ToothyBj | Bluesky

Sounds like weird fun tbh.

I know this type of convo, where people try to top each other with name-dropping, but I believe one should participate honestly, not driven by self-profiling. Maybe the lady in the picture won't be impressed, but somebody will be.

It’s a classic. Definitely watch it if you’ve never seen it. Just good dumb humor

How do you honestly answer such an open question though? Unless someone is very passionate about a particular film, it seems like a good compromise to just name something that fits in the context or allows for further conversation. Answering it correctly would require the person to memorize all candidates on the spot and rate them all objectively in the same personalized way.

Paddington 2

I usually answer these "what's the best [bla]" type questions by narrowing the scope. I'll go, 'well, I don't know about objectively best movie, but the movie [I've seen the most times/I remember from the youngest age/that gets better every time I watch it/that had the coolest box art at the rental place/that I saw in theaters/that made me cry on a plane/that I used for the basis of my cult/whatever] is [bla].' Ideally no one cares about literally settling a debate. If it's a conversation worth having they're more interested in your metrics than your findings. I find conversations about empirical ranking are tedious and always end in that anticlimactic awkward silence where everyone has exhausted their actual opinions and is trying to hastily cobble together new opinions on the spot to keep the ball rolling out of politeness.

And yet I'm here thinking Mulholland Dr. is the best movie ever made, and I feel like a stupid sap for saying it in this discussion XD

The gender divide in film criticism is a bit obnoxious. Male directors and male concerns = serious. Female directors and female concerns = frivolous and unworthy of study.

I'm guessing this lady would love to talk about Stepbrothers.

The right people will be impressed.

Whenever someone asks me what I think is the best movie I just say Robocop.

Some people will will be disdainful. These are people I'm not interested in talking about movies with because they equate pretentiousness with quality. These are boring people to have a conversation with.

Some people will be like "Fuck yeah! Robocop! Dead or alive you're coming with me! I'll buy that for a dollar!" These people don't care about getting any kind of deeper meaning from a movie, but that's cool. It's fun to talk about cool action scenes in movies.

Then there are people who are actually capable of understanding the subtext and are willing to look for meaning in a movie that from appearances is just a dumb 80s action movie. These are the people that you can have interesting conversations about movies with.

I always pull out "Velocipastor" or "Iron Sky" for very similar reasons. There's quite a bit you can dig into on any level with those movies.

What are you getting out of Velocipastor?

Under rated Actually good movie : Conan the barbarian. Cable Guy.

I mean I'm not pulling anything new out of it that hasn't been done before but there's a lot in there.

Subversion of expectations with a hooker being a good guy and Christian ninjas being the bad guys (among other things). Discussions about VFX and what's actually needed to sell a scene. Pacing (the whole movie moves at a decent clip without feeling rushed, but still takes a moment for slower scenes). Camerawork and lighting especially for the nighttime scenes. Budgets. The acting is decently solid.

Like really there's a lot that the movie gets right with like a $30k budget that big Hollywood movies fail at. It's cinema stripped to some of its essential parts and it's much better than it maybe has any right to be.

But then I'll talk about it with people who don't care about all that and just think a velociraptor fighting ninjas is fun and, well, they aren't wrong.

Conan the Destroyer was a good flick too. The scene where they're walking into town and Conan warns Malak not to steal and he's like, "I know when to steal (swipes some jewelry) and when not to." Is just a fantastic setup/punchline.

The sunscreen commercial is possibly one of the most dystopian things I've ever seen in a movie. That might've been in Robocop 2 though. Still both films are legitimately two of the best dystopian sci-fi films out there.

Subversion of expectations with ... Christian ninjas being the bad guys

Finally, someone has subverted those pesky expectations we have about Christian ninjas.

I sincerely cannot tell how ironic the praise for this movie is.

The fact that you used the singular "movie" has conjured interesting images in my head

Woah. Too soon.

You're right to say RoboCop. It's a masterpiece of cinema.

What makes a man a man? What makes a human a human? When has society used us up? When have we sacrificed everything for nothing, and come to the realization in front of a house where we are no longer welcome? When can a sacrifice bigger than one's self close the final chapter on a life lived in naive folly?

