Which Films have you seen lately? Certificate 18

[The_J]

To a large degree, I've started thinking of "movies" and "television shows" interchangeably, as a viewer. At the very least, the walls are crumbling, and the divisions that remain between the two media are looking more and more artificial and arbitrary to me.

mmhh...? The only real difference is that one is longer and cut in small pieces. If there's otherwise any difference, then I'm totally missing it.

 

[EgonSpengler]

mmhh...? The only real difference is that one is longer and cut in small pieces. If there's otherwise any difference, then I'm totally missing it.

tl;dr version: Yes, pretty much.

Longer version: I think the single biggest difference for the viewer is that you very rarely ever see a series in a theater. A feature film intended for audiences to see in a movie theater can do things with visuals and audio that are a different experience from watching it at home, even if you have a big tv screen and a decent sound system and can turn it up loud without bothering the neighbors. I don't know if there's a difference in filming or acting techniques that attaches to whether a given thing will be viewed by audiences on a theater screen, but certainly the visual and audio experience of a movie theater is hard to replicate at home.

We're seeing more and more movies leverage the capabilities of a theater, and audiences waiting for feature films that don't demand a big screen to be released on streaming services. Filmmakers and movie reviewers might insist that I should see Belfast or Licorice Pizza in a theater for the best experience, but I think I can wait. otoh, I'll almost certainly go see Doctor Strange once while it's still in theaters, and that doesn't mean I'm looking forward to that one more than the others. Waiting for Belfast to hit one of my streaming services isn't a demotion. In fact, I'm kind of aggravated about how long it will take to get there, 'cause I want to see it.

Even more rambling, mostly on stuff that the viewer doesn't perceive directly:

Spoiler :

As single-story series become more common, the filming schedule for series more closely resembles that of movies, where you film the entire thing at once. But some television series today still follow the episodic format. In the olden days, tv series were shot, and even written, on a schedule only slightly ahead of airing. In Ye Olde 22-episode American tv calendar, September-to-May, episodes of shows were being written and filmed while the season was on-air, maybe a couple of weeks ahead of the viewer. The one advantage to this was that the writers and cast could adjust, on-the-fly, to how the show was being received. There are some few instances of actors and characters being introduced with the intention of being in only one or two episodes, then becoming so popular with audiences that the plans were changed and the character or actor was made a regular part of the show. I know of at least one instance of the reverse: Harry Kim was going to written off Star Trek: Voyager, but then Garrett Wang was featured on the cover of People magazine and the writers changed their minds. They didn't know he was that popular.

On the industry side, we're seeing movie studios make more series, and streaming services are becoming production houses for features and series simultaneously, so those traditional distinctions are fading fast. In the US, each industry does still present its own awards every year, The Oscars and the Emmys, although we're seeing more and more instances of movies that should be considered by the Oscars (because, back in the day, "television movies" was a whole subgenre that were the purview of the Emmys, not the Oscars. iirc, Alfonso Cuaron's Roma was the first movie produced entirely by a streaming service to win an Oscar, so that distinction is tumbling down too). To my knowledge, the Oscars have never recognized anything that was a series.

The talent producing movies and television overlap now more than ever, but it's still not 100%. There are still a lot of actors and directors who only do movies, and even more who only do tv. As above, I don't know how much of that is due to differences in the techniques employed. Even if the techniques are no different, series still demand a lot from an actor in time commitment and shooting schedule. I was listening to an interview with Peter Dinklage recently, and when he was asked if he would ever do another series like Game of Thrones, he took a long pause trying find a 'diplomatic' answer... I think in a series, the shooting schedule can be more grueling, there's less time for reshoots or multiple takes, and less post-production. As more series are shot more like films, those differences will fade, but they're still there.

It's often been said that "movies are a director's medium and television is a writer's medium", and while that's not as 100% true as it used to be, it's still mostly true. I was just listening to an interview with James Gunn yesterday, and he said he can't imagine not personally directing a script he's written. He considers the directing of a movie to be "the final draft of the script." At the same time, some of these blockbuster movies are becoming so huge, we're seeing directing duos more and more often. Meanwhile, Kevin Smith says that when he directs an episode of a television, he's basically just the guy who brings the donuts. He asks the cast for pointers on what their characters ought to be doing in a scene, 'cause the actors are way more familiar with them than he is. There's a story that came out recently about a confrontation on-set between Ellen Pompeo and Denzel Washington when he came in to direct an episode of Grey's Anatomy. Washington hadn't done television in 40 years, and if I'm reading between the lines, it sounds to me like he may have forgotten that it wasn't a film set and the director doesn't run everything. A quote from Pompeo: "He was like, 'I'm the director. Don't you tell [your scene partner] what to do.' And I was like, 'Listen, mother[lover], this is my show. This is my set. Who are you telling? You barely know where the bathroom is.' And I have the utmost respect for him as an actor, as a director, as everything, but we went at it [that] day."

