comment #1

christian says ...

malick clearly needs to get out more.

comment #2

JD says ...

Why is "good friends" in quotes? Malick did produce Green's underrated 2004 film, Undertow. It doesn't seem like a stretch to me that they're good friends. Are you suggesting that Rogen and/or Green is lying about this?

comment #3

George Prager says ...

You have to admit, that scene when the gas station blows up after the model lights a cigarette during the gasoline fight (to the tune of "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go") is one of the funniest things ever.

comment #4

Wyatt Donnelly says ...

Malick is King.

comment #5

Ian Sinclair says ...

That would explain why Malick's movies are so pretentious and boring.

comment #6

JD says ...

I always felt Owen Wilson's absurdist comic persona was kind of influenced by Martin Sheen's darkly comic performance in Badlands. Maybe Malick's picking up on this.

comment #7

George Prager says ...

"That would explain why Malick's movies are so pretentious and boring."

Like looking into a mirror.

comment #8

christian says ...

and i actually laughed a lot during ZOOLANDER -- it was the first film i saw after 9/11.

comment #9

R. Hunt says ...

There's no accounting for tastes. Stanley Kubrick rarely talked about other direcotr's films, but I recall him on record somewhere in the 70s saying that he liked "Freebie and the Bean".

comment #10

christian says ...

FREEBIE AND THE BEAN is a great dark 70's film. i can see why kubrick would like it.

comment #11

George Prager says ...

I remember visiting Orson Welles a few weeks before his death. We watched SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS several times. He couldn't get enough.

comment #12

BurmaShave says ...

You should listen to your friend Terrence Malick. He's a cool dude.

comment #13

Mark says ...

I thought the entire coal mining sequence would have worked better played against Wagner along w/ offscreen narration.

comment #14

arch451 says ...

A guilty pleasure can inspire greatness. This reminds me of P.T. Anderson liking bad Adam Sandler movies, then using them as inspiration to create the one great Adam Sandler movie, Punch Drunk Love.

comment #15

MilkMan says ...

George Prager, I just gave you a figurative high five. Like looking in a mirror. That's right, my friend. Anyone who tells me that a movie is "pretentious and boring" is a person whose opinion I don't ever want to hear again. Pretentious and Boring are the two favorite words of people who don't trust their own intellect. They live their lives assuming that no one is smarter than them, and then when they are confronted with evidence that contradicts this illusion, they lash out, calling names, trying to disregard that which they don't understand because they don't have the equipment that allows them to understand. Malick is not pretentious because he does not have any pretensions to be anything other than who he is. No one ever made movies like Malick before Malick, and no one, with the exception of Gordon Green, who is a once in a generation wunderkind, have come close to capturing the mood and ethos of what Malick is aiming for. Badlands is a stripped down, minimalist masterpiece of unrelenting forward propulsion. I feel sorry for people who can't sit through a Malick film without feeling uncomfortable about themselves. That's a shame.

And two other movies that Kubrick loved were The Jerk and Modern Romance. And what does that have to do with The Shining or Full Metal Jacket, how he made those movies? Nothing. And that's the point.

comment #16

Mgmax, le Corbeau says ...

"And two other movies that Kubrick loved were The Jerk and Modern Romance."

I don't know what he saw in the former (but everyone needs a goofy pleasure once in a while), but while Modern Romance may not have much to do with The Shining (which predates it, of course) and Full Metal Jacket, it apparently had something to do with Eyes Wide Shut. Apparently the way the characters needle each other in Modern Romance-- which I find borderline unbearable-- Kubrick considered to have been brilliantly observed and written; he asked Brooks something like, "How did you get that? How did you get it so right?" I have no trouble seeing it along with Two For the Road as one of the key influences on EWS, though I don't think Kubrick pulls off a depiction of a weary, bickering couple nearly so well.

(I'll tell you another big EWS influence which I don't think anyone has ever really commented on: Corman's film of The Masque of the Red Death, shot by Nicolas Roeg. Rich guys having a sex party in a castle, plague/AIDS, hooded Death-like figures-- a lot of it's right there.)

comment #17

Ju-osh says ...

Kubrick wanted to work with Steve Martin for a loooong time, all because of The Jerk. (At one point, he envisioned him as the lead in Eyes Wide Shut.) I think it's in the Vincent Labrutto-penned Kubrick biography where Kubrick is quoted as having loved most the films he felt he could have never made himself. Perhaps this is part of Zoolander's appeal for Malick, too?

comment #18

BurmaShave says ...

