1988 Rain Man - an almost unwatchable movie in which Dustin Hoffman plays Tom Cruise’s mentally challenged brother who Cruise uses to win at cards in Vegas. No, really.
1989 Driving Miss Daisy - static, dull, pointless, patronising, now that Obama’s President let’s pretend this film doesn’t exist.
1990 Dances With Wolves - overblown cowboy epic about a white man learning the ways of mystical Indians. President Laura Roslin plays the love interest. Horrible from start to finish (at least I think so, because I walked out).
1991 Silence of the Lambs - campy horror flick, that depends on an incredible coincidence for the plot to work. Jody Foster is twitchy, Sir Anthony is so far over the top he’s in the troposphere.
1992 Unforgiven - ok, this is a good film.
1993 Schindler’s List - can’t get past everyvun speaking like ziss all ze
time.
1994 Forrest Gump - the worst film ever made by human hand.
1995 Braveheart - a close second.
1996 The English Patient - ok it’s a tie for second place.
1997 Titantic - the ship going down was cool, the love story was ridiculous, nice understated performance from the iceberg.
1998 Shakespeare in Love - it had Ben Affleck in it.
1999 American Beauty - straight to video things-aren’t-great-in-the-suburbs rubbish.
2000 Gladiator - superb for the first twenty minutes then long winded, ponderous, oafish and dull.
2001 A Beautiful Mind - like Harvey but not good.
2002 Chicago - we all thought the age of the great screen musical was dead. We were right.
2003 The Return of the King - worst movie in the trilogy. The ending goes on for two hours. Hobbits weeping everywhere. Even geeked out supernerds were looking at their watches. (Yes, I mean me)
2004 Million Dollar Baby - Hokey, simple, false and predictable. People who live in trailers are scum is the subtext of this film. BTW Yeats wrote in English.
2005 Crash - finally JG Ballard gets the respect he deserv- oh it’s the other Crash? Yeah that was awful. Looked like it was cooked up in the Oscar bait shop.
2006 The Departed - Scorsese’s worst film. I can do a better Boston accent than almost everyone in this cast and I cannot do a Boston accent. Memo to Mr. S. this is your third film about a working class Irish protagonist and we’ve never seen a pint of Guinness. Stick to what you know.
2007 No Country For Old Men - the hero gets killed off screen, and Kelly Macdonald doesn’t talk Glaswegian but I quite enjoyed the movie.
2008 Benjamin Button ? - if you liked Forrest Gump you’ll love Button. Not Scott Fitzgerald's shining moment either.
1989 Driving Miss Daisy - static, dull, pointless, patronising, now that Obama’s President let’s pretend this film doesn’t exist.
1990 Dances With Wolves - overblown cowboy epic about a white man learning the ways of mystical Indians. President Laura Roslin plays the love interest. Horrible from start to finish (at least I think so, because I walked out).
1991 Silence of the Lambs - campy horror flick, that depends on an incredible coincidence for the plot to work. Jody Foster is twitchy, Sir Anthony is so far over the top he’s in the troposphere.
1992 Unforgiven - ok, this is a good film.
1993 Schindler’s List - can’t get past everyvun speaking like ziss all ze
time.1994 Forrest Gump - the worst film ever made by human hand.
1995 Braveheart - a close second.
1996 The English Patient - ok it’s a tie for second place.
1997 Titantic - the ship going down was cool, the love story was ridiculous, nice understated performance from the iceberg.
1998 Shakespeare in Love - it had Ben Affleck in it.
1999 American Beauty - straight to video things-aren’t-great-in-the-suburbs rubbish.
2000 Gladiator - superb for the first twenty minutes then long winded, ponderous, oafish and dull.
2001 A Beautiful Mind - like Harvey but not good.
2002 Chicago - we all thought the age of the great screen musical was dead. We were right.
2003 The Return of the King - worst movie in the trilogy. The ending goes on for two hours. Hobbits weeping everywhere. Even geeked out supernerds were looking at their watches. (Yes, I mean me)
2004 Million Dollar Baby - Hokey, simple, false and predictable. People who live in trailers are scum is the subtext of this film. BTW Yeats wrote in English.
2005 Crash - finally JG Ballard gets the respect he deserv- oh it’s the other Crash? Yeah that was awful. Looked like it was cooked up in the Oscar bait shop.
2006 The Departed - Scorsese’s worst film. I can do a better Boston accent than almost everyone in this cast and I cannot do a Boston accent. Memo to Mr. S. this is your third film about a working class Irish protagonist and we’ve never seen a pint of Guinness. Stick to what you know.
2007 No Country For Old Men - the hero gets killed off screen, and Kelly Macdonald doesn’t talk Glaswegian but I quite enjoyed the movie.
2008 Benjamin Button ? - if you liked Forrest Gump you’ll love Button. Not Scott Fitzgerald's shining moment either.
129 comments:
so thats a prediction then is it?
Phil
Ok lets see since this blog began I have successfully predicted the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and using my own coke/soda model the outcome of the Presidential Election. I've only seen Frost/Nixon, but which of the others is the most bad? The Reader sounds truly dreadful but my money's on Button. Yeah I know its David Fincher who made 7 and Fight Club and The Game but he also killed Newt in Alien 3 and apparently got his start shooting the Ewok sequences of Return of the Jedi. As we used to say in South East Asia, that's Bad Karma man.
Excellent post. Very funny. I have to confess, though. I loved the Departed, man.
Glad to know I wasn't the only one who felt gipped by Newt's death, BTW.
gb
Alien 3 was quite a let-down. I didn't know Fincher got his start with the Ewoks, but he's come pretty far since then. I actually prefer Zodiac to Seven and Fight Club. The wife's getting sick of seeing it I have it on so much.
Unforgiven is a great flick.
Adrian, were you quoting The 'Burbs when you said, "in South East Asia..."?
You know what's funny? The only one of your decisions I disagree with is Unforgiven - it's a terrible movie. Much like Crash was worked up in the Oscar Bait Shop (you should trademark that right away) Unforgiven was a clever flipping of the John Ford ouvre on its head. Just not clever enough (or maybe too clever for its own good, hmmm, you decide).
But once you realized, oh right. in Ford the women are the civilizing force and in Unforgiven it's the women who bring on more violence, right, I get it, when the Ford westerns end with the gunman settling on a farm Unforgiven shows the disaster of that and how quickly he returns to the 'wild ways,' and on and on until it becomes just a film studies term paper.
But at least it had some women. I thought I was the only guy who thought The Departed was a movie for teenaged boys.
