Last Movie Watched

fac said:
Anything like Eli Roth or Rob Zombie or the Terrifier stuff are things I will actively avoid...
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Well, you're only saying that because those movies are awful ;)
AceofKnaves said:
Probably because it’s Men Talking About Men Stuff And Doing Men Stuff, which doesn’t usually resonate with me.
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My favorite description for these are "Dudes rock, but at what cost?" movies.
 
We did a Baby Girl-Nosferatu double-feature last Christmas. It rocked.

I jokingly refer to it as Babyferatu. It had the same cultural cachet as Barbenheimer, obviously.

Unfortunately, with the showtimes we had to get, Nosferatu didn't start until midnight. As someone who's usually in bed by then, :sleep:
 
AceofKnaves said:
Yep. The only genre I relate to less is simply “Dudes rock”.
Mostly because I do not in any sense feel that dudes rock.
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I can get down with both versions *sometimes*, but I'm a picky eater for that meal. Unforgiven I think works ok for me (though it didn't rock my world either) because the characters in it seem genuinely aware they're not great people. Heat is sort of the top of my list for these sorts of films (with Way of the Gun somewhere further down but within sight). Like, Heat has no heroes, maybe 2 innocent people, and every man in it is some version of deeply compromised. But I'm here for that one. The competency porn of the criminal team I think helps. Watching bad guys execute a plan is at least interesting in a way watching, say, finance bros fuck around and be amoral hedonists isn't.

My least favorite version of this is the "awful men doing awful things for 2 hrs and it feels like the director maybe, just a little, thinks that's really rad, actually".
 
Last of the Mohicans, Heat, Manhunter and Thief are all classics. What I like about Mann's stuff is so often he manages to show true expertise/professionalism from both the good guys and bad guys in a away that elevates away from being just a crime drama or thriller or historical action film. What I like is you get a sense these guys earned their expertise, and it isn't they are just "badass" or whatever.

I enjoy Dr Strangelove, but Paths of Glory, Clockwork Orange, 2001 and The Shining surpass it. I kind felt that Eyes Wide Shut was one of his weaker efforts but probably should watch it again - I may have gone in with too high of hopes as it had been so long since Full Metal Jacket and I was getting all his films on disc at the time.
 
fac said:
What I like is you get a sense these guys earned their expertise, and it isn't they are just "badass" or whatever.
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Because he takes the time to show you how they plan and think, he doesn't make you take it as a matter of course. And then he has other characters do exposition that reveals their expertise further (Pacino explaining why they shoot the other armored truck drivers when the new guy spazzes out, etc.). And his protagonists look more competent because he allows his antagonists the same latitude. Everyone is making (for the most part) smart plays for their goals.

edit: I realize I'm basically just repeating you here, suffice to say I'm nodding in furious agreement.
 
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