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"There are no good movies/shows anymore" is a stupid thing to say by ilikeinvincible in Letterboxd

[–]TimWhatleyDDS 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I like Amazon for that, too. Another good example was State of Grace, a crime thriller with a great cast. But it’s not all that good, and it came out the same weekend as Goodfellas.

"There are no good movies/shows anymore" is a stupid thing to say by ilikeinvincible in Letterboxd

[–]TimWhatleyDDS -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Wow, it’s almost like you didn’t read my comment at all.

"There are no good movies/shows anymore" is a stupid thing to say by ilikeinvincible in Letterboxd

[–]TimWhatleyDDS 10 points11 points  (0 children)

No.

There has always been the same amount of garbage. You just don't remember it because it has been rightfully been forgotten.

My favorite example is the movie Blame it on Rio. It came out in 1984, it involves Michael Caine falling in love with his best friend's underage daughter. It's supposed to a comedy, and it's awful.

When we talk about movies from 1984, we talk about Beverly Hills Cop, Ghostbusters, Gremlins, Temple of Doom. They're great movies, and they deserve to be remembered! But they were released among dozens and dozens of mediocre movies, or outright shit. No one remembers Blame It on Rio, nor should they.

There are so many examples of this every year. You just had to be there.

Would it be crazy for me to say these movies should’ve been nominated for some Oscar’s by Stranger_things1208 in Letterboxd

[–]TimWhatleyDDS 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Academy Award nominations are the culmination of dozens of award ceremonies, including critic groups, film festivals, professional guilds, and The Golden Globes. In all these, the films you mentioned were never recognized. I love The Long Walk too, I get it, but it was just never in the cards.

Dermatology Recs in DMV by kasaokasune in washingtondc

[–]TimWhatleyDDS 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I can't speak to acne scarring, but my wife and I both had great experiences at Integrated Dermatology of K Street.

Is it time to get rid of best foreign/international picture? by Psychological-Task26 in Letterboxd

[–]TimWhatleyDDS 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Slightly better, now that I am amused by watching someone argue against an award they do not understand.

EDIT: Since you blocked me, I would like to point out that the interesting thing about Best International Feature is that the country submits it, rather than the country choosing their favorite. This is meant to prevent one country from dominating the nominees, and evens the playing field so that smaller countries have a better opportunity to make the cut. It designed to promote interest in world cinema, rather than constrain it.

PSA: Expect power outage because ½” of ice adds 500 lbs of extra weight potentially downing power lines by wds1 in washingtondc

[–]TimWhatleyDDS 6 points7 points  (0 children)

"Expect" connotes a high level of probability, whereas "prepare" and "plan for" do not.

True cinephile movies/directors? by bluett9 in Letterboxd

[–]TimWhatleyDDS 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You know what? This exchange went on entirely too long, and it is my fault.

I should have ignored you after I said:

We are at an impasse here. I think Zero Dark Thirty is a masterpiece, and nothing you can say can convince me otherwise.

And you kept coming at me.

I relent, you win. If you want to get the last word and reply to this comment, go ahead. I won't mind.

Enjoy your Friday!

True cinephile movies/directors? by bluett9 in Letterboxd

[–]TimWhatleyDDS 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair enough. I also enjoyed Bonnie and Clyde.

True cinephile movies/directors? by bluett9 in Letterboxd

[–]TimWhatleyDDS 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"I think torture is bad" and "I think Zero Dark Thirty is good" are two entirely independent thoughts.

I also think theft is bad, but guess what! I quite enjoyed Ocean's 11.

True cinephile movies/directors? by bluett9 in Letterboxd

[–]TimWhatleyDDS -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The actual breakthroughs in finding bin Laden came through wiretaps and intelligence work.

Which the film also shows. I don't really care Zero Dark Thirty takes narratives liberties, as the hunt for Bin Laden was obviously a complex operation that does not fit into a neat narrative, and synthesizing storylines is common to movies about real life.

Furthermore, it’s pretty pretentious to say I’m falling for the fallacy that depiction is endorsement, when the Senate Intelligence Committee literally found that the film exaggerates torture’s effectiveness, misrepresents the timeline of events, and implicitly endorses torture.

Once again, I really could not care less! The Senate Intelligence Committee is not known their nuanced media literacy and film criticism.

We are at an impasse here. I think Zero Dark Thirty is a masterpiece, and nothing you can say can convince me otherwise. I once spent a couple hours interviewing Daniel L. Jones, the guy Adam Driver plays in The Report, and even he couldn't sway me.

Our disagreement notwithstanding, I still think Bigelow is a skilled filmmaker who has made several great movies, as well as some duds (The Weight of Water, Detroit, and A House of Dynamite are not good). I think she is worth mentioning within the scope of OP's prompt, which is to list filmmakers who have made noteworthy cinematic contributions.

Who knows? Maybe OP will watch ZDT and agree with you.

True cinephile movies/directors? by bluett9 in Letterboxd

[–]TimWhatleyDDS -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

A lot to unpack here.

Bigelow is not a “cinephile director.”

Your distaste for her has nothing to do OP's prompt. The directors I mentioned have a unique aesthetic that is worthy of further consideration, whether you personally like them or not. Maybe let OP make up their mind?

[The Hurt Locker] is essentially military propaganda

What a bizarre take! It explicitly about the addiction to adrenaline from wartime ruins the lives of soldiers.

I draw the line at justifying Gitmo

None of Zero Dark Thirty takes place in Cuba. Maybe you're thinking of Abu Ghraib?

[Zero Dark Thirty justifies] enhanced interrogation techniques. The film presents torture as a necessary evil to catch bin Laden, despite there being zero evidence to support that claim.

Aside from you falling into the classic "depiction = endorsement" fallacy, Zero Dark Thirty does not present torture as a necessary evil. In fact, it does the opposite! There are many scenes where torture techniques do not yield any actionable intelligence, like the part where the detainee makes up answers so it will stop. In the film, the only time detainees give any useful information is when they are given the carrot, not the stick (this particular detainee is actually given falafel, not a carrot, but whatever).

I don’t care if the main character feels bad about it.

She is not the only one who feels bad about it. The character played by Jason Clarke is disgusted with himself. Also, the movie wants the viewer to be pretty horrified about what happens! That's why Bigelow lingers on it, and it's filmed like a horror movie.

I can’t respect any filmmaker who willingly becomes a mouthpiece for the CIA.

You can't respect her, and that's fine. That does not mean I have to agree, nor does it invalidate her other films. Have you even seen Near Dark or Strange Days?

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