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

no really i like javier bardem and was excited to see him in this and, eh. i already said this on the ncfom thread, but i thought he wasn't scary or funny enough. could have been more of both, or either, but as a relentless force of death he just seemed kinda ho-hum.

"but i thought he wasn't scary or funny enough"

See my comments above.

the scene in the convenience store was good, i liked that.

Raising Arizona is way more hateful towards its characters than Fargo or Hudsucker or O Brother or any of their other films really

"lolz lookit that silly redneck stealing diapers"

I don't think that's hateful, just funny. Aside from McDormand, Fargo isn't funny either.

tipsy, i agree with that last statement. jb did an excellent job with the script and direction he had, but cigurh seemed much more of a conceit than an actual character

I was one of those critics who called Fargo "smug" in my college paper at the time, but I've warmed to it enough, partly because I've read some insightful things over the years – doncha know – on ILE.

Whatever. I'll never love the Coens, and have a problem with their adapting a terrible novel so that they can – do what exactly? Improve it marginally? But the thing worked as an effective suspense film.

Barley doesn't belong in this discussion at all; it's probably my favorite film of the year.

Dopey? audiences didn't even understand the last 20 minutes of the film. Or the fact that Anton is not a literal character in the film. Not to mention all the redundant shots and dialog the coens left OUT of the film, giving you only exactly what you need to know. brolin made mostly intelligent decisions, it's just that from the moment he took the money death began stalking him.

I agree javier bardem could have been both scarier and funnier, but i understand why the kept him fairly blank.

Morbius, you did not find any, err, comedy of terror, when Marge Gunderson ran around her house with a bag over her head? Or when she fell down the stairs in a shower curtain?

i think there's less to understand in the last 20 minutes (and/or the last section of the book) than meets the eye. straining for significance. (this is also true of there will be blood, but that's some really entertaining straining.)

You guys are underplaying the capacity for cruelty in the Coens, even when they're trying to be gentle and "human." I vividly remember the theater audience laughing AT Gunderson rather than with.

I didn't realize she was laughing.

It was muffled by the death-shrieks

wood chippers are inherently funny

remy, how many times do you think I saw Fargo? Once in '96! I don't remember either scene.

It's a cumulative let's-laugh-at-the-rube thing.

funniest thing to say during orgasm ^^^

You guys are underplaying the capacity for cruelty in the Coens

Perhaps you're underplaying OUR capacity for cruelty? Morbs pretty much summed me up with "boys lovin' morbid and sadistic".

why don't more of you boys love the morbid and sadistic Fassbinder? Too gay and not enough blood?

why can't we love morbid sadistic fassbinder and americans together? WW2 ended a long time ago.

i love fassbinder but i need to see more. berlin alexanderplatz is in the queue.

I can't speak for the other boys, but I like the few Fassbinders I've seen. I found them a little too overtly philosophical, I guess ... not quite Brecht, but close.

that guy hasn't even put out a movie in like 10 years

fassbinder, what have you done for me lately?

what dude accomplished is more impressive to me than any other filmmaker in the history of cinema, and I'm only familiar with a small amount of his work.

yeah i remember a scorsese quote about cocaine where he said that he'd stay up for days doing coke and have ideas for 5 movies by the end of it, and then instead of making the movies he'd just do more coke. but fassbinder did that and actually made the movies.

I couldn't get through Berlin Alexanderpants - I'm skipping straight to the epilogue, which sounds like the most interesting bit (to me)

no spoilers

The butler did it.

Shakey, maybe you should watch the '31 film, then RWF's epilogue.

At least RWF didn't have to do his drugs at Robbie Robertson's house.

Perhaps you're underplaying OUR capacity for cruelty?

The response to NCFOM here is pretty measured, considering how the Coens make ILE'ers dig on swine.

no, i just begrudgingly give them free pass in light of their other talents.

like getting billy bob thornton to shut up.

This shit must cease.

Haven't seen anything I loved or thought was great from '07 yet. Or '06 (Inland Empire closest).

You keep bringing this up. What was the last great movie you've seen?

Fox and Friends

was our 2006 thread in the Sandbox?

the detrius one? mostly

Munich, of course. ILXors throw "great" around like it was low-grade weed.

Clearly.

Of course thinking Munich is a great film is more indicative of the amount of low-grade weed you've been smoking, but still clearly.

DANCE ON CAMERA

Fri Jan 18 @ 6:15pm

POP VIDEO ARTISTS AND HOLLYWOOD INFLUENCE

Armond White's tantalizing take on the music videos of the king & queen of pop - Michael & Janet Jackson.

http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/doc08/program14.html

Sorry to back up a bit here, but, I have no idea what to think of No Country. thought I hated it - what was it for? The coin flipping thing and some scenes where characters were over explaining really annoyed me

pretty sure i don't recall anyone actually from minnesota getting upset by the lol what rubes character typing.

half my relatives talk like that, or used to until they moved out of rural minnesota and lost the minnewegian accents. far as I know everyone loves the movie.
http://flakmag.com/misc/images/hotdish1.jpg

Munich is a "so close" case for me. I would call Inland Empire something like great, tho. My last red film was Tropical Malady tho. That was a long while back.

At the time, Minnesotans seemed about evenly split by the Fargo caricatures. Half were offended, half were starstruck by a major sleeper hit-cum-Oscar nominee about their state.

Still think the best film I've seen in the past five years is Head-On, but Zodiac/Wind/No Country are all great films IMO (even if a second viewing was required for me to think that about the last.)

Eric, I'll give you some bad weed to push Munich over the line. (I really wish I could take notes at the Armond Q&A for you, but I think I have to see the Joe shorts tonight. AW vs AW!)

I think Malady only gets to green for me.

actually great movies of the last 5 years... dogville. i think there will be blood is close. (i don't have a problem calling it "great," but there are levels of great and it obviously has some problems.) goodbye dragon inn is pretty great, although i guess it barely sneaks into the last five years. the world is great-ish.

so is the holy girl.

There's a fine old thread where Eric takes me to task for saying I need never read a word by any critics who liked Dogville again!

(waived til at least I finish yr book)