RNL
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Post by RNL on May 30, 2006 19:37:45 GMT
Mainstream isn't necessarily a bad thing, and AHOV is far out on the fringe of it anyway, but there's still a lot of concessions made in terms of pacing and clarity and complexity in comparison to his previous work, and those consessions--to storytelling, I suppose--make it zip by so quickly that whatever themes are developing start brushing eachother aside, a lot of ideas just flicker in and out of the narrative without ever settling, as opposed to the likes of Crash or Spider, where an idea is introduced upfront and then dwelled upon for the full hundred minutes. It's a very easy movie to watch, a lot of fun, with an expertly balanced tone, but I don't think it gives itself a chance to become complicated.
It is ambitious, you're right, to attempt a crowd-pleaser, and I recall Gus Van Sant saying that Good Will Hunting, Psycho and Finding Forrester were actually his real experimental films because his natural inclination lay elsewhere. That's true of Cronenberg too. But it's not artistically ambitious. He could have made a movie that was very much his own, very much an art project, but was still a big step forward - Painkillers would have been just that, I think. I agree that it would've been easier for him to do something like eXistenZ, which, as much as I like it, definitely has an "et cetera" feel to it, as though after the stressful experience of Crash he went back to the most familiar territory he could find. I wouldn't want that, just as I wouldn't want Jarmusch to keep making films like Broken Flowers. AHOV is actually similar to eXistenZ in the sense that he took it on after the even-more-stressful experience of shooting Spider. Anyway, artistically, I think AHOV is his least ambitious film. It has the least of him in it. He didn't need to dig deep for it. So, I don't mean to play down his achievements in the mainstream, they're considerable, but I sincerly hope for a return to his roots, pronto.
And I'm not even one of these fans who thinks he should still be doing stuff like Videodrome. That's a quarter of a century ago, and I understand and appreciate that he's grown past it. I just want him to write something of his own again, something serious and subversive, not a light-hearted thing like eXistenZ.
Basically, what I want is Painkillers.
Or a feature film in the explicitly self-referrential vein of his short Camera (2000). A spiritual successor to Videodrome.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on May 30, 2006 20:01:01 GMT
Very interesting, insightful, and a much more convincing critique than the previous post, if I may say so. I'd love to see Camera.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on May 31, 2006 16:45:02 GMT
What Where TVDamien O'Donnell 2000 Ireland 1st time; DVD A menacing figure of authority orders a chain of underlings to torture one another to find out what he wants. Beckett's obscure play, shot with a deliberately slow pace and foreboding, is given a political, Orwellian treatment, with a beautiful tower of books standing behind the man in control--who, actually, seeks control without getting it.Act Without Words - I TVKarel Reisz 2000 UK/Ireland 1st time; DVD A man dropped in a desert devoid of all other objects and life, is given opportunities to learn and prosper and reach the water that dangles above him, but chance ruins everything for him. The futility of life, too frustrating to be convincing: there is perhaps a contradiction in such criticism, but Reisz has chosen his mime to be one we don't necessarily care for - it would have been far wiser to make him likeable, and thus the play far more brutal. If he has tried to imitate the artificiality of it all with his set, he has sacrificed all potential for a cinematic slant on Beckett's play.BuskingJoshua Kerr 2006 UK 1st time; big screen A busker who can't play the guitar reveals all to camera. Mockumentary short which isn't short enough; its momentum is deadened about a quarter through, and the acting has as much charm as a badly-tuned guitar.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jun 1, 2006 12:55:09 GMT
The Singing Detective TVJon Amiel 1986 Australia/UK 1st time; DVD Bedridden in hospital with a debilitating skin disease, a writer of detective fiction with a debilitating skin disease reimagines his most famous story and relives his childhood. The kind of genre-bending, tantalising final product a writer might dream of completing, this TV mini-series is about as fresh, energetic, and mature as you can possibly get, with nothing else in the medium coming close to its sophisticated intertextuality. Endlessly fascinating, with a powerful emotional undercurrent racing along beneath every sharp slice of dialogue. The acting is fantastic, the material highly original, the pacing perfect, and the whole thing is at once accessible and convoluted, ambitious and modest, and it's quite unlike anything made before or since.I think all of us should make an effort to see this six-part, nearly-seven-hour TV film; fans of intertextual, self-reflexive, or just plain brilliantly-written work should love it.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jun 1, 2006 13:17:54 GMT
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jun 3, 2006 22:19:47 GMT
