― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 3 December 2005 00:59 (eighteen years ago) link
― Soledad (nordicskilla), Saturday, 3 December 2005 01:01 (eighteen years ago) link
― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Saturday, 3 December 2005 01:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― Soledad (nordicskilla), Saturday, 3 December 2005 01:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Saturday, 3 December 2005 01:04 (eighteen years ago) link
What if the Oscars were on and she kept wanting to flip to Dr Phil>
thankyewverymuch.
― Soledad (nordicskilla), Saturday, 3 December 2005 01:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, 3 December 2005 01:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― Soledad (nordicskilla), Saturday, 3 December 2005 01:09 (eighteen years ago) link
fwiw I am a huge fan of Ellroy's writing, at least the LA Quartet (thoe the Kennedy assassination one is also genius)
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, 3 December 2005 01:21 (eighteen years ago) link
CarrieScarfaceFemme FataleCarlito's Way(big dropoff)Mission: ImpossibleThe UntouchablesSnake EyesMission to Mars
― älänbänänä (alanbanana), Saturday, 3 December 2005 02:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― walter kranz (walterkranz), Saturday, 3 December 2005 02:20 (eighteen years ago) link
― milton parker (Jon L), Saturday, 3 December 2005 02:30 (eighteen years ago) link
― firstworldman (firstworldman), Saturday, 3 December 2005 04:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Freud Junior, former drummer for Gay Dad (Freud Junior), Friday, 3 February 2006 02:04 (eighteen years ago) link
of what I've seen, best to worst
Dressed To KillBlow OutCasualties Of WarThe FuryCarrieThe Wedding PartyFemme FataleHi, Mom!Phantom Of The ParadiseThe UntouchablesSnake EyesMission: ImpossibleSistersCarlito's WayGreetingsBody DoubleScarfaceRaising CainMission To MarsBonfire Of The Vanities
― Zwan (miccio), Friday, 3 February 2006 02:19 (eighteen years ago) link
(heh. There was a joke going 'round among '70s film critics: "Brian DePalma: A Director by Pauline Kael").
Dressed To KillBlow OutFemme FataleCarrieCasualties of WarThe FuryMission: ImpossibleThe UntouchablesScarfaceCarlito's WayRaising CainSistersObsession
(still need to screen Phantom of the Paradise and Snake Eyes.)
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 3 February 2006 02:33 (eighteen years ago) link
The opening credits of Sisters is great, what with the Herrmann score and pictures of embryos...rest of the film = eh
― Joe (Joe), Friday, 3 February 2006 03:48 (eighteen years ago) link
01. The Fury (1978)02. Hi, Mom! (1970)03. Femme Fatale (2002)04. Carrie (1976)05. Dressed to Kill (1980)06. Carlito's Way (1993)07. Phantom of the Paradise (1974)08. Mission to Mars (2000) -- I guess it's sorta De Palma's A.I.09. Raising Cain (1992)10. Body Double (1984)11. Casualties of War (1989)12. Sisters (1973)13. Blow Out (1981)14. Mission: Impossible (1996)15. Snake Eyes (1998)16. The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)17. The Untouchables (1987)
Need a fresh look at both Obsession and Scarface. Have Greetings, The Wedding Party, and the French disc of some early De Palma shorts (and Dionysus) sitting on my desk, as of yet unwatched.
― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 3 February 2006 04:33 (eighteen years ago) link
I guess I agree with this. I'm only kinda excited for Black Dahlia, but (in turn) much more excited for that than I am for the Untouchables sequel.
― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 3 February 2006 04:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 3 February 2006 04:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― gear (gear), Friday, 3 February 2006 05:08 (eighteen years ago) link
Correct answer: yes, they are rank!
― dino de laurentis (van dover), Friday, 3 February 2006 05:27 (eighteen years ago) link
― Zwan (miccio), Friday, 3 February 2006 06:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― Zwan (miccio), Friday, 3 February 2006 06:23 (eighteen years ago) link
Still only moderately excited for this one. But that still makes it my #1 most-anticipated movie I can think of.
― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 28 July 2006 02:21 (seventeen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 28 July 2006 02:58 (seventeen years ago) link
― Eric H. (Eric H.), Saturday, 2 September 2006 16:22 (seventeen years ago) link
I'd rerank, but I've got a couple new ones to watch yet. Body Double should be significantly higher.
