Not all messages are displayed:
show all messages (96 of them)
its love story done the russ meyer way! come on, how can you not love itHahaha, this is very apt. I just saw Turkish Delight thanks to a friend who spent a year in Amsterdam picking up an advanced degree in media studies, thus he ended up ripping/burning a number of films, including that one. I was actually kinda surprised by it at many points -- it's an incredibly kinetic film, actually, lots of quick cuts and sudden flow and so forth at the start that when it starts to slow down it actually feels like taking a necessary deep breath. It's not a perfect film by any means, but it tries to pull off bizarro humor, visceral imagery (in a couple of cases near literally) and melodrama in equal measure and almost makes it work. Hauer's great throughout, the long hair was a surprise to see.
Love Story for the basic plotline, yeah (definitely not Last Tango in Paris), but actually what fair amounts of it reminded me of was The Conversation -- definitely NOT in terms of plot or 'theme,' but in terms of tone and oblique suggestion (Harry Caul's stilted 'party' = the harshly-red-lit party/dinner scene, for one).
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 16 September 2005 04:43 (eighteen years ago) link
two years pass...
Boy is that Sebastian Koch a great actor. I actually sympathized with a Nazi!
Well, some ppl didn't find that to be such a good thing... Black Book isn't exactly "straightforward,' it's way more of a moral whirlagig than any WW2 film I can recall, including Army of Shadows. (Verhoeven's previous Dutch Resistance movie, Soldier of Orange, was somewhat more str84ward.) Carice van Houten is deservedly getting a career boost, I hope. (ie, plz don't let her be consigned to Hollywood shit from now on)
― Dr Morbius, Monday, 11 February 2008 19:21 (sixteen years ago) link
"Well, some ppl didn't find that to be such a good thing..."
I thought it was a good thing. It meant I didn't just have a knee-jerk hatred toward the character, which I normally would have, given my history of doing exactly that. That's why I was surprised that I did sympathize. I'm either evidence of Verhoeven's wish to kick the black/white, good/evil conventions in the ass, or I'm a shining example of a simpleton who just doesn't "get it". Either way, I'm enjoying (more than I probably should :) )berating myself for feeling sad about Muntz. Maybe if Sebastian Koch himself weren't so damn dashing...!
― craven, Tuesday, 12 February 2008 08:14 (sixteen years ago) link
two months pass...
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — Film director Paul Verhoeven has written a book that contradicts the Bible by suggesting that Jesus might have been fathered by a Roman soldier who raped Mary.
Paul Verhoeven wants to make a film based on his imminent book about the origins of Jesus Christ.
An Amsterdam publishing house said Wednesday it would publish the Dutch filmmaker's biography of Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth: A Realistic Portrait in September.
Verhoeven is best known as the director of blockbuster films including Basic Instinct and RoboCop, but he is also a member of Jesus Seminar, a group of scholars and authors that seeks to establish historical facts about Jesus.
Marianna Sterk of the publishing house J.M. Meulenhoff said the book included several ideas that ran contrary to Christian faith, including the suggestion that Jesus could be the son of a Roman soldier who raped Mary during a Jewish uprising against Roman rule in 4 B.C.
The book also claims that Judas Iscariot was not responsible for Jesus' betrayal, she said.
The movie director's claims were greeted with some skepticism among those who have dedicated their careers to studying the life of Jesus.
One issue is that there is very little information about the life of Jesus outside of the Gospels. The Gospels as understood by Christians for nearly 2,000 years do not support Verhoeven's ideas.
William Portier, a professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton, in Ohio, said the Jesus Seminar was known for making provocative claims, but "they are real scholars — you have to deal with them."
However, he said Verhoeven's ideas sounded "pretty out there."
John Dominic Crossan, a Jesus Seminar founder, agreed. He said that while Verhoeven was a member in good standing, there was little evidence for the view that Jesus was illegitimate.
Crossan said the claim was first reported in a polemic written in the second century against the Book of Matthew, intended for a Jewish audience.
"It's an obvious first retort to claims that Mary was a virgin," Crossan said. "If you wanted to do a hatchet job on Jesus' reputation, this would be the way."
The most likely scenario for people who don't accept that Jesus was literally the son of God and had no human father is simply that he was the son of Joseph, Crossan said.
Sterk said the book would be translated into English in 2009. Verhoeven hopes it will be a springboard for him to raise interest in making a film along the same lines, she said.
Verhoeven, 69, has dreamed of making a movie about Jesus' life for decades, she said.
Asked whether it would be difficult to follow Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ and Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, she said Verhoeven knew he might be somewhat late to market.
"He is painfully aware of that," she said. "However, he has quite a different angle."
― omar little, Saturday, 26 April 2008 01:51 (sixteen years ago) link
seven months pass...