Get nitpicky in the comments. Leave that scene or character on the cutting room floor. (The movie will still love you for loving it)
*
Friday, September 05, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
We've Moved. Please visit THEFILMEXPERIENCE.NET
Posts
Search This Blog
Film Experience Hoopla!
- "Inarguably the most exuberant, optimistic and quick-witted Oscar blogger on the Web"
-Vanity Fair - "Creative, hilarious, utterly addictive"
-Nicks Flick Picks - "the Film Experience is a pretty hip blog"
-NY Times - featured in Meet the Bloggers
-The Advocate - 10 Blogs For Serious Film Lovers
blogs.com - "If you're not familiar with Nathaniel, here's an analogy SAT-style.Nathaniel : cinephiles :: Angelina Jolie : starving children"
-Cinephilia
Followers
Series / Frequent Subjects
- "10|25|50|75|100 -Happy Anniversary!"
- "A History of..."
- "Beauty Break"
- "Best Pictures From the Outside In"
- "Breakfast With..."
- "Curio"
- "Hit Me With Your Best Shot"
- "Kissing"
- "Mad Men @ the Movies"
- "Modern Maestros"
- "Monday Monologue"
- "Posterized"
- "Reader Request"
- "Screen Bitchery"
- "Take Three"
- "Tuesday Top Ten"
- "Unsung Heroes"
- "Vanity Fair's Hollywood"
- "Yes, No, Maybe So?"
- Actressexuality
- Angelina Jolie
- Anne Hathaway
- Broadway
- Cate Blanchett
- Film Festivals
- Foreign Films
- Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Julianne Moore
- Meryl Streep
- Michelle Pfeiffer
- Musicals
- Nicole Kidman
- Oscar Race 2010
- Pedro Almodóvar
- Queer Interest
- Superheroes
- Tilda Swinton
- Vampires
- Woody Allen
Blog Archive
-
▼
2008
(1289)
-
▼
September
(107)
- September. It's a Wrap
- Unfortunate Photo Op Moment... Starring Debra Winger
- The Unbearable Linkness of Blogging
- Australiagasm
- Eagle Eye
- Tuesday Top Ten ~ 2008 Check-In
- How I Feel / How I Wish I Felt
- Monday Monologue with Christopher Walken (Pt 1)
- Time to Read The Reader ?
- Vanity Fair's Hollywood ~ Episode 8 (2002)
- Linker's Dozen
- Open Discussion
- Celebrity Endorsement
- Paul Newman (1925-2008)
- Red Carpet Rendezvous
- Contest: Take Tony Leung Home
- Trailer of the Valkyrie
- What's the most recent movie you've seen?
- 20:08 (The 40 Year-Old Bride)
- Rachel Getting Married (First Impression)
- NYFF 1: Like To Watch?
- "Nobody puts Baby Angie in a Corner"
- The Dark Bailout
- Spain and Oscar's Big Foreign Film Race
- No title
- NYFF: Interlude
- Big Willie (Shakespeare) Style
- Waltz With Bashir -Israel's Probable Oscar Submission
- Books You Can't See As Movies
- Little Children (2006) by Adrian Tomine
- Link After Reading
- Good Mornin' (Hollywood)
- Monologue: Elinor Dashwood's Sense
- Vintage Viggo
- Revolutionary Road
- Good (?) Mornin'
- EMMY *Live-Blogging* (The Broadcast)
- EMMY *Live-Blogging* (God Help Me)
- Link-Stained
- Small Screen Saturation
- Sigourney's a Fan... of What?
- Re-Opening Ceremony
- Sophia, Liz, Monty, Marlon ... (sigh)
- The Three Faces of Link
- Abracadabra
- Ed & Viggo Round 2
- That's The Way (Uh Huh Uh Huh) I Link It
- Good Morning Baltimore
- do you ever feel like you're losing your mind?
- Once More Into the Web. No... Twice More
- Tues Top Ten: Emmy Wishes
- No title
- Lev Leaves Toronto. And Stays.
- Revive the Silents!
- "My name is Nathaniel and I'm a Linkaholic"
- Must Read
- You're So Fickle!
- Naked Gold Man: TIFF Prizes
- It's Almost On
- [sigh]
- A Dozen Thoughts I Had While Watching Mamma Mia!
- Jennifer Jason Leigh ???
- Meryl, With No Doubt
- Frances McDormand Will Have Her Revenge
- Now Playing: Alan Ball's Psyche, Wacky Personal Tr...
- Most Link'ly to Succeed
- Sarah Gina Palin and Our National Nightmare
- It's a Look
- Angelina Distraught! Angelina Hoodwinked! Angelina...
