I just skimmed over the rest of this thread, because i started my De Palma week a few nights ago, and realized that somewhere between then and now i've been somewhat of a convert to the De Palma church.

first we watched
BODY DOUBLE, which was a shameless rip-off (combination) of VERTIGO and REAR WINDOW, but with tons of sex thrown in and an extremely 80's look. but it was sort of good. because some of the themes of the film like 'real vs artiface' that was set up in the first five minutes and returned at the end in the ditch, made you think maybe this piece of trash had a point? and it was stylish as hell, and it was kind of cool.
next up was
OBSESSION, which was a shameless rip-off (combination) of VERTIGO and REBECCA, but with Uncle Ben from Spider-Man and a pretty cool twist ending. at this point i sort of realized that the feel of these movies isnt strictly a hip hitchcock update for the 70's or 80's, but somehow combined the feel of the more arty foreign films like BlowUp, etc. with hitchcocks suspense (and story ideas) and a modern (for the time) feel. which was sort of cool, i thought.

then it was time for
THE FURY, which unfortunately wasnt a hitchcock rip-off, but a muddled storytelling combination of Carrie and a govt conspiracy. the movie couldnt decide if it wanted to be with Kurt Douglas or Amy Irving. it wasnt very suspenseful and i would say it was almost not worth watching had it not been for the AMAZING full body explosion at the end that happened at (i counted) THIRTEEN (thats right 13) different camera angles! the last two minutes of the film should be shown as its own short film, and i would say 'brilliant!'
i guess, as i said to my girlfriend if you didnt know better, it might seem like his movies are terrible. but somehow, if you happen to like what he does THE SHAMELESS HITCHCOCK STEALING EROTIC THRILLER, then you'll have a lot more fun. i used to only like his more non-depalma movies like Untouchables, Mission Impossible, Carlitos Way etc. but ever since Femme Fatale sort of clicked with me i've been finding his movies a whole lot more interesting. next up is Phantom of the Paradise and Bonfire of the Vanities.