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Post by stabcaesar on Feb 27, 2022 10:06:46 GMT
A ball of fun from beginning to end. Haim and Hoffman were such an iconic duo and both the cinematography and the score were staggeringly fantastic. PTA truly has the ability to make the most meticulous directing choices seem artless and effortless. Easily the best of the BP nominees by a mile. 9/10. Don't get the fuss about Cooper in it though. He was hilarious but the one scene wonder of the film was easily Joseph Cross.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2022 14:04:26 GMT
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Post by stabcaesar on Mar 2, 2022 4:47:43 GMT
It just occurred to me. I actually still don't know why the movie is called Licorice Pizza.
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Post by countjohn on Mar 11, 2022 4:15:35 GMT
Saw this for the second time tonight before it leaves theaters and it was even better and funnier. Just absolutely full of joy. Have no idea what people who think this is "difficult" or whatever are on about. You guys are tripping. With it holding up so well on the second viewing I think masterpiece status is confirmed.
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wonky
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Post by wonky on Mar 11, 2022 17:49:38 GMT
It just occurred to me. I actually still don't know why the movie is called Licorice Pizza. He got asked about it a lot and a bunch of articles were published about the title, it’s the name of an old LA record store that evoked nostalgia for PTA. And the name of that store in turn is from an old joke attributed to various acts including Abbott & Costello and Bud & Travis where the punchline is “nobody’s buying the records, let’s just sell them as licorice pizzas!” referring to their color and shape. It’s also clever because the abbreviation is LP. The movie is loaded with needle-drops so sure, why not. But yeah the title is just an abstraction.
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Post by RiverleavesElmius on Mar 12, 2022 4:29:25 GMT
So this masterpiece is coming out on Blu Ray this Tuesday, right? A lot of websites seem to be reporting so, but Amazon claims a release is yet TBD. Would love to know I can pick it up in Best Buy this Tuesday afternoon.
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Post by RiverleavesElmius on Mar 15, 2022 18:47:56 GMT
AGAIN, anyone know if/when this is out on Blu Ray?? Anyone?? BUELLER??
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 15, 2022 19:07:18 GMT
AGAIN, anyone know if/when this is out on Blu Ray?? Anyone?? BUELLER?? Not official afaik but April 26th is what seems to be the word on the street.........
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Mar 15, 2022 19:10:03 GMT
AGAIN, anyone know if/when this is out on Blu Ray?? Anyone?? BUELLER?? people on reddit were saying March 15th and someone who preordered from Wal-Mart was told it would ship today... and yet it's still in some theaters. Weird
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Post by Miles Morales on Mar 15, 2022 21:58:55 GMT
AGAIN, anyone know if/when this is out on Blu Ray?? Anyone?? BUELLER?? people on reddit were saying March 15th and someone who preordered from Wal-Mart was told it would ship today... and yet it's still in some theaters. Weird Films don't necessarily stop theatrical runs on digital/streaming/Blu-ray releases. Encanto has been on Disney+ for nearly three months now and yet it's still running in theatres worldwide.
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Post by countjohn on Mar 16, 2022 1:00:43 GMT
AGAIN, anyone know if/when this is out on Blu Ray?? Anyone?? BUELLER?? people on reddit were saying March 15th and someone who preordered from Wal-Mart was told it would ship today... and yet it's still in some theaters. Weird Yep, it's long since closed where I originally lived, only played two weeks or something. I was so happy when I got to New York and saw it was still playing. I thought for sure last week would be the last week because there were only a couple times but it's still showing this week. Want to go a third time even though the DVD will be out soon, the cinematography was amazing on the big screen.
