Everyone has one.

You KNOW you do.

Go ahead.

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17x NBA Champions

Fellini
Kubrick
Pasolini
Hsiao-hsien Hou (even if Flowers of Shanghai is pretty)
Abbas Kiarostami

_
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4TztqYaemt0
http://preptimeposse.blogspot.com/

On the right day, that could be my top five directors.

Fellini - I understand some are allergic to his later self-indulgence. Have you seen La Strada? I Vitelloni?

Kubrick - The Killing? Dr. Strangelove? Paths of Glory?

Pasolini - Decameron?

Hsiao-hsien Hou (even if Flowers of Shanghai is pretty) - If you don't like FoS, I don't know where to start.

Abbas Kiarostami - And Life Goes On?

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hell-below.com

Their films try desperatley to comment upon the world and humanity when they're hopelessly divirced from any relatable sense of reality. They're all cold, pompous and cynical (I suppose Fellini is an exception but his exuberance is terribly contrived and flimsy).

I do like The Killing and Strangelove, but that's as far as my appreciation of Kubrick goes.

_
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4TztqYaemt0
http://preptimeposse.blogspot.com/

...Kiarostami and Fellini as artificial, then everyone is artificial.

But, I guess we'll agree to disagree. All five of those guys have been powerful, emotional influences on me. It's hard for me to imagine any of them (much less all of them) as charlatans.

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hell-below.com

>Their films try desperatley to comment upon the world and
>humanity when they're hopelessly divirced from any relatable
>sense of reality. They're all cold, pompous and cynical (I
>suppose Fellini is an exception but his exuberance is terribly
>contrived and flimsy).

What did you think of Hou's "Time To Live and A Time To Die" and "Dust In The Wind"? I don't think of them as cold. "Summer At Grandpa's" is pretty warm and fuzzy (probably his most conventional film).

Could you expound on Hou's outlook as divorced from any relatable sense of reality? Right now, I don't see what you mean. He captures the mundane more than most filmmakers. His characters are concerned w/ livelihood (leaving to find jobs, dealing w/ illness, finding love, etc.).

I'm looking at Hou's middle period - after his first 4 works (which he's disowned) and before "Good Men and Good Women."

I can see how his long shots and long takes may seem like an artifice in light of dominant modes of style...in a sense of trying too hard to be different, but all that grew out of practical and technical concerns like not wanting to shoot coverage because of the use of non-professional actors; thus, the single takes.

And plenty of directors can use non-actors without resorting to tedious long shots that go on forever without anything of interest happening.

_
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4TztqYaemt0
http://preptimeposse.blogspot.com/

Fair enough.

There is value in the mundane. Plus, it's not like that's the focus of his films....Taiwan's history and present are. It's not like he shows people eating w/o discussing something of central importance to driving the narrative forward.

>And plenty of directors can use non-actors without resorting
>to tedious long shots that go on forever without anything of
>interest happening.

I agree somewhat. There are vast examples of which you are speaking of, but easing improvisation and minimizing continuity/match-on-action errors are not the only reason why Hou uses long shots and takes.

And on the other hand, what would be worse is using various angles and camera distance and height just to enhance attention even when nothing interesting is happening. Or using diegetic and/or non-diegetic music just to liven things up.

The long shot has value because it provides context for the characters. You also have the group emphasis. "The Last Supper" painted as a gallery of 2 or 4 person compositions give off a different feeling than a composition of all 13.

Dynamism w/i the frame can do just as much as dynamism b/w shots. Hou employs blocking that gives us clues when to look and where. Same stuff that changing angles and distance do. Character blocking is a lost art...its vital to mise-en-scene.

Long takes have a certain tension to them.

I welcome any style of shooting, really.

for some reason any time I post this I get flamed *shrugs*
I love 80s flicks as much as the next guy, but this one was bad, awesome war cry notwithstanding

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

Honestly, I think the badness of this movie is what makes it good...if that makes any sense at all.
_____________________________________

*Currently holding tryouts for a new sig*

I'll create a special Myspace for it so we don't get sued by Milius, or, even worse, C. Thomas Howell. I promise I'll do this by Thursday.......and I'll make a post about it so's you can hear it...unless you don't want...then in that case, fuck you!! your opinion is unpopular in Pass the Popcorn!!!!

wiggity-wiggity!!

