The Video Rental Thread

Started by Gold Trumpet, April 06, 2003, 10:56:11 AM

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SoNowThen

#90
February 19, 2004, 11:34:23 AM
I read about it, but since I had never heard of it until I read the press kit, I totally didn't.
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.

Weak2ndAct

#91
February 19, 2004, 02:04:27 PM
Quote from: themodernage02
Quote from: Weak2ndActCQ: Surprisingly decent, though I wish Coppola would have gone all the way and really done a full-on homage to 8 1/2 (having Giancarlo in the movie was not an accident).
why?  was it supposed to be bad?  i loved it.
From what I heard, yeah.  It didn't fare well at all critically, and even worse financially.  A friend described him as "the seriously untalented Coppola," so I expected the worst.  What I got was something very well put together and interesting.  Or perhaps 'DAZZLING!'  and 'FASCINATING!'  :wink:

But like I said, I wish the film would have gone one step further blurring the lines between Dragonfly, Davies' life, and his documentary.  That being said, I still got a kick out of it (and that dvd is pretty neat too).

godardian

#92
February 19, 2004, 02:10:17 PM
Quote from: Weak2ndActA friend described him as "the seriously untalented Coppola," so I expected the worst.  

I'd love to meet your friend... I think he or she was right about this. Can anyone specify what they found so charming about CQ? I thought the charming elements could've added up to a decent twenty-minute short, maybe, but it just stretched on and on... and on... there just didn't seem to be much there, to me. I mean, not much at all. "Slight" is a very diplomatic way of putting how I felt about the film.
""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.

Ghostboy

#93
February 19, 2004, 02:30:05 PM
I loved it for many of the same reasons you liked Morvern Callar (which I liked but not as much as you) -- it was elusive and poetic, an evocation of a certain period but more importantly of a struggle between the commercial and the personal aesthetics of art -- which, as an artist dealing constantly with that very struggle, rung very true to me.

modage

#94
February 19, 2004, 02:35:23 PM
i also liked how the movie about a filmmaker struggling with making a personal 'important' film and a big fun B picture is being MADE because the filmmaker was struggling with whether to make a personal film or a fun one.  so he made both.  i also love how the whole movie you're so interested in what he's going to do with the film that his girlfriend is completely in the background.  and when you get to the end of the film and she leaves him, he realizes that she was the best thing going and he completely ignored her the same way the audience does.  his redeeming film all about her makes the ending sort of sad.  i dunno, i just love it.  the look/design is fantastically well done.  i think its funny.  i love the cast.  and i think it takes the best elements of some of those old 60s movies about movies (Day for Night, 8 1/2) and blends them with the hugely stylistic B movies (Danger: Diabolik, Barbarella).  i love it.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

SoNowThen

#95
February 19, 2004, 02:35:41 PM
1. I love the setting. Paris in the late 60's is fun for a cinephile.
2. Little cameos put a smile on my face.
3. I find the main actor to be generally interesting.
4. Like the way Roman shot it, enjoyed the mixture of stocks/techniques, etc.
5. Good looking girls.
6. The score was a perfect fit for the film.
7. The idea of the story -- this young nobody getting to take over a film and meeting a hottie actress is a personal dream of mine.
8. Nice and short and didn't take itself too seriously (which is just what its subject matter demanded).
9. Above all was a quirky little love story movie-in-a-movie, and didn't take any major mis-steps to violate the coolness of that.
10. Referenced movies I like.
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

#96
February 19, 2004, 02:36:57 PM
oh yeah the soundtrack/score is FANTASTIC.  :-D  as soon as i saw it in the theatres i walked from there immediately to Tower Records and bought the only copy.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

godardian

#97
February 19, 2004, 02:45:08 PM
Oh, I was thinking maybe someone got strangled at the end and I completely missed it. :)

Perhaps... perhaps I'm finding myself convinced enough to revisit CQ on my next DVD-renting trip.
""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.

