FisterRoboto

Sorry, yeah. You're right. Teller played drums, but he had never played jazz drums before, so he had to learn how to play that style and practiced a shitload. The blisters on his hands were not effects....

Miles Teller also learned to play drums for Whiplash. I definitely like it when people at least look mildly competent with an instrument they are supposed to be playing.

I think Cinco meant that Seb jokes that the other piano player is better than him.

Did she convince him, though? I felt like he overheard her convo with her mom where her mom was clearly saying something about how he'd probably never be able to afford that shit. You only hear Mia's side, but she's like, "Nah mom, he'll totally make it work." And then the next scene is him walking into the rehearsal with John Legend. So, here's my take on Seb (beyond just "he sucks"). He's a selfish shithead that really doesn't learn much by the end of the movie. Mia supports him constantly, whether it's at the local jazz club or in a crowded arena. When they have their big fight when he comes back from tour to surprise her, the fight isn't because she's jealous that he's spending his time somewhere else or because he's "selling out" or anything like that; it's because they're both making sacrifices so that he can get what he wants, but he doesn't really seem to have any plan for obtaining that, so the sacrifices they're making - especially to their relationship - are for nothing. Then after all the support she's given him, he can't even make her fucking show. It's literally THE ONE THING she's talked about for the whole movie. It should have been burned into his brain. I have to assume that at some point before the moment shown, John Legend (I will never call this character Keith; that's stupid) was like, "Hey, is such-and-such date good with you for a photo shoot?" and Seb must have said it was okay. The way that JL asks about it isn't a "Hey, can you do a photo shoot tonight?" It's a "Hey, remember that we have that photo shoot? That still works for you, right?" And, as y'all have pointed out, he had ample opportunity to say no! JL is so chill about basically everything in this movie that I find it hard to believe he would have been like, "WELL FUCK YOU THEN! YOU'RE OUTTA THE BAND!" Then, when he does FINALLY show up to support Mia in Boulder City, he calls her a baby to her face. He literally says, "You're being a baby" because she's hurt about it all. He doesn't try to sympathize with the massive blow that failing at something you worked so hard at would have been to her. He doesn't apologize for not being there to support her when she really needed it. He doesn't do shit except insult her. Like, I don't even know why she went back with him. She should have said, "Number one: you can go fuck yourself. And number two: I'm going to drive myself to that audition. And number three: fuck yourself again." The reason I asked about the dream ballet earlier is because I've always felt like it was something they both fantasized about in that moment, but watching it last night, I was like, "Oh, wait...is this him realizing what life could have been like for him if he wasn't such a selfish dickhead?" I feel like it would be more wistful for him because he's ultimately the one that ruined everything. I can't imagine Mia seeing him and being like, "Oh, what if I stayed with this fucker and wasn't a movie star with a husband in The Oneders and a baby whom I presumably care for more than this shitheel?" I always assumed that he and John Legend owned it together.

This movie looks so fucking rad! And the cast is just AMAZING

I'm curious what y'all think: whose fantasy is the dream ballet? Is it shared between them? Or is it just one of them imagining what it would be like if things had gone differently?

For the record, I don't have a problem with their relationship. But Seb totally sucks

I don't know. To me the scene reads like the manager is assigning her a shift that isn't on her schedule. She's just like, "Mia, you're working Friday." It's not Mia asking to have time off; it's her telling the manager that she can't take the shift that's being given to her because she already has something then. (Also, god help me if a manager ever responded to my very reasonable reply with "Do I look like I care?")

Right?! She tells Mia to reschedule her audition, and every time I'm just like, "YOU HAVE TO KNOW THAT'S NOT HOW IT FUCKING WORKS"

