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Kull the Conqueror posted:He had crazy subconscious inspiration for a lot of of his creative decisions. He also hated critics who sought to assign metaphors and symbols to his work. I'm not saying he's got autonomy over how to watch the movie or anything, but I think I've found that any of his motifs are beyond rational articulation. I hope you didn't think I was trying to shut you down. I'm just jazzed somebody watched that great movie. I didn't know that about him! That's pretty interesting. Won't stop me though.  I'm not sure I'd go as far as to say that the dog is God (mostly because I'm not too fond of 1:1 allegory like that), but he definitely seems to be in tune with what the Stalker is feeling. I'm pretty sure he shows up when the Stalker is at his most lost and dejected, and given what they say about the Zone rewarding those who feel hopeless, I feel like there's a connection between the dog and the Zone's "favor." On the other hand, it seems like Stalker still isn't on blu-ray! Which is a crying shame.
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May 27, 2015 01:39
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Nolanar posted:On the other hand, it seems like Stalker still isn't on blu-ray! Which is a crying shame. Japan is apparently getting it in literally 2 weeks, so there is hope... Hell, if you were desperate you could import and (if you run it through your PC) sync it up with the pre-existing English subs, maybe
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May 27, 2015 01:43
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Whoa, this makes my day!
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May 27, 2015 01:45
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On a completely different note, let's play "which version should I watch!" Léon and/or the Professional: should I go for the long version or the theatrical cut for a first watch? I know the answer is usually theatrical, but I want to make sure.
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May 27, 2015 02:03
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Wait, so if I loved Mad Max should I watch Happy Feet?
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May 27, 2015 02:25
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CharlieFoxtrot posted:Wait, so if I loved Mad Max should I watch Happy Feet? Why not
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May 27, 2015 03:09
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CharlieFoxtrot posted:Wait, so if I loved Mad Max should I watch Happy Feet? Happy Feet is a little weak. Miller's best film is Babe Pig in the City. It's one of the greatest, and most neglected, sequels ever made.
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May 27, 2015 03:21
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Nolanar posted:On a completely different note, let's play "which version should I watch!" If one is labeled "International Cut" go with that one, if not, I'm pretty sure the longer one is what you want. They cut the movie down for American theaters .
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May 27, 2015 03:32
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Kind of a dumb question, but what are some movies that had an amazing intro that the rest of the movie didn't live up to? I feel like Blade is the epitome of this. Taking Lives is another good example (I was a bit high during Taking Lives and as it started I thought it was just another trailer and got so excited about this amazing movie and planned on seeing it the day it came out. Rest of the movie was the very definition of Meh).
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May 27, 2015 04:18
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regulargonzalez posted:Kind of a dumb question, but what are some movies that had an amazing intro that the rest of the movie didn't live up to? I feel like Blade is the epitome of this. You shut your god damned mouth.
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May 27, 2015 04:35
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Yeah seriously, what? Maybe he meant one of the sequels?
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May 27, 2015 05:18
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I mean yeah, the intro is by far the best scene of the film, but what? The only bad part of Blade is the anti-climactic and overly CG'd final fight.
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May 27, 2015 10:08
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regulargonzalez posted:Kind of a dumb question, but what are some movies that had an amazing intro that the rest of the movie didn't live up to? Both Star Trek 2009 and Into Darkness are guilty of this, although the drop-off in quality is arguably worse with Into Darkness.
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May 27, 2015 14:56
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regulargonzalez posted:Kind of a dumb question, but what are some movies that had an amazing intro that the rest of the movie didn't live up to? The intro of the first X-Men belongs in much better movie with a rather different tone.
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May 27, 2015 14:58
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peer posted:The intro of the first X-Men belongs in much better movie with a rather different tone. Good thing they re-used it almost shot-for-shot in First Class 
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May 27, 2015 15:41
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regulargonzalez posted:Kind of a dumb question, but what are some movies that had an amazing intro that the rest of the movie didn't live up to? I feel like Blade is the epitome of this. Taking Lives is another good example (I was a bit high during Taking Lives and as it started I thought it was just another trailer and got so excited about this amazing movie and planned on seeing it the day it came out. Rest of the movie was the very definition of Meh). Devil is the very definition of this. cloudchamber posted:Happy Feet is a little weak. Miller's best film is Babe Pig in the City. It's one of the greatest, and most neglected, sequels ever made. Yes!
