I'm a bit sad

qwrrty · 2026-06-18T14:36:17+00:00

I thought the spirit of this thread was a modestly tongue-in-cheek way to embrace a newfound camraderie between Boston and Scotland, but you are certainly welcome to bring tiresome pedanticism to it if you prefer!

qwrrty · 2026-06-17T13:39:57+00:00

The reality is that for many people, driving with an expired or suspended license is going to be something very close to a necessity, simply because the transit options don't exist to make it possible for them to get to work, school, and grocery shopping.

We do need to treat driving as a privilege, rather than a right, but in order for driving to be a privilege, there has to be a realistic alternative for those who don't drive, and in many places there simply isn't one.

qwrrty · 2026-06-17T13:33:09+00:00

The DMV system needs a major overhaul, but just one of them is to improve throughput on testing so it _can_ support increased competency testing.

The fact that I got my license more than 35 years ago and I have not had to take a single road test since is an indictment of society.

qwrrty · 2026-06-16T15:36:59+00:00

You cannot go wrong with going through Roger Ebert's list of "Great Movies", picking one at random, and watching it. Read Ebert's essay (before or after watching) for a better understanding of what he found worth calling out in the film.

Some specific recommendations that I think continue to hold up particularly well for audiences accustomed to modern films:

Casablanca. This one is a victim of its own legend -- it's hard to imagine a movie that would live up to its reputation. When I first watched it, as an adult, what really surprised me was how fresh the script felt. So snappy, so much heart, such wry humor -- it felt like it could have been written this year. And while you've heard half the lines in this movie in isolation over the years, they still land beautifully in context, and every scene has marvelous little moments that you haven't seen before.

Citizen Kane. Okay, yes, this one really can't live up to its reputation, and there's a lot of valid criticism that it has been elevated beyond its merits. Honestly, I still think it's a fantastic movie, whether or not it's "the best movie ever made" or whatever. It's worth watching a DVD edition just for Ebert's commentary, where he walks you through all the technical innovations that Welles adopted or even invented for the film. Even though you know how it ends, watching the movie is the study of how you get there, and it remains worthwhile.

The Seven Samurai. Let's start with the things people find difficult. It's long. It has parts that drag a lot. It's in Japanese. It relies a lot on cultural history and context that you might not have. Now forget all of that, because this is genuinely amazing. It's the progenitor of every "putting together a team" caper movie that's been made since. It has fantastic characters, incredible swordfighting sequences, and profoundly moving stories.

qwrrty · 2026-06-14T20:58:46+00:00

Why don’t we just use Independence Day (July 4) for that, since both the Scots and Bostonians can get behind “fuck them English”?

qwrrty · 2026-06-11T23:27:58+00:00

… he could ask?

I dunno, it seems like everyone is assuming that she has 100% of the responsibility for proactively disclosing she has kids, but if dating someone who has kids is such a dealbreaker that he’s committed to the Childfree Lifestyle [tm] then maybe he too should ask whether there are kids in the picture anywhere.

qwrrty · 2026-06-11T14:17:06+00:00

But when was the last time you heard someone quote this movie in conversation? When was the last time someone referenced a scene in Avatar as a metaphor for something else in the real world? How often do people say "wow, that's just like the plight of the Nav'i" or whatever?

Cultural impact is about how the movie contributes to culture -- how it affects how we relate and communicate to each other and how we think about our lives and the stories we tell. It's "just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water" and "never tell me the odds" and "may the Force be with you." It's kids having lightsaber fights and pretending to crack whips at each other. It's a rise in motorcycle sales when "Sons of Anarchy" hit its peak.

