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Quasar Sniffer

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Posts posted by Quasar Sniffer


  1. I guess another problem I have with getting behind the movie is that... the Vietnam War was objectively horrible, and the only characters who recognized that were these self-serving, myopic free-love-obsessed morons, but the most self-actualized character, Claude, is making a conscious choice to go. It's clear going to Vietnam isn't his first choice of how to spend his youth, but he doesn't go out of his way to avoid it. So if only idiots express any antipathy to war, where does the movie stand? Obviously, the military does not come off great, but we're exposed to its hypocrisy for much less screen time than the band of hippies.

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  2. What really bothered me about the ending is that Berger switching with Claude so he could have an afternoon with his friends is the only selfless thing he or any of the hippies do in the whole fucking movie. You know, the kind of charitable act that serves your fellow humans that hippie philosophy was supposed to be about. So of course it FUCKING KILLS HIM.

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  3. I think the movie was mostly even-handed with the hippies, but when the group was sort such a bunch of unfeeling dicks to Hud's fiance and her child, my reaction was "fuck these clowns." As much as I am a Big Time Leftist and abhor everything the Vietnam War stood for, I was not behind these dumb-dumbs. Sure, I hate authoritarian institutions represented by the military at the end, and I felt sorry for Claude's plight, but the whole madcap ending where Berger ends up going to Vietnam? That strained by sense of credulity even for a musical.

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  4. If, perchance, you are not enthusiastic about paying $20 to watch Vin Diesel win fights with CGI, and you are hankering for movie-based podcast content (I know there's a VERY REAL shortage of that, amirite?), might I suggest... listening to ME talk about one of my favorite movies? It might ease your sports withdrawal as well!

    A nerd and a Welshman talk about baseball movies....

    https://www.film89.co.uk/the-film-89-podcast-episode-45-field-of-dreams-1989/6CB4EDC9-D980-44C0-A714-F2D7571A3765.jpe

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  5. I went into this movie pretty neutral on The Monkees. I know they were a manufactured band, but like what was said before, so were a ton of respected performers. You think any of those girl groups who recorded with Psycho Asshole Phil Specter wrote their own songs?

    ANYWAY, I always viewed the TV show and their music as pretty safe, pre-packaged versions of the British Invasion, and it certainly wouldn't be the first or the last time entertainment companies tried to ride the coattails of a pop culture trend. So yeah, some catchy songs, some magazine covers. Cool. It's not really for me but I wish the Monkees and their fans the best.

    But THIS, man, this is NUTS. The intercutting of Vietnam War footage is fucking crazy in the context of the era. 1968 was the year of the Tet Offensive and most of America was still in favor of the war at the time. Somewhere in 1968, the mood really shifted on the conflict. According to Wikipedia, 'Head' started production in February of 1968, which means the Tet Offensive, which started on January 30th of that year, was in the minds of every American. For the band to position themselves in contrast, almost as if they were complicit in the same sort of media manipulation that led to the war, is pretty astonishing. Maybe it was inspired by drugs, maybe it was youthful exuberance and naivete, maybe the movie is a series of psychedelic skits (it CERTAINLY wouldn't be the first 1960s art film to do that), but I have to give them respect for actually putting this together and releasing it. I mean, fuck, Victor Mature, star of films directed by John Ford and Cecil B. DeMille, makes a few brief appearances, one about 30 seconds before Frank Zappa appears on a Hollywood backlot. This shit is crazy.

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  6. I think my issue with the new season of Veronica Mars was the same as my issue with everything after the first season; that is, I can't trust anything in the show, either in its plot or character development. Every time it seems like we reached a conclusion in a mystery or a character has made a moment of self-realization, there's a twist to pull the rug out from under us. So it seems like everything is a red herring, from the suspect list to the way Veronica deals with her love life. So I'm just constantly second-guessing everything I see, and that's just not a way to emotionally connect to a show, as I'm thinking about what the writing team might have been thinking as I'm listening to the dialogue.

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  7. 4 minutes ago, gigi-tastic said:

    The worst part is she never actively left him. She pawned her bracelet for his guitar and tells him she's thinking of making a career choice. She was always up front with him and wasn't saying she was going to be sleeping with Morris or even that she liked his music. Just that she thought it was a good job for her and she *might* take it. The Kid is SO jealous and insecure he hit her because she was talking about the possibility of taking a job. That's like your boyfriend going ape shit over you taking a job at Pizza Hut when he's a sworn Dominoes man. And it's not like he helped offer get her any work! Not even as part of his act or at the club.  In fact, of the two Morris was technically the only one to actually help her do anything.  Was he doing it because he was a creep? Yes. But does he hit women who he's seeing? No he technically has his best friend/ butler/ side kick throw them in dumpsters. Is this better? Not really but at least he kept his word? 

