IDF's Film Club - A Casual Rankdown - "Rotten" Films Posted

[totes4totes]

Lol the Hays code impact on All About Eve and Dial M for Murder 

[.Rei]

17 hours ago, Alex95 said:

Does everyone else feel good about getting these in this weekend?

@FrogLenzen @Elliott @NGM @.Rei @Steven_

Sorry Alex, I won’t be able to make it. Please move on without me!

[FrogLenzen]

5 hours ago, totes4totes said:

Lol the Hays code impact on All About Eve and Dial M for Murder 

[Alex95]

6 hours ago, .Rei said:

Sorry Alex, I won’t be able to make it. Please move on without me!

Ok. If you do end up finishing before I start the countdown just know you're still more than welcome to submit.

[totes4totes]

everything in my neck of the woods was basically fine! so I'm gonna be watching animal kingdom and should have everything submitted before i go to bed tonight!

[FrogLenzen]

rankings done and submitted with write-ups!!!

[NGM]

sorry i was sick during the weekend, nothing serious but i was kind of out of it and forgot to do this

I should have everything submitted later today (probs after work)

[FrogLenzen]

 

me rereading my own write-ups after submitting them

[Alex95]

Just need @NGM and @Elliott

[Alex95]

Just waiting on Elliott who said he'll get his in soon. So it's time to start thinking of your next film...

 

Back to School

 

Back to school season for the kids is quickly approaching! For this month's theme, we'll all be taking a look at films that take place in school, or are generally about people in school. Whether it's the students, the teachers, the parents. It can be anywhere from daycare to college. The entire film doesn't have to take place in the school, nor does it even have to be the main storyline. As always, I want to give you as much freedom as possible and leave it up to your interpretation if you really want to get creative. But school should be involved in the film in some capacity. You'll have until the countdown ends for the previous cycle to make your picks!

 

@.Rei @totes4totes @1234567890 @Elliott @#jeah @Steven_ @~Tom~ @NGM @FrogLenzen

 

Anyone I didn't tag that wants to participate is more than able to do so!  As always, please only sign up if you think you're gonna have the time to watch the movies throughout the next month or two. I totally understand life gets in the way and sometimes it's not gonna work out. But if it becomes a pattern for multiple rounds of you submitting movies but not participating, I'm not gonna let you submit moving forward.

Edited August 22, 2023 by Alex95

[totes4totes]

Easy. Memento Mori. 
 

you can watch on Kanopy.

[totes4totes]

Wow gonna do a full Whispering Corridors watch for this!!!!!!

[#jeah]

The Spectacular Now

[totes4totes]

for all who have a library card in the US, you should see if your library has access to Kanopy! There's A LOT of good stuff on there. I actually watch a lot of Asian cinema on it from things like Lady Vengeance and Memeto Mori to like Rashoman and Audition!

[FrogLenzen]

my buddy has been bugging me forever to watch Mr. Holland's Opus and it seems like the stars have aligned for me to finally sit down and do it lol

[Alex95]

My laptop charger is being really wonky so I probably won’t start doing updates till I get a new charger sometime this week or on the rare moment it decides to work (which it occasionally does sometimes)

[Alex95]

My laptop charger seems to be completely dead. Planning on getting a new one tomorrow should I have the time, hopefully first update tomorrow night?

[Alex95]

Huzzah I have a working laptop charger again! First update will be tonight.

[Alex95]

9. M*A*S*H

7.38/9

Directed by Robert Altman

Starring Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall

Comedy / Drama / War

United States

84% RT / 80 MC / 3.5 LB

Watch Trailer

 

@NGM - 4/9

@Elliott - 5/9

@#jeah - 6/9

@Alex95 - 8/9

@FrogLenzen - 9/9

@~Tom~ - 9/9

@totes4totes - 9/9

@Steven_ - 9/9

 

Nico

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Probably the biggest surprise for me? I knew nothing of it and laughed my ass off.

 

Elliott

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I've seen a few episodes of the TV show here and there, and I had always thought the movie came out during the show's run. So I definitely did a double take when I realized the movie came first and there was also no major continuity from it to the series (to my knowledge, anyway, lol). Not really I film I'd rewatch frequently, but a solid film and I hope it does well for Megan's benefit.

 

Andy

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This was an interesting choice lol. Was this movie actually racist and homophobic or just so ahead of its time that it's a critique of those things? I'm not sure. I haven't really researched this much beyond a Reddit thread or two so I'm interested in hearing Megan's commentary.

 

Alex

Quote

MVP: Sally Kellerman

Favorite Scene: The Last Supper ("Suicide is Painless")

 

I love the tv show M*A*S*H. It's not a show I've ever sat down and watched every episode of, but what I have seen of it is pretty f*cking fantastic imo. Really biting satire and commentary. But also laugh out loud jokes a minute. Despite liking the show, I had never seen the movie until now. Unfortunately I did not get quite the same amount of smart political satire out of this movie that I got out of the show. Obviously it was there, I mean there's no denying that. But I think the show did a much better job. Catch-22 is the movie I think I'd compare this to, which I greatly prefer. Ironically, there was a miniseries of Catch-22 a few years ago, and I think it failed in comparison to the movie, and to M*A*S*H the show. I don't know where I'm going with this comparison so I'm just gonna stop while I'm somewhat ahead.

