Comment Archives: Stories: Movies
Re: “What did Stanley Kubrick hide in the Overlook Hotel? Room 237 wants to know”
worth reading on the subject: an interview with Kubrik assistant and friend.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/movies/aide-to-kubrick-on-shining-scoffs-at-room-237-theories.html?pagewanted=all
Re: “Ever get the feeling you've been here before? That's not deja vu, it's Oblivion”
But an outstanding, penetrating comment!
Re: “What did Stanley Kubrick hide in the Overlook Hotel? Room 237 wants to know”
On the contrary: I can't imagine anybody watching ROOM 237 and *not* wanting to see the backwards/forwards superimposition. So thanks, Belcourt. As big a crock as the WIZARD OF OZ/DARK SIDE OF THE MOON "phenomenon" is, it's worth seeing once just to hear the audience go bonkers when the "ka-ching!" in "Money" synchs up with the switch from B&W/sepia to color.
I'd argue ROOM 237 crosses over into the lunatic fringe earlier than that. My problem with the movie is that Ascher pretty much treats all the theories as equally plausible within a nonjudgmental "all readings are valid" framework. Certainly a work of art takes on new life in a viewer's mind, but Ascher draws no distinction between allusion and delusion: his ultimate effect — which I can't believe is intentional (or why make the movie?) — is to suggest any analysis of the movie (or by extension any movie) is far-fetched.
I agree, though, that fans of THE SHINING will love it — find an all-nite coffee house and have the knock-down-drag-out argument of a lifetime with your buddies.
Re: “What did Stanley Kubrick hide in the Overlook Hotel? Room 237 wants to know”
This is worth seeing for any fan(atic) of "The Shining", but the film "Making The Shining" by Kubrik's daughter Vivian, is far as grounded in reality as this one is in fantasy. I'm frankly surprised the Belcourt is doing the backwards-movie-superimposed-over-the-Shining circus trick (not just a rumor, their promo email confirms it). That's the point at which this "Room 237" movie crossed into the lunatic fringe, in my opinion.
Room 237 is still worth seeing, though. Dr Hofmann* will be at the door, to be sure you fully appreciate the reverse-superimposed silliness... Paul is dead...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203667/refere… <-- IMDB for Vivian's little foray into filmmaking. Highly recommended!
*saving you the Googling; Albert Hofmann, inventor of LSD
Re: “Ever get the feeling you've been here before? That's not deja vu, it's Oblivion”
Terrible review.
Re: “Reduce your hopes for Terrence Malick's To the Wonder — so you can see how good it really is”
I think the quality of Malick's voice-overs has gradually declined, as they've become detached from character. I get your point about the abstraction of the THE THIN RED LINE voice-over, but there's an increasing distance from the notion of character itself in TO THE WONDER. Ben Affleck, in particular, seems to be playing a posture rather than a person, and the same is true of the actresses. It's less true of Bardem only because he's interacting with real people much of the time, although I found the film's view of modern suburbia a lot less interesting than you did.
Re: “Reduce your hopes for Terrence Malick's To the Wonder — so you can see how good it really is”
The big difference is that in BADLANDS and DAYS OF HEAVEN, the distancing is in effect: the voiceover may be first-person, but the narrators don't seem to be speaking their innermost thoughts — what they don't or can't say (especially in BADLANDS) is often more telling than what they say or how they say it. In his subsequent features, he's using voiceover essentially as what the heart would say if it could articulate what the characters can't. It reaches a whole new level of abstraction in THE THIN RED LINE, with its free-floating voiceovers and man-vs.-nature inquiries.
Re: “Reduce your hopes for Terrence Malick's To the Wonder — so you can see how good it really is”
Having recently re-watched Badlands, I've come to the conclusion that the problem most people seem to have with Malick is the "whispery" voice-over narration. I have to say, I think it worked much better in Badlands and Days of Heaven, because it was more blunt and matter-of-fact; the narrators in both of those films seemed to have no sense that what they were saying was "important" in any way, which I think accounts for the "chilling, ironic distance" you mentioned.
