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| mo_flixx |
 Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:23 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 12533
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Rod wrote:
1. Thanks.
2. No, Superman hasn't always been a Jesus stand-in. As cultural historians before me have argued, particuarly Michael Chabon in the essaystic chapters of Kavalier and Clay, Superman, being the creation of two Jewish boys, owes much to the Moses myth; set adrift in his infancy with a cloth that becomes his clothing, growing up in a foster home as an insider who must one day become an outsider, a vastly powerful defender of the faith, a classic Old Testament savior. His "miracles" are of the physically mighty kind Moses specialized in. Part of why Superman has survived so long, so vividly, is because the figure channels background mythology in such a perfectly Joseph Campbell-ian way.
Also, it's been noted the irony of said two Jewish boys Seigel and Shuster creating a hero who exhibits the kind of chauvinistic perfection of Nazi myth, but of course it's totally inverted. Superman fights tyrants, and to look at he is, especially in Clark mode, rather a Jewish stereotype; dark curly hair, glasses, a weak and intellectual manner, hiding the heart of a real mensch.
Now Bollywood has turned Superman into KRISHNA! |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:29 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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yambu wrote: mo_flixx wrote: I endure multiple viewings of the same trailer for so many films...and I hate it. Usually the trailers telegraph the plot (and ending) so that by the time I see the actual film, it just isn't much fun anymore. I blame these ridiculous trailers. Then do as I do, Mo, and use the time to get your popcorn.
No. I get there early to stake out my territory....away from the talkers and seat kickers.
And I almost never eat movie popcorn - hate the disgusting "golden topping" or "plain" with way too much salt.
BTW, I love art cinemas with sophisticated snacks: cappuccino, beer, wine, etc. I think Rod knows the one I mean near the Circular Quay in Sydney. |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:32 pm |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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| I think you mean the Dendy, which is a cool theatre, although the types who hang around it make me nauseous. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:38 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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Rod wrote: I think you mean the Dendy, which is a cool theatre, although the types who hang around it make me nauseous.
That's the one. I remember you said they're pretty pretentious. |
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| Trish |
| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 10:50 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2438
Location: Massachusetts
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billyweeds wrote: Trish--I had forgotten how interesting the trailer made the movie look. It was that rare instance where a trailer was almost too good. .
I wish this situation were rarer - I can't tell you how many times this has happened |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 11:42 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8251
Location: Salt Lake City
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Marj wrote: I saw American Beauty again recently. I think although it might have been overhyped at the time, it does hold up better than I had remembered. Again it had a good script, and wonderful performances. Was it Oscar worthy? I doubt it, but it was certainly better than a lot of the dysfunctional family movies that are being churned out over the last few years.
Call me odd, but I'm with Marj on this one. I've seen the movie at least 3 times since I saw it in early 2000 in the theaters, and it holds up pretty well. Even if the movie itself wasn't Oscar worthy, Kevin Spacey did a bang up job as the dysfunctional husband who immersed himself in wishing he were in another place.
And another great job by Chris Cooper, who played the odd-sort of a neighbor who was a control freak with that thick exterior that covered up what was really inside. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:46 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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American Beauty is a good movie, but the fact that The Straight Story wasn't even nominated still sticks in my craw. And as good as Spacey was, Richard Farnsworth deserved to win Best Actor.
Chris Cooper, however, provided the third part of a one-two-three punch (Lone Star/October Sky/American Beauty) that showed him to be one of the most versatile star character actors in years. |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:59 am |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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| Watching Kevin Spacey blithering in SuperDude Returns made me start thinking of Amercian Beauty and what I thought the most inarguable quality of that bonsai O'Neill; the cast. What's happened to that formidable bunch? Annette Bening, playing worthless grande dame parts. Spacey, ran off to the Old Vic to escape K-Pax fall-out. Mena Suvari filling out the cast of straight-to-video pseudo-indie things. Thora Birch? Last time I saw her she had a blonde rinse in Silver City, delivering ten lines. And Wes Bentley, presumably still wandering somewhere in the Rockies. |
Last edited by Rod on Mon Feb 19, 2007 5:23 am; edited 1 time in total
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A long time ago, but somehow in the future...It is a period of civil war and renegade paragraphs floating through space. |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:28 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 7149
Location: NYC; US&A
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OMG, that was such a beautiful movie. Wes Bentley. Snow. Loved it.
