90s US Round 5: Hoop Dreams vs. Reservoir Dogs

[pixote]

Being a spectator to a verdict like this is awesome.

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[smirnoff]

This bothers me too, and I can't shake it. Whenever I see a "cool" part in a Tarantino movie, it's not the same as seeing a cool part in any other movie. I put "cool" in quotations because it's not actually cool. It lacks the unaware effortlessness of being cool. What's "cool" in Tarantino movies is actually just fun. This is a problem, because while Tarantino is busy getting his jollies, I'm stuck trying to reconcile what's just throwaway amusement, and the rest of the film!

Sigh. Maybe I'm just going about it all wrong. Maybe I never was supposed to do any more than enjoy a Tarantino film for the neverending string of cool, just like I was never supposed to actually care about the story in a porno. Watch it, have fun, that's it. There are times when I'm happy to have fun right along with his films, but there's a lot of time when I'm looking for more and it's not there. Reservoir Dogs was definitely one of those times.

Hmmm, I can see what you're saying about not being able to distinguish the merely cool from the relevant to the film stuff. I noticed that too.. but it bothered me less because (almost) every conversation was funny and entertaining to me. I could feel QT's excitement at being able to put all this stuff that he enjoys thinking and talking about into this film and have these great actors say this stuff and given that I was paying attention to all the dialogue anyway, I figured I'd eventually know what is and what is not relevant to the plot. Some of it did feel unnecessary retrospectively to me though (the racist conversation in the car).

I think part of it has to do with my not being able to empathize with QT. He's obviously reveling in the moment, and rightly so I guess, but it gets to the point where it feels like he's having more fun that I am... and in turn I think I get a bit put off.

[pixote]

Fun envy!

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[Junior]

This bothers me too, and I can't shake it. Whenever I see a "cool" part in a Tarantino movie, it's not the same as seeing a cool part in any other movie. I put "cool" in quotations because it's not actually cool. It lacks the unaware effortlessness of being cool. What's "cool" in Tarantino movies is actually just fun. This is a problem, because while Tarantino is busy getting his jollies, I'm stuck trying to reconcile what's just throwaway amusement, and the rest of the film!

Sigh. Maybe I'm just going about it all wrong. Maybe I never was supposed to do any more than enjoy a Tarantino film for the neverending string of cool, just like I was never supposed to actually care about the story in a porno. Watch it, have fun, that's it. There are times when I'm happy to have fun right along with his films, but there's a lot of time when I'm looking for more and it's not there. Reservoir Dogs was definitely one of those times.

Hmmm, I can see what you're saying about not being able to distinguish the merely cool from the relevant to the film stuff. I noticed that too.. but it bothered me less because (almost) every conversation was funny and entertaining to me. I could feel QT's excitement at being able to put all this stuff that he enjoys thinking and talking about into this film and have these great actors say this stuff and given that I was paying attention to all the dialogue anyway, I figured I'd eventually know what is and what is not relevant to the plot. Some of it did feel unnecessary retrospectively to me though (the racist conversation in the car).

I think part of it has to do with my not being able to empathize with QT. He's obviously reveling in the moment, and rightly so I guess, but it gets to the point where it feels like he's having more fun that I am... and in turn I think I get a bit put off.

I don't know where that feeling would come from. I certainly didn't get it. Strange. By strange I mean that you, 'noff, are strange. Strange.

[smirnoff]

Fun envy!

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It totally is! I hope I'm not being to whiny about it 

[Melvil]

Being a spectator to a verdict like this is awesome.

[pixote]

How long does the commode story actually last?  Every month I've been away from the film, I've added like another five minutes to my estimate.  "That damn sequence goes on for like five hours!" I complain to uninterested friends.  "And it's just not that interesting."

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[worm@work]

So after that great opening, although I did love the initial part of the conversation between Mr. Pink and Mr. White and the way QT chooses to shoot that particular scene, after that fun opening, the film dawdled for me a little when Mr. White and Mr. Pink were just arguing with each other and Mr. Orange is just bleeding away in the background. I was dying to know what the hell had happened and where the others were and I felt like this scene was stretched out just a bit longer than necessary for me at least.

But then we get to the point where Mr. White and Mr. Pink are pointing their guns at each other and I'm thinking (the first time around at least), "These guys aren't going to be so stupid, are they?"



Then the camera pulls away too. As if it doesn't want any part of this stupidity either. And just as we are caught up in the suspense of what is going to happen between Mr. Pink and Mr. White, we get the reveal of Mr. Blonde standing there with a soda and watching them in amusement.

It's CINECAST!ing fantastic, okay.

[pixote]

I've never thought of Michael Madsen as being attractive.  If that's the deciding factor here...

Wait, Arthur Agee's pretty hot, too?  I mean, right?

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[Junior]

How long does the commode story actually last?  Every month I've been away from the film, I've added like another five minutes to my estimate.  "That damn sequence goes on for like five hours!" I complain to uninterested friends.  "And it's just not that interesting."

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It's about 7 minutes long. And awesome throughout.