luka
Well-known member
thats what everyone in the comments is saying. must be a pretty basic opinion.
Films you've seen recently and would unreservedly recommend:
- Thread starter Woebot
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- beware the dog killer craner's got herpes damn well 'urts! don't be so basic eye-watering dick nailage gay cowboy death squad greek dudes herzog i went to oxford italo jamaican voodoo gang from marked for death jamaican voodoo gang from predator 2 rolling sultry voodoo sweat sex chicken stuff versioncore u know the score what's the frequency kenneth?
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
He's not well known but if you know his name you probably like him. He's a good character actor, mostly in TV.
WashYourHands
Cat Malogen
Fire in the hole! - Boyd Crowder
Justified is terrible enough to justify watching with Harlan County peppered by 6/10 characters, Dixie Mafia, stupid hats, can’t believe Dissensus isn’t really on it
Justified is terrible enough to justify watching with Harlan County peppered by 6/10 characters, Dixie Mafia, stupid hats, can’t believe Dissensus isn’t really on it
Ian Scuffling
Well-known member
Justified is one of my favorites. Seasons 1 and 5 are mediocre but when it hits it hits, on paper a pretty boilerplate serialized cop show massively elevated by Leonard's influence and Walton Goggins' and Timothy Olyphant's chemistry and charisma. Though I have a soft spot because I grew up in Lexington.
0bleak
Well-known member
small world
Ian Scuffling
Well-known member
Hell yeah, Lexington is definitely one of those places that's a deceptively small town and deceptively well-represented elsewhere. Encountered a good handful of people from there on the Red Scare subreddit as well.
0bleak
Well-known member
Although I think Lexington is kind of plain vanilla, culturally - just my opinion - but this is coming from someone that has always heavily been into electronic and "experimental" music, but I guess that wouldn't matter as much if you're younger since everyone grows up with the internet these days.
Ian Scuffling
Well-known member
Yeah the music scene I always found lacking. Though a few people I went to high school/college with make some decent music of different kind, I never really found there to be a tangible "scene," definitely not helped by the college town atmosphere in my opinion. That said, I was living other places for a few years after high school then came back three years ago to finish undergrad then left again last fall. The Kentucky Theater was my saving grace growing up, and it's nice how much green space there is outside of town easily accessible by car. There are lots of interesting, cultured people around town, just tough to find in my experience.
0bleak
Well-known member
"a lot people here really seem to be into The United Kingdom" - something said by someone visiting there
Ian Scuffling
Well-known member
Interesting, I have found Irish Orientalism to be more prevalent lol
craner
Beast of Burden
I rewatched Phenomena last night, in 4K, still trying to resolve the eternal quandary of this film: is it brilliant or abysmal?
In some ways it's just both, but I lean more towards the former the more I watch it.
It has some spectacular sequences and is as close to being a dream picture as Inferno; you can imagine parts of it being filmed by some visionary German in 1925. It's a triumph of pure imagination over logic and a true heir to the Grimms.
It's also a film about outsiders and how being an outsider can lead to hatred and evil or empathy and kindness. The scene where Jennifer is being bullied by the other girls, summons a massive swarm of flies to cover the school and tells her tormentors "I love you all" is strangely moving and powerful, perhaps one of the best things he ever did. It's probably his most soulful film.
Then, in the "abysmal" column you have the scenes that are destroyed by Iron Maiden, some of the most inept dialogue in any Argento film (which is saying something), flat colours, some lazy sequences that recycle stuff he'd already done (for example, the underwater sequence near the end which is basically a bad copy of Bava's tour de force at the beginning of Inferno) and a serial killer plot that is stupid rather than simply illogical (illogical can be good).
That's how I felt about Inferno. It's not even close to comprehensible. What's going on with that guy being murdered after falling in the pond and being gnawed on by rats? Why does the ending suddenly fly through a load of stuff and a robed skeleton appear? Who knows!
It looks so good though. Great poster too.
craner
Beast of Burden
That's how I felt about Inferno. It's not even close to comprehensible. What's going on with that guy being murdered after falling in the pond and being gnawed on by rats? Why does the ending suddenly fly through a load of stuff and a robed skeleton appear? Who knows!
It looks so good though. Great poster too.
I think Inferno is on another level, personally.
It's the Italian consummation of the dream picture, the ideal of pure cinema. The only rival it has in this is Fulci's The Beyond, which works in an almost identical way but is maybe more interesting as a metaphysical nightmare.
The loose ends and senseless plots points don't matter in these cases; it's the effect, the mood, the physical and emotional response to what is on the screen, which doesn't necessarily require deep thought, but does require sensual immersion and the abandonment of logic and reality. It's about freedom in some deep sense and the fear and threats that lurk in the shadows of this freedom.
These are films that you could class alongside Dr Caligari, Faust, Vampyr, L'Age d'Or, Tales of Hoffman. I don't think you could say that for Phenomena, however close parts of it come.
maxi
Well-known member
but imagine if it did all that stuff and also made sense when you looked closer. that would be another level. like fire walk with me
craner
Beast of Burden
Well, if you want to get into it, there is an internal logic to the narrative of Inferno, a maze of occult symbolism and alchemical references, sexual repression, the esoteric power of the elements, and the idea of knowledge being transmitted from the dead to the living through the written word (which does not lead to wisdom, but to facing the abyss). There are plenty of ideas and themes in there, if you pay attention and you want to explore what is going on. I don't personally think any of this needs to "make sense" because all that would do would tether the film to the ground, or drown it in a good cold shower of reality and common sense. That is not what it is about or what it is for.
