lzcutter
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Posts posted by lzcutter
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Is there anyone out there who can answer my questions? What stance is he making against anti-depressants? Is it for adults or for ill-mannered kids who are systematically diagnosed these days as hyperactive? Also, what actresses has he bashed?>>
Anne,
Last year, Tom Cruise went on the Today Show and berated Brooke Shields. Shields, when she gave birth the last time, began to suffer from post-partum depression. She went public with her struggle that included anti-depression medicine.
Cruise, for reasons known only to himself, took the opportunity on national television to chide her for using drugs to get better. Now, as most people know these days, post-partum depression is real and it can have serious consequences for mother and child, sometimes resulting in the child being harmed.
Matt Lauer, to his credit, stood up for Shields. Cruise began to argue with him about who knew better about drugs and drugs companies. Cruise posed himself as having done so much research into the subject and became incredibly condescending in tone not only to Lauer but to the audience watching. The basic message was if you suffer from post-partum depression it's not that hard to suck it up and deal with it. Lauer was appalled as was most of America. Shields took him to task for telling her what she should have done without walking even an inch in her shoes.
This happened about the time he appeared on Oprah and jumped up and down on the sofa proclaiming his love for Katie Holmes.
In the last year and a half, he fired his long time publicist and put his sister in charge. Since then, he has rethought that strategy and gone back into business with Pat Kingsley.
As for the whole silent birth/placenta thing? It was all a big yawn. If the couple wants to do that and Cruise wants to eat it? Who cares?
The problem with Cruise is that his personal life and his personal beliefs became the story. When Pat Kingsley was in charge of his career she kept him on a tight leash.
With her gone, and his sister in charge, his devotion to Scientology became the story.
In Hollywood, no matter what you believe in, no matter how big a star you are, nothing is more important than the movie you just starred in and should be promoting. If people are talking about you and not talking about the movie, there's a problem.
Spielberg is said to be very unhappy with Cruise's attitude towards the promotion of War of the Worlds where the focus was on Cruise and Scientology and not Cruise and the movie.
Will he work again in this town. Of course he will. And Sumner Redstone and Viacom/Paramount will probably help bankroll a picture or two.
But, at the end of the day, he should not have attacked Brooke Shields for seeking medical help for a medical problem that was endangering her life and her child's.
But that's just my opinion.
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Silent film was not just a movie with no sound -- it was an art form in and of itself. Silent epics had production values not equaled until modern CGI. The introduction of sound was actually a setback in many ways. Locking the camera in the studio meant the end of the scope and beauty obtained with complete freedom of movement. This would take decades to overcome. When Mary Pickford said "It would have been more logical if silent pictures had grown out of the talkies instead of the other way around" she had a very valid point.>>
Jon,
That paragraph alone makes me yearn for TCM to rebroadcast Kevin Brownlow, David Gill and David Shepard's epic
"Hollywood: An Appreciation of American Silent Film"
series.
Here's hoping the rumors are true and that it is finally out of rights hell, coming to DVD and if so, hopefully TCM would rebroadcast all 13 episodes.
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"I believe it is already on the Sunset Boulevard Special Collector's Edition dvd. This dvd has been out for awhile."
As I recall it has the storyboard for the original opening, but no actual footage...>>
Jack,
I know I saw the footage in the German doc that TCM ran last summer (though it was a few years old).
And I believe Cinesage posted that he saw it when the Academy screened
Sunset Blvd last summer. But I could be wrong and he could be talking about Double Indemnity.
If they really wanted to sell a lot of DVDs of both films, offer the alternates as extras.
I know I would be one of the first in line to buy both films.
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I am just fascinated with the professional and personal relationship between Gene and Stanley Donen. The doc had Betsy Blair saying that Donen was jealous of Kelly's talent, do I have that correctly? So, was Gene jealous of Donen's creativity? >>
I think they were both strong, ego driven men who found themselves in a creative relationship where their work together was much more magical and profitable than their work apart.
Kelly, by most accounts, was a hard driven perfectionist and not the easiest guy to get along with. In later years, he was not above taking full credit for work that was, in reality, more of a collaboration between the two.
Don't get me wrong, Kelly was an incredible dancer, choreographer and a good actor and
Singin' in the Rain, On the Town and the others he did with Donen are classic films to cherish for the ages.
Donen, to his credit, in the Private Screenings he did with RO which was broadcast last fall, took the high road throughout the interview when questioned about Kelly.
I give Donen major credit for taking that high road. It's not always easy but perhaps Donen found peace with Kelly and the work they did or perhaps Donen realizes that there is no honor in trashing Kelly at this late date. They did not always get along and often clashed on their films. It may have taken Donen a while to find that peace and realize that his cinematic legacy is often tied to Kelly and visa versa. I suspect it was just as hard, if not harder, for Kelly to realize.
