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DECEMBER 2017 MOVIE THREAD


Curt McGirt

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5 hours ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

It's spooky that my original intent for this reply was to bring up the film 20th Century Women (which I forgot featured Greta Gerwig) as a film I didn't understand the buzz for. I know its way out of my wheelhouse as a coming-of-age film (I grew up in a lower middle class black family in the 80s/90s Mississippi Delta in a town that 80% black), but goddamn was it a struggle to make it all the way through it. I tried though. I tried! 

 

This actually makes me wonder, since I assume there must be one somewhere but I'll be damned if I can think of it... Prior to Moonlight, what coming of age movies about black kids (or, hell, just non-white kids in general) exist? I literally can't think of one right now.

I mean, granted, I'm so white Casper worries if I'm getting enough sun, so I'm going to just assume I missed them or am forgetting them. Hopefully.

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Curious if anyone has seen Molly's Game that came out this week?  I do love a good gambling movie and it is getting good reviews from the critics.   Major thing that worries me is that is an Aaron Sorkin thing and sometimes that is some serious rolling the dice

 

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8 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

This actually makes me wonder, since I assume there must be one somewhere but I'll be damned if I can think of it... Prior to Moonlight, what coming of age movies about black kids (or, hell, just non-white kids in general) exist? I literally can't think of one right now.

I mean, granted, I'm so white Casper worries if I'm getting enough sun, so I'm going to just assume I missed them or am forgetting them. Hopefully.

Maybe because I'm sorta indifferent on Moonlight, but I don't even consider that coming-of-age. The timejumps are too weird for me. I think they basically tried to cram an LGBT film into a coming-of-age film in 90 minutes. IMO Pariah,  directed by the same woman who just did Mudbound with Mary J. Blige, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, and Jonathan Banks, did a better job with that except I consider it a true coming-of-age film since it deals with a little girl dealing with her sexual identity and she isn't 30+ years old like an hour and 15 minutes into the film. I also consider it a much better film in terms of acting. Kim Wayans and the guy who played the dad did a really job considering they were working with novice actors and actresses.

I would say Cooley High, Crooklyn, Lean on Me, and A Piece of the Action (the lesser known third film of the trilogy Sidney Poitier and Cosby put together w/ Uptown Saturday Night and Let's Do It Again) off the top of my head. I would say all of the breakdancing/hip hop films of the 80s/early 90s like Wild Style, Breakin, Breakin 2, and Krush Groove, and House Party were coming-of-age even though they interjected white leads here and there.  There are a bunch of films that could fit into the coming-of-age/crime films like The Harder They Come, Juice, Above the Rim, Boyz in the Hood, Menace II Society, Higher Learning, Paid in Full, and Clockers. You can slide Poetic Justice and She's Gotta Have It in there as well. The most recent ones I can I think of that come out right before Moonlight would be Kicks (my introduction to Kofi Siriboe who fucking murders it), Morris from America (excellent), and Dope (good but mileage may vary). I liked all those better than Moonlight FWIW. The Fits was solid but on the same level as Moonlight for me.

The Mexican ones would be like Mi Vida Loca, Blood In, Blood Out (on the long side but great), My Family, American Me (crime/coming-of-age like Blood In, Blood Out), Stand and Deliver (basically the Mexican equivalent of A Piece of the Action and Lean On Me). Lowriders with Theo Rossi and Demian Bichir is really good.

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14 hours ago, odessasteps said:

I am an idiot. For some reason, I thought Lady Bird was about LBJ's wife.

I'm pretty sure I made that joke when I posted the trailer a few months ago.  I'm still disappointed it's not about her. 

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4 hours ago, driver said:

Don''t feel bad. When 28 Days Later came out I thought it was a sequel to 28 Days.

Um, from reading your post, i have just learned that:

1) There is not a zombie horror film - probably directed by Danny Boyle - called "28 Days"

2) 28 Days Later is not a sequel to the non-existent '28 Days"

In all seriousness, I thought Boyle directed two "28 Days" films and they told the story of the same zombie outbreak from different perspectives.

I don't watch horror movies, obviously.  I kinda wondered why I had never seen Boyle's first "28 Days" film on cable.

Edit: Wiki says there was a sequel - called '28 Weeks Later".  So that kinda explains my confusion.  Don't think I've ever seen the sequel, though.  I would remember Rose Byrne, if nothing else.  I'm both squemish and bored by most horror films.  i generally only see a horror film if it's on free cable and I'm really bored (also, basic cable tends to edit out the really gory stuff at least somewhat).

