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Messages - radiator

#16
Off Topic / Re: Conspiracy Theory Debate
03 March, 2021, 06:48:40 PM
The only conclusion I can come to is that there's no point in trying to rationally understand conspirational thinking - it's an entirely different way of thinking about the world, and one that isn't bound by logic or rationality.

Most people think rationally - ie they look at the evidence in front of their eyes and they come to conclusions based on that.

People prone to conspiracy theories think the other way around - they make their conclusions first (generally based on emotion or irrational prejudices/fear) and then bend their perception of reality to fit.

This is why arguing with conspiracy theorists is a frustrating and largely pointless exercise - they have already made their mind up, and if challenged will just move the goalposts of the argument. The virus is fake. Or it's real but the severity of it is overblown. Or it's real but wearing a mask or taking a vaccine will actually make you more ill.

It's been very sad to see many friends and acquaintances go down the Covid conspiracy rabbit hole. The fact that the motive behind governments enforcing social distancing and mask wearing and willingly trashing the economies of their own countries in the process is at best completely inscrutable (usually something vague about how they're 'trying to control us') is immaterial.

A few of these people are genuinely desperate - so I have a lot more sympathy for them, but for others it has revealed that deep down they are ultimately very selfish, self-centered people. By all means quarantine the vulnerable and elderly, but it shouldn't directly affect their life or make them have to make any actual sacrifices. Everyone else can take the vaccine, but I'm not going to. So they indulge in conspirational fantasies to justify their selfish behaviour. And this is what is generally meant by 'doing your own research' - it basically just means scouring the shadier parts of the internet for any shred of spurious 'evidence' you can use to justify your prejudices. It's very sad.

And I understand why people don't trust the 'mainstream media'. I don't think anyone intelligent does. BUT there's a pointed difference between having a healthy skepticism and understanding that any news source will have an inherent bias and agenda, and just rejecting the entire thing and listening to some nutter on the internet instead.
#17
Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...
09 February, 2021, 01:37:10 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 06 February, 2021, 11:46:03 AM
I always think of Sucker Punch as the epitome of 'careful what you wish for'.

I think a review at the time summed it up best when they described it as 'Concept Art: The Movie'.
#18
Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...
03 February, 2021, 07:31:32 PM
QuoteYeah, John Cusack is cool in these type of roles. I don't see him often in pictures lately.

He's basically Nicolas Cage level in terms of how many straight to video/streaming garbage movies he appears in these days. It's pretty sad.
#19
Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...
01 February, 2021, 08:55:19 PM
Green Card.

Had never seen this movie before despite having very vivid memories of it being released and seeing the trailer a lot when I was a kid. Didn't realise until we put it on that it was directed by Peter Weir. Need to dig deeper into his back catalogue because I love everything I've seen of his.

It's a really lovely little film, and has a lightness of touch and a restraint that you don't often see in what is ostensibly a romantic comedy. For example the wedding itself happens in the first couple of minutes of the film and occurs off camera, which was surprising, and the film isn't afraid to let the audience connect the dots between the scenes themselves - eg the ending, which is satisfying despite leaving things decidedly unresolved. The two main characters have a fun 'opposites attract' dynamic, but it feels authentic and not forced or cliched. You can really get a sense that their two personalities and temperaments would complement and improve each others.

GĂ©rard Depardieu is such an odd choice for a romantic lead (and quite a problematic figure these days), as he's quite a strange looking dude and the sort of actor who would never get given a role like this nowadays, when every actor has to basically look like a model. But there's definitely a kind of undeniable charisma to him.

