Quentin Tarantino is grossly overrated in my opinion.
Orson Welles was a better actor than auteur. I do not understand the worship of Citizen Kane because i found it surprisingly mediocre.
Sofia Coppola relies too heavily on the skills of her actors/actresses because of her weak stories and cinematography.
I do not understand all the negative reaction to Wes Anderson and Tim Burton. I believe it stems mostly from their mainstream success.
A few points of clarification (keeping in mind these are response to Rosenbaum not you personally)…
1) Star Wars: A New Hope was given the title of “Episode IV” not in 1977 when it came out, but in 1980 when Empire came out and Lucas realized he had created a franchise.
2) Don’t try to quote Lukacs when your main source of information on his writings is wikipedia…. When you employ a literary theorist in order to bolster your argument hopefully you have done so not simply becaase their is an alliterative rhyme between the names of both subjects (this could have been witty had he been able to properly digest Lukacs theory). Lucas’ surprisingly complex didactic representation of the world creates a moral hierarchy—through maintaining its essence as a mythological tale—it does not manifest the Lukacs Marxist notions. The comparison is weak at best and Rosenbaum here makes his bias indistinguishable by plucking out of thin air his token Marxist in order to attack the commercialism of Star Wars.
3) The attacks on the economic gains of Lucas himself come under constant scrutiny by Rosenbaum in what i feel is an unfair and misguided understanding of the circumstances surrounding the creation of the first three films. Lucas paid for Empire and Return of the Jedi out of pocket in order to maintain his artistic integrity (in so doing he was required to leave both the guilds for screenwriters and directors). The 1st through 3rd films were admittedly created by Lucas not solely for his already established die hard fan-base, but for the next generation of children in order to do the same things he attempted in the first three films: to impart basic moral principles, to critique contemporary society, and finally for simple enjoyment (at the end of the day the films are just plain fun, that is the true litmus test as to why they remain such a relevant part of the world today).
4) The cliches that are so often associated with the first three films is why their impact is not felt so powerfully today; which required Lucas to create more films so that the impact is not completely lost through his adherence to new continuity. The watershed moments of not seeing the credits at the beginning of a film, the “I am your father” revelation, and the death of the vital character of Obi-Wan so early on have been spoofed and recreated so many times that the original films lose the majority of their impact because modern viewership has been desensitized to one particular plot. (It reminds me of my first university Lit class where a fellow student remarked about Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe “It has been done before”. No, it actually has not, but you have heard the story done so many other times in different ways that when confronted with the original source it has no more appeal to the less discerning viewer.)
Well thanks for letting me write that rant and providing me with a forum—no pun intended—to confront this growing criticism.
Quotes about The Serpent’s Egg from Images: My Life in Film by Ingmar Bergman:
“It is overstimulated, as if it had taken anabolic steroids.”
– He claims that the overstimulation in his art was natural due to overstimulation in his personal life. This film was during his tax issues with the Swedish government. It also coincides with the high of coming off some of his most internationally successful films and expectations for his next film were possibly the most intense in his entire career.
“After the film’s release, my life began to calm down; then i painfully realized the extent of my failure. Still, for a moment i do not regret making The Serpent’s Egg; it was a healthy learning experience.”
That being said i do not think his “failure” was as monumental as he thought. The film obviously reveals its magnificent cinematography, appropriate acting, and interesting plot, but this film at the end of the day reveals how auteurs can have too much influence over a film and their personal lives can negatively impact its result. This film was too concerted of an effort by Bergman to create a magnificent film and ignored all the signs and the unenthusiastic responses he received to what was essentially an unfinished script with unrealized potential.
Cinema16 puts out collections of shorts from top director that are of a high quality. They can be a little pricey depending on where you pick them up but they have some gems on them. Shorts from greats like: Lars Von Trier, Christopher Nolan, Jan Svankmajer, Quay Brothers, Lucas, Van Sant, Burton, Warhol, etc… just google cinema 16 for the full list.
I don’t think he means that it has specific moments of direct correlation, but more in that how beautifully Kurosawa is able to simultaneously honor and honor his Japanese context. This quote reflects the quintessential Bergman in how his relationship to his context was more conflicted. Later in life he came around and enjoyed this film again for the same reasons he began to hate it. The only consistent thing about Bergman in regards to how he felt about his films is that he never felt the same about them all the time. He also even came to like The Serpent’s Egg after screening it again for the first time in 20 years. Mostly it was because it is one of the most unintentionally autobiographical.
Any movie that reduces such a intense and spiritually longing song as Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” to screwing music immediately loses an credibility in my mind. At least Shrek had the decency to use a cover.
