I don’t think Harmony Korine is really able to be overrated, simply because I don’t think many people give him much regard. The only positive thing I can think of having ever read about the guy was in The Name of this Book is Dogme 95 book by Richard Kelly (not the director – at least I don’t think so) in which the Dogme crowd praised him for Julien Donkey Boy.
As to overrated directors- I will also call Spielberg to the mat. Sentimental claptrap and borrowed Classical Hollywood style. War of the Worlds really confirmed his place in hackdom for me. Before that, I considered him somewhat overrated, but of the kind that can be tolerated for his few good moments, namely Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, and the Indiana Jones trilogy. But WotW was just terrible.
If you want to get into the modern scene at all, you should at least mention Haneke (especially Cache) and Olivier Assayes (Irma Vep or Demonlover, maybe?). Since you mentioned the “state of French cinema,” I assume the modern cinema would be important for your purposes.
Terrance Mallick, definitely. A fully restored long cut of The New World on Blu-Ray would be at the top of my buy list.
I have the Viva Pedro! Collection, so I don’t know if I’d want to re-buy Criterion editions (maybe on BR), but I do dig the love-fest for his work. He’s one of the few directors who can handle soap opera material and turn it into high art.
Woody Allen might work as a restored but barebones Eclipse series. I believe his quote on the issue of DVD extras and such is “The film should speak for itself.”
Also, Kim Ki-Duk is awesome. I’d buy a Criterion edition of 3-Iron or Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring. Not Bad Guy though. That one wasn’t very impressive. I think the theme of silence in his films would make a great paper topic as well.
Peter Greenaway – I know Zeitgeist has been re-releasing his stuff lately, but a Criterion Blu-Ray of A Zed and Two Noughts would be fantastic. Also, several of his films (The Cook, the Thief, his Wife, and her Lover, Prospero’s Books, and Nightwatching) have either gone OOP, or haven’t been released in the states on DVD or BR.
If Slumdog Millionaire doesn’t get at least nominated, I’ll be very disappointed. TDK was better than it had any right to be, and I wouldn’t at all be sad to see it win.
The helicopter- Ride of the Valkyries scene from Apocalypse Now!
The end of L’aventurra
The spider scene in Through a Glass Darkly
The ending of Seventh Seal
The last chess scene in Seventh Seal, when The Knight realizes he’s proper fucked.
The woman reading her letter to the priest in Winter Light
When Alexander meats the weird crazy genius guy in Fanny and Alexander
The car crash scene where Julianne Moore is killed in Children of Men
The throat cutting in Cache
The bonfire in Time of the Wolf
When the kid gets shot in Funny Games, either version, though it had more impact in the Austrian one (since it was the first time I’d seen it)
The dream sequence with the clocks and hearse in Wild Strawberries (which was referenced multiple times in The Sopranos, if you hadn’t realized)
The opening fight sequence in Hard Boiled
The “dags” (dogs) scene in Snatch. Sorry. I really liked that scene.
The end of Don’t Look Now
@Henry
The eyeball in Un Chien was a grape. On the other hand, it was rumored that they used the eye of a corpse for a similar scene in Thriller: A Cruel Picture.
Also, very interesting post. I’ve never really had the opportunity to read/hear someone defend that kind of work. Thanks. But, in the future, I would highly recommend you don’t use netspeak (“yr” for your, for example) when debating, even if it is just an internet forum. Grammar is still a good thing.
My thoughts on the definition of art in regards to this sort of thing: A works status as art is wholly dependent on the intention of the artist. If a person makes something intending it to be art, it is art. The only question from there is whether the art is any good. It always irks me when people try to define something they don’t like right out of existence. If you have an issue with a particular work of art, than have it, but don’t try to say it isn’t art so that you can avoid dealing with it. I’m not trying to imply that the OP is doing this, just giving my definition of art and it’s corollary.
Black Snake Moan (second time watching – on BR this time) 4/5
Great performances all around, and lots of atmosphere, plus the music is great. It’s a Southern Gothic on film, fulfilling many of the requirements of that genre.
