BOO, THIS SUCKS.
I will be watching Aladin in rememberence.
I am very upset to hear this on the radio, driving in the rain, thinking about dark, stormy nights then hearing this. Really sad. Please see The Fisher King (1991) - I found it mesmerizing, back in the day. See Dead Poets Society (1989)-- yes you nowaypablo or galen - whoever's been to a private school. Do those movies contain foreshadowing of Robin W's dead of possible suicide? Tell me, anyone, if those movies stand up today? 8bit - leave Aladdin and check out Dead Poets if you haven't already.
There are tons of films I could add to your two. Good Morning Vietnam, Good Will Hunting, even Bicentennial Man. Robin Williams was not just a comedian, he was a truly great actor. I don't think those movies foreshadow his suicide. His manic-depression and his addictive personality (and subsequent problems with addiction) foreshadowed his suicide. He is just the latest in a long line of intensely creative people who, for one reason or another, felt they needed a more intensely lived experience through substances (or felt they needed them to cope with reality). Dead Poets Society 100% stands up. That movie is seriously good.
ThatsAFreeThinker, What if we change the movie club in honor of Williams to Dead Poet's Society this week? Would that be possible?
Since we're listing his best: I just saw What Dreams May Come two days ago. Riveting. The IMDB summary doesn't do it justice: I don't want to spoil anything, but it was very reminiscent of Neil Gaiman. Very existential and eschatalogical and impelling. If you're looking for a Robin Williams movie, go watch it. It's fantastic.After dying in a car crash a man searches the afterlife for his wife.
It feels as though a seal has been placed on his life. He has his place in time. That isn't gone; it's just behind where we are now, in our linear perception. But his experience is now fixed. He produced a hundred movies, a dozen stand-up tours, two Broadway productions, and touched more lives than history will remember. There will be no more. There will never be another dark comedy, or Disney voiceover, or ridiculous interview. The universe has been given its allotment of Robin Williams, and he his noble experience. Now it is sealed in time's impartial care. ⚄ ⚂
Feels weird. Weird to hear though none of us really knew him. Reach out if you need help, guys.
Remembering the Captain: O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won, The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies,
- excerpt, O Captain! My Captain!, Walt Whitman (Mr Williams as Mr Keating in Dead Poet's Society) Fallen cold and dead.
I made a comment about this in the other thread, but I just had a memory come back to me. Story time. I remember as a child, probably between the ages of 9 and 12, we would go over to my dads side of the family for Christmas Eve. Italian side, an old house in an old part of the city, with a lot of people eating a lot of spaghetti with red clam sauce and fried haddock. Of course everything was made from scratch. Anyway, with the meals concluded most years would finish with that side of the family throwing on some recordings of Robin Williams stand-up. My uncle, who is a priest mind you, is a huge fan of his standup and would always be the first person watching it. I remember catching bits and pieces from the next room out since I was too young to be allowed all the way up front with the adults with a standup routine like that, and thinking "who is this crazy guy making all these jokes I don't understand and talking a million miles an hour". I might not have laughed much, I might have understood the jokes and censored out words in front of me, but I do remember having seen it. That's what matters.
My jaw dropped. It's not often I hear of a celebrity death and it actually registers with me. (That sounds horrible, but I just don't really know actors/actresses by name or face for it to really have any effect on me) But everyone knew Robin Williams and so many of his movies are classics. What a shame.
Sad. I loved him in "The Fisher King" - this scene sticks with me :