Any Natalie Portman film; the exception being Leon the Professional. I could watch The Professional twice a day. She’s a great actress but she tends to choose films that suck or are mediocre at best.
- Leon The Professional
- Murder By Contract
- Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
- Ghost Dog
- Shanghai Triad
- Battle Royale
- Night of the Hunter
- Fantastic Planet
- Fallen Angels
… and I wish Criterion got these instead of Milestone:
- Killer of Sheep
- The Exiles
- I Am Cuba
After watching Chungking Express and Fallen Angels the other day, I was surprised to find that very little has been written on the bizarre connections both films have to each other. Some like to label it a “sister piece” or “semi-sequel” but I really feel like those terms don’t suffice what Wong Kar-Wai created. Technically, the hitman story in FA is the missing third part of CE. Both films are related in terms of locations and characters, but FA is really just a warped version of CE.
For anyone who is a WKW fan, you know that he loves overlap and connecting his films like this. Days of Being Wild flows into In The Mood For Love and 2046 is the sequel. Tarantino is the only other director that I can think of that creates his own cinematic universe as such. However, what WKW did that sets FA and CE apart is the character He Zhiwu (Takeshi Kaneshiro). In the first film, he’s Cop 223, has a thing for canned pineapple, has the ability to speak, and lives on his own. The second film presents the same actor with the same character’s name, but he’s completely different. Through a voiceover, he describes himself as an ex-con whose prisoner number was 223, was rendered mute during childhood from eating expired canned pineapple, reveals that he is half-Russian, and he lives at home with his father. If you’ve seen the films, you know that it’s night and day in terms of the difference between these characters. However, the paradox is that it’s the same character, but it’s not.
My theory is that WKW, intentionally or not, has created a new form of story continuity. It’s not a sequel or a spin-off but some sort of mirrored version of the original story. Thoughts?
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!/ Two-Lane Blacktop (Fast Cars and Fast Women double bill)
Do The Right Thing/ La Haine (Urban Racism double bill)
The Sword of Doom/ Lady Snowblood (Bad-Ass Samurai double bill)
Murder By Contract/ Leon The Professional (Hitman double bill)
I like most of his stuff, but I wasn’t a huge fan of Last Days or Psycho. I met GVS when he showed up at my school for a discussion and I asked him why he wanted to remake Psycho. He told me that he wanted to try to see if he could start an experiment to see if other filmmakers would start remaking films shot for shot. I thought it was a failed experiment and a waste of Christopher Doyle’s talent.
I’m a pretty huge fan of his work with the exceptions being Ashes of Time and My Blueberry Nights. His section from Eros is the only reason worth watching that film and I think it’s one of his better works. I’m just curious to see what you guys think about him overall and why you like/dislike his work.
Agreed. I’m still waiting to see some writing on the relationship between Chungking Express and Fallen Angels. I love how those two films mirror each other and connect.
I think he’s overrated, but he’s def got talent. To be honest, I think the homage thing is running thin because he’s running out of genres but I still like his movies for the most part (but Death Proof is unwatchable in my opinion tho). For better or worse, he’s changed the way that films are made and def the indepent film circuit. I think he’s exactly the type of filmmaker he wanted to be as well as probably in the same vein of the ones he worshipped as a video store clerk.
What Is "Movie Hell" For You? over 3 years ago
Any Natalie Portman film; the exception being Leon the Professional. I could watch The Professional twice a day. She’s a great actress but she tends to choose films that suck or are mediocre at best.
