Before I forget, my good friend Brigitte has a new movie coming out called Dark Rising. Looks like a hoot (it's from the producer of Phil the Alien); check out the trailer here. And the official website here.First reader to guess the source of the screencap below gets a copy of An Inconvenient Truth. (North American residents only.)
Sorry to pull a hit-and-run--the Christmas rush has started early and is making things pretty hectic around here; stay tuned.
And good luck!
33 comments:
Bill Chambers is a really manly name, now that I think about it, so I can see how a man so named could attract such lovely friends. Bill is an archetypal man-name, and Chambers suggests either someone of complexity, or someone who has many places in which he can lock his enemies.
Is this, perhaps, the Siegel-Peckinpah effort Jinxed!?
Shameful shot in the dark because i want that DVD if only for the packaging.
Nashville?
It's too early to offer clues but so far three strikes.
Going to another "relevant" answer: Casino Royale (1967)?
I'm rather embarrassed to say that Altman didn't figure into my formative film education, but it's a mistake I'm in the process of fixing: Nashville and McCabe & Mrs. Miller have put me on a long road of discovery. Rest in peace, Bob.
Canadian professioanl wrestler Christian Cage is in that movie your friend is in as an above the title star, credited as his real name, Jay Reso, my friends said he was one of the biggest assholes they ever met.
And Ian if you're discovering Altman than make sure to run, don't walk to go buy The Long Goodbye; it might be his best. I made a copy of the library's DVD of it before Altman's death and popped it in this week, Sterling Hayden and Elliot Gould are great in it and it has one of the best endings I've ever seen. It might be my favorite detective movie because it isn't much on the whole "mystery" thing and is just about poor Phillip Marlowe lost among all these 1970s eccentrics without his cat.
We have a winner! The cap is from Nicolas Roeg's Bad Timing, a movie I've only had the stamina to watch once but one that certainly sticks to the ribs. JD, send your mailing address to billc@filmfreakcentral.net and I'll have the disc out to you in a jiffy.
I never would have recognized it, but that is a good movie. Like you, Bill, I've only got through it once, but I hope to again. Has anyone ever heard/seen Nolan discuss his debt to Roeg? I've got Following on in the background now and it reminded me of some similarities in techniques/obsessions, obvious editing issues aside. Hmm, that makes me wonder if Nolan will have a horror film for us at some point. Don't Look Now is amongst my favorite ever. Cheers!
Don't Look Now is amongst my favorite ever
God, me too. Man Who Fell To Earth is remarkable as well.
The Man Who Fell To Earth is a hard watch too, really depressing, I kind of think it's an allegory about how our ideals all eventually drown in a shallow puddle of sex, booze, and TV. The world is inherently corruptive so it seems like the people who try to shield their children are just wasting their energy, right?
Don't know Jim O'Rourke very well at all, but that sounds like someone after my own heart. As good as Bad Timing is, though, I do think Roeg's marriage to Theresa Russell was a real jump-the-shark moment in his career. It doesn't help that Bad Timing was Roeg's Apocalypse Now, not in terms of scale, obviously, but in terms of its psychic toll on the director and cast. The production had almost viral repercussions, the worst of them being the suicide of Art Garfunkel's girlfriend.
Has anyone ever heard/seen Nolan discuss his debt to Roeg?
Nolan frequently mentions Roeg as one of his most important influences and The man who fell from earth as one of his favourite films.
to earth, of course. Sorry.
Walkabout anyone?
Yeah, man Walkabout. I like Cannibal Holocaust better, but Walkabout's great.
Yeah, man Walkabout. I like Cannibal Holocaust better, but Walkabout's great.
That's like comparing Psycho with Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Ok, bad comparison, I hate Psycho. But you get the point.
I didn't get Man who fell to earth. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I was stoned when I saw it.
Alex compares everything against Cannibal Holocaust; it's kind of a running gag, methinks.
