what are you watching?

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Thu Feb 04, 2021 11:05 am

it honestly sounds kind of triggering? like, if you signed up for a rape revenge narrative, and if you've experienced sexual violence, this ending might feel particularly cruel?

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Thu Feb 04, 2021 3:12 pm

We watched the most recent King Kong movie last night and there's a photojournalist character that just kills me. She's got a little 35mm camera and she's constantly taking photos of him from like 4 miles away, after dark. I know the layperson doesn't use film cameras anymore but it was so ridiculous!!! There was also a lot of terrible stuff with using indigenous people as a sort of exotic background/set dressing. They never spoke and there's no info about them. Pretty brutal! It's a bad movie, though the ape looks incredible. But really bad.

RCH · Post by **RCH** » Thu Feb 04, 2021 5:51 pm

Um yeah, now I can say how I felt about that movie!

It is a mess but the best I can come up with is that this movie was made for the average privileged guy who has never experienced abuse.

And being a survivor, it is especially a mess! The ending is like, are you kidding me

I just want to see the King and the big dinosaur go RAR

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Thu Feb 11, 2021 3:35 pm

watched the documentary and now am fervently following #freebritney

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Thu Feb 11, 2021 6:09 pm

I didn't realize there was a documentary! That explains the sudden resurgence of Britney-chatter in the Tweetosphere. Excited to watch. Does it get into the weird evangelical woman/stalker who weaseled her way into the conservatorship?

On the watching tip: very late to the party, but we just tore through I May Destroy You. Wow. Related to our earlier conversation in this thread about dramatizations of sexual violence...it does such an excellent job of unpacking it all.

RCH · Post by **RCH** » Thu Feb 11, 2021 6:44 pm

SAME. I found her to be very intelligent and charming. Her early-career interviews revealed a depth of emotional intelligence, too--such as when she asked Barbara Walters to pause their interview because she was embarrassed that she was crying.

Did anyone see the recent Paris Hilton documentary?
Her experience in one of those awful teen-torture centers was devastating. She doesn't seem to be a very good person but no child deserves that.

I have been wanting to watch IMDY but I don't think I have the streaming service it's on. I have been in awe of Michaela Coel's talent since Chewing Gum 1 & 2. Chewing Gum 1 is up there with the great "uncomfortable awkwardness" comedies, but then season 2 has this tremendous heart and soul that knocked me off my armchair.

RCH · Post by **RCH** » Thu Feb 11, 2021 6:53 pm

I am sorry to keep talking about my displeasure at PYW but I do believe my critique is meaningful. I just read two interviews with the director that comment on the fact that Nina's assault is heard but not shown. In both cases it was offered as a congratulation to the writer-director, like "thank you for not putting us through that." But at the end, we are made to watch a very long scene of the protagonist's murder?? The writer even said "oh of course. Never," like we have been done a favor by her not showing one attack but graphically showing another. Hellllp me

And how many accounts from victims do we have to hear to understand that justice is so often unavailable? The BLM movement has proven that video evidence doesn’t necessarily help those tortured and murdered by police. Through my therapeutic community, I have learned that video testimony is likely to be used *against* victims. The movie expects us to believe that a single plea to law enforcement almost immediately results in arrest. To me, that’s the most disturbing aspect of the underlying assumptions of the movie. It presents this fantasy, deus ex machina ending. And that this complex protagonist found some redemption through sacrificing herself. Yucky.

Thank you for reading my reaction to this movie that is obviously very personal to me.

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Fri Feb 12, 2021 10:40 am

The Britney doc is incredible. It's not so much about her as a person or as an artist as it is about the cultural machine that doggedly pursued breaking her. We had to pause it occasionally for rage breaks. The most similar story is, I think, Princess Diana... these are women who simply are not allowed to exist, are watched 24 hours a day, and are criticized at levels approx 8,000% higher than any men in their circle, or men at all.
Free fucking Britney! The only crazy she is is the crazy we made her, and she doesn't need a fucking nanny, let alone one who is her greedy absentee father!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Fri Feb 12, 2021 10:41 am

I wanted to watch the Paris Hilton doc but then I read an article that outlined her racism and got really turned off. I still want to watch but am waiting for the mood to strike, a moment where I feel like engaging.

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Fri Feb 12, 2021 2:17 pm

The Britney doc is on Hulu. I May Destroy You is on HBO+.

infopetal · Post by **infopetal** » Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:30 pm

just watched clockwatchers for the first time…SO GOOD!

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 2:10 pm

We just watched it too! What a cast.

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Fri Feb 19, 2021 4:10 am

I’m excited to watch Nomadland tonight. Ready for some quiet, beautiful vistas.

Her film The Rider was my favorite of 2017. Bless you Chloe Zhao

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Wed Feb 24, 2021 8:52 pm

Just finished the new David Attenborough moments ago (Life on Our Planet). Very good and also deeply depressing look at how our biomass has changed over the past 60ish years, how much forest is left, etc. There's a lot of archival footage and discussion of his career as well because he's essentially using his own life experience as testimony to the changes.
Good/sad.