SoNowThen

#98
February 19, 2004, 02:48:49 PM
Well, it's not a revelation or anything, just not a bad movie.
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.

grand theft sparrow

#99
February 19, 2004, 06:10:00 PM
Quote from: Weak2ndActCQ: Surprisingly decent, though I wish Coppola would have gone all the way and really done a full-on homage to 8 1/2 (having Giancarlo in the movie was not an accident).
COFFY: Bad movie, great fun.  Pam Grier is a fox.

You know that it was Marcello Mastroianni in 8 1/2, not Giancarlo Giannini, right?  Or did you mean that it wasn't an accident that Giancarlo was in CQ because they look so damned much alike?

And yes, Pam Grier is the FOXIEST.

Weak2ndAct

#100
February 19, 2004, 06:23:22 PM
Quote from: hacksparrowYou know that it was Marcello Mastroianni in 8 1/2, not Giancarlo Giannini, right?  Or did you mean that it wasn't an accident that Giancarlo was in CQ because they look so damned much alike?
The 2nd one.

Pubrick

#101
February 20, 2004, 01:24:00 AM
thanks for the spoilers.
under the paving stones.

bonanzataz

#102
February 20, 2004, 01:16:30 PM
the enzo di martini character was making fun of dino di laurentis, though.
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

Weak2ndAct

#103
February 21, 2004, 05:07:51 PM
For some reason I this is the only way I feel like 'reviewing' these days:

BARBERSHOP: Marginally entertaining, one (me) wonders if the humor would have gotten a boost w/ an R rating.  Still though, moderately enjoyable and quite harmless.
A MIGHTY WIND: Let's see what's wrong w/ this one: no character development, boring musical numbers, woeful lack of laughs, and the cheapest joke ever-- Shearer's cross-dressing resolution.  What the hell happened w/ this one?  Willard is funny as always though, provided the only laughs.
MATCHSTICK MEN: Because I've seen, you know, movies before, the *twists* were seen coming four score and seven years before they happened.  I really hate Ridley Scott.
MORVERN CALLAR: Lynne Ramsey = female David Gordon Green.  Technically wonderful and acted to perfection.  The story almost meandered out of my reach, but I still enjoyed it.
THE TOWN IS QUIET: And I am sleeping.
THIRTEEN: The end of the 2nd act is weak *RIMSHOT!* but it wraps up nice and there's some good acting by the ladies.  I felt dirty watching the Kip Pardue scene.
8 WOMEN: I don't know what to make of this one.  Campy, stilted, insane, goofy, and just plain bonkos.  Ozon clearly knows this, so I can't fault him for it.  Lordy, did little Ludivine grow up fast.
PYROKINESIS: Japanese 'Firestarter.'  Seriously.  Nice effects of people being burned to to a crisp, but otherwise quite dull and not one that will be remade soon.  But who knows.

EDIT: Haggard grammar.

SHAFTR

#104
February 21, 2004, 06:01:21 PM
I watched quite a few movies the last few days.

I have commented on Seabiscuit and Once Upon a Time in Americain their respected threads.

I also just finished Marathon Man, which I enjoyed.  It's a good thriller with quite a few memorable scenes.  It's interesting with an old Laurence Olivier and a young Dustin Hoffman and their 2 different schools of acting style.  The film worked better in parts than as a whole for me, but that's most thrillers.

I also experienced my first Tati film with Mr Hulot's Holiday, it has some really great gags and moments.  Although under 90 minutes, I still found myself bored.  I enjoyed it and I want to see more of Tati's stuff, but I wasn't blown away.  I think the film would be better upon repeat viewings.

I'm currently watching Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, and hope to go to Tripletts of Belleville tomorrow and part of me wants to get around to seeing Eurotrip, in a guilty way.  Blow-Up is still on the tab as well.
"Talking shit about a pretty sunset
Blanketing opinions that i'll probably regret soon"
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