I generally love Kubrick and think his version of The Shining was app. 1 gazillion times better than Stephen King's book.

I view him as humanistic, but in a very detached, clinical way. Sort of a "Here's something humans do. Isn't that interesting/funny/terrible?" attitude.

That's sorta what I was trying to say with the whole yin and yang comment. I don't know if I'd call Kubrick a humanist (because, unlike Altman, I think he was deserving of being called a misanthrope), but I do think he found human behavior fascinating.

Apparently I'm into macho nihilism.

My last movie was The Friends of Eddie Coyle. Does that make me a macho masochist?

Does that make me a macho masochist?

I think Chris Burden already has that position locked up, Cor.

Going back to your "facile nihilism" critique I'm wondering if you'd respect a deeply earned nihilism. How exactly do we get to the profound nihilism?

Kubrick is icy cold. He thinks humans are fascinating in a clinical way. I don't think he's so far from nihilism that he gets a bye on technique.

Cormac McCarthy also gets far enough into unrelentingly bleak that we're starting to split some fine hairs to accommodate your favorite black-hearted artists.

Facile or profound: "life's a piece of shit/ when you think of it."

Facile or profound: "life's a piece of shit/ when you think of it."

Funny!

Lyric I got to hear Eric Idle sing in person?

Hm, I don't know if I see humanism and misanthropy as incompatible. I consider myself a humanist, and that's a big part of why I find humans in general to be pretty appalling.

I can't speak for Corwood, obviously, but what I recall of Fight Club is that it had petulant 16 year old's attitude. "I just noticed: life is meaningless! Isn't that incredibly profound? So now I'm an anarchist -- ptbtbtb!" Most of Kubrick's movies are about people struggling with moral issues. I agree he presents those struggles in a dispassionate way, but I don't think that's the same as saying, "And boy, were they idiots for bothering, because it's all pointless."

I should go record as saying I liked Fight Club as a very pulpy take on J.G. Ballard's pet themes. Plus the performances were excellent, as was the production. The plot twist was stupid but didn't detract much from my enjoyment. I'm not a plot first guy.

It was pretty. And I'm sure it didn't help that I was tired of the cult/hype by the time I saw it.

I dunno, I think it's a lot like Forrest Gump -- they're both shallow movies pretending to be profound. (See also: The Shawshank Redemption.) I prefer my shallow movies to revel in their shallowness!

The plot twist was stupid but didn't detract much from my enjoyment.

The thing about the "twist" is that the movie's not at all dependent on the HSQ moment in order to work - I actually think it's better on rewatch because once you know what's really going on, it's just a hilarious black romantic comedy about one incredibly fucked up guy.

I prefer my shallow movies to revel in their shallowness!

You don't think a film with a visual gag about the Pottery Barn catalog standing in for Playboy was reveling in its shallowness?

"I just noticed: life is meaningless! Isn't that incredibly profound? So now I'm an anarchist -- ptbtbtb!"

Well, except he does kinda come around to "Whoa, that was a REALLY stupid idea!", albeit slightly too late in some respects.

The thing about the "twist" is that the movie's not at all dependent on the HSQ moment in order to work - I actually think it's better on rewatch because once you know what's really going on, it's just a hilarious black romantic comedy about one incredibly fucked up guy.

And there's this too, which I wholly agree with.

re: Men who Stare at Goats

I was mulling over the use of Jedi warriors in the movie and wondering if they had to get permission from Lucasfilm to use the idea. George Lucas strikes me as the kind of man who would be hyper-vigilant about keeping his trademarks from getting the Xerox treatment, ie, becoming common verbs instead of brand names, but I didn't see any mention of Lucasfilm in the acknowledgements. How would such be handled?