Brian De Palma, the De Pollma

The Story of an IBM Card?!?!?

whaaaaaa untouchables sequel???

I was going to say, WTF.

prequel innit

well yeah but im surprised i hadnt heard about it

Body Double vote Body Double

have not seen body double

im abstaining from this poll cuz im not as familiar w/ his movies as id like to be & im too torn anyway

Body Double see Body Double

blow out

is great

and i voted for it

well yeah but im surprised i hadnt heard about it

imdb listing is a waste of time - no info other than it's in production and that it has the same three writers who did Ocean's Thirteen...

Okay, I kinda hope he goes all out and makes a 'wacky' comedy.

A rom-com

Body Double has one of the worst lead performances I've ever seen in a movie and not enough Melanie Griffith. I don't get the love.

Voted for Dressed To Kill over Carrie, Blow Out, and Femme Fatale.

dressed to kill PSHAAAWWW

Sisters!

Carrie

i wonder what dark horrible thing happened to him in 1988 that turned his brain to muck

Femme Fatale -- as Rosenbaum said, at last a film entirely of set pieces & fantasy from a guy who can't do anything else.

Nah, it would've been after "Carlito's Way."

xpost to JJ

Carrie for the win over Blow Out and Carlito

and Scarface

Carrie is just inestimably better than any of these

so i am getting the impression ilx hates the untouchables, why is this?

Femme Fatale -- as Rosenbaum said, at last a film entirely of set pieces & fantasy from a guy who can't do anything else.

-- Dr Morbius, Wednesday, May 14, 2008 4:40 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

i agree w/ this but so what? is that supposed to be a zing?

when you consider that he does set pieces & fantasy better than basically anyone ever i mean

more like Brian de Lolma

untouchables rules

so hard to choose here

Femme Fatale -- as Rosenbaum said, at last a film entirely of set pieces & fantasy from a guy who can't do anything else.

-- Dr Morbius, Wednesday, May 14, 2008 4:40 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

i agree w/ this but so what? is that supposed to be a zing?

-- deeznuts, Wednesday, May 14, 2008 4:46 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

when you consider that he does set pieces & fantasy better than basically anyone ever i mean

-- deeznuts, Wednesday, May 14, 2008 4:47 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

ya totally as if those are any small things when it comes to filmmaking

It helps to be able to tell a story. Archers, Spielberg, etc.

But Carrie, The Fury, and Blow Out have strong narratives!

and two of them are good!

he does set pieces & fantasy better than basically anyone ever

*sigh*

the great thing about de palma is he's like the totally perverted spielberg.

lol, like spielberg isn't totally perverted

body double is great and has a fantastic soundtrack

didnt we already do this?

now is time for the Brian De Palma's best film

But ... The Fury ... have strong narratives!
-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, May 14, 2008 5:06 PM (5 minutes ago)

Thank you!

This one is totally different because it has a stupid pun in the title and includes a movie that hasn't even been made yet.

(sorry, I searched, really I did.)

I'd probably vote for the unseen Untouchables vs. the one I've seen.

Femme Fatale -- as Rosenbaum said, at last a film entirely of set pieces & fantasy from a guy who can't do anything else.
-- Dr Morbius, Wednesday, May 14, 2008 4:40 PM (1 hour ago)
I think you might be misreading Rosenbaum's take on the movie to your advantage here. The guy did include Obsession, a film almost devoid of those set pieces, in his all-time top 1000.

eric no offense but you sound like an asshole

dressed to kill

I was about to make fun of people for liking Body Double, but then I remembered I liked Mission to Mars. We DePalma fans need to stick together.