I'm getting all tingly thinking about Martin in full SPANISH PRISONER mode playing the lead in EWS. Though I think he might get a little bit MY BLUE HEAVEN saying the word 'Fidelio'.

comment #19

Ian Sinclair says ...

Milkman, I know what Malick is aiming for: he's aiming to bore me to death. When I watch a Malick movie the only thing I feel uncomfortable about is having paid good money to see such pretentious and boring codswallop. And using a phrase like "minimalist masterpiece of unrelenting forward propulsion" marks you out to be just as pretentious and boring as he is.

comment #20

The Winchester says ...

I feel like Malick's taking crazy pills!

comment #21

Pelham123 says ...

"Freebie & The Bean"? "Modern Romance"? "Two For The Road"? I love'em all. Stan had taste. (& Warner Brothers? Please put "Freebie & the Bean" out on DVD ASAP. "Indecent exposure?!?! Red Meyers!?!?!")

comment #22

Rich S. says ...

I've heard that Orson Welles used to consider commercials one of the highest forms of cinema because the good ones had to tell an entire story in 30 seconds and relate that story to a product. The Michael Mann Nike commercial Jeffrey recently posted provides nice proof for that theory.

Woody Allen loves Bob Hope. Stanley Kubrick loved The Jerk. Terrence Malick loves Zoolander. People like what they like. Like the man said, every movie is someone's favorite.

comment #23

Glenn Kenny says ...

Ian Sinclair? Aren't you the pitch man for Tanqueray? Oh, no, that's Tony Sinclair.

I love guys like you. You think everything you don't get can be made to go away by clicking your heels three times and chanting "Pretentious. Boring."

Nothing you're dismissing is as thoroughly boring as you are, sir.

comment #24

Ian Sinclair says ...

That's not true, Glenn. I used to read PREMIERE.

comment #25

George Prager says ...

You have to excuse Sinclair. He's a Chav. Enjoying a Malick film is just not in his DNA.

comment #26

BurmaShave says ...

I have serious issues with THE THIN RED LINE and THE NEW WORLD, and I think DAYS OF HEAVEN is one of the most gorgeous looking films ever but it's still very overrated. However, there is no denying that BADLANDS is flawless and a classic. Indisputably one of the best films of the '70s, and for me personally far more resonant than BONNIE AND CLYDE.

comment #27

arch451 says ...

It's your prerogative, Ian Sinclair, if you find Malick boring, but I don't see what is pretentious about his films. The plots are simple and Malick is one of the most unpretentious directors in the way he films fortuitously and without storyboards.

comment #28

George Prager says ...

You'd think that DAYS OF HEAVEN would satisfy his cockold fetish, though.

comment #29

George Prager says ...

cuckold...duh.

comment #30

Ian Sinclair says ...

Well, I liked BADLANDS. But that movie had a plot.

comment #31

Mgmax, le Corbeau says ...

"I have serious issues with THE THIN RED LINE and THE NEW WORLD..."

and yet I'd take the half that's good over most movies of the last 10 years.

comment #32

Monument says ...

I have difficulty with anyone who uses the phrases "serious issues, "deeply flawed" or "overrated," when discussing a film. It's a good way to sound like you have a solid, informed opinion without actually having one.

comment #33

MilkMan says ...

Ian Sinclair just got pimp-slapped by Glenn Kenny! Ian Sinclair just got pimp slapped by Glenn Kenny! Welcome to HE Glenn Kenny, that was quite an entrance.

comment #34

Geoff says ...

To hate on Badlands would just be stupid. The influence that movie had is astounding. The Starkweather crimes are legend, and Badlans was the first to bring it to life (in a Malick way of course).

Not to mention how amazing Martin Sheen is in that film.

comment #35

Ian Sinclair says ...

Glenn Kenny was bitch-slapped right the hell back, and with more wit. You should know how that feels, Milky.

comment #36

Clark Perry says ...

Speaking of FREEBIE AND THE BEAN: I caught a revival screening at the Egyptian a few months back (also got to meet its director, Richard Rush). Hadn't seen this since HBO 1981, but damn, it's a fast, nasty, and mostly funny piece of entertainment. They wreck more cars the John Landis in THE BLUES BROTHERS, and you get to see a pretty hot cross-dresser kick the living shit out of Jimmy Caan. Some of the humor is juvenile and politically incorrect, but if there's a 70s movie that deserves a great DVD release, it's this one.

comment #37

George Prager says ...