Together, they created some of the best musical films that will live on long after all of us are long gone. And I hope that both of them realize(d) that and that it brought them joy.
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Wonder if he ever thought of becoming a Hollywood star himself? >>
Not sure what your criteria for star is but to many of us Johnny Carson was a Hollywood star. He hosted his late night show, performed in Vegas, hosted the Oscars and kept us laughing through some very traumatic times.
His face and voice were as recognizable as any classic era actor or actress.
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Charlie,
I don't remember it being a television series. I thought it was a Hallmark Hall of Fame broadcast with Jimmy Stewart and Jessie White reprising their roles from Broadway and the film.
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Will no one rid me of this meddlesome pest, er, I mean... priest?>>
Oh but if I could, you know I would.
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Mongo,
But only TCM shows those 1950s westerns uncut, commercial free and in their original aspect ratio.
It has to be a special showing for Encore Westerns to show a post-1950s film in its original aspect ratio.
They show Major Dundee and often show the Peckinpah westerns in their OAR but those are the only ones they seem to adhere the OAR policy to.
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Cinemafan.
Glad you finally got to see it and liked it. You will find its influence on film makers from the late 1960s onward.
It is one of Ford's most controversial films but one of my favorites and Wayne gives one of the best performances of his career.
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Anne,
You betcha! But if I had a family like his (oh, wait, I do!) and couldn't communicate my feelings (as Grant seems incapable of doing outside his immediate family), I can understand why Mr Cutter starts to watch this film and begins to put his hands over his ears and scream for silence while I laugh all through it.
A little elderberry wine might help, I sometimes think.....
Message was edited by:
lzcutter
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Yes, hun, but they aren't techniques. A technique is something different from a thematic point or counterpoint>>
I don't know about anyone else, but having been called "hun" by you I have noticed that when you start to use the term "hun", it's not a term of endearment but one of exasperation.
You might want to put that one to rest as most of don't like to be referred to as "hun" by anyone we know, much less someone who doesn't know us.
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Filmlover, Kyle and Fred,
When I was in film school a thousand years ago, okay more like 25 years ago, as part of our Bad Movie Marathon we ran a soundie by Remo Germani, an Italian singer. He was doing a cover of "Da Doo Run, Run" by the Beach Boys. Of course, Remo did not speak English or sing in English.
The soundie was the hit of our first 24 hour Bad Movie Marathon. When ever a movie was exceptionally bad we would thread up Remo's soundie, hit the change over button and suddenly there would be Remo among a Italian villa garden singing. Of course, everyone in the audience would sing along.
The most memorable movies from that first Marathon were the Terror of Tiny Town and the short on Midget Wrestlers, the Creeping Terror and Plan 9.
But Remo was by far the hit of the event and for at least three years when ever we held a Bad Movie Marathon, Remo was there.
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Martin and Lewis' last appearance was at an MD telethon. They did their act, left the theatre and said goodbye. Or so the story goes.>>
They were brought together by Sinatra who was appearing on the Telethon. Lewis says it brought around a reconciliation of him and Dean that lasted until Dean's death.
I believe that Lewis went to the funerals for Dino Jr. as well as Dean.
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Do I understand why someone would be offended by the actions in A Clockwork Orange? Definitely. But I can't take their outrage seriously if they ever found the scene in Deliverance something to laugh about
OK, so why the comment about not taking someone's outrage seriously if they found the Deliverance scene something "to laugh about"?>>
You are not reading what Kyle wrote. He is NOT saying the scene from Deliverance was something to laugh at. He is saying that there is a double standard for rape against women and rape against men. No one would ever dream of using a female rape as the basis of a comedic routine or use humor to address that issue.
But ever since Deliverance debuted, people have been using that scene as a comedic punch line.
So, what I see Kyle saying is that if we are going to say that rape is not a funny subject then we should not laugh when comedians or anyone else uses the Deliverance scene to elict laughter.
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Hollywood Kyle wrote:
The "experience" of Ned Beatty's character has been the basis of many a comedic riff ever since Deliverance came out. And people have laughed at it. It was describing a rape and people laughed at it.
Cinemascope replied:
And just who found the scene in Deliverance to be "something to laugh about"?>>
Lzcutter says:
If you read Kyle's post carefully, you will note that he is not talking about the scene in the movie. He is talking about all the people, famous and not, who have used that scene for comedic laughs .
Even Burt Reynolds when talking about shooting that scene and the effect it has on Beatty to this day, uses humor to tell that story.
I have never watched Clockwork Orange with an audience that laughed out loud in hysterical laughter watching the scene in question. I remember a great deal of uneasiness and tension in the theater as the scene played out but no one laughing hysterically.
Either way, that's not what Kyle implied or said in his post.
Message was edited by:
lzcutter because that word never is really important in that sentence.
