tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post700749798393003966..comments2024-03-25T21:14:21.671-04:00Comments on Listen Eggroll: Viewing Journal: Week of 26 Sep–2 Octmd'ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055853987416332662noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-20306772393837283392011-09-30T02:14:40.273-04:002011-09-30T02:14:40.273-04:00well, I thought DOWN TERRACE was pretty weak. Than...well, I thought DOWN TERRACE was pretty weak. Thankfully, I saw it after KILL LIST, so I didn't have the same bias going in to KILL LIST. <br /><br />I don't think the remainder of KILL LIST would turn you around on Wheatley's filmmaking per se, but the story and how it unfolds (and how it addresses the exposition around said swerve) is rather audacious in the back half (and a lot more interesting to discuss than AUDITION on story level, even if the filmmaking doesn't compare). If privileging that over the craft makes me some kind of Level-2 philistine, well, then ... guilty. (It probably didn't hurt that I saw it the night after I walked out of THE WOMAN, which is a deeply, deeply inept film.)<br /><br />I can certainly imagine a version of KILL LIST directed by, say, Polanski in his prime, or K. Kurosawa, that I loved substantially more. But what with that not existing, I'll settle for this one.ddhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01009382323004019335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-35287213824116159632011-09-29T15:02:39.686-04:002011-09-29T15:02:39.686-04:00My problem with the setup of Kill List isn't t...My problem with the setup of <i>Kill List</i> isn't that it's banal. It's that it's (to my eyes) <i>lame</i>. Miike's <i>Audition</i> likewise begins quite placidly, with only the barest hints of the batshit insanity to come, but those first two reels are nonetheless riveting, totally pleasurable for their own sake. You can tell you're watching a terrific film, even if you don't yet know what kind of terrific film you're actually watching. During <i>Kill List</i>, I could tell that I was watching a mediocre film; the fact that it eventually goes somewhere quite different doesn't give me any confidence whatsoever that Wheatley suddenly develops heretofore unseen(-by-me) talent, and I certainly don't buy that he's made the first part of the film deliberately weak in order to serve some overall purpose...especially since it looks like the same crappy film as <i>Down Terrace</i>. <br /><br />That's Ed, a lot of people liked <i>Down Terrace</i>. They should have no problem with <i>Kill List</i> whatsoever. Or whatever problems they might have would come later. (Gotta say I read about the hammer scene and I'm really glad I didn't subject myself to that.)<br /><br />Atli: I saw <i>Carrie</i> so long ago that I don't remember what I thought of it, apart from knowing that I wasn't blown away. It's in the queue.md'ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06055853987416332662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-50487345457587750912011-09-29T14:49:15.850-04:002011-09-29T14:49:15.850-04:00What do you think of Carrie?What do you think of Carrie?Atli Sighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09542195031294304732noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-30429154508870165942011-09-29T10:50:09.683-04:002011-09-29T10:50:09.683-04:00Everything else aside, some of that seemingly inno...Everything else aside, some of that seemingly innocuous banter turns out to have a completely different context later on. And Fiona's bathroom trip at the start is certainly a clue something's up. <br /><br />I share some of yr concerns with Wheatley - he's a loose director in ways that aren't always rewarding, both in his use of improv and what that does to his framing. But part of the power of KILL LIST is how the banality gives way to something very differently, lulling you into something you think you've seen before when in fact it's something very different. <br /><br />In conclusion, I look forward to your walkout of the very good RABIES which I saw the other day, which takes a similar route from relative banality to deep insanity, and encourage everybody else who sees it to stick around for more than two reels.ddhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01009382323004019335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-42739117902416252682011-09-29T01:21:35.473-04:002011-09-29T01:21:35.473-04:00I understand that Kill List takes some sort of big...I understand that <i>Kill List</i> takes some sort of big unexpected swerve later on, but there's nothing especially mysterious or unfathomable happening in the first two reels, which are largely devoted to the same tedious Mike-Leigh-meets-casual-evil badinage that made me flee Wheatley's <i>Down Terrace</i> as well. I saw the priest who says "thank you," that was pretty much it. And that was literally the only thing in those two reels that remotely interested me. Two seconds out of roughly 35 minutes. <br /><br />After I bailed I read some descriptions online, and while folks endeavored to avoid spoilers, it's clear that the rest of the film is more memorable, at the very least. But the four reels of Wheatley's oeuvre I've now seen is pretty much nonstop useless chatter. Wondering what would happen next to those banal cretins literally never occurred to me.md'ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06055853987416332662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-35996810458821680222011-09-29T00:54:26.460-04:002011-09-29T00:54:26.460-04:00This is off-topic, but I just saw that you walked ...This is off-topic, but I just saw that you walked out of KILL LIST, which I find so astonishing that I am contemplating the possibility that you've recently arrived from another planet where no one has ever asked "what happens next?"<br /><br />It's the only movie I've ever gone to see twice at the same film festival, and while I can certainly understand disliking it or finding it unsatisfying, I literally have trouble fathoming the notion that someone could find it boring, or want to leave. I haven't experienced that combination of being riveted and confounded since PRIMER.eugene nnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-17883124878336830232011-09-28T23:58:45.933-04:002011-09-28T23:58:45.933-04:00This review pretty much sums it up. I recognize hi...This review pretty much sums it up. I recognize his talent but I'm not much of a fan. His films are just too damn stupid. I do like <i>Blow Out</i> (though less than most) and <i>Carlito's Way</i> (ditto), and enjoy <i>The Untouchables</i> and <i>Mission: Impossible</i> as popcorn flicks. Plenty more to revisit, though. <i>Scarface</i> next.md'ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06055853987416332662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-42192295752973220712011-09-28T23:39:10.258-04:002011-09-28T23:39:10.258-04:00I've actually been curious for a while how you...I've actually been curious for a while how you feel about De Palma's body of work generally.Y Kant Goran Ritehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03058411467996289416noreply@blogger.com