OT: 71st Obsequious Banter Thread: Hey, we're just one away from revisiting the Zeppinator

[Magua]

Yeah, but Noir is pretty dead and is mostly confined to a specific era. Horror is ongoing and has been reliant on imagery to generate the desired emotions pretty much since the 1920s, when a generation of WWI veteran directors used the things they'd seen to inform their filmmaking.

Have you seen Night of the Hunter? I've always felt that's a horror film with some heavy Noir influence. Which makes sense because the director was in Noir films as an actor. I also super admire how Chinatown captures that Noir feel but in color, which I consider a feat; I think black and white is generally essential for that imagery and genre.

But in Noir, I tend to feel that the images set a tone, but don't dictate what the viewer feels as thoroughly as images alone have to in horror. The actors, dialogue, and action are still heavily required.

I don’t know if I’d call Night of the Hunter a film noir in the strictest sense, though it flirts with it. It almost defies genre. German Expressionism (which is what noir is rooted in and that’s what I’d attribute the visual link), thriller, horror, Southern Gothic......the last third of the movie is like Huckleberry Finn but with a splash more child murder!

The imagery of the mother’s hair swaying with the seaweed is one of the most beautifully haunting shots in classic film to me. I also love how creepily Robert Mitchum says the word, “CHIIIIILDREN!”

 

[BigToe]

Thank you. See Toe? Listen to your ****ing mentor next time. I don't know why I got the most recalcitrant mentee, for ****'s sake.

Do you find it cool when you use words I have to google, Cap?

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

Do you find it cool when you use words I have to google, Cap?

It is neither cool nor lukewarm, Toe - they are just in the old mental rolodex (google it) and I pull out the one I need in a given situation. If in the process you slowly learn how to speak, all the better.

 

[Lotusflower]

Eyes wide shut is the scariest non horror movie I’ve ever seen.

My favorite film. Says a lot of real **** about society, the nature of relationships etc.

Tom Cruise as the lead is easily one of the best casting jobs in history.
He's a terrible actor who is just told to be himself essentially.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

My favorite film. Says a lot of real **** about society, the nature of relationships etc.

Tom Cruise as the lead is easily one of the best casting jobs in history.
He's a terrible actor who is just told to be himself essentially.

The way that Kubrick stripped him, Cruise, completely psychologically bare was great, and IMO also hilarious.

 

[Chinatown88]

Flyers Book Club update

Finished Beneath The Twisted Trees by Bradley P. Beaulieu. About the same as his other books in The Songs of the Shattered Sands series. He packed a lot at the ending though. Book 5 comes out next year.

Moving onto The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden.

Edit: I appreciate it when the author includes a summary of what happened in the previous books. I don't remember what happened in the previous two books of this trilogy. All I remember is it's about Russians and fantastical creatures, privet.

 

[Starat327]

Flyers Book Club update

Finished Beneath The Twisted Trees by Bradley P. Beaulieu. About the same as his other books in The Songs of the Shattered Sands series. He packed a lot at the ending though. Book 5 comes out next year.

Moving onto The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden.

 

[Chinatown88]

Don't be jealous that others can read when you cannot.

 

[Starat327]

Don't be jealous that others can read when you cannot.

Some of us dont have time to read because we have friends that actually want to hang out with us.

 

[Chinatown88]

Some of us dont have time to read because we have friends that actually want to hang out with us.

You have punctual friends? FeelsBadMan

 

[Beef Invictus]

I don’t know if I’d call Night of the Hunter a film noir in the strictest sense, though it flirts with it. It almost defies genre. German Expressionism (which is what noir is rooted in and that’s what I’d attribute the visual link), thriller, horror, Southern Gothic......the last third of the movie is like Huckleberry Finn but with a splash more child murder!

The imagery of the mother’s hair swaying with the seaweed is one of the most beautifully haunting shots in classic film to me. I also love how creepily Robert Mitchum says the word, “CHIIIIILDREN!”

First time I saw that movie I thought oh hey, 50s film with Robert Mitchum. This will be nothing. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh nope lol.

The scene with the mother is kind of shocking even today. It's just an amazing shot. And I love when the adoptive mother is sitting on the porch with her shotgun and she starts singing along with him. What a great way of showing she is his match and that good can rise to meet evil.

I'm really glad I went into that movie expecting a boring 50s Whateverfest because the lack of expectation made it so much better.

Edit: There's a Scandinavian influence too; the shot of Mitchum riding his horse on the road is very reminiscent of Seventh Seal.

Edit 2: @Captain Dave Poulin go ahead and just watch this movie.

Edit 3: Actually no there is no Seventh Seal influence because Night came out before it.

