The_Triple_Lindy

I am large. I contain multitudes. Plus, that TV job was like 20 years ago, back when CW was still the WB.

I used to work in master control at a TV station, and my brother-in-law currently works at the nerve center of a local utilities company. Both jobs involved sitting in a big room full of monitors and computers, and if "weather center operator" is anything like those jobs, then those people were probably eating mostly out of boredom. Master control jobs involve a lot of monitoring, tweaking, and logging info. The only other part of a job like that involves being on point in case something goes wrong, but if nothing goes wrong, there isn't that much to do, and going down for a cup of joe and a swing by the vending machine is how a lot of folks kill boredom five minutes at a time. So I feel for the guy with the mountain of cream cheese on his bagel, even though such similar diversions are how I gained 50 lbs during my tenure there.

I have two big, somewhat conflicting thoughts on this movie: 1. First, with regards to the question of whether The French Connection deserves to be on the Top 100 list, my main thought about why it shouldn't is that ... well, it's just a cop movie. Why on earth would a run-of-the-mill cop flick attain such high regard? I will say, however, that this is one of the best cop movies I've ever seen. It boils down to "verisimilitude." I've been raised on over-the-top franchises that feature plot details and action that can border on the completely absurd. TFC, on the other hand, is understated while still maintaining a thrill. This is partly due to the true story it's based on, but also on the guerrilla-style cinematography and proto-mumblecore style acting (mumblecore except everyone is shouting). There are just so many action flicks where you can see both the template established by TFC and the lack of restraint in following that template -- hyper-stylish, sleekly edited, ultra-violence, and restrictive, quippy dialogue. Paul and Amy talked a lot about how part of what makes Citizen Kane so highly lauded is the legacy and impact made upon the industry, and so I might understand revering the godfather of action flicks. In this regard, I really enjoyed the movie and appreciate it, and knowing that they didn't have permission to do any of it made me enjoy it even more. 2. That said, you're telling me that there is nothing, nothing, in the oeuvre of American films that is more culturally significant or worthy of esteem than a movie about a racist cop and French heroin smugglers? There are only 92 films that tell the story of America better than this one? The AFI Top 100 has some truly all-time great films, but the inclusion of films like this (also Swing Time and maybe even Ben-Hur, for that matter) make it sound like a list made by wistful 50-year-old WASPs getting stoned together for the first time since high school. I get that the industry looked like what it looked like for quite some time, but the list features only two men of color and zero women. The industry looks a good bit different now and is changing rapidly ... something tells me that this list will look quite different in 10-20 years, and I'm not sure that this one will last.

As a bassist, I definitely appreciate the avant garde double bass-heavy score ... very eerie and tense, very effective.

You don't have to have a 9-to-5 office job, but you have to do something with your time. Everyone needs a reason to get out of bed every day. You don't want to end up aimless and without purpose, like they do in Adore.

You mean if I walked up to you at the 1% marina and put $250,000 in cash in your hand, you wouldn't give me the keys?

Guys, what I'm hearing is, "Let's launder some goddamn money." Anyone here work for the Treasury? Wells Fargo?

Quite possibly down for this. Although I've apparently seen this movie more than once and don't really remember anything about it ... maybe it will stick the third time.

I totally remember that moment, which is funny because seeing all of those stacks of cash made me think of this moment: Dude, I'm saying ... Zihuatanejo!

I just re-watched the movie (WHY?!?) and did anyone else catch Will's line about how they hope to be able to mitigate and maybe even outright prevent hurricanes through their study? Uh, by my recollection, that's EXACTLY how you get Geostorms.

So then, the plan is ... get a cashier's check, buy a boat, head south, live like two kings and a queen in ... Cuba? Zihuatanejo? Where in Central/South America would be the best place to live out life on the lamb?

Yeah, but businesses won't know the difference when you pay in cash, right?

I'm super-late to the conversation ... I had to find a lazy Sunday to watch this, and then I left town for a week. I gotta say, I really dug this movie. The boat sinking scene, the grandeur of the Roman procession past Judah's house, certainly the chariot race ... just about everything worked for me, even though yes, it drug its ass the whole way. But the "Esther keeps a secret" plot is the only part of the movie that just didn't work for me. It seems to do nothing to serve the plot except for turning the audience against Esther for no reason. It's not like Judah discovered his family's fate after learning that Esther had been keeping a secret -- it's Messala who tells Judah where to find them. Which means that Esther's secret-keeping doesn't do anything other than make Judah feel betrayed when he learns the truth. I don't understand why we are supposed to feel any animosity toward a character. Is it to highlight just how alone Judah is in the world thanks to his quest for vengeance? Or is it just that 50s Hollywood can't have a female character that isn't a little bit conniving?

Let's make a list of all the ways this movie rips of Twister: - child who sees father killed in storm becomes storm-chasing expert - fancy weather-chasing super-trucks - tethered bodies flying up into the storm yet sustaining no damage from debris - treating weather like people - "We've never seen a storm like this" - convoys - storms only effect small town America - hubris - love triangle -- Paxton/Hunt/Gertz v. the inevitable survival euphoria menage a trois that Will/Breeze/Casey are gonna have at some Red Roof in Pensacola.