- Brian All Over. By Way of Toronto
- Lev All Over. By Way of Toronto
- What movies are sitting by your DVD player, just w...
- Coming October 6th: Cabin in the Sky (1943)
- True Blood
- Sex & The City: The Indie Version
- Meg x 4
- Lev in Charlie Kaufman's Brain. By Way of Toronto.
- Returning Student ?
- 'September linking still can make me feel this way'
- Lev in Brazil. By Way of Toronto.
- True. True. False.
- apologies to Mr. Bell, but it's all in the timing.
- MotM Episodes 3 & 4
- Naked Gold Man: Baby Steps
- Linkview Terrace
- Anika
- Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
- Golden Lions in the Ring
- There is Nothing Like a Dame
- Stop Making Link
- "I've got plenty of joy in my life!"
- Friday's... Pointless Hitchcock Trivia
- What's your least favorite part of your favorite m...
- Puny Movies. Streep Smash!
- Rachel Getting Postered
- Vampires x 4
- Flashback: Cher Feels Pretty ... Oh So Pretty
- Milk, Finally Spilled
- Oscars for my Birthday? How Kind
- Mothers on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
-
▼
September
(107)
57 comments:
Everyone talks about the multiple endings in LOTR. And I have to agree. It's not the fact that they exist: it's a nine-and-a-half-hour journey, so a slow and steady denouement is fine. It's the fact that they feel like endings. If Jackson had shot and/or edited them differently, they would've felt more organic. As they were, they don't feel like a great bookend to one of the cinematic achievements of all time. Even if they totally are. And admittedly, I saw this film twice on opening day, so that didn't help.
There's a moment in Casablanca when Rick's waiting for Ilsa at the train station, and the scene changes from thunderous rain to sunshine, and I can't help but laugh.
The Tom Tom Club/Genius of Love number in "Stop Making Sense." I need my David Byrne. Give me the giant white suit, "Psycho Killer" and "heaven is a place where nothing really matters" please.
Off the top of my head.
Children of Men seems to be it today, so I'll go with it. Hm... I'd say Charlie Hunnam's character. What the hell was his point? Oi.
Yeah, I can't think of anything substantial. That movie's way too amazing to have flaws. :)
It's not my favorite movie (although I love it), but the scene in 'Lost in Translation' when ScarJo discovers Bill Murray slept with that trashy cocktail lounge singer--I hate it!
When John Travolta (Vincent Vega) sticks the needle of heroin into his vein and Tarantino has the need to fixate on everything regarding the needle. I hate needles and always turn away from that part of my favorite movie: Pulp Fiction.
The long, drawn out subway seduction scene in The Warriors. Slows the damn movie down!
arkaan i haven't seen STOP MAKING SENSE (*hides in shame*) but I absolutely love Tom Tom Club's Genius of Love so I don't think I'd mind ;)
henry for me it'd be anything involving the gimp in that movie. HATE that part of the movie. and maybe the christopher walken part too. I haven't seen this in years though so I've been itching to rescreen.
The whole William H. Macy sequence in Magnolia. It's not bad but it's not at the level of the rest of the stories imo.
All right, time for the impossible-find something to not like in Casablanca. It is literally perfect, so I can't really think of anything...
Seriously nothing. This is impossible. My head hurts. Nathaniel, any help? What's to change about Casablanca?
In Fight Club, quite possibly one of the best scenes in the film is greatly hindered by an ill-advised music cue. in the scene in which Fight Club is crashed by Lou; one of the most powerful scenes in the film is unnecessarily reined in when a slow drum roll starts as Lou pounds Tyler's face in, instead of allowing the pounding sounds make their own impact
not my ultimate favorite movie, cause there isn't
but in the broadway melody part from singing in the rain I usually yawn a lot
gotta dance! gotta dance! gotta dance!
That almost half an hour long chat Nick and George have in the yard in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Yes, I know it's crucial to understand George's character, aswell as the rest of the film, but Martha's absence goes on for too damn long for me to take it. Hmph.
Speaking of Singin' in the Rain, I would cut out the "You Were Meant for Me" number that takes place in the studio. I always find myself skipping that scene and losing absolutely nothing. Other than that, the movie is sheer perfection.
As for my favorite movie, Gone With the Wind, the only thing I would change is the casting of Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes. He's decent, but it could have made a perfect movie even more perfect with a different actor.
john t casablanca is another one i have't seen in YEARS. Can't wait to rewatch it for the BEST PICTURES FROM THE OUTSIDE IN SERIES. It's only a couple of months away ;)
re: SINGIN' IN THE RAIN. I can't imagine cutting any singing dame (I know we're supposed to love Gene Kelly dancing above all else but in truth, I just swoon when he sings. I love his voice so much. so i'm with agustin that if I h-a-d to trim it (i don't have to) it'd have to just trim the dance sequence. Not delete it. GOD FORBID. That movie is divine.
