Josh and Benny Safdie's UNCUT GEMS starring Adam Sandler as a jewelry dealer with a gambling habit

The first time I rewatched I kept hearing pained "oohs" from the audience. Especially at the throat-punch. That was almost as fun as the movie itself.

this was really good, though maybe a hair less good than Good Time. mostly that was due to GT being more of a surprise and them repeating some of the same tricks here, but also the 0PN score worked much better in GT than in UG. i was less stressed by UG but again that might have been going in with expectations of stress. the auction was intense though.

is there a film term for when the action of a scene ends but the scene keeps going? there were a couple of good examples like that here, mainly the girlfriend walking back to the club after their big fight but also sandler left in his kitchen and futilely trying to put foil back on a cake.

i really like eric bogosian in this, he looked like a greasy corpse. this was such a sweaty movie

great acting all around, i really appreciate the safdies' approach to naturalistic acting/nonactors, until you get to the tanned creep at the casino at the end who's like a weird mickey rourke cartoon

I keep cracking up thinking about the scene where Howard's in the closet texting while getting progressively more giddy

(and horny)

that was so good!

The most exhausting two hours of yelling and hysterics I've seen since The Wolf of Wall Street. I think it's supposed to look back to a certain kind of '70s urban realism--Lumet, Chayefsky, James Toback maybe, the John G. Avildsen of Joe and Save the Tiger--but I bet they'd all feel like Bergman if you were to watch any of that and this back-to-back. I can't think of a single positive thing to say about it (including Sandler's passable turn as John Turturro), although I hope "Go fuck the Weeknd" goes on to become a standard line whenever movie couples argue.

Damn!

https://media.giphy.com/media/QU4ewgcmdcsObx9CG7/giphy.gif

lol

I respect clem emptying the clip like that

I mean it's nice to see some alternate takes ITT

clem's take aligns with most of my friends tbh

Really wonder if the goyim can rly “get” this movie

It's one of those great movies I would never recommend to at least half the people in my life (and already have to the rest).

I’m personally evolving past “I didn’t really feel that stressed out by this movie” to “this is a perfectly normal movie and every other movie just doesn’t have enough shouting and Moogs”

i loved this and have recommended "the lighthouse" before this to anyone, based on this film's intensity.

also, i want to know the safdie backstory to the casting of the robert evans as a gambler tribute character.

lol

I respect clem emptying the clip like that

― k3vin k., Monday, January 13, 2020 10:21 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Yes 😂

I think it's a more effective and nuanced critique of capitalism than Parasite, for example.

what’s the nuanced critique of capitalism in ‘guy has a gambling addiction’?

the opal is a priceless, spiritual object. Howard believes in its powers, even if it he wants to make $$$ off of it. but he acquires it through dirty means, and even though he believes in its powers, he doesn't deserve it.

This isn't a straight up gambling addiction movie, there aren't enough of those.

C’mon this is a movie about the struggle of the Jewish people to survive in a world that hates them

idk that howard believes the opal has supernatural powers, but he does observe that kg believes in it

i thought u were gonna say something about kg grilling him about making a profit off the opal. but tbh that scene felt kinda tacked on to me

It's a movie about the perils of wearing ugly glasses.

this is a movie about the 2008 global financial crisis

bingo

Really wonder if the goyim can rly “get” this movie

― Swilling Ambergris, Esq. (silby), Monday, January 13, 2020 11:54 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Otm

will watching this movie induce a panic attack y/n

I really want to see it but all the talk about how anxiety-inducing it is has me wary

For me it was an adrenaline rush, not anxiety so much.

also, i want to know the safdie backstory to the casting of the robert evans as a gambler tribute character.

https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/uncut-gems-handsome-older-man-wayne-diamond-new-legacy

the instagram linked from that piece is incredible: https://www.instagram.com/thewaynediamond/?igshid=118y0dki6rycx

references to the film's anxiety inducing capacities are greatly exaggerated. it's more of a thrill ride.

xxpost Thanks for linking that--I assumed the character was a washed-up 70s rock star, with ample royalties and zero critical credibility.

That dude was not acting at all. If anything he was toning it down

And Wayne Diamond totally could have designed Dinah's vintage bat mitzvah dress. An aging garmento backstory fits the character.

HUNT: Anything aside from Uncut Gems stand out as an experience in your life post-retirement?

DIAMOND: I don’t want to do anything that has to do with money. Nothing. You don’t bring out the best of yourself. I want to do things that are creative. The art world, I like. I wanna have a good fuckin’ time. I wanna laugh, I wanna drink, I wanna be with people. Happy people, not assholes. We got too many assholes. New York not so much, but in America, we got that scumbag in the White House. When he’s gone, the world will be a better place.

This guy sounds like fun

i don't disagree with anything in that paragraph!

so popular here they’ve moved it from the second screen to the largest screen at the local independent. that’s a lot of nights ruined

the gem's powers are real! they have to be. the movie would be meaningless otherwise- it's about capitalism splitting the oppressed up and setting them against each other. Howard puts a price on a priceless object and pays the ultimate price.

Monkey paw

no Oscar nominiees for this. not surprising, but it is yet another example to how worthless the Oscars are in general

Keith Richards Williams for Best Goon

"The most exhausting two hours of yelling and hysterics I've seen since The Wolf of Wall Street. I think it's supposed to look back to a certain kind of '70s urban realism--Lumet, Chayefsky, James Toback maybe, the John G. Avildsen of Joe and Save the Tiger"

maybe the only thing in common is the yelling becuase Wolf Of.. is a really bad movie. No wonder Scorsese is the producer here, he loves those so called realistic crime/mob movies (he also produced Gomorra for example). I do think it owes more to Cassavetes than anything.

Bad news: Sandman gets no love from the Academy.
Good news: Sandman can stop wearing suits.
Congrats to all my friends who got nominated, especially Mama. pic.twitter.com/o1Ep3E7GRB

— Adam Sandler (@AdamSandler) January 13, 2020

the gem's powers are real! they have to be. the movie would be meaningless otherwise- it's about capitalism splitting the oppressed up and setting them against each other. Howard puts a price on a priceless object and pays the ultimate price.

― flappy bird, Tuesday, January 14, 2020 12:44 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

who are the oppressed being split up, the diamond jeweler and nba player? just about every person in the movie is rich. howard leverages bets on bets and (SPOILER) gets killed by a loan shark

i loved the movie, but imo it's just not a nuanced critique of capitalism. at best it slips in a blunt critique of neo-colonialism with the blood diamond stuff

who are the oppressed being split up

presumably the Ethiopian miners?

I do think it owes more to Cassavetes than anything.
― nostormo

Yes, very much so--who is also tough going for me (documented in a Cassavetes thread here somewhere), so it stands to reason I'd feel the same about Uncut Gems.

presumably the Ethiopian miners?

― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Tuesday, January 14, 2020 2:03 PM (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

so the movie is about capitalism splitting up ethiopian miners and setting them against each other? they're only in it for like 5 seconds!

idk man it wasn't my argument!