My favorite movie of all time does that! RoboCop (1987)! The whole movie shows the danger of private companies controlling social services... with a bunch of entertaining shoot-outs! I even wrote an analysis on it! https://vocal.media/theSwamp/learning-politics-with-robo-cop
Never thought about it like that, but I don't think I've watched it since I was pretty young 🤔 I'm going to have to give it a rewatch here soon, thank you ☺️
A thing from Robocop that I keep going back to is when a creep holds up a gas station teller at gun point and says something like you think you're pretty smart, can you out think a bullet?
Being a five foot tall woman, I think about this a lot. It's the reason I have a gun in the car and sometimes on my person at night, hoping I'll never need it, but knowing that the avg man can overpower me.
This may be surprising but.... Scarface, because at its core it is about that despite having tons of money, if you don't have morals or actual love for others, you will be miserable. Tony Montana found morals at the end but his terrible history caught up to him.
To Kill A Mockingbird makes a great political point, but the plot of the movie revolves around White Savior-ism. If you look at the book and the author through the lens of White Feminism…it’s very icky. It’s like when as an adult you realize Glinda sent Dorthy off to kill her enemies.
I’ve heard this argument before, and it has merit. All I know is that as a very young child watching this movie, I learned a life lesson that changed my views and outlooks on race and how to be upstanding. A big lesson considering my background.
Same. I agree with you!!! We probably have similar backgrounds. I think To Kill a Mocking Bird needed to happen to open minds and doors. It’s a great lesson, especially for young minds. I apologize if I came across as attacking you.
No! To Kill a Mockingbird is one of a historically accurate view of living in the Deep South under segregation. You are killing the truth of a life many of us grew up in and saw with our own eyes. Take it from us, not so many options.
Yes, and that kindness is a positive trait (my wife always loves the scene of the mother protecting the son's impulse to be kind to his opponents), and the need to negotiate the interesting tension between the influences of the coach and the Fishburne character
Our Brand is Crisis is so...so good. Sandra Bullock is an absolute force. The whole movie is about how the US government will happily interfere in the elections of other countries to help make sure we get the candidate we want. It is a vicious wonderful gut punch of a movie.
Agreed. The important bit of it is its incisive critique of capitalism and on the pressures that would undermine news divisions' autonomy in favor of entertainment
I mean, it's really hard to get more prescient than that: calling out shit in 1976 that wouldn't fully materialize until the 1990s
It doesn't have to be correct, the speech is incredibly sincere. If the speech were cynical, or even slightly less sincere, the whole movie would mean a lot less.
Fight Club, The Matrix, and V for Vendetta get a lot of hate because of people watching them for the wrong reasons and completely misunderstanding them, but they are actually very good movies.
Fight Club: "hey, there's a lot of young men entering adulthood in a culture that can't offer them community or purpose, only empty consumerism. Guys adrift like this are very susceptible to charismatic extremists. We should probably be concerned."
I feel like the Matrix series is less political and more introspective. It examines things like self-determination and free will. It explores the definition of being.
It questions our observations of reality.
I was referring more to the altruistic message and choosing your own way in life despite odds being against you more than the reality aspect. The state of "being" kind of does cover both. A lot of conversations in the series are very thought provoking in general though regardless of where they fall.
oooh, yeah, the topic of freewill was such a main theme! The realization that perhaps no one has freewill (in the movie) dawned on me during the convo w/the French dude (forgot his name) when our heroes were trying to find the Keymaker. Not even the ones who chose the red pill! (Matrix geek here)
The Abyss (esp Directors Cut)
Goonies (gentrification)
TOYS (drone warfare)
Princess Bride (Love vs Evil)
The Manhattan Project
Real Genius
Manderlay
Dogville
Goodbye Lenin
Die Welle (The Wave) 2008
The Wave (Original 1981)
The Catholic Church has at the least 3,213 Boy Scouts Child Sex Abuse Survivors that are Claimants in the @BoyScouts $2.46 Billion Bankruptcy! https://SurvivingScouting.org
The Catholic Church has at the least 3,213 Boy Scouts Child Sex Abuse Survivors that are Claimants in the @BoyScouts $2.46 Billion Bankruptcy! https://SurvivingScouting.org @survivingscouting.org
It had potential, but it unnecessarily narrowed its target audience with Streep's character too obviously Republican. Could've been more effective had she done a composite (like Mark Rylance brilliantly did).
