BreakBeatDJ

2 minutes ago, hal56 said:

four every quarter would be fine. Definitely quality over quantitiy.

If some announcements are true, would be great to get 4k editions of Gravity, Se7en, Constantine, Exorcist and Amadeus for example.

Oh geez, that would be great, from your keyboard to God's Amazon store.

6 hours ago, Veum said:

 

🥤☕ Top of the day to ya, going to be 🌧 here my friends… good day there Veum here❣️🙏🤠 🍵🧋

meeting a childhood friend for lunch today❣️🧑‍🤝‍🧑

 

DAY

50°Hi

RealFeel® 50°

Chilly

RealFeel Shade™ 50°

Chilly 12/6 Cloudy with a shower in places

 

..AREAS OF FOG INTO TUESDAY MORNING... Areas of fog are expected to continue into Tuesday morning throughout Central Indiana. Visibility less than one mile will be common, and some areas could see dense fog with visibility around one quarter mile or less. If traveling, be prepared for fog that could suddenly reduce visibilities. Slow down and allow extra time to reach your destination.

Don't keep us in suspense . . . who has aged more?

28 minutes ago, hal56 said:

Looks very good and I appreciate the somewhat different approach with the super glossy digipack in a good quality case instead of a steelbook

Bit similiar to UHD Club which isnt bad at all.

Yeah, I'm with ya on this approach.  I hope they keep doing them.  Give me four great new titles every quarter, just keep it rolling.  

My Amazon UK order says delivery after Dec 22nd.  I'm sure you on the other side of the Atlantic will get them well before we do.  Looking forward to some in hand member shots.

Good morning world wide psychos!
 

No pics of the blue ridge mountains this morn. 
 

Instead the view across Central Park from the 28th floor.  
 

Hope everyone has a great day.  
 

4 minutes ago, ncraft said:

Yes it is. In my opinion, the only set I own that beats it (by a hair) is the UHD Club Blade Runner set. 

I thought we were talking about the UHD Club Blade Runner set.  Am I in the wrong thread?  I have been known to get too excited and post in the wrong thread.

16 minutes ago, TheAmarayMan said:

Well that helped me a lot, I guess I am double dipping and going with the gold platinum from UHD Club on this one.

 

MAGS choice of artwork seems very tacky for me.
 

I had this exact same question a while back and a member said the UHD Club was just killer.  

Just now, deckard99 said:

 

Exact same thing happened to me. I emailed to see why they cancelled it and got a response "I see you were issued a refund, so the matter is resolved" WTF? So yeah, I just ordered it again and this one looks to actually have shipped.

Wow.  

24 minutes ago, Gary K said:

Is it showing as cancelled on your order?

 

Zavvi does some truly inexplicable things though....

 

No, the order doesn't show as cancelled.  It's very weird.  And, I only need one more TOC title to get the award!  

I'll just re-order and hopefully it arrives.  And of course it's an excuse to order a few more things with it.

I pre-ordered this from Zavvi a while ago.  It hasn't showed up.  A refund was issued yesterday.  Very strange. No reason given.   It's still in stock and everything else from that order has been received.   So, gunna have to re-order.  

4 hours ago, Veum said:

📺 watching now DVR! …

 

2022 BIG CHAMPIONSIP 🏈 

 

 

 

I knew I could count on you to shout this out, so I didn't have to!

15 minutes ago, Chief_lookout said:

@BreakBeatDJ What an unbelievably well written and illustrative post! I have been in the sciences all my life, and while I love movies, you have given me a new perspective on the art form! I would have read the whole thing sexual content or no! Thanks for the awesome breakdown!

Very nice to say!  Thank you @Chief_lookout.   I occasionally teach classes on screenwriting, cinematography, directing and film history at non-profits, and I pulled a lot of this post from material I wrote for those classes.   

TRIGGER WARNING - This post contains unnecessary pontificating, gratuitous name dropping, sexual content

CHALLENGE 12 : THE DIRECTOR'S (thanks @bossjon)

_____________________

JOHN CASSAVETES  (probably not a surprise to those of you who looked closely at my vague avatar)

The beginning of the end of old Hollywood began with one director and one film: John Cassavetes' 1959 Shadows.  Scorsese noted -  after Shadows there were no more excuses.  Cassavetes inspired a landslide of filmmakers to challenge studio system control and fight for creative freedom, both in style and content.  

