What movies are you watching?

[VinylGuy]

So you bring up two indie/foreign movies from two and three years ago and consider the argument over.

Its a discussion not an argument. Its just two different point of views.

[VinylGuy]

The Monster.

Well, i really like what Bertino does in the first half of the movie. The relationship between the mother and the kid, the really fucked up characters Zoe Kazan plays...its refreshing to have someone like her as a a lead. Im still not sure about the second half, mainly because of the monster itself but i appreciate the effort.

[bune]

So you bring up two indie/foreign movies from two and three years ago and consider the argument over.

Its a discussion not an argument. Its just two different point of views.

I apologize if I sounded like an ass. I was finishing up Stephen King's Bazaar of Bad Dreams and it's got some pretty damn depressing stories in it. And reading this this week especially didn't help.

[Jorge]

Why are you so put off by that?

I cant see why a movie like Bad Moms, is progressive really.
I just dont get it. Because Mila Kunis is in the supermarket in a very dull and boring montage?
Im not even going to discuss the horrible aesthetic, the wooden performances (Mila´s husband...is he a real actor?) but the overall feeling of ¨yeah this is edgy because ....¨ is whats i really really dont get.

It's progressive because it treats its female characters in ways we don't typically see in American cinema. You seem to have a difficult time thinking beyond the surface whenever this conversation comes up. I've tried and it seems I just can't explain this to you. So I won't try again. But trust me, it is very progressive. I certainly never said it was edgy. Maybe others have, but I wouldn't classify it that way. Feminist, progressive, positive, and fresh (in regards to the way women are represented and portrayed and in it's female-first, non-political stance, structure), sure, but not edgy. It isn't edgy.

Moving on to your other issues with the movie... I loved that montage. The performances are sometimes wooden (as I said, it's a flawed film and one of its flaws is that some of the performances aren't as good as they should be). But Katheryn Hahn and Kristen Bell are outstanding. Fabulous performances. I actually like David Walton (Mila's husband). This is probably the least interesting thing he's done but he's fine in this. I won't get into why his character and performance are also progressive in the sense that I mean it because I know now you won't agree with me. But that stuff is a part of why I like his role so much.

Anyway, I laughed a lot and really enjoyed the film. That's the bottom line for me. It's flawed but so much fun and it felt fresh inspite of its obvious plot beats. It's familiar, of course, like any romantic comedy but it's flipped and that's what makes it progressive and interesting beyond the tropes. It's not revolutionary film making. But it's a solid film with some great laughs in it.

I see your point but i still feel there is nothing progressive about it. Its the mainstream thought of being progressive, of women being ¨free¨.
Im ok with the last paragraph though, if you enjoyed the film thats the bottom line for everyone.

VG, have you ever heard of the Bechtel test? It's simple: Does a film contain more than two scenes of at least two women having conversations about something other than men? It may sound silly, but it's pretty sad how few films actually meet this criteria. From that standpoint alone, I can see why Joey might consider this movie to be progressive.

Guys, few films?
There are a lot of interesting films about women that are far more progressive than bad moms. Ill give you two right now, Blue is the warmest color and Deux jours, une nuit for example. If we want genre, you can say It Follows and The Neon Demon are great choices.
Those are far more honest in their approach to women that Bad Moms.
Hell lets list every Andrea Arnold movie!

I can see Joey´s point for somehow i feel thats the mainstream diluted idea of being fair with women.

Its Hillary Clinton.

I haven't seen Bad Moms so I probably shouldn't weigh in on the debate but I get the sense that Joey (and Trag's) comments were referring to movies within the context of mainstream Hollywood.

[VinylGuy]

High Or Hell Water.

Well, goddamn thats how you shoot a movie. Even if the end was a little too much, i loved the ride. David Mackenzie sure know how to do a compelling movie, i was a big fan of Starred Up, and this one is better.

Chris Pine is a fuckin star....and Jeff Bridges? Man.

[epilogue]

High Or Hell Water.

