The Movie Thread

Last night on Amazon Prime I saw down and watched CHALLENGERS.

This was a movie I was certain I would not like having seen the trailers previously. I thought it was going to be terrible psychosexual erotica with lots of gayness between the two guys. Luckily, this was just one scene in the movie which apparently the director randomly demanded to be put in.

The rest of the movie is a lot more grounded than I was expecting on relatable struggles. Also, quite red pill in some ways that I will consider in a moment.

The basic premise is that there is this successful tennis player low on confidence who is entered into a tournament outside of a major to try to perk him up. By chance, this tournament contains his deadbeat down and out former buddy from tennis school who was also the Don Juan type who slept with his current wife first due to rogue like charm. They end up facing off in the final as flashbacks of what got us here explain more about the back story.

The ying and yang of these two guys is a pretty clear blue pill/red pill or shall we say beta vs sigma energy on display. One guy who is stable and normal and yet lacking spark vs a rough yet underachieving spontaneous type. The clarity of the archetypes on show is engaging in itself. But somehow getting married and having stability has numbed out one of the leads. He needs something to feel alive again. Who can bring that out of him?

Well, the movie says, just the guy who has the exact character traits he himself is lacking.

Eventually they get into some weird relationship dynamics stuff where it appears the main guy is only able to take orders from his coach/wife Zendaya and doesn't have any real direction himself. In the last moments of the film, he engages in some vital type of energy. Some dark revenge intensity sort of thing that pushes him to tennis greatness for a moment.

Certainly a movie that Jungian analysts looking into 'the shadow' could read something into.

It was a lot better than I was expecting I'll say that.
 
Thomas More said:



I liked Pride and Prejudice. I hope this doesn't mean I have to turn in my man card. In my defense, I only saw the first three Harry Potter movies and never saw the rest.

Edit: I like Sound of Music too.
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The men's movies list is pretty good but missing some obvious choices. I can think of many romance movies that women would like more than GiveMyMoneyBack Mountain. Surprised Twilight didn't make the list.
 
GodfatherPartTwo said:
The men's movies list is pretty good but missing some obvious choices. I can think of many romance movies that women would like more than GiveMyMoneyBack Mountain. Surprised Twilight didn't make the list.
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The list was skewed by the premise. Women actually shared men's opinions about a lot of good movies.

Still, it's funny that the Harry Potter movies skew so strongly towards women. I actually expected them to skew male, but them I haven't seen most of them, so I must be more typical than I realized.

I wonder how Titanic scored. I've never seen it either.
 
Thomas More said:
The list was skewed by the premise. Women actually shared men's opinions about a lot of good movies.

Still, it's funny that the Harry Potter movies skew so strongly towards women. I actually expected them to skew male, but them I haven't seen most of them, so I must be more typical than I realized.

I wonder how Titanic scored. I've never seen it either.
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Titanic had broad appeal. James Cameron, along with Marvel, is the king of making movies that appeal to everybody so he can make the most amount of dollars.

Given the premise, I'm amazed that none of the Twilight movies made the list but many of the Harry Potters did. I know plenty of guys that like Harry Potter but I don't really know any that liked Twilight. Unless they secretly liked it and just pretended not to.

I imagine that most women who are into New Age witchcraft were first introduced to it by Harry Potter.

One time at the cigar shop, I setup Godfather 2 and we all watched it. This was a few weeks after they remastered them in 4K for the 50th anniversary and all of us saw the first one in theaters for the rerelease. Some of the guys hadn't seen it. One of the girls that worked there walked by and said it was the greatest movie ever. She was from back east in New York. Italian, so it made sense. I haven't met many other women who liked it, let alone considered it the greatest movie ever. I'm surprised it's not on the men's list.
 
Christos_NIKA said:
What am I missing here? Are the lower number the higher rating? All the good ol' tough guy movies were more popular with women, while the ultra ghey modern movies were more popular with guys? Makes no sense to me.
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1 is the best movie. Lower numbers are less good. So, women rate Harry Potter movies much higher than men.
 
Thomas More said:
The list was skewed by the premise. Women actually shared men's opinions about a lot of good movies.

Still, it's funny that the Harry Potter movies skew so strongly towards women. I actually expected them to skew male, but them I haven't seen most of them, so I must be more typical than I realized.

I wonder how Titanic scored. I've never seen it either.
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I've never found any younger millennial men who like Harry Potter, one guy I knew in college was a big fan, but he's the only guy I know of. I've found quite a few younger millennial women who were big fans. I read the books a few years ago in an attempt to understand what all the hubbub was and I found them to be boring, I think I even would have found them boring as a middle-school kid (I was reading L'Amour back then). I then tried a movie and it was just as bad. Not my cup of tea. Now, the video game, that I might give a go within the next 20 years if I ever get a PS5 and play a backlog of games.
 
