Movies

[lordstanley]

15 hours ago, oblong said:

Anora won big tonight at the Oscars. Sean Baker becomes the first person to win 4 academy awards for the same movie.  

I watched Anora last night after the Oscars. Can definitely see why Mikey Madison won best actress, I thought she was amazing, and not only did she display range within the movie but on talk show appearances she seems different than the role she played. So must have really done her homework and gotten into character. As for the full movie, I really liked it, especially the first 45 minutes  and final half hour. Parts where they went looking for Ivan dragged just a bit. So I have no problem with it winning Best Picture, but I'd give it more like an 8 out of 10 than a 9.5 out of 10. Closer to Hangover in a way than to Pretty Woman. Would hardly even know it was an indie until I found out that the scenes where they entered venues looking for Ivan were the filmmakers crashing real-life events. 

[oblong]

19 minutes ago, lordstanley said:

I watched Anora last night after the Oscars. Can definitely see why Mikey Madison won best actress, I thought she was amazing, and not only did she display range within the movie but on talk show appearances she seems different than the role she played. So must have really done her homework and gotten into character. As for the full movie, I really liked it, especially the first 45 minutes  and final half hour. Parts where they went looking for Ivan dragged just a bit. So I have no problem with it winning Best Picture, but I'd give it more like an 8 out of 10 than a 9.5 out of 10. Closer to Hangover in a way than to Pretty Woman. Would hardly even know it was an indie until I found out that the scenes where they entered venues looking for Ivan were the filmmakers crashing real-life events. 

I think we will watch it this week.

Tarantino had quite the stable for his Manson clan in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which she was a part of.

Dakota Fanning

Margaret Qualley

Austin Butler

Maya Hawke

Lena Dunham (already famous at the time so doesn't count in the theme of what I'm doing here)

Sydney Sweeney

[romad1]

8 minutes ago, oblong said:

I think we will watch it this week.

Tarantino had quite the stable for his Manson clan in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which she was a part of.

Dakota Fanning

Margaret Qualley

Austin Butler

Maya Hawke

Lena Dunham (already famous at the time so doesn't count in the theme of what I'm doing here)

Sydney Sweeney

That's quite a group. 

[oblong]

OUTIH is clearly becoming one of my favorites ever...  Pulp holds a special spot so it may not ever top that but I find so many new things in it every time I watch again.  It's so genius.

 

[chasfh]

On 3/9/2025 at 11:15 AM, oblong said:

We have father of the bride on.  I’m 51. My wife is 52. We looked up the ages of the parents in this movie. Keaton and Martin are 45 when they filed this.  The other parents were 49.  

Pasting this here from the pet peeve thread.

Speaking of ages and movies, I wondered something as I was watching the movie "Pride of the Yankees", googled it, and it's true:

Gary Cooper, the actor who played Lou Gehrig, was born two years before Gehrig was. I wonder whether any other actor in a major motion picture ever played a real-life character they were actually older than.

[oblong]

10 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Pasting this here from the pet peeve thread.

Speaking of ages and movies, I wondered something as I was watching the movie "Pride of the Yankees", googled it, and it's true:

Gary Cooper, the actor who played Lou Gehrig, was born two years before Gehrig was. I wonder whether any other actor in a major motion picture ever played a real-life character they were actually older than.

Jennifer Lopez, born 1969, played Selena in the movie about her.  She was born in 1971.  is that a major motion picture?  I don't know.  But it's what I could come up with after a few minutes.

 

 

[Deleterious]

Yeah.  Movies about entertainers and athletes will be a sweet spot for that.

Samuel L. Jackson in Coach Carter.  He was born in 1948 and Ken Carter was born in 1959.  But nobody really knows who Ken Carter is.

Thought I had one with Moneyball.  But Billy Beane is a year older than Brad Pitt.

Quinton Aaron is a few years older than Michael Oher in The Blindside. 

Something not related to the sports/entertainment world.   Redford and Hoffman were a bit older than Woodward and Bernstein. 

[chasfh]

27 minutes ago, oblong said:

Jennifer Lopez, born 1969, played Selena in the movie about her.  She was born in 1971.  is that a major motion picture?  I don't know.  But it's what I could come up with after a few minutes.

 

 

Yes, that count. Eerily similar circumstances.

[oblong]

I just went with the idea it had to be a younger person and "Why would they make a movie about a relatively young person" and death is what I came up with.

All the President's Men is a great call.   I love 70's movies.  They were so tight.  I watched that for the first time a few years ago.