The Break-Up(2006/Peyton Reed) [First Viewing] After a couple breaks up, either side refuses to move out of their condo.Funny, but uneven comedy. While Vince Vaughn is very funny, the supporting cast is even better, especially Vaughn's "Swingers" co-star Jon Favreau. The ending surprisingly goes against modern day convention, and proves to be very honest. No wonder everyone else in the theater booed during the closing credits.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jun 5, 2006 17:02:04 GMT
And so, five days in, I begin my watches for June. Charlotte et Véronique, ou: Tous les garçons s'appellent Patrick All the Boys Are Called Patrick Jean-Luc Godard 1957 France 1st time; download Two students in Paris are wooed into a date by the same man. Early Godard, witty and comical, crudely done but with a youthful charm that wins you over.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jun 7, 2006 20:07:20 GMT
The Da Vinci Code Ron Howard 2005 US 1st time; big screen A professor in religious symbolism is drawn into a scandalous secret when his name is discovered at the scene of a murder in the Louvre. Structurally, with its fragmented opening, complex, double-crossing plot and a hero in over his head, this vaguely resembles Marathon Man (1976), the kind of intelligent thriller not made these days. That is not to say, however, that Howard's adaptation of a bestselling novel rejuvenates the mystery genre; it is fairer to say that it is, perhaps disappointingly, though certainly expectedly, a novel translated to moving images--a well-paced, brilliantly-edited one.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jun 8, 2006 17:57:04 GMT
The New World Terrence Malick 2005 US 3rd time; DVD The first English settlers in America find themselves at odds with the Natives, and are saved by the rival king's youngest daughter, who falls in love with Captain John Smith. Exploring the contrast between two civilisations, one free and content at its own introversion, the other curious and explorative, and both primitive in their own way, Malick's beautiful film, a lyrical hymn to the world and an ambitious extension on themes covered in his other three features, never really settles for an established narrative arc: it sort of comes and goes, recycling and hovering upon its own themes; his unique editing style suggests a never-settling atmosphere, a narrative drive which is in a constant state of exposition.I'm ready to watch this again.
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Post by Michael on Jun 8, 2006 18:25:25 GMT
I wanted to watch The New World again, but it was only a 2-day rental from Blockbuster. Phenomenal film.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jun 9, 2006 18:46:34 GMT
För att inte tala om alla dessa kvinnor All These Women / Now About These Women Ingmar Bergman 1964 Sweden 1st time; DVD A music critic arrives at the house of a virtuoso cellist to write his biography; but the wife, mistresses and servants get in his way. Surface furnishings suggest an entirely different name altogether behind the director's credit; but dive beneath the stunning colour, slapstick humour and theatrical tone, and here is one of Bergman's torn artists, niggled at by those around him, with the burdens of expectation alienating his genius to the end.Cómo ser mujer y no morir en el intento How to be a Woman and Not Die in the Attempt Ana Belén 1991 Spain 1st time; DVD A three-time-married woman copes with the various crises of middle-aged life. Pleasant enough caricature of female perceptions of men; tame by feminist standards, though not without its valid observations, with Carmen Maura shining as the mid-life-crisis woman dealing with a lousy husband, his son, her daughter, and her own insecurities of appearance.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jun 10, 2006 4:13:47 GMT
A Prairie Home Companion(2006/Robert Altman) [First Viewing] The (fake) last show of the (real) popular American radio show.Like a cross between Altman's "Nashville" and "The Last Waltz", it's hard to believe that this could possibly be his last film, considering the energy put in and the fact that the Altman style is still stronger than ever. The whole cast is excellent, and for once in an Altman film, the excellent script stands out. The monologue about duct-ape and listening to Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly singing about dirty jokes are some of the film's many highlights. Distant Walls(2005/Thomas Verrette) [First/Second Viewing] Two brothers take it on the lam after an incident of domestic violence."Distant Walls: or, How to Make a No-Budget 100-Minute Film With Your Friends and Make It Look Fucking Convincing". This is the most inspiring thing I've seen in a very long time. The fact that this was filmed in my area, by people only a couple years older than myself, my desire to be a filmmaker continues. But after watching this, it's really possible for anybody to do this. The acting is surprisingly very convincing, though the story more often than not goes into the realm of melodrama. I will be meeting the filmmaker this Sunday (he's a friend of a friend). I can't wait.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jun 10, 2006 17:17:19 GMT
Cool! ;D
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jun 11, 2006 5:37:15 GMT
Factotum(2005/Bent Hamer) [First Viewing] A writer drifts through various jobs and bars.Matt Dillon turns in a Nicholson-esque performance as the alter ego of famous writer Charles Bukowski. Very low-key, filled with dry humor and plenty of profanity and sleaziness. Imagine Jim Jarmusch directing an alcoholic version of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas".
