blenderdumbass . org
Reviews
by Troler
Free Software fundamentally misses the point. It fails on a practical, ideological, economic, and political level. Let’s examine precisely how (in a slightly different order for the purposes of presentation).
6 Minute Read
"I like you"
↩ Reply
"That's very sweet of you <...>, I like you too"
↩ Reply
"I mean, I don't like many people"
↩ Reply
Seldom do I eat the same food twice, reread a book or even rewatch a movie. Barely do I ever want to rewatch the movie as I am watching it. You did not misread, not after the ending, but during the actual viewing. If you somehow didn't read the title, the movie in question is Robert Mulligan's Summer of '42.
↩ Reply
I came across it when I was reading Quentin Tarantino's review of 40s nostalgia pieces. What piqued my attention was the radiating love and affection for the picture and his knack for collecting film prints ("if you haven’t seen Summer of ‘42 projected in an I.B. Technicolor 35mm film print, you haven’t seen Summer of ‘42). I set down at the middle of the night and saw something I cannot unsee. Neither did the audience in 1971, since this slice-of-romance film about horny teenagers beat Dirty Harry and even Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange in the box office. To say it was impactful is an understatement.
↩ Reply
What was it that caught the attention of the viewers? Well, it was sex of course! Imagine this, the Sexual Revolution has swept the United States, arguing that all this restriction on sex is making people grow into perverts. The tidal shift of demographics, as brought by the Baby Boom, resulted in American cinema unshackling itself. This change is known as New Hollywood. In 1971 Robert Milligan was one of these crazy New Hollywood men. At a budget of a million (lead actress Jennifer O'Neill says it was 8 million) created relatively simple movie. Simple, yet effective. To a point where it deeply touched Kubrick ("climax of the film is quite simply one of the most devastating sequences I’ve ever witnessed (apparently Kubrick felt the same)". Do not take Tarantino's word for it, watch what Wendy is watching in The Shining
↩ Reply
The story follows a group of 3 ragtags Oscy (Jerry Houser), Benjie (Oliver Conant) and Hermie (Gary Grimes). All of them are a trio of lusting adolescents. They are at a stage where they want to have sex yet paternalism laws do not allow them to. Naturally that gives the same results as boiling water with the lid shut down. A good bit of the half of the movie is about teenagers being stupid bunch of horny bastards. There Hermie falls deep in love with Dorothy (Jennifer O'Neill). Hermie is 15 and Dorothy is in her 20s (the actor was 22). There is this Licorice Pizza scenario. The movie corrupts the audience into believing the relationship between a teenager and a woman is okay. WW2 is in the background: you have soldiers strolling the town, Dorothy sending her husband to France, radio broadcaster talking about the war. It is in the background... until it is not. The movie is set during 1942, it is a nostalgia piece after all. The Dorothy observed is meeting this 15 year old, while her husband is out fighting Nazis. At one point she buys flowers, keep that in your mind, it will be relevant later. For a good part of the film, the focus is on the "Terrible" trio and their quest to get laid.
c:2 ↩ Reply
Since the budget of the film was not that high (a million), it resulted in quite simple camera arrangement. Most shots were done out-doors, resulting in less expenses on props. Since the emphasis is on the characters, the shots are done using wide lens. The movie actually becomes quite a bit darker as it progresses. I mean, literally darker. First scenes are bright, moving with life of the beach-goers. Later on you have the shabby "Terrible trio" hut, movie theater, sex during midnight. As mentioned before, it being a movie from 1971, sex in movies was still taboo. Robert Mulligan is corrupting the audience by having a scene where teenagers actually fuck during the middle of the night. None of it is displayed on the screen. It was distributed by Warner Bros. in 1971 after all.
↩ Reply
The music composed by Michel Legrand is nearly non-existent. It starts in the beginning, with the showcase of the important places throughout the movie and resumes only at the end. Upon the rewatch, the beginning slide-show made me tear up.
↩ Reply
The love between Hermie (Herman) and Dorothy (Dorothy) was, by the words of the screen writer Herman Raucher, "had effected a strange relationship". Herman, in a way is a romantic, similar to Steven Spielberg. For him love is more than just putting his sausage into girl's scissors, as did Oscar, who in character, was closer to Luc Besson with his pussy-curse. Naturally having Dorothy's husband was murdered in France, meant "she was alone on an island and drinkin’ and playing their favorite song and in walks this kid and <...> She just thought I (Herman) was him". Powered by mourning, she danced, danced with Hermie (Herman) to their favorite song and went to bed with a 15 year old kid. It was Dorothy's way of curing herself from the trauma. She was alone on island with no-one except that strange Hermie (Herman). The flowers she bought few days ago were thrown out. The vase was left empty. Not even water was present in it.
