demon, argento seemed to take it from depalma, really. Tenebre came after scarface, and had that "camera moving around house" thing (which was first used to much better effect in DePalma's 1973 classic "sisters"). BUT later DePalma stole the "guy right behind other person" shock thing from the end of Tenebre with Lithgow in the woods at the end of Raising Cain. I love love love Blow Out. only thing I like Travolta in. He adds a real personality and great sadness to the rule. Strange.
Seriously though, Demon, ignore his mainstream films like Untouchables and just focus on his odd, idiosynchratic, and often brilliant thrillers like DRESSED TO KILL, the usual "Mmmm-Godard" type film MURDER A LA MOD (I think a lot of directors have that "Godard film", like Jost had ANGEL CITY, Scorsese had WHOSE THAT KNOCKING ON MY DOOR, films that really referenced the French New Wave -- gotta love the TAXI DRIVER "staring into the sizzling Alkatrez in water" scene, which is exactly like 2 OR 3 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER's "staring into the sugar cubed coffee cup" scene. Hah!
Re: Pacino.. he does act like a fucking nutcase a
lot, doesn't he? Serpico.. Panic at Needle Park is fairly restrained for him (meaning: scenery-chewing insaniac! .. but you know .. with a quiet side!)... etc. You know my favorite AL Pacino performance, though? Lumet's CLASSIC..
Hey everyone, DOG DAY AFTERNOON has recently joined DEERHUNTER as "fucking AMAZING movies you can get at Wal-Mart on DVD for $5, so they're probably at Big Lots brand new for a penny or something." Seriously, pick these fucking movies up. While you're there, why not get the Dirty Hary collection...
really, you can't go wrong with this set. I think the dvd's are $18, blu ray is.. I dunno. What's a blu-ray? "WHOA. HIS GUN IS SLIGHTLY SHINIER THAN IN THE DVD. I AM SURE GLAD I BOUGHT A $900 PLAYER AND PAID TWICE AS MUCH FOR A DISC. A-MA-ZING!" Hmm. Isn't DVD kinda like "perfect qualitY"? Wasn't that, like, the point?
ANYWAY...
DOM: You're on netflix eh? My name on there is adumbsfriend. Yes, I'm adumb himself, but I've written some shitty stuff and certain directors read the comments so I'd rather be his friends on there. Haha. Anyway, best way to find me is to go to the Bride of Frank page and I should be the top review. Is CORN DOG MAN still instant watch? How about TOUCH ME IN THE MORNING? Go watch those.
BTW, there's a DVD set with LES CARABINERS, BREATHLESS, LE PETIT SOLDAT, and NOTRE MUSIQUE I got at Big Lots for -- you guessed it -- $5. Great motherfucking set. Even if you can't find it
that cheap, I bet it's on amazon for $10 or $15. It's worth it. Totally fucking worth it. If you dig NOTRE MUSIQUE in particular, you should get the Anchor Bay set with OH WOE IS ME, DETECTIVE, PASSION, and FIRST NAME CARMEN -- 3 of those films would be in my Godard top 10, in retrospect, so obviously, paying the $24 asking price is worth it.
Godard is someone who I have the highest respect for, who I have immersed myself in complete. He is the god of cinema. He broke all the rules, he rebuilt film from the ground up withhis new rules. I HIGHLY reccomen the book EVERYTHING IS CINEMA. It's one of the best, if not THE best, biographies I've ever read; despite neglecting to talk about his short film Aria (....?), it extensively covers every single thing he's ever done, if he's FARTED on a film it covers it. Thing is scary-deep going into his working methods and just.. man I dunno. Thing is awesome!
Godard's pretty easily my favorite director, with only Jost and Kitano even coming close to matching his level of genius. Even his "lighter" films -- WOMAN IS A WOMAN for example -- have a quiet, subtle darkness to them. He's a very depressed, depressing director; and his films only became grouchier and bitter as time went on. I like that.
I've written extensively about the man before. Feel free to ask me anything THE DOM. But yeah -- PIERROT LE FOU has gotta be his best, a great mix of some of his later stuff and a perfect encapsulation of his early stuff too. Just, uh,
a perfect film.
ALTERCOURSE:
Thanks, that reminds me. I got burnt out on Cronenberg a while back and I never got around to replacing DEAD RINGERS or CRASH -- I did replace DEAD ZONE and VIDEODROME and that's it. I had DEAD RINGERS on an awesome VHS, got from a yard sale from a really old couple for 50 cents, it was a special collector's edition VHS even from Anchor Bay, GREAT quality.. yeah, one sad fucking film. Based on the book TWINS which I read and is sadder.