I think it's a fantastic inclusion. For me, it works similar to an overture.The idea is to set the tone of the movie and drop you into the movie's world. The music is fun and light and joyous, but the lyrics always feel a bit sad to me. The whole idea of "Another Day of Sun" is that these people are getting beaten down again and again and again, but they have this "Tomorrow is another day" attitude. To be successful, they have to convince themselves that everything is going to work out in the end...even though it won't for most of them. I think "Someone in the Crowd" does a great job of introducing us to Mia, but the whole song is really just about how she might run into someone that will make her career. It's important because a twist on this is what leads Mia to success, but it doesn't really have much to do with the larger theme of dredging on day after day in the face of constant rejection. Beyond that, I think "Another Day of Sun" is by far the strongest sequence of the movie, so cutting it would be a huge mistake for that reason alone. I don't think it's that Mia doesn't understand the industry. It's more that it's wearing her down. She's become more and more exhausted from auditioning for all of these parts while being blown off. Then she finally meets someone who inspires her, and she decides she's going to try to make her own thing that will create her success...and she fails miserably (except she really doesn't, but that's not really the point). I get the feeling that we're running into Mia quite some time into her attempt to become an actress, and she's already close to giving up and moving back to Boulder City. It's not like this is her going into her first audition and being upset she didn't get the part; it's someone who has been worn down to her breaking point. Seb, on the other hand....well, I have a lot to say about him because he kind of sucks. But I'll post more on that later because this is already running long, and I have to get to work. But I will close with this fun bit of trivia: Callie Hernandez plays the roommate in the red dress in "Someone in the Crowd" (she was also in Alien: Covenant and The Endless last year and will be in this year's Under the Silver Lake if it ever gets fucking released). Anyway, she's from Austin, and she was a manager at this boutique my friend used to work at. Apparently, she was a hard boss and made my friend cry.

I remember that we all were like, "Yeah, that's totally gonna get picked as soon as it's on Amazon" when we started this game, and it's a bit surprising that it's taken us this long to get to it. But also, like, I know I've cooled on it quite a bit since it came out (although I still really, really, really like it). I'm really excited to get to watch it and talk about it again, though, because even if the things that irk me about it have only gotten more tiresome, probably nothing will ever diminish my love for "Another Day of Sun."

Guys we're on day four and it's not going away. Is there a doctor or something that can help with this?

Hey Cameron. Did you know it's pronounced Mee-la and not My-la Kunis?

ALSO I'M VERY MAD AT YOU FOR POSTING THIS BECAUSE I'VE HAD THIS SONG STUCK IN MY HEAD ALL DAY

"WTF was up with you and Sandy B's bird-like kissing in that movie?"

One thing I will say about this movie (that I hope doesn't sound at all like a slam, because it's totally not how I mean it) is that the main thought I had throughout my whole viewing was, "Man, I bet Taylor loves this movie so hard." Like, I totally see why this movie would be one that resonated with Taylor, especially given when it came out and how it was probably pretty formative for her. Side note: if you guys don't listen to Blank Check w/ Griffin and David (a podcast I'm pretty sure I've mentioned many times on these forums before), they did an episode on this movie, which is why I watched it. They did it as an interlude between two of their main series. They always have a friend of the podcast come on in between miniseries to talk about a movie that the friend picked. The one they did before their last miniseries was when Paul guest starred and they talked about the movie Running Scared. Most recently, they had their intern-cum-associate-producer on, and she chose this one (although my favorite, most-unexpectedly-enjoyable "palette cleanser" so far has been when Griffin's sister came on and did The Devil Wears Prada, which I have watched so many times since because it's fucking charming).Anyway, both the Paul ep and the JATP eps are really good, and I highly recommend them. And all of that brings me to trivia last week. One of the questions was about which singer-turned-actress was in Carmen: A Hip Hopera, and I immediately knew it was Beyonce. My whole team was like, "Have you actually seen that movie?" because it's a very non-Fister bit of trivia to know. And I was like, "No, I know it, but I can't remember why, but it's for something else that I'm pretty sure is a lot more on brand for me..." And then it turned out that I knew it because Bey chose Carmen as her first film role after she didn't land the part of Val in the JATP movie. The consensus among my team was that that wasn't any better of a reason to know the answer.

This movie's cast is getting fucking out of control. It's so good! I just hope they do everyone better in this one than they did Ruby Rose in JW2, who was so disappointingly underutilized.

I also watched season 1 recently. I haven't started season 2 yet, but I found the first season infuriatingly compelling. Like, I think it took 3/4 of the season before I was sure whether or not I was enjoying it. And then, as soon as I did, they revealed that

It's coming along very well! I think we're just waiting on the member of our group handling the website to get it up and running, and then we're ready to launch. It's exciiiiiting!

Haha I totally got that. We're cool. Except that we're not and you're dead to me, Taylor!

