Raxivace's 2018 List of Movies or (Neo-General Chat: The Second Raid)

[Eva Yojimbo]

The thing that made OHMSS so good was that it was, for at least one film, more connected with reality than your typical Bond. I think it would've been better if DAF had just pretended like OHMSS hadn't happened, rather than trying to continue the story line while just producing another cartoonish entry.

I think that's a valid view, though I think DAF more or less ignores OHMSS after that intro. You even get a comedic sequence where Moneypenny tries to get Bond to bring her a diamond for a wedding ring or something, which would have been a horribly insensitive joke if we were still remembering that Bond was just widowed.

It basically does ignore it after the opening sequence, which just makes it all the weirder, IMO.

Yeah, no way is DAF the worst Bond. It may be near the bottom of the Connery era, but Craig, Moore and Brosnan had too many duds to even think about it rating it that low. It's more mid-to-lower tier, IMO.

I'm a little surprised to see you that hard on the Craig era. I liked Skyfall a lot and seemed to be one of the few that thought Spectre was fun, but I'm a little surprised at how low you have Casino Royale 2006 ranked. Then again I haven't seen that one since it was in theaters.

I remember not liking Quantum of Solace a whole lot, but I can barely remember anything about it. Haven't seen that one since it was in theaters either, and need to give both it and CR '06 a rewatch.

Casino Royale just didn't do much for me. It just seemed like Bond trying to be Jason Bourne. Quantum of Solace was basically the same, only worse and more forgettable. Skyfall was awesome because of the direction (that silhouette fight against the backdrop of the city may have been the best visual moment in the entire series), and I rather liked Spectre as it seemed like more of a return to classic, slightly cartoonish Bond but with some modern touches. Mendez is probably my favorite director that has worked in the entire series.

I actually think I'm harder on Brosnan and Moore than Craig. Of my bottom 7, you have 4 Moore's, 2 Brosnan's, and the one Craig.

34. Wings (1927) - Wings is a genuinely great film, and every bit as deserving of accolades as Sunrise was. Also it was a lost film at one point, and was thankfully rediscovered. Thank god.

Wings is great, but let's not get carried away! It's not even in the same league as Sunrise. It's a very solid 8.5 or maybe even 9/10 though. Sunrise is a stone-cold 10/10.

35. The Blacksmith (1922)

36. The Broadway Melody (1929)

Like with most of the Keaton shorts I mostly just remember enjoying it and remember a few bits and pieces but can't say much beyond that.

Basically agree on The Broadway Melody, and your comparison with The Jazz Singer is apt. These are films that are historically notable but don't contain much of interest today.

[Eva Yojimbo]

but I'm a little surprised at how low you have Casino Royale 2006 ranked.

I haven't commented on the Bond discussion because I've only seen the Craig films (yeah, I've been told I need to jump on the bandwagon), but that also struck me as odd. I thought Casino Royale was considered to be one of the good ones? I bet Jimbo's low ranking has something to do with his view on how poker was handled in that game.

Casino Royale was indeed praised to the high heavens, but, as I said above, it just seemed like an attempt to make Bond more like Bourne, and it wasn't an attempt I appreciated. The poker was handled in a typically ignorant way, but that has nothing to do with my dislike of the film (if that were the case I'd hate Rounders and Maverick, and I quite like both of those).

Once I'm done recuperating from the mental wounds left by Elem Klimov's Come and See, another very harrowing, immersive war film.

Great film, that. I saw it a few years ago, but I don't remember if I wrote a review...

[BruceSmith78]

I guess that's why I'm not a fan of poetry or paintings. I'm not hugely into music, but there are certain songs and genres that I like, and I never really thought much of it but they do tend to evoke certain feelings in me.

[Eva Yojimbo]

I guess that's why I'm not a fan of poetry or paintings. I'm not hugely into music, but there are certain songs and genres that I like, and I never really thought much of it but they do tend to evoke certain feelings in me.

That's the equivalent of atmosphere/tone/mood. Music may be my favorite art-form (though picking between them is a bit like picking between my arms/legs) precisely because it's the one that's most about tone.

[Raxivace]

We did it boys, we're already on Page 3!

[Raxivace]

Mendez is probably my favorite director that has worked in the entire series.

Yeah I like Mendes (With an S!) and his work on Bond, but he's such a weird pick to do these movies, and its even weirder that his entries work as well as they do. Like this is the guy who did American Beauty and a Cabaret production in the 90's for god's sake, not exactly material that screams action blockbuster.

There are rumors Nolan is in talks to do the next movie, and he's someone I could at least understand being approached, aesthetic concerns aside.

Casino Royale talk

IIRC Bourne actually was something they were looking at when rebooting the franchise after Casino Royale. I'll be curious to revisit it now that the novelty of gritty Bond isn't really there for me.

Wings is great, but let's not get carried away! It's not even in the same league as Sunrise. It's a very solid 8.5 or maybe even 9/10 though. Sunrise is a stone-cold 10/10.

Haha, maybe Wings just seems better considering the other BP winners I've been watching lately. Its certainly the most fun I've had watching one in a while.

[Eva Yojimbo]

Mendez is probably my favorite director that has worked in the entire series.

Yeah I like Mendes (With an S!) and his work on Bond, but he's such a weird pick to do these movies, and its even weirder that his entries work as well as they do. Like this is the guy who did American Beauty and a Cabaret production in the 90's for god's sake, not exactly material that screams action blockbuster.

There are rumors Nolan is in talks to do the next movie, and he's someone I could at least understand being approached, aesthetic concerns aside.

Agree that MendeS was a weird pick, but I'm thrilled that it worked as well as it did. Skyfall really reminded me of what I loved about the series as a teenager, and Spectre more or less maintained that enthusiasm. Would love to see him helm a few more as I think he really brings something to the series beyond the typical utilitarian facility of most Bond directors.

Nolan could be interesting, as long as he doesn't try to get too talky and pretentious; but his slickness could gel well with the Bond universe, and he does at least care about the visual/aural aspect, even if he often cheapens it with exposition.

Casino Royale talk

IIRC Bourne actually was something they were looking at when rebooting the franchise after Casino Royale. I'll be curious to revisit it now that the novelty of gritty Bond isn't really there for me.

Mind you, I also liked the Bourne films just fine, but Bond was always it's own thing. In a way, it reminded me of how/why License to Kill failed when they tried to turn Bond into a dark, 80s, "gritty" action hero.

Wings is great, but let's not get carried away! It's not even in the same league as Sunrise. It's a very solid 8.5 or maybe even 9/10 though. Sunrise is a stone-cold 10/10.

Haha, maybe Wings just seems better considering the other BP winners I've been watching lately. Its certainly the most fun I've had watching one in a while.

