--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > I agree that the movie wasn't that good. Do you think it was a > > > victim of the writer's strike in that it was rushed to avoid > > > problems from the strike? Seems there are a bunch of movies > > > out like that and that were going to get bad movies going into > > > summer as production resumes to get product out but is also > > > rushed. > > > > I don't think it was a victim of the writers strike. In the > > last 15 years the producers, studios and financing has morphed > > into 6 giant conglomerates who control all media. The result > > is that nearly everything made these days is done for a board > > of directors. Executives under this structure are afraid to > > take risks. So for people with mass tastes, who like American > > Idol or 40 year Virgin nothing has changed. In fact there is > > more to see out there. > > > > But for those of us who like to be surprised by new ideas this > > is the beginning of the end. > > Your review of my review :-) of Vantage Point got > me to thinking about it, Stu. No, it wasn't par- > ticularly good, but I managed to enjoy it anyway. > I guess I just slipped into that ok-I-know-it's- > probably-going-to-be-a-dog-but-I'm-going-to-try- > to-enjoy-it-anyway state of mind that one pretty > much has to bring to 90% of films or TV. > > I *love* that other 10%, but at the same time I > don't want to lose the ability to enjoy a 90%er > every so often, just for the hell of it.
I too like the 90% as well. But as far as action movies go I liked the Bourne Identity or the new Die Hard movie far better than the very flawed Vantage Point. Incidentally, I took my father and Alzheimer riddled mom to see Vantage Point and they both liked it. I think the repetition helped my mom follow it. My dad just likes car chases and explosions. Vantage Point is fine if you are attracted to really shiny things. > > That said, what movies in the last few years > have really contained "new ideas" for you? We have been down this road before Barry. But some examples off the top of my head. Amelie, I Am Not Here, The Diving Bell... even No Country For Old Men, though flawed, had a stark nihilism that gave food for thought. It was gutsy as are most Cohen Brothers movies. Atonement played with reality and subjectivity in an interesting way. Its interesting to note that nearly every film championed by the Academy this year was non-mainstream and not made by a Hollywood studio conglomerate. As I said before, you and I generally have the same taste. I have been listening to Bruce Cockburn since the 70's. > would imagine that doing what you do for a > living you're pretty familiar with a lot of the > old ideas, more so than most film viewers. I've > certainly seen what I thought were new ideas > (and clever parodies of old ones) on Pushing > Daisies. That is a wonderful thing about Bryan Fuller. He has a taste for the macabre and bizarre, but in his heart he is a midwestern boy. Somehow he can package this stuff for the masses. Or not, many of his shows become cult hits but can't sustain a mass audience. Daisies has struck a balance. > > So I'm actually curious as to which movies you > really thought did something new. When someone > asks me these days to name a really great recent > movie, the first one my mental hard drive finds > is American Beauty. I know that there have been > great films since then, but they don't stick in > my memory the way that one did. > Interestingly enough Jinks/Cohen who produced Daisies also produced American Beauty. These two guys, besides being really down to earth nice people, don't mind taking a risk now and then. s.
