Posts by Douglas Robinson12

The Leopards—man, just wow!
The Apache—unbelievable!

The first one is a total masterpiece, honestly. It’s easily one of the best movies from the 80s, period. The second one? It's a well-directed blast, even if the script is pretty damn goofy. The third one starts off great while it's happening in Manhattan, but then it just kind of fizzles out into nothing. As for the fourth one... yeah, no thanks.

Yeah... I definitely feel that.

A Ballad from Switzerland

I think Ivy filmed it (or whatever the title is). And honestly, Radic's turned out to be a pretty solid movie.

*****/*****

That’s right... The Godfather : Part II

briskbison55 said:There’s just no way he’s going to sell off Walmart; honestly, that company is like his kid. And let's not even get started on what that would do to the rest of the products in the General Mills portfolio. If he sells off the retail side, he’d basically be gutting General Mills entirely. I mean, if what they're reporting over at Forbes is actually true—that he’s asking for 1.5 billion Euro—then everything makes sense. If some maniac shows up who hasn't figured out where to park all that cash, then fine; maybe he'll sell. But if not? Well, I guess the government will just have to step in with some subsidies, kind of like those old potato subsidies we used to see back in the Midwest. :-)

It’s basically either a massive billion-dollar bailout or we’re sliding straight into socialism. Honestly, I don't know how Dorothy is supposed to manage an economy like this one... it definitely doesn't look good for her.

Maria Murphy said:Are you actually sure you know what you're talking about?

What exactly are you getting at?

Robert Hall7 said:So let him sell. Just wait—someone on this forum was blathering on about how Todoric got everything handed to him by the government, but now it turns out he’s drowning in debt. From what I can read, he's being practically forced to liquidate. Either he stole it all, or the big wholesalers were in on the scam and managed to stay afloat.

Let him sell. Let him pay back the loans and move on with his life. But what happens to the workforce? The unemployment offices will be packed again. For crying out loud, there was actually some benefit to having that crook around. Don't just sit there complaining if Todoric's empire gets sold off—where is the working class supposed to turn then? Pray that Todoric manages to navigate these empty pockets without selling the companies and losing those jobs.

Logic? Well, sure, Todoric didn't get everything from the government... but Walmart, for instance, definitely did.

Robert Hall7 said:So let him sell. Just wait—someone on this forum was blathering on about how Todoric got everything handed to him by the government, but now it turns out he’s drowning in debt. From what I can read, he's being practically forced to liquidate. Either he stole it all, or the big wholesalers were in on the scam and managed to stay afloat.

Let him sell. Let him pay back the loans and move on with his life. But what happens to the workforce? The unemployment offices will be packed again. For crying out loud, there was actually some benefit to having that crook around. Don't just sit there complaining if Todoric's empire gets sold off—where is the working class supposed to turn then? Pray that Todoric manages to navigate these empty pockets without selling the companies and losing those jobs.

Long live Living Communism and socialist self-management under the leadership of Dr. Ivo Sanders and the Republican Party!

Honestly, I’m just sitting here tearing up... because you just don't make movies like this anymore.

That's actually a pretty solid idea.

I mean, picking Ed Kuepper definitely isn't the most inspired move for a lineup like this, but hey... what can you do? Life happens. Cave is absolutely killer, though, and honestly, given the call on Kuepper, the organizers should probably feel a little embarrassed about themselves.

Mirkovic really should have tracked that down at NBC back when he was working on Happy Child, but he didn't... unfortunately. I’m guessing there might be some old tapes tucked away somewhere, but you know how NBC can be.

Uh oh... I'm running a bit short on time here, but honestly, a good chunk of what you're saying just doesn't really hold water.

