I keep planning on revisiting Lynch's version. I'd have to like it more the second time as I hated the first watch of it. And, if I'm being honest, I almost always need a second viewing of Lynch to really absorb what he's doing (so far Dune is the only thing he's done I don't love...and also the only one I've only seen once)

EDIT: forgot about Wild At Heart. Still can't get on board that one. I know, I know.


I also need to see Villeneuves Blade Runner.

Holy fuck. Not for this thread, but now there is debate over whether Network is a comedy over in shitsville?

For fuck sake

I like Lynch's version quite a bit. It's got that nice retro sci-fi look and feel while feeling very distinct from something like Star Wars. I do think it's probably difficult to follow the first time around unless you've read the book. I remember Impavido had a detailed analysis on RT (now lost to the wind) that I looked at beforehand before I dived in, definitely made things easier to follow.

crumbsroom wrote:

4) I'm not

It's a morbid interest, to be sure.  But it'll make those films not showing feel all the more triumphant.

This movie hits nearly every beat you might expect from a biopic, or a run of the mill sports documentary. So it is to its credit that it is somehow something more. Rarely have I seen a film where excellence in performance has seemed this almost completely inert thing. Sport, in the case of Borg and McEnroe, has eroded personality and all that is left is the reflex to win. As we watch this film, we never really find ourselves rooting for either of them to win the ultimate match. But also, don't want either of them to lose. It's a weird limbo where we watch two men destroy themselves for something that maybe doesn't even matter.

The film has a nervy energy, but it isn't really this that makes it as interesting as it is. It is mostly the two lead performances. They are both great. But in particular, LaBeouf is the standout. His McEnroe is a wounded dog who you don't like, but who you can't help feel sorry for when you look into his eyes. It's both a gregarious and extremely subtle performance, and I'm wondering if Shia has finally escaped his purgatory of irrelevance this last few years as he's been proving himself to be one of the more interesting American actors out there. Yes, he's a douchebag, but he's a compelling one.

Jinnistan wrote:

crumbsroom wrote:

LaBeouf is the standout. His McEnroe is a wounded dog who you don't like, but who you can't help feel sorry for when you look into his eyes. It's both a gregarious and extremely subtle performance, and I'm wondering if Shia has finally escaped his purgatory of irrelevance this last few years as he's been proving himself to be one of the more interesting American actors out there. Yes, he's a douchebag, but he's a compelling one.

As long as he sticks to compelling douchebags, he may turn out alright.  Like a douche whisperer.

Having recently seen clips of McEnroe sniffing Maher's butt on his weekly shame "Club Random", LaBoeuf was the right choice for the part.

Oh, and after years of avoiding it because I thought it looked stupid (and I think the Outsiders is also pretty dumb), I finally watched Rumblefish and that was Everything.

It's obviously absurd, and full of dopey dialogue, and annoyingly overt symbology, and great gasping grasps at pretension, and yet all of these artificial trappings somehow just raise the volume of the emotional honesty that lays at the heart of the film. A place where pointless teenage rebellion is all swagger and grandiosity fuelled by loneliness and confusion. It's just as big and stupid and bleeding as adolescence feels.

One of my favorite Coppola's.
 

A Serious Man rewatch went well.

I still kind of understand why I didn't like it much on first watch. It does feel very episodic, and repetitive, with every scene just adding misfortune upon misfortune. But there is also something so deliberately contrived about the injustices being paid upon the character, that it works when we think of life as something that has been scripted to just run this guy down. God just leaning his elbows into the grease of this man's pitiful existence.

Good for you, slamming the door on Yarn with his six-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon.  The fuck is he thinking?  That's sipping beer at best.  Bring a case, motherfucker, at least.

Words

Blurbs.

4/5