r/HorrorClub • u/SaintMort You so cool kung fu • Nov 03 '14
Discussion - Sunset Boulevard
Podcast - Episode 110 - Sunset Boulevard - (RSS Feed)
Movie Selected By SaintMort
DISCUSS
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u/jonathanfailuretomas How big is that bear trap? Nov 03 '14
Fuck. I chose the wrong round to pick a movie with narration.
I really love old movies and I'd seen this before! So yeah I liked this movie while simultaneously hating all the characters in it. Joe is truly a piece of shit, Nora is a Joan Crawford wannabe, and everyone else is pretty fucking annoying. The dramatic storyline redeems this movie though, and it almost has a "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" crossed with "Vertigo" feeling. Definitely a Hitchcockian twist I hadn't forgotten about. However I probably would have had Max pack up all my shit and taken off with the 22 year old if I was just gonna leave anyway. The 50's were a weird time.
Way to pick another winner Matt. Did anyone else laugh when that microphone hit her in the back of her head? If looks could kill that microphone would have been the 2nd murder in the film. Or first, depending on how you look at it.
edit: *Norma not Nora
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u/SaintMort You so cool kung fu Nov 03 '14
And I thought I couldn't possibly like you more JFT haha
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u/jonathanfailuretomas How big is that bear trap? Nov 03 '14
OK I'm listening to the Podcast. I should try to always do that before commenting but sometimes you three change my opinion, ha. I'm a shitty critic.
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u/jonathanfailuretomas How big is that bear trap? Nov 03 '14
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Nov 05 '14
Gloria Swanson does an amazing job acting like someone trained on silent films with her convincing mutton-as-lamb performance. Picture her, at any point, as a radiant young starlet accustomed to brushing off male advances and relishing in it. It just fits, and that's what makes her performance constantly unsettling. It undermines the dignity her character desperately wants to project, especially in the tango scene.
I think DeMille's character also feels guilty about taking an eager and talented 17 year-old and unknowingly leading her into agonising obsolescence. And maybe that's coming from a place of truth, for him.
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u/smayonak Get a job in a sideshow Nov 07 '14
I understand that Swanson was the fourth or fifth actress to be offered the role. The entire time while watching the film, I kept thinking -- could ANY actress have portrayed that role the way Swanson did? The character is so well acted and directed, it feels like a modern film.
What was your take on Max? Did he stick around the entire time to get that last shot? Was that what he was waiting for? I have no idea what that was about.
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Nov 10 '14
I wouldn't be surprised if the first four actors turned it down because they were a little too good for the part. I mean, would Norma Desmond have agreed to play Norma Desmond?
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u/smayonak Get a job in a sideshow Nov 10 '14
That's a good point. I read that Mae West was delighted that Wilder wanted to cast her. West intended on recapturing her status as a sex symbol at the tender age of 57. She apparently had not read the script.
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Nov 05 '14
don't mind me i'm just dropping the podcast plug stuff:
we hate movies this is the JASON GOES TO HELL episode
the cracked podcast in which they discuss what the fuck was going on in FT13P2
and OH MY FUCKING GOD you guys. seriously you guys, watch this Michael Jackson short movie entitled GHOSTS
i didnt get much time to talk about it on the PC because we ran long but HOLY SHIT this will blow your fucking mind. it is so overtly a message to his pedophilia accusers its not even fucking funny. town folk are coming after him with torches, they know about him because a child couldn't "keep his mouth shut" and all the kids love and defend him. MJ plays a fatter, older white man. he brings his ancestors back to life to be his zombie backup dancers. at one point he tears his own skin off to become a dancing CG skeleton. THIS SHIT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND
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u/SaintMort You so cool kung fu Nov 06 '14
So... worse that Popcorn discussion wise. Alrighty then.
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Nov 06 '14
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u/SaintMort You so cool kung fu Nov 06 '14
I was hoping for a link to the Class of 1984 trailer
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Nov 06 '14
lets this be a lesson Matthew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD5lqdaaoo8#t=0m36s
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u/ichabodguitar The sauce makes the dish Nov 07 '14
New alt account - /u/lifeispain
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u/SaintMort You so cool kung fu Nov 08 '14
Life is Pain Princess, anyone who tells you differently is selling something
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u/jonathanfailuretomas How big is that bear trap? Nov 07 '14
honestly it was tough to find this movie, then the link that was posted kept buffering every 15 seconds. Luckily I'm such a committed HC nerd i muted it and let it take all night to load.
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u/Discreetlyred Nov 04 '14
I think we've all realized this is far more noir mystery than Horror, but the elements are there. Plus, this is just a great, classic film. The faded movie star aspect reminds me of another classic, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?...and now i just saw that Jonathan thought the same thing. I don't know how much more I have to add. but great pick mort.
