Re: Tipping The Sacred Cows 2.0
Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2023 10:06 am
After Verlaine died, my drummer (who usually has great taste) said she always thought Television was "boring pop music." I played her Ain't That Nothing from Live At The Old Waldorf and Little Johnny Jewel from The Blow Up and ... didn't move her. I couldn't relate.Wood Goblin wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 9:06 amI posted something on FB about how “Marquee Moon” is the fastest ten minutes in rock. It’s just perfect. CCR’s cover of “Heard It Through the Grapevine” is another one that feels like it’s one-third its actual length.penningtron wrote: Mon Jan 30, 2023 7:46 am He probably just meant 10 minute rock songs and he's correct.
The Sacred Cows thread is great, because I love seeing how basically like-minded people can sincerely disagree on this stuff.
I find the first Godfather to be better than the 2nd one too, I never understood why people thought II was better.zorg wrote: Tue Apr 04, 2023 2:49 am I just rewatched Godfather I and II after probably 30 years. Godfather I is still pretty good, but it's Brando that gives it the necessary shot in the arm gravitas to take make it truly memorable. II, which everybody seems to crow about endlessly really is a bit of a kitchen sink effort. The fall of Cuba, Senate hearings, Sicily, Vegas. But for all that effort, all I remember is just Pacino sitting around a dimly lit Lake Tahoe living room being cranky because everybody betrayed him. It takes like 3 hours for Fredo to get his, and that SOB had it coming since like hour 2 of part I. I get it. Empires crumble, nothing is forever. The Yin and the Yang, It just feels kind of hollow, ultimately, and I don't see it comparing favorably to things like Visconti's The Leopard. To be fair to Coppola, for all it's vanity and indulgence, I remember Apocalypse Now being far superior. On to part III....which I don't think I ever actually finished, for the reason that everybody already knows.
The cult is just built on trying to be as obese as possible. I won't defend it, but I like it fine. It's really only half mayo at best. I prefer Tzatziki in all applications.tonyballzee wrote: Fri Jun 16, 2023 3:08 am I hate ranch dressing.
I really don't see why some people are so goddamned obsessed with it. Just go ahead and gloop mayonnaise on your salad, why don't you. Or dip your chicken wings in mayo. BLORP! Mmm, eggy.
I think Godfather II would be better without the “young Vito” flashbacks. They distend the movie unreasonably in proportion to their middling contribution to it.zorg wrote: Tue Apr 04, 2023 2:49 am I just rewatched Godfather I and II after probably 30 years. Godfather I is still pretty good, but it's Brando that gives it the necessary shot in the arm gravitas to take make it truly memorable. II, which everybody seems to crow about endlessly really is a bit of a kitchen sink effort. The fall of Cuba, Senate hearings, Sicily, Vegas. But for all that effort, all I remember is just Pacino sitting around a dimly lit Lake Tahoe living room being cranky because everybody betrayed him. It takes like 3 hours for Fredo to get his, and that SOB had it coming since like hour 2 of part I. I get it. Empires crumble, nothing is forever. The Yin and the Yang, It just feels kind of hollow, ultimately, and I don't see it comparing favorably to things like Visconti's The Leopard. To be fair to Coppola, for all it's vanity and indulgence, I remember Apocalypse Now being far superior. On to part III....which I don't think I ever actually finished, for the reason that everybody already knows.
Do it.The Yeoman Ghost wrote: Fri Jun 16, 2023 2:30 pm I’ve actually been tempted, in the past, to start a thread querying the PRF community: “Who Should Have Played Kurtz?”
Not hilarious, and maybe not legitimate (ages), but Warren Oates or Ned Beatty would've worked for me. And Robert Duvall, but he was already playing the napalm guyThe Yeoman Ghost wrote: Fri Jun 16, 2023 2:30 pmI think Godfather II would be better without the “young Vito” flashbacks. They distend the movie unreasonably in proportion to their middling contribution to it.zorg wrote: Tue Apr 04, 2023 2:49 am I just rewatched Godfather I and II after probably 30 years. Godfather I is still pretty good, but it's Brando that gives it the necessary shot in the arm gravitas to take make it truly memorable. II, which everybody seems to crow about endlessly really is a bit of a kitchen sink effort. The fall of Cuba, Senate hearings, Sicily, Vegas. But for all that effort, all I remember is just Pacino sitting around a dimly lit Lake Tahoe living room being cranky because everybody betrayed him. It takes like 3 hours for Fredo to get his, and that SOB had it coming since like hour 2 of part I. I get it. Empires crumble, nothing is forever. The Yin and the Yang, It just feels kind of hollow, ultimately, and I don't see it comparing favorably to things like Visconti's The Leopard. To be fair to Coppola, for all it's vanity and indulgence, I remember Apocalypse Now being far superior. On to part III....which I don't think I ever actually finished, for the reason that everybody already knows.
While we’re on the subject, I think Apocalypse Now is an overrated movie in which one of the best fIlm performances I’ve ever seen (i.e. Martin Sheen’s) is all but squandered by one of the worst film performances I’ve ever seen (i.e. Marlon Brando’s). The entire movie is one long build-up to meeting Kurtz, and Martin Sheen sells the unholy shit out of describing Kurtz’s reputation and depicting the fatal fixation he inspires in people … on which Brando utterly—comically, if it weren’t so infuriating—fails to deliver. Brando’s reading of Kurtz’s radio transmissions sounds like something out of a bad comedy, and his personification of Kurtz is inert, uncommitted, mumbly, and completely lacking any semblance of gravitas. His performance as Kurtz effectively makes the movie an exasperating shaggy-dog story.
I’ve actually been tempted, in the past, to start a thread querying the PRF community: “Who Should Have Played Kurtz?” It’s something I’ve debated as a thought exercise over the years (within the limits of my familiarity with the population of actors active at that time) and have never come up with a satisfactory answer. I’d interested to hear your thoughts, PRF (in a separate thread, if more appropriate).