Thoughts on recent movies

[Bismarck]

In 2010 I started being hyper-social and leveraging the parties and other socials I was being invited to, to begin having ONS and even keeping one or another irregular FB. 2012 was the last year I played video games.

In 2014, when I dropped gin and getting drunk, powerlifting began to transform me from an office-desk-dwelling, nonionizing radiation LCD static-imbibing, sugar-consuming, nervous wreck of a weakling, to a calm, strong, steady, masculine man.

Additionally, I started being more selective about the movies I was watching.

I realized then that there was a mismatch between the man I wanted to be and the "men" portrayed in the vast majority of TV shows and movies coming out in this day and age. (I remember turning to a girl I was fucking who wanted to watch House of Cards (back then the show was in its infancy) after about 20 minutes of the first episode and telling her: "but this woman (Robin Wright) acts like a man, and this man (Kevin Spacey) acts like a woman...").

2016 was the last time that I ventured to read articles about "manspreading" and other inane concepts - articles that I'd stumbled upon accidentally. I still watched a Netflix TV show that year called Marco Polo about Genghis Khan, thinking this could potentially provide me with a solid set of masculine role models, only to later discover that one of the lead male characters in the series' story loved taking it up the ass...

In 2017 I got a projector and used it to watch John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Marlon Brando, Sean Connery, and other classics. Before I canceled my subscription to The Economist (the newsmagazine was taken over by an Australian or kiwi feminist lady), it was stating that the first James Bond films were misogynistic.

In late 2020 and early 2021 I went through a Japan phase, and was having buddies over to watch those epic old-school black-and-white samurai flicks.

More recently (September and October 2021) I buckled and went to watch, in rapid succession, at the theatres, Dune, No Time To Die, The Last Duel, and The French Dispatch.

I'd now like to quickly dissect these movies in turn, and then tie what I saw in each of them to what I've noticed seems to be the zeitgeist in the West.

1. Dune - whereas the novel places heavy emphasis on the main character's hero's journey to discover his calling and assume the mantle of leadership and its associated responsibilities, the 2021 part 1 flick by Denis de Villeneuve presents us with a frail weakling in the title role, who flails about wailing, and who is "suddenly" the man, with no hero's journey whatsoever.

2. No Time To Die - this is perhaps the first James Bond film where Bond doesn't sleep with anyone. We're treated to a soap opera about his feelings for a girl he'd shagged in some previous installment of the franchise.

3. The Last Duel - being a history buff, and particularly passionate about the Medieval period, and having watched what looked like a promising trailer, imagine my surprise when, sitting in the theatre, I realized this movie was simply an anti-male statement from start to finish, calling our ancestors a bunch of primitive barbarians - who ate meat, of all crimes! - and who loved butchering each other and raping women.

The movie tends to the notion that sex initiated by a man with a woman is basically rape. And of course purports that women were oppressed rape victims throughout history until the present day, when the progressives have finally given women rights (as if feminism, as Chase has convincingly shown, hadn't already existed in ancient civilizations, when they entered periods of decline).

All this movie does is throw fuel on the fire of this mind virus that seems to have infected everyone of a permanent trench war between men and women.

4. The French Dispatch - I liked Hotel Budapest from Wes Anderson and thought this would be a similar treat. Dispatch is basically more of this progressive trash - the same actor from Dune is one of the main characters in one of the short stories displayed, and he's, again, a frail weakling who gets outframed at every possible moment by a masculine girl who walks around with a motorcycle helmet and who then orders him to "take off his clothes" after driving him on her motorcycle to her apartment.

Before that, this dude (who is in high school) has sex with a 50+ year old lady (????)

And, of course, one of the main characters in another of the short stories is a homosexual, and one side character is a transsexual, etc. etc.

A movie I enjoyed much more was one Chase recommended, called The Moon is Blue, from the 1950s. And now I'm loving The Fountainhead, a novel recommended by Skills. I had read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged and also been awestruck by her magisterial writing, and love how the title character in Fountainhead, Howard Roark, has a strong frame, and is a pure alpha male.

Concluding Thoughts
It strikes me that middle-class office life and its associated rituals is a tough environment for a man to achieve his full masculine potential in. In order to thrive in these conditions, a guy has to basically refrain from touching any female colleague (even something as innocent as placing a hand on a shoulder), refrain from watching the bulk of the movies and TV shows coming out, watch what "news" he reads, and find other ways (hobbies, organizing and attending socials, etc.) to meet women.