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Barbie
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Post by Barbie on Mar 25, 2022 1:15:06 GMT
yeah I didn't care for this unfortunately 1. age gap was hugely problematic, especially for how the film flirts with examining the toxicity of it but seemingly just gives up never does 2. the racist jokes were reeeeally hard to sit through. How does dialogue like that unironically get written in 2021? 3. but mostly, it was boring. The film is crammed with period details and Easter eggs for nostalgic Hollywood history nerds but the sum total of the plot is just Alana and Gary fucking around in 1973 LA for two hours. It's just a hangout movie, and Haim's excellent acting aside there isn't enough reason for me to be engaged with this relationship for two hours. Cooper was hilarious but there wasn't enough of him. The entire Sean Penn segment was mind-numbingly boring. Were the scenes actually racist? I’ve seen a lot of discourse about it elsewhere heavily criticizing those scenes mostly from whiny ass dumb SJWs 🙄. I’m wondering if the scenes depicted someone who is racist or was actually racist bc there is a difference between the two. I haven’t watched it yet
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Post by countjohn on Mar 25, 2022 1:44:31 GMT
yeah I didn't care for this unfortunately 1. age gap was hugely problematic, especially for how the film flirts with examining the toxicity of it but seemingly just gives up never does 2. the racist jokes were reeeeally hard to sit through. How does dialogue like that unironically get written in 2021? 3. but mostly, it was boring. The film is crammed with period details and Easter eggs for nostalgic Hollywood history nerds but the sum total of the plot is just Alana and Gary fucking around in 1973 LA for two hours. It's just a hangout movie, and Haim's excellent acting aside there isn't enough reason for me to be engaged with this relationship for two hours. Cooper was hilarious but there wasn't enough of him. The entire Sean Penn segment was mind-numbingly boring. Were the scenes actually racist? I’ve seen a lot of discourse about it elsewhere heavily criticizing those scenes mostly from whiny ass dumb SJWs 🙄. I’m wondering if the scenes depicted someone who is racist or was actually racist bc there is a difference between the two. I haven’t watched it yet It's an American businessman who opens a Japanese restaurant and tries to speak Japanese in an awful put on accent. It's later revealed as a punchline that he can't actually speak Japanese and is just speaking gibberish So the point is that this guy is a moron and you're supposed to be laughing at him, not Japanese people. It even cuts to other characters making confused "what is this guy doing" type faces.
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Barbie
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Post by Barbie on Mar 25, 2022 3:17:49 GMT
Were the scenes actually racist? I’ve seen a lot of discourse about it elsewhere heavily criticizing those scenes mostly from whiny ass dumb SJWs 🙄. I’m wondering if the scenes depicted someone who is racist or was actually racist bc there is a difference between the two. I haven’t watched it yet It's an American businessman who opens a Japanese restaurant and tries to speak Japanese in an awful put on accent. It's later revealed as a punchline that he can't actually speak Japanese and is just speaking gibberish So the point is that this guy is a moron and you're supposed to be laughing at him, not Japanese people. It even cuts to other characters making confused "what is this guy doing" type faces. Sounds like the scenes were badly executed at worst But yeah I’ve seen people calling the movie racist and then bringing up hate crimes stats against Asians in the same discourse...and that just doesn’t sit right with me
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Post by futuretrunks on Mar 25, 2022 3:31:36 GMT
I don't get it. It's just a lousy, boring movie. You don't need to factor into the weird writing fails to see that. It's just boring bullshit, and some people are acting like it's Boogie Nights. What weird times. This dude barely broke $30m on a supposed crowdpleaser.
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Post by Lord_Buscemi on Aug 28, 2022 16:10:01 GMT
Probably the first film I've felt the need to properly write on it in some time, and while I realise some of it has already been discussed to a tedious degree, I wanted to throw my two cents in.
It's a testament to PTA's talents that his weakest work is still one in which bright spots are plentiful: notably, a Wages of Fear-esque truck scene that's surprisingly tense in an otherwise dramatically light film, with a manic Bradley Cooper, like other glorified cameos such as the legendary Tom Waits, leaving a lasting mark despite little screentime; also fun, any time the film indulges in Gary's business schemes, capturing that youthful spark of just fooling about with the traditionally breezy Anderson montage, ever the man of a strong needledrop; and c'mon, that fucking LOOK, so richly textured and warm, each scene popping with sparkling lights, creating that 70s glow with a deliberately nostalgic lens of Anderson's memories. I'm sure, upon rewatch, there are other little moments I'll enjoy, as the film is tailored to that "catching-it-on-TV-and-realising-it's-that-part" vibe, attributable to it's non-narrative, episodic quality, making it a world to live in instead of one to follow.
