Silverado, say, looks at themes that would never have come up in the days of Roy Rogers.
Themes, yeah -- those change over time plenty. But it takes place in the 19th C. west, right? Sere, wide landscape; clapboard houses in a "town" springing up in the middle of nowhere; men on horses with six-guns who whistle to signal their appreciation; lassoes; lone, taciturn heroes who posse up only reluctantly; stand-up show-downs; black-hattery.
(N.b. I haven't seen a Roy Rogers movie in a dog's age, so I'm extrapolating mostly from other 1950s-era westerns.)
Every genre has got its variations, reinventions, taking the body of an Impala and putting a Honda engine in it, etc. But even reinventions
have awareness of and reaction to the traditional constraints that have come before. If you set a western in space, you're still nodding to the established history of westerns. If you set a western in a drawing room, and strip it of the formal elements that traditionally define westerns, most people would say that it's no longer a western.
With noir, you'd get a spirited debate.
Well, by saying it was a genre rather than a cycle.
I didn't say that. I think maybe you're attributing someone else's posts to me. Or I'm having another schizoid moment.
Or I'm having another schizoid moment.
::decides now might be a good time to stop putting Skittles in Strega's pillbox::
Criterion really knows how to do a boxed set: [link]
Last night, S and I watched
The Station Agent
and fell madly in love with the film. It was similar in some ways to
Lost in Translation,
but with a less dream-like quality to it. Peter Dinklage was superb, and I really hope to see him in many more things. Patricia Clarkson and Bobby Cannavale were also fantastic. Cannavale in particular managed to create a character that was sypathetic and lovable, while at the same time being annoying and obtuse. No small feat. Highly recommended.
$650! Shit. (Although it's not really a bad price tag for 50 movies.) Plus, I already have a hanful of movies on that set. Still. *covets* I've seen only about a half of that collection, but have been wanting to see many of the other half for a while.
Criterion really knows how to do a boxed set
Wow, yeah that's impressive. At that prices it's $13 a movie (as opposed to $17 per a the SRP).
Criterion really knows how to do a boxed set
Want.
Especially since Criterion movies generally cost upwards of $25.
Damn, that's like being able to put the Library of Alexandria in a picnic basket.
Ooh, that's a sweet set right there.