 

[Train]

I think the idea of avoiding certain media is definitely beneficial. I've noticed what I consume affects my personality unintentionally. Like soft brainwashing.

Ex. When I watch a certain series, I begin to unconsciously emulate some of the behaviors of main characters.

Another example is my personality changes since joining certain communities (GC, entrepreneurial, etc) and constantly absorbing their beliefs and values. I have felt more willing to be masculine, set boundaries and take risks.

I think the root cause behind men not realizing their full potential is all the "programming" from societal norms or beliefs. While they benefit the greater good, they can be detrimental to the individual. Examples:

• Do not approach women. That is creepy/harassment. You meet women through online apps.
• Build a rockstar lifestyle (LMS) and women will magically fall on your lap.
• Sexuality is something to feel guilt and shame over.
• Don't rock the boat at work/school/etc.
• Stay in line and put others first no matter what. Their needs always come first.
• Go to school, college, work for 40 years and then "retire." This is the only path to success. Anything else is "risky."
• Work hard and promotions or wealth will drop on your lap. Never mind those who work hard and don't see appreciable gains. (Note: I got a promotion by channeling efforts outside of my job duties. Not by more overtime).

Btw, the book "Unscripted" by MJ DeMarco does a great job of breaking down the detrimental societal norms that hurt entrepreneurship and financial freedom.

Not to say it is not beneficial to be aware of societal norms and blend in as needed. To me, it's knowing when and how to deviate from society for max individual potential.

 

[Rakehell]

Same, I try to watch what I consume also. I don’t avoid all media though I just keep it at arms length. Even movies with positive role models have negative ones trickled in.

I just take it as an example of what not to be like. Know yourself.

 

[Skills]

That last duel such a waste of my time, so since my "incident with the false accusation" i tell my main, i want to watch that movie to make a video on my channel about false accusations, thinking the movie was about hat, then i buy over priced tickets, and, such a horrible movie, like they play the same movie 3 times, i was so pissed, horrible scam, movie...

off topic it seems the movie industry in general is rip (even the sopranos movie total shit), i mean every time lately i am going to the movie such a disappointment.. So yeah if anybody has some recos please...(going to watch the moon)

 

[Regal Tiger]

Sometimes I feel kinda crazy for swearing off most movies/tv nowadays. Unless it's a comedy I don't see much point in watching it because of this stupid anti-masculine feel I get from just about everything getting pumped out nowadays.

And people call me crazy for saying anything about it... like c'mon, how do men feel empowered watching this bullshit?

I'm not the most masculine guy walking around or anything like that, but it insults even me ffs

 

[Chase]

The way I think of it is most modern movies are being made for someone other than me.

I don't know exactly whom their target audience is, but it's definitely not a guy like me.

There's still some flicks that come out I get some enjoyment out of. You just have to go in knowing anything made post 2005/2010-ish is going to be filled with propaganda. One friend of mine refuses to watch anything released after 2015, with a few exceptions. Much of the time I find the independent films and non-Hollywood films are better.

Like, there was a great, really fun bro movie called The Grounds I saw recently. It never even went to the theaters but it was just a great, fun comedy about a couple of guys helping each other out with life and the chicks. That was not a Hollywood film... more like "Hollywood adjacent." There was another off-Hollywood sci-fi/mystery flick called Night Drive I saw recently that was also decently enjoyable. The South Korean zombie film #Alive was fun. Etc. All the guys in them were kind of soft or had problems though; they're more 'regular guys', not role model types. But not total weaklings or anything.

I skipped the new Bond. Read the plot summary in Wikipedia and it was about what I expected. Skipped the Last Duel too. A quick read of the premise and it was clear the whole thing was focused on how oppressed women were and how one woman was standing up for womankind or something by having two men fight for her or... I don't know what it is, but it clearly wasn't made for me. Maybe there are a lot of feminists really love watching knights duel?

That said, I enjoyed Dune 2021. Though not a huge amount. More of a "That was fairly nice" amount. Similar to how I felt about Blade Runner 2049. There's less meat in it than you'd expect for the runtime. Another friend who read the book was disappointed Villeneuve gave so little screen time to the various conspiracies that set the stage for the events in the story. I like Timothée Chalet though. When I first saw him I thought he was some girlish emo punk kid. But he plays these roles where he violates those expectations fairly consistently... played a similar role in 2019's The King, which I really liked (Hector calls it one of his favorite films). Reluctant leader who nevertheless is already skilled, opinionated, and gradually comes to accept the role.

Was it better than the David Lynch version of the Sci-Fi channel mini-series? I'm not really sure. I enjoyed both those as well.

