Stallone: "OK, this may be bordering on the grotesque, but the way it was explained to me by the writer is you hold two seashells like chopsticks, pull gently and scrape what’s left with the third."Quoting amberlita (view post)
Does your life feel richer now?
The Man from Laramie is a really good, maybe even great, western. Those screen shots are gorgeous, B-Side, and remind me of how stunning that film really is. I guess I forgot how much that film dwells on Native Americans.
BLOG
And everybody wants to be special here
They call your name out loud and clear
Here comes a regular
Call out your name
Here comes a regular
Am I the only one here today?
Some thoughts on recent films - trying to finish some of Ebert's lists...
The Terrorist (1998, Santosh Sivan) - shot very nicely but the sound was awful. Don't know if that's related to the DVD transfer but it was very distracting. One of the story turns is a bit cliche but it paints a very nice mood from start to finish - also interesting to me because it depicts people and events I knew very little about. 7/10
Marty (1955, Delbert Mann) - not very artfully done, kind of mainstream cinema (won 4 Oscars) but the location shooting in NYC was nice to see. It also has a rather unique story so we get a nice insight into the singles mentality of the 50s (at least Hollywood's take). Ernest Borgnine (yes him) is fine - I like films where characters don't have to look like movie stars. 7/10
Death in Venice (1971, Luchino Visconti) - very artfully done - conversations about "what is beauty", etc... Kind of a bore though - Visconti is hit or miss with me. A lovely scene at the end on the beach - worth the wait though it's spoiled a bit by the actual "death scene". Great location shooting in Venice. 6/10
Wild Target (2009, Jonathan Lynn) - I had some major issues with the pacing and the writing. Not very well put together - some scenes are embarrassing. Feels like a a TV episode of some failed series. It does have some laughs here and there and Bill Nighy is interesting to watch. Would have loved to seen his character in a better film. 4/10
Black Rain (1989, Shôhei Imamura) - noted this was rated highly in a consensus here but I didn't find this all too interesting being primarily another one of those Japanese Matchmaking films which Ozu does much better. 5/10
Damn... Trying to figure out a good spreadsheet for the top 10...
Anthony Mann fans... any thoughts on The Man from Laramie? I'm really curious if people felt it was as sympathetic to the Natives as I did. Perhaps Mann in general is? I don't remember enough about Man of the West, Devil's Doorway or Winchester '73 to say. The IMDb synopsis for Devil's Doorway seems to suggest strong sympathy, and it's from a Native's point of view:
Granted, the Indian is played by a white guy, but still. Seems like one I need to revisit. I enjoyed it the first time around.
Last 5 Viewed
Riddick (David Twohy | 2013 | USA/UK)
Night Across the Street (Raoul Ruiz | 2012 | Chile/France)*
Pain & Gain (Michael Bay | 2013 | USA)*
You're Next (Adam Wingard | 2011 | USA)
Little Odessa (James Gray | 1994 | USA)*
*recommended *highly recommended
“It isn't easy to accept that suffering can also be beautiful... it's difficult. It's something you can only understand if you dig deeply into yourself.” -- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
twitter | next projection | criticker | frames within frames
A film is an inanimate object in which only the viewer can project a moral skew.
Films I've wanted to see for awhile:
The Reflecting Skin (Philip Ridley, 1991) pro -
Dogtooth (Giorgos Lanthimos, 2009) PRO
Not a great day to be an animal lover, that's for sure. Even it was simulated animal cruelty, both films caught me off-guard.
When it comes to cats, I'm not sure which is the more disturbing scene, the one in Dogtooth or the one in Hukkle. I still haven't watched Harmony Korine's Gummo because of what I've heard re: cats.
No cats in The Reflecting Skin. Just exploding frogs. :sad:
I guess both scenes were integral to their respective plots (Dogtooth's probably more so). Still, two in one day.
* sigh *
The things I do for the love of cinema.
"We eventually managed to find them near Biskupin, where demonstrations of prehistoric farming are organized. These oxen couldn't be transported to anywhere else, so we had to built the entire studio around them. A scene that lasted twenty-something seconds took us a year and a half to prepare."
