Which movie did you watch today and how would you rate it?

[DrZoidberg]

Today of course it would be an outcry that straight actors were given gay parts.

Says you.

Would the "outcry" consist of fifteen angry Twitter posts, built up into a "news story" by Fox or Breitbart and the like, as usual?

Woke outcries are rarely big in the group that are "supposed to be" the offended. Wokeness is typically members of the majority offended via proxy. People narcissisticaly "empathising" with the victims of a heinous crime and thereby stealing all the spotlight.

I suspect most gays will be fine with straight actors playing gay roles. I never thought otherwise

 

[bilby]

I re-watched Priscilla Queen of the dessert yesterday. It's still a 10/10 movie.

I noticed some things about it this time I missed in the 90'ies. It has a fairly tale feel to it. It's not realistic in the least. It's a series of scenes one more absurd than the other, but because the subject matter the audience (ie me) accepts it. It's like being in someone else's fantasy.

None of the three drag queens are played by gay actors. When I saw it back in the day I had no idea. I just took it for a given. It's fascinating to compare the worlds of the 90'ies with today. When that came out the gays and politically correct were high fiving each other over this film and how progressive it was. Today of course it would be an outcry that straight actors were given gay parts.

I still can't understand why the woke have any problems with actors playing stuff they aren't. That's the whole point with acting.

That movie was one of my first experiences of the vast cultural gap between Australia and (the north of) England.

It was released in Australia while I was here as a temporary resident, and in the UK while I was there arranging my Australian permanent residency.

I saw it on both occasions, and the difference in who the audience was was astonishing to me. In Australia, everyone went to see it. It's in large part a celebration of Australia - both the country and the people - so that's not surprising. In the north of England, the audience was comprised of a handful of gay men, and me. I took my mum, to show her this spectacular presentation of the country to which I was emigrating. The only women in the entire cinema were, as far as I could tell, the mothers of men who weren't there alone or with their male partners.

The small-mindedness of the non-gay Yorkshire people in shunning that film confirmed to me that I was making the right choice to leave.

On the whole, Australians (of all sexual preferences) are infinitely more accepting of different sexual preferences than English people. While simultaneously being far more macho (even the women) than the Poms.

But more importantly, Australian audiences could see that this wasn't a film about homosexuality. The three main characters are all transvestites, and certainly all part of the Sydney (Kings Cross/Darlinghurst) queer scene. But only one is unambiguously portrayed as homosexual. Australian audiences (in the capital cities, which make up the vast majority of the total population) are capable of grasping that not everyone who is different, is the same.

It's a terrific movie. And entertainingly explores the very complexities the ignorance of which led Yorkshiremen to avoid it in droves.

 

[Politesse]

Interesting observations, bilby. Funny what a crowd can tell you. When I went to see Brokeback Mountain not long after it came out (dragging along a poor unfortunate lad I was interested in at the time), the audience was largely comprised of young to middle-aged women, and I quickly came to realize that the film had been made for them and not for me. This trend repeated itself more recently with Love, Simon, but I was anticipating it that time. Not all straight women may not like to talk about it, but they like watching cute boys shoot mutually smoldering looks every bit as much as straight men like waching lesbians smooch.

I need to see Priscilla, it sounds like a good film.

 

[DrZoidberg]

Interesting observations, bilby. Funny what a crowd can tell you. When I went to see Brokeback Mountain not long after it came out (dragging along a poor unfortunate lad I was interested in at the time), the audience was largely comprised of young to middle-aged women, and I quickly came to realize that the film had been made for them and not for me. This trend repeated itself more recently with Love, Simon, but I was anticipating it that time. Not all straight women may not like to talk about it, but they like watching cute boys shoot mutually smoldering looks every bit as much as straight men like waching lesbians smooch.

I need to see Priscilla, it sounds like a good film.