I liked Free Guy too (probably more than the new Dune), another recent Hollywood film. It's also got a bunch of "so 2020s" Hollywood stuff in it, but it's not as bad as most modern Hollywood flicks. Probably depends on your tolerance though. A few social justice-y jokes thrown in, though they're made tongue-in-cheek. If you can get around those things it's a funny film that has heart. Definitely though, it is just a flick for fun, there is not anyone in there you'd want to role model.

I checked Rotten Tomatoes' "top streaming" the other day and here were the results:



If you click on each of those titles and read what they're about, here's how I would sum them up:

1. Language Lessons: gay guy's husband buys him language lessons with a woman
2. Women Is Losers: strong female fights patriarchal oppression in the 1960s
3. The Capote Tapes: gay guy writer writes a book that ends his career
4. Boy Meets Boy: gay guy from another country meets German gay guy in a gay club in Berlin
5. Sex: Unzipped: strong female rap artist talks about sex with 'sex positive sex experts' plus a bunch of puppets (made for kids?)

I don't know how Rotten Tomatoes determines its "top streaming" but whoever is downloading these movies, it sure ain't me.

So I dunno. Maybe there is just massive, massive demand for movies about feminism and man-love these days.

A lot of the movies with these themes in them still seem to do well at the box office. So I guess people really do like their feminism and gay sex.

These days I watch maybe 4-5 movies a year that have come out of Hollywood this year or in the last year. The rest of my cinema diet consists of:

• Rewatching stuff I've seen before and liked
  
  
• Independent / off-Hollywood films that look good (Extraction was a bunch of dumb, shoot 'em up fun -- like John Wick meets Man on Fire, dumber than either but just as much fun; and one of my favorite sci-fis, Pandorum, was an independent film)
  
  
• Old movies that are well rated OR that have actors I like (just watched Ben-Hur for the first time recently... the old one, not the remake, which I will almost certainly never see... old one is great! Stalag 17 is another I saw not so long ago and quite liked -- better than The Great Escape IMO. Though not every old movie is good... I finally saw The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and man, that one is overrated)
  
  
• Foreign films (lots of good stuff coming out of Asian studios... the Korean film Burning is a real slow-build psychological thriller with the regular guy vs. sociopath dynamic in it... I saw the Japanese classic Rashomon recently, which was the first film to do the "different people have different versions of the same event" story... even Chinese films can be good... Raise the Red Lantern depicts harem conduct, drama, and discipline in a fascinating light, and Ne Zha is better than anything to come out of Pixar or Disney in years)

One interesting thing is as you watch films from different countries you realize there are these different national characters to the storytelling:

• American films often have people overcoming all odds to triumph despite any obstacle
• Indian films often have an even more ridiculous "overcoming truly impossible odds" slant to them than American ones
• Korean films often have people beginning regular/optimistic but slowly realizing the futility of their situations
• Chinese films often have people living a hard life who get tricky/ambitious, which only leads to screwing things up disastrously
• Old Soviet films (like Stalker or Solaris) are just so weird you know the whole society was going through something totally bizarre

Anyway, it's neat.

There's a lot of good cinema out there. You're not confined only to the dreck modern Hollywood churns out.

Hollywood churned out a lot of great stuff before it turned into what it is now. There's 100+ years of Hollywood cinema to choose from.

Then in addition to that, you have all the independent stuff, the foreign language stuff, etc.

Tons of great stuff to pull from.

Chase

 

[Chase]

Here's an interesting new analysis I just stumbled on that compares the writing of the yesteryear of Hollywood cinema with modern Hollywood cinema, using the old Star Trek movies vs. the new ones as a jumping off point.

The gist of it: characters now are written as emotional, flippant, hearts-on-shirtsleeves children-in-adult bodies, shoehorned into character arcs/motivations that don't make sense, with everything ratcheted up extra dramatic to try to appeal to ADD audiences.

It's a seemingly solid interpretation...

Chase

 

[MarkA]

Good observations about how Hollywood is going woke.

My thoughts on 'No time to die' are that it is the first Bond film I dislike. A black, female 007 with no spark, a gay Q, a James Bond fixated with his feelings, a weak attempt at a character driven Bond film over escapism, and a bland, slow villain make it a long dull film.

The old saying was that Bond was all about girls, gadgets and locations. It was lacking in all three, the one gadget they had was predictably a watch which later led to the only deadpan joke of the film. Connery practically invented these jokes and now they are gone.

