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taylor anne photo

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Posts posted by taylor anne photo


  1. 1 hour ago, bleary said:

    I'm a bit surprised that Empire was so quickly pushed aside on the podcast and hasn't been discussed here.  Particularly since the argument seemed much more based on influence and impact than quality, I think it's important to point out that The Empire Strikes Back contains perhaps as many things that live on in public consciousness as Star Wars does.  (When people think of iconic Star Wars moments or information, my guess is what they think of is 40% from Episode IV, 40% from Episode V,  10% from Episode VI, and 10% from all other movies together.)  Paul mentioned that Star Wars information is so ubiquitous that most people know that Darth Vader is Luke's father without seeing any of the movies.  But again, that information isn't presented in Star Wars, but rather it's given in The Empire Strikes Back.  And while Star Wars had John Williams give us the main title theme, the force theme, and Leia's theme, it wasn't until Empire that we got the Imperial Death March, which may actually be more well-known than the others.  Episode IV lacks Yoda and Lando, and the only lightsaber battle in Episode IV kind of blows compared to what the series would later give us.

    And to be honest, the principle of this original vs sequel argument isn't one I've been very consistent on, as I lobbied hard for Toy Story despite accepting that Toy Story 3 is a better film and I decry The Godfather Part II for retreading over much of the same territory as The Godfather, yet I also voted against The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring because I think it's the weakest of the three films.  So if this were asking whether I'd pick Episode IV or Episode V for inclusion (as Amy once did on an early episode of The Canon), I'd be more torn.  But if we're using Star Wars as a stand-in for the whole series, then clearly it belongs on the list.  However, I'm just judging it on its merits as a film, so though it still makes my list, it won't be as high as The Empire Strikes Back would be.  (I'll probably have Star Wars in the 50-60 range when it's all said and done.)

    I agree that quality over impact is something I've heavily been considering while going through this list, because I honestly do not think they are one and the same. But I had this thought during the LOTR episode that they specifically put the first of these giant trilogies to force people to start from the beginning rather than jump into the middle of an overarching story. Personally, I'm not quite sure really how much you need of The Godfather before seeing Part II, maybe that's naive maybe it isn't. Certainly, though, you can not come into Empire Strikes Back without having first seen Star Wars and have any of it make much sense to you. There needs to be the emotional weight of the three leads meeting, the bond between Ben and Luke, and then the subsequent death of Ben (I agree that is a really lackluster saber fight compared to so much we've seen in this series). To me, this is AFI putting all three movies on under the guise of just one, because they probably have a giant feeling that once you start you're going to most likely continue.

    • Like 2

  2. 12 hours ago, DanEngler said:

    If it's any consolation, Lauren Lapkus and Nicole Byer are recording a podcast where they watch all the Star Wars movies for the first time.

    Omggg! I kinda thought it was funny that Nicole was steadfastly refusing to ever watch them lol! She said she got joy out of denying men the opportunity to be the ones to show her the franchise, and then her best friend Sasheer Zamata (if y'all aren't listening to Best Friends pls do it) has offered to be that person literally ever time she brings it up lol.

    • Like 1

  3. My favorite Star Wars Simpsons reference is when Mark Hamill played himself doing a Star Wars version of Guys and Dolls. I know that song he sings by heart and would sing it to my cat while growing up, but instead of Luke I would sing Tiger and tell him to be that Jedi tonight. It brings back a lot of good little Taylor and her cat memories.

    I also thought that there was a real version of that song in Guys & Dolls and definitely expected Frank Sinatra at some point to just bust out singing "Guys & dolls! We're just a bunch of crazy guys & dolls!"

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  4. There are direct similarities to Superbad that can't be ignored. There is a vomiting on another person scene, there's a giant reveal between the two friends that hurts the friendship scene, and there's the fact that Beanie Feldstein is literally Jonah Hill's little sister. I don't believe this movie is ripping off Superbad whatsoever, but there are obvious things that would bring the former movie to mind in regards to this new one, and it would be naive to think they weren't similar.

    However, I fully believe that Booksmart takes early 2000s tropes and fixes them with this story. Even taking out the fact that it's about two women and one of them is gay, it just fixes some story issues that I had with Superbad and gives EVERY character far more depth than Superbad could have ever dreamed of. I was extremely interested in every single background character they introduced and each one had their own arc throughout this movie. Then you add in the brilliant commentary of being a 17/18 year old girl on her way into adulthood and LGBTQ issues and it's a really fucking fantastic movie.

