MOVIE COMMENT CATCH-ALL THREAD

[Curt McGirt]

The Master is on TV right now. What the fuck am I watching? Two psychopaths in a latent homosexual relationship? Joaquin Phoenix Method-acting his true insanity? Holy shit.

[S.K.o.S.]

IndieWire has its (very early) 2014 Oscar predictions up here.

 

If we get ten Best Picture nominees, they're saying it'll be these ten:

 

1. 12 Years a Slave

2. Gravity

3. Captain Phillips

4. Saving Mr. Banks

5. American Hustle

6. The Wolf of Wall Street 

7. Nebraska

8. Her

9. Inside Llewyn Davis

10. Blue Jasmine

 

Also notable: they're predicting a posthumous Supporting Actor nom for James Gandolfini, and a Supporting Actress nom for Oprah Winfrey.

[caley]

 

IndieWire has its (very early) 2014 Oscar predictions up here.

 

If we get ten Best Picture nominees, they're saying it'll be these ten:

 

1. 12 Years a Slave

2. Gravity

3. Captain Phillips

4. Saving Mr. Banks

5. American Hustle

6. The Wolf of Wall Street 

7. Nebraska

8. Her

9. Inside Llewyn Davis

10. Blue Jasmine

 

Also notable: they're predicting a posthumous Supporting Actor nom for James Gandolfini, and a Supporting Actress nom for Oprah Winfrey.

 

 

 

 

IndieWire has its (very early) 2014 Oscar predictions up here.

 

If we get ten Best Picture nominees, they're saying it'll be these ten:

 

1. 12 Years a Slave

2. Gravity

3. Captain Phillips

4. Saving Mr. Banks

5. American Hustle

6. The Wolf of Wall Street 

7. Nebraska

8. Her

9. Inside Llewyn Davis

10. Blue Jasmine

 

Also notable: they're predicting a posthumous Supporting Actor nom for James Gandolfini, and a Supporting Actress nom for Oprah Winfrey.

 

Interesting that they don't have 'The Butler' there, I'd say that has a better shot at an Oscar nomination than 'Blue Jasmine'.

[S.K.o.S.]

 

Interesting that they don't have 'The Butler' there, I'd say that has a better shot at an Oscar nomination than 'Blue Jasmine'.

 

 

If you click through to the predictions, they've got like 16 movies listed, and The Butler is ranked #11.  So they do think it's at least in the conversation.

[Reed]

 

So, remind me again why Karl Urban isn't being cast as Batman?

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

So, remind me again why Kurt Urban isn't being cast as Batman?

 

Because he won't listen to people and change his name to Kurt.

[jaedmc]

Watching The Exorcist for the billionth time and picked up on something weird.

Any one else get the feeling Reagan was molested by Burke?

[Reed]

Watching The Exorcist for the billionth time and picked up on something weird.Any one else get the feeling Reagan was molested by Burke?

 

That question has been raised, but I think Blatty denied it.

[jaedmc]

He may not have intended it, but there is some really wild subtext going on that implies it. It's not really important though. It's probably just a byproduct of all the sexuality in the film.

[Brian Fowler]

It's definitely a valid reading of the film, intentional or not on Blatty's part.

[J.T.]

 

So, remind me again why Karl Urban isn't being cast as Batman?

 

Because he makes weird career choices.  This sci-fi Blade Runner buddy cop thingie he's doing on Fox with Michael Ealy had better be fucking great.

[J.T.]

It's definitely a valid reading of the film, intentional or not on Blatty's part.

 

Yeah, I always assumed that Burke Dennings had molested Regan.  Merrin and Karras die as a by-product of the exorcism but Dennings is the only legit homicide in the movie. 

 

I thought that his impure activity with Regan is what made her vulnurable to the possession and then the demon lets Regan indulge her homicidal catharsis and she avenges the violation by killing the guy.

[jaedmc]

There's a couple of ways at looking at the Burke deal. Ellen Burstyn can't figure out who put the cross in Regan's bed. It's possible Burke visited, gave her the cross, the demon flipped out, twisted his head and tossed him out the window. So when Regan spins her head around and yells "Do you know what she did" in Burke's voice she's telling Chris that Regan killed Burke. That's pretty simple.

 

Then there's the whole molestation concept, that's compounded by the psychosexual outbursts. Deathgripping the doctor's nuts, the cross banging, the lick me stuff, and you get the feeling that Regan was sexually abused. Or that the film is a metaphor for sexually abused children. You even get this close up shot of Little Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf dressed as Granny, that, for me recalls similar themes. But I also wondered if Burke was just gay, and Chris's reaction to Regan saying "It's cool if you want to marry him" kind of feeds into that, so it makes him molesting a 12 yeur old girl unlikely.

 

The point of the possession is to break the priest's faith completely by showing how low human beings can be brought, and the concept of Regan getting molested amplifies that narrative, so I think it's worth keeping around or at least pondering - even if it's bull shit I made up.

 

Fuck I'm so glad you guys didn't shit on that idea. I googled it, and people are so uptight about reading into films ideas that aren't explicitly stated.

[J.T.]

It was always my assumption that the housekeeper put the cross in Regan's bed.

 

This movie came out about five or six years before the Roman Polanski / Samantha Geimer incident went down, so I always thought that Burke's fate (if Burke was indeed killed while attempting to take a liberty with Regan) was a silent jab at the indiscriminate nature of the casting couch in relation to age.

 

Blatty was interviewed by NPR yesterday in tribute to the spirit of Halloween.  If I'd been smart and near a phone, I'd have called in and put this question directly to the guy.

