Brian DePalma

[Rushmore]

I guess I just don't get it.

I mean, The Untouchables (sappy, cliched, bad train station scene), Body Double (overdone, poorly acted, unsexy), Carlito's Way (terrible voiceover, Joe Cocker, bad train station scene), Casualties of War (bad flute music, terrible characters, overuse of the word hooch)...people really seem to like these movies.

I think they pretty much suck. They're, well, they're not good movies.

There. I said it.

DISCLAIMER: Yes, Melanie Griffith was hot.

[mmbt0ne]

He did do that one movie though with the guy Scary Face or something. I don't know, I think Joe Montana was in it? Either way, a bunch of rappers seem to like it.

[nothumb]

Say hello to my little friend.

http://www.efc.dcccd.edu/EtCetera/EtCetera91703/scarface.jpg

NT

[ThaSaltCracka]

/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

I like The Untouchables, Carlito's Way, and Scarface.

[scrub]

How could you bash Brian Depalma and leave out Mission to Mars and Snake Eyes ?

Also, it's hard not to give him credit for Scarface (although I think it gets more credit than it's due), Mission Impossible, and Carrie, all of which were pretty well executed for what they were.

scrub

[nicky g]

Carlito's way is brilliant. As voiceovers go, it's not so bad and is only there at the beginning and the end. The train station scene is great. The bad bit is the crappy romantic subplot (Joe Cocker, yes; the rest of the soundtrack is great though). The cast is sooo good: Pacino, afro-ed Sean Penn, first major John Leguizamo performance, Luis Guzman. So good.

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
Also, it's hard not to give him credit for Scarface (although I think it gets more credit than it's due), Mission Impossible, and Carrie, all of which were pretty well executed for what they were.


[/ QUOTE ]

You're right about Carrie.

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
Carlito's way is brilliant. As voiceovers go, it's not so bad and is only there at the beginning and the end. The train station scene is great. The bad bit is the crappy romantic subplot (Joe Cocker, yes; the rest of the soundtrack is great though). The cast is sooo good: Pacino, afro-ed Sean Penn, first major John Leguizamo performance, Luis Guzman. So good.

[/ QUOTE ]

I own Carlito's Way on VHS. It was a recent viewing of this movie that prompted my post.

I think it had every chance to have been a great movie, but it always zigged when it shoulda zagged.

The train station scene was great? Oh. Hm. See, again, I thought it could have been great, until it just got too stupid. I mean, there's a gunfight in the middle of Grand Central, and the guy in the long black leather coat carrying a gun is running to catch a train, unimpeded? His girlfriend is standing there jumping up and down like he's approaching some sort of finish line (such DRAMA!!), as if he would simply board the train and everything would be fine? Huh? DUMB.

Benny Blanco from the Bronx?? Entertaining, yes. Bad character? Absolutely. If he was so SURE that Carlito was going to kill him, why make a scene about Stephi in the club? Nobody's THAT dumb, not even Benny freakin Blanco from the crazy-ass Bronx. Most drug lords tend to have at least SOME measure of self-preservation instinct.

Sean Penn? OK, he was great. But it doesn't occur to him that maybe, just maybe Tony T's people would have some idea that it was him who, ahem, whacked Tony T? Again, how stupid is Kleinfeld? We would not assume him to be an absolute moron, high on coke or not.

And please kill me when the romantic angle comes up. "You promised you'd never break my heart, Charlie." So we're supposed to believe that this starry-eyed dancer didn't know that her boyfriend was a major heroin dealer, with "ninety or a hundred guys on the street?" Does this seem like a reasonable assumption?

The judge lets him make that ridiculous speech in the beginning? He inexplicably decides to go with his dumb cousin to this dropoff? He just got out of prison, yet decides not to bang either of the girls on his first night out? He just happens to GUESS which strip show Gail is in at 48th and Broadway? Sasso TELLS him that Pachanga is spying for Benny Blanco, so Carlito turns around and entrusts his girlfriend's life with Pachanga at the end? Benny Blanco's great plan is to wait at the door of the train so he can walk up and kill Carlito, even after he must certainly have seen the shootout and chase coming up to the train, and the attendant cops and all the attention?

Duh.

Last of the Mo-Ricans. That's not even a funny line, much less realistic. Guess those South Harlem heroin dealers were really into literature back in the 70's.

[nicky g]

I own it too; it's maybe my most-watched film. There are a lot of holes in the plot. That kind of thing doesn't tend to bother me too much. Eg doesn't it occur to Kleinfeld they'll work it out etc. Well OK in the real world it might, but in the film he thinks he's a gangster, he's crazy coked up, he's hired a body guard etc etc. It's a gangster film, not a documentary. The train station scene - OK there's no way he could ever leave on the train once the cops turn up. But it looks damn good, it's exciting, well-choreographed etc. It's like the shoot-out scene in Heat; it's totally implausible but it looks great. The plot as a whole is a bit silly but Pacino's cool and it's fun. I think you;re taking it a bit too seriously.

"He just happens to GUESS which strip show Gail is in at 48th and Broadway?"

C'mon, this is the height of it. What do you want, 45 mins of him walking around trying to find her? It's a movie for goodness sake. Maybe he asked someone? Who cares?

As for last of the Mo'Ricans, that's a great line. I even used it for the title of an essay. I still get people from that course asking me to explain it and looking bemused when I do; I think they're on your side. But I don;t think you need to be massively into literature to have heard of one of the most famous American books. I mean presumably these people went to school for at least a little while. Even if they didn;t, complaining about a brief reference in a voice over speech is really looking for a bit too much realism in a piece of entertainment.

[andyfox]

I agree with you. The only movie he directed I liked was Mission Impossible, because his ridiculous style fit the ridiculous nature of the impossible mission. His last movie, can't remember the name (the one with Rebecca Stamos-whatever-her name is having sex with another woman in the bathroom) was unbelievably horrible.

[Clarkmeister]

[ QUOTE ]
I His last movie, the one with Rebecca Romijn-Stamos having sex with another woman in the bathroom, was unbelievably horrible.

[/ QUOTE ]

That, my friend, is a very long oxymoron.

[elwoodblues]

Femme Fetale. There are very good reasons to watch this movie. And even more to fast forward through the vast majority of it /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[sfer]

No one liked Carrie?

EDIT: Duh. Scrub beat me to it.

[bdk3clash]

[ QUOTE ]
How could you bash Brian Depalma and leave out Mission to Mars and Snake Eyes ?

[/ QUOTE ]
Wow did Snake Eyes suck.

[andyfox]

I remember when it first came out I posted a review here and SKP remarked about the sex in the bathroom. I responded that the sex in the bathroom was the only thing that kept me awake. I had to then explain that I meant the sex in the bathroom in the movie.

[andyfox]

Yeah, she's pretty pleasant to look at.

One thing that really bugged me was the imitation of Ravel's Bolero. Why not just use the real thing? It worked great for Bo Derek in 10.

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
The plot as a whole is a bit silly but Pacino's cool and it's fun. I think you;re taking it a bit too seriously.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a fair criticism of my perspective on movies. I am the same on music. I'm working on it.

[Rushmore]

Even though you edited your post, I still want to agree with you about Carrie.

But what's funny is that if you did not know it was a DePalma film, you would never guess it was a DePalma film.

Maybe that's why it was good.