Actually, I don’t have such a problem with Notebook not doing anything major on Marker. Plenty of other journals and books will be dedicated to Marker. I’m no huge fan of Scott, but if Notebook wants to run all the way with him, I’ll clear a path. Not too many people will follow in that lead. If they do, then the battle was won.
That’s another point I wanted to make, and thanks for getting there first, Bobby! Marker has been written about extensively throughout his career, we thought we’d add to the very small pile of Scott criticism.
I’ll be looking forward to it Daniel, especially since Scott appreciation has been something of a distinctive feature of the Notebook crew. Of course I would also appreciate any Marker stuff you would put up as well.
Yeah, I’d much rather the Notebook writing pursue what the writers are interested in than what they feel obliged to write about based on some presumed moral hierarchy of film history.
{Edit} Actually, forget it. I’ll go read those other places then. Bye-bye notebook.
n/m
“I have an interest in Marker. I have zero zero zero interest in Scott(s)”
I have an interest in Marker too. So start a discussion about Marker’s work here. Or write something about it and send it to DK and maybe he’ll publish it in the Notebook. Don’t just sit around waiting for the Mubi or a “proper film journal” to validate your tastes.
Edit too.
^^Bit of a mystery then!! Bad for his family though, of course.
I rewatched both Pelham and Unstoppable a few weeks ago. Pelham is just decent imo, nothing more, but Unstoppable is one of his very best films. Absolutely. I like the way the action and character development occur side by side. almost on the fly. And it’s also a testament to how much of a difference a good director makes, because the script is pretty ordinary really, but Scott essentially transforms nothing into something.
The use of locations is really great too. He captures the look and feel of those working class towns well, even in passing.
At least he went out on a high.
Matt Parks
“As a Mexican, I find Man on Fire offensive… sorry. If I made horrible racist films like that man maybe… maybe I’ll save this comment.”
I can totally appreciate that reaction to the film (and this is what Jerry was implying with the screenshot he posted earlier). The ideological content of that particular film is discussed at length in the course of one of the threads I linked to above. Rather than re-lighting that fire, I’ll just say that, if you look how the film presents its protag,I think a different reading of the film is possible and reasonable.