Random Movie Talk XIII: In Which I Cannot Come Up With a Relevant or Witty Title

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Nah dude, vent away. I'm happy to listen. But for one thing, be glad you aren't a part of the /Film culture as you put it... be very glad. And while you don't seem to have gone into the other end of the spectrum (if there even is such a thing) just yet, I think you're headed there. It's a good place to be, a better place anyway, if we're going to continue talking about places and film cultures and the like. It's a more "snobbish" place too certainly, but it will mean you've probably opened yourself to new depths of film art you haven't quite cracked yet, so it's worth it. I know personally just in the last 6-12 months I've felt my own personal tastes change quite a large amount, what I look for or admire in film being quite a bit different than it was just a year ago, and it's just a matter of having explored new artistic avenues and discovered what I actually like in the medium. To the point where it's colored what I feel about films I'd even previously enjoyed. And I know some would say how awful it is I don't enjoy something I used to anymore, but it's honestly for the better since the flip side is I've fallen in love with other greater artists and films. So I guess I'm not sure I worry so much about balancing my tastes and 'snobbishness' or whatever. I'm constantly discovering more satisfying and sophisticated works, so naturally my interests and expectations grow likewise. So like I said, if that makes me a snob, then so be it. I sure don't regret it.

/ramblingnonsense
 
There's always a bigger fish.

I'll say this:

I don't think I'll ever lose my appreciation for quality pop corn films. That part of me will never die, it's safe to say. However, thanks to a few people in this thread, I've been exposed to films I never would have watched in the past, and for that I'm thankful. This is why I can deal with the Father and Son shitting on a lot of movies, because they would just as soon praise other films. I mean, Laz (and I) have defended the Star Wars prequels, with vigor, for shit's sake. So.....are my tastes changing? Not completely, not at this stage. However, I think my horizons are broadening, and even if that broadening is slight I feel like it's a good thing. And how do you define snob anyway? I mean, I bet I could easily find people that think any film with subtitles is for snobs. Does that seem fair or right?

So, I might not agree with these clowns all the time, but, it's fun when we do agree and sometimes it's instructive when we don't.....and if a disagreement turns into an argument or debate now and then, so be it, it's not personal. And if Lance takes a shit on my beloved Dune once a year, or, if he wants to be wrong about the 3rd Potter film, well, that's ok. :) If it weren't for him I wouldn't have just had my mind blown by Red Cliff, so it all equals out, at least for me. :)

Oh, and one last thing. For those of us who do not have a lot of cinephiles as friends yet find ourselves preferring, let's say, The New World to Anchorman....you wind up coming off as a snob of sorts to your friends. This thread is a little niche bubble and sometimes I forget that. By the way, that's no insult to Anchorman; I laughed when I saw it, etc. It's possible to like both of those films.
 
Speaking of snobs and snobby films,

19050861_w434_h_q80.jpg


is fairly excellent.
 
Lancemc said:
Nah dude, vent away. I'm happy to listen. But for one thing, be glad you aren't a part of the /Film culture as you put it... be very glad. And while you don't seem to have gone into the other end of the spectrum (if there even is such a thing) just yet, I think you're headed there. It's a good place to be, a better place anyway, if we're going to continue talking about places and film cultures and the like. It's a more "snobbish" place too certainly, but it will mean you've probably opened yourself to new depths of film art you haven't quite cracked yet, so it's worth it. I know personally just in the last 6-12 months I've felt my own personal tastes change quite a large amount, what I look for or admire in film being quite a bit different than it was just a year ago, and it's just a matter of having explored new artistic avenues and discovered what I actually like in the medium. To the point where it's colored what I feel about films I'd even previously enjoyed. And I know some would say how awful it is I don't enjoy something I used to anymore, but it's honestly for the better since the flip side is I've fallen in love with other greater artists and films. So I guess I'm not sure I worry so much about balancing my tastes and 'snobbishness' or whatever. I'm constantly discovering more satisfying and sophisticated works, so naturally my interests and expectations grow likewise. So like I said, if that makes me a snob, then so be it. I sure don't regret it.

/ramblingnonsense
Click to expand...

My goal is to remain open to everything, and hell yes, I'm glad to be moving in the more knowledgeable direction towards this subject. Ideally, I'd love to develop a discriminating eye without being an asshole about it (ie, Jeff Wells). That, to me, is what snobbery is: it's not the taste, but the expression, and what's the good of having an opinion if no one cares to hear you speak? Studio joints can be bullshit, as well as art house pictures, I want to stay as open to the possibility of both being fulfilling as possible. Thanks for your response, it was definitely re-assuring; I'm just in intermediary phase in my life, it seems.

That being said, I always relish in tearing Sam Mendes apart (not Road to Perdition) in front of so-called indie kids.

No spoken words said:
There's always a bigger fish.

I'll say this:

I don't think I'll ever lose my appreciation for quality pop corn films. That part of me will never die, it's safe to say. However, thanks to a few people in this thread, I've been exposed to films I never would have watched in the past, and for that I'm thankful. This is why I can deal with the Father and Son shitting on a lot of movies, because they would just as soon praise other films. I mean, Laz (and I) have defended the Star Wars prequels, with vigor, for shit's sake. So.....are my tastes changing? Not completely, not at this stage. However, I think my horizons are broadening, and even if that broadening is slight I feel like it's a good thing. And how do you define snob anyway? I mean, I bet I could easily find people that think any film with subtitles is for snobs. Does that seem fair or right?