Here's how I'd rank him:

Top 13

the first half hour of Scarface (1983), and maybe the rest while I do dishes
Blow Out (1981)
Carrie (1976)
The Fury (1978)
the pool hall scene in Carlito's Way (1993)
"Dancing in the Dark" (1984)
Mission: Impossible (1996)
the last scene in Dressed to Kill (1980)
what I remember of Mission to Mars (2000)
The Untouchables (1987) while folding clothes
the "love" scenes in Body Double (1984), which are hilarious
Snake Eyes (1998) if nothing else is on
what I remember of Raising Cain (1992)

Bottom 4:

The asylum scene and the basic conceit of Dressed to Kill
the telescope scene and mall-chase scenes in Body Double (1984)
The Black Dahlia (2006)
Casualties of War (1989)

I think "Carrie" is probably the best all around movie in this batch, but I have a serious soft spot for "Body Double" (which I voted for), which is one of the most batshit crazy movies of all time (and is packed with things I am obsessed with, like: L.A. in the 80s, Behind-the-Scenes of the porn biz, The Chemosphere (which is the amazing house Craig Wasson lives in in the movie, owned now in real life by the owner of Taschen Books!), power drills, etc.).

I love Brian DePalma's movies, but I think the fact that anyone treats them as anything by whacked-out B-movies is just insane. The Pauline Kael gushing apologist stuff is utterly preposterous, the Hitchcock stuff is all surface (and embarrassing, usually). Referring to him as a legitimate peer of Scorsese, Coppolla, etc. is nuts. He's a glorified Grindhouse director! (I mean that as a compliment, btw - seriously, I think his movies are a blast).

Also:
- Antonio Banderas' turn in "Femme Fatale" is a goddamned comedic masterstroke
- "The Black Dahlia" is one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life (HOW do you fuck up that story?!)
- "Sisters" is genuinely pretty scary
- God help you if you saw "Redacted."

And finally, Holly Body's words to live by: I do not do animal acts. I do not do S&M, or any variations of that particular bent. No watersports either. I will not shave my pussy, no fistfucking, and absolutely no coming in my face. I get $2000 a day, and I do not work without a contract.

Go pet a puppy, deeznuts.

Referring to him as a legitimate peer of Scorsese, Coppolla, etc. is nuts.

No shit. Those two suck compared to De Palma.

I think he's more then a glorified grindhouse director...I think as a craftsman he's as good as anybody, regardless of originality or script or any of that stuff.

the telescope scene and mall-chase scenes in Body Double (1984)

that's the best!

http://acuterecords.com/BodyDouble.mp3

the day after i watched body double this summer i spent like 6 hours trying to track down a copy of the soundtrack

body double is really crazy.

carlito's way still rules.

so many incredible movies on this list.

so many terrible ones too but who cares.

Where is the love for Phantom of the Paradise?

BEEF

xp: The incredible ones ARE the terrible ones, or at least the ridiculous ones.

Eric, that is weird re Rosenbaum and Obsession (which I like) -- he didn't write exactly what I said about FF, but look...

I'd always been annoyed by De Palma's intricate borrowings from Alfred Hitchcock, which I've tended to see more as mangled tributes than as perceptive appreciations. My misgivings were only reinforced when his biggest fans, especially Pauline Kael and her most literal followers, implied that Hitchcock was a bit of a hack next to the genius De Palma -- suggesting that Hitchcock churned out dross, which his disciple somehow turned into the pure gold of sublime trash... Say what you will about Hitchcock's calculation, his work displays an almost limitless curiosity about human behavior, whereas De Palma's shows an interest in people (as opposed to types and figures) that approaches zero.

http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/archives/2002/1102/021108.html

How does that square w/ putting one of those "mangled tributes" on an all-time 100 list?

when did kael and her most literal followers imply that?

(genuine interest not passive-aggressive zing attempt)

xp: The incredible ones ARE the terrible ones, or at least the ridiculous ones.

like wise guys and raising cain?

i agree that de palma is colder, perhaps less "interested in people" than hitchcock... or a lot of other director's. he's no renoir. but i don't really care. i like him for different reasons. not everyone has to be a great expansive humanist.

Haven't read Kael/Kaelites on BdP recently enough to know where JR's coming from...