I peeked into Moneyball some more b/c I had a feeling the guy who played Justice might be close.... but 4 years off.

 

[smr-nj]

I think Madonna was 36 years old when she portrayed Ava Peron, whose life ended when she was 33 years old.

[Deleterious]

That is probably going to suck.

 

[oblong]

yesterday was St Patrick’s Day and I’m stunned I never saw this footage. Durum this scene in the Fugitive they used the real parade. In one shot you can see the reactions of the people. That was not scripted. I also think when Harrison Ford grabs a hat that wasn’t either. 

[Motor City Sonics]

To Live And Die in LA is the most underrated and underappreciated movie of the 80s.     No big star in it (William Peterson and Willem Dafoe were unknowns then).    Great car chase too.  Even better than the French Connection (same director).  Plot twist in the move that is VERY unusual for Hollywood movies.  

Look, I am not calling it a masterpiece, but it is highly underrated.   

 

Edited March 25 by Motor City Sonics

[romad1]

On 3/25/2025 at 2:43 PM, Motor City Sonics said:

To Live And Die in LA is the most underrated and underappreciated movie of the 80s.     No big star in it (William Peterson and Willem Dafoe were unknowns then).    Great car chase too.  Even better than the French Connection (same director).  Plot twist in the move that is VERY unusual for Hollywood movies.  

Look, I am not calling it a masterpiece, but it is highly underrated.   

 

I just rewatched this.  I'd compare it to a Hank Williams sr. song but in reverse.  His music was super basic but his lyrics were great.  Where as in To Live and Die in LA - the dialogue is super basic and even groanworthy in places - but the set piece scenes are fantastic.   The chase scene after they screw up the FBI bust is fantastic.  The chase to capture John Turturo in the airport is great. 

Male to female nudity ratio is skewed a bit heavy toward male nudity.   The actress who plays Willem Dafoe's girlfriend and the actress who played on Frasier are Bob Guccione-level fantasy material:

"I am counterfeiter in a west coast city and i never thought I'd be writing a letter to your magazine, but. . . "

The ending is a thinker. 

Narratively...is the main character Dafoe or Peterson?  Which is more sympathetic?  Or is it Pankow who is the one actually on the Campbell-esque "hero's journey"?

[romad1]

3 minutes ago, romad1 said:

I just rewatched this.  I'd compare it to a Hank Williams sr. song but in reverse.  His music was super basic but his lyrics were great.  Where as in To Live and Die in LA - the dialogue is super basic and even groanworthy in places - but the set piece scenes are fantastic.   The chase scene after they screw up the FBI bust is fantastic.  The chase to capture John Turturo in the airport is great. 

Male to female nudity ratio is skewed a bit heavy toward male nudity.   The actress who plays Willem Dafoe's girlfriend and the actress who played on Frasier are Bob Guccione-level fantasy material:

"I am counterfeiter in a west coast city and i never thought I'd be writing a letter to your magazine, but. . . "

The ending is a thinker. 

Narratively...is the main character Dafoe or Peterson?  Which is more sympathetic?  Or is it Pankow who is the one actually on the Campbell-esque "hero's journey"?

One other thought on this.  Wang Chung's score stands up very well over time...probably because i have the soft filter on those memories

I also really liked the Eurythmics original score for 1984 and Peter Gabriel's score for The Last Temptation of Christ.

[romad1]

Saw this blurb at the bottom of the wikipedia page for the movie

Quote

Car chase

The car chase featured in the film has consistently been ranked among the best car chase sequences on film, often appearing alongside The French Connection (another Friedkin directed film), The Seven-Ups, The Blues Brothers, Ronin and Bullitt.^[27][28][29]

Which of those is the best?  Is that list missing any good chases?

[oblong]

I don't know whether this is true for the others but for French Connection they didn't get a permit.  They didn't block streets.  So many of the reactions are legit.

 

[romad1]

2 hours ago, oblong said:

I don't know whether this is true for the others but for French Connection they didn't get a permit.  They didn't block streets.  So many of the reactions are legit.

 

Friedken misled the airport official in the chase in LAX. 

[Deleterious]

IMDB says they did block streets.  But often they ran past the blocked off area, so some of the shots are in real traffic.  I always found Bullitt and French Connection to be very overrated as far as car chases go.

The Ringer ranked Ronin as the #1 car chase.  Where De Niro is chasing Natascha McElhone through Paris.  That was a classic.

