The kooky faerie world stuff is pretty cool enuff I s'pose, but the rest of it seemed by-the-book to me -- nothing too terribly surprising happened, the characters were one-note, the acting shrug-worthy. (Doesn't help that I thought the little girl was terrible.) Basically, it felt like if Tim Burton made a movie while under Miramax's heel.
The only thing that's coming to mind right now (and it's not perfect) is I Know Where I'm Going! (Powell, 1945) and Kate Bush's Hounds of Love. But IKWIG is a bit light and fluffy (but still great) compared to that album. Maybe IKWIG for side 1 and Black Narcissus (Powell, 1947) for side 2?
I dunno, I'm no good at this kind of thing. Maybe someone more knowledgeable about Powell/Pressburger and/or Bush could chime in.
Yeah, I mean, once you know the name, it's forehead-smackingly obvious -- who else really looks like that?
(I suspect the problem other people are having, if they're like me, is that they think of Farmiga as an older-looking woman, and that pic makes her look 23 :-) Still hot, either way, tho.)
And it looks like you're using the Chicago Reader system. So I know what I'll be using in 2010 :-)
Yeah, I let go of the number system cuz it felt like, rightly or wrongly, that I was giving the same grades over and over again. Why use 100 pts when a grading system (which is, like, what 12 different points?) would be just as effective?
TWBB kinda felt like PTA was making it up as he went along, which can work I suppose, then we get to the end, which for me, may have worked as a metaphor, but for "realistic" characters, just wasn't believable. To me, it seemed like PTA said, "Well, it's the end, so we better make it big and over the top. Oh, and with blood."
You know, I liked No Country, I really did, but damn if it doesn't feel like Sober Art Movie, American Division at times -- i.e., a bit flavorless. And it's the Coens!
1. Where'd you find your copy? When I got it for my birthday, I was told that it was difficult to track down (for a reasonable price, at least).
2. I burned through it in about four or five hours one lazy Saturday afternoon -- it's such a quick read. He's called the Hemingway of Horror, but I don't think that's a reference to quality :-)
3. God, I love that ending. It's so depressing and horrible, in a book that has something depressing and horrible on nearly every page. Part of the reason I'd want to make it into a movie is just to inflict that ending on people.
4. I kept picturing the one guy, the guy who hires the mercenary, as Newt Gingrich. So there you go.
...but then the robots speak, and the only gaping/cowering worth mentioning is done by the audience, at the dialogue. Yikes, even now I shudder at the recollection.
Four words: "What's crackin', li'l bitches?"
I had to rewind it back a couple times, to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.
I think most Macologists would agree that a Fleetwood Mac movie would have to be called "The Chain", as that was the only song where all five members are credited as song-writers. But of course, that's only if you're gonna go for that "upbeat" kind of theme.
But you're ideas are spot-on. (My friend Martin keeps pushing me to just a write a draft of the thing, probably to get it out of my system. I'm always bringing it up -- "Wouldn't it be awesome if...") The other idea is to just write a faux-Mac movie, because, like you said, it's about these disparate people coming together in harmony to create something bigger than themselves.
Wow, if I've convinced you to check out The Cellar and The Beetle Leg, maybe I should write up the rest of these sometime. (Or maybe you already know them?)
Oh, and I'd totally loan you The Cellar, but it's already loaned out. For like, the last 5 years, I think. I should check up on that.
Ah, The Skydivers. While it's not the cinematic culmination of Francis' motifs and obsessions -- that would be Night Train to Mundo Fine a.k.a. Red Zone Cuba, it's definitely my favorite of the Sniper in an Airplane trilogy. Remember when the plane was coming in for a bumpy landing and the one dude just walks up to it? That was awesome.
Crap direction? It won't win any awards, but I found it just fine -- especially the frequent use of off-screen space, which I feel like I haven't seen in awhile (the woman looking through the binocs then saying "get into the truck", the screams while they're in the attic, the mercy-killing, etc.) I know the shutter effect has been derided, but it worked here for me --particularly the moment when the vampire is thrown off the truck and rolls through the snow, a completely black figure against the white. It looked like a flipbook, harking back to the original comic. Oh, and no Avid farts, amazingly, shockingly.
Crap writing? Well, the writers have a fucking impossible job, and I can't hold it against them. 30 days of night? You can't do that in a 2 hour movie. A comic book, a book, a TV show, sure, but not a movie. 3 days of night, yes, that's perfect, and I suspect there'd be less naysaying if that was the premise. But I guess the producers said, "this comic we paid out the yin-yang for is called "30 Days", so that's what it's called". What's there is a little rote, but I thought it got through it with a minimum of fuss.
Zero scares? (Shrug.) I was tensed up and jumped a few times. It's not 28 Weeks Later, but few are.
Weak gore? (Shrug.) Gory enough for me, but that's never anything I'm checking off my list.
Palette? It's snow and night!
Huston? I liked him where he just had to use his face and body. My beef is that all his dialogue sounded like fortune cookies from Monsterland. Also, thought Ben Foster was better here than 3:10 to Yuma -- a shame they get rid of him so quick.
I have the Lopate book, but I haven't read it in years, so I don't remember the "smug" bit. But yeah, it holds for Darjeeling. I'd like to see Anderson tell a story that isn't about young (or old) rich fuckups. Boo hoo, poor little rich fuckups.
The kooky faerie world stuff is pretty cool enuff I s'pose, but the rest of it seemed by-the-book to me -- nothing too terribly surprising happened, the characters were one-note, the acting shrug-worthy. (Doesn't help that I thought the little girl was terrible.) Basically, it felt like if Tim Burton made a movie while under Miramax's heel.