↩ Reply
30 years later, after the film was released, the writer received "numerous letters from women claiming to be Dorothy". One of them stood out, it had Dorothy's handwriting. The letter mentioned, she had remarried and was living in Canton, Ohio. She was intrigued what effect did she have on Herman. The letter was ended with these words: "The ghosts of that night 30 years ago are better left undisturbed."
↩ Reply
Tell me @BlenderDumbass , are you willing to do a psycho-sexual analysis on one horny teenager and a miserable widow?
c:3 ↩ Reply
Fin.
↩ Reply
0
Find this post on Mastodon
The somber tale of Summer of '42
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/18/Summer_of_%2742_POSTER.jpg)
Troler
👁 12 💬 109
Sex and love are hard to miss on present block-busters. Even topics such as love between a child and an adult are discussed. In early 1970s and before it was hard to find films delving into such topics. A nostalgia film of that. The movie may start out light-hearted, it went deep so to make the illustrious Kubrick cry.
#Summerof42 #1942 #JenniferO'Neill #GaryGrimes #JerryHouser #RobertMulligan #HermanRaucher #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Lethal Weapon is what happens when a good screenwriter writes his first script
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d9/Lethal_weapon1.jpg/250px-Lethal_weapon1.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 12
Directed by Richard Donner ( Superman, The Goonies ) from a script of Shane Black, Lethal Weapon is a film about cops. On the surface there is no concept to the movie what so ever. It is just simply a regular, straight forward police bromance. Yet somehow the movie moves.
#lethalweapon #film #review #movies #action #cinema #cinemastodon
Taken 2008 is Luc Besson's revenge for Man on Fire by Tony Scott
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ed/Taken_film_poster.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 10 💬 2
On the surface, the 2008 movie Taken directed by Pierre Morel and written by Luc Besson ( he was busy directing Arthur cartoons ) is about how it is dangerous for little girls to be in the world. And about how awful the human trafficking is. And about how good, people who fuck up human traffickers are. But then, out of nowhere, it makes people cheer when a guy is buying an underage girl at a human trafficking auction. As if, it makes you think: Is Luc Besson just trying to show Quentin Tarantino that he is a master of corrupting the audience?
#taken #liamNeeson #LucBesson #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Blue Steel 1990 is the seed that grew into the reason Avatar didn't win best picture
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/37/Blue_Steel_%281990_film%29.jpg/250px-Blue_Steel_%281990_film%29.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 12 ❤ 3 🔄 1 💬 3
So it's 1990 and Kathryn Bigelow writes and directs an action thriller about a police officer. The police officer is female and the movie almost refuses to sexualize her. Bigelow casts a nice half-Jewish girl Jamie Lee Curtis. And pretty much the whole movie, not a single shot of her emphasizes or admires her body ( apart from one sex scene where we see a very erotic closeup of her stomach ). Making that movie technically feminist. Few years later, in 1994, as James Cameron ( who was married to Bigelow between 1989 and 1991 ) is trying to find the actor to play the wife in his film True Lies. He is reminded of Blue Steel by Bigelow. And decides to cast Jamie Lee Curtis in his film. Giving us that very strange, almost pornographic scene where she does a very erotic strip-tease scene with Arnold Schwarzenegger. More than a decade later, in 2009, both Bigelow and Cameron make a movie. And both of those movies are nominated for the best picture. Yet Bigelow takes home the price. Did Cameron lose due to his pussy curse?
#bluesteel #KathrynBigelow #JamieLeeCurtis #film #review #movies #cinemastodon #michaelbay
Polisse 2011 is the greatest "fuck you" in the history of French cinema
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fe/Polisse_poster.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 21 💬 1
Maïwenn Le Besco's 2011 film Polisse tells a story about a "child protection unit" in French police. The film is written by Maïwenn based on real life cases that she researched with a real "child protection unit". So the film has no bullshit in it. And yet given Maïwenn's personal life, this begs the question: Was this movie secretly a hate letter to Luc Besson? Was this film the greatest "fuck you" in the history of French cinema?
#polisse #maiwenn #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
The Odyssey to see The Odyssey (2026)
![[thumbnail]](/pictures/user_upload/Troler/YVK9X1UWS9TUUQWG.png)
Troler
👁 11 ❤ 1 🔄 1 💬 3
As it is, the movie is infused with Nolan realism. Everything is serious and grim. The contrast between mythological events and reality creates this clash. I have not seen Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy, so I cannot tell how much of this juxtaposition has existed before. Still, the contrast of what I saw on screen and how the movie portrayed such events, threw me off the loop.
#theodyssey #christophernolan #LudwigGoransson #AnneHathaway #MattDamon #RobertPattinson #Batman #odyssey #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are 1994 makes me want a 2 hour long Michael Bay musical
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/65/Meat_Loaf_Objects_video.jpg/250px-Meat_Loaf_Objects_video.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 16 ❤ 4 🔄 2 💬 11
In 1994, just before Bad Boys Michael Bay directed a music video for a song "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are" by Meat Loaf ( Michael Lee Aday ), which shows striking resemblance to his 2001 film Pearl Harbor and has some interesting choices that echo throughout his career. Choices that beg for a psycho-sexual analysis.
