Excellent film. And the awesome weirdness of it made much more sense when I saw at the end that it was based on a story by Heinlein. That man could spin a yarn.
Amazon Prime streaming video recommendations thread
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T & P
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The first time I saw this film, when she’s playing a certain male character, I was convinced it was the kid from Terminator 2, now as a grown up.
spanglechick
High Empress of Dressing Up
Muriel’s Wedding has popped up. A film I hadn’t seen for years but watched many times in the past.
There used to be published a kind of directory of all English language films, about the size of a phone directory (when they used to be big). Cant quite pin down what it was called. Anyway, it had the names of the key personnel, awards won, and in most cases, a bit of a precis/review. When I finally bought my first copy of this book, I looked up a lot of my favourites and was sad to see that Muriel’s Wedding had been dismissed as “soap opera”.
That’s stuck with me ever since because I didn’t understand how I could’ve been so wrong. Watching again last night I now have the maturity, perspective and confidence to say: fuck that guy. I suspect it’s a very female film, though not conventionally so. It’s brash and the characters are working class and uneducated - but young working class women don’t have to be in Ken Loach-style unrekenting grey misery to be compelling. It’s glorious. It stands the test of time, too - given that it’s more than 25 years old(!).
There used to be published a kind of directory of all English language films, about the size of a phone directory (when they used to be big). Cant quite pin down what it was called. Anyway, it had the names of the key personnel, awards won, and in most cases, a bit of a precis/review. When I finally bought my first copy of this book, I looked up a lot of my favourites and was sad to see that Muriel’s Wedding had been dismissed as “soap opera”.
That’s stuck with me ever since because I didn’t understand how I could’ve been so wrong. Watching again last night I now have the maturity, perspective and confidence to say: fuck that guy. I suspect it’s a very female film, though not conventionally so. It’s brash and the characters are working class and uneducated - but young working class women don’t have to be in Ken Loach-style unrekenting grey misery to be compelling. It’s glorious. It stands the test of time, too - given that it’s more than 25 years old(!).
That’s a bit of a bizarre summary they gave it, given that a soap opera is, by definition, serialised. The whole point of a soap opera is that you follow the minutiae of the daily lives of a bunch of characters over a highly extended period (months or years), not just some highlights over the course of 90 minutes. A film can’t be soap opera by the very essence of what a soap opera is.
spanglechick
High Empress of Dressing Up
Yes. But soaps have other characteristics. High stakes emotional plot lines one after the other, melodramatic stock characters and histrionic acting...
Would you say those things are inherent to the nature of soap operas or is it just that most soap operas are a bit shit?
spanglechick
High Empress of Dressing Up
I’d say they’re inherent. Soaps are (in theatrical terms) one of the evolutionary descendants of Victorian melodrama. (See also: westerns, superhero films). The low level of required investment from the soap audience (partly, but not exclusively because of the “continuing” structure - which isn’t really open-ended at all. It’s a sequel structure but with multiple plot lines of different lengths) - doesn’t require any one plot line to show originality (as most individual performance narratives aspire to). If story A is unsatisfying on unrealistic another will be along in a minute.
But where this kind of storytelling exists, audiences want something else. They want predictability. Heroes and villains. Gossipy crones and beleaguered ingenues and corrupt fatcats They want high stakes emotional plots that end satisfyingly with either tragedy or a wedding. I’d argue that this doesn’t make soaps “a bit shit”, any more than the aforementioned Ken Loach film is shit because it doesn’t get a massive popular audience. They skilfully fulfill a very specific function.
The audience needs of the popular 19th century melodrama, with its cheap admission and prolific number of productions, is the same demand that creates the various types of soap that have existed since the mid 20th century. But it also drives certain types of popular cinema. And where that cinema focuses on women, families and relationships (as soaps have done - almost exclusively so since the late eighties), then there are enough of the hallmarks of soap to say a film is soapy.
spanglechick
High Empress of Dressing Up
No. Because, while heightened, many of the principal characters (especially the protagonist) are not stock archetypes. And the resolution is neither tragic nor “Jack shall have Jill” in the soap opera sense. Yes there is a couple reuniting, but in the furtherance of true and platonic love. In a soap she’d have stayed married to the rich, sexy swimmer - or only left him if he had been a genuine abusive arsehole. It also makes (admittedly unsubtle - but it’s not a subtle film) commentary on marriage, beauty, happiness. But that kind of thematic (ideological) viewpoint is notably absent from soaps. There’s an authorial voice in Muriel’s Wedding that you never detect in soaps - and that’s not just a function of them being written by many people. Lots of US comedy is written by committee, but it has an identifiable POV.