You're lucky I generally don't care enough about films to have strong opinions,because this post is even harsher than the Nobel one,and I didn't hate 2-3 of the films you thrashed.
nice understated performance from the iceberg. ;)
Of course,as an artsy Continental European intellectual,it's customary for me to say that I never held the misconception that Oscars had anything to do with quality ;)
Ok lets see since this blog began I have successfully predicted the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature
You'll see when Milk sails to Best Picture riding the Obama wave.
Excellent post. Very funny.
Aye,it was,I'll begrudgingly admit.
I thought I was the only guy who thought The Departed was a movie for teenaged boys.
Boys in their twenties (barely) like it too... Seriously, that opening with the Dropkick Murphy's tune and all.
Out of curiosity, did you (John and Adrian) see Boondock Saints? Did you like it?
Aye,it was,I'll begrudgingly admit.
You're going native, Marco!
gb
You're going native, Marco!
Ach,Gerard,ye old mucker,for sure I dunnae what you mean,so it is.
Hah! Excellent.
gb
No, Gerard, I haven't seen Boondog Saints. Truth is, I don't see many movies these days.
Should I see it?
I knew you'd set McFetridge off as soon as I saw The Departed mentioned. His comment was quite civil compared the outburst at Bouchercon when this topic came up.
I liked a few of these movies more than you did, completely agree about Titanic. I remember turning to my then-wife about an hour in and saying "If I don't see some ice soon, I'm going to order up a submarine."
I hear that someone is going to make a movie about a white man who uses his mentally challenged brother to learn the mystical ways that Indians win at cards in their reservation casinos. It will be called Dunces With Wolves.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
John - It's another Boston gangster flick so I'm almost afraid to recommend it. But I will. Very different from The Departed. It's got a lot of great black humour in it. No strong female lead as such, though Wilem Dafoe does his best to fill that void.
gb
Dana - I just haven't started drinking yet today.
and Gerard, Well Willem Dafoe, say no more...
No strong female lead as such, though Wilem Dafoe does his best to fill that void.
???
Marco - I'd love to clear up your confusion, but it'd be a spoiler. I don't do those.
gb
The Curious Case of Forrest Gump from Sandra Ruttan's blog.
Ger
I will check tha Boonie flick out.
Fincher - dont forget he killed Hicks too.
You know who had the worst Boston accent in the Departed? I think its a tie between Martin Sheen and Matt Damon which is bloody freaky because Matt Damon is FROM BOSTON!
A,,,
Brian
"the Burbs"
Nice, very nice bit of spotting there. I thought I was the only person who had seen that movie. Its the last time I saw Bruce Dern in anything and it was back when Carrie Fischer was still pretty hot.
"Zodiac"
Enjoyed Zodiac, yes, good film, strong performances, nice moustache work from all concerned.
John
I see what you're saying re Unforgiven however:
1. Heartbreaking Alberta cinematorgraphy, especially the scene when they ride up with the money.
2. "The Duck of Death"
3. Gene Hackman
4. The misfire gunfight ending.
Thanks for the Sandra Ruttan link, gotta say thats pretty convincing. I actually might never see Button now.
Marco
Digging the accent that was nicely done. Did your voice drop an octave when you were writing that?
You also should throw in randomnly a "big man" somewhere.
Gotta say you might be onto something with Milk. It looks good. But I dont know if its true Oscar Bait because of GVS who does have a fancy panty European sensibility...
Dana
I'd like to hear more about that McFetridge outburst at Bouchercon. Where there tables thrown, was hair pulled out?
Apart from the accents my big problem with The Departed was how un Irish it all seemed. I also didnt like the tacked on politics about bussing etc. - that seemed utterly pointless.
I did like that real life jerk Mark Wahlberg though, good accent, good character.
Peter
I remember seeing a Larson cartoon (remember Larson?) called Didnt Like DWW Club and it showed an empty room with one lone film critic (?) inside and I thought "man, Larson's off base on this one."
Still I wish he would stop shacking up with JD Salinger or whereever he is and do cartooning again.
I was working on the crew of a movie in Alberta when Unforgiven was released and we all went to see it. I admit I kept my opinins to myself among the rest of the crew who loved it.
Funny, although the movie I was on used the same locations, it didn't look as good.
best Boston accent is from The Wire's Amy Ryan in Gone Baby Gone
Also, The Departed was a good flick.
Dylan
What about the fact that nobody's drinking Guinness? Doesnt that seem weird?
John
Nice linkage. Samurai Cowboy seems pretty interesting. I havent seen it but I did see a movie about a Japanese guy going to Iceland. I wonder if there's an entire subgenre of films about Japanese businessmen travelling to exotic places.
I also liked the bit in Unforgiven where he turns to the 7 year old boy and says "ok you're in charge now."
And come on "The Duck of Death?"
Digging the accent that was nicely done. Did your voice drop an octave when you were writing that?
Aye,and I immediately felt manlier,tougher and more menacing.
You also should throw in randomnly a "big man" somewhere.
Or sometimes a "wee lad".
But I dont know if its true Oscar Bait because of GVS who does have a fancy panty European sensibility...
The wind is changing:Obama is President,Guantanamo will be closed,we love our American friends,and fancy panty European sensibility will win at the Oscars.
Apart from the accents my big problem
Do some of these films have redeeming qualities that shine through if the offending accents are removed? Here all foreign films are dubbed,so accents are not a big issue.
And you're all too picky.
I've seen a few German and a couple American with exchanges in Italian by non-Italian actors-
we're not talking getting the accent wrong,but rather positively slaughtering a language.
Adrian-
having never been to Boston I can't say, I just figured everyone drank Sam Adams.
What about the fact that nobody's drinking Guinness? Doesnt that seem weird?
Adrian,not even your fellow Irish crime writers/bloggers seem much keen on the black stuff,sadly.
I always hear of Carlsberg, Stella, Kronenburg...
Aye, Gary "Plenty O'Pianos, Bucket O' Brains, Why do I always wind up sitting next to some weirdo?" Larson. One of the best, and, in his time, a respite from the crappy strips that pollute American newspapers.
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
What's the Duck of Death? It seems something that could reasonably come from a Far Side strip.
Dylan
Sam Adams is not a proletarian taste, alas, even in Boston.
Peter
I think my favourite is "Nature Abhors a Vacuum"
Marco
Richard Harris plays an English gunslinger known called by his biographer "The Duke of Death". Throughout the picture Gene Hackman repeatedly mispronounces it as the Duck of Death.
