Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie

Only saw this embargo-skirting almost blurb from a Letterboxd notable: https://letterboxd.com/dillamonster/film/barbie/

Is that true? If you take a shot every time they mention the word patriarchy you will die?

Ken will fart on your face until you asphyxiate.

(Screening in 90 minutes).

There is an A+ Stephen Malkmus joke.

screening what, the movie or Ken's anus?

I hope Barbie wears a "fuck the patriarchy" keychain

I haven't been this excited for a movie in years.

A mixed group of audience and what remains of critics. The response was overwhelming -- applause, daughters and moms crying as we exited. Think of it as a mix of The Truman Show and Gerwig's attitude in Lady Bird and Sirk. Not all of it worked, and I cringed at times at the performative liberalism of a company like Mattel positioning itself as a defender of women's rights; but the actors are so enthusiastic and the story fresh enough that I got caught up.

Of course, Mattel owes its existence to the genius of a woman.

xpost Intriguing! If there is indeed an element of Sirk to it that would be somewhat fitting, given the circuitous route back to Todd Haynes. When is the embargo lifting?

Tonight.

My Letterboxd follows somewhat predictably starting to toss some cold water on the fire this morning

I’ve decided that my new thing is going to be public denials of the existence of this movie while pushing the theory that it is nothing but a never ending marketing campaign that will inundate us with new material over the course of the next 60 years

Meanwhile, Oppenheimer actually came out 15 years ago

XP the Mattell-a Effect

While I’m not so far off Alfred’s level of enthusiasm, or at least engagement, this is also to a degree a victim of what happens when something needs to be everything to everyone, which makes it the perfect movie for our resolutely absolutist times I guess

Weirdly enough, this is the first of GG’s movies that made me question what I regarded previously as her unimpeachable pop instincts. Three consecutive satirical musical numbers?

Have adjusted my expectations to expect this to be a *** film that still exhibits a lot of creativity and intelligence but ultimately is constrained by its blockbuster status, and if that's the case do hope Gerwig opts for a "one for them, one for me" model.

You and PBrad on the same page, Daniel:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jul/19/barbie-review-greta-gerwig-delirious-bubblegum-fantasy

Probably means this is a 5-star movie in that case.

do you mean Bradshaw is particularly harsh? lots of 4 stars in his recent reviews.

if it's more "if he didn't like it it must be great" I'd say *** still translates to "he liked it".

Lol@

"In interviews about Barbie, Gerwig has referenced Milton and Powell and Pressburger: judging from this, I would say the influences are Toy Story, Pinocchio and Clueless."

Why does Bradshaw have a job for life?

It me.

certified haters seeing a monstrously hyped movie get a mediocre review pic.twitter.com/KacIupgJaF

— Aidan James (@mcandidate) July 19, 2023

"In interviews about Barbie, Gerwig has referenced Milton and Powell and Pressburger: judging from this, I would say the influences are Toy Story, Pinocchio and Clueless."

The influences are generally about as surface as the 2001 opening. Late in the movie, the Kens have a dance number that's on basically the same soundstage as Singin' in the Rain's chiffon ballet

“do you mean Bradshaw is particularly harsh?”

No, I mean BS gives it 5-stars, it’s almost certainly a medicore middlebrow wash, but a lukewarm review normally means he just hasn’t got it, in my experience.

Upon sleeping on it, I am more heartened by its laser-precise decimation of male-centric cinephilia. The joke at Zach Snyder fanboys' expense alone was worth the entire undertaking.

Caspar is hardly a film bro -- though he is mediocre -- and here he is asking the important question:

"does the phrase “selling out” have any meaning any more?"

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jul/19/barbie-indie-director-film-maker-greta-gerwig

IMO “selling out” never had any meaning beyond “I don’t need to support myself with my artistic endeavor”

To be fair, this is a movie kinda sorta engineered to generate every sort of bad take imaginable

exactly

Can't believe someone is trying to revive "selling out".

Let's do this properly: Haneke to direct he-man or gtfo.

might be an improvement on his last couple films tbh

Greta Gerwig covers the latest issue of ELLE UK. pic.twitter.com/dQHEBDHDRm

— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) July 19, 2023

The joke at Zach Snyder fanboys' expense alone was worth the entire undertaking.

I guess death of monoculture means this is different for everyone and obv it's different if you're a film critic but man, it's been years since I've encountered any mention of Zack Snyder fandom that hasn't been at its expense.

Nah, that was a joke by Baumbach aimed squarely at his partner-in-beef Arm0nd

“do you mean Bradshaw is particularly harsh?”

No, I mean BS gives it 5-stars, it’s almost certainly a medicore middlebrow wash, but a lukewarm review normally means he just hasn’t got it, in my experience.

― Chewshabadoo, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 bookmarkflaglink

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jul/19/oppenheimer-review-nolans-atom-bomb-epic-is-flawed-but-extraordinary

Got our RPX tickets for the Sat late show. I'm kind of excited! I also don't think I've ever seen a movie in RPX and also have no idea what it means.

The first trailer was a bunch of jokes about jacking off and the reviews are all talking about its references to Kubrick and Coppola and Snyder and like... This all sounds really smug and obnoxious for a movie ostensibly made for children?

It's not

it doesn't seem like it was made for children

Also, by "the reviews" I mean Armond White's review where he says the adult references aren't for kids (This seems like a valid complaint) and the feminist angle also isn't for kids (This is obv batshit)

I have read that the whole nine-dash line map thing, with which China claims most of the South China sea close to the borders of Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines and surrounding Taiwan, is the reason why Vietnam has banned the film

I haven't seen the film, but the one image I saw from it purporting to represent the offensive scene had a childish map of the whole world upside down and Asia portrayed sideways with some dashes coming out of it in no particular order.

It's surprising to me to see such a strong reaction, I certainly don't think anybody in this country who sees it would possibly make a connection

I wonder what the people who did the art direction for the movie are thinking about that

from what I've seen of the promos, there have to be many more egregiously wrong-footed and outright tacky things about the film, but I'm still really looking forward to it

Let's do this properly: Haneke to direct he-man or gtfo.

In which He-Man beats an unsuspecting family to death with a golf club.

Seriously, man, fuck that guy and his fucking movies, apart from "Caché."

David Cronenberg's He-Man

David Lynch Presents Thundercats

The first trailer was a bunch of jokes about jacking off and the reviews are all talking about its references to Kubrick and Coppola and Snyder and like... This all sounds really smug and obnoxious for a movie ostensibly made for children?

― sean paul akerman (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, 20 July 2023 bookmarkflaglink

You should review stuff for a living.

I have read that the whole nine-dash line map thing, with which China claims most of the South China sea close to the borders of Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines and surrounding Taiwan, is the reason why Vietnam has banned the film

I haven't seen the film, but the one image I saw from it purporting to represent the offensive scene had a childish map of the whole world upside down and Asia portrayed sideways with some dashes coming out of it in no particular order.

It's surprising to me to see such a strong reaction, I certainly don't think anybody in this country who sees it would possibly make a connection

I agree it's obviously a gag, not a political statement, and not saying Vietnam was right to ban it lol, but I also don't think it's surprising at all - being neighbours with an aggressive global power tends to make you touchy about things like this, even moreso when it's a power US studios have a semi-official policy of pandering to. In the end the movie got lucky with where it squiggled its lines really, imagine the online discourse if they had put Russia over Ukranian territory.