26 Comments

"Lin-Manuel Miranda has previously seemed incapable of writing a less-than-catchy song"

Sir, while I respect your overall point, I must gravely force you to listen to The Scuttlebutt now, a song that sounds like an amazing parody of LMM Disney tunes but is 100% real.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4ovRhX8XIM

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Ha. I'll admit to dodging that particular Disney revamp.

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Listen to it, Keith. Let it sandpaper your eardrums. I dare you. Two minutes which will change your life

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I took your advice and now I will never forgive you.

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May God have mercy on our souls.

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REMEMBER THE SWAMP

REMEMBER MY SONG IN THE SWAMP WHEN I WAS LIKE (incomprehensible noises that make Einstürzende Neubauten sound like a lullaby)

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I look forward to re-watching THE BRUTALIST on the big screen. No one shoots a film in VistaVision because they want people to watch it at home.

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The rare film to get above a 4 here? Guess I better head out to this one

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Two weeks in a row, no less.

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Have you guys ever dropped the Big 5? I don't remember any

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So Scar is now not Mufasa's actual brother and is in fact the rightful heir? (If one believes in traditional monarchy, which we may not in real life but which the original film clearly did.)

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The politics are a bit more complicated, but a) that's a bit spoiler-y and b) I'm not sure I've retained enough of the movie to help.

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As a father, I have seen many movies that I was not excited about. I’m seeing Sonic 3 in 4DX (which, don’t get me started), this very weekend. My child has expressed mild interest in Mufasa and I’ve mostly done the “mm-hm”-and-nod thing.

But we’re all adults here so I can be honest: I will be damned. I will be damned if I will sit through this movie because it seems like the end product of virtually every kind of bad decision about what films to make in the 2020s. As a wildly unwise man once said, I’m talking about drawing a line in the sand, dude.

The Brutalist, however: I may see it alone but I will see the finest possible presentation of it on opening weekend. Can’t wait.

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I'd leave the kids at home for The Brutalist due to a few scenes. And of course how they'll be chanting "STEEL, STEEL, STEEL" as they exit the theater and march into the future.

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We're on the same page. I don't think I can talk my wife into a 3.5 hour movie about architecture. And MUFASA feels like an ongoing dare for me not to drink myself to death this holiday. Just the description without any commentary makes me despair for the future. Then I read headlines and start cracking open the bottles.

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I am adopting your powerful stance as my creed going forward.

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looking forward to sitting down for The Brutalist on an exceptionally dreary January afternoon

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I’m aiming to form a Brutalist Squad so we can go see it en masse.

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"But when the pride becomes threatened by a menacing band of lion outkasts with white fur"

So we can all agree this is once and for all trying to erase Kimba and let Disney say "ah ah ah, we have no idea what white lion you're talking about! Mufasa and Simba have always been the only two characters in our original IP and not at all stolen."

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This is only tangentially related so skip this comment. I tend to run off at the keyboard.

I broke my phone screen this week and went in to get it fixed. The young technician noticed my phone was a few versions old and suggested that instead of paying a couple hundred to fix the screen, I could pay several hundred to get a new one. I turned down the offer. He said, "Oh, I get it. I have an older phone myself." A few seconds pass. "I've ONLY been thinking about upgrading because of the intelligence features in the new phone because I don't want to be left behind." I dodged that bit of psy-op and said I'd rather fix my current phone and have to wait a week so they can special order the glass for my old phone.

I read an interview where Barry Jenkins said this technology is amazing and he can't wait to use it on a small indie film. Apparently everybody is afraid of being left behind.

I'm not. Just make sure the bag is sewed up tightly and throw it off an overpass.

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I've long gone back and forth on seeing Vox Lux. Anyone willing to speak up for or against it?

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I can speak up for it. It doesn’t hit all of its marks, but it’s ambitious and that counts for something. As a director, Corbet has shown he’s not one for playing it safe.

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Mufasa feels like if Kubrick followed-up 2001 by directing a McDonald's commercial.

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I did get to see THE BRUTALIST last week, and while I enjoyed it, I do think some choices in the second half keep it from being a masterpiece (particularly the decision, and I'm going to rot13 to avoid spoiling the movie, gb znxr fhogrkg grkg ol univat Uneevfba encr Ynfmyb). Still amazing to watch on 70mm, and I will definitely watch it again to reevaluate my initial opinion.

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That seems [rot13] gb or gur zbzrag gung'f qvivqvat crbcyr. Vg jbexrq sbe zr. Vg jnf fb fubpxvat naq gur jnl vg fubg fb erzbirq. Gur jubyr Vgnyvna frdhrapr srryf bss naq gung cynlf yvxr n phyzvangvba bs vg. Vg'f abg fhogyr va jung unccraf ohg V guvax gurer'f n ybg tbvat ba va ubj vg unccraf. V arrq gb frr vg ntnva, gbb.

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Good points there--I'll watch that whole sequence again with an eye to how and not why. I also need to reevaluate the epilogue--I thought it was a bit blunt, but I think it might work for me on a second viewing.

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