u/Roy_Batty81

I have to admit, it took me a few minutes to get into it at first. Knowing it was a David Lynch film—along with Inland Empire, one of the only ones of his I hadn’t seen—my mind was conditioned to expect something much darker and more surreal.

Instead, what we get is this deeply human and contemplative road movie. The slow-paced shots actually reminded me a bit of Wim Wenders. Before long, I was completely hooked.

For a film where "nothing happens" on the surface, it feels incredibly realistic. As the story unfolds, we see the road through Alvin’s eyes (a brilliant Richard Farnsworth) and slowly piece together his past—his war trauma, past struggles with alcohol, and the mental health and family challenges facing his daughter (Sissy Spacek). It makes you feel so connected to him.

The brief encounters and situations he faces along his long journey on that lawnmower to visit his sick brother (the great Harry Dean Stanton) are the heart of the movie. Plus, the score by Angelo Badalamenti and the screenplay by Mary Sweeney (based on a true story) are top-tier.

Have you seen it? How do you feel it fits into Lynch’s filmography?

I haven't watched a ton of silent cinema, but I have to be completely honest: Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans left me utterly speechless. Its sheer beauty and universality blew me away. It immediately felt like a masterpiece regardless of era—it's truly timeless.

I went into it completely blind. Prior to this, the only films I had seen from the people involved were Murnau's Nosferatu and 7th Heaven with Janet Gaynor (both of which are incredible).

That trolley ride sequence into the bustling city blew my mind—the scale and camera movement felt way ahead of its time. I was also amazed by how sparingly the film uses intertitles; the visual storytelling is so strong that text is barely needed. The blend of melodrama, subtle comedy, and genuine tension is just brilliant.

Have you seen it? What are your thoughts on this film?

I’m currently about halfway through The Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors by John Gribbin, and I'm enjoying it immensely.

Starting around the Renaissance with Copernicus, the book beautifully weaves together short biographies, personal anecdotes, and clear explanations of major discoveries and experiments. What I appreciate most is how well Gribbin illustrates that scientific progress is a cumulative process—no discovery happens in a vacuum, and so much of it relies on earlier work or happens simultaneously in parallel.

I know it’s not a recent release, but it reads so smoothly and keeps things genuinely fascinating.

Has anyone else read this one? What are your thoughts on Gribbin’s approach to telling the history of science?

Toshiro Mifune was truly a force of nature. I still vividly remember watching Seven Samurai for the first time about 30 years ago, and the impact it had on me was unbelievable.

Over the decades, I’ve revisited his filmography time and time again, and my appreciation for him as an actor only grows. Whether he’s playing a fierce warrior in samurai classics like Samurai Rebellion or taking on grounded dramatic roles, his range is incredible.

What actually inspired me to write this post was finally watching Red Beard. His performance as the gruff, selfless doctor with a deeply compassionate calling was absolute perfection—masterful from start to finish.

There are still so many of his films I have left to discover, but he's easily one of the greatest to ever do it. What are some of your favorite Mifune roles, and what are your thoughts on his legacy?

I’ve been getting into Gundam and I'm looking for recommendations on what to watch next.

So far, I've watched the original 1979 trilogy movies, which I thought were excellent—the animation held up surprisingly well compared to the few episodes of the original series I tried. I also watched the 6-part The Origin OVAs a few years ago, and I loved the backstory on Char and the roots of the One Year War.

I really want to dive deeper into the franchise, but I'm looking to avoid long TV series for now.

I was thinking about watching Char's Counterattack, but I’m not sure if it works well as a standalone experience, or if I’d be completely lost without watching Zeta and ZZ first.

Would you recommend Char's Counterattack in my situation? And what other standalone movies or short OVA series (UC or Alternate Universe) should I check out?

I watched The Human Condition I: No Greater Love yesterday and it completely blew me away. From that beautiful opening scene to Kaji’s heartbreaking struggle as a pacifist trying to change a broken system from within, it’s a total masterpiece. I was already familiar with Kobayashi through Harakiri, Samurai Rebellion, and Kwaidan, but the ending here was just devastating.

I’m really hoping to watch Part II and Part III very soon. I actually read somewhere that some theaters in Japan used to run massive 10-hour marathons just to show the entire trilogy in one go!

It made me wonder: what was the reaction in Japan when this came out in 1959, just a decade after WWII? How did authorities and the general public handle such a brutal, critical look at Japanese imperialism? And I'm really curious if anyone knows how it was received in China by the few people who managed to see it back then.

Would love to hear your thoughts on the film or any historical context on its release!

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959), directed by Masaki Kobayashi, is the opening chapter of a monumental epic trilogy set during World War II.

The story follows Kaji, a pacifist and idealist who takes a job managing a forced-labor mining camp in occupied Manchuria to avoid being drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army. Believing he can humanize the system from within and secure fair treatment for Chinese prisoners, Kaji quickly collides with institutional corruption, military brutalism, and a system designed to strip away basic humanity.

Christopher Guest is easily one of my favorite comedy actors—just his screen presence as Nigel Tufnel in Spinal Tap gets me every time.

But honestly, I feel like his work as a director doesn't get talked about enough. Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman are top-tier comedies. He basically mastered the mockumentary style long before it became huge on TV, and his whole vibe with the ensemble improvisations is just iconic.

Curious to know what people here think of his movies, or if you have a favorite among his stuff.