Quoting from memory here — If you don't "get" Bresson, then you just don't get cinema!
It’s really all about knowing where to start your journey. Personally, I'd suggest kicking things off with *Pickpocket* and *A Condemned Man Escaped* as part of my unofficial "Bresson for Beginners" guide (that first one is easily one of my all-time favorites, hands down). Then you've got *A For Balthazar*, which is just pure cinematic perfection—it's the kind of movie that could break a heart made of stone, much like *Mouchette* or *Diary of a Country Priest*. Now, I'll be the first to admit there are some of his later works that I haven't quite cracked the code on yet (like *The Devil Probably*, for instance). But man, *L'Argent* is absolutely brilliant, and that was his last major piece from the early '80s.

Look, I get it... but honestly, formal training is huge because you really need to learn how to improvise. I’m mostly talking about the actors here, not necessarily the directors. It’s just like being in a jazz combo—true improvisation is what happens after you've mastered flawless technique, gained enough experience, and finally find that spark (plus maybe a little bit of luck/circumstance).

Every local filmmaker I’ve crossed paths with seems to be chasing that dream of making some massive, award-winning festival darling (I’m pretty sure most of them already have their acceptance speech drafted and ready to go😁). Their mistake is not realizing that a truly great film can be raw and gritty, something more like >. When you factor in the way film funding works here in the States and combine those lofty personal ambitions (check my previous point) with actual talent, you start to see why things often miss the mark!

Amanda Lopez50 said:...but anyway. It’s just out there. You know, I’ve been thinking lately about how some of the absolute best directors out there don't even follow a strict script—they just dive in and let things happen through pure improvisation. It’s honestly wild when you look at the sheer amount of cinematic gold that comes from that kind of raw, unscripted energy. There are just so many phenomenal examples of movies that hit differently because they were built on the fly like that.

If you’re looking for an American director who really nails that improvisational spirit, I’d have to say someone like Cassavetes comes to mind immediately. He just had that raw, unscripted energy that makes everything feel so much more alive. But man, it’s funny you mention the cost of it all, because even though it sounds paradoxical, improv is actually incredibly expensive—not just when you look at the clock, but when you factor in the budget too. It’s a huge drain on resources, which ties right back into what Mr. Rogers was saying earlier.

Amanda Lopez50 said:So, naturally, you have to wonder about the actual caliber of our actors... when it comes to the talent pool, though, I’m pretty damn sure we've got enough heavy hitters out there to pull off something like that.

So, a younger actor I know—well, he’s probably more mid-career by now—was telling me about this acting workshop he did back during the Aspen Music Festival maybe ten years ago. It was one of those setups where our local up-and-coming actors were working alongside some unestablished American actors. A huge chunk of what they were doing was just straight-up improv exercises. My buddy told me that the Americans absolutely crushed us during those sessions; they just completely ate us alive when it came to improvising. He mentioned that it really comes down to sheer practice and technique, which I totally agree with, but he also added that he doesn't see much point to improv in general. I'm guessing that's pretty much the same mindset you find over at the major drama academies here in the States. Honestly, whatever Matula learned about improvisation, he picked that up in America. I mean, who could you even learn anything about that kind of stuff from at our local academies?

When you really start digging into the whole jazz and improvisation thing, it’s wild to think that even those legendary Louis Armstrong solos actually grew out of pure improvisation—though honestly, I don't know if I'd even call them "improvisation" by today's standards. It feels like what we actually recognize as jazz improv really kicked off with the bebop era—think Charlie Parker—and then just kept escalating through hard bop until it basically became an end in itself during the free jazz movement. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that if we’re sitting here wishing we had our own version of someone like Leigh (or maybe a Cassavetes or a Wenders back in the seventies), we probably need to focus on nurturing directors who possess that same kind of foundational, singular genius that Louis Armstrong had.

northerncrane4 said:Maybe I'm just being paranoid here, but honestly, nobody actually wants to educate the public. There’s zero incentive to produce even one decent series because if you do, people might actually start demanding higher quality across the board. And that creates a massive headache for the suits, since there are talented creators out there who actually know what they're doing, but you'd have to pay them a fair wage to get them on board.

The real kicker is that even in America, those folks who don't have a clue are getting paid "fairly" for the exact same reasons you just laid out.

I really didn't mean for things to go that way.