Posts by goldenhound32

Folks.

I picked this up ages ago, but honestly, who has the time to sift through all of this? 🙂

Still, one step at a time... day by day, even John Doe will show up when he's meant to. 🙂

ncfom.

Heh... what can I even say to you? You just don't have any luck. 🙂

The only thing we can really do is hope it ends up on HBO, so maybe then we'll actually get a chance to see it.

David Price5 said:That is my biggest headache when I try to pick up films from outside the US. Even if you manage to find subtitles, you can never be quite sure if the dubbing is actually any good, which usually leaves me stuck messing around with subtitleworkshop...

Fortunately, those kinds of titles aren't exactly flooding the market—at least, I haven't run into many lately. A few that come to mind are *Three Valleys*, *Don't Cry for Me*, *Playtime*, *Ritten*, and now this *Emma's Shadow*.

It’s manageable if the subtitles are consistent, even if they drift slightly. But if they jump ahead five seconds and then lag ten seconds behind? That’s it. I either walk away from the movie entirely or I start learning Swedish.😁

David Price5 said:I've heard of it, but I haven't seen it yet😁. I've heard plenty of titles mentioned, but hearing about them doesn't count
. I need to find the courage to sit down and watch Godzilla (1974), but I keep getting distracted by this.

I finally tracked down a copy of *The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo*, only to discover too late that there aren't any subtitles available anywhere! 😂

Christian Taylor3 said:Who says nobody's trying? 🤷 By the way, my score is already sitting at 21... Watch your back, sis.😁

p.s. expect reviews for all the movies I've watched to start rolling in around the 30th.

Fair enough.

@Nicholas Walker3
No.

David Price5 said:It's precisely because they made the list. It keeps things competitive for us! :-)

Besides, calling this "competition" feels like a stretch when I'm the only one actually putting in the work to watch everything on this list—though I suppose I shouldn't count you, given you were already well aware of Delicatessen. It hardly feels like a race when I know for a fact I've already checked off 22 titles 🙂

Emily Thomas3 said:Is it just me, or did you list Suspiria, Pitch Black, Simone, and Straight Story twice? 🤷

By the way, Ghost Dog isn't exactly unknown either, but I still don't agree that it's bad—it's definitely not worse than Jarmusch's stuff. It’s one of those rare movies that looks at the blending of cultures and values in such an interesting way.
I mean, you've got that old-school vs. new-school clash between the mobsters (who listen to Public Enemy) and Ghost Dog (who listens to Wu-Tang Clan). Plus, you have these two people who've crossed language and cultural barriers to become best friends, perfectly understanding each other even when they technically don't. And then there's Staten Island, which offers this cool mix of Black and Eastern culture and philosophy. To me, it's a super interesting and smart movie specifically because of those cultural layers.

Lol... looks like you caught me. Just the inevitable consequences of multitasking. 🙂
You missed Funny Games, Gangster No. 1, Ginger Snaps, and Meet the Feebles.

And Ghost Dog isn't bad, per se, but it isn't great either. A solid 6 out of 10.
The concept of two people forming a bond despite a language barrier is brilliant, but Jarmusch failed to actually convince me they were best friends. I can't quite recall why.

There was also some bizarre—and I mean bad—shooting scene toward the end... wasn't someone shot through a sink? I remember it feeling totally surreal.

Plus, when the protagonist gets in the car and that soundtrack starts playing—some weird blend of what a Japanese samurai would listen to mixed with what an American gangster might blast 😢 ...it just sounded terrible.

David Price5 said:It's precisely because they made the list. It keeps things competitive for us! :-)

Fair enough. I suppose there is some entertainment value in that. 🙂

I've been looking through:
Believer, CQ, Delicatessen, Altar Boys, Experiment, Frailty, Hedwig (a fantastic film!), Kind Hearts and Coronets (equally excellent), M (also excellent), Pitch Black, Princess and the Warrior, Simone, Straight Story, Suspiria, 13 Conversations, Scarface, Zardoz, Suspiria, Straight Story, Simone, Pitch Black (though I have no idea why this one is even on the list given how famous it is), Devil's Backbone.

A Face in the Crowd and Emma's Shadow look quite decent, but I don't see myself sitting through those thrillers or documentaries about skaters and rappers anytime soon. 🙂

Has anyone actually sat down with 5000 Fingers of Dr. T? It looks somewhat promising, much like Fubar... and perhaps even enjoyable, given the sophisticated plot: "Two misfit girls meet, become friends, and decide to murder an elderly woman just for kicks." 😁

22.

Honestly, some of these entries aren't even worth the runtime. Take *CQ* for instance. It’s fine—maybe a solid 6 or 7 out of 10—but the only reason it made this list is because it’s a bit eccentric, not because it’s a masterpiece. And it isn't the only one. *Zardoz* is just plain bad. Even *Ghost Dog* sits somewhere in the lower tier of Jarmusch's filmography.

I don't see why we should give more weight to a curated list than to any other collection of films. 🤷

Mark Thompson6 said:It’s about those unconventional characters and the decisions they make—choices that aren't exactly easy to wrap your head around at first glance.

Who exactly is being unconventional here? The protagonist? Honestly, I'm not seeing it.

Besides, these "unconventional" types show up so frequently in his movies that I find it hard to argue this is a signature Lynch trait.

Where did Lynch disappear to?

Anyway, the movie was decent enough—I'd give it a solid 7 out of 10.

