the dissent thing is instructional for me because i make notes in my head and say: okay, don't ever do that. don't ever write something like this. don't say that. etc. etc.
― scott seward, Saturday, 19 November 2011 18:41 (twelve years ago) link
I liked Taylor during his late nineties Salon tenure, but his Paulette tendencies were even then rather creepy. Like most mimickers he made me appreciate how singular the original was.
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 19 November 2011 18:45 (twelve years ago) link
I like the word "mimicker." I want to use it, but don't want to get called out on my mimickeristic ways.
― clemenza, Saturday, 19 November 2011 21:00 (twelve years ago) link
would Kael have liked The New World? maybe Colin Farrell would've gotten to her.
― Dr Morbois de Bologne (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 19 November 2011 21:04 (twelve years ago) link
I can't imagine Kael liking any Malick film, although I don't think she would have hated The Tree of Life quite as much as Kellow suggests. Or let me put it this way--I think she would have recognized the same beauty in the childhood section that everyone else does, and that she would have acknowledged and resisted it. All the whispered, philosophical narration, that I think she would have hated. The dinosaurs, I'm guessing she'd have found them funny. I bet she would have reviewed it more favorably than J. Edgar.
― clemenza, Sunday, 20 November 2011 03:23 (twelve years ago) link
I thought she said a couple of nice-ish things about Badlands...?
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 20 November 2011 05:41 (twelve years ago) link
I wanted to check something from Kael's What's Up, Doc? review, and it seems that Geocities page is back in operation. Not sure when it returned, or how long it will stay. Useful, in that it saves a trip downstairs. (But not this time--the line I wanted isn't in the 5001 blurb.)
http://www.geocities.ws/paulinekaelreviews/index.html
― clemenza, Saturday, 17 March 2012 00:46 (twelve years ago) link
It may be back, but it's still geocities.
― Everything You POLL Is RONG (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 17 March 2012 01:13 (twelve years ago) link
Sorry, GeoCities has closed.The GeoCities service is no longer available, but there's a lot more to explore on Yahoo!
Visit one of these popular Yahoo! sites:
― buzza, Saturday, 17 March 2012 01:33 (twelve years ago) link
geocities.ws
― Everything You POLL Is RONG (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 17 March 2012 03:35 (twelve years ago) link
what line are you looking for clemenza, i could dig it up for you
― these pretzels are makeing me horney (Hungry4Ass), Saturday, 17 March 2012 04:50 (twelve years ago) link
Found it, thanks. It had to do with a Love Story joke in WUD?:
“It’s one thing for outsiders like me to call Love Story a boobish movie, but when O’Neal, who starred in it (and gave it all the conviction it had), turns around and dumps on it, and, implicitly, on the people who loved him in it, all he does is expose his own cheap, cute cynicism.”
― clemenza, Saturday, 17 March 2012 13:10 (twelve years ago) link
she never said it (exactly):
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/wolcott/2012/10/The-Fraudulent-Factoid-That-Refuses-to-Die
― crazy uncle in the attic (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 25 October 2012 18:43 (eleven years ago) link
Speaking of which (xpost), I love seeing this Sullivan headline on election eve:
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/11/which-side-is-now-pauline-kael.html
― clemenza, Monday, 5 November 2012 23:01 (eleven years ago) link
I long argued it would get worse before it got better on the right. It did get worse. But if Obama wins, it just might get a little better.
speaking of cognitive dissonance
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 5 November 2012 23:02 (eleven years ago) link
I liked Kael's last interview where she said liberals couldn't see how American Beauty pandered to them. I think she'd fill George Clooney with venom.
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Monday, 5 November 2012 23:11 (eleven years ago) link
George is seething with venom already. I don't think she could make him any more venomous.
― clemenza, Monday, 5 November 2012 23:16 (eleven years ago) link
Are there still liberals who don't see how American Beauty pandered to them?
― Gukbe, Monday, 5 November 2012 23:19 (eleven years ago) link
Just me--love it. But let's save it for some other time.
― clemenza, Monday, 5 November 2012 23:23 (eleven years ago) link
Sort of thought American Beauty was pandering to conservatives. Meh.
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:12 (eleven years ago) link
God that movie sucked.
― pun lovin criminal (polyphonic), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:13 (eleven years ago) link
Well Eric, you haven't psychoanalyzed that dick Alan Ball like I have.
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:19 (eleven years ago) link
I'm psychoanalyzing your use of the word "dick" tho.