#meatloaf #music #video #musicvideo #michaelbay #review #movies #film #rock #metal #cinemastodon
F1 is suprisingly relatable
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/38/F1_%282025_film%29.png/250px-F1_%282025_film%29.png)
Blender Dumbass
👁 16 💬 2
As you probably figured out, the movie is about racing. It is kind of similar to Ford v Ferrari where you have an underdog team trying to compete on a race with Ferrari to win the race. In this case though, Ferrari was not the fastest car on the track. The fastest one was from Red Bull. And not just from Red Bull. It was Lewis Hamilton who is an actual real F1 driver, who also played himself in the film and who was one of the producers on the film.
#F1 #racing #movie #film #review #movies #cinemastodon #BradPitt #JavierBardem #JosephKosinski #formula1
Final Destination ( 2000 ) is a suprisingly well directed movie
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a3/Final_Destination_movie.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 17
There is this hype wave over the Final Destination franchise because of a new movie that was released in the series. At first I resisted it, but then I saw a few shots from the opening of the first film, directed by James Wong and thought that it was actually something good, that at least worth my attention.
#finaldestination #jameswong #film #movies #review #cinemastodon
Eden 2024 is very interesting in context
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ab/Eden_%282024_film%29.jpg/250px-Eden_%282024_film%29.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 18 💬 2
In the summer of 2025 Sydney Sweeney made a controversial, seemingly Nazi-propaganda advertisement for a Jeans brand that claims that she "has great Jeans" ( which is a pun for "genes" ). Being a blue-eyed sexy blond woman, made the "genes" pun quickly interpreted as a endorsement of eugenics. And a lot of people on the conservative side equated her "huge tits" to the "death of wokeness". While people on the left decided to attribute her success with her sex appeal, almost accusing Sweeney with sleeping with executives, to become famous. And yet despite all this, Ron Howard's 2024 thriller Eden ( which is starring Sweeney ) has Ana de Armas at a role of this super-hot lady that sleeps with men to get what she wants.
#eden #ronhoward #anadearmas #SydneySweeney #JudeLaw #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Kite 2014 attempts to be a Luc Besson film but fails miserably
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Kite2014poster.jpg/250px-Kite2014poster.jpg)
Blender Dumbass
👁 25
South African filmmakers, writer Brian Cox ( who directed some bad films himself ) and a director Ralph Ziman decided to try to adopt what appears to be a hentai ( animated pornography ) film from Japan ( with the same name ) into a cool-ass female-empowerment action flick. They even got Samuel L. Jackson ( an objectively good actor ) involved in the project somehow. Yet almost every decision made in the production of this film was a wrong decision.
#kite #film #review #movies #samuelljackson #cinemastodon
Terminator 2: Judgement Day is James Cameron's Leon: The Professional
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5e/Terminator_2-Judgment_Day.png/250px-Terminator_2-Judgment_Day.png)
Blender Dumbass
👁 10 ❤ 2 💬 1
Ever since Piranha II James Cameron shown his friendship with Luc Besson. Both directors are obsessed with marine biology, both are obsessed with strong female characters and both have a strange fascination with the youth. Luc Besson's Leon, The Family and Arthur films have strong child characters in some rather fucked up situations. James Cameron with Aliens, Terminator 2 and the Avatar franchise does the same thing. But have you ever thought how similar both the Terminator and Leon actually are?
#terminator2 #terminator #leon #jamescameron #lucbesson #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Basic Instinct 1992 is Verhoeven trying to be De Palma who is trying to be Hitchcock
![[thumbnail]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f9/Basic_Instinct.png/250px-Basic_Instinct.png)
Blender Dumbass
👁 14 💬 2
It is known that the best films from Alfred Hitchcock were done during the days of the code. The restrictions on nudity and graphic violence gave us iconic Hitchcockian moments like the shower scene in Psycho, where Hitch pulls of a totally kosher psycho-sexual ejaculation of ultra-violence. When the code gave way to the MPAA rating system, Hitchcock didn't really know how to react, producing mediocre films, giving way to directors like Brian De Palma who stepped into his shoes, to give us, more-modern Hitchcockian thrillers like Dressed To Kill. But by the end of the 80s, as De Palma stepped down from this Hitch-immitation role, and before Robert Zemeckis ultimately took this title with his 2000 film What Lies Beneath, there was also Paul Verhoeven and his psycho-sexual thrillers, like 1992 Basic Instinct.
#BasicInstinct #PaulVerhoeven #SharonStone #MichaelDouglas #film #review #movies #cinemastodon
Powered with BDServer
Plugins
Themes
Analytics
Contact
Mastodon