Steelbook Indy

In receipt of my The Nice Guys 1-click, I thought that I’d throw a list request.  What are your top 10 Ryan Gosling movies - in order:

1. La La Land

2. Crazy Stupid Love

3. The Big Short

4. The Nice Guys

5. Drive

6.  Blade Runner 2049

7. Remember the Titans

8. Half Nelson

9. Ides of March

10. Blue Valentine

What can I say about Midsommer? 

Let me start with: Metascore was at 72.  IMDB had it at 7.6/10, and Rotten Tomatoes was in the 80s when it first caught my eye.  I did not like Midsommer.  I did NOT like Midsommer.  That said, I respect what Midsommer was doing, and all the symbolism that goes with it.  It's Ari Aster's 2nd feature.  He's 2 for 2 with critical reception, but it's fair to say that both are not for everyone.  His first feature, Heredity, is disturbing and laced with utter horror, and he's not strayed from that formula with Midsommer.

The story follows Dani, a woman in a long term relationship with Christian.  They seem to be going through the motions, and Christian has clearly lost interest, but feels obligated to stay with Dani due to a tragic event.  He'd planned on traveling to Sweden with his grad school classmates to experience a midsummer festival of a commune at which his classmate grew up.  Due to the tragic event, Christian feels obligated to invite Dani against his friends' wishes.  Once they arrive, they are greeted warmly and with open arms.  The ease with which the community welcomes these guests feels awkward - only to be dismissed as culture differences.  As the days progress, their ceremonies and rituals grow increasingly disturbing and eventually progress beyond what is reasonable.

Midsommer mirrors Heredity in its treatment of building disturbing scenario to utter horror.  They both operate as allegorical studies laced with symbolism.  Midsommer works as a study of loss and the fear of losing someone close - even if it is inevitable and necessary.  However, just with Heredity I couldn't get past some of the shocking, sadistic visuals to enjoy the allegory.  There is plenty to appreciate in both these movies.  Performances are strong and visuals are executed flawlessly from a technical standpoint.  The script also works (in both cases) - but I couldn't shake how much the movie disturbed me.  I didn't enjoy it.  Again, I respect the work and understand the care gone into its creation - it is simply not meant for everyone.  I am one that it's not meant for.

4/10 Stars

This is gorgeous.  I almost want to open it.

Here is a list of iconic movies to those in my age range which have yet to be Steelbooked:

1. Office Space - what are we waiting for?  I mean, this is one of the more iconic, quotable movies of the 1990s, and it has no Steelbook much less a collectable edition
2. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - The movie that landed RDJ Tony Stark.  It's hilarious and a cult favorite. 
3. Glory - this is a personal favorite but also a star filled cast with an Oscar win (Denzel).  It's about time this get recognized
4. Some Like It Hot - I know that there is a Steelbook of this on DVD - but where' the Bluray love?
5. The Natural - a childhood favorite - great baseball fantasy. 
6. The Sandlot - as a baseball movie, this is far more popular than The Natural and deserves special treatment
7. Breakfast at Tiffany's - I - just - don't - get - this.
8. Citizen Kane - Unforgivable.
9. Do the Right Thing
10. Malcolm X

Super happy to receive this! Thanks to @sepultura007

I love Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s movies.

This goes on sale tonight

25 years ago, I saw Clerks for the first time.  I was at Woodstock '94, and they played an early screening of it on the 2nd night.  Many had gone back to their tents to drink, smoke and spend time with their friends around campfires.  My group just sat down on the field and watched it.  I'd spent 2 full days of partying and listening to dozens of bands and had two more days to go.

I'd never seen anything like it.  It was in black and white.  The acting was off.  There wasn't much of a story.  It was dialogue-heavy, and most of us couldn't hear a thing.  In short, I hated it.  I felt that my time had been wasted and wished that they'd just thrown another band out there or some locals.

Fast forward a few months.  A trailer for it aired in front of the VHS tape of Pulp Fiction.  It was clever, funny dialogue and the soundtrack seemed great.  I told my friend that I'd seen it at Woodstock '94 and didn't like it, but maybe I needed to give it a second chance.  Since I worked in a video store, I brought a copy back to my friend's fraternity and we gathered a group of a dozen or more guys to watch it.  I LOVED IT, and so did everyone.  For the next four years, it  became one of the most quoted movies among my group of friends - largely in part due to the movie quoting so many pop culture references out of their traditional context.

"Salsa Sharks."

"No time for love Dr. Jones."

"THIRTY-SEVEN!"

