flix we partook of over the hump

[vulcantouch]

since flix are The artform of the last century, and since we do not live on sw alone (riiiight? :eek: ), this thread is a continuation of a long-term topic i started elsewhere (http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.asp?threadID=1764&forumID=1). (due to a recent format switch which renders the above link illegible- and my no longer being able to trust the judgment of the moderator at that location- i am resuming this thred here :)) it is intended as a terse record of my film explorations, with (a personal emphasis of mine) occasional comment on the music therein. organic ("off-topic" ) crosstalk is encouraged; everyone is welcome to regard any subject raised herein as jumping-off points for whatever remarks you wish to add :) digressions happen; the Hump goes on :)
my comments on each mentioned film are designed for punchiness, speed of digestion and maximization of recognition (i.e. if you've seen a flik but aren't sure if you recall it, i'll describe it in such a way so as to increase the chance you'll remember it, so as to provoke discussion :) ). as such, they don't qualify as "critiques" or "reviews". on the other hand they're not quite "blurbs" either (e.g., "i Loved it!" sez gene shalit in a movie's newspaper ad, flecks of dried pastrami spitting out his big bushy mustache :p ) instead, i refer to them as "humps" or "humpins", after this thred title :sur: either way, y'all are also welcome to contribute "humps" of your own, and your "humps" may be as long or short, in-depth or glib as you wish to make them :)
i tend to avoid new releases; home video's my preference. that said, unless i cite a film's year of release it came out within the last decade or so. anyhoo, on to my now-traditional opening:
What hump? You know what hump :p because previous incarnations of this thred are all but obliterated (the net, after all, is such an ephemeral medium :dead: ), i wish to begin by recapping of some of my faves covered on previous Humps. though i'm tempted to include a few better-known ones such as Flirting With Disaster, Fight Club, Party Girl, Pi, Pierrot Le Fou, Being John Malkovich, Lock Stock & 2 Smokin Barrels etc, the idea here is to Provoke Fruitful Discussion. and mentioning flix already discussed to death ain't the way to get That ball rollin, so i'll skew a bit more esoteric & emphasize those i feel proud & lucky to have discovered; let's see if That rings any of yer bells :)
first, 4 i've already amazon-reviewed:
venice/venice (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6304161514/ref=cm_mp_etc/002-2967117-9032014)- henry jaglom's incisive, escapist, subversive, sublime meditation on reality, movies & wuv :cool:
some prefer cake (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305191794/ref=cm_mp_etc/002-2967117-9032014)- low-budget, superfun, sanfran-style slacker-love hijinx :D
high art (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/cm/member-reviews/-/A1KE5LQ9HJSTCE/11/002-2967117-9032014?display=attributed)- complex, convincing professional & personal relationship between a heroin-addicted photographer (yummy ally sheedy :kiss: ) and a photomag editor :cool:
clockwatchers (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/cm/member-reviews/-/A1KE5LQ9HJSTCE/11/002-2967117-9032014?display=attributed)- lisa kudrow, toni collette & yummy parker posey (:kiss: ) navigate office politics as peon temps; subtle, poignant, superfun :)
also:
gummo (harmony korine dir.)- absorbing, visceral, 4-day-old-body-stench-soaked window unto brain-cell-killing white-trashdom :D
happiness (todd solondz dir.)- marvelous, wickedly funny, panoramic window unto middle-class alienation, shallowness and sexual self-loathing, jersey style :p perfectly-cast, nuanced turns by philip seymour hoffman, lara flynn boyle, jon lovitz, camryn mannheim, louise lasser, dylan baker (as the pederast who nonetheless maintains a surprisingly healthy & frank relationship with his pre-teen son) etc : ) soundtrack features increasingly stinky (this stuff does Not age well) 70s/80s cheese such as "mandy", "you light up my life" and air supply :p
daytrippers (parker posey, anne meara, greg mottola dir.)- superfun misadventures during a family-station-wagon trip into manhattan :) bossanova-tinged richard martinez score :)
blue in the face (wayne wang dir.)- superfun, cameo-crammed ensemble comedy about a brooklyn cigar store's oddball neighbors :)
the real blonde (matthew modine, kathleen turner, daryl hannah, tom dicillo dir.)- superfun, cameo-crammed ensemble comedy about careers, romances & milieux of several manhattan artiste-types :rolleyes: fun jim farmer score & yummy bridgette wilson :kiss:
career girls (mike leigh dir)- superfun, poignant london vignette about two college chums reuniting six years later :)
fallen angels (wong kar-wai dir.)- not as well-known as wong's Chungking Express, but a more stylin, cooler, noir/french-new-wave tale of a hongkong hitman, his ardent Gal Friday and an eccentric, enterprising mute who breaks into retailers' shops at 3am, reopens them and forces passersby to be his customers :crazed:
tieta do agreste (carlos diegues dir.)- gorgeous, breezy brazilian flick bout an urban madam (sonia braga) who returns to her small home village in style; features Excellent caetano veloso bossanova score :happy:
the mystery of rampo- poetic, involving japanese mindphuque about a novelist's femme protagonist seemingly coming to life :cool: excellent akira senju score.
book of life- hal hartley's stylin, supercool, introspective, compact (63 minutes), pomo-tech jesus-vs-satan armageddon faceoff set in turn-of-millenium nyc : )
pillow book (ewan macgrrrregarrrr, peter greenaway dir)- dense, stylin, supercool story of a japanese model compelled to combine carnality & calligraphy ;)
dream with the fishes (david arquette, cathy moriarty, kathryn erbe (:kiss: ) )- complex, superfun pact between a suicidal guy & terminally ill guy to help each other carry out their final wishes :)
relax it's just sex- superfun 16mm dramedy about a "gay man trapped in a straight woman's body" (hilarious jennifer tilly) and the luvlives amongst her mixed-persuasion posse, including convincing lori petty and radiant serena scott thomas :kiss:
a life less ordinary (macgrrregarrr, camdiaz, ian holm, danny boyle dir.)- superfun crime-spree romp about heaven's attempts to orchestrate love between a rich girl & a janitor :stupid:
splendor (gregg araki dir)- yummy kathleen "90210" robertson's the magnetic crux of this superfun, slick-hip romcom in which she works out a menage-a-troi living arrangement with 2 guys :cool: features fun kelly macdonald (who made her debut in danny boyle's Trainspotting) and a cool remix of everything but the girl's "before today" :)
do i think these are among the Best films made in the last decade? geez, how do i know. i don't concern myself here with posterity, only conveyance of personal taste & sensibility. all i know is i certainly found them among the best Fun :D
vt
np (now playing): leftfield's rendition of john barry's You Only Live Twice "space march"

[Rollo Tomassi]

As a film student and amateur film critic (as we all are) I have seen many, many movies and I can safely and officially put Gummo as THE WORST MOVIE OF ALL TIME.

Gummo is what happens when self absorbed 14 year olds who think their style of film making is "shocking" when it's really just "pathetic" are handed $1 million and told to make an "art" film. This film sucks on ALL levels.


Thank you. You may now return to your regularly scheduled film discussion thread.

[SWAFMAN]

place for we who are too lazy to surf too much. ;)

Living in Opie-and-Andy-ville, the only one of your movies I've seen at our video store (yep, we have ONE) and/or the public library which also rents some videos, is High Art. Being a fairly typical male, I rented it in the hopes of seeing some hot girl/girl action :kiss: :kiss: but was also pleased to see it was a well acted story that really made me empathize with the characters. Ending was predictable but still powerful.

I think we may also have "A life less ordinary." I'll have to look. The others are gonna be pretty tough to see around these parts. If the lead character's back pocket doesn't have a worn circle showing through it from his can of Skoal, then the movie isn't gonna rent to the inbred, one-chromosome-too-many, ten-teeth-too-few masses I'm blessed to live among, and the local store isn't likely to buy it just so I can rent one time. But I'll give it a shot.

[jeddah]

Unfortunately, I've not been able to watch either videos or movies as much as I'd've liked of late due to 'stuff' going on but here're some I have seen; Veetoire, please excuse the horror, I know you're no fan of that wide genre.

jeepers creepers more Loose Endz than the 1980s and rubbish after the second half. Okay so it's a harmless fun-shock-flick but X-files monsters aren't usually scarey, specially not ones that look like a cross between the Tall Man (http://www.drippingblood.com/images/tn_grim.jpg) , Freddy K and The Walkin Dude (http://www.toptown.com/dorms/creedstonegate/movie/stand4.jpg) . It's a shame that once they'd committed to the monster they were tied to it. Its 'mystery' had no room for weird otherworlds and so on, just plain ol monster that flew a bit. :frus: The hype that this film got seems to justify and perspective-ise :eek: the hype that Blair Witchery got - which I thoroughly enjoyed BTW. The kids.....did anyone feel any empathy or compassion for them? Arguing brats did nothing to endear themselves to the audience and I hate that films like Scream lampoon the fact that no-one should (for example) go down to the cellars etc and everyone is now aware of that truism but it still finds its way into films. Lazy screenplay and lazy script. I did not guess the ending but when it came, I didn't care.

AI more harrowing than the last scenes of Titanic. I was one of the few (bittered old hacks) that didn't cry but I nearly did when Jude Law came onscreen. I adore this actor greatly and enjoyed him in Talented Mr Ripley, Existenz and Wilde but his character changed the tone of the film too much for me. The cries against Jar Jar comedying up Ep1 could also be levelled against this character's inclusion. I thnk an intelligent audience can extrapolate the facts that if AI that can love is created, then there will be legion AIs already existing that can do other, more iniquitous things. To sex-up and comedy-up the film was a little unecessary for the thinking person. It was exquisite in it's image though and the ETIs that came at the end really added another depth that I was not expecting. (Hasbro, could you make an ET ship like the dissolving cube of AI, pz? ;))

The Dish missed this at the cinema and hired it yesterday. unable to watch it due to time constraints so I'm taking it back now :cry: Any posters here, please do not spoil the film for me, it's one of the films I've been most eagerly awaiting.

Bridget Jones' Diary Suffering the same fate as jeepers creepers it was very funny up until the halfway -timetogetromantic- mark. In addition, I know this is an indefensible comment but it's my opinion so take it for what it is; I really cannot abide that tosser Hugh Grant, so that didn't help. A film cannot be judged solely on whether it was funny or not (again, my opinion) and with that sentiment in mind, I label this film a deplorable, nay, lamentable waste of reel. If you want to see how These Types Of Films should be done, watch Ally McBeal; more panache and style and a helluva lot more special guests...not to mention the delectable Lisa Nicole Carson :p

Dungeons and Dragons Did I just watch Ep1?

jeddah

[SWAFMAN]

as feared, VT, I checked the local rental store & library yesterday, and none of the other titles including "A Life Less Ordinary" were to be found. Two things will need to happed for me to see any of these:

1) Goddamned piece of **** mother ****ing **** sucking ***-hole ATT@Home Cable Internet better get my service restored for my internet and email so I can be online at a decent speed (I'm counting heavily here on the auto-censor feature, lest I get banned off this site forever!). Today, my local news said it might still be a MONTH before we get our service back!!!

- and -

2) One or more of your films get shown on an online broadcast site like the one that shows so many of the Vidmark titles online.

[edited note to moderators: adding "ing" to the "F-word" causes it to NOT be censored - as in 'mother f-ing'. No worries - I did the edit myself ;) ]

[bigbarada]

:eek: oops! That's one word they forgot on the auto-censor!!

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

[jeddah]

Hey Swaffster, I ain't never seen you so riled! Made me chuckle and a nice tonic from seeing my Godchillun in the School nativity (Luke was a shepherd and Becca was in the choir - I'd hoped one of them would've been Herod Agrippa but no luck) ;)

Check out Man bites dog if you can; a nice Belgish flick with the most romantic language of all - French :D however, remember in Belgium, they say "nuenante" for ninety instead of "quatre-vingt-dix" and "septante" for seventy instead of "soixante-dix"

:)

jeddah

[good shot jansen]

a couple of darren aronofsky flix

pi - ooooie! the secret to peace and serenity in ones life is a black and decker with a 3/8's bit :eek: starkly done in b/w. of course the connection of a mathmatical equation being both the divine source of jewish cabala as well as the stock market is a tad bit anti-semtic (jews, money, blah blah blah), the movie however is riviting, disturbing, and well worth the two bucks to rent.

requiem for a dream - bigger budget, just as gritty. anyone who thinks heroin is chic, needs to see this incredibly well done look into the lives of coney island addicts. ellen burstyn (who has always been one of my faves), gives the performance of a life time. horrowing, harrowing, and well worth the time.

this boy may be my fave film maker fer the moment.

