Re: Thanks for your response, RGA!

207.81.84.149

Posted by RGA on May 31, 2005 at 14:41:36

In Reply to: Re: Thanks for your response, RGA! posted by Gee LP on May 31, 2005 at 00:53:24:

This was made for TV film based off of one of the great American novels

Yes I should have said Play not novel because oviously Death of a salesman was a play -- if you read it again with play it will make more sense. To put it bluntly I have never read the Greates American novel and didn't even know there was one (mildly sarcastic here LOL).

I love movies but I find a lot of people are very narrow on what they call good. If you like Jaws and ET then you have a greater understanding of the film's intent than many.

I'm not an avid movie wather -- I had a big run in the early to mid 1990s seeing about 65 films a year in theaters from about 1993-1998 renting many as well. But I'm only around 1200 movies total many of which include schlock horror films.

My kind of film critic to put it bluntly is Roger Ebert. He is a formula writer but good at it. It is obvious he loves movies and all kinds of movies. My film viewing motto is "I don't care about the subject matter but entertain me in some way." Spielberg I always feel I'm defending from attacks. It's silly because I've read bizzarre attacks on him for years. He's overly sentimental, his movies have happy endings (presumably because life never has any??). I have no problem with sentiment in movies. He is "mostly" an escapist optimistic director, if I had to creat a category for him. And what he does he does better than any other director I've seen. So does George Romero -- and if what they do isn;t to one's liking so be it.

I ignore the director as much as possible because I don't like going in to see movies with any pre-conceived expectations. I want to be swept up in the story than expect some masterpiece because the director is tied to it. I made the mistke of watching Maid in Manhatten because Ralph Fiennes was in it. I made the assumption based on prior work that he would add substance to this thing.

Spielberg is not free of pathetic efforts. I still admire him for saying that he should not have made the film and that he should have given the project to another director -- he said that about the Colour Purple which had what 11 Academy Award nomination -- all I can say is that it was a pretty darn good movie for a mistake at least relative to what other stuff is out there.

I was not attempting to knock Shakespeare - he is one of the few writers I enjoyed in my literature classes. I don't find his plots terribly deep. His writing style was fantastic, and his plots probably revolution at the time.

If we go to sales of re-print dvd's then take JAWS -- a film that when it came out arguably was scary and had a huge special effects wonder as the centerpiece (Though Spielberg hated the shark). We don't have a break down on who buys what on dvd. But I'm willing to bet more people and I mean 100 times more people are buying Jaws or Raiders over Some Like it Hot or Citizen Kane.

Jaws apparently is lasting for more than the thriller aspects and for more than the now fake looking shark. it has a heart and soul in there which people respond to and will continue to respond to down the road because it was helmed by a director who know how do heart even with deceptively simplistic dialog.

I should not have knocked older films because a few of my favorites are La Grande Illusion, the Seven Samurai, The Third Man. But I also love the character seeking Redemtion films like Pulp Fiction in a sea of wickedly strange dialog.

I'm not saying that bigger box office take means better films. Not at all. It is funny to me to see a movie like Spider a Canadian film not even get a theatrical release in my Canadian city while some idiocy of a movie like Ace Ventura take up 2 screens everywhere. On the other hand Spider requires some thinking and after a long hard week of work sometimes people do not want to do that - so Jim Carrey is there to save you.

Plus attention spans are shorter these days. People blame video games - but you know I bought an X-BOX and a game called Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic just to see. And I can safely say that if games continue on this path some movies are in trouble. the dialog story and depth of this game trounces the Star Wars Movies. And your $30.00 gets you 50+ hours of entertainment value.

I see a new art form, or the potentional for it, coming with these games. Maybe in another ten years we'll be arguing over the direction of the latest game.

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Scorscese: what a small percentage of good - tinear 15:43:33 05/29/05 (58)

A total pile of crap... - HOK 19:53:54 05/30/05 (1)

Gee I like bringing Out the Dead... - RGA 16:47:32 05/31/05 (0)

Age of innocence was crap... - RGA 14:35:49 05/30/05 (38)

Re: Please put your dukes down, RGA! - Gee LP 18:14:31 05/30/05 (37)

That was quite good - Victor Khomenko 18:31:07 05/30/05 (36)

Re:It ain't yer commas, Victor, it's yer apostrophes! - Gee LP 21:57:04 05/30/05 (35)

Straw dogs, anyone? I did not - tinear 09:07:27 05/31/05 (6)

Re: Straw dogs, anyone? I did not - jamesgarvin 10:28:28 05/31/05 (5)

And yet another straw dog: is there a - tinear 15:15:50 05/31/05 (4)

Re: And yet another straw dog: is there a - jamesgarvin 15:42:26 05/31/05 (3)

You are one slippery guy. Do you unconsciously - tinear 06:19:02 06/01/05 (2)

