I think with Denzel it's a yummy thing. At least among the women I know.
Willow: Were there dolphins? Tara: Yes. Many dolphins at the pound. Willow: Was there a camel? Tara: There was the front of a camel. A half-camel.
'Selfless'
Buffista Movies 3: Panned and Scanned
A place to talk about movies--Old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
Scrappy - Aug 08, 2004 11:47:46 am PDT #2477 of 10001
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Jesse - Aug 08, 2004 11:51:53 am PDT #2478 of 10001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
Except for that movie with Ethan Hawke, you can be pretty sure Denzel is going to play a man of honor who doesn't have sex on screen.
But really, who doesn't love Denzel?
DebetEsse - Aug 08, 2004 11:52:34 am PDT #2479 of 10001
Woe to the fucking wicked.
What I think of as a Denzel Washington movie: Little Guy/Underdog fighting against "the man" as primary theme. Serious/heavy movie, and maybe a kinda-complicated plot.
At least, in my head.
eta: Yes! That was the other thing: wicked understated, if any, romance for him.
§ ita § - Aug 08, 2004 11:58:53 am PDT #2480 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
I think honor is a big word to apply to Virtuosity, Mississipi Masala, Carbon Copy, Fallen, and The Mighty Quinn and the wrong word to apply to Out Of Time, He Got Game, and Mo Better Blues.
And I thought it was that he didn't have sex with white women, until He Got Game, I had thought Mississipi Masala and Mo Better Blues had sex scenes.
He plays a regular guy a lot. More than Julia or Meg have shown diversity. With Tom Hanks it's that the ones in which he plays that guy get so much press/money, that the others fall off. I never got that impression with Denzel.
Jesse - Aug 08, 2004 12:03:43 pm PDT #2481 of 10001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
I'm not saying he only plays one character, just what I would figure if you say "new Denzel Washington movie."
§ ita § - Aug 08, 2004 12:06:16 pm PDT #2482 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
But I'm saying it hasn't described his history that well, and wouldn't help with his last five movies either.
Not challenging that you think so, but more wondering why. Did the 80s and early 90s define him that much? Is he the Preacher's Wife, Malcolm X, Cry Freedom, Glory guy despite all else? He hasn't had that much honour in his last ten movies.
Allyson - Aug 08, 2004 12:08:24 pm PDT #2483 of 10001
Wait, is this real-world child support, where the money goes to buy food for the kids, or MRA fantasyland child support where the women just buy Ferraris and cocaine? -Jessica
Whenever I think about Denzel, I think, "WE DIDNT LAND ON PLYMOUTH ROCK. PLYMOUT ROCK LANDED ON US!"
Jesse - Aug 08, 2004 12:09:30 pm PDT #2484 of 10001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
Did the 80s and early 90s define him that much?
To me, I guess so. Also, if Spike Lee is the director, in my head it's "a Spike Lee movie," not "a Denzel Washington movie."
DebetEsse - Aug 08, 2004 12:09:33 pm PDT #2485 of 10001
Woe to the fucking wicked.
I really only tend to think of his stuff post-Malcolm X (maybe starting around Pelican Brief) as even potentially "Denzel Washington movies" (and not all after that are, of course).
Yeah, honor may not be the right word, but they do often have that "one man against the big, immovable corporation, government entity, social force" type of central conflict.
I think he has played away from type more often than many, but I still think its there, especially on the films that everyone knows/remembers.
§ ita § - Aug 08, 2004 12:14:15 pm PDT #2486 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
especially on the films that everyone knows/remembers.
Which are those, you figure?
I my head, Spike Lee movies were Denzel movies. I have to keep reminding myself that not only was he not lead in Jungle Fever, he never in hell would have been.
Right now, a Denzel movie is one in which I get to see him look pretty. Mostly he's a romantic lead, or the saves someone, but that's no different from most of his co-workers. It's just that I figure I'll enjoy watching him do it more than most -- more like Robin's breakout than anything thematic at all. Movies like Training Day and He Got Game stick out in my head just as much as Malcolm X and Glory.