Ever since his small roles in SCENT OF A WOMAN and TWISTER, through TALENTED MR. RIPLEY and COLD MOUNTAIN, right into BOOGIE NIGHTS and MAGNOLIA, right on through CAPOTE, Philip Seymour Hoffman has never failed to bore me senseless. Never a single interesting or unusual choice, he does what any capable actor would do, no less and certainly no more. I’ll lead a long and happy life without ever sitting through one of this performances again.
Allison, no, THE LAST METRO is not a remake of TO BE OR NOT TO BE. They’re only kind of similar in that they’re both about theatre professionals during Nazi occupations.
I’m glad that DODESKADEN is getting a release. Saw a very very bad print years ago in those long lost days of repertory cinemas in New York City. The color was terribly faded, it was almost unwatchable.
Far from being the best film of the year. I’d even put it among the very worst of the year. Big bloated pretentious mess with one great performance from Heath Ledger, two very good ones from Aaron Eckhart and Gary Oldman, and a really dreadfully bad one from the block of wood formerly known as Christian Bale.
MY WINNIPEG, IN BRUGES, WALL-E, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY kick THE DARK KNIGHT’s over-rated ass.
I enjoyed the comic/graphic novel well enough, even if I did know almost immediately who it was who was killing off the Watchmen.
A film of this could be good, I like the idea of an HBO miniseries that might preserve the episodic nature of the story.
But directed by that Zack Snyder creature, who gave us that vile war-mongering atrocity 300, the film will suck and suck hard. No intention of giving that Snyder any more of my money or time.
“Visionary Director Zack Snyder” the trailers proclaim. Ha.
MAMMA MIA — watch Meryl Streep work harder than she’s ever worked before trying to make you believe that she’s having FUN! Choosing between the kids at Auschwitz was a walk in the park compared to her efforts to put this crap over. A nightmare.
SEX AND THE CITY — the first girly sci-fi horror film: 4 predatory beasts whose lives bear no resemblance to life as it is lived by 98% of the population since the beginning of time destroy any male unlucky enough to fall under their fiendish succubotic spells. One intrepid explorer comes to his senses and flees, but finds himself ensnared again by Carrie Bradshaw’s Labyrinth of Closets.
I wish there was a way to merge the DNA of David Lean and David Lynch, and have the resulting director make a film of Ballard’s EMPIRE OF THE SUN that actually managed to capture the hallucinatory power of the novel without letting it drown in Spielbergian Mommy Issues.
Can’t do just one, there’s just no way, but here are the main ones:
Seeing APOCALYPSE NOW from the front row of the balcony at the Uptown Theatre in Washington D.C. I don’t think I’ve ever been the same person since.
I saw Abel Gance’s NAPOLEON with the full orchestral accompaniment at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. My buddy and I were dazzled, and as we drove past the Lincoln Memorial on the way home, the lights inside the Memorial went out. Our visual overload was such that we were kind of silent the rest of the drive.
I saw Guy Maddin’s BRAND UPON THE BRAIN! in NYC with the full band, Foley artists, “castrato” and narrator. A wonderful exciting thrilling experience. I was told by friends that Lou Reed fell asleep at the screenings he was narrating.
A screening of 2001 at the Uptown Theatre in Washington D.C. on a Saturday afternoon. The place was empty, I sat in the 5th row center, and was blown away.
I love LOCAL HERO and HOUSEKEEPING, two of the best films of the 80s, which seem to have fallen almost completely off the map. HOUSEKEEPING isn’t even on DVD.
I’ve seen them all, I think. THAT SINKING FEELING, GREGORY’S GIRL, the wonderful COMFORT AND JOY, I even broke my long-standing avoidance to Robin Williams to see BEING HUMAN because of Forsyth. I haven’t seen GREGORY’S TWO GIRLS, alas.
I miss Bill Forsyth. In a world where Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder are acclaimed as visionaries, we need Forsyth more than ever.
I’m sure it is a rights issue of some kind that is keeping them from being Criterion releases.
