Films Recently Watched

I've been meaning to post about two documentaries on the Syrian conflict that I watched back to back a few days ago but I had to spend a bit of time processing it all. both docos cover the same subject matter - the White Helmets and their efforts - but from completely different creative angles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wj4ncIEDxw

(awful trailer, does a disservice to the thing itself)

this was a 40min film from 2016 which ended up taking best short doco at the 2017 Oscars. it introduces the viewer to a bunch of guys from one White Helmets team who are sent to search-and-rescue training in neighbouring Turkey. well put-together and engaging but super simple and on-the-nose (and not purely as a limitation imposed by its short length). when you start thinking about all the questions around the White Helmets, you can't help but wonder how this ended up taking the Oscar and if it was motivated by political considerations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT6IagQ7xos

this was the real shit. the way this was crafted made it more than just a war doco, it's some surreal Herzog shit. it was released a year after the other one and has a completely different mood to it, far less hopeful. I'm not going to spell it out much more because I'm still having a hard time finding the words I want to use to describe the sense of complete disconnection between ordinary existence and the strife of war, but it is that very disconnection that this film drives home and which I think everyone has a duty to educate themselves about. apocalypse is real and ever-present, it just chooses to exist in specific times and places for specific people.

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once I'd seen both of these, there was a lot to reflect on and understand here not just because of the grim viewing but because the nature of the White Helmets itself is in question and there is a lot of swirling disinformation around them. unscrambling the truth about whether they are a deceptive front org for "terrorist" rebel factions or whether they are truly impartial humanitarian workers is quite tricky. I've come to the conclusion, based on everything I've read and seen upto this point, that it isn't fully either but it's a lot more skewed towards the latter than shitposting conspiracy theorists and the Russian trolls that feed them would have people believe. at least that's what I think atm.

the fact that they operate in rebel areas which are quarantined off from government-held areas by the conflict means that they inevitably end up helping civilian communities hit by government and Russian-led bombing over and above providing assistance to people/orgs in govt-held areas (which are not subject to indiscriminate airstrikes). the fact that they are a somewhat loose-knit network of independent centres scattered across the country means that it is possible for some less disciplined staff members with dodgy affiliations to get in and do things on the side which may not be noticed and may go unpoliced by management, seeing as there probably isn't even an effective cross-centre management structure anyway. and the fact that they are funded by anti-Assad western governments raises further suspicions about their motivations.

all of these things, though, are still not conclusive evidence that they're dirty as a whole and their real aim is not oriented primarily around saving lives. (that's if watching the docos alone isn't enough to dissuade you from that notion and you think there's some element of fabrication, which was something I was looking carefully for whilst watching and couldn't really sniff out.) yet I can fully acknowledge how complex and messy things can get on the ground. if you were locked into a desperate struggle for survival in which giving up would mean that the govt forces rolling in would likely inflict terrible retribution on you anyway, would you informally ally with and support armed factions on your side even if you had a humanitarian mandate? if there was no other way you could see out? and would you make up or exaggerate stories that portrayed the government in a bad light (e.g. these chlorine gas attacks), if it meant it would provoke western intervention and turn the tables for you?

it's impossible to properly answer these questions from where we are.

  On 4/19/2018 at 12:35 AM, Squee said:

So, I thought Jurassic World scraped the bottom of the barrel... but apparently they've scraped their way through the bottom of the barrel and are now digging their own grave.

 

https://youtu.be/1FJD7jZqZEk

 

 

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Avengers Infinity War

I've never experienced a whole salon in shock like that.. Must have been like that seeing Empire Strikes Back. As far as popcorn flicks go, this went to the next level.

Nightcrawler - 9/10 - Maybe a bit of a high score but as somebody who doesn't watch a lot of films I was well impressed, one of the best I've seen in a long time. If you could suggest anything similar I'd appreciate it.

Django Unchained - 8/10 

Manson (1973/4) - 7/10 - Documentary on the Manson Family via youtube. Quality was terrible but worth watching.

disappointing. very badly made. grace jones deserves better.

a classic horror film. 4 really hot babes go a spooky (not) mansion to clean it up. at the same time there is an evil cartoon that comes out of a book and wrecks havoc on the girls (read that as it basically makes them horny).

this masterpiece was directed by fred olen ray or as i like to call him: the real alfred hitchcock.

ok this was weird. this white woman identifies as black. she goes through hell- mainly because she's not black and its not exactly registering. she's got black kids though and she used to be the NCAAP chairman for spokane. i kinda feel bad for her, but reality needs to hit sooner or later. it doesn't. 

hellraiser 7.5/10

and I never knew

i saw quiet place last week. it was decent. not great. better than i thought it'd be.

Cabin Fever 2  7/10 

more of a comedy and it delivers in that area

I love trashy horror. Wish I knew of more 

Trashy horror? Watch any horror film from the 80s/90s (with crudely painted cover art).

  On 4/30/2018 at 8:20 PM, marf said:

Cabin Fever 2  7/10 

more of a comedy and it delivers in that area

I love trashy horror. Wish I knew of more 

Oh man... I've watched a lot lately.

The Blob

Pieces

All the Nightmare on Elm Street movies...

Sleepaway Camp

Evil Dead (the remake - I shit you not)

And of course just watch all the Friday the 13th and Halloween movies. They're terrible but amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD5ynoOyDcA

flol I forgot about that movie. Terrible, just terrible

trashy horror/comedy. Cabin fever 2 was hilarious. I don't mean so bad it's good. Kind of a self aware genre horror. No, Not the scream movies.

Return of the living dead, an American werewolf in London, evil dead 2, to start.

  On 4/30/2018 at 8:56 PM, zaphod said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD5ynoOyDcA

Holy shit, hahahaha!

rewatched Dumb and Dumber To...starts pretty rocky but once it gets going it's actually not so bad! I'd say they could have cut out a few scenes and made it really tight. Jim is on form. Perhaps too many references to the original, works against itself. Has the laughs if you're in the mood!

  On 4/30/2018 at 11:32 PM, marf said:

trashy horror/comedy.

you mean like Lloyd Kaufman's troma?

speaking of horror movies, anybody seen this? i'm afraid it's too much for my stomach...

  On 5/1/2018 at 3:20 PM, THIS IS MICHAEL JACKSON said:

 

 

speaking of horror movies, anybody seen this? i'm afraid it's too much for my stomach...

 

 

I watched it. It was basically a "meh" + shrug. A quick watch I guess. Not really that much stomach turning. Maybe one moment in the trailer is a little squirmy with that old knife in the eye. 

I saw it and liked it. most other watemms who saw it didn't.

cool, gonna give it a try :thumbsup:

btw, this was also a cool slashy fun movie...

probably going to see avengers tonite. preparing for a good nap

Conjuring 2 was excellent. 8.5/10 

Badadoock or whatever awful. That kid ruined it 2/10

one point for decent design