'Objects In Space'
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.
We're working on a rewrite of our editorial comments right now.
He did indeed have a great run, and he was a hell of a brilliant filmmaker, such an original that his followers can't seem to capture his seemingly effortless ability to combine naturalistic dialogue, improvisation, ensemble casting, and (in his great movies, at least) his profound belief in humanity, for good and for evil.
Anyone care to participate in an Altman deathmatch? Or make some Altman lists?
I do, Corwood. He did have a great run, but he's long been one of my favorites and I am very sad to think I don't have more films to look forward to.
Anyone care to participate in an Altman deathmatch?
I'll give it whirl. I'll pay Altman a grand compliment and say he's a filmaker who's bad movies are generally worth at least one viewing. Of course, then you'd have to agree on which ones are the bad movies...
I am very sad to think I don't have more films to look forward to.
That kills me and is essentially what our updated editorial will say.
then you'd have to agree on which ones are the bad movies...
Pret a Porter! That one's kind of tough to defend.
I've seen most of his later works, yet haven't gone around to watching McCabe and Mrs. Miller. I know, I know.
I haven't seen a lot of his earlier movies aside from M*A*S*H, but I love both Short Cuts and Gosford Park.
Holy crap.
I haven't seen a single Altman movie, but damn.
I really liked Gosford Park very much, and thought it was better than The Player, but not quite as good as M*A*S*H (still haven't seen Short Cuts or Nashville, though).
New editorial:
We released this issue a week before Robert Altman’s death. We wanted to honor his career before this prolific, long-lived filmmaker passed away, and just managed to do so.
At Ernst Lubitsch’s funeral, Billy Wilder said, “No more Lubitsch.” William Wyler responded, “Worse than that. No more Lubitsch pictures.” Altman had been on a great run in his last years, producing major work long after we had any right to expect it. This makes the news of his death that much sadder: we’ll never see new Altman.
Here's my favorite Altmans:
1. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
2. Thieves Like Us (1974)
3. The Long Goodbye (1973)
4. Tanner '88 (1988)
5. Gosford Park (2001)
6. California Split (1974)
7. Nashville (1975)
8. The Company (2003)
9. Popeye (1980)
10. Cookie's Fortune (1999)
11. The Player (1992)
Anyone care to participate in an Altman deathmatch? Or make some Altman lists?
I boycott, in advance, any deathmatch not won by McCabe and Mrs. Miller.
My Altman Top 5 (Top 5 what? I dunno, just things I like.)
1) McCabe and Mrs Miller. Esp. Warren Beatty, & even more esp. "I got poetry in me!"
2) Sound design. His biggest, most-lasting contribution IMHO. The overlapping conversations, often with the important one not in the foreground.
3) The music in The Long Goodbye. It's the same song throughout the movie, even Sterling Hayden's doorbell gets in on the action.
4) Sissy Spacek in 3 Women. 'Cause she was gorgeous & I'm shallow that way.
5) The Player: a) Buck Henry pitching "The Postgraduate" at the start, and (b) Lyle Lovett trying to teach Whoopie Goldberg how to say Gudmundsdottir.