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ZZZ

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Posts posted by ZZZ

  1. Posted

    Yes for me. I love this movie so much. It's a true testament to the horror you can create when you play with the imagination of your audience. I love the character of Heather and the dynamic of the three is both interesting and irritating. I do think part of her shrillness has to do with her trying to over-assert herself as in charge but the movie also lets her be fun and dimensional and not just a power driven monster. I love how the characters individually break down and take control. This movie definitely has enough merit to back up a cultural/historical argument but enough legs to get in on its own as well.

     

    I'm really excited for the sequel.I've been trying to avoid the trailer so I can go in blind.

  4. Posted

    I like this movie but it leaves me cold and I don't even feel any passion for defending that argument. Devin admitted he sees this movie through slightly rose colored glasses, I can relate to that in how I feel about Labyrinth. I feel like this thread is going to be a lot of people defending the weaknesses of yet another boy coming of age movie ( which is fine, whatever) I'd just really like to see an episode for something like a we are the best or ghost world to balance things out.

  5. Posted

    I feel like you really have to meet this movie half way to enjoy it. I only ever watch this movie in the dark with people who are willing to suspend disbelief. I think this movie has a lot of really interesting dynamics between the female director and the male crew members. To me the canon worthy aspect of this film is not the found footage argument and more the themes of how women navigate being in charge in a field that is male dominated.

  6. Posted

    I still have a soft spot in my heart for the first two episodes, Goodfellas and Temple of Doom. They weren't MY first two episodes (I started with Casino Royale, because Matt Gourley), but they did a great job setting up the series. Devin trying to provoke Amy and acting totally condescending, and Amy (at least in my mind) spending most of the episode sitting back, incredulous, but never backing down. Devin's 11th-hour twist in the Temple of Doom-cast made a great episode perfect. I knew then that this podcast was a keeper.

     

    The goodfellas episode redlined my anxiety but was contentious enough to make future episodes more palatable. I think my favorite episode is The Candidate or the Let Me In Vs.

  7. Posted

    My only other point would be that while some of the mistakes in this movie are unforgivable it is for children and I think some of the meandering visual gags are designed to hold their attention. That doesn't excuse it but I think that it changes some of how I perceive it as an adult.

     

    PS Batman is fucking awesome.

  8. Posted

    I really hate to make this argument but I wonder what you got out of watching Batman and I really don't want to diminish your feelings or trivialize your experience. Your Nostalgia for Batman is valid. I love Batman but when I watched Labyrinth I got the really visceral experience of seeing myself represented on screen. I have an incredible amount of anxiety and watching Labyrinth was an opportunity to see a girl taking control of her situation and being really comfortable with herself and not getting punished for that. Yes this movie is not perfect but my feelings for it are not as simple as nostalgia. I grew up with a lot of really dude heavy content and for me Labyrinth is the rare example of a movie that really enforces femininity and confidence and all the things I wasn't seeing in my comics or in my life.

  10. Posted

     

    I would say we drew the line at THE GOONIES, which did not get in.

     

    That's valid. I just feel like we're trying to equate two films along a gender divide that are vastly different and I would say the problems in Goonies way outnumber the problems in Labyrinth. (which you did mention in the episode) It feels like Labyrinth is incurring some of the backlash from the nostalgia picks that have gone up for vote. There appear to be two schools of thought with opposing ideas on what the canon should be. I like the idea of a big canon and think there is room for a lot of different types of movies even ones that are not considered high art. In the same way Amy seemed to feel some Horror fatigue during the Re-animator episode I think people who want a more refined canon are really drawing a line in the sand on this pick.

     

    At the risk of sounding like Jennifer Connelly it just seems unfair.

    • Like 1

  11. Posted · Edited by mak

    Yeah it's been recommended enough times that I'll give it ago. I think I understand what you're trying to say about the muppets as well. I feel like people are being really hard on Labyrinth and the nostalgia argument this time around and then turning around to elevate the muppets to this strange level of canonocity that makes very little sense to me. I don't want to misrepresent what you were trying to say but that's kind of how I took it. Maybe I'm just projecting.

     

     

    Afterthought I also love the muppets and have major respect for all the work that goes into them but most of their movies don't even come close to canon-worthy for me.

  12. Posted

    I always feel like a dick for criticising child actors (she's definitely not the worst). I think Jennifer Connelly is solid in later works. I've never seen Rocketeer, I guess you just decided what I'm doing with my night.

  14. Posted

    I just like that either way the people making this film fully understood the developing sexuality of young girls and didn't construct a bland sexless romance based on purity and abstinence.

     

    Not that there is anything wrong with that if you're into that sort of thing. It just gets kind of tiresome when it's the only option represented.