There's a nice bit when Harris is been railroaded out of town and his accent changes from the upper English accent of the "Duke" to a cheap cockney as all his rage comes spilling out.
Do you think it wise, Adrian, to make enemies of everyone in Hollywood?
Thank you for your concern Anonymous but 1) Hollywood hasn't heard of me or my blog. 2) 50 Grand is going to kill that goose when it comes out anyway.
... and 3) if it looks like it'll make money, Hollywood will be onboard.
and, 4) nobody, not even Hollywood, likes a suck-up. Hollywood has always had more respect for its critics - especially writers (think Ben Hecht, William Goldman, that guy who wrote The Player) than for its supporters.
Hollywood has low self-esteem issues and everything it does is just compensation.
Adrian -
Gotta agree with you on Unforgiven's cinematography. Love the scene toward the end where Eastwood tells the Scofield Kid to give him the bottle of whiskey.
As for The Burbs, that movie holds a special place in my heart, as I was a child of the 80s and remember seeing it when it first came out. Since then, I've come to love it for different reasons. Not the least of which is its repeated references to other, better movies like Rear Window. And you have to love the Once Upon a Time in the West nod, with the music and tight close-ups of all parties, dog included.
Adrian,
Re: John McFetridge and THE DEPARTED. Several of us were walking from one bar to another at Bouchercon (so, yes, there was some drinking going on), and a small group of paused to see what the rest of our little crew was up to across the street. Someone--it might have been me, or it might have been Gerald So, I don't remember exactly (there had been a little drinking going on) made some innocuous comment about THE DEPARTED (I don't remember what exactly, after all, a few pints had been knocked down, but, to my knowledge, no Guinness) and all of a sudden the polite Canadian facade we'd grown used to disappeared as he went on for several minutes, starting with how THE DEPARTED was the worst fucking movie he'd ever seen, then listing its failings in intricate detail until he had to breathe, at which time he returned to character.
All told, a lot of fun, and his Incredible Hulk impression is pretty good.
Oh, Adrian, I do so love your diatribes. Really.
Rain Man-liked it, can't remember it, but I think it was actually well cast.
Driving Miss Daisy. Agreed, and more than that.
Dances W/Wolves. Didn't see it, don't plan to.
Silence of the Lambs. Too scary so I waited till I could watch it on black in white television, and then decided to go out during the non-intermission for ice cream. I remember the discussion I had with a neighbor I ran into about our horrible, but not cannibalizing other neighbors, and don't remember the movie much at all.
Unforgiven-skipped.
Schindler's List--I saw it, good subject, but can't get past the fact that Spielberg is a hack.
Forrest Gump-Whatever. All actors apparently want to play someone stupider than they are. Sometimes, it isn't so easy to find a part.
Braveheart-Again television, I faded in and out.
English Patient--I loved the book and could already tell that I would hate the movie so didn't go. My mom went with a friend and endured the whole thing with a friend, only to discover that she was also just enduring it. My mom still talks about her strong identity with Elaine in the Seinfeld episode about it.
Titanic--fun. I never got to form a real opinion about it, as I was surrounded by teen girls screaming about Leonardo DiCaprio, which let me tell you is a real buzz kill.
Shakespeare in Love--Went after the hype, which was a mistake. I enjoyed it, that's about it.
American Beauty--Yeah, I liked that one, but I like Kevin Spacey. Like 'Revolutionary Road' I think American angst is inefffective on screen, because gorgeous cinematography makes everyone's life look worth living. As perhaps it is, but we don't always know it at the time.
Gladiator--Heard great things about it but never went. As I recall, it ran a tad long.
A Beautiful Mind--I liked it. I once acted in Harvey, though, played Vita Louise, Harvey's sister. It's a good play.
Chicago--Bob Fosse, right? I think it was great to bring a musical to the screen and make the likes of Richard Gere work for a living, but I wasn't all that grabbed by the story. And I like musicals, so it wasn't that.
Return of the King-- I thought the second movie was pretty much unending too. The first one was great, though. I'd look at the photo link but will lose this whole comment if I do, so must return to it.
Million Dollar Baby--Girl boxing movies not my thing.
I liked Crash, but that may have been partly because I was in my L.A. phase. It still should not have won over Brokeback Mountain.
As for the rest, I haven't seen them. One of my friends wants me to see Benjamin Button just in order to think about comparing an overlong movie to a short story, but I am not sure I can invest the time. Even if it starts flowing backward.
Unforgiven-skipped.
Stanley Kaufman of The New Republic, whose judgment I respected and at a time before that magazine started publishing plagiarism and lies, panned Ufnrogiven for its heaviness and symbol-mongering, calling a character "Munny" and all.
English Patient--I loved the book and could already tell that I would hate the movie so didn't go.
I saw a clip -- nice shots of Piero della Francesca's frescoes in Arezzo, though actually shot at Cinecitta using mockups. I think it unlikely that the frescoes were in as good shape at the time the story is set as they were in the movie.
Gladiator--Heard great things about it but never went. As I recall, it ran a tad long.
Computer-generated Coliseum looked creepily unreal. And the battle cry of, I think, Commodus, as an army heads into battle was pretty cheesy, something like "Unleash the forces of hell!" And no, I don't know what roman generals really yelled in battle.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Gladiator--guess I should have said I heard good things about Russell Crowe in it.
The previews of the English Patient all looked like they were going to focus a great deal on Ralph Fiennes and, though I respect him as an actor, I don't think that his character was the most interesting one in the novel.
Brian
I thought the Burbs wasnt bad. Sure the ending was tacked on and weird but the rest of it was pretty good.
Dana
Who'd have thunk it? I didnt hate The Departed that much. Just was kinda underwhelmed. Such a waste of a cast and a director...
Nice to see McF get furious about it though. Have to see if I can provoke him too.
Seana
Great to get your considered opinions. So the English Patient was a good book eh? Might give it a try. The movie though - sheesh. Elaine was kind on Seinfeld. Very kind.
I wouldnt say Spielberg is a hack, I just dont think that that that was a good subject for him and he needs to work within strict limitations. Jaws was a close to perfect film (except for when Mrs Kitner slapped the Chief) and I thought Raiders was close to perfect, but somewhere about 1982 or 3 he lost it and has never really gotten it back.
Peter
The battle cry was from Crowe. I liked that bit and the Elysium joke that came after. But from Richard Harris's death everything went downhill. At least they could have filled the Colliseum with water and staged sea battles which apparently they did for the real Commodus - (not one of Gibbon's favourites either the real Com).
