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| Melody |
 Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 10:44 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 2242
Location: TX
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Rod, excellent Superman Returns review. "Passion of the Clark" is perfection.
I remember watching Superman as a teenager, but not the sequels, so my question is, has Clark always been a stand-in for the Jesus? Because it occurred to me, as I was sitting next to my Southern Baptist aunt in the theater last summer, that maybe THAT's why she's so enamored of these films.
Although that wouldn't really explain her fascination with Star Trek....
Anyway, please send your review to Lorne for the Reviews section. It hasn't been updated in quite a while. |
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| Melody |
| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 10:48 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: TX
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Which reminds me, there have been a spate of excellent reviews lately that should make their way to the Reviews section. Whiskey wrote one on Ace in the Hole and Syd wrote one on Music & Lyrics. I'm sure there's others I'm forgetting.
Send 'em to Lorne, y'all. Dude could use a break from his porno day job. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 10:49 am |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 12533
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gromit wrote:
Imo, Benning and Brian Cox were very good in Running With X. In fact, I blanched the pair of them. I got interested at the outset, but finished up not caring much at all. The film never delivered much and sort of meandered around pointlessly.
I've noticed a trend toward films about quirky, dysfunctional families: ROYAL TENNENBAUMS, I HEART HUCKABEES, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, etc. Despite the nomination for LMS, I can't say that any of these movies have really impressed me.
I think it's a topic whose time has come...and gone. |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 11:13 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8251
Location: Salt Lake City
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mo_flixx wrote: I've noticed a trend toward films about quirky, dysfunctional families: ROYAL TENNENBAUMS, I HEART HUCKABEES, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, etc. Despite the nomination for LMS, I can't say that any of these movies have really impressed me.
I think it's a topic whose time has come...and gone.
AMERICAN BEAUTY was another quirky film about dysfunctional family life. Not like the styles that the above movies have, but it was pretty quirky. And won Best Picture that year. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 11:21 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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chillywilly wrote: mo_flixx wrote: I've noticed a trend toward films about quirky, dysfunctional families: ROYAL TENNENBAUMS, I HEART HUCKABEES, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, etc. Despite the nomination for LMS, I can't say that any of these movies have really impressed me.
I think it's a topic whose time has come...and gone.
AMERICAN BEAUTY was another quirky film about dysfunctional family life. Not like the styles that the above movies have, but it was pretty quirky. And won Best Picture that year.
Little Miss Sunshine is a direct descendent of You Can't Take It With You-type (kookier-but-more-lovable-than-any-other-family) stories. American Beauty is a direct descendent of The Swimmer, Rabbit Run, and other John Updike suburban-malaise stories, which were in turn direct descendents of John O'Hara Appointment in Samarra-type stories.
They're really from different mindsets altogether. |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 11:27 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Salt Lake City
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billyweeds wrote: Little Miss Sunshine is a direct descendent of You Can't Take It With You-type (kookier-but-more-lovable-than-any-other-family) stories. American Beauty is a direct descendent of The Swimmer, Rabbit Run, and other John Updike suburban-malaise stories, which were in turn direct descendents of John O'Hara Appointment in Samarra-type stories.
They're really from different mindsets altogether.
Mindsets was the word I was searching for. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 12:25 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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billyweeds wrote: chillywilly wrote: mo_flixx wrote: I've noticed a trend toward films about quirky, dysfunctional families: ROYAL TENNENBAUMS, I HEART HUCKABEES, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, etc. Despite the nomination for LMS, I can't say that any of these movies have really impressed me.
I think it's a topic whose time has come...and gone.
AMERICAN BEAUTY was another quirky film about dysfunctional family life. Not like the styles that the above movies have, but it was pretty quirky. And won Best Picture that year. is a direct descendent of You Can't Take It With You-type (kookier-but-more-lovable-than-any-other-family) stories. American Beauty is a direct descendent of The Swimmer, Rabbit Run, and other John Updike suburban-malaise stories, which were in turn direct descendents of John O'Hara Appointment in Samarra-type stories.
They're really from different mindsets altogether.
I agree. To me, there are the films that evoke John Cheever or Updike like "The Ice Storm" and many others. They tend to be dark and capture the malaise of American upper middle class suburbia. I'd put "American Beauty" in this category. "Little Children" is 2006's example of the genre.
As to the current trend toward movies about quirky, dysfunctional families; what I was trying to say is that everytime there's a breakout hit in a "new" genre, Hollywood starts cranking out more of them ad nauseum. And at this point, I've pretty much had enough of this genre (RUNNING WITH SCISSORS).
I think this genre's roots may also lie in the screwball comedies of the '30's and '40's (with a debt to Howard Hawks).
Curiously when I think of SIDEWAYS (which seemed to be a new take on the buddy picture or road picture), I can't think of other recent imitations. I guess that's a tribute to just what a special script SIDEWAYS had. At the time, I thought SIDEWAYS was overrated, but maybe this puts it in a new light for me. |
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| Earl |
| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 12:41 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
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Melody wrote: Send 'em to Lorne, y'all. Dude could use a break from his porno day job.
