YouTube Goodness

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Re: YouTube Goodness

Post by James » February 4th, 2020, 9:19 am

Oops. Was testing new video code and forgot to delete my test video!

BTW, Youtube videos are a little bigger now and can be viewed fullscreen!

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Re: YouTube Goodness

Post by ShyViolet » February 4th, 2020, 2:32 pm

Cool! :)


Oops. Was testing new video code and forgot to delete my test video!
Ohhh ok, now it all makes sense! No wonder I was so confused. I was like: “What am I missing?” :?:

;) :)
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Re: YouTube Goodness

Post by Ben » February 5th, 2020, 5:20 am

This also explains why YT vids have recently been cutting off the right hand side of their display area on widescreen clips. I see now that it’s not that they’re not there, but that my pad isn’t wide enough to display the whole thing in portrait. If I go landscape or full screen that’s solves it!

Speaking of...these were my two favorite Super Bowl ads this year:





Love how they got EVERYthing right about the Murray one, while if there is any de-aging in Bill And Ted Face The Music and it’s as good as this, then it’s going to be a fun time!

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Re: YouTube Goodness

Post by ShyViolet » February 11th, 2020, 10:36 pm

Wow...that felt so "real"; it seemed so much like an actual sequel to the 1993 original. (Wow, think how horrible that would be for Phil to have to face Ned every morning again for God knows how long???)

Oh funnily enough I just found my BFI (British Film Institute) critical essay book of Groundhog Day the other day under some other books! LOL. :) Definitely one of the best in the BFI series.
Last edited by ShyViolet on February 12th, 2020, 3:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: YouTube Goodness

Post by ShyViolet » February 12th, 2020, 12:55 am








Pretty self-explanatory I guess (I don't know I just like comparing things ;))...while I do feel that this one particular scene in the Burton film is a masterpiece in itself, I also feel that there are positive aspects to the Nolan version too. The theater opera scene right before is very portentous and effective (although the nightmarish fluttering of bats' wings is definitely too on-the-nose). The actor who played Thomas Wayne, despite his short screen time, was great in showcasing Wayne Sr.'s strong moral center and deep respect for human dignity (in striking contrast to the boorish, arrogant and philandering "rich boy" his son will grow up to be).

I like Burton's choice of shooting the event AS A SURREAL CHILDHOOD FLASHBACK, and one that OBVIOUSLY haunts the adult who lived through it, every day. I know that in BB Bale's Bruce does occasionally think back on his father's last words "Don't be afraid," but after Thomas and Martha Wayne are gone, Bruce never actually flashes back to that event, or to any other extensive recollections about either of his parents. He has way, WAY more flashbacks to Ninja training with Liam Neeson than he does to life with his actual mother and father! :roll:
(Plus Alfred and even Commissioner Gordon act as parental figures quite often...in my opinion this kinda, not "negates," exactly, but sort of neutralizes the whole Batman mystique as a scarred vigilante who is also an ORPHAN and basically raised himself in many ways. His parents' deaths are fused to every moment in Bats and Bats Returns...in the Nolan trilogy their memories basically disappear after Wayne Manor/the Batcave is destroyed, and they're not referred to ever again until the end of TDKR when Alfred weeps in front of their graves saying: "I've failed you," because he thinks Bruce is dead. Interesting how even at the very end of the trilogy it's Alfred who actually visits their graves/honors their memories rather than their actual son, who's too busy vacationing in Europe after faking his own death. (Somehow, I don't see a Bruce Wayne like this walking into a deserted alley in the middle of the day, kneeling down and then dropping two roses to deal with the grief that's STILL killing him.) In my opinion it's really the basic writing out of Thomas and Martha Wayne from Nolan's vision of Bats that makes it "work"; if they actually had been referenced in ALL THREE films and not just Begins, the entire conclusion of Bruce deciding that it's time to retire after two years or so (even though he was never able to find a "replacement") would have felt incredibly cheap, shallow and heartless.

One more thing: as in the entire Dark Knight trilogy, Nolan's half-hearted "blending" of surreal/nightmarish images with the "realism" of a 90s TV crime drama simply doesn't cut it: it sort of feels like every film in the trilogy is made up of different films with no coherent vision. Hence the fantastic costumed actors/mythical creatures during the preceding opera scene contrasting badly with the "gritty" aspect of Joe Chill and his crony.

However, the trilogy does have three significant exceptions to this problem in tone: the marvelous performances of Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart in TDK, plus Cillian Murphy's unfortunately brief (but fantastic) turn as Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow in BB. I'm guessing that this was not only because all of three actors' brilliant abilities, but possibly Nolan investing himself much more while directing their scenes and actually finding a good balance between a "comic book" tone and the "realistic" one he was mostly going for.
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Re: YouTube Goodness

Post by Ben » February 12th, 2020, 5:05 am

I know Batman Returns went off in its own indulgent directions (as much as I love that film), but I find it a shame that the '89 original doesn’t get the love it once did and still deserves.

