The Movie Thread

Found out that my Netflix subscription came with several Star Trek series and feature films.

Watched Star Trek: The Next Generation from the S01:E01, and I never expected it to be enjoyable but I am wrong. Despite it being produced in the late 80's and early 90's the story and acting is much better compared to today's high budget AAA movies.

Picard and his crew take their job as Starfleet officers seriously, nobody thinks that being in the Enterprise makes them superheroes with gimmicks.

The story is engaging and present a good what-if scenario every episode. Examples are a black man who wanted a white blonde trophy wife, Data's evil twins who masquerade as a good brother but betrayed him, Picard defending his crew members from unjust alien threats, and Wesley being a hard-working teen.

I'm starting to understand why many forum members longed for the old decades such as the best of 70's, 80's, and 90's. Movies from the older generations sure has a much higher artistic value.
 
Doraemon said:
Found out that my Netflix subscription came with several Star Trek series and feature films.

Watched Star Trek: The Next Generation from the S01:E01, and I never expected it to be enjoyable but I am wrong. Despite it being produced in the late 80's and early 90's the story and acting is much better compared to today's high budget AAA movies.

Picard and his crew take their job as Starfleet officers seriously, nobody thinks that being in the Enterprise makes them superheroes with gimmicks.

The story is engaging and present a good what-if scenario every episode. Examples are a black man who wanted a white blonde trophy wife, Data's evil twins who masquerade as a good brother but betrayed him, Picard defending his crew members from unjust alien threats, and Wesley being a hard-working teen.

I'm starting to understand why many forum members longed for the old decades such as the best of 70's, 80's, and 90's. Movies from the older generations sure has a much higher artistic value.
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I liked the idea Gene Roddenberry had that the Star Trek series (earliest ones) adhered to, which was: there can never be conflict between crew members. He disliked that mode of drama, and I have to agree with him on that one. My favorite thing about Star Trek was how competent and professional the crew were. It made me long for that in my own life at my job. That was the most ideal and futuristic part about the whole thing, in my opinion. People not backstabbing, not gossiping, not having petty grievances or drama, but actually communicating and working out their problems and emotions.
 
thinkreadwritecode said:
I liked the idea Gene Roddenberry had that the Star Trek series (earliest ones) adhered to, which was: there can never be conflict between crew members. He disliked that mode of drama, and I have to agree with him on that one. My favorite thing about Star Trek was how competent and professional the crew were. It made me long for that in my own life at my job. That was the most ideal and futuristic part about the whole thing, in my opinion. People not backstabbing, not gossiping, not having petty grievances or drama, but actually communicating and working out their problems and emotions.
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I always thought that Star Trek portrayed what humanity could be if it was a majority Christian society in practice, despite being written by secularists. It’s one of the few adult shows I may let my kids view an episode of once in a while because there are some genuine good moral lessons.
 
thinkreadwritecode said:
I liked the idea Gene Roddenberry had that the Star Trek series (earliest ones) adhered to, which was: there can never be conflict between crew members. He disliked that mode of drama, and I have to agree with him on that one. My favorite thing about Star Trek was how competent and professional the crew were. It made me long for that in my own life at my job. That was the most ideal and futuristic part about the whole thing, in my opinion. People not backstabbing, not gossiping, not having petty grievances or drama, but actually communicating and working out their problems and emotions.
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I wouldn't say there wasn't any conflict at all between crew members. Bones and Spock's entire relationship is built around opposing viewpoints. They are always bickering or making playful barbs at one another.

I agree that, overall, most of the conflict came from beings outside the ship. If internal conflict arose, it was usually due to those outside forces negatively affecting the crew.

@TheLoneReader You bring up an interesting point about life on the Enterprise representing a Christian society. It's well-functioning with everyone having the right set of morals and values. It's only when the ship encounters evil forces that crew members start displaying non-Christian attitudes like jealousy and have murderous intentions towards others.
 
GodfatherPartTwo said:
Check out Once Upon a Time in the West. It stars Charles Bronson as the good guy. Still one of the greatest movies I've ever seen.
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On your recommendation I watched Once Upon a Time in the West. It was a slow burn and took a while to get going. It was a pretty good /entertaining spaghetti western, but I still have to rank to Clint Eastwood trilogy a little higher IMO. Bronson was definitely “bad ass” in that film though. Between him and Clint for “cool” factor it’s a toss up. Thanks for the recommendation.
 
