That computer had access to some impressive projector tech, and it was handling color video before any home PC could.
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In an effort to understand why Colin Trevorrow was given Jurassic World and Star Wars IX, I watched Safety Not Guaranteed. I really liked it actually. Nice little indie film, well acted, kinda sweet. Not quite what I expected.
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I felt the same about that movie and totally did not expect the ending either.
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Any thoughts on Beasts of No Nation?
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I thought it was really powerful. Not sure why Elba didn’t get an Oscar nom.
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Because Hollywood is racist? And stupid?
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Being a charitable soul, I was wondering if it was ignored as more of an attack on Netflix by the studios than racism. But it’s probably both.
I am also pretty unimpressed (and unsurprised) that Eddie Redmayne got a nomination for The Danish Girl (which admittedly, I haven’t seen, but reviews of his performance are, at best, mixed, particularly from the transgender audience), when Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Tangerine were ignored totally.
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That could be it, too and it probably is both. I don’t think that the studios (who likely still have a strong lock on the voting system) have the best relationship with Netflix. That being said, it still goes back to possible racism, because of funding, who gets it from the major studios and why. Why didn’t this film, which deals with an important global issue (a similar issue that the Hunger Games deals with, but from a perspective of real life instead of a dystopian future), get major studio funding, as it could have been a major prestige project.
I’m rather uncomfortable with the whole thing of transgendered people being played by non-transgendered people. As you point out, Tangerine, which starred a transgendered woman of color, was virtually ignored.
And did you see the SNL skit this weekend about the white as hell Oscar nominations? Nailed it!
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Accidentally bought Spectre while trying to see if I could rent it. Guess that’s tonight’s film.
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I wonder if I should make a separate thread for the schlock reviews.
Anyway winter quarter started this week with Empire Of The Ants with Joan Collins. Nice communism is bad theme at the end. Anyway a real estate agent and the freeloaders have to escape nuclear waste fueled giant back projected ants. Directed by Mr BIG, Bert I. Gordon. An amusing 70s creature feature.
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I think I may have to try this again. First impression was that it was really boring, tedious, drivel, but surely that can’t be right. Anyway, I really hope Sam Mendes isn’t making any more Bond films ( I thought Skyfall was shite, so why expect more of the follow-up? Craig is good as Bond, but Casino Royale is the only decent Bond film he’s made).
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I haven’t seen Spectre yet, but I pretty much agree with you. Except that Casino Royale would’ve been total crap without Mads Mikkelsen.
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I just watched Predestination. Must have passed me by when it came out a couple of years ago. I kinda liked it, I’m a sucker for SF like this, even if it does have Ethan Hawke in it.
Also watched The Tale of the Princess Kaguya yesterday. Hmm… I normally really like Ghibli films, but this one just didn’t quite work for me. Too long, and I don’t think I like Takahata’s films as much as Miyazaki’s (yes, I have seen Grave of the Fireflies).
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My vote for the most underrated crypto-feminist commercial action film ever is The Long Kiss Goodnight with Geena Davis and Sam Jackson from 1996. Plot? Geena Davis plays a “housewife” with amnesia who begins remembering her prior career.
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Oh come on. Everyone hates on ghost rider because cage is in it. Granted the second one is shite and is trying way WAY too hard, but the first one is squarely a fun comic book movie.
Pity they missed the boat on joining the MCU though. That would’ve been fun.
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And late reporting in from last Thursday. The Flaming Urge with Harold Lloyd Jr. A young lad with the uncontrollable urge to watch fires (not set them) moves to a small town in hopes of there not being so many fires to interrupt his life. It was better than I was expecting which isn’t saying much. Solid if not great acting by everyone and shot on location in small town Michigan make it a nice short film which could be even shorter without the stock footage montage.
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I can also recommend Electric Boogaloo: The Wild Untold Story Of Cannon Films. A very interesting and amusing look at two guys from Israel who loved movies and produced some of the greatest schlock of the 1980s.
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When the lights go down and you see
Cannon Films
A Golan/Globus Production
you pretty much knew what you were getting from that point on.
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And it didn’t stop me from paying money to see Masters Of The Universe on the big screen… which was fun and not totally awful but not worth the ticket price either.
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