BP Movie Journal 7/2/20
In this episode, Tyler and David discuss the movies they’ve been watching, including:
THE KILLING FLOOR
MICHAEL
PETER PAN
MADCHEN IN UNIFORM
VICTOR AND VICTORIA
THE SKULLS
MERMAIDS
TOKYO OLYMPIAD
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING
PERIOD. END OF SENTENCE.
GLADIATOR
THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT
7500
MEET JOHN DOE
HONEYMOON IN VEGAS
DA 5 BLOODS
UNDER THE VOLCANO
MILLER’S CROSSING
SPEED
REPO MAN
CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS
MOANA
99 RIVER STREET
IMAGES OF FLYING AND FALLING
CLOSE THE LID, GENTLY: A HOME DOCUMENT
PERFORMANCE FOR PERFECTION 1200
UPCYCLES
IN GLASS HOUSES
SKIN IN THE GAME
TRACES WITH ELIKEM
THINGS TO COME
HERE TO BE HEARD: THE STORY OF THE SLITS
DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
TRIPLE FRONTIER
SHANGHAI TRIAD
FANTASIA
JAWBREAKER
UNDER THE SILVER LAKE
TWISTER
BLOODY NOSE, EMPTY POCKETS
GUEST OF HONOUR
DOCTOR SLEEP
The U.S had a legally explicit racial caste system, and European immigrants always qualified as white. There wasn’t necessarily equality among groups of white people, but they still qualified as white.
Well, as we’re seeing en masse right now, the facts and how Americans behave are not always the same thing.
– David
Zahler is known for the extremity of his films, but I think there’s an undercurrent of moralism in them. The thing I would emphasize in Dragged Across Concrete is not simply that another character is basically “the hero”, but that Mel Gibson’s character’s downfall would have been avoidable if not for a part of his character which he would perceive as a virtue (something Tory Kittles’ character finds incomprehensible). And the terrible thing you mention happened in the middle of the movie was also avoidable if he had prioritized doing the right thing rather than the thing in his own self-interest. Vince Vaughn’s character isn’t as bad a guy, and objects to the decision his partner makes, but out of his misguided sense of loyalty he ultimately goes along and that determines everyone’s fate.
Yeah, I agree with all of this but I avoided getting into things like the character’s downfall–which is one of the most crucial moments in the whole movie, thematically–because of spoilers. I do think much of the movie is ultimately defensible but I still think it reaches too much for sympathy for racist characters (Gibson’s wife, for one) and, most importantly, there’s just too much of it that I don’t enjoy cinematically.
– David
One thing about Things To Come, which, as a film, almost repels engagement for me, despite looking pretty great, is that it isn’t really William Cameron Menzies’ Things To Come, but more properly H.G. Wells’ Things To Come. He oversaw most aspects of the production directly, and had the closest thing you could to final cut without calling it that. It’s a more than fair gaze into his mind. Sadly, not such an appealing one, for me.
Has David ever explained why he refuses to watch Fury Road?
I can’t remember if it was covered in a previous episode.
There are no movies that I refuse to watch, only movies that I haven’t seen yet. My lack of urgency toward Fury Road has a lot to do with my ever-deepening prejudice against franchises as well as the fact that I just don’t like being told what to do!
– David