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But I never bought into the whole "noble cowboy" thing. My favorite Western is Blazing Saddles, because it's more grounded in the truth than many John Wayne films.>>
Many of Wayne's best Westerns are not about the noble cowboy but feature complex, flawed characters trying to find common ground and honor in a lawless land. I don't know that Tom Dunson or Tom Doniphon or Ethan Edwards are what would be called noble but each in their own way is trying to come to grips with personal demons.
I hope you get a chance to watch some more Wayne westerns, especially the ones he did with Ford and Hawks. There's a great deal of truth in them not only about the characters but us as a society. I hope that you will find them worth your time.
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If you look at rape, its's so silly and dumb and funny. >>
I have never heard a victim of rape describe it as such.
I like black comedy as much as the next person. Again, I don't think Kubrick's intent was to find humor in the rape scenes in Clockwork. Surreal yes. Funny, no.
What happens to McDowell's character is not funny but incredibly ironic.
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Malkat,
I would respectively ask which films you have seen him?
I would also suggest watching:
Stagecoach, The Long Voyage Home, They Were Expendable, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Rio Grande, Sands of Iwo Jima, Red River, Rio Bravo, The Searchers, Liberty Valance, The Cowboys, True Grit and The Shootist.
He became an icon and in some ways was stereotyped. But his talent was true as evidenced by his work with Howard Hawks, Alan Dwan and especially, John Ford.
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Shane, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Searchers, Stagecoach, Liberty Valance, Red River or The Ox Bow Incident might fit the bill.
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Not depressing enough, no peole dying or being raped.>>
There is nothing funny about rape and I don't think Kubrick's intent in Clockwork Orange was to make fun of that situation.
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A Clockwork ORange is dark comedy. >>
Kbuff,
For what its worth, I don't consider all of Clockwork Orange to be a dark comedy. I find what happens to McDowell's character at the end, more ironic than funny.
Dark humor is supposed to have a bite to it. That's why many consider The Producers to be funny. It's one of the few films from that era that looks at the post war German stereotype and infuse it with humor.
Kenny Mars character in The Producers is a relative of Sellars' Strangelove in that they both use comedy to get their messages across.
Message was edited by:
lzcutter
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So, here is the question: do you believe the current film stock is really that good? Can we now get the same quality once only provided by 3-strip or not?>>
NX,
Today's film stocks are good. Look at what Scorcese accomplished with
The Aviator two years ago. He was going for an early Technicolor look in some of the scenes and accomplished that quite well.
The restorations of many musicals from Technicolor's glory days suggests that if done right, the colors are still eye-popping.
As for movies today and Technicolor, we seem to be in an era of desaturated colors or monochromatic look for many films. Michael Mann and his cinematographer on Collateral did a terrific job of making the looking of the film as part of the story. The Matador does a wonderful job of incorporating color into each frame.
While we no longer have the 3-Stripe process, there is (was) the dye transfer process which was almost as eye popping.
With digital enhancements and color timing, we can get a similar quality but not every film these days wants or should have eye popping color.
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I mean his movies are a little funny but nothing more, I don't think that they are masterpieces.>>
KBuff,
I think Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein are comedic masterpieces. Also, Mel Brooks as a producer, took a flyer on David Lynch and Elephant Man. That movie would likely not have gotten made had it not been Brooks. He has also produced:
My Favorite Year (a wonderful movie and send up to his time working with Sid Caesar), 84 Charing Cross Road and the Frances Farmer bio-pic, Frances.
He is much more than his comedic roots suggests. As for The Producers, the original film, I love the film and many of the moments have stayed with me all these years. In some ways, it is very much of its time and in other ways it is timeless. Mostel and Wilder are terrific together and their friendship becomes the heart of the film.
Is it an Essential? To me it is.
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What you apparently cannot stand is someone standing up for her opinion and defending it passionately -- not out of any personal animosity, but simply as a direct result of being fed up with living in a patriarchal society that keeps telling her in any number of ways that her opinion isn't important or at least not worth to be taken seriously (or at least not as seriously as if the opinion had come from a man).>>
I just want to say in Anne's defense that many times she and I have debated topics on this board and quite often they would get heated. But at no time did I ever have the feeling that she could not stand me standing up for what I believe.
She takes people's opinions seriously, whether you are male or female. She respects the opinions of a number of posters here, both male and female.
Like all of us, she gets hot under the collar about some subjects but I have watched as she has found common ground on a number of issues in these forums.
Perhaps it is the approach that is taken and less a problem of Anne's.
i dont like silents
in Silent
Posted
Cinemascope,
Have you seen it?
I ask because I consider it one of the best documentaries ever made.
Listening to the men and women who made those film and made American films an industry that, while changing and adapting with each decade, is still going strong.
I love that documentary.