The beauty of John Wick Chapter 4 ♥

What a coincidence! I am making a series of post about fairytale movies and bam this video appears. Of course I have to share this, to fit the ensemble.

Now... I will point out that while I do agree strongly with some points made in this video, I also do not agree with several other points made... And there's a slight bit of misinformation at some points (for example the idea that Little Red Riding Hood is a metaphor for predatory men is NOT a "modern" invention, it was present as early as Charles Perrault's rendition of the fairytale in the 17th century and made quite clear - in fact if anything the brothers Grimm later tried to bury/hide this meaning with their own re-edition).

That being said, it is still a quite interesting video that does reach a conclusion I do support: the idea that the "fairytale cinema" is doomed to die due to the modern audience's expectations and the modern commercialization of the industry. (Or at least doomed to die for a time, who knows what the future holds for us?)

Also fun fact, the video does mention the strange dichotomy of Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm, this movie at the same time so cool and so lame, that we want to love but we can't help but hate - and I actually made a post about this. Because the film dual nature is very easily explained when you learn about how and why it was made, and how this movie was actually a battle between Terry Gilliam's project (the good side of the movie) and the Weinstein brothers' project (the bad side of the movie). If you want to read more about this, the post is here.

Me: *watching "Barbie"*

Me: WoW, I feel like it completely missed the point and doesn't really understand matriarchy and feminism. Besides, the movie itself as a story wasn't that great, not bad, but still. Not to mention that Mattel is very hypocritical and has always tried to avoid being label as feministic. On top of that, the "CGI is bad, we are doing this the old way" marking makes make my blood boil ("CGI" has existed for a long time, even before the effects were computer generated, if you think it's a new thing to paint most of the scenery or add a crowd than you know nothing about cinema), especially when you notice the deleted blue screens in BTS videos.

Some random women on the internet: I related to the X character, this move was so meaningful to me, it opened up the room for an important conversation in my home and in society.

Me: You know what? I'm glad you enjoyed it and felt seen thanks to it. Who am I to rain on your parade?

If you are interested in what when wrong with the Barbie movie, here are some reviews and analysis I recommend you check out!

Short review that explains most of the problems: (~10 min.)

An analysis of Barbie, it's possible impact on cinema, and it's social-political background and impact: (~30 min.)

A video essay on shallow feminism in the Barbie and hypocrisy of Mattel: (~30 min.)

Video about history of CGI and how Barbie used the old methods: (~25 min. -7 min. about Oppenheim, but I recommend it too.)

The reason A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is so good is because it's not wink wink nudge, it's a serious movie played genuinely. Sure there's some light, funny moments but what I mean is there's no pop culture jokes, no sarcasm, no wink wink nudge, no modern crap, it reminded me of the movies I loved so much growing up like Lord of the Rings, Titanic, Hunger Games obviously, that kind of THIS IS REAL movie where people react and speak like real actual human beings would in that situation just made me so happy, the deaths and pain was meaningful, the feelings were real, the chemistry was great and real. More of that please.

The Staggering Girl (2019), dir Luca Guadagnino

The World of Apu (1959)

Directed by Satyajit Ray

Cinematography by Subrata Mitra

De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté (2005)

The Beat That My Heart Skipped

Cult Classics: Shaping Subcultures And Defining Identity In Modern Cinema

https://movies.mxdwn.com/feature/cult-classics-shaping-subcultures-and-defining-identity-in-modern-cinema/

Modern Screen Magazine, April 1949.

my newest pet peeve is seeing people’s instagram stories of them at the movies but it’s a picture they took of the actual movie during the movie. like bestie, did you ignore all the put away your phone messages? what about spoilers? idk it gives me very ‘pics or it didn’t happen’ pick me influencer energy. and i can assure you that the people around you are aware of what you’re doing and that by whipping out your phone you’re ruining the experience/ambiance. just enjoy the film and if you want to post about seeing it, take a picture of the poster like the rest of us do!!

i dont think people on this website who think of riverdale as, like, Straight Media understand that a) the magic and genius of it comes from the mind of one of our society's foremost homosexuals roberto aguirre-sacasa himself and b) i once tried to make a list of all the gay characters in rvd with speaking roles and gave up once i hit like 40 bc that was the point in the 50s timeline archie's homophobic uncle who was calling him gay for writing poetry (there was also the fact archie and reggie were having mutual onscreen bisexual awakenings about each other after watching gay porn together but thats like, less gay than the writing poetry thing) anyway archies homophobic uncle started fucking gay kevin's cop dad. luckily the two of them were killed by betty's gay serial killer brother-in-law chic (not to be confused with her gay serial killer BROTHER charles, who chic married in a beautiful gay serial killer wedding in the normal timeline) (do you even understand core four polycule was quite literally canon at the end of the day? do you know that?) (do you know that cheryl blossom is not just the best lesbian but the best CHARACTER who has ever existed in the history of all media and you could not in fact ever handle her? c) they dont even know about archies weird fantasy. so whats the point

Odeon Cinema, Erith

1938

George Coles

Image from RIBApix

Modernism Beyond Metro-Land

movies + letterboxd reviews

me last weekend, about to see Nope: hehe hoohoo, this’ll fuck me up good

me, after watching Nope: This thing punched through every callus ever hardened over the calcified pit of my desensitized horror movie-saturated heart, grew an entirely new spectrum of terror, then beat me into a fine pulp with it. My brain chemistry is permanently altered and I can never trust the sky again. The screaming. God, please, please, the screaming. All of them up, in a line, shrunk in flesh and light, and still screaming,

me, less than a week later, about to see Nope: hehe hoohoo, this’ll fuck me up good

Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors (1965)

Dir: Sergei Parajanov

Cinematography: Yuri Ilyenko