TNR was too harsh on Unforgiven. Pretty straightforward Western really with some nice camerawork.
John
I liked the bit in The Player where they talked about getting rid of writers all together, that seemed to come from an angry place. And it was nice also in that film that the writer gets cuckolded and murdered and no one gives a damn.
Spielberg may not be a hack, but he is very over-inflated. As is his conjoined twin, Tom Hanks. They do seem to have remained 'nice guys' in some sense, but I think they have both lost some critical self-perspective.
I don't know about English Patient, the novel. It may have been ruined for you by the movie. But I really liked the Indian sapper in the book and it looked like he was going to get pretty short shrift in the movie, which was why I thought I would probably sit there fuming.
Boucheron sounds pretty wild this year, huh?
Seana, do you mean Bouchercon 2009 or 2008? Re 2008, I could tell you about how Christa Faust showed me and Ken Bruen her tattoos in the hotel bar, or how Ali Karim chugged gin at a morning panel just to get under the skin of a fellow panelist or ... or how I had bagels and coffee with McFetridge and Burke and another author who it turns out I went to high school with. I missed McFetridge flipping out over "The Departed," though.
Adrian, seeing the Coliseum filled with water for mock sea battles might have been an odd experience. The Romans (and some of their successors in the Vatican) really did things like that. Such a scene on screen might be too easy to dismiss as Hollywood puffery and spectacle and thus might dull viewers to the reality of what these megalomaniacs really did.
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter
I disliked the fact that they took a real emperor and had him killed be a fictional character.
I suppose in a few years we'll have Hitler and Churchill in a fist fight in the bunker.
Oh wait I think Tarantino is making that movie already.
Seana
I never drank the Tom Hanks Kool Aid. I cant remember a film he's been in that I'd put in my top 10 but I actually find him kind of harmless. Not bad, not good, just kind of blah.
I think Spielberg has made exactly 1 good film in the last 15 years and at least half a dozen real disasters.
A...
Adrian, re emperors being killed by fictional characters, perhaps I could reread Gibbon tonight and see how much his known about the killers of the many Roman emperors who did not die in their beds.
Adrian -
Enjoyed Zodiac, yes, good film, strong performances, nice moustache work from all concerned.
LOL re: moustache work.
Speaking moustache work, looks like Brad Pitt is spotting one for that Tarantino flick you mentioned. I never know with that guy. Is Inglorious Basterds going to be as awesome as Kill Bill 1 or as ho-hum as Kill Bill 2, or is it just going to completely suck like Deathproof?
I didn't hate Silence of the Lambs,Schindler's List and American Beauty,though I can see the point in the critiques.
English Patient-photography was very good,acting was reasonable.I thought the film had moments,and didn't feel too offended by it.
It is true that the emphasis is heavily shifted with respect to the book.
In general Ondaatje style is to weave together various strands of narration,which slowly begin to form a unified picture,like a tapestry or a mosaic.
The love story is central to the novel also,but occupies much less space,and is therefore less cheesier and more powerful.
And the parts with Kip,which are easily among the best in the book,(east/west,war,the dichotomy of violence and control) are indeed cut out in the movie.
I liked the book,but on retrospect for me it marks the beginning of the decline for Michael Ondaatje.
His previous book,In the Skin of a Lion has long been my favourite novel ever.It probably has competition now,but I still rank it highly.
In fact at the time I bought the Italian translation for some of my friends-just like previous and successive attempts in the fields of sci-fi,comics or crime-fiction,results weren't exactly encouraging.
Going backwards, Coming through Slaughter is also brilliant,and The Collected Works of Billy the Kid and There's a Trick With a Knife I'm Learning to Do are very good.
Peter
Someone should do roman emperor baseball cards - the most debauched, land conquered, most movies about them etc.
Brian
I never saw Deathproof in either version. Never wanted to. I think Tarantino has been gradually losing the plot since 1997.
Marco
Hmmm, I think the book may have become too corrupted by the film in my mind to work anywhere, I might try one or two of the other novels instead.
I have mixed emotions about Tarantino. I thought RESERVOIR DOGS was great, and that PULP FICTION is brilliant in parts, but uneven, memorable in large part for some great lines and scenes. JACKIE BROWN, for all its changes from RUM PUNCH, might be the best Elmore Leonard movie adaptation. Apart from those three, I get the feeling he's speaking a different language than the one I'm hearing.
Dana
He lost me somewhere during KIll Bill, I'm not sure where exactly, but by the end of both films I was gone.
Thank you, Marco, on the Ondaatje front. You make me want to go back to the early novels. Did you read Divisadero, then, and not like it? And what about his memoir, Running in the Family? A friend and former coworker told me it was good.
Adrian and Peter,
would you please shut up about filling the Coliseum with water? We really don't know where Kevin Costner comes up with his movie spectacle ideas, and for all we know, he might be trolling the web just now. You know he's dying to make good on the whole Waterworld fiasco. I can hear the little wheels turning now--"Hmm-maybe if I used a real site and filled it up with water... Grand Canyon? No. Napa Valley? No. Some place in Europe? Yeah much more promising. What about Rome? Hey, I just read a blog about that somewhere..."
And Adrian, you do not know who is reading. Personally, I am beginning to think that 'anonymous' is beginning to sound a bitlike the voice of God. And not a benevolent one, either...
Do you think it wise, Adrian, to make enemies of everyone in Hollywood?
Christ, what if it's Tim Robbins? Actually, I'd guess Vincent Price, but he's dead. Alfred Hitchcock, ditto.
Adrian -
Think you're right about Tarantino losing the plot since 1997. I think that's the year he made Jackie Brown, his best in my opinion.
Nowadays it seems like he writes movies just so he can have characters talk about movies he liked as a youngster that weren't very good.
Seana -
I hope Anon isn't Alfred Hitchcock. If he thought actors were just "cattle," what must he have thought writers?
Hey, I have a Waterworld story. I used to work for a movie producer who was friends with Roger Corman (the guy I worked for made movies like Recruits a kind of Police Academy rip-off. Oh yeah).
anyway, he told me Corman was approached with Waterworld and he liked the script but he said it would cost, "More than a million," to produce and he didn't like to go over that.
And, I think Tim Robbins would agree with with a lot of what Adrian has to say about Hollywood.
Corman was naive. All Waterworld, the Sequel is going to take is the Coliseum and a garden hose. Plus a few Roman slaves wouldn't hurt.
And, I think Tim Robbins would agree with with a lot of what Adrian has to say about Hollywood.
