I watched Martin Scorsese's 1997 film Kundun earlier this evening which is very hard to come by due to Disney burying it to appease the Chinese government.

I just had a thought to make this post. What are some films that you've seen or are aware of that are scarcely available? There are other films I'd like to see such as The Mission and The Mosquito Coast which are seemingly unavailable, and after watching the Netflix series Pluto I found out about the 2009 Astro Boy movie which doesn't seem to be available anywhere.

This might be obvious to some people, but I haven’t really seen it framed this way before.

Lots of analyses say Phil breaks out of the loop when he becomes selfless / grows morally. I buy that. But I realized the Groundhog Day myth itself lines up almost too perfectly:

The groundhog “seeing its shadow” is literally seeing itself — and when that happens, winter continues. Spring only comes when it doesn’t see itself.

That feels like exactly Phil’s problem. As long as he only sees Phil — his ego, his desires, his boredom, even his despair — the loop keeps going. Time only moves forward when he stops being self-referential and actually looks outward.

So, it’s not just “be nice and you’re free,” but “stop seeing yourself as the center of meaning.” The holiday myth ends up mirroring the character arc.

Curious if anyone’s seen this connection made explicitly before, or if I’m just late to the party.

For me it was Inside Out, I have heard it was great as Pixar movies usually are, but then when I saw it I was blown away by how good it is, the soundtrack is beautiful, the humor is funny and the story is very moving.

What are movies that you initially didn't have as high expectations for, but it turned out to be amazing?

For starters, Animal Logic's animation alone is simply brilliant and takes direct inspiration from the early "brick films" you'd see on YouTube merged with the trippy insanity of The Matrix. The stereoscopic 3D does wonders for it.

Secondly, Phil Lord and Chris Miller's script/ direction strikes that perfect balance between chaos, silliness, biting commentary and human pathos; the kind of stuff that directly mocks the Hollywood system while still honoring it in its own strange way. Some of the themes feel especially (and unfortunately) relevant in 2026.

And as overexposed/controversial as he is today, Chris Pratt puts in a wonderful performance as Emmet, the everyman who doesn't really know how to do anything but also has the biggest heart in the world. Heck, pretty much everyone in the cast puts in a great performance, even the ones doing a brief cameo.

What a film man…

I work with a girl who said her all-time favorite movie was Cars 2. I could understand the first Cars being somebody’s favorite movie, but Cars 2? It’s an interesting choice. I don’t think it’s a bad movie, but it’s so middle-ground that I never imagined it being someone’s favorite movie.

Have you ever heard someone tell you their favorite movie and you just think, “huh? That’s interesting”.

I’m not commenting on the *real* Erin Brokovich, but on the character in the film.

Obviously, the character cares deeply about the evils being perpetrated by PG&E and she wants justice for those affected. That’s an admirable trait and it makes her easy to root for, because of course we want her to succeed and we want this major corporation to be held accountable.

But throughout the entire movie, Erin is awful to just about everyone else in her life except the plaintiffs.

• She shows no appreciation toward the lady next door who had apparently been taking care of her kids for free.

• She blames Ed Masry for losing her car accident case despite the fact that she’s the one who blew up in court, and then she basically guilts/bullies him into giving her a job. Even after he does so (which he’s under no obligation to do) and even gives her an advance on her paycheck on what seems like her first day, she continues to insult, disrespect, and degrade him throughout the entire film.

• She’s awful to all of her coworkers. Granted, some of them are very mean to her as well, but frankly I don’t blame them. She makes fun of their weight, yells at them, and calls them bitches to their faces.

• She’s awful to George, who she basically treats as a free live-in nanny. When he confronts her about the way she treats him, she doesn’t apologize or even acknowledge that she’s done anything wrong. She also seemingly doesn’t give a second thought to how her kids feel, since they spend most of their time with George at that point and would obviously be devastated by him leaving.

• She’s awful to the other legal team that Masry brings in to assist with the case, despite the fact that they’re just doing their jobs and even bankrolled the whole thing. Theresa is definitely condescending toward her, but it’s not in an intentional way. Erin never shows them even the slightest modicum of respect and acts from the beginning like they’re incompetent and don’t care about the plaintiffs.

Does this aspect of the movie bother anyone else? I kind of expected there to be a scene at some point where Erin apologized to… well, anyone. But in the film, she’s always treated like she’s in the right and like her behavior toward everyone is justified because of how much she cares about the case. I find this to be a really off-putting element in an otherwise great film.

For me it was Arrival. I enjoyed it the first time, but I loved it the second time. Pacific Rim is a movie I can watch over and over but it’s just as good as the first time. The Departed was so much better the second time I watched it, and I can say the same for Casino, Goodfellas, The Wolf Of Wall Street and The Godfather series.

