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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 13818 times)

smirnoff

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #20 on: May 31, 2008, 09:09:34 AM »
Mission: Impossible!
Heartily agree.

facedad

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #21 on: May 31, 2008, 12:21:00 PM »
Of the ones I remember well enough:

Pretty good, if deeply flawed:
Sisters
Carrie

Tolerable at best:
Mission: Impossible

Morally reprehensibly bad:
Blow Out
Scarface
Carlito's Way
Snake Eyes

Overall, I deserve a prize for holding back the 3,000 word rant on why he's terribly bad.
You're just jealous! Nobody loves you because you're tiny and made of meat!

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chesterfilms

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #22 on: May 31, 2008, 12:37:10 PM »
yeah, he is quite a bad director. i have only enjoyed about 4 of his movies, and i don't love any of them.
What? What are you talking about? It's girls and spaghetti. We love girls and spaghetti.

sdedalus

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #23 on: May 31, 2008, 02:26:39 PM »
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.

No fascist Westerns?
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1SO

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #24 on: May 31, 2008, 02:38:11 PM »
There was once a time when DePalma was actually may favorite director.  (Late 80's, early 90's.)  I loved the bold strokes he painted with, the way he wasn't afraid to say "look at me" with the camera.  Me and my friends went to see Carlito's Way at an after-hours screening.  The moment where Carlito tosses his lawyer's bullets into the trash can, DePalma puts the camera in the can and we watch them slowly fall, realizing Carlito's just doomed his old friend.  I shouted out "That's why he's my favorite."  I thought it was a brilliant way to visually say so much.

My love for DePalma ended during Snake Eyes, which starts like the DePalma I love and slides downhill, ending like the shell of a filmmaker we have today.  Each DePalma film since Snake Eyes only emphasizes how empty his bag of tricks has become.  REDACTED was offensive in most every way, the complete opposite of CASUALTIES OF WAR, possibly his finest film.

I always wonder what history will say about DePalma when he passes on.  He was always the outsider of the hotshot 70's filmmakers, always at least one excessive gesture over the line.

I own Sisters, Phantom of the Paradise, Dressed To Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, Casualities of War, Raising Cain, Carlito's Way and Mission: Impossible.  All are flawed, but there's a lot of really clever filmmaking as well.

pixote

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #25 on: May 31, 2008, 02:53:54 PM »
The moment where Carlito tosses his lawyer's bullets into the trash can, DePalma puts the camera in the can and we watch them slowly fall, realizing Carlito's just doomed his old friend.  I shouted out "That's why he's my favorite."  I thought it was a brilliant way to visually say so much.

Yeah, definitely one of my favorite DePalma moments.

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Wowser

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #26 on: May 31, 2008, 06:46:35 PM »
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.

No fascist Westerns?

Fascist as a film, or films that promote a fascist view? I don't even think a film can be fascist.

Kevin Shields

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #27 on: May 31, 2008, 06:47:05 PM »
I picked Scarface, obviously.

It's my favorite film among them all of his.  

I just love watching that film.  It's a CINECAST!ing masterpiece!
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sdedalus

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #28 on: May 31, 2008, 08:21:36 PM »
Fascist as a film, or films that promote a fascist view? I don't even think a film can be fascist.

I don't get the distinction.
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Wowser

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Brian De Palma
« Reply #29 on: June 01, 2008, 05:13:46 AM »
Fascist as a film, or films that promote a fascist view? I don't even think a film can be fascist.

I don't get the distinction.

Well, if you don't get the distinction, then tell me exactly how a film can, in itself, be fascist?