The MI6 Community Film Club For Cinephiles [On Hold]

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  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,813
    True to form Walter ends up talking about himself/Vietnam.
    mattjoes wrote: »
    Regarding the dream sequences, I'd say part of their charm has to do with the way in which they incorporate people and elements seen, mentioned or hinted at throughout the film, some very briefly: Saddam Hussein, the rug, the scissors to cut off Johnsons, the Dude's attraction to Maude, the guy who fixes the cable, etc.

    Also, unlike in some other films, these sequences don't feel like they're really advancing the story in any way; they actually feel like dreams: detours for the sake of it, to vent fears, express excitement, let the imagination run wild.
    Notice the one dream sequence with The Dude floating and turning through the air (and for him through the dancers' legs) recalls the out of body floating experience in RUMBLE FISH. Minus the dancers' legs.
    Or I did.
    tumblr_opc0z9Qad91qd3lbbo1_500.jpg
    210218_0.jpg
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    edited November 2017 Posts: 7,136
    Rewatched The Big Lebowski.

    I really don't have much to add, my thoughts about it remain the same.
    Not one of my personal favourites, but an excellent film for sure.

    Current ranking:

    1. Rumble Fish
    2. L'avventura
    3. The Detective
    4. The Big Lebowski
    5. Memento
    6. Vampire's Kiss
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited November 2017 Posts: 28,694
    mattjoes wrote: »
    So much of Donny's relationship with Walter revolves around the fact Donny says something and Walter tells him to shut the f*** up. Therefore, it is most touching to see Walter is the one who delivers Donny's eulogy. It's a good way of showing how people sometimes harbor feelings for others that they don't express too often, and can even take for granted. This film, as funny as it is, has an undercurrent of real emotion. It's outrageous and real at the same time.
    @mattjoes, this was perhaps my favorite thing about the film. The underlying emotion to characters like Walter whose PTSD and bad past comes out when he acts out in ways that connect to what he's faced and lost in life. Like his choice to say that "help is chopperin' in" when Donny is dying, because his mind has always been back in Vietnam and those experiences have never left him. I especially liked his eulogy of Donny because it's another moment where he is acting like he's back in Vietnam. The war with the Germans was a war with the Vietcong and he lost his follow soldier Donny in the fight, so his goodbyes and tribute to the man was one from war brother to war brother.

    Despite its rampant intentional and unintentional comedy, the movie is a great exploration of what it means for a soldier to reintegrate into civilian life after doing and seeing things that would turn most stomachs, and that's what makes Walter the most interesting to me. The diner scene is perhaps the most revealing about this part of himself, as he is being told to leave the place by people he and his friends fought and died for. To tell a vet that sacrificed so much that they aren't wanted around is to spit on what they've given up and Walter's reaction is suitably fiery and fed up because he's being judged by people who don't know his story.

    Walter is often quick to being upset and can race to conflict fast (pulling a gun out in a bowling alley?), but he seldom doesn't make sense and each of his thoughts do point out some form of honesty about humans and human nature. I especially like his view on nihilism, that one has to believe in something. For a guy who has lost so much in life and done things he's clearly haunted by, his actions cannot ever be viewed as meaningless or in vain so it's only natural that he attaches himself to an anti-nihilist lifestyle where things still matter. If they didn't, what's the point? I'm sure part of why he's Dude's friend is because he knows that with The Dude he'll never be judged and that he's always around a guy who is able to take life's challenges and keeping moving like he has had to. The Dude has Walter's survivor's endurance despite being a very lazy man who has never faced such traumatic life circumstances before.
    mattjoes wrote: »
    Regarding the Stranger, I like the fact that both times he appears, when the camera reveals him, he just appears to be there, as if he had never arrived or left. His narration also suggests he is intimately familiar with the events unfolding, but we never see the Dude talk to him about them. These aspects give the character a mythical, even omnipresent feel. But like with the rest of the film, these things amount to... not much. He doesn't say anything wise, he doesn't do anything. Things happen in the movie, some happy, some mystifying, some sad, and often randomly, but nothing is ever terribly important. The fact the film ends with Donny's death plays into this sensation of life being just life, for lack of a better expression. And it goes on, and the Dude abides.
    The Stranger was interesting to me too. As you say, at the start of the movie he admits to knowing the whole crazy story of The Dude despite not being around for the majority of it. I'm sure there's Lebowski wikis out there that debate who he is. The human conscience? A drug or drink addled creation of The Dude's mind? God? Who knows.