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:27 (eleven years ago) link
Not a fan of that arty sitcom American Beauty, but Ball acquired a lot of good will for me with Six Feet Under. Just not enough for me to watch True Blood.
― Room 227 (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:28 (eleven years ago) link
The movie is clearly trying to be "pro-gay" "pro-sensitive-teen-rebel" and "pro-alienated-suburban-saddo," how could it be pandering to anyone but liberals in 1999?
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:29 (eleven years ago) link
pro-sensitive itinerant plastic bags too
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:30 (eleven years ago) link
It seemed more like "pro-every scene ending with a laugh line," to me.
― Room 227 (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:30 (eleven years ago) link
It also sees career women as disgusting, gays as repressed murderous psychos, and littering as the cornerstone to seeing "so much beauty in the world."
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:31 (eleven years ago) link
Don't forget pro-Guess Who, and pro-1970 Firebirds.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:32 (eleven years ago) link
What pisses me off the most about the film, though: Spacey is amazing in it.
― Room 227 (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:33 (eleven years ago) link
repressed gays in the military as repressed murderous psychos
fixed
Yeah, it's a showbiz, vote-Democrat-til-you-die gay liberal perspective.
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:35 (eleven years ago) link
You still don't address its total misogyny. Oh right, gays.
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:36 (eleven years ago) link
Hated Spacey in this too, ftr.
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:37 (eleven years ago) link
Caveat: I haven't actually watched this dumb movie since 1999. So I could be wrong.
me neither, and no plans to ever again
Bening just seemed to be stuck in an off-week Carol Burnett Show sketch
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:39 (eleven years ago) link
guys did you notice their house was RED WHITE AND BLUE
omg
― Force Boxman (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:41 (eleven years ago) link
and being quite good at it; she gives the only watchable performance
xpost
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:41 (eleven years ago) link
Watched it again a few years back to re-test my opinion on it (then coloured by the fact of Todd Solondz' Happiness, from a year previous) and found that Spacey was actually good enough to keep me involved even through all of the piss poor writing, strident characterizations and sledgehammer symbolism.
― Room 227 (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:41 (eleven years ago) link
this
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:42 (eleven years ago) link
Bening's the only one who treats the material like Carol Burnett material.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:43 (eleven years ago) link
this is all kind of an insult to the carol burnett show
― idiot man-child (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:44 (eleven years ago) link
Oh man, I just remembered how ham-fisted the portrayal of Allison Janney's character was.
― Bobby Ken Doll (Eric H.), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:44 (eleven years ago) link
peter gallagher's eyebrows are the real star
― turds (Hungry4Ass), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:44 (eleven years ago) link
I did have lots of fun at the time pissing off the film's fans by claiming The Ref as the better Kevin Spacey suburban malaise comedy.
― Room 227 (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:44 (eleven years ago) link
― turds (Hungry4Ass), Monday, November 12, 2012
but of what gallagher vehicle can this not be said
― idiot man-child (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:45 (eleven years ago) link
I. WILL. CLOSE.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:46 (eleven years ago) link
i'm pretty sure i've never actually seen this p.o.s. in full
― idiot man-child (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:46 (eleven years ago) link
i don't remember Janney OR Gallagher in this film, alas I do Spacey
so glad I linked the E Stein remembrance
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:46 (eleven years ago) link
scottie baks was nice in basically a walk-on role
― sug ones (omar little), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:47 (eleven years ago) link
When Lester is caught masturbating by Carolyn, his angry retort about their lack of intimacy is the first time he says aloud what he thinks about her.[15] By confronting the issue and Carolyn's "superficial investments in others", Lester is trying to "regain a voice in a home that [only respects] the voices of mother and daughter".[14] His final turning point comes when he and Angela almost have sex;[16] after she confesses her virginity, he no longer thinks of her as a sex object, but as a daughter.[17] He holds her close and "wraps her up". Mendes called it "the most satisfying end to [Lester's] journey there could possibly have been". With these final scenes, Mendes intended to show Lester at the conclusion of a "mythical quest". After Lester gets a beer from the refrigerator, the camera pushes toward him, then stops facing a hallway down which he walks "to meet his fate".[16][18] Having begun to act his age again, Lester achieves closure.[17] As he smiles at a family photo, the camera pans slowly from Lester to the kitchen wall, onto which blood spatters as a gunshot rings out; the slow pan reflects the peace of Lester's death.[19] His body is discovered by Jane and Ricky. Mendes said that Ricky's staring into Lester's dead eyes is "the culmination of the theme" of the film: that beauty is found where it is least expected.[20]
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 00:47 (eleven years ago) link