― Eric H. (Eric H.), Saturday, 2 September 2006 16:24 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 2 September 2006 17:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― Eisb�r (llamasfur), Saturday, 2 September 2006 17:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― Eric H. (Eric H.), Saturday, 2 September 2006 17:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Sunday, 3 September 2006 11:15 (seventeen years ago) link
― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 4 September 2006 04:27 (seventeen years ago) link
I am doing something of a DePalma retro at home to coincide with this:
http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/features/briandepalma.asp
Of the stuff I've seen for the first time recently, Carrie excels in the acting and humiliation tragicomedy (and yes, I jumped at the end even tho I knew what was coming since '76). Sisters is way too sketchy (and early) to sufficiently transform the Hitchcock tropes. Dressed to Kill really goes downhill once Angie D exits, but it has one of my fave pervy moments from him, the discovery of the STD letter after the museum pickup.
Of the for-hire jobs, Carlito's Way is ridiculously superior to Scarface, despite Sean Penn reprising his worst Falcon and the Snowman tics and the wheezy romance. Pacino ditches the shouty act for fatigued resignation. That subway/Grand Central chase climax is a marvel. (Didn't see any major '70s anachronisms either... but man, they hadda cast Viggo Mortensen as a Rican just to make Al feel authentic.)
So far, I still think he excels at frosting more often than cake.
Next: The Fury
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 12:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 12:59 (seventeen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 13:00 (seventeen years ago) link
cuz it's at the beginning?
Penn way too Look At Me. The real mobster he has the jailhouse conf with is way better!
Also, does anyone remember a note of the Phantom of the Paradise music three days after seeing it? Paul Williams wrote better songs for The Muppet Movie.
I last saw Obsession on TV as a teen, long before Vertigo was finally re-released. Forgot that Schrader wrote it, I'd reexamine just for that.
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 13:05 (seventeen years ago) link
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 13:09 (seventeen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 13:18 (seventeen years ago) link
then comes body double, scarface, carrie and the untouchables. the rest are not great but pretty fun to watch anyway.
― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 16:38 (seventeen years ago) link
― gear (gear), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 16:42 (seventeen years ago) link
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 16:43 (seventeen years ago) link
OTFM - as a big Paul Williams fan (and a fan of OTT 70s glam musicals in general) I was fairly excited to finally see this, but the music was so not up to the task. Looked great though. DePalma's hit-or-miss for me, he's made a lot of crap ("Snake Eyes" anyone? "Raising Cain"?)
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 16:44 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 16:48 (seventeen years ago) link
blow out is unbearable for travoltas ponderous epiphany of the whole thing. watching those gears turn, ugh.
― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 16:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 16:57 (seventeen years ago) link
Does anyone have any idea how I can track down the insanely elusive Body Double soundtrack (it was issued on CD in 2007 but is out of print and doesn't show up *anywhere*)?
― Jalapeño Coladas, Thursday, 12 January 2017 19:05 (seven years ago) link
I am pretty sure I recently saw an LP copy of this at Lost Weekend in SF
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 12 January 2017 19:14 (seven years ago) link
It's never had an official LP release so it might have been a bootleg! Weirdly it's one of Pino Donaggio's most sought after scores but it's only ever been issued once on CD by Intrada in an edition of 3,000, and it never shows up anywhere. There's a compilation CD from Milan that is a sort of "best of" his scores for DePalma, but it doesn't contain any of the key cues (namely the excellent Tangerine Dream rip-off "Telescope").
― Jalapeño Coladas, Saturday, 14 January 2017 08:07 (seven years ago) link
do you mean a physical copy? or just a download
― just sayin, Saturday, 14 January 2017 08:58 (seven years ago) link
Big fan of the Lovelock Pino Grigio edit, which I think is Steve Moore from Zombie?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhV2PKli1S8
― dan selzer, Saturday, 14 January 2017 14:11 (seven years ago) link
x-post - I'd be thrilled with just a download; the CD rarely pops up and when it does it goes for hundreds of dollars.
That Steve Moore cut is great.
