Jennifer Coolidge is a national treasure. And Arianna Grande has comedy chops. Who knew?
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I did not. She’s got some pipes, too.
Cathedral of New Emotions (2006) - dir. Helmut Herbst
In 1974, Berlin director Helmut Herbst began an animated film called Die phantastische Welt des Matthew Madson. It was worked on in fits and starts over decades and finally released, transformed into this, whatever it is.
Truly a product of the psychedelic age, we are introduced to a commune that was sent into space in a shipping container in 1972, and spend their time in stoned conversation and lamenting their existence. The animation is all rotoscoped (ala’ Ralph Bakshi) and watercolor washed, and everyone speaks in robotic artificial voices sounding like various pitch variations of Stephen Hawking. All this is accompanied by a droning kraut-rock score.
This is one of those films that, unless you are curious about the film as an object in itself, there really isn’t much to recommend for the average viewer. The style and concept are certainly original, but it’s slow, meandering, and more of an odd art experiment than any sort of narrative piece. Thankfully, it’s a brief 60 minutes. There are some moments of genuine humor, and the art style, while deliberately ‘ugly’, has a neat feel to it. So it’s worth a look for at least those aspects.
I’d be very curious to hear what a German familiar with the local culture in the 70’s might have to say about it. There’s certainly the possibility that I am missing a lot of context that might make this more compelling.
Or maybe it’s just a bunch of stoned musings. It wouldn’t be the first film of that genre.
1.5/5 rolled fatties
German, stoner, and child of the 70s here, but… I’m not sure I wanna help you out 
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Oh my. Julia Child on PBS via YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/@JuliaChildonPBS/videos
Specifically this one:
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I’m fairly certain I saw this episode as a kid when it originally aired. I loved her so much. I really wanted to bake baguettes and use one of those old fashioned garden sprayers to ‘steam’ your oven.
#2 was Justin Wilson. I don’t actually like a lot of Cajun food, as I don’t care for the flavor of cayenne , but he was so absolutely compelling just to listen to, and I practiced pouring exactly a teaspoon of salt into my bare hand until I got it down. My mother was far less impressed by this than I thought she should be.
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Watched Cunk on Life, which has some hysterical moments, but wasn’t as funny as her earlier shows.
Also started in on The Big Door Prize, a series rec’d by the NYT in an article about shows that are about to disappear or be canceled. This one’s being canceled. So far, so entertaining. And I have a soft spot for Chris O’Dowd.
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I still say “another dead soldier” every time I empty a bottle.
Mrs H is a fan and of Diane Morgan’s other show “Mandy”. I’m not a fan.
Tonight’s “old movie” is Suspicion (1941)
Vive la difference.
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Love Lies Bleeding (2024) - dir. Rose Glass
Lou (Kristen Stewart) is a lesbian gym manager at bodybuilder gym in a small New Mexico border town during the Bush Sr. presidency. Her father is Lou Sr. (Ed Harris), an eccentric and violent man who owns the gym, the local gun club, the bar, and has a handy side business running illegal arms over the Mexican border. Lou’s sister Beth (Jena Malone, in a fantastic non-comedic role) is an abused spouse, courtesy of scumbag husband JJ (Dave Franco, the NON-scumbag Franco sibling). Onto the scene comes Jackie (Katy O’Brian), a bisexual bodybuilder hitchhiking her way to Vegas for a competition.
What follows is a very grim, but absolutely gripping romantic thriller touching on domestic abuse, toxic family relationships, steroid use, vengeance, and justice. Long gone are the old criticisms of Stewart as an expressionless, dour mannequin. She has, along with her one time sparkly co-star, Robert Pattinson, undergone a complete critical reassessment, turning what looked like a shallow, blockbuster-laden career into one of daring independent choices and radically different roles. Co-star O’Brian is equally magnetic, all feral ambition and occasionally psychotic drug-induced rage. Harris is terrifyingly creepy.
There are some truly wild moments within, including a few hallucinatory sequences that veer into the overblown fantasy of more surreal films, like Alex Garland’s Men or last year’s mindblowing The Substance. Not that it ever approaches the huge excesses of those films, but there’s a bit of that flavor in Love Lies Bleeding, and it works to raise the film past what would otherwise be a very well done but otherwise straightforward crime thriller.
4.5/5 bicep reps
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I wasn’t impressed, TBH, and I mentioned that flick in the previous thread I think.
I was expecting a horror movie, and this wasn’t it 
Expectations can really mess with one’s experience for a film. It’s why I like to avoid trailers if I can at all do so. A trailer that convinces you a film is one thing, and ends up being a much different thing, can make the viewer feel cheated or deceived. Sometimes defying expectations is great, but if one has been looking forward to sushi and is suddenly served lasagna, it doesn’t matter how good the lasagna actually is.
I went in with almost no expectations, and just loved it. As always, YMMV.
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Closed out young’un selections with The Other Guys — Will Ferrell is so versatile, and so is Marky Mark, shockingly.
Today we moved onto Shogun, after we figured out how to side-load Hulu to get the English dub which is a bit easier for mom than subtitles.
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I approach most movies with (ideally) zero idea of the plot. My PIC is the one responsible for finding shows and movies for us, so unless it’s a new flick heavily advertised and everyone kind of knows what it’s about, I prefer not to know anything… which is why I was really pissed at IMDB for practically giving away the entire plot twist of Bone Tomahawk when I looked for the link to share here. Like, WTFAF?
I had no expectations of the movie, other than that the NYT had listed it among 4 other horror flicks. I do have high expectations of horror movies: scare me, plz — or at least make me feel uncomfortable. This was just not that, but I am glad you enjoyed it.
This was fantastic.
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Yup. This is my third viewing.
Oh! Well, alright then.
Second time was bec I was distracted and missed good parts 
This one’s for mom.
If I knew I was gonna live forever, I’d re-watch things. But I have FOMO so I can’t!