I find the ridiculousness in The Fury to be about 40% entertaining and 60% annoyingly empty tech moves.

I think movies like Dressed to Kill are more "meta Hitchcock" rather than just "borrowing from Hitchcock".

I didn't like The Fury.

I think movies like Dressed to Kill are more "meta Hitchcock" rather than just "borrowing from Hitchcock".

-- latebloomer, Thursday, May 15, 2008 4:36 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

ya, this. they go beyond homage or allusion into their own weird category.

Phantom of the Paradise by leaps and bounds.

Blow Out! One of my favorite films. Alfred's right about Craig Sheffer (feh) in Body Double. And The Black Dahlia is the worst, not just of DePalma, but of everything ever.

like wise guys and raising cain?

It would be really hard to choose between these two for a worst poll.

Craig Sheffer

Craig Wasson! Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors!

Redacted is pretty safely in the lead as De Palma's worst.

What's that thing Orson Welles said, something about how being a director is like a child having a huge Erector set at its disposal? More than any Hollywood film this decade, Femme Fatale comes closest to conveying the excitement in that statement. So that one.

What an odd but cool career this guy has had. I saw the Fury for the first time a few months ago, and it was pretty wacked-out.

I haven't seen Sisters since I was, like, 13 years old or something, but I remember it being super-creepy.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Didn't expect a Hi Mom! vote.

haha, less voters = better results

Got my copy of the Criterion version of Blow Out yesterday: will watch again tonight. Beautiful packaging.

ha yeah i picked that up yesterday too, can't wait to watch it!

i bought a vhs of obsession at a book sale for $.50 today

Not a huge fan of it, myself.

I'm trying to come up with a parallel for calling Bri underrated. Derek Jeter, maybe.

got this on Blu-Ray and am very much looking forward to see how it looks. i did watch the Baumbach/De Palma interview and it had its moments. funny for revealing bits like "what was that movie we watched the other day? how they did that thing, TERRIBLE!". guess they're pals.

this has been pretty solidly my favorite De Palma film, but it's been a while. looking forward to a re-watch.

Really, this movie is political? Uh-uh.

btw, aside from Obsession on TV, probably the first film of his I saw, on initial release.

there's a Criterion of Blow Out?! man i've gotta get that. how is it?

i think Blow Out is one of the saddest fictional films ever made by anyone; so sad and so amazing.

It's political like JFK is political...

i.e. entertaining

and with no politics besides "They're out to get me."

no, c'mon, it's nowhere as dumbass as JFK.

The Untouchables: Capone Rising (2008) (in production)

um I'm guessing this didn't happen?

and with no politics besides "They're out to get me."

You really don't want to watch the Baumbach-De Palma interview, in which DP shows that he stopped paying attention to politics in Nov. 1963.

that's unsurprising, I'm sure Dario Argento has been neglecting Italian politics too.

After weeks of Shoah and Satantango and Week End and Sans Soleil, I just wanted to turn off my mind, relax, and float downstream the other night, so I finally took Femme Fatale off the shelf. Not that I don't think De Palma's made some very smart films: Carrie, Blow Out, and Casualties of War are three all-time favourites. Anyway, I thought he'd scraped bottom with Raising Cain--where at least Lithgow was comically bizarre--but Femme Fatale is much, much worse.

I remember liking it. It's way better than Black Dahlia certainly.

All I remember is the scene in which the subtitles get big, bigger, BIGGEST.

I bought that a while back too...Not singling you out or anything, Alex--it got two votes above, and does pretty well on the IMDB rating--but what did you like about it? I found it was one big overblown set-piece after another; De Palma has always had those, but in the three films I mentioned above, he was also careful to develop the story between those sequences. And the script...there was a certain epithet that kept getting hurled at Rebecca Romijn; it was like whenever he was stuck for the next line, he'd just pencil in the same two words.

it's been a long time since I saw Femme Fatale but I liked it, and definitely am skeptical at any kind of "worse than raising cain" reading. Not really worried about thin story between the set pieces.

wouldn't put it above his '70s & '80s classics though

in general i'm down with movies where de palma is having fun - if it wasn't for the horrible casting I probably would have liked Black Dahlia fine and still enjoy the set pieces. Raising Cain always struck me as kind of self-loathing.

