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If Eastern Promises and especially A History of Violence are only 'pretty OK' in one's book, then I'd say re-watching those (again, the later especially) is a little more imperative. Like, A History of Violence is one of the greatest films ever made.
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Jan 19, 2017 05:54
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eXistenZ is great fun. It's Videodrome remade as a dark comedy and Jennifer Jason Leigh is just wonderful in it.
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Jan 19, 2017 06:30
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Ammanas posted:It's worth watching for the tooth gun scene in the Chinese restaurant alone. Yeah. Talk about your body horror. And chew on that phrase I just quoted, and what kind of scene it might describe, then watch the movie. I don't think the movie is retro about games at all, the game they are playing is of a sort we don't even have yet. Agreed that it feels more like Videodrome than any other Cronenberg film.
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Jan 19, 2017 06:45
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K. Waste posted:If Eastern Promises and especially A History of Violence are only 'pretty OK' in one's book, then I'd say re-watching those (again, the later especially) is a little more imperative. Like, A History of Violence is one of the greatest films ever made. Wax poetic on it or whatever for me. I know you and LtKen love it but I just...think it's very good? Definitely not top tier Cronenberg to me but I'm open to being convinced.
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Jan 19, 2017 08:04
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I didn't see eXistenZ until a few years ago, and for some reason I had, up until then, confused it with Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. I went in expecting a schlocky awful action movie I could watch on a lazy weekend afternoon and totally got thrown for a loop.
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Jan 19, 2017 13:13
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A Series of Unfortunate Events is wonderful. For people that didn't the books, it packs in a lot of small clues and details and in-jokes, but Warburton and Neil Patrick Harris are great.
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Jan 19, 2017 13:43
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Franchescanado posted:A Series of Unfortunate Events is wonderful. I was a big fan of the books who hated the movie. This series is what I was waiting for. So far my biggest complaint is that the main theme isn't performed by The Gothic Archies. No lie, that's a pretty big disappointment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUWHUHA7Nx8
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Jan 19, 2017 13:51
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Franchescanado posted:A Series of Unfortunate Events is wonderful. For people that didn't the books, it packs in a lot of small clues and details and in-jokes, but Warburton and Neil Patrick Harris are great. I know its from a kids book, but would a little kid like it? I don't know if I should watch it with my 4 year old or with myself. Its more of a matter of would it keep his attention. He'll watch Harry Potter movies and one of his favorite movies is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
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Jan 19, 2017 14:07
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Alterian posted:I know its from a kids book, but would a little kid like it? I don't know if I should watch it with my 4 year old or with myself. Its more of a matter of would it keep his attention. He'll watch Harry Potter movies and one of his favorite movies is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Absolutely yes, then. Roald Dahl was a huge influence on the books, and that tone comes across in the show. The premise is about their parents dying in a fire, but if they can handle Potter, they can handle this. Also, the dark humor is conveyed very well, and there's lots of silliness. Think The Addams Family movies , which has the same director, mixed with Roald Dahl. Sarchasm posted:I was a big fan of the books who hated the movie. This series is what I was waiting for. I was just happy that the theme 1) Warns the viewer not to watch the show; 2) Is sung by Count Olaf; 3) Includes the accordion, which I hope Snicket/Handler played; 4) The lyrics were written by Handler/Snicket himself, as were other songs in the show. But you're right, The Gothic Archies do own.
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Jan 19, 2017 14:14
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Franchescanado posted:I was just happy that the theme 1) Warns the viewer not to watch the show; 2) Is sung by Count Olaf; 3) Includes the accordion, which I hope Snicket/Handler played; 4) The lyrics were written by Handler/Snicket himself, as were other songs in the show. Oh, don't get me wrong. It's a great theme. For all the reasons you listed and then some. But maaaaaaaaan did I have my fingers crossed for a new Gothic Archies track.
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Jan 19, 2017 14:18
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Sarchasm posted:Oh, don't get me wrong. It's a great theme. For all the reasons you listed and then some. Handler has already made a cameo, and there's a lot of in-jokes and easter eggs, so I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Merritt (and the rest of the group) shows up for a song in future episodes. As you said, his voice is a big part of the series for many for Scream and Run Away alone.
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Jan 19, 2017 14:21
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I thought History of Violence was one of the best movies of the 2000s. Beyond the story, characters, pacing, and suspense (which were all excellent), probably my favorite thing about it was how Cronenberg applied the style and themes from his unique Sci-fi background to a gangster movie and just knocked it out of the park. The diner robbery scene was an all-time great moment in cinema: tense, shocking, brutal, and instantly transforms both the exposition and the plot in less than 3 minutes.
