movies

[JL21]

I'll be fair and say that Nashville didn't resonate with me, whereas Cuckoo's Nest did (and that's not the film's fault; it's mine). And Cuckoo's Nest owes more to the source material than it does the film itself.

That said, yes- Nashville's overlapping dialogue was great in that it was part of Altman's style. But it wasn't new... because Altman had already done it in MASH. THAT was the groundbreaker. Nashville was the echo. And frankly, I thought it fit perfectly in MASH (chaos of war and all that, ironically making it so much more realistic than the war films he was subverting) but simply found it annoying and unnecessary in Nashville. Throw in the musical aspect and frankly, I don't think I was made to like Nashville on many levels.

That said, I agree with your overall assessment and sentiment about Altman. He'd be on my short list of best American directors with guys like John Huston, Scorsese, Kubrick, and Welles. Maybe Billy Wilder depending on how you define "American".

Cuckoo's Nest is kind of an interesting case because it doesn't tend to grade well with film nerds, or at least not equal to its reputation. And I get it- it wasn't especially groundbreaking other than some slight anti-heroism with RP MacMurphy. It struck a revolutionary chord with the era, which earns it points, but so did a lot of other films (see MASH, for instance). I have a real soft spot for it because it was the first "good" classic movie I really ever saw, in a psych. course, while learning about total institutions.

[Bo Hart]

Is it just me, or is overweight Matt Damon (e.g. Interstellar) the spittin' image of Phillip Seymour Hoffman?

[The Third Man]

I'll echo 33rd's love for Nashville. [expletive] adore that movie.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is great, but Amadeus is where it's at.

[33anda3rd]

I need to watch Nashville and MASH again. I remember MASH having the overlapping dialog but I remember Nashville using it more and to better effect. It's possible I'm remembering that wrong. I like MASH a lot but Nashville is my favorite Altman.

Shouts out also to The Player, which used this effect to lampoon Hollywood, and was of course without an Oscar nom in a year it was the 2nd best American film.

[JL21]

I won't dispute that it's used more in Nashville than it is in MASH. In fact, that's probably part of my problem with it in Nashville. It's too much. You see it most in MASH during the surgery scenes, and it's sprinkled in some other places. Radar's whole purpose seems to be talking over other people.

[33anda3rd]

I felt like it was an equalizer of the voices in the film. The subversive/young had the same voice as the wealthy/establishment/older characters.

[heyzeus]

I'll echo 33rd's love for Nashville. [expletive] adore that movie.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is great, but Amadeus is where it's at.

I'm going through Louis on Netflux now and F Murray Abraham makes a weird cameo as a swinger husband whose wife brings Louus home for a surprise threesome. Great actor, but I don't think he had the career everyone expected

[The Third Man]

IMDb has Gandhi at an 8.1 and ET at a 7.9. The reputation thing was a joke but personally, I'll take the epic story of one of the 20th century's greatest that was well acted over a children's fantasy story no matter how well done.

That's silly. The Little Prince is one of the greatest books ever, and it's a "children's fantasy story."

Anyway, TSPDT has ET at 140 and Gandhi nowhere to be seen, for what it's worth.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

IMDb has Gandhi at an 8.1 and ET at a 7.9. The reputation thing was a joke but personally, I'll take the epic story of one of the 20th century's greatest that was well acted over a children's fantasy story no matter how well done.

That's silly. The Little Prince is one of the greatest books ever, and it's a "children's fantasy story."

Anyway, TSPDT has ET at 140 and Gandhi nowhere to be seen, for what it's worth.

What is TSPDT? Yet another individual's opinion. At least IMDb is an aggregate. The Little Prince greatest book ever?

Christ, I know we live in an era so cynical and banal that comic books have been labeled high art. I guess it makes sense then that The Little Prince and ET are now works worthy to be considered mature expressions of the human experience.

[ghostrunner]

IMDb has Gandhi at an 8.1 and ET at a 7.9. The reputation thing was a joke but personally, I'll take the epic story of one of the 20th century's greatest that was well acted over a children's fantasy story no matter how well done.

That's silly. The Little Prince is one of the greatest books ever, and it's a "children's fantasy story."

Anyway, TSPDT has ET at 140 and Gandhi nowhere to be seen, for what it's worth.

What is TSPDT? Yet another individual's opinion. At least IMDb is an aggregate. The Little Prince greatest book ever?

Christ, I know we live in an era so cynical and banal that comic books have been labeled high art. I guess it makes sense then that The Little Prince and ET are now works worthy to be considered mature expressions of the human experience.

I don't know what cynicism and banality have to do with that. Anyway, it's a fairly common opinion and not exactly "out there."

It looks like TSPDT is using an aggregate of film critics and filmmaker's favorite and top ten lists, though it appears they've made some judgement calls in how they score them. I hadn't heard of that site before - thanks for that, Third.

Apart from that though, ET is on the American Film Institute Top 100, Gandhi isn't. Roger Ebert has/had ET listed as one of his "great movies" on his site, Gandhi isn't one of those.

Anyway, Ebert's famous line is probably relevant to this - “It's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it.”