Oh wow.

> Just because you can give a name to a character trope doesn't mean the whole surrounding film is bad as a result.

Well, yes, except this film is entirely about one man's growth - with a young woman as the primary catalyst for it - and when said catalyst is unrealistic, then the whole endeavor rings false.

> using subtleties and symbolism

There's nothing subtle in Garden State.

> The overall result is still a good film that can elicit emotion.

Bad movies can still be manipulative.

I think Garden State has some strong images, but it has not aged well. Once you realize that Natalie Portman's character is a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, the whole thing kind of falls apart.

EDIT: I should also add that Portman fulfills a similar role in Beautiful Girls, which I think is a better movie.

Freeway

When I hosted trivia at Wonderland a while back, we would only use paper, but I don't know if they're still doing it post-pando.

Historically that's not true. Shakespeare in Love, Terms of Endearment, Annie Hall, The Apartment, and Marty all won Best Picture, to say nothing of acting awards for As Good As It Gets, The Goodbye Girl, Silver Linings Playbook, etc.

EDIT: Highly amused by the "those don't count" replies.

I went there for my birthday last year and it was lovely. Recommended!

Restaurant Week is over, which should cut down on people complaining about a struggling industry they never cared about supporting in the first place.

You're entitled to your own opinion, not your own facts. Babylon's trailer described the film accurately. I forgotten about how it also shows a dwarf standing next to a giant, oversized cock.

> I think anyone could spot the enormous red flags. No major spoilers, but in the first 10 minutes, a man gets pooped on, in graphic fashion, by an elephant, and a completely different man in a completely different situation gets peed on by a woman.

Counterpoint: those are big reasons why Babylon rules.

> The commercials and trailers for this movie make it look like a four-quadrant movie that you’d want to take your grandma to see.

I'm sorry, that's just factually not true. The trailer includes scenes of characters snorting coke off of strippers.

You should check out Ivy and Coney. It's a dive with a focus on Chicago/Detroit sports. You can even get shots of malort!

> you will not find that here sadly.

Florida Avenue Grill disagrees.

The Godfather Coda: the Death of Michael Corleone is the best version. It's tighter, the plot is easier to follow, and it has a poignant ending.

I'm sorry to hear about your father.

My dad let me see Aliens when I was six. It gave me nightmares for years. After that, though, we saw tons of "adult" movies together in the theater when I was a teenager. In particular, I remember Fight Club, Good Will Hunting, American Beauty, and Jackie Brown.

I love Arlington Road. Not enough folks have seen it! My recommendation is Tarkovsky's Stalker.

The theatrical cut is significantly better. There are some interesting scenes in Redux, although the cumulative effect is to make the film feel bloated.

I've been to the RI Ave location several times, and it's always been a delight. I wouldn't judge your experience solely over a holiday weekend, since that is one of the busiest times for theater workers everywhere.

> though if we do we now know we don’t need to bother paying for tickets

I look forward to the post here where someone tries to see a movie, and they're disrupted by thieves occupying their assigned seats.

Keating was a scapegoat, not the culprit, and everyone looked for blame to assign because it's easier to be angry than to deal with grief. And contrary to your analysis, it was ultimately Neil who made that choice for himself.

Wow, you really missed the entire point of this film, didn't you?

> Thank you, I would like to hear your reasoning for saying no.

For as long as horror films have been around, they have used scary characters and situations as metaphors, exploring our most primal anxieties and fears. One of the most common fears is losing our minds, or sense of self. If anything, Smile empathizes with mental health struggles.

> Do movies like Smile (2022) further stigmatize mental health?

No.

> On a side note, has anyone noticed that most of the movies in which protagonist is going insane and is affected by it, 90 % if the cases are showed to be women.

I don't think this is the case at all, for two reasons.

1. It is fairly common to see films about men struggling with mental health. The Banshees of Inisherin, The Fabelmans, The Good Nurse, Close, and Spiderhead are good recent examples.

2. In many films where the female protagonist "goes insane," she is actually completely rational and in an extraordinary or supernatural situation. This is not "casual sexism," but often a comment on the nature of gaslighting (2020's The Invisible Man is a great example of this).

I don't think Dreyer, Bergman, Tarkovsky, and Tarr have all that much in common aside from being European.

• Kimi

• Flux Gourmet

• Mad God

• Speak No Evil

• Athena

lmao ok

"Ian Mackey" gets me every time.

Fun fact: the star of the video hosted a show on VICE for a while, and IIRC now works as a producer for Jon Stewart's new Apple show.