SJUDave
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Appreciate you Tony
Georgetown (MSG), Sun., Jan. 29, 2p, FS-1
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I've been SAG eligible for a number of years. Haven't joined because it would preclude me for working on NU projects, which is pretty much all I've been doing for the past 4 years.
also you aren't cheap because I'll pay Nat's dues just for the free movies for the sag awards
I'm also in SAG doing background acting. Prima Donna background actors don't get work. A listers are another story...though I never ran into Prima Donna A-listers either.
Most of the stuff is streamed, as you know. I did receive Living and The Fablemans this week.also you aren't cheap because I'll pay Nat's dues just for the free movies for the sag awards
I love movies a lot and should be typing these thoughts into a blog or something, I really should start a blog. But here are my thoughts on the Best Picture nominees (spoiler free) as I have now seen nearly all 10 (I have not seen All Quiet on the Western Front). Matter of fact I will rank the other 9 in order of my enjoyment.
9. Women Talking - interesting film. It isn't bad at all. All of these movies are solid to me. But some stuck with me more than others. This one had some really interesting performances and some really memorable monologues, but overall when it ended I found myself being like "okay... that was... fine?" The movie is very dreary and sad and tough to look at. The cinematography was probably my least favorite part. It just isn't a world that I wanted to stay in. I know the movie dealt with a lot of darker subject matter and wasn't ever gonna be a "fun time", but the world they establish really was a drag. Decent film. Don't think it even has a 1% chance of winning the award.
8. Triangle of Sadness - This is another good movie that kind've just left me feeling lukewarm. For those who haven't seen, it is split into 3 different parts and each part has its own thing going on. Its a movie that pokes fun at the upper class, we've been seeing a lot of this kind of satire in recent things such as White Lotus or The Menu. It is done well enough here, but I was not engaged as I wanted to be with it. It is still a good time for what it is. There is a chance this could be a sleeper for Best Picture. We will see. I have heard some rumblings
7. Everything Everywhere - I have heard from people who work in the film industry that this movie has a huge chance to win best picture. Personally, think this movie had a ton of good ideas. And they all work in the film to varying degrees. Film wasn't exactly my cup of tea. But i acknowledge that it was a fun film and it has a ton of fans. Diehard fans. We will see how it does
6. Elvis - Everything Everywhere is a better film than Elvis. I can admit that. But I was struck by the Austin Butler portrayal of Elvis in this movie. Every time he was on screen, I was glued to the film. He was electric. They really nailed how Elvis and his stage persona had such a profound effect on the people watching him. Guys wanted to be him. Girls wanted to have sex with him. Baz Luhrmann did a great job showcasing that phenomenon aspect to Elvis' career. What holds this movie back is a train wreck of a Tom Hanks performance and an over emphasis on the role of Colonel Parker. They make it so that it is the story of how Parker screwed Elvis over. Which is a choice that I was fine with at first, but as it goes on you really get tired of Hanks and the accent.... oh god that accent. But in the end the film served as a cautionary tale for talented entertainers and how leeches will flock to you if you are talented. I enjoyed it. It is a bit too long though. Austin Butler can win best actor, but this movie won't win best picture
5. Top Gun Maverick - Hell of a time. Just a hell of a time. Tom Cruise is a movie star. The story of this movie is inspiring for the film industry. Cruise fought for this movie not to be dumped onto a streamer during the pandemic. He demanded it be shown in theaters. And everyone was rewarded for that decision. A phenomenal movie that uses nostalgia and Cruise to create a faithful legacy sequel that is breathtaking to watch in theaters. The success of this movie was huge for the film industry to kind of move on from the whole covid fiasco and start releasing movies confidently in theaters again. Its legacy will last far beyond just a best picture award. Which it will prob not win.
4. Banshees of Insherin - This movie is probably odds on favorite to win Best Picture. It has a lot of advocates. I like it. I love some parts of it. I am not as high on it as a lot of others. This movie has a simple yet heart wrenching premise about losing a friend because your friend decides he doesn't like you anymore. I really liked some of the heavier themes this film deals with. Friendship, self love, living for yourself and not just others. Colin Farrell killed it (even tho I still think him as The Penguin is his best performance of the year).
3. Avatar The Way of Water - This movie will not win best picture but goddamn I love it. So gorgeous to watch. Especially in IMAX. I have seen it twice. Both times I came away thinking it is one of the best blockbusters I have ever seen. It has everything I want in a big movie. Stunning visuals. Incredible combat choreography. It is also quite simply, a family movie. The journey the kids go through in this film I found particularly well done. And again, no movie has ever been made like this visually. The underwater sequences are truly insane. It is why this movie is making so much money, you see things in this film that you simply will not see in other movie. Until the next Avatar comes out of course.