You have some valid points, but i think you are mistaken when you say that Criterion claims to have “the authoritative word” on world cinema. I think it would be more accurate to say that they are a company expressing their own personal cinematic canon taking into special consideration the interests of their clientele. The main directors of the Criterion catalogue themselves (Bergman, Fellini, Truffaut, Kurosawa) have not been fully explored. Criterion seems, as of late, to be prepping for the advancement of technology in Blu-ray and updating their past releases at the same time as cashing in on the increased interest in thematic box sets and special features. One off releases by individual directors do not have the same potential to make money that the more established directors have. This can be seen through the release of Bergman’s Seventh Seal and Benjamin Button. If a company, like Criterion, that already sells to an obscure market were to alienate their audience by creating a product without a strong demand in lieu of expanding upon the line which is in demand would be disastrous not only on their sales but on their customer loyalty. While most Criterion fans are relatively loyal they can also be quite fickle because of how much criterion releases cost. I am not willing to gamble 40 bucks on a film whose director i have never heard of. This is in no way a comment on their actual quality, but more of just an attempt to reevaluate Criterion position as a niche company. The only thing Criterion has to gain from this type of expansion would be more recognition as a PC and more globally oriented company. This is simply the way of first-world nations societies; the four great classical novels of China exist only rarely in English translation from obscure publishers (with Dream of the Red Chamber being the only exception as Penguin publishes it), outside of Achibe and Equiano African lit is ignored (only recently has this changed slightly due to the Swedish Academy making huge efforts to emphasize black writing and its global value), Arab writing, outside of religious writings, rarely extend beyond Gibran. Your post needs to be read laudably, if with a grain of salt, because you did not simply moan about the way things are, but made suggestions. I am sure many who will read it (including myself) will examine those movies and directors you chose to specifically name.
I second this… i feel conflicted though because to respond to him is to validate his actions and give him exactly what he wants, but to ignore him is to willingly subject myself to his stupidity.
Clash – London Calling
Replacements – Let it Be
The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead
Sigur Ros – ()
Picaresque – Decemberists
Led Zeppelin – II
Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
The Zombies – Oddessey and Oracle
Gentle Giant – Acquiring the Taste
The Fall – Hex Enduction Hour
Mars Volta – Amputechture
Judy Collins – Maid of Constant Sorrow
Emmylou Harris – Cimmaron
Mew – Frengers
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
I’m not offended by you either Kim and hope i didn’t offend you either. What annoys me is that with Criterion you need to spend $41 to watch Scenes from a Marriage, but can get its sequel Saraband for $5 from a different distributor. I understand the effort that goes into restoring them and finding bonus material to attempt to justify their cost is extensive, but making them more readily available couldn’t cause too much damage. A 10 dollar Penguin edition of a classic appeals to many when faced with the alternative of a folio society edition for fifty dollars. The problem with this market is that no Penguin edition equivalent exists in the film market.
It is this relationship that denies the North American market access to underrepresented cultural and national film markets. As a Canadian living in Canada outside of a cultural centre like Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver I don’t even have access to my own national film. Another issue comes in the form of the quality and availability of subtitle translations and translators. I am a translator myself (of Norwegian literature) and the reason many films haven’t been released is because the majority of translator’s jobs go into other fields rather than art. An art translator requires more than just knowledge in both languages being handled; they also need to understand the medium being translated. Not to say that the task is insurmountable, but the philosophies required for change appear long before their impact is ever seen.
It’s good to see that something is being done. I just picked up Ikiru yesterday. The problem remains though. Polanski’s Knife in the Water was one of the first ones released, and can now only rarely be found outside of the internet and special orders, but it has so little staying power on commercial shelves that they return to higher prices as they become more and more rare as time goes on.
@ Torres. Catholics are not villains, but they are people, and they have in the past done evil things the same as people from all faiths. (Don’t mindlessly believe everything CNN and Dan Brown feed you as fact). We often speak too unproblematically about the Catholic Church and Catholics as representative of one opinion and one indivisible entity without treating the individuals involved in it with the same respect we grant to the majority of the population.
@ Musycks. The heavens are not empty for all of us. You might want to give Ben Stein’s Expelled a chance. Science and religion are less in competition than most believe and Stein attempts to point this out in his typical way that is simultaneously understated and obvious.
I thought Saved was actually incredibly entertaining and was a piece of valid social criticism. The Station Agent for me represents a wonderful cinematic representation of the Trinity. Kurosawa’s Dodes’ka-Den is undeniably spiritual. Trier’s Breaking the Waves needs to be mentioned here as well.
