DISMANTLE WHARF

Apparently "Chopped 420" exists now, and I'm going to scour the internet for the files

If u wanna watch Kristen Stewart in Linda Hamilton action mode: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/underwater-2020

Aside, I find TJ Miller to be so abrasive and charmless but he is always cast in this "funny guy who doesn't take things seriously" role. How dare they make Kristen Jaymes Stewart work with him. Pretty sure he's a documented bad guy, I'm always like Wasn't this guy cancelled already??

I loved that trashy underwater movie! I think @meadows was talking about it on this board in early-to-mid quarantine times. I find it mystifying that K-Stew would ever do a film like this...she can't need the money? Maybe it just seemed fun. Maybe she wanted to shave her head and pay homage to Ellen Ripley (she is mad hot in this movie). Generally speaking I respect her and Robert Pattison a lot for taking the Twilight bucks and making a million arthouse movies.

TJ Miller is absolute barftown

Yeah I really enjoyed that movie! I think there should be more like it- kind of well made b movies, movies with slightly smaller ambitions than to win an award or be the highest grossing box office. Just a pretty good movie. Kstew looks SO good in it and it felt like a Ripley homage to me?

Definitely delete TJ Miller from all films good and bad.

Is anyone else watching Mare of Eastham?

Also, I got to recommend Until The End of The World to two different students this week as germane to their work! Fingers crossed one of them watches it, and then makes their friends watch it, and someday we're all just watching it and talking about it.

@joni and I are watching Mare of Eastown! Into it so far. Mostly because the Philly accent is truly a god-tier level American accent, both subtle and marked, VERY rarely attempted in films, and it seems every actor in this show is contractually obliged to say "water" ("wooder") at least once per episode.

Do they sound like Philly Boy Roy?

I like that it's kind of a portrait of a place, with lots of small town life detail and drama. Winslet is very good.
WOODER!

Turns out Mare of Easttown was secretly (or not so secretly) about sadness and trauma, and not such a scary murder mystery. I still loved it.

Rewatched Arrival for the 3rd time recently and GOD is that a great movie.

Didn't see that finale coming! I really loved it too. I love in a season-ender when all the loose ends seem like they're tied up and everyone's happy, and then you pause the show for a second to go get something and realize "oh wait there's 45 more minutes of this episode??"

We've been watching a slept-on 2018 show called Lodge 49. Anyone get into that? It only got two seasons on AMC, but it's a great little Pynchon-esque tripper dramedy about a down-on-its-luck fraternal organization in Long Beach—think harbor cops, plumbing salesmen, and riveters in LARP gear enacting weird alchemical rituals while the aerospace industry that made Long Beach prosperous in the 60s craters all around them. There's an extremely light edge of "is magic actually real"? to it, but it never veers into straight-up fantasy. More like light magical realism. A hard tone to nail. It stars an actor that it took us five episodes to realize is Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russel's son. I highly recommend:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodge_49

Anyone watching Hacks? I am liking it, but a debate that has come up a few times around it is whether A) it is funny B) how funny is it suppoed to be? My stance has been that it is more about comedy than it is a comedy itself, but maybe it is just a comedy that isn't that funny...

I tried! I don't like it! I love the world of it, inside baseball Vegas! But I don't understand why anyone behaves the way they do. Why would you be so rude to your own boss? Every interaction gives me an overwhelming "huh?" feeling.

Also, and this is fully just a vague, hand-wavy thing, but I feel like it's part of a crop of shows recently with totally incomprehensible politics...I started noticing this with Apple Plus shows, like The Morning Show and Mythic Quest. It's kind of a neoliberal symptom, I think. On the surface they seem to be on the level, because characters are dressed like hipsters or whatever, but whenever the show actually addresses a hot-button issue like Me Too or "cancel culture" it somehow does it in the most anodyne, neutral, noncommittal way. It feels very market-researched, like it doesn't want to alienate anybody. The whole plot point in Hacks about the writer getting "cancelled" for a Tweet? But it turns out the Tweet in question is...attacking a homophobe? It has a both-sides energy, no?

I'm pretty into Hacks, but I see your point, Claire. I hate the younger character and find her whole deal confusing. I'm watching for JEAN SMART and the immersion into Vegas stuff. I think the funniest parts are offhand lines by side characters, but it's not a super comedy. I just watched an episode that was actually really sad and dark and it threw me for a loop.
Still, Jean Smart keeps me coming back!

here to say that Hacks gets even better just after the middle of the season. Focuses much less on the young dummy and we learn a lot more about Jean Smart's character, comedy scene history, etc. If you really don't like it you still won't, but if you're on the fence stick it out!

Don't have HBO but I will watch Hacks when I'm subscribed! TBH, I like "inside comedy" from listening to Tim Schorplaugh if you catch my drift.

Great Cinema I've seen lately
*Updated in https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zvx ... sp=sharing

- Fehér Isten (White God) (2014, Hungary)
The Red Balloon, 10 years later. A lovable mixed-breed street dog is propelled along a consciousness-raising track that culminate in an existential showdown for individual and societal liberation.

