#stby is one of my favorite movies ever

[lilja4ever]

2018 for the movie game!

tumblr ask that makes me realize ive never seen thoroughbreds

[army-of-mai-lovers]

I’m not sure if you’ve answered this question before so apologies if you have! What’s the best movie you’ve seen?

anon this is such a nice ask thank you so much! the way I categorize movies is weird because there’s “best movie I’ve ever seen” like it’s the best technically and it’s written really well and it talks about important subjects and all that jazz, and then there’s “best movie I’ve ever seen” like it makes me feel good and I can look past any flaws because I just love it so much. So technically the best movie I’ve ever seen is Sorry to Bother You or Moonlight or Malcolm X or Get Out, which actually I’m planning to rewatch all of those soon bc Black History Month. StBY this really excellent allegorical critique of racial capitalism, and the layers of it are super interesting and weird and cool and the camera work and lighting and writing and acting are *amazing* and TESSA THOMPSON’S IN IT. And then I’m sure you’ve at least heard of Moonlight, but I know so many people who have *heard* of Moonlight and celebrated it winning the Oscar for best picture but haven’t actually watched it, or don’t think about it anymore, and honestly I really hate that. So, if you haven’t seen it, it’s a wonderful film, the acting and direction and writing is absolutely spectacular, and I’m honestly crying just thinking about it. Also, JANELLE MONAE’S IN IT. And then there’s Malcolm X, which honestly, all biopics should aspire to be that good. Spike Lee definitely has a style and sometimes that style gets to be a lot, but in this movie it actually works really well and draws you in. I’ll be honest about halfway through I just forgot I was watching a movie at all, and when the credits started rolling I couldn’t even process that Angela Bassett had been playing Betty Shabazz and that I hadn’t just been watching Betty Shabazz. If you’ve never seen Angela Bassett in anything but Black Panther, do yourself a favor, and watch Malcolm X. 

Speaking of, honorable mentions to Black Panther, Waves, and Frida. I remember seeing Black Panther in theaters with my white cishet dude nerd friend and feeling like I had just been transported to another plane, and I looked over at him and asked him what he thought and he was like “yeah it was good.” And then we saw Infinity War a month later and he was like HOLY CRAP THAT WAS AMAZING. I and every other Black person I know except for my little sister saw Black Panther when it came out (even my mom, who hates movies) and it was just so affirming to see a cool big budget film from a franchise that I’ve been following since I was a kid release a movie that went beyond being a “race film” while still talking about issues that affect Black folks everywhere in a meaningful way. My brother made me watch Waves a few months ago (but I didn’t mind bc I will watch literally everything Sterling K. Brown is in) and it was technically beautiful and I loved it a lot, but also it was so violent and terrifying and I actually cannot watch it again for my own health so. Watch it at least once, if you’re the type of person who can rewatch Parasite then you’re the type of person who can watch this movie and be fine, I just can’t deal with violence like that. And Frida I had been meaning to watch and I finally sat down and did it like two months ago and it was absolutely fabulous. The director did a really good job blending the surrealistic elements with the more realistic ones, the acting was stellar, the story was told in such a moving way, cannot recommend enough. 

As for movies that bring me enough comfort and joy that I overlook their flaws--Birds of Prey, 27 Dresses, Mamma Mia, The Devil Wears Prada, Legally Blonde, Brooklyn, What a Girl Wants, and Sydney White. This is not to say that any of these movies are bad (although the Amanda Bynes ones are bad, that’s just a fact). What I’m saying is this is what I watch for fun, when I want to turn my brain off. And that might seem weird if you know anything about Brooklyn bc it’s very much an Oscar bait prestige picture, but I’ve seen it like ten times at this point, I get the point, honestly I can’t even tell you why I like that movie so much but it’s the only movie I’ve ever watched twice in the same day, like I literally finished the movie and started it over in that moment, and I don’t understand why. What a Girl Wants, Sydney White, Legally Blonde, and most recently Birds of Prey are my breakup/romantic disappointment movies, as in I put them in the rotation when I get dumped or stood up or rejected. Birds of Prey and Legally Blonde are of course actually good movies that make me feel more confident and better about myself, hence why I like them and put them in the rotation when I’m at my lowest, and the Amanda Bynes movies are there because they remind me of happier times in my childhood (and in the case of What A Girl Wants, Colin Firth is there). Mamma Mia and The Devil Wears Prada are there mostly because I love Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried and Anne Hathaway (but mostly Meryl) and they are just excellent feel good films (also the cerulean scene? I die every time). And 27 Dresses is my favorite rom com of all time, because I relate to Jane and yes that does concern me, and it falls in the Brooklyn category of frequent rewatches (though not *quite* as frequently)