[SWAFMAN]

:frus:

sorry. this just sux! this afternoon it has taken me over an hour to browse just the last day's MM forum posts and this thread.

I have RESUMES out all over the USA with my @home email address, and I have no idea whether or not I'm getting any bites from them! I hope those folks would phone me, but then again, they may think that if I'm too incompetent to return their email, then to hell with me. (no offense, Baal)

I'll have to add yours and GSJ's recommended flix to my "to watch" list, and hope I can locate them locally. :rolleyes:

The only recent movies I've seen which I think are worth mentioning are:
The Yards. A medium-budget film with what were, in my opinion, some really excellent performances by (God help us!) Marky-Mark, Joaquin Phoenix (who I thought deserved "best supporting" for Gladiator), C. Theron, E. Burstyn and J. Caan.

Tigerland. Nothing award-winning, but a FullMetalJacket-ish story with decent performances by the lead actor and the actor playing his chief antagonist.

(PS. does anyone other than ME wish that Owen Wilson would perish painfully in a horrible VicMorrow/TwilightZoneMovie-esque disaster? Yeccchhh!! And, are he and Luke Wilson brothers or something?)

[jeddah]

PS. does anyone other than ME wish that Owen Wilson would perish painfully in a horrible VicMorrow/TwilightZoneMovie-esque disaster? Yeccchhh!! And, are he and Luke Wilson brothers or something?PS. does anyone other than ME wish that Owen Wilson would perish painfully in a horrible VicMorrow/TwilightZoneMovie-esque disaster? Yeccchhh!! And, are he and Luke Wilson brothers or something?PS. does anyone other than ME wish that Owen Wilson would perish painfully in a horrible VicMorrow/TwilightZoneMovie-esque disaster? Yeccchhh!! And, are he and Luke Wilson brothers or something?PS. does anyone other than ME wish that Owen Wilson would perish painfully in a horrible VicMorrow/TwilightZoneMovie-esque disaster? Yeccchhh!! And, are he and Luke Wilson brothers or something?

Who?

jeddah :)

[vulcantouch]

btw i can recommend a censor-safe, cinema-related curseword substitute, which makes reference to a certain overhyped starlet: "GODDEMI MOORE!!" :evil:

swaffy: "checked the local rental store & library"
-ehhhxcellent! :cool: if i can pique y'all's curiosity enough to get you to want to actually check into some of these flix (& then we can chitchat em up here), so much the better! (OPIE & andyville? personally i prefer EDIE & andy (http://www.angelfire.com/ny2/ediesedgwick/)ville :kiss: ) i may have a partial solution to your gummoville blues; i continue to score various vhs flix i dig supercheap, for donation to a nearby library. if you wish, we can start up a VTape club, in that i can send em to you first so you can watch, then you send em to someone else here who might wanna see, etc etc, till full circle, either returned to me or sent straight to said library :) if might be interested lmk :)
re the quextion i posed in my High Art amazon review, i've since decided that sheedy, unable to choose between her loyalties to either of the broads she cared about, killed Herself; concur?
plz elaborate why you loathe owen :evil: ever seen Bottle Rocket? lotta fun, & dented-putty-nose was great in it :) i agree that, though i enjoyed him in Boogie Nights & 3 Kings, we should always refer to wahlberg as marky mark, now & forever :happy:

gsj: "the secret to peace and serenity in ones life is a black and decker with a 3/8's bit"
-i'll have to pass that lil tip onto b'jr (http://www.sirstevesguide.com/vbportal/forums/showthread.php?postid=24080#post24080) :crazed: haven't seen Requiem yet but lookin forward to it cuz Pi rocked! imo you read too much into alleged antisemitic subtext, a la alvy singer (http://us.imdb.com/Quotes?Annie+Hall+(1977)) ("he distinctly said 'jew'; i asked if he'd seen the new bergman & he said 'no, Jew?' " :p ); never occured to me, cuz money's power, & who Doesn't like power? :greedy: as i recall, what i really want you & swaffy to see is High Fidelity, cuz of the music & mixtape fussiness :)

"anyone who thinks heroin is chic"
-idunno if heroin's chic, but some of the people who Do it Certainly are :sur:

rt: "amateur film critic (as we all are)"
-yeah, but some of us are more amateurish than others ;) right outta the gate, dissent; excellent :happy: feel free to elaborate about these posturing 14-yr-old gummoshockers :) (i saw korine on letterman once; interestingly, he didn't come across as too much Older than 14 ;) fun interview though)
not sure what "safety" has to do with connoisseurship, but no need to cite filmschool credentials, we all diss each other's tastes here regardless :crazed: anyhoo, as a film student, what influences do you like to draw from?

jdah: no worries, just cuz I'm not a big horror guy don't mean you can't discuss 'em here. who knows, you could probably even write up Porn if you could figure out a sufficiently discreet & clinical way to do it :eek: plz elaborate re your distaste for grant, he's never bugged me much. i keep confusing Bridget Jones Diary w/Princess Diaries :rolleyes:
if "quatre-vingt-dix-neuf" is french, and "neunante-neuf" is belgian, is "neuf-neuf" french poodleian? ;)
vt
np: 99 luftballoons :p
tip: the Bravo cable channel is not a dependable option for catching flix: b'jr & i caught High Art & it'd been all cut up :frus: i suspect indifilmchannel's the same story, esp. if they have commercial breaks :p

[SWAFMAN]

--sounds peachy - just tell me how much I need to ante-up.

re: Owen Wilson - no, I didn't see bottle rocket, but lately he seems to be getting a lot of work (Jeddah, OW is the soldier trapped behind enemy lines in the latest Hackman war flick). He lost me forever in a movie I think was called 'nowhere man' about a serial killer who poisons his vics. I didn't care for him before I saw that, but since then I've just wanted to hurl at the very sight of his fake yellow hair and malden-esque proboscis. I may give 'rocket' a try, or I may not. Just don't know if I can take a whole 'nuther OW movie. We'll see....
(er, would it be too much trouble if I were to ask that, when Wilson meets his VMorrow/TZone fate that he be standing side-by-side with that annoying sumbeeyotch kid in the Dell PC commercials??)

[jeddah]

Veetoire mon vichysoise :D And you said you don't get French, now you're trilingual:cool:

Hugh Grant....is another one on my plane (a sick fantasy my bro and I have been cultivating for years).....Robbie Williams is on there too and they both have something in common (the latter actually being common). HG has no star quality, has not really come near to divinity (apart from perhaps a brief missed encouter in Maurice which in itself was a rather drab production of HRH Forster's work) yet has somehow managed to garner a stars image with what seems to be the same character in every film. Of course I wouldn't hold this against Jack Nicholson or Christopher Walken who always maintain a lot of themselves in their roles, and even the recipe-acting of Will Smith has more quality to it than HGs - even though he definitely is the same person in every movie I've seen him in, Bagger or not. There is a Way To Do Things and I don't like those who haven't done it. So where does Robbie fit in to this (if you care). Because he is a parvenu, has his songs written for him, will not spend more than 3 takes on a vocal and acts spoiled. Whether you see this as right or wrong, I hate thankless people. They both come across as such.

Swaffy, thanks.:) The powers that be contrive to keep the pond uncrossable in some ways, their secret weapon this time being NTSC/PAL. Oh well, to quote an erudite board member; plus ca change, plus ce la meme chose ;) BTW there was quite an echo to my question, don't know how that happened.

It's always been a myth to me why Nena's German release of her hit 99 red balloons translates to 99 air balloons. Probably something to do with warblimps :evil: I wonder if she's shaving yet?

jeddah

[vulcantouch]

. . .other than what little i've osmosized from francoflix & moebius books; & i got the "neuf-neuf" from a gag comedienne joy behar told about a decade ago :\
i saw Maurice a few years back- a merch-iv production as i recall, made before their patented, high-tone Room w/a View sheen made their arthouse rep ;) is it that you fear hg may've become the quintessential cinemabrit to yank audiences? seen him in Mickey Blue Eyes?
& i still like rw's "millenium" single cuz it interpolates the YOLT bond theme (john barry wasn't zactly taken by the homage :o )
btw said library recently acquired a fancy "universal dub" vcr that converts world vid formats (ntsc to pal etc). if you or bc3 ask real nice-like, i Might be bothered to take the time to convert certain content for y'all :sur:
to answer quextion: ow resumay (http://us.imdb.com/Name?Wilson,+Owen) ;) btw all, i currently seek Bottle Rocket soundtrack for ~$3 +shipping, so plz keep eyes open :D

swaffy: Minus Man was the one; i enjoyed it as i recall :) so far the esoteriflix i've acquired for donation are Swingers, Daytrippers, Party Girl, House of Yes, Happiness, Venice/Venice, Opposite of Sex, Flirting W/Disaster, Bullets Over Broadway, Celebrity, jaglom's Eating & Big Picture (all $1 or less :) an economical Some Prefer Cake remains my elusive holy grail as it's on the small wolfe video label.) lmk which if any interest. also Broadway Damage (also on the wolfe label- just got lucky i guess :happy: ), Hudsucker Proxy, Clockwatchers, Wigstock, Schizopolis & I Shot Andy Warhol but've long since donated these. however, since i'm on good terms w/that department i might be able to arrange a loanout if interested in any. also, a pal recently gave me Guffman (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0118111) but library already has that, so if you cover VTclub shipping i'll enclose Guff for you to keep if interested :)
i hope to work into any plan we come up with a chance to show jt V/V, as i've been buggin him to see it for years cuz of its LA & film-industry milieu :)
vt
np: barry's Dutchman theme

[Rollo Tomassi]

anyhoo, as a film student, what influences do you like to draw from?

Well, much to the chagrine of all my documentary/art film professors, I firmly believe that the film industry is just that: An industry. Film makers can preach and moan and wail and cheaply talk all they about it being an "ART" but they are getting paid, the studios are expecting results, the shareholders want answers, and the whole thing pulls in more money than any other industry in the world. It employs everyone from StevenSpeilberg down the counter jockey at BlockBuster and the janitor at the local cineplex sweeping up your popcorn crumbs. That said, I am getting into the industry to entertain others. My influences are anybody who can make me walk out of a theatre making be believe I didn't waste my cash. Be it George Lucas, Michael Bay, David Mamet, Darren Aronofsky, whoever. Every fimmaker has good films and horrendous ones. Look at Ridley scott. In the last two years he made Gladiator (excellent) and hannibal (atrocious) I try to take notes from the Gladiators and disregard the mistakes in the Hannibals. Being completely honest, when asked to fill in the question "I will be the next __________." I wish I could say Speilberg or Lucas, but in truth I'll probably be the next Brett Ratner or . i know i won't be the next P.T. Anderson or Todd Solondze. Possibly the Next Howard hawks. now theres something to strive for...

The best movies I saw this year were Memento, Moulin Rouge, Jay and Silent Bob, Life as a House. Ocean's 11 was great. Harry Potter was too. i expect great things from LOTR.

Owen Wilson plays himself in every film. if he were to break away from his own stereotype, I think he could be a great actor. So far, he hasn't, but I see the potential.

[bigbarada]

Trying to translate most of this thread from vulcantouch-ese :p I think I've finally figured out that it is about films we've enjoyed between Ep1 and 2. Right?:confused:

Fight Club: very thought provoking, even though I didn't completely buy into the surprise identity of Tyler Durden upon first viewing. It made a lot more sense the second and third time around. My rating: :D:D:D1/2 out of 4

American Beauty: Wonderful film! I can totally relate to Lester's feeling imprisoned by his job and family. This is one of those films where I watched the ending first (a friend was playing it in his room when I stopped by for a visit) then felt compelled to check out the entire film; but the film gives away the ending in the opening monologue so it's no big surprise. :D:D:D:D

Snatch: Just watched this one a few days ago. Very funny and interestingly made. :D:D:D1/2

Gladiator: Amazing film. I watched this one first while I was in Korea and I think the theme of a man being separated from his family and seeking revenge for their death was felt very strongly by all the married men who were also away from their wives for a one year tour of duty in Korea. I felt the pain of separation from loved ones also and I think it's a testament to Russel Crowe's talent as an actor. :D:D:D:D

These are the only films I can think of right now, between Ep1 and 2, that moved me in some way. I hope LOTR will take it's place among these soon.

[JediTricks]

How anybody can put "Michael Bay" in the same paragraph with "Steven Spielberg", "David Mamet", and "George Lucas"... hell, even in the same one with the "counter jockey at Blockbuster"; Michael Bay is Hollywood's biggest prostitute. I swear, this guy must have been sitting on Hollywood and Vine wearing a gold lamé jumpsuit and a sign that said "will make any action film for $100 million" when Disney drove by. Bay is a total hack who's taken movies to a new low with his style of turning any bad story into trash that looks like a 2 hour commercial/music video.

