Oh, man. I love that movie. Very close to Charade for me. And here’s a Star Wars connection: John Williams did the score for that film.
Yeah I know, only makes me more itching to check it out.
Two for the Road – This is the first mainstream American film I can think of to have a nonlinear plot. Fascinating in that regard.
What about Citizen Kane (1941)? Also, isn’t that a British film?
Which one haven’t you seen?
How to Steal a Million, though I’ve come close to watching it a couple times recently (likely will soon).
You realize he was just parodying you when you say you aren’t going to engage with insert poster right?
Yes, this upcoming season is the first time the Doctor will be female. Until the Master regenerated into a female, no Timelord had ever switched genders in the history of the show.
Yeah I understand that but is there any legitimate reason why it shouldn’t be besides that it hasn’t before? I mean if there’s a new doctor all the time why can’t it be female? It’s not like a regular character switching gender.
It seems like the only reason it can’t be is because some people will automatically assume it was done for “PC” reasons, whether that even makes any sense.
I haven’t seen a bad Audrey Hepburn film. So many of them are kind of similar, but I just love them. Charade, How to Steal a Million, Sabrina, Roman Holiday, Wait Until Dark…
The only one I didn’t particularly care for was My Fair Lady, strangely enough, considering it’s much more well known and beloved than most of the ones I just listed. Haven’t seen Breakfast at Tiffany’s. However, I just ordered Two for the Road on Blu-ray, and I expect it to be great as well.
Until this year, the only ones I’d ever seen were My Fair Lady and Always. I didn’t necessarily dislike either (well, Always does kinda suck) but I never felt the urgency to watch more right away. But then this year I watched one (Tiffany’s), and have now seen all but one of the ones you mentioned. Great stuff.
But Ash, they obviously aren’t wizards because the Force is just ESP. Everyone knows that.
He was describing Battle, actually.
Not feature length, but last night I saw Michael Jackson’s Thriller in IMAX 3D. Pretty fucking cool.
I think Escape from the planet of the Apes is underrated.
It’s certainly the best of the sequels. As in the only one that’s watchable. But it is good.
But… Conquest…
Is that the one wear the apes and people are living in peace in the jungle on the edge of NYC until the radicals mount a war? and then at the end the two people decide to worship the Atom bomb?
Absolutely not.
Yeah, good luck. At the end of the day, you need to make your own choices, especially when it comes to relationships. People on the internet don’t know the reality of your situation.
Very true.
(and Star Wars has no aspects or tropes of fantasy)
Blatantly untrue.
I think Escape from the planet of the Apes is underrated.
It’s certainly the best of the sequels. As in the only one that’s watchable. But it is good.
Incorrect.
What I still don’t understand is how “liberal” is supposedly a completely separate group from “leftist,” as I would have thought “liberal” would be a general, inclusive term for all those with liberal views.
A lot of center-right and even straight-up rightwing people have been trying to make some distinction between “liberals” and people that are more socialistic as a way to co-opt the term liberal.
I’ve actually seen it mostly from people identifying as “leftist.”
Random political thought:
I’ve seen a lot of “leftists” vs. “liberals” stuff lately, and I wonder, since when did “liberals” become synonymous with specifically center-left democrats? I always thought “liberal” was just a general term that encompassed the entire left.
Man, people have such rigid definitions of what is and isn’t sci-fi…
I guess the point I was trying to make that one time a couple days ago was that Star Wars isn’t and never was hard science fiction, and as such trying to find a scientifically plausible explanation for how anything works within the franchise is futile. Which is why I consider it fantasy within a sci-fi setting.
So I guess if I were to try and pigeonhole it into a genre, I can’t. It’s (soft) sci-fi. It’s space opera. It’s fantasy. It’s adventure. But I’d argue “sci-fi” is the least important of those to the franchise.
It’s absolutely not, however, hard sci-fi or speculative fiction or whatever label you want to put on stories that are about scientifically plausible technologies.
best post so far.
however, fuck labels.
Best post so far.
For those who have been following my current emotional dilemma… it seems lunch isn’t happening, but it’s just going to be us two and another friend at this big fair. She helped put together my costume and I bought her ticket. We’re carpooling… so I think I’ll start this talk on the way home. Enjoy the time we’ve got and go from there. Very nervous, but after I managed to cry (yes, I ended up forcing myself to cry yesterday, don’t tell Dom) I feel a little better.
Good for you, really. The crying I mean. I wish I could make myself cry, I’ve tried many times and it’s never worked. I have very inactive tear ducts and I appreciate every chance I get to make use of them - always a very cathartic experience.