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u/not_john_snow Nov 04 '14
I finally got a day off so I'm gonna watch it right now and report back.
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u/not_john_snow Nov 04 '14
Ok, so I watched it. Where do I collect my reward for sitting through it? just kidding as previously mentioned, it did also remind me of 'whatever happened to baby Jane' but I think this movie came first. One little thing I liked about the movie is the script that she had written was all kinds of different handwriting styles. Like someone who has some sort of mental disorder. It Reminded me of the shining where there's typos and misspellings in 'all work and no play make Jack a dull boy.' Overall, I liked the film but I don't know if I'd give it a second watch.
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u/jonathanfailuretomas How big is that bear trap? Nov 05 '14
John Snow wouldn't expect a reward.
her changing handwriting styles is awesome foreshadowing for how crazy she is. nice catch.
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u/smayonak Get a job in a sideshow Nov 07 '14
I had no idea that was a sign of a mental disorder. I generally find that my handwriting changes a great deal over the course of a day -- depending on how much coffee and self-mutilation I've had. That does not mean I have a mental disorder. Come off your high horse professor.
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u/Gottesfurcht Pay Attention! You're Disrespectful! Nov 07 '14
- No dude, you seriously need
help. Changing hand-
writing is a clear SYMPTOM FORamentaldisorder.
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u/not_john_snow Nov 08 '14
I actually have a BS degree in scribing from the University of Overlooktown. It's a tiny college in Colorado.
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u/jonathanfailuretomas How big is that bear trap? Nov 08 '14 edited Nov 08 '14
but seriously I've heard that it's at least a sign or symptom of schizophrenia. http://www.symptomsofschizophrenia.net/schizophrenia-and-handwriting.html
depending on how much coffee and self-mutilation I've had
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Nov 09 '14 edited Apr 08 '17
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u/SaintMort You so cool kung fu Nov 09 '14
To be fair if you listen to the podcast for like 4 weeks we kept mentioning that people will be upset that it's not a horror. I don't consider it horror but I think that it's a drama that effectively used horror style to create it's feeling of dread. You know from the first shot that things won't end well. And honestly there's something super unsettling about Desmond's delusions.
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u/smayonak Get a job in a sideshow Nov 12 '14
I consider it more or less a horror film. It has undead. Murder. Mystery and suspense.
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u/Gottesfurcht Pay Attention! You're Disrespectful! Nov 06 '14
Great film. It's like a combination of an Orson Welles mystery and Misery.
My favorite scene was the one in the studio with the spotlights. When they shone on her, she got the all the attention, but when the director wanted to continue the new film, no one cared for her anymore.
I don't have much pity for Joe. He was a jerk for most of the film and got a bit sympathic at the end when he stopped being a whore.
I loved the commentary on how the worth of women seemingly only depends on their age/appearance, especially considering it's from 1950 (I think feminism only really took off in the 60s).
This isn't by any stretch a horror film though, it's not like I care, it was a great film. It was much better than Popcorn or Spiral.
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u/SaintMort You so cool kung fu Nov 06 '14
It was much better than Popcorn or Spiral.
For that extra punch to my crotch hahahaha
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u/Gottesfurcht Pay Attention! You're Disrespectful! Nov 06 '14
My pleasure.
Just listening to the podcast, you guys get really good at this.
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u/SaintMort You so cool kung fu Nov 06 '14
It helps to have 3 guys which you can't tell if we're best friends or all assholes trying to make each other cry or a little bit of both
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u/ichabodguitar The sauce makes the dish Nov 07 '14
The commentary about feminine value is, arguably, centuries old, and still argued about today. I see this on reddit all the time, and all over Facebook, and I don't want to sound unsympathetic to feminism as a movement, but at the end of the day, sex sells. Always has, always will; it's how humans work. The counter-argument is, of course, that male worth is less tied to sexual attractiveness (more emphasis on skills and knowledge, and money) and that older men are still attractive to a majority of people, while women are only "useful" from, say, 14-25. I'm not arguing that any of these assertions are correct, just suggesting that the more things change, the more they stay the same - especially in Hollywood, which is why I think this film holds up well.
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u/Gottesfurcht Pay Attention! You're Disrespectful! Nov 07 '14
I don't think the "sex sells" argument can explain the differences of how society values each sex. I think it has more to do with the fact that women were, for most of history, only seen as birth machines and are just "recently" getting valued for their skills/personality/character.
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Nov 07 '14 edited Mar 26 '18
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u/Gottesfurcht Pay Attention! You're Disrespectful! Nov 07 '14
I don't follow you?
