I don't think it's the Godfather III performance. I think they're saying her movies are overrated because she's an appealing celebrity with a famous name. I think Stevens is taking the position that it's not that she's a bad director, but that there's no
there
there, and people are giving simple mood pieces too much credit because they like the persona of the director. I haven't seen the movie, so I can't say. But I also thought LiT was overrated. YMMV.
I'm not saying that Coppola is without talent as a director. She has a keen eye for composition, impeccable taste in music and fashion, and a nice sense of understatement. The Virgin Suicides was haunting, if slight, and Lost in Translation goes an amazingly long way on nothing but setting and mood. But it's possible to believe both things: that Coppola is a filmmaker of promise and that her path to success has been cushioned, not only by her place in the Coppola family, but by her own savvy image-management. She cultivates the persona of a shy, melancholy, and effortlessly glamorous girl wandering through a strange new world, bemused by the accolades heaped upon her—a persona that's replicated in the dreamy, glazed female protagonists of all three of her movies so far.
Sean, that seems to be among the least of the film's problems with historical accuracy.
I'm not even going to get into the film's problems with the laws of physics.
Hee! Well, yeah. The film looks silly as hell. I'm just speaking in general. Almost every time I hear that battle referenced, people like to use the much more impressive 300 number, instead of the more accurate 1,000 or so.
Plus, Gerald Butler looks like he spends most of the movie using "psychotic" as his main motivation.
Yes, there were 300 Spartan warriors guarding the pass at Thermopylae
And the Spartans? Not exactly teh pretteh. You know, at least the Charge of the Light Brigade had men in pants! With hair no more obnoxious than muttonchops! And there were 600 of them -- chance for more cameos!!
I'm not even going to get into the film's problems with the laws of physics.
OMG, the Spartans can fly?? (N.b. I have not seen this trailer yet.)
I think they're saying her movies are overrated because she's an appealing celebrity with a famous name. I think Stevens is taking the position that it's not that she's a bad director, but that there's no there there, and people are giving simple mood pieces too much credit because they like the persona of the director.
That proposition seems like such a stretch to me; I know several people that loved Lost in Translation and wouldn't know Sofia Coppola if she had her name, credits and family tree tattooed to her face.
The parts of Stevens' review that explicitly deal with Marie Antoinette can pretty much be summed up in 'It adds up to nothing'. And there I think she's flat-out wrong. The film is built around the idea that if you indulge without reprieve you'll tire of it, at which point you'll find a slightly modified form of indulgence to partake in. I think that's a point well worth making and point well made. And that's so obviously the meat of the thing it's annoying that people who are being paid for their analysis aren't keen to it.
I've seen ads for the movie that say "based on a true story." That's pretty much begging for people to judge its accuracy.
Isn't there give in 'based on a true story', though?
Isn't there give in 'based on a true story', though?
Tell that to all the people that protested ABC's "Path to 9/11".
I love that Nutty quietly corrected my poor spelling of Thermopylae in my quote. Thanks, Nutty! I knew it had a "Y" in there somewhere.
I only know it thanks to flea. And anyway, you asked!
Tell that to all the people that protested ABC's "Path to 9/11".
Do I have to? Some of their phone numbers I don't even know.
Do I have to? Some of their phone numbers I don't even know.
Well, there are a lot of them. Maybe we could start a phone tree?