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Directors that consistently make terrible films over 3 years ago
Paul W.S. Anderson and David Goyer
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Movies That Should Be In the Criterion Collection over 3 years ago
- Leon The Professional
- Murder By Contract
- Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
- Ghost Dog
- Shanghai Triad
- Battle Royale
- Night of the Hunter
- Fantastic Planet
- Fallen Angels
… and I wish Criterion got these instead of Milestone:
- Killer of Sheep
- The Exiles
- I Am Cuba
Go to Comment
Wong Kar-Wai's accidental, cinematic invention? over 3 years ago
After watching Chungking Express and Fallen Angels the other day, I was surprised to find that very little has been written on the bizarre connections both films have to each other. Some like to label it a “sister piece” or “semi-sequel” but I really feel like those terms don’t suffice what Wong Kar-Wai created. Technically, the hitman story in FA is the missing third part of CE. Both films are related in terms of locations and characters, but FA is really just a warped version of CE.
For anyone who is a WKW fan, you know that he loves overlap and connecting his films like this. Days of Being Wild flows into In The Mood For Love and 2046 is the sequel. Tarantino is the only other director that I can think of that creates his own cinematic universe as such. However, what WKW did that sets FA and CE apart is the character He Zhiwu (Takeshi Kaneshiro). In the first film, he’s Cop 223, has a thing for canned pineapple, has the ability to speak, and lives on his own. The second film presents the same actor with the same character’s name, but he’s completely different. Through a voiceover, he describes himself as an ex-con whose prisoner number was 223, was rendered mute during childhood from eating expired canned pineapple, reveals that he is half-Russian, and he lives at home with his father. If you’ve seen the films, you know that it’s night and day in terms of the difference between these characters. However, the paradox is that it’s the same character, but it’s not.
My theory is that WKW, intentionally or not, has created a new form of story continuity. It’s not a sequel or a spin-off but some sort of mirrored version of the original story. Thoughts?
Go to Comment
Directors that consistently make terrible films over 3 years ago
Mathieu Kassovitz. I LOVE La Haine, but anything anything else he’s done is shit.
John Woo. His early Hong Kong stuff is awesome, but once he set foot in the US he just kinda sucked.
Joe Carnahan.
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FANTASY ARTHOUSE DOUBLE FEATURE over 3 years ago
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!/ Two-Lane Blacktop (Fast Cars and Fast Women double bill)
Do The Right Thing/ La Haine (Urban Racism double bill)
The Sword of Doom/ Lady Snowblood (Bad-Ass Samurai double bill)
Murder By Contract/ Leon The Professional (Hitman double bill)
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WHICH DIRECTORS...NOT...CURRENTLY REPRESENTED IN THE CRITERION COLLECTION DO YOU WANT TO SEE INCLUDED? over 3 years ago
Russ Meyer, Jack Hill, Kent Mackenzie, Daivd Fincher, Sofia Coppola
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Do You Like Wes Anderson? over 3 years ago
I like all of his films but the Darjeeling Limited.
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Opinions of Van Sant? over 3 years ago
I like most of his stuff, but I wasn’t a huge fan of Last Days or Psycho. I met GVS when he showed up at my school for a discussion and I asked him why he wanted to remake Psycho. He told me that he wanted to try to see if he could start an experiment to see if other filmmakers would start remaking films shot for shot. I thought it was a failed experiment and a waste of Christopher Doyle’s talent.
Go to Comment
Opinions on Wong Kar-Wai over 3 years ago
I’m a pretty huge fan of his work with the exceptions being Ashes of Time and My Blueberry Nights. His section from Eros is the only reason worth watching that film and I think it’s one of his better works. I’m just curious to see what you guys think about him overall and why you like/dislike his work.
Go to Comment
Opinions on Wong Kar-Wai over 3 years ago
Agreed. I’m still waiting to see some writing on the relationship between Chungking Express and Fallen Angels. I love how those two films mirror each other and connect.
Go to Comment
Quentin Tarantino over 3 years ago
I think he’s overrated, but he’s def got talent. To be honest, I think the homage thing is running thin because he’s running out of genres but I still like his movies for the most part (but Death Proof is unwatchable in my opinion tho). For better or worse, he’s changed the way that films are made and def the indepent film circuit. I think he’s exactly the type of filmmaker he wanted to be as well as probably in the same vein of the ones he worshipped as a video store clerk.
Go to Comment