I don't think he can write good dialogue anymore but that's probably related to the refinement of his visual skills.

but maybe I'm underrating his FF script; I haven't seen the thing since 2002.

and I'm one of Raising Cain's defenders! It's well cast and loony in the best sense, although the ending is meh.

I doubt that there's another director for me with a wider gap between the films I love and the ones I hate, with at least three at either end.

caught a bit of "Sisters" on TV awhile ago not knowing what it was and after about 10 minutes I was thinking "oh man this HAS to be DePalma" ... feel like I should get around to seeing the whole thing, seemed like one of his more entertaining early entries.

"but what did you like about it"

Seriously can't remember it much other than the fact that Rebecca Stamos was in it and there was some crazy twist right where it turns out part of the movie was a crazy dream... it's in the middle of the pack on my DePalma rating list from a couple of years back.

"I doubt that there's another director for me with a wider gap between the films I love and the ones I hate, with at least three at either end."

Ridley Scott.

it's been a long time since I saw Femme Fatale but I liked it, and definitely am skeptical at any kind of "worse than raising cain" reading. Not really worried about thin story between the set pieces.

― da croupier, Thursday, August 23, 2012 2:31 PM (55 minutes ago)

otm. femme fatale is one of my favorite de palma flicks, and tbh, one of my favorite movies period. the story doesn't much matter to me, and it's never anywhere near so near as kill-me-now stupid as the conclusion of snake eyes. love its full commitment to his trademark themes and movies, the act of watching and seeing, duplicity, perception vs reality, sleaze and suspense for their own sake. it's almost self-parody, but it's so full-on nonstop brilliant that i don't care. nearly every shot is astounding. gaze and camera, the observed and observer, reflection and transparency constantly collapsing into one another. i can think of few other films where the simple experience of watching images unfold on screen fills me with such pleasure. play time. i don't want to sleep alone. night of the hunter.

Wow...I want to see that movie!

Stamos is even more polymorphously perverse here than in X-Men.

That's why I'm much more a Stanley Kauffmann type, and would have made such a lousy auteurist. Visuals matter, of course, but for me to really love a film, they have to be in the service of something--story and performance always matter. And I didn't even find Femme Fatale's visuals particularly interesting. Trademark themes can mean something to me if they're interesting, or nothing if they verge on self-parody.

I'm with you on valuing story and performance -- I don't have any problem dismissing FF for thinness in that department -- but performance FF's got. I guess Stamos left you cold.

and I don't know if Kauffmann comfortably fits in the category in which you placed him. The guy may have adored Bruce Beresford beyond all reason but he loved lots of Antonioni too

Totally. One thing that struck me for a film that tried so hard to be erotic was that seemed like the work of a very prudish man. I didn't find it erotic in the least--it was like this awful fashion-magazine spread.

Kauffmann's love of Antonioni was heavily invested in story and performance--visuals, too, more than most of his favourite directors probably, but the other concerns were there as always.

I posted this in another DePalma thread, not realising it was in the wasteland that is I LOVE FILM.

Trailer for new one, which looks skeezy in the vein of Femme Fatale: http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=93975

Depends how you define erotic. Fashion magazine spreads are erotic without giving many men boners. I define erotic as "projecting sensuality." I'm sad that De Palma films of the last 20-25 years have this straight (in every sense) idea of sexuality, which is why Stamos was an inspired casting decision; it hearkened back to an earlier time.

Imagine if De Palma had directed Cruising!

One thing that struck me for a film that tried so hard to be erotic was that seemed like the work of a very prudish man. I didn't find it erotic in the least--it was like this awful fashion-magazine spread.

