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Messages - radiator

#31
Film & TV / Re: All-time classic films of recent years
25 November, 2020, 06:03:03 PM
QuoteEternal Sunshine; Lost in Translation; Brokeback Mountain; Before Sunset/Midnight; the Fast and bloody Furious franchise; Mamma Mia; The Greatest Showman; Whiplash; Moonlight; Call me by your Name

I'd say that out of that list, only Brokeback Mountain has the kind of cultural currency and name recognition the OP was getting at (and again, thats a film that is nearly 20 years old). Lots of films win awards, but Oscar wins and noms don't really seem to have much of an impact in terms of making a film an actual bona fide hit these days - you'd probably have to go back to 2008's Slumdog Millionaire for a solid example of that happening.

I'd kind of put the F&F franchise in the same box as Marvel tbh - they're huge movies no doubt, but largely interchangeable to the outside observer. I haven't seen any of them since the original, but I can't really think of any iconic individual scenes or moments from any of them that have really transcended the medium.

The rest of that list are textbook examples of 'cult' films, imo.

It's quite interesting to look at the highest grossing movies of each year for the last fifty years or so - you really have to go back to the 90s to see (for want of a better word) 'grown up' movies regularly hitting big. From 2000 on its almost exclusively sequels, remakes and franchises.

It really just reinforces to me that TV shows have truly eclipsed movies as the dominant modern art form (and the line between movies and TV becomes more and more blurred). No recent standalone movie outside of perhaps The Avengers or Black Panther can compare to the cultural footprint and long tail of a Breaking Bad or a Game of Thrones, a Walking Dead or a Mad Men or a Stranger Things.
#32
Film & TV / Re: Current TV Boxset Addiction
16 November, 2020, 04:05:15 AM
Ted Lasso on Apple TV+.

Exceptional slice of light comedy drama that unexpectedly hits you right in the feels. It does that thing where you have this gang of very archetypal characters that border on cartoonish and one-dimensional, but slowly reveals unexpected depth and warmth to them. It's nominally about football, but you don't need to be a footie fan to enjoy it in the same way you don't need to be a fan of government works departments to enjoy Parks and Rec.

An absolute winner. I believe the second and third seasons are already in production, and I couldn't be happier.

Highest of recommends, and the perfect antidote to the state of the world right now.
#33
Off Topic / Re: The Political Thread
05 November, 2020, 11:02:37 PM
Articles like this crack me up. You're really just figuring this out now?

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/theres-no-escaping-who-we-have-become/616992/

People weren't somehow 'tricked' into electing Trump in 2016. They knew exactly who and what they were voting for, and they did it anyway.
#34
Off Topic / Re: The Political Thread
05 November, 2020, 07:27:33 PM
For me the only memorable moment from the entire Biden campaign was when he told Trump to 'shut up, man!' during the first debate. It resonated because it felt honest, and is what everyone was thinking. And yet Biden probably thought of it as a faux pas.

If one thing is clear it's that people are sick and tired of polished, moderate politicians. The left need to embrace a bit of Trump's off the cuff style. Doesn't mean they have to behave like complete pricks like him all the time, just show a bit of genuine passion. Call the other side on their shit. Fight fire with fire. You see how Trump just responds to attacks by punching back? It obviously works!

Biden's whole schtick of 'crossing the aisle' and compromise seems so ludicrously old fashioned and naive in this day and age.
#35
Off Topic / Re: The Political Thread
05 November, 2020, 06:10:26 PM
Quote from: Funt Solo on 04 November, 2020, 11:36:56 PM
Quote from: radiator on 04 November, 2020, 10:29:53 PM
Nope, I can't think of anyone either!

