BlahCade Podcast #20 - Forum Questions Part 1

jaredmorgs said:

Did you guys like the time markers I put on the Podcast this time around? For those who like to flick around to what they want to hear?

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Yeah but instead of flicking I just plowed

jaredmorgs said:

Did you guys like the time markers I put on the Podcast this time around? For those who like to flick around to what they want to hear?

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Wonderful

Many Thanks

Very good boys. A return to form. Time markers definitely a good idea although like Extork I listened to it all.
You did seem to miss the point about Big Shot, being surprised it got as high as 11th and thinking that was good for such a crappy game. He said 11th was the LOWEST it ever got.

Another thing that surprised me is that you have to pay for the games. Jared was saying he was finally convinced to buy season 5 when it came out and SYT hasn't bought anything after season 2 on PS3 which I know he is on almost daily because he's on my friends list. What a cheapskate industry this is! Or company perhaps. You guys are using your own time and money to promote their company. The least they could do is comp you the games. People who blog on beer and stuff like that get sent crates free.

Crepello55012 said:

Another thing that surprised me is that you have to pay for the games. Jared was saying he was finally convinced to buy season 5 when it came out and SYT hasn't bought anything after season 2 on PS3 which I know he is on almost daily because he's on my friends list. What a cheapskate industry this is! Or company perhaps. You guys are using your own time and money to promote their company. The least they could do is comp you the games. People who blog on beer and stuff like that get sent crates free.

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Preach! I'd love comped games

Hey, I'm just happy we were able to get some codes for give away.

I may be on my PS3 virtually everyday, but that's because I watch movies, A LOT. Oh, and my son plays Minecraft. All my TPA playing is now done on PC.

Maybe you should try watching some of the movies on the list you were saying you hadn't heard of, rather than just confidently stating that if you haven't heard of it it must be crap? If you're as serious a movie fan as you indicate, part of that is finding stuff that has escaped the mainstream but that more intelligent critics pick up on.

Baltimore Jones said:

Maybe you should try watching some of the movies on the list you were saying you hadn't heard of, rather than just confidently stating that if you haven't heard of it it must be crap? If you're as serious a movie fan as you indicate, part of that is finding stuff that has escaped the mainstream but that more intelligent critics pick up on.

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Hahahaha! That's funny.

I don't think I critiqued any of the movies as being 'crap', but there is a certain pretentiousness about that list that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. And you are almost implying that my poor attitude toward indie, documentary, and foreign films means I can't possibly be a serious movie fan. Well, I'm a fan of being entertained. I find nothing more dreadful than some self serious, semi intellectual drama that fails to hit its mark. In fact, I'd rather watch a crappy badly acted action movie, because explosions. There are plenty of indies and serious movies that I have liked. They just don't tend to strike a chord with me. For instance, I thought '12 Years A Slave' was a complete waste of my time. The acting was great, the cinematography was wonderful, but I quite simply hated the story for not being entertaining. I'm not kidding, as soon as I finished watching it I threw in my blu-ray of Django Unchained and was ever so much happier. To each his own, right?

Here's an example of how much a movie watcher I am...

http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/8378-Pt-1-35-Movies-That-Deserve-More-Praise
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/8397-Pt-2-35-Movies-That-Deserve-More-Praise
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/8448-Pt-3-35-Movies-That-Deserve-More-Praise
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/8488-Pt-4-35-Movies-That-Deserve-More-Praise
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/8514-Pt-5-35-Movies-That-Deserve-More-Praise
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/8560-Pt-6-35-Movies-That-Deserve-More-Praise
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/8598-Pt-7-35-Movies-That-Deserve-More-Praise
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/8641-Pt-4-Terrible-Movies-I-Admit-To-Recommending
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/10448-The-Movies-I-Saw-In-2014?p=215292#post215292
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/6994-The-Movies-I-Saw-In-2013
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/3095-Movies-I-saw-in-2012-%28like-you-really-care!%29

Apparently I forgot to post my 'Movies I saw" list for 2014. Hmmph. (I just corrected that mistake!) Anyway, that should give you a clear indication of what my viewing habits are. I feel I am an intelligent critic, I just happen to love action movies the most and feel they can be every bit as great as the awards bait that comes along each fall. I like movies I can watch and enjoy over and over again. I like movies that demand to be seen on the big screen. I really just want to be entertained. Not lectured, not informed, entertained. And I will pounce straight into a debate with anyone that actually claims Citizen Kane is the best movie ever made, because they are wrong and parroting nothing more than what they 'learned' in film school.

That is perhaps the best rant I've seen in a while.

I also agree with almost all of it.

Crepello55012 said:

Very good boys. A return to form. Time markers definitely a good idea although like Extork I listened to it all.
You did seem to miss the point about Big Shot, being surprised it got as high as 11th and thinking that was good for such a crappy game. He said 11th was the LOWEST it ever got.

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Lowest!

That's important detail.

For the record, I love the quick play aspects of EMs.

I'll keep doing those time markers in future episodes. I think if we continue to do this it will make the Podcast topics more discoverable for new members/listeners as well.

shutyertrap said:

...I find nothing more dreadful than some self serious, semi intellectual drama that fails to hit its mark. In fact, I'd rather watch a crappy badly acted action movie, because explosions...

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Sharknado!

jaredmorgs said:

I'll keep doing those time markers in future episodes. I think if we continue to do this it will make the Podcast topics more discoverable for new members/listeners as well.

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As long as I don't read the word "Kangaroo", I'm good.

shutyertrap said:

And you are almost implying that my poor attitude toward indie, documentary, and foreign films means I can't possibly be a serious movie fan.

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You can be a serious movie fan, sure. But if you've shut out those rather enormous categories of films (I don't know if you have), you can't be a serious movie critic. You can still be a serious action movie critic, I suppose.

shutyertrap said:

Well, I'm a fan of being entertained.