In a similar coincidence, I just watched Masterminds, which is "based on a true story" about an armored truck driver pulling an inside job to steal $14B (it's not great, but it's good for a couple of laughs). And then I started playing Mafia III, and the first mission involves posing as armored truck drivers to steal a bunch of currency meant for decirculation and destruction. I guess now I should watch Hard Rain and, I guess, maybe Point Break, too. It wasn't until that very moment that Studio 54 hacker-bandits started helping. Until then, they were huddled behind the seat nursing the British guy's gunshot wound. But that does lead to a quick point: Will and Breeze climb in to takeover the truck, subdue the bad guys (who are dry humping in the driver's seat) and take their gun, and then Will immediately climbs back out to takeover the second truck, leaving Breeze alone in the driver's seat with two bad guys behind them, who we've just seen were armed. Hurt or not, why wouldn't the two baddies try to overpower Breeze after they regained composure? How is there only one gun between them -- don't we see everyone with guns earlier in the movie?

I'd wear that t-shirt

Or maybe the storm felt pity? Like "sorry about your old man ... how about I kill this international band of bank robbers for you, just for old time's sake?" I'm surprised there was a nod of "knowing understanding" between the storm and Will. Like, "yeah, I see you down there. You got away this time. I'll get you next year."

Jason and Paul both expressed consternation at the "former high school football star never moves past the glory days" trope in movies. Guys, it isn't just a movie trope. Several of the star athletes from my small southern town high school are still in that small southern town, and they all still hang out together and feel inappropriately smug and badass for what they did two decades ago during their teens. I know a few of them who went to the same Large Regional State University that I went to, and all they did was hang out together and get drunk for a few semesters before failing out. If I recall, a few of them did the frat rush thing and struck out, so they tried unsuccessfully to start their own frat. What you have to understand about the star player on the small hometown team -- they probably didn't have to do homework or go to class, they probably didn't have to get a job, they probably got out of at least two speeding tickets because they cops who pulled them over recognized them, and they were never expected to "grow" or "mature" or "be decent people." All that ticky-tack bullshit was just a distraction from the "big game." So when they get to actual adulthood, the fact that the seas don't part for them like they used to is too much to bear, and they're fully inequipped to deal with real life. I was an all-county basketball player, so I got a taste of that kind of local privilege. But I also hated high school and most of the people in my town, so I got out and beyond it as soon as I was able. I think you sorta have to hate high school in order to move beyond it ... if your high school experience was too good, then you can be crippled by it. EDIT to say: I know this is sophomoric analysis of a well-covered topic, but I've suddenly gotten a bunch of messages about my 20th HS reunion, which is next year, so it's a freshly picked scab that bleeds in this post

When Casey and Will are concocting the car bomb idea, Casey says that they can pack a car full of kerosene and fertilizer, "just like Timothy McVeigh did." Thanks, Tim. Your methods were sound and your legacy is intact.

Guys, the storm is sentient -- that's a given. Fine, I accept it. But why is the storm benevolent? Sure, the storm kills Will and Breeze's pa, but at the climax, we see Will and the Stormface make eye contact, and then Connor dies and Will, Breeze, and Maggie Grace get away. Are we assuming that the storm recognizes Will, feels remorse for having killed his father 20 years ago, and then decided to help him out? Usually, the standard line is "The unstoppable killing force has returned to finish the job!" Actually, the storm is pretty clearly on Will and Breeze's side the whole way through, long before Will and Stormface have their meet-cute at the end, so the storm seems to be more than sentient -- it's more like omniscient. And of course, Will squarely blames climate change for all of the movie's crazy weather. So climate change has created god-storms. WHY DIDN'T YOU WARN US, AL GORE?!?

Look at grudlian, doing work -- these are all great! The kookaburra is probably my favorite ... makes me think of Looney Tunes, particularly the one where Porky goes to Wackyland, which is shown to be in Africa http://www.dailymoti...m/video/x43hhwg

I'm having a hard time thinking deeply about this movie anymore, so just a few more quick observations: - When the robots attacks, Polly rips her skirt so that she can run faster, but she doesn't take off her heels. She wasn't running more effectively, just slightly more sexy. That was dumb. - Re: the bird jets ... Planes need jets for lift. Birds flap their wings for lift. Something that has jets doesn't need to flap its wings, and vice versa. That was dumb. - Sky Capt's hanger has a logo on the floor that depicts a lion surrounded by clouds over the words "Ille Caelum Fremitus," which translates to something close to "That roaring sky," but the internet pretty much agrees that this is crappy Latin. So, that's dumb, too. - This movie occupies a world that has developed levitating robots and laser-ring melt-o-rays but is otherwise so technologically backward that giant robots could be attacking at random around the world for two fucking years and no one has heard about it. Dumb. - And finally, a question: Is there such a thing as a Wilhelm Scream, but for monkey shrieks? During the climax when some of the animals are escaping, there's a monkey sound that I swear I've heard in every movie that ever had monkeys. EDIT: Sorry if any of these are repeats. Whenever this movie enters my consciousness, I fall asleep.

I like how they don't even really try to make anyone look like their characters in the movie.