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So, what do you all think happens after the credits roll? The movie frames it as a happy ending, and I suppose there is some measure of vindication at the end for Douglas’ character, but ultimately he still works for a company whose Machiavellian CEO and corporate toady sidekicks were more than willing to frame and fire him for incompetence over an allegation that they knew to be false. They clearly preferred Demi for the job, who wasn’t fired so much for what she did, but because she was publicly caught. Why should Douglas think for even a second that there won’t be further retaliation? And even if he made such a good impression at the shareholders’ meeting that he’s effectively proved his worth and saved his job, why would he want to stay there? Fuck that place.

While I have my own relatively mundane story about the choir director at my church (who later served a lengthy jail sentence for plying other teenage boys with alcohol and smut), I was thankfully old enough and cynical enough to see the writing on the wall and extricate myself from that nightmare-in-the-making. But I wanted to take a moment to say I'm glad all of you are here and able to turn this terrible movie into a net positive. And, if we're talking Spike Jonze dance videos, to share the greatest perfume ad of all time:

@taylorannephotoThanks for the shout out! i’m sorry that you’ve had your own experiences to deal with (I also regret that it’s hard to sympathize/empathize/whatever the phrase is without it feeling somewhat trite). i’m doing this by phone and don’t have a catchy gif to easily add for a lighter touch, but I will link to this Christopher Walken/Spike Jonze video (that’s not related to ANYTHING else in this thread), because who doesn’t like to see Christopher Walken dance?

Can somebody help explain the company Michael Douglas works for to me. So we know that the company is large enough to have multiple branches. So is the Seattle office the main office or just another branch? Demi Moore, Doanld Sutherland, and Dylan Baker all are said to come up from the South. They are all higher ups, so it makes it seem that they are at the main office which is down south. However, they are picking a VP from the Seattle office and the VP position seems to be based out of the Seattle office. At first I thought Donald Sutherland was up in Seattle because the company they were merging with was based out of Seattle as well. They aren't because they're staying at a hotel and the president of the merging company isn't going to be there until the day of the merger. It just all much no sense and has no flow. I don't work in the corporate world so is it normal to have the VP and President to be based out of separate branches? Also is there not a branch manager? Do presidents have offices in all branches that sit there unused until the president shows up for short periods?

That’s what’s crazy to me too. I was under the impression that Demi was an outside asset or something. Otherwise, I don’t understand how his girlfriend from nearly a decade ago could not only be working at the same company as Douglas but also up for the same position, and he has absolutely no idea about it. Again, Douglas seems to be pretty shitty at his job. Like, the kind of unprofessional, mediocre guy who gets passed over for the position he just sort of assumed he’d get, so he calls a staff meeting so he can throw a temper tantrum in front of all of them like a toddler. I mean, why does he think that he’s such a shoe in for a promotion that he ties it up for work that day, but is also somehow in a scenario that he could feasibly be fired or transferred from his job, and he’s not really all that surprised. Did he not interview for the VP position? They clearly never told him that the job was 100% his. And honestly, unless he had the job absolutely locked, he really should have been on time for work that day. That’s cocky as shit.

@taylorannephotoalso, since I didn’t directly say it, thank you for sharing.

I still don’t understand why they would lead him on that he was going to get this huge promotion, only to pull the rug out from under his feet. How does professionally and mentally fucking with Douglas benefit the company at all? Also, what kind of company would announce the promotion of an employee to an executive level position without first formally offering the job to that person in private? It drives me fucking crazy that Douglas just drove into work like a cocky sonuvabitch and nary a contract had been signed.

Ultimately, I don’t think Moore and Sutherland we’re too off base in trying to get Douglas fires for incompetency. No, the production issues weren’t the result of any direct action of his, but apparently his ex-girlfriend had been busy sabotaging his work in Malaysia for months without him noticing a goddamn thing. He’s the Manufacturing Department Head, for fuck’s sake, and under his purview, drastic changes were being implemented by a freaking outsider right under his stupid nose. I may not know much about the manufacturing of CD-ROMs, but I know ineptitude when I see it. It shouldn’t take a sexual harassment charge to get you to figure out just how badly you’re fucking it up at work.

Also also, that music video is better than anything in Disclosure.

According to Wikipedia it is the Seattle International Film Festival. (Update: The film showed there in 2010.) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Kissed_a_Vampire

I watched the preview. Interestingly, it says it was picked for the Seattle Film Festival. That’s NOT the Seattle International Film Festival, where even Neil Breen got a special day of screenings, so I’m... intrigued? I legitimately have no clue what the Seattle Film Festival is.

Yeah, as much as it pains the child in me to admit, this one's not great. Great designs though. Bluth's movies are pretty fifty-fifty for me in terms of good/bad, but they're all pretty fucking weird.

