Familiar Ground

Started by modage, June 13, 2003, 11:47:03 PM

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modage

June 13, 2003, 11:47:03 PM
im not sure if this will make for interesting conversation or not, but as i was reading a scorsese debate i was reminded of the similarities between Bringing Out the Dead basically being similar ground already covered in Taxi Driver.  recently also i watched The Ninth Gate and the whole creepy ominous tone of the film and satanic cultish themes reminded me hugely of the earlier Polanski flick Rosemarys Baby.  and another one Spielberg has said in interviews that his motivation in doing Jurrassic Park was essentially to make a better Jaws.  so i just noticed a few directors that seemed to be falling off, making a movie that is very reminiscent of one of their earlier successes.  JP was after the failures of Always and Hook and pre-Schindlers List.  BOTD was after Kundun and a several year hiatus.  and although Ninth was after death and the maiden it was several years after his last big BO hit.  i thought this was sort of an interesting phenomenon.  is it just me?  does anyone else have any interesting examples of this?

Taxi Driver--Bringing Out The Dead
Rosemarys Baby--The Ninth Gate
Jaws--Jurrassic Park
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Pubrick

#1
June 13, 2003, 11:58:19 PM
i think what ur noticing is director's themes.

the best ones hav recurring ones.
under the paving stones.

bonanzataz

#2
June 14, 2003, 01:19:06 AM
Hook was a failure? i saw it three times in the theaters and remember it being sold out every time. even on the giant giant screen i saw it at.

EDIT:
Gross
$119,654,900 (USA)
it also made $65 million from rentals.
The corpses all hang headless and limp bodies with no surprises and the blood drains down like devil's rain we'll bathe tonight I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls Demon I am and face I peel to see your skin turned inside out, 'cause gotta have you on my wall gotta have you on my wall, 'cause I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls collect the heads of little girls and put 'em on my wall hack the heads off little girls and put 'em on my wall I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls

SoNowThen

#3
June 14, 2003, 04:03:51 AM
Marty has said this of the Taxi Driver / Bringing Out The Dead connection: in the first one, the main character is like the angel of death stalking through New York. In the second, it's like the main character is trying to be a guardian angel. Taxi ends in a predominantly ominous and ironic tone, while Dead ends with hope. I think it's nice for a director to explore both sides of one coin.

And isn't there a theory that says all directors just make the same film their whole lives, anyway? It ties in nicely with some bits of auteur theory, and how you can trace a common thread or theme through an artists entire body of work.
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

modage

#4
June 14, 2003, 07:18:08 PM
Quote from: bonanzatazHook was a failure? i saw it three times in the theaters and remember it being sold out every time. even on the giant giant screen i saw it at.

EDIT:
Gross
$119,654,900 (USA)
it also made $65 million from rentals.

i knew somebody was going to call me on this.  it was a financial success but a creative failure.  where did i hear the story where spielberg held a test screening of hook (the last movie he did that for), and went out to his car and wept because he knew how bad it was but there was nothing he could do to save it at this point.  i think it actually scored really high (as far as test ratings go), but is obviously so dated in the early nineties.

nobody has any other examples of this?
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.
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