- Corporate Animals (2019, US)
Dark comedy, satire, thriller, salon-style ensemble comedy cast. The worst possibilities within Lean-In, Girlboss, Capitalist feminism culminates in a corporate retreat gone survival mode. Demi Moore is flawless as the cutthroat villain who is spared from performing no moral sin.

- Southland Tales (2006)
The pomo west coast naughties scifi will withstand the test of time as auteur cinema.

just had an ol' fashioned binge of hacks and enjoyed it. I agree with @meadows that the side characters have all the best line, i.e. Marcus's mom and boyfriend (aka water cop). there is enough good in the show I would say to stick it out for some of the catharsis that comes later in the season, but I am so tired of cringe comedies centered on people who are perpetually self-destructive, especially when those are often the primary pop culture depictions of women near my own age. (also as someone who worked for a wealthy career-oriented woman several decades my senior—the aforementioned fan of wiener dogs—this show was very TRIGGERING!)

My family has been watching The Expanse. We call it 'Space Problems'. The class and ethnic issues are fun. Bit of gratuitous gore. I guess people enjoy that? It can be almost witty, the gore. So gratuitous. Seems to be a thing.

There was a particularly dark (the ending) episode of Hacks that I really did not care for.
The end of the season, though, has some pretty stellar and cathartic stuff that I loved! Jean Smart, she's so good. Glamorous, sensitive, angry, tired.

I will definitely watch Hacks when I can because I love what you are saying about Jean Smart's role.

I am excited to see Zola. It's a thrill to see what was a you-had-to-be-there tweet thread turn into what looks to be a proper movie. I am excited about Coleman Domingo, who I think is really one to watch since I first saw him playing a super dashing and enigmatic character in Fear the Walking Dead. He uses his social media in a cool way--to create an organic online social club with other actors in the live video model. I think he's playing a con artist in Zola but I suspect it'll be "con artist you are cheering for."

Also... Riley Keough's got the chops. Without realizing who she was, she really stood out to me in LVT's The House that Jack Built.

Anyone seen Goliath? I watched S3 on its own and it was great. Story about water rights in California, plus people with very wild and entertaining personalities. Amy Brenneman plays an incredibly fascinating, commanding, charismatic power-woman of a mature age.

Update: I came around on Hacks, okay? I still found the younger writer character utterly incomprehensible to the end, but you're right, @meadows, the peripheral characters (all perfectly cast) got the best lines, and Jean Smart toes that line between acerbic/tragic/lovable beautifully.

Zola is great. Has anyone on here seen it yet? As a narrative it has a weird, kind of oddly unsatisfying arc, but at the same time it feels realer than a movie in a really interesting way. I love how faithful it was to the spirit of the text—I heard an interview with Jeremy O Harris where he was talking about studying the tweet thread line by line and referring to it like the Bible, by passage—and I was just drinking it up visually.

Yeah, Hacks was worth it! Incredible cast and characters except that one unfortunate gal. She sucks. Jean Smart's wardrobe too?!

I just saw Zola and I didn't love it! I liked it, but the tempo felt weird to me. It felt kind of disjointed but I am still trying to put my finger on it. I loved the acting (incredible) and a lot of the visuals but wished that it had perhaps been tenser or that Zola herself was less opaque, though it's very true to the twitter. Reading that thread when it came out was so nuts- I can totally picture where I was in the world and what it felt like to refresh the feed and wait for more.
Visually, there was a scene early on where Stefani was calling Zola and we saw her lying on her couch and it looked so incredibly reminiscent of this photographer's work, Deana Lawson. I wouldn't be surprised if it was an influence. What a shot that was!

https://www.google.com/search?q=deana+l ... 06&bih=766

Hacks is having a turn in the evening family ritual.

Believe it or not I have been enjoying a show called FLACK, also about showbiz ladies!

I'm watching many hours of a self-help writer, Evy Poumpouras. She has a great way of talking about self-image, flow, mastering skills, self-motivation, etc. She is a former COP and worked for NYPD and the US Secret Service :-0

Zola was the first movie I saw back in the theater. I enjoyed it! Penises are so weird looking.

Lodge 49 was my big discovery early pandemic — I ended up watching it three times in 2020. I always struggle to say what it’s about. Mostly I say it’s about friendship.

(Celebrity Crush cross post) One episode in, I am enjoying The White Lotus, and I am looking forward to seeing what happens next

@pizza aaah I have yet to encounter another human soul who has seen Lodge 49! It's so special.

@alex I have a good feeling about White Lotus. I was on the fence watching the first episode, but three eps in and I think it's genius. I don't think there's been such an effective & biting show about class since Succession. Jennifer Coolidge!

I need to have an HBO trial week binge soon. I saw that The White Lotus is by Chuck & Buck!!??

[the other day instead of saying "I'm gonna squeeze by you" someone said "suck and tuck" and all I could think about was Chuck & Buck]

I'm also really enjoying the white lotus, which has captured both the humor and the deep, deep sadness of Jennifer Coolidge's skill set.

Summer of Soul finishes strong.

O. And I finally watched US. Also a strong finish. Best Trump era film?

Summer of Soul is amazing. Saw it in theatrés. That Stevie Wonder drum solo???

