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Superfuture Movie Club


jackg

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Just heard an interesting interview with the filmmaker on NPR, here he is talking about his companion to Into The Abyss, I figure it's a good way to get the conversational ball rolling.

http://www.wnyc.org/...rk+Public+Radio

(Perhaps we need a disclaimer that this should not degenerate into a slagging match over the death penalty as it would not be in line with sufu's no politics rules)

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Some initial thoughts from me. I am a massive Werner Herzog fan so I guess I am always going to be biased to a certain extent. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and thought it offered an incredibly interesting insight into the death penalty, and a particularly good example considering the utter senselessness of the crimes committed. That being said, it really wasn't the film I was expecting, I guess I haven't watched very much Herzog in the last 12 months and kind of forgotten what sort of films he makes.

The one thing that always stands out with Herzog and his documentaries to me, is the way he interviews people. I can't remember exactly where but I read a while ago, that by holding his interview shots for longer than the conventional shot (i.e. once the person has finished answering the question, he keep filming for 5-10 seconds) he somehow gives us this incredible insight into the person he is interviewing. Sounds a little ridiculous I know, but it was those moments during ITB that I really felt like Herzog is tapping into something really deep down with the subjects.

Edited by jackg
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I don't want to sound all unappreciative but I'll just air out my thoughts for the movie club. It would be nice to have a lot of diversity as I would like to see a few eastern films at least and not just japanese horrors when it comes down to asian films. Also the genre, I think film critics and shit look down on comedy a lot but I think there is merit in watching some good ones. I dont want this movie club to turn out to be like a cahiers du cinema or some shit. Mix in the low and high class

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This was kind of the motivating factor for starting the group to be honest. I find myself watching an increasingly small and canonized group of art/independent films and really struggle to broaden my horizons. So the idea is that everybody posts up any movie they like (obviously within reason) and we all get to watch and discuss something that we may not have watched ourselves.

Edited by jackg
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couple of things:

-michael perry just seemed to play to the camera

-did anyone else get the feeling that burkett was just using the girl for his appeal process? i had a hard time believing anything he said in the whole movie.

-the dude that got stabbed on the torso, his whole story just... wow

Edited by ifeelasleep
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yeah perry did seem almost too comfortable in front of the camera, although his final words kind of resonate the same vibe so maybe that's just the kind of guy he was.

the burkett and girl thing was also strange, and i guess we were only really offered one perspective and very limited information but from what we saw it all looked a little suspect.

thoughts on herzog's behind the camera? he keeps a super tight focus which i like. In such a broad issues, he just shows us a microcosm, and what we see can echo out across to the broader context, which is a great way of doing it.

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Interesting documentary. I´m a big Herzog fan and really liked the way he interviewed people without being too intrusive but still managing to get most of the information he wanted, and also those shots of people´s faces after they were done talking.

Other than that, the case was well explained, the two guys looked almost too confident in a weird way, maybe it´s Werner´s vibe or something. Shit seems pretty fucked up around that part of the US.

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the documentary was interesting but pretty depressing at the same time. it always seemed like the people that were focused on never really had any perspective or ever had a chance to get out of their miserable situations. and at the same time living around gated communities where a lot of rich/better off people live. the way herzog set the tone for the whole story was very dark and it almost seemed like the whole affair was a somehow justified by the bleak nature of the absence of any optimism in the whole town (panning drive by shots of the run down town). the police videos were very interesting but i would've liked to have a couple more details about the whole investigation. i have a feeling herzog omitted certain details to leave the viewer a bit in the dark. yet the whole cigarette but thing is good evidence (more of that would have been appreciated) or maybe i'm forgetting some details.

perry is obviously just deluded in thinking he didn't do a thing. just plain old denial

burkett is also guilty as hell and he knows it, he's a good liar and is incredibly fortunate to have such a fucked up father and then his 'wife' and kid

some interviews were really hard for me to watch.

like the brother in the beginning holding up the pictures and breaking down. that seemed a bit unnecessary and maybe could've been handled a bit more discreetly. of course i feel sorry as fuck for him but i didn't need to see him cry about his brother to drive that feeling home.

then the bartender thing was just awkward as hell, the girl obviously isn't coping well with her job

like do we need to be this voyeuristic, do we need to see these people suffer so much?

also, nothing really seemed to stand out as special to me in this case. people get killed in the US over petty shit everyday. so why this case?

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also, nothing really seemed to stand out as special to me in this case. people get killed in the US over petty shit everyday. so why this case?

i feel that it if it was some serial killer or a bizarre situation it would end up glorifying it. i think it just kept the film focused and raw.

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just an admin issues i think we are going to need an official order for uploading new films, or at least give notice on the thread before you do? it will be super crazy confusing if people just go full steam ahead with that, also the dropbox only really has room for 1 or 2 films tops.

so someone has uploaded 21 jump street, which is cool and can be the next film to watch/discuss but before anyone else uploads can we just ensure that everyone has had a good chance to download the previous film.

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i uploaded 21 jump street this morning, my bad. its just that i couldn't even get through the first 10 minutes, something about that guy just rubbed me the wrong way.

EDIT: i was gonna post something, but at 25kb/s up i figured i had time lol

Edited by t3hcoke
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lol im with the crowd that didn't watch. Just like horrors and a few art films, I can't be motivated to watch a full movie without fast forwarding and shit. I personally don't like the documentary genre unless its on a subject I'm interested in and so I'm skipping this one.

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To be honest the point of the movie club was to watch and discuss films that you normally wouldn't? But enough of that discussion, watch and contribute or don't watch and don't contribute.

I will draft up an order for uploading but get your eye balls around 21 jump street in the meantime.

anyone have anymore input about into the abyss? will delete it later today if everybody who wanted to has download it.

Edited by jackg
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21 Jump Street had a few laughs, but was overall painfully bad and at times difficult to watch. It was sort of fun to watch a current mainstream film for the first time in a while, in that rubbernecking at a car accident kind of way. Maybe the next film can occupy the middle ground between the two we've seen thus far.

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^^ my thoughts exactly! i would normally actively avoid films like 21, so it was interesting in that regard. a couple of laughs, but pretty average overall. the only gag that stuck with me was some of the opening lines:

you see the guys in charge of this stuff lack creativity and are completely out of ideas. So all they do now is recycle shit from the past and expect us all not to notice
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Noone thought the johnny depp cameo was cool? I felt they did very well for a mainstream hollywood film in terms of originality. Its definitely the best comedy out in the cinemas atm.

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