Christos_NIKA said:
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Blow Your Mind Wow GIF by Product Hunt
 
I’ve never understood the appeal of Harry Potter and have never read the books nor have I seen much of the films. Lord of the Rings is more my type of fantasy (or even The Neverending Story or Clash of the Titans) and it amazes me how, despite a large fan following, it always seems that it is overshadowed by Harry Potter. It reminds me of how so much good science fiction is overshadowed by the hype surrounding Star Wars.
 
Hey, I recently rewatched Withnail & I, three times this week actually, and I think there's a lot of stuff to talk about with that one. Easily one of my top five favorite movies. I'm too lazy and tired right now to post an elaborate opinion, but I'll leave anybody the first word.

Anyone seen it?

If not, until recently the entire thing was up on odysee. I got the mp4 which I would be willing to share with anyone, provided a decent means to do so.
 
TheLoneReader said:
I’ve never understood the appeal of Harry Potter and have never read the books nor have I seen much of the films. Lord of the Rings is more my type of fantasy (or even The Neverending Story or Clash of the Titans) and it amazes me how, despite a large fan following, it always seems that it is overshadowed by Harry Potter. It reminds me of how so much good science fiction is overshadowed by the hype surrounding Star Wars.
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Harry Potter was the hot new thing when it came out. Lord of the Rings has been around for a while. I also have a feeling the way the Potter movies were rolled out contributed to their success. They were coming out every year and there were 8 of them. LOTR had 3 very solid movies that came out in quick succession then disappeared for a decade only to be followed by mediocre Hobbit prequels and an even worse TV show.

The stories themselves should also be taken into account. LOTR is Catholic-nip, with its blend of European history, fairytale fantasy, and Christianity that makes for a broad and deep story. I'm not surprised that Christians are pretty much the only people you'll hear gush about the films anymore, and even then, they recognize that the films still pale in comparison to the richness of the source material.

In comparison, Harry Potter is much more immediately relatable to it's target audience. The story is not as deep, so as to maintain it's broad appeal. It has been interesting to see JK Rowling, who is herself a leftist, have to fight for authorial intent against the even more deranged leftists who champion her work.
 
I re-watched the movie Lost in Translation last night.

This is a movie I have seen 3 times. Once before I lived in Japan, once while I was there and now 5 years later.

Basic premise is that an ageing actor played by Bill Murray is in Tokyo doing a Whisky commercial and he spends a few days enjoying a platonic romance with a young Scarlett Johannson.

It still holds up very well in a sense. In particular what works is the feeling, especially at the end, of having to let go of someone that you truly connected with. And this sadness of the fleetingness of these connections. What makes the movie more powerful is the connect not so much out of a sexual connection but more of a personality complimenting bond. You can argue that what the movie is about is not the most meaningful or deep topic - a fleeting type of adventure romance abroad. But it creates that experience and associated emotions (even boredom, yes and perhaps too well) in an effective way.

A lot of the movie is a comedy and yet the humour at times is a bit cheap. There are multiple gags on the 'r' 'l' sound confusion used by the Japanese where one would have been more than enough (an overused joke anyway). The idea that the film is actually 'racist' due to only showing Japanese as crazy or wacky is an interesting one to consider. One can easily go to Tokyo for a few days and encounter a lot of unusual (to your Western ideas) situations and people, so I didn't mind that. Especially when it's simply what the characters are observing. One or two scenes take it too far though, especially when one Japanese randomly takes out a BB gun assault rifle and hurls bottles at them. Something that did not seem true to life and just a cheap way of pushing the 'crazy Tokyo' angle.

One thing that came to my mind was how obsolete this film would be in the smart phone era. They would easily reconnect if needed via social media. Also, the loneliness of the characters would be abated by smart phone use. This is a movie with a lot of solitary sitting in bars and rooms and feeling the alienation which is often what is needed to draw one into a new connection.

Sofia Coppola has not made another good movie or even one I could watch all the way through so she caught lightning in a bottle here. I think partially it's the improvised performance of Bill Murray, who is able to deliver quick witted lines in most situations. He is also the perfect straight man to deal light heartedly with both personal pain and out there situations. He's always played the guy who is both in the world and somehow out of it and above it very well. Putting him in Japan allowed him to exercise his comedic repertoire in a new environment while also adding what was probably some real pain regarding marital strife and parental responsibility (and subsequent escapist desires).