That I can understand. Sometimes it's easy to overrate a film if you've been on a bad run of films for a while.

[maz89]

Mind you, I also liked the Bourne films just fine, but Bond was always it's own thing. In a way, it reminded me of how/why License to Kill failed when they tried to turn Bond into a dark, 80s, "gritty" action hero.

I wonder if I would have thought less of the film if I had the same context/history with Bond as you. I guess I didn't know Bond well enough to know his movies couldn't be a little dark and 'gritty'. Of course, your main complaint is probably that it didn't do "gritty" as well enough as the Bourne series.

Great film, that. I saw it a few years ago, but I don't remember if I wrote a review...

Oh, do share if you find it. An utterly disquieting, mesmerizing, shocking "horror". Klimov's fluid, dynamic camera and immersive sound design reel you in. I still can't shake away the experience.

[Lord_Lyndon]

So I saw three films lately. I saw Bunuel's Viridiana (1961), which is an interesting film. I think it starts as a critique of religion, but turns into something more like critique of society as a whole (and maybe even human nature). You should check it out if you haven't. It's a good film.
I also saw We Were Soldiers (2002), a good Vietnam war movie with lots of action. I wanted to see this one because I liked the idea of Mel Gibson as a lieutenant. I thought he did quite well in the movie.
I also saw Dancer in the Dark (2000). It's okay, but probably my least favourite Von Trier I saw. Amazing performance by Bjork, though. I preferred Melancholia (2011) as a film.
I gave all three films 7/10. But Viridiana probably deserves more. That's the one you shoud see.

[Raxivace]

Lyndon! Welcome back!

[Lord_Lyndon]

Lyndon! Welcome back!

Thanks a lot, Rax! Hopefully I will post more frequently from now on. If you are interested, I can also comment on some other movies I saw this year. I saw Das Boot (1981), Mean Streets (1973) and Cape Fear (1991). I also saw anime which Eva recommended me long time ago called Now and Then, Here and There (1999-2000). I'm sure you know about it.

[Raxivace]

Lyndon! Welcome back!

Thanks a lot, Rax! Hopefully I will post more frequently from now on. If you are interested, I can also comment on some other movies I saw this year. I saw Das Boot (1981), Mean Streets (1973) and Cape Fear (1991). I also saw anime which Eva recommended me long time ago called Now and Then, Here and There (1999-2000). I'm sure you know about it.

Sure, I'd like to hear your thoughts about Mean Streets and Cape Fear.

Actually I haven't seen Now And Then, Here and There, though it looks interesting. I haven't seen Das Boot yet either.

[Raxivace]

Agree that MendeS

A capital S??!!! Now who's getting carried away!

Nolan could be interesting, as long as he doesn't try to get too talky and pretentious; but his slickness could gel well with the Bond universe, and he does at least care about the visual/aural aspect, even if he often cheapens it with exposition.

One other concern I had is given how sexless Nolan's filmography is, could he capture that part of Bond as well? I don't just mean the pretty girls either, I can't imagine Nolan of all people having anything like the flirtation between Craig's Bond and Javier Bardem in Skyfall either.

In a way, it reminded me of how/why License to Kill failed when they tried to turn Bond into a dark, 80s, "gritty" action hero.

Oh dear, well I have that to look forward to...

[Lord_Lyndon]

Sure, I'd like to hear your thoughts about Mean Streets and Cape Fear.

Both were a rewatch. I loved both. I loved Mean Streets for its feel of New York of the 70's and a brilliant performance by De Niro. It also contains some usual Scorsese themes about Catholic guilt I'm not particularly insterested about. Anyway: Mean Streets 8/10
Cape Fear is a very, very entertaining thriller. I think it contains many memorable scenes and electrifying performance by De Niro. First time I saw it I though it was some unintentional comedy for some reason, but this time I found it very terrifying. Cape Fear 9/10

Actually I haven't seen Now And Then, Here and There, though it looks interesting. I haven't seen Das Boot yet either.

Das Boot is a masterpiece. Petersen directed the hell out of it. Most of it is shot in very claustrophobic conditions, which must have been hard to direct, and he juggles between boredom experienced by soldiers in a submarine and action in a brilliant manner. You have to see this one.
As far as this anime, it is a very powerful anti-war statement with beautiful visuals. I loved it much more than Eva. He gave it 7/10, but for me this one is 10/10. And I only gave 10/10 to two anime series before this one. Neon Genesis Evangelion and Texhnolyze.

[Raxivace]

In Cape Fear I do think DeNiro is supposed to oscillate between some kind of Larry David-esque cringey humor kind of character (Like the scene in the movie theater) and being scary. I can understand why you might have thought the movie was supposed to be some kind of comedy, though I think that makes DeNiro all the more scary when he's supposed to be.

I loved Mean Streets as well. I dunno, I'm not religious at all myself but I think Scorsese makes the Catholic guilt stuff interesting enough.

I loved both Eva and Texhnolyze so that's some high praise! As far as my anime watching goes, I'm finishing up Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water right now and will be watching a fairly long series called Aura Battler Dunbine right afterwards (And its few spinoffs, including the notorious Garzey's Wing), but after that I'll make an effort to squeeze in Now And Then, Here And There.

[Eva Yojimbo]

Mind you, I also liked the Bourne films just fine, but Bond was always it's own thing. In a way, it reminded me of how/why License to Kill failed when they tried to turn Bond into a dark, 80s, "gritty" action hero.

I wonder if I would have thought less of the film if I had the same context/history with Bond as you. I guess I didn't know Bond well enough to know his movies couldn't be a little dark and 'gritty'. Of course, your main complaint is probably that it didn't do "gritty" as well enough as the Bourne series.

I guess Goldeneye was for me/my generation what Casino Royale is to this generation; it was my intro to Bond, which was reinforced by how massive and ubiquitous the video game was. I still have the vivid memory of when I talked my mom into getting me the VHS Bond box set for Christmas that year, which also ended up being my intro to the pan-and-scan vs letterbox issue--which really made a difference on rather small, 4:3 TVs! I went through all the films chronologically and was really hooked for a while. Even wrote a little fanfiction.

Of course, Casino Royale was way divorced from my teenage Bond fervor, so I came at it from a completely different perspective. It wasn't so much that it didn't do gritty as well as Bourne, it was more like it just went from being an original to an imitator, and I didn't really see the point. It just didn't add anything to what Bourne had already done. I just think Mendes had a much better idea on how to keep what made the series unique while still making it modern.

Great film, that. I saw it a few years ago, but I don't remember if I wrote a review...