I love STAGECOACH, one of the few perfect films. I hate every single minute of that YOUNG MR. LINCOLN thing, dreadful sentimental crap, with Fonda’s Uber-Folksy performance and that dreadful fake nose.
Yes, Bill, it could be said, but not by me. I can see why YOUNG MR. LINCOLN is what it is, it certainly fulfills a need to make one of the United States more revered heroes even more revered, I guess, but I don’t have to like it. I don’t see anything in STAGECOACH to match the (to me) really revolting folksy syrup of YOUNG MR. LINCOLN.
Wes Anderson’s films are just so cute. They’re the cutest and quirkiest films out there. They’re so quirky and cute that they make me puke my guts out. Never again, after that inane ROYAL TENENBAUMS thing.
Catherine, Raul Ruiz’s film of TIME REGAINED (LE TEMPS RETROUVE) is really something wonderful. It takes a lot of assorted elements from all of the novels, it isn’t just a film version of the final novel itself.
There’s a very poor Kino DVD that is just begging to be remastered.
Mifune. Period. There’s no other possible answer. One of the greatest screen actors ever. His collaboration with Kurosawa is, to me, the single greatest Director/Actor collaboration ever. Ever.
I found a lot to like about RUSSIAN ARK, but couldn’t stop myself from wondering about that ending. The film seems to show a degree of nostalgia for a period of Russian history at least as bloodthirsty and oppressive as any in history. I’m sure repeat viewings will reveal more, but there’s something about the director’s films that makes me less enthusiastic about those repeat viewings.
It isn’t just Mifune’s “explosive” and “expressionist” style that impresses. He’s equally effective when he’s more subdued, as in the magnficent RED BEARD and HIGH AND LOW. Nothing particularly “explosive” about his work in either film.
Love me some Shimura, and the sublime Minoru Chiaki, too.
Dickens — pretty much any of the major works, but BLEAK HOUSE and OUR MUTUAL FRIEND in particular. DAVID COPPERFIELD never fails to amaze me.
Angela Carter — WISE CHILDREN or her collections SAINTS AND STRANGERS and THE BLOODY CHAMBER.
David Foster Wallace — I’m reading the behemoth INFINITE JEST again for the 5th time, and loving every word all over again.
Patricia Highsmith — Her Ripley novels are marvelously entertaining, quite a change from her darker more twisted thrillers. Try A SUSPENSION OF MERCY or THOSE WHO WALK AWAY, deceptively simple thrillers that surprise.
Anthony Trollope — his Chronicles of Barset are wonderful books. Vast twisty stories that are far more complicated and disturbing than you’d think.
Clint Eastwood, by a long shot. No filmmaker has been more highly acclaimed for having made such drab films. From the surrealistically overrated UNFORGIVEN (guess what? Violence Is Bad!) to the tired TV movie MILLION DOLLAR BABY (Hillary Swank suffers the tortures of the damned so that Clint can eat lemon meringue pie happily ever after) his films never cease to bore me senseless when they aren’t annoying me to distraction.
Veneration of Clint Eastwood is one of the most bizarre illnesses afflicting movie audiences and critics today. Help stamp it out, won’t you? Burn a print of BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY today!
I liked WONDER BOYS a good deal when it came out. Repeat viewings have only increased my enjoyment of the film. The novel is terrific, too, funny and moving.
WONDER BOYS features the one and only performance by Michael Douglas that is worth watching. He finally, at long last, plays a recognizable human being with a sense of humor and something like warmth.
The movie is as under-rated as the same director’s L.A. CONFIDENTIAL is over-rated.
Johnny Depp — I’ll say it. The best American actor of his generation. He can do anything from the wildest flights of bizarro invention (his Willy Wonka, his Ed Wood, the immortal Jack Sparrow) to the coolest most restrained playing (his terribly under-rated Gilbert Grape) and everything in between. I’ll take any single frame of any single Depp film performance over anything that Philip Seymour Hoffman or Kevin Spacey will do in their entire lifetimes.
