Movies

[romad1]

On 1/28/2026 at 7:28 AM, Motor City Sonics said:

I don't know why.   Maybe it's just the snow sweeping guy and the way he so perfectly delivers his lines here, but this may be my favorite scene in film history.  This stupid little scene with two characters who hadn't even appeared on screen yet 3/4 of the way through the movie.    It's endlessly quotable.   

 

 

This is also a scene my wife and I quote a lot.  

[romad1]

Finally saw One Battle After Another.  I can definitely appreciate it.  I don't know if I loved it. 

[chasfh]

46 minutes ago, romad1 said:

Finally saw One Battle After Another.  I can definitely appreciate it.  I don't know if I loved it. 

Same here. I’m glad I saw it, but I can definitely wait to see it again.

[romad1]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

Same here. I’m glad I saw it, but I can definitely wait to see it again.

Thinking in terms of comps...."Casablanca" was an amazing movie and still holds up because, of the "La Marseillaise" scene:  the point in the movie which really tears at the heart strings of the audience.  I'm not sure we ever got that point in One Battle After Another.  I thought we had hints with the Benicio Del Toro character and his enlarged operation and family but that seems incomplete. 

I saw similarities to "The Baader Meinhoff Complex" which was ultimately depicting the Revolutionaries as a disease of the otherwise stable West German society caused by the youth's reaction to the Nazi era and East Germany's exploitation of that youth dissatisfaction. 

"Antropoid" about the assassination of Heydrich in Prague has some comps. 

There is some of this same angle in "Deutschland 83-89".  

Not sure why I went to three different German examples. 

[romad1]

42 minutes ago, romad1 said:

Thinking in terms of comps...."Casablanca" was an amazing movie and still holds up because, of the "La Marseillaise" scene:  the point in the movie which really tears at the heart strings of the audience.  I'm not sure we ever got that point in One Battle After Another.  I thought we had hints with the Benicio Del Toro character and his enlarged operation and family but that seems incomplete. 

I saw similarities to "The Baader Meinhoff Complex" which was ultimately depicting the Revolutionaries as a disease of the otherwise stable West German society caused by the youth's reaction to the Nazi era and East Germany's exploitation of that youth dissatisfaction. 

"Antropoid" about the assassination of Heydrich in Prague has some comps. 

There is some of this same angle in "Deutschland 83-89".  

Not sure why I went to three different German examples. 

Andor is the comp.   Andor was better.  

[Motor City Sonics]

Underrated movie

 

Hell Or High Water    (Chris Pine, Ben Foster and Jeff Bridges in one of the best roles in his career). 

Great writing

Great pacing

Great cinematography

Great acting

 

It was nominated for a few Oscars, I think it was better than Moonlight or La La Land.  Way better than both

Serious tone with a little room for humor

 

 

 

 

Edited Friday at 08:18 PM by Motor City Sonics

[Motor City Sonics]

Favorite ending to a movie?   

It's a lighter touch, not a dramatic one.   I guess you could have categories for endings

 

Mine is Say Anything.    Waiting for the No Smoking light to go off in the airplane (showing you how old the movie is, you could still smoke on planes in 1989).      There is something very satisfying about the way it ends.   

Say Anything is an extremely underrated movie. 

[oblong]

1 hour ago, Motor City Sonics said:

Favorite ending to a movie?   

It's a lighter touch, not a dramatic one.   I guess you could have categories for endings

 

Mine is Say Anything.    Waiting for the No Smoking light to go off in the airplane (showing you how old the movie is, you could still smoke on planes in 1989).      There is something very satisfying about the way it ends.   

Say Anything is an extremely underrated movie. 

They couldn’t figure out what song he would be playing in the “ scene”.  Then Crowe heard In Your Eyes on something his wife had and he couldn’t believe how well it matched up.  Peter Gabriel wasn’t one to give up his music. Somehow they got a tape of the movie to him and they were told he would call after watching  He did call and said no.  Crowe was able to quickly ask “why” before he hung up and he said it didn’t fit in with the shooting up and then he OD’s.  Turns out Gabriel had been sent the movie about Belushi called Wired and thought that was the movie Crowe was asking about. .He agreed after seeing Say Anything but the cost was $600K. 

[Motor City Sonics]

15 minutes ago, oblong said:

They couldn’t figure out what song he would be playing in the “ scene”.  Then Crowe heard In Your Eyes on something his wife had and he couldn’t believe how well it matched up.  Peter Gabriel wasn’t one to give up his music. Somehow they got a tape of the movie to him and they were told he would call after watching  He did call and said no.  Crowe was able to quickly ask “why” before he hung up and he said it didn’t fit in with the shooting up and then he OD’s.  Turns out Gabriel had been sent the movie about Belushi called Wired and thought that was the movie Crowe was asking about. .He agreed after seeing Say Anything but the cost was $600K. 

Cusack wanted a Fishbone song.    Um, no.   I love Fishbone, but not for emotional impact. 

[StrangeBird]

Possibly my favorite film of all-time is Arrival. The ending is a real tearjerker, but also makes you think about the nature of time (the fact that her daughter’s name is a palindrome and the entire film is portrayed as a story where the ending is also the beginning) and also a difficult ethical dilemma about choosing to bring someone into the world with foreknowledge of the pain it will inevitably bring. Amy Adams is a fantastic actress.

I’m not much of a classical music aficionado, but the opening and closing song by Max Richter (On the Nature of Daylight) works so well in this movie. It never fails to move me deeply despite my having seen the film at least 5 or 6 times now.

Edited Tuesday at 11:08 PM by StrangeBird

[oblong]

20 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

Cusack wanted a Fishbone song.    Um, no.   I love Fishbone, but not for emotional impact. 

It's weird you posted this now because I'm reading "You couldn't ignore me if you tried", a book about the 80's teen/brat pack movies, mostly John Hughes but Say Anything is in it too.  I'm exactly at this point where Say Anything is talked about.  It's such a different vibe, and I think more intelligent, than the Hughes ones.  That's not a criticism so much as I believe Cameron comes at it in a different way.  Crowe and James L Brooks didn't think the studio marketed it the right way, they thought it could be an Academy movie but the studio saw it merely as a teen flick.  Cusack didn't want to do it as he'd already done The Sure Thing (Very underrated!) and Weird Science, but John Mahoney was already on board, and during filming Eight Men Out he convinced him to do it.  Told him it's different.

In Crowe's book he shares the anecdote that he and Hughes had offices in the same bungalow on Paramount's lot but never really had a relationship.  They'd see each ohter often.  One night they stayed after and spent the night in the office together talking about movies and music.  Then that was it.  He never talked to him again.  Wasn't sure why.   Hughes was heavy into the British pop in the mid 80s and played a large part in making it popular here.