[Rollo Tomassi]

Originally ranting by JediTricks
How anybody can put "Michael Bay" in the same paragraph with "Steven Spielberg", "David Mamet", and "George Lucas"... hell, even in the same one with the "counter jockey at Blockbuster"; Michael Bay is Hollywood's biggest prostitute. I swear, this guy must have been sitting on Hollywood and Vine wearing a gold lamé jumpsuit and a sign that said "will make any action film for $100 million" when Disney drove by. Bay is a total hack who's taken movies to a new low with his style of turning any bad story into trash that looks like a 2 hour commercial/music video.

Tell us what you really think JT.:p I was bringing up his name to make a point that his filming style is different from Speilberg, Mamet, etc.. good or bad, you can tell when you are watching a Michael Bay flick. His visual style and editing are very distinct. And he puts butts in the seats. Truth be told, if somebody asked me if I wanted to be the next Bay or the next Woody Allen, I'd go with Bay... I'm not saying the guys a cinematic genius or anything, but Woody Allen's tired and repetitive and plus, he stole Best picture from Star Wars back in '77 and I'll never forgive him for that.


BigB! Excellent films all!

[JediTricks]

IMO, Woody has his good films and his bad, and most of his films have a lot of good AND bad in them, but not even Allen's Annie Hall can make Michael Bay, former commercial and music video director, look any better as a director. How does this guy sleep at night after making garbage like "The Rock", "Bad Boys", and "Armageddon" (a title I honestly doubt the guy can spell). I enjoy "popcorn" films as much as anybody here, but this guy must have a sweet deal going with Beelzebub (and no, not the one that keeps trying to "generously" take our SWMMs for us) for his ADD-fueling career. Michael Bay's movies make "Last Action Hero" look like "Lawrence of Arabia" - the guy puts out cinematic vomit that the American public seems to lap up like suckers simply because the movie budget and ad budget would each make Bill Gates blush. And he's turned the past 6 years of Hollywood imitators further into mush-minded mimics who can't keep a single shot going for more than 10 seconds in fear of audiences actually getting some clue of the wafer-thin plot and mindless violence (not to mention ridiculous camera angles and over-hyped, over-pumped soundtracks) and actually deciding to think for themselves. Bay has done for the cinema what McDonalds has done for dining.

[Rollo Tomassi]

Oh c'mon....Last Action Hero? That's stretchin' the credibility of your argument, JT. But the Woody Allen/Michael Bay thing made me think of something I read once about directors getting trapped in a niche and how great it would be to see them direct something totally out of the blue. I think the example they gave was Woody Allen directing the Armageddon sequel. Could Allen do it? What about a Steven Speilberg raunchy teen comedy? Or David Fincher doing a Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan bubbly romance? Could Bay direct a low budget family drama about alcoholism? Could he use long takes? Could George Lucas direct an R-rated film full of sex and violence? I think this would really separate the great directors from the mediocre and crap ones. If nothing else, it would be "interesting" to see the results. What other directors can you see doing something other than their usual schtick? Kevin Smith? Todd (ugh. creepy man.) Solondze? oooh! The possibilities are endless... Throw out some suggestions guys!

[JediTricks]

Did you see The Rock? After viewing it, I realized the title referrs to that object between Bay's ears. It's almost hard to beleive this guy started his moviemaking career BEFORE seeing Speed 2:Cruise Control, I picture him sitting through that film thinking "this is exactly what we need more of in Hollywood!"

Spielberg could direct "Naked College Girls Making Oatmeal", that guy may or may not have the range to do it, but he'd DO it anyway. ;) And Lucas could direct an R-rated film, he'd just have to fight all his parental instincts. I can see him doing it, but he'd be blushing and running back to the MPAA with additions over and over every time the film got a PG-13. :D

Kevin Smith should direct a Merchant Ivory film and follow that up with another sequel to Koyaanisqatsi.:crazed:

[bigbarada]

GL directed THX-1138 which showed Robert Duvall masturbating to a naked dancing girl on TV, while his "wife" poisoned his dinner. Although, that was in his younger, wilder days.

Did you know David Lynch (Eraserhead, Twin Peaks, Lost Highway) was offered directing chores for ROTJ? He turned it down, but imagine how different the movie would have been if he had accepted?

[vulcantouch]

bb: "it is about films we've enjoyed between Ep1 and 2. Right?"
-sure, why not ;) actually, my term Hump originally referred to the 99/00 xmas/newyears break, & axed what flix my fellow forummers had partook of during that typically-VacaTion time :) after that it evolved into weekly wrapups of same (since wednesday's sometimes referred to as "hump day" ;) ), but if you wanna make it about your ep1-2 interval, g'head g'head ( http://www.geocities.com/winddancer44/R_Palillo3.jpg ) :)

"Trying to translate most of this thread from vulcantouch-ese"
-people occasionally express this sentiment ;) i always welcome feedback so feel free to lmk which of my expressive tendencies you may find confusing, or if there's any specific clarifications i can provide, happy to do it :)

rt: "show bidness" = "show" + "bidness", eh? ;)
ambition analysis: if one strives to be lucas as opposed to solondz, i'd say one aims to have it both ways, i.e. enormous recognition & success while very slightly pushing the boundaries of aesthetic acheivement. an understandable ambition; what artist Wouldn't like real-world power without sacrificing the cachet of ART? after all, it's only with both that one'd snag the top-drawer fillies, and we all know the real reason guys go into directing is to score da chix :kiss: but ambition and merit are two different things.
i agree that the dichotomy between enjoyment and artistic merit is a false one. ("if art isn't supposed to be enjoyable, then what Is it supposed to be, Punishment?" -pauline kael :D ) there is, however, an enduring dichotomy between mass acceptance and aesthetic adventurism. not that that's a bad or unavoidable thing: the majority of the audience will always have relatively provincial "meat & potato" tastes, while a much smaller segment will have broader, more adventurous palettes. both go after & get what they want, & that's as it should be.
mainstream success and artistic merit are not mutually exclusive. even so, while a tendency to pander so as to maximize financial success may sometimes yield aesthetically interesting results (after all, in art Anything's possible; carried to an admirably straightforward extreme, it's what the campy appeal of b-flix are based on :) ), it typically yields mainly pandering.
that said: while jt's fast-food analogy is apt, let's remember mcdonald's does have its place; i worked in one as a teen, and found much to admire in their efficient, standardized process & result :) i still go, but only once a week when i can get 7 cheeseburgers for $.39 each; i save my bigger eat-out bucks for more encompassing, nuanced, non-chain restaurant experiences that deserve em :)
re "director stunt-casting": allen's already done scifi (Sleeper), whodunnit (the superfun manhattan murder mystery) & a musical; how many directors can boast that kinda VarieTy? :) a while back there was tawk of bringin in a personal-style director to reinvigorate the trek film franchise, a la david lynch, coen bruddahs etc. mighta been interestin.
my fight club hump: superfun, heady, cultish dissatisfied-young-white-man iconoclasm, w/prosthetic-bosomed meat loaf hammin it up :D looking forward to Snatch despite its universal panning, cuz i loved another flick (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0120735) ritchie did :D a pal took me to a Jay/Silent Bob drive-in showing this summer, it was fun; jay remains a cuss-word Poet :) not sure why everyone hates Hannibal (not horror-filmy enough for 'em? :confused: ), i enjoyed it :) haven't seen Ambeaut since theatrical release but enjoyed it at the time; lookin forward to re-watching it when i show it to a pal (i tend to avoid re-viewing flix unless it's a favorite i'm showing to a "virgin", so i can re-experience it anew thru their eyes :) ) only mamet helming i recall seeing is Spanish Prisoner, which fell surprisingly flat for me :zzz: Annie Hall deserved best picture, but i thought Julia stole it from sw that year, no? anyhoo allen remains essential, even his failures offer more insight into an interesting mind than most peoples' successes. speaking of such insight i recommend wild man blues, a lively, fascinating, gorgeously-shot documentary of a european concert tour he & soon-yi took with his nawlins jazz band :)
i respect solondz' doggedness, he's got a particular, entertaining pov, sticks with it and sez to hell with the slaggin he gets as a result :) i've zero interest in seeing LOTR, but sometimes certain kinds of word-of-mouth (not necc. glowing either) can intrigue & change my mind- not that i anticipate that'll happen in this case. hope to get around to Moulin Rouge this holiday season, i imagine its baroque sumptuousness'd really hit the spot, like Eyes Wide Shut did last holiday season :) haven't seen Last Action Hero or Gladiator yet, i'll get around to em, but in my own time ;) only bay i've seen is Armageddon, wasn't struck much either way (but still glad they made a 'dillo micromachine (http://freespace.virgin.net/james.hobson/ap13.htm) :D ). might someday see Rock (i'm a sucker for balconies of the sort i saw in a Rock clip), but remain wholly unintrigued by the rest of bay's fare (http://us.imdb.com/Name?Bay,+Michael) :p so many flix, so little time; life's too short to not trust one's instincts & let em lead you to (or away from) whatever they may :)
thanx for bringin up supertrip flik Koyaan jt, saves me the trouble ;)
vt
np: glass, "the grid" from Koy score

[jeddah]

Evenin',

RT, I really enjoyed your posts, nice to listen to someone on the inside and I loved Oceans 11:)

Vulcan'No Parlez'touche, mon ami, take the Goddemi backslap willya! - I remember telling you that you receive comfort like cold porridge years ago, I see you've not adapted. Be efficient or she'll (http://www.iusb.edu/~kaichele/pics/autos/akrige.jpg) be disappointed :p

i still like rw's "millenium" single cuz it interpolates the YOLT bond theme (john barry wasn't zactly taken by the homage

I shall have to include (in your package) a studio interview with the producers who explain the problem they had with RW and retakes, but more interestingly, about how they had to reprogramme the strings section from scratch due to copyright restrictions (if my memory serves me well - you know how reliable that is - but is seems your comments of Barry's unhappiness would bear this out).

I am also at a loss as to why Hannibal was slated. Was it by people who read the book?

I loved the colours and romance of the thing. A Century before, dear Lucia (http://web.ukonline.co.uk/carter.jsrpages/pics2/2hclrwav.jpg) was being wooed at the Arno and here in Hannibal we had Hannibal courting the stellar Clarice in Firenze too! The dark red woods and amber lighting of the piazzas and Uffizi (http://vimad3.viewimages.com/wm/TS020158.jpg) were soo atmospheric and beautiful, directly referring the subconscious to the dark colours of the many scenes of various forms of evisceration. I guess we all take something different from films.

For example I passionately loved the Casserta influence in EP1 and the hyperneo-classical statues of Coruscant.....At times it was like living in an Alma-Tadema canvas (http://vimad3.viewimages.com/wm/AS005077.jpg) . Anyway, I don't want to start rattling on about the Royal renaissance of Naboo :)

Although I considered AMBeaut a waste of my time (and I do so love Kev) I did enjoy the one scene when the subject of the title screams petulantly from the wall the alternative name for a hoohoo (anyone seen Boys on the Side?);). Peversely, I chucked one of the most satisfying films I have ever seen into the video last night;

Dogma for someone who had never seen it before. I think films like this show what good collabs the US and UK can come up with. Alan Rickman obviously had to keep his appearance low or he would have clearly stolen the film á la Maggie (http://www.photowrld.com/shops/detail3.cgi?r=43579). I just bring this up because I wanted to echo VT's sentiments that there is something so enjoyable watching a film you love with someone who's never seen it before.

I enjoyed Gladiator in an eye candy sort of way. I was very let down by the lack of the use of SFX to recreate a splendid Rome - the glimpses too short, or fast panned to enjoy. Also, Commodus' sister at the end of the film is wearing an anachronistic headdress but that fact is too nitpicky to hold against the film. I must confess that after Jurassic Park came out nearly 10 years ago, I was looking forward to massive biblical epics, correcting De Mille's glorious attempts. The nearest we've got to this is Gladiator. It didn't do it for me as it was too gung ** and dareIsay 'americanised' in the way that JT refers to films like Armageddon.

To completely invalidate my tastes in your eyes, I would like to say that I have seen Titanic over 5 times and fall in love with it every time. Why did Katie have to release a song! She got her life together and lost her weight (she certainly doesn't look any bigger than the Mauretania) and releases a song that will tarnish her career :frus: And to add insult to injury we were born/lived in the same village!