    But I love the very archetypal role The Stranger fits. He knows in a very meta way that he's the western narrator of the crazy tale ahead and fills his role happily to paint a picture for the audience and create anticipation for them. Part of the humor of The Stranger knowing he's the narrator comes from just how bad of a narrator he is as well. When he speaks he rambles on and on, and never gets to a point he imagines in his brain. I guess that, like a real storyteller, he's got so much to say that he can't focus himself and really plot out a direction for the audience to follow with him so he just aimlessly speaks to fill the time or is taken off his path by random thoughts and insights.

    He reminds me of a parody of someone like a movie announcer who speaks over trailers to explain the general stakes of the story. What would that sound like if the narrator had The Stranger's communication quirks?

    "In a world where the world is bad-but, not evil-there is a man who is good-but not perfect-who will rise to the occasion and be a hero...no, not a hero. A symbol, for the good-but not perfection-that humanity can achieve in a moral sense, but also kind of in a regular sense too. Ah hell, just go see the movie."
    mattjoes wrote: »
    Another amusing touch that I read mentioned elsewhere is the idea that the Dude is supposed to be a chill-out guy, a member of the hippie generation (or deadbeat, as the other Lebowski would say), but in the movie he's frequently losing his patience, because Walter, his closest friend, is an expert at (unintentionally) pushing his buttons. A hippie whose best friend is the one that exasperates him the most and makes him act in a decidedly un-hippie way.
    This is an interesting thought. From a historical perspective, I really love the idea of an old 60s/70s hippie (and probably an anti-war one too) being best friends with a Vietnam veteran later in life. It's two kinds of people you'd think wouldn't exactly go together, but that's a great image and in many ways it shows how accepting both Walter and The Dude can be, for not judging each other for who they are or their pasts. I think part of why The Dude is able to get on with Walter is because Walter is one of those soldiers who didn't go looking for conflict and who was a reluctant part of war history. He doesn't look back on those days with absolute glory or triumph, he regrets some of it and has a lot of mental complications because of those experiences. It makes you wonder how Walter and The Dude first met, and what that first meeting looked like.
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    edited November 2017 Posts: 7,021
    Yes. Walter's wartime experiences are such a big part of his life that he desperately needs them to be meaningful, he needs them to count for something, which is why I think he tries to live by a code of honor and stick to it furiously. He most certainly started to develop that code in Vietnam with his fellow soldiers, in the most extreme of circumstances. It's indeed interesting that he gets together with the Dude, given their potentially opposing viewpoints on things, but I think after Vietnam, Walter appreciates the Dude's attitude of living and letting live.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited November 2017 Posts: 28,694
    @mattjoes, Walter reminds me of people I know who, when they've faced stress or pain, they take up coloring. Sometimes the simple act of coloring between the lines is a symbolic assurance to oneself that some things in life can be controlled. After facing the chaos of war Walter's obsession with rules and structure is only natural, and really a great defense mechanism to assure himself that things are still controllable and in order, even if sometimes this control is illusory.
  • Posts: 2,107
    I am the walrus.

    What?

    John Lennon. I am the walrus.

    Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. Lenin, Donny!
    Donny, shut the ef up. You're out of your element. XD

    Have to rewatch this gem. Been a while. At least six months.
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    Posts: 7,021
    Interactive erotic software. The wave of the future, Dude. One hundred percent electronic!
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    It must be down there somewhere. Let me take another look.
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    Posts: 7,021
    Woo, isn't this guy supposed to be a millionaire?
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    "That rug really tied the room together."
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    I just tried watching Zindagi mi Milagi Booboorty, but goddamn, I am not watching that. It makes I Am A Vampiyah look like The Godfather. Worst one yet.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    It could be hard to find the next film, especially with any subtitles.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    It could be hard to find the next film, especially with any subtitles.

    They speak partly English, and partly Gibberish. Even the English is Gibberish.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited November 2017 Posts: 28,694
    It could be hard to find the next film, especially with any subtitles.