I also recommend the CBC Massey Lectures of Margaret Atwood on debt. They are available for free on the CBC website. She uses the cliche “Christianity is a great religion, now if we could only get someone to practice it” statement quite aptly.
Prendergast’s Triangle of Representation deals with this. It is a more in depth look into the relationship between artist, interpreter, and the piece of art itself. It is a little more in depth than simple reader-response theory.
The great thing about a forum is that they are just that…. forums. “Coloured folks” is hardly offensive. Kim was clear in his original post that he was joking. If you found the title offensive then just move on. Don’t spend your time reading 2 pages of posts in order to make a useless comment. The word “forum” implies that people will be conversing, and if that conversation is either over your head or too colloquial for you then simply don’t participate (In this case i am guessing it is both for many).
It certainly doesn’t resonate in a predictable and typical manner, but the spiritual and physical longing is overpowering throughout.
I don’t think it is too large of an issue to discuss here, but i also don’t hope that i appeared condescending in any way. I reread my original post and feel that could have been possible with my comments to Torres prefacing what I said to you. I myself have also been a catholic for my entire life, and my wife and son are Lutheran. My only point was that your comment was very combative, not only to Christians, and can be easily interpreted as more nihilistic than i am guessing was intended.
I don’t see God as a human creation—let alone a flawed one—, but instead I choose to agree (at a very base level with) with the definition that God is the only thing beyond human comprehension.
Who do you think the most overrated director is? over 3 years ago
Quentin Tarantino is grossly overrated in my opinion.
Orson Welles was a better actor than auteur. I do not understand the worship of Citizen Kane because i found it surprisingly mediocre.
Sofia Coppola relies too heavily on the skills of her actors/actresses because of her weak stories and cinematography.
I do not understand all the negative reaction to Wes Anderson and Tim Burton. I believe it stems mostly from their mainstream success.
Go to Comment
How Star Wars Ruined Society over 3 years ago
A few points of clarification (keeping in mind these are response to Rosenbaum not you personally)…
1) Star Wars: A New Hope was given the title of “Episode IV” not in 1977 when it came out, but in 1980 when Empire came out and Lucas realized he had created a franchise.
2) Don’t try to quote Lukacs when your main source of information on his writings is wikipedia…. When you employ a literary theorist in order to bolster your argument hopefully you have done so not simply becaase their is an alliterative rhyme between the names of both subjects (this could have been witty had he been able to properly digest Lukacs theory). Lucas’ surprisingly complex didactic representation of the world creates a moral hierarchy—through maintaining its essence as a mythological tale—it does not manifest the Lukacs Marxist notions. The comparison is weak at best and Rosenbaum here makes his bias indistinguishable by plucking out of thin air his token Marxist in order to attack the commercialism of Star Wars.
3) The attacks on the economic gains of Lucas himself come under constant scrutiny by Rosenbaum in what i feel is an unfair and misguided understanding of the circumstances surrounding the creation of the first three films. Lucas paid for Empire and Return of the Jedi out of pocket in order to maintain his artistic integrity (in so doing he was required to leave both the guilds for screenwriters and directors). The 1st through 3rd films were admittedly created by Lucas not solely for his already established die hard fan-base, but for the next generation of children in order to do the same things he attempted in the first three films: to impart basic moral principles, to critique contemporary society, and finally for simple enjoyment (at the end of the day the films are just plain fun, that is the true litmus test as to why they remain such a relevant part of the world today).
4) The cliches that are so often associated with the first three films is why their impact is not felt so powerfully today; which required Lucas to create more films so that the impact is not completely lost through his adherence to new continuity. The watershed moments of not seeing the credits at the beginning of a film, the “I am your father” revelation, and the death of the vital character of Obi-Wan so early on have been spoofed and recreated so many times that the original films lose the majority of their impact because modern viewership has been desensitized to one particular plot. (It reminds me of my first university Lit class where a fellow student remarked about Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe “It has been done before”. No, it actually has not, but you have heard the story done so many other times in different ways that when confronted with the original source it has no more appeal to the less discerning viewer.)
Well thanks for letting me write that rant and providing me with a forum—no pun intended—to confront this growing criticism.
Go to Comment
THE SERPENT'S EGG over 3 years ago
Quotes about The Serpent’s Egg from Images: My Life in Film by Ingmar Bergman:
“It is overstimulated, as if it had taken anabolic steroids.”
– He claims that the overstimulation in his art was natural due to overstimulation in his personal life. This film was during his tax issues with the Swedish government. It also coincides with the high of coming off some of his most internationally successful films and expectations for his next film were possibly the most intense in his entire career.