2. Tar - I personally either want Tar or my #1 pick to win Best Picture. Tar is a tough movie to get into. It starts off with a lot of long monologues, which have some lines that will make you roll your eyes. But as you get further into this film, it starts to open up and this character (played brilliantly by Cate Blanchett) you start to find out is desperately looking for control in a world where she cannot have it. There's also a scene in this film at Julliard where she argues with some students about cancel culture, and I found it really well done.
1. The Fablemans - As someone who grew up loving Spielberg movies, this one hit me hard. I've never seen a film like this that is actively elevated by all the movies this man has made in the past. Because all these themes you see present in his past work... especially how divorce always seems to play a role in his films, it all becomes apparent why after watching this. I gotta say, the first hour and a half of this film is my favorite hour and a half of the whole year. The movie turns from family drama into high school drama in the latter half, and it loses me a little bit in that stretch, but I was still blown away by this overall. I want Spielberg to win for this. The movie needs to reach more people IMO. A love letter to movies but also a love letter to his parents, even if it gets honest about his parents failures, it also portrays both of them as being incredibly important to his journey to becoming successful.
Jacks Honorable Mentions of 2022 (not nominated for Best Pic):
- The Batman: a noir detective film that does not even feel like a superhero movie. I LOVED this
- Aftersun: absolutely heartbreaking
- Guillmero Del Toro's Pinocchio: Should have been nominated for best picture. Hoping it wins best animated feature
9. Women Talking - interesting film. It isn't bad at all. All of these movies are solid to me. But some stuck with me more than others. This one had some really interesting performances and some really memorable monologues, but overall when it ended I found myself being like "okay... that was... fine?" The movie is very dreary and sad and tough to look at. The cinematography was probably my least favorite part. It just isn't a world that I wanted to stay in. I know the movie dealt with a lot of darker subject matter and wasn't ever gonna be a "fun time", but the world they establish really was a drag. Decent film. Don't think it even has a 1% chance of winning the award.
8. Triangle of Sadness - This is another good movie that kind've just left me feeling lukewarm. For those who haven't seen, it is split into 3 different parts and each part has its own thing going on. Its a movie that pokes fun at the upper class, we've been seeing a lot of this kind of satire in recent things such as White Lotus or The Menu. It is done well enough here, but I was not engaged as I wanted to be with it. It is still a good time for what it is. There is a chance this could be a sleeper for Best Picture. We will see. I have heard some rumblings
7. Everything Everywhere - I have heard from people who work in the film industry that this movie has a huge chance to win best picture. Personally, think this movie had a ton of good ideas. And they all work in the film to varying degrees. Film wasn't exactly my cup of tea. But i acknowledge that it was a fun film and it has a ton of fans. Diehard fans. We will see how it does
6. Elvis - Everything Everywhere is a better film than Elvis. I can admit that. But I was struck by the Austin Butler portrayal of Elvis in this movie. Every time he was on screen, I was glued to the film. He was electric. They really nailed how Elvis and his stage persona had such a profound effect on the people watching him. Guys wanted to be him. Girls wanted to have sex with him. Baz Luhrmann did a great job showcasing that phenomenon aspect to Elvis' career. What holds this movie back is a train wreck of a Tom Hanks performance and an over emphasis on the role of Colonel Parker. They make it so that it is the story of how Parker screwed Elvis over. Which is a choice that I was fine with at first, but as it goes on you really get tired of Hanks and the accent.... oh god that accent. But in the end the film served as a cautionary tale for talented entertainers and how leeches will flock to you if you are talented. I enjoyed it. It is a bit too long though. Austin Butler can win best actor, but this movie won't win best picture
5. Top Gun Maverick - Hell of a time. Just a hell of a time. Tom Cruise is a movie star. The story of this movie is inspiring for the film industry. Cruise fought for this movie not to be dumped onto a streamer during the pandemic. He demanded it be shown in theaters. And everyone was rewarded for that decision. A phenomenal movie that uses nostalgia and Cruise to create a faithful legacy sequel that is breathtaking to watch in theaters. The success of this movie was huge for the film industry to kind of move on from the whole covid fiasco and start releasing movies confidently in theaters again. Its legacy will last far beyond just a best picture award. Which it will prob not win.