What stops me from getting soaked up in this is the following: the central relationship & chemistry, the characterisation of Gary & Alana, Alana's arc & the ending, particularly her epiphany and its implications. Alana is obviously a loser, right? She associates with teenagers, partaking in their shenanigans to fuel her own immaturity and to forget how directionless her life is as a failing adult. However, the final kiss undermines her "coming of age" arc and I don't buy for a second The Graduate interpretation of the ending. Ben and Elaine's uncertainty over their future relationship was clearly underlined by their hesitant looks on the bus and the use of Sound of Silence to close out The Graduate, whereas Licorice Pizza - a film intended as a nostalgic love letter to the 70s, mind you - ends on a romantic embrace and a cheery end credits showreel, backtracking on Alana's arc into adulthood by legitimatising its tone-deaf relationship of a 15 year boy and 25 year old woman, which, make no mistake, the film obviously sees as "cutesy". Anderson already seems prepackaged with a defence against this by making Gary a ruthlessly creepy pursuer of Alana ("he was asking for it", if you will), like this is an excuse for their relationship. The most troublesome part, no matter how much mental gymnastics people perform to explain it, is Alana's epiphany: realising the struggles of a gay couple in the 70s and equating it with her own inappropriate relationship as some sort of "forbidden love", which is both wrong for comparing the two and confirming that the film wants us to empathise with Gary & Alana's relationship, meaning the ending was indeed no ruse. People have already spoken ad nauseam about the Japanese accent and effeminate gay sidekick, so there's little need to go further, but I will say it's crass and beneath the calibre of a filmmaker like PTA, whose justification for it, like many things in the film, was wrongheaded.
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Post by RiverleavesElmius on Sept 13, 2022 17:03:53 GMT
Probably the first film I've felt the need to properly write on it in some time, and while I realise some of it has already been discussed to a tedious degree, I wanted to throw my two cents in. It's a testament to PTA's talents that his weakest work is still one in which bright spots are plentiful: notably, a Wages of Fear-esque truck scene that's surprisingly tense in an otherwise dramatically light film, with a manic Bradley Cooper, like other glorified cameos such as the legendary Tom Waits, leaving a lasting mark despite little screentime; also fun, any time the film indulges in Gary's business schemes, capturing that youthful spark of just fooling about with the traditionally breezy Anderson montage, ever the man of a strong needledrop; and c'mon, that fucking LOOK, so richly textured and warm, each scene popping with sparkling lights, creating that 70s glow with a deliberately nostalgic lens of Anderson's memories. I'm sure, upon rewatch, there are other little moments I'll enjoy, as the film is tailored to that "catching-it-on-TV-and-realising-it's-that-part" vibe, attributable to it's non-narrative, episodic quality, making it a world to live in instead of one to follow. What stops me from getting soaked up in this is the following: the central relationship & chemistry, the characterisation of Gary & Alana, Alana's arc & the ending, particularly her epiphany and its implications. Alana is obviously a loser, right? She associates with teenagers, partaking in their shenanigans to fuel her own immaturity and to forget how directionless her life is as a failing adult. However, the final kiss undermines her "coming of age" arc and I don't buy for a second The Graduate interpretation of the ending. Ben and Elaine's uncertainty over their future relationship was clearly underlined by their hesitant looks on the bus and the use of Sound of Silence to close out The Graduate, whereas Licorice Pizza - a film intended as a nostalgic love letter to the 70s, mind you - ends on a romantic embrace and a cheery end credits showreel, backtracking on Alana's arc into adulthood by legitimatising its tone-deaf relationship of a 15 year boy and 25 year old woman, which, make no mistake, the film obviously sees as "cutesy". Anderson already seems prepackaged with a defence against this by making Gary a ruthlessly creepy pursuer of Alana ("he was asking for it", if you will), like this is an excuse for their relationship. The most troublesome part, no matter how much mental gymnastics people perform to explain it, is Alana's epiphany: realising the struggles of a gay couple in the 70s and equating it with her own inappropriate relationship as some sort of "forbidden love", which is both wrong for comparing the two and confirming that the film wants us to