tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post6224118612329178124..comments2024-03-24T13:26:57.317-07:00Comments on Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule: SOUND COMEDY: BURN AFTER READINGDennis Cozzaliohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01954848938471883431noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-58983292564005270402008-11-10T01:43:00.000-08:002008-11-10T01:43:00.000-08:00this movie is mind blasting...I hav a link..try th...this movie is mind blasting...I hav a link..try this once <A HREF="http://download-burn-after-reading.tumblr.com/" REL="nofollow">Download burn after reading</A> and enjoi!!!Andyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13043742667030087886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-81686395059867024962008-09-29T16:33:00.000-07:002008-09-29T16:33:00.000-07:00Don, thanks for reminding us all of the most obvio...Don, thanks for reminding us all of the most obvious, and perhaps the greatest example of what I was getting at. The use of sound in <I>Singin’ in the Rain</I> is both smashingly effective as comedy and also very pointed in illustrating the history of the dilemma Hollywood found itself in as the new technology became dominant. It's a wonderful disconnect between Hagen’s glamorous countenance and that squeaky-scratchy-brittle voice, a hilarious and perfect summation of the corner many stars found themselves painted into when their real voices didn’t jibe with their established screen personas. <I>Singin’ in the Rain</I> is not only the obvious choice here, but also one of my favorite movies—why I didn’t immediately think of it can only be explained by temporarily insanity.Dennis Cozzaliohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01954848938471883431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-12915991420457148972008-09-29T05:46:00.000-07:002008-09-29T05:46:00.000-07:00***SPOILER ALERT***I thought the moment where Malk...***SPOILER ALERT***<BR/><BR/>I thought the moment where Malkovich goes after Richard Jenkins was the Coens deliberately echoing themselves. The camera angles and the character paths (walking, swinging, falling) are exact mirrors of the way Steve Buscemi met his end in <I>Fargo.</I> It startled me to see it again like that.<BR/><BR/>***END SPOILER***<BR/><BR/>As for sound moments (pun!), I always appreciated how <I>2001</I> had only the astronaut's breathing in space, and then the absolute dead silence as the camera progressively smash cut to a close-up of Hal. Chilling. And as long as we're talking Kubrick, the sound of the Big Wheel going from floor to carpet to floor in <I>The Shining</I> was pretty great too.<BR/><BR/>Another deep space moment I appreciated was the very start of <I>Contact,</I> where we hear thousands of sound clips, and as we move further into space, the clips grow older and cracklier until we finally reach silence. It was a very effective opening.<BR/><BR/>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLQF-4uyD4YAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-19783572815658992322008-09-28T23:44:00.000-07:002008-09-28T23:44:00.000-07:00SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, dudes!It's all about the adve...SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, dudes!<BR/><BR/>It's all about the advent of sound in filmmaking, and how that new technology affects Hollywood and everyone who works there.<BR/><BR/>Narcissistic actress Lina Lamont (the great, Oscar-nominated Jean Hagen) has enjoyed years of stardom in silent films -- which cannot portray (or betray) her braying, nails-on-a-chalkboard Bronx voice. Desperate, Lina has to be dubbed by Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds), the kind, talented ingenue trying to break into films, who just happens to be the secret, off-screen girlfriend of of Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly), Lina's love interest on-screen, and, as far as the public assumes, off-screen as well. <BR/><BR/>A classic Hollywood musical that is all about sound.Don Mancinihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16697303770099289489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-71202118895189570682008-09-28T08:50:00.000-07:002008-09-28T08:50:00.000-07:00Blogging has been...interesting so far. I'm enjoy...Blogging has been...interesting so far. I'm enjoying it, but I feel a fair amount of pressure to put up something regularly, and to try and, you know, be interesting. I have a big October horror project coming up, which, if you don't mind, I'll go ahead and plug right now...<BR/><BR/>http://wwwbillblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/kind-of-face-your-hate-where-your.html<BR/><BR/>Basically, I'll be reading horror fiction, of all types, during the whole month, and writing about the experience. I hope you can pop over now and then and at least see how I'm doing (no pressure to comment).<BR/><BR/>When you say that in the next three months you're going to have a hard time "getting around", you don't mean physically, do you? I hope everything's okay...bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-83785404732068254492008-09-28T04:13:00.000-07:002008-09-28T04:13:00.000-07:00Not sure if this is in line with the topic at hand...Not sure if this is in line with the topic at hand, but there was a scene in Jackie Brown that has always given me a little chill everytime I watch it. In fact, coincidentally TBS is showing it as I write in glorious HD.