― Jalapeño Coladas, Monday, 16 January 2017 18:58 (seven years ago) link
x-posting from detrius thread: http://reverseshot.org/features/2305/two_cents_2017
Worst De Palma Critic: De PalmaTake it from a staunch Brian De Palma addict: Brian De Palma is the person you least want to hear talk about le cinéma de Palma. Sitting awkwardly before a fireplace mantle in Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow’s talking-head doc, the now enormous De Palma holds court, going through his films chronologically, one by one, relating some terrific anecdotes, and overall being a surprisingly genial guide. The result is an aesthetically impoverished documentary about a great visual thinker—a disconnect hard to get over—but more detrimentally, his perspective on his own work’s merits is mostly tied to financial success (as is the case with many American filmmakers, including Spielberg). Thus, De Palma reiterates that his greatest accomplishments are benchmarks Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission: Impossible, while such relative box-office disappointments as The Fury, Raising Cain, and Femme Fatale get short shrift—especially the latter, which barely rates any screen time even though any true De Palma fan knows it’s a career-defining masterwork. There’s a purity of vision and concept to Baumbach and Paltrow’s approach for sure: wind up the man and let him talk. But if there’s any filmmaker whose work is worthy of a more dialectical approach it’s De Palma, one of our most hotly debated, divisive directors. Like any artist, his work benefits from considered, serious criticism. (If you really care about De Palma, read Chris Dumas’s brilliant recent book Un-American Psycho, an engaging and endlessly revealing political and aesthetic study.) De Palma provides us with a rare home visit with an elusive figure, but its anti-critical approach left me thirsty. —MK
Take it from a staunch Brian De Palma addict: Brian De Palma is the person you least want to hear talk about le cinéma de Palma. Sitting awkwardly before a fireplace mantle in Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow’s talking-head doc, the now enormous De Palma holds court, going through his films chronologically, one by one, relating some terrific anecdotes, and overall being a surprisingly genial guide. The result is an aesthetically impoverished documentary about a great visual thinker—a disconnect hard to get over—but more detrimentally, his perspective on his own work’s merits is mostly tied to financial success (as is the case with many American filmmakers, including Spielberg). Thus, De Palma reiterates that his greatest accomplishments are benchmarks Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission: Impossible, while such relative box-office disappointments as The Fury, Raising Cain, and Femme Fatale get short shrift—especially the latter, which barely rates any screen time even though any true De Palma fan knows it’s a career-defining masterwork. There’s a purity of vision and concept to Baumbach and Paltrow’s approach for sure: wind up the man and let him talk. But if there’s any filmmaker whose work is worthy of a more dialectical approach it’s De Palma, one of our most hotly debated, divisive directors. Like any artist, his work benefits from considered, serious criticism. (If you really care about De Palma, read Chris Dumas’s brilliant recent book Un-American Psycho, an engaging and endlessly revealing political and aesthetic study.) De Palma provides us with a rare home visit with an elusive figure, but its anti-critical approach left me thirsty. —MK
― ILXorcist 2: The Heretic (Eric H.), Monday, 16 January 2017 20:22 (seven years ago) link
It seemed to me from the documentary that he was prouder of Blow Out and Casualties of War than almost anything he'd ever done, and both of those were commercial flops.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 17 January 2017 00:33 (seven years ago) link
xxp i think this works? http://download-soundtracks.com/movie_soundtracks/body-double-soundtrack-by-pino-donaggio/
― just sayin, Tuesday, 17 January 2017 01:17 (seven years ago) link
That Reverseshot take does not seem accurate to me.
Also Femme Fatale is p bad
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 17 January 2017 02:59 (seven years ago) link
(iow Clemenza otm)
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 17 January 2017 03:00 (seven years ago) link
I got a massive virus warning from that download-soundtracks site - a million questionable pop-ups started launching and my computer was huffing and puffing.
Fair enough, I guess, but it's frustrating when you're happy to buy something that has been available before but isn't anymore!
Maybe Death Waltz or one of those companies will reissue it someday...
― Jalapeño Coladas, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 09:17 (seven years ago) link
xp yeah IIRC the film he seemed proudest of was Carlito's Way which was hardly a box office smash so basically agree with everyone above that Reverse Shot seems to suck at watching films. I felt like all the films got pretty equal time and if anything De Palma seemed pretty ambivalent about some of the most successful stuff which was more work for hire than personal.
― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 18 January 2017 12:54 (seven years ago) link
I idly got around to watching the rest of Carlito's Way last night and conventional wisdom seems m/l correct to me - it takes a bit too long/is excessive given the plot/material but what does work works really well and there are a number of bravura scenes that are top tier De Palma, esp the ending sequence and the final shot where the advertisement comes to life.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:19 (seven years ago) link
loved the documentary! i mean i didn't know about the De Niro/film school stuff so that was fascinating. i liked how he said even he didn't want to sit through Casualties.. in the editing room as it was so grim.
― piscesx, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 17:40 (seven years ago) link
Whoa.
http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books/bk160/cover_big.jpg
― crusty but malignant (Eric H.), Tuesday, 10 March 2020 17:09 (four years ago) link
wtf?!
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 10 March 2020 17:23 (four years ago) link
Just watched Obsession for the first time on TCM. I dug it.
