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Went to see it the other day, thought it was excellent. Has anyone else noticed how holywood is starting to turn away from cheesy blockbusters towards more serious films? Walk the line, good night and good luck, syriana, brokeback mountain, crash, the proposition etc etc. It's brilliant, film makers finally seem to have realised that people have brains.

Yes i've noticed this. We don't want Hollywood getting too serious on us though - i've always loved it for the escapism element. And i'd never look to Hollywood to feed my brain - I cannot rely on the machine for portayals of truth. I turn to World cinema to exercise my brain cells. I'm seeing The Weatherman tomorrow. It was that or Walk the line (don't think Phoenix is the man for the job though) Is he? My love for Nicholas Cage made my mind up for me. Heh. I'm so intelligent...

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Jarvis Cocker or David Bowie or AVB or Johnny Borrell, she isn't picky

Cavey Cocker, Cup Cake Queen, Saint Thomas.

Hmmm, I've never really bought the standard "Hollywood=dumb entertainment/ world cinema=intellectual classics" equation. Yes, Hollywood produces plenty of dumb action movies, but that's in part simply because it produces lots and lots of movies full-stop. But it's always made its share of thought-provoking, genuinely original films - from John Ford to John Huston to Martin Scorcese, the Cohen brothers, Charlie Kaufman, etc, etc, etc.

And, lest we forget, "world cinema" produces quite a lot of bollocks as well. For every "Gospell According to St Matthew" or "The 400 Blows" there's plenty of "Cinema Paradiso"s, "La Femme Nikita"s or (God help us) "The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant". And if I ever see another piss-poor British gangster flick it'll be too soon.

I think it's true that the Hollywood dumb actioner is taking a back seat right now, but these things tend to go in cycles. In part, at least, the problem is that there's no-one to star in such movies right now, especially since Vin Diesel's career turned out to be less like Schwarzenegger's and more like Hulk Hogan's.

Yeah, as much as I love intelligent films no-brainers can be just as enjoyable... when asked my favourite films I always include Die Hard, Terminator 2 and The Running Man. They're just so much fun.
Phoenix is actually really good as Johnny Cash, he's pretty convincing and gets the singing voice spot on which is impressive.
Definately agree about Charlie Kaufman howdy, the man's an absolute genius. Adaptation was ridiculously clever.

Generalisation? I didn't say "exclusively beloved by..." I'm sure there are other benighted souls out there. And my coffee table/CD refs certainly need updating, but I'm a lazy, lazy man.

CP is not the worst film ever made, but it's become a totem for culture snobs everywhere who think they can keep ahead of the pack simply by dismissing US cinema in favour of European or (increasingly, these days) Asian films.

True, I understand that. There is a misconception that World Cinema is better because much of the crap is filtered out and never makes it overseas whereas many US exports are as substandard as they are brilliant, yet we see them all. At the end of the day, for every Uzak, we get a Lost In Translation, for every Mikhmalabaf and Tarkovsky we get a Clooney and Altman. Likewise, US remakes are not that bad either; parts of The Ring were indeed worse than those in Ringu, but others were actually better. The Grudge and Dark Water were about equal to their Asian counterparts while people were decidedly harsh on Vanilla Sky when its Spanish equivalent, Open Your Eyes, was just as appalling.

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Pukka Pie pest

Embrace the margin
Always Changing at Retford http://sptxx.tumblr.com/
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I never liked Godard. I like Truffaut but was more influenced by the film-makers that he inspired; Ken Loach, Karel Reisz and Krzystow Kieslowski.

Some Japanese horror is actually very good, like Audition, which has a truly hideous ending. When it comes to top notch horror though, Roman Polanski was the master.

I still love Polanski depite his controversial private life. I love Cinema Paradiso and not because i'm trying to be clever or consider myself a film snob - though I think my sweeping comment on the Hollywood/World cinema divide gives weight to the latter. It just breaks my heart. I can only go on my own experiences and more often than not World Cinema challenges my brain more. Oh I don't know. There's a lot of toot in both worlds.

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Jarvis Cocker or David Bowie or AVB or Johnny Borrell, she isn't picky

Cavey Cocker, Cup Cake Queen, Saint Thomas.

Might be wrong, but I think she was 16, not 13. It was illegal in the State where it happened, but wouldn't have been in most others.

Er, the defence would like to change its plea to "guilty". [Uproar in court]

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Pukka Pie pest

Embrace the margin
Always Changing at Retford http://sptxx.tumblr.com/
Not Changing at Retford http://sptxx2.tumblr.com/