    • Like 1
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  5. 2013:

    • The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
    • Her
    • Begin Again
    • 12 Years a Slave
    • Short Term 12

    Including separately: Sound City (documentary), Blue is the Warmest Color (French production), and Ida (Polish production).

    2014:

    • Captain America: Winter Soldier
    • The Theory of Everything
    • Little Accidents
    • Gone Girl
    • Selma

    Included separately: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (I wanted to include this because I think it has American production behind it, and was filmed in California, despite being a foreign language film.)

    2015:

    • Room
    • The Force Awakens
    • Dope
    • Love & Mercy
    • Creed
    • Like 1

  6. I've been out of the country for a couple of weeks so I apologize for my delay into this conversation, and I apologize for mentioning things that are now repeats at this point. I'm also sad that I didn't start using Letterboxd until 2014 so I don't have a comprehensive list of the movies I loved from 2010-2013 but I'll do my best to remember the ones I would like to see in a Best Of list.

    2010:

    My top movie is definitely The Social Network as well, and it was my favorite of the year at that time, with Black Swan a CLOSE second. I am still mad that TSN didn't win best picture that year at the Oscars.

    • The Social Network
    • Black Swan
    • Winter's Bone
    • Never Let Me Go (Not an American production I don't believe, but this stopped me in my tracks none the less)

    2011:

    • Drive
    • Another Earth
    • Bridesmaids
    • Pariah
    • We Need to Talk About Kevin

    2012:

    • Argo
    • For a Good Time, Call...
    • Frances Ha
    • The Avengers
    • Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

    What I notice about my choices are that I do gravitate to ones that are lesser known, not because of trying to pull any kind of indie cred, but because these are the ones that have stayed with me for so long. I still talk about Another Earth and For a Good Time Call because they are fucking fantastic movies and I think it's a fucking shame that good art like these two get overlooked so often. The Best Of Lists usually always include the ones that we all already know about because of the box office receipts or Oscars or even the buzz surrounding them when they came out but the awards "snubbed" them. But I want Best Of lists to truly represent the best of what has come out in its entirety even though no one may have heard of one movie or another.


  7. I honestly had a hard time listening to this episode, which I obviously knew I would, and I am thankful for the trigger warning by Paul and Amy with the option to take a pass this week and sit tight for the next episode. I myself chose to listen knowing it would be hard, and it was hard. Personally, I do not want to get into Woody's life because I myself experienced sexual assault as a child and considering how the last conversation I had on the Earwolf forums about men in Hollywood with less than ideal reputations went... I think I'll take a pass.

    But on the movie itself, I saw this in high school because I also wanted to begin my career in the study of film history, and it never really stuck with me. I had friends that absolutely died over Woody's movies, and I wanted so bad to be as cool and watch as many of them as I could, but while I liked this film... I did not love it. I think the only one of his movies I did love was Midnight in Paris and I wonder if it's because I just don't enjoy Woody Allen's acting style. I chose not to rewatch it and I don't regret that, but the only thing about the entire movie that even sticks out to me is when Alvy criticizes Annie for smoking weed before sex. I think about that a lot because I've done that and let me tell y'all, it's great. 10/10 would recommend. Other than that I have nothing but "meh" feelings about this movie.

    • Like 3

  8. 46 minutes ago, grudlian. said:

    It would be awfully difficult for me to say someone deserves an award for a performance I never watched. We'll have to agree to disagree. 

    I see what you're saying, and I'm telling you based on what I know about the way Leo acts I believe he would be better than what I witnessed from the others but whatever lol.


  9. 11 hours ago, grudlian. said:

    I disagree. This was a particularly weak year for lead actors at least among those nominated. I genuinely think Leo's performance in Revenant was bad (which I guess I'm in the minority on this) and he was outdone by the bigger supporting accepted like Tom Hardy and Will Poulter. I wouldn't want Eddie Redmayne to win just because I thought the movie's treatment of trans people was not bad but misguided. I thought Michael Fassbender, Bryan Cranston and Matt Damon were good in their roles. 

    I haven't seen The Revenant so I honestly can't comment on his performance, but I definitely believe that Tom and Will outshined him because they're genuinely amazing and underrated actors. However, I did see the others and while Fassbender was amazing as Steve Jobs, I did not find it to be an award winning performance. Same with the others. I also am in the same mindset about The Danish Girl and just ugh fuck that movie, but all three of the other men have done better performances in their careers. If I were voting I probably would have voted for Leo as well.