It isn't Hollywood they're going to be fighting over, John.
I'll trade you Augustus and Constantine for Phillip the Arab and Maximinus Thrax.
John
One thing Waterwold got right was the evilness of jet skis. The good guys were sail powered and the bad guys were on jet skis (and thats not a class thing or an anti Jersey shore thing I just hate the bloody devices.
the only Spanish Jesuit blessing "let no new thing arise" seems appropriate.
Seana
I think I'd lose that fight. Tim Robbins is a big guy and he's so cool that he trains with the NY Rangers. Wow, celebrities they're great.
Brian
I dont have high hopes for Inglorious Bastards (I know thats not how he spells it) but I'm intrigued by this insane sounding Stallone movie coming out in 2010 with Dolph Lungren, Ben Kinglsey Jason Staaaaffffammm and Mickey Rourke - The Expendables. Sounds so nuts it might actually be good.
Peter
What about that Emperor whose names escapes me who died at 18 having had a very full life. You mentioned him on your blog. Surely he wins?
I notice John's not leaping to deny The Departed.
You know the screenplay has a rat walk into the dead guy's apartment at the end. Does that happen in the film - if so I blocked it out.
That would be the emperor known as Eliogabalus/Heliogabalus. I think he might be the same one who was said to have killed enemies by having massive amounts of rose petals dumped on them and to have once wanted to have his genetalia cut off so he could become a woman.
Yeah, he'd be right up there among the league leaders.
Thank you, Marco, on the Ondaatje front. You make me want to go back to the early novels. Did you read Divisadero, then, and not like it? And what about his memoir, Running in the Family? A friend and former coworker told me it was good.
No,I did read Anil's Ghost I really wanted to like it,not least b/c it deals with the Sri Lanka civil war and is dedicated to Amnesty International,but it left me underwhelmed.
Running in the Family is good,but I prefer the ones I mentioned.
There's a trick with a knife... is a collection of poems,
The Collected Works of Billy the Kid is a series of prose snapshots,
Coming through Slaughter is a fictionalized biography of Buddy Bolden with a jazzlike structure of fragments and riffs,
In the Skin of a Lion is a view of Toronto in the early 1900s through the eyes of outsiders,especially migrants,kind of a better version of Doctorow's Ragtime.
The last two are my favorites.
There's a definite continuing shift from more experimental to more conventional modes of narration,which I don't think is too good in his case.
Marco
"is a series of prose snapshots"
"jazz like structure of fragments and riffs"
I think I'm getting the picture. I'll bet university professors love this guy.
or as my imagined version of this early Ondaatje might put it
"coming in, sepia frame, floating, an image, gone...losing it, losing...another place, clinical, the false memory of Attica, scrubed clean of its gawdy paint by time and memory...a man there, bearded as an innoculation against this time itself, against youth, against the culture which stamps on the face of those who have gone before...William Bonny, stretched and dead in New Mexico...and my wager: that the Ondaatje text will meet with their approbation. I would welcome more their scorn."
Peter
Heliogabalus the very fellow. I'd like to see him in baseball card war with - as you well know- my favourite louche German aristocrat Count Gottfried Von Bismarck"
Marco
Incidentally I was listening to Mark Kermode's review of Milk on BBC Radio 5 and he was complaining that GVS deliberately reins in his artsy European sensibility in order to reach a broad audience, rendering the film not that interesting.
BTW if anyone's still reading down here and they want to see a movie where Keanu Reeves looks like he could turn into an actor one day then My Own Private Idaho is the film for you. Yes, he's acted off the screen by River, but he aint bad.
Adrian, that sounds like a dream computer pairing, matching degenerates from different eras.
I remember that particular LGA came up in discussion earlier. Didn't he propose your name for some university debating club, but you were rejected because of your proletarian origins?
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
About The Departed. Part of it is just a stylistic preference.
I like Hemingway and Elmore Leonard and good Roddy Doyle like The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, kind of bare bones storytelling.
Elmore Leonard paraphrases Steinbeck about leaving out the hooptedoodle, or all that stuff that's, "the writer sticking his nose in." I don't like the kind of writing (that's so popular here in Canada - I almost went off on Ondaatje like I did The Departed, but really, I need more to drink) that's all about the writer saying, "Oh, look at this very clever writing!"
Well, I find most Hollywood movies - even Scorses (maybe especially Scorsese) to be the director sticking his nose in the story all over the place going, "Oh, look at this clever filmmaking!" (Tarantino may be even worse, but he makes young adult movies, so there's a different sensibility there).
And come on, that Nicholson death scene was supposed to be laugh out loud funny, wasn't it? It was practically Monty Python...
And every movie needs more women, even the chick flicks need more women.
Adrian
"is a series of prose snapshots"
"jazz like structure of fragments and riffs"
I think I'm getting the picture.
I'm not good at synthesys.
I probably fell back into stock phrases and university-professor speak.
Regardless if my descriptions are accurate or empty slogans,however,it's the actual writing that should be judged.
Finger,moon,and all that.
I'll bet university professors love this guy.
and my wager: that the Ondaatje text will meet with their approbation. I would welcome more their scorn.
And university professors are always wrong.
Sadly my tastes seem not to stray much from those of the university professor I could have been.
For example,I like Ondaatje,while I found Lucky Jim a vastly overrated,dull novel with painful attempts at humor at the expense of an academic world which undoubtedly merits harsh critique,but maybe not in the form of such an unsubtle parody.
Though now I think I get the picture of the reasons you like it.
or as my imagined version of this early Ondaatje might put it
"coming in, sepia frame, floating,...
You're actually not that far away.There may even be sequences that run like this:
shopping in C-Town;crazy men yelling in the two-dollar cinema;drinks in
the Four Provinces;evening collections with Scotchy;Fergal dinging a gypsy cab and
having a go at the cabbie;a black girl’s body in Marcus Garvey Park;two lads going
at it with a knife on 191st Street;Bridget leaning over and kissing me for the
first time as we changed the kegs;an empty lot bursting with trees and life on MLK
Boulevard,and opposite,a hurt guy on a bike splayed in front of the Manatthanville
post office;rows of fresh fruit in West Side Market;flattened rats;pepper
trees;whole plazas of urine;me and the boys extorting some guy in Fordham into
giving us a ton a week for doing precisely nothing;the bakery on Lenox;soul food at
M&G;delivering a sofa set for Darkey to some cousin in Yonkers,up two flights and
past a goddamn corner;the Nation of Islam screaming at me at the A train stop on
125th;the doe-eyed girl with her boyfriend in the hall;Sunday service all along the
hot street in the morning,Christ’s children in a merry wee conspiracy of
happiness;choirs;the tiny,forgotten synagogue on 126th;the Ethiopian lady wandering
half-naked in the lobby;Ratko’s Santa laugh as another bottle opens;rice and beans
on 112th;KFC;McDonald’s;rice and beans at Floridita;M&G again;the Four
P.;Bridget;Bridget again…
...and he was complaining that GVS deliberately reins in his artsy European sensibility in order to reach a broad audience, rendering the film not that interesting.
