TheAuteurs (3 Months Ago-Today)
RUS: You read my mind, except I had it: The Auteurs (1 Year – Today).
The auteurs is a bit like Frankenstein – every time the monster gets revived, it just seems to get meaner and uglier.
haha to Bob!
yeah, but the biggest drop has been over the past 6 months
not even thread names are coherent anymore.
There are so many wonderful people posting on this site — Kim Packard, Liz, Jenny Harmon, Leah, Drew, Edouard, Orpheus M., M, Loki, Vellaem, T, Harry Long, the list goes on and on (apologies to anyone I forgot) — that I don’t see how anyone can say it’s on a down.
@ Justin: I agree completely, however, there is a constant struggle between the people who actually want to discuss film seriously and the people who just want to state their mundane bland and uninformed opinions. I love this site and will most certainly continue to post here, however, I find it really hard to keep up because it seems as if I have to sort through so much crap to find threads that I actually care about that by the time I find something interesting I just have to leave it open and read it later because I’ve sorted through so much crap that my eyes hurt from looking at a computer screen for too long. However, I still, obviously, find this site worth while, it’s just a little muddled.
Muddled is a kind word for what’s currently happening on the front page of these forums.
I feel very flattered by that shout-out :)
The presence of both Justin Vicari and Bob Stutsman (and a lot of others as well, but especially those two) is enough to get me continually reading this site, even when I don’t feel like contributing anything (which is often).
What Liz said.
Like Liz, I’m very flattered to be part of Justin’s list.
But:
>>there is a constant struggle between the people who actually want to discuss film seriously and the people who just want to state their mundane bland and uninformed opinions<<
I’ve a suspicion that many won’t agree as to who belong to which list.
And, NO, that isn’t an invitation to start yet another goddam list!
Owen Wilson
Thank you Justin.
In recent months The Auteurs has grown resulting in more threads, resulting in more non discussion. The good discussion still remains though you just have to look for it. There are a lot of great people on here and I disagree that The Auteurs has had a quality shift.
I’m still looking for something in between the Fight Clubbers and those who start a thread with an 8000 word post about how they ate some of their own shit and now really get what Pasolini was expressing to the audience. I’ve yet to see it, which is why I always forget about this place for a few days at a time.
Thanks, Liz, I really appreciate your feedback.
I don’t mean to in any way stike a negative tone or complain about those who post to any thread. My complaint has always been – and will remain until it is ever fixed (which I sincerely doubt) – the needless and pointless proliferation of threads. This means that any thread not posted to within a few hours will die as soon it is off the opening board. Good discussions are still happening, sure, but unless someone keeps them up, they quickly disappear after a day or two – in most cases. I no longer post new threads because of it. I have been on the site long enough – and certainly posted enough – to have covered almost every conceivable topic. There is now – for those of us that have been on site for awhile – a huge amount of redundancy. I can’t keep commenting on the same few directors or films ad nausem. I have nothing to add to most new topics, so I am going to stay increasingly on the sidelines.
I have several times complained about the current topic format – and even did a thread on improving it – but this site has no intention of changing it or trying to organize threads. I would love to see ALL new topics kept separate from the rest of the topics for at least 5 days or more, so that those wishing to see New Topics could just go there, instead of having to wade through tons of new topics every day to find something they want to post in. Several of us are moving to the Garage film discussion group and there is also the Cineaste group. I think we should always encourage discussion groups, as that was what the site mainly consisted of when I first joined over 5 months ago. These discussion topics were intense and took a lot of thought to respond to and post. The discussions were lively, creative, explorative, and dense. Yes, occasionally we can have that now – but that is what I miss from the good old days on the site – which really weren’t that long ago.
I know many come here to chat, relax, look at pictures, joke – and I am all for that. My picture posting expertise is limited (can’t do a fake Criterion cover to save my life), and I contribute something frivolous to a thread when in the mood. We all can use a good laugh, and we have many posters here that can provide me one when I need it. Yet, so many highly original and exceptional posters have obviously moved on – or come and go – that I wonder what the future of the site is going to be. In any case, carry on, but my own particaption is going to be sporadic, except in the discussion groups forming separately from the front page topic section. If anyone is interested, they are welcome to look at my own posts from the Profile page – from the early days – to see what topics were discussed and judge for themselves. If most people are happy with the current format and threads, then I am just whistling in the wind – and will continue to do so much less.
I wish we still had thumbs up so I could give one to Bob. And that was Shotzi’s first good post in a long time.
There has been a lot of over-intellectualized navel-gazing lately, which, for me, is getting annoying. If I see the words “art,” “serious,” and “human” in another thread I think I’m going to scream. I might end up taking another month off and then checking back to see if things get better.
Being a newb myself, what would you have us do?