 

[The_J]

Longer version: I think the single biggest difference for the viewer is that you very rarely ever see a series in a theater.

That's obviously for practicality.
Obviously not every series would be good on a big screen, but epic stuff like GoT might.
I actually never saw the appeal there per se. For me going to the cinema is about the social part. I couldn't care less about the big-ass screen.

As single-story series become more common, the filming schedule for series more closely resembles that of movies, where you film the entire thing at once. But some television series today still follow the episodic format. In the olden days, tv series were shot, and even written, on a schedule only slightly ahead of airing. In Ye Olde 22-episode American tv calendar, September-to-May, episodes of shows were being written and filmed while the season was on-air, maybe a couple of weeks ahead of the viewer. The one advantage to this was that the writers and cast could adjust, on-the-fly, to how the show was being received. There are some few instances of actors and characters being introduced with the intention of being in only one or two episodes, then becoming so popular with audiences that the plans were changed and the character or actor was made a regular part of the show. I know of at least one instance of the reverse: Harry Kim was going to written off Star Trek: Voyager, but then Garrett Wang was featured on the cover of People magazine and the writers changed their minds. They didn't know he was that popular.

If you look around, I think you might notice more short seasons. I think all the most recent Netflix series had 6-8 episodes in the first season, and I guess it's exactly due to this reason (and the financial aspect, of course).

 

[Sommerswerd]

I think anyone complaining about remakes & sequels is making two errors: First, I think the real problem is that big Hollywood studios are always chasing the billion-dollar movie, and audiences have little imagination or courage. A movie that makes $80m doesn't interest the big studios, even if the movie only cost $40m to make. Chloe Zhao made Nomadland, which got rave reviews, won an Oscar, and made $39m at the box office. Then she made Eternals, which was mediocre and made $400m at the box office (and that was considered a flop). Are we supposed to think that Disney should make another Nomadland? Second, there are lots of original movies around, you just have to go see them, and then talk about them. Word-of-mouth is more important for smaller-budget movies. Just complaining about remakes and franchises may be contributing to the problem. (And third, I suppose, is that some remakes and sequels are excellent. Obviously, whether or not you enjoy a film is subjective. I'm not going to tell anyone they must enjoy superhero movies. But do I think anyone who dismisses a movie just because it's a remake is being pretentious.)

I think you're getting at something with the bolded. Another aspect that I've noticed, is that its not only that large segments of the consuming audiences seem to want remakes, reboots and sequels... its that even within the remakes, reboots and sequels, large segments of the audiences have very little appetite for any meaningful deviation from what they imagine is the "original" story (aka "source material"). That is to say that they don't just reject and/or ignore new stories, they also reject and/or disdain their favorite stories being told in ways that are divergent from how they imagine the stories to be. A substantial amount of the viewing public just don't seem to want to engage with the reimagining of stories or be surprised or have their expectations subverted in any way.

 

[warpus]

I watched some more movies

The Ritual - I love this premise - 5 bros go on a hike in northern Sweden and run into some weird crap. What's not to love? The big bad monster was a bit disappointing but overall this movie was a fun watch.
The Power of the Dog - I watched this to see what the big deal was all about. I found the acting and cinematography to be top notch, but everything else was kind of meh and yawn. Not surprised my dad fell asleep during this.
Bigbug - Odd French movie with a fascinating premise, interesting aesthetics, and horrible acting. Maybe the dubbing ruined it, I don't know, but I could not stand some of the characters and how they were portrayed.
War Machine - A humorous romp through Afghanistan through the eyes of a naive/slow American general played by Brad Pitt. Not bad.
The Town - Oh my god, it's like Ben Affleck really really wanted to show us how Irish he is. Not a bad movie, but there's a couple high energy bank robbery scenes.. and the rest of it.. is the exact opposite

 

[Kyriakos]

Sundown (2022).
It stars Tim Roth, and the target group should be billionaires with taedium vitae.
Didn't like it.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Oh my god, it's like Ben Affleck really really wanted to show us how Irish he is

That's just normal fare for Ben Affleck.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Is Ben Affleck Irish?

 

[Sommerswerd]

According to Wikipedia he is of "English, Irish, Scottish and German" ancestry.

He's just starred in a few movies doing Bostonian accents.

 

[EgonSpengler]

For those folks who are looking for original movies to watch, the film festivals are a good place to look. The only drawback is that many of those movies aren't immediately available; one of the purposes of many of these festivals is to serve as a showcase for completed films that don't have distribution deals, so the fact that you can't find a film until months later is a feature, not a bug. It's still annoying, but if you have any kind of calendar app or if you use a movie-nerd service or app like Reelgood or JustWatch, you can keep a list of things to look out for. I use Reelgood, myself. I tried JustWatch too, but settled on Reelgood. I can't remember what the differences were, now.