  10. And honestly I looked up the rest of the nominees that year and if anyone won above him then it would've been ridiculous. I can see an argument for someone not even being nominated that deserved it but out of all the nominees Leo was definitely the winner that year for sure.

    • Like 1

  11. 1 hour ago, grudlian. said:

    Leonardo DiCaprio DiCaprio for The Revenant and Jacob Tremblay wasn't even nominated for Room that year. Sure, you could argue Tremblay was the supporting actor but I just really am still salty DiCaprio was nominated for that awful performance.

    You know that was just a "finally let's just give him this award" more than anything else. The performance he should have won for was Django Unchained because he was legit terrifying in that movie.

    • Like 1

  12. 9 hours ago, Kream15 said:

    None of it worked for The Huntsman either.

    Hope your roommate is making better choices by now.

    There was alot of topless Armie Hammer for a PG movie

    8871495.gif

    We no longer live together, but we're still friends and trust me... she's not LOL

    But yeah The Huntsmen really wasn't a good franchise either, but at least Charlize Theron was a better queen and it looked prettier to me lol.

    • Like 1

  13. 12 hours ago, grudlian. said:

    This was my problem with it:  Stephen King.

    Most every problem I had with this was the writing and it followed the book pretty closely. Some of this, especially in the last act, seems very silly or under developed which is a problem I had with the book.

    There is one minor change I think ultimately makes the final act pretty weak. In the book, the True Knot people had basically no steam stored and continuing going after Abra because Rose is desperate. It's basically win or die as I recall. In this, it makes Rose seem stupid to confront her alone knowing how powerful Abra is.

    I agree with everyone that the actors were great. Rebecca Ferguson is perfectly cast and exactly what I pictured when I read the book. How is Eean McGregor getting better looking with age? Jacob Tremblay was, as usual, the best thing in every movie he's in.

    Overall, I liked this okay but it didn't wow me or anything.

    I still saw Rose as utterly desperate, but this time it was out of grief. I don't think she was using her head against Abra at all, and I thought it conveyed that pretty well. 

    When I saw that Jacob had been cast I honestly had expected him to have been Young Danny, cause honestly it would've fit pretty well and we all know he would've killed any of that fear from the original story. But even though his part was so small, you're right, he nailed that shit and it really got me when they tortured him. 


  14. 5 hours ago, Quasar Sniffer said:

    The more I think about it, the more I like it. Ewan is, of course, amazing in the film, but one thing I really liked is casting Henry fucking Thomas to act opposite Danny Torrence. I know he's a frequent collaborator of Flanagan's (Haunting of Hill House is magnificent horror storytelling), but it just seems so perfect to have the "kid from ET" to play the ghost version of the father of the other most famous child role of the last 40 years.

    When you put it like that, I like it a lot more, but during the viewing I did not like it at all. I was kind of hoping they would just leave Wendy and Jack faceless throughout the film, which thank god they did during the ax flashback. To me - casting new actors in these extremely iconic rolls just kind of took me out of these really great moments. I'm more fine with Wendy being casted again to show new footage, but there was something about recognizing Henry Thomas that made me go, "Oh and there's Henry Thomas," not, "Oh my god he's seeing Jack now!"

    • Like 1

  15. 59 minutes ago, Cameron H. said:

    Yes but he probably wouldn’t have been recruited into the Army if he hadn’t been in college.

    He probably would've been drafted. If you were in college then you were exempt.

    I'm not sure about them drafting college graduates, though, nor do I know about how they recruit back in the day. I know now they definitely want them before they hit 24, because that's when a man's brain stops growing, so they very much are trying to mold minds to be exactly how they want them to be.

    • Like 1

  16. My thoughts pretty much echo everything already said. I liked this movie when I was younger, but I think I just liked it because society was telling me I should or something, because even as a kid watching it I remember being like "okay well now I've seen it, and I'll proceed to forget pretty much everything about it."

    Besides the like most iconic parts of this film, I think this is very forgettable. I am shocked that it made it onto this list.

    • Like 2

  17. I really enjoyed this! After a while I did start to think that it kinda dragged on, but I can totally tell it was Mike's style of horror and I looooove Haunting of Hill House with my entire heart! Rebecca Ferguson killed this roll and I agree that Ewan did a lot better than I've seen in quite sometime!

    I'm afraid that people that don't like it are blaming it on the film itself, when I found the things that I didn't like as much to be direct adaptations of Stephen King lol. He can get so silly in his writing sometimes and so many things hearkened back to Dreamcatcher for me and I was like okay Stephen we get it you're obsessed with this concept lol.

    • Like 2
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