If I were doing your presentation, I would choose the Band of Outsiders scene of them running through the Louvre, or the famous jump cut in Breathless for the demonstrative clip.
I’m Ryan and I live in Fresno, CA, where all the movie theaters all show the same movies all the damn time.
I have a BA in Cinema from San Francisco State, and I currently work as a temp. I’m in the process of applying for grad school with the purpose of getting an MFA in Creative Writing .
I’m a big fan of Bergman, Kubrick, and lots of other directors. I’ve got about 200 DVDs and Blu-Rays, but as I’ve a very limited budget, my collection has been growing slowly as of late. I’ve got Netflix though, so it’s not too hard to get a hold of things I want to watch.
I suggested Weekend to them six or so years ago via their email link for suggesting titles, and, strangely enough, they still haven’t gotten around to it.
As far as awesomeness of a DVD goes, I’d say the Lord of the Rings special editions pretty much take the cake. They practically filmed the entire production process for those things.
@ Ron B.
When you say “they need to shake things up!” I find myself kind of disagreeing with you, but kind of agreeing at the same time.
I don’t know if I like the idea of them nominating something just BECAUSE it’s not something that would normally be on their radar, but at the same time, it would be nice to see the academy looking a little harder at the year’s films and trying to find something that really sticks out, but hasn’t received the advertising and whatnot that the usual suspects get.
I really hated John Ford’s Young Mr. Lincoln. Everything about that movie seemed amateurish and uninspired, at the very least. I found it very difficult to sit through, but as it was in class, I had to.
I didn’t really care for Man Bites Dog. Didn’t hate it, but it seemed too edgy for the sake of being edgy for my taste.
I remember being disappointed in the lack of extras on Insomnia.
Breathless, easily. I didn’t care for Contempt – something about it seemed dry and distant, and Bardot does this thing where she rephrases everything one of the characters says, which I found irritating.
Than again, if you didn’t care for Bande à part, you may not enjoy À bout de souffle either, and may prefer Contempt.
Seven Samurai / A Bug’s Life
Suspiria / Halloween
The Unbearable Lightness of Being / In the Mood for Love
Crimes and Misdemeanors / From the Life of Marionettes
Meet the Feebles / Return of the King
Texas Chainsaw Massacre / Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
Kustom Kar Klassics (Kenneth Anger) / The Love Bug or Cars – I guess this would be more like having a short to open for a feature, but I think it would be funny.
From the Life of Marionettes 2: No Strings
Live Free or Die Hard….oh, wait…
Being John Cusack
Fight Club 2: The Tournament
13 Monkeys
Brazil 2: Venezuela
A Zed and Two Noughts: Madagascar
…And God Created Woman 2: Who Cares? Bardot Does Full Frontal
Actually, We Just Caught Our Breath
Slumdog Billionaire
Chocolate Milk (Blaxploitation, obviously)
@Mathieu – I’m guessing Fahrenheit 450 is a prequel?
I’m hopeful, but not optimistic. I really love the comic, but, judging by 300 alone, Snyder is a hack. However, many people who saw the first half hour have praised it, so I think there may be hope. Not much, but enough to hang on to.
I’ve enjoyed all of his films that I’ve seen, especially Elephant and Drugstore Cowboy. I’m a huge fan of long takes, and he does them especially well, in my opinion. Gerry wasn’t what I’d call great, but I found it watchable, though I doubt if I’ll ever need to watch it again. It was great in that it put Casey Affleck on my radar. He is excellent in Gone Baby Gone, I think. Even his big brother showed some chops in that one (Of course, he was behind the camera. I’m thinking he should stay there).
My brother in law was walking on a dune, got lost, and lost his shoes, then had to wander around for hours until he found the road. When he told me about that, I couldn’t stop thinking about Gerry.
Get rid of the thumbs up/down, there should be a button to show only posts that are unread, buttons on the reply to topic box for things like style, link, imbed, etc. I guess these have already been noted by others, so I’m just casting my vote in their favor.
