4 ms·

Watching movies has to be one of my most inspiring accidents. In 2017, due to some external circumstances [1], I watched maybe 50+ movies on the IMDB top 250 li

Watching movies has to be one of my most inspiring accidents. In 2017, due to some external circumstances [1], I watched maybe 50+ movies on the IMDB top 250 list. Kubrick is definitely my favorite director that I didn't know about before. His stuff takes some time to digest, but they are definitely worth watching. Besides 2001, The Shining, A Clockwork Orange, and Full Metal Jacket are all worth watching. I have to re-watch Dr. Strangelove at some point because last time I didn't finish it. The other director that I think I started to 'get' (however hard to believe) is Coppola. I didn't get Godfather before that at all despite having watched the movie 3 times. After the second Godfather movies, I started to see the Godfathers as human and empathize with them ("Yes, I can totally see myself doing that"). I haven't read the novels, however, I hope to get to the novels at some point. At the same time, when I re-watched Tarantino's movies, I became less impressed in his style. After gore and somewhat snarky theme, I failed to see anything else. I still equally love Coen brothers regardless of how many times I watched their movies. My old boss who owned a wine importing business used to tell me when you have tasted enough wine, you will know what good wine is like without having to describe it. After watching 50 movies or so, there was a moment when something started to 'click.' I think it gave me inspirations to do take notes of human feelings and emotions and empathize with them. I am more inspired to produce meaningful software that does not have to be technically challenging to write, and write blog posts that are not about technically hard/clever code. After watching "Sunset Blvd," I decided that money was never my problem, so I think less about money. I'm 30 now and have always been a nerd before. Good movies have partly changed my life. 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16360380 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16360380

supreme_sublime 9y ago
Ha! I actually remember reading that comment. I really hated 2001, except for the 2nd act with HAL. All the rest of it just seemed so pretentious and devoid of story. I remember when they were landing on the moon for instance, that scene was insanely drawn out. I don't mind a slower pace for a movie, but I like to watch youtube film making critics [1]. Something I hear from them all the time is that everything in your film must serve a purpose. So much of 2001 seemed to serve no purpose at all, if it did, the purpose was so unclear it was akin to having a fever dream. Full Metal Jacket on the other hand was brilliant, and while I enjoyed the 1st half more than the second (as I tend to like more light hearted media), the tone shift was incredible. I think that kind of shift really did say something about the experience of soldiers. Bootcamp was still safe, they were home, then when they were about to actually leave, it really sunk in for them what they were about to go through. 1 - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG5h8yHSUS4n7zPnh0dG0SA https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG5h8yHSUS4n7zPnh0dG0SA I find this guy to be particularly interesting/funny and relatively unknown
- jimmies 9y ago
  I'm sure you have heard about sublime messages in Kubrick's movies. Stuff like a poster of a native American in Hue, the "we worship Satan" message on the water tower, the picture of a black man on the advertising billboard of a brand named "black buzzard batteries" [1] etc... which sure doesn't make much sense in an SE Asia country's setting. BTW, there is actually a brand named "buzzard batteries" now, but the "black" one I think is made up. My parents, who are Vietnamese and don't know about Kubrick, exclaimed in the middle of the movie that none of the fighting scenes in Full Metal Jacket were representative of Hue/Vietnam at all. I think Kubrick probably knew that. My interpretation is the same as Apocalypse Now, the point of it wasn't that the movie is about a specific war. It is about the symbolic nightmare that any unnecessary war brings. To me, that's quite different from how movies about World War II were portrayed -- those often tried to be realistic. 1: https://beersonfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Full-Metal-Jacket-1-962x539.jpg https://beersonfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Full-Meta... PS: I agree with you that 2001 was long and drawn out, and I consider that to be among Kubrick's less favorite movies of mine.
- nemothekid 9y ago
  >I really hated 2001, except for the 2nd act with HAL. All the rest of it just seemed so pretentious and devoid of story. I find it really cool that I have had an opposite opinion on the movie. The me the second half was sort of incomprehensible and I never understood the message or point. I understand what happens, I just never understood why. The second half feels like a fever dream. The first half, while I agree doesn't have a conflict, is more of a spectacle. Everything from the set design, to all the outer space shots, to the focus on people living in Space is done with a lot more care than movies usually do. Space is usually "that stuff we did on Earth, but in low gravity!" - but I found the rotating / perspective shifted rooms really neat.
  - supreme_sublime 9y ago
    Well I'm not a huge fan of that either, I'm talking very specifically about the sections with HAL. I'd consider all the LSD trip stuff to be the 3rd act. I appreciate it from a movie making perspective, the effects are very good especially considering the time period it was made. I just think a lot of it was incredibly dull.
mattbierner 9y ago
If you haven't seen it already, I recommend Barry Lyndon too. Very overlooked film. It's three hours long but almost every scene is beautifully shot