Well, goddamn thats how you shoot a movie. Even if the end was a little too much, i loved the ride. David Mackenzie sure know how to do a compelling movie, i was a big fan of Starred Up, and this one is better.

Chris Pine is a fuckin star....and Jeff Bridges? Man.

I loved Hell or High Water.

[bune]

Watched "Now You See Me" a few months ago and it was a bit of fun, kind of like a magical Ocean's Eleven. Watched "Now You See Me 2" last night and it was kind of like a magical Ocean's Thirteen, totally skipping the mediocre sequel and went for the somewhat boring "why does this exist, again?" It still had the same fun performances but I liked Isla Fisher way more than I liked Lizzy Caplan. Isla was a quieter presense while Lizzy was just loud and way too Kat Dennings. Hell, I would have liked Kat Dennings better.

I also liked the magic more in the first because it seemed to be magic-based while the second movie seemed more CGI-based. I know they used CG in both but it was a little better in the first one. I also liked the first one because you were guessing throughout but in the second you saw parts here and there and just knew what was coming or how it was happening. For example, the water scene from the commercials/trailers? My son had that figured out as soon as it started. He's 11.

There was one thing I liked/hated about 2 that I need to talk about: Woody Harrelson has a twin brother. The part of the movie where you expect the two to switch places didn't happen. But they definitely led you to think it did with poor editing and a lack of commitment on Woody's part to portray the character correctly. I dunno what happened there, but he lost his "accent" for the duration of the scene and it seemed like he was playing his brother but nope, that was a (really, really weird) red herring. So I hated that part but I liked how they didn't do the trope of having him play his twin. I'm not sure where I am on the balance, probably 40/60 of love/hate.

edit:

Oh yeah - I'm shocked that China let the country be portrayed with the low, wide shots that seemed to focus on the pollution. Every outside daytime shot looked like they were in the middle of a noxious cloud.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

a very brady sequel

[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.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

serious question: is ten things i hate about you worth watching?

[The Argonaut]

serious question: is ten things i hate about you worth watching?

Serious answer: tiddleywinks, tiddleywinks, poofy poofy pow-wow!

[lennytheweedwhacker]

serious question: is ten things i hate about you worth watching?

Serious answer: tiddleywinks, tiddleywinks, poofy poofy pow-wow!

mods?

[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.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

serious question: is ten things i hate about you worth watching?

When it came out, yes. Today, no.

but it has

[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.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

serious question: is ten things i hate about you worth watching?

When it came out, yes. Today, no.

but it has

I bet he was one of Bryan Singer's twinks.

oh, i thought that was julia stiles

[epilogue]

a very brady sequel

I love that movie so much it's sickening.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

a very brady sequel

I love that movie so much it's sickening.

really? i thought the first was a nice send up of the show, but the few minutes i saw of this just felt like a retread

[epilogue]

a very brady sequel

I love that movie so much it's sickening.

really? i thought the first was a nice send up of the show, but the few minutes i saw of this just felt like a retread

Absolutely. It's on the list of all time favorite comedies. That movie is perfect satire and absolutely hilarious.

Funny story: I met Lloyd Schwartz (Sherwood Shawartz's son) and he absolutely HATES A Very Brady Sequel. He wanted to do a series of films that saw the Brady's in different genres. He wanted to do a Very Brady Halloween or something like that. Or put them in space. He had all kinds of dumb ideas. But he basically got told to shut up and sit down and they went ahead and made A Very Brady Sequel in the same style as the original film.

So he turned around and made the tv movie The Brady Bunch in the White House. I can't remember if it ever actually aired. But I got to see the film with him and it was legitimately one of the worst things I've ever seen. Lloyd's a weird dude and I get his frustration but he is dead wrong about A Very Brady Sequel. It's far superior to the Brady Bunch Movie and a genuinely funny film.

[doug rr]

a very brady sequel

I love that movie so much it's sickening.

really? i thought the first was a nice send up of the show, but the few minutes i saw of this just felt like a retread

lenny lenny lenny