Jim Sherdian (My Left Foot – Get Rich Or Die Tryin’)
Ben Kingsley (Gandhi – BloodRayne)
Laurence Olivier (Hamlet – The Jazz Singer)
Michael Caine (Zulu or any of his 1960’s films – Jaws: The Revenge)
Shotzi: I ate some of that myself and it didn’t taste very good – especially on that topic. Continue to keep us in line or my next post might be 16000 words. I am going to forget, too.
RUS: I am just following your original lead here and elsewhere…thumbs up to you for trying.
Geronimo: Do whatever you think is necessary – don’t mind us old goats. We need some fresh blood here – and not just for drinking!
Cassavetes: Thanks for bringing this thread back to its original intention.
Now back to you, posters. I won’t hijack this thread any longer.
>>there is a constant struggle between the people who actually want to discuss film seriously and the people who just want to state their mundane bland and uninformed opinions<<
I’m sorry about this, I didn’t mean it as me passing judgement, I simply meant it as a blanket statement about simple numerical film reviews or any over simplified obviously flawed statment about a film or film in general, of which I’m sure I’ve been guilty of myself…
I apologize too
I bet almost everybody on The Auteurs really wants to discuss film seriously, to form great friendships, and to inspire and be inspired. :))
Fellini and Hitchcock are two of the world’s best, and their later work (in general) seems to suffer from a lack of quality. No one can be perfect for ever.
Lucas, from THX-1138 to Revenge of the Sith. Surely there’s some kind of hell for that much wasted potential (much deference to the technical achievements, but give me good motion-control to CGI any day).
In reference to the meta-issue in this thread, I came to this site to escape the intolerable message boards and childish film reviews of the mainstream sites, and to learn and expand my filmography while hopefully finding some worthwhile discussions and interesting diversions. I’ve also become hopelessly addicted to making fake Criterion covers. I’ve noticed a bit of what I believe the intent of this site truly is, as well as a bit of what I see you complaining about. I’ve probably contributed to both, but I hope to add to what you’ve established in the spirit with which it was created. Cheers.
I have no fear that this site has all it needs to go forth and flourish. I have been following several of the recent threads, and take back anything that implied this site or its posters lacked vitality from any previous point in time. We are evolving quickly and may soon start to resemble the marvellous creatures on Kenji’s thread. Everything here and everyone adds to the magic, mystery, and synergy that is – the auteurs. Threads: Go forth and multiply.
I think Klaus Kinski went straight from making a hardcore porn film in Japan – called something like FRUITS OF DESIRE – to his wonderful performance as FITZCARRALDO.
First, I’m glad we’re back to discussing the Biggest Quality Shifts, rather than complaining about the quality of this site. (That discussion might be better placed on a thread directly connected to the status of theauteurs.com.)
I tend to agree that many filmmakers (and performers) lose their edge over time. It’s a rare auteur whose last film is his/her best one. (Anyone have any examples of that?)
Think of Woody Allen (TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN, LOVE AND DEATH, ANNIE HALL, MANHATTAN, CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, etc.) vs. MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY, THE JADE SCORPION, HOLLYWOOD ENDING, and his last 8-10 movies. WHATEVER WORKS may represent a SLIGHT comeback; at least its dialogue is funny and the situations absurd in the way that ANNIE HALL and, especially, MANHATTAN, are (by that I mean an older man involved with a much younger woman).
Oliver Stone is another example. With BORN IN THE U.S.A., JFK, WALL STREET, PLATOON, etc., degenerating into the mess of ALEXANDER. We can only hope that WALL STREET II will mark a comeback for Stone.
As for performers, yes, someone mentioned Al Pacino, who now seems to substitute YELLING for acting (THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE, etc. etc.). Add DeNiro to the list too; although he’s surprisingly good at comedy, his menace is gone with age and he now seems to trade off his bad guy persona of yore through satire and irony. (This was, incidentally, the career trajectory of MANY classical villains: Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Brando, etc., who all ended up moving into comic roles later in life.)
Good comments about this forums though I am a relative n00b here.
In order to keep this forum useful, there are a couple of things that must be done…
There must be some kind of organization so that ‘New Releases’, ‘Classics’, ‘Directors’, ‘Film Music’, ‘Recommendations’ and such can be separated into folders which would hopefully keep the number of repeat discussions down.
There must also be a way to subscribe to each discussion so that we can actually follow them. I can’t remember what I posted in which discussion last week and I do have a real life to keep track of everything myself. God gave us computers and programmers for a reason and they must find a way to make such things easier for us…
“There must be some kind of organization so that ‘New Releases’, ‘Classics’, ‘Directors’, ‘Film Music’, ‘Recommendations’ and such can be separated into folders which would hopefully keep the number of repeat discussions down.”
Zealously agreed.
piranah II – the terminator > cameron
surely if we’re talking biggest quality shifts
wiggumfloss3
Example: Al Pacino (The Godfather – Gigli)
Leelee Sobieski (Stanley Kubrick – Uwe Boll)