I watched Ladyhawke today, it's on Tubi. I've been wanting to see it for a few years ever since I read Ready Player One. I wanted to see why the author was so obsessed with this movie. It's not a bad movie, I like many of the director's other films. Most of all, other than the story itself, I liked the ambience. The West as it was, so to speak. There is no DEI in the film and it was refreshing to see an actual European man and woman as the stars. There was also respect given to God, no petty atheist lines and a good sense of Christianity as universal and everywhere. The Bishop in the film may have been evil, but he wasn't cartoonishly evil, he wasn't made ridiculous, like sexually depraved, a clear heretic and hypocrite, pedophile or homosexual, that sort of thing that would probably be portrayed today.

Although I did just learn the director was in fact Jewish (Richard Donner). I guess that's why they showed respect to God, but not Jesus, Christ is actually nowhere to be found in the whole movie, other than a few times you see the cross in the background of the church, I think. Ah, even one of the screenplay writers was Jewish. I guess there isn't a way to completely find a way out of the mire, even when you go back 39 years. Still a lot better than what's made today.
 
jibridgland.blogspot.com

Skyfall and the Painting in M's Office

Following on from my blogs about the paintings in the new Bond film Skyfall , I've been asked what the painting is in the final scenes wher...
jibridgland.blogspot.com jibridgland.blogspot.com

Skyfall and the Painting in M's Office​


Following on from my blogs about the paintings in the new Bond film Skyfall, I've been asked what the painting is in the final scenes where (not giving any spoilers away) Bond receives his new assignment in M's office.

Prominently between the two characters is a painting on the wall. As you 'read' the scene between the two characters who book-end the shot, you 'read' across the painting.


Here it is close up (rather blurry, sorry)...


It's HMS “Victory” Heavily Engaged at the Battle of Trafalgar, possibly by Thomas Buttersworth (although there are a number of similar versions by both Buttersworth and other marine artists).


Thomas Buttersworth, H.M.S. “Victory” heavily engaged at the battle of Trafalgar, 1825


Anyway, the important thing is that it's the Battle of Trafalgar. Given that the paintings in the film have been full of significance, what's the meaning of this painting in the context of a James Bond film?

Skyfall uses the metaphor of Bond as an old warship who is past his prime and no longer needed, through the medium of a Turner painting, The Fighting Temeraire. Turner's painting, with its sunset and reflections, evokes a feeling of sadness and loss at the passing of an era (here specifically of Britain's naval supremacy), which is in turn applied to middle-aged Bond.



Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Fighting Temeraire, 1839

Read about the scene in the National Gallery in front of Turner's The Fighting Temeraire here and here.

So what about the painting which the film ends with, showing the Battle of Trafalgar?

The story of the battle is that, after a lengthy and frustrating chase across the Atlantic and back, Lord Nelson finally confronted the Franco-Spanish fleet off Cape Trafalgar on the morning of 21st October 1805. Outnumbered, Nelson thought up an unconventional plan to break the enemy line in two places. Carnage ensued. At the height of the battle, a French sharp-shooter, taking aim from the mizzentop of the Redoubtable, hit the heroic Nelson. This is the moment captured in the painting. Nelson was carried, wounded, below decks. However, he lived to hear that it was a convincing British victory, with the surviving Franco-Spanish ships fleeing to Cadiz.

Skyfall is full of flag-waving Britishness. It's Bond as a British icon, established for 50 years. Just as Turner's The Fighting Temeraire was voted 'The Nation's Favourite Painting', so Bond is the nation's favourite spy, in this case overcoming the baddie, Silva, played by a Spanish actor. The Battle of Trafalgar is the quintessential British victory, with Nelson overcoming the Franco-Spanish fleet by means of a nifty new manoevre, splitting them up and picking them off.

Bond may initially be likened to the Temeraire being towed to the scrapyard. However, by the end of Skyfall, when he receives his new orders, the story arc is such that Bond has been reborn, rejuvinated.

Now, here's the clever bit with the painting in M's office..

Is this painting therefore telling you how to interpret the battle at Skyfall (the house)? It's actually the Battle of Trafalgar - where, against the odds, resourcefulness and unconventional tactics lead to a great British victory. That reading would even suggest that M is a Nelson figure - think of her final scene, and the parallels with Nelson (even down to the kiss).

But perhaps the most interesting parallel is that when Nelson led HMS Victory to engage the enemy at the Battle of Trafalgar, right behind him was (wait for it) the “Temeraire”. That's the same Temeraire that Turner painted, and which appears earlier in the film. But now we see it in its youthful heyday, rejuvinated, reborn, back in the thick of the action, literally right behind British Victory.

Now there's a mission statement for the next Bond film!

Of course, the reason that there's paintings of ships and sea references at all in M's office is a reference to Dr No of 1962.

Take a look here at M's office.
M's office is full of ship paintings, models, and naval references such as telescopes. Have a look at the drawings behind Bernard Lee here.


