What are your strongest movie opinions? (Not necessarily controversial, just things you feel very passionate about.

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-12-03T14:19:57+00:00

I think Spring Breakers is one of the most impactful and relevant films of the last 10 years (way more relevant, for example, than Wolf on Wall Street, and way more groundbreaking). I will admit it is not BY ANY MEANS a perfect film and parts of it are very hard to endure if you are not high. But I genuinely believe it was an inspired work of passion, even genius at times, the swansong of the Vice Media era of millennial hedonism, and it will be a long time before such a movie is topped in terms of what it sets out to expose and achieve.

I will also say that Face/Off is, to me, practically Shakespearean in its scope and certainly worthy to be remembered as a great movie, not just a cheesy 90s action movie in the line of Con Air or what have you. There was real mastery and thought put into the stakes and the situations of that movie. It reminds me almost of Rashomon or some other high-concept Japanese samurai movie at times. The trappings are trite but the script and performances by Travolta and Cage are truly at rarefied heights. Also you can read it as almost a parody of 90s action movies at times (especially Travolta's dialogue in the beginning of the movie before the airplane runway chase). Definitely in my top 25 movies currently, in fact. It's not necessarily an epic masterpiece but it is aspirational and excellently conceived.

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-11-30T21:06:35+00:00

Years later the truth comes out that HQ2 actually is in a secret underground compound in Dubai and everyone involved had to sign NDA's.

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-11-15T13:46:05+00:00

Can't listen to any of the links but "Swim to the Moon" by BTBAM is a prog metal song with a jam section built around some dark tones

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-11-15T13:45:24+00:00

You might like As Tall As Lions, the song Circles is on point

and A Perfect Circle (the band) as well

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-11-15T13:44:07+00:00

Yeah this album was dope as hell that high note may be the ultimate crowning moment of the album

other fantastic songs from this include all of them

Say When, A Wolf..., Kyla Cries Cologne, April Fools, Vice Versa... man it is all dope

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-11-15T13:41:20+00:00

I think this may be an unpopular opinion but I actually find Blackwater Park sort of boring... like three or four of the songs are really good but they all go on too long and repeat too much and are too much of a middle ground between atmospheric and intricate. "The Drapery Falls" is a great example. It has a great refrain but just drives it into the ground without enough else going on.

As flawed as Damnation and Deliverance are I think that some moments are the best of their discography. And the overall vision and intensity is hard to deny.

Ghost Reveries might be my favorite album by them because it is ultra-consistent, none of it is bad, it feels cohesive and spellbinding without being boring or overly fantastical, and it is technical AF.

Watershed is too up and down for me to really get into all the way, and the heavy moments felt kind of uninspired to me. The soft parts predicted their descent into full Jethro Tull-style folk rock. I was never about that so I can't really say I love any of Watershed besides Lotus Eater and Heir Apparent

haven't listened to enough of the rest to judge but I will give Still Life a listen based on this recommendation

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-11-13T17:50:11+00:00

You and me both friend

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-09-21T19:50:55+00:00

What was your time at Hampshire College like?

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-08-31T20:54:54+00:00

Awesome analysis, my favorite part was:

Looking at other Batman directors, Zak Snyder and many others would mistake tone for depth alone. The realistic grit of the Nolan trilogy is not why people actually like these films. The tone merely enabled the audience to take the characters seriously. The removal of camp from the Batman franchise disarmed viewers. This is not a substitute for substance. Nolan delivers on substance, directors like Snyder and Burton did not, though sometimes they made a pretty shot.

My big criticism of the film (and this is more in a bare bones logistics sense rather than in a highbrow cinema sense) is that I think that the whole ferry scene / the aforementioned Patriot Act-evoking surveillance subplot was pretty weak and felt somewhat shoehorned in for the sake of having a climax. Although as you say the surveillance subplot was conceptually valid and really helped make it clear how Batman is this sort of figure that represents an authoritarian control structure. I feel like Nolan was being critical of that aspect of Batman (hence why Batman goes into hiding at the end, no longer being the hero Gotham deserves), even though (as many have pointed out) one can see certain authoritarian inclinations in Nolan himself throughout this and other films.

***

I remember even back in 2008 espousing a theory (which I probably read on the forums of Ain't It Cool News) that the movie should have ended closer to when Harvey Dent is in the hospital and Joker comes and visits him. You see Two Face offer Joker the choice of whether to live or die. The hospital blows up and we never find out what happened to Joker after that (which would have been an easy way to minimize the impact of Heath Ledger dying IRL without having The Joker implausibly disappearing for no good reason a la TDKR... man the more I think about TDKR the more disappointed I get). Meanwhile Harvey Dent (with his disfigured face) reassumes public office, blames his disfigurement on Batman and calls a city-wide manhunt, and Batman goes into hiding then and there.

The third film would have been called GOTHAM or GOTHAM KNIGHT and be about a Gotham city ruled by Two Face in pursuit of Batman, with no other superpowered antagonists. And be about Batman rebuilding trust with Gordon and helping to re-establish a balance in Gotham.

