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Poll

Your Favorite David Cronenberg Film Is...

haven't seen any
0 (0%)
don't like any
0 (0%)
other
0 (0%)
Shivers
0 (0%)
Rabid
0 (0%)
The Brood
0 (0%)
Scanners
1 (1.4%)
Videodrome
15 (20.3%)
The Dead Zone
3 (4.1%)
The Fly
15 (20.3%)
Dead Ringers
3 (4.1%)
Naked Lunch
7 (9.5%)
M. Butterfly
0 (0%)
Crash
2 (2.7%)
eXistenZ
4 (5.4%)
Spider
1 (1.4%)
A History of Violence
11 (14.9%)
Eastern Promises
10 (13.5%)
A Dangerous Method
1 (1.4%)
Cosmopolis
1 (1.4%)
Maps to the Stars
0 (0%)
Crimes of the Future
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 74

Author Topic: Cronenberg, David  (Read 12568 times)

Bill Thompson

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Re: Directors Best Poll - David Cronenberg
« Reply #30 on: October 05, 2010, 04:12:02 PM »
Outside of Scanners he's never made a bad film, just varying levels of great.

AAAutin

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Re: Directors Best Poll - David Cronenberg
« Reply #31 on: March 15, 2011, 06:27:06 PM »
14.) CRASH
13.) EXISTENZ
12.) M. BUTTERFLY
11.) A DANGEROUS METHOD
10.) SCANNERS
09.) VIDEODROME
08.) A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
07.) SPIDER
06.) THE FLY
05.) COSMOPOLIS
04.) THE DEAD ZONE
03.) NAKED LUNCH
02.) EASTERN PROMISES
01.) DEAD RINGERS
« Last Edit: September 27, 2012, 09:21:49 PM by AAAutin »

StudentOFilm

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Re: Directors Best Poll - David Cronenberg
« Reply #32 on: March 15, 2011, 09:05:34 PM »
I've seen so few and I loved them, I should really start getting into his filmography.

1. A History of Violence
2. Eastern Promises
3. The Fly
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jim brown

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Re: Directors Best Poll - David Cronenberg
« Reply #33 on: February 06, 2012, 03:05:50 PM »
1.   Naked Lunch
2.   eXistenZ
3.   The Dead Zone
4.   The Brood
5.   The Fly
6.   Scanners
7.   Dead Ringers
8.   Rabid
9.   Videodrome
10. Shivers
11. Crash

>  I saw Spider but for the life of me, can't remember too much about the movie.  Which is odd, as I remember the book pretty well.

>  I need to see Crash again - it may deserve to move up.

>  I also need to catch up with his recent stuff.
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¡Keith!

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Re: Directors Best Poll - David Cronenberg
« Reply #34 on: February 07, 2012, 11:15:56 AM »
eXistenZ
The Fly
Eastern Promises

A Dangerous Method
A History of Violence
M. Butterfly

verbALs

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Re: Directors Best Poll - David Cronenberg
« Reply #35 on: February 07, 2012, 11:26:43 AM »
1. The Fly
2. Videodrome
3. The Dead Zone
4. Eastern Promises
5. A History of Violence
6. Scanners
7. Crash
8. eXistenZ
9. Dead Ringers
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roujin

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Re: Directors Best Poll - David Cronenberg
« Reply #36 on: March 02, 2012, 07:52:53 PM »
Eastern Promises* David Cronenberg, 2007

I like this mostly because of Mortensen's stillness, his calmness. The careful manner in which he speaks, moves, occupies the frame. I've never thought much of Cronenberg as a stylist, but after seeing some of his movies in quick succession, I've come to appreciate the almost classical qualities of his filmmaking. Sure, he doesn't back down from the violence of his characters or their milieu (necks are cut open, knives perforate skin, bloody blood blood), but his editing is penetrating and insightful and makes everything always engaging. Of course, I got into the story and all; Mortensen being an unknowable badass, and I guess Watts was interesting with whatever it was she was supposed to be doing, Cassel's hilarious accent and Muehler's ruthlessness, and, hell, even the overarching thing about the underage prostitute and her dreams and her diary. And then it gets into this whole other thing about living two lives (which makes it a sister film to History of Violence) and about how we repress one in favor of the other, all of which gets dealt beautifully delineated in the film's narrative, and then also gets masterfully conveyed in the film's ambiguous final shot (a man alone, his insides unfathomable). A fascinating piece.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2020, 12:13:31 AM by 1SO »

roujin

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Re: Directors Best Poll - David Cronenberg
« Reply #37 on: March 19, 2012, 04:13:39 PM »
And more.