Well, not in the case of these two films since both address the same theme of man's subconcious fascination/repulsion towards his animalistic instincts. Both project this by pitting the dominant "civilized" and thus more feminine culture towards/against a marginalized brutish "male" culture. Both films comes to seperate and yet legitemate conclusions and thus I think the comparison is unfair. Where Cannibal Holocaust chooses not to address the intellectual/anthropological intangibles such as "love", Walkabout takes a more intuitive angle at the issue. Both are equally nihilistic in their conclusion but in different ways.
p.s. You really can contrast/comapre anything from Fight Club to Borat to Predator with Cannibal Holocaust as the reference-frame since:
1) Nobody expects you to.
2) It is more of an intellectual document than an intuitive one and thus it is water-tight.
3) It is bound to get a strong reaction of either fascination or repulsion from whoever has seen it, which is precisely what the film is addressing on the subconcious level.
4) It's theme (flesh vs. intellect) is as as old as some of our major mythologies including the Old Testament.
5) Traces of it can be found in many major works in one form or the other. e.g. Apocalypse Now, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Deliverance just to name a few. Some I love, some I hate but that's not the point.
I think the trouble arises when it is used as a tool for rejecting other equally valid perspectives.
You really can contrast/comapre anything from Fight Club to Borat to Predator with Cannibal Holocaust as the reference-frame since:
1) Nobody expects you to.
2) It is more of an intellectual document than an intuitive one and thus it is water-tight.
3) It is bound to get a strong reaction of either fascination or repulsion from whoever has seen it, which is precisely what the film is addressing on the subconcious level.
4) It's theme (flesh vs. intellect) is as as old as some of our major mythologies including the Old Testament.
5) Traces of it can be found in many major works in one form or the other. e.g. Apocalypse Now, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Deliverance just to name a few. Some I love, some I hate but that's not the point.
Wow! Nothing to add, 'cept ayup.
This isn't quite the place to go into it in depth, but yeah the specific way that Cannibal Holocaust addresses this stuff resonates deeply with me. I do like Walkabout though, don't want it to seem like I'm dismissing it.
Ha! The funniest thing is I've seen Bad Timing and greatly admired it; unfortunately it was long ago. Long ago to still remember some vital moments ("now kindly bugger off!," "No witnesses!," "I wish you'd understand me less and love me more") but forget others (like, say, a matchbox shaped like the Ace of Hearts). Really should pick it up again...
I do like Walkabout though, don't want it to seem like I'm dismissing it.
I know. I know. Didn't mean this one specifically. What I meant was that reference frame should remain what it is and not become a filter through which the one being reviewed has to be tested. I'm all for subjective self-indulgent reviews, but that really would be crossing the line between criticism and bar-talk for me. Not that you do that anyways, atleast from what I've read. I was just making a general statement. Man, I don't wanna get into this debate again. I think I had enough arguments about this with the terrorist at your board to fulfil the quota for an entire year.
Wow!
To all parties concerned,
My genuine heartfelt apology for defending The Date Movie. And for chastising the critics for not liking movies like this. In my defense, I was stones when I saw it and when I wrote my opinion on it. Yes, being stoned was a regular feature for me last year. Clean all summer and since though, so back to my senses.
I know. I know. Didn't mean this one specifically. What I meant was that reference frame should remain what it is and not become a filter through which the one being reviewed has to be tested.
Fair enough. Thinking about what you just wrote, I got to thinking that almost EVERYTHING I really really fucking adore falls into that thematic framework: dominant "civilization" vs. the marginalized primitive.
Taxi Driver, Days of Heaven, Apocalypse Now, The Shining, 2001, Dogville.
That's a real eye opener there.
Taxi Driver was my favorite when I was 18. Apocalypse Now when I was 20. And Days of Heaven now that I am 22. And I've always hated the other three. The only theory I have for reason behind that is that where the first three work intuitively from a subjective perspective, the other three work intellectually from a psuedo-God's POV. There is something very arrogant about that, that just rubs me the wrong way since that perspective is very ego-centric and thus inherently manipulative. I guess, it is a very important theme for me too though. Another one on my top 5 deals with it in a big way, Aguirre, the wrath of God.
It is actually a big eye-opener for me too since that now I am looking at the screenplay I'm working on, it is all over the place. Here's a tester:
ALDEN
Nature is cruel, Goodman... Either you eat the dinner...
(Alden takes a bit off his meat)
... or you are the dinner.