PJ Hogan’s second film, My Best Friend’s Wedding is even more interesting in its subversion of romcom tropes. Julia Roberts’ character is really horrible, but with all the tropes that tell us we should like her. Really clever film, although less charming than MR.
Winot
I wholeheartedley agree with your viewpoint
I watched the trailer and was amazed that it looked even worse than I expected.
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
You talking about Halliwell's?
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
Also, YOU'RE TERRIBLE, MURIEL!
fucthest8
Cool people die horrible, preventable deaths.
spanglechick
High Empress of Dressing Up
Yes! Thank you!
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
In pre-IMDb times, rather useful, but sometimes (okay, a lot of the time) in pursuit of nailing the most succinct summary there were a lot of terrible, point-missing précis. Plus it was annoying having to make hand-written additions when you wanted to memorialise new movies. And the indices were not exhaustive!
T & P
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To anyone looking for easy watching non-committal comedy series to dip in and out of, I thoroughly recommend Deadbeat. It’s a supernatural comedy with short & sweet 21-minute episodes with Tyler Labine and Lucy DeVito, amongst others.
Don’t be put off by the low production feel. You might not think much of the first episode but stick with it. It’s actually pretty good and enjoys very decent ratings by critics and audiences
en.m.wikipedia.org
Don’t be put off by the low production feel. You might not think much of the first episode but stick with it. It’s actually pretty good and enjoys very decent ratings by critics and audiences
Deadbeat (TV series) - Wikipedia
Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
Alway preferred the Time Out one but that also had its own issues
Ceej
Where is my mind?
Daniel Lapaine was a parent in the school I used to work in - older, still beautiful but really funny and didnt take himself seriously at all.
trashpony
Hag
Thanks for this - it's coming off next week so we've got a date booked (me and 14 next Sunday son). He's very excited and I've not seen it for ages. Then we're watching Shaun of the Dead on his actual birthday
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
I hope you enjoy it more than my daughter and I did.Thanks for this - it's coming off next week so we've got a date booked (me and 14 next Sunday son). He's very excited and I've not seen it for ages. Then we're watching Shaun of the Dead on his actual birthday
I was lamenting only last night how I used to really like the Matrix, and could watch it over and over again, but now find it arse achingly dull, not to mention a little embarrassing. I think I might have been a little more forgiving if my daughter had thought it was anything other than a chore to sit through.
I'm pretty sure Shaun of the Dead is still good right? Actually that might be one the daughter would like (same age as yours and quite likes zombies).
trashpony
Hag
Yes, I'm sure if he hates it, I won't enjoy it much either. Embarrassing how?
I hope Shaun of the Dead is still good. Zombies are always good.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
It's really really cheesy. . . .and not in a cool way. The music drops, the quotes, the sudo intellectual / mythical mumbo jumbo, the outfits.
I'm sure shaun of the dead is still pretty good. That's on prime though right? I don't have that anymore, but I do have the DVD. Seems a bit mental to have to get one of those out now.
T & P
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The Matrix does not deserve in a million years to describe as anywhere near embarrassing, even if one thinks it hasn’t dated well.
Any film that captures the collective imagination of viewing audiences, becomes a lasting cultural reference for numerous references, metaphors or memes, and was so thought-provoking it has inadvertently led to a distinct psychological affliction (people who believe they are living in the Matrix for real), deserves a huge amount of credit, and is anything but bad, let alone embarrassingly so.
What’s so bad about it anyway?
Any film that captures the collective imagination of viewing audiences, becomes a lasting cultural reference for numerous references, metaphors or memes, and was so thought-provoking it has inadvertently led to a distinct psychological affliction (people who believe they are living in the Matrix for real), deserves a huge amount of credit, and is anything but bad, let alone embarrassingly so.
What’s so bad about it anyway?
Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
Neil’s coatThe Matrix does not deserve in a million years to describe as anywhere near embarrassing, even if one thinks it hasn’t dated well.
Any film that captures the collective imagination of viewing audiences, becomes a lasting cultural reference for numerous references, metaphors or memes, and was so thought-provoking it has inadvertently led to a distinct psychological affliction (people who believe they are living in the Matrix for real), deserves a huge amount of credit, and is anything but bad, let alone embarrassingly so.
What’s so bad about it anyway?
T & P
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Fair enough if you judge that as being a deal breaker. But please then don’t go and tell me than certain other sci-fi films that also enjoy cult status and which are also laden with a lot of cheesy stuff, are fine in your book. I mean, you must also think the likes of Starship Troopers or Terminator 2 are similarly shit, right?
T & P
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Arnie’s sunglasses.
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