― clemenza, Thursday, August 23, 2012 3:54 PM (32 minutes ago)

this is otm, but doesn't bother me. i love de palma's 80s penthouse steez, though i rarely find it particularly sexy. femme fatale's bathroom business made me cringe, but i laughed my ass off at the pool table striptease. when it comes to de palma, tasteless (but "classy") grotesquerie is kind of the point. same goes for paul veerhoeven, though he seems to feel less need to tart it up.

uh, verhoeven

Verhoven, Joe Eszterhas, The Eyes of Laura Mars, all that stuff. I do have a particular bias here, in that I don't find rake-skinny models decked out in grotesque runway apparel the least bit attractive. So for me, the bathroom and pool-table scenes achieved exactly the opposite of what they (presumably) set out to achieve.

I don't like railing on and on about a film...Casualties of War got zero votes in this poll; I'd urge anyone who hasn't seen it to track it down (or if you only saw it once years ago, watch it again). That's how great I think De Palma can be.

CoW > Femme Fatale for sure, though if I hadn't missed this poll I'd probably have voted for The Fury

Scarface (1983) 2

OK, motherfuckers definitely be fronting now.

contenderizer, I kiss you.

That's all I've got for this bump.

http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/tiff-2012-correspondences-4

"But the real film legacy project here at TIFF is Brian de Palma's Passion—for me, the film (or, actually, video) of the festival so far."

watched Hi Mom! last night. the parallels to Taxi Driver are pretty striking. it doesn't hang together all that well but the individual bits all work and the Be Black Baby! bit is nuts.

I get Hi Mom! and Greetings confused, even though they're probably not at all alike. I've seen one of them for sure, maybe both--can't remember which if just one. I've got a VHS of Get to Know Your Rabbit that I've never watched.

They're pretty damn alike! I saw Hi Mom first and was surprised how many linking elements there were when I saw Greetings.

Though the big way to know which one you saw is if you remember the "Be Black Baby!" sequence. I can't imagine anyone forgetting that if they saw it.

I think Hi, Mom! is def the refinement of everything going on in Greetings.

The truth is, I can't remember. I think I get Kael's reviews blurred together with the films--I know about the "Be Black Baby" sequence, but I don't know if that's just from having read her description of it. I looked at the IMDB pages for both, and Garfield and Durning make me think it's the latter--are they and De Niro on a rooftop at one point?

Also looked at the pages for some of those long-gone early films like The Wedding Party and Murder à la Mod. Didn't realize he and William Finley went back so far.

Durning's only in the opening scene in Hi Mom! Garfield and De Niro are on a rooftop later tho.

gonna watch Passion tonight - anyone seen it?

Saw Sisters tonight, part of the Cronenberg "Body Horror" program at the Lightbox. Second time--rented it out on VHS years ago. The print was excellent.

I can imagine seeing it in 1971 and thinking "One day, this guy will make a really good film"--the image of Kidder with her face buried in the pillow just before the first murder was menacing, and the dream sequence and some of the jokes worked. But from there to Carrie is quite a leap. Jennifer Salt's relentless whining wore me down. I drifted for 5-10 minutes around the time Charles Durning showed up, and before long I was baffled (especially by the last shot). I'll take the blame for that.

Its probably an indication of my not thinking quite as highly of Carrie as others do (though I do quite like it), but I'd say that Carrie and Sisters are at least equivocal. Sisters is more consistent in tone, at least. Also, the murder that occurs roughly 1/3 of the way through the film is still one of the most brutal I've seen on film.

Timely bump. I just watched Passion today (sort of saving the dessert for last as I work through the end-of-year titles), and of course I liked it quite a good deal, though even I thought the inherent inanity of the plot was (in this case) a bit of a liability. Still, it's certainly the most "for the fans" thing he's done since Femme Fatale, while not remotely approaching that film's cohesiveness and capacity for surprise.

