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WatchOutForSnakes

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Posts posted by WatchOutForSnakes

  1. Posted

    19 hours ago, ol' eddy wrecks said:

    Watching this has got me wanting to go back and re-listen to the Slow Burn, season 1, podcast, which I did listen to the first episode again.

    Slow Burn, season 1 is amazing. I learned so much about Watergate listening to that. Highly recommend it! 

  2. Posted

    I actually loved the scene with the White House librarian! I think that very well could have been the way things went down, but more than that, I loved how they played the scene. Hoffman's all flustered and excited and walks up to Redford, and as he's telling Redford about it, Redford's already writing the story in his head, and thinking to ask for a comment on why she would change her story. That scene just shows how well the two of them dance together on screen, and how they worked together as a team. 

    I don't think you need any backstory on these guys. The American public sure doesn't have a ton of backstory (though in today's age we can) for its journalists. You know what they write. And we as an audience know that Woodward had only been with the post a few months, and Bernstein had been there a while. Woodward was more buttoned-up, young guy who stuck more to the rules (the scenes of them debating what's fact and what's inference are fascinating), and was less willing to push boundaries, but was dogged in his fact-finding and super quick on his feet. Bernstein, on the other hand, while young, had been there for a while, was more of a free-wheeler (cared less about ironing his shirts), and was willing to blur ethical lines to get someone to open up for him - like when he was asking the secretary about her ex boyfriend, or the scene with the bookkeeper. He was willing to  make people uncomfortable if it got him where he was going. Also, he was put on the case, not because he was the best, but because he had connections. And he was persistent. He was waiting outside the office when Woodward was called to cover the Watergate arraignment, and he spends that day in Florida to get the subpoena'd phone records. And he was a good writer. He knew how to write up a story so that it wasn't just telling the facts, it showed why it was important. 

    One other thing I noticed about the movie was that it sets up a lot of juxtapositions of TV news vs. print journalism. The movie opens on TV coverage of Nixon flying to the capitol to address a joint session of congress, and the news reporter is giving the dullest of live reporting about how the President is getting to and entering the capitol, and the movie ends with a scene of Woodward and Bernstein set up at their desks with mounds of paper around them, diligently typing away as Nixon takes the nomination for re-election. My sense is the movie is getting at the necessity of print and investigative journalism in a time when everything is on TV. That also resonates now in our time of "fake news." The Washington Post and the New York Times fought significant legal battles in the 70's and this movie shows maybe better than any other the importance of journalistic investigations of the government to shine the spotlight on, oh, the administration using the intelligence community to commit widespread actual spying on political opponents. 

    This probably is one of my top movies. I'm a politics nerd, which is why I moved to Washington, and I love investigations.. so this hits my sweet spot. But I also think it's important as a movie that I think really seemed to capture what it was like to get these mangled, loose threads of the investigation and put it all together. It's a factually dense movie with a lot of moving parts, and not much action, and maybe it's my own experiences at play, but I find it gripping when they're interviewing people to hear what they're going to say, and feel that excitement of not knowing whether the few people who know what happened are going to shut down on you. And, as a lawyer, people's memories get real hazy when you're trying to nail down facts and you have no 5th Amendment defense. Anyone who's seen a congressional testimony knows the "I don't recall" defense. 

    The last thing I'll say is how much I appreciate that they used accurate filming locations around town. I really enjoyed the sight seeing. So many movies are "based in" Washington, but you never get to see it. Anyway, much of this is rambling, but I'm just in love with this movie.

    • Like 4

  3. Posted

    18 minutes ago, Cameron H. said:

    Based on Sam's derision regarding her mother's crappy photography and her friends' negative response to her telling them that she was working on a project for the year book, am I to understand that Hannah just took it upon herself to pick up new electives mid-semester that better suited her own interests? I thought she was going to school and keeping Sam's academic seat warm as a favor for when her consciousness returned? Year book is clearly not something Sam was into. Was she just like, "Yes, there's a very good chance that my daughter's immortal soul is irrevocably trapped in purgatory for all eternity, but while we wait to find out, I might as well make the most of it and get in some of those good, good photography hacks."   

