Re: Private Ryan: the sick joke. The new low for the US movie industry (yes, industry...)

216.158.7.57

***You compare Speilberg with Kubrik et al and state that he is not a director like them or perhaps should not be considered a director at all. Perhaps I agree with you. Speilberg will never be considered a great director of "art films" yet he will be remembered as a great movie maker and more importantly as a great "story teller." This is, after all, what he does, and in my humble opinion better then most. He enchants his audience with stories. Just because his movies are not filled with Faustian angst doesn't mean that they are vile crap. His movies tell stories; stories of wonder and enchantment, stories of adventure, stories of good and evil. Narrative films such as Hook, Indiana Jones, and Schlindler's List will never be compared to La Dolce Vita or Citizen Kane, however, they will be brought up in comparisons between Speilburg and other great story tellers who used film as their medium.

I don't have problem with that. However, I do start getting a problem when such "hot dog" (to borrow Steve's expression) movie is being loudly trumpeted as the best movie of the year and it becomes a larger than life celebration cause. Mind you, even in the US, where movie making is almost totally dominated by garbage production, there is Allen, to name just one.

I don't mean to beat this to death, but my problem with Spielberg's style is the cheap methods he uses, stuff one normally associates with the Friday the 13th. There ARE better ways of telling a story. One doesn't have to reserve to "Faustian angst".

***Saving Private Ryan was about the men of our father's generation and their reality. Service to others, self sacrifice, patriotism; these were more then words to that generation, they were simple but absolute truths which they activily embodied. I thought that was what Speilberg accomplished, to show these simple yet fundamental concepts in a modest story that took place in a very complicated time and under the circumstances of war. Did he get carried away with making his first war movie? Perhaps, but not overmuch. Saving Private Ryan is a movie about the heroism of war and the good citizenship of peacetime that such heorism demands. It is a story about patriotism and patriots. A subject deserving attention and a story, perhaps a bit simplistically, but in the end well told.

You are probably right and in final analysis that movie is perhaps going to have some positive impact. I hope it does.

Regards,

Victor.

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Private Ryan: the sick joke. The new low for the US movie industry (yes, industry...) - Victor Khomenko 15:13:11 07/07/99 (32)

Re: Private Ryan: the sick joke. The new low for the US movie industry (yes, industry...) - DaveH 10:53:15 07/12/99 (7)

I am comforted by that thought. - petew 18:35:37 07/16/99 (3)

Which "war" are we discussing? - DaveH 15:49:31 07/18/99 (2)

Yes, indeed... - Victor Khomenko 05:46:02 07/19/99 (1)

I thought that was "Wag the Dog" (nt) - DaveH 16:05:10 07/19/99 (0)

Re: Private Ryan: the sick joke. The new low for the US movie industry (yes, industry...) - Victor Khomenko 07:14:59 07/13/99 (2)

Re: Private Ryan: the sick joke. The new low for the US movie industry (yes, industry...) - DaveH 21:31:13 07/13/99 (1)

Re: Private Ryan: the sick joke. The new low for the US movie industry (yes, industry...) - Victor Khomenko 05:05:15 07/14/99 (0)

Re: Private Ryan: some of it was very realistic - Estes 08:30:18 07/11/99 (15)

Re: Private Ryan: some of it was very realistic - Victor Khomenko 13:36:02 07/12/99 (13)

Re: Private Ryan: some of it was very realistic - Estes 17:18:19 07/12/99 (0)

Art vs. Product - TAFKA Steve 15:03:11 07/12/99 (11)

Re: Art vs. Product - Victor Khomenko 15:37:29 07/12/99 (10)

Trainspotting - petew 18:55:57 07/16/99 (0)

Glenn Gould - NO, Bitter Harvest - YES. - Victor Khomenko 07:20:26 07/13/99 (8)

Re: Glenn Gould - NO, Bitter Harvest - YES. - Estes 21:05:40 07/13/99 (0)

Re: Glenn Gould - NO, Bitter Harvest - YES. - TAFKA Steve 16:33:09 07/13/99 (6)

The best movie not to take your mother-in-law to... - Victor Khomenko 20:00:26 07/13/99 (5)

that's it! That's the one I was thinking of! No, she wouldn't care for it either (nt) - petew 19:00:45 07/16/99 (0)

LOL! What a good son-in-law you are! - TAFKA Steve 15:38:59 07/14/99 (3)

Prequel? I like that. - Victor Khomenko 06:44:31 07/15/99 (2)

Irezumi? - TAFKA Steve 19:23:04 07/15/99 (1)

Re: Irezumi? - Victor Khomenko 05:21:26 07/16/99 (0)

Re: Private Ryan: some of it was very realistic - mtrycrafts 14:42:32 07/11/99 (0)

Re: Private Ryan: the sick joke. The new low for the US movie industry (yes, industry...) - MiKe 02:43:46 07/08/99 (2)

Re: Private Ryan: the sick joke. The new low for the US movie industry (yes, industry...) - Victor Khomenko 06:40:48 07/08/99 (1)

thanks Victor, you saved me a few hours! - petew 15:28:22 07/09/99 (0)

the next disaster movie was ... - Mart 00:39:38 07/08/99 (4)

Haven't seen it either. Waiting for the book so I can burn it. - petew 15:37:05 07/09/99 (2)

[|:-{)___ burn the tape, it's cheaper (nt) - Mart 03:58:15 07/10/99 (0)

[|:-{)___ burn the tape, it's cheaper (nt) - Mart 03:58:04 07/10/99 (0)

Re: the next disaster movie was ...LOL - MiK 02:39:32 07/08/99 (0)

Follow Ups

Re: Private Ryan: the sick joke. The new low for the US movie industry (yes, industry...) - Victor Khomenko 05:05:15 07/14/99 (0)

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