    They speak partly English, and partly Gibberish. Even the English is Gibberish.

    That's a relief! I'm more fluent in Gibberish than I am English.

    If I have the time I'll be sure to transcribe the entire film for those who speak in foreign tongues.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    रोशन, कर्ट्रीना कैफ, फरहान अख्तर, अभय देओल
    निर्देशक : जोया अख्तर
    रेटिंग : 3.5 -5
    जिंदगी न मिलेगी दोबारा हमें जिंदगी में किसी भी बात का अफसोस न करने की सीख देती है। वह बताती है कि कैसे आप अपने आज को खुशहाल बना कर भविष्य को भी सुरक्षित और खुशियों से भरपूर बना सकते हैं। जिंदगी न मिलेगी दोबार उन आजाद परिंदों के इर्द-गिर्द घूमती है, जिनकी जिंदगी में अपनी अपनी कुछ परेशानियां हैं।

    लेकिन इसके बावजूद वे उसे छुपा कर नये तरीके से अपनी जिंदगी जीना चाहते हैं। जिंदगी के हर स्वाद का मजा कैसे लिया जाता है। यह फिल्म के तीन किरदारों को देख कर आप अनुमान लगा सकते हैं। फिल्म जिंदगी न मिलेगी दोबारा जिंदगी में दोस्ती, प्यार व परिवार की अहमियत की कहानी है। दोस्ती की अहमियत जिंदगी में क्या होती है। फिल्म दर्शाती है।
    आप भले ही कितनी भी दूर रहें। लेकिन सच्चे दोस्त आपकी परेशानी समझ लेते हैं। और उन्हें सुलझाने की कोशिश भी करते हैं। एक बिंदास, बेफिक्र दोस्ती की कहानी है जिंदगी। कोई दिखावापन नहीं, इस फिल्म की सबसे बड़ी खूबी है। फिल्म में दो दोस्तों के बीच हुई गलतफहमियों की वजह से आये दो दोस्तों के खटास को केवल संवादों के हवाले से ही समझाने की कोशिश की गयी है।
    उन पर आधारित दृश्य जबरन नहीं दर्शाये गये हैं। फिल्म की कहानी तीन दोस्तों के बीच की है। इमरान, अर्जुन, कबीर। तीनों स्कूल के दोस्त हैं। तीनों एक दूसरे से संपर्क में हैं। लेकिन मिलते नहीं। लेकिन उन्होंने स्कूल में एक रुल बनाया था कि वे एक टि्रप पर जायेंगे। और रूल कोई नहीं तोड़ेगा। कबीर परिवार के दबाव में नताशा से सगाई कर चुका है।
    फिर भी वह अपने दोस्तों के साथ टि्रप पर जाता है। इमरान लेखक है। और अपने वास्तविक पिता की तलाश में है। अर्जुन करियर व शोहरत की चाहत में सबकुछ गंवा चुका एक निराश व्यक्ति। तीनों टि्रप के लिए स्पेन चुनते हैं। वहां उन्हें लैला मिलती है। लैला से मिलने के बाद अर्जुन जिंदगी में अपने हर डर को भूल जाता है।

    इमरान को अपने वास्तविक पिता की तलाश है, जो उसे स्पेन में मिलते हैं। इस सफर में वे हर काम करते हैं जिनसे वे डरते हैं। तीनों के मन से डर निकालने के लिए निर्देशक ने तीन अलग अलग एडवेंचर्स टास्क चुने हैं। सी वॉटर में जाना, ऊंचाई में सैर करना और सांड़ के रेस में भाग लेना। सभी रोमांचित लेकिन कठिनाइयों से भरे टास्क होते हैं और वे उन्हें जीते हैं।
    जोया अख्तर ने बतौर निर्देशिका फिल्म में कहीं भीतो किया है। कै टरीना ने रोमांचित लड़की के रूप में फिट बैठी हैं। कल्की ने अपने हिस्से का किरदार बखूबी निभाया है। फिल्म के हर दृश्य में आप महसूस करेंगे कि आप स्पेन अपनी छुट्टियां बीताने आये हैं। फिल्म के टोमटिना फेस्टिवल पर आधारित गीत दर्शकों को जरूर लुभाने में कामयाब रहेगा। फरहान अख्तर की हरकतों, शरारतों व मस्ती भरे अंदाज के साथ उनका शायराना अंदाज भी दर्शकों को जरूर लुभायेगा। फिल्म के गीतों में जहां भी डांसिंग स्टेप्स की बात आयी है, वहां रितिक ने अपने कदम ताल का कमाल दिखाया है। गीत सेनोरिटा में भी तीनों दोस्ती की बांडिंग कमाल की है।
  • PropertyOfALadyPropertyOfALady Colders Federation CEO
    edited November 2017 Posts: 3,675
    .....What?