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jun 14, 2006 3:23:34 GMT
Taxi Driver(1976/Martin Scorsese) [Second Viewing] A night-shift taxi driver begins to notice the sleaze in the city he works in and tries to take action.A character-study that is driven by all involved to become the masterpiece it is. Robert De Niro's intense performance is completed perfectly by Scorsese's energetic direction. Paul Schrader's disturbing script goes well when read against Bernard Herrmann's majestic score. If "The Graduate" was the film of 60's (which I think it was), then "Taxi Driver" is the perfect followup in the hangover that was the 1970's. Backseat(2005/Bruce Van Dusen) [First Viewing] Two friends go on a roadtrip to Montreal to meet Donald Sutherland.It takes awhile to get into, but once it gets going and the tone becomes for serious, it starts to get interesting. Other than some slight charm and memorable moments, there isn't much here.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jun 14, 2006 19:17:57 GMT
United 93 Paul Greengrass 2006 France/UK/US 1st time; big screen September 11, 2001: while air control tries to get hold of a major hijack situation, passengers on the hijacked United 93 decide to overhaul the terrorists. There is a moment here where we see, for a brief shot, the World Trade Centre through the window of the to-be-hijacked plane - the attacks haven't happened yet, but the foreboding is implicit enough; effective storytelling of a plot most of us know the ending to. The sound is key, here: a rich, deep texture of diegetic ambience which, combined with grainy images, photographed almost entirely in hand-held close-up, lends a sense of unsettling, subdued and claustrophobic immediacy throughout.It's taken me all last night and today to settle on three stars instead of two. Anybody else seen it?
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jun 15, 2006 16:52:40 GMT
No, but I wish I had now.... In Memory of My Father(2005/Christopher Jaymes) ZERO[First Viewing] Three brothers turn to different vices during their father's wake.One of those films that sounds like it could be interesting but adds up to absolutely nothing. I suppose the director thought he was making an Altman or Cassavettes-esque film, but the results are pretentious shit. How this made it into the festival I'll never understand. Live Free or Die(2006/Gregg Kavet, Andy Robin) [First Viewing] A small time crook begins to panic when he thinks he is responsible for a local murder.Hilarious comedy, written and directed by two people on the writing staff of "Seinfeld", this film is a great comedy not only because of some genuinely funny moments, but mainly because of the small town observations that it so greatly reveals. Very enjoyable.
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Jenson71
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Post by Jenson71 on Jun 15, 2006 17:31:34 GMT
It's taken me all last night and today to settle on three stars instead of two. Anybody else seen it? I have, and it was good. The build up is a little slow, there's a lot of technical plane/radar/ground control stuff at the beginning that I wasn't expecting, but it does build some suspense and interest. At the end of the movie, and I'm glad it ends the way it did, it left me with a strong feeling Americans have had since even before it's been a nation - that feeling of exceptionalism.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jun 16, 2006 16:20:42 GMT
Things That Hang from Trees(2006/Ido Mizrahy) [First Viewing] A little boy in 1969 Florida wishes to view the city fireworks from atop the local lighthouse.Strange and extremely atmospheric film, told with subtlety through the eyes of a child. Despite being an independent film, the director is able to establish an almost Lychian mood, while at the same time perfectly capturing the essence of time and place. A film that requires patience and moves at it's own pace, but a very rewarding one at that.
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