     

    You guys a man literally threw a woman in a dumpster in this film. I cannot stress that enough

    And what weirds me out about this whole thing is that this is how Prince wanted us to see him! This is his movie, his story! He portrays himself as a troubled genius who is redeemed, not only for his petulance and disrespect to his fellow musicians, but also his physical and emotional abuse of the woman he loves. All because... he's the best club act in Minneapolis? No thanks. I mean, it's obviously REAL SHITTY that you grew up with a profoundly disturbed and abusive father, but I wish the movie did more to show him trying to turn away from that inherited trauma. Instead, he lets it take him over, but everything is ok at the end because "Purple Rain" is a sweet, sweet jam.

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  8. 2 hours ago, gigi-tastic said:

    so I on't think that the Kid's father is irredeemable. However I think that he doesn't have the tools to change and I don't know if he is willing to. I never got the sense that the Kid really wants to change either. It's going to be a cycle of control and jealous heated fights between him and Apollonia . He will make it up to her in some grand passionate way because he's a temperamental artist she will see it as romantic and not as a way to keep her under is control. It's going to be good for a while then he's going to go in one of his moods. Keep in mind he abuses more than just her, he's often just as cruel to his band members and we never saw him opening up as a person to them on a real level. I feel like he's going to be back to sulking and being a dick with his puppet any time now.

    I see the story we saw as their family cycle continuing. To me it looks like the only change is that we see the next generation take it on and that's bleak as fuck.

    Thank God for the music video portions

    Agreed. And part of what kept me from sympathizing with The Kid is that his whole motivation for getting Apollonia's affections back or trying to make it up to her in some way was to help his music career. I think he knew she was talented and that she inspired him. Further, his personal feelings were dominated by jealousy because she left him for Morris, so while he may have regretted hitting her, he didn't feel the need to win her back or even want to make amends until he saw where Apollonia went after leaving him.

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  9. 2 minutes ago, Cameron H. said:

    I might be wrong, but it’s not so much as he’s slipping as the audience is falling behind. After he storms off, the club owner tells him “no one gets your songs but you.” The Kid is an Artist while Morris Day is commercial.

    Totally, but it seemed like, to me, his MOST artistic song was the "Purple Rain" performance at the end. So then... does the audience and the club owner finally catch up to his genius?

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  10. I LIKE several Prince songs ("When Doves Cry" is definitely an all-time banger and I enjoy many other songs on the soundtrack), but I'm definitely not an out-and-out fan of The Purple One, so this one was difficult for me to get behind. Prince certainly has charisma as a performer, but he is NOT an actor. So seeing this guy, you know, hit his girlfriend and be a total primadonna prick to his bandmates, then have the film ask me to have sympathy for HIM? Not happening. Thankfully, the movie has a higher musical-performance-to-story-ratio than Rocky IV has montages, so that actually helps.

    Also, Prince is freqently told "you're losing it, kid" and Morris and the club owner talk about how "the kid doesn't have it anymore" right after Prince... performs a Prince song. But... it just seems like as intense and well-orchestrated a performance as any of the ones the audience sees as amazing. Are we supposed to be behind Prince in these moments, that his talent is unrecognized? If so, why do people all of the sudden think he's losing it during the middle of the film? If he really IS losing it, if his performance quality dips, how is that manifested? There is that one song that seems to be directed at Apollonia, which is pretty dickish, and he sort of storms off, which is also dickish, but it's not like the song is objectively bad or anything. Or am I wrong?

    If his performance quality WAS dipping, it would have been nice if he actually did incorporate some of the songs or song ideas his bandmates offered to try and improve the band, instead of shrugging them off like a petulant toddler told to share his action figures.

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  11. I agree with both @gigi-tastic and @Cameron H. (they are very smart and it is just wise to agree with them), but even though I went on to clarify my comment further in the board pages, and engaged in debate with people who expressed their opinions in ways more eloquent than I did, it felt like the "fuck you" that I got was much more playful and funny than what the callers get sometimes because I had a complete thought that was then read by Paul. It's just easier to riff off of a full statement than a fuzzy phone call, and so the riffs spawned of of the message board comments are usually just funnier because we put in more work in with our comments. The Marvin the Martian thing is a perfect example.

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  12. Paul did NOT like my perspective that Disney films are also a commercial enterprise. I got fuck-you'd pretty definitively. Yikes.

    I laffed.