In my opinion, the voice-over in Thin Red Line and Tree of Life is what drives people bonkers...I hate to say it, but I've wondered what the experience would be like of seeing those films without the voice-over track...
Re: “Think Argo told a ripping true-life political yarn? The word is No”
The BBC 5Live Radio Show had a really good interview with Gael García Bernal about the real life campaign: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm65pY0jj4E
Fun-Fact: apparently, we've all been pronouncing "Pinochet" completely wrong.
Re: “Rediscovered singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez embraces newfound fame through the doc Searching for Sugar Man ”
Unfortunately , the record industry has probably caused great music to dissapear many times during my lifetime. This story just resonates and highlights what true artistry is about , humble in protest, reflecting on all the ills of capitalism gone bad, honest to the core. Yet somehow the American Dream lives due to the fact that Rodriguez stayed true to himself, and discovereded for his great work way past his rightful time in a far away place. Thanks for the Internet and the greater ability to research others passions.
The gatekeepers of the record business are a notorious bunch, from the A&R executives to the publicists who manipulate the media. This is still very true today. I feel it, as I have recently experience some of the questionable elements of the machiene at work during the 54th Grammy run with my favorite unknown artist Linda Chorney. No 500k of list record sales in this story , just a working class Cinderella indie, who made it to the dance... The new book will tell the rest in her disarmingly funny narrative "Who the F$#% Is Linda Chorney" Authors cut now available at her Web site. LindaChorney dot com.
Re: “Margaret: A grassroots movement tries to save a movie from oblivion — against its distributor's will”
You're right about the greatness and the flaws both, which I find really hard to separate in a movie that is so "messy" by design. It's on cable a lot now, reaching a much wider audience than ever saw it in release. Alas.
Re: “Margaret: A grassroots movement tries to save a movie from oblivion — against its distributor's will”
I've just finished watching Margaret and would agree that is is a great film. Not without some flaws which are completely outweighed by the performances. Every role, small and large was a gem of acute observation. Matt Damon was never better and Anna Paquin..well, she held it together, a mesmerising performance. Definitely deserves to be seen by a wider audience.
Re: “The beginning of a beautifully twisted friendship: James Stewart in Anthony Mann's Winchester ’73”
Agreed, and I think you'll find some hardcore Anthony Mann fans on the Belcourt's staff. My own favorite of the Mann-Stewart Westerns is BEND OF THE RIVER, but THE NAKED SPUR is great too. The Mann Westerns are marked by the complexity of the villains, who tend to suggest a path not taken by the hero, and Ryan was an actor who seethed with barely suppressed tensions.
Have you ever seen Mann's MAN OF THE WEST, with Gary Cooper instead of Stewart? HAWAII FIVE-O's Jack Lord does the sniveling sadist so well you'll want to see him dangled from a cliff.
Re: “The beginning of a beautifully twisted friendship: James Stewart in Anthony Mann's Winchester ’73”
Stewart's brief bar-room encounter with Dan Duryea (never better in his patented on-screen 'smiling cobra' persona) towards the film's ending just hinted at what his bounty hunter undergoes when attempting to escort Robert Ryan's even more compellingly devious murderer character to justice in Stewart/Mann's follow-up film 'The Naked Spur'.
The Belmont should run all five Stewart/Mann cinematic collaborations in order on five consecutive days to really give film buffs a treat.
Re: “Ben-Hur got the Oscars, but Kubrick's Spartacus takes the gold for sword-and-sandal epics”
'Spartacus' is a MUCH better movie than 'Ben-Hur', regardless of what the Academy of Motion Pictures & Other Visual Drivel believed. Kirk Douglas made its three hour length go like his on-screen persona---terse, driven, and endlessly compelling.