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There's nothing wrong with that. Many all-time best movies are entertaining and nothing more. But most are something other than just entertaining... important, informative, thought-provoking, devastating, truth.

Do you watch many entertaining movies made before 1980? Before 1960? Just curious...

shutyertrap said:

And I will pounce straight into a debate with anyone that actually claims Citizen Kane is the best movie ever made, because they are wrong and parroting nothing more than what they 'learned' in film school.

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I don't think it's #1, but it's certainly in the top 10. And I didn't go to film school, or even take a film class other than a sort-of class during a summer camp when I was 17, and probably a little too young to understand stuff. I'm curious what you think is wrong about people who think it's a great film, even the best film ever. I find it extremely entertaining... even without explosions.

Hey SYT, here's a movie for you...

Wavelength is a 45-minute film that made the reputation of Canadian experimental filmmaker and artist Michael Snow. Considered a landmark of avant-garde cinema,[SUP][1][/SUP] it was filmed over one week in December 1966 and edited in 1967,[SUP][2][/SUP] and is an example of what film theorist P. Adams Sitneydescribes as "structural film",[SUP][3][/SUP] calling Snow "the dean of structural filmmakers."[SUP][4][/SUP] Wavelength is often listed as one of the greatest underground, art house and Canadian films ever made. It was named #85 in the 2001 Village Voice critics' list of the 100 Best Films of the 20th Century.[SUP][5][/SUP] The film has been designated and preserved as a masterwork by the Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada.[SUP][6][/SUP] In a 1969 review of the film published in Artforum, Manny Farber describes Wavelength as "a pure, tough 45 minutes that may become The Birth of a Nation in Underground films, is a straightforward document of a room in which a dozen businesses have lived and gone bankrupt. For all of the film's sophistication (and it is overpowering for its time-space-sound inventions) it is a singularly unpadded, uncomplicated, deadly realistic way to film three walls, a ceiling and a floor... it is probably the most rigorously composed movie in existence."[SUP][7]

[/SUP](That's from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wavelength_(1967_film))

invitro said:

Do you watch many entertaining movies made before 1980? Before 1960? Just curious...

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My movie watching habits don't tend to go pre 1975. I've watched very few movies from the 60's, and fewer still from before then. It's not like I haven't made the effort, either. For instance, I love quite a few of John Woo's movies, and somebody pointed out I should watch Peckinpah, specifically 'The Wild Bunch' to see how influenced he was by that. Fortunately for me, it was being re-released in 70mm glory at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, so I went and loved it for the most part. The problem is, I've grown up with a visual language in cinema that doesn't jibe with older movies. The blood was a very fake red to me, the sound design tinny, zoom lenses had just been introduced and were being used in a very obvious way. Thankfully the story, action, and tone of the film kept those things from being a distraction.

I'm discovering this same problem as I try and introduce my son to movies from my youth. The pacing is so different, the effects work, and even things like how a problem in those movies would be so easily solved with a smart phone today. It can be a big hurdle to get past.

As for Citizen Kane...

I don't have a problem with people saying it is a great movie. I don't have a problem with people saying it was ahead of its time, or wrote the book on cinema language that is still used today. I do take exception to people saying it is the greatest movie ever made, current movies included. My go to film to counter any argument people make for CK is Blade Runner. Why? Because it too was ahead of its time. It influenced the look of science fiction for years after, even to this day. It is ripe with metaphors and has spawned countless books and discussions of what all it means to be human. I'm telling you, it can go toe to toe with Citizen Kane.

Here's the kicker...I don't even consider Blade Runner to be the best movie ever. I just like using it as an example that can take down Citizen Kane.

invitro said:

Hey SYT, here's a movie for you...

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Oh c'mon, you're having a go at me with that! I watched all of 2 minutes, went "this whole thing is gonna be just noise and this room", skipped forward and had it confirmed. Freakin' art world B.S. Can you imagine paying $10 to sit through that? Reminds me of the pic I saw where someone lost a glove in front of a blank wall in a modern art museum, and people started looking at it not knowing if it was part of the installation or just a random piece of clothing.

shutyertrap said:

Can you imagine paying $10 to sit through that?

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I'd pay a helluva lot more than $10 to see Wavelength in a real theater with an appreciative audience .

shutyertrap said:

My go to film to counter any argument people make for CK is Blade Runner.

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Blade Runner is extremely acclaimed by film critics. It's #69 on the Sight & Sound critics' poll, which for my money is the closest thing to a consensus best list. I think it's rather extremely overrated, though I haven't seen it in some time.

Citizen Kane isn't my favorite Orson Welles movie, or even second favorite, or maybe even third favorite, but its greatness is clear.

Anyway... Kane has been dethroned... it's now #2, and Vertigo is #1. So if you want to pick on critics, that's your new target.

invitro said:

I'd pay a helluva lot more than $10 to see Wavelength in a real theater with an appreciative audience .

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Is the soundtrack 4'33"? Is it on a loop?

EldarOfSuburbia said:

Is the soundtrack 4'33"? Is it on a loop?

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It would be very strange indeed to replace Wavelength's soundtrack with 4'33".

invitro said:

Blade Runner is extremely acclaimed by film critics. It's #69 on the Sight & Sound critics' poll, which for my money is the closest thing to a consensus best list. I think it's rather extremely overrated, though I haven't seen it in some time.

Citizen Kane isn't my favorite Orson Welles movie, or even second favorite, or maybe even third favorite, but its greatness is clear.

Anyway... Kane has been dethroned... it's now #2, and Vertigo is #1. So if you want to pick on critics, that's your new target.

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I absolutely love Vertigo. Good choice for #1.