mistyotter35 said:The thing is, you can't judge a movie's quality just by looking at whether it had a massive budget or came out of a major studio in Los Angeles—which is basically what you're implying here.
Look, the reality is you just don't have a clue when it comes to actual production costs. If you honestly believe you can whip up a masterpiece with nothing but a "solid" concept and an iPhone, then hey, be my guest... see how that works out for you.
Indie films deal with an insane amount of constraints while they're actually shooting, and those hurdles directly shape how the audience perceives the final product. That’s why a movie like this is such a massive win considering the shoestring budget they were working with.
Jacob Cooper5 said:It’s about two brothers who grew up in a commune—which, mind you, was mostly just a group of wonderful people looking out for one another. But eventually, things just became... too much. They head back years later just to visit, and they find themselves facing a whole new reality. One brother is desperate to get out, while the other finally feels like he belongs.
Honestly, it’s one of those rare indie gems with a level of soul that even Los Angeles can't replicate.
Anyway, you probably already realized I'm not exactly a blockbuster guy. I like to dig around. For me, any shift away from the standard Hollywood formula is a massive win, so stumbling upon this felt great. If you're expecting some big-budget AAA production, honestly, do yourself a favor and walk away now...
It’s about two brothers who grew up together in this commune—a place run by genuinely wonderful people who actually look out for one another... but even then, things just went too far. They end up coming back for a visit after years away, only to find that everything has changed in ways they didn't expect. One brother is desperate to get out again, while the other... well, he feels like he finally belongs.
Honestly, this is one of those rare indie gems with a level of soul and quality that even Los Angeles studios can't seem to replicate.
Sleeping on the floor might help if you’ve already managed to warp your spine into a straight line... which, let's be honest, most of us have done by now.
I’ve always had this weird fascination with people who actually bother to think—people who question everything. They have this way of just... slicing right through my logic, dissecting it so cleanly that I’m left standing there totally defenseless. And it isn't even about them trying to win an argument or dominate the room; they’re just analyzing the internal mechanics of my thought process—which, let's be honest, does have its own internal logic (pun fully intended here)...
It’s honestly exhausting when you run into those "shallow thinkers" who try to make up for their lack of depth by using fancy vocabulary and high-speed rhetoric. It’s all just a performance to protect the status quo, really. We end up wasting so much damn time on these pedantic little word games instead of actually getting into the meat of things—having a real, raw, intellectual clash that actually means something.
Look, we’re stepping into murky waters here because "goodness" isn't some universal constant we can all just agree on. Sure, trying to stick to certain cultural rules helps keep things civil, but those rules don't tell you much about what's actually happening deep down in someone's psyche—whether it's conscious or that weird, intuitive stuff bubbling under the surface. There’s such a massive spectrum when it comes to self-awareness—that ability to actually recognize your own patterns. We act from within ourselves, which means we're essentially prisoners of our own conditioning. Getting an out of the box perspective isn't really possible in any absolute sense; it's always going to be partial at best. And honestly? The odds of even getting that partial glimpse are pretty slim for a whole host of reasons... I won't overcomplicate it, but cultural norms have this potential to act as a ruthless authority, basically promising that life will be miserable if you don't conform. But let's be real—those norms don't hold a candle to, say, traumatic or illegal abuse, which ends up reshaping a person's entire internal compass of right and wrong in a way that culture just can't touch. If someone grew up dealing with abuse from the time they were a kid, their intuition starts associating "bad" with "good" and vice versa. It’s like throwing gasoline on a fire when they clash with social norms that feel completely alien to their very being—they end up feeling crushed by an unfair world that feels like an intruder or a predator invading their very soul. Now, yeah, you could argue this example only applies to extreme cases, but it's really not that simple... Our inherent subjectivity regarding reality makes us incredibly vulnerable to moral decay. If a massive pile of cash lands in our lap after we've done something that puts lives at risk—lives that aren't even in our immediate line of sight—we aren't going to feel a shred of responsibility because... well, you know how it goes: "out of sight, out of mind." Pressing a button that triggers a nuclear strike halfway across the globe feels no different than pressing any other button. Until you're staring down the fates of millions of people caused by your single click, that button is nothing more than a video game. It’s the exact same deal with so many of the things we do without even noticing. You snap "just give it to me" at a cashier instead of asking nicely, you insult a college student who's already stuck dealing with the idiocy of your ISP's policies, or you treat service workers like garbage because your company rewards that behavior—all while convincing yourself you're building a better world for your kids and whatnot. I can't tell you what it means to live a "good life," but I can certainly see the illusions we use to justify grabbing whatever we want, right here and right now.