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May 27, 2015 16:57
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regulargonzalez posted:Kind of a dumb question, but what are some movies that had an amazing intro that the rest of the movie didn't live up to? I feel like Blade is the epitome of this. Taking Lives is another good example (I was a bit high during Taking Lives and as it started I thought it was just another trailer and got so excited about this amazing movie and planned on seeing it the day it came out. Rest of the movie was the very definition of Meh). I mean, I love Way Of The Gun all the way through, but the opening scene *is* the highlight of the movie and I know people who only like that scene. I think I remember reading that the director had always wanted to film that scene, but didn't have a film it fit in, so he just threw it in for the hell of it.
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May 27, 2015 17:26
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Up is a great short film with a mediocre movie stapled to it.
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May 27, 2015 17:34
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Do people really think the subway chase sequence in The French Connection is good? Or is it just hype and people who saw it in 1971 and haven't re-watched it plus its own mythos? Because I just watched the whole movie, and it is bland as heck. Is it just because there weren't chase sequences before TFC? I find that hard to believe, when Bond and Bullitt were both in full swing (to say nothing of all the westerns with horse/stagecoach chases)
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May 27, 2015 19:32
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Does the car chase in To Live and Die in LA have any kind of mythos attached to it? If not, it should because it's a primo chase.
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May 27, 2015 19:42
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Everblight posted:Do people really think the subway chase sequence in The French Connection is good? Or is it just hype and people who saw it in 1971 and haven't re-watched it plus its own mythos? Because I just watched the whole movie, and it is bland as heck. Is it just because there weren't chase sequences before TFC? I find that hard to believe, when Bond and Bullitt were both in full swing (to say nothing of all the westerns with horse/stagecoach chases) I really love it, I don't know how to refute this though, really.
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May 27, 2015 21:13
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It freaks the poo poo out of me. Doyle's driving so recklessly that it doesn't look like it's choreographed, so my mind finds itself in a place where I believe he could crash at any moment. The car scene in To Live and Die in LA is even crazier in the same way.
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May 27, 2015 21:20
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HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:I really love it, I don't know how to refute this though, really. Taken in the context of Doyle trying to crack down on drugs (impossible to view without taking in the War on
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May 27, 2015 21:30
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Well, wouldn't you say the ending does?
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May 27, 2015 21:36
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Kull the Conqueror posted:It freaks the poo poo out of me. Doyle's driving so recklessly that it doesn't look like it's choreographed, so my mind finds itself in a place where I believe he could crash at any moment. The car scene in To Live and Die in LA is even crazier in the same way. On my phone so can't find a source but I've read that several of the crashes in the final cut actually were unintentional.
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May 27, 2015 21:45
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Eggnogium posted:On my phone so can't find a source but I've read that several of the crashes in the final cut actually were unintentional. HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:Well, wouldn't you say the ending does? And lol gently caress THAT STUPID ENDING. -Popeye runs around a corner out of the scene -Single gunshot -Animal House-level codas for each character -MUSIC AND SCORE BY DON ELLIS 
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May 27, 2015 21:51
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Everblight posted:So if the cops are lovely people, and the crooks are lovely people, then who are we supposed to root for? ...yes.
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May 27, 2015 22:01
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regulargonzalez posted:Kind of a dumb question, but what are some movies that had an amazing intro that the rest of the movie didn't live up to? I feel like Blade is the epitome of this. Taking Lives is another good example (I was a bit high during Taking Lives and as it started I thought it was just another trailer and got so excited about this amazing movie and planned on seeing it the day it came out. Rest of the movie was the very definition of Meh). Star Trek into Darkness.
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May 27, 2015 22:06
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Everblight posted:If Popeye Doyle lived today, there would be marches in the street against him. The chase started when a woman next to him was gunned down next to her stroller, and he left her there to die to steal a car and run down the perp without even ordering people to call the police or an ambulance. He steals a civilian's car (dubious legality) and almost runs down a baby in pursuit of a perp, who kills 3 more people during the chase before Doyle shoots him in the back (which Tennessee v. Garner ruled was totally illegal). I saw your review in the recent movies thread and I did want to respond to it, but it's probably more appropriate to talk about it here. I don't know what sort of reputation French Connection carried for you before you watched it but you seem to have approached it as a high-budget action movie, on which grounds it's never going to compare very well. It was made for $1.8 million dollars (or about $10 million today), so low-to-mid budget, most of which I would imagine went to filming on location in 1970s urban squalor-era NYC. What I like about the chase sequence is the feeling of raw realism, the sense that you genuinely don't know how it'll turn out, or how much chaos will be caused en route. As for the reading on Doyle; as HUNDU suggested, I don't think you're really as at odds with the film's take on things as you think. It's worth bearing in mind that crime (and urban poverty, and police corruption, and race relations) in the US were racing towards a nadir that it's hard to imagine today, so as you can see in contemporary films like Dirty Harry and Death Wish, there was plenty of public appetite for the rogue enforcer who won't be bound by legality. Comparatively, Popeye doesn't exactly make the city any safer by intervening, even before the ending where the camera literally gives up on the chase and abandons Doyle to his hubris, before filling you in that the dope score gets sold right out of the evidence room. Also the score is bleak as poo poo.