4. Banshees of Insherin - This movie is probably odds on favorite to win Best Picture. It has a lot of advocates. I like it. I love some parts of it. I am not as high on it as a lot of others. This movie has a simple yet heart wrenching premise about losing a friend because your friend decides he doesn't like you anymore. I really liked some of the heavier themes this film deals with. Friendship, self love, living for yourself and not just others. Colin Farrell killed it (even tho I still think him as The Penguin is his best performance of the year).
3. Avatar The Way of Water - This movie will not win best picture but goddamn I love it. So gorgeous to watch. Especially in IMAX. I have seen it twice. Both times I came away thinking it is one of the best blockbusters I have ever seen. It has everything I want in a big movie. Stunning visuals. Incredible combat choreography. It is also quite simply, a family movie. The journey the kids go through in this film I found particularly well done. And again, no movie has ever been made like this visually. The underwater sequences are truly insane. It is why this movie is making so much money, you see things in this film that you simply will not see in other movie. Until the next Avatar comes out of course.
2. Tar - I personally either want Tar or my #1 pick to win Best Picture. Tar is a tough movie to get into. It starts off with a lot of long monologues, which have some lines that will make you roll your eyes. But as you get further into this film, it starts to open up and this character (played brilliantly by Cate Blanchett) you start to find out is desperately looking for control in a world where she cannot have it. There's also a scene in this film at Julliard where she argues with some students about cancel culture, and I found it really well done.
1. The Fablemans - As someone who grew up loving Spielberg movies, this one hit me hard. I've never seen a film like this that is actively elevated by all the movies this man has made in the past. Because all these themes you see present in his past work... especially how divorce always seems to play a role in his films, it all becomes apparent why after watching this. I gotta say, the first hour and a half of this film is my favorite hour and a half of the whole year. The movie turns from family drama into high school drama in the latter half, and it loses me a little bit in that stretch, but I was still blown away by this overall. I want Spielberg to win for this. The movie needs to reach more people IMO. A love letter to movies but also a love letter to his parents, even if it gets honest about his parents failures, it also portrays both of them as being incredibly important to his journey to becoming successful.
Jacks Honorable Mentions of 2022 (not nominated for Best Pic):
- The Batman: a noir detective film that does not even feel like a superhero movie. I LOVED this
- Aftersun: absolutely heartbreaking
- Guillmero Del Toro's Pinocchio: Should have been nominated for best picture. Hoping it wins best animated feature
I haven't had a chance to add more the past couple of weeks but you can start here: https://red.fans/quad/forums/movies.72/
omg I am so sorry for posting that write up in the georgetown thread i thought for sure we were talking about movies in the All Things Maher thread lol.
Sorry for going too off topic
Sorry for going too off topic
No problem I actually made the same assumption in replying to you.
Agree with you regarding Banshees--it is quite quirky and not everyone's cup of tea. But it highlights the Irish film industry's rise in impotance. Last year's Belfast was one of my favorites and if you haven't seen The Quiet Girl also from Ireland this year and up for an Academy, I would recommend it.
Been there. I'm now working on doing VO's as the only work for people my age are grandpa's and medical commercials.
I have quite a few times and they are real a**holes. I've worked with some big names that were total jerks but I've also worked with some big names that were some of the nicest people. BTW, I only did background a couple of times and I hated it.
Interesting lineup. I don't know if you like musicals but the remake of West Side Story was excellent. I remember seeing the original when I was a kid and the remake was so good because they didn't try to improve it. They left it alone and even used the original Jerome Robbins choreography, which was phenomenal. I know it was 2021 (late) but they don't make many musicals anymore. I think that they should. I love musicals probably because I did a lot of musical theatre, I sing, play several instruments and grew up in a musical family (no, I'm not what you're thinking
).
Did BG for about 6 months when I started acting 4 years ago. Didn't care for it either. Did have the opportunity to be around some very nice a-listers and b-listers. Among them:
Ray Romano
Martin Scorcese
Donny Walhberg
Paul Giamatti
There were others, but those 4 come to mind first. Can't think of any encounters with a-holes.
It wasn't pretty, but sometimes you just have to gut out a win, especially when you're missing your point guard. While AJ Storr had a complete game, with ice water in his veins, St. John's doesn't win without David Jones' best game in a month.
Come for the game break down, stay for the John Fanta epic cameo
Episode 36: A Storr is Born
It took AJ Storr hitting a three with just four seconds left on the clock but St. John's survived against Georgetown at Madison Square Garden. It wasn't pretty,podcasts.apple.com
I subscribed. PS I am the Superforecaster guy on Twitter, Davee8
SJUDave
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my man!
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