What was the last film you watched? part 4

This useful article justifies a cross reference to the film thread:
https://libcom.org/blog/american-dream-meets-chinese-dream-nightmare-fuyao-avenue-31012020
Edit: Also mentioned and linked by Craftwork on the 'TV's you like thread.

Parasite. It's ok.

Little Joe, really enjoyed it, great Sunday night film.

Anyone else here seen Richard Jewell? Definitely an interesting film. Has a lot of flaws, but doesn't really try to hide them either, eg you can very clearly see the limits of Eastwood's "libertarianism", right wing anti-"mainstream media" populism, etc.

I'm still making up my mind on the issue of the way they suggest a reporter had sex with an FBI agent to get a leak. She's since passed away but the people at her newspaper are defending her strongly, saying the accusation is totally false. The screenwriter has responded defending the depiction, suggesting it's a kind of diversion away from the otherwise very accurate criticisms of the paper for essentially ruining the dude's life for a bit.

It's nice to watch a film that doesn't make heroes out of cops or mainstream journalists for once; one of the main ideas in the film is that the government and media are not opposing forces like some journalists want to make out, but that they're in a symbiotic relationship together with "the little guy" as their victim. One of the ways this symbiosis is depicted is through the ditzy evil female journalist exchanging sex for info from the evil FBI man. Naturally as a socialist I'm sympathetic to the overall gist of the film but I also think the accusations of sexism are understandable

Free State of Jones, about a group of runaway slaves and confederate deserters who formed a community in a swamp before organising a force to drive off the confederacy. Its based on a true story, and has the most blatant class war messaging I've seen from a mainstream film.

Also criticises the Union for its lack of interest in ensuring abolition or supporting the Southern population that did oppose the confederacy and the plantations. It also covered the period of reconstruction and how the wealthy former rebels were able to walk back into power as if nothing happened.

The actions a bit lacklustre, but the acting all round is pretty solid.

Sounds like a good film Reddebrek, might give it a watch. I can't think of any other films about reconstruction off the top of my head that are actually decent -- I don't think you can't really depict that era honestly without having "class war messaging" in it anyway

Freakishly, a sort of class-war film from Hollywood. Watchable.

From the David North Trots --

1) Interview with the author of the book 'Free State of Jones', on which its based, Part 1 and then part 2:

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/07/12/byn1-j12.html?view=article_mobile

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/07/13/byn2-j13.html?view=article_mobile

2) Article, 'The South's Inner Civil War' :
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/07/26/civi-j26.html?view=article_mobile

Interview with author of 'The South's Inner Civil War' :
http://intsse.com/wswspdf/en/articles/2016/08/16/inte-a16.pdf

Dark Waters. I would really recommend it. A true story of how a corporate lawyer took on the Du Pont chemical company. It's very well made and detailed and does not dumb down the issues. I did shed a tear. It taught me a lot about some issues (so-called forever chemicals) that I did not know. I would recommend this film. Made by Todd Haynes who also made the film Carol.

http://askakorean.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-forgotten-neoliberal-man-of-parasite.html

Uncut Gems. Pretty good. 4****.

Castle in the Sky. First class Studio Ghibli film on Netflix.

La Odisea de los giles/The Heroic Losers (2019)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLGouIpUrXg

Nightcrawler. Netflix. Pretty good.

Wild Tales- an Argentinean anthological movie on the theme of revenge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUnXv6R2HI8

Cinderella - South Korean horror about plastic surgery
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcvU83PZ_r8
featured in this dissertation:
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.873.8225&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Perfect Candidate - Saudi movie
https://greatmodernthings.com/item/the-perfect-candidate

I rewatched Clerks and Patterson, both great films. Now I'm watching The King of Staten Island on demand, it's pretty good so far.

Misbehaviour. True story of the women who protested at the 1970 Miss World contest. It had the best intentions but is really pretty dire.

Hobbits

The Vast of Night - low budget sci-fi film set in late 1950s New Mexico. Very compelling despite being mostly talking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vast_of_Night

5 Bloods.

I watched "Peeping Tom", a film I have heard discussed a lot and was very controversial in it's day. I was quite disapointed. Maybe I am seeing it too much from today's perspective but it seemed strangely shallow. It got hammered for the content at the time but it looked quite a corny piece of work with brutal killings added. It is more interesting in what it reveals about the social assumptions of the time it was made than as an examination of misogynist violence or fetishism. Anyway that is one off the list.

Spike Lee has always been hit or miss for me. While there are some interesting parts, it's mostly a miss.

Rewatches of The Truman Show and Blade Runner 2049.

Whiplash. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d_jQycdQGo

I chose it because it has a high rating on IMDB and I was intrigued by the description & trailer.

I really enjoyed it, great acting and it twists at your emotions. However, I worry about what message people will draw from this movie.

Episode one of the Good Lord Bird, the miniseries about John Brown -- Ethan Hawke's acting is very good, no question there, but it's a bit lacklustre overall. I knew from one of the opening quotes that it was going to be a weird watch:

The aesthetics are Tarantino-ish, which would otherwise fit a show about the activities of a man dedicated to ending slavery through guerrilla warfare, but they don't seem appropriate here. They make Brown seem more insane than I think he actually was, perhaps to play up the dynamic about "white hero vs. white saviour".

Trial of the Chicago Seven - very disappointing, hammed-up and diverges from the actual events very significantly

Good to know, thanks for the heads up. I only have a vague familiarity with what happened so I'll know now to take it with a grain of salt when I watch. What were some of the biggest discrepancies?

The biggest issue I had was Sorkin making the lead prosecutor a sympathetic liberal with a conscience when in reality he wasn't like that at all. You'll know what I mean when you watch