I wouldn’t normally link to something so in agreement with me, especially when the issue has died down in here. But I found the image amusing enough to link it.
LINK
(Now THAt would be a conversion… Lancelot Link! Or is it Space Monkeys?)
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[twitter-widget username="DavidPoland" hiderss="true" hidereplies="true" hidefrom="true" items="3" showts="60" title=" " targetBlank="true"][twitter-widget username="MCNTweets" hiderss="true" hidereplies="true" hidefrom="true" items="3" showts="60" title=" " targetBlank="true"]
It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
I thought critics were powerless…especially on opening weekend.
They are, in terms of box office, J-Mc… but the issue of the assasination is not one of box office, but wondering why the pile-on… which was almost as stupid as making Iron Man “the best reviewed movie of the year”… which critics do every year… overreaching on some inevitably popular mediocrity.
With DVD, legacy is a much bigger and more flexible issue than it was before. And the critics do have a voice there.
I was surprised to see that SR is still in the 30s on Rottentomatoes and Metacritic, and that Iron Man is so much higher – they weren’t that far apart in my mind – but I guess I’m just used to movies that I love (neither of these qualify) being ignored or abused by the critics, most of whom are pretty ignorable in the first place.
I can’t compare them, as they are apples and oranges, but one of my friends made a point that he had loads more fun with Speed Racer than Iron Man, and I couldn’t fault him. Looking back, I could only agree.
This hot/cold consensus coming right after one another was downright baffling.
David: Isn’t it entirely possible that most critics who reviewed Speed Racer panned it because they simply didn’t like it? And that most people who reviewed Iron Man praised it simply because they liked it? And that there’s no conspiracy, no widespread agreement to give something a “pass” — that, again simply, the majority of people out there don’t agree with you? Just what the hell is it about the Wachowski Brothers that makes you want to go to extremes like this? I mean, hell, you can’t even complain that Todd McCarthy didn’t review this one because of its political content. So what’s the big deal?
Oh, and BTW: I find this photo to be about as funny as a Photoshopped pic of Speed Racer being shoved into an oven at Auschwitz. Have you no sense of shame?
I kind of liked Speed Racer. And most here know I’m a giant cynical blowhard, but it was kind of sweet-natured and adventurous… if nothing else, an INCREDIBLE look. If TRON can emerge over time as a formative Gen-X experience, this thing will obviously someday find its audience.
What total fucking bullshit. And posting it, totally fucking self-serving.
SPEED RACER was “critic proof,” as they say, from its inception. If you want to make that image both funny AND true, replace “CRITICS” with “PUBLIC” and that’s the size of it.
There is no spinning this disaster and only bad mechanic blames his tools for the shitty ride his car turns out to give. There’s always some idiot who’s read too much philosophical clap-trap to find “meaning” in the most banal of films, but with each crappy film that dies such a horrible box office death builds the hope that others learn to recognize early when a script or film just isn’t working.
Congrats to the Wachowskis who managed to dash the hopes that V FOR VENDETTA raised they might still turn out decent future work. THE MATRIX was all the greatness they had in them, even though so much of it was an “homage” to the works of others.
LexG – the only future audience that is going to connect with this thing will be (irony of title an added bonus) methheads. How that differs with what happened with TRON is so obvious I’ll not insult the rest of the readers’ intelligences by numerating them.
Mau di mau-di di mau Speed Racer. What part of di di mau didn’t you understand?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinner%27s_Sense_of_Snow
Wow, CP, do you have any other groups you wish to insult tonight?
But Tron is actually sort of shit, so that doesn’t bode too well. I nearly died of laughter upon reading that Tron was disqualified from the Academy Awards’ visual effects category because it was too reliant on computers! That’s rich. They should give that movie some sort of retroactive Oscar or something.
– Tron is a great film.
– Speed Racer, with all it’s colors and visuals, would make it ideal for acid heads.
Speed Racer is a tremendous film that I will always love and adore. It’s bloody awesome. Huzzah to Heat for going HAMMER all over critical group-think.
Oh yeah… TRON is SORT OF AWESOME. If you watch it through IP eyes. You will understand that that film has aged rather well. It’s a tremendous film about MOZILLA trying to exist in an IE world. Get with it.
Excuse me, IO — and unlike some people on this blog, I am going to address you as one intelligent adult to another — you see nothing offensive about this photo? Like, if Heat had posted a Photoshopped picture of, say, Emmett Till, to make his point, you would have not thought that offensive?
Joe: thanks for the responding in a non-dicky way, and I am not addressing the photo. I am addressing a film that deserved better than it got from the critics in this country. Who seemingly line up to give everything a pass except the film about the love of family and racing. Nevertheless; the picture is a bit freaking hokey. It is a movie after all.
go ahead, joe…..parse that answer….i would love to hear your thoughts,,,,
Simple, Scoot: IO — who, I am sure, will correct me if I am misinterpreting him — thinks this photo image is offensive, and David should be ashamed of himself for posting it, even though IO likes Speed Racer, and is grateful for David’s championing the film.