It's interesting watching a movie like this from a pick up 'red pill' angle because I noticed Bill Murray was masterful at keeping everything light hearted and unserious. Also as various pick up artists would recommend creating an 'adventure bubble' which he does quite quickly suggesting they break out of the hotel. He almost cannot talk seriously or with actual facts. On the other hand, the young woman seems to pursue him in the bar by ordering him a drink and sitting next to him, which does actually make sense considering he's a mildly famous actor.

The movie is slow and pondering and not all of the scenes are all that funny, but it does come together for something that felt meaningful and real at the end. Not just another movie but an emotional experience wrought from actual life and depicted by actors.
 
Thomas More said:
Still, it's funny that the Harry Potter movies skew so strongly towards women. I actually expected them to skew male, but them I haven't seen most of them, so I must be more typical than I realized.
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I too was surprised by this. What's really weird is that back in the 80s when that D&D gaming craze was going on, women shunned it.

Now they're the primary demographic to watch these kinds of films.
 
Tippy said:
I re-watched the movie Lost in Translation last night.

This is a movie I have seen 3 times. Once before I lived in Japan, once while I was there and now 5 years later.

Basic premise is that an ageing actor played by Bill Murray is in Tokyo doing a Whisky commercial and he spends a few days enjoying a platonic romance with a young Scarlett Johannson.

It still holds up very well in a sense. In particular what works is the feeling, especially at the end, of having to let go of someone that you truly connected with. And this sadness of the fleetingness of these connections. What makes the movie more powerful is the connect not so much out of a sexual connection but more of a personality complimenting bond. You can argue that what the movie is about is not the most meaningful or deep topic - a fleeting type of adventure romance abroad. But it creates that experience and associated emotions (even boredom, yes and perhaps too well) in an effective way.

A lot of the movie is a comedy and yet the humour at times is a bit cheap. There are multiple gags on the 'r' 'l' sound confusion used by the Japanese where one would have been more than enough (an overused joke anyway). The idea that the film is actually 'racist' due to only showing Japanese as crazy or wacky is an interesting one to consider. One can easily go to Tokyo for a few days and encounter a lot of unusual (to your Western ideas) situations and people, so I didn't mind that. Especially when it's simply what the characters are observing. One or two scenes take it too far though, especially when one Japanese randomly takes out a BB gun assault rifle and hurls bottles at them. Something that did not seem true to life and just a cheap way of pushing the 'crazy Tokyo' angle.

One thing that came to my mind was how obsolete this film would be in the smart phone era. They would easily reconnect if needed via social media. Also, the loneliness of the characters would be abated by smart phone use. This is a movie with a lot of solitary sitting in bars and rooms and feeling the alienation which is often what is needed to draw one into a new connection.

Sofia Coppola has not made another good movie or even one I could watch all the way through so she caught lightning in a bottle here. I think partially it's the improvised performance of Bill Murray, who is able to deliver quick witted lines in most situations. He is also the perfect straight man to deal light heartedly with both personal pain and out there situations. He's always played the guy who is both in the world and somehow out of it and above it very well. Putting him in Japan allowed him to exercise his comedic repertoire in a new environment while also adding what was probably some real pain regarding marital strife and parental responsibility (and subsequent escapist desires).

It's interesting watching a movie like this from a pick up 'red pill' angle because I noticed Bill Murray was masterful at keeping everything light hearted and unserious. Also as various pick up artists would recommend creating an 'adventure bubble' which he does quite quickly suggesting they break out of the hotel. He almost cannot talk seriously or with actual facts. On the other hand, the young woman seems to pursue him in the bar by ordering him a drink and sitting next to him, which does actually make sense considering he's a mildly famous actor.

The movie is slow and pondering and not all of the scenes are all that funny, but it does come together for something that felt meaningful and real at the end. Not just another movie but an emotional experience wrought from actual life and depicted by actors.
Click to expand...
When I first saw this movie, I thought it was just meh. Now, it's one of my favorites. It really grows on you.

I'd disagree though that the film would be any different today with the use of smartphones. Their connection happens when they're together. Texting from one hotel room to another wouldn't create the chemistry needed for these characters to tearfully say goodbye to each other at the end.

Similarly, I'm not sure that social media would change the outcome for these characters when they went back to the States. They had a connection, but it was temporary. There's no real reason for them to carry this relationship forward when returning home since they are both married. We as the audience can identify with their loss as most people have probably had to unwillingly let go of someone from their past. And so we mourn for their loss at the end of the film.

Murray's humor probably won't even make most people chuckle. However, it keeps the film light-hearted because, in reality, everything around these characters is uncertain, especially in this foreign land. Without that humor, this film would be quite dour.

Sofia really did capture lighting in a bottle with this film. From what I heard, the script was minimal and Murray did a lot of improvising. On paper, the script probably doesn't read well at all. And yet it plays so well on screen.
 
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