There does not NEED to be a redeeming value in a character! - RGA 15:11:27 06/14/05 (0)

Re: You are one slippery guy. Do you unconsciously - jamesgarvin 06:35:37 06/01/05 (0)

Re:It ain't yer commas, Victor, it's yer apostrophes! - Victor Khomenko 06:21:55 05/31/05 (0)

Re:It ain't yer commas, Victor, it's yer apostrophes! - RGA 22:12:32 05/30/05 (26)

Re: Thanks for your response, RGA! - Gee LP 00:53:24 05/31/05 (25)

Re: Thanks for your response, RGA! - RGA 14:41:36 05/31/05 (1)

Re: Actually, Shakespeare's plots aren't that revolutionalry - Gee LP 15:53:45 05/31/05 (0)

"Shakespeare is not incredibly deep." - tinear 09:11:37 05/31/05 (22)

Well if he's incredibly deep I guess I'm with Mr. Shaw on this one. NT - RGA 14:50:59 05/31/05 (8)

Re: ROTFLMAO! - Gee LP 16:01:24 05/31/05 (7)

Re: ROTFLMAO! - patrickU 10:04:28 06/02/05 (5)

"Shaw couldn't even come up with the right ending for "Pygmalion"" - orejones 10:34:29 06/02/05 (4)

Re: Liza marries Freddie the dolt! Good heavens, no! - Gee LP 22:44:28 06/02/05 (0)

Re: "Shaw couldn't even come up with the right ending for "Pygmalion"" - patrickU 11:10:59 06/02/05 (2)

Not a play, but a Greek myth: look at the link... - orejones 11:20:44 06/02/05 (1)

Re: Not a play, but a Greek myth: look at the link... - patrickU 05:31:12 06/03/05 (0)

Sure but look at Romeo and Juliet... - RGA 16:31:49 05/31/05 (0)

Re: "Shakespeare is magic " nt - patrickU 12:14:07 05/31/05 (12)

Re: "Shakespeare is magic " - Gee LP 13:45:40 05/31/05 (11)

Shakespeare is rightly considered the father of - tinear 15:21:01 05/31/05 (7)

Re: Shakespeare is rightly considered the father of - RGA 16:35:06 05/31/05 (0)

Re: Why I quoted that instructor's comment - Gee LP 15:39:25 05/31/05 (5)

You forgot to include Sir John Gielgud in your list: his "Lear" is chilling, to say the least..." - orejones 10:43:17 06/02/05 (1)

Re: You forgot to include Sir John Gielgud in your list: his "Lear" is chilling, to say the least..." - Gee LP 22:54:37 06/02/05 (0)

My university - RGA 16:39:34 05/31/05 (2)

Correction - RGA 16:44:28 05/31/05 (1)

Re: Correction - patrickU 05:18:36 06/01/05 (0)

Re: "Shakespeare is magic " - patrickU 14:15:31 05/31/05 (2)

Re: Well said, patrickU - Gee LP 15:43:48 05/31/05 (1)

Re: Merci. - patrickU 04:10:37 06/01/05 (0)

Re: Scorscese: what a small percentage of good - Ears 12:47:02 05/30/05 (1)

I don't remember it as being impressive. - tinear 15:01:20 05/30/05 (0)

Re: Scorscese: what a small percentage of good - PdL 08:59:44 05/30/05 (3)

I was entertained by Goodfellas but, unlike - tinear 09:30:33 05/30/05 (2)

Excellent :-) nt - PdL 13:30:54 05/30/05 (0)

Bwahaha! - Harmonia 10:57:48 05/30/05 (0)

Marty, sue for seperation from Leo! * - mr grits 08:32:59 05/30/05 (0)

Cape Fear? - Road Warrior 06:24:18 05/30/05 (2)

See the original: the remake is a perfect example (att. Harmonia) - tinear 06:54:06 05/30/05 (1)

Your last sentence, agree on art - Road Warrior 11:29:00 06/02/05 (0)

Re: Scorscese: what a small percentage of good - patrickU 01:22:38 05/30/05 (2)

Absolutement! He has made, like I - tinear 05:19:04 05/30/05 (1)

Re: Absolutement! He has made, like I - patrickU 05:37:32 05/30/05 (0)

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but in mine you are in error. - Audiophilander 00:48:10 05/30/05 (2)

"How anyone...." Well, - tinear 05:16:54 05/30/05 (1)

"obviously, you're more enamored of celebrity than I." - No, not celebrity, but talent. - Audiophilander 12:39:30 05/30/05 (0)

Sez you....Grrrrrrr... - Harmonia 00:05:11 05/30/05 (0)

Follow Ups

Re: Thanks for your response, RGA! - RGA 14:41:36 05/31/05 (1)

Re: Actually, Shakespeare's plots aren't that revolutionalry - Gee LP 15:53:45 05/31/05 (0)

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