Here are some things I tagged for myself out of Sundance 2022 last month. I doubt all of these movies combined have the budget of a Disney film. And none of them is a sequel or remake, or even an adaptation of something. I can't promise they won't be derivative, but I think they're all originals.

Cha-Cha Real Smooth - I'm not even sure what this is about, but everyone's raving about it. Apple bought it, not sure if it will go to theaters or straight to Apple TV+.
The Cow Who Sang a Song into the Future - Chilean supernatural story, Mia Maestro & Leonor Varela. In Spanish? We'll see.
Dual - Karen Gillan clone sci-fi (comedy? drama? dunno); it was bought by a distributor, but no release date yet.
Emily the Criminal - Aubrey Plaza heist-thriller; Roadside Attractions bought it, no release date yet.
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande - Emma Thompson sex-comedy, will be on Hulu.
Resurrection - Rebecca Hall psychological thriller - IFC Films & Shudder bought it.
When You Finish Saving the World - Julianne Moore & Finn Wolfhard family dramedy directed by Jesse Eisenberg. This one's been getting less-than-stellar reviews, but I'm intrigued anyway.

 

[EgonSpengler]

According to Wikipedia he is of "English, Irish, Scottish and German" ancestry.

He's just starred in a few movies doing Bostonian accents.

He and Damon did okay with the accents, I thought. I was pleasantly surprised by Robin Williams' accent too, come to think of it. As best I can remember, Hope Davis just skipped the accent altogether for Next Stop Wonderland, which I think is going to be the right choice more often than not. Famke Janssen in Monument Ave. easily wins my Razzie Award for Worst Boston Accent. I know English isn't her first language and accents are tough, but Jesus... Yael Stone had this weird thing going on in Orange is the New Black, that I read was a mashup of the whole Northeast. I guess I gave her a pass on it, because it wasn't really supposed to make sense. I imagine people from New York and New Jersey were tilting their heads and going "where is she supposed to be from?" too.

 

[lymond]

Damon and Affleck grew up in Mahss

 

[Sommerswerd]

Yael Stone had this weird thing going on in Orange is the New Black, that I read was a mashup of the whole Northeast. I guess I gave her a pass on it, because it wasn't really supposed to make sense. I imagine people from New York and New Jersey were tilting their heads and going "where is she supposed to be from?" too.

I do think the mashup was localized to the NYC/North Jersey area.

I didn't pay it much attention though, for a couple reasons. First, Orange is the New Black was a freaking awesome show... superb... far too good for my immersion/suspension of belief to get tripped up with minor nitpicks like that. The next thing, is that her character seemed clear to me to be intended to invoke Marissa Tome's character in My Cousin Vinnie... so the accent got the job done.

 

[Kyriakos]

He and Damon did okay with the accents, I thought. I was pleasantly surprised by Robin Williams' accent too, come to think of it. As best I can remember, Hope Davis just skipped the accent altogether for Next Stop Wonderland, which I think is going to be the right choice more often than not. Famke Janssen in Monument Ave. easily wins my Razzie Award for Worst Boston Accent. I know English isn't her first language and accents are tough, but Jesus... Yael Stone had this weird thing going on in Orange is the New Black, that I read was a mashup of the whole Northeast. I guess I gave her a pass on it, because it wasn't really supposed to make sense. I imagine people from New York and New Jersey were tilting their heads and going "where is she supposed to be from?" too.

Emily the Criminal seems to have no trailer. That's a first

 

[EgonSpengler]

Damon and Affleck grew up in Mahss

Indeed. Cambridge. I think the speaking voices they use in most of their movies are probably close to their natural accents. The accents they adopt when they're really trying to sound like they're from a place like Southie, as in Good Will Hunting, probably took some work. Different actors have better or worse ears for accents, I suppose.

I do think the mashup was localized to the NYC/North Jersey area.

I didn't pay it much attention though, for a couple reasons. First, Orange is the New Black was a freaking awesome show... superb... far too good for my immersion/suspension of belief to get tripped up with minor nitpicks like that. The next thing, is that her character seemed clear to me to be intended to invoke Marissa Tome's character in My Cousin Vinnie... so the accent got the job done.

I agree, her weird accent didn't bother me at all. I had no idea she was inspired by Tomei's performance in Vinnie, though. I never thought of that comparison. That's kind of amusing.

