another maniacal Armond White review, this time "Fahrenheit 9/11"

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I just watched the somewhat mediocre "And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself" last night... not a great film, but an interesting idea as the DW Griffith's film team forced Villa to make battle decisions that would suit their cinematic requirements (aka attacking only in the daylight, not into the sun, etc.).

I'm reminded of how effective this whole embedded journalist thing worked during the war's early stages... lame ass FOX reporters felt the espirit de corps and wouldn't report anything negative... they became buddies with the soldiers.

(And my point is....?)

andy, Tuesday, 22 June 2004 19:30 (nineteen years ago) link

so presumably saddam hussein didn't torture anyone before 1997, when resevoir dogs gave him some pointers?? i wonder how white would explain serbian atrocities and the tutsi/hutu massacres.

lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 19:40 (nineteen years ago) link

good point. tho I think RD was before '97, right? I remember seeing it in high school.

hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 19:55 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah, duh. i have no idea why i said 1997!

lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 19:57 (nineteen years ago) link

All documentation of necessity editorializes. To document is to editorialize. This extends even to saying "today is Tuesday, the 22nd of June" - how many conventions & preferences are expressed when I say that? several, if not dozens. "Objectivity" is a phantom usually conjured by the right when they want to complain that something doesn't lean in their direction. I'd hope that lefties (since I'm nominally one of them) would know better than to not fear this bogeyman. All documentation of anything ever is editorial.

J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 20:04 (nineteen years ago) link

"know better than to fear," I mean

J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 20:10 (nineteen years ago) link

"The only objective opinion is MINE."

VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 20:18 (nineteen years ago) link

I thought the Hitchens column was sort of entertaining, anyway, in that Hitchens-playing-his-same-old-hand kind of way.

morris pavilion (samjeff), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 20:24 (nineteen years ago) link

heh, armond white otm re: moore but not so re: anything else. "merde," wtf? also, it's "punditariat," duh!

i am really dreading seeing this movie.

g--ff (gcannon), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 21:55 (nineteen years ago) link

Dan given that You are the Pope Your statement actually does kinda pertain in Your case, Yer Eminence

J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Tuesday, 22 June 2004 21:57 (nineteen years ago) link

'Let us not forget that Dana Carvey did more than anyone in America, save Ross Perot, to drive Bush père from the White House.'

J. Hoberman

a) does he mean Garth out of Wayne's World?
b) if so, what's he on about?
c) and you know what the worst part is? I never learned to read.

Enrique (Enrique), Thursday, 24 June 2004 13:56 (nineteen years ago) link

see other thread, re: GHWB impersonation and "1000 points of light."

hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 24 June 2004 14:56 (nineteen years ago) link

from White's review - ""This is a crime," he says. "It must be avenged!" Noujaim accepts his threat as understandable rage, rather than demand journalistic integrity. No American reviews noticed this."

No other reviews "noticed this" because he left off the last part of the reporter's statement - "it must be avenged, or at least punished." (something to that effect)

miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Friday, 25 June 2004 15:30 (nineteen years ago) link

three years pass...

No Country for Old Men > better than There Will Be Blood, Zodiac

The Coen brothers hauntingly mythologize Americana, while P.T. Anderson and David Fincher make it morbid, sadistic and self-congratulatory.

and what, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:43 (sixteen years ago) link

o_O

and what, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:43 (sixteen years ago) link

zodiac >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> no country for old men (which i loved)

and what, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:44 (sixteen years ago) link

yes

omar little, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:44 (sixteen years ago) link

armond's line that morbs quoted in the "there will be blood" thread was some all-time hilarity

Plainview is the most remarkable movie performance since Eddie Murphy’s Norbit trifecta.

dmr, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:50 (sixteen years ago) link

zodiac >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> no country for old men (which i loved)>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>there will be blood (which i really really liked)

Alex in SF, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:52 (sixteen years ago) link

zodiac was not that good ..... the first half, maybe

dmr, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:53 (sixteen years ago) link

i dont like pt anderson but i wanna see there will be blood

and what, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:54 (sixteen years ago) link

To be fair zodiac is maybe only >>> no country for old men.