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Thu Feb 25, 2021 4:36 pm

Anyone get through the new Adam Curtis?

infopetal · Post by **infopetal** » Thu Feb 25, 2021 7:45 pm

just got to Nomadland, A+ vistas and I spent a good portion of the movie with cathartic tears streaming down my cheeks. what Chloe Zhao film should I watch next?

I feel like I should watch the new Adam Curtis, but I can't bring myself to. can anyone convince me it's worth it?

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Thu Feb 25, 2021 10:41 pm

I haven’t seen her first film but definitely watch The Rider. It’s slow, beautiful (shot in the badlands), and everyone plays themself (themselves? Their self? I don’t know none of these seem like words) in the movie. I liked Nomadland just alright by comparison. So many things were great but I couldn’t get over seeing Frances McDormand as herself among real-life outsiders which felt voyeuristic or jarring or something. She’s pretty outsider as far as Hollywood goes but it kept pulling me out of the movie.

I’m excited to rewatch Phantom Thread this weekend. Another 2017 treat.

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Fri Feb 26, 2021 11:36 am

Everyone plays him/herself!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Fri Feb 26, 2021 12:20 pm

I have acquired a hand-me-down jumpsuit from our own @yourfriendclaire and confirmed that I am indeed a jumpsuit person!
Jaunty, easy, sporty, fun. I feel good in a fun lil suit.

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Fri Feb 26, 2021 12:51 pm

Jumpsuit's got me feelin' so free (RIP Daft Punk)

I'm two episodes into the new Adam Curtis. It is dense, and really self-indulgent, even more wildly tangential than his previous stuff and at times fascinating. I've seen a lot of pushback against it out there in the Big Feed, but I think it's easier not to think of Adam Curtis as a journalist or even really a documentarian? I mean it's impossible to read his work through either of those lenses and not get annoyed. His work always feels to me like the highest manifestation of hypertext, in that it's just one guy's deep thread through the infinite archive of history. It's so associative and emotional. I like it, but I can only do one episode at a time.

Related: I was listening in on a Clubhouse discussion about new documentary forms the other day and some bozo on the line claimed to have watched it all in one night and "never got bored" YEAH RIGHT

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Fri Feb 26, 2021 2:01 pm

oh whoops, I meant to post that in What Are You Wearing!!!

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Fri Feb 26, 2021 2:07 pm

I love it, threads are dead

infopetal · Post by **infopetal** » Fri Feb 26, 2021 7:07 pm

When Threads Become 1

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Sat Feb 27, 2021 5:26 pm

phantom thread

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Sat Feb 27, 2021 5:59 pm

paranormal activity

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Sat Feb 27, 2021 6:20 pm

Prolly a glitch in the matrix

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Sun Feb 28, 2021 10:36 am

or that iconic line from Pulp Fiction: "thread's dead, baby. thread's dead"

alex · Post by **alex** » Sun Feb 28, 2021 10:44 am

what watch are you wearing

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Sun Feb 28, 2021 10:44 am

in Soviet Union watch watches you

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Sun Mar 07, 2021 9:19 am

We tried to watch the original Coming to America last night, but quit about 40 minutes in. Not enough jokes, too many loooong bits w mugging as multiple characters, and more sexism than either of us remembered. It just wasn't much fun.

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Sun Mar 07, 2021 9:25 am

OH, did everyone hear the news? Party Down revival is happening!!!!
I'm generally -10000% interested in remakes and revivals, but I will accept any and all new Party Down.

Here's a big interview/oral history- https://www.vulture.com/2019/11/intervi ... tival.html

infopetal · Post by **infopetal** » Sun Mar 07, 2021 4:13 pm

I hadn't heard but I AM READY!!!!!

Abe · Post by **Abe** » Sun Mar 07, 2021 5:40 pm

meadows wrote: ↑Sun Mar 07, 2021 9:25 am OH, did everyone hear the news? Party Down revival is happening!!!!
I'm generally -10000% interested in remakes and revivals, but I will accept any and all new Party Down.

Here's a big interview/oral history- https://www.vulture.com/2019/11/intervi ... tival.html

Holy Shit!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Sun Mar 07, 2021 6:03 pm

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Mon Mar 08, 2021 10:27 am

We just watched Coming To America too! I'd never seen it, and @joni has seen it 100 times. It's kind of ponderous and slow and oddly quiet, I thought. Halfway through I was like, "oh, there's no music?" Movies really used to be different. I did lose my mind over the costumes and styling...James Earl Jones' crown, the gold and coral necklaces, formalwear with a taxidermied lion head over the shoulder, all the flags and signets and patches and beads!! I want to know more about whoever did the production design.

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Mon Mar 08, 2021 10:42 am

The production design is incredible, so dense with detail and color. The palace scene near the beginning with the crowd of people all dressed in their finest really dazzles the eye.