More later.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
<----- Daddy's Comin' Home.

(and no, you can't click the link)

She just makes horrendous career choices, and you feel that she's still too affected by her own looks.

Or at least I do.

--Maurice

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Bonding over sutures is what's hot in Oh-Nine.
--JS

******************************************
<--- I'm a check writer, you royalty recievers © Hov!

_____________________

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/287/6/c/the_wire_lineup__huge_download_by_dennisculver-d30s7vl.jpg
The man who thinks at 50 the same way he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life - Muhammed Ali

But I think a lot of people might agree with you.

Honestly aside from the few of us that dig the movie, the only part that really goes uncriticized in that movie is the Christopher Walken/Dennis Hopper scene, which is usually confirmed as 'classic', whatever that means anymore.

But yeah, okay, after all this time I will admit that Tarantino would have made a better movie if he had control instead of Tony Scott.

Only I will say that I doubt that I would have cared about some of the characters a lot less, because almost as a rule I never really care about the characters in Tarantino's movies.

Yeah I still like the movie but...sadly, you're probably right.

I've always thought that at best Memento was merely competent and not the rebirth/retelling of noir that some people seem to think it is. The scriptwriting is mediocre, there are only two good performances, and the plot device, the movie's biggest draw, got old to me. In short, the idea is an interesting one, but there's not enough movie to hang it on.

--Maurice

_____

Bonding over sutures is what's hot in Oh-Nine.
--JS

The gimmick was clever but the film didn't support it. The little black and white story-within-a-story was more interesting than the larger film.

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hell-below.com

though I would like to watch it again soon

i didn't like that movie at all... it was so impressed with the cleverness of its central conceit that it didn't bother to really do anything with it

it was more like an extended episode of "The Twilight Zone"

_____________________

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/287/6/c/the_wire_lineup__huge_download_by_dennisculver-d30s7vl.jpg
The man who thinks at 50 the same way he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life - Muhammed Ali

but hey, this is the unpopular opinions post, right?

to each his own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

www.itsallthewaylive.net

www.twitter.com/allthewaylive

>but hey, this is the unpopular opinions post, right?
>
>to each his own.

Apparently it's not that unpopular w/ PTP folks tho. It's still probably my favorite movie of all time tho.

the movie really wasn't that enjoyable to me

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It's been a lonely crusade I've been on, but I've kept the movement moving.

--------------------
Why do you choose to mimic these wack MCs?
Why do you choose to listen to R&B?

"There are obviously many things which we do not understand, and may never be able to." Leela

*puts emceeing in a box*

If you give a writer that gimmick -- a guy with memory loss trying to solve a crime, each scene goes a little further back and unveils something new -- you're going to end up with a similar product every time.

Once you get over that clever idea, the cinematography and setting are painfully boring, the acting is passing, the dialogue is fair, the pacing drags in sections, and the philisophical "point" which is reached at the end is trite to say the least.

what they really did is take the basic idea - memory loss
and then figure out how to make the audience empathize the character - play the scenes in reverse order
which is the really clever part, very good filmmaking
if you like, the cinematography/editing is one long gripping psychological hitchcockian perspective device

but they also came up with lots of other good ideas for scenes using the concepts, and visual motifs and memorable images

AND they had to come up with a story that somehow built tension towards the beginning, it's not just any old story

these sorts of film should not be discouraged in favour of some 'interesting cinemetography' and useless philosophy bullcrap. is Die Hard a good film? yes. Did it come to a profound philosophical conclusion? no. Does it matter? no, because you accept the film on its own terms of what it's trying to achieve

--------------------
Why do you choose to mimic these wack MCs?
Why do you choose to listen to R&B?

"There are obviously many things which we do not understand, and may never be able to." Leela

*puts emceeing in a box*

I was really bored with it by the end the first time, and then some friends said, "Hey, let's go see Memento!" and I said, "Sure, maybe I missed something the first time because it seemed like it should be good!" and then I had the same bored, frustrated feeling at the end.

It's not that it's exceptionally horrible or anything, it's just that once you get over the gimmick it's extremely unremarkable, and actually crappy in some respects. All those things you point out? The POV and Hitchcock-ian stuff? I don't consider that all too remarkable any more. Any film school student worth getting their degree should be able to do something like that.