Here's a fun fact about gay erotica, (ie erotic books) I learned when visiting a publishing house of erotica. 75% of all gay erotica is read by women. No surprise there. But what's weird is that 75% of it is also written by women. It's a genre mostly by and for women. I don't know if these women are gay or straight, but I'm going to assume straight.

When I was in a Sydney gay club I ran into a large group of Australians who looked like the machos in the outback of the film. They all had the same t-shirt. It read "Fuck a Farmer". They lived up to exactly zero of my stereotypes of gay men. They were a rowdy bunch. One of them pinched my bum. I was not offended.

 

[WAB]

Interesting observations, bilby. Funny what a crowd can tell you. When I went to see Brokeback Mountain not long after it came out (dragging along a poor unfortunate lad I was interested in at the time), the audience was largely comprised of young to middle-aged women, and I quickly came to realize that the film had been made for them and not for me. This trend repeated itself more recently with Love, Simon, but I was anticipating it that time. Not all straight women may not like to talk about it, but they like watching cute boys shoot mutually smoldering looks every bit as much as straight men like waching lesbians smooch.

I need to see Priscilla, it sounds like a good film.

Here's a fun fact about gay erotica, (ie erotic books) I learned when visiting a publishing house of erotica. 75% of all gay erotica is read by women. No surprise there. But what's weird is that 75% of it is also written by women. It's a genre mostly by and for women. I don't know if these women are gay or straight, but I'm going to assume straight.

When I was in a Sydney gay club I ran into a large group of Australians who looked like the machos in the outback of the film. They all had the same t-shirt. It read "Fuck a Farmer". They lived up to exactly zero of my stereotypes of gay men. They were a rowdy bunch. One of them pinched my bum. I was not offended.

Well, I guess it all depends on where this person pinched your bum. Was it on the cheek, or on the ass?

I had a bum once, but I had to fire him. He kept getting drunk all the time and sleeping in the copy room!

 

[Jayjay]

I re-watched Priscilla Queen of the dessert yesterday. It's still a 10/10 movie.

I noticed some things about it this time I missed in the 90'ies. It has a fairly tale feel to it. It's not realistic in the least. It's a series of scenes one more absurd than the other, but because the subject matter the audience (ie me) accepts it. It's like being in someone else's fantasy.

None of the three drag queens are played by gay actors. When I saw it back in the day I had no idea. I just took it for a given. It's fascinating to compare the worlds of the 90'ies with today. When that came out the gays and politically correct were high fiving each other over this film and how progressive it was. Today of course it would be an outcry that straight actors were given gay parts.

I still can't understand why the woke have any problems with actors playing stuff they aren't. That's the whole point with acting.

I don't see any kind of outrage over straight people playing gay characters in recent movies. Look at Rocketman (2019) and Bohemian Rhapsody (2019). Both are biopics about gay musicians, who are played by straight actors. I don't remember there being a huge controversy over their casting choices.

 

[blastula]

Outrage over casting tends to be over an actor playing a character with a different ethnicity. Also lately, over playing a different gender identity when playing a trans person.

 

[marc]

Scoob! 8/10

A CG Scooby Doo movie. Starts off showing how they all met, then transitions to the present not by saying 'X years later' or a montage of their adventures, but by recreating the original opening which was pretty cool. A fun adventure that pokes fun at itself a lot. Also is supposedly setting up a Hanna-Barbera Universe. Blue Falcon is a big part of the story, which is not that surprising as they did crossovers with Scooby Doo long ago. But then there are connections to other cartoons. Blue Falcon's assistant is one of the Teen Angels from Captain Caveman, who they do meet later on (didn't care much for the voice on him, and really failed to do his signature battle cry) , and the villain is Dick Dastardly. Other references include an arcade that had games for Hong Kong Phooey, Laff-a-lympics, Frankenstein Jr. In the closing credits they kind of show Adam Ant, Jabber Jaw, Grape Ape, Johnny Quest.

So, if you liked the old Scooby Doo cartoons long ago you will probably like this.