Oh, do share if you find it. An utterly disquieting, mesmerizing, shocking "horror". Klimov's fluid, dynamic camera and immersive sound design reel you in. I still can't shake away the experience.

Couldn't find it. Possible that it was in the GC 7 thread that was deleted, or also possible I didn't write a review for it. I do remember really liking it though. Gave it an 8.5/10, but given how much it's stuck with me it's probably more of a 9/10. I agree about how much of an immersive experience it is.

[Eva Yojimbo]

So I saw three films lately. I saw Bunuel's Viridiana (1961), which is an interesting film. I think it starts as a critique of religion, but turns into something more like critique of society as a whole (and maybe even human nature). You should check it out if you haven't. It's a good film.
I also saw We Were Soldiers (2002), a good Vietnam war movie with lots of action. I wanted to see this one because I liked the idea of Mel Gibson as a lieutenant. I thought he did quite well in the movie.
I also saw Dancer in the Dark (2000). It's okay, but probably my least favourite Von Trier I saw. Amazing performance by Bjork, though. I preferred Melancholia (2011) as a film.
I gave all three films 7/10. But Viridiana probably deserves more. That's the one you shoud see.

Viridiana was the first Bunuel I saw and I didn't care much for it back then. I think I just went into it expecting something really different given Bunuel's reputation as a surrealist, like a proto-Lynch. I'm guessing I'd like it much better now that I came to know and love Bunuel for his own unique artistry. Bunuel critiquing all aspects of society is kinda his thing, but especially religion and class are his two primary targets.

I loved Dancer in the Dark. Probably my second favorite Trier behind Breaking the Waves. That film introduced me to Bjork (and for that I'm eternally grateful), and I just love Trier's subversive take on the sentimental musical. There's something unnervingly perverse about his attempt to meld two styles so complete opposites as Dogme and the musical.

It must have been a LONG time ago that I recommended Now and Then, Here and There! I loved it the first time I saw it, but my opinion on it waned over time after seeing it again and discussing it a bit online. I came to think it a rather awkward mix of cartoonish fantasy trying to tackle too many harsh, real-world concerns (like rape) in a rather superficial way. There's still definitely some good points to it, though.

[Eva Yojimbo]

Agree that MendeS

A capital S??!!! Now who's getting carried away!

Nolan could be interesting, as long as he doesn't try to get too talky and pretentious; but his slickness could gel well with the Bond universe, and he does at least care about the visual/aural aspect, even if he often cheapens it with exposition.

One other concern I had is given how sexless Nolan's filmography is, could he capture that part of Bond as well? I don't just mean the pretty girls either, I can't imagine Nolan of all people having anything like the flirtation between Craig's Bond and Javier Bardem in Skyfall either.

Good point that I hadn't considered. Yeah, I could definitely see Nolan struggling with the sensual side of Bond.

In a way, it reminded me of how/why License to Kill failed when they tried to turn Bond into a dark, 80s, "gritty" action hero.

Oh dear, well I have that to look forward to...

If the depiction in Casino Royale didn't bother you then License to Kill might not either. You'll definitely notice the tonal shift from the Moore Bonds, and even Dalton's previous entry The Living Daylights, though.

[Raxivace]

which also ended up being my intro to the pan-and-scan vs letterbox issue--which really made a difference on rather small, 4:3 TVs!

Oh god that shit was the worst. Drove me up the wall when I was like 10 and didn't understand why some movies looked different than others on my old 4:3 CRT.

I'm glad we're mostly past that now (At least to the significant degree it was back then), though vestiges of that era still occasionally come back to haunt me. I remember I had an issue with my old copy of Barry Lyndon of all things- when I went to watch it on my newer television it had this weird windowboxing effect. Black bars assaulting the frame from all directions...I just gave up after 10 minutes and had to pirate a better copy. Luckily we have the Criterion blu-ray these days.

[Gendo]

which also ended up being my intro to the pan-and-scan vs letterbox issue--which really made a difference on rather small, 4:3 TVs!

Oh god that shit was the worst. Drove me up the wall when I was like 10 and didn't understand why some movies looked different than others on my old 4:3 CRT.

I'm glad we're mostly past that now (At least to the significant degree it was back then), though vestiges of that era still occasionally come back to haunt me. I remember I had an issue with my old copy of Barry Lyndon of all things- when I went to watch it on my newer television it had this weird windowboxing effect. Black bars assaulting the frame from all directions...I just gave up after 10 minutes and had to pirate a better copy. Luckily we have the Criterion blu-ray these days.

Non-anamorphic widescreen is the worst; but if you have a good TV or projector; it will automatically zoom in the right amount to remove all the black space.

I remember working in a video store and sometimes having to explain to customers that no; widescreen does not mean that they cut off the top and bottom of the movie.

[Eva Yojimbo]

which also ended up being my intro to the pan-and-scan vs letterbox issue--which really made a difference on rather small, 4:3 TVs!

Oh god that shit was the worst. Drove me up the wall when I was like 10 and didn't understand why some movies looked different than others on my old 4:3 CRT.

Luckily I was there when the guy at Blockbuster explained the difference, and I had the good taste/sense to get the letterbox version. It certainly would've been better on a 16:9 TV, though!

[Eva Yojimbo]

which also ended up being my intro to the pan-and-scan vs letterbox issue--which really made a difference on rather small, 4:3 TVs!

Oh god that shit was the worst. Drove me up the wall when I was like 10 and didn't understand why some movies looked different than others on my old 4:3 CRT.

I'm glad we're mostly past that now (At least to the significant degree it was back then), though vestiges of that era still occasionally come back to haunt me. I remember I had an issue with my old copy of Barry Lyndon of all things- when I went to watch it on my newer television it had this weird windowboxing effect. Black bars assaulting the frame from all directions...I just gave up after 10 minutes and had to pirate a better copy. Luckily we have the Criterion blu-ray these days.

I remember working in a video store and sometimes having to explain to customers that no; widescreen does not mean that they cut off the top and bottom of the movie.

How many understood that it was actually pan-and-scan that cut the sides off? My parents still don't get why some older movies/TV shows have bars on the sides. Amazing how some struggle with the idea of different aspect ratios.

[Raxivace]

37. The Frozen North (1922) - A strangely dark (At first) Keaton short where he's playing something of a villain in a parody of western melodrama types of stories, though it's still very much in his slapstick humor style. My favorite bit is where he walks into a house, sees a couple making out, murders both of them only to realize that it isn't his house and that that wasn't even his wife lmao. Then he just goes on to his own home as normal. I'm not familiar with the Stroheim movie or the William S. Hart pictures being parodied here, though I did see some Nanook of the North in the short.

