Cinema Recall Podcast: That Moment In ‘Kill Bill Vol.1’

I was a guest on another podcast recently!

If you didn’t know yet, That Moment In has added in a new podcast a few months ago hosted by The Vern called Cinema Recall Podcast.

This show, we talk about Kill Bill Vol. 1 and each choose a scene that we loved to talk about. We head into a conversation on whether Uma Thurman should have deserved an Oscar nomination that  year and whether The Bride is an iconic female role.

I can’t embed the player here but here’s the link to where you can give it a listen! Hope you enjoy!

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/thatmomentin/episodes/2017-08-25T01_52_56-07_00

When you are done, remember to head over to That Moment In and vote for the movie choice for the next selection.

As for myself, I realized that I haven’t reviewed Kill Bill yet so I’ll be doing a Double Feature covering Kill Bill Vol.1 and 2.

Netflix A-Z: Nymphomaniac Vol 1 & 2 (2013)

This week’s Netflix A-Z is not exactly a double feature but then it might be since the choice is Nymphomaniac and it was released in Vol. 1 & 2. However, I saw them all as one feature on Netflix back to back. It was a long time to sit down for a movie but I felt it was the right way to do it instead of cutting it into two parts.

Let’s check it out! 🙂

Nymphomaniac (2013)

Director (and writer): Lars Von Trier

Cast: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgard, Stacy Martin, Shia LeBeouf, Christian Slater, Uma Thurman, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Willem Dafoe, Jamie Bell, Mia Goth,

Vol. 1: A self-diagnosed nymphomaniac recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her after a beating.-IMDB
Vol.2: The continuation of Joe’s sexually dictated life delves into the darker aspects of her adulthood, obsessions and what led to her being in Seligman’s care. – IMDB

Nymphomaniac is a 4 hour movie split into pretty much 2 hour volumes for the audience.  However, it doesn’t make sense to watch this in two sittings because this is a woman, Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg), recounting her story as to how and why she ended up beaten and picked up from an alleyway by this stranger called Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard).  The first half, aka Volume 1, was much more fun to watch than the second half.  I can tell you that for certain.  But, the point in the second part really is in the ending when Joe discovers a lot more about herself and we actually start seeing what I think the point of this movie is.  Everyone gets something different from every  movie but the things Joe comments about the society and how woman and men differ and just how nymphomaniac comes to light comes in a somewhat gender inequality/double standards sort of thing. I could be crazy and its not saying that but it feels like Joe’s story and the things she reflects on highlights the imperfect society.

 The cast here is actually quite huge.  Charlotte Gainsbourg is pretty great as Joe however, the star here and who makes Volume 1 even better than Volume 2 is Stacy Martin as young Joe. The true character development was in Vol.1 as we watched young Joe grow up and embrace the different phases of her youth up till falling in love. Her life crosses path with Jerome (Shia Lebeouf) in the most oddest times.  The best part is how her talk with Seligman brings up these comparisons with fly-fishing and all sorts of topics that you wouldn’t quite think about contrasting with when a lady is recounting her sex experiences and how they affected her in different stages of her life. Its what made this part quirky and weird but rather enjoyable to watch.

Nymphomaniac isn’t for everyone.  It has a lot of sex scenes and spans across a lot of touchy subjects related to Joe’s life choices.  The second half (aka Volume 2) of the movie goes into a more brutal and violent downfall of her character.  Here Charlotte Gainsbourg takes the reins.  It becomes more convoluted and goes down the path of Joe and her adulthood, riding on family, the importance of sex and the sacrifices she made and how she ended up sitting where she is now.  The best part of the second part is really the ending and Charlotte Gainsbourg’s performance that keeps the story interesting enough to watch.

Its hard to talk about Nymphomaniac.  In many ways, its an experience that only watching this movie can embody.  However, its also a movie that definitely won’t appeal to everybody.  I don’t mind talk about sex and actually those touchy subjects, questioning society and human behavior and human nature intrigues me quite a bit.  4 hours is a long time and its not easy to hold anyone’s attention without taking a break. Some scenes were a little tough to watch and there’s only so many private parts I can take in one sitting without thinking about how much this is like artistic high quality porn. But it isn’t porn, that would be unfair to say, Nymphomaniac is just very explicit in demonstrating its story plus, its hard to talk about a girl who is a nymphomaniac and not have her getting in some steamy situations.

Overall, Nymphomaniac is an artistic movie.  Its long and Volume 1 is a lot more enjoyable than Volume 2. It has some great performances and so many that I don’t even know what more to say than applauding Stacy Martin and Charlotte Gainsbourg.  There are some good bits like Mrs. H played by Uma Thurman and Mr. H situation that kind of made me laugh a little. Then, her relationship with Shia Lebeouf from how they met to how it all ended was a huge chunk of it.  Mostly her journey through life meeting the different sex partners with single alphabet names, all different in their own  way makes up for a lot of entertainment and just how her desires change whether in lust or love or desire. Its a movie experience thats worth seeing but I don’t guarantee your enjoyment.  This one is extremely subjective and particular to viewer preferences.

Have you seen Nymphomaniac? What did you think of it? Do you prefer Vol. 1 or 2 more?

Beautiful Girls (1996)

Bouncing back to a more recent recommendations from MovieRob, he suggested I watch Beautiful Girls and another one that I’m still looking for.  Luckily Netflix had Beautiful Girls so here we are! I’ve been following Rob fairly recently and he does amazing reviews and he has a side project of currently reviewins Oscar Best Acting Winners and the respective movies. You should definitely go check it out!

