34 Comments

Vox Lux obviously a mess top to bottom (albeit a movie that passes my “lmao what” test in that it made me go “lmao what” multiple times), but I was baffled at the climactic performance scene because they have Natalie Portman wearing these 2” heeled black Chelsea boots like I wore at my retail job at the time because I had to be on my feet 8 hours a day, like truly what are best identified as commuter shoes, to the point that I wondered if she had forgotten her correct shoes back in her trailer and this was sort of a Starbucks cup in Game of Thrones situation because in no universe would these be considered stage wear for the type of pop star she’s seemingly meant to embody. I love that I’ve been stewing over this for nearly 6 years.

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I remember pop music cinema sins-ers being mad she doesn't have a costume change back in 2018 which felt very "Lady Raven would never get in a limo by herself" at the time, but I will say with hindsight it is crazy that a) that's her costume and b) she never changes!!!

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I can’t get over the films conceit that a max martin type would write 2016 sia music as the debut EP of a 14 year old columbine survivor

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what made me laugh the most about supersonic is that they both, liam out of some weird polite appreciation for his brother’s savant musicality, noel out of an inability to concede his approach to fame is wrong, are incapable of admitting that oasis was only ever huge because they were hot and cool. though liam is the instigator he is right: looking cool and doing drugs is the backbone of the whole enterprise, and if you let noel take it over with the weird slow poetry, it falls apart. the central antagonism seems to be that liam is hot and that makes noel mad. but if the movie was about what rockstars are really all about, it would be dismissive of the band’s artistic contributions. someday they will invent a way to make music docs that balance these ideas but it is not the time for that.

always mean to watch the billie one because i hear that in it she doesn’t know who orlando bloom is until someone says “that’s the guy from pirates” — me

1d doc only memorable because of when harry gets really annoyed with niall for wanting to wear a mask as a novelty in japan. like i don’t want to be trapped in a car with any of those jokers either. zayn was right to leave

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yes I think part of the reason why the Oasis one doesn't convince me they're the most important band in the world is because the music can't really justify this claim –– the music is baseline "pretty good" and those two are just undeniable presences. that's plenty!!

I like in the 1d doc when Harry & Liam go fishing and one of them (p sure Liam but you will know) says he wants to be a firefighter (?) - I was like, this thing is set on the damn moon.

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it’s fine for guys to be famous because of haircuts

and i don’t remember that 1d moment at all. i have been carrying the dvd with me for like 5 moves so maybe i should rewatch soon

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My roommate Alex showed me Dig! when we first moved in together six years ago; it is a not infrequent subject of conversation in the two-flat/film nerd commune we share with Marsh. A wild, unforgettable movie yet resonates as an extreme version of the in/authentic, sellout/burnout dichotomy you find in almost every music scene. There’s great stuff in Bob Mehr’s Replacements bio Trouble Boys about their envy of the more professionalized R.E.M., which never quite boiled over into open hostility because I think Westerberg acknowledged they simply did not have that dog in them.

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this sounds very up my alley...

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Trouble Boys? It’s a classic, guaranteed to make a midwesterner weep ... tangentially, if you are at all fond of The Replacements or Bob Odenkirk, this podcast where he talks about Sorry Ma is extremely endearing https://pca.st/episode/af54fa28-2946-4b44-a946-64d04d1057e9

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yes we listened to a ton of the Replacements in the car growing up, very nostalgic band for me

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I passed Bob on the street last summer in the West Village and was floored by how handsome he was IRL...

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90% on a return trip to NYC this spring for Glengarry stay tuned

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was thinking this week how "Within Your Reach" is perfect

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i'm a "vox lux has always been good" and my contemporaneous four star logs will serve as proof that i am not "revising"

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Noted

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I'm living for Fran learns pop music via documentaries. You would dig the Wham! + George Michael doc on Netflix, which is kind of the chaotic good inverse; "I'm always missing my one pop star friend". Plus GM is very cool but underappreciated for most of my lifetime. I also watched Popstar this weekend. What a picture. I am curious about the lore...

