Just watched the new Gaga/Beyonce video... | 30 comments (30 topical, 0 hidden)
I liked the video (none / 1)
even though I didn't care for the music at all. I don't get where you have the idea she should sue Tarantino, just because they used a prop from Kill Bill. The other stuff that might have reminded you of Tarantino was just standart 70s- Exploitation rip of. Acerlund was ripping of the same kind of films that Tarantino rips of, no reason for Quentin to sue.
If people would be able to sue musicians for videos that resemble films it would definitly have happened to Rammstein:

"The first thing Fascists usually try to do is silencing the opposition."

by opposition on 03/13/2010 04:54:26 AM EST

RAMMSTEIN!!! (none / 0)
F%$K JA!!!

by hazmat on 03/13/2010 01:25:19 PM EST

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It was tongue in cheek (none / 0)
...but there WAS a bit more QT than you give it credit for - the lettering, the extra verbiage in the wording for dramatic effect, the restaurant scene, of course the Pussy Wagon (he probably lent it to them). Other stuff, but I'd rather not watch it again to point them out.

Still...I haven't looked lately, but I think Lacy Gaga is a sign of the "end times" referred to in Revalations. Yeah, here it is:

"First there will come a wave of pestilence known as "Disco," followed by a decade of mostly mediocre pop songs, then the darkness starts to descend with Talking Poets hyping themselves with samples from actuallly talented musicians, soon to be followed by feedback guitar and unintelligable lyrics where loud and whiny are substituted for talent, then the end fast approaches with an over the top High School musical diva who thinks wigs, bikinis, makeup Kiss and Alice Cooper would be ashamed of, and really, really stupid hats substitute for entertainment."

I'm just sayin'...if she does a remake of "Rapture," duck and cover!

by MedfordTim on 03/13/2010 11:40:20 PM EST

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He lent her the Pussy Wagon (none / 0)
and she is very proud of it. Rightfully so!

The problem with QT is that he is not an inovator. He doesn't create anything new, he just steals from old films. He does that brilliantly and puts things into new contexts in a personal way. He is really postmodern, but there is nothing to his work that wasn't "stolen".
His works are collages of older works.
He introduces many techniques and sylistics to an audience that would never watch any of the foreign b-movies that he is taking them from, but that doesn't make them his inventions.
QT is comparable to a musician who only uses samples. He may have his own style, but all the elements are taken from other artists.

"The first thing Fascists usually try to do is silencing the opposition."

by opposition on 03/14/2010 05:35:49 AM EST

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I agree (none / 0)
...except for Jackie Brown. In that one, he turned conventions inside out. Maybe because it's root was an Elmore Leonard novel. I don't know.

I like QT a lot (I was never serious about him suing) probably because I'm a movie addict too, and have seen a good proportion of the movies he has. I get the homages, the winks, the blatant rip-offs. They're part of his inside joke. But he's made three "inside" movies in a row. I'd like to see him try again instead of playing to "his" crowd so much.

by MedfordTim on 03/14/2010 07:09:15 AM EST

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I love QT, (none / 0)
but I don't see how he turned the conventiones inside out.
He takes the novel, mixes it with some blacksploitation elements and some random ideas from many other genres. What changed in this film is that he now seems to consider himself as part of the sources to steal from. From this film on the references to his own films become really extrem. (Is Basterds the first film without Big Kahuna burgers?)

From film addict to film addict:
From what film is the scene with the money that is shot from 3 different perspectives? Every time I see it I get a feeling of deja vu, but I can't put my finger on the source. Some European film definitly, French or Hitchcock, but I just can't remember the exact source. Please, help.

PS: Of course I understood that you weren't seriously advocating legal action.

"The first thing Fascists usually try to do is silencing the opposition."

by opposition on 03/14/2010 07:44:55 AM EST

[ Parent ]
Ooooo...tough one (none / 0)
The convention of doubling back on the point of view to show different aspects of the same scene?

Hitchcock, sort of - he used it a bit in The Trouble With Harry. Brian DePalma has used it a couple of times and critics seem to think of him as a poor man's Hitch. Blow Out uses it as does 1966's Blow Up.

Even The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence used it, but in a flashback scenario...and I think I know which French film you're refering to, though it's name escapes me. I see Jean Paul Belmando as the lead...but I could be brain farting...and if Orson Welles never used it, I would be surprised, although I can't think of a specific movie of his which used it - maybe The Third Man in a flashback...the original Italian Job?

I do think that QT's use of it is the best example of How to do it - the editing and timing are as close to perfect as one could hope. Seamless, continuity between actor placement and camera shots - magnificient!

One "convention" that jumped out at me was the way he used long, slow shots of someone going here or there but unlike most shots of these kind which feel like padding, he keeps it interesting and even builds tension, and he does it at least 4 times in Jackie.

I would be willing to bet that we'd have to go back to a silent movie to find the origin of that sort of back-and-forth POV gag. Be fun to find the first instance of it...

by MedfordTim on 03/14/2010 06:12:24 PM EST

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Sure (none / 0)
It's been done many times, but this QT thing  always reminds me of a scene that is very similar. To present a scene from different viewpoints was done so often that it is nearly a cliche, but  it is rare that three versions directly follow each other. Also the passing of the money seems to be important to the scene I remember.
I have do agree though that Quentin does it brilliantly.
About that convention with the long shot: That has been done brilliantly by Brian DePalma in Snake Eyes. That opening scene is fantastic, even though it consists of 8 shots, it looks like one.

I take DePalma over Hitchcock every day, Hitchvcock is quite dated, especially some stuff like the shower scene in Psycho.

"The first thing Fascists usually try to do is silencing the opposition."

by opposition on 03/15/2010 03:51:17 AM EST

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Well...I'M quite dated, so... (none / 0)
I will never forget coming out of the theater as a 9 year old after watching The Birds and seeing what seemed like a thousand birds on the telephone lines overhead. Brrrr!

I wasn't trying to disparage DePalma; I can't remember any of his I haven't liked, just pointing out what his major detractors usually point to. If I had a complaint, it would be that he does too many remakes for my taste. I'd like to see more things springing from his well rather than another reinterpretation. 

I wasn't thinking so much of the sustained long view like the beginning of Goodfellas, more like the huge number of B movies who have a long shot of someone walking or driving that really doesn't advance the story or add anything other than running time.

I agree that the shower scene is dated, but it opened the door for so much since - it really was a watershed moment in getting movies back from the censor board. Remember, he wasn't known as the master of horror, rather the master of suspense. That's one thing dating doesn't remove when it's done right.

by MedfordTim on 03/15/2010 12:39:19 PM EST

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So we agree on DePalma (none / 0)
Hitchcock just doesn't appeal to me, because his suspence was once original, but he created so many standarts, that his movies seem like a collection of cliches (which they obviously aren't, it's not his fault that everybody ripped his ideas) and a little slow.

Plus, he is maybe too much of a pervert for me.
Ever seen The Pervert's Guide to Cinema?
When Zisek talked about flowers and David Lynch I had to laugh really hard.

"The first thing Fascists usually try to do is silencing the opposition."

by opposition on 03/16/2010 01:56:17 AM EST

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Just watched the new Gaga/Beyonce video... | 30 comments (30 topical, 0 hidden)