Poll

Your Favorite Brian De Palma Film Is...

haven't seen any
0 (0%)
don't like any
0 (0%)
other
0 (0%)
Greetings
0 (0%)
The Wedding Party
0 (0%)
Hi, Mom!
0 (0%)
Sisters
3 (5.4%)
Phantom of the Paradise
3 (5.4%)
Obsession
0 (0%)
Carrie
9 (16.1%)
The Fury
0 (0%)
Home Movies
0 (0%)
Dressed to Kill
3 (5.4%)
Blow Out
4 (7.1%)
Scarface
5 (8.9%)
Body Double
1 (1.8%)
Wise Guys
0 (0%)
The Untouchables
15 (26.8%)
Casualties of War
0 (0%)
The Bonfire of the Vanities
0 (0%)
Raising Cain
0 (0%)
Carlito's Way
1 (1.8%)
Mission: Impossible
10 (17.9%)
Snake Eyes
0 (0%)
Mission to Mars
1 (1.8%)
Femme Fatale
0 (0%)
The Black Dahlia
0 (0%)
Redacted
1 (1.8%)
Passion
0 (0%)
Domino
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 56

Author Topic: De Palma, Brian  (Read 13814 times)

pixote

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #10 on: May 31, 2008, 05:00:49 AM »
What's with the Scarface/Untouchables hate?

I'd put Untouchables in the 'Alright' group probably (along with Casualties of War), though I'd have to watch it again to know for sure, and I really don't much feel like doing that.

I'd also reluctantly include Raising Cain in the Cinecasting Terrible tier (my reluctance being tied to my shame in actually having watched that movie).

Scarface just didn't work for me at any level.  I was so psyched to be able to see it in 35mm ... but that wore off just a few minutes in.  More than anything, it bored me.

pixote
« Last Edit: May 31, 2008, 05:02:32 AM by pixote »
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sdedalus

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #11 on: May 31, 2008, 05:01:34 AM »
I think I may have fallen asleep in Scarface, I hope so.

I wrote this about The Untouchables when I was feeling generous a few years ago:

Quote
Another overrated movie that nonetheless has some very good elements. Disliking Brian DePalma, I like to ascribe all the elements of this movie that I like to David Mamet, who wrote the screenplay before DePalma took over and butchered it. I believe Mamet's even disowned it. The good parts: Sean Connery, of course. Kevin Costner and Andy Garcia and Robert DeNiro are also all good. The bad parts: this is a movie about how the government are heros for ignoring the Bill Of Rights to kill and capture people who violate a law that no one, not even the agents of that government, think is just. Eliot Ness is a hero to people who think orders must always be followed, regardless of their morality. To put it bluntly: this movie is fascist. The worst part is DePalma's cooptation of the Odessa Steps sequence from Battleship Potemkin. In Eisenstein's film, the baby rolling perilously down the steps was about the inhumanity of the murderous government agents attempting to put down public protest. DePalma takes this great humanist image and uses it to make a hero of said murderous government agents. Despicable.
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duder

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #12 on: May 31, 2008, 05:54:54 AM »
I like to think there's more to the baby carriage sequence in The Untouchables than just making Ness look like a hero. There's a really excellent shot-by-shot analysis here.
...

duder

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #13 on: May 31, 2008, 05:56:26 AM »
As for my favourite De Palma, it's either Phantom of the Paradise or Body Double.
...

zarodinu

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #14 on: May 31, 2008, 06:06:13 AM »
I was an outcast in High School, so I always had a soft spot for for Carrie.  The actors are really great, you got Trevolta, Spacek, and Carrie mother chewing up the scenery.  Also the music is great in places, the score playing during the sacrifice scene is haunting.   
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Tequila

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #15 on: May 31, 2008, 06:35:32 AM »
The Untouchables traumatized me as a kid so I pick. Also, surely no one will deny that there are some good, non-De Palma-related elements in this film.
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Wowser

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #16 on: May 31, 2008, 07:11:20 AM »
Untouchable is simply very enjoyable. It's not a 'great film', but it's infinitely watchable, and, though I have not seen it, I'd imagine in the same way that The Black Dahlia is entertaining.

Steve Dedelus has taken it far too seriously in considering it fascist, understating the very meaning of the word: it's simply a fun Western, transplanted to urban Chicago.

Tequila

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #17 on: May 31, 2008, 07:14:16 AM »
The Black Dahlia is nowhere near The Untouchables. It's just a terrible film.
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Wowser

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #18 on: May 31, 2008, 07:21:07 AM »
I am drawn to seeing it like that nasty, yet alluring, smell of cow poo.

samfuller

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #19 on: May 31, 2008, 07:37:25 AM »
SISTERS is my favorite, a fairly early entry in the progressive 70s horror film cycle and still one of the better feminist takes on the genre.