25 pages later(ignore the context):
GOODMAN
Nature is not cruel, Alden. Only Man can be cruel for only he can derive pleasure from misery of others. Beasts, they never eat with their stomachs full.
ALDEN
Then it is better to be a beast than a Man, I reckon'.
GOODMAN
You told them, didn't you, about Elder Brewster.
ALDEN
You knew something and you didn't know how to use it. I did.
GOODMAN
That's where you're wrong, Alden. It's not that I didn't know how to use. I didn't use it because it would have been a cruel thing to do. A beast doesn't know any better, but a Man does... a Man should.
It's the first draft, so it's a bit rough.
Hounddog is a film written, directed and produced by Deborah Kampmeier and starring child actress Dakota Fanning. Robin Wright Penn serves as an executive producer (and also has an acting role, as Stranger Lady). The film was produced by Jen Gatien.
Taking place in the 1960s American South (the film is being shot in North Carolina), Fanning plays Lewellen. a troubled 12-year old girl who finds solace from an abusive life through blues music. Blues music is delicately woven throughout this touching film to create a colorful tapestry of a melancholy life that finds release and healing through the signing of the Blues.
There are rumored to be a number of graphic, "horrific" scenes in the movie, including a scene where Fanning's character is raped, and others where she appears to be naked or just in "underpants."
Christmas comes early this year. You disagree? Watch Dreamer: Inspired by a true story (or War of the worlds) again.
Not a single Fellini film on your must own list?!? But Ghostworld?!?
Oh, if only Federico had Terry Zwigoff's talent.
Keep in mind, mimo, we haven't actually reviewed any Fellini, so it's an omission by circumstance. I spent God knows how long trying to wrangle copies of La Dolce Vita, Amarcord, and others for us to review, to no avail. That's been the irony of this venture: the major studios are so much more forthcoming with screener product than the smaller distributors who could actually use our support.
My apologies. I had no idea that you guys had yet to review any Fellini films.
On another note, it was great to see "Seconds" on your list.
"Seconds" is one of those bleak, bleak films that somehow avoids drowning in its' own pessimism and, instead, leaves you feeling glad to have seen it. I hesitate in saying this, but, I would call it a feel-good movie.
I know that term is used to describe upbeat films in which the protagonist overcomes his/her flaws and triumphs in the end, but to me many of those films don't leave me feeling "good." Rather they leave me pissed off because their protagonist managed to overcome their flaws, shortcomings, etc. with such ease. In doing so, they fail to remind me of any reality I've witnessed and cheapen life and minimize the struggles it tosses in our way. They fail to capture the sad beauty of the human experience.
That's why I title "Seconds" a feel-good movie, because it felt good to watch a film that understood just how difficult it is for one to understand one's flaws let alone overcome them.
Arthur Hamilton is a victim of a culture that has sold him a version of life that doesn't exist. His first mistake is in not recognizing this. His second mistake is in thinking that same culture could offer him a solution. His fatal flaw is in thinking that the solution to his problem lay outside and not in. That final image - the one of Arthur/Antiocus walking on the beach with his grandchild on his shoulders - represents his possible realization of this one moment too late. Heartbreaking.
Also, Jeff Corey and Wil Geer's work cannot be overlooked. They were both excellent - kindly and menacing at the same time.
One of my favourites.
With regards to Hollow Man's script snippet--The first couple times I looked at it I didn't really like it, but I read more closely and while I can see what you mean by it being rough, it does seem interesting when I remove the idea of the two characters being crusty old southern gentlemen with their thumbs through their suspenders having pretentious conversations on a porch from my head. (I think it was "I reckon" that created this idea) But it looks like it's heading somewhere, unlike most of the screenplays I've tried to write, many of which were a series of talky scenes that end up fumbling around looking for a place to end, with a vague narrative in the background. They've mostly been experiments in imitation than fully formed works on their own. But now I actually want to make one, and at this point my creative well is mostly dry, and each little droplet I find I always second-guess into nonexistence.
it does seem interesting when I remove the idea of the two characters being crusty old southern gentlemen with their thumbs through their suspenders having pretentious conversations on a porch from my head.
Yeah, I know how it looks but I don't think it would seem pretentios when read in contex with preceding events. It's definetly rough though.
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