And Daniel Day Lewis, of course. I wish he worked more. Alas, his next film is the sure-to-suck NINE, from Uber-Hack Rob Marshall.
Philip Seymour Hoffman has had enough over 3 years ago
Ever since his small roles in SCENT OF A WOMAN and TWISTER, through TALENTED MR. RIPLEY and COLD MOUNTAIN, right into BOOGIE NIGHTS and MAGNOLIA, right on through CAPOTE, Philip Seymour Hoffman has never failed to bore me senseless. Never a single interesting or unusual choice, he does what any capable actor would do, no less and certainly no more. I’ll lead a long and happy life without ever sitting through one of this performances again.
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March 2009 Criterions over 3 years ago
Allison, no, THE LAST METRO is not a remake of TO BE OR NOT TO BE. They’re only kind of similar in that they’re both about theatre professionals during Nazi occupations.
I’m glad that DODESKADEN is getting a release. Saw a very very bad print years ago in those long lost days of repertory cinemas in New York City. The color was terribly faded, it was almost unwatchable.
Go to Comment
How Many of You Think That Batman Movie Was the Best Movie of the Year? over 3 years ago
Far from being the best film of the year. I’d even put it among the very worst of the year. Big bloated pretentious mess with one great performance from Heath Ledger, two very good ones from Aaron Eckhart and Gary Oldman, and a really dreadfully bad one from the block of wood formerly known as Christian Bale.
MY WINNIPEG, IN BRUGES, WALL-E, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY kick THE DARK KNIGHT’s over-rated ass.
Go to Comment
Watchmen over 3 years ago
I enjoyed the comic/graphic novel well enough, even if I did know almost immediately who it was who was killing off the Watchmen.
A film of this could be good, I like the idea of an HBO miniseries that might preserve the episodic nature of the story.
But directed by that Zack Snyder creature, who gave us that vile war-mongering atrocity 300, the film will suck and suck hard. No intention of giving that Snyder any more of my money or time.
“Visionary Director Zack Snyder” the trailers proclaim. Ha.
Go to Comment
The Worst Films of 2008 over 3 years ago
MAMMA MIA — watch Meryl Streep work harder than she’s ever worked before trying to make you believe that she’s having FUN! Choosing between the kids at Auschwitz was a walk in the park compared to her efforts to put this crap over. A nightmare.
SEX AND THE CITY — the first girly sci-fi horror film: 4 predatory beasts whose lives bear no resemblance to life as it is lived by 98% of the population since the beginning of time destroy any male unlucky enough to fall under their fiendish succubotic spells. One intrepid explorer comes to his senses and flees, but finds himself ensnared again by Carrie Bradshaw’s Labyrinth of Closets.
Go to Comment
Greatest Films You'll Never See over 3 years ago
I wish there was a way to merge the DNA of David Lean and David Lynch, and have the resulting director make a film of Ballard’s EMPIRE OF THE SUN that actually managed to capture the hallucinatory power of the novel without letting it drown in Spielbergian Mommy Issues.
Go to Comment
What is your most memorable film going experience? (Only one per post please!) over 3 years ago
Can’t do just one, there’s just no way, but here are the main ones:
Seeing APOCALYPSE NOW from the front row of the balcony at the Uptown Theatre in Washington D.C. I don’t think I’ve ever been the same person since.
I saw Abel Gance’s NAPOLEON with the full orchestral accompaniment at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. My buddy and I were dazzled, and as we drove past the Lincoln Memorial on the way home, the lights inside the Memorial went out. Our visual overload was such that we were kind of silent the rest of the drive.
I saw Guy Maddin’s BRAND UPON THE BRAIN! in NYC with the full band, Foley artists, “castrato” and narrator. A wonderful exciting thrilling experience. I was told by friends that Lou Reed fell asleep at the screenings he was narrating.
A screening of 2001 at the Uptown Theatre in Washington D.C. on a Saturday afternoon. The place was empty, I sat in the 5th row center, and was blown away.
Go to Comment
What films do you always catch shit for for not liking? over 3 years ago
FARGO. Entirely adequate in every way, for some reason everybody thinks it is some kind of masterpiece.