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Jan 19, 2017 16:29
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I've always found Eastern Promises to be far superior to History of Violence.
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Jan 19, 2017 16:31
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I should rewatch A History of Violence. I remember seeing it when it came out and hated it because it was nothing like the graphic novel, but I was young and dumb back then.
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Jan 19, 2017 17:40
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Franchescanado posted:Think The Addams Family movies , which has the same director, mixed with Roald Dahl. well I just went from 0 to 60 on the show, thanks for that
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Jan 19, 2017 17:44
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DeimosRising posted:Wax poetic on it or whatever for me. I know you and LtKen love it but I just...think it's very good? Definitely not top tier Cronenberg to me but I'm open to being convinced. I don't really know that I have anything exceptional to add to the heaps of praise it's already gotten, except that I just think it's an excellent film about sublimation, about a character who has committed unspeakable evil, but who we discover at precisely the moment where he has (apparently rather successfully) channeled all of these violent impulses into culturally acceptable behavior. For Cronenberg as an auteur, the film also operates as a meta-narrative - depicting how very little has really changed in terms of the subject matter with which he's fascinated (degradation of the body, spontaneous and seemingly irrational violence, ultra-artificial virtual reality which eschews 'psychological realism,' etc.), except that he now finds himself in a position of disturbing cultural import. It is his work itself which has become "sublimated" within the contemporary Western intelligentsia. So we must ask - has the collective appraisal of Cronenberg's work really progressed, or is it just the fatigue of the Bush era? Are we really becoming - as Freud would aspire - more 'mature' about our relationship with violence... or are we still escaping into a reactionary virtual reality, one that grants us both this rather unremarkable, 'good guy with a gun' fantasy, but with an ironically comforting 'ambiguity'?
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Jan 19, 2017 17:47
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Spatulater bro! posted:I've always found Eastern Promises to be far superior to History of Violence. I loved A History of Violence, but Eastern Promises is something really special and it's so criminally underrated. The bathhouse fight scene is one of the most tense things I have ever seen in a film.
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Jan 19, 2017 18:18
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I like A History of Violence quite a bit more than Eastern Promises, and I still love Eastern Promises. They proved to me that Cronenberg can do more than body horror (though there is pretty horrific violence in both). That said, I still prefer to watch Videodrome / Scanners style Cronenberg if I am in a Cronenberg mood. How is Cosmopolis? I've not been able to bring myself to watch it.
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Jan 19, 2017 19:00
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Asnorban posted:How is Cosmopolis? I've not been able to bring myself to watch it. It's dry, dense, enigmatic and fascinating. I love it.
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Jan 19, 2017 19:30
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Asnorban posted:How is Cosmopolis? I've not been able to bring myself to watch it. It's very good and has one of the best surprise cameos in recent memory near the end.
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Jan 19, 2017 19:52
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Cosmopolis is probably the most "not for everybody" movie of Cronenberg's whole career, but I really loved it.
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Jan 19, 2017 19:56
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DeimosRising posted:Wax poetic on it or whatever for me. I know you and LtKen love it but I just...think it's very good? Definitely not top tier Cronenberg to me but I'm open to being convinced. I don't know about waxing poetic, but what I can say is that its placid surface hides an astonishing amount of subtext and thematic resonance. From the movie's use of mirrors, both actual and figurative (like the bookending sex scenes, probably some of the most informative in history, shifting from loving to raw dominance). The way the movie treats violence, how its hailed and how ostracizing it is. The Lynchian perfect Americana hiding darkness thing, how three dimensional all the characters seem, the fantastic acting, the propulsive mystery and escalating plot.....it's an incredibly easy and enrapturing movie to watch. Jesus, I think I need to see it again post haste. Also the ending really sticks with you.
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Jan 19, 2017 20:20
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Also it hasn't been mentioned yet, but Viggo Mortensen gives one of the best performances of the decade (and the rest of the cast is great too).
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Jan 19, 2017 20:32
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I really need to rewatch A History of Violence, it's so good and so different to his other work. I think Spider is the only film of his I didn't much care for, but even garbage tier Cronenberg is still a solid B-
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Jan 19, 2017 21:31
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Have any of you seen Fast Company? It's the least Cronenberg-y movie he's ever made.
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Jan 19, 2017 21:36
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Spatulater bro! posted:Have any of you seen Fast Company? It's the least Cronenberg-y movie he's ever made. Dude's actually an automobile fanatic. He even did an installation/art book: http://www.volumina.net/en/portfolio-articoli/red-cars-cronenberg/ edit: Fast Company rules.