 

[Starat327]

You have punctual friends? FeelsBadMan

Id have to have friends in order to have punctual ones.

 

[Chinatown88]

Id have to have friends in order to have punctual ones.

Too real Starat. Too real.

 

[Magua]

Edit: There's a Scandinavian influence too; the shot of Mitchum riding his horse on the road is very reminiscent of Seventh Seal.

Speaking of Bergman, have you ever seen The Silence? It’s maybe his creepiest, most surreal movie — or at least of the ones I’ve seen. Caught it on TCM late one night, and I wasn’t ready for its psychological dread (even by Bergman standards). I wouldn’t call it horror, but it’s a weird atmospheric mind f***.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Speaking of Bergman, have you ever seen The Silence? It’s maybe his creepiest, most surreal movie — or at least of the ones I’ve seen. Caught it on TCM late one night, and I wasn’t ready for its psychological dread (even by Bergman standards). I wouldn’t call it horror, but it’s a weird atmospheric mind ****.

I'll hunt for this.

 

[Amorgus]

It looks like my current boss has officially beaten my old boss in the election and will be moving across the hall. I think it's great for our county but now I have to fear who's going across the hall with him because the woman he picked two years ago as assistant deputy in charge of our office has been a godsend and I love her to death.

 

[Cody Webster]

Hey, I dont want to be that guy, but can we move the movie talk to where it belongs - the game day thread?

Apparently not

 

[kudymen]

re: Florida man discussion a long long time ago. I know politics is off limits but this is pretty funny. The Daily Show came up with a browser extension that turns certain name to "Florida man", inevitably leading to:

 

[Beef Invictus]

I don’t know if I’d call Night of the Hunter a film noir in the strictest sense, though it flirts with it. It almost defies genre. German Expressionism (which is what noir is rooted in and that’s what I’d attribute the visual link), thriller, horror, Southern Gothic......the last third of the movie is like Huckleberry Finn but with a splash more child murder!

The imagery of the mother’s hair swaying with the seaweed is one of the most beautifully haunting shots in classic film to me. I also love how creepily Robert Mitchum says the word, “CHIIIIILDREN!”

I've been jonesing to watch this now so I'll dump this here for everyone's benefit.



This movie is so f***ing good.

 

[Magua]

I've been jonesing to watch this now so I'll dump this here for everyone's benefit.



This movie is so ****ing good.

Charles Laughton, the director, was an Academy Award winning English character actor who never directed another movie. I feel like that adds to the mystique of the movie because it's so incredibly shot.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Charles Laughton, the director, was an Academy Award winning English character actor who never directed another movie. I feel like that adds to the mystique of the movie because it's so incredibly shot.

Right, Laughton just came out of nowhere with this and then I guess he figured "well that's as good as it gets."

I think it's reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin who was just flat-out a natural. Obviously Laughton had some fantastic inherent grasp of film making like Chaplin did.

 

[Magua]

Right, Laughton just came out of nowhere with this and then I guess he figured "well that's as good as it gets."

He died 7 years later, and the movie didn't do well at the box office and was met with mixed reaction from critics, so it's possible it wasn't by choice. It's a strange movie that needed time to reevaluate. But as far as batting one thousand goes........

 

[Beef Invictus]

He died 7 years later, and the movie didn't do well at the box office and was met with mixed reaction from critics, so it's possible it wasn't by choice. It's a strange movie that needed time to reevaluate. But as far as batting one thousand goes........

It makes some sense. When you look at what critics were loving in the mid 50s, this was either a throwback to a harsher 20s/30s era, or a solid 20 years ahead of its time.

I've mentioned that going in I expected some unremarkable mid-50s Mitchum vehicle and that's not what this was at all.

 

[JojoTheWhale]

@Captain Dave Poulin @Chinatown88

Book nerds unite! 100 book recommendations from players,...

Maybe the NHL is just lacking personalities because they're all horrendously boring people. They read self-help books and business management drivel. The only suggestion I can find besides those, WWII, and the Bible is from Ken Dryden.

*Edit* And Eric Gudbranson, of all people.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

@Captain Dave Poulin @Chinatown88

Book nerds unite! 100 book recommendations from players,...

Maybe the NHL is just lacking personalities because they're all horrendously boring people. They read self-help books and business management drivel. The only suggestion I can find besides those and the Bible is from Ken Dryden.

This is kind of, tangentially, why I objected to Dylan and the Pulitzer. Writers are marginalized way more than enough as it is. Then there is the aspect of book reviewers with a social-justice agenda, which would be fine if they didn't let that agenda completely overwhelm them. If only the world would listen to me.