And then my reaction to it got even more negative the more I heard people talk it up like this hallmark entry in contemporary cinema, I won't deny that.

And oh yeah, it also doesn't help that Christopher Nolan minus a clever story has been relatively run-of-the-mill in his two successive films.

wtf? yet you said that all this film needed was it's central concept and everything else falls automatically into place.
so if the central concept is so easy to come up with, how come no one's done it before?



>I was really bored with it by the end the first time, and
>then some friends said, "Hey, let's go see Memento!" and I
>said, "Sure, maybe I missed something the first time because
>it seemed like it should be good!" and then I had the same
>bored, frustrated feeling at the end.
>
>It's not that it's exceptionally horrible or anything, it's
>just that once you get over the gimmick it's extremely
>unremarkable, and actually crappy in some respects. All those
>things you point out? The POV and Hitchcock-ian stuff? I
>don't consider that all too remarkable any more. Any film
>school student worth getting their degree should be able to do
>something like that.
>
>And then my reaction to it got even more negative the more I
>heard people talk it up like this hallmark entry in
>contemporary cinema, I won't deny that.
>
>And oh yeah, it also doesn't help that Christopher Nolan minus
>a clever story has been relatively run-of-the-mill in his two
>successive films.

--------------------
Why do you choose to mimic these wack MCs?
Why do you choose to listen to R&B?

"There are obviously many things which we do not understand, and may never be able to." Leela

*puts emceeing in a box*

>wtf? yet you said that all this film needed was it's central
>concept and everything else falls automatically into place.
>so if the central concept is so easy to come up with, how come
>no one's done it before?

...but after that there's not much to get excited about. And correct me if I'm wrong, it was a concept that he and his brother came up with together, right? His brother wrote a short story using the concept and he made the movie, right? So it's not like the concept belongs entirely to him, either.

And yeah -- I'm sticking to it, the movie really falls off once you get over the novelty of the concept. And yes, making a movie stick entirely with one character and entirely with one POV shouldn't be that difficult for any self-respecting film student. Just watch Rear Window a ton and then go make your movie. I'm goddamn serious about that.

>>wtf? yet you said that all this film needed was it's
>central
>>concept and everything else falls automatically into place.
>>so if the central concept is so easy to come up with, how
>come
>>no one's done it before?
>
>...but after that there's not much to get excited about. And
>correct me if I'm wrong, it was a concept that he and his
>brother came up with together, right? His brother wrote a
>short story using the concept and he made the movie, right?
>So it's not like the concept belongs entirely to him, either.
>
>And yeah -- I'm sticking to it, the movie really falls off
>once you get over the novelty of the concept. And yes, making
>a movie stick entirely with one character and entirely with
>one POV shouldn't be that difficult for any self-respecting
>film student. Just watch Rear Window a ton and then go make
>your movie. I'm goddamn serious about that.
>

two things here

1. I doesn't really matter if his brother wrote the story to start with... i'm not one of these idiots that thinks the director is the be all and end all, every film starts with a script or at least a concept.

2. no the perspective device IS the concept of showing the scenes in reverse order. That's what lets the audience identify with the main character's amnesia. I don't know wtf you thought i meant

and the gimmick LASTS the entire film, i don't see how you get over it

Rear Window... great film... uninteresting story (i mean, nothing much by itself) ... interesting concept and filming technique
Memento... same thing

--------------------
Why do you choose to mimic these wack MCs?
Why do you choose to listen to R&B?

"There are obviously many things which we do not understand, and may never be able to." Leela

*puts emceeing in a box*

>and the gimmick LASTS the entire film, i don't see how you get
>over it

There just wasn't enough "other" stuff in the film that kept me really engaged. At first it was exciting watching how the story unfolded backward, but by the time it was getting toward the end nothing else had popped up that really grabbed my attention. I distinctly remember both times watching it just desperately wanting it to end and feeling relieved to be able to finally leave the theater.

>Rear Window... great film... uninteresting story (i mean,
>nothing much by itself) ... interesting concept and filming
>technique
>Memento... same thing

Cool, I can pretty much agree with this, although I'm going to personally rate Rear Window higher because (1) I never get tired of watching Jimmy Stewart. I could watch him read the back of a frozen pizza and be entertained. (2) Grace Kelly is gorgeous. (3) It was the first movie to really fully utilize the technique.