 

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Heh, if you're squeamish, yeah the 28 films aren't for you. But 28 Weeks Later, in particular, is an excellent film with a great story and fine acting (Robert Carlyle in particular). And also Harold Perrineau killing a bunch of "zombies" (technically Rage victims) by running the blades of his helicopter into them. 

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On 12/29/2017 at 7:26 AM, Elsalvajeloco said:

Maybe because I'm sorta indifferent on Moonlight, but I don't even consider that coming-of-age. The timejumps are too weird for me. I think they basically tried to cram an LGBT film into a coming-of-age film in 90 minutes. IMO Pariah,  directed by the same woman who just did Mudbound with Mary J. Blige, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, and Jonathan Banks, did a better job with that except I consider it a true coming-of-age film since it deals with a little girl dealing with her sexual identity and she isn't 30+ years old like an hour and 15 minutes into the film. I also consider it a much better film in terms of acting. Kim Wayans and the guy who played the dad did a really job considering they were working with novice actors and actresses.

I would say Cooley High, Crooklyn, Lean on Me, and A Piece of the Action (the lesser known third film of the trilogy Sidney Poitier and Cosby put together w/ Uptown Saturday Night and Let's Do It Again) off the top of my head. I would say all of the breakdancing/hip hop films of the 80s/early 90s like Wild Style, Breakin, Breakin 2, and Krush Groove, and House Party were coming-of-age even though they interjected white leads here and there.  There are a bunch of films that could fit into the coming-of-age/crime films like The Harder They Come, Juice, Above the Rim, Boyz in the Hood, Menace II Society, Higher Learning, Paid in Full, and Clockers. You can slide Poetic Justice and She's Gotta Have It in there as well. The most recent ones I can I think of that come out right before Moonlight would be Kicks (my introduction to Kofi Siriboe who fucking murders it), Morris from America (excellent), and Dope (good but mileage may vary). I liked all those better than Moonlight FWIW. The Fits was solid but on the same level as Moonlight for me.

The Mexican ones would be like Mi Vida Loca, Blood In, Blood Out (on the long side but great), My Family, American Me (crime/coming-of-age like Blood In, Blood Out), Stand and Deliver (basically the Mexican equivalent of A Piece of the Action and Lean On Me). Lowriders with Theo Rossi and Demian Bichir is really good.

I just wanted to say I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who was not blown away by Moonlight. 

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There's definitely some stuff in there I've seen and didn't think about (I'm not sure I can cosign on Menace II Society being a coming I'd age film though. It's more of a failing to come to age film.)

Moonlight basically had a one at coming of age film followed by the rest of the movie. I thought it was fine if not great (Mahershala Ali is basically a national treasure at the this point)

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1 hour ago, Brian Fowler said:

There's definitely some stuff in there I've seen and didn't think about (I'm not sure I can cosign on Menace II Society being a coming I'd age film though. It's more of a failing to come to age film.)

Moonlight basically had a one at coming of age film followed by the rest of the movie. I thought it was fine if not great (Mahershala Ali is basically a national treasure at the this point)

Unfortunately, that seems to be a recurring theme throughout these films that I mentioned. That would even disqualify something like Beat Street which fits into those early to mid 80s breakdancing/early hip hop films because poor Ramo died fighting a homeless vagrant in a subway tunnel and got electrocuted by the third rail. In the Hughes brothers/John Singleton era of filmmaking (I would also throw in Bill Duke because he had A Rage in Harlem, Deep Cover, & Hoodlum), I think everyone was fascinated with doing a great crime film and telling a story about what black people were going through at the time that the youth element played a background. It just so happens that most of the hottest available talent at the time was mostly 30 and under so they went with those people.

Spike was really the only person trying to make conventional coming-of-age films and even then, all of those are confined to Brooklyn. So basically, there isn't a black Stand by Me or Dazed and Confused. Even something like Dope which does fits that mold, I know the opinion is fairly split. That's a film that had critical acclaim (including non black people). Yet, a large contingent of the folks it was aimed for don't like it. Go figure. I'm guessing that's why you don't see a ton of films like that. If you have to figure out how to woo the nerdy/artsy suburban black people, the "________ is not a monolith" woke, everyone should be a feminist, herbal tea drinking, Insecure watching black people, the Love & Hip Hop and whatever housewives show following black people, and the black folks who typically don't support film anyway by patronizing theaters, then it's going to be extremely difficult doing a film most people can relate to whether it's coming-of-age or not. So the people who don't follow or care about black issues or know nothing about sub-Saharan Africa besides late night poverty porn infomercials but still plan to go to the opening day of Black Panther dressed like a member of X Clan aren't necessarily going to give a shit if they made a Boyz in the Hood or Menace II Society now without the criminal element. They relate more to SDCC and D23 Expo than South Central LA.

