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#1
Off Topic Discussion / Re: Random Statements About So...
Last post by Trevor - Today at 10:08:49 AMQuote from: indianasmith on Today at 07:01:01 AMReminds me of something an 8th grade student of mine said long ago:
"We should eliminate the poor to stimulate the economy!"
Oy 😳😆😃😀😂
#2
Bad Movies / Re: RECENT VIEWINGS (Bad Movie...
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 09:56:12 AMTHE RAZOR'S EDGE (1946):
I will endure a lot of crap (cinematically speaking) to enjoy an Elsa Lanchester performance. How much of an Elsa Lanchester performance? In the case of '46's RAZOR'S EDGE, a little under two minutes' worth. Exactly how much crap? In the case of RAZOR'S EDGE, more than plenty.
W. Somerset Maugham was a big enough deal in the early 20th century that ABBA gave him a shout-out in "One Night In Bangkok", their hit single from the musical CHESS. Bill Murray must've liked Maugham's novel enough to want to remake THE RAZOR'S EDGE in the 80s. But I've spent a lot of time in 7-12 and college-level English classrooms and nobody, nobody, reads Maugham anymore....... and this movie would seem to demonstrate why. THE RAZOR'S EDGE is some real white-person $#!t about white people standing around mansions and penthouse apartments debating the meaning of life as a white person.
The central white person is a guy named Larry Darryl, which sounds like a joke on an 80s sitcom (and it was). Larry has enough autonomy and latitude as a privileged white person to spend his entire adult life traveling the world and studying how non-white people live, then returning to high society and telling other white people about it. They don't appreciate it at all and really think Larry should just settle down into a nice white-person job like sitting in an office accruing interest on his capital or attending cocktail parties! But Larry knows he is Good and Enlightened and just wishes all his other white friends would also acknowledge how Good and Enlightened he is!
Larry is played by blandly handsome Tyrone Power, whose entirely too-stoic performance fails to convince me of his sincere enlightenment. One of his love interests is played by Anne Baxter, who won an Oscar for her onscreen tragic alcoholism. Her performance shows a lot of effort, much of which is admirable and some of which veers into silliness. Larry's other love interest is played by the very beautiful Gene Tierney from LAURA, playing an utterly despicable b!tch (I was insufficiently convinced that Maugham or the screenwriter recognize that Tierney's character deserves no sympathy whatsoever, as she still gets some). Tierney's LAURA co-star Clifton Webb plays another wholly un-self-aware tragic white person, because THE RAZOR'S EDGE was evidently incomplete w/ only Baxter's un-self-aware tragic white person. Webb, who stole the show from Tierney and everyone else in LAURA, has long melodramatic deathbed scenes (plural!) but, you know, WGAF. Maugham himself is a character (played by Herbert Marshall) who stands around reminding all the other white people that they might do well to be more like Larry!
Director Edmund Goulding spends most of this
two and a half hour movie stuck on one side of the fourth wall, shooting everything like a stiffly choreographed play in long, looooooong unbroken takes. This naturally does little to emotionally connect one to the shallow characters. Goulding begins shooting in rather thoughtful, carefully framed closer shots near the end of the film, but by that point, who cares?
Elsa plays an executive assistant in a mildly pivotal scene near the end and she projects more integrity in her small character's very small scene than all the wise enlightened good whiteness in the whole rest of the film. F**k this stupid movie.
1.5/5 Weren't there world wars and global depressions happening in the teens and 20s and 30s and 40s? Sheesh.
I will endure a lot of crap (cinematically speaking) to enjoy an Elsa Lanchester performance. How much of an Elsa Lanchester performance? In the case of '46's RAZOR'S EDGE, a little under two minutes' worth. Exactly how much crap? In the case of RAZOR'S EDGE, more than plenty.
W. Somerset Maugham was a big enough deal in the early 20th century that ABBA gave him a shout-out in "One Night In Bangkok", their hit single from the musical CHESS. Bill Murray must've liked Maugham's novel enough to want to remake THE RAZOR'S EDGE in the 80s. But I've spent a lot of time in 7-12 and college-level English classrooms and nobody, nobody, reads Maugham anymore....... and this movie would seem to demonstrate why. THE RAZOR'S EDGE is some real white-person $#!t about white people standing around mansions and penthouse apartments debating the meaning of life as a white person.
The central white person is a guy named Larry Darryl, which sounds like a joke on an 80s sitcom (and it was). Larry has enough autonomy and latitude as a privileged white person to spend his entire adult life traveling the world and studying how non-white people live, then returning to high society and telling other white people about it. They don't appreciate it at all and really think Larry should just settle down into a nice white-person job like sitting in an office accruing interest on his capital or attending cocktail parties! But Larry knows he is Good and Enlightened and just wishes all his other white friends would also acknowledge how Good and Enlightened he is!
Larry is played by blandly handsome Tyrone Power, whose entirely too-stoic performance fails to convince me of his sincere enlightenment. One of his love interests is played by Anne Baxter, who won an Oscar for her onscreen tragic alcoholism. Her performance shows a lot of effort, much of which is admirable and some of which veers into silliness. Larry's other love interest is played by the very beautiful Gene Tierney from LAURA, playing an utterly despicable b!tch (I was insufficiently convinced that Maugham or the screenwriter recognize that Tierney's character deserves no sympathy whatsoever, as she still gets some). Tierney's LAURA co-star Clifton Webb plays another wholly un-self-aware tragic white person, because THE RAZOR'S EDGE was evidently incomplete w/ only Baxter's un-self-aware tragic white person. Webb, who stole the show from Tierney and everyone else in LAURA, has long melodramatic deathbed scenes (plural!) but, you know, WGAF. Maugham himself is a character (played by Herbert Marshall) who stands around reminding all the other white people that they might do well to be more like Larry!