I've just heard some pretty over-the-top declarations of how fantastic Memento is, whereas I think it's a good movie, just not a revolution or instant classic or anything.

>And oh yeah, it also doesn't help that Christopher Nolan minus
>a clever story has been relatively run-of-the-mill in his two
>successive films.

Batman Begin was not your typical comic book movie & was 1 of the best films of 2005. And he got great performances out of Robin Williams & Al Pacino in Insomnia. I still dont understand why that remake gets hated on so much. But I'm sure you & a few others can enlighten me

>Batman Begin was not your typical comic book movie & was 1 of
>the best films of 2005. And he got great performances out of
>Robin Williams & Al Pacino in Insomnia. I still dont
>understand why that remake gets hated on so much. But I'm sure
>you & a few others can enlighten me

Batman Begins not being your typical comic book movie had more to do with the script and story than the directing. I heard rumors that I'm pretty certain are 100% true that originally Darren Aranofsky and Frank Miller were working on making Year One (or whatever his book is called) but Aranofsky got dropped because he wasn't commercial enough.

Anyway, the actual direction -- cinematography, mis-en-scene, performace, style, etc. -- is pretty unremarkable. Again, it benefits from having an interesting script but is otherwise pretty much directing-by-the-numbers.

And have you seen the original Insomnia? Honestly I heard how the remake ends and decided to skip it, although part of me morbidly wants to watch it just to see how bad it is. I have heard from my *one* friend whose movie opinion I take seriously, though, that the direction was pretty mediocre.

>>Batman Begin was not your typical comic book movie & was 1
>of
>>the best films of 2005. And he got great performances out of
>>Robin Williams & Al Pacino in Insomnia. I still dont
>>understand why that remake gets hated on so much. But I'm
>sure
>>you & a few others can enlighten me
>
>Batman Begins not being your typical comic book movie had more
>to do with the script and story than the directing.

Were you the one who was complaining that Nolan was getting/taking 2 much credit 4 it's success?

I heard
>rumors that I'm pretty certain are 100% true that originally
>Darren Aranofsky and Frank Miller were working on making Year
>One (or whatever his book is called) but Aranofsky got dropped
>because he wasn't commercial enough.

I'm not sure the reason why that project never took off. I was very interested in it tho

>Anyway, the actual direction -- cinematography, mis-en-scene,
>performace, style, etc. -- is pretty unremarkable.

We're talking about Batman Begins & not Fantastic Four right?

Again, it
>benefits from having an interesting script but is otherwise
>pretty much directing-by-the-numbers.

Interesting opinion

>And have you seen the original Insomnia?

Most of it

Honestly I heard how
>the remake ends and decided to skip it, although part of me
>morbidly wants to watch it just to see how bad it is. I have
>heard from my *one* friend whose movie opinion I take
>seriously, though, that the direction was pretty mediocre.

I've seen all of Nolan's movies & I think he's a great director cuz of the way he displays the mood of the film. In Insomnia I really got a feeling for Pacino's character & situation. Same w/ Pearce in Memento & Bale in BB. Other directors just throw it out there & hope the audience takes it for granite. I think Nolan does a wonderful job of driving it home w/o being too overbearing & hitting the audience over the head w/ the "MESSAGE!" But hey, if it doesnt work for you then to each his own.

>Were you the one who was complaining that Nolan was
>getting/taking 2 much credit 4 it's success?

Nah, I wasn't in any Batman Begins discussions on this board. I didn't even watch it until a couple of months ago. He's a safe director and all and he hands in watchable movies, no doubt, I just don't necessarily rate him as an auteur of any real merit.

>I'm not sure the reason why that project never took off. I was
>very interested in it tho

I'm pretty certain it's because the studios want Batman to remain a blockbuster franchise and they didn't care to see their ass-kicking, mini-tank driving, all-black wearing, hot-chick banging super stud get the arthouse treatment. I think it's kind of obvious that at least some of their groundwork found its way into Batman Begins, what with the big psychological emphasais and all.