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I remember watching a lot of the movies off of Elsa's list multiple times while growing up so I am more than a little pleased with young me

God did I watch Lean on Me way more than any human should

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About the "failure to come of age" thing, I don't just mean it because (uh, spoiler warning for a twenty+ year old movie) Caine died at the end. But the whole movie is centered less around the idea of him growing up or finding his place in the world or a sexual awakening or those various things that generally happen in a coming of age movie. No, it's centered around the depressing, nihilistic question his grandfather (iirc, it's been years) asks him: "Do you even care if you live or die?"

Caine has no time or opportunity to come of age while he wrestles with that question both mentally and in his daily life. It's the story of someone who should be coming of age, but the nightmare world he's grown up in and the choices he makes don't allow him that luxury.

Boyz is definitely one though, and I should've thought of it. Lean on Me, I am ashamed to admit, is something I've never seen despite the fact that I got a free digital copy of it last year or the year before.

I have Do The Right Thing and She's Gotta Have It, so, yeah, a lot of it was just me not really thinking of them as being that because of the other things they also are.

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17 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

About the "failure to come of age" thing, I don't just mean it because (uh, spoiler warning for a twenty+ year old movie) Caine died at the end. But the whole movie is centered less around the idea of him growing up or finding his place in the world or a sexual awakening or those various things that generally happen in a coming of age movie. No, it's centered around the depressing, nihilistic question his grandfather (iirc, it's been years) asks him: "Do you even care if you live or die?"

Caine has no time or opportunity to come of age while he wrestles with that question both mentally and in his daily life. It's the story of someone who should be coming of age, but the nightmare world he's grown up in and the choices he makes don't allow him that luxury.

Boyz is definitely one though, and I should've thought of it. Lean on Me, I am ashamed to admit, is something I've never seen despite the fact that I got a free digital copy of it last year or the year before.

I have Do The Right Thing and She's Gotta Have It, so, yeah, a lot of it was just me not really thinking of them as being that because of the other things they also are.

I was watching Harsh Times last night (FWIW I'm watching Bright tonight so I wanted to see a Ayer film I haven't seen) and that's generally the whole premise of that film as well except these guys are in their mid-20s. Christian Bale's character is basically O-Dog in this scenario because between PTSD and having a death wish, he don't give a fuck at all. At all. He's jacking people and having shootouts all in broad daylight and doesn't seem to have any clue that he's placing several people in danger including himself. He's transporting drugs over the border without telling people. Yet, his friend rolls with him no matter what even that particular friend has something to live for. In the same way that guy had a girl (and good job he just got through a connection) waiting for him, Caine had his girl and her kid waiting for him. They're just fuck ups and that more or less puts them into a moral conundrum: is having those thrills worth me possibly if not likely losing my life? 

That's like a good 30 to 45% of the people I grew up with because they have no concept or idea that your folks (meaning their parents or grandparents or older siblings or relatives) cannot get you out of a lot of shit and that all the possible consequences are very much real. It doesn't help that people are actively looking to place you behind bars for any reason even as far as making up one. Some become more enlightened or have a moment of clarity, but several slip through the cracks simply because they don't want to address that question or those questions posed to them at a young age. 

Therefore, I consider that as much coming-of-age as just about anything else. Although, I can see why someone wouldn't based on their own unique experiences because it's a bigger can of worms within the space of life.

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7 hours ago, RIPPA said:

That being said I also watched Disorderlies more times than any human should so I pretty much eliminate any good will the black community I might have earned

RIP Buff Love

My favorite television moment of 2017 was the Comedy Central series Detroiters having one scene that was a thinly veiled Disorderlies reference. It's the episode with special guest star Kevin Nash.

It's a pretty fun show.

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For some godforsaken reason, I bought the first four Marine movies.

The second one is predictably awful, except the hand to hand fight scenes. They are stunningly good. Dibiase Jr did his own stunts, I assume most of the terrorists were played by stunt men, and it really looks like they beat the hell out of each other.

The other action scenes are just as bad as everything else though.

Michael Rooker was pretty solid in it.

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