Marsellus_H

I'm all Thin Red Line. The game is on, Holden.

I've rewatched There Will Be Blood. Unless somebody comes along with the most amazing argumentation, I'll be voting ever so slightly in favor of Boogie Nights. To me, it comes down to the cast and the protagonists. I'd say in Boogie Night you've got actual characters, people I could imagine to exist in the real world. It also helps that pretty much everybody is really brilliant in their role. In Blood, probably very knowingly, PTA confronts us with archetypes, more like parodies of themselves. Like in a ancient play, we already kinda know who is who. This lends itself very well to exaggerated performances, because you don't have to fill up any personality anymore, you just have to sell the concept. And boy, does Day-Lewis ever sell the message, which is great. The weak link I found in Paul Dano, because I couldn't buy into his preast at all. To me, he simply didn't commit enough to what the script asked for. It's like Dano knows he has an interesting voice, and knows sometimes actors speak very softly and other times they speak very loudly, but he doesn't know how to mudulate in between the two extremes. I know, that's a bit nit-picky, but hey.... You kind of asked for nit-picking when you pair up two great films against each other.

This comment made me laugh out loud while I was riding the train home from work. Why does everybody stare at me all of the sudden?

I watched yesterday night Boogie Nights again. Call me hyperbolic, but this is a goddamn masterpiece, if there ever was one. I'm dreading now to have to watch There Will Be Blood tonight. For one, because too much perfection can be painful, but also because I'm scared to find of having to formulate a phrase like "Boogie Nights is the lesser film, because....".

To be clear, I wasn't attacking Devin's personality. It's fun to have contested episodes. I'm criticising his rhetorical strategy: Instead of keeping it a bit calmer and trying to come up with some smart arguments, it felt like he was transforming into a 14-year-old spoiled teenage douchebag. That makes for good entertainment during the first 10 minutes, but afterwards I became annoyed by this behavior. Also, he wasn't able to listen, think and make any kind of counter-arguments to what Amy said. Since this was an indulgence episode, I would have loved to know Devin's personal reasons, why of all the films in the world this one is specal to him- there MUST be some kind of interesting story behind this, somthing to connect with. This way, I might have been able to feel some empathy with him and with the film. Instead, we got this distancing "Grand Guignol"-garbage, which tries so hard to elevate Re-Animator into something that this film simply isn't. This made him look really inauthentic in my eyes. Therefore, all the follow-up arguments kind of rang false as well. And, since this is basically one of these bro-films, he came across like that one kid in school who desperately tried to be cool. Yes, I think my point comes down to this: Sometimes, Devin's trying too hard, instead of just doing his thing.

Actually, the last scene from Boogie Nights always reminds me of the last scene in Raging Bull.

The Shining vs Britney Spears' Crossroads. Both films scare the hell out of me and are boarderline surreal experiences.

I'm a soft no. But first: WTF, Devin?!? First, you bullied Amy into coming out with her opinion about the film, just so afterwards you could be annoyed for 1 hour of podcasting, because her opinion dissented from your own. And to complain at the end that they hadn't covered the "fun-parts" of why this film was an indulgence pick, while she actually wanted to talk about that stuff right at the very beginning - that's really not helping your case, man. Seriously, you know you can be smarter and do better. That "Grand Guignol" argument was a bit irritating. To my understanding, "Grand Guignol" can be translated into "adult (or great) Punch and Judy (or Kasperle, or whatever you may call it in the U.S.)". So it's about combining silly, short set pieces like in a puppet theatre with basically body horror and other shocking elements. If you bring up this as your main argument, I do think Evil Dead II fills the bill much, much better. That being said, I think Re-Animator stands easily on its own legs. Before the show, I was on board with voting Re-Animator into the canon, maybe a soft yes, but still a yes. I think it's a fun film with good pacing (which is, as was pointed out in the show, rare enough for a b-movie made in the 80s). Also, as a music nerd, I enjoy Richard Band's variations on Bernard Herrmann's Psycho theme, which do explore some interesting stuff that was kinda buried in the 1960 score. But in the end, I found Amy's smart argumentation just winning out. It simply doesn't belong in that row of essential films I want to be able to survive the nuclear holocaust, so the view survivors can learn about our civilization. We've got better horror, better gore, better B-movies, better hangout-films...

I think Easy Rider is way overrated. If you want to watch a great 60s exploitation biker-film with Jack Nicholson, I'd recommend HELLS ANGELS ON WHEELS.

I'm a sucker for Land Of The Dead. It's over-the-top and the symbolism totally blatant (a skyscraper to represent a hyrarchical society? GET IT?!?). Overall, I can't help but simply find it charming. Especially when John Leguziamo and Dennis Hopper feel each other out at the top of the tower ( talk about queer subtext, man). Also, I enjoy that the zombies are able to learn, which is a concept that hasn't really been explored... And I honestly think the ending is kind of poetic.

Southland Tales!

"The film that was name-dropped in American Beauty". I think we've just found the definitive tagline for Re-Animator. Good job, guys!

Actually, was that Brexit-vote before or after Devin travelled to the UK? Just saying...

Fuck that threat. I'm Swiss. Therefore, I'm allowed to be neutral. Also, psst... we've got that Nazi gold, Devin.

I'm a soft no as well. Funnily, the pro-argument that was brought up in the show is kind of a contra-argument for me: I agree this is one of the more relatable and closer-to-reality miyazaki films... but that's exactly what I don't necessarily cherish in animated films in general. I think they are the strongest when they are pure visual escapism, and Miyazaki would be a master in this. Kiki's Delivery Service is fine, but I can't feel very passionate about it. It's too in-the-middle-of-the-road for me. I'm sorry, Hulk.

Great thread! I'd like to add Almodovar's The Skin I Live In to the discussion-worthy list of horror films. According to the filmmaker, it's "a horror film without any screams", which totally makes sense, once you sit down and watch it. Edit: It's also a decent date film. No, honestly, it works.

You can take the children, but leave me my monkey.

I don't need to go to the library this time... I'll just ask that crazy anime guy at university who keeps telling me I should watch it.

Soft yes. I guess there are more deserving films, especially in terms of craft. But I guess it works for what it is, and I'd say this one has a spot in the canon on impact terms alone. On a side note: I was really, REALLY annoyed by that overly-repetive score. I'm not sure if they live, but they surely play these five base notes to death. (oh yes, I did!)

Yea, I really know exactly what you mean. Although, in heinsight I found Her a bit preachy, honestly. I'm not sure it will age as well Moon or Ex Machina.

I actually think so as well. I was half-joking in my previous post. You can talk about Network alone for hours. There's way enough substance to it, I strongly believe.

Or, you really go Oscars apeshit on this and pair it up against All The President's Men and Taxi Driver.

Because nobody's mentioned it yet: What about Cloud Atlas? I loved it when I watched it in the cinema. Having been ignorant about everything surrounding it, I was blown away by it.

Superb! Moon was last time I saw a honest-to-god masterful film in the cinema.

I think Being John Malkovich and Adaptation are "slam dunks" (© Devin). Honestly, I disliked Her when I watched it at the movies. I see that it is important, and definitely worthy of a thorough discussion, but it was a bit too preachy for my tastes.