After much preamble, I can now talk about the film I saw last night;

The Dish - At the risk of sounding gushy throughout this entire post can I just say I was rapt withall. What is it about Australian flicks of late? They really have the knack to tap into Utopia! I suppose I like the provincial element in films, from the dusty moisture farms of Tatooine to the sublime Standbymeish environs of Fried Green Tomatoes. This has the sharp conversational humour of Australia and the tense (albeit hilarious) situation of the Apollo 11 landing. God, what a gem, my Dad's getting it in his stocking for Christmas (http://italian.about.com/library/weekly/aa120600a.htm?once=true&) .Of late, Sam Neill seems to be one of those crucial yet generous actors (In the Mouth of Madness, Event Horizon, JP) and is the same here, giving plenty of breathing space for the other actors, this film doesn't really seem to have a central character to pull things together for the audience. And it doesn't need one - the Moon landing is the focus and the community is the film. Rent it.

jeddah

[SWAFMAN]

Hannibal - I read the book a long time before seeing the film. That cut into my ability to enjoy the film on its own merits. Characters totally gone, characters changed, characters diminished in their significance to the story...... just incredibly frustrating. I recently rented the DVD because it advertised an alternate ending, and I wanted to see if it was the "book ending." It is NOT. They also had some other scenes that were cut from the movie. There is one scene where Lecter advises Pozzi on the local serial killer's recreation of portraits in the way he arranged the bodies of his victims. Leaving that scene in the film would've added some sorely missing depth to the Pozzi character and his relationship with Lecter. I find it impossible to not measure Hannibal against Silence of the Lambs. In my opinion, Hannibal, the film, missed three critical components that made Lambs so amazing. First, the death of Jonathan Demme killed the possibility of continuity in direction of the sequel. As much as Scott has proven himself a capable director, I can't help wondering what Hannibal would've been under Demme. Next, as amazing as Hopkins's Lecter was in Lambs, there was also an absolutely brilliant performance by Ted Levine as Jame Gumb. Most people remember Lambs for Hopkins's work - and rightly so -but I wonder how many people consider how critical Levine's whack-job Gumb character was as in holding the story together? As much as I like Oldman and am certain he could've carried a larger role in Hannibal, there simply wasn't any other pivotal role in Hannibal (the film) besides Lecter. I feel that shallowed the film by comparison to both its book and to Lambs. Finally, Hannibal the film lacked the psychological depth of its predecessor. Again, in the DVD they show a few scenes cut from the theatrical release that at least made some better attempt to deepen the emotional bond between Lecter and Starling. But the mindplay between Lecter and Starling, and Lecter and Pozzi are just too superficially presented in the film, in my opinion. Yes, the visuals of Florence were stunning. Had the film been truer to the book we'd have seen even more.

Gladiator - Intravenous check-your-mind-at-the-door action-flick. Gives the masses what they expect for $9.00 or whatever the going rate is for big city movie houses these days - bigger-than-life non-stop action & SFX. About the only thing I liked about this movie in a lasting sense was J. Phoenix's performance.

Fight Club - Sorry. It never "hit" home for me. I just couldn't get into the weird place it was trying to take me.

Snatch - Now, this was a great fun movie. Sorta like a cross between Reservoir Dogs and After the Fox. This role and his role in Meet Joe Black are about the only two things I've liked by Brad Pitt. But I thought he was great in Snatch.

Woody Allen - Not enjoyed much of his stuff in the last 10 years, but I did like Sweet and Lowdown.

Panic - I just really like Wm. H. Macy. I thought this was a decent small film with some good performances. Anyone else seen it? What did you think?

Eyes Wide Shut - Sorry again, VT. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood, but this one just never seemed to hit a stride with me where I felt it was telling a coherent story. It was like someone started writing without any outline and just drifted around trying to find where they wanted to go with the tale, then, just when they maybe thought they had an inklink of an idea of what they really wanted the story to be about, they ran out of paper and just ended it right there (hopefully that wasn't due to Kubrick's death during post-production). Going from what little I've seen of the trailers to Vanilla Sky, it looks like it may be sort of the same kind of movie. If so, I'll be waiting for it to hit the 50 cent bin at the local library before seeing it.

gotta go - the kiddies need supper. bye.....

[JediTricks]

Look at McDonalds as soon as Ray Kroc died - within days, the company stopped blanching the fries before deep frying them, the meat became thinner and smaller, and there were other, similar changes that affected the product. They took their fast food product and made it even cheaper without thought to quality. They lowered the bar for the entire industry and were so big that the customers merely accepted it.

That is exactly what Michael Bay, with help from folks like the late Don Simpson, Jerry Bruckheimer, and Disney's various studios (Hollywood Pictures and Touchstone) has done for cinema, they've taken a medium that was already filled with overblown junk movies and they took that concept to new lows - and the industry followed because that's what they do, they follow the money like lemmings, even if it takes them off a cliff.


As for Woody Allen, I enjoyed one of his latest films, Small Time Crooks, one of the few films I've seen since Ep 1 was released.

[GNT]

Originally posted by jeddah
After much preamble, I can now talk about the film I saw last night;

The Dish - At the risk of sounding gushy throughout this entire post can I just say I was rapt withall. What is it about Australian flicks of late? They really have the knack to tap into Utopia! I suppose I like the provincial element in films, from the dusty moisture farms of Tatooine to the sublime Standbymeish environs of Fried Green Tomatoes. This has the sharp conversational humour of Australia and the tense (albeit hilarious) situation of the Apollo 11 landing. God, what a gem, my Dad's getting it in his stocking for Christmas (http://italian.about.com/library/weekly/aa120600a.htm?once=true&) .Of late, Sam Neill seems to be one of those crucial yet generous actors (In the Mouth of Madness, Event Horizon, JP) and is the same here, giving plenty of breathing space for the other actors, this film doesn't really seem to have a central character to pull things together for the audience. And it doesn't need one - the Moon landing is the focus and the community is the film. Rent it.



Its so good to see Australian movies mentioned :)

[jeddah]

Do you guys actually eat McDonalds'?:crazed:

GNT, they goshdarn well deserve it! :)

I learnt form Swaffy that J Demme had died! I never knew that.

jeddah

[vulcantouch]

speakin of which:
jdah: "dear Lucia (http://web.ukonline.co.uk/carter.jsrpages/pics2/2hclrwav.jpg)"
-oh dear indeed ("somethin else i wouldn't mind eatin, but right now food will do" -yaphet kotto, Alien) :kiss: she's kinda like neve campbell in that from some angles she's rapturous, while others make her look like a ufo alien :stupid: in bonham-cutie's case, i'd take the good w/the bad -as would tim burton, it seems; see what i mean about directors motivated by choice nookie acquisition (post 23 above)? :evil:

"De Mille's glorious attempts. . . seen Titanic over 5 times and fall in love with it every time"
-in light of above comments (and your xmas lecture-link), you're much more on the same page as pagan winslet-fan paglia than you imagine :sur: personally i still don't buy for a Minute the scene when leo (in steerage) spots kate (in 1st class section) and gets love-at-1st-sight-itis :rolleyes: if it was hbc, yup; jami gertz (http://www.chixinflix.com/jami_gertz.html), hoa yeh; ione skye (http://www.groupiecentral.com/gwlione.html), yew betcha (i'm dyin to see Dream For An Insomniac, she looks great in its previews :kiss: ) but kw? no ah don THINK so, miss thang :p

jt: "the company stopped blanching the fries"
-i was never crazy about mcfries, if you don't down em all before they cool off they leave a pasty film on the roof of your mouth :p burger king never had that problem, cuz they didn't use frozen potatoes :D anyhoo i never buy fastfood fries Or softdrinks cuz they aren't a good value (they & bevs are where fastfood makes its $$; a 16-oz coke only costs them about $.05 :eek: )
i'm quite sure standard mcpatties are still 1/10th of a pound precooked weight just like they always were; maybe it's just We who are bigger :D glad to hear STC was fun, i'm on track to see it one of these saturday nights :) "anybody seen the latest woodsy allen?" -marge simpson trying to make sophisticated dinner conversation :rolleyes:

swaffy: didn't overlook post 14 above, didja? :) my jan. 24 humps of:
sweet & lowdown- amusing pseudo-bio (a la Zelig) about sean penn's thoroughly loutish, eternally-second-best jazz guitarist. uma thurman's frivolous, artsy flapper's lotta fun :)
eyes wide shut- though it's disputed whether the mild unsatisfyingness of the conclusion of this, kubrick's absorbing, visually-lush swan song, was intentional (let alone called for) given the theme, the resta the ride was still fun :) in addition to the chant & middle-eastern sounds used effectively during THOSE SCENES (You know the ones i mean), jocelyn pook's score consists of starkly simple but surprisingly disconcerting piano taps, akin to what a toddler might peck out if he wanted to make some Skeh-weee Myuzik :sur: :eek:
hump means many tings; dat's da beauty of it ;)

"Vanilla Sky. . . looks like it may be sort of the same kind of movie"
-DOESN'T IT THOUGH?? to paraphrase david spodely-dodely, "i really liked vanilla sky the first time i saw it. . . WHEN IT WAS CALLED EYES WIDE SHUT!" :p

gnt: aussie flick mentions?? ok then, here's a coupla aussie flix mentions :) i dug muriel's wedding and Proof (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0102721), which featured not only a pre-famous crowe, but hugo weaving before his perfect mark-hittin as Matrix's agent smith :D found Love Serenade somehow unsatisfying despite its strengths, but liked Forgotten Silver (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0116344) (oh wait, that's an enzer production, right? sowwy; i know that, much like norway & sweden, oz & nz get real insulted when they're mistaken for one another; relax & eat a choy (http://www.sirstevesguide.com/vbportal/forums/showthread.php?postid=22883#post22883) on me, maite ;) )
so mods, what Do you think of gnt? ;D
vt
np: incognito, "always there" (morales mix)

[SWAFMAN]

...looks like we're on the same page in many of our observations. Is it a case of WT&EMTA do you think?

(Wonderfully Twisted & Eclectic Minds Think Alike)

[jeddah]

Swaffy;

Is it a case of WT&EMTA do you think?

or perhaps PFTA? where p = peverse and F is plural :p [j/k]

jeddah

[SWAFMAN]

....works for me!
;)

[bigbarada]

Anybody else check out Vanilla Sky yet? I must say, pretty good for a crime drama that turns into a love drama that turns into a sci-fi thriller. Plus, I am glad to see that filmmakers have ceased "protecting us" by erasing the WTC towers from the NYC skyline.

[Rollo Tomassi]

Vanilla Sky hit my bottom five for the year by being a pretentious "it was all a dream" movie that lacked any real emotional weight for the characters (like i'm supposed to empathize with a billionaire playboy who gets his pretty boy face all goofed up and has to choose between horse face penelope cruz and Cameron Diaz) Tom completely hammed up the entire performance (especially with his elephant man riff in the night club) and Penelope Cruz is not only not a decent actress she is a beaky, overbit horse face who causes me gag reflex to kick in when ever she's on screen. And whoever didn't figure out the lame cryo freezing ending by the second time the stupid frozen dog showed up on screen seriously needs to watch more movies. I really appreciated the subtle ways Cameron Crowe beat us senseless with THAT little "dream" clue. Jason lee pretty much played himself and Kurt Russell seemed to be slumming in this picture (either that or Crowe picked him because he bore a faint resemblance to Gregory peck...) The only saving graces were Diaz's neurotic/psychopath performance (and her dazzling smile!) and the aforementioned WTC, which honestly held my attention more than anything else being said in that confusing, muddled, end scene...as ol' jar Jar would say...PEEYOUSA!

