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Nick1Ø66

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Posts posted by Nick1Ø66

    Rank Spielberg's films

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Random additional thoughts:

    • Hook and in particular 1941 are much too maligned. Both are good films,
    • SPR would probably come in at #6 on my list, but it doesn’t crack the Top 5 because, as much as I love the film, it loses its way a bit after that gut-wrenching opening. 
    • RPO, while not nearly as bad as KOTCS, is generally weak, and Spielberg, frankly, is the last person who should have directed that film.
    • I can't rank Schindler's List. If I did, I think I'd say it's #1.  But it holds such a unique place in his oeuvre, and IMO stands out from his other work  so distinctly, that I can't even begin to compare it to his other films. It's a work apart, and it almost feels disrespectful to rank it.
    • Sometime around Tintin, and certainly after, Spielberg entered the Ron Howard phase of his career.  A  technically proficient, efficiency-driven director capable of getting some good performances from his actors while putting out competent, well-made films that are otherwise uninspiring and mostly forgettable. Films that are generally “good” but don’t come near greatness. In fact, The Terminal, Catch Me if You Can,  Lincoln, Bridge of Spies, Warhorse,  The BFG & The Post all feel like films that could have been directed by Howard. 

    Star Trek is better than everything

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 21/4/2024 at 7:21 PM, Andy said:

    Maybe. 
     

    But this (absolutely awesome) photo from Joe Sikoryak via Lukas Kendall’s blog tells a different story from the same time. 
     

    IMG_5535.webp

     

    This is an early Trek convention photo from 1974.  The thing that struck me, beyond how amazing these costumes are, before anyone called it “cosplay” (God, I despise that term), is that most of them are female.  And fairly attractive by conventional standards by the looks of it too. I guess they’re still what people would call Nerds, but if I were the right age in ‘74, this is exactly where you’d find me trying to meet the Rand to my Kirk. 


    This is f*cking awesome.

    The Cult Exploitation Trash B-Movie Thread

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 23/4/2024 at 12:28 AM, Sweeping Strings said:

    Hawk is more of a PG-rated experience than the likes of Deathstalker, if memory serves.

     

    Definitely. Lots of violence, no blood.

     

    The movie almost has a surreal quality about it, and best watched late night I think. It's bad, of course, but still weirdly entertaining, with some genuinely funny moments between the Dwarf & Giant, and both actors play their outrageous roles with aplomb. 

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    Temple of Doom is celebrating 40 years in 2024

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    6 hours ago, Mr. Hooper said:


    Agreed. But some seem to bristle at any depiction of a culture that doesn't present it 100% accurately or in the best possible light. And poking any fun at them is, certainly, a big no-no today.

     

    Personally, I don't look to movies for an accurate depiction of anything—or to teach me about anything. License is taken all the time to augment their effect—be it dramatic, comedic, or whatever.

     

    For the record, as a kid I didn't come away from TOD thinking that Indians ate "eyeball soup," "Snake Surprise," or "chilled monkey brains" as part of their diet... It was an obviously broad attempt at humour.

     

    But whether or not you find it "funny" is of course a matter of personal opinion.

     

    Indeed. I know certainly there are Indians who may not have appreciated the portrayal (notably the Indian government at the time), and, well, fair enough. But frankly, most of the people I've seen take great offence at this film haven't been Indians, but rather the usual sort who are eager to take offence on behalf of someone else.
     

    I think it's just as silly to expect that Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom be a complete, and accurate portrayal of Indians as it is to expect The Godfather to be a complete and accurate portrayal of Italians. I grew up watching wuxia films but I never thought every Chinese person was a martial arts expert who spent their days fighting. 

     

    The great Amrish Puri (Mola Ram), put it best...

     

    "It's based on an ancient cult that existed in India and was recreated like a fantasy. If you recall those imaginary places like Pankot Palace, starting with Shanghai, where the plane breaks down and the passengers use a raft to jump over it, slide down a hill and reach India, can this ever happen? But fantasies are fantasies, like our Panchatantra and folklore. I know we are sensitive about our cultural identity, but we do this to ourselves in our own films. It's only when some foreign directors do it that we start cribbing."

     

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    Temple of Doom is celebrating 40 years in 2024

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Temple of Doom has really grown on me.  I've come to appreciate it more over the years, and judge it on its own terms rather than as a sequel to Raiders. The opening musical number, and the entire opening scene in fact leading up to the plane escape in particular, is fantastic.  It's certainly not in the same league as Raiders, and while I personally prefer Crusade, I'll give TOD points for originality and taking a risk.  It's also one of those instances where a reappraisal makes the film look better in comparison to more recent entries in the series.

     

    I've also come to like Willie Scott more, and now actually find her less annoying than Marion. 

     

    As to whatever sensitivities people may have developed regarding this fun flick over the years, to paraphrase the brilliant Stephen Fry, "You're offended? Well so f*cking what"?

    Steven Spielberg will be making a UFO movie based on an original idea with a David Koepp script

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Hmmmm. This is the type of UFO story I can see later-day Spielberg telling...he's often spoken about how, when he made CE3K, that version of himself would have flown away on the Mothership, but later in life, as a husband and father, he said he wouldn't.  So I always thought it would be interesting to see a film about Roy Neary returning to Earth after decades away with the CE3K aliens (i.e. ET). I mean, the guy had a wife and kids and essentially abandoned them, and it would be interesting to see how he, and they'd, react to his homecoming and how he'd adjust to life on a completely unrecognizable Earth. Dreyfuss is probably too old for the part, but you could recast for a younger Roy Neary (proving Einstein right).

    Star Wars is better than everything

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

     

    I feel like its much, much, MUCH more detrimental in Star Wars, and while the prequels do give some stuff back, I feel like in that case the scales are tipped way too far in the direction of detracting from the original film, as opposed to enriching it.

     

    But even if that's true, there's still nothing to be gained, and certainly something to be lost, by watching The Hobbit first.

    Star Wars is better than everything

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    23 hours ago, Chen G. said:

    Vader's entrance? Meh. Seen him plenty for that to maintain its drama.

    The Droids wandering through the dunes? Meh, we've seen endless amounts of far-more-impressively-framed desert shots AND we know Tatooine so its no longer about the Droids venturing into the unknown.

    The cantina? Pfft, we've seen more weird aliens than stars in the sky.

    The Death Star blowing up Leia's home? Pfft, please! We've seen the Death Star blow up several planets by this point.

    The lightsaber battle? Pfft, we've seen people - including Vader and Obi Wan - slash and jump and throw objects at each other, so these two geezers gently poking at each other? NEXT!

     

    etc... You get my point.

     

    I get your point indeed. Those scenes in the various prequels tend to rob the original scenes of much of their power, especially, I imagine for a first time viewer who foolishly chose to watch the films in in-universe "chronological" order.

     

    Of course, the same can be said for The Hobbit trilogy, which has many callbacks to images and sequences to those done (better) in The Lord of the Rings.  Seeing dark Gandalf say "I am not trying to rob you" isn't as powerful and shocking once you've seen the same bit done with the "If I say Bilbo Baggins is a burglar..." in the prequel.

     

    Anyone who watches Star Wars or Middle-Earth for the first time in "sequence" is robbing themselves of something very special that they can never get back.

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