RARA-AVIS: Re: The Long Argument

From: foxbrick ( foxbrick@yahoo.com)
Date: 16 Feb 2007


--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Dave Zeltserman" <dz@...> wrote:
> > TLG did poorly at the box office
>
> As did Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil, Wizard of Oz and Casablanca when
> they came out. So what? If box office receipts are a measure of how
> good a film is I guess Norbit is Oscar winning material.

Well, never mistake an Academy Award for a mark of distinction, at least for the entirety of a film (particularly the "big" awards, such as best picture). THE BLACK DAHLIA is a contender for best cinematography, absolutely the only award this film could reasonably be considered for (this kind of "technical" award is often reasonably close to justice in the nomination and awarding)...the film is the worst of its year among those I saw, or close enough, otherwise. NORBIT might just be a contender for makeup effects next year, probably the only arena in which it deserves any credit. Dreck such as TITANIC and CRASH regularly win the "major" prizes.

> > and was not well received by critics.
>
> It's certainly being received well by critics rediscovering it. Check
> out mrqe.com for recent reviews.

Well, John Simon rather liked it at the time. And he has certainly been no pushover (full stop) for Altman's films.

--Todd Mason, who thinks that PSYCHO the film is pretty impressive (the original, not the misbegotten remake), just not up to the novel. The novel and film STRANGERS ON A TRAIN are a pretty close match, indeed.



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