[SWAFMAN]

...life seems to be getting better again. Back online at a decent speed. Email address is now updated in my profile. Happy holidays to all.
:)

[vulcantouch]

btw, maybe u din't get vtape club mssg cuz of yer email trubbles, but: see post #14 above (& add Trees Lounge to list of availables) :)

rt: "like i'm supposed to empathize with"
-from how you describe vs, i'm not sure empathy's the point as much as Vicarious Thrilldom, i.e. most people won't ever experience the Ride of being a billionaire pretty-boy, much less the Fall from said grace :)

bb: i'm sure i'll see vs someday even if it does turn out as rt sez (i tend to have a higher tolerance for artistic pretension; i often find it kinda enjoyable actually :happy:

jdah: "you receive comfort like cold porridge"
-if by "comfort" you mean "undeserved compliments", guilty ;) after all, what need have i of unearned compliments? i never fail to toot my own horn ad nauseum when i Have earned it :D

"I shall have to include (in your package)"
-WHAATT?? you mean you Still haven't sent?? well maybe when you get done playin alphabet footsie w/swaffy (above) you might get aroun2 it?? :mad: :frus: :rolleyes:

"Be efficient or she'll (http://www.iusb.edu/~kaichele/pics/autos/akrige.jpg) be disappointed"
-better her than she (http://www.unimatrix001.de/Borg-Schauspieler/S__Thompson/s__thompson.html); ME be efficient?? SCHNELLL on that package, SCHNELLL!!! :evil:
i getta kick outta liotta whenever he's onscreen :) my jan 2 dogma hump: superfun catholic irreverence which casts alanis morrisette as an end-theme-singing god (better save me a seat in hell :eek: ). delish inside jokes made at the expense of Home Alone director chris columbus; salma hayek & linda fiorentino help this flick rival X-Men for having the most babeticious cast of '99 :kiss: howard shore's surprisingly strong score (he hadn't impressed me much elsewhere) almost puts one in the mind of an ecclesiastical Men In Black (i.e. elfman with church bells) :)
now for a fresh batch o Hump, a selection inspired partly by a current go-round me & jt been enjoyin (http://www.sirstevesguide.com/vbportal/forums/showthread.php?postid=24774#post24774) :D
bamboozled- an airs-sporting tv producer(damon wayans)'s attempt to get canned by his ridiculous wigger boss (michael rappaport) by developing a blackface minstrel variety hour backfires when america embraces it :sur: a fruitful, fascinating, subversive premise writer/director spike lee handles with deft, inventive, bouncin humor till about 3/4 thru when an overly-oppressive black blues vibe begins to weigh things down. thankfully, the finale is satisfyingly fatalistic :) with a subtle, effective terence blanchard score and sharp, yummy jada pinkett :kiss:
bulworth- a disillusioned congressman attempts political (& literal) suicide by putting out a contract on himself and provoking the black community, only to end up being embraced by them and galvanizing a rebirth of honesty :sur: features ennio morricone's cool spider-web-plucky assassin motif, and unconvincing bubblehead halle berry :p like Bamboozled, a daring, hilarious, incisive ride, but a perfect illustration of the principle jt & i are currently debating, in that all of you Heard of this film cuz of who wrote/directed/headlined it (warren beatty); by contrast, Bamboozled didn't even get a denver release (a special one-time screening had to be arranged by our local jazz station several Months later :rolleyes: )
black & white (brooke shields, claudia schiffer, marla maples, ben stiller)- fun, incisive, visceral pseudo-documentary examining why rich manhattan wigger-teens be hangin wit da harlem homies. with annoying bijou phillips, yummy stacy edwards and a hilarious, hazardous exchange between mike tyson and a gay robert downey jr :eek:
da projects- what the hell?? it's been 8 months since i saw this, so i went to imdb.com to refresh me on the particulars, and it's not even Listed! :confused: just a Nutha zample of what i bin sayin to jt about the man keepin us down :frus: ;) a mildly interesting, b&w indie production as i recall, not as good as Just Another Girl On The I.R.T but with briefly interesting electronic score passages by byron fludd & derrick simpson-
vt
np: paul young, "no parlez"

[vulcantouch]

sounds like utinni's just bitter from wastin 2 hours of his life watchin Majestic :p (am i the only one who LOATHES Majestic's cloying, post-9-11-profiteering ads, with carrey & director darabont invoking jimmystew & capra repeatedly til yew just wanna PYUKE?? :p
so utinni thinks flix should make us richer or wiser? :rolleyes: flix are art, and art is about pleasure. like duchamp said, the only thing one can expect from art besides pleasure is that it occasionally helps you think a bit more clearly :cool:
vt
np: philip glass & foday musa suso, "music for the screens"

[vulcantouch]

well Those certainly provoked a lotta comment :rolleyes: (note: post #37 above was in reply to a since-retracted post by utinni (#36.5?) which said, amidst various font adjustments, "films are for fools; they don't make you richer or wiser" :eek: ) anyhoo, since seemingly everyone churns out endoyear retrospectives, i too'll take one final look back at some prev. Hump highlights (Humpheights?), before VenTuring into all new Humpterritory come '02:
unhook the stars (marisa tomei, gena rowlands, depardieu, nick cassvettes dir.)- delightful, unexpectedly-rewarding friendships between a genteel empty-nester, the brash unmarried mother down the street & her toddler son. even jake lloyd wasn't bad without the overbearing lucas around to badger him into emulating his personal facial tics (if you've seen george in interviews, you can tell where lloyd's treacly, overearnest anakin-mannequin expressions came from :rolleyes: ) & though nick's old man john retains the arthouse rep, based on this flick & She's So Lovely i'd say i already prefer sonny-boy :)
waiting for guffman (cath o'hara, eugene levy, fred willard, yummy parker posey, chris guest star/dir.) hilarious mockumentary about a midwest-smalltown musical mounted by stagestruck hamateurs :stupid:
in the company of men (neil labute dir.)- absorbing, viciously fun "gender vengeance" conspiracy featuring modernist visuals and yummy stacy edwards :kiss: but be warned one of the main characters (aaron eckhart) is such a true-to-life fratboy ******* it leaves a Strong lingering taste not many will enjoy :dead:
the opposite of sex (christina ricci, lisa kudrow, lyle lovett)- hellafun first-person romp about an amoral teen who ruthlessly adapts her personal agenda thru myriad relationships :evil: features mason daring's bossa nova score :)
the pompatus of love (jon "ducky" cryer, richard schenkman dir.)- superfun, breezy ensemble romcom about 4 nyc goombahs and their wimmin, including yummy mia sara, kristen wilson and kristin scott thomas :kiss:
broadway damage- entertaining romcom about 2 nyc gays both pining over the wrong guys, and their flighty straight galpal who "stalks" mag editor tina brown. even the soggy, cloying, broadway-ballady soundtrack can't wilt the lively appeal of the characters & visuals :)
watermelon woman- writer/director/actor cheryl dunye's autobio"documentary" about her search for info on an obscure 30's black lesbian actress she idolizes. controversial twist at the end, plus a cameo by an unsuspecting camille paglia :sur: packed w/happnin sounds from ~8 years ago such as vanessa daou's "in the black forest" and masters at work's "i can't get no sleep" :cool:
wigstock- gaw-juss, superfun documentary on the annual nyc dragqueen fest. features performances by deee-lite, crystal waters, rupaul & original tunes like the cawfee-tawk-sounding "it's nyachural" (included on mixtape i made gsj :crazed: )
hurlyburly (sean penn, kevin spacey, gary shandling, chazz palminteri, meg ryan, anna paquin, yummy robin wright)- fun, shimmering, hockney-painting-styled vignette of a hollywood agent's drug-soaked, out-of-control life and social milieu :crazed: another flick in which i've been compared to spacey's character (see AmBeaut note below) ;) excellent, viper-room-style jazz score by david baerwald :cool:
schizopolis- steven soderbergh's amusing dadaist experiment spoofing, among other things, suburbanality, semantics, adultery, dentistry, scientology-type cults and pest control :crazed: bonus points for the part when ss makes faces at himself in the mirror, and except for a single-frame flash he didn't even bother with credits! perhaps he just didn't wanna waste our time (personally i always watch a film all the way thru); wasn't that considerate of him? :Pirate:
zero effect (bill pullman, ben stiller, ryan o'neal, jake kasdan dir.)- fun, involving adventures of a eccentric, world-class freelancer and his reluctant agent, whose doubts about their latest job increase as they delve deeper into it :Pirate:
zazie dans le metro ('59)- louis malle's atmospheric, anarchic slapstick about a mischevious kid's visit with her uncle in paris :crazed: includes gorgeous eiffel tower sequence and poised, VibranT carla marlier as aunt albertine :kiss:
ciao professore (lina wirtmueller dir.)- superfun tale of a northern italy gradeschool teacher mistakenly assigned to a scuzzier southern italy locale :) like truffaut's Small Change et al, makes me think euro directors have a truer take on childhood than spielberg/disney americans, neither romanticizing it nor selling it short (i.e. assuming that kids are simply adults-in-progress). which, admittedly, might seem like an ironic assertion in light of Ciao's appealing opening sequence :eek:
caro diario- director nanni moretti's picturesque, aimless scootering around italy as we eavesdrop on his whimsical internal monologue :cool:
lisbon story (wim wenders dir.)- gorgeous travelogue of a soundman's whimsical adventures, prompted by his director summoning him to portugal. features madredeus' flamenco-style ballads :)
latcho drom (tony gatlif dir.)- bewitching, sensual musical documentary/travelogue focusing on gypsies in europe & the middle east. awash in hypnotic dance & music, some of which gives the uncanny impression of being an ancestor of house :eek: (gsj & swaffy both got a sample of this score on their mixtapes :) )
tampopo ('86, juzo itami dir.)- gripping, hilarious saga of a mother's dream to run a world-class noodle bar and the cowboy-trucker-connoisseur who mentors her :crazed: a sensuously-detailed farce about the hedonism of food :happy:
okoge (takahiro nakajime dir.)- fun, gorgeous flick about a girl befriending a gay couple in anti-homo japan. features fun, ymo-style electropop score by edison & hilarious loanshark/dragqueen streetfight scene :D
ok swaffy, plz confirm which of following you'd be interested in viewing- consult amazon or imdb descriptions for any i haven't Humped if uncertain: Real Blonde dvd, Trees Lounge, Swingers, Daytrippers, Party Girl, Happiness, Venice/Venice, Opposite of Sex, Flirting W/Disaster, Celebrity (woodsy allen), Big Picture, Broadway Damage. you're welcome to keep the guffman if you wish, as it was a gift and library already has it anyway :) also, my library pals have agreed to an extended loan re El Mariachi, Mishima, Clockwatchers, Wigstock, Koyaanisqatsi, Zazie & Schizopolis :) but their I Shot Andy Warhol's currently MIA, & Wigstock may or may not be available within our timeframe for this. again, confirm which do & don't interest. barring sudden, unexpected additions (i'd Love to be able to find you Tieta, Book of Life, Splendor, Relax Its Just, High Art & Some Prefer Cake before sending :cool: ), shouldn't be too long before i have a shipping quote for you :)
jdah: re-viewed AmBeaut for the first time since its release when showing it to b'jr (http://www.twinsuntimes.com/toyforce/sabretooth.htm) xmas night, and WE LOVED IT so :p it ain't perfect but we laughed our ashes off at its clinical precision, & got our breath taken away by its epiphanics (even if the accusations i've read that director sam mendes plagiarized the "bag in the wind" sequence from a smaller film are true) :cool: for 3 years i'd told b'jr the parallels between him & the VTaping, potsellin, institutionalized kid next door were eerie; he finally got to see for himself :D (meanwhile, i've been compared to the spacey character's shrewd, damn-the-consequences outlook & ability to be stirred only by perfection ;) ) supercool thomas newman score (recently re-used in ibm tvcomms with avery "sisko" brooks) & of course, ent captain scott bakula as the "gaeighbor" had his phaser set on fabulous ;)
vt
np: sakamoto, "forbidden colors"

[SWAFMAN]

I guess my list is pretty big. If you want to break it into two or more time-delayed batches that would be fine with me)

Real Blonde dvd
Trees Lounge
Swingers
Daytrippers
Party Girl
Happiness
Venice/Venice
Opposite of Sex
Flirting W/Disaster
Celebrity (woodsy allen)
Big Picture
Broadway Damage
Guffman
Clockwatchers
Wigstock
Schizopolis
(I already saw High Art, no I don't need that one)

Thanks for offering these, VT. I'll check here for more info on costs and timing. Sounds like you really enjoyed American Beauty. Unfortunately I am boycotting Kevin Spacey due to his highly public ultra-radical leftist vomitous rantings. Otherwise, I'd sorta like to see some of his films from the last few years.

HNY!

[vulcantouch]

i'll likely send all at once cuz it's more economical & fun that way :) was also just given Four Rooms, personally wasn't Crazy about it (or Celebrity for that matter; Humps forthcoming) but lmk if wanna judge for yourself & i'll include :) High Art Rocked didn't it? ally sheedy: :kiss: i bagged its soundtrack for $3 this spring :happy:
spacey's made some "highly public ultra-radical leftist vomitous rantings"? where where, wha'd he say, wha'd he say? i miss All the fun :( i've seen his jack lemmonesque rantings but those were within the context of roles ;) you remind me of a friend of mine who considered boycotting t2 cuz of schwarzenegger's rightist rantings :o imo gotta draw a clear distinction between the art & the artist. the former's sublimity is not necc. impacted by the latter's limits :)
so None of u out there have seen any of the stuff i just mentioned?? boy, my Humps are just provoking Heaps of comment aren't they :rolleyes:
vt
np: loek dikker, Pascali's Island opening theme

[derek]

g

[SWAFMAN]

VT - yes, please include Four Rooms if you can. I'm nearly certain I haven't seen it yet, and my girlfriend says she heard it was good.