I suppose the tragedy is that someone like Sanders (who would actually fight really hard for working class rights) gets dismissed as being some kind of crazy left-wing radical

The point is that its clear that anyone running on the Democratic ticket will be 'dismissed as some kind of crazy left-wing liberal'. This was exactly the charge leveled against (hilariously) Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

I can only go on my own experience but my gut feeling is that a lot of right wingers (media types and voters) if anything have a kind of respect, possibly even bordering on admiration, for Sanders whereas they have nothing but contempt for Obama, Biden, Clinton etc. And honestly that isn't unfounded. I have a feeling that Trump's usual routine just wouldn't work on Sanders in the same way. Granted I live in a liberal bubble (though not so much as you might suspect from where I live - eg my next door neighbour is a Qanon fan) but literally everyone I know would have (enthusiastically) voted for Sanders. I don't know anyone who is remotely passionate about Biden. You see a lot of yard signs for 'Any Functioning Adult 2020'. And this is all Biden is to most people, a means to an end. There's no passion on the Democratic side to match what there is on the right.

Sanders obviously would not have the support of the right side of the dems (and the former republicans in their ranks), but imo he'd have a damn sight more of a chance of getting through to Trump voters in swing states than any candidate they could field. The present situation - where the voting habits of the population seems to be entirely split down the middle between the cities and rural areas, surely cannot continue.

It is beyond a shadow of a doubt now that for all their patronising dismissal of Bernie supporters, the Democratic Party do not have a single clue what they are doing. They might scrape a win, but its a Pyrrhic victory at best. I'm an idiot, and even I could have called what just happened. Why not roll the dice?
#36
Off Topic / Re: The Political Thread
04 November, 2020, 10:29:53 PM
A corporate, centre-right Democrat like Biden was always going to be a really hard sell, which was why so many of us were deeply anxious when he secured the nomination back at the start of the year. While he isn't as reviled as Hilary Clinton, he still personifies a system that a huge section of this country feels, rightly or wrongly, has turned its back on them. If there's one single lesson to be taken from the last five years of US politics, it's that a hell of a lot of people aren't happy, and want change, not a return to the status quo. There is a reason why relative unknowns like Andrew Yang did comparatively well in the primaries when the more established names dropped like flies with almost zero support.

If only there were another possible Democratic candidate - someone who has Trump's outsider, anti-establishment status and rabid core base of grassroots support, but is also a broadly liked and widely popular figure. Someone who actually has some solid policy ideas vs just being the 'safe choice' and 'not Trump', and could, maybe, just maybe, stand a chance of actually engaging with and winning over a significant number of Trump voters?

Nope, I can't think of anyone either!
#37
Quote from: repoman on 09 October, 2020, 05:56:16 PM
Quote from: Funt Solo on 09 October, 2020, 02:30:50 PM
You're so wrong that I don't know where to start. Are you trolling?



I believe fully in equality and fairness and I've never knowingly oppressed a person because of their gender, race or sexuality because that would be insane and twatty but I also think that certain art forms (music, film, comedy, comics) shouldn't have to pander to SJW values because instead of being a nice lefty thing, it feels more like a puritanical thing.

Pandering and puritanical in what way?

Do you mean representation? Like people getting bent out of shape that the new Star Wars movies are a bit more diverse in terms of cast and put a woman front and center?

Something worth remembering is that while it's political to promote diversity, doing the opposite - not going out of your way to be inclusive and have representation - is every bit as political and 'pandering' an act.
#38
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 06 October, 2020, 08:11:30 PM
I wonder how Brass Eye, for my money the funniest comedy programme ever*, would appear to the younger generation.  There are some very, very non-PC (hate to use that expression, but I can't think of another one) scenes there, but clearly made by snowflake (well, I'm on a roll now) liberals. Quite a few of the
celebrities being made idiots of are no longer with us, so it's clearly lost that bit of its bite, and one of them was Rolf Harris.

*I will post this then immediately remember a funnier one.

It wouldn't work now. Modern news coverage is almost indistinguishable from satire, in some cases the reality is crazier and darker than anything Chris Morris could come up with.



I think what irritates me more than anything when it comes to 'PC' culture is when people are incapable of discerning (or in some cases willfully choose to misconstrue) context and authorial intent.