No, no, no…you just don’t get it. See, Hollywood people are really cool, and like to show off how liberal and anti-racist by saying “hey, we’re so un-racist, we can call ourselves racist” and thereby making mediocre trash that pretends to engage with a serious issue, while, really, just being obvious and ham-fisted.
That’s how you’re supposed to read the car wreck caused by Crash.
Time of the Wolf is an amazing, though slow-moving, film about Huppert and her kids trying to survive after some kind of apocalypse. It’s one of my top twenty, at least.
@Andre
Weekend was actually my first exposure to Godard. It interested me enough to watch more of his work. There’s a lot of surreal, completely weird ass sequences that should keep your interest. If you get the chance, I definitely recommend watching it.
I was just talking about Jarmusch to a guy in my writing class yesterday. Funny how that works.
I love Jarmusch’s work. Especially Dead Man, which, besides The Proposition, is probably the best western ever made (if we include TV, I’d probably put it alongside Deadwood). That was the movie that epitomized the indie film for me when I first saw it in my “Film History After 1965” class when I was 16 (I started college a little early). I definitely agree w/ Bobby Wise on the score as well. Very cool.
The “Stupid fucking white man” line is great. I really liked that he brought it up again in Ghost Dog. That amused me.
But as to the argument at hand – I dig Wes, but Jim wins on this one.
@Shotzi – I had a similar experience with Fassbinder – my first exposure was Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, and something about that turned me off him for a long time. I recently watched The Marriage of Maria Vaun Braun and really enjoyed it, though. I also saw Francois Ozun’s Water Drops on Burning Rocks, which was based on his screenplay, and that was pretty decent as well. You should give him another shot when you get the chance.
@Sexy Beast
I kind of suspected you were talking about Funny Games, but didn’t want to assume.
It’s hard to say, really. Since I saw the original first, I was more affected by it on a visceral level. On the other hand, knowing what to expect when watching the remake made me feel a kind of dread at the thought of what was coming.
Tim Roth’s performance may have been a little lackluster compared to Ulrich Muhe, but I thought Naomi Watts really outdid herself, so, again, it’s a wash. I guess the picture and sound quality was a little better on the newer one, but that’s about the only thing I can come up with as a definite difference.
I mentioned this in another thread, but I guess I’ll do so again –
Young Mr. Lincoln was god awful. The whole thing was amateurish at best, with high school drama club level performances and terrible cinematography. I wouldn’t have finished it, except that it was in class so I had to. I really don’t see why Criterion felt the need to burden store shelves with it.
Didn’t care much for Man Bites Dog either. Seemed a bit overly edgy, like the film makers were just showing off how controversial they could be.
I really don’t understand why everyone bashes on Brazil. It’s one of my all time favorites.
Armageddon was indeed a terrible movie. But, really, I doubt if more than one or two people on this site enjoyed it.
Who do you think the most overrated director is? over 3 years ago
I don’t think Harmony Korine is really able to be overrated, simply because I don’t think many people give him much regard. The only positive thing I can think of having ever read about the guy was in The Name of this Book is Dogme 95 book by Richard Kelly (not the director – at least I don’t think so) in which the Dogme crowd praised him for Julien Donkey Boy.
As to overrated directors- I will also call Spielberg to the mat. Sentimental claptrap and borrowed Classical Hollywood style. War of the Worlds really confirmed his place in hackdom for me. Before that, I considered him somewhat overrated, but of the kind that can be tolerated for his few good moments, namely Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, and the Indiana Jones trilogy. But WotW was just terrible.
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French Film over 3 years ago
If you want to get into the modern scene at all, you should at least mention Haneke (especially Cache) and Olivier Assayes (Irma Vep or Demonlover, maybe?). Since you mentioned the “state of French cinema,” I assume the modern cinema would be important for your purposes.
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WHICH DIRECTORS...NOT...CURRENTLY REPRESENTED IN THE CRITERION COLLECTION DO YOU WANT TO SEE INCLUDED? over 3 years ago
Terrance Mallick, definitely. A fully restored long cut of The New World on Blu-Ray would be at the top of my buy list.
