Movies in General
- Thread starter bladerunner
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Well that's gratitude for youThe Americans saved the Russians and now the ungrateful Russians are thwarting US ambitions in Ukraine.
Lethe
Captain
I long ago transitioned the great majority of my film collection to digital, but I have a small collection of 4K UHD Blu-Rays for films that are visually magnificent and reward viewing in the highest possible quality. The latest addition to that collection is Ridley Scott's 2001 film, Black Hawk Down.
Around 2002 or 2003, I recall having a debate with a classmate from Singapore about this film. He argued that it was a work of American war propaganda, just one more example of how American narratives are propagated either consciously and deliberately through propaganda, or unconsciously as a consequence of American cultural hegemony privileging particular perspectives and experiences while ignoring others. My perspective was that this was all true, but that we can still appreciate the film on its own merits, i.e. its cinematography, sound design, its verisimilitude in depicting the admittedly narrow experience of the American soldiers in that situation. Essentially, I was arguing for the ability to distinguish the film as a work in itself and the broader cultural context that surrounds it, whereas my classmate was arguing that this distinction is ultimately artificial and unsupportable. It occurs to me that very similar issues continue to crop up in many different works and in many different forms, without clear resolution, such as the debate over Tara's death in Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or the question of how we are to approach the works of "problematic" figures such as Roman Polanski or Woody Allen (or Joss Whedon for that matter), the legacy of Gone With the Wind or the merits of Leni Reifenstahl's Nazi propaganda film, Triumph of the Will. Perhaps it's sheer selfishness on my part, but I've always resisted perspectives that would preclude me from observing, for instance, that Black Hawk Down looks really fucking awesome:
P.S. It's also interesting to look at this film as providing the aesthetic template for so many western video games of the X360/PS3 generation, most obviously the Call of Duty series.
Around 2002 or 2003, I recall having a debate with a classmate from Singapore about this film. He argued that it was a work of American war propaganda, just one more example of how American narratives are propagated either consciously and deliberately through propaganda, or unconsciously as a consequence of American cultural hegemony privileging particular perspectives and experiences while ignoring others. My perspective was that this was all true, but that we can still appreciate the film on its own merits, i.e. its cinematography, sound design, its verisimilitude in depicting the admittedly narrow experience of the American soldiers in that situation. Essentially, I was arguing for the ability to distinguish the film as a work in itself and the broader cultural context that surrounds it, whereas my classmate was arguing that this distinction is ultimately artificial and unsupportable. It occurs to me that very similar issues continue to crop up in many different works and in many different forms, without clear resolution, such as the debate over Tara's death in Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or the question of how we are to approach the works of "problematic" figures such as Roman Polanski or Woody Allen (or Joss Whedon for that matter), the legacy of Gone With the Wind or the merits of Leni Reifenstahl's Nazi propaganda film, Triumph of the Will. Perhaps it's sheer selfishness on my part, but I've always resisted perspectives that would preclude me from observing, for instance, that Black Hawk Down looks really fucking awesome:
P.S. It's also interesting to look at this film as providing the aesthetic template for so many western video games of the X360/PS3 generation, most obviously the Call of Duty series.
Did anyone here watch the 1980s tv serial based on James Clavell's Shogun? Based on the true story of an English mariner Will Adams:
Anyway, compulsive viewing for me as an early teenager. The reason I bring this up is that there is a remake about to be released:
Anyway, compulsive viewing for me as an early teenager. The reason I bring this up is that there is a remake about to be released:
Aquaman needs to be watched in 4k. The underwater scenes are much much better.
I wanna talk to you guys about the Chinese war film 'Battle at Lake Changjin'.
Personally, I like many aspects of the film, like its CGI (although some parts may look a bit off), its story that revolves around the PVA soldiers, and the action scenes.