Lorne is doing porn? This will not only need explaining, it may need a new thread. |
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| bart |
| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 12:59 pm |
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Joined: 05 Dec 2005
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| Interesting chat about the dysfunct family theme -- I agree that it splits up into smaller, more meaningful segments, like the Cheever or O'Hara type story of suburban alienation, the O'Connor southern grotesques, the hip urban memoir (Squid and the Whale), the Eccentrics (e.g. Tenenbaums), and the Family Travel Nightmare/Comedy (Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation, et al.). The theme, generally, is timeless and I don't see how you could wear it out. If you are tired of the theme, it's because you're seeing bad movies that happen to use that theme poorly. |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 1:41 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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mo_flixx wrote: jeremy wrote: Lady,
I'd be interested to know whether you can detect a difference in sensibility between Chinese, Japanese and Korean cinema, say the way most here could between French, Italian and German film. I feel it, but perhpas I don't seen enough of each or haven't thought hard enough about it to be artculate the differences.
There IS a difference. Try to see HOST from Korea. The differences will be quite obvious.
Mo is 100% right. I'm new to a good part of this, but a good part of Korean cinema is filtered through a movement called hallyu (Korean Wave), which roughly translates to a celebration of Koreanness. The (mainland) Chinese cinema I've seen is directly informed by Communism, although often very subtly. A lot of Japanese cinema has a whiff of cuteness, almost Hello Kitty-ishness, to it that you definitely don't see in the others. (And there's quite a bit to that statement, not necessarily negative, beyond the obvious.)
All this is off the cuff, and there are definitely things I'm leaving out. Mo's suggestion about seeing The Host would be a good way to explore all that. The elements that come together in that movie don't show up in any other cinema that I can think of.
I don't see much of the ultraviolent stuff, so I can't really speak to that. |
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| Nancy |
| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 2:04 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4607
Location: Norman, OK
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lady wakasa wrote:
You know... I just checked, and Masterpieces of Silent Japanese Cinema, which will show up on my doorstep in April, has the following listed:
Yaji and Kita: Cat Fuss (1937) Yoshimura Misao
Yaji and Kita: Yasuda's Rescue (1927) Ikeda Yomiyasu
Ooooooooh...
If I can figure out how to send them to you (I don't have any way to record right now), I will.
Lady W,
That disc set sounds fascinating. I'm curious about the 1913 version of Chushingura that is mentioned, too. I envy you.
The IMDB lists more Yaji & Kita titles, including that comedy from 1958 and another from 1927 that seems to be an animated short. |
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| Melody |
| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 2:31 pm |
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Earl wrote: Melody wrote: Send 'em to Lorne, y'all. Dude could use a break from his porno day job.
Lorne is doing porn? This will not only need explaining, it may need a new thread.
Ah, I've said too much... |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 3:01 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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bart wrote: Interesting chat about the dysfunct family theme -- I agree that it splits up into smaller, more meaningful segments, like the Cheever or O'Hara type story of suburban alienation, the O'Connor southern grotesques, the hip urban memoir (Squid and the Whale), the Eccentrics (e.g. Tenenbaums), and the Family Travel Nightmare/Comedy (Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation, et al.). The theme, generally, is timeless and I don't see how you could wear it out. If you are tired of the theme, it's because you're seeing bad movies that happen to use that theme poorly.
You mean there's no such thing as a bad story, only a bad telling of the story??
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Yes, that's exactly it, bart. I'm sorry I didn't get my point across more succinctly.
What I don't like is the way Hollywood unimaginatively tends to recycle hit movies (movie scripts, movie special effects - the rolling fireball for example). Anything that seemed fresh the first time around soon becomes stale.
Other peeves are Hollywood's "re-makitis" - especially of moderately successful foreign films (i.e. French comedies). Something really does get lost in translation (Scorsese and "Infernal Affairs" notwithstanding).
And finally, I dislike Hollywood's hiring of talented foreign directors who go from making meaningful independent foreign films to bloated Hollywood blockbusters.
BTW the German director of THE LIVES OF OTHERS has signed with a top Hollywood agency but is insisting on writing his OWN script for his next project. |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 3:42 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Salt Lake City
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mo_flixx wrote: Curiously when I think of SIDEWAYS (which seemed to be a new take on the buddy picture or road picture), I can't think of other recent imitations. I guess that's a tribute to just what a special script SIDEWAYS had. At the time, I thought SIDEWAYS was overrated, but maybe this puts it in a new light for me.
Loved SIDEWAYS and yes, it could be taken as a buddy picture, but for me, it actually stood on it's own. Payne hit a home run with this one and each additional viewing is just as enjoyable, if not more, than the first time I saw it. |
Last edited by chillywilly on Sun Feb 18, 2007 5:00 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 4:57 pm |
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Love the Sideways love. Great, great film--and ridiculously underrated on this forum.
The granddaddy of the Tenenbaums/Sunshine genre is still You Can't Take It With You--a great play and a mediocre (though Oscarwinning) movie. |
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