[afro-elf]

stby is one of my favorite movies ever. it's surreal and original and just incredibly made.

like i wanna write THOSE kinds of scripts 

[allthefilmsiveseenforfree]

Magnolia

I don’t know much about Magnolia or Paul Thomas Anderson, but I do know that it takes someone paying me to get me to watch a 3-hr+ drama that doesn’t star Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, and a really big boat. This is one of my mom’s favorite movies which is why she requested it for me to review. It’s packed with a balls-to-the-wall star-studded cast (Tom Cruise! Julianne Moore! Phillip Seymour Hoffman! John C. Reilly! William H. Macy! Felicity Huffman!) and I’m genuinely excited to see how they all fit together. Cause they have to all fit together in some coherent way, right? Well...

Do you remember in Sorry to Bother You when the Equisapiens came out and things just took like...a real turn? That’s kind of what this was like. Whereas StBY pushed a thought to its most extreme, but logical, conclusion, what Paul Thomas Anderson has done here feels like a magician doing a lot of impressive illusions - sawing a lady in half, making a motorcycle disappear, pulling smaller things out of bigger things - and then for his final trick, walking onstage amidst a grand plume of smoke, dropping his pants, taking a gigantic shit, and then saying, “You’ve been a great audience, thanks a lot and goodnight!” It’s not like you can say the experience was BAD. Everything up to the finale was a really great time! But when you’re left on a note that is that bafflingly odd, it kinda colors the way you’ll remember the whole thing.

Magnolia is the story of one long day in the life of 12 people living in Los Angeles who are all connected via an extensive web from acquaintances to married couples to parents and children to paid caregivers and beyond. It’s a day that has the same kind of ups and downs as any other day until it, well, turns into something else entirely. I’m not sure how else to explain it, but if you want to know more, spoilers will be spoiled below.

Some thoughts:

Patton Oswalt cameo! I am a massive fan and thought I knew his whole filmography and OMG how did I not know that he was in this!!

Ok, in spite of my skepticism this entire opening sequence about coincidence had me hooked IMMEDIATELY. Like, this is some damn good storytelling, if this were a novel, I would not be able to put it down - that pull, that’s what it feels like.

Am I the only person whose encyclopedic memory of character actors/roles gets distracted when they see someone from something that is wildly disparate compared to the role you’re currently watching? For example, I had to pause the movie and confirm via IMDB that I did just see Professor Sprout from HP scream “Shut the fuck up!” at her husband while brandishing a shotgun.

Would people really recognize a grown ass man from being a successful child game show contestant? I’ll tell you the answer, no they wouldn’t, because no one realizes that Peter Billingsley (aka Ralphie from A Christmas Story) is the head of the elf production line in Elf.

I knew this was a stacked cast, but holy SHIT this is a stacked cast. If I had $1 for every fantastic character actor I recognize in this, I would have at least $37, and these are people in the film who have maybe 2-3 lines each. It’s a deep bench is what I’m saying.

This makes me miss Phillip Seymour Hoffman so, so very much.

Watching PSH care for and be so compassionate and gentle with his hospice patient, Earl (Jason Robards),makes my heart ache terribly. All of the people who have been unable to perform this kindness, this type of compassionate care for their closest loved ones as they lie dying in isolation of Covid...it’s overwhelming.

OMG I’m counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Very Good Dogs in the old man’s house!

I know Scientology is evil and he’s undeniably a complicated and morally grey person. I know all that. But goddamn I just love watching Tom Cruise COMMIT. Particularly when he commits to just absolute fucking sleazebag slimeballs. And boy oh boy is Frank Mackey an absolute fucking sleazebag slimeball.

Related - I know Frank looks like Tom Cruise, so he could get people to sleep with him no matter what, but I honestly feel like as a human being, this flesh suit is WAY more attractive balding and fat in Tropic Thunder than he is in this shiny brown shirt/leather vest/long hair combo.

I’m getting an uncomfortable vibe about these black characters being written by an artsy white dude, because I don’t know any young black kids who want to hang around with cops and offer up information about who committed a murder in their building. In fact, the way all of the black characters are treated in this film - as liars, criminals, the disingenuous “main stream media,” and thieves - feels rooted in some racist ass bullshit. We see a lot of nuance in our white characters, but even in a film that has, shockingly, more than one key black role, we don’t get that spectrum or nuance.

There is nothing I would love more than to learn that Frank Mackey is 1) gay 2) impotent or 3) both. He’s so disgustingly over-the-top misogynistic, it honestly feels like it should all be a complete act.