If a car ripping through a city in real traffic is your thing, check out C'était un rendez-vous.  It's Paris at 6AM on a Sunday, but it is 100% real traffic.  He is up on sidewalks, going the wrong way down one way streets, running red lights.  The sound dubbing is sort of bad though.  They use the sound to make it appear the car is going much faster than it really is. 

 

 

[gehringer_2]

4 hours ago, Deleterious said:

I always found Bullitt and French Connection to be very overrated as far as car chases go.

Could be urban legend and I haven't seen (heard?) the film since to make my own judgement, but I have since read that supposedly the Mustang in Bullitt was overdubbed with audio from a V-12 Ferarri. Makes sense since otherwise the Dodge (or Plym?) and Ford V-8s probably would have sounded too much alike.

Ronin was an underrated film all around. Kind of quirky I guess but I thought it was really well crafted.

Edited March 28 by gehringer_2

[Screwball]

1968 was the muscle car era. Mcqueen got more credit than he should have for doing the driving stunts, but he was into racing so that probably helped spin that. It was a 390 Ford so it would make plenty of noise (with headers), but you wonder what technology back then they had to record the sound.

At the time it was a neat movie for car guys. The 68 Camaro was my favorite car. So many cool cars back then.

[gehringer_2]

7 minutes ago, Screwball said:

1968 was the muscle car era. Mcqueen got more credit than he should have for doing the driving stunts, but he was into racing so that probably helped spin that. It was a 390 Ford so it would make plenty of noise (with headers), but you wonder what technology back then they had to record the sound.

At the time it was a neat movie for car guys. The 68 Camaro was my favorite car. So many cool cars back then.

Interestingly, when the movie was first mentioned I assumed that in reality both cars would have been old blg block iron with wet lifters that would be floating at 5500 rpm anyway - but my first take was wrong. I looked it up and you could get both the 427 in the Mustang and a 426 Hemi in a hot Chrysler build with a solid valve train so both would have been able to wind it up pretty good! 

But you did want the cars to sound different, and the V-12 would not have the same out of phase exhaust timing burble of a V-8 so you'd get a good contrast if that is what they really did.

Edited March 29 by gehringer_2

[Deleterious]

I mentioned C'était un rendez-vous.  They used a Mercedes as the car and dubbed in a Ferrari 275GTB. 

Technically, you never see the car.  They stole the French Connection thing where they mounted the camera on the front bumper. 

[Screwball]

9 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Interestingly, when the movie was first mentioned I assumed that in reality both cars would have been old blg block iron with wet lifters that would be floating at 5500 rpm anyway - but my first take was wrong. I looked it up and you could get both the 427 in the Mustang and a 426 Hemi in a hot Chrysler build with a solid valve train so both would have been able to wind it up pretty good! 

But you did want the cars to sound different, and the V-12 would not have the same out of phase exhaust timing burble of a V-8 so you'd get a good contrast if that is what they really did.

I don't know if they sound dubbed it or not, and it really doesn't matter. As far as the engines, I don't remember the RPM of the 390, and it would depend on how it was built. I'm guessing that car didn't have a stock engine.

I know iron blocks back in that day got quite a bit more than that. I had a Chevy 350 that could get upwards of 7500 (but built to do so). The 390 was considered a big block back then and they were heavier than the small blocks. I had a Ford 455 in my race car (65 T-bird). Generally, they couldn't get the RPM like the small blocks. Once you got them wound up though...hang on...

There is no substitute for horsepower.

Edited March 29 by Screwball

[gehringer_2]

10 minutes ago, Screwball said:

I don't know if they sound dubbed it or not, and it really doesn't matter. As far as the engines, I don't remember the RPM of the 390, and it would depend on how it was built. I'm guessing that car didn't have a stock engine.

I know iron blocks back in that day got quite a bit more than that. I had a Chevy 350 that could get upwards of 7500 (but built to do so). The 390 was considered a big block back then and they were heavier than the small blocks. I had a Ford 455 in my race car (65 T-bird). Once you got them wound up...hang on...

There is no substitute for horsepower.

My first car had a Chevy 327 Hi-comp (an SS). It was hydraulic valves to no top end there but it did pull like a trooper off the line.  Compression was so high in that silly thing that the starter couldn't turn it over once it was hot. But it didn't matter since the damn thing started on the first push to TDC pretty much every time. When I think back to all that power with those terrible suspensions, bias ply tires and drum brakes I'm amazed any of us survived  it! 

Edited March 29 by gehringer_2