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What's the best film you've seen in the last few years? Doesn't matter when it came out Recommendation (reddthat.com)
submitted 6 months ago by to c/movies@piefed.social
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Looking for some inspiration

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[–] 6 points 6 months ago* (6 children)

Hard to pick one, here are a few:

  • Triangle of Sadness

  • Challengers

  • Conclave

  • The Wrestler

  • The Drama

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    If you liked The Wrestler and have not seen Beyond The Mat (1998), do that. Randy "The Ram"'s entire story is basically a straight copypasta of the section on Jake "The Snake" Roberts, one of the best wrestlers of his era. "Best" is used here in a very loosely-defined way, because well, we're talking about Pro Wrestling.

    But I was like 12-15 during the high years of the WWF, I was watching some of the most legendary names, and Jake was my absolute... ok well it's a tossup between Jake and George "The Animal" Steele, who was older, looked like my grandpa a little bit, managed by Captain Lou Albano (both vintage heels turned face) from the Cyndi Lauper videos and had an excellent "crazy ape man" kinda schtick. He also would destroy a turnbuckle every match and I loved the vandalism.

    For a kid of the right age, mid-80s WWF was the best entertainment going, in a time when you had 13 channels if you were lucky. VCRs weren't even completely ubiquitous yet. What else going on? Family Ties, Growing Pains, Lawrence Welk...

    But Jake was an absolute dark horse with incredible intensity, and totally unique - most were using steroids then, he had a very basic physique and didn't give a shit. Most wrestlers would be high fiving and gesticulating and getting the crowd whipped up as they walked out. Jake would just walk out staring at the ring or his opponent, neither hurrying nor dallying, just a purposeful walk, with his grey sack containing a python slung over his shoulder. Great finishing move, great schtick, one of the absolute legends.

    Finding out over a decade later that his life was this Shakespearean (think Titus, not Romeo) tragedy the whole time was just wild, but also not at all surprising, because anyone who watched his matches could see that this was a different type of dude from your typical wrestler.

    Don't sleep on Beyond The Mat. It's also got some amazing stuff with Mick Foley and Terry Funk, two dudes who have done more damage to each other than the Romans did to Jesus, and who love each other intensely for it. Lots "holy shit what the fuck did he just do" clips.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Did you watch Iron Claw? Thought that was a pretty good wrestling movie (though it is a major bummer)

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago

    I did, loved it mostly, but... they literally erased a brother. There was another one, and he was even more tragic than the one they kept - he was small, and had extremely brittle bones, and the only thing he wanted was to wrestle, of course... and they let him, and he got put out by injury very quickly, and then followed his dead brothers.

    I think they cut him out because first off, it would probably have come off to audiences as "overdone" or something because it is difficult to countenance that much tragedy on one family. But also, the ones who were alive to allow that last one to happen bear some culpability in his death. He should've been sent to distant relatives and kept completely away from the family wrestling cult.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago (2 children)

    Part of me likes The Drama because it's very well made, the performances are all great.
    But a big part of me is disappointed. At first I was confused. But since then, I've become more and more negative about the movie.

    There was nobody with any empathy or compassion for Zendaya's character. Nobody to push back on those who only reacted with vitriol, disgust, or at best shock and disappointment.

    Everyone who contemplates what she did, was abused, ostracized, or at best ignored by everyone on their life. And nobody gave her any credit for getting through. The movie is too one sided. There's no real debate. And I thinks it's worse for it.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago (1 child)

    That was the point, though, I think. It's a commentary on how society treats violence and mental health as individual, isolated character flaws rather than as systemic problems. Having a female & feminine character be the violent/troubled one was a brilliant choice imo because it goes against our stereotypes and further highlights this. That uncomfortable feeling you have would probably be less so if it was a character you expected to have issues like that

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

    Maybe.
    I'd like to think that.
    But it seems a rather generous, to me.

    It would need to spend more time on flashbacks for that. Show us more about how shitty kids were to her. Show us her parents were always too busy. Really hammer in the idea that her life was painful and lonley. Then, when we see nobody today cares to even try understand any of that, it would mean more.

    But all it gives is one breif scene with a girl shoulder bumping her between classes. That little, feels like it was added as a small justification for herself. Not something that would make it understandable by most people.

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