It's a shame that a character who epitomises masculinity has been emasculated especially as I thought Daniel Craig did a good job in Casino Royale and Skyfall.

Marvel has been going the same way for ages hence the abysmal Rise of Skywalker.

Chase makes a good point about checking out older films. Some indie films are good.

If you don't mind something offbeat 'Everybody wants some' by Richard Linklater is a great buddy movie set in college.

 

[Vision]

Yeah, the trend of Hollywood making men into pussies and women into strong, capable leaders is sad and pathetic but it's been coming more and more for a very long time.

I also noticed people are more and more like this in real life... I was at a personal growth event last year and I was in a car full of dudes and they spent the whole car ride talking about how women are better than men in every way. I had to pull one of them aside and tell him to stop putting women on a pedestal and to value himself and the role men have in creating civilization and everything that's around us.

I think there will be another pendulum swing soon... probably not with Hollywood but with the masses.

 

[Bismarck]

As an update, Licorice Pizza and Don’t Look Up are just two more of these movies where masculine role models are absent, replaced by “strong women” (girls acting like guys), and the male leads are a bunch of pussies.

(From trailer): In Licorice Pizza the female protagonist (an ugly girl) goes up to the male protagonist’s house and offers to “show him her boobs.” He lets her in, she does, and then he asks, “can I touch them?” and she slaps him.

I’m watching a pretty good TV show, but even there the male protagonist (an undercover cop) can only fuck a 38-y-o (so not exactly fresh) female colleague after his wife divorces him for not coming to her father’s funeral because he was working.

Can’t go giving the example that a guy can fuck around while his wife keeps house!

 

[POB]

Nerdroid's is a good YT channel for this kind of discussion.
The guy holds nothing back when dissecting this shitty Hollywoke era!

Basically today's movies are dead to me.
I've watched Shang-Chi recently and damn, what a boring flick.
The most powerful character of the entire movie is....his fricking sister!
She is a self-taught level 100 ninja who manages to set up (by herself) the most awesome underground fighting club of Asia.
Meanwhile Shang-Chi is working as a shitty valet and is constantly portrayed like a bum who has no purpose in life and must be told by strong female characters what to do. Black Widow was generic feminist crap too with a friendzoned global arms dealer (yep, the writers managed that).
I'll pass on Eternals for obvious reasons.
Damn, I sure miss Captain America and Iron Man.

Masculine roles are poo poo in Hollywood.
Plus awesome feminine leads like Sarah Connor and Ripley don't exist anymore.
Fuck this woke shit.

What Hollywood movies I recommend:
- anything action packed from the late 80s and 90s;
- anything with Clint Eastwood's or John Woo's name, early Ridley Scott and James Cameron movies;
- anything with Sean Connery's Bond;
- the first 2 Karate Kids
- the first 2 Godfathers
- the first 2 Aliens
- classics from the 50s and 60s with Humphrey Bogart, Gregory Peck, Gary Cooper, James Stewart, Cary Grant, Orson Welles, John Wayne or Charlton Heston (plus the women are gorgeous)

P.S. Just hoping Netflix does not screw up Cowboy Bebop
P.S.2: a great chick flick to watch with your girl is Bridesmaids (I have no clue how they gave the greenlight to that movie LOL)
P.S.3: rare exception today that has a decent masculine lead is The Mandalorian
P.S4:

played a similar role in 2019's The King, which I really liked (Hector calls it one of his favorite films). Reluctant leader who nevertheless is already skilled, opinionated, and gradually comes to accept the role.

The King is one of my favorite movies too! Highly recommended.

 

[POB]

I think the idea of avoiding certain media is definitely beneficial. I've noticed what I consume affects my personality unintentionally. Like soft brainwashing.

Subliminar messages are more powerful than we think! Like slow poison to the mind.

As with music, we must have a steady diet of good movies to not succumb to current society's bullshit.
I always re-watch scenes from movies like Gladiator, Terminator 2, Lord of the Rings, 300, Saving Private Ryan and Braveheart that talk about honor, sacrifice and doing the right thing, regardless of what others expect of you.

Just came to mind two great movies with Brad Pitt: Fury and Moneyball

 

[Lil kevo]

About movies a fan of college movies still on fleek where you find noah centineo,jacob elordi trevor jackson like I am recently watching 2 hearts
great movie,all the after franchise like after we fell tv shows been enjoying outer banks,justified great masculine model and classic how I met
your mother,babys daddy too great

 

[Skills]

-I re-read the fountainhead, is just you can re read multiple times, the guy is actually a true sigma The Roark character, his ability to be so unreactive is almost kind of impossible to be that unreactive... But is a good character to emulate...

