RICHARD LINKLATER

agree with the academy (because it was bad)

Academy’s reason seems to make no sense, though I doubt Linklater is right that it’s masking some other anti-innovation/indies motive. More likely just ignorance and incompetence. Haven’t seen the film but if it was bad they could just not nominate it on the merits

I don't like Linklater, but he's right. Fantasia and Snow White used rotoscoping, there's just no possible way Apollo 10 1/2 isn't 100% an animated film. If it isn't, no CGI-animated film should be allowed in the category either.

Recentish interview. His new one, Hit Man was picked up by Netflix -- I went looking for a trailer and was mixed-up by the trailer for the action trash Hitmen (also 2023) which briefly gave me hope that he gave up curdled nostalgia for a Guy Ritchie knockoff. Oh well.

IMDB upcoming projects (Merrily We Roll Along, "Untitled John Brinkley Biopic", "Untitled Bill Hicks Biopic") continues the long streak of "meh"

Oh come on, that John Brinkley movie could rule!

Otoh, it could also be a DO YOU SEE Trump parallels thing that seemingly every film about a charismatic con man from here on out will be taken as, so...

Last Flag Flying and Where'd You Go, Bernadette were disappointing, Before Midnight is a fine movie but a letdown compared to the previous two Before films. But otherwise, I've really liked everything else.
Bernie, Boyhood, Everybody Wants Some!! and Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood (not to mention nearly every feature from the '90s and '00s)...I think they're all really good to great. Looking forward to Hit Man.

EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!! is so underrated

^^It's become one of my comfort movies.

Otoh, it could also be a DO YOU SEE Trump parallels thing that seemingly every film about a charismatic con man from here on out will be taken as, so...

That was my immediate thought. I never saw Bernie, but Boyhood, Apollo 10 1/2, and Where'd You Go, Bernadette put me off. I did like Before Midnight, but I was ready for the two of them to turn on each other.

Before Midnight is dreadful, and I loved the first two.

Otherwise I more or less endorse his career moves.

That Bernadette one is dogshit, just the worst kind of DTV slop

Did you guys read that nyt profile it was zzz I was trying to remember the last movie of his I really enjoyed and it might be waking life or scanner darkly or dazed and confused

Hit Man is fantastic, really loved it, was a huge Linklater fan in the 00s etc and this is the first movie in ages that made me revisit my fandom and think he's still got it

The 2010s were still a good decade for him IMHO. Bernie, some would say Before Midnight (though I found it pretty disappointing after viewing the entire trilogy back-to-back-to-back), Boyhood and Everybody Wants Some!! got plenty of good press and I would put three of those four among my favorite films of the decade.

His next two, Last Flag Flying (2017) and Where'd You Go, Bernadette (2019), had me a little concerned, but I really liked his last film Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood (2022) which didn't seem to get much of a theatrical release since it's a Netflix film. So aside from two consecutive disappointments, I don't think he really lost his way and already plan to see this at a theater next week.

I think he just wrapped Nouvelle Vague which should be interesting - if it was anyone else, I'd probably skip it, but coming from Linklater, I imagine he has some idea about the story that could prove interesting and engaging.

Hit Man is a very decent, fun watch and I hope it doesn’t get lost in the streaming algorithm. It’s much more in Bernie’s lane than I was expecting, but seeing as how it’s based on a piece by the same writer I shouldn’t have been surprised.

Also liked his episode of the God Save Texas documentary from earlier this year.

I admire Linklater's commitment to making small films.

I could probably take slacker and waking life and leave the rest

The God Save Texas doc is really good. I thought the interview he did with David Marchese for the NYT Mag was fine! Unless there's another profile?

do we blame him for unleashing Glen Powell, an actor I can't figure out yet?

Slacker and waking life are great. I love RL so much but c'mon what about the trilogy?????

Better lived than watched

A Scanner Darkly still my favourite

Am stoned. Just picked up remote to see I can find dazed. Also so good.

Xpost - true. Have done both though I think and still love the movies.

I found it. :)

This movie is when I first fell in love with parker posey omg I am so happy to be watching it.

Would get stoned and kick it with ENBB tonight

liked this a lot! super charming. glen powell rules

xpost - yesssss. My dad is moving to FL permanently this month so I will be there a few times a year. We can make this happen. :)

watching EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!! tonight

It's fun!

otm deep fave <3

I honestly wonder whether EWS!! might be his best film: it’s so incredibly perceptive in its depiction of the transformational nature of…college, and meeting women — and the delicate politics of group friendships. it’s so sensitively conceived. and glen powell is so good in this, his charm is irresistible

I can't remember Glen Powell outside of the three Linklater films he's in (actually four, but his role in Fast Food Nation decades ago was small enough that I can't remember him there either). But those three appearances are all excellent.

