Harvey Weinstein: Another Good Liberal...

[Sparko]

That's cool. Its really the best Philip K. Dick adaption in my book...and it's pretty arty. The sequel is worth seeing in the theater, especially in an Imax. Very colorful.

I like the show Man in the High Castle on Amazon prime video.

Yeah Highlander is visually pretty artsy. And the intellectual questions are deep too, what does it mean to be human? But it has lots of action too. And an actual plot. A lot of artsy films just wander around for 2 or 3 hours with nothing happening.

[Adrift]

I like the show Man in the High Castle on Amazon prime video.

I love the premise, but found it too uninteresting to continue onto the second season.

Yeah Highlander is visually pretty artsy. And the intellectual questions are deep too, what does it mean to be human? But it has lots of action too. And an actual plot. A lot of artsy films just wander around for 2 or 3 hours with nothing happening.

I thought we were talking about Blade Runner. Highlander ain't that artsy. A lot of artsy films are attempting to evoke a certain mood, just like Blade Runner does with the constant rain, darkness, neon, and long scenes with nothing but dialogue between characters. The biggest complaint I usually hear from young people who live in a post-MTV fast cut world is that Blade Runner is too slow, and too boring. They can't still their minds long enough to simply soak in the atmosphere.

[Mountain Man]

I think Ebert is wrong though. I think there are so many great movies that it'll take most people a lifetime to see them all.

Roger Ebert made a distinction between a great movie, and a movie that is great art. For instance, I wouldn't consider any of the Star Wars movies to be great art, but they're still great movies (except for Episode 7 which didn't even rise to the level of being great trash). I love the recent Planet of the Apes movies; again, they're, not great art, but they are great movies (the 2nd and 3rd more than the 1st). Stanley Kubrick was one of those rare talents who could make great movies that were also great art. Terry Gilliam is another one I would put in that category. Then there are the rarer examples of movies that are great art but terrible movies, the recent Mad Max, for instance, which had an amazing visual style but a thin narrative with even thinner characters; it's little more than a feature-length chase scene.

[Adrift]

Roger Ebert made a distinction between a great movie, and a movie that is great art. For instance, I wouldn't consider any of the Star Wars movies to be great art, but they're still great movies (except for Episode 7 which didn't even rise to the level of being great trash). I love the recent Planet of the Apes movies; again, they're, not great art, but they are great movies (the 2nd and 3rd more than the 1st). Stanley Kubrick was one of those rare talents who could make great movies that were also great art. Terry Gilliam is another one I would put in that category. Then there are the rarer examples of movies that are great art but terrible movies, the recent Mad Max, for instance, which had an amazing visual style but a thin narrative with even thinner characters; it's little more than a feature-length chase scene.

I don't think I really see that distinction. I think completely trashy films like John Waters Pink Flamingos, Herzog's Even Dwarfs Started Small, and Harmony Korine's Gummo are all great art. I'd be surprised if someone like Ebert could look back on A New Hope and think it wasn't both a great movie and a great piece of movie art. Maybe you're talking the distinction between a film that is art, which I think most passion projects are, no matter how commercial they may end up being, and which Gilliam films would definitely fit in, as well as films like THX 1138 and A New Hope, and an arthouse-film, which Gilliam's films typically aren't, but something like Lars von Trier's or Krzysztof Kieslowski's films are.

[Mountain Man]

Sorry, man, but I think you just out-nerded me.

[Adrift]

Sorry, man, but I think you just out-nerded me.

Well, if it's any consolation, I'm thrilled to hear that you're a fan of Kubrick and Gilliam. I'm a huge fan of both. I've been studying film (sometimes academically) for something like 25 (?) years, and as I continue to work through the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die list (over half-way through so far), I continue to find so many new and interesting aspects to film, and storytelling. If you're at all interested in the subject, I highly recommend the film Bible that's typically bought by film students for over a hundred bucks, but that you can get on eBay for as little as approx. $5 called Film Art and Introduction by David Bowell and Kristin Thompson.

[demi-conservative]

as I continue to work through the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die list (over half-way through so far)

In 500+ of those, how many actresses prostituted self to Weinstein, also other perverts, for stardom??

[Tassman]

In 500+ of those, how many actresses prostituted self to Weinstein, also other perverts, for stardom??

Indeed! Not to excuse it, AT ALL,

[Adrift]

In 500+ of those, how many actresses prostituted self to Weinstein, also other perverts, for stardom??

Likely not even close to 1% of 1% to Weinstein. Film has been around for about 120 years, and studios can be found around the globe, and Harvey has only been powerful enough to have any major influence in his limited sphere for about 30 of those. But Tassman is correct, Hollywood itself has a long long history of this sort of thing, and worse. Great podcast to listen to if you're curious about this is "You Must Remember This", though the host can sometimes come off a little too feministy and left leaning for my taste. If you take it with a huge grain of salt, an entertaining book to read on the subject might be Hollywood Babylon by the notorious filmmaker Kenneth Anger.

[Sparko]

I love the premise, but found it too uninteresting to continue onto the second season.



I thought we were talking about Blade Runner. Highlander ain't that artsy. A lot of artsy films are attempting to evoke a certain mood, just like Blade Runner does with the constant rain, darkness, neon, and long scenes with nothing but dialogue between characters. The biggest complaint I usually hear from young people who live in a post-MTV fast cut world is that Blade Runner is too slow, and too boring. They can't still their minds long enough to simply soak in the atmosphere.

Mistype. I meant "blade runner"

[Adrift]

Mistype. I meant "blade runner"

Ah, that makes sense.

[Mountain Man]

Well, if it's any consolation, I'm thrilled to hear that you're a fan of Kubrick and Gilliam. I'm a huge fan of both. I've been studying film (sometimes academically) for something like 25 (?) years, and as I continue to work through the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die list (over half-way through so far), I continue to find so many new and interesting aspects to film, and storytelling. If you're at all interested in the subject, I highly recommend the film Bible that's typically bought by film students for over a hundred bucks, but that you can get on eBay for as little as approx. $5 called Film Art and Introduction by David Bowell and Kristin Thompson.

Maybe one day I'll have the time to try and get through 1001 movies but not as long as I have kids to take care of -- they take up so much of my non-working hours. I tend to devour more classic literature than classic movies anyway, largely because there are so many classic books now in public domain that can be downloaded for free, and I always have my ereader with me and am able to read a few pages here and there throughout the day.

[Sparko]

Ah, that makes sense.

although highlander had some awesome music.

[Adrift]

Maybe one day I'll have the time to try and get through 1001 movies but not as long as I have kids to take care of -- they take up so much of my non-working hours. I tend to devour more classic literature than classic movies anyway, largely because there are so many classic books now in public domain that can be downloaded for free, and I always have my ereader with me and am able to read a few pages here and there throughout the day.

Yeah, there's also a 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list as well. I'd love to work through that as well, but movies are just so much more passive. Time can be a major issue. I try to do a movie a night, but typically only get like 3 in a week. Plus finding some of these films has been near impossible. For some of the more artsy films, there's a great Netflix style website called Filmstruck that I've been using. They work with the Criterion collection to get as much streaming material as they can into their library. Mostly classics, but makes finding these films a lot easier.

[Adrift]

although highlander had some awesome music.

It does have that!