I didn't say Milk will win b/c it's the better film,but rather b/c it's zeitgeistentsprechend.
I almost went off on Ondaatje like I did The Departed, but really, I need more to drink
Come back after the drink,then.
Anyone who thinks the English Patient was better than Million dollar baby deserves to be eaten alive by fire ants.
Fire ants. Wow. Luckily, I don't think anyone here actually made that claim, if we're talking about the movie and not the book.
Marco, you have as usual beat me to the punch, as I was going to say that Mr. McKinty is no slouch in the impressionistic riff department himself. But you've done me one better and actually found an example.
Perhaps Adrian, under the influence of Mr. Ellroy, is wanting to repudiate his youthful excesses, but you and I are in agreement in thinking this was a strength, not a weakness. Not that there's anything wrong with taking a different tack now.
Also, I think you may be right on the 'Milk' front, for precisely the reason you say. The passing of Prop 8 here may mean that Hollywood feels the need to throw the gay community a bone. And I think that irrespective of merit, for Californians, which I assume Hollywood is still loosely a part of, the nostalgia for an era and the reliving of a tragic day, will boost this one up the list.
Also, given that this very topic of Toronto in transition is floating around on Peter Rozovsky's blog right now, but in regard to John McF's Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere, it might be fun to read them in succession. Although it sounds like stylistically, they are probably very, very different, so it might not work all that well.
Marco
I still think Milk could be the most interesting of the films for me, though. I do like Sean Penn as an actor (not much as a director) and GVS has made some extraordinary films. It's just Kermode's opinion though and he's wrong about a lot of things i.e. that John Boorman is a hack for example.
Ha!
Funny you picked that chapter. I was quite proud of that paragraph which was a cut of 4 pages down to 1 paragraph. The 3 pages cut basically were just a a waste of space.
It sounds a little pejorative though. I LOVED living in Harlem. I was very happy there. Michael complains about it a bit more than I did, but of course he's slightly younger and more naive than I was and had a more dangerous job...
Seana
I really have to take a pass on the Ondaatje because I havent read a word and at a certain point you actually have to read the fellow...
For many years Milk was a Robin Williams vehicle so I think we can all be happy that at least that never came to pass.
AHG
Millionaire Dollar Baby, Flags of Our Fathers, the other Iwo Jima one, and Changeling are not the great Eastwood films (for me at least) that everyone seems to think they are.
Havent seen Mystic River bcause 1) the book was very depressing 2) the film has Tim Robbins in it.
JOhn
I dont remember the Nicholoson death scene but I do recall that Martin Sheen dies in a funny one (falling off a roof or something). Sheen's accent was incredible, changing from line to line and scene to scene.
BTW you'll probably drink more tonight that all those alleged Southies did in the whole film but then maybe they were all recovering alcoholics or something.
Peter
I would love to have known Count Bismarck but alas never did.
No I never tried for the Bullingdon, no one would have wanted a vulgar Belfast kid like myself who would never dream of injecting cocaine into his own eyeball...
Marco
re Lucky Jim. I guess the humor didnt make the cultural leap, but that book is very funny. Did you read Decline & Fall by Waugh or Summer Lightning by Wodehouse - its in that vein.
You should try The Old Devils, there's a scene where they're unveiling a Dylan Thomas statue that had me on the floor...
Adrian
I remember being underwhelmed,but I read it a long time ago-University first year,then lent it to a girl who lost it.
Maybe if I were to read it again it would be different.
I generally go by the "if you don’t have anything nice to say,say nothing" maxim,b/c often it may be that it wasn't the right time for me to read that book,or I just didn't get it.There are books or records I hated at first, until I suddenly got in synch.Some now are among my favorites.
So I don't really have a strong opinion on Lucky Jim,and if someone I like/respect says it is good,I'm more than willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and believe it has redeeming qualities.
But since you didn't use me the same courtesy,picking apart half-remembered books is even easier than picking apart unread books.
Marco
Nah, I was just joshing about old Mike Ondaatje, I dont think I've even read a back cover of his so I've no clue about him and you're right maybe shouldn't speculate. I could well become like the Apostle Paul, when I get a chance to actually read him. A good example of that is Vikram Seth. I read a novel of his called - I think - The Golden Gate which was a novel in verse about the Golden Gate Bridge. I cant begin to describe how much I disliked that book, and I bought it new from a bookstore when I had very little money (not much has changed actually)so I was well pissed off; but then I got A Suitable Boy and thought it one of the best things I'd ever read (still do) and went around telling everyone I knew that they had to read it.
It's hard for me to imagine a circumstance in which you will ever be like the apostle Paul.
I read Golden Gate (It isn't actually about the Golden Gate Bridge, for those who haven't read it) around the time it came out, and actually enjoyed it, but I was maybe a little too impressed by the feat of it back then. And it may have helped that it did seem very evocative of a whole part of the Bay Area landscape that I was familiar with. I haven't yet tackled A Suitable Boy, though have been told to before, but I did read An Equal Music fairly recently, and really liked that too, although I suspect you guys would find the protagonist a little tiresome if not downright insufferable. The fact that I had just been in London and was happy to revisit it may have made it work for me too.
Seana
Thanks for that, I've been wondering about An Equal Music. I think I'll give it a go, I loved A Suitable Boy so much that if it's a quarter as good as that it I'll be really pleased.
I wonder if I was too young for The Golden Gate, I read it when it came out, what year was that? 89?
To bring things back to Canada, I'm not such a big fan of Rohinton Mistry. I met a lady on a plane who was his best friend or something and she spent four hours of the London to Toronto leg explaining how wrong I was about that. The other four hours she spent trying to get me to join her cult.
That sounds like a long flight. I read Such a Long Journey, no pun intended, and liked it all right, but that was a bit before the big Indian wave, though post Salman Rushdie, and it may well have been the novelty of the Indian setting, which wouldn't be enough now. A lot of people I know have pushed A Fine Balance on me, but they usually do it shaking their heads, saying "Very difficult, very grim," or something to that effect, which doesn't make me exactly want to go running out to get it.