    I looked up the film and it doesn't look like my cup of tea. I don't think I'll watch.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    edited December 2017 Posts: 13,813
    I'm gonna watch it, but might not make the 8 December deadline since I'm traveling. At 2:30 plus, I will say that's a commitment.

    Through Roku, no identified venues.
    Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) Director Zoya Akhtar
    Description: Two lifelong friends (Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar) take a third (Abhay Deol) on a road trip through Spain instead of throwing a traditional bachelor party.

    YouTube shows rental as SD US3.99, HD US4.49.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    I rewatched The Big Lebowski while I was away. It was the first time my mom had watched it. We both had a great time. It's one of my favorite comedies. All the actors do a great job. It's one of those movies I wish never ended because that universe is so surreal and hilarious.
  • Posts: 17,759
    Haven't had time to keep up with the films the last few weeks. Will come back with thoughts when I have the time to catch up!
    While in Reykjavik this summer, this caught my attention
    reykjavik-24.jpg

    There is a hotel in Berlin called The Dude Berlin. Don't know if there's any connection to The Big Lebowski. Walked past it when I was in Berlin a few years ago.
  • JamesBondKenyaJamesBondKenya Danny Boyle laughs to himself
    Posts: 2,730
    I just tried watching Zindagi mi Milagi Booboorty, but goddamn, I am not watching that. It makes I Am A Vampiyah look like The Godfather. Worst one yet.

    I mean, it’s one of my fav films even though I can’t understand any of it and need subtitles I think the screenplay is probably the best ever. It’s quite a well made film even though it is foreign
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 7,136
    Being foreign doesn’t imply a decline in quality. If I’d make a top 100 favourite films I’m sure at least a third of them won’t be in the English language.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    13 Assassins can be watched here.

    http://putlockers.fm/watch/kxz63QxY-13-assassins.html

  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Just saw it today. I didn t care much for this, although much better than the previous film. It seemed like just an excuse to showcase violence, brutality and sadism.

    I am skipping the next one. Saw ONCE WERE WARRIORS in 1996, and it was such a feelbad film it made my then-girlfriend cry when it was over. I would rather see DAD again, at least there is some Bond trivia to pick up there for the various games going on here.

    Next movie for me here will be DEATH WISH 3 in two weeks time, as picked by @Murdock, even though I have low hopes for it.
  • PropertyOfALadyPropertyOfALady Colders Federation CEO
    Posts: 3,675
    I will watch Assassins soon.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    Don't worry @Thunderfinger, Death Wish 3 will be a blast. ;)
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Murdock wrote: »
    Don't worry @Thunderfinger, Death Wish 3 will be a blast. ;)
    Must I smoke something for it to be the case? You know I am a sucker for the law.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    Murdock wrote: »
    Don't worry @Thunderfinger, Death Wish 3 will be a blast. ;)
    Must I smoke something for it to be the case? You know I am a sucker for the law.

    If you want though you won't be when watching. =))
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Murdock wrote: »
    Murdock wrote: »
    Don't worry @Thunderfinger, Death Wish 3 will be a blast. ;)
    Must I smoke something for it to be the case? You know I am a sucker for the law.

    If you want though you won't be when watching. =))

    GAVEL_2717216b.jpg
    Shudder
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    Posts: 7,021
    Murdock wrote: »
    Death Wish 3 will be a blast. ;)

    What's the problem? With the car, what's the problem?!
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    mattjoes wrote: »
    Murdock wrote: »
    Death Wish 3 will be a blast. ;)

    What's the problem? With the car, what's the problem?!

    One of my favorite scenes. :D
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