What are you watching?

[Matt H.]

- the casting director should be shot. With teen movies of this period you know the characters won't look the right ages but they should look the same age. It's disorienting when your watching Jennifer Jason Leigh at 19 semi realistically playing 15 dating a guy who looks like he's pushing 30 also playing 15.

He wasn't supposed to be 15, he was 26.

[null]

Fast Times At Ridgemont High: I was surprised watching the credits when Cameron Crowds name turned up as screenwriter. I didn't know he was working back then. He's so specifically a late 90s guy in my head. Anyway this very much feels like a Cameron Crowe film.

So, Crowe wrote this as a long form piece (that turned into a book before publication) and then wrote the screenplay. There's even more backstory, if you're interested.

Would also recommend "Almost Famous" if you haven't seen that either. It's about Crowe's experiences before/at Rolling Stone that eventually led to him writing "Fast Times..."

[Dom D]

Fast Times At Ridgemont High: I was surprised watching the credits when Cameron Crowds name turned up as screenwriter. I didn't know he was working back then. He's so specifically a late 90s guy in my head. Anyway this very much feels like a Cameron Crowe film. A few thoughts:

- the casting director should be shot. With teen movies of this period you know the characters won't look the right ages but they should look the same age. It's disorienting when your watching Jennifer Jason Leigh at 19 semi realistically playing 15 dating a guy who looks like he's pushing 30 also playing 15. Her sex scene in the pool house looks like statutory rape.
- huh, That's Nic Cage bouncing round in the background as a very noticeable extra.
- Skin called Cates red bikini scene the greatest piece of nudity in any film. Its a contender but I'm guessing the talking head was a teenager at just the right time. It's funny how this type of film can sear itself in that way.
- first time I've liked Sean Penn in a film.

[Mark Tolch]

I recently subscribed to Starz, so I went through the On-demand section to write down all of the movies I want to watch. I saw that ERASER is on there and I was like, fuck yeah, so I wanted to check it out to make sure it was in the OAR. Of course, it wasn't (1.78 instead of 2.35) but that brings me to another pet peeve of mine concerning cable providers altering aspect ratios: I can't stand it when they show the opening credits in the proper AR and then it switches to their modified bullshit ratio once the first scene begins. It's so obnoxious, actually letting you know that you're watching it incorrectly. This BS was OK back in the VHS days when we didn't know any better, but not in 2022.

That shit drives me nuts. First, "I don't want black bars on the top and bottom!" and now, "I don't want gray/black bars on the sides!"

[Matt H.]

I recently subscribed to Starz, so I went through the On-demand section to write down all of the movies I want to watch. I saw that ERASER is on there and I was like, fuck yeah, so I wanted to check it out to make sure it was in the OAR. Of course, it wasn't (1.78 instead of 2.35) but that brings me to another pet peeve of mine concerning cable providers altering aspect ratios: I can't stand it when they show the opening credits in the proper AR and then it switches to their modified bullshit ratio once the first scene begins. It's so obnoxious, actually letting you know that you're watching it incorrectly. This BS was OK back in the VHS days when we didn't know any better, but not in 2022.

[FnordChan]

I went to see The Northman yesterday - my second theatrical outing after over two years away, I was really getting wild and out of control with all the movie action - and thought it was quite good. It’s a sort of fable or lost bit of viking mythology and is suitably fully of violent mayhem punctuated by absolutely beautiful shots and careful framing. I enjoyed it quite a bit and am glad I got out to see it on the big screen, as I dunno how well it would work at home. I was reminded of The Green Knight, which I watched with a distracted group on a small-ish television and barely audible audio and the film absolutely did not work form me, but presumably it would have been suitably immersive in a theater with the music booming and so forth; I imagine The Northman is a similar sort of film. I was also impressed that the film was so thoroughly metal without actually having a metal soundtrack. Of Eggers’ films I liked this more than The Witch but not as much as The Lighthouse. Highly recommended for any of you Vinland Saga fans who were hoping the manga and/or anime would get a spiritual live-action adaptation.

[Dom D]

Wha? You're saying you haven't actually ever seen it? I know you're an Aussie and all, but ... Damn, man, FIX that. Probably not the best of the teen sex comedy/dramas but definitely in the top 5. Well worth the time.

My girl said something similar when i said 'we should watch that.' Apparently she's seen it a dozen times and it's a favourite and some how, over the many years we've been together, it hasn't come up.

I mentally had it classed with the likes of Porkies and life is only so long. It was pretty clear from the documentary that it's not Porkies.

[Mark Tolch]

Wha? You're saying you haven't actually ever seen it? I know you're an Aussie and all, but ... Damn, man, FIX that. Probably not the best of the teen sex comedy/dramas but definitely in the top 5. Well worth the time.

Yes. What he said.

[null]

I need to see Fast Times At Ridgemont High...

Wha? You're saying you haven't actually ever seen it? I know you're an Aussie and all, but ... Damn, man, FIX that. Probably not the best of the teen sex comedy/dramas but definitely in the top 5. Well worth the time.

[Dom D]

Skin: A history Of Nudity In the Movies. This starts alright. There's an explanation of the Hayes code, the films preceding it, the films that circumvented it and the films that ended it. After that though it really just reduces itself to 'and did you see the tits in this film!" With a talking head jumping on to saying something insightful along the lines of "that was really embarrassing to shoot but hey, I was in a movie!" For 13 year old boys this is a tremendous resource- although they have pornhub these days- but it's not really good for a lot else. Long too. Malcolm McDowell is an absolute highlight. They should have saved on the other guests and just got him to narrate his way through the whole thing.

I need to see Fast Times At Ridgemont High...

[Matt H.]

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent - Went to a filthy movie theater for this and it was fun at first, but, ironically, it really started to play out like one of the many forgettable recent Cage movies that it's supposed to be commenting on. It lost me when it stopped being funny and almost abandoned the meta-aspect to focus on the completely uninteresting kidnap/spy plot. This last part of the movie is too serious and goes on forever. The movie has no business being 107 minutes; I couldn't wait for it to end. That being said, there are some nice Cage moments (that inevitably lack the charm and spontaneity of his real unhinged work in stuff like VAMPIRE'S KISS and DEADFALL) and overall I think it was a good idea for a film (although it borrows quite liberally from Adam Rifkin's superior Burt Reynolds homage THE LAST MOVIE STAR, not to mention JCVD) and it came at the perfect time (no need to puzzle over why Cage is doing this anymore). The cool thing is that I don't see it affecting Cage's career one way or another; the film is insignificant enough that Cage can and probably will continue appearing in random films, just like before.

[Spaghetti Monkey]

^ Love that flick.

[Mark Tolch]

The Girl Can't Help It.

Man, this one is so fun.

[Matt H.]

The Card Counter, a return to form for Paul Schrader. His last efforts have been so-so (I would even say Dog eat Dog was absolute garbage).

The scenes showing the atrocities at Abu Ghraib were genuinely disturbing; the camera work was really effective.

[The Silly Swede]

The Card Counter, a return to form for Paul Schrader. His last efforts have been so-so (I would even say Dog eat Dog was absolute garbage).