco, the montage of Jimmy Stewart driving and even the clothes make for an unsettling film; (which matches Stewart's state of mind.)

The dream sequence was a little too much Hitchcock, but otherwise this is great, one o his best.  I've seen this in the theater a few times, this is the first time the Barbara Bel Geddes portrait scene didn't get a laugh.

[Josquius]

This weekend I watched Wes Anderson's latest, The French Dispatch. It's quite probably the most Wes Anderson that Wes Anderson has ever Wes Andersoned, with the Style - Substance slider pulled all the way to Style.

Now seriously, the film is a bit uneven, only logical due to it being constituted of three separate stories, but the atmosphere, production and soundtrack are wonderfully quaint throughout and all the actors are amazing in their roles.

Yeah - going to see it this week I think. Keen. I love Grand Budapest Hotel which felt very Wes Anderson even in the universe of things Wes Anderson.

We'll see - a little trepidatious.

I'll be doing it backwards. Next week going to see Jarvis Cocker who I suspect will heavily be doing soundtrack songs.
Probably won't see the film until it comes onto streaming.
As commented when I saw the trailer it does indeed look to be the most Wes Anderson thing ever!
I do find his films tend to be their best when they lean into the quirkiness.
Though I do wonder whether that still holds up after 20-odd years.

[The Larch]

This weekend I watched Wes Anderson's latest, The French Dispatch. It's quite probably the most Wes Anderson that Wes Anderson has ever Wes Andersoned, with the Style - Substance slider pulled all the way to Style.

Now seriously, the film is a bit uneven, only logical due to it being constituted of three separate stories, but the atmosphere, production and soundtrack are wonderfully quaint throughout and all the actors are amazing in their roles.

Yeah - going to see it this week I think. Keen. I love Grand Budapest Hotel which felt very Wes Anderson even in the universe of things Wes Anderson.

We'll see - a little trepidatious.

I'll be doing it backwards. Next week going to see Jarvis Cocker who I suspect will heavily be doing soundtrack songs.
Probably won't see the film until it comes onto streaming.
As commented when I saw the trailer it does indeed look to be the most Wes Anderson thing ever!
I do find his films tend to be their best when they lean into the quirkiness.
Though I do wonder whether that still holds up after 20-odd years.

That was a happy surprise, I had no idea that Jarvis Cocker did covers of French songs of the 60s for the soundtrack (his accent could do with some work, though), so when the fim's main song (a cover of Cristophe's 1965 massive hit Aline) came out I was quite amazed.  The video is a great credits sequence for the film, which sadly was not actually employed in the film itself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJGMmXdyhoA

More observations about the film, seeing how the setting was pictured and how the action unfolded I started thinking "this is like a Tintin story come to life, Wes Anderson could perfectly direct a live action Tintin movie and make it look fine". And then towards the end of the movie... [spoiler]there's an actual animation sequence basically pulled off a Bande Desinee[/spoiler]. I afterwards learned that the film was actually shot in Angouleme, which I think is not a coincidence.