amateurist, i have a question,

I finally saw MOPI and don't get the love (where it exists). The hopped-up straight-from-Shakespeare scenes were fantastic, but nothing else clicked.

i realize this sort of reflexive self-mediation is also the type of cinema-crit that ams dislikes.

The Ladies' Man (Jerry Lewis)
Light is Calling (Bill Morrison)
Un Chant d'amour (Jean Genet)
Electrocuting an Elephant (Thomas Edison)
Too Funky (Thierry Mugler/George Michael)
Last Year at Marienbad (Alain Resnais)
Elephant (Alan Clarke)
Le Tempestaire (Jean Epstein)
To Beep or Not to Beep (Chuck Jones)
Ivan the Terrible (Sergei Eisenstein)

i really want to see "le tempestaire" having seen a bunch of silent epstein films. apparently it's coming out on dvd soon.

...

"Amateurist would you say that the common thread of the three films you hate most is that they cynically attempt to provoke certain reactions/force certain emotions out of you?"

well for "in the company..." and "dancer" maybe. i probably had a different problem w/ "elephant."

although as noted above i am not averse to feeling strong emotions at the movies. i guess i didn't feel like anything else but a "strong reaction" was being stirred up in me. they didn't leave me with anything to chew on except the "point." i guess i would say they were little more than provocations. but i'm not sure i'm entirely comfortable with that form of dismissal.

i don't really know if that's the kind of "cinema crit" that i dislike. (is there a kind of cinema crit i dislike? i mostly dislike poor arguments, unreasoned ones. which characterizes a lot of writing in general.) i'm not quite sure i know what you're saying, actually. what jokes are the makers of those films making that i should try to be in on? or imagine myself to be in on?

btw i'm not saying no one should enjoy these films or that they enjoy them for the wrong reasons. i just happened to have strong reactions against them (i walked out on one of them and considered doing so for the other ones).

Yeah, I've only watched the two on this compilation, and both lead me to believe he's a supple awesome filmmaker.

http://www.american-buddha.com/ala.357.jpg

"Join the club!!!

that kino avant-garde thing is out already? i need to buy that.

if you ever get a chance to see epstein's 'faithful heart' or 'finisterre'... run don't walk.

Oh, just the whole kids shooting other kids on camera thing, esp. post Columbine. I'm not saying that the film fits the criticism, just that I read some allegations to that effect in reviews at the time.

The film that has made me feel like I'd been psychologically assaulted most strongly is probably Requiem for a Dream. I think I liked it though.

tim i suspect if you saw requiem again youd feel miles away, but its funny, storyboarding infection and allegory

I forgot Singing In The Rain and Black Narcissus too. And I probably forgot Young Frankenstein and The Big Lebowski too.

FWIW, I almost swapped out My American Uncle and put that one in instead. OK, I'll stop.

-- Eric H. (ephende...), July 20th, 2005. (Eric H.) (later)

Lewis' "Ladies Man" is pretty queer, but then he's an unconventional masculine model, considering he was among the top 10 box-office stars from 1950-65 or so.

A Fistful of Dynamite (Sergio Leone)
A Guide For the Married Man (Gene Kelly)
A New Leaf (Elaine May)
A Star is Born (George Cukor)
ABBA: The Movie (Lasse Hallström)
Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (Charles Barton)
After Hours (Martin Scorsese)
Annie (John Huston)
Back to School (Alan Metter)
Bedazzled (Stanley Donen)
Best In Show (Christopher Guest)
Blood For Dracula (Paul Morrissey/Antonio Margheriti)
Boy On a Dolphin (Jean Negulesco)
Brewster McCloud (Robert Altman)
Butterflies Are Free (Milton Katselas)
Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss (Charles McDougall)
Can't Stop the Music (Nancy Walker)
Claudine (John Berry)
Cocksucker Blues (Robert Frank)
Dawn of the Dead (George A. Romero)
Desk Set (Walter Lang)
Desperately Seeking Susan (Susan Seidelman)
Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (John Hough)
Dogfight (Nancy Savoca)
Dude, Where's My Car? (Danny Leiner)
Ed Wood (Tim Burton)
Edison, The Man (Clarence Brown)
Exotica (Atom Egoyan)
Fame (Alan Parker)
Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes)
Four More Years (Michael Shamberg/Allen Rucker)
Foxes (Adrian Lyne)
Frances (Graeme Clifford)
Freaky Friday (Gary Nelson)
Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby (Matthew Bright)
Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff)
Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman)
Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Alan Metter)
Goodbye, Columbus (Larry Peerce)
Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby)
Heat (Paul Morrissey)
Heathers (Michael Lehmann)
Home Room (Paul F. Ryan)
Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk)
Irma La Douce (Billy Wilder)
Little Darlings (Ronald F. Maxwell)
Little Fauss and Big Halsy (Sidney J. Furie)
Lolita (Stanley Kubrick)
Love and Death (Woody Allen)
Love Story (Arthur Hiller)
Manhattan (Woody Allen)
Midnight Cowboy (John Schlesinger)
Mulholland Drive (David Lynch)
My Bodyguard (Tony Bill)
My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant)
Mystery Train (Jim Jarmusch)
Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini)
Norma Rae (Martin Ritt)
North By Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock)
Over the Edge (Jonathan Kaplan)
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Sam Peckinpah)
Phantom of the Paradise (Brian De Palma)
Purple Noon (René Clément)
Quiz Show (Robert Redford)
Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski)
Safe (Todd Haynes)
Slums of Beverly Hills (Tamara Jenkins)
Somewhere Tomorrow (Robert Wiemer)
Straight to Hell (Alex Cox)
Suddenly, Last Summer (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
Summer of Sam (Spike Lee)
Switchblade Sisters (Jack Hill)
The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola)
The Day After (Nicholas Meyer)
The Goodbye Girl (Herbert Ross)
The Jerk (Carl Reiner)
The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges)
The Lonely Guy (Arthur Hiller)
The Long Goodbye (Robert Altman)
The Out-of-Towners (Arthur Hiller)
The Panic in Needle Park (Jerry Schatzberg)
The Pawnbroker (Sidney Lumet)
The Purple Rose of Cairo (Woody Allen)
The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson)
The Shining (Stanley Kubrick)
The Sunshine Boys (Herbert Ross)
The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan)
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Joseph Sargent)
The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola)
The Warriors (Walter Hill)
The Way We Were (Sydney Pollack)
Three Days of the Condor (Sydney Pollack)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (David Lynch)
Two For the Road (Stanley Donen)
Vanishing Point (Richard C. Sarafian)
Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock)
Volcano (Mick Jackson)
West Side Story (Jerome Robbins/Robert Wise)
Westworld (Michael Crichton)
Xanadu (Robert Greenwald)

