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Re: side-tracked, again

I, too, have to stand up for Jackie Brown.  As with Holly, I loved the strength
of the main character, and how she was always a couple steps ahead of everyone
else.  Mainly, though, I liked it because it was less of a bloodbath than the
others.  I can't watch the ear scene in RD again.  Once was more than enough.
If I had to saw which QT film was the best, I would probably pick RD, but JB is
definitely my *favorite*.  One of these days I will rent the DVD for pulp
fiction and program it to play the scenes in chronological order, just to see
how the story would play like that, but I'm just not that eager to see it
again.

As far as CoLC and Delicatessen go, I have no idea which one is more trendy, or
considered more intelligent, or whatever.  I have seen both many times, and my
considered opinion, based on nothing but my own impressions and analysis, is
that Delicatessen is the better film.  Not by a wide margin, but if I had to
pick one that is the one I'd pick.  I would not pick it because other people
thought it was more intelligent, nor would I avoid picking it because other
people thought it was more intelligent.  I'm not sure I could defend saying
*either* film was "more intelligent".  They were both pretty smart films.

For what it's worth, Melanie, I think there's nothing wrong with your taste;
there's nothing deficient about you if CoLC grabs you more than Delicatessen.
You have your impressions and you can articulate and defend them; what more do
you need?  Let *them* explain why they like D better!  :-)

Mark wrote:
>Anyway, taste is a rather ambiguous thing. I know some pretty intelligent
>people who adored Independance Day....does that make them dumb?

Yes.  :-)  On that particular question, anyway.  

Oooh, Christina Ricci, Johnny Depp, *and* Cate Blanchett??? The IMDB
says it opens in the US on April 13th to limited distribution, and then
on June 8th to wider distribution.  I'll keep an eye out for it.

How can I have not seen Raising Arizona?  Just haven't gotten any
round tuits lately.  :-)

What I was alluding to with the Big Lebowski is the classic film noir plotline
where the sharp, cynical detective is drawn, often accidentally, into a world
of shady characters, perversions, betrayals, greed, and femme fatales.  Through
his wit, keen eye, detached sensibility, and razor sharp mind, he manages to
figure out what's going on, play all the sides against each other, and
(usually) see that some kind of justice is done, all the while maintaining this
very cynical and corrupt exterior.  See, for example, The Big Sleep, with
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, and see how many elements they lifted and
twisted to put in the Big Lebowski.  In TBL, we have the web of intrigue,
greed, and perversion, but the hero is a bumbling idiot stoner who manages to
bluder his way through scenes where Sam Spade would have skated.  I loved it
that the one time The Dude tries to act like a detective, and use the old
chestnut of rubbing the note pad to try to get the phone number the guy just
(presumably) jotted down, he finds not a phone number but an obscene drawing.
The whole movie was full of those little winks at film noir traditions.

-- 
Don Smith                    Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment
dasmith at rotse2_physics.lsa.umich.edu        http://xte.mit.edu/~dasmith/

"Go to red alert!"  "Are you *absolutely* sure, sir?  
It does mean changing the bulb."			    - Red Dwarf

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