My poor writing started a Kubrick vs Nichols debate. It just struck me that there are different ways of being a "good director." That's all. I'm not sure one type is better than another, although I respect anyone's preference.

There are craftsmen directors, who can take any story and make it work on screen, and then there are visionary directors, who are obsessed with bringing specific stories to the screen. Nichols was a craftsman in my eyes.

This.

Kubrick and Nichols are totally different directors. In every single way at that. Comparing the two is just plain silly.

It's funny but I watched The Graduate a two weeks back with my film club thing, and every time I've watched it I've loved it more and more. It's pretty much a perfect film for me.

yes. the thing with film is that it's a massive kind of work of art with many sides that requires a lot of collaboration between a lot of people. therefore a director can be many things--work on some things and outsource others.


but he was an actor and theatre person first and foremost, that's the thing. in fact he won a bunch of tony awards. his first film effort (who's afraid of virginia woolf) was literally a filmed play. i think that was his strength-- working with actors-- and comedy.


yes. maybe he was a bit of a duck in the sense of that fable of the duck who can swim, fly and walk but can't swim as well as the penguin, fly as well as the eagle or walk/run as well as the ostrich (i forget exactly how it went). or maybe he was a specialist w/ the actors.


totally. kubrick came into film through photography, nichols from the theatre & radio/tv. thank fuck we have both. then there's terrence malick the philosopher, julian schnabel the painter, leni reifenstahl the nazi, & so on & so forth.


i've seen it a bunch of times and i'd totally sit down and watch it right now.

btw, have you seen "catch 22"? i saw bits and pieces in a tv many years ago and i always meant to get back to it but haven't. anyone?

Nah man, I've not seen it. The only reason I haven't is because I still haven't read the book. I've heard nothing but good things about it if that's any use to you.

I've watched it maybe 5 or 6 times, but not in a few years. Obviously, I must have liked it a lot. It's his most experimental and if he ever was a "visionary," it was in this one.

Actually, I was thinking about getting it this weekend to see if it holds up to my memory of it. Criterion. Nice commentary with Nichols and Steven Soderbergh if I remember right.

I saw Catch-22 not too long ago. I remember really liking it. I loved the novel.

Agree with everything said about there being no set criteria for qualifying as a 'great' director apart from making 'great' films, which are obviously just as impossible to quantify. And yet for all that apparent uncertainty it's interesting that some filmmakers, say, Hitchcock, are near universally acknowledged as great, just as others, say, Michael Bay are considered bad. And then there's those, say Kubrick, who it seems will forever divide people.

This movie was on Belgian TV yesterday evening, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. Except if you're looking for a happy blockbuster movie to watch with the whole family. Because that's not what this is.
Here's the trailer
In fact, I am going to watch it again, because I wasn't really paying much attention during the first half. Oh and it has music of Radiohead in it.
So go watch it!

grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/mike-nichols-obituary/

Latest Hunger Games movies. Definitely leaves you not wanting to wait another year for the actual conclusion.

@h8kurdt & evol -- thanks! i added to netflix

@tunic -- i had never heard of that director-- thanks! i'll check him out

@ suchfriends-- nice read! thanks!

@ tw - what hunger games is that? catching fire? i tried watching that catching fire but changed in 5 minutes (online watching allows for little patience). don't know.

PACIFIC RIM

so idiotic, yet so entertaining! great with pizza & beer ha ha ha. damn! i had forgotten why i put this shit in my queue, and then at the end i realized del toro co-wrote & directed it. awesome!

definitely not a masterpiece but 5/5 if you're looking for something like anime but with live action (and lots & lots of sfx).

hilarious b-movie cast picks up actors from a lot of cable shows: jax & hellboy from sons of anarchy, charlie day from sunny, stringer bell from the wire, the marine dude who bangs the wife from homeland, kaleesi's knight dude from game of thrones, and i'm sure some of you will identify others. ebolgoat probably has a crush on the japanese girl already.

damn ridiculous but awesome. check it out in a big screen with loud speakers and a big pizza ha ha

Mockingjay Part 1.

They split the 3rd book into two movies. Catching Fire is the 2nd movie and the 2nd book.

"To Fight Monsters We Created Monsters"

This film is obviously a complex metaphor about the CIA, loaded with pointed political barbs designed to puncture the complacent masses. This film is a subversive bomb tossed into the status quo. This film IS revolution. I'm surprised you found it so funny. It's the most serious-minded film I've seen since Costa-Gavras's Z. Some films are important; I'd say this one is crucial.

Just kidding. Never saw it. Looks like a winner for the next time I get really high.

I ended up seeing Interstellar on Sunday with my parents. Not bad, but definitely a lot of theoretical physics to understand too.

Ronin.. its possibly the last great De Niro flick

Love "Ronin". Still one of the best car chases ever. I miss Frankenheimer.

Interstellar, a little too much "family dynamics" but the rest was pretty nice

6/10

last Xmen movie - a somewhat convoluted time travel plot and why did they need to put jennifer lawrence in this movie, I'm kind of tired of her.