Really liked the new one, it was full of surprises, though the few detractors I've encountered seemed to read it completely differently.

Never seen EWS!! and this thread now has me putting this next on my list so thanks

New interview in The Film Stage:

https://thefilmstage.com/richard-linklater-on-sex-murder-hit-man-and-the-infantilization-of-culture/

New one is good fun, if unexceptional. I enjoyed how the plot feels like one of those 90's erotic thrillers ppl have been clamouring to return, though obviously the tone is radically different, goofy and amiable.

Search me though how what the cops were doing in this, and what the guy it's based on was doing, was not always entrapment and what possible usefulness it could have. Something to take up with the US legal system rather than Linklater.

Can anyone imagine his upcoming "making of A Bout De Suffle" movie will be good? Read an interview with him in S&S and he was all "Demy, Varda, Truffaut, Godard, they are all dead but we can bring them back" and thought "yeah Godard died recently and I'm guessing you waited for that to happen 'cause you knew he'd be withering about it".

I really liked his last film Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood (2022) which didn't seem to get much of a theatrical release since it's a Netflix film

I don't know if I had even heard about this when it came out, or maybe I had just forgotten, but thanks for the reminder! I just started watching this last night and it's great. The first 5 minutes hint at some kind of semi-silly fantastic plot, but then the next 40 minutes are just richly detailed sociological depiction of life as a 10-year old boy in a new-development outer suburb of Houston around 1969. As a Gen-Xer I'm a few years later, but I can definitely relate to a lot of this.

https://thefilmstage.com/richard-linklater-on-sex-murder-hit-man-and-the-infantilization-of-culture/

good interview

dejavu

Search me though how what the cops were doing in this, and what the guy it's based on was doing, was not always entrapment and what possible usefulness it could have. Something to take up with the US legal system rather than Linklater.

Linklater actually brings this up in that interview, and it was an aspect to the whole story that troubled him, especially coming on the heels of that prison doc (which he finished filming before he started production on Hit Man). It was definitely something he wanted audiences to think.

The film moves briskly and can seem frothy in tone, but I think it's morally complicated and very unsettling underneath the surface. One thing that caught me off guard was how a few critics were angered by the ending, with one going as far as calling it "amoral." Pretty sure Linklater knew exactly what he was doing and the ending was deceptively a happy resolution.

I just started watching this last night and it's great. The first 5 minutes hint at some kind of semi-silly fantastic plot, but then the next 40 minutes are just richly detailed sociological depiction of life as a 10-year old boy in a new-development outer suburb of Houston around 1969. As a Gen-Xer I'm a few years later, but I can definitely relate to a lot of this.

I think this is something most adults can relate to, even if they weren't part of that era. Every generation has had a similar dynamic play out where you have these shared cultural experiences, not just within the community but across the country. It may be something most people take for granted, and it may be less potent now due to the internet and social media greatly diminishing any sense of distance or cultural isolation, but in hindsight there's something pretty awesome about a film, a record or some sociological trend making its way through an entire culture and leaving a lasting impression on everyone.

Yes, among other things it captured something of the monolithic dominance of network television in the imaginative life of a young person in those days, and the way all of its little quirks and oddities became known by heart.

It’s also good on how TV as a central cultural medium tended to cultivate the formation of rituals. Participation required conforming to a predetermined schedule.

Hit Men was sound, solid.

yeah, i didnt think it was all it was cracked up to be but it was funnand solid

i enjoyed just how evil she was pretty much throughout, the idea it "got dark" at the end is....weird

The “thank you” bag was hilarious

This film reminded me a bit of Grosse Pointe Blank! Not as overtly comedic as that was, but felt tonally similar.

Pretty sure Linklater knew exactly what he was doing and the ending was deceptively a happy resolution.

Deceptive as in it doesn't actually end happily for them? Or it does and since they are bad people that isn't a happy ending?

My viewing was influenced by the Sight&Sound interview Linklater gave, where he said something along the lines of "people are complicated, people make mistakes, I like to give them a break", and so I guess I took the ending at face value - I feel like the movie wants us to be on the protagonist's side, to root for the relationship and to be happy it worked out. In real life this would indeed be amoral asthey killed two people but this is movie magic and I don't mind being seduced into rooting for a couple of murderers.

Of course it helps that both the people they kill are awful. I enjoyed the film without loving it. There are some awkwardnesses in its conception and execution, but Powell and Arjona are very likable.

I don't think it brought off the amorality; it either chickened out or Linklater didn't know how to, pun intended, execute it.