Funny, sweet, and also an amazing time capsule of what was fashionable in the late 80s/early 90s.
#20
Film & TV / Re: New Star Wars
29 January, 2021, 03:14:20 AM
Excellent video essay on The Rise of Skywalker from the guy who did the equally excellent video defending The Last Jedi from last year. Also touches on The Mandalorian and the problems with modern moviemaking in general. To be honest, I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that we're already living in the franchise/nostalgia nightmare media landscape future he warns about at the end, and have been for some time.

https://youtu.be/IrMM33uHAo8
#21
Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...
29 January, 2021, 03:08:42 AM
Quote from: milstar on 27 January, 2021, 11:21:18 PM
Quote from: Rara Avis on 27 January, 2021, 07:44:38 PM
Quote from: Funt Solo on 27 January, 2021, 07:16:35 PM

r - is this all a fantasy world? Surely the part with Ferris on the float is just part of a mad daydream - that didn't really happen, did it? And the furious, red-faced teacher that attempts to break into the house - that's not realistic, either. Are there really two people, or is this all happening in Cameron's mind? Is Ferris real, or is this the model for Fight Club?


The actor that played the red faced teacher was charged with taking explicit photo's of a 14 year old boy some years later.


Oh, Jeffrey Jones! I love that actor, but alas... Nobody's perfect, apparently.

The guy reading out the register at the start (the famous "Bueller, Bueller...." line reading) turned out to be a bit of a shit irl as well.
#22
Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...
26 January, 2021, 07:41:38 PM
I think you're all misunderstanding Ferris Bueller.

Fact is, he's a righteous dude.

The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him.
#23
Film & TV / Re: Endlessly Re-watchable
26 January, 2021, 01:18:47 AM
In terms of endlessly rewatchable films, it would basically be the entire library of films I still own on physical media - almost entirely consisting of 80s action movies and 90s comedies:

The Terminator
T2
Point Break
Dumb and Dumber
Total Recall
The Dark Knight
Jurassic Park
Saving Private Ryan
Kingpin
Robocop
Goodfellas
Pretty much any Tarantino
The Wolf of Wall Street
Withnail and I
Aliens
The Empire Strikes Back
Raiders/Temple/Crusade
Starship Troopers
Uncle Buck
Paddington 1&2
Fury Road
Fargo
Leon
Predator
Akira
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Big
Clueless
When Harry Met Sally
The Princess Bride
Die Hard
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Homes Alone 1 & 2
Battle Royale
The Thing
American Werewolf in London
Groundhog Day
The Truman Show
Forrest Gump
The Shawshank Redemption
Any Toy Story (but honestly pretty much any movie from the first 10 or so years of Pixar)
Back to the Future 1&2
The Great Outdoors
The Warriors
Speed
Independence Day
Swingers (do NOT get the weird modern backlash to this film, it was a classic then, and still is now)
Chef
Silence of the Lambs
White Men Can't Jump
The Cable Guy
Demolition Man
Sexy Beast
Office Space
Ghost
Turner & Hooch
Hot Rod
Stand By Me
Trading Places

Not trying to argue that every single one of those is a genuine all time classic movie, only that they are all effortlessly charming/nostalgic and/or entertaining to me personally.
#24
Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...
26 January, 2021, 12:52:02 AM
Quote from: pictsy on 25 January, 2021, 11:23:00 PM
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
I'm running out of ideas for films to watch.  I don't really know what I'm in the mood for.  That usually means something light, dumb, but fun and entertaining... and that I haven't watched within the last year.  Or science fiction.  I may have to do some research.  I'm tempted to rewatched Hardcore Henry soon.  Only seen it once before.

Some recent(ish) Hidden(ish) Gems I'd recommend:

Dolemite is My Name
Cop Car
American Animals
Anna & the Apocalypse
The Kid Who Would Be King

I'd also recommend the new HBO documentary about Tiger Woods. I couldn't care less about golf, but I found it riveting.
#25
Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...
25 January, 2021, 11:20:37 PM
2021 is out of the gate with 2 smashes:

Promising Young Woman
Feels like a real breath of fresh air, and the arrival of a really strong new cinematic voice in writer/director Emerald Fennel. Amazing cast led by the always excellent Carey Mulligan, a banging soundtrack, gorgeous art direction and a brutal, no holds barred twisted tale that stays in your mind for a long time afterwards. Fantastic stuff.