Fleming himself occasionally referenced M's career in the British Navy, so it's not mere set-decorating by the film-makers.

The fact that it's a reference in Skyfall which is then extended and developed into the meaning of the film itself is a nice touch for film fans in the franchise's fiftieth anniversary year.

You might also be interested in this blog on the painting in M's office in Skyfall HERE.
 
I watched The Grey with Liam Neeson last night, and it was a mess. The movie is about oil workers involved in an airplane crash in the Alaskan wilderness who must survive the crash and make their way to safety.

The problem was, it felt like the director didn't care about making a believable movie and thought the audience wouldn't notice or care about the ridiculous plot or his complete disregard for physics.

At one point, the characters find themselves at the edge of a cliff and need to get to the other side, where trees will shelter them from the storm and the wolves that are hot on their trail.

And in this scene, a character is shown holding onto a rope and jumping from this cliff into pine trees that look at least 50 feet away. However, we're only shown him jumping off the cliff, probably because showing the character surviving this ridiculous stunt and surviving would take a total suspension of logic. This is not James Bond. This is a middle-aged oil refinery worker who probably hasn't exercised in years. And yet he manages to make the jump, survive the jump by landing on a branch (apparently), and successfully tie the rope to a branch that would withstand a 200 pound man to climb across. Uh huh.

Add to that, four characters used this rope to cross from the cliff to the trees across the way (did I mention it was at least 50 feet away?) Just picture this in your mind to understand how impossible this sounds.

Adding insult to injury, the film completely ignores the most basic survival needs. Stranded in the icy Alaskan wilderness after a plane crash, the characters miraculously survive for days with only fire and some bottles of liquor, which certainly don't provide the necessary sustenance. Food? Water? You audience members don't need to focus on unimportant stuff like that. Just watch my damn movie, says the director.

Even the CGI wolves, supposedly the menacing threat in the film, fail to impress. Produced in 2012, they look like they were created on a shoestring budget. The oversized wolves, clearly an attempt to make them appear more intimidating, are never shown up close and are far from convincing. Trained wolves would have been a better choice.

Despite all these defects, critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave it mostly positive reviews. It's baffling because this movie's logic makes a movie like Speed look flawless by comparison. In any case, avoid this movie at all costs.
 
You've never seen it? It's 24 years old now. Yes, it's awesome; heroism, masculinity, sacrifice, and the end music always brings a tear to my eye. It kickstarted some more 'historical epics' that should have never been made, such as Troy and Alexander. Shame that they're making a sequel, which will inevitably suck.
 
Watched “The Beekeeper”. If you like the John Wick movies you probably like the Beekeeper. I enjoyed it despite all of the rediculous “1 man can beat all bad guys ” type of movie.
 
Saw Matt Walsh's Am I Racist? last night. Hilarious. It's also a good exposé on the DEI racket. I wish it went deeper on who is pushing this nonsense at the higher level, although it did have Robin DiAngelo, one of the biggest DEI hucksters, admitting that she gets paid big bucks by the big corporations (Google, Netflix, Instagram, etc.) to push the agenda.

The "anti-racist" DEI world functions like a religion. Being born a white male is equivalent to original sin. "Anti-racism" is described as a journey, not a destination (meaning it is never ending, akin to how Christians lead a life of repentance). The difference is that the DEI religion never offers forgiveness or justification, its just hell. It's an eternal state of being sorry for how you were born (if you're white). Paying reparations and apologizing to every black person you meet is the least you can do, but does nothing to absolve you from the sin of being white. The reason people go along with it is because they wish to be a friend of the world and love the things of the world. They willingly go to hell but they don't want to go alone.
 
Gazza said:
Just finished rewatching Gladiator………. WHAT AN ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE!!!
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Russell is a hero in Italy since that film. He landed such an iconic role and nailed it. He talks about it with Joe Rogan recently.





GodfatherPartTwo said:
Saw Matt Walsh's Am I Racist? last night. Hilarious. It's also a good exposé on the DEI racket. I wish it went deeper on who is pushing this nonsense at the higher level, although it did have Robin DiAngelo, one of the biggest DEI hucksters, admitting that she gets paid big bucks by the big corporations (Google, Netflix, Instagram, etc.) to push the agenda.

The "anti-racist" DEI world functions like a religion. Being born a white male is equivalent to original sin. "Anti-racism" is described as a journey, not a destination (meaning it is never ending, akin to how Christians lead a life of repentance). The difference is that the DEI religion never offers forgiveness or justification, its just hell. It's an eternal state of being sorry for how you were born (if you're white). Paying reparations and apologizing to every black person you meet is the least you can do, but does nothing to absolve you from the sin of being white. The reason people go along with it is because they wish to be a friend of the world and love the things of the world. They willingly go to hell but they don't want to go alone.
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I've heard from quite a few young men that often reference Matt Walsh when talking about our clown world. He seems to have a good reach through his rational arguments mixed in with a bit of comedy.