empathise with Gary & Alana's relationship, meaning the ending was indeed no ruse. People have already spoken ad nauseam about the Japanese accent and effeminate gay sidekick, so there's little need to go further, but I will say it's crass and beneath the calibre of a filmmaker like PTA, whose justification for it, like many things in the film, was wrongheaded. Bah, more misguided SJW whining. It wasn't a Japanese accent. It was an idiotic & racist white guy who didn't speak Japanese but was so dumb & racist he thought his mail-order bride would understand him if he just spoke gibberish. It was poking fun AT racism. The fact PTA felt he even HAD to justify it just proves what a poisonous & terminal cancer social media & SJW/PC culture is. And the "romance" (i.e. NOT really a romance) between Alana & Gary was beautiful & the heart & soul of the film. The chemistry was palpable. Hopefully he does a sequel where they're both "of age" and REALLY a couple now. Also, um, "effeminate gay sidekick"?? I've seen this MASTERPIECE 6 or 7 times, and I have no recollection of anyone having an "effeminate gay sidekick." Do you mean Jon Peters' assistant??? WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK WAS WRONG WITH HIM??? He WAS an effeminate gay guy. Many gay guys are and, as batshit insane & dangerous as #CancelCulture has gotten, I've yet to hear the mere presence of one considered "problematic." That character wasn't offensive or demeaning in ANY shape or form.
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Post by pacinoyes on Sept 13, 2022 17:38:42 GMT
Probably the first film I've felt the need to properly write on it in some time, and while I realise some of it has already been discussed to a tedious degree, I wanted to throw my two cents in. It's a testament to PTA's talents that his weakest work is still one in which bright spots are plentiful: notably, a Wages of Fear-esque truck scene that's surprisingly tense in an otherwise dramatically light film, with a manic Bradley Cooper, like other glorified cameos such as the legendary Tom Waits, leaving a lasting mark despite little screentime; also fun, any time the film indulges in Gary's business schemes, capturing that youthful spark of just fooling about with the traditionally breezy Anderson montage, ever the man of a strong needledrop; and c'mon, that fucking LOOK, so richly textured and warm, each scene popping with sparkling lights, creating that 70s glow with a deliberately nostalgic lens of Anderson's memories. I'm sure, upon rewatch, there are other little moments I'll enjoy, as the film is tailored to that "catching-it-on-TV-and-realising-it's-that-part" vibe, attributable to it's non-narrative, episodic quality, making it a world to live in instead of one to follow. What stops me from getting soaked up in this is the following: the central relationship & chemistry, the characterisation of Gary & Alana, Alana's arc & the ending, particularly her epiphany and its implications. Alana is obviously a loser, right? She associates with teenagers, partaking in their shenanigans to fuel her own immaturity and to forget how directionless her life is as a failing adult. However, the final kiss undermines her "coming of age" arc and I don't buy for a second The Graduate interpretation of the ending. Ben and Elaine's uncertainty over their future relationship was clearly underlined by their hesitant looks on the bus and the use of Sound of Silence to close out The Graduate, whereas Licorice Pizza - a film intended as a nostalgic love letter to the 70s, mind you - ends on a romantic embrace and a cheery end credits showreel, backtracking on Alana's arc into adulthood by legitimatising its tone-deaf relationship of a 15 year boy and 25 year old woman, which, make no mistake, the film obviously sees as "cutesy". Anderson already seems prepackaged with a defence against this by making Gary a ruthlessly creepy pursuer of Alana ("he was asking for it", if you will), like this is an excuse for their relationship. The most troublesome part, no matter how much mental gymnastics people perform to explain it, is Alana's epiphany: realising the struggles of a gay couple in the 70s and equating it with her own inappropriate relationship as some sort of "forbidden love", which is both wrong for comparing the two and confirming that the film wants us to empathise with Gary & Alana's relationship, meaning the ending was indeed no ruse. People have already spoken ad nauseam about the Japanese accent and effeminate gay sidekick, so there's little need to go further, but I will say it's crass and beneath the calibre of a filmmaker like PTA, whose justification for it, like many things in the film, was wrongheaded. And the "romance" (i.e. NOT really a romance) between Alana & Gary was beautiful & the heart & soul of the film.