And the scene where the Republican voters booed them off the stage was wish fulfillment.
The fact so many people still quote its most salient points, also thoroughly enjoyed it, AND those salient points are being proven EXACTLY the argument at play today, shows you just didn’t understand it 🙄
Sleeper. Seriously. It's as valid a dystopia as Fahrenheit 451, and the jokes are better. The line "In six months we'll be stealing Erno's nose" came to mind as we read about the factions that ousted Assad.
Sometimes the "early funny ones" were more profound than when he tried to be profound.
For a long time I would tell people my favorite film was Citizen Kane (it actually was Weekend at Bernie's 2) but then I saw Strangelove and I loved it and I have no shame in telling people. It's got a great script, great acting, great execution by the director, meaningful and funny as hell.
It's based on an extremely serious novel called "Red Alert"; Kubrick said that when he read it, he realized it could only be made into a movie as an unprofitable, depressing art film, or a dark comedy.
So! I thought Steel Magnolias was Norma Rae, so here I am waiting for Dolly Parton and Sally Field to start a union just crying my eyes out! I enjoyed Steel Magnolias but man was it Heartbreaking!
I posted above about the movies of Peter Watkins. He’s best known for The War Game (1966). He’s known for this unique documentary style, which I’m crazy about. Also try:
La Commune (Paris, 1871)
Punishment Park
Privilege
Edvard Munch
Gladiators
This movie is really good. Key to not bring confused for the first 10 minutes is that when you hear Kirk Douglas and other actors speaking in American accents in the French trenches, its an American movie and these charcters are speaking demotic language ... meaning they are French speaking French.
The Grapes of Wrath. Not just the Henry Fonda flick watch a video of the stage play from the National Theatre (UK). Rather pertinent to the present moment.
Like a lot of things that benefit from experience. And all art benefits, or suffers, from the experience of the participant. It’s never objectively one thing.
Maybe that’s part of all of them. I’m a bit fuzzy on the 3rd one, but it’s part of the 4th I remember, even though 4th was pretty bad. AvP, also fuzzy. Prometheus was an incoherent mess. Haven’t watched any others.
They got mixed up a lot with that one, since at different phases of production it was an agricultural world, a monastery, an industrial outpost, and finally a penitentiary.
Elements of all of these ended up in the final film to some degree.
Could be argued for Alien³ as well, for sure. WeyYu prisoners left to rot because their prison was no longer profitable; only sending an Evac team because they wanted Ripley's embryo; pretending to care about Ripley to get what they wanted.
I’ve been hoping so. I’ve heard a lot of people say it was not bad. After Prometheus and the first 10 minutes of Covenant, I’m never watching any new SF films by Ridley Scott. Prometheus was so bad I got angry at it. Felt like Scott thought audience were all idiots.
Definitively the overarching messaging securely nestled within the cold, dark core of the acidic heart of every single ALIEN film produced thus far. Shit, even the ALIEN VS. PREDATOR films, for that matter!
Still holding out for that Aliens / Terminator franchise, starring Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor, fighting across spacetime against artificial intelligence and corporate hubris
"Dave" (1993) with Kevin Kline is a good one. Sigourney Weaver continues her streak of being awesome in everything she does. And Frank Langella is a great bad guy politician with no moral compass.
And it’s part of the Gremlins Cinematic Universe, in which Daniel Clamp, NYC real estate developer almost gets the world overrun by monsters because of greed and hubris.
