The Cronenberg Thread

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History of Violence premiered 2 weeks ago at the American Museum of the Moving Image w/ a talk by Cronenberg but by the time I called it was sold out. I WIll see it asap, as I keep missing his films in theaters. Never saw Spider and only recently saw Crash. Otherwise, am a huge fan, own a few of his movies, have seen almost all of them, "taught" a class on him at Oberlin, which really just meant watched some movies and me and my friends got credit for it. I like him for many reasons, including the fact that even when his movies aren't that good, and they're not all that great, but I think even the worst ones are interesting. As an "auteur" type its fun to see how he deals with the same themes in different contexts. Also, as a fan of horror movies, it was interesting to see how he came out of that scene and still toys with it, and it's been fun watching him gain more mainstream critical acceptance while making movies that while they may seem more mainstream then say, Shivers or Rabid, are really even more fucked up.

Also, he's fun as an actor, like in Last Night and Nightbreed.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 23 September 2005 16:55 (twenty years ago)

my favorite director. greatly anticipating "A History of Violence".

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 23 September 2005 17:25 (twenty years ago)

i can't wait for history of v!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 23 September 2005 17:37 (twenty years ago)

it opens today but no way i can see it for at least a week :(

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 23 September 2005 17:37 (twenty years ago)

Limited release today — what other cities besides NY and LA would have it?

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Friday, 23 September 2005 17:50 (twenty years ago)

It's opened here in Chicago.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 23 September 2005 17:54 (twenty years ago)

also I LOVED existenz, and while I realize it's a re-write of the themes of videodrome, it features a sense of humor that videodrome lacked.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 23 September 2005 17:58 (twenty years ago)

No more love for The Brood? That's a classic. I would like to watch that movie back to back with de Palma's Sisters.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Friday, 23 September 2005 17:58 (twenty years ago)

yes. The Brood is actually my favorite Cronenberg movie. Especially the guy, I can't remember his name, the one with the cancer of the lymphatic system who has to keep moving? He's in a bunch of other Cronenberg films, a small but important role in Existenz as well. His scenes in the Brood are amazing.

And I discovered the Brood around the same time I first saw Oliver Reed in Ken Russell's The Devils.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 23 September 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

i'm in montreal

god i love existenz!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 23 September 2005 18:06 (twenty years ago)

I haven't seen a Cronenberg movie I didn't like, but I love Videodrome and Scanners.

― recovering optimist (Royal Bed Bouncer), Friday, 23 September 2005 19:28 (twenty years ago)

I'm going to see History of Violence in 3 hours. I have high hopes.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 23 September 2005 20:50 (twenty years ago)

The Brood lovers finally arrive! As I mentioned upthread, watching the Brood made my girlfriend pregnant.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 23 September 2005 22:01 (twenty years ago)

Psychoplasmics!

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 23 September 2005 22:02 (twenty years ago)

I'm going to see History of Violence in 2 hours. I have high hopes.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 23 September 2005 22:17 (twenty years ago)

i taped crash last night, when it was on channel 4. i'm going to watch it tomorrow. should i have high hopes?

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 23 September 2005 22:40 (twenty years ago)

No.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 23 September 2005 22:41 (twenty years ago)

should i go jogging instead?

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 23 September 2005 22:42 (twenty years ago)

Yes.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 23 September 2005 22:43 (twenty years ago)

why is it so bad, alex?

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 23 September 2005 22:45 (twenty years ago)

you have less than 2 hrs to provide a satisfactory reply...

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 23 September 2005 22:48 (twenty years ago)

It's just really boring. It's not a great book either, but at least the book has the benefit of Ballard's internal dialogues which hold at least a marginal amount of interest. The movie has nothing except some supposedly "titilating" sex scenes which come off as way too clinical and forced to actually be sexy.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 23 September 2005 22:49 (twenty years ago)

LOL

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 23 September 2005 22:51 (twenty years ago)

Basically if you've read the book you'll be disappointed cause it's taken only most surface part of the text and doesn't do much with it and if you haven't read the book you'll just come away thinking it's just trying to hard to be sexy and shocking and is failing completely.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 23 September 2005 22:51 (twenty years ago)

i think it's actually pretty funny... intentionally funny even.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 23 September 2005 22:56 (twenty years ago)

if you haven't read the book you'll just come away thinking it's just trying to hard to be sexy and shocking and is failing completely.

