42 posts shown.
shadowcobra89 said:People like shaman and Richard Johnson42 always stir up this nonsense, and then some random guy shows up to make things worse...
And honestly, they aren't wrong, because whenever a conversation about football starts, you'll always see five or six of you showing up just to troll, and then everything just spirals further and further out of control...
Let me give you an example of "football talk":
matko99 said:I hate to break it to you, but the Dallas Cowboys are going to win.
Look, I’m all for keeping things tidy and organized, but you can't just throw everything into one giant bucket and start swinging the hammer whenever you feel like it. It’s absolute madness. You take this guy Rich—who’s been a staple here for years, someone who actually contributes meaningful stuff—and you slap him with a twelve-post ban? For what? A single post that was clearly nothing more than a sarcastic jab? That isn't moderation; it's a complete meltdown. It's a total failure to read the room.
But hey, if this is what passes for "cleaning up the forums" these days, then fine. Just go ahead. Go on, ruin it.
If you aren't capable of actually moderating MLS discussion threads, then step aside and let someone else take the reins. Period. 1. Look, I’ll be the first to admit that the MLS forums have been in a total coma lately, but this recent style of moderation? It’s nothing more than pure, unadulterated harassment.
I went into this with massive expectations because, let’s face it, we’re talking about a film directed by Drew Goddard.
But those expectations hit a brick wall during that one major SPOILER scene where Jon Hamm bursts into the room with those weird sisters. That moment felt completely disconnected from the actual plot and had zero impact on his character development.
And honestly? You see similar lapses in logic and character consistency with several other people throughout the movie.
At the end of the day, it was an alright way to kill two hours, I guess, but the core story had enough potential to be something truly special. Such a missed opportunity.
Michael Hughes said:593 went way too far there; if they were grading this at my place, I’d be handing out a 9.5. 😁
I was actually thinking about the novel 😁
I think there’s this one movie from over in the North America—it might even feature Sonja Savić. I remember hearing she once gave it a perfect ten out of ten, yeah, a full ten. Honestly, I’ve been meaning to sit down and finally watch it, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Anyone who dares mention Blagojević in this thread gets an automatic 35-point penalty in the Hall of Shame, and if you even breathe Asoman's name, consider yourself permanently banned from the club. What a complete disaster of a corner he’s turned this into. 🤦
briskhound2 said:Look, you've been warned multiple times already—a partial ban is definitely on the table if the tone doesn't shift. People were calling the mods out for making baseless threats back then, but honestly, the warning was legitimate enough.
how long does a partial ban last?
Permanent, as far as I know...
what exactly prompted the combined moderator-admin brain trust to make that call?
Constant trolling of the users and mods, flame wars, just straight-up spamming to stir the pot... there's zero actual contribution to the PDF movie besides, like I said, just poking people to get a reaction—especially from the mods.
Sorry, but Henry Campbell5 has actually contributed plenty to the PDF movie. If he had spent even half as much time messing with regular users as he does picking fights with the mods, he probably would have been banned within a year. Seriously, man, it’s ridiculous.
Ashley Grant66 said:Oh, really? Do I even care to know what level of filmmaking this movie actually revolutionized? 😁
Look, there were plenty of them long before this one hit the scene, but here—it just popped into my head, and honestly, it isn't nearly as mainstream as the others people keep obsessing over. 😁
Dogtooth. This is absolute bottom-of-the-barrel nonsense. Total brain rot. 🙏
Elizabeth Perez17 said:5. The Edge. It might seem like an eccentric pick; but you have a man stripped of the comforts of his own artificial reality, forced to face a brutally primal, hairy embodiment of Mother Nature himself. He’s left completely exposed in all his inadequacy, forced to confront reality and, through a catharsis of accepting his own weakness, find enough grit and survival instinct to keep from spiraling into total despair and surrendering to The Circle of Life...
...only to end up finding peace by moderating some random American message board. 🙏
The video rental store right next to my house. It was destiny. 😁
goldenhound32 said:I think I started reading your translations before I could even properly read myself.
Every single evening, I’d find something to watch, always nursing this quiet hope that my father would finally pass out on the sofa. If he did, maybe he wouldn't kick me upstairs to bed at eight, nine, or ten at night. Some nights I got lucky; most nights, I didn't.
