I was a big fan of this movie and completely forgot it existed until you just mentioned it. Time for a rewatch.
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Iām just going to assume you are aware of the cultural relevance of Bambaataa.
I am, but I was not aware of his abusive history. He sounds like a pretty shitty person and Iād find it difficult to listen to his music now and not think about what he did. Just like I canāt listen to Spade Cooley and not be reminded that he beat his wife to death in front of their daughter. But those crimes are on them as individuals, not the cultures they are associated with.
The Sixth Sense was terrible and is one of (if not the) worst movies to get nominated for Best Picture.
I will die on this hill.
This is completely oversimplifying the point Iām making, but this isnāt really the thread for this discussion.
I want to believe Iāve seen it, but I donāt remember anything about it, which means about the same thing. I should check it out.
I read the production notes and was pleased to see it was Benicio del Toro who may deserve the most credit for keeping McQuarrie in the game.
Over coffee, Benicio del Toro asked McQuarrie why he had not made another crime film. McQuarrie replied that he did not want to be typecast as āa crime guyā[4] but realized that he had nothing to lose, āunemployed and ready to make trouble.ā[4] Del Toro convinced him to write a crime film on his own terms because he would get the least amount of interference from a studio. McQuarrie was interested in making a movie āthat you can follow characters who donāt go out of their way to ingratiate themselves to you, who arenāt traditionally sympathetic.ā
Alsoā¦lololololol
He and del Toro gave the script to several high-profile actors at the time all of whom turned them down. Ryan Phillippe wanted to change the direction of his career and āwas besieged with choice offers, and we didnāt want him, but he would not take no for an answer.ā
I think there were three pivotal movies that resurrected McQuarrieās career.
2008
Valkyrie connects him with Tom Cruise
2009
The Wolverine shows audiences this guy can reboot anything
2012
And so heās brought in to reboot World War Z before the first movie has even released
So now heās friends with the Donners, Fox Studios, Marvel, Tom Cruise, JJ Abrams, Damon Lindeloff, and Brad Pitt.
Better check whether youāre already dead.
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Decided to go watch the new Avatar movie. First I rented the first one to rewatch it. That rewatch almost made me not going. I hadānt watched the movie since its release and there wasnt much I missed those past years.
So picture-wise the movie is great. Storywise it was nothing i havent seen in some form already and nothing that couldnt have been told in 2hrs. I didnt need another reminder what shitbags humans are in search for profit and even so I usually cheer for the natives it probably wont make my list for a 2nd watch since I dont find any of the main characters likeable.
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Watched the Elvis movie.
Iāve never seen a Baz Luhrmann movie before, and I wasnāt sure if I would like the style when it first started.
Iām a little too young to comment on the accuracy of it, but I liked the film quite a bit. The dude that played Elvis was outstanding, and I will not be surprised at all if he takes Best Actor. Other performances (including Tom Hanks) were nothing special, but that really didnāt matter.
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Luhrman can be a little over-the-top with the artsy-fartsiness at times (looking at you Great Gatsby) but he didnāt complete ruin this one imo. Iāve read a couple of bios on Elvis though, and they really left a lot out of his story in this film, but the music was awesome and I really liked the stuff about his time in both Memphis and Vegas. It was good, but it could have been better.
I heard one reviewer say something like āIād like to see the movie that Tom Hanks was doingā and that made sense to me. At the same time, I didnāt love Hanksā portrayal of the Colonel, nor the fact that the writer seemed to have assumed we already knew his whole story so they gave exposition where I would have liked to see more story.
I agree the kid was good. I hope he doesnāt get typecast but Iām gonna see Elvis every time I see him on screen going forward.
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Also if youāre into that sort of thingā¦Steve Binder released a book this year about the behind-the-scenes stuff and the making of the 68 Comeback Special that is good. He directed it and was portrayed in the movie by Dacre Montgomery.
Binder also has a documentary in the works about that special
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Just rewatched The Game first time since it came out. It really delivers. Fincher is a master.
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Oh and ANOTHER fun (to me, anyway) Elvis related thing: Iām mindlessly watching Roadhouse last week for like the hundredth time, and when the credits rolled I noticed the name Red West. I was like, nah, canāt be. (Two members of the āMemphis Mafiaā were brothers Sonny and Red West whose names Luhrman flashes briefly during the movie when heās introducing them. Red and Sonny also co-wrote one of the books I read titled Elvis: What Happened which I also recommend if youāve not read it.) Anyway I looked it up and, yep, itās that Red West!
I loved the soundtrack to Moulin Rouge so much that it made me think I was
- a fan of Baz Luhrman
- a fan of Moulin Rouge
Having said that, his Romeo & Juliet has thus far made all other adaptations feel redundant.
IMO the all-time best Elvis biopic is the penultimate episode of Quantum Leap, in which Scott Bakula shows off some very nice singing chops.
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If youāve seen one Baz Luhrman movie, youāve seen them all.
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Very surprised to find myself agreeing with this. Really liked the first one a lot.
Glass Onion
Unlike most here I thought the 2nd half (actual mystery & murder investigation) was much better than the 1st (kinda weak & unfunny rich people satire).
Hated the climax though and why burn the Mona Lisa 
Rian Johnson needs to work with better writers but as always he has a few fun tricks (the short fake flashback was cool and really worked on me exactly as intended, i thought āhuh thatās not how i remember itā¦guess iām wrongā)
Avatar 2
Had sky high expectations and unfortunately this didnāt quite meet them, but still was very good and obviously should be seen in theaters by everyone
One thing I didnāt expect is when the second part of the third act (long movie lol) brought back memories of seeing Titanic in theaters as a kid multiple timesā¦Iād forgotten how much Iād loved that
The ending is his fuck you to Netflix for helping destroy cinema.
Johnson really gets meta/āsubversiveā or whatever in some very wrong spots. Like the end of this one is more or less making fun of the idea of murder mysteries, like āoh I was expecting something complex but heās dumb so itās simpleā.
It was like that in The Last Jedi, a movie I hate with the fire of a thousand suns. The previous movie closes with Rey finding Luke on that island and holding the light saber out to him, wide shot, dramatic music, one generation reaches out to another, etc. And then in the opening scene of TLJ Luke grabs it and throws it over his shoulder, itās played for laughs.
And itās like, Iām aware these movies are dumb and childish, it doesnāt make you smart to point that out, it makes you a supercilious asshole who wonāt let people enjoy them. I saw Johnson in interviews say that he rewatched the original trilogy and they struck him as comedies, but what is supposed to be played for laughs is the danger, like the trash compactor scene. The character drama is dead serious. You donāt interrupt the āI am your father sceneā with a fart joke.
Itās the same problem here I think. In a mystery movie of this type the central conceit of the intricate mystery is all-important. You donāt make fun of it like āoh you were expecting a clever mystery, BAM SUBVERTED, itās actually just dumbā.
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