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HoldenMartinson

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Posts posted by HoldenMartinson

  1. Posted

    I love The Driver. It's been a favorite of mine for a long time. This is a great noir, especially in how it builds off of Ryan O'Neal as a sort of western misfit. I also love how beautifully the set pieces hold up. The Driver is so watchable, and so much fun. I'm right there with Edgar Wright. This is a lean, near-perfect ride, and kind of a miracle. Easy yes.

     

    Also, was Amy thinking of an iris shot? Maybe it's just the way she was describing it, but that's what it sounded like.

  5. Posted

    These are both really special films to me, and I remember exactly how I saw both. I remember my ex-stepdad owned a used-DVD/video game/book/Lego store, and he let me pick out a few things for my birthday one year--I think when I was fourteen--and that's how I got City of God. I remember watching it, and being absolutely blown away. It's a high that has never really worn off, either. Black Orpheus is one I saw while I had a long layover in Dallas-Fort Worth over a year ago, and I remember being totally absorbed to the point that I was afraid I missed my flight when the film was over--this was also the trip I saw The Night of the Hunter, which also rules.

     

    Part of me really wants to go with City of God. I think David is crazy when he says there's a lack of emotion here. I think the vignettes we see of these characters are each far more engrossing and honest than, say... LA LA LAND. Also, the discussion of craft makes it sound like the film is tricking people into liking it, or thinking it's good. The craft here is incredible, because it serves the story in a huge way. There's a sense of danger here, and a sense of urgency that the editing does particularly well. It's what keys you into the way this city never changes, and that it only exists to eat its inhabitants. Really though, I feel like there were some missed opportunities to discuss the rampant toxic masculinity within the film. There aren't many women characters, but they're almost all oppressed by fragile-ego'd men, which see with Ze, especially, in the club scene. I like the idea of the woman journalist living in such a safer world that she has as much sexual agency as any of the men in the poorer parts of the city. The craft is flashy, but there are a lot of layers here that absolutely work.

     

    That said, how can I vote against Black Orpheus? It's so perfect and immersive, another story about the eternal, inescapable fatalism that binds people to Rio. The whole point of Black Orpheus is its timelessness, and the timelessness of its characters. These types of films don't even really exist.

     

    Eh. I guess I'll have to flip a coin.

    • Like 2

  7. Posted

    King of the mountain episode. If Rocky Horror loses, it gets kicked out of the Canon.

    I do not like Rocky Horror, and I absolutely adore The Room. I would be okay with this.

    • Like 2

  9. Posted

    This is an easy no. It's not a great film, and while I hate to dismiss an older film for being problematic, if the idea is that this is a voice in the conversation about the way men control women, why settle for one that doesn't get it right? Why not films like Rosemary's Baby, or The Passion of Joan of Arc, or even (500) Days of Summer? There are stronger films with similar themes, and that have something to say about the way men treat women, rather than just illustrating the idea that this happens? I often think back to the American Beauty episode, where Devin made a really important point: Truth without insight is pointless. What reaction does Fatal Attraction really have to that idea? If it's just an affirmation, I can't support canonization.

    • Like 2

  10. Posted

    Good morning! Nick Perkins who? I hardly miss him at all, since having him removed from my portraits.

     

    Next week, we're in for a head-to-head that, above all, seeks to answer the age old question: Why does Amy allow bad things to happen to us? We will be forced into a Sophie's Choice, the likes of which will rival that of The Fly vs. The Thing, or Boogie Nights vs. There Will Be Blood, or E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial vs. Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Amy will be joined by Justin Chang from The L.A. Times (full name) to pit Marcel Camus's Black Orpheus against Fernando Meirelles's and Kátia Lund's City of God. Two Brazilian-set works of genius that, depending on how you feel about The Constant Gardener, were more or less one-off masterpieces from their respective filmmakers.

     

    You can find City of God streaming for free on Amazon Prime and Hulu, as well as for rental on YouTube, iTunes, Google Play, and for physical rental via Netflix.

     

    You can find Black Orpheus streaming for free on FilmStruck's Criterion Channel, as well as for rental on Amazon Prime, iTunes, and for physical rental via Netflix.

     

    Go team!!!