Regarding Equal Music, I suppose what I should have said is that I at points found the central dilemma of the narrator tiresome, but was willing to overlook it. But as it has to do with a young man's obsession with a woman, there might be points that some of you can relate to better than I could.
I expect that if I read Golden Gate now, I would find fault with it, maybe especially as poetry. But like the London novel, it is impressive how much this guy can ventriloquize his way into a whole different culture. The feel of Palo Alto and San Francisco at that time, even the somewhat pretentious things about the characters, did feel right.
It's interesting though, that he did not go on and try to do anything else in that vein stylistically, which was probably wise.
Seana
One of the characters in A Fine Balance gets castrated another blinds her own children so they'll make better beggars and thats not the really depressing stuff...
Yeah, Slumdog Millionaire has similar elements, which area little hard to make a 'feel good' movie out of. I suppose writing anything about India would make it necessary to include certain harsh facts. Without meaning to be funny, I expect it is 'a fine balance'.
I have A suitable boy,or rather Il ragazzo giusto -bought used (or,as Declan Burke would say,pre-loved).
Haven't yet broached it-reason's the same that kept me away from Bolano and the latest Pynchon
I feel too old for 1,000+ page tomes (1,400+ in asb case).
John
I almost went off on Ondaatje like I did The Departed, but really, I need more to drink
Come back after the drink,then.
We need a ugly off-topic literary dogfight if this post is to challenge Peter's monstruous record breaker (It may also help if you have strong opinions about Clive James and/or helicopters).
Me and Adrian have lost our hand at it,as you see we kiss and make up too soon.
So have your drink,awaken the Larne genes and on with the Hulk impersonation.
Pre-emptively,I'll say that the first I read of MO was In the Skin of a Lion ,which is already a more conventional novel,and then went backwards.
One of the main aspects of ITSOAL,which I found recurring in his works,is the contrast between a fascination with passion/violence (fire,explosions,bursts of color and light,the love stories) and one with control/restraint/finely executed technique (Patrick and his father defusing explosives, Alice's dance and theatrical performance,Caravaggio,Temelcoff swinging from the bridge)
I suppose his style,even in his earlier novels,works for me because I don't see it as an empty exercise,but rather arising from the confluence of these two aspects.
Marco
It would be too crazy even for me to get in an argument about books I havent read.
Adrian -
Yeah, there's probably no middle ground for The Expendables. Either it will be very good (less likely) or horrible. But that's all I need to go see it--the outside chance that it will be an awesome action flick, and the cast alone is worth the price of the ticket.
100!
gb
Haven't yet broached it-reason's the same that kept me away from Bolano and the latest Pynchon
I feel too old for 1,000+ page tomes (1,400+ in asb case).
Oh, I expect youthful feelings will return to you, once you've gone through your midlife crisis and all.
I would say that for me, the awareness of mortality, the years fleeting and so on works somewhat the other way, as far as books to take on. I've liked Vikram Seth too well in the past, and I've had one too many recommendations on A Suitable Boy--and Adrian's opinion is always worth at least listening to--for me to feel like I'd give it a miss just based on length. Ditto Bolano, though I will still probably start with Savage Detectives and see if it's my cup of tea.
What I do feel more and more willing to risk missing out on are books that are today's news, but with no indication that they are tomorrow's. I did a very brief stint as a reviewer this year, which mercifully ended, because life does feel too short to just read random things that publishers have happened to send copies of. I don't mind random if it's my random, i.e., it's something that speaks to me in some way, jumps off the shelf or whatever. But I'm not a fast enough reader to take on other people's randomness as well.
Working in a bookstore that sells mainly new books (if I hadn't caught my own typo, that would have come out as 'manly new books', which would have left some wondering)there is a constant onslaught of new stuff all the time, and there are great temptations in that. You can easily feel too much obligation. Whereas in fact, I really much prefer the 'way leading on to way' method of reading.
v word=rohinton
No, just kidding.
102!
Re books that are today's news, you've hit upon one reason I've resisted reading Stieg Larsson so far. I suspect I will read him eventually, though.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
100!
gb
Gerard,I can't help feeling your comment wasn't much content driven.
and I've had one too many recommendations on A Suitable Boy--and Adrian's opinion is always worth at least listening to for me to feel like I'd give it a miss just based on length
I agree (even on Adrian's opinion,but don't tell him) but my tbr pile is staggering as it is and mammoth books are unlikely to make it to the top very soon-plus if I'm not careful I could cause a deadly landslide.
I've read and liked Distant star,but I feel 2666 is very different.
What I do feel more and more willing to risk missing out on are books that are today's news, but with no indication that they are tomorrow's.
Re books that are today's news, you've hit upon one reason I've resisted reading Stieg Larsson so far. I suspect I will read him eventually, though.
I wait for at least the first book in the trilogy to make it into the used/secondhand circuit in any language.
It's only a matter of time.
John has apparently decided not to take up the gauntlet.
Terrible film adaptations and related merchandising:
Watchmen toys
Marco
Christ man I wish you hadnt shown me that it makes me feel that Alan Moore was right all along. Movie adaptations only cheapen the original.
Yet as I was saying to Peter I think the 39 Steps film is better than the book.
Brian
I think I said that Rutger Hauer was in the Expendables. Of course i meant that dude from Rocky 4 Dolph Lundgren - the great Rocky rematch we've all been waiting for.
I think The Expendables has the potential to be awesome, I just hope they dont blow it.
Peter,
I read the Girl with the dragon tattoo and though it was ok...
Seana
I know you wont believe me but A Suitable Boy is a fairly quick read.
I loved the whole book except
SPOILER ALERT
the bit right at the end where she MARRIES TOTALLY THE WRONG GUY!!!
But even so I forgave her.
Ger
Dont let them grind you down, I know the stress you're under...
There's also a trailer looking pretty faithful to the original,along with a few others you may be interested,like Star Trek or Radio Free Albemuth.
My reaction to 90% of the films I've seen is very lukewarm.There are a few I consider good or great,and of course some good films have been made from awful books,but on average for me a movie has a hard time running against a book.
I appreciate the support, Mister McKinty.
Marco - Consider this a raised eyebrow:
_-
o0
Yup, still no content.
gb
That was your idea of a spoiler alert?
Luckily, it's highly likely that we would disagree on who the right guy is, so I won't let that stop me.
I finished 50G yesterday. It's really good. I suppose I could just put the words 'spoiler alert' right here and then go on to say whatever I wanted, huh?
