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What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?
Michael Barnes wrote: Yeah, every time I watch The Wizard of Oz, I'm like "wow, they really made this movie". It's like something from another world. It's one of those rare works where everything about it- even minor details, flaws and inconsistencies- are so perfectly placed that it almost feels like the creators were divining the will of God to make it. The movie is a miracle, absolutely.
It's all so deeply, culturally resonant...more so than a story from the bible even.
I can't even imagine what it must have been like to see that when it first was shown in theaters.
In 1939!! It was probably hard to even think at the time of what an achievement it really was. The first time I saw Star Wars, sure, it was incredibly awesome, but I didn't have any sense of the place it would have in history. I wonder if people took it for granted. They loved it, sure, but maybe it was like, oh what a nice piece of entertainment that Hollywood made for us... wasn't that nice? And then kind of forgot about it (well, with WWII and all, duh). It's astonishing to think that because of theater booking limitations, it didn't have a long run and lost money, initially, and only became really popular through the annual television performances several years later.
Before watching the "making of" doc, I didn't realize to what extent those Frank Baum books were beloved in society. Someone compared it to what we would think of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings today. And then to have that movie come out??! Eh, there were probably some jerks who went to see that and complained about the scarecrow not looking quite right compared to Denslow's pictures.
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articles.latimes.com/1989-01-01/entertai...-223_1_greatest-year
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Watched A Clockwork Orange yesterday. I hadn't seen it in probably 20 years. That might be one of the more straightforward and stark Kubrick films. It's pretty simple, structurally, and though the message and idea is portrayed very well, there's not a whole lot to grab onto or think about. Which is fine. It's more of a visceral punch in the face in between the headier 2001 and the more symbolic Shining. McDowell's Alex is legendary, and some of the shots are so iconic and wonderful. I don't know if I'd care to watch it again for another 20 years (it beautifully demonstrates its message by testing your limits for violent imagery), but it still has a great impact each time.
One thing that I noticed yesterday is that unlike some other Kubrick films like 2001 where the slow pacing seems impactful, that's not always the case here. For example, the extended scene of Alex being processed into prison gives you a sense of what he's in for now, and the different world he has entered than his milk bar horrorshow days. So that's okay, if a bit long. But then when he's being transferred to the facility where he gets the treatment, there's a scene showing one of the guys there signing a form a few different times, and I'm thinking, really? This part couldn't have been cut? And there were a few other parts like that. It's not that the whole film felt long, or dragged, but it's that kind of thing that I think modern filmmakers like Nolan and the Coens have improved upon; knowing better when to slow things down to create an impact and develop character and setting, but also not farting around, either. And I suppose that's also impatient audiences nowadays needing to get back out of the theater so they can resume playing on their phones.
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What stands out is how much I love Paths of Glory, Spartacus, and Dr. Strangelove while I loathed Lolita, A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon.
I don't say that the latter three are bad movies. They aren't. I despised the story in Lolita and also in Clockwork Orange. I just don't think I'm hip enough to appreciate the social satire and irony of three hours of watching the life of a horrible pedophile or the ultra violence and rape-a-palooza that is Clockwork Orange.
Barry Lyndon was beautiful but god damn was it boring. Reading Roger Ebert's review of it I am informed that I'm an idiot because that's what Kubrick was going for. Uh, alright if he says so I guess it must be true. Still don't know why I'd want to ever sit through three hours of on purpose boredom again.
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- Michael Barnes
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I saw Eyes Wide Shut when it came out and liked it. I don't remember much about it, but I thought it had some poignant things to say about fidelity and marriage. Ironically, it wasn't a movie I could see again during my marriage... not exactly the kind of film your Mormon wife is likely to want to watch with you. :oP
Barry Lyndon... yawn. Never again. But I do need to watch those early Kubrick movies again.
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You will not leave this film saying, "If Bucky has a metal arm, why didn't he do X or Y?," because he does everything you can think of, plus a few more you didn't consider. I can't decide if my favorite action scene is Captain America and Bucky vs. the German special forces team or the fight at the airport, but both are insanely creative where each character plays to their strengths and uses their powers in interesting and creative ways. Not content with already having made a B-lister like Captain America seem cool, this film ups the ante and does the same thing with Scarlet Witch and Ant Man. And the new Spider Man is great. Also, there are two post-credit scenes, as usual.
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SebastianBludd wrote: Not content with already having made a B-lister like Captain America seem cool...
In what world is Captain America a B-lister?
If he's not _the_ center, he's going to be near the center of anything representing the marvel universe.
My son and I haven't seen Winter Soldier (despite a deal with Netflix for Marvel tv shows...Netflix fails to stream any Marvel movies...) but have seen Age of Ultron. Is there anything we should know from WS going into this?
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A buddy from work and I went last night to Civil War. I agree with SB about the action scenes. Part of what I liked the best were the small rivalries between Falcon and Bucky.
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- metalface13
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Mr. White wrote: My son and I haven't seen Winter Soldier (despite a deal with Netflix for Marvel tv shows...Netflix fails to stream any Marvel movies...) but have seen Age of Ultron. Is there anything we should know from WS going into this?
Did you check Redbox for Winter Soldier? They usually restock older movies when a sequel hits theaters.
If you've read the Winter Soldier comics you should have a pretty good idea about this. Didn't Winter Soldier come out before Age of Ultron?
Spoiler:
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Mr. White wrote:
SebastianBludd wrote: Not content with already having made a B-lister like Captain America seem cool...
In what world is Captain America a B-lister?
If he's not _the_ center, he's going to be near the center of anything representing the marvel universe.
My son and I haven't seen Winter Soldier (despite a deal with Netflix for Marvel tv shows...Netflix fails to stream any Marvel movies...) but have seen Age of Ultron. Is there anything we should know from WS going into this?
I think WS would be helpful to establish Bucky's bg and Cap's mindset about not trusting the government. But not critical. It's a superhero movie - I'm sure there's lots of expository dialogue in the first 15 minutes to get you up and running.
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Mr. White wrote: In what world is Captain America a B-lister?
Ten years ago, it made sense from a mainstream culture standpoint to consider Cap a B-lister, and that was being very generous. From a comic book standpoint, Cap has long been an A-list guy. He was a big deal in comics going back to the early '40s. During Marvel's modern era, there have been nine (or ten, if you count Wolverine) Marvel titles that have always been in print, and Cap starred in at least one of them. He was also often the team leader in the Avengers, another one of those top-selling Marvel titles.
Right now, Captain America is definitely an A-list character even by mainstream standards. He has now starred in five movies within the last five years, with a total box office of nearly $3 billion dollars.
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- ThirstyMan
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Shellhead wrote:
Mr. White wrote: In what world is Captain America a B-lister?
Ten years ago, it made sense from a mainstream culture standpoint to consider Cap a B-lister, and that was being very generous.
This is what I was getting at: I was comparing Cap's pop culture standing before the first Captain America movie - and you could make the same comparison with Iron Man before his first film - to Scarlet Witch and Ant-Man's status before this movie (yes, I know Ant-Man had his own film but it was on a much smaller scale [ha!] than what happens in this movie). I'm not bagging on Cap at all, he has become my favorite hero out of all the current Marvel movies.
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I saw it in 3D IMAX (not by choice) and I wouldn't recommend that. There were many times when I didn't want to be forced where to look on the screen.
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