Don't forget Satantango for cat scenes. What happens in Hukkle again? I can't recall.
The Princess and the Pilot - B-
Playtime (rewatch) - A
The Hobbit - C-
The Comedy - D+
Kings of the Road - C+
The Odd Couple - B
Red Rock West - C-
The Hunger Games - D-
Prometheus - C
Tangled - C+
One more I probably won't be watching.
[]
And it didn't look simulated, either.
"We eventually managed to find them near Biskupin, where demonstrations of prehistoric farming are organized. These oxen couldn't be transported to anywhere else, so we had to built the entire studio around them. A scene that lasted twenty-something seconds took us a year and a half to prepare."
Ehh, it's one scene in a 7 hour long brilliant film. You should really watch it.
The Princess and the Pilot - B-
Playtime (rewatch) - A
The Hobbit - C-
The Comedy - D+
Kings of the Road - C+
The Odd Couple - B
Red Rock West - C-
The Hunger Games - D-
Prometheus - C
Tangled - C+
I will never forget that cat scene in Satantango - it pretty much ruined the rest of the film for me. I actually don't recall the one in Hukkle (or Dogtooth for that matter). From what I remember in Gummo, it was mostly off-screen stuff - yeah here's a bag of dead cats but we don't really see them.
Ehh, pretty sure he swings around a live cat by it's tail in Gummo.
---
On another note I rewatched Terminator 2 tonight. Holy christ the dialogue in that film is abysmal. I'm actually surprised that we expected more from Cameron with Avatar. I mean I don't think he's ever actually written something that wasn't complete crap on a script level. I mean I'll give the man his dues as a set piece designer but yikes. Perhaps Aliens holds up. Actually I remember finding the script for The Abyss tolerable as well.
The Princess and the Pilot - B-
Playtime (rewatch) - A
The Hobbit - C-
The Comedy - D+
Kings of the Road - C+
The Odd Couple - B
Red Rock West - C-
The Hunger Games - D-
Prometheus - C
Tangled - C+
Haven't seen Satantango (yeah, I know), but I can't see anyone disturbed enough by a cat scene in that not remembering the Dogtooth scene where []
Gummo's is all on-screen, but the cat's already dead.
It's been too long since I've seen it to remember how the Native Americans were portrayed in Man from Laramie, but I don't think I've ever taken issue with their representation in any of his films. I think dreamdead had problems with it in Winchester '73.
It holds up because the cheesiness works thematically and Sigourney Weaver provides emotional urgency and gravitas to her lines. Otherwise...
Last Film Loved
Mulholland Drive (Lynch)
Tarkovsky actually killed a horse in Andrei Rublev. Don't really hear anyone bitching about that. Simulated animal violence by other filmmakers is somehow less tolerable. No cat was killed in Satantango, btw. Even if it were, it wouldn't effect the quality of the film. I haven't seen it, but Tarr actually discussed that scene in an interview with Rosenbaum:
Not that this should need any clarification vis a vis the actual quality of the film, but if it will help you sleep at night, then there it is.
Last 5 Viewed
Riddick (David Twohy | 2013 | USA/UK)
Night Across the Street (Raoul Ruiz | 2012 | Chile/France)*
Pain & Gain (Michael Bay | 2013 | USA)*
You're Next (Adam Wingard | 2011 | USA)
Little Odessa (James Gray | 1994 | USA)*
*recommended *highly recommended
“It isn't easy to accept that suffering can also be beautiful... it's difficult. It's something you can only understand if you dig deeply into yourself.” -- Rainer Werner Fassbinder
twitter | next projection | criticker | frames within frames
Watching the Before trilogy in reverse order was great. I recommend it - it actually flows well, with Jesse and Celine recalling events that you then later get to see play out.
The most serendipitous moment: the strategy that Jesse uses to coax Celine off the train:
Before Sunset is the jewel in the crown, a perfect synthesis of the rush of attraction, uncertainty about the future, and regret about past decisions. A real time experiment exquisitely rendered.
