Discuss AnotherBob's Favorite Films

[anotherbob]

I’d rather sit through a torture session involving bamboo, pliers and a hammer than sit through “artsy” movies.

I also think Jackson Pollack as well as Andy Warhol are zero talent hacks.

But hey, I dig out fires for a living, maybe conning rich people is easier.

I love some artsy movies but it's like any other genre there are good ones and crap ones and at the end of the day it either does something for you or it doesn't.
I never got either of those artists. And Jackson Pollack reminds me of the flashy acrobatic guitarists. On a technical level something impressive is being done but there is no feeling or soul as far as I can see. And if you like that great, but I don't. And the only thing I really appreciate about Warhol is his terrible Empire State Building movie and the fact that film students are forced to watch the whole thing, which would be a war crime if you made a terrorist watch it (seriously at least a real torture session would be stimulating).

 

[TheIronMonkey]

It’s been ages since I’ve seen the three films. I haven’t read the Jerzy Kosiński or Terry Southern novels. I found My Dinner with Andre a fascinating film when I saw it—I’d be curious to discover how I’d feel seeing it now—at the time, I found Andre Gregory’s storytelling so engaging that I was glued to every word and got immersed in the film. Apart from the scenes showing Wallace Shawn going to and leaving Café des Artistes, everything happens over dinner and much takes place in the viewer’s head to very large degree, not much different than today’s audiobook. I was fortunate enough to meet both Gregory and Shawn, and they inscribed my first edition of the published screenplay; I met Wallace Shawn at an Off-Broadway one man show he was doing—we talked a little bit about his father and The New Yorker; I met Andre Gregory at a Barnes & Noble event.

 

[brian64]

Richard Linklater has done some really good movies of this genre in more recent times that would have probably been more popular in the '70s, such as Waking Life and his great adaptation of PKD's A Scanner Darkly.

 

[milk]

I have a poster of My Dinner With Andre on my wall. I also like their filmed Uncle Vanya.

 

[anotherbob]

It’s been ages since I’ve seen the three films. I haven’t read the Jerzy Kosiński or Terry Southern novels. I found My Dinner with Andre a fascinating film when I saw it—I’d be curious to discover how I’d feel seeing it now—at the time, I found Andre Gregory’s storytelling so engaging that I was glued to every word and got immersed in the film. Apart from the scenes showing Wallace Shawn going to and leaving Café des Artistes, everything happens over dinner and much takes place in the viewer’s head to very large degree, not much different than today’s audiobook. I was fortunate enough to meet both Gregory and Shawn, and they inscribed my first edition of the published screenplay; I met Wallace Shawn at an Off-Broadway one man show he was doing—we talked a little bit about his father and The New Yorker; I met Andre Gregory at a Barnes & Noble event.

I confused Wallace Shawn once in a random encounter.

 

[TheIronMonkey]

I confused Wallace Shawn once in a random encounter.

Do tell.

 

[milk]

I’d rather sit through a torture session involving bamboo, pliers and a hammer than sit through “artsy” movies.

I also think Jackson Pollack as well as Andy Warhol are zero talent hacks.

But hey, I dig out fires for a living, maybe conning rich people is easier.

Warhol wanted to make money. He believed making money was the highest art form. You can kind of see it in the way he operated his career. I don’t find Warhol that exciting, personally. Maybe Pollack was more interesting. On the whole, there are worse offenders when it comes to grifting with incomprehensible artsiness. Minimalists come to mind.

 

[puff_not_snuff]

I have a poster of My Dinner With Andre on my wall. I also like their filmed Uncle Vanya.

Have you read the short story Drive My Car or seen the film that came out based on it last year? It has a tie in to Uncle Vanya.

 

[puff_not_snuff]

Warhol wanted to make money. He believed making money was the highest art form. You can kind of see it in the way he operated his career. I don’t find Warhol that exciting, personally. Maybe Pollack was more interesting. On the whole, there are worse offenders when it comes to grifting with incomprehensible artsiness. Minimalists come to mind.

I don't find most of Warhol's art at all interesting but his influence on the people he assembled around him was. The Warhol Diaries documentary that came out last year made me appreciate him a lot more than I did.

 

[carlomarx]

Those movies might be good but for my money you just can't beat " Bill and Ted's Excellent Journey", "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey" and 'Bill and Ted Face the Music".

 

[milk]

Have you read the short story Drive My Car or seen the film that came out based on it last year? It has a tie in to Uncle Vanya.

No I haven’t. I’ll check it the movie if you recommend it.

Richard Linklater has done some really good movies of this genre in more recent times that would have probably been more popular in the '70s, such as Waking Life and his great adaptation of PKD's A Scanner Darkly.

Yes. I like him. I also love Eric Rohmer and Linklater sort of pays homage to Rohmer. Linklater has some great films. Dazed and Confused!

 

[puff_not_snuff]

Yes. I like him. I also love Eric Rohmer and Linklater sort of pays homage to Rohmer. Linklater has some great films. Dazed and Confused!

While I like Linklater I think that Whit Stillman shares a much closer linage to Rohmer's work.

 

[didimauw]

I like to watch

Sometime I also watch! But someothertimes not so much!

 

[milk]

While I like Linklater I think that Whit Stillman shares a much closer linage to Rohmer's work.

I forget the name of that first film of his. There were a lot of filmmakers who went for that aesthetic. If I remember right, Linklater has a bit more sophistication, although, I may be remembering the later work incorrectly. Now, wait, what wad the last film Stillman did? Love and Friendship is quite good.

 

[puff_not_snuff]

I forget the name of that first film of his. There were a lot of filmmakers who went for that aesthetic. If I remember right, Linklater has a bit more sophistication, although, I may be remembering the later work incorrectly. Now, wait, what wad the last film Stillman did? Love and Friendship is quite good.

I was thinking about Metropolitan, Last Days of Disco and Barcelona.

 

[milk]

I was thinking about Metropolitan, Last Days of Disco and Barcelona.

Metropolitan is the one I remember. I think the Sunrise films are probably more going for that sophistication of Rohmer. But they probably fail. It’s been a while. Metropolitan has a student feel, if I remember well. I think Rohmer has a magic none of them can match. He does it all so effortlessly and charmingly. I’d have to rewatch to really say what endures. Some things that I used to love, I don’t anymore when I revisit. Eric Rohmer really inspired me and I tried to make films for a while but I did it badly and quit. I think he makes it look easy.

 

[sablebrush52]

1.) Being There
2.) Dinner with Andre
3.) That film with Ringo star I never saw

Topic is open for discussion.

Liked Being There, a nice cheerful commentary on the vapidity of leadership.

My Dinner With Andre felt like torture watching it in the theater, but I enjoyed in on DVD, where I could stop it at points and do other things, then come back to it for a bit. For me it's best enjoyed in small amounts The conversation reminded me a little too uncomfortably of conversations I had with friends while in college where we all had "brilliant" realizations about life.

What film with Ringo Starr?

 

[TheIronMonkey]

What film with Ringo Starr?

I believe they’re referring to The Magic Christian (by Terry Southern).

 

[sablebrush52]

I believe they’re referring to The Magic Christian (by Terry Southern).

I loved Candy!

 

[bullet08]

Haven't seen any of those, but I'm sure they are fine flicks. Try 1) Tunes of Glory, 2) The Bridge on the River Kwai, and 3) The Man Who Would Be King.