Movie Discussion

Best Stoner Comedy

  • Up In Smoke

    Votes: 1 11.1%

  • How High

    Votes: 2 22.2%

  • Half Baked

    Votes: 1 11.1%

  • Dude, Where's My Car?

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle

    Votes: 3 33.3%

  • Dazed and Confused

    Votes: 1 11.1%

  • Pineapple Express

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Reefer Madness (lol)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Friday

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Saving Grace

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • The Big Lebowski

    Votes: 5 55.6%
  • Total voters
    9
  • Poll closed .
Gator (1976)

Meanest man to ever hit the swamp? Not by a long shot I'm afraid. Was watching this with a friend for the fun of it and now I can safely say that I don't need to bother with most other Burt Reynolds action movies. A sequel to White Lightning and directed by the man himself it seems to mainly serve as a showcase for what kind of a weird 70s action hero Reynolds was trying to establish himself as, almost preachy with a dash of family-friendly fun that just didn't work. Very weird tonal shifts throughout the film that don't complement each other and it's also quite boring except for the first ten minutes and finale maybe. Jerry Reed as the main villain was pretty fun though and the title track remains great but those were the best things about it.

Archer's taste in movies is pretty shit turns out.

4/10

Race with the Devil (1975)

Bleak 70s horror road movie with two couples witnessing a satanic ritual and then being pursued by the cultists. Its ending twist is quite foreseeable when you've seen Rosemary's Baby but it still manages to be somewhat ominous and there's some nice car chases too. Not great but serviceable.

6/10
 
Dune 4K blu ray is out and of course I had to rewatch it. Unfortunately watching it at home has that side effect of a lot of the dialogue in the early scenes being almost impossible to hear but that was really only with the first few scenes. I'm just glad that I can watch it without destroying my eardrums!

Also decided to rewatch Blade Runner 2049 since I still have HBO Max. Holy crap I really misjudged this movie when I first watched it. When I first watched it I had a really negative impression due to a combo of this not being what I expected and not realizing that it along with Villeneuve's other films heavily rely on a show don't tell approach to pretty much everything. Now that I've kept that in mind after Dune the difference in my experience watching it this time was night and day. I love the visuals and music especially, admittedly I still find the plot a tiny bit hard to follow but it very much is an experience that demands full attention (and I wound up sidetracked by a few text messages on my phone that I had to answer) which is honestly kinda rare these days. I think the big takeaway here is that with Villeneuve's movies the theater experience is a must, or at least having parts of a good setup. Hell, just having a decent stereo sound bar with a subwoofer will add a lot to it.
God tier soundtrack.

On a related note, I'm pretty sure this means the only English Villeneuve film I have left to watch is Sicario. I'll get around to that at some point! He's definitely having one hell of a career though, getting to direct a sequel to one of the best science fiction films ever made and then getting to direct a great two part adaptation of one of the best science fiction novels ever? Along with both of them being very highly regarded films (along with Dune having a successful box office run despite everything)? Holy shit. Also just learned he's going to direct an adaptation of Rendezvous with Rama:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/m...eneuve-rendezvous-with-rama-movie-1235062337/
 
Denis Villeneuve is cool because he has the flair of an auteur without the ego. His films are all distinctive, but his personality doesn't overwhelm the material. Even with all the studio interference David Lynch's Dune is very much a David Lynch movie with all that that implies. Villeneuve's Dune barring some cuts let's the material speak for itself. Same with Villeneuve's Bladerunner. He keeps the spirit and atmosphere of the original, while telling a better organized and more compelling story that expands the world.

Anyway glad you gave 2049 another try. It is a personal favorite of mine.
 
ZetsubouKaiji said:
Denis Villeneuve is cool because he has the flair of an auteur without the ego. His films are all distinctive, but his personality doesn't overwhelm the material. Even with all the studio interference David Lynch's Dune is very much a David Lynch movie with all that that implies. Villeneuve's Dune barring some cuts let's the material speak for itself. Same with Villeneuve's Bladerunner. He keeps the spirit and atmosphere of the original, while telling a better organized and more compelling story that expands the world.

