Posts by Sophia Williams

It’s not that I have an issue with social realism—it’s just that... it's hard to truly lose yourself in death... 🤣

I have to admit—I love saying "movies are more than just life"—but when it comes to certain subjects, a documentary can honestly say so much more.
There aren't many topics like this, but just think about how we could sit through hours of footage about Hitler's secretary in a theater without ever feeling bored...
It's pure documentary filmmaking.

Nuclear disaster movies are a lot like alien encounter flicks or an X-Files movie—if they aren't filmed right on location (like people said would be necessary after Odyssey)... then it’s just nothing. It all feels like the Twilight Zone...

The best part about those films is actually before—the buildup to how it all happens—because human imagination tends to fail when trying to depict what comes AFTER...

In reality, the thing that ruins the whole experience is knowing how it ends...!
It’s interesting—the concept of an apocalypse is boring, and biblical hell is fascinating, but hell on Earth? Well, that isn't exactly photogenic...

I could probably sit here and argue with myself now... I've already found my own counterarguments...

The only true film about it is one of those documentaries about Hiroshima.

And the title was basically just an invitation to debate
- American fast-talking style
- British dark humor
- Mr. Hulot's vacation in Tatiana's world
.....and so on.
Change the title to House of ...

It’s widely considered one of the first films to tackle war from the perspective of the "other side."
Essentially, a warrior's western...
Even Burton later tried his hand at a similar role—the kind Coburn mastered--in a second version, possibly for TV.
I read somewhere that while Peckinpah was filming, he’d just bark orders at his crew—"Give me thirteen black-and-white prints and three slow-motion shots!"...

Wild Bunch II is practically an epic of war...

Newt Gingrich was painted blue, and since they filmed in the USA, the Russians actually sang "Hey Kozara" instead of a Russian song...😎

Between a few different characters—Henry Higgins from My Fair Lady, a futuristic psychologist who just loves his coffee, and even Gregory Peck in the film Arabesque... 😎

Lyne’s version portrays Lolita as more much of a victim—both compared to the book and Kubrick's film.
The movie stays consistent and feels justified...

It would be fascinating to compare which director decided to "cut" what.
For instance, that hotel scene where Quilty uses wordplay to intimidate Humbert would have worked beautifully under Kubrick...!

.......

In that case, you’ll probably find the book quite dull too...

The director is such a total nerd... 🙄

You can find all the different script versions for Lolita right here—including the one by Lyne

Regarding Sellers, he was—if you ask me, and I’m siding with most critics on this one! 🙄 —a major misstep.
He was basically just a cameo...
The Quilty from the book is something else entirely.
If anything, Lyne and Langel did a much better job capturing the true "spirit" of that character from the novel.

Essentially, Sellers felt more like a guest appearance of Dr. Strangelove...!

Even with the constraints of American censorship, the film adapted the novel beautifully—resulting in yet another masterpiece.

One really has to keep in mind that the movie was filmed back in 1960.
Nabokov published Lolita in 1955—originally over in Europe—and because of, well, American puritanism, he practically had to relocate to Europe...
The backlash to the novel was just dangerous.

That’s why turning that novel into a screenplay is such a feat of true artistry... At first, Nabokov wasn't even interested in taking on the task.

Quote : When Stanley Kubrick acquired The film rights to Lolita He asked Nabokov himself to write The screenplay. Nabokov initially turned down the offer, and then changed his mind. He eventually wrote a screenplay, on which Kubrick based his film. Nabokov is credited as the film's author, though in fact Kubrick undertook many changes (and vigorous cuts). Nabokov gives a short account of the nascence of the script in his introduction to the screenplay.
The published version, revised and first published in 1974, actually differs quite a bit from Nabokov's original draft. Richard Corliss writes in his remarkable little study of the film

The image?
The meaning is right there—if you just connect it to that final scene where > meets the girl from the photo on the beach...

If I had to pick one word to explain this film, it would be—metaphysics.

redowl90 said:Movies you're practically dying to see...

I’m sitting here waiting for those Bollywood movies—you know, the ones with the unbelievable weddings and the mystics...
Honestly, at this point, I’d almost prefer a trip to the guillotine or some other form of capital punishment—anything would be better than watching modern Indian cinema...

Regarding the bass... According to Michelle Obama herself, the two of them actually had to wrestle their guitars together—literally snapping strings just to get a single cohesive sound—which is why she ended up walking away from the bass entirely... 🙄 So, the real answer was found in... ...this...