    • Like 4

  19. Posted

    This movie has flaws, a lot of them but the awkwardness has always appealed to me and part of that is definitely linked to loving this movie so much when I was younger(which is not that long ago since I definitely fall on the younger end of people who love this movie). I don't know if I'm capable of separating objectively my intellect and my nostalgia but, my vote is still going to be a yes for this one, even if it's not the resounding yes I would like to give. The themes of femininity and coming of age, however muddled feel like they fill an important gap in the canon. I think somewhere in this mess of a movie is a message that is powerful and coherent. I think Devin and Amy hit on it exactly when they discussed the Junk Lady scene. Yes it is ironic coming from the fathers of nostalgia and maybe that's why it feels like it's pulling some of its punches but I still can't help but connect to this meandering mess.

     

    I think the scenes between Bowie and Connelly have a definite charge and are the strength of the movie. My two favorite scenes in this movie are the ballroom scene and the finale. I love Connelly's journey from fantasizing about what she wants, to understanding her power to decide what is actually right for her. There are not a lot of movies for young girls that represent their power to end a relationship that is manipulative or unhealthy for them and most princess tales would encourage them to marry the guy. Connelly is annoying and flat but at least she is a female protagonist who has agency and unlike most of the male archetypes is not endowed with some sort of chosen one jedi mission. She gets things wrong, she is consistently denied help and learns that the universe is not actively against her it's just randomly unfair. Maybe this is the female goonies but for all it's flaws at least it's trying to be something empowering.

     

    Yes to Labyrinth may it be an inspiration and someday spawn something un-arguably canon.

    • Like 2

  21. Posted

    I can definitely identify with stomping away from an argument completely blusteringly inflamed. We're all here because we love movies and I appreciate that we were able to discuss and settle diplomatically. I have a tendency to stir up argument especially when it concerns something I'm passionate about. Thank you for not completely ignoring my concerns. I'm sure we have more in common than is dissimilar.

  23. Posted

    It was less that you hurt my feelings and more that you accidentally hit on the exact thing that I was talking about. It's really incredibly frustrating to feel like someone doesn't care about something that is extremely important to you. I don't think Pennies From Heaven is bland and I realize that my point is entirely subjective while you've decided to play your opinion as cut and dry fact. I know that what you said was not interpreted as what you intended. Maybe your words hit so hard because they struck a nerve that is constantly being irritated. I was mostly being snarky in my response with only a tinge of actual anger under the surface. It just seems like there is a trend when we're discussing movies like this one for someone to swoop in and say something subjective as if it were true and end the conversation. I'm sorry to drag this out and I promise I'm not sitting here typing this with some kind of vengeance in my mind. I just really want to maybe check that reaction and talk about it because I think there is fault on both sides.

    • Like 3

  24. Posted

    Gender is important in film, having developed female characters is important just because a movie is directed by a dude or from one's POV doesn't mean it's okay to just fill the background with stock female characters. Women are people and they should be treated with as much respect and detail as any character. Movies are not made for male audiences and it would be nice to have the luxury of ignoring when female character fall flat but if you're the girl or woman watching the movie that shit is annoying as hell. As someone who grew up on a steady diet of genre and exploitation and had to constantly work to justify my love of it and then on top of that have to deal with shitty male fans of said thing being patronizing and sleazy, I care a lot about what the female characters in a movie look like. I care for myself and I care for the younger versions of me.

     

    This is more of a rant than a topic but feel free to chime in even if you think I'm completely wrong. I'm going to go make some tea and listen to some riot grrrl. I promise to be less explosive after a quick session of slow breathing.

    • Like 2

  25. Posted

    All of the gendered discussion here is wonderful, but has no basis on the film we're voting on today.

     

    'Pennies From Heaven' isn't one of the greatest movies ever made, and follows a male character who couldn't be bothered to care about the feminine perspective of the women in his life. You're almost all making this all a question of do we vote because we love Amy and want to see her and the things she loves comfortably reflected in The Canon, or not.

     

     

    I take gender into account on all the films we vote on. A film doesn't need to represent perfect feminist ideals to be discussed. Gender plays a huge part in this movie and most movies. Whether you're a man or a woman in this world determines the course of your life. Arthur cheats and he's mostly fine, Bernadette Peter's literally has no other option than to become a prostitute. I'm pretty sure this film is purposely misogynistic and to ignore those aspects undermines a huge part of the film. This attitude of dismissing the way characters are affected based on gender is honestly insane to me and represents exactly what I was referring to earlier in the thread. It was not a deviation to talk about Amy, it was discussion of the way people deem the "gender discussion" unimportant or irrelevant.

    • Like 3
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