The most interesting thing here though is the ending: Keaton gets shot and killed…only to wake up in a movie theater, making this not only another dream ending in a short, but making the connection between dreams and cinema that he's building up to in Sherlock, Jr. This progression from the earlier shorts where he just uses the dream ending as a twist to now where movies inspire to dreams to ultimately movies becoming dreams has been super interesting.

38. Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: Bandit Flower (2017) - The second of the chaotic jazz-music infused Gundam Thunderbolt film adaptations, edited together from fairly short OVA's (Which themselves were adapted from manga) with extended segments in parts to make it feature length. Bandit Flower is actually in kind of a pickle as a movie- while the first film, December Sky, worked as a standalone self-contained feature about two dudes destroying themselves and their souls to kill each other in war, Bandit Flower not only assumes you've seen the first movie but also more blatantly exists to set-up future plotlines that presumably will be adapted from later plot points in the manga source material. It feels very transitional as a result, as our two lead characters from the previous film don't quite have their own arcs but mostly just adapt to changed circumstances (And neither of which has any kind of real resolution in this film).

It has some cool underwater bits, at least. My favorite is an extended segment where the pilot of the Atlas Gundam defeats a Zeon dude, but has sunken so far underwater during and has to figure out how to escape using limited resources before being crushed by water pressure.



39. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) - Another Best Picture winner. Maybe it's because I just came off of a string of similar anti-war films, but I found this kind of tedious to get through. Part of it too might be that like The Broadway Melody, it's an early talkie, and part of it might be that these kinds of movies tend to lack subtlety in general, but man. It feels repetitive and longer than its 2 hour 15 minute runtime, which is not quite short to begin with. Maybe there's a better 100 minute movie in here but I dunno. Not much more to say about it I'm afraid.

[Raxivace]

I finished Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water today (Though I have the apparently bad movie to watch tonight). It's a weird one in terms of Anno's body of work, even if you ignore the large chunk of show he didn't have anything to do with. Like there's so much damn electra complex in this show that there's literally a character named Electra who gets electrocuted in the last episode. That's like some Jung Freud from GunBuster type stuff.

Nadia also has a lot of references to older sci-fi anime (Namely Space Battleship Yamato and a bit of Macross) alongside the Jules Verne stuff, which is a neat mix, but at the end Anno goes full Anno in the last few episode with the Biblical references that are kind of similarly used in terms of plot as in Evangelion. An early version of fucking Adam of all things even appears here first.

[Eva Yojimbo]

I finished Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water today (Though I have the apparently bad movie to watch tonight).

I really should get to this one soon. Besides the new Godzilla and Cutie Honey it's the only Anno I haven't seen.

37. The Frozen North (1922)

I perhaps remember this short better than most of Keaton's precisely because of how darkly humorous it was. Rather different in tone compared to most of his others, and you can definitely see it as a prelude to Sherlock Jr. with its whole dream framework.

39. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) - Another Best Picture winner. Maybe it's because I just came off of a string of similar anti-war films, but I found this kind of tedious to get through. Part of it too might be that like The Broadway Melody, it's an early talkie, and part of it might be that these kinds of movies tend to lack subtlety in general, but man. It feels repetitive and longer than its 2 hour 15 minute runtime, which is not quite short to begin with. Maybe there's a better 100 minute movie in here but I dunno. Not much more to say about it I'm afraid.

I think I liked this one more than you, but it's been too long since I've seen it to say much in its defense. I just thought it was a really solid film overall and I don't recall thinking it too long, nor do I recall thinking that there were any of those awkward "early sound film" moments. It just seemed like the prototype for most all of the great, gritty/realistic anti-war films that came after. Sure, it's not at all subtle by today's standards, but for 1930 I really can't think of anything quite like it before it.

[Raxivace]

I really should get to this one soon. Besides the new Godzilla and Cutie Honey it's the only Anno I haven't seen.

Yeah I'd be curious to know what you think of Nadia whenever you get to it. Shin Godzilla is great fun too, definitely my favorite of the recent Godzilla reboots.

I don't have high expectations for Cutie Honey but Anno wanting to adapt a Go Nagai work into live action is just such a weird idea. I know Anno's name is attached to an animated version of Cutie Honey too, but I think some people dispute how much he actually worked on it. Either way I'll get to both eventually.

I think I liked this one more than you, but it's been too long since I've seen it to say much in its defense. I just thought it was a really solid film overall and I don't recall thinking it too long, nor do I recall thinking that there were any of those awkward "early sound film" moments. It just seemed like the prototype for most all of the great, gritty/realistic anti-war films that came after. Sure, it's not at all subtle by today's standards, but for 1930 I really can't think of anything quite like it before it.

It's possible that a second watch on a day when I'm in a different mood would make me like it more. It just felt kind of stiff to me, and parts like the extended bombing segments felt more boring than anything. I don't hold the lack of subtlety too much against it but at least on this viewing it just didn't work for me.

[Raxivace]

I goofed a bit on my Best Picture watching and saw Grand Hotel before Cimarron. Oh well.

40. Grand Hotel (1932) - A solid drama about various people staying at a hotel and their various problems. I don't have too much to say about this, but I liked it, the star studded cast, and thought the art deco design of the Grand Hotel itself was pretty cool.

41. Nadia: The Motion Picture (1991) - Like 30 minutes of this 85 minute movie is just a badly done recap of the Nadia television series. The rest is this weirdly throw away story about some new evil villain kidnapping a dude whose daughter is implied to have been killed by Jack the Ripper, forcing him to build robot clones of world leaders, using said robot clones to kickstart World War I early, and then planning to get the entire world to unite under him in the chaos. It's basically the Watchmen plot done really badly, except a few Nadia characters are there and at least three of them are acting out of character compared to how they end in the anime. This movie is not quite as strange as it sounds, but the film just isn't that good. It shouldn't be too surprising that Anno's involvement with this was minimal.

42. The Devil's Cabaret (1930) - A weird Technicolor short from MGM about how Satan, running “Hades" as a kind of business, lures people in with Jazz age temptations like gambling and elaborate dance numbers. It's uh a thing I guess. It was included with my download of Cimarron for some reason- presumably a part of whatever DVD it was ripped from, for some reason.

43. Red-Headed Baby (1931) - A bad Merrie Melodies short about a red-headed doll coming to life and being chased by a spider or something. She gets saved by a toy soldier named Napoleon. An old man dances around. IDK it wasn't that good. Also included with Cimarron for some reason.

44. Cimarron (1931) - The audio in the copy I found online was pretty hard to hear, so I had some trouble with following this one. Amusingly though, I'm like 95% sure I had seen the opening Oklahoma Land Rush sequence in a history class before, back in middle school. I think the sequence still holds up fairly well, but other than it's a pretty mixed bag as a film. Our ostensible hero fires a gun at a guy in an open crowd at one point while giving a sermon, which is maybe the most American thing ever.

