Random 10: Random Films for Comment - Week 23

the fall of the roman empier is loud and shrill and icky and horrible.

hmm couldd ddo with watching crash again - its been a few years, and i just finished reading the horrific novel, with some difficulty. i think i might be gettign resensitized, i don t remember the film bothering me all that much.oh execpt the surrigate vagina bit.

The Rutles film is genius, i love Blind Orange Peel and his wife. Crash was better than i thought it was going to be (after all the negative hype). Haven't seen that Hartley film, but i did watch a couple of his other films recently and they really have dated quite badly - all that smartarse dialogue, ugh.

Not only was Crash better than its negative hype, I think it's right up there with Videodrome as being Cronenberg's best.

Finally, someone else who actually thinks there is some value to Crash!

Great scenes from The Rutles include Blind Orange Peel (or was it Blind Lemon Pie?), the Jagger interview, the shower press conference, all of "Let It Rot".

I will come back to give a Crash exegesis-in-a-paragraph-or-two soon, though. I should re-watch it anyway.

Crash is incredible. I saw it three times in the theatre and every single time there was audible groaning from male audience members when Spader and Koteas started going at it. And I just love the hypnotic, opressive feel of it.

Hartley has kind of lost me since Henry Fool but I still have a soft spot for Trust, Simple Men and Amatuer. He was doing something very interesting with those films. he managed to make over intelectualized mannered self reflexiveness charming. It would have been interesting if he'd gone in a much darker direction. I always thought his style would suit paranoid conspiracy thrillers.

don't be hatin' on Anthony Mann.

im not hatign on mann. "winchester 73" and "the naked spur" are just about my favourite westerns ever. but "the fall" feels as if every member of the cast and crew despised the movie they were making. since that feel is prety rare outside of kubricks oeuvre id still recomend the movie. just be warned that its a really grating experience.

I haven't seen it in years, but if you're comparing it to kubrick that puts me in a mind to like it. all I really remember is that shot of the roman soldiers with the snow falling around them. That image has always stuck in my mind.

Glad to see you mention Naked Spur. It is without a doubt my favourite western. And is even on my all time top ten list. Winchester 73 is fucking fantastic too. I love that stop motion deer.

"Simple Men" was just before Hartley started to get unbearably cute. Is that the one with the "Kool Thing" dance?

I saw "Fall of the Roman Empire" maybe 3 years ago and found it OK, Stephen Boyd aside (tho "El Cid" is even a bit better). Isn't "Gladiator" a quasi-, unofficial remake?

"Crash" is one of the better high-profile fetish movies. That scene in the car showroom (?) is a scream.

crash - my fave cronenberg. everything is shiny and dead. i was so proud when this came out and put another notch in canada's bedpost of filmed sexual deviance and depravity in the 90s. negative hype was hilarious: omg people are going to crash cars and hump cuz it's so glamourous. think of the children. or whatever. this also reminds me i need to download the criterion laserdisc commentary track.

the crush - we should all be so lucky. err, i mean nothing. jennifer rubin looked tight in a tie. i guess.

from the life of the marionettes - picked up the vhs box every time i went a-renting at red river books back in winnipeg but never managed to take it home. then i moved. somebody talk about it.

the rutles - barely remember it beyond thinking it was totally rad. you lot have far greater film smarts than me - was this the first real mockumentary?

simple men - not sure where i'd rate it since it's been awhile... third to fifth maybe, below trust and the unbelievable truth. i wouldn't say it's dated but that i've outgrown thinking the dialogue was the best evar like i did in school. wayne's world is dated, simple men is...what pvc said. or maybe just godard for the mtv generation. ok, i see your point.