If someone doesn't come away from watching RoboCop feeling nearly every feel, they missed the point.

Robo want oreo

How are you going to fix my cable dressed like that and carrying only a sword?

I'll be back.

I remember it being solid and fun and very much of itself, that is to say it didn't smack of seniors executives trying to normalize everything... but I think the praise is more a criticism directed at the blockbuster movie industry.

The best movies i have seen in my life for me personally were probably:

• Sharknado (all of them) because of their absurdity. It's something to laugh at, and they do not aspire to be anything else, which is something we all need from time to time, while it is seldom provided. Honorable mention for anything Monty Python.
• Nolan's Batman movies, because they capture the atmosphere Batman Movies deserve perfectly (I am not a fan of his later stuff tho. Dunkirk was fine but somewhat boring for a film that should embody tension, Tenet is a fucking mess regardless of how often you watch it. Things like "The Prestige" are somewhat of a foreshadowing of his ability to create suspension and drama. They should really take away a bunch of tools from him to get better results - he fails when working without restrictions, he seems to get lost in the detail. Probably why I like the Batman movies so much - there he is confined to a preexisting world where he can't just do whatever his mind produces.) The Joker movie also hit that same mark.
• Akira. This thing has formed my relationship to messy and gory anime, and i would never have it any other way.
• Braindead and Event Horizon. The same thing for horror and splatter movies.

The best series:

• Battlestar Galactica remake: The soundtrack alone is something to die for, and both the story and the acting are top-notch, surpassing their source material. I've been an Olmos fan ever since. Great stuff! (I've watched it 3 times from start to end)
• Cyberpunk: Edgerunners: I was an old-school Shadowrun RPG player back in the 90's (Hermetic Mage all the way btw), and this anime really hit all of the targets. The crumbling society with normal people trying to life their lives in it, and the people being pushed to the edges and their resulting attempts to break the cycle they are caught in are fully shown here. Can't wait for the second season.
• Breaking Bad: not so much for the series itself, although both acting and story are fine (i tried watching it a second time, but it's just not the same), but for the portrayal of how health issues ranging from cancer, getting hurt on the job (Hank), psychiatric problems like kleptomania (Marie) and PTSD (Hank again) or drug addiction (Jesse) can cause common people to spiral out in the US (while the whole premise is moot in most of the developed world with socialized health care and available mental health professionals (this needs improvement even here)), and how people who want to get out are caught up in this mess without any real options to escape (outside of Walt rigging up an M60 in his car trunk)
• Death Note: Such an intelligent series. I love it to death (although the last few episodes can't keep up the pace).

Honorable Mentions:

• Psycho Pass: a very solid Sci-Fi detective anime, touching on some very heavy subjects.
• Monster (2004): Another Anime, medical drama x detective story. Pretty heavy stuff, but a great watch.
• Konosuba: It's somewhat of a Sharknado of Anime. If you like anime, you'll be very much entertained.
• Star Trek (TNG, Voyager, Deep Space Nine): Each of them focuses on a different scenario, but all of them are both great entertainment and something to keep you thinking, with moral dilemmas to be discussed everywhere. While TNG is more focused on general moral dilemmas, Voyager makes decisions more personal because they mean it might take even longer to go home and there is no Federation to judge them for violating their princples, and DS9 then gets down and dirty with the politics of a Space Station right in the middle of multiple conflicts between different nations and religious belief.
• Lost: I absolutely love the first seasons. It is a shame that you can pinpoint the exact moment they knew that there will be no more funding. The 4th season does not even exist in my mind, tbh.
• The Game: A movie you can only watch once. Doesn't make sense to watch it again. But that first watch is worth it.
• Monogatari: An absolute masterpiece regarding japanese mythology, wordplay (sadly i do not understand japanese, but even with subtitles and explanations it is a great thing, and one day my japanese will be up to the task!) and storytelling.

Edit: I forgot to mention my all-time favourite Anime:

Hellsing Ultimate.