I have the Viva Pedro! Collection, so I don’t know if I’d want to re-buy Criterion editions (maybe on BR), but I do dig the love-fest for his work. He’s one of the few directors who can handle soap opera material and turn it into high art.
Woody Allen might work as a restored but barebones Eclipse series. I believe his quote on the issue of DVD extras and such is “The film should speak for itself.”
Also, Kim Ki-Duk is awesome. I’d buy a Criterion edition of 3-Iron or Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring. Not Bad Guy though. That one wasn’t very impressive. I think the theme of silence in his films would make a great paper topic as well.
Peter Greenaway – I know Zeitgeist has been re-releasing his stuff lately, but a Criterion Blu-Ray of A Zed and Two Noughts would be fantastic. Also, several of his films (The Cook, the Thief, his Wife, and her Lover, Prospero’s Books, and Nightwatching) have either gone OOP, or haven’t been released in the states on DVD or BR.
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Best Picture Oscar Nominees for 2008 over 3 years ago
If Slumdog Millionaire doesn’t get at least nominated, I’ll be very disappointed. TDK was better than it had any right to be, and I wouldn’t at all be sad to see it win.
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BEST SEQUENCE OR SCENE FROM ANY FILM(CAN BE AN OPENING OR ANYTHING ELSE) over 3 years ago
The helicopter- Ride of the Valkyries scene from Apocalypse Now!
The end of L’aventurra
The spider scene in Through a Glass Darkly
The ending of Seventh Seal
The last chess scene in Seventh Seal, when The Knight realizes he’s proper fucked.
The woman reading her letter to the priest in Winter Light
When Alexander meats the weird crazy genius guy in Fanny and Alexander
The car crash scene where Julianne Moore is killed in Children of Men
The throat cutting in Cache
The bonfire in Time of the Wolf
When the kid gets shot in Funny Games, either version, though it had more impact in the Austrian one (since it was the first time I’d seen it)
The dream sequence with the clocks and hearse in Wild Strawberries (which was referenced multiple times in The Sopranos, if you hadn’t realized)
The opening fight sequence in Hard Boiled
The “dags” (dogs) scene in Snatch. Sorry. I really liked that scene.
The end of Don’t Look Now
Ok, I’ll quit now. It’s kind of fun, you know?
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Perversity Is a Matter of Perspective over 3 years ago
@Henry
The eyeball in Un Chien was a grape. On the other hand, it was rumored that they used the eye of a corpse for a similar scene in Thriller: A Cruel Picture.
Also, very interesting post. I’ve never really had the opportunity to read/hear someone defend that kind of work. Thanks. But, in the future, I would highly recommend you don’t use netspeak (“yr” for your, for example) when debating, even if it is just an internet forum. Grammar is still a good thing.
My thoughts on the definition of art in regards to this sort of thing: A works status as art is wholly dependent on the intention of the artist. If a person makes something intending it to be art, it is art. The only question from there is whether the art is any good. It always irks me when people try to define something they don’t like right out of existence. If you have an issue with a particular work of art, than have it, but don’t try to say it isn’t art so that you can avoid dealing with it. I’m not trying to imply that the OP is doing this, just giving my definition of art and it’s corollary.
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Rate The Last Film You Watched over 3 years ago
Black Snake Moan (second time watching – on BR this time) 4/5
Great performances all around, and lots of atmosphere, plus the music is great. It’s a Southern Gothic on film, fulfilling many of the requirements of that genre.
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The Best Canadian Films of all time? over 3 years ago
Barbarian Invasions, Ararat, Exotica, Dead Ringers, and Videodrome are all good stuff.
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French Film over 3 years ago
If I were doing your presentation, I would choose the Band of Outsiders scene of them running through the Louvre, or the famous jump cut in Breathless for the demonstrative clip.
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New to The Auteurs? You Belong Here over 3 years ago
Hi everybody -
I’m Ryan and I live in Fresno, CA, where all the movie theaters all show the same movies all the damn time.