Other than that the whole general “taming of the west and the rise of modern America" story here just didn't do a whole lot for me. I haven't seen any of the other nominees that year, but there are other films from 1931 Hollywood, even genre films like Frankenstein and The Public Enemy, that are way better.

[Raxivace]

Okay this Dunbine show has weird character names even for a Tomino anime. Neal Given? Marvel Frozen? SHOT WEAPON!?

What makes it even stranger is that another character's name is just Todd.

[Eva Yojimbo]

I think I liked this one more than you, but it's been too long since I've seen it to say much in its defense. I just thought it was a really solid film overall and I don't recall thinking it too long, nor do I recall thinking that there were any of those awkward "early sound film" moments. It just seemed like the prototype for most all of the great, gritty/realistic anti-war films that came after. Sure, it's not at all subtle by today's standards, but for 1930 I really can't think of anything quite like it before it.

It's possible that a second watch on a day when I'm in a different mood would make me like it more. It just felt kind of stiff to me, and parts like the extended bombing segments felt more boring than anything. I don't hold the lack of subtlety too much against it but at least on this viewing it just didn't work for me.

"Stiffness" I'd grant, but I think that's true of the vast majority of films from that era. Naturalism wasn't really a thing in films yet, but they're also not still into the expressionism of silent cinema, so there's often a certain awkwardness to those early sound films. I just thought AQOTWF came off better than most.

I goofed a bit on my Best Picture watching and saw Grand Hotel before Cimarron. Oh well.

Amazingly, I don't think I've seen any of these. I know I know about Cimarron and Grand Hotel but I don't think I ever got around to watching them. If I did it had to have been back in the VHS/TCM days, and if I did I don't remember a thing about either.

[Raxivace]

Oh wow, I figured you would have at least seen Grand Hotel. I'm genuinely a little shocked.

[Raxivace]

45. The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) - lol

Do you all remember a few years ago when we had all of those people deathly afraid that the Large Hadron Collider would be destroying the world any minute now? My guess is that one of those people wrote this movie, and set in space because they liked Alien a lot. And also have no idea how to write compelling characters or how to generate horror without relying on lol Final Destination style senseless deaths.

The original Cloverfield was not entirely successful in my memory but at least had a unique idea in combining found footage with the kaiju narrative. 10 Cloverfield Lane was a fantastic suspense film marred by a mediocre final 10 or 15 minutes. The Cloverfield Paradox is just lol- Jason X but worse.

[Raxivace]

46. Cavalcade (1933) - The story here follows a British family's highs and lows from 1890ish to like 1930ish. I'm not gonna lie, like 50 minutes in I just stopped caring and only watched it half-heartedly. It's very much a film in the vein of something like Cimarron or Forrest Gump in that it's just weak drama cast against famous historical events to give the film an unearned sense of importance- here the points of reference are events like the sinking of the Titanic and World War I. Very much a nostalgia piece from an era that's already fairly old for anyone currently reading this message.

47. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) - A solid drama about a ship's crew committing mutiny against an abusive captain. The captain is played wonderfully, disgustingly by Charles Laughton while Clark Gable leads the mutiny.

I found myself thinking of Battleship Potemkin while watching this, oddly enough. They'd make an interesting double feature together- there's only ten years between them and while they have similar plots they have such different styles (Soviet Montage vs. Golden Age of Hollywood) that it would make for an interesting contrast.

While I think it's a perfectly acceptable Best Picture winner, as good of a chamber drama at sea as it is, Ford's The Informer was also nominated that year and that was the better film. Another seafaring adventure in Captain Blood was also nominated that year, though I liked Mutiny on the Bounty better.

[Eva Yojimbo]

Oh wow, I figured you would have at least seen Grand Hotel. I'm genuinely a little shocked.

It's very possible I saw it during my TCM/VHS days and just don't remember it. I didn't have the foresight back then to make lists of everything I saw. :/

46. Cavalcade (1933)

47. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) While I think it's a perfectly acceptable Best Picture winner, as good of a chamber drama at sea as it is, Ford's The Informer was also nominated that year and that was the better film. Another seafaring adventure in Captain Blood was also nominated that year, though I liked Mutiny on the Bounty better.

Also haven't seen Cavalcade (of that I'm pretty sure), but Mutiny is a good one. Definitely one of the classics that holds up just fine, but I absolutely agree The Informer is a vastly superior film. I also enjoyed Captain Blood, though, but I'd probably agree Mutiny is a bit better.

Another good classic "chamber drama at sea" to check out is The Caine Mutiny. Great writing and acting in that, though the direction is a bit bland.

[Raxivace]

Another good classic "chamber drama at sea" to check out is The Caine Mutiny. Great writing and acting in that, though the direction is a bit bland.

I'll make a note of getting to that one eventually, if only for Bogart.

I'm a little surprised to see Edward Dmytryk did that. I liked Mirage well enough from him but didn't really care for Murder My Sweet or Crossfire.

[Eva Yojimbo]

Another good classic "chamber drama at sea" to check out is The Caine Mutiny. Great writing and acting in that, though the direction is a bit bland.

I'll make a note of getting to that one eventually, if only for Bogart.

I'm a little surprised to see Edward Dmytryk did that. I liked Mirage well enough from him but didn't really care for Murder My Sweet or Crossfire.

Yeah, Dmytryck is a pretty characterless director. He's the type where his films are exactly as good as the writing/acting is. One reason I remember that film (I actually typed its initials "TCM" and realized that might be confusing!) was because it was a favorite of my dad's. My parents' favorite films are usually insipid suckholes so I was surprised to watch one that was really good.

[Raxivace]

Oh man I know what you mean about parent's tastes. I'm still living with mine at the moment, and that's a lot of the stuff they want to watch (And are always trying to rope me into watching with them).

They'll watch Oscar nominees and classical Hollywood stuff and some of these older Best Picture winners with me so its not all bad, but between them and taking care of my brother its hard for me to sometimes find the time/energy to get to do arthouse stuff instead (And I do feel like I'm slacking a bit on that stuff tbh). The struggle is real.

[Raxivace]

BTW Jimbo was it you that praised Master and Commander: Far Side of the World highly? That's another sea movie I was thinking of watching but haven't gotten around to yet.

[Faustus5]

BTW Jimbo was it you that praised Master and Commander: Far Side of the World highly? That's another one sea movie I was thinking of watching but haven't gotten around to yet.

I"m a huge fan of the book series that movie was based on and I loved it.

[maz89]

Oh man I know what you mean about parent's tastes. I'm still living with mine at the moment, and that's a lot of the stuff they want to watch (And are always trying to rope me into watching with them).