I'm not even supposed to be here today."

Other young film makers were starting to make their mark in independent film - Tarantino, Linklater and Danny Boyle were just getting started.  Borrowing a page from their book, Smith proved around the same time that Linklater and Tarantino were making their marks - that dialogue does not always need to move the plot forward.  It can be clever and entertaining and help to give insight to the characters.

Smith's dialogue of his character study was youthful but ahead of its time.  The theme of growing up while not forgetting your youth is throughout the movie.  Dante and Randal are both friend and foil to one another.  On the outside, Randal is obscene and rude with a low tolerance for fools while Dante is friendly and civil.  As we follow the two of them, the audience realizes that Dante's flip-flopping, whiny personality is draining and unlikeable.  Randal, on the other hand, is someone that I'd want as a friend.  He's brutally honest and loyal.  Dante and Randal make a complete person together - and Dante's relationship with Veronica or the infamous Caitlin Bree are simply temporary while Randal is a permanent friend.

I read a story of how Kevin Smith sold everything that he had and maxed out all his credit cards to make the movie.  I'm glad that he did and has seen great success from it.  He went on to make Chasing Amy and Dogma - which are top-notch, insightful, thought-provoking films.

I give this movie a strong 9/10.  It's funny, because I'd forgotten when asked on Twitter to name a movie that you hated on first viewing that you now love.  My answer, at the time, was Mulholland Drive.  Had I thought a little longer, I'd have said Clerks.

9/10 Stars

I don't want to give spoilers away, so I will keep this at high level.

My anticipation of It, Chapter One (admittedly) was low, and I was pleasantly surprised.  The opposite happened with Chapter Two.  I went in with high expectations, and was let down.  I mean, how couldn't I be excited. going into it?  Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy and Bill Hader headline a strong cast as Bill Skarsgard returns as Pennywise.  Bill Hader shined as Richie, and Bill Skarsgard stole some scenes again.  James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain fell flat - which surprised me.  I also was a bit disappointed at what was excluded from the book.  I understood why the screenplay was reworked for Chapter One.  It would have been nearly impossible to include the climatic defeat of Pennywise by the tween Loser's Club, and what they did in Chapter One worked.  Chapter Two, however, felt as though the screen writers dumbed down the screenplay - and made it easy.  I usually do not mind deviations from source material - if it makes sense, but Chapter Two included a deviations that took up between 45 and 60 minutes of screen time that didn't further the plot while significantly departing from King's telling.  I give this 5/10 Stars weighing my score heavily on Bill Skarsgard and Bill Hader.  Chastain and McAvoy were good but slipped out of their typical Oscar-caliber talent.

5/10 Stars

Need to fix this: Antichrist is what @R1s1ngs0n picked.

Last Temptation of Christ

Big mail day for me.

Ordered

3 more - debating on opening these - I’ve never had a Steelbook copy of Iron Man 2 - just the Target Metal Pak.

Welcome and good luck on building your collection.

No apologies necessary.  Was just double checking status - appreciate the quick response.

Just finished Season 3 of Jessica Jones.  All in all, I have been a big fan of the MCU on Netflix.  Daredevil probably was the strongest from start to finish, but Jessica Jones season 1 was amazing.  2 and 3 were good - 3 better than 2.  I am very disappointed in Marvel, Netflix and Disney in that these shows will not continue.

Did any of you watch these?

Hi - just wanted to make sure - for my namesake - that I am in this group buy?

1. Awakenings - DeNiro gets to dance with Penelope Ann Miller.
2. Up - Carl and Ellie’s beautiful life together.
3. It’s a Beautiful Life - No man is a failure who has friends.
4. Glory - Denzel grabs the flag on the hill that he said he wouldn’t carry.
5. I Am Sam - The struggle to raise his daughter combined with how much he loves her.
6. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - “My friends, you bow to no one.”
7. Forrest Gump - “He got a daddy named Forrest too?”
8. Sophie’s Choice - The confession of the choice.
9.  Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Joel and Clementine still end up together
10. Dancer in the Dark - Bjork’s hopelessness

On 9/2/2019 at 4:10 PM, Scary Hair said:

Raiders of the Lost Arc Indiana  Jones under the axel just  stunning .

 

Ben Hur Original  the Chariot race . Horses  pulling carriages with people in thwm on those tight turns .

 

Highlander the first fight sequence with Mccloud and Fazil . Amazing that no one was decaffeinated for real.

 

Goldeneye as much as I am no Bond officianardo the sequence where Bond jumps off the Dam wall .

