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There's a separate thread for it but is anyone else watching Nicolas Winding Refn's Too Old To Die Young?

I'm five (very long) episodes in now and whilst it looks beautiful, the incredibly drawn out scenes are getting all a bit tedious now in a way that those of Twin Peaks didn't. They all just feel a bit too much deliberately stylized in this, so much so that it often breaks your suspension of disbelief.

ozploitation options are strong. have so far enjoyed: wake in fright, long weekend, turkey shoot, and frog dreaming.

will say that rarely has a movie made me as queasy and uneasy as wake in fright. and if i ever watch it again i will be ffw-ing through the infamous roo hunt.

have a few more lined up in the queue: night of fear, mad dog morgan, patrick, nightmares.

have read that dead end drive-in and razorback are worthy. not on prime atm though.

oh, and body melt is in the queue as well.

Body Melt is wild

The Man From Hong Kong is a $2 rental & well worth it

There's a separate thread for it but is anyone else watching Nicolas Winding Refn's Too Old To Die Young?

I'm five (very long) episodes in now and whilst it looks beautiful, the incredibly drawn out scenes are getting all a bit tedious now in a way that those of Twin Peaks didn't. They all just feel a bit too much deliberately stylized in this, so much so that it often breaks your suspension of disbelief.

― groovypanda, Friday, June 21, 2019 2:13 AM (six days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm five episodes in now and I think it's really strong. the manner in which the five leads are all operating in vv different ways on paths of revenge for those who have been wronged is pretty interesting and the whole series being specifically from the very first scene about the violent effects of broken and/or evil men is pretty timely to say the least.

I saw someone online refer to episode 2 as basically Tarkovsky doing "Narcos" and that seems pretty otm, i mean obv not Tarkovsky-level but miles better than any of the bullshit in Narcos. Points to the show for clearly being super contemptuous of the police dept -- i love the Wolf of Wall Street style of Hart Bochner's homicide squad.

William Baldwin is insane in this. and James Urbaniak's villain in episode 5 was one of the most despicable creations I've seen in a long time. Miles Teller makes for a better blank slate than Ryan Gosling.

basically Tarkovsky doing "Narcos"

Wake In Fright is SO good, one of my faves; but the roo hunt def makes it a tough watch, no question.

belladonna of sadness added

Another thumbs-up for Wake in Fright, which perfectly balances between terrifying and hilarious, capturing that queasy fear you get when you're just waiting for the goons you've been partying with to decide you think you're better than them and kick the shit out of you, but it also perfectly captures the kind of asshole behavior of someone who thinks he's smarter than his goon friends. It's one of the most lacerating movies I've ever seen.

wake in fright is genuinely one of the most unsettling, nightmarish movies i've ever seen

sweaty, threatening Donald Pleasance is so great in that film

otm

I'd somehow never seen Wake in Fright before. I think I always confused it with something else, a movie about someone hallucinating in the outback or being hunted in the outback? (Both descriptions not entirely off!) Anyway, what a nuts movie this is. It would make a great sweaty triple bill with, I dunno, Straw Dogs and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Saw it at the cinema a few years ago and loved it, it has that wicker man feel where you’re simultaneously against the uptight prick who won’t go with the flow, revelling in his downfall, and yet totally with him in his descent to hell surrounded by these grotesques

The scariest thing was that ruined steak and egg and the piss that Australians call beer tho

Yeah, I don't know if it's scary so much as unsettling.

call

It’s not 1971 anymore

also some grotesque real-life animal cruelty captured on film, lovely

then ted kotcheff went off to make first blood and weekend at bernie’s

what a career

Good stuff in this interview:

https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/38309/exclusive-ted-kotcheff-looks-back-at-forty-years-with-wake-in-fright/

Dread Central: One of the more unsettling moments of Wake in Fright had to be the kangaroo hunting sequence; it’s a tough watch. Was that one of the bigger challenges you faced when you made this movie- pulling off that scene?

Ted Kotcheff: You know, at the beginning I really didn’t know how I was going to do that sequence; I wasn’t sure how to make it look real because I would never condone killing animals just for a movie. That’s immoral. But then one night, one of the Australians on the film crew said, “You know, they kill hundreds of kangaroos every night in the outback professionally? “They have these refrigerated trucks where hunters go out in pairs on them. They shoot the kangaroos and they bring them back, put them in a refrigerator, go out and then kill some more of them. So why don’t you put your camera in the back and go out with these hunters; they’re killing hundreds anyway and sending the meat out for pet food.”

So, it was kind of gross, knowing that pet food back then was made out of kangaroos too but I was not going to kill one kangaroo for my film either. So I went out with the hunters and shot some footage which was quite an experience. It was so incredibly grueling to watch them shooting the animals but I just photographed exactly what they did and made no judgments on their actions.

There was this spotlight at the top of their truck and a reversible windshield so when they lifted their guns on the dashboard, the light would hypnotize the kangaroos so they were able to shoot them without any problem. To me, I think the most horrific thing in the film was the way the kangaroos’ eyes were red as they stood there waiting for death. It haunted me. But I know we had that warning at the end of the movie about the animals but that’s something I wished we had put in at the beginning, just so audiences would know that we wouldn’t mercilessly kill animals just to make a movie.

yeah i may never be able to watch wake in fright

the roo scene can probably be skipped past without harm to the vibe or the story but yeah if you’re in any doubt i’d probably give it a miss tbh

I think the kangaroo stuff is essential, actually. Or at least, it's essential to the uncomfortable anything-goes violent psychopath general batshit vibe of the whole thing.