Yeah, this movie doesn't age well in a lot of ways. I would gulp through the jokes as I remembered it's the 70's. Hot Lips puts up with a lot of bullshit and I think Kellerman does the best she could to give the character some dignity at least. I'd be lying if I said I didn't laugh at all. But the laughs didn't beat the cringes for me, so I had to place it in my bottom two.

 

Derek

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I wouldn’t have recognized Elliott Gould here if not for his voice! Anyway, I don’t mean to be a drooling woke leftist cuck but this shit did not age well whatsoever. Tbh I’ve never seen more than 30 seconds of the TV series.. something about this time period and the war setting makes me immediately glaze over and yeet the channel away any time I come across it. But somehow I doubt that familiarity with the TV show would have improved this experience. Geez, I didn’t even know what was supposed to be funny and who I was supposed to be rooting for and how I was supposed to be reacting to everything, what a weird experience. It’s hard for me to even pick out other flaws besides the sexual harassment/assault punchlines because this was so totally not made for me that I couldn’t even wrap my head around it. THE FINAL ACT WAS ABOUT FOOTBALL FOR GOD’S SAKE. I’ve watched a lot of movies that I’ve loved and hated as part of this forum and my other movieclub, and I think that the football game is the only time I’ve ever had to fast forward through any part of any movie. I just could not take it any longer. 

 

Tom

Quote

I'll just say...it wasn't for me.

 

Megan

Quote

That's right. I'm secretly all your middle-aged boomer dads. I chose this over my second choice Memento Mori because before I choose that I want to watch every single Whispering Corridors film and because I really wanted to watch a Robert Altman movie. I was in a mood. Also I just like M*A*S*H. In the same breath, I can also acknowledge A LOT A LOT A LOT of MASH just doesn't age well. There's blatant racism. The treatment of Maj. Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan is hard to watch in 2023. These are things that even Robert Altman comments on in the DVD commentary 30+ years later. A part of that is 1970, a part of is this is a story about the army. It's very much a product of its time and ages in a way that other Altman films do not. A lot of what ages the movie is softened in the TV show (as well as the stage play) of which I have more fond memories of, but even watching this it almost feels like 3-4 episodes of television put together. But for the reasons of it not aging well, I have to rank it last. Something that I did kind of expect when I chose it. Because even without the racism and sexism, the film ends with a really uninteresting football scene. (Again if this were a TV show you could just skip that episode LOL).

 

But even now when MASH hits, it hits well. Particularly when put in the context of the fact that it came out in 1970 during the Vietnam War. When the only other war movies being released were about WWII (Patton was released the same year). So you have this pretty explicitly anti-authoritarian, satire of a war film coming out, based on a book written by a Korean War Vet, directed by a WWII vet with a screenplay by a HUAC blacklisted screenwriter being made right around the peak of the Vietnam War protests. It's a war movie without any battle and where the "heroes" are anti-authoritarian hooligans and kind of dicks. The surgical scenes are all quite good still and a very interesting way to show the brutality of war without any actual combat. I think even the suicide vignette still holds up. The vignette where Hawkeye tries to prevent Ho-Jon from being conscripted is also good. This is Robert Altman's first feature-length film as director and you can see all the threads of why many of his future movies were so interesting and compelling to watch. You kind of see his freewheeling narrative structure, the focus on making characters talk like real people, the way he uses overlapping sound and dialogue. It's all the foundations of what would make him unique. At the same time, it's clear there are growing pains.

 

So yah, a solid last place movie due to all its dated flaws. But I still think it's a good one to watch with a critical eye.

 

Steven

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I haven't watched this film or any episodes of M*A*S*H before, but I know how popular the TV show is. So, I had high expectations for M*A*S*H. Sadly, I didn't enjoy this film. There were moments in this film that did not age well, and I don't think the characters were likable either. The movie didn't really grab my attention and I was kind of just waiting for the film to end. I know the movie and TV show aren't directly related, so I'm guessing the TV show is more enjoyable.

 

[FrogLenzen]

I agree that the movie was like 3-4 episodes put together

[totes4totes]

The M*A*S*H TV show ages much better. Mostly because you can skip like bad episodes. And like I mentioned, it gets much softer on the things that didn't age well. Hot Lips as a character gets a lot more respect. Etc.

 

But LOL. Like I said, I chose it because I'm doing like a Robert Altman full rewatch and to do that you have to watch MASH! And it's really good when you are watching the evolution and development of Altman as a director. When I get the opportunity I'll make you all watch a better film of his so you can see!!!

[totes4totes]

2 hours ago, Alex95 said:

I chose this over my second choice Memento Mori

Good thing I held off on Memento Mori so I could choose it for this month's theme!

[.Rei]

MASH was one of the few movies that I got to watch for this round and this is what I wrote:

 

M*A*S*H

I’m just gonna quote a review I saw on Letterboxd as that is exactly how I felt throughout the whole movie.

“Unfortunately this didn’t sit well with me. The narcissism and hate towards women was too much. For every simple, intelligent bit, was a dozen cheap, sexist jokes.”

 

deserve its last place!

[Alex95]

24

[Alex95]

25