Let us anticipate Steven Spielberg's autobiographical film "The Fabelmans"

https://i.imgur.com/WmDVnYP.jpg

Starring Paul Dano, Michelle Williams, Judd Hirsch, and Gabriel LaBelle.

Seeing Thursday night and 50-50 odds I'll be really angry Friday.

Would it’ve killed him to cast more Jews to play Jews?

Seeing Thursday night and 50-50 odds I'll be really angry Friday.

― ex-McKinsey wonk who looks like a human version of a rat (Eric H.)

I've no idea how I might respond tbh. Either way RIP Morbs.

I think about this Alex P4r33ne tweet about "The Shape of Water" a lot

I didn't really understand how a quirky fantasy movie by a lifelong genre director was the Oscar frontrunner but I finally watched it and yes there is a scene where the monster is transfixed by the magic of cinema

— 'Weird Alex' Pareene (@pareene) March 3, 2018

xp I have to think Morbs, like me, would've been disappointed in West Side Story

Was at Tár last week and saw a preview that I was sure was for this, only to find out eventually that it was Sam Mendes's new 1950s magic-of-cinemas movie.

Part of my hesitation is that I never want to see Paul Dano again ever

can we discuss the Magic of Paul Dano

only to find out eventually that it was Sam Mendes's new 1950s magic-of-cinemas movie

Between trailers for that, this and that Babylon thing I kinda hate movies now.

and remember last year's Kenneth Branagh picture, about the Magic of Branagh

I will never hate movies, but I do think Movies™ are what Sontag said they were two decades ago

Five minutes of brilliance. At the cost of two hours of a family being unhappy in its individual way.

And who the eff keeps greenlighting movies about movies?

Movie guys?

If Babylon is as grotesque as it sounds, this should seem a sweet solace

only to find out eventually that it was Sam Mendes's new 1950s magic-of-cinemas movie

Between trailers for that, this and that Babylon thing I kinda hate movies now.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, November 15, 2022 1:26 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I know I'm sick of the industry celebrating itself (if you know what I mean).

"Sick, that is!"

https://i.imgur.com/YKDH4dP.jpg

Next thing you know, Nicole Kidman will join this thread to tell us about, well, you know -

Five minutes of brilliance. At the cost of two hours of a family being unhappy in its individual way.

Quite disagree.

This was good, how good I don't know yet. Despite its on-the-nose moments (ahem Judd Hirsch), the quiet disintegration of this family Spielberg staged with patience and subtlety.

I enjoyed how it nodded to Michelle Williams' breakthrough in BBM while reversing the roles.

It’s sat with me for a week and I do think it’s real deal good … I too thought the Judd Hirsch scene a bit, well, terrifying but I’m sure it had a real life analogue that’s beyond my understanding

I don't know how to respond to the scene between Sam and high school bully Logan? I know it's supposed to be revelatory -- an example of ci-ne-mah transfiguring life -- but I couldn't believe this cute surfer type had enough self-awareness to make his admission.

At that moment I’d wondered if teen Spielberg had seen Riefenstahl’s Olympia … or if the bully had

I thought of Olympia too as Logan spiked those uh balls

that scene is really weird, but really fascinating - the whole high school section is a great shift of moods and themes. Idk... to be honest, the whole setting in the prom night was amazing and weird (Chloe Monet East Precourt also being great as well – throughout the whole movie, but really shining at the party)

I just really loved this I guess

i posted a lot about it on the Spielberg thread but i thoroughly enjoyed it & found it v moving

I thought of Olympia too as Logan spiked those uh balls

What about when he offered Sammy his joint?

Having had 24 hours to digest this, I'll confidently say it's my favorite Spielberg since Lincoln and probably top-tier.

a top-tier Spielberg with a solid Paul Dano performance.

This one truly defied all odds; one week later and I'm very much comfortable calling it his best since the 2005 diptych

yeah i definitely would agree that it’s up there w Lincoln for me

And I'm very much comfortable proclaiming that Morbs would've loed it.

Agreed on that one ... he'd have hated West Side Story though.

Just saw this tonight. This really was kinda great.

Was not totally sure I was onboard in those early childhood scenes. But then the film goes on and starts slowly bending into this much richer, more complex thing and you’re finding yourself totally rapt. And those early scenes make more sense contextually.

Was constantly impressed by how the film dodged obviousness and always went somewhere more interesting. The whole scene with him after the dance, having the confrontation with the bully was masterful.

Lots to ponder pic.twitter.com/lqN56tKmsv

— Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) November 30, 2022

omg

I've defended Christgau's knotty prose before on the grounds that if you take it piece by piece it all adds up and makes sense. Armond is the opposite, things that seem nonsensical on the surface get more bewildering the further into them you go. I started panicking and looking for an exit halfway through that last sentence.

came out of the theater glowing

<3

couldn't help but spend most of the runtime wishing morbs could've seen it

saaaaame

I couldn't believe this cute surfer type had enough self-awareness to make his admission.

