Carlito's Way, Blow Up, and Carrie make up for what an overrated heap of shit movie Scarface is.
Not Crap with big fluffy Belgian waffles.

He directed Carlito's Way.

More than enough to award him with a massive Not Crapola.

Vibracobra wrote: Sun Jul 25, 2021 2:29 pm He directed Carlito's Way.

More than enough to award him with a massive Not Crapola.

That's one of his duds, IMO - I remember Abel Ferrara saying it was a total hack move to open the movie w/ the ending sequences, thus robbing all story (and action sequences) of any tension. I'm inclined to agree.

Alluding to/foreshadowing/showing parts of a movie's conclusion near the beginning isn't inherently a deal breaker. See, for example, Panahi's Crimson Gold. Or think of Bresson's A Man Escaped, the latter maintaining perfectly calibrated suspense despite explaining what happens in the title. If anything, it's kind of a ballsy opening move, like one is daring the audience to stop watching if things ever get boring.

M.H wrote: Mon Jul 26, 2021 4:43 pm

Vibracobra wrote: Sun Jul 25, 2021 2:29 pm He directed Carlito's Way.

More than enough to award him with a massive Not Crapola.

That's one of his duds, IMO - I remember Abel Ferrara saying it was a total hack move to open the movie w/ the ending sequences, thus robbing all story (and action sequences) of any tension. I'm inclined to agree.

Depending on how it's done, it's a fine way to begin a movie--it was a staple of film noir, and both Sunset Boulevard and Citizen Kane do it. You know who else did it? Abel Ferrera in The Funeral, one of his better films. Carlito's Way still isn't good, though.

Scarface is a heckuva long, plodding exposure to a sociopathic personality for such a dissatisfying 6 second catchphrase.

Untouchables is pretty dope, tho.

On the whole, not crap although he has sharted out some real crapola.

Like Bonfire Of The Vanities, the perfect example of Hollywood turning a great book into a horrid movie.

Scarface is incredibly overrated. People just like it because of the guns and drugs.

Speaking of drugs, I used to think Body Double was crap until I watched it on LSD.

Am probably in the rare camp of people who can appreciate de Palma's work but would consider Blow Out overrated. It starts out great. Love the premise, a sound man/foley artist's take on Blow Up and The Conversation. Love the split diopter shots, especially near the beginning, during that scene. And yet, the plotting gets kinda wonky/undisciplined from about halfway or 3/5 in to about the very last scene. And Nancy Allen is distractingly hammy as the somewhat ditzy East Coast girl. Dennis Franz, in his stained tank top and overblown loser mannerisms, seems like he belongs in another movie altogether.

DaveA wrote: Wed Jul 28, 2021 8:29 am Am probably in the rare camp of people who can appreciate de Palma's work but would consider Blow Out overrated. It starts out great. Love the premise, a sound man/foley artist's take on Blow Up and The Conversation. Love the split diopter shots, especially near the beginning, during that scene. And yet, the plotting gets kinda wonky/undisciplined from about halfway or 3/5 in to about the very last scene. And Nancy Allen is distractingly hammy as the somewhat ditzy East Coast girl. Dennis Franz, in his stained tank top and overblown loser mannerisms, seems like he belongs in another movie altogether.

I agree with you on this, 100%. In fact, this was the movie that led me to start the poll. The opening scene is wonderful and hilarious, and the movie gripped me up until about the half-way point. Once it turns into a chase to catch the serial killer, it lost me. But the ending was good.

The Conversation is one of my favorite movies. Never seen Blow Up!

Wood Goblin wrote:Never seen Blow Up!

Another unpopular film opinion: Blow Up is... a little overrated. Not as much as Blow Out, but it's not quite a masterpiece or among the best of Antonioni's work that I've seen (things like "The Alienation Trilogy," The Passenger, Red Desert, Il Grido, etc.).

It's easy to see why people would be drawn to it, though. They shot the film smack in the middle of Swinging London, the Yardbirds scene is cool, the film is populated with full-figured mod women/models of the fetching variety, the narrative hones in on photography, etc. But somehow it's never quite done it for me. The famous scenes in the courtyard and with the enlarger are engrossing, and the abnormally self-centered protagonist isn't a deal breaker, but the plotting gets a little "meh" in places for such a high profile work. I think the film works a little better as a cultural artifact than as a composite narrative.

Anyway...de Palma...