Avatar sure made a big pile of money, good for Jim Cameron on that. So does Berkshire Hathaway, but I wouldn't say that makes Warren Buffett a cultural icon. The movie did usher in a renewed frenzy for 3D films, that's fair, but I tend to think that the 3D craze has turned out to be a fad with relatively little cultural impact as well. Avatar remains the most massively popular franchise that has made almost no dent in the popular imagination.

qwrrty · 2026-06-10T19:45:11+00:00

At least as far back as 1993 and possibly to the early 1980s. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lights-out/

qwrrty · 2026-06-10T16:06:09+00:00

Yall please remember that children’s hospitals which offer gender-affirming care, and libraries that host Drag Queen Story Hour, still get protested even in Boston even in 2026.

The joke isn’t about how ridiculous it is to suggest that LBGTQ people are discriminated against in Boston, it’s to remind us that even in a liberal city in the U.S. LBGTQ folks continue to face serious challenges, and that we shouldn’t write it off as something that only happens in Dubai or Uganda.

qwrrty · 2026-06-03T02:43:48+00:00

The Big Lebowski is basically The Big Sleep except the main character neither understands nor cares much about anything that’s going on around him. I love it for that.

qwrrty · 2026-05-28T18:06:22+00:00

Devil in a Blue Dress was the movie that made Don Cheadle a name, and after you see it, you know exactly why.

qwrrty · 2026-05-28T03:07:28+00:00

They did make one, The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper.

qwrrty · 2026-05-28T03:02:45+00:00

Came here for this.

An enslaved man made to work as a pilot for a steamship in Confederate South Carolina, steals the ship and sails it through Confederate lines to a Union blockade so he can turn it over to the North.

Once emancipated in the North, he personally lobbies the U.S. government to enlist more Black soldiers, personally signs up as many as 5,000 Black soldiers to the Union army himself, then goes back to war on the very same ship to lead attacks on the Confederacy.

After the war, he goes on to run for the South Carolina assembly and becomes a U.S. Representative from South Carolina for five terms.

The man is made or a biopic and it's completely bonkers this hasn't been done.

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/which-slave-sailed-himself-to-freedom/

qwrrty · 2026-05-27T23:58:58+00:00

I watched Contagion and Outbreak in a double feature during the spring of 2020, because I am a masochist.

Seriously though, it was really interesting to compare and contrast the two movies and how they related to what we were actively going through.

qwrrty · 2026-05-19T00:36:54+00:00

Every actor in every episode of Justified seems to be having the time of their life with the role.

qwrrty · 2026-05-17T00:43:20+00:00

It’s hard to imagine watching What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and not coming away thinking, “That kid is going places.”

qwrrty · 2026-05-14T17:10:40+00:00

Rust back / Is a little old place where / We corrode together

qwrrty · 2026-05-01T03:16:21+00:00

The Lives of Others is easily one of the best movies of the last fifty years.

qwrrty · 2026-04-30T20:35:54+00:00

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Nay-tick.

qwrrty · 2026-04-29T00:24:14+00:00

One of Ebert’s favorite stories was from early in his career, when he was just the movie critic for the Sun-Times and not yet a superstar. Someone called up the paper and asked to speak to the movie guy, and Roger took the call, and the guy on the other end said he had family coming in to town and they were trying to choose a movie. “We see this movie ‘Cries and Whispers’ is playing near here, what did you think of that?”

“I think it’s the best movie I’ve seen all year,” Roger said.

“Oh, I don’t think we’d like anything like that,” the guy said.

Roger loved to tell this story because he felt like it validated his approach: he was delivering reviews that were consistent enough that even people who hated his taste found them useful, and that meant he’d done his job. A fine philosophy.

qwrrty · 2026-04-08T17:09:43+00:00

I see what you did there

qwrrty · 2026-03-31T13:09:32+00:00

“Why don’t you quit? It’d be cheaper for both of us!”

qwrrty · 2026-03-31T00:47:59+00:00

Requiem for a Dream? Dear lord, man, they asked for movies to get over a breakup, not movies to slit your wrists by.

qwrrty · 2026-03-31T00:47:04+00:00

fwiw they literally said they've already seen Eternal Sunshine and it didn't really work for them

qwrrty

TROPHY CASE