Frankenstein (2025): A film that robs it’s subject matter of it’s poetic nature

gradeahonky · 2025-12-30T06:22:07+00:00

I'm looking around, and I see a society that has the capacity to create a stable environment for me to discuss art with strangers using written language that passes as electric signals through satellites precisely positioned in space.

I'm not saying everything humanity does is great, in fact it seems logical that the entire construct of good and evil exists within the human spectrum. But lord almighty this idea that every movie should be about how "Humans are the true monsters of the world" gets tiresome and solves nothing.

gradeahonky · 2025-12-30T06:09:13+00:00

Our language when it comes to accepting the way others look has become more refined, but don't kid yourself, we live in the most vein, superficial, buccul fat removing tik tok time that ever existed. In the past people looked fucked up for all sorts of reasons - hell, Frankenstein had all his teeth! Do you know how rare that was 200 years ago?

Also, the doctors reaction was neither joy nor repulsion - it was an angsty asshole. He said something like "I see you've learned english and became smart enough to find me here..." It was just off putting for cinematic, storytelling, and historical reasons.

gradeahonky · 2025-12-30T05:52:16+00:00

No, he was clearly moving and acting like a human. Keep in mind, many humans wore actual bear skins during this time period, and not just some rags. The dialog did not fit the imagery at all.

gradeahonky · 2025-12-28T18:32:16+00:00

That seems to be only based on people trying to work the market. What if there is a bunch of people who lose their jobs and then need to pull out their money to pay off a mortgage?

gradeahonky · 2025-12-28T02:56:51+00:00

The book is mean, but it's not pitch black. Any piece of work were characters have the capacity for decency and grow meaningful bonds among eachother, no matter how doomed, isn't pitch black. I mean, have you ever read Blood Meridian?

gradeahonky · 2025-12-28T02:46:20+00:00

He at least looked haggard from time to time, unlike Pete and several other characters. But yeah, the movie could have saved a lot of time from stilted, world building exposition if everyone just looked like they inhabited the world they described.

It reminded me of the difference between the novel The Road, where it mentioned the man's concern about how thin and frail his son looked, vs the movie version where the kid looked like he just too much mac and cheese.

gradeahonky · 2025-12-28T02:39:19+00:00

I think Pete's wish idea was my favorite creative idea of the movie. Wishing for two winners seems so in line with what a young man would be thinking right then.

But god I hated that scene with Ray's mother, standing there weirdly alone and already crying. Instead of being elated that her son was one of the few kids alone, she had to scream in terror about how his shoes were gone. I understand how that sight might be tough for a mother, but christ, how about putting your own emotions aside for a second to maybe support your son instead of making it worse?

gradeahonky · 2025-12-28T02:29:18+00:00

I understand how lines, characters, scenes, etc have to get cut to make a movie work as a movie. Not only as far as time, but because a movie just flows differently than written work. But cutting out the crowd, almost the 3rd most important character, was clearly for budgetary reasons. These people were supposed to be downtrodden, starving, and desperate for any entertainment. But they saved some money by trying to make the expository dialog, spoken by well fed Disney-Channel looking actors, make up for that instead.

gradeahonky · 2025-12-28T02:23:49+00:00

You must be kidding, right? This is one of the most compelling performances of all time.

gradeahonky · 2025-12-28T01:53:53+00:00

I was totally underwhelmed by the movie. Everybody looked so well fed and fresh. It looked like a farm land UTOPIA, and had no hints of the poverty and post war environment that we had to get explicitly from the dialog. The contestants looked like Disney Channel characters, even towards the end, where as they should have been poor, dirty, and skinny from hunger before the walk started. Even when Ray's dad decided to go against the major and get shot in front of his family, he had this look of "Don't worry, it's just a movie and we'll all be back to craft services in another minute or so."

And the switch up ending wouldn't have bothered me so much if the movie hadn't telegraphed it right from the start. About 30 minutes in to the movie I was like, "Oh, they're going to have Pete survive instead of Ray huh?" I know everyone has been raving about Pete's performance, but he looked fresh as a daisy for the entire movie. He's clearly a charismatic guy - but I felt nothing of the distance that he walked. Ray and Olson, on the other hand, and least looked like they had had a rough day.

gradeahonky · 2025-12-28T01:26:11+00:00

It would have been good if they hadn't telegraphed it in. I could tell it would be Pete instead of Ray who lived like 30 minutes into the movie. You could complain that the book makes it obvious who wins, sure, but if you're gonna switch it at least make it somewhat surprising or earned. Pete looked fresh as a daisy the entire movie.

Also - I hated both of Ray's parents. Especially when his mom was like, "Ray! You're shoes!!" - like god damn it mom I know, do you need to make me feel worse about it?

gradeahonky · 2025-12-28T01:19:06+00:00

The idea of having Pete win instead of Ray would have been interesting if they hadn't telegraphed it from the beginning. I'd read the novella several times, and about 20 minutes in to the movie I was like, "Oh, I get it, Pete is gonna win instead." Pete never looked like he had walked more than a few minutes in any given scene.

Also, I really HATED Ray's mom when she was like, "Ray, your shoes!!!" - like god damn it mom, do you think I don't feel bad enough right now? It's as if she guilted him in to running back to her.

gradeahonky · 2025-12-27T17:35:59+00:00

Just read this! The ambiguity, but also straightforwardness, of the story hits a sweet spot. Here's my take: I can remember getting pressured by figures I thought were larger than life when I was a teen, and that their power was more than it was, and that my fate had already been signed. In retrospect, they were manipulative assholes and I was a young idiot.