RCH · Post by **RCH** » Mon Mar 08, 2021 1:41 pm

I did a rewatch of The Love Witch and rented the writer-director-everything's earlier feature, Viva.

So many things going on under the perfectly sculpted surface. Anna Biller went to CalArts and her work is meticulous--not just in appearance but intellectually.

Viva reminded me of Todd Haynes, all the precision control worldbuilding that reflects a character's interior story.

RCH · Post by **RCH** » Mon Mar 08, 2021 1:48 pm

This A****n Review video made me laugh. Starts out normal, then the person chuckles and comments, then they turn the video to their cat "Precious."

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-revi ... B07FV1X4RD

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Mon Mar 08, 2021 4:40 pm

I still haven't seen the Love Witch, but I've read a lot about it because she used old-fashioned hard lighting, which is something that I teach for photography. It's REALLY beautiful, and incredibly time consuming! I need to watch the damn movie already.

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Tue Mar 09, 2021 8:20 am

Watched Coming 2 America last night! It’s always fun to hit a sequel when you’ve JUST watched the original, it’s like stop-motion trick. I really liked it! Corrects the original’s 80s sexism, equally as bonkers in the production design department, stuffed with deep references and jokes, absolutely star-studded (Leslie Jones!!) plus it’s a delight to see the entire original cast (save Patrice and Darryl) looking gorgeous. A fun time at the movies!

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Tue Mar 09, 2021 9:39 am

Maybe we'll give it a try! It's the reason we thought to watch the original.

marijke · Post by **marijke** » Thu Mar 18, 2021 11:41 pm

Just watched The Souvenir and Toni Erdmann... thank you infopetal, a movie recommendation angel.

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 2:42 pm

Wow, I finally watched Lovers Rock. Now THAT is something special. I can't wait to rewatch it, frequently. All of the little details in the set and costume and music, combined with the relative lack of plot, and the wandering camera... give me that, over and over again.

RCH · Post by **RCH** » Sun Mar 28, 2021 9:39 pm

Meds is that the same thing as Small Axe?

meadows · Post by **meadows** » Mon Mar 29, 2021 10:02 am

Yes! It's one of the Small Axe films. Sorry to be unclear. Small Axe: Lovers Rock
<3

RCH · Post by **RCH** » Mon Apr 05, 2021 7:51 pm

*drumroll*
Here is a list of some free streaming movies that I've liked:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zvx ... sp=sharing

On one hand, the list has some deep horror gems, but on the other hand I like cute indie flicks and international high cinema so it's a mixed bag. Each has a brief description so you can search for drama, comedy, horror, etc. I will update it on occasion.

I hope it can help you when you don't know what to watch!

m o l l y · Post by **m o l l y** » Tue Apr 06, 2021 12:01 pm

Thank you for this treasure!

infopetal · Post by **infopetal** » Mon Apr 12, 2021 6:28 pm

what is this sacrilege?

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ ... s-to-close

yourfriendclaire · Post by **yourfriendclaire** » Tue Apr 13, 2021 11:28 am

So heartbreaking. Pouring out a big-ass movie pour of wine.

Let us share our favorite Arclight memories?

Toking on the roof of the parking structure with @w0lf before going to see some hacker nonsense movie. Godzilla in the dome. Phantom Thread in 70mm. The time we went to see There Will Be Blood and there was a sound issue 20 minutes into the movie and they restarted it from the beginning. Seeing the new Blade Runner three times at the Paseo (I'm insane). Playing dice in the bar. Always enthusiastically cheering after the pre-show patter. The moment when, after years of saying to my friends that "they should really sell sparking water here," I discovered that they did, in fact, start selling sparking water. Vaping out of my purse. Taking a million unflattering photos of myself and my friends posing in front of lesser movie props in the Arclight Hollywood lobby.

infopetal · Post by **infopetal** » Tue Apr 13, 2021 9:44 pm

Acrlight Hollywood memories:

Phantom Thread premiere on xmas eve with @w0lf'n'friends

holding hands and squealing with @w0lf when we went to see Us as a matinee because we are scaredy babies (the theater was mostly empty but someone from High Maintenance was sitting right behind us)

seeing Forrest Whitaker eating a cookie alone at the Veggie Grill (also with @w0lf before or after a movie can't remember)

accidentally locking eyes with Matt Ross in the lobby, I think we was looking for a friend but I watched Big Love so I was terrified

basically seeing a celeb every time I went—usually with @w0lf—the longer we lingered outside the lobby or in the parking garage chatting, once we saw Jeff Garlin and Dave Franco on the same day

taking my parents to see the 2016 Ghostbusters in the Cinerama Dome when they came to town and a dad sitting in front of us telling his kid "this is where I saw the first Ghostbusters"

I think I probably went to a Laemmle theater 5x as often as I went to an Arclight but these memories really show what a SPECIAL TREAT it was to go to an Arclight Hollywood movie. recipe for a perfect Sunday: get a free yellow curb prime parking spot in front, wander around Amoeba, get a Veggie Grill snack, catch a matinee.