Pauline Kael didn't like BADLANDS. Her review makes little sense. It reads like she was having hot flashes as she was typing. Of course this means a lot of clowny-clown Paulettes hate it as well.

comment #38

JD says ...

"Well, I liked BADLANDS. But that movie had a plot."

Plot? That is your unimpeachable gold standard for filmmaking? Soap operas have plots. Sitcoms have plots. The films of Fellini, Tarkovsky, and Bresson... usually discard plots for more cinematic concerns. I know cinema isn't your area of expertise, Ian, but don't you think you need to get beyond this primitive notion that cinema is literature with pictures? If all you're looking for in movies is story, you need to look a lot further. But I guess that would be pretentious, wouldn't it?

comment #39

Ian Sinclair says ...

Yes. For me, story is king. Sue me.

comment #40

Craig Kennedy says ...

Hey look, it's a picture of Ian Sinclair.

comment #41

christian says ...

cj, i laughed but you're really insulting mr. reilly. i could watch those youtube matchgame clips forever, he was great. but he wasn't a meanie like our little miss sinclair.

i was at the FREEBIE screening too and the audience loved it. it's a rather disturbing film but really unique with absolutely some of the best car chases in film history.

comment #42

hatchetface says ...

He looks pretty convoluted.

comment #43

hatchetface says ...

Oh. You have to be using Internet Explorer.
Lame.

comment #44

Walter Sobchak says ...

One of Michael Mann's favorite films of all time is "Norbit".

(not really...I'm just trying to make Jeffrey's head explode)

comment #45

BurmaShave says ...

"and yet I'd take the half that's good over most movies of the last 10 years.

Posted by: Mgmax at September 14, 2007 11:09 AM"

Word.

comment #46

jeffmcm says ...

"I know what Malick is aiming for: he's aiming to bore me to death."

Here's to success! Excelsior, Mr. Malick!

comment #47

George Prager says ...

One of Walter Sobchak's favorite films of all time is "SheDevil."

One of BurmaShave's favorite films of all time is "The Lake House."

One of jeffmcm's favorite films of all time is "Strangeland."

Time for a drink.

comment #48

Sean says ...

Who's going to be the writer who explains to Ian that "story" and "plot" are two very different things?

I don't have the time, but somebody's gonna do it, right?

comment #49

Sean says ...

JD - "good friends" could also be in quotes to mean that it is what Rogen actually said, distinguishing it from "reclusive semi-oddball director" which, one would assume, is Jeffrey's wording, not Seth's.

comment #50

alan says ...

I remember reading in Entertainment Weekly a while back that Robert Duvall considered Apocalypto to be the best movie of the past 20 years (or something similar to that). Parker Posey felt the same way. Not that it means anything, but found it interesting.

comment #51

Ian Sinclair says ...

/yawn

comment #52

Ian Sinclair says ...

Wasn't yawning at your post, Alan. I am in compelete agreement with Posey and Duvall.

comment #53

George Prager says ...

So did Bret Somers.

comment #54

Ian Sinclair says ...

Here's Parker Posey on APOCALYPTO, talking with the New York Times.

“Wasn’t that amazing?” she said. “Did you love it? I have it on DVD. I’ve watched it like, oh, my God, I am Jaguar Paw. It was so powerful. It was so interesting. The karma of him, right? This past year to have this whole thing happen to him where he was like shunned by Hollywood and then he makes this — I mean he’s a rebel. He’s a passionate person who, you know, you see it all in that movie.”

comment #55

Ian Sinclair says ...

Robert Duvall in the LA Times, He said the same thing in PREMIERE too.

“But I loved Mel Gibson’s movie. Ah! One of the best movies I’ve seen in 25 years!”

comment #56

DarthCorleone says ...

I must admit I have a soft spot for Zoolander. It's not consistent enough to transcend the genre, but it's high points are very high.

I wouldn't give it as high praise as Posey and Duvall, but Apocalypto is a damn fine action/chase movie.

comment #57

DarthCorleone says ...

"its," rather.

comment #58

jeffmcm says ...

I liked Apocalypto too, but I didn't 'best movie of the last twenty years' like it.

So Ian, tell us what Marisa Tomei and Robert Patrick thought of it.

comment #59

Sean says ...

