Not that this is an excuse for it, but a second viewing of Primer makes it make a lot more sense. Since the time travel is revealed later, you don't realize on first viewing that the scenes you see when you see them the first time are already (in the movie world) the characters' second or third times through them.
I have to give it credit for not going the easy route: too many movies spell everything out and make me feel like the director thought I was stupid. But this one went too far the other way, where the director made it so complicated the plotline wasn't graspable in a single viewing.
Yeah, it's definitely the kind of movie that you have to watch twice. If that's not your cup of tea, fine, but it's silly to claim that the movie doesn't make sense. Compared to Mulholland Drive this was pretty straightforward.
Primer is particularly impressive given that it was essentially a one-man operation, made for only a few thousand dollars. He even wrote the soundtrack himself!
Well, I figured out it was time travel from the trailer, so I was ready for that. But yeah, if you miss fundamental aspects of the movie on the first viewing, that's badly done.
It occurs to me that possibly Alan Moore still holds the rights to vicious cabaret and did not want to let them use it. Having a TV show with yakety sax probably isn't quite so elegant but it probably was easier for the audience to understand. And Stephen Fry's character was, imho, one of the improvements over the 2 characters in the comic he replaced.
I might actually go and see V. It did seem for a while there that the film would be a right turkey. The comic is brilliant, always worth re-visiting. Does the film do justice to the drug scenes?
Not so sure about the Dresden Dolls, though. I saw them at Glastonbury last year, pretty much on the strength of what I've read here. They performed well enough and seemed likeable. However, channeling the ghost of Kurt Weill was OK for one or two songs; it seemed a bit much for an entire set.
It's entirely possible that the Dolls have outlived their entertainment value. Amanda is more a performance artist than a musician, and running the same show for five years gets tiresome. She's quite capable, though, so if you want something more than just likeable keep an eye out for whatever she gets her hands in next.
Closer has Natalie Portman as a stripper. Hence all the fanboys must love it. But personally, I think JWZ summed it up pretty well. Shallow people betraying each other over and over again because they're too dumb to notice a good thing when they have it.
A few people have told me that Requiem For A Dream didn't affect them much, because they had no pathos for the characters. I never understood what they meant until I saw Closer. Then I understood perfectly.
I just felt that Requiem for a Dream was a glorified after-school special... The only part that was actually interesting was the Ellen Burstyn character... But the rest of the film reinforced my opinion that Aronsofsky is an overrated hack. Thank god they kept him away from Batman...
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I have to give it credit for not going the easy route: too many movies spell everything out and make me feel like the director thought I was stupid. But this one went too far the other way, where the director made it so complicated the plotline wasn't graspable in a single viewing.
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Primer is particularly impressive given that it was essentially a one-man operation, made for only a few thousand dollars. He even wrote the soundtrack himself!
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Benny Hill music + anything = ALWAYS FUNNY
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Not so sure about the Dresden Dolls, though. I saw them at Glastonbury last year, pretty much on the strength of what I've read here. They performed well enough and seemed likeable. However, channeling the ghost of Kurt Weill was OK for one or two songs; it seemed a bit much for an entire set.
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Yes, Primer is one of the most overrated movies ever.
But you are wrong, wrong, wrong about Closer. Dammit.
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But personally, I think JWZ summed it up pretty well. Shallow people betraying each other over and over again because they're too dumb to notice a good thing when they have it.
A few people have told me that Requiem For A Dream didn't affect them much, because they had no pathos for the characters. I never understood what they meant until I saw Closer. Then I understood perfectly.
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