The only thing that's coming to mind right now (and it's not perfect) is I Know Where I'm Going! (Powell, 1945) and Kate Bush's Hounds of Love. But IKWIG is a bit light and fluffy (but still great) compared to that album. Maybe IKWIG for side 1 and Black Narcissus (Powell, 1947) for side 2?
I dunno, I'm no good at this kind of thing. Maybe someone more knowledgeable about Powell/Pressburger and/or Bush could chime in.
Not only is that my first viewing, know how I saw it? Fucking ON-DEMAND. On a small TV. With one horrible speaker. Not letterboxed.
There will be slashes.
Yeah, I mean, once you know the name, it's forehead-smackingly obvious -- who else really looks like that?
(I suspect the problem other people are having, if they're like me, is that they think of Farmiga as an older-looking woman, and that pic makes her look 23 :-) Still hot, either way, tho.)
I would never have guessed in a million years that was Vera Farmiga! Those glam shots just mess up my ability to think, I guess :-)
Well, then there's Cloverfield and Iron Man and Joshua and There Will Be Blood... :-)
Wait wait wait wait. We agree on a movie? Really? Break out the fuckin' cham-pag-na, man.
I'm not seeing it on your lists or on your site. What'd you give it?
Related: we don't usually agree on women either, but who's the cutie on the front page?
And it looks like you're using the Chicago Reader system. So I know what I'll be using in 2010 :-)
Yeah, I let go of the number system cuz it felt like, rightly or wrongly, that I was giving the same grades over and over again. Why use 100 pts when a grading system (which is, like, what 12 different points?) would be just as effective?
TWBB kinda felt like PTA was making it up as he went along, which can work I suppose, then we get to the end, which for me, may have worked as a metaphor, but for "realistic" characters, just wasn't believable. To me, it seemed like PTA said, "Well, it's the end, so we better make it big and over the top. Oh, and with blood."
You know, I liked No Country, I really did, but damn if it doesn't feel like Sober Art Movie, American Division at times -- i.e., a bit flavorless. And it's the Coens!
And don't forget What's My Code.
1. Where'd you find your copy? When I got it for my birthday, I was told that it was difficult to track down (for a reasonable price, at least).
2. I burned through it in about four or five hours one lazy Saturday afternoon -- it's such a quick read. He's called the Hemingway of Horror, but I don't think that's a reference to quality :-)
3. God, I love that ending. It's so depressing and horrible, in a book that has something depressing and horrible on nearly every page. Part of the reason I'd want to make it into a movie is just to inflict that ending on people.
4. I kept picturing the one guy, the guy who hires the mercenary, as Newt Gingrich. So there you go.
...but then the robots speak, and the only gaping/cowering worth mentioning is done by the audience, at the dialogue. Yikes, even now I shudder at the recollection.
Four words: "What's crackin', li'l bitches?"
I had to rewind it back a couple times, to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.
I think most Macologists would agree that a Fleetwood Mac movie would have to be called "The Chain", as that was the only song where all five members are credited as song-writers. But of course, that's only if you're gonna go for that "upbeat" kind of theme.
But you're ideas are spot-on. (My friend Martin keeps pushing me to just a write a draft of the thing, probably to get it out of my system. I'm always bringing it up -- "Wouldn't it be awesome if...") The other idea is to just write a faux-Mac movie, because, like you said, it's about these disparate people coming together in harmony to create something bigger than themselves.
Wow, if I've convinced you to check out The Cellar and The Beetle Leg, maybe I should write up the rest of these sometime. (Or maybe you already know them?)
Oh, and I'd totally loan you The Cellar, but it's already loaned out. For like, the last 5 years, I think. I should check up on that.
Ah, The Skydivers. While it's not the cinematic culmination of Francis' motifs and obsessions -- that would be Night Train to Mundo Fine a.k.a. Red Zone Cuba, it's definitely my favorite of the Sniper in an Airplane trilogy. Remember when the plane was coming in for a bumpy landing and the one dude just walks up to it? That was awesome.
Crap direction? It won't win any awards, but I found it just fine -- especially the frequent use of off-screen space, which I feel like I haven't seen in awhile (the woman looking through the binocs then saying "get into the truck", the screams while they're in the attic, the mercy-killing, etc.) I know the shutter effect has been derided, but it worked here for me --particularly the moment when the vampire is thrown off the truck and rolls through the snow, a completely black figure against the white. It looked like a flipbook, harking back to the original comic. Oh, and no Avid farts, amazingly, shockingly.
Crap writing? Well, the writers have a fucking impossible job, and I can't hold it against them. 30 days of night? You can't do that in a 2 hour movie. A comic book, a book, a TV show, sure, but not a movie. 3 days of night, yes, that's perfect, and I suspect there'd be less naysaying if that was the premise. But I guess the producers said, "this comic we paid out the yin-yang for is called "30 Days", so that's what it's called". What's there is a little rote, but I thought it got through it with a minimum of fuss.
Zero scares? (Shrug.) I was tensed up and jumped a few times. It's not 28 Weeks Later, but few are.
Weak gore? (Shrug.) Gory enough for me, but that's never anything I'm checking off my list.
Palette? It's snow and night!
Huston? I liked him where he just had to use his face and body. My beef is that all his dialogue sounded like fortune cookies from Monsterland. Also, thought Ben Foster was better here than 3:10 to Yuma -- a shame they get rid of him so quick.
I have the Lopate book, but I haven't read it in years, so I don't remember the "smug" bit. But yeah, it holds for Darjeeling. I'd like to see Anderson tell a story that isn't about young (or old) rich fuckups. Boo hoo, poor little rich fuckups.