Yeah, it's a pretty big misreading to equate the film with The Graduate - which is more about societal norms and rights of passage (marriage, graduation, career) and Alana's reaction to the gay couple as a way of justifying her relationship - she rather reads it that there's more to the world than she can know - just as there's more to love than Gary (or her) can know right now. I wasn't as big a fan of the movie as some were but it was in my top 10 - and the only way that ending isn't beautiful and sweet is if you go out of your way to be outraged by it on some strange, non-cinematic level tbh........the ending saves / makes the movie .......
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Post by Lord_Buscemi on Sept 13, 2022 17:42:33 GMT
Probably the first film I've felt the need to properly write on it in some time, and while I realise some of it has already been discussed to a tedious degree, I wanted to throw my two cents in. It's a testament to PTA's talents that his weakest work is still one in which bright spots are plentiful: notably, a Wages of Fear-esque truck scene that's surprisingly tense in an otherwise dramatically light film, with a manic Bradley Cooper, like other glorified cameos such as the legendary Tom Waits, leaving a lasting mark despite little screentime; also fun, any time the film indulges in Gary's business schemes, capturing that youthful spark of just fooling about with the traditionally breezy Anderson montage, ever the man of a strong needledrop; and c'mon, that fucking LOOK, so richly textured and warm, each scene popping with sparkling lights, creating that 70s glow with a deliberately nostalgic lens of Anderson's memories. I'm sure, upon rewatch, there are other little moments I'll enjoy, as the film is tailored to that "catching-it-on-TV-and-realising-it's-that-part" vibe, attributable to it's non-narrative, episodic quality, making it a world to live in instead of one to follow. What stops me from getting soaked up in this is the following: the central relationship & chemistry, the characterisation of Gary & Alana, Alana's arc & the ending, particularly her epiphany and its implications. Alana is obviously a loser, right? She associates with teenagers, partaking in their shenanigans to fuel her own immaturity and to forget how directionless her life is as a failing adult. However, the final kiss undermines her "coming of age" arc and I don't buy for a second The Graduate interpretation of the ending. Ben and Elaine's uncertainty over their future relationship was clearly underlined by their hesitant looks on the bus and the use of Sound of Silence to close out The Graduate, whereas Licorice Pizza - a film intended as a nostalgic love letter to the 70s, mind you - ends on a romantic embrace and a cheery end credits showreel, backtracking on Alana's arc into adulthood by legitimatising its tone-deaf relationship of a 15 year boy and 25 year old woman, which, make no mistake, the film obviously sees as "cutesy". Anderson already seems prepackaged with a defence against this by making Gary a ruthlessly creepy pursuer of Alana ("he was asking for it", if you will), like this is an excuse for their relationship. The most troublesome part, no matter how much mental gymnastics people perform to explain it, is Alana's epiphany: realising the struggles of a gay couple in the 70s and equating it with her own inappropriate relationship as some sort of "forbidden love", which is both wrong for comparing the two and confirming that the film wants us to empathise with Gary & Alana's relationship, meaning the ending was indeed no ruse. People have already spoken ad nauseam about the Japanese accent and effeminate gay sidekick, so there's little need to go further, but I will say it's crass and beneath the calibre of a filmmaker like PTA, whose justification for it, like many things in the film, was wrongheaded. Bah, more misguided SJW whining. It wasn't a Japanese accent. It was an idiotic & racist white guy who didn't speak Japanese but was so dumb & racist he thought his mail-order bride would understand him if he just spoke gibberish. It was poking fun AT racism. The fact PTA felt he even HAD to justify it just proves what a poisonous & terminal cancer social media & SJW/PC culture is. And the "romance" (i.e. NOT really a romance) between Alana & Gary was beautiful & the heart & soul of the film. The chemistry was palpable. Hopefully he does a sequel where they're both "of age" and REALLY a couple now. Lol not "SJW whining" mate, you just lack in critical analysis if that's the conclusion you came to. The problem with those scenes are because they're reminiscent of something from Happy Madison, it's the sort of lowbrow humour that feels a bit odd coming from a guy as smart as Anderson. Literally everyone who watched the movie gets the joke, you don't need to condescendingly explain it. It just isn't funny and felt cringe-inducing to watch, not in the way it was intended. Simple as that. The romance was a romance, this is undeniable. As I said, there's no reason why Alana would have her epiphany at that moment otherwise. It's normal to have an adverse reaction to something explicitly creepy, especially if the film is tone-deaf to its own creepiness. There's noting wrong with portraying such a relationship, portrayal doesn't equal endorsement, but the film clearly sees it as cutesy, which is gross.