Sooooo....this is interesting. I've been really busy the past couple weeks, and I'm like, "I'll go check in and see what the new MM is" and I get fucking called out in the announcement. Anyway, I probably fall somewhere in the middle. I don't think the product placement or the subliminal messaging gags work for me at all, but there are certain things I really like about it (mostly related to Alan Cumming and Parker Posey). My biggest problem (which I wrote in my Letterbox review that Taylor referenced when she announced this movie) is that this movie mined pop culture of the 50s and 60s into a movie that was by and large created by a studio by and large to sell a soundtrack (it was released before the movie even came out and was waaaaay more successful than the movie), and then it uses that movie to do satire about how bad exactly the thing they're doing is. Someone posted earlier that the film didn't receive any money from the sponsors who did product placement, but 1) this was free advertising for those sponsors (and the sponsors had to sign a waiver allowing their brands to be used; several brands declined), and 2) part of the agreement for the brand usage/advertising was that instead of paying for the advertising, they had to promote the movie (and/or soundtrack). Someone (sorry, there was quite a bit of thread to go through, and I don't remember who said what) also said something about why this product placement rubs people the wrong way, but the Arrested Development/Burger King gags are great. And I think the difference is in the approach to those product placements. In AD, they are very obviously joking about how they themselves have sold out as a show. JATP on the other hand is basically trying to tell everyone that the thing is bad...all the while doing that thing. The other thing this movie always gets compared to is Wayne's World, but again, the joke is very clearly that they are absolutely selling out. Even though the characters are saying anti-corporate things, they are doing bit after bit. I just don't see the same kind of self-awareness in this movie, especially given how the whole thing is about them trying to stay true to themselves and there's that whole cheesy thing with the ears during the last concert. It just all feels very forced. It's a very Hot Topic kind of anti-establishment views where it's pretending to be above all of these things, while it's all actually just that thing. The last thing I'll say is......I totally agree with Cameron about the music. As soon as she said "punk rock prom queen," I was like, "Oh fucking please." I try really hard not to be the gatekeeper of what is and isn't punk, but yeah...this tier of pop punk has way more in common with the sugary pop groups they are trying to lambast than it does with, say, Jimmy Eat World, The Impossibles or even fuckin' Yellowcard. It's really friendly punk rock for the whole family! Okay, for real last thing. I would have watched the hell out of a Left-Eye Lopes as Val JATP.

The idea of using brakes as a murder weapon reminded me a lot of a really shitty movie starring Leelee Sobieski and Stellar Skateboard:

I lived in a town of 5000 people from 4th grade through my freshman year in high school. We had a one-screen theater and a drive-in that showed double features. They both usually had pretty current movies. You might not be able to get the movie you want at the theater, but you wouldn't be watching stuff that was six months old either. We often drove the hour to get to Ft Worth to go see movies that our theaters didn't have, but I remember seeing quite a few movies at that theater (e.g., Batman Forever, Toy Story, The Mask) the week they opened. The drive-in was cool, too. They'd usually show one new movie and bundle it with a movie that was a couple years old. You'd pay for a carload and get to see two movies. I don't remember the exact cost at the time, but it was something like $10-15/car. And that's how I saw the strange double feature of Independence Day and Addams Family Values. Outside of the theater, we also had local video stores, which were booming at the time. We didn't have a Blockbuster or any of the other short-lived chain rentals places, but we did have a few small video shops. They would do great business because a lot of people would just wait to rent the movie they wanted instead of driving an hour for it. And also....yeah, there's no way we would have gotten something like A Quiet Place pretty much ever. But I could see Infinity War playing for all of May.

He's good in that one scene, but it's still not worth sitting through that whole movie for. Blergh. But, yeah, I was mostly referring to him in this movie. Like, this feels like a Dane DeHaan role, but Ehrenreich has more charisma than Dane DeHaan, who is the least interesting person on the planet.

Oh, believe me, I didn't think that. This movie has zero historical perspective on the Civil War. I was just rolling my eyes for pretty much the whole opening voiceover...and it didn't get much better after that. At least Emma Thompson knew everything she was saying was ridiculous and leaned waaaaay into it. Everything else just did not work for me. I had to rewatch a couple scenes during the last act because I had just totally checked out.