[jaedmc]

If you watched the MANIAC remake here's my (SPOILERY) thoughts on it: http://jaekrenfrow.blogspot.com/2013/11/thoughts-on-maniackhalfoun-2012.html

 

I talk about parallels to The Wedding Singer, where it compares to other contemporary "Extreme Horror Films", and why it's gimmick doesn't induce fear, but it does make you really uncomfortable. I wouldn't call it a good movie, it's just an interesting movie. The soundtrack is pretty boss though.

[Burgundy LaRue]

The remake of Maniac is similar to Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer in that it take the everyman persona and turns it against its victims and ultimately the viewers in the worst possible way, rubs our noses in its flith.  The big difference is with Henry, you're watching his life unfold.  In Maniac, you become Frank.  It's unsettling.

[Newb82]

Watching ROOM 237 and damn do some of these people have their heads up their asses, especially the "the movie is about the faking of the moon landing" guy.

[Reed]

Watching ROOM 237 and damn do some of these people have their heads up their asses, especially the "the movie is about the faking of the moon landing" guy.

 

I actually thought he presented his argument very well even if, obviously, the whole theory is nonsense.

 

The problem with the "people are reading too much into it" thing is that Kubrick was famously obsessive about his work, to the point it's a little disturbing. This is a guy who spent three days filming an actor simply getting up to open the door in Eyes Wide Shut. Absolutely there's more going on in The Shining than most realize. I bet a few of the people mentioned had the right idea.

[Newb82]

Oh, I have no doubt that there are things hidden in there on purpose, but most of these people are twisting things like continuity errors and a poster of a skier that looks nothing like a minataur to fit their theories. So far the one that makes the most sense to me based on what has been shown and said is the "Native American genocide" theory.

[jaedmc]

There's a few things people said in that movie that I had thought about before. Like the native american slant. Especially the "Loser cleans up America" line - which when I heard it I instantpy recalled that commercial. The minotaur aspect makes sense to me, not so much that specifixc poster, but the ideas of the story.

There's also the subliminal imagery like the knives pointing down at Danny or the floor pattern, that I think were clearly intentional.

[Tabe]

Recent Netflix activity:

Knuckleball! - Incredibly disappointing documentary on Tim Wakefield and RA Dickey, the two most-recent pitchers to use the knuckleball in the majors. What should be an interesting discussion with good footage ends up being just a disjointed mess. Jumps all over the place and is just not good. 3/10.

Lucky - Dark comedy about an aspiring serial killer who kills a woman just after she's bought a lottery ticket - the winning lottery ticket. He claims the prize and the girl at work that previously ignored him now is interested. They marry, she discovers his crimes and, well, things go downhill from there. Some nice black humor, pretty funny. 7/10.

[Shane]

Ender's Game is really good. There's no way to film the things that made me care about the book, but what they did capture, they absolutely nailed. The kid who plays Ender is fantastic.

[Tabe]

Another Netflix movie:

Side Effects - Rooney Mara is a depressed woman who murders her husband while under treatment of an experimental new drug. Pretty good movie but a little too twisty for its own good. Big name cast but not quite the home run you hour for. 6.5/10.

[caley]

In the last couple days I watched

 

Everything Must Go: which was pretty good.  I thought the big twist was silly and unnecessary, but Will Ferrell's actually always been a pretty solid actor and he does a good turn here, and it's got a nifty supporting cast: Laura Dern, Rebecca Hall, Glenn Howerton, Notorious BIG's son, Stephen Root and the always awesome Michael Pena.  Plus, it had an uphill battle in gaining my appreciation as it's based off a Raymond Carver short story and Carver is pretty much my favourite author ever (A large part of why I dislike 'Short Cuts' is it's all based off Carver short stories, and I didn't like Altman's readings of them).

 

Village of the Damned: This is the 1990s remake by John Carpenter and it's really just bafflingly...shitty.  I'd watched 'Halloween' just a couple nights before and it's weird how far he'd fallen in about 20 years.  This is just laughably bad, really.  I mean, for instance, there's these 10 creepy kids born on the same day who hang out together and are just..you know, weird and evil, but it amazes me how quickly their parents just divorce themselves from them and want them dead.  Weird origins or not, I'd think most people would be more protective of their children and willing to make excuses for them than the majority of these parents.

 

The Others: Good creepy ghost story with Nicole Kidman as the mother of two kids who are deathly allergic to light and the servants who come to work for her.  The big twist didn't feel like a cheat, at all, either.  Good and creepy and atmospheric.

 

The Fog: Pretty good John Carpenter chiller about a mysterious fog that rolls into a small town and wreaks havoc, killing some, annoying others and how it uncovers a buried secret of the town.  Fun cast: Hal Holbrook, Jamie Lee Curtis, Adrienne Barbeau, Janet Leigh.  This is one of those movies where IMDB is really helpful because there are 2-3 scenes that are just not right and looking it up on IMDB you find out that they were added to the movie to make it "scarier" (The scene where Barbeau hides atop the building from two marauding ghosts, and the scenes of people being stabbed up close).

 

Hotel Transylvania: was actually better than I was expecting.  It's very much a silly Sandler animated flick full of farts and stupidity, but you know...  A big part of the appeal is watching it and going "Hey, that's Kevin James!" or "Jon Lovitz?"  I could've done with a little fewer songs but they were fairly short.

[odessasteps]

The Master is on TV right now. What the fuck am I watching? Two psychopaths in a latent homosexual relationship? Joaquin Phoenix Method-acting his true insanity? Holy shit.

I think i'd rather watch The Master w Lee Van Cleef and a Van Patten than the Phoenix/Hoffman one.