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Post by RiverleavesElmius on Sept 13, 2022 17:51:37 GMT
Bah, more misguided SJW whining. It wasn't a Japanese accent. It was an idiotic & racist white guy who didn't speak Japanese but was so dumb & racist he thought his mail-order bride would understand him if he just spoke gibberish. It was poking fun AT racism. The fact PTA felt he even HAD to justify it just proves what a poisonous & terminal cancer social media & SJW/PC culture is. And the "romance" (i.e. NOT really a romance) between Alana & Gary was beautiful & the heart & soul of the film. The chemistry was palpable. Hopefully he does a sequel where they're both "of age" and REALLY a couple now. Lol not "SJW whining" mate, you just lack in critical analysis if that's the conclusion you came to. The problem with those scenes are because they're reminiscent of something from Happy Madison, it's the sort of lowbrow humour that feels a bit odd coming from a guy as smart as Anderson. Literally everyone who watched the movie gets the joke, you don't need to condescendingly explain it. It just isn't funny and felt cringe-inducing to watch, not in the way it was intended. Simple as that. The romance was a romance, this is undeniable. As I said, there's no reason why Alana would have her epiphany at that moment otherwise. It's normal to have an adverse reaction to something explicitly creepy, especially if the film is tone-deaf to its own creepiness. There's noting wrong with portraying such a relationship, portrayal doesn't equal endorsement, but the film clearly sees it as cutesy, which is gross. It wasn't creepy or gross. Not in the least. Literally the polar opposite of creepy & gross. And to think the film correlates the gay politician with some epiphany Alana has about her relationship with Gary is YOUR conclusion, hardly obvious & extremely debatable that was PTA's intention. I certainly didn't read it that way. I think she goes to Gary more cuz she's disappointed in the politician's phoniness and misses their friendship. Not cuz she has any "epiphany." I mean, her reaction when he says "Mrs. Alana Valentine" is literally the EXACT reaction she would have had earlier in the movie when she was rejecting his advances. Also, I edited my original reply to include a "HUH?" about your "effeminate gay sidekick" remark. Be curious to see your reply cuz I'm really not sure who you're even referencing there.
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Post by Martin Stett on Oct 26, 2022 1:13:52 GMT
This was two hours of PTA jerking off on my face. Not gonna lie, it was kinda hot until the second half and celebrity cameos rolled in and PTA once again showed that - Phantom Thread aside - he can't write a narrative to save his life (TWBB was a magnificent mood piece, but it didn't really have a tight A-to-B narrative).
It just spun around and around repeating the same scenes over and over, and once the cameos started it became obvious that they were a crutch to distract us from the fact that this movie is only forty minutes long and should have ended well before the interminable dinner sequence with "James" Holden.
But I've never liked PTA anyway, and can't understand the hard-on y'all have for him. TWBB was great, PT was good, everything else is mediocre. This is one of his better films.
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BlackCaesar21
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You're barking up the wrong acorn!
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Post by BlackCaesar21 on Feb 3, 2024 19:39:15 GMT
This film has my favourite needle drop in a PTA film (Blue Sands). It's good but I don't think it's better than the sum of its part. The leads are fantastic and cinematography is outstanding.
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