    To add to this - aside from the Google search heard 'round the world, I don't recall them doing anything to try to figure out how to get the daughter back. I  may have blocked it out, but the characters feel completely resigned to a "well, this will all sort itself out somehow!" mentality, and then poof! the daughter's back (or IS she?). It just feels so passive and unresolved. You can tell it's a remake of an adaptation of a remake of an adaptation. It's not so clear anymore. If it ever was. 

    • Like 3

  4. Posted

    40 minutes ago, EvRobert said:

    I'm just going to add, I think someone is trolling everyone asking for QUEEN OF THE DAMNED. This film was directed by Vincent Perez, whose acting resume has at least two (possibly three films) that would be ripe for HDTGM; Queen of the Damned, the Crow: City of Angels, and I Dreamed of Africa (this is the possible one as I literally don't remember anything about this except the title and it was Kim Basinger's first film after winning an Oscar).

    Kim Basinger won an Oscar? I had forgotten about that, which led me to her IMDb page, which led me to learn that she was nominated for a Saturn Award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror films for her role in Cellular. 

  7. Posted

    15 minutes ago, Cameron H. said:

    In Eclipse, it’s about being on the precipice of an adult relationship and coming to terms with a life long commitment (i.e telling everyone you are no longer available, deciding to become immortal). It’s about letting go of the past, and other possible futures, and making a choice - for good or bad.

     

    deciding to become immortal...as you do ;) 

    This is a good summary. I'm planning on watching the rest of the series since I've seen both parts of the finale. 

    • Like 2

  9. Posted

    Sorry I missed this viewing. I really tried watching the first one, and I just couldn't get through it. I don't remember if their relationship was so lopsided in the finale, but holy cow! I mean, Bella is completely weak and helpless, and Edward is the apotheosis of the abusive controlling boyfriend. He repeatedly says to her that he wants to kill her or hurt her, and she needs to stay away from him, but that she's like a drug to him and he's not sure he can control himself around her. And she's all, "I don't care, I just want to be with you. I love you." WHAT?! Is it that bad in the book?

    Also, diamond skin? Are vampires evolved so that their skin just reflects light and that's how they can go out during the day? 

    • Like 2

  13. Posted

    1 hour ago, taylorannephoto said:

    My theater laughed a lot! I laughed at that line too! There were a couple of points where people even laughed (like when Elizabeth Moss's tether was reacting to seeing her husband die) that I actually was like lord this isn't funny to me cause it's like making me really uncomfortable.

    But I think the biggest laughs were for Tim because his slapstick was really on point and that NWA drop when Elizabeth tried to ask Alexa to call the police. I was totally expecting The Police to then play but NWA's "Fuck The Police" was even better and our theater lost it.

    I was reading an article on Variety about Peele's choice in music for that scene, and the NWA song was added in post. The rumor is originally, it was going to be "Every breath you take" by the Police. I definitely think NWA was the better choice. 

    • Like 1

  14. Posted

    On 4/4/2019 at 7:20 PM, Cameron H. said:

    Lol - I mean, you’re not wrong. I just think things like that, and some of the things Taylor brought up, really are a casualty of this being the first of its kind. There’s a sense of showing off, but also of holding back. People really didn’t think it was going to work - period. So you get a sense of, “I wish we could do a scene of SW and PC talking and getting to know one another, but...that might hurt the flow. It’s also going to cost X amount more dollars that we really don’t have. Okay, well the curse can only be broken by true love’s kiss, right? Well, then we don’t need much of a courtship. It’s love at first sight, and when she wakes at the end, everyone will know that they’re perfect for each other - otherwise his kiss wouldn’t work.”

    So, yeah, of course it could be better, but I think, due to their circumstances, they allowed the audience to make some of these intuitive leaps.

    Before I finish catching up on this thread, I want to add that, as a little girl, I had no need to see a courtship between Snow White and Prince Charming. They were made for each other, and destined for each other, and would know it as soon as they saw each other. At least, that's how I basically analyzed all Disney Princess/Prince romances. There was no need for matching personalities. It was magic! It was true love! It was happily ever after! 

    • Like 2

  15. Posted

    On 4/8/2019 at 3:03 PM, taylorannephoto said:

    She never says that they were created by humans though, and that goes back to a lot of questions I have about it, because it sounds like humans and their tethers were created by "something" else as an experiment that didn't pan out. I do agree though that the more he started to explain things the more questions I had which definitely took me out of the story a bit because I kept questioning things they had just said, and this is why I couldn't give it a full 5 stars.