This video review of Jojo Rabbit is a classic example of this sort of thing. Just a completely braindead critique and/or a disingenuous misreading of a film that is pretty obviously an anti-fascist work (and one that was made by a person of Jewish descent):

https://themuse.jezebel.com/i-would-like-to-never-think-about-jojo-rabbit-ever-agai-1841328185

You see this sort of thing a lot where rightwingers say things like 'You couldn't make The Producers or Blazing Saddles these days because Political Correctness'. Well, yes you completely could. Just because a piece of art deals with troubling themes and contains offensive language doesn't mean that the filmmakers are condoning those things, ffs. I remember a lot of people saying The Hateful Eight was a misogynist film that glorified violence against women, and I can only assume that I watched an entirely different version of the movie to these people.
#39
QuoteThis is the least funny generation ever

Said every older generation about every younger generation ever....

Comedy is much like music - people cherry pick the classics and forget that the vast majority of whats popular at any given time is almost always lowest common denominator crap.

I remember my dad sadly shaking his head when he discovered me listening to The Chemical Brothers, as it wasn't 'real music', and telling me that rap wasn't 'music' either, and was at most a 'street art'. :-\



The only thing that riles me about 'cancel culture'* is that the right likes to pretend it's a one way street, when it absolutely is not. The right are always trying to get people on the left 'cancelled'.


*which frankly I'm not convinced is even a thing. Is Michael Jackson 'cancelled'? Last time I checked, most people were still listening to his music. If people like Louis CK lose work and credibility as a direct result of their own grubbiness and stupidity then I don't really have any sympathy for that.
#40
Film & TV / Re: All-time classic films of recent years
02 October, 2020, 10:27:41 PM
That too, yeah.
#41
Film & TV / Re: All-time classic films of recent years
02 October, 2020, 09:26:16 PM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 02 October, 2020, 12:55:04 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 01 October, 2020, 07:19:12 PM
Post-2000, the one that stands out is the Lord of the Rings trilogy - that's going to be a classic for ever

Good point - I'd forgotten about that.  I have to say, more than any 21 century film I can think of, I think that will be an all-time classic in the Star Wars original trilogy vein.  Not necessarily the best film of the last 20 years but definitely one that will make cinema history.

I still love it though - I hadn't actually read the books till I heard the film was coming out; then I sped through them to get up to date (God, my pre-home-internet attention span was way better).   They absolutely nailed it with the casting, and didn't compromise - even small things like Gandalf developing a taste for Shire tobacco and Sam having the 'right' English accent for saying things like 'I'll warrant', could have been Hollywoodised out of existence, but not a bit of it.

Of course, the big eagles could have flown Frodo straight to Mordor, but well, maybe the airports were all closed like in The Cursed Earth.

I remember going to see the first Harry Potter movie at the cinema, and the LotR trailer than ran before it was so monumentally exciting it made Potter seem so dull by comparison. I don't think I'd ever wished to be seeing that movie instead more!

I think the trilogy as a whole was probably the last time I experienced a feeling of genuine childlike wonder at seeing a film.

As for the eagle 'plot hole' thing that everyone likes to point out, I always thought it was pretty clear going by the story's logic that the eagle would have just dumped Frodo and Sam mid-flight and taken the ring for itself at the first opportunity?

#42
Film & TV / Re: The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance
02 October, 2020, 09:15:09 PM
Well, you know what I mean!
#43
Off Topic / Re: The Political Thread
02 October, 2020, 08:21:29 PM
Thoughts and prayers going out to the coronavirus for contracting a case of Donald Trump.
#44
Film & TV / Re: The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance
02 October, 2020, 12:07:39 AM
Don't think I've been this gutted about a cancellation since the Dredd sequels...  :'(
#45
Film & TV / Re: All-time classic films of recent years
02 October, 2020, 12:06:35 AM
Quote from: Funt Solo on 01 October, 2020, 09:09:54 PM
The best part of The Hobbit Trilogy is the scene of the stone trolls in Fellowship.



Strong agree.

The first Hobbit movie has its moments, in a 'lifeless retread of LotR' sort of way, but by the end of movie 2 and all of 3 it becomes an outright travesty. The whole thing is so misconceived I still find it a little hard to process.

QuoteFellowship of the Ring
Fury Road
Shaun of the Dead

Shaun would be a contender, but it's very much a cult film in the states where almost no one I've met outside of hardcore nerd circles has heard of it.