Yeah this was a tough sell for me as well, it tilted into surrealism to see the knuckle-dragging bigot all of a sudden start getting philosophical like that. They should have figured out a way to put those ideas into the mouth of a smarter character like a teacher or someone imo. But thats my only qualm, loved Judd Hirsch and Lynch and floated out of the theater. Started to get emotional during the first moviegoing scene tbh.

I have to admit that the theme from “The Wonder Years” played in my head a few times while watching this movie, which I really enjoyed.

I really loved this, Paul Dano included. Loved WSS as well so great to see Mr. Spielberg batting a thousand again.

Great film, and fascinating to see a major director confronting something he's been running from/repressing at this stage in his career.

loved this. found it really touching in several places and absorbing all throughout.

agreed that the bully maybe said more than he needed to, or could have. the scene is saved by him collapsing into incoherent blubbering but that coulda happened sooner. my only real "fix" would be to flesh out Sammy's relationships with the sisters and the childhood friends just a little more, just to give his own presence a little more reality.

loved the moment where the most important thing ever is happening, and Sammy catches himself thinking about how it would best be filmed.

So many awkward notes in this.

-wtf was with the family's crestfallen reaction to their giant midcentury California house (the first one)? "moldy old rental"

-Had a real hard time with Michelle Williams as Jewish mother. Surprisingly few Jews in this for it being such a central theme, c'mon (Judd Hirsch was the mvp though).

-Kept wondering if the buff bully was going to try to make out with Sammy, or possibly himself. That whole hallway prom scene felt like it was out of another movie, very Archie Comics or something.

-Kept wondering if Sammy was going to try to make out with his mom, obviously

-Wish there was more perspective from the sisters or anybody else, you'd have to be very generous to say that it was intentionally solipsistic as a means of self-criticism (he only cares about making movies, etc). It seemed to be stretching to include signs that Sam is an emotional human being or that Spielberg is being "vulnerable" (he has anxiety, a shiksa broke up with him and he got bullied, his parents got divorced, ok).

You'd think that on paper I would vibe with this hard (my dad worked at the same job, my mom also has mental health issues, I also got bullied for being the Jewish kid), but eh.

The more criticisms I hear leveled at this one make me even more convinced that this is by far the strangest movie in his entire career ... for the better.

I don't think it was strange enough. The (fantastic) Lynch cameo only made me ruminate on how they are complete opposites in every way you can think of.

I'm not sure they are!

The house reaction seems accurate for an upwardly mobile middle class family in the early 60s - they've been living in a brand-new midcentury ranch, and now they're in this Craftsman bungalow from the 1920s. I'd kill for that house, but to the Fabelmans it probably WOULD seem dowdy, out of fashion, and hard to clean and maintain.

I guess its of a piece with the 50s/60s modern housewife vibe, throwing away the plastic dishes and wanting everything to be clean and new, but hard to take through today's lens of that being an amazing million+ dollar house, lol.

i know the lynch cameo came together kind of randomly, but having him of all people pop up at the end playing a patriarchal figure of spielberg's life (an event that he describes as quite traumatic!) creates so much weird meta-textual suggestiveness that it makes my head spin. it's not quite A.I. level infinite regress but it is quite cool.

Latest Cahiers magazine has a whole piece on Spielberg’s casting of fave film people ( “classic” faces as well as contemporary favorites of his ) as central characters in his films. Gist of it is that they act as his connection to Classic Filmmaking - or a cinema that’s vanishing/vanished.

Ahhhh, The French!

Fwiw I really liked the film.

As one who's always late to the party, my wife and I watched this on DVD last night. On the whole it was entertaining enough. I moderately enjoyed it. But I couldn't help but think that if the script hadn't been framed as based on Spielberg's life and family, but had been submitted to a studio by some agent as the work of some run-of-the-mill writer with a few film credits, but nothing special, whether it would have generated much interest either to make it or, if it were made, it would have attracted much of an audience. Because the script & its episodic, disjointed story were easily the weakest part of the movie.

Its strengths were based on the having so many capable, strong, experienced hands behind the camera as well as in front of it, so you were pulled along from scene to scene, despite its many weaknesses. The worst scenes were pretty bad, but mercifully brief, and I accepted them as Spielberg being unable to re-imagine them away from his own memories and into a reshaped and more interesting form. It was his story and we had to accept its warts as essential to some truth about him, even if trite if viewed simply as fiction.

I love the scene where Sammy is looking at the footage he shot on the camping trip and realizes his mother is having an affair with his father's best friend

I think that's pretty spot-on, Aimless.

The actress playing the shiksa girlfriend was beyond great. The film as a whole was, I guess, corny, but quite lovable.