Back then, the best programming in the world was local public access TV—stations where the staff basically just pirated movies from god-knows-where... a colleague of yours mentioned them once. There was this strange, intoxicating sense of victory in seeing a film before it ever hit the local multiplex.🙂 ...just that old-school grit in my soul, I suppose.
When I was eleven, my absolute favorite was the first Mortal Kombat movie, mostly because of that heavy-hitting soundtrack:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAwWPadFsOA
By twelve or thirteen, I caught Blade... and god, what a masterpiece that was. All I have to do is recall that one specific scene and the music playing while they trigger the blood spray.🙏
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNOP2t9FObw
Then, at fourteen, I stumbled upon that old Usenet newsgroup, film.rec.movies... and that's when it really started. There was no saving me after that. That was the moment my disdain for summer blockbusters and mindless "popcorn" movies took root, a phase that lasted for many, many years. I’ve mellowed out since then, though I'm not quite as judgmental as I used to be.
By fifteen, I was sitting there watching The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, haha... and The Seventh Seal, wtf... just a steady stream of heavy, serious cinema. There were films I didn't truly grasp, which was expected at that age... but I was stubborn. I refused to let anyone talk about some "important auteur" if I didn't personally understand why they mattered.
At fifteen, I discovered Fight Club. Watching it, I couldn't believe that someone on the other side of the country was experiencing the exact same thing. Instant identification. It wasn't just a movie unlike anything I'd seen; it was proof that a different kind of world was possible. That’s what I love about cinema—it pulls you in so deep that you momentarily forget you have homework to finish, a job to go to, people to fake a smile for, or dinner to make. Just pure immersion. An instant classic for me.
High school passed by. My peers were out drinking and socializing, while I was tucked away watching movies. I can still see the consequences of those choices today.
In those days, the internet was painfully slow; downloading movies wasn't really an option. But I started collecting DivX files. My first few were Alien Resurrection, The Matrix, Cube, and Hollow Man. You start accumulating them, keeping meticulous lists in Notepad. You’d trade with people online... one good trade involving six DVDs might net you thirty carefully selected titles.🙏
And so, the years roll on. People change, lives get busier, we all grow older... but film remains. My first love, and the one I'll never forget.
And we're in the exact same boat. 😬
And that's exactly why the Americans are still playing today🤷
neonsurfer6 said:Look, when you're dissecting the landscape of 2000s cinema, you absolutely cannot ignore the fact that movies were facing brutal competition from the small screen. In the United States, television transformed into this massive, powerhouse hub for creative talent,
It’s the truth—HBO completely raised the bar through sheer production value. The raw creativity coming from the writers during that era finally had a platform to explode, and the end result was a string of absolute masterpieces.
Personally, shows like The Wire, Breaking Bad, and The Office really blew me away.
I'm right there with you; those three are top-tier. 🙂 But if I'm picking my own all-time favorites, I'd have to throw in Curb Your Enthusiasm and one of the newer ones—Bored to Death. And don't even get me started on Freaks and Geeks; sure, it's only one season, but that single season alone was enough to cement it as one of the greatest achievements of the entire decade.
neonsurfer6 said:Herzog is absolutely fascinating to me in his later years. Even though he isn't at his creative peak anymore, he's finally starting to reach a wider audience. This guy rolls into the US at 60 years old and starts working with the Hollywood A-list, even shoots a 3D movie, yet he manages to stay that one-of-a-kind, brilliant Werner Herzog.
Herzog is incredibly interesting, not just as a director, but as a human being. That whole persona of his—it's truly unique and inspiring. Naturally, that carries over into his films, which I personally find to be nothing short of sublime.
I stumbled upon his statement regarding the role of facts in filmmaking a few weeks back:
If we are paying attention about facts, we end up as accountants. If you find out that yes, here or there, a fact has been modified or has been imagined, it will be a triumph of the accountants to tell me so. But we are into illumination for the sake of a deeper truth, for an ecstasy of truth, for something we can experience once in a while in great literature and great cinema. I’m imagining and staging and using my fantasies. Only that will illuminate us. Otherwise, if you’re purely after facts, please buy yourself the phone directory of Manhattan. It has four million times correct facts. But it doesn’t illuminate.