Ghost movies? Honestly, they’re only interesting if you’ve somehow lived your entire life in a vacuum and have never seen one before. For everyone else... it’s just like opening a mass-produced can of Starkist tuna. Completely predictable and desperately boring.
June 2012 said:One of my absolute favorite dark comedies has to be Freaky.. There are a few others I could honestly watch on loop forever.http://www.sadrzaj.net/2021/02/najbo...-pogledat.html They aren't really "dark," just solid comedies, I guess...😛
Since you guys have been posting a ton of movies I actually dig—looks like we might actually share a similar taste after all—I decided to take the liberty of rounding them all up into one list. Just a heads-up, though: the order here doesn't mean anything regarding quality... it's just a list.
1. The Perfect Host (2010) (Personally, I thought it was fantastic, though I'm not entirely sure if it even qualifies as a comedy) 2. Very Bad Things (1998) VBT kind of reminds me of Shallow Grave (1994), even if the subject matter isn't quite the same... 3. Shallow Grave (1994) 4. Death at a Funeral 5. The Last Supper (1995)
I'll also throw in The Big White (2005)
Skyfall Tucker and dale VS evil. (absolutely brilliant)
Look, Meryl Streep is a talented actress—no one is denying that—but there are countless performers out there who are just as gifted, if not more so, who simply never had the luck of being handpicked by the Hollywood machine. I’d even go as far as to say she doesn't possess some singular, magical personality trait that sets her apart from any other incredibly skilled but "anonymous" actress.
When you stack her up against the other big names, I honestly think Jodie Foster blows her out of the water with that understated, trademark charisma of hers. Meryl is really just one of those great actors who, through a perfect storm of timing and aggressive marketing, became America's darling. And because of that status, she was always the first person in line for the top-tier productions...
A bik is tied by its horns, but a man is bound by his words.
Doesn't that strike you as being deeply connected to the idea of having a principle? What does "free interpretation" of a principle even mean, anyway? Is it our core values? Our internal yardstick for character? Something like that...
I’ve noticed that people who actually live by a principle tend to be quite focused individuals—the kind of folks who really guard their integrity. It’s not exactly a widespread trait among the general public, though. Sometimes, having a strong sense of principle can be a loud part of your personality, and people might even call you selfish for sticking to it, but I think there’s something genuinely beautiful and valuable about it. It essentially maps out how we relate to the world around us. It grants us a sense of dignity, while simultaneously sending a message to society that staying true to oneself comes with a cost.
Actually, now that I’ve set the stage, I’d say a principle is simply the price we pay to remain ourselves. And well, everything in this life has a price tag, doesn't it? A principle is just that price.
What do you all think? Am I on the right track here?
Slow down there, buddy. 😁 If a bull uses its horns as its primary weapon—which it does—and a man uses his words, how on earth did you jump straight to "personal values" and "character metrics"? That's quite a leap... A bull will use those horns to gore the first guy who dares get too close to its herd, and a man will use his words to tear apart the first benefactor who tries to cut his benefits...
A bik is tied by its horns, but a man is bound by his words.
