Movies

[beats me]

Hey oblique! I also watched Steamboat Bill Jr. this past weekend. Good flick. It’s amazing how you can still get the points in the movie despite it being silent with very few cue cards. In fact I was trying to determine exactly why they thought they needed to throw up a cue card at some points and not others. The ones they did use it’s not like I would have been completely lost if they didn’t throw it up there.


I also thought that at clocking in at over 1.5 hours I would have fallen asleep but I didn’t! PRO TIP: Watching movies I in chair instead of a bed helps you stay awake and engaged.

[oblique strategies]

Cool! Keaton is the greatest of the silent comedians. The cyclone is truly spectacular!

"The cyclone sequence was shot in Sacramento, California. $135,000 worth of breakaway street sets were built on a riverbank, to be systematically destroyed with six powerful Liberty-motor wind machines and a 120-foot (37 m) crane. Keaton himself, who calculated and performed his own stunts, was suspended on a cable from the crane which hurled him from place to place as if airborne.

The sequence is punctuated by Keaton's single most famous stunt: He stands in the street, making his way through the destruction, when an entire building facade collapses onto him. The open attic window fits neatly around Keaton's body as it falls, coming within inches of flattening him. Keaton did the stunt himself with a real, two-ton building facade and no trickery. It has been claimed that if he had stood just inches off the correct spot, Keaton would have been seriously injured or killed. He refused to rehearse the stunt because, he explained, he trusted his set-up, so why waste a wall?"


I agree with you about the use of cue cards. 'Sunrise' has very few as well, so the film is told purely through cinema & physical acting.

[H20nly]

George Clooney was also good in:

Solaris
Steven Soderbergh remake of Tarkovsky's 1972 original. Beautiful, plus it has an excellent soundtrack by Cliff Martinez.

Syriana
"I think "Syriana" is a great film. I am unable to make my reasons clear without resorting to meaningless generalizations. Individual scenes have fierce focus and power, but the film's overall drift stands apart from them. It seems to imply that these sorts of scenes occur, and always have and always will. The movie explains the politics of oil by telling us to stop seeking an explanation. Just look at the behavior. In the short run, you can see who wants oil and how they're trying to get it. In the long run, we're out of oil." ~Roger Ebert

The Good German
Steven Soderbergh's film noir homage (particularly The Third Man & Casablanca) Shot in black & white, Soderbergh shot is as if it was being made in 1945, using only the tools, cameras, sound equipment, & lighting of the day.

i saw Syriana... it was good, but also unnerving and dark. but yes, Clooney did his part well.

the other two... thanks! i will check them both out

[oblique strategies]

Clooney was in 'South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut' too!

[beats me]

There's a podcast called the Jimmy Dore Show, a lot of comedic left wing commentary on political and current events. There are also a lot of calls into the show from spot on impressions of politicians and celebrities. George Clooney has been calling in a lot lately. In one call he was talking about how him and his other celebrity buddies like to prank each other and (picture in Clooney's calm playful voice) "One time we were at a restaurant and I had to go to the bathroom and I left my hat on the table and while I was gone they put it on my chair so I sat down on it and smashed it. That was pretty funny. I got him back though. I fucked his wife. Yeah, we like to prank each other and have a good laugh." And apparently Clooney frequently counter pranks his friends by fucking the their wife like it's a total equal and appropriate response.

[oblique strategies]

The Clooney mojo!

[beats me]

If Clooney nailed your wife you couldn’t even be mad about it because it’s Clooney! You might even brag to your friends about it like it’s a highly prized stamp of pedigree and approval.

[H20nly]

Clooney was in 'South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut' too!

in season one, he played Stan's gay dog Sparky too.

[beats me]

Clooney was also in the South Park episode Smug Alert as an award acceptance speech cloud approaching South Park.

[stringtapper]

Wasn't Clooney the one who "discovered" Trey and Matt when he saw a video they had created online?

[H20nly]

Wasn't Clooney the one who "discovered" Trey and Matt when he saw a video they had created online?

I started to mention that too, but couldn't remember for sure. They had created a sort of digital Christmas Card or something like a Christmas short. It was the basis for the kids and their Santa Claus character in South Park later and I'm fairly certain he was one of the ones who wanted more of that.

[beats me]

I’ll just put this here. Rick Rubin just released a Star Wars EDM album named Star Wars Headspace with songs by top EDM and electronica artists. To my ears its neither great for Star Wars fans or EDM fans. The songs are mediocre on both accounts. It’s like the artists had some spare songs lying around they weren’t too attached to and were told they can add Star Wars samples and won’t get sued. It’s like a phoned in money grab for talent that doesn’t really need the money or exposure.

[Tarekith]

They shoulda asked Tiesto to do it.

[beats me]

99 Homes. Good flick. Kind of like Wall St. on a smaller scale but about home foreclosures.

Haven’t seen The Big Short yet, but I think that is roughly the same thing. But no matter how many movies get made about the truth behind the mortgage crisis not a damn thing is going to change. People who lived it will feel their anger is vindicated and people who didn’t will be “Oh, so that’s what happened”. Impact on actual banking changes and policy: Zero.

[H20nly]

99 Homes. Good flick. Kind of like Wall St. on a smaller scale but about home foreclosures.

Haven’t seen The Big Short yet, but I think that is roughly the same thing. But no matter how many movies get made about the truth behind the mortgage crisis not a damn thing is going to change. People who lived it will feel their anger is vindicated and people who didn’t will be “Oh, so that’s what happened”. Impact on actual banking changes and policy: Zero.

post flagged for political overtones