Finding reasons to love again
The other night I watched the full special features disc of the wonderful 2 Disc edition of "The Fly" that Fox put out a couple years back. Talk about content. The main documentary is longer than the actual movie! As I was watching it I got thinking of a lot of things like "What was the first remake?" I was thinking like some old Western that ripped of a samurai movie then I thought about within country remake. If anybody knows I'd be curious. Then I started thinking about David Cronenberg.
I love me some Cronenberg. I can't think of a movie of his that I've seen that I haven't enjoyed or found interesting. Crash and Fast Company sitting on the edge of the lesser enjoyment/interesting category though. However the rest I love, and I think lots of it goes very underrated or people think wrongly of him. They think Cronenberg likes very visceral scenes and his movies are littered with them, which is odd because they'll go and watch CSI afterwards. In the documentary, I think it's Jeff Goldblum that points out that what Cronenberg does is make family movies. That doesn't mean movies for the family to enjoy and watch but movies about family, or I guess in broader terms, human relations. Which I started to think about, and then went back and started to watch some of his movies in the last 2 days to see this. It's so true. I mean look at his last three movies. Spider, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises are all very heavy and focused on these "family bonds." They are very clear in their messages on these areas. However, look at the Fly. Is it a horror movie about science gone wrong or is a drama about a love triangle? If one you dares says "I don't get the family connection in Dead Ringers" I will smack you!
The other thing that the one producer says which is true I guess and I am thinking about more and more is that actor's performances are always at their best if not the best they've ever been in a Cronenberg movie. The first thing I think of is Viggo Mortensen. I believe he is a good actor, but sorry LOTR fanboys and girls, his work in History of Violence was the best he ever did, and then he went and topped that in Eastern Promises. His work afterwards, was good but nowhere as near as that. However, those two have a weird vibe. They seems to draw the best from each other. If you had to chain an actor to director and they were never allowed to act/direct outside of each others movies, that would one of the first pairings I would make. However, I mean I think Christopher Walken in the Dead Zone is up there too. I mean he does very well in other supporting/cameo parts, but he has never carried a movie and given as good as a performance outside of Dead Zone. James Woods and Videodrome? Jeff Goldblum and The Fly? These require a bit more thinking and watching, but Jeremy Irons and Dead Ringers is another given.
Anyway, I love Cronenberg and these documentaries have made me love him even more. Go out and watch one of his movies and feel the love!
I love me some Cronenberg. I can't think of a movie of his that I've seen that I haven't enjoyed or found interesting. Crash and Fast Company sitting on the edge of the lesser enjoyment/interesting category though. However the rest I love, and I think lots of it goes very underrated or people think wrongly of him. They think Cronenberg likes very visceral scenes and his movies are littered with them, which is odd because they'll go and watch CSI afterwards. In the documentary, I think it's Jeff Goldblum that points out that what Cronenberg does is make family movies. That doesn't mean movies for the family to enjoy and watch but movies about family, or I guess in broader terms, human relations. Which I started to think about, and then went back and started to watch some of his movies in the last 2 days to see this. It's so true. I mean look at his last three movies. Spider, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises are all very heavy and focused on these "family bonds." They are very clear in their messages on these areas. However, look at the Fly. Is it a horror movie about science gone wrong or is a drama about a love triangle? If one you dares says "I don't get the family connection in Dead Ringers" I will smack you!
The other thing that the one producer says which is true I guess and I am thinking about more and more is that actor's performances are always at their best if not the best they've ever been in a Cronenberg movie. The first thing I think of is Viggo Mortensen. I believe he is a good actor, but sorry LOTR fanboys and girls, his work in History of Violence was the best he ever did, and then he went and topped that in Eastern Promises. His work afterwards, was good but nowhere as near as that. However, those two have a weird vibe. They seems to draw the best from each other. If you had to chain an actor to director and they were never allowed to act/direct outside of each others movies, that would one of the first pairings I would make. However, I mean I think Christopher Walken in the Dead Zone is up there too. I mean he does very well in other supporting/cameo parts, but he has never carried a movie and given as good as a performance outside of Dead Zone. James Woods and Videodrome? Jeff Goldblum and The Fly? These require a bit more thinking and watching, but Jeremy Irons and Dead Ringers is another given.
Anyway, I love Cronenberg and these documentaries have made me love him even more. Go out and watch one of his movies and feel the love!