Anyway glad you gave 2049 another try. It is a personal favorite of mine.
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I still remember Denis's humble beginnings, Maelstrom had a nice talking fish lmao.....................it is really kind of interesting and cool to see over the years how he's now transformed into the sci-fi king. Before his sci-fi phase, I think the movie I re-watched the most from him was Enemy, Jake Gyllenhaal is just too fucking good in that movie. It's certainly not the most accessible film for Villeneuve but I still love it.
 
Just watched Shutter Island and The Truman Show. It occurred to me, that somewhat coincidentally, both films revolve around an island of sorts and how not everything is as it seems. Quite enjoyable. I'll never catch up on the backlog of memorable films I haven't seen, but I do occasionally make attempts in between anime.
 
Watched The Green Knight today.
Overall it was interesting and fairly compelling, although I found the bit with Gawain and the Lady and the belt to be kind of unnecessary squick- this is also why I can't recommend it to anyone I know. Not sure it was really necessary to make it so R rated- they could have gotten the point across without that. Nice scenery and rather depressing and pointless feeling plot?- even as a warning sort of allegory, I don't really feel like it made all that much of a point, if that is what it was going for, which I'm not sure it was. It is, after all, at its core just a retelling of a fantastical myth. I feel like it focused more on showing you a lot of things and leaving you to come up with an explanation for them. Basically, Gawain lives a pointless life and dies a pointless death. Just like most people, I suppose. He was given everything and had multiple opportunities to make something of himself and be a better man, but due to whatever cowardice or whatever was within him, he continually chose not to. There's really not much more to be said.
 
Akishima said:
Watched The Green Knight today.
Overall it was interesting and fairly compelling, although I found the bit with Gawain and the Lady and the belt to be kind of unnecessary squick- this is also why I can't recommend it to anyone I know. Not sure it was really necessary to make it so R rated- they could have gotten the point across without that. Nice scenery and rather depressing and pointless feeling plot?- even as a warning sort of allegory, I don't really feel like it made all that much of a point, if that is what it was going for, which I'm not sure it was. It is, after all, at its core just a retelling of a fantastical myth. I feel like it focused more on showing you a lot of things and leaving you to come up with an explanation for them. Basically, Gawain lives a pointless life and dies a pointless death. Just like most people, I suppose. There's really not much more to be said. He was given everything and had multiple opportunities to make something of himself, but due to whatever cowardice or whatever was within him, he continually chose not to.
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To me the movie is about the dichotomy between being a good man vs being a great man and how those two things don't necessarily line up. Garwain is faced with the choice of sacrificing all of his honor for a chance at power or to be a "great man." Or he can live according to the knightly virtues that he aspires to. His life would be much more mundane, but he wouldn't have to sacrifice everything that means something to him in order to attain his goal. Being a knight is more than glory and acclaim, which is something the Garwain doesn't understand until the very end.

You are right about one thing, the part at Lord's Manor gets uncomfortable real quick. It kind of had to get a little explicit since that was him failing the test of chastity.
 
ZetsubouKaiji said:
To me the movie is about the dichotomy between being a good man vs being a great man and how those two things don't necessarily line up. Garwain is faced with the choice of sacrificing all of his honor for a chance at power or to be a "great man." Or he can live according to the knightly virtues that he aspires to. His life would be much more mundane, but he wouldn't have to sacrifice everything that means something to him in order to attain his goal. Being a knight is more than glory and acclaim, which is something the Garwain doesn't understand until the very end.

You are right about one thing, the part at Lord's Manor gets uncomfortable real quick. It kind of had to get a little explicit since that was him failing the test of chastity.
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I agree that being great and being good aren't necessarily the same thing, but to me, he achieved neither. The Green Knight always made it out to be a game- that Gawain took it seriously enough to let the knight essentially trick him into killing him, which sealed Gawain's own fate, was just impetuous and stupid on Gawain's part, and an indicator of the shallow man he was. He could have just scratched the knight, and such would have been given in kind. There was no honor in killing someone in that fashion. Of course, if you assume the implied anti-witchraft/paganism sentiment, then maybe he was lauded as a hero for killing a monster.

Yet, even then, that Gawain carries through with fulfilling his end of the bargain- there's no honor in that either. If he was considered to have killed a monster, there's no need to fulfill a bargain made with something that tried to trick you. And ultimately, in death, you can do nothing. Of course, we get a glimpse of what could have happened if Gawain did choose to run from that meeting, but that was just one possible future. It was also a selfish choice that jerked over his lover and was only concerned about himself. I guess in the end, if he was always doomed to make bad choices, it was at least better that he fulfilled his bargain with the Green Knight, even if it was entirely stupid. In general, through his actions, Gawain really comes off as too stupid to live (what sort of aspiring knight on a quest leaves his sword and belongings behind in the woods?).

