What movies are you watching?

[Mickey]

Your top three gangster movies, go!

Eastern Promises
Pulp Fiction
Miller’s Crossing

I need to watch City of God.

I guess it's technically a gangster movie but I don't really think of City of God as being in the same category because it's so strongly framed as a coming-of-age story. It's a much better movie than Miller's Crossing, I think, but it also kind of does some World Cinema (TM) things that aren't as unique as what the Coens are doing.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

yeah I wouldn’t consider it gangster either

[Orpheus]

I would definitely consider City of God a crime/gangster film.

The follow-up show, City of Men, was much more in the coming of age genre.

[Mickey]

Are all crime movies gangster movies?

[Anders]

No.

[Anders]

Hidden Figures. Solid first half an hour so far.

This was good. Exactly what you would expect, for better or worse. Important story, but not a movie that will surprise you.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

the sandlot is a gangster film

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[wease]

the sandlot is a gangster film

Squints looks like a mafia kid

That’s racist.

[BurtReynolds]

Bliss, starring Salma Hayek and Owen Wilson.

THe reviews were pretty bad, but I didn't think it was terrible. It doesn't really add up to much, but there are worse ways to waste 90 minutes.

[Mickey]

No.

Agreed. I think City of God is a crime movie (but it's also a coming of age story!) but it's only incidentally a gangster movies insofar as gangs do exist.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

agreed

[Anders]

The Blackboard Jungle

[Anders]

Wkipedia: A gangster film or gangster movie is a film belonging to a genre that focuses on gangs and organized crime. It is a subgenre of crime film, that may involve large criminal organizations, or small gangs formed to perform a certain illegal act. The genre is differentiated from Westerns and the gangs of that genre.

Wikipedia: City of God (Portuguese: Cidade de Deus) is a 2002 Brazilian crime film, loosely based on real events. It depicts the growth of organized crime in the Cidade de Deus suburb of Rio de Janeiro, between the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1980s

[Anders]

No.

Agreed. I think City of God is a crime movie (but it's also a coming of age story!) but it's only incidentally a gangster movies insofar as gangs do exist.

Haven’t seen it in a long time, and I do primarily agree with your take, but I think it’s fair to call it a gangster movie. Even if it’s quite different from the typical American (US) gangster movie.

[Anders]

The Blackboard Jungle

Real classic. Poitier lights the screen up in one of his breakthrough roles.

It was the first major film to feature rock music on its sound track, and the first of its genre, with a teacher handling difficult students.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Anders]

The Blackboard Jungle

Real classic. Poitier lights the screen up in one of his breakthrough roles.

It was the first major film to feature rock music on its sound track, and the first of its genre, with a teacher handling difficult students.

did you know that Poitier was never allowed to get laid in his movies because he was black? I'm not joking.

No. As a general rule, or for specific movies?

I don’t think he could have been handled with more respect on screen in 2021, than he is in this movie from 1955. Really groundbreaking.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Anders]

The Blackboard Jungle

Real classic. Poitier lights the screen up in one of his breakthrough roles.

It was the first major film to feature rock music on its sound track, and the first of its genre, with a teacher handling difficult students.

did you know that Poitier was never allowed to get laid in his movies because he was black? I'm not joking.

No. As a general rule, or for specific movies?

I don’t think he could have been handled with more respect on screen in 2021, than he is in this movie from 1955. Really groundbreaking.

yeah, as a general rule. He was typically paired with a white cast, and the studios were scared to have him fuck a white woman and scare everyone away. He finally got to sleep with a co-star in one of the movies he directed, but I can't remember which one.

I just find it interesting. Such a talented performer who trailblazed black roles for white audiences, but his characters could never get laid. Crappy.

Glad we have moved on from a lot of stuff from those times.

He really was an amazing actor, one of the best.