Doesn't hurt that it's following up the worst movie he's ever, ever done.

he's made quite a few since Bonfire of the Vanities

I am NOT a fan and I love Femme Fatale btw

I am, and don't--lots of permutations...I checked on the last shot of Sisters (one of the best things in the film), and it's not baffling at all. I'm just getting older and stupider and fall asleep a lot.

Sisters is awesome, one of my fave DePalma films. Most recent one I saw was black dahlia, which was laughable bar a few scenes.

I stand by the first third of Redacted and think the Black Dahlia suffers mostly from miscasting, so if inanity is the worst of Passion's crimes I am psyched

I only found the last act of Passion any good.

I think it gets progressively better as it gets progressively more cavalier about, well, everything.

Someone on Letterboxd hit it on the head when he wrote that never have the words "The End" seemed more like "Fuck You."

Great, now I'll be sorely disappointed that's not how Nymphomaniac ends.

That Untouchables prequel never came out then.

it's called boardwalk empire

Passion lost me when their bosses announces the whoop-dee-doo camera-in-pants ad got 10 million views in five hours, but got me back when suddenly everything's all dutch angles and split-screens of ballet.

yeah the whole ad campaign thing felt like I was watching some kinda corporate promo for internet marketing

ballet shit was great

the way this movie goes from straight cinemax to a hodgepodge of depalma-isms...i honestly can't tell if depalma is trying or if he just doesn't give a fuck. but then i felt that way about raising cain. never have the words "The End" seemed more like "Fuck You." is otm.

definitely

I wouldn't put it up there with Carrie, Blow Out, or Casualties of War, but I enjoyed watching The Fury for the first time in ages. I would think a lot of the negative reviews at the time must have been driven by De Palma returning to the general vicinity of Carrie so soon (especially after the failure of Obsession)--it must have looked like an act of desperation. Detached from all of that, it's great to look at, and there's some really funny bits (the old woman taking a shine to Kirk Douglas the most obvious, but there are others). The lead performances are hit and miss: occasional histrionics from Douglas (most of the time he's fine), Carrie Snodgrass affecting as always, Andrew Stevens sub-Movie of the Week. (Cassavetes basically reprises Guy Woodhouse.) I didn't realize Dennis Franz's run of De Palma movies started here--least photogenic muse ever.

I guess I should see the Fury

how terrible is Wise Guys?

didnt see, how much worse than The Fury could it be?

hey that was an honest question! I haven't seen either of them

You should see The Fury. You can skip Wise Guys.

certainly The Fury not as overrated as The Shining

[post deleted]

the joe paterno movie he was doing for HBO with pacino is on hold apparently. i love de palma but that movie is going to be bad.

The Fury doesn't hang together all too well, but it's got some great moments and is totally worth your time.

Pacino and BdP have another project going

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/brian-de-palma-al-pacino-to-reteam-on-retribution-plot-details-for-woody-allens-next-revealed-more-20141105

This time around, Allen will tell the story of "an angst-ridden philosophy professor who starts an affair with a student." Geez. Has Allen now moved into the self-parody phase of his career?

uh lol

The Fury totally worth it for the ending.

I like the toy-train scene the best.

yeah i was gonna say the ending of he Fury is nuts and amazing. particularly (SPOILER) the fake Cassavetes head firing into the air.

I watched The Fury again for the first time in years last January and didn't even miss Cassavetes' arm.

well no Fury on DVD at the local shop so resorted to Blow Out, which I def enjoyed more than I did the first time I saw it some 20 years ago. The red-white-and-blue hamfistedness got to be a bit much and the political "conspiracy" was pretty thin. I loved the movie soundman/scream wraparound conceit though.

Producing one of my favourite last-lines ever.

"Nobody's perfect."

