Robert Altman

Started by classical gas, November 17, 2003, 05:31:25 AM

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modage

Quote from: SoNowThenLong Goodbye is brilliant. Go buy it!!

its good.  its the only Altman film i have.  i've only seen a handful of them so far, but its the only one i've rushed out to buy.  seen...

-MASH
-THE LONG GOODBYE
-NASHVILLE
-THE PLAYER
-SHORT CUTS
-GOSFORD PARK

and i just got my netflixed McCabe dvd today, so ill be watching that soon.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

cine

The man's been waiting over 35 years for an Oscar. Won't they just award with one finally?! I really thought he was getting it for Gosford Park too...

classical gas

yeah, but don't you think with all the great directors who haven't won, but have been nominated many times, it's really a privledge to not win one.  this is where the quote "it's great just to be nominated" really applies.  It just means you're doing something right if you can consistently be nominated, but never win.  Everyone can acknoweldge your talent, but you're just not mainstream enough to win.  i'm speaking of Altman, as well as Kubrick, Scorsese, PTA (although he's got many more movies yet to be made) and the list goes on..

cine

For great film directors, that's looking at it incredibly optimistically.
If Scorsese directs a great film in GoodFellas, he should get the Oscar instead of Kevin Costner. And don't tell me its a privilege to lose to Costner... that's just not cool.

classical gas

you're right, i was just saying it's a privledge to be with the handful of greats who haven't won, i guess i was being sarcastic, but i'm just not sure anymore.  I'm sure scorsese and altman will get lifetime achievement awards; although, they're still going strong, so there's still hope of an actual director's award.  but altman is getting old..

cine

Precisely. I think Scorsese ACTUALLY has a good shot with the Aviator. But Altman.. I don't think he has great chances with the Company. I don't see the voters being too high on a film like that. It's very depressing when you think of all the films he wasn't even recognized for. The good thing is that a guy like Altman really doesn't care over a guy like Scorsese in terms of getting Oscars. So I guess in that respect, thank god Altman is at least going to get a lifetime achievement award.

modage

okay, i listed the 6 films of his i've seen above, (as well as McCabe And Mrs. Miller which i'll be watching soon), and i'm thinking of having an Altman week sometime next year to fill in some gaps, so if i were to pick out 5 of his flicks i havent seen yet, where do i go from here?  any altman-experts wanna help me out?  godardian maybe?
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

godardian

Quote from: themodernage02okay, i listed the 6 films of his i've seen above, (as well as McCabe And Mrs. Miller which i'll be watching soon), and i'm thinking of having an Altman week sometime next year to fill in some gaps, so if i were to pick out 5 of his flicks i havent seen yet, where do i go from here?  any altman-experts wanna help me out?  godardian maybe?


Well, I'm no Altman expert  :oops:, but of the ones you haven't seen, I'd recommend:

3 Women

Brewster McCloud

Fool for Love (if only to check out where he meandered off to in the eighties).
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

cine

:idea:
There should be an XIXAX movie night where we watch Nashville.
:-D

classical gas

That would be cool, cause that would be one movie i'd love to analyze and talk about with others....my roommates would never watch it...

and i've got to get 'california split'; you guys have intrigued me so much...

soixante

Altman will never win a Best Director Oscar, and certainly will never win a lifetime achievement award.  He is too controversial.  There are many in Hollywood who hate him.  He hasn't made a film for a major studio in almost 20 years.  He is a true maverick.

All of his films are worth seeing, even his so-called failures.

I've seen all of 'em since MASH.  Shall we run down the list:

MASH -- a classic.  One of his best.
Brewster McCloud -- off-beat, early 70's anti-establishment black comedy, doesn't always hit the target, but still worth a look.
McCabe & Mrs. Miller -- his best film
Images -- one of his lesser 70's films.
Long Goodbye -- a classic
Thieves Like Us -- more austere in tone than his earlier satirical films.  Relentlessly grim tale of crime in the Depression.
California Split -- classic about the insular world of compulsive gamblers.
Nashville -- another high point in his career.
Buffalo Bill and The Indians -- something of a let-down after Nashville, it is still one of the most unique Westerns ever made.  I haven't seen this in 20 years, I need to see it again.  
Three Women -- it is amazing that something this abstract could come from a major studio, but back then studios were more willing to take chances.
A Wedding -- a bigger ensemble than Nashville, with mixed results.  Lots of great moments.
Quintet -- austere and dystopian, very slow, relentlessly grim.  Enjoy!
A Perfect Couple -- an enjoyable romantic comedy.
Health -- tyring to be like Nashville, with dwindling returns.
Popeye -- very mixed reaction to this one.  
When You Coming Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean -- the first of Altman's adaptations of plays.  This film, not Silkwood, was the first time Cher was taken seriously as an actress.
Streamers -- the antithesis of Top Gun in the 80's.
Secret Honor -- the antithesis of Give 'Em Hell, Harry.
Fool for Love -- Sam Shephard, one of America's top playwrights, get the Altman treatment.  Need to see this again.  Haven't seen it since it came out.  This was the first time Kim Basinger was used in a serious role.
Beyond Therpay -- perhaps Altman's worst film.  The jokes fall flat.
O.C. and Stiggs -- Altman's version of an 80's teen comedy, which went straight to video.  It's actually one of his better 80's films.
Tanner 88 -- A multi-episode mockumentary about a fictional Presidential candidate crossing paths with real candidates during the actual 1988 campaign season.  This HBO series brought fresh acclaim to the director.
Vincent and Theo -- another relentlessly grim movie.  Started the trend of 90's biopics about tortured artists (Basquiat, Pollock, etc.).
The Player -- Altman never went away, but this was regarded as a comeback.  One of his best.
Short Cuts -- another classic.
Ready to Wear -- another ensemble piece about an insular industry -- turned out more like Health than Nashville.
Kansas City -- a return to the Depression era, like Thieves Like Us.  Highly under-rated.
Gingerbread Man -- even Altman can't turn Grisham's chickenshit into chicken salad.
Cookie's Fortune -- Yet another comeback.  A new autumnal mellowness is in evidence.
Dr. T and the Women -- I must be the only person who liked this film.  Richard Gere's best performance.
Gosford Park -- another high point.  A fresh setting ideally suited to Altman's sensibility.
The Company -- looking forward to it.
Music is your best entertainment value.

Pwaybloe

soixante = true Altman fanatic

I'm jealous.

molly

Quote from: classical gasyeah, but don't you think with all the great directors who haven't won, but have been nominated many times, it's really a privledge to not win one.  this is where the quote "it's great just to be nominated" really applies.  It just means you're doing something right if you can consistently be nominated, but never win.  Everyone can acknoweldge your talent, but you're just not mainstream enough to win.  i'm speaking of Altman, as well as Kubrick, Scorsese, PTA (although he's got many more movies yet to be made) and the list goes on..

A critic (nice one) wrote that people should take notice of the films that were nominated, but didn't won - those are "must see" ones.

classical gas

i completely agree with this critic.  never in the history of the academy awards has who or what i thought of as the best director or movie of the year actually won.

molly

yes. He named few movies that won, and nobody today remembers them.