Underrated and overrated films (and other general filmy chat)

Not actually a western, and vampires rather than werewolves, but it has a strong western vibe: Near Dark.

Lance Henrickson playing a Civil War veteran vampire in the 1980’s.

The “bored vampires playing five card Russian Roulette” scene is memorable. :slight_smile:

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Ahh, I do love Near Dark. But yeah, westerns with (specifically) werewolves seem to be a rich yet untapped vein.

But it’s great to see half the cast of Aliens doing something very different with each other.

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#ThatStageInTheRelationshipWhenYouDiscoverWhetherYourSOLikesNearDarkOrYouHaveToLeaveThem

/s

/kinda

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My ex hated it; started yelling at the screen every time Mae appeared.

Of course, she also hated Casablanca [1], so…

[1] On the grounds that Bogart shattered the suspension of disbelief, because “no one could be that cool in reality”.

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Well, there’s a first time for everything. I guess.

But Bogey? C’mon!

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I… uh… I’ve kinda put off holding that test.

I’m afraid to discover the answer.

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My ex and I used to have “movie night” every so often. Frequently if we watched something too challenging for them, they would blame me, as if I made the thing. But rather than stick with “safe” popular movies, they insisted upon trying to process the weird arthouse/independent/fringe stuff I liked to watch. Sometimes they liked it, usually they didn’t know what to think. Sometimes it got “too real” and they’d blame me - even if neither of us had watched it before - simply because they knew that they would not have seen it if we hadn’t watched it together.

I was less invested in whether or not they liked a movie, than them being willing to discuss what they did or didn’t like. That’s where it all fell apart.

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LOL, I’ve never done it myself but did once have it done to me.

At first, I couldn’t remember which one Near Dark was but pulled my arse out of the fire by describing another vampire film I really liked, which I couldn’t remember the name of, which turned out to be Near Dark.

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Incidentally, the “five card” version of Russian Roulette apparently was the original version.

Late imperial Russian military officers were nuts.

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I absolutely agree – I enjoyed it, and when it got into full-bore craziness it was what I expected, but the first half of the movie wasn’t as funny as I’d hoped.

One interesting thing: when I saw it in the theater, I thought the Krampus’ face was weirdly immobile. Then I listened to part of the commentary track: he’s wearing a rotten old Santa Claus mask over his goat-face.

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That sucks, but you maybe dodged a bullet there. I mean, you might have been the gun but whatever.

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I just remembered something from a Subgenius book, like “Normals are attracted to Subgeniuses like moths to a flame, but when they get burned they blame you.”

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You’re left wanting both more and less. There are too many characters, too much tactical and technical explanation, too much pseudo-political prattle. And at the same time, there isn’t quite enough of the filial dynamic between Galen and Jyn, and not enough weight given to the ethical and strategic problems of rebellion. When might ends justify means? What kind of sacrifice is required in the service of a righteous cause?

Popular art — “Star Wars” included — has often proved itself capable of exploring these kinds of questions with clarity, vigor and even a measure of nuance. But “Rogue One” has no such ambitions, no will to persuade the audience of anything other than the continued strength of the brand. It doesn’t so much preach to the choir as propagandize to the captives, telling us that we’re free spirits and partners on the journey. The only force at work here is the force of habit.

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Yikes. Okay, New York Times. Take it down a notch. Shh. It’s okay. It’s just a fun Star Wars movie. It’s all good.

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A couple of tremendously smart comments about this film that I’ve seen today:

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The Times review made it seem like the plot was a big secret, I thought this was out long ago, it’s about stealing the plans for the deathstar that were the McGuffin in E-IV, or is there something I don’t know?

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I think the very first line in the very first trailer was something about stealing the plans for the Death Star. It’s not exactly secret. Did the NYT reviewer see their first Star Wars movie today?

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The reviewer mention the press kit asking them not to reveal spoilers. Something smells not right.

The great mystery of “Rogue One” — the big payoff, the thing people like me would be pilloried for divulging, the puzzle you will congratulate yourself for solving — is where it fits in with the rest of the “Star Wars” cycle. SNIP The spoiler warning sent by the Disney empire instructed journalists to “continue to be our partners on this journey,”

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The whole main title. Right after the Star…comes Wars. I thought they covered the war element pretty well there

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Watched a couple of Lindsay Anderson films this weekend.

If…, which I really liked, and then O Lucky Man!, which was totally incomprehensible to me (and I really wasn’t expecting to see Arthur Lowe in blackface). Some criticism of class and colonialism? Britannia Hospital isn’t available at the library so I guess I won’t be completing the trilogy…

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