I think it's reassuring content to a lot of young people that they are not going crazy and their intuitive moral compass is correct, despite what comes against them from every other angle.
 
Last night, I watched a 2010 documentary called Senna about Ayrton Senna, a famous Brazilian Formula One driver. He was very religious and had a huge passion for driving. This passion sometimes got him into trouble with other drivers, including his teammate Alain Prost, who disliked Senna's competitiveness towards him.

The film had many great behind-the-scenes clips showing the politics of the sport and the relationship between Prost and Senna. The in-dash archival footage made you feel like you were in the car with this man, racing at incredible speeds. Something about it makes the racing footage look so much better than anything you've seen on TV. Maybe it's because you really start to care about this man which makes being in the car with him going around these turns at high speeds as scary as it would be if it were you doing the driving yourself.

Even if you're not a big Formula One fan, I highly recommend watching this documentary. It's exhilarating, moving, and heartbreaking. 8.5/10

 
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Interesting documentary on Netflix, Into the Deep. It is about an inventor/engineer who murdered a woman in a submarine that his company built. What's most fascinating to me is watching it unfold and just kind of asking myself why he would risk getting caught. She was a reporter there to interview him, there was a camera crew there to see them off. Etc etc. It was as if he was asking to get caught.

And my theory is that, he essentially DID want to get caught, well kind of. The documentary alludes to how his success was largely a house of cards and that he really had no solid plans to move his business forward beyond building a rocket for largely arbitrary reasons. In otherwords, I think he knew he was something of a fraud, that the many people who looked up to and idolized him would eventually find out he was a fraud. And this, combined with the fact that he did indeed fantasize about killing AND torturing a woman, made this an opportunity to be remembered for something else.

Everyone now thinks of him as this hugely successful genius, alpha male who committed murder. And in his mind, that is preferable to watching his business fall apart, and being exposed as unsuccessful. Worth a watch.
 
Just finished watching MY COUSIN VINNY

I've always admired and enjoyed Joe PEsci, so it was fun to see him as the lead rather than a supporting character.

The basic story is some Italian kids (one played by the karate kid) are given death penalty for a crime they did not commit. It's always been a fear of mine to accidentally be tried for an unfair crime when travelling and this movie plays on that fear. In this feature, the terrible Italian lawyer cousin Vinny comes along to try to save the day.

What's good about the movie is the writing as a bunch of random encounters with small town Alabama residents eventually help Pesci to save the kids from the electric chair. This kind of 'bread crumb' trail effect of writing - where something you see in earlier scenes comes together in later on - is the essence of great storytelling.

In terms of the WOKE ometer the film shows in my opinion a healthy relationship. His fiance (Marisa Tomei) supports him. He needs her and yet she also wants marriage and kids with him at some point. There are scenes of tenderness between them that suggest a genuine connection even if they do wear punk rock inspired outfits. One of the main themes of the movie is to let go of trying to be fully independent and accept help from others.

Finally, the court room scenes are genuinely well done. Apparently actual law students have studied this film due to their realism.
 
Tippy said:
Just finished watching MY COUSIN VINNY

I've always admired and enjoyed Joe PEsci, so it was fun to see him as the lead rather than a supporting character.

The basic story is some Italian kids (one played by the karate kid) are given death penalty for a crime they did not commit. It's always been a fear of mine to accidentally be tried for an unfair crime when travelling and this movie plays on that fear. In this feature, the terrible Italian lawyer cousin Vinny comes along to try to save the day.

What's good about the movie is the writing as a bunch of random encounters with small town Alabama residents eventually help Pesci to save the kids from the electric chair. This kind of 'bread crumb' trail effect of writing - where something you see in earlier scenes comes together in later on - is the essence of great storytelling.

In terms of the WOKE ometer the film shows in my opinion a healthy relationship. His fiance (Marisa Tomei) supports him. He needs her and yet she also wants marriage and kids with him at some point. There are scenes of tenderness between them that suggest a genuine connection even if they do wear punk rock inspired outfits. One of the main themes of the movie is to let go of trying to be fully independent and accept help from others.

Finally, the court room scenes are genuinely well done. Apparently actual law students have studied this film due to their realism.
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Also liked this movie a lot. Hard to find stuff like this. Everything was clean and well done, the casting was great, the juxtaposition of New York Italians against Southern country folk was done tastefully.
 
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