I fucking love when Seras Victoria uses Zorin's fucking head to give the walls of Hellsing Mansion a new coat of paint. I could watch that segment every day, and it should be the fate of all Nazis.

I don't know what my answer would be but it would need to be S class in being both artistic and entertaining. Like The Boy in The Striped Pajamas is S class artistic, B class entertaining. Avengers End Game is B class artistic and S class entertaining. I don't know what movie would be an S class in both.

Well I can think of animated movies pretty easily, The Wild Robot, Spirted Away, and Akira comes to mind immediately. As for live action movies, that's tougher.

I mean I watched it, and it was decent. I'm sure it was refreshingly good if you're a parent watching a lot of kids' movies. There have certainly been some masterpieces marketed as kids' movies, and I might have had high expectations, but the praise seems disproportionate to the film.

I love your take.

E.g., I'm inclined to say Star Wars (IV). But, I saw it in þeaters 14 times þe summer I turned 11; þere was noþing like it before it came out. It was a perfect film, for me.

I also saw Wizards in þe þeater when I was a kid; in a lot of ways it was a better film, and I'd be hard pressed to say which had a bigger impact on me. I'm probably progressive politically because of Wizards.

I'd argue þat boþ are examples of peerless filmmaking. You'd be hard pressed to make an argument against Star Wars, at least, against sheer evidence of impact on þe film industry and on Western society. It's not a typical film snob's first choice, þough.

Nausicaä, and it's not even close. Goosebumps and tears every time

I always give 2 movies.

Fifth Element as my personal favorite that everyone should see and holds up.

North by Northwest as my "Film" of choice.

That way I can still hold a conversation no matter what anyone wants to go on about. Plus it lets me push for someone to broaden their horizons no matter where they fall on the spectrum of movie nerd.

If you haven’t, you should check out Kung Fury.

I'm still mad that the follow-up/remake that was a full feature length film got shelved.

This, but Cabin Boy.

"Would you like to buy a monkey?"

Oh I love Kung Fury. And Kung Fu Hustle. And Shaolin Soccer.

I've just found around me more people have seen Velocipastor and Iron Sky, or are more willing to watch them, so they work better as discussion pieces with others. My real friends get introduced to everything.

And the Iron Sky studio collapsed. I keep my fingers crossed something will happen eventually.

Ewwww

The white castle scene would have gone gory. Now thinking of it, the basketball game, and the washroom that would have been brutal.

You may want to check this comment for typos...

LOL, thanks. For what it's worth, Niger is the name of a large country in West Africa, and a state in Nigeria. I lived in the county for years. So my autocorrect defiantly knows the name and threw it in there instead of "bigger."

Just wanted to say, that's an excellent transcript. I have good vision so I don't need it myself, but I appreciate the effort for those who do.

Thanks. They’re annoying to write out sometimes, but it seems like people read them, so I’ll keep writing them.

Sometimes longer comics I’ll put off posting because writing the transcript can take time. But yeah if the artists didn’t write one (which only some do), I’ll do them.

I choose to believe you meant to call autocorrect defiant :)

Gods above. Sorry, I need glasses and they're far away! But imma leave it like it is. Defiant-ass autocorrect

Your description of breaking bad actually makes sense as you why I didn't understand the hype around it. I just didn't have the cultural context.

Yeah, that is a shame, I agree.

Finally, someone has subverted those pesky expectations we have about Christian ninjas.

Yes. It's hard sometimes to tell who has been genuinely deceived by Christian Ninja propaganda, and who is just being paid to prop up Christian Ninja talking points.

Sorry, I'm in a silly mood, and just desperately wanted to yes-and your delightful post.

I am very sure that an appreciable amount of criminality and violence in the US stems from the missing health care, not just in the context of a series. If your quality of life depends on making enough money to pay the doctors, you will be deciding pretty quick to turn towards illegal methods to secure your wellbeing.

I enjoyed Nausicaa but Princess Mononoke improved upon the formula imo

I think that the soundtrack, the designs, and ultimately just growing up with it, are what make me partial to it

I know, but also bigger is spelled with two "G"s, so you got really lucky with that. Lol