I can't say I'm familiar with the myth this is based on, but seems to me Gawain had already failed the test of chastity many times over, unless it simply meant not cheating with a married woman, or was only supposed to apply after he takes up the 'quest' so to speak.

I also really didn't get what Gawain's mother was trying to achieve by the whole thing- make her son man up or achieve glory?
 
Akishima said:
I agree that being great and being good aren't necessarily the same thing, but to me, he achieved neither. The Green Knight always made it out to be a game- that Gawain took it seriously enough to let the knight essentially trick him into killing him, which sealed Gawain's own fate, was just impetuous and stupid on Gawain's part, and an indicator of the shallow man he was. He could have just scratched the knight, and such would have been given in kind. There was no honor in killing someone in that fashion. Of course, if you assume the implied anti-witchraft/paganism sentiment, then maybe he was lauded as a hero for killing a monster.

Yet, even then, that Gawain carries through with fulfilling his end of the bargain- there's no honor in that either. If he was considered to have killed a monster, there's no need to fulfill a bargain made with something that tried to trick you. And ultimately, in death, you can do nothing. Of course, we get a glimpse of what could have happened if Gawain did choose to run from that meeting, but that was just one possible future. It was also a selfish choice that jerked over his lover and was only concerned about himself. I guess in the end, if he was always doomed to make bad choices, it was at least better that he fulfilled his bargain with the Green Knight, even if it was entirely stupid. In general, through his actions, Gawain really comes off as too stupid to live (what sort of aspiring knight on a quest leaves his sword and belongings behind in the woods?).

I can't say I'm familiar with the myth this is based on, but seems to me Gawain had already failed the test of chastity many times over, unless it simply meant not cheating with a married woman, or was only supposed to apply after he takes up the 'quest' so to speak.

I also really didn't get what Gawain's mother was trying to achieve by the whole thing- make her son man up or achieve glory?
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His mother was trying to get him to achieve the future he saw in his vision. How much she knew was vague, but at the very least her goal was to make him king. She gave him the sash as protection. The sash made him unkillable, but didn't cure his cowardice. He only found his courage when he removed the sash. The removal of the sash was his act of redemption.

As to whether the Green Knight actually killed him could go either way. The Lord of the manor was the Green Knight. He sort of had a fondness for Garwain. In the poem Garwain does survive his encounter with the Green Knight.

The Green Knight didn't trick Garwain. He made the stakes and rules very clear. Garwain felt insulted when the Green Knight knelt down not intending to defend himself. He was in front of all these people and his uncle. He wanted to show off and acted in an impetuous manner. It was a stupid thing to do, but Garwain is not a smart man. He had to hold up his end of the bargain or again he would have lost face in front of everyone that watched the duel.

When I said he failed the test of chastity I meant that literally. Each of his encounters on the way to face the Green Knight was a test for one of the knightly virtues listed off by his prostitute girlfriend. He failed the first test when he wasn't generous with someone that helped him. He sort of passed the test of charity when he retrieved the head, but he didn't get full marks because he asked what was in it for him.

Garwain isn't a hero or even a particularly good person, but he does find some catharsis in letting go of his fear and putting his fate in the hands of the Green Knight.
 
Got a shitload of movies today because I finally have money and am willing to spend it on things I don't need.

American Ninja 2 (time to see if the sequel can live up to the "legendary" status of the first one, it's supposed to be more over the top at least)

Alien vs. Ninja (it's basically Versus but with ninjas and aliens, how could I resist? Also I found it in the bargain bin for 3 bucks)

The Green Knight (yeah, you bastards finally got me curious)

Mulholland Drive (it's long overdue for a rewatch anyway)

Asterix Movie Collection (not the live-action shit or CGI movies, just the good ol' hand-drawn ones which unfortunately also includes Asterix Conquers America)

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (not sure why it took me so long to get this)

No Time to Die (I know own them all except for the odd ones out like the 1967 Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again)

John Wick 3 (finally)

Street Fighter (OF COURSE!!!)
 
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