Taika Waititi

You teas

Tease

yeah this movie is excellent. One of the things that kept striking me while watching it, and hit home later when I scoured reviews, several of which are lukewarm and a few of which are absolute pans, is that you don't see satire like this in movies much any more. Having grown up with Python, Mel Brooks, etc, it's nothing for me to see someone doing a funny pisstake on Hitler; but when was the last time anyone did this in a major film? I don't mean to be all 'people are too woke' but I saw my fair share of "this is not a funny subject and therefore this movie is garbage" reviews which is 100% missing the entire point.

Thomasin McKenzie - this girl is excellent in this role. I have to watch Leave no Trace.

She and it are both incredible. That's a really special movie for lots of reasons.

musical cues: these are all really great too, even the obvious one at the end. The opening of the film, with scenes from Triumph of the Will synched to "Komm Gibt Mir Deine Hand" rivals Trainspotting for great use of music and visuals. And I saw at least one review that was absolutely horrified and disgusted by it. FFS.

Taika Waititi really looks like Michael Palin doing Hitler.

Ugh, really? I found most of this film dismal.

Thought this was pretty good. Waititi consistently hilarious as Hitler ("we're having roast unicorn for dinner!"), ScarJo is great, and some v good music cues as Ned noted. Some of the comedy doesn't quite land and in a weird way I wish it was actually funnier/sillier than it turned out to be. It's strange to think how something as objectively terrible as the Benigni movie instantly got Oscar plaudits, but then this gets tut-tutted and swept under the rug as not being reverent enough - dismissed as a comedy in bad taste even though it definitely gets at the horror and violence underlying the premise. Kudos to Waititi for even trying to get this made/expend his industry capital on such an obviously personal and odd project.

benigni was pre internet tbf

looking fwd to this. not sure hes landed a full movie yet but his high points are always great

I will say this: Rebel Wilson is awful in p much everything, including this.

I feel as if I'm through the looking glass.

cant discount it! whats it like?

I cringed for most of the morning watching it.

bad morning!

Peter Bradshaw was apoplectic about it and gave it one star.

That'll show'em!

so what are people's complaints exactly

Movies based on LOL HITLER MAKING FUNNIES are dumb in 2019; it's cheap because nothing is at stake, and cheap because it's used for the sake of the moral education of young chiseler.

*a young chiseler.

Anyway.

Thought this was great - people writing it off as a satire in poor taste are clueless. It’s not a satire at all - only Nazism and its ideas are ridiculed. Everything else in the film is true and heartfelt, which is why it works so well to shitcan Hitler and his dumb anti-life ideas. Cast are all great, too.

It's true -- Nazism needs ridiculing, who knew.

I just didn't find it funny and I thought it was pretty cringey.

I wonder why these lame attempts at making a comedy movie within a nazi/Holocaust setting keep failing so badly? Well no actually I don't much tbh.

not enough fallen madonna with the big boobies iirc

Not enough, I lieb you baby, I lieb you, now lieb me alone

I'm guessing you guys haven't seen Look Who's Back yet, fucking Gordon Kaye is comedy genius next to this shit!

It’s not a satire at all

the "anti-hate satire" tagline was a major faux pas, then

I liked it

I liked it

It's true -- Nazism needs ridiculing, who knew.

You say this like the events of the past three years haven't happened.

and a satire of the Trump era would be redundant too when every day brings events that would cause Swift's brain to melt.

I don't really agree with that, I can think of at least two Trump satires that have been fantastic (The President Show and Tim Heidecker's On Cinema character). Granted those are small-screen/smaller stakes satires.

also feel like Nazis require ridicule as long as they are subject to being resuscitated

otm, never stop making nazis ridiculous

It's true -- Nazism needs ridiculing, who knew.

You say this like the events of the past three years haven't happened.

― totally unnecessary bewbz of exploitation (DJP), Monday, January 6, 2020 12:26 PM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah i thought this was really good, it's about the present. everyone is in vague 40's period voice, except waititi's imaginary friend who speaks like a snide internet anon

fwiw I found ScarJo's "they did what they could" (in ref to the ppl strung up in the square) and her later direct advice to "do what you can" to be really moving

This gets a lot of points for effort, but I don't think Waititi quite pulls it off. He is not menacing enough when Hitler gets mad, and while I love the stylized scenes like the one at the swimming pool, he is just not quite a strong enough stylist to really make it pop. Wes Anderson could have created something amazing out of this. On the flipside, it's a better story than the one in Grand Budapest Hotel.

Happy Birthday to my reason for living, @chrishemsworth. There's no one like you. pic.twitter.com/AvKJIjojlJ

— Taika Waititi (@TaikaWaititi) August 12, 2020

Comments are pretty funny, plus they get you to this meta punchline:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EfMVokSUYAIT8Cl?format=jpg&name=medium

Working on a movie version of The Incal now. I wonder if Dune being a decent success helped it along.

Jesus now that is unfilmable surely

i was gonna say, that seems a right fool's errand

So, there's a new pirate show coming to HBO, there's a new Thor movie coming to theatres, but apparently Taika filmed, and then recast, and then reshot a bunch of, a movie about the American-Samoa soccer team that has been sitting around for months/years? Starring the mostly MIA Michael Fassbender?

Psyched for the pirate show, Rhys Darby is a delight

Anybody watched this pirate show thing yet? Our Flag Means Death.
NOt sure how successful I found that first episode but not sure how much of this show is him. Beyond him directing that first episode. & appearing in a role later.
But doesn't seem to be as good as Reservation Dogs, though may compare with the quieter bits of What We Do In The Shadows or something.
Felt a bit underwhelmed by that first one but have grabbed the rest of the season so will see if it gets any more immediate. Though maybe I'm just not connecting to the feel. Not sure how well I feel about Pathos as a comedy trope.

I liked it a lot. Definitely gets better as it goes along.

Not saying it's up there with the best of those other shows, but I like everyone involved and it's totally worth sticking with imo.

Also ended up going back to People of Earth, the sitcom by the guy who's actually behind this one (David Jenkins) and found it similarly enjoyable.

Coincidentally just finished watching this - worth sticking with imo, it doesn’t really get into a groove until the third episode or so. It’s surprisingly more character-driven than expected, but the whole cast in general is pretty charming and lovable.

Also while the show bills itself as a pirate comedy, it’s prob a lot more accurate (though slightly spoiler-y) to describe it as a pirate rom-com :)

Enjoyed 2nd episode more than the 1st anyway. Couple of heavy laughs already.
So will go onto rest.