Domino

[ono]

Tony Scott Martin Scorsese Paul Thomas Anderson needs to have his directing license removed. He can't keep the camera still for more than three seconds. Maybe I just feel sorry for his editor.

[72teeth]

Tony Scott Martin Scorsese Paul Thomas Anderson needs to have his directing license removed. He can't keep the camera still for more than three seconds. Maybe I just feel sorry for his editor.

  take it back...

[modage]

saw this tonite.  i was REALLY looking forward to it as i'm a fan of the new and insane tony scott, curious to see richard kelly write another script, and it seemed like a cool story.  it kicks ass.  NOT as much ass as in my dreams of how much ass this could kick, but a good amount.  

i never had anything for or against keira knightley before (except against that she was cheaper portman) but she is pretty awesome in this (and i don't think natalie portman could've done this part as well.)  scotts camerawork and editing didn't seem MORE crazy than man on fire but about the same.  (or maybe now that i've seen enough of it (bmw short, man on fire, agent orange short, this) i might just be getting used to its craziness.)  the opening credits seemed like they were for a tv show (but maybe that was a comment on the reality tv thing).  there were also an abundance of funny rap in this.

those of you who don't like scott are going to hate this and it is A LOT of true romance mixed with confessions of a dangerous mind and shot like man on fire; but that sounds pretty good to me.   probably one of my favorites this year (so far).   B+

[Gold Trumpet]

Tony Scott needs to have his directing license removed. He can't keep the camera still for more than three seconds. Maybe I just feel sorry for his editor.

He's perfect for these films. If this was twenty or fifteen years ago, Scott would be making these genre films but they'd be looking like every film of that same genre literally since the beginning of that fucking genre. The action adventure, since its conception in The Great Train Robbery(1904), really has not changed much in basic features. Editing is more detailed, but little difference.

With the MTV generation, Hollywood blockbusters allowed a combustive language of editing to slip in. It can be used for talent and crap. Scott, recently, has been magnificent. He's propelled the entertainment of Spy Game to something memorable. Man on Fire, the seemingly distant cousin of City of God, had purpose and talent in its editing. The only thing it lacks compared to City of God is intricacy.

With Domino, I'm excited and fearful. He could elevate the bottom of the pit genre that is the Tarantino kill fest to some talent. Or he could once again play Tarantino's doll like True Romance with a film that is so glorified in violence and robbed of intelligence it becomes painful to watch. Its just this time the very overrated Richard Kelly will be pulling the strings. Personally, I hope he allows his directing to pull through. I also hope Richard Kelly doesn't fall for the very fashionable in film today. Decent talent in Hollywood is hard to come by.

[killafilm]

Just read in AC that City of God's dp César Charlone was the camera operator on Man on Fire.  Interesting...

[Ghostboy]

I really loved Scott's evolution in style in Man On Fire, but here it just sorta sucks. Partially because the script sucks, too, making all the stylistic excess just that: excess. Color me bored. I can't decide whether this or Elizabeth town is the worst movie I've seen lately.

This one does get points for throwing Tom Waits into the mix. That scene was cool, just because it was Tom Waits.

[nix]

Yeah. Pretty much drivel from start to finish.

Glad I saw it for free. Only time wasted as opposed to time and money.

[Gold Trumpet]

The film has an accomplishment. Tony Scott has finally made a durable version of True Romance. As much as I try, I can not sit through that film without pain. The final shoot out in Domino is a mirror image to the one in True Romance. Like that film, Domino falls flat trying to carve out an identity of plausability for the carnage tragedy. Unlike True Romance though, its entertaining and even has moments that understand its absurdity. I believe the best thing about the film is Tony Scott's handling of the material. His direction is exciting. Its no Natural Born Killers though.

Richard Kelly falls flat. Punk Rock, maybe, but Rashomon, no. The identity of "purpose" to these characters doesn't come up until the third act. There is no mystery in this film. The "what if's" last 10 minutes and are explained. Mere plot contrivances instead of artful drama. Its ironic Richard Kelly would even use punk rock in the same sentence as Rashomon for describing this film. The former is appreciated in its decision to not be form, to be very rough along the edges and never complete. The latter is the fully realized art drama.

I believe this film will be appreciated by many. Not just in enjoyment, but in the idea of progressive cinema. A shame Sin City is the seemingly high mark so far this year. Yet again America searches for art in mere genre twists and turns.

[killafilm]

It was fun.  Still don't really like keira knightley, and I think True Romance is better.  That's all I really got.

[Gold Trumpet]

I recently tried to sit through The Fog. I lasted only 45 minutes and all I kept thinking is that I wish I was seeing Domino instead. I didn't really detail how entertaining Domino was. To the wrong audience, it is still another example of twisted morals and dumb logic that I am sick of, but fuck, the film is inventive. The type of film The Fog represents will always be worst. Even if the film pleads moral innocence, crap movies have no reason to be made.

[w/o horse]

It was pretty silly.  I can see where The Gold Trumpet is coming from, pure desperation, but we might disagree on how important progressive is to quality.  I do not think that snap zooms and jump cuts and half-assed movie jargon scripts are what American cinema needs.  I think there was a point about ten years back, when QT quip became the barometer, a point around the time of Bad Boys, in which American cinema went down the wrong path.  Instead of trying to get back to the fork, we have been trying to correct ourselves in the midst of epileptic siezures and Target commercials.

Also, there was literally a moment that went "explosions, titties."  As my friend Joe pointed out by saying "explosions, titties" at that point.

[Gold Trumpet]

It was pretty silly.  I can see where The Gold Trumpet is coming from, pure desperation, but we might disagree on how important progressive is to quality.  I do not think that snap zooms and jump cuts and half-assed movie jargon scripts are what American cinema needs.  I think there was a point about ten years back, when QT quip became the barometer, a point around the time of Bad Boys, in which American cinema went down the wrong path.  Instead of trying to get back to the fork, we have been trying to correct ourselves in the midst of epileptic siezures and Target commercials.

Also, there was literally a moment that went "explosions, titties."  As my friend Joe pointed out by saying "explosions, titties" at that point.

I won't argue the script, but did you really think the filmmaking was bad? See, I think Tony Scott is able to elicit an energy in these films that is really lacking for most of what Hollywood has to offer. Not only are his films progressive in what genre films of yesterday weren't able to do, but he knows who he is making these movies for. Domino is not an ambitious film. Its entertainment fizzle.

Yet, the script is terrible. Its the worst of the gore genre. The film thinks it can mesh the absurd, the opportunistic, the dumb with the dramatic. It needed a whole identity. Thing is, I'm able to excuse it because in the end it has little ambition. I'm much tougher on the indie auteur crowd who strain for the great film but end up making juvenile crap.

[w/o horse]

Have you seen Save the Green Planet?

[Gold Trumpet]

I'll have to wait for a DVD release to be lucky enough to see that one.

[w/o horse]

http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=KCH030839 !