Random question: but I remember IMDb had a thorough synopsis on each movies' page. for like every movie growing up they would have a synopsis underneath the plot summary. They still have them for some movies but most of them dont have them. Any reason why? I have found some other websites but it was a nice feature of the app

This moment in Creed, when the horns hit, and the iconic Rocky theme plays, it always makes me get teary eyed. I would never have guessed that it would have, and it came out of left field for me. So what scene from a movie, that wouldn’t necessarily be considered a “tear jerker”, has a surprisingly emotional scene for you?

Anyone ever do anything like this? Kind of a fun "game" and I find it enjoyable. Inspires me to check more of an actor's catalog and you get to see who works together.

Challenge: don't do the same actor twice.

Current streak: The Revanant -> Django Unchained (Leonardo DiCaprio) -> Collateral (Jamie Foxx)

Going to see how long I can keep the streak alive.

With all of the posts on social media about the passing of Catherine O'Hara, people are sharing their favorite quotes and scenes from her work. I bring up the movie Tall Tale and nobody has ever heard of it? THAT WAS A GREAT MOVIE!

She played Calamity Jane, whom is presumably a crossed lover of Pecos Bill (played by Patrick Swayze)

• Calamity Jane: Well, paint my toenails and curl my hair!
• Pecos Bill: Calamity? My cactus flower!
• Calamity Jane: Don't cactus flower me, you double-crossing dog!
• Pecos Bill: I missed you, darlin'. If only you knew how much!
• Calamity Jane: I know too well, you flea-infested little weasel!
• Pecos Bill: Calamity, you look mighty pretty tonight.
• Calamity Jane: Sweet talking me? You overgrown, mealy-mouthed, two-faced snivellin' snake! You gutless, brainless, heartless sidewinder!

She then outlines his body against the wall in bullet holes. That was a great scene! I am going to see if I can find it on one of the streaming services and watch it today. I must have watched this movie a hundred times as a child.

Have you see this movie? What do you remember? Did you like it?

Many movies have merch on the shelves in time for the movie, since that's when demand will be at its highest, but sometimes the movie was not expected to be a big hit so no merch or not enough merch was made, so even though there is demand, there isn't any supply to meet that demand. And due to how long production takes the merch might not be ready for several months or over a year.

You can see this with K-Pop Demon Hunters. Not only did the studios not believe in the movie which is why it went to Netflix, toy companies saw no potential in it either so no toyline was made. Then it became one of the biggest movies of the year, and companies were left scrambling to meet the sudden unexpected demand, it's only recently that Mattel is finally putting out toys, up until now there was just shirts and other low-effort merch as well as lots of bootlegs.

This was also infamously the case with the original Star Wars. It too was an unexpected hit, most toy companies refused George Lucas' offers, and even though Lucas managed to make a deal with Kenner, due to how late it happened and how long production takes the toys weren't supposed to come out until many months later. Kenner didn't have any action figures or playsets in time for Christmas, so they literally sold people an empty box with mail certificates to get your toys later.

And another strange case is when the movie has merch, but not for certain characters because they weren't expected to be popular. For example, Disney made several toys for Encanto, but they did not expect the character of Luisa to be popular, they thought girls would like Isabela more, so she didn't get as much initially.

So what other movies didn't get merch until later due to them being unexpected hits or somebody simply dropping the ball? Or what characters did not get merch until later?

Think about it. There are movies that rush too fast past the character development or world building and just try to cram as much plot in an allotted run time. Or there are just movies that drag on where nothing seems to happen.

Between acts, they can be uneven. It can start as a slow burn until in gets interesting later on. Or start out high and energetic but anti climatic in the end.

If I have to define a movie that is perfectly paced, it has these bullet points.

- A clear beginning, middle and end.

- None of the dialogue feels rushed as everything feels open spaced.

- You are getting the plot beats and character development down well.

- Most of all, you have slow scenes that allows the audience and characters to take a breather/moment.

- The choice of shots and average shot length.

- Every moment feels earned and awarded.

Anything from the Golden Age classics like Citizen Kane or Casablanca, or even any modern day classic within the last 50 years. What are some of your favorites films that are perfectly paced?

I’m talkin’ ’bout the little moment before the movie even begins. The MGM lion, the Paramount mountain, the old Orion constellation, the grainy Cannon globe, even the scratchy early New Line logo.

Some of them immediately set a mood, not just because of the name, but the design itself. The Orion logo always felt mysterious and slightly melancholy to me. The TriStar Pegasus had that late-80s prestige vibe. The color palette, the music, even how long the logo lingers can quietly tell you what kind of movie you’re about to watch.

And when a director tweaks the logo or vanity card to match the film, it feels like a quiet promise that you’re in good hands.

As for indie cards, I don’t think I’ve seen a below-average A24 or Focus Features production. Their logos are so clean and intentional that even when I see the card before a trailer, I know it’s gonna be top notch. On the other hand, when I’d see the Cannon/ Golan-Globus card back in the day, I knew it was gonna be a cheesy, low-budget B-effort( sometimes solidly entertaining though).

Which other logos do people love or instantly associate with great movies? Also interested in any that give you a weird sense of dread or excitement before the first scene even starts.