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To try to dissect your argument, I'm reading two complaints: an unsympathetic protagonist, and a narrative that doesn't serve him a just fate. People might have different views about how "unsympathetic" Bickle is. He is definitely a pathetic/tragic/unlikeable figure, but as to whether we can relate to his mindset at all (as the Uber driver could) depends on whether we detest/criticize society even more than we detest/criticize the protagonist. Are we like Bickle, looking out from behind glass, throwing spitballs at the world from a distant remove, or are we an active part of that dirty, pornographic, politically phony society? The first complaint is answered by not how much we like Bickle, but how interesting we find him. Raskolnikoff, Macbeth, Holden Caulfield, were all S.O.B.s. None of us would want to hang out with any of them, but we are fascinated by them. Patrick Bateman from "American Psycho" is kind of an 80's Travis Bickle. He is also completely absolved at the end, which is a critique of 80s Reaganism as much as Taxi Driver was a critique of its own era. So the "happy ending" is really anything but. I wanted to respond to this because I actually felt the same way about Raging Bull upon first viewing. I did not give a shit about Jake LaMotta, and didn't care for the film as a result. I must have seen something relatable, if not sympathetic, about Bickle that I couldn't about LaMotta.

I have to confess that I don't get the praise heaped upon Taxi Driver at all. It's a story about an isolated and psychologically unwell man who, in his alienation, becomes increasingly angry about his lot in life/the perceived failings of women and minorities/the state of the world until he concludes that the only way he can make his mark and right society's wrongs is through violence. And (overlooking Paul's alternate interpretation of the ending) Bickle is ultimately vindicated: he murders a bunch of "filth" to "rescue" an innocent, is hailed as a hero in the press, and even gains the grudging respect of the woman who once rejected him. Viewed for the first time in 2018, it reads more like Elliot Rodger apologia than a critique of misogyny. What am I missing? I am genuinely perplexed.

Earwolf has a new improv show, and all of the performers are YouTube stars! Matt Besser gets to know a slew of multi-platform influencers, internet celebrities and content creators as they iron out all their beefs and feuds through the art of rap. Will the New 10 bring the talent they need to make their show a hit? Tune in to find out!

I love when directors don't just do a cameo for the sake of doing a cameo, but decide that they are going to play the most sadistic fuck in their own movie. The other classic example is Roman Polanski in Chinatown, who slices Jack Nicholson's nose. And not exactly sadistic, but it's disturbing when Spike Lee himself (as Mookie) throws the trash can through the window that sets off the riot in Do The Right Thing.

So long as regular Pepsi is Joan Crawford, we're all good.

Yes. I feel like we owe it to Paul and his Human Giant days. Walter Neft for some reason gives me Crystal Pepsi vibes

...

The poster of Rita Hayworth in Shawshank. Are we going to do Crystal Clear Pepsi?

Eve. Harrington.

Who is Dr Pepper?

Amy mentioned that Scorsese seemed to make a lot of movies in the "same" mold, but IMO that's only true if you look at his movies that have become the most famous. Those are usually violent movies, often involving gangsters (or at least loud Italian Americans). But if you go into the "deep cuts," his career is more varied than he gets credit for: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore The Last Waltz New York, New York The King of Comedy After Hours The Last Temptation of Christ The Age of Innocence Kundun The Aviator Hugo Silence Seems like a lot of different stuff tackled there: small character studies, a concert film, movies about religion, a musical, a television satire, period costume dramas, a tribute to classic silent cinema. He's not always doing the same thing.

Why am I not surprised that RC Cola is the drink of choice of skeevy, 1970's porn theaters?

If I'm not mistaken, yes this movie did inspire him update: looked it up. Hinckley's lawyers actually brought up Taxi Driver in court

I haven't listened to the whole ep yet, so I'm sure I'll have more thoughts later (and maybe they mentioned it?), but I've just got to say that by the end of this one, I couldn't stop wondering if Taxi Driver is what inspired John Hinkley, Jr., and why he thought trying to shoot Reagan would get Jodie Foster's attention.

swift dawg was here

Hey man, why stop at one?

I mean you have to admit that the Lady Anglerfish is a strong independent fish lady and it's hilarious how tiny the males are.

Apparently they also use dead fish like fleshlights to jack off with? There's video of it in one of the articles on shitty dolphin behavior I found but I was too afraid to watch it. Similar to Meatloaf I will do lots of things in the name of scientific research but watching dolphin porn ... I just won't do that. I will however watch a dolphin chew a puffer fish and pass it around like a fishy bong so they can get a high.

As a proud owner of a dolphin patronus I will not stand for all of this anti-dolphin talk (except for the dolphin rape that is bonkers and horrible). Who even started making us choose??? Can't we be team all sea creatures cause the ocean is amazing???

There's also the "Sea World" effect. People like animals that can do funny tricks.

I would also like to say that I am Team Shark. I had a Marine Biology teacher back in school who always told us how funny it is that people love dolphins so much when they are essentially sea-wolves. She attributed a lot of it to their upturned mouths that give the illusion of smiling and all the New Age artwork that always portray them as these ethereal, space-faring creatures. I guess the scariest part of dolphins is the fact that they are intelligent. I can't get mad at a shark when it's all instinct, but when you're talking about an animal that is capable of premeditation, that's something else entirely. Dolphins are the worst. Fuck those guys.