- I read also Mario Puzzo the Godfather, the book, is really good when it comes to social dynamics, and dealing with people and conflicts, the character Vito Corleone, also Tom Hagen are just amazing dealing with people/conflict and social dynamics, The character Michael is no that great to Emulate.... The Surgeon Jules seagal character good seducer (not in the movies)...

This is a good post, keep posting recos guys....

 

[Alpha13SC]

Whenever I want a dose of masculinity I rewatch movies like 300, Undisputed series, maybe rewatch scenes or the whole Vikings series.

One that is not mention and I highly recommend is Shot Caller(2017). I remember a line from one of the big characters there: "I create my own reality. Others choose to accept it." which is something like mirroring neuros. Gaming convicts in prison, how's that?

Celda 211(2009) another prison movie, very masculin.

Den of Thieves(2018) where Gerard Butler is an egoist policeman, cheats on his wife. It really mimic the dynamics between a man and a woman in this case and how most guys act on it(especially what you should not do). Pablo Schreiber is an example of man who puts his mission first, and the woman in the second place, somehow.

Also, Training Day, one of the best and how accepting the reality can make you stronger. Sure, many from Denzel Washington are good.

I know they're a bit old movies, but I thought they worth a mention and can teach you something.

 

[Darius]

The Count of Monte Cristo is an amazing movie (the 2002 one) + book. I rewatch the movie whenever I feel beat up by life, makes me remember that with great training and a mentor there is nothing a man cannot achieve. Also has a lot of politics, which I enjoy.

The Mask of Zorro (the one with Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas) is also up there, for the same reasons.

 

[Roundy]

I’m personally can’t really take most modern cinema, the weird gender stuff is part of it but most of all it just feels brainless. Like it’s all made for children, or made to make people feel like children.

It’s difficult to find any movies that have a positive/accurate depiction of seducer lifestyle. Classic bond comes to mind, Indiana Jones maybe.

I loved watching The Moon is Blue, old Hollywood generally has a much more positive and aspiration view of masculinity. If anyone has good recs of similar movies and books I’d love to know. I’d recommend Shampoo (my namesake), A Farewell to Arms (with Gary Cooper), The Pink Panther (original).

 

[Will_V]

I rarely watch movies. What I enjoy very much are ones that bring characters to life, where the character powerfully embodies some kind of archetype, where they come into the scene with a certain history and on a certain path, and come into contact with struggles that are specific to the type of person they are. I like many Tarantino movies for that reason, the characters are just very satisfying to watch. But really good character movies are rare.

I also like sci-fi, but since 2005 or so almost every scifi movie is just recycled dystopian wish fulfillment. It's like the collective imagination has been plunged into a depression about everything related to the future, where it just wants the world to end. I could talk for hours on why, but this probably isn't the place.

In terms of movies related to women and seduction, I don't care too much for movies that try to depict seduction as a theme. I much prefer simply enjoying one of those moments where sexual tension and escalation is handled with skill and subtlety, like the scene with Daniel Craig and Monica Bellucci in Spectre.

I also just enjoy watching actresses with a powerful feminine presence, like Monica Bellucci, Lea Seydoux, Marion Cotillard or Catherine Zeta Jones, women who understand what it means to portray female sexuality in all its complexity. They are few and far between, and very satisfying to watch.

 

[Rakehell]

Oddly enough The Many Saints of Newark a movie based somewhere before The Soprano’s tv show’s timeline also reeked of femininely skewed undertones.

I believe it was based in the 60s but none of the characters really stick out. Domestic violence, lots of tricking and splurging on the female protagonist, lots of turmoil over one girl.

Jon Bernthal was OKAY in the movie in relation to positive figures.

Which is odd because in the original Sopranos I thought James Gandolfini was a good seducer in his own right sociopathy aside.

Overall though the movie was actually pretty boring in my opinion.

 

[Warped Mindless]

Blue Valentine with Ryan Gosling.

This movie is a great example of what happens when a guy with same game gets into a relationship but who has nothing else going for him.

it’s scary how realistic it is. I’ve known several guys who became extremely good at picking up women in bars and clubs but they were complete losers in every other aspect of their life. They would then get depressed when they meet some high quality women and not be able to ever keep them around. It fucks with their heads and frame because it fucks with their “alpha male ladies man” image they have of themselves. Allow this movie to be your cautionary tale.

the Netflix show “sex/life” is kinda interesting.