We take it for granted that studios want to hear what Fincher, Lynch, Nolan, and others mentioned here, have to say.  When Cassavetes made Shadows, a movie about the adventures of three black siblings in New York, with his stolen shots and 16mm verite loose camera, no one was interested.  He made it anyway.  And he kept making them.

Over the next two decades Cassavetes funded his independent films (Husbands, Faces, A Woman Under the Influence, Minnie & Moskowitz, etc.) by appearing as an actor in movies like The Dirty Dozen and Rosemary's Baby.  Cassavetes took great joy in using Hollywood money to undermine Hollywood itself.

His avant garde filmmaking style is disarming to many.  His camera is never judgmental.  It doesn't guide the eye to where you should look, it forces you to open your eyes. He doesn't tell you what you should think, the action plays out in front of you and you are forced to participate.  It's the cinema of embracing the complexity of being authentically human, not by pointing it out, but by experiencing it.

My favorite Cassavetes' film is Husbands.  But, I love his wife and collaborator Gena Rowland's brave and shocking performance in A Woman Under the Influence.

By the time Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde becomes a counter culture darling of individualism and self-expression in 1967, old Hollywood was diminished.  And the independent film wave of the 90s (Soderbergh, PTA, Linklater, Ferrara, Egoyan, Haynes, Leigh, Jarmusch, Sofia C., Tarantino) blew up what was left.

John Cassavetes lit the fuse for all of them.

__________

SPIKE LEE

When Spike Lee arrived, it was a gift from the gods.  He came along at the right time, with the right passion, the right drive, the right pedigree, and the right filmmaking talent and skill.  He put the black experience on the screen in a way that made it impossible to turn away, and . . .  it was brilliant filmmaking, entertaining, and unapologetically black.

He titled my favorite Lee film, Do the Right Thing - an imperative sentence structure.  It's a call to action, "Do".  But there is no subject, only an object, "the Right Thing".  Who was he talking to, and what was the "right thing" to do?  This movie lays out the confusing options and consequences, who should do what, when, how, the way we fail, the way we succeed, the hope and hopelessness, the joy and fear, the tragedy and response.  Do the Right Thing for Lee seems to be a mode, and the genius of this film is that the Right Thing can shift.

While we don't see Lee's signature double dolly shot in Do the Right Thing, the filmmaking here is still a tour de force .  Lee uses a massive arsenal of technique and creativity to support the content of his film.  

- Shifting Perspective: we watch Mookie, then we are Mookie, we're in the fire, then we're holding a fire hose.  Lee wants us to feel like spirits watching, then inhabiting, his characters

- Dutch Tilt: high and low camera angles create this amazing feel, are these playful comic book frames, or is he destabilizing us with uneven ground under our feet?  

- Art Direction:  There is very little urban "grit" here, the color palette is bright, joyful, charismatic, even DA Mayor is wearing pastels, communicating clearly that this is not about decay, but optimism.

In 2022, Spike Lee became the first black filmmaker to receive the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award.  There would never be a second, or third, or fourth, if someone wasn't brave enough to do what it took to be the first.  Thank god for Spike Lee.

_____________________

STEVEN SPIELBERG

As a boy, I learned the English language organically by listening to my parents speak English.

As a child, I learned cinematic language organically by watching Steven Spielberg movies.

While Cassavetes wanted nothing to do with creating drama by using traditional shot selection and editing, Spielberg is the pinnacle of flexing the power of the camera to tell story.  For Spielberg, the camera is you, the viewer, and his transcendent genius is to put you right where you need to be to see what you need to see, to experience what he wants you to experience.  He is your tour guide through his adventures.  And his efficiency of shot selection to take you on the journey is absolutely staggering.

In the mid-90s, when I was starting my photography/directing career in New York, I was lucky enough to attend many events at the Director's Guild.  When Spielberg came to talk,  my good friend, then Columbia film student, now Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Ayad Akhtar, and I almost didn't go.  We were in the midst of our Dogme 95 Lars Van Trier, indy-rules-all phase.  And Spielberg was not cool.

The vast majority of filmmakers at the DG, spoke about content, what was in front of the camera.  Spielberg talked about the meaning of the camera itself.  His understanding of how to use a camera was like Mozart's command of musical notes, or Shakespeare's command of words.  A movie is not a play, it is not a novel, it has the ultimate advantage over those forms . . . an editable, moveable image created by the camera, and Spielberg was 100% dedicated to using that advantage fully.

We left that talk shocked at his unapologetic genius, and the force of his will to promote cinema as cinema.  If you want to write a play, Woody Allen, then go produce a play, but don't waste my time putting the camera in the corner for 20 minutes while I watch your actors talk:  Spielberg makes movies, he doesn't film plays.