It’s not 1971 anymore

Brad you can cover your eyes or go and make a cup of tea during that bit, so you get the vibe without fully watching

it was kind of gross, knowing that pet food back then was made out of kangaroos too

Now it's in midscale restaurants and supermarkets for humans

There was kangaroo on the menu the first time I was ever in Sydney. It was at an upscale Indian place.

i had a couple of cans of beer while i watched, as i often do, and watching them sweatily, very sweatily, guzzle so much beer and liquor day and night was ... something. definitely affected my enjoyment of my two cans and ramps of the quease factor.

I think the kangaroo stuff is essential, actually. Or at least, it's essential to the uncomfortable anything-goes violent psychopath general batshit vibe of the whole thing.

I agree. It's deeply disturbing to watch, but so is everything else in the movie.

Whenever you find an old movie on Prime from before about 1990, from anywhere, not just Italy, you should proceed with caution.

re: shoddy transfers, was stoked to watch china 9, liberty 37, and i did, but it was really rough going. def the worst i've come across of all the old crazy genre stuff i've watched thus far. like, handycam set on a table with a book under it aimed at a goldstar vhs/tv combo bad.

^^Isn't that one kinda-sorta Public Domain? Always tread w/caution regarding those unless you can tell it's provided to the service by a reputable distributor.

just started on Red Oaks, really like it in a flashback, John Hughes way. THis is a convincingly 80's looking cast too. Seems like this show didn't get very much attention while it was running; I don't know a single person who watched it or ever talked about it.

provided to the service by a reputable distributor

sometimes they'll have two different free versions of the same movie, and a third one that costs $3.99 to rent, and the thumbnail on the third one will be a cropped b&w screencap with the title overlaid in blue Times New Roman

https://nonfics.com/best-documentaries-streaming-amazon-prime-july-2019/

just started on Red Oaks, really like it in a flashback, John Hughes way. THis is a convincingly 80's looking cast too. Seems like this show didn't get very much attention while it was running; I don't know a single person who watched it or ever talked about it.

You know, I watched one episode of this, liked it, then forgot about it. I think the current information economy makes it really hard to keep watching a show nobody else cares about, it's like swimming against a slow but consistent current

Not sure if it was mentioned elsewhere but Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard's Forever is great if you looove Maya Rudolph and, er, don't mind Fred Armisen. Hoping to see Noah Robbins go on to bigger things off the back of it also.

Red Oaks is absolutely wonderful, love that show and those characters so much

i've been watching bosch, it's so stupid and hackneyed and i love it

currently on season four, i.e. the season where the most conservative show ever regarding giving police the freedom to do whatever they need to do to solve cases tries to reckon with police brutality/torture. it's a trip and someone should write a doctoral thesis on it.

I oddly enough watched Red Oaks because John Podhoretz loved it so much.

I watched the first season of Red Oaks because my friend's son played one of the supporting car-parking nitwits. It was fine, especially Paul Reiser playing a shit.

the most conservative show ever regarding giving police the freedom to do whatever they need to do to solve cases

uh, have you ever seen Blue Bloods? ... like calling Bosch a conservative cop show compared to that ... impressive collection of Republican Americana ... idk

Bosch is like Hunter crossed with The Wire and it largely owns.

i have very conflicting feelings about it

I guess what I'm trying to say, is that most cop shows are "pro-cop, anti-bureaucracy" ... Bosch isn't all that extreme an example imo

i've only seen the first 3 seasons, they've become progressively better. It's this combination of old-school TV corn (including some of the acting and plotting) and nu-school atmospheric realism and some much better acting by a few of the key players. only thru S3, but 3>2>>1.

worst thing i've seen on this show was the disgusting PDA displays by one of the S3 military bad guys and his gf.

an interesting essay topic would be the portrayal of Irving in the tv series vs. the books -- the series has changed the character significantly and Reddick makes him much more sympathetic than the way that character is written in Connelly's books

i was being hyperbolic about "most conservative ever..." etc. i guess i just meant compared to the wire, which is clearly what bosch is aspiring to.

the seasons do gradually get better, i agree. the action scenes are usually exciting which makes it weird they only have like two-three action scenes per season.

i also like the weird choice to set up the koreatown killer plot in season three, continue it into season four, and then have it end completely anticlimactically as a C-plot (though i haven't finished s4 yet so maybe there's more to come).

haven't read the books but assume Irving is more a gray area type character? it probably is a good essay topic for a lot of TV/film portrayals of book characters, where they take a more nuanced and complex part and push it either towards more of a "good guy" or more of a villain. i feel like i was thinking of a different character in regards to this kind of recently, now i'm blanking.

this show and the Refn series make extremely good use of Los Angeles, w/Bosch being primarily Hollywood and the surrounding area and TOTDY being heavily in the San Fernando Valley.

all cop shows are reactionary and conservative by nature; the cop as protagonist means every other character falls into one of two categories: victim or criminal (bcz this is how cops see the world, naturally)