Anyway, I’d caution you to slow way down with this friend. Based on your past posts here, it seems like a) you don’t have many friends or good friends, and b) you’ve had poor success in terms of dating. Which tells me it’s possible that due to the desperations of a limited pool, you may be jumping to a conclusion about your feelings for this friend that might not be up to snuff. I’m just speculating here of course. It may seem like you’re “in love” with her but that may not be the case. There’ve certainly been times in my life when I thought I loved someone and couldn’t think of anything but them for weeks or months. But, when things inevitably didn’t work out, and I got over it, I was able to look at things with a critical eye. In some cases, yeah I was in love. But in most, not at all. Basically what I’m saying is I wish I had someone to knock some sense into me and tell me to actually consider if it made sense for me to be with that person.
All I’ll say is, if you struggle for friends as much as you say you do, I’d be very careful about jeopardizing a relationship with someone you consider your best friend, which is typically exactly what a declaration of love would do. In my opinion, you should not say anything and wait it out and see if your feelings are true, and if it seems like there’s a possibility she feels the same. If you absolutely must tell her (which again, don’t recommend), I’d be careful not to make a big deal of it and not to say that you “love” her, just indicate that you might have feelings for her and ask her how she feels - there’s a precarious line between seeming honest and seeming creepy.
When did telling someone you love them become something creepy?
People sometimes get freaked out when you tell them you love them even when you’re in a relationship with them. The word carries a lot of weight, and hearing it from a friend can definitely be extremely overwhelming and off-putting.
Imagining myself on the other side, hearing a friend tell me they love me would absolute freak me out and probably discourage me from a potential relationship. Whereas, if they came to me rationally and said they might have feelings, and wonder if I ever considered the same, I would probably think on it a bit and might even go for it (depending on my preexisting feelings for them). The thing is this: when someone tells you they love you, it puts an immense pressure on the person being told. They feel this immense need to respond - like they need to either say it back, or reject right away. Chances are incredibly high that she won’t feel the same - in terms of “loving,” again very strong word - so she’ll feel the need to reject it outright. Whereas, if someone comes in a much less direct and emotionally charged way, saying ‘hey, I might have feelings,’ there’s a space where there isn’t that feeling of pressure to either reciprocate or reject, and they can just think about it without feeling like they’ve been cornered.
I understand that maybe they might feel like they are cornered and many times it may be better to say “I have feelings for you”, but sometimes saying “I love you” is right thing to say, depending on where the couple in question are in their relationship. I mean if you can’t I love you, how are you ever going to get to the stage in a relationship where you can ask the person to marry you?
For those who have been following my current emotional dilemma… it seems lunch isn’t happening, but it’s just going to be us two and another friend at this big fair. She helped put together my costume and I bought her ticket. We’re carpooling… so I think I’ll start this talk on the way home. Enjoy the time we’ve got and go from there. Very nervous, but after I managed to cry (yes, I ended up forcing myself to cry yesterday, don’t tell Dom) I feel a little better.
Good for you, really. The crying I mean. I wish I could make myself cry, I’ve tried many times and it’s never worked. I have very inactive tear ducts and I appreciate every chance I get to make use of them - always a very cathartic experience.
Anyway, I’d caution you to slow way down with this friend. Based on your past posts here, it seems like a) you don’t have many friends or good friends, and b) you’ve had poor success in terms of dating. Which tells me it’s possible that due to the desperations of a limited pool, you may be jumping to a conclusion about your feelings for this friend that might not be up to snuff. I’m just speculating here of course. It may seem like you’re “in love” with her but that may not be the case. There’ve certainly been times in my life when I thought I loved someone and couldn’t think of anything but them for weeks or months. But, when things inevitably didn’t work out, and I got over it, I was able to look at things with a critical eye. In some cases, yeah I was in love. But in most, not at all. Basically what I’m saying is I wish I had someone to knock some sense into me and tell me to actually consider if it made sense for me to be with that person.
All I’ll say is, if you struggle for friends as much as you say you do, I’d be very careful about jeopardizing a relationship with someone you consider your best friend, which is typically exactly what a declaration of love would do. In my opinion, you should not say anything and wait it out and see if your feelings are true, and if it seems like there’s a possibility she feels the same. If you absolutely must tell her (which again, don’t recommend), I’d be careful not to make a big deal of it and not to say that you “love” her, just indicate that you might have feelings for her and ask her how she feels - there’s a precarious line between seeming honest and seeming creepy.
When did telling someone you love them become something creepy?
People sometimes get freaked out when you tell them you love them even when you’re in a relationship with them. The word carries a lot of weight, and hearing it from a friend can definitely be extremely overwhelming and off-putting.
