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Consensus Results: 1997
Topic Started: Aug 25 2015, 06:30 AM (1,390 Views)
YancySkancy
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Taste of Cherry is one I really should have revisited before the deadline. It was my first (and for a long time only) Kiarostami, and I don't think I quite knew what to make of it. I've since loved Certifed Copy and Like Someone in Love, so I need to start exploring his earlier stuff.
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Kevin Harvey
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Another deserter....
vornporn
 
#6

Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki)

Too low!

Quote:
 
#4

The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan)

119 points
Cassius #1
Aaron #2
Jiggy #2
Shay #2
Yancy #7
Maxime #8
Guy #11
vornporn #16
Karim #16

Holy shit. I've seen this one a good 3 or 4 times and it never fails to underwhelm. Suppose I have to assume I just don't get it. But then Egoyan and I rarely, if ever, see quite eye-to-eye. Maybe he's someone I should work on.

Also figure L.A. Confidential will appear shortly (maybe the top?) and it's another one that I'm always just a little uncomfortable with. I guess Curtis Hanson rubs me the wrong way. In terms of straight craft, these are two films that should definitely be on my list (if we're being honest), but they obviously didn't need any help from me, and strategically it made sense to go with my heart. :)
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YancySkancy
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Dr. Raskolnikov,Aug 27 2015
02:05 PM
Quote:
 
#4

The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan)


Holy shit. I've seen this one a good 3 or 4 times and it never fails to underwhelm. Suppose I have to assume I just don't get it.

No one can say you didn't try!

I've only seen a few Egoyan films, and this one is by far the one I liked best. Exotica was okay, and Felicia's Journey was much better than I'd heard. None of his others have even tempted me. I know his early films have a following, and his late ones seem to be universally dismissed. Weird career.
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vornporn
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A Ryan Seacrest type.
#3

Posted Image

Boogie Nights (P.T. Anderson)

121 points
Jiggy #1
vornporn #2
Shay #3
Aaron #4
Russ #6
Cassius #10
Karim #14
Conty #14
Yancy #14
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vornporn
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A Ryan Seacrest type.
#2

Posted Image

Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino)

147 points
Conty #1
Maxime #1
Yancy #2
Cassius #3
Dr. R #4
Shay #5
Russ #9
Jiggy #10
Guy #10
Aaron #13
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vornporn
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A Ryan Seacrest type.
#1

Posted Image

L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson)

168 points
Shay #1
Conty #2
vornporn #3
Jiggy #3
Yancy #4
Cassius #4
Karim #6
Aaron #8
Guy #8
Russ #11
Dirt #13
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Shay Casey
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Blingin' for Our Savior
vornporn,Aug 27 2015
12:47 PM
#1

Posted Image

L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson)

Spoiler alert!
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Kevin Harvey
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Another deserter....
Yeah! Spoiled the aspect ratio, for real!

It's weird to acknowledge, but my objection to #s 1 & 3 is a moral one, I suppose. That might seem odd, given my high rating for Jackie Brown, but there's something smug or otherwise unpleasant about LAC and BN that doesn't sit right with me.
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Shay Casey
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Blingin' for Our Savior
Dr. Raskolnikov,Aug 27 2015
01:04 PM
Yeah! Spoiled the aspect ratio, for real!

It's weird to acknowledge, but my objection to #s 1 & 3 is a moral one, I suppose. That might seem odd, given my high rating for Jackie Brown, but there's something smug or otherwise unpleasant about LAC and BN that doesn't sit right with me.

It does seem odd, given the high rating for the Tarantino. They are movies about bad people, but not necessarily saying bad things. Any more elaboration?
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Russ
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Bark! Go away
Yeah, a rewatch did wonders for my appreciation of Jackie Brown; not so much for Boogie Nights, with the former being sharp and riveting, and the latter being more unfocused and meandering than I remembered. Something about it bugged me, don't know about a moral qualm, tho.

I've only seen L.A. Confidential once, so...time for a rewatch!
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Aaron
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YancySkancy,Aug 27 2015
02:00 PM
Taste of Cherry is one I really should have revisited before the deadline. It was my first (and for a long time only) Kiarostami, and I don't think I quite knew what to make of it. I've since loved Certifed Copy and Like Someone in Love, so I need to start exploring his earlier stuff.

"Exploring" is the key word. You could try driving around for a couple hours and seeing if someone will help you.
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Kevin Harvey
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Another deserter....
I've written elsewhere about Boogie Nights (WHYSL? Heresy?), which is a little too flashy and smugly manipulative for my taste. Feels like it's condescending to its characters, alternately laughing at them and punishing us for same. Really didn't like it on last viewing. (Edit: and I don't think you're wrong about the "unfocused" "meandering" part either, Russ.)

L.A. Confidential is trickier to pin down. The mystery is involving and fun to pursue, but the conclusion is so casually and unconcernedly cynical that I'm usually just baffled. Also, something about Curtis Hanson, whose films lean towards "realism", but usually incorporate (or regularly fall back on) easy convention. Or maybe it's that they want all the benefits/prestige associated with realism, but can't help relying on various movie-making short-of-hand and other expedients that seem at odds with the former aim. Anyway, it's been a while.

Tarantino isn't exactly a paragon of maturity (and I flip-flop regularly re: the alleged sophistication and "adult" nature of JB), but at least his moral compass is screwed on right and he's not pretending to be something he's not.

Or something.
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Russ
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Bark! Go away
Dr. Raskolnikov,Aug 27 2015
10:15 PM
I've written elsewhere about Boogie Nights (WHYSL? Heresy?), which is a little too flashy and smugly manipulative for my taste. Feels like it's condescending to its characters, alternately laughing at them and punishing us for the same. Really didn't like it on last viewing.

Cannot improve on what you said; it mirrors my thoughts. I guess the only reason I rated it as highly as I did was for the technical prowess, which kinda pales when considering the things that bothered me.
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Shay Casey
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Blingin' for Our Savior
Dr. Raskolnikov,Aug 27 2015
02:15 PM
L.A. Confidential is trickier to pin down. The mystery is involving and fun to pursue, but the conclusion is so casually and unconcernedly cynical that I'm usually just baffled. Also, something about Curtis Hanson, whose films lean towards "realism", but usually incorporate (or regularly fall back on) easy convention. Or maybe it's that they want all the benefits/prestige associated with realism, but can't help relying on various movie-making short-of-hand and other expedients that seem at odds with the former aim. Anyway, it's been a while.

My take on Hanson is that he has a history of taking painfully conventional stuff and making it more enjoyable than it has any right to be: very well-executed conventionality, which I think there is certainly a place for. L.A. Confidential is merely the strongest material he's worked with, probably by a country mile.

Only the conclusion is cynical? Compared to the rest of the movie it's practically smiles and sunshine. (But seriously, my reading of it is that it's a statement about the courage of your convictions only getting you so far in a corrupt world.)
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Shay Casey
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Blingin' for Our Savior
As for Boogie Nights -- flashy and manipulative are its GOOD traits!
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