Or you'll actually watch the film and enjoy it.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 23 September 2005 23:07 (twenty years ago)

two words: JAMES SPADER

please destroy

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 23 September 2005 23:26 (twenty years ago)

I liked the movie. I liked(and have always liked) James Spader. And I ESPECIALLY like one mr. elias koteas. Especially in that movie.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 23 September 2005 23:41 (twenty years ago)

you're crazy.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 23 September 2005 23:42 (twenty years ago)

James Spader!!? He's like an assail the unassailable.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 23 September 2005 23:43 (twenty years ago)

are you kidding? he's terrible. more wooden than keanu.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 23 September 2005 23:44 (twenty years ago)

but smugger!

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 23 September 2005 23:53 (twenty years ago)

spader is pretty wooden, but he does seem to have a bit more going on upstairs than keanu.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 23 September 2005 23:54 (twenty years ago)

how can you tell?!?!? he's wooden!

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 23 September 2005 23:55 (twenty years ago)

his eyebrows are carved a tad differently than keanus on the wood!

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Saturday, 24 September 2005 00:09 (twenty years ago)

I don't think spader is wooden at all, I think he's genius. in most roles he's like "this movie is so below me that I'm not even going to bother raising my eyelids all the way".

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Saturday, 24 September 2005 00:38 (twenty years ago)

hstencil OTM.

― jed_ (jed), Saturday, 24 September 2005 00:45 (twenty years ago)

You guys just hate him cuz he's a stoner and his droopy eyelids make him look "wooden."

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Saturday, 24 September 2005 00:51 (twenty years ago)

A History of Violence is wow. Completely and totally wow. I think I need to see it again. I'm not even sure I can quite process it.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 24 September 2005 02:45 (twenty years ago)

really?!! must see must see must see. I couldn't make it this afternoon. Tomorrow then.

Also I don't think Crash was trying to be that, Alex - shocking people just isn't interesting.

― dar1a g (daria g), Saturday, 24 September 2005 03:53 (twenty years ago)

I have no idea what Cronenberg was trying to do with Crash, but whatever it was it ended being horribly unsuccessful in everything it attempted (it's not funny enough to be "funny" IMO.) I think the biggest problem is that taken out of the time when the novel was written, the themes begin to make very little less sense (car crash culture just isn't what it was.) Maybe if Diana had died before the movie was made it might have worked somehow, really given the film something to focus on, but as it stood the whole car crash thing did seem kind of like joke and frankly there are funnier ones.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 24 September 2005 04:05 (twenty years ago)

I recall reading that Ballard liked the film very much.. Um, there never was a car crash culture, that was the reason he chose it (JGB I mean), a fetish that doesn't exist.

― dar1a g (daria g), Saturday, 24 September 2005 04:41 (twenty years ago)

Oh, look, a blog:
http://www.historyofviolence.com/cronenbergblog/

― dar1a g (daria g), Saturday, 24 September 2005 15:11 (twenty years ago)

actually my parents were big into car crash culture in the 70's and i was actually conceived in a car crash orgy. so Crash is a personal movie for me.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Saturday, 24 September 2005 15:26 (twenty years ago)

I am lamely excited about this movie. The end of the graphic novel goes way over the top and I'm very interested in seeing what DC does with it.

― adam (adam), Saturday, 24 September 2005 16:31 (twenty years ago)

I'm looking forward to it too. The last Cronenberg film I liked was Naked Lunch.

My faves:

Dead Ringers
The Fly
Naked Lunch
Videodrome

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 24 September 2005 19:01 (twenty years ago)

actually my parents were big into car crash culture in the 70's and i was actually conceived in a car crash orgy. so Crash is a personal movie for me.

so are you sure that's your dad?

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Saturday, 24 September 2005 21:12 (twenty years ago)

History of Violence..

Well, that was something. The beginning was really really frosty and weird. Interesting sort of uh.. comic timing toward the end, the audience would laugh and then sort of recoil like OMGWTF.

― dar1a g (daria g), Sunday, 25 September 2005 03:46 (twenty years ago)

I'm seeing HOV tomorrow. But I just watched Naked Lunch again, and holy shit what a movie.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 25 September 2005 04:06 (twenty years ago)

It was fun to watch it with a bunch of virgins, to Cronenberg and to Beats. I got to point things out... "That's Kerouac. That's Ginsberg. That's Tangiers." And I got to glance over to their reactions to, say, him rubbing bug powder dust on the talking asshole of a giant imaginary bug. God I love that movie.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 25 September 2005 04:11 (twenty years ago)

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