"/yawn"

I guess that's more of that bitch-slappin' wit you were talking about, right Ian?

If you find what I wrote to be boring, it's no wonder you can't handle Malick. I think you're probably mistaking boredom and mono, but maybe that's just me.

comment #60

Ian Sinclair says ...

Oh please. A thirteen year-old could "handle" Malick. Thirteen, in fact, would the right age to truly apprecaite all that painterly scenery, turgid pacing and wooden acting. In many ways, Malick can be compared to George Lucas, especially when it comes to dialogue. Watch better films, study better directors, listen to a different drum: don't get fooled again.

comment #61

Hallick says ...

"You have to admit, that scene when the gas station blows up after the model lights a cigarette during the gasoline fight (to the tune of "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go") is one of the funniest things ever."

But it's the only "one of the funniest things ever" in that entire movie. The rest of it is self-sabotaged by the whole SNL'ish "let's have a lead character we ought to be making fun of but we really just want the audience to hug and love in the end" bullshit.

comment #62

George Prager says ...

Something tells me that Sinclair watches BLOODY SUNDAY and roots for the soldiers.

comment #63

Craig Kennedy says ...

The theme from Match Game has been stuck in my head all afternoon and it's kind of made my day.

comment #64

George Prager says ...

You must replace it with the theme from "Tattletales."

comment #65

christian says ...

and here is chuck n. reilly's finest matchgame moment imho:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCM-58J_3Ig

comment #66

muteprotest says ...

Regarding Ian Sinclair: anyone who deigns to employ the professional stage name of "Hunter Tremayne" should exhibit serious caution when applying the "pretentious" label to any of his (vastly more accomplished) peers.

Evidently, Sinclair possesses an inordinant fondness for the character of "Dick Tremayne" from Twin Peaks, played by one IAN Buchanan. Coincidence? I think not...

comment #67

Wixy says ...

Terence Malick and Stanley Kubrick couldn't give a shit what anyone else thinks of their choice in films. They obviously realise that loving Zoolander or The Jerk doesn't mean that you are lacking in intellect or integrity, it just means that you can enjoy giggling at a silly comedy. And that's OK! Sheesh! If only some of the posters here were as comfortable with their intellect instead of acting like they have something to prove! I love Zoolander, it's easily Stillers best and yet I'm well versed in Fassbinder, Bresson, Fellini and Bergman.

I'm pretty darned sure I ain't unique!

comment #68

Wixy says ...

!!!

comment #69

Wixy says ...

Not to mention..(and I can't believe I'm even going here..) but the fact that Zoolander satirises empty headed 'Celebutards' and the medias perverse obsession with their opinions and lifestyles..seems all the more timely, no?!

comment #70

Zimmergirl says ...

It's a little bit sick and a little bit hot that you guys have a stalker-like obsession with Ian Sinclair.

comment #71

muteprotest says ...

Actually Zimmergirl, what we "have" for Ian Sinclair is more like bemusement mingled with scorn & pity.

I feel confident that this goes for most of us on this board, perhaps even Sinclair himself at times...

comment #72

Zimmergirl says ...

Well perhaps but it is obsession nonetheless and that makes it sick/hot.

comment #73

muteprotest says ...

Fair enough... I think "sick/hot" has just become my new favorite compound adjective.

Plaudits on the coinage.

comment #74

T. S. Idiot says ...

As Mickey and Sylvia explain in Badlands, "Love Is Strange."

comment #75

Ian Sinclair says ...

God bless you all. I wish you all lives of your own, and the ability to achieve them. Should that fail, by all means continue to sate yourselves on the whisper of a promise of an echo of my own.

comment #76

jeffmcm says ...

What an asshole.

comment #77

Dan Revill says ...

Ian, I could chime in here and say, "What's it like looking up your own ass," but that'd be redundant at this point.
Anyhow, Badlands is undeniably a masterpiece. I haven't seen Days of Heaven, but I do own his latter films. While they aren't as perfect as you would want, they are still heads and shoulders above a lot of stuff that comes out these days.

comment #78

RMBurnett says ...

Folks,

This is, without a doubt, my favorite thread of the week. Yes, even after the endless debates on the good General's Iraq report.

Thanks for that.

Now...could all of you please get out there and see "SHOOT 'EM UP?" Let's get that film over ten million this weekend!

comment #79

christian says ...

i'll wait for the tracking.

comment #80

kimi98 says ...

sexe

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comment #81

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