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Jan 19, 2017 21:42
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K. Waste posted:Dude's actually an automobile fanatic. He even did an installation/art book: http://www.volumina.net/en/portfolio-articoli/red-cars-cronenberg/ What's that you say? The guy that directed Crash with James Spader likes automobiles?
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Jan 19, 2017 21:45
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Franchescanado posted:What's that you say? The guy that directed Crash with James Spader likes automobiles? Funnily enough, Fast Company and Crash are the perfect Cronenberg double feature.
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Jan 19, 2017 21:46
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The telepod in The Fly is a Ducati motorcycle cylinder head.
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Jan 19, 2017 21:57
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Now I want to see what David Cronenberg's Monster Trucks could've looked like
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Jan 19, 2017 22:01
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One of my ex's was in Blood and Donuts (she's the very first person you see, I think? She gets killed in the opening) and Cronenberg had signed her copy of the VHS tape, which she then gave to me, which I then lost. 
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Jan 19, 2017 22:02
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I really need to complete my Cronenberg catalog. I've only seen the big hits: Videodrome, The Fly, Dead Ringers, and Shivers, and they're all due for a rewatch. It's hard to work in the time, since my girlfriend is very squemish with gore (Green Room and Re-Animator made her head spin like Regan).
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Jan 19, 2017 22:08
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precision posted:One of my ex's was in Blood and Donuts (she's the very first person you see, I think? She gets killed in the opening) and Cronenberg had signed her copy of the VHS tape, which she then gave to me, which I then lost. For some reason Blood and Donuts is one of my 73 year old father's favorite movies of all time, and until now I have never heard anyone else ever mention it. I also had no idea there was a Cronenberg connection. Thanks to the thread, I rewatched History of Violence for the first time in like a decade this afternoon. Forgot just how drat good it was.
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Jan 20, 2017 01:41
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Alterian posted:I know its from a kids book, but would a little kid like it? I don't know if I should watch it with my 4 year old or with myself. Its more of a matter of would it keep his attention. He'll watch Harry Potter movies and one of his favorite movies is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I think it's worth mentioning that the show is really bleak and has a lot of death in it, if that's a sore spot for you or your kid. It's nothing super graphic but it does have several scenes of people being straight-up murdered in front of kids or them stumbling on the aftermath of a murder and the very opening of the show is them finding out that their parents are dead, even as an adult it can be draining and depressing since the show really lives up to its title. It's also super dialogue heavy and relies on a lot of wordplay and jokes about the English language, so I can see a kid who is too young to read being bored by a lot of it or having it fly over their head.
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Jan 20, 2017 02:31
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I got stoned all day and watched Still Game. Stoned or not it was great, along with Chewing the Fat it reminded me of Snuff Box or Mitchell and Webb.
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Jan 20, 2017 03:28
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OK thread you've convinced me to watch Eastern Promises and A History of Violence again.
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Jan 20, 2017 19:20
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Speaking of Eastern Promises, a sequel is moving forward as we speak: http://www.vulture.com/2017/01/eastern-promises-sequel-to-start-filming-soon.html
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Jan 20, 2017 23:24
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Glamorama26 posted:Speaking of Eastern Promises, a sequel is moving forward as we speak: http://www.vulture.com/2017/01/eastern-promises-sequel-to-start-filming-soon.html I watched it on HBO Now tonight and it was... pretty good? I dunno, I got hyped up like it was an undisputed modern masterpiece and I'm not sure I see it. Focusing on Russian mobsters instead of the played-out Italian variety was refreshing, as was the lack of guns. It kinda does feel like the first part of a series because it's missing a lot of the standard gangster trope scenes, although maybe that's part of the point - it leaves out the scenes you can already visualize and focuses on a lot of the more subtle stuff.
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Jan 21, 2017 03:23
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david_a posted:Major spoilers for the movie in that link. Earlier somebody said they thought Eastern Promises was far superior to History of Violence, but I thought he did everything better the first time, specifically with the characters surrounding Viggo. Ed Harris, William Hurt, and Maria Bello all turned in career high performances for me (although Bello in The Cooler was pretty great too). Contrast that with middling to lackluster outings from Vincent Gallo, Armin Muhller-Stahl, and Naomi Watts. This goes without saying, but watch Irreversible, Shine, and Mulholland Drive.
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Jan 21, 2017 03:35
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fishtobaskets posted:This goes without saying, but watch Irreversible, Shine, and Mulholland Drive. 
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Jan 21, 2017 05:20
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