 

Steamboat Bill, Jr.  Buster  Keaton  and so many more from that  era mind blowing. 

 

The Italian Job The original  Mini and mesmerising coordination. 

 

More to follow  i need a serious think 👍😊❤❤

Your number 1 should be on everyone’s list.

I'll place both the men and women together, but make a top twenty.  My personal favorite is in bold.  These are based on how they made me feel when I  watched them the first time.  I did this off the top of my head - but knew my top 5 or 6 pretty easily.  Love to hear your thoughts on some of these since I've not seen them posted earlier.

1. Morgan Freeman - Shawshank Redemption/Street Smart
2. Kate Winslet - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind/Heavenly Creatures
3. Robert DeNiro - Raging Bull/Awakenings
4. Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight/A Knight's Tale
5. Ralph Finnes - Schindler's List/In Bruges
6. Frances McDormand - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri/Fargo
7. Daniel Day Lewis - Lincoln/My Left Foot
8. Meryl Streep - Sophie's Choice/Doubt
9. Jimmy Stewart - It's a Wonderful Life/Rear Window
10. Denzel Washington - Malcolm X/Glory
11. Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There/Notes on a Scandal
12. Jack Nicholson - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest/About Schmidt
13. Paul Newman - The Verdict/Hud 
14. Kevin Kline - A Fish Called Wanda/In & Out
15. Reese Witherspoon - Election/Wild
16. Katherine Hepburn - A Philadelphia Story/On Golden Pond
17. Ethan Hawke - Training Day/Predestination
18. Sarah Snook - Predestination/Winchester - This one is really based on Predestination.  Everyone should see Predestination.
19. Harrison Ford - Raiders of the Lost Ark/Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
20. Guy Pearce - Memento/L.A. Confidential

Latest buy - not a big deal though:

1 minute ago, Hollywood E Rock said:

 

@R1s1ngs0n

 

I, like you I’m reserving my opinion until I see the film. I’ve only seen a teaser trailer & to be honest I didn’t need to see that. Once I heard there was a stand alone Joker movie I was already sold. I don’t have any expectations as to if it will be better than TDK or not. If I was to give my opinion I don’t believe this movie needs to be better, & Joaquin’s take on the Joker doesn’t have to be better either. 

 

What has to be done is the actions of the characters have to make sense with the plot of the film. To many times I think creators spend to much time on trying to top what came before to the point where characters actions don’t make sense with the story being told or the plot takes a back seat for action. Hopefully like you said it’s going to be an interesting fleshed out take, that is entertaining to watch.

Early reviews are in from Venice, and they’re glowing.

https://www.awardsdaily.com/2019/08/31/venice-dispatch-joker-ema/

I have officially gone 100! Yay for me.

6 hours ago, Digitale_Kunst said:

1. Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight

2. Quentin Tarantino - Pulp Fiction

3. Martin Scorsese - Gangs of New York

4. James Cameron - Terminator 2

5. Stanley Kubrick - Dr. Strangelove

6. David Fincher - Se7en

7. Ridley Scott - Blade Runner

8. Alejandro G. Inarritu - The Revenant

9. Denis Villeneuve - Blade Runner 2049

10. Damien Chazelle - Whiplash

 

 

 

Great call on Nolan

Have some other TV twists that you like?

7 hours ago, Digitale_Kunst said:

1979 - Alien

1980 - The Empire strikes back

1981 - Raiders of the Lost Ark

1982 - Blade Runner 

1983 - Scarface

1984 - Amadeus

1985 - Commando

1986 - Aliens

1987 - Predator

1988 - Die Hard

1989 - Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade

1990 - Total Recall

1991 - Terminator 2

1992 - Unforgiven

1993 - Schindlers List

1994 - Pulp Fiction

1995 - Se7en 

1996 - From Dusk Till Dawn

1997 - Titanic

1998 - Dark City

1999 - The Insider

2000 - Memento

2001 - Lord of the Rings 

2002 - City of God

2003 - Pirates of the Caribbean

2004 - Million Dollar Baby

2005 - Batman Begins

2006 - Blood Diamond

2007 - Into the Wild

2008 - The Dark Knight

2009 - Avatar

2010 - Inception

2011 - Drive

2012 - Life of Pi

2013 - Prisoners

2014 - Whiplash

2015 - The Revenant

2016 - Rogue One - A Star Wars Story

2017 - Blade Runner 2049

2018 - Bohemian Rhapsody

2019 - ?

Nice list!