“After the film’s release, my life began to calm down; then i painfully realized the extent of my failure. Still, for a moment i do not regret making The Serpent’s Egg; it was a healthy learning experience.”
That being said i do not think his “failure” was as monumental as he thought. The film obviously reveals its magnificent cinematography, appropriate acting, and interesting plot, but this film at the end of the day reveals how auteurs can have too much influence over a film and their personal lives can negatively impact its result. This film was too concerted of an effort by Bergman to create a magnificent film and ignored all the signs and the unenthusiastic responses he received to what was essentially an unfinished script with unrealized potential.
Go to Comment
Great Directors' Short films. about 3 years ago
Cinema16 puts out collections of shorts from top director that are of a high quality. They can be a little pricey depending on where you pick them up but they have some gems on them. Shorts from greats like: Lars Von Trier, Christopher Nolan, Jan Svankmajer, Quay Brothers, Lucas, Van Sant, Burton, Warhol, etc… just google cinema 16 for the full list.
Go to Comment
Influence of Kurosawa on The Virgin Spring about 3 years ago
I don’t think he means that it has specific moments of direct correlation, but more in that how beautifully Kurosawa is able to simultaneously honor and honor his Japanese context. This quote reflects the quintessential Bergman in how his relationship to his context was more conflicted. Later in life he came around and enjoyed this film again for the same reasons he began to hate it. The only consistent thing about Bergman in regards to how he felt about his films is that he never felt the same about them all the time. He also even came to like The Serpent’s Egg after screening it again for the first time in 20 years. Mostly it was because it is one of the most unintentionally autobiographical.
Go to Comment
Influence of Kurosawa on The Virgin Spring about 3 years ago
accidental double post. Sorry
Go to Comment
Zack Snyder gets compared to Stanley Kubrick about 3 years ago
Any movie that reduces such a intense and spiritually longing song as Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” to screwing music immediately loses an credibility in my mind. At least Shrek had the decency to use a cover.
Go to Comment
Films that are so bad...you gotta love them about 3 years ago
The two Star Wars Ewok movies, Superman 3 + 4, and i thought Alex and Emma (the chick flick) was surprisingly funny.
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Films that are so bad...you gotta love them about 3 years ago
The two Star Wars Ewok movies, Superman 3 + 4, and i thought (Alex and Emma the chick flick) was surprisingly funny.
Go to Comment
Can Colored Folks Get Some Love at Criterion too? almost 3 years ago
You have some valid points, but i think you are mistaken when you say that Criterion claims to have “the authoritative word” on world cinema. I think it would be more accurate to say that they are a company expressing their own personal cinematic canon taking into special consideration the interests of their clientele. The main directors of the Criterion catalogue themselves (Bergman, Fellini, Truffaut, Kurosawa) have not been fully explored. Criterion seems, as of late, to be prepping for the advancement of technology in Blu-ray and updating their past releases at the same time as cashing in on the increased interest in thematic box sets and special features. One off releases by individual directors do not have the same potential to make money that the more established directors have. This can be seen through the release of Bergman’s Seventh Seal and Benjamin Button. If a company, like Criterion, that already sells to an obscure market were to alienate their audience by creating a product without a strong demand in lieu of expanding upon the line which is in demand would be disastrous not only on their sales but on their customer loyalty. While most Criterion fans are relatively loyal they can also be quite fickle because of how much criterion releases cost. I am not willing to gamble 40 bucks on a film whose director i have never heard of. This is in no way a comment on their actual quality, but more of just an attempt to reevaluate Criterion position as a niche company. The only thing Criterion has to gain from this type of expansion would be more recognition as a PC and more globally oriented company. This is simply the way of first-world nations societies; the four great classical novels of China exist only rarely in English translation from obscure publishers (with Dream of the Red Chamber being the only exception as Penguin publishes it), outside of Achibe and Equiano African lit is ignored (only recently has this changed slightly due to the Swedish Academy making huge efforts to emphasize black writing and its global value), Arab writing, outside of religious writings, rarely extend beyond Gibran. Your post needs to be read laudably, if with a grain of salt, because you did not simply moan about the way things are, but made suggestions. I am sure many who will read it (including myself) will examine those movies and directors you chose to specifically name.
Go to Comment
Alright, Even I'm Offended By the Trolls Now almost 3 years ago
I second this… i feel conflicted though because to respond to him is to validate his actions and give him exactly what he wants, but to ignore him is to willingly subject myself to his stupidity.