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Re: YouTube Goodness

Post by ShyViolet » February 15th, 2020, 6:59 pm

Oh God, yes! :(

In my opinion, Burton is one of the purest examples of “trailblazer” in Hollywood history when it comes to superhero films. (Richard Donner as well.) Nolan fanboys who proclaim that Nolan’s direction/storytelling for Begins was an infinite improvement on Burton’s “campy” version should really watch the 80s movie again...it’s just so obvious how much Nolan borrowed from Burton in tone and direction; the Nolan world builds on Burton’s to some extent, but completely discards the wonderful balancing act that Burton basically created between comic book fantasy and “gritty realism.” Basically, the Nolanverse is a strange hybrid that really doesn’t fit into either category. :?

The truth is, I never understood why the Heath Ledger Joker was scary. I think a much better adjective would be “disturbing”, but that’s NOT the same as scary. Although Ledger brilliantly portrays him as a desperate psychotic (actually he kind of reminds me of Brad Pitt’s character in the 1995 Terry Gilliam movie 12 Monkeys) who burns piles of cash and stands in front of oncoming traffic when he gets bored, I did not see him so much as “frightening”, but more like, well...really, REALLY sick. :shock: Strangely enough I almost sympathized with him, even with all of his horrendous acts. But an exceptionally creepy performance like this, as amazing as it is, does not belong in a Batman movie. :?

Because if you REALLY want to stay true to the comics, you can’t have a Joker that comes off like a character on an hour-long TV crime drama like Law & Order. He’s NOT just psychotic, he’s BEYOND psychotic. (I seriously can’t imagine Bats 89 filled with lots and lots of speeches that conveniently spell out all of his motivations. “Some men just want to watch the world burn” is a huge, HUGE oversimplification of who the Joker is. :?)

There’s also the matter of the Joker’s cruelty. Other than the pencil-in-the-eye thing, we never REALLY see the Ledger Joker’s sadism, despite the fact that he keeps TALKING about it. (As when Bats tries to interrogate him at the police station and he speaks at length about the Gotham police officers he brutalized; who the “cowards” were.). Of course there is that really creepy video showing the hostage Batman copycat he kidnapped and tortured, but we don’t actually see the Joker DOING anything! (Even the child-safe 90s Animated Series had actual scenes of the Joker’s sick behavior, and more importantly how HILARIOUS he finds the overwhelmingly brutal situations he puts his victims in. Conversely, in an early TDK gangster meeting scene, the Nolan Joker actually says:“And I thought my jokes were bad!” Seriously, how is a statement like this in anyway consistent with the comic book???)

Burton’s Joker, on the other hand:

Literally fries Rotelli to death with a giant hand buzzer for an extended length of time. (Then has a conversation with his corpse.)
Impales a mob boss’s throat with a giant old-fashioned pen.
Shoots his loyal henchman Bob as casually as closing a car door.
Gasses nearly all the patrons of the Gotham art museum. (And then much of Gotham City.)
Also poisons many of them, mutilating their faces beyond belief.
Causes his former mistress to lose her mind by burning acid onto her face.

Finally, many of the strange-seeming moments in Bats 89 that are held up as proof positive of the “campiness” of the Burton films really haven’t been analyzed at all by those who revile them.

For example, the “Let’s get nuts!” sequence in Vickie’s loft is in my opinion the most misunderstood scene in the ‘89 film, despite being arguably the most brilliant. Anti-Burton fans often make the point that the high-class, cool and collected Bruce Wayne would never behave in this way. What they don’t factor in is that “Bruce Wayne, millionaire playboy”, is NOT Bruce’s true identity, but the “cover” he uses when he’s among Gotham high society. The point of this particular scene (as well as Bruce’s fumbling when he first meets Vickie Vale) is showing how Bruce’s “dual identity” is not always kept in check, that his “playboy” mask is only an approximation. Thus the built-up uncertainty and repressed tension spills out in his “irrational” screaming at the Joker (not to mention his unnecessary smashing of the vase with the fireplace poker.) Here he is neither Bruce Wayne NOR Batman, but simply a damaged, nearly out-of-control man caught in his own obsessions and nightmares. When he says: “You wanna get nuts? C’mon, let’s get nuts!” what Bruce is really saying is: “I know where you come from. I come from there, too.”

Even more brilliant is how this very bizarre scene builds up to an astonishing twist that is never said aloud but strongly hinted at. In many ways it resembles the unforgettable moment in Bats Returns when Bruce and Selina realize their true identities at the exact same time while slow dancing. This is basically what happens in Vickie’s apartment, but it’s so subtle that one needs to pay extremely close attention.

