movies

[The Third Man]

Yeah, if you're the right audience I can see how Primer would really push your buttons but that sort of puzzle-assembly style of watching doesn't do much for me. In a way, it's the same reason I'm not all that hot on Inception, which reduces something (dreams) that should be sensual into something mechanical and rote. (Which isn't to say that either doesn't have any emotional pull, but not enough for my tastes). In either case it's not particularly up my alley - if I'm gonna watch something that in any sense I have to "solve," I want it to really push my emotional buttons, e.g. Lynch or Last Year at Marienbad (the latter of which is virtually impossible to "solve," but that's part of why it's so compelling). I find myself increasingly drawn to movies that are amazing sensory experiences.

Fortunately, Upstream Color looks like it could be rewarding on both fronts ala Kubrick or (again) Malick.

[JackofDiamonds]

[Vidor]

Pixar with another goddamn sequel

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/201 ... _past.html

[ghostrunner]

I felt like Moonrise Kingdom was unnecessary. It starts at Wes Anderson and goes nowhere, IMO. I've enjoyed most of Anderson's films, but I feel like he needs to dial up the story element because the delivery just isn't enough... or something.

I think you just summed up Wes Anderson movies for me. Though I can't say I enjoy them. Tenenbaums was the only one I really enjoyed from start to finish. Rushmore was okay but I didn't get the hype. I had to stop Life Aquatic in the middle and decided I didn't care enough to finish it. Only watched Fantastic Mr Fox since I had recently read it with my son, and again it was just okay. I don't have this hangup with someone like Kubrick, who you could argue is just as dependent on style. Even Tarantino, while the pervasiveness of his "voice" annoys me at times, still manages to entertain me.

This is going to sound pretentious as hell, but I don't think Wes Anderson can really miss with me because I don't approach any of his movies looking for story. I watch for his aesthetic point of view. He might have the most well-defined aesthetic point of view as any filmmaker, ever. His movies might not succeed on every level necessary to qualify as truly great films, but I just really like being taken to this completely unique and completely communicated world that he succeeds at creating every time. That's remarkable to me on an artistic level and it is truly unique, so I will always find his movies worthwhile, especially when most movies are the formulaic garbage that usually comes from big studios.

I'd never argue that any of Wes Anderson's movies are great and I'd never argue that everyone should like them, those are just the reasons I'm in the bag for him and always will be. He's the directorial equivalent of Steve Kerr or Aroldis Chapman. He can't do it all, but he can do one thing really well and to me that's worth appreciating.

You know, I think I'd like to see him make shorter films. 30-45 minutes. An anthology might interest me.

[MrSaigon]

If Moonrise Kingdom was his first film I would have loved it. Or if it was set in space. I'd like to see Anderson's vision there.

[docellis]

I can honestly say Royal Tennenbaums was the ONLY film I've seen by Anderson that I liked...but I didn't just like it, I loved it. I have either hated or haven't been able to finish every other film of his.

I'm not sure why this is.

[JackofDiamonds]

You're either a big fan of unrequited incest or matching warm-ups.

[docellis]

You're either a big fan of unrequited incest or matching warm-ups.

aren't they inexorably linked?

what does inexorably mean?

[TimeForGuinness]

Really looking forward to Upstream Color. Watched Primer on Netflix a week or so ago and really liked it even though I'm not a big over-analyzer of films and that movie was like porn for that type of fan. A couple of good columns, one about UC and one about Shane Carruth, came out today on grantland and deadspin.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/910 ... ne-carruth

http://deadspin.com/i-have-no-idea-what ... socialflow

Yeah, I'm excited as hell for this, despite the fact that I also just saw Primer a week or so ago and was rather lukewarm on it. I appreciate it conceptually, but it's a bit cerebral for my tastes and the lack of a budget really shows. This new one basically sounds like if Terrence Malick went full-blown sci-fi, though, which is an unbelievably tantalizing prospect for me.

I watched Primer because Rian Johnson talked about studying it and consulting Shane Carruth re: time travel continuity in movies and I liked Looper. I watched it and when it unraveled way too quickly and densely for me to totally follow, I immediately went online and read reactions/breakdowns. I felt dumb for having to do it, but it made me like the movie a lot more.

Johnson actually nails it when he said, “From a first viewing of Primer, you’re inevitably confused, but you know that it makes sense. It’s that kind of dangerous fishing hook that can draw in a conspiracy theorist—the tantalizing notion that if you can put all the pieces together, this will add up to something.”
It's catnip for obsessives.

I def dug Primer...cool flick...have to watch it again soon

[JackofDiamonds]

You're either a big fan of unrequited incest or matching warm-ups.

aren't they inexorably linked?

what does inexorably mean?

Well, they're not mutually exclusive.

It mean's unyielding, relentless.