Go to Comment
Another off Topic/Your Favorite Albums almost 3 years ago
Clash – London Calling
Replacements – Let it Be
The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead
Sigur Ros – ()
Picaresque – Decemberists
Led Zeppelin – II
Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
The Zombies – Oddessey and Oracle
Gentle Giant – Acquiring the Taste
The Fall – Hex Enduction Hour
Mars Volta – Amputechture
Judy Collins – Maid of Constant Sorrow
Emmylou Harris – Cimmaron
Mew – Frengers
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
Go to Comment
Can Colored Folks Get Some Love at Criterion too? almost 3 years ago
I’m not offended by you either Kim and hope i didn’t offend you either. What annoys me is that with Criterion you need to spend $41 to watch Scenes from a Marriage, but can get its sequel Saraband for $5 from a different distributor. I understand the effort that goes into restoring them and finding bonus material to attempt to justify their cost is extensive, but making them more readily available couldn’t cause too much damage. A 10 dollar Penguin edition of a classic appeals to many when faced with the alternative of a folio society edition for fifty dollars. The problem with this market is that no Penguin edition equivalent exists in the film market.
It is this relationship that denies the North American market access to underrepresented cultural and national film markets. As a Canadian living in Canada outside of a cultural centre like Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver I don’t even have access to my own national film. Another issue comes in the form of the quality and availability of subtitle translations and translators. I am a translator myself (of Norwegian literature) and the reason many films haven’t been released is because the majority of translator’s jobs go into other fields rather than art. An art translator requires more than just knowledge in both languages being handled; they also need to understand the medium being translated. Not to say that the task is insurmountable, but the philosophies required for change appear long before their impact is ever seen.
Go to Comment
Can Colored Folks Get Some Love at Criterion too? almost 3 years ago
It’s good to see that something is being done. I just picked up Ikiru yesterday. The problem remains though. Polanski’s Knife in the Water was one of the first ones released, and can now only rarely be found outside of the internet and special orders, but it has so little staying power on commercial shelves that they return to higher prices as they become more and more rare as time goes on.
Go to Comment
role of religion in film? almost 3 years ago
I am a practicing Catholic.
@ Torres. Catholics are not villains, but they are people, and they have in the past done evil things the same as people from all faiths. (Don’t mindlessly believe everything CNN and Dan Brown feed you as fact). We often speak too unproblematically about the Catholic Church and Catholics as representative of one opinion and one indivisible entity without treating the individuals involved in it with the same respect we grant to the majority of the population.
@ Musycks. The heavens are not empty for all of us. You might want to give Ben Stein’s Expelled a chance. Science and religion are less in competition than most believe and Stein attempts to point this out in his typical way that is simultaneously understated and obvious.
I thought Saved was actually incredibly entertaining and was a piece of valid social criticism. The Station Agent for me represents a wonderful cinematic representation of the Trinity. Kurosawa’s Dodes’ka-Den is undeniably spiritual. Trier’s Breaking the Waves needs to be mentioned here as well.
I also recommend the CBC Massey Lectures of Margaret Atwood on debt. They are available for free on the CBC website. She uses the cliche “Christianity is a great religion, now if we could only get someone to practice it” statement quite aptly.
Go to Comment
The Best Canadian Films of all time? almost 3 years ago
Bon Cop, Bad Cop… terrible movie, but it made fun of Gay Bettman, so it redeemed itself.
Go to Comment
The Artist's Intentions almost 3 years ago
Prendergast’s Triangle of Representation deals with this. It is a more in depth look into the relationship between artist, interpreter, and the piece of art itself. It is a little more in depth than simple reader-response theory.
Go to Comment
Can Colored Folks Get Some Love at Criterion too? almost 3 years ago
The great thing about a forum is that they are just that…. forums. “Coloured folks” is hardly offensive. Kim was clear in his original post that he was joking. If you found the title offensive then just move on. Don’t spend your time reading 2 pages of posts in order to make a useless comment. The word “forum” implies that people will be conversing, and if that conversation is either over your head or too colloquial for you then simply don’t participate (In this case i am guessing it is both for many).
Go to Comment
role of religion in film? almost 3 years ago
It certainly doesn’t resonate in a predictable and typical manner, but the spiritual and physical longing is overpowering throughout.
I don’t think it is too large of an issue to discuss here, but i also don’t hope that i appeared condescending in any way. I reread my original post and feel that could have been possible with my comments to Torres prefacing what I said to you. I myself have also been a catholic for my entire life, and my wife and son are Lutheran. My only point was that your comment was very combative, not only to Christians, and can be easily interpreted as more nihilistic than i am guessing was intended.
I don’t see God as a human creation—let alone a flawed one—, but instead I choose to agree (at a very base level with) with the definition that God is the only thing beyond human comprehension.
Go to Comment