Oh my God... "Salesman" is one of favorite movies of all time! I only had to look into The Badger's eyes and I understood it all. The film really spoke to me, maybe because I identified with its lead character so much (though I am not a salesman). PLEASE everyone, at least give it a rent!!! Criterion's dvd is sooo nice.

At least in cinema, "Adaptation"s tricks appeared in some primordal form at as early as FW Murnau's "The Last Laugh"... I did like "Adaptation"... I thought it was entertaining and pretty smart, but I also thought the ending dragged on too long, and robbed the film of some impact...

Yeah. I mean, I understood the *point* of the final segments of Adaptation. Fitting it into the film's themes and stuff, intellectually, wasn't the problem. But those endings just didn't have "oomph." They seemed like something the filmmaker "had" to put in there in order to complete his thoughts on the matter, so we just had to sit thru it, even tho it didn't "read" particularly well. Again, I can work it all in idea-wise, but it hurts the tone and emotional impact of the film rather than expand upon or complete it.

Cage pulled off a minor miracle by giving a performance that was merely boring instead of laughably bad (his norm). But, oh my, were Chris Cooper and Meryl Streep ever wonderful.

Matthew

steel,

"It did help me to be open minded since shortly before viewing this film my professor, who unbeknownst to me has never penned a screenplay in his life) had taught me from Bob McKee's Story like it was the gospel."

Since the book proved so profitable for you, you should really check out the sequel: The Bob McKee/Skrull War.

It'll change your life.

Matthew

Watchoo talkin bout, Willis?

Seriously, are you on drugs?

I'm tellinya, man, it's a great book.

Check it out!

Matthew

Was Nicholas Cage's acting ability trapped in his hair? I ask this because the balder he gets, the more annoying and untalented he seems.

Anyway, the last two movies I saw were "The Matrix Reloaded" and "A Mighty Wind"... and I have to say that I vastly preferred "A Mighty Wind."

I have problems with "A Mighty Wind," but they're different objections than I've seen raised by reviewers.

First of all, to really capture that "crappy PBS special featuring folkies who deserved to fall into obscurity and get day jobs because the last thing the world needed was another group of guys in matching shirts playing a lackluster arrangement of Sloop John B. for 5-string banjo, tenor guitar and three voices" feel, they needed more than three groups for the TV special.

Secondly, in my opinion, there really should have been more stuff with the Folksmen and less stuff with Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara. Yeah, Eugene Levy's character was funny... but by focusing so much on Levy and O'Hara, that made the movie too much like the funnier "Best in Show."

Thirdly, comparisons are inevitable, but there must have been ways that they could have toned down the "Best in Show crossed with Spinal Tap" feel of the movie. It wouldn't surprise me to find out there are deleted scenes that probably should have been included in the final cut of the film.

Fourthly, was it really necessary to come up with parts for practically everybody who was in "Waiting for Guffman" and "Best in Show"?

There were at least three characters who were totally unnecessary. I would have rather seen an Irish Rovers-type group doing bad "traditional Celtic" music or something.

Still... I would buy the soundtrack in a hot minute, and the uneven skewering of the sort of bubblegum pop folkies Baby Boomers remember too fondly because that was the music they listened to in college was still more my speed than the overly long fight scenes in "The Matrix Reloaded."

I missed IRREVERSIBLE because the theater I went to said there was a 9 pm showing online, but there wasn't. Of course, that was the last day of it's week long appearance. No wonder arthouse films never catch on.



These 2 elements point to the kitschy feel of the film to be sure. Nightcrawler is pure camp while Magneto is somber drama. (At least we can dismiss some reductionistic sexual stereotype for this conflict.) I think McKellan is the best performance in the movie, myself. Unlike the muscular over-the-top posing of the comic book version, the subtle portrayel of a burning hatred behind his eyes is just the right touch. Why would a man who can move things around at will be that much of a physical presence?

I actually think Mags would look more muscular and have more vitality than McKellan. He just always struck me as a guy that enjoys what life he can get, gathering mutants, starting wars, being a demigogue. Lots of people work out for other reasons than just to lift stuff, ie, keeping healthy, keeping high energy levels, releiving stress, thinking.

Agreed with most of what Madget said, aside from the "even Gene" part. Not sure how to take that.

I suppose I'd agree with Dumas that one can go overboard on the comparison-thing, but it all depends on how well-constructed the argument is. Maybe someone, somewhere, really could construct a good essay comparing the Eagles to Alexander Pope, but it sounds as if it would take so much energy to pursue the comparison that one would wonder if the effort was worth it.

On the other hand, some comparisons are more felicitous, if only because one can compare artistic strategies pursued by authors/artists, without necessarily arguing influence.
If I do an article that compares & contrasts
Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS with the STAR TREK episode "The Man Trap"-- which is something I've thought about, once or twice-- I would hope my argument would stand or fall on its own merits. But if Dumas read the piece and chose to think I was just dropping names to validate a trivial pop-culture artifact, it would be his right to have that opinion, and mine to say, "Too bad; I think I'm right."

The only comparisons of this sort that I find actually harmful are those that perpetuate stereotypes, like the "superheroes are fascist" schtick that gets dragged outta mothballs ever so often. It was old when Legman and Wertham did it, and decrepit when revived by Journalistas like Groth and Fiore. I suppose one can argue that it's just one more idea in play, but it's such a sloppy concept that I think even the Pope-Eagles rumination might be more rewarding.

Oh, yeah, and I thought X2 had great mise-en-scene, though I wouldn't go so far as to call it the year's best.