Emily the Criminal seems to have no trailer. That's a first

Maybe the company handling the distribution is responsible for making the trailer? I'm not sure, but that would make sense to me. It's getting good reviews. 75 Metacritic. 92% Rotten Tomatoes. I'm surprised the distributors haven't pounced to take advantage of that. Maybe these things take longer than I realize, and it's not that they're dragging their feet.

 

[Sommerswerd]

I agree, her weird accent didn't bother me at all. I had no idea she was inspired by Tomei's performance in Vinnie, though. I never thought of that comparison. That's kind of amusing.

I'm speculating about that, but I thought of Tome's character immediately as soon as Yael Stone started talking... then as the show went on, among other things her obsession with getting married and her "biological clock" solidified the connection for me even more.

 

[lymond]

Indeed. Cambridge. I think the speaking voices they use in most of their movies are probably close to their natural accents. The accents they adopt when they're really trying to sound like they're from a place like Southie, as in Good Will Hunting, probably took some work. Different actors have better or worse ears for accents, I suppose.
.

Who knows really. Damon is pure Mass. Affleck was born in Cali, so his parents may have a very different accent - one that he grew up to and heard first. Plus, as actors, they probably worked on their accent from a fairly young age...and can affect a variety.

I've always found Charlize Theron to be a very interesting case. She's from South Africa and grew up speaking Afrikaans. Not really speaking English at all until she was "discovered" in her late teens. She went full bore on not only learning non-accented American English but adopting it - using it all the time. In fact, I can't recall her ever having an accent.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I'm speculating about that, but I thought of Tome's character immediately as soon as Yael Stone started talking... then as the show went on, among other things her obsession with getting married and her "biological clock" solidified the connection for me even more.

Yeah, good observation.

Who knows really. Damon is pure Mass. Affleck was born in Cali, so his parents may have a very different accent - one that he grew up to and heard first. Plus, as actors, they probably worked on their accent from a fairly young age...and can affect a variety.

I've always found Charlize Theron to be a very interesting case. She's from South Africa and grew up speaking Afrikaans. Not really speaking English at all until she was "discovered" in her late teens. She went full bore on not only learning non-accented American English but adopting it - using it all the time. In fact, I can't recall her ever having an accent.

Yes, I think a lot of actors develop a kind of neutral American accent, to varying degrees of success. I remember chatting with a bartender in New York years ago, and asking her where she was from because she had such a neutral accent, and she said she was from Sweden. She had no trace of a European accent. Turned out she was an actress. Now that you mention it, I'm not sure I've ever heard Theron use anything other than the flat, American non-accent accent. Usually when actors get tripped up is when they try to do a more specific American accent. I assume that's what happened to Famke Janssen in Monument Ave, who's never had a discernible European accent, to my ear. I saw an interview with Kate Winslet in which she said she was determined to get the "DelCo" accent right in Mare of Easttown. I heard at least one reviewer who said he was from Pennsylvania say that she did pretty well. Maybe he was just happy she'd made the effort. I've heard that American actors from other parts of the country tend to butcher Southern accents. Years ago, I saw an interview with Billy Bob Thornton and he did a hilarious impression of a Northerner doing a Southern accent. I wish I could find it now.

Here's a funny video:

Spoiler :

 

[lymond]

Yeah, good observation.

Yes, I think a lot of actors develop a kind of neutral American accent, to varying degrees of success. I remember chatting with a bartender in New York years ago, and asking her where she was from because she had such a neutral accent, and she said she was from Sweden. She had no trace of a European accent. Turned out she was an actress. Now that you mention it, I'm not sure I've ever heard Theron use anything other than the flat, American non-accent accent. Usually when actors get tripped up is when they try to do a more specific American accent. I assume that's what happened to Famke Janssen in Monument Ave, who's never had a discernible European accent, to my ear. I saw an interview with Kate Winslet in which she said she was determined to get the "DelCo" accent right in Mare of Easttown. I heard at least one reviewer who said he was from Pennsylvania say that she did pretty well. Maybe he was just happy she'd made the effort. I've heard that American actors from other parts of the country tend to butcher Southern accents. Years ago, I saw an interview with Billy Bob Thornton and he did a hilarious impression of a Northerner doing a Southern accent. I wish I could find it now.

Here's a funny video:

Spoiler :

Ha...as a Southerner myself, I most definitely concur that the accent can be butchered horribly...and, of course, there's some distinctly different southern accents as well.

Didn't Famke use an accent in the Bond the film. Yeah, otherwise, she does American quite well. Having been to Netherlands a few times, lotsa Dutch speak English very well. Skandis must really emphasize in their education too cause I've heard many of them that speak English with virtually no accent, plus being extremely fluent. Heck, they put out TV shows now in English.

 

[Kyriakos]

Rewatching this, but the acting is pretty bad. Apart from Pleasence and Alice Cooper