Since you brought up 3D, check this out:
I have a dictum: Yes, shoot a porno film in 3-D. But not a romantic comedy.
😁
I still haven't seen Aguirre or that one about the death penalty, but I am seriously intrigued.
Jamie Nelson10 said:If you ask me, those Latin American filmmakers and *The Secret in Their Eyes*—that's easily sitting in my top ten for the decade. No question about it.
It’s brilliant, truly. But damn, it is incredibly difficult to just dump all of that out of your head like this. I completely blanked on *City of God* earlier—now I'm kicking myself because that was a massive oversight.
I completely blanked on Clint Eastwood and his mystical river flick—that movie is an absolute masterpiece. And don't even get me started on Fincher’s *Zodiac*; that one is a total powerhouse too. If we're talking comedies, though, *Bad Santa* is the gold standard. 😁
Oh man, I’ve completely lost it. My brain is basically mush right now—I’ve forgotten everything! I can't even remember Cloverfield, let alone anything else. And Lynch? Ugh, don't even get me started on Lynch... my mind is just a total blank! 🙂
Jamie Nelson10 said:And those damn titles are nothing but pure garbage.
Oh man, that movie is an absolute powerhouse. It’s a heavy hitter. Honestly, though, I can't even think about it without being reminded of that total disaster of an American remake they did starring Charlie. Just a complete mess.
Look, man, why don't you just sit down and write up your own damn summaries whenever you find some free time? I’m genuinely curious to see what you come up with because I know for a fact you watch way more stuff than the average person. Give us the breakdown!
I totally blanked on mentioning that I’ve become a massive fan of Kill Bill: Vol. 2 lately. Plus, I completely forgot to bring up one of my absolute favorite directors, Fatih Akin. His movies like Head-On and Soul Kitchen are just freaking incredible—absolute masterpieces. And that guy who stars in his films, Birol Unel, if I remember correctly? He’s easily one of my favorite actors from the 2000s. 😁
edit: Clown is also absolutely worth noting for his roles in the Coen brothers' films and his part alongside Danny Ocean. Total legend. 😁
The nineties were solid years. They felt a little melancholic, looking back at them through a certain lens. Departure. Blockbuster... that entire cinematic universe I grew up in, the one I was absolutely obsessed with throughout my whole childhood. I still remember back in 2008 when—if I recall correctly—I rented my very last movie from a rental store. During those late-night wanders through the city, I’d always end up wandering into a shop like that, and out of pure habit, I’d scan the exact same shelf twenty times over, terrified I might miss some damn title or just looking for an excuse to strike up a conversation with the guy behind the counter. Back then, those places started clearing out their old stock at dirt-cheap prices, and I’d be there, grinning like an idiot, grabbing anything that caught my eye because, hell, I could never resist a good movie selection. I would have hauled the whole store home if I actually could. And now, sitting right here in front of me, I've got Anderson's Magnolia, Spike Lee's 25th Hour, and other absolute gems, all for next to nothing. It's almost poetic, especially since my first love is... I don't know what to tell you—it’s just dying. It’s fading out right before our eyes. I used to be so damn happy about those five-dollar movie deals, thinking I was getting the steal of the century. Looking back now? Man, I didn't have a clue what I was actually missing. Heh.
On the flip side, even though the internet basically killed off the local Blockbuster and turned movie theaters into a harder sell, it actually handed us everything we ever wanted on a silver platter. It bridged that gap by making content accessible in ways we couldn't have even dreamed of back in the day.
The magic of going to the movies died for me the second that pathetic, hollow "victory" went down in Zadar. I can't even remember the exact title of the last film I caught at that theater—maybe it was NCFOM or some gritty American gangster flick—but I know damn well I fucking loved it. But enough with the melodrama; let’s get down to the actual zero-sum game of filmmaking.