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KqGtJGVXYTY/TRmiBzJvhoI/AAAAAAAADBA/Q-n_NT2pYKE/s400/Zuko.png

Producing one of my favourite last-lines ever.

haha yeah this was good

in general I find Travolta really irritating but as with his other early period/pre-Scientology work he's fine here

hmmm, Wikipedia says he's been a practitioner of Scientology since 1975

i really don't see performers' religions/bag o' manias entering into their work noticeably unless it's, y'know, Pat Boone.

Huh I assumed xenu was to blame for all his work post 1980

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/brian-de-palma-documentary-a24-1201588731/

i saw a bdp 'agnostic' praise it on Letterboxd, which i don't quite get.

If I'd have known Baum was such a stan, I'd have spent the whole interview talking about that instead of Armond White.

oh, u did that one! i haven't read it yet.

wait, yours was a couple years ago. i got confused.

Yeah, I talked with him after Frances Ha, I think?

ok then!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97XoMjwoZ5w

This is really interesting to me - basically a fan re-edited Raising Cain to reflect the original script, De Palma was really into it, and it's now being included in an upcoming official video release! (Very interesting video at the end about the re-edit, but major spoilers in the article and video of course.)
http://www.directorama.net/2016/07/changing-cain-fan-edit-brian-de-palma-directors-cut/

Yeah, I'm pretty curious about that. Haven't seen RC in years, my memory of it is that it didn't quite work, but scenes from it have really stuck with me. Though I guess that's pretty typical w/ most BDP stuff.

Also Shout Factory is doing the Lord's Work these days. Putting out a lot of great, under appreciated stuff with really impressive care.

finally got around to the Fury. Solidly entertaining for most of its running time but second-tier due to some flimsiness in the scripting/plotting on the last third. Cassavetes combustion makes it all kinda worth it though.

The Baumbach/Paltrow longform interview with clips was fun viewing but I recall watching some UK TV series where BDP seemed to go deeper into his motivations.

yeah it was very watchable but breezes by so much potentially interesting stuff due to having under two hours to cover his whole career. i think that this kind of movie has such a limited appeal anyway that you might as well make an epic for the true believers. like he only talks about 'femme fatale' for about two minutes and i bet he could talk about that movie for hours.

it kind of felt like an infomercial for a de palma box set. which was the point, i guess.

otm

I'm really curious about "Story of an IBM Card" too.... (does anyone under 40 know what an IBM card even is?)

he only talks about 'femme fatale' for about two minutes

man this movie is so ridiculous

halfway through the Baumbach/Paltrow doc - very fun. I stopped right at Wise Guys though so lol I expect it is all downhill from here

i like his career after that point better than before...

ever the contrarian

Saw Wiseguys again last month after --- forever. Holy Mackerel! It was fun!

I haven't seen that and am curious but apprehensive. I generally don't like what I've seen of his stuff post-Body Double. Femme Fatale is so deeply silly, Snake Eyes and Raising Cain I both turned off after 30 minutes, Carlito's Way I tried to rewatch recently and couldn't finish either, Black Dahlia is laughably bad. I remember Untouchables being good but haven't seen since the 80s. Casualties of War is the one it seems I should definitely see.

no the thing is Hitchcock did his early stuff better

Alfred Hitchcock's "Hi Mom!"

Hitchcock's glam musical was amazing

Phantom of the Paradise is forgettable crap

as Benny Herrmann told him, YAWWWW NAWWT HITCHCOCK

Why has nobody made a clip of Raising Cain when the boy says "I know what you're doing" in a hilarious voice? Perfect for when someone's trying to get away with some shit.

that entire movie's full of gold, i tells ya

Watched the directors cut a week later, I guess it probably is better but there is something I like about the more confusing early part of the theatrical cut.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The best 4th of July movie is Brian DePalma's BLOW OUT.</p>— Walter Chaw 周瑜 (@mangiotto) <a href="

The best 4th of July movie is Brian DePalma's BLOW OUT.