BOOGIE NIGHTS. A stupid and vile film that only gets more revolting with each passing year. Forgive me, Julianne Moore, if you’re reading this!
THE LADY EVE. God I hate this film.
SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN — God I hate this film more. Gene Kelly’s shit-eating grin drives me up the wall.
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Your favorite title sequence over 3 years ago
I thought the opening credits for Tim Burton’s MARS ATTACKS! were brilliant. The rest of the film, well… But those credits are genius.
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Anybody here heard of Bill Forsyth? over 3 years ago
I love LOCAL HERO and HOUSEKEEPING, two of the best films of the 80s, which seem to have fallen almost completely off the map. HOUSEKEEPING isn’t even on DVD.
I’ve seen them all, I think. THAT SINKING FEELING, GREGORY’S GIRL, the wonderful COMFORT AND JOY, I even broke my long-standing avoidance to Robin Williams to see BEING HUMAN because of Forsyth. I haven’t seen GREGORY’S TWO GIRLS, alas.
I miss Bill Forsyth. In a world where Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder are acclaimed as visionaries, we need Forsyth more than ever.
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Ommited Auteurs over 3 years ago
Chuck Jones is the greatest American director of film comedy, and his name should definitely be added to the list.
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John Ford over 3 years ago
I’m sure it is a rights issue of some kind that is keeping them from being Criterion releases.
I love STAGECOACH, one of the few perfect films. I hate every single minute of that YOUNG MR. LINCOLN thing, dreadful sentimental crap, with Fonda’s Uber-Folksy performance and that dreadful fake nose.
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What films do you always catch shit for for not liking? over 3 years ago
I always respond to accusations of not “getting” something by saying, “Of course I get it. I just think it is bad.”
I got accused of not getting THE DARK KNIGHT in particular. What’s to not get? It isn’t exactly a complicated movie. It just sucks.
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John Ford over 3 years ago
Yes, Bill, it could be said, but not by me. I can see why YOUNG MR. LINCOLN is what it is, it certainly fulfills a need to make one of the United States more revered heroes even more revered, I guess, but I don’t have to like it. I don’t see anything in STAGECOACH to match the (to me) really revolting folksy syrup of YOUNG MR. LINCOLN.
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Books about film. over 3 years ago
Robin Wood’s HOLLYWOOD FROM VIETNAM TO REAGAN is a fascinating collection of essays, well worth reading.
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What films do you always catch shit for for not liking? over 3 years ago
Wes Anderson’s films are just so cute. They’re the cutest and quirkiest films out there. They’re so quirky and cute that they make me puke my guts out. Never again, after that inane ROYAL TENENBAUMS thing.
Go to Comment
Greatest Films You'll Never See over 3 years ago
Catherine, Raul Ruiz’s film of TIME REGAINED (LE TEMPS RETROUVE) is really something wonderful. It takes a lot of assorted elements from all of the novels, it isn’t just a film version of the final novel itself.
There’s a very poor Kino DVD that is just begging to be remastered.
Go to Comment
Whats your favourite actor,and what actor is so bad you cant look at him over 3 years ago
Favorite Actors — James Stewart, Buster Keaton, Mel Blanc, Johnny Depp, Daniel Day-Lewis, Carole Lombard, Michelle Pfeiffer, Bette Davis, John Barrymore.
Actors I Can’t Bear To Look At: Keanu Reeves, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Brad Pitt
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If you had to pick ONE film as your favorite... over 3 years ago
Keaton and Bruckman’s THE GENERAL. Practically perfect in every way, a delight that makes life worth living.
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The most beautiful films? over 3 years ago
FANNY AND ALEXANDER, pure ravishing beauty, every single frame is a joy to behold.
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Favorite Kurosawa lead actor? over 3 years ago
Mifune. Period. There’s no other possible answer. One of the greatest screen actors ever. His collaboration with Kurosawa is, to me, the single greatest Director/Actor collaboration ever. Ever.
