I said no more, as in the same, so we're agreeing. My point was that freedom can be found in both the indies and the studio. Of course it happens far less in the studios; you have to be huge before you get anything like the freedom Spielberg gets, but, as you say yourself, Tarantino only gets the freedom he does cos Miramix knows he guarantees profit. As an aside, the freedom Tarantino gets has definitely contributed to a decline (IMO) in his films. If ever a director needed a ruthless studio producer to crack the whip, it's him. There aren't many directors whose films benefit from total control. The Coens might be able to do it but not Tarantino. I don't care how much money his films make, after Jackie Brown they've all been a massive self indulgent mess.

I agree with you on him needing a lil bit of quality control. He believed his hype about being able to understand how people talk and pushed that to the max.

That said I did like Inglorious Basterds.

The problem (of many) is he doesn't know how people talk. Have you not noticed how almost every single character in his films talks exactly the same, and exactly like him. It wasn't as bad in the beginning but by the time it got to Death Proof it was unbearable.

i think it was about not how people talked but about how oh-so-clever wannabes wanted to talk, i.e., wish fulfillment fantasies for the masses.

the best thing about pulp fiction was definitely the dialogue, the whole hilarious discussion about the royale with cheese, etc., which addressed certain gen-x slacker (overeducated, underemployed, media-conscious, member of the poverty jet-set) aspirations of clever selves. (just like millenials all wanna be great at "sarcasm.")

and in that it was pretty brilliant and a cultural landmark, sort of in the way easy rider was one for the baby boomers (sell a bunch of coke to phil spector and ride a harley through 'merica).

but yes, the schtick wears thin and death proof was his fucking low point. (though i also hated the overwrought kill bills just as much, but in a different way-- because while kill bill was irritating, death proof was just fucking lazy)


ha ha ha!

hmm, as far as the indie scene goes billy bob thornton says they don't really make the kind of of ten million dollar movies they used, and either make the same kind of thing on a lower budget or have it be a tv show.

that's indicative of something, though i'm not sure what

Pulp Fiction indeed has some of the best dialogue ever filmed! I agree with demonrail on this one the larger the sample size gets for Tarantino the more we see Pulp Fiction was more a product of the cast than the writing. His later dialogue is blatantly unrealistic, theatrical, and often hamming it up a bit much. Kill Bill had the advantage of David Carradine and an otherwise unnecessary need for realistic dialogue. I rather enjoyed Kill Bill series and watched them recently. I somehow also watched Elysium and 47 Ronin... 47 Ronin surprisingly wasnt bad at all. Im not sure how I finished Elysium, it was like the 21st century version of those early 80s scifi vhs where the effects and cinematography were actually top shelf quality but the cast and.acting was fucking terrible. Like Mystery Science Theater3000 bad... indeed Tom Servo and Crow would have made it quite watchable.

Easy Rider was an intelligent reflection on things, Tarantino's just a reflection of them. His films are sharp, snappy, but what isn't these days? I just wish he'd fuck off and stop making films at this point.

Easy Rider sucks. It is a boring movie. It may have struck a chord with people at the time it was released but it is not a good film. It does not stand alone a a work of art.

Thats the thing, Tarantino flicks arent about substance, their just what they are. I agree with you though, 90s Tarantino flicks were edgy, cutting, entertaining views of street and crime culture. Who even knows what his 2000s shit is about?

Not much longer now. What is it 2 more films and he said he's retiring?

I can only hope, although he's gone back on his promises before. I've given up on him completely though, so even if he doesn't retire I just won't bother watching what he does. Although then I won't have anything to moan about.

The Hateful Eight (filming)

Kill Bill: Vol. 3 (character The Bride - as Q) (announced)

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000233/

So maybe "two more and out" rumor is accurate? I dunno. Anyway, he promised film criticism and novels will come after he "retires," so I'm sure we won't miss his friendly face.

----

Re: truly "indie." Has anyone ever come across a really good student/amateur video on youtube or internet archive or someplace like that?

This is the odd thing. Whilst I may not be a mastermind of current movie knowledge I can't think of anything that has used the internet and youtube to the levels it could be used. I'm sure there's been some. But good ones? Not the foggiest.

making a good film is a lot harder than just pointing a camera at people talking.

True.

Well, depends what they're talking about. Also, do they have clothes on?

---

Because it is hard to make a movie, I try to be very generous. I'll look through no-budget things on youtube and every year I go to a small local filmfest. Pretty much everything is bad and I've never seen a flicker of genuine talent, no matter how hard I squint.

But there MUST be some kid who came up with a good idea and shot it in the backyard, and the film is now one of the more brilliant things on youtube. Sadly, finding the fucking thing will be impossible.

haaa haaa haaaa

haaaa haaaa haaaa haaaa haaaaa haaaaa!



even if it's just people talking (e.g. my dinner with andre) it's a lot harder than "just pointing a camera" for sure.