    And was that Marvin the Martian phone comment, about Marvin being impartial because his is both from space and a Looney Tune, another example of a call almost directly quoting a message board comment? I feel like I did hear it before (or at least read it)

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  13. 7 hours ago, Cam Bert said:

    Can we talk about what a horrible business idea this whole plan is? So Danny DeVito wants to bring Michael Jordan to Moron Mountain (not a mountain by the way) where he will chain him up and kids can dunk on him at basketball. First, the aliens that go to Moron Mountain (I mean there isn't even a mountain on that planet) would have to be familiar with the game of basketball and on top of that know who Michael Jordan is. Imagine you go to a theme park and see a cricket pitch and told "Hey do you want to bowl against Sachin Tendulkar?" First question is, "what is cricket?" Okay, maybe you know the sport but even if you know of the sport the second question is "who is Sachin Tendulkar and why should I care?". All of it is meaningless and not going to pull people in unless it is something and someone they are familiar with. So let's say the people at Moron Mountain (there is no fake mountain in the park either) put up video monitors so as you wait in line to dunk on Michael you learn about the sport and why he was the greatest. Now you're over that hurdle you go through the gates to the attraction you see poor Michael chained up unable to move or play unencumbered, wouldn't you at this point feel a bit bad. Clearly it is set up for you to win and if you can beat a handicapped player where is the fun or challenge in that? So even if you decided that you want to go up against him if you know you're going to win every time and you know everybody that goes against him is going to win where is the fun or joy in doing it again or even winning? If Moron Mountain (maybe it's ironic that they are morons and thought they had a mountain) works like Disneyland in which the attractions are free with admission, this would quickly become an unpopular attraction and if you had to fee to play it like a carnival they aren't driving additional sales. Overall all not a great plan. 

    I like the way you think, Mr. Cam Bert. This is another example of why this movie is, well, dumb. At least in its plot. The Moron Mountain story would have just made more sense if it was maybe a Huge Success on its home planet and they were trying to expand their empire to Earth, figuring to kidnap oddballs and celebrities for their attractions. Their ability to absorb the talent of the most talented beings from whatever planet they visited might be a part of that as well. Maybe guests, human customers, could pay exorbitant amounts to actually absorb Jordan's talent for an hour, then humiliate him in one-on-one basketball, Or maybe a train full of customers could pay to experience a little bit of it, in a sort of "Basketball The Ride" sort of experience. The Looney Tunes could maybe be a part of the Moron Mountain of Earth's Freak Show,  a humiliating fate for so celebrated a cartoon brand.

    • Like 4

  14. 1 hour ago, DannytheWall said:

    Except that, of course, cartoons were never meant "for kids" as a demographic when they were made as bumper spots between A and B reels when studios owned movie theatres up through the 40s. That stuff only came later with syndication and television and, of course, advertising directly to children. 

    I'm well-aware of the original audience for Looney Tunes. I was being facetious.  I actually think the idea of  what makes content "kid-friendly" has been so sanitized and codified over the years. I adored Looney Tunes as a kid, even if so many of their gags riffed off of, say, Richard Wagner music or a Peter Lorre impression. We don't give kids enough credit. Everything from Looney Tunes to Labyrinth: give me more of that!

    Quote

    I've seen many posts like these over the years, and I often feel the urge to tilt at some windmills, repeating that we shouldn't conflate "animated moves" with "Disney" (they're not all from the same studio) Nor should we think "animated" movies are "kids movies" (they're not the same. Animation is a medium, not a genre.)  If you are interested in animated films that might not be as widely marketed as a Disney's fairy tale for kids, I'm happy to make some recommendations.   

    And yeah, I'm also very aware of the difference between animated films as a medium, the Disney animated movie as a cultural phenomenon, and the marketing machine behind all of it. I myself am not a child. But I just don't think 'Space Jam' is any more of a blatant commercial than 'Frozen 2,' for example. Both are made to sell merchandise and soundtracks. I'm NOT saying the individual artists, fllmmakers, actors, and all the other workers on those films don't strive to make a product of as high a quality as possible, only that Warner Bros. is not somehow more egregious than Disney. Hell, a movie like 'Jurassic Park' was probably helped A LOT by the studio knowing of the merchandising potential, and I'm never gonna say that isn't a good movie, nor do I regret buying any dino-related toys modeled after (or because of) that movie. George Lucas was famously able to secure the merchandising rights for his little 'Star Wars' films, and the only thing that had a greater influence on my childhood than 'Star Wars' (and possibly 'Star Trek') was my parents for actually procreating.

