ah ah yeah, but he was talkin' bout history of violence :D

oh shit ha ha ha ha

yeah

the only thing like that in history of violence was his brother's head

ewww

great fucking movie. maria bello was hottttt.

you see? there's an explanation for the movie, there's a reason you know to know before going to the theater and watching it.

give me an end, not means; if i can't enjoy the result then i don't care about the means.

i'm not saying it was bad, it wasn't something to get excited about, that's all. and, my fault, i was expecting more.

my favorite part was the angry sex scene (amazing acting, context, psychologically justified and cinematography) and, to a lesser extent, the wife wearing a schoolgirl uniform but that's for other reasons...

yeah i was talking about eastern promises ha ha ha

i fucked up

--

about hm a history of violence, i fucking loved it-- the crazy guy changing his life to this nice man & BLAM

it was great. the sex/rape scene was fucking brilliant.

ha ha yeah hm maria bello in a cheerleader outfid yum

i missed eastern promises in theaters because assholes only left it for a week!

I have not liked one of the 6 Cronenberg films I have seen. That's a rare feat for a director to achieve within me. His outrageous work is silly and his restrained work is mind-numbingly dull.

Shinya Tsukamoto is often described as a successor to Cronenberg. This upsets me because I LOVE everything I've seen by Tsukamoto (the outrageous and the restrained).

everyone has different taste

I liked Shivers, and Rabid, but nothing much after that.

I thought this was about the beer.

Of course they do, and I would never argue that.

I just want Torn Curtain to know he's not alone. :p

And film too, apparently.

crash and dead ringers are my favorites.

eastern promises should have got more praise, especially for viggo's acting. there were just so many great films and great performances during oscar season that i think it was forgotten as it came out in september.

history of violence really shocked me at how good it was. I really was expecting pure shit just from the concept. Same with Eastern Promises. I thought the concept was lame but it ended up being fucking awesome. Even cronenberg's "mainstream" films are brilliant.

I maintain that existenz is his worst film. What's weird is, it explores a lot of similiar themes as videodrome. It's not even a bad film, it's just.. .you know... nothing. Love the rice gun though!

I think something that puts off most people about Cronenberg's films is that you have to WANT to like them. You can't just sit there and hope to be impressed, as the pacing of his films is often very glacial. Also, there's a lot bubbling under the surface. It's like Dead Ringers: on the outset, it's a very simple story of two twin gyneacologists, one who begins taking drugs and his life begins to spiral downhill. But the look at the way the twins are connected in every way -- the subtleness of certain quotes and scenes, compounded by an amazing music score -- is just heartbreaking and unnerving. Also, his films are often intentionally vague but not in a Lynch way... they all make perfect sense, he just doesn't give you all the details. I think his films are just constructed perfectly.

Funny Tsukamoto was mentioned. I said on the "dedicate a post to your favorite director" thread that he was my favorite director. And he is. And having seen every single Tsukamoto film (even the shorts) and every single Cronenberg films, I'm shocked you don't see him and Cronenberg's similarities. They're virtually identical in style (not colors, which Tsukamoto is known for, but moreso the pacing and framing of shots) and explore a lot of the same themes. Seriously, A Snake of June and Bullet Ballet could've easily been Cronenberg films. Anyway, both brilliant directors, who are very generous with the running times of their films as well :) (look at someone like Miike or Lynch who seems to HAVE TO make every single film well over 2 hours to get their point across -- too much of a good thing) Another funny thing about both directors, as I said earlier, is Cronenberg seeming to focus on guns in a lot of films but only in the ending, with one exception (A History of Violence which features tons of gun action). Tsukamoto also does this, ending many of his films with gun violence, including A Snake of June, Tetsuo II (which is ABOUT a guy turning into a gun but there isn't much gun action until the end), and of course Bullet Ballet (which is about a guy making a gun, amongst other things). Very interesting. Anyway, now that Tsukamoto's been mentioned, I want to say that everyone NEEDS to watch Tokyo Fist, easily one of the best films ever. It makes Raging Bull look like a fucking joke.

Also, find it strange M. Butterfly hasn't been mentioned.

i really loved existenz, and wasn't the gun made of chicken bones? but still... the reason i loved it was that yes it was like videodrome, imagination taking over the body... for me spider is the one where i was like meh...

anyway i only quoted this bit, but the rest are great comments!

I like the atmosphere of Spider but I can see how you'd think it was his worst.

Admittingly, I haven't given existenz too much of a chance, as I've only watched it a couple times compared to the rest of his movies which I've watched by myself and with others many, many times. I keep meaning to dig it out and rewatch it, but something about the film kind of irks me. I can't quite put my finger on it....

One Cronenberg film I had difficulty enjoying for the longest time was definitely Naked Lunch. I saw the movie before I read the book and then I read the book (and most of burrough's works) and saw the movie again and still didn't like it. But after watching it six or seven times in the past decade, I can finally appreciate it. Great film.

I dunno. It's not that I don't see any similaritites between them. Both directors create films that solely focus on "strange" characters. My beef with Cronenberg though is that I haven't seen a film of his where any of the characters were particularly likeable. It's like he's trying so hard to be strange and off-putting that he forgets about everything else. His films are just very cold and completely unengaging to me. And I TRIED to enjoy several of his films. I'm a big horror fan, and could not even enjoy his "horror" offerings. I wouldn't mind Cronenberg's glacial pacing if I actually thought his stories were worth the time. Tsukamoto's Bullet Ballet was genius, gorgeous to look at, and even the violent "despicable" characters showed moments of weakness, and humanity. Cronenberg's characters, even the "likable" ones are empty shells for me.

Tsukamoto on the other hand actually has a sense of humor about himself and his films. There's tons of seriousness buzzing about in his work, but its balanced by subtle humor and touching character quirks. I thought Gemini and Snake of June were (underneath the chaos and sexual depravity) very sweet and uplifting love stories. His films can be disgusting and tender all in one breath. Look at Vital, which I thought would turn into another boy loves corpse sleaze-fest a la Cronenberg's tacky body horror... instead it ended up being a VERY sweet and melancholy story about depression, loss and relationships. None of the characters turned out to be who I thought they would. I genuinely think he is a brilliant director and its a shame he is so often compared to Cronenberg. Even his wacky horror flick "The Goblin" was a fun little fairy tale with some genuinely disturbing images and ideas sprinkled throughout.

To sum up.... Cronenberg does nothing for me... and Tsukamoto might be well on the way to becoming my fave director.

Hm. That's really, really weird. I always get a cold feeling from Tsukamoto's films as well; his characters are very very unlikeable... well, they're not despicable, they're just not enjoyable to watch.

I wouldn't even count Hiruko the Goblin when talking about Tsukamoto, just like I wouldn't count Fast Company when talking about Cronenberg. Every director makes crappy movies for money (see Jodorowsky doing the Rainbow Thief, Lynch doing Dune, Miike doing One Missed Call, etc...).

I just find it odd that you could like one so much and not the other. Personally, they're my top 2 favorite directors.

Different strokes I guess.