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cinemal2001.bsky.social

@cinemal2001.bsky.social
50 followers 21 following 813 posts

Cinemaniacal organizer of Chicago Film Discussion Group and former co-host of the Director's Club Podcast.

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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Health care? "We have the concept of a plan..." War with Iran? "We won. We'll make a deal next week. Iran is destroyed. Talks look good for Friday." (continue for months) DC pool fixed? (shrug while making "Duhhhno" noise) WH Armed Bunker? "GUARANTEED WILL BE DONE ROGHT BEFORE TERM ENDS OR ELSE!"
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Reposted by @cinemal2001.bsky.social
Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
It's pretty crazy that the greatest jump scare in movie history is in Exorcist 3 but that's how it is. There's 2 different misdirections but somehow it also tips it's own hand but even that doesn't matter. It's horrifying
youtu.be
Exorcist III 'Legion' - Nurse Station Scene - Scariest Ever Movie Scene
YouTube video by InLucidity
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Had a film discussion group about "Citizen Kane" and caught this fascinating discrepancy where Bernstein starts relating his relationship with Kane from behind a large desk, a desk that's COMPLETELY DISAPPEARED when the movie returns from his flashback!
Two shots from "Citizen Kane", from a scene where Kane's assistant Bernstein starts relating his relationship from behind a large desk in a large chair.  The movie goes into a flashback of Berstein and Kane's relationship, and when it returns from the flashback, the large chair and desk have completely disappeared!
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
GREAT catch during #CinemaInterruptus of "The Player": eyewitness comes off as a ditz, yet she was actually there in the theater between Griffin Mill and Kahane, then saw Kahane in alley (without glasses, so mistook his tall figure and wavy hair for Lyle Lovett's detective character in the lineup)
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
Everything's going Griffin Mill's way during the last 10 minutes of the #CinemaInterruptus of "The Player". Not only is his once rival Larry Levy now working under Griffin, he's even starting to LOOK like him, right down to the strand of hair over the forehead:
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
A description of Day Four of the #CinemaInterruptus of "The Player" (including some questions from Josh Larsen about the movie after the screening) can be found at: cinemal2001.wordpress.com/2025/08/16/c...
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus lots of power dynamics in police station: Griffin goes into corner office, he has nowhere to sit, he doesn't even get his preferred water, and they wave feminine products in his face.
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
A description of Day Three of this year's #CinemaInterruptus of "The Player" (including some details from a fun conversation with fellow Interrupters afterwards!) can now be found at: cinemal2001.wordpress.com/2025/08/14/c...
cinemal2001.wordpress.com
Cinema Interruptus 2025: “The Player” Day Three
We had to pick up the pace for this session to finish the movie in three days, so the bonus video Larsen showed today beforehand was a quick clip from the 1951 film “Hollywood Story” (o…
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
While going through the #CinemaInterruptus was amazed to discover that in the 1:10:18 mark of "The Player" as the car veers around towards the camera Altman uses the infamous 'Dolly Zoom' technique invented by Alfred Hitchcock in "Vertigo"! Always nice to see.
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
Very cool catch during the #CinemaInterruptus - the writer friend of the dead writer David Kahane in "The Player" is dressed EXACTLY like him - right down to the glasses and beard stubble!
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus Larsen quotes costume designer on Walter's wardrobe, who said Altman perfectly described him as a wannabe who got security job from father who always dresses in the same B&W suit because that's how he thinks.
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus snippets of conversation similar to talk today about the decline of movies. Larsen me tuons each actor had a nice one them so Altman could choose the ones to focus on while putting the movie together.
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus Larsen brings up how showing theater entrance from the leg level view is a noir staple.
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus Day Three starts with a clip from the 1951 movie "Hollywood Story", also involving murders and pitch meetings.
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
Day Two of the #CinemaInterruptus of "The Player" described at: cinemal2001.wordpress.com/2025/08/13/c...
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus Larsen was in email contact with "Player" costume designer Alexander Julian! Julian mentioned he hand-designed the sweater worn by Jeff Goldblum and designed Brion James' suits to be always shiny and his ties to always have the color of money.
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus Lots of great discussion about the differences between the movie and the novel (both written by Michael Tolkin). The novel is more propulsive, while the movie is more atmospheric. Bonnie is more fully fleshed out in the movie (Larsen thinks she has more initiative in book tho)
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus Larsen brings up how Altman is continually subverting expectations ( there's nudity, but not from the character you'd 'expect', and it leads to a sexual encounter that's not depicted).
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus Griffin in the hot tub with his 'pitch' is taking the position of his postcard-sending tormentor, an interesting perspective to take.
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus Larsen asks the audience which of the movies "pitched" so far would people want to watch (Signature choice: "Graduate II")
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus Griffin's in the hot tub is pitching the premise of the very movie we're watching!
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus Griffin in hot tub with Bonnie has the same pose and hair position as later in the movie when he spurns her
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus house at lawyer's party implies both danger and postmodern self-promotion, plus much focus on water imagery for first time
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus Larsen asks the audience what they think of Robbins character in the movie to this point (he's very insecure in the original novel)
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus Griffin talks to Celia about his job is the first example of humanity expressing itself in the film
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus Larsen asking the audience about the value of the opening shot (one comments that the mural / clapboard in the opening FRAMES of that shot define the movie)
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus a couple cases of mistaken identity, including Alan Rudolph mistaken for Martin Scorsese
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus an example of a Future In Joke, as characters are worried about Sony, who will buy Columbia Pictures after "The Player" came out.
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus pauses variations during unbroken shot allows for conversations to come through. Great variety of inside outside and wide / closeups shot
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus best inside joke: Buck Henry, writer of "The Graduate" pitching "Graduate II"
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus initial mural like artist Charles Bragg, actual filmmakers depicted? Lubitsch? Havida Barra? Zoller Seitz compares Altman to a muralist.
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
#CinemaInterruptus staring! With very apropos screening of the famous 4 minute unbroken shot that starts "Touch of Evil" ( referenced in The Players own unbroken opening shot ) (BTW: over / under of how many times The Player's shot is broken by interruptus = 7)
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Some details and discussions that came up during Day One of the 2025 Cinema Interruptus, an UNinterrupted viewing of "The Player" (particular details / theories in bold): cinemal2001.wordpress.com/2025/08/12/d... #CinemaInterruptus
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cinemal2001.bsky.social @cinemal2001.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Some introductory thoughts on the upcoming Interruptus (including some surprising similarities between this and the previous entry, "Phantom Thread": cinemal2001.wordpress.com/2025/08/11/i... #CinemaInterruptus
cinemal2001.wordpress.com
Interruptus 2025 Initial Thoughts
This Cinema Interruptus session is about Robert Altman’s “The Player”, and written by Michael Tolkin, based off his earlier novel of the same name. Some thoughts before diving in …
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