Go to Comment
Russian Ark, is it cinema or just a long, dull home movie? over 3 years ago
I found a lot to like about RUSSIAN ARK, but couldn’t stop myself from wondering about that ending. The film seems to show a degree of nostalgia for a period of Russian history at least as bloodthirsty and oppressive as any in history. I’m sure repeat viewings will reveal more, but there’s something about the director’s films that makes me less enthusiastic about those repeat viewings.
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David Lynch's Lime Green Box Set? Anyone? Anyone? over 3 years ago
Anyone give any recommendations as to the quality of the DVDs? Are they an appreciable improvement over the previous releases?
In a nutshell: should I get this, or just be happy with the previous releases?
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Favorite Kurosawa lead actor? over 3 years ago
It isn’t just Mifune’s “explosive” and “expressionist” style that impresses. He’s equally effective when he’s more subdued, as in the magnficent RED BEARD and HIGH AND LOW. Nothing particularly “explosive” about his work in either film.
Love me some Shimura, and the sublime Minoru Chiaki, too.
Go to Comment
Who do you read? over 3 years ago
My favorites:
Dickens — pretty much any of the major works, but BLEAK HOUSE and OUR MUTUAL FRIEND in particular. DAVID COPPERFIELD never fails to amaze me.
Angela Carter — WISE CHILDREN or her collections SAINTS AND STRANGERS and THE BLOODY CHAMBER.
David Foster Wallace — I’m reading the behemoth INFINITE JEST again for the 5th time, and loving every word all over again.
Patricia Highsmith — Her Ripley novels are marvelously entertaining, quite a change from her darker more twisted thrillers. Try A SUSPENSION OF MERCY or THOSE WHO WALK AWAY, deceptively simple thrillers that surprise.
Anthony Trollope — his Chronicles of Barset are wonderful books. Vast twisty stories that are far more complicated and disturbing than you’d think.
Go to Comment
Who do you think the most overrated director is? over 3 years ago
Clint Eastwood, by a long shot. No filmmaker has been more highly acclaimed for having made such drab films. From the surrealistically overrated UNFORGIVEN (guess what? Violence Is Bad!) to the tired TV movie MILLION DOLLAR BABY (Hillary Swank suffers the tortures of the damned so that Clint can eat lemon meringue pie happily ever after) his films never cease to bore me senseless when they aren’t annoying me to distraction.
Veneration of Clint Eastwood is one of the most bizarre illnesses afflicting movie audiences and critics today. Help stamp it out, won’t you? Burn a print of BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY today!
Go to Comment
Michael Chabon, his books, and movies over 3 years ago
I liked WONDER BOYS a good deal when it came out. Repeat viewings have only increased my enjoyment of the film. The novel is terrific, too, funny and moving.
WONDER BOYS features the one and only performance by Michael Douglas that is worth watching. He finally, at long last, plays a recognizable human being with a sense of humor and something like warmth.
The movie is as under-rated as the same director’s L.A. CONFIDENTIAL is over-rated.
Go to Comment
THE BEST ACTORS WORKING TODAY? over 3 years ago
Johnny Depp — I’ll say it. The best American actor of his generation. He can do anything from the wildest flights of bizarro invention (his Willy Wonka, his Ed Wood, the immortal Jack Sparrow) to the coolest most restrained playing (his terribly under-rated Gilbert Grape) and everything in between. I’ll take any single frame of any single Depp film performance over anything that Philip Seymour Hoffman or Kevin Spacey will do in their entire lifetimes.
And Daniel Day Lewis, of course. I wish he worked more. Alas, his next film is the sure-to-suck NINE, from Uber-Hack Rob Marshall.
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Michael Chabon, his books, and movies over 3 years ago
If Michael Douglas really believes that WONDER BOYS is the worst film he ever did, he hasn’t seen WALL STREET or BASIC INSTINCT yet.
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THE BEST ACTORS WORKING TODAY? over 3 years ago
Gary Oldman — of course. I wish he worked more.
Philip Seymour Hoffman — he might as well be watched eating chili.
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