But like, I also have these criticisms toward the film too. Like how i think the film producers completely butchered the PVA in the film. As from what I know, the PVA was known for conducting Guerilla warfare and was known to be quite professional at their jobs. Meanwhile, in the film, the PVAs just rely on human waves tactics. And I'm not sure if this is considered a 'flaw' in the film, but the American soldiers in the film speak weird.....Some people told me that they hired Russians to fill the roles of American troops and I kind of believed it, since I saw the film's credits and it showed some Russian names in it.
Still, overall, for anyone that has watched it, what's your thought on it?
I always wanna hear more from you guys.
Personally, I like many aspects of the film, like its CGI (although some parts may look a bit off), its story that revolves around the PVA soldiers, and the action scenes.
But like, I also have these criticisms toward the film too. Like how i think the film producers completely butchered the PVA in the film. As from what I know, the PVA was known for conducting Guerilla warfare and was known to be quite professional at their jobs. Meanwhile, in the film, the PVAs just rely on human waves tactics. And I'm not sure if this is considered a 'flaw' in the film, but the American soldiers in the film speak weird.....Some people told me that they hired Russians to fill the roles of American troops and I kind of believed it, since I saw the film's credits and it showed some Russian names in it.
Still, overall, for anyone that has watched it, what's your thought on it?
I always wanna hear more from you guys.
I agree, even though I loved the film, it's quite jarring when those moments mentioned popped up. This problem with American actors speaking English weirdly is also in The Wandering Earth 2, another film that I love. I've seen this phenomenon elsewhere enough that I feel like it's either done on purpose or that English speakers in China speak differently from those living in America.
It's difficult for me to enjoy Blackhawk Down because it has too many British actors with fake-sounding American accents.
Lethe
Captain
Kiki's Delivery Service is the first of Miyazaki's films that has left me a little disappointed. There's nothing wrong with it, save for a perhaps too-abrupt conclusion following the climactic rescue sequence, but I don't feel that it reaches the same lovely heights as My Neighbor Totoro. I did particularly enjoy the scenes between Kiki and Ursula, the painter living in a wood cabin in the forest.
I'm not sure what I expected from a story about a pig who flies fighter aircraft, but Porco Rosso certainly wasn't it. Subtract the pig and you're left with a part-melancholy, part-whimsical rendering of Italy and the Mediterranean amidst the rise of fascism. The idyllic hotel island where grudges between former aerial combatants are set aside, presided over by a beautiful madam, is a delightfully improbable conceit. Perhaps more than any of his films to date, Porco Rosso acknowledges the tension between Miyazaki's love of flying machines on the one hand, and the hated industries of war that drove their development. I don't think it is over-reaching to think that this setting and period may have attracted Miyazaki's interest owing to a kind of harmonic resonance between the paths of Italy and Japan in the first half of the 20th century. Much as one can group Future Boy Conan, Laputa: Castle in the Sky and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind together, I now see that Porco Rosso is clearly matched with The Wind Rises, and I look forward to revisiting the latter in due course.
Eric Bana is Australian with a bad American accent, not British! And surely any squad that includes Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and a future Bane and Mad Max (Tom Hardy) is better off for it.
I'm not sure what I expected from a story about a pig who flies fighter aircraft, but Porco Rosso certainly wasn't it. Subtract the pig and you're left with a part-melancholy, part-whimsical rendering of Italy and the Mediterranean amidst the rise of fascism. The idyllic hotel island where grudges between former aerial combatants are set aside, presided over by a beautiful madam, is a delightfully improbable conceit. Perhaps more than any of his films to date, Porco Rosso acknowledges the tension between Miyazaki's love of flying machines on the one hand, and the hated industries of war that drove their development. I don't think it is over-reaching to think that this setting and period may have attracted Miyazaki's interest owing to a kind of harmonic resonance between the paths of Italy and Japan in the first half of the 20th century. Much as one can group Future Boy Conan, Laputa: Castle in the Sky and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind together, I now see that Porco Rosso is clearly matched with The Wind Rises, and I look forward to revisiting the latter in due course.
Eric Bana is Australian with a bad American accent, not British! And surely any squad that includes Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and a future Bane and Mad Max (Tom Hardy) is better off for it.
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