The multi-scene set-up for Orlando Jones' "Worm" character/subplot that never concludes/continues in "Magnolia."
In All That Jazz I don't care for any of the parts with John Lithgow (not somebody I care for much of anyway) but specifically the luncheon scene.
In Mulholland Drive it's the scene with the (apparent) hit man and the book and the fat lady and the gun. It adds to do mystery, sure, but so would a scene of a monkey wearing a ballgown.
My wife has a habit of skipping over the "Hopelessly Devoted To You" number in GREASE. As a completest I just about have a fit when someone skips a portion of a movie. But skipping any of Olivia's numbers is just wrong, well, except there at the end, I prefer my Sandy less leathery.
While it's not a favorite of mine (it totally is I just don't want to be looked down on) the music cue for the Cheese version of "Down With The Sickness" in the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake, always pulls me right out of the movie. It's too much of a wink wink moment. If they had gone with something a little less ironic it would have worked much better for me. A Tom Waits song perhaps?
In All the Real Girls there is a character with downs sydrome that seems to be sentimentalized a little too much. I like that he's there, I like that he's not the focus (because these characters have been living with the child for a long time and he would be a part of life by now) but there is a baseball scene with him and Paul Schneider that is just a little too touching for me.
Does that make me sound like a jerk? I kind of am one.
'There Will Be Blood' - revise that ending, for the love of God. Don't misunderstand me, I love the audacity of the scene and the way in which it was crafted but put into context with everything that came before it, it felt WILDLY out of place.
But that's just me.
(Although that's not my favorite film, but it's one I have a lot of admiration for.)
lost in translation- the photo shoot where bill has the clipped suitcoat, taking reels for santori and talking about "loger moore" with the photographer. i feel like we've already hit the whole "bill murray is confused in japan" sequence in his FIRST shoot (the commercial) after the director mumbles off a long japanese ramble, only to be translated in a few english words by his assistant.
it's a short (and brilliant) film, and the comedy is still there, but this scene seems to just reiterate instead of introduce anything new.
The first thing that comes to mind is Peter Sellers in "LOLITA". I love everything in the film except his performance. To counter-act Sellers' wearisome self-indulgence, every other element in the picture has to be extra-marvelous. And it is.
Depending on what my favourite is on a given day
If it's All the Real Girls, then it's the part where Leland says "I used to be the richest man in the world, now I have next to nothing..." which I think is kind of a shitty thing to say in front of your only child, whose sat next to him.
If it's Chungking Express, then I would say the scene where Tony Leung hangs out in the convenience store waiting for the note to dry and talks to his ex.
But, if it's The Big Lebowski, and it often is, then I would say...nothing.
The Cheryl Lynn scene of Boogie Nights,even though it contains the "everyone has one special thing" line (see, I can't even hate it totally).
And while we're on the PTA train, I second the William H. Macy storyline as well as the dumped Worm storyline. Love the Sing-along though.
I really hate to see Ms. Celie being raped by her own father, ...sure most people do.
As a child, I hated "King of the Forrest" in the Wizard of Oz, but I've grown into it.
I hate that my new DVD of the Sound of Music doesn't have "what is it you cahn't face!"
(Sorry if this post contains spoilers but the films 10 years old so I suppose everyone's seen it)
I love L.A. Confidential and understand and approve of nearly every change from the book to the screen. With the sole exception of the death of Dudley Smith.
In the book he lives to be corrupt for another day, a bleaker but much more realistic point about how sometimes you are unable to defeat the bad guys.
Blade Runner it is.
The final scene, when Batty releases the dove, and it flies away into an almost blue sky, next to a very 'now-and-here' aluminum chimney...
terrible!!
but still... I can't help it: my favorite movie!
Pulp Fiction is my favorite and I could've done with a shorter Bruce Willis in the cab scene. They already edited it down, but it could've been even shorter.
Nate, I can't believe you didn't really like the watch monologue. I still think its one of the best movie monologues of all time. The dude basically runs through 20th century American war history through one family. And Walken is brilliant with it.
love brokeback mountain dislike anne hathaway in it replace her with chloe sevigny.
Not my favourite movie, but one my favourites and kind out of the realm of movies everyone else is talking about.