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, it's the scene where Max Cherry played by Robert Forester is waiting outside the womans jail to pick up Jackie Brown.<BR/><BR/>He's reading a book when the guard tells him his "bond" is on her way out. He stands up and takes a few steps towards the gate, turns and looks her direction as she slowly walks the path to the gate.<BR/><BR/>The camera locks in on his stare and suddenly the song Natural High by Bloodstone starts to play as Max Cherry begins to notice this vision of a woman step out of the shadows and into the light.<BR/><BR/>The look on Robert Foresters face touches something in me that I know nearly every guy has experienced when they've seen a girl or woman that they could never get to know but would nearly kill to make it happen.<BR/><BR/>Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A7ZoXSBxPgAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-12893286354973648752008-09-28T02:47:00.000-07:002008-09-28T02:47:00.000-07:00Jason: Thanks for the correction. Duly noted. I do...Jason: Thanks for the correction. Duly noted. I do appreciate you pointing that out! And isn't that DPMSPIMS a sentimental sort? I hate it when it gushes like that... <BR/><BR/>Seth: Well, I'm not sure I'd hold the Coens responsible for the Universal/Focus Features marketing people twisting quotes to their own devices. I'm surprised about that, though, as there were enough genuinely good reviews for this movie-- maybe not gushing, but solid-- to make such maneuvering unnecessary, I would think.<BR/><BR/>Dave S.: Thanks for the reminder about <I>Blackmail</I>. Your description gave me chills remembering the chills seeing the movie gave me.<BR/><BR/>Bill: I'm glad you liked this movie too. I've been so out of the loop lately that, outside of some writers like David Edelstein and David Ansen, I'm not entirely sure what the general feeling on the movie is, other than mixed-- David E. seemed to like it but not as much as David A., or you and I for that matter. I got into its groove almost immediately the first time I saw it and found myself much more affected by it than I thought I would be, and I relsihed seeing it again. I can't imagine it expanding in my consciousness the way great Coen Brothers movies like <I>No Country</I> or <I>Miller's Crossing</I> or <I>The Big Lebowski</I> have, buyt I thought it was pretty grand all the same, and I look forward to reading anything you write on it. How are you liking blogging? (I apologize for not having commented on your 12 movies yet too-- writing and getting around in general is going to be difficult for me for the next three months or so, more so than I anticipated.)<BR/><BR/>****FURTHER SPOILER ALERT********<BR/><BR/>Nick G.: Not that the Coens are beyond having a bitter laugh over gruesome death (the closet scene here, the wood chipper in <I>Fargo</I>), but I didn't get the impression they're soliciting laughs at the fate that befalls Jenkins' character here. Certainly I wasn't laughing. His is just about the only character who earns or is allowed a measure of sympathy because, although he is rather ineffectual and milquestoastish he does rather innocently get mixed up in the futile and fatal events that McDormand and Pitt stir up. And beside McDormand, his is easily the most likable character too. Finally, Malkovich does more than scalp him-- J.K. Simmons C.I.A. bigwig reveals at the end of the movie that Jenkins is, in fact, dead. It's Malkovich who survives, but only technically speaking.Dennis Cozzaliohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01954848938471883431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-38261854019163480672008-09-27T23:07:00.000-07:002008-09-27T23:07:00.000-07:00Spoiler Alert:As much as I enjoyed this movie and ...Spoiler Alert:<BR/><BR/>As much as I enjoyed this movie and I believe that it makes many important comments upon the state of affairs (pun intended) in our society today, I can't get over the fact that we are practically compelled to laugh at Malkovich practically scalping Richard Jenkins's character. Such a moment may be making a point about my lack of soul/empathy, but it also seems to kill that empathy/soul simultaneously. Does anyone know what I mean?<BR/><BR/>-Nick G.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-78903214492152916672008-09-27T21:13:00.000-07:002008-09-27T21:13:00.000-07:00I finally saw Burn After Reading today. Dennis, y...I finally saw <I>Burn After Reading</I> today. Dennis, you probably know that I'm a hardcore Coen fan, and I'm one of the many people who thought <I>No Country for Old Men</I> was the best movie last year. Despite all that, for some reason I was a bit worried about this one. Their comedies often tread a very fine line between hilarity and the bad kind of absurdity, and I guess because they've tread this line so consistently I was worried that this time they would finally tip over onto the bad side (I say this as someone who liked, to one degree or another, both <I>Intolerable Cruelty</I> and <I>The Ladykillers</I>.