Doesn't that strike you as being deeply connected to the idea of having a principle? What does "free interpretation" of a principle even mean, anyway? Is it our core values? Our internal yardstick for character? Something like that...
I’ve noticed that people who actually live by a principle tend to be quite focused individuals—the kind of folks who really guard their integrity. It’s not exactly a widespread trait among the general public, though. Sometimes, having a strong sense of principle can be a loud part of your personality, and people might even call you selfish for sticking to it, but I think there’s something genuinely beautiful and valuable about it. It essentially maps out how we relate to the world around us. It grants us a sense of dignity, while simultaneously sending a message to society that staying true to oneself comes with a cost.
Actually, now that I’ve set the stage, I’d say a principle is simply the price we pay to remain ourselves. And well, everything in this life has a price tag, doesn't it? A principle is just that price.
What do you all think? Am I on the right track here?
Now, you definitely don't want "principled" killers or rapists. Nor would you want them in politicians—the kind whose biggest achievement is basically ensuring things aren't any worse than they already were.
The only game I’ve ever played that actually inspired me to sit down and write a damn good, unforgettable book was The Last of Us. Honestly, if you aren't even a "gamer," I'd still tell you to go play it—it’s one of those rare, deeply moving, and genuinely fulfilling interactive experiences... It’s the kind of game that deserves its own seat at the table when we're talking about psychology and philosophy on this forum.
It’s a solid flick. I don't remember every single beat perfectly—my memory is getting a bit shot these days—but it definitely left me with a good vibe... It’s honestly pretty rare to find an indie sci-fi or fantasy movie that actually manages to pull off that kind of magic without a massive studio budget behind it. This one? Yeah, it’s definitely in that club.
Look, this series definitely lost its spark once they started churning out sequels—it just couldn't keep up with itself... but if you hold it up against everything else in the genre today? Honestly, the original still stands head and shoulders above most of the junk we're seeing now.
hiddeneagle98 said:I finally sat down and played Fallout with about a fifteen-year delay, and honestly? It still absolutely blew my mind. People love to whine about dated graphics, but in this day and age, it doesn't bother me one bit. This game is a masterpiece—it’s basically interactive literature. The sheer density of these interconnected storylines, the way the plot and scenarios branch out non-linearly, the characters, the dialogue... it’s just staggering. You could play through this thing ten different times and walk away feeling like you had a completely fresh experience every single time. If you actually want to see what high-level game design looks like at its peak, Fallout and Fallout 2 are mandatory reading. You could almost call them the "Game of Thrones" of the gaming world. It’s rare to find this much creative synergy across so many different disciplines packed into a single package; only a video game can pull off something this layered.
I’d say Star Control 2 sits right up there alongside Fallout. At least in my book.
There’s actually this documentary by a hardcore fan who does a deep dive into how Microsoft evolved into its most recent iteration and essentially lost its soul along the way. It’s pretty wild how much he praises the original Microsoft. He talks about the complexity of the relationships, the dialogue, and how unpredictable everything felt. He describes a living, breathing world filled with characters who actually remember your interactions... they have memory. Ever since Bethesda took over the franchise, every single sequel has been a step down from the last one. The dialogue, the relationships, the consequences—it all feels increasingly hollow. Every new release just feels emptier than the one before it. I can only imagine what a shock it was for you to jump straight into Halo.
Electronic Arts, Rockstar Games, BioWare. EA used to have hits like Assassin's Creed II and Battlefield... now? They've pivoted to making games that are more mind-numbing than doing the dishes. Rockstar Games—every single iteration just feels like a step backward from the last one. They go from putting massive effort into deep character relationships to offering these shallow, meaningless choices that all lead to the exact same outcome anyway. If you actually care, do yourself a favor and Google the difference between the old school versus the new school Fallout.
And BioWare? After those legendary trilogies, they basically started churning out absolute jokes.
All of them were once legends because of their storytelling and how much the worlds felt alive... now they’re nothing more than dead names on a piece of paper.