supreme_sublime 9y ago

Ha! I actually remember reading that comment. I really hated 2001, except for the 2nd act with HAL. All the rest of it just seemed so pretentious and devoid of story. I remember when they were landing on the moon for instance, that scene was insanely drawn out. I don't mind a slower pace for a movie, but I like to watch youtube film making critics [1]. Something I hear from them all the time is that everything in your film must serve a purpose. So much of 2001 seemed to serve no purpose at all, if it did, the purpose was so unclear it was akin to having a fever dream. Full Metal Jacket on the other hand was brilliant, and while I enjoyed the 1st half more than the second (as I tend to like more light hearted media), the tone shift was incredible. I think that kind of shift really did say something about the experience of soldiers. Bootcamp was still safe, they were home, then when they were about to actually leave, it really sunk in for them what they were about to go through. 1 - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG5h8yHSUS4n7zPnh0dG0SA https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG5h8yHSUS4n7zPnh0dG0SA I find this guy to be particularly interesting/funny and relatively unknown

jimmies 9y ago
I'm sure you have heard about sublime messages in Kubrick's movies. Stuff like a poster of a native American in Hue, the "we worship Satan" message on the water tower, the picture of a black man on the advertising billboard of a brand named "black buzzard batteries" [1] etc... which sure doesn't make much sense in an SE Asia country's setting. BTW, there is actually a brand named "buzzard batteries" now, but the "black" one I think is made up. My parents, who are Vietnamese and don't know about Kubrick, exclaimed in the middle of the movie that none of the fighting scenes in Full Metal Jacket were representative of Hue/Vietnam at all. I think Kubrick probably knew that. My interpretation is the same as Apocalypse Now, the point of it wasn't that the movie is about a specific war. It is about the symbolic nightmare that any unnecessary war brings. To me, that's quite different from how movies about World War II were portrayed -- those often tried to be realistic. 1: https://beersonfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Full-Metal-Jacket-1-962x539.jpg https://beersonfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Full-Meta... PS: I agree with you that 2001 was long and drawn out, and I consider that to be among Kubrick's less favorite movies of mine.
nemothekid 9y ago
>I really hated 2001, except for the 2nd act with HAL. All the rest of it just seemed so pretentious and devoid of story. I find it really cool that I have had an opposite opinion on the movie. The me the second half was sort of incomprehensible and I never understood the message or point. I understand what happens, I just never understood why. The second half feels like a fever dream. The first half, while I agree doesn't have a conflict, is more of a spectacle. Everything from the set design, to all the outer space shots, to the focus on people living in Space is done with a lot more care than movies usually do. Space is usually "that stuff we did on Earth, but in low gravity!" - but I found the rotating / perspective shifted rooms really neat.
- supreme_sublime 9y ago
  Well I'm not a huge fan of that either, I'm talking very specifically about the sections with HAL. I'd consider all the LSD trip stuff to be the 3rd act. I appreciate it from a movie making perspective, the effects are very good especially considering the time period it was made. I just think a lot of it was incredibly dull.

mattbierner 9y ago

If you haven't seen it already, I recommend Barry Lyndon too. Very overlooked film. It's three hours long but almost every scene is beautifully shot