Author Topic: 1990s US Bracket: Verdicts  (Read 712388 times)

facedad

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 10983
  • World Phucking Champions.
    • Be my netflix friend
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #210 on: March 19, 2008, 10:40:15 PM »
You sir, have made another controversial choice.
You're just jealous! Nobody loves you because you're tiny and made of meat!

https://twitter.com/thefaceboy

http://www.thereelists.com

pixote

  • Administrator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 34237
  • Up with generosity!
    • yet more inanities!
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #211 on: March 19, 2008, 10:50:23 PM »
You sir, have made another controversial choice.

Hey, weren't you due to make a choice of your own the other night?

pixote
Great  |  Near Great  |  Very Good  |  Good  |  Fair  |  Mixed  |  Middling  |  Bad

facedad

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 10983
  • World Phucking Champions.
    • Be my netflix friend
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #212 on: March 20, 2008, 01:26:18 AM »
You sir, have made another controversial choice.

Hey, weren't you due to make a choice of your own the other night?

pixote
I've made the choice, I just haven't gotten around to the writeup.
You're just jealous! Nobody loves you because you're tiny and made of meat!

https://twitter.com/thefaceboy

http://www.thereelists.com

Basil

  • Godfather
  • *****
  • Posts: 9513
  • Entrepreneur, spiritualist, healer.
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #213 on: March 22, 2008, 12:08:19 PM »
The much delayed verdict on Crumb v. Fight Club:

Crumb

It took me a very long time to finally sit down and watch this, largely because the subject matter is so uncomfortable. I don't particularly enjoy films about depressed, disturbed people. Crumb is an undoubtedly talented cartoonist, but the film is quite clearly more concerned with his personal struggles, beginning with those of his childhood.

While the influence of his sexual fantasies on his works is initially fascinating, at certain points I had to question exactly why I needed to know some of the information presented to me. For example, the revelation that Crumb has an extremely large penis of course reveals that the depictions of himself in his cartoons are accurate, but what exactly am I supposed to get out of this whole journey? In a way, Crumb answers that himself when discussing Goodfellas, saying that "not everything is for everybody"; he expands on this by saying that the dark underside of culture and society is not meant to be seen by everyone. Well said, sir. His cartoons probably are not my cup of tea, and while I found many aspects of his life quite interesting, the film was not a complete success in its attempts to tell me something new about art, culture, etc.


Fight Club

I am a huge fan of David Fincher, as you all know from my relentless campaigning for Zodiac during Filmspots season. He always brings something new to the table visually, if not necessarily thematically.

Fight Club is no exception, and I think Fincher does the absolute best he can with the source material. The merits of the film are fairly obvious, particularly the handling of the anti-corporate, anti-conformist attitude that the fighters develop and the interactions between Norton's character and Durden. That said, some of those themes are pretty tired, and during neither of the two times I have viewed the film was I able to completely buy the twist. I'm not saying it doesn't enhance the complexity of the film, but it's been used so often that it didn't feel completely true to the nature of the story.

I don't think I articulated that very well, but, nonetheless, I give the edge to Fight Club for its visual merits and ambition.

A$AP Fables

facedad

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 10983
  • World Phucking Champions.
    • Be my netflix friend
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #214 on: March 23, 2008, 12:02:04 AM »
I'm not sure I agree here, but I certainly don't disagree enough to fight for Crumb.
You're just jealous! Nobody loves you because you're tiny and made of meat!

https://twitter.com/thefaceboy

http://www.thereelists.com

pixote

  • Administrator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 34237
  • Up with generosity!
    • yet more inanities!
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #215 on: March 24, 2008, 12:31:25 PM »
The best part about Crumb, from what I remember, was going from thinking Crumb was pretty nuts to thinking that, compared to the rest of his family, he was an absolute rock.

pixote
Great  |  Near Great  |  Very Good  |  Good  |  Fair  |  Mixed  |  Middling  |  Bad

ses

  • Administrator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 14979
    • Sarah's Kitchen Adventures
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #216 on: March 26, 2008, 09:01:45 PM »
Before Sunrise vs. Se7en

This was a hard one for me.  I own each of these movies, so obviously I like both of them.  They are also wildly different, which makes it more difficult to choose a winner, in my opinion.  It had been a while (at least 8 years) since I had watched either of these movies so I was glad to revisit them. 

I remember the first time that I saw Before Sunrise.  I absolutely loved it.  I was a lot younger and, as cheesy as it may be, more idealistic about love I think.  I thought the story was simple and sweet, and I found myself wishing I could be on a train in Europe, so I could meet someone and connect with them the way that Jesse and Celine did.  I found the dialogue to be real and conversational, not stilted like so many other movies.  This movie stayed with me long after I watched it.  After watching this movie again, many years later, I did not have the same reaction.  I felt myself relating to the Jesse and Celine of Before Sunset more. I still loved it, but not as much as I remembered.

Se7en is as far away from Before Sunrise as you could get.  The mood that David Fincher sets is very effective.  It never stops raining, it is gloomy, and ominous, and he had his detectives doing work in the dark long before CSI.  I think the dynamic works between Pitt and Freeman, and the movie has some truly scary (Sloth) and suspenseful moments.  I also think that Kevin Spacey was effective as John Doe although, it takes you out of the movie a bit now that he is so well known.  I think Fincher keeps getting better (Zodiac), and I look forward to each film he puts out.  Although, nothing is like the first viewing with these kind of films, it still holds up.

This was a tough decision for me, and I know that I am going to get some backlash for either decision, but I have to go with Se7en by a nose (sorry skjerva).
« Last Edit: March 27, 2008, 12:13:07 AM by ses593 »
"It's a fool who looks for logic in the chambers of the human heart"

http://sarahskitchenadventures.blogspot.com/

Junior

  • Bert Macklin, FBI
  • Global Moderator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 28709
  • What's the rumpus?
    • Benefits of a Classical Education
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #217 on: March 26, 2008, 09:05:30 PM »
Good choice!
Check out my blog of many topics

“I’m not a quitter, Kimmy! I watched Interstellar all the way to the end!”

pixote

  • Administrator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 34237
  • Up with generosity!
    • yet more inanities!
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #218 on: March 26, 2008, 09:05:39 PM »
I don't know what I would have picked without watching them both again ... which sounds like a worthwhile thing for me to do.

So your choice boiled down to your getting older, less idealistic, and more sinful?  ;)

pixote
Great  |  Near Great  |  Very Good  |  Good  |  Fair  |  Mixed  |  Middling  |  Bad

ses

  • Administrator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 14979
    • Sarah's Kitchen Adventures
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #219 on: March 26, 2008, 09:09:29 PM »
I don't know what I would have picked without watching them both again ... which sounds like a worthwhile thing for me to do.

So your choice boiled down to your getting older, less idealistic, and more sinful?  ;)

pixote

All of the above.   :P
"It's a fool who looks for logic in the chambers of the human heart"

http://sarahskitchenadventures.blogspot.com/