Outbreak
A Taxi Driver (Korean movie, based on historical events)
State of Play
The Wave (Norwegian movie)
12-12: The Day
Train to Busan
1987: When the Day Comes
No, that's the one!!! I totally confused the two. Geez, I never thought I'd meet the other human on the planet who'd seen this. Ain't social media grand?
Not Christian but I totally converted for a month or so after seeing this
I hope your month was less unhinged than Sharon’s 🙌🏼. That movie had me questioning so many life moments. You’ve helped me reach a life goal! (Now, I still need to find someone that has watched Closet Land).
Charlie Wilsons' War was another good one since it explains at the end how we got the Taliban terrorist government in Afghanistan; an American creation.
How about V and V: The Final Battle? Not necessarily movies (tv mini-séries) but a step towards corporate fascism and a step away from War of the Worlds.
Yes the original. And the new one is really wonderful too: Minus One. I think it's on Netflix. Came out a couple of years ago now. Not the new American ones, those are basically just Transformers movies now.
Schindler’s List
The Mission
Dead Poets Society
Platoon
A Clockwork Orange
Melancholia
El Norte
A Separation
Upon A Midnight Clear
Rashomon
Princess Mononoke
Black Robe
Gandhi
The Right Stuff
Water
It's a fantastic film. Its editing so perfectly establishes its tone, which is: "here's my statement, I know I'm right. Choke on it if you don't like it. Fuck you. Roll credits"
Also Lilo & Stitch shows the value of broken families who still love each other even when things get messy, and how chosen family can be just as strong a bond as blood family.
I found it by searching "lilo and stitch family" in the gif finder here, and scrolling down a bit. I have no idea whether they show up in the same order for everyone, but for me it comes up on the left side 9 images down with that search.
WUSA (1970) Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Laurence Harvey, Anthony Perkins, Cloris Leachman. WUSA is a right wing hate radio station in New Orleans. When I rewatched the film a couple of years ago I was startled that this RW BS has been going on for that long
Same with the evangelicals. While here in Europe we knew about long ago the U.S. media was deafening silent about them. Wanting to install a theocracy is a kind of fascism. We Europeans can smell fascism from afar.
Best Foreign Film Oscar winner, 1969,
“Z” directed by Costa-Gravas.
Great performances, made a HUGE impression on me as a teen.
Not sure if it streams anywhere, but if you find it you’ll love it!
Night of the living dead. The original black and white version.
The protagonist is a black man. He’s discounted by all of the white people around him. Turns out he’s the only competent one among the bunch. Makes it thru the night only to be shot in the head by local police cleaning up zombies.
Everyone else was a believably selfish idiot. Ben was resourceful & smart.
He got no credit. Pokes his head out of the window in the morning & BOOM. Cut to a white sheriff saying "Good shot! OK he's dead. Let's go get him. That's another one for the fire."
Comments
I'm probably reading too much into it, right?
Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
Good Morning, Vietnam.
Hard to find now.
https://youtu.be/CMWa2EJGhFA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Stone
Malcolm X, for Denzel Washington's performance...
The Shawshank Redemption
To Kill A Mockingbird
Those are just some at the top of my head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo45o69HaKI
(For the answer, watch the video, which reveals an ancient secret method of killing a mockingbird.)
Watching the slippery slope and what it takes to get out before being taken out is daunting.
Sandra Bullock is great, Ann Dowd intimidating, Billy Bob at smarmy finest. kinda like in Primary Colors...another fav
SLC Punk
Scrooge
It's a Wonderful Life
I mean, it's really hard to get more prescient than that: calling out shit in 1976 that wouldn't fully materialize until the 1990s
Always punch Nazis.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4896658/Nazi-tracked-punched-harassing-black-man.html#v-7781542900392346028 #nazis #fascism #democracy #usa
And then that's exactly what happened.
It questions our observations of reality.