They'll watch Oscar nominees and classical Hollywood stuff and some of these older Best Picture winners with me so its not all bad, but between them and taking care of my brother its hard for me to sometimes find the time/energy to get to do arthouse stuff instead (And I do feel like I'm slacking a bit on that stuff tbh). The struggle is real.

My dad can only do James Bond kind of stuff. Fast-paced action films where the suave, charismatic, sexy guy expertly conquers terror and gets the sexy girl.

Maybe that's why I've never gotten around to checking out the Bond films, lol.

[Eva Yojimbo]

Oh man I know what you mean about parent's tastes. I'm still living with mine at the moment, and that's a lot of the stuff they want to watch (And are always trying to rope me into watching with them).

They'll watch Oscar nominees and classical Hollywood stuff and some of these older Best Picture winners with me so its not all bad, but between them and taking care of my brother its hard for me to sometimes find the time/energy to get to do arthouse stuff instead (And I do feel like I'm slacking a bit on that stuff tbh). The struggle is real.

I feel for ya man. Luckily for me my dad (at least) was pretty cool when we first got Netflix and he let me control the rental queue and would watch anything I gave him, but he's probably more comfortable watching mainstream action/adventure/comedy/horror stuff with a few classics here and there. My mom's much pickier; she has a handful of films she loves and watches a million times and usually doesn't seem to care if she ever watches another movie she hasn't seen or not. It helps that everyone had their own little "theater" in their own room, so it wasn't necessary that we ever had to fight over a single TV/room.

I wouldn't worry about watching arthouse stuff; there's plenty in every "genre" that's worth watching. In fact, since football's over I've been thinking about restarting Netflix to just catch up on the past few years of Oscar noms and Marvel/DC films. I've just been really obsessed with music for the last year or so... it's almost like I'm back at 14 again when I got my first guitar!

BTW Jimbo was it you that praised Master and Commander: Far Side of the World highly? That's another sea movie I was thinking of watching but haven't gotten around to yet.

Yep, that was me. Love that film, but it's probably one that works best in the theaters or on a good home theater. The immersive audio-visual experience is really a huge part of why it works so well.

[Raxivace]

I feel for ya man. Luckily for me my dad (at least) was pretty cool when we first got Netflix and he let me control the rental queue and would watch anything I gave him, but he's probably more comfortable watching mainstream action/adventure/comedy/horror stuff with a few classics here and there. My mom's much pickier; she has a handful of films she loves and watches a million times and usually doesn't seem to care if she ever watches another movie she hasn't seen or not. It helps that everyone had their own little "theater" in their own room, so it wasn't necessary that we ever had to fight over a single TV/room.

My mom loves rewatching the same few things like that too. It's not quite to the degree that it sounds like your mom is at, but it's kind of sad to me when I know there's stuff she might like if she opened up a bit more. Like she loves The West Wing (As do I), but if she could get over reading subtitles for more than a few minutes at a time I think she'd like a movie like Shin Godzilla which is a lot like a giant West Wing episode where the problem of the week is freakin' Godzilla instead of just getting a tax bill passed or something.

Oh well, not too much you can do sometimes I guess.

I wouldn't worry about watching arthouse stuff; there's plenty in every "genre" that's worth watching. In fact, since football's over I've been thinking about restarting Netflix to just catch up on the past few years of Oscar noms and Marvel/DC films. I've just been really obsessed with music for the last year or so... it's almost like I'm back at 14 again when I got my first guitar!

There's been some interesting Oscar nominees the last few years so I'd be cool with discussing a few of those again.

I'm a little behind on some of the recent comic book films, but I don't think it's much of a secret that I haven't especially liked a lot of the recent Marvel movies. I did think Spider-Man: Homecoming was decent though, and outside of the MCU I liked Logan a lot. I find the DC movies generally pretty good right now (Perhaps Justice League will change my mind given the tragedy that happened during the production of it and forced a second director to have to come on board), though it seems I'm still mostly manning the fort alone there.

Movies are music plus a bunch of other stuff, ergo they are superior. You can't defeat this ironclad logic, built on such a strong foundation and truth and facts, so ergo again and therefore you must come back to watching movies.

Yep, that was me. Love that film, but it's probably one that works best in the theaters or on a good home theater. The immersive audio-visual experience is really a huge part of why it works so well.

I"m a huge fan of the book series that movie was based on and I loved it.

Cool. If I need a break from my weird Oscars/Bond/Buster session here soon, that's one I think I'll turn to.

My dad can only do James Bond kind of stuff. Fast-paced action films where the suave, charismatic, sexy guy expertly conquers terror and gets the sexy girl.

Maybe that's why I've never gotten around to checking out the Bond films, lol.

Yeah I can understand wanting to avoid the Bonds if you're burnt out on that kind of stuff. They're not going away anytime soon, so they'll always be around if you ever change your mind. There's a reason even I am watching a ton of other stuff between each entry (Though it's probably time I get to the next one here soon).

The other thing is that while I like these movies I don't think I'm being controversial in saying that Eon Productions doesn't make them as well as even something like Hitchcock's more superficial films.

[Raxivace]

48. Call Me By Your Name (2017) - A very sensual, romantic and ultimately bittersweet film. The Italian country side here just looks beautiful. I'm not aware of anything Timothee Chalamet did before this but he nails the part, and apparently 2017 was the year of Michael Stuahlbarg who at the end of this film has one of the best moments in his career.

For an LGBT drama it's interesting that has none of the standard plot points you might expect- no explicitly homophobic characters, the parents seem unusually cool with this for the 1983 setting etc. The focus is almost entirely on the romance…and yet it can't seem to work out anyways. I think how people react to this last bit, particularly straight people, will reveal a lot about themselves.

Also this film has what is probably my favorite credits sequence for a 2017 release so far.

49. The Great Ziegfeld (1936) - A really solid classical musical. A lot of the dance numbers are super elaborate (At least one is done in a single take), with some great performances, particularly from William Powell who is at his most charming here. I've seen some contemporary audiences complain that it's too long. I dunno, I didn't have any issues with the length even at three hours.

Also like three of these Best Picture winners I've watched lately have played Blue Danube lately, jesus christ. I'm sick of hearing it. First Grand Hotel, then Cavalcade, and wow surprise surprise it showed up here. Like it's great and all but enough is enough. That river has dried up.

50. The Electric House (1922) - I'm pretty sure the premise here is that Buster Keaton designed the inane contraptions in the mansion from Resident Evil. Through some contrived mistake, Buster gets mistaken for an electrical engineer, helps build some electrical things in a house (Like a moving staircase, a pool that can be drained and refilled, a model train set that takes dinner from table to kitchen etc.) and the short is mostly just shots of this stuff working. The second half where the machines start getting used against Buster is better, but not by much. There's also another weirdly dark gag at the end where Buster tries to kill himself and fails.