Joe… you always make the same argument… critics are pure… they never do anything for any reasons other than purity… yet year after year, the same phenomenon occurs… some movie gets overly slammed, some movie gets the pass.
Group think does happen.
And here are two simple rules.
1) If it’s a quite conventional commerical film but has an element that seems to be “above” the standard, critics will kiss ass, at least once per summer. Usually a sequel.
2) If the film moves really fast and doesn’t hold to conventional ideas of narrative cinema, the critics will crucify it, at least once per summer.
Bank on it.
2007 – Sicko
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
2006 – Superman Returns
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
2005 – March of the Penguins
Monster-in-Law
2004 – Spider-Man 2
I, Robot
2003 – X2: X-Men United
The Matrix Reloaded
2002 – An off year… few sequels to embrace
2001 – The Fast and the Furious
Legally Blonde
2000 – Space Cowboys
What Lies Beneath
Your list might vary, seasoned to taste.
YOu have a picture of Speed Racer being shoved into an oven at Auschwitz, Joe? Send it along.
Joe, if you think that’s offensive, look at what’s been done with the Twin Towers:
http://freshptt.ytmnd.com/
Scoot: this is my problem with you. You type in a way that’s rather hard on the eyes, but you have no idea what I am posting? Really? You must be raking in those 7 figures because it apparently turns your discerning skills to mush.
Good on you Joe, but Heat did pull out Space Cowboys. You should know you are in trouble now.
Nevertheless; the picture is a bit freaking hokey. It is a movie after all.
joe — you’re very generous….the above io quote is just sick……’hokey’!?!
amazing…..
Er, What Lies Beneath, Monster in Law and Legally Blonde move really fast? WTF?
And, no, David: If someone sent me such a photo, I would not pass it on. Unlike you, I have some standards — some things simply are too serious to be used as a joke, or to make a point about a mere movie. OK? You know, I think you should back away from the keyboard for a few minutes, and consider the kind of toxic crap you’re passing on here. I am old enough to know the full meaning of this photo you’re using as a cheap, juvenile joke. More to the point, I know the context of that photo — I have seen the newsreel footage that shows what happened after the shot was fired. Unless you are a moral imbecile, which I would like to think you are not, you should not have run this.
Brack: You’re right — pretty awful.
oh, joe…you are so over reacting….dps little pall says the pic is just ‘hokey’……so, it must be ok……
Scoot: Pall? Is that a typo, or a not-so-veiled insult? LOL.
typo, que lastima, lo siento…..
Yes, Scoot… I take my cues from IO. Uh huh.
P.S. Joe… really… this is an iconic picture. It is more than the sum of its event. To wallow in the literal about it is kinda narrow in my view.
I am not horrified that you have an opinion about it that doesn’t match mine. But I disagree. I am also just fine with burning the flag, putting a cross in piss, and showing a photo of a man with a bullwhip in his ass in a museum.
If that means I get a lecture from you, so be it. I am not only a grown man… I am a middle aged man. I am rarely subject to flights of fancy. And when I am, I own up to them.
Onward.
Wow, the things I miss out on.
Comedy is tragedy plus time. I think 40 years is not an unreasonable period, unless you’re a…drama queen.
I am rather cracked up by the utter and total douche — with his rather ridiculous posting style — trying to goof on me. Seriously, pot, go fuck yourself. Sincerely… Kettle.
I just find the photo tasteless and my eyes instinctively glaze past it. Is that the cleverest way to sum up the film’s critical disdain? Critics usually have their heads up their asses (no offense to the good ones here) and sometimes end up backpedaling on movies they panned years earlier. Ebert has a few mea culpas.
There’s no mystery as to why many critics didn;t like SR but dug IRON MAN. One is a children’s movie and one is aimed at a much older crowd.
I wouldn’t expect a lot of critics to be charmed by the opening scene of Speed racing past his car drawings; it’s too pure, innocent, not a shred of the irony and cynicism that pass for “family” films today. No AMERICAN BEAUTY jokes for the jaded adults.
And if there’s some kind of cultural parallel being made, it’s lost in the fact that SPEED RACER is a Japanese cartoon and the picture is from Vietnam. But they all look alike?
So, uh, what happened in the newsreel after the VC got his brains blown out? Did the police chief pull down his pants and molest him?
As for SR, I thought even the ads were pretty awful–lots of color and movement but nothing that really grabs you. And if the “Oh no?” moment with Speed facing down lil’ bro & the monkey was the funniest bit in the film, then no thanks, I’ll pass.