Last 10 Movies Seen
(90+ = canonical, 80-89 = brilliant, 70-79 = strongly recommended, 60-69 = good, 50-59 = mixed, 40-49 = below average with some good points, 30-39 = poor, 20-29 = bad, 10-19 = terrible, 0-9 = soul-crushingly inept in every way)
Run (2020) 64
The Whistlers (2019) 55
Pawn (2020) 62
Matilda (1996) 37
The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1976) 61
Moby Dick (2011) 50
Soul (2020) 64
Heroic Duo (2003) 55
A Moment of Romance (1990) 61
As Tears Go By (1988) 65
Stuff at Letterboxd
Listening Habits at LastFM
Eh, this is mostly a semantic argument but it's a pet peeve of mine so I'm going to sound off a bit: Dialogue =/= "the script."
Cameron's never been particularly known for his dialogue, outside of memorable one-liners. Off the top of my head, I can think off maybe three or four guys who do it really well, all the time, and one of them has been dead for over forty years (Leonard, Tarantino, Mamet, Chandler).
But what he's really goddamn good at is structure, and structure is "the script." I should amend that to say Gale Anne Hurd is good at structure. She was his producing partner during his heyday, when he was making his name: "The Terminator," "Aliens," "The Abyss," and "Terminator 2: Judgement Day." All of those movies are almost ruthlessly structured in ways that his later films are not. (And you notice, all of them feature female protagonists and strong feminine themes, which are noticeably absent in recent work).
I don't think anyone who saw Cameron's stuff post-Hurd had any kind of high expectation for him, especially after "Titanic." His stories became much more rudimentary after they split. At this point, he's close to pulling a Lucas with his fascination for technology over story and, well, more human elements (eg: "Avatar").
Granted, I agree with any criticism that says "T2" is overlong, that is gets bogged down in obvious, sentimental claptrap during its second act (the same kind of thematic over-sharing he goes on to do in "Titanic" and "Avatar").
But complete crap at the script level? As you would say: Nah.
Okay except nah, script isn't just structure and dialogue. It's also character, it's also plotting and a number of other things. The central premise of T2 is moronic. The time travel loop in the film is probably the most absurd of any major blockbuster ever created. Character development is shoddy at best, etc. I don't disagree with you that he's good at structure and set pieces but a script isn't only structure.
The Princess and the Pilot - B-
Playtime (rewatch) - A
The Hobbit - C-
The Comedy - D+
Kings of the Road - C+
The Odd Couple - B
Red Rock West - C-
The Hunger Games - D-
Prometheus - C
Tangled - C+
Oh, I agree with you there. So does Roger Ebert. So does Cameron, who has always freely admitted, and continues to admit, that many elements in the "Terminator" movies make no sense whatsoever.
But man, if you go down that logical rabbit hole on this franchise you'll never come out the other side. Eventually, you'll become that guy, the one who complains Indiana Jones is terrible at his job, James Bond hates women, and there's no way some cracker farmboy from a hick planet like Tatooine would shoot that well, under pressure, his first time out.
So I guess my only point, my main point, is there's a difference between being unable or unwilling to suspend your disbelief at any given time, and that being a larger indicator, of, well, anything greater than your mood on the night you rewatched the movie. It's not the movie, man, it's you. The movie knows it's silly. It doesn't care.
More semantic rumblings we can all safely ignore: Structure is, roughly speaking, plot. If you don't break the story you have no movie. My argument is that structure is the essence of the screenplay and everything else, from characters to performance to dialogue, flesh that story out and give it life.
Finally: I take issue with the idea that Cameron's films lack characters. He added an entire subtext to Ellen Ripley that was absent in Ridley Scott's film (and further, he actually had the discipline to excise most of it from the theatrical release). And take a look at Sarah Connor. She undergoes an immense shift from the first "Terminator" to the second. How often do you see that kind of change in a blockbuster franchise? Almost never.
I'm not saying I hated the movie on a rewatch. It's still enjoyable and the set pieces are strong. I'm only just now realizing (saw it when I was a kid) how garbage the script is. For instance the scene where The Terminator goes out to 'take care of the cops' without injuring them is absolutely pointless. He blows up some cop cars and accomplishes absolutely nothing narratively. There are a couple of such scenes in the film so, so much for the immaculate structure argument.
