Xixax Film Forum

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

i think what ur noticing is director's themes.

the best ones hav recurring ones.

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.

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.

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?