I really don't like it when Sarah Michelle Gellar's "Helen Shivers" dies in I Know What You Did Last Summer. Not only is she the best character in the movie, but the one I wanted to survive the most. After all that build up and the expertly filmed chase scenes, Helen, or the script, has to make the stupid decision to make Helen turn around in an alleyway to check a noise she has just heard. She then is slashed to death behind piles of tires. I dislike this scene because she was two feet away from safety. The fucking marching band was fucking marching in the fucking street and if she just bolted down that alleyway, or didn't bother with any noise, she would have been in the clear.
Jeez, I ramble a lot. But Sarah Michelle Gellar was great and I didn't want Helen to die.
I can't really think of anything I dislike about All About Eve or Todo Sobre Mi Madre, so I'll move down to another favourite film.
I'm not wild about the ending of Hannah and Her Sisters, where Holly tells Mickey she's pregnant. Feels like a cheat, somehow. That said, I only dislike this in theory. When I'm watching the film, I'm usually too caught up in everything else to care.
And Arkaan, I can't believe you don't love the Tom Tom Club interlude! Tina Weymouth's dancing alone makes up for Byrne's departure. Love love love that concert.
Fanny & Alexander? Nothing. Not a single superfluous scene even in the 5 hour version.
The only one I can think of is Apocalypse Now Redux, where the playboy bunny scenes could pretty much have been left out.
mine's popularly hated. the hours. nicole at the train station.
I'm not sure I have a favorite movie, really, but, as I've watched it too many times to count, I guess Moulin Rouge would be as close as I come. the Like a Virgin sequence is the one I most often tend to skip over. If I had to be spartan and save that sequence (gotta love the waiters, after all) I'd definitely cut out the shot where the Duke (Richard Roxburgh) turns directly to the audience and breaks the "forth wall" a la Garry Shandling. The entire film, the actors have been playing the comedy and drama as though their lives depended on it, with full gusto and willingly making fools of themselves with an unselfconsciousness that is surprisingly sincere and old-fashioned, even with the use of modern music; this is the only moment that breaks the mise en scene completely in a "post-modern" way and says "hey this is just a movie after all".
Actually, I also tend to skip over the Meet the Bohemians sequence at the beginning. The movie doesn't really start until Christian arrives at the nightclub, IMO. I know Baz was trying to contrast crazy comedy with dark tragedy, but that whole sequence never worked for me - it just feels "over the top" in a not-good way. (But other people love that sequence I know. Me, I go for the drama every time.)
//mine's popularly hated. the hours. nicole at the train station.//
That was my favorite part of the film, actually. Granted I haven't rewatched it in a couple of years, but that scene (and her entire perf) actually turned me inside out in a number of ways. Just sayin'.
- All the girl in the red coat scenes in Schindler's List. They take me out of the movie because I kept thinking how Spielberg could be so blatant wanting to manipulate feelings.
- The very ending in The Silence of the Lambs, the phone call. Maybe it's the change of mood, atmosphere and tone regarding the rest of the movie, or maybe it's its "hey, there might be a sequel" character, but for me it's unnecessary.
- The duel John Malkovich-Keanu Reeves in Dangerous Liaisons. I don't know why, but it looks as a scene for a different kind of movie.
I don't have a favourite movie, but these three will work, specially the last two.
Iggy
In "The Sweet Hereafter" my least favorite part is probably the scene in which Sarah Polley's character follows her father into the barn. This is of course because when you first see the film (unless you've read the novel) you don't know how important that scene will be for the ending. Having subsequently read the book, I still think Egoyan handled the molestation subplot kind of nebulously. Great film, though.
The editing and Eastwood's direction of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Also, the phone conversation with Cusack's agent.
I love the movie but I recognize the lack of control Eastwood had over his actors, editing and some very weak lines to explain Cusack's character.
And filed under the "Not From My Favorite Movie But I Hated That Part Anyway":
The entire desert flashback in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I find the movie more palatable for repeat viewings by totally skipping that scene. Try it, it doesn't change much as you still understand they are past lovers.
Before Sunset is prob my favorite movie this week and I wouldn't change a thing.
Somewhat agree on the ending of Hannah and her Sisters... the whole "not even the rain has such small hands" sequence blinds me to any flaws though.
"You wore blue, the Germans wore gray" is a stupid frickin line. Just is.
In Top Hat, The Piccolino is a snore. Fred and Ginger point at a group of other dancers? Who cares? Plus it's so so SO a copy of "The Continental," which is vastly better.
Let's talk about The Hours. (Any number of movies could qualify as my favorite.) But two things bug me: first, the kid actor (apologies to him), and the part of the movie where Meryl Streep enters the flower shop and overacts the hell out of the line "look at all these FLOWERS!!"