Imagining myself on the other side, hearing a friend tell me they love me would absolute freak me out and probably discourage me from a potential relationship. Whereas, if they came to me rationally and said they might have feelings, and wonder if I ever considered the same, I would probably think on it a bit and might even go for it (depending on my preexisting feelings for them). The thing is this: when someone tells you they love you, it puts an immense pressure on the person being told. They feel this immense need to respond - like they need to either say it back, or reject right away. Chances are incredibly high that she won’t feel the same - in terms of “loving,” again very strong word - so she’ll feel the need to reject it outright. Whereas, if someone comes in a much less direct and emotionally charged way, saying ‘hey, I might have feelings,’ there’s a space where there isn’t that feeling of pressure to either reciprocate or reject, and they can just think about it without feeling like they’ve been cornered.
You certainly have the look down, pretty well executed. Do you have a “technicolor” preset or LUT or something that you’ve created?
Oddly enough it looks more like TLJ now.
For those who have been following my current emotional dilemma… it seems lunch isn’t happening, but it’s just going to be us two and another friend at this big fair. She helped put together my costume and I bought her ticket. We’re carpooling… so I think I’ll start this talk on the way home. Enjoy the time we’ve got and go from there. Very nervous, but after I managed to cry (yes, I ended up forcing myself to cry yesterday, don’t tell Dom) I feel a little better.
Good for you, really. The crying I mean. I wish I could make myself cry, I’ve tried many times and it’s never worked. I have very inactive tear ducts and I appreciate every chance I get to make use of them - always a very cathartic experience.
Anyway, I’d caution you to slow way down with this friend. Based on your past posts here, it seems like a) you don’t have many friends or good friends, and b) you’ve had poor success in terms of dating. Which tells me it’s possible that due to the desperations of a limited pool, you may be jumping to a conclusion about your feelings for this friend that might not be up to snuff. I’m just speculating here of course. It may seem like you’re “in love” with her but that may not be the case. There’ve certainly been times in my life when I thought I loved someone and couldn’t think of anything but them for weeks or months. But, when things inevitably didn’t work out, and I got over it, I was able to look at things with a critical eye. In some cases, yeah I was in love. But in most, not at all. Basically what I’m saying is I wish I had someone to knock some sense into me and tell me to actually consider if it made sense for me to be with that person.
All I’ll say is, if you struggle for friends as much as you say you do, I’d be very careful about jeopardizing a relationship with someone you consider your best friend, which is typically exactly what a declaration of love would do. In my opinion, you should not say anything and wait it out and see if your feelings are true, and if it seems like there’s a possibility she feels the same. If you absolutely must tell her (which again, don’t recommend), I’d be careful not to make a big deal of it and not to say that you “love” her, just indicate that you might have feelings for her and ask her how she feels - there’s a precarious line between seeming honest and seeming creepy.
The force is 90% ESP and is a minor part of the story told. Luke’s journey is mostly to become a warrior to defeat Vader and the Emperor and then Luke makes a twist by sacrificing himself to save his father and his father kills the Emperor, sacrificing himself in the process. Luke’s main story is not dependent on the force, but on his own character.
Not true at all. The Force is integral to Luke and his story. It is at the philosophical core of the series. A power that connects every living thing on a deep and spiritual level. A power that can be used for good, to help others, or for evil. Luke’s story is about using that power with responsibility. By sacrificing himself, he’s trusting in the light side of the Force, in the belief that love and care for others will save the galaxy. When Vader makes his sacrifice, he’s choosing the Force, giving into something greater than him.
It’s telling that even in Rogue One, the film that’s possibly the most sci-fi of the series, the Force still plays an important role.
The Force is really the religion in Star Wars. It provides the moral compass for the characters. That is especially notable in Rogue One where it is a matter of faith, not special abilities. Tarkin even calls it a religion in ANH. Take away the ESP aspect and the core story remains unchanged. I’ll agree that the light and dark aspect of the force is integral to the story, but the powers used are not. Take away the powers and leave it as a religion and the story is little impacted.
“The Force is not a power you have. It’s not about lifting rocks. It’s the energy between all things, a tension, a balance, that binds the universe together”
The Force isn’t a religion, the Jedi are. The Force is more akin to a deity - a supernatural entity - that actually exists in universe. The Force is not simply a matter of faith, it is a matter of fact. Saying the Force is nothing more than ESP is a fundamental misunderstanding of it. Take away the “powers,” and it’s still a driving, uh, force in the universe.