No--I can feel Marco's anxiety coming through the web just at the thought. I will say, since I think the fact that there's a Cuban aspect has already been widely disclosed, that I happened to read Yoani's latest blog post, "Victim no, Responsible" not too long after finishing the book and found the resonance almost uncanny. In feeling tone, I mean, not plot. I think you have captured and conveyed something real about Cuba, Mr. McKinty.
However, as I feel somehow dedicated to the cause of keeping you from hubris, I will say that there are probably hundreds of posters on Yoani's blog who would leap to dispute this if they only knew.
Yup, still no content.
Another strike and you're out.
the bit right at the end where she MARRIES TOTALLY THE WRONG GUY!!!
But even so I forgave her.
Luckily, it's highly likely that we would disagree on who the right guy is, so I won't let that stop me.
What's this,Adrienne McKinty's chick-lit blog? For shame!
I finished 50G yesterday. It's really good...I think you have captured and conveyed something real about Cuba, Mr. McKinty.
Now I'm positively salivating.
Luckily I still have Hidden River while I'm waiting.
I think you have captured and conveyed something real about Cuba, Mr. McKinty.
However...I will say that there are probably hundreds of posters on Yoani's blog who would leap to dispute this if they only knew.
I'm sure he has captured and conveyed something real about Cuba.But it remains very difficult to portray objectively Cuba,and especially the relationship between Cuba and the Usa.
Adrienne McKinty would be a great pen name for that chicklit novel he's always promisng to write. And the best part is that no one would ever even know it's him.
I'm sure it's impossible to objectively convey a complex relationship between any two nations. But I do think you can convey something of how one person experiences that totality pretty accurately.
"Yet as I was saying to Peter I think the 39 Steps film is better than the book."
Hitchcock hsa to be a special case, both because he discussed so intelligently his attitude toward adapting work from other media and because of the extensive changes he made to The 39 Steps. These included little things like the adding the romance and the bit with the craggy old farmer and his wife, and subtracting the 39 steps. The man knew what he wanted, to say the least.
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Seana
Its only my experience of Cuba, but somehow I think I had a better view of the place than the foreign celebrities staying at the bugged Nacional Hotel and being dragged around Potemkin villages. Also I was able to freely talk to people, because I wasnt famous and therefore wasnt given a chaparone or a translator.
RE SUITABLE BOY
I hate to spoil it further, but I really dont think you'll agree with her choice. I think she did it more to spite her parents than out of real love. He's a decent guy but just not the one for her.
Marco
Your book will be on its way Friday.
Suitable Boy is a great chick lit novel. I had a wonderful experience reading that book. I spent 6 weeks travelling round Northern India and that was my book for the trains, waiting rooms, etc. Really perfect. Theres a scene which takes place in the old British Fort in Lucknow which I chanced upon on the bus to the Old British Fort in Lucknow - please me no end that did.
Peter
I saw the play. Its fecking hilarious. Ok they play it for laughs and some Hitchcock fans might be ticked, but very few. I read your post. Yup it sounds like the same production.
I gotta admit that the English accents werent totally convincing (Aussie actors) but they werent bad and the enthusiasm made up for it.
BTW that old Scottish crofter in the 39 Steps was a guy called John Laurie who basically played that same role for 50 years most memorably as the gloomy Private Frazier in the BBC sitcom Dad's Army.
I'd love to see him play that role in a comedy because he was so memorably forbidding and gloomy in The 39 Steps.
I'd probably have enjoyed the play more if I'd been prepared for its slapstick. Some of the stagecraft was astonishingly good,
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter
The Private Frazier character was an undertaker serving in the Home Guard during the War (John Laurie was the only of the actors in the cast who actually did serve in the Home Guard). He was very pessimistic and gloomy. This is a scene you may enjoy
Thanks. So, that's the sort of story with which the old crofter entertained his young wife of an evening.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
You know if I do actually get to the end of A Suitable Boy, I will probably be so impressed with myself that I won't even notice who she marries.
Chicklit, I don't know, but I did look at the beginning of it, and it certainly is a Jane Austen novel waiting to happen. Although they already did that whole Indian Pride and Prejudice, I think it was called something like Bride and Prejudice? So I don't know. That one was pretty forgettable.
No, it starts off well, but I have a couple of things I'd need to polish off before I even contemplate it. It does sound like a great book to take on a journey, though.
Ok so I know no one's reading this all the way down here but just for the record I finally saw Slumdog Millionaire today (April 27) and didnt much care for it. It certainly wasnt a bad film but I found it hard to like it. Danny Boyle is the master of the visceral but I dont think tugging the emotion is quite the same thing as getting us to get emotionally involved with (or even like) the characters. Slumdog made me feel manipulated. It actually reminded me of that silly Wes Anderson film about India which was his worst.
Actually, I'm reading down here because my email still flags it, even though I should be headed for work.
I agree with you on both movies, even though it's heresy to say. I'm happy for India that the film met with such success here, but I didn't think it was anywhere as good as Millions.
And I haven't heard anyone else not liking that Wes Anderson movie. But I thought it was self-indulgent.
Looking at this post reminds me that I have yet to even start A Suitable Boy.
I haven' seen "Slumdog Millionaire," so I have no strong feelings for or against. But it is nice to see an opinion swimming against the tide of uncritical gush.
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
The Beloved Spousal Equivalent and I took my parents to see Slumdog Millionaire last month. The women loved it; Dad and I thought it was tripe.
I've reconsidered my opinion in light of the ressurrection of this comment thread. I was right the first time.
I don't think opinion falls out neatly along gender lines, however. It came up briefly at my book group the other night, mainly women, and I'd say opinion among those who'd seen it was fairly evenly divided.
It is visually rich, and I think some people were more impressed by that than others. But it is emotionally manipulative and schmaltzy under its exotic surface.
Worst part for me though was that I really love that actor who played the torturing police captain. He was the best thing about the movie they made of 'The Namesake', another movie I found disappointing on many levels. But I'm sure he relished the part of playing a thug, and I'm sure he's not complaining about the money either.
Seana, Peter, Dana
I am not a Danny Boyle hater. Quite the reverse in fact. I liked Trainspotting and Millions and 28 Days Later and his early work on Inspector Morse, but this film was crude. Of course you're supposed to suspend your belief but SlumDog was as fantastic as Benjamin Button. It seemed overly influenced by Bollywood movies, which in a serious drama cant have been a good thing.
I'm not a Danny Boyle hater either. That's what makes the film so disappointing.
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