Everything else is great, though.
@ben
if you thought that line delivery was overwrought you should the scene in bridges where she laughs at something eastwood says then proceeds to kick her leg up, up in the air for punctuation.
streep overacts always that's why we love her
nathaniel -- Eh, I was okay with the gimp. The rape of Marcellus by Zed was a might distasteful, but Zed got his comeuppance in the end so I was okay with that. Yeah, when I first saw the film I didn't like the Christopher Walken part either, but it leads to a great and hilarious cut to Bruce Willis' character before his boxing match.
I hated the Walken part the first time I saw the movie, but later I liked it.
My least favorite thing about Pulp Fiction is that the very best scene in the movie—Bruce Willis & the taxi driver—was left on the cutting room floor. That scene was so short, and so necessary to understanding Willis, that it is a crime it was omitted.
I love "Funny Face" with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire (where Fred "plays" the Vogue photographer Richard Avedon, who was a consultant on the set). BUT I could do without the Astaire/Kay Thompson duet "Clappa Yo' Hands" (shudder). What they actually needed was either one more Fred solo or one more Fred/Audrey dance.
Lukas Haas' character in Everyone Says I Love You is such a waste of space. It's what: three scenes, same joke each time? Get outta here!
Well my favourite movie is "Pink Flamingos",, but I'm a huge animal lover, and I've vegan etc. So the chicken scene raises an annoying moral dilemma.
But sometimes my favourite movie is "Dogville", and I think it's pretty much not flawed. Except maybe Chloe Sevigny's acting is annoying. She's one of my favourite actresses, but she's so fucking annoying in that part.
And "Rosemary's Baby" is one of my favourites as well, but I can't think of anything wrong with it.
I refuse to select only one of my top 5 so I'll go with all of them...
FANNY OCH ALEXANDER (1982)
My least favourite part has definetely got to be when the kids escape from their stepfather... Something didn't feel right there (Maybe it'll be fixed when I watch the long version)
MOULIN ROUGE! (2001)
There's something a bit repetitive about The Show Must Go On
THE HOURS (2002)
The part I like the least is definetely the end where Old Julianne meets Meryl
CINEMA PARADISO (1989)
The part where Pippino, the little kid from the Communist family leaves is definetely not my favourite
LOST IN TRANSLATION (2003)
Nat probably wants me to say "Lip my stockings" but I love that part, so I'll go with the whole cabaret singer storyline.
I'll just name a few of my favorites:
Return of the King - Elijah Woods' delivery of "Sam, NO!"
The Empire Strikes Back - Mark Hamill's delivery of "but Han and Leia will die if I don't".
A.I: Artificial Intelligence - The arguement between David and Gigolo Joe.
Memento - The section with the prostitute, while necessary, slows the film down.
Malcolm X - The ending with the kids in the classroom. Ugh!
Hmm... I'm going to say 'Like A Virgin' in 'Moulin Rouge!'
How has no one picked The Godfather as their favorite movie? Madness.
Hard to pick a least favorite part of the film. If pressed I'd go with the sequence where Talia Shire goes into hysterics breaking every piece of silverware in the house, following by an enraged Sonny showing up and "beating up" Carlo with punches that obviously miss.
My favorite movie is Boogie Nights, and I was always bugged by the scenes with Dirk and his mom. It was just a bit too melodramatic for me.
If I had to pick a second favorite movie, it would probably be Die Hard. But, I can't really find anything wrong with it. Maybe John McClain should have a hotter wife? I don't know. That movie is perfect as far as action movies go.
Josh --what BONNIE BEDELIA not hot? Have you seen her masturbation scene in Presumed Innocent ;) ?
brodie i hate chloe in dogville too. Every character in dogville is despicable she's the only one that actively annoys me.
js i haven't seen crouching tiger in too long but i do remember that scene dragging it down. But still... less Chen Chang is rarely a good thing.
In "Brokeback Mountain," I don't like the part where Ennis threatens those rednecks at the 4th of July celebration, and then beats one of them up.
Maude proclaims the need to appreciate life just one time too many in "Harold & Maude." Plus the part where they add in the Tarzan noise.
In "Breakfast at Tiffany's", I love absolutely everything (pause) except for the 15 minutes that Holly's husband (Jed from the "Beverly Hillbillies") shows up and gives bizarre details about her life. After repeated viewings, I'm not sure if its the sudden clarity in a movie with generally obtuse character biographies that bothers me or the fact that I can't shake that it's Jed from the "Beverly Hillbillies".
Post a Comment