Basically, BOTH Bruce and the Joker/Jack Napier remember each other from the night that the latter murdered the former’s parents. (Although it’s more or less on an unconscious level for both of them.) Joker asks his “Dance with the Devil” question (while pointing his gun straight at Bruce) right after Bruce screams at him. “I ask that of all my prey,” he says, and something about his tone of voice betrays a hint of SOMETHING. He then shoots at Bruce, (missing him) who faints against the fireplace. Many have seen Bruce’s passing out as once more absurdly out of character, (especially for his Batman persona) but the fact that he just experienced an unbelievably traumatic déjà vu moment makes his response completely natural and understandable.


***********************************************************************

Well, I guess I’ll end my very long rant now: ;) :oops: But just wanted to add this:

“I have no wish to spend my few remaining years grieving for the loss of old friends. Or their sons.”

“Why are you so determined to prove this Penguin is not what he seems? Must you be the only lonely man-Beast in town?”

—The sum total of Alfred’s speeches in both Batman and Batman Returns
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Re: YouTube Goodness

Post by Ben » February 15th, 2020, 7:52 pm

ShyViolet wrote:
February 15th, 2020, 6:59 pm
Basically, the Nolanverse is a strange hybrid that really doesn’t fit into either category. :?

Let us not forget that, before Batman Begins, Nolan was not to force that the film's success would eventually make him. He couldn’t even get to use the Dark Knight name in the title, since Warners believed you had to have Batman in the name, so we got the very anaemic Batman Begins, a boring title if ever there was one (that doesn’t even really fit in with the rest of the trilogy's titles) and, as much as he might deny it, it was specifically designed to also work as a prequel to Burton's film in case it bombed and was a one-off, hence the hint of The Joker at the end that would have dovetailed into Burton's original if it needed to.

Of course, it was a smash success and he could then write his own ticket, but that first movie really wasn’t under the complete control of Nolan, who had very nervous WB execs wanting to make sure it worked one way or another, which is maybe why you picked up on the "strange hybrid" feel...

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Re: YouTube Goodness

Post by EricJ » February 15th, 2020, 8:55 pm

Ben wrote:
February 15th, 2020, 7:52 pm
Let us not forget that, before Batman Begins, Nolan was not to force that the film's success would eventually make him. He couldn’t even get to use the Dark Knight name in the title, since Warners believed you had to have Batman in the name, so we got the very anaemic Batman Begins, a boring title if ever there was one (that doesn’t even really fit in with the rest of the trilogy's titles) and, as much as he might deny it, it was specifically designed to also work as a prequel to Burton's film in case it bombed and was a one-off, hence the hint of The Joker at the end that would have dovetailed into Burton's original if it needed to.
Warner was STRUGGLING to reboot Batman after the Batman & Robin debacle, and was starting to think that Joel Schumacher really had nuked the franchise.
The Wolfgang Petersen thing self-destructed, a Batman Beyond movie never surfaced, and when they did that Halle Berry "Catwoman", they were literally unearthing discarded old Tim Burton memos from 1995.

Nolan was only hired because of Warner's last-ditch tactic, "Flavor-of-the-Week Director", which Nolan was after "Memento", and his psychological-thrillers Warner thought would be perfect to make Bruce Wayne "dark and complex"...That was it.
Apart from "The Prestige", there's no evidence Nolan ever cared about unrealistic fantasy-laden psychological thrillers, and most of Begins and The Dark Knight seemed to be more interested in the gritty crime details of "real" Gotham City than in how Batman's gadgets worked.
Unlike other sellout directors, though, Nolan knew how and when to wrap up a trilogy and get the heck out of there before Warner had more work they would beg him to do.

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Re: YouTube Goodness

Post by ShyViolet » February 23rd, 2020, 6:30 pm

Chris Reeve on Saturday Night Live, circa 1984. :D


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Re: YouTube Goodness

Post by droosan » February 28th, 2020, 12:49 am

Baby Driver + The Phantom Menace = Baby Podracer :mrgreen:


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Re: YouTube Goodness

Post by Ben » February 28th, 2020, 3:47 am

Shoulda just been Baby Racer, but that was cool. And creepily disturbing!

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Re: YouTube Goodness

Post by ShyViolet » March 19th, 2020, 7:36 pm

Cool scene from the 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers! Leonard Nimoy (playing a psychiatrist/best-selling author), Jeff Goldblum (struggling poet), and the quite awesome Donald Sutherland all play off of each other brilliantly! Definitely worth a look! :)


https://youtu.be/0BXa52qz-kU
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Re: YouTube Goodness

Post by Ben » March 19th, 2020, 8:52 pm

Funny...after years of not liking this film, I am ready to give it another go having just picked up Arrow's Blu-ray edition. I’ll let you know what I think when I get around to it!

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Re: YouTube Goodness

Post by ShyViolet » March 19th, 2020, 10:26 pm

Cool, looking forward! :)
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