“Our Daily Bread” (2005)
Sneakers
The Abyss (esp Directors Cut)
Goonies (gentrification)
TOYS (drone warfare)
Princess Bride (Love vs Evil)
The Manhattan Project
Real Genius
Manderlay
Dogville
Goodbye Lenin
Die Welle (The Wave) 2008
The Wave (Original 1981)
… and Star Trek (both series and most films!!)
And the scene where the Republican voters booed them off the stage was wish fulfillment.
Could you club people harder over the head w/ a "message" that any semi-intelligent person already knows & deniers can easily ridicule?
It won't change anyone's mind; so smug it almost made me side w/ deniers.
What a waste of talent, celluloid, & good will.
Sometimes the "early funny ones" were more profound than when he tried to be profound.
Fargo (bonus for watching the series as well)
Muppet Christmas Carol
Gremlins
All have terrible rich people trying to keep "little people" down.
Ya know, Nazis = bad
Margin Call (2011)
The Big Short (2015)
Z (1969)
Oppenheimer (2023)
Kundun (1997)
Hero (2002)
Gandhi (1982)
La Commune (Paris, 1871)
Punishment Park
Privilege
Edvard Munch
Gladiators
High noon
The front
Norma rae
The grapes of wrath
The ox bow incident
Network
On the waterfront
Walter Van Tilburg Clark
1 - Fail Safe
2 - Dr Strangelove
3 - On the Beach
Pity it is not based on a reality.
Blow-Up, Blow Out, Days of Heaven, 12 Angry Men, Night of the Hunter -- lots more where that came from
...and they immediately begin fighting over what that actually means.
Fair Game with Sean Penn
Eye in the Sky with Alan Rickman and Helen Mirren
Elements of all of these ended up in the final film to some degree.
ALWAYS rescue the cat.
Nothing else matters
Spotlight
"Do you think they'll print it?"
Haunting question.
Pluses for Duke Ellington score, local color, and obviously, casting.
People also just kinda sidestep all the eugenics in that movie.
The Lives of Others
Z
A Taxi Driver (Korean movie, based on historical events)
State of Play
The Wave (Norwegian movie)
12-12: The Day
Train to Busan
1987: When the Day Comes
Final scene honestly freaked me out for weeks after
Not Christian but I totally converted for a month or so after seeing this
Silkwood
Norma Rae
The River
The Color Purple
Do the Right Thing
+ a shitload of politically-themed sci-fi/specfic:
https://newretro.net/blogs/main/analyzing-the-political-undertones-in-80s-sci-fi-movies
Suzume (2023)
Schindler’s List
The Mission
Dead Poets Society
Platoon
A Clockwork Orange
Melancholia
El Norte
A Separation
Upon A Midnight Clear
Rashomon
Princess Mononoke
Black Robe
Gandhi
The Right Stuff
Water
The list goes on & on & on
And that any sentient being can do better, BE better. Even killer robots.
Also, Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile.
https://youtu.be/5kZdDJ9GbfM?si=DezG6I0wPr-GuZFs&t=32
High Noon
Idiocracy
Fight Club
The Third Man
The Candidate
Network
M*A*S*H
The Day the Earth Stood Still (not the horrible remake)
Forbidden Planet
Teenagers from Outer Space
“Z” directed by Costa-Gravas.
Great performances, made a HUGE impression on me as a teen.
Not sure if it streams anywhere, but if you find it you’ll love it!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_(1969_film)
The protagonist is a black man. He’s discounted by all of the white people around him. Turns out he’s the only competent one among the bunch. Makes it thru the night only to be shot in the head by local police cleaning up zombies.
Everyone else was a believably selfish idiot. Ben was resourceful & smart.
He got no credit. Pokes his head out of the window in the morning & BOOM. Cut to a white sheriff saying "Good shot! OK he's dead. Let's go get him. That's another one for the fire."
Too poignant.
Wicked
Barbie
For classics:
Face in the Crowd
It's a Wonderful Life
Meet John Doe
Also, many episodes of Route 66
Foreign language (German): The Lives of Others
“No one is above the law”