Rangi Guy wrote:Ended up continuing the Christmas movie watching last night with Home Alone. Tonight Batman Returns. Somewhere in the next couple of weeks will be Love Actually and Die Hard
Some people think movies with snow are Christmas movies. I don't understand it either.
Rangi Guy wrote:Ended up continuing the Christmas movie watching last night with Home Alone. Tonight Batman Returns. Somewhere in the next couple of weeks will be Love Actually and Die Hard
Some people think movies with snow are Christmas movies. I don't understand it either.
Today I watched two movies: The Greasy Strangler and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (hi, New Zealand!). Neither was great, but each had a few things about them that I liked. The aesthetic of Greasy Strangler wasn't necessarily unique, but it was consistent and felt like its own world in a very quirky way. I especially liked how the film used repetition--whether it was in shots, like the father in the carwash, or in language, like the "disco cutie" line or how so many characters had "Big" before their name. I thought the ending was a bit out-of-place; for how "weird" the movie was, the characters had real weight and motivations. Giving it the super-surreal ending that it had wasn't satisfying. Wilderpeople was one of those movies that had a number of good performances--Sam Neill was great--and had an interesting idea at the core of its plot, but there were some missteps that slowed it down. I thought the social services character was almost entirely unnecessary: her over-the-top, broad comedic performance didn't match up with the wit and heart the rest of the film had, and if you cut her out, it could be like 20 minutes shorter and much tighter. Good overall, though.
Steve Albini wrote: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.
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Sun January 11, 2026 12:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Rangi Guy wrote:Ended up continuing the Christmas movie watching last night with Home Alone. Tonight Batman Returns. Somewhere in the next couple of weeks will be Love Actually and Die Hard
Some people think movies with snow are Christmas movies. I don't understand it either.
It's set at Christmas time - one of the main scenes revolves around the lighting of the town Christmas tree
"I really enjoy sandwiches but the other guys are so good at making sandwiches that I don't make them. Now I make sandwiches."
tragabigzanda wrote:Greasy Strangler is on my short list of flicks to watch. Looks like John Waters meets Napolean Dynamite.
I would say give it a go if you're interested. I'm not that into John Waters, but from what I understand, there aren't that many crossovers, besides neon colors and quirkiness. There were a few lol moments, and while I've seen some people talk down re: the toilet humor in it, I think most of it is self-consciously bad.
Rangi Guy wrote:Ended up continuing the Christmas movie watching last night with Home Alone. Tonight Batman Returns. Somewhere in the next couple of weeks will be Love Actually and Die Hard
Some people think movies with snow are Christmas movies. I don't understand it either.
It's set at Christmas time - one of the main scenes revolves around the lighting of the town Christmas tree
I didn't know about the death of Francis Ford Coppola's son until after I watched Twixt, and now I can't stop thinking about it. I'm not sure I've ever seen a filmmaker deal with a personal tragedy in such a direct, vulnerable way before. Pretty devastating.
Steve Albini wrote: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.
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Sun January 11, 2026 12:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