Director: Ted Demme

Cast: Matt Dillon, Timothy Hutton, Noah Emmerich, Lauren Holly, Annabeth Gish, Rosie O’Donnell, Max Perlich, Natalie Portman, Uma Thurman, Michael Rapaport, Mira Sorvino

New York City piano player Willie (Timothy Hutton) heads back home for his high school reunion.  Being with his friends and in his old surroundings, while at the going away to think about the crossroads of his life, career and relationship, he sees that nothing has changed much for his friends who stayed at home. They still have the mentality of when they were in high school and each has their own personal struggles to work out as they all face growing up; making the responsible choices.

Beautiful Girls is a thoughtful movie, possibly more geared towards men as they struggle between the idea of growing up and growing old.  Its pretty refreshing because we rarely get the view of men in this phase and a lot of movies like this are more formed in chick flicks geared towards women.  There’s a lot to love about this movie, especially the cast and character development.

I’m not going to say I understand men very well.  I’m happy most days I somewhat understand the logic of what my boyfriend does.  Its a never-ending process.  This movie was special in that way because I’m not saying that men ALL go through the same thing because that would be unfair but this was a nice way to see things. Giving each of these guys, mostly 4 of them, a bigger, more focused story meshed with the women in their life in a rather balanced way was a good thing.  I understood a bit more of the characters: Willie (Timothy Hutton), Tommy (Matt Dillon) and Paul (Michael Rapaport) while Mo (Noah Emmerich) had a more solid life set so he was something of a guiding light along with some of the other sub characters.  It was a very subconscious thing but even though a lot of their mentality seemed off to me, along the way I grew to connect in a way where I wanted them to do the “right” thing.

Other than the guys having a good impact, they needed some ladies that could match up to them.  One of the most intriguing one was Uma Thurman’s appearance as Andera.  She was a beautiful girl that they all were attracted to.  The beautiful thing that was also so understanding and for many of them, she also was helpful in an enlightening way.  Another one that I liked was the young Natalie Portman who had sudden and oddly deep but simple conversations with Willie and in many ways, made him understand a few things and question his life.  Another character that was funny was Rosie O’Donnell’s supporting character, especially when she talked about the unrealistic portrayal of women.

Beautiful Girls was great not only for its characters but it had a really awesome soundtrack.  If you’ve seen this, one of my favorite feel good moments was when they all were together and starting singing Sweet Caroline. Its full of these fun moments but was also thoughtful and engaging.  Its a side we rarely see in men and just the thoughts that might go through their heads as in a way, they shift their vision of women as they get older.  The longing to not grow old but also to not grow up.  Thats one of my favorite conversations in this movie where Mo and Willie talk about this exact thing of his “attraction” to Natalie Portman’s Marty as a way of showing that he didn’t want to grow old and Mo says its his way of not wanting to grow up.  See, Mo = enlightening 😉

The essence of the movie really is in this ramble from Michael Rapaport when he goes on about “beautiful girls”:

Supermodels are beautiful girls, Will. A beautiful girl can make you dizzy, like you’ve been drinking Jack and Coke all morning. She can make you feel high full of the single greatest commodity known to man – promise. Promise of a better day. Promise of a greater hope. Promise of a new tomorrow. This particular aura can be found in the gait of a beautiful girl. In her smile, in her soul, the way she makes every rotten little thing about life seem like it’s going to be okay. The supermodels, Willy? That’s all they are. Bottled promise. Scenes from a brand new day. Hope dancing in stiletto heels.-taken from IMDB

With that said, I have no idea how I’ve never heard of Beautiful Girls.  Its a pretty awesome movie.  Great soundtrack, thoughtful characters and packed with a nice pace and a few feel good moments.  Its fun and fantastic! I totally recommend you to watch this!

Thanks again to Rob for introducing this to me! He is as awesome as this movie and you have to check out his site.  I linked it on top with his blog name! 🙂

Halloween Party!

Halloween is just in a few days. I’m not a child and I don’t have kids so I won’t be out trick or treating. Although this year rumour has it that no one will be going since we expect the hurricane to hit here around Tuesday or Wednesday. But, on to happier things…

As you may have known from previous post, I went to a Halloween party yesterday night at my boyfriend’s sister’s place. It was amazing, seriously. The theme was famous characters. We had a range of characters of the following: Buzz Lightyear, The Scarecrow, Little Red Riding Hood (×2), Big Bad Wolf, the Pope, Greek god, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers and the Dictator.  We also had Beetlejuice and the bride.

Buzz Lightyear

Jason

Beetlejuice

There was also Uma Thurman and Samuel Jackson’s characters from Pulp Fiction which was my boyfriend and his sister.

Pulp Fiction

So through that whole line up there was also one characters that I haven’t mentioned. That’s my character.  A lot of people thought I was Lara Croft.  My boyfriend’s dad thought I was Claire from Resident Evil.

Resident Evil Alice in Apocalyse

The effort was incredible by everyone. They had a secret vote of everyone’s favorite costume and the Dictator won.

Dictator, Little Red Riding Hood, & co.

Beetlejuice was really in characters when he walked through the door and throughout the night. When Jason and Michael Myers entered, the room seriously went quiet and just stared at them walk by with their masks and machete and knife respectively. I think everyone was trying to figure out who was behind the masks. It was epic.

That was a little recap of the Halloween party.  I apologize for the pictures being dark.  The lights were dim and second reason is that I didn’t really tell anyone I would post up their snapshots so I tried to avoid any full on front shots to keep some privacy for them.  At least you all get the idea of the costumes.

Being Alice rocked especially when it was quite an easy costume to put together.  I think this is ranked as one of the best Halloween parties ever!

What did you think of these costumes? Did you or will you be going to any parties or dressing up? What are you going to be?