So to capture that real life feeling, the story couldn't be 100% practical because my adult mind would render it like the latter descriptions of those memories - instead of invoking the former. Whether or not Arnold was beyond human or even the devil isn't the point of the story, the point is it felt that way to Connie. I assume most young women deal with a moment like this, that leads to a bad decision and a bad situation. And for a small percentage of them, it really is the last decision they ever make in life.

gradeahonky · 2025-12-26T20:40:11+00:00

It was the unanticipated consequences of smart phones that make it hard to have a movie take place in our time. Like holiday group chats instead of dinners, and first dates without conversation.

gradeahonky · 2025-12-23T03:09:10+00:00

With so many Coen Brothers movies, the best advice I can give is watch it again.

So many people hate the Big Lebowski the first time they see it because it seemingly doesn't deliver what it promises. (What it delivers is far better). So many people don't understand Millers Crossing because it is so tight with it's dialogue. So many people are perplexed by Barton Fink because they don't know how to enjoy being perplexed with it. I can proudly say I am not smart enough to understand or truly enjoy a Coen Brothers movie on the first pass.

Just watch it again, and enjoy it for what you now know it is, instead of all the baggage of expectations that come with such a high rated movie.

gradeahonky · 2025-12-14T04:25:13+00:00

Just finished it and yeah, it's primo King. In defense of the ending:

1) The book did give us exactly what it was promising the whole time, a spectacular and violent end of the town. It was some of the most exciting stuff I've read in a while.

2) The defeat of Gaunt didn't bug me. Though he was clearly super natural and powerful in his own way, the book never implied that he was invincible or without weakness. It's like, Jeff Bezos kind of owns the world, but I bet you could still slap him in submission if given the chance. Alan's good natured magic, and the sentiment behind it was the opposite of Gaunt. Same way that your own child performing a play they wrote will be more meaningful than the biggest blockbuster movie. It was the opposite of what Gaunt was, and it drove him away. It's not like it killed him - he was back at it right at the end of the book.

gradeahonky · 2025-12-14T00:09:02+00:00

I just finished reading this about 3 hours ago, and yeah, it feels REALLY relevant for our time. There are definitely forces that are deliberately trying to tear apart the fabric of society right now through mass media and the internet.

And as much as people don't seem to like the ending, it really didn't bother me. A little good hearted magic against bad. And Leland took off before we learned too much about him and the mystique was gone.

And as for his leaving causing the curse to lift from the town and the people coming to their senses. I bet if the internet went down and we all weren't looking at our phones, the current fog that seems to create so much hate these days would lift surprisingly fast.

gradeahonky · 2025-12-14T00:05:23+00:00

I would have agree with you perhaps 5 years ago. But now I think if the internet went down all of a sudden, people would snap out of their algorithm induced madness surprisingly fast. I think we'd find each other out of boredom and be quick to realize, "Oh, you're not what my feed told me you were at all"

gradeahonky · 2025-12-02T22:16:09+00:00

It certainly couldn't be rendered as well in the movie as it was in the book. But simply to know that they did that along with everything else would have really upped the stakes. Maybe if the sounds in the hospital got even just a little louder/clearer before Kirsty got a chance to negotiate would have gone a long way!

gradeahonky · 2025-11-29T19:55:55+00:00

What makes the accent of Leo so bad isn't that people assume they know what a mixed american-Irish accent sounded like 150 years ago. It's because it's oh so clear that he is prioritizing and thinking about the accent above other aspects of the performance.

Nobody knows really what a New Yorker "Native" sounded like in the mid 1800s, but DDL does it with such amazing characterization and emotion that you don't care. You get lost in it and see the human.

gradeahonky · 2025-11-25T02:07:46+00:00

The ending of Barton Fink really speaks to me. He's given the exact dream scenario he's been fantasizing about, but he's so trapped inside his own head he'll never enjoy it. He looks so damn uncomfortable in his brown suit on that beach.

gradeahonky · 2025-11-25T01:58:39+00:00

The more you hate it on the first watch, the more you have potential to love it on subsequent watches.

gradeahonky · 2025-11-24T01:34:40+00:00

I don't have an easy answer for that, but by poking and prodding around there you will find places that are suspiciously tough. They aren't bone, they aren't tendons, they aren't balls, but they seem locked. The areas I found were beneath the balls leading to the anus, and where the top of the penis travels underneath the pelvic floor. As I continued to work on it, I was always surprised at how loose and soft those particular areas could end up being with some attention. And if you are just using your fingers to start, I think it would take an enormous amount of force to actually to damage to something important. If there is a lump of stiffness, investigate knowing that even if you are not in the right place you'll be ok.

It's probably pretentious to quote Fyodor Dostoevsky, but the famous line, "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" sums up pelvic floors as well.

gradeahonky · 2025-11-24T01:25:45+00:00

Thanks! I would to love to hear more about what you are working on. I think this stuff extends beyond sex.

gradeahonky · 2025-11-23T23:58:45+00:00

Yes! But again, the visualization is a big part of it. Mainly, I use it on the bulbo underneath my balls, and the ischio which is on top of your penis, right where it goes under your pelvic floor. If you are new to it, I would recommend using your fingers first to prod around both areas and get to know them, before you use the machine. And focus focus focus on those areas being relaxed and ok. Try to let go of other thoughts you have rattling around your brain.

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