Thanks!!

[jeddah]

;) re Enterprise
:p re AmBeaulatory
:kiss: to the pair of you for New Year

I haven't watched any films apart from Tomb Raider since I last saw you(r avatars) both. It was nothing new, but fun nonetheless, especially Ingenue Jolie's clipped Paltrowsh. I do like the way these new movie babes are speaking the lingo. She also happens to be another of my favourites. Where've I seen her love interest before? (and does Gul Dukat voice the Naboo Jedi Masters in SW Battlegrounds game?)

Will be watching the classic Suspiria in a min (Dario Argento's much lauded horror flick.....we'll see.)

gotta jam, need a shingle and grit :D

jeddah

[good shot jansen]

Originally posted by jeddah

gotta jam, need a shingle and grit :D

jeddah

chipped beef on toast?

yuck!:dead:

[jeddah]

...It was rhyming slang for something nasty.:crazed:

Happy New Year to you, GSJ. You been hiding away from all the festivities (or lack thereof)?

Needless to say :)Suspiria (http://home.swipnet.se/~w-20851/hemsida/suspiria.htm) was rather hard work but I can see why it/he (Dario) was hailed as groundbreaking. From the opening scene I felt cut off, awkward (no, I won't say 'claustrophobic' as that's lazy) and the score was hellishly intense; really jangly with the main music-box theme repeated over and over with a bass note plucked with the fingers sliding down the fret (altho' it sounded like a Moog or Minimoog). The witch at the end was very scarey because you couldn't see her altho' she did materialise when she was killed. But what an original premise; an isolated dance school in the middle of nowhere where the script is less relevant than the photography. I don't think I'll have him over for dinner. Far removed from the spontaneous promptings of the heart of this lot (http://www.merchantivory.com/roomview.html) ;)

jeddah

[vulcantouch]

"g", derek, with a mug like that there's no need to "B" shy ;)
confirming swaffy's Four Rooms request :) alas, library's copy of Wigstock is currently MIA, so may not be available :(
jdah: so far i've seen jolie in Girl Interrupted, Foxfire, Playing By Heart and Pushing Tin (the best of the 4), & she's a-ok :)
for aesthetic reasons explained in my most recent mm fashreports (posts 70 & 71 (http://sirstevesguide.com/vbportal/forums/showthread.php?threadid=2216&pagenumber=1)), some VinTage flix oughta be just the ticket for kickin off Hump '02:
the little rascals (aka Our Gang)- on gray weekend mornings over the last 3 months i've gotten thru 11 volumes (4 15-minute shorts per vol.) of these '30s hal roach comedies. some i saw long timeago on tv, others new2me. gotta smile at the shameless hammin up of the kid naturals (the gleam in spanky's eye inexplicably recalls cary grant's, buh-weet's zen charisma defies analysis, and alfalfa's crooner stylings were a clear inspiration for New Order's vocals :D but don't forget weezer or stymie!), over-the-top villains & rinkytink-exuberant, unforgettably catchy soundtrack :)
the thin man ('34) and
after the thin man ('36) - first two (of six) installments of the urbane, wisecrackin private dick/rich socialite husband & wife team nick & nora (william powell & myrna loy) that typified the screwball genre: chic, hilarious rides :crazed: first one features maureen o'sullivan and william axton's buck-rogersesque opening theme; greenhorn jimmy stewart co-stars in the second.
above suspicion ('43; joan crawford, fred macmurray)- pre-noirish ww2 intrigue of a professor & his new bride spying for the allies during a honeymoon thru germany :sur: fun, but both leads have been better-used elsewhere (fred in the CLASSIC Double Indemnity, joan in lotsa stuff).
valley of the dolls ('67, based on susann novel; patty duke, yummy, late sharon tate :kiss: )- dated, high-pitched but VibranT gay/camp cult classic of 3 gals' dizzyin, pill-poppin odyssey into celebrity :eek:
paris when it sizzles ('64; audrey hepburn)- a blocked, procrastinating screenwriter's fanciful, deadline-pressed collaboration with a just-arrived secretary/muse (with writing ambitions of her own). a clever, keep-you guessing premise but executed without the needed cosmopolitan flair of audrey's also-set-in-paris Charade, substituting a too-american, obvious touristy sensibility. likewise, instead of Charade's suave cary grant we get avuncular, boy-man cornball william holden who ends up trying too hard opposite half-his-age audrey, a la gary cooper opposite her in Love In The Afternoon :rolleyes: ).
two english girls ('71; truffaut dir.)- engaging Jules&Jimesque love triangle, only w/the genders reversed (2 gals & 1 guy here) and set in the 1900s. gentle & forboding score by georges delerue, who also has a cameo.
juliet of the spirits ('65; fellini dir.)- a woman's extravagant, kaliedoscopic, Dolce-Vita-esque social wanderings upon learning of her husband's infidelity :sur:
amarcord ('74)- fellini's boisterous, generous, non-sequitur-segueing, semi-autobio recollections of his youth in fascist italy. features nino rota's famous, bittersweet waltz theme and several fart jokes :o
aparajito ('56)- director satyajit ray's engaging, understated, second "apu trilogy" installment in which a rare opportunity for success demands a young indian student distance himself from his family & poverty-stricken background. wide emotional range conveyed by ravi shankar's sitar/raga score-
vt
np: serge gainsbourg, "bonnie & clyde"

[britcit3]

The only 2 films that have really impressed me over the Xmas period have been:

BASEketball - being a major South Park fan, I pretty much laughed my head off all the way through this film. Rude & very crude, but very funny.

PLEASANTVILLE - this is an absolute CLASSIC. An absolute joy from beginning to end with the use of some really clever metaphors throughout the movie.

Also watched the Mummy Returns on DVD - turned it off half way through due to boredom (it was hired, thank God).

Other than that Brit TV was fairly dull over the hols.

BC3

[vulcantouch]

. . .and one of these humps i'll prove it : ) meanwhile, from my apr '00 Hump:
pleasantville (william h. macy)- warm, allegorical, superfun ClashoftheDecades a la Blast From the Past (these 2 make a great double-feature) sucking present-day highschool students (tobey macguire & yummy reese witherspoon) into an idyllic, black&white '50s sitcom world. with jeff daniels, don knotts, elegant joan allen and heady, lyrical randy newman score (whose "political science" aka "let's drop the big one now" happens to accompany BFTP's end credits ; ) ).
a few cabin-fever-antidotes that work this timeoyear- let's see if i can do this with less than ten emoticons (http://sirstevesguide.com/vbportal/forums/showthread.php?threadid=2764) :rolleyes:
films of charles & ray eames vol. 2- fun, hour-long collection of mid-century, experimental/educational short films by the renowned hubby/wife american design team. featuring "toccata for toy trains", "house after five years of living", "lucia chase vignette", "the black ships" (about admiral perry's japan mission), "atlas" (graphic depiction of rome's territorial expansion & decay), and the visual abstractions "kaleidoscope jazz chair" and "blacktop". elmer "to kill a mockingbird" bernstein composed the scores for most of these.
american movie- funny, unsparing documentary about an icky midwest hack's intrepid pursuit of showbiz success by making a low-budget horror flick :P his stoner tagalong pal mike steals the show :p
the human face- fun, 4-hour bbc documentary hosted by john cleese & liz hurley ("the reason crocodiles don't star in soap operas is because they only have one facial expression- which is three less than michael palin" :D )
eating (henry jaglom dir.)- disingenuous (flik presents its intent as theraputic & cathartic, but let's face it, it was made for the same reason jaglom makes all his flix: to get 'im laid :evil: ) yet often-hilarious (cuz it's filled with accurate backbiting & dated psychobabble) film about upper-middle-class women's issues with food and weight.
deja vu (jaglom dir.)- mildly-entertaining romance about serendipitous connectons between an engaged l.a. woman and a married brit. features vanessa redgrave, a cheesy score by gaili schoen and occasionally-picturesque passages thru tel aviv, paris, dover and LA.
dr. t & the women- (gere, altman dir.)- mildly-amusing vignette of a saintly, hunky gynecologist & the high-maintenance chattering chickens (upper-class dallas wimmin) who flock around him. with janine turner, shelly long, helen hunt, liv tyler and delightful farrah fawcett :kiss: lyle lovett's score is predictable, trite, yet somehow fitting (?)
dancer in the dark (bjork, deneuve)- director/writer lars von trier's riveting, original update of a hoary genre: a czech immigrant lapses into daydreams of the musicals she loves during her grim, tragic efforts to spare her son from hereditary blindness. electronic-textured tunes by bjork.
girl interrupted ("sticky-fingers" wynona, jolie, whoopi)- mildly-engaging memoirs of an upper-class adolescent's 1960s psychiatric-treatment detour.
wonder boys (m-doug, mcdormand, tobey, downey jr, yummy katie holmes :kiss: ) director curtis hanson's vignette of an east-coast college prof's midlife crisis and misadventures w/his students. amusing while i watched it but damned if much about it sticks with me (which indicates undistinctiveness?).
the big lewinsky- i mean, lebowski ;) (j. bridges, j. goodman, julianne moore, buscemi, ps hoffman, coen bruddahs dir.)- a case of mistaken-identity ensnares a bowling layabout in criminal vendettas. striking individual scenes, as in coens' Fargo or Barton Fink; alas, as in those films these moments don't pull together into a grand, coherent sweep a la their Raising Arizona, Hudsucker Proxy or Blood Simple :(
the big kahuna (spacey, devito)- fun vignette about 3 salesmen's interactions in an anonymous hotel suite during a business trip. script's stage origins are apparent in both its weaknesses (cliched, telegraphed dramatic arc & character symbolism) and strengths (absorbing dialogue & character nuance).
the insider (pacino, crowe)- engaging real story of cig industry's efforts to prevent an ex-employee and a tv producer from revealing damning industry secrets. features director michael mann's gift for depicting graViTy, chris plummer's marvelous scene-chewing as 60minutes anchor mike wallace, and an intriguing score by lisa gerrard, peter bourke & graeme revell : )
traffic (m-doug, d-quaid, czj, miguel ferrer, soderbergh dir.) -mildly-engaging drug-war epic. with badass benecio, cool cliff martinez score, and e-z lens-filter color-coding guide: blue means powerful washington, yellow means dusty mexico ;P
vt
np: vic flick (james bond guitar player), "zapata"

[britcit3]

I must confess that I ain't even heard of alot of those last lot of movies, VT, but I will have to disagree with you on one of them:

THE BIG LEBOWSKI - one of my fave films of all time. Jeff Bridges and John Goodman are absolutely mental and the plot is great.

Also like the cinematography in some bits, like where JB is knocked out and goes for a "trip" through the bowling alley.

It was nice to see Goodman not doing his normal big fat tough guy with a heart of gold routine and see him play somebody who is genuinely psychotic (loved the bit in the alley where he draws a gun on one of his pals).

Also loved that wierd cowboy with the REALLY mellow voice who does the narration.

Personally think that it is THE best CBroths film - even better than Fink and Proxy.

But thats just me.

BC3

[SWAFMAN]

I think that was Sam Elliot - also was in "Mask" and one of the marlboro man-types who does the "Beef: It's what's for dinner." ad voiceovers.

[SWAFMAN]

I hope it's ok to post about new theatrical releases in this thread and not just video releases. I'm posting about Rings here rather than in the other specific threads because I am not a fan of the books - never read them - and I don't want to get into any emotional debates about the movie with people who are the 'trekkie' equivalents to LOTR (would they be called 'tolkies'?).

I thought Lord of the Rings was as good a movie, from a visual effects standpoint, as any ever made. Anyone who has seen it knows what I'm referring to, and those who haven't seen it should do so in a movie theatre because it isn't going to be as stunning on home video.

I found most of the performances to be solid, the standouts for me being Ian McKellen as the wizard and Viggo Mortensen as Strider and Aragorn. I can't name anything I disliked about Elija Wood's performance, but in some intangible way it just didn't wow me.

As in Harry Potter, 'Rings' does a pretty seamless job of altering the respective sizes of two or more actors in the same scene - an effect much more necessary when the hobbits and humans were together. It did look like they used children as doubles in a few scenes rather than special effects to re-size the real actors.

Unlike Harry Potter, in my opinion Peter Jackson did not succeed where Chris Columbus did, in maintaining the balance between special effects and giving the actors an opportunity to bond with and draw in the audience. The best way I can describe it is that with Lord of the Rings I found myself "watching" the movie and appreciating the visuals, but with Potter I was experiencing the movie - really feeling the emotions and really caring about the characters.