>I've seen all of Nolan's movies & I think he's a great
>director cuz of the way he displays the mood of the film. In
>Insomnia I really got a feeling for Pacino's character &
>situation. Same w/ Pearce in Memento & Bale in BB. Other
>directors just throw it out there & hope the audience takes it
>for granite. I think Nolan does a wonderful job of driving it
>home w/o being too overbearing & hitting the audience over the
>head w/ the "MESSAGE!" But hey, if it doesnt work for you then
>to each his own.

I suppose I could watch his movies again more closely, but it's probably safe to say that he's not my style. I think of him as a Brian Singer type -- happened into one good movie, proceeded to work a productive if not entirely revolutionary career from that point on.

>Again, it
>benefits from having an interesting script

A script Nolan co-wrote with David Goyer. Aronofsky was going to do a Batman film but it wasn't as if they used his script.

___________________________
OL' DIRTY BASTARD on himself:
"I may curse, I may have a bad mouth, whatever whatever. I'm not that bad, yaknow'mean. Bad to y'all, I dunno how y'all... I don't give a fuck. Um, I'm a good person at heart, for real and shit.

>these sorts of film should not be discouraged in favour of
>some 'interesting cinemetography' and useless philosophy
>bullcrap. is Die Hard a good film? yes. Did it come to a
>profound philosophical conclusion? no. Does it matter? no,
>because you accept the film on its own terms of what it's
>trying to achieve

I'm not saying these types of films should be discouraged, I'm just saying that Memento wasn't very good.

--Maurice

_____

Bonding over sutures is what's hot in Oh-Nine.
--JS

>I've always thought that at best Memento was merely competent
>and not the rebirth/retelling of noir that some people seem to
>think it is.

At the time it came out I thought it was refreshingly original

The scriptwriting is mediocre

Blasphemy

, there are only
>two good performances

Which 2? I thought all 3 main performances were great.

, and the plot device, the movie's
>biggest draw, got old to me.

Did it get old because it was hard to follow & remember what happened? If so, that was Nolan's intention in telling the story that way. To put the viewer in Lenny's shoes & see things from his perspective. Guess it wasnt effective for some. I thought it was brilliant! (Ironically, my buddy & I snuck a sixer of Guinness into the theater the 1st time I saw it)

In short, the idea is an
>interesting one, but there's not enough movie to hang it on.

I am sorry you didnt get the enjoyment out of it that I did

Huge cosign. I had to write a paper on this movie for my biosychology class when I was in school and I wanted to slit my wrists during the process because I had to keep going back into the movie to watch certain parts and what not. I really did not enjoy this movie.
_____________________________________

*Currently holding tryouts for a new sig*

Sideways should have won for Best Picture for 2004.

Although I was rooting for Marty, Sideways was clearly the better movie. But M$B sucked royally.

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17x NBA Champions

Marty Lost.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
<----- Daddy's Comin' Home.

(and no, you can't click the link)

but Million Dollar Baby was pretty good too.

Sideways was the one i liked least at first. Now I really like Sideways and can't even sit through the other two.

Huzzah! I knew you had it in you.

I dunno that I'd wanna sit through The Aviator again either. Million Dollar Baby was showing on a plane I was on a few months ago, I had no problem watching it then, but I dunno if I'd stay with it on TV, necessarily.

But I think a big part of that is because it's such a lighter piece.

I was in the opposite camp I guess in that I didn't like Million Dollar Baby at first, but a second viewing won me over. But it's not a movie I see myself going back to very often.

As for the Aviator, I admire what Scorsese was trying to do, but it's just too long. It's a 160 minute movie that feels like it's twice that length.

___________________________
OL' DIRTY BASTARD on himself:
"I may curse, I may have a bad mouth, whatever whatever. I'm not that bad, yaknow'mean. Bad to y'all, I dunno how y'all... I don't give a fuck. Um, I'm a good person at heart, for real and shit.

love it.

Sideways was very good the 1st time I saw it but I still felt it was a bit overated. Or maybe I'm just shocked that so many critics loved it.

Still havent seen M$B & have no desire 2

Should've been The Aviator.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

*Effasig*

But I truly enjoyed Sideways.

And I'm not 40 and divorced, so that was a little surprise. Held up well in repeat viewings too.

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17x NBA Champions