Wait til you see Kubrick’s edit of Singin’ in the Rain
Honestly that song just makes me think of Pete Buttigieg.
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In light of this morning’s conversation, I decided to boost my John Ford credentials by watching Stagecoach. Really strong movie.
I’ll say that back when I first tried John Wayne during early adulthood, neither The Searchers nor The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance really worked for me, so I kind of shrugged the John Wayne experience off as not for me. Aside from getting ironic enjoyment out of his spoken-word patriotic tracks when I remember to fire them up on the 4th of July. Hey, say what you will about the guy - unfortunately, it bears mentioning that he was a racist buffoon - but the quality of his speaking voice was undeniable.
Anyway, having revisited Liberty Valance a handful of months ago and having had it click for me in a way that it didn’t when I first watched it during the 00s, I became curious as to whether I might need to reconsider my priors on Wayne. This movie is also a really good showcase for him, and it’s easy to see why it was (to my understanding) considered his breakout. He definitely had the charisma factor in spades.
4/5
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The Rock has some anti rizz going on in his movies. Whenever I see him I know the movie is going to suck and he, specifically, is the one who will make it suck. The latest, Red One, just immediately made me go nope, nope, nope. Also slightly homoerotic body builder ice men?
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There was a brief period when he first joined F&F that it seemed like he was franchise juice, but yeah, now I point people to performances like Pain and Gain or Southland Tales to prove he can do more than one note.
Exception to the Jumanji sequels. Those are great.
If The Man from Snowy River counts as a Western, I would put that up there.
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Rewatched Challengers, still super enjoyable. Unfortunately the second to last sequence (Josh O’Connor-Zendaya hookup) doesn’t really work (for me at least) because otherwise it’s almost perfect at what it’s doing.
Also rewatched 7 days in hell, 2015 50-min HBO comedy, which is also about a tennis rivalry (between Andy Samberg and Jon Snow). Hilarious at least half of the time (one of these guys is obviously much funnier than the other). Also many similarities in structure and plot to Challengers (incl a moment where (major Challengers spoiler) AS’ character does a gesture during the game to remind his opponent that he had sex with his gf), i cannot believe that this is a coincidence lol. In any case very funny to watch the two in this order.
I’ve watched challengers too many times and agree that scene is a bit out of place but the heightened nature of it sort of rescues it. It’s so absurd it sort of fits.
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I’m a bit fan of the heigtened aspect of the movie in general, but here it just falls flat imo…switching the music to a more classical one at the crucial moment (instead of upping the techno volume as in the rest of the movie) is an interesting move but doesn’t work at all. Also in general I feel that Zendaya (actress+character) is the weakest part of the movie and in this scene in particular she isn’t very convincing.
I’ve seen the Searchers and Stagecoach and probably at least one other that I’m not remembering. John Wayne doesn’t really do it for me, but I’ll still get around to more John Ford stuff. Current next ups for me:
McCabe and Mrs. Miller - feel like I’m going to hate it based on reviews but I want to see what all the fuss is about
Johnny Guitar - slightly less skeptical but same deal
The Great Silence (1968) - excited for this, need to get going on non Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns, free on archive.org btw.
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Too much modern country for me in Twisters so I bowed out after glen powell says “they mostly come out at night, mostly”.
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Joke probably works better with the paxton game over man angle oh well.
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It’s absolutely a western. A coming of age tale in the outback. I love this film. This is a fairly deep cut and top 5 for me.
Kirk Douglas is very good, playing twin brothers who are rivals.
It uses many familiar tropes, but put together in a way that is very fresh.
The horse riding scene should be legendary. That was done in a single take, by an actor who had never ridden a horse before filming.
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Alien Romulus
This is a great horror movie and Alien movie. Light on actual blood but thick with actual scares. Exactly the kind of horror I love. Some truly awesome set pieces. Maybe a few dumb fan services bits and the end gets a bit wacky but overall I had a blast.
Grade: B+
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Are you a fan of Big Country?
Haven’t seen it
I love those guys:
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