And I don't think your comparison holds up about being 'that guy' because I wouldn't extend this criticism to all genre action/adventure films. The first Indiana Jones has a pretty good script. Plus there are gradations of suspension of disbelief. And knowing you're a silly film and not caring that your silly doesn't necessarily validate that silliness. I'm certainly glad the film doesn't take itself seriously or it would be an unbearable experience.
"Watching John with the machine, it was suddenly so clear. The terminator, would never stop. It would never leave him, and it would never hurt him, never shout at him, or get drunk and hit him, or say it was too busy to spend time with him. It would always be there. And it would die, to protect him. Of all the would-be fathers who came and went over the years, this thing, this machine, was the only one who measured up. In an insane world, it was the sanest choice."
That monologue is delivered with a serious tone. I mean, good christ.
The Princess and the Pilot - B-
Playtime (rewatch) - A
The Hobbit - C-
The Comedy - D+
Kings of the Road - C+
The Odd Couple - B
Red Rock West - C-
The Hunger Games - D-
Prometheus - C
Tangled - C+
That scene is, from memory, the second act climax. Action scenes are act breaks.
Hey man, "T2" is a gateway movie. It's an easy target. Fun to talk about. All of your friends are making those snide, witty comments and you want to say those kind of things, too.
Flash forward a year, two years from now. You start to notice that "Raiders of the Lost Ark" ends with a literal deus ex machina. You pick up on the fact that Bruce Willis' John McClane actually has zero impact on the plot of "Die Hard 2." Worse, you begin to talk about it. Out loud. In public. On the internet, often over using italics for emphasis.
Another few years go by and you find yourself in a cramped, one-room apartment staring at a bust of Armond White you made out of apple cores and old Chinese newspapers, twitching and mumbling about the narrative falsehoods found in episodes of "Breaking Bad."
Not that, uh, I have any personal experience along any of those lines myself, of course.
Yeah, that was the kind of thing I was talking about when I was talking about Cameron's "thematic over-sharing." It's like, "Yeah, we get it. FATHERS. The movie is all about FATHERS and Arnold is a FATHER figure. For fuck's sake, stop talking about it!" :lol:
Action scenes have the same responsibility as any scene, to move the narrative forward. Morpheus fighting and being captured by the agent serves a purpose. In this sequence Arnold goes out and blows up a bunch of cop cars and accomplishes absolutely nothing at all. It's a completely pointless sequence. The earlier scene at the beginning of the film where he saves John does serve a purpose.
Erm no, my friends aren't making any such comments. I'm making those comments because I'm seeing a film for the first time since I was a kid and it doesn't hold up. Remember who you're talking to. I've seen thousands of films, every Fellini film ever made, every Tarkovsky film, almost all Kurosawa, etc and so forth. I'm not some cinema noob.
I know Raiders ends with a deus ex, I've seen that one as an adult. It works fine. Die Hard 2 was always shit, I knew that when I first saw it.
Yeah, it's insufferable.
The Princess and the Pilot - B-
Playtime (rewatch) - A
The Hobbit - C-
The Comedy - D+
Kings of the Road - C+
The Odd Couple - B
Red Rock West - C-
The Hunger Games - D-
Prometheus - C
Tangled - C+
I always feel that I watch different movies than the rest of you do :P
BLOG
And everybody wants to be special here
They call your name out loud and clear
Here comes a regular
Call out your name
Here comes a regular
Am I the only one here today?
The action scene with him defeating the cops is excessive, sure, but it has a clear purpose (creating a path for their escape and alerting the T-1000 to their location, if I remember correctly), and a sort of classical action-film set piece quality. If that's not interesting to you, or if you feel the film isn't sufficiently thrilling in its depiction of such, I get that, but I would never object to the sequence's utility. Cops are everywhere. Heroes are stuck. Bob's your uncle.
I agree that Cameron's dialogue is too on-the-nose, as is often the case with his communication of theme, but I think he has a strong sort of meat-and-potatoes character development to his films. You know exactly what he's doing, but at his best, it still works.
Posting Permissions
forum
Reply With Quote