― Planck Generation (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 6 July 2021 04:14 (two years ago) link
Happy 83rd birthday perv-ish suspense director
It's Brian De Palma's 83rd birthday, so here are my rankings pic.twitter.com/tlpGPS5Q2P— Eric Henderson (@ephender) September 11, 2023
― 50 Best Fellas (Eric H.), Monday, 11 September 2023 21:04 (nine months ago) link
Hollywood Suite here (a four-channel thing you get with basic cable) has Carrie on 281, Scarface on 282, and Snake Eyes (followed by Raising Cane) on 283. That's a lot of fulminating on 282/3.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 12 September 2023 01:25 (nine months ago) link
My own list.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 12 September 2023 01:47 (nine months ago) link
I'm not a DePalma fan, but that's the one I like best. It's not his most technically accomplished film, but it may embody his work better than anything else he's done, in a way that can be seen as critical of his vision (or lack thereof).
DePalma's harshest critics argue that DePalma thinks he's Hitchcock even though he lacks Hitchcock's genuine fascination with human behavior (or what makes us human). Some claim he's more interested in duplicating Hitchcock's films than creating anything personal himself. One of DePalma's favorite films is Vertigo, and Obsession is obviously heavily inspired by it. Some may even dismiss it on the grounds that it's DePalma trying to remake Vertigo, just as Sisters was a pastiche of other Hitchcock films.
If you believe there's a lot of truth to that, I would say that even though Obsession repeats the same approach, the context makes it far more engaging. Mirroring Scottie's relationship to Madeleine, here is DePalma fixated on a film that he not only adores but is compelled to reproduce as closely as he can, short of a straight up remake. If it seems too close to a rip-off, that's the point - it's not lack of imagination so much as a perpetual compulsion on DePalma's part, telegraphed by a scene in Obsession when one of the main characters is working on an art restoration - she wonders if she should try holding on to an original element of the work that is very degraded, and her suitor tells her to "hold on to it." The character is obviously echoing his own inability to let go of the wife he's lost (and will try replacing with a lookalike), but this could apply to DePalma's filmmaking in Obsession. De Palma even gets Hitchcock's longtime collaborator Herrmann (who scored Vertigo and already scored Sisters for DePalma) to once again do the score here, and to drive the point home, DePalma even used Vertigo's score as a temp track in order to convince a producer to let him hire Herrmann.
At worst, you can say it sounds like an exercise in trying to replicate a film that DePalma could never approach, giving us a hollow thriller instead of a true, disturbing masterpiece with a deeply felt tragedy. Scottie trying to revive Madeleine through his relationship with another woman could even be thought along the same lines - that is, what's going on between Scottie and Judy is the result of necrophilia instead of a great love. But Judy really is in love with Scottie and there's a terrible yet honest sadness in how she allows Scottie to do something so awful to her. I'm not moved by Obsession the way I am by Vertigo, but I find it compelling for what it sees in Vertigo and what it regurgitates.
And thanks to Herrmann, Obsession does have real feeling - his score articulates beautifully what's going on between the two romantic leads. The best is when Robertson goes back and follows her after work. Not a word is exchanged, he stays behind her. It builds to a marvelous peak, when she goes into her home and he comes out on the street. Watch as he walks and pulls up, and how the music shifts and subtly augments that moment. His back's to you and he's in long shot, but with that bit of walking in synch with that perfect music, you can feel Robertson's heart begin to flutter. And then the killer is when we fade to a shot that drifts down from a ceiling to Robertson, who's in the foreground of a deep focus shot. As that camera floats down, listen to those soft, stray notes plucked on the soundtrack. When we finally land on Robertson (seen in profile, deep in thought), you can feel his mind miles away, thinking only of her.
Watch that scene alone and without music - what's going on is still clear, but you don't feel the intoxicating pull that's swallowing him up. It could be a cold case of stalking that elicits no empathy. That changes with Herrmann's score.
One more thing about the film - Paul Schrader's screenplay originally called for a Patti Page song, "Changing Partners," to be played during Michael’s opening dance with his wife and daughter, but the rights would have cost about $15,000. Schrader said “the money thing that hurt me most in the movie was that I lost (the song), because that to me was just everything that the movie was about… ‘I’ll keep changing partners till you’re in my arms again.'” In its place, Herrmann composed a waltz theme that recurs at the end, when De Palma’s camera swirls around the reunited father and daughter.
Here's the recording in question and as much as I like Herrmann's score (a masterpiece in itself), this feels pretty perfect, with a sense of humor that puts it on par with Kubrick's musical choices IMHO.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 12 September 2023 03:02 (nine months ago) link