— Walter Chaw 周瑜 (@mangiotto) July 4, 2020

(ugh, me and code today)

I'd never seen anything between Carrie and Scarface, so I decided to start with Blow Out last night, god that's good. Lithgow is such a creep. Dressed to Kill soon.

the gender/racial politics in DRESSED TO KILL are…a bit dated!

Dressed to Kill got lots of flak at the time even.

I'm sure this is really good, but unfortunately you just get the intros: Sarris and Hoberman arguing out the film.

https://www.villagevoice.com/2016/06/30/is-brian-de-palma-derivative-or-dazzling-critics-andrew-sarris-and-j-hoberman-duke-it-out/

I think I’m just not a de palma guy. everything I’ve seen has seemed missing something essential

Have you seen Casualties of War? Besides being my favourite De Palma film, it's the one I'd recommend to someone who's not crazy about him otherwise--markedly different from anything he's ever done.

Same post by me, just swap in Carrie

You know I love Carrie, but isn't that through-and-through 100% De Palma?

Also guessing that anyone who's decided they're lukewarm on De Palma has already seen Carrie.

I don't know how one can be lukewarm about Carrie.

For anyone contemplating entering into a 1976 young adult mindset I think it is an amazing movie.

It is also one of my favorite horror films of all time

I'd suggest Hi, Mom! or maybe Phantoms of the Paradise for the DePalma skeptic.

...not that they would make you love his other films, but you'd get a different perspective on what he's about.

never saw the early films Hi Mom! or Greetings but I did see The Wedding Party and Sisters, both of which were interesting. I loved Phantom of the Paradise!

Hi Mom! is definitely worth your time.

I always suggest Carlito's Way to people who just can't take the histrionics of Scarface.

even the quotes are better

The Untouchables: Capone Rising (2008) (in production)

lol wait, what?

Hi, Mom! has the one brilliant sequence (“Be Black, Baby!”) but the rest is scattershot

aside from the first couple of scenes I wasn’t a big fan of carlito’s way either. appreciate the recs from everyone, but generally it’s going to be a tough sell for me to want to check out some of the minor stuff if I don’t really like a director’s major works. too many movies to watch!

Those two early films - Greetings and Hi, Mom! - are I assume highly improvisational and are funny to the extent Gerrit Graham and Robert De Niro are funny

“Hi, Mom!” is ramshackle, but it’s a much more interesting film than you’re billing it. Essential viewing for anyone interested in BDP. It’s not about De Niro yucks.

You can probably skip “Greetings” though.

ummm

I think De Palma has sprung to the place that Altman achieved with films such as MCCABE & MRS. MILLER and NASHVILLE and that Coppola reached with the two GODFATHER movies—that is, to the place where genre is transcended and what we're moved by is an artist's vision. (1981)

— pauline kael bot (@paulinekaelbot) May 21, 2023

Is she talking about Dressed to Kill or Blow Out?

I just checked -- it's Blow Out.

Thanks--missed the date at the bottom. She stuck with De Palma much longer than with Altman/Scorsese/Coppola/Spielberg; she had good things to say (post-retirement, in an interview) about Mission to Mars.

THIS IS SO FUCKING FUNNY IT LOOKS LIKE A ROMCOM 😭

Pls share posters that TRULY do not match the actual tone/vibe of the movie, it’s my favorite. pic.twitter.com/mNcP2VSLzu

— 𝕯𝖎𝖑𝖉𝖔 𝕭𝖆𝖌𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖘 (𝘚𝘩𝘰̄𝘨𝘶𝘯 𝘦𝘳𝘢) (@EmmaTolkin) April 12, 2024

Good thread full of details on Blow Out that I'd never heard before:

BLOW OUT was released 43 years ago today. Despite rave reviews, it dropped without a trace until critical reappraisal started in the 90s. It is now thought by many as the definitive Brian De Palma film, here’s the incredible making of story…

1/28 pic.twitter.com/PPZB6ukbOn

— All The Right Movies (@ATRightMovies) July 24, 2024