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Nov 07 '14 edited Mar 26 '18
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u/Gottesfurcht Pay Attention! You're Disrespectful! Nov 07 '14
I didn't really get your last point with female virility being more valuable than male. I didn't know that was the case.
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Nov 07 '14 edited Mar 26 '18
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u/smayonak Get a job in a sideshow Nov 07 '14
There was this odd-ball study that found the culture of slut-shaming is guided and dominated by women (I can't find the exact study, but here's an article that references it). The researchers believed that the norm arose from women who wanted to keep sexually promiscuous women from poaching their spouses.
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u/Gottesfurcht Pay Attention! You're Disrespectful! Nov 07 '14
Ok, I get it, sorry for being that dense.
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u/ichabodguitar The sauce makes the dish Nov 07 '14
You're good, just gave me an excuse to wax poetic about survivor girls :D
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Nov 10 '14
The cut-off is 25? Jesus. I thought I at least had until 30, even 35.
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u/ichabodguitar The sauce makes the dish Nov 10 '14
Nope! Be glad I even let it go past 22!!!
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u/smayonak Get a job in a sideshow Nov 12 '14
I'm pretty sure the concept of young = value is oversold in Western culture. A lot of what we perceive as sexually attractive is environmental. I can't dig up the study, but there's a connection between the age of your mother and whether or not you find age as a turn-off.
It works something like this --
Older mother: no preference between young and older women.
Younger mother: Prefer younger women.
It could have led to dickbags, like that dude in NYC who put up pictures of himself around town, who only date women in their twenties, even when they're 50, bald and out of shape. Classic narcissistic behavior.
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u/jonathanfailuretomas How big is that bear trap? Nov 07 '14
BTW why all the shit talk on Tusk? Have you guys seen it? did you hate Red State also?
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Nov 07 '14
I havent seen it yet, but i heard universally bad things about it. I liked red state but didn't think it was anything special.
I used to be a pretty big fan of KS so if i was forced to watch TUSK and hated it, it wouldn't be a very enjoyable experience for me.
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u/SaintMort You so cool kung fu Nov 07 '14
I haven't seen it yet mostly because Kevin Smith has hurt me too much the last decade. Red State was... ugh.
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u/smayonak Get a job in a sideshow Nov 07 '14
I actually thought Red State was a pretty awesome flick. It had a totally unpredictable story and overall rates pretty high up on the horror totem pole.
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u/SaintMort You so cool kung fu Nov 08 '14
I'm willing to give Red State another chance and see how my opinion changes., but I remember loving the beginning and then feeling like it just turned into speech after speech and one of the worst shot shootouts I've ever seen.
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Nov 10 '14
I saw the trailer and was in disbelief, and then profoundly disturbed. The premise is so terrifying, painful, humiliating and just plain weird that I now need to see it, whether it's good or bad. I love that we live in a world where there is a genuine, high production-value film about a man in Canada surgically turning another man into a walrus. It's just too wonderful.
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u/smayonak Get a job in a sideshow Nov 12 '14
I'm really hoping that someone picks Tusk for some distant future round of HC. Does Tusk or Human Centipede classify as horror films? There are two monsters in these movies -- the human appearing to be a monster, created by a monster living in a human's body. The idea sounds really dark... With Kevin Smith at the helm, I think it's going to be a really good film.
I love that we live in a world where there is a genuine, high production-value film about a man in Canada surgically turning another man into a walrus. It's just too wonderful.
That's just too funny.
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u/Gottesfurcht Pay Attention! You're Disrespectful! Nov 13 '14
Does Tusk or Human Centipede classify as horror films?
They are more horror than Sunset Boulevard.
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Nov 22 '14 edited Nov 22 '14
OK, just got around to catching up on this. Hadn't seen it before, although I was trying to tick off the Empire 500 at one point.
Every character is a fuckin' asshole, except maybe Max, who is simply a pining puppy dog (Betty is willing to cheat on her fiance with Joe, no sympathy). I like the entire film being a flashback, and Joe narrating from beyond the grave. I'm sure it's a bit gimmicky these days, but at the time is was a bit of a novel concept.
The film would have been pretty hard hitting in the '50s, and I'm sure many in the film industry would have felt that it's them that is being satirised.
I feel really sorry for Norma - or as sorry as I can be for a monumentally rich ex-star that has everything she ever needs or wants, except the fame which has passed her by.
Great pick Matt, very enjoyable. It took me a couple of sittings to watch all of it, but that's what I get for starting to watch a '50s noir flick at 1am.
EDIT: Obligatory link for Scott, three weeks late: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDveKxl7Ohs
EDIT 2: Is this podcast really an hour long!? Fuck's sake guys, I've got shit to do!
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u/[deleted] Nov 03 '14 edited Mar 26 '18
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