Regarding the definition of trash as its own genre,

Noah Watson4 said:trash can "happen" by accident, but it can also be made intentionally—slowly, for example—and I'm primarily talking about that self-aware kind.
It’s when someone consciously makes trash, but does it well, often with a certain spirit.

Now, I don't know any official definition for trash, but personally, I see it as being very close to the concept of camp... etc.

That is exactly it! 👍 I've been catching up on the posts since the last one, and it's only after I brought up the term "camp" that I realized someone else actually understands what trash horror is all about...

Noah Watson4 said:Zemeckis didn't make a trash movie... he just made—plainly put—a bad one! 😁

Look, everyone, when we say "trash," we really mean "camp."

Maybe Zemeckis's Death Becomes Her is subpar, but I think he was aiming for a high-budget campy thriller... if he missed the mark and ended up with actual garbage, well—that's on him... 🙄

Noah Watson4 said:Bad movies aren't necessarily trash—some are just plain bad. I know, I've seen far too many... 😳

Of course. That goes without saying.
Most likely, the creators themselves didn't label their work as "trash" at first—that's usually the critics' doing (much like how the ancient Greek philosophers didn't realize they were being "ancient" in the first place... 🙄..) In this context, "trash" is used in that same self-aware way, where these films lean into the very genres they helped define.

Not everything—obviously—is just mindless trash or Warner Bros. style flicks.
Things started getting "serious" back when the first Frankensteins and Draculas—well, their creators—weren't even thinking about self-parody or being tongue-in-cheek.

The whole "trash" genre is really a sub-genre that grew out of necessity—mostly because filmmakers were broke. It’s a messy overlap—who knows which came first?—between having zero budget and having a specific creative vision or a sense of irony.

There's an entire run of movies featuring zombies and chainsaw battles that lean heavily into the comedy of the situation.
Some people say you can't have good trash without a solid chainsaw scene...! 🙄

Rosemary's baby doesn't even belong in this category—it's more of a "satanic horror" thing (where the Devil is bound to show up, one way or another....)

I’m honestly not sure what scares me more—watching something terrifying on the big screen, or seeing the price of groceries climb higher every week... 🙄
But there is one specific genre that actually managed to birth its own "sub-genre." It’s a bit of a paradox, really—even though the title sounds almost insulting, it actually elevated the whole category by injecting it with some much-needed Self-governance, comedy, and a sense of self-parody.

And here’s another thing—despite the fact that these films usually start out as low-budget projects made by people using nothing but cardboard, sticks, and shoelaces to hold everything together, they often end up becoming absolute cult classics.

I’ll list a few examples here, but I’m expecting you all to jump in and keep the list going...

The "Tomato Killer" series, then "Dead Heat," and "Pieces"... among others...
We’re talking true low-budget trash Horror—made on a dime, often starring aging legends who have seen better days...

However, Zemeckis actually directed a high-budget version of this kind of trash Horror—one with a massive multi-million dollar budget—called "Death Becomes Her."

(Does that movie actually count as trash Horror? Well, asking that just makes this discussion even more interesting...🙄 )

Definitely one of those "unforgettable shows."

As one of Mick Collins' various ventures following the Gories, the Dirtbombs felt more like an idea than a tangible band for quite a while. It was almost like they were overcompensating for the Gories' lack of bass—

instead, they packed the stage with two drummers, two bassists, and Collins handling the vocals and guitar. Beyond just being incredibly loud and chaotic, the Dirtbombs actually possessed a surprisingly wide-ranging sound—they jumped effortlessly between garage rock, punk, and glam, all the way to old-school soul and R&B. They started out mostly focused on 7" singles, releasing five of them before Larry Hardy over at In the Red talked them into recording their first full-length, *Horndog Fest*, in 1998. Following a few more singles, they dropped their second album, *Ultraglide in Black*, in May 2001—a collection mostly dedicated to vintage R&B covers. That record helped them build a real following in the UK, thanks to constant touring abroad (which included a tour alongside the White Stripes). By 2003, the band pivoted back to a grittier, more rock-heavy sound with *Dangerous Magical Noise*, then returned in 2005 with a split album with King Khan and his Shrines called *Billiards at Nine Thirty*. That same May, In the Red released *If You Don't Already Have a Look*, a massive 52-track double-CD compilation that also included six brand-new tracks. Even though the group went through at least ten different lineups during their run, by the time *Have a Look* rolled around, things had pretty much stabilized around Collins, drummers Ben Blackwell and Pat Pantano, and bassists Ko Shih and Troy Gregory.

You really need to check out their new album!
If You Don't Already Have a Look