    • Like 3

  11. Posted

    Voted Blue Velvet, but ended up re-watching it with a friend this evening. Holy shit, Blue Velvet has kind of a terrible script. It's that everything else--the direction, the design, the performances, the photography, the editing, etc.--is so strong that you forgive the bizarro dialogue and weird character motivations. With that in mind, it actually made the film so much more fun. Blue Velvet has a lot to unpack in terms of craft, but in terms of text, it's incredibly messy, making nitpicking weirdly entertaining.

     

    Goddamn, I love this movie.

  15. Posted

    I hadn't seen either in a while, but I was pretty sure i'd go Blue Velvet. Seeing both again, I'm unwavering. As weird as Lynch's style may be, his films tend to be way more normal than people make his style out to be. Dune, The Elephant Man, The Straight Story, etc. are all fairly straightforward.

     

    Also, Blue Velvet has so much to unpack. The one thing that I came back to was something Devin said in the sex, lies, and videotape episode, which is how many films are about filmmaking. Blue Velvet is so much about this. I love what this has to say about masculinity, in all its rabid toxicity, and the way control works, at least in a heteronormative sense. This is a tense, sensual, bizarre film, which I love. This is so lavishly shot, and beautifully designed. Talking about who we identify with most, I definitely see myself in Kyle MacLaughlan. He's this well-to-do guy who doesn't realize just how much he's like Frank Booth, and that there's that monstrosity in him, as much as he tries to believe he's separate from him. How often do we see that in a film? Where our heroes confront their own potential villainy like that? It's chilling, but real.

     

    I don't know that I love either of these, but I admire the hell out of all of them, Blue Velvet most.

    • Like 2

  16. Posted

    And what about those of us who prefer Mulholland Drive, or the Disney one about a man who drives a lawnmower straight into inspiration, or Wild at Heart! Nick Cage is going to find his way into the Canon one way or another.

    Just kidding, Blue Velvet beats Eraserhead but Mullholland Drive beats Blue Velvet

    He's got Fast Times at Ridgemont High. So, if nothing else...

     

    That said, I'd love an Adaptation. episode.

  17. Posted

    I, too, have really missed this aspect of the show. The Canon is one of those texts--along with Every Frame a Painting and CineFix--that has informed how I watch movies. This is why I really loved the Armond White episode. It's the closest the show has been, since its return, to what makes The Canon so vital. Don't get me wrong--I love The Canon, and always will. I've been listening since the third or fourth episode, and haven't missed a Monday. As a young person who loves film, this podcast has been weirdly, but substantial in its influence on me. Shows change, sure. And by no means isthis iteration suffering. How much that has to do with Devin is difficult to say, but I do miss it nonetheless.

  19. Posted

    I'm not HoldenMartinson or nickperkins, but you've still got a Homework thread.

     

    Next week Amy will be joined by Michael Nordine of Indiewire, the LA Weekly to pit Eraserhead (1977) against Blue Velvet (1986) in an all Lynch versus episode. (Hooray, Twin Peaks is back!)

     

    Here are some VOD links, apologies in advance for those of you outside of the US as these links may not be available in your region.

     

    https://www.justwatc...q=blue%20velvet

     

    https://www.justwatc...ch?q=eraserhead

    That made me laugh out loud. Thanks for this.

    • Like 1

  20. Posted

    Just FYI, Devin posted on IG and addressed Amy (whose birthday is today) as his once and future podcast co-host, so it sure sounds like his return is in play.

    Not sure how to feel about this, but we'll see what happens, I suppose.

  21. Posted

    Happy Wednesday! Sorry this one's late. Trying to call Nick Perkins on his bluff, to no avail.

     

    So... this Female Trouble business... Amy and first-ever returning guest Jake Fogelnest will be discussing this 1974 dark comedy, presumably in all of its transgressive glory.

     

    You can find Female Trouble available for streaming rental viaAmazon Video, and DVD rental via Netflix. Another pick that's a bit less ubiquitous, but not impossible to find.

     

    Go team!!!

    • Like 2

  24. Posted

    Good evening! I'm your stand-in for Nick Perkins, and next week, we have Otto Preminger's noir classic Where the Sidewalk Ends. Where does this sidewalk end? Is it with this picture? Is Shel Silverstein involved? Who's to say?

     

    You can find Where the Sidewalk Ends for purchase and digital rental on Amazon Video, Netflix rental, and streaming for free on the YouTube. Not the most ubiquitous of pictures, but easier to find than Sign o' the Times.

     

    Go team!!!

    • Like 2
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