I have a BA in Cinema from San Francisco State, and I currently work as a temp. I’m in the process of applying for grad school with the purpose of getting an MFA in Creative Writing .
I’m a big fan of Bergman, Kubrick, and lots of other directors. I’ve got about 200 DVDs and Blu-Rays, but as I’ve a very limited budget, my collection has been growing slowly as of late. I’ve got Netflix though, so it’s not too hard to get a hold of things I want to watch.
So, yeah, there you go.
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DVD'S YOU MUST OWN over 3 years ago
I suggested Weekend to them six or so years ago via their email link for suggesting titles, and, strangely enough, they still haven’t gotten around to it.
As far as awesomeness of a DVD goes, I’d say the Lord of the Rings special editions pretty much take the cake. They practically filmed the entire production process for those things.
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Best Picture Oscar Nominees for 2008 over 3 years ago
@ Ron B.
When you say “they need to shake things up!” I find myself kind of disagreeing with you, but kind of agreeing at the same time.
I don’t know if I like the idea of them nominating something just BECAUSE it’s not something that would normally be on their radar, but at the same time, it would be nice to see the academy looking a little harder at the year’s films and trying to find something that really sticks out, but hasn’t received the advertising and whatnot that the usual suspects get.
Am I making any sense? I can’t tell sometimes.
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Worst Criterion DVDs over 3 years ago
I really hated John Ford’s Young Mr. Lincoln. Everything about that movie seemed amateurish and uninspired, at the very least. I found it very difficult to sit through, but as it was in class, I had to.
I didn’t really care for Man Bites Dog. Didn’t hate it, but it seemed too edgy for the sake of being edgy for my taste.
I remember being disappointed in the lack of extras on Insomnia.
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breathless or contempt over 3 years ago
Breathless, easily. I didn’t care for Contempt – something about it seemed dry and distant, and Bardot does this thing where she rephrases everything one of the characters says, which I found irritating.
Than again, if you didn’t care for Bande à part, you may not enjoy À bout de souffle either, and may prefer Contempt.
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Region over 3 years ago
If I’m not mistaken, the Criterion DVD’s are all region-free. Seems odd they’d switch to region coding now. Rather lame, in my opinion.
You could always buy the Denon BR player when it comes out, as it will be Universal. And shit, it’s only $3000. Peanuts.
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Movie's you just don't like. over 3 years ago
Southland Tales, Drawing Restraint 9, and both of Gaspar Noe’s movies.
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FANTASY ARTHOUSE DOUBLE FEATURE over 3 years ago
Seven Samurai / A Bug’s Life
Suspiria / Halloween
The Unbearable Lightness of Being / In the Mood for Love
Crimes and Misdemeanors / From the Life of Marionettes
Meet the Feebles / Return of the King
Texas Chainsaw Massacre / Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
Kustom Kar Klassics (Kenneth Anger) / The Love Bug or Cars – I guess this would be more like having a short to open for a feature, but I think it would be funny.
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SEQUELS over 3 years ago
From the Life of Marionettes 2: No Strings
Live Free or Die Hard….oh, wait…
Being John Cusack
Fight Club 2: The Tournament
13 Monkeys
Brazil 2: Venezuela
A Zed and Two Noughts: Madagascar
…And God Created Woman 2: Who Cares? Bardot Does Full Frontal
Actually, We Just Caught Our Breath
Slumdog Billionaire
Chocolate Milk (Blaxploitation, obviously)
@Mathieu – I’m guessing Fahrenheit 450 is a prequel?
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Watchmen over 3 years ago
I’m hopeful, but not optimistic. I really love the comic, but, judging by 300 alone, Snyder is a hack. However, many people who saw the first half hour have praised it, so I think there may be hope. Not much, but enough to hang on to.
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This or the remake? over 3 years ago
Remake of what?
