response 132 of 290:

Jul 26 03:05 UTC 1998

Re: #129
You've very little knowledge of how Overlord played out if you think that 
nothing went wrong.  Hitler didn't need more time to sent troops to
Normandy (he'd done that in May '44, moving the 21st Panzer division, 91st
Infantry, and loads of smaller units into near-perfect positions to 
oppose the invasion), he needed a transportation network that the Allied 
air forces weren't bombing into rubble.  And what he could have diverted 
of the 59 divisions in the West on 6/4/44 after a victory in Normandy would 
not have changed the 163 divisions being vanquished in Italy and the East
into winners. 

The horrible carnage of D-Day (on the Allied side) was mostly due to
General Omar Bradley & Co.'s refusal to learn from the horrible carnage 
of the Dieppe raid.  The British weren't that stupid (well, it was *their*
guys who got butchered at Dieppe), and went ashore prepared in Normandy -
enjoying an easy victory and minimal losses as a result. 

response 134 of 290:

Jul 26 04:30 UTC 1998

  Scorsese will always be my favorite, that is, next to my all time favorite,
Barry Levinson.
 
  Spielberg did a great job on Always.

response 136 of 290:

Jul 27 03:13 UTC 1998

Mr Potter seems to think that every movie has to be socially redeeming.
I usually disagree with him and have met very few people who agree with his
point of view on any film.  How does that guy keep his job?

response 138 of 290:

Jul 27 09:24 UTC 1998

Welcome, fyber219

response 140 of 290:

Jul 28 13:09 UTC 1998

"Henry Fool"  A+

To hell with what some of the critics say. This is a wonderful
film. Funny, moving, satirical, complex, risk-taking, thought-
provoking epic about friendship, influence, responsibility, and
several other things. Brilliantly written, photographed, and
acted. I loved almost every minute of it, including a few distinctly
uncomfortable ones. It firmly establishes Hal Hartley as one of
today's great filmmakers.

The blurb in the Michigan Theater schedule asserts that the film
was inspired by Harold Bloom's _The Anxiety of Influence_. I shall
have to have a look at that book.

"Henry Fool" still has a couple more showings at the Michigan
Theater - Tuesday July 28 at 7:00 and Thursday July 30 at 9:00.

response 142 of 290:

Jul 28 14:56 UTC 1998

The idea was kind of cool... when it was still called "The Stepford Wives".

response 144 of 290:

Jul 28 16:53 UTC 1998

If it's earlier than "Down by Law", which was Jarmusch's second
feature, then it must be "Stranger than Paradise", his first.

response 146 of 290:

Jul 29 01:49 UTC 1998

Well, as was said more than once in the movie itself, "You can't
argue about taste."

response 148 of 290:

Jul 29 11:50 UTC 1998

I don't think Hartley was after naturalistic realism. If that
bothered you, how about this: Did you notice all the beer in the
film? People drinking from cans and carrying around six-packs.
Did you notice that it was always exactly the same brand?

response 150 of 290:

Jul 29 20:46 UTC 1998

*Sounds* incredibly stupid, but I'll have to go see for myself.  
Bloom's book is about "intentional misreading."  Fairly controversial 
at the time, pretty bland now.

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (B) -- Tom Hanks is excellent in this movie, but
despite its celebrated "realism" the movie is filled with cliches.  
It even has an example of the "It Was Written" rule, which appeared
notably in Lawrence of Arabia: Lawrence risks his life to save a man
everyone else says is doomed, just to prove that "nothing is written"
(i.e., in the Book of Fate), and then ends up having to shoot the man 
himself later in the movie.  The John Williams score, complete with 
piously noble chorus vocalising wordlessly, gives the game away.  
High-grade kitsch, if you like that sort of thing.  But Tom Hanks is 
fantastic, despite everything.  

Recent rental: ZERO EFFECT (B-) -- The casting was awful, but it's an
interesting idea.  A postmodern Sherlock Holmes and his disaffected
Watson.

response 152 of 290:

Jul 30 22:18 UTC 1998

"Stranger than Paradise", yes, that's it.  Saw it years ago.  One of the
characters listens to Screaming Jay Hawkins constantly on her walkman.  I
guess because of that, Jarmusch got to know Screaming Jay, and he appeared
as an actor in another movie, "Mystery Train".  He played a hotel clerk,
and did a good job, and was an interesting character.  Soundtrack for that
movie was Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, etc.  And in "Down by Law", Tom
Waits did music and acted a major part, and did brilliantly in both.
These are all great movies.

response 154 of 290:

Aug 1 06:25 UTC 1998

Rented "Daibolique" with Chazz Palminteri (woof!) and Sharon Stone. It's about
a man who is murdered by his wife and mistress, but turns up later, very much
alive. Whatever. Thing is, I could swear it's a remake of a movie I saw about
10 years ago, almost shot for shot. Can someone here help me out with the
title of the earlier one?