I confess I am on the edge of my seat trying to figure out how all these narrative threads tie together. It’s compelling as hell, even though half the time I don’t know why these people are having these long, meandering conversations. The pacing feels so deliberate, like a puzzle coming together. There’s real craftsmanship in how every scene is plotted to feel connected rather than manic or disjointed.

This pharmacist is being unprofessional as hell. Judgy McJudgerson, mind your fucking business, Julianne Moore’s father is dying! [ETA: ope, that’s embarrassing, Earl is actually her husband.]

NO THE DOG IS EATING THE PILLS OH NO VERY CONCERNED ABOUT THE DOG.

I think I knew this, but this soundtrack is fantastic. All Aimee Mann and Supertramp, and Jon Brion’s score is this thrumming, anxious thing full of strings that underscore all these nervous conversations, and then it shifts into these low, mournful horns when things start to take a turn and everyone is reaching their lowest points.

I love this interviewer (April Grace) who is taking Frank (Tom Cruise) to task. I think it’s particularly noteworthy that she is a black woman, because the kind of misogyny Frank peddles is rooted in white supremacy.

Stanley (Jeremy Blackman) is breaking my goddamn heart here. I think he and Phil (PSH) are my favorite characters.

Jim (John C Reilly) is the perfect example of how even a cop with the best intentions, with absolute kindness and love is in heart, is abusing his power and sexually harassing a woman he encountered in the line of duty, who is eager to appease him because she doesn’t want to be charged with a crime. This movie reads a LOT differently than it did in 1999.

I normally really love Julianne Moore, but she is a screeching mess in this. I can’t stop staring at her mouth and all the contortions it makes as she delivers every line in hysterics. She’s one of the few weak spots for me here.

Listening to Frank go on his whole diatribe about what society does to little boys to break them and victimize them HAS to be the source of where Keith Raniere got at least half of his NXIVM bullshit. Like, some of these points are word-for-word.

Also if Frank makes as much money as he seems to, there’s no way he would drive a shitty Saturn sedan.

It feels like the common thread of this movie is everyone is terrible and cheats on their spouses, and you should come clean when you get cancer so you can die peacefully. Weird moral, but ok.

If Jim is a cop, how does he not see that this woman he’s interested in (Melora Walters) is coked out of her mind?

Y’know for being a quiz kid, Donnie (William H. Macy) sure is kinda stupid.

I confess I’m not taking many notes throughout this because I’m just kind of sitting breathlessly still watching all these conversations unfold because I am on the edge of my fucking seat to find out how all this is gonna come together.

Secret MVP of this movie is the mom from A Christmas Story (Melinda Dillon) who is giving the performance of her goddamn life as Jimmy Gator’s wife.

Did I Cry? On the surface it appears ridiculous, but when Tom Cruise is having his breakdown at his dying father’s bedside, I admit, that really got me. If you’ve ever been faced with that kind of hysterical, I-can’t-believe-this-is-happening, it feels like the whole world is ending kind of shock and hurt and anger, that’s what the crying looks like.

Are those......frogs?? That landed on Jim’s car? It’s raining fucking frogs???? OK for those of you sensitive to frog harm, this movie is going to take a real hard left turn for you, because I swear that came out of NOWHERE.

Um.

What.

Pray tell.

The fuck.

The climax of this movie - is when literal frogs rain from the sky.

And we finally got resolution about the dog, and the dog DID die, and I’m pissed about it. It’s offscreen but still.

I'm sorry - I know I’m fixating. But how is it possible that I knew about all the characters performing a sing-along to Aimee Mann’s (excellent) song “Wise Up” but I did NOT know that the climax of the film involves literally thousands of frogs falling to their death from the sky? How is that something that escapes entry into the cultural zeitgeist? I’m with it, you guys. I have been Very Online for over a decade, and before that, I read a lot of Entertainment Weekly, and like it just seems that this is something that pop culture really should have told me.

I think the funniest moment of this movie might be the credits in which I discovered that not only is Luis Guzman playing a man named Luis, he’s actually playing himself. I don’t know why, but I can’t stop laughing about it. That was a 189-minute setup to one dumb punchline.

I think I loved this movie but I don’t quite know. The frog thing really threw me. What I’m taking away from it is that even when it doesn’t feel like it or seem like it, we are all connected to each other, always, in ways we can’t see or know. As Wife astutely pointed out, it’s reminiscent of the pandemic - we’re all in the same storm, but we each have our own boats and our own experiences within that storm. And it’s kind of nice to remember that right now, that connection still exists even when it feels so far away. Just not if you’re a frog I guess, cause they really got the short end of the stick here.

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