Oh! I know this one! 'Slaying entails certain sacrifices, blah blah blahbity blah, I'm so stuffy, gimme a scone.'

Buffy ,'Help'


Buffista Movies 5: Development Hell  

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.


Jessica - Sep 14, 2006 2:14:37 pm PDT #4183 of 10001
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

Bwahahahaha!

An unfortunate choice of blurb on a Chinese V for Vendetta bootleg.


Matt the Bruins fan - Sep 14, 2006 2:16:45 pm PDT #4184 of 10001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand

Oh man, that reminds me of marvel's Secret Wars being translated into Japanese as "Mindless Cosmic Fighting"!


Mikey - Sep 14, 2006 6:44:53 pm PDT #4185 of 10001
All this time, I thought Hunter was a bitch. Turns out she was just hungry.

Saw The Protector last night. Thai cinema. Huh.

Beej-

Aisha Tyler gave it thumbs down on this week's Ebert & Roeper, recommending instead Ong-Bak. Her video picks were Infernal Affairs and Old Boy. And by the way she spoke of them she knows her Asian cinema and she loves it.

As one who enjoyed Ong-Bak I'll skip The Protector for now.

Narrator note: didn't Kevin Spacey's character from American Beauty end up dead? He was the narrator, so I've never since assumed the narrator would be alive at the end or that it would matter.


tommyrot - Sep 14, 2006 7:18:54 pm PDT #4186 of 10001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

didn't Kevin Spacey's character from American Beauty end up dead?

Yes.

What was that noir-ish movie that won Oscars a few years back... took place in LA. Danny DeVito was the narrator, and he was killed half-way through.

eta: LA Confidential.


Matt the Bruins fan - Sep 14, 2006 7:26:06 pm PDT #4187 of 10001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand

I think Sunset Boulevard kind of set the trend, didn't it?

In fact, the only movie I can think of offhand that had a still-living narrator at the end was The Opposite of Sex. And I'm pretty sure Dede couldn't be killed...


Kate P. - Sep 15, 2006 4:02:30 am PDT #4188 of 10001
That's the pain / That cuts a straight line down through the heart / We call it love

He was the narrator, so I've never since assumed the narrator would be alive at the end or that it would matter.

True, but isn't Touching the Void non-fiction? I haven't seen it so I can't remember for sure, but I think it's a true story, told by the people who lived through it. (That's the one about mountain climbing, right?)


Cashmere - Sep 15, 2006 4:20:14 am PDT #4189 of 10001
Now tagless for your comfort.

True, but isn't Touching the Void non-fiction? I haven't seen it so I can't remember for sure, but I think it's a true story, told by the people who lived through it. (That's the one about mountain climbing, right?)

Yup, it's a documentary--sort of. The climbing parts were reenacted by actors but it's all true.

I think Sunset Boulevard kind of set the trend, didn't it?

Poor schmuck always did want a pool.

I'm trying to remember another film I saw where the narrator was dead in the first scene. We've seen it recently but I can't recall what it was.


Nutty - Sep 15, 2006 4:49:53 am PDT #4190 of 10001
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."

Double Indemnity famously involves a dying narrator -- the first scene is his racing across the city, bleeding to death, to get to a recorder in his office so that he can confess his crimes. He doesn't die till he's done narrating, though.

(The novel of same is written in the first person, and when you get to the end you realize it is a really long suicide note.)

I think voiceover and first-person narration are not always the same thing, however. The Danny DeVito narration in L. A. Confidential is in the newswriting voice of the character, and ends before the characetr dies -- you could say it is more of an artifactual narration, where the reading of his prose is done literally in his voice. He doesn't tell the intimate details of the story, just summarizes what is in the newspapers (and as a tool to smooth out such an unbelieveably complex and overwrought story, he's a pretty good one!).


DebetEsse - Sep 15, 2006 4:52:09 am PDT #4191 of 10001
Woe to the fucking wicked.

They really should have a narrator die before finishing the story.


tommyrot - Sep 15, 2006 4:57:29 am PDT #4192 of 10001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

They really should have a narrator die before finishing the story.

Yeah. And then have the characters stand around, not sure what to do. (Except that territory has already been mined by Pirandello.)