    She actually does say that the tethers were created by humans who learned how to copy the body, but not the soul, and they abandoned the project. Aside from the class themes, I think the movie is also about faith and free will. Are we really in control of the decisions we make? Do we make a choice between good and evil? or is that just the situation t hat is thrust upon us. If the tethered can learn to be like regular people in society, then we, too (as Red did) can be turned evil, embittered, and revengeful if put in the right circumstances. 

  19. Posted

    14 minutes ago, taylorannephoto said:

    I believe that at the point where we meet Aly she had just been beaten by insecurities, because she makes a comment that she keeps getting told that she'll make it big if it weren't for how ugly she was. So I don't think she ever really gives it up because she's still performing, but I don't think she's been told "No," the same way that Ester has. In the 37 version we just see that Ester gets told no because there are 100,000 other girls going out for the same jobs, but Aly gets told no because of her nose.

    Good point. It's a worse version of rejection for Aly, and I agree that she hasn't given up entirely. Also, her performance at the bar was spine tingling. 

    • Like 1

  21. Posted

    2 hours ago, taylorannephoto said:

    I thought the only one that was really well done was the Mae West impression, maybe because it was the only I got like that dude did lol, but the German accent and the British accent were so bad I was like lord no honey pls what is you doin'.

     

    Just a nitpick that it wasn't an English accent. She was doing Katharine Hepburn, and I thought pretty well :)

    It's true that we don't see either of them really act in the movies. But I agree with the thought line that it plays at the luck and emptiness of Hollywood, and the movie is more about how their relationship changes with her success. And I think what I liked more about the '37 version, is that we're clear that Ester's dreams are of success. I kind of felt like that with Ally in the new one, at least once she got her confidence. And maybe in their meet-cute we're supposed to understand that she's already given it her try and got shot down. But Esther keeps going, regardless. She still has hope that she's "the one in 100,000" whereas Ally feels like the success just landed in her lap thanks to Jackson, and that giving it up wasn't as big a sacrifice for her. 

    • Like 3

  22. Posted

    I actually really liked the grandma coda. I think it brought Ester's story full circle, and I really liked her grandma's pluck. She was a pioneer who was willing to explore (we can talk about "pioneers" another time), and she gave Ester not only the money but the confidence to go give acting a try, despite the odds, "Maybe I'm that one!" and her grandmother reminds her at the end of all she's achieved. And of course her (grandma's) comment to the radio audience at the end that she finally made it was a nice comedic touch. The final scene reminded me of Ester's own struggles and triumphs. She put in a lot of work to get where she was, whereas Ally was just discovered. I felt that Ester/Vicky had way more agency in her story in this version than Ally did. 

    That said, Lady Gaga was the best thing about the newest remake, which I felt was more of a Cooper vanity project. The two of them had excellent chemistry, but I didn't find any redeeming qualities in his character. The movie opened with a scene of Jackson on stage, then drinking and struggling with tinnitus. We don't see Ally's struggles, or really anything of her life aside from her dad and her friend. It was all just Jackson's story and how he struggled with losing fame and his family, and it's clear to see that Cooper made an effort to make that role more substantive, but I felt like it was at Ally's expense. And I feel it's fair to say the movie's second half just really struggles. I don't mean to dump on the 2018 version (I cried basically any time Lady Gaga sang a ballad), I just really prefer the 1937 version. 

    • Like 3

  23. Posted

    all of this is why I wondered if Adelaide had suppressed the memory of the switch and convinced herself that she was the real Adelaide the whole time. I think part of what Jordan Peele was getting at was suppressed trauma, and our memories are terrible narrators of our own tales, especially when severe trauma comes into play. 

    One more thing about the t-shirt, when she grabs it, little Adelaide's mom says something to her dad about how the video had terrified Adelaide and kept her up at night. I'm guessing she always knew she was a tether. Or its more evidence that her mom knew she was/had a tether. 

  24. Posted

    I agree here with EvRobert. Animated, feature-length movies were Disney until at least the 90's. Snow White was the pioneer in that respect. Sure, others have clearly improved on the form, but it's a lot easier to do once Disney proved it could be done. I vote for it being a "great" movie, in that it was successful and still holds up relatively well (as opposed to say Pinocchio). 

    • Like 4
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