Oh, might as well include the direct to video "Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost". In 1985 there was a 13 episode series The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, guest starring Vincent Price. Has only Shaggy, Scoob, Daphne, Scrappy, and a new character Flim Flam. First episode they are tricked into releasing 13 evil ghosts, next 12 episodes round up 12 of them. Well in 2019 they finally got around to wrapping up the story. They bring in Fred and Velma who knew nothing of the whole 13 ghosts stuff. They made Daphne a bit if a badass in this. And totally dropped Scrappy from the story! I liked this story as well, more having fun with poking fun at itself.

 

[DrZoidberg]

I re-watched Priscilla Queen of the dessert yesterday. It's still a 10/10 movie.

I noticed some things about it this time I missed in the 90'ies. It has a fairly tale feel to it. It's not realistic in the least. It's a series of scenes one more absurd than the other, but because the subject matter the audience (ie me) accepts it. It's like being in someone else's fantasy.

None of the three drag queens are played by gay actors. When I saw it back in the day I had no idea. I just took it for a given. It's fascinating to compare the worlds of the 90'ies with today. When that came out the gays and politically correct were high fiving each other over this film and how progressive it was. Today of course it would be an outcry that straight actors were given gay parts.

I still can't understand why the woke have any problems with actors playing stuff they aren't. That's the whole point with acting.

I don't see any kind of outrage over straight people playing gay characters in recent movies. Look at Rocketman (2019) and Bohemian Rhapsody (2019). Both are biopics about gay musicians, who are played by straight actors. I don't remember there being a huge controversy over their casting choices.

Outrage and outrage. It has been discussed. Plenty of straight actors have said no to playing gay character due to fearing a backlash. This article sums it up.

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc...play-gay-characters-it-s-complicated-n1252603

 

[Politesse]

Yeah, I thought so. That kind of "outrage", the kind cooked up by news agencies in order to outrage conservatives, doesn't determine what movies I do or do not watch, or how I feel about them.

 

[Politesse]

My most recent watch was Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (1958), another one that I had always meant to catch but never got around to until now. I'm going to give it a solid 8/10. A deep film it definitely is not, but it is a well-crafted adventure film with a satisfying ending, and for a film that is mostly comedic, it is suprisingly straightforward in its depictions of the horrors of war, with huge crews of live extras helping to create a sense of shuffling horror in certain scenes. The acting is mostly good, though better from the support characters than the two POV characters if you ask me. Misa Uehara is lovely, and carries off what should have been an annoyingly sermonistic speech at the end with aplomb, even depth. She actually makes you believe that she means it. Toshiro Mifune is... Toshiro Mifune. Japan's Clint Eastwood. He always seems to play the same character more or less, but you can't argue with success. There's one heck of a spear fight halfway through the film.



This one is often cited as a major influence on the American blockbuster, having been viewed in film school by the American set, Spielberg Lucas et al, and I can definitely see where that influence came from. The movie balances thrilling action against well-developed characters, relying on the audience to recognize certain tropes and archetypes but being willing to play around with them a bit. Something you see in a lot of adventure films of that era. Star Wars nerd that I am, this was part of why I wanted to see the movie in the first place, but having done so, I think people exaggerate the connection between the two somewhat. More allusion and borrowed aesthetics than direct reference.

 

[TSwizzle]

The Vanished, 5/10; A Netflix original starring Anne Heche and Jason Patric. A psychological thriller set in a remote RV camp park. The plot is actually ok but it's execution has some really bad clunky and random parts to it. Mum, dad and 10 year old daughter are out on the road in their RV and make camp at a remote camping ground. It's November, off season so the place is pretty much deserted. As usual, shady characters are introduced, the weird, drug using grounds man, the shifty campground owner, the odd couple in the next camping spot. The daughter goes missing within a matter of hours and the search and mystery begins. There are a few decent parts to the movie, a couple of tense spots where you jump and the plot twist at the end I did not see coming but the movie just doesn't flow well because of some clunky scenes that just didn't work for me.

