Random Movie Thoughts

Glad someone finally made this thread.

Random movie thought: I’ve been thinking a bit about westerns recently, and how this genre is supposedly “dead.” I feel like part of the reason is because many have too narrow a view of it (in that it needs to be set in the Old West). The truth is I feel like there’s still plenty of westerns being made, they just aren’t the blockbusters they once were, nor do they necessarily fit that setting to a t. I also feel like in general we’ve evolved beyond the revisionist western and entered a new style of what seems to me like I guess you could call the atmospheric western or something along those lines, where the ‘Wild West’ sort of setting is very much a landscape for an overwhelming mood of existential dread - I’m thinking about Hold the Dark, which I just watched, and Wind River, The Revenant, Sicario, The Hateful Eight, No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood - probably not a surprise that many of these are set in the snow.

And don’t forget Slow West, Bone Tomahawk, and I’d say Hell and High Water qualifies too. The genre isn’t dead, and hasn’t been for quite some time now. Maybe it felt that way in the 80s, can’t think of any that were all that great then, but the 90s were kind to the genre before it took a nap for another decade.

Handman said:

And don’t forget Slow West, Bone Tomahawk, and I’d say Hell and High Water qualifies too. The genre isn’t dead, and hasn’t been for quite some time now. Maybe it felt that way in the 80s, can’t think of any that were all that great then, but the 90s were kind to the genre before it took a nap for another decade.

Looking at ones that fit the new sort of style of western that I’m noticing, I feel that Slow West and Bone Tomahawk seem a bit more traditional to me than the others, though I think Hell or High Water possibly qualifies though I feel like it fits the “revisionist” label pretty well too. If I was still in film school this would’ve make an interesting topic to write about.

Beyond that there’s actually a lot of recent westerns that I didn’t list - can’t forget recent sci-fi ones like Logan and Mad Max: Fury Road. I think the myth that they’re dead is a box office thing, but even then you still get stuff like Django Unchained every once in awhile (though for every one of those there’s a Lone Ranger).

Is Romero’s Dawn of the Dead completely out of print? I was thinking about selling my DVD for a blu-ray, but not only does it seem like there’s no blu-ray that matches the DVD, it doesn’t even seem like the blu-ray’s available?

The rights for it seem to be tied up. There was a Blu-ray at some point, but it’s long out of print and goes for exorbitant amounts of money. I believe the same person responsible for the sad release history of Martin is to blame for this one as well.

Don’t sell that DVD if you want to watch that movie.

Handman said:

The rights for it seem to be tied up. There was a Blu-ray at some point, but it’s long out of print and goes for exorbitant amounts of money. I believe the same person responsible for the sad release history of Martin is to blame for this one as well.

Don’t sell that DVD if you want to watch that movie.

Figures.

I won’t be selling my dvd anytime soon. Must admit I did get excited when I saw how much it’s going for on eBay. And my copy’s thus far unopened… Tempting, but I suppose not worth it.

'80s. Fashions and hairdos can be a bit iffy, but I love the ambiance of that era.

30s, 60s, 80s.

Funny thing is, as much of a '90s kid as I am, I don’t much care for the '90s film aesthetic. Can’t put my finger on what it is, but much of the time, something about it just doesn’t gel with me.

It’s the most generic, blandest style possible. It is the absence of style.

Or maybe I just watched too many bland studio films from the time.

Ooh, I need to see that.

Netflix has released two trailers for Orson Welles’ related things. His “new” film and a documentary on the making of that film.

They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead
The Other Side of the Wind

paja said:

What are you guys going to see at the cinema soon?

I’m going to see ‘First Man’.

https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/The-next-Movie-you-have-seen-thread/id/54236/page/1

That’s fair insofar as there is a specific thread for next movie seen, however he is the OP in this thread so if he wants to also share that thought here I don’t see why he shouldn’t be free to…