News of the World
Unfortunate title and some slightly oddly-paced sequences aside, this is an extremely well-made and likable Paul Greengrass/Tom Hanks Western (reteaming after their collaboration on Captain Phillips). It's arguably a little formulaic and predictable, but I was thoroughly entertained from start to finish and the ending left me [spoiler]grinning from ear to ear and honestly a little teary-eyed[/spoiler]. The young girl who plays the co-lead is astonishingly good and is one to watch for the future.
#26
Film & TV / Re: Endlessly Re-watchable
25 January, 2021, 11:08:45 PM
My girlfriend has a set playlist of shows that she just watches on endless rotation as background noise. Once she's finished with one, she'll just move on to the next. The ones that immediately spring to mind are:

Breaking Bad
Better Call Saul
Arrested Development
The Sopranos
The Simpsons
Mad Men
Sex and the City
Friends
Only Fools and Horses
Girls
Freaks and Geeks
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
Frasier

Honestly, can't say I mind too much as they are all pretty phenomenal shows in their respective genres (though I can take or leave the later episodes of Friends and Only Fools and Horses), and I'd prefer to rewatch pretty much any of them over anything running on traditional broadcast/network TV. Personally I don't think I'll ever not be in the mood for an episode or two of Mad Men or Sopranos.
#27
Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...
04 January, 2021, 07:02:58 PM
I Love You, Philip Morris

Sorely underrated (and underseen) Jim Carrey/Ewan McGregor movie which came out around ten years ago (but I think had sat on a shelf for a couple of years before that).

Dark and twisted but also somehow weirdly heartwarming and laugh out loud funny. Also based on a bizarre true story, and zips by in a little over 90 minutes.

Definitely not suitable for family viewing tho...!
#28
Film & TV / Re: All-time classic films of recent years
25 November, 2020, 06:58:46 PM
Quotewhether its a particular scene, or a key visual or a musical cue

Or - and I think this is a big one - a particular actor or performance, or a specific pairing or character and performer (or two actors paired together with an undeniable chemistry) can really be the x factor that can catapult an otherwise 'decent' movie into the cultural stratosphere.

I'm thinking of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games, Robert Downey Jr in Iron Man, Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski and Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood, that kind of thing.
#29
Film & TV / Re: All-time classic films of recent years
25 November, 2020, 06:24:17 PM
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 25 November, 2020, 06:16:48 PM

I was talking to a pest-control expert friend of mine just the other day about a mousetrap I laid from which the bait had been snaffled without setting it off. We both brought up Mission: Impossible at virtually the same time. You too are probably imagining, right now, a cute mouse in a black pullover dangling from a rope harness to snatch the experimental cheese from the mousetrap while The Music plays in the background - and if you weren't, you are now. And, unfortunately, will be for several days to come.

I think that's when a film's on this list, when it's become part of everyday communication.

Anyway, he said it was probably a shrew - too light to trigger the mechanism.

I think thats exactly the kind of thing the OP is getting at - whether its a particular scene, or a key visual or a musical cue or whatever, that point when a piece of media reaches that saturation point where it becomes a common reference point, or a verb.

Lots of people here are just listing films that are commonly accepted as being 'good' or having a dedicated fanbase, but that's really not the same thing at all. I don't really see anyone referencing Before Sunset in the same way as your Mission Impossible example.
#30
Film & TV / Re: All-time classic films of recent years
25 November, 2020, 06:15:56 PM
A couple of other thoughts:

I think novelty and originality are a key part of what makes something really hit the zeitgeist and make a cultural impact, and those are things sorely lacking from modern big budget, widely seen movies (with a few exceptions).

The traditional 'Oscar bait' movie is dead. Green Book was the final nail in the coffin. The big awards mostly go to small indie movies these days.