Whereas probably most people sit, or more likely squirm, through 'Ben-Hur' just to see the justly-famous chariot race sequence, a viewer can even put up with the obligatory love scenes between Douglas and actress Jean Simmons, since Kubrick's visual staging of settings ranging from intimate rooms to legislative chambers and wide-screen outside battle scenes as well as Trumbo's witty and eloquent script makes 'Spartacus' a reminder that Hollywood can make 'em big, beautiful, and great at the same time when it wants to.
Re: “Silver Linings Playbook: the implausibly cute side of bipolar disorder”
Micha, the film itself blames Pat's illness for his violent episodes. After all, he wound up in a mental hospital for assaulting someone. If anyone's guilty of spreading the stigma that people with bipolar disorder are prone to violence, it's David O. Russell, not me or Sicinski. I just wish the film would play through the implications of what it sets out for Pat's condition, rather than casting them aside because it wants to be a cheerful rom-com at heart.
Re: “Silver Linings Playbook: the implausibly cute side of bipolar disorder”
I really wish I could un-read this article.
Every person is different and every bipolar person is different. We are individuals just like the rest of you, a diagnosis doesn't all of a sudden make us all act the same. Erickson writes "To its credit, the film does show Pat in a few genuinely frightening moments, as when he hits his mother" what do you think we are? That because of a chemical unbalance in our brain we are violent? I have been sick for 5 years and have yet to hit a single person. That goes for all the bipolar people I know too. We are B-I-P-O-L-A-R that means we get really sad (depression) or really happy (manic)... It doesn't mean we get violent!
About him looking good when he leaves the hospital... was he supposed to look bad just because he was sick? Well speaking for myself I didn't get that memo so I'm afraid I did get a haircut even though I was in the hospital... and yeah I did get to shower.. we actually had workouts as well.... In my case I put on weight but not everyone does. FYI as a patient you don't get to "not take care of yourself", they will literally force you to take a shower and look presentable.
You mention the film doesn't show any dark episodes, some are mostly manic so you wouldn't necessarily see that. I am not saying the movie is perfect but this whole article is so filled with prejudice, you seem disappointed that Pat doesn't act like a axe murderer, you make us out to be complete psychos. There are cases of really really really sick people, those don't get to leave the hospital!, with bipolar disorder but just like other diseases (e.g. cancer) there are different severities.
This is why stigma exists. Bipolar = crazy violent person? well what do you know.
(Btw Sicincki are you bipolar or how would you know if it is mystifying? If you are then fair enough if you can't relate, if you aren't the what would you know? )
Re: “The Deer Hunter's Vietnam remains troublesome, but its maimed Middle America is more affecting than ever”
Makhmalbaf should remake ARGO with the real Victor directing Ben Affleck and the real captors' leader directing Shouting Arab #3. He could call it SCRIPT AND BOARDING PASS.
Panahi's would be THIS IS NOT A FILM — NO, REALLY, THIS IS NOT A FILM.
Re: “Silver Linings Playbook: the implausibly cute side of bipolar disorder”
Sicinski did an excellent job of summing up my problems with SLP. I wasn't trying to say that all people with bipolar disorder are overweight or cant be attractive, but weight gain is a common, well-known side effect of psychiatric medications. But the real problem with SLP is that it treats bipolar disorder and other mental problems as a cute quirk to add spice to a formulaic romance, or, at best, a problem for its characters to overcome on the road to True Love. For example, why does the film hint that Jennifer Lawrence's character has problems with compulsive sex and then drop this when she falls in love with Cooper's character? Mental illness is a McGuffin, essentially, and I find this somewhat offensive.
Re: “Gatsby eludes Baz Luhrmann's ginormous grasp, but dazzling DiCaprio is an undeniable pleasure”
If the greatest pleasure of the movie is seeing "DiCaprio be beautiful again", something about which I could not possibly care less, I think I'll pass. Terribly over-rated book, anyway.