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.
My least favorite Altmans:
1. Dr. T & The Women (2000)
2. Quintet (1979)
3. O.C. & Stiggs (1987)
4. Pret a Porter (1994)
5. Buffalo Bill and the Indians (1976)
6. Kansas City (1996)
On the fence:
1. Short Cuts (1993)
2. Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)
3. MASH (1970)
I haven't seen any of the others, but I have A Prairie Home Companion, Tanner on Tanner, Vincent & Theo, Secret Honor, and Images in my Netflix queue.
Edit:
I think Popeye would get a pretty high percentage of votes for being a bad movie, but even that one has the silver lining of the single most perfect casting choice in motion picture history: Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl.
I watched it again last year and was struck by how much better it was than I remembered it being. In fact, as my list shows, I liked quite a bit in retrospect.
I loved Altman, even when I didn't like his work.
Favorites include Gosford Park and The Player.
I liked Cookie's Fortune more than I expected. The Wedding was filmed at my college and everyone said that Altman was a delight to work with.
To be frank, Short Cuts made me want to open a vein. And Popeye just made me go tsk, tsk
Bless his heart on all counts though. I've so enjoyed him and his lust for life/cinema.
I loved Short Cuts when it first came out but GF and I rewatched it recently and it didn't hold up. Even though I know Dr. T sucks, we still liked it due to the Kate Hudson/Liv Tyler love story angle. We're so predictable. RIP, Altman.
Sound design. His biggest, most-lasting contribution IMHO. The overlapping conversations, often with the important one not in the foreground.
Oh my, yes. He taught me how to pay attention to the wee details.
I actually quite like Pret-a-Porter, even though it's not that good.
How about, top 5 Altaman movies not made by Altman:
Melvin & Howard: Jonathan Demme
Choose Me: Alan Rudolph (definitely my favorite of his movies)
The Late Show: Robert Benton
Smile: Michael Ritchie
Something by Hal Ashby (can't decide which)
Or the Bizarro!Altman top 5:
O.C. & Stiggs
Pret a Porter
H.E.A.L.T.H.
Quintet
Beyond Therapy
Gosford Park and MASH, by all means. I remember enjoing The Player, but I don't remember a lot of details.
I only saw Nashville fairly recently and was disappointed. It seemed to need another half hour -- like Altman was trying to say something but never got it off the tip of his tongue.
I'm a huge fan of POPEYE (I saw it twice when it was in theaters), but I definitely think it's one that gets better on repeat watches.
And Matt is so correct about Shelly Duvall being spot-on for Olive Oyl - I can't even imagine another actress in the role.
GC, I had the same flip-flop on Short Cuts. Also Nashville, although I think that there's enough to redeem the movie overall.
As far as the baby Altmans go, I liked Magnolia a lot, although ultimately there was no there there. My co-editor Gary makes a great argument that Winterbottom is Altman's true heir.
I'm a huge fan of POPEYE (I saw it twice when it was in theaters), but I definitely think it's one that gets better on repeat watches.
Frank and I are one. I was just scrolling to the end to champion Popeye as one of his (IMO) more enjoyable films.
Winterbottom is Altman's true heir
Interesting. I really must get around to reading that issue. My biggest problem is that I hate reading lengthy pieces on-line, and there isn't really a good option with THH for printing (though I did slog through the Peckinpah articles using cut & paste one day when I had nothing to do at work).