American Pie (Weitz Bros.)
Army Of Darkness (Sam Raimi)
Bad News Bears (Michael Ritchie)
Bitter Moon (Roman Polanski)
Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks)
Blue Velvet (David Lynch)
Bonnie And Clyde (Arthur Penn)
Breaking Away (Peter Yates)
Bring It On (Peyton Reed)
Bull Durham (Ron Shelton)
Cabaret (Bob Fosse)
Cleopatra (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
Clerks (Kevin Smith)
Clockers (Spike Lee)
Commando (Mark L. Lester)
Cruel Intentions (Roger Kumble)
Dangerous Liasions (Stephen Frears)
Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg)
Die Hard (John McTiernan)
Dr. Stangelove (Stanley Kubrick)
Dogs Of War (John Irvin)
Don’t Look Back (D.A. Pennebaker)
Dressed To Kill (Brian DePalma)
Dumb & Dumber (Farrelly Bros.)
Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen)
Ed Wood (Tim Burton)
Election (Alexander Payne)
Fear (James Foley)
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (John Hughes)
Fish Called Wanda (Charles Chrichton)
The Game (David Fincher)
Georgia (Ulu Grosbard)
Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman)
The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)
The Great White Hype (Reginald Hudlin)
Gunga Din (George Stevens)
Hairspray (John Waters)
Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle (Danny Leiner)
The Hills Have Eyes (Wes Craven)
Hollywood Shuffle (Robert Townshend)
Identity Crisis (Melvin Van Peebles)
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (Philip Kaufman)
Jaws (Steven Spielberg)
The Killers (Robert Siodmak)
Klute (Alan J. Pakula)
The Lady From Shanghai (Orson Welles)
Last Tango In Paris (Bernardo Bertolucci)
Lost In Translation (Sofia Coppola)
The Manchurian Candidate (John Schlesinger)
Manhattan Murder Mystery (Woody Allen)
Manhunter (Michael Mann)
Married To The Mob (Jonathan Demme)
Martin (George Romero)
Mean Streets (Martin Scorcese)
Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster (Joe Berlinger/Bruce Sinofsky)
Monty Python And The Holy Grail (Terry Jones/ Terry Gilliam)
Moscow On The Hudson (Paul Mazursky)
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (Alan Parker)
Murder By Death (Robert Moore)
My Cousin Vinny (Jonathan Lynn)
My Dinner With Andre (Louis Malle)
My Left Foot (Jim Sheridan)
Mystery Men (Kinka Usher)
National Lampoon’s Animal House (John Landis)
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (Jeremiah S. Chechik)
Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino)
Quick Change (Howard Franklin/Bill Murray)
Raising Arizona (Coen Bros.)
The Ref (Ted Demme)
Richard III (Laurence Olivier)
Romy And Michelle’s High School Reunion (David Mirkin)
Roxanne (Fred Schepisi)
Say Anything (Cameron Crowe)
Scrooged (Richard Donner)
Secretary (Steven Sheinberg)
The Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa)
The Shop Around The Corner (Ernest Lubitsch)
Splash! (Ron Howard)
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (Martin Ritt)
The Stepfather (Joseph Ruben)
A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan)
The Stunt Man (Richard Rush)
Superman II (Richard Lester)
Sweet Smell Of Success (Alexander Mackendrick)
Tequila Sunrise (Robert Towne)
They Live (John Carpenter)
The Thin Man (W.S. Van Dyke)
This Is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner)
Three Kings (David O. Russell)
Top Secret! (Zucker/Abrams/Zucker)
Total Recall (Paul Verhoeven)
Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (John Huston)
Used Cars (Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale)
Waiting For Guffman (Christopher Guest)
Wet Hot American Summer (David Wain)
Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (Mike Nichols)
Wild One (Lazlo Benedek)
The Witches Of Eeastwick (George Miller)
Zardoz (John Boorman)
Zoolander (Ben Stiller)

bad news is that stress (and lonelines around holidays) inspired me to start smoking again after nearly 4 months without a cigarette. i'm hoping that after the semester is over i can go cold turky again.