The funny thing is, I was actually told "Yeah, but if they were hot, you'd have gone along with it!", whether I would or wouldn't have in that situation is irrelevant this situation, I wasn't interested in THIS group of women. But, I consider myself quite lucky, because it had no impact on my life other than mild annoyance at the time, and an anecdote for later in life. But it is interesting in to share when discussing stuff like that, even without going into the "Oh well, if my mates and I did that, we'd be in trouble!" yes, you would be, they should have been too. But, I was also lucky to have been raised by my amazing mother, who instilled this "Don't take it from anybody" attitude, and innate "Brick Shit House" genetics which allowed me to tell them to fuck off, and push my way through, someone else might have been REALLY fucked up from it, especially not receiving any form of help.

I can pronounce binary.

And fart bats

I thought you were just making the point that you liked Rockula. As you should. It’s cinematic perfection.

And I liked it! There we go horrible joke saved.

Fair point. I had forgotten that detail, though I wonder how deep a cut a HDTGM listener really wanOH.MY.GOD.IF.THEY.DID.TROLL2'SGOBLIN.QUEEN.AND.POTTED.BOY.OR.POPCORN.BOY.IT.WOULD.BE.AMAAAAAAZING!!!!!!

There is a possible cause for Kirk Douglas’ behavior that is briefly described in the article that Electra Boogaloo linked to In the New York Post (once again, the article is called A look back at Kirk Douglas’ most famous sexual conquests, By Linda Massarella, December 8, 2016). in the article, Ms. Massarella writes how Douglas’ sexual experiences started. “It began with his English teacher, a Mrs. Livingston, who seduced him when he was 14, he said.” Ummm, that’s rape. I get the feeling that Douglas might not view it as such, or has talked himself into the belief that it’s proof of his machismo, but at one point he appears to have been a victim. I’m not saying that this excuses anything he’s done—not by a fucking long shot. But... I’ve worked in a middle school. Any 14-year-old that I know would be severely traumatized by a sexual encounter with their adult teacher. It would warp how they relate to people sexually. Perhaps Kirk Douglas is old-school and superhuman and immune to feeling vulnerable—and I honestly don’t know shit about him, he might be—but it wouldn’t be very hard to theoretically link his experience with his teacher to how he treated women in his life. And I guess I did just that, as convincingly as I could.

More stuff: So Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade has been my favorite entry in the Indiana Jones franchise since I was a kid, as well as being one of my all-time favorite movies. Ever since Raiders of the Lost Ark was covered on Unspooled, as well as listening to the Matts Gorley and Mira debate the series on James Bonding, I've been putting some serious thought into why I hold it in such high regard. This essay is the ultimate result of all that pondering. Enjoy if you so choose! https://www.film89.co.uk/indiana-jones-and-the-last-crusade-1989/

I mean, this film doesn't understand how anything works: email, computers, forklifts, corporate structure, Prozac, virtual reality, marriage, the law, sex...

I grew up in Seattle and I will give Disclosure this much credit: it was actually shot here. Many movies SAY they are filmed in Seattle but are actually filmed in Vancouver, because (a) it’s cheaper and (b) Washington does a terrible job providing tax breaks and incentives for movies to be able to afford to shoot here. Basically, that’s a long-winded way to say, when a whole movie is shot here (not just exteriors and shots of the Space Needle) that’s a BIG deal. Especially when that movie stars Michael Douglas, Demi Moore, Donald Sutherland and was directed by Barry Levinson. I was in between high school and college when Disclosure came to town. Since I had never seen a film shoot before and loved films, I was very excited. The scene where Dennis Miller embarrasses Michael Douglas at a fancy dinner in front of his wife, that was shot four blocks from the house where I grew up! It was filmed at the Volunteer Park Conservatory at a beautiful old greenhouse made up to look like a fancy restaurant (it was also the greenhouse where Annabella Sciora worked in The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, BTW). My younger brother and I walked up and stared at all the production trucks lining the street, hoping to get a glimpse of somebody, anybody. Time may have distorted this memory, but I still can picture how all the lights made the park seem like it was glowing. December rolled around and people packed into the Cinerama (a giant old-school theater that still exists) to see Disclosure on its opening weekend. Me, (now in college), my parents and my brother (now in high school) were among them. The film started, everyone was excited to see our hometown on film. Two hours and ten minutes later, the vibe of the entire theater was “I guess that was ...good...right?” Rewatching it 25 years later, I can’t even say that. But it is hilarious!

I don't think anyone denies that sexual harassment can and does happen to men, but horseshit movies like this don't help, and I don't care for the arguments that try to compare the relatively uncommon suffering and exploitation of men under the patriarchy with the extremely common and usually much more severe suffering of women. It's just not equivalent. Unfortunately there are disgusting organizations claiming to fight for "men's rights" who will use these stats and the testimonies of male victims to push their own sexist, homophobic, and often white supremacist agenda. As someone said on the podcast, this film seems like it would be a real favourite with that crowd, pandering to their inflated sense of victimhood and entitlement.

I was a big Michael Crichton fan when I was young, I read a lot of his books. But I stopped when he got on his “global warming is a hoax” era. I believe he served as a consult for the Bush White House. That was very disappointing for me from someone who was into science and was a doctor. This movie makes me think he was very right wing all along. He’d be on TV saying these women are ruining men’s lives and such.