I honestly feel like I’ve barely even scratched the surface of all this, and frankly, that excites the hell out of me. Take Korean cinema, for instance—I’ve only just dipped my toes in, but what I’ve seen so far? Absolutely brilliant. It’s left me hungry to dive deep into their entire filmography. Same goes for the Japanese masters... and there is so much more to uncover in Romanian films too. There is an endless well of talent there just waiting to be tapped. That being said, even though I find myself constantly criticizing certain trends, I still find myself retreating back to the comfort of the good old classics from Hollywood more often than not.
If you ask me, they’ve truly defined him: Wes Anderson, with four brilliant features and one short, all pulled from that singular, gorgeous little universe of his—a cosmos where he delivers those eccentric characters we can't help but laugh and cry along with.
Alexander Payne has delivered two absolute masterpieces, and honestly, that short film *Paris, Je T'aime* was nothing short of brilliant. Then there’s *Sideways*—man, that is one of those all-time favorites. I still remember watching it in my tiny, cramped college studio apartment, practically choking because I was laughing so hard.
Cronenberg absolutely floored me with those Russian promises and that relentless history of violence. It was just one massive, glorious serving of stylized brutality—exactly the kind of visceral stuff you crave.
The Coen brothers absolutely floored me with NCFOM, and PT Anderson completely wrecked me with There Will Be Blood. To think they all dropped those masterpieces in the exact same window—likely that absolute peak era around 2007 or 2008. It was a powerhouse year. And let’s not forget, that was the same year Dominik released his absolute gem, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Pure cinematic perfection.
When you think about the absolute peak of cinema, one of the first things that comes to mind is that brutal showdown between Llewelyn Moss and Anton Chigurh. It’s legendary. Seeing Daniel Day-Lewis go head-to-head with Paul Dano as Eli Sunday creates a dynamic of characters that stays burned into your brain for a lifetime. And don't even get me started on Casey Affleck—the way he absolutely dismantles every single frame in that director's debut is nothing short of life-altering.
Man, *Dogville* absolutely kicked my ass. It left me completely floored. But then I finally wrapped my head around the whole Dogme 95 movement, and that led me straight down the rabbit hole of Vinterberg’s work. He basically dismantled me emotionally—first with the sheer ritualistic intensity of *The Celebration*, and then he totally enchanted me with that sci-fi fairy tale vibe in *All About Love*. Just incredible stuff.
That little masterpiece claimed a permanent spot in my heart the very second I finished watching it. It’s that tender, bittersweet story about two Americans finding each other in Tokyo—just completely lost in translation.
The guy who basically carried the entire weight of the nineties on his back—acting as both screenwriter and director—is Charlie Kaufman. Seriously, look at his work. You could take a trio of his films, like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Synecdoche, New York, and that adaptation he did, and drop them straight into a Top 10 list of the best films of the decade without even blinking. He’s a genius. If I had to pick one word to define him, it would be "Kaufmanesque." That's it. That's the whole man.
Even before the sun sets, those broken flowers are just two little sweethearts brightening up the early years.
Leigh’s *All or Nothing* absolutely wrecked me on an emotional level. It was one of those films that just hits you right in the gut and refuses to let go.
Woody Allen has certainly had his moments... in one of his more unconventional flicks, Match Point, he really solidified his spot in my personal top ten all-time greats. Then you look at Vicky Cristina Barcelona, where he manages to win everyone over with that signature charm again—honestly, it’s just like how Bardem absolutely commanded the screen alongside Scarlett and the rest of that cast.
Watching *Gosford Park* and *Before the Devil Knows You're Dead* really drove home the point that the old masters haven't exhausted their repertoire just yet. We’re talking about two absolute gems of cinematic direction here—pure brilliance from start to finish.
The Devil's Backbone. That movie absolutely captivated me; it was one of those rare gems that hit home and reminded me exactly of the kid I used to be.
When it comes to Latin American cinema, they’ve dropped two absolute masterworks: Dogtooth and My Mom.
I also have to give credit where it's due regarding those graphic novel adaptations like Ghost World and American Splendor.
As far as comedies go, Superbad and Anchorman are leagues above anything else out there.
Finally, I can't wrap this up without mentioning a recent standout from a true documentary master—he directed what might actually be my favorite narrative feature: The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans by Herzog.
Anyway, that's just a little bit of my take to get things started.😁
I honestly can't get enough of watching him.🙂