So, I might not agree with these clowns all the time, but, it's fun when we do agree and sometimes it's instructive when we don't.....and if a disagreement turns into an argument or debate now and then, so be it, it's not personal. And if Lance takes a shit on my beloved Dune once a year, or, if he wants to be wrong about the 3rd Potter film, well, that's ok. :) If it weren't for him I wouldn't have just had my mind blown by Red Cliff, so it all equals out, at least for me. :)

Oh, and one last thing. For those of us who do not have a lot of cinephiles as friends yet find ourselves preferring, let's say, The New World to Anchorman....you wind up coming off as a snob of sorts to your friends. This thread is a little niche bubble and sometimes I forget that. By the way, that's no insult to Anchorman; I laughed when I saw it, etc. It's possible to like both of those films.
Click to expand...

Remember the tooth.

The Happy Endings sequence from New York, New York is one of the best thing's Scorsese's put to film. I'm glad to have watched it for that scene, the opening sequence at VJ Day, and when DeNiro loses his shit at the red-drenched club right before he leaves Minnelli. Too bad their relationship doesn't make a lot of sense.

Also, The Long Goodbye? Holy shit. Altman, Gould, Zsigmond and Brackett POWER.
 
Please don't write in LexG style again.

Also, what you took away from NYNY are certainly the highlights. Happy Endings is a phenomenal sequence that deserves to ranked up there with any classic scene. I respect the film a lot for trying to blend the method acting/NYC approach to the old school studio-bound musicals; authenticity wrapped in fakery, perfectly illustrated by that snowstorm scene. The whole thing doesn't really work in the end, but the ambition is so admirable.

Also, that shot of De Niro kicking the lightbulbs in that hallway is so awesome.
 
Haha, I was hoping you'd catch that. Seriously though, that's as good of a core filmmaking team that I've seen in a while.

Absolutely, there's too much creativity at play for me, or anyone for that matter, to dismiss the film, like you said, but it's a shame that those sequences in particular are buried in a mess of a film. God bless New Hollywood.

I was having an All That Jazz flashback during that particular bit.
 
Let me tell you a little story about acting. I was doing this Showtime movie, Hot Ice with Anne Archer, never once touched my per diem. I'd go to Craft Service, get some raw veggies, bacon, Cup-A-Soup... baby, I got a stew going.
 
LMP said:
Haha, I was hoping you'd catch that. Seriously though, that's as good of a core filmmaking team that I've seen in a while.

Absolutely, there's too much creativity at play for me, or anyone for that matter, to dismiss the film, like you said, but it's a shame that those sequences in particular are buried in a mess of a film. God bless New Hollywood.

I was having an All That Jazz flashback during that particular bit.
Click to expand...

Another entry in the neo-musical genre I'd recommend is Blake Edwards' Darling Lili. It sent Julie Andrews into a career tailspin which took her over ten years to recover from, but it's extremely underrated. When I say "neo" I mean that it's similar to Cabaret and All That Jazz in that all the musical numbers are diegetic and performed on stage in the film (although ATJ has fantasy scenes, they're meant to be in his head and don't really break the fourth wall).

Anyway, Andrews plays a WWI cabaret singer in London who's an undercover spy for Germany. Rock Hudson is a pilot who she's assigned to seduce and get secrets from. You can figure out where this is going. Andrews is phenomenal, though, and Edwards' direction is far more sophisticated and inventive than I expected, he just has a really great eye. Some impressive aerial footage as well.

Over the last 6 months or so I've been really exploring Edwards and can't believe how talented the guy is. Forget the Peter Sellers collaborations, which are funny, but the adult comedies he made in the late 70's/early 80's (Victor/Victoria, "10", S.O.B.) are all fantastic. He also did a serious spy thriller with Andrews and Omar Sharif called The Tamarind Seed which totally tanked, but I found it on P2P and was very impressed.

Bottom line, if all you know Andrews from is The Sound of Music or Mary Poppins, you're really missing out on a surprisingly versatile talent.
 
Julie Andrews is a goddess. I'm going to have to take to my bed for a week when she eventually dies.

The doctor who ruined her voice needs to be stoned to death.
 
When I was much younger, I used to watch it on PBS on the weekends just long enough to sit through the theme song, and then go do something else.
 
corianderstem said:
Ha! In junior high, me and the other french horn players used to beg our band director to let us play the theme song to Dallas, so we could have a shining moment for once in our band geek lives.
Click to expand...

Replace the theme to Dallas with the Liberty Bell March and I am right there with you.
 
No spoken words said:
Victoria Principal.

In case you ask:

Mary Ann >>> Ginger

Kelly >>>> the other Angels

and at the time, Thomas > Locklear, but I think Locklear won the longevity battle with ease.
Click to expand...

I preferred Thomas as well. Who cares about longevity? Thomas wins for not marrying dudes from Motley Crue and fucking Bon Jovi.

Check it out:

Heather Thomas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Looks like you may have had a shot.
 
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