That Nina Simone reading. That last interview.. ".. so beautiful [tears]"

Yeah, the decision to frame the film around showing people who were *there* the unearthed footage was so strong. We all have these memories that are visceral + emotional but feel dreamlike due to the lack of corresponding documentation...in contrast we also have memories that feel concrete and almost scripted, because they're supplemented by some childhood video or photo. The feeling you get when you come across an image or video later in life, an image you didn't know was taken, and it corroborates a powerfully-felt emotional memory...it's rare and special

In other news we just hit the theaters yesterday to see ANNETTE, Leos Carax's new flick, written and scored by the brothers Mael. Wow y'all

Anyone want to chat about the Woodstock doc??

@meadows The woodstock 99 one? I watched it and am happy to hear thoughts about it. My main take away was that I feel good about having listened to so much The Offspring in my life, they seem cool.

I feel so conflicted about ANNETTE. I’m big for HOLY MOTORS, but feel glutted with the guy from GIRLS and skeptical about the guy from the embarrassing show my parents keep saying I will like. Has anyone logged on and seen it?

It’s so good! Truly a weird soufflé of classic Sparks, unexpectedly moving operatic earworms, highly artificial/unreal staging, and squirmy French arthouse choices. It can be ugly in moments but also exhilarating. It feels so big, even though it was written initially as a three-person stage play. I think it’s likely too difficult and weird to be a big success but it really knocked me out and kept me in its thrall for days after we left the theater. A+, destined for cult classic status.

the Sparks songs are excellent but the plot was too indulgent and histrionic for me personally, especially as a chaser to the similarly dark/cynical/murderous White Lotus. why are my eyeballs so often having to watch Adam Driver play a complete misogynistic asshole? I feel like he is actually a kind person so don't understand why he keeps playing the same character with anger issues.

although it was not for me I still appreciated how truly weird it was, the puppets gave me a couple spontaneous bursts of laughter, and I am intrigued by the lengths Simon Helberg went to be in the movie including becoming a French citizen. worth a watch but maybe like on a Sunday afternoon with a friend who is not easily weirded out that you can process the wtf of it all together.

anyone have any thoughts on The Green Knight? it was my first movie theater outing since March 2020! (besides one private screening for a friend's bday in the spring.) still trying to decide if I found anything about it redeeming besides it being very beautiful.

I saw the Green Knight twice! I really connected with it and found it life-affirming and uplifting. Themes of accepting love even when you feel you don't deserve it, finding something true even though you're a complete coward, life as infinite cycles. Visually, I liked that there were no scenes lit by firelight or candlelight, even though it's expected. I liked that the sound was subjectively composed more than realistic. Tell what you thought, I don't mind if you thought it was a flop!

I desperately want to see the Green Knight in a theater but covid in Oregon is SO BAD right now, it doesn't seem like the thing to do.
Even if it were only very beautiful I think I will like to see it large.

We've got a rocking 4K file on our Plex if you want! It's VERY beautiful. I appreciated the effects a whole lot; it's so rare to see artful practical effects work in this day and age. What they did with what I can only imagine is one millionth of the budget of a single episode of Game of Thrones is remarkable. The fabrics and costuming alone were so lush!

watching lodge 49. it's very stressful. protagonist keeps making terrible choices. not sure if we can stick with it.

Nooo stick with it, it’s so earnest

Oh yeah, your plex! Thanks for the reminder. I see you've got Max Headroom. Should we watch it?

I'd be interested to know what you think of it! It's a much more straightforward hourlong network TV drama than you might think—I mostly remember Max Headroom as a disjointed character in popular culture (commercials, that one signal hijack in late '80s, general zeitgeist stuff) so it's weird to see it contextualized in something so explicitly narrative. We couldn't get through more than a few episodes, but I have some friends who are devotees.

We just watched M*A*S*H* for the first time this week, the original Altman flick, not the TV show. I was hyped, as you can imagine, to visit with my good friend Elliott Gould, but...oof. Talk about movies that are hard to watch through 21st century eyes. So much explicit sexism and racism. So many scenes depicting "zany pranks" that are actually just assault. Rough all around.

We're hitting movie THEATRES today to see the new Paul Schrader, The Card Counter. It feels like just yesterday I was lamenting in these pages that Oscar Isaac had seemingly given up arthouse flicks in favor of chasing Marvel bucks forever...how wrong I was. Will report back.

What's everyone's good trash TV these days? We're watching Nine Perfect Strangers (which I like to refer to as "12 Complete Weirdos" or "Seven Entire People" or "Eight Absolute Randos") and Only Murders in the Building, both of which are enjoyable mind-softening romps.

The only tv thing I've been excited about is Reservation Dogs.It's funny and smart and was written and directed entirely by indigenous people. We are only a few episodes in but already very much hooked and obsessed.

Seconding Reservation Dogs. Loved the Cop Ride-along episode. Just sweet complicated flavors. (Beat Happening cue in ep. 4)

was just profoundly moved by language lessons even tho it's kinda cringe? maybe that's why it was so affecting? life itself is pretty cringe.