<BR/><BR/>But I <I>loved</I> this film. I think it's one of their strongest in years, and -- as you could assume by my trepidations about it -- it was not at all what I expected. I've been thinking about it all day, and one thing I can't shake (along with what I consider to be Brad Pitt's career best performance) is Richard Jenkins, his performance, his character, and where that character ends up. I have a sneaking suspicion that he is the heart, in every sense of that word, of <I>Burn After Reading</I>. I may do my own post about the film, but for now I'll just say this is one fascinatingly bizarre film.<BR/><BR/>Oh yeah, and it's <I>hilarious</I>. Although, I should admit, I didn't catch the aural joke you refer to. Maybe next time I watch it I will. And I have a feeling that when I get this on DVD, I'm going to watch it a hell of a lot.bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-54500965128756255122008-09-26T09:39:00.000-07:002008-09-26T09:39:00.000-07:00the sound design throughout 'the exorcist' is amaz...the sound design throughout 'the exorcist' is amazing. so many layers of upsetting things, from pigs led to slaughter to bees trapped under glass... <BR/><BR/>then there's hitchcock's 'the birds', a movie entirely without a musical soundtrack; instead we get electronic bird sounds.<BR/><BR/>hitchcock again, this time with the first british talkie,'blackmail'. our heroine has stabbed an aggressor in self defence, but she's kept the killing secret. sitting at the dinner table with her family, burdened with guilt, the conversation around her is a muddy buzz with only the word "knife" audible and frequently repeated.Dave Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12394730675283743852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-77305618998621207582008-09-26T09:33:00.000-07:002008-09-26T09:33:00.000-07:00David Lynch's films always feature a brilliant, la...David Lynch's films always feature a brilliant, layered soundscape that really adds to the atmosphere of creepy dread that seems to permeate so many of his films. I think of the buzzing of electricity in FIRE WALK WITH ME or the surreal sound and visual montages in BLUE VELVET where people's voices are distorted monstrously.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08164105442273577128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-47999769274781044642008-09-26T08:01:00.000-07:002008-09-26T08:01:00.000-07:00I haven't seen it for awhile, but I think of the b...I haven't seen it for awhile, but I think of the brilliant use of sound in Das Boot, and the way it creates tension as the men on the sub -- quiet, because of the sonar -- listen to every tiny noise.<BR/><BR/>It's all the more effective because it is so familiar ... every submarine movie ever made has similar scenes, and we know quite as well as the guys onscreen what each noise means. Petersen and his sound editor do such a great job here.<BR/><BR/><I>(sorry if this is a repeat comment)</I>Rick Olsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04846018585978997261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-75613842066283168322008-09-26T07:55:00.000-07:002008-09-26T07:55:00.000-07:00I haven't seen it for awhile, but I think of the b...I haven't seen it for awhile, but I think of the brilliant use of sound in <I>Das Boot</I>, and the way it creates tension as the men on the sub -- quiet, because of the sonar -- listen to every tiny noise.<BR/><BR/>It's all the more effective because it is so familiar ... every submarine movie ever made has similar scenes, and we know quite as well as the guys onscreen what each noise means. Petersen and his sound editor do such a great job here.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-48894913218938134652008-09-26T07:49:00.000-07:002008-09-26T07:49:00.000-07:00i was really anticipating Burn After Reading but w...i was really anticipating Burn After Reading but when I saw how their marketing people twisted critics' quotes it really bothered me. They completely reversed people in some cases - http://www.gelfmagazine.com/archives/the_coens_emotionfree_uneven_thriller.phpsethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13932274168160103574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-90555242201227584572008-09-26T04:34:00.000-07:002008-09-26T04:34:00.000-07:00I have to agree with Digital Photo manipulation Se...I have to agree with Digital Photo manipulation Services | Photoshop image manipulation services -- sorry, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to say that -- interesting stuff. The use-of-sound question gives me something to ponder on a Friday.<BR/><BR/>Meantime, friendly correction: It's CIA Headquarters in Langley where the scenes you describe go down. (The Pentagon is in Arlington.)Jason Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18150199580478147196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795280.post-31279610915637497972008-09-26T00:05:00.000-07:002008-09-26T00:05:00.000-07:00I find your blog is very interesting.Keep on posti...I find your blog is very interesting.Keep on posting such valuable post.<BR/><BR/>Regards,<BR/><A HREF="http://www.saibposervices.com/Clipping-path_services.aspx" REL="nofollow">image clipping</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com