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Recent Theatrical Reviews
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Edinburgh International Film Festival 2024: *smiles and kisses you*, by Simon Read
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Edinburgh International Film Festival 2024: Steppenwolf, by Simon Read
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Edinburgh International Film Festival 2024: Timestalker, by Simon Read
First of all, great episode, and lots of interesting topics. Really enjoy listening to you guys! I’m also one of those who can get really drawn into a movie simply by how it’s made btw. Glad that more people feel that way, because you don’t see that discussed too often. Not that I can’t get blown away by the narrative, I view films from a structural standpoint, meaning that what the film focuses on/contains is what’s important – i.e. a film can be carried by whatever it has to offer, wether that is pure narrative, pure style or something inbetween.
As for the discussion about favorite films vs. best films I like to simply combine the two and judge them on that, but I can of course see the thought of them as two seperate entities.
And like all film buffs I have pondered on what I would take with me to that island – and I don’t think it’s a question of favorite vs. best, but simply what I’d get the most from. So I’d preferably take some really long movie, and as I’m not that big on Satantango I’d probably go for the 5 hour long Bertolucci movie 1900, which has so much going on that it would take a long time for me to tire from it.
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And now for my useless comments about old vs. new (why do I write so much it’s not like anyone scrolls below the download link anyways?)
I’ll not agree that cinema has constantly gotten better. Fads certainly change, as does everything else, but that’s what makes cinema so great – there’s so many different styles, movements, etc. to discover. I love cinema from all decades, and I do think we are in a fantastic age for cinema now. Of course the best movies of today can compare to the best movies of the classic era, but vice versa. I actually think the mid-60’s to late 70’s was the hights cinema wise, but we are not that far off now, and hell we could surpass it in the future.
I’ve never had a problem with “older films”, and particularly from the mid-60’s and onwards (i.e. modern era) should put anyone off. Before that there were different, often more theatrical acting styles, etc. and of course you had the evil Hays code in the US, so perhaps some knowledge is needed – but I never felt that much need of it.
ONE THING I WOULD STRONGLY DISAGREE WITH:
Is that they can’t make absolutely pathetic movies well worthy of Mystery Science Theater today. You can just look at 2010’s Birdemic, certainly Manos’ equall in my eyes, perhaps even below it, because as bad as Manos was the sound was at least “decent”, in Birdemic the sound picture changes each time we jump to a new shot. So yes, shit like this is still being made, the difference is that the old ones are now considered camp classics (though Birdemic is being counted with them already) the second is that the drive-in/double-feature culture where the theaters simply bought the cheapest film they could get is over and done with.