Overall it's not one of the better Keaton shorts, even if we didn't have Chaplin doing the same kind of gags better in Modern Times to compare it to.

51. The Littlest Diplomat (1937) - A weird Technicolor short that came with my Emile Zola download. It's about the granddaughter of a colonel of a military outpost coming to visit. They sing songs and stuff I guess. Shenanigans ensue. It's alright.

52. Romance Road (1938) - Another Technicolor short that came with Emile Zola. I'm pretty sure this is Canadian Mounty propaganda , and also vaguely a western. There's a bad love triangle involving a suicidal Native…Canadian? Is that the term? Or is it still Native American since we're talking about North America still?

Anyways this short isn't particularly interesting or good.

53. Ain't We Got Fun (1937) - An animated Warner Brothers short, and the last of the three to come with Emile Zola. A housecat has fallen asleep so some mice are running around playing and eating food and whatnot. It's kind of a proto-Tom & Jerry cartoon in some ways. It's not great but felt kind of refreshing after how odd The Littlest Diplomat and Romance Road were.

54. The Life of Emile Zola (1937) - I didn't know anything about Emile Zola before watching this, and while I'm sure this is a very general and broad representation of him the film also reminds us at the beginning how this is a fictionalized account. It's a pretty standard biopic, competently but unexceptionally crafted with a good performance from Paul Muni. The first part of the film follows the beginning of his life, and the second falls the libel trial he willingly subjected himself to in order to free a man falsely accused of betraying the French military. It's an enjoyable watch, and while not a great film I think by this point the Oscars have already settled into mostly awarding Best Picture to average/decent films and occasionally better movies too. This isn't quite that but it's better than Broadway Melody/Cimarron/Cavalcade.

55. You Can't Take It With You (1938) - A solid comedy from Frank Capra, and the first time he worked with James Stewart too. Stewart is the son of a rich family who falls in love with the daughter of a eccentric middle class family. Shenanigans ensure, and after a mix-up that lands everyone in jail in true Capra fashion the rich family learns some valuable lessons.

I liked it, though I've never had too much of an issue with Capra's sentimentality (The stuff about how “WELL ACTUALLY THE INCOME TAX IS UNETHICAL AND WRONG AND I WON'T PAY IT" is kind of weird for a movie that's also about the follies of the rich though. It's too late at night for me to think any deeper about that and what exactly Capra is getting at by juxtaposing these things, but it's worth pointing out). For as loud as a lot of this movie this is too, my favorite bit is probably the quiet moment Stewart's father has in his office toward the end of the film, as he contemplates his son leaving the company, and the words of a man he had just met who suddenly died.

Is this as good as Grand Illusion or Adventures of Robin Hood? Maybe not but I enjoyed the film and won't fault the Academy too much here (Especially with Grand Illusion not being one of my own personal favorite Renoirs).

[Raxivace]

56. Doctor Strange (2016) - A decent MCU film. I seem to remember Dr. Strange, from what little I knew about him anyways, being one of the more surreal Marvel characters, so I was a little disappointed at first to see the film's largest point of reference for surrealism in film to be Inception's shifting cityscapes. Ultimately I think this movie uses them a little more creatively than Inception does for one of its action scenes, and there's also a decent 2001-esque sequence when Strange first gets convinced about the supernatural stuff being real. I was also a little genuinely surprised at the direction Ejiofor's character tool

Other than these appreciated flourishes this is a standard, competent entry in the series, which is more than I can say about at least a few of them like Age of Ultron. The more characters these films have the more they seem to struggle, and like with Spider-Man: Homecoming, Doctor Strange benefits from really keying in on a few characters. Unlike Homecoming though, the villains here really do kind of suck even if the plan to ultimately defeat them is kind of neat if not psychologically plausible compared to other things with similar premises.

57. Live and Let Die (1973) - The combination of Blaxploitation plus Tarot Cards of all things made for some weird theming here- even ignoring the racial stuff its odd to see the Bond franchise dancing around explicitly supernatural ideas. The jaunt through the American south at the end was also kind of strange, especially when the film starts evoking the sacrifice scene in the original King Kong. Also Bond fights a bunch of snakes for some reason (This is even strangely foreshadowed early in the film where purchases a stuff animal snake in a store) and also fights a bunch of crocodiles and alligators.

I've enjoyed the Paul McCartney song for years from this film already, but now that I've seen the movie in context he kind of seems like an odd choice for this film. On top of all that, this being Roger Moore's first outing as Bond (Who I think mostly does a fine job here) makes this kind of an oddly surreal film in some ways, even if the barebones plot is typical Bond otherwise.

[Eva Yojimbo]

57. Live and Let Die (1973)

Yeah, I think "weird" sums up LALD, and I just don't think much of it works. About the only thing I like about that film is the moody setting, but trying to combine blacksploitation, voodoo, and Bond just wasn't an idea that was destined to work.

50. The Electric House (1922)

54. The Life of Emile Zola (1937)

55. You Can't Take It With You (1938)

Yeah, Electric House isn't one of Keaton's better shorts, but it's still got his usual charm and I remember thinking it pretty fun.

I don't remember much about about Emile Zola but I do remember liking it quite a bit, but the fact that it hasn't stuck much in my mind is probably telling.

You Can't Take it With You is great. Not as great as It Happened One Night or Mr. Deeds, but still utterly enjoyable. I have no problem with it winning over Adventures of Robin Hood, but Grand Illusion was definitely better.

[Eva Yojimbo]

I feel for ya man. Luckily for me my dad (at least) was pretty cool when we first got Netflix and he let me control the rental queue and would watch anything I gave him, but he's probably more comfortable watching mainstream action/adventure/comedy/horror stuff with a few classics here and there. My mom's much pickier; she has a handful of films she loves and watches a million times and usually doesn't seem to care if she ever watches another movie she hasn't seen or not. It helps that everyone had their own little "theater" in their own room, so it wasn't necessary that we ever had to fight over a single TV/room.

My mom loves rewatching the same few things like that too. It's not quite to the degree that it sounds like your mom is at, but it's kind of sad to me when I know there's stuff she might like if she opened up a bit more. Like she loves The West Wing (As do I), but if she could get over reading subtitles for more than a few minutes at a time I think she'd like a movie like Shin Godzilla which is a lot like a giant West Wing episode where the problem of the week is freakin' Godzilla instead of just getting a tax bill passed or something.

Oh well, not too much you can do sometimes I guess.