Alex in SF, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:54 (sixteen years ago) link

and what and Alex OTM

and No Country was really good but come on it was totally morbid and sadistic

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:55 (sixteen years ago) link

twbb >>>> zodiac (which i liked a lot) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> no country for old men (which is doomed to mediocrity by coens' unimaginative fidelity to mediocre source material)

tipsy mothra, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:55 (sixteen years ago) link

and i love tommy lee jones that was one phoned-in cranky-old-sheriff routine.

tipsy mothra, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:56 (sixteen years ago) link

BUT that was one, i mean

tipsy mothra, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:56 (sixteen years ago) link

i dont like pt anderson but i wanna see there will be blood

yeah don't let PT hate stop you, it's not like any of his previous movies

dmr, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:56 (sixteen years ago) link

Maybe it's a mediocre book, but I think it works really well cinematically. I can't imagine what you would want to change.

Alex in SF, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:57 (sixteen years ago) link

but what if I hate PTA and DDL both

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:57 (sixteen years ago) link

boys lovin' morbid and sadistic

The Wind That Shakes the Barley >>>>>>> Zodiac = TWBB

Dr Morbius, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:57 (sixteen years ago) link

I don't think TLJ's performance was any more phoned in than DDL's frankly (if we are talking about performances these guys can do in their sleep.)

Alex in SF, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:58 (sixteen years ago) link

these were my three favourite movies of the year. i tied them at #1.

s1ocki, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:59 (sixteen years ago) link

Zodiac >> The Wind That Shakes the Barley > No Country for Old Men >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> TWBB

Alex in SF, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:59 (sixteen years ago) link

the wind that shakes the barley was good but a little too earnest and on the nose for me.

s1ocki, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:59 (sixteen years ago) link

I can't imagine what you would want to change.

caring what happens at any point to anyone?

xpost: disagree completely about tlj vs. ddl, i think ddl's been working on that performance for years and finally got to do it. (butcher bill was about halfway there.)

tipsy mothra, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:59 (sixteen years ago) link

enough with the fuckin triangular brackets already.

s1ocki, Thursday, 17 January 2008 19:59 (sixteen years ago) link

^^^^^^

omar little, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:05 (sixteen years ago) link

i mean i guess the point of no country is to do with fate and the persistence of evil in the world and the morally compromised nature of human existence and all that stuff mccarthy has done better in other books, but the story is really problematic. people do stupid shit all the way through it, and we're supposed to buy their bad ends as "fate"? i think mccarthy only committed to the genre halfway, he didn't let himself go all the way pulp, which leaves it as kind of po-faced pulp, just self-aware enough to be ineffectual. coens made the same mistake, even though they didn't have to -- they could have taken the ridiculous story and had fun with it. (i think the reason the road is a better book than no country is that mccarthy really does commit to the post-apocalyptic thing and for the most part does not clutter it with rumination. that will probably make it a better movie too, although probably armond white won't think so.)

tipsy mothra, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:05 (sixteen years ago) link

the wind that shakes the barley was about as good as the best of the irish troubles flicks. reminded me of 'soldier of orange' for some reason. still not as good as zodiac or no country for old men (which is awesomely directed and acted if nothing else).

omar little, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:08 (sixteen years ago) link

Armond taking Woody Allen, Dargis and AO Scott to the woodshed this week is funny stuff.

http://www.nypress.com/21/3/film/ArmondWhite.cfm

gimme Loach "earnestness" any day if you feel the cost of bloodletting in your throat.

Dr Morbius, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:13 (sixteen years ago) link

i can understand the comparisons between there will be blood and no country, but i don't get exactly where zodiac ties into the equation. is the uniting thought that they are longish, auteurish pictures by established directors, primarily about crime in america?

remy bean, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:14 (sixteen years ago) link

i liked no country but i like it less & less the more i think about it

and what, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:15 (sixteen years ago) link

while i loved zodiac and love it more & more every day

and what, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:15 (sixteen years ago) link

^^^^^^ >>>>>>>> (>>>>>>>) ?

dmr, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:16 (sixteen years ago) link

i like all three of them more and more with every lovely day.

s1ocki, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:16 (sixteen years ago) link

but with no country... im not that concerned with figuring out what it means, or what the moral is... i think the meaning is kinda beyond that

s1ocki, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:17 (sixteen years ago) link

Cassandra’s Dream isn’t prophecy, it’s decadence.

wtf does this even mean

Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:18 (sixteen years ago) link

agreed, slocks.

the thing i liked the least about zodiac (the uselessness of the rdj character) seems less and less offensive to me every day.

remy bean, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:18 (sixteen years ago) link

twbb >>>> zodiac (which i liked a lot) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> no country for old men (which is doomed to mediocrity by coens' unimaginative fidelity to mediocre source material)

-- tipsy mothra, Thursday, January 17, 2008 7:55 PM

u mad doggie

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:18 (sixteen years ago) link

so mad

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:19 (sixteen years ago) link


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