tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13751525.post2999111805965377701..comments2024-03-14T05:23:48.535-07:00Comments on turbo croutons unite: Best Movies Of 2006Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07861328882967337423noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13751525.post-2077409596087789162007-03-23T16:56:00.000-07:002007-03-23T16:56:00.000-07:00thanks for this list... I need to check out some o...thanks for this list... I need to check out some of theseruschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18217367659255980389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13751525.post-6164877468119575632007-03-21T17:27:00.000-07:002007-03-21T17:27:00.000-07:00I think we're basically on the same page here. Ma...I think we're basically on the same page here. Maybe I'm a little more interested in what he will be able to do with Babel, and more willing to put with his excesses...but then it's not like I have any real plans to actually watch the movie. <BR/><BR/>City of God is definitely a better movie than Amores Perros in a lot of ways, but there are things that I don't think it accomplishes as well. If grit is the thing then no contest, but I do think you get a much fuller and more diverse picture of Mexico City than Rio. I don't know, Amores Perros is right up there for me. The reliance on coincidence clearly is a crutch though, and pretty durn annoying. I certainly don't think I'd enjoy talking to him very much.<BR/><BR/>BTW, I just got the Tsotsi soundtrack. It's good.Jessehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07751388653550528240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13751525.post-21489046144747093932007-03-20T14:38:00.000-07:002007-03-20T14:38:00.000-07:00I didn't hate Amores Perros in and of itself. It'...I didn't hate <B>Amores Perros</B> in and of itself. It's a great, well-made, affecting movie. I watched it at your apartment. It was a really depressing ride home as I recall. My objection isn't strictly about <B>Amores Perros</B>. But once is enough. We didn't need three identical copies.<BR/><BR/>The reason, if anything, is that I think Iñárritu's better than this. For him to keep slumming it with the same stupid idea looks like laziness. I think if he's got so much to say, he'll apply his sizable talents to a plausible, resonant story. But if he genuinely finds this format interesting, then I'm clearly wrong about him, because he's a dumb shit. This contrived BS stuff... seriously, who the fuck cares? <I>Twelve stupid strangers run into each other and fuck each others' lives up even worse. Such is life.</I> Oh, bra-vo. Someone rename the Pulitzer after this guy.<BR/><BR/>The coincidence thing is obviously just a device, and every movie uses coincidence on some level, and so forth. But if you repeatedly insist that the audience confront a ridiculous, <B>contrived</B> storyline, the moral of the story ("this is what life is like") won't resonate either. That <B>Amores Perros</B> managed to make up for it was a combination of fortune and novelty. It's not a tried-and-true formula for success, that's for sure.<BR/><BR/>Also, regarding urban grit, I'll see your <B>Amores</B> and raise you <B>City of God</B>. Both notable for urban grit, multiple threads to the story, ensemble cast, heartbreaking tales of woe... but <B>Cidade</B> centers on a single protagonist in a single neighborhood, and deals with how all the stories affect HIM directly. It's one of the great movies ever made. <B>Amores</B>, affecting as it is, is a curiosity by comparison.<BR/><BR/>Also, I'm not against <B>Last King of Scotland</B> or anything like that. My thing there was more of a pro-Forest statement than anything. But now that you mention it, I do find it tiring that a story like this almost always has to be told through the eyes of a white dude. As if the Idi Amin story couldn't have been compelling or resonant without being told through the white man's eyes.Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04772846224198667728noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13751525.post-61293127726484498502007-03-20T13:05:00.000-07:002007-03-20T13:05:00.000-07:00OK, I just read your other piece about Babel/Amore...OK, I just read your other piece about Babel/Amores Perros, and I have this to say:<BR/><BR/>1) I agree that its non-linearness does not make it better. Although I do think it's episodic nature has some benefits.<BR/><BR/>2) I agree it's messy and self-indulgent.<BR/><BR/>3) I actually think your frustration with his "trick" is making you miss the fact that the film is anything but a one-trick pony. <BR/><BR/>All I mean is that I completely disagree that the format of the film is a primary reason for its success, and I think you're dwelling overly on that. The content itself (of the 1st and 3rd parts) is why that movie was great. And the format of the film just isn't important enough to negatively impact Amores Perros in a big way, just as it isn't enough to make 21 Grams or Babel more interesting than their stories are. At least not for me.<BR/><BR/>If anything, what I remember critics going crazy about was Iñárritu's visceral depiction of Mexico City. It was kind of fetishistic in that sense (though some people thought he brought the same to Memphis in 21 Grams)...you could almost hear the self-congratulation of the reviewers for loving his gritty, vital presentation of Mexico City. But as much as that bothered me, I think they're right (though I've never been there). It's also the only way to justify that 2nd part...because the whole package is necessary to see his vision of Mexico City. <BR/><BR/>Anyway, I doubt this has been particularly convincing for you, but the important measure, for me, is how much I've thought about it since. And it's been probably three years now since I saw it, and I still think about frequently. That's gotta say something.Jessehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07751388653550528240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13751525.post-51699931895178317832007-03-20T12:46:00.000-07:002007-03-20T12:46:00.000-07:00A fine reminder of all the movies I want to see, b...A fine reminder of all the movies I want to see, but while I mostly kind of agree with your take on Iñárritu (without having seen Babel but with having found 21 Grams not really that interesting), I have to take a moment to defend Amores Perros. The movie was one of the most affecting experiences I've had watching a movie over the past several years. There were clues that some later excesses were coming (like the fact that the second of the three acts was basically pointless to my mind), but overall I think it was amazing. It's one of the movies I think most often about of any I've seen, because it really was that powerful.<BR/><BR/>So, I think you have to acknowledge the man is an incredible talent. He's also incredibly self-indulgent and pretentious, and needs to bring his ass back to earth. And there's certainly no indication he's moving in that direction. So I'm not saying you need to re-start watching his movies or anything. But to call him overrated and leave it at that I think is thoroughly insufficient. I mean, he only has three movies to his name, and his biggest sin seems to be pretension. Hardly stands out as bad to me, in the long run.<BR/><BR/>Also, I haven't seen Last King of Scotland yet, but I think you're underselling the potential of a really dramatic cult of personality film. The documentary I saw about Mobutu last year was one of the most riveting things I've ever seen, just because trying to process that legacy is totally mindblowing. I'm really looking forward to doing the same with Amin.Jessehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07751388653550528240noreply@blogger.com