tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post7740174711602379549..comments2024-03-12T12:38:23.542-04:00Comments on The Kind of Face You Hate: Napoleon's Crapbill r.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-46344474640914362912011-06-13T10:07:36.524-04:002011-06-13T10:07:36.524-04:00John - Well, his style is bellow-y to me. Not as ...John - Well, his style is bellow-y to me. Not as much as Russell, I'll grant you, but I do generally find Roeg's style to be overbearing.<br /><br />And I've seen LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM. It's...well, remember, the only Russell film I've liked is ALTERED STATES. Donohoe was about the only thing in LAIR that kept me watching.<br /><br />David - I obvisouly disagree with your take on Russell. The Relativity scene in particular underlined the poor choices Roeg and Russell made with their version of Monroe.<br /><br />Wolfgang - The idea of judging a filmmaker by their best film is a nice one, though I'm not really able to do it. Or I am, in the sense that one great film, even amongst a lot of what I might judge to be dreck, makes it impossible for me to write a director off. I'm not sure how often that extreme example has happened, though.<br /><br />I need to watch EUREKA again. It's insane.<br /><br />And yes, WHORE...I was thinking about it yesterday. I've never seen it, but the connections between Russell and Roeg pile up.<br /><br />Greg - Don't feel bad. It happens to me all the time, especially with books. A month after finishing a book, I'll look at it and think "What the hell happened in that one again? How did it end?" It used to worry me, until I gathered that it's fairly common.bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-75128084734890740832011-06-13T00:15:01.022-04:002011-06-13T00:15:01.022-04:00You know, I saw this back when it was showing on c...You know, I saw this back when it was showing on cable in the eighties and I swear, I don't remember the ending at all. I do remember liking everyone in it for the most part but not much else. The comments here and your write-up have made me want to take another look at it now, and I think I will. At least the ending, which seems to be eluding me at the moment (but how?).Greg F.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12988142631436195913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-90635397512939535262011-06-12T21:37:14.508-04:002011-06-12T21:37:14.508-04:00I absolutely love Roeg for his ability to make fil...I absolutely love Roeg for his ability to make films that reveal new dimensions on further viewing. Don't Look Now is my favourite film—not just by Roeg, but by anyone—but it left me distinctly underwhelmed when I first saw it. On my second viewing I jumped in halfway through and felt compelled to watch it again in its entirety. It blessed his career as well as cursed it, because after making something like that how can you move on to making conventional films? It was Britain's answer to Citizen Kane, and as with Welles cast one huge shadow over his remaining career.<br /><br />Never warmed to The Man Who Fell to Earth but I refuse to write it off, because given how mistaken I was about Don't Look Now I half expect it to click into place one of these days. My next favourite Roeg is Walkabout, a true rival to Don't Look Now's claim on being his best work, and the one I liked best on an initial viewing. After that I think Bad Timing and Performance are his best works. Sadly though, once you get into the 1980s there is very little of scant merit in the Roeg canon. Eureka was a watershed moment, a schizophrenic work that offered glimpses of the brilliance that marked the formative stages of his career, and the incoherence that has plagued his films since.<br /><br />You have to judge people by their best work though, and by virtue of Don't Look Now, Roeg compares favourably to anyone. On another note, Ken Russell directed Theresa Russell who was married to Roeg (despite sharing her name with Russell), in the charmingly titled "Whore".Wolfgangnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-84945649050484203312011-06-12T15:35:45.872-04:002011-06-12T15:35:45.872-04:00Joe McCarthy wasa closet queen -- so there's y...Joe McCarthy wasa closet queen -- so there's your <i>pervert</i> for you.<br /><br />Theresa Russell's take on Monroe is enchanting -- especially when she demonstrates the Theory of Relativity to Einstein.<br /><br />The climactic image of nuclear destruction is very Richard Hamilton.DavidEhrensteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11016905507543736049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-89817302910997260982011-06-12T14:03:13.251-04:002011-06-12T14:03:13.251-04:00Never saw Insignificance, never really cared to, e...Never saw Insignificance, never really cared to, either, because it looked a bit gimmicky to me, but you've got me kinda curious about it. I like Roeg's style, at least as displayed in movies like Don't Look Now and Walkabout, and have to admit that, as director's go, he never struck me as much of a bellower. Quite the opposite. But then I haven't seen quite a few of his movies, I now realize.<br /><br />Speaking of Donohoe and Russell, they made a pretty entertaining horror flick called Lair of the White Worm, based on a lesser-known horror story by that Dracula guy. Garish, goofy and grotesque in typical Russell style, so if he's not your bag, you could well hate it, too, but it's still roughly 1,000 times better than Coppola's Dracula in every conceivable way. And no, I don't mean to damn it with faint praise...Johnnoreply@blogger.com