A Beautiful Mind (attn. mark s: lots of maths hopefully)

my father , a forensic social worker, claims because schizophrenia onsets at adolescene(sp) and that is a time that most people are amorpheous in their sexuailty ,alot of schizophrenics have loose defitions of sexual idenity . Is this true ?

Has Ron Howard EVER made a good movie?

Apollo Eleven had scenes that were brillant , all that mid 60s suburban tragic art direction. I think 5 minutes of good art direction save a film.

Splash! is good (seriously: and despite presence of tom hanks *and* daryl hannah). Apollo 13 also. Never saw Cocoon, tho must say I'm not tempted either.

[promo slot] my review of ABM is in this month's S&S [/promo slot]

I think it has some genuinely great ideas in it, to be honest - and more inventive ideas than fucking Mulholland Drive, which I fidgetted thru on Wed night — but doesn't quite work.

Question I asked in my review: has a Ron Howard movie ever had an actual genuine villain? Hollywood w.NO bad guys (even in throwaway bit parts) is quite daring and interesting I think.

(oh sorry i forgot to say: yes, ABM omits the young Nash's bisexual adventures, or anyway sublimates this dimension entirely into paranoid political shenanigans, which I suppose is a sell-out in a way — that is, it's implicitly present in a way I could only explain via spoilers — but might also confuse the issue)

it elads to intersting philosphical questions on autheniciy and the biopic . Ideological ones as well.

In her biography of Nash, Sylvia Nasar discusses the Freudian concept in the 1950s that linked schizophronia and homosexuality, a theory that (I'm told - I'm no expert) has long since been discredited. If the movie cops out (on the bisexuality issue), is it because Howard and/or the writer(s) and/or the studio(s) were worried that too many cinemagoers would equate the two in their 'beautiful' minds?

is backdraft the worst script he directed? awful awful dialogue. that had a bad guy IIRC, tho not a comic book evil english-accented type. more a disgruntled employee (tho not Dennis Hopper)

brackdaft is all the lovingly filmed flames (slow pan across the face of the devil)

(i'm leaving the typo it makes me smile)

Jeff: yes probably that the chief reason for the omission. But also what I meant above is that it would simply become insanely cluttered as a story, I think: a subplot too far for an already fairly daring mainstream movie

why has the FReudian theory been disqaulifed , my father thinks it is still realvent in a more complex form ?

Certainly not a black and white evil villain though. Disgruntled employee with the right to be disgruntled. Even The Grinch isn't a bad guy.

You know what Mark - I think you've hit on something here. And Happy Days didn't have a bad guy either. (Auteur theory 101 - something significant linking all his films).

What on earth is this complex connection between homosexuality and schizophrenia that your father believes in Anthony?

He thinks that sexuality or sexual idenity and roles are cemented in adolscence , when pyislogical(sp) changes are at their peak . Schizophrenia also mannifests itself in adloscence or early adult hood, therefore your enery is not being directed in firming up any doubts or concerns or ambiguity in realtion to sexual idenity . So if you think you kinda maybe like the same gender you dont firm it up because other things in yr life are more presicent (sp)

has a Ron Howard movie ever had an actual genuine villain?

Yup. Willow, god help me for remembering. And though I never saw Ransom, was the kidnapper meant to be bad or just misunderstood?

dude the kidnapper was valerie solanis!!

(oh sorry i forgot to say: yes, ABM omits the young Nash's bisexual adventures, or anyway sublimates this dimension entirely into paranoid political shenanigans, which I suppose is a sell-out in a way — that is, it's implicitly present in a way I could only explain via spoilers — but might also confuse the issue)

If I recall correctly, Nash also gives a slightly pronounced 'look' to a male walker-by, but surely most Americans would think nothing of it. "Oh he must like his shoes..." Plus several Gladiator fans wld not find strength and honor in Maximus Grunt being a friend of Dorothy.

I forgot Willow. Still that film was written (vaguely) by George Lucas so you've got a copuple of ying and yangs pulling in different direction there.

Everyone in Parenthood is a villain.

Not enough algebra in this thread yet.

Well, there wasn't really any math in the movie, either.

You guys have gotta read this great essay on the book 'A Beautiful Mind' in 'Ferment', a maths mag. I read it months ago before I'd heard of the movie and was trying to get people to read the essay so now I have an excuse to try to get more people to read it.

http://www.ma ths.ex.ac.uk/~mwatkins/zeta/nash.htm

I found this again by doing the google search "department lounge aliens john nash". It was at the top of the search results.

"Get back to work! You're laborers. You should be laboring. That's what you get for not having an education."