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and all those movies criticizing materialism and greed were used by idiots to model their own search for material wealth and greed.
Those movies were a subtle cause of the massive investment bubbles of the past 20 years |
Those films may have criticised it morally but it was an era when the evil capitalists were suddenly getting the most appealing roles, with all the best lines. Gordon Gekko, J.R. Ewing. They were baddies only in the way that Dracula was a baddie, or Hannibal Lector, ie they were portrayed in a way that was a million times more appealing than their good-guy adversaries. It was a complete reversal of the logic that underpinned films like It's a Wonderful Life.
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if you want working class british films watch Selfish Giant. Brilliant film. |
I think the years are significant, and i suggest that after two terms of Reagan there was something of an appetite for questioning the dream that had been sold. Same time as Roseanne, in fact.
But I certainly take the point. Apparently it caused Oliver Stone some chagrin when yuppie scum saw Gordon Gekko as a hero. From what I remember, Stone made him unlikable enough. But yes, I doubt anyone goes up to Oliver Stone and quotes any of Martin Sheen's lines. |
 surprisingly i really enjoyed this flick.. it was a classic thriller with a dozen completely unpredictable turns i was hooked! Possibly im just biased as a devotee of Willam Dafoe |
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Politically, Mike Leigh's generally been more about poking fun at the lower middle class than anything to do with the working class. He's closer to someone like Alan Bennet in that sense. Ken Loach is probably the only overtly political (from a class perspective) filmmaker Britain has left. (If you'll pardon the pun.) |
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i'm sure you know him better than i do, and a film like life is sweet would fit that description (only in part, because after the comedy it gets really serious), but films like "vera drake" or "naked" are not about that nor funny at all. i suppose what i find praiseworthy in him is not some sort of political commitment (i am not really fond of overt ideologues), but his realism, in opposition to hollywood which is all about brainwashing through aspirational fantasies of impossible lives. speaking of realism-- that is a reason why the wire was so great. so things like that are possible, but they are extremely rare. |
Better Off Dead :D
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 Fallen also better than i remembered.. ending had the potential to have been epic good then turned out to be epic #fail for literally no reason |
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Haven't seen Vera Drake but you're right about Naked. But for me he really defined himself with his earlier tv dramas, which I imagine are harder to get hold of in the US. Stuff like Abigail's Party https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-hXUehyRlE |
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oh, i see. i only learned about him in the 90s via "secrets and lies." and more or less kept up since. i've been planning a retrospective of his movies via netflix, which has "hard labour" (1973), and i think maybe i'll start it sooner than planned. looking at the selection seems like he covers the whole social spectrum though, including an "affluent snobby couple" in "nuts in may" (1976), a postman, office workers, mortician's assistants, very poor people, etc. is he maybe your contemporary balzac? hmm.... |
He does cover the full range but his most fruitful/insightful area is definitely those petty cultural snobberies that so pre-occupy the upper working/lower middle classes. So Balzac maybe, I dunno, haven't read him, but probably more straight-forwardly comparable with the way Dickens dealt with those areas.
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Not sure abt Mr Turner, although I think Timothy Spall is pretty great in just about anything he does, I distrust the historical bio films in general....
Another year was fantastic, L Manville and Broadbent. Plus, my being a geologist also helped me like Broadbent's character. Happy Go Lucky had a stellar performance by Eddie Marsan, who I just about always see as "Scott" now. |
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. So good, imho.
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 i love it. It seems by coincidence ive been watching a bunch of movies with willem dafoe..i also watched Grand Budapest Hotel last night which had dafoe in it. Speaking of which recently i also watched the all time great To Live And Die In LA.  |
The One I Love
Contrary to the so-so reviews, I enjoyed it completely. |
I found the movie Ce Sior ou Jamais (Tonight or Never) on Youtube, with english subtitles, and watched that last night. An enjoyable film with the lovely Anna Karina not directed by Jean-Luc Godard.
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had a surprising revelation w/ a belgian film, from directors i had never heard about-- they're fantastic though
 THE KID WITH A BIKE (JP & Luc Dardenne, 2011) what can i say? everything that's written on that poster is true. watch it. came out in a nice criterion blu ray. |
 I laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed. I have never seen Danny McBride do anything that did not make me crack up, from his small role in Tropic Thunder to Pineapple Express ("I'm wearing a fucking kimono, man.") to the genius of Kenny Powers. |
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