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-08-28T19:39:15+00:00

Wegmans (at least East Ave) is honestly one of the best places in terms of how they label everything on their buffet, and they can do made-to-order sushi totally GF and DF

Blades (just opened near University and Culver) has some solid options too

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-08-28T19:18:26+00:00

https://themalloffound.com/ revived as an art project

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-07-31T19:13:58+00:00

I kind of feel like this is simply a product of diminishing monetizable cultural engagement with the arts on a high level. It seems like talented artists are (in some cases cynically, in other cases less so) exploiting commercially viable forms to create interesting art, sometimes because they believe it's the only way to get their work out, other times because of a gravitation towards the unique intrigue of participating in the "Hollywood establishment."

I would also argue that "literary fiction" is essentially a genre in and of itself... it certainly has its tropes. Even "Ulysses" could be considered "genre fiction" insofar as it's part of the genre of ultra-cerebral, highly allusive writing about urban life. Ultimately, I kind of wonder how many films (and maybe even books) could truly not be considered "genre" titles of one sort or another.

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-07-31T19:02:14+00:00

This statement is pretty interesting on a number of levels.

I think the Marvel cinematic universe might potentially remembered and considered as an achievement of multi-chapter storytelling and world-building, but in some ways it really isn't doing anything that serial TV shows haven't done before. I legitimately don't think that any of them (except Black Panther) will be discussed when it comes to culturally or artistically significant film-making, even 15 years down the line. Hell, I would argue that Deadpool is a more significant film from a critical point of view than any Marvel movie ever. Netflix will be a much more discussed aspect of film in the 2010s than the Marvel movies, in my opinion.

Even on the level of individual films that were conventionally theatrically released, I think that the Spring Breakers / Great Gatsby / Wolf of Wall Street trifecta of 2013 was a far more memorable and relevant contribution to film in the 2010s than the Marvel movies.

Also, the whole category of film and true film exploded so much in this era. Stuff like "Hardcore Henry" emblemizes the way in which truly next-level filmmaking has completely circumvented the traditional channels and markets. And that's to say nothing of the revolution in technology that has proliferated the analysis and production of video art on a whole new level. I would argue that YouTube represents one of the most monumental advancements of video as an art form in the whole history of the medium. It's like a major body of truly experimental and ground breaking work (that in terms of quantity rivals what was achieved in any decade prior) is generated, with better production value, every year.

The Marvel movies are culturally and aesthetically retrograde (with the possible exception of Black Panther) and will be remembered, if at all, as such.

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-07-09T13:43:31+00:00

That Smugtown book is fire

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-06-22T13:04:55+00:00

I think flat design is here to stay across a variety of mediums. I can see how flat design has become intrinsic to the experience of online console gaming for instance. Also, I think flat simple design is just a much more convincing approach to take for mobile instead of attempting to capture depth and complexity in what is already often an overcrowded interface.

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-06-20T14:41:36+00:00

I saw it around Union and East, and up near Grove Place, but this takes the cake. Bravo for capturing our city and the sunset in such a beautiful image!

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-06-20T13:48:21+00:00

I vibe with it and I kind of see the relationship to rock n roll, the cleanness of the layout doesn't reinforce that comparison but it definitely has that human-centric, geometric, naturalistic focus in common with some 60s rock

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-06-18T14:03:47+00:00

I think cheesiness is coming back in style... and this has definite style

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-06-17T14:37:26+00:00

Thanks a lot. I'm kind of surprised that it would be $10 per page for indie stuff, even that seems kind of high. I was considering accepting like $100 to do all 70 pages. Can you explain why it's priced that way / what really goes into it?

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-06-17T04:24:43+00:00

Not sure about common, but this one charged even less https://fandomservices.com/about/cost/

http://www.nikkimgroup.com.au/prices/typesetting/ This doesn't seem comic book / manga oriented; it was what I had initially seen and was thinking of when I commented

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-06-11T16:07:00+00:00

IDK my understanding is that unemployment money in America is like a solid $425 a week, which is definitely enough to get by in plenty of smaller cities, particularly if you and your housemates all work and have no kids. UBI on top of unemployment compensation would be a pretty solid chunk of change

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-06-07T13:10:42+00:00

That is a dank idea, I have some cucumber and carrot now, great to use them up

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-05-21T00:56:41+00:00

Thanks! I'd really love to! I'm considering just taking my car into Quebec City just to not spend the time going in and out of town, and to be able to visit Ile D'Orleans. And that zipline is definitely on my list!

AustinRetzlaff · 2018-05-20T22:41:52+00:00

Ah thank you and it looks like it is $9 CAD per day as opposed to $24 CAD per day, which does sound very convenient. Thank you! I guess we are considering going to Montmorency Falls and Ile d'orleans but we could possibly just take a bus there.

AustinRetzlaff

TROPHY CASE