Director Edmund Goulding spends most of this
two and a half hour movie stuck on one side of the fourth wall, shooting everything like a stiffly choreographed play in long, looooooong unbroken takes. This naturally does little to emotionally connect one to the shallow characters. Goulding begins shooting in rather thoughtful, carefully framed closer shots near the end of the film, but by that point, who cares?Elsa plays an executive assistant in a mildly pivotal scene near the end and she projects more integrity in her small character's very small scene than all the wise enlightened good whiteness in the whole rest of the film. F**k this stupid movie.
1.5/5 Weren't there world wars and global depressions happening in the teens and 20s and 30s and 40s? Sheesh.
#4
Entertainment / Re: What Video Game are You Pl...
Last post by Rev. Powell - Today at 09:08:04 AMI am also playing a strategy game based on "Dune" a lot, either online or against AI. Games take 1-2 hours and when I have enough spare time I like to do that. Not sure if that counts as a "video game," though (it's a board game adapted for computer).
#5
Games / Re: Answer the question with a...
Last post by Rev. Powell - Today at 09:06:20 AM
What favor do you want from me?
#7
Entertainment / Re: What Video Game are You Pl...
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 09:01:47 AMYeah, that's about my speed w/ games, too. In January 2024 I started playing one of those massive open-world RPGs called ELEX. For most of the year I managed to play about 15 minutes a night before bedtime (instead of watching 15 minutes of a movie). I think I played about 70-ish hours total and felt like I was approaching the end... then got busy and never went back to it. Even 15 minutes a night is just... a huge commitment. 
I could be working out or something! Or sleeping!
In January 2024 I started playing one of those massive open-world RPGs called ELEX. For most of the year I managed to play about 15 minutes a night before bedtime (instead of watching 15 minutes of a movie). I think I played about 70-ish hours total and felt like I was approaching the end... then got busy and never went back to it. Even 15 minutes a night is just... a huge commitment. I could be working out or something! Or sleeping! #8
Bad Movies / Re: How many of these Dracula'...
Last post by Rev. Powell - Today at 08:59:42 AMA1
A2
A3
A4
A5 Count Duckula
A6 Republican Dracula from "The Simpsons"
A7 John Carradine
A8
A9 Count Chockula
A10
B1
B2
B3 Nicolas Cage
B4
B5
B6
B7
B8
B9
B10
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
C8
C9
C10
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
D7
D8
D9
D10
E1
E2
E3
E4
E5
E6
E7
E8 "Batman vs Dracula"
E9
E10
F1
F2
F3
F4
F5 Zhang Wei-Qiang from "Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary" (OK, not an easy one)
F6
F7
F8
F9
F10 "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night"
G1 Leslie Nielsen
G2
G3
G4
G5 Gary Oldman
G6
G7
G8 "The Count" from Captain N: the Game Master
G9
G10
H1
H2
H3
H4
H5
H6
H7 George Hamilton
H8 Klaus Kisnki
H9 Louis Jourdan
H10
I1
I2 David Niven
I3
I4 Udo Kier
I5 Jack Palance
I6
I7
I8 Zandor Vorkov
I9
I10
J1
J2
J3 Christopher Lee
J4
J5
J6
J7
J8 Jim Ward
J9 Bela Lugosi
J10 Max Schreck
A2
A3
A4
A5 Count Duckula
A6 Republican Dracula from "The Simpsons"
A7 John Carradine
A8
A9 Count Chockula
A10
B1
B2
B3 Nicolas Cage
B4
B5
B6
B7
B8
B9
B10
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
C8
C9
C10
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
D7
D8
D9
D10
E1
E2
E3
E4
E5
E6
E7
E8 "Batman vs Dracula"
E9
E10
F1
F2
F3
F4
F5 Zhang Wei-Qiang from "Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary" (OK, not an easy one)
F6
F7
F8
F9
F10 "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night"
G1 Leslie Nielsen
G2
G3
G4
G5 Gary Oldman
G6
G7
G8 "The Count" from Captain N: the Game Master
G9
G10
H1
H2
H3
H4
H5
H6
H7 George Hamilton
H8 Klaus Kisnki
H9 Louis Jourdan
H10
I1
I2 David Niven
I3
I4 Udo Kier
I5 Jack Palance
I6
I7
I8 Zandor Vorkov
I9
I10
J1
J2
J3 Christopher Lee
J4
J5
J6
J7
J8 Jim Ward
J9 Bela Lugosi
J10 Max Schreck
#9
Entertainment / Re: What have you been listeni...
Last post by Rev. Powell - Today at 08:55:35 AM
Samba with strings
#10
Off Topic Discussion / Re: Random Statements About So...
Last post by indianasmith - Today at 07:01:01 AMReminds me of something an 8th grade student of mine said long ago:
"We should eliminate the poor to stimulate the economy!"
"We should eliminate the poor to stimulate the economy!"