The Fly David Cronenberg, 1986

An icky film, duh. Also a really funny one. Also a really sad one. I don't think I have to explain the reasons why it’s an icky movie, but I’ll go ahead and do so anyway. The special effects work is particularly effective. Cronenberg doesn’t shy away from all the gory details that make up Brundlefly’s deteriorating body – Goldblum’s body one of decay, nothing but swollen skin, rotting nails, vomit and sweat and hunger and mania and a metaphor for my daily existence. So, yeah, it’s gross. So gross. The concern with the body and intrusion and flesh and all that stuff from Videodrome gets carried over to here, as we witness the fragility of our existence and our bodies and all that stuff, and for some reason it made me think that I should totally watch The Act of Seeing With One’s Own Eyes. There’s also the whole thing about actually watching someone you love die and decay and be reduced to something that’s barely recognizable from the person you loved. But it’s also funny and kinda ridiculous. All those scenes where Brundefly is all hell yeahs about his newfound powers and abilities are hilarious. Geena Davis can’t handle the Brundlefly’s all-day sexytimes marathon! All in all, a hugely impressive film; one that manages to ratchet up the tension and the melancholy and the gross stuff organically and wonderfully until it all blows up at the end. Great film.

Crash David Cronenberg, 1996

A more formally impressive film than The Fly; Also one that kind of rides a fine line between being about the monotony of the actions it depicts and actually being a dull, numbing experience. I thought it fell more in the sneakily hypnotizing camp side of things than anything else. Cronenberg’s camera constantly fetishizes the metallic sheen of cars, Rosanna Arquette’s leg brace, scars, wounds, disgusting gaping and weirdly CINECAST!able open gashes in the skin (gotta admit that made me laugh). It almost even takes on the structure of pornography, but except that any time the film shows a coupling, none of the seeming “eroticism” that’s supposed to be there shows up, only a clinical, distanced version of such (because who could possibly find that sort of thing erotic? Besides roujinesque figures out in the landscape, of course). This is just a weird, heady tonic of a film; it’s more of an atmosphere than anything else, like a less visceral and dreamy and poetic Trouble Every Day, but approaching something like that. It’s completely fascinating.

A Dangerous Method David Cronenberg, 2011

It seems like a costume drama and it acts like a costume drama, but what struck me the most about the film is how it’s completely about the most basic instincts and drives that fuel our most passionate actions. Knightley’s character learns to channel her impulses thru the talking cure or whatever, learns to control that which drives her body. But even then that’s not what I found interesting or fascinating about the film. To be frank, I just found Cronenberg’s classical staging deeply moving, climaxing with two shots: the beautiful reverie of Fassbender and Knightley on the boat (the one moment where Fassbender truly seems to have completely lost himself, given up control) and the incredible final conversation on the bench, where a lot of the conversation takes place with Fassbender facing away from the camera, the internal struggle and shattering of his persona taking place privately (and then moving into the perfect back and forth setups between the participants). So, yeah, it’s very impressive on that front. Not that its ideas and its subject isn’t fascinating by itself (it is), but I admit that I don’t know very much about it at all, and even then, I found that the film dramatized most of its conflicts and situations thru its mise en scene (although, yeah, it’s a talky film). Wonderful film!

smirnoff

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Re: Directors Best Poll - David Cronenberg
« Reply #38 on: March 20, 2012, 11:12:50 AM »
Perfect review of The Fly. That is to say, I agree with every word. :)

oneaprilday

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Re: Directors Best Poll - David Cronenberg
« Reply #39 on: April 07, 2012, 07:43:44 PM »
Eastern Promises* David Cronenberg, 2007

The Fly David Cronenberg, 1986

Crash David Cronenberg, 1996

A Dangerous Method David Cronenberg, 2011
Fantastic set of reviews that I missed until now. 

There were so many lackluster reviews of ADM that I'd decided not to put much effort into seeking it out.  Your review has changed my mind!