I think one reason for this may be in how Lord of the Rings never committed to telling the story through the perspective of Frodo. It tries to tell the story through the eyes of three or four main characters, and in the process failed to invest me emotionally enough in any one character to where I could make that transition from just watching the movie to feeling it through the emotions of any of the actors.

But having said that, I still think the visual effects make the movie well worth the money to go see it in the theatre. It is three hours of lots of excitement and some spectacularly beautiful settings.

[SWAFMAN]

Today's mail included your library shipment and copy of gsj mixtape. Thanks for both! Looks like my evenings are now pleasantly planned for a week or so. I appreciate you advancing the one tape past the opening music video. Personally, I really dislike the way many videos these days show a song or a promo for a soundtrack to the movie ahead of the movie itself, since they seem to always include spoiler scenes from the movie you're about to watch. I'll get the lenders back to you asap, VT.

yee-ha! we're havin' sum fun now! (just a little excited at the prospect of seeing some fresh video titles)

:D

[LTBasker]

Originally posted by SWAFMAN
Unlike Harry Potter, in my opinion Peter Jackson did not succeed where Chris Columbus did, in maintaining the balance between special effects and giving the actors an opportunity to bond with and draw in the audience. The best way I can describe it is that with Lord of the Rings I found myself "watching" the movie and appreciating the visuals, but with Potter I was experiencing the movie - really feeling the emotions and really caring about the characters.

Now if only they could've had better child actors. :D The special f/x were ok but left alot to be desired especially when it came to doing a human in CGI, it looked like a cartoon character. Most noticeably is when Harry was on the Ogre, and I think he was a little out of scale with it too. Haven't seen LOTR yet. :(

[jeddah]

Swaffy said;

I found most of the performances to be solid, the standouts for me being Ian McKellen as the wizard and Viggo Mortensen as Strider and Aragorn. I can't name anything I disliked about Elija Wood's performance, but in some intangible way it just didn't wow me.

yes, yes, but what did you think about Cate Blanchett ? ? ?

Exquisite, divine, on a par with Senate Amidala.

jeddah

[SWAFMAN]

Originally posted by jeddah

yes, yes, but what did you think about Cate Blanchett ? ? ?


I thought she was lovely and enchanting (no pun intended). I only didn't give her a specific nod because her part is rather short in the film. As far as brief appearances, I thought she and Christopher Lee were great. I sure hope Lee's gaunt appearance was purely makeup, as he truly looked like death warmed-over.

[SWAFMAN]

VT - it would probably be tidier if I did one humongous post about all the videos you sent, but I don't want to have this snowball on me and then rush through to get it all done in one sitting. So I think I'll try to post about the movies as I watch them. Tonight's was The Big Picture. Written by Chris Guest & Michael McKean of Spinal Tap (and other stuff), and in a similar vein although not a mockumentary as much as mocku-comedy (a-la Altman, in my opinion) of the movie industry from one perspective. Some really on-target portrayals of the industry folks and some caricatures of them - most notably Martin Short's (conspicuously uncredited) Hollywood agent role. I thought Bacon was a bit too cute and occasionally smirking for the lead. Whaddaya think about Michael Keaton having tried the part? McKean was great, making the most of a relatively small part. I really liked the perfomance by the late J.T. Walsh, not so much for it being accurate but just for seeing him do a great job as a character actor. I don't recall the name of Bacon's girlfriend in the film, but the actress was scrumptious. I've never been a Teri Hatcher fan, and although I enjoyed looking at her in the "apparently really, really cold room scene," she was forgettable in this film. JJ Leigh was fun - sorta like a Bjork-meets-Cyndi Lauper it seemed to me. Her kinda gangsta-rapper bouncing body movements were a little annoying though. I liked the movie's message that Bacon's character realized he'd been a dick the first time around and resolved to be truer to himself if he got a second chance. I give it a 7 on a 1-10 scale.

[vulcantouch]

of course, sam elliot's Real accomplishment is managing to bag that katharine ross (http://www.swinginchicks.com/katherine_ross.htm) babe :kiss: i amazon-humped (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/video/6301599659/customer-reviews/ref=sr_1_11_1/103-2243870-3700642) Big Picture; 7 outta 10, 4 outta 5, same diff ;) wouldn't you say warstar oughta view this flik as part of his film-school education? ;) jt walsh was also good in Pleasantville. btw, why wouldn't it be ok to tawk about theatrical viewins here? ok by me :)
it's not like i didn't Want to like lewinsky more, bc3 :sur: i liked it, i've just come to expect better from coens :evil: either way, i got a nice batch today:
attention shoppers- showbiz ego's nightmare: a minor celebrity's painfully-humbling, desolate appearance at a k-mart opening :stupid: with luke perry as a bigger, rubs-it-in-his-face star and martin mull as an obsequious, creepy plane captain :p
it's the rage- superfun, converging-plot-threads (a la Magnolia), anti-handgun (but who cares about its message, it's a gleeful ride regardless) LA black comedy :Pirate: features elegant joan allen, jeff daniels, anna paquin, adam sandler's wet-noodle doppleganger david schwimmer and computer mogul gary sinise holing up howard-hughes-style in his multimedia-equipped, frank-lloyd-wright-designed compound (also seen in Blade Runner and DS9's "blood oath" ep) :cool:
best in show (dvd; yummy parker, cath o'hara, fred willard, michael mckean, eugene levy, chris guest dir.) superfun spoof of dog shows from the team behind Waiting for Guffman (which this is almost as fun as, not quite) :happy: dvd features Tons of hilarious xtra scenes i would love to've seen included in the final cut :o
destiny turns on the radio (mcdermott, jim belushi)- fun, road-to-vegas comedy in which luck be a lady named tarantino who pops outtuva desert motel swimming pool. features steven soles' cool, hypnotic, vibraphone pool theme :)
trees lounge- writer/director/actor steve buscemi's fun, convincing vignette of a discouraged long islander's snowballing alcoholism, bad luck & bad choices. not-bad score by evan lurie.
four rooms (tim roth, jennifer beals, bruce willis)- experimental polyptych a la RoGoPaG or New York Stories (each segment by a different director) of a bellhop's misadventures while manning a hotel by himself. a mixed bag: segments by alex rockwell & alison anders fall surprisingly flat despite the latter's showcasing yummy ione skye (who was also in anders' excellent Gas Food Lodging), while robert rodriguez & tarantino's fare somewhat better. cameos by kathy griffin, lili taylor, madonna and a fun score by neo-loungers combustible edison :cool:
the five senses (mary louise parker, jeremy podeswa dir.)- meditative, mildly-engaging canadian premise of people in the same building seeking to overcome their isolation from others via smell, touch, hearing etc. sports a polished, wintry, stained-wood, color-saturated look reminiscent of tom noonan's The Wife (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0114936) and, to a lesser extent, godard's short film Jlg/Jlg (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0110173).
go fish (rose troche dir.)- VibranT, seminal, superfun, b&w romcom which singlehandedly spawned the fruitful "dykeflick" wave of the last several years :D jazzy, jumpy score by scott aldrich, brendan dolan & jennifer sharpe's the perfect compliment to this scrappy, low-budget confection :happy:
bedrooms & hallways- rose troche's VibranT, superfun vignette of gay london flatmates, one of whom occasionally changes his orientation (a la salamanders? after all, troche Did direct Go Fish- get it? get it? ;) ) features fun simon callow, The Matrix's hugo weaving and hilarious men's movement spoof :D
unmade beds (nicholas barker dir.)- fascinating, cynical, hilarious documentary of four nyc singles' search for acceptable companionship via blind dates, pickup bars, personal ads etc. features cool musical supervision (william orbit, francois kevorkian etc) and director nicholas barker's strikingly-composed shots of manhattan skylines, taxi rides and peepingtom window-views :sur:
the waiting game- VibranT, low-budget ensemble romcom about undiscovered actors workin at an nyc restaurant to make ends meet :greedy:
the VelociTy of gary (d'onofrio, hayek, ethan hawke)- so-so story of a luv triangle between a gal & 2 guys (1 of whom's terminally ill). the VibranT manhattan milieu's the real attraction here :cool:
cannes man- b-movie producer (seymour cassel) bets that he can hype a nobody into a filmfest's hottest buzz; kinda Venice/Venice meets In The Soup (in which cassel plays a similar role) film-industry spoof :D with hilarious, sometimes-unsuspecting cameos by depp, hopper, malkovich, peter gallagher, yummy lara flynn boyle, miramax's harvey weinstein & director jim jarmusch. i love flix-within-flix :happy:
vt
np: propoganda, "dream within a dream"

[SWAFMAN]

To the extent that he should take seriously the existence of *****s like the character played by Hatcher, and the "producer" who ends his scene by asking Bacon how much money he has to invest in the film, and the way the studio will try to corrupt a pure, original concept into their own concept (or their market researchers' concepts) of what the film "should" be, I guess it would be somewhat instructive for Warstar to watch the film. To the extent that this film showcases the talents of a couple gifted writers, several good acting performances, and a pleasant directorial turn by Christopher Guest, I'd also recommend it to any aspiring filmmaker.

re: Four Rooms and It's the Rage:
Saw both. The Taranino scene in Four Rooms was really disturbing - and I like it for that reason. The storyline with Banderas & the kids (hmm Banderas, kids, Robert Rodriguez,...- sounds like a seed may've been planted there, eh?) was just so-so. The one with the man & woman was also so-so. The one with the wickens (sp?) or witches or whatever was HOT! :D I give it a 6.

It's the Rage was just "ok" for me. I thought Sinise was great for the first ~1/3 of the movie, then his character just got kind of tiresome to me. Same for Daniels, who seemed sort of uninspired in the movie to me (as did Sinise - maybe both thought this flick was beneath them, but took the parts for the money, or something?). But Joan Allen has been on my A-list since her turn as Pat Nixon. In this film, again, she was poised, classy, sexy as hell, and really seemed to be giving her best effort to do a quality performance. I give it a 6.

[SWAFMAN]

that was interesting that we both abbr. Jennifer Jason Leigh as JJ Leigh! I also noted that we both singled out Walsh as a stand-out performance. Very interesting.....

[jeddah]

Hi Swaffy, re your SP?, altho' I've not seen the film, I should think you mean "Wiccans" - adepts in the pratice of Wicca

jeddah
"An harm it none"

[SWAFMAN]

I sit corrected.

Thanks, Jeddah - I was too lazy to look it up before posting ;)

Any luck getting that audio cassette player from your friend up & running yet? I know we haven't exchanged a lot of direct posts lately, so I'll use this one to personally wish you a happy new year and say that I always enjoy reading your posts. That offer of a place to stay any time you visit is still - and will always be - open.

[SWAFMAN]

this'll be fast 'cuz I'm about to pass out....
8 of 10 for this one. Wish LOTR coulda made me bond with and care about the characters as effectively as this one. I cared about Tucci and Davis before they even got home from Thanksgiving dinner. Not a bad perfromance in the bunch. Posey was exciting and real, McNamara was perfect in his understatement, Meara was equally perfect for exactly the opposite reason. Where the hell have I seen Liev Schrieber???? It's nagging at me like something caught between my teeth. He was very good, and had probably the best part next to Davis as far as opportunity to show acting craft. And yes, I was caught off-guard the plot twist.

g'nite...:dead:

[jeddah]

No news on tape deck, Toby's (my DJ friend and part-producer 4 me) has recently scored a residency at a hard house techno venue and another Deep house (cool jazz stuff, VT'd love it) residency. So, I've not seen much of him over the past 2 weeks :(

I did remind him yesterday that he was concentrating on his own career fartoo much recently and refocused his attention on mine :D . That said, he'll be round next week so who knows?

Thanks for the well wishing and, if I haven't done so yet, I wish you the same! I hope that 2002 sees things settle down in the US (with the exception of the development of even more lethal pretzels :evil: ) and a respite from the atrocities that seem to escalate yearly.

I've never forgotten your kind offer (along with Baal's) and am glad you haven't ;). I think one of these days I shall have to come over just to bring Baal's Wancors:crazed: What was that film where that man just went around staying at other ppls houses, kinda like Burt's The Swimmer?

jeddah

[SWAFMAN]

wow, talk about from here to obscurity! wasn't that like his first movie or something? black&white with him in swimtrunks & shirtless for nearly the whole flick? It's been probably 25 years since I saw that.

VT - Schizopolis sounded so interesting from your review, but I have to tell you that after about ten minutes I was ready to call it quits on this one. I'm moving on to Party Girl, and may give Schiz' another try.......... - maybe.