Emily Thomas3 said:If you want some solid storytelling, Todd Solondz is definitely worth checking out—honestly, his stuff might even top Happiness. Two movies that aren't strictly "high art" but are totally worth your time are Notes on a Scandal and In the Bedroom, though I personally liked the latter more. You don't see Sissy Spacek singing American pop hits 🤣 every day, and man, does she nail it.

Come on, don't mislead people. 🙂

Storytelling is a bit of a mess—structurally speaking. That's why it doesn't quite measure up to Happiness, where everything actually lands exactly where it should.

Trivia: Belle & Sebastian did the soundtrack for Storytelling.

I wasn't exactly confused by it.

The film is excellent. An 8 out of 10.

Karen Smith9 said:Not really, 🙄

Hah... I suppose you missed my point entirely. It’s not that I harbor any hatred toward Jewish people... it’s just this endless cycle of Holocaust films being churned out. It feels like every single year, maybe even more often than that—though I can't say for certain since they aren't exactly household names—we get hit with another one.

goldenhound32 said:Well, if they actually show up to the podium, then maybe we'll see something happen. 😁

By the way, "cheerleaders" aren't just fans or spectators. I honestly don't know if there's even an American term that captures the nuance perfectly, but we definitely need a better word for that concept.

@goldenhound32 - For me, that monologue was easily the highlight of the entire film. Honestly, I think the characters could benefit from breaking the fourth wall a bit more often—just to acknowledge their own existence as characters within the narrative.

I don't particularly mind when a film decides to break the fourth wall. It can work if handled correctly. However, I felt that the execution during that specific monologue missed the mark entirely. I'm planning to revisit it on YouTube later to see if it's actually available there, and then I'll provide a more definitive take on what exactly went wrong.

Not really my thing. I mostly stick to watching movies on my PC. While I was browsing through some TV channels, I stumbled upon all sorts of absolute garbage. Honestly, I don't even regret it; it’s all just part of the job.

+1.

Heh, acting like we’re analyzing the complete works of James Joyce... what’s the point of studying this guy's filmography when every single movie he makes—with the exception of JCVD—follows the exact same formula? And let’s be clear here: I’ve sat through far more than five Jean-Claude van Damme films, and that’s not even counting JCVD.

I caught that monologue yesterday... and honestly, viewing it as a standalone piece, I actually quite liked it. Within the context of the movie, though? It just didn't land for me. Perhaps it’s because Jean-Claude didn't write it.🤷

frozentinker432 said:Do you actually keep a log of everything you watch and the ratings you give them?

Staying on topic—I guess I agree that Holocaust themes are pretty overdone, but I'm glad to see a movie about those events from a slightly different, less stereotypical angle (like in The Reader, where the lead character is basically—at least to me—a totally likable Nazi criminal).

I do.

Staying on topic—I generally agree that Holocaust themes have been overused, but I’m glad to see a film tackling those events from a slightly different, less stereotypical angle.

Of course I do.

That's exactly why I watched The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. It was quite good.

Karen Smith9 said:Downfall is an amazing movie... but your take on it sounds like something coming from a deranged little Nazi kid👎

Only someone with a certain kind of agenda would ever write something like that.

Emily Thomas3 said:I dunno. First off, baseball isn't exactly a high-octane sport. Second, they play 162 games a season, so you don't get the same die-hard crowd showing up every single day, which means you lack those intense supporter groups you see in soccer stadiums (over here, the stadium DJ usually handles the energy, and honestly, they do that for most sports too). Third, there’s tons of stuff going on at the park besides the actual game—you’ll see people walking around and grabbing food constantly. Plus, fans of different teams are all mixed together, making it hard to build that one massive, unified group that drives the cheering (at least in the traditional sense).

People definitely get loud during clutch moments, like the final out or a huge rivalry game—especially when the Yankees and Red Sox are playing—but otherwise, the vibe at the stadium is just chill and relaxed.🤣

Oops, went off-topic again. 😢

BTW, you never actually explained why you're so against the suffering of Jewish people (I'm still holding out hope that someone does an adaptation of Maus. Animated, obviously).

I don’t have anything against walls themselves, per se. But honestly? When these studios have all that capital to burn on movies about various barriers and divides, you’d think they could manage to produce a single feature about an actual individual—someone like Freud, for instance. Instead, we just get endless, repetitive cycles of Holocaust cinema. It feels redundant.

I mean, look, they can make whatever they want. They can put out all the content they like. But as for me? I’m not going to waste my time watching it. 🙂

By the way, I’d give *The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas* an 8 out of 10.

Donna Gray4 said:There isn't really a single genre I’ll dodge because, honestly, I’m a total cinephile; I know how it goes where I'll just lock myself away for three or four days straight and plow through twenty different movies, whether they're on my old Blu-ray collection or just streaming on Netflix... I genuinely appreciate everything there is to see, and frankly, I can't stand people who come up with these incredibly shallow, cliché reasons to hate on a certain film, because at the end of the day, a movie is meant to be experienced, ranging from the most mindless trash to a brilliant Hollywood blockbuster... at least that's how it works for me. Anyway, it's become pretty clear to me that not a single day goes by without me sitting down for at least one or two films... so yeah, that's basically my life in a nutshell.🙂

Well, good for you. 🙂

I personally clock in at around 300 films a year... and I genuinely enjoy it. But honestly, my real pleasure comes from watching people waste their time on absolute garbage, only to see them vent online with those predictable, pathetic little rants about "wanting their ten bucks back" or "wanting those two hours of their life back." 😁