But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)
This one had me rolling and I’m amazed I’d never seen it before. Starring Pokerface’s Natasha Lyonne, Yellowjackets’s Melanie Lynskey, and RuPaul, this is a John Waters-style comedy about a lesbian teen sent to gay conversion therapy only to wind up an even bigger lesbian. It’s a fine study in the use of absurd comedy to disarm subject matter that might otherwise be difficult to approach. Available on Criterion Channel.
Was it you who was watching John Waters stuff recently too?
Think you’d enjoy This Film Is Not Yet Rated. They interview the director and other people making movies around the same time.
When it was initially rated as NC-17 by the MPAA, Babbit made cuts to allow it to be re-rated as R. When interviewed in the documentary film This Film Is Not Yet Rated Babbit criticized the MPAA for discriminating against films with homosexual content. The film was not well received by critics who compared it unfavorably to the films of John Waters and criticized the colorful production design.
Yeah I’m in a werido movie discussion group. Heavy Metal is up next month, can’t wait.
Heavy Metal is amazing omg
Kinda got Black Mirror vibes in that no matter how well it seems to be going…
Edited to add: this song is a staple
Bert Kreischer annoys the fuck out of me for some reason.
Also a great softcore porn/sci-fi/fantasy magazine.
TIL the sound that the T-2 makes in Terminator 2 when he goes through the metal bars was created from an open can of dog food emptying all in one plop.
Movie #2 on our 250 movies list was Whiplash from 2014.
Great movie. An excelent study in abuse, played masterfully by JK Simmons (and pretty well by Miles Teller)
Two spoilerish questions.
Who stole the folder? I assume it was Fletcher, but was that just to get closer to Andrew to torment him more or because he wanted to teach the other kod a lesson about not keeping his folder?
What is Fletcher thinking at the end? Does he feel like he was outplayed? Was it some weird psycho form of respect? He obviously pulled Andrew in to destroy him and his career. What changes at the end?
But my favorite take is that Myles deliberately “lost” the folder
Fletcher sees this is a genuine opportunity to take an obsessive musician and guide him to a moment of greatness.
Fletcher doesn’t intend to hurt people. He uses abuse to get rid of the people who don’t have what it takes. He uses abuse to challenge the people who do have what it takes.
I mean on and on, it’s all the same stuff abusers tell themselves to disregard the harm and death to which their actions contribute.
He is sort of the libertarian version of an abuser. He believes that if he freely abuses everyone around him, the cream will rise to the top.
Their conversation at the diner gets into it. Fletcher is being sincere. He just didn’t understand until the end of the movie that Myles was one of those people at the edge of greatness.
Revenge suddenly means nothing compared to him having this chance to place a pin in history. He doesn’t even need to be seen as the conductor who got him there. He just wants to be a part of the moment as it happens. He just wants to know that it did.
You may also appreciate the short film that was celebrated to the point of being made into the feature film.
The director is Damien Chazelle, who clearly is a fiend for music. His other movie is the one that lost the Oscar to Moonlight (lol La La Land), but without a doubt his best movie is Grand Piano, a terrific thriller starring and produced by Elijah Wood. Almost the entire thing is set during Elijah playing an intense piano concert while knowing an assassin will pull the trigger if he plays a wrong note.
Ill have to chew on 2 a bit. Im not convinced Fletcher is being sincere in the diner. He obviously needs to be on Andrews good side for his revenge plan to work.
Further on 2. If Fletcher acheives his goal, gets his white whale with Andrew being the next great, then the ending is super fucking bleak, right? Fletcher essentially proves out his methods in the end, and the abuse then becomes justified? Thats pretty fucking sick.
Yes to #2. It is deliberately subversive in how that success feels good at the end of the movie but demands the audience to question whether they agree if it’s worth the cost.
I see what you mean about #1. I’m not sure, I just remember it’s not clarified so it’s fun to speculate.
Also yes Fletcher sincerely pursues revenge, but he instantly shifts when presented with what he REALLY wants
As someone who has watched the film many times, RF nailed everything.
Rewatchables on it was good as well.
Hah - just found this. I’m the guy in the red flannel shirt with white t-shirt on the left (starting at 2:07, video should be teed up). They were filming this on my block while I was trying to sell my truck to a Mexican family, who had to hide in the alcove during takes. A PA asked me if I wanted to be in the scene.
What list is this?
I think I see where I was not clear.
At the dinner scene, Fletcher is all in on revenge.
It’s in that moment at the concert when Fletcher sees his revenge has instead created the moment he has been trying to get out of a musician the entire story. People have literally died for him to have this moment.
When you get that last shot of Andrew and his intoxication on what he just pulled off…was it worth it?
I am reminded of people in Pitch Perfect (the nonfiction book that was heavily embellished for the fiction of the movie). A lot of acapella and jazz singers are the cream of royalty inside music circles, but outside that circle, they are almost instantly forgotten.
Tubi once again delivers
https://tubitv.com/movies/100000787?utm_source=justwatch-feed&tracking=justwatch-feed
Yang Shi-Nan is a 14-year-old boy who undergoes a metamorphosis without realising what is going on. It begins on a normal school day when he gets stomach cramps. After rushing to the toilet he notices that his urine is turning bloody red. Taken to a doctor he is diagnosed with “Disorders of Sex Development,” or intersex. Without consulting him, Shi-Nan’s parents decide to accept “sex reassignment surgery”, turning Shi-Nan into a female and changing her name to YANG Shi-Lan. The family moves to a new city to start a new life and it all seems to be going well as Shi-Lan blends in and even makes friends. It seems like the butterfly is about to break out of its chrysalis but can Yang Shi-Lan truly embrace her transformation?
Maybe a weird ask but anyone remember good documentaries about authors?
I have seen many but they are all so boring and depend on you being heavily invested in the author.
Life Itself was incredible, but Roger Ebert was a rare breed of writer and critic. Most don’t get caught in lots of interviews or captured footage unless they are famous for infamy or are willing to give unprecedented access that makes the footage unique without needing to be compelling.
Some documentaries I have on the list to check out:
Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth (2013)
And Everything Is Going Fine (2010) - directed by Soderbergh so gotta be amazing
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within (2010)
Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak (2009)
Dreams with Sharp Teeth (2008)
Patti Smith: Dream of Life (2008)
Trumbo (2007)
Chris and Don (2007)
The Ten-Year Lunch (1987)
Judy Blume Forever (2023) is obviously a must see, but it relies on the author giving unprecedented access, as well as Blume being such a gifted storyteller that her interviews for the documentary would already be five bags.