[jeddah]

...Swaffy, I've never been able to sit through it all, but it's meant to be quite atmospheric. I like the idea but never seen the end, so can't say if I liked it in it's entirety. I think it is colour, though, unless the one I saw was colourised á la George Romero. :dead:

jeddah

[SWAFMAN]

8 of 10. She's so natural in this part. Obviously I don't know anything about PPosey's real life, but she comes across in this film as not so much playing a fictional character as playing herself. If she's really nothing like the Party Girl, then all the more credit to her for her acting skills. I found all the main performances to be believable and enjoyable. Liev Schreiber makes another appearance in this one - and I still can't recall where I remember him from prior to this film and Daytrippers. Besides PP, the other standout for me in this one was Mustafah (sp?) the falafel vendor/teacher. The roommate/DJ was good, too. I thought this was a well-written story and I can't imagine anyone doing a better job of directing, as it felt so natural. This one could've been a real dog if someone had tried to John Hughes-ify it into being more mainstream-pop-glossy. As it was, it had more - I dunno - "grit" isn't the exact word I'm looking for but is as close as I can think of now. But the film lived and died by the strength of PPosey's performance. And she carried this film as deftly as Streep, Harry Ford, or any actor has ever carried a film. The only reason it doesn't get a higher rating is because it is doesn't really try to be anything truly incredible.

[SWAFMAN]

Toni Collette was good as the introverted newcomer who eventually loosens up a bit. PPosey was good as the cynical misfit, but this is least impressive work I've seen her do. There really didn't seem to be any sufficient outlet for her to stand out in the film, even her big exit scene was underwhelming to me. I found Kudrow to be annoying, but I've yet to see her be anything less than that in any role. The fourth musketeer - the one who gets married - was completely forgettable. The actress who plays Cleo did a good job - I felt real pain at her excruciating shyness. The rest of the supporting cast of character actors were all good. I wanted to strangle Debra Jo Rupp when she tells one of the temps make the staples more horizontal on the pages! That was a well-delivered line. The muzak was perfect for setting the ambiance of the movie. Something you don't see too often, which made it notable to me was that the writers/director/producers were all female, as were a large portion of the crew. I guess you could call this a lower budget, more intelligent and darker version of "9 to 5." Although the movie left me feeling that it didn't fully reach its potential, I did enjoy it. 6 of 10 for this one.

[SWAFMAN]

Okay, it seemd bad form to not give this one the courtesy of a viewing after it traveled a good 2/3 across the continent. What can I say? David Lynch meets Abrahams & Zucker? Kentucky Fried Kafka? The bug guy holding gibberish conversations with hotties? (if these were metaphors, then I'm not as literate as I thought) And what the hell does "Jigsaw" imply???? And then, the lead character splits into two characters, and then in the blink of an eye they start speaking Italian & Japanese (I think?). And he didn't even have the decency to reward me for my investment of time in watching this thing by showing me the no-name numberhead guy's wife's breasts!!!!!!!!!!!!!

{taking a few deep breaths.... okay, I'm better now....}

Um, I guess I'm too blue collar to understand/appreciate this one. 3 of 10.

Will ship Daytrippers, Party Goil & Schiz' back to Denver first thing tomorrow. Don't misinterpret my comments, VT - I truly thank you for all the tapes. I do know that we'll never agree on every movie. Differences are what helps make the journey interesting.

[vulcantouch]

-of course, unless we're retired or independently wealthy, we're All *****s; we all sell the best/most marketable/least painful skill we have to get by. and i say if teri hatcher's sellin, i'm buyin :kiss:
hellafun seein your reactions swaffy, & it looks like you're havin a fun time yourself :) let's see, so far a 7, a 3, two 6s and two 8s, which yields a current avg of 6&1/3. not Quite what i would hope for, but just so long as you don't feel your time's bein wasted- or money: ~$10 shipping both ways / 15 flix =~$.67 per 63% cool flik :eek: btw i retroactively edited my prev. post above to add a Trees Lounge review :rolleyes:

"it seemd bad form to not give (schizopolis) the courtesy of a viewing"
-good man! that's the spirit, hang tough :evil: "too blue collar to understand/appreciate"? oh, i'm sure you're already familiar with dadaism ("1916 artistic movement emphasizing deliberate irrationality, anarchy, cynicism, childlike naivete and the negation of established laws of beauty and social organization so as to revive the purity and primacy of art; an inspiration for '60s hippie culture") and just plain didn't like Schizy :happy: when i saw it i knew i had to show it to b'jr; it really struck a chord w/his sensibility, and he & i laughed all the way thru it :stupid: in its honor, for my amazon review of it (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/video/1572521481/customer-reviews/qid=1011815242/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_3_1/102-0100163-3911366) i tried to designate my name as "nameless numberheadman from suburb-ringed metroplex usa" but you can see it didn't work :( what Did work was that my review got 7 (out of 7) "unhelpful" ratings, which imo is very much in the spirit of dada & Schizopolis, wouldn't you agree? :D

"could call (clockwatchers) a lower budget, more intelligent and darker version of '9 to 5'"
-or an all-gal version of Office Space :D only six for crotchwalkers? yer breakin my heart, i Love dis flick; i'd love to know what your lady friend thinks of it (along w/venice, real blonde etc :) ) there was a great int'vw w/writer/director sprecher sisters online a while back; can't find it now but one fun point was how they reversed the typical buddy flik dynamic, in that the 4 chix bonded immediately and Then circumstances conspired to tear em apart. imo kudrow was a hilarious ditz (we'll see if you like her better in Opposite of Sex) and alana ubach (the 4th girl) did just fine, her part just wasn't as juicy is all. see my amazon review? i too dug cleo :kiss: fave pp costume changes: brown clingy sweater and business suit :kiss:
Dey's Trippin: btw, director greg mottola cameos as the director in the beginning of Celebrity :) re what's caught in your teeth, consult this invaluable resource (http://us.imdb.com/Name?Schreiber,+Liev) :) didn't mcnamara remind you of chief obrien? ;)
Potty Goil: "roommate/DJ's" rekkid collection looks (& sounds) a bit like mine; several tunes he named (& a few used in the flik) are in my stash :cool: "you're tellin me dis guy named syphillus is Happy??" "i think i'm an existentialist, i do" :crazed: fave pg pp costume changes: her heh-heh-helleauu voguin' flapper look in the nightclub, the sheer black chanel top she kyped & her final "i wanna be a librarian" look :kiss:

"it doesn't really try to be anything truly incredible"
-to me that's one of its VirTues, for 3 reasons:
a: better to be a big fish in a small pond instead of the reverse;
b: better to get something small right than get something big wrong; and
c: too many "artists" still cling to their idealized, self-serving ambition of "contributing" to the world via their art, of using it to Make A Difference. which, as the lessons of modernism have shown, is not what art does best. better to make immaculate, captivating, micro-machine-esque jewels we can lose ourselves in: "don't try to be a great man, just try to be a man; let history sort out greatness"- zef cochrane, Trek First Contact :cool:

jdah: "I've never forgotten (swaffy's) kind offer (along with Baal's)"
-yeah well don't xpect me to follow suit; my lair's not exactly set up for guests. Prisoners maybe, but i'd be too anxious a Guest would accidentally set off my numerous active boobytraps :eek: which is why i usu. entertain elsewhere & give free denVoid Tours in lieu of oVernighT accomodations :D meanwhile, take a tip from me & swaffy & Go See Party Girl & Crotchwalkers already :p
vt
np: barry, The Last Valley complete score rerecording

[SWAFMAN]

VT, my comment was meant specifically to say to Warstar that "users" like the character Hatcher played are as common as palm trees in L.A.. I have no great attraction for Hatcher, but I certainly wasn't calling her a Ho' - merely the character she portrayed. I agree, to an extent, with your posit that we are all - to some degree - *****s. But Hatcher's character's type of Ho', the type that exploits another person's most vulnerable feelings - feelings of the heart - simply to advance her own position, is despicable to me. I suppose it's naive of me to not be more realistic in accepting such behavior as a common reality and basic component of life.

..7 "unhelpful" ratings, which imo is very much in the spirit of dadaism & Schizopolis, wouldn't you agree?
-- abso-freakin'-lutely!

-or an all-gal version of Office Space...
--I've only seen the previews of Office Space, but the similarity to the little of it I saw did cross my mind, yep!

...her final "i wanna be a librarian" look
--That was my favorite. She made that look look very hot!

"it doesn't really try to be anything truly incredible"

-- I guess I'm just thinking that if I give a flick like Party Girl a 9 or 10, I'm not leaving room for something, for example, that offers PPosey an Oscar-calibre role.

If I were writing a part specifically for PPosey, I'd do one that would be like the darkest side of Party Girl - one where her character deals deeply and painfully with addiction and it's ruinous effects on her life, and her family and friends. I think she could do such a part very well.

[SWAFMAN]

...were mailed via media rate to you today, VT. Ought to get there by next Wednesday. Thanks again.

[jeddah]

I wanna already! Unless I buy it I can't see it because, as I have said before, Blockbusters don't have it and there aren't any other rental shops here.

I know you weren't trying to justify a lack of visit-offer but I also know you know I wasn't looking for one....more to do with your desire to let everyone know how clandestine you life is, innit? :p

fondly yours

jeddah

[JediTricks]

VT, what part of First Contact did Zefram Cochrane say that? Was it the part where he was played by Jonathan Frakes? ;)


Swaffy, not seeing "Office Space" is a complete missed-opportunity IMO, Mike Judge of Beavis & Butt-head fame directs the first half of this movie so perfectly, so deftly as he dances you - the average audience member - through the genericism and facelessness of every day office work and how it affects the modern man (as well as tying into Judge's early cartoon series "Milton"). The second half after the beat-down (easily one of the funniest comedy moments of all cinematic history) is fairly straight-forward stuff, nowhere near the brilliance of everything that came before but it ties up the loose plot points pretty well and ends the movie in a tidy, somewhat satisfying way.

[vulcantouch]

swaffy: "Oscar-calibre"
-eeewww, swaffy used the O-word as a synonym for artistic merit :p but since you mentioned it, wasn't Pollock O-winner marcia gay harden hilarious in her Deystrippin cameo (as the drunk party guest)? :D

"(crotchwalky) mailed to you today"
-d'oh! that means lady swaffy didn't get to see :cry: guess i'll drown my sorrows in a Hump baker's dozen. and since i've already Humped 41 flix here, what Naturally comes next?
42up (michael apted dir.)- latest update of the 35-year-old documentary which revisits the lives of ~a dozen brits every seven years. particularly telling is something we don't see, namely the ongoing, arrogant refusal of two of the hoity-toitier subjects to participate in this landmark of film history :frus:
superstar (todd haynes dir.)- fun, fascinating documentary about andy warhol. features dazzling, all-too-brief clips of his 60s itgirl edie sedgwick :kiss:
safe (julianne moore)- stylish, understated, absorbing, hilarious tale of a rich LA wife's mysterious medical reactions to modern everyday chemicals. director todd haynes maintains the scintillating ambiguity throughout (are her symptoms psychosomatic? is modern medicine clueless? is the alt-therapy commune a cult?). ed tomney's smooth, understated score sounds like harold budd meets badalamenti's Twin Peaks :zzz:
snatch (brad pitt, benecio, dennis farina)- like director guy ritchie's previous Lock Stock & 2 Smokin Barrels, a fastpaced, ironic interweaving of multiple crime-story threds, with soccer star vinnie jones reprising his fett-like professional killer role :Pirate: fun, but not as much as LS&2SB.
bent- stylish, harrowing love story of berlin gays' persecution by nazis. features an austere, string-quartet philip glass score (still unreleased :mad: ) reminiscent of his Mishima and Music For The Screens, which compliments the stark concentration camp scenes, and a sumptuous opening town-square sequence with mick jagger in drag descending out of the sky belting out glass' torch song "streets of berlin", which sounds a bit like the latin pianapella glass wrote & performed with natalie merchant for a veteran's benefit on pbs' West 54th Sessions :cool:
damage (jeremy ironons, binoche, miranda richardson, rupert graves, louis malle dir.)- meticulous, high-toned tale of a steamy, obsessive affair between a married brit minister & his son's fiancee :sur: cool end theme by zbigniew preisner.
gray's anatomy- spalding gray's filmed performance-art monolog about an eye disorder he learns he's afflicted with. his schtick's a bit dated, but sometimes a lil 80's-pomo nostalgia like this hits the spot :) nice end theme by director soderbergh's perennial go-to guy cliff martinez.
conceiving ada- a lady programmer's quest to digitally recover & interact with the essence of lord byron's daughter (who devised computer language before there were computers). with tilda swinton, timothy leary as a video guru, a surprisingly undistinctive sco