 

[TSwizzle]

England Is Mine, 4/10; Available on Kanopy this movie is about Stephen Patrick Morrissey, better known as Morrissey the front man of The Smiths. The film covers the couple of years prior to the formation of The Smiths. There is nothing entertaining about this movie so unless you are a die hard Smiths fan you can skip it. There are no Smiths songs in it and there is no soundtrack to capture the time other than two snippets of Roxy Music and Sparks.

 

[TSwizzle]

Gary Numan: Android in La La Land, 8/10; Available on Amazon and other streaming services. A documentary about Gary Numan and his move to California and trying to resurrect his flagging career with the release of a new album. It was a very interesting look at the career and personal life of Numan. He (and his wife) speaks openly about his struggles with depression and crippling anxiety that nearly sent him over the edge. He's an awkward fellow, probably suffering from Asperger to some degree but he is warm and humorous when he opens up and is shown to be a caring family man.

 

[Swammerdami]

Doubt

I'd never heard of this 2008 film with Meryl Streep and 3 other top stars, but the prize-awarders certainly had, with four Oscar Nominations for Acting. (Surely that's a record for a single movie! Meryl Streep for Best Actress, Phillip Seymour Hoffman for Best Supporting Actor, and TWO nominations for Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams and Viola Davis.)

Even I could tell the acting was excellent. All three actresses won awards outright, though not Oscars.) At one point Meryl Streep's character cries that she has "doubts" (explaining the title) but otherwise I won't Spoiler the plot. It's not really "my kind of movie", but it was excellent and I enjoyed it. It gets 7.5/10 at IMDB, which sounds about right.

I'd never heard of co-star Amy Adams but clicked to learn she's now one of Hollywood's highest-paid actresses. I'd seen her in the 2018 mini-series Sharp Objects — a detective story which I'd also recommend.

 

[Jayjay]

The Killing of a Sacred Deer
7/10

Disturbing thriller about a heart surgeon, who befriends the son of his patient who died. Then things take a pretty weird turn, which I won't spoil. The movie is rather slow-paced, but the story is unique and worth watching to the end, even if the first half might seem like a waste of time.

Bumblebee
8/10

Transformers prequel about a girl who befriends an alien robot in an 80s nostalgia trip. It's actually surprisingly good, albeit not too surprising. Best comparison points would be E.T. or Iron Giant. It's a fun comedy for the whole family; kids will enjoy the action and the jokes, and the grown-ups can suck in the nostalgia of their childhood. And the best part is that you don't need to know anything about the other Transformers movies to enjoy it.

 

[DrZoidberg]

Gary Numan: Android in La La Land, 8/10; Available on Amazon and other streaming services. A documentary about Gary Numan and his move to California and trying to resurrect his flagging career with the release of a new album. It was a very interesting look at the career and personal life of Numan. He (and his wife) speaks openly about his struggles with depression and crippling anxiety that nearly sent him over the edge. He's an awkward fellow, probably suffering from Asperger to some degree but he is warm and humorous when he opens up and is shown to be a caring family man.

Something I think is fascinating is how his behaviour influenced the emotional distance in the music and art movements on the age, New Wave, New Romantics, Electorclash, Synthpop. Whether he's the sole source of this, or if it was that the world was ready for it because of the preceding hippie age with their lackiing emotional boundaries. Who knows? But it is irrefutable that there's a clear difference from before and after Gary Numan came onto the scene. I like to think that he, and his aspiness, shaped the look and feel of the 80'ies. Creating a world of kids who'd rather be robots.

 

[TSwizzle]

Gary Numan: Android in La La Land, 8/10; Available on Amazon and other streaming services. A documentary about Gary Numan and his move to California and trying to resurrect his flagging career with the release of a new album. It was a very interesting look at the career and personal life of Numan. He (and his wife) speaks openly about his struggles with depression and crippling anxiety that nearly sent him over the edge. He's an awkward fellow, probably suffering from Asperger to some degree but he is warm and humorous when he opens up and is shown to be a caring family man.