The Claim
I happen to completely agree that The Straight Story is such a better film than American Beauty. BUT, I think American Beauty got a LOT of shit right, and therefore struck a chord. Maybe it's a genre thing. "Oh, I can't stand another dysfunctional American Family film." or something, but. I also think it's unfair to belittle a film because it did win when your own personal favorite loses. It happens to me all the time, but usually I can get why the other film (or performance) wins. Look @ this year's Best Actor race, how can you seriously judge Whitaker's Amin to Gosling's Crack Coach? And then to completely ignore the transformation Poupaud has in Le temps qui reste? Crazy. And I love us for it. |
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It truly disappoints me when people do something for you via no prompt of your own and then use it as some kind of weapon against you at a later time and place. It is what it is. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 4:46 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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This is what I meant when I said that Couch is too much of a catch-all thread. Right now there are 3 or 4 potentially interesting discussions intersecting and interrupting each other. Most will get swamped and drowned out. We have an inquiry into the differences within Asian cinema, which got a couple brief replies, but is a fertile topic, and could lead to examples, film recs, and such. There's another series of posts on dysfunctional family films, branching out from a more specific discussion of Running w/ X, and splitting off into a discussion of film trailers. And there’s also some talk of Superman Returns. Then Rod tossed in a short bit on an updated Lady Windermere’s Fan. And Mo wrote up a neo-Godard French film. This all seems kind of kaleidoscopic and hit-and-run.
The Asian and French films would get more time and space if there was a separate Foreign Film thread. And in Couch, the most mainstream film conversation will win out -- in this case, Running With X and movie trailers. Nothing so wrong with that, but I think this could be a more interesting, diverse place. Take a look at the number of posts. The chit-chat Lobby has 50% more posts than Current Film, and double the amount of Couch. The Lobby has nearly as many posts as the two film discussion threads together.
Now that I've caught up, I could post on Asian film and hope to revive that discussion. Or maybe wait until the Running w/ X discussion peters out. Although I also meant to comment on dysfunctional family films . So most likely I'll just post some surface observation on both. Or maybe I’ll just let an interesting topic or two pass away.
Now that the weekend is done (and everyone has finished blowing off fireworks and visiting their relatives for Chinese New Year), I'd like to make one more push to see if there's an interest in dividing Couch into two more focused halves. [Either just splitting off Foreign language films, or putting perhaps Foreign, Art Films and Classics in a separate thread] |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 6:47 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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For those interested in Almodovar, or running a Dvd store, there appears to be a lot of mix-ups on price for the new Almodovar 9-disc box set. Seems many e-tailers and stores are under the impression it is a 4 disc set and have priced it around $25 -$30, which is a serious bargain for a 9-disc set. This info might be a little late, as it seems the main action on this was slightly earlier in Feb.
But you can read about it here, bottom of Page 1 thru Page 4 or check this etailer that has it now listed at $28 but "out of stock," while they are probably realizing their mistake. Might want to check other on-line or actual stores, as well. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 6:52 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Rod wrote: And Wes Bentley, presumably still wandering somewhere in the Rockies.
I think he's playing the devil's offspring in Ghost Rider, arguably a worse fate than you've got him down for. |
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| Melody |
| Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 9:34 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 2242
Location: TX
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Thanks for the heads up, Gromit. I just added my name to the "notify me" list at Wherehouse. We'll see what happens.
Just like the poster on the Criterion board, I also hit the Deep Discount DVD sale in June, where I would have thought $70 for the 9-disc Almodovar set a great price.
DDD is where I picked up the TV series Profit -- anybody remember that one? Adrian Pasdar is a Wall Street mover & shaker who sleeps in a cardboard box. Way-out weird & wonderful. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 9:36 am |
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| My friends and I are going to Ghost Rider this afternoon. I have Vaughn Monroe's voice echoing through my mind already. |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 9:36 am |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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| I just finished watching Water. I was not, frankly, very impressed. It's visually wonderful, to be sure; Deepa Mehta's a very talented picture-taker. But she should have sacked herself as screenwriter. The script is cliched and melodramatic without ever taking the leap of idiot passion that makes melodrama work. We've got a bunch of standard, almost Dickensian tropes. Plucky girl orphan (okay, she's not an orphan, but she might as well be). Fat sleazy villainness and her hissing effeminate sidekick. Comely wench with lustrous locks driven to suicide by the cruel injustices of the world (not Dickens; Kate Chopin). Conveniently studly young doctor/reformer/poetry-quoting boyfriend. I think if this was a Hollywood film - I could imagine it transposed to a Civil Rights-era setting without any difficulty - we'd be laughing at it. I've come to the conclusion that when a modern movie reaches a scene where the baddies cut off the heroine's hair, the filmmakers have officially run out of ideas. The interpersonal scenes all have familiar beats, and the drama is entirely predictable. It does achieve a depth of feeling that kept me watching, particularly in Seema Biswa's lovely performance. I haven't see her in anything since Bandit Queeen, but she has a constrained emotionalism that knocks the plastic leads flat. |
Last edited by Rod on Mon Feb 19, 2007 10:05 am; edited 5 times in total
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