So there's this really great interview with Jason Statham on the making of The Meg. Apparently he was pretty disappointed in how little gore there is. The original script had a lot more gory death scenes, but the studio cut it all out to satisfy the PG-13 movie. He says the first sub rescue also was a late addition to the script. He was pretty tactfully saying he thought he was making a very different movie than what got released. As a bonus he also has some stuff about the Fast films that HDTGM fans should enjoy. It's a good read. In particular: [COLLIDER] Yes. I think they were aiming at a release date. I want to jump back in time. Often when you sign on to a movie it’s going to be one way. Then you end up being on set and the movie turns into something else. From when you signed on to what people are seeing on screen, how much changed along the way? STATHAM: A lot. [COLLIDER] Yeah I kind of figure. STATHAM: A lot. Scripts totally different. There was so many different … sometimes you just go, “How did it happen? How did it go from this to this to this to that?” You just can’t keep a track on it. I guess if you have the control to keep it a certain way you would, but you don’t. They have a movie to make. They have so many people deciding on what action stays and what scenes stay. How the characters … In the end they want to put something at the beginning. The whole thing at the beginning where I do a rescue on a sub? That was not in the script that I read. That was all brand new stuff, good or bad. I’m just letting you know. [COLLIDER] I’ll defend that scene by saying it sets up your relationship. It’s a huge plot point in this version of the movie. STATHAM: Yeah, but there was other stuff at the beginning that was … I’m, you know. I’m just saying it was radically different. I guess in some ways your imagination and your own perception of what it’s going to be is its worst enemy. Just because you should always try and not narrow that down and imagine what you want it to be and just go for the ride. John’s interpretation of this is a fun end of summer [movie]. It’s full of humor. It’s a little bit more directed to a different taste of what my own is in terms of I like more gory adult stuff. I’m a lot older but I can’t speak for what this film could possibly speak to a younger audience. I might have made a film that not many people wanted to see. I’m not a filmmaker. I’m sort of an actor that’s going to portray a role. I go there but I’ve learned not to get too attached with your own idea of what something could be.

In terms of the lack of really any physical romance of any kind or even SUGGESTIONS of sex, I think that was definitely the film trying firmly to appeal to a Chinese audience. This accounts for the lack of gruesome deaths that American audiences crave as well. As someone living in China, I've noticed a few things about Chinese TV and movies. Often, you'll see someone get badly wounded that would be a great excuse for gore in the US, but instead they'll have perhaps a single streak of the fakest-looking blood you've ever seen running down their cheek. In terms of the sex stuff, let me put it this way--they re-edited The Shape of Water to remove the scenes where she was naked to remove all the nudity, even going as far as to add a strange black slip-shaped mask over her back when she takes off her robe and we see her from behind before the fish sex scene. It's so poorly done and obviously looks like those Adobe Premiere masks that I laughed out loud in the theater, earning strange looks from the Chinese viewers around me. Catering to the Chinese market like this is not new. Think of how in Arrival the main world-saving information was given to Amy Adams by the Chinese general. Tons of films have been trying to present Chinese actors/characters as heroes and appeal to the Chinese sensibility in order to rake in some of that sweet sweet dough. It's also interesting that this film was released the same time in China as in America, which is NEVER true for American movies. Even the Marvel movies, which also make huge swaths of money from China and are absolutely the most popular movies here, open much later. For example, Ant Man and the Wasp just opened last weekend (August 21) and the new Mission Impossible opened a couple days ago. The fact that this movie opened at the same time in China as America definitely lends credence to the idea that it's almost more of a Chinese import to America than the other way around. One more Chinese thing: the beach is pretty real. Obviously they exaggerate it as movies are want to do (I mean, that shark isn't real either), but Chinese beaches are NOTORIOUS for being absolutely jammed. The water balls are real, everyone in tubes is real (most Chinese people can't swim), and Chinese women getting mad at people ruining their wedding pictures is real. Also, as a conspiracy theory note, the island in question (Hainan) is China's only real "resort" area, sort of like Hawaii. However, most Chinese tourists/vacationers traditionally choose to go to Thailand or elsewhere to vacation, paradoxically because Hainan beaches are thought of as over-crowded and absolutely filled with litter. The Chinese government recently has been trying to make strong pushes to encourage people to vacation in Hainan (within borders) as opposed to going abroad to do it, so the choice of that island for this movie might be more than just a random artistic whim of the screenwriters.

Dolphins are also notoriously... amorous and sexually aggressive. They're basically wet Harvey Weinsteins with the speed of Usain Bolt and the strength of J.J. Watt. NO THANK YOU. But Stephen Speilberg never made a perfectly terrifying movie about them and they make cute clickity-clack noises so I guess people think they are adorable.

So Rainn Wilson was evil from the jump? Because he gave money for bullshit stuff but not for child care? I agree with Muttnik that the Meg must be inbred as hell. Google search tells me the average shark lives for about 30 years, but the longest lived was about 275 years. The species megalodon disappeared from known science about 2.3 million years ago. Even if they *all* live 200 years (and I'm not even sure if it's the big ones that live longer), that family tree is becoming more of a shrub every 30 years or so. That's thousands of generations. I guess what bothers me about the secret habitat scenario is that there was no attempt to imagine how it might have adapted in those 2 million years. Like what if it had become transparent and the humans couldn't see it or something? I'm just spitballing here. They didn't even really use the powerful jaws of the megalodon in a cool way. I agree with all of you that it should've bit through that helicopter, like one of those flying sharks in South Africa. Because apparently megalodon could eat through bone. So let's see it bite through some shit! I wanted more stuff snapped in half, I think. The Meg really just behaved like a movie shark (that is a shark that goes after humans as usual prey, not one that only bites humans on accident or in extreme situations like real sharks). I'd like to have seen it go after, like cruise ships or maybe some marine life they kept at the research station. Maybe the little girl could've been friends with one of those whales and watch it get eaten.