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May 27, 2015 22:07
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Kull the Conqueror posted:...yes. OK, congratulations you made a nihilistic film where everyone's terrible always. Oscars for everyone, I guess? Like, The Godfather presents Michael as the good guy at the beginning and Vito as the bad guy, and then slowly shows the transition and you learn that things are not Schwartzenegger black-and-white hero vs. mooks, cool, I'm with it. But this is just bleak and awful and then abrupt and pointless. Lars von Trier would be proud. Exorcist had a similar stupid, abrupt ending so I guess  only with William Friedkin's face?
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May 27, 2015 22:10
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GimpChimp posted:I don't know what sort of reputation French Connection carried for you before you watched it
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May 27, 2015 22:19
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Everblight posted:OK, congratulations you made a nihilistic film where everyone's terrible always. Oscars for everyone, I guess? Uh, don't watch Sorcerer then.
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May 27, 2015 22:22
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Everblight posted:Reading the wiki page now, this is 100% accurate. Prescient.
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May 27, 2015 22:39
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Everyone should watch Sorcerer though 
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May 27, 2015 22:41
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Everblight posted:If Popeye Doyle lived today, there would be marches in the street against him. The chase started when a woman next to him was gunned down next to her stroller, and he left her there to die to steal a car and run down the perp without even ordering people to call the police or an ambulance. He steals a civilian's car (dubious legality) and almost runs down a baby in pursuit of a perp, who kills 3 more people during the chase before Doyle shoots him in the back (which Tennessee v. Garner ruled was totally illegal). The thing that confused me was how many people disliked Dirty Harry or Death Wish for their politics/outlook but didn't have the same qualms with TFC. I saw your review in the other thread and you have to remember it was released 45 years ago and that kind of character was really popular back then but wouldn't fit in 2015 US. Everblight posted:Do people really think the subway chase sequence in The French Connection is good? Or is it just hype and people who saw it in 1971 and haven't re-watched it plus its own mythos? Because I just watched the whole movie, and it is bland as heck. Is it just because there weren't chase sequences before TFC? I find that hard to believe, when Bond and Bullitt were both in full swing (to say nothing of all the westerns with horse/stagecoach chases) I know they did back at its release. Parachute posted:Does the car chase in To Live and Die in LA have any kind of mythos attached to it? If not, it should because it's a primo chase. All William Friedkin car chases do I think.
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May 27, 2015 22:48
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The whole idea of TFC is to acknowledge that the rising crime wave is a problem (so they don't glamorize the criminals) while simultaneously saying that the psycho vigilante fantasies in movies like Dirty Harry will just smash everything up without actually fixing the problem. The complete lack of catharsis in the end is the point, just like in the Wolf of Wall Street. You're supposed to come out of the theater pissed off about the way things are in the world (and maybe try to change things).FishBulb posted:Everyone should watch Sorcerer though I borrowed my library's bluray of it yesterday!
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May 27, 2015 23:22
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Zogo posted:The thing that confused me was how many people disliked Dirty Harry or Death Wish for their politics/outlook but didn't have the same qualms with TFC. I mean, mainly that Doyle being a Loose Cannon to Get Results is presented honestly, and not as an armchair-fascist fantasy: i.e. he causes a lot of undue death and reckless endangerment trying to satisfy his own aggression for the criminal element, briefly impeding the drug kingpins to no public benefit. I don't know how much that was Friedkin's actual intention, but it's pretty plain in the output.
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May 27, 2015 23:25
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The ending pretty clearly does not glamorize him.
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May 28, 2015 01:48
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Everblight posted:OK, congratulations you made a nihilistic film where everyone's terrible always. Oscars for everyone, I guess? Are you a dumb person because you sound like a dumb person
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May 29, 2015 04:04
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Magic Hate Ball posted:Are you a dumb person because you sound like a dumb person  at best, especially viewed through the lens of a movie designed to showcase how lovely everyone was. I guess my answer is "retroactive hagiography" so thanks Magic Hate Ball for answering my question.
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May 29, 2015 04:26
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