===

anyway, the internet is best suited for short form. people have made some reasonably good things, like "the guild", or "dr horrible", and those have been professional, and then you have stuff like house of cards on netflix.

of course it takes lots of money which is why netflix is the only one who has made it work in such a scale.

I agree with evol here.. the internet used to be a great medium to find top shelf local and DYI art but now? Its so flooded with shite that its not worth bothering... I miss early 2000s era when you could google and find interesting and obscure things of value

 

8.5/10

Would give it a 9 if I didn't think most secondary actors played better than Nicholson.

Rewatched The Grand Budapest Hotel on DVD. It's even better the second time around. My favorite movie of the year!

ha ha ha-- that movie is awesome


if you liked that you might also like factotum (another bukowski-based movie)

--

i've watched a bunch of things lately but i'd recommend



life is sweet - (mike leigh, 1990). great characters. you'll start laughing your ass off and by the end you might get a bit weepy. the criterion disc has a bonus of several "5 minute films" leigh made as a proposed tv show (you can find those on youtube)



the match factory girl - (aki kaurismäki, 1990). i have no words for the greateness of this guy. he just blows my mind every time with his simplicity. here it's the opposite of the movie above, where you'll start a bit weepy and end up laughing your ass off.



ip man 2 - (wilson yp, 2010) dammit, i missed the first IP MAN because there were so many ip man movies (eg. wong kar-wai's "the grandmaster") that i thought i had already seen it. big mistake, watch the 2008 ip man first. this is a bit of a bullshit movie, but great martial arts and to see sammo hung kick ass in his overweight carcass is just awesome.



in the house (françois ozon 2012) - not a great movie but a good one, and lots of fun. billed as a "thriller" (a manipulative little sociopath is at the heart of it) it is only great comedy for a lot of the duration. too many things to say and i don't want to write an esay about it but if you're a fan of ozon you shouldn't miss this.

has anyone watched Snowpiercer? bout the train in the future?

no but that sounds AMAZING.

i haven't watched a good film in ages! i am going to get on some of the recommendations in here

yes! fun stuff. what i loved the most were the insane sets, and all the references to terry gilliam, and tilda swinton's spectacular performance (i only realized it was her much later). the story itself was good but a bit refried, so what i was left with was a great aesthetic feeling from all the fantastic visuals but not a sense of a great original story. still, great fun. i think i wrote about it a few pages back.

sounds even better i have to watch this film (terry gilliam + tilda swinton YES PLEASE)

Actually went to see Hobbit 5 Armies, it was the best of the 5 movies i think, unrelenting violence and battles - some of it was quite humorous - I thought the 1st installment was awful, so I was surprised this was so enjoyable. Is there part 3? everything seemed to be resolved at the end

5 armies is part 3 of hobbit

unexpected journey
desolation of smaug
then the 5 armies

My wife sat with me and watched the first 2 Hobbit films and now she says I owe her a movie, and she wants to watch something women like. any suggestions?

something women like? any of the tolkien movies by peter jackson. my wife loves those things and rewatches them frequently. i tolerate her habit with the help of headphones.

She has requested a movie that does not require constant attention to keep up with who is fighting who.

either Magic Mike or the Full Monty, I spec.

seen full monty. ha.

she won't watch snowpiercer because she is tired of sci fi

okay so no scifi i was gonna say no fantasy either? but maybe she does like fantasy (you guys watch game of thrones i think?).

so, tell us what she likes. you said she liked "el sexo y lucía". does she like spanish movies? what themes, etc? any actors she prefers? any directors? any languages/cultures?

i like playing this game. gimme some info and i'll give you... 5 possible ones. yes?

her fave movies

el sexo y lucia
Pride & Prejudice
Steel Magnolias

okay. i'll give you 5 movies i like with women protagonists, serious/sentimental, a mix of foreign & english language:

but o wait wait wait if she liked pride & prejudice you must show her "austenland" (it's a comedy). open the screening with that. it's not great or anything but maybe she'll appreciate it more. this an extra bonus.

then move on to...

like water for chocolate (semi mexican, 90's but about the mexican revolution era, a bit silly but entertaining)
eat drink man woman (taiwanese soap, 90s, opera about 3 sisters, funny, will make you hungry for chinese food)
life is sweet (british, 1990, starts funny but gets heavy, and it starts w/ the dad but it ends w/ the mom & 2 daughters) (i just watched this 2 days ago)
diabolique (the original one, 1950, french, b/w). hot damn! great thriller. in french.
mildred pierce (1945). ask demonrail about it.

there's gotta be one there she hasn't seen

will run these through the wringer....

we watched water for chocolate together. I could not follow the plot. Same thing happened with sexo y lucia. I could not understand what the character's motivations were and why they did what they did. It made little sense to me.

she loved it though....

if she loved h2o4cacao then eat drink man woman is the way to go

get chinese takeout for "dinner and a movie"

make sure there's duck!

so we're done..swaug was the one that was instantly forgettable. the journey seemed to be pretty much the same movie as the 1st of Lord of the Rings..

st. vincent
<3