The force is 90% ESP and is a minor part of the story told. Luke’s journey is mostly to become a warrior to defeat Vader and the Emperor and then Luke makes a twist by sacrificing himself to save his father and his father kills the Emperor, sacrificing himself in the process. Luke’s main story is not dependent on the force, but on his own character.
Not true at all. The Force is integral to Luke and his story. It is at the philosophical core of the series. A power that connects every living thing on a deep and spiritual level. A power that can be used for good, to help others, or for evil. Luke’s story is about using that power with responsibility. By sacrificing himself, he’s trusting in the light side of the Force, in the belief that love and care for others will save the galaxy. When Vader makes his sacrifice, he’s choosing the Force, giving into something greater than him.
It’s telling that even in Rogue One, the film that’s possibly the most sci-fi of the series, the Force still plays an important role.
It’s neither.
I disagree. It’s both.
You cut the rest of the paragraph just to disagree. I meant it’s neither on its own as it is both.
Well, splitting hairs here but you’re statement was that it wasn’t either genre, but a third genre that was a combination of the two. I disagree, I think it’s both genres simultaneously, as well as many others.
But you can see it however you want it to see. Some people say it’s a western (well, at least the first one) while others think it’s some deep religious film which has some weird father-son psychology layers where a man needs to confront his father to become a man or something (I’ve heard this angle before and it’s a stretch - I mean, it has that element but the analysis of this went way deeper than I could explain here. Just pointing this out before someone says it’s exatly that.).
Obviously as with any film it is very open to interpretation, but it’s worth noting that the genre mashup was very much intentional on the part of Lucas. His inspirations were vast and varied - not just Flash Gordon space opera but John Ford westerns, WWII dogfight flicks, Kurosawa samurai pictures, Curtiz pirate movies, and various fantasy and mythological literature.
It’s neither.
I disagree. It’s both. Star Wars is a lot of things - fantasy, sci-fi, western, romance, swashbuckling, war film. The argument, I think, is what genre doesn’t it primarily operate in. At the end of the day, it’s a fairy tale. It’s a fantastical myth. The other things serve to make up that whole.
DominicCobb said:
Absolutely baffles me. Technology is of exactly zero importance in Star Wars. It’s there, that’s it. The films are not about that at all. They are modern myths, and very clearly so. You cannot with a straight face tell me that Star Wars is more similar to Shelly and Verne than to Tolkein and Arthurian legends.I disagree with this statement. The original Star Wars trilogy was very much about technology. In fact the original Star Wars can be seen as a critique of the modern world, where technology supersedes spirituality punctuated by Motti´s remark “This space station is now the ultimate power in the universe!” This to me is one of the more interesting aspects of the first movie, namely that the Jedi and even Darth Vader himself are seen as relics of the past in a galaxy dominated by technology.
I’m not at all speaking for Dominic, so he should correct me if I’m off. I think he’s noting that technology doesn’t drive the story in-universe. Luke has a speeder because that’s how you get around, vaporators are how you get water, droids are the labor pool, space ships are how you travel from planet to planet, etc.
I had that in my original response as well, before I trimmed it. Technology, far superior to ours, is the world in which they live. The story at its roots is; old man enlists the help of a farm boy to go rescue the princess and fight the bad guys.
That story can be told in just about any timeline or setting.
I don’t agree. The entire concept of the Old Republic with its spiritual guardians tapping into a long forgotten energy field created by all living things vs an Empire with its technology wiping out the life of an entire planet in an instant is at the heart of the movie. It is one of its main themes. The destruction of the Death Star is the victory of spirituality over technology. The climax of the movie sees Luke reject a piece of technology in favour of trusting his instincts, and using the Force.
That doesn’t make it not fantasy though. Look at Lord of the Rings, and you have a very similar story. It’s not exactly technology, but the creation of the Uruk-hai and the One Ring is in direct contrast to the unfettered and unsophisticated lives of the hobbits. Vader is “more machine than man,” but that runs in parallel to his corruption by the dark side. In Lord of the Rings, the analog is Gollum, once a hobbit, transformed into a monster with the evil ‘tech’ of the One Ring.
The thing is, the tech in Star Wars is just a method of delivery. The movie isn’t really about the evils of tech, because all the good guys use tech too (even when Luke gets a robotic hand, there’s nothing about the tech specifically that relates to badness and the dark side, it just shows a parallel with his father). The Death Star represents inhumanity, the cold calculating Empire represents an un-empathetic world. The story is about selfishness vs. selflessness. Spirituality vs. technology only naturally flows out of the larger philosophical picture it’s painting. It’s more about connecting with and helping others, vs. doing nothing.