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Opinions of Van Sant? over 3 years ago
I’ve enjoyed all of his films that I’ve seen, especially Elephant and Drugstore Cowboy. I’m a huge fan of long takes, and he does them especially well, in my opinion. Gerry wasn’t what I’d call great, but I found it watchable, though I doubt if I’ll ever need to watch it again. It was great in that it put Casey Affleck on my radar. He is excellent in Gone Baby Gone, I think. Even his big brother showed some chops in that one (Of course, he was behind the camera. I’m thinking he should stay there).
My brother in law was walking on a dune, got lost, and lost his shoes, then had to wander around for hours until he found the road. When he told me about that, I couldn’t stop thinking about Gerry.
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Help make The Auteurs totally awesome over 3 years ago
Get rid of the thumbs up/down, there should be a button to show only posts that are unread, buttons on the reply to topic box for things like style, link, imbed, etc. I guess these have already been noted by others, so I’m just casting my vote in their favor.
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Movie's you just don't like. over 3 years ago
@ Archie
No, no, no…you just don’t get it. See, Hollywood people are really cool, and like to show off how liberal and anti-racist by saying “hey, we’re so un-racist, we can call ourselves racist” and thereby making mediocre trash that pretends to engage with a serious issue, while, really, just being obvious and ham-fisted.
That’s how you’re supposed to read the car wreck caused by Crash.
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Isabelle Huppert over 3 years ago
Time of the Wolf is an amazing, though slow-moving, film about Huppert and her kids trying to survive after some kind of apocalypse. It’s one of my top twenty, at least.
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breathless or contempt over 3 years ago
@Andre
Weekend was actually my first exposure to Godard. It interested me enough to watch more of his work. There’s a lot of surreal, completely weird ass sequences that should keep your interest. If you get the chance, I definitely recommend watching it.
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Jarmusch over 3 years ago
I was just talking about Jarmusch to a guy in my writing class yesterday. Funny how that works.
I love Jarmusch’s work. Especially Dead Man, which, besides The Proposition, is probably the best western ever made (if we include TV, I’d probably put it alongside Deadwood). That was the movie that epitomized the indie film for me when I first saw it in my “Film History After 1965” class when I was 16 (I started college a little early). I definitely agree w/ Bobby Wise on the score as well. Very cool.
The “Stupid fucking white man” line is great. I really liked that he brought it up again in Ghost Dog. That amused me.
But as to the argument at hand – I dig Wes, but Jim wins on this one.
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breathless or contempt over 3 years ago
@Shotzi – I had a similar experience with Fassbinder – my first exposure was Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, and something about that turned me off him for a long time. I recently watched The Marriage of Maria Vaun Braun and really enjoyed it, though. I also saw Francois Ozun’s Water Drops on Burning Rocks, which was based on his screenplay, and that was pretty decent as well. You should give him another shot when you get the chance.
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This or the remake? over 3 years ago
@Sexy Beast
I kind of suspected you were talking about Funny Games, but didn’t want to assume.
It’s hard to say, really. Since I saw the original first, I was more affected by it on a visceral level. On the other hand, knowing what to expect when watching the remake made me feel a kind of dread at the thought of what was coming.
Tim Roth’s performance may have been a little lackluster compared to Ulrich Muhe, but I thought Naomi Watts really outdid herself, so, again, it’s a wash. I guess the picture and sound quality was a little better on the newer one, but that’s about the only thing I can come up with as a definite difference.
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Copying DVDs over 3 years ago
DVD Decryptor may be available for the mac, though I don’t know for sure. Do you have a PC available at all, or is the mac your only machine?
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Now, how about CRITERION issued films you just don't like!! over 3 years ago
I mentioned this in another thread, but I guess I’ll do so again –
Young Mr. Lincoln was god awful. The whole thing was amateurish at best, with high school drama club level performances and terrible cinematography. I wouldn’t have finished it, except that it was in class so I had to. I really don’t see why Criterion felt the need to burden store shelves with it.
Didn’t care much for Man Bites Dog either. Seemed a bit overly edgy, like the film makers were just showing off how controversial they could be.
I really don’t understand why everyone bashes on Brazil. It’s one of my all time favorites.
Armageddon was indeed a terrible movie. But, really, I doubt if more than one or two people on this site enjoyed it.
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