Is his content too sentimental, too obvious?  Maybe.  But I don't care.  His movies have grossed 10.6 billion dollars.  4 billion more than the nearest filmmakers.  And it's not because he gratuitously blows stuff up, or has unnecessarily provocative scenes, or is an obsessive crowd pleaser.

It's because his command of cinematic language is so great, that his viewers can't help themselves, you're going to go where Steven Spielberg takes you, you have no choice. . . . and you're going to love it.

There's no sexual content in this post, I just wanted you to read it all.  😆

9 minutes ago, Gary K said:

And what’s wrong with a little Metamucil to keep ya regular?  Even Indy needs to poop, lol. 

LMAO!!!!

My grandpa called it his orange cocktail.  And they now have a premium!  Are we going to have a group buy?

6 minutes ago, ukade2327 said:

Thats not necessarily true .. I preordered the Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 1 Steelbook at £59.99 and when I check my preorder list  it is now £39.99….

Oh that's awesome.

Yeah, that hasn't happened for me.  I wonder if it's a USD thing.  I had to ask for credits for Casablanca and TOC Star Trek and a couple of others.  If they sell out in pre-order then obviously it doesn't matter.

On 12/1/2022 at 4:35 PM, Gary K said:

Trailer is fun and I’ll never not be excited about another Indiana Jones movie…but….”Dial of Destiny”???  Oy vey that’s bad…

Fleabag as Indy's sidekick is the best, most genius casting decision of this franchise (except Connery as Indy Daddy).

I can't wait for this one, to see my hero Indy and Phoebe Waller-Bridge bringing some sarcastic dysfunctional comedy to this movie.

I'm not thrilled with the "magic" part of the story.  We'll see how that shakes out.

In Crystal Skull, Harrison Ford looked a little geriatric, I hope he doesn't look downright Metamucil in this one.

9 minutes ago, Boilersteel said:

Wanted to share this here as I just found it weird but worth noting.  This was something I have noticed about recent purchasing from Zavvi.

 

FYI something changed with the Zavvi website recently and for some reason the US site prices are much higher than the UK site ones in pounds (even after currency conversion).  Change Region and Language to United Kingdom, but even with that it gives the elevated price if you use US dollars or Euros, so in addition to that above you need to change currencies to pounds GBP, and then finally that will get you the reduced price.  Then hopefully find a credit card that doesn't charge conversion fees.

 

This is a new hoop to jump through with Zavvi that could cost you a lot of money, so just be aware of this weird issue.

 

Note this doesn't hold true for all items, so it is best to look at each item individually with the different regions and currencies to find the best prices. It definitely seems like the case for the MCU mondo steelbooks, though.

Absolutely worth the effort going back and forth, checking prices.  I didn't know this was new, it's been that way since I've been making orders.  Good to know.

I just saved myself about $200 on a big order(s) by checking both US/UK USD/GPB.

Sometimes sales are even drastically different on the same item.

Another note on pre-orders - they don't adjust to lowest price, as I'm sure many of you know.  I keep a spread sheet of pre-orders and if the price drops, just start a chat on Zavvi and they will give you a credit to your account for the difference.

Saturday Saturday alright alright!!

I woke up optimistic that . . .

• @Boilersteel will soon be taking stair steps two at a time

• @damships dog is fully recovered from Thanksgiving

• @Reagh’s DK OC re-animated itself in the night and is fully intact

• @upmaniac is recovering nicely and will continue flexing his collection with more awards

Enjoy the weekend everybody!

8 minutes ago, reiger said:

I'm kind of sad. I was going to buy 2 for my brothers for the holidays. I had my alarm on my phone and on my TV both set to go off before the sale went live. I wake up in time and then I jump on my PC....... But my internet is out and by the time I get all the info in my phone they were gone. Sad day.

I'm assuming you mean trying to buy direct.  The Group Buy here is still open.  Are you familiar with the process for Group Buys on MediaPyschos?

Read this and join up bud!!  Ask questions if you have any, someone will jump in and help.

For Your Eyes Only

You only live twice

Wow, my mind was way off.  I was thinking the alps chase in Goldfinger with he white mustang.  Nice job @Boilersteel.

Let's start an award for the most awards in a 72 hour period and name it the @upmaniac award!

9 hours ago, R1s1ngs0n said:

Thunderball - Lippe’s execution by Fiona.

Yup

10 hours ago, Boilersteel said:

The Man with the Golden Gun?

Nope