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I love George Michael 😥

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A24 did a random one off showing so I just saw Supersonic in July with 6 other people at the Regal IMAX in Chicago. It's always fun for me to hear Liam and Noel sound off but there were so many narrative avenues left unexplored! Whatever you think about their music (I've been a fan since my teens - almost 30 years - so I can't really be objective because their music and my memories are so linked), these two are SO good at being celebrities and that's a large element of their success. Accepting an award by saying "has beens shouldn't be giving awards to gonnas bes?" I LOVE IT.

After 6+ hours in queue, I luckily got Wembley tickets at a dynamically inflated price and I am so excited! Can't wait for the doc about this tour. (Side note: blur reunited for a tour and 2 nights at Wembley last year and they have a doc coming out called To the End. Damon and Graham definitely have a history of being mad at each other so I'll be watching when it gets stateside distribution.)

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omg I am so glad you got tix!! And envious truly! while Supersonic did not convince me that Oasis was the most important band of all time, I did have a blast listening to them all last week. I hadn't heard the "has beens shouldn't be giving awards to gonna bes" quote prior to watching and I was, to borrow a phrase, gagged.

I know SO little about Blur (less than I do about Oasis) but I will be seated to watch...

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I love Blur and saw them at Wembley last year (brag)! But Liam once referred to Blur as "chimney sweep music" so YMMV.

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the thing about the third-act transition in Trap is that obviously no one would ever do that. I’d take my chances with security before I confessed that to Taylor Swift. but though implausible it sort of works for me as the movie’s one compelling moment about pop music: wouldn’t it be sort of fun to do what Cooper is doing? spilling your deepest darkest secret to the popstar who you’ve been watching from afar, and having them actually pay attention? it’s sort of every fan’s fantasy, simulated intimacy slipping into the real, and as with most fandom fantasies it inevitably turns violent.

anyway i mention this only because it’s pretty funny to imagine a version of Trap where it’s like a 50-year-old British man taking his daughter to the Oasis reunion. I wonder how the Gallaghers would react to meeting the Butcher: would they get mad? would they be in a mard?

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what if TK met the Butcher has been a great thought exercise for the summer... for all that the Gallaghers seem to have disdain for each other and the industry and the "labels" and the awards, they seem to broadly like and appreciate their fans (with some leeway to make fun of them). all of which is to say that I think they'd really vibe with the Butcher

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omg SO glad to hear this...becoming a RETVRN girl for Britpop but only because they'd be fine with dads who are serial killers

(also i love popstar and find the degree to which it villainizes its tyler the creator standin by comparison with macklemore completely fascinating)

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the Chris Redd performance is SO funny; I always felt like he was underutilized on SNL...

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There is an extremely long Eagles documentary that largely consists of Glen Frey and Don Henley being mad at the rest of the band.

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The basis for the amazing Blue Jean Committee episode of doc now!!

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ok nvm we're watching

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Usually a guitar player though

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slightly compelling tho I do not like The Eagles........

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The best way to make a documentary about Oasis would be to frame it in the style of The Last Dance. That's where Supersonic fails: there's no sense of scale. I want to see footage of all the 40-50-year-old blokes that tried their best to look like Liam (and Noel, but mostly Liam). But that probably wasn't documented properly in the time, given their meteoric rise. And now you can make anything look like the biggest act on the planet (see: Chappell Roan).

I think for my viewing entertainment they should make a tour documentary for Live '25. Especially now that Liam's voice sounds young again, for some reason.

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for all they claim that it won't be televised, I actually do need this televised... like, more than anything (and I think they'd obviously know there's money to get from that)

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Get Back is more "i will put aside my anger at my one friend for these next six weeks but then it's back to being always mad again" which is where all the juice in that movie comes from imo

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so true... if I think too hard about Get Back, my heart breaks!!!

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For me Oasis are like KISS in that they make music about how much they think they rock or need to rock or like to rock. TBJM and Oasis work so hard to match their idols. As a result their best achievements taste like Fried Oreos. I love Fried Oreos, but I can't take too many at a time, and I would never say they're better than Oreos. KISS are Red Vines licorice. Addictive and rubbery but you know they are made of 99% garbage. Ace Frehley is the best member of KISS because he's the most aware that they are full of it.

Cutter's Way feels like an I'm Always Hating My One Friend movie.

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