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  15. 55 minutes ago, Cameron H. said:

    While I get that Michael Jordan is nominally the hero of the movie, I think that amidst all the glitz and glamor of jammed space it’s easy to overlook Lola Bunny’s heroism. You have to remember that Moron Mountain is only interested in the Looney Tunes for their marquee value, and this being Lola Bunny’s debut, there’s no reason to believe that the nerdlucks would have any interest in kidnapping her. Honestly, she could have just let all the other Tunes rot in Theme Park Damnation and used the comedy vacuum left behind to rise to the pinnacle of loonism. However, no matter how tempting that must have been for her, she suppressed that urge and signed up to play. Why? Two reasons: the love of the game and good old fashioned altruism. By joining the TuneSquad, she was deliberately putting a target on her back, risking her freedom and future simply because it was the right thing to do. We should all be so brave.

    I think this is interesting in the context of Lola being a Looney Tunes character. The classic versions of Bugs, Daffy, etc. (especially the antagonist characters) are habitually self-centered, if not narcissistic. They are content to humiliate their opponents, deriving pleasure and comedy from their victories, with their end goal being to be left alone. The idea of actually stopping, say, Elmer Fudd from killing other sentient Tunes is totally against their nature. They actively turn his guns TOWARDS each other (see: Duck Season vs. Rabbit Season). Lola would be much more at home in the world of Tiny Toon Adventures or Animaniacs, where it was far easier to find altruism and friendship among the main characters.

     

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  16. I recognize this movie is a commercial, but aren't almost all kids movies, especially animated ones? Artistic merits notwithstanding, a movie like WALL-E presents itself as a cautionary fable, warning us about the dangers of rampant consumerism, cultural complacency, and excess waste, all the while generating thousands of individual products with adorable robots, complete with Disney and Pixar branding, all of which create their own waste. Don't get me wrong, WALL-E is a beautiful film, but at least Space Jam is honest about its blatant consumerism. It's not hiding behind a cute, doughy-eyed Pixar creation. No one is telling you can go "To Infinity And Beyond," as long as you buy this $25 action figure, they're just trying to get you to buy some fucking Gatorade.

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  17. Gun to my head, "Ashes to Ashes" is probably my favorite Bowie song as well. But one thing that always fascinated me about Bowie is he influence on collaborators and how they influenced him, from the 1960s until his death. I think a perfect encapsulation of that is the ABSOLUTELY FUCKING PERFECT song "I'm Afraid of Americans" and the paranoia-soaked video that accompanied it. I still feel this song and video. Real hard. The end coda of "God is an American" still gives me chills, as Bowie's voice is played out and overtaken by the NIN-ish keyboards. It doesn't hurt that I still love Mr. Reznor like I am a 16-year-old Angsty Boi.

     

     

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  18. The David Bowie as "self-destructive egotistical rock star jerk" interested me because a comic book recently took that dynamic and set it in the 80s. In the series GUNNING FOR HITS, a washed-up/sell-out version of Bowie manipulates an agent and a young aspiring rock band to make a comeback. I think it's fascinating that instead of straight up biopics, we've made these villainous versions of Bowie, a musician who is a hero to possibly more people than any other musician of the last 50 years. It's like his legacy is so grandiose and unapproachable, we have to make him even more fallible to fathom his mythos. Even the creator of GUNNING FOR HITS talked about how Bowie was a hero his, and he even designed the first boxed set of Bowie's work.

    gunning-for-hits-1_b515ecf8b6.jpg

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  19. 14 minutes ago, Cinco DeNio said:

     

    I am not steeped in glam so many of the references flew over my head.  Reading Wikipedia they mention a New York Dolls song was also used.  I am only familiar with them because of David Johannsen singing in the 80s as Buster Poindexter.  Seems like the Dolls would have been a good group to mention/emulate as they were literally from New York.  I don't know how long they carried the glam look so I might be way off base.

    I think the Dolls are interesting because they are more proto-punk than anything, and as so much of Glam came out of England, they had more musically in common with Iggy and the Stooges or The Mc5 (who were Detroit-based acts), but just in drag. It's another example of how sometimes musical genres aren't clear-cut. Glam was much more of a visual aesthetic and way of promoting yourself. I mean, T-Rex was just a great hard rock band. The only thing that made them Glam was the glitter and fabulous feather boas Marc Bolan wore.

    • Like 1
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  20. I guess what I found troubling about the movie is that there are fictional versions of actual people, as well as pastiches of their music, but then actual Glam Rock songs from the era mixed in. I realize this probably has to do with a lot of rights issues pertaining to both the music and biographies of people (Bowie DID NOT like this thing from the script on forward), but it just contributes to the sense of unreality of the narrative and took me out of the film. Like, if "20th Century Boy" was an actual song in this world, then who is Marc Bolan in this film? He was a man who actually lived who had an actual friendship and professional relationship with both Bowie and Iggy Pop. 

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