Something I think is fascinating is how his behaviour influenced the emotional distance in the music and art movements on the age, New Wave, New Romantics, Electorclash, Synthpop. Whether he's the sole source of this, or if it was that the world was ready for it because of the preceding hippie age with their lackiing emotional boundaries. Who knows? But it is irrefutable that there's a clear difference from before and after Gary Numan came onto the scene. I like to think that he, and his aspiness, shaped the look and feel of the 80'ies. Creating a world of kids who'd rather be robots.

Hmmm, I don't know about all of that. When Numan first came on the scene as Tubeway Army it was late 70's I think and there were a clutch of musicians dicking around with synth pop at the time, Depeche Mode, Joy Division, Human League, Duran Duran, Kraftwerk etc. And Numan only stumbled upon the synth after he found one in a studio and he banged on it and liked the sound. He came to the fore, I think, because he had a couple of great catchy tunes and unique(ish) style from the glam rock, punk and disco that was dominating the scene at that time. I think you can see that Bowie had an influence on Numan than the other way round. A lot of musicians will cite Numan as an influence when they were starting out but how much of an influence I don't know. But looking into Numan's later stuff, he is very far removed from the android persona from the 80's. Very "Nine Inch Nails" really and it's decent. there's a good clip on YouTune where his daughter (12 years old maybe) sings with him and it's pretty decent.

 

[TSwizzle]

Scum, 10/10; Available on Kanopy. Wow ! Stars Ray Winstone and few other well known British actors. Made in 1979, the movie is about the hard conditions inside a brutal borstal which is a young offenders type prison in England. The plot revolves around Winstone's character named Carlin but a lot of the core characters are very well developed. Filmed in a very UK bleak style the movie captures the violence and spirit crushing oppression of a regime created to set wayward youth back on the right path. There are great performances from the young cast, particularly the young Ray Winstone who swaggers to the top of the heap like a boss. "I'm the daddy now! Next toime ah'll fackin' kill ya !" The movie was made in part because the original play was recorded for the BBC "Play For Today" series but was not shown on TV until much later due to the graphic violence and language. The BBC version is available on youtube and is very close to the movie including most of the key actors.

BBC Scum

Well worth a watch.

The Leather Boys, 7/10; Available on Kanopy. Made in 1964 England and stars Rita Tushingham, Colin Campbell and Dudley Sutton with a minor appearance from Johnny Briggs. The story revolves around a newly married couple, Reggie and Dot and Reggie's "eccentric" friend Pete and to a lesser extent Dot's "friend" Brian. It's a quirky relationship story between the four of them. Soon after getting married, Reggie and Dot start having problems. Reggie is a keen motor cyclist and is in a club that regularly meets in a cafe. As Reggie drifts further apart from his estranged wife, his relies more and more on Pete for guidance and companionship. Great filming and performances from the actors.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Doubt

I'd never heard of this 2008 film with Meryl Streep and 3 other top stars, but the prize-awarders certainly had, with four Oscar Nominations for Acting. (Surely that's a record for a single movie! Meryl Streep for Best Actress, Phillip Seymour Hoffman for Best Supporting Actor, and TWO nominations for Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams and Viola Davis.)

Even I could tell the acting was excellent. All three actresses won awards outright, though not Oscars.) At one point Meryl Streep's character cries that she has "doubts" (explaining the title) but otherwise I won't Spoiler the plot. It's not really "my kind of movie", but it was excellent and I enjoyed it. It gets 7.5/10 at IMDB, which sounds about right.

I'd never heard of co-star Amy Adams but clicked to learn she's now one of Hollywood's highest-paid actresses. I'd seen her in the 2018 mini-series Sharp Objects — a detective story which I'd also recommend.

You hadn't heard of Amy Adams... today? She has been everywhere except porn!