My mom's like my dad in that she would watch anything I'd give her, it's just that her tastes are really narrow and she dislikes more than she likes, and what she likes is mostly sentimental stuff. The Green Mile is her favorite movie, and that's a pretty good indication of her tastes. Thing with her really is that she just likes watching whatever thy show all the time on TV. For whatever reason, she's never really gotten into watching DVDs. I always joke at her that even with movies she owns (like Green Mile and Fried Green Tomatoes) she never watches them until they come on TV!

There's been some interesting Oscar nominees the last few years so I'd be cool with discussing a few of those again.

I'm a little behind on some of the recent comic book films, but I don't think it's much of a secret that I haven't especially liked a lot of the recent Marvel movies. I did think Spider-Man: Homecoming was decent though, and outside of the MCU I liked Logan a lot. I find the DC movies generally pretty good right now (Perhaps Justice League will change my mind given the tragedy that happened during the production of it and forced a second director to have to come on board), though it seems I'm still mostly manning the fort alone there.

I'll probably get around to it pretty soon. Spending 4-5 hours a day doing nothing but listening to music gets to be a bit much after a while... though I keep thinking I'll get more tired of it than I am. Plus I'm also trying to fit at least an hour of two of guitar practice in a day now, while keeping up with my exercise/workout routine... there's only so many hours in a day!

Movies are music plus a bunch of other stuff, ergo they are superior. You can't defeat this ironclad logic, built on such a strong foundation and truth and facts, so ergo again and therefore you must come back to watching movies.

Call me when they make a movie out of nothing but Kate Bush songs! (She's my latest obsession, as you might could guess by the last several posts in the "Music that Speaks to My Weirdo Side" thread).

The other thing is that while I like these movies I don't think I'm being controversial in saying that Eon Productions doesn't make them as well as even something like Hitchcock's more superficial films.

True. You get into Bond for the cool factor of the character, music, villains, gadgets, set-pieces, etc., not for the cinematic sophistication.

[Raxivace]

One last thing I should add about Live and Let Die is that George Martin produced the music, which is cool.

You Can't Take it With You is great. Not as great as It Happened One Night or Mr. Deeds, but still utterly enjoyable. I have no problem with it winning over Adventures of Robin Hood, but Grand Illusion was definitely better.

I dunno that I think Mr. Deeds is better (Well its better than the Adam Sandler one, but I'd have to rewatch the Capra version again) but I did like It Happened One Night and Mr. Smith and It's a Wonderful Life more.

Plus I'm also trying to fit at least an hour of two of guitar practice in a day now, while keeping up with my exercise/workout routine... there's only so many hours in a day!

Get one of those exercise machines with a TV attached to it, like they have at hotels. Watch movies and work out! Two birds, one stone.

[Raxivace]

58. Going My Way (1944) - First Leo McCarey I've seen. I think it's mostly just a solid drama film, though I was more into the first half where the hip young preacher Bing was going around helping kids and such (Though I wasn't a fan of his atheist bashing). The second half of the film with all of the performances of the titular song just kind of loses me though.

The only other Best Picture winner I've seen from this year is Double Indemnity, which I liked way better.

59. Thor: Ragnarok (2017) - Pretty mixed feelings about this one. Parts of it are great. The first scene in particular seemed visually imaginative, and while the film doesn't quite reach those highs again it remains pretty consistently decent through (Notable positive exception being when Banner's is interlaced with Hulk's in the video file which was cool, though not as impressive as the similar scene in Blade Runner 2049). The villain here I think is conceptually interesting (Particularly as a counterpoint to Thor and Loki beginning to come together as brothers as their sister attacks), though not given quite as much weight as she should have.

Like many of the rest of the MCU movies, there doesn't seem to be much of an attempt to insert humor without undercutting anything that might be genuinely dramatic or sincere. Why does Thor have a stronger reaction to getting a haircut over having his damn eye gouged out? When Thor's fucking homeworld his destroyed and a giant refugee crisis is generated, is there really any need to insert comedic beats immediately? The weird eliding over any kind of pathos is in other parts of the film too, like how Thor rightfully seems pissed (But only at times) that his father has just died, but doesn't seem to give a shit about any his friends from the first two movies that died? It just comes off as needless irony to prevent things from ever being too genuine, and I'm not cool with that.

Also, Dr. Strange's extended cameo was integrated about as well as the husband plot was in The Cloverfield Paradox, though if it had to happen I'm glad it kept to the beginning of the film.

[Derived Absurdity]

It seems to me like Marvel doesn't want anyone genuinely caring about anything that happens in its movies most of the time. Any time you're in danger of becoming emotionally invested, they immediately undercut it with (usually bad) jokes. I don't know why I should really be expected to take their stories in any way seriously or genuinely care about any of them if they, you know, don't seem to want me to. Probably why I have a general distaste for MCU movies in general.

[Raxivace]

It seems to me like Marvel doesn't want anyone genuinely caring about anything that happens in its movies most of the time. Any time you're in danger of becoming emotionally invested, they immediately undercut it with (usually bad) jokes. I don't know why I should really be expected to take their stories in any way seriously or genuinely care about any of them if they, you know, don't seem to want me to. Probably why I have a general distaste for MCU movies in general.

Yeah that's basically my take on it. I'm not against humor existing they just always put it at these weird spots.

Like I can't help but compare it to how Hitchcock used humor. It was usually dryer, which is fine if the MCU doesn't want its humor to be like that, but in Hitch's better films it was used to suggest a lot about the themes or characters and the jokey lines weren't being done like immediately after a character got stabbed or something.

I think it could work in these Marvel movies better if they just committed fully to being unreality a la Tarantino (Maybe not him specifically, but someone like him), instead of this weird undercutting thing they do.

[Eva Yojimbo]

58. Going My Way (1944) - First Leo McCarey I've seen. I think it's mostly just a solid drama film, though I was more into the first half where the hip young preacher Bing was going around helping kids and such (Though I wasn't a fan of his atheist bashing). The second half of the film with all of the performances of the titular song just kind of loses me though.

Going My Way was OK, but if it's your first McCarey you really need to watch Duck Soup, The Awful Truth, and Make Way for Tomorrow. They're all much, much better.

Plus I'm also trying to fit at least an hour of two of guitar practice in a day now, while keeping up with my exercise/workout routine... there's only so many hours in a day!

Get one of those exercise machines with a TV attached to it, like they have at hotels. Watch movies and work out! Two birds, one stone.

I exercise at home while watching TV (usually whatever dippy sit-com is on at the time), but no way am I going to watch movies while working out! Movie watching is a full-attention super-serious activity. You should know better and feel shame for making that suggestion. SHAME! :|